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Trade and Industry Minister, Dr. Ekwow Spio Garbrah has clarified that the cement regulation law was set up to regulate the import of cement into the country and not to totally ban them as being asserted by cement manufacturers in Ghana.

According to the Minister, the 500 thousand bags imported by Fujian, a Korean cement company is only but a quarter of what is being imported into the country yearly and will not pose any threat to the Ghanaian cement manufacturers.

All these companies were already importing cement before the cement regulation came out. The cement regulation was not intended to ban the importation of cement, it was supposed to regulate, in other words to preferably reduce the total quantities of cement imported into the country each year, the Minister said.

Dr. Spio Garbrahs comment follows agitations by local cement manufacturers of Ghana who say the Minister has flouted his own rules of banning the import of Chinese and other foreign cement, into the country.

The regulation also followed the numerous agitations by some industry players of undue competition from imported cement from China.

Speaking to Citi Business News, Dr Spio Garbrah maintained that the actions of the ministry will not collapse the production of local cement in the country. According to the cement manufacturers themselves and also figures from the customs annual cement, imports could be in the region of one million to two million in a year. So if you give a company only 500 thousand bags of cement to import, which is something in the region of about 25,000 tonnes, that is a small fraction of the total amount of cement imported into the country. he emphasized.

He added that the minister under the legislation is the only authority required to approve the licenses for these companies.

Cement manufacturers not happy with Trade Minister

The Cement Manufacturers Association of Ghana however hit back at the Trade Ministrys decision to granting permit to the company (Fujian) to import 500 metric tons of cement into the country.

The association argued that the ministers action contradicted the Legislative Instrument and should not be entertained.

The minister can never work without the cement monitoring, no way. I just want to make it very clear that with this very issue, the minister should be bold and apologize because he can never defend himself. What the minister did is absolutely in contradiction of the Legislative Instrument, Spokesperson for the Cement Manufacturers Association of Ghana Dr George Dorson Amoah stated.



He further added that if you resize what has been given to the Fujian cement company in Tema, it shows permit to import cement under the LI 2240. But if you look at the position of the LI, it is talking about license and the license that the LI is talking about is a letter teaching what one has to do.







Source: citi business news









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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Dangote Group, a solely owned Nigerian Company is building the largest single stream oil refinery in the World, in Lagos State, to produce 650,000 barrels of crude per day.



With this production capacity, the refinery will remain the single largest industrial undertaking in the World; the complex occupies over 2,630 hectres of land.



The idea was hatched three years ago with the goal of manufacturing essential and value added products that meet the needs of the African population. This led to the securing of a $14 billion loan to kick start the project which comprises of a refinery, petrochemical and fertilizer plants.



Speaking to Anurag Jaiswal, the General Manager of Dangote Fertilizer Limited, he disclosed that the plant will produce 2.8 million tonnes of Urea and Ammonia per annum purely from natural sources which abounds in Nigeria.



According to him, "the plant has the capacity to consume all the gas that is flared in Nigeria and help reduce the price of fertilizers in the sub-region drastically"



"...why would you want to purchase from Gulf States knowing the cost of transportation would determine the selling price when you can get it here (in Nigeria) at a competitive price and cheaper cost of transportation?"



This being the largest fertilizer plant in the World after completion, according to Mr. Jaiswal, it would be "a game changer" due to its capacity to produce for the African and Latin American markets.



On the other hand, the oil refinery which would be managed by 1600 people, is expected to give jobs to millions of people after its completion in the third quarter of 2019.



The Dangote Group is taking steps to make available an installed capacity of 400 mega watts of electricity at the disposal of the three plants.



As a result of these mega structures being built in the Lagos State, Dangote is not leaving any stone unturned in ensuring the safety of its workers and to them, it is the same dedication being invested to guarantee "fuel that meets Euro V specification and World's best standards"

Source: Prince Obimpeh/ Peacefmonline.com/ Email: [email protected]









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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Twenty two selected detectives from Ghana and Togo have completed a surveillance training programme in organized crime.



The training organized by the French Embassy and the Direction De La Corporation International (DCI) is to boost the already existing cooperation between the two countries in the fight against organized crime.



The Director General in Charge of the Criminal Investigations Department(CID), COP Prosper Kwame Agblor in an address at the ceremony, said, the sophisticated nature of organized crime demands that law enforcement officers continually engage in crime trend analysis, intelligence gathering and follow up investigations for successful prosecution of cases.



He said the fight against organized crime cannot be effective without strategic collaboration and intelligence sharing.



It is against this backdrop that the Criminal Investigations Department had embraced the technical training offered by the French and the Direction De La Cooperation Internationale.



COP Agblor revealed that the CID was taking steps to upgrade its detective training academy (DTA).



This calls for training reforms and this reform will seek to integrate all the specialized courses offered by our development partners into DTA curriculum for coordination and sustainability.



The French Ambassador to Ghana, Francois Pujolas said France will continue to support the police fight drug trafficking across the sub-region.



He said the training is to broaden the scope of the police personnel in detecting drug trafficking which is gradually gaining grounds the world over.

Source: Daily Guide









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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The Chief and people of Appolonia, a suburb of Greater Accra have pointed accusing fingers at management of Zoomlion Ghana Limited, for using the companys subsidiary, SINO Africa Development Company Limited to grab 1,000 acres of their Stool lands.



According to them Zoomlion has unlawfully and without the consent of the Chief and elders of Appolonia and the Appolonia Stool, enriched some three disgruntled indigenes of Appolonia by paying them huge sums of money for the said land.



At a press conference organized by the Appolonia Stool elders and addressed by Joshua Nii Akpeng Tettey, Assistant Stool Secretary a couple of days ago he averred that their reaction was necessary considering some claims being laid by one Gabriel Forceby, Operations Manager of SINO Africa, a subsidiary of Zoomlion that the company had acquired the said land from legitimate grantors including Nii Iddrisu Tettey Mansro, Seth Gblie Narteh and Seth Afum.



Joshua Nii Akpeng Tettey explained that the Appolonia Stool got to know of the illegal sale of the land when the police forwarded a copy of a petition they received from SINO Africa Development Company Limited, laying claim to the said land and complaining of harassment from some policemen.



Appolonia Stool caused its lawyer, Sampson Obeng to respond appropriately. In response to the petition, the Appolonia Stool Lawyer denied that it has any knowledge of the grant of the 1,000 acres of land to SINO Africa Development Company Limited by Nii Iddrisu Tettey Mansro, Seth Gblie Narteh and Seth Afum, he stated.



He also indicated that, the then Chief of Appolonia who reigned for close to 38years until January 14, 2014 did not sign the lease document which SINO Africa produced as evidence of the lease, neither did the Stool Council consulted over the deal.



One of these three grantors, Nii Iddrisu Tettey Mansro declared himself Regent of Appolonia on December 6, 2013 long after he had co-signed the said lease document to SINO Africa Development Company Limited, an action, which was soundly condemned by the late Chief of Appolonia.



According to him, SINO Africa which received copy of the Stools response to their petition sent to the police, wrote to Iddrisu Tettey Mansro on December 19, 2011.



In that letter SINO Africa Development Limited stated under the heading Purchase of 1000 Acres of land at Appolonia by SINO Africa Development Company Limited that As you will recall sometime in 2010, SINO Africa Company Development Limited acquired 1,000 acres of land at Appolonia from your good self and two other persons, namely Seth Gblie Narteh and Seth Afum. Subsequently, however, further diligence conducted by the company disclosed that the within-named grantors lacked the full capacity to alienate the said land.



The company also went on to state that it had approached other grantors for regularization of the transaction.



However, the Appolonia Stool elders were at a loss as to the reason why Zoomlion will claim to have obtained the land from Chiefs of Appolonia.



Joshua Nii Akpeng Tettey, Assistant Stool Secretary told the press that, SINO Africa Development Company Limited after paying Four Million Ghana Cedis to the three disgruntle indigenes will shun all the education it received concerning the land, and turned back and refer to the three Appolonia Rebels as legitimate grantors of the Appolonia Stool lands.



The sudden U-turn occurred after the National Democratic Congress (NDC) Parliamentary primary, when a son of Appolonia, stood with Joseph Nii Laryea Afotey Agbo who thereafter vowed to take vengeance on the Appolonia Stool and the Appolonia Stool lands, he averred.



He however indicated that, Zoomlion and SINO Africa together with their Chinese backers are dreaming by attempting to revert their position to allow the three people to keep the money whilst the company keeps the said land unlawfully.



According to him, before Joseph Siaw-Adjapong and his companies invade the Appolonis lands, residents were living in peace and knew nothing about land guards, but because Gabriel Forceby and his boss knew they were dealing with illegitimate people, and as such relying on influence of some powerful politicians decided to use land guards to terrorize the people.



 Land owners cannot go to their property because of the walls and some land guards the Zoomlion boss has hired to protect the land. Because of the land guards people cannot go to their acquired properties, because they have been inflicting cutlass wounds on individuals who visit their lawfully acquired land, he revealed.



He indicated that, Nii Iddrisu Tettey Mansro has no royal lineage and cannot arrogate to himself the title of a Chief and engage in wanton sale of the Stool lands with the aid of land guards.



He stressed that the impunity with which land guards are operating is alleged to have been aided by the Greater Accra Regional Minister, Joseph Nii Afotey Agbo who has made part of his ministerial duties to influence chieftaincy and land matters.

Source: New Crusading Guide









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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The Africa Watch Magazine, one of the most widely read on the continent has hit back at the NPP vowing to publish more revelations about Nana Akufo Addos health and clandestine if the insults and lies continue.



Captioned, Ghana, the Lies and Insults Must Stop  Africawatch responds to Nana Addo Executive Editor, Steve Malorys message also descends on acting National Chairman, Freddie Blay describing him as a dangerous character.



The latest publication also makes reference to Edward Bumpty Akufo-Addo, the NPP Presidential candidates brother who is allegedly seriously ill. Bumpty, a leading member of NPP financiers status, is allegedly badly affecting the party which is currently broke and still facing difficulties in raising cash for campaign because of donor fatigue deepened by cracks within the party.



Nana Akufo Addo allegedly rewarded then deputy Governor of the Bank of Ghana, Dr Mahamadu Bawumia with the Vice Presidential slot for awarding the contract for printing of new currencies during the controversial redenomination exercise in 2007.



In a sharp response to attacks led by Freddie Blays newspaper, Daily Guide, Steve Mallory wrote;



Africawatch pride ourselves on being one of the most uncompromising, unbiased and truthful panAfrican magazines, and it was in that spirit that we covered in our August issue the health status of Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.. We felt it was a story of vital national and international interest, with ramifications for Ghanaians in the upcoming election as regarding Akufo-Addos personal health and ability to withstand the rigors of the Presidency.



The magazine exposes lies by a local Ghanaian doctor, Prof. Adu Gyamfi, who in a desperate attempt to water down the concerns about Nana Addos kidney and cancer disease told an Accra based radio station, JOY FM that the 72-year old Nana Addos Prostate-Specific Antigen (PSA) was not the extremely high 89.9 which we reported, but was only 0.03.



This response from someone who has been treating a 72-year-old man for the past two years is striking. If he had done so, he could have easily given at least a yes or no response to the simple question of whether Akufo-Addo has ever been to the Wellington Hospital. This alone calls into serious doubt his assertion of a current PSA count of 0.03, or anything else he may have to say regarding the candidates state of health. ..the publication emphasized.



The magazine also described as shocking and very disturbing, Akufo-Addos one clear response to all the issues at a rally in the Northern Region: Now, they say I have cancer, it will not work.



This, Steve Mallory finds very intriguing because Nana neither confirms nor denies the truth of the medical facts as reported by them.



MALLORY DARES NANA ADDO, EXPLAINS WHY FINANCIERS HAVE ABANDONED NPP



Steve Mallory, who as a personal friend of Nana Addo, was actively involved in fund raising activities for the NPP candidate is daring him to challenge me.



Africa Watch magazine further asserted, .I quit active politics in 2009 to return to journalism. As a journalist I would remain neutral and the magazine I edit would also remain neutral in Ghanaian politics. But as a friend, I have supported AkufoAddo in the past. For those who do not know and are saying all sorts of things, I have given Akufo-Addo money in the past to support his campaigns, but he has never, ever given me one cent or one pesewa for my personal use, contrary to what his men are alleging. I dare Akufo-Addo to prove me wrong. My only concern was how Akufo-Addos campaign funds were poorly handled and misused. I am therefore not surprised that people are not too keen this time around to open their wallets in support of the NPP 2016 campaign



Executive Editor Steve Mallory who stands by his publications says he is ready at any time to produce evidence in support of these assertions, including those related to the recent story on the health status of AkufoAddo.



Nana Akufo-Addo (left) and his wife Rebecca (right) arrive at Londons Heathrow Airport in the early morning of September 9. As before, while visiting there he did other public activities to mask the real reason for yet another trip to the UK for medical treatment for his prostate cancer.



According to Mallory, barely two weeks after series of attacks on the magazine for revealing Nana Addos, prostate cancer, he reportedly sneaked out of the country on a British Airways flight to London for a routine medical treatment, using the recent public lecture on the economy by Dr Mahamadu Bawumia as a decoy. Because of its earlier story, no announcement was made about Akufo-Addos sudden departure to London



In fact, he used a lecture in Accra on Ghanas economy by his running mate, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, as a cover to slip out to London. Akufo-Addo showed up at Bawumias lecture all right, to keep up appearances in fact, but after the event, when everybody was digesting what the former deputy governor of Ghanas Central Bank had said in his lecture, the presidential candidate took advantage of the din after the lecture to make good his escape to London for medical treatment.



The NPP according to the magazine is in a serious state of dilemma.



Now it appears Akufo-Addo has hit a snag that poses a threat to the NPP campaign. Three critical factors have come into play: The first is the fact that Akufo-Addos ill health is taking a serious toll on him. Second, his brothers deteriorating health has become a major distraction for him as well. Third, the Akufo-Addo family is financially weak and the NPP is almost broke.



The Africa Watch Magazine which has laced its boots for further NPP attacks mocks Nana Addo for failing to manage the NPP leaving it in a state of quandary, with very influential leaders deserting him or sitting on the fence while the NPP awaits a shocking defeat in the upcoming elections.

Source: The Republic









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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21 girls kidnapped by terrorist group Boko Haram in Nigeria have been released, according to government officials.

A spokesperson for President Muhammadu Buhari said the Chibok girls, who were taken by the group in 2014, were released by the group earlier today.

The release was reportedly the outcome of negotiations between the administration and Islamist militants.



It is believed theyre now safe in the city of Maidaguri, roughly 130km away from the site of their abduction.

Dozens of the 276 students are still missing, and are believed to still be in Boko Harams grasp within the Simbisa Forest.

Reports from as many as 57 girls who have previously fled their captors in the forest have been grim. It is believed many have been involved in sex slavery, or as fighters for the radical group.

Last year, Nigerian military forces disbanded several Boko Haram camps in the forest and rescued around 300 women, but the Chibok girls werent among that number.

It was the plight of these young women that inspired the #BringBackOurGirls hashtag, which was adopted by Malala Yousafzai and Michelle Obama, and eventually became one of the largest social media movements of all time.

This latest development has made that message a reality for nearly two-dozen victims of unimaginable hardships.



Source: CNN / BBC.

Photo: CNN / YouTube.
Mike Bairds backflip on shark nets on the NSW North Coast is copping some flak  both for his reversal of his position on the matter, and the suggestion by activists that nets are unnecessarily cruel, dont protect surfers and injure local wildlife.

Baird posted one of his trademark massive Facebook posts to explain his decision to backflip after two shark attacks near Ballina.

Baird claims that the mood had shifted, so shark nets were back on the table. The sentiment in that North Coast community has shifted. It was against nets. The recent attacks have started to shift that. There is a mood and a change within that community, he told Parliament.

The Premier says he will be writing the Federal Government to request a six-month trial for the nets, citing the current extraordinary circumstances.

This is the latest Baird policy backflip  after reversing his ban on greyhounds, and rumours circulating that he plans to loosen the states restrictive lockout laws  and not everybody is chuffed. World Animal Protection describe Bairds shark net solution as a cruel and crude backward step and not a solution:

They are indiscriminate death traps which will cause carnage for harmless marine animals. The nets designed to ensnare and kill sharks and any other marine animal that crosses their path. To be effective against shark attacks they need to kill so many sharks that they will render local shark populations extinct, taking other marine animals with them. Rays, turtles, dolphins and whales will all be casualties.

Ballina mayor David Wright remains opposed to shark nets too, despite the attacks in his area. Weve got a school of 50 dolphins at Lighthouse Beach at the moment and I still think there are better measures to deter shark attacks, he said.

Ballina Greens MP Tamara Smith also opposed shark nets.

Source: Facebook.

Photo: Getty Images.
Police have announced that the two teenage boys arrested in Bankstown yesterday on suspicion of radicalisation were planning an imminent, Islamic State-inspired terrorist attack.

The two 16-year-olds have been charged with membership of a terrorist organisation, and preparation to commit a terrorist act  which carries a maximum of life imprisonment.

The two boys went to a gun shop and purchased two bayonet-style knives. They caught a bus, and when they got off, police were waiting and arrested the pair in a Bankstown alleyway.





NSW Police Force Acting Commissioner Catherine Burn gave a press statement about the arrest today, saying,

We believe the attack was inspired by Islamic State. I think that this arrest again demonstrates the type of environment that we are currently faced with. We were well aware of these two 16-year-olds. We have been concerned about them. I think they had potential radicalisation from potentially radicalised peers. We know that they have connections with people who are radicalised and who are of concern to us.

While News Corp have reported that the boys carried religious statements that were to be read out while they carried out a beheading, Ms Burn would not comment as the matter is now before the courts.

We do have evidence. That will come out in court.

Police praised the quick actions of the Joint Counter Terrorism force, with Australian Federal Police Deputy Commissioner Michael Phelan telling reporters,

Had we not been in the right place at the right time certainly somebody, potentially today, would be, or another day, would be without their life.

Burn told reporters that police did not have specific information about intended target(s), and also declined to confirm reports the father of one of the teens has already been convicted of terror offences.

Source/Photo: 9 News.
As if Donald Trump couldnt look any worse right now after probably one of the worst campaign fortnights in US history, heres another barnstormer for ya: the New York Times reports that two women have come forward to claim that Trump groped or touched them inappropriately.

So much of the Trump campaigns damage control around the leaked tapes  in which he brags about grabbing women by the pussy, and kissing them without their consent  revolved around the fact it was all locker room talk: gross, sure, but absolutely not something hed ever done for real.

Well, the women who spoke to the Times definitely challenge that:

More than three decades ago, when she was a traveling businesswoman at a paper company, Ms. Leeds said, she sat beside Mr. Trump in the first-class cabin of a flight to New York. They had never met before. About 45 minutes after takeoff, she recalled, Mr. Trump lifted the armrest and began to touch her. According to Ms. Leeds, Mr. Trump grabbed her breasts and tried to put his hand up her skirt. He was like an octopus, she said. His hands were everywhere. She fled to the back of the plane. It was an assault, she said.

Another woman, Rachel Crooks, alleges that in 2005 Trump forced her into a kiss after refusing to release her hand during a handshake. Both women were spurred into sharing their stories based on Trumps repeated insistence that the things he said in the leaked tapes do not reflect him personally or his actual behaviour.

According to the NYT, attempts to contact Trump for comment were particularly Trumpy, for want of a better word.

None of this ever took place, said Mr. Trump, who began shouting at The Times reporter who was questioning him. He said that The Times was making up the allegations to hurt him and that he would sue the news organization if it reported them. You are a disgusting human being, he told the reporter as she questioned him about the womens claims. Asked whether he had ever done any of the kissing or groping that he had described on the recording, Mr. Trump was once again insistent: I dont do it. I dont do it. It was locker room talk.

This is all obviously very bad for the Trump camp. As much as the foaming-at-the-mouth Trump fans think this a specifically unique election in which the fear of bad trade deals and Muslim immigrants will coast Trump to victory, unfortunately being a weird racist sex predator with a bumpy business record and no political knowledge to speak of actually makes you look really fucking bad even against a widely disliked candidate like Hillary Clinton.

Heres what the electoral map looks like if only women vote:

Even among a rogues gallery of shithouse Republican candidates who think women should be sent to the Moon if they have an abortion, Trump looks like a wacko sex pest. This election is looking more and more like a bloody landslide.

Source: New York Times.

Photo: Getty Images.
Okay, its no secret that approximately ten billion people will be dressing up as Harley Quinn this Halloween, but a 21-year-old makeup enthusiast from Netherlands gets all the points for creativity.

Nora Belk, who is Muslim, uploaded a pic of herself dressed as Halal-ey Quinn to Reddit and it quickly shot to the top of the /pics/ subreddit.

She made the maroon-and-blue hijab herself with two colours she already had and a load of hijab pins.

Ive always had a thing for make-up, so when I decided to wear the hijab it just came naturally to incorporate it in the looks, she told PEDESTRIAN.TV. Its a part of my identity and who I stand for, so I wear it proudly. Especially with social media things like this surprise people, often people see the hijab as oppression but for me its freedom. And I thought it was a good way to share those feelings through make-up and cosplay like this.

Although shes always worn her hijab for Halloween costumes, she says this is the first time shes incorporated it into her cosplay.

Her Instagram @makeupwizardd is full of fire make-up looks both everyday and dress-up.

#discover_muas #makeup #bambi A photo posted by Nora (@makeupwizardd) on Oct 31, 2015 at 7:27am PDT

Unfortunately  this being the internet  some people have been absolutely gross in their replies.

Nora says she was expecting some bad reactions, but not as many as shes received.

The comments that I should take [the hijab] off to cosplay surprised me, she said. Some kept telling that I should get more accepted if I showed more skin, thats weird to me. And that I am oppressed even though I am being creative and I chose to wear the hijab myself. But A LOT of the comments were so sweet, they just sweep away the negative.



One (positive) Redditor even compared it to the hijabi Princess Leia costume that went viral three years ago

Nora replied to some of the gross commenters, saying: I love how most of the comments are people who are so so so mad about the way I live life, assumptions made on what they see on Fox News. Take a chill pill, Im just a five and a half foot girl with a hijab who likes makeup and puns and eats way too much. Love for all religions and races, and understanding is the key.



Photo: Supplied.
Harry Potter actor Devon Murray  a.k.a. the explosion-happy Seamus Finnigan  has opened up about his depression for the first time, in order to give awareness to mental illnesses and mark World Mental Health Day.

In a series of tweets, Murray revealed how hed been dealing with depression for a decade, and experienced suicidal thoughts for the first time this year, saying he was pretty much getting ready to hang [him]self.

Ive been battling depression in silence for ten years & only recently spoke about it and has made a huge difference #worldmentalhealthday  Devon Murray (@DevonMMurray) October 10, 2016

I had suicidal thoughts this year and that was the kick up the arse that I needed! Open up, talk to people #worldmentalhealthday  Devon Murray (@DevonMMurray) October 10, 2016

If you suspect a friend or family member is suffering in silence #ReachOut to them. Let them know you care #worldmentalhealthday  Devon Murray (@DevonMMurray) October 10, 2016

After he sent out the tweets and started receiving supportive feedback, he decided to speak to Eoghan McDermott on Irish radio station RTE 2fm.

He said that this discussion of mental illness had happened just five months after he and his parents had to pay back the 260,000 he owed his former agent in unpaid commission fees.

In court, his mother Fidelma Murray said hed spend a good chunk of his 1,000,000 on drinking, taken out girls and cars, because that is what teenage boys do.

Devon told RTE:

I felt like I had let down my parents, I felt like I couldnt do anything right. I was pointless, I was just a disaster. And then come April, I had to stand in the barn and I had to clean out all of the horses stables. Id turn them out onto the arena, Id turn them out onto the fields and I had a laundering rope. And I threw it over one of the bannisters in the barn and I was pretty much getting ready to hang myself.

So I text my mam and my dad and I cant remember exactly what I said to them but it was me asking them for help without me actually asking for help.

He said that being away from his family as a child actor contributed to his depression:

Harry Potter was the best thing in my life but in a sense it kind of turned into some of the worst times of my life. So now Im in a good place I want to get back into the saddle again and get out acting and just be me again and do what I love.

Earlier this year, Devon revealed he was a mess as his family were going through some difficult times. He said it was worst time of [his] life.



The actor says hes now in a much better place and is happy to talk about everything.

Source: Twitter / @DevonMMurray.

Photo: Warner Bros.

If you or someone else is in an emergency situation, please call 000 immediately. To contact the Mental Illness Fellowship of Australia call their national helpline on 1800 985 944. To reach SANE, a national charity helping Aussies affected by mental illness lead a better life, call their helpline on 1800 187 263. If you or someone else needs support in a crisis situation please holla at Lifeline on 13 11 14.
Jessica Leeds arrives at her apartment building, Wednesday, Oct. 12, 2016, in New York. Leeds was one of two women who told the New York Times that Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump touched her inappropriately. (AP Photo/Julie Jacobson)
Downtown Petoskey celebrates Halloween in style with annual parade

The sun was shining on Saturday morning as hundreds of trick-or-treaters took to the streets of downtown Petoskey for the annual Halloween Parade.




The fork reviewed here costs $140 USD less and is just 77 grams (0.16lb) heavier than the equivalent, higher-end Factory Series Float 34, largely due to the use of Fox's new GRIP damper that the company says is less expensive to manufacture compared to the FIT4 damper employed in their Factory forks. The question that needs answering, then, is how this new and less expensive fork compares to its pricier brother, and which one makes the most sense for you.



34 Float GRIP Details



 Intended use: trail

 Travel: 140mm (120mm tested)

 Float air spring

 New GRIP damper

 Three-position compression w/ micro adjust

 Rebound adjustment

 15mm Boost or standard 15mm thru-axle

 Black-anodized stanchions

 Tapered steerer tube only

 Weight: 1,906 grams / 4.2lbs (w/ axle)

 MSRP: $739 USD

 High-end mountain bike suspension doesn't come cheap these days. The fact that a mega-expensive suspension fork performs impressively isn't really news; it damn well better, and for a long time. The story of mountain bike suspension now and over the coming years will be about how companies will bring that sort of performance to lower price points - which is exactly what Fox is hoping to do with their $739 USD Fox 34 Float GRIP fork that's tested below.The fork reviewed here costs $140 USD less and is just 77 grams (0.16lb) heavier than the equivalent, higher-end Factory Series Float 34, largely due to the use of Fox's new GRIP damper that the company says is less expensive to manufacture compared to the FIT4 damper employed in their Factory forks. The question that needs answering, then, is how this new and less expensive fork compares to its pricier brother, and which one makes the most sense for you. Intended use: trail Travel: 140mm (120mm tested) Float air spring New GRIP damper Three-position compression w/ micro adjust Rebound adjustment 15mm Boost or standard 15mm thru-axle Black-anodized stanchions Tapered steerer tube only Weight: 1,906 grams / 4.2lbs (w/ axle) MSRP: $739 USD www.ridefox.com / @foxracingshox

New FIT GRIP Damper

The FIT4 damper is closed, meaning that all of the damping oil is sealed inside of the cartridge, it's bled free of air, and it also uses an extruded rubber bladder as a compensator for oil displacement as the fork is compressed. The FIT GRIP damper is also closed, but it employs a spring-backed internal floating piston as a compensator - it does the same job as the bladder in the FIT4 damper - and, according to Fox, a completely different anatomy. ''They are both FIT (Fox Isolated Technology) sealed cartridges, but use different design architectures,'' Mark Jordan, Fox's Global Marketing Manager, explained.



''Simplifying things a bit, the FIT4 design uses different flow paths to achieve different compression damping settings, while the GRIP damper increases / decreases force on the shim stack to regulate the compression damping.''



Rather than being a budget version of the FIT4 damper that's manufactured with more cost effective components, the FIT GRIP damper is so different that it doesn't actually share a single part with the FIT4 design.



A spring-backed IFP is something that's been around for years in both mountain bike and the moto worlds, but the FIT GRIP damper does have something that you probably haven't seen before: a small bleed passage, called the 'Purge Port,' that's located on the spring-side of the IFP. This allows oil to actually back-fill slightly behind the IFP as it passes over what is essentially a small dimple in the shaft. ''During bottom out, the Purge Port can relieve any excess oil or air out the top,'' Jordan said before going on to explain that it also makes for easier bleeding during manufacturing because it allows them to skip the vacuum bleed process that the FIT4 damper goes through - it can essentially bleed itself by way of over overfilling during assembly.

The Purge Port is the teardrop shaped dimple at the center of the damper rod.

The GRIP damper offers three settings, as well as micro-adjust positions between each that allow you run the dial anywhere between fully open and fully closed.

Same Chassis and Float Air Spring

The fork's stanchions, crowns and steerer, and lowers are all exactly the same as found on the more expensive Factory Series forks.

Need to adjust the fork's progression? A set of simple clip-on volume spacers snap into place under the fork's top cap, and each accounts for 10 CCs of volume. The first one slides onto the underside of the fork cap, while each one clips onto the one above it. They're shaped not to rattle against the inside of the stanchion tube, with small fins of sorts that extend out to keep them from moving around.



Those who spend a lot of time on steep terrain, ride at a high level, or are heavier might want to run more volume spacers than someone whose trails are less vertical or isn't as aggressive on the bike.

Clip-on volume spacers are used to tune the fork's progression.

Riding the Fox 34 Float GRIP

Sensitivity and Air Spring

I spent months on the 34 Float GRIP, swapping the fork between a Kona Honzo CR and an Ibis Ripley.

Float is Float, no matter what the price point. The 34 Float GRIP's air spring is the same as used on the Factory fork.

Chassis Performance

Torsional rigidity is my least favorite thing to make a call on. I could ramble on for hours about damper and spring settings, but one man's perfect can be another's not enough when talking about flex. My disclaimer is always this: given all the possible variables - basically everything on the front of your bike - this is always a tough one to gauge. Simply using a different front wheel, a tire with a stiffer or more forgiving casing, or even changing tire pressure, can alter your perception of a fork's torsional rigidity. I know that some of the European media is all about putting forks and frames on testing jigs to measure this and that, with them basing a lot of their reviews on what machines tell them, but a lab is not the real world, and flex can be a good thing.

The same chassis means the same torsional rigidity as Fox's more expensive 34 forks.

James Lissimore photo

Damper Performance

The Factory and Performance 34 forks are very different, in both price and damper design, but offer similar performance.

The GRIP damper supplies more than enough low-speed compression control, and is also easily tuneable via the crown mounted dial.

Pinkbike's Take:

Offering a lot of performance for a lot of money isn't good enough these days; it's simply expected. But coming to the table with a product that performs as well as more expensive options, and even better in some cases, is a much more noteworthy achievement. And that's what Fox has done with the new 34 Float GRIP. It's still not inexpensive, and there are lighter forks out there, but the 34 Float GRIP offers performance that would have been unheard of only a handful of years ago, let alone in a package that saves you money compared to forks that offer basically the same sort of performance. - Mike Levy

The 34 Float GRIP shares the same chassis (minus the gold treatment on the stanchions) and air spring as the high-end Factory version, but it's the damper side of the fork where things are different. Fox's Factory-level offerings come equipped with their closed FIT4 damper, whereas less expensive Fox forks previously made use of an open damper that didn't offer the same kind of consistency and sophistication. Open dampers allow the oil to slosh around more and mix with air in the system, which causes foaming (otherwise known as cavitation) and an inconsistent feel. This is why most high-end suspension forks use some type of closed damper.Now, with the FIT GRIP damper in the Performance Series, Fox says that they're able to produce a less expensive closed cartridge that should offer much more consistent control compared to an open design, but at a lower price point than their Factory Series forks come in at.How is the FIT GRIP damper, pictured above, different than the FIT4 damper?Lowering costs was Fox's main goal, and Jordan went on to explain their approach. ''The design goals were different between FIT4 and GRIP. GRIP needed to more affordable, didnt need to offer as much adjustment, and wasnt as focused on weight as much. But we still wanted a damper that performed well and took a different approach to the project,'' he said of the new design. ''Rather than designing a simple damper with fewer parts to reduce cost, we focused on taking a quality damper, reducing cost while maintaining performance. We wanted to design a damper that anyone could ride and be happy.''The FIT GRIP damper on Performance Series forks, such as the 34 that's reviewed here, provide Open, Medium, and Firm compression modes for riders to choose between by toggling a crown-mounted dial, as well as additional micro-adjust settings between those modes. Low-speed rebound is still tuned via an anodized red aluminum dial at the bottom of the same leg.While the Performance 34's FIT GRIP damper is all-new, the fork's chassis is the same as its more expensive Factory brother. That means that it uses the identical 7000-series aluminum crown and stanchions, minus the pricey Kashima coating that has always been more show than go in my mind. Instead, Fox has gone with a sharp-looking black finish for the fork's stanchions, one that the company says doesn't offer any performance advantage over a standard surface, but that's obviously less expensive to manufacture than Kashima-treated tubes.The lowers are also the same as what you'll find on the Factory 34, although they get more subdued graphics, and that means that you'll also find the same tool-free, 15mm thru-axle that Fox puts to use on most of their fork range.The Performance 34's Float air spring is exactly what you'll find inside the Factory-level forks as well, with it taking cues from their Float shock. ''On the 36, the transfer port was on the shaft, allowing travel changes with spacers and by repositioning the shaft height,'' Jordan said of the difference between the 34 and 36's air spring system. ''On the 34, weve removed the shaft and the need for a seal to make it lighter, and now the transfer port is on the upper tube, just like with our Float shocks.'' This should also offer less friction due to the system depending on one less air seal.- The GRIP fork doesn't get the Kashima treatment or see the low-friction seal head used in the FIT4 damper - this fork is supposed to be a price-conscious alternative, don't forget - so it shouldn't feel as slippery as its costlier brother. But it does, and I'm not just talking about out-of-the-box freshness here, as I've had the blacked-out fork on the front of my bike for months on end now and have given it little to no love. Sure, I've wiped off the seals now and then, but I've yet to feel the need to drop the fork's lowers, and its performance hasn't given me any reason to think that I should.As I've said in the past about other supple forks, the 34 Float GRIP's near frictionless stroke means that you can run a firmer spring rate if required but without seeing as much chatter passed up through the fork and into the rider's hands. More traction? Probably.For comparison's sake, I also have a Factory Series Float 34 - Kashima, FIT4 damper, and all of Fox's tricks are inside of it - and the two forks feel equal on the slipperiness scale, both on the bike and just giving them a push on the floor. The 34 Float GRIP matches the pricier Factory Series fork, and it's also comparable to anything from RockShox, X-Fusion, or anyone else.Given that the two share the same air spring, it's no surprise to see the 34 Float GRIP employ the same clip-on volume spacers used inside the Factory Series fork. A single spacer accounts for 10cc of volume, and just one can make a big difference in how the fork ramps up. No surprise, then, that I ended up running either four or five spacers inside the Float GRIP depending on where I was riding, much like I did with the Factory 34. Pressure-wise, I would usually range between 70 and 75 PSI depending on where I was riding; fast and rough laps down Top of the World, Khyber, and Kush in Whistler saw me run less air and an extra volume spacer, whereas my faster but less demanding home mountains would see me run more air and remove a spacer.- The 34 Float GRIP is assembled around the exact same chassis as the Factory 34 that I've already reviewed, including the same stanchions (sans Kashima), crown and steerer tube assembly, and also the same lowers, so I'm going to say the exact same thing:Anyways, is the 34 torsionally rigid enough? Yes, and I didn't feel anything in the way of imprecise steering feedback. At 170lbs, I don't think the 34 needs to be one iota stiffer in this regard. Keep in mind that my 34 Float GRIP was set at 120mm of travel for testing, not 150 or 160mm. The 36 and Pike are obviously going to be more rigid at those numbers, but there's also a weight gain there, so it all comes down to what sort of balance you're looking to hit. For me and how I ride, I'm more than happy with what the 120mm-travel 34 offers.- The reason for the existence of the GRIP damper is because Fox wanted to create a lower priced alternative to their FIT4-equipped Factory-level forks but still offer better performance than the open system they had been using. And they've done exactly that; GRIP puts the older open-style damper to shame in every way possible, but that's kinda to be expected, isn't it? Of course, but the GRIP damper also does something else...It matches the FIT4 damper's performance in most ways, at least when talking about subjective feel on the trail. I'm sure that Fox has charts and dyno graphs showing how, when, and why the FIT4 damper is superior to the supposedly lower-end GRIP system, but the two feel basically identical to me in nearly every regard, which is a win for anyone wanting or needing to buy a new fork.With the three-position compression dial turned all the way to the left and fully open, the GRIP damper still offers more than adequate low-speed compression control. The front wheel tracks the ground exceptionally well, and this was my go-to setting when it was wet, loose, or I simply needed a more forgiving feel at the front of my bike. The damper's middle setting is comparable to the middle setting on the three-position FIT4 damper, with maybe a bit more support, and the closed setting is also firmer than the closed setting that the FIT4 damper offers.I spent a lot of the time with the GRIP compression dial turned roughly one-fourth of the way in from fully open, a setting that still offered plenty of forgiveness from but also a touch more support to make the bike playful and lively.The GRIP damper's three settings feel similar to the three modes that the Factory fork has, and while there are also vaguely defined micro-adjust settings in between each of the three modes on the GRIP damper, it's still less adjustable than the ultra-tuneable, twenty-click low-speed compression dial (in Open mode) of the Factory fork. Did I miss this? Not at all, but only because Fox hasn't skimped on low-speed support with the GRIP damper. I also believe that the very, very large majority of riders would be just as happy with the three modes and micro-adjust combo dial on the GRIP damper as they would with the three modes and twenty-click low-speed compression dial of the more expensive FIT4 system.In my mind, a lot of riders might be more likely to adjust the GRIP damper purely because it's simpler to understand, but the best part is that while it's less tuneable in a way, it offers nearly identical performance compared to the FIT4-equipped Factory forks.I doubt many (or any?) riders could tell the difference in performance between the pricier FIT4 damper and the money-saving GRIP design. Riders will need to decide if they want to spend the extra $140 USD to get gold coloured stanchions, save a negligible 77 grams, and have a bit more damper adjustment. And me? The pricier Factory Series 34 is still leaning up against the wall in my workshop while the GRIP fork is on my bike, and I don't see that changing anytime soon.
Hashtag Road to Rampage...

Yehaww folks, get ready for a rowdy ride out here in the Wild West of Virgin Utah. You are here.

There's nothing about Rampage that isn't scary; at least these fellas aren't poisonous like the rattlers!

No caption required.

Practice for Rampage means early days. Riders and their teams have been toiling a week straight to scratch in their lines. Even with that amount of time to dig, as well as teams collaborating on lines, the work's not done yet. Riders still need to stitch it all together. Carson Storch knows the drill: the sun had barely cracked the horizon and the Bend, OR native was already on site.

First man up and on the bike this morning; the mighty B-Sem. Brandon Semenuk checking tire pressure and one of the first riders on the hill this morning to get some runs in before the heat blazed down.

Gear packing. Ale Di Lullo getting ready for the day. Media is a gnarly battle out there with many elements to deal with to deliver the coverage.

T-Mac's dig team spent so much time filling a gazillion sand bags for the "Goblin Drop-in", all they had left was this itty-bitty shovel for the finish work on the hill.

The new 2016 venue in all its gnarly glory.

Alarm bells are ringing when this is the kind of gear you need to dig your lines. Most of the monstrous cliff drops are totally blind so the riders need braille; the calling card of Rampage.

Semenuk hiking up early morning for some final packing and warm ups. Semenuk warming up on his line mid-mountain first thing in the morning.

Semenuk evidently had two helpings of Wheaties this morning; following that step up ejection and subsequent successful flat spin 3 sendoff off that hit, Semenuk grabbed lunch, hiked back up, and swung a pick with his crew, putting the finishing touches on his next feature past the step up. Any doubts as to how much he wants it this year? Semenuk ain't afraid to get dirty. The "one take" wonder kid was hard at work shaping his step up midway down his line.

Carson Storch and Brandon Semenuk team playing the lower slopes under the heat of the midday sun.

Expect to see all the steezy trimmings on Semenuk's finals run; nose taps and all.

Did the guinea pig run build complacency? No idea. But on his second run into the step up, Semenuk had to hit the eject button. HARD.

Despite a gnarly rag doll on his eject, Semenuk stepped it up and sent it a few minutes later with a flat spin 3.

One of the two Great British hopes at Rampage, Sam Reynolds, with a long day of hard labour ahead of him.

Logan Binggeli

Tom van Steenbergen testing out a drop mid-mountain.

Cason Storch looking as handsome as ever. Carson Storch has a line filled with big hits, fun, and flowy jumps all the way down.

Carson Storch is one of the youngest competitors, but is brimming with big mountain promise. Here he takes his first attempt at the sandbag special he shares with Bearclaw and T-mac.

Reunion; Paul B stepped off a Razor today to a hearty welcome from Cam Zink and Kyle Strait.

Paul Basagoitia made a surprise appearance today and is sticking around until tomorrow. So great to see him back after just one year on two feet.

This year Kiwi, Conor McFarlane came to Rampage to rip out throats, but yesterday's guinea-pigging took its toll. His line has some of the most appalling gaps that even the likes of Lacondeguy said they'd refuse to ride.

Cam Zink ahead of another year of nothing but f-king good times.

Bourdo water duty.

It's hot, milk was a bad choice. Sun's out guns out for Aggy.

Aggy on top of his hydration, nearing the end of some 10 hours digging on his line.

Thomas Genon stomping his stepdown for the first time on the middle ridge.

Thomas Genon ripping down the middle ridge during the last light.

No insane lines out of hell for Nico Vink this year, but you'll find him in the judging 'booth' on Friday.

The first person on site at the first ever Rampage is now back to judge for his first time. Tough crowd of judges and builders.

Midday hood rat games in the desert. Gamblin'

Van Steenbergen dropping into his step up feature.

Practicing for the 2016 Red Bull Rampage held outside of Virgin, UT

Tommy G dropping down the center ridge with a fluid, smooth style.

Guniea Pig runs are always nerve-racking. Kyle Strait givin' er on his canyon gap.

Kyle Strait was the first to hit the big sender today over 45 feet down. Zink crashed while running into it on the canyon gap and sat the rest of the evening out.

The elephant on the left ridge: the Green Goblin Step Down. Many riders thought it was impossible for this to be built. But four riders pooled their resources and voila. The Green Goblin was born.

Brendan Fairclough, prepping the sketchy route he will take alongside half the field who elected to ride the rightward ridge. See the sandbags of the landing towards the bottom right of the frame.

Brendan cleared his canyon gap in the last light but cased hard and went OTB. Happy to be alive and well nonetheless.

Andreau chipping in a few final touches on this year's version of his step down.

Andreu Lacondeguy whipping his hit that he soon 450'd for the first time. Andreu Lacondeguy guinea pigging a large drop halfway down the mountain.

Guinea pig time on the mini canyon gap for Cam Zink. On a subsequent run in, Zink slipped a pedal and fell into the canyon. Shaken but not badly injured, the YT rider took it easy for the rest of the day.

Cam Zink went into the canyon hard. He had been pedalling into the drop to test speed in a high gear; hiked way up to roll into the canyon gap only to slip a pedal off the lip while cranking into it.

"You're gonna drop in where?" "Right here." The top of that cliff, you mean?" "Yeah, the top of that cliff. I have a sneaker line on the side in case we can't actually build in an entrance." You're gonna go where?!? NBC color commentary coordinator with a bit of disbelief as James Doerfling outlines his route on the map of the course.

Last year Aggy and Andreu's hip was such a hit with judges, media, and other riders, similar super-booters have cropped up all over the new mountain. Monster gives you wings.

Aggy pioneers the first of many enormous step-downs on his descent.

Yeah, door number one for Doerfling and Aggy. Number 2 is their side entrance. At day's end both dropped in on door number 2. Unreal.

Doerfling and Aggy (mid right) get ready to drop into their chute from the 'plan B' route. Plan A is more, you know... straight down from the top.

Doerfling hits 1000mph. Almost no exaggeration. Aggy and Doerfling's line goes straight down the mountain and both of them took turns hitting it for the first time today. It's already crazy steep, and the small drops throughout the run make it even more full on.

Money light on the upper portion of the venue. Yes, it is as steep as it looks. It is most definitely a step up in difficulty and consequence from last year's venue.

Darren Berrecloth whipping into the sunset. T-Mac sessioning his hip in the glowing last light over Zion.

Tyler McCaul spent some time on his hip with Bearclaw this evening dialing in the lower end of their line.

Glowing red rocks.

With the only available light coming from the moon, it's close of play. Tomorrow the riders will be up first thing to tick off a few more monsters...

This morning was fresh here in the Utah desert. It was cold and crisp  and incredibly dusty  as we rolled into the new canyon that will be hosting Red Bull Rampage this year. Being the first day that media is allowed onsite, most were more eager than the athletes, arriving onsite before them. But there is something incredibly cool about standing at the bottom of the Rampage course in nearly complete silence and imagining what the riders will make of the lines theyve etched into the rock.The new location has succeeded in shedding the skin of last years drama surrounding line stealing. In appearance its not any bigger, but it already has a calmer and friendlier vibe. Athletes seem less tense, even more jovial than in the past; perhaps it has to the do with the mandatory rest day or less pressure with media not allowed on site until today. They might have less anxiety with the lack of a qualification round; allowing everyone to focus on the same goal or it could even be that there are simply less riders this year  whatever the key is, this year already seems to be leaning in favour of the athletes.The athletes and their dig crews spent much of today still building  some teams working together to cover more territory. When the sun finally dropped behind the ridge, riders began to session some of their sections and some of the gnarlier and most anticipated lines of the competition. @redbullbike / @dbaker / @parisgore / @natedh9 / @meagerdude
It's been two years since the Orb-3 explosion. What's the mood of your workforce like as you prepare for return-to-flight, and how has that changed since the initial accident?

The workforce was understandably disappointed after Orb-3, but by the next day, Orbital ATK had announced a plan to continue to deliver on our cargo resupply contract with NASA while implementing several upgrades to Antares. That inspired confidence in the workforce, and everyone has been working very hard for the last two years to execute this plan. It has been challenging, and many dedicated employees have worked long hours and weekends to get us to this point, but now everyone is very excited to see Antares launch again.

During these past two years, you formed partnerships with ULA to keep Cygnus flying, and Energomash to supply the RD-181 engine. Has it been a challenge to set all of that up quickly?

It was important to us to maintain a steady cadence of Cygnus deliveries to the station while simultaneously upgrading Antares. It was not easy to do this, and we appreciate the support our partners provided to help us execute this plan.

How difficult has it been to adapt an existing launch vehicle to new engines? Can you talk a little bit about that process?

The RD-181 engines were actually nearly as close to a drop-in replacement as we could find. There were still many changes required to other vehicle systems that interface with the engines such as the propellant feedlines, the avionics systems, structures and the core. We were able to accomplish this successfully culminating in a hot fire test of the entire stage with the new engines in May and are now ready for launch in just a few days.

What have you learned since test-firing the rocket stack on the pad with the RD-181 for the first time?

The stage test configuration included a substantial amount of instrumentation and provided a significant amount of data for how the entire system works together, including the performance of the engines, core and avionics as well as tanking/detanking and interfaces with the pad. Our engineers have reviewed all those data in great detail. There were no significant surprises providing the confidence we needed to move forward to launch.

Have you made any other modifications to the launcher, other than the engines?

The only significant changes were those made to the avionics, structures and core stage necessary to support the new engines. There are some very minor modifications to other systems, but those were product enhancements that have always been part of our plan.

What about the ascent profile of the vehicle? Is there a timeline available for key events like staging? And how has that changed from earlier launches?

There is a timeline available in the mission notebook given out at L-1. With the higher performance of the engines we actually get to orbit a little faster with first stage main engine cutoff at 3.5 minutes and Cygnus separation in orbit at 9 minutes into the mission. Prior launches had Cygnus separation roughly one minute later into the mission sequence.

Has your pad flow changed dramatically, in terms of Cygnus integration and getting the vehicle assembled and rolled to the pad?

No, there have been no changes to pad flow.

You recently debuted your enhanced Cygnus vehicle, and it sounds like it's performing very well. What kind of results are you seeing from the upgrades?

As a result of our enhanced Cygnus vehicle, we have increased cargo capacity by 500kg-800kg. OA-4 and OA-6 had smooth missions with no anomalies.

Orbital is one of several companies currently with a NextSTEP-2 award hoping to build cislunar habitats for NASA's Journey to Mars. Does having Cygnus flight experience help as you approach your habitat design?

Yes, this is a great opportunity to highlight the heritage of our flight proven Cygnus spacecraft for long-term operations in deep space. The technology, together with Cygnus modular design that enables it to carry a variety of payloads, makes it an ideal platform for human space exploration. By 2021 we would launch an initial habitat module aboard NASA's heavy lift SLS rocket with a crewed Orion capsule. This mission would serve to prove out the Orion capsule and deploy the initial habitat in cislunar space. When Orion and the crew return to Earth, the module would remain, operating autonomously, acting as a platform for experiments and serving as a destination for future crewed missions.

What are some of the main challenges and differences you'll face if you take a Cygnus-based spacecraft from low-Earth orbit and moved it out to the moon?

Cislunar space, in the details, has somewhat different environments than low earth orbit. The cislunar communications and navigation functionality must be different than in low earth orbit because of the much greater distance to earth. However, even with modifications to Cygnus to accommodate these differences, Orbital ATK believes this is still the most reliable and cost effective approach to an early outpost in cislunar space. This module would augment the Orion vehicle with additional supplies, equipment, and living space, and could provide additional options to the crew during an unplanned contingency.

Do you eventually hope to move Antares into a launch market beyond NASA missions?

Yes. For example, we plan to offer Antares for NASA science mission launches. In pursuit of that goal, weve on-ramped the Antares to the NLS-II contract used by NASA/KSC to procure science mission launches. By the terms of that contract, we need to have a first flight of the 230 configuration under our belts before we can bid on any missions.
A report released Wednesday by the U.S. Department of Justice accuses the San Francisco Police Department of implicit and institutionalized bias against minority groups.

The report found the majority of deadly use of force incidents by the department involved persons of color, the Associated Press reports.

Additionally, on traffic stops, African American drivers were disproportionately stopped and more African American and Hispanic drivers were searched and arrested compared to whites.

"The assessment team found the San Francisco Police Department to be an organization of good intention but that sometimes failed in execution with respect to accountability and ensuring appropriate cultural standards," the report says.

City officials requested the review following the shooting death last year of Mario Woods, a young black man, and the discovery of homophobic and racist text messages exchanged between officers.
The Los Angeles Police Commission approved a sweeping set of reforms Tuesday aimed at getting officers to hold their fire.

One of the reforms requires officers to exhaust all non-lethal means before shooting, and practice de-escalation during incidents. The department already teaches this in its academy for new recruits, but enacting it as policy means that officers could be disciplined for failing to see a reasonable alternative to shooting.

The package approved by the police commission also includes providing more training for officers to help them develop better de-escalation and verbal skills when confronted with a violent suspect.

Finally, the commission asked the department to come back in 90 days with specifics on how it can be more transparent after shootings.

Police union leaders have denounced the proposals, worried it will make officers hesitant to shoot, thus endangering their own lives, SCPR.org reports.

The commission has become nothing more than a group of pandering apologists in support of misinformed professional protesters, the unions board of directors said in a statement. These latest batch of proposals are more of the same, solutions in search of a problem.
Blue Lives Matter is calling on all Americans to send a message to Ben & Jerrys, and parent company Unilever, to boycott all Ben & Jerrys products.

Ben & Jerrys just recently announced their support for Black Lives Matter along with a misinformation campaign accusing law enforcement of widespread systemic and institutionalized racism. Many companies have offered misguided statements of support for Black Lives Matter in the past, with the false belief that they are expressing support for civil rights.

Black Lives Matter is not a civil rights group. Most people have their own personal beliefs about what Black Lives Matter means to them. They think that their personal definition for Black Lives Matter is what the organized BLM groups stand for; this is not the case. While we believe that other companies were misguided, Ben & Jerrys campaign is dangerous.

Ben & Jerrys went beyond making a statement in support of civil rights when they actively accused law enforcement of widespread racism. By spreading these false and misleading statements, Ben & Jerrys lends an appearance of legitimacy to the baseless claims that police officers are killing men based on the color of their skin. This message has inspired the assassination and attempted assassination of police officers, and it costs officers their lives.

Black Lives Matter is made up of political organizations with political goals that most of Ben & Jerrys customers would disagree with, including disrupting the nuclear family structure (see Black Villages), taxpayer-funded slavery reparations for black people (see Reparations), and the elimination of charter schools (see Invest-Divest.) If you are unfamiliar with the Movement 4 Black Lives website we linked to, thats the coalition of over 50 Black Lives Matter organizations which is receiving $100 million in donations to push their political goals.

By not only attacking law enforcement, but openly supporting Black Lives Matter, Ben & Jerrys is sure to anger most Americans who do not agree with the political causes that they are supporting.

Blue Lives Matter is calling on all Americans to boycott all Ben & Jerrys products and send a message that we do not agree with Black Lives Matter or their goals. Please get the word out about the importance of this boycott.

What are your thoughts on the issue? Let us know in the comments below or on our Facebook page.
FLIR IdentiFinder R100 personal radiation detector (Photo: FLIR)

FLIR Systems Inc. today announced the IdentiFinder R100 personal radiation detector, the latest addition to its IdentiFinder R-Series handheld radiation security solutions. The belt-worn R100 integrates networking capabilities to safeguard first responders, law enforcement, and military and security personnel by delivering immediate radiation threat alarms and providing automatically generated radiation dose rate reports to offer increased situational awareness to central command personnel.

The IdentiFinder R100 is the industry's first IP67-certified and American National Standards Institute (ANSI) drop-test compliant personal radiation detector, according to the company. The device meets the 1.5M drop criteria required by ANSI N42.32, one of the key performance standards for alarming PRDs in Homeland Security. The IP67 rating assures the R100 is protected against dust and immersion in water up to 1M depth. The unit features integrated Bluetooth Smart wireless technology which facilitates recording and sending real-time dose rates and geotag information via a companion mobile app.

The R100 joins the IdentiFinder product family in offering a complete range of radiation security solutions, from threat detection to threat identification. All IdentiFinder models, including the IdentiFinder R100, share the same field-proven, intuitive user interface, which enables coordinated emergency response between law enforcement, firefighters, and HAZMAT teams using any IdentiFinder product, according to FLIR.

"As the only ANSI drop-test -compliant and IP67-certified personal radiation detector, the R100 is the industry's most rugged personal radiation detector for first responders," said Dennis Barket, Jr., Vice President and General Manager of FLIR Detection. "When deployed across teams, the R100 provides a primary detection net that protects the frontline against radiological threats, while the integrated networking features eliminate communication blind spots for central command."

FLIR will showcase the IdentiFinder R100 for the first time at the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) Show on October 1618 in San Diego, CA, booth #5251. The IdentiFinder R100 will begin shipping globally in January 2017 with pricing starting at $1,195. To learn more about the IdentiFinder R100, visit: http://www.flir.com/r100.

For more information about FLIR, visit FLIR's website at www.FLIR.com.
Nuance Communications Inc. today announced Nuance Dragon Law Enforcement  its first professional productivity solution designed specifically for law enforcement professionals. Dragon Law Enforcement features powerful dictation and voice command capabilities to improve report accuracy and timeliness, speed data entry into records management systems (RMS) or other applications, and enable common look-up tasks via voice command  all at up to three times faster than typing, with up to 99% accuracy, according to the company.

Nuance will demonstrate Dragon Law Enforcement in Booth #3757 at the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) Conference and Exposition, October 1518, 2016 at the San Diego Convention Center.

Dragon Law Enforcement delivers on the need of law enforcement professionals, including police officers and sergeants, for a fast, accurate way to safely and efficiently meet daily reporting and documentation demands  all while being able to capture more detail in the moment versus reporting an incident hours later. Documenting by voice also allows officers to be heads-up and more situationally aware by minimizing the need for use of the mobile data terminal (MDT) keyboard while on patrol. Dragon Law Enforcement also performs voice-activated license plate and arrest lookups to instantly assess potential danger.

Additional benefits include:

Reduced time tethered to a computer manually typing reports, allowing officers to be more visible in the community and more productive in their patrol cars

Easier software license management for law enforcement IT staff with the ability to manage user profiles and custom settings.

"Like other professions, law enforcement professionals face reporting and documentation challenges. However, these documentation demands can oftentimes impact not only productivity but officer safety and their ability to be more visible in the community," said Peter Mahoney, senior vice president and general manager of Dragon. "By leveraging our experience in serving the law enforcement community along with the input from police officers nationally, we have introduced a customized and tailored documentation solution that directly addresses their unique documentation needs."

Dragon and its Positive Impact on Law Enforcement

Police departments across North America have already experienced the benefits of Dragon. For instance,

The Clearwater Police Department reduced report-writing time by more than 50% to give its officers the ability to get back on the street.

A police department in Colorado has estimated a savings of $195,000 every year because it no longer pays a transcription service.

The Rogers Police Department in Minnesota decided to implement Dragon as a means to streamline the reporting process and increase overall department efficiencies. According to Chief Jeffrey Beahen of the Rogers (MN) Police Department, "Seeing content on the screen as they dictate is helping the officers produce more thorough and accurate reports. They're able to review, edit and fill in missing details as they go, which makes a big difference."

Delivering on the Needs of Police Chiefs

The latest Dragon solution also meets the appeal by International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) President Terrence Cunningham to police departments across the country to demand speech recognition solutions, according to the company. When he was sworn into office in October 2015, Cunningham, who also serves as Chief of Police for the Wellesley (MA) Police Department, said:

"I believe we must focus on the role of technology in policing. There is no doubt that technology can be a great asset to our officers, but there are times when it can also be a deadly distraction. Specifically, I'm talking about officers and troopers dying or being severely injured due to the distractions of technology in their vehicles. We need to demand a solution that allows officers to keep their head up while issuing verbal commands to run a query, change a radio frequency, or activate their emergency lights."

Dragon Law Enforcement effectively meets Cunningham's proposed demand by delivering a solution capable of running common queries by voice.

For more information on availability and pricing, visit Dragon Law Enforcement on Nuance.com.

For more information about Nuance Communications, visit www.nuance.com.
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Trying to play damage control for Donald Trump in the wake of another devastating story, senior Trump campaign advisor AJ Delgado stormed the airwaves to attack two women who claim the Republican nominee had sexually assaulted them.

On All In with Chris Hayes, Delgado said, These allegations are decades old. If somebody actually did that, Chris, any reasonable woman would have come forward and said something at the time.

Isnt that trivializing sexual assault? Hayes shot back.

Video:

Trump advisor: its not sexual assault unless its reported right away pic.twitter.com/hKushUCWBW  Sean Colarossi (@SeanColarossi) October 13, 2016

Delgado went on to say the two women in the story lacked credibility because they support Hillary Clinton for president. Although its puzzling why the Trump advisor was shocked that two women who were allegedly sexually assaulted by Trump would support his campaign.

When she realized she didnt have a credible defense for her boss, Delgado returned to the Republican safe place: attacking Bill Clinton for his sexual past.

I understand why you guys want to make it about Bill Clinton, Hayes responded, But hes not running for president right now.

The back-and-forth came just after the release of a bombshell New York Times story in which two women accuse the Republican nominee of touching them without consent on two separate occasions.

One of the alleged sexual assault incidents occurred more than three decades ago, while the other took place in 2005  the same year Trump was caught bragging to Billy Bush about how he can do whatever he wants to women.

This story continues to unravel for Donald Trump with just 26 days until voters go to the polls.
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New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie could be facing at least ten years in prison as a criminal summons has been issued for his misconduct in office related to Bridgegate.

Video:

URGENT BREAKING: NJ judge issues Probable Cause criminal summons vs. @GovChristie for official misconduct in office #Bridgegate @NBCNewYork pic.twitter.com/VuqJursEfx  Brian Thompson (@brian4NY) October 13, 2016



NBC4 in New York reported:



A judge has found probable cause for a complaint of official misconduct against Gov. Chris Christie related to the George Washington Bridge closure.

The case now goes to the Bergen County Prosecutors Office, which will determine if the case will lead to an indictment.

Under New Jerseys official misconduct law, a public servant can be imprisoned for up to ten years for criminal acts committed in their official capacity. Chris Christies Bridgegate behavior is a textbook violation of New Jersey law. Evidence has shown that Christie was involved in the plan to political payback on those who had not endorsed him by closing lanes of the George Washington Bridge during rush hour.

Gov. Christie could be facing ten years in prison for each count of criminal misconduct. It is possible that Christie could be charged with multiple counts of misconduct and abuse of official capacity in office.

Christie has been a consistent and constant surrogate for Donald Trump during the 2016 presidential election. He has been a constant presence on television for Trump, and his name has been floated as the person who was likely to become US attorney general if Trump won the election.

Chris Christie has gone from rising Republican political star to Trump lackey to potential convict in record time. Gov. Christie has bullied, blustered, misused, and abused his powers as governor for years, but it appears that payback time is coming soon.
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Another domino falls. Professor Warren Throckmorton, who was instrumental in demolishing David Bartons The Jefferson Lies, has discovered an open letter to be signed by Liberty University students.

As Throckmorton, who has lamented elsewhere that Evangelical supporters of Trump seem to be accepting everything Trump does, points out, this letter, a denunciation of Trump and all he stands for, comes pretty close to a vote of non-confidence in Jerry Falwell, Jr., who is a prominent leader on the Religious Right.

Yes, if it is that, and the letter, which opens with a salvo against Falwells support of Donald Trump, represents something worse for the Republican nominee, calling him one of the worst presidential candidates in American history.

In the months since Jerry Falwell Jr. endorsed him, Donald Trump has been inexorably associated with Liberty University. We are Liberty students who are disappointed with President Falwells endorsement and are tired of being associated with one of the worst presidential candidates in American history.

Liberty University is a poster-child of the Religious Right. You will remember Ted Cruz, who preceded Trump as messiah, began his run here. Jerry Falwells use of taxpayer-funded federal aid is a critical part of Liberty Universitys business model to create a uniquely Republican education program.

That its students are in rebellion against the Universitys candidate is no small thing. I advanced the notion yesterday that Donald Trump may be destroying not just the GOP, but the Religious Right, and this latest fracture can be seen as the inevitable result of trying to force a square peg into a round hole.

While so many Evangelicals are twisting themselves into contortions to justify their continued support for Donald Trump, these students are doing the opposite, complaining that Donald Trump does not represent our values and we want nothing to do with him.

Associating any politician with Christianity is damaging to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. But Donald Trump is not just any politician. He has made his name by maligning others and bragging about his sins. Not only is Donald Trump a bad candidate for president, he is actively promoting the very things that we as Christians ought to oppose.

Not only is this a rejection of Trump, the first sentence is a rejection of the entire raison detre of the Religious Right, which was to take control of the Republican Party and to put conservative Christian candidates into office. As we can see now, a half-century out from the beginning of the process, the endeavor was self-corrupting.

The letter has something to say about Trump bragging about sexually assaulting women as well, and it is something that should be heard by all on the Religious Right:

A recently uncovered tape revealed his comments bragging about sexually assaulting women. Any faculty or staff member at Liberty would be terminated for such comments, and yet when Donald Trump makes them, President Falwell rushes eagerly to his defense  taking the name Liberty University with him. Were all sinners, Falwell told the media, as if sexual assault is a shoulder-shrugging issue rather than an atrocity which plagues college campuses across America, including our own.

Echoing the spirit if not the words of one of Trumps own faith council pastors, that he is lecherous and worthless, these students speaking here point out that,



It is not enough to criticize these kinds of comments. We must make clear to the world that while everyone is a sinner and everyone can be forgiven, a man who constantly and proudly speaks evil does not deserve our support for the nations highest office.

Invoking a teaching of Jesus rather than some episode from the Old Testament is a sign that things arent going to go well for Donald Trump, or for Jerry Falwell, Jr. In Matthew 7:3-5, we are told by these students,



Jesus tells a story in the Bible about a man who tries to remove a speck of dust from his brothers eye, while he has a log stuck in his own. You hypocrite, Jesus says, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brothers eye.

While our president Jerry Falwell Jr. tours the country championing the log in his eye, the letter continues, we want the world to know how many students oppose him. We dont want to champion Donald Trump; we want only to be champions for Christ.

This letter is a pointed and timely reminder that the Religious Rights leaders have forgotten their own Jesus, preferring to appeal instead of cherry-picked passages out of the Old Testament. They might pick up their Bible and actually read it, as these students have, and learn something.

There is a lesson here for the Religious Right, if they want to save themselves before its too late.

h/t Warren Throckmorton
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Donald Trump apologized for America in a Serbian magazine, saying it was a mistake to bomb Serbia during Bill Clintons presidency.

Damien Sharkov writing in Newsweek reported:

The bombing of Serbs, who were our allies in both world wars, was a big mistake, Trump told the Serbian weekly magazine Nedeljnik for an article published on its website Thursday. Serbians are very good people. Unfortunately, the Clinton administration caused them a lot of harm, but also throughout the Balkans, which they made a mess out of.

A Reuters advanced copy of a report released on Thursday shows Moscow had co-opted sympathetic politicians, strived to dominate energy markets and other economic sectors, and undermined anti-corruption measures in an attempt to gain sway over governments in Bulgaria, Hungary, Latvia, Serbia, and Slovakia.

According to a U.S. official who requested anonymity, Moscow is engaged in activities designed to recapture what Putin considers their rightful buffer in Eastern Europe, and to undermine not just NATO and the EU, but the entire democratic foundation of both institutions.

Those activities, he said, include bribery, propaganda, disinformation, the occasional assassination of Kremlin critics at home or abroad, and now using the internet to undermine opponents and weaken Western institutions.

Just Friday the U.S. formally accused Russia of hacking the DNC emails.

Trump adviser Roger Stone admitted to back-channel tie to Wikileaks founder Julian Assange.

I do have a back-channel communication with Assange, because we have a good mutual friend. That friend travels back and forth from the United States to London and we talk. I had dinner with him last Monday, Stone told CBS4 News Wednesday evening.

Stone bragged days before the hacked emails were released that Podesta would soon be in trouble, yet Stone claims Wikileaks didnt give him advance copies of the emails.

To demonstrate the extent to which Moscow will go to help Donald Trump, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said of the Republican presidential nominees brag about sexual assault, (T)here are so many pussies around presidential campaign on both sides that I prefer not to comment.

#Lavrov on @realDonaldTrump lewd tape: there are so many 'pussies' around presidential campaign on both sides that I prefer not to comment. pic.twitter.com/Ogy6OFbHLO  Russian Embassy, USA (@RusEmbUSA) October 12, 2016

So when Donald Trump is busted bragging about sexual assault, Lavrov essentially calls Clinton a p*ssy.

Its already been abundantly clear to anyone with a shred of decency that Donald Trump is not fit to be the president of the United States. He is also working with or for the Russian government to dismantle democracy or being used by them for the same purpose.

The best case scenario is that Donald Trump is so ignorant and egotistical that he doesnt know what hes doing and hes simply being used. But that doesnt make him any less dangerous.

Donald Trump apologized for America to Moscow, something Republicans constantly wrongly accuse President Obama of doing. Trumps apology is a Kremlin play.
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Donald Trump made the situation much worse for himself by insulting the looks of a woman who accused him of sexual assault during a rally in Florida.

Video:

Trump on People magazine writer who accused him of sexually assaulting her: Look at her. Look at her words. You tell me what you think. pic.twitter.com/IRg8GLzSEO  Bradd Jaffy (@BraddJaffy) October 13, 2016

Trump defended himself from allegations that he sexually assaulted a People magazine reporter by saying:

Then there was a writer from People magazine who wrote a story about Melania and myself on our first anniversary. The story was beautiful. It was beautiful. It was lovely. But last night, we hear that after twelve years, this took place twelve years ago this story, a new claim that I made inappropriate advances during the interview to this writer.

And I ask simple question, why wasnt it part of the story that appeared twenty, or twelve years ago? Why didnt they make it part of the story? I was one of the biggest stars on television with The Apprentice, and I would have been one of the biggest stories of the year. Think of it. Shes doing a story on Melania, whos pregnant at the time, and Donald Trump. Our one year anniversary and she said I made inappropriate advances, and by the way, the area was a public area. People all over the place.

Take a look. Look at her. Look at her words. You tell me what you think. I dont this so. I dont think so.

Trumps defense is that the People reporter wasnt attractive enough for him to sexually assault. If he was just disputing her account of events, why would he tell the audience to look at her, and then add, I dont think so?

With one answer, Trump showed that the 2005 tape was not an isolated incident. This is how he views women. Whats chillingly implied in his defense is that would have sexually assaulted this woman if he thought she was attractive enough to illegally violate.

Trump is dumpster fire who is burning out of control. At least seven women have come forward in less than 24 hours and accused the Republican presidential nominee of sexual assault.

The 2016 election has gone from a race for the White House to an episode of To Catch A Predator.
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ALBERT LEA  Through the years, Albert Lea Seed has gone through several evolutions. Its latest has it poised to capitalize even more on growing segments while embarking on a new partnership with an old friend.

The nearly 100-year-old company long has had its own Viking Seed Corn and Soybean line. Late last month, owner Mac Ehrhardt announced the company would be transitioning the line to a 100 percent nontraited brand. At the same time, to continue offering genetically modified crop options for customers, Albert Lea Seed will become a distributor for NorthStar Genetics, a Wannamingo-based traited seed company.

Nontraited and organic seed has been a growing part of Albert Lea Seed's business, Ehrhardt said. While the company sells seed of all kinds locally, demand for its nontraited seed reaches across the Midwest, and its organic seeds are planted on the East Coast.

"We had a growing realization this was our core business," Ehrhardt said. "We're giving up some to focus on our core. This will allow us to do a better job at that."

Current crop prices are making nontraited seed look more appealing to some farmers, Ehrhardt said. It's one way they can cut input costs and potentially earn a premium on their crop.

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Albert Lea Seed and NorthStar Genetics are no strangers. Albert Lea Seed was an original investor in NorthStar. Ehrhardt also has sat on NorthStar's board and the first RoundUp Ready soybeans Albert Lea Seed sold came from NorthStar, Ehrhardt said.

"We parted ways, but we remained friendly," Ehrhardt said. "This is one of the reasons this feels really comfortable."

NorthStar CEO Dan Hogstad is glad to work with Albert Lea Seed again.

"This relationship will certainly add to our strength, especially in southern Minnesota and northern Iowa," Hogstad said in a NorthStar statement about the distributorship.

The arrangement allows NorthStar to be the technology experts, while allowing Albert Lea Seed to focus research and marketing efforts elsewhere, Ehrhardt said. NorthStar carries licenses for traits and genetics from all the major seed companies, allowing Albert Lea Seed customers access to a wider range of varieties.

Nontraited focus

Albert Lea Seed has honed its nontraited business for more than 20 years. The company was among the first to sell certified organic field seed and has developed the protocols needed to keep different types of seed separated.

Consumer demand for non-GMO products continues to grow, making a ripe space for Albert Lea Seed to expand, Ehrhardt said. Verified non-GMO food products grew from a nonexistent sector in 2006 to one worth $20 billion last year.

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"We want to spend more time on conventional non-GMO and organic and try to be the best we can be at that," Ehrhardt said.

One of the first fruits from this new positioning will be a new label Albert Lea Seed is planning. Ultra Pure is set to launch in spring 2017 and will focus on guaranteed non-GMO purity. Seed from the line will be guaranteed to be 99.9 percent free of GMOs, Ehrhardt said.

Albert Lea Seed also will be looking at more food quality non-GMO hybrids. Another area of development will be aphid-resistant soybeans.

These changes are poised to benefit all of Albert Lea Seed's customers, Ehrhardt said. They allow everyone to do their best at what they are most knowledgeable about while continuing to offer a full range of product options.
A sweet deal is bringing a taste of Eyota to downtown Rochester.

Jem's Confections , which has sold a variety of baked goods in Eyota for the last five years, has leased 830 square feet of prime space in the Kahler Grand Hotel, directly across the hall from Starbucks. Poppi Italian Leather , which now is located in the Shops at University Squaremall, once resided there.

Jem's is owned by a mother and daughter duo  Jean Kroning and Jess Hoekstra.

Darci Fenske, of Paramark Real Estate,represented Jem's Confections in the brokerage transaction. Lisa Seymour, of Edina Realty,represented the Kahler Hospitality Group.

Hoekstra says they hope to be selling made-from-scratch cupcakes, slices of cheesecake, cakes for celebrations, gluten-free treats and more in downtown Rochester by the end of November or in early December.

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They plan to keep their commercial kitchen in Eyota to create the confections and sell them in the Kahler storefront. Hoekstra explained the growth of the small bakery business made this the right move.

"Our business was in a tricky spot. It's getting too big for us to sustain in Eyota, but it wasn't big enough to expand in Eyota," she said. "So we decided to relocate to Rochester. We thought downtown would be the perfect location."

People already can get a taste of their work in Rochester. Jem's makes desserts sold at the Thirsty Belgian bar and grill at 2650 S. Broadway. They also sell pastries in the Eyota Marketgrocery store.

While they still are working out a lot of details, they estimate Jem's could have a team of six to eight employees staffing the Med City shop. That would be a significant growth from having just the two owners on payroll.

"The Kahler is a really nice spot with a lot of foot traffic. We think it will be great," said Hoekstra.

They plan to start off conservatively with a simple selection of baked goodies, but they hope to eventually expand those choices as the business starts cooking in its new home.

"We have a lot of recipes," she said.
CANNON FALLS  An alleged attempted child abduction that authorities said happened last weekend didn't actually happen.

The Cannon Falls Police Department released a statement late Wednesday saying that the attempted abduction of a 10-year-old girl at Hannah's Bend Park on Sunday did not occur. While investigators were conducting interviews, the victim acknowledged that the incident didn't happen as reported and there was no abduction attempt.

"As we breathe a sigh of relief, the Cannon Falls Police Department would like to encourage parents to capitalize on this opportunity to discuss and/or develop a safety plan with their children," the department said in the statement.

The alleged incident was reported Sunday as an assault and turned into an attempted child-abduction investigation on Monday afternoon, according to a previous story. Authorities had stated that a suspect grabbed the girl and carried her while running across the park. The victim got away when he put her down to catch his breath.

A description of the suspect  white male in his 20s, approximately 6 feet tall and 180 pounds with dark brown hair  was released Tuesday by the Cannon Falls Police Department. The description went on to describe his clothing, including his boots and sunglasses.

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The police department thanked other agencies like the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension and the Goodhue County Sheriff's Office for their help with the case. Authorities also thanked the community for its support, and asking that residents continue to show compassion.

"There was a tremendous outpouring of compassion from our community and the Cannon Falls Police Department asks people to not lose that compassion," the statement reads. "It's important to remember that there is still a 10-year-old girl that we want to avoid having traumatized further because of what happened."

The investigation is closed.
What's the difference between a major storm and a disaster?

That's what officials with the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Minnesota Department of Public Safety Homeland Security and Emergency Management will determine, according to the DPS.

Representatives from FEMA and HSEM have been are touring 10 counties in southern Minnesota including Houston, Fillmore and Goodhue counties in Southeast Minnesota to determine if the flooding from the Sept. 21 rains warrants a federal declaration of a disaster, DPS reported. Rainfall totals as much as 14 inches were recorded across the region.

On Sept. 27, Gov. Mark Dayton declared a Peacetime Emergency due to flooding in 23 counties throughout Minnesota.

To qualify for FEMA assistance and a federal disaster declaration, the 10-county area would need to show $7.5 million in damage to public infrastructure. Emergency managers in the region initially reported a combined $13 million damages to public infrastructure, DPS reported.

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"We've had a little over $2.1 million, said Kevin Beck, emergency management director for Fillmore County. "There are a lot of culverts and roads washed out."

Most, he said, are minor projects  though there are many of them  but one road in Lanesboro could run as high as $1 million to repair. "Most of the townships have repaired their roads," he said. "They might not be back to the way they were, but they're passable."

In Houston County, those small fixes really just amount to emergency repairs to make the roads passable, said Emergency Management Director Kurt Kuhlers. Money is still needed for more permanent repairs.

"If we do get a presidential declaration on that, it'll be the fifth in Houston County since 2007," Kuhlers said. "We're no strangers to disaster situations down here."

The inspections across the region that will be completed on Friday are the first step toward a presidential declaration, according to DPS officials. Future steps include a request from Dayton to the federal government that outlines the event that caused the disaster and the community impact.
ZUMBROTA An 8-year-old boy was seriously injured in a crash this morning near the junction of U.S. Highway 52 and Minnesota Highway 60 in Zumbrota.

The accident was reported about 7:54 a.m. According to the Minnesota State Patrol , Christo Oosthuizen, 39, of Zumbrota, was driving a semi-trailer and was at the northbound U.S. 52 ramp to Minnesota Highway 60 West when he collided with a vehicle driven by Darin P. Olson, 31, of Zumbrota, who was eastbound on the Highway 60 bridge.

Olson, who was not injured, had two childrenTrace Olson, 8, and Vanessa Olson, 6in the car at the time. Vanessa wasn't injured, but Trace sustained serious injuries and was taken to Mayo Clinic-Saint Marys Campus. A condition report wasn't available this afternoon. Oosthuizen was not injured, the patrol said.

The Goodhue County Sheriff's Office, Zumbrota Police Department, Zumbrota Fire Department, Zumbrota Ambulance, Mayo One and Minnesota Department of Transportation all assisted at the scene.
Paisley Park museum adds more October tour dates

CHANHASSEN  Paisley Park has added additional tour dates in October for those who want to visit the suburban Minneapolis recording complex of the late superstar Prince.

The Chanhassen City Council recently approved a new temporary operating permit for the museum. Paisley Park will now open on Oct. 13, 15 and 21-23 in addition to previously announced tours on Oct. 14.

Paisley Park was to open last week, but the council postponed voting on a rezoning request by the trust company overseeing Prince's estate. The museum secured a temporary permit allowing it to open as scheduled.

Artifacts on display include Prince's guitars, "Purple Rain" motorcycle and his ashes in a decorative urn.

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Prince died of an accidental painkiller overdose in April. The council plans to reconsider the rezoning request Oct. 24.

Portal boosts access to Minneapolis police conduct data

MINNEAPOLIS  A new portal on the city of Minneapolis' website allows anyone to look up public data on police conduct cases.

The city launched the website Tuesday, with the goal of increasing police department transparency, access and accountability.

KSTP-TV reported there are about 850 sworn officers in Minneapolis. The city said it gets many requests for details about complaints that have been filed against officers.

"People want to know how many complaints have been filed against an officer and the outcome of those complaints," said Ryan Patrick, who is with the city of Minneapolis.

Searches on the portal can be done by officer name . Imani Jaafar, with the Office of Police Conduct Review, said the searches can also be isolated by a particular allegation, or race, age or gender. The complaints can be broken down further by precinct to see if there's a pattern.

Complaints against officers can be filed anonymously and include allegations of criminal misconduct, discrimination, failure to provide protection, harassment, inappropriate language, retaliation, theft, excessive force or policy violation.

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The online records date back three years.

Jaafar says the Office of Police Conduct Review investigates the allegations that come in. The goal is to complete an investigation in 120 days, and information on the website will be updated every two weeks.

But officer privacy is a concern for some.

"If an accusation ended in discipline, it's appropriate to show an officer's name. But if the officer is cleared, it's wrong to put that officer's name out there," said Lt. Bob Kroll, head of the Minneapolis Police Federation.

City leaders said Tuesday that state law limits the information they can publicly release.

State says Hopkins cooling tower was source of Legionnaire's

HOPKINS  A cooling tower at a manufacturing company is the likely source an outbreak of Legionnaires' disease in Hopkins that sickened 23 people and caused one death last month, the Minnesota Department of Health said Wednesday.

Laboratory tests show the strain of Legionella bacteria found in one of the two cooling towers at Citrus Systems Inc. matched the strain in samples taken from patients linked to the outbreak, the department said in a statement. Other cooling towers in the outbreak area tested negative for the strain.

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Deputy State Epidemiologist Richard Danila said he had "great confidence" that the mystery has been solved.

The company, which manufactures beverage and juice products, has cooperated fully, the department said. Samples were taken from the towers on Sept. 27 and they were cleaned and disinfected the same day. The company's food products were not affected by the outbreak nor were they responsible for it, the department said.

Legionnaires' disease is a respiratory infection people can get from inhaling contaminated mist from sources such as cooling towers for large buildings. Seventeen people were hospitalized during the outbreak, but no new cases have been reported since Sept. 22. The only common thread among the victims was that they lived, worked or spent time in the area.

While the typical 10-day incubation period has passed, Danila said it's still possible another case could turn up if someone was exposed Sept. 27.

"We don't know in this case exactly what went wrong to cause the build-up of Legionella," Danila said. "This situation clearly demonstrates how difficult it can be to keep systems free of Legionella, even when they are well-maintained."

The company said in a statement that it is working with the department to ensure that there's no new exposure risk and that it has a "robust" water management plan in place.

 Associated Press
Gov. Mark Dayton on Wednesday announced the creation of an advisory group to help build trust between law enforcement agencies and state residents.

The governor's Council on Law Enforcement and Community Relations will consist of more than 30 members, including law enforcement officials and people who are critical of police tactics.

The panel's formation comes at a time when many people in Minnesota and across the country are expressing anger over police killings of African-Americans. Dayton also noted "vicious ... unwarranted attacks" against police officers in other states.

Most law enforcement officers do a good job making their communities safer and maintaining good relations with the people they serve, Dayton said. But he acknowledged that challenges remain in communities where trust in law enforcement isn't strong.

"We need to face up to those challenges and to see what we can do to remedy them and move ahead  all of us  as one Minnesota together," Dayton said.

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The council will make recommendations to the governor and state lawmakers about actions that can improve police/community relations, as well as identify and publicize successful efforts by communities and law enforcement agencies around the country.

Scott Johnson, a co-chair of the council and chief of the Grand Rapids Police Department, said police do a better job fighting crime when they get along with the people they serve.

"For policing to be effective, there must be trust between residents and police," Johnson said. "For there to be trust, there must first be a relationship. And to my mind, policing is all about building relationships."

The council will consist of 15 voting members and 17 others who will participate but not vote. As invited by the governor, the council's voting members will include representatives from such law enforcement groups as the Minnesota Sheriff's Association, the Minnesota Police and Peace Officers Association and the Peace Officer Standards and Training board.

Also serving as voting members will be representatives from groups that have been critical of law enforcement, including Black Lives Matter and the NAACP.

JaNae Bates, communications director of the faith-based group ISAIAH, which will also have voting representation, said the council will not solve the underlying issues that contribute to the gap in trust between communities of color and police. But she said it's a good start.

"Anything that can help with reform, that is going to get us to a better place as a community, we are in line with," she said.

Bates said the council should address policy changes on how officers are trained to use force and making sure police officers are more racially and ethnically representative of the diverse communities they serve.

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The council will also include representatives for the families of Jamar Clark and Philando Castile, two African-American men shot and killed by police in the Twin Cities during the last year. The Ramsey County Attorney's Office is expected within weeks to announce whether charges will be filed against the officer who shot Castile.

The council will submit recommendations to the governor and Legislature on how to improve police/community relations before the beginning of the 2017 session. A final report is expected in June.
MINNEAPOLIS  In the wake of two high-profile fatal shootings of black men by Minnesota police officers, Gov. Mark Dayton said Wednesday that he will create a council to study how the state can improve relationships between police and the communities they serve.

Dayton said the council, which will include family members of Jamar Clark and Philando Castile, will come up with recommendations to help build trust and cooperation between police and community members.

"I don't think it's a solution, I think it's one approach to facing up to the problems," Dayton said of the council.

Dayton's executive order comes as the state still grapples with the deaths of Clark and Castile. Clark was killed during a scuffle with Minneapolis officers in November. The two white officers involved were not charged and prosecutors said they feared for their lives when Clark tried to grab an officer's weapon.

Castile was shot by a suburban St. Paul officer during a July traffic stop. The shooting's aftermath was streamed live online by Castile's girlfriend, who said Castile was shot several times after telling St. Anthony Police Officer Jeronimo Yanez, who is Latino, that he had a gun permit and was armed. Yanez's attorney said his client was reacting to the presence of a gun, and the case is being reviewed for possible charges.

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Both shootings led to numerous protests in Minnesota and calls for changes in the way police interact with minority communities. Community advocates have suggested police bias training and court reforms while police organizations have expressed concern about violence against officers.

"The community that I come from, there are a lot of people that are living in fear," said Pamela Anderson, a black judge in Hennepin County and the council's co-chair. "I want that fear to go away."

Anderson said community engagement and training are necessary. "Training should include implicit bias, procedural justice, relationship-based policing, community interaction, crisis intervention and more," she said. "Only through mutual trust, respect and an open mind can we create a harmonious Minnesota."

Anderson will lead the committee with Grand Rapids Police Chief Scott Johnson. There will be 15 other voting members, including several law enforcement representatives, an NAACP official and a member of Black Lives Matter. Seventeen other members, including relatives of Castile and Clark, won't vote on recommendations.

The council's initial recommendations are due to Dayton and the Legislature by Feb. 15, and the final report is due June 30.

Castile's mother, Valerie Castile, thanked Dayton for his courage.

"I appreciate him stepping up to the plate and taking a giant step in the direction of change," she said, adding that she's been focused on reforms, including changes in police training, since the day her son was killed. She said it's unfortunate that his death had to happen, but she's glad it could be a catalyst for change.

"I have faith that everything is going to work itself out and everybody is going to be on the same page. I just feel in my heart that my son didn't die in vain," she said.

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St. Anthony Village, which employs officer Yanez, and the city of Minneapolis both said they welcomed the governor's order.
In its September 2009 number GQ carried an interesting article by Scott Anderson on the September 1999 apartment bombings in Russia that left hundreds dead and led to Vladimir Putins rise to power. The piece profiled former Russian FSB officer Mikhail Trepashkin and collected evidence suggesting that the bombings were perpetrated by the FSB rather than by Chechen terrorists.

It was the kind of intriguing investigative piece that most publications would have featured prominently, but GQ buried it. Purchasing a copy of the magazine, I first spent several minutes trying to find the issues table of contents (I gave up), and then the article itself, afraid Id blown $4.50 on the wrong issue of the magazine. I found the article at page 246 of the September issue. NPR explained the mystery behind GQs treatment of the story.

I have wondered about the story over the years. Now David Satter, the scrupulous former Financial Times Moscow correspondent, has turned his attention to the subject in a new book on the bombings: The Less You Know, The Better You Sleep. Satters National Review article The unsolved mystery behind the act of terror that brought Vladimir Putin to power provides a good summary. David Pryce-Jones reviewed the book for National Review in Russia moves toward a reckoning.

You may recall that Putin had Satter banned from Russia in December 2013. Satter is therefore the first American journalist to be accorded the expulsion treatment since the fall of the Soviet Union. Satter now holds appointments as a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute and a fellow of the Foreign Policy Institute of Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies.

In the video below, Satter talks about his new book in a presentation at the Politics & Prose Bookstore and Coffeehouse in Washington. The video dates to this past August. He discusses the November 2010 WikiLeaks release of United States diplomatic cables to the State Department at about 45:00. At about 1:00:00 he discusses the hacking of the DNC. Highly recommended.
There are times when the gods of the copybook headings really smile on our enterprise. Such as this story from the Financial Times last week:

The timing was terrible. Six weeks before the greenest and prettiest  but one of the least known  of the Canary Islands was due to get its chance to shine, with new direct flights from the UK, Switzerland, Germany and Denmark, it was lit up in a completely unwanted way. Over six days in August, its face was disfigured by a massive fire. When the last flame was finally extinguished, 40 per cent of the prized forest of Isla Bonita, as the locals like to call La Palma, had been destroyed, and a ranger had lost his life.

Part of that tragedy is the fire-starters own story. Alternative living thrives on La Palma  hippies tend to gravitate towards the most pristine locations  and one such is a 27-year-old German called Scott Verdine Stumpf, who was living in a cave in the islands south-west flank. Stumpf was keen to minimise his ecological footprint by burning his toilet paper, as any good eco-warrior would, but burning anything at the tinder-dry end of summer is a hostage to fortune. . .
Ron Johnson is a conservative hero. Hes also one of Power Lines picks in this years congressional elections.

Sen. Johnson has been trailing his opponent Russ Feingold throughout the campaign season. At times, Feingold led in the poll averages by about double digits.

No longer. Two new polls show Johnson behind by only 2 points (Marquette poll) and 3 points (CBS YouGov). A third poll (Loras) has Johnson leading by 5 points.

In another recent poll (Gravis), Feingold is way ahead (12 points), but this survey polled registered, as opposed to likely voters. I hope we can realistically consider it an outlier.

The Loras poll that has Johnson ahead also looks like an outlier. I would note, however, that the same survey has Clinton 8 points ahead of Trump. This suggests, at a minimum, a lack of bias in favor of the Republican candidates.

To help Sen. Johnson complete his comeback, you can contribute here.

Speaking of Trump in relation to the Senate races, its noteworthy (though not surprising) how poorly the choke artist is doing compared to Republican incumbents in swing states.

In Ohio, Sen. Portman is running away with his race, while Trump is basically even with Clinton. In Florida, Sen. Rubio is about 5 points ahead; Trump is about 3 points behind. (All numbers in this part of my post come from Real Clear Politics).

In New Hampshire, Sen. Ayotte has opened up a narrow lead (which may or may not survive Trumps ongoing groping scandal). Trump, meanwhile, is trailing Clinton by about 7 points.

Similarly, in Pennsylvania, Sen. Toomey is tied with his opponent Kate The Not So Great McGinty. Trump is behind by almost double digits.

In North Carolina, Sen. Burr is about dead even in his race. Trump is a few points behind Clinton.

The aforementioned Wisconsin Senate race was one contest in which, for a long time, Trump seemed to faring better than the incumbent Republican Senator. But now, as Sen. Johnson pulls close to even, Trump is about 6 points behind.

A reader asked me to imagine what the Senate numbers would be if the GOP ticket were Rubio/Haley. I think the Senate numbers would be excellent for Republicans with any half a dozen real Republicans at the top of the ticket.

I believe the presidential numbers would also be good.

NOTE: I have modified this post slightly since originally putting it up.
During the two presidential debates (or should I say debates between presidential candidates?) Hillary Clinton has lambasted Donald Trump for attacking women, Hispanics, African-Americans, Muslim-Americans and the disabled. Trump has, indeed, attacked members of these groups, sometimes in disgusting ways. However, his attacks have not been categorical ones directed at entire classes of Americans.

By contrast, Hillary Clinton and her close advisers have attacked broad swathes of the American population in categorical terms. Hillary sees about 20 percent of the populations as deplorables who are beyond redemption.

Meanwhile, as John has noted, Clintons communications director Jennifer Palmieri has attacked Catholics, other than those who decline to follow core Church doctrines, and evangelicals. The attacks appear in emails divulged by Wikileaks.

The best Palmieri could come up with when asked about the emails was this non-denial denial: I dont recognize that email that we saw. But those of us who have listened to a certain kind of liberal speak in private about conservative Catholics and evangelicals will recognize the bigoted content of emails as well as the narrow-mindedness, ignorance, condescension, and arrogance they express.

Finally, lets not forget that Huma Abedin, perhaps the closest Clinton adviser of them all, has expressed her contempt for American Jews. In a leaked email, she urged that Bill Clinton reject an invitation to speak before the American Israel Public Affairs Council (AIPAC), saying u really want to consider sending him into that crowd? (Emphasis added)

AIPAC is a bipartisan, mainstream American Jewish organization that has always warmly greeted both Bill and Hillary Clinton. Members of that crowd, as Abedin derisively called it, are defined by (1) being American Jews and (2) supporting Israel. This was enough to cause Abedin to insult them and argue that Bill Clinton ought not appear before them.

When you add to the deplorables those conservative Catholics, evangelicals, and American Jewish supporters of Israel who arent per se deplorable in Hillarys view, you are probably talking about 30 to 40 percent of the American public. Such is the magnitude of Clintonista antipathy towards Americans. Indeed, I would submit, its the magnitude of left-liberal antipathy.

Does Trumpism reach that level of antipathy? I doubt it.
The Nieman Journalism Lab scores an interview with Dean Baquet, executive editor of the New York Times. If you think the Times has gotten even worse in the last year or two, Baquet is the man to blame.

Nieman records, enthusiastically, that the Times has veered even more sharply to the left during the present election season:

Consider that the Times employed 18 of its journalists as realtime fact-checkers during the first presidential debate. Consider Baquets own public clarity about calling out Trump lies. Just a couple of weeks ago, the Times featured on its homepage a review of a new Hitler biography by book critic Michiko Kakutani, whose Trumpian analogy may have remained inexplicit, but nonetheless spoke loud volumes about a newfound Times confidence in squarely taking on the issues and fears that consume its readers minds.

Or, more accurately, a newfound confidence in coming out as an agent of the Democratic Party. Which the Times has been for a long time.

All that, of course, has turned out to be prologue for the Times recent publication of just three pages of Donald Trumps 1995 federal tax return  and its 2,000-word-plus interpretation of it.

This is wrong. The Times published one page from each of three 1995 state tax returns, nothing from Trumps federal return. I wrote about the Times hit piece here.

Nieman then proceeds to its interview with Baquet, which is well worth reading. Baquet emerges as a Democratic Party partisan of modest intelligence and less than average knowledge of the news. He talks about Donald Trump; no surprises here:

DOCTOR: Im wondering what kinds of challenges the conundrum Donald Trump has caused. Its so far beyond normal fact-checking. How have you come to peace with how you cover Donald Trump? BAQUET: I thought Jim Rutenbergs column nailed it, about the struggle over how to cover.

Baquet refers to Rutenbergs notorious article about how journalists need to do everything they can to defeat Donald Trump.

Its not just his outrageous stuffhe says things that are just demonstrably false.

As opposed toHillary Clinton? Or Barack Obama?

He will have changed journalism, he really will have. I was either editor or managing editor of the L.A. Times during the Swift Boat incident. Newspapers did not know  we did not quite know how to do it. I remember struggling with the reporter, Jim Rainey, who covers the media now, trying to get him to write the paragraph that laid out why the Swift Boat allegation was falseWe didnt know how to write the paragraph that said, This is just false.

What Swift Boat allegation is that? There were a number of Swift Boat ads, and almost none of them contained any claim that could even arguably be termed false. The most impactful ad showed archive footage of John Kerry testifying before a Senate committee that his fellow servicemen were a bunch of war criminals, like Genghis Khan. Kerrys testimony was certainly false, but the ad? No.

Another Swift Boat ad showed every naval officer in the line of command above Kerry saying that he was unfit to be commander in chief. I suppose Baquet disagrees, but what was false? With one or two minor exceptions, the Swift Boat ads were not a matter of true or false; they shed undisputed light on John Kerrys carefully hidden past.

BAQUET: The dirty secret of news organizations  and I think this is part of a story of what happened with Bush and the Iraq war  [is that] newspaper reporters and newspapers describe the world we live in. We really can be a little bit patriotic without knowing it. We actually tend to believe what politicians tell us  which is a flaw, by the way. Im not saying that with pride. The lesson of the Iraq war, which I think started us down this track, was that I dont think people really believed that the administration would actually lie about the WMDs, or that they would say the stuff so forcefully.

The claim that the Bush administration lied about Iraqs WMDs has been debunked so often that there is no need to repeat the facts here. Moreover, as Paul pointed out years ago, the assertion is not just false but stupid. It would make no sense for President Bush, or anyone else, to falsely claim that Saddam had WMDs, knowing that the subsequent invasion would prove his assertion untrue. It is extraordinary that Dean Baquet does not grasp such elementary points.

One more thing: we now know, years after the fact, that Iraq did possess considerable quantities of chemical weapons, to the point where they were a health hazard to our troops. Here, Baquet apparently is unfamiliar with his own newspapers reporting.

There is much more. Baquet wasnt a fan of video until recently:

When I first became managing editor, I foolishly looked at video as this new thing that we were doing  that I guess we have to do video to make money. It is unimaginable to me that The New York Times would not have video now. I now have video ideas.  DOCTOR: I heard that, yeah. Do you remember any of those this week? BAQUET: Yeah, I shot them a note saying we really have got to do  it turned out they were doing it already  a video montage of everything Donald Trump has said over time about immigration.

And this:

BAQUET: We did a video a month ago in which we collected all the video from the Trump rallies. I dont know if you saw it. DOCTOR: I did. I was actually going to compliment you on that. It was a three-minute video and it was jaw-dropping. BAQUET: It was stunning and you cant tell me that that wasnt the best way to tell that story.

Video! With Democratic Party editing, it is a great way to go after Republicans!

There are some people who still believe that old-fashioned left-wing institutions like the New York Times are, despite everything, repositories of institutional knowledge that are worthy of respect. This is wrong. The Times is a partisan rag with zero journalistic integrity, a shill for the Democratic Party. Nothing more. And its current executive editor knows less about the news than you do.
During his second debate with Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump denied having ever engaged in the sexual assaults he boasted about in the Access Hollywood tape. I had understood that the debate would consist of the candidates answering questions from members of the town hall. But Anderson Cooper decided to take over the questioning so he could press Trump about whether his boasts were true. Initially, Trump avoided that question, but eventually said they were not true. I transcribed the exchange here.

Now, two women tell the New York Times that Trump did engage in unwanted advances. The alleged advances consisted of groping (in the case of Jessica Leeds) and kissing (in the case of Rachel Crooks).

The claims may well be true. They are consistent with Trumps boasts. To me, they seem consistent with his take whatever I want character.

Nor do Trumps denials count for much. He continues to deny saying, pre-invasion, that he supported the war in Iraq even though theres tape of him expressing support (albeit mild) for the war. Like his opponent in this race, Trump has displayed scant regard for the truth.

Nonetheless, there is reason to doubt the claims of Ms. Leeds and Ms. Crooks. Why are we hearing about them only now? Its not so much that the alleged victims did not publicly complain at the time of Trumps alleged advances. In the case of Ms. Crooks, at least, not publicly complaining was reasonable considering her age (22), Trumps power, and the fact that she worked at Trump Tower.

More significant is that fact that neither woman came forward publicly until about a year after Trump emerged as the Republican frontrunner. Why didnt they? If Trump had behaved so egregiously, one would expect them to do their best to nip his candidacy in the bud.

Im skeptical about Ms. Leeds claim that she came forward publicly only now because she became enraged by Trumps denial during Sundays debate of misconduct. If Trump did to her what she claims, she must have been enraged all along by the thought that he might become U.S. president  something that was a very realistic possibility until quite recently.

Leeds, it seems to me, is being used by the Clinton campaign as part of a well-orchestrated, well-timed effort to portray Trump as a predator. Same with Crooks. Its a classic ambush  an October surprise.

If, as I believe, these women are collaborating with the Clinton campaign as to the timing of their allegations, they may also be collaborating as to the content. In other words, there is reason to question their credibility.

This doesnt mean their allegations are false. I wouldnt be surprised if they are true. But I am not going to have my voting decision influenced by allegations that seem more designed to help Hillary Clinton, whom both women say they support, than to enlighten the public about the real Donald Trump.
Dr Kike Adesina, the Technical Adviser to Life Empowers Anchors Hope (Leah) Foundation, has warned women against placing money inside brassiere, saying it could cause breast cancer.

Ms. Adesina gave the warning on Thursday in Ilorin at Al-Hikma University, Ilorin, as the Foundation embarked on cancer awareness campaign across secondary and tertiary educational institutions in the state.

The gynaecologist said women should stop the practice of saving money in their brassiere because the money had passed through numerous dirty hands, saying it was dangerous.

According to her, the mere chance that they are created females with breast has already predisposed them to having breast cancer.

He, therefore, urged women not to create problems for themselves as placing money around the breast or any other part of the body was dangerous.

Ms. Adesina, who said Nigeria still faced high burden of breast and cervical cancer cases in women, listed the risk factors of breast cancer to include age, race, gene or family history and menstrual and reproductive history.

She said that the common types of cancer in the country included breast, cervix, ovary, colorectal and uterus.

She noted that most cancer cases in Nigeria reach advance stage before being brought to medical attention.

Earlier, Bukola Akinleye, the Director, Special Project of Leah, told students of Queen Elizabeth Secondary School in Ilorin to always embark on self-examination for any abnormal changes in their breast.

Mrs. Akinleye advised them to report any abnormality such as distended nipple, change of colour, fluid discharge and boils or lumps in the breast.

She warned the girls against early sexual activity, saying it predisposed them to cervical cancer.

She explained that it was men that carried the Human Papilloma virus that causes cancer of the cervix.

The programme featured aerobics, self breast examination tutorials and questions and answers session.

NAN
The National Union of Air Transport Employees (NUATE) on Thursday lauded the Federal Governments decision to sack and demote 22 top officials of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN).

Olayinka Abioye, the NUATE General Secretary, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos that the restructuring should be extended to other aviation agencies.

As part of the Federal Governments plan to restructure the aviation sector, some general managers and deputy general managers of parastatals in the sector were demoted.

Some managers formerly placed on Level 17 were in a letter issued by the Federal Ministry of Transport demoted to Level 10 and redeployed to other departments in the same organisation.

The restructuring followed the recommendations of the Presidential Committee chaired by Winifred Oyo-Ita, Head of the Civil Service of the Federation.

Mr. Abioye said, We have written several letters to the government about it, and it was part of our demands.

We want it to be carried out in all the aviation parastatal agencies.

We also believe that there should be less interference in the running of these agencies.

The exercise that was carried out in FAAN on Wednesday ought not to have happened in the first instance, if we have done our work properly.

What usually happens is that political patronage took precedence over public service rules and regulations.

You can imagine a young graduate of 10 years, who was appointed a general manager, which will take a career public servant 26 years to get to.

According to him, these agencies should be allowed to work within the purview of the acts that established them for the betterment of the industry, and the country in general.

Mr. Abioye also called for a stakeholders meeting where each of the parastatals would put forward the challenges limiting them from engaging in quality service delivery.

NAN reports that some FAAN workers were seen on Thursday at the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos, headquarters of the agency, discussing the development in hushed tones. (NAN)
Businessman and Ondo governorship aspirant, Jimoh Ibrahim, has warned that the current economic recession facing Nigeria may last for another 20 years if the global oil price continues in its downward trend.

Mr. Ibrahim gave the warning on Thursday at the launch of the book, Worshipper In the Temple of Justice, organised in honour of emeritus professor of law, David Ijalaye, at the Oduduwa Hall of the Obafemi Awolowo University.

With the current crude oil prices and current situation of the country, except there is a miracle that will chance the situation, we may be experiencing this recession for 20 years, he said.

Our Naira has lost its value and this is the worst recession I have seen in many years and nothing seems to be happening.

Mr. Ibrahim recommended that Nigeria adopts the economic model of Iran in order to record meaningful development.

On the recent arrest of judges by the State Security Services, he noted that the development could whittle investor confidence.

In a case where a judge is found with over N54 million and that it was found under his bed, no one would want to do business with you, he said.

It is very bad and has got so bad, if the Judiciary cannot be trusted so what are we saying.
AdulyadejKing Bhumibol Adulyadej of Thailand, the worlds longest reigning monarch, has passed on, the royal palace said Thursday.

The king died at 88 after reigning for more than 70 years.

The palace said Mr. Adulyadej passed on at Siriraj Hospital in Bangkok, but did not disclose the ailment that led to his death.

The monarch was hospitalised after he took ill. On Thursday, about

300 people gathered in hospital as his health worsened.

The palace had said in a statement late Wednesday that the kings health had not yet stabilised and that he was on a ventilator, battling a new infection.

However, the government urged jittery stock market investors to ignore rumours.

It followed a statement on Sunday saying the king was in an unstable condition after receiving haemodialysis treatment.

Well-wishers gathered on Thursday outside Siriraj Hospital, which is near Bangkoks Chao Phraya River.

Some wore yellow, the kings colour, and others donned pink, a colour they believed would bring the king an improvement in his health while they prayed.

I was worried so, I came here to see for myself this evening; I will take part in chanting for the king, housewife Thornpan Tornueng, 67, said.

District police commander Rithee Visetkamin said more people were expected to gather at the hospital through the day.

The late king was seen as a unifying figure in Thailand, which has grappled with political uncertainty in recent years.

His health, usually watched closely, was a sensitive subject.

Strict lese-majeste laws meant public discussions of his health and any succession plans were punishable by lengthy jail terms.

Investors in the Stock Exchange of Thailand have sold shares since Sundays statement from the Royal Household Bureau on the kings health.

The main index fell as much as 6.9 percent on Wednesday to its lowest since March 1, but recovered to close down 2.5 percent, its lowest since the end of May.

It was down 2.1 percent by the mid-day break on Thursday.

Deputy Prime Minister Somkid Jatusripitak, said he had asked the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to investigate rumours that had been affecting the market.

I will tell the SEC to investigate who spread the news and who caused stocks to fall. Foreigners are waiting to pick up stocks and Thais are selling them.

I dont think its beneficial to do that because this is an important time for the country and we should not undermine ourselves.

Dont listen to rumours please; only listen to the government, , Mr. Somkid said.

The government on Wednesday urged people to ignore rumours on social media and wait for official announcements.
The Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, has denied that the federal government swapped some Boko Haram prisoners for the 21 Chibok girls released by the terrorist group early Thursday morning.

Addressing a press conference on the release of the abducted girls, Mr. Mohammed said the girls were released following credible information from trusted negotiators among the leadership of Boko Haram.

He said the president, Muhammadu Buhari, gave directives to officials of the State Security Service after it was certain that the release of the girls was possible, based on the information provided.

The moment we had a credible lead, we built confidence on our sources and the president gave authorities to the SSS to pursue the release if the girls.

As soon as the necessary confidence was built on both sides, the parties agreed on the date and the location of the release of the 21 girls. Please note that this is not a swap. It is a release, the

product of painstaking negotiations and trust on both sides.

As soon as agreements were reached; the parties decided on a place of exchange and the girls were released.

They were immediately flown to Kaduna state where they are expected shortly; this afternoon to Abuja, said Mr. Mohammed.

He said government had put in place medical, psychological and trauma experts, as well as social workers to help attend to the health needs of the girls upon their return to Abuja.

Mr. Mohammed said the girls were released by 5:30 amon Thursday.

But officials briefed about the deal had told PREMIUM TIMES that the girls were swapped for four Boko Haram insurgents. Names of the militants were not released.

Boko Haram demanded the release of its members held by the government, as condition for freeing the girls.

The officials told PREMIUM TIMES that the exchange took place Wednesday night when Nigerian military officials, alongside personnel of United Nations, Red Cross and National Emergency Management Agency, conveyed four Boko Haram militants by a chopper to Banki, a border town in Bama local government area of Borno State.

There, 21 released girls were picked up. The girls were brought into Maiduguri Air Force base at about 8.30a.m.

A source said at least one of the girls had a baby.

They were immediately flown to Abuja at 9a.m.

Many residents of Maiduguri were woken by the sounds of aircraft hovering in the air Thursday morning.
The Senate on Thursday approved allocation of three per cent of Value Added Tax (VAT) accrual to the Federal Government in the next 10 years to the rebuilding of the North-East.

This was sequel to the adoption of the recommendation of the Ad hoc Committee on North-East Development Commission Bill, which also proposed that the commission be domiciled in Borno.

In June when the Bill came for third reading, the two issues of allocation and headquarters of the commission stalled its consideration.

The Committee on Special Duties had proposed that the commissions headquarters be located in Abuja, but Ali Wakil insisted that it should be sited in Bauchi.

Other senators from North-East states of Gombe and Borno, who also deferred, insisted that the commission headquarters be located in their own states.

Another contentious issue which the senators kicked against then was the proposal that 15 per cent of federal allocation to every state of the region be deducted at source for funding the commission.

The proposal that 50 per cent of ecological fund meant for each of the six North-East states should be deducted at source for the funding of the commission was also rejected by the lawmakers.

Due to the disagreements, the upper chamber was forced to suspend the clause-by- clause consideration of bill, and therefore, formed a committee to look into the contending issues.

During plenary on Thursday, the lawmakers agreed with the ad hoc committee which proposed that three per cent of Federal VAT be allocated to the commission for the next 10 years.

Presenting the report of the committee, its Chairman, Sam Egwu, said the committee agreed with all other funding arrangements proposed by the bill.

The committee reviewed and agreed with the funding arrangement that was proposed in the Bill but for the aspect that sought five per cent of the Federal VAT without a time frame.

Consequently, the committee reviewed the amount to five per cent of the Federal VAT for the period of 10 years that will serve as intervention from the Federal Government, he said.

With the adoption of the committees recommendation, the funding of the commission will also include 15 per cent of allocation to the six North-East states.

Also forming part of the funding is a 50 per cent deduction of the ecological fund due to the six North East states.

After adopting the recommendations, the Senate referred the Bill to the Committee on Special Duties chaired by Murtala Nyako.

The committee is to effect the changes in the area of funding and location of the commission and bring the Bill back for final passage (Third Reading). (NAN)
At least eight Nigerian judges and two court registrars are being investigated following allegations of corruptions levelled against them, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has said.

The announcement came six days after the State Security Services raided the homes of seven other judges and arrested them over graft charges. Justice Mohammed Liman could not be arrested in Port Harcourt after Rivers Governor, Nyesom Wike and the police blocked SSS operatives from doing so.

The arrested judges were released on bail on Sunday. The SSS however said eight others might soon be rounded up to answer questions regarding alleged corruption.

In its statement Thursday, the EFCC said investigations were proceeding well in the fresh and unrelated probe and that the judges found culpable would soon be arrested and charged to court.

The names of the judges being investigated were however not disclosed.

Some of the suspects who have been invited have made useful statements that have been of great assistance to the investigations, EFCC spokesperson, Wilson Uwujaren, said in a statement sent to PREMIUM TIMES.

In due course, those who have cases to answer would be arrested and charged to court.

The commission said of the seven judges who are subject of the SSS raids, only one of them previously featured in a petition on alleged corruption to the EFCC.

Investigation into the petitions against the judges, it said, had reached advanced stage when one of the judges got a Federal High Court order to stop further probe by the Commission.

EFCC is still trying to vacate that order for the investigation to proceed unfettered, Mr. Uwujaren said.

The anti-graft agency was responding to a newspaper report suggesting that the Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, had lost confidence in the EFCC, and now preferred to direct corruption allegations to the SSS for investigation.

But in its statement, the EFCC argued that the report was incorrect, saying, there is no friction with the office of the AGF and the Commission is not involved in inter-agency squabbles with the SSS.

Indeed, the Commission, along with the SSS, ICPC, Police and the office of the AGF, is a member of a technical committee that meets at the highest level of government to collaborate and coordinate strategies against corruption, Mr. Uwujaren said. The last such meeting was as recently as today.

He added, However, Nigerians deserve to know that the nature of professional investigation of financial crimes is highly discrete and not given to theatre.

The subject usually does not know the Commission is amassing evidences against him or her for several months before the strike. Therefore, the notion that a petition is submitted today and the next things that follow are instant arrests, prosecution and convictions is highly misleading.

Below is the full statement by the EFCC.

EFCC PRESS RELEASE

Re: Why AGF Shuns EFCC, Sends Judges Cases to DSS

The attention of the EFCC has been drawn to a story in the Thursday, 13 October edition of The Punch, headlined, Why AGF shuns EFCC, Sends Judges Cases to DSS. The story, quoting some unnamed sources, tried to drive wedges between the Commission and the office of the Honourable Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) on the one hand and the Commission and the Department of State Services (DSS) on the other. It alleges among others, that the Office of the Honourable Attorney General of the Federation, frustrated by the alleged tardiness of the EFCC in handling petitions forwarded to it, now sends the same cases to the DSS.

EFCC wishes to put on record, that there is no friction with the office of the AGF and the Commission is not involved in inter-agency squabbles with the DSS. Indeed, the Commission, along with the DSS, ICPC, Police and the office of the AGF, is a member of a technical committee that meets at the highest level of government to collaborate and coordinate strategies against corruption. The last such meeting was as recently as today.

Further, it must be stated that of the seven judges who are subject of the DSS raids, only one of them previously featured in a petition on alleged corruption to the EFCC. Investigation into the petition had reached an advanced stage, when one of the judges got a Federal High Court order to stop further investigation by the Commission. EFCC is still trying to vacate that order for the investigation to proceed unfettered.

However, Nigerians deserve to know that the nature of professional investigation of financial crimes is highly discrete and not given to theatre. The subject usually does not know the Commission is amassing evidences against him or her for several months before the strike. Therefore, the notion that a petition is submitted today and the next things that follow are instant arrests, prosecution and convictions is highly misleading.

In this regard, EFCC is currently investigating eight (8) judges and two (2) court registrars. Some of the suspects who have been invited have made useful statements that have been of great assistance to the investigations. In due course, those who have cases to answer would be arrested and charged to court.

Wilson Uwujaren

Head, Media & Publicity

13/10/2016
The Human Rights and Anti Corruption Coalition on Wednesday protested the angry backlash from some Nigerians on the State Security Services, SSS, over the agencys recent arrest of some judges.

At the Ikeja Division of the Federal High Court, the protesters demanded a decisive action against corrupt judges in the country.

The group made the demands at a peaceful anti-corruption protest to the Federal High Court, Ikeja Division Lagos.

The arrest of seven judge of various courts exposed how bad the cancer of corruption has spread in our polity, said Desmond Abiona, the Lagos coordinator of the group.

We mourn not just because these judicial officers have been fooling us, we mourn because they were still able to get gullible citizens that are fighting for them by condemning the sequence of events and the process of their arrests.

Suddenly, arrests that were executed with valid warrants are being criticized by the same people who have been shortchanged by rogue judges all their lives. It is simply inconceivable.

An overnight assault on some senior judges in six states across the country by the SSS late Friday and early Saturday resulted in the arrest of some judges.

Officials of the SSS had told PREMIUM TIMES on Saturday that the operation was ordered after months of investigation, during which the secret police established credibly that the affected judges were involved in questionable financial dealings.

The crackdown generated heated debates across the country and, once again out Nigerias secret police mode of operation on the spotlight.

Of the 15 judges  from the High, Appeal, and the Supreme Court  said to be under investigation, seven were arrested during the weekend raid.

The seven judges were granted bail on Monday on self-recognition.

The protesters in Lagos challenged the arrested or indicted judges to exonerate themselves from the allegations from the SSS.

We dare them to apply the same test of the law that they have applied to the masses on themselves and see if they will not spend the remainder of their natural lives in jail without the possibility of state pardon, Mr. Abiona said.

Mr. Abiona also said in the coming days, some groups would be recruited by agents commissioned by the judges to hold protests alleging witch-hunt on the judiciary.

We however want to clearly set out here that arrest of judges, or anyone found to have been corrupt is not witch-hunt, it is not politics and definitely it is not clamping down on freedoms, he said.

Anyone that they contact to be part of protests either on the streets or in the virtual cyberspace would do well to identify and appreciate the issues:

In the number of years that we have returned to democratic rule, corrupt judges have been steadily eroding the gains of democracy.

They have in some instances sold judgment to the highest bidders such that votes no longer count and millions of people are saddled with representatives and leaders they did not actually vote for.

The men and women who threatened our democratic freedom with their avarice have no right walking free when indicted, they should face the law they profess and bear their punishments if convicted.

He further said the Nigerian Police Force could attest of their frustration in the hands of corrupt judges who turn dangerous robbers loose on Nigerian streets for money.

Every family that has ever lost a loved one to the hails of bullets fired by judge-pampered robbers would attest to the fact that a corrupt judge is worse than a robber in that he wields a more deadly weapon as the scales of justices is superior to firearms, Mr. Abiona said.

Has anyone ever wondered why many of the killer kidnappers are not first timers? It is because corrupt judges always set them free everytime security agencies release them.

And yet, even the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), whose members have been fair game to kidnappers can come out to speak in favour of the corruption that is keeping criminals on our streets.

How many terrorists have we successfully convicted and put away for good? Not many. Corrupt judges will not allow it. They will rather receive bribes and allow killers roam the land with explosive belts and AK47 than deploy the judiciary as a tool for curbing terrorism.

The group demanded that all the judges so far indicted or arrested for corruption immediately resign considering the magnitude of the case that the DSS has built against them.

The cases of those that have been given lenient punishments that amount to a slap on the wrist by the National Judicial Council (NJC) should be revisited with a view to dragging them before a law court, said Mr. Abiona.

The DSS must widen its investigation to take in all the petitions that the NJC has ever discarded given the fact that the council has demonstrated amply that it tends to shield corrupt judge.
About 500 protesters under the aegis of Coalition of Civil Society Groups on Thursday marched in Abuja, and passed a vote of no confidence on President Muhammadu Buhari and members of his economic team, specifically the Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele.

The protesters also appealed to the Niger Delta militants, the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, and other aggrieved groups in the country to sheath their swords and allow government to work.

They were seen carrying placards with different inscriptions: In unity we will overcome recession, Say no to agents of distabilization, Naira will bounce back, Give change a chance, We stand with Buhari and Emefiele, among others.

Speaking during the rally at the Tafawa Balewa Road, Area 11, Abuja, the president of the coalition, Bassey Williams, said it was so unfortunate that some faceless group with clandestine motive, were doing protest against the Nigerian government over current hard time.

According to him, one of the best things that have happened to the present administration is the role being played by the CBN governor in bringing the Naira to be at a very favourable position in the global economic market.

He maintained that people rushed to the media to castigate the Department of State Security (DSS) over the arrest of some Judges, when they were ignorant of the fact of the matters, adding that Nigerians were fully in support of the efforts of the PMB to eradicate corruption in Nigeria.

According to him, We are here today to demonstrate to Nigerians that we are fully in support of the economic think-tank of the President.

We are passing the vote of confidence on President Muhammadu Buhari, the CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun and other members of his team.

We want to say that we are in support of what DSS has done so far. We cannot and would not encourage corruption, corruption must die.

If there is corruption, Nigeria will not strive, our economic will go down, and that is why we are in full support of the Presidents anti-corruption war.

And we want to urge all Nigerians especially the media to support this fight against corruption, to support the government of President Buhari to take Nigeria out of the recession.

We want to appeal to the Niger Delta militants to sheath their swords, we want to appeal to agitators of the Biafra Republic to sheath their swords and embrace peace and unity, in oneness we strive.

Bassey further noted that people who had looted the treasury of the country and brought her to her kneel could not turn to be advocate of economic growth overnight, adding that calling for the removal of Emefiele is unjustifiable.

It would be an insult on our collective intelligence if those responsible for the present state of our economy have suddenly turned advocates of rapid economic growth and development through the use of media propaganda and campaign of calumny against you government in a bid to discredit the good work of our economic team, he said.
THE WHOLE COUNTRY HAS BEEN WAITING FOR YOUR RELEASE, VP OSINBAJO TELLS JUST RELEASED 21 CHIBOK GIRLS

*ADDS AT ABUJA RECEPTIONPRESIDENT BUHARI IS VERY EXCITED YOU ARE FREE.

(Below are the verbatim remarks of the Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, SAN, in Abuja today while receiving the just released Chibok girls.)

First, let me say, we must praise the Almighty God for bringing you back after so many months.

Before I say anything further lets just say a word of prayer together.

Let us pray.

Our Father in Heaven, we bless your name, we thank you because there is no one like you, thank you for being so good to us, thank you Almighty Father for these ladies.

Father, even as you have brought them back, we pray that you replenish, resuscitate them, and revitalize them with good health so that they can be more successful and happier than they were ever before.

We pray that all of these girls that you have taken care of even while they were in captivity, I pray that you will continue to take care of them.

I pray that you will uphold them, let it be well with them. We pray for those who are still in captivity that all of them will be returned to us. In Jesus mighty name we pray, Amen.

Welcome back girls!

I am sure you know that the whole country has been waiting for you to come back, all these many months, the whole country has been waiting that one day we will see you again and we are very happy to see you back!

We are going to bring your parents, your parents will be coming here to join you.

You cant immediately be taken out of here because we need to be sure that you are in very good health.

I am sure are going to be very well taken care of. We have provided very good accommodation for you where you will stay where you will sleep and your parents will come and meet you there also.

We are also going to see to it that everything that you require going forward, perhaps your education, those who need to go back to school, those who need to find employment, we are going to make that we make all the provisions for you.

The Federal Government is very committed. The president in particular, has asked me to tell you, how excited he is. When you were away, he kept saying that if it were his daughter he wouldnt even know what to do.

So we are all very excited that you are here. We are all happy that God has preserved your lives and brought you back.

We know that very soon all will be well and I am sure that when you meet with your parents they will be very excited to meet you.

We have already contacted them, they know where you are, and very soon they will be joining you here. So we are all looking forward to how you are going to settle in very nicely. The doctors have all the kinds of treatment that you will need, so you are all welcome back and we are all very excited to see.

Laolu Akande

Senior Special Assistant-Media & Publicity

In the Office of the Vice President

October 13, 2016
Governors of all 19 states in northern Nigeria are expected to spend three days in Washington DC next week at the invitation of the United States Institute of Peace (USIP).

They will be participating in the Northern Nigeria Governors Symposium from October 18 to 21 with civic leaders from the Senior Working Group of Nigeria and representatives of the Federal Government of Nigeria.

Organized by the institute with support of U.S. State Departments Bureau of Conflict and Stabilization Operations, the upcoming Symposium is the second such event in as many years.

The first one which held in May 2014 discussed security challenges caused by the Boko Haram insurgency and strategies for stabilization and development in northern Nigeria.

Speaking on Tuesday at the pre-symposium media briefing, USIP Senior Advisors and former ambassadors, Princeton Lyman and Johnnie Carson said the institutes Northern Governors symposium was designed to bolster Nigerias commanding stature in Sub-Saharan Africa by addressing causes of instability and seeking opportunities for durable peace in the north.

Describing the country as a significant powerhouse, whose position in Africa compares to that of India in Asia and Brazil in South America, Mr. Carson said Nigeria also became one of the worlds premier democracy after the epochal election of 2015.

Mr. Lyman, who was U.S. ambassador to Nigeria 1986 to 1989, said Boko Haram insurgency opened new frontiers for engagement and opportunity to address the disconnect between political power and development in northern Nigeria.

While all 19 governors got invitation to the Symposium, as of last week, only Governors Abdullah Abubakar (Bauchi), Kashim Shettima (Borno and head of the Northern Nigeria Governors Forum), Bello Masari (Katsina), Bako Lalong (Plateau) and Waziri Tambuwal (Sokoto) have confirmed their participation.

Minister of the Interior, Abdulrahman Dambazau, and Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Kayode Fayemi, have also confirmed their attendance.

The governors and other participants will meet with officials from U.S. government, public agencies and corporate bodies.

USIPs Senior Program Officer for Nigeria, Oge Onubogu, said the visiting Nigerian governors will also meet with Steve Hayes, chairman of the Corporate Council on Africa and Gayle Smith, USAID director, to discuss project priorities for northern Nigeria.

USIP officials are confident that the upcoming Northern Governors Symposium will build on the tangible successes of the first symposium which, according to Ambassador Carson, include the growing confidence of democratic governance as evidenced by the laudable outcome of the 2015 elections and improved governance environment with lessening of the disconnect between northern governors and the federal government.
The trial of a former governor of Plateau State, Joshua Dariye, continued on Wednesday, October 12 before Justice Adebukola Banjoko of the Federal Capital Territory High Court, Gudu, Abuja, with a defence witness, Stephen Igmala, who is the acting General Manager, Plateau State Road Maintenance Agency, denying knowledge of how equipment used by the Agency were procured.

Mr. Igmala, while being examined by the defence counsel, G. S. Pwul, said: I started working in the Agency as a Principal Technical Officer in May 2000. I have no idea about how, and when the equipment were procured. We received them from the Ministry of Works in 2000, and are still using them till date. We didnt pay for the equipment; the state government did.

Under cross-examination by the counsel to EFCC, Rotimi Jacobs, Mr. Igmala, who told the court that he became the Agencys acting general manager in June 2015, said he was not a member of the management of the agency, previously known as Plateau State Direct Labour Agency, when the equipment and vehicles listed in the Exhibit D 18 that was tendered and admitted by the court were procured.

Mr. Igmala, the fifth defence witness, DW5, in the ongoing trial, also told the court that he had not bought any other equipment since he assumed office as acting General Manager.

I have only been buying diesel, petrol and engine oil through direct purchase from the market, he said.

However, the prosecuting counsel pointed out to the court that the equipment as well as the vehicles used by the agency were more than what was captured in the Exhibit D18 previously tendered and admitted by the court.

Answering further questions from Mr. Jacobs, Mr. Igmala admitted that he had exceeded his six-month acting period.

Justice Banjoko, thereafter, adjourned to October 13 for further hearing.

Mr. Dariye is being prosecuted by the EFCC for allegedly siphoning the states ecological fund to the tune of N1.16 billion.

The former Plateau Governor recently decamped to Nigerias ruling party, APC from the opposition PDP.
The Senate on Wednesday began moves to legalise lobbying in Nigeria as it passed for second reading, a Bill seeking for law to register and regulate lobbying as a profession.

The Bill for an Act for the Regulation and Registration of Lobbyists in Nigeria and for other matters connected therewith, 2016 is sponsored by Dino Melaye, (APC, Kogi West).

While presenting his lead debate, Mr. Melaye argued that the National Assembly needed to recognise and approve professional lobbyists in the legislature.

He added that the Bill would also make provision for intending lobbyist to be duly registered under the Company and Allied and Matters Act.

Mr. Melaye said that the lobbyist after being registered with Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) would also have to register with the Ministry of Justice to practice as lobbyist in the Senate or House of Representatives.

He defined lobbying as an activity in which special interests hire well-connected professional advocates, often lawyers, to argue for specific legislation in parliament.

He said that although the bill looked controversial and perceived as negative, lobbying took place at every level of government.

The bill will create stricter registration requirement for lobbyists and also require lobbyists to disclose how much they make and spend on lobbying.

It will ban lobbyist from paying for gifts and food as a means of inducement and it would give oversight agencies more powers to investigate violation of ethics laws, he said.

The lawmaker added that the Bill will also offer the legislator opportunity to be more informed about a bill before it comes for reading.

According to him, the lobbyists will be readily available to inform the legislators of the idea behind the Bill being pushed.

Many senators, including Ben Bruce, Godswill Akpabio, and Mohammed Ali Ndume, who spoke, supported the Bill.

They argued that when passed, the Bill would help legislators to sponsor individual bills.

The senate referred the Bill to its Committee on Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal Matters, with a directive to report back in three weeks.

(NAN)
President Muhammadu Buhari has reacted to the Boko Harams release of 21 out of the over 200 Chibok school girls the terrorist group abducted in 2014.

As I depart Abuja for Germany on an official visit, I welcome the release of 21 of our Chibok Girls, following successful negotiations, Mr. Buhari said on Twitter few minutes after the news broke out.

The Department of State Services (DSS) has briefed me on the matter, and will continue to provide updates.

Cooperation on the security & humanitarian situation in the Northeast will form a significant part of my discussions with Chancellor Merkel, the president said.

Boko Haram kidnapped nearly 300 female students from a secondary school in Chibok on April 14, 2014, provoking international outrage.

More than 50 managed to escape on the day they were captured.

Since then, there has only been one confirmed release since then. In May, 19-year-old Amina Nkeki was found carrying by the Civilian JTF.
Ekiti State Governor, Ayodele Fayose, has expressed doubts at the claims by the Federal Government that it has secured the release of 21 of the 219 girls abducted by Boko Haram in 2014 in Chibok, Borno state.

In a statement by his Special Assistant on Public Communication and New Media, Lere Olayinka, Mr. Fayose said the claims could be another diversionary tactic of the Federal Government.

Nigerians are no longer interested in the lies and make believes of the APC- led federal

government. Rather, Nigerians want the economy fixed and food on their tables, he said.

He said Nigerians should wait to see the set of girls said to have been released before drawing any conclusion.

As for me, I keep my fingers crossed on this reported release of 21 Chibok girls. This is because we were once told by this same government that one of the girls was released and the girl, who was supposed to be writing Physics WAEC examination then could not speak one sentence in English, Mr. Fayose said.

Again, it was reported yesterday that Boko Haram bombed Maiduguri, Borno State and killed more than 10 people. How the same Boko Haram insurgents that bombed Maiduguri yesterday could release 21 Chibok girls today is a question Nigerians must ask.

Until proved otherwise, the story still appears like one of the diversionary tactics of the federal government.

While alleging that the federal government was evading the hoopla created by the SSS arrest of judges by the Chibok girls story, the governor said the economy deserved better attention than propaganda.

We have heard enough stories on corruption, the federal government should give Nigerians food. The people are suffering and their sufferings must be attended to by the federal government, he said.

Propaganda, cheap lies and diversionary tactics must give way for serious governance.
Governor of Borno state, Kashim Shettima, has praised President Muhammadu Buhari on the release of 21 Chibok schoolgirls, following a deal with their Boko Haram abductors.

Mr. Shettima, in a statement issued by his spokesman, Isa Gusau, said the release of the girls leaves no doubts about the sincerity and commitment of the federal government in rescuing the schoolgirls as well as other abducted persons.

As people of Borno State troubled by the deaths and destruction of Boko Haram insurgency, one of our major sources of strength has been the undiluted sincerity we saw in President Buhari, based on his administrations commitment to recovering our schoolgirls, and thousands of other women and children held in captivity, as well as ending the insurgency in order to secure the lives of our citizens and make way for reconstruction, resettlement and other development programmes and projects, Mr. Shettima said.

We had faith in Buhari from the very day he took off as President. The steps he kept on taking in dealing with the insurgency continuously proved his sincerity.

If any Nigerian or member of the international community had doubts about the sincerity and commitment of President Buhari to the rescue of our precious daughters and other abducted Nigerians and very importantly, his sincerity in working towards ending the Boko Haram insurgency, such doubts must by now be laid to rest.

The governor commended the Nigerian Armed Forces and others involved in the recovery of the girls.

He said the state government had put in place a rehabilitation process that would work with the Federal Government and humanitarian partners to ensure proper medical evaluation and trauma management for the girls.

Mr. Shettima said he was also prepared to enroll the girls in schools of their choices, like the 56 girls who escaped abduction, all of whom are schooling in two International schools in the North Central and Northwest with their schools kept away from the public to ensure their privacy so as not to create publicity that could jeopardize their education.

The governor is in the entourage of President Buhari to Germany, where the president is scheduled to hold discussions on security and improving the welfare of internally displaced persons affected by the Boko Haram insurgency.
A leader of Nigerian Shiites has stated how his members were attacked by irate youth in Jos on Wednesday.

Adamu Tsoho called on Governor Simon Lalong of Plateau to call the JTF, the Izala and Falafiaya Islamic sects to order before they set the state on fire.

Mr. Tsoho made the call in Jos, saying that the sects worship building was attacked by irate youths of Anguwan Rogo in Jos North Local Government Area of Plateau.

He claimed that just when we were to finish our procession as mark of mourning of the brutal killing of the grandson of Holy Prophet of Islam which is an annual event, youths attacked us, with soldiers chasing our members away.

Our over N2.5 million worship building was attacked with part of it set ablaze and destroyed, while equipment worth over N1 million were vandalised and carted away, he alleged.

However, Ikedia Iweha, the spokesman, Military Joint Tasks Force, JTF, in Plateau said the Shiites should blame themselves for the misfortune of Wednesday morning when they were attacked by irate youth at Aguwan Rogo.

The Shiites building and members were attacked by irate youths when they staged a procession between 9 a.m. and 10 a.m. to mark the killing of the grandson of the Prophet of Islam

The JTF Spokesman told the News Agency of Nigeria in an interview in Jos that the task force only responded to a distress call when they arrived at the scene of the attack.

He said we dont have anybody in our custody; all we did was to rescue those injured.

We also gave the injured first aid and released them thereafter.

For anybody to accuse us of acting on an order from above is ridiculous because there was no such order but we did what we did to maintain the peace.

(NAN)
The police in Plateau State have arrested 45 Shia Muslims, accusing them of disrupting public peace during a banned procession on Wednesday, police spokesperson, Terna Tyopev, said Thursday.

Mr. Tyopev told PREMIUM TIMES that the leader of the group, Adamu Tsoho, was at large.

Yesterday (Wednesday) we arrested 45 members of the Nigeria Shiite for disrupting public peace, 26 of them are females and 17 males; we had advised leader of the group Adamu Tsoho, not to embark on the procession, he said.

The leader wrote to us on Monday 10th October 2016 soliciting to embark on the procession, but we objected, we replied his letter on Tuesday 11th of October 2016, in writing, asking not embark on the procession; we handed the letter to him in person, but he went ahead against our order.

The police spokesman said those arrested would be charged to court.

Meanwhile, leader of the group, Mr. Tsoho, on Thursday threatened to set the state alight if the police continued with the arrests.

He call on the governor, Simon Lalong, to call to order security operatives, the Izala and Falafiaya Islamic sects, to order.
Kaduna state governor, Nasir El-Rufai, has condemned recent attacks by residents of Tudun Wada, Kaduna, on Shiite members leading to the death of four people.

The governor also warned against mob actions on any individual or group under the any guise throughout the state.

Four members of the Shia sect were killed in the Tudun Wada area of Kaduna South Local Government Area when some irate youth attacked the sect, and torched the residence of its leader.

The mob also demolished the Shiites Islamic school in the area.

Kaduna State government outlawed the activities of Shiite group in the state and ordered the arrest of its spokesperson, Ibrahim Musa.

In a statement signed by Samuel Aruwan, the governors spokesperson, Mr. El-Rufai said that security agencies had been directed to vigorously uphold law and order in the state, including investigating and effecting arrests of participants in mob actions which are clearly lawless and cannot be allowed to provide cover for individuals resorting to illegal self-help.

The Government condemns in strong terms this unfortunate situation and commiserates with the affected citizens and their families, and others that lost their properties and valuables.

The Government therefore wishes to categorically warn citizens against mob action. No one will be allowed to conduct themselves in an arbitrary manner. Impunity has no place in this state.

There are designated agencies vested with the duty of law enforcement, and citizens cannot usurp their roles; rather it is the duty of all citizens to report infractions of the law and help to prevent or detect crime. There can be no recourse to self-help.

Only constituted authority and security agencies have the statutory right and the constitutional mandate to enforce compliance to the law. Every resident of Kaduna State has the right to the constitutional freedoms outlined in Sections 38 and 40.
Authorities in Nigerias Lagos State must immediately abandon plans to demolish all irregular structures in waterfront communities across the state within the next three days, which would leave tens of thousands of people homeless and destitute, Amnesty International said Thursday.

Tens of thousands of people living in settlements along creeks and waterfronts, the majority of whom are poor fishing communities, are at risk of forced evictions.

This comes as a result of Lagos State authorities plans to demolish irregular structures in their attempt to improve security following a rise in kidnappings in Lagos.

Nigerian authorities are prohibited under international law from using forced evictions as a punitive measure.

While the government needs to address the issue of abductions, destroying peoples homes and forcibly evicting tens of thousands of people from their homes can never be a lawful response, said Amnesty International Nigerias researcher Morayo Adebayo. Many people in these settlements make their living in or near the Lagos Lagoon waterfront and are now facing terrifyingly uncertain futures.

By attempting to push these residents off the waterfronts with just a weeks notice, no genuine consultations, and no provision of compensation or alternative housing, the Lagos State authorities are blithely violating international human rights law. We are urging the Lagos authorities to immediately halt their plans to forcibly evict the waterfront communities across the state.

Lagos State Governor Akinwunmi Ambode visited Ilubirin, a waterfront community on Sunday where he said that demolition of all shanties in Lagos will begin in the next seven days.

The Lagos State authorities added that these planned demolitions are as a result of the rise in kidnappings which they believe the irregular structures are a main cause, describing such settlements as security threat structures.

On the official Lagos State government website, the Commissioner for Information Steve Ayorinde said: The government has taken adequate steps to stem the tide of kidnapping in the State, noting that in line with the directive of the State Governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode, plans have been concluded to commence the demolition of illegal structures erected across the state waterfronts and creeks.

Amnesty International called on the government to halt its plans to demolish irregular structures across the states waterfront and to ensure that forced evictions are not used as a punitive measure or a law enforcement tool.

Even in situations where evictions are considered to be justified, governments obliged to ensure that that they are carried out in strict compliance with international law, including the principles of reasonableness and proportionality, Amnesty International said.

Governments must consider all feasible alternatives to evictions in consultation with all affected people. Any person affected by a proposed eviction must be served adequate written notice, within a reasonable time period.

Other due process safeguards must be followed, including the provision of legal remedies and compensation. Governments have to ensure that no one is left homeless and provide adequate alternative accommodation for those who cannot provide for themselves.

It is staggering to think that Lagos still does not have a law prohibiting forced evictions and guaranteeing peoples right to housing. Authorities in Lagos need to establish a moratorium on mass evictions until they have regulations in place to ensure that evictions comply with international standards, said Morayo Adebayo.

Background

More than 2 million people have been forcibly evicted from their homes in different parts of Nigeria since 2000. These evictions are carried out without adequate prior consultation, adequate notice and compensation or alternative accommodation.

Most were already marginalized and many had lived for years without access to clean water, sanitation, adequate health care or education.

In September 2015, approximately 10,200 residents of Badia-East community in Ijora area of Lagos were forcibly evicted, and many of them remain homeless and dependent on family and friends. The state government is yet to provide any compensation or resettlement to these evictees.

Nigeria is a party to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) and other international and regional human rights treaties, which require it to realize the right to adequate housing, and to prevent and refrain from carrying out forced evictions.
Crisis-ridden All Progressives Congress in Ondo State has moved towards reconciliation, in an attempt to close the partys broken ranks and brighten its chances of winning the November governorship election.

The partys aggrieved aspirants and leaders have pledged their support for the partys candidate, Rotimi Akeredolu.

The reconciliation followed several peace meetings between the partys candidate and the partys leaders as well as tradeoffs which resulted in the choice of Agboola Ajayi as his running mate.

During the week, Mr. Akeredolu met with the partys embattled chairman, Isaac Kekemeke, signaling reprieve for the chairman who was earlier removed by the partys structure.

Mr. Kekekeme was purportedly sacked by majority members of the state working committee of the party after crisis erupted prior to the primary election.

He remained at the sidelines ever since, but has now been appointed into the membership of the campaign team of the partys candidate.

The candidacy of Mr. Akeredolu further received a boost on Thursday with a declaration of support from one of his rivals, Ajayi Boroffice, the senator representing Ondo North and who contesting the ticket with him.

Mr. Boroffice in a statement, said although the outcome of the September 3 primary raised tempers and created disagreements, the party must unite and focus on winning the election come November 26.

He noted that the crisis had created delays in the announcement of the partys candidate as well as the campaigns.

What happened within Ondo State APC was not more than a disagreement among patriots over a highly competitive and keenly contested primaries, Mr. Boroffice said.

I wish to put on record that all the contestants were men and a woman who felt genuinely concerned about the parlous and regrettable state of our state today.

Each of us have the zeal, the passion and fervour for rescuing this land from the 8 year misrule of PDP which have relegated our citizens to poverty and misery.

He said as true democrat, he knew that after every election with many contestants, a winner must emerge.

He stated that it was the desire of the opposition to see discord, disaffection and crack in the party, especially after the primaries, but their expectations had failed, adding that APC would go ahead and win the coming election.

Gentlemen of the Press, Mr Oluwarotimi Akeredolu SAN, his team and I and mine have met a couple of times after the primaries. We have been discussing our differences. Other great leaders of this party have also interacted with me and we have shared ideas about the issues emanating from the primaries as well as the way out, said Mr. Boroffice.

At all of those times, we were united on the fact that Ondo state people needs help. And that public interest must at all times be above personal desires.

It is therefore in the light of all these as well as as the utmost desire to protect, preserve and develop our party that I Professor Robert Ajayi Borrofice wish to announce to you and all Nigerians today that I accept the decision of our partys NWC affirming Mr Oluwarotimi Akeredolu SAN as the Ondo state APC Governorship candidate for the November 2016 elections. My supporters and I view, accept and congratulate him as our partys flag-bearer.

He also said he would work with Mr. Akeredolu to ensure victory for APC at the elections.

According to him, the reconciliation is total and unconditional, acknowledging that the party, discipline, integrity and the voice of the people are supreme.

As I have always reiterated, I am a true partyman. I believe in our great Party, the APC. I will never abandon it for any reason. I will always remain in it to sustain and strengthen it for the sake of Ondo state and Nigeria, he pledged.

He directed all members and supporters of his group throughout the state to make themselves and all their resources available for the APC and its candidate to pursue successful campaigns.

He thanked President Muhammadu Buhari and the party leadership for their fairness and commitment to seeing the party through the period of crisis and putting it in a position to excel in the coming elections

Speaking further on the reconciliation, the Publicity Secretary of the party, Abayomi Adesanya, said the party has chosen the path of reconciliation in order to ensure victory in next months election.

He said Mr. Kekemeke was back to the saddle of leadership in the party all to promote harmony in the pursuit of the common goal.
The All Progressives Congress (APC) on Thursday in Abuja constituted a 49-member campaign committee for the November 26 governorship poll in Ondo state.

The committee has nine governors, nine ministers, former governors and members of the National Assembly, including the Deputy Speaker of House of Representatives.

Inaugurating the committee at the partys National Secretariat in Abuja, National Chairman, John Odigie-Oyegun, said the committee had the big challenge of delivering Ondo to the APC.

We deliberately made this committee large because we have very little time within which to work, he said. It was made so that it will be possible to handle well the various activities that need to be undertaken.

I am glad about the number of governors, ministers and legislators who have gladly undertaken to perform this challenging responsibility.

I call it challenging because of the special circumstances that have brought us to this point today, otherwise, Ondo state is ripe for the taking and ripe to be added to the APC progressive family.

The challenge I am passing on to you today is the obvious challenge that arose at the primary. But, I trust that you and your team will overcome those difficulties and deliver Ondo to the APC family, Mr. Odigie-Oyegun said.

The APC in Ondo state had been embroiled in crisis following the emergence of Rotimi Akeredolu as its candidate for the election.

The chairman of the party in the state, Isaac Kekemeke, was at a point suspended after 25 gubernatorial aspirants petitioned the national chairman against him.

It also led to the recent spat between the national chairman and a party chieftain, Bola Tinubu.

Admitting that the election would not be easy, Mr. Odigie-Oyegun said, In Edo, it was difficult and not a walk-over; it was a tough election and a difficult election.

This also will not be a walk-over. It will be a tough and difficult election, but we will win.

At the higher level, we are already doing things to bring the contending interests together and restore Ondo state to the progressive family.

We want the people of Ondo state to know that the day of redemption has come and by the grace of God, we shall triumph.

Accepting the challenge, the Chairman of the campaign committee, Governor Simon Lalong of Plateau, assured the gathering of his confidence to secure victory for the party at the poll.

Speaking to journalists after the inaugural meeting, Mr. Lalong said he would involve everyone, including Mr. Tinubu, in the reconciliation.

Im going to talk about reconciliation. Asiwaju is a national leader, hes a key factor to the government both in Nigeria and the party.

So, when we talk about reconciliation even if he was not involved, wherever you are going to talk about reconciliation, you must consider him as a factor in the election.

What we are talking about is all hands must be on deck, not one person; everybody must be involved just like they did in Edo.

We were all involved that was how we won Edo. In this case, we see the same thing happening.

At the end of the day its the interest of the party and the interest of the nation. All of them will come, he said.

In a vote of thanks, the governorship candidate, Akeredolu, said that the party won during the last presidential election by 54 per cent and had no reason not to win the gubernatorial election.

He said that the contest would be between APC and PDP, adding and we will win. (NAN)
If Wingcraft Kitchen & Beer Bar has proven one thing since opening more than two years ago, its that its owners are never content.

Despite its numerous critical accolades  their burger The Manhattan Project won Atlantic City Weeklys No. 1 burger in 2016  booming business and rave online reviews, brothers Nick and Antonio Ballias are constantly evolving the gastropub located at Tanger Outlets  The Walk  in Atlantic City.

If you havent been in there in the last few months, be prepared for some major changes.

La PizzaTega has a passion for pizzas and so much more With nearly 80 percent of all restaurants closing before their fifth anniversary, La PizzaTe

For starters, Wingcraft doubled its craft beer offerings to 40 taps. And when you factor in the fact that they never offer any of the typical domestic, big brewery beers, Wingcraft easily has the best, most diverse craft beer tap list at the shore.

We saw a lot of new, local breweries opening, plus the existing breweries we already offer are expanding on the amount of styles they offer, so 20 taps just werent enough, says Nick Ballias, the creative, driving force of Wingcraft. Then when you add the amount of great national and international breweries out there, it was a no-brainer to double our taps.

That expansion has led to major increased business, thanks to avid craft-beer lovers seeking diversity.

People are ecstatic, Ballias says. We are now in the position where we can represent multiple styles from a brand. What other places might call a tap takeover, where they have three or four beers from Pinelands or Carton, here its business as usual.

Along with the additional taps, Wingcraft recently redecorated, moving its illuminated, vintage logo to its reclaimed wood wall so people can see it from the outside, while adding a hand-painted mural from artist James Racskowski, who grew up in Brigantine and now works as an artist in New York City.

I told him I wanted him to paint a mural of our logo and that I wanted it to look like it was 100 years old, and he nailed it, says Ballias.

But all of these changes wouldnt have as much of an impact if Wingcraft didnt evolve its menu, as well.

We try to change the menu a few times every year, Ballias says. We are always looking to see whats trendy, and sometimes I just have a great idea that I cant wait to get on there. Its a lot of fun.

Items on the drawing board include the possible addition of homemade strombolis using traditional and nontraditional fillings, as well as Coccoli Frito, a play on a traditional Italian appetizer that includes fried dough served with Italian meats and cheeses that diners construct by cuddling the fillings in between the dough.

But, even with these in the works, you dont have to wait for menu updates. Wingcraft already made a bunch of menu additions that can be had today.

The flatbreads have been completely reinvented with dough thats made from scratch and slightly lighter and thinner. Their two new pizza/flatbread additions are the best yet: BBQ chicken flatbread ($8.99) with pulled chicken tossed in a homemade honey BBQ sauce, Monterey Jack cheese and homemade cole slaw for a great crunch; and the West Philly thin-crust Sicilian, ($14.99) which features high-quality cheesesteak meat from acclaimed N.Y. butcher Pat LaFrieda, homemade marinara, layered mozzarella cheese, green peppers, crispy fried onions and sriracha ketchup drizzle.

The burgers continue to dominate sales. Using LaFriedas antibiotic- and hormone-free mixture of 100 black angus short rib, brisket and beef, the No. 1 seller is the aforementioned, The Manhattan Project ($12.99 single, $14.99 double) with smoked gouda, crispy fried onions and steak honey BBQ sauce, with the Classic Cheeseburger ($9.99 single, $11.99 double) with special sauce a close second. But the new addition The Pitts Burger ($12.99 single, $14.99 double)  inspired by Pittsburghs legendary Primanti Bros.  is getting a lot of buzz thanks to its American cheese, thick-cut bacon, cole slaw, Russian dressing and fries right on the sandwich.

Their awesome wings ($7.99) and tenders ($8.99) are available in a dozen sauces  try the hot and honey and buffalo bleu. Or venture to try something new, like the Thai steak and noodle salad ($19.99) with marinated filet tips, avocado, mango, lo mein noodles, peanuts, crispy onions and Thai dressing; or the Greek chicken pita ($12.99) with yogurt-marinated grilled chicken, tzatziki sauce, tomato, red onion, french fries and side of Greek village salad.

The pita is something I wanted to do for a long time, says Ballias, who is Greek. The tzatziki is my moms recipe and the best I ever had. And putting fries on the pita is authentic. When you go to Greece, every single place has fries inside the gyro or pita ... I am trying to make every section of the menu a little more ethnic.

There are also some amazing entrees including the fried chicken and biscuits ($16.99), chicken breast pounded thin and coated with a tasty batter reminiscent of chicken fried steak, accompanied with homemade mashed potatoes, a chive and cheddar biscuit and topped with sausage gravy; and the Pats meatloaf ($16.99), an open-face sandwich with grilled, homemade ciabatta bread layered with mashed potatoes, two slices of LaFrieda meatloaf, two onion rings and made-from-scratch gravy.

Even the desserts are made in-house, including the newest addition, a deconstructed cannoli with fried dough and homemade chocolate chip cannoli cream, the same cream that can be found inside its cannoli-cream stuffed french toast, available from, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sundays as part of Wingcrafts Secret Brunch. You have to ask for the brunch menu or they wont give it to you, but other must-try brunch items include sunnyside short rib tater tots and bananas foster french toast.

We are always evolving, Ballias says. We are having a great time. In fact, I never had more fun in my life ... I am so glad I can bring something like this to the area, because it was truly missing.
MULLICA TOWNSHIP  The carpenters union works in a collection of specialties much bigger than that shorthand name lets on.

Now, the union is actively recruiting more diverse members to do those jobs, using programs to specifically recruit women and minorities as apprentices who can work their way up to full members.

And the Northeast Carpenters Technical Training Center, tucked into the woods off Route 30 just east of Hammonton, has about 35,000 square feet worth of diverse, detailed facilities set up to train the unions recruits in every job its members do.

Those specialties go from floor to ceiling and well above and below both, from driving the piling for foundations to building roofs. Carpenters skills can include installing electronic locks on outside doors and reupholstering the furniture inside. Plus, they can build the highways and bridges to get people to their new buildings.

Stockton report highlights casino parking and county hotel performance The latest indicators for Atlantic Citys economic performance are a mixed bag.

Ridgeley Hutchinson, director of the unions apprentice program in New Jersey, says about 35 percent of 1,000 carpenters apprentices in the state are minorities, and 67 apprentices are women.

He didnt have past statistics, but he says there has been a gradual increase over the years in participation by minorities and women.

Tom Sommers, the training centers director, has taught carpenters their trade since the complex opened in 1990. He shows a visitor around a sprawling building where apprentices and teachers work inside and outdoors, upstairs and down. On the way, he passes posters promoting Sisters in the Brotherhood, an effort to draw women to the United Brotherhood of Carpenters, the formal union name.

And this union has always been equal pay, Sommers points out, despite persistent reports that women earn roughly 20 percent less than men in the general American workforce.

In another recruiting effort, the Northeast Carpenters recently won a $190,000 grant from New Jerseys Department of Labor and Workforce Development to increase the unions diversity, specifically in Atlantic County.

That grant will let the carpenters train up to 40 women and minority-group members in a pre-apprenticeship program. It starts with a basic educational component at Atlantic Cape Community College, with the goal of raising each potential recruit by at least one grade level, Hutchinson says. At least 20 percent of the recruits to that group are women.

Ocean City to consider Manco and Manco expansion plans OCEAN CITY  Manco & Manco pizzeria, with plans to open an expanded restaurant in the fo

Anthony Romanowski, 29, of Lacey Township, is a third-year apprentice who specializes in flooring. For their first five years in the union, all apprentices have to return for five weeks of training a year. That could be at the training center in Mullica or at one of several other facilities in a Northeast Carpenters region that stretches from Atlantic City to Pittsburgh and from Washington, D.C., to upstate New York.

Romanowski believes in that mandatory training, but hes a busy union member any time this annual rotation doesnt roll around.

Im with a good company, he says during a brief break from his training with Dave Gross, a Linwood resident and flooring instructor at the center. They work nonstop, year-round.

Romanowski says he sees all kinds of diversity among union members. When the carpenters sent him to Las Vegas for a national training program, his fellow third-year apprentices ranged in age from 19 to 63. And he says it would have been helpful for him to know a few other languages along with English.

Gross sees about eight apprentices in most of his classes. He teaches everything from laying all kinds of flooring  hardwood, carpet, vinyl tile and more  to sanding and finishing those floors. After five years, the apprentices have to pass tests to be certified in several flooring subspecialties.

Gross notes the union has lots of reasons to recruit a more diverse workforce, including the fact that some contracts call for specific percentages of minority members or local residents on a job.

Stockton report highlights casino parking and county hotel performance The latest indicators for Atlantic Citys economic performance are a mixed bag.

But Hutchinson, the apprenticeship director, says thats hardly the only motivation for all the unions work on building its own minority membership.

Were trying to present opportunities to people who may not have had them before, he says. Does it help fill quotas? Yes. But is that the reason we do it? No.
PLEASANTVILLE  Two months after the local school board approved hiring Clarence Alston as its new superintendent, no apparent progress has been made toward finalizing the process.

In its second attempt to hire Alston, the school board in August approved his appointment with the minimum five affirmative votes required.

At that time, state monitor Constance Bauer, who must approve and can overturn appointments, asked the board to provide documents showing the board had checked Alstons references as part of the hiring process.

After Tuesdays school board meeting, Bauer said no progress has been made in approval process.

There is no change, she said. She declined further comment.

Board member Elysa Sanchez, who headed the superintendent search committee, said after the meeting that information was provided by the New Jersey School Boards Association, which assisted the district with the search.

She has all the information she needs, Sanchez said. The New Jersey School Boards (Association) has the information, and its in her hands.

NJSBA spokesman Frank Belluscio referred specific questions about Pleasantville to the state monitor, but he said in general their search service does not include performing reference checks, just providing information the district would use in conducting the checks.

He said in an email the NJSBA also provides districts with a model superintendent contract that complies with state laws and regulations but is not in-volved in writing individual contracts, which is done by the local school board and the prospective employee and their attorneys.

Assistant Superintendent Garnell Bailey has been acting as interim superintendent since July 1, when Leonard Fitts contract ended. She is being paid $167,500 per year as the interim superintendent, the maximum allowed under state salary caps.

Last month, the board approved extending her contract as interim superintendent through Nov. 30. Bauer also approved the extension to allow more time to complete the vetting process on Alston.

Alston served as district superintendent from 2006 to 2009, but his contract was not renewed. The school board had first tried to rehire him in May but could not get a majority of five votes. Bauer said in June she did not think he was well-suited to fit the districts needs.
BRIDGETON  A Pennsylvania resident will have his first Superior Court appearance Friday on charges he fatally shot a man this week.

Larry John Pulcine Jr. is scheduled to appear before Superior Court Judge Robert Malestein at 9 a.m. in the Cumberland County courthouse.

The 34-year-old Duncansville resident is charged with murder and possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose. He is at the Cumberland County jail on $750,000 cash bail.

Pulcine is charged with killing 33-year-old Ivan S. Strayer III of Altoona, Pennsylvania.

Vineland police said they found Strayers body in a room at the Wingate by Wyndham Vineland hotel in the 2100 block of West Landis Avenue about 5:15 a.m. Tuesday after responding to a report of a possible unconscious person. Strayer had been shot multiple times, they said.

Pulcine was arrested after an investigation by Vineland police and the Cumberland County Prosecutors Office. Authorities have yet to disclose what prompted the shooting.

Vineland police said Strayer and Pulcine were acquainted with each other through their employment with a company that was doing work in the area. Police did not release the companys name or the nature of the work.

Superior Court records show Pulcine has no criminal record in New Jersey.

The death remains under investigation. Anyone with information can call the Vineland police Detective Bureau at 856-691-4111, ext. 4181, or Crime Stoppers at 856-691-0345.
Motorists heading north on the Garden State Parkway have a new route over Great Egg Harbor Bay.

One lane of northbound traffic on the Garden State Parkway was diverted onto the new bridge late Monday. And by Tuesday morning, both lanes of northbound traffic were on the bridge, which connects Cape May and Atlantic counties.

The new bridge, a towering span that opened in August to travelers heading south, now carries both north- and southbound vehicles. The new traffic pattern will continue as the old parkway bridge is refurbished for northbound traffic.

Northbound parkway traffic at Great Egg Harbor Bay has seen delays for weeks because of lane closings approaching the bridges. The closings allowed contractors to build an interim crossover to shift traffic onto the new span, New Jersey Turnpike Authority spokesman Tom Feeney said.

The next phase of the project will involve redecking the existing, older span that eventually will be used for northbound traffic.

Last month, construction workers opened two lanes on the weekends to help ease traffic issues, a change from the original plan. Feeney said the change would have no effect on the timeline for com-pletion of the project.
Thrift stores are thriving in South Jersey, and many have sprung up since the severe recession. Two arriving soon will offer a more focused merchandise selection and pursue a particular worthy goal.

They will help the local Habitat for Humanity affiliates in their quest to eliminate substandard housing and provide affordable homes.

They also wont accept as donations or offer for sale the clothing and home decor found in a typical thrift shop. Instead, these ReStore shops will trade in the same building materials and essential furnishings that the nonprofit uses to help build and rehabilitate homes for qualified families. When customers buy furniture, appliances, windows, doors, flooring, lighting or tools, the money will help put more people in decent homes.

Habitat for Humanity Atlantic County expects to open its ReStore shop this winter in a former flooring store on Fire Road in Egg Harbor Township. Its Cape May County counterpart is aiming for a spring opening in Middle Township.

Using mainly donated materials, labor, and even land and houses, the two organizations have been able to accomplish much. The Cape version has built eight homes in the Whitesboro section of Middle Township since 2012. The Habitat Atlantic has helped 33 families become homeowners in the county. With the proceeds from the thrift shops, theyll be able to help more.

Habitat for Humanity provides a hand up rather than a handout. The future homeowners are selected from many people lacking suitable housing according to their level of need, their ability to pay the mortgage and their willingness to partner. Once in the program, each adult in the family must contribute 250 hours of volunteer work  considered sweat equity  for community organizations.

The goal is worth the effort. Habitat for Humanity Atlantic County says it sells the home to the family for the cost of construction, and the mortgage is interest free. Average monthly payments are $650, including taxes and insurance, and as the principal is paid back, it goes toward building more homes.

The county affiliates also help homeowners overcome barriers to accessibility. A house in South Seaville was furnished with wheelchair ramps and rails. The Hammonton home of a child with cerebral palsy is getting a handicapped accessible bathroom and tub, a raised bedroom floor, and a new exit door and wheelchair ramp.

All of this work will be even easier to support when the ReStore thrift shops open. Just shop for something for the home, donate items to the store, or volunteer some time and effort. Helping out a good cause doesnt get much easier.
EGG HARBOR TOWNSHIP  Jean Sidway remembers visiting Storybook Land as a child during the 1960s and taking her own children there as a mother during the 1980s.

Sidway, director of the English Creek Academy, returned to Storybook Land this summer. This time, she was with one of her grandchildren, who attended her child-care center.

The children love it. They are fascinated with Storybook Land. Its a beautiful park, Sidway said. There is something for everyone. ... They have done it the right way.

The proof Storybook Land has been doing it right is its track record. While other vintage amusement parks throughout the country have faded away, Storybook Land has been open for 61 years in the same spot on the Black Horse Pike.

When parks close, we check them out and see what they have, said Jessica Fricano, operations manager. A lot of these parks opened at the same time in the 1950s, so a lot of the decorations, characters and figures all look alike, and they all have that same kind of style.

Storybook Land, which opened in 1955 as a roadside picnic area and snack stand on the way to Atlantic City, grew into a 25-acre amusement park. At the time, it was one of many theme parks created to entertain the children of the post-World War II baby-boom generation.

It has survived dips in the economy, bad weather and competition from bigger parks near and far. That competition includes Walt Disney World, which opened in Orlando, Florida, in 1971 and Great Adventure, which opened in Jackson in 1974.

The park also had to deal with being in a state whose building and safety codes for amusement parks are some of the most stringent in the nation.

Manufacturers and operators consider the amusement park safety codes in New Jersey and California to be the strictest, said Brian Hartley, vice president of Playlands Castaway Cove in Ocean City.

Storybook Land has grown by adding rides and attractions over the decades that follow the theme of nursery rhymes, childrens classics and bedtime stories. They include the Alice in Wonderland tunnel and maze, Moby Dick the whale and a giant shoe representing the Old Woman in the Shoe.

That timeless theme has become a tradition for Storybook Lands customers. The park is ideal for children ages 1 through 9 and anyone who is a child at heart, Fricano said.

A lot of people were here as children when we first opened. They brought their kids. Their kids are bringing their kids, and now, their kids are starting to bring their kids, so we are on a fourth generation of kids coming, Fricano said. Its kind of a generational thing. That tends to bring people back.

Storybook Land is a nostalgic park, but it has the modern amenities of an amusement park, including rides such as a roller coaster, a water play area in the summer and restaurants.

The park even has live animals for visitors to feed.

We have had animals since we started, Fricano said. The people like them. They are different. Its something different to see here, and everybody remembers feeding the goat. You talk to somebody from before, and they will say they were a kid from the 1980s, and they fed the goat. Its one of those distinct things that people remember about being here.

On a recent Thursday, Vi Brown, 67, of Millstone, Monmouth County, drove down to Storybook Land with her daughter, Kourtney Crivello, 37, also of Millstone, and her granddaughter, Bella Crivello, 4, and Bellas friend, Tatiana Jukofsky, 4, of Manalapan, Monmouth County.

Brown, a former teacher who read the classic fairy tales and nursery rhymes to her two children, was spending the day with her grandchild. But she remembered bringing her children to Storybook Land in the 1970s.

They loved it. I think its a combination of things, Brown said. They knew all the fairy tales. They could see it in real life, and it was fascinating to them.

Bella also loves Storybook Land.

We just mention Storybook Land, and shes all excited. I think its still as magical as it was before, Brown said.

Three generations of the Fricano family have owned and operated Storybook Land since it began. Last year was a significant one for the family. The park celebrated its 60th birthday, but 2015 also saw the death of the last original owner. Esther Fricano, who portrayed Mother Goose, died in May of that year. Her husband, John J. Fricano, the other original owner, died in 2009.

The current owners are their children, JoAnne and John Jr. The grandchildren, Jessica and John III, are the managers.

Over the years, as the popularity of plane travel grew, Storybook Land saw competition from destination parks such as Walt Disney World, but continued to succeed.

With parks like Storybook Land and other parks, its simple: You buy your tickets (either online or at the ticket window), and you go in and enjoy your day, Fricano said. The Walt Disney World Resort is a world-class attraction, and they do a wonderful job of making it easy to plan a trip. However, some parents and families opt for a more low-key experience.

Severe weather events have contributed to the closing of some other theme parks. During Hurricane Sandy in 2012, Storybook Land experienced only minor damage, but it wasnt as lucky with the derecho that occurred right before the July 4th weekend that year.

We experienced extensive damage and power loss, Fricano said. We ran on standby generators, and it took a week and a full crew to clear the park of downed trees, and two rides were damaged. Other than that, we have not experienced any other significant storm damage.

To survive, Storybook Land has had to balance absorbing the rising costs of operating while keeping ticket prices affordable for families.

If the tickets are ordered online, a family of four can visit Storybook Land for less than $100. The park sells season passes for $101.95 per person. They last from March 19 through Dec. 30 and pay for themselves in four visits.

We do our absolute best to keep it affordable for not only tourists, but for locals as well. We allow people to bring in picnic food and snacks from home, so they do not have to worry about purchasing food here, Fricano said.
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.




Smiles is a series that provides a well-designed learning environment where young learners can develop their competencies in English in a structured yet creative manner. This unique course will motivate pupils and assist them in connecting to their inner passions while achieving their full potential! The perfect combination of print and digital resources to help teachers and pupils alike.

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My family

My school

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All about my world
DUBLIN, October 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

Research and Markets has announced the addition of the "Stem Cell Assay Market by Type (Viability, Differentiation, Cell Identification), Kit (Mesenchymal, IPSCS, Hematopoietic), Product (Flow Cytometer, Detection Kit), Application (Regenerative Medicines, Drug Development), End User - Forecast to 2021" report to their offering.

The global stem cell assay market is expected to reach USD 1,363.3 Million by 2021 from USD 536.6 Million in 2016, at a CAGR of 20.5% during the forecast period

Market growth can be attributed to the high prevalence of chronic diseases, increasing investment in research related activities, and technological advancements. However, stringent regulatory policies and high cost of stem cell based therapies are major factors restraining the growth of this market.

The global stem cell assay market has been segmented on the basis of type of assay, kit, detection, instrument, application, end-user, and region. On the basis of type of assay, the global market is segmented into viability/cytotoxicity, isolation & purification, cell identification, proliferation, differentiation, function and apoptosis. The viability/cytotoxicity segment is expected to be the largest and fastest-growing segment of the global market in 2016.; whereas, the isolation & purification segment is expected to grow at the highest CAGR during the forecast period.

Stem Cell Assay Market

North America dominates the global market in 2016, owing to the increasing incidence and prevalence of chronic diseases and increasing patient pool in North American countries. However, the RoW region is expected to witness the highest CAGR during the forecast period. The high growth in this segment is centered in Latin America, the Middle East, and Africa owing to the increased adoption of stem cell based therapies in these regions.

The major players in the stem cell assay market are include GE Healthcare (U.K.), Promega Corporation (U.S.), Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (U.S.), Merck KGaA (Germany), Cell Biolabs, Inc. (U.S.), Hemogenix Inc. (U.S.), STEMCELL Technologies Inc. (CA), Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. (U.S.), Bio-Techne Corporation (U.S.), and Cellular Dynamics International, Inc. (U.S.).

For more information about this report visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/3g9k66/stem_cell_assay

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The facility is strategically located near the Port of Rotterdam, which is the busiest port in Europe with an annual throughput of approximately 465 million tonnes. Construction was designed by AGRO Merchants to obtain a BREEAM Excellent certification. BREEAM is an internationally recognized assessment method to determine sustainability performance of buildings. The expansion is now supporting its growing customer base and taking on new customers volume.

Alex de Brujin, managing director of ADB, shared: "We are thrilled to be starting operations at our newly expanded facilities, as we can now further support the fresh produce sector and meet the increasing demands of our clients for storage, packing, ripening and all the other services we offer."

ADB Cool Company is a family business founded more than 80 years ago to support cooling and storage of Westland grapes and lily bulbs. ADB successfully developed additional capabilities to handle other products and continues to grow within the fruit sector. ADB has ample storage capacity with multiple rooms to handle a wide variety of temperatures including deep-frozen. Service offerings include: repacking, quality inspections, ripening, flow packing, grape cutting and others. Quality certifications include IFS Logistics, IFS Food, SKAL and AEO.

Together with Opticool and ETL, AGRO Merchants' fresh produce network in Rotterdam offers unrivaled end-to-end services for the industry through a strategic combination of port and inland facilities with transportation and forwarding services.

With this expansion, AGRO Merchants continues to lead the cold chain industry in new facility investments and service enhancements to support fresh perishable food trade. Other recently completed projects include facility expansions in Spain at the Port of Algeciras and in Vineland, NJ serving the Port of Philadelphia. With new greenfield sites in Houston, TX and Savannah, GA planned for 2017, we will continue to meet the growing demand of our global customers.

About AGRO Merchants Group

AGRO Merchants Group owns and operates 55 facilities in 8 countries across North America, Latin America and Europe, with more than 750,000 square meters of cold storage. The company is focused on providing innovative cold chain solutions on a global basis by partnering with the highest quality family businesses and creating new, reliable, and integrated trade networks to help its customers grow. AGRO invests in modern assets, industry-leading technologies, and value-added service offerings to ensure the highest quality supply chain management standards in the industry.

SOURCE AGRO Merchants Group
SIMI VALLEY, California, Oct. 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- AIRBORNE WIRELESS NETWORK (OTC QB: ABWN) is pleased to announce that on October 12, 2016, it closed a $250,000 private placement funding transaction.

Pursuant to that transaction, the Company sold 312,500 shares of its common stock for a purchase price of $0.80 per share, for a total of $250,000. In addition, pursuant to that transaction, the Company granted to the purchaser of those securities a warrant to purchase for a period of one year an additional 312,500 shares of the Company's common stock at a price of $1.25 per share.

The purchaser of those securities is not a U.S. person, as that term is defined in Regulation S. Those securities were issued in a transaction which satisfies the requirements for that exemption from the registration and prospectus delivery requirements of the Securities Act of 1933 specified by the provisions of Regulation S. Those securities were sold in an off-shore transaction. No directed selling efforts were made in the United States by the Company, any distributor or any of their respective affiliates or any person acting on behalf of any of the forgoing. The Company is subject to Category 3 of Rule 903 of Regulation S and, accordingly, the Company implemented the required offering restrictions by including a disclosure in all offering materials and documents which specifies that those securities have not been registered pursuant to the Securities Act of 1933, may not be the subject of a hedging transaction and may not be offered or sold in the United States or to U.S. persons, unless those securities are registered pursuant to the Securities Act of 1933 or, alternatively, an exemption from those registration requirements is available.

AIRBORNE WIRELESS NETWORK

www.airbornewirelessnetwork.com

info@airbornewirelessnetwork.com

805-583-4302

This release includes "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the safe harbor provisions of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements are based upon the current beliefs and expectations of the company's management and are subject to significant risks and uncertainties. If underlying assumptions prove inaccurate or risks or uncertainties materialize, actual results may differ materially from those set forth in the forward looking statements.

Risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, availability of capital, general industry conditions and competition; general economic factors; the impact of industry regulation; technological advances; new products and patents attained by competitors; challenges in new product development; manufacturing difficulties or delays; dependence on the effectiveness of the company's patents; and the exposure to litigation, including patent litigation, and/or regulatory actions.

Related Links

http://www.airbornewirelessnetwork.com



SOURCE Airborne Wireless Network
LONDON, October 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

Binary options trading is one of the fastest growing segments of the financial services and trading sectors, which means that Internet marketers and affiliates have the potential to strike it big by partnering with the right affiliate network.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161013/428306LOGO )



BOA Elite, in the last few years, has carved out a name for itself as the largest affiliate network for the financial markets. BOA Elite offers affiliate access to over 60 binary options brands from across the globe.

One of the key elements to the BOA success and their affiliates is the focus on building true value add partnerships and regularly meeting face to face to collaborate. The BOA team attended almost all the major conferences and exhibitions throughout the year and last year, they debuted their own private event in Prague dubbed: Affiliate Lifestyle Day.

With the overwhelming success of the 2015 event, BOA Elite is returning to Prague this year for a 2-day intimate gathering with their affiliates and partners. With plenty of networking time, some of the biggest super affiliates will be present to share some insights and secrets into making it big.

After all the work, it's time to play and BOA has become renowned for their exclusive parties where they give all their affiliates the opportunity to experience the lifestyle of the rich and famous. The BOA Affiliate Lifestyle event is their premier showcase of all of this, from lavish hosted dinners to glamorous night clubs and the finale being at the 10th anniversary of Transmission. BOA will be hosting all their guests as VIPs at the main event of Transmission in the O2 Arena.

BOA's Vision for the Binary Options Affiliate Business

The vision of the BOA Elite program is to ensure the development of mutually beneficial relationships with affiliates and partners by offering the highest level of customer service, an innovative range of products and marketing solutions as well as leading edge technologies.

Through a combination of experience, technology and know-how, BOA Elite empowers its partners and, in the process, increases the success of everyone involved. There is a good reason why BOA is the largest and so far, the most successful affiliate program for binary options.

Cutting-Edge Technology Helps Affiliates Market Their Services and Boost Earnings

BOA Elite offers affiliate marketers a range of tools built on cutting-edge technology that automatically matches their traffic to the best brand based on a unique algorithm that takes into account factors such as language, geo-location and the brands conversion rates, as well as other key factors. BOA offers their affiliates access to the top converting brands across a variety of trading platforms including: Spot Option, Panda, Tech Financials, Tradologic, Trade Smarter, Markets Pulse and Air Soft, all though a single, easy to use interface, eliminating the need to sign up with multiple programs and manage numerous affiliate accounts.

Why Affiliates Should Choose the BOA Elite Network

By joining the BOA Elite affiliate program, affiliates are able to enjoy the highest commissions in the industry today, a huge library of marketing materials and the backing of the biggest program of its kind in the world. BOA Elite regularly attends conferences and conventions around the globe, where BOA are renowned for hosting exclusive events and parties for their partners and affiliates.

For more information on BOA Elite, visit http://www.boaelite.com/

Or contact Saar Dishel, info@boaelite.com , +972-73-2248556

SOURCE BOA Elite
MONTREAL, October 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

Trump rant catches on

While De Niro's rant on Trump was making media waves around the globe, he was part of a delegation which included the Prime Minister of Antigua & Barbuda, Hon. Gaston Browne on a mission to promote investments in the picturesque twin-islands of Antigua and Barbuda.

(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161012/428126 )



De Niro, a Special Envoy of Antigua and Barbuda is an investor himself together with Australian billionaire James Packer in a real estate project in Barbuda. Packer has already invested in the actor's Nobu restaurants.

"It's a beautiful place, that's why I'm involved in this project," De Niro shared during a conference at the Palazzo Versace in Dubai, sponsored by Arton Capital, a leading global citizenship advisory firm. Speaking alongside Browne, the actor was keen to reassure Middle East investors that this is a sound economic proposition.

UAE has a number of prominent investors in the island. One such investor, brokered by Arton Capital, is the developer of the Callaloo Cay project, an exclusive US$ 150 million resort. Proactive in its bid to attract UAE investment, Antigua and Barbuda is opening an embassy and a trade and economic center in Abu Dhabi, the first CARICOM country to do so.

In addition to the long list of concessions for foreign investors such as a 25-year tax exemption, another significant benefit is Antigua's Citizenship by Investment Program (CIP) which fuels local economic growth. Of all the countries with an active CIP, Antigua and Barbuda's passport has been ranked as the most powerful in the Caribbean and the fourth best in the world by Arton's Passport Index, a global ranking of the world's passports. Citizens can travel visa-free to more than 124 countries including Canada, Europe's Schengen zone, UK, Singapore and Hong Kong, among others.

"The CIP program for the twin-island has become popular thanks to the level of trust built due to the continued bilateral economic developments and favourable investment climate," says John Hanafin, CEO of Arton Capital.

On the subject of global citizenship, "We can have our differences, but as the world gets smaller and people become more dependent on each other, we have no choice but to be concerned about our own self perseverance," shared De Niro.

While the government of Antigua and Barbuda has solidified relations with the United Arab Emirates it is also forging closer ties with Qatar. Prior to the UAE trip, and at the initiative of Armand Arton, President of Arton Capital and Special Envoy of Antigua, Prime Minister Browne and his delegation were invited to Qatar, where they met with Prime Minister, Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa Al Thani and the Cultural Adviser at the Emiri Diwan, Dr. Hamad Bin Abdulaziz Al Kawari.

Arton Capital is a leading residency and citizenship advisory firm, working closely with 10 governments advising on foreign policy and on attracting foreign direct investments.

Mr. Armand Arton, President, Arton Capital, T +1 514 935 6665, T +9714 456 9220, media@artoncapital.com

SOURCE Arton Capital
PORTLAND, Oregon, October 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

A new report published by Allied Market Research titled, Energy Storage Systems Market by Technology, End-User, and by Application-Global Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast, 2014-2022, projects that the world energy storage systems market is expected to reach $264,953 million by 2022 from $172,236 million in 2015, registering a CAGR of 6.4% from 2016 to 2022. It is anticipated that pumped hydro storage technology segment would generate the highest revenue throughout the forecast period. In the year 2015, Asia-Pacific led the global market and is expected to maintain its position throughout the forecast period.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20140911/647229 )

Summary of the Energy Storage Systems Market Report can be accessed on the website at:

https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/advanced-energy-storage-systems-market

According to Eswara Prasad, Team Lead Chemical Research at AMR, "China and South Korea are driving the growth of energy storage systems market in Asia-pacific with an increasing focus on production of electric vehicles in future."

The increasing production of renewable energy by major economies across the world is driving the market for energy storage systems. Coupled with the increasing usage of renewable resources, the growing interest towards adoption of electric vehicles will also fuel the growth of energy storage systems. Inspite of increasing need for energy storage systems elements such as high capital investment and environmental concerns pose as a constraint to the market. High cost is another hurdle for the energy storage systems market owing to price sensitive nature of the buyers.

In the year 2015, grid storage was the largest end-user, with major share of world energy storage systems market, followed by transportation. Although there is a keen focus of major economies such as China, United Kingdom, France, Holland, Spain, Germany, Japan, U. S. on increased production of electric vehicles with an objective to save to high cost incurred due to fuel consumption.

Key findings of the Energy Storage System Market study:

Pumped hydro storage segment is expected to account for major market share in 2015 and is expected to stay in the dominating position along the forecast period

Non-residential end-user segment is expected to grow at a CAGR of 7.6% during the forecast period

Asia-Pacific is anticipated to lead the market throughout 2022, growing at a CAGR of 7.3%, in value terms.

is anticipated to lead the market throughout 2022, growing at a CAGR of 7.3%, in value terms. Flywheel is the fastest growing segment in the Asia-pacific region growing at an estimated CAGR of 28.9% in terms of value

region growing at an estimated CAGR of 28.9% in terms of value In North America , U. S occupies a major share of around 83.8% in 2015

In 2015, Europe and North America collectively accounted for nearly three-fifth of the worldwide demand for energy storage systems and are expected to grow at a steady pace during the forecast period. This is mainly due to increased focus of these economies on the production of renewable energy.

The report provides comprehensive analysis of the key players that operate in the world energy storage systems market such as LG Chem., ABB Ltd., AES Energy Storage, LLC, Beacon Power, LLC, BYD Company Limited, Convergent Energy and Power Inc., Greensmith Energy Management Systems, Eos Energy Storage, Seeo Inc., and S&C Electric Company. These players occupy a major share in the world energy storage systems market followed by other tier 2 and tier 3 players worldwide.

Summary of similar reports can be viewed at https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/energy-and-power-market-report

About Us:

Allied Market Research (AMR) is a full-service market research and business-consulting wing of Allied Analytics LLP based in Portland, Oregon. Allied Market Research provides global enterprises as well as medium and small businesses with unmatched quality of "Market Research Reports" and "Business Intelligence Solutions". AMR has a targeted view to provide business insights and consulting to assist its clients to make strategic business decisions and achieve sustainable growth in their respective market domain.

We are in professional corporate relations with various companies and this helps us in digging out market data that helps us generate accurate research data tables and confirms utmost accuracy in our market forecasting. Each and every data presented in the reports published by us is extracted through primary interviews with top officials from leading companies of domain concerned. Our secondary data procurement methodology includes deep online and offline research and discussion with knowledgeable professionals and analysts in the industry.





Contact:

Pankaj Kumar

5933 NE Win Sivers Drive

#205, Portland, OR 97220

United States

Direct: +1-503-894-6022

Toll Free: +1 (800) 792-5285 (U.S. & Canada)

Fax: +1 (855) 550-5975

E-mail: sales@alliedmarketresearch.com





Web: https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com

SOURCE Allied Market Research
SINGAPORE, Oct. 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Technology is expected to be the driving force across industries and this transformation will be the catalyst driving productivity, innovation, skill development and growth for the companies of today.

Digital disruption was the underlying theme at Frost & Sullivan's annual Growth Innovation and Leadership (GIL) 2016: Asia Pacific global congress, which took place on 13 October 2016 at the Conrad Centennial Singapore.

Against a backdrop of digital transformation as a strategic imperative, Nitin Bhat, Head of Consulting, Asia Pacific and Country Head Singapore, Frost & Sullivan presented a thought provoking keynote session aptly titled 'Future of the Future'. He discussed how social, technological, political and economic forces will influence the business and lifestyle patterns of society in the future.

"Amidst an uncertain future, there has been extreme interest around the themes of living forever, changing lifestyle trends, discovery and exploration. To meet those needs, digital transformation is expected to have a deep impact on the various industries and trends such as the community, urbanization, mobility, and security," noted Bhat.

He also added that despite how technological advancements are expected to significantly alter the future, issues and challenges such as human rights, globalization and economic equality will still remain and it is our moral charge to address them.

With technology expected to be a major disruptor for the jobs of today and the future, the subsequent sessions on Future of Jobs and Future of Business Models also discussed how organizations need evolve and adapt to the changing business landscape.

Other highlights of the summit included an interactive workshop on Employment Market Transformation and in-depth panel discussions on the Future of Asia and Future of Business Models.

Panelists at the summit included Matthew Gyde, Group Executive  Security, Dimension Data; Abrar Mir, Managing Partner, Quadria Capital Investment Management Pte Ltd; Dr. Raj. Thampuran, Managing Director, A*STAR; Kirsten Han, Journalist; Aroop Zutshi, Global President & Managing Partner, Frost & Sullivan; Maria Paula Oliveira, Strategic Projects & Planning Director, Experian Asia Pacific; Richard Jones, Vice President - Sales, Asia, Automation Anywhere; Gwendolyn Regina, Director of Strategy and Business Development, Asia Pacific, Mashable; Gabriel Garcia, Senior Director, Strategy and Business Development, Expedia Group and John Moller, Chief Operating Officer, Asia, Novotech.

Frost & Sullivan's key analysts also shared their insights in selected Topics presented include Future of Manufacturing; Future of Infrastructure and Future of Healthcare.

Gold Growth Partners included the Halal Industry Development Corporation, (HDC), Medini Iskandar Malaysia Sdn Bhd (MIM), and Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC).

Media partners include the Asian Century Institute (ACI), Developing Telecoms, HealthInvestor Asia (HIA), ResearchSEA, TelcoProfessionals (TP) and MediaBuzz.

About Frost & Sullivan

Frost & Sullivan, the Growth Partnership Company, works in collaboration with clients to leverage visionary innovation that addresses the global challenges and related growth opportunities that will make or break today's market participants. For more than 50 years, we have been developing growth strategies for the global 1000, emerging businesses, the public sector and the investment community. Is your organization prepared for the next profound wave of industry convergence, disruptive technologies, increasing competitive intensity, Mega Trends, breakthrough best practices, changing customer dynamics and emerging economies? Contact us: Start the discussion

Media Contact:

Melissa Tan

Corporate Communications - Asia-Pacific

P: +65 6890 0926

F: +65 6890 0988

E: melissa.tan@frost.com

SOURCE Frost & Sullivan
Mr. Manoj Menon, Senior Partner & Asia-Pacific Managing Director said that the annual awards was held to honor and recognize companies that have pushed the boundaries of excellence in the Asia-Pacific.

The recipients of the annual Frost & Sullivan Asia Pacific Best Practices Awards were identified based on in-depth research conducted by Frost & Sullivan's analysts. The award categories offered each year are carefully reviewed and evaluated to reflect the current market landscape and include new emerging trends.

The shortlisted companies were evaluated on a variety of actual market performance indicators which include revenue growth; market share and growth in market share; leadership in product innovation; marketing strategy and business development strategy.

Frost & Sullivan congratulates all the recipients of the 2016 Asia-Pacific Best Practices Awards

COUNTRY Philippines Biomass Power Competitive Strategy Innovation and Leadership Award ASEAGAS CORPORATION Philippines Contact Center Applications Vendor of the Year AVAYA Singapore Energy Management Solutions Entrepreneurial Company of the Year BARGHEST BUILDING PERFORMANCE PTE LTD Japan CRO Company of the Year CMIC CO., LTD. Philippines Contact Center System Integrator of the Year DIVERSIFIED TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS INTERNATIONAL, INC. (DTSII) Singapore Domestic Logistics Service Provider of the Year KEPPEL LOGISTICS Nepal Mobile Service Provider of the Year NCELL PVT. LTD. Singapore Waste Management Technology Leadership Award SEMBCORP Cambodia Mobile Service Provider of the Year SMART AXIATA CO., LTD. Thailand Managed Service Provider of the Year UNITED INFORMATION HIGHWAY COMPANY LIMITED SOUTHEAST ASIA Southeast Asia Contact Center Applications Vendor of the Year AVAYA Southeast Asia Solar Power Company of the Year CONERGY ASIA & ME Southeast Asia Contact Center System Integrator of the Year DIMENSION DATA ASIA PACIFIC Southeast Asia Unified Communications System Integrator of the Year DIMENSION DATA ASIA PACIFIC Southeast Asia Telecoms Tower Company of the Year EDOTCO GROUP SDN BHD Southeast Asia UPS Growth Excellence Leadership Award EMERSON NETWORK POWER Southeast Asia UPS Company of the Year SCHNEIDER ELECTRIC Southeast Asia UPS Services Company of the Year SCHNEIDER ELECTRIC ASIA PACIFIC Asia Pacific Home Water Treatment Company of the Year AMWAY Asia Pacific Outbound Systems Market Share Leadership Award ASPECT SOFTWARE (ASIA PACIFIC) PTE LTD Asia Pacific Inbound Contact Routing Systems Market Share Leadership Award AVAYA Asia Pacific Web Defacement Monitoring and Restoration Product Line Strategy Leadership Award BANFF CYBER TECHNOLOGIES Asia Pacific Hybrid IT Strategy Award CENTURYLINK Asia Pacific Managed Services Growth Strategy Award CITIC TELECOM CPC Asia Pacific CRO Growth Excellence Leadership Award COVANCE INC Asia Pacific Managed Cloud Company of the Year DATAPIPE Asia Pacific Water Disinfection Product Line Strategy Leadership Award DE NORA Asia Pacific UPS Competitive Strategy Innovation and Leadership Award EATON Asia Pacific Quantum Cascade Laser Process Gas Analyzer New Product Innovation Award EMERSON AUTOMATION SOLUTIONS Asia Pacific Data Center Integrated Power (DCIP) Infrastructure Growth Excellence Leadership Award EMERSON NETWORK POWER Asia Pacific Data Center Industry Visionary Innovation Leadership Award EQUINIX Asia Pacific Property Development New Product Innovation Award FOREST CITY Asia Pacific Contract Research Outsourcing Services Customer Value Leadership Award INC RESEARCH Asia Pacific Commercialization Services Provider Company of the Year INVENTIV HEALTH Asia Pacific Facilities Management Competitive Strategy Innovation and Leadership Award ISS ASIA PACIFIC Asia Pacific Smart Grid Solutions Company of the Year ITRON, INC. ASIA PACIFIC Asia Pacific Headset Company of the Year JABRA GN NETCOM (S) PTE LTD Asia Pacific Office Headset Vendor of the Year JABRA GN NETCOM (S) PTE LTD Asia Pacific Facilities Management Company of the Year JLL Asia Pacific Medical Glove Growth Excellence Leadership KOSSAN RUBBER INDUSTRIES BHD Asia Pacific Cell Therapy Company of the Year MESOBLAST LTD Asia Pacific Neurological Disorders New Product Innovation Award MOLEAC PTE LTD Asia Pacific Cloud Contact Centre Service Provider of the Year ORANGE BUSINESS SERVICES Asia Pacific Cloud UC Growth Excellence Leadership Award ORANGE BUSINESS SERVICES Asia Pacific CRO Company of the Year QuintilesIMS Asia Pacific Data Center Integrated Power Infrastructure Company of the Year SCHNEIDER ELECTRIC Asia Pacific Mass Spectrometry Company of the Year SHIMADZU Asia Pacific Building Technologies Company of the Year SIEMENS Asia Pacific Smart Grid Services Provider of the Year SILVER SPRING NETWORKS Asia Pacific Airport IT Solutions Company of the Year SITA Asia Pacific Bottled Water Company of the Year SPRITZER Asia Pacific Managed UC Services Provider of the Year TATA COMMUNICATIONS Asia Pacific Regional Distribution Service Provider of the Year TIONG NAM LOGISTICS SOLUTIONS SDN BHD Asia Pacific Warehouse Services Provider of the Year TIONG NAM LOGISTICS SOLUTIONS SDN BHD Asia Pacific Quality Monitoring Systems Market Share Leadership Award VERINT SYSTEMS Asia Pacific Workforce Management Systems Market Share Leadership Award VERINT SYSTEMS Asia Pacific Renewable Energy Technology Company of the Year VESTAS ASIA PACIFIC WIND TECHNOLOGY PTE LTD Asia Pacific Biologics CMO Growth Excellence Leadership Award WUXI BIOLOGICS (CAYMAN) INC. Asia Pacific Renewable Energy Technology Growth Excellence Leadership Award WUXI SUNTECH POWER CO LTD GLOBAL Global Health and Wellness Competitive Strategy Leadership Award HEALTHHUB.SG Global Healthcare Platform Enabling Technology Leadership Award HEALTHHUB.SG Global Healthcare Services Visionary Innovation Leadership Award HEALTHHUB.SG

About Frost & Sullivan

Frost & Sullivan, the Growth Partnership Company, works in collaboration with clients to leverage visionary innovation that addresses the global challenges and related growth opportunities that will make or break today's market participants.

For more than 50 years, we have been developing growth strategies for the global 1000, emerging businesses, the public sector and the investment community. Is your organization prepared for the next profound wave of industry convergence, disruptive technologies, increasing competitive intensity, Mega Trends, breakthrough best practices, changing customer dynamics and emerging economies? Contact Us: Start the discussion

Media Contact

Melissa Tan

Corporate Communications  Asia Pacific

Phone: +65.6890.0926

Email: melissa.tan@frost.com

Related Links

http://www.frost.com



SOURCE Frost & Sullivan
ZirMed's end-to-end RCM portfolio significantly facilitates healthcare organizations' revenue collection process and expedites return on investment

MOUNTAIN VIEW, California, Oct. 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Based on its recent analysis of the healthcare revenue cycle management (RCM) solutions market, Frost & Sullivan recognizes ZirMed, Inc. with the 2016 North American Technology Innovation Award. As a leading provider of web-based RCM technology and services, ZirMed maintains an expansive line of solutions. These products help streamline the revenue collection process, enhance patient satisfaction, and accelerate payment collection for healthcare organizations.

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161013/428413

ZirMed's end-to-end product portfolio comprises solutions for patient access, claims management, charge integrity, accounts receivable (AR) management, patient responsibility, and population health management. ZirMed tailors its product portfolio to customers' specific management needs, accelerating return on investment.

ZirMed helps healthcare providers identify the type of patient most likely to need a structured payment plan and checks eligibility and coverage details at the point of care or even before the patient arrives for the appointment. The patient receives his or her paper or electronic statement at a later date, which contains an easy-to-understand breakdown of the bill, including insurance coverage, upfront payment, and outstanding dues.

ZirMed's patient payments portal is compatible with mobile devices, computers, and tablets and provides users with a retail experience. If patients prefer to pay by mail or over the phone, ZirMed offers secure collections and lockbox services to guarantee tracking and accurate reconciliation of cash and paper-check payments.

"ZirMed continuously invests in claims management and electronic data interchange capabilities since pioneering cloud-based medical claims clearinghouse services in 1999," said Frost & Sullivan Principal Analyst, Nancy Fabozzi. "In addition to custom rules and edits, ZirMed assimilates customer feedback to update its rules and develop easy-to-understand edits and rejection messages. As a result, ZirMed delivers a 98%+ first-pass clean claims rate."

When claims are denied, ZirMed's AR management solution identifies, routes, and appeals for recoverable dollars. The solution uncovers billable insurance for patients who may not realize they are covered for specific types of care under secondary commercial or government insurance, to ensure all relevant government and commercial payers reimburse appropriately.

In addition to front-end claims, ZirMed accelerates and streamlines the receiving, processing, and reconciling of payer payments, both electronic and paper. Paper payments can automatically convert to electronic transactions and deposit electronically, and ZirMed tracks and matches all payer payments to associated claims automatically.

Another important component of ZirMed's portfolio is the charge integrity solution powered by predictive analytics. The solution prevents charge-capture leakage, resolves process inefficiencies, improves coding compliance, and maintains the complete integrity of all inpatient and outpatient accounts. The solution enables organizations to work by exception, which is a huge advantage in large healthcare organizations, where the number of claims runs into millions, and individual charges run into tens of millions.

"ZirMed's platform integrates with claims monitoring capabilities, allowing customers to view the status of each claim in the payment process," noted Fabozzi. "If a payment is not made, ZirMed automatically works directly with payers to triage the holdup and collect payment on behalf of its client."

ZirMed's dedication to meeting customer needs has gone a long way in helping the company achieve a year-over-year growth of 30% in 2015. This growth underlines ZirMed's perceived value to its customers, making it richly deserving of Frost & Sullivan's 2016 North American Technology Innovation Award.

Each year, Frost & Sullivan presents this award to the company that has demonstrated uniqueness in developing and leveraging new technologies that significantly impact both the functionality and the customer value of the new products and applications. The award lauds the high research and development (R&D) spending towards innovation, its relevance to the industry, and the positive impact on brand perception.

Frost & Sullivan's Best Practices Awards recognize companies in a variety of regional and global markets for outstanding achievement in areas such as leadership, technological innovation, customer service, and product development. Industry analysts compare market participants and measure performance through in-depth interviews, analysis, and extensive secondary research.

About ZirMed, Inc.

ZirMed's comprehensive end-to-end platform of cloud-based revenue cycle management solutionsincluding patient access, charge integrity, claims management, AR management, patient responsibility, and population health managementempowers healthcare organizations of all sizes and types to optimize value-driven and fee-for-service reimbursements. By combining breakthrough predictive analytics technology with innovative software development and the industry's most advanced transactional network, ZirMed solutions extract actionable insights that improve our clients' revenue cycles while streamlining workflows, increasing operating efficiencies, and driving bottom-line results. ZirMed's technology and client support continue to be honored with top industry awards, including KLAS, Healthcare Informatics, Best of SaaS Showplace (BoSS), and Black Book Rankings. To learn how ZirMed can help your healthcare organization boost its financial performance in an era of changing reimbursement models and rising operating costs, visit ZirMed.com.

About Frost & Sullivan

Frost & Sullivan, the Growth Partnership Company, works in collaboration with clients to leverage visionary innovation that addresses the global challenges and related growth opportunities that will make or break today's market participants.

Our "Growth Partnership" supports clients by addressing these opportunities and incorporating two key elements driving visionary innovation: The Integrated Value Proposition and The Partnership Infrastructure.

The Integrated Value Proposition provides support to our clients throughout all phases of their journey to visionary innovation including: research, analysis, strategy, vision, innovation and implementation.

provides support to our clients throughout all phases of their journey to visionary innovation including: research, analysis, strategy, vision, innovation and implementation. The Partnership Infrastructure is entirely unique as it constructs the foundation upon which visionary innovation becomes possible. This includes our 360 degree research, comprehensive industry coverage, career best practices as well as our global footprint of more than 40 offices.

For more than 50 years, we have been developing growth strategies for the global 1000, emerging businesses, the public sector and the investment community. Is your organization prepared for the next profound wave of industry convergence, disruptive technologies, increasing competitive intensity, Mega Trends, breakthrough best practices, changing customer dynamics and emerging economies?

Contact Us: Start the discussion

Join Us: Join our community

Subscribe: Newsletter on "the next big thing"

Register: Gain access to visionary innovation

Contact:

Chiara Carella

P: +44 (0) 207.343.8314

F: 210.348.1003

E: chiara.carella@frost.com

Joy Dinaro

Amendola Communications for ZirMed

P: +1.847.809.0406

E: JDiNaro@ACMarketingPR.com

Related Links

http://www.frost.com



SOURCE Frost & Sullivan
BEIJING, Oct. 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Hikvision, the world's leading supplier in innovative video surveillance products and solutions, recently achieved No.1 position in the Scene Classification category at the ImageNet Large Scale Visual Recognition Challenge 2016.

ImageNet, the global image database resource, hosts the Large Scale Visual Recognition Challenge (ILSVRC) to establish a benchmark in object category classification and detection across hundreds of object categories, and millions of images. Run annually since 2010, the challenge attracts participants from more than fifty leading research institutions worldwide.

Organised by Stanford University, Carnegie Mellon University, University of Michigan and UNC Chapel Hill, a high level impetus for the ILSVRC is to allow researchers to compare progress in detection across a wider variety of objects. Another driver is to measure the progress of computer vision for large-scale image indexing, to enable effective retrieval and annotation.

No.1 in Scene Classification

Encompassing Object detection, Object localisation, Object detection from video, Scene classification and Scene parsing, the five ILSVRC categories were each considered and evaluated against a precise challenge.

For the Scene Classification task, where Hikvision achieved No 1 position, Hikvision Research Institute used inception-style networks and not-so-deep residuals networks that perform better in considerably less training time, according to Hikvision's experiments and several improvements made for training and testing.

"The technical data resulting from the competition can be applied to vehicle detection, license plate recognition, vehicle sub-brand recognition, human detection, human property analysis, face recognition, image search and much more, to greatly enhance product performance and application results," enthused Shiliang Pu, Executive Vice President at Hikvision Research Institute. "In the future, the intelligence and automation levels of machines will be improved significantly, and utilised in the sectors of intelligent surveillance, driver assistance system, intelligent traffic sensing, robotics and unmanned aerial vehicles, to name but a few."

"Since it was established, Hikvision Research Institute has accumulated a deep technical background," comments Cynthia Ho, Vice President of Hikvision. "The results of the LSVRC underline Hikvision Research Institute is at the forefront of computer vision research, and their research results will provide strong and sustainable technical support for Hikvision's ongoing technology development."

The Hikvision Research Institute was established to focus on innovative product research and development and maintain the company's status as a technology leader. Research topics include Perceptive Technology, Intelligent Analysis Technology, Big Data and Cloud Storage Technology and Multimedia Technology. Hikvision has acquired sophisticated experience in the fields of video target detection, image segmentation, video structuring, and video retrieval. In recent years, Hikvision has participated in international competitions related to video analytics such as KITTI, MOT, ImageNet, consistently achieving remarkable performance ratings.

SOURCE Hikvision Digital Technology Co., Ltd.
SHANGHAI and NEW YORK, Oct. 12, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Shanghai Laiyifen Co., Ltd., owner and operator of a chain of snack food stores in China, saw its name come into the spotlight in Shanghai and in New York, two financial capitals on opposite sides of the globe, when the firm listed its shares on the Shanghai Stock Exchange on October 12, 2016 and, on the same day, appeared on one of the large billboards overlooking New York's Times Square, in celebration of the public listing.

Photo - http://photos.prnasia.com/prnh/20161012/0861610332

Laiyifen is the first Chinese company specializing in snacks to go public, and another one of the companies adding its name to the roster of Chinese brands that have chosen to advertise in a big way in the famous square.

After 17 years of growth, the company has transformed itself from a small snack shop on a Shanghai street into a robust snack foods business, drawing the attention of both domestic and international media organizations by creating a buzz in Shanghai and New York simultaneously.

The first Chinese snack company to list in China's domestic A-share market, Laiyifen opened its first store in 1999 and has since established a network of 2,271 outlets across more than 10 Chinese provinces and municipalities, including Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Anhui and Shandong provinces, and the cities of Shanghai, Tianjin and Beijing.

In addition, the company has deployed an omni-channel marketing model combining online with offline operations. With over 13 million loyal members, Laiyifen boasts annual sales in excess of RMB3 billion (approx. US$450 million) and has served over 450 million consumers in the aggregate.

Laiyifen has, from the outset, implemented strict quality control standards across the entire process chain from raw materials procurement to production. Several years ago, the company participated in the drafting of China's two national snack standards, Good Manufacturing Practices for Roasted Nuts and Seeds and Domestic Trade Industrial Standards for Cooked Beans, and has imposed on itself even higher quality requirements for raw materials than the national standards.

Laiyifen has, in fact, evolved from a small snack store into a large-scale snacks enterprise. Notably, China's first world-class snack museum, on track to be built in the near future, will be based on creative designs provided by Laiyifen.

According to Laiyifen's IPO prospectus, the company plans to raise some RMB660 million (approx. US$98.3 million) by issuing up to 60 million shares (25 per cent of its post-issue share capital), and has appointed China Securities Co., Ltd. as the lead underwriter.

Laiyifen's controlling shareholders and actual controllers have all made a commitment to restrictions on the number of shares they can hold. The company's other shareholders have, as well, made a commitment to voluntary lock-up of shares in their possession.

Laiyifen's appearance in New York's Times Square is an affirmation of the company's 17 years of dedication to its craft and craftsmanship, while the listing on the Shanghai Stock Exchange announces the next chapter in the snack maker's evolving trajectory.

SOURCE Shanghai Laiyifen Co., Ltd.
REDWOOD CITY, California, Oct. 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Omidyar Network announced today its latest $2 million investment in DataKind, the New York City-based nonprofit that connects data science and social sector experts to address critical humanitarian problems around the world including education, poverty, health, human rights, and the environment.

Omidyar Network's investment comes as mission-driven organizations continue to face a growing challenge in today's digital worldthe lack of resources to analyze and act on the massive amounts of valuable data at their fingertips. From using satellite imagery and remote sensing data to prevent the spread of crop diseases in Ethiopia to helping American Red Cross target its smoke alarm installation campaigns to communities in need, DataKind has rallied its global community of over 12,000 data science volunteers and social innovators to deliver over $14 million in pro bono services to organizations worldwide. Omidyar Network has supported DataKind since 2014, and this latest investment over the next three years will help the organization to scale its services, driving greater collaboration between governments, nonprofits, and technologists. Additionally, the firm's support will enable DataKind to test new approaches using predictive analytics, providing a better understanding of data's potential to predict and identify issues of financial transparency and fiscal governance.

"Omidyar Network is proud to support DataKind's innovative model to engage data scientists in addressing urgent issues that impact the lives of millions of people," says Stacy Donohue, investment partner at Omidyar Network. "DataKind has been a pioneer in the emerging field of data science for good by mobilizing data scientists via a tiered engagement model and global chapters in five countries. From weekend-long DataDives to short-term DataCorps projects to in-house projects with DataKind Labs, DataKind's volunteers and staff are poised to create substantial impact on issues facing governments and nonprofits globally."

As a part of Omidyar Network's Governance & Citizen Engagement initiative, which seeks to help create stronger and more open societies by increasing government responsiveness and citizen participation, DataKind also provides valuable insights to the firm's portfolio of companies and organizations focused on improving the relationship between citizens and their governments.

"Omidyar Network's dedication to data-driven social impact and creative collaboration continues to make them an essential partner in propelling DataKind forward," says Jake Porway, founder and executive director of DataKind. "While growth capital is certainly needed for us to effectively scale, it's the access to leading social innovators around the global that makes our partnership with Omidyar Network so valuableand it's what will truly help us make data science and AI mainstream in the social sector."

About Omidyar Network

Omidyar Network is a philanthropic investment firm dedicated to harnessing the power of markets to create opportunity for people to improve their lives. Established in 2004 by eBay founder Pierre Omidyar and his wife Pam, the organization invests in and helps scale innovative organizations to catalyze economic and social change. Omidyar Network has committed more than $1 billion to for-profit companies and nonprofit organizations that foster economic advancement and encourage individual participation across multiple initiatives, including Consumer Internet & Mobile, Education, Financial Inclusion, Governance & Citizen Engagement, and Property Rights. To learn more, visit www.omidyar.com, and follow on Twitter @omidyarnetwork #PositiveReturns.

About DataKind

DataKind harnesses the power of data science in the service of humanity by engaging data science and social sector experts on projects addressing critical humanitarian problems and by leading the conversation about how data science can be applied to solve the world's biggest challenges. Launched in 2011, DataKind leads a community of passionate data scientists, visionary partners and mission-driven organizations with the talent, commitment and energy to use data science in the service of humanity. DataKind is headquartered in New York City and has Chapters in Bangalore, Dublin, San Francisco, Singapore, the UK and Washington, D.C. More information on DataKind, our programs and our partners can be found on our website: www.datakind.org

Related Links

http://www.omidyar.com



SOURCE Omidyar Network
BERLIN, October 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

The Rhodes Forum, the annual public showcase event of the DOC Research Institute, an independent think tank headquartered in Berlin, renewed its appeal for dialogue to address key global issues, including the future of Europe, security and the fight against terrorism, and new models for economic development.

DOC co-founders Dr. Vladimir Yakunin, Dr. Walter Schwimmer and Prof. Peter Schulze said in a joint statement:

"We are today facing bigger and more complex challenges than at any time in our history, and these can only be solved through more effective and sustained dialogue between the world's major powers. The with-us-or-against-us approach to international policy is getting us nowhere. Mutually respectful dialogue needs to be reinstated if we are to get to the root of increasingly complex issues and possible solutions that the expert community can suggest to policy-makers, academia and opinion leaders."

"We were particularly pleased to welcome Czech President Milos Zeman and his predecessor Vaclav Klaus as keynote speakers at the Forum, as well as prominent officials from the EU and UN. Engagement at this level highlights the acute importance of events such as the Rhodes Forum, which provide a vital platform for wide-ranging, objective and unscripted discussion of the pressing issues the international community must come together to address."

The future of the EU and Europe was a hotly contested issue throughout the forum, with a range of viewpoints put forward.

President Klaus delivered a customarily combative assessment of the state of Europe today: "Europe is not in crisis. It is a crisis! The EU has created all these crises [we are facing today]. Of course, there are other factors involved, but if there was no monetary union, there would have been no sovereign debt crisis."

Former Austrian Chancellor Alfred Gusenbauer also spoke candidly, noting: "I would like to see the United States of Europe, but at the same time I know that it is completely unrealistic at the very moment. This is why, I think, we have to go away from copying another political system and have to find new ways how the European people can come closer."

Dimitris Psarrakis, Economic & Monetary Policy Advisor at the European Parliament, urged people to be positive. "The European Union faces now the perfect storm. We are facing, at the same time, an economic crisis, political questions on the future of the migration in the EU and the migration issue. But the EU in the course of its history has always found its way out of a problem and became stronger and stronger. This time we are going to be strong again, but this is not a task to accomplish alone, but with all our good friends from West and East."

His Excellency Nassir Abdulaziz Al-Nasser, United Nations Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC) High Representative, added a global perspective: "The future will depend on how to live peacefully with others - how to manage diversity and turn it into progress, peace and security locally, nationally and internationally."

Participants linked the future prosperity of Europe and the world to finding effective ways to support those displaced by conflict in the Middle East. DOC co-founder Vladimir Yakunin proposed the creation of a new global fund under the auspices of the G20 to support victims of terrorism around the world.

"Fighting terrorism is a very important, very sensitive political and geopolitical issue. But what to do with 20 million displaced people?" Vladimir Yakunin said. "I am not in favour of bureaucratic structures. But I am in favour of G20 countries voluntarily delivering to a special fund some proportion of GDP to restore the emptied lands, destroyed villages and destroyed cities."

During the Forum the DOC debuted DOC TV to broadcast video interviews with Forum speakers and participants. News, views and DOC TV interviews from the Forum can be found on the DOC's dedicated YouTube channel, Facebook page and Twitter account, and under the hashtag #RhodesForum.

About the Rhodes Forum:

The Rhodes Forum is an annual event convened by the DOC Research Institute ("DOC"), an independent think tank headquartered in Berlin. It brings together leading experts from government, business and academia to discuss pressing global issues.

Held each year since 2002 on the Greek island of Rhodes, the Forum has consistently attracted high-ranking participants from over 70 countries. Every year, key guests and speakers include acting and former presidents and senior officials, members of the international academic community and business elite, representatives of international NGOs, diplomats and the media. This year's Forum, titled "The Chaos of Multiplicity: an Urgent Call for Dialogue", took place on 30 September and 1 October 2016.

In previous years the Forum has been organised by the World Public Forum Dialogue of Civilizations (headquartered in Vienna). Now, as part of the WPF's transformation into the Dialogue of Civilizations Research Institute this long-standing event will be organised by the Berlin-based DOC RI (headquartered in Berlin).

About the DOC:

Rooted in a tradition of seeking dialogue-based solutions to humankind's most pressing issues, Dialogue of Civilizations Research Institute builds on the work and achievements of its predecessor organization, the World Public Forum Dialogue of Civilizations, bringing together global thought leaders from academia, public policy, business and civil society to debate and develop practice-based policy advice.

The roots of the organization date back to 9 November 2001, following an initiative by Iranian leader Mohammad Khatami, when UNESCO Member States unanimously adopted the 'UNESCO Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity' and the UN General Assembly presented its Global Agenda for Dialogue Among Civilisations, setting out the principles of intercultural dialogue to be defended and objectives to be achieved. The World Public Forum Dialogue of Civilizations emerged as a practical endeavour to implement this initiative, and has since evolved into what is today Dialogue of Civilisations Research Institute.

SOURCE DOC Research Institute
ClearStructure Financial Technology's portfolio management system delivers flexible web-based solution

DANBURY, Connecticut, Oct. 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- ClearStructure Financial Technology's portfolio management system, Sentry PM, has been named the winner of the Most Innovative Portfolio Management Solution by Corporate Vision (CV) Magazine's 2016 Technology Innovator Awards. To view the full winner's supplement visit: https://goo.gl/jX4xdW.

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20151130/291693LOGO

CV Magazine was created by a team of business experts, advisors and insiders and provides readers with news of business strategy, analysis, corporate case studies and emerging trends to business leaders and decision makers. The Technology Innovator Awards were created and designed to recognize and reward the individuals, departments and firms behind the ground-breaking developments that change the way we do business for the better. All award programmes through CV Magazine employ dedicated research teams to ensure that every vote is genuine.

ClearStructure's portfolio management system, Sentry PM, is a unique and innovative all-inclusive system that delivers value by offering advanced technology, modular scalability, data persistence and decision support.

Laura Hunter, Awards Co-ordinator, commented: "This awards programme turns the spotlight on the very best that the technology sector has to offer. It is a true honour to be able to reward the hard work and dedication of all of our deserving winners, and I would like to wish them the best of luck in the future."

Scott Turley, CEO of ClearStructure commented, "We are proud to be recognized for this award. It truly exemplifies the passion and expertise that our employees put into our product and company. We strive to be a forward-thinking company with a focus on our clients and the industry. Our partnership with our outstanding clients has been a driving force in our success." He added, "We are committed to keeping Sentry PM current with innovations in both technological developments and the financial markets."



About ClearStructure Financial Technology:

ClearStructure Financial Technology delivers state-of-the-art technology solutions capable of meeting the diverse needs of the investment industry. The Sentry solution offers managers full front-to-back-office functionality on a single platform across all asset types. ClearStructure's Sentry product suite is now used by many of the largest and most respected financial institutions and investment firms in the world. For more information about ClearStructure and the Sentry PM system, visit: www.clearstructure.com.

Media Contact: Monica Pepe, 1-203-2052701, monica.pepe@clearstructure.com

Related Links

http://www.clearstructure.com



SOURCE ClearStructure Financial Technology
Endace's new Provenance capability enables financial traders to easily and reliably watermark captured trade data with timing data required for MIFID-II compliance

AUCKLAND, New Zealand, Oct. 12, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Endace, a world leader in high-speed network monitoring and recording technology, today announced the launch of Provenance, a new feature available for its high-speed DAG Data Capture cards. Provenance enables recorded network traffic to be enriched with information about the state of the environment at the time the traffic was recorded -- including detailed real-time information about timing sources and accuracy.

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160523/371135LOGO

Under upcoming MiFID-II regulations, traders must not only record all trade data, but also ensure trade events are accurately time-stamped to within microseconds of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) along with information about the reliability of the timing source. Being able to perpetually describe the accuracy of time stamps means continually monitoring and recording timing accuracy as trade data is captured. Provenance provides a way for traders to capture contextual information at the source, helping them to comply with regulations easily.

Provenance "watermarks" traffic every second as it is captured, enriching it with information--such as what timing source was used, how clocks were synchronized (using PTP, 1PPS or IRIG-B) and what the clock synchronization accuracy was at the time of capture. This allows traders to prove exactly what the status and accuracy of clocks and time stamps were at the time trade data was captured.

Currently, more than 150 fields of Provenance data such as Hostname, Linkname and Optical Power Level can be included. This makes it simple for traders to accurately determine the origin of capture files and provides a clear evidential trail that can be easily examined in packet analysis tools, such as Wireshark.

Endace is a long-standing supporter of the STAC Benchmark Council, a community of financial institutions and vendors collaborating to develop technology benchmark standards for the financial industry. Endace CTO, Dr. Stephen Donnelly attended STAC's MiFID-II Workshop in London in June. Following the workshop, Endace accelerated plans to introduce Provenance to help traders meet MiFID-II's strict timing requirements.

"Provenance is broader than just timing, it allows a wide range of enriched, 'smart data' to be embedded into network traffic as it's recorded. We see applications across a range of areas including network security," Dr Donnelly said. "But we saw an immediate application for Provenance to deliver a simple, effective way to enable traders to meet their obligations under MiFID-II and related regulations. So we accelerated plans to introduce Provenance to give traders time to test and implement it ahead of MiFID-II".

Endace has introduced Provenance support in a firmware upgrade available immediately for its two port 1/10 GbE DAG10X2-S and DAG10X2-P cards and four port 1/10/40GbE DAG 10X4-P card. Provenance is a key feature which will be rolled out across all Endace products, and will be introduced in EndaceProbe Network Recorders in the new 6.3 release of OSm scheduled to ship early in 2017.

About Endace

For more than 15 years, Endace has provided high-speed, network recording and visibility solutions to monitor and protect some of the world's largest, most complex networks. Customers include global banks, telcos and service providers, media and broadcast companies, health organizations, retailers, e-commerce and web giants, governments and large enterprises. Customers choose Endace technology because it can monitor and capture network traffic with 100% accuracy regardless of network speeds or loads. It can scale to meet the needs of the fastest networks and is built on an open architecture that enables integration with a wide variety of custom, open source and commercial solutions.

www.endace.com

Related Links

http://www.endace.com



SOURCE Endace
LONDON, October 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

Forecasts For Active Packaging Technologies: Gas Scavenger, Corrosion Control, Moisture Control, Intelligent Packaging QR Coding, RFID, Time-Temperature Indicators TTI, Modified & Controlled Atmosphere Packaging MAP & CAP, Other And By End-Use For Pharmaceutical, Beverage, Food, Personal Care, Other

Visiongain's comprehensive new 214 page report reveals that the smart packaging market will achieve revenues of $31.1bn in 2016.

Are you a packaging company involved in the smart packaging market or aim to enter this market space? If so, then you must read this report

It's vital that you keep your knowledge up to date. You need this report.

Market scope: Smart packaging is the element of packaging that in addition to the traditional three functions of packaging products (protection, containment and communication), offers a number of extra functionalities. Here in this report, visiongain defines smart packaging as an umbrella term consisting of active packaging, intelligent packaging, modified atmosphere packaging (MAP) and other packaging. Other smart packaging include those packages that neither interact with the product nor add extra information function to the packaging, yet still provides some extra beyond the basic functions of packaging.

The Smart Packaging Market Report 2016-2026 report responds to your need for definitive market data:

 Where are the smart packaging market opportunities?

- 163 tables, charts, and graphs reveal market data allowing you to target your strategy more effectively

 When will the smart packaging market grow?

- Global, regional and smart packaging submarket forecasts and analysis from 2016-2026 illustrate the market progression

 Which smart packaging end-use submarkets will flourish from 2016-2026?

- Individual application forecasts and analysis demonstrate the prospects

- Pharmaceutical

- Beverage

- Food

- Personal Care

- Other



To see a report overview please email Sara Peerun on sara.peerun@visiongainglobal.com

 Which smart packaging technologies will thrive from 2016-2026?

- Separate technology projections and analysis explore the potential

- Active Packaging Technologies:

 Gas Scavenger

 Corrosion Control

 Mositure Control

- Intelligent Packaging

- Modified & Controlled Atmosphere Packaging MAP & CAP

- Other

 Where are the national smart packaging market opportunities from 2016-2026?

- Focused regional forecasts and analysis explore the future opportunities

- United States of America Smart Packaging Market 2016-2026

- Japanese Smart Packaging Market 2016-2026

- Australian Smart Packaging Market 2016-2026

- Chinese Smart Packaging Market 2016-2026

- German Smart Packaging Market 2016-2026

- United Kingdom Smart Packaging Market 2016-2026

- Italian Smart Packaging Market 2016-2026

- French Smart Packaging Market 2016-2026

- Indian Smart Packaging Market 2016-2026

- Russian Smart Packaging Market 2016-2026

- Brazilian Smart Packaging Market 2016-2026

- RoW Smart Packaging Market 2016-2026

 What are the factors influencing smart packaging market dynamics?

- SWOT analysis explores the factors.

- Research and development (R&D) strategy

- Technological issues and constraints.

- Supply and demand dynamics

- Competition from new product types

- Advances in product quality

- Analysis of barriers to entry

 Who are the leading smart packaging companies?

- Examine competitive positioning, capabilities, product portfolios, R&D activity, services, focus, strategies, M&A activity, and future outlook.

- Amcor

- Ball Corporation

- Bemis

- Crown Holdings

- Reynolds Group Holdings

 Closures Analysis and Competitors

 Pactiv Foodservice Analysis and Competitors

 Graham Packaging Analysis and Competitors

- Sealed Air Corporation

 Who should read this report?

- Anyone within the smart packaging value chain, including

- Packaging companies

- Pharmaceuticals companies

- Food companies

- Beverage companies

- Personal care companies

- Food wholesalers

- Food retailers

- Fresh food packaging companies

- Technologists

- R&D staff

- Heads of strategic development

- Procurement staff

- Company managers

- Analysts and consultants

- CEO's

- COO's

- CIO's

- Business development managers

- Marketing managers

- Suppliers

- Technologists

- Investors

- Banks

- Government agencies

- Contractors

- Industry associations

Get our report Smart Packaging Market Report 2016-2026: Forecasts For Active Packaging Technologies: Gas Scavenger, Corrosion Control, Moisture Control, Intelligent Packaging QR Coding, RFID, Time-Temperature Indicators TTI, Modified & Controlled Atmosphere Packaging MAP & CAP, Other And By End-Use For Pharmaceutical, Beverage, Food, Personal Care, Other. Avoid missing out - order our report now.

To see a report overview please email Sara Peerun on sara.peerun@visiongainglobal.com

To request a report overview of this report please emails Sara Peerun at sara.peerun@visiongainglobal.com or call Tel: +44 (0) 20 7336 6100

Or click on https://www.visiongain.com/Report/1742/Smart-Packaging-Market-Report-2016-2026

Companies Mentioned in This Report

3M

Active Packaging Ltd.

Advance Packaging Technologies

Aerofil Technology Incorporated

Aesica

Air Products PLC

Alcan Medical Flexibles

Alcan Packaging

Alcoa

Alien Technology

ALPLA

AlpVision

Aluprint

Amcor

Ampacet Corporation

Angstrom Technologies

Anheuser-Busch InBev

Aperio

Applied DNA Sciences

AstraZenica

ATL Security Label Systems

Atlantic Zeiser

Authentix

Automatic Packaging Machinery, Inc

Avery Dennison

Ball Corporation

Ball Plastics Packaging

Bank of Japan

Barry-Wehmiller Companies, Inc.

BASF SE

Beiersdorf

Beijing VPS minority interests

Bella Prima

Bemis

Benson Group

Berlin packaging, LLC.

Berry Plastics

Bosch

B-Pack Due

British Polythene Industries plc - China

Bryce Corporation

CCL Industries Inc.

CFC International Corporation

Chengdu minority interests

Chesapeake

Chips Inc.

Ciba

Closures

Coextruded Plastic Technologies, Inc

Colorcon

ColorMatrix Corporation

Consolidated Graphics, Inc.

Constar International

Coopbox Group

Cortec Corporation

Covectra

Covers High Performance Packaging

Cox Technologies

Crown Holdings

Cruz's internal

CSP Technologies

Curwood

CVP Systems

Data System International

Datamax-O'Neil

Daubert Industries

Del Monte

Desiccare Inc.

Detmold

Diagramm Halbach GmbH & Co. KG

Digimarc

Domino Printing Sciences PLC

DS Smith PLC

DuPont

EDAPS

EM Microelectronic

EMCO Packaging Systems

EMPAQUE

Envision America

Everest Holovisions

Evergreen

Evonik

FNMT - RCM

Foshan New Changsheng Plastics Films Co., LTD ("NCS"),

Freshpoint Holdings SA

GEA Food Solutions

Giesecke & Devrient (G&D)

Grace Darex Packaging Technologies

Graham Packaging

Graphic Packaging Holding Company

Grays Packaging Ltd.

Greif

GTM Packaging Ltd

Harpak-Ulma Packaging LLC

HayssenSandiacre

Hefestus Technologies Ltd.

Heineken N.V.

Honeywell International Inc.

Hood Packaging Corporation

Huhtamaki UK

ILAPAK

Illinois Tool Works Inc.

Impinj Inc

Information Mediary Corporation

Infratab Incorporated

Ingenia Technology

Innovia Films Ltd.

International Ink Company

International Paper

International Playcard & Label Company

Janny MT

Jiangsu Shenda Group

Johnson & Johnson

Klockner Pentaplast Group

Kraft

Krones Group

L'Oreal

Landec Corporation

Linde

LINPAC Materials Handling

M&H Plastics Protective Packaging Systems (PPS) Ltd.

Markmonitor

Maxwell Chase Technologies LLC

Mayor Packaging,

MeadWestvaco Corporation (MWV)

Microsoft Life Sciences

Microtag Temed

MillerCoors LLC

Mitsubishi Gas Chemical Company Ltd

Mivisa Envases, SAU,

Mondi Group

Morpho

Multisorb Technologies

Nampak

NanoGuardian

New York Global Innovations Inc.

Nicholl Food Packaging

Nova Vision

Nuprint

Oliver-Tolas

Onex Corporation.

OpSec Security

Orics Industries

Owens-Illinois, Inc.

OYSTAR

P&G

Pacific Packaging Products, Inc.

Packaging India

Packaging Plus, LLC.

Pactiv Foodservice

PakSense Incorporated

Paper Pak Industries

Paragon Print and Packaging Group

Parry Enterprises India

PepsiCo Inc.

PerfoTec

Petrobras

Pfizer

Platinum Equity

PolyIC

PolyOne Corporation

Praxair

Printpack Inc.

Private Limited

Pro Mach, Inc.

Pro Pac

Prooftag

Protective Packaging Systems (PPS) Ltd.

RAP

Reiser

Retarder

Rexam PLC

Reynolds Consumer Products

Reynolds Group Holdings

Rock-Tenn Company

RPC Bebo Plastik

RPC Group

SABMiller plc

SATO Holdings Corporation

ScanLife

ScentSational Technologies

Schreiner ProSecure

Sealed Air Corporation

Sekuworks

Shield Pack, LLC

Shorewood

SIG Combibloc business (SIG)

Silgan Holdings

Sirane

Smurfit-Kappa Group PLC

Sonoco Products Company

Souza

Stepac

Stora Enso

Sued-Chemie AG

Sun Chemical

Superior Lithographics

Superior Multi-Packaging, Ltd

Systech

Taghleef

Tagsys

Taisei Lamick Co, Ltd

Tatra Laval

Techni-Chem

Tekni-Plex, Inc.

Temkin

Tempra Technology

Temptime Corporation

Tetra Pak International AB

The Coca-Cola Company

ThermoFisher Scientific

Timestrip PLC

Tohcello Co., Ltd

Toppan Printing Co

Toyo Seikan Group

Toyo Seikan Kaisha

TruTag Technologies

UFP Technologies, Inc.

Unibar Inc.

Uniglobe

Unilever N.V.

UPM Raflatac

V. Hukkanen Oy

Verayo

View Fresh

VIP Packaging

Vitsab International

W.R. Grace and Company

Wal-Mart

Waveguide Technologies

Wihuri OY

Winpak Ltd.

WISeKey

Wisepac Active Packaging Components

WS Packaging Group, Inc.

Zebra Technologies

Zhongshan Tian Cai Packaging Company

Zhuhai Zhongfu Enterprise Holdings Ltd.

Zoepac

To see a report overview please email Sara Peerun on sara.peerun@visiongainglobal.com

SOURCE Visiongain Ltd
BRUSSELS, October 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

An international study published in BMC Public Health has found dog walkers are physically active on more days of the week and dog walking can help people feel safer in their neighborhood.



(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161007/416375 )





(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161007/416376 )



The study carried out by Dr Hayley Christian from The University of Western Australia (UWA) in collaboration with the WALTHAM Centre for Pet Nutrition, part of Mars Petcare, is the first international study of its kind to consistently examine the relationship between dog walking, physical activity and people's perception of safety in their community. More than 1000 dog owners from Perth, Australia and three US cities (San Diego, Nashville and Portland) were surveyed in the Pet Connections study.

The research found that people who walked their dog achieved at least 30 minutes of physical activity on more days per week than non-dog walkers, helping them to meet the World Health Organization recommendation of at least 150 minutes of physical activity per week.

The study also highlights the broader community benefits of pet ownership. Almost 60 per cent of dog walkers in Australia and the US reported feeling safer when walking with their dog and women who walked their dogs were more likely than men to feel safer.

"Particularly in US study sites, dog walkers had a greater feeling of security and perceived higher levels of neighborhood surveillance from dog walking than those studied in Perth," said Dr Hayley Christian, from UWA's School of Population Health. "This may be due to social and cultural differences in dog-keeping and exercise practices between the two countries".

The study highlights the physical and social benefits for individuals and communities, and the need to integrate dog walking into health programs and policies.

About the WALTHAM Centre for Pet Nutrition:

Celebrating over 50 years of innovative science, the WALTHAM Centre for Pet Nutrition, part of Mars, Incorporated, serves as a leading scientific authority in advancing the frontiers of research into the nutrition and health of companion animals.

SOURCE Mars Petcare
LAKE FOREST, Calif., Oct. 12, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Two new homeowners at Baker Ranch in Lake Forest, California, ushered in milestones when they received keys to the resort-style living community. The latest homeowners jointly represented the 1,000th home sold at Baker Ranch.

Nationally renowned builders Toll Brothers and Shea Homes, partners at Baker Ranch (www.liveatbakerranch.com), have been honored by the success of the Orange County community. On average, the partnering companies have combined to sell more than a home a day for three years. Homebuyers invariably love the visionary community that pairs relaxing escape with convenient location.

Meet the 1,000th homebuyers

James Latifzada purchased his home in the Highlands East neighborhood of Baker Ranch, built by Toll Brothers. "Everything about the home is appealing," Mr. Latifzada said.

Mounia Dnoubi & Abdullah Billah will move their small family into The Courts neighborhood, built by Shea Homes, after being instantly charmed. "It's a clean and new community, with friendly people," the couple said.

Both new owners had the stresses of home shopping relieved by knowledgeable agents. Mr. Latifzada called Pat Gilbert, John Jeon and the Toll Brothers team "amazing sales people" who contributed to his decision to invest in the Baker Ranch lifestyle. Ms. Dnoubi and Mr. Billah went as far to say "love them" when describing the professional service provided by Shea Homes representatives Hanan and Wendy.

Along with community, amenities and people, the 1,000th homebuyers touted the added affordability of having no Mello-Roos payment responsibilities attached to their purchases. The added perk greatly reduces household expenses.

Baker Ranch

Shea Homes and Toll Brothers have combined their experience and knowledge in creating California residential communities. The mission behind Baker Ranch's resort amenities is to create "a lifestyle that makes vacation seem redundant," according to Bob Yoder, President of Shea Homes, Southern California Division.

The entire vision of Baker Ranch's 11 neighborhoods rests on promoting modern living and easy access to recreation, comfort and convenience. From 1,600-square-foot townhomes to seven-bedroom single-family homes, each thoughtfully appointed new home comes with the luxury of pools, clubhouses and parks that encourage an active and full life.

SOURCE Baker Ranch

Related Links

http://www.liveatbakerranch.com


MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., Oct. 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- 23andMe, Inc., the leading personal genetics company, today announced a new grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), for the creation of a genetic resource for health research in African Americans that could improve the understanding of diseases in minority populations.

The $1.7 million grant, issued from the National Human Genome Research Institute, will go toward leveraging 23andMe's data on more than one million customers who have consented to participate in research, creating an African American sequencing panel to be used as a reference dataset for health research. The de-identified genetic data will be made available to other health researchers at institutions around the world.

"This project aims to help address health research disparities, specifically for African Americans," said the project's Principal Investigator, Adam Auton, a 23andMe senior scientist and statistical geneticist. "The hope is that this work will help improve our understanding of disease-causing genetic variants in minority populations, and that this in turn could improve treatments among people with non-European ancestry that have historically been underrepresented in health studies."

Some estimates from five years ago showed that more than 90 percent of the research into the genetics underlying disease has been conducted on people of European ancestry. In a commentary published in Nature researchers from the University of Washington say that there has been some progress, but not much. While there are more genome-wide association studies being done on non-Europeans, the degree to which people of African, Latino or Native American ancestry have been studied has barely changed. This week a new study by researchers from the University of Maryland School of Medicine lays out the stark implications of that bias that limits the ability to treat minority populations.

But 23andMe researchers believe they can address this disparity. Within the company's customer base are a very large number of people with non-European ancestry, who have also consented to participate in research. By sequencing the genomes of African American 23andMe customers, our scientists hope to spur more health research on disease affecting minority populations.

When a customer of 23andMe sends in their saliva sample, they are genotyped at hundreds of thousands of sites that are known to vary between individuals. However, there are tens of millions of variable sites in the genome that are not genotyped. By having access to a large number of fully sequenced genomes  a sequence panel  researchers are able to depend on a standard method called "genotype imputation" to infer or predict the genotypes at these unobserved positions. Much like a code breaker filling in missing letters in a message, scientists  using algorithms and data from whole genome sequence panels  can predict, or impute, the missing letters of genetic data. A very simplified example of the same basic idea would be to fill in the blanks of this phrase: "I l_ve N_w Y_rk."

This process of using large numbers of sequenced genomes together with imputation is what powers most genome-wide association studies today. It allows scientists to glean much more information on the data they have without the cost of having to do whole genome sequencing on everyone participating in a study. This, in turn, allows them to do much larger studies that can reveal more about the disease or trait being studied.

The problem is that most sequenced genomes available today are predominantly for people of European ancestry, limiting the accuracy of imputation for non-Europeans. But because of the large number of 23andMe customers who have consented to research  including tens of thousands of African Americans scientists will be able to create a new panel of sequenced African American genomes. Under this grant, 23andMe researchers will ask a subset of our African American customers who have consented to participate in research if they would be willing to participate and have their DNA sequenced to become part of this panel. Ultimately, the sequence panel data will be shared with the NIH, who will make it available to other researchers. This in turn will expand scientists' ability to make genetic discoveries for African Americans and help build a broader understanding of how genetics influence diseases and traits across multiple populations.

This is the latest in a number of efforts by 23andMe to help alleviate some of the existing disparities in genetic research. In April of this year, 23andMe was awarded another NIH grant to use "admixture mapping" as a means to improve the detection of disease-causing genetic variants among people of African, Latino and Asian ancestry. In 2011, 23andMe launched its Roots into the Future project to study the genetics of disease specific to African Americans. This fall, the company has created an African Genetic Project to recruit people from sub-Saharan Africa, that, among, other things, will improve our knowledge of African genetic diversity.

"We want everyone to benefit from advances in genetic science," said Anne Wojcicki, 23andMe CEO and co-Founder. "We know that there is a huge disparity in health-related genetic research and now we have an opportunity to help change that and ensure that the study of disease and the development of drugs will benefit us all, no matter what our ethnicities."

You can read more about this grant, A New Reference Panel To Boost African American Genotype Imputation, (#1R44 HG009460) on the NIH's website here. The projects described above are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.

About 23andMe

23andMe, Inc. is the leading personal genetics company. Founded in 2006, the mission of the company is to help people access, understand and benefit from the human genome. 23andMe has over one million customers worldwide with over 80 percent consented to participate in research. 23andMe, Inc. is located in Mountain View, CA. More information is available at www.23andMe.com.

Media Contact:

Andy Kill

(650) 963-8985

[email protected]

SOURCE 23andMe, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.23andMe.com


SEATTLE, Oct. 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- ActX, a provider of genomic decision support, today announced a partnership with athenahealth, Inc. through athenahealth's "More Disruption Please" (MDP) program, making ActX part of the athenahealth Marketplace offerings. Together, the companies will work to link athenahealth's growing network of more than 75,000 health care providers via athenaClinicals with the capabilities of ActX to efficiently incorporate genomic decision support into existing workflow.

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161012/428001LOGO

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161012/428002LOGO

"ActX delivers a valuable service for healthcare providers interested in precision medicine," said Andrew Ury, MD, Founder and CEO of ActX. "In keeping with athenahealth's legacy of innovation, we are proud to make genomics a practical part of everyday medical care by incorporating it into the physician's normal workflow. The ActX Service automatically checks each prescription as it is written, and alerts the prescriber if there are potential adverse drug reactions, efficacy or dosing issues based on the patient's genetics. Physicians also are alerted about serious non-medication patient genetic risks."

athenahealth is a network-enabled services company with a vision to build an information backbone to help make health care work as it should. This relationship with athenahealth will allow ActX to spread awareness of athenahealth's services to healthcare providers interested in personalized medicine.

To learn more about athenahealth's MDP program and partnership opportunities please visit www.athenahealth.com/disruption.

About ActX

Founded in 2012, ActX helps physicians make better decisions about medical treatment, using a patient's genetic information to guide therapy. Integrated into a physician's normal software tools (the electronic medical record) and workflow, ActX analyzes the patient's genetic information in real time and alerts physicians about drug-genome interactions, actionable hereditary risks and carrier status. For more information about ActX and taking the next step towards precision medicine, visit us at www.actx.com, contact us at [email protected] or call (888) 998-2289.

Contact Info

Ashley Laabs | Marketing Communications

ActX, Inc.

Email

(888) 998 2289

SOURCE ActX, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.actx.com


LONDON, Oct. 12, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Generator or genset is the most reliable, efficient, and cost-effective source for emergency and backup power. Diesel gensets are easy to set up and operate, and can be used in all types of applications such as oil & gas, telecom, residential and hospitals, among others. With increasing demand for electricity coupled with poor grid infrastructure, the diesel gensets market in Africa is expected to grow at a robust pace over the next five years. Growing demand for electricity from diverse end-user industries is resulting in widening of demand-supply gap, which is being bridged by diesel gensets. Industrial operations are largely dependent on electricity generated from diesel gensets during power outages and in regions where grid access is limited. However, the access to grid electricity in the continent is the lowest in the world. In 2012, around 622.6 million people in Africa had no access to electricity, which was equivalent to 57% of the continent's population. The deployment of diesel gensets can effectively reduce the demand supply gap of electricity, and is capable of supplying regular as well as reliable electricity. According to the World Bank, Africa's population is projected to increase from 1.2 billion in 2016 to 2.8 billion by 2060. Backed by increasing population, Africa diesel gensets market is expected to grow at a healthy rate over the next five years.

According to "Africa Diesel Gensets Market By Type, By End User, By Country, Competition Forecast and Opportunities, 2011  2021", the market for diesel gensets in Africa is projected to grow at a CAGR of over 12% during 2016  2021. On account of growing demand for prime power as well as standby power sources, especially in oil & gas exploration sites and industrial infrastructure & mining activities, the demand for diesel gensets in the country is expected to rise over the next five years. In 2015, industrial sector was the largest buyer of diesel gensets, followed by commercial and residential sectors. Moreover, low power diesel gensets dominated the Africa diesel gensets market in 2015, and the trend is expected to continue through 2021. "Africa Diesel Gensets Market By Type, By End User, By Country, Competition Forecast and Opportunities, 2011  2021" discusses the following aspects of Africa diesel gensets market:

- Africa Diesel Gensets Market Size, Share & Forecast

- Segmental Analysis  By Type (Low Power (<75 KVA), Medium Power (75.1-350 KVA), High Power (350.1-750 KVA), Very High Power (>750 KVA)), By End User (Industrial, Residential & Commercial)

- Country Analysis  Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Mozambique, Cameroon, Algeria, Morocco, Sudan & Rest of Africa

- Changing Market Trends & Emerging Opportunities

- Competitive Landscape & Strategic Recommendations



Why You Should Buy This Report?



- To gain an in-depth understanding of Africa diesel gensets market

- To identify the on-going trends and anticipated growth in the next five years

- To help industry consultants and diesel gensets providers align their market-centric strategies

- To obtain research based business decisions and add weight to presentations and marketing material

- To gain competitive knowledge of leading market players

- To avail 10% customization in the report without any extra charges and get research data or trends added in the report as per the buyer's specific needs



Report Methodology



The information contained in this report is based upon both primary and secondary research. Primary research included interaction with diesel gensets manufacturers, importers, distributors & dealers across the region. Secondary research included an exhaustive search of relevant publications like company annual reports, financial reports, government sources and proprietary databases.





Download the full report: https://www.reportbuyer.com/product/4214606/



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


NEW YORK, Oct. 13, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- AJC deplored today's UNESCO vote erasing any Jewish connection to Judaism's holiest site, the Temple Mount, in Jerusalem. UNESCO, the cultural arm of the world body, adopted the resolution on Jerusalem by a vote of 24 to 6, with 26 abstaining.

"A minority of UNESCO members, led by the Palestinian Authority (PA) and Arab countries, has sought for a long time to exploit this body to castigate Israel," said AJC CEO David Harris, who in recent weeks met with a number of world leaders urging rejection of the resolution. "The United States, United Kingdom, Germany, the Netherlands, Lithuania and Estonia have asserted moral leadership by firmly and unequivocally rejecting this blatant historical revisionism. Let's be clear what's at work here: This is another attempt to undermine the very foundation of the State of Israel and the documented, age-old historical Jewish connection to the land. And unlike previous such resolutions, notably, not one European nation lent its support this time."

The UNESCO resolution refers to the Temple Mount only by its Muslim name, and thus ignores both Jewish and Christian ties to the holy sites in Jerusalem's Old City.

Harris also pointed out that PA President Abbas has yet to respond to the invitation from Prime Minister Netanyahu, expressed at the UN General Assembly last month, to visit Israel and address the Knesset.

"Palestinian-inspired UNESCO resolutions  or, for that matter, absurd calls by the PA to revisit the Balfour Declaration of 1917  do not bring the day of Israeli-Palestinian peace any closer," Harris said. "Only direct bilateral negotiations can achieve that goal."

SOURCE American Jewish Committee

Related Links

http://www.ajc.org


IRVING, Texas, Oct. 12, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Allstate Insurance Company is launching a recruitment campaign to appoint 100 new agency owners in Texas this year. Allstate agency owners are also actively searching for qualified candidates to fill more than 1200 sales professional positions in agencies across the state.

Continued population growth and Texas economy are significant factors fueling Allstate's agency growth strategy.

"Texas continues to see population expansion in cities across the state, which presents opportunities for small business owners to protect and serve families in those communities," said David Campbell, Allstate's Texas Strategic Deployment Leader.

Allstate is seeking entrepreneurs with an enthusiasm to own* and operate their own business in Texas and make an impact in their community.

"Candidates don't need an insurance background. We'll provide them with comprehensive education and the resources to help them get off to a solid start," Campbell said. "They do need a strong entrepreneurial drive and passion to help others and their community. The ideal candidate wants to build a legacy they can pass down for generations."

Allstate agency owner Eric Douglas opened his agency in the Dallas/Fort Worth area one year ago and has already seen tremendous success. Douglas has always been a small business owner, but was drawn to Allstate because of the opportunity for long-term stability it provides.

"Being an Allstate agent is the best opportunity for the entrepreneur who, like me, needs structure but is willing to be creative and take risks to grow their business," Eric Douglas said. "With the marketing and brand support Allstate provides - the opportunities are limitless."

Texas Allstate Agency Owners Projected To Hire 1200 Sales Professionals

Newly appointed Allstate agency owners, along with current agents, could help generate 1200 additional jobs in their communities across the state as they typically hire licensed sales staff to help them run their small businesses.

Licensed sales professionals help Allstate agencies grow, working side by side with agency owners to assist customers to help them meet their insurance needs. That's why Allstate encourages more than 1200 agency owners to hire top notch staff.

Allstate's Texas agency owner and licensed staff recruiting goals for this year are segmented by area across the state:

City Approx. EA Goal LSP Approx. Goal Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex 30 Exclusive Agents 500 Licensed Staff Houston/Valley 30 Exclusive Agents 500 Licensed Staff Central Texas (San Antonio- Austin) 20 Exclusive Agents 300 Licensed Staff East Texas 10 Exclusive Agents 100 Licensed Staff West Texas 10 Exclusive Agents 100 Licensed Staff

Learn More about Becoming an Allstate Agent or Licensed Sales Professional

Allstate also offers a $1,000 award to anyone who refers a qualified candidate to Allstate. The referral award is payable upon the appointment of the candidate as an Allstate agency owner. To refer candidates, please call 1-877-711-1006.

Interested candidates can learn more about becoming an Allstate agency owner by going to www.allstateagent.com or by calling 1-877-711-1006.

For more information about becoming an Allstate licensed sales professional, email your resume to a recruitment team member at [email protected]. Candidates can also call (877) 711-1015 to speak to a recruiter or can call their local Allstate agent. Interested candidates should have exceptional selling and customer service skills, a high school diploma and the ability to obtain or begin the process of obtaining a Property and Casualty license at the time of hiring.

The Allstate Corporation (NYSE: ALL) is the nation's largest publicly held personal lines insurer, protecting approximately 16 million households from life's uncertainties through auto, home, life and other insurance offered through its Allstate, Esurance, Encompass and Answer Financial brand names. Now celebrating its 85th anniversary as an insurer, Allstate is widely known through the slogan "You're In Good Hands With Allstate." Allstate agencies are in virtually every local community in America. In 2015, The Allstate Foundation, Allstate, its employees and agency owners gave $36 million to support local communities.

*Subject to the terms and conditions of the R3001 Exclusive Agency Program

SOURCE Allstate Insurance Company

Related Links

http://www.allstate.com


TROY, Mich., Oct. 12, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- The Altair Partner Alliance (APA) is pleased to announce the addition of Dynamic Systems Analysis, Ltd.'s (DSA) ProteusDS and ShipMo3D to its software offering. ProteusDS is used to test virtual prototypes of systems that are exposed to extreme wind, current, and waves. ShipMo3D models the interactions of ships and offshore structures with waves and the marine environment.

"Altair provides many tools and solutions for the maritime industry and we are continually searching for ways to increase value to our customers," said Molly Heskitt, Senior Director of Business Development, Marine and Shipbuilding Industry at Altair. "Working with DSA to provide access to their unique offerings in hydrodynamics and ship design is a great example of how Altair's Partner Program can provide that additional value."

ProteusDS is a full featured hydrodynamic, mechanical and marine dynamic analysis software package. It is customizable, validated, efficient, and aims to reduce risk. Using advanced time and frequency domain options, ShipMo3D can analyze freely maneuvering ships and other floating structures in a variety of sea states. With a wealth of features and models, ShipMo3D is capable of enhancing in-house analysis, design and system optimization capabilities.

"DSA has always been a simulation driven company. Simulation throughout every phase of a project can reduce risk and optimize solutions," said Dean Steinke, Co-founder & Director of Operations at DSA. "Altair's shared commitment of this vision is why DSA joining the Altair Partner Alliance makes so much sense. It is going to be exciting to see what Altair's users can accomplish with our software using complementary applications such as HyperMesh!"

DSA software is used across many industries including marine, offshore, subsea and inshore. Thanks to its highly customizable design, DSA software allows the assessment of unique applications while still providing accurate results. Data can even be exported from ShipMo3D to ProteusDS to simulate large floating or submerged structures as a part of complex moored systems.

An introductory webinar for DSA will be held on November 9 at 10 a.m. ET. For more information about the software, please visit the product pages for ProteusDS and ShipMo3D.

About the Altair Partner Alliance

Altair's HyperWorks platform applies a revolutionary subscription-based licensing model in which customers use floating licenses to access a broad suite of Altair-developed, as well as third-party, software applications on demand. The Altair Partner Alliance effectively extends the HyperWorks Platform from more than 20 internally developed solutions to upwards of 60 applications with the addition of new partner applications. Customers can invoke these third-party applications at no incremental cost using their existing HyperWorks licenses. Customers benefit from unmatched flexibility and access, resulting in maximum software utilization, productivity and ROI. For more information about the Altair Partner Alliance, visit http://www.altairhyperworks.com/apa.

About Dynamic Systems Analysis, Ltd.

Dynamic Systems Analysis is an ocean engineering software and consultancy company. DSA makes it possible for ocean engineers, naval architects, oceanographers  or anybody with business in the water  to assess the motions and loads on vessels, structures, lines, and technologies in marine environments. Our ability to customize quickly and expertly respond to the unique challenges of each client and user in an open and friendly manner is our greatest strength. We constantly seek to improve and to extract maximum impact for every software feature we develop and analyses we conduct. For more information about DSA, visit dsa-ltd.ca.

About Altair

Founded in 1985, Altair is focused on the development and application of simulation technology to synthesize and optimize designs, processes and decisions for improved business performance. Privately held with more than 2,600 employees, Altair is headquartered in Troy, Michigan, USA with more than 45 offices throughout 20 countries, and serves more than 5,000 corporate clients across broad industry segments. To learn more, please visit www.altair.com.

Media Contacts

Altair Corporate/North America

Biba A. Bedi

+1-757-224-0548 x 406

[email protected]

Altair Europe, the Middle East and Africa

Evelyn Gebhardt

+49-6421-9684351

[email protected]

Dynamic Systems Analysis, Ltd.

Lauren Dunn

902-407-3722 x 109

[email protected]

SOURCE Altair

Related Links

http://www.altair.com


LOS ANGELES, Oct. 12, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Devoting a full 49% of its profits towards abused dogs, the high-end clothing brand Antonio Stefano makes its world debut in Los Angeles on Monday, October 17th, with an afterparty the same night. What is probably the world's most cause-related company was launched with the goal of helping abused and abandoned dogs by building a hospital for them.

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161011/427580

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161011/427581

Stefano Riznyk, the Chief Creative Director, is hardly the person you would expect to launch a clothing line. A business lawyer and high-level negotiator, he is often forced to wear ties. With a lack of distinctive wear in the market, he launched the company with very bold and striking ties made by hand in Lake Como, the silk capital of Italy. "Since the tragic departure of Gianni (Versace), I had nowhere left to really satisfy my taste for a tie that is both expressive and artistic," he states.

There are only 3 ways a man can distinguish himself: his tie, watch, and belt; anything else other and he risks losing the respect of the mainstream in the high-stakes business world. A tie, however, can separate someone from the pack. It is so much more than an accessory, it is a statement.

As a negotiator, he states, a tie reveals a personality more than one would think. Antonio Stefano productions are each a work of art and individually designed. The silk ties retail from $69 to $225 and are currently available in stores in Milan and Las Vegas. They are both printed and manufactured in the same companies as you will find the world's top ten designers making theirs.

The first of ten models at the show will offer a sneak peak into the next item in production, a silk or satin (your choice) bathrobe in a dazzling jaguar design to replace the 'grandmotherly' bathrobes that women now have to use when courting their new man.

Antonio Stefano will be having an afterparty at 9PM that Monday at the W Hotel in Hollywood (in the Station) to celebrate the World Release.

ANTONIO STEFANO (AntonioStefano.com)

Contact: Amanda Berkshire

San Diego: 858-964-0625

Milan: 0291281644

Email

SOURCE Antonio Stefano

Related Links

http://antoniostefano.com


NEW YORK, Oct. 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Arsenal Capital Partners ("Arsenal"), a leading New York-based private equity firm that invests in lower middle market specialty industrial and healthcare companies, announced today that it has successfully completed fundraising for Arsenal Capital Fund IV LP ("Fund IV") at its $1.3 billion hard cap. The firm's previous fund, Arsenal Capital Partners III LP, was raised in 2012 with $875 million of committed capital. Since inception in 2000, Arsenal has raised institutional equity investment funds totaling $2.975 billion.

Commenting on the firm's fundraising success, Terrence Mullen, Co-founder and Partner at Arsenal, said, "We are delighted to have received the support of such a terrific group of leading global institutional investors. We are thankful for the wonderful long-standing commitment of our existing investors and for the trust new investors placed in our team and investment strategy. We are very gratified by the investors' strong vote of confidence in the institutional quality of our firm, our leading franchises in specialty industrials and healthcare, and our track record of building high growth, high value-added companies."

Jeffrey Kovach, Co-founder and Partner at Arsenal, said, "The demand for Fund IV is a testament to the talented and experienced team of 33 professionals that we have built and honed over 16 years, and our strong culture of teamwork and collaborative value creation. Our uncommon balance of investment, industry and operating talent, working in unison, enables us to be a partner of choice with management teams seeking to achieve differentiated strategic positioning with enhanced capabilities in growth, technology and operations. The Arsenal high-growth, buy and build strategy and model continue to win in the market, as evidenced by the 34 platform investments and 21 realizations completed since inception, generating excellent returns for our investors."

Bill Farrell, Head of Investor Relations for Arsenal, said, "Arsenal's leading market positions in technology-rich industrials, such as specialty chemicals and specialty materials, and technology-enabled business services to healthcare resonated with existing Arsenal investors and attracted a high quality group of new investors to Fund IV."

Over 85% of existing institutional investors re-upped in Fund IV. The Fund's investor base is international in scope, with approximately 60% of the institutional capital coming from the United States and the balance from Europe and Asia. The investor base represents leading endowments and foundations, public and corporate pension plans, financial institutions and family offices. Existing investors in Arsenal that re-upped for Fund IV include The Regents of the University of California, Northwestern Mutual, PPM America, The Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation, PKA AIP A/S, Pictet Alternative Advisors SA, SAMpension, and Unigestion SA. New institutional investors in Arsenal Fund IV include California State Teachers' Retirement System (CalSTRS), PensionDanmark, and Sentry Insurance.

Arsenal was assisted by Kirkland & Ellis LLP as legal counsel.

About Arsenal Capital Partners

Formed in 2000, Arsenal Capital Partners is a leading New York-based private equity firm that invests in lower middle-market specialty industrial and healthcare companies. Arsenal makes investments in sectors where the firm has significant prior knowledge and experience. The firm targets businesses that have the potential for further value creation by working closely with management to accelerate growth and leverage the firm's operational improvement capabilities. Since inception, Arsenal has raised institutional equity investment funds totaling $2.975 billion. For additional information on Arsenal Capital Partners, please visit www.arsenalcapital.com.

Contact: Chris Tofalli

Chris Tofalli Public Relations, LLC

914-834-4334

SOURCE Arsenal Capital Partners

Related Links

http://www.arsenalcapital.com


BOSTON, Oct. 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Ascent Venture Partners, a Boston-based venture capital firm supporting B2B technology, today announced that Baiyin Zhou has joined the company as a Senior Associate. Zhou comes with six years of experience, having worked at OpenView Venture Partners and ClearSky Power & Technology Fund, both B2B technology investors with a focus on helping companies post-investment.

Baiyin headshot

"Joining the Ascent family is an honor and privilege," said Zhou. "My prior experience combined with the firm's commitment to growing category leaders, evidenced by its smart investments and successful partnerships, makes this opportunity very exciting. I look forward to working with the team, investing in and supporting the next generation of tech companies."

Ascent focuses on early stage B2B IT companies with an initial investment ranging from $2 million to $5 million. Its interest lies in supporting several distinct categories: data and analytics, cloud innovation, cybersecurity, mobile first and IoT.

"Our team spent five months meeting with close to 70 candidates from more than 600 applicants, through multiple rounds of interviews and discussions," said Matt Fates, general partner at Ascent. "This process gave us real confidence and conviction regarding our top choice, and we are very excited to welcome Baiyin to our team. She brings a passion for B2B IT investing, six years of highly relevant experience, and a fresh perspective."

Zhou's arrival comes on the heels of Ascent's recent investments including Pwnie Express, Codeship and Promoboxx, highlighting the company's continued momentum and growth in the venture capital space.

To learn more about Ascent Venture Partners, visit: http://www.ascentvp.com/

About Ascent Venture Partners

Ascent Venture Partners is dedicated to investing in innovation for the enterprise. In backing more than 100 early-stage, emerging technology companies since 1985, Ascent has remained committed to its mission of partnering with exceptional entrepreneurs striving to build innovative market leaders. Ascent's investments have yielded powerful results generating more than $10 billion in enterprise value, which speaks to the firm's deep knowledge, experience, commitment, and networks. The Ascent investment team manages six venture funds with total commitments of more than $500 million, and is located in Boston, Mass. For more information, please visit http://www.ascentvp.com/

Jill Rosenthal

InkHouse (for Ascent)

[email protected]

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161012/428090

SOURCE Ascent Venture Partners

Related Links

http://www.ascentvp.com


COPPELL, Texas, Oct. 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- This October, Baby Magic is blowing out the birthday candles to commemorate 65 years of magical memories. Loved by generations since 1951, Baby Magic is a true legacy brand that has delivered exceptional baby care products and smiles to families across the globe for decades. To celebrate this incredible milestone, the brand is putting the spotlight on Dads.

While dads have often been portrayed as taking a backseat when it comes to parenting, studies and conventional wisdom show that today's millennial dads are hands-on, involved and engaged in child rearing. Together, millennial parents are embracing teamwork and striving to share caregiving responsibilities to provide the best upbringing for their little ones.

"In recent years, we've seen how the millennial dad is becoming an increasingly influential force in their children's lives as well as an integral support to moms," said Baby Magic Director of Marketing Laurie Enright. "As we celebrate 65 years of creating magic memories for parents around the world, we wanted to shine a light on outstanding dads everywhere who are changing the way society looks at fatherhood."

To celebrate the brand's 65th anniversary, Baby Magic is revisiting one of their classic ad campaigns from the 1950's. More than 60 years ago, Baby Magic debuted a revolutionary ad campaign known as "For Every Lady In Waiting." The famous ads featured expectant mothers  a taboo image at the time  in chic maternity wear and were considered a courageous take on pregnancy and style.

Fast forward to 2016, Baby Magic has now recreated the ads with a modern twist  new dads. Side-by-side with the original 1958 images and featuring four real-life dads-to-be, Baby Magic is thrilled to present their reimagined ad campaign called "Dads in the Making". The new ads are a nod to the changing landscape in parenting, and feature dads from all walks of life: a musician (Kirk Thurmond), skilled woodworker (Julian Pastrana), a mixologist (Kyle Hilla) and even the head of business development Asia Pacific for Baby Magic and other Naterra brands (Jon Song), and detail the major role each plays in their family's lives.

For spotlighted musician and new dad, Kirk Thurmond, fatherhood is all about fostering creativity and cherishing imagination. "As a father, and recording artist, I want to give Ira the gift of experience! I feel like so much of our potential and creativity is often taught away as we grow and learn. I'm devoted to helping [new baby] Ira keep as much of his imagination as possible," said Kirk. While discussing his wife and mother of his new bundle of joy, Kirk says "There are so many things I could say about [my wife] Bri and the way she cares for our boy. Mothers really do have amazing instincts when it comes to caring for a little creature that hardly knows how to be."

Baby Magic believes that nothing brings parents together like shared experiences and teamwork. For 65 years, the brand has been creating magical baby smiles from one generation to another and bonds that last a lifetime between moms, dads and their beloved children. The brand is excited to continue in their legacy of providing products made with love and care that both mom and dad can feel proud to use on their children.

About Baby Magic

Trusted by moms for 65 years, Baby Magic is a family owned and operated business that focuses on baby care products that do what they say they're going to do  while cutting out the bad stuff. Hypoallergenic, tear-free, and paraben-free  Baby Magic is made with love and care, which is why it's been loved by generations of parents. Visit Baby Magic at babymagic.com to learn more.

About Naterra:

Based in Coppell, Texas, just outside of Dallas, Naterra International is housed with a new, one of a kind cosmetic manufacturing plant with state of the art capabilities. The 320,000 square foot landmark manufacturing, distribution and research facility adheres to the strictest of quality control measures to provide custom formulations of innovative goods. Priding itself on research and innovation, Naterra stays ahead of the marketplace trends to consistently produce the latest and greatest products. Naterra is home to household name brands like Tree Hut, Baby Magic and more.

Photo- http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161012/427927

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161012/427926LOGO

SOURCE Baby Magic

Related Links

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Barracuda announced expanded data protection functionality in Barracuda Cloud-to-Cloud Backup with the new Microsoft SharePoint Online backup capability.

Barracuda now offers granular backup and recovery options for Microsoft SharePoint Online to help businesses easily restore individual files in their SharePoint Online environment, without having to perform a full-site restore.

Barracuda Cloud-to-Cloud Backup is available as a standalone product or as part of Barracuda Essentials for Office 365, which combines multi-layer security, archiving, and backup into an easy-to-use, affordable suite of cloud services for businesses running Microsoft Office 365.

With Barracuda Essentials for Office 365 and Barracuda Email Threat Scan, Barracuda helps businesses detect, prevent, and recover from ransomware and other malicious attacks.

Barracuda today announced expanded data protection functionality in its Barracuda Cloud-to-Cloud Backup offering, with the addition of Microsoft SharePoint Online backup. The new feature provides businesses using SharePoint Online granular backup and recovery options with the ability to restore individual files that have been deleted, corrupted, or encrypted by ransomware  without having to complete a full recovery of the SharePoint environment. With the new SharePoint Online functionality, Barracuda offers affordable solutions to help customers running Office 365 detect, prevent, and recover from malicious attacks, and enables resellers and managed service providers (MSPs) to offer customers more robust email security and data protection offerings.

"One of the most commonly requested features we get from customers regarding Barracuda Essentials for Office 365 has been the ability to backup and restore files in Microsoft SharePoint Online," said Rod Mathews, general manager and senior vice president, Data Protection Business, at Barracuda. "In many ways, SharePoint Online simplifies deployment and management of the solution; however, there's always a risk of losing files for various reasons. With the new SharePoint Online backup capability in Barracuda Cloud-to-Cloud Backup and Barracuda Essentials for Office 365, we're giving businesses added control and peace of mind knowing that regardless of the data-loss scenario, their files are saved and available only a few clicks away."

Fast and Efficient Granular Restores Enhance SharePoint Online

While migrating to SharePoint Online eliminates servers, storage, and the overhead that comes with on-premises management, corruption or deletion at the individual file level requires full-site recovery, which takes time and resources and depends on Microsoft to perform the recovery. Barracuda Cloud-to-Cloud Backup allows protection of a complete SharePoint site in the event of accidental or malicious data loss by ransomware or other threats, giving control back to IT to provide granular recovery services and meet recovery time objectives. Restoring individual files can now be done with Barracuda Cloud-to-Cloud Backup and accessed directly from the Barracuda Essentials for Office 365 user interface. Additionally, using Barracuda Cloud-to-Cloud Backup allows IT to preserve SharePoint data beyond the default 14-day retention window without eating into storage quotas. The new SharePoint Online backup functionality offers businesses a critical piece of a ransomware protection strategy.

"A comprehensive security and data protection plan is key to a successful IT strategy, and that is truer today than ever before," said Eric Bouvier, director of information technology (IT), at Auburn Public Schools. "It's rare to read the news and there not be an article about a company hit with a ransomware attack  and unfortunately the headlines came true for us. Fortunately, keeping regular backups with Barracuda is a part of our overall strategy. We were able to work with Barracuda to restore our data quickly and avoided paying a ransom, which certainly minimized the impact to our organization, students and staff. We are excited that Barracuda is adding features like SharePoint Online backup. As we consider various cloud migrations, with Barracuda we know we'll be protected no matter where our data resides."

Gartner estimates that by 2022 more than 70 percent of enterprises will be using cloud office tools. In fact, Microsoft Office 365 is quickly gaining momentum in the modern workplace, and according to Windows Central, Microsoft Corp. is now reporting 70 million active Office 365 users per month. Many of these businesses are leveraging SharePoint Online as a secure place to store, organize, share, and access team information from just about anywhere. Barracuda Essentials for Office 365 gives businesses added control of their cloud environments, with multi-layered security and data protection for Office 365.

"Barracuda is a great example of the type of partner we like to work with  the team has a keen understanding of the cloud and reputable brand with customers," said Steve Guggenheimer, CVP, Developer Experience (DX), at Microsoft. "Barracuda Essentials leverages Microsoft Office 365 as the common language, which helps customers deploy faster and confidently, while empowering partners with the same secure infrastructure where they can quickly roll out new services. It's a great tool that's helping customers and partners get the most out of Office 365."

About Barracuda Essentials for Office 365, Now with SharePoint Online Backup

Barracuda Cloud-to-Cloud Backup is available as a standalone product or as part of Barracuda Essentials for Office 365, which combines multi-layer security, archiving, and backup into an easy-to-use, affordable suite of cloud services for businesses running Office 365:

Cloud-based Email Security  Extends security protection for Office 365 Exchange Online with granular controls, data loss protection, encryption, and real-time advanced threat protection against dangerous ransomware and phishing attacks, and other email-borne threats.

Extends security protection for Office 365 Exchange Online with granular controls, data loss protection, encryption, and real-time advanced threat protection against dangerous ransomware and phishing attacks, and other email-borne threats. Cloud-based Archiving  Assists organizations with compliance retention and enables timely response to eDiscovery requests  with archives separate from the production mail environment  when used with Exchange, Office 365, and other on-premises, cloud, or hybrid environments. Barracuda Cloud Archiving Service offers productivity features, including mobile applications for end users to access, search, and retrieve email at any time from any device.

Assists organizations with compliance retention and enables timely response to eDiscovery requests  with archives separate from the production mail environment  when used with Exchange, Office 365, and other on-premises, cloud, or hybrid environments. Barracuda Cloud Archiving Service offers productivity features, including mobile applications for end users to access, search, and retrieve email at any time from any device. Cloud-based Backup and Recovery  Provides IT administrators and MSPs with real-time backup that can simplify the process of recovering accidentally or intentionally deleted emails and files in Office 365, including Exchange Online, OneDrive for Business, and SharePoint Online files.

Barracuda recently announced Barracuda Email Threat Scan for Office 365, a cloud-based service that identifies latent threats, including hidden advanced persistent threats, within corporate email accounts. With Barracuda Essentials for Office 365 and Barracuda Email Threat Scan, Barracuda offers customers solutions to detect, prevent, and recover from ransomware and other malicious attacks.

Pricing and Availability

Barracuda Essentials for Office 365 Complete Protection and Compliance edition, including SharePoint Online backup, is available today and includes simple per user licensing offered at $4.50 USD per user, per month or less for customers in the United States. Additional Barracuda Essentials for Office 365 editions are available. MSP partners should contact their account representatives for pricing information. Pricing and availability vary by region. For more information, please visit cuda.co/essentials.

Barracuda Cloud-to-Cloud Backup, including SharePoint Online backup, is available today, with subscriptions starting at $2 per user, per month USD for customers in the United States. Pricing and availability vary by region. For more information, please visit cuda.co/bkup

Barracuda Email Threat Scan for Office 365 is available free of charge for a limited time cuda.co/emailthreatscan.

Resources:

Barracuda Essentials for Office 365 Product Resources  cuda.co/essentialsresources

Barracuda Cloud-to-Cloud Product Overview - cuda.co/cloudtocloud

VIDEO: Barracuda & Microsoft  It's Time to Work Together - cuda.co/msftcudatime

VIDEO: Recovering Data After a Ransomware Attack - cuda.co/ransomrecovbbs

BLOG: The growing need for cloud-to-cloud backup  cuda.co/17099

BLOG: Getting started with Email Threat Scan for Office 365  cuda.co/17573

About Barracuda Networks, Inc. (NYSE: CUDA)

Barracuda (NYSE: CUDA) simplifies IT with cloud-enabled solutions that empower customers to protect their networks, applications, and data, regardless of where they reside. These powerful, easy-to-use and affordable solutions are trusted by more than 150,000 organizations worldwide and are delivered in appliance, virtual appliance, cloud and hybrid deployments. Barracuda's customer-centric business model focuses on delivering high-value, subscription-based IT solutions that provide end-to-end network and data security. For additional information, please visit barracuda.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements, including statements regarding the potential benefits, performance, and functionality of Barracuda Essentials for Office 365, Barracuda Cloud-to-Cloud Backup, and Barracuda Email Threat Scan solutions. You should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements because they involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that are, in some cases, beyond the Company's control and that could cause the Company's results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Factors that could materially affect the Company's business and financial results include, but are not limited to customer response to the Company's products, as well as those factors set forth in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The Company expressly disclaims any intent or obligation to update the forward-looking information to reflect events that occur or circumstances that exist after the date of this press release.

Contacts



Jonelle Elam Jesse Kimbrel

Barracuda Networks, Inc. Barracuda Networks, Inc.

408-342-6415 408-342-5683

[email protected] [email protected]



Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161011/427617

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20131113/SF16521LOGO

SOURCE Barracuda Networks, Inc.

Related Links

https://www.barracuda.com


WINSTON-SALEM, N.C., Oct. 12, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- BB&T Corporation (NYSE: BBT) today announced it is contributing $1 million to the relief effort related to destruction and damage caused by Hurricane Matthew. BB&T is also delivering several truckloads of bottled water and cleaning supplies to affected communities in Central and Eastern North Carolina including Fayetteville, Goldsboro, Greenville, Lumberton, and Wilson.

"We're grateful our associates are safe and accounted for. But we also understand the need is still great in so many of the communities we serve," said Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Kelly S. King. "Our thoughts and prayers are with all who are struggling to recover from Hurricane Matthew and we are hopeful this donation will help them get back on their feet soon."

To assist clients in their time of need, BB&T is diligently working to provide ATM service in affected areas. Clients who may have incurred storm-related overdraft, returned item, negative account balance or late loan payment fees are encouraged to visit one of our financial centers or contact BB&T at 800-BANK-BBT (800-226-5228) for assistance.

About BB&T

BB&T is one of the largest financial services holding companies in the U.S. with $221.9 billion in assets and market capitalization of $29.0 billion as of June 30, 2016. Based in Winston-Salem, N.C., the company operates 2,249 financial centers in 15 states and Washington, D.C., and offers a full range of consumer and commercial banking, securities brokerage, asset management, mortgage and insurance products and services. A Fortune 500 company, BB&T is consistently recognized for outstanding client satisfaction by the U.S. Small Business Administration, Greenwich Associates and others. More information about BB&T and its full line of products and services is available at www.bbt.com.

SOURCE BB&T Corporation

Related Links

http://www.bbt.com


GRAND RAPIDS, Mich., Oct. 12, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Meticulously cleaning floors with various surfaces typically requires several tools, several steps and lots of time. Families living on-the-go with jam-packed schedules don't always have time to perform a thorough cleanswitching between the vacuum, mop and bucket, broom and more. To make floor cleaning less of a chore, BISSELL, a leader in cleaning solutions and floor care, is introducing the CrossWave, a revolutionary multi-surface cleaning system.

The CrossWave vacuums and washes your floors at the same time freeing up busy schedules and over-filled storage closets by eliminating the need for multiple cleaning tools. This all-in-one product also transitions seamlessly between hard surfaces and rugs, giving you a great clean on your hard floors as well as freshening up your area rugs.

The CrossWave was designed as a better way to get a great clean for the more than 85 percent of households that still own a mop and bucket.* With this floor care advancement from BISSELLthe mop and bucket, which often creates more of a mess than it actually cleansmay finally be a thing of the past.

"At BISSELL, we're constantly looking for ways to simplify and improve cleaning, giving people more time to spend with loveable mess-makerswhether that's their kids, pets or a kitchen mixer," said Scott Smith, BISSELL Brand Manager. "The CrossWave is the next generation of clean, designed to streamline busy lives with a single, easy-to-use, all-in-one product."

Key product benefits include:

Simultaneous vacuuming and washing saves time and provides a deeper clean for floors

saves time and provides a deeper clean for floors The dual action multi-surface brush roll rotates at 3,000 RPM and mops floors while picking up debris

rotates at 3,000 RPM and mops floors while picking up debris A two-tank system keeps cleaning solution and dirty water separateunlike a mop and bucket

keeps cleaning solution and dirty water separateunlike a mop and bucket SmartClean Fingertip controls make the transition from hard surfaces to rugs and carpet seamless

make the transition from hard surfaces to rugs and carpet seamless The innovative multi-surface formula cleans hard floors and freshens up area rugs

cleans hard floors and freshens up area rugs Swivel steering allows for maneuvering under furniture and reaching into tight corners

To learn more about the CrossWave, please visit www.bissell.com. The CrossWave will be available at retailers nationwide later this month with a MSRP starting at $249.99.

About BISSELL Homecare, Inc.

For 140 years and counting, Michigan-based BISSELL Homecare, Inc. has developed innovative floor care solutions that make cleaning easier. As the top-selling brand in floor care appliances, based on NPD unit sales, BISSELL understands that fuller lives often mean more messes, and that convenient cleaning tools help us embrace life's messier moments. Now in its fourth generation of family leadership, the company supplies households across the globe with vacuums, sweepers, carpet-cleaning machines, hard floor cleaners and cleaning formulas. For more on the BISSELL complete line of floor care products, visit www.bissell.com .

*Source: MRI 2014 Doublebase Study

SOURCE BISSELL Homecare, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.bissell.com


SYRACUSE, N.Y., Oct. 12, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- BlueRock Energy, an award-winning energy solutions company that provides electricity, natural gas and renewable energy products to businesses and residential customers, today announced that the investors who participated in the Preferred-B Stock Offering under the EB-5 Direct Investment program from December 2014 through August 2015 have all received approvals for their respective I-526 immigrant Petitions for Alien Entrepreneurs by the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services.

Created as part of the Immigration Act of 1990, the EB-5 Immigrant Investor Visa program grants lawful permanent residence to foreign nationals who invest $500,000 in targeted employment areas in qualifying U.S. businesses that create or preserve at least 10 jobs in the United States per investment. To date, 33 such jobs have been created by BlueRock Energy with more expected in 2017.

"We are happy to announce all BlueRock Energy's EB-5 Direct Investors have received their I-526 approvals," said Phil Van Horne, President and CEO of BlueRock Energy. "By utilizing the EB-5 Direct Investment Program, we were able to grow our company with capital from EB-5 investors and create new jobs in our community."

This announcement marks a significant step in BlueRock Energy's growth. In addition to creating dozens of jobs locally in Syracuse, the two million dollars invested in the company through the EB-5 program will allow BlueRock to expand its solar and energy efficient programs within New York and into other states.

This growth and investment plan was assisted by Global Alliance Securities, LLC in New York City. Global Alliance advises BlueRock Energy on investments and liaises with the EB-5 Direct Investment Program.

In the past decade, BlueRock Energy has become one of the most trusted and customer-friendly energy solutions companies in New York State. Inc. Magazine recognized BlueRock as one of the 5,000 Fastest-Growing privately held companies in the United States. The brand has become one of the most recognizable in the energy solutions category across all areas of New York State, and has become an official partner of well-known iconic New York organizations and events, such as the Buffalo Bills, Syracuse Chiefs, New York Islanders, Brooklyn Nets and more.

ABOUT BLUEROCK ENERGY

BlueRock Energy is a privately held energy solutions company that provides electricity, natural gas and renewable energy products to more than 18,000 customers across New York State, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, and Massachusetts. The team at BlueRock provides businesses and residential customers with unique energy plans designed to keep it simple while reducing costs.

To learn more about BlueRock Energy, please visit www.bluerockenergy.com.

ABOUT GLOBAL ALLIANCE SECURITIES, LLC:

Global Alliance dedicated investment banking team serves U.S. companies in obtaining essential capital for the creation of qualified jobs in the United States. Global Alliance works in conjunction with other professionals and utilizes the JOBS Acts and EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program to help U.S. enterprises obtain capital through foreign capital markets.

Global Alliance advises and guides U.S. companies in the early phase of their funding, providing advice regarding corporate structure, business plan, and job creation analysis that could qualify clients to gain access to these programs. Global Alliance is proud to provide this service to its clients that benefit our community by creating job opportunities within the United States.

For further information, please visit www.globalalliancesecurities.com

Media Contact: North 6th Agency, Inc. (For BlueRock Energy)

212-334-9753 x123 [email protected]

SOURCE BlueRock Energy

Related Links

http://www.bluerockenergy.com


NEW YORK, Oct. 13, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Brain & Behavior Research Foundation today announced the award of its NARSAD Young Investigator Grants valued at $13.7 million to 198 of the world's most promising young scientists. The $70,000 grants ($35,000 a year for two years) support the work of talented young scientists with innovative ideas for groundbreaking neurobiological research seeking to identify causes, improve treatments and develop prevention strategies for psychiatric disordersincluding addiction, attention-deficit hyperactive disorder, anxiety, autism spectrum disorder, bipolar disorder, depression, eating disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, and schizophreniathat affect one in five people.

Recipients of the 29th annual NARSAD Young Investigator Grants are from 70 institutions in 13 countries. They were selected by the Foundation's Scientific Council, which is comprised of 173 leading experts across disciplines in brain and behavior research, including two Nobel Prizewinners; four former directors of the National Institute of Mental Health; four recipients of the National Medal of Science; 13 members of the National Academy of Sciences; 26 chairs of Psychiatry and Neuroscience Departments at leading medical institutions; and 55 members of the National Academy of Medicine.

"These young scientists are conducting research into the underpinnings of mental illness that will improve efforts to prevent, diagnose and treat mental illness," says Foundation President and CEO Jeffrey Borenstein, M.D. "We are grateful to all of our donors whose generosity makes this important research possible and brings us closer to cures that will alleviate the suffering mental illness brings."

According to Dr. Borenstein, the Foundation's successful model for funding brain research not only supports scientists throughout their careers, but can make a huge difference for young investigators, permitting them to begin careers as independent research faculty or garner pilot data for innovative ideas to develop "proof of concept" for their work.

Once the grant project is complete, these young investigators usually go on to receive subsequent funding valued at 11 to 19 times the original grant amount. In many cases, NARSAD Grants offer the first critical support for a young scientist's work that may not otherwise receive funding.

"NARSAD Young Investigator Grants have led to groundbreaking and important new research that has improved the lives of people living with mental illness through enhanced treatments and therapies, and a better understanding of the causes of mental illness," says Herbert Pardes, M.D., President of the Foundation's Scientific Council and Executive Vice Chair of the Board of Trustees at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital. "These early career scientists are making great strides in basic research, new technologies, next generation therapies, and early intervention techniques. This is the kind of out-of-the-box research that offers the best hope for change."

Since 1987, the Foundation has awarded more than 4,000 Young Investigator Grants for an overall investment of $244 million; recipients of these grants received more than $2.4 billion in subsequent research funding. Overall, the Foundation has awarded $360 million to fund more than 5,000 grants to 4,000 leading scientists around the world, generating over $3.5 billion in additional funding for these scientists.

This year, the Scientific Council reviewed more than 750 applications to select 198 Young Investigators. The breakdown of funding for Young Investigator Grants is as follows: 75 percent funds basic research to understand what happens in the brain to cause mental illness; 18 percent funds next generation therapies for early diagnosis, treatment, symptom reduction and, ultimately, the prevention and cure of mental illness, and brain and behavior disorders; and seven percent funds the development of new technologies to advance or create new ways of studying and understanding the brain.

About the Brain & Behavior Research Foundation

The Brain & Behavior Research Foundation is committed to alleviating the suffering of mental illness by awarding grants that will lead to advances and breakthroughs in scientific research. The Foundation funds the most innovative ideas in neuroscience and psychiatry to better understand the causes and develop new ways to treat brain and behavior disorders. These disorders include depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, autism, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, anxiety, borderline personality disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and post-traumatic stress disorder. Since 1987, the Foundation has awarded more than $360 million to fund more than 5,000 grants to more than 4,000 leading scientists around the world. This has led to over $3.5 billion in additional funding for these scientists. The Foundation is also dedicated to educating the public about mental health and the importance of research, including the impact that new discoveries have on improving the lives of those with mental illness, which will ultimately enable people to live full, happy and productive lives. For more information, visit www.bbrfoundation.org.

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20150429/212670LOGO

SOURCE Brain & Behavior Research Foundation

Related Links

http://www.bbrfoundation.org


"Organizations of any size  including healthcare providers, colleges and universities, government agencies and nonprofits  can fall victim to cybercrime, which could result in stolen personal information or intellectual property or serious disruptions to our daily way of life," said NCSA Executive Director Michael Kaiser. "It's important for employees at all levels to be keenly aware of the roles they play in keeping their own workplaces  and the general public  safer and more secure online."

NCSA recommends a top-down approach to building a culture of cybersecurity in the workplace. Leadership must start from the top and begin by identifying the critical information to protect  or "crown jewels"  such as consumer data, employee data, copyrights and intellectual property and securing that information. "The groups that work to build up their resistance and resilience are best prepared to combat cyber threats," said Kaiser.

NCSA recommends taking the following steps developed by the National Institute of Standards (NIST) and building a plan to keep your business cybersecure:

Identify your digital "crown jewels"

Protect your assets

Be able to detect incidents

Have a plan for responding

Quickly recover normal operations

Learn more about creating a culture of cybersecurity at your workplace with NCSA's new infographic. Download and share it on social media using the hashtag #CyberAware.

Employee awareness and training are also key elements of fostering cybersecurity in the workplace; the number of spear-phishing campaigns targeting employees increased 55 percent from 2014 to 2015. "Everyone at work plays an essential role in protecting the company and its sensitive data," said Kaiser. "It's crucial to educate your staff about how to use the internet safely at work and at home and to continually remind them of the importance of protecting organizational and personal information."

To address the needs of small- and medium-sized businesses, NCSA recently created a workshop to help these businesses learn to be safer and more secure online in easily understandable language. In this workshop, using a simplified version of the NIST Cybersecurity Framework, content from federal partners and the most recent threat data, NCSA teaches smaller entities how to think about cybersecurity and offers real-life scenarios and steps to take to better secure their data. NCSA designed the workshop to be highly interactive and based on adult learning principles, allowing owners and operators to apply the lessons to their individual situations and share findings with their peers. Attendees learn how to 1) understand the assets they have that others might want to steal, 2) protect those assets without having to spend a lot of money or time, 3) detect when something has gone wrong and how to react quickly and appropriately to make the impact as minimal as possible, 4) understand the need to create a plan of action that can be implemented when a breach or hack occurs and 5) determine what resources are needed to quickly recover.

World's Largest Social Network Brings Gaming into Security Education

Facebook takes a proactive approach to security, including how it creates and retains a security-conscious culture. During its annual month-long initiative, Hacktober, the company encourages its employees to demonstrate their security prowess and learn new skills through a company-wide Capture the Flag (CTF) competition. CTFs combine traditional "king of the hill" challenges with Jeopardy!-style questions, and are a popular teaching tool within the security community. Earlier this year, the company launched a free version of the platform so other organizations can use it to teach security skills to employees, students, and other stakeholders.

Employee training and awareness activities can help promote a culture of cybersecurity, but another key factor to address is the shortage of highly skilled cybersecurity professionals currently in the workforce. Despite the growing demand for cybersecurity talent in an increasingly connected world, there were more than 209,000 unfilled cybersecurity job postings in the United States in 2015  74 percent more unfilled positions than there were five years before.[2]

A Raytheon-NCSA survey released today, Securing Our Future: Closing the Cybersecurity Talent Gap, explores the attitudes of millennials internationally and their awareness of and interest in the cybersecurity field. This is the fourth year that NCSA and Raytheon have partnered for the survey, and Raytheon's support has been extremely valuable in growing the success of NCSAM each year. While the 2016 survey found some improvements in education and awareness of cybersecurity as a profession over last year, still only 54 percent of men and 36 percent of women reported being aware of what a cyber pro's job entails. Additionally, only 27 percent of men and 19 percent of women said their high schools had prepared them to use technology safely and ethically in the workplace, and only 40 percent of men and 28 percent of women said they had received information about cyber careers from their high school teachers or counselors.

"While we were thankful to see growth in the awareness of cybersecurity as a viable profession for young people, it's critical for key influencers  like parents, teachers and guidance counselors  to learn more about this growing and important career option," said Kaiser. "It is essential that students graduate with the skills they need to not only operate the internet in the safest and most secure way possible, but also to embark on the many diverse careers that protect it."

Parents can play a significant role in helping to close the cyber talent gap  and promoting a safer internet for the future  by educating their children about cybersecurity careers. Forty percent of respondents said that their parents were the most influential people in their lives when it came to choosing careers, but only 26 percent of men and 18 percent of women reported being confident in their parents' knowledge of cyber careers. These results suggest a need for parents to receive more resources and information about cybersecurity careers in order to better guide their children in their career decisions. For tips on how you can help teach your children and kids in the community about cybersecurity careers, check out NCSA's advice.

Learn more about the survey and its findings here.

Week 2 NCSAM Resources

Upcoming NCSAM Events

The Mid-South Cyber Security Summit, Friday, Oct . 14, FedEx Institute of Technology, University of Memphis , Memphis, TN : The Cyber Security Summit is an annual event bringing together cybersecurity leaders in government, corporations and research to address the most pressing concerns and emerging trends facing our society today. The 2016 event, hosted by NCSA, the FedEx Institute of Technology Cluster for the Advancement of Cybersecurity and Testing and the Center for Information Assurance, will focus on new cyber threats and counterintelligence. The event will be livestreamed here. Learn more and register for the Summit here.

. The Cyber Security Summit is an annual event bringing together cybersecurity leaders in government, corporations and research to address the most pressing concerns and emerging trends facing our society today. The 2016 event, hosted by NCSA, the FedEx Institute of Technology Cluster for the Advancement of Cybersecurity and Testing and the Center for Information Assurance, will focus on new cyber threats and counterintelligence. The event will be livestreamed here. Learn more and register for the Summit here. NCSAM Week 3 Keystone Event, Wednesday, Oct. 19 , 9 a.m.  1 p.m. (PDT) , Kenneth Hahn Hall of Administration, Los Angeles, CA : The City and County of Los Angeles are hosting a keystone event as part of NCSAM week 3; panel discussions will address recognizing and combating cybercrime as a community and cybersecurity for small businesses. Learn more and register for the event here.

The City and County of are hosting a keystone event as part of NCSAM week 3; panel discussions will address recognizing and combating cybercrime as a community and cybersecurity for small businesses. Learn more and register for the event here. CyberFest2016  The Future Is Now, Thursday, Oct. 27 , 8 a.m.  5 p.m. (PDT) , Hilton La Jolla Torrey Pines, 10950 North Torrey Pines Road, La Jolla, CA : CyberFest2016 is a gathering of cyber, infrastructure, law enforcement, InfraGuard, military and business professionals, who will explore how cyber is now so interwoven into the business fabric that should it "break," business as we currently know it will no longer exist. Learn more and register here.

CyberFest2016 is a gathering of cyber, infrastructure, law enforcement, InfraGuard, military and business professionals, who will explore how cyber is now so interwoven into the business fabric that should it "break," business as we currently know it will no longer exist. Learn more and register here. Future of Authentication Policy Day, Thursday, Oct. 27 , 1-4 p.m. (EDT) , Google DC Offices, Washington, D.C. : The FIDO Alliance, the Electronic Transactions Association and NCSA will jointly host an event in support of NCSAM to highlight the importance of strong authentication, explore the evolution of the authentication market and discuss its impact on the policy and regulatory landscape. Learn more and register to attend here.

Throughout the month, you can follow the NCSAM conversation on social media using the hashtag #CyberAware (and tagging your own posts with #CyberAware, too!). Additionally, @STOPTHNKCONNECT is hosting weekly Twitter chats throughout October to discuss different topics and trends in cybersecurity. Tune in each Thursday through Nov. 3 at 3 p.m. EDT to join the conversation, and visit the STOP. THINK. CONNECT. website for the full chat schedule. NCSA has created sample social media posts, infographics, posters, memes and more that encourage organizations and individuals to show their support for NCSAM and that can be downloaded and shared. You can also get the latest resources as they are available by registering as a NCSAM Champion. Finally, check out the Stay Safe Online blog for NCSAM posts from NCSA and partners during the month of October.

About National Cyber Security Awareness Month

National Cyber Security Awareness Month (NCSAM) was created as a collaborative effort between government and industry to ensure every American has the resources they need to stay safer and more secure online. Now in its 13th year, NCSAM is co-founded and co-led by the U. S. Department of Homeland Security and the National Cyber Security Alliance, the nation's leading nonprofit public-private partnership promoting the safe and secure use of the Internet and digital privacy. Recognized annually in October, NCSAM involves the participation of a multitude of industry leaders  mobilizing individuals, small and medium-sized businesses, nonprofits, academia, multinational corporations and governments. Encouraging digital citizens around the globe to STOP.THINK. CONNECT., NCSAM is harnessing the collective impact of its programs and resources to increase awareness about today's ever-evolving cybersecurity landscape. Visit the NCSAM media room to learn more.

About the National Cyber Security Alliance

The National Cyber Security Alliance (NCSA) is the nation's leading nonprofit, public-private partnership promoting cybersecurity and privacy education and awareness. NCSA works with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and NCSA's Board of Directors, which includes representatives from ADP; AT&T Services, Inc.; Bank of America; Barclays; BlackBerry Corporation; Cisco; Comcast Corporation; ESET North America; Facebook; Google; Intel Corporation; Logical Operations; Microsoft Corp.; NXP Semiconductors; PayPal; PKWARE; Raytheon; RSA, the Security Division of EMC; Salesforce; SANS Institute; Symantec and Visa Inc. NCSA's core efforts include National Cyber Security Awareness Month (October), Data Privacy Day (January 28) and STOP. THINK. CONNECT., the global online safety awareness and education campaign cofounded by NCSA and the Anti Phishing Working Group, with federal government leadership from DHS. For more information on NCSA, please visit staysafeonline.org/about-us/overview/.

About STOP. THINK. CONNECT.

STOP. THINK. CONNECT. is the global cybersecurity education and awareness campaign. The campaign was created by an unprecedented coalition of private companies, nonprofits and government organizations with leadership provided by the National Cyber Security Alliance (NCSA) and the Anti-Phishing Working Group (APWG). The U.S. Department of Homeland Security leads the federal engagement in the campaign. Learn how to get involved at stopthinkconnect.org.

[1] Symantec Internet Security Threat Report 2016

[2] Peninsula Press (2015). Demand to fill cybersecurity jobs booming.

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SOURCE National Cyber Security Alliance

Related Links

http://www.staysafeonline.org


"This is a very proud moment for our company," said Carol Fitzgerald, CEO & Founder of BuzzBack, "I put culture front and center at BuzzBack. This recognition reinforces how a winning combination of culture and team translates not only into a terrific workplace, but a positive, productive and creative resource for clients. It's particularly meaningful to me because our employees' voices pushed the needle for this win. My aim has always been to foster an environment where people are passionate about their work and want to contribute. Our team exemplifies this, and our clients notice it in their day-to-day interactions with us as we work on their long-term innovation plans."

Companies from across all five boroughs participated in the two-part survey process to determine the Best Places to Work in New York City. The first part (25% of the ranking) consisted of evaluating each nominated organization's workplace policies, practices, philosophy, systems, and demographics. The second part (75% of the ranking) involved an employee survey to measure the employee experience. The combined scores determined the top companies and the final ranking.

About BuzzBack:

BuzzBack works with companies to advance their long-term innovation plans with research that engages consumers in a unique, interactive experience. For more than sixteen years, BuzzBack has helped major global consumer, pharmaceutical and financial services companies with its intuitive, image-driven approach. Hundreds of brands rely on BuzzBack's techniques to better connect to consumers, break through marketing challenges and fast-track innovation. BuzzBack is a certified WBENC supplier with headquarters in NYC.

About Best Places to Work:

For more information on the Best Places to Work in New York City program, visit www.BestPlacesToWorkNYC.com.

For more than 25 years, Crain's New York Business has been the award-winning news source for New York's business leaders, telling the story of the New York economy, while serving as a voice and advocate for the city's business community. Reporting through the prism of business, Crain's helps its readers stay on top of the inner workings of New York's economic and political ecosystem, by uncovering new business opportunities and creating connections with the broader New York business community at our events, online, in print and through our newsletters.

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.

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SOURCE BuzzBack Market Research

Related Links

http://www.buzzback.com


MELVILLE, N.Y., Oct. 12, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Canon U.S.A., Inc., a leader in digital imaging solutions, today announced that the Canon imagePRESS C850 digital press has been recognized as Outstanding Color Light Production Device by Buyers Laboratory LLC (BLI), receiving their annual PRO award, which acknowledges the best-in-class device per category in BLI's production tests.

"As we recently marked the tenth anniversary of the imagePRESS product line, we are proud to celebrate its latest addition: the imagePRESS C850 digital press," said Toyotsugu Kuwamura, executive vice president and general manager, Business Imaging Solutions Group, Canon U.S.A., Inc. "With the imagePRESS C850, we continue the tradition of listening to our customers' needs and incorporate new features and solutions that can help them stay competitive. We thank BLI for recognizing the imagePRESS C850 with a PRO Award, helping solidify our approach to this market, and are excited for our customers to have the ability to enjoy broader application versatility and reliable productivity with this new press."

"We found the image quality of the imagePRESS C850 to be bright, vibrant and consistent over the course of the test," said Pete Emory, Director of U.S./Asia Research and Lab Services, BLI. "The toner really bonded to the fibers of the paper, so on coated and uncoated stocks, and even with textured paper and envelopes, quality was equally outstanding. And job management was among the best we've seen, specifically with the PRISMAsync color print server option. From programming new media types to creating automated workflows, to straightforward in-RIP G7 calibration, as well as the intuitive Job Scheduler that allows for optimum resource planning, key operators will see enhanced productivity throughout the day. On Canon's Fiery server for this press, which we also tested, the Unity Display gives access to the engine user interface directly from Command WorkStation. Operators will like the ease of access for improved efficiency in their daily operation."

The new imagePRESS C850 digital press incorporates a variety of new features and technology to help meet the requirements of commercial printers, in-plant operations, franchise printers and other print service providers. The imagePRESS C850 helps deliver outstanding output and provides powerful job management capabilities in a small footprint.

Having generated tens of millions of impressions on production devices from the leading vendors over several years, BLI's production tests reveal the attributes that distinguish outstanding performers in a challenging evaluation covering productivity, image quality, media handling, ease of use and more.

For more information about Canon products, please visit http://www.usa.canon.com

About Canon U.S.A., Inc.

Canon U.S.A., Inc., is a leading provider of consumer, business-to-business, and industrial digital imaging solutions to the United States and to Latin America and the Caribbean (excluding Mexico) markets. With approximately $31 billion in global revenue, its parent company, Canon Inc. (NYSE: CAJ), ranks third overall in U.S. patents granted in 2015 and is one of Fortune Magazine's World's Most Admired Companies in 2016. Canon U.S.A. is committed to the highest level of customer satisfaction and loyalty, providing 100 percent U.S.-based consumer service and support for all of the products it distributes. Canon U.S.A. is dedicated to its Kyosei philosophy of social and environmental responsibility. In 2014, the Canon Americas Headquarters secured LEED Gold certification, a recognition for the design, construction, operations and maintenance of high-performance green buildings. To keep apprised of the latest news from Canon U.S.A., sign up for the Company's RSS news feed by visiting www.usa.canon.com/rss and follow us on Twitter @CanonUSA. For media inquiries, please contact [email protected].





About Buyers Laboratory LLC

Buyers Laboratory LLC (BLI) is the world's leading independent provider of analytical information and services to the digital imaging and document management industry. For more than 50 years, buyers have relied on BLI to help them differentiate products' strengths and weaknesses and make the best purchasing decisions, while industry sales, marketing and product professionals have turned to BLI for insightful competitive intelligence and valued guidance on product development, competitive positioning and sales channel and marketing support. Using BLI's web-based bliQ and Solutions Center services, 40,000 professionals worldwide create extensive side-by-side comparisons of hardware and software solutions for over 15,000 products globally, including comprehensive specifications and the performance results and ratings from BLI's unparalleled Lab, Solutions and Environmental Test Reports, the result of months of hands-on evaluation in its US and UK labs. The services, also available via mobile devices, include a comprehensive library of BLI's test reports, an image gallery, hard to find manufacturers' literature and valuable tools for configuring products and calculating total cost of ownership (TCO) and annual power usage. BLI also offers consulting and private, for-hire testing services that help manufacturers develop and market better products and consumables.



For more information on Buyers Laboratory LLC, please call 973-797-2100, visit www.buyerslab.com, or email [email protected].

 Based on weekly patent counts issued by United States Patent and Trademark Office.

Availability and specifications are subject to change without notice.

BLI is a business partner of Canon U.S.A., Inc.

All referenced product names, and other marks, are trademarks of their respective owners.

Canon U.S.A. Web site:

www.usa.canon.com

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SOURCE Canon U.S.A., Inc.

Related Links

http://www.usa.canon.com


ST. PAUL, Minn., Oct. 12, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- alska, a groundbreaking web-based platform for caregivers and caregiving teams that goes beyond social connectivity to include the secure hosting and permission-based sharing of medical and clinical records, health directives and more, was launched this week.

More than 43 million caregivers in the U.S. struggle daily with physical caregiving tasks, constant information gathering and regular communication with the patient's loved ones. alska has developed a secure, cost-efficient caregiving platform that consolidates and streamlines caregiving duties.

"My goal was to build a secure portal for connected caregiving, one that houses critical medical records plus has features to allow the caregiver to easily connect with family, friends and providers," says alska founder Michelle Chaffee. "Immunization records, health history, prescriptions, emergency contacts, allergy information, discharge instructions and health directives are very important to have in one place, and the right information at the right time can be lifesaving for a chronically ill patient," says Chaffee.

Secondary caregivers and family and friends can get permission-based access to certain or all information in case they need to step in and help the patient. These invitees can log in to get patient updates or to connect with the caregiving team at any time, easing the communications load for the caregiver. Private information is secure, whether the site is at rest or when sending information over the Internet.

"I partnered with alska because of the robust, user-friendly design of the online personal health record, along with its engaging social networking tools," states Joseph E. Gaugler, Ph.D., associate professor in the School of Nursing at the University of Minnesota. Gaugler is using alska in a National Institutes of Health-sponsored study of caregiving for Alzheimer's patients.

alska founder and CEO Michelle Chaffee is a caregiver, a licensed respiratory therapist and a patient advocate, and served as a medical investigator for the Minnesota Attorney General's Health Licensing Board. Chaffee created alska as part of her professional patient advocacy service after observing firsthand the need for a tool that fosters fast, easy access to all of the information necessary to make caregiving more consolidated, better organized and less stressful. Chaffee is also a cancer survivor.

A free 10-day trial on alska is available.

For more information, visit http://alska.com/

About alska

alska is a St. Paul, Minnesota software firm founded in 2016 by Michelle Chaffee to promote "connected caregiving." Individuals can subscribe to a secure, encrypted caregiving platform that allows for communication, interaction and the storage of vital private information. Friends, family members and providers can access certain or all information as directed by the subscriber.

Contact:

Joe Hendershot

alska media contact

612-201-0744

Email

SOURCE alska

Related Links

http://alska.com


BALTIMORE, Oct. 12, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Catholic Charities of Baltimore will host a forum on poverty and the need for a response that is grounded in social justice. The forum will take place on Oct. 26 at 7:00 p.m. at Loyola University Maryland's McGuire Hall. The event is part of the commemoration of the 35th anniversary of Our Daily Bread Employment Center in Baltimore City.

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Two distinguished speakers, Dr. Kathryn Edin and Sr. Patricia Chappell, SNDdeN, will offer keynote addresses, and other guests will offer personal reminiscences about the 35 year history of Our Daily Bread.

Dr. Edin, a Bloomberg Distinguished Professor of Sociology at Johns Hopkins University and co-author of "$2.00 a Day: Living on Almost Nothing in America," will speak about the extreme poverty faced by many Americans, and specifically by many in Baltimore. Sr. Patricia is a member of the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur and the executive director of Pax Christi USA, a Catholic organization committed to peace and social justice.

"Catholic Charities is committed to advancing the conversation about poverty, especially in our own Baltimore community, where a quarter of the population lives below the poverty line," said Bill McCarthy, executive director of Catholic Charities of Baltimore. "We are very pleased to sponsor this forum and thrilled to have two extremely distinguished speakers who can speak to both the experience of poverty and our moral imperative to work for systemic change to ease our neighbors' hardship."

About the Our Daily Bread Employment Center

Our Daily Bread Employment Center provides daily hot meals to more than 700 individuals, as well as case management services, job training and employment counseling. On June 1, 2016, Our Daily Bread Employment Center marked 35 years of continuous service.

About Catholic Charities of Baltimore

Catholic Charities of Baltimore is Maryland's largest private provider of human services, offering assistance to children and families, people living in poverty, individuals with intellectual disabilities, immigrants and seniors without regard to religion, race or other circumstances. Inspired by the Gospel mandates to love, serve and teach, the more than 80 programs of Catholic Charities improve the lives of hundreds of thousands of Marylanders each year. Catholic Charities continues a legacy of charity and compassion that began with the establishment of the Catholic Church in Baltimore in 1789. For more information, please visit www.catholiccharities-md.org.

Catholic Charities has experts available to discuss a wide variety of topics, including poverty, homelessness, mental health, intellectual disabilities, immigration and issues related to aging.

Contact: Bob Keenan

(443) 263-1929 or (202) 320-3632

SOURCE Catholic Charities of Baltimore
CRN assembles lists and rankings each year to recognize solution providers who are setting the bar in the IT industry, including the Solution Provider 500 , which lists the largest solution providers in North America by revenue; the Fast Growth 150 , which ranks the fastest-growing solution providers; and the Tech Elite 250 , which recognizes solution providers that have received the highest-level certifications from leading vendors. It is a considerable achievement for a solution provider to make any one of these lists; to make it onto all three, howeveras this year's Triple Crown Award winners have doneis a big achievement. A company must simultaneously have enough revenue to be ranked on the Solution Provider 500 list, record double- or triple-digit growth for recognition on the Fast Growth 150, and invest heavily in top certifications to attain Tech Elite 250 status.

CB Technologies began investing in building diversified offerings over two years ago. The focus on engineered solutions has gained executive mindshare in addressing business-related IT challenges and allowed CB Technologies to move with the IT industry transformation. A stout focus on continual education and access to CB Technologies' real time demo lab has allowed employees new opportunities to expand their knowledge. These changes have been the realization of their success and CEO Kelly Ireland only sees that growing even more.

Ireland states, "We couldn't be prouder of achieving the Triple Crown Award. CB Technologies has spent the last 24 months not only ensuring that our award winning sales and support programs continued but we've added one of the stoutest technical engineering teams in the industry. We had set high goals for creating and delivering engineered solutions around Software-Defined Storage (SDS), simplified Cloud-in-A-Box, Asset Intelligence, Global customized B2B, HPCaaS and K-12 educational assessment. Despite the size of this endeavor, we achieved and have delivered on almost 100% of our solutions with the last expected to launch by Q1 2017."

"Having CRN acknowledge CB Technologies' ability to navigate through one of the fastest changing industries in the world is indeed a stellar accomplishment. It truly validates the path we headed down in 2014."

"The solution provider organizations receiving CRN's 2016 Triple Crown Award have risen to the top of their class in not one or two, but three major categories: They are channel leaders in certification, revenue and growth," said Robert Faletra, CEO of The Channel Company. "We commend the extraordinary series of achievements that earned each of them a spot on CRN's premier solution provider lists and look forward to their continued innovation and leadership."

The 2016 Triple Crown Award winners will be featured in the October issue of CRN and can be viewed online at www.crn.com/triplecrown.

About CB Technologies, Inc.

CB Technologies is an award-winning Systems Integrator with team members in Los Angeles, Seattle, St. Louis, Detroit, Houston, Washington DC and Albuquerque. Founded in 2001 by Kelly Ireland, this woman-owned company's impressive resume includes over 15 years supporting, planning and integrating technology for Federal, State, Local, Education, Fortune 500 and enterprise businesses. CBT is an HPE Platinum Partner that is perennially named to the CRN Solution Provider 500, Inc. Magazine's 5000 Fastest Growing Companies and OCBJ's list of Top Companies. In addition, CB Technologies was awarded the HP Solution Partner of the Year for Cloud in 2015.

Media Contact:

Rhondi Lenaker

Marketing & Events Manager

CB Technologies, Inc.

714-573-7733

About the Channel Company

The Channel Company enables breakthrough IT channel performance with our dominant media, engaging events, expert consulting and education, and innovative marketing services and platforms. As the channel catalyst, we connect and empower technology suppliers, solution providers and end users. Backed by more than 30 years of unequaled channel experience, we draw from our deep knowledge to envision innovative new solutions for ever-evolving challenges in the technology marketplace. www.thechannelco.com

The Channel Company Contact:

Melanie Turpin

(508) 416-1195

[email protected]

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SOURCE CB Technologies, Inc.

Related Links

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The Company's EVIO Labs are setting the standard in the growing cannabis testing market

BEND, OR, Oct. 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ - Whether you're looking to ease the symptoms of cancer or just looking to unwind on a Friday evening, marijuana is the substance of choice for many Americans. The social stigma of pot continues to dwindle (there will always be some squares), and as a consequence more and more states have sought to legalize the use of cannabis for both medical and recreational purposes.

In fact, medical marijuana has become legal in 25 states, while recreational marijuana use has been decriminalized throughout the nation. Four states: Colorado, Alaska, Washington, and Oregon have (to varying degrees) legalized marijuana use for recreational purposes. Also, more states have recreational legal marijuana on the ballot, including the most populous state, California.

With legalization comes regulation, and with regulation comes the mandate for quality control standardsjust like any other legal substance. And there is a lot that must be tested such as levels of potency, pesticides, E.coli, yeast, mold, and other contaminants etc. In 2015, Governor of California, Jerry Brown, signed the Marijuana Regulation and Safety Act which will give the state some of the most comprehensive regulations in the nation. With only 5% of California cannabis currently being tested, these regulatory measures (and similar ones nationwide) provide a tremendous market opportunity for companies able to nimbly operate in the growing cannabis testing market: Enter Signal Bay, Inc.

Goodbye Oregano, Hello EVIO

Signal Bay, Inc. is the Oregon-based Life Science company operates through its three subsidiaries: EVIO Labs, Signal Bay Research, and Signal Bay Services. Going public via reverse merger in 2014, Signal Bay focused primarily on providing research and consulting services to cannabis growers, product manufacturers, and other industry professionals.

"We provide data collection and industry research as well as help entrepreneurs in the cannabis space get licenses and put them in touch with capital opportunities," explained CEO of Signal Bay, William Waldrop. "To date, our consulting and research expertise has been responsible for the generation of over $80 million in deal flow."

But while some Signal Bay personnel were satisfied with this impressive consulting and research business, CEO William Waldrop and other top management saw a much larger opportunity in the cannabis testing market, a market that is expected to grow to over $520 million by 2020. Leveraging their expertise in the industry and client relationships, the Company to redirected its focus on its EVIO Labs division. With three cannabis testing currently operating in Oregon, the Company now controls 95% of the legal cannabis testing space in the state. Next stop for Signal Bay is the new "Green Rush" state California, where Signal Bay has signed a Letter of Intent to acquire another testing laboratory.

"This key move in California will provide us a solid foundation in what is virtually a wide open market," added Waldrop.

By the end of 2016, Signal Bay is expected to have 5 of its EVIO Labs operating in total, helping more than double the Company's 2015 revenues of a little under $600,000 to over $1.4 million. By 2020, Mr. Waldrop expects the Company to be doing over $45 million in annual revenues operating 30 EVIO Labs.

But is this kind of growth possible for such a young company? Mr. Waldrop believes it is. The key, he asserts, is Signal Bay's business model, a model that sets it apart from the competition. A model that best achieves economies of scale.

It's the Economies of Scale, Stupid

There are only a handful of companies trying to capture the growing cannabis compliance testing market. However, these companies are mostly in the business of owning and operating independent labs, each of which provides core testing services. In simpler terms, each lab is its own centralized entity, operating as basically its own business. But the limber management team at Signal Bay, a team that has redirected focus in the past in light of new opportunities, has developed a business model they liken to Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX) an industry leader in clinical laboratory services.

"It's the hub and spoke model," simplifies Waldrop. "In each state we have one centralized testing laboratory with other ancillary testing facilities in local markets statewide. The core centralized lab handles the bigger, high dollar testing functions while the smaller localized labs handle collection, sampling, and other testing services. This enables us to develop networks of testing laboratories that operate efficiently within each state."

The 'Profit' Of Weed Testing

Signal Bay isn't in the business of building laboratories or acquiring an empty lab and setting up shop. Rather, the Company acquires currently operating cannabis testing laboratories, along with the existing client base. Once acquired, Signal Bay ensures that the laboratory is operating up to its reputable EVIO Labs standard. With years of industry consulting and research expertise, Signal Bay looks to increase the lab's efficiency and expand its client base, as well as work with existing personnel to educate them on how to improve quality control.

"With our three operating labs in Oregon, we currently have a client base of over 700 customers," continued Waldrop. "With our California acquisition, we will be acquiring around 300 clients alone."

A crude comparison might be to think of Signal Bay as the cannabis testing version of the CNBC show, "The Profit." Like the way business expert Marcus Lemonis revamps some small family business, Signal Bay acquires a cannabis testing laboratory and revamps it to guarantee quality and efficiency. The Company is essentially in the quality control business, a business that, with more and more regulations mandated by states legalizing marijuana, will continue to grow exponentially.

The real key to the cannabis testing business, however, is understanding the local market in which each lab operates.

"The most important thing people need to understand about the cannabis business is that it is very much a relationship-based industry," said Waldrop. "It's all about close client relationships, and understanding the market on a local level."

Test Locally, Grow Globally

Signal Bay is a young company, but one that might just be poised for significant growth. With a big footprint in Oregon with eyes on California and Maryland, the Company's EVIO Labs might become the standard in the growing cannabis compliance testing industry. If the young Company can continue to grow smartly without becoming overextendedand continue to grow its EVIO brandit might just leave its cannabis competitors up in smoke.

About Signal Bay, Inc.

Signal Bay, Inc., through its subsidiaries Signal Bay Research, Signal Bay Services and EVIO Labs, provides advisory services, operational management and analytical testing services to the legal cannabis industry. Learn more at www.signalbay.com or the company can be reached directly @ 1-888-544-EVIO.

Legal Disclaimer: Financial Press Media Group, Inc. is not registered with any financial or securities regulatory authority and does not provide, nor claims to provide, investment advice or recommendations to readers of this release to buy, sell or hold any securities. Investing intrinsically involves substantial risk and readers are reminded to consult an investment professional and complete their own due diligence, including SEC filings, when researching any companies mentioned in this release. This release is based upon publicly available information and, while vetted, is not considered to be all-inclusive or guaranteed to be free from errors. With respect to Section 17(B) of the Securities Act of 1933 and in the interest of full disclosure, we call the reader's attention to the fact that Financial Press Media Group, Inc. may have received compensation from the companies mentioned in this release.

SOURCE Signal Bay, Inc.
LONDON, Oct. 12, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- "Growing trend of workload migration to cloud, demand for strategic business processes, and the need for reduced operational costs are driving the cloud migration services market"

The cloud migration services market size is estimated to grow from USD 2.42 billion in 2016 to USD 7.06 billion by 2021, at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 23.9% from 2016 to 2021.The cloud migration services market is driven by factors such as increased migration of workloads to cloud environment by Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and the inclination of enterprises toward improved security & increased business agility. Fear of vendor lock-in, risk of data loss, and cloud interoperability are some of the major restraints and challenges in the market.



"Professional services segment to have high growth rate during the forecast period"

Professional services segment includes training & consulting and support & maintenance. Migration consulting service providers identify the workloads that are fit for migration on cloud environment, thus, saving on resources and costs before migrating the entire workload. Training services aim at providing various education programs to mitigate the knowledge gaps. The support, training, and maintenance services segment provides customer-support abilities to the industry verticals in case of security threats and privacy breaches. Companies actively provide online training resources such as user guides, blog articles, white papers, video instructions, and forums to their clients.



"North America is expected to hold the largest share of the market, whereas Asia-Pacific (APAC) is projected to grow at the highest growth rate"

North America is expected to hold the largest market share in 2016, while APAC is the fastest-growing region in terms of CAGR. Factors such as improved IT infrastructure, growing internet penetration, and increasing number of connected devices are supporting the growth of the cloud migration services market in APAC.

In the process of determining and verifying the market size for several segments and sub segments gathered through secondary research, extensive primary interviews were conducted with key people. The break-up of profiles of primary participants is given below as:



- By Company: Tier 1  40%, Tier 2  33%, and Tier 3  27%

- By Designation: C level  42%, Director level  38%, Others  20%

- By Region: North America  56%, Europe  25%, APAC  12%, ROW- 7%



Migrating workloads in real-time, integration of existing infrastructure into cloud system, cloud assessment, faster deployments, and automated disaster recovery are some of the upcoming trends in the cloud migration services market. Cloud migration services have enabled efficient business operations and improved security along with collaborative working across different geographical locations.



The various key cloud migration services vendors and service providers profiled in the report are as follows:

1. Amazon Web Services (Seattle, Washington, U.S.)

2. IBM Corporation (Armonk, New York, U.S.)

3. Microsoft Corporation (Redmond, Washington, U.S.)

4. Google, Inc. (Mountain View, California, U.S.)

5. Cisco Systems (San Jose, California, U.S.)

6. WSM (St. Clair Shores, Michigan, U.S.)

7. Computer Sciences Corporation (Falls Church, Virginia, U.S.)

8. Rackspace, Inc. (Windcrest, Texas, U.S.)

9. RightScale, Inc. (Santa Barbara, California, U.S.)

10. Verizon Enterprise Solutions (New York, U.S.)

11. NTT Data Corporation (Koto-Ku, Tokyo, Japan)

12. VMware Inc. (Palo Alto, California, U.S.)





Scope of the Report

The report covers detailed information regarding the major factors influencing the growth in the cloud migration services market, such as drivers, restraints, challenges, and opportunities. A detailed analysis of the key industry players has been done to provide insights into their business overview, products & services, key strategies, new product launches, mergers & acquisitions, partnerships, agreements, collaborations, and recent developments associated with the cloud migration services market.



Reasons to buy this report:

From an insight perspective, this research report has focused on various levels of analysisindustry analysis (industry trends), market analysis of top players, value chain analysis, and company profiles, which together comprise and discuss the basic views on the competitive landscape; emerging and high-growth segments of the cloud migration services market; high-growth regions; and market drivers, restraints, and opportunities.



The report provides insights on the following pointers:

- Market Penetration: Comprehensive information on cloud migration services offered by the top players in the global cloud migration services market



- Product Development/Innovation: Detailed insights on upcoming technologies, research & development activities, and new product launches in the cloud migration services market



- Market Development: Comprehensive information about lucrative emerging marketsthe report analyzes the markets for cloud migration services across regions



- Market Diversification: Exhaustive information about new products, untapped regions, recent developments, and investments in the global cloud migration services market





Download the full report: https://www.reportbuyer.com/product/4214592/



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

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"We are delighted to bring the Cole Haan retail experience to one of California's most acclaimed shopping locations," says Cole Haan CEO, Jack Boys. "As shopping continues to evolve, we're excited to be at the forefront of redefining the consumer experience."

Showcasing an all metal and glass storefront with backlit frosted transom, Cole Haan at South Coast Plaza is the first of its kind and the perfect juxtaposition to the natural elegance and warm interior within the store. Custom lighting and flexible millwork create distinct product presentations for both female and male customers. By highlighting the full expression of merchandise in a series of well-appointed rooms, Cole Haan has created a shopping experience to exemplify the comforts of an elegant home. Additionally, neutral color palettes throughout the store seamlessly blend traditional and modern design aesthetic, through the use of large scale marble mosaic patterns in the front foyer.

To coincide with the opening, Cole Haan South Coast Plaza will be partnering with the United Cerebral Palsy charity for a VIP event, with 10% of the proceeds from the event benefitting the cause.

"South Coast Plaza is the ideal place to showcase our innovative footwear and accessories as we expand our presence for our West Coast customers," said David Maddocks, Chief Marketing Officer and General Manager of Business Development at Cole Haan. "We are thrilled to bring the Cole Haan brand to life in such a beautiful setting."

Located at 3333 Bristol St, Costa Mesa, CA 92626. Hours of operation will be from Monday - Friday 10am - 9pm, Saturday 10am  8pm and Sunday 11am - 6:30pm; phone number: 657.289.2825. Visit ColeHaan.com to learn more.

About Cole Haan

Cole Haan LLC, with its Global Headquarters in Greenland, New Hampshire and Creative Center in New York City, is an iconic American lifestyle accessories brand and retailer of premium men's, women's and children's footwear, handbags, leather accessories, outerwear and eyewear. Cole Haan stands for its commitment to craftsmanship, timeless style and design innovation. For more information, visit ColeHaan.com and follow @ColeHaan.

For more information, contact:

Kimry Blackwelder, Cole Haan

Phone: +1 (212) 763-3060

E-mail: [email protected]

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161012/428192

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161012/428193

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161012/428194

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20070907/NYF044LOGO



SOURCE Cole Haan

Related Links

http://www.colehaan.com


EUGENE, Ore., Oct. 12, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- College Choice, a leading authority in college and university rankings and resources, has published its 2016 rankings of the Best Business Schools in New York, Michigan, Ohio, and Chicago.

http://www.collegechoice.net/rankings/best-business-schools-in-new-york/

http://www.collegechoice.net/rankings/best-business-schools-in-michigan/

http://www.collegechoice.net/rankings/best-business-schools-in-ohio/

http://www.collegechoice.net/rankings/best-business-schools-in-chicago/

Business is one of the most popular undergraduate majors for students who are attending college these days, and that's for good reason. As economies grow and change, businesses are having to adapt to new climates. This means that they need new professionals with a university degree that can keep up with the rapid pace in which businesses change, and that's where a business degree comes in handy.

"What do companies like Apple, Google, the New York Jets, and J.P. Morgan & Co. have in common? None of these companies can function without people who have bachelor's degrees in business administration. A B.B.A. gives you the leverage you need to land a successful job in a dynamic market by giving you access to a myriad of employment opportunities," said Christian Amondson, Managing Editor of College Choice, as the ranking was released.

He went on to say that: "Because this degree is vital to a variety of professions, we've taken advanced our general rankings for business schools and created rankings for these states and cities."

The research for the College Choice 2016 rankings for the Best Business Schools in New York, Michigan, Ohio, and Chicago was extensive. Apart from academic reputation and student retention, rankings included a school's business school program features and national rankings, tuition, and internship opportunities. This information was found by utilizing individual business school websites, the ranking site U.S. News and World Report, and statistics sites like the National Center for Education Statistics.

The College Choice 2016 ranking for the Best Business Schools in New York was topped by New York University. It was closely followed by Cornell University and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

The University of MichiganAnn Arbor tops the College Choice 2016 ranking for Best Business Schools in Michigan. The University of Detroit Mercy and Michigan State University rounded out the top three.

The College Choice 2016 ranking for the Best Business Schools in Ohio found Case Western Reserve University in the top spot, with the University of Dayton and Ohio State University at Columbus rounding out the top three spots.

Loyola University Chicago claims the lead spot in the College Choice 2016 ranking for Best Business Schools in Chicago. DePaul University and the Illinois Institute of Technology were second and third, respectively.

The complete rankings are as follows:

Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, OH

Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH

Central Michigan University, Mount Pleasant, MI

Clarkson University, Potsdam, NY

Cornell University, Ithaca, NY

DePaul University, Chicago, IL

Dominican University, River Forest, IL

Eastern Michigan University, Ypsilanti, MI

Fordham University, Bronx, NY

Grand Valley State University, Allendale, MI

Hofstra University, Hempstead, NY

Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago, IL

Ithaca College, Ithaca, NY

John Carroll University, University Heights, OH

Loyola University Chicago, Chicago, IL

Miami University--Oxford, Oxford, OH

Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI

New York University, New York, NY

North Park University, Chicago, IL

Northeastern Illinois University, Chicago, IL

Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, IL

Ohio Northern University, Ada, OH

Ohio State UniversityColumbus, Columbus, OH

Ohio University, Athens, OH

Pace University, New York, NY

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY

Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester, NY

Roosevelt University, Chicago, IL

St. Xavier University, Chicago, IL

Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY

University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH

University of Dayton, Dayton, OH

University of Detroit Mercy, Detroit, MI

University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL

University of MichiganAnn Arbor, Ann Arbor, MI

University of MichiganDearborn, Dearborn, MI

University of MichiganFlint, Flint, MI

Wayne State University, Detroit, MI

Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI

Xavier University, Cincinnati, OH

College Choice is the leading authority in college and university rankings, searches and resources dedicated to helping students and their families find the right college. The site publishes rankings and reviews that make finding the best colleges for different interests easier and more fun, as well as resources to help students get into, pay for, and thrive at the college of their choice.

Contact:

Christian Amondson

Managing Editor, College Choice

Web: http://collegechoice.net

Email

Phone: (541) 255-3801

SOURCE College Choice

Related Links

http://www.collegechoice.net


NEW YORK, Oct. 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Synopsis

In real terms, the Chinese construction industry's output contracted by 0.8% in 2015, following an average annual growth of 8.9% during the preceding four years. Weak economic conditions, low global commodity prices, poor fixed-capital investments, high debt-to-GDP ratios and low investment in real estate contributed to this decline.



According to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), the real estate investment growth rate reached 1.0% in 2015, the lowest level since 2011. This was preceded by annual growth of 10.5%, 19.8% and 16.3% in 2014, 2013 and 2012 respectively.



Over the forecast period (20162020), the Chinese construction industry is expected to grow more slowly than during the review period (20112015), due to poor economic growth. However, expected expansion in the industry over the forecast period will be driven by investment in public infrastructure and renewable energy, and improvements in consumer and investor confidence.



Government flagship programs such as the 13th Five-Year Plan (20162020), the National New-Type Urbanization Plan (20142020), social housing programs, China's 20162020 Energy Plan and Free Trade Zones (FTZ) schemes are expected to support growth over the forecast period.



The industry's output value is expected to rise at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 3.12% in real terms over the forecast period to 2020; down from 6.15% during the review period.





Summary

Timetric's Construction in China  Key Trends and Opportunities to 2020 report provides detailed market analysis, information and insights into the Chinese construction industry, including:



- The Chinese construction industry's growth prospects by market, project type and construction activity



- Analysis of equipment, material and service costs for each project type in China



- Critical insight into the impact of industry trends and issues, and the risks and opportunities they present to participants in the Chinese construction industry



- Profiles of the leading operators in the Chinese construction industry



- Data highlights of the largest construction projects in China





Scope

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of the construction industry in China It provides:



- Historical (2011-2015) and forecast (2016-2020) valuations of the construction industry in China using construction output and value-add methods



- Segmentation by sector (commercial, industrial, infrastructure, energy and utilities, institutional and residential) and by project type



- Breakdown of values within each project type, by type of activity (new construction, repair and maintenance, refurbishment and demolition) and by type of cost (materials, equipment and services)



- Analysis of key construction industry issues, including regulation, cost management, funding and pricing



- Detailed profiles of the leading construction companies in China



Reasons To Buy

- Identify and evaluate market opportunities using Timetric's standardized valuation and forecasting methodologies.



- Assess market growth potential at a micro-level with over 600 time-series data forecasts.



- Understand the latest industry and market trends.



- Formulate and validate strategy using Timetric's critical and actionable insight.



- Assess business risks, including cost, regulatory and competitive pressures.



- Evaluate competitive risk and success factors.



Key Highlights

- The Chinese construction industry's growth rate is slowing in line with the country's broader economic slowdown. According to the NBS, the construction industry's value add at current prices grew by 3.7%, increasing in value from CNY4.5 trillion (US$732.5 billion) in 2014 to CNY4.7 trillion (US$739.8 billion) in 2015.



- Rapid urbanization and the growing working population have elevated demand for a fast and convenient transport system. Consequently, the government is investing heavily in expanding the country's rail network and high-speed railways; the government plans to invest CNY2.8 trillion (US$438.0 billion) in railway projects over 20162020. The government also plans to increase the length of high-speed railway lines from 19,000km in 2015 to 30,000km by 2020.



- To improve regional trade, the government plans to connect China with European and Asian countries through adequate transport infrastructure under the One Belt, One Road plan. As part of this plan, in 2015, the government announced plans to invest CNY5.5 trillion (US$900 billion) to construct the Silk Road Economic Belt and the Maritime Silk Road. In the same year, the government announced plans to spend CNY124.4 billion (US$20.0 billion) on the construction of a 3,218km high-speed rail network from China to Tehran.



- The government's focus on affordable houses is expected to support the residential construction market growth over the forecast period. Under the National New-Type Urbanization Plan (20142020), the government plans to build new urban cities with social houses to accommodate 100 million rural migrants by 2020 and 250 million by 2025.



- The government is upgrading the power grid transmission infrastructure across the country in order to reduce electricity waste in transmission and distribution, as well as to increase efficiency. Accordingly, in 2015, it announced plans to invest CNY2.3 trillion (US$315.0 billion) to construct new power grids, and increase the length of the high-voltage network to 1 million km and medium-voltage network to 4 million km in the country by 202

Read the full report: http://www.reportlinker.com/p04217060-summary/view-report.html



About Reportlinker

ReportLinker is an award-winning market research solution. Reportlinker finds and organizes the latest industry data so you get all the market research you need - instantly, in one place.



http://www.reportlinker.com





__________________________

Contact Clare: [email protected]

US: (339)-368-6001

Intl: +1 339-368-6001

SOURCE Reportlinker

Related Links

http://www.reportlinker.com


AUBURN HILLS, Mich., Oct. 12, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- This month, international automotive supplier Continental will participate in the 2016 Women of Color STEM Conference and the Society of Women Engineers' 2016 WE16 Conference  reinforcing its intent to increase gender diversity and inclusion at all levels. Recognized as one of America's Best Employers by Forbes magazine for two consecutive years, Continental is committed to attracting top engineering and tech talent to its ranks and becoming a workplace of choice for women.

"Our technical teams are vital problem solvers within the company. We need to utilize the most diverse range of perspectives possible," said Ann Baker-Zainea, Continental's senior human resources and staffing manager. "Continental is committed to building a pipeline of diverse candidates who add unique value and strengthen our technical workforce."

The 21st Annual Women of Color STEM Conference held October 13-15, at the Detroit Marriott Renaissance Center and Cobo Center recognizes the significant contributions by women in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields and encourages interest, entry and retention among female talent within the nation's scientific and technical workforce. Continental will sponsor the 2016 Women of Color STEM Conference Job Fair on Saturday, October 15, where hiring managers will provide participants with job and career information, on-the-spot interviews, internship opportunities and graduate program information.

Continental will actively recruit at WE16, the world's largest conference and career fair for women in engineering and technology. Held October 27-29, at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Philadelphia, the Society of Women Engineers convenes, celebrates and inspires 9,000 women in all career stages and provides invaluable ways for them to connect to discover career opportunities and pursue professional development.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, women make up only 13 percent of the engineering workforce in the U.S. The National Center for Education Statistics reveals that women comprise only 20 percent of engineering graduates and occupy 25 percent of computing jobs.

"A 2014 American Psychological Association study estimates that nearly 40 percent of women who earn engineering degrees either quit or never enter the field," said Baker-Zainea. "That's why it is imperative that we aggressively engage and promote women in technical roles and help reverse this trend."

Continental's Jennifer Wahnschaff, vice president, Instrumentation and Driver HMI for the Americas and one of the company's highest-ranking female leaders in North America, was recently honored during DBusiness' 2016 Powered by Women Breakfast Series. Wahnschaff is an active mentor in the supplier's Women's Forum that aims to capitalize on the company's strengths and inspire "One Continental." In the metro Detroit area, Continental has more than 300 members in the Women's Forum and this level of participation continues to expand. Wom e n's Forums are also located at Continental facilities in the Chicagoland area, Mexico and across the globe including several Forums established in Europe.

For more information on Continental Careers or to search for available opportunities, please visit the Continental Careers Homepage.

Continental develops intelligent technologies for transporting people and their goods. As a reliable partner, the international automotive supplier, tire manufacturer, and industrial partner provides sustainable, safe, comfortable, individual, and affordable solutions. In 2015, the corporation generated sales of 39.2 billion with its five divisions, Chassis & Safety, Interior, Powertrain, Tires, and ContiTech. Continental currently employs approximately 215,000 people in 55 countries.

SOURCE Continental

Related Links

http://www.continental-corporation.com


ALBANY, New York, October 12, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

The focus of cosmetic product manufacturers on innovative and alluring packaging has significantly increased in the past few decades. Key cosmetics and personal care brands have started considering effective packaging as a critical attribute of product marketing. The strategy has translated in enhanced brand visibility, increased sales, reduced brand recall rates, as well as a larger footprint in the respective target geographies.

Transparency Market Research estimates that the global cosmetic packaging market will exhibit a 4.4% CAGR over the period between 2016 and 2024. As a result, the market, which had a valuation of US$23 bn in 2015, will rise to US$33 bn by 2024. In terms of packaging material, the market is chiefly dominated by the plastics segment. The segment is expected to retain dominance throughout the forecast period as well and account for an estimated 56.3% of the global market's revenues by end of 2016. In terms of geography, the market for cosmetic packaging in Asia Pacific is expected account for a 32.5% of the global market in 2016 and remain the dominant regional market throughout the forecast period.

Get Sample of Report or for further inquiries, click here: http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=2352

Rising Awareness about Anti-Aging Products to Boost Demand for Cosmetic Packaging

The global market for anti-ageing beauty products is expected to boost the global demand for cosmetic packaging over the forecast period. Consumers mainly from the aging population are inclined towards cosmetic products capable of improving their overall appearance. As the world population of aged people continues to rise at a high pace, the segment of anti-ageing products is expected to account for a significant share in the global cosmetics market in the next few years.

The rising per capita spending on cosmetics, especially across developing economies, is also a key factor influencing expected to positively impact sales of cosmetic packaging in the next few years

Moreover, the increased use of a variety of deodorants and fragrances among the male population is also expected to accelerate the growth of the global cosmetic packaging market over the forecast period. The flourishing e-commerce industry and preference of major cosmetic product manufacturers to sell products through e-commerce retail, which is expected to boost sales of cosmetic products, is in turn also expected to positively influence the global cosmetic packaging market.

Volatile Prices of Raw Materials to Hinder Market Growth

The volatile prices of raw materials such as plastic, paper, glass, and metals result in the increased costs of cosmetic packaging and a reduction in the profit margin of the manufacturers. Along with this, the market features a highly consolidated base of suppliers, particularly in terms of metals and glass. As a result, with increasing demand for cosmetic products and their packaging, raw material sourcing requirements have emerged as a key concern for most cosmetic packaging manufacturers preferring glass and metal packaging for premium product varieties. The situation becomes particularly challenging for smaller cosmetic companies wanting to pack their products at low costs and maintain overall profitability.

This review of the market is based on a recent market research report published by Transparency Market Research, titled "Cosmetic Packaging Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends, and Forecast 2016 - 2024."

Key Players:

In the highly competitive global cosmetic packaging market, innovation remains the key to success as excellent aesthetic value and appeal of packaging products continue to be richly awarded by cosmetic manufacturers, observes Transparency Market Research in a recent report. Key manufacturers are focusing on the introduction of attractive and innovative packaging products such as the 3D printing bottles introduced by Rouge Louboutin and the airless bottles by Albea S.A. Consolidated supplier base for metal and glass is posing a challenge for premium cosmetic packaging. Some of the market's other key vendors are Gerresheimer AG, Amcor Limited, and Quadpack Industries.

For the study, the market has been segmented as follow:

Global Cosmetic Packaging Market - By Material

Glass

Paper

Plastic

PET

PP

PE

Others

Global Cosmetic Packaging Market - By Application Type

Skin Care

Hair Care

Make up

Nail Care

Global Cosmetic Packaging Market - By Container Type

Jars

Tubes

Bottles

Pumps & Dispensers

Sachets

Other (Rolling Balls, Sticks, Pen type etc.)

Global Cosmetic Packaging Market - By Declared Capacity Type

Type 1 (Below 50 ml)

Type 2 (50 ml - 100 ml)

Type 3 (100 ml - 150 ml)

Type 4 (150 ml - 200 ml)

Type 5 (Above 200 ml)

Global Cosmetic Packaging Market - By Region

North America

U.S.

Canada

Latin America

Brazil

Argentina

Rest of Latin America

Europe

EU-5

Russia

Nordic

Benelux

Poland

Rest of Europe

Asia Pacific (APAC)

China

India

Japan

ASEAN

Oceania

Rest of Asia Pacific

Middle East and Africa (MEA)

GCC Countries

South Africa

North Africa

Rest of MEA

Recent Published Report by Transparency Market Research:

Packaging Robot Market: http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/packaging-robot-market.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

Google+: https://plus.google.com/+Transparencymarketresearch







SOURCE Transparency Market Research
ATLANTA, Oct. 12, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- CryoLife, Inc. (NYSE: CRY), a leading medical device and tissue processing company focused on cardiac surgery, announced today that 2016 third quarter financial results will be released on Wednesday, October 26, 2016 after the market closes. On Thursday, October 27, 2016 the Company will hold a teleconference call and live webcast at 8:00 a.m. ET to discuss the results, followed by a question and answer session hosted by J. Patrick Mackin, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of CryoLife, Inc.

To listen to the live teleconference, please dial 201-689-8261 a few minutes prior to 8:00 a.m. A replay of the teleconference will be available October 27 through November 2 and can be accessed by calling (toll free) 877-660-6853 or 201-612-7415. The conference number for the replay is 13647654.

The live webcast and replay can be accessed by going to the Investor Relations section of the CryoLife website at www.cryolife.com and selecting the heading Webcasts & Presentations. In addition, a copy of the earnings press release, which will contain financial and statistical information for the completed quarter, can be accessed on the Investor Relations section of the CryoLife website.

About CryoLife, Inc.

Headquartered in suburban Atlanta, Georgia, CryoLife is a leader in the manufacturing, processing, and distribution of implantable living tissues and medical devices used in cardiac surgical procedures. CryoLife markets and sells products in more than 80 countries worldwide. For additional information about CryoLife, visit our website, www.cryolife.com.

CryoLife D. Ashley Lee Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer Phone: 770-419-3355 The Ruth Group Nick Laudico / Zack Kubow 646-536-7030 / 7020 [email protected] [email protected]

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20140319/MM86518LOGO

SOURCE CryoLife, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.cryolife.com


FALLS CHURCH, Va., Oct. 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- CSRA Inc. (NYSE: CSRA) was competitively awarded a $116 million task order to streamline, maintain and upgrade the IT systems of seven offices and bureaus operating under the U.S. Department of Justice's (DOJ), Office of Justice Programs (OJP), whose mission is to increase public safety and improve the fair administration of justice across America through innovative leadership and programs. The task order was administered through the NIH NITAAC CIO-SP3 indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contract vehicle. The period of performance for the task order is five years.

CSRA's integration and modernization of OJP's IT systems will enable the organization to take advantage of shared services, e-Gov initiatives, and data consolidation activities which will provide greater flexibility, increased efficiency and position the organization as an innovative technology leader within the DOJ. Through CSRA's support, OJP will continue to provide billions of dollars in federal funds to state, local and private organizations to develop crime-related strategies and ensure the safety of citizens across the nation.

"We're leveraging our institutional knowledge, stemming from more than 10 years of working with OJP, and expertise in next-generation technologies to modernize numerous IT systems to help our customer achieve their critical mission goals," said Sally Sullivan, CSRA executive vice president, Homeland Security Group. "Our innovative digital strategy will enable OJP to take advantage of various capabilities and services that will improve work collaboration, flexibility and productivity."

About CSRA Inc.

Every day CSRA (NYSE: CSRA) makes a difference in how the government serves our country and our citizens. We deliver a broad range of innovative, cloud-enabled, next-generation IT solutions and professional services to help our customers modernize their legacy systems, protect their applications, infrastructure, and assets and improve the effectiveness and efficiency of mission-critical functions for our warfighters and our citizens. Our 18,000 employees understand that success is a matter of perseverance, courage, adaptability and experience. CSRA is headquartered in Falls Church, Virginia. To learn more about CSRA, visit www.csra.com.

Forward-looking Statements

All statements in this press release and in all future press releases that do not directly and exclusively relate to historical facts constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements represent CSRA's intentions, plans, expectations and beliefs, including statements about network and asset protection and improving mission-critical functions. The forward-looking statements are subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors, many of which are outside the control of CSRA. These factors could cause actual results to differ materially from forward-looking statements. For a written description of these factors, see the sections titled "Risk Factors" and "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations" in CSRA's most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and any updating information in subsequent SEC filings. CSRA disclaims any intention or obligation to update these forward-looking statements whether as a result of subsequent event or otherwise, except as required by law.

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20151207/293934LOGO

SOURCE CSRA Inc.

Related Links

http://www.csra.com


NASHVILLE, Tenn., Oct. 12, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- If you used a credit card or debit card to make a purchase at a store owned and operated by MAPCO Express, Inc. ("MAPCO") between March 1, 2013 and April 30, 2103, the proposed settlement of a class action lawsuit could affect your rights, and entitle you to a settlement.

The plaintiff in a lawsuit called Mandi Phillips v. MAPCO Express, Inc., et al. claims that she and other similarly situated persons suffered losses and damages after MAPCO sustained a Data Breach in the spring of 2013, when certain of its customers' payment card data was stolen from its data systems in a hacking incident. Plaintiff claims that MAPCO was negligent and violated the law by not preventing the Data Breach. The parties to the Phillips lawsuit have asked the United States District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee, where the case is pending, to approve a settlement of the dispute on a class-wide basis.

If you:

Are a resident of the United States or one of its territories

or one of its territories Made a purchase at a MAPCO store, using a debit card or credit card, between March 1, 2013 and April 30, 2013

and Are the person responsible for the charges on that card, and

Sustained damages as a result of the data breach (including out-of-pocket losses, unreimbursed fraudulent charges, or time spent remedying issues related to the Data Breach), then

you are a member of the proposed Settlement Class. You may be entitled to a settlement payment, and your rights will be affected by the Settlement. For more complete information about the Settlement, please visit www.mapcoconsumersettlement.com , or call 1-877-815-3459 to speak with the Settlement Administrator.

Cash Payments to the Proposed Settlement Class. If the Court approves the Settlement, members of the proposed Settlement Class may be eligible to receive a cash payment of up to $500.00. You will have to submit a claim form to receive a cash payment. In particular, Class Members may claim the full amount, up to $500.00, of their documented out-of-pocket losses, documented unreimbursed fraudulent charges made on their payment cards, and time spent remedying issues related to the Data Breach, including up to 5 hours of time at $15 per hour. If a Class Member does not choose to submit documentation of his or her losses, he or she may still self-certify the time spent remedying issues related to the Data Breach, of up to 2 hours at $15 per hour. If the total amount of claims received and approved exceeds the total amount of the Settlement Fund, you will receive your pro rata share of the Settlement Fund.

Release of Claims by the Proposed Settlement Class. If the Court approves the Settlement, certain claims the Class Members have against MAPCO will be released and extinguished.

Your Right to Exclude Yourself From the Settlement Class. You can choose to exclude yourself from the Settlement by submitting a written Request for Exclusion. If you choose to exclude yourself, you can keep whatever claims you have against MAPCO, but you cannot receive any cash payment from the Settlement.

Your Right to Object to the Settlement. You can choose to object to the Settlement, or any part of it, by submitting a written objection.

Please visit the website www.mapcoconsumersettlement.com for more complete information about the Settlement, instructions for making a Claim for a payment or excluding yourself from or objecting to the Settlement, a printable Claim Form, deadlines for taking action related to the Settlement, and answers to frequently asked questions. You can also call the Settlement Administrator at 877-815-3459 for further information.

With respect to the Settlement, the following important deadlines apply:

January 26, 2017 : Deadline for Claim Forms to be received by the Settlement Administrator;

: Deadline for Claim Forms to be received by the Settlement Administrator; December 19, 2016 All Requests for Exclusion must be postmarked by this date;

All Requests for Exclusion must be postmarked by this date; December 19, 2016 Deadline to file and serve any objection to the Settlement, as provided for in the Settlement Agreement.

QUESTIONS? CALL 1-877-815-3459 or VISIT www.mapcoconsumersettlement.com

MEDIA: Jeff Dahl, 952-562-3601

RELATED LINKS: www.mapcoconsumersettlement.com

SOURCE Dahl Administration, LLC
BOSTON and BERLIN, Oct. 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- De Gruyter, a leading publisher for academics and professionals, has been providing first-class information since 1749, and is launching a new imprint, De|G Press, at the Frankfurt Book Fair.

The rising need for practical, no-nonsense books and media with technical content in English for professionals in computing, IT, business, engineering and mathematics has grown exponentially in the past fifteen years. De|G Press will cater to these specific needs with cutting edge subjects and deep content. The works will be written by respected professional and academic authors and will be edited by experienced De Gruyter specialists, ensuring the highest level of quality in this marketplace.

"Our books will be targeted based on need, will present only the theory that is required, will minimize the mathematical formalism, but will not shy away from detail where it is necessary, but will always seek to present the content in its simplest form. Our books will be long on application, case studies, examples and will always answer the question "why?" while seeking to deliver the best treatment on the subject, giving the reader a real sense of how the subject can be used. In doing so, we plan to add products designed for the corporate audience to De Gruyter's long history of publishing scholarly works in these areas," said Paul Manning, De Gruyter's Vice President Americas.

De|G Press' first six titles will be available in January 2017. Subjects include trading options, management for nonprofit organizations, marketing analytics, the internet of things, programming the BIOS, and advanced BizTalk solutions, all by leading authorities in these areas.

De Gruyter: De Gruyter publishes first-class scholarship and has done so for more than 260 years. A cosmopolitan international publisher headquartered in Berlin -- and with further offices in Boston, Beijing, Basel and Munich -- it publishes over 1,300 new book titles each year and more than 750 journals in the humanities, social sciences, medicine, mathematics, engineering, computer sciences, natural sciences, and law; and also offers a wide range of digital media. The group includes the imprints De Gruyter Akademie Forschung, Birkhauser, De Gruyter Mouton, De Gruyter Oldenbourg, De Gruyter Open, De Gruyter Saur, and De|G Press. For more information, visit: www.degruyter.com

SOURCE De Gruyter

Related Links

http://www.degruyter.com


De Niro, a Special Envoy of Antigua and Barbuda is an investor himself together with Australian billionaire James Packer in a real estate project in Barbuda. Packer has already invested in the actor's Nobu restaurants.

"It's a beautiful place, that's why I'm involved in this project," De Niro shared during a conference at the Palazzo Versace in Dubai, sponsored by Arton Capital, a leading global citizenship advisory firm. Speaking alongside Browne, the actor was keen to reassure Middle East investors that this is a sound economic proposition.

UAE has a number of prominent investors in the island. One such investor, brokered by Arton Capital, is the developer of the Callaloo Cay project, an exclusive US$ 150 million resort. Proactive in its bid to attract UAE investment, Antigua and Barbuda is opening an embassy and a trade and economic center in Abu Dhabi, the first CARICOM country to do so.

In addition to the long list of concessions for foreign investors such as a 25-year tax exemption, another significant benefit is Antigua's Citizenship by Investment Program (CIP) which fuels local economic growth. Of all the countries with an active CIP, Antigua and Barbuda's passport has been ranked as the most powerful in the Caribbean and the fourth best in the world by Arton's Passport Index, a global ranking of the world's passports. Citizens can travel visa-free to more than 124 countries including Canada, Europe's Schengen zone, UK, Singapore and Hong Kong, among others.

"The CIP program for the twin-island has become popular thanks to the level of trust built due to the continued bilateral economic developments and favourable investment climate," says John Hanafin, CEO of Arton Capital.

On the subject of global citizenship, "We can have our differences, but as the world gets smaller and people become more dependent on each other, we have no choice but to be concerned about our own self perseverance," shared De Niro.

While the government of Antigua and Barbuda has solidified relations with the United Arab Emirates it is also forging closer ties with Qatar. Prior to the UAE trip, and at the initiative of Armand Arton, President of Arton Capital and Special Envoy of Antigua, Prime Minister Browne and his delegation were invited to Qatar, where they met with Prime Minister, Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa Al Thani and the Cultural Adviser at the Emiri Diwan, Dr. Hamad Bin Abdulaziz Al Kawari.

Arton Capital is a leading residency and citizenship advisory firm, working closely with 10 governments advising on foreign policy and on attracting foreign direct investments.

SOURCE Arton Capital

Related Links

www.artoncapital.com


ATLANTA, Oct. 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Delta Air Lines (NYSE: DAL) today reported financial results for the September 2016 quarter. Highlights of Delta's September 2016 quarter results, including both GAAP and adjusted metrics, are below and incorporated here.

Adjusted pre-tax income for the September 2016 quarter was $1.9 billion, a $278 million decrease from the September 2015 quarter. The technology outage and subsequent operational recovery Delta experienced over four days in early August reduced pre-tax income for the quarter by an estimated $150 million.

"Delta's resiliency stood out this quarter as we worked through the outage, continued revenue headwinds, and volatile fuel prices to produce the industry's best operational reliability and service for our customers along with solid margins, cash flows and returns for our owners," said Ed Bastian, Delta's chief executive officer. "With our focus on building a more sustainable and durable business, we will be taking a cautious approach to 2017 by keeping our capacity in line with the December quarter's 1 percent growth level."

Revenue Environment

Delta's operating revenue for the September quarter decreased 5.6 percent, or $624 million, of which $100 million was due to the outage and $70 million was from prior year Yen hedge gains. Passenger unit revenues declined 6.8 percent, including nearly 2 points of impact from the outage and Yen hedges, on a 1.5 percent increase in capacity.

"While we were encouraged by our unit revenue trends through the September quarter, we have more work ahead of us to achieve our goal of positive unit revenues," said Glen Hauenstein, Delta's president. "With further slowing of our capacity growth in the December quarter and additional traction on our revenue management initiatives, we should make progress against that goal and we expect our December quarter unit revenues to decline by 3  5 percent year over year."







Increase (Decrease)





3Q16 versus 3Q15





Change Unit



Passenger Revenue 3Q16 ($M)

YOY Revenue Yield Capacity Mainline 4,615

(3.3) % (7.4) % (5.3) % 4.4 % Regional 1,456

(5.2) % (5.7) % (4.2) % 0.5 % Total Domestic 6,071

(3.8) % (7.2) % (5.2) % 3.7 % Atlantic 1,671

(8.0) % (9.7) % (6.6) % 1.9 % Pacific 758

(14.5) % (7.4) % (9.3) % (7.7) % Latin America 571

(1.9) % 1.4 % (0.9) % (3.2) % Total Passenger 9,071

(5.5) % (6.8) % (5.3) % 1.5 % Cargo Revenue 167

(14.8) %





Other Revenue 1,245

(5.4) %





Total Revenue 10,483

(5.6) %







December 2016 Quarter Guidance

For the December quarter, Delta is expecting a slight decline in margins year over year, as savings from lower fuel prices and productivity initiatives will be fully offset by declines in unit revenues that the company continues to address through its capacity actions and revenue management initiatives. The projections for the December quarter do not include any estimates for the company's potential agreement with its pilots.



4Q16 Forecast Operating margin* 14% - 16% Passenger unit revenue (compared to 4Q15) Down 3% - 5% Fuel price, including taxes and refinery impact* $1.60 - $1.65 CASM  Ex including profit sharing (compared to 4Q15)* Up 1 - 2% System Capacity (compared to 4Q15) Up ~1%

*See note A for information about reconciliation of these projected non-GAAP financial measures

Cost Performance

Adjusted fuel expense2 declined $348 million compared to the same period in 2015, on 10 percent lower market fuel prices. Delta's adjusted fuel price per gallon for the September quarter was $1.48, which includes $0.04 per gallon from losses at the Trainer Refinery.

CASM-Ex3 including profit sharing, increased 0.1 percent for the September 2016 quarter compared to the prior year period driven by strong operational performance and productivity savings realized during the quarter, in addition to lower profit sharing expense.

The reduction in non-operating expense included $26 million of lower interest expense from Delta's debt reduction initiatives.

"By leveraging our productivity and operational reliability, we overcame the cost headwinds from the outage to meet our guidance and then used our balanced approach with our cash flows to invest in the business, pay down debt and return cash to our owners," said Paul Jacobson, Delta's chief financial officer. "Looking ahead, our continued cost discipline and focus on free cash flow have positioned us well to successfully weather the inevitable challenges we face in delivering sustainable results for the long-term."

Cash Flow, Shareholder Returns, and Adjusted Net Debt

Delta generated $1.8 billion of adjusted operating cash flow and $1.1 billion of free cash flow during the quarter. The company used this strong cash generation to invest $680 million into the business for aircraft purchases and improvements, for facilities upgrades and to support its maintenance part-out initiatives.

For the September quarter, the company returned $650 million to shareholders, comprised of $150 million of dividends and $500 million of share repurchases. Through the end of the September quarter, Delta has returned $2.7 billion to its owners in 2016 through dividends and share repurchases.

Adjusted net debt4 at the end of the quarter stood at $6.4 billion.

September Quarter Results



GAAP Adjusted ($ in millions except per share and unit costs) 3Q16 3Q15 3Q16 3Q15 Pre-tax income 1,900 2,072 1,906 2,184 Net income 1,259 1,315 1,263 1,384 Diluted earnings per share 1.69 1.65 1.70 1.74 Fuel Expense (including regional carriers) 1,652 2,076 1,629 1,977 Average fuel price per gallon 1.50 1.89 1.48 1.80 Consolidated unit cost (CASM/CASM-Ex) 12.33 13.07 9.58 9.57 Operating cash flow 1,854 2,067 1,771 2,417 Total debt and capital leases (adjusted net debt) 7,565 8,700 6,403 6,374

About Delta

Delta Air Lines serves nearly 180 million customers each year. In 2016, Delta was named to Fortune's top 50 Most Admired Companies in addition to being named the most admired airline for the fifth time in six years. Additionally, Delta has ranked No.1 in the Business Travel News Annual Airline survey for an unprecedented five consecutive years. With an industry-leading global network, Delta and the Delta Connection carriers offer service to 319 destinations in 57 countries on six continents. Headquartered in Atlanta, Delta employs more than 80,000 employees worldwide and operates a mainline fleet of more than 800 aircraft. The airline is a founding member of the SkyTeam global alliance and participates in the industry's leading transatlantic joint venture with Air France-KLM and Alitalia as well as a joint venture with Virgin Atlantic. Including its worldwide alliance partners, Delta offers customers more than 15,000 daily flights, with key hubs and markets including Amsterdam, Atlanta, Boston, Detroit, Los Angeles, Minneapolis/St. Paul, New York-JFK and LaGuardia, London-Heathrow, Paris-Charles de Gaulle, Salt Lake City, Seattle and Tokyo-Narita. Delta has invested billions of dollars in airport facilities, global products and services, and technology to enhance the customer experience in the air and on the ground. Additional information is available on the Delta News Hub, as well as delta.com, Twitter @DeltaNewsHub, Google.com/+Delta, and Facebook.com/delta.

End Notes

(1) Note A to the attached Consolidated Statements of Operations provides a reconciliation of non-GAAP financial measures used in this release to the comparable GAAP metric and provides the reasons management uses those measures.



(2) Adjusted fuel expense reflects, among other things, the impact of mark-to-market ("MTM") adjustments and settlements. MTM adjustments are defined as fair value changes recorded in periods other than the settlement period. Such fair value changes are not necessarily indicative of the actual settlement value of the underlying hedge in the contract settlement period. Settlements represent cash received or paid on hedge contracts settled during the period. These items adjust fuel expense to show the economic impact of hedging, including cash received or paid on hedge contracts during the period. See Note A for a reconciliation of adjusted fuel expense and average fuel price per gallon to the comparable GAAP metric.



(3) CASM - Ex, including profit sharing: In addition to fuel expense, Delta believes adjusting for certain other expenses is helpful to investors because other expenses are not related to the generation of a seat mile. These expenses include aircraft maintenance and staffing services Delta provides to third parties, Delta's vacation wholesale operations and refinery cost of sales to third parties. The amounts excluded were $247 million and $306 million for the September 2016 and September 2015 quarters, and $845 million and $945 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2016 and 2015, respectively. Management believes this methodology provides a more consistent and comparable reflection of Delta's airline operations.



(4) Adjusted net debt includes $17 million of hedge margin receivable, which is cash that we have posted with counterparties as hedge margin. See Note A for additional information about our calculation of adjusted net debt.

Forward Looking Statements Statements in this investor update that are not historical facts, including statements regarding our estimates, expectations, beliefs, intentions, projections or strategies for the future, may be "forward-looking statements" as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All forward-looking statements involve a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from the estimates, expectations, beliefs, intentions, projections and strategies reflected in or suggested by the forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, the effects of terrorist attacks or geopolitical conflict; the cost of aircraft fuel; the impact of rebalancing our hedge portfolio, recording mark-to-market adjustments or posting collateral in connection with our fuel hedge contracts; the availability of aircraft fuel; the possible effects of accidents involving our aircraft; the restrictions that financial covenants in our financing agreements will have on our financial and business operations; labor issues; interruptions or disruptions in service at one of our hub or gateway airports; disruptions or security breaches of our information technology infrastructure; our dependence on technology in our operations; the effects of weather, natural disasters and seasonality on our business; the effects of an extended disruption in services provided by third party regional carriers; failure or inability of insurance to cover a significant liability at Monroe's Trainer refinery; the impact of environmental regulation on the Trainer refinery, including costs related to renewable fuel standard regulations; our ability to retain management and key employees; competitive conditions in the airline industry; the effects of extensive government regulation on our business; the sensitivity of the airline industry to prolonged periods of stagnant or weak economic conditions including the effects of Brexit; and the effects of the rapid spread of contagious illnesses.

Additional information concerning risks and uncertainties that could cause differences between actual results and forward-looking statements is contained in our Securities and Exchange Commission filings, including our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended Dec. 31, 2015 and our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarterly period ended June 30, 2016. Caution should be taken not to place undue reliance on our forward-looking statements, which represent our views only as of Oct. 13, 2016, and which we have no current intention to update.

DELTA AIR LINES, INC. Consolidated Statements of Operations (Unaudited)





























Three Months





Nine Months









Ended September 30,





Ended September 30,



(in millions, except per share data) 2016 2015 $ Change % Change

2016 2015 $ Change % Change Operating Revenue:



















Passenger:





















Mainline $ 7,615 $ 8,059 $ (444) (6)%

$ 21,530 $ 22,195 $ (665) (3)%



Regional carriers 1,456 1,536 (80) (5)%

4,273 4,462 (189) (4)%



Total passenger revenue 9,071 9,595 (524) (5)%

25,803 26,657 (854) (3)%

Cargo 167 196 (29) (15)%

494 620 (126) (20)%

Other 1,245 1,316 (71) (5)%

3,884 3,925 (41) (1)%



Total operating revenue 10,483 11,107 (624) (6)%

30,181 31,202 (1,021) (3)%























Operating Expense:



















Salaries and related costs 2,463 2,276 187 8%

7,165 6,563 602 9%

Aircraft fuel and related taxes 1,422 1,819 (397) (22)%

3,877 5,111 (1,234) (24)%

Regional carriers expense





















Fuel 230 257 (27) (11)%

616 816 (200) (25)%



Other 889 816 73 9%

2,605 2,407 198 8%

Contracted services 520 477 43 9%

1,480 1,375 105 8%

Depreciation and amortization 474 466 8 2%

1,430 1,384 46 3%

Aircraft maintenance materials and outside repairs 462 479 (17) (4)%

1,357 1,430 (73) (5)%

Passenger commissions and other selling expenses 466 463 3 1%

1,291 1,270 21 2%

Landing fees and other rents 399 403 (4) (1)%

1,123 1,164 (41) (4)%

Profit sharing 326 563 (237) (42)%

922 1,110 (188) (17)%

Passenger service 264 247 17 7%

674 664 10 2%

Aircraft rent 72 63 9 14%

204 183 21 11%

Other 527 565 (38) (7)%

1,505 1,640 (135) (8)%



Total operating expense 8,514 8,894 (380) (4)%

24,249 25,117 (868) (3)%























Operating Income 1,969 2,213 (244) (11)%

5,932 6,085 (153) (3)%























Non-Operating Expense:



















Interest expense, net (95) (121) 26 (21)%

(295) (379) 84 (22)%

Miscellaneous, net 26 (20) 46 NM

47 (82) 129 NM



Total non-operating expense, net (69) (141) 72 (51)%

(248) (461) 213 (46)%























Income Before Income Taxes 1,900 2,072 (172) (8)%

5,684 5,624 60 1%























Income Tax Provision (641) (757) 116 (15)%

(1,933) (2,078) 145 (7)%























Net Income $ 1,259 $ 1,315 $ (56) (4)%

$ 3,751 $ 3,546 $ 205 6%























Basic Earnings Per Share $ 1.70 $ 1.67





$ 4.95 $ 4.42



Diluted Earnings Per Share $ 1.69 $ 1.65





$ 4.92 $ 4.37



























Basic Weighted Average Shares Outstanding 740 788





758 803



Diluted Weighted Average Shares Outstanding 744 795





762 811





DELTA AIR LINES, INC. Statistical Summary (Unaudited)

















Three Months Ended

September 30,



Nine Months Ended

September 30,



2016 2015 Change

2016 2015 Change Consolidated:













Revenue passenger miles (millions) 58,973 59,076 (0.2)%

163,113 160,052 1.9% Available seat miles (millions) 69,028 68,031 1.5%

193,152 188,565 2.4% Passenger mile yield (cents) 15.38 16.24 (5.3)%

15.82 16.66 (5.0)% Passenger revenue per available seat mile (cents) 13.14 14.10 (6.8)%

13.36 14.14 (5.5)% Operating cost per available seat mile (cents) 12.33 13.07 (5.7)%

12.55 13.32 (5.8)% CASM-Ex, including profit sharing - see Note A (cents) 9.58 9.57 0.1%

9.79 9.66 1.3% Passenger load factor 85.4% 86.8% (1.4) pts

84.4% 84.9% (0.5) pt Fuel gallons consumed (millions) 1,099 1,096 0.3%

3,075 3,043 1.1% Average price per fuel gallon $ 1.50 $ 1.89 (20.6)%

$ 1.46 $ 1.95 (25.1)% Average price per fuel gallon, adjusted - see Note A $ 1.48 $ 1.80 (17.5)%

$ 1.60 $ 2.35 (31.9)% Number of aircraft in fleet, end of period 960 925 35







Full-time equivalent employees, end of period 84,084 83,033 1.3%























Mainline:













Revenue passenger miles (millions) 53,479 53,526 (0.1)%

147,113 144,134 2.1% Available seat miles (millions) 62,232 61,270 1.6%

173,115 168,783 2.6% Operating cost per available seat mile (cents) 11.79 12.68 (7.0)%

12.04 12.80 (5.9)% CASM-Ex, including profit sharing - see Note A (cents) 9.17 9.27 (1.1)%

9.38 9.27 1.2% Fuel gallons consumed (millions) 940 939 0.1%

2,618 2,589 1.1% Average price per fuel gallon $ 1.50 $ 1.93 (22.3)%

$ 1.48 $ 1.97 (24.9)% Average price per fuel gallon, adjusted - see Note A $ 1.48 $ 1.82 (18.7)%

$ 1.64 $ 2.44 (32.8)% Number of aircraft in fleet, end of period 830 809 21























Note: except for full-time equivalent employees and number of aircraft in fleet, consolidated data presented includes operations under Delta's contract carrier arrangements.

DELTA AIR LINES, INC. Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows (Unaudited)



Three Months Ended



September 30, (in millions) 2016

2015 Cash Flows From Operating Activities:





Net income $ 1,259

$ 1,315 Depreciation and amortization 474

466 Hedge derivative contracts (21)

(32) Deferred income taxes 625

720 Pension, postretirement and postemployment payments greater than expense 71

61 Changes in:







Hedge margin 7

(247)

Air traffic liability (813)

(808)

Profit sharing 326

563 Other working capital changes, net (74)

29

Net cash provided by operating activities 1,854

2,067









Cash Flows From Investing Activities:





Property and equipment additions:







Flight equipment, including advance payments (505)

(406)

Ground property and equipment, including technology (175)

(156) Purchase of equity investments -

(500) Net purchases of short-term investments (229)

49 Other, net 22

4

Net cash used in investing activities (887)

(1,009)









Cash Flows From Financing Activities:





Payments on long-term debt and capital lease obligations (254)

(1,517) Repurchases of common stock (500)

(425) Cash dividends (150)

(107) Fuel card obligation (18)

(23) Proceeds from long-term obligations -

997 Net payments on hedge derivative contracts (76)

128 Other, net 7

(35)

Net cash used in financing activities (991)

(982)









Net (Decrease) Increase in Cash and Cash Equivalents (24)

76 Cash and cash equivalents at beginning of period 1,662

2,293 Cash and cash equivalents at end of period $ 1,638

$ 2,369





DELTA AIR LINES, INC.



Consolidated Balance Sheets



(Unaudited)

















September 30,

December 31, (in millions) 2016

2015



ASSETS Current Assets:







Cash and cash equivalents $ 1,638

$ 1,972

Short-term investments 1,514

1,465

Accounts receivable, net 1,996

2,020

Fuel inventory 424

379

Expendable parts and supplies inventories, net 351

318

Hedge derivatives asset 496

1,987

Prepaid expenses and other 910

915



Total current assets 7,329

9,056











Property and Equipment, Net:







Property and equipment, net 24,105

23,039











Other Assets:







Goodwill 9,794

9,794

Identifiable intangibles, net 4,848

4,861

Deferred income taxes, net 3,150

4,956

Other noncurrent assets 1,722

1,428



Total other assets 19,514

21,039 Total assets $ 50,948

$ 53,134















LIABILITIES AND STOCKHOLDERS' EQUITY Current Liabilities:







Current maturities of long-term debt and capital leases $ 1,092

$ 1,563

Air traffic liability 5,142

4,503

Accounts payable 2,567

2,743

Accrued salaries and related benefits 2,628

3,195

Hedge derivatives liability 724

2,581

Frequent flyer deferred revenue 1,628

1,635

Other accrued liabilities 1,366

1,306



Total current liabilities 15,147

17,526











Noncurrent Liabilities:







Long-term debt and capital leases 6,473

6,766

Pension, postretirement and related benefits 12,587

13,855

Frequent flyer deferred revenue 2,275

2,246

Other noncurrent liabilities 1,956

1,891



Total noncurrent liabilities 23,291

24,758











Commitments and Contingencies

















Stockholders' Equity:







Common stock 



Additional paid-in capital 8,887

10,875

Retained earnings 11,109

7,623

Accumulated other comprehensive loss (7,212)

(7,275)

Treasury stock (274)

(373)



Total stockholders' equity 12,510

10,850 Total liabilities and stockholders' equity $ 50,948

$ 53,134

Note A: The following tables show reconciliations of non-GAAP financial measures. The reasons Delta uses these measures are described below.

Delta sometimes uses information ("non-GAAP financial measures") that is derived from the Consolidated Financial Statements, but that is not presented in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the U.S. ("GAAP"). Under the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission rules, non-GAAP financial measures may be considered in addition to results prepared in accordance with GAAP, but should not be considered a substitute for or superior to GAAP results. The tables below show reconciliations of non-GAAP financial measures used in this release to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures.

Forward Looking Projections. The Company does not reconcile forward looking non-GAAP financial measures because MTM adjustments and settlements will not be known until the end of the period and could be significant.

Pre-Tax Income and Net Income, adjusted. We adjust for the following items to determine pre-tax income and net income, adjusted, for the reasons described below:

MTM adjustments and settlements. MTM adjustments are defined as fair value changes recorded in periods other than the settlement period. Such fair value changes are not necessarily indicative of the actual settlement value of the underlying hedge in the contract settlement period. Settlements represent cash received or paid on hedge contracts settled during the period. These items adjust fuel expense to show the economic impact of hedging, including cash received or paid on hedge contracts during the period. Adjusting for these items allows investors to better understand and analyze our core operational performance in the periods shown.

Virgin Atlantic MTM adjustments. We record our proportionate share of earnings from our equity investment in Virgin Atlantic in non-operating expense. We adjust for Virgin Atlantic's MTM adjustments to allow investors to better understand and analyze the company's core financial performance in the periods shown.

Income tax. We included the income tax effect of adjustments when presenting net income, adjusted. We believe that presenting the income tax effect of adjustments allows investors to better understand and analyze the company's core financial performance in the periods shown.



Three Months Ended

Three Months Ended

September 30, 2016

September 30, 2016

Pre-Tax

Income

Net

Net Income (in millions, except per share data) Income

Tax

Income

Per Diluted Share GAAP $ 1,900

$ (641)

$ 1,259

$ 1.69 Adjusted for:













MTM adjustments and settlements 23

(8)

15



Virgin Atlantic MTM adjustments (17)

6

(11)



Total adjustments 6

(2)

4

0.01 Non-GAAP $ 1,906

$ (643)

$ 1,263

$ 1.70 Year-over-year change $ (278)











































Three Months Ended

Three Months Ended

September 30, 2015

September 30, 2015

Pre-Tax

Income

Net

Net Income (in millions, except per share data) Income

Tax

Income

Per Diluted Share GAAP $ 2,072

$ (757)

$ 1,315

$ 1.65 Adjusted for:













MTM adjustments and settlements 99

(38)

61



Virgin Atlantic MTM adjustments 13

(5)

8



Total adjustments 112

(43)

69

0.09 Non-GAAP $ 2,184

$ (800)

$ 1,384

$ 1.74

Fuel expense, adjusted and Average fuel price per gallon, adjusted. The tables below show the components of fuel expense, including the impact of the refinery segment and hedging on fuel expense and average price per gallon. We adjust for MTM adjustments and settlements for the reason described below:

MTM adjustments and settlements. MTM adjustments are defined as fair value changes recorded in periods other than the settlement period. Such fair value changes are not necessarily indicative of the actual settlement value of the underlying hedge in the contract settlement period. Settlements represent cash received or paid on hedge contracts settled during the period. These items adjust fuel expense to show the economic impact of hedging, including cash received or paid on hedge contracts during the period. Adjusting for these items allows investors to better understand and analyze our core operational performance in the periods shown.

Fuel expense, adjusted and Average fuel price per gallon, adjusted (cont.)

Consolidated:























Average Price Per Gallon







Three Months Ended



Three Months Ended







September 30,



September 30, (in millions, except per gallon data)



2016 2015



2016 2015 Fuel purchase cost



$ 1,585 $ 1,833



$ 1.44 $ 1.67 Airline segment fuel hedge gains



22 349



0.02 0.32 Refinery segment impact



45 (106)



0.04 (0.10) Total fuel expense



$ 1,652 $ 2,076



$ 1.50 $ 1.89 MTM adjustments and settlements



(23) (99)



(0.02) (0.09) Total fuel expense, adjusted



$ 1,629 $ 1,977



$ 1.48 $ 1.80 Change year-over-year



$ (348)























































Nine Months Ended



Nine Months Ended







September 30,



September 30, (in millions, except per gallon data)



2016 2015



2016 2015 Fuel purchase cost



$ 4,118 $ 5,519



$ 1.34 $ 1.81 Airline segment fuel hedge gains



292 690



0.09 0.23 Refinery segment impact



83 (282)



0.03 (0.09) Total fuel expense



$ 4,493 $ 5,927



$ 1.46 $ 1.95 MTM adjustments and settlements



439 1,210



0.14 0.40 Total fuel expense, adjusted



$ 4,932 $ 7,137



$ 1.60 $ 2.35

















Mainline:











































Three Months Ended



Nine Months Ended







September 30,



September 30,







2016 2015



2016 2015 Mainline average price per gallon



$ 1.50 $ 1.93



$ 1.48 $ 1.97 MTM adjustments and settlements



(0.02) (0.11)



0.16 0.47 Mainline average price per gallon, adjusted $ 1.48 $ 1.82



$ 1.64 $ 2.44

Non-Fuel Unit Cost or Cost per Available Seat Mile, Including Profit Sharing ("CASM-Ex"). We adjust CASM for the following items to determine CASM-Ex, including profit sharing for the reasons described below:

Aircraft fuel and related taxes. The volatility in fuel prices impacts the comparability of year-over-year financial performance. The adjustment for aircraft fuel and related taxes (including our regional carriers) allows investors to better understand and analyze our non-fuel costs and year-over-year financial performance.

Restructuring and other. Because of the variability in restructuring and other, the adjustment for this item is helpful to investors to analyze our recurring core performance in the period shown.

Other expenses. Other expenses include aircraft maintenance and staffing services we provide to third parties, our vacation wholesale operations, and refinery cost of sales to third parties. Because these businesses are not related to the generation of a seat mile, we adjust for the costs related to these sales to provide a more meaningful comparison of the costs of our airline operations to the rest of the airline industry.

Consolidated CASM-Ex:























Three Months Ended

Nine Months Ended







September 30, 2016

September 30, 2015

September 30, 2016

September 30, 2015 CASM (cents)



12.33

13.07

12.55

13.32 Adjusted for:

















Aircraft fuel and related taxes

(2.39)

(3.05)

(2.33)

(3.14) Restructuring and other

-

-

-

(0.02) Other expenses

(0.36)

(0.45)

(0.43)

(0.50) CASM-Ex 9.58

9.57

9.79

9.66 Year-over-year change



0.1 %

































Mainline CASM-Ex:

























Three Months Ended

Nine Months Ended







September 30, 2016

September 30, 2015

September 30, 2016

September 30, 2015 Mainline CASM (cents)



11.79

12.68

12.04

12.80 Adjusted for:

















Aircraft fuel and related taxes

(2.27)

(2.97)

(2.23)

(3.03) Other expenses

(0.35)

(0.44)

(0.43)

(0.50) Mainline CASM-Ex 9.17

9.27

9.38

9.27

Operating Cash Flow, adjusted. We adjusted operating cash flow because management believes this metric is helpful to investors to evaluate the company's ability to generate cash that is available for use for capital expenditures, debt service or general corporate initiatives. Adjustments include:

Hedge deferrals. During the March 2015 quarter, we effectively deferred settlement of a portion of our fuel hedge portfolio by entering into transactions that, excluding market movements from the date of inception, would provide approximately $300 million in cash receipts during the second half of 2015 and require approximately $300 million in cash payments in 2016. During the March 2016 quarter, we further deferred settlement of a portion of our hedge portfolio until 2017 by entering into transactions that, excluding market movements from the date of inception, would provide approximately $300 million in cash receipts during the second half of 2016 and require approximately $300 million in cash payments in 2017. Operating cash flow is adjusted to include the net payments and receipts associated with these deferral transactions in order to allow investors to better understand the net impact of hedging activities in the periods shown.

Hedge margin. Operating cash flow is adjusted for hedge margin as we believe this adjustment removes the impact of current market volatility on our unsettled hedges and allows investors to better understand and analyze the company's core operational performance in the periods shown.







Three Months Ended

Three Months Ended (in millions)

September 30, 2016

September 30, 2015 Net cash provided by operating activities

$ 1,854

$ 2,067 Adjustments:







Hedge deferrals

(76)

128 Hedge margin

(7)

222 Net cash provided by operating activities, adjusted

$ 1,771

$ 2,417

Free Cash Flow. We present free cash flow because management believes this metric is helpful to investors to evaluate the company's ability to generate cash that is available for use for debt service or general corporate initiatives. Adjustments include:

Hedge deferrals. During the March 2016 quarter, we deferred settlement of a portion of our hedge portfolio until 2017 by entering into transactions that, excluding market movements from the date of inception, would provide approximately $300 million in cash receipts during the second half of 2016 and require approximately $300 million in cash payments in 2017. Free cash flow is adjusted to include the net payments and receipts associated with these deferral transactions in order to allow investors to better understand the net impact of hedging activities in the period shown.

Hedge margin. Free cash flow is adjusted for fuel hedge margin as we believe this adjustment removes the impact of current market volatility on our unsettled hedges and allows investors to better understand and analyze the company's core operational performance in the period shown.









Three Months Ended (in millions)



September 30, 2016 Net cash provided by operating activities



$ 1,854 Net cash used in investing activities



(887) Adjustments:





Hedge deferrals



(76) Hedge margin



(7) Net purchases of short-term investments 229 Total free cash flow



$ 1,113

Adjusted Net Debt. Delta uses adjusted total debt, including aircraft rent, in addition to long-term adjusted debt and capital leases, to present estimated financial obligations. Delta reduces adjusted debt by cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments, and fuel hedge margin receivable, resulting in adjusted net debt, to present the amount of assets needed to satisfy the debt. Management believes this metric is helpful to investors in assessing the company's overall debt profile. Management has reduced adjusted debt by the amount of fuel hedge margin receivable, which reflects cash posted to counterparties, as we believe this removes the impact of current market volatility on our unsettled hedges and is a better representation of the continued progress we have made on our debt initiatives.

(in millions)

September 30, 2016

September 30, 2015 Debt and capital lease obligations

$ 7,565



$ 8,700

Plus: unamortized discount, net and debt issuance costs

110



158

Adjusted debt and capital lease obligations



$ 7,675



$ 8,858 Plus: 7x last twelve months' aircraft rent



1,897



1,708 Adjusted total debt



9,572



10,566 Less: cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments



(3,152)



(3,811) Less: fuel hedge margin receivable



(17)



(381) Adjusted net debt



$ 6,403



$ 6,374

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In addition to having the world's largest selection of electronic components available for immediate shipment, Digi-Key has an impressive selection of online resources and tools. Demos and videos of these tools will be available in the booth for visitors to interact with. Interaction is the focus of the Digi-Key booth and visitors are invited to interact with all exciting features of the booth:

Register to win a 2016 Cadillac ATS

Explore the Digi-Key Experience using a Virtual Reality headset

Take a free spin on one of the slot machines for your chance to win one of 15,000 instant prizes

Take a photo with a FREE football and use #digikeyselfie or #DKele16 to see if your tweet goes viral on one of Digi-Key's video monitors

Pose for pictures with " Marilyn Monroe " or "Captain Jack Sparrow "

Attendees are encouraged to stop by and visit with the Digi-Key team to discover how they can collaborate with Digi-Key Electronics.

About Digi-Key Electronics

Digi-Key Electronics, based in Thief River Falls, Minn., is a global, full-service distributor of both prototype/design and production quantities of electronic components, offering more than five million products from over 650 quality name-brand manufacturers. With over 1.3 million products in stock and an impressive selection of online resources, Digi-Key is committed to stocking the broadest range of electronic components in the industry and providing the best service possible to its customers. Additional information and access to Digi-Key's broad product offering is available at www.digikey.com.

Editorial Contact for Digi-Key Electronics

Kayla Krosschell

Marketing Communications Specialist

1.800.338.4105 x1098

[email protected]

[email protected]

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SANTA MONICA, Calif., Oct. 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Doctor Evidence (DRE) announces the launch of GROWTH Research, a new initiative to connect patient-level data to peer-reviewed data for clinical and policy decisions applicable at institutional, national, or global levels. GROWTH Research enables organizations to use the syntheses and analytic results of publicly validated data from the peer-reviewed literature to mine and investigate patient-level data for research and discovery purposes.

"The peer reviewed literature is often criticized for not being representative of the 'real-world,'" said Bob Battista, CEO of Doctor Evidence. "Peer review systems provide a critical role in validating data and creating baseline efficacy and safety profiles. We can then use these baselines for mining and investigating data from the vast universe of observed events in various real-world settings, be they electronic medical records, claims databases, patient surveys, and other sources of patient-level observational data."

GROWTH Research creates a new standard of a networked community for collaborations to use medical evidence in clinical research programs by medical specialty societies, governments, R&D organizations, hospital systems, payers, and universities. This new program expands on GROWTH, a Doctor Evidence initiative to promote high quality data and resource sharing among evidence-based medicine (EBM) organizations globally with the ultimate goal of improving patient outcomes.

Demetrius Maraganore, M.D., Chair, Department of Neurology, NorthShore University HealthSystem, stated: "GROWTH Research provides clinician investigators with the knowledge to make evidence-based designs of clinical trials using published data. I envision designing pragmatic trials (e.g., using the EMR and subgroup-based adaptive designs to compare treatments for neurological disorders), informed by GROWTH meta-analyses of existing trials, guiding the selection of subjects, outcome measures, and independent variables."

GROWTH Research participants receive unlimited access to data from pre-digitized studies within the Doctor Evidence database, now comprising over 20,000 studies and growing daily. This enhances resource sharing, reduces duplication of efforts, and lowers overall costs. EBM organizations and research centers are no longer burdened with the tediousness of isolated and de novo data extractions. With these state-of-the-art and dynamically-updatable digital resources, researchers can query the data more deeply and perceptively to answer higher level clinical questions. Incorporating economic data permits decision-makers to allocate resources equitably.

Chris Murray, M.D., Professor of Global Health at the University of Washington and Director of the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, proclaimed: "Doctor Evidence has built incredible tools and a fantastic approach to extracting, storing, exploring, and meta-analyzing the published literature. This work of synthesizing the peer-reviewed data is important to identify the best treatment options for various subgroups at varying levels of disease risk and burden."

About GROWTH

The Guideline & Research Organizations Worldwide for Transparency & Harmonization (GROWTH) initiative is committed to improving the health and quality of life of patients by encouraging the development of evidence-based clinical recommendations through collaboration and resource-sharing across the spectrum of evidence-based medicine. GROWTH utilizes Doctor Evidence's cutting-edge platform technologies and services to synthesize high quality data from a broad variety of sources including databases of published clinical studies (e.g., PubMed or EMBASE), clinical trials.gov data, clinical practice guidelines, health technology assessments, systematic reviews, regulatory filings and epidemiological data (e.g., NHANES, the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention). The resulting knowledge sets are leveraged, utilizing rigorous and transparent methodologies employing sophisticated analytic capabilities, to perform direct meta-analyses, network meta-analyses, meta-regressions, cohort analyses, and sensitivity analyses. These reliable results then support transparent and trusted reviews informing clinical trial designs, guidelines and protocols for patient care, healthcare policy decisions, and on-going research to identify the most efficacious and safe interventions for specific patients and populations. For more information, please visit http://growthevidence.com/.

About Doctor Evidence

Doctor Evidence, LLC, founded in 2004, is a leader in technological solutions for evidence-based systematic reviews and analyses with a mission to provide stakeholders across the healthcare ecosystem with the most relevant and timely medical evidence and related analytics to make and inform the best clinical decisions. Doctor Evidence is best known for its proprietary Digital Outcome Conversion (DOC) platform and its rigorous methodology of extracting clinical data from static, unstructured sources, including published studies, epidemiological databases, drug label and creating dynamically updatable, scientifically-curated data hubs. The digitized data can be pooled and analyzed to support the development of evidence-based clinical practice guideline recommendations, systematic reviews, and health technology assessments, and regulatory and policy submissions. The company's goal is to support the efforts of healthcare providers, healthcare professionals, and patients to gain access to important evidence-based knowledge and to improve the health and wellbeing of patients worldwide. Doctor Evidence is a global company headquartered in Santa Monica, California. For more information, please visit http://drevidence.com/.

About The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME)

The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) is an independent global health research organization at the University of Washington that provides rigorous and comparable measurement of the world's most important health problems and evaluates the strategies used to address them. IHME makes this information widely available so that policymakers have the evidence they need to make informed decisions about how to allocate resources to best improve population health. IHME has been funded by the Bill and Melinda Gate's Foundation. The Institute is led by Christopher Murray, who is the subject of Jeremy Smith's book, Epic Measures. For more information, please visit http://www.healthdata.org/.

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SOURCE Doctor Evidence

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LANDING, N.J., Oct. 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- DolCas Biotech, LLC, showcased its trademark BCM-95 turmeric extract at the Supply Side West trade show in Las Vegas October 5-8. DolCas announced that BCM-95 now occupies a leading position in the health food stores, due to an exclusive agreement with EuroPharma.

DolCas takes Curcumin to the next level

The company estimates that BCM-95 turmeric extract has a market share of 30% in the US, and it has an exclusive contract with EuroPharma to market BCM-95 at health food stores in the US and Canada. DolCas Biotech's patented turmeric extract is backed by more than 30 clinical research studies conducted in leading universities and institutes worldwide.

"Terry Naturally Inc.'s CuraMed brand 'Super Absorption Curcumin' with BCM-95 is the No. 1 brand in health food stores, and one of six CuraMed curcumin products in the top 10 sold," notes Terry Lemerond, founder and president of EuroPharma, Inc. "DolCas knows how to build a trusted brand. Consumers, especially Millennials, want to know where their turmeric extract comes from, and they deserve a pure, trusted brand."

BCM-95 curcumin is manufactured by synergistically combining curcumin and essential oil of turmeric, without synthetic additives. The therapeutic benefits of turmeric can be attained at its best by combining curcumin with ar-turmerone, an active compound derived from essential oil of turmeric.

The turmeric used for BCM-95 eliminates the chance of contamination. BCM-95 does not contain any pesticides and meets the new European 2015/1933 PAH regulation that sets maximum levels of PAHs in food supplements.

"We identified six keys to build a trusted brand in the US market," explains KG Rao, CEO of DolCas Biotech. "These are: a clear understanding of the ingredient advantages; an ongoing clinical research program; registered intellectual properties and trademarks; full control of the product from farm to shelf; the highest purity and safety; and long-lasting collaboration with customers. We intend to continue to invest in our clinical research program and to protect our brand from imitation products that might not be safe to sell or consume."

Visit DolCas Biotech at Supply Side West, Las Vegas, Booth # MM176

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For more information, contact:

Company contact

DolCas Biotech, LLC

Mr. Nipen Lavingia

VP of Business Development

Tell: +973-347-1958 ext. 213

Email: [email protected]

Web: www.dolcas-biotech.com

Press Contact

NutriPR

Liat Simha

Tel: +972-9-9742893

E-mail: [email protected]

Website: www.nutripr.com

Twitter: @LiatSimha

SOURCE DolCas Biotech, LLC

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LONDON, Oct. 12, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- India is the world's 2nd largest producer of vegetables in the world next only to China. But the fruit and vegetable processing industry in India is highly decentralized. A large number of units are in the small scale sector, having small capacities up to 250 tonnes per annum though big Indian and multinational companies have capacities in the range of 30 tonnes per hour or so. Hence India now ranks only third in the production of Dried and Preserved vegetables.



In Dried and Preserved vegetable market high return is usually in the export market, especially Europe. The export customers are mostly ready-to-eat food manufacturers and hotel chains in those countries. Any economic slowdown in Europe or other export markets would negatively affect the businesses of export customers which in turn would affect the order quantity and hence the Dried and preserved vegetable market.



This report covers a detailed analysis of 5 companies which are spread across different regions around India. The objective of this report is to analyze the current scenario of the Indian dried and preserved vegetables market and to project the market growth over the next 5 financial years.



According to NOVONOUS the dried and preserved vegetables market of India is expected to grow at a CAGR of 16% by the year 2020. The supportive agro-climatic conditions, potential domestic market, cost competitiveness, and government support are some of the key factors which will drive the growth of this industry.



This report provides end-user-wise, processing method-wise and product-wise insights on dried vegetables market in India, growth drivers and inhibitors, key trends, profiles of key players, major challenges for new players, current and future trends and recommendations for policy makers, service providers & investors.



The report also have an case study of Artocarpus Foods Private Limited which was setup in Kannur district of Kerala on May 2015. How It has become the first full-fledged jackfruit processing venture in India was discussed in the report.



Apart from that a sample business plan has been provided which gives a glimpse of activities to be performed in order to establish a new vegetable dehydration plant in Kerala.



Spanning over 96 pages and 76 exhibits, report presents an in-depth assessment of the Dried and Preserved Vegetable Market in India till 2020.



Scope of Dried and Preserved Vegetables Market in India 2016 - 2020 Report

- This report provides detailed information about Dried and Preserved Vegetables market in India including future market forecasts up to 2020.

- This report identifies the need for focusing on Dried and Preserved Vegetables industry.

- This report provides detailed information on end-user segment wise (food processing, retail) growth forecasts for Indian Dried and Preserved Vegetables market up to 2020.

- This report provides detailed information on product wise (onion, garlic, tomato, carrot, cabbage, beans/lentils, coriander, okra) growth forecasts for Indian Dried and Preserved Vegetables market up to 2020.

- The report identifies the growth drivers and inhibitors for Dried and Preserved Vegetables market in India market.

- This study also identifies various policies related to Indian Dried and Preserved Vegetables market.

- The report identifies various credit, policy and technical risks associated with Indian Dried and Preserved Vegetables market.

- This report has detailed profiles 5 key players in Indian Dried and Preserved Vegetables covering their business strategy, financial performance, future forecasts and SWOT analysis.

- This report provides detailed information on export-import (EXIM) scenario in Indian Dried and Preserved Vegetables market.

- This report covers in details the competitive landscape in Indian Dried and Preserved Vegetables market.

- This report provides PESTLE (political, economic, social, technological, legal and environmental) analysis for Indian Dried and Preserved Vegetables market.

- This report provides Porter's Five Forces analysis for Indian Dried and Preserved Vegetables market.

- This report provides SWOT (strengths, weakness, opportunities and threats) analysis for Indian Dried and Preserved Vegetables market.

- This report identifies the key challenges faced by new players in Indian Dried and Preserved Vegetables market.

- This report also provides strategic recommendations for policy makers, end users, service providers and investors.

Download the full report: https://www.reportbuyer.com/product/4012278/



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"We are proud of this unique collaboration between DTE Energy, M-1 Rail and MDOT, and our ability to provide our combined expertise to help ensure the QLINE is fully operational in the Spring of 2017," said Bob Richard, senior vice president of Major Enterprise Projects at DTE Energy. "Building the infrastructure necessary to meet the needs of future business development is another way DTE supports the economic growth and prosperity of the City of Detroit."

DTE Energy is providing the electricity to serve four new substations that will power the QLINE. The first QLINE substation was built in September with three remaining substations scheduled to be built by the end of 2016. The QLINE car is charged when an overhead arm on the car contacts the overhead catenary wire powered by a substation.

"From working cooperatively with us throughout construction to powering future operations of the QLINE, DTE Energy is an invaluable partner to this project," said M-1 RAIL President and CEO Matt Cullen. "The electrical system upgrades by DTE are not only the first step toward creating a great regional transit system in Detroit, but they will provide long term benefits for the city and its residents."

DTE Energy's investment in new infrastructure enables future load growth and makes it possible for DTE to meet the electrical needs of expanding business spurred by the QLINE in Midtown, North End and New Center areas - from new housing developments and hotels to restaurants and retail. The collaboration between DTE, M-1 Rail and MDOT began a year before the underground construction in an effort to detect potential challenges and identify solutions, which included building new manholes and the associated duct bank, laying 15,000 feet of new conduit, and repaving Woodward Ave. Their integrated, proactive approach to the project resulted in significant cost reductions and the completion of the project on schedule.

"I am thrilled to celebrate the QLINE as a model for what can happen when private industry and government agencies collaborate," said MDOT Director Kirk T. Steudle. "Woodward Avenue is an iconic route with a rich history of helping people get to and from downtown Detroit. The QLINE only enhances the corridor's vital role. Metro Detroiters use freeways, trains, buses, bicycles and even shoe leather to get around, and MDOT is committed to supporting each and every mode."

About DTE Energy

DTE Energy (NYSE: DTE) is a Detroit-based diversified energy company involved in the development and management of energy-related businesses and services nationwide. Its operating units include an electric utility serving 2.2 million customers in Southeastern Michigan and a natural gas utility serving 1.2 million customers in Michigan. The DTE Energy portfolio includes non-utility energy businesses focused on power and industrial projects, natural gas pipelines, gathering and storage, and energy marketing and trading. As one of Michigan's leading corporate citizens, DTE Energy is a force for growth and prosperity in the 450 Michigan communities it serves in a variety of ways, including philanthropy, volunteerism and economic progress. Information about DTE Energy is available at dteenergy.com, twitter.com/dte_energy and facebook.com/dteenergy.

About M-1 RAIL

M-1 RAIL is a non-profit organization formed in 2007 to lead the design, construction, and future operation of the QLINE, a 6.6 mile circulating streetcar system along Woodward Ave that will connect Downtown Detroit, Midtown, New Center and the North End.

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SOURCE DTE Energy

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CHARLOTTE, N.C., Oct. 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Although Hurricane Matthew is no longer a threat, the devastation it created continues to be felt by thousands of people in the Southeast. Duke Energy today announced a donation of $325,000 to help seven charities providing disaster relief assistance in several of the states it serves  North Carolina, South Carolina and Florida.

"While the men and women of Duke Energy have worked nonstop to restore power to customers in Florida and the Carolinas, we know our communities need more," said Lynn Good, chairman, president and CEO. "Disaster relief agencies are on the front lines helping families and communities recover and rebuild. We are glad to make this contribution to help support that good work."

North Carolina

Duke Energy is donating $100,000 to the Red Cross in North Carolina. Additionally, Piedmont Natural Gas is giving $25,000.

Both donations will go to disaster relief efforts in the state, including supporting more than 60 shelters the nonprofit has opened in the eastern region to provide refuge for North Carolinians affected by Hurricane Matthew.

"This financial support is instrumental in providing relief to the communities ravaged by Hurricane Matthew," said Tony Jeffreys, regional chief development officer, Red Cross Eastern North Carolina Region. "Duke Energy and Piedmont consistently step up to aid Red Cross relief efforts in the wake of natural disasters. We are grateful for their continued partnership."

South Carolina

Three organizations will receive donation assistance in South Carolina, totaling $100,000.

Duke Energy is donating $50,000 to the One SC Fund, which was established by Gov. Nikki Haley in November 2015 after flooding affected South Carolinians across the state. The fund is supporting nonprofit organizations providing relief and recovery assistance to those affected by Hurricane Matthew.

Red Cross South Carolina Region will receive $25,000 to help disaster relief efforts in the Pee Dee region in the northeast area of the state.

Harvest Hope Food Bank will receive $25,000, which will help increase the number of mobile food pantries available to individuals and families in the Pee Dee region who have been affected by the storm.

"Hundreds of people have experienced enormous losses to their homes and belongings due to Hurricane Matthew, and additional flooding is expected," said Denise Holland, CEO of Harvest Hope. "The gift from Duke Energy gives me confidence that we can respond quickly to provide needed food supplies to families in the Pee Dee area."

Florida

Three organizations will receive donation assistance in Florida, totaling $100,000.

Duke Energy will donate $50,000 to United Way of Volusia-Flagler Counties, both of which were significantly affected by the hurricane.

The Hispanic Business Initiative Fund of Florida will receive $25,000 to help rebuild businesses and economic development in Flagler and Volusia counties.

Heart of Florida United Way will also receive $25,000 for disaster relief efforts in central Florida.

"After the debris is cleared and damage assessed, central Floridians will continue to feel the residual effects of Hurricane Matthew," said Robert H. (Bob) Brown, president and CEO of Heart of Florida United Way. "We are grateful to Duke Energy to be able to provide needed relief to those who suffered the most significant damage."

About Duke Energy Foundation

The Duke Energy Foundation provides philanthropic support to address the needs of the communities where its customers live and work. In 2015, the foundation provided more than $30 million in charitable gifts. The foundation's education focus spans kindergarten to career, particularly science, technology, engineering and math (STEM), early childhood literacy and workforce development. It also supports the environment and community impact initiatives, including arts and culture.

Duke Energy employees and retirees actively contribute to their communities as volunteers and leaders at a wide variety of nonprofit organizations. Duke Energy is committed to building on its legacy of community service. For more information, visit duke-energy.com/foundation.

About Duke Energy

Duke Energy, one of the largest electric power holding companies in the United States, supplies and delivers electricity to approximately 7.4 million customers in the Southeast and Midwest, representing a population of approximately 24 million people. The company also distributes natural gas to more than 1.5 million customers in the Carolinas, Ohio, Kentucky and Tennessee. Its commercial and international businesses operate diverse power generation assets in North America and Latin America, including a growing renewable energy portfolio.

Headquartered in Charlotte, N.C., Duke Energy is an S&P 100 Stock Index company traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol DUK. More information about the company is available at duke-energy.com.

The Duke Energy News Center serves as a multimedia resource for journalists and features news releases, helpful links, photos and videos. Hosted by Duke Energy, illumination is an online destination for stories about remarkable people, innovations, and community and environmental topics. It also offers glimpses into the past and insights into the future of energy.

Follow Duke Energy on Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and Facebook.

Media Line (24-hour): 800.559.3853

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SOURCE Duke Energy

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Yum plans expansion after spinoff Updated: 2016-10-13 07:35 By PAUL WELITZKIN in New York(China Daily)

A customer uses a mobile phone while eating at a KFC restaurant in Shanghai. [Photo/Bloomberg]

The CEO of Yum China, which after its spinoff will begin trading on the New York Stock Exchange on Nov 1, is confident his company can triple the number of its restaurants on the mainland.

"There is risk everywhere in the world," Micky Pant said on Tuesday in New York. "We think China has many more opportunities than risks."

Yum China Holdings Inc will trade on the NYSE under the symbol YUMC. It will become the largest independent restaurant company in China with more than 7,000 outlets. including the Little Sheep and East Dawning Chinese brands in addition to KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell.

Yum Brandsthe sprawling fast-food empire that owns KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bellannounced in September plans to sell part of its China operations valued at $460 million to Primavera Capital and the financial affiliate of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.

Primavera, a Chinese private-equity firm, will invest $410 million in the spinoff. Ant Financial Services Group, the Alibaba affiliate, will put $50 million into the business.

Pant said he believes the spinoff will enable the China operations to expand rapidly. "All of the profit we make in China will now be available for China. I really don't see any reason why we cannot have 20,000 restaurants in China," he added.

Pant said his company will begin opening Taco Bell outlets in China soon"at least in time for (the Chinese Lunar) New Year", he said. Pant is convinced that the brand can be attractive in China.

Pant said Yum China's best growth areas include the anticipated 1,250 new malls that will open in the country over the next few years along with rapidly expanding transportation hubs and big cities.

One area that Pant said is a top priority for Yum China is food safety.

Earlier this month, regulators imposed 24 million yuan ($3.6 million) in fines against US meat supplier OSI Group LLC and its Chinese subsidiary in connection with a 2014 scandal in which OSI's Chinese units were accused of selling expired meat to several fast-food outlets, including Yum and McDonald's Corp.

"Our number one priority is food safety and ingredient quality," said Pant.

Pant said the company has reduced the number of firms that supply its restaurants so that it will "deal with only top-quality suppliers".

One of Yum China's holdings is the hotpot chain of restaurants called Little Sheep.

"We expect to open 40 new Little Sheep units next year," said Pant. "We have around 40 Little Sheep outlets in the US and Canada."
SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- EaseCentral, the all-in-one software solution for human resources and employee benefits, is announcing a bevy of new customers, partners, products and integrations solidifying their position as the leader for broker technology solutions. EaseCentral is now working with more than 22,000 employers servicing nearly a million employees. The company has seen record growth since its inception in 2012 and is expanding into several new markets in 2017.

EaseCentral recently added BenefitMall, the nation's largest general agency and leading provider of employee benefits, human resources and payroll products and services, to its already robust list of partners. Earlier this year the company announced a partnership with one of the largest general agencies in California, beere&purves (B&P) to form a real time Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) with Anthem Blue Cross of California. NFP, one of the country's largest insurance brokerage and consulting firms is also now utilizing EaseCentral's technology solutions.

According to Scott Kirksey, president of BenefitMall, "The partnership with EaseCentral allows us to offer additional service and technology options to support brokers, which is imperative in today's employee benefits industry. We are thrilled to provide EaseCentral's streamlined online enrollment that empowers brokers and their clients to go digital, and enables them to complete faster enrollments with higher quality data."

David Reid employee benefits veteran and Co-Founder and CEO of EaseCentral has seen an increase in the number of General Agents partnering with the platform to better support their brokers and says the race is on to digitize this industry. "One trend we've seen this year is larger brokers have begun adopting and rolling out SaaS solutions at a rapidly increasing pace. NFP is one of the largest five brokers in America and is systematically implementing solutions for their customers with EaseCentral. It's becoming clear that SaaS is a needed tool in the industry, but brokers bring an important component to a successful value proposition with technology."

With this is mind, the company is launching the EaseCentral Marketplace, where brokers can access a number of services and deeper carrier integrations. Major insurance providers and healthcare exchanges, such as Colonial Life, Unum, Transamerica, Amino and Limelight Health are choosing EaseCentral's platform in order to offer brokers, their clients and employees the chance to easily register for medical and non-medical benefits during the enrollment process, find experienced, in-network doctors and estimate their out-of-pocket costs for free, provide live rate and benefit data, and real-time modeling to find the right plan and defined contribution strategy.

EaseCentral is also revealing a new pillar to the company's service, HRIS which offers PTO, performance reviews, organizational charts, directories and more. In addition, the company has rolled out payroll service integrations with Paylocity, TraxPayroll and Payroll City which allows brokers and employers to easily setup payroll and benefit services and allows employees to view paystubs and deductions all on their EaseCentral login, make changes which sync to their payroll account and pull quotes and compare information from multiple carriers instantly from any desktop or mobile device. Further payroll integrations are in development with BenefitMall for release.

With the election nearing, Reid expects the consumerization of healthcare to become even more apparent in the industry. "Regardless of the election outcome, there are more changes coming to our country's healthcare system. It can be difficult to navigate the chaos. Connecting brokers with an easy to use all-in-one platform like EaseCentral will empower the thousands of brokers, HR managers and employers to offer a paperless, seamless and much better benefits experience for consumers," concluded Reid.

About EaseCentral

EaseCentral is the all-in-one software solution for employee benefits, payroll and HR. Built for agents and employers, cloud-based EaseCentral makes it simple for companies to set up and manage over 50 types of benefits, coordinate payroll and HR, collaborate with employers on new hires, changes and terminations, and deliver completed tax information - all from one location.

Started in 2012 in San Francisco by employee benefits veteran, David Reid, and web and engineering architect, Courtney Guertin, EaseCentral works with insurance brokers and small businesses to create seamless HR and benefits processes on a single, easy-to-use platform, and has offices in San Diego and Las Vegas. In 2015 EaseCentral was launched on the West Coast and is among the most widely adopted, fastest growing solutions for brokers and employers in the area, with over 22,000 employers and nearly 1 million enrollees. For more information, head to www.easecentral.com.

Media Contact: North 6th Agency, Inc. (For EaseCentral)

212-334-9753 x137

[email protected]

SOURCE EaseCentral

Related Links

https://www.easecentral.com


ALBANY, New York, October 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

The Iraq edible oils and fats market is extremely fragmented and the top seven players accounted for just under 90% of the overall market in 2015. These companies are Marsan Gida San Ve Tic A.S., Anadolu Group, and Altunkaya Group of Companies, Zer Group, Aves A.S., Yildiz Holding, and Keskinoglu Ic Ve Dis Ticaret Ltd.

Transparency Market Research has identified some of the successful strategies adopted by these enterprises in order to strengthen their hold on the edible oils and fats market in Iraq. These include joint ventures, business expansions, investments in research and development of new technologies and processes, acquisitions, and expansion of product portfolios.

The market was valued at US$1.3 bn in 2015 and is expected to reach US$2.3 bn by 2025, expanding at a CAGR of 6.0% therein. By volume, the Iraq edible oils and fats market is anticipated to register a 3.3% CAGR from 2016 to 2025.

Browse Latest Research Report with ToC: http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/edible-oils-fats-market.html

Muthanna Presents High Scope for Growth by Value and Volume

On the basis of products, vegetable and seed oil led the edible oils and fats market in Iraq in terms of revenue and the segment is anticipated to account for slightly more than half the market by the end of the forecast period. The product segment is projected to retain its lead through 2025 despite a slight decline in its market share by the end of the forecast period. On the other hand, the others segment, which comprises olive oil, is projected to register a high annual growth of 7.7% from 2010 to 2025.

Regionally, the Iraq edible oils and fats market is led the Baghdad, which accounted for a 22.4% share in 2015. The region is anticipated to retain its dominance through 2025. In terms of revenue, Muthanna is projected to register a high CAGR of 9.7% between 2016 and 2025. This region is also immensely lucrative in terms of sales volume.

Government Support Encouraging Local Production of Edible Oils and Fats

One of the key factors likely to drive the market for edible oils and fats in Iraq in the coming years is the rising production capacity for the same and this can be attributed to support from the government. The Iraqi Trade Ministry has been focused on reducing dependence on imports and encourage local production so as to meet the rising demand for edible oils and fats. "Locally produced products will be priced on the lower side and this will encourage more customers to purchase edible oils and fats," the analyst points out.

Get Industry Research Report Sample for more Professional and Technical Industry Insights: http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=14888

Weak Economic Conditions Hampering Growth

The GDP of Iraq had been on a stable if not rapid rise until 2014 and the country was considered among one of the upper-middle category nations. "However, the economic condition has been declining since mid-2014, with the per capita GDP witnessing a slump and poverty and unemployment on the rise," the author of the study states. This acts as a major deterrent to the growth of the edible oils and fats market in Iraq.

The high cost of raw materials is also a key restraint, TMR finds. The extraction processes are immensely capital intensive and it becomes increasingly difficult for new players in the Iraq edible oils and fats market.

This review is based on the findings of a TMR report titled "Edible Oils and Fats Market - Iraq Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast, 2016 - 2024."

Iraq Edible Oils and Fats Market, by Product Type

Vegetable and Seed Oil

Soybean

Sunflower Oil

Corn Oil

Palm Oil

Canola Oil

Others (Rapeseed, Mustard, Linseed among others)

Spreadable Oils and Fats

Butter

Margarine

Cooking Fats

Animal Ghee

Vegetable Ghee

Others

Iraq Edible Oils and Fats Market, by Region

Babil

Baghdad

Basra

Dhi Qar

Al-Qadisiyyah

Diyala

Karbala

Maysan

Muthanna

Najaf

Wasit

Erbil

Kirkuk

Sulaymania

Others

Browse other Research Report:

Global Edible Oil Market: http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/edible-oil-market.html

GCC and Qatar Cooking Oil Market: http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/cooking-oil-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: [email protected]



Website: http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com

Blog: http://www.tmrblog.com/

SOURCE Transparency Market Research
MANCHESTER, England, October 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

EDM, a leading global provider of training simulators to the civil aviation and defence sectors, announced today that it has launched a new apprenticeship scheme for young engineers.

Five apprentices between the ages of 16 and 18 years old began their careers with EDM last month. They will spend their first year full time at Oldham Training Centre (OTC) working towards an NVQ Level 2 in electrical and mechanical engineering. In their second year the apprentices will spend 4 days per week at EDM doing on-the-job training with 1 day per week spent at OTC to gain an NVQ Level 3. Years 3 to 4 will involve study towards a Level 3 Technical Certificate with a view to continuing in year 5 to achieve an HNC or Degree in Electrical and Mechanical Engineering.

After implementing a thorough selection process that included consideration of past academic performance, face to face interviews and various aptitude tests, just 20% of the candidates that applied were offered positions by EDM.

"Bringing through the next generation of talented engineers at EDM is vital to our future long-term success," said Tony Bermingham, Managing Director of EDM. "As well as strong academic credentials, we look for a good attitude and energy in our apprentices. This first impressive group of young engineers has demonstrated these values in abundance and we're delighted to welcome them to the EDM team."

For more information about EDM visit: www.edm.ltd.uk

About EDM

EDM is a leading global provider of training simulators to the civil aviation, defence, rail and other industries. Combining the highest engineering standards with leading-edge technologies, EDM provides airlines with Door Trainers, Cabin Service Trainers, Cabin Emergency Evacuation Trainers and Full Size Mockups and defence organisations with Procedure Trainers, Maintenance Trainers, Ejection Seats, Simulators and Full Size Replicas. Serving organisations worldwide from its UK headquarters, EDM is committed to delivering exceptional quality and value to its clients to help them enhance safety and operational efficiency.

SOURCE EDM
"Mobile messaging has become the platform of choice for consumers today," said Berger. "To effectively engage their desired audiences, brands need to create engaging content, but more importantly, become a natural and necessary part of the conversation. I couldn't be more thrilled to join Travis and the Emogi team as we aim to unlock mobile messaging in a big way."

Earlier this Fall, The Wall Street Journal profiled the launch of Wink, Emogi's new technology platform that empowers brands to join the conversation through branded emojis, stickers or GIFs. Through machine learning, Wink identifies the unique context of conversations where brands can introduce their content. This includes specific triggers such as where consumers are or how they're feeling, as well as the use of specific phrases or emoji. Brands can seamlessly publish, manage and optimize their marketing efforts within the Wink platform and dashboard based on real-time analytics and reporting.

"Alexis has a proven track record of helping brands break into new media channels, evolve content strategy, and create high impact experiences for consumers" said Emogi CEO Travis Montaque. "Adding someone as talented as Alexis to our team shows our commitment to effectively partnering with brands as they redefine mobile engagement with consumers. As we continue to expand, Alexis's savvy and experience driving business and brand strategy will only accelerate our momentum."

About Alexis Berger

Throughout her career, Alexis has been successful in transforming early stage companies into market leaders. In her previous role as SVP of Sales at Kargo, a mobile brand platform, she helped to grow the company from inception to more than $100M in revenue. As one of the first employees and General Manager at Kargo, Alexis helped to build the team from the ground up  hiring more than 50 employees and leading the expansion and oversight of all offices west of New York.

In 2014, Alexis was named as one of the Most Powerful Women in Mobile by Business Insider. Prior to Kargo, Alexis held leadership positions at various companies including Brightroll, where she developed best-in-class digital solutions for major publishers, advertisers, ad networks and DSPs.



Alexis also opened the Midwest region for Adconion Media Group and was responsible for driving brand presence and establishing strategic partnerships from the ground up. While at Adconion, she was one of its highest generating salespeople globally, setting multiple company revenue records.

For more information visit: www.emogi.com

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161013/428420

SOURCE Emogi

Related Links

http://emogi.com


ATLANTA, Oct. 12, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Encompass Digital Media, a global technology services company delivering end-to-end video solutions to broadcast and digital media companies, today named Barrie Woolston as Chief Commercial Officer, a newly created role within the organization. He joined the organization on October 5, 2016.

Woolston will report directly to Encompass CEO Chris Walters and will be responsible for leading all of the company's global sales efforts. He will also be working closely with Encompass' product, marketing, engineering and operations teams to expand the company's global relationships.

"We are thrilled to welcome Barrie to Encompass," said Chris Walters CEO of Encompass. "His extensive leadership experience in the broadcast technology space will be extremely valuable to our efforts to bring new and existing customers technology solutions that enable them to achieve maximum operational and financial performance."

Woolston joins Encompass from Arqiva where he was the Commercial Director of the business's satellite and media group. With extensive commercial and general management experience in the media industry, Woolston has successfully developed growth strategies and navigated geo-political and cultural challenges.

"Encompass understands that competition in today's TV and media landscape is increasing as the number of new digital providers and digital uptake among users both escalate," commented Barrie Woolston, Chief Commercial Officer, Encompass. "Encompass continues to deliver innovative solutions that empower broadcasters and media companies to realign their strategies as modern viewing habits continue to shift. I am excited to be a part of this journey and support Encompass in making our customers' ongoing success a reality."

For more information on Encompass please visit, http://www.encompass.tv/

About Encompass Digital Media

Encompass is a global technology services company dedicated to advancing innovation in both the broadcast and digital media industries. As a leader in comprehensive, end-to-end video solutions, the company services over 850 channels in a variety of languages and to a multitude of platforms. Encompass captures, processes and delivers over 25,000 hours of premium content per day and distributes it in both linear and non-linear formats for its clients worldwide via satellite, cable and digital platforms from its eight facilities across four continents. In addition to the services it provides to its linear clients, Encompass' array of digital service products provide non-linear solutions including content aggregation, VOD, CVOD, 24/7 streaming, event streaming, linear transport and stream origination. The company's premier services include channel playout, centralcasting for broadcast TV stations, global transmission and connectivity, digital services, government solutions and remote/studio production. For more information, please visit www.encompass.tv, and follow us on social media  LinkedIn and Twitter.

MEDIA CONTACTS:

Kara Pinato

Spark for Encompass Digital Media

[email protected]

-or-

Lisa Hagin

Encompass Digital Media

[email protected]

+1 404.386.1209

SOURCE Encompass Digital Media

Related Links

http://www.encompass.tv


OR AKIVA, Israel, October 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

Expanding Orthopedics Inc. (EOI), a privately held medical device company focused on developing and commercializing innovative expandable devices for spine surgery, is proud to announce that Dr. Raphael Roybal from The Spine Institute at Chatham Orthopaedics, Savannah, GA., will present his clinical experience with the FLXfit, the world's only articulated and expandable cage with in-situ lordosis restoration, at the SMISS, Las Vegas (Oct 13-16, 2016).

Dr. Roybal, who has already implanted tens of FLXfit cages, "I wanted to compare lordosis correction between fixed and expandable lordotic cages using MIS TLIF approach". And indeed, he says that "The results of an initial series with 6 months follow-up show that the use of the FLXfit expandable cage demonstrated increased correction of the sagittal alignment post-operatively compared to a fixed angle banana cage." In Dr. Roybal's eyes, "This is clearly understood by the configuration of the cage covering a wider footprint area with a more controlled expansion of the lordosis angle conforming to the unique patient's anatomy. Additionally, the procedure is faster, easier and gentler to the patient due to the expansion mechanism."

Dr. Roybal added, "A statistically significant improvement was noted in the group treated with the FLXfit cage vs. the fixed banana cage in all heights and lordosis measurements (p 0.02) and that maintenance of correction without subsidence in both groups was noted at 6 months." He concludes that "The major advantage of the FLXfit over existing solutions is its ability to combine a big footprint, optimal anterior column support and significant bone graft volume while preserving the patient's anatomy through a posterior, MIS, TLIF approach."

Ofer Bokobza, CEO of Expanding Orthopedics, said that "We are very proud of Dr. Roybal's achievement and honored by the selection to present at the renowned SMISS meeting." He explains that "Dr. Roybal's clinical results demonstrate the FLXfit ability to restore lordosis while maintaining it over time." Ofer concludes that "We see a great momentum in the US market with more surgeons adopting the FLXfit as their preferred treatment option for their patients."

About Expanding Orthopedics Inc.

Expanding Orthopedics Inc. (EOI) is a medical device company developing and marketing innovative products designed to address unmet clinical needs for spine care and improve long-term patients' outcome. The Company is spearheaded by a seasoned management team, and is backed by prominent spine surgeons. EOI owns a broad patent portfolio around anatomically fit, expandable devices for enhanced stability through a minimally invasive approach.

Contact info

David Elkaim, VP Marketing and Sales

E-mail: [email protected]

Phone: +1-(347)321-96-83



SOURCE Expanding Orthopedics Inc. (EOI)
HACKETTSTOWN, N.J., Oct. 12, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Unwrapping a DOVE Chocolate Promise is a simple task taking only seconds, but to create what's inside is the end product of a journey beginning thousands of miles away. Guided by artisans passionate about making the finest, silky smooth chocolate, each step of the journey requires incredible attention to detail to create the signature flavor of DOVE Chocolate  from hand selecting cacao beans for quality and flavor in Cote d'Ivoire, to a delicate roasting process rooted in European heritage.

To give fans an exclusive, inside look at the DOVE Chocolate making journey, Mars Chocolate North America released three videos highlighting the transformation from bean to bar. With the help of Mars associates who are experts in the process, viewers will uncover the unrivalled craftsmanship and quality that goes into each bite of DOVE Chocolate.

"Creating the number one pure dark chocolate brand in the United States requires you to be passionate about your craft," said Kerry Cavanaugh, Brand Director, DOVE Chocolate. "Our distinct bean to bar process allows us to have a consistent silky smooth taste  four to five cacao beans go into each DOVE Chocolate Promise, and each one of those beans have been tested twice for quality and flavor. We're excited to share with consumers this intricate process, which includes roasting our own beans, and how selecting DOVE Chocolate is choosing a dedication to craftsmanship."

One of the most important steps of the journey is to ensure the well-being and sustainability of the cocoa farmers. Mars recently pledged a donation of more than $1 million to CARE, a leading humanitarian organization fighting global poverty, to empower female farmers in Cote d'Ivoire where cacao beans used to create DOVE Chocolate are sourced. Together, DOVE Chocolate and CARE provide on-the-ground training and support to provide more opportunities, financially and socially, for women to advance their role within the community. Experience has shown when women have more income, an increased proportion is invested in family and community, further extending these efforts and benefits to the next generation of cocoa farmers.

Bean to Bar Journey

The digital video series unveils the bean to bar journey through the eyes of Ivorian-born Chef Morou Ouattara, executive chef and owner of Kora Restaurant in Crystal City, Va. Guided by Mars associates, Chef Morou is introduced to the important nuances involved in tasting and evaluating chocolate as well as the delicate process of creating DOVE Chocolate. The first three videos of the series include:

"The Tale Behind the Taste:" viewers are introduced to Chef Morou. Chef learns the signature flavor profile of DOVE Chocolate from Lisa Schroeder , an Expert Taster at Mars Chocolate North America  https://youtu.be/5Qn9pu9jnvM

viewers are introduced to Chef Morou. Chef learns the signature flavor profile of DOVE Chocolate from , an Expert Taster at Mars Chocolate North America  https://youtu.be/5Qn9pu9jnvM "Roast: It's all About the Bean:" Barry Glazier , a DOVE Chocolate Master Craftsman, shares with Chef Morou how DOVE Chocolate uses traditional European roasting techniques  https://youtu.be/sjL0E7qKIyE

, a DOVE Chocolate Master Craftsman, shares with Chef Morou how DOVE Chocolate uses traditional European roasting techniques https://youtu.be/sjL0E7qKIyE "The Art of Process:" Chef Morou learns from Glazier how the distinctive DOVE Chocolate artisan bean-to-bar process creates the world's best silky smooth chocolate  https://youtu.be/vTjV5Ejhd1k

"It is remarkable to see how a cocoa bean from Cote D'Ivoire transforms into the silky smooth chocolate loved by so many," said Chef Morou. "Partnering with DOVE Chocolate has introduced me to the important nuances involved in tasting and evaluating chocolate and provided me with inspiration for new flavors to serve at my restaurant."

The video series will continue in 2017 as Chef Morou travels to Cote d'Ivoire to learn how DOVE Chocolate ensures responsible sourcing for cocoa beans. Additionally, he will interact directly with the farmers and witness first-hand how DOVE Chocolate and CARE are working together to empower local communities.

For more information on the DOVE Chocolate Bean to Bar campaign and to follow the progress of the DOVE Chocolate and CARE partnership, please visit www.dovechocolatejourney.com, Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest.

The DOVE Chocolate Difference

From bean to bar, Mars Chocolate North America takes great care to maintain the highest standards of quality when crafting DOVE Chocolate. Every batch of beans is carefully and thoroughly evaluated for flavor and quality for use in DOVE Chocolate to ensure the authentic rich taste of the cocoa is enjoyed by consumers around the world.

It all starts with only the best cacao beans, which are tested twice by expert Mars Associate craftspeople for quality and flavor. The beans are then taken through special roasting and grinding techniques  a process rooted in European tradition - to create the signature silky smooth texture and great taste of DOVE Chocolate. Finally, Mars adds the perfect combination of chocolate liquor and 100 percent pure cocoa butter to create a balanced taste that's not too sweet, nor too bitter.

About DOVE Chocolate

From bean to bar, Mars Chocolate takes great care to maintain the highest standards of quality when creating DOVE Chocolate. It all starts with only the best cacao beans, which are tested twice by expert Mars technicians for quality and flavor. The beans are then taken through special roasting and grinding techniques to create the signature silky smooth taste of DOVE Chocolate. Finally, Mars adds the perfect combination of chocolate liquor and 100 percent pure cocoa butter to create a balanced taste that's not too sweet, nor too bitter. For more information about DOVE Chocolate, visit dovechocolate.com, Facebook and Twitter.

About Mars, Incorporated

In 1911, Frank C. Mars made the first Mars candies in his Tacoma, Washington kitchen and established Mars' first roots as a confectionery company. In the 1920s, Forrest E. Mars, Sr. joined his father in business and together they launched the MILKY WAY bar. In 1932, Forrest, Sr. moved to the United Kingdom with a dream of building a business based on the objective of creating a "mutuality of benefits for all stakeholders"  this objective serves as the foundation of Mars, Incorporated today. Based in McLean, Virginia, Mars has net sales of more than $33 billion, six business segments including Petcare, Chocolate, Wrigley, Food, Drinks, Symbioscience, and more than 75,000 Associates worldwide that are putting its Principles into action to make a difference for people and the planet through its performance.

Mars brands include: Petcare  PEDIGREE, ROYAL CANIN, WHISKAS, BANFIELD Pet Hospital, CESAR, SHEBA, DREAMIES and NUTRO; Chocolate  M&M'S, SNICKERS, DOVE, GALAXY, MARS, MILKY WAY and TWIX; Wrigley  DOUBLEMINT, EXTRA, ORBIT and 5 chewing gums, SKITTLES and STARBURST candies, and ALTOIDS and LIFESAVERS mints. Food  UNCLE BEN'S, DOLMIO, EBLY, MASTERFOODS, SEEDS OF CHANGE and ROYCO; Drinks  ALTERRA COFFEE ROASTERS, THE BRIGHT TEA COMPANY, KLIX and FLAVIA; Symbioscience  COCOAVIA and WISDOM PANEL.

For more information, please visit www.mars.com. Follow us: facebook.com/mars, twitter.com/marsglobal, youtube.com/mars, linkedin.com/company/mars.

Logo- http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161011/427527LOGO

SOURCE Mars Chocolate North America

Related Links

http://www.mars.com


"Diane has shown exceptional leadership in her past roles for Farmers Life and we are confident she will continue to drive growth and deliver a great experience for our customers," said Jeff Dailey, CEO of Farmers Insurance.

Davis had been serving as interim head of Farmers Life since July of this year. She first joined Farmers Insurance in 1992 as an actuarial associate at Farmers Life. She was promoted to strategic planning consultant at the life insurer in 2001. She moved to become chief executive of affiliated life and investment firm in 2003 and returned to Farmers in 2010, rising to chief risk officer of Farmers Life. She transitioned to become regional chief risk officer for Global Life North America at Zurich Insurance Group in 2013, before returning to Farmers Life in July. She is a Fellow of the Society of Actuaries.

Over 24 years in the life insurance industry, Davis has developed a deep understanding of Farmers Life and the value life insurance provides to customers.

About Farmers Insurance

"Farmers Insurance" and "Farmers" are tradenames for a group of affiliated insurers providing insurance for automobiles, homes and small businesses and a wide range of other insurance and financial services and products. Farmers Insurance is proud to serve more than 10 million households with over 19 million individual policies, across all 50 states, through the efforts of more than 48,000 exclusive and independent agents and approximately 21,000 employees. Farmers Insurance Exchange, the largest of the three primary insurance insurers that make up Farmers Insurance, is recognized as one of the largest U.S. companies on the 2016 Fortune 500 list.

About Farmers New World Life Insurance Company

For more than one hundred years, customers have turned to Farmers New World Life Insurance Company to help protect the financial security of their loved ones, the continuity of their businesses, and the stability of their retirement incomes. Farmers Life is associated with Farmers Insurance Group of Companies.

For more information about Farmers Insurance, visit Farmers.com, Twitter and Instagram, @WeAreFarmers, or Facebook.com/FarmersInsurance.

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161012/428173

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20130731/LA56061LOGO

SOURCE Farmers Insurance
LEXINGTON, Ky., Oct. 12, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Fazoli's, America's largest fast casual Italian chain, today announced a 5.1 percent same-store sales increase at its franchise-owned restaurants during its fiscal year second quarter ending September 30, 2016. Additionally, the company has now experienced 14 consecutive quarters of same-store sales growth.

"We are pleased to report Fazoli's continued sales growth for the first half of 2016," said Carl Howard, president and chief executive officer of Fazoli's. "The key to our company's success has been listening to and understanding our guests' tastes and preferences and adjusting our brand strategy accordingly. In the last 12 months, we have upgraded our menu, launched a best-in-class catering program, and are in the process of rolling out new guest-facing technology with more updates forthcoming. There has truly never been a better time for our brand and it is showing in our sales trends and strong franchise development."

In addition to robust sales growth, Fazoli's experienced its most successful franchise grand opening to date in September. Fueled by guest nostalgia, Fazoli's marked its return to Warner Robins, Georgia, after nearly two decades of absence. To date, the company has opened 10 new restaurants across the country with plans to open an additional two locations by the end of the year.

Furthermore, Fazoli's franchisees are experiencing nearly three times the industry average growth rate, with new franchised restaurants continually setting new company-wide records. To further attest to the brand's success, Fazoli's has produced positive same-store sales growth in 17 of the last 18 quarters.

"The team and I remained focused on food quality and service and we remain passionate about elevating both of these areas in 2017," continued Howard.

In 2011, Fazoli's underwent a major brand overhaul with the introduction of real plateware and silverware in lieu of foam plates and plastic cutlery. As part of the brand refresh, earlier this year, Fazoli's began remodeling some of its locations with a new, contemporary look and feel. In addition, the company introduced an upgraded menu using premium ingredients, which has been well received by guests. This, coupled with the company's strong performance, continues to drive its expansion. To further catapult the brand's development nationwide, Fazoli's is targeting new markets for expansion including Atlanta, Cincinnati, Dallas, Detroit, Knoxville, Phoenix, Pittsburgh and several other cities.

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
ATLANTA, Oct. 12, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- SPARKsouth, a digital marketing conference, will welcome students from throughout the Southeast as it convenes for its first annual meeting on Friday, Oct. 14. Held at the University of Georgia's Terry College of Business Executive Education Center in Buckhead, SPARKsouth serves as the largest student-focused digital conference in the Southeast, and is aimed at connecting and engaging digital marketing students and leading professionals from the field.

The first collaboration of its kind, SPARKsouth exposes students to speakers and panelists who bring both experience and variety to the table. The speakers slated for this year's conference include representatives from the Atlanta Hawks, The Home Depot, the Atlanta Braves, Verifone, Sweetwater Brewing Company, InterContinental Hotels Group and Twitter, among other leading brands.

In addition to the various speakers and panels, a mentor lunch and job fair, attendees will also have the option to select one of three tracks to follow during the conference. The student tracks include career development opportunities in an agency setting, brand-centered careers and insight into an entrepreneurial career path.

The conference will also feature keynote addresses from notable influencers in Atlanta's digital marketing community including Kate Atwood, vice president of ChooseATL, Brian Easter, co-founder of Nebo Agency and Joe Koufman, founder and CEO of AgencySparks.

"This conference presents a truly unique opportunity for students to not only learn about the digital marketing field, but also to network and connect with some of the industry's best minds," said Jennifer Osbon, co-founder of SPARKsouth. "We've handpicked the professionals attending and know that each will bring something special and valuable to the table for students."

The SPARKsouth conference serves as an ambassador for both the city of Atlanta and its digital community, bringing together and connecting locally-based organizations, corporations and agencies with top students throughout the Southeast. Conference attendees are slated to come from schools including the University of Georgia, Georgia Tech, Georgia State University, Kennesaw State University, Emory University, Morehouse College, Spelman College, Agnes Scott College, SCAD and the Portfolio Center.

Among the sponsors for this year's conference are leaders of Atlanta's digital community including Nebo Agency, ChooseATL, AgencySparks, Simpli.fi and Hypepotamus, as well as The University of Georgia's Terry College of Business.

To learn more about SPARKsouth, visit http://www.sparksouth.com.

About SPARKsouth:

SPARKsouth is a digital marketing conference held in Atlanta designed to help students throughout the Southeast launch their careers in the field. The conference's inaugural session will be held at the Terry College of Business Executive Education Center in Buckhead and will host a combined group of 400 students and professionals. The annual conference provides students with access to leaders in the Atlanta digital marketing community through keynote presentations, professional skill development sessions, panels, a mentor lunch and a job fair.

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SOURCE SPARKsouth
Wang Jianlin takes 'rich' crown again Updated: 2016-10-13 13:33 (chinadaily.com.cn)

Wang Jianlin, chairman and president of Dalian Wanda Group, attends the Hong Kong Asian Financial Forum (AFF) in Hong Kong, China, on Monday, Jan 18, 2016. [Photo/VCG]

Wang Jianlin, chairman of Dalian Wanda Group, has retained his crown again as the richest man in China, with a fortune of 215 billion yuan ($32 billion), according the Hurun Rich List 2016 released Thursday.

The billionaire Chinese property tycoon has taken the top spot three times, although this year his wealth fell 2 percent compared with a year ago.

Jack Ma, executive chairman of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd, saw his wealth rise 41 percent to 205 billion yuan, ranking second.

Tencent Holdings Ltd founder Pony Ma Huateng moved up one spot to No 3, with a fortune of 165 billion yuan, up 38 percent year on year, despite donating 13.9 billion yuan last year.

This year's dark horse, financial conglomerate Baoneng's chairman Yao Zhenhua's wealth saw a nine-fold increase to 115 billion yuan, moving up 200 places to No 4 in the ranking.

Four new names made it to the top 10 list for the first time: Baoneng's chairman Yao Zhenhua, online gaming and news portal NetEase's Ding Lei, Evergrande Real Estate's chairman Xu Jiayin and household appliances company Midea Group's founder He Xiangjian and his son He Jianfeng.

Lei Jun, founder and CEO of China's mobile company Xiaomi, dropped out of top 10 to 14th place.

"Despite a 20 percent drop in the domestic stock markets and a slowdown in the economy, the Hurun Rich List swelled by 179 to 2,056 individuals, double that of three years ago and up 10-fold from 10 years ago," said Rupert Hoogewerf, Hurun Report Chairman and Chief Researcher.

Hurun has released this ranking for the 18th consultative year since 1999, while the threshold was 2 billion yuan for the fourth straight year.
PHILADELPHIA, Oct. 12, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Recognizing the importance of helping mothers and fathers more easily balance their FMC careers with the needs of family, FMC Corporation (NYSE: FMC) has introduced two new employee leave policies. FMC's expanded Parental Leave program will provide employees up to six months of job-protected time away from work to welcome a new child to their families. The company also has enhanced its Dependent Care Leave Policy.

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"FMC employees work hard every day to make our company successful. It's important that we offer the right support and benefits to help our people more easily balance the demands of life," said Pierre Brondeau, FMC president, CEO and chairman. "These new and expanded benefits are significant steps in the right direction."

FMC has augmented its Parental Leave program to provide up to 26 weeks of leave for eligible employees. The company has doubled its 100 percent paid time off for mothers of a newborn, from six weeks to 12 weeks of fully paid leave. Fathers and spouses are eligible for six weeks of 100 percent paid time off for the birth or adoption of a baby. In addition, eligible mothers, fathers, and spouses also may take up to 14 weeks of unpaid time off. In total, FMC employees can now take up to six months of job-protected time off to welcome and help care for a new family member.

FMC has also enhanced its Dependent Care Leave policy with additional paid time off to employees caring for loved ones who need help for medical reasons or other life events. The new annual benefit provides employees up to four days of 100 percent paid time off to support immediate family members.

"It's important that FMC's benefits and HR policies reflect what matters most to our employees and their families," said Kyle Matthews, FMC vice president, Human Resources. "The ability to balance work while caring for loved ones or welcoming a new baby to the family has become increasingly important. FMC is proud to be at the forefront of employers that are introducing progressive parental and dependent care benefits that help employees lead successful careers and raise great families."

About FMC

For more than a century, FMC Corporation has served the global agricultural, industrial and consumer markets with innovative solutions, applications and quality products. FMC acquired Cheminova in April 2015. Revenue totaled approximately $3.3 billion in 2015. FMC employs approximately 6,000 people throughout the world and operates its businesses in three segments: FMC Agricultural Solutions, FMC Health and Nutrition and FMC Lithium. For more information, visit www.FMC.com.

SOURCE FMC Corporation

Related Links

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CLEVELAND, Oct. 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- As released in the Associated Press, tool company Stanley Black & Decker Inc. is buying Newell Brands' tools division for $1.95 billion in cash.

"Newell Brands Inc. announced recently that it will be selling several divisions as part of its strategy to divest non-core operations and focus on businesses considered to have the greatest potential for growth. The move to sell businesses with annual sales of about $1.5 billion comes a year after the company bought Jarden Corp. for about $13 billion and Elmer's for $600 million. The businesses being sold supply hand tools, saw blades, and power tool accessories marketed under the IRWIN, LENOX, and HILMOR brand names."

The article can be read in full here: http://wtop.com/money/2016/10/stanley-black-decker-buying-newell-tools-unit-for-1-95b/

Regarding the impact this acquisition may have on market share, Freedonia Group industry analyst Reta Sober commented, "Sales of power tool accessories associated with the IRWIN, LENOX, and HILMOR brand names will further solidify Stanley Black & Decker's position as the leading supplier of power tools to the US market."

"In value terms, Stanley Black & Decker's estimated annual power tool sales outweigh its hand tool sales, but the acquisition of Newell Brands' tools division will boost the company's hand tool sales. Stanley Black & Decker was the third largest supplier of hand tools to the US market in 2015, and this acquisition has the potential to make Stanley Black & Decker the single largest supplier of hand tools to the US market," Sober says.

A new Power Tools study, written by Sober, can be accessed here: http://www.freedoniagroup.com/industry-study/3380/power-tools.htm

About The Freedonia Group  The Freedonia Group, a division of MarketResearch.com, is a leading international industrial research company publishing more than 100 studies annually. Since 1985 we have provided research to customers ranging in size from global conglomerates to one-person consulting firms. More than 90% of the industrial companies in the Fortune 500 use Freedonia Group research to help with their strategic planning. Each study includes product and market analyses and forecasts, in-depth discussions of important industry trends, market share information and profiles of the leading industry players. Reports can be purchased at www.freedoniagroup.com and are also available on www.marketresearch.com and www.profound.com.

Follow us on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/freedonia-group/

Like us on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/FreedoniaGroup

Follow us on Twitter https://twitter.com/freedoniagroup

Press Contact:

Corinne Gangloff

+1 440.684.9600

[email protected]

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SOURCE The Freedonia Group
RALEIGH, N.C., Oct. 12, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Seasons 52, a restaurant offering a seasonal menu with ingredients sourced at the peak of freshness, today announces plans to open in the Raleigh area in 2017. Serving Lunch and Dinner daily, in addition to Sunday Brunch, the 8,525 square foot restaurant will open at Crabtree Valley Mall just in time to introduce guests to a new spring menu complemented by local artisanal spirits, craft beer and an ever-changing wine list.

"Raleigh has a rich food culture and no doubt one of the fastest-rising dining scenes in the country," says Brian Foye, President, Seasons 52. "We think many Raleigh residents share our interest in discovering the best ingredients for each season. We're looking forward to bringing this experience to life in Raleigh, and soon being a part of this incredible community."

Raleigh residents and shoppers alike can look forward to seasonally inspired fare from Seasons 52 year round  from entirely new chef innovations to a seasonal take on more traditional dishes, like brick-oven baked Flatbreads and classic desserts in smaller portions, Mini Indulgences. While the menu will change quarterly, there's always something new for Raleigh guests to discover as ingredients come into their prime throughout the year. The restaurant believes incredible food starts with excellent ingredients, and wherever possible, will partner with local Carolina region suppliers to bring fresh, mindfully sourced ingredients to the table. Many of Seasons 52's purveyors are second and third-generation family farms, from locales uniquely suited for the foods they raise and harvest.

Seasons 52 will highlight local and artisanal spirits that will serve as the focal point of the bar. Guests can enjoy handcrafted, seasonal cocktails thoughtfully prepared with their favorite spirits from the Carolina region. In addition to local distillers, Seasons 52 will partner with regional breweries to offer a selection of craft beer.

Wine enthusiasts can look forward to the perfect meal pairing with a wine list with at least 100 selections from around the globe, curated by a Master Sommelier. In addition, there will be 52 wines available by the glass, and a carefully crafted "Drink Them Before They're Famous" list of up-and-coming wines guests can try.

The Crabtree Valley Mall location will open every day to Raleigh diners looking for lunch and dinner, and will open early on Sundays for brunch. A separate a la carte menu will be offered for Sunday Brunch, featuring signature brunch cocktails and unique Chef's Creations like Shakshuka and Brick Oven Brioche French Toast. Guests can also enjoy Seasons 52's Sunset at Seasons happy hour on weekdays - complete with Chef-inspired small plates, signature cocktails, and wine and beer selections. The restaurant will feature bar and outdoor patio seating, and an open kitchen off the main dining room to give guests a view of rustic cooking techniques such as brick-oven roasting and open fire grilling. A variety of flexible private and semi-private dining spaces will be available to accommodate gatherings and events.

Seasons 52 will bring over 100 jobs to the Raleigh community when it opens next spring. Hiring will begin in early 2017.

To find out more about what's good now at Seasons 52, please visit Seasons52.com.

About Seasons 52:

Seasons 52 is a fresh grill and wine bar that offers a seasonally inspired menu featuring ingredients sourced at their peak of freshness. Using rustic cooking techniques, like brick-oven roasting and open-fire grilling over oak and mesquite wood, Seasons 52 brings out the natural flavors of food. The menu is paired with an ever-changing collection of more than 100 wines, with 52 available by the glass, along with artisanal spirits and craft beer.

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SOURCE Seasons 52

Related Links

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The recipients of the annual Frost & Sullivan Asia Pacific Best Practices Awards were identified based on in-depth research conducted by Frost & Sullivan's analysts. The award categories offered each year are carefully reviewed and evaluated to reflect the current market landscape and include new emerging trends.

The shortlisted companies were evaluated on a variety of actual market performance indicators which include revenue growth; market share and growth in market share; leadership in product innovation; marketing strategy and business development strategy.

Frost & Sullivan congratulates all the recipients of the 2016 Asia-Pacific Best Practices Awards

COUNTRY Philippines Biomass Power Competitive Strategy Innovation and Leadership Award ASEAGAS CORPORATION Philippines Contact Center Applications Vendor of the Year AVAYA Singapore Energy Management Solutions Entrepreneurial Company of the Year BARGHEST BUILDING PERFORMANCE PTE LTD Japan CRO Company of the Year CMIC CO., LTD. Philippines Contact Center System Integrator of the Year DIVERSIFIED TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS INTERNATIONAL, INC. (DTSII) Singapore Domestic Logistics Service Provider of the Year KEPPEL LOGISTICS Nepal Mobile Service Provider of the Year NCELL PVT. LTD. Singapore Waste Management Technology Leadership Award SEMBCORP Cambodia Mobile Service Provider of the Year SMART AXIATA CO., LTD. Thailand Managed Service Provider of the Year UNITED INFORMATION HIGHWAY COMPANY LIMITED SOUTHEAST ASIA Southeast Asia Contact Center Applications Vendor of the Year AVAYA Southeast Asia Solar Power Company of the Year CONERGY ASIA & ME Southeast Asia Contact Center System Integrator of the Year DIMENSION DATA ASIA PACIFIC Southeast Asia Unified Communications System Integrator of the Year DIMENSION DATA ASIA PACIFIC Southeast Asia Telecoms Tower Company of the Year EDOTCO GROUP SDN BHD Southeast Asia UPS Growth Excellence Leadership Award EMERSON NETWORK POWER Southeast Asia UPS Company of the Year SCHNEIDER ELECTRIC Southeast Asia UPS Services Company of the Year SCHNEIDER ELECTRIC ASIA PACIFIC Asia Pacific Home Water Treatment Company of the Year AMWAY Asia Pacific Outbound Systems Market Share Leadership Award ASPECT SOFTWARE (ASIA PACIFIC) PTE LTD Asia Pacific Inbound Contact Routing Systems Market Share Leadership Award AVAYA Asia Pacific Web Defacement Monitoring and Restoration Product Line Strategy Leadership Award BANFF CYBER TECHNOLOGIES Asia Pacific Hybrid IT Strategy Award CENTURYLINK Asia Pacific Managed Services Growth Strategy Award CITIC TELECOM CPC Asia Pacific CRO Growth Excellence Leadership Award COVANCE INC Asia Pacific Managed Cloud Company of the Year DATAPIPE Asia Pacific Water Disinfection Product Line Strategy Leadership Award DE NORA Asia Pacific UPS Competitive Strategy Innovation and Leadership Award EATON Asia Pacific Quantum Cascade Laser Process Gas Analyzer New Product Innovation Award EMERSON AUTOMATION SOLUTIONS Asia Pacific Data Center Integrated Power (DCIP) Infrastructure Growth Excellence Leadership Award EMERSON NETWORK POWER Asia Pacific Data Center Industry Visionary Innovation Leadership Award EQUINIX Asia Pacific Property Development New Product Innovation Award FOREST CITY Asia Pacific Contract Research Outsourcing Services Customer Value Leadership Award INC RESEARCH Asia Pacific Commercialization Services Provider Company of the Year INVENTIV HEALTH Asia Pacific Facilities Management Competitive Strategy Innovation and Leadership Award ISS ASIA PACIFIC Asia Pacific Smart Grid Solutions Company of the Year ITRON, INC. ASIA PACIFIC Asia Pacific Headset Company of the Year JABRA GN NETCOM (S) PTE LTD Asia Pacific Office Headset Vendor of the Year JABRA GN NETCOM (S) PTE LTD Asia Pacific Facilities Management Company of the Year JLL Asia Pacific Medical Glove Growth Excellence Leadership KOSSAN RUBBER INDUSTRIES BHD Asia Pacific Cell Therapy Company of the Year MESOBLAST LTD Asia Pacific Neurological Disorders New Product Innovation Award MOLEAC PTE LTD Asia Pacific Cloud Contact Centre Service Provider of the Year ORANGE BUSINESS SERVICES Asia Pacific Cloud UC Growth Excellence Leadership Award ORANGE BUSINESS SERVICES Asia Pacific CRO Company of the Year QuintilesIMS Asia Pacific Data Center Integrated Power Infrastructure Company of the Year SCHNEIDER ELECTRIC Asia Pacific Mass Spectrometry Company of the Year SHIMADZU Asia Pacific Building Technologies Company of the Year SIEMENS Asia Pacific Smart Grid Services Provider of the Year SILVER SPRING NETWORKS Asia Pacific Airport IT Solutions Company of the Year SITA Asia Pacific Bottled Water Company of the Year SPRITZER Asia Pacific Managed UC Services Provider of the Year TATA COMMUNICATIONS Asia Pacific Regional Distribution Service Provider of the Year TIONG NAM LOGISTICS SOLUTIONS SDN BHD Asia Pacific Warehouse Services Provider of the Year TIONG NAM LOGISTICS SOLUTIONS SDN BHD Asia Pacific Quality Monitoring Systems Market Share Leadership Award VERINT SYSTEMS Asia Pacific Workforce Management Systems Market Share Leadership Award VERINT SYSTEMS Asia Pacific Renewable Energy Technology Company of the Year VESTAS ASIA PACIFIC WIND TECHNOLOGY PTE LTD Asia Pacific Biologics CMO Growth Excellence Leadership Award WUXI BIOLOGICS (CAYMAN) INC. Asia Pacific Renewable Energy Technology Growth Excellence Leadership Award WUXI SUNTECH POWER CO LTD GLOBAL Global Health and Wellness Competitive Strategy Leadership Award HEALTHHUB.SG Global Healthcare Platform Enabling Technology Leadership Award HEALTHHUB.SG Global Healthcare Services Visionary Innovation Leadership Award HEALTHHUB.SG

About Frost & Sullivan

Frost & Sullivan, the Growth Partnership Company, works in collaboration with clients to leverage visionary innovation that addresses the global challenges and related growth opportunities that will make or break today's market participants.

For more than 50 years, we have been developing growth strategies for the global 1000, emerging businesses, the public sector and the investment community. Is your organization prepared for the next profound wave of industry convergence, disruptive technologies, increasing competitive intensity, Mega Trends, breakthrough best practices, changing customer dynamics and emerging economies? Contact Us: Start the discussion

Media Contact

Melissa Tan

Corporate Communications  Asia Pacific

Phone: +65.6890.0926

Email: [email protected]

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SOURCE Frost & Sullivan

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"We at Gardner-White think that spending Thanksgiving Day with your family is one of those cherished and time-honored traditions that deserves to be upheld. I, along with all the other members of the Gardner-White team, will enjoy the day off and will spend it with my loved ones," said Steve Tronstein, CEO. "As a family-owned and operated business since 1912, we are choosing to remain closed on Thanksgiving to not only honor our staff, but our customers as well so they too can spend more time with their families. Family time is more important than shopping on Thanksgiving Day."

"We are pleased to note that this year several malls and national retailers have announced that they will also remain closed on Thanksgiving Day. We applaud their decision," said Tronstein.

Beginning at 8:00 a.m. on Friday, November 25, all Gardner-White stores will re-open for Black Friday.

For a list of store hours, please visit, www.Gardner-White.com. Select Black Friday deals will be made available in early November.

ABOUT GARDNER-WHITE

Gardner-White Furniture is a Furniture Today Top 100 company, an industry leader in sales per square foot, and a market leader in bedding sales. Founded in 1912, Gardner-White has been serving generations of Michigan families for over 100 years. Gardner-White is a family-owned and operated furniture retailer whose mission is to offer excellent value and selection, along with convenient delivery options for the busy consumers  becoming the first furniture company to offer same-day delivery. A single store until 1974, Gardner-White now operates throughout all of metropolitan Detroit and continues to grow.

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SOURCE Gardner-White Furniture

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AUSTIN, Texas, Oct. 12, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- GDU, the leading consumer drone manufacturer focusing on power and portability, today announced the company is shipping the Advanced Byrd model featuring the fully integrated GoPro gimbal. The Advanced model offers users additional features and functionality, including ability to use the most popular action camera on the market.

GDU Launches Advanced Byrd - World's Only Folding and Modular Consumer Drone

GDU's Advanced Byrd model maintains the same portability feature consumers loved from the first model  the world's first drone to fold up small enough to fit into a backpack, while also having the only modular gimbal capability and the power to lift the world's favorite and most used DSLR cameras.

"The GDU Advanced Byrd enters the market as the most capable consumer drone based on Byrd's flying platform configuration," stated Nicolia Wiles, GDU Director of Digital. "Byrd was the first foldable drone on the market, but is also the only drone with completely interchangeable gimbals. Whereas the competition can only offer one camera to use with their drone, the Byrd can use multiple camera types on a single flying platform. The mission of GDU has always been to solve the biggest problems users face with typical drones  portability, power and modularity. While some manufacturers have followed us on creating foldable drones to solve the portability issue, only GDU has the power and modular design necessary to add additional components and carry third party cameras."

The Advanced Byrd provides for 29 minutes of flight time, with a guaranteed 1000-meter video downlink system included in the shipped model (no additional downlink technology needed) and also offers a more advanced OFDM system, compared to WiFi transmission in the Standard model. Price of the Advanced Byrd model will be $849.00. The much anticipated Premium model will also be shipping soon. Interested individuals can find dealer information here: http://www.gdu-tech.com/#/store/dealer.

Advanced Byrd Stats:

Only drone with interchangeable gimbal/camera configurations (not stuck with one camera)

Future-proofed for use with DSLR cameras

'Follow Me' technology

OFDM HD 1000m video downlink system

Optical and ultrasonic flight assistance (for inside flights)

29-minute flight time

Included 3-axis gimbal integrated for GoPro cameras

Route planning

Intelligent orientation control

Smart 'return-to-home' feature

Tested in the world's harshest climates to ensure quality

For more information on where to purchase and product details, visit www.gdu-tech.com.

About GDU

GDU, formerly known as ProDrone, created the first consumer UAV that folded up easily into the size of a backpack, without sacrificing any performance. We also created the first interchangeable camera gimbals. GDU is transforming the industry through truly innovative ideas that consumers want. What makes us different is aside from our focus on comprehensive research, development, design and production of unmanned aerial vehicles, we offer concierge-style customer service, which addresses the number one complaint from consumers regarding consumer UAVs of all brands. All Byrd models are ruthlessly tested in the world's harshest climates to guarantee unconditional quality.

Media Contacts:

Jennifer Gooding

PRIME|PR

O: 512.477.7373

M: 310.927.1829

[email protected]

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This content was issued through the press release distribution service at Newswire.com. For more info visit: http://www.newswire.com

SOURCE GDU

Related Links

http://www.gdu-tech.com


HAUPPAUGE, N.Y., Oct. 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- The Gemini Companies are honored to announce that Gemini Fund Services, LLC (Gemini Fund, http://www.geminifund.com) received two U.S. Mutual Fund Services Awards from Fund Intelligence GroupBest Administrator and Most Innovative Fund Administrator among servicers with under $100 billion in assets under administration. The awards were presented at a reception on October 6, 2016 at the Yale Club of New York City.

"We are consistently seeking innovative ways to make it easier for advisors of all sizes to launch and manage mutual funds in today's ever-changing marketplace," said Andrew Rogers, Chief Executive Officer of The Gemini Companies. "As a mutual fund administrator, we serve as an engaged partner offering support in navigating industry rules and regulations, helping advisors launch funds that will meet long-term goals."

Gemini Fund and its sister firms under The Gemini Companies umbrella continue to expand their offerings to clients. In Global Custodian magazine's Summer 2016 mutual fund administration survey, securities service professionals in all servicing areas gave Gemini Fund scores that were between 103 and 246 basis points higher than last year's survey. Global Custodian noted Gemini Fund demonstrated "the most marked improvement in client perception in this year's survey."

Survey participants' comments included:

"Senior management is very accessible and provides strategic direction and insight into the competitive landscape, which helps us run our business."

"Some recent technology upgrades have really been a nice value-add. It seems that there are always improvements and tweaks being made to the service and technology to benefit us and keep up with regulations."

"We are humbled and honored that Fund Intelligence Group has recognized the strategic and operational benefits we provide as an administrator," said Mr. Rogers. "We remain dedicated to evolving along with the advisors we serve in order to meet their changing needs."

About The Gemini Companies

The Gemini Companies provide investment companies with a single point of access to multiple solutions for pooled investment products. The individual service firms within The Gemini Companies were built on innovation, client partnerships and service, and their teams possess expertise in fund administration, accounting, technology, compliance and reporting.

Gemini Fund Services, LLC helps bring mutual funds to market, providing comprehensive administration, accounting, distribution and transfer agent services. Gemini Hedge Fund Services, LLC provides middle- and back-office administration, real-time portfolio valuations, comprehensive financial reporting and a full spectrum of investor services to help hedge fund managers meet the requirements of investors and regulatory bodies. Gemini Alternative Funds, LLC offers a managed account platform to fund managers to access multiple distribution channels and operational efficiencies, and allow qualified eligible purchasers and accredited investors to select from a variety of alternative investment strategies through a single account.

The Gemini Companies are subsidiaries of NorthStar Financial Services Group, LLC, which has more than 750 employees and over $455 billion in assets under management and administration, and TA Associates, a leading global growth private equity firm. For more information, please call (855) 891-0092 or visit www.thegeminicompanies.com.

6995-GFS-10/11/2016

CONTACT: Andrew Jennings

JConnelly

(646) 922-7758

[email protected]

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SOURCE The Gemini Companies

Related Links

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Rescue 21 is the U.S. Coast Guard's advanced command, control and direction-finding communications system. The system was created to better locate mariners in distress, save lives and property at sea and on navigable rivers. By harnessing state-of-the-market technology, the General Dynamics-built Rescue 21 system enables the Coast Guard to execute its search and rescue (SAR) activities with far greater agility and efficiency. Rescue 21 is operational along the entire Atlantic, Pacific and Gulf coasts of the continental United States as well as along the shores of the Great Lakes, Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands, Hawaii, Guam and Mariana Islands.

"Mission Systems is proud to work with the Coast Guard on this critical SAR program," said Chris Marzilli, president of General Dynamics Mission Systems. "Since its implementation, the Coast Guard has supported more than 90,000 SAR cases using Rescue 21. This system saves lives."

Mission Systems will continue to provide customer care, field support and engineering escalation resources as well as support for information assurance, spare parts and obsolescence management, and pursue life-cycle cost savings.

"We will continue to leverage the best technology and deliver superior program management to improve Rescue 21 mission readiness," commented Bill Weiss, vice president and general manager of the Ground Systems line of business at General Dynamics Mission Systems. "We're proud to be a part of this important program, and deeply value the Coast Guard's confidence in us."

The 36-month award consists of a base period with three option periods from September 2016 through August 2019.

General Dynamics Mission Systems is a business unit of General Dynamics (NYSE: GD). For more information about General Dynamics Mission Systems, please visit gdmissionsystems.com and follow us on Twitter @GDMS.

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SOURCE General Dynamics Mission Systems

Related Links

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MEXICO CITY, Oct. 12, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Grupo Rotoplas, SAB de CV (BMV: AGUA) ("Rotoplas" or the "Company"), the leading provider of individual and integrated water solutions in the Americas, announced today that it has signed a market maker services contract with UBS Casa de Bolsa, SA de CV, UBS Grupo Financiero (UBS) for a period of 12 months, starting October 12, 2016.

UBS, in its role as market maker, will trade AGUA's shares listed in the Mexican Stock Exchange (BMV) in order to promote liquidity and to contribute to stabilization and continuity of AGUA's price per share.

With the incorporation of the market maker program, and together with the stock buyback fund approved by the Board of Directors, Rotoplas reaffirms its commitment of maintaining efforts to enhance share liquidity to investors.

Safe Harbor

This press release may include certain forward-looking statements relating to Grupo Rotoplas S.A.B. de C.V., it relies on considerations of the Grupo Rotoplas S.A.B. de C.V. management which are based on current and known information; however, the forward-looking statements could vary due to facts, circumstances and events beyond the control of Grupo Rotoplas, S.A.B. de C.V.

About the Company

Grupo Rotoplas S.A.B. de C.V. is the leading provider of individual and integrated water solutions for storing, carrying, and treating water in the Americas. With more than 35 years' experience in the industry and 23 plants throughout the Americas, Rotoplas has a presence in 13 countries and a portfolio that includes 17 product lines. Grupo Rotoplas has been listed on the Mexican Stock Exchange (BMV) under the ticker "AGUA" since December 2014.

SOURCE Grupo Rotoplas SAB de CV

Related Links

http://www.rotoplas.com


New book lifts lid on Huawei's story Updated: 2016-10-13 17:22 By ANGUS MCNEICE/DAI TIAN(China Daily UK)

Huawei has gone from humble beginnings to becoming the world's largest telecom company. [MARK SCHIEFELBEIN/AP]

Books on leadership come out most months, promising to transform readers into the next Richard Branson of Virgin or Wang Jianlin of Dalian Wanda.

Like most of its genre Huawei: Leadership, Culture and Connectivitywhich launched in the UK this weekmay not offer a cheat sheet for aspiring moguls, but it does untangle one of the most unlikely success stories in Chinese business history.

Huawei went from humble beginnings as a small equipment trading company in an emerging market to the largest telecom company in the world.

It has forged ahead at a rapid rate in recent years, going from $27.6 billion in revenue in 2010 to $60.8 billion last year.

And it has done so with an uncommon management and ownership structure, operating with a rotating CEO and with 98.6 percent of the company owned by employees. Huawei has achieved success on the international stage to a degree rarely enjoyed by a Chinese business and is the only one among 91 Chinese mainland firms in the Fortune Global 500 list to earn more revenue abroad than in China.

The book is backed by Huawei, and its co-authors argue that openness, integration and collaboration with UK businesses played an integral part in its success.

Huawei has made significant inroads and investment since entering the British market in the early 2000s with 100 employees. Today, it has 15 UK offices and more than 1,100 UK employees.

It has partnered with major domestic providers British Telecom, Vodafone, TalkTalk and EE. Market analyst Oxford Economics reported last year that Huawei is on track to meet a five-year, 1.3 billion pound investment plan agreed between founder Ren Zhengfei and then-UK prime minister David Cameron in 2012.

"Huawei is among the most open companies in the world and it values employees of various backgrounds," co-author and Huawei adviser Tian Tao said in an interview with China Daily.

"British Telecom is the first major international company to embrace Huawei. It played a vital role in Huawei's globalization.

Contact the writers at angus@mail.chinadailyuk.com
The consortium is one of four regional health care systems newly awarded funding under the PMI Cohort Program, a landmark research effort aimed at advancing personalized health care by studying how individual differences in lifestyle, environment and genetics influence a person's health and disease risk. The consortium joins a network of other health provider organizations announced earlier this year.

Henry Ford is leading the Trans-American Consortium for the Health Care System Research Network, which comprises four integrated health care systems representing a strikingly diverse community population totaling more than 9 million individuals across seven states. The consortium includes scientists from Baylor Scott & White Research Institute in Texas, Essentia Health headquartered in Minnesota, Spectrum Health in Michigan and University of Massachusetts Medical School.

"We're honored to have been chosen as one of the leaders of such a landmark research initiative and to partner with a distinguished group of health care organizations," says Henry Ford President Wright Lassiter III. "The data we collect could help answer important questions about a variety of health conditions."

The consortium will initially enroll 10,000 participants in the first year, collect their health information and biospecimens, and provide input on developing plans for the Cohort Program. The Cohort Program aims to collectively enroll 1 million participants nationally over several years. Participants will be asked to:

Provide diet and lifestyle information.

Provide blood and urine samples.

Undergo a physical evaluation.

Grant access to their electronic medical record.

Share real-time information via smartphones or wearable devices.

The NIH emphasized that collected data will be protected by privacy and security safeguards.

"This initiative has the potential to improve prevention and treatment of disease based on an individual's lifestyle, environment and genetics. Ultimately, this could lead to more effective preventive measures and treatments early on," says Christine Cole Johnson, Ph.D., MPH, chair of Henry Ford's Department of Public Health Sciences and co-principal investigator of the Trans-American Consortium. "We look forward to working with our consortium partners known for their medical and research expertise."

In announcing the new partnerships, the NIH said the organizations "have expertise in engaging racial and ethnic minority populations who have been historically under-represented in biomedical research. They are also well positioned to enroll over time populations that are often unable to take part in research, such as those with mental illness, substance abuse, developmental delays and cognitive impairments."

Brian Ahmedani, Ph.D., director of Research for Henry Ford's Behavioral Health Medicine and co-principal investigator, called the Cohort Program "one of the most revolutionary studies ever developed."

"It is more than a standard research study, but a true patient-provider-research partnership, whereby we hope to work collaboratively to make major advances in understanding risk of disease as well as matching people with the most effective treatments for them. I'm personally very excited about the opportunities this project may offer to improve personalized care, and specifically in my area of passion  mental health care, in the years to come," Dr. Ahmedani says.

Henry Ford is also part of an oncology precision medicine program to revolutionize cancer care in the Midwest. In June, Henry Ford and Syapse, the leading precision medicine software company, announced a partnership as part of the White House Cancer Moonshot's call for action.

About Henry Ford Health System

Henry Ford Health System is a six-hospital system headquartered in Detroit. It is one of the nation's leading comprehensive, integrated health systems, recognized for clinical excellence and innovation. Henry Ford Health System provides both health insurance and health care delivery, including acute, specialty, primary and preventive care services backed by excellence in research and education. The system is a 2011 Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award recipient. Visit www.henryford.com to learn more.

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161013/428366

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161013/428364

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161013/428365

SOURCE Henry Ford Health System

Related Links

http://www.henryford.com


SAN DIEGO, Oct. 12, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- The United States Hispanic Chamber of Commerce honored the Hispanic Chamber of E-Commerce with the 2016 Chamber of the Year Award for its outstanding accomplishments, leadership, service, and commitment to the Hispanic business community.

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161011/427451

The Hispanic Chamber of the Year award is chosen from the more than 200 Hispanic chambers across the nation.

"It's truly an honor to be recognized by the United States Hispanic Chamber of Commerce with the Chamber of the Year Award. Our commitment to the family business sector has given us the edge to become one of the leading Hispanic business associations in the country and the largest Hispanic business association in San Diego County," said Tayde Aburto, President & CEO of the HISCEC. "The economic impact of empowering family owned businesses through the utilization of technology opens new sources of innovation, fosters entrepreneurship, facilitates the exchange of ideas and adoption of new business models, helps to strengthen business relationships, contributes to increase profits and builds a competitive advantage. By having a stronger and smarter family business sector, we can make families, communities and entire regions more prosperous. Special thanks to our members, advisory board, team and our sponsors for investing in us."

To learn more about the Hispanic Chamber of E-Commerce, visit www.hiscec.com.

About the HISCEC

The HISCEC is a member of the US Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, based in San Diego, California with strategic partners in the U.S., Canada and Latin America. Through its mission of closing the digital divide, providing technological resources and training, and advocating for supplier diversity, the HISCEC represents the interests of 43,000 Hispanic business owners who call San Diego home and advocates on behalf of major U.S. corporations seeking to do business with innovative, Hispanic entrepreneurs. To learn more, visit www.hispanicechamber.com. Follow the HISCEC on Twitter @HISCEC.

About the USHCC

The USHCC actively promotes the economic growth, development and interests of more than 4.1 million Hispanic-owned businesses that, combined, contribute over $661 billion to the American economy every year. It also advocates on behalf of 260 major American corporations and serves as the umbrella organization for more than 200 local chambers and business associations nationwide. For more information, visit ushcc.com. Follow the USHCC on Twitter @USHCC.

Media Contact:

Tayde Aburto

(619) 787-3793

Email

SOURCE Hispanic Chamber of E-Commerce

Related Links

http://www.hiscec.com


Support for the End of Life Option Act among California Latinos (70%), who are predominantly Catholic, was 10 points higher than among California Catholics as a whole (60%), according to a poll conducted in June 2015 by Goodwin Simon Strategic Research and Probolsky Research. In addition, support for the law among Latinos rose to at least 75 percent according to a poll conducted in August 2015 by the Institute of Governmental Studies at the University of California at Berkeley.

The HPRA National Bravo! Awards are the most prestigious awards in Hispanic communications, recognizing the industry's finest public relations and marketing campaigns from across the country. The winners were announced Wednesday night during a ceremony at the Lotte New York Palace Hotel in New York City.

"Congratulations to Compassion & Choices and all the winners for contributing superb work to the Hispanic public relations industry," said Antonio Hernandez, president of HPRA's national board. "As we continue to advance the practice of Hispanic public relations, we are proud of providing a platform to recognize and celebrate Latinos' achievements in this hyper-competitive profession."

"We were able to educate, mobilize and engage Latino voters and California policymakers about medical aid in dying," said Toni Broaddus, former California campaign director for Compassion & Choices, who is now acting national director of political affairs and advocacy for Compassion & Choices. "Our Latino communications media strategy heavily influenced the passage of California's End of Life Option Act. Six previous attempts over more than two decades to pass similar legislation had failed."

As communications director for Compassion & Choices' California campaign, Patricia A. Gonzalez-Portillo, a former journalist for La Opinion, The [Riverside, CA] Press-Enterprise and The Brownsville [Texas] Herald, launched an innovative Latino media campaign. The objectives were to educate Latino voters and policymakers about medical aid in dying, publicize compelling stories to encourage them to become engaged in the issue, and persuade them to support a law authorizing this end-of-life option.

Compassion & Choices (C&C) recruited Dan Diaz, who had relocated from California to Oregon with his terminally ill wife, Brittany Maynard, so she could utilize Oregon's death-with-dignity law, and publicized the stories of other Latino Californians whose personal experience demonstrated the need for this end-of-life care option. C&C also recruited labor leader and civil rights icon Dolores Huerta; and actor, director and activist Edward James Olmos.

Those tactics led to hundreds of online, print, radio and TV news stories in Spanish-language media outlets that exclusively focused on the option of medical aid in dying and endorsements of the End of Life Option Act by various publications, including La Opinion, the nation's largest Spanish-language newspaper.

"It is a great honor to receive the nation's most prestigious awards in Hispanic communications," said Gonzalez-Portillo, who is now the national Latino communications manager for Compassion & Choices in its Los Angeles office.

"I am very excited to expand our Latino efforts nationwide and to continue to provide culturally appropriate material for Spanish speakers," said Gonzalez-Portillo, a native Texan born and raised on the U.S.-Mexico border. "All of my colleagues at Compassion & Choices and I are committed to empowering terminally ill Latinos with the tools they need so they can access the end-of-life care options they desire."

About Compassion & Choices

Compassion & Choices is the nation's oldest and largest nonprofit organization working to improve care and expand choice for the end of life, www.CompassionAndChoices.org.

About HPRA

The HPRA National Bravo! Awards are the most prestigious awards in Hispanic communications recognizing the industry's finest campaigns across several categories including automotive, technology, sports, digital, nonprofit and integrated marketing communications, among others. www.hpra-usa.org

National Media Contact :

Sean Crowley, (202) 495-8520-c, [email protected]

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161013/428526

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20140312/DC81938LOGO-b

SOURCE Compassion & Choices

Related Links

http://CompassionAndChoices.org


LAKE SUCCESS, N.Y., Oct. 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Howard Fensterman, Managing Partner of Abrams Fensterman, Fensterman, Eisman, Formato, Ferrara & Wolf, LLP (Abrams Fensterman), today announced that Eighteen members of the firm were chosen 2016 New York Super Lawyers and Seventeen others were named Rising Stars.

"I am extremely proud of the outstanding professionals who achieved this great accomplishment," said Howard Fensterman. "I am also extremely happy for our firm. At Abrams Fensterman, we have cultivated a culture of teamwork and practice-area integration over the past several years, and the news of so many members being selected for these great honors quickly circulated throughout each of our offices where it was received with great enthusiasm," Fensterman added.

The Super Lawyers selections process involves creation of a candidate pool, evaluation of candidates by the Super Lawyers' research department and peer evaluation by practice area. Each candidate is evaluated on 12 indicators of peer recognition and professional achievement. The objective of Super Lawyers is to create a credible, comprehensive and diverse listing of outstanding attorneys that can be used as a resource for attorneys and consumers searching for legal counsel. Super Lawyer is a distinction earned by only five percent of the lawyers in the New York metropolitan area.

In alphabetical order, the Abrams Fensterman Super Lawyers are as follows :

Robert Abrams  Elder Law, Lake Success John Belesi  Health Care, Lake Success RoseAnn C. Branda  Family Law, Brooklyn Frank V. Carone  Government Relations, Brooklyn Samuel J. Ferrara  Family Law, Lake Success Ellen L. Flowers  Elder Law, Lake Success Patrick Formato  Health Care, Lake Success Jonathan S. Hoffman  Health Care, Lake Success Elizabeth Kase  Criminal Defense; White Collar, Lake Success Neil M. Kaufman  Mergers & Acquisitions, Lake Success Michael S. Kelton  Professional Liability; Defense, Manhattan Ellyn S. Kravitz  Elder Law, Manhattan Nancy B. Levitin  Health Care, Lake Success Alfredo F. Mendez  Criminal Defense: White Collar, Manhattan Michael E. Ratner  Family Law, Lake Success Ayman H. Soliman  Health Care, Lake Success Sharon P. Stiller  Employment & Labor, Rochester Carolyn Reinach Wolf  Health Care, Lake Success

A maximum of 2.5% of the lawyers in the state are selected by the research team at Super Lawyers to receive the honor of Rising Star. The seventeen Abrams Fensterman attorneys who have been selected 2016 New York Metro Rising Stars are, in alphabetical order:

Moriah R. Adamo  Elder Law, Lake Success Katie Barbieri  Administrative Law, Lake Success Grace M. Borrino  Family Law, Brooklyn Andrea M. Brodie  Family Law, Lake Success Danielle N. Burns  Family Law, Brooklyn Jordan Fensterman  Health Care, Lake Success Michael L. Gurman  Health Care, Lake Success Joy Jankunas  Family Law, Lake Success Alex Leibson  Business Litigation, Lake Success Patti Piccininni  Mergers & Acquisitions, Lake Success Christopher A. Renke  Business Litigation, Lake Success Jennifer N. Santaniello  Estate & Probate, Lake Success Yulian Shtern  Health Care, Lake Success Daniel H. Smith  Family Law, Lake Success Greg H. Stoller  Mergers & Acquisitions, Lake Success Danielle M. Visvader  Elder Law, Lake Success Melanie I. Wiener  Health Care, Lake Success

Firm Background Statement

Abrams Fensterman, Fensterman, Eisman, Formato, Ferrara & Wolf, LLP is recognized throughout the New York metropolitan area as one of the region's most trusted teams of savvy and skillful lawyers. The firm is appreciated for its knowledge, insight and practical experience across a broad range of legal and business issues. Clients trust Abrams Fensterman's uncommon, firm-wide passion to exceed traditional expectations and its record of achieving outstanding outcomes for all clients, large and small.

The firm delivers a diverse range of best-in-class specialties including health law, divorce and family law, commercial litigation and appeals, real estate, mental health law, employment and labor law, elder law, medical malpractice defense, white collar criminal defense, estate planning and corporate mergers and acquisitions. According to the client's need, these specialties often converge within the firm's unique collaborative culture to serve the increasingly inter-related and complex legal challenges faced by today's corporations, partnerships, institutions, families and individuals.

Founded in 2000, Abrams Fensterman serves clients from offices in Lake Success, Long Island; Manhattan, Rochester and Brooklyn.

SOURCE Abrams Fensterman, Fensterman, Eisman, Formato, Ferrara & Wolf, LLP
LOS ANGELES, Oct. 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- HYPERLOOP ONE today announced an additional $50 million of financing as it prepares for the world's first demonstration of a full Hyperloop system in the first quarter of 2017. This brings the total financing raised by Hyperloop One to $160 million since its founding in 2014. Hyperloop One also announced that world-class finance executive Brent Callinicos has joined the Hyperloop One executive team as a full-time strategic advisor to the CEO and Board of Directors.

The latest financing round was led by DP World Group of Dubai, the third largest ports operator in the world, which recently announced an agreement with Hyperloop One to explore a Hyperloop system to move containers from ships docked at its flagship Port of Jebel Ali to a new inland container depot in Dubai. With this strategic investment, DP World's Group Chairman and CEO His Excellency Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem will be joining Hyperloop One's board, providing the Company with deep expertise in complex cargo handling and a global mindset that comes from operating a portfolio of 77 marine and inland terminals in six continents.

"DP World and Dubai are at the forefront of technological innovation in the transport and logistics industry and we continue to seek opportunities to invest in and utilize our expertise to develop disruptive technology," said DP World Group Chairman and CEO Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem. "We are exploring many innovations in our sector and our collaboration with Hyperloop One is just one example illustrating our support of creativity and our commitment to research and development, using technologies to make our operations more efficient."

Also joining the Company board is Ziyavudin Magomedov, the Chairman of The Summa Group, a diversified private holding company with significant investments in port logistics, engineering, construction, telecommunications and the oil and gas sectors. It employs more than 25,000 people in almost 40 regions of Russia and abroad. Mr. Magomedov's Caspian VC Partners fund has been a strategic and early investor in Hyperloop One. "I'm very proud to witness Hyperloop One's growth and rapid development," says Magomedov.

ATEL Ventures is also providing the Company with new equipment financing for its capital expansion as it continues to build out its 100,000-square-foot Metalworks fabrication facility and 137-acre Apex test and safety site in North Las Vegas, Nevada. Construction of the Company's full-system development loop is underway as Hyperloop One prepares for its Kitty Hawk moment in the first quarter of 2017.

"We are very proud to welcome our new investors, financial partners and board members to those who already share our passion and commitment to develop the next mode of transportation that will eliminate the barriers of time and distance," said Rob Lloyd, CEO of Hyperloop One. "With a team of nearly 200 brilliant employees, the company is leading the way in the development of Hyperloop technology and we are on track to show the world our full system early next year."

With the addition of Brent Callinicos to the team, Hyperloop One cofounder and Executive Chairman Shervin Pishevar notes: "I have always dreamed of having someone of Brent's caliber and experience join our senior team at Hyperloop One. Brent has participated from a front row seat in the growth and development of some of the most iconic companies in the world. I saw first hand his contributions to Uber when it scaled from 300 employees to 3,000-plus, launched hundreds of cities and raised billions of dollars. His experience will be invaluable as we prepare for the next stage in our funding and development."

Callinicos will initially focus on helping develop Hyperloop One's financial funding and revenue generation model at a company, partner and project level. The Company will also leverage his 25+ years of experience at scaling and developing the internal finance and operational infrastructure for world-class high-growth multinational firms.

Prior to joining the company, Mr. Callinicos served as the Chief Financial Officer at Uber Technologies from 2013 to 2015. Prior to Uber, Callinicos was VP, Treasurer and Chief Accountant at Google from 2007 to 2013. He also ran Google's green energy investment portfolio. Brent held various roles at Microsoft from 1992 to 2007, where most recently he was CFO of the Platforms and Services Division. He also served as Microsoft's Treasurer from 2000-2004. Now based in Los Angeles, Callinicos sits on the boards of Baidu, PVH and Rubicon Global.

"After such an exciting and rewarding career at world-changing, industry-leading, companies like Uber, Google and Microsoft, it seemed improbable that I would find another opportunity to make the same kind of positive impact on the world. But it seems that the stars have aligned with my recent move to Los Angeles and I am thrilled to join Hyperloop One as Chief Financial Advisor at this incredible moment," said Callinicos.

For more information about Hyperloop One, please visit,www.hyperloop-one.com.

About Hyperloop One

Hyperloop One is reinventing transportation by developing the world's first Hyperloop, an integrated structure to move passengers and cargo between two points immediately, safely, efficiently, and sustainably. Our team has the world's leading experts in engineering, technology and transport project delivery, working in tandem with global partners and investors to make Hyperloop a reality, now. Headquartered in Los Angeles, the company is led by CEO Rob Lloyd and co-founded by Executive Chairman Shervin Pishevar and President of Engineering Josh Giegel. For more information, please visit www.hyperloop-one.com.

For Hyperloop One media enquiries please contact:

Contact:

Rick Jennings

Step 3 PR for Hyperloop One

[email protected]

310.428.8575

SOURCE Hyperloop One

Related Links

http://hyperloop-one.com


"Gurnade has always been drawn to the uniquely aggressive lines of the production Veloster," said Joshua Cloud, owner of Gurnade, Inc. "So when Hyundai approached us with the opportunity to develop one of their vehicles for SEMA, we didn't hesitate to create the Gurnade Veloster Concept. It leverages all the strengths of the Veloster and takes it where we always envisioned it could go."

Key modifications to the Gurnade Veloster Concept include:

ENGINE

845 Motorsports intercooler, downpipe and cold-air intake

845 Motorsports ECU tune

Synapse blow-off valve

ARK Performance cat-back exhaust

CHASSIS

NEO Motorsports coil-overs and 6-piston big brake kit

Pierce Motorsports strut bar, rear torsion bar, and tie brace

strut bar, rear torsion bar, and tie brace Rotiform 19-inch OZT three-piece forged wheels

Toyo competition-spec tires

EXTERIOR

PPG Refinish Magic Magenta paint

Lightner Motorsports custom fender flares and grille

custom fender flares and grille EPR carbon-fiber front spoiler, side sills, and rear garnish

Seibon carbon-fiber hood and hatch

ARK Performance carbon-fiber spoiler

Tippett Auto Design vented bumper cover

Cappelletti Design custom headlamps and foglamps

Front crash bar

InShane Design paint protection

INTERIOR

Cobra Nogaro racing seats

Takata racing harnesses

Pierce Motorsports roll cage

roll cage Glowshift gauges and LEDGlow lighting

SoCal Garage Works carbon-fiber steering wheel

Phoenix Gold subwoofer and amplifier with Stinger audio system wiring

Creative Car-Tunes audio system

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. All Hyundai vehicles sold in the U.S. are covered by the Hyundai Assurance program, which includes the 5-year/60,000-mile fully transferable new vehicle limited warranty, Hyundai's 10-year/100,000-mile powertrain limited warranty and five years of complimentary Roadside Assistance. Hyundai Blue Link Connected Care provides owners of Hyundai models equipped with the Blue Link telematics system with proactive safety and car care services complimentary for one year with enrollment. These services include Automatic Collision Notification, Enhanced Roadside Assistance, Vehicle Diagnostic Alert, Monthly Vehicle Health Report and in-vehicle service scheduling.

For more details on Hyundai Assurance, please visit www.HyundaiAssurance.com

Please visit our media website at www.hyundainews.com and our blog at www.hyundailikesunday.com

Hyundai Motor America on Twitter | YouTube | Facebook

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161013/428525

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20131002/LA90771LOGO-b

SOURCE Hyundai Motor America

Related Links

http://www.hyundainews.com


LA JOLLA, Calif., Oct. 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Many say that Ian Ely is one of the highest-regarded lensmen in the world of professional landscape photography; his recent gallery opening only proved that to be true. Hundreds of visitors enjoyed the new displays of some of the finest landscape photography available today.

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161012/428130LOGO

A Unique Environment

The gallery officially opened October 1, 2016, and visitors were able to meet the photographer while taking in his beautiful body of work. The space is nothing short of amazing and it showcases many of his best works. While his photography certainly proved the highlight of the opening, the beauty of the gallery served as the perfect backdrop. With gorgeous interiors designed to display this unique art, it is clearly the ideal space for Ian's collection.

A Fantastic Story

Ely has been a shining star in the world of landscape photography for some time. Born and raised in California, his perception of nature comes through in every shot he takes. He finds the perfect shot no matter what the elements, and creates a desire for the outdoors with each picture.

Ely's earliest muse was a steam engine train trip through Colorado, creating the need to share the moment with as many people as possible. He earned his first camera at the age of ten, and later found that he had a knack for developing amazing photographs.

The gallery opening is the next step in his career, continually expanding his horizons as an artist. Visitors can see Ian Ely's collection on permanent display at 1141 Prospect Street, LaJolla, CA 92037 or contact Ian on his website https://ianely.com/.

Contact:

Kira Summers, Marketing Director

Phone: 424-354-0808

Ian Ely Corporation

ADDRESS: 1141 Prospect Street La Jolla 92037

Email

SOURCE Ian Ely Fine Art Photography

Related Links

https://ianely.com


NEW YORK, Oct. 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- The Indiana Mesothelioma Victims Center says, "Indiana has been one of the top steel producing states in the nation for decades and we specialize in assisting former steel mill or manufacturing workers with mesothelioma in Indiana get the best possible financial compensation. We also have the exact same goal for a skilled trades worker with mesothelioma in Indiana, or their family members.

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161012/427950

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161012/427854



"When we say the very best financial compensation for mesothelioma we mean it, and the attorneys we suggest have references that prove it. If you or a loved one has recently been diagnosed with mesothelioma in Indiana please call us anytime at 800-714-0303. There literally is no service comparable to ours in Indiana or anywhere in the United States." http://Indiana.MesotheliomaVictimsCenter.Com

The Indiana Mesothelioma Victims Center's unsurpassed services for diagnosed people with mesothelioma in Indiana is a statewide initiative and available to a diagnosed person with mesothelioma in communities such as Indianapolis, Fort Wayne, Evansville, South Bend, Hammond, or Bloomington.

Tips for hiring a lawyer to assist with a mesothelioma compensation claim in Indiana from the Indiana Mesothelioma Victims Center:

If a diagnosed person with mesothelioma in Indiana or their family members are concerned about receiving the very best possible financial compensation for this cancer caused by asbestos exposure they should be thinking nationally as opposed to locally for lawyers.

or their family members are concerned about receiving the very best possible financial compensation for this cancer caused by asbestos exposure they should be thinking nationally as opposed to locally for lawyers. The nation's most skilled and experienced mesothelioma attorneys not only will want to almost immediately want to talk to a former steel mill, manufacturing, or skilled trades worker about compensation-they will almost certainly know exactly what the person's potential compensation settlement amount could be for the specific person-based on how-or where they were exposed to asbestos.

"Please do not fall for Internet ads that suggest there is a federally sponsored mesothelioma claims center, that no lawsuit is needed, and or anything close to this. If you have been diagnosed with mesothelioma in Indiana , please make the best possible compensation a priority and call us anytime at 800-714-0303." http://Indiana.MesotheliomaVictimsCenter.Com

The Indiana Mesothelioma Victims Center says, "Mesothelioma is caused by exposure to asbestos. High risk work groups for exposure to asbestos in Indiana include US Navy Veterans, power plant workers, oil refinery workers, steel mill workers, manufacturing, or industrial workers, plumbers, electricians, auto mechanics, machinists, or construction workers. In most instances the diagnosed person's exposure to asbestos occurred in the 1950's, 1960's, 1970's, or 1980's."

For the best possible mesothelioma treatment options in Indiana the Indiana Mesothelioma Victims Center strongly recommends the following heath care facility with the offer to help a diagnosed victim, or their family get to the right physicians at this hospital.

* Purdue University Center for Cancer Research West Lafayette, Indiana:

https://www.cancerresearch.purdue.edu/

According to the CDC the states indicated with the highest incidence of mesothelioma include Maine, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia, Virginia, Michigan, Illinois, Minnesota, Louisiana, Washington, and Oregon. Mesothelioma also happens in Indiana as the Center would like to explain anytime.

The Indiana Mesothelioma Victims Center says, "Before you hire a mesothelioma attorney please call us at 800-714-0303 and compare the qualifications of who we consider to be the nation's most skilled mesothelioma attorneys to any other lawyer, or law firm." http://Indiana.MesotheliomaVictimsCenter.Com

For more information about mesothelioma please refer to the National Institutes of Health's web site related to this rare form of cancer: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/mesothelioma.html

Media contact:

Michael Thomas

Email

800-714-0303

SOURCE Indiana Mesothelioma Victims Center

Related Links

http://indiana.mesotheliomavictimscenter.com


(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160303/792302 )



Browse 86 market data Tables and 59 Figures spread through 164 Pages and in-depth TOC on "Industrial Enzymes Market"

http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/industrial-enzymes-market-237327836.html

Early buyers will receive 10% customization on this report.

Industrial enzymes are widely accepted in food & beverage applications, owing to their functional properties. They play an important role in determining the desired attributes such as taste, mouthfeel, texture, appearance, and flavor in food & beverage applications and are also used for the production of biofuels. Next-generation enzymes such as psychrozymes have expanded the application areas of industrial enzymes in the food & beverage, animal feed, textile & leather, and biofuel sectors, thus driving the overall market for industrial enzymes.

Proteases projected to be the largest segment

Proteases accounted for the largest market share in the Industrial Enzymes Market due to their wide range of applications in food & beverage, detergent, and biofuel industries. Protease enzymes have been used in food processing for centuries in traditional applications such as deriving cheese, curd, and whey from milk. The use of protease in animal feed contributes significantly to the growth of the animal feed enzyme market.

Food & beverages: The most widely preferred industrial enzymes

The food & beverages segment accounted for the largest share in the Industrial Enzymes Market, in terms of value, in 2016. The extensive requirement of carbohydrases in food processing, brewing, baking, and biofuel manufacturing has been one of the key drivers of the Industrial Enzymes Market. With recent developments in enzyme technology and the introduction of several enzyme blends and genetically modified enzymes, industrial manufacturers are compelled to optimize their yield and processing capabilities, to achieve the desired result. Industrial enzymes play a significant role in accelerating industrial processes and optimizing yield (5% to 8%) from the same quantity of raw materials, making them a crucial part of the food processing industry.

Make an Inquiry: http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Enquiry_Before_Buying.asp?id=237327836-

Asia-Pacific projected to be the most lucrative market for industrial enzymes

In 2016, the Asia-Pacific region accounted for a significant share of the global Industrial Enzymes Market and is projected to grow at the highest CAGR during the forecast period. The rise in population, per capita income, healthcare expenditure, increase in awareness of diseases, buying power of population, and rapid growth in technologies have led to the growth in opportunities in Asia-Pacific region for industrial enzymes.

This report includes a study of marketing and development strategies, along with the product portfolios of leading companies. It includes the profiles of leading companies such as BASF SE (Germany), E.I. DuPont de Nemours and Company (U.S.), Associated British Foods Plc (U.K.), Koninklijke DSM N.V (Netherlands), and Novozymes A/S (Denmark).

Browse related reports:

Technical Enzymes Market by Type (Cellulases, Amylases, Proteases, Lipases, Other Enzymes), Application (Bioethanol, Paper & Pulp, Textile & Leather, Starch Processing, Other Applications), & by Region - Global Forecasts to 2021

http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/technical-enzymes-market-72989187.html

Food Enzymes Market by Type (Carbohydrase, Protease, Lipase), Application (Beverage, Processed Food, Dairy, Bakery, Confectionery), Source (Plant, Microorganism, Animal), Form (Lyophilised Powder, Liquid), & by Region - Global Forecasts to 2021

http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/food-enzymes-market-800.html

About MarketsandMarkets

MarketsandMarkets is the largest market research firm worldwide in terms of annually published premium market research reports. Serving 1700 global fortune enterprises with more than 1200 premium studies in a year, M&M is catering to a multitude of clients across 8 different industrial verticals. We specialize in consulting assignments and business research across high growth markets, cutting edge technologies and newer applications. Our 850 fulltime analyst and SMEs at MarketsandMarkets are tracking global high growth markets following the "Growth Engagement Model - GEM". The GEM aims at proactive collaboration with the clients to identify new opportunities, identify most important customers, write "Attack, avoid and defend" strategies, identify sources of incremental revenues for both the company and its competitors.

M&M's flagship competitive intelligence and market research platform, "RT" connects over 200,000 markets and entire value chains for deeper understanding of the unmet insights along with market sizing and forecasts of niche markets. The new included chapters on Methodology and Benchmarking presented with high quality analytical infographics in our reports gives complete visibility of how the numbers have been arrived and defend the accuracy of the numbers.

We at MarketsandMarkets are inspired to help our clients grow by providing apt business insight with our huge market intelligence repository.

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SOURCE MarketsandMarkets
FAIRFAX, Va., Oct. 12, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- InfoComm International, the trade association representing the commercial audiovisual industry worldwide, has signed an agreement with Downey Unified School District in Southern California to offer foundational AV coursework.

Downey Unified School District's high school students will have access to InfoComm's online course Essentials of AV Technology and the Recognized AV Technologist Certificate Program (RAVT) exam. Students will also have access to the Certified Technology Specialist online prep course.

Downey Unified School District, located 12 miles south of Los Angeles, serves about 22,500 students in grades K-12 and has an extensive adult education program. The district was recently named an Exemplar District by P21 Partnership for 21st Century Learning, a recognition for schools who are preparing students for college, career and life by embedding critical 21st-century competencies into the learning environment.

"After attending the InfoComm show in Las Vegas in June 2016 and learning about all the exciting career opportunities for our students in the audiovisual industry, we were eager to connect and partner with InfoComm," said June Bayha, CEO of Bayha Group, an educational partner for Downey Unified School District. "We hope that students will learn about the audiovisual industry in general, as well as develop skills and competencies that are in high demand by local employers. Ultimately, we want to create courses that are pathways leading to high-wage, high-skill careers for all of our students."

"Developing tomorrow's AV workforce is a key focus for InfoComm and its foundation, the International Communications Industry Foundation (ICIF). We're mindful that California represents some of the largest AV markets in North America and the AV industry needs more professionals who can become the next generation of AV innovators. We're thrilled about the partnerships we've made with educational organizations around the world to expand AV education," said Betsy Jaffe, Executive Director, ICIF, and Senior Vice President of Member Services, InfoComm International. "Young people are engaged with technology very early in life and now, with programs like this, they can envision a career focused in an exciting field."

In 2016, InfoComm has built partnerships with Columbia College in Chicago, Valencia College in Orlando, Bogota public schools in Colombia and other learning institutions to bring AV education into the classroom. For more information on the association's workforce development, visit infocomm.org/icif.

About the International Communications Industries Foundation

The International Communications Industries Foundation (ICIF) is a non-profit charitable and educational organization chartered to support the audiovisual communications industry, bringing manufacturers and dealers together to improve the industry through education and research. The foundation generates support from corporations, philanthropic foundations and government sources to improve and expand the educational programs of InfoComm International. More information is available at infocomm.org/icif.

About InfoComm International

InfoComm International is the global trade association representing the commercial audiovisual and information communications industries. Established in 1939, InfoComm has more than 5,400 members, representing over 70,000 AV professionals worldwide, including manufacturers, systems integrators, dealers and distributors, independent consultants, programmers, rental and staging companies, end users and multimedia professionals from more than 80 countries. InfoComm International is the leading resource for AV standards, market research and news. Its training, certification and education programs set a standard of excellence for AV professionals. InfoComm International is the founder of InfoComm, the largest annual conference and exhibition for AV buyers and sellers in the Western Hemisphere. InfoComm also produces trade shows in China, Europe, India, Latin America and the Middle East. Additional information is available at infocomm.org.

PRESS CONTACT:

Krystle Murphy, Communications Manager, InfoComm International

Email: [email protected]

Phone: +1.703.279.6366

SOURCE InfoComm International

Related Links

http://www.infocomm.org


Apple to open 2nd China R&D center in Shenzhen Updated: 2016-10-13 06:59 By Ma Si in Shenzhen(China Daily)

Firm to boost ties with local partners in manufacturing

Apple Inc will set up its second China research and development center in Shenzhen next year, to strengthen ties with local manufacturing partners, as the US tech giant struggles with mounting competition and declining smartphone sales.

The plan came shortly after it established a R&D center in Beijing, highlighting the importance of the China market, the world's largest smartphone arena where Apple is losing ground to local brands such as Huawei and Oppo.

Apple CEO Tim Cook unveiled the plan for the new center on Tuesday during his visit to Shenzhen, the southern Chinese manufacturing powerhouse and innovation hub.

The Shenzhen center will help "our engineering team work even more closely and collaboratively with our manufacturing partner", Apple said in an emailed statement to China Daily.

"Shenzhen is an incredibly vibrant city where we are proud to support over 200,000 jobs between advanced manufacturing and the growing (mobile) app economy," the firm added.

The California-headquartered firm did not disclose the scale of its investment in the new venture.

Apple had set up its first China research and development center in Wangjing area of Beijing, with total investment to reach 300 million yuan ($44.6 million).

Jin Di, research manager at International Data Corp China, said unlike the Beijing center which focuses on partnership with universities, the Shenzhen unit will help Apple optimize its supply chain management.

"Shenzhen is home to Apple's major manufacturing and distribution partners. The new center can help it better localize products, especially when the industry is often suffering from shortage of components."

According to Jin, the two R&D centers are likely to play an active role in designing Apple's future iPhones and other hardware.

During his recent trips to China, Cook has held extensive meetings with app developers, highlighting the firm's recognition of China's research capabilities.

China, once Apple's fastest-growing market, has recently become a source of disappointment. In the second quarter, Apple saw a 33 percent drop in sales in China, its greatest decline in all regions.

To lure consumers away from rivals, Apple has filed applications to patent its dual-SIM card technologies in China, which enable one phone to support two carriers at the same time, a feature quite popular among consumers.

Nicole Peng, research director at Shanghai-based consultancy Canalys, said: "As China makes big strides in the internet and information technology, the country has become a trendsetter in many aspects and the analysis of Chinese consumers' preferences and usage habits can now reflect a broader trend among Asian buyers."

masi@chinadaily.com.cn

An outlet of Apple Corp in Shenzhen, Guangdong province. Provided To China Daily

(China Daily 10/13/2016 page13)
ScanEagle N202SE's most notable accomplishments are in commercial airspace,

beginning with its historic first commercial flight on September 12, 2013. ScanEagle launched from the converted fishing vessel Westward Wind and completed a 36-minute flight over the Chukchi Sea off the northern Alaskan coast to gather data pertaining to ice floe forecasting. The flight was in collaboration with ConocoPhillips, Olgoonik Fairweather LLC, and Aldrich Offshore Services LLC. Most recently, ScanEagle N202SE conducted the first beyond visual line of sight commercial operation with a certified UAS in the contiguous 48 states. The event was part of a week-long supplemental track inspection operation for Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF) Railway, and took place between Belin and Clovis, New Mexico. The operations were in support of the FAA's "Pathfinder" initiative, a partnership with industry to explore the next steps in unmanned aircraft operations.

"At a time when the unmanned aviation industry is advancing faster than ever, we take great pride in the pioneering work Insitu has done to help shape this path," said Ryan M. Hartman, Insitu president and CEO. "We are honored to be represented in the place that embodies the spirit of aviation that we strive for each day."

ScanEagle N202SE will reside in the Boeing Aviation Hangar at the museum's Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center.

About Insitu:

Insitu is an industry-leading provider of information for superior decision making. With offices in the U.S., U.K., and Australia, the company creates and supports unmanned systems and software technology that deliver end-to-end solutions for collecting, processing and delivering superior information. We proudly serve the diverse needs of our global customers in the defense, government and commercial industries. Insitu is a wholly owned subsidiary of The Boeing Company. For more information, visit insitu.com. Follow us on Vimeo, Instagram, LinkedIn and Twitter.

Contact: Jenny Beloy

Insitu Media Relations

+1 509.637.6196

[email protected]

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SOURCE Insitu

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SAN ANTONIO, Oct. 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Investment Professionals, Inc. (IPI), a national leading provider of investment services to individuals and community banks, announced today that it has partnered with Texas Security Bank, a $298 million bank headquartered in Dallas, TX, to provide investment services to their customers.

An analysis of the institution's financial opportunity revealed a substantial impact to the bank's return on average asset (ROAA) with the implementation of an IPI retail bank investment program. Additionally, the projected customer retention, opportunity to strengthen relationships and community credibility, and increased market share against Texas Security Bank's competition created a fresh approach to remaining competitive. IPI's flexibility in designing a program that speaks specifically to their bank partners' needs is a key offering that makes their programs successful and embraces each of their partners' uniqueness.

"IPI is honored to partner with Texas Security Bank to provide their unique entrepreneurial customer base with additional products and services outside normal banking functions they value and need," said Scott Barnes, IPI Chairman and Founder. "We look forward to a prosperous partnership that cultivates and strengthens long-lasting relationships for the bank.

By partnering with IPI, Texas Security customers have the opportunity to work with a financial professional to assess their current financial situation and explore wealth management opportunities to help provide a secure future for them and their legacy. Through IPI, Texas Security now provides convenient access to a full range of investment products and services, including financial and retirement planning, fixed income, fee-based products, insurance, and annuities in all of their branch locations.

"As a community bank, we found that IPI fully understood our specific needs and proposed attractive growth opportunities for our institution," said Shon Cass, SVP, Retail Banking and Treasury Management. "IPI offers services that are specifically designed for community bank investment programs like ours. We were particularly impressed by the firm's capabilities and experienced team, including their hands-on approach to managing our new program and understanding of community bank culture. I am confident this partnership will help us grow deeper relationships with our customers."

Learn how IPI can help your customers prepare for their future with an on-site investment program at your financial institution by contacting one of our experts: (800) 679-1237 or visit www.invpro.com.

About Investment Professionals, Inc.

Investment Professionals, Inc. (IPI) is a leading San Antonio, Texas, based independent investment, insurance brokerage and asset management firm. Since 1992, IPI has specialized in the increase of ROA/ROE and on-site delivery of investment programs for community financial institutions across the U.S. For more information about IPI and its financial professionals, visit www.invpro.com or connect with IPI on Twitter and LinkedIn.

NO BANK GUARANTEE | NOT A DEPOSIT | NOT FDIC INSURED | NOT INSURED BY ANY FEDERAL GOVERNMENT AGENCY | MAY LOSE VALUE All Securities and Advisory Services offered through Investment Professionals, Inc., a Registered Broker/Dealer & Registered Investment Advisor and member FINRA & SIPC.

MEDIA CONTACT:

Amy Watson

VP, Director of Marketing

[email protected]

(210) 582-2845

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SOURCE Investment Professionals, Inc.

Related Links

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BOSTON, Oct. 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- To fund expansion beyond this year's triple digit growth, Iora Health has closed a $75 million Series D financing. Singapore-based Temasek led the round, and was joined by all of Iora Health's existing institutional investors, including .406 Ventures, Flare Capital Partners, F-Prime Capital, GE Ventures, Khosla Ventures, Polaris Partners, and Rice Management Company.

"We are honored to have Temasek join Iora on our journey to transform health care," said Rushika Fernandopulle, MD, MPP, co-founder and CEO of Iora Health. "Temasek's investment in Iora will accelerate our vision of fixing health care delivery which is one of the largest business and social problems, not just in the US, but globally."

Iora Health has built a different kind of health system that delivers high impact, relationship based care. With 34 primary care practices in 11 U.S. markets, Iora serves diverse populations with an increasing focus on the most under-served and complex patients -- including people aged 65 years and older on Medicare. Iora's innovative model delivers an exceptional patient experience, with coordinated care that drives better clinical outcomes and significantly lower costs than the traditional healthcare system. Iora will use the new capital to drive further expansion and efficiencies in the model, including continued investment in Chirp, Iora's proprietary collaborative care IT platform.

"Iora Health continues to unlock tremendous value through its current partnerships, with a deep pipeline of others on the way," said Terry McGuire, partner at Polaris Partners and Iora Health board member. "Our integrated care model is delivering world class clinical outcomes, industry-leading patient experience and over 20% lower total cost of care. We are showing very attractive unit economics and the ability to rapidly scale in multiple geographies. We are excited to continue to support Iora in its journey to transform health care."

GE Ventures' Leslie Bottorff added, "Iora's model simultaneously improves patients' health and reduces the overall costs of health care to the system -- an essential need for this country."

About Iora Health

Iora Health is building a different kind of health system to deliver high impact, relationship based care. With a mission to restore humanity to health care and a goal to transform health care, Iora Health's care model provides extraordinary service to patients to ensure improved outcomes while lowering overall health care costs. Our patients enjoy the benefits of better access to care, office and non-office based encounters (e.g. phone, text messages, and email), an accessible and transparent medical record, and robust educational offerings. Our practices across the U.S. enjoy the benefits of smaller panel sizes, closer relationships with patients, and the opportunity to lead systemic change in health care delivery while working with a true team. For more information, please visit www.iorahealth.com.

Media Contact:

Kathleen Haley

Iora Health

617.545.5284

[email protected]

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SOURCE Iora Health

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OAKLAND, Calif., Oct. 12, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- When she became eligible for Medicare, Linda Gummerson knew exactly what she wanted in a Medicare Advantage plan. As a member of the nation's largest integrated health system for eight years prior, she knew she wanted to stay with Kaiser Permanente. "I love how everything is under 'one roof'  my doctor, pharmacy, labs and specialists. It just makes taking care of my health so much easier."

Gummerson, a Kaiser Permanente Senior Advantage member in Santa Rosa, California, is one of nearly 1.4 million Medicare beneficiaries who rely on the health plan for high-quality health care with service that's easy, convenient and personalized. Her experience represents one of the many reasons the organization's Medicare health plans have once again achieved top scores for quality and service by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.

In today's CMS announcement of the 2017 Medicare star quality ratings, Kaiser Permanente's Northern and Southern California, Colorado, Northwest and Mid-Atlantic States regions received 5 out of 5 stars each, the highest overall rating. Kaiser Permanente's Georgia and Hawaii regions earned 4.5 out of 5 stars.

According to CMS, Kaiser Permanente represents four of 14 Medicare health plans (with Parts C and D) that earned 5 out of 5 stars  and of the more than 1.6 million beneficiaries enrolled in those 5-star plans nationwide, 81 percent are Kaiser Permanente Medicare members.

"Our high ratings year after year demonstrate our deeply-rooted commitment to safe, reliable, quality care and service for our members," said Patrick Courneya, MD, executive vice president and chief medical officer for Kaiser Foundation Health Plan and Hospitals. "Our coordinated, patient-centered approach enables patients to partner with their physicians and care teams to detect, prevent and treat chronic conditions and diseases. The health decisions they make together reflect the patient's needs and preferences, helping them live full, healthy, active lives."

The Medicare star quality rating system provides beneficiaries a way to assess Medicare health plans so they can make an informed decision when selecting a plan. CMS uses the star ratings system to rank Medicare health plans on a scale of 1 to 5 stars, with 5 stars representing the highest quality. The overall scores are based on care and service quality measures (Parts C and D) across nine categories, including staying healthy, managing chronic conditions, member satisfaction, customer service and pharmacy services. The star ratings also measure health plans' compliance performance.

The methodology CMS uses for the star ratings is dynamic and continues to change. This means that Medicare health plans must stay ahead of the curve on measures that may be included in the 5-star portfolio, and continually improve their performance to achieve 5 stars.

Kaiser Permanente Medicare health plans have consistently received high ratings since CMS began awarding them in 2009. One reason is Kaiser Permanente's integrated care model, which enables care teams and staff to serve members and patients using a coordinated, seamless approach. This model also allows customer service agents, health plan representatives, call center operators and other administrative and pharmacy staff to better assist and support members.

"Our physicians and care teams are dedicated to the quality care and total health of our members," said Michael Kanter, MD, executive vice president of quality and chief quality officer for The Permanente Federation, the national organization for nearly 18,000 physicians who provide care to Kaiser Permanente's more than 10.6 million members. "Our integrated system, technology and digital tools allow our members to access care whenever and wherever they need it. These ratings reflect the compassionate, personalized and excellent care and service we're honored to provide our patients and members every day."

Kaiser Permanente's online tools make it easy for members to manage their care from home  or from wherever they are.

"I use the kp.org website all the time  to make my appointments, and to view my current and past labs," Gummerson said. "I also use it to order medication refills. I love that refills arrive by mail, and that I get a discount when ordering for several months' supply. My doctor sends reminders for screening and check-up visits, so I feel like I'm in good hands and we're proactive about my health."

This year's top scores by CMS add to the list of quality recognitions achieved by Kaiser Permanente Medicare plans this year. In the "NCQA Health Insurance Plan Ratings 2016-2017" report, the National Committee for Quality Assurance lists all seven Kaiser Permanente Medicare plans as highest-rated in the markets they serve  for the fifth year in a row. And according to the J.D. Power 2016 Medicare Advantage study, Kaiser Permanente was ranked "Highest in Member Satisfaction with Medicare Advantage Plans" by J.D. Power for two years in a row, 2015-2016.

Along with high-quality care and service, another benefit of 5-star plans is a longer enrollment opportunity. Medicare beneficiaries may change to a 5-star Kaiser Permanente individual Medicare plan through a CMS 5-star Special Enrollment Period from Dec. 8, 2016, to Nov. 30, 2017, without having to wait until the next annual enrollment period. All available Kaiser Permanente physicians welcome Kaiser Permanente Medicare health plan members.

Medicare beneficiaries can learn more about the star ratings and Kaiser Permanente's Medicare health plans by visiting kp.org/medicarestars.

Medicare evaluates plans based on a 5-star rating system. Star ratings are calculated each year and may change from one year to the next.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services created the Medicare star quality rating system to provide beneficiaries with a way to assess Medicare plans based on quality of care and service delivery. Kaiser Permanente Medicare plans have consistently received high ratings since CMS began the Medicare stars program, and have maintained high performance in all states in which the health plan operates. For CMS' 2017 star ratings:

Kaiser Permanente Colorado Region received the highest possible rating of 5 out of 5 stars for the seventh year in a row.

received the highest possible rating of 5 out of 5 stars for the seventh year in a row. Kaiser Permanente Northern and Southern California received the highest possible rating of 5 out of 5 stars for the sixth year in a row and is the highest rated plan in the state.

received the highest possible rating of 5 out of 5 stars for the sixth year in a row and is the highest rated plan in the state. Kaiser Permanente Northwest Region , which includes Oregon and Washington , received the highest possible rating of 5 out of 5 stars for the sixth year in a row and is the highest rated plan in both states.

, which includes and , received the highest possible rating of 5 out of 5 stars for the sixth year in a row and is the highest rated plan in both states. Kaiser Permanente Mid-Atlantic States Region received the highest possible rating of 5 out of 5 stars for the fifth year in a row.

received the highest possible rating of 5 out of 5 stars for the fifth year in a row. Kaiser Permanente Georgia and Hawaii regions received a 4.5 out of 5 star rating.

About Kaiser Permanente

Kaiser Permanente is committed to helping shape the future of health care. We are recognized as one of America's leading health care providers and not-for-profit health plans. Founded in 1945, our mission is to provide high-quality, affordable health care services and to improve the health of our members and the communities we serve. We currently serve more than 10.6 million members in eight states and the District of Columbia. Care for members and patients is focused on their total health and guided by their personal physicians, specialists and team of caregivers. Our expert and caring medical teams are empowered and supported by industry-leading technology advances and tools for health promotion, disease prevention, state-of-the-art care delivery and world-class chronic disease management. Kaiser Permanente is dedicated to care innovations, clinical research, health education and the support of community health. For more information, go to: kp.org/share.

Contact:

Margot Hardy, 510-271-6688

[email protected]

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SOURCE Kaiser Permanente

Related Links

http://www.kaiserpermanente.org


Unique in texture: which offers better grip so they don't easily slip

Unique in thickness: which offers best strength and ease in building

Unique in size: which makes them ideal for building and for hands of children

But one of the most fantastic highlights of Kardtects Building Cards is the fact they are also:

Unique in Design!

For instance, if a child builds a castle, it looks like one. Kardtects is revealing 150 different building cards featuring remarkable designs. Their characteristics emulate real structures. Kardtects sees children building castles with grand entrance doors, bridges with Trolls underneath, and Spire tops with banners flying high.

Kardtects offers three distinct Sets: Grisroc Castle, Forbidden Jungle, and Lost Desert. These are available in Starter and Expansion Packs. So not only are castles being built, but jungle huts, pyramids, lost temple ruins, rocket ships, long green snakes, and whatever else a child imagines.

The Starter and Expansion Packs consist of collectible building cards in a variety of Common, Uncommon, Rare, and Ultra Rare status.

This building toy includes three growing trends: back to basic play, promotion of STEM skills, and collecting. It also includes three extraordinary fun activities: building, collecting, and knocking down. Kardtects captures the knocking down aspect by including Destroyer Disks, dense circular cardboard disks with characters. So along with collectible building cards in a box, the Disks are included which are used to throw at structures to make cleaning up fun, and give opportunity to build again. Play never stops.

Kardtects will be demonstrating their Building Cards ability to build easier and faster than any other by building a record breaking tower height of over 30 feet on December 2nd at The Marketplace at Steamtown in Scranton, Pa. For more information on this amazing event, and more, please visit Kardtects.com.

Contact: Jennifer Kile, 570-458-6655, [email protected]

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161012/427771

SOURCE Kardtects

Related Links

http://kardtects.com


CHICAGO, Oct. 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/-- Darren Guccione, CEO and Co-founder of Keeper Security, Inc. will discuss if biometrics can kill the password at ISACA's CSX 2016 North America conference in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA, 17-19 October 2016. CSX 2016 North America will be focused on practical cybersecurity solutions and guidance, tailored to every level of a security professional's career. Guccione will explore the history of the password and biometrics, including recent advances and attacks. He will conclude with predictions on the evolution of identity management and the role that passwords and biometrics will play in its future.

"Recently, Yahoo and Google announced initiatives to kill the password," said Guccione. "With nascent systems for identity verification, such as biometrics, becoming more prevalent, this presentation will examine if passwords will become a relic of the past. I'll also discuss the challenges of biometric technology as a single authentication method."

Global IT and cybersecurity association ISACA developed Cybersecurity Nexus (CSX) to help organizations build qualified cybersecurity workforces. The conference will allow attendees to explore trends and threats, exchange ideas and insights, and learn how to excel at defending against threats and protecting their enterprises. Seventy sessions in three levels of complexity will be offered in seven cybersecurity tracks.

Darren Guccione's session is #312, 8:30am PST on Wednesday, October 19 in room Mont Royal 2 of The Cosmopolitan. For more information, please visit https://www.isaca.org/cyber-conference/sessions.html#sessions.

ABOUT KEEPER SECURITY

Keeper Security is transforming the way businesses and individuals protect their passwords and sensitive digital assets to significantly reduce cyber theft and increase online productivity. As the leading password manager and digital vault, Keeper helps millions of people and thousands of businesses substantially mitigate the risk of a data breach. Keeper is SOC 2 Certified and utilizes best-in-class encryption to safeguard its customers. Keeper protects industry-leading companies including Chase, Sony, Siemens, Chipotle, Philips and The University of Alabama at Birmingham. Keeper partners with global OEMs and mobile operators to preload Keeper on smartphones and tablets. Learn more at https://keepersecurity.com.

ABOUT ISACA

ISACA (isaca.org) helps professionals around the globe realize the positive potential of technology in an evolving digital world. By offering industry-leading knowledge, standards, credentialing and education, ISACA enables professionals to apply technology in ways that instill confidence, address threats, drive innovation and create positive momentum for their organizations. Established in 1969, ISACA is a global association with more than 140,000 members and certification holders in 187 countries. ISACA is the creator of the COBIT framework, which helps organizations effectively govern and manage their information and technology. Through its Cybersecurity Nexus (CSX), ISACA helps organizations develop skilled cyber workforces and enables individuals to grow and advance their cyber careers.

SOURCE Keeper Security, Inc.

Related Links

https://keepersecurity.com


BATTLE CREEK, Mich., Oct. 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

Tweetable Highlights:

[email protected] to acquire Parati Group, leading manufacturer of iconic biscuit, powdered beverage & pasta brands in Brazil

[email protected] expands emerging market presence w/ addition of Parati Group, largest acquisition in Lat Am in company history

With acquisition of Parati Group, @KelloggCompany marks major emerging market acquisition in each of its int'l regions

Kellogg Company (NYSE: K) today announced it has entered into an agreement to acquire Ritmo Investimentos, controlling shareholder of Parati S/A, Afical Ltda and Padua Ltda ("Parati Group"), a leading Brazilian food group. The acquisition, the company's largest in Latin America, furthers two of Kellogg's strategic priorities  becoming a global snacking powerhouse and expanding its presence in emerging markets.

Parati Group offers a wide range of iconic regional brands, including Parati, Padua, Minueto, Zoo Cartoon and Hot Cracker biscuits, which make up approximately half of the company's business. The rest of the business is comprised of Trink powdered beverages, Parati Lamen instant noodles and Parati dried pasta. Parati Group Net Sales are expected to be approximately R$600 million (or about US$190 million at current exchange rates).

"With its outstanding portfolio of popular consumer brands, Parati Group is an excellent strategic fit for Kellogg and our business in Latin America," said John Bryant, Kellogg Company Chairman and CEO. "Brazil is the largest economy in Latin America and this acquisition will allow us to accelerate our growth and improve our margins in the region. This means more growth for the core Parati Group business and our well-loved Kellogg brands."

Parati Group has 3,200 employees, including a salesforce of approximately 1,300 people serving about 60,000 customers directly. This includes a strong presence in small to medium  or high-frequency  retail stores in Brazil, which are critical to reaching the country's growing population. The company also has five distribution centers and two production facilities with room for expansion.

"The combination of Parati's portfolio and sales and distribution capabilities with Kellogg's global resources  including innovation expertise, extensive shopper insights and customer marketing strength  provides tremendous opportunity. Bringing our companies together enables us to expand our footprint in a rapidly growing market," said Maria Fernanda Mejia, President, Kellogg Latin America.

"Parati Group has built a very successful business over the past four decades and we have a great deal of admiration and respect for them," continued Mejia. "They are highly entrepreneurial and strive to provide great-tasting foods consumers love while also fulfilling their founder's legacy. We are thrilled to welcome Parati Group to the Kellogg family."

Today's announcement marks Kellogg's fourth emerging market acquisition in the last two years. In that time, Kellogg has acquired companies in each of its international regions, including Europe (Bisco Misr and Mass Food Group in Egypt) and Asia Pacific (a 50 percent stake in Multipro in Nigeria and Ghana). The addition of Parati further enhances the company's emerging market growth strategy.

Financial Details of the Transaction

The acquisition by Kellogg, through its subsidiary Pringles Servicos e Comercio de Alimentos Ltda, is subject to customary closing conditions and is expected to close in late 2016. The purchase price is R$1.38 billion, or roughly US$429 million at current exchange rates, and it will be an all-cash transaction. To preserve financial flexibility, Kellogg intends to reduce its expected share repurchases in 2016 to $450-550 million, versus previous guidance of $700-750 million.

The profitability of this business, along with expected revenue and cost synergies, should create financial value for shareowners relatively quickly, even accounting for an initially reduced level of share repurchases. In 2016 and 2017, it is expected to be neutral to Comparable-basis EPS, depending on exchange rates, with only a slight impact on Reported EPS because of one-time costs of $(0.01) per-share in both years. The acquisition is expected to be accretive on both Comparable and Reported EPS in 2018 and thereafter.

About Kellogg Company

At Kellogg Company (NYSE: K), we strive to make foods people love. This includes our beloved brands  Kellogg's, Keebler, Special K, Pringles, Kellogg's Frosted Flakes, Pop-Tarts, Kellogg's Corn Flakes, Rice Krispies, Cheez-It, Eggo, Mini-Wheats and more  that nourish families so they can flourish and thrive. With 2015 sales of $13.5 billion and more than 1,600 foods, Kellogg is the world's leading cereal company; second largest producer of cookies, crackers and savory snacks; and a leading North American frozen foods company. Through our Breakfasts for Better DaysTM global hunger initiative, we've provided more than 1.4 billion servings of cereal and snacks to children and families in need around the world. To learn more, visit www.kelloggcompany.com or follow us on Twitter @KelloggCompany, YouTube and on Social K.

Forward-Looking Statements Disclosure

The "forward-looking statements" contained herein inherently involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those predicted in those statements, including the realization of the anticipated benefits from the acquisition of Parati, projections concerning the company's share repurchases, sales, operating profit and earnings, and the other factors discussed in the risk factors section of Kellogg Company's most recent annual report on Form 10-K. Investors are cautioned not to place undue reliance on any such forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date they were made. The Company undertakes no obligation to update them publicly.

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SOURCE Kellogg Company

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EUGENE, Ore., Oct. 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- King Estate Winery is now officially the largest Biodynamic vineyard in the United States as certified by Demeter USA.

"Achieving Demeter certification holds us to the highest possible standard in sustainable agriculture," says Ed King, winery Co-Founder and CEO. "It is testimony to the grit and determination of King Estate's people to go beyond organic and do our part to protect the Earth for future generations."

Sustainable farming is nothing new for King Estate, the 1,033-acre vineyard and winery best known for its acclaimed Pinot Gris and Pinot Noir as well as its breathtaking setting in the Lorane Valley. The winery has been certified organic by Oregon Tilth since 2002. But Demeter certification as Biodynamic represents a major step forward in King Estate's commitment to sustainable agriculture.

"Stewardship of the land is a core value that guided our family when we established and built King Estate Winery 25 years ago and continues to this day," King says.

Biodynamic takes organic to a new, higher level. For example, while the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which operates the National Organic Program, allows individual parcels within a farm to be certified organic, Demeter requires that the entire farm be certified. Other requirements that exceed the USDA's: 10 percent of the total acreage must be set aside for biodiversity purposes, and fertilizers are generated on the farm itself with only a limited amount brought in.

King Estate applied for certification in September 2015 and was designated as "in conversion" to Biodynamic status January. After completing a full agricultural cycle following Demeter practices and passing an inspection, certification was effective Sept. 23.

Oregon is now home to more than 30 percent of the Biodynamic vineyards in the U.S. Oregon has some 17 Biodynamic vineyards ranging in size from 10 acres to King Estate, with 465 of its 1,033 acres under vine.

Named for the Greek goddess of agriculture, Demeter was formed in Europe in 1932 by noted scientist and Waldorf School founder Rudolf Steiner after farmers approached him about a decline in seed fertility, crop vitality and animal health that corresponded with the rise of industrial agriculture and factory farming. Steiner urged farmers to think of their farms not as factories but as self-sustaining living organisms. Demeter USA was established in 1985. Headquarters are in Corvallis, Ore.

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20150205/173895LOGO

SOURCE King Estate Winery

Related Links

http://www.kingestate.com


HOUSTON, Oct. 12, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Kraton Corporation (NYSE: KRA), a leading global producer of styrenic block copolymers, specialty polymers and high-value performance products derived from pine wood pulping co-products, today announced that it has scheduled a conference call on Thursday, October 27, 2016 at 8:00 a.m. Central time (9:00 a.m. Eastern time) to discuss third quarter 2016 financial and operating results. The company expects to release its results after market close on Wednesday, October 26, 2016.

Kraton invites you to listen to the conference call, which will be broadcast live over the internet, at http://www.Kraton.com by selecting the "Investor Relations" link at the top of the home page and then selecting "Events" under "Company" on the Investor Relations page. Company spokespeople will include Kevin M. Fogarty, President and Chief Executive Officer; Stephen E. Tremblay, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer; and Gene Shiels, Director of Investor Relations.

You may also listen to the conference call by telephone by contacting the conference call operator 5-10 minutes prior to the scheduled start time and asking for the "Kraton Conference Call - Passcode: Earnings Call." Toll Free dial-in #: 800-857-6511. International dial-in #: 210-839-8886.

For those unable to listen to the live call, a replay will be available beginning at approximately 10:00 a.m. Central Time on October 27, 2016 through 11:00 p.m. Central Time on November 10, 2016. Select the "Investor Relations" link at the top of the Kraton home page; navigate to "Events" under "Company" on the Investor Relations page. Select Past Events, then "Q3 2016 Kraton Performance Polymers, Inc. Earnings Conference Call." To hear a telephonic replay of the call, dial 866 516-0665.

ABOUT KRATON

Kraton Corporation (NYSE "KRA") is a leading global producer of styrenic block copolymers, specialty polymers and high-value performance products derived from pine wood pulping co-products. Kraton's polymers are used in a wide range of applications, including adhesives, coatings, consumer and personal care products, sealants and lubricants, and medical, packaging, automotive, paving, roofing and footwear products. As the largest global provider in the pine chemicals industry, the company's pine -based specialty products are sold into adhesive, road and construction and tire markets, and it produces and sells a broad range of chemical intermediates into markets that include fuel additives, oilfield chemicals, coatings, metalworking fluids and lubricants, inks, flavors and fragrances and mining. Kraton offers its products to a diverse customer base in over 70 countries worldwide. Kraton, the Kraton logo and design are all trademarks of Kraton Corporation., or its subsidiaries or affiliates.

For Further Information:

H. Gene Shiels 281-504-4886

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20100728/DA42514LOGO

SOURCE Kraton Corporation

Related Links

http://www.kraton.com


SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., Oct. 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- The 4th annual LakePharma Protein Engineering Symposium was held at the South San Francisco Conference Center on Oct. 7th. Over 300 local scientists attended the day-long event, featuring presentations from Stanford, local biotech companies including Atreca, GigaGen, and TeneoBio, and large pharma companies including Janssen, Pfizer and Grifols. Presentations focused on new technologies in immune repertoire expression and analysis, rapid development of therapeutic antibodies, promises and challenges in developing bispecific antibodies, and methods in analyzing antibody epitopes. In addition to formal presentations, the symposium included special topic workshops, a poster session, and a happy hour for networking.

"This symposium has become a significant annual local event. We are extremely proud to provide the platform for scientists to learn and network with colleagues throughout the field," said Hua Tu, Ph.D, founder and CEO of LakePharma. "We truly appreciate the support from our distinguished speakers, attendees to the symposium, our customers, as well as service vendors who sponsored event. As the leading US biologics CRO, we strive to provide an integrated biologics service from discovery to development to manufacturing. We look forward to another record-breaking event in 2017."

Click here for more information on the Symposium

About LakePharma, Inc.

LakePharma is a leading US-based contract research organization (CRO) specializing in antibody and protein engineering, cell line development, and protein production. Services can be fully integrated, creating a "soup to nuts" solution for all of a customer's molecular biology, cell line, and protein needs. With facilities located in the heart of the San Francisco Bay Area and near the Boston/Cambridge biotech hub, LakePharma has developed numerous in-house technology platforms to provide cost-effective and high quality services to our customers. Our production processes are SOP-based and high-throughput, and have been streamlined to be exceptionally efficient on both a small and large scale. Each project is actively managed by a dedicated study director and a project manager to ensure timely completion with superior results that meet or exceed our clients' expectations. For more information, visit www.lakepharma.com.

Corporate Communications Contact

Vickie Tu 650-288-4891

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SOURCE LakePharma, Inc.
Tibetan lamas provide more nutritious 'chicken soup' Updated: 2016-10-13 16:19 By Li Hongrui(chinadaily.com.cn)

The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying. [Photo/amazon.cn]

There was a time when my WeChat Moment was bombarded by "chicken soup"-type advice. They always start with similar catchy titles, for example, "10 good pieces of advice from XXX", or "What successful people will not tell you".

In most cases, this advice is empty and useless, for a person's life will not change just because of some sugar-coated quotation.

If you really want good life advice, perhaps you should turn to time-honored spiritual guide books instead.

Here are five books from five respected Tibetan lamas, which will guide you on your way to find fortune, face difficulties and even heal the wounds of the past.

The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying, by Sogyal Rinpoche

This book has been translated into 30 languages and printed in some 56 countries. It teaches people how to live better and wisely through learning the meaning of death. And it encourages readers not to be afraid of death, but have peace and remain clear-minded when the day comes.

Sogyal Rinpoche was born in 1947 and traveled to many countries to promote Buddhist teachings.

Chinese business magnate Pan Shiyi, film star Chen Kun and celebrated actress Zhao Wei are both faithful readers of the book.

"The book teaches people how to face death, the most terrifying thing in our lives," said Pan.

Chen said, "This is one of my favorite books. Since 1998 when I found it, I have read it from cover to cover for at least ten times."
CARSON CITY, Nev., Oct. 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- On the one year anniversary of Lamar Odom's tragic drug overdose at the Love Ranch brothel, one of the sex workers who spent time with the reality TV star reveals candid details of their encounter and shares how the event impacted her life.

Monica Monroe, a legal prostitute who works for brothel mogul Dennis Hof, states in a blog post that there was less salacious activity occurring between Odom and his prostitutes and more soul-searching and eating KFC.

"No sex occurred while Lamar was at the Love Ranch. We talked, we laughed, and we shared our sorrows, but we didn't have sex," Monroe said.

Monroe said that, while they never consummated the pay-for-play relationship, the two did bond because they both suffered relationship losses.

"Lamar and I made a connection because we both were a little lonely due to recent losses in our lives: I had recently lost my boyfriend of eight years to a shooting and he was distraught over his estranged wife, Khloe Kardashian."

The sex worker said that her business was negatively affected by the Odom incident, because her celebrity clientele no longer trusted her to be discreet.

"Dennis Hof's establishments get an impressive amount of celebrity and high-profile visitors, and we're known for maintaining confidentiality and privacy for our clients," Monroe said. "After Lamar overdosed, it was perceived by many of my high-profile clients that I was no longer discreet, or that I was the type of person to 'kiss and tell.'"

She also states that Love Ranch owner Dennis Hof may be concerned about the damage Odom has done to Hof's professional reputation.



The prostitute goes on to reveal that her personal life was turned upside-down as a result of the media firestorm surrounding Odom's overdose, and that she was overwhelmed by emails and phone calls from childhood acquaintances begging her for money.

The full blog post can be viewed here: http://www.bunnyranch.com/blog/sex-worker-reflects-on-lamar-odom-love-ranch/

Contact Dennis Hof: [email protected] or (775) 720-9090

SOURCE Bunny Ranch
MONTEREY, Calif., Oct. 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- LanguageLine Solutions, the nation's largest language access provider, announced today a new and innovative solution, LanguageLine Clarity(SM), which enables clients to provide "clear, effective documents in any language." In response to the ever-changing needs of the language services marketplace, this simplification process complements a complete language access program.

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LanguageLine Clarity translates written content into Plain English ensuring accuracy and comprehension of content in any language. We streamline communications for clarity by purging documents of confusing, non-essential content; translating them into plain English; and designing them for functionality and ease-of-use before they are translated into multiple other languages. We can simplify an individual document, or your entire communications system.

"LanguageLine's commitment to total and complete client satisfaction drives us to innovate and deliver another solution that supports our client's business goals. As is our tradition, we are among the first to bring this powerful translation process improvement to market," said Scott W. Klein, president and CEO of LanguageLine Solutions. "With the addition of LanguageLine Clarity we help clients clarify their source material, in English, before they translate it into other languages. This fast-tracks the translation process, making it more efficient and results in more accurate, easier to understand content for the reader. And, because simplification almost always cuts word count, clients can also realize significant savings on translation costs."

Scott Ludwigsen, president of LanguageLine's translation and localization group, where LanguageLine Clarity will reside, adds another perspective. Integrating "plain English" into our offerings is groundbreaking. "LanguageLine Clarity is a natural extension of LanguageLine's ongoing commitment to facilitating communication in more than 240 languages," he said. "It recognizes plain English as a distinct language into which we can translate any document to ensure that it actually connects with audiences in every language. That's what 'empowering relationships' is all about."

Charlene Haykel has been appointed Director  LanguageLine Clarity. She brings more than 30 years of experience in the process of simplification and plain English communications. Haykel also brings a tested, trademarked process to LanguageLine Solutions called Macrosimplification. It is a powerful streamlining tool for reengineering entire communication programs or categories across client organizations.

About LanguageLine Solutions

LanguageLine Solutions is the global leader in innovative language access solutions for more than 34 years. Our latest innovation, Olympus(SM), is an award-winning cloud-based language access platform that is redefining on-demand language delivery. We provide the highest quality phone, video remote, and onsite interpreting, translation and localization, as well as bilingual staff and interpreter testing and training. Trusted by more than 25,000 clients to enable communication in any situation with the growing Limited English Proficient and the Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing populations, we deliver the industry's fastest and most dependable access to highly trained and professional linguists in more than 240 languages, 24/7/365. LanguageLine Solutions facilitates more than 32 million phone, video, and onsite interactions every year; that's a new connection every second. www.languageline.com

Contact:

Suzanne Franks

Director of Marketing

LanguageLine Solutions

Email

Office: 831 648-5889 | Cell: 214 789-1504

SOURCE LanguageLine Solutions

Related Links

https://www.languageline.com


NEW YORK, Oct. 12, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Brandwatch, the leading social intelligence company, today announced that the Lower Colorado River Authority (LCRA) has selected Brandwatch to unlock the value of social consumer insights. The renowned utilities nonprofit will be utilizing both Brandwatch Analytics social listening and analytics technology along with Brandwatch's social command center platform, Vizia, to understand and disseminate valuable social insights throughout the company.

"We're in the business of helping our customers glean the most relevant and actionable insights from social data to make smarter business decisions," said Pat Phelan, VP Global Customer Success.

"We're proud to work with LCRA, a nonprofit organization that wants to deliver the absolute best customer service to their own community. We're ready to provide LCRA with the quality, experience and flexibility that only Brandwatch can offer."

For more information on Brandwatch's social intelligence products, contact [email protected].

About Brandwatch

Brandwatch is the world's leading social intelligence company. Brandwatch Analytics and Vizia products fuel smarter decision making around the world.

The Brandwatch Analytics platform gathers millions of online conversations every day and provides users with the tools to analyze them, empowering the world's most admired brands and agencies to make insightful, data-driven business decisions. Vizia distributes visually-engaging insights to the physical places where the action happens.

The Brandwatch platform is used by over 1,200 brands and agencies, including Unilever, Cisco, Whirlpool, British Airways, Heineken, Walmart and Dell. Brandwatch continues on its impressive business trajectory, recently named a global leader in enterprise social listening platforms by the latest reports from several independent research firms. Increasing its worldwide presence, the company has offices around the world including Brighton, New York, San Francisco, Berlin, Stuttgart, Paris and Singapore.

Brandwatch. Now You Know.

www.brandwatch.com | @Brandwatch | press office | contact

Contact: Dinah Alobeid, 1-917-846-2381, [email protected]

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20130207/NY56159LOGO

SOURCE Brandwatch
BEIJING, Oct. 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- On October 8th, Linda Wong, President of Yihai Group, was joined by Vice President Jessie Wong at a ceremony held in the Serbian city of Uzice to commemorate the first written mention of the city more than 687 years ago.

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161012/428074

At the "City Day" celebration held at the Uzice National Theater, Mrs. Wong received the Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition of her contributions to Uzice. This is the city's highest honor.

Mayor Tihomir Petuovic cited Mrs. Wong's generous financial support of 300,000 euros ($334,860) to finish construction of the Pora Kindergarten in the city. She also serves as the Honorable Chairman of the China-Serbia Culture Exchange and led a delegation of 30 Chinese officials in 2015 to establish a partnership between Uzice and the Chinese city of Harbin. He noted that Mrs. Wong has been a strong advocate of China's "One Belt, One Road" incentive by fostering co-developments between China and Serbia for business developments and education projects.

In accepting her award Mrs. Wong said: "It is a great honor to be recognized by Mayor Petuovic and the people of Uzice. Yihai Group is committed to an ongoing economic and educational partnership with Uzice. China values our 35 year friendship with Serbia."

Mrs. Wong presented the Mayor with a plaque created in one of Yihai Group Elder Colleges with an inscription that read "Chinese-Serbia Friendship."

During the visit to Serbia, Mrs. Wong, the Mayor Petuovic and members of the City Council visited Pora Kindergarten to survey the construction. When it is completed, the school will have Chinese decorations and offer classes in Chinese language and culture. The Pora Kindergarten is the first kindergarten to be donated by a Chinese business as part of the "One Belt, One Road" initiative. To advance better understanding between the two countries, an Education Forum will be held every year at the new school.

Mrs. Wong also visited the National Museum and attended the opening ceremony of "Uzice 1941" to learn more about the city and its history. She also enjoyed musical performances by artists of Uzice.

Yihai Group was founded in 1990 by Mrs. Wong. It invests in China and globally with projects in real estate development, education, management and businesses. Philanthropy is important to the company's culture.

For Further Information:

Kathy Tompkins

Yihai North America

90 Broad Street, Suite 1707

New York, NY 10004

Email

Cell: 917 716 9525

Office: 646 455 0600

SOURCE Yihai Group
WEST HOLLYWOOD, Calif., Oct. 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Marijuana has been used as an agent for achieving euphoria since ancient times; it was described in a Chinese medical reference traditionally considered to date from 2737 B.C. As one of the most studied and tested substances of all time, marijuana was listed in the United States Pharmacopoeia from 1850 until 1942 and was prescribed by doctors to treat a variety of conditions.

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161013/428599

Under current California law, it is generally illegal to possess or use marijuana. On November 8 California voters will decide Prop 64, which legalizes the recreational use of marijuana in California. Exactly one week before the election on November 1, Lucky Lehrer, iconic punk/harcore drummer and Flipside Magazine's best punk rock drummer of all time, is pleased to be hosting a "A Celebration of the Music of Mary Jane" at the Whiskey A Go Go in West Hollywood from 8:00 pm till 12:30 am, and invites the general public to the event.

Lehrer's foray into the politics of marijuana started in 1974 while working for a freshman congressman on Capitol Hill. Arguing against the aerial spraying of the defoliant Paraquat on the front page of the student newspaper at the University of California Lehrer observed "the nation's policy on cannabis appears inconsistent and ill advised."

Performances will include jams by a growing list of luminaries that includes band members of Quiet Riot, Pink, Ozzy Osborne and plenty of others. There's going to be some surprise guest stars, Lehrer hints, because "you can't imagine the number of celebrities that feel passionately in favor of Prop 64." Lehrer is no stranger to the limelight as a founding member of the seminal punk rock group The Circle Jerks, and later with Bad Religion and The Darby Crash Band. "It's great coming back to the Whiskey, the kind of venue where most of us got our start, and feel the club's support at an important time," Lehrer states.

So far as theme music, there's no lack of songs for Lehrer's list of musical celebrities to perform including Jimi Hendrix' The Wind Cries Mary, Along Comes Mary, by The Association, I'm in Love With Mary Jane by Rick James, Smoke Two Joints in the Morning by the Toyes (later covered by Sublime), Reefer Head Woman by Aerosmith and, of course Led Zeppelin's Goin' To California and Sweet Leaf by Black Sabbath.

Who can forget One Toke Over The Line by Brewer & Shipley and Neil Young's famous Roll Another Number? Then there's The Joker by the Steve Miller Band ("some people call me a space cowboy.") and You Don't Know How It Feels by Tom Petty. There's loads of references to marijuana in hip hop, including Doctor Dre's The Next Episode and lots of other songs, some of which we'll perform on November 1 at the Whiskey, Lehrer smiles and says.

The free event also features comedian, actor and writer Cheech Marin (Cheech and Chong). There will be outstanding performances from a host of great performers. According to Lehrer, "you can't imagine the number of celebrities that feel passionately in favor of Prop 64" and there is never a better time to celebrate the music of Mary Jane than now.

Contact:

Lucky Lehrer

luckylehrer.com

[email protected]

310-528-0999

Related Images

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This content was issued through the press release distribution service at Newswire.com. For more info visit: http://www.newswire.com

SOURCE Lucky Lehrer

Related Links

http://www.luckylehrer.com


HOUSTON, Oct. 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Main Street Capital Corporation (NYSE: MAIN) ("Main Street") announced today that it will release its third quarter 2016 results on Thursday, November 3, 2016, after the market closes. In conjunction with the release, Main Street has scheduled a conference call, which will be broadcast live via phone and over the Internet, on Friday, November 4, 2016, at 10:00 a.m. Eastern time. Investors may participate either by phone or audio webcast.

By Phone: Dial 412-902-0030 at least 10 minutes before the call. A replay will be available through November 11, 2016 by dialing 201-612-7415 and using the access code 13646197#.



By Webcast: Connect to the webcast via the Investor Relations section of Main Street's website at www.mainstcapital.com. Please log in at least 10 minutes in advance to register and download any necessary software. A replay of the conference call will be available on Main Street's website shortly after the call and will be accessible for approximately 90 days.





ABOUT MAIN STREET CAPITAL CORPORATION

Main Street (www.mainstcapital.com) is a principal investment firm that provides long-term debt and equity capital to lower middle market companies and debt capital to middle market companies. Main Street's portfolio investments are typically made to support management buyouts, recapitalizations, growth financings, refinancings and acquisitions of companies that operate in diverse industry sectors. Main Street seeks to partner with entrepreneurs, business owners and management teams and generally provides "one stop" financing alternatives within its lower middle market portfolio. Main Street's lower middle market companies generally have annual revenues between $10 million and $150 million. Main Street's middle market debt investments are made in businesses that are generally larger in size than its lower middle market portfolio companies.

Main Street's common stock trades on the New York Stock Exchange ("NYSE") under the symbol "MAIN." In addition, Main Street has outstanding 6.125% Notes due 2023, which trade on the NYSE under the symbol "MSCA."

Contacts:

Main Street Capital Corporation

Dwayne L. Hyzak, President & COO, [email protected]

Brent D. Smith, CFO, [email protected]

713-350-6000

Dennard  Lascar Associates

Ken Dennard | [email protected]

Mark Roberson | [email protected]

713-529-6600

SOURCE Main Street Capital Corporation

Related Links

http://www.mainstcapital.com


SAN DIEGO, Oct. 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Mast Therapeutics, Inc. (NYSE MKT: MSTX), today announced that the Company's Chief Executive Officer, Brian M. Culley, will provide an update related to its business strategy and clinical development of its product candidates at the 2016 BIO Investor Forum on Wednesday, October 19, 2016 at 2:30 p.m. Pacific time in the Elizabethan B Salon at the Westin St. Francis hotel in San Francisco. The Company recently announced a strategic focus on its AIR001 (sodium nitrite solution for intermittent inhalation) program with continued support for multiple investigator-sponsored Phase 2 clinical studies of AIR001 being conducted at prestigious research institutions, with interim results from one of these studies anticipated to be published this quarter.

Interested parties can access a live audio webcast on the Mast Therapeutics web site at www.masttherapeutics.com. An archived presentation will be available on the web site for 30 days.

About AIR001

AIR001 is a sodium nitrite solution for intermittent inhalation via nebulization. Nitrite is a direct vasodilator and can be recycled in vivo to form nitric oxide (NO) independent of the classical NO synthase (NOS) pathway. Nitrite mediated NO formation has several beneficial effects, including dilation of blood vessels and reduction of inflammation and undesirable cell growth. Generation of NO from sodium nitrite is not dependent upon endothelial function and is enhanced in the setting of tissue hypoxia and acidosis, conditions in which NOS activity typically is depressed. In early clinical studies, AIR001 demonstrated positive hemodynamic effects with reductions observed in right atrial pressure and pulmonary capillary wedge pressure, as well as improvements in mean pulmonary artery pressures, cardiac output, and exercise tolerance as measured by six-minute walk distance. In a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled Phase 2a study of AIR001 in patients with HFpEF (n=26), the AIR001 treatment group showed a statistically significant decrease in pulmonary capillary wedge pressure during exercise compared to the control group and AIR001 was generally well-tolerated.

About Mast Therapeutics

Mast Therapeutics, Inc. is a publicly traded biopharmaceutical company headquartered in San Diego, California. The Company has two clinical-stage investigational new drugs, AIR001 and vepoloxamer. AIR001, a sodium nitrite solution for intermittent inhalation via nebulizer, is in Phase 2 clinical development for the treatment of heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF). More information can be found on the Company's web site at www.masttherapeutics.com. Mast Therapeutics and the corporate logo are trademarks of Mast Therapeutics, Inc.

Forward Looking Statements

Mast Therapeutics cautions you that statements in this press release that are not a description of historical fact are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements may be identified by the use of words referencing future events or circumstances such as "expect," "intend," "plan," "anticipate," "believe," and "will," among others. Examples of forward-looking statements in this press release include statements relating to the Company's development plans for its product candidates and the Company's business plans and objectives. Forward-looking statements should not be read as guarantees of future performance or results because they involve the Company's beliefs and assumptions based on currently available information and are subject to significant known and unknown risks and uncertainties that may cause actual performance and results to differ materially from expectations indicated by the forward-looking statements. Some of the factors that could cause actual performance or results to differ include, without limitation: the Company's need for additional funding to continue to operate as a going concern; risks associated with the Company's ability to manage operating expenses and obtain additional capital as needed; uncertainty related to the Company's ability to remain in compliance with the terms and conditions under its debt facility and risk that the Company may be required to repay its remaining outstanding debt obligation on an accelerated basis and/or at a time that could be detrimental to the Company's financial condition, operations and/or business strategy; the impact of significant reductions in the Company's operations on its ability to develop its product candidates or maintain compliance with laws and regulations relating to public companies; the Company's ability to maintain compliance with NYSE MKT continued listing standards and policies and to maintain the listing and trading of its common stock on that exchange; completion of a more detailed analysis of EPIC data and reporting of additional data from the study; uncertainties inherent in the conduct of clinical studies and the risk that the Company's product candidates may not demonstrate adequate safety, efficacy or tolerability in one or more clinical studies for approval by regulatory authorities; the potential for the Company to sell or license part or all of its assets; the potential for significant delays, reductions, or discontinuation of current and/or planned development activities if the Company is unable to raise sufficient additional capital as needed; the Company's lack of control over the investigator-sponsored clinical studies of AIR001, including whether any of the studies will commence or be completed on anticipated timelines, or at all; the Company's dependence on third parties to assist with important aspects of development of the Company's product candidates, including the conduct of its clinical studies, the manufacture and supply of clinical trial material and drug delivery devices, and the conduct of regulatory activities, and the risk that such third parties may fail to perform as expected leading to delays in product candidate development and additional costs; the risk that the Company is not able to obtain or maintain effective patent coverage or other market exclusivity protections for its products, if approved, or that the use or manufacture of the Company's products may infringe the proprietary rights of others; and other risks and uncertainties more fully described in the Company's press releases and its reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The Company's public filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission are available at www.sec.gov.

You are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date when made. Mast Therapeutics does not intend to revise or update any forward-looking statement set forth in this press release to reflect events or circumstances arising after the date hereof, except as may be required by law.

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20120612/LA22456LOGO-a

SOURCE Mast Therapeutics, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.masttherapeutics.com


NEW YORK, Oct. 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- The Mesothelioma Victims Center specializes in assisting construction workers and skilled trades workers with mesothelioma obtain the best possible financial compensation. The group offers direct access to the nation's top lawyers who consistently get the best possible financial compensation results for their clients. As the Center would like to explain anytime at 800-714-0303, "Having the nation's top mesothelioma attorneys and receiving the very best financial compensation for this asbestos exposure form of cancer are directly related."

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161012/427891

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161012/427987

Much like you would only want to hire skilled contractors when building a house or commercial structure, having the most experienced and qualified mesothelioma attorneys carefully advancing the claim, or numerous financial compensation claims, ensures higher success chance and compensation value as the Center would like to discuss anytime at 800-714-0303. http://MesotheliomaVictimsCenter.Com

The Center says, "We want to make 100% certain that a construction or a skilled trades worker such as an electrician, plumber, welder, or carpenter with mesothelioma have the nation's top lawyers at their direct disposal; as opposed to having an inexperienced local personal-injury law firm or mesothelioma middleman broker law firm that has little to do with the compensation claim.

"If we had just one important tip for any recently diagnosed construction worker or skilled trades worker with mesothelioma it would be this: "Measure two, three, or four times before you actually hire a law firm. Call us at 800-714-0303 before hiring a lawyer to assist with your compensation process. If you do not hire the most qualified mesothelioma attorneys, you just might end up with a less-than-stellar mesothelioma financial compensation settlement. Translation: you will get shortchanged on mesothelioma compensation." http://MesotheliomaVictimsCenter.Com

The Mesothelioma Victims Center specializes in assisting people nationwide who have been diagnosed with mesothelioma because of their exposure to asbestos as a:

Construction worker

Electrician

Plumber

Welder

Insulator

Roofer

Pipefitter

Concrete specialist

The average age for a diagnosed victim of mesothelioma is 72 years old. This year between 2500, and 3000 US citizens will be diagnosed with mesothelioma in the United States. Mesothelioma is a rare form of cancer that is attributable to exposure to asbestos.

High risk work groups for exposure to asbestos include Veterans of the US Navy, power plant workers, shipyard workers, steel mill workers, oil refinery workers, factory workers, plumbers, electricians, welders, pipefitters, miners, auto mechanics, machinists, pulp or paper mill workers, printers, firemen, rail road workers and construction workers. In most instances people with mesothelioma were exposed to asbestos in the 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, or 1980s. http://MesotheliomaVictimsCenter.Com

According to the CDC the states indicated with the highest incidence of mesothelioma include Maine, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia, Virginia, Michigan, Illinois, Minnesota, Louisiana, Washington, and Oregon.

However, based on the calls the Mesothelioma Victims Center receives a construction worker or skilled trades worker with mesothelioma could live in any state including New York, Florida, California, Texas, Illinois, Ohio, Iowa, Indiana, Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee, North Carolina, Georgia, Mississippi, Alabama, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Kansas, Nebraska, North Dakota, Wyoming, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, Arizona, Idaho, or Alaska. http://MesotheliomaVictimsCenter.Com

For more information about mesothelioma please refer to the National Institutes of Health's web site related to this rare form of cancer: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/mesothelioma.html

Media Contact:

Michael Thomas

Email

800-714-0303

SOURCE Mesothelioma Victims Center

Related Links

http://mesotheliomavictimscenter.com


"In addition to leading Miami-Dade County in economic impact and bringing visitors to our community, MIA is a local and national innovation leader as well," said Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos A. Gimenez. "Congratulations to Director Gonzalez and the Aviation Department on receiving this prestigious award, and for the forward-leaning work they have done and continue to do."

The Airport Innovation Award was established by the Airport Innovation Accelerator to honor innovative developments that are a model for airports around the country. MIA secured the award for a portfolio of creative and cutting-edge innovations to enhance the passenger experience, including: MIA Airport Official, mobile app; MIAair, a special-needs dress-rehearsal program; the Sustainability Project at MIA, a $40 million energy savings initiative; MIA Connections, an award-winning, interactive digital magazine; Wall of Honor memorial; Miami Begins with Me, an innovative customer service training program; and MIAmamas nursing suites.

"We are extremely honored to receive this inaugural award from AAAE, which recognizes leadership in airport innovation  one of our most critical core values," said Miami-Dade Aviation Director Emilio T. Gonzalez. "Since being appointed Aviation Director in 2013, it has been one of my highest priorities to improve the passenger experience at MIA through advances in technology and outside-the-box ideas, along with developing a culture of innovation among our staff. This recognition from one of the aviation industry's leading organizations, based on feedback from airport users, is proof-positive that we are moving in the right direction and making a difference with our customers."

As another sign of MIA's commitment to innovation, the airport has also joined the Accelerator Airport Partner Program, which is an opportunity for leading airports to influence and drive innovation for the airport community through the Accelerator. MIA joins a growing list of airports committed to innovation that, through their Accelerator memberships, are well-positioned to drive cutting-edge innovation at their facilities and serve as a model for the entire aviation community.

"The airport community is embracing and driving innovation like never before, and Miami International Airport under the leadership of Director Emilio Gonzalez is a clear leader in the field," AAAE President and CEO Todd Hauptli said. "The work that Emilio and his team have done to enhance the passenger experience at MIA is remarkable, and AAAE and the Airport Innovation Accelerator are pleased to recognize and celebrate their innovative approaches as a model for airports in the U.S. and around the globe."

Miami International Airport offers more flights to Latin America and the Caribbean than any other U.S. airport, is America's second-busiest airport for international passengers, boasts a lineup of more than 100 air carriers and is the top U.S. airport for international freight. MIA, along with its general aviation airports, is also the leading economic engine for Miami-Dade County and the state of Florida, generating business revenue of $33.7 billion annually and welcoming 70 percent of all international visitors to Florida. MIA's vision is to grow from a recognized hemispheric hub to a global airport of choice that offers customers a world-class experience and an expanded route network with direct passenger and cargo access to all world regions. MIA is committed to sustainable practices. Learn more at www.MIAefficiency.com.

Follow us online

https://www.facebook.com/IflyMIA/

https://mobile.twitter.com/iflymia

https://www.instagram.com/iflymia/

http://www.miami-airport.com/



http://miamidade.gov/

MEDIA CONTACT:

Greg Chin

305.876.7017

[email protected]



Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161013/428507

SOURCE Miami International Airport

Related Links

http://www.miami-airport.com/


Smith succeeds Ewout L. Steenbergen, who has served as CFO of Voya since 2010 and has decided to depart the firm for another opportunity. Steenbergen will continue in the role through Nov. 7.

"I would like to thank Ewout for his significant leadership contributions during his 23-year career with Voya and ING Group," Martin said. "He played a key role in preparing Voya to go public in 2013 and his leadership has meaningfully contributed to Voya's success. Ewout was a key driver of Voya's achievement of our initial ROE target  two years ahead of schedule  as well as our improved financial strength and shareholder value, as reflected in our return of roughly $2.8 billion in excess capital. We wish Ewout and his family the very best as he embarks on a new chapter in his career.

"At the same time, we are delighted to announce Mike Smith's appointment as CFO," added Martin. "Mike's in-depth knowledge of our business, combined with his experience in CFO and CRO roles, makes him an ideal choice to lead our Finance organization."

As CFO, Smith will be responsible for strategic finance, capital management, actuarial, tax, insurance investments, controllership, financial reporting, procurement, expense management, treasury and investor relations. He will also oversee CBVA.

Voya's Employee Benefits business, which Smith has overseen, will now report directly to Alain Karaoglan, Voya's chief operating officer, who oversees all five of Voya's Ongoing Business segments.

Prior to joining Voya, Smith held several leadership positions at Lincoln Financial Group, where he ultimately served as head of profitability and risk management of the company's retirement solutions business. He also served as CFO & CRO of Lincoln Life and Annuities, from 2004 to 2006, and as CFO for Lincoln Financial Distributors, from 2003 to 2004. He holds bachelor's degrees in economics and Russian studies from the University of Michigan and attained Fellowship in the Society of Actuaries in 1990. Smith is also a member of the American Academy of Actuaries.

About Voya Financial

Voya Financial, Inc. (NYSE: VOYA), helps Americans plan, invest and protect their savings  to get ready to retire better. Serving the financial needs of approximately 13 million individual and institutional customers in the United States, Voya is a Fortune 500 company that had $11 billion in revenue in 2015. The company had $466 billion in total assets under management and administration as of June 30, 2016. With a clear mission to make a secure financial future possible  one person, one family, one institution at a time  Voya's vision is to be America's Retirement Company. The company is equally committed to conducting business in a way that is socially, environmentally, economically and ethically responsible  Voya has been recognized as one of the 2016 World's Most Ethical Companies by the Ethisphere Institute, and as one of the Top Green Companies in the U.S., by Newsweek magazine. For more information, visit voya.com. Follow Voya Financial on Facebook and Twitter @Voya.

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161012/427946

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161012/427947

SOURCE Voya Financial, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.voya.com


Chinese president arrives in Cambodia for state visit Updated: 2016-10-13 15:30 (Xinhua)

PHNOM PENH - Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived Thursday for a state visit to Cambodia aimed at further solidifying the traditional friendship between the two countries and deepen their comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership.

President Xi Jinping arrives for a state visit to Cambodia in Phnom Penh October 13, 2016. [Photo/Xinhua]

This is Xi's first trip to the Southeast Asian nation as president. In 2009, he paid an official visit to the kingdom as vice president.



Xi is scheduled to meet Cambodian King Norodom Sihamoni, visit Queen Mother Norodom Monineath Sihanouk and hold talks with Prime Minister Hun Sen.



The two countries will reach a series of cooperation deals during Xi's visit to align their development strategies and boost their practical cooperation.



China and Cambodia have enjoyed a traditional friendship that was forged and cultivated by Chinese leaders of the older generation and late Cambodian King Father Norodom Sihanouk.



In June this year, Xi and Sihamoni met in Beijing when the king paid a state visit to China, and pledged to press ahead with the bilateral comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership, which was established six years ago.

On the economic front, China is now Cambodia's largest trading partner and source of foreign investment, with bilateral collaboration expanding in such areas as trade, investment, connectivity, energy resources and infrastructure construction.



Two-way trade between China and Cambodia reached 4.43 billion US dollars in 2015, indicating an annual growth of 17.95 percent, according to China's Commerce Ministry.



In a joint interview with Chinese media outlets in Cambodia ahead of the visit, Hun Sen said that Xi's trip will make the traditional friendship between the two countries closer and stronger and lift bilateral relations to a higher level.



After Cambodia, Xi will travel to Bangladesh and the western Indian state of Goa, where he will attend a summit of the emerging-market bloc of BRICS, which groups Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.
SINGAPORE, Oct. 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- NeuroAiDTM has been named New Product Innovation of the Year by Frost & Sullivan. This award recognizes healthcare products that are bringing innovative solutions for neurological disorders by pushing the boundaries of the usual practices. This award also acknowledges Moleac for its effort and continuous investment in NeuroAiDTM's Research and Development. Mr. David Picard, CEO of Moleac, received the 2016 Frost & Sullivan Asia Pacific New Product Innovation Award at the awards ceremony held this evening at Conrad Singapore. The ceremony was attended by leaders from the healthcare sector.

Frost & Sullivan followed a rigorous measurement-based methodology to select NeuroAiDTM as the recipient. Its independent panel of judges included senior members across various offices at Frost & Sullivan. The judging panel looked at market performance indicators, including revenue growth, market share, availabilities, geographical expansion and marketing strategies.

Dr. M. Shaillender, Industry Analyst, Healthcare Practice - Asia Pacific at Frost & Sullivan, said, "Stroke rehabilitation is an underserved segment in the pharmaceutical industry. Moleac aims to address the existing gaps in stroke therapy with an unconventional approach similar to 'reverse innovation.' NeuroAiDTM is a product originating from Traditional Chinese Medicine that has demonstrated excellent attributes in post-stroke recovery, however, without any scientific and clinical evidence. Moleac's team was instrumental in identifying and decoding the underlying neuromodulatory properties to translate it into a therapeutic drug supported by clinical evidence for neurological disorders."

He further adds, "As one of the first therapies of its kind, NeuroAiDTM is today accepted as an innovative treatment for post-stroke recovery. It is approved and marketed in over 35 countries as a supplement for stroke rehabilitation. Executing well in its vision, Moleac is on a trajectory to expand the horizons of NeuroAiDTM into a mainstream therapeutic drug for neurological disorders."

David Picard, CEO of Moleac, said, "I am delighted to receive this award from Frost & Sullivan while we are celebrating the 10 years' anniversary of NeuroAiDTM. Having launched NeuroAiDTM in 2006, we have been focusing our efforts on making NeuroAiDTM available to stroke sufferers around the world. NeuroAiDTM is the first medicine to support stroke recovery, and this is a huge unserved need for millions of suffers. In 2016, over 20,000 patients benefited from NeuroAiDTM worldwide and we aim at making NeuroAiDTM available to more patients in the coming years."

He continued to add, "I would like to thank all those who have contributed to NeuroAiDTM's development over the past 10 years. This includes our academic partners, who have shown interest in our approach enabling its clinical development, our investors who have trusted us, and of course my colleagues who have made this venture a success. Without their support, NeuroAiDTM would not be where it is today. We keep investing in Research with several on-going clinical studies to provide first-class evidences of NeuroAiDTM's benefits in other unserved neurological disorders."

NeuroAiDTM is a natural medicine originating from Traditional Chinese Medicine. In addition to its excellent safety profile, clinical trials have shown that patients taking NeuroAiDTM for 3 months have higher chances to reach functional recovery, with prolonged benefits over the long-term as published in Cerebrovascular Diseases (April 2015). About 3,000 subjects have been included in clinical trials and Moleac is currently supporting additional international clinical trials to demonstrate the potential of NeuroAiDTM in other neurological disorders.

About Moleac: Moleac is a Singapore-based biopharmaceutical company that dedicates itself to finding and developing new medicines for the unmet needs of patients worldwide.

About NeuroAiDTM: NeuroAiDTM is a post-stroke recovery treatment to help stroke survivors achieve a faster and better recovery. Moleac also markets NeuroAiD II, a simplified formula. Both products are shown to be equivalent in pharmacology. It currently reaches out to patients in over 35 countries.

Contact details:

Global Marketing

Moleac Pte Ltd

+65 6211 3710

[email protected]

SOURCE Moleac Pte Ltd
MINNEAPOLIS, Oct. 12, 2016 /PRNewswire/ - While eight in ten (82%) Americans say charitable giving is important to them, most don't donate consistently throughout the year, according to a recent survey from RBC Wealth Management-U.S. and City National Bank.

The survey, conducted in mid-September, found that nearly half (47%) of Americans say they donate to charity sporadically, without any specific times in mind, rather than at a planned interval or for a seasonal occasion.

"One of the most rewarding things a person can do is to give back," said Michael Armstrong, CEO of RBC Wealth Management  U.S. "We are members of a greater global community and we have a responsibility to take the necessary steps today that will have a positive impact on tomorrow."

In addition to personal satisfaction, there are several tax benefits to charitable giving. Those benefits can often be maximized when individuals approach their giving in a purposeful way, say experts at RBC Wealth Management-U.S.

"A well-planned program of lifetime gifts to family, friends and charities can provide income and estate tax benefits and help preserve more assets for heirs," said Van Pate, Wealth Strategies Consultant at RBC Wealth Management  U.S. "Taking a deliberate approach to giving can help you make well-informed decisions and increase the benefits to both you and the recipients of your good will."

And rather than support just a few causes, the majority of Americans prefer to spread their goodwill around, with 53% giving to three or more charities  including (10%) who typically donate to 6-10 charities, and 4% who say they will typically support 11 charities or more.

Millennials are by far the most likely to donate to just one (24%) or two (28%) charities, while older Americans are the most likely to give to multiple causes. In fact, six in ten (59%) Americans aged 55+ give to at least 3 charities, including 7% who give to 10 or more.

"When donating, we have the option of giving all our donations to a single charity, or smaller amounts to multiple charities," said Malia Haskins, Wealth Strategies Consultant at RBC Wealth Management  U.S. "It's common to believe that by dividing up our donations to help more charitable causes, we have the greatest impact. But there is a strong argument that, if you're interested in doing the most good, you should concentrate your giving on one, maybe two organizations."

There are also regional and gender differences in how Americans give, the survey found.

Women (86%) are more likely to find charitable giving personally important than men (77%). But, men indicate they give more ($1143) on average than women ($722).

"Wealthy people who are ready to fulfill on their charitable intentions often repeat the old saying of, 'it's easier to make money than it is to give it away,'" said Michael Pagano, executive vice president of City National's private client services. "As wealth grows, often too does a desire to give back. To achieve legacy goals, it's essential to work through decisions and tradeoffs related to structures, taxes, commitments, financial flexibility, and the emotional implications."

Those in the Midwest ($1111) appear to give more than those living in the South ($908), West ($906) and Northeast ($743). Yet when asked how the total amount they plan to give in 2016 will compare to their charitable giving in 2015, those in the Northeast (20%) were most likely to say their giving would increase, compared with only 17% of those in the South and 15% of those in the West. Only 10% of Midwesterners, meanwhile, said their giving this year would increase.

So what causes are Americans most likely to support? Faced with a dizzying number of worthy causes in need of cash, Americans are most likely to be drawn to charities helping children (32%). Not surprisingly, parents are significantly more likely (40%) to be drawn to children's charities compared to Americans without kids (28%). Parents are also more likely to be drawn to educational charities than those who are child-free (11% vs. 6%).

Millennials aged 18-34 (38%) and Americans aged 35-54 (33%) are also most likely to be drawn to children's causes when choosing a charity to donate to, compared to Baby Boomers (25%). Millennials (13%) are also most likely to be drawn to charities supporting education, compared to just 6% of those in Generation X (aged 35-54) and 5% of Baby Boomers. Meanwhile, Baby Boomers (22%) are most likely to donate to religious causes, ahead of those in Generation X (17%) and Millennials (11%).

These are some of the findings of an Ipsos poll conducted on behalf of RBC Wealth Management from September 16 to September 19, 2016. For the survey, a sample of n=1,005 American adults was interviewed online via Ipsos's American online panel. The precision of Ipsos online surveys is measured using a Bayesian credibility interval. In this case, with a sample of this size, the results are considered accurate to within  3.5 percentage points, 19 times out of 20, of what they would have been had the sample universe of American adults been polled. The margin of error will be larger within sub-groupings of the survey population.

About RBC Wealth Management  U.S.

In the United States, RBC Wealth Management operates as a division of RBC Capital Markets, LLC. Founded in 1909, RBC Capital Markets, LLC. is a member of the New York Stock Exchange, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, the Securities Investor Protection Corporation, and other major securities exchanges. RBC Wealth Management has $284 billion in total client assets with 1,800 financial advisors operating in 200 locations in 41 states. For more information about RBC Wealth Management-U.S., visit http://www.rbcwealthmanagement.com/

About City National Bank

With $36.4 billion in assets, City National Bank provides banking, investment and trust services through 75 offices, including 16 full-service regional centers, in Southern California, the San Francisco Bay Area, Nevada, New York City, Nashville and Atlanta. In addition, the company and its investment affiliates manage or administer $53.9 billion in client investment assets.

City National is a subsidiary of Royal Bank of Canada (RBC), one of North America's leading diversified financial services companies. RBC serves more than 16 million personal, business, public sector and institutional clients through offices in Canada, the United States and 38 other countries. For more information about City National, visit the company's website at www.cnb.com.

SOURCE RBC Wealth Management - U.S.
WASHINGTON, Oct. 13, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The role of religion in the formation and development of the United States is at the heart of a new multiyear initiative launching at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History Nov. 5. Beginning with a program series on sacred music in American life, this comprehensive religion initiative will be led by Peter Manseau who has been named the museum's Lilly Endowment Curator of American Religious History. It will include collecting, researching, documenting and exhibiting materials as well as presenting programs reflective of the country's diverse religious traditions.

A $5 million grant from Lilly Endowment Inc. provides for a permanent curator of religion in the museum's Home and Community Life division and a five-year multifaceted program consisting of scholarship, future exhibition planning and performances exploring religious faith through music and theater. A gift from museum's board chairman, former Ambassador to Romania Nicholas Taubman, funded the creation of the Nicholas F. and Eugenia Taubman Gallery where "Religion in Early America" will open June 28 as the inaugural exhibition. This temporary one-year exhibition will be the museum's first to illustrate the influence of religion in early American history, from the Colonial period until the 1840s.

"Religion has had an indelible impact on our nation's history since our earliest days and is fundamental to our understanding of American life today," said John Gray, the museum's director. "The national museum is uniquely positioned to explore the connections between America's vibrant religious traditions and American history."

"The National Museum of American History is a flagship cultural institution and sets a path that many other museums follow," said Christopher L. Coble, vice president for religion at Lilly Endowment. "We believe that a permanent curator for religion will help the museum build up its collections of religious artifacts and ensure that religion will remain an ongoing element of the Smithsonian's interpretation of American life."

Lilly Endowment Curator of American Religious History

An author and historian, Manseau earned his doctorate in religion from Georgetown University. His books include One Nation, Under Gods, a history of religious diversity in America; Vows, a memoir chronicling 20th-century Catholicism in the U.S.; the National Jewish Book Award-winning novel, Songs for the Butcher's Daughter; and the travelogue Rag and Bone, which examines the use of relics in Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism and Islam. He is the author of the upcoming companion book to the museum's religion exhibition, Objects of Devotion, which will be published in spring 2017.

"Religion in Early America" Exhibition

The exhibition opening June 28, 2017, "Religion in Early America," will focus on the themes of religious diversity, freedom and growth as it explores the role of religion in America from the colonial era thorough the 1840s. Some of the featured artifacts will be national treasures from the museum's own collection, including George Washington's christening robe from 1732, Thomas Jefferson's The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth, which is also known as "The Jefferson Bible," Wampum beads and the cloak worn by abolitionist Quaker minister Lucretia Mott. Other objects will be on loan from museums, institutions and private individuals from across the nation. Among these are Massachusetts Bay Colony-founder John Winthrop's communion cup, circa 1630; a Torah scroll on loan from New York's Congregation Shearith Israel, founded in 1654; a chalice used by John Carroll, the first Roman Catholic bishop in the U.S. and founder of Georgetown University; and a first edition of the Book of Mormon. The objects will represent the diverse range of Christian, Native American and African traditions as well as Mormonism, Islam and Judaism that wove through American life during this era.

Religion Programming Through Music and Theater

On Nov. 5 and 6, the museum will present the first in a new program series, "Sounds of Faith" with "Waking the Ancestors: Recovering the Lost Sacred Sounds of Colonial America," developed in partnership with Plimoth Plantation, a Smithsonian Affiliate museum. The arrival of the Mayflower on the shores of North America in 1620 forever transformed the lives of those living on the continent. Led by Richard Pickering, deputy executive director of Plimoth Plantation, the documentary theater program will explore the intersection of two musical traditions: hymns and psalms from the Church of England and Calvinist congregations and the sacred songs and dance of the Wampanoag, the indigenous people of Cape Cod, the Islands and southern Massachusetts. Information on this free public program can be found at: http://americanhistory.si.edu/event. The second program in the series, "Jazz and Spirituality: From Ellington to Sun Ra and Beyond" will follow Dec. 9 and feature the Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra (SJMO) with a special guest choir in an evening highlighting compositions by musicians inspired by spirituality, divinity and religion. This SJMO performance requires a purchased ticket. More information is available at http://SmithsonianJazz.org. Beginning in 2017, the museum will feature an annual theater program on religion and American history under its "History Alive!" theater series.

Funding for the religion initiative comes from Lilly Endowment, a private philanthropic foundation that supports causes in religion, education and communitydevelopment. The exhibition, "Religion in Early America," is made possible through the Taubman gift, which includes funding for a new gallery and changing exhibition program on the second floor of the museum's west wing. Taubman is the president of Mozart Investments and the former director of Advance Auto Parts.

Through incomparable collections, rigorous research and dynamic public outreach, the National Museum of American History explores the infinite richness and complexity of American history. It helps people understand the past in order to make sense of the present and shape a more humane future. The museum is continuing to renovate its west exhibition wing, developing galleries on democracy, immigration and migration and culture. For more information, visit http://americanhistory.si.edu. The museum is located on Constitution Avenue, between 12th and 14th streets N.W., and is open daily from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. (closed Dec. 25). Admission is free. For Smithsonian information, the public may call (202) 633-1000.

SOURCE Smithsonian's National Museum of American History

Related Links

http://americanhistory.si.edu


WASHINGTON, Oct. 12, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- On the weekend of October 7  9, National Spine & Pain Centers hosted its second annual business focused pain management conference entitled The Business of Pain Medicine: 21st Century Challenges & Solutions. Under the leadership of Les Zuckerman, M.D., Sanjay Bakshi, M.D., and Sudhir Diwan, M.D., premier thought leaders in pain management were brought in to speak across a breadth of business and clinical-related issues critical to the pain management specialty.

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161011/427262

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161011/427263

Throughout the weekend, there were in-depth discussions about the challenging economic, regulatory, legal, and business climate facing pain management as a whole. In all, over 300 attendees, physicians and administrators, traveled from all over the country to the Marriott Marquis in Washington, DC to participate in this unique conference.

Nationally and internationally, pain management practitioners often gather to discuss clinical areas of interest. Prior to the inception of this conference, there has never been such an event dedicated to helping pain management practices survive and thrive in this increasingly complex, dynamic climate.

"We believe the Business of Pain Medicine: 21st Century Challenges and Solutions fills a real need in our community, creating an open forum for business discussions and brain-storming. Everyone left with ideas about how to better run their practices and contacts to help make it happen. We look forward to an expanding agenda in the future, more open problem solving time for our participants with our faculty and their peers, and developing new business forums for IPM as a whole," says Dr. Les Zuckerman, Chief Medical Officer of National Spine & Pain Centers.

This year's keynote speaker was Pulitzer Prize-Winning writer and investigative reporter, Bob Woodward. He spoke to attendees about the significance of leadership, shared compelling stories of his lengthy history of interviewing U.S. Presidents over course of decades, and thanked physicians for providing quality care and supporting patients who suffer from acute and chronic pain.

The NSPC leadership team and support staff were gratified by seeing such engagement at the conference, sponsorship support, and the overwhelmingly positive response from all our attendees. Each year, the meeting seems to level up and offer even more value for those who attend. The faculty and participants who contributed, helped make it a truly remarkable event.

National Spine & Pain Centers (NSPC) is the nation's leading network of pain management practices with over 60 pain physicians on staff, many of whom are award-winning for quality care, true leaders for decades, and the most respected pain practitioners in the world. NSPC has more than 50 locations in Connecticut, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Virginia, Washington DC and West Virginia. Call or visit treatingpain.com to access a complete list of providers, centers, conditions served, and treatment solutions. Appointments are typically available in 24-48 hours based on individual preference. Most insurances are accepted including Tricare and Worker's Compensation. For appointments, please call 855.826.4343.

Contact:

Jacob Hayes

P: 301-881-7246 ext: 129

11921 Rockville Pike #505

Rockville, MD 20852

http://www.treatingpain.com/

Email

SOURCE National Spine & Pain Centers

Related Links

http://www.treatingpain.com


LULEA, Sweden, October 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

Netrounds, a leading provider of active network analytics and software-based test and service assurance solutions for communications service providers (CSPs), announced today that it has joined the NEC/Netcracker SDN Partner Space ecosystem and is collaborating with NEC and Netcracker, providers of software-defined networking (SDN) and network functions virtualization (NFV) solutions as well as business and operations support systems (BSS/OSS). The collaboration will enable CSPs to capture new revenue opportunities by accelerating agile deployments of assured network services and incorporating active test and assurance solutions via open APIs into OSS workflows for increased efficiency and decreased operational expenditures.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160520/370197LOGO )



Netrounds' software-based active test and assurance platform will be integrated with NEC and Netcracker's orchestration and network monitoring solutions to allow CSPs to deploy an active solution that covers the entire service lifecycle in an automated, DevOps-based and operationally efficient way. This will accelerate the delivery of dynamic network services by eliminating manual efforts that prevent full automation of fulfillment and assurance workflows.

"For our customers, the ultimate end goal is to become more agile and to capture new business opportunities, and this requires solutions built on software, supporting comprehensive end-to-end automation of both operational and lifecycle processes. The integration of Netrounds with NEC and Netcracker's orchestration and network monitoring solutions allows our customers to utilize Netrounds' complete API to automate assurance and active analytics in their networks," said Mats Nordlund, CEO & Co-founder of Netrounds. "The use of our open API for easy integration with OSS, NFV orchestration, service quality management and other adjacent support systems will assist our CSP customers in their quest for zero-touch automation and greater degrees of flexibility and dynamic control."

"Service assurance and analytics are essential components in a truly open multivendor SDN/NFV ecosystem," said Timur Aliev, Head of Product Strategy and Innovation at NEC. "With Netrounds joining NEC/Netcracker SDN Partner Space program and working together with NEC and Netcracker to deliver assured network services, we mitigate the operational risks feared by many in the virtualization journey, giving our customers the ability to combine commercial-ready network and cloud applications seamlessly."

"Fast time-to-market and agile service delivery will be key differentiators in tomorrow's communications market," said Rahul Chandra, Vice President of Worldwide SDN/NFV Business Development at Netcracker. "NEC's and Netcracker's IT and networking expertise combined with Netrounds' service assurance and testing solutions will allow service providers to drive their virtualization initiatives forward, helping them redefine customer engagement models and become preferred services partners."

To learn more about how Netrounds is assuring CSP networks with active network analytics and NEC's and Netcracker's open ecosystem of SDN/NFV solutions visit http://www.netrounds.com and http://www.sdnspace.com. To schedule a product demo, contact [email protected].

About Netrounds

Founded in 2007, Netrounds is an active network analytics solution provider for physical, hybrid and virtual networks. Netrounds' programmable, software-based test and service assurance capabilities enable communications service providers to enhance the end user experience of IP-based services such as Internet, TV, voice and other quality-demanding business services. Its extensive feature set covers all network and service layers for assurance and visibility of the full service lifecycle - service activation testing, ongoing quality monitoring and remote troubleshooting. Netrounds solutions are used by more than 270 network operators, service providers and enterprises worldwide and it is headquartered in Lulea, Sweden, with offices in Boston, Massachusetts and Stockholm, Sweden. For further information, please visit http://www.netrounds.com.

About NEC Corporation

NEC Corporation is a leader in the integration of IT and network technologies that benefit businesses and people around the world. By providing a combination of products and solutions that cross utilize the company's experience and global resources, NEC's advanced technologies meet the complex and ever-changing needs of its customers. NEC brings more than 100 years of expertise in technological innovation to empower people, businesses and society. For more information, visit NEC at http://www.nec.com.

The NEC Group globally provides "Solutions for Society" that promote the safety, security, efficiency and equality of society. Under the company's corporate message of "Orchestrating a brighter world," NEC aims to help solve a wide range of challenging issues and to create new social value for the changing world of tomorrow. For more information, please visit

http://www.nec.com/en/global/about/solutionsforsociety/message.html.



NEC is a registered trademark of NEC Corporation. All Rights Reserved. Other product or service marks mentioned herein are the trademarks of their respective owners. 2016 NEC Corporation.

About Netcracker Technology

Netcracker Technology, a wholly owned subsidiary of NEC Corporation, is a forward-looking software company, offering mission-critical solutions to service providers around the globe. Our comprehensive portfolio of software solutions and professional services enables large-scale digital transformations, unlocking the opportunities of the cloud, virtualization and the changing mobile ecosystem. With an unbroken service delivery track record of more than 20 years, our unique combination of technology, people and expertise helps companies transform their networks and enable better experiences for their customers.

For more information, visit http://www.netcracker.com.

Contact: KAELA LOFFLER,

Director, Marketing & Industry Alliances,

m: +46-70-634-00-69,

http://www.netrounds.com



SOURCE Netrounds AB
LONDON, Oct. 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- SDDC offers a highly secured platform utilizing web-based servers to deliver data in an effective manner, and enable access to information by virtualization and cloud technology. Today, approximately 2.5 quintillion bytes data is created, suggesting an age of big data. Agile networks and swiftly rising smartphone adoption has enabled telecom operators to gain insights about their customers' behavior and preferences. Industry analysis suggests that the data generation from telecom & IT would reach 44 trillion GB by 2020.



Therefore, the telecom sector has aligned its operations in line with implementing SDDC to enable superior computation, low capital expenditure, and achieve efficiency. For instance, the U.S. telecommunication industry deployed software-defined computing to access cloud computing easily. Additionally, various IT organizations from diverse industry verticals have also shifted to SDDC due to its cost-effectiveness, high storage capacity, and efficient performance.



The report highlights the adoption of Software Defined Data Center, in North America. Based on the component type, the Software Defined Data Center market is segmented into Solution and services. Solution market is further segmented into Software-Defined Storage, Software-Defined Networking and Software-Defined Computing. Services segment is further sub divided into Integration, deployment & migration Service, Consulting and Managed services. Based on Data Center Type, the market is segmented into Large Scale, Mid-Scale and Small Scale. The Applications highlighted in this report include IT & Telecom, BFSI, Government Utilities, Healthcare, Education, Retail, Manufacturing and Others.



Based on country, North America Software Defined Data Center market is segmented into US, Canada, Mexico, and Rest of North America. US remained the dominant region in the North America Software Defined Data Center market in 2015. Canada would witness highest CAGR during the forecast period (2016-2022).



The report covers the analysis of key stake holders of the Software Defined Data Center market. Key companies profiled in the report include Microsoft Corporation, IBM Corporation, HP Enterprise Company, Hitachi Ltd., Cisco Systems, Inc., Fujitsu Limited, Google Inc., Amazon.com, Inc. and Oracle Corporation.



Download the full report: https://www.reportbuyer.com/product/4212768/



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

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NEW YORK, Oct. 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Thousands visited the Appy Pie website last night after the screening of TV advert showing how easy it was to create apps using the DIY Platform. Thousands broke off from viewing the nation's favorite News Show "Tonight with Don Lemon," to find more about the platform. After the massive spike in demand the site crashed.

The site was quickly restored, but the company is expecting another big surge when the TV ad goes out again today but this time the company claims to have added additional servers to handle this increasing demand on their App Builder.

Appy Pie Founder, Abhinav Girdhar said:

"The response to the TV ad was incredible, and since Appy Pie is the only SME focused platform that especially helps small businesses in converting their existing websites into an app, it told us that we really had a hit on our hands. We're focusing on extending the DIY App Building experience to newer industries by introducing new features for Hotel, Real Estate, and Events & Dating Verticals. In essence we are listening to what the people really want, and acting on those wishes."

To watch the TV ad visit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eNvz_9UNdHA

"Appy Pie has always gone that extra mile to transform the app development from a stressful process, to one full of ease. We believe that with this ad, our connect with the TG is getting stronger, confirming our commitment to being the most trusted platform to build mobile apps," concluded Girdhar.

About Appy Pie:

Appy Pie is a Trademark of Appy Pie LLC. Appy Pie is the leading Cloud-based mobile apps builder software that allows anyone with no technical knowledge to create advanced applications for mobiles and smartphones. There is nothing to download or install, no programming required  just drag and drop.

To learn more about the services offered by the company, just log on to http://www.appypie.com/

Media Contact:

Abs

[email protected]

646-688-5525

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161013/428325LOGO

SOURCE Appy Pie

Related Links

http://www.appypie.com


CHARLOTTE, N.C., Oct. 12, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- OwnAmerica, a pioneer in investment management technology to the institutional Single-Family Rental (SFR) market, announced today that investors have installed more than $1.8 billion in assets on the Portfolio Visualizer in the first 30 days, with over $200 million made available for purchase.

OwnAmerica launched the new platform on September 12, offering SFR portfolio owners a way to receive valuation and analysis on their investment properties. The platform also gives investors access to a rapidly growing community of fellow SFR investors. Owners who are expanding their holdings can be matched with owners who seeking to sell all or part of their portfolios. OwnAmerica's Portfolio Visualizer is supported by technology and a national field force of 4,000 certified real estate agents.

Larry Shapiro, COO of Silver Bay Realty Trust, one of the publicly traded single family property REITs that search for acquisition opportunities on OwnAmerica.com, said, "By offering portfolio owners a place to manage the disposition of their real estate investments, OwnAmerica is creating a steady flow of quality inventory for sale, which is good for the health of the market."

"Owners of SFR portfolios have never been offered services like these, and they are responding with enthusiasm," said Greg Rand, CEO of OwnAmerica, "Single Family Rental is the latest segment of the real estate economy to be transformed by technology. We are revealing and tracking the financial performance of SFR portfolios in ways that were not possible 4 years ago."

The total value of the SFR market exceeds $3 trillion, and shelters more than 12% of the households in the U.S. The National Association of Realtors reports that 22% of all home sales, or over 1 million sales each year, are attributable to investors. The volume and value of the market is comparable in size to the other real estate asset classes in commercial real estate.

Founded in 2010, OwnAmerica has been part of the effort to institutionalize Single Family Rental. The company created tools and online markets for institutions to buy and sell performing SFR properties and has trained and certified more than 4,000 real estate agents to service SFR clients. Now those tools, technologies and professional services are being offered to investors at every level. OwnAmerica.com now offers free portfolio analysis to SFR owners and a private marketplace to buy and sell rental homes.

Contact: Chris Cosentino

CozComm Public Relations

917-519-6300

[email protected]

SOURCE OwnAmerica

Related Links

http://www.ownamerica.com


PITTSBURGH, Oct. 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Modern Healthcare has recognized PANTHERx Specialty as the No. 5 Best Place to Work in Healthcare in its ninth annual Best Places to Work in Healthcare Awards, a national program that honors outstanding employers in the healthcare industry. At No. 5, PANTHERx Specialty Pharmacy was also the highest-ranking organization new to the list and the highest-ranking organization in the state of Pennsylvania.

"We're incredibly honored by this recognition from our associates," said Dr. Gordon Vanscoy, Chairman & CEO of PANTHERx Specialty. "We're humbled that they appreciate being a part of the PANTHERx team."

PANTHERx Specialty's corporate culture, which focuses on collaboration, hard work, and putting patients first, contributed to this recognition. PANTHERx Specialty strives to find ways to engage employees and their families to produce a positive, yet challenging, working environment. The company's mission, vision, and values are driving forces behind all personal, departmental and company-wide goals.

PANTHERx Specialty employees are empowered to take steps necessary to enhance and improve the care of each individual patient. "At the end of the day, we're here to serve our patients," said Jonathan Ogurchak, Vice President for Business Operations. "If we have the ability to take a few extra measures to obtain a better outcome for a patient, we encourage our associates to take those extra steps. Prioritizing our patients' outcomes enables our team to attain immense satisfaction in making a positive difference in their lives."

In addition to receiving this award from Modern Healthcare, PANTHERx Specialty has also been recognized regionally as a Best Place to Work in Pittsburgh for two consecutive years by the Pittsburgh Business Times. "This has been an incredible period of growth with so many blessings for which we are very grateful at PANTHERx Specialty," said Dr. Gordon Vanscoy. "The only recognition that could surpass being acknowledged by our associates, is knowing we are providing the highest quality of service to our patients." PANTHERx Specialty was recognized nationally as the #9 Fastest Growing Private Company in the US and the #1 Fastest Growing Private Company in Healthcare on the 2016 Inc. 5000 list, and regionally as the #1 Fastest Growing Company in Pittsburgh by the Pittsburgh Business Times.

To view the full list of Modern Healthcare's Best Places to Work in Healthcare for 2016 click here.

About PANTHERx Specialty Pharmacy

PANTHERx Specialty Pharmacy, THE Rare Disease Specialty Pharmacy, is a national, dually accredited, specialty pharmacy headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. PANTHERx Specialty's mission is to transform lives by delivering medical breakthroughs, clinical excellence, and access solutions to patients afflicted with rare and devastating conditions. We create ways every day to Reinvent Specialty, Revolutionize Pharmacy, and Redefine Care, by developing focused solutions, bold innovation, and novel clinical services associated with the life-transforming therapies that we deliver.

CONTACT: Jonathan Ogurchak, 855-726-8479 ext. 9999, [email protected]

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161012/428143LOGO

SOURCE PANTHERx Specialty Pharmacy

Related Links

http://www.pantherspecialty.com


HARRISBURG, Pa., Oct. 13, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Today, Department of Human Services Secretary, Ted Dallas, visited Clinical Outcome Group, Inc., a Center of Excellence (COE) location to discuss the importance of the Wolf Administration's efforts to ensure continuity of, and access to, treatment to combat the opioid epidemic.

To date, 45 locations were selected throughout Pennsylvania in part of the 2016-2017 budget allotting $20.4 million for COEs. These centers will have a community-based care management team to assist people with opioid-related substance use disorders through the medical system, and ensure they receive behavioral and physical health care, as well as any evidence-based medication-assisted treatment needed.

"The work being done at the Clinical Outcome Group is such an asset to the community of Pottsville and Schuylkill County," said Secretary Dallas. "As we know, the opioid epidemic does not discriminate and affects every Pennsylvanian in some way. We are thrilled to have them as a location for the COE program, providing quality services to individuals in need."

In order to stem the tide of opioid abuse and make progress for those suffering from the disease of addiction and their loved ones, we must work quickly and efficiently to pass bills to send to Governor Wolf's desk.

During his joint address, Governor Wolf said that he hopes to pass legislation that will strengthen the Prescription Drug Monitoring Program, improve and increase education about opioid use disorder, limit opioid prescriptions to emergency room patients and minors, require insurance companies to cover abuse deterrent opioids, and establish a voluntary directive if they do not want to be prescribed opioids.

Clinical Outcome Group, Inc. is guided by a public health philosophy that emphasizes access to high quality and cost-effective services. Services are evaluated both internally and externally to assess effectiveness, investing strong data collection and an analysis infrastructure aimed to improve service quality.

For more information about the Centers of Excellence, visit www.dhs.pa.gov.

For more information about Clinical Outcome Group, Inc., visit www.COGInc.org.

MEDIA CONTACT: Rachel Kostelac, DHS, 717-425-7606

SOURCE Pennsylvania Department of Human Services

Related Links

http://www.dhs.pa.gov


Robust, interoperable chipsets are enabling the WiGig ecosystem now

TORONTO, Oct. 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ - Peraso Technologies Inc., a leader in Wireless Gigabit (WiGig) chipsets, is named a Hot Tech Innovator by ABI Research, an honor representing some of the brightest change-makers in the technology marketplace.

Peraso was selected for their robust, interoperable and commercially-ready multi-gigabit, low latency WiGig chipsets that will launch in business and consumer devices in the coming months. As one of the few WiGig vendors and the only start-up with chipsets ready for the emerging market, Peraso was acknowledged for their WiGig baseband that can accommodate more than one of its RF chips, enabling them to create a robust field of coverage and a higher tolerance to handling radio obstacles.

"Peraso is in a very good position with its WiGig, or 60 GHz Wi-Fi chipsets. Peraso is one of only a few chipset vendors with commercial chips compliant with 802.11ad and ready for the upcoming WiGig certification testing, and with a product breadth supporting mobile devices and PCs, device and PC accessories, and backhaul applications," said Phil Solis, Research Director at ABI Research. "Furthermore, Peraso's experience with millimeter wave radio solutions prepares it for future product lines, including 802.11ay and 5G."

"It's an honor to be recognized by ABI as one the leading innovators in the WiGig ecosystem," states Ron Glibbery, President and CEO of Peraso. "This is a testament not only to the technical excellence of our company, but also to the creativity and ingenuity of our team."

The ABI Research Hot Tech Innovators Report annually identifies 60 young and reinvented companies at the forefront of the next wave of innovation, driving change within their respective areas of expertise. For more information, download ABI Research's Hot Tech Innovators 2016 whitepaper: (https://www.abiresearch.com/whitepapers/hot-tech-innovators-2016/)

About Peraso Technologies, Inc.

Peraso is a fabless semiconductor company headquartered in Toronto, Canada. The company is focused on the development of 60 GHz chip sets and solutions compliant with the IEEE 802.11ad specification. 60 GHz has been adopted for interoperability certification by the WiFi Alliance under the WiGig brand, and WiGig has seen strong industry endorsement by tech giants such as Samsung, Qualcomm and Intel. For more information, visit www.perasotech.com.

Follow Peraso on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.

* Source: ABI Research, Hot Tech Innovators 2016 Research Analysis, April 2016

(C) Copyright 2016 Peraso Technologies, Inc. All rights reserved.

SOURCE Peraso Technologies Inc.
"I never miss an opportunity to visit and experience the Pantheon whenever I am in Rome," said Hicham Aboutaam, co-founder of Phoenix Ancient Art.

Within the space, Phoenix Ancient Art will feature masterpieces such as an over life sized rare marble portrait of Hadrian which is the type created in 127/128 AD for the anniversary of ten years of reign. They will also include a Graeco-Roman bronze masterwork, the statuette of Herakles that demonstrated the power and beauty of the male form during the Classical and Hellenistic periods.

Another unique piece for the Phoenix Ancient Art booth is the head of a god or king made of precious lapis lazuli. It clearly shows the distinct style of items created by Achaemenid court sculptors. Very few such sculptures have survived the test of time making this work of art all the more impressive.

Phoenix Ancient Art is also presenting a monumental Greek terracotta vase from the 4th century BC attributed to the Darius Painter, which includes a dramatic and elaborate depiction of the sacking of Troy. From the later Roman Imperial period they will be showing an exquisitely carved cameo depicting the Roman emperor "Philip the Arab" with his family. And one particular object of note, which they are presenting solely in the exhibition case, is a two-handled cup of cobalt blue glass by Ennion: Master of Roman Glass.

All of the masterworks from Phoenix Ancient Art at TEFAF New York will tell stories of times long gone, of empires that rose and fell and of a history that is essential to preserve for our modern day understanding of government, societal norms and ourselves.

For more information:

http://www.phoenixancientart.com/

https://www.tefaf.com/discover-art/collection/exhibitors/phoenix-ancient-art

Contact:

Phoenix Ancient Art

Alexander Gherardi

47 East 66th Street

New York, NY 10065

tel: +1 212 288 7518

[email protected]

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161012/428104

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161012/428103

SOURCE Phoenix Ancient Art

Related Links

http://www.phoenixancientart.com


ARDMORE, Pa., Oct. 12, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Elena Thomas, COO of Plan Management Corp. (PMC), has been appointed President of the Philadelphia Chapter of the National Association of Stock Plan Professionals (NASPP). Ms. Thomas has served on the Board of Directors of the Philadelphia Chapter, which serves the city and surrounding suburbs, and areas of New Jersey and Delaware, for two years. She will serve a two-year term as the Chapter President as well.

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161011/427559LOGO

Upon her appointment, Ms. Thomas said, "I appreciate the confidence my area colleagues have placed in me and I will devote my energy during my term to continuing the growth and high engagement-level of our chapter. I look forward to working closely with the Board and my predecessor officers and I am excited about the meetings and events we are planning for our members to share and expand our collective knowledge and experience."

Additionally, PMC has once again been selected to present a panel at the NASPP National Conference, this year being held in Houston, Texas. The conference runs from October 24 to the 27th at the Hilton Americas Houston. Ms. Thomas, and Lisa Klevence, CEP, also from PMC, will lead two panel discussions on "7 Deadly Sins: Avoid These Plan Administration Mistakes at All Costs!" on Wednesday, Oct. 26th. They will be joined on the panel by Christine Kim, Director of Equity Programs at AbbVie, Inc.

Both Ms. Thomas and Ms. Klevence have been presenters at previous NASPP national conferences. Ms. Klevence said that, "In my over 20 years of working in this industry, I have seen so many well-intentioned corporate officers, controllers, administrators and legal counsel set up stock plans that force administrators to make unforeseen mistakes in administration. We felt that this is a topic that needs addressing critically."

Plan Management Corp. invites all attendees at the conference in Houston to visit us at Booth #22 where we will be happy to discuss any of the issues administrators face in today's turbulent plan environment.

PMC is the industry's oldest provider of web-based stock plan administration and securities recordkeeping software. PMC specializes in providing comprehensive, personal assistance to small to mid-cap companies, private and publicly-held, using PMC's over four decades of experience in guiding these companies through all stages of their growth. PMC is the only U.S. based company in the field that is entirely internally funded, broker neutral, and dedicated solely to providing integrated solutions to managing the complete life-cycle of companies' securities and awards.

Contact:

Jen Levine

Email

888-678-8729

SOURCE Plan Management Corp.
WALHALLA, N.D., Oct. 12, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Deia Schlosberg, the producer of Josh Fox's new climate change documentary "How to Let Go of the World and Love All the Things Climate Can't Change," was arrested yesterday in Walhalla, North Dakota for filming a protest action against a pipeline bringing Canadian tar sands oil into the US. The action was conducted by Climate Direct Action, but Schloserg was not part of the group and did not participate in the action, only filmed it. Her film footage was confiscated, and she is currently being held in jail.

Schlosberg is an award-winning filmmaker in her own right, and works with Josh Fox's International WOW Company. "How to Let Go," which she produced, is the third film in the Oscar-nominated, Emmy-winning GASLAND series.

Arrest of journalists, filmmakers and others witnessing and reporting on citizen protests against fossil fuel infrastructure amid climate change is part of a worrisome, growing pattern. Amy Goodman, host of Democracy Now, was arrested last month for covering Native American-led protests of the Dakota Access Pipeline. The actress Shailene Woodley was arrested and jailed this week while leaving a protest at a construction site for the DAP. She was singled out, she was told by police, because she was well known and has 40,000 people watching her facebook page.

"Journalism is not a crime; it is a responsibility," said filmmaker Josh Fox about this pattern of arrests, including his producer Schlosberg's. "The actions of the North Dakota Police force are not just a violation of the climate, but a violation of the constitution."

Fox's GASLAND film trilogy deals with fracking, fossil fuels, climate change and citizen action. Fox himself was arrested and jailed in 2012 for attempting to film a Congressional hearing on fracking, and charged with "unlawful entry." The charges were later dismissed.

NOTE TO EDITORS AND PRODUCERS: Josh Fox is available for interviews on request. To arrange one, please contact: Stephen Kent, [email protected] 914-589-5988

SOURCE International WOW Company
NEW YORK, October 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

Q BioMed Inc. (OTCQB: QBIO), technology partner Mannin Research Inc will participate at the Ophthalmology Innovation Summit and the American Academy of Ophthalmology Annual Meeting in Chicago IL.

Mannin Research Inc. will be attending the Ophthalmology Innovation Summit ([email protected] 2016), which takes place on October 13th 2016 in Chicago, Illinois. The OIS facilitates meaningful interactions and business partnerships between physicians, entrepreneurs, investors, and industry executives who are driving ophthalmic innovation.

The Ophthalmology Innovation Summit is held in conjunction with the American Academy of Ophthalmology Annual Meeting (AAO 2016). The American Academy of Ophthalmology is the world's largest association of eye physicians and surgeons. The AAO Annual Meeting runs from October 14-18. Mannin Research executives will be attending both OIS and AAO this year to meet with academics and industry professionals.

The meeting provides Mannin executives the opportunity to further explore business development goals and other collaborative opportunities for the MAN-01 program for treatment of glaucoma.

Q BioMed Inc. CEO, Denis Corin said, "Given the recent uptick in M&A and significant interest in high value ophthalmology assets we expect this to be a very productive conference. "

Please visit our website http://www.qbiomed.com to sign up for regular updates and stay up-to-date with our progress.

About Q BioMed Inc.

Q BioMed Inc."Q" is a biomedical acceleration and development company. We are focused on licensing and acquiring biomedical assets across the healthcare spectrum. Q is dedicated to providing these target assets the strategic resources, developmental support, and expansion capital the need to ensure they meet their developmental potential, enabling them to provide products to patients in need.

Forward-Looking Statements:

This press release may contain "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Such statements include, but are not limited to, any statements relating to our growth strategy and product development programs and any other statements that are not historical facts. Forward-looking statements are based on management's current expectations and are subject to risks and uncertainties that could negatively affect our business, operating results, financial condition and stock price. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those currently anticipated are: risks related to our growth strategy; risks relating to the results of research and development activities; our ability to obtain, perform under and maintain financing and strategic agreements and relationships; uncertainties relating to preclinical and clinical testing; our dependence on third-party suppliers; our ability to attract, integrate, and retain key personnel; the early stage of products under development; our need for substantial additional funds; government regulation; patent and intellectual property matters; competition; as well as other risks described in our SEC filings. We expressly disclaim any obligation or undertaking to release publicly any updates or revisions to any forward looking statements contained herein to reflect any change in our expectations or any changes in events, conditions or circumstances on which any such statement is based, except as required by law.

Contact:

Denis Corin

CEO

Q BioMed Inc.

+1-888-357-2435



SOURCE Q BioMed Inc
LOS ANGELES, Oct. 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Receivers aiding in the recovery of funds for investors and victims that were swindled also can run afoul of the law if they're not extremely familiar with tax laws and rulings, says receivership law specialist Byron Moldo.

Moldo, a member of the Bankruptcy, Receivership, and Reorganization Practice at the law firm Ervin Cohen & Jessup in Los Angeles, will explain some of these tricky tax rules at the National Association of Federal Equity Receivers' (NAFER) conference in Washington, D.C.

Joining Moldo on the October 14 panel, "Money, Money, Money: Tax, Insurance, Expenses and Reporting," is Irving H. Picard, the court-appointed trustee for the victims of Bernie Madoff's multibillion-dollar Ponzi scheme.

Picard "will focus on the money aspect, while I will focus on the tax aspect," says Moldo, adding that the panel will be "important as a refresher and make people aware of this aspect of practicing in this area."

Moldo will discuss a 2009 memo by the U.S. Department of Justice's Tax Division addressing the interplay of claims by the government and investors/victims, including the distribution of funds by receivers in fraud matters.

"If someone acting as a receiver doesn't do things properly to comply with the tax code or use someone who does, there can be some serious exposure," Moldo warns. "There was a case a few years ago where someone acting as a receiver was held personally liable because the receiver distributed funds to investors instead of recognizing a claim of the government. After that, this memo was issued to clarify these issues."

Moldo, who served as a Chapter 7 and 11 Bankruptcy Trustee in the Central District of California for 10 years, regularly serves as a receiver in federal and state court cases, as assignee for the benefit of creditors, and as a fiduciary in other court-supervised matters.

About Ervin Cohen & Jessup LLP

Ervin Cohen & Jessup LLP is a full-service firm that provides a broad range of business-related legal services including corporate law; litigation; intellectual property & technology law; real estate transactions and finance; construction & environmental law; tax planning and controversies; employment law; health care law; bankruptcy, receivership and reorganization; and estate planning. For more information, visit http://www.ecjlaw.com/

SOURCE Ervin Cohen & Jessup LLP

Related Links

http://www.ecjlaw.com


HUNTSVILLE, Ala., Oct. 13, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Rick Burt remembers his very first engineering and safety lessons came as a child, one of two sons working on the family's small farm near Columbia, Tennessee, in the 1960s. His dad was a strict teacher on the importance of listening to and watching out for each other, of thinking ahead to recognize potential dangers before tackling any job, especially around the tractor and other machinery.

Formal engineering classes and decades of experience came later. But his dad's farm curriculum still resonates every single day with Burt, who is now director of Safety and Mission Assurance at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama.

"It does stick with me. When you think about the safety aspects of anything you do, it molds all your thought processes," he said. "That feeds right in to everything we do in the space program, and particularly our development of the Space Launch System: You identify the hazards, determine how to mitigate those hazards and reduce the amount of risk."

Burt was previously chief safety and mission assurance officer for SLS, the massive rocket that will take humans on exploration missions farther into deep space than ever before, and a journey to Mars. In his new assignment he is responsible for safety, reliability and quality engineering for the programs and activities across the entire Marshall Center.

"Risk is inherent in exploration. So we continually reinforce and grow our safety culture as we invent and refine new technologies and approaches to living, working and exploring deeper into space," Burt said. "My own mission, every day, is to make sure everyone who works here, in every kind of job, whether NASA employee or contractor, thinks about that balance of safety and risk, and feels absolutely comfortable reporting, talking and asking about any safety issues, without worry about consequences."

Open communication and mutual trust are as critical for mission success at NASA as welding or computing power, he said. Progress is powered by learning from mistakes as well as successes -- another lesson learned early on the farm that applies to life as well as engineering.

In high school, Burt exceled at math and science, and by then knew he wanted to be an engineer. He went to Tennessee Technological University in Cookeville because it had one of the best mechanical engineering programs in the country, and received several job offers with his bachelor's degree in 1978. He chose a position with the Tennessee Valley Authority and began working with teams building the Hartsville Nuclear Power Plant east of Nashville. He met his wife, Susan, who also worked for TVA, riding a commuter van to the plant every day.

Burt transferred to the Watts Barr nuclear plant in Spring City, Tennessee in 1984. In 1987, he was asked to supervise the engineering for modifications at the Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant in Athens, Alabama. When that temporary position became permanent, the Burts moved to Rogersville, Alabama, where they still reside in the home where they raised their daughter and son.

In 1990, when NASA had openings at Marshall in the Space Shuttle Program, he seized the opportunity. NASA was then preparing for the Return to Flight following the space shuttle Challenger accident and Burt was soon engrossed in the work of the shuttle Reusable Solid Rocket Motor Project office.

"I viewed an engineering job at NASA as the pinnacle of the profession, especially as we examined all the hardware and procedures to get the shuttle Discovery ready for safe flight after a two-and-a-half-year period when we weren't launching crews into space," Burt said. "It is just so exciting to be part of something so special as human spaceflight. I really wanted to be a part of that."

His experience includes serving as deputy manager and chief engineer of the motor project office; deputy manager of the Space Shuttle Projects Office; manager of the Ares 1 First Stage Program; and manager of the Marshall Engineering Directorate's Test Laboratory. He became chief safety officer for the Space Launch System in 2011 and Marshall's Safety and Mission Assurance director in July 2016.

"It's an extraordinary feeling to know that you're being entrusted and empowered to lead such a critical team, both for the center and the agency," Burt said.

"It's hard to fathom sometimes, but the journey from where I started to where I am now has been amazing," he said, smiling. " We are talking about going to Mars. We're going places we've never been -- and we're getting there with safety principles guiding us every step of the way."

For more information about NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, visit:

www.nasa.gov/centers/marshall

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20081007/38461LOGO

SOURCE NASA

Related Links

http://www.nasa.gov


SAN DIEGO, Oct. 12, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Consulting firm Great Place to Work and Fortune magazine announced that Renovate America has earned a place among of the country's Best Small and Medium Workplaces. This list recognizes the top performing companies across the nation in terms of the workplace they have created for employees, with the understanding that a positive work environment is essential to a healthy business and a central component of success.

Renovate America won this accolade based on employees' anonymous responses to an extensive survey about their levels of trust, pride and camaraderie at work. Great Place to Work reviewed the survey results of more than 52,000 employees from hundreds of companies in the ranking process. Among the findings from the study: trust fuels business performance. For example, the Best Small and Medium Workplaces enjoy roughly three times the revenue growth of their peers, even as they provide a better experience for their people.

"We are competing for the best employees in an economy known for creative and innovative workplaces, and we think what sets us apart is the larger mission of the company," said Jamie Latiano Jacobs, Senior Vice President of People & Culture at Renovate America. "Renovate America is committed to making homes safer, healthier, more comfortable and more efficient, while at the same time improving the economic and environmental well-being of communities. Our employees work hard and with purpose to realize this mission, so we strive to celebrate their achievements and take care of the whole person."

The company holds quarterly town hall meetings to encourage cross departmental collaboration, communication and team-building, as well as annual holiday celebrations. Employees enjoy 100 percent company-paid health coverage and a generous 401K with a 4% company match and immediate vesting. They also offer an Open PTO plan for exempt employees, 120 days of parental leave for new parents, and free lunch catered daily.

Renovate America came in at number 40 on the list of the 100 best medium-sized workplaces, which are defined as having between 100 and 999 employees.

"According to our study, 96 percent of Renovate America employees say it is a great workplace," says Sarah Lewis-Kulin, Great Place to Work's Senior Editor.

Renovate America employees completed 377 surveys, resulting in a 90 percent confidence level and a margin of error of  2.75 percent. Survey responses were overwhelmingly positive across all indicators, with 98 percent of surveyed employees saying that the company has a great atmosphere and 97 percent saying that they are proud to tell others that they work at Renovate America.

"There's a generosity of spirit that infuses the Best Small and Medium workplaces  one that has a measurable return," said Kim Peters, Executive Vice President of Great Place to Work. "Whether it's funding employee 'passion projects' or giving surprise gifts to customers, the best workplaces give it away. And they get it back in the form of inspired people who innovate harder and generate higher revenue."

The Best Small and Medium Workplaces is one of a series of rankings by Great Place to Work and Fortune based upon employee survey feedback from Great Place to Work-CertifiedTM organizations.

This is not the first time Renovate America has earned recognition as an employer, though it is the first time the company has been recognized on a national scale. Renovate America was named to the San Diego Business Journal's Best Places to Work list in 2015 and 2016, and in 2015, placed number one in the midsize category of the San Diego Union-Tribune's Top Work Places list.

About Renovate America:

Renovate America partners with state and local governments to offer HERO, a property assessed clean energy (PACE) financing program, to communities. HERO is the leading residential PACE program in the U.S. and has financed more than $1.85 billion of home energy and efficiency improvements across more than 76,000 households. This unique public-private partnership offers consumers access to financing for more than 60 types of products that reduce energy and water consumption, without the need for government funding. The HERO Program has received a number of recognitions including a Climate Leadership Certificate for Innovative Partnerships by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, inclusion in the 2016 White House Water Summit, the Governor's Environmental and Economic Leadership Award in California, and the Urban Land Institute Best of the Best.

About The Best Small and Medium Workplaces:

Published together with our partner, Fortune, the Best Small & Medium Workplaces rankings are based entirely upon feedback from more than 52,000 employees at Great Place to WorkCertified companies. Employees 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 the honesty and quality of communication by managers, degree of support for employees' personal and professional lives and the authenticity of relationships with colleagues.

Results from the survey are highly reliable, having a 95% confidence level and a margin of error of 5% or less. Winning a spot on this list indicates the company has distinguished itself from peers by creating a great place to work for all  not only do the majority of their employees experience the company as a great place to work, but this experience is consistent across the organization, regardless of gender, race/ethnicity, job role, or other personal characteristics. The companies with the highest employee ratings compared with organizations of the same complexity in size and scope were selected for the list. Companies with fewer than 100 employees compete for placement on the 50 Best Small Workplaces list, and companies between 100 and 999 employees compete for placement on the 100 Best Medium Workplaces 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 and over a half dozen different industries.

Follow Great Place to Work online at www.greatplacetowork.com and on Twitter at @GPTW_US.

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SOURCE Renovate America
WASHINGTON, Oct. 12, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The uncertain vacation culture created by America's managers has led to $272 billion in accumulated vacation time sitting on the balance sheets of U.S. businesses this year, according to a new Project: Time Off report, The High Price of Silence: Analyzing the Business Implications of an Under-Vacationed Workforce. Private sector vacation liability has surged 21 percent in the last year.

The report, based on survey research by GfK and a review of 10-K financial statements by Oxford Economics, analyzes management's unique time off viewpoints, pressures, and privileges to uncover contradictions that contributed to 658 million unused vacation days in 2015.

"This is a $272 billion wake-up call for America's business leaders that they cannot afford to ignore vacation," said Project: Time Off Senior Director and report author Katie Denis. "Beyond the red mark on balance sheets, not taking time off hurts employee engagement and productivity, affects talent retention, and expedites burnoutall of which hurt a company's bottom line."

Despite an overwhelming belief (93%) among managers in the importance of time off, six-in-ten managers (59%) report leaving time on the table, compared to slightly more than half of employees (53%). Senior management is considerably worse, with fully two-thirds (67%) of executive and senior leaders who left vacation unused last year.

The report reveals a troubling narrative about the stresses faced by senior leaders, caught between the C-Suite and the rest of the organization. The challenges senior leaders experience in planning and using their vacation may have a negative influence on company culture, as they interact most closely with non-manager employees. The fear of returning to a mountain of work was cited by 55 percent of senior leaders on why they didn't use their vacation time, compared to just 26 percent of executives.

Reasons for Not Taking Time Off Non-managers:

Respondents who are not involved in decision-making and do not have managerial responsibilities. All Managers:

Respondents who have managerial responsibilities, inclusive of executive and senior leaders. Senior Leaders:

Respondents who are involved in decision-making and have a title comparable to senior vice president, vice president, director, or managing director. Executives:

Respondents whose current position title is CEO, COO, CFO, CMO, CIO, president, or owner. Fear returning to a mountain of work. 33% 47% 55% 26% Worry that no one else can do the work if they take time off. 27% 37% 52% 34% Feel it is harder to take time off as you grow in the company. 23% 39% 48% 38%

As companies look for competitive advantages in the benefits arms race, increased consideration needs to be paid to the under-utilization of vacation and its impacts on the bottom line and beyond. The report highlights best practices from companies that understand and have harnessed the power of vacation, including:

Increased Energy and Avoiding Burnout. Managers say the most compelling reason for time off is to cut down on burnout. Brian Scudamore , CEO of O2E Brands, which includes 1-800-GOTJUNK, changed his vacation habits once he realized the business suffers when he's burnt out and that trickles down.

Managers say the most compelling reason for time off is to cut down on burnout. , CEO of O2E Brands, which includes 1-800-GOTJUNK, changed his vacation habits once he realized the business suffers when he's burnt out and that trickles down. Boosting Creativity. The majority (84%) of managers agree that when employees take time off, they return to work with improved focus and creativity. Instagram, Dropbox, the musical Hamilton , and Starbucks, as it is today, were all inspired by vacation thinking.

The majority (84%) of managers agree that when employees take time off, they return to work with improved focus and creativity. Instagram, Dropbox, the musical , and Starbucks, as it is today, were all inspired by vacation thinking. Talent Development. When managers forego vacation, it robs employees of the opportunity for increased responsibility and companies of the chance to see if their talent strategy is working. Deloitte Consulting CEO, Jim Moffat , believes that if leaders are unable to take vacation without checking in, it is symptomatic of larger issues in the company.

When managers forego vacation, it robs employees of the opportunity for increased responsibility and companies of the chance to see if their talent strategy is working. Deloitte Consulting CEO, , believes that if leaders are unable to take vacation without checking in, it is symptomatic of larger issues in the company. Talent Retention and Attraction. Positive vacation cultures are key to attracting and retaining talent. FullContact, popular for its $7,500 vacation incentive, reports nearly eliminating turnover since implementing the popular program.

"From the C-suite down, managers need to embrace the potential time off holds for themselves and their employees. Choosing to ignore vacation is choosing to fall behind companies that appreciate its power," Denis concluded.

Methodology

GfK conducted an online survey using the GfK KnowledgePanel from January 20-February 16, 2016 with 5,641 American workers working at least 35 hours per week and who receive paid time off. See the report for full methodology. To determine the private sector vacation liability, Oxford Economics completed a review of 10K financial statements filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission by 115 public companies employing 457,000 private sector workers. Oxford Economics used the GfK survey to extrapolate the 10-K analysis to the broader private sector economy. See the report for full methodology.

About Project: Time Off

Project: Time Off is an initiative to win back America's Lost Week of vacation. We aim to shift culture so that taking time off is understood as essential to personal well-being, professional success, business performance, and economic expansion. The initiative is supported by the Project: Time Off Coalition a broad-based group of organizations focused on changing America's thinking and behavior about vacation time. Learn more at ProjectTimeOff.com.

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SOURCE Project: Time Off

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PEACHTREE CITY, Ga., Oct. 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Rinnai America Corporation, manufacturer of the No. 1 selling brand of tankless gas water heaters in North America, attained the milestone of selling its 2 millionth tankless unit last month and celebrated the occasion by hosting a special luncheon for employees at its corporate headquarters on Friday, Sept. 23.

"Rinnai America is extremely proud to have provided 2 million tankless units for North American customers since introducing our tankless technology to the market in 2000," said Rinnai America Chief Operating Officer Frank Windsor. "For more than 16 years, Rinnai has brought the ongoing comfort and energy efficiency of tankless water heating technology to families in North America, and our achievement of this milestone shows just how much we've been able to enhance the lives of our customers by changing the way water is heated."

Employee Celebration of 2 Million Units

More than 100 Rinnai America employees gathered on Sept. 23 for the celebration luncheon, which provided the company's executive leadership team with the opportunity to thank everyone for their hard work and highlight how each employee's individual accomplishments contributed to Rinnai reaching the 2 millionth unit goal in 2016. Rinnai showcased the 2 millionth tankless unit, an RUR98i model from the company's Ultra Series, onsite during the event and plans to feature the unit in a corporate lobby display about the achievement in the coming weeks.

"As our most technologically advanced offering, it is only fitting that the RUR98i model is our 2 millionth tankless unit," said Rinnai America Vice President of Marketing Mark Buss. "The consumer benefits of the RUR98i  including the faster hot water provided by its integrated recirculation pump, which results in less wasted water, and its extreme energy efficiency  are precisely why Rinnai has been and continues to be the tankless leader in North America."

2017 Campaign to Give Back

During the 2 millionth unit celebration, company leaders also shared that Rinnai has plans to launch a philanthropic campaign in 2017 to commemorate the 2 millionth unit achievement and the company's history of enhancing lives by providing the comfort of hot water. The humanitarian effort will focus on providing the comfort of hot water to people in need, particularly those impacted by natural disasters and other unfortunate events. Additional details about the campaign will be announced later this year.

"For years, Rinnai has been active in the community-giving arena, and our employees frequently come together to support local causes that are close to our hearts," said Buss. "We are excited to announce the forthcoming launch of a more formalized campaign in 2017 that will enable us to deliver hot water to individuals for whom it is not readily accessible. This type of program seems like the perfect way to say 'thank you' to the North American market and our community of customers for enabling Rinnai's continued success."

About Rinnai

Rinnai America Corporation, a subsidiary of Rinnai Corporation in Nagoya, Japan, was established in 1974 and is headquartered in Peachtree City, Ga. Rinnai Corporation manufactures gas appliances including tankless water heaters, a wide range of kitchen appliances and heating and air conditioning units. As the technology leader in its industry, Rinnai is the largest gas appliance manufacturer in Japan and is the No. 1 selling brand of tankless gas water heaters in the United States and Canada. Annual corporate revenues, including those of its subsidiaries, are in excess of $3.1 billion. With a global perspective to create 21st century products for the home and business, Rinnai Corporation commits itself to safety and the pursuit of comfortable lifestyles. For more information about Rinnai's entire product line, visit www.rinnai.us.

FOR INFORMATION

Katie O'Neill

three

(404) 835-4527

[email protected]

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SOURCE Rinnai Corporation

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BEIJING, Oct. 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Back in September 2010, SANY Group has made a history when they exported their five 2.0 MW wind turbines to the Ralls Wind Farm in the United States. For the first time, a Chinese wind technology manufacturer had sold their equipment overseas. 2.0 MW was the largest turbine ever exported by a Chinese manufacturer.

With the growth of SANY's wind power business, Sany Heavy Energy Machinery Co., Ltd. was established back in 2013. The company quickly grew into a world-class wind technology manufacturer with the mission to create harmony between mankind and nature.

Since its establishment, going global has been SANY Heavy Energy's long-term vision. A good example is the ADAMA II wind power project in Ethiopia. 102 SANY SE7715 wind turbines were used to construct a 153 MW wind farm, satisfying 20% of the electricity need in the capital Addis Ababa.

The project earned appraisal from senior officials of the Ethiopian government. After making a personal visit to the wind farm, President Mulatu Teshome appreciated the quality of the equipment. He predicted that SANY's machines would boost up the construction of infrastructure and social development throughout Ethiopia.

During the 2015 Sino-African Cooperation Forum, Chinese President Xi Jinping gave his South African counterpart Jacob Zuma a tour of the SANY wind turbine models that were used for the ADAMA II project. This made several other African leaders to get familiar with SANY's wind turbines.

The ADAMA II project has since been completed and is now operational. SANY turbines are now recognized in the local market. Thanks to the close cooperation between China and Ethiopia, SANY machinery is set to play a vital role in Ethiopia's economic development.

SANY also plans to invest 3 billion USD in India over the coming 5 years building wind farms. These farms will generate total power of 2,000 MW, thereby generating 480 million kWh of electricity each year. That is equivalent to half of the power generated by Adani Mundra, India's largest thermal power plant.

In addition, SANY Heavy Energy is planning to manufacture turbines locally. India will become SANY's second global wind power manufacturing center after China.

"We are confident that SANY will quickly become one of the world's top turbine manufactures," said SANY Heavy Industry Chairman Liang Wengen. SANY Heavy Energy will leave no stones unturned to achieve this goal. With advanced wind power technology, SANY now has doubly-fed, permanent magnet, and independent core technology.

About SANY

SANY Group (SANY) is a leading global heavy machinery manufacturer with plants in the US, Germany, Brazil and India, and business covering over 100 countries and regions worldwide. The company has been recognized as one of the most innovative and successful companies in the world, and its concrete machinery is ranked No. 1 globally.

For more information, please visit: www.sanyglobal.com, or follow Sany Group on Facebook and YouTube.

Contact Person:

SANY Group

Rebecca Zhou

+86 1060737480

[email protected]

SOURCE SANY
Winners of the 2016 Frank Awards were determined by a survey of the independent dealer community. Blackmer accepted the award at the 31st Annual Awards & Charities Dinner at the Winchester Hotel, in Livingston, N.J. She was honored alongside other industry executives at the event.

"We initiated the Best Woman Executive award three years ago because women have long been overlooked in our industry," said Frank G. Cannata, President and CEO, The Cannata Report. "The selection of Laura Blackmer for the second year in a row from our annual dealer survey more than confirms the tremendous contributions she has made to our industry. It is our pleasure and privilege to have presented this well-deserved award to Laura."



In addition to The Cannata Report's recognition, earlier this year Blackmer was named to the prestigious 2016 Women of the Channel list by CRN, a brand of The Channel Company. Those honorees were selected based on their professional accomplishments, expertise and dedication to the IT channel.

One of the company's most dynamic leaders, Blackmer joined Sharp as Senior Vice President of Sales in 2013, making a formidable impact with her extensive channel and sales knowledge. She leads SIICA business sales teams for multifunction printers and professional displays. Blackmer has 28 years of experience in the industry, and prior to Sharp, held senior roles with top technology companies such as Intermec, Onforce and Hewlett-Packard.

The Cannata Report Annual Awards & Charities Dinner raised $180,000 to benefit the Jacki Ritschel Memorial Endowment for Cancer Research and Treatment at Hackensack University Medical Center.

About The Cannata Report

Since its launch in 1982, The Cannata Report has been a leading business technology trends resource for the independent business, imaging and workflow solutions dealer channel Distinguished for its industry-renowned editorial and analyses, it has subscribers throughout the U.S. and in nine countries worldwide.

As the independent dealer model continues to evolve and expand into a comprehensive managed service, IT, and production print provider, The Cannata Report has remained at the forefront of the industry. The Cannata Report's audience includes independent dealers, all major industry hardware manufacturers, leasing companies, software providers and more. Moreover, its broad expertise attracts audiences from all business endeavors related to the independent dealer channel.

The Cannata Report's media portfolio is anchored by its signature print edition and the newly relaunched website www.TheCannataReport.com and extends across all social media channels including Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube.

The Cannata Report is owned and operated by parent company Marketing Research Consultants LLC.

About Sharp Imaging and Information Company of America

Sharp Imaging and Information Company of America, a division of Sharp Electronics Corporation, markets the advanced, MX Series multifunction printer (MFP) systems that help companies manage workflow efficiently and increase productivity. Sharp MFPs feature the Sharp OSA development platform, which seamlessly integrates network applications to create a personalized MFP that can meet virtually any business need, and Scan2 technology, which scans two-sided documents in a single pass to enhance scanning reliability and preserve document integrity. Sharp is a leader in the MFP industry in security.

Sharp's professional and commercial displays are specially engineered for business applications and are offered in a wide range of sizes and varying capabilities. From high-impact displays for digital signage, to state-of-the-art ultra-narrow bezel video walls, to the award-winning AQUOS BOARD interactive display systems, Sharp commercial and professional displays help you communicate, collaborate and disseminate information brilliantly.

For more information on Sharp's business products, contact Sharp Electronics Corporation, 1 Sharp Plaza, Suite 1, Mahwah, N.J., 07495-1163. For online product information, visit our web site at siica.sharpusa.com.

Become a fan of SIICA on Facebook, follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn and watch us on YouTube .

Peppercomm for Sharp

Sarah Sanzari

212.931.6175

[email protected]

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SOURCE Sharp Imaging and Information Company of America

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"We've long demonstrated the value of taking a fact-based approach to branding," says Brian Rafferty, Global Director of Business Analytics and Insights, Siegel+Gale. "The services we're launching will complement our existing research tools, as we expand our analytical capabilities to ensure that clients receive the data and guidance they require to govern their brands."

As part of the offering, Siegel+Gale developed a proprietary methodology that calculates brand contribution to a company's revenue. In addition, this methodology reveals the role brand plays in customer purchase decisions, relative to product features and price. The firm also announced a software solution that enables brand managers to govern the assets produced by agency partnersand expose potential points of failurein real time.

By employing Siegel+Gale's Business Analytics and Insights services, marketing leaders can now:

Precisely calculate how much brand contributes to company revenue

Project the impact of branding initiatives on future earnings

Compare a firm's brand contribution to business against the category average

Uncover which brand characteristics will drive the most market share for an organization

Understand which customer touchpoints (e.g., point of sale, etc.) matter most to customers, and which will yield the greatest ROI/share of wallet

Identify brand champions within their organizations, and how to drive greater employee engagement

Monitor and govern the implementation of brand across key assets and understand points of failure, across all agency partners

"In a world driven by data, in which marketing budgets are increasingly spread across a growing number of initiatives, 'brand' can no longer remain an intangible asset," says Rafferty. "Our Business Analytics and Insights services not only provides CMOs with data they need to make informed branding decisions, it gives them the certainty that those decisions will lead to business growth."

About Siegel+Gale

Siegel+Gale (www.siegelgale.com) is the simplicity company. We seek it, defend it and embrace it in everything we do to help brands reach their true potential. Simplicity is the centerpiece of the strategies we develop that reveal the unique truths of an organization, the engaging stories we create that connect brands with their audiences and the meaningful experiences we deliver that are both unexpectedly fresh and remarkably clear.

Since 1969, Siegel+Gale has championed simplicity for leading corporations, nonprofits and government organizations worldwide. We have offices in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, London, Dubai and Shanghai, but we're willing to fly just about anywhere. We're also not alone. As part of the DAS Group of Companies, we have strong partners all around the world.

About the DAS Group of Companies The DAS Group of Companies, a division of Omnicom Group Inc. (NYSE: OMC) (www.omnicomgroup.com), is a global group of marketing services companies. DAS includes over 200 companies in the following marketing disciplines: specialty, PR, healthcare, CRM, events, promotional marketing, branding and research. Operating through a combination of networks and regional organizations, DAS serves international, regional, national and local clients through more than 700 offices in 71 countries.

Contact:

Molly Muldoon

Senior PR Manager, Siegel+Gale

[email protected]

1.212.453.0491

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SOURCE Siegel+Gale, LLC

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STRATFORD, Conn., Oct. 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Sikorsky, A Lockheed Martin Company (NYSE: LMT), delivered the 1,000th H-60M BLACK HAWK helicopter to the U.S. Army today in a ceremony held in Stratford, Connecticut. The event was attended by distinguished guests from the U.S. Army, government officials, the Defense Contracting Management Agency, industry suppliers, and Lockheed Martin employees.

Speakers included Brigadier General Robert L. Marion, Program Executive Officer, U.S. Army Program Executive Office for Aviation; Colonel William "Billy" Jackson, Project Manager, Utility Helicopters, U.S. Army Program Executive Office; Connecticut Governor Dannel Malloy; U.S. Senators for Connecticut, Richard Blumenthal and Chris Murphy; U.S. Representative for Connecticut's 3rd Congressional District, Rosa DeLauro; and Sikorsky President Dan Schultz.

During the ceremony, Brigadier General Robert L. Marion said, "The UH-60 is often referred to as the workhorse of Army Aviation and as such your efforts here, past, present, and future are critical to the continued defense of our nation. The rollout of the 1000th UH-60M BLACK HAWK marks an important outcome of our Aviation Modernization Plan, and these aircraft will transform our aviation fleet to a more flexible, capable, and ready team."

Sikorsky delivered the first UH-60M BLACK HAWK helicopter in 2007 and the first HH-60M MEDEVAC helicopter in 2008. Today's ceremony marked the delivery of the 792nd UH-60M and the 208th HH-60M helicopters. The 'Mike' model helicopters represent the Army's third standard baseline H-60 BLACK HAWK aircraft version in the 38-year production history of the program. The newest models feature more powerful engines than older variants, a new airframe, avionics and propulsion system, improved rotor blades, a digital cockpit, and an autopilot among other modern enhancements.

In his remarks, Colonel William "Billy" Jackson said, "Providing the Wings of the Eagle is a solemn responsibility. I am proud to report that this program has delivered many important attributes to our warfighters including more power, more durability and vastly increased situational awareness. We have fielded a fully integrated systema machine that allows our warfighters to focus on the battlefield. These attributes improve not only our performance, but also our combat readiness."

Currently, there are 2,135 H-60 BLACK HAWK helicopters in service, making the Army's BLACK HAWK helicopter fleet the largest flying fleet of all the services. The Army fleet of BLACK HAWK helicopters of all models has flown nearly nine million flight hours, many of them in combat.

The U.S. Air Force, National Guard, Army Reserve and 10 militaries throughout the world fly H-60M model aircraft. U.S. Government agencies including the Department of State, Customs & Border Protection and the Federal Bureau of Investigation also are operators.

"I know that I speak for all of our employees, many of us military service veterans, when I describe the tremendous pride we feel today," said Dan Schultz, president of Sikorsky, A Lockheed Martin Company. "We are honored to provide our country's men and women in uniform with a proven multi-role aircraft they can count on to perform their missions every day."

The UH-60M BLACK HAWK helicopter has been purchased by several international militaries, through the U.S. Government Foreign Military Sales (FMS) program. The U.S. Army has active H-60M BLACK HAWK programs with Bahrain, Jordan, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, Slovakia, Sweden, Taiwan, Thailand, Tunisia and United Arab Emirates.

Sikorsky delivered the UH-60A BLACK HAWK helicopters from 1978 until 1989, and delivered the UH-60L from 1989 until 2008. The Army plans to keep the BLACK HAWK fleet flying through 2070.

For additional information, visit our website: www.lockheedmartin.com .

About Lockheed Martin

Headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, Lockheed Martin is a global security and aerospace company that employs approximately 98,000 people worldwide and is principally engaged in the research, design, development, manufacture, integration and sustainment of advanced technology systems, products and services.

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SOURCE Lockheed Martin

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DUBLIN, Ohio, Oct. 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Socius, an award-winning business technology and consulting company, announces the addition of Microsoft Dynamics NAV and Agriware expert Todd Waterman as Solutions Architect. The company intends to align its growing NAV practice with Agriware, a horticulture solution that fully integrates with Microsoft Dynamics NAV.

Agriware is intended to help with the complete cycle of a growers' business: time, space, labor and materials. The scalable and customized solution provides users with an end-to-end view and brings together the four critical corners of successful operation.

Waterman comes to Socius from his role as chief administration officer at EuroAmerican, a horticultural goods company. Waterman has more than 15 years of experience as a subject matter expert in technology and business software consulting, and has an extensive background in horticultural and agricultural fields and the technologies and solutions specific to the industry.

In his new role at Socius, Waterman will develop custom demonstrations for clients of various Socius solutions, including Agriware and Power BI, and will be involved with the implementation of those software solutions. He will work directly with Melissa Cooper, a business development consultant for Socius.

"We're proud to have Todd join the Socius team as a Solutions Architect," said Jeff Geisler, CEO and Senior Managing Director of Socius. "The expertise he brings to the company will be a great asset to our horticulture and agriculture clients as we continue to offer more sophisticated and industry-specific business intelligence and technology solutions."

Waterman added, "Microsoft NAV can be a resource for any company who wants visibility in their strategic planning, transactions, inventory management and transportation, but it's also a powerful foundation for Agriware, a vertical solution interwoven with NAV from the ground up. I look forward to helping Socius clients with this insightful and strategic technology."

To learn more about how Socius can help businesses leverage technology with Microsoft Dynamics NAV, Agriware, and Power BI, visit www.socius1.com.

About Socius:

Socius (www.socius1.com) is a strategic business consulting partner that provides comprehensive business management solutions to help companies leverage technology to fuel their growth and profitability and compete more successfully in today's economy. As a Gold Certified Microsoft Partner, a Sage Authorized Partner, and the largest NetSuite Partner in Ohio, Socius represents the most trusted accounting, enterprise resource planning (ERP), customer relationship management (CRM), and business intelligence and analytics technologies on the market. Backed by over 30 years of award-winning experience, Socius proudly serves clients throughout the country from its headquarters in Columbus, Ohio, and its 28 additional locations.

For more information, contact:

Erin Paulson, Marketing Manager

614-798-0770

[email protected]

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SOURCE Socius

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MENLO PARK, Calif., Oct. 13, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Greater Than AIDS released a powerful new short-form documentary series Somos Familia (We Are Family) to bring attention to the impact of HIV/AIDS on Latinos leading into National Latinx HIV/AIDS Awareness Day (Oct. 15).

One in five people living with HIV in the U.S. is Latino. The stigma associated with HIV keeps many from seeking prevention and treatment services. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), more than half of Hispanics/Latinos living with HIV in the U.S. are not engaged in care.

Through personal stories of families with loved ones living with HIV, in both Spanish and English, the campaign reinforces the importance of social support for people living with HIV. A mother and son, a father and daughter, two pairs of siblings, share challenging moments of diagnosis, disclosure, and, ultimately, triumph as they learned more about the disease and sought treatment.

Research shows people with HIV who have strong support networks are more likely to get and stay in care, which both improves health outcomes and reduces the spread of the disease. Conversely, fear of judgement and rejection can delay a person from seeking lifesaving treatment or even knowing their status.

"The families featured in Somos Familia provide an intimate look into the experience of finding out a loved one is living with HIV, and how knowledge and care make all the difference," said Tina Hoff, Senior Vice President and Director of Health Communication and Media Partnerships at the Kaiser Family Foundation, which directs Greater Than AIDS.

Victor and Silvia, a brother and sister featured in the series, have always been close. Still, Victor struggled to tell Silvia he was living with HIV. When he did it was a relief to know that it wouldn't change anything between them.

"I loved the fact that I could talk openly with her about being HIV positive  It was just amazing," says Victor tearing up. "I've learned a lot from him," adds Silvia. "He knows how to treat it and how to take care of himself."

Victor goes on to explain how with treatment he has been able to reduce the amount of virus in the blood to very low levels, which for someone with HIV means better health and significantly less chance of passing the virus to others.

Produced as part of the Virginia Greater Than AIDS (Virginia>AIDS) and Texas Greater Than AIDS (Texas>AIDS) public information partnerships, the series is also being shared nationally. The Virginia Department of Health is distributing the campaign across the state with targeted out of home, radio, TV and digital media messages, as well as hosting town hall conversations in select cities. Health and community partners in other high impact areas are using to support local outreach.

Community toolkits  including informational resources, posters, and other items highlighting local services  are being distributed to AIDS service and other community-based organizations to support on-the-ground outreach.

For more about the campaign, informational resources, and to watch the videos, go to: familia.masquesida.org or family.greaterthan.org (English).

About Greater Than AIDS

Greater Than AIDS is a leading national public information response focused on the U.S. domestic epidemic. Launched in 2009 by the Kaiser Family Foundation and Black AIDS Institute, Greater Than AIDS is supported by a broad coalition of public and private sector partners, including: major media and other business leaders; Federal, state and local health agencies and departments; national leadership groups; AIDS service and other community organizations; and foundations, among others. Through targeted media messages and community outreach, Greater Than AIDS works to increase knowledge, reduce stigma and promote actions to stem the spread of the disease. While national in scope, Greater Than AIDS focuses on communities most affected.

About Kaiser Family Foundation

The Kaiser Family Foundation,a leader in health policy analysis, health journalism and communication, is dedicated to filling the need for trusted, independent information on the major health issues facing our nation and its people. The Foundation is a non-profit private operating foundation based in Menlo Park, California and is not affiliated with Kaiser Permanente.



SOURCE Kaiser Family Foundation

Related Links

http://kff.org/


HANGZHOU, China, Oct. 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Spreadtrum Communications ("Spreadtrum"), a leading fabless semiconductor company in China with advanced technology in 2G, 3G, and 4G wireless communication standards, today announced the entry into a strategic cooperation with Internet Finance Authentication Alliance (IFAA) to jointly promote the framework and development of an iris-based payment authentication system in China.

IFAA was launched by a group of firms and institutions including Ant Financial, Alibaba, Samsung, Huawei, ZTE and CAICT (China Academy of Information and Communications Technology). The alliance is very influential in the domain of authentication in China, with their local standard having already been applied to over 90 million mobile phone devices and facial recognition standard having served over 60 million users.

With the continued rapid development of mobile internet, the importance of the security of smartphones has become ever more urgent. Conventional simplex authentication products fail to meet the pressing demand among consumers for the securing of their personal information and financial transactions. As the most stable, most accurate and safest biological recognition technology available to date, iris recognition is the best next step in terms of upgrading the present security recognition system. Spreadtrum started the research into iris-based recognition technology as early as 2015 and has launched an iris-based support for authentication, ZitanTM Security Solutions, providing a high-functioning fully dynamic encryption for iris-based data protection and authentication services.

As part of the strategic cooperation, Spreadtrum will join hands with the IFAA to collaborate closely in the area of iris-based recognition and authentication services with special focus on the chips, the system, the software and the operation, while, at the same time, facilitating the standardization of the industry as concerns chip security, environmental reliability, data collection, the algorithm, encryption keys and iris-based authentication in a move to enhance the end-user experience with the authentication process while guaranteeing the security of end-user private information and exchanges of information.

Dr. Leo Li, Chairman and CEO of Spreadtrum Communications, commented: "We feel deeply honored to work with such a strong ally as IFAA. Spreadtrum owns an advantage in terms of leading technologies in the field of iris-based authentication. In 2016, in collaboration with our partners we plan to enhance the core services provided by iris-based authentication and the build out of an end-to-end ecosystem for supporting security needs based on Spreadtrum's latest SoC platform, SC9860, providing more professional, more secure products and services with a better user experience."

"An industrial challenge calls for an industrial solution," IFAA board chairman Mr. Feng Chunpei said, "As a mainstream authentication technology platform serving China, IFAA has proactively planned and promoted standards related to iris-based authentication since 2015. With the joint efforts from upstream and downstream firms across the industry chain put in place by Spreadtrum, we expect to promote the application of iris-based authentication, to achieve industry-wide standardization within a short time and to guarantee the security of the financial information of our users."

About Spreadtrum Communications

Spreadtrum Communications is a fabless semiconductor company that develops mobile chipset platforms for smartphones, feature phones and other consumer electronics products, supporting 2G, 3G and 4G wireless communications standards. Spreadtrum's solutions combine its highly integrated, power-efficient chipsets with customizable software and reference designs in a complete turnkey platform, enabling customers to achieve faster design cycles with a lower development cost. Spreadtrum's customers include global and China-based manufacturers developing mobile products for consumers in China and emerging markets around the world. Spreadtrum is a privately held company headquartered in Shanghai and an affiliate of Tsinghua Unigroup, Ltd. For more information, visit www.spreadtrum.com.

About IFAA

IFAA was founded on June 19, 2015 by six members, including Ant Financial, Alibaba, CAICT, Huawei, Samsung and ZTE. IFAA's mission is to provide secure and easy-to-use Internet identity authentication service that can be accessed everywhere in Internet. In order to achieve this, IFAA has built lots of innovative Internet identity authentication standards and also coordinated R&D of the whole industrial chain, including application, OEMs, security vendors, chip vendors, algorithm vendors, regulators and so on. Until Oct 2016, the IFAA protocol based fingerprint solution has covered 36 OEMs and 180+ device models. More information, visit http://ifaa.org.cn

SOURCE Spreadtrum Communications, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.spreadtrum.com


BERKELEY, Calif., Oct. 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Steep Hill, the global leader in cannabis testing and analytics, today announced it has licensed its cannabis testing technology for use in Pennsylvania and Washington, DC to the same highly respected physician team that operates Steep Hill Maryland. The lab in Columbia, MD has been completed and will be ready to test 60 days before the first batch of medical cannabis will need to be tested.

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Dr. Andrew Rosenstein, CEO of Steep Hill Maryland  and now also CEO of Steep Hill Pennsylvania and Steep Hill DC  said, "The professionalism in science and business support that Steep Hill has provided to us since we signed the licensing deal for Steep Hill Maryland in May has been extraordinary. The ramp up to launch is going extremely well, and it has given us the confidence to make the decision to expand into Pennsylvania and Washington DC, with the goal of being the East Coast "hub" for Steep Hill. As we expand with Steep Hill, we are also looking for strong local operating partners to join our team in Pennsylvania, and we would encourage interested strategic partners to contact us. Together we intend to be the gold standard for science, service, and safety for the medical cannabis industry in Maryland, Pennsylvania, and the District of Columbia."

In making the joint announcement, Steep Hill President and CEO Jmichaele Keller said, "Steep Hill is excited not only to expand our footprint on the East Coast to offer a larger population base of medical patients access to safe, tested, and healthy cannabis, but also to strengthen our strong partnership with Dr. Rosenstein and his highly qualified team of medical professionals. Together we will deliver the best science, technology, and professionalism available in cannabis testing for medical patients in Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Washington DC. This marks a new era in cannabis safety for the East Coast. The Steep Hill East Coast team consists of doctors, laboratory specialists, and health care experts including board-certified pathologists, gastroenterologists, and highly experienced health care business professionals who have years of experience in patient care and testing human tissue to detect disease. This highly qualified, physcian-led team will be intimately involved in setting the standard for cannabis safety in Maryland, Pennsylvania, and the District of Columbia, and will also work together with our world class scientists in other states. We plan to coordinate our shared knowledge of the cannabis plant within the Steep Hill network globally, while moving the science forward together."

The Steep Hill Maryland, Steep Hill Pennsylvania,and Steep Hill DC team is comprised of:

Dr. Andrew Rosenstein , CEO , and the Chief of the Division of Gastroenterology at University of Maryland Saint Joseph Medical Center. Dr. Rosenstein has been recognized by Baltimore Magazine as a top doctor in the Baltimore area and has an appointment as an Assistant Clinical Professor of Gastroenterology and Hepatology at the University of Maryland Medical Center.

, and the Chief of the Division of Gastroenterology at Saint Joseph Medical Center. Dr. Rosenstein has been recognized by as a top doctor in the area and has an appointment as an Assistant Clinical Professor of Gastroenterology and Hepatology at the Medical Center. Dr. Charles J. Sailey , a board-certified clinical and Molecular Genetic Pathologist with medical licenses in several states. He has served as medical and scientific director of lab departments in molecular genetic pathology, molecular microbiology, metabolic genetics, toxicology, and clinical chemistry.

, a board-certified clinical and Molecular Genetic Pathologist with medical licenses in several states. He has served as medical and scientific director of lab departments in molecular genetic pathology, molecular microbiology, metabolic genetics, toxicology, and clinical chemistry. Dr. Amin Khan , an experienced board-certified Gastroenterologist/Hepatologist who has been a Medical Director of a busy ambulatory endoscopy center, a co-founder of a human tissue diagnostics laboratory, and is the principal founder and medical director of the innovative reference laboratory, Integrated Cellular and Molecular Diagnostics (ICMD).

an experienced board-certified Gastroenterologist/Hepatologist who has been a Medical Director of a busy ambulatory endoscopy center, a co-founder of a human tissue diagnostics laboratory, and is the principal founder and medical director of the innovative reference laboratory, Integrated Cellular and Molecular Diagnostics (ICMD). Mr. Marc Rosenstein , CPA, MBA, will serve as CFO, a capacity for which he has previously served healthcare systems, surgery centers, physician practices and pathology laboratories.

CPA, MBA, will serve as CFO, a capacity for which he has previously served healthcare systems, surgery centers, physician practices and pathology laboratories. Barry F. Pritchard , MBA, is a technical business development professional having held executive leadership roles in various technology companies. He is an American Chemical Society certified chemist with creative skills in natural products isolation and quantitation. He brings a unique "Voice of Customer" focus to our operational mission of ensuring safe and well characterized medicines to the communities we serve.

For more information about cannabis testing, please visit the Steep Hill website: http://steephill.com

ABOUT STEEP HILL

Founded in California in 2008, Steep Hill Labs, Inc. is a science and technology firm that has become the industry leader in cannabis testing and analytics. Steep Hill has labs open or in development in seven U.S. states (Alaska, California, Hawaii, Maryland, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, and Washington State), Washington DC, and one country internationally (Jamaica), with many more to come making Steep Hill the largest cannabis lab network in the world. The company pioneered the first medical cannabis potency and microbiological contaminants testing methodology for use in Californiathe first state to legalize medical cannabis. Steep Hill has since developed a variety of revolutionary cannabis testing products, including QuantaCann, QuantaCann2 and GenKit. Steep Hill provides expert consulting services to many states, countries and municipalities, and the company is developing proprietary genetic testing, mapping and trademark protection services for the industry as well.

Contact: Cathie Bennett Warner

Cell: 415-420-1573

Email

SOURCE Steep Hill

Related Links

http://steephill.com


PITTSBURGH, Oct. 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- The fall of the Galaxy Note7 has Samsung's smartphone customers seeking new brands. Now, 40% of current Samsung consumers say they won't buy another phone from the brand  that's a 6% increase since the first week of the phone's U.S. recall on Sept. 15.

Branding Brand, the world's leading mobile e-commerce platform, conducted its second survey of 1,000 Samsung smartphone owners from October 11-12 to compare consumer confidence to its earlier study, conducted on September 23. The survey also measured increasing interest in other phone brands, including the new Google Pixel.

Packing up, Switching Brands

30% of current Samsung smartphone consumers say they've only ever owned that brand of phone. Of those switching from Samsung smartphones:



8% will buy a Google Pixel (new since original survey).

30% will switch to iPhone (down from 34%).

62% will go with another Android phone (up from 57%).

"As we've watched the Galaxy Note7 recall and discontinuation play out, even more people say they will switch their smartphone brand," said Chris Mason, co-founder and CEO of Branding Brand. "Consumers want to be confident in their personal safety and will choose a new smartphone accordingly. Only a week after Google's smartphone launch, many already have their sights set on the Pixel."

About the Survey

Branding Brand releases periodic surveys to understand the technologies mobile shopping customers use to make purchases. This online survey was conducted from October 11-12, 2016, with 1,000 U.S. respondents ages 18-65, who currently own a Samsung smartphone. To learn more about our methodology, contact [email protected].

About Branding Brand

Branding Brand is the retail industry's largest mobile e-commerce platform, powering online and in-store shopping experiences for over 200 enterprise brands. In addition to being named a Gartner "Cool Vendor" of apps, the Company was also named a 2016 Forrester Wave Leader in "Mobile Commerce and Engagement Platforms."

SOURCE Branding Brand

Related Links

http://www.brandingbrand.com


GREENSBORO, N.C., Oct. 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Tanger Factory Outlet Centers, Inc. (NYSE: SKT) announced today that its operating partnership, Tanger Properties Limited Partnership, has completed a public offering of an additional $100 million of 3.125% senior notes due 2026 in an underwritten public offering through BofA Merrill Lynch, US Bancorp, Jefferies, SunTrust Robinson Humphrey and Wells Fargo Securities as joint book-running managers. The new notes were priced at 98.962% of the principal amount to yield 3.248% to maturity. The new notes constitute an additional issuance of, and form a single series with, the $250 million aggregate principal amount of 3.125% senior notes due 2026 issued on August 8, 2016. The new aggregate principal amount outstanding of the 3.125% senior notes due 2026 is $350 million. All outstanding notes will pay interest semi-annually at a rate of 3.125% per annum and mature on September 1, 2026.

The net proceeds from the offering, after deducting the underwriting discount and offering expenses, were approximately $97.8 million. Tanger intends to use the net proceeds from the sale of the notes to repay borrowings under its unsecured lines of credit, and for general corporate purposes.

The offering was made only by means of a prospectus and related prospectus supplement, a copy of which may be obtained by contacting:

Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated, 200 North College Street, NC1-004-03-43, Charlotte, NC 28255-0001, Attention: Prospectus Department, or by calling toll-free (800) 294-1322; or

28255-0001, Attention: Prospectus Department, or by calling toll-free (800) 294-1322; or U.S. Bancorp Investments, Inc., 214 North Tryon Street, 26th floor, Charlotte, NC 28202, or by calling toll-free (877) 558-2607.

An effective registration statement is on file with the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"), and a copy of the prospectus and related prospectus supplement is also available on the SEC's website at www.sec.gov.

This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any securities nor shall there be any sale of these securities in any jurisdiction in which such an offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such jurisdiction.

About Tanger Factory Outlet Centers, Inc.

Tanger Factory Outlet Centers, Inc. (NYSE:SKT), is a publicly-traded REIT headquartered in Greensboro, North Carolina that presently operates and owns, or has an ownership interest in, a portfolio of 43 upscale outlet shopping centers and two additional centers currently under construction. Tanger's operating properties are located in 21 states coast to coast and in Canada, totaling approximately 14.7 million square feet, leased to over 3,100 stores which are operated by more than 490 different brand name companies. The Company has more than 35 years of experience in the outlet industry. Tanger Outlet Centers continue to attract more than 185 million shoppers annually.

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Such forward-looking statements are subject to certain risks, uncertainties, and typically can be identified by the use of words such as "will," "expect," "estimate," "anticipate," "intend", "forecast," "plan," "believe" and similar terms. Although Tanger believes that its expectations are reasonable, it can give no assurance that these expectations will prove to have been correct, and actual results may vary materially. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contemplated above include, among others: Tanger's (the Company's) inability to develop new outlet centers or expand existing outlet centers successfully; risks related to the economic performance and market value of its outlet centers; the relative illiquidity of real property investments; impairment charges affecting its properties; Tanger's dispositions of assets may not achieve anticipated results; competition for the acquisition and development of outlet centers, and the Company's inability to complete outlet centers it has identified; environmental regulations affecting Tanger's business; risk associated with a possible terrorist activity or other acts or threats of violence and threats to public safety; The Company's dependence on rental income from real property; Tanger's dependence on the results of operations of its retailers; the fact that certain of Tanger's properties are subject to ownership interests held by third parties, whose interests may conflict with the Company's interest; risks related to uninsured losses; the risk that consumer, travel, shopping and spending habits may change; risks associated with Tanger's Canadian investments; risks associated with attracting and retaining key personnel; risks associated with debt financing; risk associated with the Company's guarantees of debt for, or other support it may provide to, joint venture properties; Tanger's potential failure to qualify as a REIT; The Company's legal obligation to make distributions to its shareholders; Tanger's dependence on distributions from the Operating Partnership to meet its financial obligations, including dividends; the risk of a cyber-attack or an act of cyber-terrorism; and additional factors which may cause actual results to differ materially from current expectations including, but not limited to, those set forth in documents filed by the Company from time to time with the SEC, specifically the section entitled "Risk Factors" in the prospectus supplement and prospectus related to the re-opening of the Company's 3.125% senior notes due 2026, the section entitled "Business" in Tanger's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2015, including the subheadings entitled "Recent Developments," "The Outlet Concept," "Our Outlet Centers," "Business Strategy," "Growth Strategy," "Operating Strategy," "Capital Strategy," "Competition," and the section titled "Risk Factors" in Tanger's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2015. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date made. Except as required by law, Tanger undertakes no obligation to update publicly any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

Contact:

Cyndi Holt Jim Williams Vice President of Investor Relations SVP and CFO 336-834-6892 336-834-6800 [email protected] [email protected]

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SOURCE Tanger Factory Outlet Centers, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.tangeroutlet.com


TORONTO, Oct. 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- With an aim to improve student services and create business efficiencies, Temple University partnered with Destiny Solutions to implement a university-wide software solution for non-credit and continuing education students and programs.

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Temple University partnered with Destiny Solutions to centralize operations and improve customer engagement with learners.

By implementing Destiny One, the student-centric software platform by Destiny Solutions, Temple University has completely overhauled how its staff manages programs and the service students receive.

"Previously, there was no centralized repository holding past and present non-credit student and program data at Temple," said Nicole Westrick, Associate Vice Provost  University College at Philadelphia-based Temple University. "By partnering with Destiny Solutions we now have that repository, making it easier and quicker to respond to student inquiries, and providing our students, faculty, and support staff with a consistent and structured access to the information they need across the institution."

Temple University offers over 100 non-credit programs through over 50 administrative offices. Destiny One allows Temple's staff to streamline non-credit programming and to scale processes through one standardized infrastructure. Furthermore, students can now browse, enroll in, and pay for courses offered by the university quickly from any location and on any device.

"Destiny One has eliminated many lengthy manual processes, thereby making our staff more efficient and productive while providing integration points with our existing backend computing infrastructure," Westrick said. "Despite its breadth, it's a user-friendly platform, and it allows us to easily create a unique look and feel for each of our program websites, and enhance our relationships with students and staff."

Temple also uses Destiny One's Conference Manager, allowing the school to build branded registration sites for conferences and customized schedules, and provide attendees with group pay options.

"Temple University serves its students exceptionally well through a wealth of continuing education and non-credit courses," said Shaul Kuper, President and CEO, Destiny Solutions. "By implementing the Destiny One platform, Temple has established the infrastructure it needs to accelerate business growth and engage more effectively with learners."

For more information about how Temple University is using Destiny One, please read this case study.

About Destiny Solutions

Destiny Solutions provides enterprising higher education institutions with innovative technology solutions and a community committed to transformative change in the industry. Destiny One, the firm's flagship enterprise software platform, is a student-centric platform built from the ground up for the unique needs of non-traditional students and programs. Destiny One is used by top institutions across the U.S. and Canada to enable the level of business excellence needed to support growth and enhance customer engagement with learners.

For more information, please visit: www.destinysolutions.com

Follow Destiny Solutions on Twitter and LinkedIn

About Temple University

Temple University's 17 schools and colleges, nine campuses, hundreds of degree programs and nearly 38,000 students combine to create one of the nation's most comprehensive and diverse learning environments. Temple's academic rankings ascent, top faculty recruitment and progressive enrollment paths have made the university one of the fastest up-and-coming institutions in the country. Founded in 1884, Temple University is the 27th largest university and the fourth largest provider of professional education in the nation.

For more information, please visit: www.temple.edu/.

Media Contact:

Rachel Kuper

Email

416-480-0500

SOURCE Destiny Solutions

Related Links

http://destinysolutions.com


LAS VEGAS, Oct. 12, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- The Global Crowdfunding Convention (GCC) has consistently brought together the brightest and most innovative minds in the field of Equity, Donation and Rewards-based crowdfunding. The Las Vegas flagship event will once again showcase the best-of-the-best at Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino, on October 16 - 17, 2016.

Over the span of two days, GCC attendees will learn how to use crowdfunding to raise capital and fund their business or cause. Moreover, they have the opportunity to engage with Angel Investors, influential keynote speakers, panelists, Crowdfunding Rockstars and industry experts.

Beyond listening-and-learning, attendees have access to an interactive game show Who Wants to Raise a Million Dollars?; and the Crowdfundie Awards, followed by a red carpet after party in The London Club.

"For the first time, convention-goers will have the opportunity to invest, back and make pledges to startups who are crowdfunding live in the GCC marketplace exposition and from the stage on Monday night during Crowdfund Live Invest, said CEO and Founder of the Global Crowdfunding Convention and JOB's Act Pioneer, Ruth E. Hedges.

This year, the Global Crowdfunding Convention is proud to showcase more than 55 startup companies. Startups create 60 percent of the jobs in the United States and their success is vital to the fabric of a growing economy.

Below is a short list of startups and entrepreneurs in attendance at the GCC:

Entertain Capital, Inc.

Medi-Cone

WorkSearch.com, Inc.

FanWide Technologies Inc.

Youngry

Star shop

Health 2 Humanity Soap

My Village Green

Prayer Spark

Made in the USA

Green-Surance Financial

Bio-premium

Cancer Research Racquet

One Team Humanity

For more information on the GCC and to purchase tickets, please visit: www.thegccworld.com.

About the Global Crowdfunding Convention

The Global Crowdfunding Convention (GCC) consistently hand picks the best and the brightest in the field and covers all topics of crowdfunding. Produced by Crowdfunding industry experts, it attracts the world's business leaders to discuss the industry's most pressing issues. It's where the world learns Crowdfunding!

For more information visit www.thegccworld.com. Follow GCC on Twitter @thegccworld for real-time hashtag highlights #thegccworld.

Media Contact:

GCC PR Director

Audra Clemons-Abreu

(831) 252-6101

Email

www.thegccworld.com

SOURCE The Global Crowdfunding Convention

Related Links

http://www.thegccworld.com


HOUSTON, Oct. 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/-- The National Trial Lawyers is pleased to announce that Andrew A. Woellner of the Potts Law Firm has been selected for inclusion into its Top 40 Under 40 Trial Lawyers, an honor given to only a select group of lawyers for their superior skills and qualifications in the field. Membership in this exclusive organization is by invitation only, and is limited to the top 40 attorneys under the age of 40 in each state or region who have demonstrated excellence and have achieved outstanding results in their careers in either civil plaintiff or criminal defense law.

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The National Trial Lawyers is a professional organization comprised of the premier trial lawyers from across the country who have demonstrated exceptional qualifications in their area of the law.

With the selection of Andrew A. Woellner by The National Trial Lawyers: Top 40 Under 40, Woellner has shown that he exemplifies superior qualifications, leadership skills, and trial results as a trial lawyer. Drew aggressively works to represent his clients in civil litigation, focusing his practice in the areas of product liability, personal injury litigation, employment matters, and maritime litigation. Drew has an established reputation with the bar, judiciary and clients for honesty, integrity and hard work. During his career as a trial lawyer he has had the distinct pleasure of assisting his clients in obtaining substantial verdicts, settlements and/or awards. His record of success comes from his tenacious approach and assurance that each case is diligently worked through and personalized to each client and case.

Drew is proud to be selected for this specific accolade, as the selection process for this elite honor is based on a multi-phase process which includes peer nominations combined with third party research. "We are very proud of Drew. He continues to distinguish himself as a rising star among young plaintiffs' attorneys," said Derek H. Potts, National Managing Partner at Potts Law Firm. The National Trial Lawyers: Top 40 Under 40 is an essential source of networking and information for trial attorneys throughout the nation, the final result of the selection process is a credible and comprehensive list of the most outstanding trial lawyers chosen to represent their state or region.

About Potts Law Firm

Potts Law Firm diligently pursues a variety of personal injury claims and mass tort matters, from complex pharmaceutical cases to challenging product liability claims. The firm's team of highly competent attorneys have experience in many different areas of personal injury law. Believing that every detail of a case matters, firm attorneys work tirelessly to pursue just compensation, regardless of the obstacles faced. For more information, visit www.potts-law.com

Contact:

Kasey Long

Email

832-838-4258

To learn more about The National Trial Lawyers, please visit: http://thenationaltriallawyers.org/.

SOURCE Potts Law Firm

Related Links

http://www.potts-law.com


NEW YORK, Oct. 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Sweetest Day is often known to be a twin of the Valentine's Day but did you know that it is a day which celebrates love in its highest form? It is a day for compassion, service and kindness besides sending cards, chocolates, candies, flowers and goodies to your special someone.

Sweetest Day movement accelerated in 1922 when a candy store employee in Cleveland, Ohio, named Herbert Birch Kingston distributed candies and sweets to many orphanages and hospitals in the area as a gesture of care and concern for the less fortunate. It was much appreciated and the American holiday stands as a reminder that love is in giving and expressing in kind words and deeds. In 1930s, many celebrities participated in the work. Ann Pennington distributed candy to 2,200 Cleveland newspaper boys, and Theda Bara gave candy to theater-goers and patients in Cleveland hospitals.

In time Sweetest Day cheer spread to include family, friends, sweethearts, coworkers and acquaintances.

123greetings.com has over 342 e-cards across 9 categories for the occasion. Greetings are for all relationships but 75 percent of the cards are for love relationships.

Arvind Kajaria, Founder of 123Greetings.com, says, "Sweetest Day is a reminder for each one of us to spread some cheer and sweetness in the lives of people. 123greetings.com has crafted most beautiful e-cards for you to express your innermost feelings of love and joy with your folks, so come forward and share on this special day."

About 123Greetings:

123Greetings.com is the world's leading online destination for human expressions reaching 95 million visitors annually. Its offering of over 42,000 ecards across multiple languages covers a mix of 3,000 seasonal & everyday categories. Its presence is ubiquitous with its Mobile App, Mobile Website and Facebook App catering to users on mobile and social media respectively. Its Connect feature is a relationship management tool enabling users to actively manage their expressions to both personal and professional contacts. It also operates 123Greetings Studio, a unique platform for artists, to upload and monetize their own ecards.

For details, visit www.123greetings.com

SOURCE 123Greetings.com

Related Links

http://www.123greetings.com


"The FOD Finder XM-M has been tested and evaluated by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) for 18 months at various airports with a report of 100% detection capability at night, during the day in sun, rain, mist, fog, snow and sandstorms," said Dr. Kenneth Tang, Chairman & CEO of Trex Aviation Systems, Inc. "We are honored to have the U.S. Navy and the U.S. Marines deploy our high-tech FOD Finder XM-M on their runways and airfields."

"Trex's FOD Finder XM-M is an outstanding asset to support military operations and improve the safety conditions at airports and airfields," said Derek Rose, Director and Vice President of Sales & Marketing of AERO Specialties, Inc., TAS FOD Finder distributor. "We believe this is ground-breaking technology and eventually will be used at airports worldwide. There is no other system like it."

The FOD Finder XM-M is approved by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for use at airport areas. TAS' FOD Finder has been tested and operated in the following airfields: Dyess Air Force Base in Texas, Marine Corps Air Station Yuma in Arizona, Honolulu International Airport, Chicago O'Hare International Airport, Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport and Tianjin Binhai International Airport in China.

How the FOD Finder Works

The TAS' FOD Finder XM-M is a fully integrated system which includes: a heavy duty pickup truck; a Trex FOD detection radar system; a Trex FOD vacuum retrieval system; an in-vehicle display with intuitive user interface; plus, data acquisition and storage. Trex's patented millimeter-wave radar does not interfere with airport and aircraft communication, navigation and surveillance systems. The proprietary millimeter-wave radar is capable of providing FOD detection in all weather conditions. The FOD Finder system operates up to 30 mph. The system can operate on different paved surface types (grooved or smooth asphalt and concrete) and will cover an entire airfield by a single FOD Finder system. The touch-screen control panel inside of the vehicle cab is designed for a turn-key operation by a single operator with minimal training required.

At the completion of an inspection, the FOD Finder XM-M provides immediate feedback of current airfield conditions to operations management and ground control through automated reporting and dissemination of information, resulting in expedited corrective actions and facilitating FAA required Part 139 reporting. Access to the FOD Finder XM-M database provides the necessary information and statistics for the identification of problem areas and accumulation over time in efforts to identity the sources of FOD and develop mitigation strategies.

About Trex Aviation Systems, Inc. Established in 2005 as a subsidiary of Trex Enterprises Corporation (Trex), TREX Aviation Systems, Inc. is a manufacturer specializing in millimeter-wave products for the aviation market. Trex is a privately-held company, with headquarters in San Diego, California and facilities in New Mexico, Hawaii and Massachusetts. (www.trexenterprises.com)

About AERO Specialties AERO Specialties provides complete aircraft and airport ground support equipment (GSE) solutions to corporate, FBO, MRO, military, airline and general aviation customers worldwide. (www.aerospecialties.com)

Media Inquiries: Linda Jameson @ 808-221-3552

Sales Inquiries: Derek Rose @ 208-378-9888 ext. 113 or [email protected]

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SOURCE Trex Enterprises Corporation

Related Links

http://www.trexenterprises.com


COLLEGE PARK, Md., Oct. 13, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The University of Maryland / Morgan State Joint Center for Economic Development (EDA Center) announced today that a new grant secured from the U.S. Department of Commerce's Economic Development Administration (EDA) will help fund a collaborative initiative that networks resources across the University System of Maryland (USM) to address economic challenges that face Maryland's most vulnerable communities.

"This grant writes an important new chapter for UMD/Morgan State's EDA Center," said Dr. C. Scott Dempwolf, Director of the EDA Center. "By amassing the talent, work and ingenuity of Maryland's research institutions with a common thread, we strengthen our efforts as individuals. Combined with the matching support of our partners, the EDA grant will help us continue our efforts through collaboration, research, teaching and economic development practice."

Dr. Dempwolf will work with University System of Maryland's new Vice Chancellor for Economic Development, Tom Sadowski , to develop a statewide network of economic developers working in and with USM's 12 member institutions and two regional higher education centers. The network will connect economic research, resources and best practices across all of the institutions, strengthening the capacity of USM and its member institutions to translate Maryland's investments in research and education into local economic development impact statewide. To accomplish this, Dempwolf will apply innovation network analysis tools developed under the EDA Center over the past five years.

"This is promising technology for modeling and analyzing innovation ecosystems," said Sadowski. "This grant will help us better leverage USM and other public/private resources to foster strategic economic development efforts throughout Maryland."

The EDA Center, which has operated out of Morgan State University's campus for the past four years, will reside within the University of Maryland's National Center for Smart Growth (NCSG), with offices in both College Park and Baltimore. The center's presence in Baltimore will enhance the NCSG's continued work in the city and support new sustainable economic development opportunities throughout the state.

In addition to establishing a statewide network of university-based economic developers, the EDA Center will focus on three major objectives over the next five years:

Assist in the Development of Innovation Districts, Including Baltimore's Innovation Village. In Maryland, innovation districtscompact, transit and tech-wired mixed-use areas, anchored by institutionsare emerging in College Park and Baltimore, while several other communities around the state are in the investigation or planning stages. Morgan State University Professor of Planning and Interim Assistant Dean of the School of Architecture, Dr. Siddhartha Sen, will work with the Mount Royal Community Development Corporation to create economic development strategies for Innovation Village, a newly designated innovation district in west Baltimore. Faculty/student-driven urban planning efforts at both universities will support the project.

"I am excited by this opportunity to create economic development strategies for Innovation Village," said Sen. "It will provide our students a wonderful opportunity for hands on experience in economic development and fits into our school's mission of fulfillment and advancement of spatial justice, urban revitalization and sustainability. The project also ties very well into the university's mission of giving significant priority to addressing societal problems, particularly those prevalent in urban communities."

Provide Technical Assistance to Maryland Communities. Working both independently and with NCSG's Partnership for Action Learning in Sustainability (PALS), the University Center will provide economic development and urban planning technical assistance directly to Maryland communities. PALS is a campus-wide initiative at the University of Maryland that enlists faculty expertise and student ingenuity to offer fresh solutions to challenges facing Maryland communities. A Community Planning Studio course this year taught by Dempwolf will focus on maritime-related industries in and around the City of Annapolis and its maritime industrial districts. The studio will examine ways to grow maritime and related industries in Annapolis  including whether the development of maker-spaces and an innovation district make sense for the city.

Facilitate Technology Transfer, Commercialization and Entrepreneurship. Leveraging Dempwolf's network analysis technology, the EDA Center will work closely with UM Venturesa joint program in commercialization between University of Maryland, College Park and University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB)as well as university administration officials and staff, to implement new tools to help the university accelerate tech transfer, commercialization and entrepreneurship. "Innovation has emerged as a key driver of economic growth. Leveraging the talent and entrepreneurial spirit of our students and faculty requires us to forge partnerships and networks across institutions, connecting the ideas, talent and resources of the University of Maryland with other institutions, organizations and companies throughout Maryland and around the world into a dynamic, innovation ecosystem," said Dempwolf.

The recent move to University of Maryland's National Center for Smart Growth Research and Education will allow the EDA Center to take advantage of the NCSG's vast research and mapping technologies, as well as collaborate with NCSG researchers on several projects. One such project, led by NCSG director Dr. Gerrit Knaap, will offer technical assistance to economic development strategies for the Purple Line Corridor. As the Purple Line becomes a reality, the strategies will help communities focus their economic development efforts more effectively and complement work currently underway by the NCSG's Purple Line Corridor Coalition.

"We are very pleased to add the Economic Development Center to the set of activities at the National Center for Smart Growth," said Knaap. "Economic analysis has always been a strength of the NCSG and with the addition of the EDA Center, we look forward to expanding our work on innovation districts, smart cities, equitable development and deepening our connections to Morgan State, the University of Maryland Baltimore and the largest city in the state."

The mission of the EDA Center is to provide targeted assistance to Maryland communities through research, workforce development and entrepreneurship, as well as business counseling services. The EDA Center also helps local organizations conduct preliminary feasibility studies, analyze data and convene customized seminars and workshops on topics such as regional strategic planning and capital budgeting. Over the past six years, the EDA Center staff, led by Sen, has created plans for the revitalization of Baltimore's Morgan Community Mile, recently establishing a Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy (CEDS). This new strategy provides a crucial framework for economic development in the 54 neighborhoods surrounding Morgan State University, while aiding community stakeholders and policy makers as they create a vibrant town-gown community in Northeast Baltimore. The EDA Center has also developed a series of online professional development and economic training courses for area planning professionals, created the first-ever CEDS for St. Mary's County and produced an East Campus Development Plan for the University of Maryland, College Park. The work conducted in St. Mary's County features an enhanced cluster analysis using innovation network modeling and analysis methods developed by Dempwolf. This unique tool can identify opportunitiessuch as start-ups and new technologiesthat are often missed through traditional modeling.

The center's initiatives are being made possible by a $583,335 grant from the U.S. Economic Development Administration in the Department of Commerce. The EDA grant will be matched by Center partners, including UMD's Division of Research; the University of Maryland Baltimore; UMD's School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation ; the National Center for Smart Growth Research and Education; Morgan State's School of Architecture and Planning; and the Mount Royal Community Development Corporation in Baltimore (MRCDC) who, together will deliver a total of $1.17 million dollars to EDA Center projects over the next five years.

The EDA-supported University Center (UC) program is specifically designed to marshal the resources located within colleges and universities to support regional economic development strategies in regions of chronic and acute economic distress. EDA University Centers provide targeted assistance with research commercialization, workforce development and entrepreneurship, as well as business counseling services. The centers also help local organizations conduct preliminary feasibility studies, analyze data and convene customized seminars and workshops on topics such as regional strategic planning and capital budgeting.

To learn more about the University of Maryland U.S. EDA University Center and its projects, visit the Center's website.

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20130808/DC61542LOGO

SOURCE University of Maryland
BALTIMORE, Oct. 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Applications are now being accepted for the 2017 Cupid's Cup Entrepreneurship Competition, presented by Under Armour Founder and CEO Kevin Plank. As the signature program of the Plank Foundation for Entrepreneurship (PFE) with over ten successful years of tremendous growth, 2017 will bring another evolution as the competition moves to Chicago, with Northwestern University hosting the event next spring. The University's reputation of being a top-tier incubator for entrepreneurs offers the perfect opportunity to expand Cupid's Cup and continue to grow the competition. The expansion to Northwestern University marks the start of a rotation of host venues, as Cupid's Cup continues to move across the nation.

As a thought leader and advocate of entrepreneurship, Plank continues to inspire the entrepreneurial spirit with his own success story. The name of the event is a nod to one of Plank's first businesses  Cupid's Valentine Rose Delivery  an enterprise that he started as a student at the University of Maryland to sell roses on campus. Those profits eventually became the seed money that launched Under Armour.

Cupid's Cup aims to reach the top entrepreneurial minds in the country, and more importantly, to inspire and foster the community of college students and recent graduates who have already followed Plank's lead and are running their own companies.

The Cupid's Cup participants will be competing for over $100,000 in total cash prizes, access to Kevin Plank's professional network and the prestigious Cupid's Cup title.

The competition is open to undergraduate and graduate students currently enrolled at accredited colleges and universities, or recent alumni of those institutions who are 30 years old or younger. Applicants must be running a legal business entity that has demonstrated proof of traction. There is no fee to apply.

The application deadline is January 1, 2017. Validation Day (semi-finals) will be held on February 8, 2017 at Under Armour's global headquarters in Baltimore, MD, with the final competition scheduled for March 30, 2017 at Northwestern University's Pick-Staiger Concert Hall.

To apply and learn more about Cupid's Cup, please go to www.cupidscup.com.

About Plank Industries

Plank Industries is a privately-held company with diversified holdings in commercial real estate, hospitality, food and beverage, venture capital and thoroughbred horseracing, all under the Sagamore group of brands. The company is based in Baltimore, MD, USA. Under the leadership of Tom Geddes, Managing Partner, Plank Industries serves as the family office and investment arm of Kevin A. Plank, founder, Chairman and CEO of Under Armour, Inc. (NYSE: UA, UA.C).

About Plank Foundation for Entrepreneurship

The Plank Foundation for Entrepreneurship (PFE) is a non-profit subsidiary of Plank Industries dedicated to fostering the American spirit of entrepreneurship in a new generation. The signature platform of PFE is Cupid's Cup, a nationwide competition with a ten-year history of identifying and supporting extraordinary young entrepreneurs. PFE also supports entrepreneurship through nonprofit programs and events in Baltimore, particularly at City Garage (www.citygarage.vc).

About Under Armour

Under Armour (NYSE: UA, UA.C), the originator of performance footwear, apparel and equipment, revolutionized how athletes across the world dress. Designed to make all athletes better, the brand's innovative products are sold worldwide to athletes at all levels. The Under Armour Connected Fitness platform powers the world's largest digital health and fitness community through a suite of applications: UA Record, MapMyFitness, Endomondo and MyFitnessPal. The Under Armour global headquarters is in Baltimore, Maryland. For further information, please visit the Company's website at www.uabiz.com.

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20110127/NE37387LOGO

SOURCE Under Armour, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.uabiz.com


HOUSTON, Oct. 13, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The United Nations has publicly stripped ToddandClare.com of its UN membership on October 12, 2016, following publication of an October 4 report on the UN website, criticizing the UN's support for the Wikileaks founder, Julian Assange. The UN report's Google cache can be found here, with further information about the report available through PRWeb: http://www.prweb.com/releases/united-nations-report/julian-assange-wikileaks/prweb13750603.htm

Todd and Clare's response to the UN's decision in a statement on the company blog read: "After ToddandClare.com had spent thousands of dollars in staff training to align with the UN's Sustainable Development Goals, we've sadly met the same fate as Nestle and Tata Steel: Being delisted."

The statement continued, "ToddandClare.com's delisting should be a warning to other UN members: The United Nations Global Compact is happy to accept your money, but not your feedback. And, if you disagree with the UN in anyway, expect angry repercussions like having your integrity publicly called into question. From a body that accepts cash donations from companies, hand over fist, yet doesn't want to be accountable to their own member's dissent, that is surely a debate topic."

Speaking in house at the company's Houston offices on Wednesday night, ToddandClare.com CEO, Todd Hammond, said:

"We're proud to have dissented against this dreadful UN decision supporting a fugitive like Julian Assange. What were they thinking? Now Swedish prosecutors are having their good reputations attacked by random anarchists because of what the OHCHR has done. On page 8 of our UN report, we say we'd been warned by Wikileaks to expect actions on our UN membership if we didn't drop our UK court case. Our UN delisting means the attacks have started. You don't have to be Hillary Clinton or a big company, like Trafigura, to come under fire from Mr Assange and his Wikileaks organization. You can be a small, hardworking American business, at the center of a serious police investigation, like this one involving ToddandClare.com and Julian Assange, and the Royal Bahamas Police Force, and Wikileaks has the power to affect you. We feel the UN is saying to businesses who support them: 'We want your money, not your ideas. If you challenge UN power, expect to be crushed.'"

ToddandClare.com's full company statement on delisting by the United Nations can be read here: https://www.toddandclare.com/datinglife/online-dating/united-nations-statement-julian-assange-wikileaks/

The PRWEB release is here: http://www.prweb.com/releases/united-nations-report/julian-assange-wikileaks/prweb13750603.htm

Media contact:

Kate Hogan

Email

832-564-3697

SOURCE ToddandClare.com

Related Links

http://www.toddandclare.com


ARLINGTON, Va., Oct. 13, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Air Force Association today announced that the University of Maryland University College (UMUC) renewed its support for CyberPatriot, the National Youth Cyber Education Program, as a Cyber Silver sponsor. For the fourth consecutive year, UMUC has sponsored CyberPatriot in its mission to stimulate youth interest in STEM and educate students on the importance of cybersecurity.

"CyberPatriot is a pipeline-building initiative that is having significant impact," said Dr. Greg von Lehmen, Assistant to the President for Cybersecurity at University of Maryland University College (UMUC). "The university is committed to supporting it not only through the sponsorship but in a number of other ways, including the participation of our faculty as judges in the competitions."

UMUC offers more than 90 degrees and certificates through the doctoral level in both online and face-to-face formats. Its offerings include bachelor's degrees in computer science, cybersecurity management & policy, investigative forensics, computers & network security, software development & security, and master's degrees in cybersecurity, cybersecurity management & policy, and digital forensics & cyber investigation. UMUC is a NSA/DHS National Center of Excellence for Information Assurance and Cyber Defense Education and a DC3 National Center of Digital Forensic Academic Excellence. UMUC has a worldwide student population exceeding 80,000, placing it among the largest universities in the nation.

"We are extremely grateful for the continued support from UMUC," said CyberPatriot National Commissioner Bernie Skoch. "We look forward to working with UMUC to continue promoting cybersecurity education to a diverse population of youth around the world. Universities like UMUC allow the next generation of cybersecurity experts that our country needs as a part of our national workforce to thrive."

The 2015-2016 CyberPatriot National Defense Competition registered 3,379 teams from all 50 States, a 55% percent increase in total registrations from the previous year. Additionally, the 2016 AFA CyberCamp program hosted 83 camps and the Elementary School Cyber Education Initiative reached over 30,000 students in its inaugural year. CyberPatriot also began its second international partnership, working with the Information and Communications Technology Council (ICTC) to launch CyberTitan: A Canadian National Cyber Defence Challenge for High Schools.

CyberPatriot, the nation's largest and fastest growing youth cyber education program, is AFA's flagship STEM program dedicated to strengthening cyber skills among American youth. Students in the program also gain valuable knowledge from the expertise of CyberPatriot's many supporters, including the Northrop Grumman Foundation, CyberPatriot's presenting sponsor. Other program sponsors include Cyber Diamond sponsors AT&T Federal and the AT&T Foundation, Cisco, Microsoft, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, and the Office of the Secretary of Defense; Cyber Gold sponsors Facebook, Riverside Research, Splunk, and Symantec; and Cyber Silver sponsors Air Force Reserve, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Leidos, and University of Maryland University College.

For more information about CyberPatriot, please visit www.uscyberpatriot.org. Information is also available from the CyberPatriot staff at [email protected].

The Air Force Association is a non-profit, independent, professional military and aerospace education association. Our mission is to promote a dominant United States Air Force and a strong national defense, and to honor Airmen and our Air Force Heritage.

Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Blogger, LinkedIn, and YouTube!

SOURCE Air Force Association

Related Links

http://www.afa.org


DECATUR, Ga., Oct. 12, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Utility, Inc. announced today that it will now offer the industry's first digital crime scene imaging system, the Smart Scene 360. This new product represents the next generation in the evolution of body camera technology, and it is intended to provide a higher level of situational awareness while enhancing mission critical intelligence. Smart Scene 360 along with Utility's full suite of products, including BodyWornwill be on display throughout the 123rd International Chiefs of Police Annual Conference and Exposition (IACP) in San Diego, California from October 15  18, 2016 at the BodyWorn by Utility booth (#1939). Utility will have a virtual reality room at IACP so that attendees can personally experience Smart Scene 360.

"We believe that Smart Scene 360 will forever change the way evidence is captured by Police Departments," said Robert McKeeman, CEO of Utility. "Our core values focus on letting policy makers meet the public's demand for a 21st-century Police Department, and providing technology that makes sure those policies are automatically carried out in the most effective way possible every time. That is why we are so excited to unveil this new, exciting technology at IACP. The future begins now, and we look forward to supporting law enforcement agencies as they move into this new age."

This new technology will enable Law Enforcement officials, District Attorneys, and Courts to view crime scenes in 3D virtual reality long after an incident occurs. Smart Scene 360 is a feature of the AVaiL Video Management solution and is included at no additional cost.

Smart Scene 360 uses a 360 digital imaging app, Smart Shot 360, to create a digital model of a crime scene. Smart Shot 360 is part of the software running on the Police Officer's standard BodyWorn camera, and is available immediately. No additional hardware or software is required.

Officers will now be able to review and search a crime scene remotely at any time from any location. By utilizing the BodyWorn camera's instant video playback feature, an Officer can examine the 360 view of the scene directly on the BodyWorn camera. Officers can also use Virtual Reality headsets to re-experience the crime scene. Like BodyWorn, all Smart Scene 360 video content is automatically uploaded as it is recorded to secure Amazon Web Services cloud storage. Smart Scene 360 video can then be viewed through Utility's AVaiL Web video management system.

"Each year, IACP brings out the best of what the law enforcement technology industry has to offer. Our products epitomize 21st-century solutions and provide future-proof technology not offered by our hardware-centric competitors," said Chris Lindenau, Vice President of Business Development and Chief Revenue Officer. "In addition to introducing Smart Scene 360, we will also announce an enhanced software architecture that integrates video recorded from multiple platforms with BodyWornincluding unmanned aerial vehicles. We believe these new products further demonstrate our mission of expanding the technological horizons of what a body camera company can achieve."

This is the third consecutive year that Utility has unveiled new products at IACP. In 2014, Utility, Inc. introduced BodyWorn, the only police body camera with policy-based automatic recording triggers. Experience has shown the Police Officers in high stress situations often forget to turn on manually-operated body cameras, which damages Community Trust in Police Accountability and Transparency. In 2015, the Rocket IoT In-Car Video Recording system was fully integrated with BodyWorn cameras. Vehicle front and back seat video content can be played on a side-by-side synchronized view basis with BodyWorn videoproviding incident views from multiple angles and locations. The Rocket IoT has been enhanced to support dual SIM cards and patented automatic switching to the best 3G and 4G-LTE cell carrier, based upon vehicle location, heading, and speed. Up to four HD, PoE video cameras can be attached to the Rocket IoT, along with vehicle diagnostics and IoT Sensors in and around the vehicle. Policy-Based Recording and IoT sensor events automatically start and stop video recording according to Department policy reliably and with no human bias.

Utility and its full suite of smart products, will be on display at booth #1939. For more information, visit http://www.Bodyworn.com. Information about Utility's automatic video redaction technology can be found at http://www.smartredaction.com/.

About BodyWorn

BodyWorn incorporates real-time communications for the best situational awareness possible during the most critical times. Unlike Generation 1 body cameras, BodyWorn has automatic recording triggers based upon department policies, officer down emergency reporting, live video streaming, and secure automatic wireless video upload to cloud storage. BodyWorn video, audio and metadata can be accessed through its cloud-based digital evidence management solution AVaiL Web. All of Utility's recording solutions, including Rocket IoT in-car video system, leverage Amazon Web Services cloud processing and storage.

Utility US Patents include:

6,831,556  Composite Mobile Digital Information System

7,768,548  Mobile Digital Video Recording System

8,781,475  Method for Switching between Cellular Networks

9,246,898  Method for Securely Distributing Legal Evidence

9,282,495  System and Method for Switching between Cellular Networks

9,432,402  Method for Uploading Files Utilizing GPS Routing

Contact: Jake Mendlinger

Office: 516-829-8374 / Cell: 516-639-3373

Email: [email protected]

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160427/360545LOGO

SOURCE Utility
LONDON, October 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

The Victor Dahdaleh Foundation - the charitable organisation of Canadian business leader and philanthropist Victor Dahdaleh - has announced a major donation to McGill University in Montreal, Canada.

The donation, which was announced at the Canadian High Commission in London, will be used to establish a new Chair in neurosciences at McGill's Faculty of Medicine, and to expand an existing scholarship programme also backed by the Victor Dahdaleh Foundation.

McGill's status as a global centre of brain research has also received an additional boost with the announcement of an $84million grant from the Federal Government's Canada First Excellence Research Fund (CFREF) - an award Victor Dahdaleh was instrumental in securing.

Mr Dahdaleh, a McGill alumnus who has served on the board of the McGill University Trust since 1994 said: "I am honoured to support McGill's ground-breaking work in neuroscience and to expand my commitment to a new generation of international students by providing scholarships to one of the world's finest institutions of higher learning."

The new Chair will build on McGill's existing world-class research in neuroscience to develop an integrated approach to the study of chronic brain disease, incorporating diverse clinical disciplines including neurology, psychiatry and rehabilitation science.

In particular, the new programme will support ground-breaking work in neuroinformatics - a growing field involving computational analysis of neuroscience data to search for effective treatments of numerous disorders including Alzheimer's, autism, schizophrenia and other mental illnesses.

Speaking at the event at Canada House, McGill Principal and Vice-Chancellor Suzanne Fortier said: "This profound gesture of generosity by Victor Dahdaleh will contribute to McGill's excellence in neuroscience, further our understanding of the brain and eventually translate into therapies for clinical treatment. His investment, which builds on decades of leadership in brain research at McGill and its Montreal Neurological Institute, will have a major impact on our understanding of brain function and disease, helping us address one of the great scientific and humanitarian challenges of the 21st century."

Further funding has also been provided for an existing scholarship programme at McGill, established in 2007 by the Victor Dahdaleh Foundation to offer 16 annual scholarships - in perpetuity - to outstanding full-time undergraduates from low-income countries. This latest contribution from the Foundation will double this endowment, which will now fund 32 annual awards - also in perpetuity.

Both donations are matched dollar-for-dollar by McGill and other funders.

The neuroscience donation represents one of a number of programmes of medical research supported by the Victor Dahdaleh Foundation. In the UK, the Foundation is an established supporter of research into cardiovascular disease, and has funded grants for numerous academic studies at Imperial College London and at Royal Brompton Hospital in London and Middlesex - the UK's largest specialist heart and lung centre.

Gordon Campbell, Canada's High Commissioner to the UK, said the donation was a milestone for McGill and higher education in Canada. "This generous contribution from a McGill alumnus will not only support neuroscience research, but also ensure that Canada continues to play an active role in providing a world-class education to talented students from around the world," he said.

The Victor Dahdaleh Foundation is committed to supporting education, health and wellness, and social and economic development initiatives around the world. At York University in Canada, Mr Dahdaleh recently funded the Dahdaleh Institute for Global Health, a state-of-the art research facility which was funded by a record $20million donation to the university. The new institute will work with a network of global and local partners to reframe the ways in which high- and low-income countries collaborate on global health challenges.

In the UK, Victor Dahdaleh is an Honorary Fellow at London School of Economics, where he has funded a range of new initiatives and backed a scholarship programme to enable disadvantaged students from overseas to study at the school.

The Victor Dahdaleh Foundation's support for education extends to Africa, where it is a donor to the Ethiopia-based Northwood African Educational Trust, which manages a school for orphans in the northwest of the country. St George's School in the Azezo area of Gondar province provides free, high quality education for 200 of the area's most vulnerable children.

Alongside these charitable roles, Mr Dahdaleh is a Fellow of the Duke of Edinburgh Award World Fellowship, a global network of supporters established in 1987 to extend the Duke of Edinburgh Award to young people around the world.

Victor Dahdaleh is the owner and chairman of Dadco, a privately owned investment, manufacturing and trading group established in 1915. A lifelong promoter of closer collaboration between Canada and the UK, he served as president of the Canada-United Kingdom Chamber of Commerce from 2004 to 2009.

For more information, visit: http://victordahdalehfoundation.com

SOURCE The Victor Dahdaleh Foundation
Global, EU-regulated Forex and CFD broker, Vipro Markets has introduced a new exciting promotion which offers clients 50% Commission Rebate on all their trades. The launch of '50% Off promotion' reaffirms the broker's strong commitment to making forex trading more affordable for retail investors by lowering trading costs. The promotion is available to all new clients who open an ECN Pro or VIP account from 10 October 2016 until 10 November 2016. The Commission Rebate of 50% applies to all trades placed within 30 calendar days following client's first trade.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161013/428391 )

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160523/806389 )



Vipro Markets CEO, Valerijus Ovsianikas, commented: "It is with great excitement that we introduce the biggest Commission Rebate ever offered by Vipro Markets. This is one of the great incentives our Company offers to new clients to get the most out of every trade and benefit from the best conditions possible. We have lowered trading expenses as part of our commitment to offer our clients a unique trading experience with consistently low commissions, exceptional execution quality and transparent pricing."

Vipro Markets has rapidly established itself as a reputable forex broker that provides its clients with superior services and tools to experience trading the way it should be.

Aside from excellent average spreads on FX products, the Company is also very pleased to offer one of the industry's lowest average spreads on WTI crude oil and precious metals including gold and silver.

The broker plans to launch more promotions in the near future to make forex trading even more rewarding for traders.

More information on Vipro Markets' 50% Commission Rebate can be obtained here.

Notes to Media:

About Vipro Markets

Vipro Markets is a global forex broker offering retail and institutional Clients trading services with prime focus on Forex, Stock Indices, commodities, CFDs and precious metals. The broker is authorized and regulated by the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC), with license number 278/15, and is also a Member of the Investor Compensation Fund (ICF). The Company has distinguished itself among ECN Forex brokers for providing top-notch trading services with low average spreads and commissions and ultra-fast execution though its state-of-the-art trading servers located at the Equinix LD4 data center in London.

Trading in derivative financial instruments may not be suitable for everyone and we therefore advise Clients to familiarize themselves with all the risks involved. Please review the Vipro Markets Client Agreement and other legal documentation available on Vipro Markets website before entering into any transaction with us.

Media Contact

Michalis Michael

Vipro Markets Ltd.

Tel.: +357 25247650

Email: [email protected]

Website: http://www.vipromarkets.com



SOURCE Vipro Markets
Walker & Dunlop Senior Vice President of Human Resources, Paula Pryor stated, "Walker & Dunlop is thrilled to once again be named a Great Place to Work, one of the top honors we can receive as a Company. We take great pride in our strong Company culture, and receiving this recognition demonstrates that our employees not only embrace that culture but also feel they can find personal and professional fulfilment by being a part of it."

Walker & Dunlop's corporate culture has differentiated the firm throughout its 80-year history, even as the Company's size and scale have grown dramatically over the past several years. Walker & Dunlop makes ongoing investments in employees' health through a robust wellness program, supports employees in their charitable giving and volunteer work, promotes flexible work schedules, and nurtures an environment of transparency and teamwork.

"There's a generosity of spirit that infuses the Best Small and Medium workplacesone that has a measurable return," said Kim Peters, Executive Vice President of Great Place to Work. "Whether it's funding employee 'passion projects' or giving surprise gifts to customers, the best workplaces give it away. And they get it back in the form of inspired people who innovate harder and generate higher revenue."

Walker & Dunlop won this accolade based on employees' anonymous responses to an extensive survey about their levels of trust, pride and camaraderie at work. Great Place to Work reviewed the survey results of more than 52,000 employees from hundreds of companies in the ranking process. Among the findings from the study: trust fuels business performance. For example, the Best Small and Medium Workplaces enjoy roughly three times the revenue growth of their peers, even as they provide a better experience for their people.

About Walker & Dunlop

Walker & Dunlop (NYSE: WD), headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, is one of the largest commercial real estate finance companies in the United States providing financing and investment sales to owners of multifamily and commercial properties. Walker & Dunlop, which is included in the S&P SmallCap 600 Index, has over 500 professionals in 24 offices across the nation with an unyielding commitment to client satisfaction.

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 and over a half dozen different industries.

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161012/427750

SOURCE Walker & Dunlop, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.walkerdunlop.com




(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161007/416375 )





(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161007/416376 )



The study carried out by Dr Hayley Christian from The University of Western Australia (UWA) in collaboration with the WALTHAM Centre for Pet Nutrition, part of Mars Petcare, is the first international study of its kind to consistently examine the relationship between dog walking, physical activity and people's perception of safety in their community. More than 1000 dog owners from Perth, Australia and three US cities (San Diego, Nashville and Portland) were surveyed in the Pet Connections study.

The research found that people who walked their dog achieved at least 30 minutes of physical activity on more days per week than non-dog walkers, helping them to meet the World Health Organization recommendation of at least 150 minutes of physical activity per week.

The study also highlights the broader community benefits of pet ownership. Almost 60 per cent of dog walkers in Australia and the US reported feeling safer when walking with their dog and women who walked their dogs were more likely than men to feel safer.

"Particularly in US study sites, dog walkers had a greater feeling of security and perceived higher levels of neighborhood surveillance from dog walking than those studied in Perth," said Dr Hayley Christian, from UWA's School of Population Health. "This may be due to social and cultural differences in dog-keeping and exercise practices between the two countries".

The study highlights the physical and social benefits for individuals and communities, and the need to integrate dog walking into health programs and policies.

About the WALTHAM Centre for Pet Nutrition:

Celebrating over 50 years of innovative science, the WALTHAM Centre for Pet Nutrition, part of Mars, Incorporated, serves as a leading scientific authority in advancing the frontiers of research into the nutrition and health of companion animals.

SOURCE Mars Petcare
SEATTLE and BOULDER, Colo., Oct. 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- WatchGuard Technologies, a leader in advanced network security solutions, and ManagedMethods, a leading provider in the cloud access security broker (CASB) space, have developed the industry's most complete network and cloud security solution for detecting, investigating, and blocking network and cloud application threats faced by small and midsize organizations and distributed enterprises.

Sensitive data can move freely between the enterprise and the cloud, and IT security teams struggle to maintain control, prevent data loss, and reduce risk. The ManagedMethods Cloud Access Monitor integrates with WatchGuard Dimension to deliver enhanced visibility and control into shadow IT, cloud application usage, compliance, and reporting. WatchGuard Dimension is a cloud-ready visibility and management platform used to analyze event logs from WatchGuard Firebox appliances. This data is integrated into Cloud Access Monitor to extend visibility and reporting to the cloud, as well as to mobile devices outside of the corporate network, by utilizing APIs of popular cloud applications.

Key integration features:

Extend visibility, reporting, and malware scanning beyond the network to cloud applications, including: Office 365, Google Apps, Dropbox, and Box.

beyond the network to cloud applications, including: Office 365, Google Apps, Dropbox, and Box. Enforce security policies by identifying and blocking high-risk cloud application usage on the network with a risk database of more than 4,500 applications.

by identifying and blocking high-risk cloud application usage on the network with a risk database of more than 4,500 applications. Data loss prevention with 24/7 monitoring and alerts of risky behavior and sensitive data activity.

with 24/7 monitoring and alerts of risky behavior and sensitive data activity. Gain visibility into shadow IT, including unsanctioned cloud application usage.

into shadow IT, including unsanctioned cloud application usage. Compliance monitoring and reporting for PII, PCI HIPAA, and other regulations.

Supporting Quotes:

"Organizations of all sizes are challenged with safely leveraging cloud applications in a rapidly evolving threat landscape," said Corey Nachreiner, WatchGuard CTO. "WatchGuard delivers a powerful, layered approach to network security, and now together with ManagedMethods, customers can take advantage of enhanced cloud application security that extends beyond the perimeter of the network."

"We are excited to provide this integrated cloud security solution to WatchGuard's customers," said Charlie Sander, CEO of ManagedMethods. "With today's intensified risk of data leaks, malware attacks and even unintentional insecure employee behaviors, having a single point of visibility and control is a game-changer."

"WatchGuard has been delivering industry-leading and easy-to-use network security technologies to my customers for over 10 years, and they continue to develop and integrate with advanced technologies that help us keep our customers on top of the latest security threats," said John Gawf, CTO of Saje Network Systems. "The WatchGuard-ManagedMethods integrated solution gives my customers the power they need to quickly identify and prevent cloud application threats."

WatchGuard at ITxpo, Orlando, Florida, October 16-19:

The WatchGuard-ManagedMethods integration will be on display at the Gartner ITxpo in Orlando, Florida from October 17-18 .

from . Stop by booth #1212 to view a live demo and learn more about this integration as well as all of WatchGuard's latest network security solutions.

Join Corey Nachreiner on October 18 during the ITxpo Solution Provider Session (SPS) as he discusses cloud application risks and new breeds of network security threats that organizations face today.

Learn more about this integration and all of WatchGuard's technology integrations by viewing the WatchGuardONE Technology Partner Page.

About WatchGuard Technologies, Inc.

WatchGuard Technologies, Inc. is a global leader in network security, providing best-in-class Unified Threat Management, Next Generation Firewall, secure Wi-Fi, and network intelligence products and services to more than 75,000 customers worldwide. The company's mission is to make enterprise-grade security accessible to companies of all types and sizes through simplicity, making WatchGuard an ideal solution for Distributed Enterprises and SMBs. WatchGuard is headquartered in Seattle, Washington, with offices throughout North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and Latin America. To learn more, visit WatchGuard.com.

For additional information, promotions and updates, follow WatchGuard on Twitter, @WatchGuard on Facebook, or on the LinkedIn Company page. Also, visit our InfoSec blog, Secplicity, for real-time information about the latest threats and how to cope with them at www.secplicity.org.

About ManagedMethods

ManagedMethods develops Cloud Access Security (CASB) solutions that provide organizations visibility and control over Shadow IT and the growing use of cloud applications. Privately held and based in Boulder, Colorado, ManagedMethods solutions are available today through managedmethods.com or your trusted value-added reseller.

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20140224/SF69246LOGO

SOURCE WatchGuard Technologies, Inc.

Related Links

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Browse 66 market data Tables and 52 Figures spread through 149 Pages and in-depth TOC on "Wi-Fi as a Service Market"

http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/wi-fi-as-a-service-market-143023614.html

Early buyers will receive 10% customization on this report.

The key forces driving the Wi-Fi as a Service Market include increasing need for low capital expenditure and reduced total cost of ownership, and demand for centralized management and remote troubleshooting. Wi-Fi as a Service services also provide faster deployment and end-to-end visibility. With the increase in the adoption rate of Wi-Fi as a Service among Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), the Wi-Fi as a Service Market is expected to gain major traction during the forecast period.

"Wi-Fi as a Service analytics service type is expected to grow at the highest rate during the forecast period."

Among service types, the Wi-Fi as a Service analytics segment is expected to grow at the highest rate in the Wi-Fi as a Service Market during the forecast period. It involves two processes for intelligent business analytics, namely, reporting and analytics. The demand for cloud-based reporting and analytics is increasing among enterprises due to increasing need for improved decision-making, optimizing internal business process, increasing operational efficiency, and gaining competitive advantage in the market.

"Indoor user location segment is expected to contribute the largest market share in 2016."

Among user location, the indoor user location segment is expected to have the largest market share in the Wi-Fi as a Service Market in 2016. Buildings such as educational institutions, malls, retail shops, commercial buildings, hotels, and restaurants are increasingly deploying indoor Wi-Fi as a Service that offers low cost, better speed, and minimal interruption. The cloud access points for indoor user location have been in demand for sectors such as educational institutions, retail outlets, and hospitality sector thereby making indoor user location the largest market in 2016.

"North America is expected to contribute the largest market share; Asia-Pacific (APAC) to grow the fastest. "

North America is expected to hold the largest market share and dominate the Wi-Fi as a Service Market from 2016 to 2021 owing to large investments in cloud-based solutions, early adoption of new & emerging technologies, and large number of players present in this region. The APAC region is in the initial growth phase; however, it is the fastest-growing region for the global Wi-Fi as a Service Market. The key reason for the high growth rate in APAC is the growing demand for cost-effective Wi-Fi services among Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in this region.

Ask for Sample Pages @ http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/requestsample.asp?id=143023614

The major vendors providing Wi-Fi as a Service Market are Cisco systems, Inc. (Cisco Meraki) (San Jose, California, U.S), Rogers Communications Inc. (Toronto, Canada), Ruckus Wireless, Inc., A BROCADE COMPANY (California, U.S.), Singapore Telecommunications Limited (Singtel) (Singapore), Telstra Corporation Limited (Melbourne, Australia), ViaSat Inc.(California U.S.), ADTRAN, INC. (Huntsville, Alabama, U.S.), Aerohive Networks, Inc. (California, U.S.), Aruba, a Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company (Sunnyvale, California, U.S.), BigAir Group Limited (Sydney, Australia), Fujitsu Limited (Tokyo, Japan), iPass Inc. (Silicon Valley, U.S.), Mojo Networks, Inc. (California, U.S.), and Zebra Technologies Corporation (Lincolnshire, Illinois, U.S.).

Browse Related Reports

Wi-Fi Hotspot Market by Components (Wireless Hotspot Gateways, Wireless Hotspot Controllers and Mobile Hotspot Devices), by Software, by Services, by End Users, by Verticals, & by Regions - Global forecast to 2020

http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/wi-fi-hotspot-market-260601926.html

Global Wi-Fi Market by Business (Model Indoor Wi-Fi, Outdoor Wi-Fi, Transportation Wi-Fi), Product (Access Points, WLAN Controllers, Wireless Hotspot Gateways, Others), Service, Vertical, Region- Global Forecast to 2020

http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/global-wi-fi-market-994.html

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M&M's flagship competitive intelligence and market research platform, "RT" connects over 200,000 markets and entire value chains for deeper understanding of the unmet insights along with market sizing and forecasts of niche markets. The new included chapters on Methodology and Benchmarking presented with high quality analytical infographics in our reports gives complete visibility of how the numbers have been arrived and defend the accuracy of the numbers.

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TORONTO, Oct. 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ - An arbitral tribunal appointed under the NAFTA found that the Government of Ontario treated Windstream Energy LLC's (Windstream) investments in Canada unfairly and inequitably under NAFTA after it placed a moratorium on offshore wind farms in 2011. This moratorium directly frustrated the $5.2 billion contract for a 300 MW offshore wind power project that Windstream signed with the Ontario Power Authority.

The tribunal ruled that the Government of Ontario "on the whole did relatively little to address the scientific uncertainty surrounding offshore wind that it relied upon as the main publicly cited reason for the moratorium." Further, it "did little to address the legal and contractual limbo in which Windstream found itself after the imposition of the moratorium."

The tribunal awarded Windstream damages of $25,182,900 and $2,912,432 in legal costs, the largest ever NAFTA damages and cost award against Canada.

The tribunal declared that the contract is formally "in force" and has not been unilaterally terminated by the Government of Ontario.

"Windstream responded to the Ontario government's call for renewable power and jobs, and entered into a contract with the Ontario government in good faith in August 2010," said David Mars, Director of Windstream Energy LLC. "This award is an appropriate first step at remedying the challenges we have faced. We look forward to working with the Government of Ontario to build this project in accordance with the contract."

About Windstream Energy LLC

Windstream Energy LLC is the sole owner of the Windstream Wolfe Island Shoals Wind Energy Project, a 300 MW offshore wind power project in eastern Lake Ontario. Windstream Energy LLC is the owner of the largest Ontario Feed-In-Tariff contract. Its investors are a New York City-based investment group with extensive experience developing and operating energy projects in both onshore and offshore environments.

SOURCE Windstream Energy
MORRISVILLE, North Carolina, October 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

Worldwide Clinical Trials (http://www.worldwide.com) will present a webinar, titled "Accelerating Analgesics Therapeutic Development by Optimizing Early Human Experimental Models of Pain," on Thursday, Oct. 27, 2016 at 11 a.m. E.T.

Leading the discussion during this free webinar will be Worldwide's Senior Medical Director of Neuroscience, Miroslav Backonja, M.D., who has played an integral role in the development of several experimental pain models. Board-certified in both neurology and pain medicine, Dr. Backonja has more than 100 peer-reviewed publications; serves on the editorial boards for a number of pain journals, including Pain, Pain Medicine, and Clinical Journal of Pain; and is a member of the American Academy of Neurology, the International Association for the Study of Pain, and the American Academy of Pain Medicine.

"The challenge that confronts investigators within analgesics therapeutic development is to match specific pain treatments based on different underlying pain mechanisms and to offer a treatment tailored to each patient," explained Dr. Backonja. "Experimental pain models offer a unique and unprecedented opportunity to facilitate the transition from preclinical to clinical phases of analgesic development, as these models are essential in both understanding underlying pain mechanisms and in assessing the efficacy of analgesic compounds very early in development."

Joining Dr. Backonja for the webinar discussion will be George Atiee, M.D., Vice President and Medical Director for Worldwide's Early Phase Services unit. Drs. Backonja and Atiee will discuss the ability of human experimental models of pain to translate and demonstrate the efficacy of new chemical entities in providing pain relief in humans in early phase studies, as well as their potential to inform later phases about dose range for registration trials. They will also highlight several human experimental pain models such as capsaicin, cold pressor test and UVB-burn; application techniques and associated outcome measures; and the potential of these models to significantly accelerate analgesic drug and interventions development.

To register for this free Worldwide Clinical Trials webinar, visit: http://go.worldwide.com/Accelerating_Analgesics_Dev_Webinar_Registration.html?sourceID=PR.

Connect with Worldwide Clinical Trials:

Tweet: @worldwidetrials experts to discuss the optimization of early human experimental models of pain. Register at http://go.worldwide.com/Accelerating_Analgesics_Dev_Webinar_Registration.html?sourceID=PR

@worldwidetrials experts to discuss the optimization of early human experimental models of pain. Register at http://go.worldwide.com/Accelerating_Analgesics_Dev_Webinar_Registration.html?sourceID=PR Follow us on Twitter: @worldwidetrials

@worldwidetrials Find us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/worldwide-clinical-trials-inc-

About Worldwide Clinical Trials

Worldwide Clinical Trials employs more than 1,400 professionals around the world, with offices in North and South America, Eastern and Western Europe, Russia and Asia. One of the world's leading, full-service contract research organizations (CROs), we partner with sponsors in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries to deliver fully integrated clinical development and bioanalytical services, extending from first-in-human through phase IV studies. Grounded in medicine and science, we help sponsors move from medical discovery into clinical development and commercialization across a range of therapeutic areas, including neuroscience, cardiovascular diseases, immune-mediated inflammatory disorders (IMID), and rare diseases. For more information, visit http://www.worldwide.com.

SOURCE Worldwide Clinical Trials
DUBLIN, October 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

Research and Markets has announced the addition of Wintergreen Research, Inc's new report "Law Enforcement Robots: Market Strategies and Forecasts, Worldwide, 2016-2022" to their offering.

Law enforcement robot markets at $1 billion in 2015 are anticipated to reach $5.7 billion by 2022

Bomb squads need robots, they need robot technology, more flexibility, better maneuverability. Security technology is becoming mobile, changing the old security camera approach to allowing a more proactive approach to security. The robot can go out and look around. The aim of using law enforcement robots is to secure the safety of the officers in the field. Robots are pretty good at this as it turns out. Police are forced to function in dangerous situations.

Market growth comes as every law enforcement agency faces the prospect of dealing with terrorists. With technology maturity and economies of scale, price points decline rapidly and affordability continues to drive significant market growth. The companies that have achieved measurable market share early in the evolution of the market are likely to maintain a strong presence in markets.

Next generation law enforcement robots are being implemented as platforms. Platforms are useful for accepting a range of components quickly to repurpose units on the fly. Law enforcement robots leverage better materials, more sophisticated designs, software technology, and tablet remote controls. They are communication devices that support high quality data gathering. Communications are implemented in difficult situations.

Law enforcement robotics are slated to increase in value to cities and local communities providing low cost protection and high value capabilities. With the active threat of terrorists attacking civilian populations in every country, law enforcement has become the new military. As terrorists operate outside nationalistic borders and infiltrate into the community, robot systems are needed by local police forces, not just the military. The national priority in every country is to increase the budgets for regional and local law enforcement robotic response.

Response to emergency situations with robots include response to natural disasters, hostage taking, barricaded law breakers, and terrorists. These situations have not been a problem inside local communities, previously dealt with by national authorities. With the rise of international terrorism, experienced through the news media in most local communities and cities, the threat of local terrorism is becoming more real and unfortunately more common. The robots offer all level of protection to the human by letting the police officers do some of their job remotely.

Key Topics Covered:

1. Law Enforcement Robots Market Description and Market Dynamics

1.1 Law Enforcement Robots

1.2 Law Enforcement Robot Border Patrol

1.3 Robot Scope

1.4 SUGVs

1.5 Robots Delivering Protection Capabilities

2 Law Enforcement Robot Market Shares and Market Forecasts

2.1 Law Enforcement Robots Leverage Civilian Systems of Engagement

2.2 Law Enforcement Robot Market Shares

2.3 Law Enforcement Robot Market Forecasts

2.4 Law Enforcement Robot Market Analysis

2.5 Law Enforcement Robot Prices and Situational Uses

2.6 Law Enforcement Robot Regional Market Segments

3 Law Enforcement Robot Product Description

3.1 Endeavor Robotics 110 FirstLook

3.2 Northrop Grumman

3.3 QinetiQ

3.4 Kairos Autonomi

3.5 RoboteX

3.6 Pedsco

3.7 ReconRobotics Tactical, Micro-Robot Systems

3.8 Robosoft

3.9 TechnoRobot

3.10 General Dynamics Homeland Security

3.11 Google / Boston Dynamics ATLAS - The Agile Anthropomorphic Robot

3.12 Lockheed Martin

3.13 Mesa Robotics

3.14 Boz Robotics Boz I

3.15 Power Hawk Technologies

3.16 DJI Innovation

3.17 SDR Tactical Robots

3.18 Lithos Robotics TacBOT

3.19 Transcend Robotics Arti3 Platform

4 Law Enforcement Robot Technology and Research

4.1 TARDEC's Interoperability Profile (IOP) Testing

4.2 National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)

4.3 Law Enforcement Robot Technology Enablers

4.4 MRAP ATV: Requirements and Contenders

4.5 Law Enforcement Intel Integrated Circuit Evidence-Based Innovation

4.6 Advanced Robot Technology: Navigation, Mobility, And Manipulation

4.7 User-Friendly Interfaces

4.8 Field Based Robotics Iterative Development

4.9 Intel Military Robot Cultivating Collaborations

4.10 Hitachi Configuration Of Robots Using The SuperH Family

4.11 Network Of Robots And Sensors

4.12 Law Enforcement Robot Technology Functions

4.13 Carbon Nanotube Radio

4.14 UUVMP Vision

4.15 Endeavor Robotics Technology

4.16 Evolution Robotics Technology Solutions

4.17 Classes of Unmanned Ground Vehicles (UGVs)

4.18 Military and Law Enforcement Robot Pricing Notes

4.19 Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear, Explosives (CBRNE)

4.20 Robot Enabling Technologies

4.21 Law Enforcement Robot Bandwidth

5 Law Enforcement Robot Company Profiles

5.1 CoroWare

5.1 DJI

5.2 Endeavor Robotics

5.3 General Dynamics

5.4 Google / Boston Dynamics

5.5 GoPro

5.6 Kairos Autonami

5.7 Kawada Industries

5.8 Kongsberg

5.9 Kuka

5.10 Lithos Robotics

5.11 Lockheed Martin

5.12 Mesa Robotics

5.13 Mitsubishi Next-Generation Robot for Nuclear Power Plant Heat Exchanger Tube Inspection

5.14 Northrop Grumman

5.15 Pedsco

5.16 Power Hawk Technologies

5.17 QinetiQ

5.18 ReconRobotics

5.19 Robosoft

5.20 Robotex

5.21 SDR Tactical Robots

5.22 TechnoRobot

5.23 Transcend Robotics

5.24 Yamaha

5.25 Selected Military Robot Companies

For more information about this report visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/dbzlxn/law_enforcement

Source: Wintergreen Research, Inc

Media Contact:

Research and Markets

Laura Wood, Senior Manager

[email protected]

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SOURCE Research and Markets

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TUCSON, Ariz., Oct. 12, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- In the Oct 9 debate between U.S. presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, Russia and Syria were mentioned a few times, but the prospect of an imminent trigger for World War III in Syria apparently had not occurred to either candidate, states Physicians for Civil Defense president Jane Orient, M.D.

When asked about Aleppo, Clinton said that "there is a determined effort by the Russian Air Force to destroy Aleppo in order to eliminate the last of the Syrian rebels who are really holding out against the Assad regime." She favors a safe zone, a no-fly zone, leverage against the Russians, investigating Syrians and Russians for war crimes, and arming Syrian rebels.

Trump responded that "she doesn't even know who the rebels are." He remarked that both Assad and Russia are fighting ISIS.

Neither acknowledged the extent of ongoing hostilities in which the U.S. was allegedly bombing Syrian Army soldiers, a ceasefire having collapsed by Sep 19, barely a week after it had been triumphantly announced by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry.

The situation in Syria has been compared with the Spanish civil war, which became a proxy war between the great powers, preceding the great cataclysm of World War II. Weapons and equipment supposedly meant for "moderate rebels" are reportedly supplying extremists. There have been close calls between Russian and U.S. forces.

From Oct 4-7, Russia held a massive civil defense exercise involving 40 million people, 200 thousand emergency services personnel, and 50 thousand pieces of equipment. Officials are telling people to prepare for nuclear war, which they claim will be started by the West. Russian officials have reportedly been told to immediately bring home children who are studying abroad.

In August, Germans were told to stockpile food and water, in case of some sort of emergency.

Neither candidate seems to have a sense of urgency about the world situation, states Dr. Orient. Clinton warns of the danger of "Islamophobia"; says we are not bearing as much of the load of Middle Eastern refugees as Europe is; and states she will stand up to Russian aggression in Syria. Trump warns about a 550 percent increase in entrants who might be jihadis. He states: "Russia is new in terms of nuclear and we are old and tired and exhausted in terms of nuclear."

"America must not be distracted from deadly threats by vulgar language on an 11-year-old recording," Dr. Orient warned. "Candidates need to address the danger of provoking war."

Physicians for Civil Defense distributes information to help to save lives in the event of war or other disaster.

Contact: Jane M. Orient, M.D., (520) 323-3110, [email protected]

SOURCE Physicians for Civil Defense

Related Links

http://www.physiciansforcivildefense.org


BEIJING, Oct. 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Sequoia Capital China, a leading VC/PE firm, the Yale School of Management (SOM) and the Yale Center Beijing are pleased to announce the launch of the "Yale SOM - Sequoia Capital China Leadership Program". A ceremony was held today to welcome the Program's inaugural class. As China's first leadership program that is jointed established by a VC/PE firm and a top global business school, the Program aims to develop and groom the next generation of global business leaders. This initiative also exemplifies Sequoia Capital China's fundamental commitment to be the "Entrepreneurs Behind the Entrepreneurs".

The inauguration of the Program was held at the Yale Center Beijing, with Edward Snyder, Dean of the Yale School of Management and Neil Shen, Founding and Managing Partner of Sequoia Capital China as the keynote speakers.

This Program is unique and pioneering in that it will provide participants with global and multidisciplinary insights into the Chinese and Western entrepreneurial experience and business practices.

During the inauguration ceremony for the program, Neil Shen and Luo Zhenyu, founder of Luogic Show, and Mr. Lang Yongchun, the former CCTV anchor and Senior Vice President of Zhaogang.com, shared their perspectives on entrepreneurship and leadership. Drawing on the experiences of Premier League legend Sir Alex Ferguson, they conducted a lively discussion on "whether leadership means control" and "how to manage star players".

The first module of the program, "the Logic of Business and Finance," will be taught by Professor Zhiwu Chen, Professor of Finance and Economics of the Yale School of Management. This module aims to develop entrepreneurs into strategic thinkers who have a nuanced and deep understanding of the past, present and future, and help them become innovative leaders who can tackle complex problems.

"As we enter our 5th decade, the Yale School of Management is now ranked among the top global business schools according to the Financial Times' 2016 rankings. There are many synergies in this partnership. The Yale SOM - Sequoia Capital China Leadership Program will draw on Yale's and Sequoia Capital's wealth of resources to groom exemplary, global entrepreneurs," said Edward Snyder, Dean of Yale SOM. "With the backdrop of an increasingly complex global environment, it is now more important than ever to develop a generation of business leaders in China who can adapt to the new dynamics of the market."

Mr. Neil Shen, Founding and Managing Partner of Sequoia Capital China and a Yale alumnus commented, "Sequoia Capital China, as a long-term value-oriented investor, is highly committed to investing in the growth and success of our portfolio companies. In recent years, we are seeing a burgeoning demand among Chinese entrepreneurs to advance their knowledge and leadership skills. Today, we are thrilled to announce the partnership with Yale SOM and sincerely hope that the Program will offer the entrepreneurs the tools, skills and support they need to tackle the complex leadership and management challenges associated with starting and growing a successful business in the dynamic and ever-changing global marketplace. The launch of the Program is also a testament to our longstanding mission and vision since our founding."

"We have long admired Neil Shen's strategic vision and are grateful for his support in funding the Yale Center Beijing, which was launched two years ago. We at Yale University have had a long-standing commitment to cultivate leaders from diverse backgrounds from around the world. The Program serves as an example of how the Center has become an intellectual hub for developing future leaders," said Carol Li Rafferty, managing director of the Yale Center Beijing. "Today's launch is an important step toward providing world-class learning opportunities for entrepreneurs to become successful global leaders."

The Yale SOM - Sequoia Capital China Leadership Program is a one-year leadership development program hosted at the Yale Center Beijing. After completing the program, participants will receive a certificate of completion from the Yale School of Management.

The inaugural class were selected exclusively from the founders, CEOs and top executives of Sequoia Capital China's portfolio companies, with 43 participants from a variety of sectors including TMT, healthcare, consumer/service and new energy/clean tech.

About Yale Center Beijing

The Yale Center Beijing advances Yale University's fundamental dedication to developing leaders from all sectors of society and all regions of the globe. By leveraging Yale's wealth of resources as a global research university and its historically strong ties to China, the Center aims to further constructive dialogue about pressing issues and the forthright exchange of ideas and knowledge among decision makers and thought leaders.

For more information, please visit: http://centerbeijing.yale.edu

About the Yale School of Management

The Yale School of Management (also known as Yale SOM) is the graduate business school of Yale University and is located on Whitney Avenue in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Yale SOM enters its fifth decade in September 2016. The mission of the Yale SOM is to educate leaders for business and society. By engaging with a great university, connecting globally, and advancing a broad-minded model of business education, it positions its people strategically to maximize their academic and professional development.

For more information, please visit: http://som.yale.edu

About Sequoia Capital China

Sequoia Capital was founded in 1972 in Menlo Park, California. In keeping with its motto the "Entrepreneurs Behind the Entrepreneurs," Sequoia China has built an impressive and diverse portfolio over the last eleven years. This group of approximately 300 dynamic companies deliver high returns on investment using differentiated technologies and innovative business models. They include Alibaba, AutoNavi, Alibaba Pictures, BGI, Beta Pharma, Deppon Logistics, Dianping, Didi, DJI, Ganji.com, JD.com, Jumei, Meituan, Meilishuo, Momo, Noah Private, Plateno Hotels Group, Qihoo 360, Ourpalm, Sina.com, Snibe Diagnostic, SINNET, Toutiao, VanceInfo, VIPshop, WEGO, Wealth Management, Wanda Cinemas, Yuwell Medical, and ZTO Express.

For more information, please visit: https://www.sequoiacap.com

CONTACT: Tingyu Liu, +86 10 6563 7918, [email protected]

SOURCE Sequoia Capital China
ATLANTA, Oct. 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Zenergyst Software, the real estate industry's easiest to use and most affordable sales process platform, reduces the number of tools used and time spent by real estate professionals managing their business. From Lead Capture to Transaction Collaboration, Document Storage & Management to Electronic Signatures - Zenergyst is squarely on the side of agents that are paying too much for technology, and getting lost in the complexities of managing multiple systems.

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161013/428458

Zenergyst Debuts REALTOR Association Version With Sarasota - Manatee Partnership.

In Sarasota, Zenergyst will release a version specific to local REALTOR Associations. This product will be specifically themed and priced to help the Association continue to provide measurable value to their members. The REALTOR Association of Sarasota and Manatee will hold the first two training sessions for their members on October 21, 2016. "We are proud to partner with Zenergyst to provide such a powerful tool to our members," said Kathy Roberts, CEO of the REALTOR Association of Sarasota and Manatee. "RASM and Zenergyst see eye-to-eye on the importance of helping to drive the success of agents, and I believe Zenergyst will help our members close more deals," added Roberts.

Zenergyst is "A dependable, productive solution for burdened real estate brokers and agents. [It] will make for a smart investment," says Craig Rowe of Inman News

In April 2016, Zenergyst was chosen to participate in the eight-month REach program, run by Second Century Ventures, the technology fund and strategic arm of the National Association of Realtors. REach was created to identify and support new companies that NAR believes will benefit both Realtors and the broader real estate industry.

About Zenergyst

Zenergyst is THE operating system for real estate agents - a single cloud platform with all of the necessary applications to run a business entirely from the cloud. Agents can acquire and manage customers using Zenergyst's lead capture, drip marketing and CRM, and can empower their business process with work flow checklists, integrated electronic signatures and shareable document storage. Zenergyst offers subscribers one system to reduce operating stress, boost efficiency and improve the overall customer experience.

Zenergyst is a private company, based in Alpharetta, Georgia, a technology driven suburb of Atlanta. For more information, please visit www.zenergyst.com.

About National Association of Realtors

The National Association of Realtors, "The Voice for Real Estate," is America's largest trade association, representing 1 million members involved in all aspects of the residential and commercial real estate industries.

This content was issued through the press release distribution service at Newswire.com. For more info visit: http://www.newswire.com

SOURCE Zenergyst

Related Links

http://www.zenergyst.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
Ghaziabad, Oct 9 : Two robbers have been arrested and a number of items looted recently from a law college recovered, Ghaziabad police said on Sunday.

"In a joint action, police and Crime Branch sleuths arrested two robbers from Masuri area who were involved in a robbery committed on September 30 last," police said.

SP (Rural) R.K. Pandey said that acting on a tip-off, police nabbed the two robbers from Inayatpur locality under Masuri police station.

During interrogation, the robbers gave their names as Abid and Suhail.

"They confessed to their crime and disclosed the names of their accomplices -- Samanshu, Saddam, Chand, Nawed and Shahid," Pandey said.

Police recovered 17 LED bulbs, three computers, one water cooler, a room heater, one LED television and a truck bearing registration number UP-16-BT-8317.

A 0.315 bore country-made pistol and two live cartridges were also seized from them, police said.
Los Angeles, Oct 11 : Actress Shailene Woodley was arrested for criminal trespassing while peacefully protesting the controversial Dakota Access Pipeline.

The protest took place in North Dakota on Monday against a huge oil pipeline project that will cross four states.

Woodley, who has been vocal about the pipeline, posted a video on Facebook Live streaming the incident, reports variety.com.

The two-hour long video takes a turn near the end, when police begin to get involved. At one point, an unidentified officer could be seen telling Woodley: "We can't talk right here, but you're going to be placed under arrest for criminal trespassing".

Woodley replied: "But I have one question: Why am I being arrested and no one else is who is down there, is my question? Is it because I'm famous? Is it because people know me?"

Another official can be heard telling Woodley: "It's because you trespassed on the property".

She said: "So did hundreds of people. We were all down there." She added that she was being arrested "because I have 40,000 people watching".

An official with the Morton County Sheriff's Department said that she was one of 27 people arrested at the protest, which started at about 7 a.m., variety.com reported.

A federal judge on Sunday rejected the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe's request for a permanent injunction to block the planned pipeline, which crosses the tribe's land and burial grounds. The 1,170-mile, $3.7 million pipeline would be responsible for transporting 470,000 barrels of oil a day.
New Delhi, Oct 12 : Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday expressed apprehension over reports that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) might disrupt his rally at Surat in Gujarat scheduled for Sunday.

"BJP to disrupt Surat meeting? Bad for democracy. BJP should not do this. Allow people to discuss their problems at least," Kejriwal tweeted while quoting a news report that said the BJP was planning to disrupt Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convener's meeting in Gujarat.

Kejriwal will leave here for a two-day visit to Gujarat on Friday. He will reach Ahmedabad on Friday evening and will leave for Surat on Sunday.

In Ahmedabad, he will interact with pepole from various organisations and movements.
Beijing, Oct 13 : Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday morning left Beijing for state visits to Cambodia and Bangladesh, and also to attend the eighth BRICS summit in India, officials said.

Xi was invited by Cambodian King Norodom Sihamoni and Bangladesh President Abdul Hamid to pay state visits to the two countries, Xinhua news agency reported.

The President will then attend the BRICS -- Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa -- summit, to be held in Goa, at the invitation of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Here, the leaders will exchange in-depth views on BRICS cooperation and other global and regional issues, according to Vice Foreign Minister Li Baodong earlier this week.

Xi's entourage includes Wang Huning, member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and director of the Policy Research Office of the CPC Central Committee; Li Zhanshu, member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, member of the Secretariat of the CPC Central Committee and director of the General Office of the CPC Central Committee; and State Councilor Yang Jiechi.

Xi will return to Beijing on October 17.
New York, Oct 13 : Two women have said that Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump touched them inappropriately in the past, one of them on board an airplane three decades ago and the other in 2005 in Manhattan.

Jessica Leeds, 74, told The New York Times on Wednesday that over three decades ago the mogul, who was seated in first class beside her on a flight to New York, touched her breasts and tried to put his hand under her dress a few minutes after takeoff and without knowing her in advance.

"He was like an octopus," she said, adding "His hands were everywhere."

She fled to the back of the plane. "It was an assault", Leeds said.

Leeds, a travelling businesswoman at the time of the alleged attack, said she had told at least four people about the incident, and they also spoke with The New York Times.

The second account came from Rachel Crooks, who was a 22-year-old receptionist at Bayrock Group, a real estate investment and development company in the Trump Tower in Manhattan, ran into Trump one morning outside an elevator.

She introduced herself to Trump, and they shook hands, but the mogul would not let go, she said. Then, he began kissing her cheeks and finally "kissed me directly on the mouth".

"It didn't feel like an accident, it felt like a violation," she said.

"It was so inappropriate," Crooks recalled, "I was so upset that he thought I was so insignificant that he could do that."

After the incident, Crooks returned to her workplace and called her sister, Brianne Webb, in Ohio, to tell her what had just happened.

The New York Times said that Trump was informed about these two new claims but rejected them.

Leeds and Crooks have never publicly told their stories but their description of the incidents are similar to those of other women who have claimed that Trump kissed or touched them without their consent.

During the second presidential debate with Democratic rival Hillary Clinton on October 9, Trump denied sexually assaulting any women.

Last Friday, a 2005 videotape was made public on which Trump can be heard making lewd and sexist comments about women, including saying that he often kisses women he meets on the mouth.

"I just start kissing them," Trump said on the videotape. "It's like a magnet. Just kiss. I don't even wait."
Berlin, Oct 13 : A migrant suspected of planning a bomb attack on a Berlin airport has killed himself in his prison cell in Germany's Leipzig city, police said.

Saxony's state justice ministry said Jaber Albakr, a 22-year-old Syrian refugee was found dead on Wednesday.

He was taken into custody on Monday on suspicion he was planning an imminent terrorist attack, EFE news reported.

Der Spiegel magazine reported on that the prisoner had begun a hunger strike and was placed on suicide watch.

German intelligence had indications that Albakr might have been preparing to carry out an attack "this week", the head of the BfV domestic security agency, Hans-Georg Maassen said.

Authorities moved to arrest Albakr last week, but he managed to elude them and flee his residence in the city of Chemnitz.

Police found explosives and detonators in the residence.

Using an internet chat room, the suspect arranged temporary lodging for himself with other Syrian refugees in Leipzig, about an hour away from Chemnitz.

But when his hosts realized Albakr was being sought by police, they tied him up and handed him over to authorities early Monday morning.

Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere said on Wednesday that officials were still trying to determine when Albakr became radicalised.

He first arrived in Germany in February 2015 and was granted refugee status in June after a background check uncovered nothing that raised suspicions.

Albakr traveled twice to Turkey last year and made at least one visit to the Syrian city of Idlib.
Sydney, Oct 13 : Two 16-year-old Australian boys arrested in Sydney after each bought a knife were charged on Thursday with planning a terror attack on behalf of the Islamic State (IS), police said.

The teenagers were arrested by the state's Joint Counter-Terrorism Team at Bankstown in Sydney on Wednesday, in a lane behind a Muslim prayer hall, the ABC reported.

Police found two large bayonet-style knives and religious notes that allegedly pledged allegiance to IS from the boys.

According to officials, the pair did not appear in Parramatta Children's Court on Thursday morning and did not apply for bail.

In opposing bail, police said the pair posed an unacceptable risk to the community.

They are due to return to court in December.

Police documents tendered in court heard the teen talking to his mother on a lawfully intercepted conversation in October 2015.

During the conversation, he said "When they come, I am going to something to them that they have never seen before. I am going to do something bigger."

At a news conference, police said the boys were charged with terror-related offences.

The arrests comes one month after a 22-year-old man was charged with committing a terrorist act and attempted murder in Sydney.
Sydney, Oct 13 : Australia's New South Wales Parliament has formally branded US Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump a "revolting slug" unfit for office.

Greens MP Jeremy Buckhingham tabled a motion slamming the Republican candidate, that was passed unanimously, reported ABC news on Thursday.

"It is great that all sides of Australian politics, from conservatives to Liberals to Greens, agree that Donald Trump is a revolting slug ...," Buckingham said after the vote was passed.

The Australian lawmakers had condemned Trump for his "misogynistic, hateful" comments made "about women and minorities".

They had raised the issue of the taped conversations in which Trump boasted about using his fame to "grope" women, and termed it "clearly ... sexual assault".

The report said that the NSW parliament "agrees with those who have described Trump as 'a revolting slug' unfit for public office".

The motion regarding Trump was passed without dissent, after it was confirmed that the term "revolting slug" did not amount to unparliamentary language.

"It's clear that all reasonable and decent people find Trump's behaviour obnoxious," Buckingham said, adding he hoped that the American voters would reject Trump's politics of hate.

US talkshow host Rosie O'Donnell had previously described Trump as "an orange slug".
Mumbai, Oct 13 : Actor Irrfan Khan, who is back from the premiere of his latest film "Inferno" in Florence, says this is a good time for Indian cinema and actor.

"I can say with full authority that this is a great time to be an Indian actor. Our cinema is being recognized and acknowledged internationally. Very soon Indian actors will be able to make their presence felt in every corner of the world. It's just a matter of time," he said.

The premiere of the film happened at an opera theatre, the Opera di Firenze in Florence, and Irrfan was delighted to hear how minutely the journalists gathered at the venue watched the film.

"They asked intricate literary questions about the film from all of us. They wanted to discuss the film's connection with Dante's Inferno. No one asked me about Indian politics," said Irrfan.

The eminently international Irrfan is back in India for just a few days until his new Hollywood film "Inferno" releases on Friday.

"Actually I'm supposed to be in the US for some important meetings. I had to cancel them and get back home when my producers of 'Inferno', in all their wisdom, decided to release our film in India two weeks in advance of the rest of the world. That sort of threw me off gear, in a good way," laughs Irrfan pleasurably.

"So, here I am just for a few days to do press in India," he added.

Irrfan has plenty of reason to be flattered. The producers of "Inferno" decided to advance their film's release in India to cash in on Irrfan's presence in the cast.

"It is true they thought since I was in the cast, they wanted me to be the face of the film in India. I gladly and humbly accepted the honour, and here I am," said the actor.

Tom Hanks, Irrfan's co-star in "Inferno", recently was quoted as saying, "I thought I was the coolest guy in the room until Irrfan walked in."

Irrfan laughs it off as his great co-star's magnanimity,

"Just being around Tom Hanks is so enriching for me. He is a very generous co-star, colleague and I can comfortably say we're friends. 'Inferno' has a truly global cast."

"It gave me a chance to get to know actors from all across the world. To me the biggest advantage of working abroad is the exposure I get to international talent," he said.

The film is releasing in India on Friday.
Phnom Penh, Oct 13 : Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived in Cambodia on Thursday on a state visit and will later leave for Bangladesh and India.

This is Xi's first trip to the Southeast Asian nation as the Chinese President. In 2009, he visited as Vice President, Xinhua news agency reported.

Xi is scheduled to meet Cambodian King Norodom Sihamoni, visit Queen Mother Norodom Monineath Sihanouk and hold talks with Prime Minister Hun Sen.

The two countries will conclude a series of cooperation deals during Xi's visit to align their development strategies and boost their practical cooperation, according to Chinese officials.

In June, Xi and Sihamoni met in Beijing when the king paid a state visit to China, and pledged to press ahead with the bilateral comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership, which was established six years ago.

On the economic front, China is now Cambodia's largest trading partner and source of foreign investment, with bilateral collaboration expanding in such areas as trade, investment, connectivity, energy resources and infrastructure construction.

Two-way trade between China and Cambodia reached $4.43 billion in 2015, indicating an annual growth of 17.95 per cent, according to China's Commerce Ministry.

After Cambodia, Xi will travel to Bangladesh where he will hold talks with President Abdul Hamid and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

Xi will then attend the BRICS -- Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa -- summit, to be held in Goa, at the invitation of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Here, the leaders will exchange in-depth views on BRICS cooperation and other global and regional issues.

Xi will return to Beijing on October 17.
Panaji, Oct 13 : A day after the Congress in Delhi accused Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar of politicising the surgical strikes across the Line of Control (LoC), the party's Goa state unit has asked Parrikar to desist from "verbal diarrhea".

"Manohar Parrikar is a Defence Minister with verbal diarrhea. He should speak less, act more, respect the forces and equip them. Our armed forces are strong enough to hit hard. Don't undermine them with your political pitch," Goa Congress spokesperson Sunil Kawthankar said in a statement.

Speaking in Mumbai on Wednesday, Parrikar said there were no surgical strikes during previous Congress regimes.

"I have been the Defence Minister for two years. From whatever I have known, there is no surgical strike from previous years. What they are quoting are actions taken by border action teams. These are common actions across the globe and by the Indian Army," Parrikar was quoted in the media as saying.

Kawthankar, however, claims that the former Goa Chief Minister had reduced the Indian governance to the petty level of 'nukkad' politics.

"He shouldn't reduce Indian governance to 'nukkad' politics of Goa and act as a statesman," Kawthankar added.
New Delhi, Oct 13 : The All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) on Thursday rejected the Law Commission's questionnaire on Uniform Civil Code and decided to boycott it.

This came days after the union government told the Supreme Court that Triple Talaq, Nikaah Halaal and polygamy were not integral to the practice of Islam or essential religious practices.

"Uniform Civil Code is divisive and will lead to social unrest," said AIMPLB General Secretary Maulana Wali Rehmani.

"It is against the spirit of the Constitution, which safeguards the right of citizens to practice their culture and religion," he told the media.

"Uniform Civil Code is not good for this nation. There're so many cultures in this nation and they have to be respected."

Jamaat-e-Islami Hind (JIH) president Maulana Arshad Madni, who was at the briefing, said: "The Muslim Personal Law is based on Quran and Hadith and we cannot alter it.

"Modiji (Prime Minister Narendra Modi) wants to impose dictatorship in the name of democracy," he added.
New Delhi, Oct 13 : India has sought greater market access for its goods, especially rice and pharmaceutical products, into China in view of its mounting trade deficit which is a cause of growing concern, an official statement said here on Thursday.

"Commerce and Industries Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Chinese Vice Minister for Ministry of Finance and Commerce Wang Shouwen exchanged notes on trade and commerce and agreed that the mounting bilateral trade deficit has been a cause for concern for India which seeks greater market access for its goods for a long-term sustainable trade relationship," a statement from the Commerce Ministry said.

Sitharaman asked for expeditious clearances for import of Indian rice and pharmaceutical products into China -- especially those which already have US Food and Drug Administration accreditation.

Expressing concern at the long-drawn procedures for clearances which tend to frustrate the Indian companies seeking business opportunities in China, she asked Wang to consider demonstration of IT/ITeS projects for Indian companies, which have acquired global acclaim.

"Sitharaman requested for 'buying missions' to India to source Indian tobacco and oil meals, amongst other things," the statement said.

The two leaders in consonance with the apex level meetings convened by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping, agreed that measures on providing greater market access for Indian goods and services in China need a demonstrative action, it added.

Wang assured that China would act on the concerns expressed by India regarding market access for Indian goods, and said that recently China has quickened the pace of granting clearances to Indian pharmaceutical companies.

Wang requested the cooperation of India in various multilateral fora where China and India are engaged -- the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership with services being an integral part of the cooperation agreement.
Dhaka, Oct 13 : Bangladesh capital Dhaka is ready to welcome Chinese President Xi Jinping, the first visit by a Chinese head of state to the country in 30 years, the media reported on Thursday.

The President is scheduled to arrive in Dhaka on October 14 for a two-day visit, amid high hopes to take the bilateral relations to a new height and explore the full potential of economic and trade ties between the two countries, Xinhua news agency reported.

Dhaka is all set to roll out a red carpet welcome to Xi on his visit, which will focus on connectivity and mega infrastructure development projects, along with signing of a number of instruments and bilateral deals.

The capital city has already been decorated in honour of the Chinese leader, with banners and placards welcoming the visiting dignitary.

Posters with pictures of President Xi Jinping and Bangladeshi President Abdul Hamid and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina have been put up all across major streets and junctions in the city.

Posters reading "Heartiest welcome to his excellency Mr. Xi Jinping, President of China" and "Long Live Bangladesh-China Friendship" have also been put up along the 14-km stretch from the Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport to the main city.

Security across the city has been tightened as gun-totting personnel are seen in all the prominent areas.

After Bangladesh, Xi will travel to India to attend the eighth BRICS Summit on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's invitation. He will return to Beijing on October 17.
Dubai, Oct 13 : Superstar Salman Khan will be back as Chulbul Pandey from his hit film "Dabangg", and this time for a live stunt show titled Dabangg: Stunt Spectacular for Bollywood Parks Dubai.

Bollywood Parks Dubai, the world's first Bollywood-inspired theme park and a part of Dubai Parks and Resorts, on Thursday released a behind the scenes video. The action-filled video stars Salman, Arbaaz Khan, who featured in and also produced the 2010 film, read a statement.

In the video, Salman introduces the audience to the show and sets the scene for a spectacular stunt performance. The 50-year-old actor says he loves to get into the Chulbul Pandey avatar.

"As soon as the moustache and uniform is on, the voice changes, the gait and my whole personality changes. Today, I'm playing my character of Chulbul Pandey, a cop," Salman said.

Arbaaz said: "No one could have played Chulbul's role better than Salman Khan, as he added a dash of his own personality. While the script offers one thing, Salman had brought a lot more to the table."

Set in an abandoned warehouse, the attraction will take the spectators on an adventure with police officer Chulbul Pandey, where he has to rescue his damsel Rajjo (played by Sonakshi Sinha in the film) and her friends from fictitious goons.

Shujaat Saudagar has directed the introduction to the show.

Located at Bollywood Parks Dubai within the Rustic Ravine zone, the live stunt show will be full of action and drama.

When asked to explain the stunt show, Salman said: "Expect action, some weird funny dancing steps and humour."

Salman and Arbaaz shot the video together. And Salman said that "as far as we are not working together, we are much better in private life. As soon as we start workingA"

Completing the rest of the sentence for Salman, Arbaaz said: "We make 'Dabangg' together. We are two incredibly creative people, and together we bring out the best for the audience."

The park will open on October 31.
New Delhi, Oct 13 : There is too much negativity in news put out by media outlets in India and China, which was adversely moulding perceptions among the people in the two countries.

This was felt by journalists and officials who met at the 3rd India-China Media Dialogue here on Thursday. Many of the journalists from China said that there was need to improve perceptions, and this could done through greater people-to-people contact.

Tuo Zhen, Vice-Minister, Publicity Department of the CPC Central Committee, said journalists could help foster better relations by portraying what was good and positive in the two major nations. He said the field of cooperation was very vast, including the culture and history of the two and this could be projected to improve understanding among each other.

Gao Anming, Deputy Editor of China Daily, said that although the two societies "were very different", there was need to focus on the strengths of India in IT, financial services and pharmaceuticals, and of China in infrastructure.

Veena Jain, Director-General of Doordarshan News, said there was definitely a need to improve perceptions. "We do not know each other", and much of the perception in the two countries, she felt, was skewed by "highly sensationalised news and analysis". She said understanding would improve between the two with enhanced exchange of content, technology and personnel.

Sheela Bhatt, senior journalist of Indian Express, said the delegation should understand that the media in India was largely private and did not follow the government line. She said the two countries were great because of their civilisations, but in a gathering of media personnel such as this, Pakistan remained the "elephant in the room".

She said Indians find it difficult to understand the stand taken on Masood Azhar by the government of China, which blocked the move by the United Nations to declare the head of Jaish-e-Mohammed a terrorist. She said that although there were calls in India to boycott Chinese goods, as long the country produced "good stuff at cheap prices" Indians would continue to buy them.

Cheng Guangzhong, Minister-Counsellor of the Chinese Embassy in India, said there were bound to be differences among nations as there were even among siblings, but this did not mean the two could not cooperate in several areas. Many journalists felt that technology could be a strong bridge between the two countries with social media acting as a cohesive force. Suggestions were made to develop apps which could jointly disseminate news from both the countries for the benefit of its citizens.
New Delhi, Oct 13 : The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has registered three cases of violence during the agitation over Jat reservation in Haryana in February which left at least 30 persons killed and property worth hundreds of crores of rupees destroyed, an official said on Thursday.

The CBI took over the investigation of these cases on the request of the Haryana government and on further orders from the central government, the official said.

Two of the three cases pertain to the violence and arson at the residence of Haryana's Finance Minister Capt. Abhimanyu while the third case relates to allegations of looting of weapons from a company of the Border Security Force (BSF) and the Haryana Police and attempt to murder them by thousands of armed rioters.

The Jat protesters demanding reservation education institutions and employment under the Other Backward Classes (OBC) category had attacked the Haryana Finance Minister's house and set ablaze his car in Rohtak.

"It was alleged that the BSF and the Haryana Police officers were on law and order duty at Delhi-Rohtak bypass when they were attacked," the officer said.

It was also alleged that property worth crores of rupees was burnt and weapons of police guards were looted by the agitators.

Haryana was on boil between February 14 and 23 this year when members of the Jat community held protests and indulged in arson, to press for reservation quota. The epicentre of the violence was the state's Rohtak district.
Bhubaneswar, Oct 13 : The desire to click a selfie at a picnic spot cost a 25-year-old software engineer his life, as he fell into a river and drowned in Odisha's Gajapati district, police said on Thursday.

Rakesh Pattnayak, belonging to Paralakhemundi, slipped from a tree and drowned in Mahendratanaya river while taking a selfie at the Brundaban Palace picnic spot on Wednesday, said the police.

The fire brigade personnel carried out a search operation soon after the incident.

"His body was recovered about 100 metres from the spot on Thursday morning," said Babuli Nayak, inspector in-charge of Paralakhemundi police station.

Police have registered a case of 'unnatural death' in connection with the incident, Nayak added.

Rakesh was working as a software engineer in an IT company in Bengaluru and had come to Paralakhemundi for his Dussehra vacation.
Panaji, Oct 13 : The Aam Aadmi Party in Goa on Thursday said that the organisers of the BRICS Summit should officially express regret for excluding a reference to Goa in the summit's logo, claiming that a reference to the host state in the logo has been a precedent in previous BRICS meets.

"This exception of Goa's exclusion from the BRICS logo is a lost opportunity of projecting Goa. We take strong note of this and would like to stress on the point that this exception should be regretted," AAP Goa spokesperson Rupesh Shinkre said in a statement issued here.

Shinkre also said that previously BRICS summits in Yekaterinburg (Russia) in 2009, Basilia (Brazil) in 2010, Sanya (China) in 2011, New Delhi (India) in 2012, Durban (South Africa) in 2013, Fortaleza (Brazil) in 2014 and Ufa (Russia) in 2015 had a reference to the host state in the logo.

"Goa is a tourist destination and it has a vibrant society, vivid history and heritage. Goa cannot be just a venue as it is a state in the federation of Indian Union," Shinkre said.

"It was also imperative on the Government of Goa who rants on bringing investments post BRICS to appraise this concern to the Central Government," he added.

On Wednesday, Congress MP Shantaram Naik had complained to the electoral authorities in poll-bound Goa, that the BRICS logo which depicts a lotus in bloom, was being used for political purposes by the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, whose symbol incidentally is also the lotus.
New Delhi, Oct 13 : The All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) and a number of other prominent Muslim organisations on Thursday rejected the Law Commission's questionnaire on the Uniform Civil Code, calling it "misleading".

Calling the questionnaire "misleading and divisive", AIMPLB General Secretary Maulana Wali Rahmani said Muslims will not respond to it.

"We will boycott this questionnaire. No Muslim will respond to it because it is misleading and deceitful. The Uniform Civil Code is divisive and will lead to social unrest," he told the media here.

"The uniform code is not suited for this nation. There are so many cultures in India and they have to be respected. A uniform code is against the spirit of the Constitution, which safeguards the right of citizens to practise their culture and religion," he said.

Questioning the timing of the move, Rahmani said the Narendra Modi government had deliberately thrown up this issue now to "hide its failures in the last two-and-half years".

The development comes days after the Union government told the Supreme Court that 'triple talaq', 'nikaah halaal' and polygamy were not integral to the practice of Islam or essential religious practices.

Subsequently, the Law Commission on October 7 put up on its website a questionnaire, comprising of 16 questions, to seek public opinion on the civil code issue.

Fielding a question on the issue of triple talaq, Rahmani pointed out that as per the 2011 Census data, the percentage of divorce cases among members of a particular community was much higher than the Muslims.

Also, he added, the prevalence of polygamy was higher among these people than in the Muslims, as per the 2011 Census data.

Other prominent Muslims who represented their respective organisations at the press conference here included Maulana Arshad Madani (Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind), Mohammad Jafar (Jamaat-e-Islami Hind), Maulana Asghar Imam Mehdi (Markazi Jamiat Ahle Hadith), Maulana Mahmood Madani (Jamiat Ulema Hind), M. Manzoor Alam (All India Milli Council), Naved Hamid (All India Majlis-e-Mushawarat) and Maulana Abul Qasim Naumani (Rector, Darul Uloom Deoband).

Besides, Barelvi cleric Maulana Tauqeer Raza Khan of Ittehad-e-Millat Council and Shia cleric Maulana Mohsin Taqvi were scheduled to attend the presser but could not make it, AIMPLB member Kamal Farouqi said.

Rahmani said they would launch a campaign to create awareness amongst Muslims, beginning with a gathering in Lucknow.

Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind President Maulana Arshad Madani said: "The Muslim Personal Law is based on Quran and Hadith and we cannot alter it."

"Modi ji (Prime Minister Narendra Modi) wants to impose dictatorship in the name of democracy," he added.

Madani insisted that it is not just the Muslims who will be affected by a Uniform Civil Code but other communities such as the Sikhs and Christians and the tribals.

He said these communities will also speak up (against the civil code) in due course.

The speakers also accused the Law Commission of not acting as an independent body but as an "arm of the government" in pushing the government's agenda.
London, Oct 13 : In a move aimed at fostering peace, opening up access to space technologies and offering protection for citizens of planet Earth, a team of scientists and legal experts unveiled proposals for the "first nation state in space", media reported.

The "new nation" -- dubbed "Asgardia" after one of the mythical worlds inhabited by the Norse gods -- will eventually become a member of the United Nations, with its own flag and anthem devised by members of the public through a series of competitions, according to the team, the Guardian reported on Wednesday.

Asgardia "will offer an independent platform free from the constraint of a land-based country's laws," according to the project website.

"For the first time in history a new nation state has been created -- not on Earth but in the heavens above," read a statement at asgardia.space "Asgardia is the prototype of a free and unrestricted society which holds knowledge, intelligence and science at its core along with the recognition of the ultimate value of each human life," it said.

According to the project website any human living on Earth can become a citizen of Asgardia.

"You can join like-minded people on this new exciting step in fostering an extended future for humankind," it said.

Initially, it would seem, this new nation will consist of a single satellite, scheduled to be launched next year.

"Physically the citizens of that nation state will be on Earth; they will be living in different countries on Earth, so they will be a citizen of their own country and at the same time they will be citizens of Asgardia," project lead Igor Ashurbeyli, told the Guardian.

"When the number of those applications goes above 100,000 we can officially apply to the UN for the status of state," Ashurbeyli, a Russian businessman and nanoscientist who also founded the Vienna-based Aerospace International Research Center and is currently Chairman of Unesco's Science of Space committee, added.
Moscow, Oct 13 : President Vladimir Putin on Thursday said India and Russia were both interested in deepening "constructive multilateral cooperation" to help rebuild war-torn Afghanistan where decisive action was needed to defeat terrorism.

In an interview with IANS and Sputnik news agencies, Putin said Afghanistan was of concern as the "situation on the territory between India and Russia remains tense".

"The developments in Afghanistan still raise concern. Decisive actions are required to help that country in dealing with such challenges and threats as terrorism, extremism, and illicit drug trafficking," Putin said.

"Russia and India share the need to support national reconciliation efforts under international law and are interested in deepening constructive multilateral cooperation for the purposes of assisting Afghanistan in solving the issues of national security, building counter-narcotics capacity, ensuring social and economic development, and enhancing interconnectivity," Putin said.

He said his country was willing to develop such formats of interaction that would "allow responding swiftly to emerging security challenges, jointly seeking for ways to address potential threats".

He said the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) had "the major role in it" as the Eurasian political, economic and security bloc was constantly expanding its geography with India and Pakistan joining the grouping this year.

"The SCO is stepping up its efforts aimed at building trust, strengthening genuinely collective efforts in the area of crisis response, and developing multifaceted cooperation."

He said Russia was actively promoting such projects to create a common economic space in Eurasia and resolve differences.

"Such 'integration of integrations' based on the principles of transparency and taking into account the interests of all national economies will allow integrating the region into common development and will strengthen its stability."
New Delhi, Oct 13 : Minister of State for External Affairs M.J. Akbar will visit Palestine to co-chair the first Joint Commission Meeting (JCM) between India and Palestine on November 8-9, an official statement said on Thursday.

To be co-chaired by Palestinian Foreign Affairs Minister Riad al-Maliki, the proposed JCM would cover a range of issues, including cooperation in economy, energy, tourism, agriculture, water and environment, education, health, information technology, sports, culture, media etc.

During External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj's visit to Palestine in January, it was agreed to set up the JCM to give further impetus to the bilateral relationship.

Akbar will also be visiting Jordanian capital Amman on November 10 for bilateral talks with his counterpart and other dignitaries.
Moscow, Oct 13 : Russia has called for integrating the silk road concept, the Asean and the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) into a big Eurasian partnership, subsuming most blocs in Asia and Europe.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said in an email interview that work on integrating the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) and the Silk Road Economic Belt should be integrated. "This process could eventually provide a basis for the Big Eurasian Partnership that would involve a wide range of states of the EEU, the SCO and Asean," Putin said in response to a joint questionnaire sent by IANS and Russian news agency Sputnik.

Putin, who was responding to questions ahead of the five-nation BRICS meeting in Goa this weekend, has been a votary of a broad-based EEU to bring together nations in Europe and Asia in a wide-arching economic union. The SCO has China, Russia, India, Pakistan and some other countries as members. Asean is a trade organisation of several countries in Asia. The Silk Road concept (lately subsumed in One-Road-One-Belt initiative) is China's initiative to link with Europe along the ancient Silk Route.

"We expect that such partnership will be open for accession by all countries concerned and will build on the principles of transparency and mutual respect," Putin said.

He said the global economic and financial situation remained difficult, with the consequences of the global financial crisis still persisting. "It is therefore regrettable that certain countries seek to solve the problems that have built up by introducing protectionist measures and trying to engage in restricted non-transparent projects, such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership or the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership."

He said, Russia, just like all its BRICS partners, remained committed to shaping open non-discriminatory economic areas based on the World Trade Organisation principles.

The Russian president said that cooperation potential of BRICS may also be used to implement this wider Eurasian partnership initiative. "We look forward to the support from India, which is earnestly interested in this proposal," he said. He also expected the topic to be discussed at the BRICS and BIMSTEC heads of state meeting in Goa.
New Delhi, Oct 13 : Four youths were arrested for making sexually coloured remarks against a woman in a road rage incident in the Siri Fort area here, Delhi Police said on Thursday.

Accused Sagar, Rahul, Sagar and Mahender -- all in the age group of 30-35 -- were arrested on the complaint of the wife of a Senior Delhi Development Authority officer, a senior police officer said.

Police said the couple, residents of Asiad Village in south district, was going to drop their daughter at the Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport in a car at around 11.30 p.m. on Wednesday.

"When they reached the August Kranti Marg near the Siri Fort Auditorium, the accused travelling in a car sideboarded their vehicle. When the couple stopped to check the damage, the accused misbehaved with them," Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police Nupur Prasad told IANS.

They allegedly made lewd comments at the woman. When a Sub-Inspector intervened, the four misbehaved with him too. Officials from the Hauz Khas police station later arrested the youths who were drunk, Prasad added.

A case under Section 354(A) of the Indian Penal Code (sexual harassment) was registered against them at the Hauz Khas police station.
Washington, Oct 13 : In what can be seen as a clearest indication yet of US support for the cross-LoC surgical strikes carried out by the Indian Army on terror camps last month, a senior Obama administration official has said that Washington empathised with New Delhi's position of responding militarily to cross-border terrorism but called for exercising caution and restraint.

"I think every country has the right to self-defence but I will also highlight that in a heavy militarised relationship like that of India and Pakistan, a relationship that has experienced at least three wars in the past, and the forces along the LoC and the international border are on a high state of alert, there really is a need for caution and prudence on both sides," Peter Lavoy, Senior Director for South Asia in the US National Security Council, said.

"So, we do understand the very serious concern and tension by the Indian government to this attack, to this horrific attack," he said in response to a question at the launch of a report on "US-India Security Cooperation: Promise and Progress for the Next Administration" here on Wednesday.

The Indian Army carried out surgical strikes in the early hours of September 29 on terror launch pads across the Line of Control (LoC) in Pakistan-held Kashmir in which "significant casualties have been caused to the terrorists and those who are trying to support them".

This came after the September 18 cross-border terror attack on an army camp at Uri in Jammu and Kashmir in which 19 Indian soldiers lost their lives.

India has blamed the Pakistan-based terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammed for the attack.

"We share with India a strong commitment to preventing future attacks like this like this from recurring and we are working together and we are working with both the parties in the region internationally to ensure that that's the case," Lavoy said.

"We do empathise with the Indians' perception that they need to respond militarily. But then again I want to highlight our strong interest in seeing caution prevail."

Describing the Uri attack as "horrific", Lavoy said that after US National Security Advisor Susan Rice had a conversation with her Indian counterpart Ajit Doval, the White House issued a statement condemning the Uri attack.

"The US and India do indeed have a shared interest in countering terrorism, in protecting our societies from the scourge of terrorism and working together to diminish the ability of terrorist groups to threaten our countries or others around the world," he stated.

Earlier in his speech at the launch of the report, Lavoy said that "India matters economically like never before".

"India is the world's fastest growing major economy and there is significant enthusiasm for our economic relationship in both countries," stated.

"India matters geographically. India sits at the centre of the Indian Ocean through which 40 percent of the global trade flows. From energy security to counter-piracy, counter-proliferation, we have reason to focus on the Indian Ocean as it is important for our own security."

Lavoy said that the Obama administration has created the foundation for a strong partnership with India "that I am confident will be sustained for many years to come".

"So, that foundation is reliable, is sturdy and will stand the next administration. Secondly, each government recognises that our pursuit of our own interests increasingly requires cooperation with each other." he stated.
New Delhi, Oct 13 : With India receiving 97 per cent rainfall between June and September, the monsoon was "normal" this year, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said on Thursday.

While monsoon has ended in most parts of the country, experts believe that it would end entirely within the next 48 hours.

"This year, rainfall has been very constructive and very good both in terms of time-frame and area. Especially from the agriculture point of view, distribution of rain was as required," a senior IMD official told IANS.

As per the IMD report, the rainfall during the monsoon season over the country as a whole was 97 per cent of its long period average (LPA). The average seasonal rainfall over northwest India was 95 per cent, in central India 106 per cent, in southern peninsula 92 per cent and in northeast India 89 per cent.

Monsoon is considered normal between 96 and 104 per cent.

"The rainfall this year also gave a boost to the agriculture. For an instance, if a farmer requires rainfall for an entire week, then this year's rainfall was supportive to that extent," the official added.

India this year received good rainfall after two years of crisis and one of the worse droughts faced by the country in decades.

The IMD official reported that 72 per cent of the total area of the country received normal rainfall, 13 per cent area received excess rainfall and 15 per cent received deficient seasonal rainfall.

Regions that received deficient rainfall include Assam, Meghalaya, Haryana, Chandigarh, Delhi, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, parts of Gujarat, coastal and southern Karnataka, Kerala and Lakshadweep. The deficiency ranged between 25 and 30 per cent.

The officials said the monsoon withdrawal began since September 15 from west Rajasthan, followed by September 28 in northwest regions and October 5 from most of the northern regions.
New Delhi, Oct 13 : The Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) on Thursday said All India Muslim Personal Law Board's (AIMPLB) stand on the Uniform Civil Code was an insult to the judiciary.

"The Muslim organisations are free to express their views. But they should be careful they don't insult the judiciary or harm national interest or those of their own community," VHP's Joint General Secretary Surendra Jain told IANS.

He said that by saying that the Narendra Modi government was imposing Hindu laws on all, the AIMPLB had insulted the judiciary and the judicial process.

"The matter is in court. The government is nowhere in the picture," he said.

"By saying that imposing a Uniform Civil Code would lead to social disintegration or social unrest, they (Muslim bodies) are blackmailing the country just like (Mohammed Ali) Jinnah did," he added.

Asked if Hindus were not against the uniform code, Jain said there were some reservations about certain traditions, but the Hindus have abandoned evil traditions like 'sati' and 'ghunghat' in the larger interest of society.

"It is time the Muslim women are given a chance to rid of the exploitation and have equal rights, which the Uniform Civil Code strives to achieve," the VHP leader said.
New Delhi, Oct 13 : Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday condoled the death of Thailand King Bhumibol Adulyadej.

"The people of India and I join the people of Thailand in grieving the loss of one of the tallest leaders of our times, King Bhumibol Adulyadej, who was widely revered by his people. My thoughts are with his countless well-wishers and family," the Prime Minister said.

The Thai King, the world's longest-reigning monarch, died on Thursday in Bangkok at the age of 88, according to the Royal Household Bureau.

The King, who died at 3.52 p.m. (8.52 a.m. GMT), ruled the kingdom for seven decades and was revered by the Thai public as a semi-divine figure, Efe news reported.

He passed away in Siriraj Hospital, where he had received hemodialysis treatment on October 8 after his health worsened during the weekend.
Guwahati, Oct 13 : The Assam government on Thursday deported ten Bangladeshi nationals, including two minors and a woman, through a border checkpost along the India-Bangladesh border in Assam's Barak Valley.

The ten were arrested from the Barak valley at various points in time and lodged in Silchar Central jail.

The deportations came after the Indian government handed over a list of 50 Bangladeshi nationals to the Bangladesh authorities at a regular border meeting between the two countries.

"These people had sneaked into Indian side without any valid documents. They were sent in judicial custody after trials in local courts," said Cachar Deputy Commissioner S. Vishwanathan.

The DC said the Bangladesh government ascertained their identities and agreed to take them back.

"They were taken to the Kalibari Ghat border checkpost in Karimganj district on Thursday morning and handed over to Border Guards Bangladesh in the presence of Border Security Force officials," he said, adding that most of them hail from Sylhet district of Bangladesh.

More than 50 persons of Bangladesh origin are languishing in the Silchar jail and the Assam government has taken up the issue with the Bangladesh government, the officer said.
New Delhi, Oct 13 : The Delhi government on Thursday announced the launch of an "anti-firecracker campaign" for this Diwali and alerted the state machinery to check import and sale of harmful crackers.

"The Delhi government has launched an 'anti-firecracker campaign' for the ongoing festive season," Environment Minister Imran Hussain said in a press statement.

Hussain added that the "anti-firecracker campaign" will help in controlling air and noise pollution in the city during the festive season.

The minister also appealed to Delhiites to make the campaign successful.

Besides, the government has also written to the Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC), Commissioner of Police (CP), Delhi, and the Commissioner of Customs (Import & General), directing them to prohibit the import and sale of harmful crackers in the national capital.

The government has sought active cooperation from all the enforcement agencies to monitor air and noise pollution during the festival season.

In order to have effective coordination among all the pollution controlling agencies, a meeting was convened by the Environment Department which was attended by the District Magistrates, Sub Divisional Magistrates (Revenue Department), DPCC, Delhi Police, Traffic Police, Petroleum & Exposure Safety Organisation (PESO) of the Department of Explosives and the Directorate of Education, the minister said.

The government directed the enforcement agencies to follow the guidelines of the Supreme Court, which order a complete ban on bursting of sound emitting firecrackers between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m.

It ordered the setting up of inspection teams, comprising area SDMs and Executive Engineers (DPCC), to check availability of imported firecrackers in the market.

Officers from the licensing unit were directed to check godowns randomly for availability of imported firecrackers in the market.

The environment minister also reviewed the steps to control air pollution with the onset of winter in Delhi.
New Delhi, Oct 13 : Vodafone Group CEO Vittorio Colao on Thursday reaffirmed the company's commitment to India and requested for a predictable policy regime.

Colao, who met Union Communications Minister Manoj Sinha here, said: "I thanked him and the government for introducing several progressive policies and practices over the last couple of years, including the first mega spectrum auction which will enable us to quickly roll out 4G services and offer the Vodafone SuperNet experience in more circles."

"During the meeting, we reaffirmed our commitment to India and to supporting the Government's thrust on financial inclusion by expanding our M-pesa service," he said.

"Since an affordable telecom service is essential for digital inclusion of rural India, we requested a predictable policy regime with a level-playing field and a fair application of Goods and Services Tax and other levies," Colao added.
Bhubaneswar, Oct 13 : The Congress legislators of Odisha led by Leader of Opposition Narasingh Mishra on Thursday urged President Pranab Mukherjee to direct the Union government to constitute an inter-state water dispute tribunal to resolve the Mahanadi water sharing dispute.

They also urged the President to direct the centre to ask the Chhattisgarh government to stop its unilateral constructions on Mahanadi river.

"We met the President and sought his intervention to resolve the Mahanadi water dispute with Chhattisgarh. We requested him to direct the centre to resolve the issue. If the issue is not settled amicably, then direct the centre to constitute an inter-state water dispute tribunal to resolve the Mahanadi water issue," Mishra told media persons after meeting Mukherjee at Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi.

He said the President has been requested to direct stopping of unilateral construction by the Chhattisgarh government on the upper catchment of Mahanadi river and provide all data relating to the projects to the Odisha government.

He said the construction of barrages and dams on the upper catchment of Mahanadi river would affect the water flow into Hirakud reservoir.

"It is the responsibility of the Prime Minister to resolve the inter-state dispute. But unfortunately, he has remained silent on the matter. What could be more unfortunate, the Odisha Chief Minister instead of taking everyone along in the matter has indulged in politics," said the Leader of Opposition.

He said that the President has assured them of taking necessary steps in this regard.

BJD spokesperson Amar Satapathy said the meeting of Congress MLAs with the President was just an eyewash.

"This is a political programme of Congress. It has no interest to protect the rights of Odisha on Mahanadi issue," he added.

BJP Vice President Sameer Mohanty said the central government is well aware of the situation and would take the right steps to resolve the matter.
New Delhi, Oct 13 : A seven-year-old tigress, Durga, died at the Thrissur Zoo in Kerala on Thursday, becoming the 100th Indian tiger to die this year.

Durga hailed from the Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary in Kerala.

Dhanesh Kumar, the Divisional Forest Officer of the Wayanad sanctuary, told IANS that the tigress died during treatment at the zoo.

"We spotted her wandering outside the forest area since September 27. She seemed weak and was hunting goats and cattle calves. We caught her on October 9, took her to the zoo where she died on Thursday," Kumar told IANS.

He said while the tigress was not tagged, they named her Durga as she was caught on the day of "Durga Ashtami".

"She had an injured right front limb and a missing canine that could be due to a fight with some animal in the forest," Vinoy, the veterinarian doctor at Thrissur zoo, told IANS.

As per the Wildlife Protection Society of India's records, 100 tigers have died in India in 2016. Of this, 36 died due to poaching. The number of tigers who died in 2015 was 91.
New Delhi, Oct 13 : India took the first steps on Thursday towards creating a domestic network of irradiation centres for food products as an agreement between Indian agriculture association Hindustan Agro Co-op. Ltd. and United Innovation Corp of Russia was signed here on the issue.

United Innovation Corp is a subsidiary of state-run nuclear corporation Rosatom.

The agreement envisages the setting up of a network of integrated irradiation centres in India managed by an India-Russia joint venture (JV) where Hindustan Agro will have the majority 51 per cent stakeholding.

The JV's Indian partners told reporters here that estimates place post-harvest losses of food and foodgrains in India to be in the range of 40-50 per cent.

"Food items like fruits, vegetables, meat, cereals, pulses and floriculture worth around 2.5 lakh crore are lost every year in India," Chairman Hindustan Agro Bharat Dhokane Patil said.

"Around 30 per cent of the country's fruits and vegetables and around the same percentage of grains are lost due to lack of cold storage facilities or storage constraints," he said.

With the help of the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, the Hindustan Agro farmers cooperative runs an irradiation centre at Rahuri in Maharashtra, which is being upgraded under this agreement.

Now a new facility will be set up nearby by the JV, under this agreement with the Russians.

"India has been late in taking up this technology. Now only an integrated 'farm to fork' approach for the entire range of services involving decontamination, preservation and storage can make these irradiation centres commercially viable in India," Patil said.

CEO United Innovation Denis Cherednichenko described it as a landmark agreement, signalling a move beyond the existing Russo-Indian cooperation on building nuclear power plants like Rosatom's Kudankulam project in Tamil Nadu, and it had a global component on setting up such centres outside India.

"In its first phase, 7 irradiation centres will be constructed and commissioned in India," Cherednichenko told reporters.

"The use of this technology will make it possible to reduce the loss of onions in India, which currently go bad because of germination and inadequate storage, by 42,000 tons per year on average, as well as to reduce grain losses from 15 per cent to 3-5 per cent per year," he added.

The global component of the agreement envisages extending the network of these centres to the UAE, Mauritius and Malaysia, he added.

Patil said the agreement proposes creating around 25 such integrated infrastructure irradiation centres in India. Each plant will have grading, processing, packaging, cold storage and export facility.

The plan is to set up these plants each with 35,000 tonne to 40,000 tonne capacity per annum in a period of around 5 years.

Cherednichenko said Russia has supplied this technology that has been around since the fifties for over 500 plants in 22 countries.

"Radiation treatment is as per dosage recommended by the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) and the final product is completely safe, without any loss of nutritional value, taste or appearance," he said.

Depending on the technological solutions used, the average cost of a project on a turnkey basis usually ranges between $4 million to $20 million, the Russian added.

He also said the project would become an example of international cooperation in nuclear technology development to address challenges of sustainable development.

"Russia is a time-tested and reliable friend of India, which has the necessary expertise in the field of irradiation," Patil said.

Meanwhile, the Indian cabinet on Thursday approved the execution of an MoU with Russia on "Expansion of Bilateral Trade and Economic Cooperation", a Commerce Ministry statement here said.
New Delhi, Oct 13 : Former law minister and senior Congress leader Veerappa Moily on Thursday said that it would be difficult to implement the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) in a country as diverse as India.

"It will be difficult to implement UCC in a country like India where various communities and groups are governed by personal laws," said Moily.

"In a country of this nature, implementation of UCC is next to impossible. There are about 200-300 personal laws that exist in India covering various communities," he added.

Moily also said that this should not be made a "communal agenda" and not be considered a Hindu versus Muslim issue.

The All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) and a number of other prominent Muslim organisations on Thursday rejected the Law Commission's questionnaire on the Uniform Civil Code, calling it "misleading".

Calling the questionnaire "misleading and divisive", AIMPLB General Secretary Maulana Wali Rahmani said Muslims will not respond to it.

"We will boycott this questionnaire. No Muslim will respond to it because it is misleading and deceitful. The Uniform Civil Code is divisive and will lead to social unrest," he told media persons here.
Patna, Oct 13 : Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Thursday said if India is keen to compete with China, prohibition will have to be imposed across the country.

"I strongly feel that India will need to have country-wide prohibition, if it wants to compete with China," Nitish Kumar said at a function here.

To substantiate his point, he said China progressed and developed only after it ended opium addiction.

"People have a keen desire that our country should compete with China but India and its new generation with liquor won't be able to compete with China," Kumar said.

The Chief Minister, however, said that implementing prohibition is a challenging task.

Last month, a Patna High Court order had struck down the liquor ban in Bihar, put into effect as per the old Excise and Prohibition Act since April 5 this year.

But Bihar became a dry state once again as the new stringent Bihar Excise and Prohibition Act came into force from "Gandhi Jayanti" on Oct 2.
Kigali (Rwanda), Oct 13 : US Secretary of State John Kerry on Thursday reached Kigali in Rwanda where he will attend the 28th Montreal Protocol meeting on the last day on Friday.

"US Secretary of State John Kerry will aim to arrive at strong amendments to the Montreal Protocol to go for climate-friendly cooling system and timely phase out of the hydroflourocarbons (or HFCs)," a senior State Department official told IANS here.

HFCs are super greenhouse gases used in refrigeration and air-conditioning.

The negotiations in Kigali have been on since October 10 to reach a global agreement on an ambitious amendment to the Montreal Protocol to phase down the production and consumption of HFCs globally.

Heat-trapping substance HFCs -- the refrigeration and air-conditioning coolants -- though not harming the ozone layer, have a high global-warming potential.

Official sources said Kerry would have one-to-one negotiations with Indian Minister for Environment Anil Dave and senior Chinese and European Union functionaries.

"Before attending the Montreal Protocol meeting, Kerry will visit the Kigali Genocide Memorial and after that he will attend the ongoing negotiations. After that he will return to the US," said the official.

The Kigali Genocide Memorial, an important landmark here, is the final resting place for more than 250,000 victims of the genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda. It honours the memory of the more than one million Rwandans killed in 1994.

"We are optimistic that some agreement will reach to phase down the consumption of HFCs," said the official.

Nearly 200 nations are meeting in Kigali from October 10-14 to try to agree on an arrangement to phase down the HFC gases.

Taking the lead, Indian Minister for Environment Anil Dave on Thursday announced measures to control the emissions of trifluoromethane (HFC-23), a super greenhouse gas.

Declaring that India has taken the lead on climate issues, he told IANS: "We are going ahead for releasing the order for incinerating the HFC-23 by-products of HCFC-22 gas."

HFC-23 is released as a by-product during the manufacturing of a commonly used refrigerant gas, chlorodifluoromethane (HCFC-22). The global warming potential of HFC-23 is 14,800 times more than that of CO2, making it an extremely potent greenhouse gas.

The Minister said in a statement that companies will have to internalise the cost of this environmental externality, take care of downtime and run the incinerators to ensure that HFC-23 is not released in the atmosphere.

"We are very much optimistic that some major announcements are likely to be announced tomorrow (on Friday)," Dave told IANS.

An analysis released here by the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) shows that if China alone decides to take 2020-22 as baseline while other developing countries, including India, take 2024-26 as baseline, HFC emissions equivalent to 10 billion tonnes of CO2 emissions can be reduced.

"This is two times the total yearly CO2 emissions by the US," it said.

The baseline year determines the level at which the HFC consumption in countries are capped.

"Our analysis clearly shows that the Indian proposal of having one baseline for China and another for the remaining group of A5 (developing) countries is ambitious from climate benefit perspective," Chandra Bhushan, Deputy Director of the Delhi-based Centre for Science and Environment, told IANS here.

He said the developed countries are trying to push others to the 2020-22 baseline but this shift will have insignificant impact on the climate benefit. "This is not an issue which is important enough to create discord within parties."

A general consensus, he said, seems to be emerging within the A5 parties to have a dual baseline.

One group of countries, including China, seems to favour average HFC consumption during 2020-22 as the baseline.

Another group, that includes India, seems to opt for average HFC consumption during 2024-26 as the baseline, he said.

In a landmark decision in November last, the 197 Parties of the Montreal Protocol agreed to the "Dubai Pathway on HFCs" which commits the Parties to "work within the Montreal Protocol to an HFC amendment in 2016 by first resolving challenges by generating solutions in the contact group on the feasibility and ways of managing HFCs".

(Vishal Gulati is in Kigali in Rwanda to cover the 28th Meeting of the Parties to the Montreal Protocol. He can be contacted at vishal.g@ians.in)
Washington, Oct 14 : US President Barack Obama has congratulated Antonio Guterres on his election as the next secretary-general of the United Nations.

"Guterres has the character, vision, and skills needed to lead the United Nations at this critical moment and to reform its organizations and operations to better meet these unprecedented challenges," Obama said in a statement on Thursday, Xinhua news agency reported.

The United Nations General Assembly on Thursday appointed 67-year-old Guterres as the next UN secretary-general to succeed retiring Ban Ki-moon, whose term expires at the end of this year.

Guterres served as UN High Commissioner for Refugees from June 2005 to December 2015. Before joining the UN refugee agency, Guterres spent more than 20 years in government and public service. He was the prime minister of Portugal from 1995 to 2002.

The US pledges to provide its full support to Guterres when he assumes leadership of the UN on January 1, 2017, Obama added.

In the statement, the US President also paid tribute to Ban for his decade of service to the UN.

"Secretary-General Ban has galvanized the international community behind efforts to address climate change, pushed the United Nations to prevent and resolve deadly conflicts, and advocated for universal values and human rights," Obama said.
New York, Oct 14 : The Afghan-born US citizen accused of setting off bombs last month in New York entered a plea of not guilty during his arraignment, the media reported.

Ahmad Khan Rahimi took part in the hearing via videoconference on Thursday from the Newark hospital where he is recovering from wounds received in the gun-battle in the town of Linden, Efe news reported.

Charges in connection with the explosions that injured 29 people were filed previously in federal court.

The suspect's attorney, public defender Peter Liguori, said at the start of Thursday's session that the defendant requested that court documents be changed to reflect that his surname is Rahimi, not Rahami, as originally stated by authorities.

The state of New Jersey is charging Rahimi with five counts of attempted murder of a law enforcement officer.

Two officers were wounded when Rahimi opened fire at the police who tracked him down in Linden on September 19 as part of a manhunt across the New York City metropolitan area launched after investigators identified him as the suspect in the bombings.

Rahimi is accused of planting a powerful homemade pressure-cooker bomb that exploded in the lower Manhattan neighbourhood of Chelsea on the night of September 17, injuring 31 people.

He is also accused of planting another pressure-cooker bomb four blocks away that did not explode and of a pipe bombing in Seaside Park, New Jersey, on the morning of September 17.

Nobody was hurt when the pipe bomb went off along the route of a US Marine charity race.
Past WSTA Seminar

The WSTA will host a seminar on Anatomy of Digital Business Moments on October 27, 2016 in New York City for Financial IT Professionals. Speakers at this event include Keynote: Joseph Kennedy, Partner, PwC; Premier Speaking Sponsor: Magenic; Luncheon Speaking Sponsor: Avanade; and Speaking Sponsors: BMC, Citrix, Dynatrace, GitHub, Mphasis, Qlik, and SAP. View the complete agenda at http://www.wsta.org/events/event/anatomy-of-digital-business-moments/

Seminar Overview

The momentum to create services to power the digital economy has created a newly-designed set of banking and brokerage strategies. These have attracted the digital natives and accelerated a culture shift in the digital immigrants. Starting with the digitization and correlation of form-based, voice and programmatic transactions, the supply chain of digital experiences now includes the integration of social media, visual tools and internet of everything. New global payment channels, P2P and cryptocurrencies are genetically transforming the traditional intermediary services provided by the capital markets industry. Added to this are the challenges presented from remapping service portfolios, countering new security threats using new channels to draw in new customers and attracting new employees to fuel/ lead the digital age. The expectations and empowerment of people inside and outside the enterprise are challenging this Digital Anatomy. This seminar is designed to highlight the marketplace trends, threats, challenges, strategies and essential toolkit to deal with this environment.

Profile

For almost 50 years, the Wall Street Technology Association (http://www.wsta.org) has provided financial industry technology professionals, vendors, service providers, and consultants forums to learn from and connect with each other. The WSTA facilitates educational seminars and networking events where members meet and exchange ideas and best practices that assist them in effectively capitalizing on technology advances and dealing with financial industry business challenges. Founded in 1967, the WSTA is a not-for-profit association with a long history of evolving to meet the needs of its members.

The WSTA hosts seminars, roundtables, panel discussions, and social events. These events offer many opportunities to stay on top of leading technologies, as well as network and share information with industry colleagues. The WSTAs quarterly educational Ticker e-Zine and LimeLight e-Newsletter provide additional content and information about the WSTA and industry-related activities. The website is a dynamic resource for keeping on top of the latest information and offers access to additional resources including white papers, blogs, videos, and information about other industry events.

Financial Firm Members

WSTA financial firm members are employed at banks, brokerages, hedge funds, insurance companies and other financial firms. The WSTA currently has about 2,400 members from over 50 different firms; 81% of the members hold senior titles such as CIOs, CTOs, Vice President, Director and Manager. The remaining 19% hold other titles such as analysts, engineers, architects, etc. The WSTA also reaches over 3,200 prospective financial firm technology professionals with information about educational and networking opportunities.

Affiliates and Sponsors

Affiliates and sponsors are an integral component of the WSTA. As a not-for-profit organization, they contribute significantly by providing the resources needed to run the educational and networking programs for WSTA financial firm members. These programs strengthen the bond between members and companies that serve the technology needs of the financial community.

The WSTA currently has approximately 100 technology firms that participate in the WSTA as an affiliate or sponsor. Companies that provide cloud, big data, mobility, security, software, infrastructure, networking, social, telecom and other industry-related solutions find the WSTA an invaluable forum to create awareness, educate and develop relationships with financial industry professionals.
Investing in our community has been an important part of the Babalu culture since the day we opened our doors, said Bill Latham, CEO and co-founder of Babalu.

Hospital visits and medical procedures have been a part of nine-year-old Vega Lowrys life since she was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis at just five days old. Treatments are a costly, but a necessary expense for the Lowrys family.

On Wednesday, September 28, Babalu Tapas & Tacos sought to help alleviate the cost of Vegas medical expenses through Vegas Taco Shop. The restaurant was able to raise over $3,000 during the all-day pop up restaurant.

I really appreciate the opportunity to share Vegas story and so thankful for the consideration in the Taco Shop, Becky Clark, Vegas mother. The love and generosity from those willing to take on this fight with us is such a gift in itself."

Investing in our community has been an important part of the Babalu culture since the day we opened our doors, said Bill Latham, CEO and co-founder of Babalu. The Taco Shop events are particularly special because it gives our staff the opportunity to get to know the families we are helping.

Located in Overton Square, Babalu Tapas & Tacos serves authentic, gourmet tacos and Spanish style tapas with a Southern twist. To learn more about Babalu Memphis, visit their website.

About Babalu Tapas & Tacos

Babalu Tapas & Tacos serves delicious craft cocktails and authentic gourmet Spanish-style tapas and tacos with a Southern twist. Founded in 2010 in Jackson, Miss., the restaurant has quickly taken the Southeast by storm with locations in Memphis, Tenn.; Birmingham, Ala.; Knoxville, Tenn.; and Charlotte, N.C. Additional locations in Chapel Hill, N.C.; East Memphis, Tenn.; Lexington, Ky.; and Atlanta, Ga. are slated within the next year. Babalu is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Eat Here Brands. For more information, visit their website.
As our access to technology evolves and our clients usage and expectations of technology and service increase, we are always in search of new opportunities for us to connect with our clients and provide them with a fully personalized experience.

Leading destination wedding company Destination Weddings Travel Group announced the launch of their newly modernized and redesigned website amidst a record-setting year of business as they see the biggest numbers in their 12-year history.

Boasting an updated aesthetic, new content filled with insight such as travel tips and wedding trends, and a rebranded blog, the site focuses in particular on optimized customer engagement and user-friendly navigation.

Destination Weddings Travel Group President and CEO Richard Calvert looks ahead to 2017 with plans to focus on further growth and innovation, a strategy that has recently earned the group global recognition as they were honored with the 2016 Magellan Silver Award for Innovation.

Customer satisfaction has been at the forefront of our company philosophy since the beginning, presented Calvert. As our access to technology evolves and our clients usage and expectations of technology and service increase, we are always in search of new opportunities for us to connect with our clients and provide them with a fully personalized experience."

The website launch comes shortly after the Destination Wedding Travel Groups 7th Annual Conference, which was held this September at the Generations Riviera Maya by Karisma in Cancun, Mexico.

We were honored to host the 2016 Annual Conference for Destinations Travel Groups at Generations Riviera Maya, by Karisma, says Faith Wishnie, Director of Wedding Services for Karisma Hotels & Resorts, This was a great opportunity to work alongside our long time partner, as well as to showcase our industry-leading services and Gourmet Inclusive Experience.

The major theme of the conference was leveraging the combined strength and experience of the attendees to drive better customer experiences by providing personalized destination celebration experiences, as well as adapting to the evolving market of the millennial customer base.

Approximately 300 were in attendance for the conference representing regions including the US, Canada, the Caribbean, Mexico, Central America and Great Britain. Guests were comprised of Certified Destination Wedding Specialists, executives from preferred hotel and resort partners, top tour operators, excursion companies, tourism boards, and corporate staff from DWTG.

In addition to a trade show, business sessions, and an awards gala, guests enjoyed a number of resort site visits, including a FAM trip to the new Secrets Akumal Riviera Maya, as well as various excursions around the area.

A portion of the proceeds from the conference were donated to Down Cancun, a nonprofit that promotes the inclusion of people with Down Syndrome, and The School of Francisco I. Madero, a preschool in Puerto Morelos that provides education services to the area.

During the event, Calvert announced that the groups 8th Annual Conference is set for the fall of 2017 at the brand new Unico Riviera Maya property, which is slated to open in the first quarter of 2017.

About Celebration Travel Group

Celebration Travel Group represents a number of award-winning tourism brands, including Destination Weddings Travel Group, with the common goal of creating destination celebrations worldwide. From dream weddings and romantic honeymoons to memorable anniversaries, luxury escapes and all-inclusive vacations, we pair the value of exclusive offers and savings with the convenience of complimentary expert planning services to ensure that each customers personalized vision becomes a reality.

Destination Weddings Travel Group recently published Get Married Away which highlights the latest in destination wedding planning tips and news along with real wedding features, and Voyage, which offers planning inspiration, guidance and recent weddings for the LGBT community and will publish later this week.
At a ribbon-cutting ceremony yesterday at YAs new office space at 730 Richmond St. in Chatham, Mayor Randy Hope read a Certificate of Recognition marking Oct. 12, 2016, as YA Day in the city. YA, the industry market leader in delivering flawless, omni-channel marketing promotions for the nations most respected brands, tripled the size of its office space in Chatham, Ontario, and plans on nearly doubling its employee base in Canada.

We are honored to be part of the celebration that welcomes YAs expanded presence to our area, said Mayor Hope. The excitement about the new space plus, the adding on of talented new team members from our region makes it apparent that YA is here to be an ongoing, important partner in our community.

For years, our Chatham-Kent office has been a critical location for our business, housing our highly professional contact center team, said YA President and CEO Chris Behrens. We realize the quality of talent in Chatham-Kent and the surrounding area, and were confident we will effectively expand our business to meet our clients customer support needs. Further, we plan to leverage our Chatham-Kent, Ontario operation to scale and enable our business growth in the Canadian market.

YA currently employs nearly 85 people in Chatham-Kent. The workforce growth focuses on the addition of contact center agents and supervisors in support of inbound and outbound customer support. Company executives also plan on hiring additional sales and marketing talent who will be based in the Toronto area. The team additions will be completed by the end of the year as the company targets selling directly to Canadian businesses from within its market.

YA has long been a key economic partner for this area, said Geoffrey Wright, Business Development Specialist at the Municipality of Chatham-Kent Economic Development Services, who also attended yesterdays event. Its been a pleasure to work with the YA team to bring this expansion to fruition. We appreciate the confidence Chris and his team have in the caliber of the people and the infrastructure Chatham-Kent has to offer.

We have long supported YA clients via our Chatham-Kent operations. They have been impressed with our teams ability to effectively support their marketing programs, said Behrens. Now, were expanding our product and service offering to enable us to continue to grow our business in the Canadian market with existing and new clients.

About YA

For more than 40 years, YA has been a leader in the promotional marketing services space. We deliver flawless digital, social, mobile and traditional promotions such as rebates/rewards, enter to win and loyalty programs for the nations most respected brands. Our end-to-end management of 3,500+ promotions that reach tens of millions of consumers annually makes us experts at turning even first-time customers into loyal brand advocates. More information can be found at http://www.yaengage.com.

Additional information about YA careers can be found at http://www.yaengage.com/careers.

###
Boucher Ford is fundraising to help raise awareness and find a cure for breast cancer, at all five of the Boucher Ford dealerships.

Boucher Ford will donate $50 to Susan G. Komen of Southeastern Wisconsin with each vehicle purchase in the month of October. Along with that, customers will receive a premium gift with purchase. Boucher is also offering zero percent APR for 72 months on select 2016 Ford Models to help support the initiative and generate additional sales. It is all part of the Boucher Ford Breast Cancer Awareness month at all five

Boucher Ford dealerships; located in West Bend, Menomonee Falls, Kenosha, Janesville and their newest location in Thiensville.

This event presents an amazing opportunity to support a local charity in our community, as all of the proceeds will be kept within Wisconsin, said Jeff Samp, General Manager Boucher Ford Menomonee Falls. This program is Boucher Fords opportunity to give back to a great cause.

With the help of our customers, together we can drive for a cure, says Chris Flynn, General Manager of Boucher Ford West Bend So stop in this month to help us achieve our goal.

About Susan G. Komen

The mission of Susan G. Komen is to save lives by serving and investing in the communities through research that prevents and cures breast cancer. With more than 3 million survivors and counting the funds help with research, treatment, screening & education to those individuals.

About Boucher Ford Dealerships

The Boucher Automotive Group owns five Ford locations in West Bend, Menomonee Falls, Kenosha, Janesville and their newest location in Thiensville. Boucher Ford is proud to have been a part of the community since 1992. Combined, they have over 1,400 Ford vehicles in stock, creating a diverse inventory to choose from. To experience a Boucher Ford dealership, visit them at any of their locations, on Facebook at @BoucherFordDealerships or online at Boucher.com.

About The Boucher Automotive Group

Boucher Fords parent company, The Boucher Automotive Group, was established in 1977, by Gordie Boucher, and has since grown to be one of the Top 75 dealer groups within Wisconsin, according to Automotive News. The Boucher Automotive Group is also proud to consistently appear on Deloittes Wisconsin 75 ranking. Since 2010, The Boucher Automotive Group has ranked as one of the top 5 workplaces in Wisconsin, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinels Top Workplaces Survey. Today, The Boucher Automotive Group employs more than 1,200 Wisconsin residents. Learn more at Boucher.com

About Ford

Ford Motor Company is a global automotive industry leader. Ford goes further to make better cars, happier employees and a better planet. With vehicles like the all new and contemporary 2017 Ford Fusion and the fuel efficient 2017 Ford Escape, Ford is always innovating the industry. Learn more about Ford vehicles at Ford.com or on Twitter & Facebook @Ford.

Media Contacts:

West Bend  Chris Flynn  Chris(dot)Flynn(at)Boucher(dot)com  3021 W. Washington Ave.  (800) 749-1373

Menomonee Falls  Jeff Samp  Jeff(dot)Samp(at)Boucher(dot)com  N88 W14300 Main St.  (800) 701-6206

Kenosha  Sal Pappalardo  Sal(dot)Pappalardo(at)Boucher(dot)com  8301 75th St.  (800) 692-3580

Janesville  Ted Harris  Ted(dot)Harris(at)Boucher(dot)com  2727 HWY 14  (888) 435-4603

Thiensville  James Slayton  James(dot)Slayton(at)Boucher(dot)com  121 N. Main St.  (262) 242-1100
Higher education information and online student resource leader, AffordableCollegesOnline.org has recognized 50 outstanding schools as the Best Online Christian Colleges in the nation. Amridge University, Judson College, Siena Heights University, Chaminade University and Belhaven University round out the top five on the list representing the religiously affiliated colleges and universities offering the best quality, most affordable online learning.

"Choosing a college with a Christian-based curriculum is an important determining factor for many students, said Dan Schuessler, CEO and Founder of AffordableCollegesOnline.org. "These schools provide a commendable balance of academic excellence and affordability. By offering online education options they are also demonstrating a commitment to creating new ways for students to succeed.

Schools must meet several base requirements to qualify for the list. The Best Online Christian Colleges are all four year institutions with active religious affiliations, who carry institutional accreditation and hold not-for-profit status. Each school must also offer in-state tuition under $25,000. To learn more about each schools placement on the list and understand the methodology used to rank online programs, please visit the following page:

http://www.affordablecollegesonline.org/online-colleges/christian-colleges/

The full list of schools on 2016s Best Online Christian Colleges ranking includes:

Amridge University

Barclay College

Belhaven University

Bethel University

Bluefield College

Campbellsville University

Chaminade University of Honolulu

Clarks Summit University

Clarkson College

Columbia College

Concordia University-Saint Paul

Crown College

Dallas Christian College

Graceland University - Lamoni

Heritage Christian University

Indiana Wesleyan University

Judson College

Liberty University

Lincoln Christian University

Messenger College

Mid-America Christian University

Midway College

Mississippi College

Montreat College

Mount Vernon Nazarene University

Newman University

Oakland City University

Ohio Christian University

Oral Roberts University

Ottawa University - Kansas City

Ottawa University - Phoenix

Presentation College

Saint Leo University

Shorter University

Siena Heights University

Southwestern Adventist University

Southwestern Assemblies of God University

Southwestern College

Spring Arbor University

Summit Christian College

Trevecca Nazarene University

University of Great Falls

University of Saint Mary

University of the Cumberlands

Virginia Baptist College

Virginia University of Lynchburg

Viterbo University

Wayland Baptist University

William Woods University

Williamson Christian College

###

AffordableCollegesOnline.org began in 2011 to provide quality data and information about pursuing an affordable higher education. Our free community resource materials and tools span topics such as financial aid and college savings, opportunities for veterans and people with disabilities, and online learning resources. We feature higher education institutions that have developed online learning environments that include highly trained faculty, new technology and resources, and online support services to help students achieve educational and career success. We have been featured by nearly 1,100 postsecondary institutions and nearly 120 government organizations.
Leading in-game adtech firm, Woobi, with offices in London and Tel Aviv, has today announced the appointment of a new Chief Technology Officer, Keren Ramot.

Based in Tel Aviv, Kerens primary responsibilities include overseeing current technology and development, as well as leading Woobis future innovations in the space of in-game brand advertising. Keren, who has over ten years experience in the technology industry, previously held senior roles with some top names in the industry, including eBay, ICQ, Sundaysky and Disney.

This marks a significant move in the technology industry, with Woobi being only one of a handful of companies in the global tech industry to appoint a female CTO. Woobi now has a female CEO, CTO and CMO, so three of the top six senior positions at the company are held by women.

Woobis award winning technology allows brands or games to engage with players by reacting to significant moments during gameplay. Its technology enables brands to become a part of the gaming experience, creating a deeper brand affinity, and it enables game developers to benefit from superior monetisation capabilities.

We are delighted to announce the appointment of our new Chief Technology Officier, Keren Ramot. Kerens unique experience within the technology sector will add a new dimension to our offering and enhance our capabilities across the board. While there is lots of pressure within the technology industry around gender equality and ethnic inclusion, at Woobi we consider this a non-issue. We select extremely talented people based on their experience, relevance to the role and capabilities to lead our company forward. At Woobi, we are committed to ensuring that we provide the best possible way for advertisers to reach their target audiences through in-game advertising. Kerens experience will feed into our differentiated capabilities and allow us to continue revolutionizing this space for brand advertisers, app developers and game publishers, said Chaya Soggot, Woobi CEO.

About Woobi:

Woobi creates user engagement opportunities through in-game advertising. Our award winning technology allows advertisers to engage with players by reacting to significant moments during gameplay, enabling brands to become a part of the gaming experience, creating a deeper brand affinity, and game developers with superior monetization capabilities, a stronger user base, improved retention and long-term user LTV.
Hopecam, an organization dedicated to helping children battling cancer overcome social isolation during their treatment, marks this month with the connection of 1,000 children to their school friends since its founding in 2003. Including children, teachers and family members, the organization is estimated to have impacted over 10,000 people with a program that can help healing for patients, lighten the burden for families and encourage empathy among classmates.

Among the first side effects a child may experience after being diagnosed with cancer is isolation. With tablet computers, web cameras and high-speed Internet, Hopecam provides the equipment and IT support to connect children with their classmates and teachers.

Providing a child with a Hopecam tablet has the potential to mitigate the impact of social isolation. School is what children do. Connecting children to their peers while in treatment provides needed hope, said Hopecam board member, Carol J. Kaffenberger, Ph.D., Associate Professor Emerita, George Mason University.

The organization has thrived over the last 13 years, raising over $2 million since its start in the greater Washington, DC area. Hopecam has now worked with 250 school systems in 44 states, with 70% of its programs serving children attending Title 1 schools.

Over 15,000 children a year are diagnosed with cancer. Our goal is to never have to say no to a child that wants to connect with their classmates, said Len Forkas, Founder Hopecam

To reach its goals of doubling in size and serving all 50 states, Hopecam is holding its major annual fundraiser on Thursday, October 20. The Give Hope, Get Connected! Celebration will be hosted at the Silverline Center at 7900 Westpark Drive, in Tysons Corner, Virginia from 6:00pm to 9:30pm. The event features heavy hors d'oeuvres with dishes inspired by the home states and countries of Hopecam children, drinks and FUN! Tickets to the event are $150 per person. Donations in lieu of attendance may also be made. For more information and to register, visit: https://www.501auctions.com/hopecam2016

About Hopecam

Hopecam is a 501c3 organization that connects homebound children undergoing treatment for cancer, and other life-threatening illnesses with their friends at school using mobile tablets, high speed internet connections and web cameras. Recognizing the critical need for socialization, Hopecam seeks to bridge the lonely divide between homebound children and their friends at school during this frightening time. Staying connected to school significantly reduces the stress of reentry when treatment is completed and children resume a normal life. Since its founding in 2003 by a parent whose child was diagnosed with leukemia, Hopecam has connected 1,000 children with their friends, classmates and families. For more information, visit http://www.hopecam.org
Benzer Pharmacy, the nations fastest growing independent drug chain has opened another store in Bradenton, Florida.

John Cox, pharmacy operations manager at Benzer Pharmacy announced October 13, 2016 that the store has started receiving patients and aims to work towards creating a healthier Manatee County.

Located at 2104 59th St W. Bradenton, FL 34209, the store is at strategic items of interest, including a hospital and hundreds of doctors offices.

Benzer Pharmacy is extremely proud to expand its services in Manatee County, giving residents convenient access to health services, says John.

Benzer Pharmacy provides a wide range of innovative solutions to address the dispensing, delivery, dosing and reimbursement of clinically intensive, high-cost specialty drugs.

With the alarming situation in Florida due Hurricane Matthew, Benzer Pharmacy endeavors to swiftly deliver any medication needs of its patients and local residents.

We ensure medications are filled correctly and even complete prior authorization forms on behalf of the doctor, adds John.

Benzer pharmacy is well known for its impeccable brand and phenomenal customer care where pharmacists know their patients by name. Patients visiting will have a chance for face-to-face consultation with a licensed pharmacist who will address all prescription questions.

In addition, the pharmacy will provide free med pack preparations to customers who are having a tough time trying to remember to take all their medications and keep them organized using the multi-dose packaging and pill tray.

Patients will also have the option of refilling their medication at this location. Patents can receive a text, phone call or email when their prescriptions are ready for refill or pick-up.

With this location, there will be greater access to Benzer Pharmacy services to the surrounding community. Concludes John

###

ABOUT BENZER PHARMACY

Benzer Pharmacy is a chain of independent retail pharmacies that specializes in specialty drugs and also focusses on medication management programs for people with complex chronic diseases, including Hepatitis, HIV, Multiple Sclerosis (MS), Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA), Dermatological conditions and Gastrointestinal Disorders (GI). The first Benzer Pharmacy opened in the year 2009 and there are now over 60 locations throughout Tennessee, Florida, Michigan, Virginia, North Carolina, Texas, Georgia, Nevada, Oklahoma and Louisiana.

ACCREDITATIONS



2016: Utilization Review Accreditation Commission (URAC) accreditation for Specialty Pharmacy

2015: PCAB compounding accreditation with Accreditation Commission for Health Care (ACHC)

ACCOLADES



Florida Fast 50 (2016) - Tampa Bays Fastest Growing Companies.

EY Entrepreneur of the Year, (2016) - Benzer Pharmacy CEO was a Florida Finalist.

CFO of the Year Awards (2016): Finalist Large company category.

Chain Drug Review (2016: Rank 54 out of 100 in the Top 100 Chains by Pharmacy Count

Inc. 5000 (2015): Rank 1500 - Fastest growing private company in America.

Florida Fast 100 (2015): Rank 39 out of 100  Fastest growing private companies in Florida

TBBJ 200 (2015): Rank 67 out of 200 - Tampa Bays largest private companies

All Benzer Pharmacy medications require a doctor's prescription. For more information: http://www.benzerpharmacy.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BenzerPharmacy

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/benzerpharmacy
Smitten is a portable, durable and recyclable bassinet box designed by a leading infant safe sleep expert to reduce the risk of SIDS and suffocation for infants 0-6 months old.

Next week at the ABC Kids Expo in Las Vegas, Pip & Grow  the scrappy start-up with a social mission - will launch its first industry-challenging safety product: the Smitten Sleep System. Smitten is a portable, durable and recyclable bassinet box designed by a leading infant safe sleep expert to reduce the risk of SIDS and suffocation for infants 0-6 months old. Made from eco-conscious materials by socially responsible manufacturers in the U.S., Smitten can be carried easily from room to room to provide a safe sleep space for infants everywhere.

Smitten was born when Amber Kroeker, MPH, Pip & Grow CEO and one of the countrys leading child injury prevention experts, noticed a trend in many of the infant death reviews she attended: caregivers, exhausted and overwhelmed, chose easier sleep options - swings, bouncy seats, car seats, couches, adult beds with soft, loose bedding  over safer choices because the easy options were more convenient.

After a particularly grueling day that included three infant death reviews, Kroeker encountered an article about the Finnish baby box tradition. In the 1930s, ashamed of its high infant mortality rate, Finland started distributing cardboard bassinet boxes filled with baby necessities to every mom-to-be in the country. Today, Finland enjoys one of the lowest infant mortality rates in the world, which many attribute to the bassinet box program. Reading of Finlands success, Kroeker was inspired. Three years later, after extensive research, collaboration and rigorous testing, Kroeker and her team are ready to bring their next-generation baby box to market. Smitten is the infant sleep box that puts research-based infant safety at the forefront.

Infants can sleep in Smitten for up to six months, the riskiest period for SIDS and suffocation. Smitten is constructed from eco-friendly and infant-safe materials that can support up to 100 pounds. Its sides are slanted to encourage airflow and to allow for easy, nested storage of multiple Smittens. After six months, it can be reused, repurposed or recycled. Smitten retails for $70 and can be purchased online at http://www.pipandgrow.com.

In addition choosing the safest possible construction materials, Kroeker insists that every Pip & Grow business decision reflect her passion for keeping children safe and healthy. When selecting manufactures, Pip & Grow pledged to work solely with U.S. companies that pay their employees a living wage, in an effort to create a manufacturing ecosystem that encourages healthy families. In yet another example of Kroekers public health influence, Pip & Grow prioritizes working with manufacturers in economically-disadvantaged communities.

Kroeker talks about her commitment to socially-responsible manufacturing, It just didnt feel right to have workers overseas, possibly even minors, crafting a child-safety product. Creating jobs in communities that need them is critical to ensuring safe, secure and nurturing environments for our children. While Smitten can help families address one health issue, what really changes childrens lives is making sure that their parents have access to a living wage and job opportunities.

Kroeker recognizes that the $70 price tag may put Smitten out of reach for some. Thats why shes committed to distributing Smittens for free to families in need through partnerships with established community organizations. Demonstrating her commitment to making safe sleep accessible to everyone, just four weeks after Smittens soft launch, Kroeker sent half of her Smitten inventory to Louisiana to help families affected by the flood. It might not have been the best business decision, but these families lost everything. Surely its worth the risk to help them get back on their feet, said Kroeker.

Smittens box is printed by Landaal Packaging Systems in Flint, Michigan. For nearly 60 years, three generations of Landaals have succeeded in building, sustaining and growing a packaging manufacturing/service business that has become a force-for-good in the Flint community and the state of Michigan. Kroeker says, When walking with owner Bob Landaal through the factory in Flint, he greeted everyone by name. The family atmosphere was palpable. You could tell the employees were happy and that the Landaal family genuinely cares about each one. They have been a joy to work with.

Smitten sheets and mat pad covers are made by Detroit Sewn. Detroit Sewn employs 15 people in Pontiac, Michigan. Whenever possible, Detroit Sewn hires sewers from a program that targets the unemployed and underemployed and provides training in a skilled trade that pays a living wage. Detroit Sewn also works with its employees to increase their skill levels, and provides business training for all the sewers, to encourage future entrepreneurs.

Sleep-related infant deaths are the most common cause of post-neonatal infant mortality. In 2013, approximately 3,434 infants died suddenly and unexpectedly. Nearly half of these deaths were attributed to sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), the remaining attributed to unknown causes and accidental suffocation or strangulation in bed. SIDS and suffocation remain the number one cause of death for infants between one month and one year old.

Evidence is mounting for the use of bassinet boxes as safe sleep spaces. Infant sleep boxes were introduced in Finland in the early 1900s as part of a concerted effort to reduce infant mortality. Since that time, Finlands infant mortality rate has decreased from 65 infant deaths per 10,000 to just 3 infant deaths per 10,000. As of 2015, the World Bank ranks the U.S. 43rd in infant mortality rate worldwide, behind countries like Cuba, Bahrain and Malta.

####

The Smitten Sleep System is ethically produced by Pip & Grow, LLC in the United States. In an effort to support healthy, happy families at home, we only work with U.S. manufacturers that pay their employees a living wage, provide job training. Pip & Grow strives to keep children safe by creating beautiful, environmentally- and socially-responsible products backed by the best available science.

Landaal Packaging Systems specializes in graphic packaging, point of purchase displays and retail graphics. They have been helping their customers develop innovative products since 1959. For more information contact:

Landaal Packaging Systems

Terry W. Choate

Marketing/Business Development Manager

http://www.landaal.com

terry.choate(at)landaal(dot)com
Former Texas Gov. Rick Perry elected to Celltex Therapeutics Board of Directors Perrys pioneering spirit and experience in the highest office of state government makes him a tremendous asset in leading Celltex into the next phase of our companys growth and success.

Houston-based biotechnology company, Celltex Therapeutics Corporation, has named former Texas Gov. Rick Perry to the Celltex Board of Directors, effective May 5, 2016. As the 47th and longest-serving governor of the Lone Star State, Perry championed the advancement of adult stem cell therapy during his time in office and became one of the first clients of Celltex in 2011. In his new position, Perry will support strategic growth efforts for Celltex in the regenerative medicine arena.

Over the course of five years, Celltex has continued to advance stem cell technology and is among the top stem cell companies in the United States, says Perry. When I was asked to join the board, I immediately said yes and am here to assist in whatever way I can to help push the company toward its bright future.

As we continue our mission to improve quality of life through autologous stem cell technology and innovation, Celltex is very proud to welcome Rick Perry to our board of directors, says Celltex Chairman and CEO David Eller. Perrys pioneering spirit and experience in the highest office of state government makes him a tremendous asset in leading Celltex into the next phase of our companys growth and success. Celltex is proud to have someone with his vision and initiative be a part of the companys future.

Perry is a veteran of the United States Air Force, and the former governor of the 12th largest economy in the world. During his time as governor, Perry had an outstanding record as an advocate for regenerative medicine  resulting in Texas becoming a leader in regenerative medicine and the use of stem cells. His vision was for Texas to become the center of adult stem cell therapy, because he understood that Texas spirit and conducive climate could make it happen.

He worked to advance stem cell science within the appropriate scientific, ethical and regulatory framework and, under his leadership, the Texas Medical Board passed a rule setting forth guidelines for supervising the use of stem cells for the first time in history. His advocacy also allowed the state of Texas to provide funds to bring scientists to Texas and Texas institutions, and created a climate that allowed Celltex to bring its technology to Americans. For these reasons and many others, his accomplishments will have long-lasting effects on the stem cell community, Eller says.

Ive seen the powerful display of Celltexs technology, but even my own personal experience pales in comparison to other people who are getting their lives back thanks to Celltex, says Perry. When you look at people like Sarah Hughes and Tucker Beau Hyatt, they seemed destined to live less than full lives, but now, after stem cell therapy, that is just not the case. They are getting their lives back and that is the real story of Celltex.

Perry earned a degree from Texas A&M University. Between 1972 and 1977, Perry served in the U.S. Air Force flying C-130 tactical airlift aircraft in Europe and the Middle East. Prior to being elected Lieutenant Governor in 1998, he served two terms as Texas Commissioner of Agriculture and three terms in the Texas House of Representatives.
Were always striving to create a wow factor when it comes to our customers user experience, says Long. So we designed the new website with their needs in mind.

Medical Solutions, one of the nations top travel nurse staffing companies, is pleased to announce the launch of its new website. Among many other improvements, the site now provides an innovative travel nursing jobs board with faster search results, enhanced mobile capabilities, and a user-friendly design.

Medical Solutions Director of Marketing & Customer Experience, Jeff Long, says the website will benefit both potential and current travel nurses.

Were always striving to create a wow factor when it comes to our customers user experience, says Long. So we designed the new website with their needs in mind.

The Medical Solutions site continues to offer extensive resources designed to help those in the travel nurse industry make well-informed decisions about their career options. The site also celebrates the travel nursing lifestyle with photos from the adventures of current Medical Solutions travel nurses.

ABOUT MEDICAL SOLUTIONS: Medical Solutions L.L.C. is a healthcare staffing firm that specializes in placing registered nurses in temporary travel assignments throughout the nation. The company is one of the largest Travel Nurse staffing agencies in the United States, with locations in Omaha, San Diego, Cincinnati, and Tupelo, MS. Medical Solutions was one of the first Travel Nursing and Allied Healthcare staffing companies to be certified by the Joint Commission and has been continuously certified since January 2005. Medical Solutions was named one of Modern Healthcares 2016 Best Places to Work in Healthcare, named among Staffing Industry Analysts 2016 Best Staffing Firms to Work For, has been named nine times to the Inc. 5000 list of fastest-growing private companies, and its flagship Omaha office won the 2014 Better Business Bureau Integrity Award. A nationwide network of qualified healthcare providers allows Medical Solutions to help its client hospitals continue to provide excellent patient care amidst a nursing shortage. Medical Solutions has contracts with 2,200+ client hospitals nationwide and is one of the fastest-growing companies in the Travel Nursing industry. Visit MedicalSolutions.com to learn more.
Were thrilled to be welcoming a new generation of members to our board and the Calvert Foundation community.

Calvert Foundation welcomes four new members to their Board of Directors this year. Calvert Foundation is an impact investing institution that invests in underserved communities around the world. On September 12, 2016 the board nominated and approved two new members to join: Phil Kirshman, Chief Investment Officer, Cornerstone Capital Investment Management and Jaime Yordan, former Vice-Chairman of Citigroup. Earlier this year the board also nominated and approved two additional members, Decker Rolph, an early-stage business and finance executive and investor, and Aron Betru, Managing Director of the Center for Financial Markets at the Milken Institute. This brings the board to a total of 10 members.

Were thrilled to be welcoming a new generation of members to our board and the Calvert Foundation community. Phil, Jaime, Aron and Decker all join us with expertise in finance and a passion for social good. Bringing together longstanding and new members, our board is better poised to grow Calvert Foundation to the next level as leaders in the impact investing space.

-Bart Harvey, Chairman of the Board of Directors, Calvert Foundation

Two board members have departed over this time. Shari Berenbach, a former CEO of the Calvert Foundation and recent President and CEO of the U.S. Africa Development Foundation, tragically passed away earlier this year, a great loss to both Calvert Foundation and the greater impact investing community. Peggy Clark, one of the founding board members of Calvert Foundation, resigned as of September 12, 2016 and is being honored as a Director Emerita. Peggy will continue to be a close friend and resource to Calvert Foundation with her expertise and long-standing relationship with the organization.

I applaud Calvert Foundations new generation of board members who join the organization at a pivotal and promising moment. I am honored to be among the dreamers who helped to establish the organization, and to have watched its powerful impact over the years on so many individuals and communities. I am delighted to be able to continue to support the Calvert Foundation as an emeritus board member.

-Peggy Clark, Director Emerita

Phil Kirshman

Phil Kirshman is the Chief Investment Officer at Cornerstone Capital Investment Management (CCIM). He oversees investment policy planning, strategic asset allocation optimization, investment implementation and portfolio reporting strategies. He serves on Cornerstones Executive Committee and Investment Policy Committee. Prior to joining Cornerstone, Mr. Kirshman was a senior partner on a UBS Institutional Consulting team based in Boulder, Colorado, serving clients across the United States. Mr. Kirshman is a Chartered Financial Analyst and a Certified Financial Planner.

Mr. Kirshman serves on the board and is Treasurer of US SIF: The Forum for Sustainable and Responsible Investment, and is Treasurer of the US SIF Foundation. He also serves on the Advisory Council to the City of Denver Office of Sustainability, and chairs the Advisory Council to Mile High Connects, a public-private partnership supporting development of transit-oriented real estate development in the city of Denver. Mr. Kirshman graduated from the University of California, Santa Cruz, in 1986.

Jaime Yordan

Jaime E. Yordan served as an Executive officer of JPMorgan Chase & Co. before becoming Managing Director and General Partner at The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. in 1992, after joining in 1990. He established and ran Goldman Sachs Latin American business. Mr. Yordan served with Goldman Sachs until 2005 as a senior partner of the firm. He left Goldman to become Vice-Chairman of Global Banking of Latin America Markets & Banking at Citigroup Inc. until January 29, 2008. He served for over a decade as a Board Member of Enterprise Community Partners and Chairman of Enterprise Community Investment. He is currently an Advisory Director at CDK Group LLC. He has a distinguished 30-year career in Latin America and has served on numerous Boards.

Decker Rolph

Decker Rolphs professional experience to date has been in early-stage businesses, venture finance, private equity, and specialty finance. Importantly, impact and TBL (triple bottom line) principles have ebbed and flowed throughout his career, but nonetheless have comprised a true north and the lens through which he views business. With over 15 years of experience, he has gained the ability to successfully navigate the challenges faced by start-ups as well as emerging companies, brands, and funds.

Aron Betru

Aron Betru is the Managing Director of the Center for Financial Markets (CFM) at the Milken Institute, with more than 15 years of experience in strategic and structured financial execution. Mr. Betru will be leading strategic initiatives at CFM, where he will be exploring practical ways and models to increase and better leverage resources to social impact areas, both in the U.S. and in developing countries.

Prior to the Milken Institute, Mr. Betru was the Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer at Financing For Development (F4D), a DC-based nonprofit that specializes in innovative financing solutions for international development. Mr. Betru pioneered new ways of leveraging guarantee-backed financing of public health commodities, mobilizing millions of dollars in both commercial lending for malaria and trade financing for reproductive health.

Prior to joining Pledge Guarantee for Health, during its proof-of-concept at the United Nations Foundation and facilitating its spin-off to F4D, Mr. Betru was Deputy Director of the TechnoServe managed Coffee Initiative program, funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Mr. Betru oversaw the design, development and execution of increased access to capital programs for small holder farmers in East Africa. Mr. Betrus extensive experience includes international development roles at Dalberg Global Development Advisors as well as private sector experience at McKinsey & Co. and Goldman Sachs.

Mr. Betru is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and a regular contributor to the Global Health and Diplomacy Magazine writing on innovative finance in public health. He is also a contributor to the global dialogue on pandemic financing with speaking engagements at the National Academy of Sciences and Voice of America Interviews. He holds an MBA from Columbia University, an MA from Johns Hopkins SAIS, and a BA in Economics and International Studies from Northwestern University.

About Calvert Foundation

Calvert Foundation is a global impact investing institution that offers investors an accessible way to invest for social and environmental good. More than 15,000 investors have invested a total of $1.2 billion through Calvert Foundation since 1995, supporting affordable housing, education, health, job creation, access to capital and climate solutions. Calvert Foundation is a legal separate entity from Calvert Investments and has its own operations and mission.

For more information please contact:

Katharine Tengtio

Calvert Foundation

Katharine(dot)tengtio(at)calvertfoundation(dot)org

Tel: +1 301 280 6014
Central Valley residents are invited to participate in the American Heart Associations 2016 Central Valley Heart & Stroke Walk and Lawyers Have Heart Run. The 24th annual Heart Walk includes a 5K Run and 2 Mile Walk plus Kids Fun Run. The event is set for Saturday, October 22 at Tesoro Viejo, an upcoming master-planned community located at Highway 41 and Road 204, just 10 minutes north of River Park Shopping Center.

Presented this year by Tesoro Viejo, the annual Heart & Stroke Walk is the largest local event for the association and is expected to draw over 2,500 walkers and runners and has raised roughly $180,000 so far. All proceeds will go toward the American Heart Associations overall goal of funding research to find better ways to treat and prevent cardiovascular diseases and stroke while providing educational health resources to the local region.

We are thrilled to host the Heart Walk at Tesoro Viejo, where participants can take in the scenery of vineyards, orchards and gorges along with the beautiful backdrop of Little Table Mountain, said Karen McCaffrey, vice president of The McCaffrey Group and chair of this years Heart & Stroke Walk. Tesoro Viejo was designed with healthy, sustainable living in mind, so The Heart Walk is a natural fit for our community. Its a great opportunity to promote physical activity and heart-healthy living, in an atmosphere that is fun for the entire family. Were very proud to be the local presenter.

Everyone is invited to participate in the non-competitive 2 mile Heart & Stroke Walk that starts at 9:30 am. Walkers will follow a course that will wind past natural gorges, orchards and vineyards. Over 75 local businesses have already signed up and will be represented with teams of employees bringing along friends and family members of all ages. Those not on a company team are invited to form community teams to help raise funds and encourage friends and family to participate.

Heart disease and stroke survivors will receive special survivor caps to distinguish them from the rest of the pack. Participants can walk or run and there is no registration fee for the walk. Walkers who raise $100 or more will receive the official 2016 Heart Walk t-shirt.

The Lawyers Have Heart Run kicks off at 8:00 am and is a timed 5K event on a moderate trail. The $40 registration fee benefits the American Heart Association and American Stroke Association. All runners will receive an official Heart Run t-shirt. Participants will have their run timed, and the top male and female runners will be awarded prizes.

Participants are invited to stick around and peruse the health expo where they will find booths on wellness, healthy snack samples, a kids zone with fun activities for kids and other fun booths and activities.

According to the American Heart Association, walking is the simplest positive change individuals can make to effectively improve their heart health because its free, easy and has the lowest dropout rate of any exercise. Research has shown walking is the single most effective form of exercise to achieve heart health. The benefits of walking and moderate physical activity for as little as 30 minutes each day can help reduce the risk of heart disease and stroke - the number one and number 5 killers of Americans, respectively.

For information on participating or to make a donation, visit http://www.centralvalleyheartwalk.org or call (559) 650-4010.

About the American Heart Association

The American Heart Association is devoted to saving people from heart disease and stroke  Americas No. 1 and No. 5 killers. We team with millions of volunteers to fund innovative research, fight for stronger public health policies, and provide lifesaving tools and information to prevent and treat these diseases. The Dallas-based association is the nations oldest and largest voluntary organization dedicated to fighting heart disease and stroke. To learn more or to get involved, call 1-800-AHA-USA1, visit http://www.heart.org or call any of our offices around the country.

The Heart & Stroke Walk is sponsored nationally by Subway and locally presented by Tesoro Viejo. The local Heart & Stroke Walk top sponsors include Community Medical Centers, Vulcan Materials, Camarena Health, Kaiser Permanente, and E-Z Haul. The media sponsors are CBS 47, Telemundo 51, The Fresno Bee, Y101 and Mega 97.9. For a complete list of sponsors, visit http://www.centralvalleyheartwalk.org.

About Tesoro Viejo

Situated at the foot of Little Table Mountain, Tesoro Viejo, is an upcoming 1,600 acre master-planned community located off Highway 41 in Madera. A model of innovative design and sustainable living, the community will be a vibrant hub for southeast Madera County where residents can live, work, and play with housing and business opportunities, a walkable town center, green living, thriving industry, and neighborhood parks and schools.
Nu-Set Lock, a manufacturer of customized solutions for safety locks and security hardware, announces that Caron Ng, Vice President of Business Development, has recently been appointed to represent the Los Angeles Leadership Forum of WBEC-West. Womens Business Enterprise Council-West is the regional organization for WBENC (Womens Business Enterprise National Council), the countrys largest third party certifier of women-owned businesses. Ms. Ng was selected for this position due to her business involvement as a women-owned business, her community support as a business leader, and a representative of Nu-Set, an international company with manufacturing and distribution in China and the US.

I am very proud and humbled to have been selected for this position, and will do all within my power to influence and guide other women-owned businesses that are just beginning their careers or businesses, said Ms. Ng.

In addition to her recent appointment, Ms. Ng has proactively grown her own business acumen and expertise through participation and attendance at: the So. California Gas Supplier Diversity Institute (Mastering Business Growth), UCLA Management Development for Entrepreneurs, Toyota Pilot Mentorship Program, Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Business Initiative Management & Education, and the Intercity Capital Connection Program, WBEC-West Platinum Supplier Program, all within the last two years. Most recently, Ms. Ng was nominated as Executive of the Year at the Los Angeles Business Journals annual Womens Summit, and was a finalist for the Asian Business Leader also sponsored by the Los Angeles Business Journal in 2016.

About: Nu-Set Lock is a family-owned business, started over 40 years ago in Hong Kong. The family migrated to the US in the 1990s, and opened their facility in the Los Angeles area, while maintaining close ties to long-term business partners in Hong Kong and China. Originally, the business was founded on building customized locks for various other companies, but about 20 years ago, developed the Nu-Set brand in order to represent their own product to the end user market.

The point of difference in the Nu-Set product is customization and product innovation. Nu-Set also manufactures custom products for other industries, including construction, medical, real estate, fitness, and property management to name a few. Product distributors are located throughout the US and overseas, as well as online at http://www.nuset.com

Contact:

Raylene Estrada Marketing Coordinator

Email Raylene(at)nusetlock(dot)com
Says Jay Barbour, President and Founder of VIP Mortgage, We are tremendously proud of each of these individuals and celebrate the dedication and hard work they have put into serving their clients. They represent the best of what we stand for at VIP 

VIP Mortgage is proud to announce that eight of its Loan Officers were honored as Five Star Mortgage Professionals by Phoenix Magazine. The awards are determined annually to recognize extraordinary professionalism in a variety of industries.

Says Jay Barbour, President and Founder of VIP Mortgage, We are tremendously proud of each of these individuals and celebrate the dedication and hard work they have put into serving their clients. They represent the best of what we stand for at VIP  a personal dedication to serving our customers with integrity, passion and heart.

VIP Mortgage Five Star Mortgage Professionals:



Stuart Crawford

Chris Gilbert

Brandon Hendrick

Michael Metz

Michelle Milliron

Tim Nelson

Steve Surkis

Marcia Volin

Having a total of eight Loan Officers win this prestigious award is a testament to the dedication and hard work of the entire VIP Mortgage team. Headquartered in Scottsdale, what began as a modest company with a handful of employees in 2006, has now grown to include over 400 employees spread across more than a dozen States.

As many of the Five Star Awardees are repeat winners, VIP is proud that their Loan Officers continue to be recognized amongst not only their peers, but by the entire Phoenix community. With a spirit of giving back and a dedication to serve those less fortunate, these Loan Officers represent the best of the best and we are fortunate to call them part of the VIP family, continued Barbour.

About V.I.P. Mortgage:

Founded in 2006 amidst the collapse of the housing industry, VIP Mortgage is dedicated to restoring the reputation of the mortgage industry by putting their customers at the center of their business. As a full-service, direct lender headquartered in Scottsdale, AZ, the Company has grown to more than 400 employees in 35 branches, and is licensed in 16 states including  AZ, CA, CO, FL, HI, IL, IN, MI, MN, NE, NM, OR, TX, UT, WA, and WI.  V.I.P. Mortgage, Inc. Nationwide Mortgage Licensing System (NMLS) Company ID# 145502. Refer to http://www.nmlsconsumer.org to see where the Company is a licensed lender.

Media Contact: Carol Taylor, 520.305.6467, carol(at)pixona.com

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The National Insurance Restoration Council (NIRC) welcomes Dave Robards, #1 sales producer at Grant Cardone University, Cardone Enterprises, as a Platinum Advisory Member. NIRC Advisory Members are dedicated to upholding the NIRCs mission by improving industry standards nationwide. Dave Robards will help the NIRC nationwide network of construction and restoration contractors, suppliers, appraisers to improve sales skills.

NIRC Advisory Members are committed to the vision of the NIRC and advocate for property owners and contractors nationwide. NIRC Advisory Members pave the way to lead fair and accurate practices, advocacy and ethics in the insurance restoration industry. The NIRC Advisory Membership is comprised of industry professionals including top-level executives from various sectors including manufacturing, supply, service providers, technology, law, sales, public adjusting. NIRC Advisory Membership levels include Advisory, Public Adjuster, Appraiser/Umpire. NIRC Contractor levels include Platinum, Gold, and Silver. Learn more about memberships at http://www.nirc4change.org/become-a-member/.

Im excited to join the NIRC Advisory Membership. Together, we can really surpass some major milestones with the NIRC network of reputable contractors, suppliers and members throughout the nation by providing information and transparency, says Dave Robards, Sales and Marketing Manager, Grant Cardone Sales Training University, Cardone Enterprises.

The NIRC is an independent 501c3 that aids both property owners and insurance restoration companies when storm damage hits. The NIRC provides vetted, screened and qualified contractors to property owners throughout the nation affected by storm damage, as well as advanced resources and tools to become the best of the best in the industry. The NIRC is an advocate for improved case law and legislation to protect both consumers and contractors when dealing with insurance claims. The NIRC prestigious certification, educational tools, and stringent vetting protocol has set the industry standard for contractor screening and consumer protection.

The NIRC is honored to welcome Dave Robards of Cardone Sales Training University and Cardone Enterprises as a Platinum Preferred Advisory Member. Their unprecedented experience working with thousands of successful Fortune 500 companies across multiple industries is an invaluable asset to the NIRC, our vetted contractors, and the industry as a whole. The growing NIRC membership is dedicated to consistently raising the bar, says Joe Radcliff, president and CEO of the National Insurance Restoration Council.

I believe that every individual and company should make success their duty, responsibility, and obligation. We work with companies to grow sales by finding overlooked opportunities and customizing the sales process to be more effective. We are excited to help vastly improve this industry with Dave Robards, our #1 sales producer at Cardone University, says Grant Cardone, CEO of Cardone Enterprises and Cardone Sales Training University.

About the National Insurance Restoration Council

Headquartered in Orlando, Florida, the National Insurance Restoration Council (NIRC) is a non-profit organization devoted to protecting and educating property owners and restoration contractors when dealing with insurance claims. The NIRC acts as the principal advocate for improved legislation and case law to protect consumers and contractors when dealing with insurance claims throughout the nation. The NIRC serves the common interest of insurance restoration contractors and protects consumers from unethical contractors. Vetted and certified NIRC certified contractors adhere to a strict code of professional conduct, educate property owners about the insurance restoration process, and give back to communities in storm damaged areas. NIRC certified contractors go through an extensive background check to become members of the Diamond Standard code of business. The NIRC as a self-regulated entity and cooperates with the Department of Insurance (DOI) and other regulatory authorities throughout the United States to improve the ethics of the industry through education and high standards. Learn more at http://www.NIRC4Change.org.

About Cardone University

Cardone Sales Training University works with small companies and Fortune 500 companies to grow sales by finding overlooked opportunities and customizing the sales process to be more effective. Cardone is a New York Times best selling author of seven sales and business books. Cardone University has worked with numerous Fortune 500 companies including Google, Amazon, Microsoft, Twitter, Facebook, Harley Davidson, Conklin, Infusionsoft, Salesforce, Best Roofing, Morgan Stanley, and thousands more.

Learn more at http://cardoneuniversity.com/.

Media Inquiries:

Angela Delmedico

Elev8 Consulting Group

Ph: 386.243.5388

Web: http://www.elev8cg.com

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His in-depth understanding of and community ties to Latin America make him the perfect talent acquisition partner.

Steven Douglas Associates is proud to announce the addition of Juan Moreno to the South Florida team and the launch of a dedicated Latin America search practice. Juan brings extensive executive search experience in the region.

Prior to Steven Douglas, Juan was a Principal at one of the largest retained executive search firms in Canada, where he focused on providing talent to a variety of industries including Finance, Mining, Energy, Water, Infrastructure, Manufacturing and Agribusiness, in Latin America. His breadth of experience often lead him to work on complex assignments.

The creation of our LATAM practice is a natural extension of our South Florida operations, given we are headquartered in the Gateway to the Americas. Said Matt Shore, President of Steven Douglas Associates. This new practice will offer our clients with LATAM operations a broader reach to in-country talent and Juan brings tremendous experience and connections in the area. His in-depth understanding of and community ties to Latin America make him the perfect talent acquisition partner.

Steven Douglas Associates, one of the nation's leading boutique search and project resources firms, has been a recognized leader in identifying and providing access to top talent for corporate clients since 1984. The client base is industry agnostic and ranges from start-ups and emerging middle-market to Fortune 500 companies and public, private, and private equity owned firms.

The firm is composed of two synergistic divisions: The Search Division is focused on placing professional staff to executive level management in the areas of Finance and Accounting, Financial Services, Information Technology, Sales, Marketing, Operations, Human Resources, and Health Services. The Interim and Project Services Division helps businesses effectively manage change by providing them access to experienced and talented professionals on an as-needed and variable basis in the areas of Finance and Accounting, Information Technology, and Human Resources.
AVmedia, Inc. announced today the addition of Andee Oleno as the companys new Vice President of Marketing and Creative Services. As a 28-year hospitality and event technology veteran, Oleno brings a wealth of industry experience, as well as sharing in AVmedias continuous dedication to its customers and team members. She specializes in strategic marketing and bringing innovative ideas to companies and clients alike. Throughout her career, she has garnered a number of industry awards for partnership, writing, community involvement and public relations. Oleno will be officing in AVmedias new Western Headquarters and Showroom in Phoenix, Arizona.

I am truly thrilled to share this announcement of Andee Oleno joining the AVmedia family, stated Tim Brady President and CEO of AVmedia, Inc. Her experience, personality and dedication to creating a unique working environment for her customers and team are legendary within the hospitality industry. Our company culture is built on viewing our people not as employees, but as family, and the addition of Andee to our team makes us a stronger family.

Oleno began her career in hospitality in 1988 at the Pointe Hilton Resorts, which later became part of the Hilton family of brands. She grew her sales, marketing, public relations and operational knowledge of the industry for 19 years representing several Hilton properties throughout the Southwest.

After this, Oleno began her event technology career at Swank Audio Visuals in 2007, as the director of marketing. In 2012, Swank was purchased by PSAV and Oleno later became the vice president of marketing, where she led the marketing efforts as the company continued to expand through acquisitions and organic growth.

Joining the AVmedia family is like coming home, stated Oleno. Im eager to combine my skills with those of the talented and dedicated members of the team to deliver innovation and strategic event technology direction to our venue partners, customers and internal personnel. This is an exciting time for our company and am looking forward to adding my talents and expertise to an already successful business.

About AVmedia, Inc.

AVmedia, Inc. is an innovative, full-service creative agency with a legacy of expertise in live event production and distinctive branding experiences. A privately held company headquartered in Orlando, Florida, AVmedias reach extends across the country for its corporate clients creative and production needs, as well as a growing list of hotels that AVmedia is proud to partner with. For more information, please visit http://www.avmediainc.com.
Growth is in fact happening and at an accelerated pace. If agents continue mixing technology tools with their customer-first mindset, the future of the independent channel is bright. - Bruce Winterburn, VP of industry relations at Vertafore.

Vertafore, the leader in modern insurance technology, today released new research evaluating growth and optimism among independent property and casualty (P&C) agents in todays evolving insurance technology (InsurTech) landscape. The third-annual survey conducted by independent analyst firm, Hanover Research, reveals nearly half (49%) of agency respondents are very optimistic about the future success of their agency. The 2016 findings represent a significant uptick from 2015 survey results, which witnessed a 22 percentage point drop in optimism from the year before (from 51% in 2014 to 29% in 2015). Also recovering are agency growth plans. This years survey found 84% of agencies planning moderate to aggressive growth over the next three to five years, with 36% planning aggressive growth (up from 29% in 2015). The year-over-year comparisons show a steady increase in technology budgets and adoption of business software like, mobile and customer relationship management (CRM) tools. Both of which, are credited for helping the independent agent channel remain competitive against industry threats like new market entrants, Generation X & Y, and the commoditization of auto insurance.

The report, titled How Independent P&C Insurance Agencies Thrive in 2016s Competitive Marketplace, can be downloaded here. In its third year, Hanover evaluated the state of agency growth and optimism in 2016 compared to previous years, as well as technology trends used to combat new market threats or disruptions. Vertafore sponsored the survey but in no way influenced the results.

Tech Budgets Continue to Increase with Mobile as a Top Priority

Over half of surveyed agencies (51%) say their technology budget has increased over the past 12 months and another 63% anticipate additional increases in the next year. In much the same way as other industries, roughly half of IT budgets are allocated towards essential maintenance-based activities, like replacing outdated hardware or software updates, but agencies are also prioritizing investment in new technologies. The areas agencies are most likely to expect increases in investment are tools to help agents grow their books of business (36%) and mobile smart devices (35%). Currently, 74% of agents rely on their smartphones for work and at least 40% of agencies say they conduct business outside or away from the office more than once per week. Additionally, two-thirds of agencies either currently use or plan to invest in mobile-enabled websites to attract new customers, which is up from 40% in 2015.

CRM Systems are Now Instrumental in Achieving Sales Goals

In the last 12 months, the majority of agencies of all sizes reported revenue growth in both personal and commercial lines of business. Year-over-year survey findings show agencies consistently prioritize customer service and engagement and credit revenue growth to ongoing investment in these technologies. Specifically, agencies believe adoption of customer portals (65%), customer relationship management (CRM) technologies (61%), and marketing analytics (58%) are moderately or extremely important to achieving sales goals. Today, nearly half of agencies currently use a CRM tool to track and retain clients and another 19% of agencies plan to adopt a system in 2017.

Agencies Turn Threats into Opportunities

The digital disruption of the insurance industry has been driven by several factors and perceived threats to the independent insurance agent including, Generation X and Ys desire to interact directly with insurance agencies (40% serious or moderate threat), the commoditization of personal auto insurance (39%), and insurance carriers use of predictive analytics that enable them to be more self-sufficient (38%). But rather than giving in, agents are increasingly turning to technology to explore new ways to engage with customers and increase their competitive edge. Nearly half (47%) of agencies claim to be experimenting with new marketing tactics, as well as increasing customer self-service capabilities (36%). Additionally, with almost one-third of agencies (31%) saw an increase in customer inquiries on usage-based products last year, but view usage-based insurance as an opportunity to grow their customer base.

Surprisingly, fewer and fewer agents perceive new venture capital (VC) backed InsurTech startups to be threatening their agencies. In 2015, more than half (54%) of agents surveyed felt moderately to seriously threatened by these competitive newcomers. Fast-forward 12 months, this years study found 76% of agencies view these entrants as a small threat or not a threat, even despite VC funding more than tripling to $2.6 billion in 2015. In fact, large agencies are more likely to see positive impacts of certain recent industry developments, like mergers and acquisitions of smaller agencies (62% positive impact) and VC investment in insurance technology startups (also 62%).

Independent agents are acutely aware of the disruption facing the industry and their businesses, but theyre not letting it impact their spirits, said Bruce Winterburn, VP of industry relations at Vertafore. By doubling down on technology that bolsters customer relationships and continuing to integrate mobile technology into the whole of the business, the research shows the investment in paying off. Growth is in fact happening and at an accelerated pace. If agents continue mixing technology tools with their customer-first mindset, the future of the independent channel is bright.

For more information on the joint Vertafore & Hanover Research survey and previous years reports, click here.

About Vertafore

Vertafore offers the broadest and most adaptable technology solutions to better prepare the insurance industry for digital disruption. The Vertafore product line is built on a platform, empowering customers and other solution providers to adapt and thrive as the market changes. Vertafores platform features fast innovation, partnerships with the best technology companies, and customizable solutions to help companies remain independent during a time of industry disruption. As the leader in modern insurance technology with the largest customer base in the industry, Vertafore connects every point of the distribution channel, from agencies and carriers to MGAs, MGUs, and state governments. For more information about Vertafore, visit http://www.vertafore.com, read the companys blog, and follow the company on Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook.

 2016 Vertafore, Inc. All rights reserved. Vertafore and other trademarks are trademarks of Vertafore and its subsidiaries. Third party trademarks belong to their respective owners.
"We bring the world together to encourage developers, industry leaders, and inventors to create the products and devices of tomorrow that are truly needed today." -- Cheryl B. Gartley, President and Founder of The Simon Foundation for Continence

On April 19-21, 2017, The Simon Foundation for Continence will hosts its 6th international conference, Innovating for Continence: The Engineering Challenge. The biennial conference is held in Chicago and attracts speakers from a wide range of disciplines. The conference is designed to heighten innovation and increase development of creative and efficacious products for the management of incontinence by bringing together a unique group of stakeholders. Delegates come from around the world and include biomedical engineers and other engineering disciplines, physicians, nurses, people with incontinence and their caregivers, academics, industry executives, venture capitalists, and entrepreneurs.

"Due to the unrelenting stigma surrounding this medical condition, incontinence continues to be under-reported, under-served, and product options for individuals who cannot be cured are still limited," stated Cheryle Gartley, President and Founder of The Simon Foundation for Continence. "We bring the world together to encourage developers, industry leaders, and inventors to create the products and devices of tomorrow that are truly needed today."

The concept of the conference series is to feature an unusual mix of engaging speakers to provide fresh thinking on the topic, including experts in areas of technology that have yet to be applied to incontinence product development. Among the many unique aspects of the Innovating for Continence conference series is the role that the incontinence industry plays in this meeting. Unlike many meetings, industrys engineers and scientists are welcome to participate in both the Plenary Sessions and the Poster Session.

Alan Cottenden, Professor of Incontinence Technology at University College London in England is the ongoing Chair of the conference series. He has been involved in continence product technology for over 30 years, working on clinical and basic science aspects as well as product development. People with incontinence would like to be cured, but when complete cure is not achievable  as is often the case  delivering the best quality of life possible through effective management is a goal just as worthy of our strenuous efforts, states Professor Cottenden in describing the motivation behind the Innovating for Continence conference series.

The Foundation is proud to announce that its Honorary President for the 2017 conference is Diane K. Newman, DNP, ANP-BC, FAAN. Dr. Newman is Adjunct Professor of Urology in Surgery and Research Investigator Senior at the Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania. She also serves as Co-Director of the Penn Center for Continence and Pelvic Health, Division of Urology at the University of Pennsylvania Medical Center. Dr. Newman has over 30 years experience practicing as a urology nurse practitioner and since 2000, in the Division of Urology at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. Her current practice involves the evaluation, treatment, and management of urinary incontinence and related problems including the use of catheters and other devices in the management of bladder dysfunction.

Registration for Innovating for Continence 2017 is now open and submission of abstracts for the conference Poster Session are currently being accepted for review. Up-to-date information about the conference can be located on the conference website at http://www.innovatingforcontinence.org.

About the Simon Foundation for Continence

The Simon Foundation for Continence (http://www.simonfoundation.org), located in Chicago, Illinois, USA, is a 501(c)(3) corporation whose mission is: to bring the topic of incontinence into the open; remove the stigma associated with incontinence; and provide help and hope to individuals with incontinence, their families, and the professionals who provide their care. The Simon Foundation for Continence is the worlds oldest patient-led organization devoted exclusively to incontinence, having been founded in 1982. The Foundations mission is supported by an Advisory Board of professionals, many of whom have dedicated their careers to improving the clinical treatment of incontinence and advancing medical science through bladder and bowel research.
SynEdge - Improving content delivery worldwide SynEdge and G-Core partnering together will improve the quality of the CDN worldwide.

A partnership deal has been signed between the fourth-generation content delivery network SynEdge and G-Core, a global IT solutions provider. Uniting the two companies and their points of presence (PoPs) across the globe will provide faster and more reliable content delivery network (CDN) services to their customers worldwide.

SynEdge are dedicated to making the internet faster and more reliable for end users on mobile and desktop devices. Done by caching website information in servers spread across the globe, the information is moved closer to end users the world over via cutting-edge technology.

G-Core offers a wide range of services, including managed hosting, CDN, peering networks, and different levels of support, from smart hands to DDoS protection to advice on local regulations, and more. G-Core has three main cornerstones: low latency, high availability and constant cost optimisation.

Today, G-Core CDN covers all the major established and fast growing online markets. Its superior service in Eastern Europe and Russia will contribute to a beneficial partnership with SynEdge in the West. This will connect the East and West, and improve the quality of the CDN worldwide.

We are excited to team up with G-Core after the company conducted intensive market research and testing to find the best performance against reasonable costs, said Michel Hazen, COO of SynEdge. Given the high technical demands of G-Core, collaborating with them is proof of having the fastest tech in the industry, and its a privilege to partner with them.

The SynEdge CDN has been designed by a team with an extensive history in content delivery networks, offering a transparent, intelligent and cost-effective solution. The cutting-edge technology from SynEdge results in a smaller footprint and higher throughput due to less moving parts, so their customers can always be assured they are receiving the benefit of technology at the forefront of the industry.

We are pleased to form a strategic partnership with SynEdge, said Dmitry Samoshkin, Head of Global Distribution Platform at G-Core. The SynEdge CDN has excellent coverage in the US and Europe. In turn, the G-Core CDN holds leading positions in Russia and the CIS, and also has PoPs in the rest of the world. By combining the points of presence of both companies across the globe, we will improve the quality of CDN services to our customers, and will become one of the highest performing CDNs in the market.

Any current and future customers of both SynEdge and G-Core will be able to take advantage of the benefit that the partnership between the two companies brings. G-Cores PoPs in Eastern Europe and Russia now allowing current and future SynEdge customers to meet the needs of their consumers in these areas. This beneficial partnership will bring an exceptional content delivery network all over the world.

###

About G-Core

G-Core is a Luxembourg-based global IT solutions provider offering a wide range of services, including managed hosting, CDN, peering network, and different levels of support, from smart hands to DDoS protection to advice on local regulations, and more. Initially developed to support online gaming, G-Core has three main cornerstones: low latency, high availability and constant cost optimization. Today, G-Core CDN covers all the major established and fast growing online markets. It is the fastest and leading CDN in Eastern Europe and Russia, which has PoPs in the rest of the world.

Official website:

http://www.gcore.lu

About SynEdge

The SynEdge CDN has been designed by a team with an extensive history in content delivery networks, offering a transparent, intelligent and cost-effective solution.

SynEdge are dedicated to making the internet faster and more reliable for end users on mobile and desktop devices. Done by caching website information in servers spread across the globe, the information is moved closer to end-users the world over via cutting-edge technology.

Official website:

http://www.synedge.com
Guidos Fresh Marketplace, a regional independent quality food retailer, and Dynamic Energy, a turnkey solar project builder, have begun construction on a 385kW solar project on two acres adjacent to Guidos store in Great Barrington, MA. The project will be supported by the Massachusetts SREC II solar incentive program, managed by the MA Department of Energy Resources.

This project will help Guidos meet our sustainability goals. Massachusetts has been very supportive of solar and these projects will also help us to save money on utility costs, so its worth the effort, said Matt Masiero, co-founder and President of Guidos. We chose Dynamic to get these projects built, because of their track record, local presence, experience with installations like ours, and experience in Massachusetts.

Dynamic has been very active in Massachusetts, with over 20MW of projects installed and in process, including this exciting project with Guidos. It has been a pleasure to work with Guidos, and to be building a cleaner future for us all, said Mike Perillo, CEO of Dynamic.

About Guidos Fresh Marketplace

Guidos Fresh Marketplace, founded in 1979, is a family-owned, independent grocery store with locations in Pittsfield and Great Barrington, Massachusetts. Four additional locally-owned businesses also operate within Guidos: Bella Flora, Mazzeos Meat and Seafood, The Chefs Shop, and The Marketplace Specialty Foods in Great Barrington.

For more information, please visit http://www.guidosfreshmarketplace.com or follow Guidos on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Guidos is located at 1020 South St., Pittsfield, MA, and 760 S. Main St., Great Barrington, MA.

About Dynamic Energy

Dynamic Energy, founded in 2007, is a turnkey energy solutions provider that develops, finances, engineers, constructs and operates projects for corporate, industrial and institutional customers. Dynamic builds energy projects that reduce customer expenses, improve operating efficiency, provide an attractive return on investment and achieve sustainability goals. For more information please visit http://www.dynamicenergyusa.com or call 1-877-809-8884.
Van Gogh's Grave It is a great honor to join Dominique in this project. To restore this site and the peaceful rest of the brothers is in many ways the greatest gift that lovers of Van Gogh can give him in thanks for his legacy in the world of art.

Fifteen miles outside of Paris, in the village of Auvers-sur-Oise, is the final resting place of Vincent and Theo Van Gogh  brothers famously devoted to one another in life. Yet, in the aftermath of extensive flooding in October 2015, these monuments of the art world, visited by a quarter million individuals from around the world each year, are crumbling due to water infiltration.

The Institut Van Gogh, a French nonprofit organization dedicated to preserving the culture and memory of Van Gogh during his time in Auvers-sur-Oise, is announcing its intention to raise $1.4 million, in partnership with Faircom New York, to preserve this important site for generations.

In the words of Institut Van Gogh President Dominique Janssen, Van Gogh gave so much  artistic treasures beloved and admired by millions  to everyone. For the first time, people can do something for him. Faircom New York is proud to be partnering with Dominique and the Institut Van Gogh as we give back to one of the worlds most talented and revered artists.

Van Gogh spent his final weeks in Auvers-sur-Oise, producing nearly 70 of his most recognizable oils. It was at the local village inn that he shot himself. Upon the news of his attempt, Theo rushed to his brothers side, spending two days with Vincent before he passed away.

Today, the inn is known as the House of Van Gogh, the permanent site of the Institut Van Gogh and the worlds smallest museum  Van Goghs room number five, measuring only seven square meters. Faircom New York has worked with the Institut Van Gogh previously to raise funds around other restoration efforts.

Building from a mandate to preserve Van Goghs final home and the artists legacy in Auvers-sur-Oise, the funds raised by the Institut and Faircom New York will repair the brothers gravesite, as well as the roof, frame and foundation of the neighboring church, the subject of Van Goghs June 1890 painting The Church at Auvers.

In considering the significance of this endeavor, Janssen explains: In his own life, Vincent struggled but was sustained in his path as an artist by his brother. This was the central relationship of his life, and their closeness led Theos wife to reinter him alongside his brother in Auvers. She understood very clearly how important it was that the brothers, in her words, rest side by side in the little cemetery amid the wheat fields of Auvers.

Corinne Servily, Founder and President of Faircom New York, state: It is a great honor to join Dominique in this project. To restore this site and the peaceful rest of the brothers is in many ways the greatest gift that lovers of Van Gogh can give him in thanks for his legacy in the world of art.

Institut Van Gogh is a non-profit organization created in 1987. Working alongside a world-wide network of experts in the museum field, the Institut works to conserve the Auberge Ravoux and the cultural program relating to Van Goghs room, preserve the environment of Auvers-sur-Oise which inspired the last masterpieces of the artist, and support research on the life of Van Gogh.

Faircom New York is an international fundraising and marketing agency that works with nonprofit organizations of varying breadth, depth, mission and size. With over 20 years of experience in fundraising and marketing, Faircom New York is committed to helping charitable organizations extend their reach through an integrated and innovative approach.

For press inquiries, please call Faircom New York at 212.727.3
As sperm and egg experts, ASRM allows us to educate the marketplace on the innovations we provide within the reproductive industry.

Cryos International  USA announces it will commence sales of its inventory of retrieved eggs to doctors and clients for recipients, just six months after opening the first free-standing, independent donor egg bank in the United States.

I always planned on opening an egg bank in the United States, said Ole Schou, Founder and CEO of Cryos International. I never dreamed in this short amount of time we would have retrieved eggs from 50 diverse donors, with 75 egg donors anticipated by the end of the year.

This announcement corresponds to Cryos attending the American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM) Expo in Utah from October 15  19, 2016. As the worlds largest sperm bank and with the new egg bank offerings, Cryos hopes to work with attending healthcare providers and clinics to help patients achieve parenthood.

As sperm and egg experts, ASRM allows us to educate the marketplace on the innovations we provide within the reproductive industry, said Angel Tillis, Vice President of Cryos USA. The show also gives us the opportunity for business development; speaking with attendees about mutually beneficially relationships that can help patients achieve their dreams of parenthood.

In 2015, Cryos opened the U.S. sperm bank headquarters in Orlando, Florida. The local response was overwhelming. With sperm donations exceeding expectations, Cryos was able to open its free-standing, independent donor egg bank with a full embryology lab and office surgery center months ahead of schedule.

The demand for donor eggs has become greater than the supply due to reasons, including heterosexual couples unable to conceive naturally, single women waiting until later in life to have children and demand from the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community. Cryos egg bank gives women the chance to provide the gift of life to deserving people in the community and throughout the country.

Cryos will soon offer fertility preservation for women who choose to postpone parenthood.

Right now, its very common for women to freeze their eggs, said Tillis. Tech giants, such as Facebook and Apple, now offer egg-freezing to female employees as part of their benefits packages. We aim to support women making that decision through our fertility preservation efforts.

If youre attending ASRM and would like to speak with Cryos, visit us at booth 525 or schedule a meeting, http://donors.cryos.info/asrm2016/.

For questions regarding Cryos donation and screening policies, please visit usa.cryosinternational.com or call 407-203-1175.

About Cryos International

With 30 years experience and delivering to more than 80 countries, Cryos International  USA is a trusted industry leader. As the worlds largest sperm bank, and first free-standing, independent egg bank in the United States, Cryos aims to ensure a wide selection of high-quality, extensively screened donor sperm and eggs from all races, ethnicities and phenotypes. An extensive network of clients and medical institutions worldwide has helped Cryos achieve the highest number of registered pregnancies in the world assisted by donor sperm. To Cryos, high quality and professional service has always ranked as the most important issue in our relations with clients. Cryos continuously works hard on improving and expanding its services. To Cryos  its personal.

For more information about Cryos International, visit usa.cryosinternational.com.
EmpowerMX EmpowerMX leads the digital transformation in the aviation and MRO industry.

Empower MX, the leading software platform for intelligent and proactive aircraft maintenance, today announced an expansion of its senior leadership team.

Mark Schulz has joined the company as its Senior Vice President for Worldwide Sales, and Sherilyn Segrest has joined the company as its Vice President of Product and Customer Support.

Schulz will apply his extensive sales experience to develop new business opportunities and offer customized solutions for their customers in the global aviation industry.

We are excited to welcome Mark into our team, said EmpowerMX President and CEO Dinakara Nagalla. His depth and breadth of experience in the airline industry will help propel our company forward as we expand in the coming years.

Segrest will be directly responsible for all customer support activities and current customer sales including product management, integrations and sales of new product modules.

We believe that Segrests strong business and technical acumen will be put to great use as we ramp up in the coming years, said Nagalla. She is a visionary who is able to skillfully translate company strategy into great products.

Prior to joining EmpowerMX, Schulz secured multi-million dollars in new revenue for Boeing year over year. He was responsible for developing new strategies for customer collaboration in the selling of Boeings Digital Aviation portfolio, along with new product offerings in the companys IT/Cyber Security, Flight Operations and Maintenance Consulting Practices.

Prior to joining EmpowerMX, Segrest worked at Boeing as a program and portfolio manager for Toolbox mobile apps, constructing the vision, team, product direction and customer engagement for the mobile suite built for mechanics. Most recently, she ran the business and commercial development for GoldCare, one of Boeing's fastest growing business units, where she led her team to close the biggest deal in Boeing's after-market history. Prior to Boeing, she spent a decade with Southwest Airlines, leading software implementations for maintenance and engineering.

As the worlds airline fleet is projected to grow from 23,000 today to 44,500 by the year 2033, aircraft operators will need to employ optimized solutions to keep up with fleet turnover, new technologies, and changing customer expectations, said Schulz. We are here to ensure that airlines and maintenance operators have the solutions they need to streamline their operations, minimize costs, and optimize their processes.

Schulz graduated from Purdue University with a degree in Aviation Technology. He received his MBA from the University of Denvers Daniels School of Business. He is also a certified Airframe and Powerplant Mechanic and a licensed Commercial Instrument Multiengine Pilot.

Segrest holds a Bachelors degree in Business Administration from Baylor University and an MBA from the University of Washington, and brings over 10 years of senior leadership experience in the aviation technology world, leading implementations for maintenance and engineering.

About EmpowerMX

EmpowerMX is a world leader in providing intelligent maintenance solutions for todays aircraft. Its FleetCycle software solution with its modules enables customers to significantly improve their entire maintenance operation. Founded in 1999 and headquartered in Dallas, Texas, with offices in Europe and Far East, EmpowerMX is uniquely focused on the aircraft maintenance industry and is managed by aviation maintenance experts. To learn more, visit http://www.empowermx.com.
The Institute for Freedom & Community at St. Olaf College will host Whos in Your Wallet? Hamilton, Jackson, Tubman, and the Presidential Election on October 20 as part of The Institutes 2016-17 event series. This event is free, open to the public and hosted at St. Olaf College, located 45 minutes south of the Twin Cities.

Whos in Your Wallet?

Thursday, October 20, 2016

7 p.m.  8:30 p.m.

Tomson Hall 280

St. Olaf College, 1520 St. Olaf Avenue, Northfield, Minn.

Whos in Your Wallet? will address the controversy over faces on the fronts of the $10 and $20 bills, which provides an interesting backdrop on how we think about the 2016 presidential election and broader issues in American society. A panel of three visiting speakers, Michael Federici, Michael Lind, and Margaret Washington, will address elements of the election from Jacksonian, Hamiltonian, and Tubmanian perspectives.

Michael Federici is professor of political science at Mercyhurst University and department chair. One of his more recent books, The Political Philosophy of Alexander Hamilton, goes beyond the analyses of Hamilton that pit him as a monarchist, elitist, and proto-nationalist thinker and instead, looks at how Hamiltons political philosophy was misunderstood. Federici received his Ph.D. and M.A. from The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., and his B.S. in economics from Elizabethtown College.

Michael Linds most recent book, Land of Promise: An Economic History of the United States, dives into his knowledge on topics from Jackson, Hamilton, and Lincolns America with a view to their relevance in the current presidential election. Lind is policy director of The Economic Growth Program as well as a co-founder of New America, a think tank and civic enterprise. He became New Americas first fellow in 1999. A graduate of the University of Texas and Yale University, Lind has taught at Harvard and Johns Hopkins and has been an editor and staff writer for The New Yorker, Harpers, The New Republic, and The National Interest. He is a columnist for Salon and writes frequently for The New York Times and The Financial Times.

Margaret Washington is a professor of history at Cornell University where she specializes in African American history and culture, African American women, and Southern history, including Sojourner Truth and Harriet Tubman. She is one of the foremost authorities on the black experience. Washingtons most recent major work, Sojourner Truths America, unravels Sojourner Truths world within the broader panorama of American history, slavery, and other significant reforms in the turbulent age of Abraham Lincoln. Washington holds a B.A. from California State University, Sacramento, an M.A. from New York University, and a Ph.D. from the University of California, Davis.

The speakers will address elements of the current election that reflect at least one of the following: (1) an Andrew Jacksonian dimension (e.g., populism and democracy, distrust of central government, distrust of banks or high finance, strong federal executive in practice, ethnocentrism, nativism, indigenous rights); (2) an Alexander Hamiltonian dimension (e.g., faith in banks and high finance, energetic federal executive, strong central government, cooperation between government and industry, meritocracy and distrust of popular democracy, anti-racism, anti-slavery, pro- immigration); (3) a Harriet Tubmanian dimension (e.g., gender, race, freedom, equality, basic human rights).

For more information, visit institute.stolaf.edu.

About The Institute

The Institute for Freedom & Community was established at St. Olaf College, a private liberal arts college, in 2015 to encourage free inquiry and meaningful debate of important political and social issues. The Institute programs, including coursework, Public Affairs Conversation, public affairs internships and public lectures, aim to challenge assumptions, question easy answers, and foster constructive, respectful dialogue among those with differing values and contending points of view.

About St. Olaf College

One of the nations leading liberal arts colleges, St. Olaf College offers a distinctive education grounded in academic rigor, residential learning, global engagement, and a vibrant Lutheran faith tradition. By cultivating the habits of mind and heart that enable graduates to lead lives of financial independence, professional accomplishment, personal fulfillment, and community engagement, St. Olaf College provides an uncommon educational experience that fully prepares students to make a meaningful difference in a changing world.
Advantage/E-Z Rent A Car "AEZ is proud and excited to be opening at Philadelphia International Airport, said Scott Davido, president of AEZ. This latest location is a strategic choice designed to accelerate the companys growth and increase our national footprint.

Advantage Rent A Car, operator of the Advantage and EZ brands (AEZ), is proud to announce the opening of the companys new rental car location at Philadelphia International Airport (PHL).

AEZ is proud and excited to be opening at Philadelphia International Airport, said Scott Davido, president of AEZ. This latest location is a strategic choice designed to accelerate the companys growth and increase our national footprint.

Philadelphia also is a significant hub for us because it handles a large amount of inbound European traffic, making it a major gateway city for our partner rental company, Europcar.

PHL is the only major airport serving the nation's fifth largest metropolitan area. PHL serves more than 31 million passengers annually and accommodates 25 airlines, including all major domestic carriers, which offer 524 daily departures to 131 destinations worldwide. With the PHL opening, AEZ now serves 23 of the 25 largest airports in the U.S. When considering total traffic at the nations top 100 airports, AEZ will have access to 75 percent of the deplaning passengers.

Having a presence in the City of Brotherly Love is a superior business opportunity for AEZ, Davido said, one that allows us to continue to exceed our customers needs and expectations and deliver a rewarding travel experience.

About AEZ

AEZ, operating through its Advantage and EZ brands, is the fourth largest car rental company in the United States. A leader in the industry, AEZ is active nationwide with 74 locations in 44 markets, including 23 of the 25 nations largest airports, and globally through its partnership with Europcar. AEZ draws on the strength of its combined companies to deliver superior service, choice and value for its customers.

For more information, visit Advantage.com or E-ZRentACar.com, or engage with AEZ on Facebook and Twitter.
l to r: David Scovel, Rear Admiral Shoshana Chatfield, Robin Gadbilao, Britney Gardner, Joshua Barrett, Vice Admiral John Christenson, Teresa Christenson, Dana Hood, and Derrick Hood.

Andrews Federal Credit Union was a sponsor of the 2016 Joint Ball at the Abbaye de Villers, in Villers-la-Ville, Belgium. The Joint Ball, a joint venture by the Air Force and Navy personnel stationed at Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE), is a great example of the two services working together for a common purpose. The event was hosted by Vice Admiral John Christenson, with the theme being Come Fly with Me, which highlighted the roll of aviation in the Air Force and the Navy.

The speaker for the evening, Rear Admiral Shoshana Chatfield, spoke about her career of flying Helicopters in the Navy. She stated, Nothing quite describes the feeling of soaring through the sky, gliding along the clouds with no one around, and of course, a great Navigator to guide you.

It is a privilege to be part of such a great community and to be able to provide support towards this great event, said Andrews Federal Chievres Branch Manager, Joshua Barrett. This event is not about the sponsors or the speaker, it is about the many Airman, Sailors, Marines and Soldiers that get to take an evening off and have fun, in a beautiful location.

About Andrews Federal Credit Union

Andrews Federal Credit Union was founded in 1948 to serve the needs of military and civilian personnel by providing a vast array of financial products and services. With over $1 billion in assets, Andrews Federal has grown to serve more than 117,000 members in the District of Columbia, Joint Base Andrews (MD), Springfield, Virginia (VA), Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst (NJ), and military installations in central Germany, Belgium, and the Netherlands. In addition, the Credit Union serves as a financial partner with many select employee groups in Maryland, the District of Columbia, and New Jersey.

To learn more about Andrews Federal Credit Union and its community involvement, or to become a member, call 800.487.5500 or visit http://www.andrewsfcu.org.
CapTech's Elevate Summer Internship Program The best part of the internship was the ability to experience the full life cycle of an IT project.

On October 11th, Vault.com released its 2017 Top 50 Internship Rankings and CapTechs Elevate internship was ranked 8th overall in the 50 Top Internships and #2 for Top Consulting Internship. Vaults rankings represent the highest-rated internship programs across a survey pool of more than 100 programs. The survey evaluates college internship programs on quality of life, compensation, career development, and full-time employment prospects.

Elevate, CapTechs summer internship program, provides undergraduates a meaningful immersion into the full lifecycle of a typical IT consulting project over a twelve-week timeframe. Elevate was designed to allow interns the opportunity to experience the many roles consultants play in everyday projects such as analysis, design, development, and deployment of a tool or solution. Interns work in self-led teams and are paired with experienced consultants for evaluation and mentorship. The program provides participants an opportunity to build something that matters with project deliverables that actually create impactful value at CapTech.

In addition to valuable exposure to the consulting industry and hands on experience with exciting new technologies, the program builds in regular interaction with experienced consultants and senior leadership. CapTechs values of fun and quality of life are extended into the program with kickball games, executive lunches, go-karting, and happy hours to name a few. This years interns came from eight premier colleges and universities for Computer Science including Yale, University of Virginia, and the University of Southern California.

Vault surveyed more than 11,600 current and former interns to compile this years results. Vault is a comprehensive resource for job seekers, providing information on employers, industries, interviews, and internships. CapTech will accept internship applications for Summer 2017 starting on November 1, 2016. For more information about the program visit http://www.captechconsulting.com/careers/internship or contact Elevate(at)captechconsulting.com.

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About CapTech: CapTech is a national management consulting firm that bridges the gap between business and technology. CapTech delivers transformation, customer engagement, data & analytics and custom IT solutions for private companies, public companies and government agencies. The company's collaborative approach helps organizations grow their business, engage with customers and turn information into powerful data assets. Headquartered in Richmond, Virginia, CapTech has locations in Atlanta, Baltimore, Charlotte, Chicago, Columbus (Ohio), Denver, Orlando, Philadelphia, San Francisco, and Washington D.C.
We wanted to build something new and powerful for musicians everywhere that has an inherent musical awareness, is intelligently organized and adapts to your personal preferences. (Anthony Hughes; UI/UX designer, Dorico)

Steinberg Media Technologies GmbH today announced the release date of its highly anticipated score writer software, Dorico, scheduled for October 19, 2016.

Four years in the making, the first iteration of Dorico is about to be released. Presenting both aspiring and professional composers, arrangers, music publishers and music teachers with the next-generation music notation software solution, Dorico has been designed by a team of specialized developers and experts to be used by those who consider writing and engraving music their true calling.

Dorico offers an uncluttered single-window user interface for both laptops and studio machines, comprising high-performance tools and versatile page layout options that facilitate an efficient workflow. The graphical output gives attention to the finest intricacies of music engraving, fulfilling the aesthetic demands of the most discerning engravers and publishers. Built from the ground up, Dorico takes advantage of 64-bit multi-core processors to ensure seamless scrolling through the music at all times, and it has been designed with high-pixel density, high-resolution displays in mind. Based on Steinbergs award-winning audio engine, Dorico comes with a host of sumptuous VST instruments and effects, making it not only look and feel good, but sound great as well.

Anthony Hughes, UI/UX designer for Dorico, said, Music is at the heart of our design philosophy for Dorico. We wanted to build something new and powerful for musicians everywhere that has an inherent musical awareness, is intelligently organized and adapts to your personal preferences. We are extremely excited to be making Dorico available and to see what people create with it.

Steinbergs Product Marketing Manager, Daniel Spreadbury, commented: Putting this first release into the hands of musicians worldwide is a huge moment for our team, and its only the beginning. Dorico is already remarkably capable, and we will continue to build on its foundations to make it better and better.

Im immensely proud of what our fantastic team has accomplished in creating Dorico. We've seized the opportunity to reimagine how notation software should work in the 21st century and the results you can achieve in the first release of Dorico are truly amazing, said Ben Timms, head of UK R&D for Dorico.

Visit http://www.steinberg.net/dorico for details on Dorico.

Upcoming events

Steinberg is hosting two events around the release date of Dorico. The first will take place in London, UK, on October 18 while the second is hosted in Vienna, Austria, on October 20. The London-based event will be streamed live through Facebook, YouTube and the Steinberg website. For those who have not registered for the London event, taking place in the evening of October 18, watch the live feed through the Steinberg channels.

Availability and pricing

First announced in May, the full version of Dorico will be available beginning October 19, 2016, for $739.99 (MSRP). Dorico will also be offering educational pricing for qualifying teachers and students, as well as a special limited-time crossgrade offer for qualifying Sibelius, Finale and Notion users.

Features at a glance


A delegation of nearly 200 Georgia-based financial technology (FinTech) and financial services (FinServ) professionals will attend Money 20/20, the worlds largest payments and financial services innovation event, from Oct. 23-26 at The Venetian in Las Vegas. Led by FinTech Atlanta, this Georgian delegation includes more than 20 exhibitors and 25 leaders who will speak at 13 educational sessions on topics ranging from machine learning to checkless checking to lending-as-a-service.

Over the past five years, the shifting legislative landscape combined with evolving technology and consumer expectations brought the previously behind the scenes FinServ/FinTech industry into the spotlight. Metro Atlanta essentially created the payments industry, and today, more than 50 percent of United States FinTech companies are based in the region, including giants such as First Data, NCR, Worldpay, and Equifax. As a result of this density, 70 percent of all debit, credit and gift card transactions that occur in America flow through Atlanta, now dubbed Transaction Alley.

On Oct. 23 from 3:10  4pm, leaders from Atlantas FinTech ecosystem will share how and why the metro region has nurtured its FinTech industry. The panel, entitled Role of Local Governments in Building a Thriving FinTech Ecosystem, will uncover how effective public-private partnerships can support FinTech companies, attract new investment, and create an environment for local growth with global impact. Panelists include Metro Atlanta Chamber (MAC) President & CEO Hala Moddelmog, First Data Executive Vice President Barry McCarthy, Vice Consul for U.K. Department for International Trade Chonchol Gupta, and TruRating CEO and Founder Georgina Nelson. The Wall Street Journals Rachel Witkowski will moderate the panel, which takes place in the San Polo room of the Venetian.

Atlanta is already the worlds FinTech capital, and First Data is proud to be a leader in building Atlantas FinTech brand globally, said McCarthy, who also serves as chair of FinTech Atlanta. FinTech is about commerce enablement. Every business and every consumer every day rely upon FinTech solutions. At First Data we help enable commerce for businesses of all kinds, including exciting startups like truRating.

In addition, on Oct. 25 from 6:30  8:30 p.m., press and tradeshow attendees are invited to Atlantas Transaction Alley Reception. This event will be held at the restaurant db Brasserie, and will serve as a chance for business leaders and guests to mingle and network. There is limited space, and guests can secure their spot by visiting the Transaction Alley Reception event website. The FinTech Atlanta delegation and associated events are curated by the following partners and sponsors: Advanced Technology Development Center (ATDC), American Transaction Processors Coalition (ATPC), City of Alpharetta, Georgia Department of Economic Development, Development Authority of Fulton County, Habif, Arogeti and Wynne (HA&W), Invest Atlanta, MAC, Technology Association of Georgia (TAG), and WNA.

FinTech is one of the tech sectors Where Georgia Leads, with Atlanta being home to more than 100 established and emerging companies, stated Tino Mantella, president and CEO of TAG. Our FinTech ecosystem covers everything from payment processing and digital currencies; to advanced banking technologies and loyalty rewards programs."

Transaction Alley launched Americas payments processing industry yet its companies were content until recently to stay behind the scenes, securely and effectively moving funds between consumers, merchants and financial institutions, said ATPC Executive Director H. West Richards. Atlantas payments processing companies mobilized in response to passage of legislation like Dodd Frank to ensure that their voice was heard by federal, state and local governments considering complex policy issues related to cybersecurity, investment and workforce development that will define FinTechs future, and Americas role in it.

For more information on FinTech Atlantas Money 20/20 events and featured Georgians, please visit http://www.fintechatlanta.org/money2020.

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About FinTech Atlanta

FinTech Atlanta is a coalition of more than 100 organizations, including Fortune 500 companies, startups, universities, and industry associations, all working to cement Atlanta as the recognized global capital of financial technology. The group strives to fund and energize efforts to recruit, retain and expand businesses and jobs across the FinTech ecosystem in metro Atlanta. To learn how metro Atlanta and Georgias FinTech ecosystem is driving more than $30 billion in annual revenues visit http://www.fintechatlanta.org.
We are happy to help such a great cause that will hopefully one day lead to a cure.

Soleil Sotheby's International Realty; a Jersey Shore-based realtor that sells extraordinary homes in Margate, Ventnor, Atlantic City, Longport Borough and surrounding areas; is excited to announce the launch of a new campaign to generate awareness about breast cancer prevention and treatment. For the entire month of October, Soleil Sotheby's International Realty is changing its digital marketing to support breast cancer awareness. All social media channels and email marketing pieces will include some pink element to reaffirm this focus.

"Most of us have been affected by breast cancer in some way. We are happy to help such a great cause that will hopefully one day lead to a cure. At the very least, we hope more people will become aware of preventative measures they can take to make sure they catch the disease at its earliest stages where it's most easily defeated," said Tamy Gluck, Broker and Co-owner of Soleil Sotheby's International Realty.

According to the latest breast cancer statistics, one in eight women will be inflicted with an invasive form of breast cancer in her lifetime. In 2016, there will be an estimated quarter million new cases of invasive breast cancer and another estimated 60,000 new cases of non-invasive breast cancer. Although treatment options have grown over the past decade and less people are dying from breast cancer, there is no cure at this time. National Breast Cancer Awareness Month takes place every October to generate funding and raise awareness on the latest research on prevention and treatment.

Soleil Sotheby's International Realty is proud to be a part of this and many other philanthropic efforts. Learn more about the "pink" campaign and how you can help at http://www.soleilsir.com/pink.

About Soleil Sotheby's International Realty:

Soleil Sothebys International Realty strives to provide every buyer and seller with the most personalized and professional experience in the area. Soleil Sotheby's International Realty's main office down the Jersey Shore services the Margate, Ventnor, Atlantic City, Longport Borough and surrounding areas. Its founders, Tamy and DJ Gluck, along with its entire team of brokers and staff members strive to embody the brand vision of "artfully uniting extraordinary homes with extraordinary lives." Learn more at http://www.soleilsir.com.
Our graduate assistance program provides one-on-one resume and cover letter reviews, personalized interview tutorials, job opening notifications and more; and the individualized support we provide helps graduates turn their education into a career.

Career Step, an online provider of career-focused education and professional training, is pleased to attend the fifth annual Military Spouse Employment Partnership (MSEP) Partner Meeting in Alexandria, Virginia, October 17-18. This collaborative event is designed to shape the future of MSEP with the goal of improving employment and career opportunities for military spouses. Career Step has been an MSEP partner since the program was launched on June 29, 2011, by Dr. Jill Biden.

We are honored to be a member of MSEP and to work with them in reducing the high unemployment rate among military spouses, said Ryan Ewer, Career Step Chief Marketing Officer. In our interactions with thousands of military spouses over the years, we have seen that the challenges are really two-fold: spouses need career education that fits into their unique lifestyles, and they also need to be prepared for jobs that offer opportunities no matter where they are stationed.

The Military Spouse Employment Partnership program, run by the Department of Defense under the umbrella of the Spouse Education and Career Opportunities (SECO) program, provides recruitment and employment opportunities by connecting military spouses and companies. They support all branches of the military including the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force and Coast Guard, by partnering with organizations committed to recruiting, hiring, promoting and retaining military spouses in portable careers. Since MSEPs inception in 2011, partner employers have hired more than 90,000 military spouses.

Career Steps career-focused education approach is an excellent fit with the MSEP mission, said Tim Reynolds, Career Step Military Liaison. Our graduate assistance program provides one-on-one resume and cover letter reviews, personalized interview tutorials, job opening notifications and more; and the individualized support we provide helps graduates turn their education into a career. As a result, 84% of Career Step graduates find employment in their field of study, and since we are a MyCAA-approved school, military spouses can graduate debt-free.

Career Step has trained more than 15,000 military spouses and service members over the years, and the school has been recognized as a Military Friendly School for six years in a row. In addition to being an original member of the MSEP program, Career Step is a MyCAA-approved school and offers quarterly scholarships for military spouses in partnership with the National Military Family Association.

About Career Step

Career Step is an online provider of career-focused education and professional training. The company has trained over 100,000 students for new careers, has more than 150 partnerships with colleges and universities nationwide, offers a variety of continuing education courses for healthcare professionals and has educated more than 8,000 health information professionals through its Professional Training Division. Career Step provides training for several of the largest and most respected healthcare employers in the nation and is committed to helping students and practicing healthcare professionals alike gain the skills they need to be successful in the workplaceimproving lives, advancing careers and bettering business results through education. More information can be found at http://www.careerstep.com or 1-800-246-7836.
Moran Family of Brands, one of the nations leading franchises of general automotive repair, transmission repair, window tinting and driver safety products, recently held its 2016 convention with an extensive collection of speakers and presentations designed to educate franchisees and develop business operations throughout the system.

The conference was held September 29  October 1 at the Marriott Riverwalk Hotel in San Antonio, TX. The Moran Family of Brands executive team and franchisees from around the country attended the convention to take part in several days of educational and networking sessions. The event also included guest speakers, presenters and vendor partners who provided their suggestions and insights on the industry. It was Morans first convention since 2007.

Nancy Friedman, known as the Telephone Doctor, served as the keynote speaker to kick off the convention. Friedman, who is one of the most popular speakers in the automotive industry, discussed the importance of customer service and communication in daily operations. Her address was followed by two education sessions featuring Moran officials, franchisees and industry professionals that examined topical issues and best practices in areas such as customer retention, management techniques and marketing strategies.

The second day of the convention featured a panel discussion of Moran franchisees, educational sessions and roundtable presentations. In each session, franchisees were able to learn about the top trends and topics affecting the industry and share with peers their thoughts on growing their business. There was also an exhibit show in which franchisees received the opportunity to network with exhibitors and review some of the top products and resources to use for their stores.

It was wonderful to be able to see many of our franchisees and have very productive sessions in which they could learn some of the best ways to improve their business, said Peter Baldine, President of Moran Family of Brands. Our convention committee worked very hard to plan and organize this program, and we were extremely pleased with the discussions and sharing of ideas that took place among the franchisees in attendance.

The convention concluded with an awards gala that recognized Moran Family of Brands 2016 Franchisees of the Year winners. Lowell and Cindy Hester (Mr. Transmission), Al Martin (Milex/Multistate) and Greg and Patti Goodman (Alta Mere) were all formally presented with their awards at the gala event on the final night of the convention.

###

About Moran Family of Brands:

Moran Family of Brands is one of the nations leading franchisors of general automotive repair, transmission repair and automotive accessory centers. Based in Midlothian, Illinois, Moran Family of Brands provides specialty products and services in virtually every aspect of the automotive aftermarket through four individual brands and a total of more than 120 franchise locations nationwide including: Mr. Transmission, The Professionals; Alta Mere The Automotive Outfitters; Milex Complete Auto Care centers and SmartView Window Solutions. For more information on Moran Family of Brands visit http://www.moranfamilyofbrands.com.
Due to ongoing commitments with the blog we have to be quite strict about what we will and won't review. Sadly at this time we cannot accept Vanity Press or Self Published Works, please DO NOT mail us requesting that we review it as refusal may offend and sadly shows that you have not even taken the time to read these simple guidelines.

Release dates are subject to change and are based on the Press Release and whilst we try to review as many titles as we can, we cannot always promise to do so..

Recent additions now mean we can review E-Books.
Our employees are truly our greatest asset and our corporate health strategy will always be focused on helping them to improve their overall well-being.

Gilsbar is honored to be the recipient of the prestigious Healthiest 100 Workplaces in America Award. This award is the highest, most-coveted distinction, with only 100 companies in the US earning the designation each year. The complete list of this years winners is available at http://healthiest100.com/pages/award/2016-winners/, with Gilsbar placing 54th overall.

Doug Layman, Gilsbars President of Health & Life, said Our employees are truly our greatest asset and our corporate health strategy will always be focused on helping them to improve their overall well-being. We are very honored to be recognized as one of America's Healthiest Employers!

Employers across the country are making remarkable strides in worksite health and were excited to partner with the EHBC to highlight their successes at the Annual Employer Healthcare & Benefits Congress, said Phil Daniels, co-founder of the Healthiest Employer Award Program.

To be considered for this honorable award, Gilsbar was scored via a 1-100 metric that examines six critical elements of workplace wellness:



Culture and leadership commitment

Foundational components

Annual planning

Communications and marketing

Programming and interventions

Reporting and analysis

We are proud to host the H100 Healthiest Employer Awards Ceremony to honor employers who are true pioneers in the corporate wellness industry and we are excited to have the opportunity to reward them for their dedication to employee wellness, said Jonathan Edelheit, JD, President and CEO, The Corporate Health & Wellness Association.

On September 26, 2016, before 3,000 attendees from over 100 countries, Gilsbar was awarded this honor during the 8th Annual Employer Healthcare & Benefits Congress in Washington, D.C.

###

About Gilsbar, LLC

Established in 1959, Gilsbar, LLC is one of the largest privately-held insurance services organizations in the country. Recognized as a catalyst for creating healthy businesses, Gilsbar, LLC offers self-funded and fully-insured benefit plan management services, along with Wellness, Advocacy, and overall Population Health Management. Gilsbar, LLCs integrated delivery model improves the health and well-being of its members, resulting in significant health plan savings for its clients.

Gilsbar, LLC has been honored by Inc. magazine for its sustained growth, Modern Healthcare and Business Insurance magazines as a Best Place to Work, and WELCOA and the American Heart Association for its proven wellness methodology.

For more information, visit http://www.Gilsbar.com.

About Healthiest Employers

The Healthiest Employers is the nations leading worksite wellness recognition program, with participation from over 18,000 employers that represent 60 million employee lives. Through the Springbuk health analytics platform, Healthiest Employer enables employers to unify health data, target engagement and improve outcomes in their population. Learn more at http://www.HealthiestEmployers.com and http://www.Springbuk.com.

About The Annual Employer Healthcare & Benefits Congress (EHBC)

The EHBC is the annual conference for the Corporate Health & Wellness Association and is the largest employer conference in the world that is focused on wellness in the workplace. The 2017 EHBC will be taking place in Los Angeles, California, October 2  4, 2017. Attendance at the upcoming event will bring 2500+ industry professionals together for three days of networking, collaboration and education. The EHBC provides intense, advanced education through successful and practical case studies presented by the worlds leading employer groups. As a passionate industry change leader, the EHBCs pursuit is to energize opportunity and increase professional advancement. Learn more at http://www.EmployerHealthcareCongress.com.
Peppercomm is proud to announce its inclusion on the 50 Best Small Workplaces by Great Place to Work and Fortune. The strategic communications and marketing firm was ranked #23 based upon feedback from employees who completed an anonymous Trust Index survey. This marks Peppercomms fifth major honor for workplace excellence in 2016.

A great place to work is one that supports all aspects of your life, regardless of who you are, said Morgan Salinger, Senior Manager, Client Relationships at Pepppercomm. I consider myself lucky to have found a place like Peppercomm, where Im surrounded by colleagues who are not only supportive, but who encourage me to pursue what Im most passionate about.

More than 52,000 employees at Great Place to WorkCertified companies were evaluated for the ranking. Peppercomm was named among some of the most innovative companies, based on employees responses about the ingredients for a great workplace. Some responses included an assessment of the degree of support for employees personal and professional lives and the authenticity of relationships with colleagues. Peppercomms Great Place to Work review highlights a number of unique perks and programs that contribute to the companys culture, including flexible work arrangements, a day off on your birthday and training for all employees on stand-up comedy.

The hallmark of any great organization is a workplace that prizes people above all else. We are thrilled, and humbled, to be among the few organizations Fortune and the Great Place to Work Institute chose to select as a best practice, said Steve Cody, CEO and co-founder of Peppercomm. This honor reinforces our single-minded obsession to be THE employer of choice in our field.

Earlier this year, Peppercomm was ranked as one of the 10 Best Workplaces in Advertising & Marketing and as one of the 50 Best Workplaces for Recent College Graduates by Great Place to Work and Fortune. The firm also ranked for the second consecutive year as one of Great Place to Work and Fortunes Best Workplaces for Women in 2016. Additionally, this year, Peppercomm was named The Holmes Report Corporate/B2B Agency of the Year and took the No. 1 spot on Crains New York Business Best Places to Work list in 2012.

Theres a generosity of spirit that infuses the Best Small and Medium workplacesone that has a measurable return, said Kim Peters, Executive Vice President of Great Place to Work. Whether its funding employee passion projects or giving surprise gifts to customers, the best workplaces give it away. And they get it back in the form of inspired people who innovate harder and generate higher revenue.

Several companies ranked alongside Peppercomm include AgileCraft, First Orion and Wisetail. The 50 Best Small and Medium Workplaces is one of a series of rankings by Great Place to Work and Fortune based on employee survey feedback from Great Place to Work-Certified organizations. Peppercomms individual profile can be accessed at reviews.greatplacetowork.com/peppercomm.

# # #

About Peppercomm

Helping clients see around the corner and determine whats next, sets Peppercomm apart from other integrated communications and marketing firms. It enables us to push boundaries while mitigating risk for clients in financial services, consumer, B-to-B and multi-industry sectors. Our unique approach and dynamic workplace attract the best talent who, in turn, help us win and retain the best clients. While weve won countless awards, were most proud of being named Best Place to Work in New York City by Crains New York Business and a Best Workplace for Women by Great Place to Work and Fortune. We were founded in 1995 and maintain headquarters in New York, with offices in London and San Francisco. To learn more, please visit http://www.peppercomm.com. Find us on Facebook or via @Peppercomm on Twitter/Instagram.

ABOUT THE BEST SMALL & MEDIUM WORKPLACES

Published together with our partner, Fortune, the Best Small & Medium Workplaces rankings are based entirely upon feedback from more than 52,000 employees at Great Place to WorkCertified companies. Employees 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 the honesty and quality of communication by managers, degree of support for employees' personal and professional lives and the authenticity of relationships with colleagues.

Results from the survey are highly reliable, having a 95% confidence level and a margin of error of 5% or less. Winning a spot on this list indicates the company has distinguished itself from peers by creating a great place to work for all  not only do the majority of their employees experience the company as a great place to work, but this experience is consistent across the organization, regardless of gender, race/ethnicity, job role, or other personal characteristics. The companies with the highest employee ratings compared with organizations of the same complexity in size and scope were selected for the list. Companies with fewer than 100 employees compete for placement on the 50 Best Small Workplaces list, and companies between 100 and 999 employees compete for placement on the 100 Best Medium Workplaces 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 and over a half dozen different industries.

Follow Great Place to Work online at http://www.greatplacetowork.com and on Twitter at @GPTW_US.
Artists rendering of ticket vending machine at Staples Mill Station

The GRTC Transit System, formally known as the Greater Richmond Transit Company, in Richmond, Virginia approved a contract in August for its new fare collection system for the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) System also known as the GRTC Pulse. This new 7.6 mile line with 14 stations is the first BRT line in Richmond. It will serve over 33,000 residents and over 77,000 workers within a half-mile radius of the new line. The fare collection system will consist of 30 ticket vending machines and 10 handheld validation devices, all networked to the FareGo Data fare management system.

This new system will be a significant step forward in fare collection technology while maintaining backward compatibility for the existing infrastructure. Scheidt & Bachmann will be deploying the latest smart card based fare media technology. The system will also accept and process magnetic fare and barcode media currently in use on GRTCs legacy bus fare collection system operating on non-BRT portions of their transit system, previously provided by a separate vendor. GRTC is committed to providing a variety of ways for customers to purchase fare media and choose the pass thats right for them. Once the TVMs are installed at Pulse stations, riders will have another convenient choice to purchase fare media and connect with destinations, both on the Pulse and connecting GRTC routes. This system will provide significant scalability and flexibility to grow as GRTC continues to expand both its service and breadth of fare solutions to its ridership.

GRTC Chief Executive Officer David Green says, Introducing off-board fare collection with next-generation technology will elevate GRTCs fare media transactions to the next level and improve the customer experience. Scheidt & Bachmann TVMs have the capabilities we know will further our commitment to responding to the needs of the communities we serve and improve our service.

Scheidt & Bachmann USA, Inc. is a leading provider of Fare Collection Systems and Services for mass transit. The company has provided complex transportation solutions for 140 years and specifically for the past 30 years in the fare collection industry. Core business activities include manufacturing, integrating, deploying, servicing and hosting Ticket Vending Machines, Fareboxes, Faregates, Validators, POS, Handheld Devices, Parking Solutions and Centralized Data Systems. Scheidt & Bachmanns U.S. headquarters are located in Lowell, MA. With 24 subsidiaries across the globe, Scheidt & Bachmann has over 2,800 employees worldwide and has an unwavering commitment to the long term success of our customers. For more information, visit Scheidt & Bachmann's website at http://www.scheidt-bachmann.com.
AIM Solder, a leading global manufacturer of solder assembly materials for the electronics industry, will highlight their innovative M8 No Clean Solder Paste along with their full line of solder assembly materials at the SMTA New England Expo & Tech Forum, scheduled to take place November 3rd, 2016 at the DCU Center in Worcester, Massachusetts.

M8 No Clean Solder Paste has been formulated to improve production yields and product quality, whether printing 0.50 area ratios or eliminating voiding on QFN and LED packages. M8's post-reflow residue passes all IPC, BONO and tough changing environment test specifications, making it the ideal choice for automotive and high performance/high reliability applications.

Additionally, AIMs R&D Manager, Dr. Mehran Maalekian, will be presenting at the SMTA New England Expo & Tech Forum on November 3rd, 2016. Dr. Maalekians presentation, New Pb-free Alloys for Improved Reliability  Latest Results, explores the use of a novel high reliability lead-free solder alloy, that contrary to the commonly used SAC305, can perform in harsh service conditions and provides superior creep resistance and mechanical properties for high reliability applications.

Dr. Mehran Maalekian received his PhD with distinction from Graz University of Technology, Austria in 2007. Through his long research career he has published and presented numerous scientific and technical papers on physical metallurgy, materials modeling, welding and soldering, including a chapter of the ASM Int. Handbook. Dr. Maalekian has won a number of national and international awards, such as from the International Institute of Welding. He serves as a reviewer of several scientific journals and is on the editorial board of Science and Technology of Welding and Joining.

To discover all of AIMs products and services, visit the company at the SMTA New England Expo & Tech Forum.

About AIM

Headquartered in Montreal, Canada, AIM Solder is a leading global manufacturer of assembly materials for the electronics industry with manufacturing, distribution and support facilities located throughout the world. AIM produces advanced solder products such as solder paste, liquid flux, cored wire, bar solder, epoxies, lead-free and halogen-free solder products, preforms, and specialty alloys such as indium and gold for a broad range of industries. A recipient of many prestigious SMT industry awards, AIM is strongly committed to innovative research and development of product and process improvement as well as providing customers with superior technical support, service and training. For more information about AIM, visit http://www.aimsolder.com.

Upcoming Events:

October 19, 2016  SMTA Long Island  Islandia, NY
Libertarian presidential candidate and former governor of New Mexico Gary Johnson will speak at Liberty Universitys Convocation on Monday, Oct. 17, beginning at 10:30 a.m. EST. Johnson joins a long and impressive list of presidential and vice presidential candidates to speak at Liberty  among them, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, Republican vice presidential candidate Mike Pence, and presidential candidates Ben Carson, Ted Cruz, and Bernie Sanders.

After Governor Johnson speaks, he will participate in a Q and A session. Liberty students will provide many of the questions. Governor Johnson is polling between 6 and 9 percent nationwide and is set to receive the highest vote total of any Libertarian presidential candidate in history. He will also be the first Libertarian candidate to have his name on the ballot in every state.

Any media who wish to cover Governor Johnsons trip to Liberty University must contact Len Stevens, executive director of external communications, at ljstevens(at)liberty.edu.

About Liberty University

Liberty University, founded in 1971, is the largest private, nonprofit university in the nation, the largest university in Virginia, and the largest Christian university in the world. Located near the Blue Ridge Mountains on more than 7,000 acres in Lynchburg, Va., Liberty offers more than 500 unique programs of study from the certificate to the doctoral level. More than 250 programs are offered online. Libertys mission is to train Champions for Christ with the values, knowledge, and skills essential for impacting tomorrows world.
We are extremely pleased to be selected to support Modernas Phase 1/2 clinical GMP manufacturing needs for its personalized cancer vaccines.

Catalent Pharma Solutions, a leading global provider of advanced delivery technologies and development solutions for drugs, biologics and consumer health products, announced today that it has entered into an agreement with Moderna Therapeutics to support near-term clinical Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) messenger RNA (mRNA) manufacturing efforts for Phase 1/2 clinical studies of the companys mRNA personalized cancer vaccines.

Moderna is a clinical stage biotechnology company pioneering mRNA Therapeutics to create a new generation of transformative medicines for patients. Moderna, in collaboration with Merck, is advancing mRNA-based personalized cancer vaccines for patients across a spectrum of cancers. Clinical study of the personalized cancer vaccine is anticipated to begin in 2017.

Under the terms of the agreement, in place through 2018, Moderna will leverage Catalents manufacturing expertise and capabilities at its state-of-the-art facility in Madison, Wisconsin, to support cGMP manufacturing of its mRNA personalized cancer vaccine clinical studies while the company builds out and transitions to its recently announced GMP mRNA clinical manufacturing facility in Norwood, Massachusetts.

We are extremely pleased to be selected to support Modernas Phase 1/2 clinical GMP manufacturing needs for its personalized cancer vaccines. Catalents Madison facility was designed and constructed to offer maximum flexibility and efficiency. At the facility, we will be able to offer Moderna a separate dedicated production capability and a highly flexible, fast turnaround operation to support initial study of its novel mRNA-based personalized cancer vaccines, commented Brian Riley, General Manager of Catalents Madison facility.

Completed in June 2013, Catalents Madison facility was designed for both flexible cGMP and non-GMP production. The site features extensive single-use technologies and unidirectional flow to maximize efficiency and safety.

About Catalent

Catalent is the leading global provider of advanced delivery technologies and development solutions for drugs, biologics and consumer health products. With over 80 years serving the industry, Catalent has proven expertise in bringing more customer products to market faster, enhancing product performance and ensuring reliable clinical and commercial product supply. Catalent employs approximately 9,200 people, including over 1,400 scientists, at over 30 facilities across five continents, and in fiscal 2016 generated $1.85 billion in annual revenue. Catalent is headquartered in Somerset, New Jersey.

For more information on Catalent Biologics, visit http://www.catalentbiologics.com.

For more information on Catalent Pharma Solutions, visit http://www.catalent.com.

More products. Better treatments. Reliably supplied.
Were delighted to be supporting EDIs 6th Annual Leadership Summit,

Clutch Group, a leading legal, risk, and compliance analytics and consulting firm, is pleased to announce their support, at the highest level, of the 6th Annual EDI Leadership Summit and that Charles Hastie, Regulatory Head, Clutch Group will be speaking on a panel  Regulators Always Ring Twice: Using Technology in Response to Government Investigations.

This strengthens a continuing relationship between Clutch Group and EDI. Previously, Brandon Daniels, President, Clutch Group had moderated two separate panels  Battle In The Bronx | The Requesting Parties Roadmap to Broader Discovery at EDIs Annual Summer Meeting in New York City and Data Surveillance: Dealing with Privacy, Complex Data & Company Culture, at EDIs 2015 Leadership Summit held in New Orleans, Louisiana.

Charles Hastie, Regulatory Head, Clutch Group, was a supervisor at the Financial Conduct Authority, where he was responsible for the supervision of a large investment bank. He also worked as an investigator in the FCAs enforcement division, handling several cases involving market abuse, U.K. Listing Authority rule breaches and FCA principles breaches. He will be joined by several industry experts to discuss the role of technology in responding to government investigations.

At Clutch, we have worked on some of the most sensitive regulatory investigations in the financial services industry and regularly engage and interact with regulators. It is undisputable that an understanding of technology can be the difference maker between a strong response and an underwhelming one, says Charles. As a former regulator, I look forward to laying out a few strategies that, depending on their context, may assist industry leaders in the future.

Charles will be joined on the panel by:

Kelly Clay, GlaxoSmithKline, Senior Counsel & Director, Information Management

John Davis, UBS AG, Executive Director & Counsel, Global eDiscovery

Zviad Guruli, Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale & Dorr LLP, Consulting Attorney,

Christine Hasiotis, Electric Insurance Company, Executive Counsel & Director

Glenn Melcher, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Special Counsel for eDiscovery

Were delighted to be supporting EDIs 6th Annual Leadership Summit, says Varun Mehta, EVP  Client Engagement, Clutch Group. EDI is a truly unique organization that has done an excellent job fostering a community, engagement and educational opportunities to increase awareness and needs within the eDiscovery and Information Management community within the Legal Industry.

Now celebrating our ten-year anniversary, EDI is at the forefront of educating in-house practitioners, says Patrick Oot, Co-founder of EDI. EDIs aggressive campaign of in-person and on-line programs help practitioners prepare for the ever changing atmosphere of law and technology. EDI is fortunate to have supporters like Clutch Group who share our commitment to practice leadership and we appreciate their engagement and thought-leadership in our 6th Annual Leadership Summit.

About the Electronic Discovery Institute

Founded in November of 2006, The Electronic Discovery Institute (EDI) is a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to education, leadership, service, advocacy and research at the intersection of law and technology. The EDI community comprises corporate counsel, private practitioners, judges, professors of law and science, consultants, technologists and experts. Each year our members gather at the EDI Leadership Summit to learn, teach and collaborate on emerging issues in law and technology  with a focus on discovery, information governance, cybersecurity, litigation and big data management. EDI offers in-person and distance learning programs that focus on law and technology issues. EDIs membership is a warm, collegial community united by our interest in these issues and our mutual respect.

About Clutch

Clutch Group is a leading legal, risk, and compliance analytics and consulting firm headquartered in Washington D.C., with offices in NY, Chicago, London, Bangalore, Zurich and Hong Kong. The firm is dedicated to helping companies in the financial services, life sciences, and energy industries solve complex problems presented by the exponential growth of data and regulation. Clutchs global team of attorneys, consultants, and technologists leverage deep subject-matter expertise and Clutch.IQ, a suite of cutting-edge data analytics solutions, to help clients manage large-scale litigation and investigations, conduct comprehensive communications surveillance, and re-engineer their internal legal and compliance functions. Clutch has been recognized by industry authorities including Nelson Hall, the New York Law Journal, Chambers Global, Frost & Sullivan, and Dun & Bradstreet and is regularly featured across major industry and market publications. For more information, visit http://www.clutchgroup.com.
Gateway Alcohol & Drug Treatment Centers will be hosting One Stride at a Time: A Race to End Drug Overdose on Saturday, November 5, 2016. All proceeds will benefit Gateways Naloxone Distribution Program and the Lake County Opioid Initiative.

The event will take place, rain or shine, at Hastings Lake in the Lake County Forest Preserve, located at 21155 W. Gelden Road, Lake Villa, IL 60046. All ages and fitness levels are welcome to join. The 5K (3.1 mile) run/walk will begin at 8:30 a.m., followed by the Kids 1K Fun Run, which will start at 9:30 a.m.

Participants can register online at RecoverGateway.org/LakeVilla5K. Online registration will be open until 12 p.m. on Thursday, November 3, though people can register at packet pick-up on Friday, November 4 from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. at Gateway Lake Villa (25480 W. Cedarcrest Lane, Lake Villa, IL 60046). Participants may also register the morning of the race, but to guarantee their requested t-shirt size, they are encouraged to register online by October 20. The fee is $35 for the 5K and $15 for the Kids Fun Run.

Participants will receive various giveaways, and will also be entered to win raffle prizes including (but not limited to) gift certificates to Jewel, Marianos, Butera, and Polsons Health Foods. After the race, participants are welcome to refuel with bagels and other light snacks and refreshments.

Gateway wishes to thank all the 5K sponsors, including TASC, Sodexo, Brightside Clinics, Kaufman, Hall & Associates LLC, Footprints to Recovery, Roscrance, Soft Landing Interventions, Midwest Labor Assistance Professionals, Greater Wisconsin Employee Assistance Professionals Association, Lake County Chiefs of Police Association, The Village of Mundelein, Citizens for Mike Nerheim, Live4Lali, Intren, and Serenity House Counseling.

If you dont want to run or walk but still want to help out, volunteers are welcome. A variety of positions are open, and you can sign up online at tiny.cc/LakeVilla5K. You can stay updated on the 5K with Gateways Facebook and Twitter pages. Make sure to visit our YouTube channel after the race to revisit the days fun!

The goal of the run/walk is to raise awareness of and funds for preventing drug overdose. Gateways Naloxone Distribution Program helps to decrease the fatalities caused by overdose. Naloxone, an opiate antagonist that reverses the effect of overdose from opiates such as heroin, can provide a window of opportunity to save a life until emergency medical help arrives.

The Lake County Opioid Initiative was started to address the rapidly increasing opiate problem in Lake County, in which 69 Lake County residents have died due to heroin and other opiatesdoubling in just 5 years. Lake County States Attorney Mike Nerheim called on local stakeholders to develop a comprehensive opioid prevention strategy for Lake County. Several groups, including Nicasa Behavioral Health Services, Live4Lali, the Lake County States Attorneys Office, George Filenko Chief of Round Lake Park Police Department and Commander of the Lake County Major Crimes Task Force, and Roosevelt Universitys Illinois Consortium on Drug Policy, worked together to develop the outline for the opioid prevention planconsidered a model for Illinois, and for the nation.

About Gateway Alcohol & Drug Treatment

Since 1968 our goal has been straightforward: To help clients get their life back on track and achieve a life of sobriety, free from drug use and symptoms of mental illness, that is productive, socially responsible, and healthy. As the largest, non-profit treatment provider in the country, we currently operate drug and alcohol treatment programs in more than 43 locations for men, women, adolescents, special needs, and clients diagnosed with co-occurring mental health disorders.

Gateways Community Division has treatment centers located throughout Illinois, including Carbondale, Chicago, Lake County, Fox Valley, Springfield, and the St. Louis Metro East area. These centers offer residential and outpatient treatment services for adults, teens, and adolescents accessed through insurance, state funding, and self-pay.

Gateways professional clinicians help thousands of individuals successfully complete treatment by developing a personalized plan that treats the underlying causes of substance abusenot just addiction to drugs or alcohol.

Learn more about insurance coverage, treatment options, or Gateway's confidential consultation at RecoverGateway.org or call 877-505-HOPE (4673).

Reporters and Editors, for more information, please call Leslie Colman, Marketing Director, at (630) 776-5725.
Pelican Brewing Company releases Five Fin Pilsner as contribution to salmon recovery in Oregon. True to its mission to protect and sustain the coastal area it calls home, Pelican Brewing Company invites brew lovers to drink a beer and save a fish.

True to its mission to protect and sustain the coastal area it calls home, Pelican Brewing Company invites brew lovers to drink a beer and save a fish. A portion of proceeds from every barrel of Pelicans new Five Fin west coast pilsner sold will be donated to the Salmon Superhighwayan unprecedented effort to restore access to almost 180 miles of blocked habitat throughout six major salmon and steelhead rivers of Oregons North Coast.

Inspired by the crystal clear waters of the six Tillamook County rivers and named for the five ocean-going species of fish benefitting from the salmon recovery effort , Five Fin is a uniquely west coast take on the classic Pilsner beer style. Bright and zippy with a bold hoppy flavor and aroma, Five Fin is crafted with a unique blend of Cascade and Sterling hops from the Pacific Northwest and Mandarina Bavaria hops from Germany. The new pilsner marries the hop-driven flavors of tangerine, pineapple, and lemon zest with classic spicy, floral notes, all balanced against a toasty malt character:

ABV: 5.3% | IBU: 45 | PLATO: 12

We wanted to create a beer that would successfully support this unique restoration projectwhen we think about salmon, we think of the clean, cold, crisp flowing rivers here and imagined Five Fin to mirror that, says Jim Prinzing, CEO, Pelican Brewing Company. We love pilsners and we love American hops and this beer brings those two elements together in a bold, refreshing way.

The new beer will be available the first week of October in the grocery craft beer aisle in 6-packs, 12 oz and 22 oz bottles; 50 liter kegs and 1/6th barrels are also available for on-premise pours.

Pelican leading private donations to the 93-project campaign

The Salmon Superhighway project is a strategic and intensive effort across a six-river landscape to reconnect fish populations with the habitat they need to navigate and survive. Started in 2014, the $35.8M campaign is expected to run through 2024 to improve the habitat for salmon in 93 different locations throughout Tillamook County.

Hundreds of barriers in streams still create bottlenecks throughout Oregon's coastal watershedsmost are problem culverts at road crossings that contribute to flooding and road damage, along with some small dams and tide gates. Minimizing these impacts across a major landscape will come with significant, lasting benefit to fish and people, now and into the future.

Pelican Brewing Company is a valued leader in our effort to raise awareness and funding to protect salmon in Tillamook Countywhich impacts all of us at some level, says Terry Turner, Oregon Council Chair, Trout Unlimited. We hope Pelicans creative funding strategy will encourage other companies and organizations to join this very important salmon habitat restoration effort.

Pelican is participating as a sponsor and donor of this ambitious and unique community partnership to design and construct culvert replacement to create healthy upstream fish habitats, reduce chronic flooding, improve recreation opportunities and stimulate the local economy. Other partners include a broad range of state and federal agencies, local business and agriculture, and local watershed councils. For a complete list of partners, please check the project website at: http://www.salmonsuperhwy.org

We know we are more than lucky to live and work in a place as beautiful as Tillamook County, and at Pelican we dont take our environment for granted, says Mary Jones, c0-founder and c0-owner of Pelican Brewing Company. Pelican has long invested both time and money in programs designed to protect this beautiful area. Among other environmental and sustainability initiatives, we are proud to support the Salmon Superhighway and encourage the private business community to join us in this important endeavor.

For more information on the Salmon Superhighway watch this short video.

Born at the Beach

Pelican was born at the beach 20 years ago as a small, stand alone brewpub in a small town on the Oregon coastPacific City. Pacific City is still a small town, but with consistent growth and demand for its products, Pelican sales are up more than 500% from 3,500 barrels in 2013 to 18,000 barrels this year. The company recently doubled its brewing and bottling capacity at its Tillamook facility and opened a new brewpub in Cannon Beach. Pelican also recently won a bronze medal at the World Brew Cup and eight medals including Champion Medium International Brewery at the Australian International Beer Awards.

About Pelican Brewing Company

Pelican Brewing Company was founded in 1996 by Jeff Schons and Mary Jones in Pacific City with Oregon's only oceanfront brewpub. Celebrating its 20th year, the brewing company has created masterpieces like Kiwanda Cream Ale, India Pelican Ale, MacPelicans Scottish Ale, Tsunami Stout and Dorymans Dark. With the vision, creativity and brewing expertise of founding brewmaster Darron Welch, Pelican Brewing has won over 300 awards including the 2014 World Beer Cup Champion Small Brewing Company and Brewmaster of the Year. Pelican Brewing currently distributes 22oz bottles, 12oz bottles in 6-packs, a new mixed 12-pack, and 50 liter and 20 liter kegs via a network of distributors in Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Nevada, Utah, Hawaii and Vermont. The company operates brewing and brewpub facilities in Pacific City, Tillamook and Cannon Beach.

For more information, visit Pelican Brewing Company.

Contact: Claudia Johnson, Public Relations, 503-799-2220.

Media Note: Site tours of Salmon Superhighway projects underway are open to the media. Email or call Terry Turner at turnernt(at)comcast(dot)net or 503-804-9868.
Bias is so prevalent in our day-to-day lives and present in our minds that we do not often realize the impact it has in the workplace and the community, said Howard J. Ross, founding partner, Cook Ross.

Leadership from Cook Ross Inc., a certified woman-owned consulting firm that specializes in organizational cultural development, will celebrate their new office space today with a panel discussion entitled Unconscious Bias: Looking Back and Into the Future of our Workplaces and World, followed by a cocktail reception.

Kojo Nnamdi, host of WAMUs The Kojo Nnamdi Show, will moderate the panel featuring Cook Ross leaders as they discuss what they've learned over the past 27 years about: diversity and inclusion - specifically Unconscious Bias over the last 15 years - and what's next when it comes to biases in the workplace and our communities. Nnamdi and the panelists will dive in to the many aspects of life impacted by Unconscious Bias and share mitigation best practices. The Cook Ross panelists include Howard J. Ross, founding partner; Leslie Traub, partner and chairperson; and Rosalyn Taylor ONeale, principal consultant.

Bias is so prevalent in our day-to-day lives and present in our minds that we do not often realize the impact it has in the workplace and the community, said Howard J. Ross, founding partner, Cook Ross. I look forward to exploring the psychology behind bias and what we have learned in our nearly three decades in business, as well as celebrating our new office space with the entire Cook Ross family.

The Unconscious Bias: Looking Back and Into the Future of our Workplaces and World panel session will be held from 3:30-5 p.m., followed by a cocktail reception until 8 p.m. in Cook Ross new office space at 8515 Georgia Avenue, Suite 800, Silver Spring, Md.

Watch the panel live on the Cook Ross Facebook Page.

###

About Cook Ross

Founded in 1989, Cook Ross Inc. is a certified woman-owned consulting firm that specializes in organizational cultural development and transformation, leadership and diversity & inclusion issues. Cook Ross work is centered on a deep evidence-based understanding of human consciousness at the individual, group and organizational level. The nationally-recognized team of 40 full-time employees is based in Washington D.C., Chicago, Los Angeles and New York. As a company, Cook Ross consultants have worked on client projects in 47 of the 50 United States and in dozens of other countries around the world, serving universities, hospitals, associations and Fortune 500 companies, among many other organizations. Learn more about Cook Ross at http://www.cookross.com.
Science-based sleep company Level Sleep announced the launch of its unique sleep system designed and proven to significantly reduce pain and snoring. The launch coincides with the opening of the Level Sleep Experience Center in Sonoma, California, where the company is headquartered. Level Sleeps TriSupport Mattress, and Restore Pillow work together to provide lumbar support and optimal alignment of the neck, spine, and body, and are available now for trial and purchase at the Center and at - https://www.Levelsleep.com, and are backed by a 110-Night Comfort Guarantee. A TriSupport Topper is also available.

According to the Institute of Medicine, more than 100 million Americans suffer from chronic pain, costing the country up to $635 billion annually in medical treatment and lost productivity*. We set out to create products that would ease pain and foster deep, restorative sleep. Through our sleep system designed for the human form, were able to offer a solution clinically proven to accomplish both, said Level Sleep co-founder and chief executive officer JJ Abodeely.

Designed by inventor, researcher, and best-selling author on the subject of sleep, Roger Sramek, the Restore Pillow is a patent-pending design that correctly positions your neck and head for maximum airflow and comfort while sleeping. Unlike other pillows, Restore offers breathable ear wells, reducing pressure on the ears and helping prevent skin from bunching and facial wrinkles. The pillow adjusts to three different heights, allowing users to customize for optimal comfort. The current design improves upon a version demonstrated to reduce snoring events by 78% through clinical trials conducted by Stanford University sleep researchers including Dr. Clete Kushida, director of the Stanford Center for Human Sleep Research.

Also created by Sramek, the TriSupport Mattress features multi-patented technology and three unique zones of firmness for more comfortable, supportive sleep. The soft zone allows the shoulder to drop, reducing pressure and enabling alignment. The firmer lumbar zone supports the back and torso, reducing spinal strain. The medium zone reduces pressure on hips and equalizes pressure across the entire body. In separate IRB-approved trials designed by Dr. Kushida, the Level Sleep mattress reduced pain by 56%, tossing and turning by 35%, fatigue by 43%, and the time it took to fall asleep by 56%.

Because our bodies are curved they need more than the single level of support offered by traditional mattresses, said Level Sleep co-founder Sramek. "You wouldnt sit for eight hours a day without lumbar support and you shouldnt sleep without proper lumbar support, either.

The TriSupport Mattress collection ranges in price from $999 to $2399, and includes a Luxe model featuring a latex performance layer. The TriSupport Topper is priced from $299 to $499, while the Restore Pillow retails for $99. Level Sleep products are available exclusively at https://www.Levelsleep.com and at the Level Sleep Experience Center and come with the brands 110-night comfort guarantee.

The Level Sleep Experience Center is located at 579 First St. W in Sonoma, CA, and is open 9 am to 5 pm PST, Monday through Friday, or by appointment. The company is quickly growing, having already shipped its products to customers in 37 states.



Institute of Medicine (2011). Relieving Pain in America, A Blueprint for Transforming Prevention, Care, Education, and Research. Washington, D.C.

ABOUT LEVELSLEEP

Founded by Roger Sramek and JJ Abodeely, Level Sleep is a science-based sleep company that designs products to help people live more productive lives with less pain through better sleep. In 2016 the company began selling the TriSupport Mattress, a unique three-in-one sleep surface clinically proven to reduce pain and increase sleep quality, and the TriSupport Topper. The company recently rounded out its product line with the introduction its Luxe model latex mattress and two pillows in its Restore line. Level Sleep is based in Sonoma, California and is proud to manufacture its products in the USA from non-toxic materials. To shop the website or to learn more about healthy sleep habits, please visit https://www.Levelsleep.com.

###

PRESS CONTACTS

Leigh Oshirak

leighoshirak(at)mac.com

415-350-1575

Abigail Jacobs

abigailjacobs(at)gmail.com

415-786-9204
Enviroforensics - VI and PERC experts EnviroForensics now has a distinctive home to match our unique approach to cleaning up and protecting communities from vapor intrusion.

A special year for Indiana environmental company EnviroForensics continues with the opening of the organizations brand new, state-of-the-art headquarters in downtown Indianapolis. The nationally recognized team of Indiana environmental consultants from EnviroForensics are set to celebrate 20 years of service helping drycleaners and small business owners address vapor intrusion.

President and CEO, Stephen R. Henshaw comments, EnviroForensics now has a distinctive home to match our unique approach to cleaning up and protecting communities from vapor intrusion. With Indiana serving as our national headquarters, we really want to draw the community in to become actively engaged with our work and mission, and this redeveloped facility offers community space and statewide artist displays to help support that.

Doors will open to the public Thursday, October 13 at 825 N. Capitol Avenue for an Open House, and an informational session on clean water for developing countries will be presented by Water for Empowerment.

The new headquarter building was, at one time, a transmissions garage and a costume warehouse. In the summer of 2015, EnviroForensics engaged with local firms MAWR Design and Brandt Construction to redevelop the two-building structure that dates back to the 1930s. The result is a maintenance-free chic, industrial-style single building office and community space, designed to thrive for decades to come. This is the latest in a string of redevelopment projects to take shape in the increasingly vibrant Central Business District area in downtown Indianapolis.

Docent-led tours of EnviroForensics Headquarters will include detailed descriptions of the construction and design process, including innovative use of energy efficient lighting and natural lighting, custom-built furnishings, the joining of the two buildings, and showcasing the Community areas.

The tours will also include viewing of artwork by Indiana artists  contemporary and historical  and the unveiling of a new light installation by Quincy Owens.

An interesting addition to the Open House is the information session, EnviroForensics Headquarters inaugural Community Space event. EnviroForensics founder Steve Henshaw and and business partner (and wife), Dawn Sandoe are founders and supporters of the charitable organization Water for Empowerment. The organizations mission is to empower girls and women to build healthy futures through clean water initiatives in developing countries. The informational session, presented by Vincent Casey of WaterAid America and Water for Empowerment, is entitled How Clean Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Eradicate Poverty. The presentation comes with an introduction by State Representative and candidate for Lieutenant Governor of Indiana, Christina Hale.

The schedule of events is:

3:00 PM Education Session in Community Room

5:00 PM Reception & Building Tour

6:00 PM Welcome & Announcements (World Water Day 2017 Celebration by Water for Empowerment

###

About EnviroForensics

Enviroforensics provides advanced, comprehensive engineering and litigation support services to businesses, law firms and municipalities. The firm devotes itself to accurate, defensible work products on time and within budget. The team of engineers and scientists resolve environmental issues cost effectively to protect the long-term interests of its clients. EnviroForensics has offices in Indiana, Wisconsin, and California.
Butler appears on the cover of the October issue of Vetrepreneur Magazine. My experiences in the military were both personally and professionally rewarding, said Butler. My time serving provided me with the opportunity to gain unique experiences that we use as the foundation for how we manage our business and community..."

Brian Butler, president of communications strategy and professional solutions agency Vistra Communications (Vistra), LLC, has been chosen as the 2016 Minority Vetrepreneur of the Year, as awarded by the National Veteran-Owned Business Association (NaVOBA). The Vetrepreneur of the Year (VOY) demonstrates the characteristics integral in leading a flourishing business, sustained business growth and success and a strong drive to cultivate veteran entrepreneurship. The Minority Vetrepreneur of the Year is one of three categories of the overall VOY awards.

To be eligible to receive the award, nominees must be a U.S. military veteran business owner who actively runs the company. The awards ceremony occurs as part of the National Minority Supplier Development Councils national conference in Chicago on Oct.25.

My experiences in the military were both personally and professionally rewarding, said Butler. My time serving provided me with the opportunity to gain unique experiences that we use as the foundation for how we manage our business and community relations. I am grateful for this recognition and for the chance to help others fulfill their dreams.

In addition, Butler appears on the cover of the October issue of Vetrepreneur Magazine.

As a small business with large agency experience and expertise, Vistra team members are passionate about producing results for clients. Offering services for a variety of local and national businesses and nonprofit organizations, as well as local, state and federal government agencies, Vistra works closely with clients to build successful strategies designed to help them reach their goals. Team members value meaningful relationships, quality service, treating others with dignity and respect and making a difference in the community.

The NaVOBA unites the nations 3 million businesses owned by military veterans by providing a single voice to advocate for important issues. For more information, visit http://www.navoba.com.

About Vistra Communications

Vistra is a nationally-recognized, full-service, communications strategy and professional solutions agency headquartered in Tampa, Florida providing services to corporate, government and nonprofit clients. Vistra is SBA 8(a) Certified and a Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business (SDVOSB). The company was recently named the 2016 SBA South Florida Region Service Disabled Veteran Owned Business of the Year, Greater Tampa Chamber of Commerces 2016 Small Business of the Year in the 21-50 employee category and ranked number one in the Top PR Firms in the Tampa Bay area according to the Tampa Bay Business Journal for 2016. For more information about Vistra, please call 813.961.4700 or visit http://www.ConsultVistra.com.

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We are excited to help ensure that people throughout North America have access to the highest standards of care, leading to the best possible visual outcomes.

Vision Group Holdings (VGH) announced today the appointments of Dr. Mark Cohen and Dr. Avi Wallerstein as Medical Advisors to the Board of Directors. Dr. Wallerstein will also serve as Vision Group Holdings Director of Research and Development.

Vison Group Holdings is the parent company to many of the most prominent brands of laser vision correction, including TLC Laser Eye Centers and The LASIK Vision Institute. Between those two brands alone, the company has completed more than 3.3 million laser eye procedures, making it by far the largest provider of Laser Vision Correction in North America.

Drs. Cohen and Wallerstein are renowned experts in the field of vision correction. In 2001, they cofounded LASIK MD, which today is the largest Laser Vision Correction provider in Canada. Dr. Cohen serves as LASIK MDs President and also teaches refractive surgery at several prominent Universities throughout Canada. Dr. Wallerstein serves as Executive Vice President, oversees LASIK MDs research and development department and teaches refractive surgery at McGill University.

Drs. Cohen and Wallerstein are both recognized experts in the fields of ophthalmology and laser eye surgery, and they bring years of experience to their role. We are honored to have them join our board as medical advisors, said Vision Group Holdings CEO Ben Cook.

Vision Group Holdings is a world-class organization, and Dr. Wallerstein and I are thrilled to be working alongside such skilled professionals, said Dr. Cohen. We are excited to help ensure that people throughout North America have access to the highest standards of care, leading to the best possible visual outcomes.

Vision Group Holdings has more than 135 locations across the United States and Canada. To learn more about Vision Group Holdings and its various brands, visit http://www.vgroupholdings.com.

About Vision Group Holdings

Vision Group Holdings, based in West Palm Beach, Florida, oversees and manages two of the leading LASIK surgery providers in the world: The LASIK Vision Institute and TLC Laser Eye Centers. Vision Group Holdings, the largest LASIK provider in North America, serves multiple markets in the United States and Canada, making it very convenient for patients to find a location that is both nearby and well-suited to their specific needs.
The United Nations Foundation Board of Directors welcomed Antonio Guterres as the ninth UN Secretary-General. Today, the UN General Assembly, on the recommendation of the UN Security Council, appointed Antonio Guterres to succeed current UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon starting on January 1, 2017.

The United Nations Foundation Board of Directors warmly welcomes Antonio Guterres as the next United Nations Secretary-General and looks forward to working to support his leadership and the UNs mission to secure the rights and dignity of all people.

The challenges of the 21st century are complicated and immense, but so are the opportunities to harness the power of global cooperation to expand peace and progress. In todays world, the UNs role as a forum for global dialogue and action is more important than ever. With the rights and well-being of we the peoples as his compass, the next Secretary-General must lead with a courageous voice and innovative thinking to ensure the UN rises to the challenges of our time.

Antonio Guterres has extensive and valued experience working in international diplomacy, humanitarian response, and the UN system. As a strong, effective advocate for global engagement and a passionate voice for the voiceless, he can be a powerful ally in the pursuit of a more peaceful and prosperous world. We are committed to supporting him in advancing the work of the UN and promoting peace and security, sustainable development, and human rights for all.

The members of the UN Foundation Board are: Founder and Chairman Ted Turner (United States); Her Majesty Queen Rania Al Abdullah (Jordan); Valerie Amos (United Kingdom); Kofi Annan (Ghana); Fabio Barbosa (Brazil); Gro Harlem Brundtland (Norway); Kathy Calvin (United States); Julio Frenk (Mexico); Igor Ivanov (Russia); N.R. Narayana Murthy (India); Hisashi Owada (Japan); Hans Vestberg (Sweden); Timothy E. Wirth (United States); Yuan Ming (China); and Muhammad Yunus (Bangladesh).

###

About the United Nations Foundation

The United Nations Foundation builds public-private partnerships to address the worlds most pressing problems, and broadens support for the United Nations through advocacy and public outreach. Through innovative campaigns and initiatives, the Foundation connects people, ideas, and resources to help the UN solve global problems. The Foundation was created in 1998 as a U.S. public charity by entrepreneur and philanthropist Ted Turner and now is supported by philanthropic, corporate, government, and individual donors. Learn more at: http://www.unfoundation.org.
The Realtors Commercial Alliance of the MIAMI Association of Realtors (RCA MIAMI) will present its 16th annual Commercial Super Conference on Friday. Five panels and more than 20 speakers will discuss the future of commercial real estate and how Miami firms are leveraging technology and research to connect with the global economy.

 Date: Friday, Oct. 14

 Venue: Biltmore Hotel

 Address: 1200 Anastasia Ave., Coral Gables, FL 33134

 Time: 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

The RCA MIAMI Commercial Super Conference will analyze how technology, mergers and research trends are impacting South Florida businesses, said Maria G. Juncadella, the 2016 MIAMI Commercial President and principal at Coral Gables-based Fairchild Partners. We will hear about the decisions being made at some of South Floridas top firms. All Realtors, not just those involved in commercial real estate, can benefit from these important insights.

Keynote Panel

The RCA MIAMI Super Conferences brokerage panel will discuss the changes of the ever-evolving commercial brokerage industry at 12:15 p.m. Friday. Juncadella, Real Estate Sales Force Broker and 2016 MIAMI YPN President Jorge Guerra Jr., Colliers International Executive Managing Director Ken Krasnow and Avison Young Principal Pike Rowley will speak on the panel.

Other scheduled RCA MIAMI Super Conference panels: What Does Globalization Mean for Commercial Real Estate; Resilient South Florida: How to Thrive in a Growing Region; Evolution or Revolution: A New Money Model; and Technology: Apps, Traps and Road Maps.

Quinn Eddins, the director of research & analysis of Florida at CBRE, and Manny Gonzalez, the chief of economic development and international trade at Miami-Dade County, are two examples of the wealth of knowledge speaking at the 2016 RCA MIAMI Commercial Super Conference.

Eddins will moderate the Resilient South Florida panel, which will discuss how Miami can remain resilient despite the increasing physical, social and economic challenges of the 21st century. Gonzalez will speak about the growing interest of Chinese investors in Miami.

MIAMI members can register for the event from 8-9 a.m. Friday, Oct. 14 at the Biltmore Hotel.

For more information, contact Paul Cauchi at paul(at)miamire(dot)com or (305) 468-7060.

Media - RSVP, Inquiries and Interviews

Lynda Fernandez

lynda(at)miamire(dot)com

(305) 468-7040

About RCA MIAMI

The REALTORS Commercial Alliance of MIAMI (RCA MIAMI) seeks to serve commercial members and to shape and unify the commercial real estate brokerage and service industry in South Florida. The largest commercial REALTOR association in Florida, RCA MIAMI has more than 2,000 members in Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach and Martin counties. The Alliance provides member services, including a legislative voice, education opportunities, a code of ethics, and networking opportunities that provide enhancement of the commercial REALTORS knowledge base and ability to service their clients. RCA MIAMI participation facilitates networking opportunities. The Alliance hosts the Annual Commercial Super Conference and Expo, the largest commercial expo in South Florida.

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.
With Salience 6.2, we are bolstering our ML capabilities, making it easier for our customers to teach and tune the software for their unique needs, said Jeff Catlin, CEO, Lexalytics. Ultimately were improving the way machines and humans interact."

Lexalytics, the leader in cloud and on-prem text analytics solutions, announced today that it has bolstered the machine learning (ML) capabilities of its Salience text analytics platform, making it easier for data analysts and scientists to train their Salience software to deliver actionable insights from data sources. In addition, Salience 6.2 now enables professionals in social media marketing, voice of the employee (VOE), voice of the customer (VOC) and customer experience management (CEM) to more accurately analyze email communications as well as text that includes the latest emojis.

Salience is Lexalytics on-premise text analytics engine that processes billions of documents per day. It powers seven of the top 10 social monitoring and social marketing providers, as well as leaders in customer experience management, survey analysis and business intelligence software.

New features of Salience 6.2 include:

 HSDTrainer -- Salience 6.2 features a unique new tool to easily train sentiment analysis, combining the ease of training of a simplistic machine learning (ML) system with the transparency of Lexalytics natural language processing (NLP) technology. For example, if you were to train solely on content without any view into how the system is making its decisions, that system might learn that the phrase Greek bank is negative, due to the deluge of negative stories associated with Greek banks over the years, even though the phrase is not inherently negative. This is a common problem with systems that attempt to analyze sentiment with a single model and will skew results over time. The Lexalytics HSDTrainer can consume any text corpus that has been appropriately marked up for sentiment, and then return a list of phrases and suggested scores for that text corpus, allowing analysts to both rapidly and transparently train sentiment.

 Emoji Analytics -- With Salience 6.2, social marketers can now analyze the meaning and sentiment of content that includes the latest emojis released in Unicode 9.0. For example, if a food manufacturer releases a new product that elicits social media posts with the new nauseated face emoji, Lexalytics can score the content as negative and alert the customer. Conversely, those same marketers can search for anything that mentions nausea, and that emoji will return a hit.

 Email Processing -- Salience 6.2 adds the ability to ingest email databases, stripping out headers and footers, eliminating duplicate emails and analyzing email threads efficiently. Email processing can help companies detect siloization within their organization or improve the process of analyzing customer support emails to see what customers are particularly vocal about.

 Improved Named Entity Recognition -- Combining the power of Lexalytics sophisticated machine learning models and known lists of people, places and things, i.e., entities, Lexalytics has improved its precision and recall scores, known as F1 scores, by up to 25 percent. With Lexalytics growth in Asian markets including China, Japan and Korea, Salience 6.2 also improves upon its ability to more readily recognize peoples names from those regions.

Lexalytics is one of the best text analytics engines on the market, according to Nova Spivack CEO and co-founder at leading cognitive computing company,Bottlenose. With this latest version of Salience, theyre making it a lot easier to extract insights from unstructured data.

With Salience 6.2, we are dramatically bolstering our ML capabilities, making it easier for our customers to teach and tune the software to meet their unique needs, said Jeff Catlin, CEO, Lexalytics. Ultimately were improving the way machines and humans interact by expanding the capabilities of what text analytics and NLP can accomplish.

Availability

Salience 6.2 from Lexalytics is available now. For more information, please visit https://www.lexalytics.com/salience/server.

About Lexalytics

Processing billions of unstructured documents every day globally, Lexalytics is the industry leader in translating text into profitable decisions. Lexalytics deploys state-of-the-art cloud and on-premise text and sentiment analytics technologies that transform customers thoughts and conversations into actionable insights. The on-premise Salience and SaaS Semantria platforms are implemented in a variety of industries for social media monitoring, reputation management and voice of the customer programs. Based in Boston, MA, Lexalytics has offices in the US and Canada. For more information, please visit http://www.lexalytics.com, email sales@lexalytics.com or call 1-617-249-1049. Follow Lexalytics on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.
"I am proud of these few students for speaking their minds. It is a testament to the fact that Liberty University promotes the free expression of ideas..."

The following is a statement from Liberty University President Jerry Falwell, Jr. in response to the LU student group Liberty United Against Trump:

"I am proud of these few students for speaking their minds. It is a testament to the fact that Liberty University promotes the free expression of ideas unlike many major universities where political correctness prevents conservative students from speaking out. However, I am afraid the statement is false in several respects. First, the statement claims that a majority of Liberty faculty, staff and students are not supporting Donald Trump. It is true that Donald Trump lost in the Virginia primary at Libertys precinct when there were many Republican candidates still in the race but, when Mike Pence spoke to many thousands of students at Liberty yesterday, he was applauded when he spoke of the importance of supporting Donald Trump for president. In fact, he received five standing ovations during his speech.

The group of students now speaking out against Trump represents a very small percentage of the Liberty student body of 15,000 resident students and 90,000 online students. The group (led by a never Trump activist, I am told) claims to have between 200 and 1200 signatures on a petition but admits that many of these signatories are not Liberty students. The student statement also falsely claims that I am touring the country and associating Liberty University with Trump. The fact is I traveled with the Trump campaign only one weekend in January and I always make it clear to the media that my endorsement of Trump is my personal endorsement only and that I am not speaking for Liberty University, its students, faculty or staff. I am only fulfilling my obligation as a citizen to render unto Caesar the things that are Caesars by expressing my personal opinion about who I believe is best suited to lead our nation in a time of crisis."

Jerry Falwell

President

Liberty University

About Liberty University

Liberty University, founded in 1971, is the largest private, nonprofit university in the nation, the largest university in Virginia, and the largest Christian university in the world. Located near the Blue Ridge Mountains on more than 7,000 acres in Lynchburg, Va., Liberty offers more than 500 unique programs of study from the certificate to the doctoral level. More than 250 programs are offered online. Libertys mission is to train Champions for Christ with the values, knowledge, and skills essential for impacting tomorrows world.
Bill Hutchinson is the President and CEO of Dunhill Partners, which now owns and manages the Laguna Design Center in Orange County, California. I am so pleased with Dunhill Partners' acquisition of this irreplaceable asset and cornerstone to the Southern California design community.

The Laguna Design Center has long served the Southern California interior design community as a flagship destination for home furnishings, resources and inspiration. What was once a mecca exclusively for the interior design trade is today open to the public and gearing up, under new ownership and management of Dunhill Partners, Inc., for a spectacular 2017.

Bill Hutchinson, the Founder and President of Dunhill Partners, addressed guests at 2016s Orange County Fashion Week, which the Laguna Design Center proudly hosted on site as title sponsor. Hutchinson made very clear The Laguna Design Center is here for everybody to enjoy.

Dunhill Partners brings to the LDC a unique, hands-on approach in reaching, connecting and enhancing ties with the interior design industry and within the surrounding, local community.

As owner of the largest share of the Dallas Design District, Dunhill Partners is in touch with the creative energy at the heart of design and decorative showrooms. Dunhill Partners will lend its perspective of service, value and partnership to the client, visitor and tenant experience at the Laguna Design Center.

"The Laguna Design Center is a setting of balance and tranquility. I am so pleased with Dunhill Partners' acquisition of this irreplaceable asset and cornerstone to the Southern California design community" said Hutchinson.

The LDCs 40+ showrooms appeal to the most discerning of tastes - whether that be modern, minimalist or timelessly traditional. Some showrooms do still require an interior designer for purchase of custom goods, but all are open to the public.
The Brooklyn Crush Wine & Artisanal Food Festival returns to the Factory Floor at Industry City in Sunset Park, Brooklyn on Saturday, November 12. Presented by New York Wine Events. This falls wine selections  including some amazing ones from New York State  along with an array of craft food makers, plus Elan Trotmans masterful sax skills are sure to create a festive atmosphere.

New York Wine Events is pleased to announce the return of the Brooklyn Crush Wine & Artisanal Food Festival. On Saturday, November 12, the bi-annual fest returns to the Factory Floor at Industry City in Brooklyn, New York for its Fall Edition. General admission sessions run 2:30-5pm and 7:30-10pm. A special Premium Early Access ticket offers guests the option of walking the expansive food and wine event one hour earlier than the rest of the crowd, commencing at 1:30pm for the afternoon session and 6:30pm for the evening.

Celebrity sommelier Joshua Wesson will serve as Wine Host for the event. Joshua, a featured presenter at the Aspen Food & Wine Classic for the past 25 years, has had a long, illustrious career in the food and wine industries including being named Best Sommelier in French Wines & Spirits in the United States (1984), and is a leading authority on the pairing of wine and food. He writes for numerous magazines and has been a guest on The Today Show, Good Morning America, CBS's The Early Show, and more. He is also a regular commentator on NPR/Public Radio Internationals The Splendid Table and is co-owner of Suprema Provisions.

The Brooklyn tasting will feature over 175 wines along with light fare including cheese and cracker selections and hors doeuvres, plus numerous artisan food tables sampling charcuterie, vegan delights, baked goods, dipping oils, salsas, chocolates, non-alcoholic beverages, and more. Participating artisanal food companies sampling their offerings will also feature full sized items for patrons to purchase and enjoy at home. Guests will also be able to take home their complimentary wine tasting glass as a souvenir and enjoy live contemporary jazz performances throughout the evening by award-winning saxman Elan Trotman and his band.

Tasting tables located throughout the industrial space will feature a mix of wines apropos for fall sipping and the upcoming holiday season. Selections include lush, full-bodied red wines, refreshing white wines, plus sweet, sparkling, and specialty selections. Old, new and emerging wine regions will be represented and include varietals from France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, South America, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, the United States, and more. Once again, the event will feature several New York State wineries and guests will be able to purchase selections they enjoy by the bottle or case.

Its a pleasure return to Brooklyn with this always-lively event, notes Sam Kimball, founder of New York Wine Events. The crowd ranges from wine-loving novices to those with more seasoned palates as well as foodies looking to explore tasty finds from Brooklyn and beyond. This falls wine selections  including some amazing ones from New York State  along with an array of craft food makers, plus Elan Trotmans masterful sax skills are sure to create a festive atmosphere.

Saxophonist Elan Trotman has quickly become one of jazzs most exciting performers as he continues to stand out and push boundaries as a composer, performer, teacher and recording artist. He has recorded and performed with a number of world-class musicians, including Michael McDonald, Roberta Flack, Jonathan Butler, Keiko Matsui, Johnny Gill, Earl Klugh, Jeff Lorber, Peter White, and Brian Simpson, among others. The New England Urban Music Awards and The Barbados Music Awards have both named Elan Trotman Jazz Artist of The Year on multiple occasions.

Sponsors and participating artisan food companies to date include Cadillac as presenting sponsor, Alexian Pate, ARV Sweets, Bache-Gabrielsen, barkThins, Bodegas Vivanco, Bonne Fete Baking, Brooklyn Winery, Brotherhood Winery, Casa Visco, Cocktail Crate, Crown Maple, Cutco, Don Tony Perez Wine, Drunken Fruit, Ends Meat, Fulkerson Winery, Gardein, Garlic Expressions, Gramercy Vineyards, Green Mountain Energy, Immune Schein, Jamesport Vineyards, John Wm. Macys Cheesesticks, KAS Spirits, Kelly & Jones Fragrances, Li-lac Chocolates, Ma Lung Winery, Masala Mama, Mysto Mead, Narda's Ginger Punch, Palmer Vineyards, Patrichius Tokaj, Pierre's Spicy, Pipernilli, Reilly Cellars, Rescue Chocolate, Salsa di Parma, Spread-mmms Tapenade, Subtle Tea, Taconic Distillery, Topo Chico Sparkling Water, Trois Petits Cochons, Vines & Branches, The Virgin Olive, The Wining Hour, and Yankee Folly Cider. Participating restaurants sampling their specialties include Fonda Cocina Mexicana and Sweet Chick during the evening session, and Table 87 and Crow Bar for both sessions. Additional restaurants and sponsors to be announced.

New York Wine Events popular tastings in the New York Metro area have had sold out crowds over the last decade, and the Brooklyn Crush fall event is expected to do the same.

Tickets are on sale now, priced from $61.50-$120, depending upon ticket level and time of purchase. Check the web site for details about limited time early purchase discounts, 15% savings for groups of 10 or more, and the Taste VIP program membership benefits including complimentary event tickets and discounts. Advance purchase for Brooklyn Crush is highly recommended; a limited number of tickets will be sold at the venue on the day of the event, if available.

For complete details and to purchase tickets to the Brooklyn Crush Wine & Artisanal Food Festival, visit NewYorkWineEvents.com.

About New York Wine Events

New York Wine Events is a comprehensive web site and event directory committed to bringing together New York Metro wine and food lovers, whether it is at one of their own wine festivals, at the other New York area food and drink events appearing on their pages, or through their in-depth articles about New York's vibrant food and drink scene. Visit NewYorkWineEvents.com.
We are at a critical ingress point, where organizations need to adopt these new management tactics or be left in the dust.

Constellix, an ITOS (Internet Traffic Optimization Services) industry leader, has established itself as a harbinger for the next generation of cloud-based traffic management solutions. In a new report, "How ITOS is Shaping the Future of Traffic Management", Constellix engineers discuss what the future may hold for management solutions and how administrators will have to change their tactics.

This is a crucial time for businesses to make the transition to cloud-based traffic management, as global audiences have begun to accept cloud performance metrics as the norm, explains President of Constellix Steven Job, We are at a critical ingress point, where organizations need to adopt these new management tactics or be left in the dust.

In the report, Constellix engineers discuss the growth of the DDI industry and the factors contributing to widespread migration to cloud-hosted networks. A recent report projected the global DDI (DNS, DHCP, and IP address management) market, which includes the traffic management industry, will reach USD $3.27 billion by 2024. Experts attribute the growth to increased migration to cloud-hosted networks and the rapid proliferation of IOT (Internet of Things) devices.

Recent estimates by Gartner claims that over 6.4 billion things will be connected to the Internet in 2016, with a whopping 20.8 billion connected by 2020. Traditional on-premises networks are crippling under the weight of the new things, and have been forced to migrate to the cloud. Cloud-based networks are highly flexible and able the scale with rapid growth, without requiring additional infrastructure.

As applications, things, and websites move to the cloud, performance improves but end-user demands continue to increase. End-users have become accustomed to these faster load times and now expect the same from all of their online interactions. ITOS solutions are able to bridge the gap between these rapidly advancing technologies and organizations struggling to meet end-users demands, says Job.

Now a small mom and pop business can harness the performance and scalability of an enterprise network, for a small business price. For an even more in-depth look at how ITOS is helping small businesses, check out this article.

The second half of the report discusses the recent shift towards integrated monitoring with traffic management. With the recent surge in outages among service providers, clients are increasingly cautious. ITOS solutions use monitoring checks to monitor service providers and ensure SLAs (Service Level Agreement) are being strictly adhered to.

About Constellix

Constellix is a subsidiary of Tiggee LLC, the creators of DNS Made Easy, and the industry leader in providing IP Anycast enterprise DNS services. Constellix is an Internet Traffic Optimization Services (ITOS) company and trailblazer in next-generation traffic management solutions. The Constellix GeoDNS platform offers the most powerful and precise DNS query management, engineered for the cloud. The platform is fully integrated with Constellix Sonar, which offers a range of advanced monitoring features and intelligent analytics tools.
Lance R. Fryrear, founder of the Law Office of Lance R. Fryrear, is celebrating his fifteenth anniversary as a defense attorney.

I have always worked very hard to help my clients. Fifteen years is a long time and I am very proud and humbled by how much help I have been able to offer others, said Fryrear. My empathy for others and understanding that I offer to my clients in their time of need, at possibly their lowest point of anxiety, doubt and self-hatred, sets me apart from many other attorneys.

For the past fifteen years, Fryrear has been representing the criminally accused, successfully defending people charged with crimes. As a former prosecutor for seven years, Fryrear knows how the system works.

My experience as a prosecutor gives me an edge in trying to keep the accused out of jail, said Fryrear. I examined thousands of defenses a year as a prosecutor and have put that knowledge to use in obtaining positive results for my 3,000-plus defense clients over the past fifteen years.

Furthermore, Fryrear has more than 20,000 cases under his belt. He also has a 10.0 Superb Avvo rating, over 75 five-star reviews on Avvo and was awarded the Avvo Clients Choice Award for Criminal Defense in 2012, 2013, 2014, and 2015.

I care as much about my client as a person as I do about the technical side of their case, concluded Fryrear. My only hope for the next fifteen years is that the court system begins to address people as human beings capable of understanding and change as opposed to how they are viewed now. I pledge to be a part of this change in helping the next fifteen years of people I am lucky enough to work with and call clients.

About Lance R. Fryrear, Law Office of Lance R. Fryrear

Lance R. Fryrear is a defense attorney serving the criminally accused in the Seattle metro area. He has obtained positive results for 3,000-plus defense clients over the past fifteen years. Mr. Fryrear is a member of the Federal Bar Association, Washington State Bar Association, Snohomish County Bar Association and National Association of Criminal Defense Attorneys. For more information, please call (425) 224-7075, or visit http://www.washingtoncriminaldefensefirm.com. The law office is located at 19401 40th Ave. W., Suite 340, Lynnwood, WA 98036.

About the NALA

The NALA offers small and medium-sized businesses effective ways to reach customers through new media. As a single-agency source, the NALA helps businesses flourish in their local community. The NALAs mission is to promote a business relevant and newsworthy events and achievements, both online and through traditional media. For media inquiries, please call 805.650.6121, ext. 361.
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SAVANNA  Mayor Tony McCombie has put together a small business leaders coalition to help share ideas on how to build better businesses in Illinois.

The announcement was made in a news release Tuesday. She is facing off against incumbent Democrat Mike Smiddy for Illinois State Representative in the 71st District.

We have to make Illinois business-friendly once again, Ms. McCombie said. Its time to take a hard look at why so many businesses are leaving our state to set up shop elsewhere."

Initial members of the coalition include Kris Noble, executive director of Sauk Valley Area Chamber of Commerce; Kim Eswoldsen, executive director of Morrison Chamber of Commerce; Chris Lain, owner of Savanna Marketplace; Tar Macias, Hispanic Chamber of Commerce; Lynsey Engels, broker at Mel Foster; Bethany Bland, president/CEO of Rock Falls Chamber of Commerce; and Aaron Tennant, a small business owner from Colona.
ROCK ISLAND  A Springfield, Ill., man has filed an ethics complaint against former city manager Thomas Thomas, alleging Mr. Thomas did not file a required statement of economic interest over the last four years.

Willam Gass filed the complaint with the Rock Island Ethics Commission in September. A probable cause hearing was held Wednesday before commissioners Dan Lee and Berlinda Tyler-Jamison. Fellow commissioner Stuart Lefstein recused himself from the hearing, indicating he surrendered his license to practice law in the State of Illinois, according to city attorney David Morrison, who is an adviser to the commission.

Mr. Lee, on the advice of Mr. Morrison, adjourned the brief hearing and said he and Ms. Tyler-Jamison will take the matter under advisement to determine whether the complaint merits continuation of further hearings. Mr. Morrison said the commission has seven days to render a decision whether to proceed further.

Mr. Morrison also requested the commission use outside counsel to advise it so there is not an appearance of impropriety. Mr. Morrison worked under Mr. Thomas as city attorney.

Mr. Thomas resigned in September.

Mr. Gass, a former Rock Island resident, said he has family in the Quad-Cities and has been following some of the recent news in Rock Island. Mr. Gass' complaint also lists city clerk Aleisha Patchin, alleging she failed to enforce the city ordinance.

Ms. Patchin, who attended Wednesday's hearing, had no comment afterwards. Mr. Thomas was not at the hearing.

Mr. Gass alleges Mr. Thomas did not submit his statement of economic interest for the years 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016. He said under state law, elected or appointed officials of local government , such as Mr. Thomas, must file such statements annually.

Some of the statement's questions include:

 Listing the nature of professional services rendered outside of the job from which income exceeding $5,000 was received.

 Listing ownership in any entity doing business with the city.

 Listing professional organizations the person was affiliated with in which income in excess of $1,200 was derived.

 Listing entities in which a gift or gifts were received in excess of $500.

Mr. Gass said he doesn't know if there was any wrongdoing but simply wants to know why the statements were not filed annually by Mr. Thomas.

"I don't know," Mr. Gass said. "I think the state's attorney or the state police should take a look and investigate the entire issue of economic interests and if there's any correlation to any improprieties.

"I found it disturbing that somebody with authority would not comply with the law. I hope the committee gives me the opportunity to subpoena him and have some discovery ability during this."

Mr. Gass is an employee with the Illinois Department of Central Management Services, but said he is filing his complaint as a citizen and not in his capacity as a state employee.

"I'm not looking for press, and I'm not trying to politically grandstand the issue," he said. "I had to file one (statement). It really is about accountability. It's a big deal."
"This stuff has been asked and answered time and time again and we can just get on with it which is why I'm not pulling my bill," Chloe Swarbrick said.

2 hours ago
Most of the funding will go into ongoing construction projects including the Semmering Base Tunnel (1.7bn), Koralm Line (2.6bn) and Brenner Base Tunnel (2.5bn), while a significant amount is allocated for the modernisation of stations.

Other major projects will include track-doubling on the Vienna  Inzersdorf  Wampersdorf line (515m) to relieve the congested ViennaLeobersdorfWiener Neustadt line, and electrification and track-doubling on the Stadlau  Marchegg line (480m) to reduce journey times between Vienna and Bratislava.

Funding will also be made available for the Linz - Wels four-tracking (430m) and upgrading of the Vienna - Breclav line (195m).

Other major projects are quadrupling Linz Wels (430 million) and upgrading the Vienna  Breclav line (195m).

A total 3.8bn will be allocated to investment in the existing rail network.
The joint venture will combine Greenbriers European operations headquarters in Swidnica, Poland, and Astra Rail based in Munich, Germany and Arad, Romania. Both companies will have roles in the management, and will offer manufacturing and service capability in Europe on a larger scale, with the aim of offering greater efficiency for customers. Greenbrier-Astra Rail says it will also seek to expand its wagon business in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) nations and Eurasia.

Greenbrier will pay Astra Rail $US 30m at closing, and $US 30m 12 months after closing as partial consideration for its majority interest.

Greenbrier will have an approximate 75% interest in Greenbrier-Astra Rail while Astra Rails Chairman Mr Thomas Manns will own the remainder of the company. In addition to his ownership stake, Manns will become chairman of the supervisory board and will lead the new companys commercial operations, working closely with its management board and Mr Jim Cowan, the president of Greenbrier International.

Greenbrier-Astra Rail will include all European operations of Greenbrier and Astra Rail.
The companies are Abellio Rail Cymru, Arriva Rail Wales (the incumbent), KeolisAmey and MTR Corporation. Transport Wales, a not-for-profit company set up and owned by the Welsh government, will be responsible for assessing the bids. Transport Wales will hold public consultations early in 2017 and expects to award the contract by the end of the year.

The new Wales and borders service from 2018 and the next phase of the Metro are part of an ambitious and creative not-for-profit model that we are building for Welsh rail, Skates says. Over the next 10 years I envisage significant strides in the delivery of our public transport network including the electrification of the Swansea, Valleys and North Wales lines, a South and North Wales Metro and widespread structural improvements that are already in the pipeline.

For south Wales, where plans have developed as part of the city deal, we have secured an agreement and funding from the UK government to take forward the south Wales metro, Skates told the Welsh assembly on July 12. Working with the operator and development partner, we will award infrastructure delivery contracts for the south Wales metro in spring 2018.
For newly minted Amtrak President Charles Wickliffe (Wick) Moorman IV, a winter of discontent is nigh.

Amtrak is unlike the polished and profitable Norfolk Southern from which this Mississippi-bred civil engineer and son of college professors retired as president, chairman and CEO. Indeed, Amtrak, on life support since its 1971 creation, is a poster child for legendary talk-show host David Lettermans signature empathy, I wouldnt give those troubles to a monkey on a rock.

Neither U.S. presidential candidate shares President Obamas passion for passenger rail spending; the electorate increasingly opposes higher taxes, more subsidies and bureaucracy; and Amtrak haters in Congress are a formidable force, successfully and progressively shifting financial responsibility for passenger trains to cash-strapped states.

Amtraks statutory dispatch preference over freight trains is under attack as neither absolute nor in perpetuity; a statutory provision allowing Amtrak to conspire with federal regulators to saddle freights with performance standards when hosting Amtrak trains was nullified by federal courts; and a Surface Transportation Board definition of on-time arrival of Amtrak trains on freight-rail track is ripe for court challenge.

Internally, Amtrak is troubled. Its top cop is ensnarled in a fraud and conflict-of-interest investigation over a $2 million contract given an alleged paramour. Previously, a chief engineer favored a neighbor with a $2 million consulting contract. Acela Express was plagued by 9,000 design changes, production delays and breakdowns that spawned extensive and costly litigation. Deception has been alleged in Amtrak financial accounting. And former presidents Tom Downs and George Warrington disingenuously proclaimed to Congress that Amtrak was on a glide path to self-sufficiency.

Recently, Amtrak was outed in a failed effort to suffocate commuter-operator competition by limiting access to Washington Union Station; Joe Boardman relentlessly changed out senior executives, many in essential safety positions; and Boardman, after citing declining revenue to justify limits on new hiring plus cuts in retiree health-care, pension benefits and departmental budgets, puzzlingly hired as a consultant the wife of a union boss deeply involved in Amtrak labor issues. As for Amtraks inspector general, charged with sniffing out waste, fraud and abuse, he serves at the pleasure of the Amtrak board.

While Amtraks White House-nominated and Senate-confirmed board of directors to which Moorman reports no longer is larded with political hacks, its oversight, given the above examples, is arguably weak. Moreover, it has passively allowed Amtrak senior management to ignore the loss of significant numbers of Northeast Corridor passengers to intercity bus operators offering more frequent departures and competitive trip times. Nor is there effort to partner with Uberthe worlds most valuable startupto create a seamless first and last mile using an app to summon a car.

This all should be enough to make a preacher cuss, but Moorman, with his private-sector background, understands fully the tragedy of the commonsthat when everybody owns something, nobody takes an ownership interest. Surely Moorman can encourage public-private partnerships injecting greater market-based disciplines.

The Federal Railroad Administration is writing rules to implement a congressional urging that up to three Amtrak long-distance routes be privatizeda pilot program to transfer, for up to eight years, 90% of Amtraks existing subsidy for that route to a responsible applicant proposing equal or better service.

Yes, its risky. Amtrak supporters fear that even limited privatization will further erode congressional support for a national interconnected rail passenger network. The reality is that Amtrak is an island of socialism in an American sea of capitalism, and the status quo cannot much longer endure.

Privatization also may be a viable solution for the 450-mile Northeast Corridor, whose price tag for renewal of century-old infrastructure, capacity expansion and increased train speeds conservatively exceeds $50 billion. Only an irrational romantic assumes Congress, which starves highway and other critical domestic infrastructure projects, will appropriate the funds.

The American Intercity Rail Network for the 21st Century (AIRNet-21), a public-private partnership prepared to invest $60 billion in NEC infrastructure renewal and expansion over 50 years, with zero from congressional appropriations, deserves Moormans attention, along with other responsible market-based alternatives to the status quo. Moorman has opportunity to transform a winter of discontent into a Casablanca-movie moment: Wick, this could be the beginning of a beautiful friendship with Congress and the American people.
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The Schengen Agreement, the removal of border checks on internal borders between 26 European countries (22 EU member states), has come under strain recently due to the escalating migrant crisis across Europe. In its most recent figures, the International Organization for Migration estimated that more than 1,011,700 migrants arrived by sea in 2015, and almost 34,900 by land. In response, several EU member states re-instated temporary internal border controls, which led to Europe-wide debates about the positive and negative aspects of the Schengen Agreement.

In providing the justification for the re-establishment of internal controls, EU member states cited the need to stem the largely uncontrolled flow of migrants across the EU. In May 2016, the Council of the EU accepted that these internal border checks would continue, although on a temporary basis.

RAND Europe explored the economic, social and political costs of re-establishing border controls within the Schengen Area. The over-riding conclusion was that reversing the Schengen agreement would come at a high economic cost, while undoing many of the positive social and political developments made within the Schengen Area in the past decade.

When looking at the economic costs, our estimates took into account the potential costs of physically re-building borders among Schengen states, the direct administrative costs associated with the management of re-introduced borders and indirect costs stemming from disruptions to trade and travel. There would be yearly operating costs for all the Schengen states of between 2 billion and 3 billion, in addition to anywhere between 58.6 million and 19 billion in fixed one-off costs. This is largely dependent on the timeframe for establishing border controls and the extent to which new permanent construction would be needed. For example, a two-year border re-introduction is expected to require a fixed one-off cost in the range of 58.6 million to 108.6 million, whereas the cost of permanent suspension of the Schengen Agreement in all countries is estimated at between 7.41 billion and 19.76 billion.

Part of the social costs explored by the study looked at the association between the 2007 enlargement where new Schengen states (Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, Slovenia, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania) entered the area and the different types of crime within the Schengen area. Levels of crime, such as burglary, car theft, theft and robberies, decreased since the 2007 Schengen enlargement, with some evidence on positive associations between the abolition of internal border controls and the volume of seized drugs, such as cocaine and heroin. These gains could be reversed with the reintroduction of internal controls.

A key aspect of the political costs focused on the societal trust of citizens living in the Schengen Area. The findings suggested an upward trend in European citizens' trust in national and European institutions following the Schengen enlargement in 2007. Trust, both between countries and between citizens and their governments, is regarded by numerous observers as an important factor in making the Schengen Agreement work for countries in the area. This trend also could be threatened if internal controls are restored.

Given the potential costs associated with the suspension of border-free movement, our report examined policy options to help return the Schengen Agreement to its normal functioning. Most notable was the endorsement of the recent decision to establish the European Border and Coast Guard. Another policy recommendation focused on a potential reform of the EU asylum system, which would more effectively process asylum applications without posing a disproportionate burden on a small number of border EU member states.

Other areas for potential policy action included improvements in the EU's return policy on migrants, cooperation with migrants' countries of origin and transit countries with large migratory flows, and more effective external border checks through initiatives to support external border controls, such as systematic checks on EU nationals. These recommendations are intended as a useful guide for European policymakers, but it is not realistic to expect action in all of these areas before the EU's goal to return to a fully functioning Schengen area by the end of 2016.

The findings support a February article by RAND Europe that reflected on a number of goals required to successfully manage the migrant crisis. These included achieving a more balanced redistribution of migrants; establishing a more efficient processing of asylum applications; and establishing more effective engagement in the Mediterranean region, especially with countries of transit.

Coordinated action in the areas above could help remove the perceived need by some member states to maintain internal border controls. Based on our estimations, this would help to prevent some of the potential longer-term economic, political and social costs associated with a less-than-fully functioning Schengen system.

Marco Hafner is a research leader at RAND Europe. Jirka Taylor is an analyst at RAND Europe.

This commentary originally appeared on E!Sharp on October 13, 2016. Commentary gives RAND researchers a platform to convey insights based on their professional expertise and often on their peer-reviewed research and analysis.
Historically, Arctic affairs have weathered diplomatic storms, remaining a bright spot in bilateral relations between the United States and Russia. But the continued erosion of relations between the two nations in recent weeks and years has the potential to spill into the Arctic, a region usually removed from diplomatic turmoil.

Yet the Arctic Circle Assembly that took place over the weekend managed to keep the focus squarely on ways in which cooperation between Russia and its Arctic neighbors benefits this northern region. Some participants in the annual event held up the unusually transparent dialogue as an example of how nations can work together despite having adversarial relationships on other fronts. And there has been no shortage of them  Russia's illegal annexation and continued destabilization of Ukraine, the suspension of negotiations between the United States and Russia over a cease-fire in Syria, and Russia's recent announcement that it would withdraw from a landmark arms control agreement regarding the disposal of plutonium.

Over the last several decades, the United States and Russia (often in partnership with their Arctic neighbors) have often found common ground on Arctic affairs, at least in such areas as search and rescue and environmental integrity that require generally consensual agreement. Defense has not been included in Arctic cooperation so far, although search and rescue do involve certain parts of the military, and the Arctic Security Forces Roundtable briefly brought together defense organizations from all Arctic nations until the Russian invasion of Crimea in 2014.

Russia's aggressive stance in Ukraine and the Baltic Region has raised concerns over Arctic security in the last few years.

However, Russia's aggressive stance in Ukraine and the Baltic Region has raised concerns over Arctic security in the last few years. Seasonal sea ice melting could help unlock untapped energy reserves and establish strategic and economically valuable waterways near the top of the globe. Russia certainly views the region as significant, and has taken measures to bump up its Arctic military presence and control access to areas previously reliably enclosed by thick sea ice.

Could a warmer future make the Arctic more susceptible to spillover from diplomatic breakdowns like those stemming from events in Ukraine and Syria?

Thankfully, the risks appear limited. The region's environment will remain relatively harsh, with waters only seasonally accessible for most vessels. Countries operating in the Arctic will still need to rely on one another for safety. Russia's Arctic neighbors are not former Soviet states, nor do they suffer from internal instability  two characteristics that make them fundamentally different from a country like Ukraine.

Arctic economic prospects will continue to draw attention, but a so-called resources war is unlikely as most resources lie within largely uncontested national boundaries and those that don't have limited practical value because of difficulty accessing and transporting them to global markets. Even if tensions rise in this northern region, the difficulty and expense of operating there will serve as a deterrent to conflict.

Take, for example, Russia's attempts to control ship traffic through the Northern Sea Route along its northern shore. With only seasonal accessibility and lacking in infrastructure, this route cannot rival those farther south, either for strategic or economic purposes. Other nations lack the incentive or icebreaking capability to challenge Russia on this point, and a conflict in the icy, vast north would be a costly and risky way to assert discontent merely on principle.

More concerning for Arctic stability may be Russia's reaction to any perceived increase in NATO presence in the region. Five Arctic countries (United States, Canada, Denmark by way of Greenland, Iceland and Norway) are alliance members, and Sweden and Finland have increased their cooperation with NATO since the Ukraine crisis began. In addition, seasonal melting of protective ice along Russia's northern approach is leaving a long coastline more exposed. This combination of geostrategic and environmental factors could fuel fear in Moscow of encirclement from the north.

Source: RAND Corporation

While NATO's occasional presence in the region is not new  it has long conducted exercises in Arctic-type environments, such as Cold Response in late winter 2016  Russia has reacted strongly to the suggestion that Sweden and Finland may eventually join the alliance, warning both neutral nations that joining NATO would have catastrophic consequences.

Yet the official neutrality of Sweden and Finland may be holding Russian angst in check, even if their neutrality remains subject to much debate in these countries. It is also unclear whether NATO intends to increase its involvement in the region. The Arctic was not mentioned explicitly in the alliance's July Warsaw Summit declaration and, in the absence of a clear and immediate threat, does not appear to be one of its priorities.

Without conspicuous trigger points, the Arctic has the potential to remain resistant, if not immune, to tensions building elsewhere in the Northern Hemisphere.

Russia still has incentives to cooperate with the United States and others in the far north, or is at least deterred by the cost of conflict in this region where its stakes are not truly being contested. For the United States, having some common ground for dialogue with Russia is valuable for confidence building, even if that ground is  literally speaking  mostly ice.

Abbie Tingstad is a physical scientist at the nonprofit, nonpartisan RAND Corporation and a professor at the Pardee RAND Graduate School. Stephanie Pezard is a political scientist at RAND. Scott Stephenson is an assistant professor of geography at the University of Connecticut.

This commentary originally appeared on Inside Sources on October 12, 2016. Commentary gives RAND researchers a platform to convey insights based on their professional expertise and often on their peer-reviewed research and analysis.
For Release Thursday

October 13, 2016

RAND Europe's study shows the yearly operating costs from re-establishing border controls in Europe, with one-off costs of up to 20 billion.

Study highlights decrease in levels of crime following the 2007 enlargement of the Schengen area where internal border checks have largely been abolished.

Reform of EU asylum system is one of several policy recommendations to help Schengen area manage higher levels of migration.

A new study estimates that the abolishment of the Schengen Agreement and re-establishment of internal border controls in Europe would cost around 2 billion3 billion in annual operating costs.

Border controls could also cost the current Schengen nations anywhere between 0.1 billion20 billion in fixed one-off costs, depending on the scenario resulting from the end of the Schengen Agreement. The first scenario  a two-year border introduction in all Schengen states  estimates that the fixed costs could be in the range of 58.6108.6 million. The second scenario  the permanent suspension of the Schengen Agreement in all countries  estimates that the fixed costs could be in the range of 7.41 billion19.76 billion.

The economic estimates provided by RAND Europe took into account the potential costs of physically re-building borders among Schengen states, the direct administrative costs associated with the management of re-introduced borders and indirect costs stemming from disruptions to trade and travel.

The study, The Costs of Non-Schengen, was commissioned by European Parliament to investigate the economic, political and social costs of ending the Schengen Agreement, the 1985 document that led to the ending of most border controls across 26 nations. This followed the temporary establishment of border controls in some EU member states in 2015 to manage the uncontrolled flow of migrants within the Schengen Area.

Part of the social costs explored by the study looked at the association between the 2007 enlargement where new Schengen states (Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, Slovenia, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania) entered the area and the different types of crime within the Schengen area. It was found that levels of crime, such as burglary, car theft, theft and robberies, had decreased since the 2007 Schengen enlargement, with some evidence on positive associations between the abolition of internal border controls and the volume of seized drugs, such as cocaine and heroin.

A key aspect of the political costs examined by RAND Europe focused on the trust of citizens living in the Schengen Area. The study's findings suggested an upward trend in European citizens' trust in national and European institutions following the Schengen enlargement in 2007. Trust is seen as an important factor in making the Schengen Agreement work for countries in the area.

Marco Hafner, a research leader at RAND Europe and the report's main author, says: The recent influx of migrants and refugees to Europe has put the existing Schengen system under strain. However, from the study, it is clear that a re-establishment of border controls would come at a high economic cost and undo much of the positive social and political developments made in the past ten years.

In order to manage the influx of migrants and refugees, the study suggests a number of recommendations focused on improving the existing Schengen Agreement. These include:

A reform of the EU asylum system, improvements in EU return policy and strengthened cooperation with transit countries and countries of origin to lower pressure on the EU's external borders. Pressing ahead with the establishment of the European Border and Coast Guard Agency and more effective external border checks through initiatives such as systematic checks on EU nationals to support external border controls. Improvements in information collection and sharing across agencies and member states to support existing police and judicial cooperation arrangements.

Hafner continues: Our recommendations to improve the Schengen Agreement focus on a reform of the EU asylum system, external border control and further cooperation across the different countries' law enforcement agencies. This would help to manage the high levels of migration to Europe, while ensuring that the positive benefits from the Schengen Area remain.

RAND Europe's report was requested by the European Parliament to feed into a Cost of Non-Europe Report produced by the European Added Value Unit of the European Parliamentary Research Service. This was published together with the Research Paper at the following link: https://epthinktank.eu/2016/09/11/the-cost-of-non-schengen-civil-liberties-justice-and-home-affairs-aspects/

- ENDS -

Notes to Editors:

About the Schengen Agreement

The Schengen Agreement was signed in 1985 between five EU member states (Belgium, Germany, France, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands) to work towards a gradual abolition of checks at their common borders, with the actual removal of border controls taking place in 1995.

In the 1990s, the Schengen area was expanded to include every EU member state except the United Kingdom and Ireland who have not opted in (13 in total). Similarly, the member states which joined as part of the 2004 accession wave, with the exception of Cyprus, have become members of the Schengen Area (nine in total). Non-EU countries can also become members of the Schengen Area, with four doing so already &mndash; Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland. In total, the current Schengen Area includes 26 countries, of which 22 are EU member states. The newest member states, Bulgaria, Romania and Croatia, have not joined the Schengen Area yet.

About RAND Europe

RAND Europe is a not-for-profit organisation whose mission is to help improve policy and decisionmaking through research and analysis. Our clients include European institutions, governments, charities, foundations, universities and private sector firms with a need for impartial research. We combine deep subject knowledge across diverse policy areas including health, science and innovation; defence, security and infrastructure; and home affairs and social policy. Combined with proven methodological expertise in evaluation, impact measurement and choice modelling, we are able to offer quality-assured research and analysis, unbiased insights and actionable solutions that make a difference to people's lives. www.randeurope.org
As entrepreneurs of color are faced with barriers to opportunities, they are finding non-traditional ways of building their businesses and the local economy.

been barred

Steak tacos from Tacos El Veracruz

Raul Alvarez

Crystal Chen

Marcia Gonzales prepares food for customers at Los 3 Mangos de Michoacan

Over the next few months, On The Ground GR journalists will be knocking on doors and getting to know the neighbors and community members. We will dive deeper into topics concerning this neighborhood's residents and stakeholders while celebrating the diversity and strength found in this area. We are on the ground listening and want to celebrate the community's unifying spirit of positivity and vibrancy.

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Take a walk along South Division Avenue in the vicinity of Burton Heights, and you will find yourself in a world of thriving Latinx grocery stores and restaurants whipping up everything from tacos al pastor and elote to salchipapas and tortas. Navigating the scents of of cumin, garlic and chile powder wafting from these spaces, you will find entrepreneurs of color from around the globe who, after waving goodbye to families and home countries to make new lives for themselves in the United States, have navigated often aggressively inhospitable and inequitable socio-economic systems in this country and city to start their own businesses.These businesses are places of dreams, of refusing to take 'no' for an answer, of years upon years of hard work, places that are born after an owner toiled for decades in city factories, places where you can remember the mothers and sisters and fathers and brothers in far-away countries with the taste of dishes reminiscent of what can seem like another life.The communities where these venues are found, in the area along South Division Avenue by the Burton Heights and Garfield Park neighborhoods, are made up of 19 percent Black residents, 63 percent Latinx residents and 15 percent white residents. Because this area has a large concentration of people of color, access to economic opportunity and livability, from which communities of color have often, becomes vitally important for these residents. The corridor between Cottage Grove Avenue and Ken-o-Sha Drive on South Division Avenue is home to a total of 78 businesses, and 26 of these are owned by Latinx individuals, according to ReferenceUSA . Beauty shops, auto repair services, Latinx grocery stores, and restaurants make up the majority of the businesses on the avenue. In other words, a resident of the area can satisfy their basic needs without having to walk more than four blocks in either direction.To ensure success, many entrepreneurs of the area are resourceful in finding ways to build a business. From opening up restaurants in unusual yet creative spots to developing partnerships with members outside of their own communities, these entrepreneurs are able to build enterprises of their own.To the passerby who quickly glances through the two front windows of Jalisco Lavanderia , the laundromat on the corner of Sutton Street and South Division Avenue, it looks like a lot of clothes drying, spinning, washing, and folding. Little do they know that what draws the crowds of people to line up around the washers and dryers is a small taco joint everybody calls Tacos El Veracruz . The combination of a laundromat and a taqueria may seem unusual to most, but it is a perfect fit for Raul Aguilar, the proprietor of the restaurant and a resident of Burton Heights, and his clientele, many of whom have learned of the famous tacos through word of mouth.The laundromat is owned and operated by Paul and Pamela Mann, who immigrated to Grand Rapids in 1985 from Punjab, India. Although the couple live in Ada, they spend the majority of their days at the laundromat, and, in the last two decades, they have invested very heavily in the neighborhood by purchasing four buildings in the area and renting these out to various Latinx business owners in the community.When the Manns purchased the business, only 25 percent of the machines were functioning at full capacity. Since 2011, Paul Mann has used his expertise as a mechanical engineer to fix the machines and ensure they are all working at 100 percent.I feel the most useful when I am at Jalisco because I can fix the machines myself and make the customers happy," he says.The Manns acquired the laundromat from a Latinx business owner in 2011, and they recognized the value the business has to the neighborhood. Regardless of the change in ownership, the identity of the business remains.People know Lavanderia Jalisco; I wouldnt want to take that away from anyone, says Mann, who notes the importance of Jalisco, a western state in Mexico that is home to the country's second largest city, Guadalajara, and is the place that is known as the birthplace of mariachi music, rodeos and tequila. Plus, it is the one of the country's industrial and business centers and is often referred to as Mexico's Silicon Valley.Mann, who readily speaks Spanish to his customers, believes it is incredibly important for him to continue to make efforts to understand his customers culture.I bought [Rosetta Stone] because I want to learn more, says Mann.The laundromat provides el barrio (the neighborhood) with a space to take care of their basic laundry needs while enjoying a taste of home alongside their families.We help each other out, says Mann.According to the Pew Research Center , Kent County has the second highest concentration of Hispanics in the state of Michigan, many of them moving to the city of Grand Rapids in search of better job opportunities . In the same way, Aguilar left everything behind, including his family, in Veracruz, Mexico to immigrate to the United States. At 19 years old, Aguilar found himself on his own and working tirelessly to make his American Dream come true by working at various factories around town.Not too long after arriving in Grand Rapids, Aguilar was struck with pangs of homesickness and, in attempts of beating some of these blues, he started experimenting in the kitchen.En la casa, mi mama y mis hermanas me cocinaban, pero cuando llegue me toco aprender a cocinarme solo, continues Aguilar. Translation: At home, my mom and sisters cooked for me, but when I arrived here I had to learn to cook for myself.As his confidence in the kitchen grew, so did the overwhelming encouragement from friends begging him to open up his own restaurant. The kitchen was a safe haven, a home away from home. A space where Aguilar could celebrate and invite others to partake in creating new memories of home.Me gusta la cocina, y ya estaba yo cansado de trabajar en factorias, explains Aguilar. Translation: I like the kitchen, and I had grown tired of working in factories.Mi sueno era tener un restaurant, he continues. Translation: My dream was to open up my own restaurant.Aguilar recognizes there is no authentic taste of home, but the meals he prepares reflect the immigrant experience of someone who brings back glimpses of home with the flavors of here.Todo es diferente aqui. Este es un pais Americano, pero la sazon es lo que le hace un buen taco, describes Aguilar. Translation: Everything is different here, this is America, but the flavor is what makes it a good taco.The entrepreneur wants to be able to share what he has accomplished with his family back home, but the process of obtaining a visa for his mother has been costly and time consuming."En los 20 anos que he vivido aqui mi mama no ha tenido la oportunidad de visitarme, espero que para el otro ano nos aprueben las visas y ella pueda ver todo lo que yo he logrado," explains Aguilar. Translation: "In the 20 years I have lived here my mother hasn't had the opportunity to visit. Within the next year I hope her visa is approved and she gets to see everything I have accomplished."The joint is open Monday through Sunday, with the exception of Wednesday, from 10am to 8pm. The menu features tacos de pastor (sheep), pollo (chicken), and cabeza (meat prepared from the head of a cow).Not too far up the block from the laundromat and taqueria one can expect to find yet another seemingly untraditional match.Crystal Chen, a Chinese immigrant, and Raul Alvarez, a Mexican immigrant, have partnered to run Los 3 Mangos de Michoacan (2023 S. Division Ave.), a Mexican restaurant featuring typical street food.Nos conocimos en un restaurante Chino en Nueva York. Yo era el cocinero y ella era la cajera explains Alvarez. Translation: We met at a Chinese restaurant in New York. I was the cook and she was the cashier.Chen and Alvarez met 10 years ago in a small Chinese restaurant of New York City. They both wanted to one day open up their own restaurant, but they had little money and the rent was too expensive. Moving to a smaller city with cheaper rent and a more extensive network of support made the dreams of entrepreneurship more than a possibility.Although both hail from completely opposite corners of the world, they have found success in playing up the strengths of one another. Chen, a 26-year-old who is fascinated by details, has been able to help provide the necessary infrastructure and funding to run the business, while Aguilar brings in the social capital.He knows a lot about the community, explains Chen.Before the pair came along, the business had been open for a year and a half, and two months ago they bought it from the original owner. So far, they have put in close to $10,000 in helping fix up the building and purchase the necessary equipment to keep and prepare the food. Chens family, who currently resides in Fujian province of China, sends her money regularly to ensure the success of the business.So far we are seeing little profit, but we are hopeful we will pull through, says Chen.With minority entrepreneurs routinely facing racism and discriminatory practices, it is no wonder that people of color find nontraditional ways to open, and sustain, thriving businesses.Per a 2016 study by the Center for Global Policy Solutions, minority-owned businesses overwhelmingly contribute to job creation and economic prosperity in the country. According to the U.S. Department of Commerce's Minority Business Development Agency , 21 percent of all firms in the U.S. are owned by minorities and minority-owned businesses generate $1 trillion in economic output to the country's economy, creating nearly six million American jobs.And, as Michigan State University's Julian Samora Research Institute points out , minority-owned businesses are crucial sources of job growth and are more likely to hire other minorities and women than non-minority-owned businesses. This leads to lowering unemployment rates in minority communities, which face joblessness in far higher numbers than their white peers.Despite this, the United States is currently forgoing an estimated 1.1 million businesses owned by people of color due to discrimination and racist policies, according to the Center for Global Policy Solutions. The 1.1 million business loss totals about $300 billion in workers income and nine million jobs. Research on Latinx individuals in Grand Rapids has demonstrated they not only work in their communities but also most of their expenditures occur within their communities. Because more than 95 percent of Latinx immigrants purchase their basic needs in their local communities, Chen and Alvarez expect their business to attract many of the areas residents.The Mexican families care a lot about community, and you can tell when they come here with their whole families to share a meal, says Chen.The restaurant keeps the busiest on Saturdays and Sundays, but they are open seven days a week from 11am to 10pm. Because the restaurant is able to prepare the food quickly, many of the employees around the area stop by during their lunch hour.To keep up with the fast-paced environment, the restaurant employs three other workers from the neighborhood to help prepare the coveted elote, salchipapas and tortas (translation: corn with mayonnaise, cheese and chilli power, French fries with hot dogs, and paninis).Chen has been intentional about learning from Alvarezs relationship-building skills, capitalizing on the valuable resources already available to them.When we bought the business, we wanted to keep the employees who had been here. They knew how to prepare the food in the way the customers wanted, and I didnt want to lose the opportunity to satisfy our clientele, says Chen.As our city continues to grow in population and diversity, it is important to ensure equitable access to economic opportunity for all of our communities and neighborhoods. Despite the barriers people of color have been faced with as entrepreneurs, the communities of color on South Division and in Burton Heights are creatively finding ways to build their enterprises. These businesses are not only providing spaces for families and residents to build community, but are also creating an economic exchange within the neighborhood by employing other residents from the area. The opportunity to expand, build a bigger business and make profit are the hopes for Aguilar, Mann, Chen and Alvarez.Para la proxima vez que llegue yo quiero invitarle a mi propio restaurante grande lleno de empleados y gente," says Aguilar, the owner of Tacos el Veracruz. Translation: The next time you visit, I hope you come to a much bigger space with plenty of employees and people.is a new Rapid Growth series. This series will highlight and celebrate the communities found along South Division Avenue that touch the Garfield Park and Burton Heights neighborhoods. You can read all the On The Ground articles published to date here Twitter (use the hashtag #OnTheGroundGR ), Facebook and Instagram . To connect with On The Ground GR's editor, Michelle Jokisch Polo, you can email her at [email protected] and follow her on Facebook and Instagram . You can learn more about Michelle here Frey Foundation , the Grand Rapids Community Foundation and Steelcase , organizations that believe democracy thrives when people and communities are informed and engaged.
Ahead of the forthcoming MIPCOM, Mattel Creations has unveiled its 2017 content slate featuring its globally renowned portfolio of popular brands including new series for the iconic Barbie and brand new shows.





Explaining the launches, Christopher Keenan, senior vice president global content and executive producer at Mattel Creations, said: With its broad appeal and fans of many ages, the world of Barbie content is expanding in many directions. Barbie: Dreamhouse Adventures is a playful, CG-animated sitcom aimed at the six to 11-year-old audience where comedy is the order of the day. Barbie Dreamtopia, on the other hand, is very much a preschool/transitional series, targeting Barbies younger audience ... Were certain our diverse and vibrant schedule for 2017 will have broad appeal for children of many ages from around the world.The new 52x11 Barbie show follows on the success of the Dreamtopia special that was released in Spring 2016 and will comprise episodes that depict Chelsea and Barbie in CG-animation in the real world and a 2D animation in the world of Dreamtopia. The series was green lit following the success of the special Barbie Dreamtopia (1x44) which was taken by several world-class broadcasters including Cartoon Network (Latin-America), Super RTL (Germany), Pop TV (UK), MiniMini (Poland), Karusel (Russia) and Media Prima (Malaysia).Additionally, the company has announced a new special, Enchantimals, as well as fresh content for Thomas & Friends, Monsters High and WellieWishers. The 60-minute special Enchantimals invites viewers to join a special group of friends with animal abilities who are the keepers of their enchanted forest home. Each Enchantimal has their own animal best friend who helps them look after the enchanted forest they call home.
Appeal against sentence of Russian eccentric artist Pavlensky set for Oct.25

MOSCOW, October 13 (RAPSI, Oleg Sivozhelezov)  The Moscow City Court will consider an appeal against sentence of Russian performance artist Pyotr Pavlensky, who was found guilty of setting fire to the Moscow headquarters of the Federal Security Service (FSB), on October 25, RAPSI reported from the courtroom on Thursday.

On June 8, the Meshchansky District Court of Moscow imposed a 500,000 ruble ($7,900) fine on performance Pavlensky and ruled in favor of this security agency, which sought 481,000 rubles ($7,700) in the framework of a civil lawsuit.

The court imposed on Pavlensky a fine of 1.5 million rubles ($24,000); however, taking into account his detention during pretrial investigation, this amount was reduced to 500,000 rubles ($7,900). The artist was set free in the courtroom.

Additionally, Pavlensky was sentenced to pay 480,000 rubles ($7,700) in compensation to FSB for the damaged door of its Moscow headquarter.

The artist told a crowd of journalists gathering to report about the proceedings, that he was disinterested in the results of the lawsuit.

Eccentric artist Pavlensky was arrested on November 9, 2015, along with several other people who claim to be journalists that were invited to the artists performance. The next day Pavlensky was detained under a court decision.

Initially Pavlensky was accused of vandalism but later investigators reclassified charges against him to destruction of cultural heritage sites.

Pavlensky is known for a number of controversial performances.

In July 2012, he sewed up his mouth and stood at the Kazan Cathedral with a poster in support of Pussy Riot.

In May 2013, Pavlensky lay down on the ground in front of the St. Petersburg Legislative Assembly naked with barbed wire around his body.

In November 2013, also naked, Pavlensky nailed his scrotum to the Red Square pavement near the Lenin Mausoleum.

In October 2014, he staged an eccentric stunt on the roof of the Serbsky Mental Institution in Moscow by cutting off one of his earlobes.

In February 2015, Pavlensky and his accomplices burned car tyres, waved Ukrainian flags and banged sheet metal with sticks in a show of solidarity with the anti-government protesters in Ukraine. The performance was held near the Church of the Savior on Blood in St. Petersburg.




One of the many strange things about the current U.S. election is that the fight on foreign policy is over whether or not to accept the reality that the world has changed since Madeline Albright coined the term indispensable nation as secretary of state 18 years ago.

America and its global role have been redefined during those 18 years; we are no longer the indispensable nation, we are the indispensable partner, and there is a big philosophical difference between those two ideas. The indispensable nation -- like the individual entrepreneur, i.e. Donald Trump -- takes independent risks to protect its own status. The indispensable partner leads and takes risks to protect the stability of its network  the new joint ventured world -- and to grow that network.

The joint ventured world is synonymous with the business concept of joint ventures -- pragmatic partnerships in which companies (sometimes rivals) jointly undertake an investment for mutual profit, each contributing assets and sharing risks. The joint ventured world springs from the globalized economic interdependence of countries, altering the traditional concept of sovereignty.

In 1848, when England was at the height of its global power, British Foreign Secretary Lord Palmerston said in a speech to Parliament that Britain had no eternal allies and no perpetual enemies, our interests are eternal and perpetual. Palmerstons words have been used over the last 168 years as one of the definitive statements on how the singular power can maneuver to protects its interest around the world.

His words no longer ring so true today. If the topic is leading an interconnected and globalized world, the narrowness of Palmerstons statement is as outdated as mercantilism.

Of course as specific situations evolve, every country will still act in what it perceives to be its own interest, more or less according to Palmerstons rule. But the differences now among the globalized, joint ventured nations are twofold. First, self-interest includes not only your countrys success, but the success and economic wellbeing of your partners, whether those be China, Germany, or Japan. Second, and this is as important, success is based on the stability of the system. Stability is the obvious key; without it no global economic and political alliance could work and grow, and lack of stability in any part of the system threatens the entire globe.

Think of this in reference to modern network theory. Power today must be found in leading the network -- being what in network theory would be called the central node. This is much more complicated and demands a much more delicate strategy than building a coalition of the willing. The central node is the point where the most important lines meet and then move on to connect to other nodes and lines. But leading the network also implies a concentration on the economic and political wellbeing of the network leader. If the central node is not healthy, then the network is vulnerable. Which brings us back to the question: Is the United States up to the task of leading a joint ventured world?

Can the American people, who have heard consistently since 1945 that America is the singular leader of the free world and who have in part wrapped their personal identity around that concept, now accept globalizations demands of more intrusive interlinked international relations? Or does this become both belittling and frightening? Politically, and in terms of foreign policy, the prestige of being the indispensable nation, of being the global cop, along with the nationalistic overtones that were derived from that idea, had offered enough positive feedback to dampen America's reoccurring dream of isolationism. But as that feedback dissipates, the fear of change directly translates to the building of walls, which is the exact opposite of the foreign policy that America needs to continue to prosper and grow.

Just as the United States is finally freeing itself of energy dependence, a situation that forced its foreign policy to disproportionately concentrate on energy-producing regions, the slow demise during the past 40 years of the United States isolated continental marketplace has brought new and less easily defined foreign policy challenges. While what happens in the Nigerian oil fields or Saudi Arabia becomes less important to America, what happens in much more elusive areas such as Beijing real estate or the actions of the European Central Bank becomes more important.

Todays geopolitical environment, shapeless and chaotic, no longer calls out for a singular world leader, but instead for a managing partner to guide and promote stability within the system -- the indispensable partner in a networked system of interrelated relationships.

But politically and culturally, can America, whose experience has been to be the hegemon, now adapt and change its role to that of the indispensable partner in a globalized, joint ventured world? Or, as a culture, is the subtlety and nuance needed to lead in a networked multipolar world now beyond us? Under the Obama administration, with some caveats, our foreign policy had begun to adapt to the joint venture model. The question now is whether the American people, who are both the recipients and originators of its foreign policy, agree to continue with a foreign policy based on economic realism. Will they understand that by backing away from the role of indispensable nation, America is not demonstrating weakness, but just the opposite, is showing a clear understanding of the restraints and the opportunities in the globalized, joint ventured world? Or will the American people, frightened by the severe economic and technological changes that have been brought on by globalization, demand that Americas foreign policy revert back to the old-fashioned good guy/bad guy view of the world?
This piece was created in collaboration with the European Council on Foreign Relations. Sebastian Dullien is senior policy fellow at ECFR and professor for international economics at HTW Berlin - University of Applied Sciences. The views expressed are the authors own.

When the European heads of state and government meet at the European Council later this month and discuss the European Unions trade policy, it will be very hard to gloss over one obvious fact: European trade policy lies in shambles. There is little hope to rescue the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) with the United States, an arrangement once envisioned to be a ground-breaking agreement between the worlds two largest economic blocs. Public protests against TTIP also seem close to bringing down the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) and it is uncertain whether even this deal, which was not thought to be controversial, will be ratified.

The damage goes beyond single trade agreements. The past year and a half have damaged the European Commissions influence over trade issues. While the European Commissions legal powers to negotiate comprehensive international trade agreements were increased as recently as 2009 with the Lisbon Treaty, Europes executive body seems now to enjoy less clout than ever before to push these agreements through.

How did we get here?

Part of the blame clearly lies with the European Commission. The Commission failed to see that it has long become a political actor. It can no longer behave as if it were a mere body of technocrats.

In her early days in office, Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malstrom repeatedly declared that national governments had given her a mandate to negotiate, and that she could therefore legitimately follow her agenda, regardless of public disgruntlement. Commission officials at that time repeatedly underlined that one cannot look after concerns of single member states such as Germany when the European Unions responsibility was to negotiate for the 28 member states.

It must have been very painful for the Commission to learn that while the argument was legally correct, for trade agreements, the Commission needs the consent of the European Parliament, the members of which are more or less directly elected by the population and hence are rather receptive to strong popular feelings. Similarly, while technically it is correct that the Commission negotiated for the 28 members, the scope of the recent agreements arguably made them so-called mixed agreements that require ratification by all member states.

Had the Commission accepted earlier on that it needs to engage civil society in single member states, taking pains to gain and sustain public support, they might not now be facing the failure of one and perhaps two ambitious trade agreements.

In another grave mistake, the Commission stonewalled even the perfectly legitimate concerns over single elements of the negotiations agenda. Criticisms of the investor protection provisions, and especially of the investor-state-dispute-settlement (ISDS) rules in the first version of the CETA treaty, were completely justified. Discontent with existing ISDS rules had already grown for years in international organizations such as the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), as well as among governments of emerging markets and developing countries. The current global system is replete with unjustified claims made by corporations against legitimate regulations by national governments, as well as questionable rulings and panels that convey the suspicion of an existing bias. Worse, the network of differing ISDS treaties has failed to create the legal security it was designed to provide. The rules in the original CETA agreement might have been better than some of the existing ISDS set-ups, but not by much.

Instead of hearing out legitimate concerns, Commission officials first said that worries about ISDS were not justified, that the current text was great, and that they did not see any need to renegotiate this chapter. Moreover, officials said that the Canadians would not be willing to reopen the draft. However, when the European Parliament made clear that it would not accept the current draft, the EU Commission quickly returned to the negotiating table and quickly offered a completely revised and much improved set of rules for ISDS, agreed to with the Canadians. This forced U-turn shattered confidence in the EU Commissions judgement: Was the Commission really convinced that the first version was perfect, as they claimed in early 2015? If yes, why did they later claim that the revised version was the best set of ISDS rules on the planet? If no, why did they not give in to criticism?

A further mistake was the way in which moderate critics of CETA and TTIP were dealt with. Calling political opponents bad names has a long tradition, and it can work if you manage to paint your adversaries as untrustworthy or unelectable. Yet, when you use this strategy against moderates, the danger is that you drive them into the opposite camp and tip majorities against your position. This is exactly what happened to the EU Commission. In a number of instances, EU officials complained about anti-Americanism and protectionist reflexes in Germany to explain German resistance against TTIP. Suddenly, conservative German journalists and even German judges saw themselves unjustly tossed together with the fringes of the political left. As they actually had a very good idea of which elements of TTIP they were up against, their trust in the European Commission was damaged, and their skepticism against TTIP only hardened.

Up to this day, Commission and pro-TTIP commentators claim that they have to fight an uphill battle against Anti-Americanism and protectionism. Yet, surveys show that the issue is much more complicated than this.

In a survey conducted by the Bertelsmann Foundation, 71 percent of Germans said that increased trade with other countries is positive for Germany. Sixty-one percent of those surveyed said that increased trade with the United States would be positive for Germany (with 22 percent seeing a negative impact). Yet only 17 percent said that they believed that TTIP would be positive for Germany (with roughly double that number seeing negative impacts of TTIP).

These numbers show that -- rightly or wrongly -- the criticism of TTIP was not a blanket condemnation of the United States or of transatlantic trade. Dealing with such criticism requires a more nuanced approach than simply labelling opponents protectionists.

To be fair to the EU Commission, one has to admit that the broader political and economic environment did not help: TTIP and CETA were discussed at a point when the longstanding left-right consensus about European integration was shattered by the fallout first of the global financial and economic crisis of 2008-09, and then by the euro crisis that followed. Over decades of European integration, the project was sold to liberals and conservatives as a way to get rid of the worst excesses of national politicians meddling in the economy and markets and hence to lift the efficiency gains of less heavily regulated markets. To the left, European integration was sold as a bulwark against the forces of globalization. According to this narrative, any of the European countries alone would be too small to influence its fate in a world of globalized trade in goods, services, and most importantly, financial capital. By joining forces in the European Union, Europe would again be able to shape globalization. For several decades, the Union seemed to make good on this promise.

This consensus between supporters for European integration from the left and right, however, was shattered during the euro crisis. Those who expected to be sheltered from globalizations destructive forces were disappointed as financial markets managed to push the common currency to the brink of collapse, and as politicians answer was to impose harsh austerity programs across the Continent which led to record levels of unemployment in many parts of Europe. Those who had seen the European project as a force to break away from discretionary political meddling had to swallow rescue packages for other countries governments worth hundreds of billions of euros.

With the European Union being perceived as having failed on its promises of prosperity, its executive institutions were increasingly scrutinized. This made the Commissions position in selling trade agreements more difficult to defend than in the past, but one could have hoped that seasoned politicians -- as most EU Commissioners are -- would have seen this coming.

The way the conflict over TTIP has escalated over the past year has now put trade policy very much in the spotlight. It is highly unlikely that in the near future, any major trade agreement can be passed without a high degree of scrutiny and criticism.

Good deal, bad deal

So, where is the way out for European trade policy? Given the degree of devastation at the moment, the primary aim now must be damage control.

First, the European Commission and the European Council should kill TTIP as soon as possible; TTIP cannot be rescued. Beyond the strong resistance in some member states, the European Union has moved itself into an inescapable catch-22. The European Parliament has made clear that it will not accept a set of ISDS rules in TTIP with standards below those seen in the latest version of the CETA treaty. To the praise of many independent experts on international investment protection, CETA foresees the establishment of an investment court, with permanent judges and a procedure for appeal. Yet the U.S. Congress has so far never allowed for U.S. policies (and potentially judicial decisions) to be subject to scrutiny by an international court. TTIP hence seems trapped between non-ratification in Europe and disagreement with the United States. Better to end this misery sooner than later.

Second, CETA should be defended and ratified. While killing TTIP can be pegged to a failure to reach an agreement with the United States over a fundamental issue, a failure to ratify CETA would damage the European Unions ability to negotiate future trade agreements with other countries. If the European Union does not manage to get CETA through the internal ratification process despite the renegotiations of ISDS rules and additional concessions by the Canadians, other countries will ask themselves whether it is really worth putting all the effort into negotiating any trade agreement with the European Commission at all. CETA could also be used as a monitored test-case with a promise to evaluate impacts and potential problems after five years, showing skeptics that their concerns are not bluntly ignored.

Third, for the foreseeable future, the EU Commission needs to practise moderation when negotiating trade agreements. Instead of aiming at the most comprehensive or most modern set of rules, it should pick as many of the low-hanging fruits as possible.

The Commission might also be well advised to rethink its strategy of signing bilateral trade deals, and put more effort into pushing multilateral negotiations within the framework of the WTO. Any agreement on the WTO level will be a much easier sell. These agreements tend not to be as comprehensive as bilateral deals, and hence fall completely under the undisputed jurisdiction of the European Union. Furthermore, the interests of poorer countries are much better represented in the WTO process, so these agreements cannot be as easily painted as being beholden to the interest of big business. While such an approach might feel like a defeat for those in the EU Commission who have pushed for ambitious bilateral trade agreements, it might actually provide a chance to revive the stalled WTO process. After all, Europeans have in many areas long been defenders of multilateral approach in which all countries have their say, and WTO negotiations fit well into this value frame.

Fourth, the European Commission and the European Council would be well advised to include stakeholders such as NGOs and civil society representatives early on in the drafting of mandates and positions for trade negotiations. While not all of what these groups contribute might be considered valid arguments, this process would address some of the concerns early on and prevent them from going viral among the broader public.

Finally, in order to gain back the trust of the European population, the EU Commission should focus on improving the social conditions and bringing unemployment down. Trade policy definitely is not the best instrument to this end, as its effects are small and slow to materialize. But in order to again gain a relatively free hand in the trade arena, this aspect needs to be tackled.

In a few years, when unemployment has come down in Europe and public distrust against the European institutions has diminished somewhat, the EU Commission can again propose ambitious trade agreements. Now it is time to count the losses and make a tactical retreat.
Summary

Uzbekistan is arguably the most strategic country in Central Asia. With 31 million people living within its borders, it is the region's most populous country and the only one that shares a border with each of the four other Central Asian nations. Uzbekistan contains the majority of the Fergana Valley, Central Asia's agricultural heartland, and is a major producer, exporter and transit state of natural gas flowing to Russia and China.

Today, Uzbekistan is all the more important for the unprecedented power transition underway there. Prior to his death in early September, President Islam Karimov had ruled Uzbekistan since 1989. During his time in office, Karimov oversaw the country's transition to independence from the Soviet Union. He built its political, economic and security structures and set the course for Tashkent's domestic and foreign policy. Though the late president died without a clear succession plan in place, Prime Minister Shavkat Mirziyoyev stepped in as interim leader after Karimov's death. Mirziyoyev is likely to assume the presidency officially following an election in December, and he has called for a continuation of Karimov's policies. But the winds of change blowing across Central Asia could bring more than just a new leader to Uzbekistan.

Analysis

When Uzbekistan declared its independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, Karimov inherited a unique set of challenges. Before the collapse of the Soviet Union, Uzbekistan had no history as an independent state in a modern sense. The territory that now makes up Uzbekistan was divided between various empires, regional clans and khanates before being colonized by the Russian Empire in the 19th century. It was only under Soviet rule in the 20th century that an Uzbek state with hard borders and a distinct national identity was formed. Maintaining unity and stability in the country after its independence was a pressing priority for Karimov, since the end of Moscow's authority over the country risked exposing its underlying regional and clan-based divisions. Karimov quickly established his own highly centralized authority, striking a delicate balance between Uzbekistan's main clans  the Tashkent, the Fergana and his own Samarkand clan  while quashing dissent with a strong security apparatus.

Setting the Course

But keeping the country together was not the only challenge for Karimov. After Uzbekistan gained its independence, the country experienced a resurgence of religiosity and became a hotbed of radical Islamist movements, most notably the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU). Founded in the country's pious Fergana region, the militant group conducted attacks throughout Central Asia in the late 1990s and early 2000s. In the wake of the 9/11 attacks, Karimov seized support from the West by allowing U.S. and NATO forces to use Uzbek territory as a logistical base for operations in Afghanistan. The IMU was subsequently pushed out of Uzbekistan and into the Afghanistan-Pakistan theater, and in the years since, Uzbek security forces have largely managed to keep a lid on Islamist militancy.

Establishing the direction of Uzbekistan's foreign policy was another important undertaking for the country's first president. Under Karimov's leadership, Uzbekistan pursued a neutral, isolationist foreign policy unlike those of many other Central Asian countries, including Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, which kept close military ties with Russia after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Karimov opted to distance his country from Russia in part because Uzbekistan had the demographic, economic and military resources to resist becoming a Russian satellite. Uzbekistan's tense relationship with Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan also influenced Karimov's decision. Both countries have long hosted large Uzbek minorities, a legacy of the complex borders that the Soviet Union established across Central Asia. In the early 1990s (and again in 2010), competition over land and farming rights in the Fergana Valley gave rise to ethnic clashes between Kyrgyz and Uzbek residents in the Kyrgyz towns of Osh and Jalal-Abad. Similarly, competition over dwindling water supplies has fueled tensions between the countries. Because Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan are upstream of Uzbekistan, they threaten its access to water and, in turn, its agricultural production, particularly with the hydroelectric dam projects they have proposed.

That Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan are members of the Moscow-led Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) made Uzbekistan wary of the alliance, prompting it to withdraw from the bloc after six years in 2012. At the same time, Karimov opted out of any strategic alignment with the West as well, despite his cooperation with the United States and NATO over Afghanistan. In fact, the Uzbek president rescinded the United States' access to its military bases in 2005 after Washington criticized Tashkent for human rights abuses. Preferring to keep Uzbekistan at arm's length from any one foreign military or alliance, Karimov pursued political, economic and security cooperation with numerous foreign partners, including Russia, the United States and China.

Staying the Course

But without Karimov, it is unclear whether Uzbekistan will continue down the same path. Immediately after Karimov's death, Mirziyoyev made a statement affirming Uzbekistan's nonalignment strategy, and he has also praised Karimov's domestic policies. Having served as prime minister since 2003, Mirziyoyev is well-versed in the late president's leadership style and methods. Furthermore, as a member of the Samarkand clan, Mirziyoyev will be careful not to depart too drastically from Karimov's policies for fear of instigating a clan-based power struggle with Security Services chief Rustam Inoyatov and Finance Minister Rustam Azimov, both of the Tashkent clan.

Despite the new leader's claims, however, the changing social and political climate in Central Asia may force him to reassess the country's domestic and foreign policies. Uzbekistan, along with the rest of Central Asia, is under mounting economic pressure thanks to low global energy prices and Russia's financial woes. Remittances from Russia are waning, while labor restrictions there are multiplying, sending more and more Uzbek workers back home. As unemployment grows in Uzbekistan, so, too, do the country's security risks. The country's pervasive security apparatus kept security threats largely in check under Karimov; compared with Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan rarely experienced protests or militant attacks. But there is no guarantee that Mirziyoyev will have the same success that his predecessor did in stifling dissent and cracking down on militancy, especially in the face of growing instability. If unrest in the country increases, Mirziyoyev could lose popular support or, more important, backing from within the government, further weakening his hold on power.

Adjusting Foreign Policy

In his short time as Uzbekistan's interim president, Mirziyoyev has already made a minor tweak to the country's foreign policy. Soon after his appointment, he called for stronger relations with Uzbekistan's neighbors  particularly Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan  and sent envoys to both countries during his first weeks in office. Karimov had notoriously bad relationships with the leaders of Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, who welcomed the opportunity to improve their ties with Uzbekistan. It remains unclear, however, whether Mirziyoyev can alter the course of the countries' relations, given the lingering ethnic divisions and long-standing disagreements. Instead, his efforts may be merely a gesture of goodwill meant to enhance his image ahead of the election. Even so, by extending an olive branch to the Kyrgyz and Tajik governments, the new Uzbek leader could ease the way for a less confrontational approach to water management and border issues.

More important will be the direction Uzbekistan's relationship with Russia and China takes under Mirziyoyev. Both foreign powers have been increasingly active in Central Asia as instability in the region has grown. Moscow and Beijing have increased their involvement to counter rising militancy, and each hopes to gain political influence in Uzbekistan as the country makes its first leadership transition. If the security situation in Uzbekistan deteriorates enough that Tashkent has to turn to external aid, its nonalignment strategy could fall by the wayside. At the very least, Mirziyoyev may be forced to increase cooperation with Russia, China or even other powers such as the United States in ways that Karimov chose to avoid. Whether the new Uzbek leader can continue Karimov's policies, then, will depend more on the changing conditions in the country and the region than on his pledges to maintain continuity.
A park close to the European Parliament in Brussels has been given a face-lift, if that is the right term. Apart from being spruced up, the area now contains new sculptures in the form of twelve ostriches. And yes, the ostriches have their heads stuck in the sand. If Europe as well as the United States werent suffering such a malaise as they are today, the symbolism of these birds wouldnt matter.

But three recent events only confirm how the West continues to duck fundamental issues in ways that will leave it weaker and increasingly unable to project itself politically, socially, and economically.

The first event was the decision by the United States to cut off talks with Russia on trying to end the war in Syria. John Kerry, the U.S. secretary of state, who was in Brussels on October 4, tried to defend his countrys role in Syria. In a speech hosted by the German Marshall Fund of the United States, he decried Russias support for the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, Moscows relentless bombing of civilian targets, and the way Syrian government forces were using barrel bombs and chlorine gas against their opponents.

What Kerry omitted, hardly surprisingly, was how the United States in particular had crossed its own so-called redlines when it came to Syria. U.S. President Barack Obamas decision not to intervene, despite saying in August 2012 that any use of chemical weapons would be a redline the United States would not tolerate, gave Russia and other players a free hand to play out their cynical geostrategic interests in that wretched country.

Belatedly, Manfred Weber, the chairman of the conservative European Peoples Party group in the European Parliament, called on EU leaders to come up with a real solution to the Syrian war. As if his words will make any difference. Ever since the war began over five years ago, the EU has lacked the political courage to play even a diplomatic role. The union is now paying the price in terms of dealing with the refugee crisis, which in turn is being exploited by populist movements across Europe.

Europes ignominious policy on Syria is a symptom of the Wests decline. It is a decline that Moscow has been able to exploit. Apart from imposing sanctions on Russia after it annexed Crimea in March 2014 and subsequently invaded parts of eastern Ukraine, Europe and the United States have exercised little leverage over Russia. The West has been unable to exert influence because it lacks the political leadership and a common sense of purpose to stop atrocities. This is not about imposing values. It is about trying to protect civilians.

The second recent event was a plan by the British government to curb the number of foreign workers employed by British companies. I want us to look again at whether our immigration system provides the right incentives for businesses to invest in British workers, Amber Rudd, Britains home secretary, told the annual Conservative Party conference on October 4.

Rudd proposed a system of fines and new regulations to stop the inflow of migrantsor, to be more precise, the hundreds of thousands of EU nationals who work in Britain. How British Prime Minister Theresa May intends to implement such measures is not yet clear.

What is certain is that the decision by Britain to leave the EU is turning the country into a parochial outpost of Europe. Unless there is a major rethink among other EU leaders, Brexit will leave the UK and Europe even weaker. Indeed, the Brexit negotiations, when they begin, could serve to distract the EU from trying to restore its credibility and sense of confidence. No tears will be shed in Russia, which relishes an ever weaker and more divided Europe.

The third event was a statement given on October 4 in Vienna by Kate Byrnes, the U.S. charge daffaires to the Organization of Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). Byrnes criticized Russia for continuing to block the expansion of the geographic scope of the OSCE Observer Mission at the Russian Checkpoints of Gukovo and Donetsk.

Byrnes was referring to the fact that the observer mission can only cover two border checkpoints, which together account for only a few hundred meters of the 2,300 kilometer Ukrainian-Russian border, much of which Ukraine does not control. In practice, she explained, this arrangement meant that the OSCE was unable to establish the full extent to which Russia was facilitating the flow of arms, funding, and personnel to support the separatists in eastern Ukraine.

As if that were not enough, the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine, which is separate from the observer mission and is tasked with monitoring the ceasefire set out in the February 2015 Minsk II agreement, faces restrictions. In recent reports, the special monitoring mission stated that monitoring and freedom of movement were restricted by security hazards and threats, including risks posed by mines, unexploded ordnance, and other impediments. Again, the European members of the OSCE have been unable to exert influence or pressure on Russia to allow the mission in Ukraine to properly monitor the ceasefire.

The thread linking these three eventsKerrys speech, Rudds admonishment of foreign workers, and the apparent helplessness of the OSCE in Ukraineis a West that lacks any clear strategy for how to deal with crises. Waiting for the next U.S. president to enter the White House is not an option, either for Americans or for Europeans. What option there is depends on leaders on both sides of the Atlantic recognizing their contribution to the Wests decline. Failing that, they will be akin to the ostriches outside the European Parliament.
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UPI News Service, 10/13/2016



Kylie Jenner posted a rare photo of herself with Tyga's son, King Cairo Stevenson, on Wednesday.

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The 19-year-old "Keeping Up with the Kardashians" star shared the picture on Snapchat while spending quality time with the 3-year-old and the 26-year-old rapper at home.

Jenner, who wore a pink shirt emblazoned with "Kylie" and "Tyga," gave a smile in the photo as King cozied up to her side.

She followed up with a picture of Tyga giving her a piggyback ride.

Tyga shares his son with ex-fiancee Blac Chyna, who is engaged to and expecting with Jenner's half-brother Rob Kardashian.

Jenner recently said in a Snapchat Q&A that she hopes to have children of her own someday.

"I'm getting a lot of questions about kids -- how many kids do I want, do I want kids. I do want kids, but not now," she told her followers.

Jenner and Tyga are longtime friends who went public with their relationship at the reality star's 18th birthday party in August 2015.

FOLLOW REALITY TV WORLD ON THE ALL-NEW GOOGLE NEWS!

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Jenner told Complex magazine in an interview published this week that she and Tyga are inseparable.

"The first year we started hanging out, everyone around him told him not to be with me. I still get comments like, 'Don't be with him.' But we're not doing it for the public -- we love each other," she asserted.

"We need to be together at all times," the star admitted.

"We never get mad at each other, we just figure things out."

Kylie Jenner/Instagram
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It's great to see Combat Flip Flops sponsoring this badass event beginning today. Map and compass work is no joke; these CFF sponsored ladies are embarking on a grueling adventure and we wish them the best of luck.

Here's what we know.

CFF Sponsors the X Elles at Revelle Rally

Combat Flip Flops [is sponsoring] the Revelle Rally, the first womens off-road navigation rally raid in the United States, as well as the all-star The X Elles racing team of Rhonda Cahill and Rachelle Croft. The event will start in Lake Tahoe, CA and end in the dunes of southern California. The Rebelle Rally blends the love of driving with the ultimate challenge of precise navigation, testing drivers skills over 7 days of competition. The off-road navigation rally will cover more than 2000 km through the Nevada and California deserts with no GPS or electronics. It is not a race for speed, but a unique and demanding event based on the elements of headings, hidden checkpoints, time, and distance using maps, compass, and road book.

Rachelle Croft and Rhonda Cahill of The X Elles

We are honored to be working with Combat Flip Flops, said Rhonda and Rachelle of The X Elles. Our vision to inspire and give women a voice around the globe is a perfect fit with what Combat Flip Flops accomplishes everyday through their products. We can't wait to make history together in this first of its kind, all-women's rally. The inaugural Rebelle Rally will truly test our navigational skills and stamina, but weve been training hard and are confident in our ability to take this head on. Were ready. Rhonda and Rachelle are survivors of abuse. They recovered, grew stronger, and now help others do the same; its symbolic of what were doing. The mission of Combat Flip Flops and its partners is to empower and educate victimized Afghan women, enabling them to shape their communities and make a difference, said Griff, CEO/Co-Founder of Combat Flip Flops. To follow the progress of The X Elles during the October 13-22nd event, please visit http://www.rebellerally.com/live/. The X Elles will be team number 137.

Rachelle Croft and Rhonda Cahill of The X Elles

About The X Elles as they describe themselves.

The X Elles were created to do one thing, inspire women around the world. In 2012, The X Elles were established to race in the Rally Aiche des Gazelles du Maroc, the longest, hardest, all female off-road Rally raid in the world. In the 4 years since, Rhonda Cahill and Rachelle Croft have continued to race, competing twice in Morocco to bring awareness to sexual abuse and hope with their campaigns 1 in 4' and #youareloved. Whether raising their kids, speaking, training, or filming, these women live to inspire people around the world.

About Combat Flip Flops.

Combat Flip Flops is a veteran-owned small business creating economic, educational and life-saving opportunities for those living in conflict areas. Working with self-determined entrepreneurs affected by conflict, Combat Flip Flops willingness to take bold risks, build community connections, and create distinct designs communicate, Business, Not Bulletsflipping the view on how wars are won. In 2016, through the brands Unarmed Forces (consumers and supporters) one year of school has been funded for 134 Afghan girls and over 5,000 square meters of land mines have been cleared in Laos, allowing children to safely walk to school and farmers to harvest their land. To keep up Combat Flop Flops, please visit their website.
Ibrahim Maiga, 21, junior pledges to help end sexual assault on Tuesday, Nov. 18, 2014. "It, sexual assault, needs to have attention brought to it. This needs to be a movement," said Maiga. President Obama launched the campaign It's On Us to end sexual assault on campuses.(Photo/ John Roark/ johnroarkmedia.com)
Jennie Dougherty, left, student servers Elizabeth Conway and Carson Tallant at Shasta College Bistro

SHARE Salmon Escabeche with cauliflower au gratin and saffron rice pilaf Sauerbraten with braised cabbage and spaetzli

By Marc Beauchamp

Always a delight to have lunch at The Bistro at Shasta College, staffed by students in the Culinary Arts Program.

Last week I met friends there and had a three-course meal of sauerbraten, braised red cabbage, freshly-made German spaetzle noodles plus a cauliflower pakora appetizer  all for just $8.95.

One of my dining companions, Jennie Dougherty, who works in the office of College President Joe Wyse, ordered the Salmon Escabeche, with sides of cauliflower au gratin and saffron rice pilaf.

For dessert the three of us shared the Black Forest Torte, Autumn Spiced Cheese Cake and Bavarian Cream Torte.

Our server, Elizabeth Conway, a culinary arts student, aspires to be a pastry chef one day. Its definitely like a real restaurant, she said of the experience.

Student server Carson Tallant, who wants to own a restaurant someday, agreed. Ive learned a great amount of things here.

Students are supervised by faculty member Brad Peters, a chef.

As always, the food was outstanding. The sauerbraten was tender and juicy. I dont even like cauliflower, but this is good, Dougherty said.

In an email later she wrote, I can't think of too many other places in town where you can get that many options for $9. I really appreciated that they offered vegetarian options too, It had a good atmosphere and presentation, and all of the students were so professional. I would recommend The Bistro and will be back. In fact, I already have plans to meet my friends there next week!

The Bistro is open from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Wednesdays and Thursdays when the college is in session. Check the website (www.shastacollege.edu/bistro) for the weekly menu and to make reservations (recommended).

Park in the north lot. Buy a $2 parking ticket for your dashboard. Youll find the Bistro in Room 2038, just adjacent to the Student Campus Center.

We werent the only ones raving about the food at the Bistro that day. As Dougherty was trying to pick a salad dressing (our server recommended the amazing honey mustard) a woman at a nearby table strongly suggested the bleu cheese  the best, she exclaimed.

Students in the two-year culinary arts program work at local restaurants such as Moonstone Bistro, C.R. Gibbs and View 202.

It may take a bit of planning and time to get to the Bistro but, believe me, its more than worth it. As Ive said before its a hidden culinary gem.

Go now 

The Bistro

Address: Room 2038, Shasta College (next to Student Campus Center), Redding

Hours: 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Wednesdays and Thursdays

Website: www.shastacollege.edu/bistro

Owner: Shasta College Culinary Arts Program

Established: 2006

Sample menu items:

Salmon Escabeche $8.95

Sauerbraten $8.95

Vegan Dalai Bowl $5.95

Entree salad $5.95

Dessert $2.25

Beverages $1.25
In this Sept. 13, 2016 photo, farmer Sam McCullough uses his combine to harvest quinoa near Sequim, Wash. Quinoa, a trendy South American grain, barely has a foothold in American agriculture, but a handful of farmers and university researchers are working toward changing that. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)

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By MANUEL VALDES, Associated Press

SEQUIM, Wash. (AP)  To the south of Nash Huber's farm fields are the Olympic Mountains, peaking at nearly 8,000 feet. Due north is the end of a channel of Pacific Ocean waters that separate the United States from Canada.

Yet in this corner of the country is where the 75-year-old Huber hopes the South American grain quinoa takes root.

Last month, Huber harvested quinoa commercially for the first time on about 30 acres, making him the latest addition to a small number of U.S. farmers trying to capitalize on American eaters' growing demand for the Andean grain.

"It's a beautiful crop," Huber said as he surveyed his combine grinding the plants and spitting out the seeds. He chose a variety called Redhead, which turned his field lipstick red for a couple of weeks before harvest. "We're still learning. I kind of stepped off the end of the dock here with a bit of a bite this year."

Americans consume more than half the global production of quinoa, which totaled 37,000 tons in 2012. Twenty years earlier, production was merely 600 tons, according to the United Nation's Food and Agricultural Organization.

Yet quinoa fields are so rare in American farming that the total acreage doesn't show on an agricultural census, said Julianne Kellogg, a Washington State University graduate student monitoring quinoa test plots around the Olympic Mountains, including one next to Huber's field. A rough estimate puts the country's quinoa fields at 3,000 to 5,000 acres.

Quinoa's nutritional punch has pushed the grain beyond health food stores and into general consumption, propped up by celebrities like Oprah Winfrey.

It has all the amino acids humans need, making it a complete protein, Kellogg said. That's hard to find in grain crops, she said. It's also gluten-free.

The grain's future is marked with possibilities, including milk, beer, cereals, hair products, snacks  products well beyond the salad bar.

"I think we're witnessing the start of a staple," said Sergio Nunez de Arco, a Bolivia native whose company, Andean Naturals, has been instrumental in bringing quinoa north, distributing to Costco, Trader Joe's and others.

The spike in demand from the U.S. and Europe led big farm operations in Peru to enter quinoa farming a few years ago. That resulted in an oversupply, and prices have been falling.

According to a July report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Foreign Agricultural Service, quinoa prices plummeted about 40 percent between September 2014 and August 2015.

"Farmers are rotating out of quinoa," Nunez de Arco said. "They went back to the city to look for work. It was good while it lasted, so it's back to rural migration."

Nunez de Arco has opened a California processing plant for the bitter coating that covers the quinoa grains. It wasn't welcome news for his Bolivian farmers.

"There needs to be some improvement to practices and they're gonna get that through some healthy competition," said Nunez de Arco, now based in San Francisco. "My push has been to protect the smaller farmer in a top-shelf niche, where they will have the demand."

In Washington state, Huber's quinoa will head to Lundberg Family Farms, a California-based company that has been a leader in domestic quinoa production. This year, Lundberg and its network of contracted farmers along the West Coast hope to harvest 2 million pounds of quinoa.

"It's great to have product available where folks are consuming it," said Tim Schultz, vice president of research and development at Lundberg. "You have less food miles on it."

For more quinoa to grow in the United States, farmers and researchers must find the right mix of varieties and environments. The Washington State University plots are testing varieties for heat resistance and late-summer sprouting, among other benchmarks. Next year, they'll test plots in Maryland and Minnesota.

"From a farmer's perspective, it's more options for rotations," said Kevin Murphy, an assistant professor at the university.

That's an option that attracted Huber. Quinoa represents his first commodity crop. On a harvest day, he eyeballed a lower yield than he wanted, in part because the elk that roam the nearby woods frolicked in the quinoa fields.

"I hope I break even," he said with a laugh. "If we break even or make a little bit of money, that'll be good because I learned quite a few things here."
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Shasta County Sheriff's deputies used a dog to help arrest a Burney man who they learned was driving a reported stolen vehicle during a Thursday morning traffic stop, authorities said.

A deputy on Thursday morning stopped Richard Brian Lewis, 26, for a traffic violation and ticketed him, Sheriff's Sgt. Quentin Johnston said.

That deputy later learned the vehicle Lewis was driving had been reported stolen.

Deputies then went to Lewis home on Saint Helena Street to arrest Lewis, who was also on post-release community supervision, Johnston said. Deputies entered Lewis home after trying to get him to come out and found him in the living room.

Lewis refused deputies' orders, at which point they used sheriff's dog Blitz to help arrest him after a brief struggle, according to the Sheriff's Office.

Deputies took Lewis to Shasta Regional Medical Center to medical clearance and booked him into the Shasta County Jail on suspicion of vehicle theft, possessing stolen property, resisting arrest and violating his supervision.

The vehicle was returned to its owner, Johnston said.
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A woman lost her house early Thursday in a fire in the French Gulch area west of Redding, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

The fire broke out at 4:45 a.m. on the 33000 block of Trinity Mountain Road, about 15 miles northwest of Redding.

Firefighters contained the fire but not before it destroyed the house. Cal Fire pinned the damage at about $200,000.

The American Red Cross is helping the woman who lived in the house, Cal Fire said.

The cause of the fire is under investigation.
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By Alayna Shulman of the Redding Record Searchlight

You don't necessarily have to pay that late fee the Redding utilities department charged you  or is about to. But if you want to catch a break, you do have to ask for one.

The city has what at least one critic calls a "hidden" policy that lets customers in good standing waive one late fee a year and work out extensions on bills if a payment is about to be late. The document detailing those policies  the utility's "customer's bill of rights," as Redding Electric Utility Assistant Director of Customer Services Bernie Fargen calls it  is included inside customers' bills once a year and also recited frequently by utility employees, Fargen said.

But Redding City Councilman Gary Cadd said that's not enough, and cash-strapped customers need to know they have options.

"Once or twice a year inside your bill probably isn't quite enough to let people really know what's available to them," Cadd said. "It probably should be advertised quite heavily so that the people who need the policy can use it. ... It's just sort of one of those hidden things."

For those who know how it works, the policy can be a relief  even if it means a little extra work on the customer's end. The Shasta Union High School District, for example, has been having a hard time getting all 34 of its utility payments in on time because of the delay in local mail delivery after changes at the Redding post office. While REU employees were "really good about working with us," district Chief Business Official David Flores said at Tuesday's meeting, "every month we're having to work with them." The district got authorization from the board to open a special credit card to avoid the hassle.

For those who are willing to put up with the hassle to get an extension or waived fee, here's how it works.

Fargen said bills are due 21 days after the meter is read (or 20 days after the bill is created), and meters are read in a different part of town every day. Technically, the utility offers a "grace day" so that if your bill is due on the 12th, for example, and gets in a utility employee's hands (an important technicality) on the 13th, you're alright. But if you drop it in the drop-box on the 13th, it won't get processed until the 14th, since the box is only checked once a day  no grace for you.

If your bill's not late yet, but you suspect it will be because of a mailing mishap or financial problem, Fargen said you can call the utility to work out an extension if your account's in good standing  meaning you've gotten fewer than three second notices over a late bill. The utility can also have your payment divided up over the next year, with a 12th of it added on to each month's bill going forward. Of course, that's not something the utility will do indefinitely, with Fargen noting that "we would work with them to try to come up with a solution to the problem, rather than just every month do that."

If your bill is already late, customers in that good-standing category can get one late charge waived a year, including even the dreaded $16 initial late fee and then the $20 second-notice fee added onto it (making for $36 in possible savings).

There also is a program funded by donations from other customers meant to help those who are about to get their power turned off, though funds aren't guaranteed for anyone who applies.

Of course, Fargen said another way around late fees is taking advantage of the many ways the utility takes payment  drop-boxes, in-person and online payments and automatic withdrawals are available in addition to the city's current extra-snail-mail.

Cadd said he himself didn't know of the utility's policy on late payments until a reporter told him Wednesday, so clearly the agency needs to reach out to customers better.

But Fargen said the utility wants to help customers and isn't out to make a profit, it just has to be told when a customer needs that help.

"We can only help them if we know they're having problems, and we do have a lot of things we can do that can be helpful to customers," Fargen said. "It does fall to the customer to let us know ... The most important thing is, when it comes up, call us."

The utility can be reached at 866-267-8845 or 339-7200.
Tina Arons, a first-grade teacher in Anderson, gets ready to spin the wheel on "Wheel of Fortune." She will appear on the show Tuesday.

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Tina Arons is ready to spin the wheel.

Arons, a first-grade teacher at Meadow Lane Elementary School in Anderson, will be a contestant on Wheel of Fortune on Tuesday.

The show airs at 7 p.m. on KNVN NBC 24. Check your TV provider for the channel.

Arons, 44, of Redding, said she has been a fan of the show since childhood and she finally decided to try out last spring. She traveled to a Wheel Mobile event in Rohnert Park in March and then was among 80 people selected for a final casting call in San Francisco at the Sir Francis Drake Hotel in San Francisco.

Would-be contestants were told if they were picked to be on the show, they would get a letter in the mail.

When I opened my mailbox, I saw the Wheel of the Fortune logo and I jumped up and down, Arons said of the day the letter came.

About 1 million people a year try out for Wheel of Fortune and only about 600 are chosen to be on the game show.

Arons said it was her daughter, Joelee, a junior at Enterprise High School in Redding, who helped convince her to give the show a shot.

Joelee kept saying, You have to try it, you have to try it, Arons said.

While her dad and mom (Bert and Jane Forseth, of Redding) and her daughter know how she did, its a secret that will finally be revealed to her friends and colleagues Tuesday.

Thats been the hardest part because your family and friends are so supportive, and they want to know, Arons said.

She said the experience was memorable.

(Host) Pat (Sajak) and Vanna (White) are so nice, so personable, even after 34 years of doing it. It was like they were doing their first show, Arons said.

And spinning the wheel was no easy task.

The wheel weighs 2,400 pounds, Arons said.

Arons appearance was filmed in August in Culver City at Sony Pictures Studios. She plans to have a watching party at her home with friends and family Tuesday.
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By Denny Walsh, The Sacramento Bee via Tribune News Service

Nicholas Martin Coberley, who attacked a national park ranger with a lethal firefighting tool, pleaded guilty Tuesday in Sacramento federal court.

As part of a written plea agreement, Coberley admitted to swinging a tool known as a Pulaski at the head of Chris Cruz while the ranger was driving his National Park Service pickup and desperately trying to fend off his attacker.

Coberley, 45, who is being held without bail, is scheduled to be sentenced Jan. 17 by U.S. District Judge John A. Mendez.

According to the plea agreement, prosecutors will ask for a sentence of two years and three months in prison.

Cruz approached Coberley -- who appeared to be intoxicated and was acting erratically -- on the night of June 20 in a rural area of Lassen Volcanic National Park. Cruz was concerned that Coberley, who was on foot, was headed toward the Drakesbad Guest Ranch, a small lodge that was booked to capacity with visitors that night.

When Coberley hopped in the bed of his pickup, Cruz drove away from the lodge, hoping to meet with law enforcement officers he had already called.

Using two firefighting tools he found in the bed of the truck, Coberley wreaked havoc before Cruz was able to transfer him to the authorities. While the ranger drove through the dark, Coberley climbed onto the cab and beat the truck's roof with a McLeod, a tool with a hoe-like blade on one side and heavy, sharp spikes on the other, and a long wooden handle. He then shattered the truck's windshield with it.

Next, he picked up the Pulaski, a short-handled ax, and used it to smash out the cab's back window. He then climbed into the rear passenger compartment and began choking Cruz. He swung the Pulaski at Cruz's head, but the ranger blocked the blow, suffering a lacerated right hand. Cruz was able to wrest the Pulaski from Coberley and eventually calm him down.

The ranger drove to a house near the park's boundary that Coberley said was his. Law enforcement officers, who were not far behind, arrested Coberley there.
Jim Schultz/Record Searchlight Robert Pasillas, shown Wednesday in Shasta County Superior Court, was ordered to stand trial for murder.

SHARE Jim Schultz/Record Searchlight Geraldine Walker testifies Wednesday in the preliminary hearing for Joseph Pasillas.

By Jim Schultz of the Redding Record Searchlight

A 25-year-old Redding man was ordered Wednesday to stand trial for murder and other crimes in the Jan. 6 shooting death of another Redding man.

Robert Joseph Pasillas was ordered to stand trial by Superior Court Judge Stephen Baker after the victim's girlfriend, who has been held in jail custody since Aug. 31 as a material witness, gave her tearful testimony during a lengthy preliminary hearing.

A nervous and visibly frightened Geraldine Walker, 29, granted immunity for her testimony, said she did not see Pasillas shoot her 52-year boyfriend, Jon Boring.

But, she said, Pasillas admitted to shooting him after she heard a gunshot and saw Boring fall to the floor in the living room at his Douglas Lane home.

"It happened all so fast," Walker said. "He just fell over backward. Blood was squirting out of him."

Walker said she immediately yelled, "Who shot Jon?"

Pasillas then said, "I (obscenity) shot him," as he and a woman ran from Boring's home, Walker testified.

The gun was never found.

Walker, a central figure in a 2012 homicide in Shasta Lake, has told police that Pasillas and a woman, whom police later believed to be Jannamarie Jervelle Howard, 27, of Elk Grove, pushed their way into Boring's home.

Walker, who said she and Pasillas did not get along, said she avoided eye contact with the pair because she felt intimated by them.

Walker noted that Pasillas had called her a "thief" and "a rat " about two weeks before the shooting and had punched her in the face for what she believed was her testimony in the 2012 Shasta Lake homicide.

While avoiding eye contact with the two, Walker told police she heard Pasillas say, "What the hell is going on here?" and then heard a single gunshot.

Under questioning by Deputy District Attorney Patricia Van Ert and Sacramento defense attorney Donald Masuda, who represents Pasillas, Masuda attempted to impeach Walker's credibility.

She admitted she and Boring used methamphetamine on the day of the shooting, but that they were only occasional users.

"I smoked a bowl or so," she said.

Masuda also called to the witness stand Walker's aunt, serving time in prison.

Ruby Jane Epperson, who said she loves her niece but doesn't like "what she does," testified that Walker asked her in October 2015 if she wanted to purchase a handgun.

Walker had earlier testified she never did so, and does not know the difference between a handgun or a rifle.

But Van Ert also questioned Epperson's credibility, citing her long criminal history, which includes convictions for identity theft, burglary and elder theft.

As she left the courtroom under guard, Epperson winked at the family and friends of Pasillas seated in the courtroom.

In what's been a case full of twist and turns, Litoshna Casia Wilson, 33, of Shasta Lake, who was at the shooting scene, has told police Boring was not the intended victim.

According to police, Wilson said that she, her half-sister Howard, her half-brother Pasillas, and Gina Miele, 45, of Redding, met earlier on the day of the shooting to discuss how they could find and assault Walker, who they thought had been stealing from Boring and others.

The three women, along with Pasillas, were initially charged with murder, but the three women pleaded no contest in July to conspiracy to commit an assault or battery, while Miele also pleaded no contest to accessory after the fact.

They were sentenced in August to time served in jail, placed on formal probation for three years and ordered to participate in the sheriff's adult work program.

Pasillas is due back in Superior Court Nov. 4 for the possible setting of his trial date.
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A blood analysis shows Harry Velez of Dairyville, who died Sept. 26 while hospitalized, had a toxic level of methamphetamine in his body when he called 911 last month, the Tehama County Sheriffs Office said.

The toxicology report was received Oct. 6, but a pathologist is still reviewing reports and the death investigation isnt complete, the sheriffs office said.

Deputies went to Velezs home the night of Sept. 21 after he called 911. Velez said he felt as if someone had given him narcotics without him knowing it. When deputies arrived, they said Velez showed signs of being under the influence of a drug as his behavior became increasingly bizarre.

Deputies said they tried to detain Velez but he resisted and officers used a stun gun while trying to handcuff him. Velezs breathing became labored during the struggle and at one point deputies said they thought he stopped breathing. Deputies began CPR and later California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection and medical personnel continued treatment. Velez was taken to a local hospital, where he died Sept. 26.

Velez had a history of drug-related arrests dating back to 1999 and had a record of resisting and obstructing a peace officer, deputies said.

Investigators have not been able to verify Velezs claim that someone had drugged him without his knowledge. They say a witness said he was in a bathroom prior to making the 911 call and showing signs of impairment.
SHARE Mary Sanchez

Gov. Mike Pence, warn your buddy Donald Trump. That Mexican Thing you mentioned in the vice presidential debate  it's coming for you.

Like La Llorona and El Chupacabra, the folkloric spooks that Mexican parents tell stories about to scare the bejeezus out of their naughty children, That Mexican Thing is not to be trifled with. It has its eye on you.

Trump's calumnies against Mexicans and other Latinos in the U.S. are well known, and they don't have to be rehashed here. It's worth noting, however, that these comments aren't gaffes or tics. In a recent civil deposition, Trump admitted that his peroration on Mexican rapists  in the speech with which he kicked off his campaign  was a premeditated offense.

Indeed, it is impossible to regard this provocation as anything other than part of a strategy to blow up the Republican Party and reconstitute it in the mold of populist white nationalism. After all, it was only four years ago that the GOP searched its soul after failing to unseat Barack Obama and concluded that it must reach out to Latinos. Alas, what innocent times those were!

Pence, who is cut from crustier Republican cloth, seems ill at ease with Trump's "alt-right" style of racist agitprop, but then again he doesn't seem to get what a big deal it is. That explains his exasperation when his opponent, Sen. Tim Kaine, repeatedly brought up Trump's rapist remark in their debate.

"Senator, you whipped out that Mexican thing again," Pence said peevishly, before doubling down on Trump's view of Mexican immigrants as, essentially, criminals.

In doing so, Pence showed that he, too, thinks of Latinos in nebulous terms, not quite as human beings, as U.S. citizens and voters, but rather as an undifferentiated mass in the category "problematic." For those of us Americans of Mexican descent, it showed that bigotry against us is embedded in the Trump-Pence campaign. It's not going away.

You know what else is not going away? Us.

Numbering 55 million, Latinos are 17 percent of the population, the largest ethnic minority. For years, demographic trends have foretold a watershed moment when Latino citizens will be able to exert a significant impact on national elections. 2016 might be the year.

In doing so we will be partaking of a grand American tradition  that of immigrant groups taking their place in the American body politic.

Latinos are hardly the first minority to come up against organized political bigotry. Trumpism and the so-called alt-right have a forerunner in the Know Nothing movement of the 1850s, a deplorable and sometimes violent party organization that formed in backlash against the arrival of millions of Irish Catholic and German Catholic immigrants.

Political cartoons of the time depicted the Irish as ape-like murderers and ruffians. They were said to be drunks, criminals and agents of the pope, inimical to American republican values.

I guess certain American political tendencies don't change, but the targets do.

Like the Irish before us, we Latinos won't be taking it lying down. Immigrants have been rushing to upgrade from permanent legal resident to U.S. citizenship in time to vote, creating massive naturalization events during the past year. Many have cited Trump as the impetus.

Voto Latino reports it has registered more than 100,000 new voters since last November. And that's just one Latino group working to encourage a strong turnout.

Trump's words are the leverage. People know when they are being disparaged. Casual asides don't fool anyone  as when Trump qualified his rape slander of Mexicans thus: "Some, I assume, are good people."

That's not mitigating the offense; it's accentuating it.

It's classic Trump. And now Pence joins in with his "Mexican thing," showing how clueless he is about his running mate and his country.

No other nation has as long and as rich and as complicated a history with the United States as Mexico. Major portions of the U.S. used to be Mexico. Our blood and our cultures are mixed. No modern political candidate can undo that.

Mexicans and Mexican-Americans know the nuances of immigration policy, trade deals and border security in ways Trump can never fathom. The details are imbedded in our family histories, in the traditions and beliefs passed from generation to generation well beyond our families' migration.

A week before the election, millions of Americans will celebrate Dia de los Muertos  Day of the Dead  a Mexican holiday now widely observed in the U.S.

Dia de los Muertos is about respect  respect for the souls of our departed ancestors and friends. We tend to their graves to welcome their spirits back.

Respect is important to us. By mocking us, disparaging us, Donald Trump has awakened That Mexican Thing. Our displeasure will be known Nov. 8.

Email Mary Sanchez at msanchez@kcstar.com.
With over 125 feature films, the Chicago International Film Festival can seem a little overwhelming. So we had founder and artistic director Michael Kutza and programming director Mimi Plauche pick 10 films that would be good for anyone looking to test the waters.

1. "Layla M."

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A Dutch-Moroccan teen is fed up with the discrimination she faces as a Muslim and decides to take action. "I think it's such a great portrait," Plauche said. "You get the different perspectives of the young woman and the people around her who don't want her to get involved with the radical movement to the friends who are motivating her."



2. "The Autopsy of Jane Doe"

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A father-son coroner team try solve a beautiful woman's mysterious cause of death in this scary flick. "It's a good entry point for someone's who's not necessarily a horror film fan," Plauche said.



3. "You're Killing Me, Susana"

A womanizing actor's wife leaves him in the middle of the night, and he has to track her down. "A great Mexican comedy," Kutza said.



4. "Paradise"

A Russian film about three intertwining lives in Nazi Europe. "It's a really strong film in our main competition," Kutza said.

(Dale Robinette / )



5. "La La Land"

Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone reunite on screen for this magical tribute to classic Hollywood musicals. "It's today's generation of 'Singing in the Rain,'" Kutza said.

6. "Insatiable: The Homaro Cantu Story"

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A documentary about a successful chef who also sought to tackle world hunger. "A foodie film that's perfect for Chicago because it's all about a Chicago guy," Kutza said.



7. "Prevenge"

An expecting mother becomes convinced that her unborn baby is telling her to kill people. "Fascinating [and] rather amusing," Kutza said.

(Andrew Ogilvy Photography / )

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8. "Kaleidoscope"

An ex-con tries to return to the dating game, but his mother gets in the way. "It's like 'Psycho,'" Kutza said. "There's a mother problem."



9. "The Last Laugh"

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A documentary in which famous comedians such as Sarah Silverman and Mel Brooks see how far you can push humor. "A funny Hitler film," Kutza said. "[It's about] how far can you actually go? They go as far as they can, and it's really funny."



10. "Lost in Paris"

A quirky story about a Canadian woman who travels to Paris to rescue her aunt from a nursing home. "A French comedy that I think is really delightful because it's great physical comedy," Plauche said.

@lchval | laurenchval@redeyechicago.com
Coming soon to a wedding registry near you: a machine that allows a person to insert a recyclable pod of concentrated liqueur, press a button, slide a glass into place and walk away with a stiff cocktail.

Beam Suntory announced Wednesday that it was taking a minority stake in Bartesian, a Canadian maker of what at first glance appears to be a Keurig machine for cocktails. For Beam Suntory, which is in the process of moving headquarters from suburban Deerfield to the Loop, the investment reflects the company's willingness to invest in startups  a growing trend for large spirit companies.

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For Bartesian, based in Waterloo, Ontario, the investment will enable the company to start selling its products in stores by as early as spring 2017, said Bartesian co-founder Ryan Close. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but Close said Beam's investment was in the "millions."

More specifically, Beam Suntory's involvement allows Bartesian cash flow for marketing and access to distribution, he said.

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"We try hard to dispel the knee-jerk reaction when people think this is just a Keurig for cocktails," said Close, 37. "We want to educate consumers before it hits the shelf, and this investment allows us to do that."

The quality of the Bartesian machine and the ingredients in the capsules distinguish it from the Keurig, he said.

How it works: Human fills designated "reservoirs" for gin, vodka, rum and tequila with spirits of choice, then inserts a capsule containing concentrated juice, bitters or liqueurs. Machine reads the bar code on the capsule, indicates the recommended glass, asks human his or her desired strength and then mixes cocktail with the appropriate liquor. Human drinks drink.

The process takes 18 seconds, Close said. Suggested retail will be $299.

Close said his partner, co-founder Bryan Fedorak, first started tinkering with "crude prototypes" as an engineering student at the University of Waterloo. Over the past two years, they've focused on raising money and refining the product, he said.

The machine likely will appeal to those who host cocktail parties, enjoy gadgets or are looking for that special gift, he said.

"Everyone wants to be the cool uncle," Close said.

For large companies in the food and beverage industries, it's often cheaper and easier to invest in or acquire startups than to create new products.

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"That's definitely a major trend and it's going to continue," Close said.

Other spirits companies have made similar investments in small but promising companies. Diageo, the largest spirits producer in the world, set up an independent venture fund called Distill Ventures in 2013 that's since invested in more than 10 companies, according to the fund's website.

And Constellation Brands, a New York-based company with its beer business headquartered in Chicago, established its own in-house venture operation last year and invested in Chicago-based Crafthouse Cocktails, which makes ready-to-pour cocktails mixed with high-quality ingredients.

"At-home cocktailing is a multibillion-dollar market, and we've been exploring innovation in this space for quite some time. ... We see the Bartesian solution as unique and superior to other products in the marketplace, and we look forward to supporting them on the path to commercialization in 2017," said Beam Suntory Chief Strategy Officer Steve Fechheimer in a statement.

For spirits companies like Beam Suntory, finding effective ways to drive cocktail consumption at home is a "bit of a holy grail" because many consumers find making such drinks to be intimidating, said Tom Flocco, former CEO of Beam who left the company in 2008..

"Anything that breaks that barrier down is a good thing," said Flocco, who is now an adviser to venture capital group Spirits Investment Partners.

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It can be difficult to perfect, though, he said.

"Like a lot of these technologies, it's often a good idea in concept, but in practice it takes a long time for the technology to catch up with the application," Flocco said.

gtrotter@chicagotribune.com

Twitter @GregTrotterTrib
John Manion's love letter to Buenos Aires is sensational, from the cocktails to the wood grills.

Mini-review: El Che Bar

845 W. Washington Blvd. 312-265-1130

Rating: !!!! (out of four) Already hot

>>Read more about our ratings

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Imagine drinking straight from a fresh coconutthe juice leaving behind a creamy coating of oils that warm your mouthor nibbling the glossy meat of a syrupy mango straight off the seed as tiny fibers tickle your tongue. Nothing compares to the tactile sensations of eating fresh fruit. But the cocktails on El Che Bar's revamped drink menu certainly come close.

The follow-up to his nearby La Sirena Clandestina, John Manion's Argentinian palace of wood-fired everything in the West Loop opened in early August and has already landed on countless hot lists. While the food was phenomenal, it took a second trip back for the new cocktail menu that came out last month to fully win me over. "Spiced coconut" and "bitter mango" are proof enough that the best things are worth waiting for.

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El Che Bar, in the former Checker Cab Co. building. (Photo courtesy of Bethany Fritz)

The vibe: Lush broadleaf jungle plants on the sidewalk are the first giveaway to the restaurant within the former Checker Cab Co. building (the company's steel-lettered sign remains, and "CHE," the only backlit letters, beam bright on the olive-tiled facade). The recessed entryway, which glows fuchsia thanks to a neon pink sign donning the restaurant's name, is an excellent precursor to the sensory experience ahead.

El Che Bar doesn't look like the typical American take on an Argentinian restaurantno primary-colored walls or gimmicky tango on blast (psychedelic South American rock, yes). "It feels like I'm in another place," my date said as we sat down. That's the vibe Manion was going for. While ash gray and black are the staple decor colors, the life of the space comes from vibrant green tropical plantsbirds of paradise atop the black marble bar and white hanging planters with spindly greeneryand the roaring flames that dance in the three wood-fired grills in the back of the restaurant. That's the main attraction, but first, we drink.

The cocktails: Fernet and Coke is all the rage with the kids in Argentina, Manion said. Italian immigrants had a major influence on Argentinian culture, and plenty of the herbaceous amaro is made in the South American country. El Che Bar serves Fernet Branca on tap ($6) with sugar cane Coca-Cola ($4), but the cocktails are much more imaginative in the world of digestif and aperitif spirits. "The food that we're doing really pairs well with wine," bar manager Chris Young said. "We kind of want to push wine with dinner and really focus on the cocktailing before and after."

The original menu, which focused on South American riffs on classicsa mezcal negroni, a rum old fashionedwas disappointing (though the caipirinha, which is always available, was expectedly on fire given the La Sirena connection). The menu underwent a total overhaul, and the new cocktails (all $13) are a marvelous excuse to show up for dinner early and stay late.

El Che Bar's new cocktail menu launched in September and includes before- and after-dinner-focused cocktails. (Photo courtesy of Bethany Fritz)

Pre-meal options include the bitter mango fizz, a mouth-gripping blend of Campari, gin, mango puree, lime juice and ginger beer. The bitter bite of Campari and tingly effervescent ginger beer paired with rich, nectarous mango juice were a flavor wizard's sensorial recreation of licking a mango seed. It was pure magic. Another great option is the kalimotxo, a juicy fusion of red wine, barrel-aged Spanish vermouth, cachaca, cola and muddled strawberries bursting with sweet, herbaceous virtues of nature's candy. Crushable is an understatement with this one, and while it's low-ABV, I'd find it hard to believe that the crunk goblet it's served in wasn't intentional.

For a post-meal sipper, the pineapple sherry cobbler bridges the barbecue and the bar with Oloroso sherry, pisco, grilled pineapple juice and lime juice. While the tart and tangy elements of the juices came through, I didn't pick up much of a tropical flavor, but the nutty earthiness from the sherry was all I needed. A caramelized old fashioned also brings the flame to the bar as the bartender torches raw demerara sugar, soaked in 151 proof rum and angostura bitters, in a spoon until it caramelizes and is stirred into the cocktail. The spiced coconut sourrum, coconut juice pressed in-house, lime juice and allspice liqueuris Young's favorite. The warm spices from the liqueur, hints of vanilla and clove from the rum and fatty coconut juice create a curious mouthfeel that takes you somewhere else.

The menu also includes an edited list of beers on draft, and sommelier Alexis Chabert's lauded wine list is money, fit with new and old world selections from small producers. The Decero malbec ($13), a bright but oaky sip from Argentina, was the right choice for dinner.

The food: Wood grilling isn't just a South American tradition. "It's a way of life," Manion said. A dream long before La Sirena Clandestina, El Che Bar was named for a brass plaque he found in Buenos Aires more than a decade ago. (The belt buckle-looking sign is mounted above the kitchen.) Manion grew up in Brazil, dining in people's backyards with outdoor grills. "That sort of meat cooking over coals gets in your blood," he said. While open-flame grilling is certainly en vogue, Manion's ode to Argentina is a commitment that kept him up at night. Nearly everything on the menu is grilled, and there's not a single gas line in the house. The restaurant goes through 250 to 300 pounds of wood daily, Manion said.

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El Che Bar's kitchen is powered entirely by three wood-fired grills. (Photo courtesy of Bethany Fritz)

The food isn't necessarily Argentinian tradition, but the essence is there. Manion calls it "Latin local," bringing in plenty of produce from Illinois farmers. While cooking steak is close to his heart, don't call it a steakhouse. You'll find ribeye on the menu, but the beef short ribs ($24), cut thin and grilled quickly, are the Argentinian way. Gnocchia dish traditionally served in Argentina on the 29th of the month before paydaymorcilla and veal sweetbreads are other nods to the cuisine. But it's more the grilling method that captures Argentina.

Grilled oysters. (Photo courtesy of Bethany Fritz)

Eat. Watch. Do. Weekly What to eat. What to watch. What you need to live your best life ... now. >

Grilled oysters ($18) were both creamy and crunchy with sweet and salty corn butter, garlic lime aioli, brown butter breadcrumbs and cilantro.

Braised lamb ribs. (Photo courtesy of Bethany Fritz)

Dry earthy flavors of a fennel salad paired incredibly well with the buttery, fall-off-the-bone braised lamb ribs ($17) served with yogurt and mint relish (though my date found the crunchy fried pasta on top off-putting and often mistook them for pieces of bone). Despite being on the smaller side, the swordfish steak ($28) was an interactive experience for the mouth, served with green watercress, nutty pumpkin seeds, tangy tomatillo and burst-in-your-mouth cherry tomatoes. El Che Bar has ruined swordfish from anywhere else for me.

Dessert is not to be skipped, with options such as a fernet ice cream float ($10), rose sorbet and more ice cream by the scoop ($5) and cookies and cakes. The melting pionono ($12) was on a different planet. Pastry chef Marianna Reynolds' twist on the Argentinian confection starts with a tamarind cake roll packed with a crunchy layer of caramelized white chocolate and cashew butter and a velvety layer of whipped cream sweetened with cajeta (goat's milk caramel). It's topped with tart fresh plums, to balance the sweetness, and horchata ice cream, and drizzled with hot cajeta. It's everythingdense, flaky, crunchy, sweet. I've never felt more proud of destroying something on a plate.

Bottom line: El Che Bar isn't an Argentinian restaurant. It's not a steakhouse. It's a love letter to the South American country's wood-grilling way of life and a welcome response to the open-flame trend. The drinks are just as thoughtful, and the menu, the atmosphereall of itwill take you someplace else. Quite literally, it's a sensation.

Reporters visit restaurants unannounced, and meals are paid for by RedEye.

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@OhItsHeather & @redeyeeatdrink on Twitter | Instagram

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Moody Tongue's tasting room opens later this month with 12 beers on offer. The culinary-focused Pilsen brewery takes a minimalistic approach to beer pairings with only two food options available. Click through for the first look at the space. (Lenny Gilmore / RedEye)

Jared Rouben doesn't follow the rules of dining order. "I always start with cake," said the Moody Tongue Brewing founder, and you can too at the Pilsen brewery's tasting room opening later this month.

Simplicity is a virtue for the culinary-focused brewery, and the highly anticipated tasting room only has two pairing options: German chocolate cake and oysters.

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"My favorite pairings are dessert and beer, and by the time we get to that, we're either too full or too intoxicated or just exhausted," Rouben said. "So if we're starting with cake and beer, you've got no excuse. And as far as oysters, I feel like I can eat oysters and drink beer all day long."

Moody Tongues four year-round beers and a rotating selection of barrel-aged brews are served in handblown Austrian glassware. (Lenny Gilmore / RedEye)

With 12 tap handles, the beer offerings are more plentiful, making the possible flavor pairings almost endless (trust me). Moody Tongue's four year-round beersCaramelized Chocolate Churro Baltic porter, Sliced Nectarine IPA, Steeped Emperor's Lemon saison and Applewood goldare always on offer, and the rest are a rotating selection of barrel-aged beers, including a chocolate barley wine and a sour.

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While options may seem limited, approachable complexity is Moody Tongue's strong suit. The German chocolate cake, made in-house by pastry chef Shannon Morrison, is a towering 12 layers, each carefully curated to complement characteristics of the beers. On the bottom is a crust made from a blend of chocolate cereal, butter, graham crackers and salted pretzels. The rest are alternating layers of chocolate cake, ground espresso-speckled cheesecake, caramel coconut pecan filling and chocolate buttercream covered in a glossy chocolate mirror glaze.

"I want a lot of rubbernecking going on when this cake goes into the room," Rouben said. "We have the wrong piece of cake if we aren't hurting necks when it's being served."

A 12-layer German chocolate cake is one of only two pairing offerings. (Lenny Gilmore / RedEye)

Rouben encourages guests to explore, but his servers are trained to thoughtfully guide patrons through pairings. While the porter might seem like the obvious pairing for the cake, Rouben, who trained at The Culinary Institute of America, loves the Applewood gold. Think of it like a sweet and smoky pairing at a barbecue. "We take that brisket, we rub it down with brown sugar and then we use fruitwood to smoke it," he said.

The texture and flavor of the cake also change with each pairing, but lightness on the palate was a priority. Neither the cake nor the oysters should be too filling, which matches the goal for the beersto make you want to have another.

Oysters on the half shell are the other. Try them with the Steeped Emperors Lemon saison. (Lenny Gilmore / RedEye)

The type of oyster on offer will rotate, but the presentation is simplehalf shells on ice with lemon wedges (squeeze only if you must). The Steeped Emperor's Lemon saison is the ultimate pairing.

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Overall, comfort is key at the Moody Tongue tasting room, and it translates in the design. Rather than walk through the brewery, guests can enter on Peoria Street. Built in a 100-year-old glass factory, the space is open, airy and flooded with natural light from skylights. Clean and refined with mid-century modern accents, the 25-seat white marble bar is the undeniable focal point.

A white marble bar in the center of the room seats 25. (Lenny Gilmore / RedEye)

Designed by Jesse and Colleen Neuhaus in collaboration with K2 Studio Architects, the rest of the room is sectioned off into three spaces: a cozy cove with brown leather booth seating, extra-large four-top tables that mimic a traditional beer hall and a lounge area with vintage leather Eames-style chairs around a white-washed brick fireplace tucked between a brewer's library of books donated from the Siebel Institute. The collection is one of the largest brewing libraries in the country, Rouben said, with books dating back to the 1930s. The handblown Austrian glassware, each nearly weightless vessel molded with a double bend for optimal aeration, is also part of the aesthetic. And even the water is thoughtfulchoose from still or sparkling filtered through the brewery's bright tank.

Moody Tongue's tasting room is beer pairing made easy. And with only two menu options, there's no need to worry about what the next table is ordering.

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"Everyone's got a fear of missing out. You get questions like 'What's the best thing [on the menu]?' " Rouben said. "You're getting the best thing on the menu. There's no missing out."

The Moody Tongue tasting room (2136 S. Peoria St.) opens later this month with the following hours: 5 p.m.midnight Thursday and Friday, noonmidnight Saturday, noon11 p.m. Sunday and 511 p.m. Monday.

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Bloody Mary Fest, Wine Riot and more things to do in Chicago this weekend, Oct. 14-16.

EAT

Pumpkin Brunch

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Chez Moi

2100 N. Halsted St. 773-871-2100

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Savor the fall favorite every weekend during October with dishes including pumpkin pancakes with cinnamon butter ($12.50), French toast with pumpkin pie mascarpone ($12) and a pumpkin omelet with sauteed pumpkin, mushrooms and garlic ($10). 10:30 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.

10th Anniversary Festival

Katherine Anne Confections

2745 W. Armitage Ave. 773-245-1630

The Logan Square sweets shop celebrates with a pig roast from Table, Donkey and Stick, a hot chocolate bar, beer from Ale Syndicate, cocktails from FEW Spirits, and wine and chocolate pairings. Noon-9 p.m. Saturday. $40. Tickets: katherine-anne.com/10years

Logan Square Food Truck Social

Humboldt Boulevard between Armitage and Bloomingdale avenues

More than 15 local trucks and restaurants sell food at the inaugural fest, which also features free tastings of dishes made by Chicago chefs using Hormel Black Label Bacon, beer from Revolution Brewing and live music from bands including No Men (Saturday) and Brokeback (Sunday). 11 a.m.-10 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. $5 suggested donation.

DRINK

Wine Riot

Wine Riot

Venue One

1034 W. Randolph St. 800-430-1553

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Sample up to 250 wines from around the world, take wine crash courses and soak up the booze with samples from Krave Jerky and Cypress Grove and food sold by The Tamale Spaceship and Sugar Bliss Cake Boutique. 7-11 p.m. Friday, 1-5 p.m. and 7-11 p.m. Saturday. $60. Tickets: my.wineriot.com

Bloody Mary Fest

Plumbers Hall

1340 W. Washington Blvd. 312-850-8170

Sample 14 spins on the classic brunch cocktail prepared by local bars and restaurants and vote for your favorite to win the fourth annual competition. The event also features samples of beer and other cocktails, two full drinks and brunch bites. 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Sunday. $50. Tickets: bloodymarychi.com

DO

Gilt City's Fall Chicago Warehouse Sale

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The Gilt City Chicago Warehouse Sale: Fall Edition

Museum of Contemporary Art Warehouse

1747 W. Hubbard St.

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Shop shoes, jewelry, dresses, suits, jackets, denim, tops, outerwear, bedding, kitchen and bath accessories, and decorative pieces from designers including Jimmy Choo and Oscar de la Renta priced at up to 80 percent off. Tickets include bites and drinks. 9-11 p.m. Friday; 9-11 a.m., 11 a.m.-1 p.m., 1-3 p.m. and 3-5 p.m. Saturday. $5-$20. Tickets: giltcity.com

'Hey, Liberal!' Book Reading (Free!)

1301 E. 57th St. 773-684-1300

Shawn Shiflett discusses his new novel, which explores the racial tensions in 1969 Lincoln Park, with Christine Sneed, author of "The Virginity of Famous Men." 3 p.m. Saturday. Free.

Open House Chicago (Free!)

Various Locations

More than 200 sites across 20 neighborhoods including mansions, office buildings and private clubs offer behind-the-scenes access Saturday and Sunday for the Chicago Architecture Foundation's sixth annual event. Visit openhousechicago.org for a list of participating sites.

HAPPY HOUR OF THE DAY
Free tattoos, a Chicago Fire-commemorative beer release and more things to do in Chicago on Thursday, Oct. 13.

EAT

America's Test Kitchen Presents Cook's Science: The Burger Tour

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Athenaeum Theater

2936 N. Southport Ave. 773-935-6875

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Cook's Science executive editors Dan Souza and Molly Birnbaum use video, music, scent, storytelling and experiments to explain what makes a burger so good. They'll also sign copies of their new book "Cook's Science: How to Unlock Flavor in 50 of Our Favorite Ingredients." 8 p.m. $27. Tickets: athenaeumtheatre.org



DRINK

From the Ashes

Burnt City Brewing

2747 N. Lincoln Ave. 773-295-1270

Get a first taste of the limited-edition 13 DeKoven Belgian dark strong ale ($8) created through a collaboration with The Hop Review to commemorate the Great Chicago Fire. The release party also features a low-score bowling tournament and giveaways. 5 p.m. No cover.



DO

Big Ideas Awards finalists.

RedEye's Big Idea Awards

Ravenswood Event Center

4011 N. Ravenswood Ave.

Meet 19 young entrepreneurs chosen by RedEye's editorial staff for their game-changing ideas for technology, food and drink, arts and design, and community development and civic involvement, and vote for your favorite to win prizes. Tickets include Gentleman Jack cocktails, beer, wine and bites. 6:30-9:30 p.m. $30. Tickets: redeyechicago.com/bigidea

White Mystery.

Straight to Hell Seven-Year Anniversary

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East Room

2354 N. Milwaukee Ave. 773-698-8774

The music-inspired fashion company celebrates with a bash featuring sets by Dirty Fences, Ravagers, MAMA and White Mystery spinning vinyl, Revolution Brewing beer specials and complimentary mini-leather jacket tattoos from Logan Square Tattoo. 8 p.m. No cover.



'All Mixed Up'

Prop Thtr

3502 N. Elston Ave. 773-732-5611

Barely Concealed Productions presents the world premiere of John J. Enright's comedy about the conflict that arises between a mixed-race lesbian couple over the race of their sperm donor. 8 p.m. $10. Tickets: brownpapertickets.com



HAPPY HOUR OF THE DAY

David Burke's Primehouse (616 N. Rush St. 312-660-6000) offers half-price draft beers and Ketel One mules at the bar from 4-7 p.m.

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Without strong, well-drawn characters who feel real, like you know them and understand their emotions and loyalties and flaws, a drama just wont work. Plot twists carried out by characters who feel fake, like their actions are dictated by someones script rather than by their own human decisions, just dont quite land.

Fortunately, that is very much not the case in Eyewitness, a new drama premiering at 9 p.m. Sunday on USA Network that follows the aftermath of a triple homicide in a small New York town.

There are few one-note characters in its ensemble cast, which is instead populated with wonderfully complex figures: a dedicated small-town sheriff trying to juggle her suddenly-more-complicated job with her suddenly-more-complicated family; her loving, kind husband trying to support her and keep up with the changes; a pair of strong-willed sisters on opposite sides of the law, both trying to do right by the people they love.

As Chicago-area native Tyler Young put it, "There wasn't any character that felt like it was just a cliche or it was there to just serve one singular purpose. Every character on the show gets an identity that has multiple layers, and every character's dynamic, every character has a story."

He would know: Young plays Philip Shea, the shows lead teenage character, whose story might be the most layered of all. He's a city boy in a small town, a son worried about and missing his drug-addicted mother, a foster kid trying to fit into a new family dynamic, a seemingly comfortably gay teen in an environment where he can't be open about that. And, to top it all off, he's now a witness to the series' central terrible crime.

Hes been through so much more honestly than Ive probably been through in my entire life at this point, Young said.

Young grew up in the Chicago area, attending Stevenson High School in Lincolnshire and DePaul University. Though he now lives in Los Angeles, he has lived in various parts of Lincoln Park as well as the River North/Gold Coast area.

At 25, he already has a variety of material on his resume: training at DePaul and The Second City, appearances on "Chicago Fire" and "Empire," a stint as the lead character of "The Avatars," a musical show for the European Disney Channel.

But Philip is just the kind of character he wants to play, and Eyewitness is just his kind of material. Pretending to be a teen on a G-rated show for a European market was a stretch for him, he said, and moving from that into his "Eyewitness" role was easy, as he said his goal has always been to do more drama.

"The character's really different from me, but tapping into this sort of dark, brooding, crime-ridden, moody kind of show felt very natural to me, actually," he said.

Because Philip isnt based on any real person, Young said he was able to mold and create his identity.

Young said he had seen friends' "journeys with self-acceptance and exploration of their sexual identity" and discussed those experiences with them, and their stories and others he read helped inform his understanding of Philip's.

For the more unfamiliar experience of going through the foster system, he turned to research, reading articles and books and watching a documentary to take in different perspectives.

"I tried to get an understanding of what that experience is like, to go through the foster care system, to sort of have to struggle to find your identity, not only your sexual identity, but also your general identity in the world, who you feel that you are, who you feel that you can become given your circumstances in life," he said.

A key storyline in "Eyewitness" is Philip's secret relationship with his popular classmate Lukas, who is far from openly gay. The two teens are together in a secluded cabin when the series' central crime occurs, and they don't come forward as witnesses because doing so would reveal their relationship and therefore their sexuality.

The focus "Eyewitness" puts on their relationship is something Young identified as unique and interesting about the show, that it's putting a love story between two teenage boys at the forefront of the action.

"It's not a side plot, it's not a gimmick, we're not token characters in any way," he said. "We are one of the main relationships that is focused on in the show. And I think we explore this relationship very deeply. ... I've never seen a television show that explored a teenage relationship between two people of the same sex so deeply as we do on 'Eyewitness,' and I think people are gonna be surprised at how far our relationship goes, the areas that we touch upon."

Young's not sure if we'll be seeing more of "Eyewitness" after this seasonit's an anthology series, like "American Horror Story" or "American Crime Story," so this season's storyline will have run its course, wrapping up fairly neatly at the end. But a lot of the anthology series out there today use repeat ensemble castsagain, see "American Horror Story"and Young said that the cast for this first season had great chemistry and "truly love[s] each other."

"If the idea was presented, I wouldn't doubt that people would be interested in getting the gang back together and telling another story, another eyewitness account, so we'll see," he said.

As "Eyewitness" prepares to make its debut, Young's still waiting to choose his next project, and hoping for something that he and his fellow cast and crew are as passionate about as they were about this series.

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He didn't want to identify a specific type of project for his future-job wish list"something on paper can be one thing, and then in execution it's completely different," and it all comes down to the people involved and their energies, he explained.

But he's interested in doing a dark comedy, or a dramedy, "although I think all drama has some, all good drama, at least, should have some humor to it and some pathos. It's a mix of those." Or something like "Transparent," he said, "where it's sort of a fusion of comedy and drama and everything in between."

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Something, it sounds like, with plenty of layers.

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A rare interview in which Adi Godrej talks about his wife, Parmeshwar, whom he married in 1965.

Parmeshwar Godrej, designer, fashion icon and philanthropist, passed into the ages on October 11.

This interview is part of Gunjan Jain's must-read book, She Walks, She Leads: Women Who Inspire India.

IMAGE: Parmeshwar and Adi Godrej arrive for a screening of Beauty And The Beast. Photograph: Pradeep Bandekar

Once upon a time he encouraged her to fly and be liberated; she came back to open his eyes to a wonderful exotic world beyond science, logic and dry commerce; and they were captivated forever.

The fire lit by the fairy-tale romance between corporate titan Adi Godrej and style diva Parmeshwar Godrej, more than 40 years ago, glows as bright and strong today.

The chairman of the Godrej Group takes us through his life of sheer joy and happiness with Parmeshwar, talking about her innate sense of style and aesthetics, her business acumen, her unwavering passion for and commitment to philanthropy, her flair for friendship, her wonderful parenting and, above all, their essential companionship that has helped the two of them remain each other's greatest strengths -- happily ever after.

How did you meet Parmeshwar, and what was she like in your early years together?

I got to know Parmesh when both of us were very young. We met through her brother while she was studying at the J J School of Arts.

Parmeshwar was very dynamic and an engaging conversationalist -- that was her approach to everything.

She had and still has a great sense of aesthetics and style.

Shortly after we started dating, Parmesh asked me my opinion on the job of an air hostess. I told her I thought travelling was very liberating and educational and that was enough encouragement for her to join Air India despite her parents and other friends advising her against it, having thought poorly of the profession.

I even remember taking her to the airport for her first flight and picking her up on her return.

But having missed her a great deal I asked her to give it up after her very first flight! She, however, did fly for a few months before we got married.

Parmeshwar is celebrated for many things but is, above all, an icon of style, both in fashion and design. How do you view her professional journey?

Design is embedded in her DNA and it reflects in every aspect of her personality. It is inherent in Parmesh and natural to the way she engages with the world.

I don't think she has ever had to work on it.

As she used to paint, she has a great sense of art as well and has collected a very impressive portfolio for us across our homes and offices.

Parmesh's parents had only her paintings hung on their walls and my mother, having also liked what she painted, hung quite a few of her paintings in our house as well. Parmesh is very creative and international in her outlook.

Her professional journey has been remarkable as she has leveraged her sense of design to set standards of excellence in design and innovation in all her business ventures that she has taken up, be it in fashion, interiors, architecture, advertising or our property business.

That has added great value and profits to both her private businesses and our consumer goods and property businesses.

When we were first married, Parmeshwar borrowed money from me to start her garment business. She actually paid me back the money she borrowed very quickly as her business did extremely well!

She opened a boutique called Dancing Silks at the Oberoi and then exported her designs all over the world. Her designs were very well received and were displayed on the designer floors in the stores. The business did very well both domestically and globally.

Parmeshwar is very drawn to architecture and started her interior design business, which was hugely successful and attracted many clients in India and abroad.

Simultaneously, she started working in advertising and marketing in our Godrej consumer goods business where she worked for many years, but decided to pull out once we started our joint venture with Procter and Gamble, and moved to Godrej Properties, where she continues to work till today.

Philanthropy has specially been a passion of hers for the past two decades and she has done remarkable work.

IMAGE: Nita Ambani, Anuradha Mahindra and Parmeshwar Godrej. Photograph: Kind courtesy The Nita Ambani Fan Club/Twitter

Tell us a little bit more about Parmeshwar's role in the Godrej family business.

Parmeshwar started by first working with us in advertising and marketing in our fast-moving consumer goods business. Her role expanded when she joined our property business and that has added great economic value and contributed immensely.

Some of our most memorable and iconic ads were her doing. She roped in major stars from the sporting and movie fraternity, and made compelling campaigns which people still recall. She did an excellent job.

I especially recall the time Parmesh launched one of our brands of soap called Ganga, despite being advised by our research agency to shelve it, as the name, and the product made with water from the Ganga, would be very controversial. The agency gave her a presentation of the 40 negative points that the research had thrown up.

She, however, was very convinced that the soap would do very well and persisted with her decision to go ahead. She went with her gut feeling and extensively researched all the points the agency had thrown up and addressed each of them by finding a solution. She went on to launch the soap with overwhelming results.

After our joint venture with Procter and Gamble, Parmesh stopped working in our advertising. Parmesh was furious with the P&G marketing team as they were unable to comprehend the intangible value of Ganga and what it meant to the target audience.

P&G began to market the soap in terms of the content of the perfume and cream in the soap. Despite the Ganga soap having been extremely successful, the product died out due to their wrong marketing strategy.

Her vision for Godrej Properties is very ambitious.

In her relentless pursuit of excellence she believes in setting standards in design that give meaning to our customers in their everyday lives and are also a great enabler of value creation.

Her performance is guided by her ongoing quest for perfection, she has invested the same time and creative energy in our property business and has delivered differentiated projects to satisfy customer needs that emotionally touch and excite our consumers. This has added immense economic value for us and the customers.

Her goal is to not just be the biggest, but the most admired real estate company in the country, and one of the best globally.

IMAGE: Parmeshwar Godrej with Hollywood star Richard Gere -- who was in India to increase awareness about AIDS -- through a red light area in Mumbai, December 2, 2003. Photograph: Roy Madhur/Reuters

How do you view her philanthropic work?

Parmesh has been very focused and taken on her philanthropic work very passionately.

Over the years, Parmesh has lent her time, energy and heart's conviction to the causes she truly believes in and has done a great deal of commendable work, with special emphasis on delivering results.

She has been a powerful agent for change in the attitudes towards HIV/AIDS and the stigma and discrimination that accompanies it, by using the power of communication and advocacy.

Her strategic and out-of-the-box thinking and her creative initiatives have attracted global attention and she has been consulted and been requested by various organisations to partner with them.

She partnered with Richard Gere and launched the Heroes Project, and focused on preventing the mother-to-child transmission of HIV/AIDS.

Over the years, she has also supported Avahan, run by the Gates Foundation and various other NGOs.

Whenever she pledges her support to any issue, she does everything in her power to make it a success. And the reason behind that is her passion and focus for whatever issue she takes up with a strong purposeful emphasis on achieving results.

What, in your view, has been her greatest triumph?

Her greatest achievements are having raised three extremely capable children and her greatest tragedy was when she lost a baby when eight months pregnant!

Parmeshwar is a legendary host and an integral part of Indian and international power circles...

It is in her nature and I believe that, because she is so accomplished, people from all walks of life and from different cultures and societies are drawn to her. They enjoy meeting her and when like-minded people come together, they have a way of connecting and stay in touch.

Parmesh has always had an international mindset and has made great friends across the world. She enjoys people, and she is a wonderful person to know. I think it is quite remarkable.

Parmeshwar connects people, which is a rare accomplishment.

IMAGE: Hollywood actress Goldie Hawn, Pallavi Kotak, Parmeshwar Godrej and Natasha Poonawala with Abhinav Kumar, CMO, TCS Europe. Photograph: Kind courtesy: Abhinav Kumar/Twitter

Please tell us what she is like as a homemaker.

A very exacting one, who pays great attention to details. Parmeshwar has run multiple homes for us over the years and each one is impeccable, both in how it looks and how it functions.

She is not the type of person who runs into the kitchen all the time, but she is an excellent planner, who organises dinners and events with great skill.

Parmeshwar has said in an interview that she is very proud that all her children are doing very well. Is she a hands-on mother?

Yes very, which is something people don't seem to expect of her, but she has always been extremely dedicated to our three children -- Tanya, Pirojsha and Nisa.

What I have found really wonderful about her as a mother is that she strikes a balance between being encouraging, caring and very supportive, without being controlling.

She has let each child develop on their own, and when they went away to their respective universities abroad, she visited them often and stayed in touch without suffocating them.

Whenever they need her, she is there for them! I think that has worked very well for the family.

How much of their mother do you see in your children?

Quite a bit, but in different ways in each. They've all inherited her good taste and her social skills. But each is their own person, so I don't see myself or Parmeshwar in them in any major way.

That said, I think they've picked the best from both of us and added a lot of their own ideas, skills and experiences to their lives.

IMAGE: Parmeshwar and Adi Godrej attend the wedding reception of Salman Khan's youngest sister Arpita last year. Photograph: Pradeep Bandekar

The Sunday Indian once referred to Parmeshwar as the 'backbone of Adi Godrej.' How has she supported and inspired you, both personally and professionally?

Tremendously. To start, she is a very outgoing person and I am not, so she complements me in this and many other ways.

Secondly, my outlook is very scientific, and earlier in my life, I did not pay much attention to the arts, culture, etc. Parmeshwar has inspired me to look at the world in a way that did not automatically come to me.

She opened my eyes to a lot of things. I've taken her opinion on most important decisions in my life, be it personal or professional.

She is emotional, and has so much flair, that she has brought openness into my life.

Parmeshwar has opened my mind to the fact that there is much more to life than business and science, which has helped me a lot, personally and professionally.

Ordinarily, people may think that people as different as she and I cannot get along, but I think we have built a wonderful marriage and a wonderful life together.

In my view, the most significant factors that have helped us remain each other's greatest strengths is the fact that we complement each other in our interests and character.

What are your favourite memories together, as a couple and a family?

So many of them -- just being together and our holidays; when each of our children was born.

When the children were growing up, we took them to a new country on each holiday, on African safaris or on cruises. Parmeshwar liked to do that, and it was a great time for all of us.

When our children graduated, it was a proud moment filled with happiness. Again, when each one of them got married and later, when we had our grandchildren.

I have always admired how beautifully she keeps our home. When we were first married, we lived with my parents while waiting for our first apartment to be ready. Parmeshwar did a wonderful job of designing our first home.

Later, we bought a house in Juhu -- which we still own, though we don't live there and use it only for entertaining -- and she has designed it so well that people from around the world admire it.

Our current home is on the waterfront in Walkeshwar; it's a small home, but again, very elegantly done.

Parmeshwar has many tremendous attributes that I admire -- for example, she attracts friends from all disciplines, and people like to stay connected to her.

Of course Parmeshwar has achieved very much in every aspect of her life and, as her husband, what makes you most proud of her?

How she has used her skills, her taste, her sense of design in every way, especially to help people. She adds value to life in many commendable ways.

Apart from her many contributions to our consumer products business and Godrej Properties, she dedicates her energies and resources to charity, to philanthropic causes and most of all how she has managed her time as a wife, mother and entrepreneur brilliantly. All of this is praiseworthy. I could only describe her life as a big triumph.

Going forward, what are your hopes for her?

I believe that Parmeshwar will continue to devote herself to pursuits that interest her. Of course, right now, her focus has shifted from our children to the grandchildren.

Our two youngest are less than a year old and she delights in them. I think she will continue to enjoy life tremendously and I wish for her to have fun.

In your opinion, what lessons can young Indian women draw from Parmeshwar Godrej?

That it is very important to be your own person -- to own and build on your inherent strengths, and do what comes natural to you.

To not get pressured into just being a wife or mother or running a home, or only have a career, and not pay attention to your personal life.

Parmeshwar has never done that. She has achieved and continues to achieve a lot personally, and professionally, but never at the cost of the family.

Excepted from She Walks, She Leads: Women Who Inspire India by Gunjan Jain, Rs 799, with the permission of the publishers, Penguin Books India.

You can buy a copy of the book here.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will unveil key initiatives and a hub to provide support to entrepreneurs from the SC/ST community in Ludhiana, Punjab, next Tuesday.

The National SC/ST Hub, under the micro, small and medium enterprises ministry, was announced in the Budget as well. With an initial outlay of Rs 490 crore, the hub will work towards strengthening market access/linkage, monitoring, capacity building, leveraging financial support schemes and sharing industry-best practices.

It will also enable central public sector enterprises to fulfil the procurement target set by the government. The Public Procurement Policy 2012 stipulates that 4 per cent of procurement done by ministries, departments and CPSEs will have to be from enterprises owned by SC/ST entrepreneurs.

The MSME sector, including the service segment, is a key driver of India's economic growth as it contributes nearly 38 per cent to the country's gross domestic product and employs close to 11 crore people.

On the occasion, the prime minister will also launch a zero defect, zero effect (on environment) (ZED) scheme, distribute charkhas to women and present national awards to outstanding micro, small and medium enterprises.

Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, Union MSME Minister Kalraj Mishra and Governor of Punjab V P Singh Badnore will grace the occasion.

The ZED scheme was first mentioned by Modi in his Independence Day speech in 2014. It denotes high quality manufacturing with a minimal negative impact on the environment.

"ZED will hand-hold MSMEs across the country in all Make in India sectors through quality control cells constituted by the government, which will rate them after carrying out annual assessment of their products. It is aimed at raising quality levels in the unregulated MSME sector," a senior official told PTI.

The assessment model based on quality and environment parameters designed by the Quality Council of India will initially target units belonging to sectors like textiles, apparel, food products and beverages, among others.

The units will be awarded bronze, silver, gold, diamond and platinum ratings based on their performance. A ZED platinum rating would signify that a manufacturer follows global best practices and is of international standard.

Image: Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the National Conference of Dalit Entrepreneurs, organised by the DICCI, in New Delhi on December 29, 2015. Union Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment Thaawar Chand Gehlot and other dignitaries are also seen. Photograph: Kind courtesy, Press Information Bureau
Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has said he will cancel the historic Paris Climate deal if voted to power as the agreement would cost the United States economy $5.3 trillion (Rs 35 lakh crore) and skyrocket electricity prices.

Speaking at an election rally in Florida, Trump said he will create jobs all across America and provide cheaper energy to people, especially farmers.

I believe so much in the environment. Believe it or not, people are shocked -- Ive won many environmental awards. Many. But the Paris deal, supported by Hillary, will cost our country another $5.3 trillion over a period of time and skyrocket electricity prices, Trump said.

We will cancel this deal so that our companies can compete. We want clean beautiful air. We want crystal clear water. Thats what we want. We want to be able to do business throughout the world, not so that we cant compete because of these crazy deals that our president is making, he said.

He said he will unlock $50 trillion (Rs 335 lakh crore) in energy reserves, meaning many new jobs all across America. That also means cheaper energy for farmers and everybody.

We are going to take care of our steelworkers who are under siege from China, and were going to take care of our miners who are practically being put out of business, he said.

The Obama-Clinton crew spent $50 billion (Rs 3.35 lakh crore) on climate programmes when they should have used that money to help Florida farmers fight diseases that threaten your crops. And thats happening all over, he said.

Trump said Trans-Pacific Partnership was great for other countries but bad for the US.

Well do it nice and simple. We like a country? Boom, we do a trading deal. Another one, we do a trading deal. Another one. And if they dont behave, and if they dont live up to the deal, we send them what's called a notice of termination, 30 days, he said.

We will be free traders, but we will free trade with our friends. We will be smart. We will bring back jobs, and well begin making product again. We'll begin making things, he said.

Trump said one of his many his dreams was to have Apple and companies like it to start making their iPhones and other products in the US and not in China and Vietnam or in other countries where they are making them.

Hillary Clinton is an insider. She fights for herself. Im an outsider -- used to be an insider, to be honest with you. I know the inside and I know the outside. Thats why Im the only one that can fix this mess, folks, he told his supporters.
The world must hang its head in shame for being a mute spectator to the 'cultural holocaust' in Tibet, says Major General Mrinal Suman (retd), who visited Tibet recently.

IMAGE: Activists dressed as Chinese soldiers and a Tibetan monk perform a street drama depicting the Tibetan uprising 52 years ago against Chinese rule. Photograph: Pichi Chuang/Reuters

Tibet continues to be an enigma to all visitors. My two visits have been no different.

One sees massive Chinese investment in road and railway infrastructure. Modern skyscrapers are coming up at a frenetic pace to house migrants from the mainland. Yet, Tibet presents a sight of a state under foreign siege.

A deceptive calm hides the underlying tension. There is no cheer in the air.

The story of Tibet is a saga of the world's apathy and indifference to the cultural genocide of Tibetan Buddhism. Brutal decimation of an ancient, rich and peace-loving culture by ruthless China has been ignored nonchalantly.

China annexed Tibet in 1950. Although the estimates vary considerably, it is believed that up to one million Tibetan natives have been killed by the Chinese to suppress their demand for freedom.

As the Tibetans are highly religious by nature, the Chinese have methodically targeted their places of worship and learning with a vengeance.

Over 6,000 monasteries have been destroyed or ransacked. Damage done to Tibet's relics, heritage and architecture has been truly horrendous; and beyond redemption.

Tibet has been amalgamated in China as the Tibet Autonomous Region. It is autonomous only in name; the Chinese government exercises total and unbridled control. The locals have no say.

Even though TAR has an ethnic Tibetan as the chairman, he is only a titular figure. He is subordinate to the branch secretary of the Communist Party of China (the real power wielder) and he is always from the Chinese mainland.

Wu Yingjie, a hard-nosed Han Chinese from Eastern China, is the current appointee.

There is minimal interaction between the Chinese and the natives. The Chinese behave like the rulers and treat the natives with disdain.

The Hans from mainland China occupy all senior government posts and are running prosperous businesses. They enjoy a much higher standard of living and strut around like rulers, demonstrating all the trappings of an occupation force.

On the other hand, the Tibetans are treated with suspicion and have been condemned to menial jobs. Their condition is worse than that of the slaves of the olden days. All janitors, sweepers, load carriers and labourers are Tibetans. Some manage public toilets to make a living. Many peddle in local stones and other produce.

It is sad to see a once-proud community degraded to the status of bonded labour. Poverty continues to afflict most.

IMAGE: Policemen review the oath that they took when they joined the Communist Party of China in front of the Potala Palace in Lhasa, Tibet. Photograph: China Daily/Reuters

Despite 66 years of occupation, China has not been able to crush the Tibetan spirit for independence.

On the contrary, grave atrocities committed through political and religious repression have strengthened their resolve further.

The Tibetans abhor the Chinese and the Chinese know it. The Chinese sense of insecurity is evident from the fact that Google, Facebook, WhatsApp and such other social media have been banned in Tibet. Here are some other indicators:

At Taklakot, foreigners are asked to disembark from the bus and spread out their luggage on the roadside for inspection. Policemen rummage through each item to ensure that no material relating to the Dalai Lama is smuggled into Tibet. Printed material is closely examined. Worse, visitors are asked to show all pictures stored on their cameras and cell-phones.

Every street and building in Tibet is embellished with innumerable Chinese flags, as if to constantly remind the locals that Tibet is under the Chinese rule. Similarly, billboards read 'Welcome to China's Tibet'.

Every house is mandated to fly the Chinese flag on the roof-top; and its height must be more than that of the Tibetan prayer flags that traditionally adorn all houses. Non-compliance is construed as an act of defiance of the State authority and is dealt with harshly. Punishment may include imprisonment for anti-national proclivity.

Tibetans are denied passports. They can visit the Chinese mainland, but cannot travel abroad. They are captives in their own country. China does not want them to interact with the world, lest their atrocities get exposed.

Foreign visitors are not welcome in Tibet. Every tourist bus is accompanied by a policeman during travel in Tibet. He ensures that the permitted route is diligently followed. No deviations are allowed. Contact with the locals is discouraged. Military areas, police posts and even armed guards cannot be photographed. Yes, Tibet is a police State.

Local authorities regulate the number of monks that a monastery can accommodate. Monks need official permission to visit other monasteries in large numbers. Armed soldiers invariably accompany them to monitor their activities.

Although the Tibetans are wary of expressing their views openly, they never fail to express their gratitude to India for giving asylum to their temporal head and millions of other Tibetan refugees.

A middle-aged woman vendor shoved a handful of walnuts in our hand, as if to say 'thank you'.

IMAGE: A boy puts his palms together as he rests with his family outside the Jokhang monastery in Lhasa. Photograph: Jacky Chen/Reuters

Traditionally, the Panchen Lama is considered second to the Dalai Lama in hierarchy and plays a critical role in selecting the next Dalai Lama.

After the escape of the current Dalai Lama to India in 1959, Panchen Lama Choekyi Gyaltsen sided with Communist China and supported the suppression of the 1959 rebellion. However, by 1962, he was a disillusioned man and accused China of smothering Tibetan culture.

He was imprisoned in 1964 and subsequently kept under house arrest. He died suddenly under mysterious circumstances at Shigatse in 1989. He was only 51 years old. Locals are convinced that he was poisoned by the Chinese.

A boy named Gedhun Choekyi Nyima was chosen to be the next Panchen Lama by the Dalai Lama and the then-incumbent abbot of Shigatse's Tashilhunpo monastery. However, the boy went missing soon after his nomination and is untraced to date. It is alleged that he is still being held in captivity at an unknown location in China.

In his place, the Chinese government conspired to select Gyaincain Norbu (son of two Communist Party members) as the 11th Panchen Lama. Most Tibetans do not recognise Norbu as the Panchen Lama and consider him to be a stooge of the Chinese.

Although the Panchen Lama traditionally lived in his official seat at the Tashilhunpo monastery in Shigatse, Norbu has chosen to reside in Beijing.

Hatred for him amongst the Tibetans is so intense that whenever he visits Shigatse, the city is converted into a police fortress to ensure his security. Locals are coerced to send two persons per family to attend his public addresses and are even paid money for the same.

Non-attendance is viewed seriously and can even invite police action.

IMAGE: Tibetan girls perform on horses during a Tibetan horse racing festival in Damxung county, Lhasa. Photograph: Jacky Chen/Reuters

China has been adopting a three pronged approach to ensure the total integration of Tibet -- demographic offensive, obliteration of Tibetan identity and undermining the standing of the Dalai Lama.

The Tibetan population consists of three broad ethnic groups -- nomads, agriculturists and urban dwellers. Whereas the demographic make-up of the first two groups remains largely undisturbed, it is the third ethnic group that is undergoing a worrisome change with the massive influx of Chinese migrants.

The Chinese government considers demographic swamping to be the ultimate solution. It is feared that the Han population will overwhelm the locals in the next two decades.

As the Chinese consider the knowledge of Mandarin to be essential for building national cohesion, the Tibetans are compelled to learn Mandarin. As a result, the local Tibetan language is being allowed to die.

Secondly, having failed to crush the ethnic pride of the Tibetans, China has been systematically targeting symbols of Tibetan uniqueness.

Recent demolitions at the Larung Gar Buddhist Academy and the Jhada Gon Palden Khachoe Nunnery are symptomatic of the Chinese efforts to subvert the local culture.

Larung Gar is said to be the biggest Tibetan Buddhist institute (academy and monastery) in the world and is keeping Buddhist knowledge alive. Under the garb of decongesting, it is attempting to curtail its influence.

Finally, as regards the Dalai Lama, the Chinese government suffers from acute phobia. It has forbidden referring to him as His Holiness. However, for the Tibetans, His Holiness the Dalai Lama continues to be the supreme head. They hold him in great esteem.

When told that we were from India, a young hotel boy told us that his sole ambition in life was to visit India to pay respects to His Holiness. With moist eyes, he rued his helplessness to acquire a passport.

Having failed to win over the 80-year-old Dalai Lama, China is waiting for his demise to install a pro-China boy as the next Dalai Lama. It has already started manoeuvring itself to be in a position to have its say.

Support of the lackey Panchen Lama will help considerably.

As per China's past track record, if the followers of the current Dalai Lama select a boy living in Tibet, he will be eliminated by China and replaced by a loyalist boy.

With the support of a pliable Dalai Lama, China will tighten its grip over the religious and spiritual facets of Tibetan culture further. That shall prove to be the final and fatal blow.

A rich culture will soon get wiped out and lost forever. Ominous signs are already discernible.

The world must hang its head in shame for being a mute spectator to the 'cultural holocaust' in Tibet.
When vote-hungry parties appear to gain power only through communal polarisation, do we see any possibility of an end to this violence? asks Mohammad Sajjad.

In news reports on the Bijnor communal violence of September 17, 2016, as also in most of the recent instances of such violence in UP, Bihar, and Haryana, we have noticed a politics of invisibilising the subaltern identities of the Muslim victims, and reporting it only in terms of their religious identity.

Already, an atmosphere of communal tension has been prevailing in most parts of Uttar Pradesh. In the Muzaffarnagar communal violence of August-September 2013 the victims (killed and displaced) belong mostly to the poorer class of Pasmanda Muslims engaged in artisanal occupations.

It occurred when the first phase (ending on September 30, 2013) of the 'Pasmanda Kranti Abhiyan' (founded in 2012) was underway in the area, with the slogan, 'Dalit-Pichhrha Ek Samaan-Hindu ho ya Musalman.'

Thus, through the communal rioting, the consequent inevitable religious polarisation gulped in an emerging inter-faith subaltern solidarity.

In the Dadri lynching of September 2015, the victim, Mohammad Akhlaq, was from the carpenter (Saifi) community of Muslims. He had recently bought a car; a son was employed in the Indian Air Force, another was preparing for the civil services. All this did not go well with the people around him, who had grown envious of him.

In the Riga, Sitamarhi, Bihar riots of October 1992, Pasmanda Muslims, hitherto serving as labourers for local landowning Hindus, were becoming affluent through beedi making, flute making, tailoring, etc.

One village headman, Ilyas, had organised them into 'syndicates', or 'cooperatives', to sell these in the adjacent Nepal markets. The Lalu Yadav regime never made public the S R Adige inquiry report into the Sitamarhi riots nor did the Muslim leadership of any hue ask for it.

In the Azizpur, Muzaffarpur, Bihar riots of January 2015, the victims were Pasmanda Muslims.

Even though the immediate spark in Bijnor, on September 17, 2016, was eve-teasing, tension was already simmering on the right to use pond water in Pedda village, just four kilometres away from Bijnor town.

Usually such contracts are given to the community of kumbhars (potters), singharias (the community that grows water chestnuts, singharas), and dhobis (washermen). This year, the contract was given to Muslim dhobis by the state government while the pond was under the occupation of Hindu Jats.

The Bijnor violence looks like a case of spectacular violence carried out by the Jats in order to ward off the Muslim dhobis from claiming their rights to the pond.

Haseenuddin, Sarfaraz and Ehsan (differently abled) were all Pasmanda Muslims of the dhobi community of a particular family.

Some local sources say a Jat hegemon was trying to forcefully occupy a piece of land owned by this Muslim family as they were refusing to sell it to him.

These two aspects, which could be the genesis of the conflict and eventually accentuating into violence, have remained almost completely unreported.

This suppression of the caste identity of the victims is becoming irksome for some Pasmanda intellectual activists, who are also angry with their own political leaders and intellectuals who are not raising their voices against this specific aspect.

An altercation on eve-teasing may not always turn into gruesome communal violence unless some other factors of tension did not already exist.

At the moment when elections to the Uttar Pradesh assembly are due next year, any minor scuffle acquires the saliency of escalating into large scale group violence.

After all, communal polarisation yields electoral dividends.

Uttar Pradesh, under the dispensation of Akhilesh Yadav since 2012, has seen tremendous communalisation.

Even before the Muzaffarnagar riots of August 2013, in some instances, the ruling regime, by some of its actions, indicated that there were some wilful attempts at communalising the province.

The Samajwadi Party, by creating religious polarisation, probably intended to wean Muslim votes away from non-Bharatiya Janata Party political formations like the Bahujan Samaj Party, the Congress and the Indian National Lok Dal.

If it really did intend so, then the Samajwadi Party must not lose sight of the fact that the biggest beneficiary of the politics of communal polarisation will eventually be the BJP.

In a comprehensive study of communal riots, Yale University researchers assert that 'riots produce ethnic polarisation that benefits ethno-religious parties at the expense of the Congress' and 'the BJS (the Bharatiya Jana Sangh, the BJP's parent) saw an 0.8 percentage point increase in their vote share following a riot in the year prior to an election.'

In 1989, the BSP's Mayawati won the Bijnor Lok Sabha seat by a narrow margin, by working out a Muslim-Dalit alliance, leaving out the Jats and other Hindus like the Rajputs, Gujjars, Banias who were leaning towards the BJP.

Subsequently, in 1991, the BSP performed well in the Bijnor assembly seat, securing 41% of votes, even though it lost to the BJP.

Of the 8 assembly seats in the Bijnor district, four seats are currently with the BSP, 3 with the Samajwadi Party, one with the BJP.

There could be a possibility that the ruling Samajwadi Party may fear a repeat of a Muslim-Dalit alliance for the BSP in the 2017 assembly election. The Bijnor violence should be seen against this backdrop.

While going to school, it has been reported that two Muslim girls were teased by Hindu Jat boys on September 17, 2016. The boys are said to belong to the family of a Jat hegemon in the village.

When the girl's family went to the Jat hegemon's home to complain about the eve-teasing, they were fired upon from the roof of the fortified house. One member of the girls' family was killed on the spot.

The next morning, a mob of around 100 people attacked the girls' home. Seventeen members of the Muslim family were injured in the violence. Three of the injured died later and a fourth, with bullet injuries in his neck, has been admitted to New Delhi's All India Institute of Medical Sciences.

In all, four people, including a woman, were killed in the violence.

The fact that all the deceased and the injured belong to one family is proof that the girls' family had only gone to beseech the elders of the deviant boys to rein them in, rather than a communal mobilisation on the issue.

The armed mob at the Jat hegemon's home indicates a certain degree of pre-planning of the violence. The Muslim villagers allege that the village pradhan and a local illegal arms dealer were complicit in the killings.

The Muslims allege that the sequence of events was not the outcome of what happened on that Friday morning. Rather, by all indications, it was pre-planned to create an atmosphere of communal tension in the village and the area.

,font size=7>They also allege that some policemen were hand in glove with the killers as they were present at the scene when the firing started. Also, the police did not answer around 12 phone calls made by a villager, Anis Ahmad, to the police control room during the attack, around 8 am.

Ahmad also called Ruchi Veera, the Samajwadi Party MLA, who also did not answer the call. After the incident, Veera is said to have curbed further outbreak of the violence. The MLA was also instrumental in securing compensation for the victims' families: Rs 20 lakhs (Rs 2 million) for each death.

Even the amount of compensation has becomes a factor in polarisation. An amount of Rs 20 lakh has come to be seen by the saffron forces as 'appeasement' of Muslims by the ruling regime in Uttar Pradesh.

Anis Ahmad, 38, is an alumnus of the Deoband seminary. His 'conservatism' or 'orthodoxy' is reflected in his sartorial manners. Anis was earlier a tailor in Kuwait. He is now a 'dress designer.'

Having improved his economic lot, he took recourse to politics and got his wife elected as the village headwoman of Gokalpur, near Pedda.

Overall, the Muslim washermen of the village have diversified their economy by using washing machines for commercial uses, by working as tailors, as barbers, as fruit and vegetable sellers, automobile mechanics, and other artisanal practices.

Enough indications from the ground reveal that the economic upward mobility of the Muslim dhobis did not go down well with the well-off Hindu Jats of the area.

As Muslim dhobi girls have taken recourse to modern education, it has become a matter of disdain, scorn and jealousy for the Jats.

Across UP, a very high percentage -- 31% -- of the success of Muslims in rural and urban local bodies may also create heartburn among a section of Hindus.

In the UP assembly, 69 out of 403 MLAs are Muslims. This has further contributed towards overall growing anti-Muslim animosity.

Even though Bijnor is generally regarded as an island of communal peace, it suffered huge communal violence in October 1990. Till 1990 Bijnor did not suffer from any communal violence, not even during the worst periods of the Independence struggle and Partition. Very few Muslims migrated from Bijnor to Pakistan.

In Bijnor town, around 49% of the population is Muslim. They constitute 57% of the total population in the three largest towns in Bijnor district: Bijnor, Nagina and Najibabad.

Overall, there has been a history of Jat-Muslim tension in Bijnor, in 1983, and in 1990, on the issue of eve-teasing.

More particularly, Mundahla (a Muslim-dominated village), and Suaheri (a Jat-dominated village) have a history of mutual tension. Some indications of anti-Muslim hatred among the Bengali Hindu refugees, who settled in the 1960s in Bijnor, were found during the 1990 riots.

Patricia Jeffrey studied the Bijnor riots of 1990 and observed that one of the probable reasons why Bijnor remained largely peaceful till the late 1980s is: 'Hindus and Muslims do occupy very different economic niches in Bijnor, with wholesalers and traders in the more valuable products (jewellers, groceries) more likely to be Hindu, and labourers and traders in the cheaper products (fruit and vegetables) more likely to be Muslims.'

'The only substantial organised industry is the local sugar factory, where the management is predominantly Hindu and the labour is mostly Muslim,' Jeffrey noted. 'But class or other economic interests have not hitherto fused with religious allegiance to intensify local disputes.'

But all this has started changing in recent decades. The artisan class, the Pasmanda Muslims, have gained upward economic mobility by diversification of their artisanal economy, and also by remittance from Gulf money, with which the new generation has started taking to modern education.

Further, their inclusion into the OBC category has helped them find public employment. Contrast it with the Jats whose struggles to be included as OBCs remain unfulfilled.

The overall status of Pasmanda Muslims has improved. This is reflected in their enhanced representation in the rural and urban local bodies of Uttar Pradesh.

Almost every third seat (over 31%) in urban local bodies is represented by Muslims.

In the urban local bodies (2012), 'the highest Muslim representation (53.5%) is in Ruhelkhand where Muslims account for 34% of the population.' Bijnor falls in the Ruhelkhand area of Uttar Pradesh.

Sadly, India is witnessing a resurgence of more and more religious strife. The need of the hour is to strengthen the criminal justice system to punish the rioters and bring about deterrence against the sickening recurrence of such hatred and violence.

When vote-hungry political parties appear to gain power only through violent communal polarisation, a concerted assertion from civil society is badly needed.

Mohammad Sajjad, who teaches history at Aligarh Muslim University, is the author of Muslim Politics in Bihar: Changing Contours and Contesting Colonialism and Separatism: Muslims of Muzaffarpur.
'Who is the government to decide about my religion?'

'We are governed by the Constitution of India.'

'The Constitution has given me the independence to follow my religion.'

The Narendra Modi government has asked for suggestions to implement 'One India One Law', or as is commonly known, the Uniform Civil Code.

The move towards a Uniform Civil Code, part of the Directive Principles of the Constitution, has created an understandable furore.

Historically, whenever the issue has been raised, it has led to a storm of protests, particularly from the religious minorities.

Kamal Faruqui, below, left, founder and executive member of the Muslim Personal Law Board and former chairman of the Delhi Minorities Commission, opposes the proposed legislation.

Faruqui tells Rediff.com's Syed Firdaus Ashraf why he believes India does not need a Uniform Civil Code.

How do you see the move by the Union government asking for suggestions on a Uniform Civil Code?

They are sticking to their agenda. We are not surprised. They said in their election manifesto that they will bring in a Uniform Civil Code.

Don't you think it will be good for India to have a 'One India One Law' concept?

From your viewpoint, it is very good. Let there be only one thing in the country. There should not be different kind of spices, different kind of people, different kind of flowers, animals. Everything must be one only.

But the Uniform Civil Code will affect all communities, including Hindus.

That is for Hindus to decide what action they want to take. It is not Hindus alone.

We have a large number of Adivasis to whom we have given a guarantee in the Constitution that their caste and culture will not be disturbed at all. That was the agreement which we had with them (in the Constitution). Then there are other minorities.

A large section of Hindu society practises different religious ethos in different places. So it is for the government to decide whether they are trying to create anarchy or if they are really interested in serving the people.

Do you believe there will be anarchy in India if we have a 'One India One Law' rule?

Yes. (one country one law) is not possible in India. I do not know whether Dalits and Adivasis will agree to this. Adivasis have their own custom and culture.

A man can have many wives and a woman can have many husbands. They have different ways of marriage and also different rituals for burying the dead.

We had assured them that these things would not be disturbed, so where will they go?

We have also committed to all the minorities that their religious beliefs will not be disturbed, so what is going to happen to all these things?

What is the problem in Muslims accepting a Uniform Civil Code?

When the Constitution was framed, it was agreed that unless the Uniform Civil Code has the consensus of all the people, it will never be implemented. It would not be forced. Even Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar said so.

Which Muslim body will decide on the Uniform Civil Code for Muslims? The community is so vast and divided into so many different groups in India.

Or will the Government of India decide on a Uniform Civil Code for all, including Muslims?

Who is the government to decide about my religion?

It is the religious people who will decide about their religion.

But Article 44 of the Constitution does says that the State shall endeavour to secure for citizens a Uniform Civil Code throughout the territory of India.

There are about 16 crore (160 million) Muslims and out of that say 50,000 people have a different opinion as reported by the media. But what about the rest of the Muslim population?

But the point is whether there was an idea while framing the Constitution that we need to bring in a Uniform Civil Code some day.

Yes, there were a lot of ideas which the government has not yet implemented. One of the ideas was a total ban on alcohol.

But we have a criminal law which is the same for all communities while civil law is different for different communities.

What was the rationale behind this when our Constitution was framed?

The rationale behind this was that if any crime is committed by any person, there will not be any discrimination based on his religion or caste. It will be implemented throughout the country.

As far as the religiosity of the people is concerned, it will not be disturbed. So what is the problem with it?

As far as criminal law is concerned there has been no difference of opinion, there was unanimity. That is the main difference, which I hope you appreciate.

Critics of your stand say you prefer the Shariah only in civil matters, not in criminal matters where you want the secular law to prevail, as the punishment under Shariah law can be severe.

If the government wants to bring this too, let them do so, we have no issue.

Let them discuss this, that they will chop off the hands as is done in some, not all, Muslim countries.

If the government wants to bring it uniformly, let this be discussed.

The move to ban triple talaq (divorce) is gaining momentum. Why is this happening 30 years after Rajiv Gandhi overturned the Supreme Court ruling in the Shah Bano case?

It is all thanks to the media.

But the Supreme Court is intervening in the recent Shayara Bano case.

The Supreme Court has said in so many earlier judgments that it cannot legislate on religion. Are they trying to reverse that judgment?

The judge who passed this ruling was hearing some other case involving a Hindu family. Suddenly the judge asked for a Uniform Civil Code and he treated this matter as a PIL (Public Interest Litigation.

Musilm women were nowhere in the judgment. He also asked for filing a suo motu petition.

But it was the Shayara Bano case...

The media without going into details of the whole thing is going by perceptions. It was not Shayara Bano's petition.

In fact, her petition was filed suo motu after the judge gave his ruling.

What does the Quran and the Hadith say about talaq?

Anybody who is a Muslim and believes in Islam will not go against the Quran and the Hadith. And whatever is there (talaq), it is according to the Quran and the Hadith.

I am asking specifically about talaq.

No Muslim can think of going against the Quran and the Hadith. That is the answer.

That means whatever we are saying in our petition is according to the Quran and the Hadith.

The Hindu Code Bill was passed in 1955. How come the Muslims don't have one?

Because the Hindus never had any code while Muslims had a code for 1,500 years in the Holy Quran and the revelation to Prophet Mohammed from Allah.

Muslims all over the world have a written constitution for them which they don't change and cannot think of changing.

Why do you think it is insulting to Muslims if asked to follow the Uniform Civil Code? Do you feel it goes against the country's ethos?

We are governed by the Constitution of India. The Constitution has given me the independence to follow my religion.

Hindus did not have a law of divorce at all. Rather there is Kanya Daan.

Muslims do not donate girls. Marriage is an agreement in Islam. In Islam, marriage is a contract between the would-be husband and the would-be wife. You will not find this anywhere.

You tell me, in Hinduism is there any written agreement of marriage?

But talaq puts Muslim woman in a disadvantageous position.

This is what you feel. Ask the plight of poor Hindu women who have to fight for divorce against a man who is not cooperating.

A poor Hindu girl suffers as she cannot re-marry. Ask this question to that poor Hindu lady.

And as far as a poor Muslim woman is concerned, she has an honourable exit route. A nikaahnama (marriage contract) gives all the rights which a lady must have.

Rather, it is only in the interests of the woman, and if she wants to walk out of the marriage, she can.

If a Muslim woman says 'qabool hai (accept) before marriage it is of her own will.

If she does not want to marry, she can refuse. Nobody can force her.

In a nikahnama, a woman can put down her rights by stating that the man cannot divorce her without her consent. That is purely Islamic and legal.

So why have many Muslim countries done away with triple talaq, including Pakistan?

Pakistan is our enemy, so why should we talk about them? Who are they?

We have thousands of years of civilisation, so why you are talking about Pakistan? They are just a born country. I hate to refer to them or Bangladesh.

I love my country and my Constitution. We are a very rich nation and we are proud to be Indian Muslims.

Image published only for representational purposes. Photograph: PTI Photo
Buses and autorickshaws were off the roads as the 12-hour state-wide hartal called by the Bharatiya Janata Party in Kerala to protest against the brutal killing of a 25-year-old party activist in Pinarayi in Kannur began on Thursday morning.

Early reports said no untoward incident was reported in any part of the state, including the politically sensitive northern district of Kannur, where there is heavy police patrolling.

BJP activist Remith was hacked to death in the home town of Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Wednesday within 48 hours of the murder of a Communist Party of India-Marxist activist and toddy shop worker Mohanan, 40, by a six-member gang at Pathiriyad in Kannur district.

Remiths body will be brought from Kozhikode Medical College Hospital after postmortem to Kannur on Thursday morning and kept at Thalassery new bus stand for public to pay homage at around 10.30 am before cremation.

This is the second hartal in Kannur district within three days as the CPI-M had observed a hartal in protest against the murder of their worker.

Inspector General of Police Northern Range, Dinendra Kashyap said over 2,000 police personnel have been mobilised in Kannur. Those who have gone on leave have been asked to report for duty.

There is simmering tension and more police personnel have been deployed at places where the body will be kept for public homage, he said.

Meanwhile, police have registered cases against 10 CPI-M workers in connection with the attack on Remith. A special squad under Deputy Superintendent of Police (Administration) T P Renjith has been formed to investigate the case.

Police has made special arrangements to take patients, who had come by trains from various parts of the state for treatment at the Regional Cancer Centre Hospital in the state capital.

Examinations which were to be conducted today by Kerala, Kannur, Calicut and Cochin Universities have been postponed due to the hartal.

Reacting to the killing, BJP National President Amit Shah had tweeted, Attacks on BJP karyakartas in CM Pinarayi Vijayans home constituency is a matter of grave concern and smacks of political vendetta.

Chavassery Uttaman, Remiths father was similarly killed in 2002, his mother suffered serious injures when his house was attacked recently, Shah tweeted.

CPI-M General Secretary Sitaram Yechury had said the violence in Kerala has been started by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh-BJP combine itself and blaming the states ruling party for the same is total fabrication of facts.

Vijayan had on Wednesday hit out at the RSS for the growing violence in the state which he alleged was with the support of the BJP government at the Centre.

Vijayan, while speaking at a function in Alapuzha, attacked RSS and BJP over the attack on a Marxist worker in Kannur two days ago and accused RSS of spreading violence in the state.

IMAGE: Police investigates at the spot after BJP worker Remith was hacked to death allegedly by CPI-M activists in Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan's hometown. Photograph: PTI Photo
Russia and India will sign a multi-billion dollar deal for S-400 'Triumf' long-range air defence missile systems on Saturday following talks between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Goa, Russia's state media reported on Thursday.

"Following the results of the negotiations between our president and (Indian Prime Minister Narendra) Modi, an agreement will be signed on the delivery of S-400 Triumf anti aircraft missile systems to India, as well as some other documents," Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov was quoted as saying by TASS news agency.

India is interested in getting five systems of the most modern air defence system, capable of firing three types of missiles, creating a layered defence, and simultaneously engaging 36 targets.

It has the capability to destroy incoming hostile aircraft, missiles and even drones at ranges of up to 400 km.

If India signs the deal, it would be the second customer of the prized missile system after China which had struck a $3 billion contract last year.

The S-400, an upgraded version of the S-300, had previously only been available to the Russian defence forces.

It is manufactured by Almaz-Antey and has been in service in Russia since 2007.

Ushakov said part of the documents will be signed behind closed doors.

The Kremlin aide declined to comment on the details of the deal, suggesting that first the document should be signed.

Russia also plans to sign an agreement on building Project 11356 frigates for the Indian Navy and setting up a Russian- Indian joint venture to produce Kamov Ka-226T helicopters, the agency reported.

Following the results of their talks, Putin and Modi will adopt a joint statement to reflect their common approaches towards solving various global and regional issues.

Both sides will also approve a roadmap of measures timed to coincide with the 70th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries.

Overall, Russia and India are set to sign about 18 documents, he said.

The Russian presidential aide said Putin and Modi will hold their talks in Goa ahead of the summit of the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) grouping of leading emerging economies.

The Russian and Indian leaders are first expected to talk in a narrow format and then negotiations will be held at the level of delegations.

Russia's delegation will also be represented by Vice-Premier Dmitry Rogozin, the heads of the Industry and Trade, Energy and Economics Ministries, state civil nuclear power corporation Rosatom and others.

After the talks, the Russian and Indian leaders will take part in the ceremony of laying the foundation for the third and fourth power units of India's Kudankulam nuclear power plant via a video conference, make statements for the media and hold a tete-a-tete lunch.
The real threats to India are internal and emanate from communal and social violence, not from outside forces such as Pakistan or China, former national security advisor Shivshankar Menon has said.

Asked if Pakistan or China pose an existential threat to India, Menon said: No.

In terms of national security, I think the real threats are internal, he said.

Theres no existential threat to Indias existence today externally, unlike in the 50s or when we were formed. And for many years till late 60s there were actual internal separatist threats, not any more. I think that we have actual dealt with, Menon said.

His long career in public service spans diplomacy, national security, and Indias relations with its neighbours and major global powers. Menon served as national security advisor to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh from January 2010 to May 2014.

Menon's first book post retirement -- Choices: Inside the making of Indias Foreign Policy -- is all set to hit book stores globally next week.

Asked to elaborate on what he meant by internal threats, he said: If there are real threats to India, to the idea of India, Indias integrity, today they actually come from within the country.

If you look at violence in India, deaths from terrorism, from left wing extremism, declined steadily throughout this 21st century until 2014-2015. Even now the basic trend for terrorism, left wing extremism is down. What has increased is since 2012, communal violence, social violence, internal violence has increase. That is something we need to find a way in dealing with, Menon said.

This is not a traditional law and order problem, which our traditional instruments, the police, the states know how to deal with. You look at violence against women, communal, caste violence, if you look at those firms of violence, these are all a result of tremendous social and economic change of uprooting of population, urbanisation... various forms of change, which we still need to learn how to deal with, he said.

Menon said those are the threats, which in the long run, has a potential to make real difference.

India has changed. It is normal. It happens to most societies where there is change. But you also have to learn new ways of dealing with, he said and attributed the new threats to the rapid and fast development of the country.

When asked that some people attributed this to the Bharatiya Janata Party coming to power, Menon said even that is a consequence of the change that the Indian society is undergoing now.

Menon previously served as India's foreign secretary from 2006 to 2009 and as ambassador and high commissioner to Israel from 1995-1997, Sri Lanka (1997-2000), China (2000-2003) and Pakistan (2003-2006).

He has written in his book that the real threat to Pakistans nuclear weapons is from rogue elements inside its military rather than from the terrorist outfits.

Noting that terrorists have easier and cheaper ways of wreaking havoc, Menon said the nuclear weapons are complex devices that are difficult to manage, use and deliver and require very high level of skills.

To my mind, the real threat (to Pak nukes) is from insiders, from a Pakistani pilot or a brigadier who decides to wage nuclear jihad, with or without orders, Menon writes. The risk increases as Pakistan builds tactical nuclear weapons for battlefield use, control of which will necessarily be delegated down the command chain.

Menon says Pakistan is the only nuclear weapon programme in the world that is exclusively under military control.

Menon writes that India has nuclear weapons for the contribution that make to its national security in an uncertain and anarchic world by preventing others from attempting nuclear blackmail and coercion against India.

While India has a declared policy of no-first use of nuclear weapons, Menon in his book warns that if Pakistan were to use tactical nuclear weapons against India even against Indian forces in Pakistan, it would effectively be opening the door to a massive Indian first strike, having crossed India's declared red line.

Pakistani tactical nuclear weapons use would effectively free India to undertake a comprehensive first strike against Pakistan. There are several responses short of war available to a state like India, he writes.
Jawaharlal Nehru University administration on Thursday ordered an inquiry into burning of effigy of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and others by a section of students in the university campus on the occasion of Dussehra by projecting them as Ravan.

"We have ordered an inquiry into the effigy burning incident and are examining the issue," said JNU vice chancellor Jagadesh Kumar, whose picture was also put on the effigy set ablaze on Tuesday night.

The move comes nearly a week after the varsity ordered a proctorial inquiry into burning of effigy of the Gujarat government and gau rakshak (cow protectors) and issued show-cause notices to the students concerned.

While Pakistans Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, 26/11 mastermind Hafiz Saeed and heads of several other terrorist organisations were the faces of Ravan effigies burnt on Dussehra across the country, members of Congress-affiliated National Students Union of India chose the visages of the PM and Bharatiya Janata Party chief Amit Shah to represent the demon king and burnt the effigy on Tuesday.

They claimed that it was a protest against the Centres failure to honour its promises and the continuous attacks on various educational institutions across the country.

While university officials maintained that no permission was sought for the event, the organisers claimed that effigy burning was a routine thing on campus and did not require permission from the administration.

Besides Modi and Shah, the effigy had faces of Yoga guru Ramdev, Sadhvi Pragya, Nathuram Godse, Asaram Bapu and the vice chancellor. The students also carried placards with the slogan, Truth shall prevail over evil.
The Maharashtra government on Thursday decided to extend fee waiver to students whose family income limit is less than Rs 6 lakh, for professional and higher education courses, including medical and engineering.

The Bharatiya Janata Party government also reaffirmed its commitment to provide reservation to the Maratha community.

Addressing a press conference after the state Cabinet meeting, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said the Rajrishi Shahu Maharaj Fee Pratipurti Yojana was earlier implemented for Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Castes students.

SC/ST students had 100 per cent fee waiver while OBC students had 50 per cent concession. It will now be extended to all students with income limit of Rs 6 lakh and who have secured more than 60 per cent marks at the time of admission. Those with income limit up to Rs 2.5 lakh will have no condition, he said.

He said 6,000 students in government colleges and 1.45 lakh in private colleges will benefit with the decision. The government also decided that the Punjabrao Deshmukh scheme will be implemented to provide hostel fees to children of marginal farmers and registered labourers.

In big cities, Rs 30,000 will be given annually while in district-level towns it will be Rs 20,000.

The government has also decided to implement Pandit Deendayal Upadhay Swayam Yojana for providing hostel and food facilities to tribal students, Fadnavis said.

In big cities, it would be Rs 6,000 per month, in 2-tier cities it would be Rs 5,000 and in 3-tier it would be Rs 4,000 per month.

In medical colleges, those with income limit of Rs 2.5 lakhs to Rs 6 lakh, the government will pay interest of the educational loan taken by them. About 35,000 students in government and 3 lakh in private colleges will benefit from the scheme, he said.

Describing the decisions as historic, Fadnavis said, The investment we are making in education sector will yield good results in times to come. We are making provision of Rs 1,000 crore this year and later budgetary provision will be done.

Medical colleges will have to get accreditation done in two years so that the quality of education is enhanced. Focus should also be given on 50 per cent placement, he said.

He said lack of opportunities in the field of education was one of the main concerns of the Maratha community while seeking reservation.

In the last 20 years, education has become a business in the state and the common man is finding it difficult to get admission, the BJP leader said.

Later replying to questions, Fadnavis said his government was firm on giving reservation to Marathas.

But all issues are not resolved with reservation. Marathas are not demanding repeal of atrocity law but want misuse (of the law) to stop. Even Dalit leaders agree, he said.

The chief minister also appealed the citizens not to fall prey to activities of anti-social elements.

Representative image.
United States First Lady Michelle Obama has launched a scathing attack on Donald Trump over his demeaning remarks about women, saying the Republican Presidential nominees sexually predatory behaviour has left her shaken to the core.

The fact is that in this election, we have a candidate for President of the US who, over the course of his lifetime and the course of this campaign, has said things about women that are so shocking, so demeaning that I simply will not repeat anything here today, she said at an election rally in Manchester, New Hampshire on Thursday.

Last week, we saw this candidate actually bragging about sexually assaulting women. And I cant believe that Im saying that a candidate for President of the United States has bragged about sexually assaulting women, Michelle said in an impassioned campaign speech without taking the name of Trump.

Noting that she cannot stop thinking about the remarks, 52-year-old Michelle said it had shaken me to my core in a way that I couldnt have predicted.

While Id love nothing more than to pretend like this isnt happening, and to come out here and do my normal campaign speech, it would be dishonest and disingenuous to me to just move on to the next thing like this was all just a bad dream, she said.

Michelle said this was not something that one can ignore.

Its not something we can just sweep under the rug as just another disturbing footnote in a sad election season. Because this was not just a lewd conversation. This wasnt just locker-room banter, she noted.

This was a powerful individual speaking freely and openly about sexually predatory behaviour, and actually bragging about kissing and groping women, using language so obscene that many of us were worried about our children hearing it when we turn on the TV, she added.

Observing that it seems that the case is not an isolated incident, Michelle said it is one of countless examples of how he has treated women his whole life.

I have to tell you that I listen to all of this and I feel it so personally, and I'm sure that many of you do too, particularly the women. The shameful comments about our bodies, the disrespect of our ambitions and intellect, the belief that you can do anything you want to a woman, she said.

It is cruel. It's frightening. And the truth is, it hurts. It hurts. Its like that sick, sinking feeling you get when youre walking down the street minding your own business and some guy yells out vulgar words about your body. Or when you see that guy at work that stands just a little too close, stares a little too long, and makes you feel uncomfortable in your own skin, Michelle said.

Its that feeling of terror and violation that too many women have felt when someone has grabbed them, or forced himself on them and theyve said no but he didnt listen -- something that happens on college campuses and countless other places every single day, she said.

It reminds us of stories we heard from our mothers and grandmothers about how, back in their day, the boss could say and do whatever he pleased to the women in the office, and even though they worked so hard, jumped over every hurdle to prove themselves, it was never enough, Michelle said.

We thought all of that was ancient history, didnt we? And so many have worked for so many years to end this kind of violence and abuse and disrespect, but here we are, in 2016, and were hearing these exact same things every day on the campaign trail, she said.

We are drowning in it. And all of us are doing what women have always done: Were trying to keep our heads above water, just trying to get through it, trying to pretend like this doesnt really bother us maybe because we think that admitting how much it hurts makes us as women look weak. Maybe were afraid to be that vulnerable, she said.

Maybe weve grown accustomed to swallowing these emotions and staying quiet, because weve seen that people often wont take our word over his. Or maybe we dont want to believe that there are still people out there who think so little of us as women. Too many are treating this as just another days headline, as if our outrage is overblown or unwarranted, as if this is normal, just politics as usual, she added.

Michele said this was not normal and not politics as usual, but disgraceful and intolerable.

It doesnt matter what party you belong to -- Democrat, Republican, independent  no woman deserves to be treated this way. None of us deserves this kind of abuse, she said.

I know its a campaign, but this isnt about politics. Its about basic human decency. Its about right and wrong. We simply cannot endure this, or expose our children to this any longer -- not for another minute, and let alone for four years. Now is the time for all of us to stand up and say enough is enough. This has got to stop right now, she said amidst applause from the audience.

IMAGE US First Lady Michelle Obama participates in a forum on girls' education at the Newseum in Washington. Photograph: Jonathan Ernst/Reuters
Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar wants the Modi government and BJP to reap the profit of the surgical strikes.

But electoral history suggests a political party's ability to exploit military successes for poll gains has a mixed record, report Archis Mohan and Sahil Makkar.

IMAGE: Large hoardings in Uttar Pradesh praise the Modi government and the Indian Army for the surgical strikes. Photograph: ANI/Twitter

The army's September 29 surgical strike to avenge the Uri terrorist attack has brought a spring in the steps of Bharatiya Janata Party leaders and smiles back on the faces of its cadres.

The BJP hopes that the Narendra Modi government's response to Pakistan might help it electorally in the coming state assembly polls, particularly in Uttar Pradesh. The other states going to the polls are Punjab, Manipur, Goa and Uttarakhand.

Last Friday, BJP chief Amit Shah said the effort wasn't to politicise the issue, but the cadre would take the strikes' message to the people, to increase the morale of the armed forces. He said the Indira Gandhi-led Congress had used the 1971 Bangladesh liberation war for political gains.

However, and as Indira Gandhi discovered in the 1970s, electoral history suggests a political party's ability to exploit military successes for poll gains has a mixed record.

As was seen during a recent visit to the border district of Amritsar, local issues continue to take priority over nationalistic fervour.

Neither the celebrations by BJP cadres in the wake of the strikes or a visit soon after by state Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal to the border areas has changed the public mood in Dhanoe Kalan village, barely a km from the border.

Sucha Singh, an elder in the village who has seen the India-Pakistan wars of 1965 and 1999, says the army action will not make any difference to the results of the assembly election.

"People have already made up their minds. This time, people will vote for a change to save Punjab," he avers.

The Akali-BJP alliance has ruled Punjab for the past 10 years, and people seemed eager to vote them out.

"This time the fight is to save Punjab," says Harbhajan Singh, another villager.

In bustling Ludhiana, 150 km from the border village, the mood is similar.

Data from previous elections also suggest that wars or military mobilisations have seldom helped governments at the Centre to gain electoral advantage in either Uttar Pradesh or Punjab.

Elections to both were held barely a couple of months after the December 13, 2001 attack on Parliament and the subsequent mobilisation of forces (Operation Parakram) at the border by the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government.

The BJP-Akali Badal-led coalition lost power to the Congress' Amarinder Singh; in UP, the BJP was reduced from being the single-largest party to number three (see chart).

UP and Punjab behaved similarly in the post-Kargil contest for the Lok Sabha in 1999.

If the BJP won 11 of the 13 seats in 1998, this got reduced to three in 1999. Voters in UP brought the party down from the 57 Lok Sabha seats it won in 1998 to 29 in 1999. It hurt the party that it had thrown out a leader like Kalyan Singh.

At the national level, the Kargil conflict did help the BJP retain its number of seats, gain in urban areas and again form the government. But, its total vote share, compared to the 1998 elections, came down (see chart).

India's most famous victory against Pakistan came in the 1971 war. Indira Gandhi won a comfortable electoral victory on the back of her Garibi Hatao slogan in the March Lok Sabha elections (nine months before the war began).

With Pakistan's surrender in December that year, she was feted as Durga. The euphoria, however, couldn't overwhelm the disaffection because of price rise and other issues, and the government faced a groundswell of public ire by 1973.

In response, Indira Gandhi imposed the Emergency in 1975 and lost power in 1977.

In 1987, the Rajiv Gandhi government mobilised on the Pakistan border. The official position was that army was conducting war exercises, Operation Brasstacks, but Gandhi had also taken to issuing aggressive statements.

Of the four major states that had polls in 1987, the Congress lost in West Bengal, Kerala and Haryana, and won an ignominious victory in Jammu & Kashmir that was blamed on large-scale rigging. It eventually lost power in the national elections in 1989.

Similarly, the BJP won several key states in 2003, a year after Operation Parakram and the Gujarat riots. However, it lost power at the Centre by 2004.

The BJP even went into overdrive, questioning the Congress' 'weak kneed' handling of national security issues in the wake of the November 2008 Mumbai terrorist attacks, but people brought back the Congress in Delhi and Rajasthan in the polling that took place a couple of days later.
A controversy has broken out over the last minute dropping of a planned briefing on surgical strikes at the meeting of the Parliamentary Standing Committee for defence on Friday with two senior Congress members dubbing it "highly unacceptable" and pitching for bringing back the original agenda.

"The decision not to brief the committee over surgical strikes under the garb of secrecy only amounts to 'lack of confidence' in the Members of Parliament, who are in the committee and who are bound by the oath of secrecy. This position is absolutely unacceptable to us," party General Secretaries Ambika Soni and Madhusudan Mistry said in a joint statement.

Bharatiya Janata Party leader Subramanian Swamy, who is also a member of the standing committee, however, differed saying the decision should be left to the army.

Mistry said they have written to Committee's Chairman B C Khanduri telling him the move is "highly unacceptable".

"We are deeply disappointed over the last minute change of agenda," they said, adding "We demand that the original agenda of the forthcoming committee meeting should be maintained and also defence officials inform the committee about the number of surgical strikes carried out since 2004."

"It is our firm belief that the officials should brief the standing committee members as they briefed the leaders of the opposition parties on the above said issues."

They insisted it's high time the attitude of the defence officials towards the standing committee members "change for the better" and committee is informed of the "shortcomings" the forces are facing in combating adversaries on borders.

"We believe that the agenda must have been fixed after consultation with top officials of defence ministry. We see no reason why this has been changed and that too at the last minute," they said.

They said this is not the first such instance and the agenda of such meetings has been changed earlier too.

They complained that it's unfortunate that they come to know of the shortage of arms and ammunition to the Special Forces, who carried out surgical strikes through newspaper, but the army officials are not ready to discuss or answer queries to be raised in the meeting of standing committee members.

Speaking separately of the two Congress leaders, BJP's MP Swamy said, "If the army feels that something has to be kept secret for sometime, there is no way we in the committee can challenge it. The committee chairman is consulted by the army chief and the chairman also interacts with the government."

However, Soni and Mistry blamed the defence ministry for not presenting their policies and preparedness to meet emergency situations, despite repeated mentions at the meetings.

Besides, they said the ministry has not come out with valid reasons for delay in acquisition of defence equipment including arms and ammunition.

"The Make in India initiative also seems to be a complete failure in the defence sector," they opined.
According to a report by Save the Children, 15 million girls are married before the age of 18.

Around the world, every seven seconds, a girl under 15 is married.

Read that again. The figure might startle you, but its true.

According to a report by Save the Children released on Tuesday, which coincidentally was International Day of the Girl, each year, 15 million girls are married before the age of 18.

The report stated that in developing countries, one in three girls are married before the age of 18 and one in nine before the age of 15.

Girls affected by conflict, poverty and humanitarian crises are particularly at risk of being married off, the report found.

Child marriage starts a cycle of disadvantage that denies girls the most basic rights to learn, develop and be children, said Save the Children International CEO Helle Thorning-Schmidt.

Girls who marry too early often cant attend school, and are more likely to face domestic violence, abuse and rape... They also bear children before their bodies are fully prepared, which can have devastating consequences on their and their babys health.

The report cites some of the heartbreaking accounts of child brides.

Tamrea, 17, from Ethiopia, was quoted by the report saying, I was given to a husband at 12. I wasnt happy to get married at that age, but my father said there was nobody to look after me since my mum wasnt around. I wasnt happy. I was crying. I wasnt able to get used to what marriage was.

When I became pregnant my husband left me. When I had my baby I didnt go to a health centre, I gave birth at home. I went to health centre when I was pregnant, but I wasnt able to go back. Labour took me six days.

If a girl goes to school she can have a better life. My friends go to school and I feel really bad.

Though Tamrea chose not to use her real name, her story could not be any more real and heartbreaking.

Girls caught in the middle of conflicts are more likely to become child brides, with many refugee families marrying off their daughters as a safety or coping mechanism.

The report, called Every Last Girl, ranked 144 countries from the best to the worst in which to be a girl. The listing was based on child marriage, schooling, teen pregnancy, maternal deaths and the number of female lawmakers.

The worst countries in which to be a girl are Somalia, Mali, Central African Republic, Chad and Niger while countries at the top include Sweden, Finland, Norway, Netherlands and Belgium. India ranks 90th on the list with Pakistan ahead of us at 88, Sri Lanka at 60. Bangladesh ranked below us at 111.

More than 700 million women worldwide today were married before they reached 18 and a third were married before age 15, the report said. UNICEF estimates this figure will grow to 950 million by 2030.
The Gujarat Anti-Terrorist Squad has nabbed two persons allegedly working as spies for Pakistans Inter-Services Intelligence, police said.

Both of them were held late on Wednesday night from Kutch district, which shares border with the neighbouring country.

The ATS was keeping a close watch on the movement of two residents of Khavda village of Kutch for last one year on the suspicion that they are working as spies of Pakistans ISI. Both of them were held by ATS today (Wednesday), a police official said on the condition of anonymity.

We have learnt that ATS has recovered one Pakistani SIM card along with a mobile phone during the search of their house, he added.
Yemen: Saudi-Led Funeral Attack Apparent War Crime

Publisher Human Rights Watch Publication Date 13 October 2016 Cite as Human Rights Watch, Yemen: Saudi-Led Funeral Attack Apparent War Crime, 13 October 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/57ff45a02b.html [accessed 31 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 Saudi Arabia-led coalition airstrike on a crowded funeral ceremony in Yemen's capital, Sanaa, on October 8, 2016, is an apparent war crime. The attack killed at least 100 people and wounded more than 500, including children. While military personnel and civilian officials involved in the war effort were attending the ceremony, the clear presence of several hundred civilians strongly suggests that the attack was unlawfully disproportionate.

The funeral strike underscores the urgent need for credible international investigations into alleged laws-of-war violations in Yemen, Human Rights Watch said. The United States, United Kingdom, and other governments should immediately suspend arms sales to Saudi Arabia. The coalition should urgently allow commercial flights to Sanaa, suspended in August, to allow anyone who is sick or wounded to seek medical treatment abroad.



"After unlawfully attacking schools, markets, hospitals, weddings, and homes over the last 19 months, the Saudi-led coalition has now added a funeral to its ever-increasing list of abuses," said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East and North Africa director. "An independent international investigation of this atrocity is needed as the coalition has shown its unwillingness to uphold its legal obligations to credibly investigate."

Human Rights Watch interviewed 14 witnesses to the attack and two men who arrived at the scene immediately after the airstrike to help with rescue efforts, among other sources, by phone, and reviewed video and photos of the strike site and weapons remnants.

On October 8, several hundred people had gathered in the al-Sala al-Kubra community hall, which has a capacity of over 1,000, for the funeral ceremony of Ali al-Rawishan, the father of the Sanaa-based administration's interior minister, Jalal al-Rawishan. All the witnesses who spoke to Human Rights Watch said that at about 3:30 p.m., at least two air-dropped munitions penetrated the roof of the hall and detonated a few minutes apart.

Photos and video footage taken after the attack show charred and mutilated bodies strewn in and outside the hall, the building destroyed, and rescuers carrying out bodies to ambulances. A spokesman for the Sanaa-based Health Ministry, Dr. Tamim al-Shami, told Human Rights Watch on October 9 that at least 110 people had been killed and 610 wounded, but that the death toll was likely to rise because a number of bodies had been burned or mutilated beyond recognition. Human Rights Watch was unable to independently verify the ministry's figures, but soon after the attack, Doctors Without Borders reported that six of its hospitals had treated over 400 wounded.

One witness said, "When I got there, there were more than 50 burned bodies, many where you can still tell the features, but half of their body was gone, half of their head was gone, but the others, it was very, very hard to tell who they were."

Hundreds of those killed and wounded were civilians, according to the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR). One witness said that he personally knew at least 45 civilians who had been killed in the attack. At least 20 high-ranking officials affiliated with former president Ali Abdullah Saleh's General People's Congress and the Houthis, also known as Ansar Allah, as well as military and security officials, were at the funeral, and several were among the casualties. The Saudi Arabia-led coalition began an aerial campaign against the Houthis and allied forces in March 2015.

Under the laws of war, an attack is unlawfully disproportionate if it may be expected to cause incidental loss of civilian life or damage to civilian structures that would be excessive in relation to the concrete and direct military advantage anticipated from the attack. Only military personnel and civilian officials involved in military operations against the coalition would be considered legitimate targets.

Serious violations of the laws of war committed willfully  that is, intentionally or recklessly  are war crimes. The date and place of the funeral ceremony was announced on Jalal al-Rawishan's Facebook page on October 7, and would have been publicly available. The afternoon hour of the attack would have been known to be the "peak time" when the funeral ceremony, open to the public, would have been very crowded. Coalition forces should have known that while a number of high-ranking commanders would be gathered, any attack on the hall would result in massive civilian casualties.

Human Rights Watch identified the munition used as a US-manufactured air-dropped GBU-12 Paveway II 500-pound laser-guided bomb. The identification was based on a review of photos and footage of an intact guidance fin assembly with legible manufacturer's markings and other weapon remnants. The photos and video were taken at the scene of the attack by Mwatana, a leading Sanaa-based human rights organization, journalists from the British news channel ITV, and a local activist, who visited the site on October 9.

Coalition sources initially denied responsibility for the attack, but the following day the coalition announced it would investigate the incident with support from the US. The BBC reported the UK also requested to be involved in the investigation. However, the coalition has not conducted previous investigations impartially or transparently, nor publicly carried out prosecutions for alleged war crimes, or provided redress for victims.

On October 12, Saudi Arabia's King Salman directed the King Salman Center for Relief and Humanitarian Aid to coordinate with the coalition, the government of Yemen, and the UN to facilitate the transfer of victims of the October 8 airstrike out of Yemen to access medical treatment abroad. The royal decree did not lift the overall ban on commercial flights into Sanaa, suspended since August.

Since March 26, 2015, the Saudi-led coalition of nine Arab countries, with direct military support from the US and assistance from the UK, has conducted numerous unlawful attacks in Yemen. Human Rights Watch has documented 58 unlawful airstrikes causing civilian loss of life and property. Other human rights organizations, as well as the UN, have documented dozens more. The Houthis and their allies, including forces loyal to former president Saleh, have also committed numerous serious abuses.

Between March 2015 and October 2016, 4,125 civilians had been killed and 7,207 wounded in Yemen, according to OHCHR, the majority by coalition airstrikes. OHCHR reported in August that airstrikes had been the "single largest cause of casualties" over the past year.

Saudi Arabia, which is currently running unopposed for re-election to the Human Rights Council and has previously used its position to obstruct efforts to establish an international inquiry into ongoing violations in Yemen, has no place on the UN body, Human Rights Watch said.

The independent investigative role of the OHCHR is crucial, and its findings on the funeral strike and other serious violations of international law by all parties to the conflict in Yemen should be presented to the Human Rights Council at the earliest opportunity. The US, as a party to the conflict, is legally responsible for the role of its forces in any unlawful attack, and should credibly investigate alleged violations and take appropriate disciplinary or criminal action.

The US, UK, and other governments should immediately suspend arms sales to Saudi Arabia until it curbs unlawful attacks and credibly investigates those that have already occurred, Human Rights Watch said.

"The US, UK, and other coalition allies should send an unequivocal message to Saudi Arabia that they want no part in these crimes," Whitson said. "Yemeni civilians should not be asked to tolerate such madness a moment longer."

Funeral Strike

The funeral ceremony at al-Sala al-Kubra for Ali al-Rawishan, a public figure and the father of the Sanaa-based administration's interior minister, was attended by several hundred people, including colleagues, friends, and relatives of the deceased. Funeral ceremonies of public figures in Yemen are customarily well-attended and open to all male members of the public.

Adel al-Harish, a 41-year-old who attended the funeral with a friend, told Human Rights Watch that the hall was "crowded with people from all layers of society  military, civilian, sheikhs, dignitaries, and journalists." Seeing how packed the hall was, al-Harish and a friend decided to leave, but they had trouble getting out of the hall because of the crowds trying to enter.

Al-Harish said that at about 3:30 p.m., as they were walking away outside, he heard a whizzing sound from the sky, followed by a "huge explosion." A few minutes later, another munition hit. He heard a plane and fled the scene.

Luai al-Hayouti, 27, a local government employee, was sitting at the back of the hall paying his respects to the family when he heard a munition explode. It struck the front of the hall and caused the ceiling to collapse. He said he stood up, ran out of the hall, and away from the building.

"Yusuf" (pseudonym), a civilian official in the pro-Saleh General People's Congress, said he was looking for a place in the hall to pray when he heard the sound of a plane and the munition hit. "The hall exploded," he said. "I fell down.  The flames were rising up and up I was covered in dirt and blood."

Abed al-Baredah, a 31-year-old doctor, said he was with his father, nephew, and four brothers inside the hall waiting to offer his condolences to the deceased's family when an explosion threw him off his feet:

I couldn't see anyone.  There was a lot of dust and smoke and screaming. We started running away as many others did. The back gate was closed but we broke it. We were 20 meters away from the great hall when suddenly another strike happened. I heard the sound of a plane.

Al-Baredah said he heard two more munitions detonate in the hall a few minutes apart before fleeing the area.

Abdulla al-Shami, 35, a businessman whose leg was injured in the strike, said:

I was inside sitting at the funeral when the airstrike happened I couldn't see who was next to me, I was looking for an exit. There were dead bodies and body parts, some people under rubble There were children inside before the strike, but I couldn't see anyone after the strike. It was dark. I just saw the light and ran toward it to escape.

The second munition affected people trying to enter the building to help survivors after the first bomb detonated. "Ahmed" (pseudonym), a businessman in his thirties who asked not to be identified, went to the hall shortly before 4:00 p.m. to help with the rescue effort after several of his friends who had been at the funeral called him asking him for help. He said that his cousin, who was near the hall when the first munition detonated, tried to rush in to help survivors. His cousin was thrown backward off his feet when the second munition exploded.



"Ahmed" told Human Rights Watch:

The scene was catastrophic. Beyond what I can explain to you or describe There were burned bodies and dead bodies all over the hall... When I got there, there were more than 50 burned bodies, many where you can still tell the features, but half of their body was gone, half of their head was gone, but the others, it was very, very hard to tell who they were.

"Ahmed" said he helped carry bodies out from under the debris and place them in body bags, while others on the scene tried to put out the fire raging in the hall. He saw at least seven children who had been in the hall, some of whose family members had died. He said 15 of his friends or family members, all civilians, had been killed in the strike, and at least six wounded.

Accountability

The coalition announced in a statement carried by the official Saudi news agency that its Joint Incidents Assessment Team (JIAT) would investigate the funeral strike with US support. JIAT has not met international standards for transparency, credibility, and impartiality, and the Saudi-led coalition should not only investigate but cooperate with UN investigations into the incident.

The high commissioner for human rights, Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein, denounced the funeral attack as "outrageous" and repeated his call for an independent international inquiry into alleged violations of international human rights and humanitarian law in Yemen. The OHCHR should undertake an immediate investigation into the incident and promptly brief the UN Human Rights Council on its findings.

Despite mounting violations of international human rights and humanitarian law by all sides in the conflict in Yemen, no participating government has conducted credible investigations into alleged war crimes, as international law requires.

In September 2016, the Human Rights Council passed a resolution laying out two complementary processes for investigations, through the OHCHR itself, strengthened by the allocation of additional human rights experts, or through the Coalition-backed Yemeni National Commission set up by Presidential Decree No. 13 (2015).

In the course of its work, the Yemeni commission, which reports to President Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi and does not have access to many parts of the country, has not complied with international standards of impartiality, independence, and effectiveness, Human Rights Watch said. Its first report focused almost entirely on Houthi and allied forces violations. The funeral strike will be a test of the commission's credibility, Human Rights Watch said, but the UN should conduct its own independent investigation and report its findings to the Human Rights Council at the earliest opportunity to ensure that all those responsible are held to account.

US Role

The US became a party to the conflict during the first months of fighting by providing specific targeting information and refueling planes during bombing raids, Human Rights Watch said. Reuters recently reported that US officials debated internally whether US support to the Saudi-led coalition made the US a co-belligerent, and were concerned that US officials could be criminally liable for war crimes committed in Yemen.

Immediately following the funeral strike, US National Security Council spokesperson Ned Price said the US was "deeply disturbed" by the incident, "which, if confirmed, would continue the troubling series of attacks striking Yemeni civilians." Price announced the US had "initiated an immediate review of our already significantly reduced support" to the coalition and was "prepared to adjust our support."

A thorough review of US support to the coalition is a step forward, but does not absolve the US of potential liability for any coalition military operations in which US forces participated that resulted in war crimes, Human Rights Watch said. The review of the funeral attack should be thorough and transparent, but the US should also examine the role of its forces in other alleged unlawful attacks in Yemen. The US Congress should exercise more effective oversight over US involvement in the Yemen conflict, for instance by holding investigatory hearings during the next Congress, Human Rights Watch said.

Human Rights Watch has repeatedly documented coalition use of US and UK-produced weapons, including cluster munitions, in unlawful attacks in Yemen. The US continues to sell arms to Saudi Arabia, approving more than US$20 billion in military sales in 2015 alone, despite increasing recognition that the coalition may use these weapons unlawfully. Three US arms sales in 2015 and 2016, worth nearly $3 billion, involved replenishing Saudi weaponry used in Yemen.

The UK government also continues to sell arms to Saudi Arabia, despite growing parliamentary pressure over its support for Saudi Arabia's military campaign in Yemen and evidence of the use of British-made weapons in Yemen. Since March 2015, the UK has approved 2.8 billion in military sales to Saudi Arabia, according to the London-based Campaign Against Arms Trade.

Copyright notice:  Copyright, Human Rights Watch
Pakistan: Journalist Hit with Travel Ban

Publisher Human Rights Watch Publication Date 13 October 2016 Cite as Human Rights Watch, Pakistan: Journalist Hit with Travel Ban, 13 October 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/57ff47004.html [accessed 31 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.

On October 10, 2016, the government indicated to his employer and other sources that Cyril Almeida, a journalist with the major daily newspaper Dawn, had been placed on an Exit-Control List (ECL), barring him from traveling outside the country. The travel ban was in response to an October 6 news story by Almeida regarding tensions between the civilian government and military authorities, which Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's office said was misleading and violated national security.

"Attempts to intimidate and threaten journalists is a misguided, unlawful response to whatever disagreements the Prime Minister's Office had with the news report," said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. "The government should lift the travel ban on Cyril Almeida immediately."

Almedia wrote a detailed account, based on interviews with unidentified sources, of disagreements between the military and civilian authorities during an October 3 meeting. The article said that civilian authorities complained about Pakistan's increasing international isolation due to the refusal of military intelligence agencies to act against some militant groups.

After the article was published, the Prime Minister's Office held a meeting between the top civilian and military leadership, then issued a statement on October 10 stating that the "prime minister took serious notice of the violation and directed that those responsible should be identified for stern action."

Dawn responded by stating that the story was "verified, cross-checked and fact-checked." A Dawn editorial further said that, "The government should at once remove Mr. Almeida's name from the ECL and salvage some of its dignity."

Pakistani journalists have long faced serious obstacles to their work from the government, security forces, political parties, and militant groups. Journalists have experienced harassment, intimidation, assault, death threats, kidnapping, torture, murder, and arbitrary arrest and detention.

Pakistan remains one of the most dangerous countries in the world for journalists. More than 35 journalists and media workers have been killed in Pakistan since 2010 because of their work. The Committee to Protect Journalists' Global Impunity Index placed Pakistan ninth on the list of countries where journalists are murdered without the attackers being prosecuted.

The government should rescind policies that shield it from criticism and instead ensure that space for public debate and free speech is protected both from extremist groups and the authorities, Human Rights Watch said.

Any limitations on the right to freedom of expression must adhere to international human rights law, such as the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Pakistan is a party. The United Nations Human Rights Committee, the expert body that monitors compliance with the covenant, has said that any restrictions on fundamental freedoms must be prescribed by law, necessary in a democratic society, and proportionate to a legitimate aim. The committee's general comment no. 34 on freedom of expression states that when using national security as a justification for limiting free expression, the government "must demonstrate in specific and individualized fashion the precise nature of the threat and the necessity of the specific action taken." The government's censoring of critical voices falls considerably short of these standards, Human Rights Watch said.

"The Pakistani government, by clamping down on free expression, is creating an environment that makes journalists even more vulnerable," Adams said. "Using unstated national security concerns as a pretext for censorship is a worrying reminder of days of dictatorship in Pakistan."

Copyright notice:  Copyright, Human Rights Watch
Burundi: ICC withdrawal must not block justice for crisis abuses

Publisher Amnesty International Publication Date 12 October 2016 Cite as Amnesty International, Burundi: ICC withdrawal must not block justice for crisis abuses, 12 October 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/57ff47a64.html [accessed 31 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 Burundian parliamentary vote today endorsing a withdrawal from the International Criminal Court (ICC) is part of the government's continued effort to deny justice for victims of human rights violations committed since the crisis began in April 2015, said Amnesty International today.

"This vote, at a time when the ICC is examining allegations of crimes committed in Burundi, highlights the government's unwillingness to deliver justice for victims," said Muthoni Wanyeki, Amnesty International's Regional Director for East Africa, the Horn and the Great Lakes.

"Burundi's on-going attempts to hinder cooperation with human rights bodies and international justice mechanisms are deeply troubling and an added injustice to victims that must end. Interventions by international and regional bodies should be seen as opportunity rather than a threat."

The vote was supported by 94 out of 110 members of the national assembly, after receiving cabinet approval, and was unanimously adopted by the Senate the same day. It now requires presidential assent to become law. However, even if the government triggers the official withdrawal process, the ICC's current preliminary examination into crimes committed in Burundi can and must continue.

This week three independent UN and African Union experts were declared unwelcome in the country. The government also suspended cooperation with the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in the country.

Burundi's current crisis began in early 2015 after President Pierre Nkurunziza decided to run for a third term, a move seen by many as a violation of the Constitution. According to the UN, at least 564 people have been killed and more than 300,000 have fled the country, most of them to refugee camps in neighbouring Rwanda and Tanzania.

Copyright notice:  Copyright Amnesty International
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.
RSF urges withdrawal of baseless charges against detained blogger

Publisher Reporters Without Borders Publication Date 13 October 2016 Cite as Reporters Without Borders, RSF urges withdrawal of baseless charges against detained blogger, 13 October 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/57ff4f6f4.html [accessed 31 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 the light of a recent independent expert analysis of blogger Eduard Palchys' posts, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) accuses the Belarusian authorities of bringing baseless charges against him and calls for his immediate and unconditional release.

Also known by the blog name of "Jhon Silver," Palchys is due to go on trial before a Minsk municipal court on 14 October on charges of "inciting racial, national or religious hatred" and "distributing pornographic material." The court has let it be known that he will be tried behind closed doors.

Detained since January, 26-year-old Palchys is facing a possible five-year jail sentence.

He is charged in connection with nine allegedly "extremist" blog posts, which the authorities refused to identify for a long time. But, in response to a request filed months ago by Belarusian human rights groups (and supported by RSF), the offending texts were finally released and were recently examined by an independent linguistic expert, who concluded that the charges were without foundation.

Six organizations, including the Belarusian Association of Journalists (BAJ), an RSF partner, issued a joint statement on 5 October in which they said they regarded Palchys as a political prisoner and called for his immediate release.

"The publications are nothing more than the author's views on certain historical events, facts, containing criticism of geopolitical concepts and the foreign policy of some states," the statement said. "The nine articles do not contain evidence of incitement to war, violence or statements in favor of (...) hatred, nor do they pose a threat to national security, public order or public health or morals."

"We call on the Minsk court to take account of this independent expert opinion and to drop all the baseless charges against Eduard Palchys, whose detention for the past ten months is a glaring injustice," said Johann Bihr, the head of RSF's Eastern Europe and Central Asia desk.

"We also call on the court to rescind the decision to hold the trial behind closed doors. There are no grounds for this if the defendant is simply being tried for the opinions he expressed."

In the posts on his blog, 1863x.com, Palchys expressed his political views, above all his criticisms of Russia's foreign policy and its relations with Ukraine and Belarus. He was arrested in January in Russia and was extradited in May to Belarus, where has been in pre-trial detention ever since.

Belarus is ranked 157th out of 180 countries in RSF's 2016 World Press Freedom Index.
Comments

On 21 June, the European Court of Human Rights delivered its judgement in Ramadan v. Malta, a case concerning the revocation of Maltese citizenship that rendered the applicant stateless. The Court did not find any violation of Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), but noted that arbitrary revocation of citizenship can in certain circumstances be problematic under Article 8 because of its impact on the right to private life. Judge Pinto de Albuquerques dissenting opinion called on the Court to recognize the right to citizenship as an autonomous right under the ECHR and referenced to UNHCRs Global Action Plan to End Statelessness. A request to refer the case to the Grand Chamber is currently pending.
Title "It doesn't matter if you are disabled. You are talented" - The intersection of sexual and reproductive health and disability for Bhutanese refugees in Damak, Nepal

Publication Date December 2014

Country Bhutan | Nepal

Cite as Women's Refugee Commission, "It doesn't matter if you are disabled. You are talented" - The intersection of sexual and reproductive health and disability for Bhutanese refugees in Damak, Nepal , December 2014, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/57ff52d84.html [accessed 31 October 2022]
South Sudan's never ending war

Publisher IRIN Author Obi Anyadike Publication Date 12 October 2016 Cite as IRIN, South Sudan's never ending war, 12 October 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/57ff805e4.html [accessed 31 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.

South Sudan's conflict has entered a new, more dangerous phase. While there has been no new fighting in the capital, Juba, since a splurge of violence in July, rebellion is spreading across the country. In its wake, refugees are fleeing into neighbouring Uganda and Ethiopia, fearing yet more bloodshed to come.

This briefing explores a crisis that has already left more than five million people  roughly half the population  in need of aid.

Where are we now?

At the root of the conflict is a political contest for power between President Salva Kiir and his rival, former vice president Riek Machar.

After two years of civil war, Machar arrived in Juba in April to cement a shaky peace agreement that gave his opposition SPLA-IO a stake in a government of national unity. But that deal expired in five days of fighting in July, which routed Machar's small protection force.

Late last month, Machar announced from Khartoum that he would fight on. He was joined in rebellion by veteran dissident Lam Akol, who launched his own National Democratic Movement to battle the government.

More of the same?

So far so predictable. South Sudan is a country held to ransom by what analyst Majak D'Agoot refers to as the "gun class" - men like Kiir and Machar, "sectarian warlords" that have historically used violence, channelled through appeals to ethnic nationalism, to "hijack" the state for "personal gain".

It's essentially a zero-sum game for who will be "king of the hill in Juba", says conflict researcher Alan Boswell. So far, it's a contest that Kiir appears to be winning. He has moved quickly to sideline Machar, with former SPLA-IO chief negotiator, Taban Deng Gai, sworn in as vice president.

The government's intention is for Taban to woo over as many SPLA-IO commanders as possible, and to present him to the outside world as a credible alternative to Machar. To that end he recently visited New York and hobnobbed with officials in the UN and Western governments.

At home, the government maintains the idea there is still a government of national unity, based on the Addis Ababa peace agreement, an exhausting and frustrating mediation effort by the regional Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD).

"What I hear from government is a determination to move forward with implementation of the peace process," said a Juba-based analyst who asked not to be named. "You go to meetings and workshops where people have name tags that still read TGoNU [Transitional Government of National Unity]."

Is Machar finished?

In building up Taban, the government is presenting the international community with a dilemma. Donors have to decide whether "we work with what we have, which is Taban, versus trying to ease Machar back into the peace process," says Rashid Abdi of the International Crisis Group.

How acute the choice is will depend to an extent on what Machar does next. Khartoum, against which Kiir and the SPLA fought a bitter war to gain independence in 2011, has long meddled in the south  backing a rebellion by Machar against the SPLA in 1991 for one.

But Abdi believes the strategic calculation is changing. Through force of habit Khartoum may maintain an interest in Machar, but warming relations with Juba, and its main backer Uganda, means it would not be in Sudan's long-term interests to arm and support him.

There is also diplomatic pressure to relocate Machar to South Africa, or anywhere else that does not share a border with South Sudan. With his aura already diminished, "If he goes to South Africa that will be the end of him," says analyst Jok Madut Jok of the Sudd Institute.

He therefore wouldn't be surprised if Machar manages to slip back into South Sudan: "If he can get into Upper Nile he will be a real player, and we'll be back to full-blown civil war."

Power to (my) people?

Ethnicity is often used as shorthand to explain South Sudan's conflict and the atrocities committed against civilians by both sides. But the trigger for the civil war in 2013 was essentially a political dispute, based on internal SPLM opposition to Kiir that was drawn from multiple sources and ethnicities.

Kiir and Machar have since successfully mobilized key segments of their respective Dinka and Nuer communities, the country's two largest groups. But while Kiir is seen by his opponents as promoting narrow ethnic interests, backed by the conservative Dinka Council of Elders, there is also resentment among some Dinka towards his clan, who are seen as especially favoured.

Neither are the Nuer monolithic. There are senior Nuer who have remained loyal to the SPLA, especially from northern Unity state. Broad ethnic labels tend to obscure local community dynamics.

Abdi believes the cardinal sin of the IGAD agreement was to view the struggle solely as a contest between Kiir and Machar. It was a narrow rather than a universal deal, ignoring the demands of other ethnic groups and contestants for power that predate the peace process.

Those "centrifugal forces" are going to accelerate "the longer [a credible] peace process stays in the freezer," says Abdi.

"I think you have two different wars going on in South Sudan right now," notes Boswell. "You have a fight between Kiir and Machar's coalitions over who will be king. But there are a bunch of smaller groups in South Sudan who are waging a war against the kingdom itself."

Even though some groups in Equatoria have teamed up with SPLA-IO, they are all opposed to the hegemony of both sides. "They want a structure that's more like a political union, a lot of smaller hills rather than one big one," explains Boswell.

There are many other groups across the country like the Cobra Faction, which draws support from among the Murle in Greater Upper Nile. While former leader David Yau Yau is sticking with the government, the Cobras have joined "the struggle against the authoritarian, tribalistic regime in Juba".

Stick or carrot?

The government's approach in the past was to buy off these community militia, a strategy of co-option known as the "big tent". But oil-dependent South Sudan is broke, and with carrots limited, the government has turned enthusiastically to the stick.

Wau, South Sudan's second largest city, has felt the sting of retribution. It was purged by the army, allegedly on the grounds the Fertit people were supporting SPLA-IO. Human rights groups reported mass graves, and the UN estimated 125,000 people were made homeless.

Overall, more than one million South Sudanese are now refugees in the region, with about 174,000 fleeing since the beginning of July. UNHCR's figures jumped sharply in late September.

People escaping the violence in Equatoria and crossing into Uganda speak of villages being attacked and looted, women sexually abused, and young boys conscripted. "You can feel something terrible looming on the horizon, an enormous pall," says the analyst in Juba.

How can disaster be averted?

"The best scenario is an impossible one," says Jok. "It's to get Machar and Kiir to retire from politics, to be replaced by a caretaker technocratic government until elections."

There are equally few diplomatic options. For a start, the Addis Ababa process is deeply discredited. "IGAD is in complete disarray. Many people no longer believe there is a cogent regional strategy to find a solution," notes Abdi of the ICG.

The UN's response to the July violence, in which its peacekeepers failed to intervene convincingly to save civilian lives, has been to talk tough about an additional Regional Protection Force.

IGAD countries may provide some of the troops (Zimbabwe and Egypt have also volunteered), but as it wants the UN to pay for the intervention, the proposed 4,000 RPF soldiers would fall under a discredited UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) command structure.

The RPF has the "pacification" of Juba as part of its mandate. But the government has made it clear it will not accept any force that could offer any real interference, and the fact its army has shown no compunction about killing UN peacekeepers, this is likely to provide food for thought for any potential troop contributors. The UN has so far not been able to even agree an arms embargo.

Start again?

South Sudan is such a mess that there have been calls by, among others, former US special envoy Princeton Lyman, and African academic Mahmood Mamdani, that the country be placed under some kind of trusteeship for 10 to 15 years.

It's of course a non-starter. The clock can't be put back, and there is no support for the proposal in the African Union.

"Mamdani has taken progressive positions on most issues, so this is more a symptom of despair rather than anything else," says Abdi.

"A trusteeship of 10 to 15 years is more than a regime change policy, it's like 'we're really messed up'," adds Boswell.

The solution has to come from South Sudanese, says Jok. His best-case scenario is that Kiir gives Taban enough space to play a legitimate role, allowing him to put a brake on the excesses of the army, and build a constituency among the opposition that bleeds support away from Machar.

But Boswell has a more pessimistic take. He believes the government will pursue a security solution that will intimidate and coopt communities. But he likens the outcome to a giant Ponzi scheme, in which its political base of support only gets narrower.

"The government is winning the war militarily, but the big question is what happens if the Ponzi scheme collapses, swallowed up by the political grievances it's generating?"

South Sudan, already poor and underdeveloped, is being made poorer still. It's people that have lived through decades of civil war are enduring yet more violence. "There are no winners in any of this," says the Juba-based analyst.
Crisis-hit Venezuela's Political Rivals Stumble Towards Talks

Publisher International Crisis Group (ICG) Publication Date 13 October 2016 Cite as International Crisis Group (ICG), Crisis-hit Venezuela's Political Rivals Stumble Towards Talks, 13 October 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/57ff86a14.html [accessed 31 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.

Faced with crushing economic stress, a weakening president, a constitutional stalemate and popular unrest, Venezuela's "Chavista" government and the opposition are feeling their way towards compromise.

High on the slopes of the mountain that separates Caracas from the Caribbean, three capital letters, vertically arranged, have recently lit up at night. From most parts of the Venezuelan capital you need binoculars to pick out the word PAZ - "peace" in Spanish. Few people bother to do so. Unlike their neighbours in Colombia, most Venezuelans are more concerned with how to obtain food, medicines and other basic goods. Even if they peer upwards, they might be puzzled by what the government (which put up the sign a month ago) means by "peace".

If offered relief from the violent crime that has left Venezuela with one of the world's highest murder rates (around 20,000 homicides a year in a country of 30 million), they would no doubt eagerly embrace the offering.

But what the government of Nicolas Maduro means by "peace" is for the opposition Democratic Unity (MUD) alliance to give up on its attempts to trigger a mid-term recall referendum against him. On 1 September, the MUD put hundreds of thousands of nonviolent demonstrators on the streets of the capital in support of its referendum demand, a constitutional right. Maduro called a counter-demonstration, asking supporters, "Are we going to allow [the opposition] to maintain a permanent threat to the peace of Caracas?"

If the referendum were to be held before 10 January next year, a "yes" vote would produce an immediate presidential election, which the government would almost certainly lose. This would put an end to the seventeen-year-old "revolution" launched by the late President Hugo Chavez, who championed the mid-term referendum clause in the constitution in exchange for lengthening the presidential term and allowing reelection.

In polls, almost 70 per cent of voters say they would vote Maduro out. But the government controls the National Electoral Council(CNE) and the Supreme Court. It has used every trick at its disposal to delay the referendum until after 10 January, the day on which Maduro enters the final two years of his six-year term. Once that happens, his departure for any reason would lead to his vice president (an appointed, not elected figure) serving out the term. Already, factions within the ruling party are engaged in public wrangling over who should succeed Maduro under those circumstances.

Most analysts agree that the only way the MUD can force a recall referendum this year, shifting the contest back to the electoral arena where its strength lies, is to put enough people on the streets for long enough to convince the army that continuing to back Maduro would involve shooting large numbers of unarmed demonstrators. If the military were to withdraw support, the president might resign, rather than face the humiliation of being voted out halfway through his term. Constitutionally, either option would trigger fresh presidential elections. This would almost certainly be preceded by intensive negotiations, in which a peaceful transition might be exchanged for a degree of impunity for prominent government figures, some of whom are accused of serious crimes and/or human rights violations.

However, the chances of a referendum before 10 January seem small. The Supreme Court has even been asked to declare the whole process fraudulent and ban the MUD. But factional struggles in the regime mean that Maduro may well be replaced anyway by his current vice president or another figure. If the referendum bid fails, the government will still need to seek some kind of deal in order to ensure governability between now and the next presidential elections in December 2018. Talks on compromise are likely. Even now, as the two sides trade insults and prepare for a showdown, there continue to be discussions behind the scenes. The four leading parties in the opposition alliance all have their contacts on the government side, and last month representatives of each of the four sat down for private talks with four leading representatives of the ruling Partido Socialista Unido de Venezuela (PSUV).

These talks-about-talks predictably fell apart over the issue of the referendum. MUD delegates wanted to negotiate fairer conditions but the government refused even to contemplate a vote in 2016. Various sources told Crisis Group there was an offer to hold a general election next year, in exchange for abandonment of the referendum and approval by the (opposition controlled) parliament of a fresh debt plan to ease the government's acute cashflow crisis. But without cast-iron guarantees such as a constitutional change in the election date - approved by parliamentary majority, upheld by the government controlled Supreme Court, ratified in a referendum and monitored by a credible third party - such a promise would be worthless, even if the MUD were in a position to negotiate away the right to a recall referendum this year.

When the talks' existence was leaked, the MUD was accused by its own hardliners of betrayal. It was the second time in four months that the opposition alliance had found itself having to explain why it was in closed-door conversations with the government. Back in May, the two sides held indirect talks in the Dominican Republic, at which former Spanish premier Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero acted as an intermediary.

The Zapatero initiative, at the behest of the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) and with the involvement of two former Latin American presidents, is viewed askance by the MUD because those involved are all seen as sympathetic to the government. Crisis Group has repeatedly stressed the need for the wider region to help facilitate a dialogue. In particular, it is vital that both sides feel adequately represented.

Four months ago, Zapatero summarised the main points on the dialogue agenda as:

Resolution of the conflict of powers between the opposition-held National Assembly, the Executive, and the executive-controlled Supreme Court;

Political reconciliation (including the issue of political prisoners and restorative justice for victims);

The humanitarian crisis;

Respect for the electoral timetable and;

Disarmament (an initiative of the mediation team, who point to the large number of guns in civilian hands as a source of conflict).

Apart from the release of one prisoner (who has dual Spanish-Venezuelan nationality), Zapatero has failed to obtain concessions from the government on the issue of political prisoners. The human rights group, Venezuelan Penal Forum, says repression has worsened considerably since the mediation effort was launched. Forum Director Alfredo Romero said the number of political prisoners had increased by 31 and there had been over 2,000 politically-inspired arrests in the period.

As for the electoral timetable - described by Zapatero as the "passport of democracy" - President Maduro announced on 5 October that, due to the economic crisis, "elections are not a priority". Ruling out a recall referendum, not to mention elections for state governors due in December, Maduro said the next elections would be in 2018 - a reference to the presidential election due at the end of that year.

But while the latest fiasco has all but buried the Zapatero initiative, polls suggest a large majority of Venezuelans favour dialogue - the more so if there is international mediation. And there is some light at the end of the tunnel. On 28 September the MUD formally requested the involvement of the Vatican, which has been following the Venezuelan crisis closely. This followed a similar invitation by the government earlier in the month. The Pope, however, while accepting the idea in principle, has made it clear that any participation by the Vatican would come only after the two sides have sat down to serious talks. Until there is some clarity regarding the referendum and the future of the Maduro presidency, that will not happen.

It is not only in Venezuela itself that the political situation is in flux.

UNASUR Secretary-General Ernesto Samper, a figure closely identified with the Venezuelan government and its regional allies, is due to be replaced early in the new year. His successor is bound to reflect the new political reality in the region and could potentially play a role in helping to resolve the crisis. As of January, there will also be a new president in the White House. Under Obama the policy has been to work behind the scenes with other regional powers, but some governments feel Washington should take a more proactive role. There will be a need for carrots as well as sticks, if those in the government who fear for their future if they lose power are to accept the terms of any transition.

Meanwhile, both sides are bracing themselves for a turbulent October, with demonstrations, counterdemonstrations and a tense three days of signature-gathering for the referendum. With Venezuela's crisis deepening, even the lights spelling out peace on the mountain were no longer visible a month after they were put there - with or without binoculars. Whether the government switched them off, or whether they succumbed to a power cut, is not clear. But with peace hanging by a thread, the omens are not good.
London, UK -- (ReleaseWire) -- 10/13/2016 --On the 17 October 2016 hair extension specialist Tatiana Karelina will be launching -TK 365- a annual membership package design to ensure that every member has fantastic hair every day of the year.



With the TK 365 package each client will benefit from 1 new set of micro-ring extensions and 3 maintenance appointments per calendar year, as well as 2 personalised styling sessions which will be ideal for weddings, special parties or red carpet events, priority booking and entry into 4 quarterly draws a year with the chance to win a luxury 5-day holiday at their choice of Constance Hotel and Resorts 5* properties in Seychelles, Mauritius or the Maldives.



So while the annual package itself comes with a multitude of benefits the cornerstone of TK 365 is an innovative 0% financing initiative, a first for a hair salon in the UK, whereby clients of Tatiana Karelina can spread the cost of their new extensions and the quarterly maintenance over a 12-month at no extra charge. By offering access to 0% financing, previously only reserved for high value goods (not services) Tatiana Karelina's clients are able to significantly lower the upfront costs of extensions, increase the predictability of their hair and beauty expenses and increase their immediate purchasing power.



About Tatiana Karelina

Tatiana Karelina is a widely recognised hair extension authority in micro-ring and clip-in hair extensions providing superior quality Russian hair. Regularly featured in the press, Tatiana has worked with many high-profile celebrities, including Lindsay Lohan, Emma Thompson, and Tara Reid and having recently made a move to session-styling work has supported many high exposure events ranging from London Fashion Week to British Polo Day. Tatiana Karelina is a rapidly becoming a growing phenomenon in the British hair industry and one not to be missed.
IU Health Morgan opening walk-in primary care service Nov. 8

A new walk-in primary care service unit is opening at IU Health Morgan very soon as the healthcare provider looks to offer more convenience to Martinsville and Morgan County residents.
THURSDAY

Women's luncheon

A Christian Women's Connection luncheon will begin at 11:25 a.m. at the Abilene Country Club, 4039 S. Treadaway Blvd. Cindy Simmons will be the speaker. Tickets are $16. For reservations, or for information, call 325-370-6567.

Class for iPhones and iPads

Tom Miller will present a free class for iPhone and iPad users at 1 p.m. at the Mockingbird Branch of the Abilene Public Library, 1326 N. Mockingbird Lane. Registration will begin at 12:30 p.m. Information: 325-692-1087.

ArtWalk

ArtWalk, a program of the Center for Contemporary Arts, will take place from 5-8 p.m. in downtown Abilene. The theme will be 'Nightmare on Cypress Street.'

Poetry night

The Abilene Christian University Chapter of Sigma Delta Pi and the Department of Language and Literature will present 'Una Velada Poetica  A Night of Poetry' from 6-7 p.m. at The Grace Museum, 102 Cypress St. Works by Antonio Machado and Pablo Neruda will be presented in both English and Spanish.

Square dance workshop

TYE  A-Team will conduct a square dancing workshop 6:30-8:30 p.m. at the Wagon Wheel.

Chamber meeting

The Abilene Chamber of Commerce will conduct its annual membership meeting and awards ceremony from 6:30-10 p.m. at the Abilene Civic Center, 1100 N. Sixth St. Tickets are $60. For more information, go to www.abilenechamber.com.

Grace After Dark  En Espanol

Screenings of several short Spanish language films will be presented during Grace After Dark  En Espanol at 8:45 p.m. on the roof of The Grace Museum, 102 Cypress St. Food trucks will open at 6 p.m., and a cash bar will be available. Admission will be free, but will be limited to 100 viewers. Participants must be 18 or older.

Other ...

Abilene Garden Club, 10 a.m., 300 Westwood St.

Blood drive, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., Loraine High School.

Blood drive, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., Westbrook High School.

Chronic Pain and Depression Group, 11 a.m. to noon, Mental Health Association of Abilene, 333 Orange St., 325-673-2300.

Abilene Founder Lions Club, 11:30 a.m., Al's Mesquite Grill, 4801 Buffalo Gap Road.

Kiwanis Club of Greater Abilene, noon, Beehive Restaurant, 442 Cedar St. 325-695-0092.

Mental Illness Open Support Group, 1-2 p.m., Mental Health Association of Abilene, 333 Orange St. 325-673-2300.

Abilene 42 Club, 6 p.m., Rose Park Senior Center.

PEP (People Enjoying People) Club, 6 p.m., Wylie Baptist Church, 6097 Buffalo Gap Road 325-692-4909.

Teen Recovery Group, 6-7 p.m., Mission Abilene, 3001 N. Third St.

Free certified nurturing parent class (all ages), 6-8 p.m., Mission Church, North Third and Mockingbird streets. 325-672-9398.

Take Off Pounds Sensibly, 6:30 p.m. Brook Hollow Christian Church. Weigh-in begins at 5:30 p.m. 325-665-5052.

Free swim class for people with multiple sclerosis, 6:30 p.m., YMCA, 3250 State St.

Gambler's Anonymous, 6:30 p.m., Unity Spiritual Living Center, 2842 Barrow St. 325-338-2575.

West Texas Genealogical Society, 6:30 p.m., Rose Park Senior Citizen Center.

Round Dancing, 7 p.m., Wagon Wheel. 325-829-1517.

Tea Party Patriots of Eastland County, 7 p.m., Myrtle Wilks Community Center, Cisco.

South Pioneer Al-Anon Group, 8 p.m., 3157 Russell Ave.

Unity Group of Alcoholics Anonymous, 8 p.m., Episcopal Church of the Heavenly Rest, 602 Meander St.

Hendrick Hospice Care sponsors a 'Gone But Not Lost' support group the second Thursday of each month for any bereaved parent who has lost a child of any age. Information: 325-677-8516 or 1-800-622-8516.

FRIDAY

Dance

DESDEMONA  A dance will begin at 7 p.m. at the Desdemona Activity Center. Admission is $5. Concessions will open at 6 p.m.

'To Catch a Thief'

As part of the Paramount Film Series, 'To Catch a Thief' will be shown at 7:30 p.m. at the Paramount Theatre, 352 Cypress St. Film historian Robert Holladay will give a lecture on the film at 6:30 p.m. Tickets are $6 for adults and $5 for students, seniors, military and children. For information, go to www.paramount-abilene.org.

Dance

OPLIN  A dance featuring Midnight Blue will be 7:30-10:30 p.m. at the Oplin Community Center. Admission is $5. Information: www.grandoleoplin.com.

Other ...

Blood drive, 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., Hendrick Medical Center, Tom Roberts Conference Center.

Abilene Chinese Corner, 5:30-6:30 p.m., Abilene Christian University library. lld09a@acu.edu.

Disabled American Veterans and Auxiliary, 6 p.m., 2555 Grape St. 325-793-9699 or 325-480-6175.

Mid-City Al-Anon, 7 p.m., First Christian Church. 325-670-4304.

SATURDAY

Car show

A car, truck and motorcycle show will be open from 8:30-11:30 a.m. at Wylie Baptist Church, 6097 Buffalo Gap Road. Admission is free.

Clay shoot benefit

CALLAHAN COUNTY  The sixth annual Cottonwood Community Benefit Sporting Clays Shoot will begin at 9 a.m. at the Callahan County 4-H Shooting Range between Clyde and Baird. Registration is $150 for teams of five; individuals may participate for individual round fees. For more information, call 325-660-5771 or 325-280-7154.

Craft and bake sale

The Gifts of the Harvest Craft, Gift and Bake Sale will be open from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at Wylie Baptist Church, 6097 Buffalo Gap Road. Proceeds will go to the Backpacks for Kids program at the Food Bank of West Central Texas.

Christmas market

A Christmas Market will be open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Abilene Woman's Club, 3425 S. 14th St. Vendors will be available, and tables will be dressed for Christmas and other holidays. Admission is $10.

Tour of homes

The Big Country Home Builders Association will conduct a Fall Tour of Homes from noon to 5 p.m. at seven homes around Abilene. For more information, go to bigcountryhomebuilders.com.

'To Catch a Thief'

As part of the Paramount Film Series, 'To Catch a Thief' will be shown at 2 and 7:30 p.m. at the Paramount Theatre, 352 Cypress St. Tickets are $6 for adults and $5 for students, seniors, military and children. For more information, visit paramount-abilene.org.

Movie at the library

A free showing of a PG-rated film involving the works of R. L. Stine will begin at 3 p.m. at the Abilene Public Library, 202 Cedar St. Popcorn will be provided.

Key City Block Party

Key City Connection will conduct the Key City Block Party from 3-11 p.m. on North Second Street between Walnut and Pine streets. Live music, art, vendors, food trucks and more will be available. Tickets are $10 in advance or $15 on the day of the event. For tickets, go to www.keycityconnection.net.

Junkers Prom

The Junkers Prom will begin at 6:30 p.m. at the Abilene Civic Center, 1100 N. Sixth St. Fraid Knot and the Soulmates will perform. Participants are encouraged to dress in vintage clothes. Tickets will be $25 at the door. Proceeds will go to the Noah Project.

Dance Under the Stars

The Friends of Abilene State Park will conduct 'Dance Under the Stars' from 7-9:30 p.m. at Abilene State Park. Muddy Creek will perform. Admission is $5 for adults and free for children 12 and under.

Dance

SWEETWATER  A dance featuring Men With Hats will begin at 8 p.m. at VFW Post 2479, 216 Avenger Field Road. Admission is $10.

Ghost tours

BUFFALO GAP  Ghost tours, featuring the Mesquite Storytellers of Abilene, will begin at 8 p.m. at Buffalo Gap Historic Village, 133 N. William St. Tours will begin every 15 minutes. Tickets are $10. To make reservations, call 325-572-3974 or go to www.buffalogap.com.

'Rocky Horror Picture Show'

A shadowcast by Waco Warp of 'The Rocky Horror Picture Show' will begin at 11 p.m. at Play Faire Park, 2300 N. Second St. A costume contest and ceremonies will begin at 10:30 p.m. Admission is $8, with a $5 cooler charge.

'Nosferatu'

As a part of the Nights of Fright series, a showing of the classic horror film 'Nosferatu' will begin at midnight at Abilene Community Theatre, 809 Barrow St. Admission is $5.

Other ...

Overeaters Anonymous, 10 a.m., Shades of Hope, 402A Mulberry St., Buffalo Gap. 800-588-4673.

Big Country Chapter American Association of Medical Transcriptionists meeting, 10 a.m., Arbec Room, first floor, Texas State Technical College, East Highway 80, Abilene. For medical transcriptionists or anyone interested in becoming one. 325-698-8898.

Abilene Society of Model Railroaders, 10 a.m. to noon, 2043 N. Second St.

SUNDAY

'The Adventures of Bella & Harry'

As part of the Children's Performing Arts Series, 'The Adventures of Bella & Harry: Let's Visit London! The Musical!' will be presented at 2 p.m. at the Paramount Theatre, 352 Cypress St. Tickets are $9. For tickets, go to abilenecac.org/cparts or call 325-677-1161.

Tour of homes

The Big Country Home Builders Association will conduct a Fall Tour of Homes from 2-5 p.m. at seven homes around Abilene. For more information, go to bigcountryhomebuilders.com.
Donald Trump

Three women accused Donald Trump of making unwanted sexual advances on them in reports published on Wednesday, just days after a salacious leaked tape showed Donald Trump bragging in 2005 about groping women under his celebrity status.

The allegations, made by Jessica Leeds and Rachel Crooks in The New York Times and Mindy McGillivray in The Palm Beach Post, came after Trump denied ever making unwanted advances when asked during Sunday's presidential debate.

Leeds told The Times she was on a plane next to Trump, who she had not yet met, in the early 1980s when the real-estate tycoon lifted her armrest and began touching her. She alleged that he grabbed her breasts and tried to put his hand up her skirt.

"He was like an octopus," she told The Times. "His hands were everywhere. ... It was an assault."

Leeds said she fled to the back of the plane, but never made a formal complaint. Instead she spoke with four individuals who The Times also interviewed to corroborate the claims.

The second woman, Crooks, said her incident occurred in 2005  the same year as the damning leaked "Access Hollywood" tape was recorded.

Crooks, 22 at the time, said Trump began kissing her on the mouth after holding on to an extended handshake.

"It was so inappropriate," she told The Times. "I was so upset that he thought I was so insignificant that he could do that."

McGillivray alleged to the Palm Beach Post that Trump grabbed her rear in 2003.

"Donald just grabbed my ass!" she told a photographer with her at Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort.

All three women had not previously come forward with their stories, but did so after Trump said in Sunday night's presidential debate that his words from the 2005 leaked tape were "just words" and "locker room talk."

Related:

For more news videos visit Yahoo View, available now on iOS.

"Nobody has more respect for women than I do," Trump said, later adding that he did not do the things he discussed on the tape.

Story continues

In that tape, where he was talking to NBC's Billy Bush aboard an "Access Hollywood" tour bus, Trump bragged about being able to "grab" women "by the p---y" because "when you're a star they let you do it."

The tape, which was published on Friday, was recorded after Trump had married his third wife, Melania, according to the publication.

Trump is also heard making a litany of crude sexual remarks about women in the tape.

Responding to the Times story, Trump insisted the stories were false.

"None of this ever took place," he told the Times, threatening to sue the newspaper.

"You are a disgusting human being," he added to the reporter.

He repeated his assertion that he never groped women as he described in the tape.

"I dont do it," Trump said. "I dont do it. It was locker room talk."

Soon after the article was published, Trump's campaign discredited the entire report as "fiction."

"This entire article is fiction, and for the New York Times to launch a completely false, coordinated character assassination against Mr. Trump on a topic like this is dangerous," Trump's senior communications adviser Jason Miller said. "To reach back decades in an attempt to smear Mr. Trump trivializes sexual assault, and it sets a new low for where the media is willing to go in its efforts to determine this election."

He called it "a sad day for the Times."

"It is absurd to think that one of the most recognizable business leaders on the planet with a strong record of empowering women in his companies would do the things alleged in this story, and for this to only become public decades later in the final month of a campaign for president should say it all," Miller wrote.

Trump and his campaign have not yet responded to the Palm Beach Post story.

NOW WATCH: Golf legend Greg Norman reveals the truth behind President Bill Clinton's late-night 1997 injury





More From Business Insider
Don't be stunned to hear 'Dam-It' uttered over and over again this weekend as Hardin-Simmons University celebrates homecoming.

It might be the only time that the use of such language is sanctioned on the Baptist university campus, and students and alumni might make the most of it.

The 100th anniversary of 'Dam-It,' a stray white mutt that arrived on what was then the Simmons College campus in 1916, will be celebrated with cupcakes and a tie-dyeing party at noon Thursday at the campus pond. At 10 a.m. Saturday in the Johnson Building, business professor John Davis will given a PowerPoint program titled 'His Most Un-Baptistic Name: Dam-It at 100,' in reference to remarks made in 1964 by former HSU President Rupert Richardson.

'I'm going for the laughs,' he said, 'let's be honest.'

The PowerPoint originally was presented in April at a West Texas Historical Association meeting in Abilene.

'It was fun researching,' Davis said, 'and humorous to tell the story.'

It didn't take Dam-It, nee Fritz, long to work his way into the hearts of students when he arrived on campus 100 years ago. Signs and photos from the time show that he soon was learning tricks, attending class, pep rallies and ballgames. And, he 'never cut chapel!' according to campus lore.

When Dam-It died of pneumonia in 1920, he was given a proper burial in the heart of campus, by a fire hydrant. Freshmen dug the grave and seniors served as pallbearers. A sermon, 'Every Dog Has His Day,' was preached, the band played a funeral march and telegrams of consolation were read.

His tombstone reads:

'Dam-It

He Is Dead

College Mascot

1916-1920'

There are various tales about how Dam-It got his name  and how it was spelled. Davis chose the spelling, 'Dam-It' because that's the name on the tombstone. His research showed that the most likely story behind the name was that someone tripped over poor Fritz, spilled a tray of food, and uttered some words that sounded like a good name for a dog.

In his day, Dam-It was the subject of national news coverage and constant attention on campus. Davis uncovered a 1919 story from the student newspaper that called Dam-It, 'the most talked of junior on campus.'

He was smart enough that he chose for his master a student named Gil Sandefer, who happened to be the son of the university president, Jefferson Davis Sandefer.

To this day, Dam-It remains top dog on campus. There have been pretenders like Dammit II Hell, who came along in 1937, and Dam-It Jr. in 1974.

No dogs have replaced Dam-It, but Gilbert the Goose may be onto something. He has found a home by the reflective pond on campus and has been featured on Twitter since September 2013. Ducks, turtles, and other pond creatures come and go, Davis said, but not Gilbert.

'The goose seems to stick around,' he said.

IF YOU GO

What: Dam-It, He's 100

Background: The 100th anniversary of Hardin-Simmons University's mascot Dam-It's arrival on campus will be celebrated Thursday and Saturday as part of homecoming. The dog, whose original name was Fritz, died in 1920, but his legend lives on.

Thursday: Lambda Alpha Tau social club will host a cupcake celebration at noon in front of the campus pond. At the same time, a 'Party 2 Dye 4' will give students an opportunity to tie-dye shirts with 'Dam-It' on them.

Saturday: Business professor John Davis will present a program on Dam-It at 10 a.m. in Room 200 of the Johnson Building.
RICK WILKING/AFP/Getty Images In a USA Today survey of Republican governors and congress members, one-fourth have either withdrawn support for Donald Trump or had never backed him.

SHARE Todd Hunter Kolkhorst, R-Brenham, represents the Port Aransas area. She expressed disappointment in Trump's comments but continues to support his bid. Herrero Hunter Morrison

By John C. Moritz, Matt Woolbright And Chris Ramirez

More Republican Texas congressmen are stepping forward to denounce the recently uncovered vulgar remarks by Donald Trump from 2005 but most are still standing by their party's nominee for president.

"I thought Mr. Trump's remarks were reprehensible and unacceptable," said Lubbock Republican Randy Neugebauer, who is not running for re-election. "I was extremely disappointed in this latest revelation. However, when given the choice between the two candidates, I still believe that Mr. Trump is a better choice than Mrs. Clinton to lead our country."

Neugebauer, who represents Abilene and part of the Big Country, added, "We cannot allow Mrs. Clinton to continue President Obama's failed policies for four more years."

Mike Conaway, R-Midland, who represents several Big Country counties, said Trump's remarks which were captured in audio recordings with a television personality were "indefensible."

In the tapes, Trump described a failed attempt to seduce a married woman and getting away with unwanted sexual contact with women because he's "a star."

"Nobody could defend that, he's apologized  his remarks are indefensible, and only the media is asking anyone to defend them," Conaway said.

"They were horrible, awful, and he's probably embarrassed. He's sincerely apologized and asked for forgiveness. It is what it is, awful, but by the same token, no candidate is perfect."

Regarding his continuing support for Trump, Conaway said, "It's a binary choice, Clinton or Trump. We heard her in the (Sunday) debate, she wants to remake the Supreme Court, and there are hundreds of federal judges to be appointed. The executive branch agencies are out of control. He (Trump) is still the one I'm supporting. I refuse to do anything that would help Hillary become president."

U.S. Rep. Mac Thornberry, R-Clarendon, has consistently declined to support Trump, stating in June that an endorsement would be a "stamp of approval and embracing" the Republican nominee, but he would not do so for a number of reasons. His disapproval of the candidate continued Tuesday when he made a brief statement following the discovery of comments by Trump.

"Mr. Trump's comments and behavior toward women are demeaning and offensive," he said.

Thornberry is also on record that he will not cast a ballot for Clinton. He has not mentioned for whom he will vote.

Among others to express dismay for Trump's remarks are Arlington Republican Joe Barton, Texas' most senior lawmaker in Washington, and Houston's Pete Olson.

"I do not condone or even try to defend the comments made by Donald Trump 11 years ago," said Barton, who has served in Congress since 1985. "We must respect women and work to raise the discourse of this election."

The comments came after Tuesday night's apology by U.S. Rep. Blake Farenthold, R-Corpus Christi, after he hesitated to say he would withdraw support for Trump even if the nominee said he "liked to rape women".

In a series of tweets shortly after his appearance, Farenthold expressed remorse for not immediately condemning rape under every circumstance. He also said he was "thrown off" by the hypothetical question.

Later, he told the Corpus Christi Caller-Times that he "would never support a rapist."

Farenthold said the GOP nominee is still preferable to Clinton.

Olson said the former first lady and secretary of state is out of step with voters.

"I remain supportive of our Republican nominee and am committed to defeating Hillary Clinton because she has a record of failure that has weakened our nation, harmed our national security, given rise to ISIS, and damaged the American economy," Olson said.

Nationwide, a USA Today survey of Republican governors and congress members showed that one-fourth have either withdrawn their support of Trump or had never backed him.

Texans on that list are U.S. Reps. Kay Granger of Fort Worth, Will Hurd of San Antonio, and Thornberry.

Granger is the only Texas woman in the GOP Texas delegation. Hurd is fighting for his political life in Texas' only true swing congressional district and is in a rematch with former Congressman Pete Gallego.
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Review of Harbor Area

Boothbay Harbor is a beautiful and very picturesque little harbor on the coast of Maine. It sits on the edge of Boothbay Peninsula that juts out into the Gulf of Maine. We visited on a clear September monrning when the sky was so blue that it cast a blue tint to everything around it. It was a great area to take photographs and I stood at various spots along the harbor and took in all the sights. The scene below is Boothbay Inn as seen from across the harbor.





If I turned a bit right of the Inn I captured this white church on the edge of the harbor. There were lots of boats big and small









Cuckolds Lighthouse

I love to photograph lighthouses and the Boothbay Harbor area gave me the opportunity to photograph several. They were all offshore on islands so getting good photographs required a longer lens. The closest to shore was Cuckolds lighthouse. We drove past Boothbay Harbor a few miles to South Point Island and I was able to capture this historic lighthouse. This lighthouses started as a signal house in 1892 and then in 1907 a light tower was added atop the signal house. This lighthouse was automated in 1975. This lighthouse and grounds has been recently restored and is now open for overnight stays, weddings, lobster bakes and other events. I took the following photos from a dock off South Point island.





Other Lights Seen from Harbor

The other lighthouses that are offshore of Boothbay Harbor are hard to see with the naked eye. I was told one was 10 miles offshore and the other 15 miles and I could only capture them if I took a boat. None of the boat tours were running at the time we were there so I got some use out of my new 600mm lens. The first photo below is Burnt Island Lighthouse, you see it on the island on the right hand side of the photo. I believe the second photo to be Monhegan Island light. It is the one I was told was 15 miles away so it is very small in my photo. I find it fascinating to read about and photograph all of these lighthouses. The coast of Maine and the island around it are dotted with many lighthouses. Many of the lighthouses are now longer in service, however the Coast Guard still keeps watch over 56 of Maine's historic lighthouses.

Zazzle Products from my Photographs





Note: The author may receive a commission from purchases made using links found in this article. As an Amazon Associate I (we) earn from qualifying purchases.

Here is the guidebook I used to find my way around Maine.
Opposition party leaders are holding on to the small hope that Cambodian King Norodom Sihamoni will grant their request to pardon rights activists and political officials who have been the subject of Prime Minister Hun Sens legal campaigns.

We wrote a letter to the king because we fully support and follow the kings advice in his Oct. 7 letter calling the two parties to work together to solve the national issues for and reconciliation in the country, Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) President Sam Rainsy told RFAs Khmer Service during a TV broadcast on Thursday.

The kings letter reflected the will of the Cambodian people, he said.

Sam Rainsy and CNRP deputy leader Kem Sokha both signed onto the latest letter that is part of a flurry of correspondence between Sihamoni and Prime Minister Hun Sen and CNRP leaders.

In Sihamonis Oct. 7 letter he urged the two political parties to work together after the CNRP decided to extend its boycott of Cambodias National Assembly.

Sihamoni forwarded the CNRPs request for consideration by the Cambodian government that is dominated by Hun Sen and his Cambodian Peoples Party (CPP). The prime minister urged rejection of the request.

Who acts against the law is responsible for the acting against the law, Hun Sen responded in his own missive. Strict implementation of the law is the key to helping Cambodia to thrive and proceed with multi-party democracy.

Sam Rainsy told RFA that the decision was up to the Sihamoni and not Hun Sen.

Kem Sokha and I wrote the letter to the king, and only for the king, he said. If there is anyone who comes out and gives a response before the King, as if to represent the king, that person is humiliating and devaluing the king.

The law and the reality

While Hun Sen wants Sihamoni to reject the request, Cambodian constitutional scholars say the king has the sole power to decide the amnesty question.

Sok Sam Oeun, head of the Cambodian Defenders Project (CDP), said Article 27 of the constitution gives the king the unconditional right to grant amnesty.

In the constitution, it did not state that there should be any agreement from anyone, he told RFA. If he [the King] can grant the amnesty only with someones approval, then who is the person granting the amnesty?

Political science scholar Heng Sreang gave a similar answer, but said that in reality the kings amnesty has always been initiated by the prime minister.

In the constitution, the King does not need to consult with anyone or the Prime Minister, he said. The King can use his royal role and responsibilities to consider [the amnesty]. By reading that letter, it seems that he asked the prime minister to kindly consider it.

Heng Sreang cast doubt that the CNRPs slim hopes will become a reality anytime soon.

As long as the CNRP and the ruling party do not have trust in each other, there is no hope that there will be [amnesty] consideration from the king, he said.

As of Thursday, there is no official decision from the king on the issue.

The CNRP wants the amnesty because several of the partys top officials including Sam Rainsy and Kem Sokha have been convicted by Cambodias courts of different crimes.

While they face arrest, the convictions are seen by observers inside and outside the country as part of Hun Sens effort to weaken his strongest opposition before the upcoming Cambodian elections.

Local elections are set for 2017 and national elections are scheduled for 2018.

Of pardons past

In 2013, King Sihamoni granted a royal pardon to Sam Rainsy. At the time Hun Sen had signed off on the Royal Pardon, which absolved Sam Rainsy of defamation charges, allowing him to return to Cambodia without being put in jail.

Even though he was ineligible for candidacy in the 2013 general election, thousands of his supporters thronged the streets when he returned.

The CNRP gained 55 seats in the National Assembly in that election, but the party and international observers found evidence of fraud and the CNRP boycotted parliament from September 2013 until July 2014.

In November 2015, Sam Rainsy was again removed from parliament by the ruling CPP when a warrant was issued for his arrest after being convicted of defaming former Foreign Minister Hor Namhong with the claim that the CPP politician ran a prison in the 1970s for the bloody Khmer Rouge regime.

Kem Sokha has been acting president of the CNRP since that time, but he has been under virtual house arrest since police attempted to arrest him in May for ignoring court orders to appear as a witness in a pair of defamation cases related to his alleged affair with a hairdresser.

On Sept. 9 the Phnom Penh Municipal Court ruled that Kem Sokha was guilty of refusing to appear for questioning in a prostitution case against him that is largely seen as politically motivated.

Reported by Heng Sun for RFA's Khmer Service. Translated by Yanny Hin. Written in English by Brooks Boliek.
Myanmar teachers and civil servants fleeing armed clashes in Maungdaw township crowd onto a river jetty in Sittwe, western Myanmar's Rakhine state, Oct. 13, 2016.

Clashes between armed assailants and Myanmar security forces in Rakhine states volatile Maungdaw township on Thursday forced about 180 villagers, teachers and civil servants to flee and seek refuge in neighboring Buthidaung township, residents said.

They are worried for their safety because security guards are not always in their villages, said Ashin Thagara, a Buddhist abbot in Buthidaung. Thats why they have come to Buthidaung.

Local civil society organizations in Buthidaung are proving food to the villagers and others, he said.

Army helicopters are evacuating teachers, civil servants, and residents from villages affected by the hostilities, said Khin Aung, an education administrator in Maungdaw township.

Authorities are now using helicopters to take teachers to safe places, he said. Teachers who were staying in ethnic Rakhine villages have been taken to Buthidaung and [the state capital] Sittwe first. They will go to Sittwe, [and the towns of] Ponnagyun and Kyauktaw by boat.

Maungdaw township has more than 180 schools with 90,000-plus students and more than 1,400 teachers, he said.

The clashes began soon after nine border officers and eight attackers died during raids on three Myanmar border guard posts early early Sunday in Maungdaw and Rathedaung townships, where many of the countrys stateless Rohingya Muslim minority group live. The attackers seized 51 weapons and more than 10,000 rounds of ammunition.

The raids have triggered subsequent violent hostilities as military soldiers and police hunt for the attackers and conduct searches of Muslim homes in Maungdaw, where they have been met by hundreds of men armed with guns, swords and knives, according to local media reports.

As of Thursday, the death toll stood at 40-48, according to local media reports and official sources.

On Wednesday, insurgents fired on a border guard station in the townships Kyikanpyin villagethe site of one of Sundays attacks.

In another incident the same day, the military blamed assailants for burning down 25 houses in Wapate village, according the government media.

Blame the Rohingya

Some believe that the Rohingya Muslims planned Sundays attacks in response to state government plans to demolish mosques and other religious buildings constructed without permission in Maungdaw and Buthidaung townships.

Earlier this week, authorities closed government-run schools in Maungtaw, extended local curfews, and put the Rohingya under lockdown.

Neighboring Bangladesh has sealed off all border entries in an effort to prevent attackers and their accomplices from fleeing Myanmar.

Myanmar State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi said on Wednesday that a group of ministers and other government officials sent to Rakhine to instill calm will return to the capital Naypyidaw on Saturday and report its findings.

The government will deal with the attacks in Rakhine, also known as Arakan state, fairly and according to the rule of law, she said.

Reported by Min Thein Aung and Kyaw Thu for RFAs Myanmar Service. Translated by Khet Mar. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin.
Shiite worshipers in Afghanistan have been targeted by another deadly attack during the Muslim festival of Ashura. At least 14 people were killed on October 12 when a bomb exploded outside a mosque in the northern province of Balkh. The attack came less than 24 hours after the Islamic State extremist group claimed responsibility for an earlier attack on a shrine in the capital, Kabul, that killed 19 people. (AP video)
Russia's state-run oil firm Rosneft bought a majority stake in Bashneft for $5.2 billion, providing a major cash infusion to fill deficits in the Kremlin's budget.

While initially advertised as a "privatization," the sale of the government's 50.1 percent stake in Bashneft to Rosneft, which itself is majority owned by the government, ensures the Kremlin will retain control over both firms.

Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the completion of the sale on October 12 and admitted there was disagreement within the Kremlin over allowing a takeover bid by Igor Sechin, Rosneft's chief executive and a powerful Putin ally, for Bashneft, a regional producer based in Ufa.

Putin told the VTB Capital forum in Moscow that Rosneft won the internal struggle in the end because it offered the highest price for the Bashneft shares and could recoup the cost of the acquisition through the increased stock value of both companies produced by the takeover.

Moreover, Putin reasoned that, while Russia has a controlling stake and runs Rosneft, which is the world's largest publicly traded oil firm, "a significant portion is also owned by foreign investors, in particular British Petroleum."

Rosneft in the end appeared to be the only suitor for Bashneft. An earlier bid by LUKoil, Russia's second-largest oil company and one of the few remaining private ones, fell by the wayside because, LUKoil executives said, they were unwilling to pay as much as Rosneft for Bashneft.

While the Kremln rationalized its manipulation of budget-driven "privatization" sales to increase its grip on Russia's vast oil sector, the deal was widely criticized in business and investment circles.

"It's impossible to call the sale of one state company to another state company privatization," Vedomosti, a leading business daily in Russia, said.

The Bashneft sale "confirms that Russia is knowingly building state capitalism and monopolizing the economy," it said.

The Eurasia Group, a Western investor group, said that "the sale without competitive bidding to a state-owned firm underscores that this privatization wave is intended to raise cash for the government, and not to liberalize the oil sector."

Based on reporting by AFP, Reuters, and TASS
The French foreign minister has said that Russian President Vladimir Putin cancelled a planned visit to Paris because he was "embarrassed" to discuss Russia's bombing of the Syrian city of Aleppo.

French President Francois Hollande had insisted that diplomatic talks during his visit on October 19 should focus on Russia's aggression in Syria, prompting the Kremlin to cancel the trip.

"Vladimir Putin refused to come and talk about Syria, that's what we must remember. And I regret that," French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said on Europe 1 radio on October 12.

"Vladimir Putin has stepped up his bombardment of Aleppo, so I imagine coming to Paris to talk about Syria would have been very embarrassing," he said.

Moscow over the weekend blocked a draft French UN resolution calling for an end to its air strikes on rebel-held eastern Aleppo, which have intensified in the last month, leaving hundreds of people dead, including dozens of children.

Based on reporting by AFP and TASS
The commander of Iran's powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, Hossein Salami, warned protesters that October 29 would be their last day of taking to the streets.

"Do not come to the streets! Today is the last day of the riots," Salami was quoted as saying by state media.



Iran has been gripped by protests triggered by the death of a 22-year-old woman, Mahsa Amini, in the custody of Tehrans morality police.



Since Aminis death on September 16, thousands have been demonstrating across the country against the clerical establishment.



Protests were reported on October 29 at several universities across the country where students chanted, Death to the dictator, and, Woman, life, freedom.



Iran has blamed its foreign enemies and their agents for the unrest.

The U.S.-based Human Rights Activist News Agency (HRANA) posted videos on Twitter showing protests at several universities. One of the protests showed people holding hands in a large circle and chanting: "If we don't unite, we will be killed one by one."

HRANA said 272 protesters had been killed in the unrest as of October 28, including 39 minors. Some 34 members of the security force have also been killed and nearly 14,000 people have been arrested, it said.

The Oslo-based group Iran Human Rights also posted a video of a protest at a university campus and said that in the city of Arak state security forces fired tear gas as mourners gathered for the funeral of Mehrshad Shahidinejad, a young aspiring chef who reportedly was killed after being arrested during a protest.

The IRGC warning on October 29 came as the United Nations expressed "increasing concern" about reports of deaths in the antiestablishment protests in Iran.

"We condemn all incidents that have resulted in death or serious injury to protesters and reiterate that security forces must avoid all unnecessary or disproportionate use of force against peaceful protesters, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said in New York on October 28.

Those responsible must be held to account, he said, adding that the UN was urging Tehran to address the legitimate grievances of the population, including with respect to womens rights.

The United Nations urged the Iranian government in Tehran to respect human rights, noting that the crisis can and should be brought under control through dialogue.

In a separate statement, World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus also expressed concern about "rising fatalities and injuries" to protesters in Iran.

"Its essential that unfettered access to health care is provided to those in need, [including] the appropriate use of medical vehicles, facilities & the ability of health workers to help patients," WHO chief Tedros said on Twitter on October 28.

Protesters clashed again with security forces on October 28 in Zahedan, a city in southeastern Iran were dozens of people were killed in clashes four weeks ago during anti-government protests.

Activists posted videos on social media showing protesters in the city calling for the death of "dictator" Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and against the Basij militia, which has played a major role in a crackdown on the demonstrations.

The United States and Albania will hold an informal UN Security Council gathering on November 3 that will focus on the protests in Iran, according to a note outlining the event seen by Reuters. Iranian Nobel Peace Prize laureate Shirin Ebadi and Iranian-born actress and activist Nazanin Boniadi are set to address the gathering.

"The meeting will highlight the ongoing repression of women and girls and members of religious and ethnic minority groups in Iran," the note said. "It will identify opportunities to promote credible, independent investigations into the Iranian government's human rights violations and abuses."

Javaid Rehman, the UN special rapporteur on human rights in Iran, is also due to address the meeting, which can be attended by other UN member states and rights groups.

"The meeting will underscore ongoing unlawful use of force against protesters and the Iranian regime's pursuit of human rights defenders and dissidents abroad to abduct or assassinate them in contravention of international law," read the note about the planned meeting.

With reporting by Reuters, AFP, and dpa
An independent Kazakh journalist says she has been attacked and robbed by an unknown assailant in the country's largest city, Almaty.

Irina Mednikova wrote on Facebook on October 13 that a man had attacked her near her apartment block in the evening of October 12.

The assailant dragged her for several meters to a parked car, hit her against the vehicle, and grabbed her bag before running away, Mednikova said.

Mednikova, who is also the director of the independent Youth Information Service of Kazakhstan, says documents related to the organization of a media conference in the western city of Atyrau were taken away with her bag.

Almaty city police spokeswoman Saltanat Azirbek told RFE/RL that investigations into "robbery" had been launched.

Mednikova insists the attack was linked to her professional activities.


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.
(Adds details of Petrobras investigation, recent charges)

By Maria Carolina Marcello

BRASILIA, Oct 13 (Reuters) - A federal judge in Brazil ruled on Thursday that former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva will stand trial for an alleged bribery scheme related to work by construction giant Odebrecht in Angola.

It's the second time in less than a month that a federal judge has ruled that Lula, a two-term president who left office in 2011 as Brazil's most popular president with an 83-percent approval rating, must stand trial.

Lula faces allegations of corruption, money laundering and obstruction of justice related to a sprawling kickback scheme at state-run oil company Petrobras, which prosecutors allege he orchestrated for more than a decade.

Thursday's decision by Judge Vallisney Oliveira in Brasilia centers on allegations Lula and others took 30 million reais ($9.3 million) in bribes to help win low-interest financing from the BNDES development bank for Odebrecht projects in Angola. Lula's lawyers denied the accusations.

Last month, Judge Sergio Moro ruled that Lula would stand trial on charges he was a "direct beneficiary" of 3.7 million reais in bribes from OAS SA, one of the engineering and construction firms at the center of the graft scandal.

Separately, Moro decided on Thursday to try Eduardo Cunha, former speaker of the lower house of Congress, for his alleged role in the Petrobras corruption scandal.

As speaker, Cunha led the successful drive to impeach former President Dilma Rousseff for breaking budgetary rules - a move Rousseff and her supporters call a "coup" in retaliation for her not trying to quash the aggressive Petrobras investigation.

Rousseff, who served as the chairwoman of the Petrobras board for several years as the kickback scheme played out, is being investigated for obstruction of justice in the graft probe, but has not been charged with any crimes.

($1 = 3.22 Brazilian reais) (Reporting by Maria Carolina Marcello; Additional reporting by Brad Brooks and Tatiana Ramil in Sao Paulo; Editing by Sandra Maler)
A prominent Kazakh journalist says he could not attend a high-profile trial in Kazakhstan because authorities summoned him regarding an old court ruling.

Lukpan Akhmedyarov, a reporter for the Uralskaya nedelya newspaper told RFE/RL that he had been summoned to a court in the western city of Oral on October 12.

Akhmedyarov said the summons related to a 2012 fine he was ordered to pay to a former regional official in a libel case.

He claimed the authorities raised the issue now as he planned to travel to the western city of Atyrau, where two activists who protested in April against government plans to privatize agricultural lands went on trial on October 12.

Akhmedyarov survived an assassination attempt in April 2012, when he was stabbed and shot with an air pistol. Five men have been jailed for organizing and carrying out the attack.
Kazakhstan has launched oil production at the Kashagan offshore field in the Caspian Sea.

The Kazakh prime minister's website quoted Energy Minister Qanat Bozumbaev as saying on October 12 that the first oil from the field has been extracted and was being accumulated in KazTransOil reservoirs.

According to Bozumbaev, some 90,000 barrels of crude were being produced per day.

Production at Kashagan, the world's biggest oil discovery in almost 40 years, was delayed for a decade before it began in September 2013. But it was stopped just weeks later after gas was found to be leaking from its pipelines.

The North Caspian Operating Company that runs the project had to rebuild the pipelines to resume operations.

Exxon, Royal Dutch Shell, Total, Eni, Inpex, CNPC, and the Kazakh state oil company KazMunaiGaz hold stakes in the firm.


The Pakistani government has defended its decision to bar a prominent Pakistani journalist from leaving the country because of an article he wrote about a rift between the government and the military.

Cyril Almeida said on October 11 that he was on Pakistan's exit-control list and is not allowed to travel abroad.

Pakistani Interior Minister Nisar Ali Khan told reporters on October 13 that Almeida would not be allowed to leave the country until the completion of a government committee's inquiry into the story, which the authorities claim was fabricated.

The committee will decide if anyone should be prosecuted in relation to the story.

Almeida is a leading columnist and assistant editor at Dawn, one of Pakistan's most-respected English-language dailies.

Human rights activists urged the government immediately to lift travel and other restrictions on Almeida.

Almeida's October 6 story was about a high-level security meeting between military and government officials over the possible arrest of anti-India militant group members that became very intense.

Based on reporting by Reuters and AFP
Pakistan's Supreme Court has delayed an appeal in the country's most notorious blasphemy case.

Dozens of police had been deployed outside the court in Islamabad on October 13, as the court readied to hear a final appeal in the case of Asia Bibi, a Christian mother of five who has been on death row since 2010.

But the court adjourned the hearing after one of the three-member bench said he had to recuse himself from the case on the grounds that he also heard the Salman Taseer case.

Taseer, a secular provincial governor who had campaigned against Pakistan's harsh blasphemy laws, was gunned down in 2011. His assassin, Mumtaz Qadri, was hanged earlier this year.

The court did not immediately set a new date for Bibis appeal.

Blasphemy is an explosive issue in Muslim-majority Pakistan. Anyone even accused of insulting Islam risks a violent and bloody death at the hands of vigilantes.

Rights groups say blasphemy laws are often abused to carry out personal vendettas, mainly against minority Christians.

Bibi was convicted and sentenced to hang after an argument with a Muslim woman over a bowl of water. Her supporters maintain her innocence and insist it was a personal dispute.

But successive appeals have been rejected, and if the Supreme Court upholds Bibi's conviction, her only recourse will be an appeal to the president for clemency.

She would become the first person in Pakistan to be executed for blasphemy.

Observers have warned of possible violence if the conviction is overturned.

Based on reporting by AFP and the Guardian
Russian President Vladimir Putin has described as "political rhetoric" accusations that war crimes had been committed in the Syrian city of Aleppo, where Russian warplanes are backing Syrian government forces trying to wrestle back control of the city from opposition rebels.

Speaking in an interview aired on October 12, Putin said the allegations do "not take into account the realities in Syria."

Putin told France's TF1 television that he was "deeply convinced that it is our Western partners, first and foremost, of course, the United States, who are responsible for the situation."

The Russian leader also said Moscow was fighting "terrorists" in Syria who were using civilians as human shields in rebel-held eastern Aleppo.

Putin also accused France of forcing Moscow into vetoing a United Nations resolution on Syria and suggested Paris was doing Washington's bidding.

Russia last week vetoed a French-backed resolution condemning the violence in Aleppo, saying the document failed to take into account Russian proposals.

Western governments said the veto showed Moscow had no interest in halting the violence.

Putin earlier this week canceled a trip to Paris after French President Francois Hollande criticized Russia's actions in Syria.

Based on reporting by AFP and AP


Production at Kazakhstan's enormous Kashagan oil and natural-gas field has started again. Already more than a decade behind schedule, and billions of dollars overbudget, the project once seen as Kazakhstan's ticket to El Dorado is now just hoping to alleviate some of the economic pain the country is experiencing and break even before too many more years pass.

Kazakh Energy Minister Kanat Bozumbaev announced on October 12 that the flow of oil from the Caspian Sea field had reached a total of 90,000 barrels per day, from four wells. Bozumbaev added that the Bolashak oil refinery was already receiving oil from the field and shareholders in the project would be announcing the first contracts in coming days.

Bozumbaev said commercial flows of oil were expected by the end of this month.

While that is good news, there are probably more than a few people who still have their fingers crossed hoping nothing else goes wrong at Kashagan, which has proven to be something of a cursed project.

Kashagan started production in September 2013, about eight years behind schedule, but was quickly shut down when leaks were detected in the pipelines running from the site, some 90 kilometers off Kazakhstan's coast, to the mainland.

Initial efforts to correct the problem proved futile as it became apparent that toxic gas in the pipeline had corroded the pipelines, necessitating the total replacement of both pipelines with more expensive nickel-based alloy pipes.

In the wake of the failure, Pierre Oliphant, the managing director of the North Caspian Operating Company (NCOC), resigned. Kazakhstan's government made clear that the consortium was responsible for the cost of replacing the pipelines.

State oil and gas company KazMunaiGaz quickly shed its 16.81 percent stake in the consortium, giving half of it to a subsidiary, KMG Kashagan BV, and the other half to Kazakhstan's Samruk-Kazyna sovereign wealth fund.

Losses from the three-year delay in production at Kashagan are estimated to run into the billions of dollars. That could be added to the cost overruns already incurred. The project was originally expected to cost some $38 billion but that figure has shot up to at least $53 billion, and according to some estimates, could eventually be more than $100 billion.

Kashagan is the biggest oil discovery since Prudhoe Bay in Alaska in 1968 and Russia's Priobskoye North field in 1982. Kashagan is believed to contain 13 billion barrels of recoverable crude oil. The NCOC says there could be as much as 38 billion barrels of oil there, and further exploration and improved technology could add to the current figure for recoverable oil.

Kashagan is also estimated to contain some 1 trillion cubic meters of natural gas.

Italy's Eni, the NCOC partner currently managing Kashagan, says oil production should reach some 230,000 barrels per day (bpd) by the end of 2016 and rise to some 370,000 bpd by mid-2017.

However, in September the Bloomberg news agency quoted Samuel Lussac, research manager in Russia for the U.K. consulting firm Wood Mackenzie, as saying, "We don't expect Kashagan Phase 1 to produce more than 300,000 bpd until the early 2020s."

Even if Kashagan reaches more optimistic production forecasts, many analysts believe the project has already missed its prime window of opportunity. With oil prices at less than half what they were just a few years ago, there is speculation Kashagan may no longer be profitable.

However, 17 years into the project the consortium has no choice but to go ahead, if for no other reason than to recoup the investment already made.

Kazakhstan's government, on the other hand, is assured of seeing some profit from the project, though again, not the large amounts Astana was counting on seeing just a few years back.

The NCOC is made up of Agip Caspian Sea, U.S. company ExxonMobil, France's Total EP, and Royal Dutch Shell, each with 16.81 percent stakes; KMG Kashagan and Samruk Kazyna with 8.4 percent each; the China National Petroleum Corporation with 8.33 percent; and Japan's Inpex with 7.56 percent.

RFE/RL Kazakh Service correspondent Yerzhan Karabek contributed to this report
Russia says it still sees a chance of holding a four-way summit on the Ukraine conflict next week.

"Meetings of experts will be held, and a pretty serious discussion will take place," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on October 13. "If these expert meetings end with a positive result, there will appear such a chance" for the summit in Berlin on October 19.

In Berlin, German Chancellor Angela Merkel's spokesman said further work was needed by advisers before any meeting between the leaders of Ukraine, Russia, Germany, and France was possible.

Meanwhile, French President Francois Hollande called on all parties to commit to a detailed "road map" setting out the steps required for "the reestablishment of Ukraine's control of its border with Russia."

Hollande's office issued the statement after talks by telephone with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko.

On October 12, Hollande spoke by phone with Merkel and Russian President Vladimir Putin about organizing a summit on Ukraine, where fighting between government forces and Russia-backed separatists has killed more than 9,600 people since April 2014.

Based on reporting by Reuters, TASS, and AFP


Russia says a mortar attack has targeted its embassy in the Syrian capital, Damascus, in the second such attack this month.

The Foreign Ministry said on October 13 that one mortar shell exploded close to the guard post in front of the embassy, while another detonated near the entrance to the consular office.

The shells were fired from a district controlled by rebels fighting against Syrian President Bashar al-Assads forces, a statement said, adding that none of embassy staff were hurt.

Condemning what it called "a terrorist attack," the ministry reaffirmed Russia's policy of "uncompromising fighting against terrorists in Syria."

Moscow, a key Assad ally, earlier reported that its embassy compound in Damascus had come under shelling from rebels on October 3.

No one was reported harmed in the mortar fire.

Based on reporting by Reuters, TASS, and Interfax


Russia says it will sign an agreement with India later this week for Moscow to deliver the advanced S-400 missile-defense system to New Delhi.

Kremlin aide Yury Ushakov said on October 13 that the deal would be signed by President Vladimir Putin and India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Goa on October 15.

Moscow has touted the S-400 as state-of-the art weaponry.

The system is capable of tracking some 300 targets and engaging three dozen simultaneously, with a range of several hundred kilometers.

Russia and India, whose leaders have held annual summits since 2000, have shared close ties since the Cold War and are now partners in the BRICS group of emerging-market countries.

Based on reporting by Reuters and TASS


Russia says it has completed the delivery of S-300 air-defense missile systems to Iran.

The Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation made the announcement on October 13, about six months after Moscow delivered the first part of its shipment of S-300 missile systems to Tehran.

In 2010, Moscow froze a 2007 deal to deliver S-300s to Iran under pressure from the West, but President Vladimir Putin lifted the suspension in April 2015.

The United States and Israel have expressed concern over the missile systems, fearing they could upset the regional balance of military power.

Based on reporting by Reuters, TASS, and Interfax
Construction of the TurkStream natural gas pipeline in the Black Sea will begin next year, Russian Energy Minister Aleksandr Novak has said.

"Everything needed for the current work has been approved," Novak told reporters on a visit to Istanbul, noting that the deadline for finishing construction of the project is the end of 2019.

The pipeline will carry Russian natural gas to Southeastern Europe, possibly including European Union member state Greece. It was initially proposed two years ago but fell by the wayside as Russian-Turkish relations soured over the conflict in Syria.

Now, with economic growth stalled in both countries, Moscow and Ankara are trying to restore their relations with an eye toward reviving mutual trade.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, signed an agreement to build the pipeline this week while Putin was in Istanbul.

Based on reporting by dpa and TASS
Russian lawmaker Vladimir Zhirinovsky, long known for his fiery threats and outlandish bluster, has some advice for American voters: choose Donald Trump or there will be nuclear war.

Zhirinovsky, who has likened himself to the U.S. Republican candidate, said in an interview published on October 12 that a vote for Trump's Democratic rival Hillary Clinton would result in war.

"Americans voting for a president on November 8 must realize that they are voting for peace on planet Earth if they vote for Trump. But if they vote for Hillary, it's war. It will be a short movie," he was quoted by Reuters as saying. "There will be Hiroshimas and Nagasakis everywhere."

Zhirinovsky, who heads the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia, has a long reputation for making xenophobic, sometime racist or belligerent, statements. Many Russians view him with benign bemusement, and his party regularly joins in rubber-stamping Kremlin-backed legislation in the Russian parliament.

In the past, he has proposed building a barbed-wire fence along parts of southern Russia, where many Muslim Russians live, a proposal that has echoes of Trump's call for a wall along the U.S. border with Mexico.

He has also called for Russia to take Alaska back from the United States.

Based on reporting by Reuters
Recent large-scale Russian military exercises are not intended to threaten or send a signal to the West or other countries, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said on October 12.

"The large-scale operational and combat training measures of our Armed Forces are not signals to anyone, let alone threats. They are a necessary condition for ensuring the combat readiness of any country's military organization," Shoigu said at a meeting on the Caucasus 2016 drills conducted last month.

"We have recently heard many reproaches from our Western partners, who are concerned about the level of combat readiness and combat potential of our armed forces, which increased in the past few years. Attempts are being made to present routine measures of our operative and combat training as 'threatening' signals to the neighboring countries. There are talks about a military threat, a new cold war, another arms race going on," the minister said.

"No doubt, it's not so. Our armed forces should guarantee the country's security," he added.

Based on reporting by TASS and Interfax
A Serbian magazine has retracted an article saying U.S. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump apologized for the U.S. role in the 1999 bombing of former Yugoslavia.

The Serbian weekly Nedeljnik said it likely was duped into publishing a now-discredited interview with a Trump campaign official in which Trump also supposedly pledged a new policy toward the Balkans if he's elected president.

The NATO bombing of Yugoslavia reined in Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic and led to the end of the Kosovo war. Bill Clinton, husband of Trumps Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton, was president during the Yugoslav war.

NATO's bombing campaign killed hundreds of civilians but also ended ethnic cleansing in parts of the former Yugoslavia.

In a statement, the Trump campaign said the interview saying he apologized for the bombing was a "hoax" -- a possibility the magazine conceded after Trump challenged its original sensational article, which was picked up widely in the U.S. media covering the presidential campaign.

"Mr. Trump never gave an interview to the Serbian weekly magazine Nedeljnik, as falsely reported by the discredited Newsweek, nor was such an interview conducted through our Indiana State Director [Suzanne Ryder Jaworowski]," said Jason Miller, the Trump campaign's senior communications adviser.

"This was a hoax and we look forward to receiving a formal retraction and apology from all involved.

Within hours, the magazine in a front-page editorial apologized, admitted it likely was duped, and retracted the article.

Nedeljnik admitted that its supposed "interview" was conducted by e-mail through an intermediary and it had not thoroughly checked it to ensure the legitimacy of answers it believed it had received to its e-mailed questions from the Trump campaign.

The magazine said it submitted questions by e-mail to a Serbian-American man named Vladimir Rajcic, an actor who lives in Chicago, who said he was helping advise the Trump campaign.

Some weeks after submitting the questions, Nedeljniks managing editor, Marko Prelevic, said he received answers via e-mail that were supposedly from Jaworowski, Trump's Indiana operative.

In a statement on October 13, Jaworowski said she did not take part in an e-mail interview.

"Regarding the article about a media interview with a Serbian politician and Mr. Trump via my e-mail, this is completely false. I have never served as a conduit to interview Mr. Trump for anyone," Jaworowski said.

The magazine admitted it might have been duped by Rajcic, who could not be immediately reached for comment.

With reporting by Nedeljnik, Buzzfeed.com, and Politico.com
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A Henrico County man pleaded guilty Thursday to the second-degree murder of 12-year-old Amiya Moses, who was shot and killed last December while playing outside a North Richmond apartment.

Dwight Q. Jackson, 20, of the 500 block of Windomere Avenue in Henrico County, also entered a guilty plea to charges of use of a firearm in a felony and maliciously shooting at an occupied dwelling. The case was continued until November when a date for sentencing will be selected.

Jackson is the third defendant to be prosecuted in Amiyas death. A fourth shooter has yet to be identified.

Shaquille D. Maxwell, 20, of the 700 block of Windomere Avenue, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder, use of a firearm in a felony, shooting into an occupied dwelling and possession of a firearm by a felon. He will be sentenced March 20.

Davarn M. Hancock, 22, of the 4800 block of Burnt Oak Drive in Chesterfield County, was sentenced last month to 28 years in prison for first-degree murder, use of a firearm in a felony and shooting into an occupied dwelling. A judge had found him guilty in July.

Amiya was playing outside a friends home in the 4900 block of Old Brook Road on Dec. 19. When shots rang out about 9:30 p.m., she was caught in the crossfire. She was shot in the back, and died after being taken to VCU Medical Center.

Although neither Amiya nor any of the three defendants lived in the neighborhood, prosecutors said the defendants were frequent visitors and involved in an ongoing feud among neighbors there.

Prosecutors arent sure who fired the shot that killed the sixth-grader, but said that Maxwell, Hancock, Jackson and a fourth man were working together, so all are culpable.
Richmond police have launched a death investigation at a downtown apartment complex that predominantly houses Virginia Commonwealth University students and where another person died last month.

Police were called at 2:26 p.m. Thursday to the Towers on Franklin in the 100 block of West Franklin Street, according to Richmond police spokeswoman Koury Wilson.

As with the death a month earlier, no foul play is suspected in the death, Wilson said.

A woman who works at a nearby building said two of her colleagues said they had heard a loud crash.

Police did not immediately release any details about the victim or the manner of death.

On Sept. 10, Jordan Bowman, an 18-year-old VCU freshman and a recent graduate of Mills Godwin High School in Henrico County, died after falling from a window on the 13th floor of the apartment complex, police said.

The status of the investigation into Bowmans death was unclear Thursday.
A Richmond man told police he opened fire on another driver along Interstate 295 in Henrico County earlier this year because he was frustrated that no one pulled over to help him after his car became disabled, according to Henrico prosecutor Robert J. Windle.

John I. Maddox, 24, of Richmond, entered an Alford plea Thursday to attempted malicious wounding and use of a firearm in the commission of felony. In an Alford plea, a defendant acknowledges, without admitting guilt, that the evidence is strong enough for a conviction.

Two additional counts of use of a firearm in commission of a felony and two counts of maliciously shooting at a vehicle were dropped.

Windle said a driver was headed south on I-295 near the New Market Road exit at about 6:30 a.m. May 17 when he saw a man, whom he would have identified as Maddox had the case gone to trial, on the side of the highway waiving his arms. Thinking Maddox needed help, the man started to pull over. But after seeing a gun in the mans hand, the motorist sped away, Windle said, recounting the evidence in the case.

Maddox fired at least two shots at the passing truck, upset that no one had stopped to help, Windle said.

Forensic detectives found a bullet hole in the rear drivers side of the vehicle and three shell casings beside a disabled, abandoned sedan parked on the shoulder of I-295.

Virginia State Police traced the disabled cars registration to Maddox and arrested him four hours later. A Hi-Point .40 caliber handgun was recovered from Maddoxs girlfriends home.

Maddoxs attorney, Robert Walker Jr., told a Henrico Circuit Court judge that he spoke to the victim. After hearing the mans testimony, he advised his client to enter a plea.

Sentencing is set for Dec. 22. Maddox faces a minimum of 5 years for the malicious wounding charge and 3 years for the weapons charge.
Donald Trumps campaign is reallocating some of its resources from Virginia to North Carolina, but says it is not abandoning its efforts here in what has been a swing state.

We remain absolutely committed to winning in Virginia, said John Ullyot, Trump campaigns deputy political director for communications.

While were reallocating some of our staff strategically to accommodate early voting in nearby priority states such as North Carolina, our campaign leadership and staffing remains strong in Virginia.

Together with the (Republican National Committee) and the state party, we will have all the resources we need to retake the commonwealth at the presidential level in November, as historically early voting in Virginia is much less of a focus for both parties than in some other states such as North Carolina.

The Republican Party of Virginia said in a statement that it remains focused on carrying the state.

Republican Party of Virginia and Republican National Committee teams have been on the ground in the commonwealth for two years preparing for this election said John Whitbeck, chairman of the state GOP.

Our commitment to winning Virginia for all of our Republican candidates remains unchanged.

He added: The media reports saying the Trump campaign has withdrawn from Virginia come from unnamed sources and a former state co-chair who was terminated by the campaign.

Late Wednesday night, a national political reporter for NBC tweeted that Trumps national campaign had said on a conference call that it was pulling out of Virginia.

Early on Thursday, Trumps recently deposed Virginia chairman, Corey Stewart, issued a plea to the Trump campaign on Facebook, asking that it not pull out of Virginia.

He wrote that Virginia is winnable for Trump if it adds an aggressive ad campaign to the current volunteer efforts.

Pulling out now would be a betrayal to these volunteers.

On Thursday morning, John Fredericks, acting chairman of Trumps Virginia campaign, denied the report, tweeting: This story is completely bogus. Absolutely false. Not True! Media plant to dispirit Trumps Va. volunteers.

The developments came hours after Trumps running mate, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, campaigned at Liberty University in Lynchburg and in Salem.

Barack Obama carried Virginia in 2008 and in 2012, becoming the first Democrat since President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964 to capture the states electoral votes.

Virginia, a key battleground during Obamas presidential campaigns, has appeared vital to GOP chances to capture 270 electoral votes on Nov. 8.
Like a gas that expands to fill the space available to it, any given scandal in a campaign season -- even a small one -- can eat up a huge amount of media attention if theres nothing to distract from it. But the corollary to that truth is that if there is already a major scandal occupying the news cycle, another one that falls into the significant-but-not-huge category may get little attention at all.

Thats undoubtedly whats happening right now with the most recent dump of hacked emails from WikiLeaks, the international whistleblower organization, that has turned itself into a conduit between Russian computer hackers and the western media. Over several days, WikiLeaks has produced stolen emails, most recently from Hillary Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta, that under normal circumstances would be the subject of relentless discussion by reporters and pundits.

Related: Is the Dam Breaking? Multiple Women Come Forward Accusing Trump of Assault

However, with the campaign of Clintons opponent Republican Donald Trump trapped in a slow-motion meltdown over charges that the candidate has serially harassed women for decades, the WikiLeaks emails arent getting a ton of attention.

While none of the things revealed by the recent batch of emails appears to be particularly damning, there are many that under other circumstances might generate negative voter reaction toward the Democratic nominee.

Here are a few of the more significant ones:

Podesta referred to needy Latinos in an email to Clinton

In one exchange, Podesta urged Clinton to reach out to several people in the Latino community, which the campaign is counting on to support her in large numbers. In particular, he suggests she mend fences with former New Mexico governor Bill Richardson, who had a falling out with the Clintons after he supported Barack Obama in 2008 but uses an insulting word to describe him.

Related: Inspired by Trump, Russian Foreign Minister Blasts US Election with Lewd Comment

I had heard that you were upset that I encouraged a call between WJC and Richardson to bury the hatchet, Podesta wrote. I did that at the request of Jose Villarreal who pushed me and made the point that Richardson is still on TV a lot, especially on Univision and Telemundo and notwithstanding [sic] the fact that he can be a dick, it was worth getting him in a good place.

Story continues

Clintons press secretary was in contact with the Justice Department

Trump has gone all in on charging that there was some sort of collusion between the Department of Justice and the Clinton administration because of an email exchange between Clinton spokesman Brian Fallon and another staffer in which Fallon says DOJ folks had given him a heads up about an upcoming hearing about the release of emails she had sent through a controversial private server while serving as secretary of state. However, all that Fallon received from DOJ was actually publicly available scheduling information. An FBI investigation into Clintons use of the private email server would not be launched for several months.

Clinton appears to have been given advance notice of a question at a primary town hall.

Early this year, Donna Brazile, a Democratic National Committee official and a CNN contributor sent an email indicating that she knew of one question the candidates might face during the debate and provided the language on a query about the death penalty. A very similar question was indeed asked of Clinton days later.

The revelation puts further strain on the relationship between Clinton and the supporters of her primary rival, Bernie Sanders. An earlier hack of DNC emails indicated that executives with the supposedly impartial organization were actually supporting Clinton. Brazile, who was a DNC official at the time she sent the email, later took over when the hacked emails forced out then-chair Rep. Debbie Wasserman-Schultz.

Related: How Trump Will Win Back Women Voters: The Fake Locker Room Defense

Clinton staff criticized Catholics and Evangelicals

The Trump team jumped particularly hard on an email exchange in which Podesta, Jennifer Palmieri, who serves as Clintons communications director, and John Halpin of the Center for American Progress briefly discussed religion.

Many of the most powerful elements of the conservative movement are all Catholic (many converts), Halpin noted, before suggesting that the appeal of the Roman Catholic faith might be rooted in its systematic thought and [severely] backward gender relations.

Palmieri, who is Catholic herself, replied, I imagine they think it is the most socially acceptable politically conservative religion. Their rich friends wouldn't understand if they became evangelicals.

Trump campaign manager Kellyanne Conway hosted an indignant conference call on Wednesday, berating Clinton for seething with disdain for people with strong religious convictions. The hostility toward religious liberty and to beliefs that we hold as Catholics should not go unnoticed or unpunished.

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Students at Liberty University have issued a statement against Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump as young conservatives at colleges across the state reconsider support for his campaign.

A statement issued late Wednesday by the group "Liberty Students United Against Trump," strongly rebuked the candidate as well as the school's president, Jerry Falwell Jr., for defending Trump after he made extremely lewd comments about women captured in a 2005 video. The students wrote that Falwell's support for Trump had cast a stain on the school's reputation.

"We are Liberty students who are disappointed with President Falwell's endorsement and are tired of being associated with one of the worst presidential candidates in American history," the statement reads. "Donald Trump does not represent our values and we want nothing to do with him. . . He has made his name by maligning others and bragging about his sins. Not only is Donald Trump a bad candidate for president, he is actively promoting the very things that we as Christians ought to oppose."

The Liberty University student manifesto against Trump comes a day after the University of Virginia college Republicans voted to rescind the group's endorsement of his candidacy for president. The chairman of the college Republicans at Hampden-Sydney, Tanner Beck, posted a statement on Facebook noting that Trump "has gone from simply being an embarrassment to our party, to a potentially permanent stain on our brand and our country."

The students at Liberty University wrote that they felt compelled to speak out in light of Falwell's steadfast support for Trump even after the candidate's comments about women and sexual assault.

"Because our president has led the world to believe that Liberty University supports Donald Trump, we students must take it upon ourselves to make clear that Donald Trump is absolutely opposed to what we believe, and does not have our support," the Liberty students wrote. "We are not proclaiming our opposition to Donald Trump out of bitterness, but out of a desire to regain the integrity of our school."

Falwell wrote a statement criticizing the student effort against Trump.

"I am proud of these few students for speaking their minds but I'm afraid the statement is incoherent and false," Falwell wrote. "I am not 'touring the country' or associating Liberty University with any candidate. I am only fulfilling my obligation as a citizen to 'render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's' by expressing my personal opinion about who I believe is best suited to lead our nation in a time of crisis. This student statement seems to ignore the teachings of Jesus not to judge others but they are young and still learning."
RICHMOND  State employees had high hopes for the two-year budget the General Assembly adopted in March, but seven months later, those hopes have been dashed against a projected $1.48 billion revenue shortfall that has claimed the pay raises they were promised, left hundreds of new positions unfunded, and could cost 26 of them their jobs.

Its just so frustrating, lamented Col. M. Wayne Huggins, executive director of the Virginia State Police Association. You work so hard to make some progress and it all goes south so quickly.

State police were among the losers in budget cuts that Gov. Terry McAuliffe announced Thursday to close an $861.4 million shortfall in this fiscal year alone. The governors plan will cancel scheduled pay raises that the legislature had tied to revenue projections, tap the rainy day fund for almost $400 million, and cut executive agency budgets by $73 million, requiring up to 26 layoffs, including 15 at the Library of Virginia.

The cuts will delay the opening of a new womens prison in Culpeper County and, despite McAuliffes pledge to protect public safety and other core services, eliminate almost $1.3 million in funding for new positions promised to state police for a new special operations division and to staff its office in New River Valley. It also will replace $5.5 million in general funds for state police with money from four special funds, including one earmarked for technology upgrade of the Sex Offender Registry.

This could have been so much worse, said McAuliffe, whose staff described cuts to state police and the Department of Education budgets as administrative, rather than aimed at programs or direct services.

The governor also offered hope that the 26 employees who would lose their jobs either could take retirement or fill vacant jobs elsewhere in the state bureaucracy. In addition to the state library, the cuts include: four layoffs at the Department of Conservation and Recreation; two each at the Department of Health, the Department of Aging and Rehabilitative Services, and the Department of Forensic Science; and one research position at the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services.

The biggest blow to state employees came when the state fell short by $279.3 million in revenues for the fiscal year that ended June 30. That triggered provisions in the budget that suspended and then canceled $346 million in pay raises and other compensation that were scheduled to take effect Dec. 1. The package included $125.1 million in the current fiscal year.

The lost raises included money for state police to deal with salary compression  in which pay for new hires exceeds that for veterans  and sent morale plummeting at the department. Huggins, a former state police superintendent, said the department has 237 vacancies in sworn law enforcement positions.

The hole just keeps getting deeper and deeper, he said.

Ronald Jordan, executive director of the Virginia Governmental Employees Association, said, The pay situation for state employees is intolerable.

Jordan called on McAuliffe and the General Assembly to walk the talk when the governor presents budget amendments in December for the legislature to consider when it convenes in January for a 45-day session.

The governor and General Assembly often praise the talent and hard work of state employees, he said. It is time for the governor and General Assembly to put state employees first when budget priorities are developed.

Senate Finance Co-Chairman Emmett Hanger, R-Augusta, said Thursday that pay raises may require quicker action, especially for state police.

Its something we need to talk about, he said. We may need to address that sooner than later.

Hanger also expressed concerns about the cut of state police positions the budget had funded. Thats one area I think were going to have to ante up, he said.

However, McAuliffe and the General Assembly face an additional revenue shortfall in the next fiscal year that now is projected at $654.3 million. Revenues showed some sign of recovery in the first quarter of this year, growing by 3.6 percent, compared with projected growth of 1.7 percent, but the governor and legislative leaders say its too early for optimism.

That is one quarter  we have three to go, the governor said.

One of McAuliffes proposed solutions will be a renewed attempt to use federal money to expand Medicaid, which he said would free up $211 million a year in state funds now spent on mental health, inmate hospital care, and subsidizing uncompensated hospital care of uninsured Virginians.

We cant continue to leave that money on the table, he said.

McAuliffe, who has tried and failed three times to persuade General Assembly Republicans to expand health coverage under the Affordable Care Act, signaled that he will attempt again to use a provider assessment on hospitals to pay the states share of future costs in expanding Medicaid and enable the health care industry to collect federal dollars for what is now uncompensated care.

The governor did not provide details of his proposal, but said, We will work closely with the hospitals.

Julian Walker, a spokesman for the Virginia Hospital & Healthcare Association, responded, While we have not seen the governors latest proposal, Virginias hospitals and health systems have consistently expressed a desire to work with elected representatives in both parties to find bipartisan solutions that improve health care access and safeguard the important economic contributions that hospitals and health systems make in their communities.

House Appropriations Chairman S. Chris Jones, R-Suffolk, offered no hope for proponents of Medicaid expansion surviving the Republican-controlled House of Delegates.

The last three years, the House has been very clear in its opposition to Medicaid expansion, Jones said.

Hanger, who supported an effort to expand health coverage in 2014, said he also doesnt expect the governors proposal to survive, but he added, Then Ill probably put something else on the table. I think its a conversation we need to have again.
Donald Trump's campaign is reallocating some of its resources from Virginia to North Carolina, but says it is not abandoning its efforts here in what has been a swing state.

"We remain absolutely committed to winning in Virginia," said John Ullyot, the Trump campaign's deputy political director for communications.

"While we're reallocating some of our staff strategically to accommodate early voting in nearby priority states such as North Carolina, our campaign leadership and staffing remains strong in Virginia.

"Together with the RNC and the state party, we will have all the resources we need to re-take the commonwealth at the presidential level in November, as historically early voting in Virginia is much less of a focus for both parties than in some other states such as North Carolina."

Late Tuesday night a national political reporter for NBC tweeted that Trump's national campaign had said on a conference call that it was pulling out of Virginia.

John Fredericks, speaking on behalf of Trump's Virginia campaign, denies the report. Fredericks tweeted this morning:

"This story is completely bogus. Absolutely false. Not True! Media plant to dispirit Trump's Va. volunteers."

After midnight Trump's recently deposed Virginia chairman, Corey Stewart, issued a "plea to the Trump campaign" on Facebook, asking that it not pull out of Virginia.

He wrote that Virginia is winnable for Trump if it adds an aggressive ad campaign to the current volunteer efforts.

"Pulling out now would be a betrayal to these volunteers."

The developments came hours after Trump's running mate, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, campaigned at Liberty University in Lynchburg and in Salem.

Virginia has appeared vital to GOP chances to capture 270 electoral votes on Nov. 8.

Trump and/or Pence have made a dozen campaign stops in Virginia since Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton named Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va. her running mate in late July.
Donna Brazile

An email published Wednesday suggests that the interim chair of the Democratic National Committee had the text of a proposed question before a town hall event with Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders earlier this year.

Donna Brazile, the chair, is then thought to have shared the question with the Clinton campaign.

The email, which was provided to Politico, contains the exact wording of a question that one of the town-hall moderators, TV One's Roland Martin, sent to CNN producers before the town hall. It matches the language in an email Brazile sent to the Clinton campaign one day earlier.

That email was part of the recent WikiLeaks release of Clinton campaign chair John Podesta's leaked emails. In the email, sent to Clinton communications director Jennifer Palmieri, Brazil said that she "gets questions in advance."

On Tuesday, the DNC pushed back on the idea that Brazile leaked any questions to Clinton ahead of the town hall hosted by CNN and TV One. Brazile had at one point been a CNN contributor.

"I often shared my thoughts with each and every campaign, and any suggestions that indicate otherwise are completely untrue," Brazile said in a Tuesday statement. "I never had access to questions and would never have shared them with the candidates if I did."

Brazile said the question Brazile forwarded on to Palmieri was not from the town hall, but was rather a topic for conversation on a panel that Brazile was to set to appear on. A DNC spokesperson declined repeated requests for clarification on which panel she was set to appear on to discuss the issue in question.

In fact, an email Politico obtained suggests otherwise, since Martin's question that was sent to CNN producers for the town hall was the same question that was in Brazile's email.

The question was phrased as such:

"19 states and the District of Columbia have banned the death penalty. 31 states, including Ohio, still have the death penalty. According to the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, since 1973, 156 people have been on death row and later set free. Since 1976, 1,414 people have been executed in the U.S. That's 11% of Americans who were sentenced to die, but later exonerated and freed. Should Ohio and the 30 other states join the current list and abolish the death penalty?"

Story continues

The death penalty did come up at the town hall, but the question, which came from an audience member, was similar but ended up being worded differently.

Martin told Politico that he did not believe he consulted with Brazile on the question ahead of the town hall.

NOW WATCH: 'CHECK OUT SEX TAPE': Trump goes on raging tweetstorm ripping Miss Universe contestant





More From Business Insider


UKIP MEP Jane Collins has distanced herself from acting party leader Nigel Farages defence of Donald Trump's sexist remarks, saying Mr Farage was trying to defend the indefensible.

Ms Collins, who stood for election in Rotherham last year, said; Trump's sexist and derogatory comments have unequivocally proven he is totally unfit to be President of the United States, and Nigel Farage should think very carefully about defend him.

While in the past, I have been one of Nigel Farage's biggest supporters, his attempts to not only excuse Trumps vile behaviour but also to make this kind of criminal behaviour seem normative, make me seriously question his judgement in this matter."

I have spent years fighting for more protections from sexual assault of all types. It, therefore, sickens me that my party leader seeks to say this was nothing more than locker room banter.

These types of remarks are not normal, nor are they acceptable.

US presidential candidate Mr Trump was widely condemned after the release of a tape from 2005 in which he made crude references to the sexual assault of women.

Ms Collins added: As for Mr Trump, in light of his remarks, I think he should now be a real man; admit his mistakes, and withdraw from the presidential race - but I am not going to hold my breath.
Call for KPCS to commit to serious reforms The Kimberley Process Civil Society Coalition (KPCSC) has called on the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (KPCS) to come to terms with the shortcomings of the certification scheme and to commit to serious reforms. A KPCS plenary...

Barrick Gold secures future of DRC mine with exploration success Barrick Gold says the ability of the Kibali mine, Africas largest gold mine to replace its reserves beyond depletion will secure its position as one of the companys tier-one assets well into the future. Company president and chief executive Mark Bristow...

Mountain Province Diamonds announces 3Q 2022 production and sales results Mountain Province Diamonds Inc. has announced production and sales results for the third quarter ended September 30, from the Gahcho Kue Diamond Mine. According to the company, 1,451,455 carats recovered, 7% lower than Q3 2021, and a 15% increase...

Hong Kongs jewellery export dips 17.6% in September Hong Kongs government data revealed that exports of jewellery, goldsmiths and silversmiths wares were down 23.1 per cent year on year to HK$18.24 bn which is around $2.32 bn during September 2022.
(Rns.online) - ALROSA proposed to the Government to abolish the state control over the export of polished diamonds from Russia. The company made the proposal to the government as one of the provisions of the "Strategy of development of the diamond industry in Russia until 2030," RNS was told by a source familiar with the content of the proposals.

Given the rate of export customs duty of 0% and the lack of polished diamond certification requirements of the Kimberley Process, this measure may be applied to diamond exports, the source said.

When exporting polished diamonds, the company proposes to limit customs control.

"This practice is applied in most countries and diamond trading centers. For example, in Israel, all the contents of parcels that pass through a specialized customs post are subject to selective physical inspection by the customs inspector in the amount of not more than 10% of the total weight of the product for compliance with the declared in the invoice and specification," ALROSA stated in its proposals.

The company added that to abolish state control over diamond export "diamonds should be excluded from the list of gems to be accompanied by a state act for customs control."




Blue diamonds seem to be currently commanding the highest prices at auction, GEMKonnect reports. Sothebys says that its Magnificent Jewels & Noble Jewels sale in Geneva on November 16 will be headlined by the 8.01-carat fancy vivid blue diamond ring crafted by Cartier and known as The Sky Blue Diamond. The ring, from a private collection, is estimated to sell at between $15 and $25 million.

Another ring from a private collection featuring a fancy intense pink diamond weighing 17.07 carats is estimated to go between $12- and $15 million, while a 13.2-carat fancy intense pink, internally flawless diamond with excellent polish and set in a ring is estimatedmated at between $9- and $14 million.

A ring set with multiple diamonds, crafted in the latter half of the 18th century and formery in the collection of the imperial Russian family, has a pre-auction estimate of $3-$5 million.

Also carrying a pre-auction estimate of $3-$5 million is a diamond parure from the mid-19th century, while a Burmese ruby and diamond ring weighing 8.37 carats, crafted by Cartier.




AIM-listed Petra Diamonds said expansion plans for its Williamson mine, in Tanzania are still on course.

The company, which also has operations in South Africa, wants to ramp up tonnage throughput to about 5-million tonnes a year from the 2017 financial year and, at a grade of about 6 carat for every 100 tonnes, delivering 300 000 carats, Mining Weekly reports.

The expansion plan followed the completion of the initial development programme at Williamson.

The Williamson mine is the worlds largest economic kimberlite mine by surface area at 146 ha and is Tanzanias only important diamond producer. Despite the mine having been operated continuously since 1940, the pit is only 90 m at its deepest point, owing to the large size of the deposit, the company was quoted as saying.

The Williamson mine was known for very rare pink stones.

The Mwadui kimberlite pipe, upon which the mine is based, contains a diamond resource of about 33.1-million carats, Mining Weekly reports.



Mathew Nyaungwa, Editor in Chief of the African Bureau, Rough&Polished




Casino Group (CGUIY.PK) reported third-quarter sales of 10.4 billion euros, up 2.9% on an organic basis and up 1.7% on a same-store basis. The company said its performance reflected a positive currency effect of 4.1% and a scope effect of negative 0.4%. Total reported Group sales were up 6.7%, highest growth in 13 quarters.

In France, total sales amounted to 4.76 billion euros with a same store decline of 0.6%. At integrated stores over a two-year period, same store sales in France were up 1.8%.

For 2016, in France, the Group confirmed its objectives of: trading profit of more than 500 million euros, and free cash flow of more than 550 million euros.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

Business News
ProSiebenSat.1 Group (PBSFF.PK) announced the company is again increasing its financial targets for 2018. The revenue growth target compared to 2012 has been raised by 300 million euros from 1.85 billion euros to 2.15 billion euros. At the end of 2018, Group revenues are set to reach 4.5 billion euros compared to previous guidance of 4.2 billion euros, of which over 50 % will be realised outside traditional TV advertising . ProSiebenSat.1 Group also increased its recurring EBITDA growth target compared to 2012 by 50 million euros to 400 million euros. Thus, the company is aiming to achieve recurring EBITDA of 1.15 billion euros in 2018.

For the third-quarter, on the basis of preliminary figures, the Group achieved further growth in revenues and recurring EBITDA compared to the same quarter of the previous year. Group revenues rose by around 15%, while recurring EBITDA increased by more than 10%.

For 2016, the Group is now anticipating stronger revenue growth and increasing its forecast for the year as a whole. Until now, ProSiebenSat.1 anticipated a rise in Group revenues of at least 10%. ProSiebenSat.1 now aims to achieve revenue growth of at least 15% for the year as a whole. The company is set to continue its revenue and earnings growth also in fourth-quarter of 2016.

The Group stated that it is pursuing shareholder-oriented dividend policy and plans to continue distributing 80% to 90% of underlying net income to its shareholders. ProSiebenSat.1 is also retaining its financial leverage target range of 1.5 to 2.5 times based on the ratio of net financial debt to LTM recurring EBITDA.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

Business News
WH Smith PLC (SMWH.L), a retail company, reported Thursday that its fiscal 2016 group profit before tax increased 8 percent to 131 million pounds from last year's 121 million pounds.

Earnings per share were 93.9 pence, up 10 percent from 85.6 pence a year ago.

Headline profit before tax was 132 million pounds, compared to 123 million pounds last year. Headline earnings per share were 94.8 pence, compared to 87.3 pence a year ago.''

Trading profit grew 9 percent to 87 million pounds.

In the year, group revenue increased 3 percent to 1.21 billion pounds, with like-for-like revenue growth of 1 percent.

Travel revenue went up 10 percent, while High street revenue dropped 3 percent.

Further, the Board has proposed a 12% increase in the final dividend to 30.5p per share and have announced a further share buyback of up to 50 million pounds reflecting the Group's strong cash flow and positive outlook for the future.

"Looking ahead, we will continue to focus on profitable growth, cash generation and investing in new opportunities. While the economic environment is uncertain, we are well positioned for the current year and beyond," the company said in its statement.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

Business News
ICAP plc (IAPLF.PK,IAPLY.PK,IAP.L) announced that it has acquired Abide Financial, a global regulatory reporting specialist. Abide will become a subsidiary of the company's Post Trade Risk and Information division.

Abide Financial acts as a reporting hub for EMIR, Approved Reporting Mechanism for MiFID and a Regulatory Reporting Mechanism for REMIT. Abide is currently awaiting ESMA's approval to become a Trade Repository and is developing its MiFiD II offering.

Following the acquisition, Abide will integrate its regulatory reporting hub and venues with Traiana's connectivity and ICAP's PTRI Approved Publication Arrangement reporting service providing PTRI's client base with a full spectrum of integrated reporting solutions for entities subject to regulatory regimes in Australia, Canada, Europe, Hong Kong, Singapore, UK and the US.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

Business News
An attorney for Donald Trump has sent a legal notice to The New York Times demanding the paper retract a report in which two women accuse the Republican presidential nominee of sexual assault.

In a letter sent to Times Executive Editor Dean Baquet, Trump lawyer Marc Kasowitz said the story published Wednesday is "reckless, defamatory, and constitutes libel."

"It is apparent from, among other things, the timing of the article, that it is nothing more than a politically-motivated effort to defeat Mr. Trump's candidacy," Kasowitz wrote.

He added, "That is why you apparently performed an entirely inadequate investigation to test the veracity of these false and malicious allegations."

On Wednesday, the New York Times published a report titled "Two Women Say Donald Trump Touched Them Inappropriately."

Jessica Leeds, 74, accused Trump of groping her on a plane more than thirty years ago, while Rachel Crooks alleged the Republican nominee forcibly kissed her outside an elevator in Trump Tower when she was a 22-year-old receptionist in 2005.

In the letter to the Times, Kasowitz questioned why the two women waited so long before deciding to come forward.

Kasowitz demanded the Times immediately cease any further publication of the article, remove it from its website and issue a full and immediate retraction and apology.

"Failure to do so will leave my client with no option but to pursue all available actions and remedies," Kasowitz wrote.

However, the New York Times is standing by its story, with Baquet telling CNN's Brian Stelter the story clearly falls in the realm of public service journalism.

The allegations against Trump come on the heels of the release of a recording of Trump making lewd remarks about women that critics claim condone sexual assault.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

Political News
Following the release of a recording of Donald Trump making lewd remarks about women, the results of a Suffolk University poll show Hillary Clinton has climbed into the lead in North Carolina.

Forty-five percent of likely North Carolina voters said they support Clinton, while 43 percent said they back Trump.

The two-point advantage for Clinton is within the poll's margin of error, but the results reflect a reversal from a poll conducted last month showing Trump with a 44 percent to 41 percent lead.

Libertarian Gary Johnson was the preferred choice of 5 percent of likely voters in the latest poll, and 5 percent of voters were undecided.

"The five point swing is due to an improvement among women supporting Hillary Clinton and a Trump decline among independents," said David Paleologos, director of the Suffolk University Political Research Center.

He added, "These two groups of voters have tipped more to Clinton recently, and she appears to have benefited from the fallout over Trump's lewd comments about women."

The poll showed that Clinton's lead among women has jumped to 11 points from just 1 point, while Trump's advantage among independents has shrank to 7 points from 17 points.

Suffolk noted the shift comes in the aftermath of last Friday's release of an Access Hollywood video of Trump making demeaning comments about women.

Sixty-nine percent of likely voters said the video had not changed their opinion of Trump, but 14 percent said it did. An additional 14 percent had not seen the recording.

The Suffolk survey of 500 likely North Carolina voters was conducted October 10th through 12th and has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.4 percentage points.

(Photo: Gage Skidmore)

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

Political News
The Swedish financial newspaper Dagens Industri (the Daily Industry) have today posted two positive and interesting articles on the car company from Trollhattan now known as Nevs. Considering how Saab was treated by Swedish media many times, this is really nice to see.

The first article Planen som ska fa Nevs pa rull (the plan that will get Nevs rolling) starts out explaining that the Saab branding on the Stallbacka plant is gone and the production has stopped, with another negative fiscal year to be expected for Nevs.

DI asks how can Nevs employ 900 people and keep growing?.

Today Nevs has 900 employees in Trollhattan, with 230 consultants as well. Theyre still recruiting more people, mainly engineers within electronics and software. This year the personell cost is expected to reach 500 million SEK ($56 million USD) and its all currently funded by the owners of Nevs.

The new factory in Tianjin, China will be ready next year. In order to get the necessary license for EV car production in China, it will be a complete car plant. This factory will produce the Nevs 9-3, based on the Saab NG9-3. The Stallbacka plant will support the Chinese factory and the next generation of Nevs EV cars for Europe will be built in Trollhattan.

Nevs does have some funding of their own, with the development of the new Turkish car and the contract for 150 000 cars and 100 000 vehicles with Panda New Energy in China. The vehicles are electric vans that will be delivered through the New Long Mas plant in Fujian, China, where Nevs are part owners.

The article goes on explaining how Nevs are working on a new and modular platform (Phoenix 3.0) for their next generation of EV cars. Nevs are attracting competent people, not only from the car industry.

Christian Bromander, head of electric and mechanical architecture at Nevs, with 25 years of experience from the car industry, says Nevs are thinking outside of the box, with people from outside of the industry we are challenged to think in new ways..

Michel Annink, with a background from Salesforce, Microsoft and Toshiba, says Nevs is not a traditional car producer. I dont think about the fact that we dont produce cars right now. We are currently developing virtual services..

This article finishes off stating 2020 as the year when the next generation of NEVS EV cars will be released. By then the traditional car producers will have a number of EV cars out as well. In contrast to this, Nevs CEO Mattias Bergman says With all due respect to their resources, they cant focus on EV cars only. We have knowledge of the past, but we arent stuck there..

The second article from Dagens Industri Utvecklar bil for Turkiet (developing a car for Turkey) covers the development of the new Turkish car by Nevs. Frank Smit is responsible for this project and he has been working with Saab since 2002, with a previous past from Nissan, Mitsubishi and Hyundai.

Frank Smit is calm, even though not everything always goes according to plan. 140 employees at Nevs in Trollhattan are working on the Turkish car, with 40 people from Tubitak, the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey. The car is supposed to breath and feel Turkish, so its important to work with people who know this country.

The Turkish 9-3 will also be an EV car, based on Saab NG9-3. It will probably be produced in Turkey. These cars will primarily be company cars and used in car-sharing services, which means that they will be in use more than the average (private) car. This is a challenge, when it comes to the battery range and pricing of the cars. The range of the Nevs 9-3 is at least 300 km (186 US miles).

Finishing this off, these two articles doesnt really add anything new but they do have a positive vibe about Nevs. Its nice to see that, even though theyre not actually producing cars, theyre still busy working and employing more than 900 people in Trollhattan.

I personally appreciate that Nevs are thinking in new ways, like no other car company. This is exactly what Saab did. Saab was the quirky, special and unique car company from Trollhattan. Lets not forget that.
reed hastings

Netflixs key to finding international success might lie in moving beyond the English language.

In January, Netflix launched in over 130 new countries on the same day, bringing it to every major market except China. But there was a problem. Many of the new countries had a Netflix catalog that wasnt that useful to a big chunk of their citizens.

Why?

Analysts from UBS broke it down in a recent note: The [Netflix] content and website/app was mostly in English without local language subtitles or dubbing and [Netflix] generally accepted only international credit cards as payment.

These "skim" markets had performed poorly as a result, according to the analysts.

But this quarter Netflix made a big change in two of those markets: Poland and Turkey. In its Q2 earnings report, Netflix declared that it would roll out local language support for the pair of markets, and followed through on that promise in September.

For Turkey, Netflix has said that means over 80% of its content will be dubbed or subtitled in Turkish, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

This change has made a huge difference in Turkey and Poland, according to analysts at both UBS and Pacific Crest.

"In both markets the ranking of Netflix app downloads has catapulted in September," UBS wrote, using app downloads as a proxy for general interest and subscriber growth.

Here is the chart for Turkey from UBS:

image10

And for Poland:

image11

Pacific Crest looked at another proxy, Google Search volume, and found a similar trend. Here is the chart from Pacific Crest:

Screen Shot 2016 10 13 at 10.34.34 AM

This is certainly good news for Netflix and its investors, but how good?

"We would estimate the incremental change, should it sustain (we only have a couple weeks of data post the investment) could be on the order of +200-500k subs in 4Q16 vs. 3Q16," UBS wrote. "Further, these results suggest Netflix stands to benefit from other skim market conversions, though Turkey and Poland are among the largest skim markets (13m and 10m broadband homes resp.). India and Russia (24m and 27m) are the other large skim markets, with a very long tail of smaller markets thereafter."

Story continues

Netflix will report its quarterly earning on Monday, October 17.

NOW WATCH: The internet cant decide whether this purse is white or blue





More From Business Insider


     ""            ""    .             
Hezbollah leader: Sanaa massacre breaks scandal of Saudi regime





BEIRUT, Oct. 12 (Saba)  Secretary General of Lebanese Hezbollah party, Syed Hassan Nasrallah, said Saturday's massacre of Sanaa civilians constitutes a major scandal of Saudi regime.

"Bloodshed of Yemenis will drag Saudis backward in history and that the terrorism's ideology has been fed by the money of Saudis ..and Saturday's massacre of Sanaa civilians broke the Saudi regime scandal," Nasrallah said in a speech on the occasion of Ashora religious festival late on Tuesday.



"Where are the hundreds of billions of dollars? Where do you go to .. while you are unable to defend your positions on the border in front of barefoot Yemenis?," Nasrallah wondered.

"The only solution today is that the Saudi rulers should go back to their mind..if they have a friend to provide an advice that must be on stopping killing Yemenis or otherwise that blood will drag them into a black tunnel of the history," he said.



Nasrallah said that Saturday massacre against Sanaa civilians was a major scandal and that nobody can approve there was a military site near the funeral hall.

"Although, Saudi regime blocked wounded Yemenis from travel to receive treatment nor allowing medical aid to reach Sanaa," Nasrallah said.

"Saudis have committed a historical mistake when they involved in Yemen's war, when they thought they can decisively win in weeks," Nasrallah added.





MAM

SABA

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[12/October/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

The Prague hotel market has seen strong performance growth in 2010 and 2011 and results for the first four months of 2012 are promising with hotels posting an impressive 17.8% growth in Revenue-Per-Available Room (RevPAR) compared to the same period in 2011 according to STR Global.

Growth in performance, however, is primarily driven by a strong rise in occupancy rather than an increase in Average Daily Rates (ADR). Pragues occupancy was 62% in 2010, climbed to 67% in 2011 and in 2012 is anticipated to reach approximately 70%. Given the fierce competition in the Prague hotel market, the ADR has shown marginal growth and oscillates around 73 per night.

Currently, there are a total of 341 hotels in Prague, out of which 80% (269) are in the segment of three to five stars category and only 20% (72) in the economy/budget segment. Three-star hotels form a majority of the hotel stock in Prague, meaning 162 establishments and accounting for more than a third of the hotel properties in Prague.

In terms of hotel rooms, Prague offers 26,416 hotel rooms, out of which more than half are in the upscale four- and five-star hotel segment, says Karel Klecka who specializes in hotel valuation at Jones Lang LaSalle Prague.

In the first decade of the 21st century (2000  2010), the Prague hotel market experienced a tremendous amount of development. During this time, hotel supply in Prague increased by 7,000 rooms, most of them in the upscale segment.

In last couple of years, fierce competition and challenging hotel trading conditions curbed hotel development in the Czech capital. In 2011 there was no new hotel delivered to the Prague market. In 2012 it was only Fusion Hotel*** in Panska Street which has been already completed.

Pragues tourism industry is dominated by international visitors (80%). For hotels in the Czech regions, the visitor ratio is the opposite (80% Czechs, 20% international). As far as the Czech capital is concerned, Prague has been a popular tourist destination for Germans, Russians, Italians, British and Americans.

In 2011, bed nights from Italy and the UK declined by 2% and 14% respectively. In contrast bed nights from Germany, Russia and the US rose by 11%, 60% and 2%, compared to 2010.

Overall, the most dynamic growth was reported from emerging markets, primarily from Asia, with source markets such as China and South Korea posting double-digit growth rates in overnight stays. Other growing source markets are Brazil and Mexico.

Despite a growing number of foreigners visiting Prague, hotel rates see only minimal growth with the average level of 73 per night. Fierce competition in the market is keeping average room rates well below 2008 levels (by 30-40%). On the contrary, occupancy is steadily growing from 62% in 2010, through 67% in 2011 and to 70% expected in 2012, says Klecka.

The highest occupancy is usually recorded in spring/early summer and in autumn when a lot of festivals and international events take place in Prague and weather favors tourism.

There have been two hotel transactions (InterContinental***** and Mandarin Oriental*****) closed in Prague in 2010. This year Hotel Ibis*** in Prague Karlin has changed its owner (Quinn Group was the seller and pentahotels the buyer), adds Angus Wade, Executive Vice President at Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels in London.
By SA Commercial Prop News

Major infrastructural plans announced by President Jacob Zuma in the State of the Nation Address have been welcomed by business.

Business in particular welcomes the new infrastructural plans identified in the Presidential Infrastructure Coordinating Commission, and supports the decision to call a Presidential summit of investors and social partners, Business Unity South Africa (Busa) said.

The President delivered his fourth address at the opening of Parliament on Thursday evening.

The country will spend billions of rands over the coming years on new infrastructure, with the government to focus on building rail, road, and economic links in five regions in the country.

Busa expressed satisfaction that regional projects were identified together with national, provincial and local government programmes, adding that it looked forward to more details.

It is essential for new forms of partnership between state and the private sector to help ensure implementation and delivery, it said.

In his address, the President raised concern about the countrys rising electricity costs that affect the running of small and big business, and also communities at large.

It welcomed Zumas request that Eskom look at alternative ways of reducing its price increases. Business recommended that this be done in conjunction with the private sector.

The Presidents request was also welcomed by the South African Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Sacci). The chamber of commerce also welcomed the governments continued focus on reducing unemployment, while also noting that although 365 000 people were employed in 2011, the average target of 500 000 jobs per year was not achieved.

Standard Bank senior economist Thabi Leoka said although there were achievements in reducing the unemployment rate, around one million jobs were lost between 2008 and 2009. These jobs are yet to be recovered.

We estimate that in 2012 growth will be a mild 2.8%, she said.

Sacci also welcomed the announcement that investments worth R8.4 billion were approved as part of incentives under Section 12 (i) of the Income Tax Act, designed to support new industrial projects and manufacturing.

The chamber said it would have liked to see more on issues such as easing the plight of small business by reducing regulatory bottlenecks and red tape in order to reduce the cost of doing business, thereby stimulating job creation.

It also would have liked to hear improved crime and corruption prevention strategies.

Busa supported the need for economic transformation and was presently engaged in amending the Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment Act.

Meanwhile, the Food and Allied Workers Union (FAWU) described the Presidents address as frank about current challenges, especially the triple challenge of unemployment, poverty and inequality.

We particularly welcome job creation being the focus of the massive infrastructure roll-out on both the social infrastructure and economic infrastructure to lay the basis for sustained economic growth, said the union. - BuaNews
In the last 24 hours, India reported 1,326 new Covid-19 cases and eight cases, the Union Health Ministry said on Monday. ...


Several local companies successful in Best of the Best awards

business
NEW YORK (AP)  Stumping for Donald Trump in Ocala, Florida, on Wednesday, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani told a crowd that Hillary Clinton had falsely claimed to have been in New York on Sept. 11, 2001  an incorrect claim he took back a few hours later.

"I made a mistake. I'm wrong and I apologize," Giuliani told The Associated Press.

In Florida, addressing what he portrayed as Clinton's past remarks on the subject, Giuliani said: "Don't tell me, if you said that, that you remember Sept. 11, 2001. I remember Sept. 11, 2001. Yes, yes, you helped to get benefits for the people that were injured that day. But I heard her say one day she was there that day. I was there that day. I don't remember seeing Hillary Clinton there."

In fact, she wasn't in New York, but she never claimed to be, either.

On many occasions, Clinton has described being in Washington, D.C., on Sept. 11 when hijacked jets struck the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. She was a member of the Senate at the time, and Congress was in session.

The next day, commercial flights remained grounded but Clinton traveled to New York City aboard a government plane. There, she circled the smoldering World Trade Center in a helicopter, then toured ground zero with Giuliani and New York's Republican governor, George Pataki.

Photos of that tour show Clinton standing shoulder to shoulder with Giuliani.

Asked about his comments, Giuliani said he thought he had heard Clinton say during the last presidential debate that she was in New York on 9/11. But after being contacted by a reporter, he reviewed a transcript and found out he was wrong.

Told that he was being criticized online by people posting photographs of him with Clinton at ground zero, Giuliani was contrite.

"I probably deserve it," he said.

After returning to Washington, Clinton worked with other lawmakers to secure billions of dollars in federal aid for New York to assist in the city's recovery.

In his speech in Ocala, Giuliani questioned Clinton's commitment to people killed or injured in the attacks.

"Don't tell me you subscribe to the notion that all of us who lived through Sept. 11th and were lucky to be alive and have lost so many friends," he said. "I lost so many friends on Sept. 11th. I think about it every day. Don't tell me you belong to our very, very tight group of Never Forget!"
BERLIN (AP)  A 22-year-old Syrian man arrested in Germany for a suspected Islamic extremist bomb plot killed himself Wednesday in a prison cell in Leipzig, Saxony's state Justice Ministry said late Wednesday.

Justice Ministry spokesman Joerg Herold told The Associated Press that Jaber Albakr killed himself sometime in the evening, but that the incident was still being investigated.

The development was sure to add to pressure on Saxony state authorities, who already had been criticized for allowing Albakr to slip through their fingers as they prepared to raid an apartment where he had been staying in the city of Chemnitz on Saturday.

Albakr, who had been under surveillance by German domestic intelligence since last month, was observed exiting the apartment building and authorities fired a warning shot. He nevertheless was able to elude police on the scene and flee the city. Inside the apartment they found highly volatile explosives and a home-made bomb vest.

Albakr, who had been granted asylum after coming to Germany last year, was finally arrested Monday in the city Leipzig after three fellow Syrians tied him up and alerted police.

Earlier Wednesday, Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere said that Albakr had undergone a security check last year, but it did not turn up anything suspicious.

"There was a check against security authorities' data in 2015, but without any hits," he said. "It's not clear when he was radicalized."

German authorities have said they believe he had links to the Islamic State group and was thought to be planning to attack a Berlin airport, possibly as soon as this week.

German media have reported that after his initial arrival, Albakr later returned to Syria through Turkey and then came back to Germany. De Maiziere said that was part of the investigation and would not comment.

Federal prosecutors also refused comment.

The three Syrians who captured the suspect have already been granted asylum, de Maiziere said in response to calls for their applications to be fast-tracked due to their heroism.

He said, however, that their "behavior deserves praise and recognition."
In August this year, the mystery surrounding the discovery of a young girl found dead and floating at Utualii sent shockwaves across the nation.

Among the men who made the grisly discovery was 25-year-old Sam Taufao. He recalled that they were fishing when they saw something floating on the sea.

When we got closer, we discovered it was a body of a young girl already dead, he said.

The matter immediately became the subject of a Police investigation, with the findings later revealed in Court. In September, the Inquest started.

It was revealed then that the young girl was 14-years-old identified as Malagamatamalii Rosa Fautua. With Judge Vaepule Vaemoa Vaai presiding, six witnesses were called.

It was immediately established that Malagamatamalii stole a boat and took off towards the open ocean on the day of the incident.

A 64-year-old father, who was working on a machine on the beach that day, saw her heading off but did not think much of what was happening.

I thought her family owns the boat and she was having a swim, he said.

Another witness, Vitale Stowers, who was working around the bay, said he too saw the girl taking the boat by herself.

Stowers said before Malaga passed by, he saw another woman on a V1 canoe.

A woman was wearing a purple top and tights, she was rowing the V1 and I didnt see it return, Stowers said.

It was the last time Malaga was seen alive.

The girls body was later discovered by Mataafa Aileafi and his fishing crew at Utualii. Mataafa said when they saw the body; they brought her back to shore and reported the matter to the police at Afega.

Another witness, Pei Taliu Teo, discovered the boat at night just outside of the coast of Leulumoega.

We towed it back to the Apia fish market and notified our boss about he abandoned boat. Pei told the Police that when they found the boat floating at sea, the engine was still running. There was no one on it except for a black skirt.

Police Investigation Officer Constable Solialii Paitoleifi said the deceased paid an unexpected visit to her aunty at Matautu-Uta the day before she died.

Upon her arrival, her aunty and uncle were about leave for the hospital to see a family member who was having an operation at Motootua. The deceased was asked to go with them to the hospital.

Malagamatamalii and her aunty were not allowed to see the patient right away as he was already in the theatre. She was told to wait outside with the food they took. Less than half an hour later, she disappeared.

The deceaseds aunty looked everywhere  including their house at Matautu. She could not be found.

Solialii said around 10am; the girl was seen by one of the witnesses who was working on the beach at Vaisigano. She was apparently walking around the seawall before she took off her skirt, used it to cover her head and only wore green shorts and a white t-shirt when she took the boat.

Those were the clothes she was wearing when her body was discovered on the next day. Solialiii said the girl was alone when she took off in the boat.

That was in September.

Fast forward to this week; the Coroner has now delivered his decision ruling that the girl died from drowning.

Judge Vaepules decision was apparently based on the report from the Police Investigation Officer and the Pathologist who both concluded that the girl died from drowning.

It is suspected that the girl fell off the boat and drowned on the day she took off in a boat before her body was discovered by some fisherman at Utualii, Judge Vaepule said, ruling out foul play.

Okay. Fair enough.

A young girl alone in the open water would obviously struggle to survive. And drowning is probably the most logical conclusion.

But there is something eerily odd about this case that has never been delved into.

Folks, here we had a 14-year-old girl, barely a teenager who simply walked onto a boat, starts its engine and takes off into the open ocean. Why would a girl so young do such a thing? How did she learn to do that? How did she know which boat to pick? Most importantly, where was she heading?

This case deserves a lot more attention than it has been given.

It is not normal for a 14-year-old girl to steal a boat and head off on her own.

Something doesnt sound right about the events of this particular day and the Police should not be resting until they make sense of it. It sure doesnt make sense to us. What do you think?

Have a safe Friday Samoa, God bless!
Dear Editor,

Re: U.S Presidential election

This election, if nothing else, is really showing up how the media is manipulated in the U.S., and how stupid the public really can be.

What is clear is that the public would far rather engage in juvenile egg-throwing at a made-up candidate due to his sexist (Im not fashionable enough to use Greek words like misogynist in place of plain old English ones) views and behavior.

Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia, the most sexist nation on earth is massacring civilians (including many women and girls) in Yemen with weapons America and Britain sold to them; the Democratic nominee having served as an agent for the former.

But do we hear anything about this from the press or public?

Mustafa Kemal
Samoan made Talofa (Frozen) taro and puou breadfruit has secured a foothold in Sydney Australia with the first commercial trial shipment to Down Under hailed as a huge success, by the man responsible and private exporter, Sua Tanielu Sua.

The 10,000 kilos of frozen taro sold like hot cup cakes after it was launched a few weeks ago from our Sydney distribution outlet, said Sua, after returning from Sydney where the Talofa brand was launched.

The event was attended by the Minister of Agriculture Laaulialemalietoa Leuatea Schmidt.

And not so surprisingly, new distributors have expressed interests to sell our Samoa made frozen taro, said Sua. Based on positive sales reports, a second shipment schedule to arrive in Sydney in early November will increase to two-20 foot containers or over 20,000 kilos of taro, breadfruit, ufi and taamu.

With the Ministers endorsement, S.R.O.S, (Scientific Research Organisation of Samoa) is also helping with the technology to develop the Talofa Brand for frozen, taamu and ufi targeting our new found clients in Sydney.

The new Samoa Made frozen added value agro products will be on the November consignment for Sydney.

Sua added for the next shipment to date they have paid over $5,000 to families for puou at $1 per breadfruit not including thousands for taro as all taro varieties can be exported frozen.

The Samoa Tradition Farmers and Growers, Gagaifo Lefaga are also on board and one of main taro suppliers.

Its money paid directly to families and farmers and the reception is positive to say the least.

The exercise, added the private exporter has opened the gateway for exports as well as a new source of income for our local farmers.

Exporting frozen agro-products opens up another market for our growing number of Samoan farmers The frozen concept will also lead to bigger markets apart from Australia and New Zealand because it bypasses stringent bio-security hurdles.

In Sydney, our competition includes Tonga, Fiji, Taiwan and even China.

And despite the competiveness nature in the frozen agro market, I am very thankful to see our Samoan community coming out on full force to buy Samoa Made frozen agro-products.

Complimented Agriculture Minister Laaulialemalietoa;

The venture would not have been possible if it wasnt for Suas vision and his bold move to take the financial risk to test the waters.

Its entrepreneurs like Sua that government wants because his business ingenuity will translate to a new source of income for taro farmers, increase the countrys export revenues and Gross Domestic Product.

The frozen technology is also setting a new pathway for our talo exports because it allows all talo varieties to be shipped overseas.

Not only is the frozen technology opening the gateway for all of Samoas talo varieties as export commodities, it is also more economical for our Samoan talo planters in terms of replanting.

To that end, the message from government to our farmers is simple. We are opening up the export market for your benefit and farmers must do their part by working the land to take advantage of our new markets.

The benefits for our farmers are astronomical.

The ultimate goal is to expand to Brisbane and Melbourne.
New Zealand-based lawyer, Satiu Simativa Perese, will prosecute the suspended Director of the National Prosecution Office, Mauga Precious Chang.

This was confirmed by the Attorney General, Lemalu Herman Retzlaff, yesterday.

Mauga has pleaded not guilty to charges of negligent driving causing injury and dangerous driving, for which she has been suspended. She is represented by former Attorney General, Aumua Ming Leung Wai in a hearing that has yet to begin due to the conflict of who would be prosecutor.

The conflict between the Attorney Generals Office and the National Prosecution Office (N.P.O) over who would prosecute Mauga emerged when the matter was called in the District Court before Judge Vaepule Vaemoa Vaai and two prosecutors showed up.

One was former Attorney General, Taulapapa Brenda Heather-Latu and the other was Satiu, who was in the country based on instructions from the Office of the Attorney General.

The conflict was referred to the Supreme Court for a decision but when the matter was called, the Court was informed that the parties had agreed to settle the matter.

Yesterday, Lemalu said local barristers approached to do the job had declared conflicts of interest, declining to take up the role.

Therefore given the work already done and to remove all risks of local conflicts in this case, the decision is that it will remain with Satiu Simativa Perese, said the Attorney General.

Lemalu also confirmed they will engage an independent prosecutor for the case against the suspended Police Commissioner, Fuiavailili Egon Keil.

The prosecutor will be confirmed soon.
Its official. More than 700 employees of the countrys biggest employer in the private sector will soon find themselves without jobs following the announcement that Yazaki Eds Samoa is set to be officially shut by the end of 2017. Y.E.S. Branding Division Manager in Japan, Yoko Yamada, said the closure is due to the car manufacturing industry in Australia winding down. What are your thoughts? What do you think Samoa should do? Ilia L. Likou asked in todays Street Talk and this is what people said:

Amosa Polima, 33, Mulifanua.

This is a really sad news for our country especially the employees at Yazaki Samoa. Many families are relying on these employees for financial support but it looks like theres no hope for many of them now. The only hope is for the government to step in and help. Maybe they should cut down their million tala salaries to help many of the employees and their poor families.

Taisi Ioane, 30, Aele

What a sad time for Samoa. Many of the hardworking employees at Yazaki Samoa live away from their villages simply to earn a living for their families for many years. Now, theyre going to lose their jobs by the end of this year or the beginning of 2017. How are they going to survive? The government leadership should stop hiding their faces but do something to help these families. People are struggling every day.

Peteru Saumaseava, 52, Fasitoo-Uta

When I heard the news this morning, I became very concerned for the future of Samoa. This isnt a good sign for the government after the General Election this year. The government should step in at this time and look for job opportunities for Yazaki employees. The rate of unemployment in Samoa is already high. I wonder what tomorrow will bring. God help us.

Mao Lesao, 42, Lotopa

I think the government should come up with a package to help these families. They should pay more attention to creating employment opportunities for these people to take up. This is a step backwards for Samoa.

Folasaitu Leussogi, 53, Fasitoo-Uta

Life is hard enough these days because of the high cost of living. The closure of Yazaki Samoa will add to the high rate of unemployment in Samoa. Im not too sure about the kind of future that many of our children will have tomorrow. The best thing that these employees can do is to look for other jobs as soon as possible. Dont wait for the government. Theyve obviously proven they cannot do anything.




John Stumpf resigned Wednesday as chairman and chief executive of Wells Fargo & Co., bowing to mounting criticism from lawmakers and others who said he should lose his job over revelations that bank employees created as many as 2 million accounts without customer authorization.

The wrongdoing by the San Francisco bank was exposed by a Los Angeles Times investigation and led to an $185-million settlement with regulators last month, sparking the biggest banking scandal since the financial crisis and renewing calls for a breakup of the nations biggest banks.

Stumpf, 63, had been chief executive since 2007 and chairman of Wells Fargos board since 2010.

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Timothy J. Sloan, 56, a longtime Wells Fargo executive who was named president of the company last year, immediately replaced Stumpf as chief executive, the bank said.

Stumpf is not set to receive any severance, according to public filings. However, he still will retain more than $100 million in vested stock, plus accumulated pension and 401(k) benefits exceeding $24 million, according to the filings.

I am grateful for the opportunity to have led Wells Fargo, Stumpf said in a statement. While I have been deeply committed and focused on managing the company through this period, I have decided it is best for the company that I step aside. I know no better individual to lead this company forward than Tim Sloan.

This week, the bank signaled that Sloan was in line to succeed Stumpf, announcing several management changes, including naming a new head of its wholesale banking unit, which Sloan had previously led.

Sloan will not inherit the companys chairmanship. That role will go to former General Mills executive Stephen Sanger, now the companys lead independent director. Critics of the bank had called not only for Stumpfs resignation but for the bank to separate the CEO and chairman roles.

In after-hours trading, investors reacted positively to the news, sending shares up 1.65% to $46.07. Shares had been off nearly 9% since the day before the $185-million settlement was disclosed last month.

In an interview with The Times on Wednesday, Sloan said it is a privilege to take over as CEO, though he acknowledged that he is taking over at a difficult time.

Our reputation has been impacted by some of the mistakes we made in our retail banking business, said Sloan, who has been with the bank for 29 years. Well regain our customers trust and continue to grow.

He said hes not sure how long that will take. I wish it could be a week from now, he said, adding that it will more likely be a process that takes at least months if not years.

In an earlier interview on CBNC, Sloan said the last five weeks have tainted the banks reputation. But regulators say bad practices at the bank went on for years.

Sloan told The Times he was not trying to minimize the scope of the scandal.

I dont mean to downplay that at all, he said. I dont mean to minimize the impact. But the changes weve made, I think, are working.

Sloan also said that Stumpf was not pushed out. The Wall Street Journal and New York Times reported that he submitted his resignation in a brief and unexpected letter to the board Wednesday, just two days before a quarterly earnings call Stumpf was expected to lead.

This was a decision made by John Stumpf, Sloan said. He wasnt fired, he wasnt asked to leave. He decided it was in the best interest of the company to retire.

Sloan, who lives in San Marino but also owns a residence in San Francisco, said he plans to continue to split his time between the two.

Though the banks critics had called for Stumpf to resign weeks ago, Wednesdays announcement did little to satisfy them. In fact, some immediately raised questions about Sloans possible connection to the scandal.

Mr. Stumpfs retirement does nothing to answer the many questions that remain, said Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), who harshly criticized Stumpf last month at a meeting the Senate Banking Committee held on the Wells Fargo scandal.

We are still waiting for answers as to how Wells Fargo plans to right its wrongs against customers and the low-paid employees who werent given the benefit of a retirement package when they were fired for refusing to cheat, he said.

Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Los Angeles), called it more than appropriate that Stumpf retire given his direct responsibility for failing to stop fraudulent activity at the bank. But she questioned whether Sloan was the right person to replace him.

I remain concerned that incoming CEO Tim Sloan is also culpable in the recent scandal, serving in a central role in the chain of command that ought to have stopped this misconduct from happening. Indeed, as recently as June of this year, Mr. Sloan was telling the news media that Wells Fargos aggressive cross-selling strategies were fundamentally sound and didnt need to change, she said in a statement.

Paulina Gonzalez, executive director of banking advocacy group California Reinvestment Coalition, said she wants to ensure there are criminal investigations for anybody involved in the scandal and also questioned Sloans appointment given his tenure at the bank.

Carrie Tolstedt, the community banking executive who ran the division where much of the unauthorized accounts activity took place, reported to Sloan after he was named president last year.

We have a lot of questions for Mr. Sloan, Gonzalez said. He was there for the entirety of the accounts scandal.

Stumpf had said he intended to stay at his post, telling members of the House Financial Services Committee investigating the matter on Sept. 29 that he was accountable for leading Wells Fargo as the company restores the trust of customers, team members and investors.

However, the ballooning scandal sparked a bevy of civil lawsuits, investigations by the Justice Department and calls for an industrywide probe into whether other banks might be pushing workers to open unauthorized accounts.

In retrospect, the beginning of the end for Stumpf came Sept. 8, the day the $185-million settlement with federal regulators and the Los Angeles city attorneys office, which had been investigating the banks sales practices, was announced.

L.A. City Atty. Mike Feuer filed a lawsuit against the bank last year after starting an investigation prompted by the 2013 Times article. His legal action drew the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency into the probe.

Their investigation and an internal Wells Fargo review found that, since 2011, the bank had fired 5,300 workers for creating as many as 1.5 million checking and savings accounts, and more than 500,000 credit card accounts, without customers permission.

Regulators said workers created those accounts as they tried to meet unrealistic sales goals that required workers to open a daily quota of new accounts.

Workers used personal information from existing customers to open new accounts, sometimes creating fake PINs, forging signatures and transferring customers money into unauthorized accounts to make them appear legitimate.

The direct effect on consumers so far appears to be relatively small. The bank last month said it has already refunded about $25 on average to 100,000 customers to compensate for unauthorized fees and has set aside a total of $5 million for payouts. But some customers have complained unauthorized credit cards might have lowered their credit scores and raised their borrowing costs.

More broadly, the revelations have damaged consumer trust in the financial system, prompting some Republican lawmakers to tell Stumpf during the House hearing last month that he had strengthened the case for stricter financial regulation.

The damage you have done to the market, to your industry, far exceeds the damage to your own business, Rep. Mick Mulvaney (R-S.C.) told Stumpf during the blistering Sept. 29 hearing of the Financial Services Committee. Yall were rotten.

Stumpf, during his appearance before the Senate Banking Committee, faced an unending stream of critical questions, many of which he did not or could not answer to lawmakers liking.

Lawmakers particularly lambasted Stumpf for blaming dishonest workers rather than aggressive sales quotas for the creation of unauthorized accounts. The bank said most of the 5,300 workers who lost their jobs were low-level branch employees, though some managers also were let go.

He apologized and said he was accountable for the banks problems, but lawmakers in both houses repeatedly said that true accountability would require his firing or resignation.

The bank gradually made some concessions, pledging to end its sales-quota system and, later, clawing back some stock awards and other compensation owed to Stumpf and Tolstedt.

Stumpf lost about $41 million in unvested stock awards and eligibility for an annual bonus, which has totaled $4 million for several years, though that still left him with his large vested stock, pension and 401(k) benefits.

Tolstedt, 56, will give up $19 million in stock awards and could lose more than $30 million in stock options pending the results of an internal investigation. However, more than $40 million in vested stock awards and options are hers to keep.

Tolstedt, who had announced her retirement this summer effective at the end of the year, stepped down Sept. 27 as the scandal intensified.

The board also said it had started its own internal investigation that could lead to other executives losing pay or otherwise being punished.

Stumpf had appeared a perfect match for an institution much more focused on plain-vanilla banking and less on investment banking and trading than peers such as Bank of America, Citibank and JPMorgan Chase.

He did not come from a Wall Street background or have an Ivy League pedigree. He grew up on a dairy farm outside tiny Pierz, Minn., and earned degrees from St. Cloud State University and the University of Minnesota.

Stumpf started his banking career in 1982 at Norwest Corp., a Minneapolis bank that in 1998 merged with Wells Fargo. He oversaw a handful of regional operations for Wells Fargo before being promoted to a top post in 2002 as head of the community banking division.

Times staff writer Jim Puzzanghera contributed to this report.

james.koren@latimes.com

Twitter: @jrkoren

UPDATES:

3:40 p.m.: This article was updated with comments from Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) and Paulina Gonzalez, executive director of banking advocacy group California Reinvestment Coalition.

3:10 p.m.: This article was updated with the after-hours stock price.

2:50 p.m.: This article was updated with quotes from retiring CEO John Stumpf and new CEO Timothy Sloan, as well as information about Stumpfs severance and retirement package.

2:25 p.m.: This article was updated with extensive background on the Wells Fargo scandal.

This article was originally published at 2:15 p.m.
Three East County cities have a new fire chief, a native San Diegan who is leaving the San Diego Fire Department after 28 years.

Colin Stowell has been named head of Heartland Fire & Rescue, which oversees fire services for El Cajon, La Mesa and Lemon Grove in a joint powers agreement.

City managers Doug Williford of El Cajon, Yvonne Garrett of La Mesa and Lydia Romero of Lemon Grove made the announcement that Stowell will begin his new job Nov. 7.

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Stowell replaces Chief Rick Sitta, who retired in August. The starting salary will be $175,302.

Stowell, 49, is leaving his job as assistant fire chief. He was promoted to the post last year, having started with the San Diego department in 1988.

He expects to spend the first several months of the job absorbing the culture of Heartland and developing good working relationships with Williford, Garrett and Romero.

Im going from, in fact, one boss, to three bosses, three City Councils, Stowell said. Those are certainly challenges, but I welcome them.

Their (joint powers) structure shows progressive management. I really like the fact that their department is open to thinking outside of the box for fire protection services.

Stowell most recently oversaw the Emergency Operations Division, which includes 48 fire stations and 845 sworn personnel. He was also in charge of the training division, special operations (including hazardous materials, bomb squad and air operations), lifeguards and emergency medical services.

Stowell earned a bachelors degree in public administration from San Diego State University and a certificate in fire protection administration. He obtained an associates degree in fire science at Miramar College. He graduated from Mira Mesa High in 1985.

There is some anxiety there, starting new again, leaving a department that I know the ins and outs of, Stowell said. To get answers I might need, and not know who to call is a little intimidating.

But ever since the 2007 and 2003 fires, we recognize that we are all in the same business, that jurisdictional boundaries in fire services dont exist.
Mineral water from Carlsbad wells that made the region famous in the late 1800s is experiencing a new surge of popularity, flooding onto store shelves throughout the state.

The historic wells, drilled in 1882, launched two luxury hotels and a nationwide bottled-water business that thrived for decades. But the wells were shut down and largely forgotten during the Great Depression of the 1930s.

The business re-emerged with a trickle in the 1990s and, for the past two years, the Carlsbad Alkaline Water Co. has seen a tsunami of new customers, fueled in part by the popularity of specialty waters nationwide.

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We are so busy we cant serve everybody, said owner Ludvik Grigoras. We are turning people down.

He and his wife, Veronica, bought the small lot at the corner of Carlsbad Boulevard and Christiansen Avenue in 1993. At time the three-story building, a local landmark known as Alt Karlsbad, contained real estate offices and a gift shop.

It took us three years to restore it, Grigoras said.

We worked from sun-up to 2 or 3 in the morning, Veronica Grigoras said.

Once the pair re-drilled the wells and remodeled the building, they opened a day spa that still offers facials, massages, mineral baths and other treatments using the water, and a popular delivery service lugging 5-gallon bottles of the water to a few area businesses and restaurants. And for years now people have lined up along Christiansen Avenue outside the building to fill their jugs from the self-service water dispensers.

But the business added a new dimension last year when the Grigorases began selling 1-liter bottles of their Carlsbad Alkaline Water in Costco stores across San Diego County.

Initially the bottled water was sold in 20 Costcos and a few other stores, Grigoras said. However, the water sold so fast they had to reduce the distribution to 14 stores and put the rest on a waiting list as the company ramps up production.

Theres plenty of water, he said, but its difficult to package enough of it to meet the increasing demand. He plans to start shipping to several Costcos in Orange County later this month, and to more than 50 in Northern California next year.

Were struggling to get enough corrugated paper to make all the boxes, Grigoras said.

The center of operations is the Alt Karlsbad building, a replica of a 650-year-old structure in Germany, that sits along Carlsbad Boulevard, the citys stretch of historic Highway 101. The three-story building was constructed in 1964 by former property owners Kay and Chris Christiansen, who used it as a real estate office and gift shop.The site now includes four tall, stainless-steel storage tanks and a 13-foot-tall statue of the propertys original owner John Frazier.

When Frazier dug the wells, the town had about 300 residents. The water he tapped quickly acquired a reputation for therapeutic health benefits and, in the late 1880s he and other investors built a four-story Victorian hotel on the site that attracted guests from across the country.

There are still three wells of varying depths on the property, but the alkaline water is drawn from a single well, 510 feet deep, thats fed by an artesian spring that flows from an aquifer 1,700 feet deep, Grigoras said.

The water emerges from the ground at a temperature of 80 degrees and several analyses show its 9,500 years old and originates in the Cleveland National Forest, he said. Its tested daily by employees and weekly by an inspector from the federal Food and Drug Administration.

Scientific opinions are mixed on its health benefits. Proponents say it can neutralize acid in the bloodstream, boost metabolism and help the body absorb nutrients, however the Mayo Clinic and other health organizations say further study is needed to verify those claims.

For many customers, its about the taste, which is often described as cleaner and fresher than bottled or tap water.

I dont drink anything else, said Genie Ireland of Carlsbad. Shes been buying the alkaline water since she was pregnant three years ago and a friend recommended it.

Brent Borgquist of Laguna Nigel said he drove to Carlsbad to buy the water for his wife, whos expecting their third child and swears by it.

She says it helps her with her nausea, and shes never felt better, Borgquist said.

Grigoras said people come from all over Southern California to buy the water, and he knows of some who come from Arizona and Nevada to fill their 5-gallon bottles.

Hed considered selling 1-liter bottles in stores before, but there just wasnt room to produce them in the tight quarters of their basement, he said. They did fill a few small bottles for places such as the Golden Door spa in Escondido and the Chopra Center in La Costa.

We would fill it by hand, label it by hand, he said. It was like Mrs. Fields cookies. We could only do a few cases a day.

However, Costco helped him develop a plan to pump the water into a food-grade tanker in Carlsbad and truck it to a bottling facility in Ramona  the Famous Ramona Water Co.  that bottles several brands of water under contract. Costco also helped with other details of production, right down to the design of the label.

Grigoras is uniquely qualified to run the water business.

A former instrumentation engineer, he was living in Orange County in the 1990s when he became acquainted with the Christiansens. They had been trying to restore the Carlsbad wells for years without success when they sold the property to Grigoras.

Grigoras was born in Carlsbads sister city of Karlovy Vary, in the Czech Republic. The name Karlovy Vary is Carlsbad in the Czech language, and the town has been known for centuries for its therapeutic warm-water springs. Soon after Frazier drilled his wells in California, he had the water tested and it proved similar to water from the famous well of Karlovy Vary, which in the late 1800s was known as Karlsbad, in what was then the country of Bohemia.

Fraziers initial mineral water boom was short-lived. An economic downturn hit San Diego County hard in the 1890s and a fire, suspected to be arson, destroyed his Carlsbad Hotel in 1895.

The spa theme lived on though, and eventually spawned the Carlsbad Mineral Springs Hotel, which opened in 1929 nearby on Carlsbad Boulevard. Today the structure, rebuilt in the 1990s, is the Carlsbad-by-the-Sea retirement home.

With the renewal of the mineral waters popularity, Grigoras said, there are plans for a new multi-story resort and spa called The Source to be built on the vacant property just east of his 7,000 square foot lot. The couple has turned the basement of their three-story building into a water production facility, the first floor into the day spa, and the second and third floors into a home where they live part time.

Twitter: @phildiehl
Well, Shakespeare, hes in the alley

Speaking to some French girl

Who says she knows me well

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He was the kid on the coffee house stage growling out songs from behind a guitar that seemed to weigh more than he did. He spoke of the gamblin man, the thin man, but T.S. Eliot too in songs that honored the roads full of the mud and the chimes of freedom flashing. He was the rebel, the healer, the bard in blue jeans and over-sized shades who sang a generation through war and peace, past the perils of unrest and self-complacency; every time we thought we had him pegged, he tried something new.

For decades, many have considered Bob Dylan the great American poet, and now it is official: On Thursday, he became the first musician to be awarded the Nobel Prize in literature.

Since 1901, the prize has served as the pinnacle of literary achievement. Awarded for a lifetime body of work, it has gone to novelists, poets and playwrights such as Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Saul Bellow, Samuel Beckett, William Faulkner and Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. The last American to receive the prize was Toni Morrison, in 1993.

And now Dylan has entered that pantheon, shoving against the boundaries of the definition of literature just as he pushed past so many borders in music.

Indeed, the Swedish Academy awarded him the prize for having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition.

For many, the announcement was simple affirmation  Bob Dylan has been considered by many to be a, if not the, preeminent modern American poet; his songs are taught as poetry at colleges around the country.

Salman Rushdie tweeted, From Orpheus to Faiz, song & poetry have been closely linked. Dylan is the brilliant inheritor of the bardic tradition. Great choice. #Nobel.

For others it was a questionable choice, an encroachment by popular culture into one of the few arenas that still proudly considers itself elite.

Look, Bob Dylan isnt for me, but I get hes a great artist. But the Nobel might as well have given the prize to your dads fave dorm poster, tweeted comedian John Hodgman.  But theres only one Nobel, and so many authors and poets who havent a millionth of Dylans profile/validation.

For members of either camp, it was a bold and surprising choice; when his name was announced at the Swedish Academy, a murmur of surprise went around the room.

Dylan released no public comment Thursday on the award. He was scheduled to perform at the Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas.

The artist, who lives in Malibu and is playing at Desert Trip in Indio this weekend, has been part of the Nobel conversation for years  in 2011 he first appeared on the betting site Landbrokes, and was in fact in eighth place on the site this year. (The Swedish Academy does not release official lists of finalists.)

1 / 18 Bob Dylans lengthy career is difficult to sum up. The restless and prolific innovator has sold more than 100 million albums, won Grammys, Golden Globes and Oscars and is in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Check out highlights of his legendary life. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) 2 / 18 Political folk singer Joan Baez was a highly influential collaborator with Dylan in his early career. Theyre pictured performing during the March on Washington civil rights rally on Aug. 28, 1963. (Rowland Scherman / Getty Images) 3 / 18 After recovering from a near-fatal 1966 motorcycle crash, Dylan regrouped, playing with a backing band soon to be known as the Band. Eschewing touring, they instead recorded dozens of songs in widely bootlegged sessions later known as The Basement Tapes. They are shown performing Jan. 20, 1968, in New York Citys Carnegie Hall. (Michael Ochs Archives / Getty Images) 4 / 18 Bob Dylan appears in a film still for Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid (for which he also did the soundtrack) which was released in May 1973 and filmed in Durango, Mexico. (Michael Ochs Archives / Getty Images) 5 / 18 In 1988, Dylan was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. After the ceremony, he performed with the Rolling Stones Mick Jagger, right. (Vince Compagnone / Los Angeles Times) 6 / 18 Bob Dylan performs at the John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia during the first international live aid concert against hunger in Africa on July 13, 1985. (Micelotta Frank / AFP/Getty Images) 7 / 18 In 1994, Dylan performed at the 25th anniversary of Woodstock in upstate New York. He had rejected an invitation to play at the original 1969 fest, choosing instead to appear at the Isle of Wight festival in England on Aug. 31, 1969. (Gary Friedman / Los Angeles Times) 8 / 18 Dylan performed one of his best-known songs, Knockin on Heavens Door in front of Pope John Paul II in Bologna, Italy on Sept. 27, 1997, before an estimated crowd of 300,000 (Luca Bruno / AP) 9 / 18 While performing the song Love Sick at the 1998 Grammys, Dylan was interrupted by performance artist Michael Portnoy, with the words Soy Bomb painted on his chest. (Mark Lennihan / AP) 10 / 18 Dylan has been married twice and has six children. His son Jakob Dylan, center, is the lead singer for the rock band the Wallflowers and a solo artist. (Patrick Downs / Los Angeles Times) 11 / 18 In 2002, Dylan returned to the Newport Folk Festival for the first time since 1965, when he had famously shocked fans by strapping on an electric guitar. (Michael Dwyer / AP) 12 / 18 In 2006, director Todd Haynes released the film Im Not There, in which different actors -- including Richard Gere, Heath Ledger, Christian Bale and Cate Blanchett, pictured -- play incarnations of Dylan at various phases of his public and private life. (Jonathan Wenk / AP) 13 / 18 Willie Nelson, right, and Dylan performed together at Willie Nelson and Friends Outlaws and Angels concert at the Wiltern in Los Angeles on May 5, 2004. (Lori Shepler / Los Angeles Times) 14 / 18 President Barack Obama, background, presents the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Bob Dylan on May 29, 2012. (Mandel Ngan / AFP/Getty Images) 15 / 18 Dylan -- seen at Les Vieilles Charrues Festival in Carhaix, France, in December 2013 -- continues to perform on whats been dubbed The Never Ending Tour. (David Vincent / AP) 16 / 18 Among the many recent tributes inspired by Dylan was 2014s album Lost on the River: The New Basement Tapes. Participants included Jim James, left, Rhiannon Giddens, Marcus Mumford, Taylor Goldsmith and Elvis Costello. (Drew Gurian / Invision / AP) 17 / 18 (Frazer Harrison / Getty Images) Dylan was honored at the MusiCares 2015 Person of the Year Gala on Feb. 6, 2015, where he delivered a lengthy speech about songwriting and musical inspiration. 18 / 18 People look at books by Bob Dylan who was announced the laureate of the 2016 Nobel Prize in Literature at the Swedish Academy in Stockholm, Sweden, on Oct. 13, 2016. (Jonathan Nackstrand / AFP/Getty Images)

But literary watchers have never considered him a serious contender. In fact the first English-language question Sara Danius, permanent secretary of the Swedish Academy, was asked ended bluntly with: Does he really deserve the prize?

Of course he does, he just got it. He is a great poet, Danius replied. She linked Dylans work to the ancient oral tradition, citing Homer and Sappho, who wrote poetic texts that were meant to be listened to, meant to be performed, often together with instruments. Its the same way with Bob Dylan.

Still, its a shock that a musician cited for his lyrics and music has won the worlds most important literature prize. The Nobel has previously been confined to writers working in text alone  poetry, prose and plays.

But the prize also usually goes to a writer well into a long career whose work often reflects a social conscience.

In that, Dylan fits.

He made you think, said Robert Hilburn by phone Thursday. Hilburn, who has attended many Dylan performances, also had many sit-down interviews with the musician during his career as a music critic at the Los Angeles Times. He was talking about life, politics, civil rights  he made music the equivalent of books.

VIEW MORE: 2016 Nobel Prize Winners 

Look at all the great writers. When you talk about words having an effect on people around the world for generations  his words make us dream, they inspire us, they comfort us, they exhilarate us. You could have given him this prize 20 years ago for the cultural revolution he created with just words.

Bob Dylan was born Robert Allen Zimmerman in Minnesota in 1941. His story  by now well known  includes traveling to New York, giving himself a new name, and embarking on a career in folk music.

He played in coffee houses and clubs in Greenwich Village, infusing the great American longing of Woody Guthrie with the more modern concerns of his generation  war, civil rights, sexual repression  stretching the traditional ballad deep and wide with street-level observation and stream-of-conciousness.

Early songs, including The Times They Are a-Changin, Blowing in the Wind and Like a Rolling Stone, became, and remain, anthems for the 1960s counterculture, and Dylan himself, a waif with a voice that redefined raw, became an icon of an iconic times; his steadfast refusal to accept the title voice of a generation only cemented his image as such.

As the Vietnam War raged, so did he, taking on what many considered a hypocritical government.

You that build all the bombs/ You that hide behind walls/ You that hide behind desks/ I just want you to know/ I can see through your masks.

 A brief look at the catalog of Bob Dylan.

Quickly embraced by other artists, he also became something of a national bard. Artists as diverse as the Byrds, Peter, Paul and Mary, and Joan Baez began covering his songs. Jimi Hendrix covered All Along the Watchtower. In 1965 Odetta, whom Dylan praised as an influence, put out a whole album of Dylan songs.

As the times changed, so did he; though originally based in folk, he reshaped the perimeters of rock when he infamously went electric at the Newport Folk Festival in 1965. Bolstered by a trio of era-defining albums  Highway 61 Revisited, Blonde on Blonde and Bringing It All Back Home  he gave rise to the singer-songwriters movement that would also produce Joni Mitchell, Neil Young and James Taylor, poets all, to a greater or lesser extent.

Though his influence extended through generations, Dylan has, at points during his career, been criticized for borrowing from other artists, but that understanding of the literary continuum is precisely what the Nobel committee cited: his ability to re-use and adapt folk traditions to create new art.

In 1978, Dylan told The Times, My music comes from two places: white hillbilly music  Roscoe Holcomb, stuff like that  and black blues  people like Son House, Charley Patton, Robert Johnson. These are the two elements Ive always related to best, even now, Dylan told Hilburn in 1978. Then, all of a sudden in the 60s, I heard Woody Guthrie, which just blew my mind  what he did with a lyric. So I stopped everything and learned his songs.

Thats what kept me going. I wanted to see how far I could take those elements, how well I could blend them together. Sometimes my music has gone a little to one side, but Im always headed in the same direction.

carolyn.kellogg@latimes.com

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Bob Dylan, interpreter: Seven of the artists greatest covers

Celebrating Dylans late career work, when he started getting obsessed with death

Hes a historical magician: Two professors on why Bob Dylan deserves the Nobel Prize

Nobel Prize winner Bob Dylan on life, love, idiots, war mongers, religion, self-esteem, desire, fashion and insufferable people

UPDATES:

6:15 p.m.: This story has been updated with new quotes and information.

5:30 a.m.: This story has been updated with archived interview excerpts.

5:05 a.m.: This story has been updated with background about Bob Dylans books.

4:40 a.m.: This story has been updated with additional reaction and background.

This story was originally posted at 4:05 a.m.
Though the city prides itself on its progressive values, San Franciscos Police Department has found itself engulfed in the same outrage over brutality and racial bias that has swept other cities from Baltimore to El Cajon.

A six-month study by the U.S. Justice Department released Wednesday found that the department disproportionately used force on people of color, and stopped and searched them more often than it did white people.

Federal officials reviewed 548 use-of-force cases between May 2013 and May 2016, finding 37% of the people whom city police used force against were African American, a larger percentage than for any other ethnic group. Nine of the 11 people who were killed during use-of-force incidents in that time frame were people of color.

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Mayor Ed Lee requested the report after Mario Woods, a black man suspected of assault, was shot at least 21 times by police in 2015 while holding a knife.

Federal officials made 272 separate recommendations for reform in the report, including better training with batons to non-fatally subdue suspects with knives.

The study found that the department did not properly investigate officer use-of-force incidents, does not keep complete and consistent officer-involved shooting files, and generally had outdated information technology systems and tools to identify patterns of misconduct. Instead of submitting information to a searchable digital database, San Francisco police officers write their use-of-force reports in paper logs.

Federal investigators also discovered that while black and Latino drivers were more likely to be pulled over than white drivers, they were less likely to be found with contraband.

Other key findings: The department was not transparent about officer discipline, completing only one investigation into the deadly use of force during the three-year period  and an analysis of 500 use-of-force incidents showed city police officers properly categorized the type of force used on only five occasions.

Lee praised the report during a Wednesday morning news conference, calling it the first step toward an improved and more inclusive department.

Im proud to report that the San Francisco Police Department will accept and implement every single recommendation, he said. We must restore trust, and these measures are important steps forward.

John Burris, the attorney representing Woods relatives, said the report could mark a turning point for a law enforcement agency that has been resistant to reform.

Despite this notion of San Francisco being a modern place, this department is anything but modern, Burris said.

The report, he said, sort of opened the department, opened its guts up if you will, and much of what they opened up was not a pretty sight to see.

Ronald Davis, director of the Department of Justices Community Oriented Policing Services department, which conducted the report, said in a statement that it makes clear the significant challenges that lie ahead for the Police Department and the city.

More than 90 findings outlined in the report reflect key operational deficiencies in the Police Department, he continued.

The report comes as the Police Department grapples with two incidents in which at least 17 officers were found to have sent racist texts of such extreme bias that the police chief questioned whether they could serve on the force.

In April, defense attorneys revealed that three San Francisco officers used the N-word to refer to black people, rag heads to refer to people of Middle Eastern descent and beaners to refer to Latinos. By then, the three had left the force.

When were talking about bias policing and racial profiling, there is a direct connection to these associations being made by officers, San Francisco Public Defender Jeff Adachi said at the time. Thats the kind of mentality that tells you its OK to shoot, OK to kill, OK to arrest people of color.

A federal court filing last year disclosed that 14 other officers had either sent or received racist text messages in previous years.

The ensuing scandal forced prosecutors to dismiss 13 pending criminal cases and review 3,000 more. A judge ruled the officers could not be fired because the department had waited too long to discipline them.

In May, at the mayors request, Police Chief Greg Suhr resigned in the midst of the scandal and hours after a police officer fatally shot an unarmed black woman in the Bayview neighborhood.

Federal intervention in local policing has become more common in recent years, as a national debate about the use of force against people of color has led to protests and calls for greater transparency after several controversial shootings.

But the findings in San Francisco are not binding, unlike those issued in Ferguson, Mo., and Cleveland after other incidents in which law enforcement agencies were criticized for allegedly excessive use of force.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

james.queally@latimes.com

@JamesQueallyLAT

joe.mozingo@latimes.com

@joemozingo

ALSO

Judge decides against a mistrial in civil rape case against NBA star Derrick Rose

Death of LAPD detective investigating Derrick Rose rape allegations called likely suicide

Anaheim settles discrimination lawsuit from citys first Latina attorney for $1.45 million

UPDATES:

3:30 p.m.: This article was updated with additional details from the report and quotes from John Burris

4:20 p.m.: This article was updated with staff reporting and comments from a Bay Area civil rights attorney.

This article was originally published at 11:20 a.m.
By the time the votes are cast on Nov. 8, this may turn out to be the most important year of the woman election ever held.

Yes, that term has been used before. But in 2016, in the campaigns of both major presidential candidates, the voices of women are louder than ever before.

Good morning from the state capital. Im Sacramento Bureau Chief John Myers, and Thursday begins with another furious round of stories examining allegations made by women against Donald Trump for his past behavior.

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On Wednesday afternoon, the New York Times broke the story of two women from different generations coming forward to accuse the GOP nominee of inappropriate advances. Team Trump immediately fired back, arguing it was unfair to reach back decades for the accusations.

Which is, of course, exactly what Trumps campaign has done in its effort to attack former President Bill Clinton.

News of other accusations broke late Wednesday night, and Trumps lawyers then demanded a retraction of the original story.

Meantime, some of the Republicans who excoriated Trump last week over the shocking 2005 video seemed to have backed off from their outrage when it comes to whom to vote for on election day.

Trump, campaigning in Florida on Wednesday, chalked up the state of the race to a sinister deal involving the Washington, D.C. establishment, the media and more.

Its hard to believe all of this wont again surface in the final presidential debate, next Wednesday night -- even though the debate is now slated to focus on the future of the U.S. Supreme Court and the candidates stances on illegal immigration.

THE (TOBACCO) ROAD TO THE WHITE HOUSE

Thanks to my colleague Christina Bellantoni for filling in on newsletter duty on Tuesday, as I struggled to make my way back from hurricane flooding in my home state, North Carolina. And everywhere I went, there was a flurry of Trump and Clinton yard signs.

Tobacco Road, as we call North Carolina, may now be a key to winning the White House. Lisa Mascaro takes a closer look at the Tar Heel states role in this election, and how Democrats think theres a way to win in a Republican-dominated state that seemed out of reach.

FLORIDA VOTER DEADLINE EXTENDED

In the nations biggest battleground state, Florida, voters are getting more time to register to vote. Its a victory for Democrats, who sued to extend the deadline over the objections of Republican Gov. Rick Scott. The federal judge agreed that Hurricane Matthew, which forced evacuations in some areas of Florida, made it necessary to push back the date until Oct. 18.

MILLENNIAL VOTERS IN THE SUNSHINE STATE

Contrary to its stereotype as a retirement haven for those escaping the cold of the East Coast or Midwest, Florida now has more millennials than it does residents over the age of 65.

Mark Z. Barabak writes that its these voters, key to victories by President Obama, who are now a major target -- and question mark -- for Hillary Clinton.

CLINTON NOW TOPS TRUMP IN OUR TRACKING POLL

For the first time in a long time, Clinton has topped Trump in the USC/Los Angeles Times Daybreak tracking poll. The poll has generated a lot of attention over the past few months because of its unique methodology.

Questions about the poll? David Lauter has our FAQ.

EMAILS CONTINUE TO SURFACE AS CLINTON RALLIES

Clinton was in another closely watched battleground state on Wednesday: Colorado. There, she attempted to laugh off a few hecklers, even as reports surfaced that some are organizing to try to highlight her husbands past indiscretions.

Even so, the Democratic nominee continues to find the apparent emails of her closest advisers being published for public consumption. On Wednesday, emails published by Wikileaks offered a glimpse into the Clinton teams press strategy, and how long she could avoid questions from reporters.

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.

TWO, YES TWO, PLASTIC BAG PROPOSITIONS ON NOVEMBERS BALLOT?

When voters go down the list of the 17 statewide propositions on their ballots this November, they could be confused when they reach two measures placed there by a trade group seeking to overturn the states landmark 2014 ban on plastic bags.

Javier Panzar takes a look at the differences between Proposition 67, a referendum asking voters whether to keep or kill the bag ban law, and Proposition 65, an initiative that would send the proceeds from paper bag sales to a state fund for environmental projects.

ONE HANDY GUIDE

Our team put together a ballot box guide to Californias propositions. You can read our editorial boards positions on each measure, and get in-depth coverage on everything from school bonds to condoms.

For in-the-moment coverage, keep an eye on our Essential Politics news feed.

WE WANT YOUR MAILERS!

Less than a month is left before the November election and California voters are seeing the proof in their mailboxes, hanging on their doorknobs and each time they turn on a computer or TV.

Have you received a barrage of campaign mailers this election season? Are you bombarded with information about local races and propositions? We want to hear from you.

Send images of campaign mailers and door-hangers, mp3 recordings of robo calls or links to web ads to politics@latimes.com. Include your name, city, state and age, and tell us about the material youre sharing.

Your submissions may be featured on our site.

TODAYS ESSENTIALS

-- George Skelton writes this morning that if only Trump had acted in the past year the way he did in the final few minutes of Sundays debate, hed be the favorite in the race.

-- Larry Flynt says hes thinking of moving to Canada if Trump wins on Nov. 8.

-- Its back, and its going to be spectacular! Join me, Christina Bellantoni and Seema Mehta at another Los Angeles Times Debate Watch Party, Oct. 19 at the Ace Hotel. RSVP here.

--- Republican congressional hopeful Justin Fareed dropped his support for Trump over the weekend. Now his campaign is arguing semantics, saying his personal support of Trump during the primary did not constitute an actual endorsement.

-- The Democrat in a closely watched L.A. race for the Assembly bought campaign signs for his GOP opponent. And he added Trumps name to them.

-- The congressional challenge by longtime Democratic pol Richard Alarcon against fellow Democrat Rep. Tony Cardenas (D-Los Angeles) isnt looking promising. Alarcon has raised only $29.80 in campaign cash. Now, he says hes not actively campaigning for the job.

-- Former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg donated $500,000 to the Proposition 56 campaign to increase the states tobacco tax.

-- Christina Bellantoni is moderating a congressional debate between Rep. Steve Knight and Democratic challenger Bryan Caforio Thursday evening in Palmdale. What would you ask? Tweet her your questions.

-- Also Thursday, The Times Robin Abcarian will moderate a debate about Proposition 64 and legalized marijuana at the Los Angeles Press Club in Hollywood. Its free and open to the public.

-- Who will win the November election? Give our Electoral College map a spin.

LOGISTICS

Miss yesterdays newsletter? Here you go. 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 and @LATpoliticsCA? Please send thoughts, concerns and news tips to politics@latimes.com.
For the second time in four days, missiles have been fired at the Navy destroyer Mason in the Red Sea, with the suspects being Houthi rebels in Yemen.

The first missile attack was Sunday. The ship was not hit either time, and no sailors on the Norfolk, Va.,-based ship have been injured.

The destroyer took unspecified defensive measures on Wednesday.

Reuters is reporting that Mason fired defensive salvos in response to at least one missile that failed to hit the ship. A second salvo brought down an incoming missile.

Welcome to The Intel, a blog examining the hot military news of the day

On Sunday, the ship, hull number DDG 87, reportedly fired three missiles to counter the incoming two. The U.S. Naval Institute described the U.S. missiles used as two medium-range surface-to-air missiles and one Evolved Sea Sparrow missile, made for use against anti-ship cruise missiles.

The Pentagon this afternoon said it is marshaling a response.

Statement by Pentagon Press Secretary Peter Cook:

For the second time in four days, USS Mason responded to an incoming missile threat while conducting routine operations in international waters off the Red Sea coast of Yemen. At about 6 p.m. local time today (11 a.m. EDT), the ship detected at least one missile that we assess originated from Houthi-controlled territory near Al Hudaydah, Yemen. The ship employed defensive countermeasures, and the missile did not reach USS Mason. There was no damage to the ship or its crew. USS Mason will continue its operations. Those who threaten our forces should know that U.S. commanders retain the right to defend their ships, and we will respond to this threat at the appropriate time and in the appropriate manner.

The head of the Navy, Chief of Naval Operations Adm. John Richardson, issued a statement on Wednesday praising the Masons sailors. He said U.S. ships will continue to patrol the international waters of the Red Sea.

The background: Shia Houthi forces are in a civil war with Yemens Sunni government.

Saudi Arabia, a U.S. ally, is backing the Yemeni administration, while Iran is believed to be supplying weapons, like these missiles, to the Houthis.

Last weekend, mourners gathered in Yemen's Houthi-held capital Sanaa were hit in an attack largely blamed on Saudi-led forces. That attack reportedly killed 140 and may have prompted the strikes against the Mason.

Houthis are also suspected of hitting a logistics ship under the operation of United Arab Emirates in the same waters on Oct. 1.

jen.steele@sduniontribune.com

Facebook: U-T Military

Twitter: @jensteeley
A Navy destroyer has taken out three radar sites in Yemen as the U.S. response to recent missile attacks on another American warship in the Red Sea.

In grainy video released by the Navy, the destroyer Nitze is shown launching missiles in the pre-dawn hours of Thursday.

Nitze was in the Gulf of Aden when it fired whats been officially described as cruise missiles. An account in the Washington Post specified that they were Tomahawk missiles.

Nitze fires at Yemen radars

The Pentagon said the radar sites hit had been used by Houthi rebels to coordinate missiles attacks on the U.S. destroyer Mason on Sunday and Wednesday.

Statement by Pentagon Press Secretary Peter Cook:

Early this morning local time, the U.S. military struck three radar sites in Houthi-controlled territory on Yemen's Red Sea coast. Initial assessments show the sites were destroyed. The strikes -- authorized by President Obama at the recommendation of Secretary of Defense Ash Carter and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs General Joseph Dunford -- targeted radar sites involved in the recent missile launches threatening USS Mason and other vessels operating in international waters in the Red Sea and the Bab al-Mandeb. These limited self-defense strikes were conducted to protect our personnel, our ships, and our freedom of navigation in this important maritime passageway. The United States will respond to any further threat to our ships and commercial traffic, as appropriate, and will continue to maintain our freedom of navigation in the Red Sea, the Bab al-Mandeb, and elsewhere around the world.

The Nitze is the same ship that was harassed back in August by Iranian small boats in the Persian Gulf.

Welcome to The Intel, a blog examining the hot military news of the day

Heres a reminder of the tensions and the players in the region:

Shia Houthi forces are in a civil war with Yemens Sunni government.

Saudi Arabia, a U.S. ally, is backing the Yemeni administration, while Iran is believed to be supplying weapons, like the missiles that attacked the Mason, to the Houthis.

Last weekend, mourners gathered in Yemen's Houthi-held capital of Sanaa were hit in an operation largely blamed on Saudi-led forces. That incident reportedly killed 140 and may have prompted the recent strikes from Yemen against the U.S.

The group Human Rights Watch is calling the funeral attack a potential war crime because so many civilians were present. The group said 500 people were wounded, including children.

Houthis are also suspected of hitting a logistics ship under the operation of United Arab Emirates in the same waters on Oct. 1.

jen.steele@sduniontribune.com

Facebook: U-T Military

Twitter: @jensteeley
Ten days ago, the Board of Supervisors took a sternly principled stand in opposing Proposition 64, a statewide measure that legalizes the sale of recreational marijuana and, lets not forget, the industrious hemp.

The unanimous vote was a ringing affirmation of law enforcements deeply jaundiced view of legalization.

But if the supervisors unanimous declaration moved one voter to the No column, Id be surprised.

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Polls strongly indicate that the nearly century-old prohibition against marijuana is going to be history. California is heading the way of Colorado, Oregon and Washington.

No matter how deeply theyre believed, the moral and/or public-safety warnings of Apocalypse Soon are going to be moot.

The un-moot question will be how much, or how little, cities and counties profit from the so-called Green Rush, a cannabis-based industry that will generate billions of taxable dollars.

In the city of San Diego, thanks to the pragmatism of Councilman Mark Kersey, voters will decide with Measure N whether to impose a local sales tax on recreational marijuana in the event 64 passes.

N assumes two things: First, San Diego will permit legal recreational pot shops within its borders; and second, the city can use a hedge against costs associated with legalization.

Kerseys solution: Slap on a local tax, estimated to net $22 million its first year, and, if theres excess revenue, well, so much the better for the citys coffers.

Theres plenty of anecdotal evidence, however, that the pols around our county may not be so ready to catch the high tide. They may very well invoke their right to declare their city or county dry, inhospitable to the legal traffic of cannabis.

Beyond the troubling issue of retail distribution, however, consider another more grounded facet of the legal weed industry that will test San Diegos official hostility to marijuana.

A number of members of the San Diego Farm Bureau are looking into the opportunity of commercial pot cultivation, according to Eric Larson, the local bureaus executive director.

A seminar was conducted recently by the state Farm Bureau to inform San Diego growers about the brave new farming world that in all likelihood is coming.

Right now, the California Department of Food and Agriculture is developing rules for permitting commercial medical cannabis. The department anticipates the first licenses will be issued on Jan. 1, 2018.

If 64 passes, that process will go into hyperdrive to include recreational and hemp farms.

Though the San Diego meeting was private  the state bureau declined to provide details  its pretty certain that one of the major talking points addressed the power of San Diegos cities and county to ban or limit cultivation just as they have the right to ban or limit dispensaries.

Its entirely possible that a county or city that wanted to express its hostility toward marijuana could deny farmers the right to grow a cash crop within its borders.

During a candidate forum Monday night hosted by the San Diego Farm Bureau, Larson asked the two District 3 supervisorial candidates  Supervisor Dave Roberts and Encinitas Mayor Kristin Gaspar  if they would support the cultivation of marijuana in the countys unincorporated areas.

In their haste to express their disapproval of recreational marijuana, the candidates fumbled Larsons question, which was about farmers making money, not preserving public safety.

When pressed to address the marijuana farming question, Gaspar simply said, I respect the laws that are passed. I respect the will of the voters.

For his part, incumbent Roberts strayed into the countys moratorium on dispensaries and echoed the public safety worries but, so far as cultivation is concerned, he too seemed to miss the point.

If thats the will of the voters, we have to implement it, he said.

No, its the will of elected politicians, not the voters, that rules. (Unless, of course, politicians choose to punt and hold an advisory vote.)

Maybe its just me, but as an old student of politics, I find this prospect something to live for.

How is culturally conservative San Diego, as reflected by the Board of Supervisors, going to balance its official belief in marijuanas negative social effects with the plants potentially positive effects on farmers cash flows?

Blessed by a warm Mediterranean climate and varied terrain, San Diego is built for the Green Rush.

Northern California, of course, has for decades been the anarchic hotbed of illegal cultivation.

Interestingly, the state Farm Bureau, according to one inside source, is internally conflicted over legalization.

Some northern farmers are opposed to commercial production because illegal pot growers have fouled the land and diverted water. Legalization, some northern farmers believe, will open the door to increased illegal (and environmentally damaging) production for out-of-state sales.

Down south, we dont have so much of that freighted history. Were known for an incredible diversity of crops.

If turned loose, our typically small farms would be ideally suited to compete for a cash crop that requires lots of TLC to modulate its THC.

Just imagine.

Like vineyards of today, high-end marijuana farms advertising tours of grows capped off with a sojourn to the sinsemilla toke room.

Visitors, baked in the San Diego sun, shuttling through the backcountry in (thankfully) driverless vehicles as farmers rake in the greenbacks.

Not exactly what the current crop of supervisors like to envision.

But remember, thanks to term limits, not one of the current crop of supervisors will be on the board come 2021.

The times, and the countys leadership, really are a changin, to borrow a phrase from our countrys most recent Nobel Prize winner.

logan.jenkins@sduniontribune.com
NORTH VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwired - Oct 12, 2016) - Lion One Metals Limited (TSX VENTURE:LIO)(LLO.AX)(LOMLF)(LY1.F) (the "Company") is pleased to announce that it has submitted a tender for the acquisition of the Navilawa tenement directly adjoining the Company's 100% owned and fully permitted Tuvatu Gold Project, located on the island of Viti Levu in Fiji. The Company also announces that exploration on a new discovery is underway at the Jomaki Ridge Prospect inside the Tuvatu Mining Lease, and that dewatering and drilling contractors have been retained and mobilized for the next phase of development at Tuvatu.

Navilawa Tender

Fiji's Mineral Resources Department (MRD) publically solicited expressions of interest for the new Navilawa tenement in July and August of 2016 after the lapse and expiry of the previous holder's exploration license. The Navilawa tenement directly adjoins the northern boundary of Lion One's tenements at Tuvatu, which if combined, would consolidate ownership of the entire Navilawa mineral complex under a +30,000 hectare exploration license package with Tuvatu's 384.5 hectare Mining Lease (SML 62) and mining and processing operation, currently under development, at its center. The Company has submitted a tender for the Navilawa tenement with $15 million of initial exploration expenditures proposed over five years.

The Navilawa project area has at least 10 well defined prospects including the Kingston Mine, Banana Creek, and Tuvatu North. The most significant historic results returned were surface rock chip samples of 46.30 g/t Au from Banana Creek; 176.27 g/t Au from the Kingston Mine, and 8.50 g/t Au from Tuvatu North, where a rock chip sample was taken from just inside SPL 1296 and adjacent to the Tuvatu resource. Although little systematic historical exploration has been undertaken in the area, six of the prospects have historic workings with short shafts or adits up to 15 meters deep or manual workings on copper and gold bearing rocks as is the case at the Central Ridge prospect. Mapping, sampling and geophysics clearly demonstrates that the Tuvatu gold deposit extends north into the Navilawa tenement area.

Story continues

On a macro scale there is mineralization evident from the Banana Creek prospect, well within the Navilawa tenement, all the way to the Jomaki Ridge Prospect at the south end of Lion One's tenements, demonstrating a NE to SW extent of over 5.5 km. Mineralization also extends along a north-south corridor aligning the Upper Ridges Lodes of Tuvatu with the Kingston Mine 2 km to the north. Navilawa hosts a multi-phase monzonitic intrusive system exhibiting epithermal styles of mineralization, with some porphyry affinities. The MRD has advised that Lion One should be notified of the result of its tender proposal before the end of October 2016.

Jomaki Discovery

Exploration of a new discovery is underway at the Jomaki Ridge Prospect situated within SML 62, 1.50 km south-west of the planned processing plant site at Tuvatu. Lion One's Fiji exploration team has discovered significant extensions of a pervasively altered and densely veined zone situated between the contact of volcanic units and the micro-monzonite intrusive. Visible gold has been detected at the surface and in some recently dug trenches. Trenching and sampling has begun to test outcrops and near-surface mineralization, with initial rock chip sampling returning results up to 125 g/t Au. An extensive NE-SW veinset at Jomaki Ridge is cross cut by additional NS veins which are thought to be extensions of the UR1 and UR 2 Lodes already recognized at Tuvatu. Further sampling results are expected by late October, with 183 samples already dispatched to Townsville, Qld. for analysis, and will be followed by more samples collected from the extensive trenching program across the width and strike length of the mineralized zone currently underway.

Dewatering, Decline, Drilling

The Company also reports that its prime contractors and suppliers have been retained and equipment has been purchased for dewatering, drilling, and rehabilitation of the existing decline. A new diesel powered pumping station has been delivered and is scheduled to become operational in late October. Based on prior testing, the Company estimates that less than 30 days of pumping will be required to dewater past the Core Shed Fault, 150 meters inside the decline. The Company plans to have diamond drill rigs operating on surface by late October and underground by late November, to focus on numerous infill and extensional targets of the existing mineralized lodes at Tuvatu.

About Tuvatu

The Tuvatu Gold Project is located 17 km from the Nadi International Airport on the main island of Viti Levu in Fiji. Discovered in 1987, Tuvatu was advanced by previous owners through underground exploration and development from 1997 through to the completion of a feasibility study in 2000. Acquired by Lion One in 2011, the project has over 100,000 meters of drilling completed to date in addition to 1,600 meters of underground development. Tuvatu is a high grade, low sulphidation, epithermal gold deposit hosted inside a South Pacific-style volcanic caldera, along the Viti Levu lineament, Fiji's own corridor of high grade gold deposits. In January 2016 the Hon. Prime Minister of Fiji, Mr. V. Bainimarama, formally presented the previously granted Tuvatu Mining Lease to Lion One, concluding the permitting process for the development of an underground gold mine and processing plant at Tuvatu, demonstrating strong government support for Fiji's 85 year-old gold mining industry.

As per its independent June 1, 2015 NI 43-101 PEA Technical Report on the Tuvatu Gold Project, the Company envisages a low cost underground gold mining operation producing 352,931 ounces of gold at head grades of 11.30 g/t Au over an initial 7 year mine life, including 262,000 ounces at 15.30 g/t through year three, at cash costs of US$567 per ounce with all-in sustaining costs of US$779 per ounce. Total capex of US$48.6 million includes a contingency of US$6.1 million with an 18 month preproduction schedule and 18 month payback on capital. At a US$1,200 gold price the project generates net cash flow of US$112.66 million and an IRR of 52% (after tax). Tuvatu is situated upon a 5 hectare footprint inside a larger 384 hectare mining lease that contains numerous high grade prospects proximal to Tuvatu, at depth, and up to 1.50 km along strike from the resource area, giving the project near-term production potential and further discovery upside inside of one of Fiji's underexplored volcanic goldfields.

The information in this report that relates to the Exploration Results or Mineral Resources is based upon, and fairly represents, information and supporting documentation compiled by Mr. Stephen Mann, who is an officer and director of the Company and is a member of The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy. Mr. Mann has sufficient experience relevant to the style of mineralisation and type of deposit under consideration and the activity in which he is undertaking to qualify as a Competent Person under 2012 Edition of the Australasian Code for Reporting Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves (JORC Code). Mr. Mann consents to the inclusion in this news release of the matters based on his information in the form and context in which it appears. The Company confirms that it is not aware of any new information or data that materially affects the information included in previous news releases referred to above, and confirms that the form and context in which the findings are presented have not been materially modified from the original news releases. Albert Siega, P. Eng., a full time employee of the Company and Qualified Person as defined by NI 43-101 has reviewed and approved the technical content of this release.

For more information on Lion One including technical reports please visit the Company's website at www.liononemetals.com or the SEDAR website at www.sedar.com.

On behalf of Lion One Metals Limited

"Walter H. Berukoff"

Chief Executive Officer

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Service Provider accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

This press release may contain "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, included herein are forward looking information. Generally, forward-looking information may be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "plans", "expects" or "does not expect", "proposed", "is expected", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "intends", "anticipates" or "does not anticipate", or "believes", or variations of such words and phrases, or by the use of words or phrases which state that certain actions, events or results may, could, would, or might occur or be achieved. This forward-looking information reflects Lion One Metals Limited's current beliefs and is based on information currently available to Lion One Metals Limited and on assumptions Lion One Metals Limited believes are reasonable. These assumptions include, but are not limited to, the actual results of exploration projects being equivalent to or better than estimated results in technical reports, assessment reports, and other geological reports or prior exploration results. Forward-looking information is subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements of Lion One Metals Limited or its subsidiaries to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information. Such risks and other factors may include, but are not limited to: the early stage development of Lion One Metals Limited, general business, economic, competitive, political and social uncertainties; the actual results of current research and development or operational activities; competition; uncertainty as to patent applications and intellectual property rights; product liability and lack of insurance; delay or failure to receive board or regulatory approvals; changes in legislation, including environmental legislation, affecting mining, timing and availability of external financing on acceptable terms; not realizing on the potential benefits of technology; conclusions of economic evaluations; and lack of qualified, skilled labor or loss of key individuals. Although Lion One Metals Limited has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. Lion One Metals Limited does not undertake to update any forward-looking information, except in accordance with applicable securities laws.
A man was found, apparently stabbed to death, on a sidewalk in front of a San Ysidro home Thursday morning.

Homicide investigators found evidence through the neighborhood along Sycamore Road, which dead-ends at the park at Cesar Chavez Community Center, San Diego police homicide unit Lt. Manny Del Toro said.

He said the man, in his mid-20s, has been identified and may have lived in North County.

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We dont know what his ties are down here, Del Toro said, referring to San Ysidro.

The victim suffered a stab or puncture wound to the upper torso, police said. A pointed tool of some kind, found on the road north of the body, was bagged as possible evidence.

Two men on Sycamore came out of their homes to go to work and noticed the man lying in a pool of blood on the sidewalk. They called police about 5:45 a.m., Del Toro said.

Paramedics examined the man but were not able to revive him.

A San Diego police officer guards the body of a man found stabbed to death in San Ysidro. (John Gibbins/ San Diego Union-Tribune )

The residential neighborhood south of Calle Primera is filled single-family homes and apartments. The body was in front of one house.

Investigators closed the length of Sycamore Road south of Sunset Drive to the park. Del Toro said some clothing items that might belong to the victim or suspect were found in the area.
The Rev. Al Sharpton on Wednesday called on the Department of Justice to investigate the fatal shooting of an unarmed black man last month by an El Cajon police officer, a shooting he called egregious at best.

Flanked by members of Alfred Olangos family at a news conference in South Los Angeles, Sharpton was one of a group of civil rights advocates who assembled for a community meeting to discuss the Sept. 27 shooting and other criminal justice issues.

Police have said Olango, 38, was behaving erratically and took a shooting stance immediately before he was killed by an officer. They later said Olango was holding an electronic cigarette at the time he was shot.

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The incident has roiled the San Diego suburb, sparking days of demonstrations and protests, some of which turned violent and resulted in arrests.

Here we are ... with people that left Uganda looking for freedom, looking for justice, looking for fairness and ... they had to bury their son, Sharpton said. They had to deal with those that are sworn to protect us, harming us.

All theyve asked for ... is justice, he said. Why is their son and brother dead?

Civil rights leaders and Olangos relatives have questioned the El Cajon departments handling of the investigation. Some have criticized police for failing to release a video of the shooting and choosing instead to release a single still image that appeared to implicate Olango.

The District Attorneys Office and the FBI are investigating the incident.

Representatives from the El Cajon Police Department and the mayors office did not respond to several calls and emails seeking comment Wednesday afternoon.

Mayor Bill Wells and police Chief Jeff Davis both attended a City Council meeting Tuesday, where they heard comments from the public about the shooting and the protests that followed. Some of the 20 or so speakers voiced their support for city officials and police. Others were critical, calling for more transparency, accountability and training within the police force.

Olangos sister initially had called police, telling them that her brother was not acting like himself.

Once they arrived on the scene, authorities said, Olango ignored multiple orders and concealed his hand in his pants pockets before rapidly drawing out an object and placing both hands together on it in a shooting stance.

Officer Richard Gonsalves opened fire, while Officer Josh McDaniel shot Olango with a Taser.

The image initially released by police showed Olango pointing at an officers face as if he had a gun. After several nights of unrest in the city, San Diego authorities released security video and a bystanders cellphone recording that captured the shooting.

The Rev. Shane Harris, head of the San Diego chapter of the National Action Network, had been among those calling for the release of the video.

On Wednesday, he said Olangos death had woke the whole world.

Olangos father, Richard Olango, said his sons death should be a turning point in justice.

Police are meant to protect and are not meant to kill, the father said. Military people are trained to kill. So do we have military people in our police department in America, or paramilitary police?

El Cajon Shooting On Now Dumanis rules El Cajon police shooting of Alfred Olango justified 2:09 On Now Justice for Alfred Olango 1:33 On Now Video: Protests in the weeks following Olango shooting 1:43 On Now El Cajon City Council Meeting 10.11.2016 1:49 On Now Protest still present after El Cajon Shooting 2:49 On Now Video: Faith leaders, demonstrators rally in El Cajon 3:32 On Now Video: Rally after El Cajon shooting 1:45 On Now Video: Prayer vigil draws crowd in El Cajon 1:12 On Now RAW: Full video of Alfred Olango officer involved shooting 1:46 On Now Angry crowd grows after man is shot by police in El Cajon 1:15

Union-Tribune staff writer Dana Littlefield contributed to this report.

matthew.stevens@latimes.com

Twitter: @ByMattStevens
An 8-year-old boy was struck by a vehicle while standing outside of a Panda Express in Kearny Mesa Wednesday evening, police said.

The Toyota sedan hit the boy, then crashed into the front entrance of the restaurant on Clairemont Mesa Boulevard near Ruffin Road about 6:30 p.m., police said.

The child was taken to a hospital with minor cuts to his leg, police said. There cause of the crash was unknown.

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Twitter: @D4VIDHernandez
A driver traveling with five undocumented immigrants pulled out a knife on Border Patrol agents near the Pine Valley checkpoint early Wednesday, authorities said.

The six people had ditched the vehicle they were in, and were taken into custody a short time later.

The group of unauthorized immigrants was seen walking north from the U.S.-Mexico border in East County about 3 a.m. The driver, a 27-year-old man from the U.S., picked them up in Boulevard, Customs and Border Protection officials said.

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Agents tried to pull over the SUV they were in, but the driver did not stop, leading to a pursuit on east Interstate 8. At one point, the driver tried to ram a Border Patrol vehicle, authorities said.

A spike strip was set up at the Pine Valley checkpoint, and two of the Nissan Xterras tires were spiked as it sped past the strip.

The driver kept going for about a mile until the vehicle began to slow down. The SUV was still moving when the driver and passengers got out and ran away.

As agents closed in on the driver, he turned around, faced the agents and pulled out a knife. Agents deployed a Taser and took the man into custody.

The passengers were arrested without incident shortly after. They were later identified as Mexican citizens in the U.S. illegally.

Twitter: @D4VIDHernandez
Police were called to Southwestern College in Chula Vista on Wednesday after a journalism student found a racist message written across the front paper of the student newspaper The Sun near campus.

The slur against African Americans was scrawled in thick black ink across a front page photo that showed a demonstration over the death of Alfred Olango, an unarmed African American shot by police in El Cajon last month.

Southwestern student and Sun photographer William Byrd said a construction worker admitted to writing on the paper and agreed to have his picture taken holding it.

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Max Branscomb, the faculty advisory for the school paper, said a police officer who interviewed him said the incident might be investigated as a hate crime because it targeted a specific group.

Were really upset about it, Branscomb said. And its not the first time.

Branscomb said in June, somebody defaced and wrote Trump 2016 on several copies of The Sun that featured a photo of Associated Student Organization President Mona Dibas, who is Muslim.

Somebody also stole about 1,000 of the 5,000 copies of a school magazine that featured Dibas on the cover earlier this year, he said.

Someone over here doesnt like Muslims or African Americans very much, he said.

The paper, which is printed about once a month, was distributed Tuesday. Byrd said he was at a 7/Eleven across the street from campus when he saw a member of a construction crew reading the paper. A few minutes later, he noticed a paper in the stores news stand had been defaced, and the construction worker was standing nearby holding a black marker.

I go up to him with the newspaper and said, Did you do this? and he boldly says, Yeah, Byrd said.

The man, who Byrd described as Latino, didnt give his name, but Byrd got a clear photo of his face while he held the paper. Byrd said the man covered his face with the paper after saying he was afraid hed lose his job if identified, but the photo was shot after he lowered it.

Its unclear if the man is a member of the construction crew working on a new math, science and engineering building on campus. Byrd said he sees the same men at the store every morning, and a groundbreaking ceremony for the building was held Wednesday.

gary.warth@sduniontribune.com

Twitter: @GaryWarthUT

760-529-4939
Megan Gross works with autistic students in Poway Unified School District, making sure theyre welcomed in the school community. Jenny Anderson is a Vista science and engineering teacher who introduces technology to elementary schoolers.

The two San Diego County educators have found connecting with students to be its own reward, but on Wednesday they got a special bonus  both were among five California educators named as state teachers of the year by State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson.

I was stunned, said Gross, an autism spectrum disorder teacher at Del Norte High School, in Poway Unified School District. Its such an honor to have recognition of the work that you do.

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Torlakson also nominated Gross as Californias sole representative for the 2017 National Teacher of the Year competition, which will take place in the spring.

Gross and Anderson were chosen for the state honor after being among five local teachers recognized last month as San Diego County teachers of the year.

These inspiring and innovative teachers enrich the lives of our students while helping them to succeed in 21st century careers and college, Torlakson said in a statement.

Gross has been a special education teacher for a decade, and has spent the last four years teaching an autism spectrum disorder special day class at Del Norte High School.

Megan is a superstar, Torlakson said in an e-mail to the Union Tribune. She is creative, dedicated, and passionate about helping her special education students get the best learning experience they can. She has led efforts to make sure students can fully participate in their school community, including having them participate in general education classes as much as possible.

Gross leads a team of instructional assistants who help their students with reading and life skills, and also help them navigate a wide range of general education classes.

My background is inclusion, and thats our philosophy here at Del Norte High school, so my students are integrated into the general population, she said. Nobody spends the entire day in my room. Theres a rich curriculum that exists on campus and I want to make sure all my students benefit from that.

She said she developed an interest in special education while she was a student herself.

When I was an undergraduate student at UC Davis, I did respite work for families with children with developmental disabilities, Gross said. I really loved it. It got me out of that self-involved student bubble, and helped me understand what families with disabilities deal with.

After graduation, she worked at a group home for a dozen developmentally disabled adults, assisting with tasks including daily living, recreation, and grocery shopping and cooking. Each of the adults had outside employment, she said, and modeled work ethics that inspired her to strive harder. The experience encouraged her to go back to school to help students like them reach their potential.

They loved their jobs, they were deeply committed to them, and were the hardest workers I have ever seen, she said. The adults in that house really talked fondly about education and their experience in school.

Gross earned credentials for teaching students with disabilities, she said, and worked for school districts in Northern California for six years before starting her job in Poway.

Last year she led her students in a charity drive that enabled them to make a difference as well. She organized a Socktober drive to collect socks, hats and other items for a program within the school district that provides those items to families in need.

It was a relatively simple community service project to do, but meaningful in the sense that everybody could participate, she said.

Gross also wrote a book about inclusive special education with her first mentor teacher, Jennifer Kurth, called The Inclusion Toolbox, which was released in 2014.

Anderson teaches STEM classes at the Casita Center for Technology, Science, and Math in Vista. There, she leads a fourth grade journalism class, where students produce a morning newscast. She also runs the Design, Research, Engineering, Arts, Mathematics, and Science (DREAMS) lab where students learn coding language and try their hands at engineering challenges, according to the California Department of Education.

Anderson could not be reached for comment Wednesday, but she described her job in a nomination for the award as creating opportunities for students to discover their strengths to make inquiries, collaborate, lead and take action.

Vista Unified Superintendent Devin Vodicka said in a district news release last month, after the county honors were announced, that Anderson represents the best in our profession.

She is relentless in her pursuit to connect with the strengths and interests of every student, Vodicka said. She inspires the students by challenging them with real-world problems ... and I am thrilled that she is part of our learning community in Vista.

Anderson, who immigrated to the United States from Taiwan when she was 5-years-old, is a visionary and exemplar of the American Dream, Casita Principal Laura Smith said in the news release.

Jenny is inspired by the future and what could be, Smith said.

Torlakson said Wednesday she embodies the future of education.

As a STEM teacher, Jenny is literally on the front lines of preparing her students for 21st career and college success, he said in an e-mail. The global, high-tech world we live is increasingly dependent on those with science, technology, engineering and mathematics skills and backgrounds. Jennys DREAMS lab introduces her students to the language of coding. She is an inspiration and a role model, especially for girls.
The nonprofit organization Alzheimers San Diego plans to conduct its first fundraising walk Saturday since splitting with its parent organization late last year.

The event, which seeks to raise $650,000 to support various programs throughout the region for people suffering from Alzheimers disease and their families, is scheduled to start at 8 a.m. at Balboa Park.

Free registration in the MedicAlert system  which includes a bracelet designed to identify Alzheimers patients who wander off from home, a caregiving facility or other sites  will be included for each participant.

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A second walk is scheduled for Oct. 22 at the Oceanside Pier, beginning at 4 p.m.

More information on both events is available at alzsd.org.

Alzheimers San Diego offers a range of programs, from educational activities and consultations with experts to support groups and social opportunities. For example, it runs a respite service in which volunteers relieve a patients home caregiver for several hours on designated days  giving that family member precious time for rest, errands, medical visits or other necessities.

The organization is one of two serving the growing number of people in San Diego County affected by Alzheimers disease. The board of directors for whats now Alzheimers San Diego decided to separate from the national Alzheimers Association  alz.org/sandiego  which continues to operate a chapter that serves San Diego and Imperial counties.

Alzheimers is the sixth-leading cause of death in the United States, killing 93,541 people in 2014, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In California, the disease is the fifth-leading cause of death. And in San Diego County, its No. 3.

More than 62,000 San Diegans are living with Alzheimers or other dementias.

The number of Americans with Alzheimers is expected to climb sharply in coming decades if present trends continue.

About 4.7 million people age 65 or older were living with Alzheimers in 2010, according to a 2013 study in the journal Neurology. The analysis projected that by 2050, the population will expand to 13.8 million.

paul.sisson@sduniountribune.com

(619) 293-1850

@paulsisson
Casa Cornelia, a nonprofit that provides free legal services for immigration cases, has named Jae Park as its attorney of the year.

Park, a litigator for the global law firm Dentons, spends most of his professional hours handling business-related disputes. For the past 10 years, he has also volunteered his time to take on cases for Casa Cornelias clients, work he said is especially meaningful to him because he is also an immigrant. His family moved to the United States from Korea when he was 12.

I know how challenging it is to move to another country where you dont know anyone, you dont know the language, you dont know the system and have to adjust to that, Park said. Being able to help these refugees who have come with nothing in their pockets and risk their lives to save their lives, I really connected with that feeling.

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Casa Cornelia has been part of San Diegos immigration law community for more than 20 years. It started by dealing with asylum cases and today represents three main groups of immigrants: asylum seekers, immigrants who have been victims of serious crimes and children. The organization also works to educate the community about immigration law and policies.

While it has its own team of lawyers who work the more complex cases, Casa Cornelia relies on a network of more than 200 volunteer attorneys to assist with cases over the course of a year, according to Elizabeth Camarena, the associate director. The organization trains the attorneys and supports them through the cases.

Camarena said last year Casa Cornelia helped more than 1,900 people.

She remembered that when she first met Park, she noticed the confidence and friendliness that he exuded despite not being a full time immigration lawyer.

He was comfortable. That also instilled confidence in his clients, she said.

Park won the attorney of the year award, she said, because of a challenging case that he worked on in 2015.

This case kept growing organically and presenting challenges, and Jae was not deterred, Camarena said.

She said Park has also encouraged colleagues at his law firm to work on immigration cases with Casa Cornelia.

Parks first case with Casa Cornelia, in 2006, involved an Ethiopian man seeking asylum. The man had been persecuted, jailed in awful conditions and tortured because of his political affiliations, Park said. The man escaped prison and began a long journey to the U.S. via South Africa and Brazil.

When the judge said the man was granted asylum, Parks client broke down in tears.

It was one of the most gratifying experiences of my life, being able to really save this mans life, Park said. It got me hooked. I kept coming back to do more cases.

He said another reason he enjoys the work is being able to learn about other countries. He spent part of his childhood in Australia and India.

Early on, I had an international upbringing and perspective that we were all part of a global community, Park said.

Park said hes humbled by the award and grateful that his law firm encourages volunteer work.

Theres a lot of debate in the legal industry about how much pro bono work you should do. Ive always thought you should do as much pro bono as you can. Its a way we as lawyers can give back to the community.

Park will be honored at Casa Cornelias La Mancha awards ceremony Thursday at the University of San Diegos Institute for Peace and Justice from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. The ceremony will also honor Latham & Watkins LLP as law firm of the year, and the California Innocence Project will receive Casa Cornelias humanitarian award.

kate.morrissey@sduniontribune.com, @bgirledukate
Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Alpine, has been pushing the U.S. Coast Guard to buy or lease a polar ice-breaking ship owned by one of his top campaign contributors, although the Coast Guard has repeatedly said the vessel doesnt meet its needs.

The ship in question, the Aiviq, is a privately-owned, commercial vessel with mid-level ability to break paths through frozen arctic seas. It made national news in 2012 when it suffered mechanical failure and lost control of an oil rig it was towing. The rig ran aground off Kodiak Island in Alaska.

The Coast Guard says the Aiviq cant carry out all the missions icebreakers must complete without significant upgrades. Hunter has argued that the ship could support some ice-breaking tasks and is a necessary fleet option as melting polar ice opens the region to commercial traffic, putting more ships at risk.

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Contributors connected to the Aiviqs owner, Louisiana-based shipbuilder Edison Chouest Offshore, have given at least $18,000 to Hunters campaign since January 2015.

Thats a fraction of the $911,000 that Hunter raised during that time period. It makes Chouest the second most generous supporter of Hunter, according to review by The San Diego Union-Tribune of campaign finance records.

General Atomics was Hunters top supporter, with political committees, employees and others giving $28,750.

The Chouest funds were all received May 8, 2015  six days before the Coast Guard was to have an acquisitions hearing before a Congressional subcommittee chaired by Hunter.

Hunters office declined to comment for this story. Edison Chouest and the Coast Guard did not respond to requests for comment.

Larry Noble, general counsel for the Campaign Legal Center, a Washington D.C.-based nonprofit, said Hunters advocacy for the Aiviq may be purely motivated and absolutely warranted, but it looks like hes going out on a limb for a top campaign contributor  especially given revelations this past spring that Hunters campaign funds were used for personal purposes.

Previously: Hunter

Even if he truly believes its the right thing and in the publics best interests, the fact that he accepted the contributions and then used (campaign money) for personal use all undercuts the integrity of the decision, Noble said. Even if its true, even if he knows best and the Coast Guard doesnt know what its doing, the public is rightfully going to ask, What is your motivation? 

Richard L. Hasen, professor of law and political science at University of California Irvine School of Law, said it would be wrong to jump to conclusions but an official investigation would help sort the issue out.

Its not a coincidence that people who sit on a defense committee get contributions from defense contractors; thats the way Washington works, Hasen said. So drawing the line between icky conduct and illegal conduct is important, because many contributions are given in the hopes that the lawmaker will do things that benefit the contributor.

At a subcommittee hearing chaired by Hunter on July 12, the congressman questioned Coast Guard Adm. Charles Michel about the possibility of a lease.

Michel said the Coast Guards commandant had personally visited the vessel and found it not suitable for military service without substantial refit. He said the Coast Guard does not operate non-military icebreakers.

Hunter described several ice-breaking scenarios  such as a resupply of a research mission  asking Michel whether vessels required military capability to accomplish them.

One of the Coast Guards excuses for not using a lease vessel, or a less expensive vessel, is that its not a military-type vessel, Hunter said. He added, Youre telling me, a Coast Guard (ship)  to break ice  needs a more militarized vessel than the Navy does in terms of survivability?

Michel said, This is not a pick-up game for the Coast Guard. We have very specific requirements for our vessels, including international law requirements for assertion of things like navigation rights.  This vessel does not just break ice 

At the end of the hearing, Hunter directed Michel to help draft some options the committee could pursue to overcome legal obstacles that block the Coast Guard from short-term lease or charter of private icebreakers, if we wanted to.

Last month, Hunter asked asked Republican House leadership for money to be included in any suitable and forthcoming appropriations vehicle for lease or purchase of a medium icebreaker, according to a Sept. 20 letter Hunters office released to the Union-Tribune on Thursday.

The letter estimated the costs to charter the Aiviq at $33 million per year to lease, or $150 million to buy.

A week later, Michel sent Hunters office a letter saying the Coast Guard had conducted market research on the Aiviq and determined that it could, under certain legal and operational conditions, execute at least some of the Coast Guards 11 missions.

However, the vessels ability to fulfill Coast Guard icebreaker requirements remains unclear because Aiviq has not undergone thorough testing in ice trials, and in its current configuration, lacks the the ability to conduct a full range of Coast Guard missions that our icebreakers carry out, Michel wrote.

The Coast Guard has two operational ice breakers in its aging fleet  one medium, one heavy. Analysts have determined the nation needs a modern fleet of three heavy and three medium icebreakers to meet the challenges of the Arctic and Antarctic.

Using the Aiviq would be a stopgap measure to address concerns that the two existing ships could fail before replacements are commissioned, leaving the U.S. in the lurch in the event of an emergency.

At the subcommittee hearing July 12, Hunter had an ally in Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska, who also believes the Coast Guard does not require military-grade vessels for ice breaking. He described Michels justification for not wanting to lease the Aiviq because its not a military vessel as a bulls--- answer.

Since 2015, Edison Chouest Offshore was Youngs top campaign contributor, donating at least $28,300, according to Opensecrets.org.

The Hunter contributions on May 8, 2015, came from Gary Chouest and his wife, Carolyn, who contributed the maximum $5,400 each. Dino and Ross Chouest, both the of Edison Chouest affiliated company Galliano Marine Services LLC, gave $1,000 each. Five Bollinger Shipyards executives gave $500 each, and another Bollinger executive gave $2,700.

The money entered Hunters campaign coffers at the height of a problem he has since acknowledged with thousands of dollars of campaign funds that were spent on personal expenses  such as $1,137 for oral surgery the following month.

The Hunter campaign  managed by the Congressmans wife, Margaret  also spent thousands of dollars of campaign funds on groceries, gasoline and fast food.

Federal law prohibits the expense of campaign funds on personal needs, to avoid undue influence by contributors who stand to gain financial or other advantage.

Hunters office earlier this year promised an audit of his campaign funds amid inquiries by the Federal Election Commission and The San Diego Union-Tribune. He has so far reimbursed his campaign for $12,000.

morgan.cook@sduniontribune.com

UPDATES:

This story was updated at noon on Oct. 13, 2016, to include information from the Sept. 20 letter by Duncan Hunter and the Sept. 26 letter by Adm. Charles Michel, both of which were released after the storys initial posting.
The San Diego Union-Tribune Editorial Board met recently with Robert Hickey who is running for San Diego city attorney. Here is an edited transcript of the interview.

SEE ALSO: San Diego city attorney candidate Mara Elliott: The Union-Tribune interview

QUESTION: Do you have a plan for your first 100 days?

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HICKEY: I have a plan that I put out. As early as November of last year, I put out a homelessness plan, a community care plan, which interestingly 10 months later, the city attorney adopted much of itself. I also put out a domestic violence plan. So I have immediate plans for policy changes with the City Attorneys Office. But really my broader plan is a cultural shift. I strongly believe the office needs a fresh set of eyes to change the culture there and to develop a service culture and a culture providing prompt definitive legal advice on the advisory front. My criminal plan has already been laid out. Its really about adapting to the change in criminal justice in San Diego and the whole state of California. Their increase in cases was something like 5,000 last year. 38 percent up in drug cases. I got the number actually, 65 percent up in theft, in combined theft and drugs up 184 percent. So the change is not necessarily about how you deal with each individual case, but the change is in the prosecution philosophy and how you work with the courts to effectuate a change and more of adaptation of Prop. 47. I didnt support Prop. 47 because it didnt have a feature to deal with recidivists. I wholeheartedly agree that the realignments was called for and needed. Prison overcrowding is certainly an issue and were dealing with it. Prop. 47 deals with it, but where does that leave us on recidivists?

So I have an immediate plan for Prop. 47. Its really leadership and force of will. The law is the law, but what you have to do is work with the courts and the institutional defense part at least to structure a way to deal with recidivists. Its better for everybody. And I think the most glaring way is in the homeless front, which I have talked about and which of course is my plan. And its to deal with homeless recidivists in a way that can put them into the treatment they need. There is very little question that after Prop. 47, people who should have been going to drug court opted instead to do some time. Theres a handful of individuals whove committed 16, 17, 18 Prop. 47 misdemeanors since its passage, I think in the first 12 or 14 months of its passage and that shouldnt be possible. It should be that after you commit a few, youre going to be doing some jail time or better yet, going into what kind of a treatment you need. So its about working with the courts to develop dedicated courtrooms and theres structurally a reason why that has to happen, that it has to be dedicated courtroom. And have a pretty set way of dealing with recidivists. Early on identify what their needs are going to be and as they commit more crimes, start incentivizing them to get into the programs, so they wont keep costing us so much money with the revolving door. Its not the first time anyones thought of this. Its in criminal justice, but it hasnt been applied to Prop. 47. Jan (Goldsmith) put out the plan last month. Like I said, that mirrored my homelessness plan, which is the first step, but it really takes buy in from the courts and its going to take  to get the courts to dedicated courtrooms to homelessness veterans, domestic violence, which they used to have a dedicated domestic violence courtroom. Youve got to work with the presiding and assistant presiding judges. Its going to be a resource issue and you have to help them find the resources on the other end. And Im hoping with consistent decision-making and leadership on my cases and the way we handle our 10,000, 15,000 criminal cases, with finally a prosecutor, a career prosecutor or virtually a career prosecutor leading that, well be able to have an efficient City Attorneys Office.

Q: The City Attorneys Office is about 150 attorneys, which is the equivalent of the largest law firm in the city. Whats your (comparable) management experience?

HICKEY: Ive led lawyers in the civil side at the highest level on the massive $330 million Ponzi scheme case where I had to hire lawyers from many different disciplines, bankruptcy lawyers, mortgage law attorneys, civil litigators, lawyers with great experience in getting assets out of foreign countries and getting repatriated to America. So there was that. That was 12 to 18 attorneys working on that team that I led under the direction of the leader. I was the receivers counsel  lead receive counsel on this Ponzi scheme case appointed by the federal court. Criminal side, 30 attorneys in the gang unit, about 24 attorneys in the major narcotics unit. And then the biggest number would be 300 attorneys as president of the Deputy District Attorneys Association. I was twice selected by the peers. I was on the board for about 10 years before I was elected president. So something close to 14 years total experience on the board, representing attorneys and representing different groups of them, ultimately two terms elected to represent all 300. And youre representing them in just about everything involved in hiring, involved in promotional processes, involved in disciplinary processes, terminations, and then of course, negotiating contracts with the county. I was on four or five negotiation teams, led the last two as president where I negotiated contracts with the county, negotiated pension reform and negotiated contracts with the county that were designed by the county and accepted by us for sustainability. Theres no point in getting a contract the county cant sustain. So I negotiated with that approach in mind and of course, as Ive alluded earlier, the countys a tough group to negotiate with. Theyre disciplined and I think theyve done a good job. So Ive led in those major negotiations, and then I have to come back to the members and sell it. We have a vote. The members vote. Are we going to endorse this plan or not? I led the office through a contested election. Leading lawyers is not the easiest thing in the world ... 300 lawyers, 300 opinions and, in some regard, its 300 leaders. They all lead their own cases. We dont have a lot of lawyers who spend time as a second chair or a backup attorney on a case. We lead our prosecutions. We lead the prosecution team. The police officers, the paralegal, the clerks, the transcribers. I mean you have a team youre leading in every case, youre becoming a subject matter on whether it be phone records, DNA, fingerprints, a DUI machine. And so were leading leaders, strong-opinioned leaders, and its tough and the main answer is to empower your lawyers. If you empower them, youll get your best work out of them. If they have your support, theyll get the best work  you get the best work out of them. If lawyers feel like theyre being second-guessed and their advice is being rejected or reversed, especially at the last minute, youre not going to get good (lawyering) out of them. They have to know that you support them. If they do their best, they work their hardest. Youll have their back.

Q: Prop. 47 and Prop. 57 reflect the desire to change the way law enforcement works in California. Prop. 47 hasnt seemed to work out too well. 57 seems to have been crafted in haste and is now being sold with marginal honesty  saying some sex crimes arent violent felonies. What would your prescription be? I know city attorney doesnt have as many decisions to make as a DA, but as a voice on these issues, do you think were headed in the right direction?

HICKEY: Well, I do have issues with the way 57 was changed, very much last minute. It was one thing then it became another without real proper vetting. So I have some concerns there. Bottom line, though, just like with Prop. 47, if Im the city attorney, 57 passes, its going to put more criminals in the street and by design, I believe. And well have to adapt to it. And Im not passing 57. Im not stopping 57, but Im going to have to adapt to 57. Thats going to be my job.

Q: Youre voting against it?

HICKEY: Im sure I will. I havent considered it, but I know that because of the way theyve categorized violent crimes its going to create more problems and uncertainty for victims. Its something Im going to be dealing with though as the city attorney. So Im not really advocating for or against it. Im just preparing myself to deal with it on the street and make sure I have the best trained prosecutors and the plans in place, programs in place to deal with it, if it passes.

Q: What could you do if it does pass to kind of prepare for, as you said, more people on the street?

HICKEY: The city attorney is just going to be dealing with misdemeanors. But a lot of felons get caught, not for the felonies theyre committing, but for the misdemeanors theyre committing. Its no secret. You dont catch someone every time they commit a crime. But when you catch them, even in the modern approach, you sentence the person, not the crime. And, you know, weve been retrained over the years to sort of get off the sentencing and punish the crime, but punish the person. But the person is their entire body of criminality. So if the city attorney is in a better position with better-trained lawyers to identify the dangerous offenders and make sure theyre sentenced appropriately. One of the things, say you had a new misdemeanor, but you had a strike prior and now before Prop. 47, that strike would have been alleged in your complaint and it would have been there to double your sentence or potentially double your sentence. So now, if its just a simple felony  the felony is now a Prop. 47 misdemeanor, the strike disappears from the complaint, but wait a minute, it doesnt disappear from the persons history. Its got to be considered and factored into the offer and into the way the court sentences. Its not just a stand-alone new misdemeanor. Its a misdemeanor who has a residential burglary prior. Its a misdemeanor who has a robbery prior  an armed robbery prior  went to prison. This could be a dangerous person. How do we sentence them? You have to look at their entire history and not just forget and just look at the new misdemeanor.

The courts will be motivated to do the right thing because theyre trying to find justice. Its just a matter of can you show theres the money. I mean my homeless plan for instance  I ran it by the sheriff. Hey, can we have room? Should they opt not to go into treatment? Do we have room to incarcerate them? And the answer was yes. We have room now if we have to, to incarcerate serial misdemeanor criminals. So how do you incentivize the court? You slowly change their culture. Its leadership. Its talking to the presiding judge. Its talking to criminal presiding, the assistant presiding judge, showing statistical analysis. Look, 18 offenses, one person. Why is that happening? And you cant talk about a case thats about to be sentenced, but you could talk about broadly and philosophically how youre going to generally treat recidivists. And thats where I talk about a dedicated courtroom for these programs. Like the Serial Inebriate Program. If youre caught drunk in public enough times, youre either getting sober or youre going to jail. If you got a problem, you havent found your rock bottom, well sadly, now the system is going to have to help you find your rock bottom. You know, its like Robert Downey Jr. thanking the judge who sentenced him to jail because without that he would never become Ironman. He would have continued to be an addict. You got to find your rock bottom. Sometimes the system has to help you. So Serial Inebriate Program, a particular judge deals with those cases. You know, this is not science, but this is just the reality. You take the person on their third public intoxication. You send it out to  any old department. The judge sees, wait a minute. Public intox  give me a break. So you have to have a unified approach, a uniform approach, and that can only happen with a dedicated courtroom. Because theyre all independent jurists.

Q: So whats your guiding philosophy on misdemeanors? If the city has all the misdemeanors. are there ones that you wouldnt prosecute?

HICKEY: I will exercise prosecutorial discretion, if thats what youre getting at. Im a big believer in prosecutorial discretion. And, you know, misdemeanors a lot of times are good law-abiding people make a mistake and you absolutely have to appreciate that and I do. First time misdemeanor offenders should be treated very liberally  very fairly. Theres not going to be a whole lot of point to taking someone from making a mistake and putting them in a bad spot. You know, one thing, Bryan (Pease) talked about a lot that was actually kind of interesting was about saddling homeless people with fines. Come on. Hes right on that. Theres no point in putting them in these holes with the probation department or with the courts or violations of court orders because they cant pay a fine that we know full well theyre not going to pay. So its not always easy to get the court to waive fees. But Id be on board for that. I would agree with the court to waive fees in situations where were just going to make a bad problem worse or a minor problem bad. So my philosophy is, hey, you do treat individuals individually. We have a system designed for individual justice and the punishment should reflect their conduct. Every opportunity to divert early offenses and have no record. You know, again its pretty straightforward. You want to set this person up for success, not burden them with a problem thats going to create future failures.

Q: When it comes to discretion, a lot of people are just in disbelief that the city attorney doesnt enforce the rules on short-term rentals. The rules on the books seem to suggest that whats going on is flagrantly illegal.

HICKEY: Right. Its code those are code enforcement issues. And, yeah, I think the next step in the short-term rentals is to lets enforce the codes we have and then see if we need to change the codes or add to the codes. Again, its sort of another example of technology outpacing the law, outpacing the culture and the structure at the city. But certainly we have to see how the codes are being enforced now and anecdotally I hear the stories probably like everybody else does. If the code is on the book, and youre creating victims, neighbors, you have to enforce them. Where I think prosecutorial discretion is most easily exercised is when you have an offense that no one really is hurt. There is economic or personal injury from the offense and its a person making a mistake.

Q: But those cases are prosecuted. You have victimless crimes like, lets say open container on the beach or living in your camper at Fiesta Island or something like that.

HICKEY: I mean you do have to protect the quality and character of the neighborhoods, but the way you punish those cases has to be reflective of the severity of the crime.

Q: But they eat up the same amount of resources. Its a legitimate criminal who breaks into the same grocery store every other week and steals $800 worth of Gatorade or whatever.

HICKEY: I couldnt agree more. You have to prioritize. You have to have a smart philosophy.

Q: Regarding philosophy, theres a big difference between Jan Goldsmith and Mike Aguirres philosophy. Mike Aguirre was a city attorney for the people. He said it a million times. Jan handles it probably more like a general counsel for a corporation where he works with a board and maybe the people are the shareholders. Whats your view of the office?

HICKEY: It would be the Jan view that you the people are represented. You are advising the client through the representatives, the council, the mayor, the department heads or the representatives of the people. Just like you have members of the board of directors and then the officers of the corporation as well. Now the criminal side, I think Ive tried to make to this distinction, you know, because were talking about policy, criminal prosecution policy and I do make a distinction that on the criminal side, the philosophy of the elected prosecutor should be reflected in the way they handle their cases. Like crafting my homelessness plan. This is not a breach of my position that its not a policy job. Its not a policy job when it comes to city planning, but it is a policy job when it comes to setting prosecutor philosophy.

Q: I want to talk about land-use issues a little bit. Weve got these two propositions, on the stadium and the Cory Briggs plan. But theres this whole legal thicket around land use thats supposed to be getting more and more complex. So whats your take on the propositions though because Im sure youre already on the record on it?

HICKEY: I dont know. If these are propositions Ill end up having to represent on one way or another in a courtroom, Ill have policies and philosophies, but on this, Ill be a lawyer for the policymaker be it the voter or the council. So 

Q: So there is an important, pretty consequential legal question there (with the vote threshold it would take to approve the Briggs plan)  so you dont feel like itd be improper to say?

HICKEY: Improper is a strong word, but I think its outside the lines of what Im going to be doing. Im going to be litigating on behalf of a position either crafted by the voters or by the council. For instance, Prop. B, pension reform, voters passed it, 60 plus percent. Council voted unanimously to appeal it to the Fourth District Court Appeal to fight the appeal to Fourth DCA. Thats the city attorneys directive. Similarly with C or the Briggs [initiative], well be fighting a position on behalf of the city or the voters and for me to express a personal opinion, , you know, I have ideas. Im happy to talk about it, its going to be very interesting. Briggs is crafted to give it a change at the 50 percent argument irregardless of what happens with the Riverside appeal (of a case involving the threshold to approve certain ballot measures).

Q: Lets say its passes, but with 51 percent. And now the city attorney is going to tell us, do we need to implement this or no? That might be you. So what would you say?

HICKEY: Right, I mean its a complicated issue. We have to see what the Supreme Court is going to do and its going to take a heck of a lot of work. And itll be a closed session with the council and what they decide to do. I assume give them their legal advice, their options, what are the chances of success, failure? I think thats an open question on the Briggs. The Chargers (measure) is different because it will be two-thirds, unless the Riverside case is affirmed on appeal. Its pretty well accepted, itll be two-thirds. I believe it was crafted before the Riverside appeal. So they knew they were going to have to try to get two-thirds. I dont think that thats likely, so I dont necessarily see that as something were going to have to fight.

Q: What does the other one depend on? What is hanging in the balance?

HICKEY: Well its a mechanism. The Briggs initiative was mechanically established, so that the money went to the general fund and enabled the council then to vote to spend it in those ways. So if its directly toward building a stadium or building a convention center, then its two-thirds.

Q: Bu the city attorney has said, oh, no, no, that needs two-thirds, right? But when the [current] city attorney leaves  some sort of force of law or the new city attorney will have to decide, hey, this election passed or didnt pass. Who decides whether it passed or not?

HICKEY: Right. The city attorney and the city council. The way  but is there precedential value to the city attorneys opinion, no, but if youre going to be different and you  youre going to have to explain your differences in the opinion.

Q: So are you different? I guess  (your) stand on the Briggs Initiative, the Chargers Stadium, and the legal question of whether its 50 percent or two-thirds, that seems like something you should let the voters know where youre at before the election.

HICKEY: I dont have a position. I dont have a legal position on it.

Q: How can you not? Thats one of the biggest questions perhaps in the citys history. Whether it needs 50 percent or two-thirds. So Jan said something, but apparently it doesnt matter what Jan said, right, because we know theres going to be a new city attorney. This is pretty big. That day  well know who the new city attorney is, but what we wont know is, oh, did this thing pass?

HICKEY: Well, I think well  we probably wont know with the Chargers either because the Supreme Court probably will not have decided by then, but  when they decide that, that will be the definitive. Briggs is a different question and to be honest with you  I briefly read Jans opinion on it and he thought it was probably two-thirds. I saw the memo and I thought it was right for him to put it out and I agreed that this (nonseverability) issue was a critical issue.

Q: How do you make up your mind?

HICKEY: I sit down with my attorneys and figure out how we got to the position we reached. And, you know, I build  I rebuild it. I go back to the foundation.

Q: So whats the timeline on that? I mean on Election Day 

HICKEY: Job one, it sounds like, right? We have to certify an election or not. Well see, I dont know where these things stand as far as likelihood of passage, but I dont have a closed mind. I have an open mind as to what it should be and what the law is going to say. There isnt going to be a strict answer. This is crafted creatively to try to avoid the two-thirds. Theres no question about it, but is it creative and legal at the same time? I dont know for sure.

Q: The attorneys hired by the public make decisions that go beyond just narrowly saying, oh, I cant do this or I cant do that. They can affirmatively try to limit the damage that an entity faces if they believe something is flawed. Measure D covers a 100 different things. What about the single use question? In Orange County, there was a 2000 ballot measure that dealt with a plan to block building an airport at an abandoned military base, but it also said, oh, and by the way, were also asking you to expand a local jail. That was thrown out.

HICKEY: Single subject, right.

Q: From day one, the judge treated this as ridiculous and it was eventually thrown out. This is way more complicated than the 2000 Orange County measure  so why wouldnt you, as Attorney General Jerry Brown did, refuse to defend what voters wanted? Jerry Brown refused to defend the anti-same-sex marriage law because he said the way the courts are going this will be thrown out and Im not going to waste California resources by pursuing this. So you can take a much more (affirmative) stand on this than just saying Im the referee.

HICKEY: You know, Im trying to not take a policy position on what is a decision of a policy makers, which would be the voters and council and Im going to be defending their will. And in Prop. 8 were dealing with constitutional rights of individuals. And I do see it the distinction there. Prop. B, pension reform, what that was at least attempted to be flipped for  it was because when Jerry Sanders advocated for it, he stood in front of a city seal. Theres a big difference and theres a really big difference. And if were talking about the peoples right to marry versus whether Jerry should have stood in front of a podium with a city seal on it or not, you know, I see a distinction. And if somethings violating peoples civil liberties, a proposition, well then youre at a different spot, right? Because a lawyer cant take a position that is not legally supported. It has to be legally supported or you cant do it. So if its not legally supported and Im directed to do something thats not legally supported, I, by God, cant do it and Ill tell council that. Ill tell the public that. But if its legally supportable, if I can find a pathway to support the will of the policy makers, I think its my job to do it. And when it comes to Prop. B, pension reform, I can find an easy pathway to support that and I will. And its a distinction between my opponent and I. So at any rate, I think thats the best answer I can give you.

Q: You talked about a clear path to a legal victory. What about many times there is a gray area. Its unclear whether this path is going to work, this path might wont work, so you go to the council and you sayhere are our options. Theres a lot of risk involved, but you can probably do this, that, or the other and they say, OK, thanks. Were going to go do this, the risky one.

HICKEY: Yeah. Yeah. I think youre stuck.

Q: So but what do you do? As a city attorney  well, do you  do you disagree with it personally, do you say something to the media? Do you say something or do you just zip your lip and say nothing and let the council do its thing and say the city attorney told us and were doing this?

HICKEY: Right. I think youre stuck. That is your client. You advise your client the best you can. You tell them what they need to hear, not what they want to hear. I think thats why its important to have an elected position because if you can be fired or you tell them what they need to hear or you can tell them what they want to hear. So I tell them what they need to hear. If its illegal, then Ill stand up and let the world know, but if its legal and theres a pathway, the risk is on the policy makers. As much as I can be transparent about that, I will, but the client holds a privilege and, you know, I definitely believe in being a very transparent city attorney. I will put as many opinions on my webpage as I can. Ill be easy to deal with in public requests (for information).

Q: Whats your stand then when opinions should be public and when it should be confidential?

HICKEY: When the client approves and when its a moot issue. For instance, you know, if you want to look back at history. Theres a reason for say a journalist to go back. What happened? You know, what happened with Qualcomm, what happened with the ticket guarantee? How did we get there? Because history is what teaches us our lessons going forward. So I think when issues are closed, youre down the road, you know, we have a right to sort of do a debrief. See just what the hell happened. So I see a merit in time creating an opening for that, but you are, you are beholden to your client and its a role that you have to get used to as a city attorney. Its a disciplined position. You know, when I was president of the association, my role was to advocate for my deputy DAs. I also was a leading person in the office in the gang unit. But it had nothing to do with the way I led my deputy DAs. My position within the office was separate from my position advocating for my people. And I had to keep those hats completely separate. If I had to  to tell the  the appointing authority, tell the Board of Supervisors something they didnt want to hear, but needed to hear, I had to do that regardless of what or if it would have consequence to my career in the office. And with the city, I will tell them what they need to hear. I will give them their risk advisory and if theyre not breaking the law, risk is on them.

Q: What is your policy on the release of body camera video? Your opponent has a very public and transparent one. She wants a fully searchable database and in her words, footage from any incident when it includes lethal or officer misconduct be publicly released immediately. Where do you stand on the Police Department videos of police shootings and actions like that?

HICKEY: Unless I can have an articulable reason compelling me not to, like would the release of it impact witness ability to craft accounts, things like that, Id release it. My default position would absolutely be public disclosure and it wouldnt be, hey, theres a pending investigation, you cant disclose it. It has to be more than that. Because theres almost  if youre interested, theres an investigation, right? Youre not interested in a body worn camera of a traffic stop where the guy signs a ticket. Youre not interested. So its so easy to say, well, if theres an investigation, no, but otherwise, absolutely have at it. You know, well put it all on YouTube and youll never find a single thing because its going to be buried in an avalanche. Oops. But, yeah, there has to be a reason beyond just theres an ongoing investigation and something where it would impact the ability to pursue charges. And sometimes thats the case, but sometimes its not. You know, sometimes theres no witnesses. Its a video and thats all there is to it. And theres no way you can change the nature of the case or someone can see the video and know that they have a blocked angle and can contort their statement to match sort of an opportunity. A missing a gap, that they can fill with, you know, its the opportunity to fabricate. So, but default is yes. So again, articulable reason not to.

Q: You have 60 seconds for a close.

HICKEY: I think its real important to get a fresh set of eyes in that office. I have experience at the top level, at the highest levels of two-thirds of what that office does, civil litigation and criminal law. Ive been a leader in both civil litigation and criminal law and a leader is what they really need. You cant have a city attorney as a subject matter expert in every (area)  they have 20  18 to 20 chief deputies with tiny, tiny little subspecialties. Its very middle heavy and youre not going to have a city attorney whos a subject matter expert in every single one of them. What you need is a leader whos going to hire and place 150 subject matter experts, empower them, get the best advice from them, pass on the best  best advice to counsel, whether it be settling cases, prosecution philosophy or civil advisory. So in the majority of what they do, I have top-level experience. In the area that I havent worked, Ive still negotiated government contracts for hundreds of millions of dollars. Ive still dealt with personnel in hiring, firing, promotional procedures. Im not inexperienced in the area of working in and with government. And its a job that needs a leader whos going to take a fresh look. Do your own investigation as to how City Council feels about the quality of the advice theyre getting on civil advisory. Do your own investigations as to how the business community feels when they try to get something done through the city. Is it easy? Is it hard? I think youre going to get the same answer every time. Its hard. Its harder than it needs to be. San Diegos the worst city in the county for getting housing development done, 12 years and 47 percent, 12 years to get it done, 47 percent of the final cost is a product of government. City attorney plays a role in that. The culture needs to shift, they need a fresh set of eyes and Im the person to do it.
Flags of the Commonwealth nations fly outside the House of Commons in London on March 10, 2013 (AFP Photo/Justin Tallis)

Male (Maldives) (AFP) - The Maldives angrily quit the Commonwealth on Thursday after years of wrangling over its human rights record since the toppling of its first democratically elected leader four years ago.

The troubled honeymoon island nation said it had been treated "unjustly and unfairly" by the bloc, a voluntary association of more than 50 countries, mostly former territories of the British empire.

"The decision to leave the Commonwealth was difficult, but inevitable," said a statement from the foreign ministry.

The former British protectorate has come under intense international pressure since the controversial conviction of former president Mohamed Nasheed on terrorism charges.

The Commonwealth put Male on notice after Nasheed stood down as president in February 2012 and said he had been forced out in a coup.

It has since criticised the government over its crackdown on dissidents and its controversial judiciary, and sent a special envoy to try to improve the archipelago's rights record.

In its statement Thursday, the Maldives, which had previously threatened to pull out of the bloc, accused the London-based Commonwealth Secretariat of interfering in its affairs.

"The Commonwealth has sought to become an active participant in the domestic political discourse in the Maldives, which is contrary to the principles of the charters of the UN and the Commonwealth," it said.

"The Commonwealth Secretariat seem to be convinced that the Maldives... would be an easy object that can be used, especially in the name of democracy promotion, to increase the organisation's own relevance and leverage in international politics."

The Commonwealth's watchdog committee of foreign ministers last month voiced "deep disappointment at the lack of progress" in Maldives.

It said it would consider suspension at its next gathering in March 2017.

- Hope for return -

In a statement received by AFP, Commonwealth Secretary-General Patricia Scotland said the organisation's members and peoples "will share my sadness and disappointment" at Maldives' decision to quit.

Story continues

"The Commonwealth Charter reflects the commitment of our member states to democracy and human rights, development and growth, and diversity," she said.

"We will continue to champion these values and to support all member states, especially small and developing states, in upholding and advancing these practically for the enduring benefit of their citizens.

"Therefore, we hope that this will be a temporary separation and that Maldives will feel able to return to the Commonwealth family and all that it represents in due course."

The United States has said democracy is under threat in the strategically located archipelago, which sits on key international shipping lanes.

Washington has criticised the rush trial against Nasheed and demanded his release.

A UN panel has also ruled that Nasheed's imprisonment last year was illegal and ordered the regime of President Abdulla Yameen to pay him compensation.

- Political unrest -

The country of 340,000 Sunni Muslims is famed for its coral-fringed islands but has been gripped by political unrest since the fall of Nasheed and there are regular anti-government protests.

The government faces allegations of corruption as well as cracking down on any dissent while all its opposition leaders are either in exile or in jail.

Nasheed secured political asylum in Britain this year after travelling to London for medical treatment while on prison leave from a controversial 13-year prison sentence.

He travelled to neighbouring Sri Lanka last month to meet with other exiled Maldivian dissidents in a bid to agree on a plan to "legally topple" Yameen.

While dissidents met in Sri Lanka, Maldivian police raided the offices of the Maldives Independent website in the capital Male hours after Al Jazeera aired a documentary accusing Yameen and his government of massive corruption and money laundering.

The country becomes the latest to leave the Commonwealth after Gambia, which quit in October 2013.
Earlier this year, I visited the Otay Mesa Detention Center, a private prison near the border that incarcerates immigrants who havent been convicted of any crime.

The San Diego County facility appeared immaculate. Shiny barbed wire encircled the buildings outer gates. After passing through several security entryways, we toured the housing units where immigrants, refugees and asylum seekers are held while they await the outcome of their requests to reside in the United States. We werent allowed to speak to any of the 900 people jailed there, but we saw the medical quarters, the immigration courtrooms and a library.

Thirty years ago, such facilities didnt exist. Today, their operation costs U.S. taxpayers more than $2 billion a year, the majority of which goes to businesses like the Corrections Corporation of America that runs Otay Mesa and 51 other facilities across the nation.

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Californians dont believe this is the right way to respond to immigrants and refugees who arrive to the United States in search of a better life. In a Field Poll released this week, 68 percent of California voters said that these individuals should be supervised in the community rather than be jailed. And 73 percent oppose the use of private prisons for immigrant detention.

The incarceration of hundreds of thousands of immigrants accelerated after Congress mandated in 2009 that federal authorities pay for cost of the jailing of 34,000 detainees, regardless of whether the space was needed or used.

This quota led to the development of a new industry, the for-profit private prison system that now jails 73 percent of detained immigrants, refugees and asylum seekers. The Corrections Corporation of America is the largest private prison operator and represents 41 percent of all detainee beds under contract with the government.

Multiple investigations of these corporate facilities have documented unsafe and inhumane conditions, including physical and sexual abuse, poor health care, and lack of access to legal services.

The concern over these facilities has grown so deep that the Department of Homeland Security will consider on Nov. 30 whether to continue using private prisons for immigrant detention.

This practice is part of the runaway train of mass incarceration that has led to the U.S. imprisoning 2.2 million people, more than any other country in the world. Voters are weary of overspending on prisons and punishment. They understand what research has clearly shown: there is no connection between the number of people incarcerated and the safety of communities.

When it comes to immigrant detainees, the majority are not security risks, meaning they dont have violent previous criminal convictions and most cannot be reasonably considered flight risks because of their strong community and family ties in the U.S. Thats why it makes sense to move to community-based supervision for immigrant detainees awaiting the outcome of their cases.

Under community supervision, relatives and local organizations can take responsibility for immigrants in their care. Research shows that more than 90 percent of immigrants under community supervision show up for their court dates.

Federal authorities have the discretion to use alternatives to immigrant detention, and they should. Not only is it the humane thing to do, but it would result in huge savings to taxpayers given that it costs an average of $164 a day to incarcerate an immigrant detainee versus about $6 a day for community supervision.

What we invest in, grows. Instead of more wasteful spending on immigrant detention, we should spend on our tax dollars on what really keeps us safe: education, health and support for youth and families.

Rios is director of the U.S./Mexico Border Program of the American Friends Service Committee.
Regarding Faulconer just drove home the seriousness of homelessness (Oct. 8): As a homeless advocate, business owner and philanthropist who has served on multiple homelessness advisory committees in San Diego, Im encouraged by Mayor Kevin Faulconers decision to hire Stacie Spector to coordinate the citys efforts to end homelessness.

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E-mail letters@sduniontribune.com

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Because this complex social issue has not had the oversight it has needed, it has turned into a crisis situation with the county now ranked as having the fourth highest homeless population in the nation.

We hope to see Ms. Spector break down walls, bring multiple stakeholders together and cultivate a sense of urgency  which has long eluded our city  to spur needed action. Only then will we get our homeless neighbors off the street and into permanent housing with the supportive services they need. It appears she has these qualities and I look forward to working with her.

Michael McConnell

East Village

* * *

It is a nice initial step for Mayor Faulconer to have created the position of homeless czar. As a founder of the 1984 Mayors Task Force on the Homeless, may I make a more modern suggestion?

The California Welfare & Institutions Code speaks volumes about poverty and poor people, and places duties upon local governments. But these duties invariably are upon county governments, not cities.

Other than in the mental health context, the county of San Diego is visibly absent from our downtowns homeless dilemma. Could our mayor recruit it from its somnolence? Possibly so, to all of our benefit.

Robert C. Coates

San Diego

Rep. Hunter tainted by his support for Trump

Regarding Local Republicans chastise Trump (Oct 11). Rep. Duncan Hunter sends out his chief of staff rather than face the music about Donald Trumps so-called locker room talk.

In February in this newspaper, Hunter said, I was among the first members of Congress to give Trump my endorsement. And I was proud to do so.

Rep. Hunters colossal lack of judgment and leadership ranks right up there with Mr. Trumps. For whats left of the GOP, they should both step down and let the Republican Party begin to save some modicum of respect and morals. As of now  for the both of them  there is none!

Robert Tormey

Escondido

Nation needs someone like Trump in charge

Regarding Why Hillary Clinton is the safe choice for president (Oct. 2) and Thomas Friedmans essay The Trump question (Oct. 2): These two essays clearly indicate that both writers think safe, as they describe Hillary Clinton, means safe in the true sense of the word.

If raising taxes, destroying jobs, open borders, allowing millions of refugees into U.S. who must be subsidized to live in our cities and raising costs of health care is safe, theyre crazy. I personally dont want to live under a totally corrupt leader as president of U.S.

Id rather give a smart businessman who has created hundreds of thousands of jobs and will create more the opportunity to lead us. Lets not be fooled by the corrupt system in Washington, D.C. As for George H.W. Bush, hes just hurt because his son was outsmarted and overshadowed by a dynamic person who can lead us out of this mess were in.

Sharon Croker

San Diego

Pinocchio cartoon doesnt pass smell test

Steve Breens Clinton-Trump cartoon (Ahead by a nose, Oct. 9) has the Pinocchio noses reversed. See the numbers compiled a couple of weeks ago. They are consistent with all the fact-checking organizations  PolitiFact, Washington Post, Snopes.

Trump is mostly false 18 percent, false 35 percent and pants on fire 8 percent for 71 percent. Clinton is mostly false 15 percent, false 11 percent, pants on fire, 2 percent for 28 percent, about 1/3 of Trump.

Of the true levels, Trump was 4 percent true vs. Clinton 22 percent. Perhaps Breen can explain his representation.

Jim Southerland

Point Loma

Tax code advantages are used by many

Donald Trump did nothing wrong by using the tax code to his advantage for his business losses (Clinton, Trump focus on his tax return, Oct. 4). That is fact.

I wonder if those who were outraged by this fact will voice their concern when the Obamacare insurance providers who have lost millions will use the same tax rule to protect their losses. Or even worse, be reimbursed by the federal government (your tax dollars) for those losses. All of a sudden that tax code doesnt look so bad, does it?

Mark Bergmann

Rancho Bernardo

Seaport site needs more for San Diegans

Regarding Seaport redevelopment: Many questions remain (Oct. 7): San Diegans need to take a good look at the ugly, eyesore tower being proposed to replace Seaport Village pictured in the business section.

Along with the tower, plans call for three more hotels, an aquarium and a school to occupy our pristine bay waterfront.

In my opinion, not much there for the enjoyment of citizens who actually live here. I hope the Port District and California Coastal Commission will scuttle this horrific tower.

Laura Impastato

Normal Heights

San Diego should know who its dealing with

Regarding Faulconer endorses Chargers stadium measure (Oct. 4): I was disappointed to see Mayor Faulconer endorsing Proposition C without ever reviewing the Chargers books.

This is a business venture. The residents of San Diego are being asked to invest $350 million in the Chargers with the assumption that the San Diego economy will benefit.

We should be able to verify that the Chargers are financially stable before we commit to a $350 million investment. What if they pull a Donald Trump and go bankrupt some time in the future?

Ron Harris

Scripps Ranch

San Diego region suffers from a shortage of homes

In response to the article San Diego home price increases outpace most of California (Sept. 28): San Diegos low housing inventory is the cause of high home prices.

As a local Realtor, I get asked constantly, Are we in a real estate bubble right now? The answer is no.

The reason prices have risen is that there is low inventory of homes in San Diego. As of Oct. 3, the Multiple Listing Service states that there are only 4,758 single-family residences for sale in San Diego County.

This is a surprisingly low number for a county that has a population of 3.3 million. This has driven buyers to compete against each other, causing house prices to increase. Ultimately, with such low inventory, prices will remain high, causing buyers to look at other markets such as Riverside or keep on renting rather than become permanently invested in San Diego.

Ivan Ramos

San Diego

Spending more money on trolley lines makes no sense

Regarding Who will get on board? (Oct. 9): Just look at almost any bus or trolley in San Diego and you will see almost all seats vacant.

So the regional planners are placing a $2 billion bet on the line. Its not their money theyre gambling with, its taxpayer money. And theres always plenty of that to go around and always more to come and spend foolishly.

Allen Stanko

Alpine

Give readers more details on all the ballot measures

Reader Robert Keirsey (How about some substantive discussion? Oct. 11) asks you to provide more substance and less fluff in your coverage of the candidates for election.

Lets welcome his suggestion. I still suggest you put the facts of ballot measures alongside the propagandists who write the pro-and-con opinions. It would greatly help the electoral process.

Jim Varnadore

City Heights

Stop the profiteering by the pharmaceutical industry

Regarding Poll: Drug prices are too high (Sep. 29): Americans have had it with the drug industrys bogus justifications for rip-off drug prices. Surprisingly, 82 percent of survey respondents favored allowing the federal government to negotiate with drug companies to get a lower price on medications for people on Medicare.

In reality, the federal government already has limited authority under government patent use law to negotiate lower drug prices or buy generic (lower cost) versions of drugs for use in government programs  such as Medicare services.

When invoking the government patent use power, existing patent law provides the federal government limited immunity to challenges from patent holders. Consequently, patent-holders may not block the government from making or buying products that infringe on their patents, and can only sue for reasonable compensation.

The government patent use approach to reducing drug prices deserves special consideration since it requires no additional congressional action.

Ed Martinez

El Cajon

The numbers may not show all the facts in El Cajon

Regarding Data mixed on El Cajon polices use of force (Oct. 9): Data for 2015, presented by the city, stated 93,000 citizen contacts by police officers with only one formal complaint being lodged.

In addition, the El Cajon City Council formally rejected in August a recommendation from the county civil grand jury to establish a citizens review board that would review police conduct and complaints.

Mayor Bill Wells states the low number of complaints means everything is fine and no review board is necessary. Mayor Wells should know is it possible people of color in El Cajon do not trust the system and fear the police force; therefore, no complaints are being filed.

The grand jury had a reason for its recommendation and a citizens review board is just common sense.

Meredith Gallagher

San Carlos

As Election Day nears, candidates face scrutiny

Well, it appears the thin-skinned, chauvinistic, juvenile blowhard has finally guaranteed that our next president will be a corruptible, serial liar phony. Is this a great country or what?

One would think that the gutter could not get any lower but this election campaign is setting new records. Some might find my comments humorous while others might be offended. I just find it very sad that these two candidates are the individuals most of us voted to represent our respective political party.

Maybe the best and brightest will never run for office, but right now I would settle for anyone above average.

David Zapalo

Imperial Beach

* * *

I cant quite figure out the media. It seems like everything Donald Trump says is wrong and all the lies and terrible things that Hillary Clinton says and does are just fine and dandy.

She is the most dishonest person I have ever seen in politics and yet the media goes along and just follows like sheep to slaughter. If she is so great and cares about the American people, why doesnt she wear the American flag pin on her clothes like Trump and Mike Pence do?

If she gets in office, will she be kneeling during the national anthem like the athletes do now?

Brian Hoff

Chula Vista

* * *

After the debate, I reminded myself that this man who lurked behind Hillary Clinton every minute of the debate  glaring, smirking, rolling his eyes  was the same man who at 59 years old was caught on tape talking about grabbing and kissing young women.

In my circles, we call someone like that a sexual predator, a creep, but not president of the United States.

Kathleen M. ONeil

La Mesa

* * *

No argument that Donald Trump has many faults  which are outlined well in your endorsement of Hillary Clinton. But I wonder why you chose to ignore her faults, which are every bit as disqualifying.

She failed to take the Benghazi phone call at 3 a.m. and lied about its causes to avoid jeopardizing the presidents re-election. She maintained an illegal server to avoid the public scrutiny allowed by the Freedom of Information Act, especially scrutiny of the Clinton Foundation. She told a changing sequence of lies about the server.

The Clinton Foundation accepted donations from governments and wealthy foreign nationals while Ms. Clinton was in a position to reward their kindness.

How can you endorse someone with such self-serving and slimy behavior to be our next president?

Russell Buckley

La Mesa

Want to see more letters that appear only online? Follow @UTLetters on Twitter and UTOpinion on Facebook.
A Haunted School House, costume contest, crafts, games and food are among activities Girl Scouts plan for their Fall Festival in Collier Park on Saturday.

Girl Scouts Sunrise Valley Service Unit (SVSU) will host the annual festival near the Scout Hut off Seventh Street from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.

SVSU includes families from the Ramona, Julian, Santa Ysabel, Warner Springs and Borrego Springs areas.

The festival is free and open to the public. Parents interested in Girl Scouts are invited to bring their daughters and meet leaders and girls from the area. Girls will have an opportunity to register for Girl Scouts at the event.

Girl Scout troops will host fun game and creative craft booths at the festival. A hot dog lunch will be served while supplies last, so come early.

This year the older Girl Scouts are transforming the Scout Hut into a Haunted School House. The Scouts are making the Haunted School House fun and appropriate for all age groups.

In addition, a costume contest will be held about noon, so come dressed in costume and you may walk away with a prize.

Girl Scouts welcome everyone to join in the Fall Festival fun. Park in the Collier Park parking lot in the 600 block of E Street and walk over to the Scout Hut area between E and F streets.

For information about local Girl Scouts, call Anne Marie Wilson at 858-610-4461.
Country

United States of America US Virgin Islands United States Minor Outlying Islands Canada Mexico, United Mexican States Bahamas, Commonwealth of the Cuba, Republic of Dominican Republic Haiti, Republic of Jamaica Afghanistan Albania, People's Socialist Republic of Algeria, People's Democratic Republic of American Samoa Andorra, Principality of Angola, Republic of Anguilla Antarctica (the territory South of 60 deg S) Antigua and Barbuda Argentina, Argentine Republic Armenia Aruba Australia, Commonwealth of Austria, Republic of Azerbaijan, Republic of Bahrain, Kingdom of Bangladesh, People's Republic of Barbados Belarus Belgium, Kingdom of Belize Benin, People's Republic of Bermuda Bhutan, Kingdom of Bolivia, Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina Botswana, Republic of Bouvet Island (Bouvetoya) Brazil, Federative Republic of British Indian Ocean Territory (Chagos Archipelago) British Virgin Islands Brunei Darussalam Bulgaria, People's Republic of Burkina Faso Burundi, Republic of Cambodia, Kingdom of Cameroon, United Republic of Cape Verde, Republic of Cayman Islands Central African Republic Chad, Republic of Chile, Republic of China, People's Republic of Christmas Island Cocos (Keeling) Islands Colombia, Republic of Comoros, Union of the Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, People's Republic of Cook Islands Costa Rica, Republic of Cote D'Ivoire, Ivory Coast, Republic of the Cyprus, Republic of Czech Republic Denmark, Kingdom of Djibouti, Republic of Dominica, Commonwealth of Ecuador, Republic of Egypt, Arab Republic of El Salvador, Republic of Equatorial Guinea, Republic of Eritrea Estonia Ethiopia Faeroe Islands Falkland Islands (Malvinas) Fiji, Republic of the Fiji Islands Finland, Republic of France, French Republic French Guiana French Polynesia French Southern Territories Gabon, Gabonese Republic Gambia, Republic of the Georgia Germany Ghana, Republic of Gibraltar Greece, Hellenic Republic Greenland Grenada Guadaloupe Guam Guatemala, Republic of Guinea, Revolutionary People's Rep'c of Guinea-Bissau, Republic of Guyana, Republic of Heard and McDonald Islands Holy See (Vatican City State) Honduras, Republic of Hong Kong, Special Administrative Region of China Hrvatska (Croatia) Hungary, Hungarian People's Republic Iceland, Republic of India, Republic of Indonesia, Republic of Iran, Islamic Republic of Iraq, Republic of Ireland Israel, State of Italy, Italian Republic Japan Jordan, Hashemite Kingdom of Kazakhstan, Republic of Kenya, Republic of Kiribati, Republic of Korea, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Republic of Kuwait, State of Kyrgyz Republic Lao People's Democratic Republic Latvia Lebanon, Lebanese Republic Lesotho, Kingdom of Liberia, Republic of Libyan Arab Jamahiriya Liechtenstein, Principality of Lithuania Luxembourg, Grand Duchy of Macao, Special Administrative Region of China Macedonia, the former Yugoslav Republic of Madagascar, Republic of Malawi, Republic of Malaysia Maldives, Republic of Mali, Republic of Malta, Republic of Marshall Islands Martinique Mauritania, Islamic Republic of Mauritius Mayotte Micronesia, Federated States of Moldova, Republic of Monaco, Principality of Mongolia, Mongolian People's Republic Montserrat Morocco, Kingdom of Mozambique, People's Republic of Myanmar Namibia Nauru, Republic of Nepal, Kingdom of Netherlands Antilles Netherlands, Kingdom of the New Caledonia New Zealand Nicaragua, Republic of Niger, Republic of the Nigeria, Federal Republic of Niue, Republic of Norfolk Island Northern Mariana Islands Norway, Kingdom of Oman, Sultanate of Pakistan, Islamic Republic of Palau Palestinian Territory, Occupied Panama, Republic of Papua New Guinea Paraguay, Republic of Peru, Republic of Philippines, Republic of the Pitcairn Island Poland, Polish People's Republic Portugal, Portuguese Republic Puerto Rico Qatar, State of Reunion Romania, Socialist Republic of Russian Federation Rwanda, Rwandese Republic Samoa, Independent State of San Marino, Republic of Sao Tome and Principe, Democratic Republic of Saudi Arabia, Kingdom of Senegal, Republic of Serbia and Montenegro Seychelles, Republic of Sierra Leone, Republic of Singapore, Republic of Slovakia (Slovak Republic) Slovenia Solomon Islands Somalia, Somali Republic South Africa, Republic of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands Spain, Spanish State Sri Lanka, Democratic Socialist Republic of St. Helena St. Kitts and Nevis St. Lucia St. Pierre and Miquelon St. Vincent and the Grenadines Sudan, Democratic Republic of the Suriname, Republic of Svalbard & Jan Mayen Islands Swaziland, Kingdom of Sweden, Kingdom of Switzerland, Swiss Confederation Syrian Arab Republic Taiwan, Province of China Tajikistan Tanzania, United Republic of Thailand, Kingdom of Timor-Leste, Democratic Republic of Togo, Togolese Republic Tokelau (Tokelau Islands) Tonga, Kingdom of Trinidad and Tobago, Republic of Tunisia, Republic of Turkey, Republic of Turkmenistan Turks and Caicos Islands Tuvalu Uganda, Republic of Ukraine United Arab Emirates United Kingdom of Great Britain & N. Ireland Uruguay, Eastern Republic of Uzbekistan Vanuatu Venezuela, Bolivarian Republic of Viet Nam, Socialist Republic of Wallis and Futuna Islands Western Sahara Yemen Zambia, Republic of Zimbabwe
Pittsburgh, PA -- (SBWIRE) -- 10/13/2016 -- Jim Rock, Seegrid CEO authored a recent article in Automation.com magazine discussing South Carolina as one of the leading locations for vision guided vehicles (VGV). With more than 250 automotive companies in the state, from Lear, Kemet, Koyo, to Michelin, BMW, and Bridgestone (to name a few), it is little wonder that South Carolina is ranked #3 in automotive manufacturing strength for many reasons.



The automotive sector often requires a proof-of-concept success story in one location before the technology solution is implemented enterprise-wide. "Seegrid VGVs are the medium-duty automated solution of choice within Daimler Trucks North America production facilities. We chose Seegrid because the vision technology does not require infrastructure for navigation. Vision guided tow tractors allow us to reduce labor costs and provide a safer work environment for team members," noted Jeremy Tyger, Manufacturing Engineering Manager of Daimler Trucks North America.



Encouraging public-private partnerships, which serve as the foundation for research in South Carolina, world-class brands like BMW and Michelin are partnering with universities to bring collaboration to the next level. At facilities across the state, researchers driven by the needs of the automotive industry work with students, multi-disciplinary faculty members, and industry partners to determine the next generation automation technologies. By creating a pathway between research and business, companies in South Carolina benefit from the creation of market-driven technology, leading the way for new product development and implementation.



To read more, go to: http://bit.ly/2dANYtw



Automation.com is the leading online publisher of automation-related content. The publication helps readers automate factories and processes, solve problems, and improve production efficiencies by providing the most current industry news, information, and resources



About Seegrid

Seegrid (http://www.seegrid.com), the pioneer and leader in three-dimensional vision navigation, provides unique and revolutionary automation technology for materials handling. Engineered with state-of-the-art Seegrid Vision, industrial trucks are transformed into the next generation of AGVs: vision guided vehicles (VGVs). VGVs navigate without wires, lasers, magnets, or tape, and deliver unmatched flexibility. Designed for simplicity and reliability, the Seegrid flexible automation solution is offered in a line of pallet trucks and tow tractors.



Experience the maximum benefits of VGVs with Seegrid Supervisor to manage, monitor, and control a fleet of vehicles in context of your operation. Generating economic advantages and operational efficiencies, VGVs optimize workflow processes, increase productivity and throughput, labor optimization and operating costs. An award-winning organization, Seegrid is experiencing significant growth both in employees and clients. Multi-billion dollar organizations focused on lean manufacturing best-practices are turning to the Pittsburgh-based robotics leader. From large automotive operations to retail distribution centers, Seegrid VGVs are advancing the reality of a Fork Truck Free approach. VGVs improve workplace safety, reduce equipment and product damage, and deliver a rapid return on investment. Seegrid customers include: Whirlpool, Kohler, Walgreens, Volvo, and 3M.



Follow Seegrid on Twitter at @Seegrid.
Few governors in the nation greeted the Affordable Care Act (ACA) with more enthusiasm than Mark Dayton. The Minnesota Democrat hailed the new program as the apex of progressive governance and made sure the DFL-controlled legislature approved the Mnsure state insurance exchange.

Not even a series of disasters in Mnsure implementation shook Daytons confidence in Obamacare, refusing to accept a recommendation in January 2014 from an independent consultant to shut down Mnsure and rely on the HHS federal exchange. Instead, Dayton poured tens of millions more into the state exchange, insisting that the rocky beginning belied Obamacares glorious and successful future.

Related: Get Ready for Huge Obamacare Premium Hikes in 2017

That was then; this is now. On Wednesday, Dayton declared the status of the individual insurance market an emergency and that the Affordable Care Act was an oxymoron. Ultimately, the reality is that the Affordable Care Act is no longer affordable for an increasing number of people, Dayton told the media. Daytons remarks came a week after Bill Clinton admitted that Obamacare was the craziest thing in the world, and that consumers wind up with their premiums doubled and their coverage cut in half.

Perhaps Dayton felt that Clinton gave him enough political cover to admit the obvious, but Minnesotans might need to use their coverage to remedy the whiplash from following Daytons lead. Three years ago, the governor bragged that the state exchange would have the lowest rates in the nation, thanks in large part to the number of insurers that sold policies without federal control of the marketplace. Those advantages got wiped out a year later when insurers demanded double-digit increases to stick with Mnsure.

The states largest insurer in Mnsure did not bother to ask for a rate hike for 2015  Preferred One shut down its exchange operations instead. At that time, Preferred One had sold 59 percent of the plans purchased through Mnsure but discovered that the business model made it impossible to succeed. Mnsure, they announced, was not administratively and financially sustainable, despite all of the happy talk from Dayton and the Obama administration.

Story continues

Related: Its Time to Blame Obamacare for Losing So Many Full-Time Jobs

Two years later, Preferred Ones point has been validated. State commerce commissioner Mike Rothman approved rate hikes for 2017 that pushed prices 50 to 67 percent higher than 2016s premiums. That follows price hikes for 2016 of 14 to 49 percent, making it three straight years of beatings for Minnesota consumers on the individual insurance market.

Rothman had little choice in the matter. As the Star Tribune notes, all seven of the remaining insurers in the state had threatened to follow Preferred One out the door without the massive rate hikes. Even with Rothman surrendering to the realities of centrally controlled economies, Blue Cross Blue Shield will still exit Mnsure at the end of 2016. The massive price hikes, Rothman said in September, were a stopgap for 2017. Foreshadowing Daytons announcement on Wednesday, Rothman added, Its an emergency situation  we worked hard and avoided a collapse.

Avoided? As Dayton made clear yesterday, all Minnesota has done is postpone a collapse  and probably for only another year. The biggest problem for insurers in these markets is the unstable utilization rates, which prevent them from accurately calculating risk to set a tenable premium price.

The reason for that instability is that higher prices are disincentivizing healthier consumers from buying expensive comprehensive insurance policies as they opt instead to pay out of pocket for their minimal utilization and pay the tax penalty for non-coverage instead. Thanks to skyrocketing premiums and deductible thresholds, the likelihood of many consumers to have benefits applied to anything but a basic wellness check is remote at best, which makes the risk worthwhile.

Related: Obamacare: Costs Go Up, Insurers Drop Out and Consumers Get Screwed

As prices go up, the risk for healthier consumers gets lower and lower, which means more of them will opt out rather than pay thousands of dollars every year for benefits they never use. As that continues, utilization rates for the sicker and older consumers who have incentives to stay in the system continue to escalate, necessitating even higher premiums. Eventually, the system exhausts itself and collapses. That death spiral, long predicted by Obamacare critics, would have arrived in Minnesota now except for the approval of astoundingly high premium hikes  an event that political realities will almost certainly keep from being repeated.

Dayton called for the Minnesota state legislature to take action to prop up Mnsure, but even he recognized that the problem starts with the ACA itself. Its got some serious blemishes right now and serious deficiencies, Dayton admitted of the law that he once championed.

Unfortunately, President Barack Obama will not make the same admission. The Associated Press reported that Obama still argues that massive premium hikes in Minnesota and several other states are a one-year market correction, despite repeated and increasing jumps in premiums over the last three years.

Related: White House Is Spending Millions to Battle Obamacare Rate Hikes

The White House solution consists of larger subsidies, tax credits, and restoring access to the general fund for risk-corridor repayment programs to insurers  a government bailout of the sectors Obamacare losses. None of that addresses the perverse incentives and fatal structural flaws of the ACA; in fact, bailouts and increased subsidies will only perpetuate them and do more damage.

Its time for the Obama administration to admit what a former Democratic president and a current progressive governor have openly declared. Obamacare truly is the craziest system, and it will only get crazier every year until its finally discarded.

Top Reads from The Fiscal Times:
Pune, Maharashtra -- (SBWIRE) -- 10/13/2016 -- United States Professional Skin Care Products market analysis report contains all study material about Market Overview, Growth, Demand and Forecast Research in all over the world. This report offers some penetrating overview and solution in the complex world of United States Professional Skin Care Products Market.



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To begin with, the report elaborates the United States Professional Skin Care Products Market overview. Various definitions and classification of the industry, applications of the industry and chain structure are given. Present day status of the United States Professional Skin Care Products Market in key regions is stated and industry policies and news are analysed.



Next part of the United States Professional Skin Care Products Market Industry analysis report speaks about the manufacturing process. The process is analysed thoroughly with respect three points, viz. raw material and equipment suppliers, various manufacturing associated costs (material cost, labour cost, etc.) and the actual process.



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After the basic information, the United States Professional Skin Care Products Market report sheds light on the production. Production plants, their capacities, global production and revenue are studied. Also, the United States Professional Skin Care Products Market growth in various regions and R&D status are also covered.



Following are the key players covered in this United States Professional Skin Care Products Market research report:



1. Olay

2. Marykay

3. Artistry

4. Aupres

5. L'Oreal

6. Estee Lauder

7. Lancome

8. Longrich

9. Chcedo



10. Vichy and More 5 Key Players Analysis



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Regions covered in the report:



- North America

- China

- Europe

- Japan

- India

- Southeast Asia



With the help of supply and consumption data, gap between these two is also explained.



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In this United States Professional Skin Care Products Market report analysis, traders and distributors analysis is given along with contact details. For material and equipment suppliers also, contact details are given. New investment feasibility analysis and United States Professional Skin Care Products Market Industry growth is included in the report.



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Get More Market Research Related News, visit http://www.marketresearch.news/
Woodbridge, VA -- (SBWIRE) -- 10/13/2016 -- 4FastPlumber, LLC is a customer-oriented plumbing company that was founded in 2006 by Michael Orehowsky Jr. Despite its newbie status in the plumbing industry, the company is highly regarded by industry analysts in its home state of Virginia and beyond  due to its strict adherence to ethical business practices and its innovative business approach.



4FastPlumber was founded 10 years ago by a Licensed Master Plumber in Woodbridge, Virginia. Since its inception, the company has always emphasized business ethics and fair industry practices. Due to its customer-oriented business model, the company has won many clients and is currently a dominant force within the Virginia plumbing industry. According to the company's website, 4FastPlumber has always been committed to "maintaining the highest standards of client service, innovation and integrity." Within 10 short years, this family owned and operated plumbing company has extended its service coverage areas to almost all the cities in its home state. 4FastPlumber attributes its business success to its team-oriented approach, which aims at cultivating long-term relationships between customers and plumbing technicians. The company's management believes that this goal can only be achieved by creating a solid reputation through excellent performance.



About 4FastPlumber, LLC

4FastPlumber is accredited and certified as a Licensed Master Plumber and also as a Licensed Master Gas Fitter. The company serves both commercial and residential clients in many cities across the state including McLean, Arlington, Springfield, Vienna, Alexandria and Fairfax. The company provides a wide range of services including routine plumbing repairs and installations, sewer system repairs, maintenance, and installations, water heater repairs and replacement, sump pump installations, HVAC repairs and installations, and home remodeling services all over Virginia. Led by the experienced Master Plumber, Michael Orehowsky Jr., 4FastPlumber's workforce is highly skilled and experienced in technical plumbing issues. The company's staff is also trained to ensure excellent customer etiquette and proper client interaction practices. This is to ensure optimal performance both onsite and in customer relations.



In order to enhance customer satisfaction, 4FastPlumber has introduced many innovative customer-oriented business solutions in the plumbing industry over the years. One of the company's most amazing plumbing products is the free cost estimation consultation sessions for any plumbing project. 4FastPlumber offers service charge discounts via coupons posted on its website. The company also includes emergency 24/7 plumbing services, which can really be a life saver for back-up and flooding situations. Many plumbers do not offer after hours services, due to the cost of keeping qualified technicians on call.



More details can be found at http://4fastplumber.com/



Due to its innovative approach, the company has won many awards in the plumbing industry including two Super Service Awards (SSAs) from Angie's List. The company is also rated highly by industry analysts like the Better Business Bureau and HomeAdvisor. 4FastPlumber has been in the Virginia plumbing industry for a little over a decade. Within this time frame, the company has managed to earn a solid reputation for its focus on the delivery of quality plumbing services and its emphasis on excellent customer care. The company is also committed and dedicated to the improvement of the plumbing industry in the state though the development of business partnerships with other like-minded companies.



Contact:

4FastPlumber, LLC

Address: 1351 E Longview Drive, Woodbridge, VA 22191

Phone: 571-499-0708 or 800-461 7770

Website: http://4fastplumber.com/
An international team of astronomers led by University of Nottingham scientist Christopher Conselice has performed an accurate census of the number of galaxies in the observable Universe. They came to the conclusion that the Universe contains at least two trillion galaxies, nearly ten times as many as previously thought.

Prof. Christopher and his colleagues from Leiden Observatory in the Netherlands and the Universities of Nottingham and Edinburgh in the UK reached this conclusion using images and other data from NASAs Great Observatories (Spitzer, Hubble, and Chandra), ESAs Herschel and XMM-Newton space telescopes.

The scientists painstakingly converted the images into 3D, in order to make accurate measurements of the number of galaxies at different times in the Universes history.

In addition, they used new mathematical models which allowed them to infer the existence of galaxies which the current generation of telescopes cannot observe.

This led to the surprising realization that in order for the numbers to add up, some 90% of the galaxies in the observable Universe are actually too faint and too far away to be seen  yet.

This is very surprising as we know that, over the 13.7 billion years of cosmic evolution since the Big Bang, galaxies have been growing through star formation and mergers with other galaxies, Prof. Christopher said.

Finding more galaxies in the past implies that significant evolution must have occurred to reduce their number through extensive merging of systems.

We are missing the vast majority of galaxies because they are very faint and far away, he said.

The number of galaxies in the Universe is a fundamental question in astronomy, and it boggles the mind that over 90% of the galaxies in the cosmos have yet to be studied.

Who knows what interesting properties we will find when we study these galaxies with the next generation of telescopes?

The teams findings have been accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal (arXiv.org preprint).

_____

Christopher J. Conselice et al. 2016. The Evolution of Galaxy Number Density at z < 8 and its Implications. ApJ, accepted for publication; arXiv: 1607.03909
Dinosaur fossils and dinosaur tracks have been discovered and explored by the scientists. Evidence of dinosaurs has also been learned by many experts. Now, researchers found the largest dinosaur so far in Brazil and try to explain what it looked like.

Researchers have before described the long-necked herbivore from 66 million years ago. They say it measures 25 meters or 82 feet long, it is compared to an articulated bus and could chew on trees at a terrifying rate.

Renowned Brazilian paleontologist Llewellyn Ivor Price found the creature back in 1953 but only little bits of fossil remains. Researchers were aware that they found something big. The disappointing fact is that, back then they do not have tools and equipment to analyze and study further. So the bones remained inside the storage of Rio's ornate Museum of Earth Sciences for six decades.

DTN UK: Scientists announce discovery of Brazil's largest dinosaur: Paeleontologists at the Earth Sciences M... https://t.co/Jxn7r1AdWG  DTN UK (@DTNUK) October 7, 2016

Museum curators allowed the public to view Brazil's largest dinosaur named as "Austroposeidon magnificus." People can see the nearly completed fossilized spinal vertebra that researchers compared to the size of a microwave oven. Also,numerous fragments of other vertebrae can be seen laying on the black cloth in the upper room of the museum.

In addition, an artist's interpretation of the Austroposeidon magnificus was made of what might the dinosaur look like. In the rendition, the dinosaur has a small head, long neck. Enormous body and long tail. The model also has a reptile's skin that is torn apart to reveal where the precious vertebra would have placed.

The question now is that why did it take them six decades to showcase the discovery of the dinosaur. Museum director Diogenes de Almeida Campos answered the question. He says that when Price discovered the fossilized bones it needs to be studied. The main issue before is that Price lacks the staff to help him and money.

Diogenes de Almeida Campos added that "We were waiting for the staff, for a laboratory that started from nothing to mature. We made the first effort with students about eight years ago and it didn't succeed." However, One of Campos's student Kamila Bandeira made the mysterious monster her doctoral thesis, and finally, over the last four years, the pieces of the puzzle are back together, as reported by Phys.com.
A decade ago, scientists declared baiji, also known as the "goddess of the Yangtze", functionally extinct. But just recently, a team of Chinese conservationists claims to have seen the extinct dolphin in Yangtze River.

Baiji was declared extinct after doing a six-week search in which nothing was found. It was 2007 when the extinct dolphin was last seen. But last week, witnesses reportedly saw one leaping out of water.

Song Qi, leader of the amateur expedition, said they spotted the baiji more than once in Yangtze River and by two different boats. The team allegedly saw most of the supposedly extinct dolphin's body, mouth, and head. Believing that no other creature could jump out of the river like the way the dolphin did, as Song told Sixth Tone, the witnesses felt certain they saw a baiji. Unfortunately, the team's camera was not able to capture an image.

Meanwhile, China Academy of Sciences Institute of Biology professionals are currently examining the team's recorded sonar readings. Biologist Samuel Turvey told The Guardian that he was skeptical about the alleged sighting. According to him, claims about the possible survival of extinct creatures need robust proof and the said sighting does not count as one. Turvey has written a book about the extinction of baiji.

Furthermore, Turvey stressed that instead of chasing "the ghosts of baiji", the world should focus on the finless porpoise. Currently, the it is critically endangered.

However, Song hopes the unconfirmed sighting would start new efforts to save the species. He plans to do another expedition along Yangtze next year.

During the 1950s, Yangtze river was a home to thousands of animals. But the numbers started to fall in the 1980s due to human activities like dam building and overfishing as well as boat traffic and air pollution.

As of writing, no proof has been established regarding the return of the extinct dolphin to Yangtze River, which has been its home for 20 million years. Proving their existence would require extensive efforts.
According to Aviation Week, Boeing's CS-100 Starliner would not be carrying the astronauts to the ISS before December 2018. The aerospace corporation was expected to help in ending NASA's dependence on Russia's known rocket organization, Soyuz rockets by 2017. However, in May this year, Boeing announced that its space taxi won't be ready for flight until mid-2018. Now, the historic flight needs to be delayed further due to some manufacturing issues.

Boeing had to discard one of the major structural elements of Starliner because of a design flaw. The company went through various difficulties while manufacturing the most complex components of the spacecraft. The program manager for Starliner, John Mulholland said that those difficulties had already been worked upon by his team but they took few months longer than the expected time. "When we were faced with these issues it was time for us to step back and say: 'Hey listen, we have to readdress [this] and say what's real and lay in where we are going forward'," he explained.

As a result of this, the unmanned orbital flight that was initially going to take off in December 2017 has now been scheduled for June 2018. Starliner's first manned mission that was set to launch in February 2018 now would not take place until August 2018. NASA was not surprised by this announcement though: the Office of Inspector General of the space agency had spotted some issues with the development of both the SpaceX's Dragon 2 capsule and the Starliner. The office had published a report recently stating that it does not expect any of the companies to be able to ferry the astronauts to the ISS before 2018.

NASA had engaged both Boeing and SpaceX to manufacture space taxis that would carry its astronauts to the orbit back in the year 2012. The mission then aimed for a 2015 launch which was quite unrealistic. SpaceX's Elon Musk is yet to reveal whether it also has any plans of pushing its first manned mission further. If not, it will be able to send the astronauts to ISS in 2017. But it is expected of SpaceX to push its launch date further away due to the fact that one of its Falcon 9 rockets blew up in September on the launch pad itself.
In the Alaskan village Inupiat, thousands of walrus visit in early fall, with last week's numbers as high as 6,000. While many cities would welcome this opportunity to increase tourism, the citizens of Point Lay is doing the exact opposite.

With a population of only 270, Point Lay has no hotel or restaurants, and walrus, for them, are a major food source - they are not a curiosity for tourists to ogle from. Besides, these animals are easily spooked, so disturbances by boats or planes could cause them to stampede and crush smaller animals. Because of this, Point Lay is working with the US Fish and Wildlife Service to raise an information campaign: Thanks for the Interest, but Please don't Stop By."

Andrea Medeiros, a spokeswoman for the agency in Anchorage shared, "They've had people come and had no place to accommodate them and they ended up having to tell the person to get back on the plane and head out." She also added that the situation could possibly be awkward for everyone involved.

Besides, as CBS News pointed out, the walrus can't even be seen from the village, and tourists will have to travel in a hazardous trek to a cove to see them.

The walrus started visiting the northwest Alaskan coast only in 2007, but they did so in mass numbers. Despite being fascinating, their appearance north is actually something to worry about: due to the melting of the sea ice, the edge has receded far into the north and walrus have to choose between resting on ice over deep waters, or moving to shore to join thousands of other animals.

Lay Point, on the other hand, is built on a ground that's already melting, posing a danger to the people living in it. Today, the community only has enough water for residents to last a year, which hopefully gives them ample time to find a new water source.
During a press conference on Wednesday, a team of scientists, engineers and legal experts put forward a proposal to build the first ever nation in the outer space, called Asgardia.

The purpose of building up the nation of Asgardia will be to use it as a platform for people to work and live in space, aid the mining of asteroids and the protection of Earth from meteorites, space debris and other things that might cause any damage to human life on Earth, according to Inverse.

In the year 2013, the Chelyabinsk meteorite's crash over a major city in Russia that injured 1100 people and damaged approximately 4000 buildings just reminds us of the horrifying threat these natural objects pose to human life and property on Earth.

"Asgardia is a fully fledged and independent nation, and a future member of the United Nations - with all the attributes this status entails," explained Igor Ashurbeyli, Russian scientist and businessman who initiated the Asgardia project. "The essence of Asgardia is peace in space and the prevention of Earth's conflicts being transferred into space."

Igor aims at creating a space nation that is beyond the control and jurisdiction of independent nations. However, the current space laws state that the governments' ought to authorize and supervise any space missions that are being run from their country even if they happen to be commercial, according to The Telegraph.

Things are quite unclear about how exactly Asgardia is supposed to look like at the moment. But soon the project targets to launch a prototype satellite in fall 2017, so that it coincides with the 60th anniversary of Sputnik's launch, and swiftly move ahead to build and launch a permanent, active space station in Earth's orbit that is supposed to act as a fully legalized nation.

Currently, Asgardia's central focus lies around getting its name out and raising funds. The project is offering citizenships to the first 100,000 people who register. It is even asking the public to help in the design of the national flag and national anthem.

Sources of Asgardia's funding are majorly unknown. Ashurbeiyli has put in his own money into the project but from where the project will get rest of its millions is not known. The estimated funds needed to reach the final target of building, launching and operating an independent space station will be close to $1 billion.

Though it seems to be a crazy idea, the success of this project could mean opportunities for a broader access to space, and enabling non-traditional space nations to achieve their scientific aspirations.
FLORENCE, S.C.  Tommy Brunson said Wednesday that he hasn't had power since Hurricane Matthew struck. But he was luckier than many.

Brunson, who lives on Palmetto Street, has been able to use a generator to heat water and cook food. He said his house had little damage compared to some of his neighbors.

I had some shingles blow off and had a few leaks, Brunson said. Some big tree fell right out there. Nothing fell on my house.

The large trees that fell across West Palmetto Street, blocking the roadway, have been removed but roadblocks may still be posted until utility crews can finish their repairs.

Utility companies continued their restoration efforts in Florence and began repairing the extensive damage to sections of West Palmetto Street on Wednesday.

Approximately 20 men from ElectriCom, a utility company from Paoli, Indiana, worked to replace downed poles and repair snapped power lines in parts of West Palmetto Street near South Lafayette Circle and South Pettigrew Street.

About five utility vehicles were used to carry away old utility poles and bring in replacements. The utility workers used heavy machinery as well as hand tools to remove old power lines and replace them with new ones. Loose, wet gravel and mud had to be removed to set new utility lines.

The crew had already traveled up and down the southeastern United States before arriving in Florence. The men from ElectriCom followed the path of destruction caused by Hurricane Matthew from Florida to North Carolina.

The damage off West Palmetto Street was extensive and most of the homes there, like Tommy Brunson's, are still without power. Large trees fell across prominent roadways and power lines were laid across houses and streets.
MAPUTO (Reuters) - Mozambique's opposition party Renamo will not abandon talks with the government, its spokesperson said, after one of its senior officials was shot dead by unidentified gunmen on a Maputo beach at the weekend. The killing of Jeremias Pondeca, a member of the Joint Commission set up to find ways to overcome a standoff between the government and Renamo over a range of issues, came days before the commission was due to resume talks. But Renamo national spokesperson Antonio Muchanga was quoted by state news agency AIM as saying that the negotiations will go ahead. "Renamo will continue the negotiations. Even today, if the Joint Commission was in session, Renamo would be willing to take part in the negotiations," Muchanga was quoted as saying. "This barbaric act, committed by the enemies of democracy and of the well-being of the Mozambican people, is intended to force Renamo to abandon the dialogue," he added. The talks were meant to resume on Monday after being interrupted on Sept. 30. But the coordinator of the international mediating team, Mario Rafaelli, has announced a further delay to Oct.18, AIM said. Muchanga said Pondeca will not be replaced as there were still "a reasonable number" of Renamo members on the commission to continue its work. The commission has so far reached no definitive agreement on any of the matters on its agenda, including Renamo's demands for six provincial governors and the inclusion of its militia in the army and police. Renamo and the government were on opposing sides in a civil war from the late 1970s until the early 1990s before a peace accord ended the fighting. But it still has its own militia. In the run-up to elections in October 2014, Renamo partisans clashed sporadically with troops and police. Renamo said it would not take up its parliamentary seats in protest at the results of the election. (Writing by Nqobile Dludla; Editing by Hugh Lawson)
FLORENCE, S.C.  With cleanup from Hurricane Matthew in full swing, yard debris and home waste are beginning to pile up along roadways in Florence  especially in residential areas.

The city of Florence does provide debris cleanup but officials say the primary focus right now is getting all city roadways cleared for travel.

What weve been doing since Saturday is what we call our first push, said Chuck Pope, director of city public works. Were cutting debris from roadways and corridors to open it up for traffic flow. That debris is mainly being pushed to the side for now and clean-up will come later.

This means regular yard waste clean-up for city residents will be strained for several months. Weeks may pass before debris is picked up from your yard by a city crew.

City Manager Drew Griffin said the city is working to determine the amount of debris that will be handled but he anticipates it will take months before all is done.

If this is like similar events we will be collecting significant amounts of debris through Thanksgiving, heading toward Christmas, Griffin said.

For county residents, there are manned waste dump sites throughout Florence County.

Of the 15 manned waste sited in Florence County, however, only eight were open Wednesday afternoon. County officials said the remaining sites are either without power or not accessible because of downed trees or flooding. The Lake City site is only open for vegetative debris at this time.

County Administrator K.G. Rusty Smith Jr. said convenience centers can accept almost any type of debris, including yard and home waste.

Were working with power companies to get all of our centers back up and running, he said. County residents can take almost anything to the convenience centers. Right now we ask that people only bring yard waste to the Lake City landfill.

As with most cities, debris burning is not allowed in the city of Florence.

County residents are allowed to burn yard waste but must ensure that conditions are fit and a burn permit is obtained through the South Carolina Forestry Commission beforehand.

The contact numbers to check conditions and obtain a burn permit by county are as follows:

Florence: 1-800-986-5165

Darlington: 1-800-986-3742

Dillon: 1-800-986-3745

Marion: 1-800-705-8614

Marlboro: 1-800-705-8615

Williamsburg: 1-800-517-9643

More information on residential debris burning can be found online at www.trees.sc.gov/fyard.html.

Yard waste

The city says public works can handle trees that are cut about 4 feet long and 2 feet in diameter. If the diameter is larger, the length must decrease accordingly.

Root systems of large trees should be cut as close to the actual root as possible.
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Dutch legislators have proposed a new law that would allow healthy elderly people to seek out assisted suicide even if they have no physical or mental illness, a new letter to parliament reads.

Health and justice ministers argued that individuals who "have a well-considered opinion that their life is complete, must, under strict and careful criteria, be allowed to finish that life in a manner dignified for them."

The newly proposed law expands on the country's existing euthanasia laws enacted in 2002, which allow assisted suicide for people who can convince two physicians they are forced to endure "unbearable" suffering.

Reuters reports that the Dutch government expects to draft a law by late 2017. If it passes, the Netherlands would become the first country to legalize euthanasia for people not deemed to be suffering.

As Winston Ross reported for Newsweek early last year, the Dutch government treats euthanasia in much the same way it treats cannabis: On the books, the act comes with stiff penalties, but in practice, officials tend to look the other way.

Health Minister Edith Schippers and Justice Minister Ard van der Steur wrote in the new letter that the guidelines should move beyond decriminalization to fully legalize the act. They did hedge in saying the law would apply only to senior citizens, "because the wish for a self-chosen end of life primarily occurs in the elderly."

The ministers did not specify a cut-off age.

And though euthanasia would be made legal under the ministers' wishes, it won't be as simple as walking into a doctor's office or dispensary to request a few lethal pills  the way marijuana legalization has been treated in states like Colorado and Washington.

People who feel they've led a "completed life" will still need to consult a number of specialists, including a "death assistance provider" who has a medical background and has received additional training.

Their request will also go through multiple rounds of review and safety checks to make sure the procedure is ultimately carried out properly.

Story continues

NOW WATCH: This is a fake heart used to train doctors for surgery





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Wind River Validates Versa SD-WAN and SD-Security Solutions

By Frank Griffin , Contributing Writer

When the solutions a company provides are validated to be seamlessly integrated with another technology, it can offer it to its customers knowing it will work as designed. For Versa Networks, which provides software-defined wide area networks (SD-WAN) and software-defined security (SD-Security) solutions for service providers and enterprises, it means it will be able to increase its base for large and complex deployments. The company just announced its SD-WAN and SD-Security have been validated to run on Wind River (News - Alert) Titanium Server, which will make its software-based SD-WAN solution available to more customers.







Titanium Server is based on open software standards with a carrier grade NFV infrastructure software solution designed to address the always on requirements of the telecom industry. This capability allows them to deploy services faster with carrier grade uptime and the reliability telecom networks demand.

With the validation, Versa is now part of the Titanium Cloud ecosystem, which will ensure the availability of interoperable standard products optimized for NFV deployment with Titanium Server. This will accelerate time-to-market for service providers and telecom equipment manufacturers.

"Service providers are looking for validated and market-ready end-to-end NFV solutions. To address this need, collaboration across the ecosystem is essential. By collaborating with Versa Networks and validating their SD-WAN and SD-Security platform with our Titanium Cloud program, we are able to deliver interoperable solutions for service providers and TEMs who are deploying NFV in their networks," said Charlie Ashton, senior director of business development for networking solutions at Wind River. "

The Versa SD-WAN managed service is a carrier-grade solution that provides a simplified and cost effective alternative to WAN connectivity across large branch network deployments. With the Versa VNF-based SD-WAN, enterprises and service providers can address cost, operations, application performance, advanced connectivity and security functions.

The solution includes key managed service capabilities such as multi-tenancy, multi-service, elasticity and zero-touch provisioning to maximize service agility and reduce capital and operating costs. It improves service agility while increasing service revenue and lowering provider costs

The Versa SD-Security delivers managed security at the branch, which can be a great market opportunity in a digital ecosystem that is riddled with security threats. According to Versa, this platform delivers managed security that is more agile and efficient by migrating from hardware-based services to a software-defined approach (SD-Security). By leveraging virtualized network and security functions (VNFs), it offers next-generation firewall, malware protection, URL and content filtering, IPS and anti-virus, DDOS and VPN/next-generation VPN.

"By validating and pre-integrating Versa's software-based SD-WAN and SD-Security with Titanium Server, service providers can deliver carrier grade NFV-based optimized solutions," said Kumar Mehta, CEO and co-founder of Versa Networks. "Service providers can confidently select Titanium Server as a platform to deliver highly reliable Versa solutions."

Interoperability, flexibility, reliability and availability have now become key tenets of enterprise and telecom operations. Whether it is an enterprise or a telecom, these features are essential, and interoperability validation such as the one between Versa Networks and Wind River is the latest example of this trend.

Edited by Maurice Nagle
The continuing saga regarding OW Bunker & Trading and its affiliates was the subject of a lunch hosted by the Society of Maritime Arbitrators (SMA), featuring a discussion by John Keough, a partner in the New York office of lawyers Clyde & Co. The meeting, which focused mainly on the actions in the US Courts, came nearly two years after the collapse of OW, the one-time dominant player in the worldwide bunker fuel markets.

The legal side is complex, with questions about whether payments for bunkers should go to ING Bank, the assignee, representing a group of lenders, or to the physical suppliers of the fuel, an oil refiner, for example, and the story is still unfolding.

So far, rulings in the Southern District Court of New York (SDNY) have supported the Interpleader Remedy approach, which would allow a vessel operator- the buyer of bunkers, to pay a one time security deposit, while the issues between ING and physical suppliers are sorted.

Important questions involve jurisdictional issues, and also the validity of maritime liens. Keough explained that the still murky choices of court jurisdiction (Bankruptcy Court versus District Court) could determine whether the assignee, ING, or the physical suppliers are entitled to the proceeds of security deposits. He quoted from one court ruling which said: these cases involve interesting and apparently novel questions regarding the interplay among the United States bankruptcy law, maritime law and the federal interpleader statutes.

The nature of the bunker supply business, where the fuel buyers deals with OW who, in turn, deals with a physical supplier, also brings about complicated issues with bunker delivery receipts being a hot piece of evidence.

Rulings so far in various District Courts have pointed to an absence of contractual privity between physical fuel suppliers and the vessel operators (buyers of the bunkers), since the dealings occurred through O.W. entities, with uncertainties emerging on the validity of maritime liens. The discussion delved deeply into the important cases now being considered in the various courts, including 35 interpleader cases currently in front of the SDNY-with four having been selected as test cases for summary judgement. According to the presentation, At issue: whether physical suppliers have a maritime lien?

Keough also mentioned some very practical changes already being experienced in the bunker markets. A tug of war has emerged between physical fuel suppliers, who have sought new ways to establish privity with the owners of ships being supplied, and to require devices such as cash on delivery, pre-payment, or standby letters of credit to guarantee payment.

Meanwhile, the vessel side has been trying to publicize the no lien clauses in bunkering contracts. At present, as the courts sort through the many cases, the full impacts are still developing. Mr. Keough added: Suppliers and vessel owners/operators (are) keeping a close eye on the result of the interpleader actions in the SDNY and that there is still considerable, Frustration over the length and substantial legal costs of litigation and lack of clarity or predictability of the law two years after OWs collapse.
"MCC is not using panamax vessels in intra-Asia and we probably never will, at least not on our own," Wickmann said. Elaborating, he said the requirements of the trade are frequency, direct services and flexibility, and panamaxes do not have any of these characteristics.

The traditional panamax in the 3,500  4,500 teu range has found itself very much unloved following the expansion of the Panama Canal to accommodate vessels of upto 13,000 teu but intra-Asia was seen as a possible home.

Prime among the considerations is that many ports in the market cannot even take these vessel sizes. But even for those that can and where the potential for reasonable port pairs exists such as Thailand to Japan, Northeast Asia to Singapore or Malaysia, there are challenges that make it tough to use these ships, Looten said.

In the case of the former turnaround time is not quick enough with the bigger vessels while for the latter, these is intense price pressure from the mainline carriers that also operate megacarriers on these routes and have lower slot costs than the regional players.

The exception would be Northeast Asia to Jakarta, and taking in Surabaya. If there were enough carriers to form an alliance specific to this route and match the volumes needed to be economically viable it might be possible, Wickmann said. He cautioned however that getting berthing windows remained a challenge. In addition, volumes on the northbound sector of the route are unlikely to be scaled up and as such with not fully laden ships on part of the voyage, the scale benefits of the panamaxes cannot be realised.

While this is not a situation that the Maersk Line intra-Asia unit is in, Wickmann said that some other operators who already own panamaxes may still give it a try since it might be cheaper for them than chartering three smaller ships. He however maintained that the flexibility and frequency that the market wants cannot be met with this class of vessel.

On any possible cascading of panamaxes Wickmann concluded: "MCC's conclusion is that it's not happening out of wish, it can only happen out of need."
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On Friday, Obama is set to meet his top military advisers to discuss possible kinetic solutions to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's brutal Russian-backed bombing campaign, Reuters reports.

Obama has faced increased pressure to intervene against Syria and Russia after they were linked to the bombing of a UN humanitarian aid convoy heading to besieged Aleppo, where airstrikes and a lack of food and water are affecting 275,000 civilians.

Many questions will weigh on Obama in making his determination: What is the extent of the US's duty to ease suffering in Syria?

What are the political ramifications for each different course of action?

Should the US embark on another mission for regime change in the Middle East?

Besides these questions, none of which are easy, the US will have to consider something that was unthinkable in previous decades  does the US have the military capacity to carry out strikes on Assad should they choose to?

Russia has recently deployed another advanced missile defense battery to Syria, the S-300. This joins the even more advanced S-400 system already in place.

Together, these road-mobile missile batteries provide serious air defenses that the US would need to think long and hard about breaching, even with stealth aircraft like the F-22, F-35, and B-2.

Russia went as far as subtly threatening to shoot down US or coalition aircraft without warning, should they attack the Assad regime.

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Dr. Igor Sutyagin, an expert on Russia, the US, and air defenses at the Royal United Services Institute, told Business Insider that the US Air Force's offensive output roughly meets its match with Russia's entrenched and defended position in Syria.

Story continues

US pilots in fifth generation aircraft would have to be extremely well trained and "operationally, tactically brilliant" to knock out a Russian missile defense battery in Syria, Sutyagin said.

However, Russia could take steps to improve the missile battery's defensive position. Russia lacks radar planes, or Airborne Warning and Control Systems (AWACS), in Syria, but they have them in their inventory. Should Russia deploy these planes, which act as eyes and ears in the sky, they could greatly increase the range and efficacy of their groud-based missile defense systems.

russian a 50 awac

Additionally, Russia's air force has a strong presence in Syria. Although they field older, non-stealth aircraft, confronting them while simultaneously going after air defense batteries would present additional difficulty to US forces.

Regardless, the determination of the US armed forces to conduct any mission remains strong. A pilot with the F-22 program recently told National Interest's Dave Majumdar that the F-22 pilots are confident they could prevail against Russia's defenses in Syria.

The Obama administration is said to be considering air strikes on Syrian military bases, munitions depots, or radar and anti-aircraft bases according to Reuters. However sources close to Obama also told Reuters they do not think he will go through with any aggressive military action.

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Of course, this is only the latest example of Obama mulling military intervention against Assad, as he famously backed down from his "red line" when he refused to bomb Assad after it became clear the Syrian president was using chemical weapons on his own people.

Later it became clear that Obama refused to bomb Assad in order to preserve negotiations for the Iran deal.

Whether Obama will strike or not is an open question, though some experts have speculated that he is "phobic" of a confrontation with Syria because they are aligned with Iran, who he has chosen to engage with diplomatically.

NOW WATCH: The US struck radar sites in Yemen after rebels tried to attack a Navy ship with missiles





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"On a daily level, I don't like 75 percent of the things I do. That's the weird part of being a startup founder."

Max Nussenbaum, co-founder and CEO of property management software company

"

It should come as no surprise, but starting a business is hard. As such, doubt is one of the movie's major through lines.

Early in the film, Rudolph and VFA fellow Avery (we're only told the fellows' first names) recount a mistake that could have been fatal for the business. As Banza scaled up production, they failed to account for changing variables by moving to a factory. The error resulted in 13,000 pounds of faulty product and a failed pitch meeting with a major gourmet food store, Papa Joe's, during which the prepared pasta turned to mush.

"I've never built a company before," Rudolph says. "I sometimes feel over my head. That's when it's really tough."

Kate, who's placed in the tech company

The answer: it doesn't.

The movie begins with a frank conversation between one of the fellows, Labib, and his parents from their home in Yonkers, New York. Labib's parents, who are from Bangladesh, urge him to take a secure job in the pharmaceutical industry.

"Do you think people should do what makes them happy?" Labib asks.

"Uh, no," says his father, who works nights as a limo driver.

The irony is that none of the 20-somethings in "Generation Startup" appear to be having much fun, whether they're working from a freezing house, waking up at 5 a.m. to sell pasta at Eastern Market, or staying up multiple nights in a row making calls to a factory in China.

All this work means they have no time for socializing. "In reality, it's not fun," Avery says.

"I'm putting all my energy into these things and there's nothing left internally," Nussenbaum says.

Dextina, who's placed in Rock Ventures and is African-American, finds herself isolated at work. "Most of my friends in startups are white men ... I struggle to be myself."

But there's an important difference between having fun and being happy. All the late nights and early mornings put into these startups pay off in gratifying waysthese millennials don't have it easy, but they come out better for it. VFA founder Andrew Yang says in the film that doubt is essential to developing character and values.

Rudolph is grateful for the trials he was put through. "I'm glad that it's hard at the end of the day ... it means it's also hard for someone else to make this product," he says.

"Generation Startup" doesn't glorify startup life. The workload is unforgiving. Breaking in as a woman or minority presents its own challenges. Detroit is still miles behind Silicon Valley and Seattle in its support for startup infrastructure.

But the movie also proves that it's possible to build and scale a startup here. And the personal and financial rewards are potentially great.



"Generation Startup" is playing at the Detroit Film Theater through Saturday, October 15.
KSS Enterprises new location Inside the showroom The showroom The small training room The large training room

KSS Enterprises has taken what had been a building that once had five tenants, then abandoned, and turned it into its new headquarters.



The 83,000-square-foot headquarters in Texas Township provides the room the company needs to accommodate the steady 7 to 8 percent annual growth it has been experiencing in recent years.



Tom Hill, owner of KSS Enterprises says that the company outgrew its previous location at 616 Vine Street and had been getting by with make-do solutions for about five years. The company also had expanded into different locations across the state, which relieved some of the pressure on the overcrowded downtown Kalamazoo building.



Even so, employees were split between different locations in Kalamazoo. A third shift had been added because there was not adequate space to send out products and receive shipments at the same time.



After purchasing the property in Texas Township and undertaking an 11-month renovation project, the company is ready to bring its 56 Kalamazoo-based employees under one roof again and all will work on the day shift.



The new headquarters is home to KSS administrative and sales office, 45,000-square-foot storage facility, retail showroom, service department and two training facilities. The new location can accommodate more staff the company grows.



"The evolution of our new headquarters parallels the growth of our company," says Hill. "The build-out of our new space was intentional and it allows us room for future expansion."



KSS offers training for clients' staffers, teaching them the best ways to use the products KSS sells, which in turn reduces their overall cleaning costs. The new location has training facilities for 80 people and 20 people.



The expanded retail showroom and training facility provides an opportunity for our customers to experience and learn more about our products first-hand," Hills says.



The KSS showroom is open to the public serving both commercial and residential customers. The company sells not only the cleaning products that were part of KSS's origins in 1945, but it has expanded into other related areas at its clients' requests. For example, today it also offers pool chemicals and products for commercial dishwashers and laundries.



In addition to their Kalamazoo headquarters, KSS has showrooms and sales offices in Grand Rapids, Jackson, Petoskey and Plymouth, Michigan as well as South Bend, Ind. The Petoskey and Plymouth locations are also distribution centers. KSS currently has 88 employees across the entire company.



Source: Tom Hill, KSS Enterprises


A large portion of the Peregrine 100 development is only a handful of months away from taking flight.In the former PNC Bank building on the corner of West Michigan Avenue and the Kalamazoo Mall in the heart of the citys downtown, Phase 1 of the new, nearly $5 million residential and commercial redevelopment, is set to be completed in January, says Tom Huff, owner of Peregrine Realty A dozen luxury units will comprise the residential side of the first phase of completion, with units ranging in size from one-bedroom 862-square-feet units up to two-bedroom, nearly 1,700-square-feet units. Two penthouse-style, two-story units comprise that total, with all units having access to a rooftop deck.Nearly 8,000 square feet of space in the buildings large, vaulted lobby will house either a commercial tenant in an open-office style environment, or an Eataly-style upscale food court and marketplace experience, which could include a fishmonger, bakery, deli and other prepared-foods counters, Huff says. He has been in talks with an interested party to house the space, which is also expected to open early next year.The residential units will be chock-full of amenities, with few comforts spared. All will come with Cambria quartz countertops, wood floors, stainless steel high-efficiency appliances, LED lighting and floor-to-ceiling windows. An indoor parking garage with up to 20 spaces will be located on the ground floor.Running along the west and south sides of the building, Phase 2 of the development will include a handful of large units featuring 40-foot ceilings, with large windows making up most of the exterior walls and loft space for an extra bedroom.They will be very dramatic units, Huff says. That phase is scheduled to be completed in June.Huff, a native of Kalamazoo who is also a lawyer, is something of a local mogul in the local commercial and residential redevelopment market in the citys center. From the seventh floor of the Peregrine Tower, and wearing a dress shirt with his initials  THH  embroidered on his cuffs, he peers out of large windows, looking north onto a city he is helping to change.A compact telescope stands near his desk, so he can check-in with the family of Peregrine falcons which nest on the 13th floor of the Fifth Third Bank building.When asked why he is so bullish on the development of Kalamazoos downtown, Huff is quick to define his passion for the city.Im not bullish, Im committed, he says. The old PNC building is one of the best locations in the city. I love these old buildings. I love keeping them alive.Huff purchased the four-story, 46,000 square foot building, in the fall of 2014. The building is actually a combination of three structures and was originally the home of First National Bank of Kalamazoo, chartered in 1863.The PNC building is one of 15 that Peregrine Realty owns, 10 of which have a residential component. All told, the firm boasts 74 housing units.Recent additions to Huffs total include the $2.4 million Peregrine Plaza, adjacent to the tower on the corner of the Kalamazoo Mall and South Street. It houses the Kalamazoo Gazettes news hub on the ground level and 16 residential units on the top floors.There could be more properties added to that list in the near future.Natalie Valentine, president of the Peregrine Realty and Huffs daughter, says the company is looking into developing 30 additional residential units on the upper floors of the old International Hotel, which now houses several retailers on the ground level, including Fandango, Terrapin Worldwide Imports and Urban hair salon. Work on that project should start sometime next year, she says.The company is also considering adding floors to the building in the area behind Fandango. That portion of the building is currently one floor, housing a tailor shop, hair salon, and art supply store. Once completed, an estimated 8,000 square feet of space would be available for a commercial tenant, Huff says, and would include green space, fountains and potential food vendors.We are creating an actual neighborhood in the city center, Valentine says. People want to live downtown and walk to work, the theater, the bar. They want a neighborhood to live in. Our developments help create that symbiotic relationship with other businesses in the downtown.On Thursday morning, Valentine carefully makes her way through a forest of metal wall framing, nearly ready for drywall, and past workers engaged in all sorts of prep and construction work. With the firm set to accept rental applications in the next month or so, work is fast-paced.Both Huff and Valentine say there is more demand than supply in the citys downtown residential market, with Valentine acknowledging that once most of the downtowns old buildings have been redeveloped, the only way to satisfy that demand is to build upnew, high-rise buildings to accommodate the market.The only thing that could stop the pace of downtown redevelopment is an unforeseen crash of the economy, she says.She remembers being a young girl, when Huff had just started his real estate holdings, and heading out to some of her fathers buildings during the winter to shovel snow off the roofs.A lot of them had leaky roofs, she says. We were just starting out. It was basically just office tenants. Nobody really lived downtown. But now, everything has changed.Chris Killian has been a writer and journalist in the Kalamazoo area for over 10 years. His work has been published in multiple local publications, including the Kalamazoo Gazette and WMUK. You can find more about Killian, his work, and projects hes working on by visiting chriskillian.net Construction photos by Chris Killian. Other photos courtesy of Peregrine Realty
Benoit Lecomte's plan is so insane that I'm breaking my own rule. Normally I'd wait to see if he actually does swim across the Pacific Ocean next year and then tell you what happened.

The thing is, this guy won't give up. Lecomte's 2017 expedition, called The Longest Swim, will be his fourth attempt at a crossing. Originally from France, 49-year-old Lecomte has spent the past 20 years in Austin, Tex. He considers himself a swimmer, adventurer, and advocate. In 1998, he became the first person to cross the Atlantic Ocean without a kickboard, swimming across 3,716 miles from Cape Cod to Quiberon in Brittany in 73 days. Each day he swam long hours and took rest breaks on his support boat. Along the way he raised money for cancer research.

This month he announced from the University of Texas at Austin that he'll be attempting to swim across the Pacific Ocean next year, leaving from Tokyo in April and swimming along with the ocean currents to San Francisco. Should he succeed, he'll set a world record. Currently Lecomte is the associate director of sustainability services for the environmental consulting firm Progea.

He and his crew also plan to conduct scientific research during the expedition using equipment provided from institutions that include NASA and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, according to his site. They want to do things like study the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, find out where contaminants from the Fukushima disaster went and take a closer look at the chemical properties of the Pacific Ocean.

RELATED: The World's 8 Most Grueling Endurance Events

That Atlantic crossing in the '90s, while clearly ridiculously hard, was far shorter than the roughly 5,500 miles between his start and end points on either side of the Pacific. Lecomte anticipates that if he swims for eight hours a day, the trip will take 180 days. That's half a year. Let that sink in a little.

Two other expeditions fell through in the past four years. Both times, something went wrong with Lecomte's support boat. The captain of the first one had a heart attack and the other lacked blueprints for its customized structure, making it too risky to take to sea, The Guardian reported.

Now he'll be swimming with the Discoverer, a 67-foot steel hulled veteran vessel of the Global Challenge yacht race. A small crew will be aboard and a land-based medical team will stay in touch with them to monitor Lecomte's health. In the water, he'll be outfitted with a shark-repellant bracelet and a waterproof EKG monitor in addition to the prerequisite wetsuit, goggles, fins and snorkel.

RELATED: Diana Nyad's Record Swim Questioned, But Why?

"I've been doing open-water swims for a very long time and I have seen the changes in the ocean, the environment," Lecomte told The Guardian. "More plastic, less fish, and every time I swim with my kids I always think about what type of world I am going to leave behind." He added that he hopes he'll see sharks since their absence would say a lot about their current state.

Given all that ocean he wants to cover, he'll likely see at least a couple of sharks. He'll probably encounter other creatures and extreme weather conditions, too. I truly hope he does make it. The rest of us will just have to be patient and ride out the wait.
In 2015, President Obama restored diplomatic relations with Cuba, ushering in a new era for the small island country. Actually, Cuba has been slowly transitioning several years now - economically, anyway - moving away from communism for introducing capitalist elements.

Normalized relations with the U.S. are likely to accelerate that process, as Laura Ling reports in today's Seeker Daily dispatch.

Most industries in Cuba are owned by the state, but in 2010 the government began to allow limited self-employment and private sector jobs. Much of this work centers around the tourist industry, and it's estimated that about 200 discrete professions are now filling up with self-employed Cubans.

Ironically, many highly skilled professionals like doctors and engineers are taking these self-employed positions on the side. A taxi driver or a waiter can make more money than the state-issued salary provided by the government. Nearly 500,000 Cubans are officially registered as self-employed, but economists estimate the real number is closer to two million - around 40 percent of the workforce.

RELATED: The U.S. and Cuba's Complicated History Explained

Vacationers from all over the world fly to Cuba for its tropical climate and beaches. But for more than 50 years, travel restriction in the U.S. prohibited most Americans from visiting. In 2014, those restrictions were significantly eased and now an influx of American tourists is rapidly expanding the Cuban hospitality industry. You can even get Airbnb bookings in Havana now.

Despite the economic and diplomatic advances, many vestiges of communism remain. Political opposition is repressed, private ownership of land is still prohibited, and the government controls all imports and exports. This has created a unhealthy black market system that punishes restaurant and shop owners.

While travel ban has been lifted, the U.S. is still imposing its trade embargo on Cuba, which prohibits most American countries from doing business on the island. President Obama continues to advocate for a lifting of the ban, but Cold War habits die hard - the Republican-led Congress has consistently voted against it.

Laura has many more details in her report, including some updates on the wild world of Cuban internet access.

-- Glenn McDonald

Learn More:

The New York Times: U.S. Eases Restrictions on Travel to Cuba and Bank Transactions

Bloomberg: A Breakout Year for Cuban Entrepreneurs

Vox: Why Cuban Cap Drivers Earn More than Doctors
Sometimes, we take space technology for granted. As the deadly Hurricane Matthew made its destructive way through the Caribbean to South Carolina and the U.S. East Coast, we were able to watch its approach very carefully. Weather satellites tracked its movements minute by minute, while astronauts on the International Space Station took photographs as the orbiting outpost passed over the monstrous storm several times a day. This careful monitoring helped us understand the hurricane's impact and aided emergency services since predictions of the storm track allowed for evacuations ahead of time.

On Mars, however, we only have a handful of satellites orbiting the planet and only a few instruments dedicated to observing the atmosphere. So when humans land on the surface - which NASA hopes will happen in the 2030s and SpaceX even sooner - it will be more difficult to predict the weather around them unless more satellites and weather stations are deployed. But as the decades go on, more spacecraft are arriving at Mars and it's possible that we will see a network in place by the time humans walk on the surface.

RELATED: The Martian Winds WON'T Blow You Away

Weather predictions on Mars currently come in weekly from researchers at San Diego's Malin Space Science Systems (MSSS), which manufactured many of the cameras on Martian rovers and orbiters for NASA. They use the Mars Color Imager camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter to make the predictions. But to really have a robust weather forecast system, NASA planetary scientist Michael Smith says you will need a large network of orbiters and ground weather stations to see what's going on.

"In our business, the more, the better," said Smith, who works at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland. One aspect that is particularly difficult to measure is wind, he told Seeker, because a lidar (a detection system that uses lasers, following the same principles as radar) is required from orbit to track speeds of dust or changes in the atmosphere. Also, ground stations are helpful to feed individual location measurements into the models.

But improvements are coming. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory recently announced the next global dust storm on Mars will likely take place on Oct. 29. It's the first time that such a precise prediction has been available, and it's based on observations of past planet-shrouding storms since 1924. Researchers have detected nine storms in that time, with the most recent five being in the space age when we've had orbiters at Mars: 1977, 1982, 1994, 2001 and 2007.

"The actual number of such events is no doubt higher," NASA said in a statement. "In some of the years when no orbiter was observing Mars up close, Mars was poorly positioned for Earth-based telescopic detection of dust storms during the Martian season when global storms are most likely."

RELATED: Major Dust Storm Could Soon Hit Mars

JPL planetary scientist James Shirley detected a pattern in dust storms, which was published in the journal Icarus last year. His team found that global dust storms are more likely to occur when the motion of other planets affects Mars' momentum in its orbit during the first part of the dust storm season. But more data is always useful to refine the prediction.

There have been a handful of weather stations on the surface of Mars. NASA's Curiosity rover, which has been there since 2012, carries a Rover Environmental Monitoring Station that can send daily and seasonal reports back to Earth. Some of the things that it measures include "atmospheric pressure, humidity, ultraviolet radiation at the Martian surface, wind speed and direction, air temperature, and ground temperature", NASA said on its Curiosity website.
Underground restaurants are revitalizing Cuba's dining scene, as well as their economy.

For decades, all restaurants in Cuba were owned and run by the state. Many of them thrived initially, but during the years before the collapse of the Soviet Union, food became scarce. Most people were concerned with simply getting enough to eat each day, so going to a restaurant was out of the question.

Many of Cuba's restaurants subsequently failed and the country picked up a nasty reputation for bad cuisine.

Then in 1993, Fidel Castro legalized several privately owned business types, such as restaurants and salons, in hopes of boosting the country's failing economy. This is when underground restaurants, known as "paladares" first starting popping up everywhere. Initial regulations stipulated that these private businesses must only employ family members and typically restaurants could not have more than 20 seats.

RELATED: America Wants Cuba's Lung Cancer Vaccine

In 2011 that number was increased to 50 under Raul Castro (Fidel's brother) and Cuba again loosened restrictions on private businesses. During the five years since then, the number of private restaurants in Cuba went from 100 to 1,600.

Niuris Isabel Higueras Martinez has been cooking since she was nine years old and owns one of the paladares in Havana. Her entire family invested their own money in the restaurant, and her uncles gave the tables and chairs from their own kitchens to use in the dining room.

With a change in Cuba's business laws came a welcome change in attitude as well. "Before, business people were looked down upon," Martinez told Seeker. "Now, we're seen as an important part of society. It's a special moment to be an entrepreneur."

After restored relations with the U.S. last year, Cuba has opened up to foreign investment again. But the U.S.-imposed economic embargo still prevents them from trading with the U.S. This makes getting restaurant supplies pretty difficult for paladares owners like Martinez.

RELATED: Which Countries Stayed Neutral During The Cold War?

"Every time I travel abroad, I bring back 10 or 20 pounds of spices. There are spices that we use but we can't find them here," Martinez says. "I've brought frying pans, cutlery, many things for the restaurant, but in my personal luggage. When we can buy products from the United States, which is so close...and which has such good equipment and merchandise, it's going to be much better."

Martinez knows the future of her business will largely depend on the ability to serve not only tourists, but local Cubans as well. She hopes the country's economic conditions continue to improve, which will allow more locals to eat at restaurants, but it must not come at the expense of the low crime rate, public health care, and excellent education system Cuba is so fortunate to have.

"My dream for the country is that the economic conditions improve," she says. "But some things should stay the same, like the public safety we have. I can walk down any street in my country and I'm not afraid. Few countries in the world are as safe as Cuba."

Paladares have become an essential part of a Cuban vacation. U.S. tourism has greatly increased since relations were restored, and in addition to the comforting safety of walking down Cuba's streets, visitors can now easily enjoy authentic meals prepared by very experienced cooks like Martinez.

-- Molly Fosco
Hurricane Matthew roiled up the east coast of Florida on Friday, knocking out power to some 600,000 residents and businesses. The category 3 storm packed up to 120-mile-per-hour winds and driving rain.

As Hurricane Matthew pummeled the US east coast, people of Haiti were reeling from the damage the storm unleashed on its southern coast on Tuesday.

The massive hurricane inflicted catastrophic damage on the Western Hemisphere's poorest nation, which still is recovering from an earthquake six years ago.

Many Impoverished Haitians live in flimsy shanties fashioned from wood and corrugated steel sheets, which can become deathtraps during a powerful storm.
Archaeologists in Greece have unearthed the skeleton of an ancient warrior that has rested undisturbed for more than 3,500 years with more than 1,400 precious objects.

The tomb, found in Pylos, on the southwest coast of Greece, has been hailed by the Greek ministry of culture as "the most important to have been discovered in 65 years in continental Greece."

Found: Ancient Warrior's Helmet, Owner Unknown

The skeleton of the adult male was found this summer by a University of Cincinnati-led international team who was excavating what they initially believed was a Bronze Age house.

Instead, they were presented with a spectacular find.

Stretched out on his back, a skeleton lay on the floor of the grave. Weapons lay to his left, and jewelry to his right.

Video: Ancient Lost Army Found?

The remains were literarly covered with objects. A bronze sword, with the ivory hilt covered in gold, was placed near the head and chest. Next to it was a gold-hilted dagger, while more weapons were found by the man's legs and feet.

A plaque of carved ivory with a depiction of a griffon with huge wings lay between the man's legs, and nearby was a bronze mirror with an ivory handle.

Gold cups rested on the chest and stomach, and near the neck the archaeologists found a perfectly preserved gold necklace with two pendants.

Ancient Gold Wreath Found In Greek Subway

Spread around the head were over 1,000 beads of carnelian, amethyst, jasper, agate and gold. Four gold rings, and silver cups as well as bronze bowls, cups, jugs and basins were found nearby.

"It is truly amazing that no ceramic vessels were included among the grave gifts. All the cups, pitchers and basins we found were of metal: bronze, silver and gold. He clearly could afford to hold regular pots of ceramic in disdain," said Sharon Stocker who, along with husband Jack Davis, led the University of Cincinnati team.

Dating back to about 1500 B.C. and measuring about 5 feet deep, 4 feet wide and 8 feet long, the tomb was found near the remains of the Palace of Nestor. The site is linked to Homeric legend, and sacrifices were said to be offered on its beaches.

"This is not the grave of the legendary King Nestor, who headed a contingent of Greek forces at Troy in Homer's Iliad. Nor is it the grave of his father, Neleus," Stocker, senior research associate in the Department of Classics, McMicken College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Cincinnati, said.

Ancient Greeks Were Afraid of Zombies

"This find may be even more important because the warrior predates the time of Nestor and Neleus by, perhaps, 200 or 300 years," she added.

She noted the individual was likely an important figure at a time when that part of Greece "was being indelibly shaped by close contact with Crete, Europe's first advanced civilization."

The man, who died at about 30 to 35 years of age, could have been a powerful warrior, a king, or even a trader or a raider.

According to the archaeologists, he helped lay the foundations of the Mycenaean culture that later flourished in the region.

Photos: Coins, Jewelry From Alexander the Great Era

Many of the items found in the tomb were made in nearby Crete and feature a Minoan style and technique unknown in mainland Greece in the 15th century BC.

Indeed, the archaeologists found some 50 seal-stones carved with intricate Minoan designs of goddesses as well as depictions of bulls.

"Whoever he was, he seems to have been celebrated for his trading or fighting in nearby island of Crete and for his appreciation of the more-sophisticated and delicate are of the Minoan civilization, found on Crete, with which he was buried," Jack Davis said.
Press Release

October 12, 2016 De Lima seeks creation of Anti-EJK Council Sen. Leila M. de Lima today sought the creation of an Inter-Agency Council Against Extrajudicial Killings (Anti-EJK Council) to ensure that government law enforcement agencies adhere to minimum standards in the prevention and investigation of extralegal killings. De Lima, a known human rights advocate, filed Senate Bill No. 1197 which seeks to address institutional barriers to efficient, independent and impartial investigation of extrajudicial killings among concerned government agencies. "The Filipino as a nation cannot negate that EJK is a clear and present phenomenon of the times, boldly challenging our constitutionally-protected human rights against taking of life, transgression of due process, and presumption of innocence of criminal suspects," she said. "Extrajudicial killing has become a grave concern in our homes, within Philippine shores and around the world that demands only the most certain effort through legislation," she added. Official figures showed that, as of last Oct. 10, about 3,844 people have so far died since the government's war against drugs was launched last July 1, of whom 1,550 died in police operations while 2,294 in extrajudicial or vigilante-style killings. "This incidence of kills and deaths is reminiscent of the country situation that prompted the mission to the Philippines of Philip Alston, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial Killings," the neophyte senator said. In 2007, Alston noted 100 to 800 death of leftist activists between 2001 and 2007 in his State Report on the implementation of the Philippines' commitment under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. The former justice secretary also noted how the international community and multilateral organizations have expressed grave concern over the unabated spate of recent extrajudicial killings carried out under the government's all-out campaign against drugs. "Besides the United Nations, (foreign) governments have also spoken on the unacceptability of extrajudicial killings," she said, pointing out that the Philippine government has been put to task to put an end to these drug-related killings. Under SB 1197, the Anti-EJK Council shall coordinate with the Philippine National Police (PNP) and National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), and Commission on Human Rights (CHR), to adhere to minimum standards in the conduct of regular police intervention operations, such as but not limited to arrest, raid, search and seizure. Chaired by the Secretary of the Department of Justice, the Anti-EJK Council shall be composed of heads of various concerned law enforcement agencies, such as PNP, NBI, CHR, and the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA). It shall also be composed by the respective chairpersons of the Philippine Commission on Women and the National Youth Commission and shall be represented by two non-governmental organizations as appointed by the President. The proposed measure also seeks to define and provide penalty for acts that qualify as extrajudicial killings in order to ensure accountability of state and non-state actors as well as paramilitary groups in compliance with government drive for public order. Under SB 1197, life imprisonment without parole shall be imposed for any public officer, person in authority, agency of a person in authority or private individual who would be found guilty of extrajudicial killing. Except in conflict-stricken communities, the local chief executive and chief of police shall also be presumed administratively negligent when there is a notable increase of extrajudicial killing cases within their area of jurisdiction.
Press Release

October 12, 2016 "Of 'ADD' and a DOLE on Auto-Pilot"

On the Confirmation of the Appointment

of Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III

Senate Minority Leader Ralph G. Recto Mr. President: The nominee is our real peace czar. He is waging peace in two fronts: labor and rural insurgency. This has forced him to be our first Labor secretary in history to moonlight in another job, or work two shifts. And it is a testament to his multitasking skills that he is able to perform both functions with distinction. As Labor secretary, he has walked the extra mile to bring workers and employers to an accord of respecting each other's interests. And as head of the GPH panel talking to the NDF, he has flown 20,000 miles in two months, to Norway, to negotiate an end to Asia's longest armed rebellion. In short, his dual job requires lots of shuttle diplomacy and if only for that - on how punishing this is for a seventy-something but who can pass for a thirty-something - I have no qualms in voting to confirm his appointment. Thankfully, he is no stranger to wearing multiple or a succession of hats. He's been a Justice secretary, in fact, twice under two presidents; was a Sol-Gen once; and was Cabinet secretary of President Arroyo. He has also broken the myth of an unelectable bureaucrat. He was town councilor during that ancient period when the Beatles have yet to disband, and I was still singing nursery rhymes. Last Congress, he was deputy minority leader in the House, standing bravely against the Yellow Horde. But what is almost unknown is that he was leader of the parliament of the streets, during Martial Law, when such a calling was hazardous to one's health. It is precisely because of his expertise and experience that he has been chosen to lead DOLE. His being there underscores the importance President Duterte has given to that agency. DOLE's mandate now extends beyond maintaining peace in the workplace, but in bringing more employees to workplaces. It does not merely tell workers of their rights, but trains them with new skills. Its jurisdiction goes beyond national boundaries, to places where there is a Filipino. It now maintains the most number of foreign outposts, next to the DFA. DOLE does not merely provide succor to Filipino workers in distress. It provides them training to make them in demand. DOLE does not only teach our workers vocational skills, but also to be vigilant about their rights. In terms of size, Bebot Bello's constituency is hard to ignore, as there are 42 million of them in the labor force. Their demands are also hard to disregard because they are just: decent pay, good working conditions and regular employment. Add to this is the pressure brought about by one million entrants to the labor force annually, who either have to queue for local job interviews or for passports that will allow them to look for jobs abroad. It is for their sake that I am glad that we have Bebot Bello in DOLE, because with a President suffering from ADD - Attention Devoted to Drugs - the DOLE can go ao autopilot mode, with Bebot at the helm, as it confronts a problem more pernicious than drugs, because worse than the proliferation of drugs is the non-proliferation of employment opportunities. Another great challenge is ending contractualization without ending the viability of businesses, especially small ones. He is, indeed, in for a tightrope act. Kung paano wawakasan ang endo, na ang pagawaan ay hindi ma-de-dedo. Mr. President: With these thoughts giving me comfort, I would like, therefore, to endorse the confirmation of the appointment of Silvestre Bello III, son of Ilocos, Cagayan Valley and the holy land that is Davao, as Secretary of Labor and Employment.
Bam wants to involve youth in government's disaster preparedness efforts

A senator wants to tap the youth in disaster preparedness by giving them an active role in the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC).

In his Senate Bill No. 686 or the Youth Participation in Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Act, Sen. Bam Aquino proposes to include the Filipino youth in the government's disaster risk reduction body to recognize their role in DRRM.

The measure also seeks to empower the youth with information and skills to help communities in times of crisis.

"With impending disasters in the country's future, it is important to move from post-disaster relief to proactive disaster preparedness. And as the nation moves in this direction, it is important to include young Filipinos in this evolving discussion," said Sen. Bam. In the measure, the National Youth Commission (NYC) chairman will be included in the NDRRMC to voice out the concerns and proposals of the Filipino youth on disaster prevention, promotion, education, rescue and rehabilitation, among others.

"There is nothing to lose but so much to gain from engaging the youth in responding to natural calamities," said Sen. Bam.

Sen. Bam recognized several youth organizations that have served as volunteer firefighters, first responders and peacekeepers in their respective localities.

The Cebu-based Rescue Assistance Peacekeeping Intelligence Detail or RAPID was the one of the first responders in Tacloban City after the onslaught of Typhoon Yolanda.

"The group also helped rescue passengers of a passenger vessel that collided with a cargo ship in Cebu last year," Sen. Bam said.

The Ormoc City-based Hayag Youth Organization, for its part, has been teaching swimming, disaster preparedness, first aid and open water safety training to the youth.

Today (October 13), the country joins the international community in commemorating the International Day for Disaster Reduction.
Press Release

October 13, 2016 Cayetano slams CHR over 'disrespectful' remarks vs Gordon, Senate committee Senator Alan Peter Cayetano called out the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) for slamming the Senate Justice Committee and its chairperson, Sen. Richard Gordon, for suspending the hearing on the alleged extrajudicial killings in the country following a heated debate with Sen. Leila de Lima over the "material concealment" of an information about witness Edgar Matobato. Cayetano on Wednesday (October 12) criticized the CHR over one of its commissioners' recent remarks against Gordon, which several senators described as an attack against the entire Senate institution. Last October 4, CHR Commissioner Roberto Eugenio Cadiz issued a statement calling Gordon a "coward" for suspending the proceedings. Cayetano for his part stressed that as a constitutional body, the Commission should have enough respect for the Senate as an independent body, including its processes and procedures. "The public and the media can criticize us all they want... It is their right. But if departments, agencies, or constitutional bodies would be allowed to do this... then they are running the Senate. We are not independent anymore," he said. The senator made his manifestation on the floor after Sen. Juan Miguel Zubiri delivered a privilege speech demanding the CHR to issue a proper apology to Gordon and to members of the committee. Cayetano also took note of the Commission's call for the committee to come up with "fair and credible results cognizant of the latter's independence and competence." "I'd like to clarify, what does that mean? Kung hindi sila satisfied sa results, hindi na ito fair and credible? Kung ang resulta ay lumabas at hindi ito ang resultang gusto ng CHR, they will again slam the Senate. So why apologize in the first place?" Cayetano said. Furthermore, the senator questioned CHR officials for their lack of initiative in conducting their own investigation on cases of human rights violations in the country. He said the Commission is tasked to probe such cases and to submit their findings to the country's prosecutorial services. "The CHR is a constitutional body. It is up to them to investigate human rights violations. So I do not understand why they are making it appear to the public and to the international community that when we stop, tigil na ang imbestigasyon sa human rights... They can investigate 24/7... Yung atin, in aid of legislation," Cayetano said.
Press Release

October 13, 2016 LP SENATORS SUPPORT DUTERTE CABINET APPOINTEES MANILA -- Senator Francis Pangilinan on Wednesday endorsed and confirmed the appointment of Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III. Apart from Dominguez's appointment, those of Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi, Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III, and Presidential Communication Secretary Martin Andanar were also confirmed by the bicameral Commission on Appointments. At the plenary session of the CA, Senator Alan Peter Cayetano asked to put on record his gratitude to the members of the Liberal Party, namely Sen. Pangilinan and Sen. Drilon, who chaired the CA Committee on Finance and CA Committee on Energy respectively. "I noticed that two out of four senior secretaries confirmed, the committees were chaired by members of the Liberal Party. They eloquently sponsored their confirmation. So let me put on record, our gratitude for their acts of statesmanship and also I consider this a vote of confidence in our administration," Senator Cayetano manifested. Senator Pangilinan replied saying: "With that manifestation of Senator Cayetano, this is proof that there is no hidden agenda and that we are here to support the initiatives of this administration that we believe will be good for the country." After the plenary session, Pangilinan was asked on the alleged Plan B of the Liberal Party. "Hindi totoo 'yun na kami sa LP ay gumagawa ng mga hakbang na ganun. Unang-una nakita mo nga kanina dito na ang LP contingent sa Commission on Appointments ay talagang suportado ang ilan, lalo na ang mga haligi ng Gabinete ng ating Pangulong Duterte ay sinuportahan natin at hindi lang sinuportahan, tayo pa ang nagsponsor ng kanilang confirmation," Pangilinan said. "Kung mayroon mang gumagawa noon ay hindi natin sinusuportahan 'yun at 'yun ay hindi tama. Dahil ngayon ang panahon para magkaroon ng tulungan sa abot ng ating makakaya at kung mayroon mang ganung mga hakbang eh kontra 'yun sa ating Saligang Batas. Ako'y naniniwala na dapat ay palakasin natin at patatagin natin ang ating Constitutional democracy." During the committee hearing, Sen. Paolo Benigno IV also expressed his support for Dominguez. "I would just like, for the record, to state my support for Secretary Dominguez. I've known him actually for almost all of my life and as senator, he was one of the first secretaries that I sought an audience with within maybe two to three weeks of his assumption to talk about not only finance but specifically the tax reforms that we need to do. The meetings have been very fruitful and Secretary Dominguez continues to show his expertise on the matter. Just for the record, Mr. Chairman, I support Secretary Dominguez," Aquino said. Pangilinan, Aquino, and Drilon are members of the Liberal Party. DOMINGUEZ POSITION ON ABOLITION OF IRRIGATION FEES, NFA At the Commission on Appointments (CA) public hearing that came before the formal confirmation, Dominguez explained his position on the administration's proposed policies concerning the agriculture sector that were reported in the media. Pangilinan, chairman of the CA Committee on Finance, asked Dominguez, a former secretary of agriculture, about his position on the abolition of irrigation fees, the abolition of the National Food Authority (NFA), and the coco levy fund. "Regarding the irrigation fees, and I have expressed this to the President, I told him that while it is a popular idea to eliminate irrigation fees, I think this is not such a good idea because people who get things for free tend to waste them," Dominguez said explaining his position on the proposed abolition of irrigation fees. "If the water is free, people will not conserve it. It's just the human nature that I observed. I think the irrigation fees should be paid to the irrigation cooperatives for continuous maintenance of the irrigation canals," the new finance secretary added. Dominguez also explained his position on the proposed abolition of the NFA. "NFA definitely has a function and that function is to provide buffer stock for calamities, for unforeseen circumstances in our nation. However, NFA's budget is too small to really intervene in the market and we might as well use those funds to provide the buffer stocking operations.Therefore, I think the NFA should be limited to buffer stock operations," Dominguez said. "With regards to the coco levy fund, and we discussed this with the President and we believe that there is legislation necessary to utilize those coco levy funds for the benefit of farmers in the coconut areas. And we think that legislation should be passed whereby these funds are utilized for the benefit of the people in the coconut areas and I would support using these funds to provide scholarships," Dominguez said on his position on the coco levy fund which was discussed in a public hearing and technical working group by Pangilinan's Senate Committee on Agriculture. "I think it's very difficult right now to identify who paid what into that fund. This fund has been around for over 40 years. Supporting scholarships, supporting better farming methods, maybe supporting fertilization and new intercropping methods with coconuts as well as different varieties of coconuts, I think should be done by legislation," the finance secretary added.
Press Release

October 13, 2016 SEN. JOEL VILLANUEVA's CONCLUDING REMARKS DURING THE 3RD PUBLIC HEARING ON 'ENDO' I think the historical context provided by Senator Drilon is very interesting. Given that, what we need to do here is to balance the ability of employers to achieve efficiency in operation but at the same time also protect the welfare of workers. What we want is, of course, increase productivity and promote economic growth. But the same time, we want to prevent unjust practices against workers in a manner that is supported and promoted globally. Rest assured that this committee will try to achieve the balance between efficiency of operators and protecting and promoting the equity of workers. Right now, I am seeing that this can be done. The security sector was able to regularize their security guards, provide benefits, and at the same time efficiently operate. There are some key features here: 1.)Contractualization can be limited to specialized sectors. 2.)We have to ensure that contractors have the sufficient capital to provide for the salaries and benefits of workers, and at time same time invest in equipment necessary to provide the services they offer. 3.)Increase or improve efficiency in evaluating employees and resolving labor issues, including transparent separation terms and affront payment of termination fees. 4.)Following the model of the security sector: regularize workers, pay regular salaries and benefits, and ensure their right to organize. 5.)Simplifiy employee classification to two: "regular" and "probationary" 6.)We should have appropriate penalties to discourage bad practices of contractualization. I would like to instruct the committee secretary to convene a technical working group (TWG) so we can consolidate the bills with these key provisions with the goal of producing a committee report before the end of the year. Again, I would like to thank everyone for attending this hearing and providing your inputs. We hope for your continuous support and participation in the TWG. Let us work together in achieving a balance in making sure that our industries are profitable and competitive, and at the same time ensure that our workers also benefit from our profitability and economic growth.?? Marami pong salamat at magandang tanghali. God bless us all.
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As BART pleads with voters to raise their property taxes to bring in $3.5 billion in bonds to rebuild the Bay Areas backbone rail transit system, its officials find themselves in an uncomfortable spot.

At a time when BART leaders should be extolling to voters the benefits of rebuilding the 44-year-old system, Measure RR foes are forcing them to explain how they let it fall apart  and why they dont have the money to fix it.

When I talk to regular BART commuters, they say its a matter of trust, said Wendy McKeever Lack of Walnut Creek, a leader of the No on RR campaign. BART didnt plan. They have needs they didnt save for.

But while BART may not have been squirreling away money to rebuild, a Chronicle review of more than 20 years of financial reports found that the agency has consistently funneled money into upkeep. Even as ridership grew and the system expanded, it kept operating costs low compared with similar transit systems, and the percentage of fares that paid for them high.

BART officials say the goal was to find a balance between building extensions, maintaining the core of the system and avoiding service cuts when the economy slowed. They say they have spent riders and taxpayers dollars responsibly. Now, they say, its simply the time to replace key parts  from railcars to computerized train controls to the electrical power systems  that naturally are reaching the end of their useful existence.

The aging system, they argue, needs a $9.6 billion overhaul over the next decade, and they anticipate that only half of that will come from local, state and federal sources. Measure RR, placed on the Nov. 8 ballot by BART directors in June, would raise $3.5 billion by increasing property taxes a yearly average of about $9 per $100,000 of assessed valuation in Alameda, Contra Costa and San Francisco counties. For it to pass, voters in those counties must give it cumulative two-thirds approval.

The measures opponents say voters should be wary of giving more money to BART, which they accuse of mismanagement. As examples, state Sen. Steve Glazer, D-Orinda, the leading voice against Measure RR, points to what he considers excessive labor contracts, BARTs practice of giving nonunion employees matching benefits and inflated overtime costs.

I dont think we should reward bad behavior with billions of dollars in new taxes and expect anything to change, he said in an interview.

He and other critics say BART officials were aware that ridership was growing and the system was aging, and should have acted sooner to raise money for rebuilding it.

They knew all these issues and waited until now, when there are massive problems, to come to voters and appeal for money, Glazer said. It was a combination of lack of leadership and an attempt to manipulate the situation to their advantage.

The Measure RR opponents fear BART will spend the bond money to hand out more raises, a charge the transit agencys leaders deny. State law prohibits using bond money to pay for operating expenses, including salaries, BART officials say. And theyve committed to continuing to put all fare increase revenue into the rebuilding efforts  even if Measure RR passes. But critics charge that agency officials could employ financial trickery to use the bond money for union contracts.

BART is not the only transportation agency seeking financial help from voters. Nationwide, there are $200 billion in transportation tax measures on the Nov. 8 ballot.

Its not just a BART problem or a transit problem, but an infrastructure problem, said Jeff Brown, a Florida State University urban and regional planning professor and transportation funding researcher. In a perfect world, youd be putting aside money, but Im not aware of any agency thats actually done that. Its not a common practice.

Measure RR would fund a decidedly dull collection of projects. Ninety percent of the spending plan calls for replacing and repairing infrastructure  from 90 miles of original rail to waterproofing San Francisco subway stations to rebuilding the electrical equipment that delivers power to the tracks and trains.

The bond package also calls for replacing the original train control system, which BART Director Nick Josefowitz has called Pong era, and which BART officials blame for roughly half of the systems all-too-common delays. A modern train control system would allow BART to shoot 23 percent more trains through the crowded Transbay Tube. Money would also be spent on refurbishing BARTs train yards, maintenance shops and stations, including escalators and elevators.

The remaining 10 percent would go toward relieving crowding in stations. Some of the money would make it easier to find parking for cars and bikes. The bond revenue would pay for study of a second Transbay Tube but would not fund any extensions of the system or new stations.

BART General Manager Grace Crunican acknowledged the plan is boring but said its a big step ahead.

Should voters approve the measure, the rebuilding of BART would begin almost immediately but would continue for about 20 years. Replacing the 90 miles of rail could take eight years. A new train control system wouldnt be in place until perhaps 2023. But BART officials say that if the work doesnt start now, the systems problems will quickly get much worse.

They cite Washingtons Metro rail system, built about the same time as BART with similar technology, and the New York City subway as cautionary examples. Washington Metro has careened into crisis mode in recent years with deadly derailments and fires, a systemwide safety inspection shutdown and a series of line closures and service slowdowns. New York has struggled to rebuild its subways since the 1970s, when the system nearly collapsed.

Were going out (to voters) now, Crunican said, so that we dont become like D.C., so that we dont become like New York City.

Paul Chinn/The Chronicle

Many transit agencies use all of their operating money to cover the daily costs of providing services or the costs of operating the system. But financial records dating back to the 1970s show that BART has consistently diverted some operating money into capital budgets to pay for construction, equipment needs and renovation.

Since 1977, BART officials have allocated anywhere from $500,000 to $196 million a year from its operating revenue  primarily from fares and taxes  toward capital spending, records show. Thats not only unusual but laudable, said Martin Wachs, professor emeritus of civil and environmental engineering and city and regional planning at UC Berkeley and an observer of BART since its start.

Like other public transit agencies, BART doesnt make a profit or cover its costs. But it comes closer than most. In 2014, the most recent year comparable statistics were available, BARTs fares paid for 78 percent of its costs, more than similar systems in the U.S. New York City was second at 63 percent, with Washington Metro third at 62 percent.

BART also has the nations lowest operating costs: 32 cents per passenger per mile. Thats better than the Chicago Transit Authority at 36 cents, the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority at 47 cents and Washington Metro at 59 cents. In addition, a telling statistic shows that between 1986 and 2013, BART has increased the time between car breakdowns about sevenfold  even as its fleet has become the oldest in the nation.

Was BART making silly decisions, irresponsible decisions? No, said Brown, the Florida State University transportation expert. BART is an example of a larger phenomenon  a bigger infrastructure issue.

BARTs biggest challenge  or sin, according to critics still stinging from the systems two strikes in 2013  is labor.

The rail systems labor costs are indeed on the high side for comparable transit agencies. According to the National Transit Database, BART spends the third-highest percentage of its operating budget on labor  82.3 percent, just behind the Chicago Transit Authority and Atlantas system. New York and Washington both come in lower than BART.

Should Measure RR be defeated, the critics argue, BART could rewrite it to include a reduction in labor costs or guarantee that service would continue during a strike to make it more palatable to voters.

A no vote today doesnt mean we dont care about BART but that we want them to come back with a better, smarter plan, Glaser said during a recent debate on KQED Forum.

BART officials say such a delay will only drive up costs.

The impact of waiting is deteriorating BART service and safety, said Tom Radulovich, BART board president. Its just going to be a bigger problem the longer we wait.

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Much like the owner of a new car, BART didnt have to spend a lot on upkeep in its early days.

BART began operating on Sept. 11, 1972, and efforts in the first decade focused on getting trains running smoothly. As BART rolled into the 1980s and ridership increased, the focus shifted to expanding capacity. More railcars were purchased, the electrical system was upgraded, and a third track through downtown Oakland was laid.

In the 1990s, with BART nearing the 20-year mark, officials started planning its first big renovation project, securing government grants and passing a series of fare increases. That money helped pay for overhauling the oldest rail cars, replacing balky ticket machines and fare gates, and refurbishing escalators and elevators. BART also expanded its maintenance centers and replaced train destination signs and installed new lighting and roofs at stations and repaved parking lots.

At the same time, pressure increased to expand the system to meet a growing ridership, and the Northridge (Los Angeles County) and Kobe, Japan, earthquakes led to studies that showed the need for seismic upgrades. Expansion and earthquake safety would dominate capital spending into the 2000s.

For most of the first decade of the 2000s, ridership dropped and sales taxes plunged. From 2004 to 2007, BART officials cut by more than half the amount of operating money it was diverting to capital spending. Then came the recession.

Because of the recession and resulting lack of available operating funding ... there is a large amount of unfunded need on the capital side, Robert Umbreit, BARTs budget manager, wrote in a 2010 year-end budget memo.

But when the economy, as well as ridership and sales tax revenue, rebounded in 2011, BART officials got serious about rehabilitating the system. In 2012, the BART board directed that all revenue from biennial fare increases be put into the renovations, specifically what BART calls the Big Three: new railcars, a modernized rail maintenance center in Hayward and an upgraded train control system.

Since then, BART has maintained a fairly high level of capital spending. In the current budget, two-thirds of the capital budget is committed to rebuilding.

But it isnt enough, BART officials say. In 2013, BART officials began voicing the need to increase taxes to rejuvenate the system. In June, its directors voted unanimously to place Measure RR on the ballot.

Whether or not voters decide to approve Measure RR, few would dispute that BART needs to be repaired and rebuilt. Industry experts say that while its never easy to ask voters to raise their taxes, this is the right time.

Robert Puentes, president and CEO of the Eno Center for Transportation, an independent nonprofit think tank, likened BARTs situation to that of the New York subway, and other older transit systems, in the 1970s, when they were on the verge of collapse and in need of major investments.

He said its time for BART, Washington Metro and Atlantas metro system, all opened in the 1970s, to fix themselves.

If they dont do it now, things are going to start falling apart, he said.

Michael Cabanatuan is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: mcabanatuan@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @ctuan

Online extra

More coverage: How decisions made  and not made  at critical junctures helped propel BART into its current morass.http://bit.ly/2c0ZApZ
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When Teresa Goines opened Old Skool Cafe in the Bayview in 2012 she wanted to sell liquor. The jazz-themed restaurant employs at-risk youth, and Goines thought liquor sales would help the struggling restaurant become profitable.

A first-time restaurateur, she was shocked to learn the cost of buying a full liquor license: around $300,000. It was way too expensive, said Goines. She abandoned the idea and sells beer and wine.

Goines experience isnt unique in the Bayview, a historically blue-collar, African American neighborhood that has seen a modest influx of new housing and retail in recent years. Not a single restaurant on its Third Street commercial corridor has a liquor license, according to the city. That could change next year.

For the first time in 77 years, the state will sell new liquor licenses to restaurants in San Francisco  for $13,800 apiece  under a state law signed by Gov. Jerry Brown last month. It takes effect Jan. 1. The licenses  there are only five  will be sold to restaurants located among seven outlying commercial corridors: Third Street in the Bayview, Mission Street in the Excelsior, San Bruno Avenue, Ocean Avenue, Noriega Street, Taraval Street and parts of Visitacion Valley.

Those corridors have largely been left out of an open-market system where restaurants sell liquor licenses to one another at high prices. Most of the restaurants that can afford them are in wealthier neighborhoods that see a lot of tourists and foot traffic.

Scott Strazzante/The Chronicle

The reason for their high cost is a 1939 state law that ties the number of licenses for restaurants and bars to a countys population  1 per 2,000 residents. Thats about 418 licenses under San Franciscos current population. When the law was enacted, the city was allowed to keep the 1,000-plus licenses already issued. None has been issued since.

The hope is that the new licenses will spur economic activity in outlying neighborhoods.

It is a very creative approach to revitalizing challenged neighborhood commercial districts and will provide new businesses and new job opportunities, said state Sen. Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, who wrote the new law. A full-service liquor license for a prospective restaurant can be a determining factor in its success.

Andrea Ferrucci, co-owner of the Dark Horse Inn in the Excelsior, said she will try to get one of the new licenses. In the five years since Ferrucci opened the Dark Horse Inn, which specializes in craft beer, the restaurant has attracted a loyal neighborhood following. Ferrucci wants to open another restaurant in the Excelsior that serves fancy cocktails.

The profit margin on food is so small that you definitely need the alcohol sales to balance things out, she said.

Whether Ferrucci opens the new restaurant hinges on winning one of the new liquor licenses. Ferrucci said she absolutely cannot afford the $300,000 it costs on the open market.

To get one of the five new liquor licenses, restaurants in the seven corridors  bars dont qualify  have to show that the community supports the application and pay $13,800 to enter a lottery. If they arent selected, they are refunded the money, minus $100.

Restaurants that win the licenses are prohibited from reselling them. If the restaurant closes, it has to relinquish the license to the California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control, which will hold a lottery to issue it to another establishment.

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Five licenses isnt a lot. Leno and city officials sought 28 new licenses  four for each designated neighborhood  but the Assembly Committee on Governmental Organization reduced the number to five.

The committee was concerned that approving 28 licenses would set a bad precedent, especially considering that no county had ever been given more than five extra licenses in a given year.

Does this mean that Los Angeles County might be eligible for up to 364 licenses since its population is approximately 13 times greater than San Francisco County? the committee analysis report said.

The analysis also criticized the idea that community support  or opposition  for a restaurants liquor license application could be properly judged. Who would be empowered to make the final determination of gauging the success, or lack thereof, relating to the meeting? the report said.

Todd Rufo, director of the citys Office of Economic and Workforce Development, which sponsored the legislation, doesnt foresee problems with the law. He thinks it will not only spur economic activity but also contribute to a neighborly feel for those residents who want to get food  and a cocktail  close to home.

The goal is to demonstrate success, and take it further, Rufo said.

Emily Green is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: egreen@sfchronicle.com

Twitter: @emilytgreen
Its difficult to picture a National Park Service ranger, in olive drab uniform and a campaign Smokey Bear hat, standing guard in front of a tapas restaurant on San Franciscos Montgomery Street.

But national parks arent just about forests and landscapes anymore.

The restaurant is the former site of the Black Cat Cafe, which according to local experts is among the most historically important LGBT sites in San Francisco. And if the naming of New Yorks Stonewall Inn as a national monument back in June is any indication, more sites significant in gay history may soon find their place alongside Yosemite, Yellowstone and the Lincoln Memorial.

In a city synonymous with the gay rights movement, that raises a question: What sites or neighborhoods that have been part of that history should be considered for such a designation next?

Were finally reaching a point where LGBT people can start to say there are places that have been meaningful to us, individually and collectively, culturally, politically, said Gerard Koskovich, a founder of the San Francisco GLBT Historical Society, places where we can find the stories of our persecution, our struggles, our joys, our effort to create a life for ourselves against the odds.

The creation of Stonewall National Monument not only marked the first time a landmark related to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender history reached that status, but was the most visible step in a campaign the National Park Service started in 2014 to identify sites of LGBT heritage and tell their stories.

Its really important that LGBT people begin to have a sense of place-based history and that we begin to identify what places can tell parts of our story in a meaningful way, Koskovich said.

Scott Strazzante/The Chronicle

Donna Graves, a Berkeley public historian who co-wrote San Franciscos Historic Context Statement for LGBTQ History, a 380-page report on gay culture and history in the city that was released last October, said there are plenty of sites deserving of such recognition and preservation.

San Francisco, she said, has been an epicenter for queer political, social and cultural organizing, and it was one of the early places to have a large enough and visible enough community.

In the 1940s and 1950s, it became a magnet, Graves said. Its been a place of pilgrimage, a draw for many people who could not be themselves in the places they grew up. Those people created a new vision for what life could be.



The Historic Context Statement is one of several steps taken in recent years, locally and nationally, to start identifying and preserving more LGBT history. In May 2014, Interior Secretary Interior Sally Jewell announced an LGBTQ Heritage Initiative to underscore the value and increase the representation of LGBTQ sites on the National Register of Historic places and the list of National Historic Landmarks. Among the goals of the initiative was the creation of a national map of LGBTQ places across the country.

Another crucial goal, according to Jeremy Barnum, a spokesman for the National Park Service, is the LGBTQ Theme Study to interpret and commemorate such sites. The 1,262-page theme study, including 420 pages that reference San Francisco, was released Tuesday.

As Americas storyteller, the National Park Service is working to identify those places across the country that tell that story of the LGBTQ experience in America, Barnum said.

Scott Strazzante/The Chronicle

Among obvious choices in the Bay Area for eventual national historic status are Castro Camera, Harvey Milks home and campaign headquarters; the Twin Peaks bar at 17th and Market Streets, possibly the first gay bar in the nation to feature full-length, open plate glass windows so people could see inside; and the Jose Theater, the first home of the Names Project AIDS Memorial Quilt.

Less obvious, but just as important, said Koskovich of the GLBT Historical Society, is the aforementioned Black Cat Cafe at 701 Montgomery St.

The space inside the Canessa Printing Co. building had been a popular bar in the 1960s with drag performers, including Jose Sarria, who after a number of police raids on the bar in 1961 decided to run for supervisor. Sarria is believed to be the first openly gay candidate for elected office in the country.

This was the first person who stood up and said, Im not a pariah.  I have nothing to be ashamed of. Im a full-fledged citizen like everyone else. And Im going to show them were that by running for public office, said Koskovich, who compared the site in importance with the Stonewall Inn. Thats a story that, in many ways, I find more interesting.

The building is still there, well preserved, and the shape of the interior space is still intact, Koskovich said.

Richard Drew/Associated Press

Graves said she would add the Womens Building in the Mission District to a list of likely nominations, because of its history with so many communities that are underrepresented in historic preservation efforts, as well as the site of Comptons Cafeteria at Turk and Taylor streets. In August 1966, almost three years before the Stonewall Inn riots, patrons  mostly drag queens, trans women and gay men  rioted against harassment by the San Francisco Police Department. Theres a privately placed plaque in the sidewalk at the site, but no official recognition of that history.



The National Park Service has three basic levels of historic recognition at the national level. The most common is placement on the National Register of Historic Places (more than 90,000 sites nationwide), which requires that nominations go through the State Office of Historical Preservation and, if approved, be forwarded to the National Park Service for consideration.

More exclusive is designation as a National Historic Landmark and, above that, National Park Service status, of which there are 19 designations, including National Park, National Monument and National Historic Site. Historic Landmark and National Park Service designations also come from nominations, but require either congressional or presidential approval.

In the case of Stonewall, portions of it were already designated a National Historical Landmark back in 2000, the only LGBT-related site that had reached that status at the time. (Chicagos Henry Gerber House has since been named a National Historical Landmark.) In recent years, elected officials and preservationists pushed for National Historic Site status for Stonewall.

I think when the (LGBTQ Heritage) Initiative first started out, we had one or two properties that were even on the register or were National Historic Landmarks at all, Barnum said. Were up to 10 now, but in a country of 300 million people, with a long history, thats clearly not enough.

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Two years into the initiative, however, there are no San Francisco sites listed in the National Register associated with LGBT culture or history. In fact, of the 10 LGBT sites with national historic status, including Stonewall National Monument and the Gerber House in Chicago, none is west of the Mississippi River. And according to the Californias Office of Historic Preservation, only one LGBT-related site has been nominated in the state  the site of Studio One in West Hollywood  and none in San Francisco.

Barnum points out that the National Park Service itself doesnt seek out nominations, although the study released Tuesday should go a long way toward encouraging them.

Ultimately it will be up to local communities or state historic preservation offices  to make that nomination, he said. Frankly, theres not much the National Park Service can do until we receive those nominations.

Shelley Caltagirone, historic preservation planner with the city of San Francisco, said there are nominations in the works for LGBT-related sites, as well as for sites that are significant to more than one community, such as the Japantown YWCA, which involves both LGBT and Japanese American heritage.

With the help of a National Park Service grant for identifying and nominating underrepresented communities, city staff has been working over the summer to produce a work plan for National Register designation that, she said, does focus quite a bit on LGBTQ historic places.

About half of the 30 sites proposed in the plan are related to LGBT history, Caltagirone said.



The city has its own historical landmark designation  and obtaining local recognition often offers more protections than national historical status does, according to Caltagirone. Of the four neighborhoods the city has identified as significant to LGBT heritage  the Castro, Polk Gulch, the Tenderloin and North Beach  only the Jackson Square area of North Beach has been named a landmark district. There are three individual San Francisco landmarks with LGBT ties, including the Twin Peaks Tavern.

Koskovich and Graves said nominations are particularly time-intensive and costly, but there are other ways to note their heritage without nominating new sites, including adding LGBT information to relevant sites already designated as historic.

The Black Cat Cafe site, for instance, is already on the National Register of Historic Places as part of the Jackson Square Historic District, but there is no mention of its LGBT heritage.

There are already an awful lot of sites ... that have LGBT stories that are not mentioned in the narrative, Koskovich said. Its much easier to do the work to amend the narrative of a site that is already listed than to start from zero to get a site classified.

San Francisco Supervisor Scott Wiener, whose district includes the Castro, said the City Planning Departments work plan includes developing nominations for sites that are clearly eligible for national recognition, including Milks camera shop, the Twin Peaks tavern, and the sites of Comptons Cafeteria and the Jose Theater.

These places are incredibly meaningful for the history and growth of the LGBT community and absolutely should be recognized as national monuments, Wiener said. Its my hope that, if not all of them, that some of them will move forward.

Spud Hilton is the editor of Travel. Email: shilton@sfchronicle.com Twitter and Instagram: @spudhilton
Russia's President Vladimir Putin (2nd L) visits a refinery of Russian oil giant Rosneft in the Black Sea port of Tuapse in southern Russia, on October 11, 2013 (AFP Photo/Alexei Nikolsky)

Moscow (AFP) - Once a little-known firm, Russia's Rosneft has enjoyed a meteoric rise under President Vladimir Putin's rule to become the world's largest publicly traded oil company.

Headed by the Kremlin strongman's powerful ally Igor Sechin, it has scooped up some of the most prized assets in the Russian oil sector in a series of controversial deals.

Now after the government announced Rosneft's takeover of a controlling stake in sixth-biggest producer Bashneft for $5.2 billion on Wednesday, here's a look back at how its fortunes grew:

- The Yukos affair -

2004 was a big year for state-controlled Rosneft. That was when Putin appointed Sechin -- his long-time right-hand man -- the chairman of its board.

It was also just a few months after law enforcement officials dramatically arrested Mikhail Khodorkovsky, head of what was then Russia's biggest oil company Yukos.

Khodorkovsky's detention and eventual jailing on vast tax evasion charges were slammed as politically motivated, but soon the government set about breaking up his oil giant to sell off the company's alleged debts.

The main beneficiary of this enforced firesale -- Rosneft. It emerged out of obscurity to gobble up the juiciest chunks of Khodorkovsky's defunct empire at knockdown prices after a spate of fishy state-run auctions.

By 2005 the firm was the biggest producer in Russia and went public in London a year later in one of the biggest floatations ever.

The Yukos affair, however, continued to dog Rosneft for years and a long-running legal battle between the company and former Yukos shareholders was only settled in 2015.

- TNK-BP takeover -

While the devouring of Yukos transformed Rosneft into the biggest player in Russia, its next major acquirement catapulted it to the top of the league worldwide.

TNK-BP was a lucrative joint venture between the British giant BP and a consortium of Russian billionaire oligarchs.

Despite being hailed as a symbol of cooperation, it hit major problems as relations soured between the two sides. TNK-BP faced a string of lawsuits and tax probes as the battle for control intensified.

Story continues

In leaked US diplomatic cables from 2008, a senior advisor to BP blamed Sechin for the standoff and said he was angling for Rosneft to take a bite out of the firm.

Eventually in 2013 someone finally came up with the cash to buy TNK-BP -- and as predicted that turned out to be Rosneft. Despite criticism from government liberals, Sechin cobbled together huge loans to slap $55 billion on the table in Russia's largest ever takeover deal.

The move made Rosneft the biggest publicly floated producer with 4 million barrels per day and saw BP bolster its stake in the firm to 20 percent.

- Controversial Bashneft sell-off -

In 2014, some ten years after the start of the Yukos affair, Russia's sixth-biggest producer Bashneft found itself in the sights of the authorities. The firm's billionaire owner Vladimir Yevtushenkov was accused of money-laundering linked to its privatisation in the early 2000s.

Eventually investigations into Yevtushenkov were dropped but a court handed over control of Bashneft -- based in the central city of Ufa -- to the state.

The ruling came as the Russian economy was already spiralling towards crisis and the government was looking for new sources of cash to cover its growing deficit.

Majority state-owned Rosneft -- suffering under Western sanctions over Ukraine -- seemed like an unlikely fit as a potential buyer in a sale aimed to swell official coffers and the idea was dismissed by some at the top.

But Rosneft is officially not a state company and Sechin has defied officials to stop him from putting in an offer for Bashneft.

Originally set for August, the sale was then suspended, with Putin insisting that "at the end of the day, the most important thing for the budget is who will pay the most".

Rosneft then stumped up $5.2 billion for just over 50 percent of Bashneft, higher than analyst estimates.

The deal could now see Rosneft's daily production rise to 5.6 million barrels a day and allow the company to dethrone gas behemoth Gazprom -- headed by Sechin's reputed foe Alexei Miller -- as the country's largest company.
What started out as an impromptu suggestion  naming the Central Subway Muni Metro station in Chinatown after Rose Pak  is inching closer to reality.

Pak, who died last month, was one of the most important figures in San Francisco politics. She was a power broker, community activist and forceful advocate for the Chinatown community. While never a politician herself, she mentored and promoted the careers of many current and former politicians  Mayor Ed Lee among them.

Last week, the Board of Supervisors unanimously supported a resolution introduced by four supervisors  Jane Kim, Aaron Peskin, Norman Yee and David Campos  calling on the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency to name the Central Subway stop the Rose Pak Station.

The resolution says Pak dedicated more than 40 years working toward the station and that she played an instrumental role in securing $500 million in federal funding for the project. It also says the station would not have been possible without the advocacy and support of Rose Pak.

Opposition to the resolution came from practitioners of the Falun Gong spiritual movement. They accuse the Chinese government of persecuting them  a criticism they extended to Pak. Among their grievances is that Pak refused to let them participate in the Chinese New Years parade in Chinatown.

 Emily Green

New captain: San Francisco didnt have to sail far to find its new director of the Port of San Francisco.

Mayor Ed Lee has named Elaine Forbes, the ports interim director since February, as its permanent executive director. Forbes previously served as the ports deputy director.

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Elaines extensive leadership experience at the Port of San Francisco and her 15 years of invaluable experience serving our citys residents makes her an outstanding candidate to serve the port, its diverse stakeholders and the 24 million people that come to our citys waterfront annually, Lee said in a statement.

The port manages 7 miles of waterfront property that includes Fishermans Wharf, renovated piers along the Embarcadero, and the small working port on the citys south end. The port is also working on a proposed ferry terminal at Agua Vista Park on 16th Street.

 Emily Green

Emily Green is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: cityinsider@sfchronicle.com, egreen@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @sfcityinsider, @emilytgreen
John Stumpf, the embattled chairman and chief executive of Wells Fargo & Co., has retired from the company and the board, effective immediately, the San Francisco bank announced Wednesday.

Tim Sloan, the banks president and chief operating officer, will succeed him as CEO, join the board and remain as president.

Stumpf, 63, has been under pressure to resign since Sept. 8, when regulators disclosed in a settlement agreement that the bank had fired 5,300 employees for allegedly opening more than 2 million deposit, credit or debit card accounts since 2011 without customers knowledge or consent.

Stumpf later faced a grilling on Capitol Hill by the Senate Banking and House Financial Services committees, which did not go well. His departure became inevitable after his testimonies before Congress, said Ed Mills, an analyst with the investment firm FBR. The Hill felt he was doing too little too late. He wasnt able to say, I learned about this on this date, this is the decisive action I took, these are the people who were held accountable. He was not able to point to someone more senior than a branch manager that had been held accountable.

It was a swift downfall for Stumpf, whom Morningstar named CEO of the year for 2015. He joined Wells Fargo in 1982 as part of the former Norwest Bank, becoming Wells Fargos CEO in June 2007 and its chairman in January 2010.

On Monday, Wells announced a management shakeup that seemed to consolidate power under Sloan, 56, who had been considered Stumpfs heir apparent since before the scandal broke. The New York Times reported that one of Sloans direct reports when he was promoted to chief operating officer in November was Carrie Tolstedt, who ran the banks nationwide branch network until the bank announced in July that she would resign.

Following cries for a clawback of her departure package, Tolstedt said she will forfeit all of her $19 million worth of unvested stock awards and not exercise some $34 million in stock options. Stumpf also said last month that he would forfeit $41 million in unvested stock awards.

Stumpf will not receive any severance pay, the company said. But he will walk away with stock and retirement benefits worth an estimated $134 million, according to executive-pay firm Equilar.

Wells Fargos stock has fallen 9.2 percent since news of the settlement broke. As part of the deal, the bank paid a total of $185 million in fines and penalties to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the city and county of Los Angeles. Los Angeles City Attorney Mike Feuer opened an investigation into Wells after the Los Angeles Times reported in 2013 that to meet aggressive sales quotas, employees opened unneeded accounts for customers and forged client signatures.

Critics have said Wells Fargos long-standing cross-selling strategy, which emphasizes selling multiple products to customers, led to the fraudulent account openings. In an interview Wednesday, Sloan said, I dont believe that strategy was fundamentally flawed. We are not abandoning our cross-sell focus. Cross-sell is shorthand for growing relationships with our customers. Where we had a breakdown ... was the incentive compensation programs within our retail bank. He said it created inappropriate incentives for some of our team members. Not all of them.

Wells announced Sept. 13 it would end sales quotas for branch employees starting Jan. 1, but later moved the effective date up to Oct. 1.

Sloan said Tolstedt was not fired. Carrie and I sat down last summer, he said. I thought it was a good idea for the retail banking business  to go in another direction.

Analyst Mills does not think Stumpfs departure will quiet Congress. Some members have asked for further investigations and a breakup of the bank on the grounds that its too big to manage. They struck a chord with the American people and intend to ride this as much as possible. This was a banking issue the average American could understand, Mills said.

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The state treasurers of California and Illinois announced they would suspend certain types of investment activities with the bank. In a statement Wednesday, California Treasurer John Chiang said, Mr. Stumpfs departure does nothing to address the harsh reality that fraudulent banking practices have become far too common. The craven greed found at Wells Fargo is not an isolated case but is only indicative of a growing breakdown of integrity in the culture of our financial institutions.

The bank said Stephen Sanger, the boards lead director, will serve as nonexecutive chairman. He is a former CEO of General Mills. Independent director Elizabeth Duke, a former member of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, will serve as vice chair.

In a statement, Sanger said, John Stumpf has dedicated his professional life to banking, successfully leading Wells Fargo through the financial crisis and the largest merger in banking history, and helping to create one of the strongest and most well-known financial services companies in the world. However, he believes new leadership at this time is appropriate to guide Wells Fargo through its current challenges and take the company forward.

Stumpf has also served on the board of oil giant Chevron Corp., based in San Ramon, since 2010. Chevron spokesman Kent Robertson said in an email Wednesday that under company policy, continued service on Chevrons Board of Directors upon change in job status is a matter that must be addressed by the Chevron board. Therefore, it would be premature to comment at this time.

San Francisco Chronicle staff writer David Baker contributed to this report.

Kathleen Pender is a San Francisco Chronicle columnist. Email: kpender@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @kathpender
A 2-year-old Stockton boys suspicious death last week was ruled a homicide after an autopsy, police said Wednesday.

Family members of the boy, whose name was not released, took him to a Pleasanton hospital Friday where he later died, said Officer Joe Silva, a Stockton Police Department spokesman.

Pleasanton Police called officials in Stockton, where the child lived, the next day, Silva said.

On Wednesday, preliminary results from an autopsy led officials to begin a homicide investigation. Officials would not disclose what led to the classification.

Investigators with Pleasanton police initially thought the incident took place in Oakland. A lead from Oakland police led officers to a home on the 2500 block of Diamond Oaks Street in Stockton, where the incident occurred.

Anyone with more information was encouraged to call police at (209) 937-8377. Crime Stoppers pays cash rewards of up to $10,000 for information leading to arrests and can be reached at (209) 946-0600.

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Jenna Lyons is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: jlyons@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @JennaJourno
The president of San Jose State University addressed concerns from students that they werent told sooner about a school water polo player accused in two sexual assaults, saying earlier notification wasnt warranted because there was no imminent safety threat to the campus community.

SJSU President Mary Papazians email to students Wednesday afternoon came just after a university spokeswoman confirmed a student athlete was under investigation for the sex attacks that occurred in early September, and that he had returned to his home out of the country.

The totality of information available at the time  including the fact that the suspect had been identified and was being closely monitored  led to the determination that there was no imminent safety threat to the campus community, Papazian wrote in her email.

Two women, also SJSU students, accused the freshman athlete of assaulting them at an off-campus party over the Labor Day weekend.

San Jose Police Department detectives investigated the sexual assaults for about a month before handing over their findings to the Santa Clara County district attorneys office.

The water polo player, an international student, returned to his home country while the Santa Clara County district attorneys office determines whether to press charges, said Pat Harris, the university spokeswoman, said Wednesday before Papazian sent out her email.

The water polo player was suspended from school and barred from campus, but many students were surprised that they didnt hear of the allegations until Wednesday.

Chelsie Guzman, a fourth-year international and business student, said she was especially disturbed that students didnt receive an alert earlier. Students typically get an alert whenever something like this happens either on campus or near campus, she 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.

While we are confident that this was a reasonable decision based on what we knew, I very much appreciate this concern, Papazian said in her email to students. We will be reviewing all existing protocols and processes in collaboration with our newly established Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusive Excellence and many others.

Sarah Ravani is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: sravani@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @SarRavani
In 2014 we had the Great Lime Shortage. Is 2016 gearing up to be the year of the Great Avocado Shortage?

The causes are similar: A fruit grown in Mexico is not making its way north. While deeply embedded in Californias food identity  and a major crop here  most U.S. avocados are imported from Mexico.

Mexican growers are withholding fruit as they try to negotiate higher payment from packers, and now the wholesale avocado price is two to four times higher than usual. As the primary U.S. supplier this time of year, after Californias season has ended and not much is coming out of Chile or Peru, the growers in Mexico have leverage.

Right now, its one or two countries supplying the world with avocados, said Dimitri Vardakastanis, co-owner of three San Francisco grocery stores, including Guss Market. Vardakastanis has noticed sharp price increases over the past three months, and is now selling avocados for $1.99 each, $2.99 for organic.

Last year at this time, the United States imported 45 million pounds of avocados weekly from Mexico, but it imported only 13 million pounds last week, according to the Hass Avocado Board. Thats after a somewhat difficult California harvest, which runs spring through summer, with a little bit in fall. The states avocado farms struggled with drought-weakened trees that produced less and smaller fruit than usual, said Phil Henry, president of Henry Avocado Co., a grower and importer in Escondido (San Diego County).

There has been an extreme slowdown of harvest and in some cases a stoppage of harvest, said Henry of the Mexican growers. Last week, they were down to 25 percent of normal volume, and this week less than 10 percent of usual.

Henry thinks price negotiations with growers should resolve any day now, but there will be a lag after harvest resumes. It takes several days to pack and ship avocados from Mexico to the Bay Area; the fruit then must ripen two to four days before it is sent to markets and restaurants.

Avocados have been imported into the United States from Mexico only since 1997, when a trade ban was lifted, and only since 2007 into California. In 2015, the U.S. brought in 886,392 tons of avocados from Mexico, while California supplied 131,289 tons, according to the Hass Avocado Board.

Limes sold in the U.S. also come primarily from Mexico, and they were severely limited in 2014 due to drought and a cold winter, and also because growers, some controlled by drug cartels, withheld supply. Many speculate there are similar forces at work with avocados.

Most of the growers in Mexico have wanted to harvest, but its been a small minority of growers that have wanted to exert this work stoppage, said Henry. Of course its also hurting the workers, the harvesters, the people that do the packing and truck drivers going north.

While larger supermarket chains wont have as much of a problem because they have contracts in place that guarantee supply, smaller retailers and restaurants will be hit, said Sarah Garcia, co-owner of Pacific Produce, a South San Francisco distributor.

I think this is more severe than the lime situation, because we buy so many avocados in this country, she said.

But Vardakastanis was adamant that his familys stores wont run out of avocados, because their suppliers have plenty in storage. They are just having difficulty getting properly ripe fruit.

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He and his staff advise customers who crave avocados for their salads, smoothies and toast to keep them out of direct sunlight for ripening. Dont refrigerate them, he said. Put them next to apples or oranges that release gases that ripen avocados.

At the four Bay Area Tacolicious restaurants, which go through more than 1,000 avocados a day for salsa, guacamole and other dishes, owner Joe Hargrave is philosophical about the shortage. Even though his cost for a 40-piece case of avocados is higher than $80, compared with the usual $39 to $59, he doesnt plan to change menu prices.

He jokingly presented a strategy thats unlikely to convince many avocado lovers: Maybe well have our waiters say you shouldnt get the guacamole, its not very good.
When Dennis Lee, chef of Namu Gaji, finishes work, he immediately meets up with the restaurants management team.

Sometimes he bikes home from the Mission with David, his youngest brother and Namus general manager. Sometimes he takes an Uber with his partner, Misa Arnberger, another manager. At the three-story house they all share in the Outer Sunset, theyll find Jeff Kim, a childhood friend who manages the Namu farmers market stand, and middle brother Daniel, who arrived home hours before on the Facebook shuttle. Dennis two young daughters are a constant presence. So is a black pit bull named Shasta.

Namu Gaji, the second incarnation of a restaurant that first opened in the Richmond District in 2006, is that rare space in the Mission: a neighborhood bistro where you can get a reservation and reliably good, often stellar, food. Its burger, okonomiyaki (savory pancake) and ramyeon (Korean-style ramen) are as established in San Franciscos culinary consciousness as Delfinas trippa alla Fiorentina and Yank Sings soup dumplings. The views from the high wood counters that circle the window-wrapped dining room capture the ever-present line for Bi-Rite Creamery and, beyond, the hills of Dolores Park.

Namu isnt a restaurant so much as a family  or perhaps its more appropriate to call it a clan, one that encompasses romantic partners and cooks, farmers and fellow restaurateurs.

How many modern restaurants do you think of as a family-run business? says Bar Tartine chef Nick Balla, who has known Dennis Lee since the two worked together 12 years ago. At Namu, everybody pitches in. Everybody has a piece of it.

When Namu opened, the media considered it an iconoclastic little place on the fringes of San Franciscos chef community. In retrospect, it has become clear that the Lees restaurant helped set the tone for one of the most significant culinary movements to change dining in the Bay Area.

In the past decade, more chefs here have melded formal cooking techniques with local ingredients and their own familys culinary heritage, be it Swedish or Cantonese. Dennis Lee has been transforming his own experience into dishes for so long, pushing his ideas so far, that no hyphenated term  Korean-American, pan-Asian, farm-to-table  accurately defines what hes doing.

As it prepares for a major expansion, Namu Gaji has matured into a place that represents what tourists and residents love most about dining in San Francisco: a restaurant that is polished without pretension, aware of both micro-trends and micro-seasons and yet never strays from a singular point of view.

All of that comes out of a childhood far from Northern California: the suburbs of Boston.

The shared trait when interviewing all three brothers at once is their direct, unflinching gaze. Dennis, the eldest, is not so much intense as intent, wasting no time on spin or prevarication. Daniel enters the conversation only when called on and delivers his answers with a small, wry smile. David opens with the broadest grin and leans in to speak, settling back only when one of his siblings is talking.

Their maternal aunt was the first to emigrate from South Korea to Boston, where she opened what may have been the first Japanese restaurant in the region. That restaurant allowed her to bring over her sisters, including the Lees mother, Soonyoung, each of whom worked in their siblings restaurants until they could open one of their own.

Soonyoung, in turn, helped her husband come to the United States. He eventually studied engineering at the University of Massachusetts, and similar to his wifes family, sponsored his four sisters and brothers immigration. They all worked together at the manufacturing business he started.

Dennis was born in 1979, Daniel 1981, David 1983. The three brothers spent their early childhoods in an apartment building outside Boston in the pressure cooker of the Korean expat community, immersed in their familys businesses and interpersonal drama, learning English only when they went to school.

I was the Christopher Columbus of the family, Dennis says. His parents were like a lot of immigrants, he adds: Trust the system, trust your kids to be taken care of by the system, and (tell your kids) you need to get straight As and do what your teachers tell you.

With little help from his parents, Dennis had to figure out how school bureaucracy worked, not to mention the millions of social cues that other kids would judge him on  and then teach all those skills to his brothers. The experience forged a bond of mutual reliance that mirrored their broader familys.

It also stamped into them the roles they still play: Dennis the leader, the one who simultaneously rebels and protects; Daniel the studious one who smooths the waters; David the socially assured extrovert who benefited most from his elder brothers advice.

In 1990, Soonyoung Lee finally opened her own restaurant 30 minutes west of Boston, serving Japanese, Korean and Thai food. All three sons, then in their teens and early 20s, were pulled into the work, David most of all.

Yet their parents were happy to send all three sons off to college, setting them on the well-paved road to a well-paying career. Daniel and David both swore theyd never work in restaurants again.

Dennis had other ideas.

Stephen Lam/Special to The Chronicle

In the summer of 2006, Dennis called David with a request: Could he move to San Francisco to help operate a fleet of hot dog carts?

At the time, David had just finished his degree in sound engineering, and Daniel was in Chicago working in an engineering firm. Theyd all spent a summer in San Francisco a few years before  our last big shebang together, David says  before their lives diverged.

Dennis had settled in San Francisco first, working at an urban street-wear company, then as a manager at Ozumo, a high-end Japanese restaurant in the Financial District. He and his then-girlfriend had two daughters. Like his parents, the former economics major wanted to start a business.

By 2006, hed begun talking to a friend about doing something to elevate street food, which at that time was a novel idea. His friend, a metal worker, modified a few hot dog carts to look stylish, and Dennis bid for a city contract providing concessions in Golden Gate Park.

Somewhat to his shock, the city accepted his bid. Less surprisingly, David moved west to help.

As Happy Belly, their nascent company, ramped up, selling organic hot dogs and chicken sandwiches around the park, the Lees rented a small retail space on Balboa Street and converted it to a commercial kitchen. As they tiled the floors and hired friends of friends to build the kitchen, they realized the concession business wasnt as lucrative as theyd hoped. Happy Belly died to give birth to Namu, which opened in December 2006.

Dennis and David decided Namu would be an izakaya with casual eats, good beer and sake, and a tuned-in vibe. Soonyoungs kimchi was on the panchan platter and they topped their burger with pickled daikon, but the restaurant wasnt Korean by any measure. The menu included grilled skirt steak, mushroom dumplings with dashi and Vietnamese spring rolls.

Namus food was made by and for a generation that grew up with bibimbap, Chick Fil-A sandwiches, sushi and Buffalo wings as their everyday foods, and who didnt question the value of shopping for produce at the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market. Namu became one of the places industry pros went on their nights off.

In the restaurants first year, Daniel flew out to visit so often that his brothers chided him that he should just stay. Daniel may not have ever wanted to work in restaurants again, he says, but he wanted to go into business with his brothers. If it was the restaurant business, well, so be it. He took on the bureaucratic aspects of running the enterprise.

The trio pursued the ideas that best captured their entrepreneurial imagination, worrying about the profit-and-loss sheets later. They opened a successful stand at the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market, experimented with a CSA, sold jarred kimchi, tried a barbecue restaurant in Magnolias Dogpatch brewery called Smokestack (that partnership dissolved in February) and, of course, started the farm.

Liz Hafalia/The Chronicle

Ten years after Namus improbable debut, on a hot July day, the Namu Farm is all innuendo, hinting at the produce about to gush forth. Dennis and David Lee have driven out to their plot in the Sunol Agriculture Park to fill their trunk with produce, but mostly to bring a journalist to meet Kristyn Leach, who has been overseeing the farm since she started it five years ago.

Under a grapevine-shaded cabana, Leach has arranged the days haul in plastic crates: sour roselle buds, gold and purple tomatoes, Korean melons that look like oversized citrons and feathery bundles of perilla leaves.

The farm started when Leach, a Korean American farmer-in-training, began selling herbs to the Lees. She told them how she was studying traditional East Asian farming methods, and soon, the restaurant put up the money for Leach to get started. She in turn began supplying Namu with vegetables, many of them grown from open-pollinated heirloom seeds from Korea or California.

Leachs mission has become even more complex and idiosyncratic over the past five years. The approach she takes to farming builds soil fertility and helps crops resist disease by focusing on the microbial health of the soil. Instead of adding fertilizer, grasses and roots are left to decompose in the ground.

Following four years of drought, Dennis has become most excited about how the farm is flourishing with less water, and he keeps urging Leach to teach other California farmers how to better respond to climate change. With each growing season, too, the flavors of the produce become more distinctive  ever more Namu.

Rifling through the baskets for a midday snack, David says he sometimes still catches himself surprised to be the owner of a successful restaurant, not some 20-year-old kid helping his brother sell hot dogs. Young cooks sometimes ask David what it takes to become Dennis Lee. I tell them to put their head down and work, David says. And keep working. Someday youll lift your head up, and youll be a chef.

One of the things that frustrates the brothers about their media coverage is that Dennis is often described as self-taught. He is, in fact, one of the few well-known chefs in town who did not establish his pedigree at culinary school or by apprenticing to other chefs.

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The phrase self-taught, David says, glosses over all the nights his brother spent poring over cookbooks or coming home from the market with a dozen fish to practice his filleting skills. Even Dennis admits to the adjective obsessive. David jokes about the time Dennis brought a microscope into the kitchen to make his cooks examine how different cuts changed a vegetables structure and flavor.

Stephen Lam/Special to The Chronicle

Namu Gaji, the restaurant opposite Dolores Park that the Lees moved the business into in 2012, serves some of the dishes that first made them popular. But the food has become more nuanced and assured. As I evolved as a chef and as a restaurateur, (cooking) became more about personal development, Dennis says, trying to figure out what is it about food that makes me excited, or how I think a person can express themselves most effectively with food.

A meal these days might begin with pickled heirloom squash and enoki mushrooms and end with a marshmallow-like black sesame mousse with chocolate ganache. The table might fill up with skewered lamb tsukune (meatballs) seasoned like a Turkish kabob, alongside turkey tails from BN Ranch braised adobo-style and then crisped over binchotan charcoal. Even standards like Namus grilled beef tongue are never quite the same as the last time you had them. The 90 varieties of produce the farm produces keeps that from happening.

This is cuisine without singular definition.

And yet journalists, and Americans in general, keep settling for the easy take. Racial profiling, Dennis calls it. Gaffes cling to the brothers skin like particularly spiky burrs. The time a magazine praised the sweet Korean chile paste on Namus chicken wings, which are actually modeled on what youd get at a bar in Buffalo, N.Y. The review that called them Zen. It galls the Lees when non-Korean diners call their food Korean or when Korean Americans compare their meal to what would appear on their grandmothers table.

Their mothers restaurant cooks Korean, Japanese and Thai food. In their adopted city, Cantonese barbecue joints and taquerias outnumber delis or pizzerias  and they eat at delis and pizzerias, too. They pay closer attention to the sourcing of their ingredients than most Northern California restaurants. Why are all these influences so invisible to the press?

Stephen Lam/Special to The Chronicle

The brothers have also had a decade to put these grievances in perspective. I feel extreme humility and gratitude for us to be able to do what were doing for this long, and to continually improve on that, Dennis says.

The Lees never do things for show, says 4505 Meats owner Ryan Farr, who has worked with the Namu clan for so long he feels like a member. Theyre doing it because theyre good people and want to feel good about what they do, he says. You dont always see that in the restaurant business. Theres no ulterior motive.

These days, Namu is preparing to expand at an almost explosive rate, allowing them to bring more of the extended family into the business as partners. Come fall, the Lees will introduce a casual spot on Divisadero that specializes in stone pot rice dishes and stews as well as fried chicken coated, in Japanese fashion, in a rice-flour batter.

Next will come a large restaurant in Jakarta: One of their investors lives in the Indonesian capital and persuaded Dennis to cook test meals there, which turned into a restaurant. Half of the restaurant will be more formal, half casual and all prepared with local ingredients. Dennis plans to spend a few months a year there.

By next spring, the Lees also hope to open Namu Noodle in Dogpatch, riffing off the popular bowls at their farmers market stand. In preparation for that third restaurant, theyre teaching themselves to brew makgeolli, a milky, sweet-sour rice beer, which theyll produce in house, one of the first restaurants in America to do so.

Stephen Lam/Special to The Chronicle

The brothers have lived together in various configurations over the course of the past 12 years, their arrangements often transitional. In 2012, though, they found the three-story house they have settled in.

They work together, cook meals together in their off hours, go out drinking together, host whole-animal barbecues for their staff in the back yard. Dennis says they try not to bring the minutiae of work home. Instead, larger ideas about food and business flow through their conversation, the vocabulary of their attachment, just as it was for their mother and aunts.

David considers the Namu clan even larger than the houses five residents and Dennis daughters. For him, it swells to include their employees, some of whom have been there for six or seven years. Its really important, he says. Anyone can be family. You dont have to be blood.

Dennis extends the circle even more. Its supposed to be a neighborhood place, he says. Youre not just supposed to be taking peoples money and saying, Oh, nice transaction. When youre treating (customers) like family, of course your staff should be family, too. Its the only way you can extend that hospitality.

In that family, he says, Namu is exactly what a restaurant is supposed to be.

Jonathan Kauffman is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: jkauffman@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @jonkauffman
Adrian Rosenfeld, who left a major role at the Matthew Marks Gallery last year, has moved to San Francisco and will open his own space. Called simply Adrian Rosenfeld, the gallery will be at 1150 25th St., next door to the much-anticipated new location of Altman Siegel Gallery. A third space in the same building  which itself is part of the ever-expanding Minnesota Street Project  will house an as-yet-unnamed private collection showcase.

In 1999, Rosenfeld joined New Yorks Matthew Marks, where he was a director. One of the most influential galleries internationally, Matthew Marks represents such top figures as Jasper Johns, Nan Goldin, Ellsworth Kelly and Brice Marden. The San Francisco sculptor Vincent Fecteau is also among the gallerys artists.

Its always difficult to say whether there is a market for high-value art in a community like the Bay Area, Rosenfeld said by phone. He plans to ask galleries around the world to partner on exhibitions. I was with Matthew for 15 years  it was a gallery that never worked quickly.

I want to take the time for things to develop, to work with the new generation that has just begun to emerge in San Francisco. Theres a shift, and things are expanding, if not in this super-accelerated way. He later added, by email, I have many existing clients here with whom I have been doing business a long time and there is definitely plenty of demand for great art.

An unconventional design by architect Thomas Ryan is meant to stoke the slow burn. When you walk into the gallery, you will walk into a library, Rosenfeld said, a warm and welcoming space lined with walnut shelves containing books on collecting, collectors and esoteric collections. There will also be a cantina ... a stone-covered plywood bar where 15 people can just hang out in a hallway near the exhibition space. An early 2017 opening is planned.

New chief for Hockney Foundation: If you think you loved the David Hockney exhibition at the de Young Museum in late 2013, consider its effect on the local co-curator of the show, Richard Benefield. Benefield has served in several key roles at the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco (the de Young umbrella institution) in his four years there, including two stints as acting director. Now it has been announced he will begin a new job in January  as executive director of the David Hockney Foundation.

Im over the moon, he said by phone.

Benefield was the first director of San Franciscos Walt Disney Family Museum, a position he held from 2008 to 2011. Earlier, he held administrative positions at the art museums of Brown University, the Rhode Island School of Design and Harvard University. He and his husband, John Kunowski, will move to Los Angeles, where the foundation is headquartered and where Hockney lives.

In 2014, the David Hockney Foundation reported assets  primarily works of art  valued at more than $136 million. The purpose of the foundation, Benefield said, is to further educate the public on arts and culture. It does this primarily through support of Hockney projects  he has four major exhibitions scheduled in the coming year, as he turns 80. A new book, A History of Pictures: From the Cave to the Computer, written with British art critic Martin Gayford, came out last Thursday, Oct. 6.

The Independent newspaper reported that in 2012, Hockney was the most generous philanthropist in Britain. As it has been in the past, San Francisco will likely again be a beneficiary of that largesse: On Oct. 4, the acquisitions committee of the Fine Arts Museums voted to recommend that the full board accept a gift from the foundation of two multi-screen video works, Seven Yorkshire Landscapes, 2011 (which has been on view in the de Young lobby since the show in 2013) and The Four Seasons, Woldgate Woods (Spring 2011, Summer 2010, Autumn 2010, Winter 2010).

A literate Oakland addition: Another new effort, though at the tiny scale of 400 square feet, is Gallery 2301. It will open Thursday, Oct. 13, at 2301 Telegraph Ave. in Oakland, directly across the street from Johansson Projects  ground zero of the lively Oakland gallery scene. It is being launched by Timothy Don, co-founder of the Oakland Book Festival, who is also art editor of Laphams Quarterly.

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Don promises to find and work with intelligent, mid-career Bay Area (especially Oakland-based) artists on deeply curated, one-person shows and to bring to the Bay Area some of the New York and international artists I have developed relationships with through the Quarterly.

Theres a literary bent to the program, starting with the first show, of work by Oakland artist Eric Martin on the theme of Wild Fire. Its the first of a series built around the four elements of classical philosophy (fire, water, air and earth) and the ancient thinkers who expounded on those topics. A panel on Heraclitus and the Aesthetics of Fire on Oct. 27 will feature the artist in conversation with a philosopher and an art historian.

Diane Roby / Diane Roby

Ruth Braunstein Memorial: A Celebration of Life for pioneer San Francisco art dealer Ruth Braunstein, who died Sept. 6 at the age of 93, will take place Sunday, Oct. 16, 1:00 p.m. at 1275 Minnesota St., S.F.

Last chance: Rena Bransten Gallerys Lawrence Ferlinghetti: Censored Tarps  three large paintings that give a sense of the Beat poets visual art practice  closes Saturday, Oct. 15 ... and dont miss Matrix 261: Cecilia Edefalk, at the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, which I have called one of the more peculiar and affecting exhibitions of the year, closing Sunday, Oct. 16.

Charles Desmarais is The San Francisco Chronicles art critic. Email: cdesmarais@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @Artguy1
It was a war fought over the discovery of gold and diamonds, but the animosity ran deeper than the mines.

The Chronicles front page from Oct. 13, 1899, covers the beginning of the Boer War, also known as the Second Boer War or the South African War.

War was declared yesterday, a dispatch on the front page read. The formal declaration goes into effect at 10 oclock this morning.

Another dispatch furthered more news: An armored train has been destroyed. It is feared that much loss of life will result.

The battles were starting at the southern tip of Africa, between the British empire and Boers of the Transvaal and the Orange Free State, territories that were home to many descendents of the Dutch settlers of southern Africa.

The Dutch had marched out of the Cape colony after the British seized control in the Napoleonic Wars in the early 1800s, but peace prevailed until the late 1860s, when diamond and gold mines were found in the Transvaal and the Orange Free State.

With the promise of riches, war was inevitable. In 1902, after nearly three years of fighting, the British would prove victorious.

The region would remain unsteady for decades to come.

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 every day for 366 days. Library director Bill Van Niekerken and producers Kimberly Chua, Michelle Devera and Jillian Sullivan contributed to the project. Tim ORourke is the executive producer and editor of SFChronicle.com. Email: torourke@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @TimothyORourke

(Click to enlarge)




Students and staff at two schools in Lafayette were placed on lockdown for about 90 minutes Thursday after police searched for a pair suspected burglars  including one found hiding inside a school restroom, officials said.

Martinez residents Charles Parks, 34, and Jeremiah Mercure, 35, were arrested by Pleasant Hill police on suspicion of burglary and identity theft, officials said. Parks faces a number of additional charges that include methamphetamine possession, unlawful taking of a vehicle and driving with a suspended license, police said.

Officers began searching for the suspects after reports came in that two men suspected of committing a recent series of burglaries were trying to make fraudulent transactions at a Dicks Sporting Goods on Monument Boulevard. The suspects fled in a stolen vehicle about 10:11 a.m. when officers arrived, authorities said.

Police officers tried to stop the stolen car in Pleasant Hill, but the occupants did not pull over, officials said. Officers chased the vehicle onto Interstate 680 and then to Highway 24 before it exited the freeway in Lafayette.

The suspects stopped the car about 10:30 a.m. in front of Acalanes High School on Pleasant Hill Road, where they jumped out and ran, police said.

As officers searched for the suspects, Acalanes and nearby Springhill Elementary School were placed on lockdown. A California Highway Patrol helicopter and a Concord police dog were used in the search.

One suspect, who was not identified, fled onto the high schools campus and was later found inside the boys bathroom and taken into custody, said Lafayette Police Chief Eric Christensen. The other suspect, who also was not identified, ran into the neighborhood before being tracked down and taken into custody as well, he 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 lockdown was lifted just before noon.

Hamed Aleaziz is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: haleaziz@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @haleaziz
Federal officials investigating UC Davis for repeated violations of the federal Animal Welfare Act have recently found additional animal deaths, broken limbs and suffering of monkeys and rabbits through negligence.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has cited UC Davis 13 times for animal welfare violations since 2014  including eight since opening its investigation in July 2015, inspection reports show. The agency found that laboratory staff withheld or delayed veterinary treatment, failed to secure enclosures, and used pens that were too small. In other cases, staff left sharp objects near pens or let feces pile up.

UC Davis received about $40 million last year in federal research grants, according to the National Institutes of Health.

USDA spokeswoman Tanya Espinosa declined to comment on the investigation. The agency typically spends time gathering evidence before levying a fine. Penalties can be up to $10,000 per violation of the Animal Welfare Act. In May, the USDA levied a $3.5 million fine against Santa Cruz Biotechnology Inc. and ordered it to stop using animals to manufacture antibodies. The company had kept hundreds of goats, many of which were found to be mistreated.

The UC Davis investigation came to light this week when an animal rights group that helps the federal agency identify laboratory abuses contacted reporters.

Theres an ongoing pattern at UC Davis that results in serious injuries, if not death, for the animals, said Michael Budkie, executive director of Stop Animal Exploitation NOW, a group that exposes lab animal abuse. It is pathetic that Davis cant even manage to follow the law when it is already the target of a federal probe.

Repeat citations are rare among the nations 1,000 or so animal research facilities, Budkie said, noting that the USDA is investigating just 14.

UC Davis spokesman Andy Fell said the campus Primate Center and other animal research facilities follow all applicable laws, regulations and guidelines and that problems are rare.

Care of animals is a responsibility that UC Davis takes extremely seriously, Fell said in a statement. All animal research at UC Davis is conducted humanely.

The USDA inspects animal research facilities an average of once a year. But problem facilities get more scrutiny. This year alone inspectors visited UC Davis four times, finding filthy conditions at llama pens, no feeders for cattle, and the deaths of two monkeys and a rabbit, records show.

The agency issued a warning to UC Davis in August 2014 for failure to handle animals as expeditiously and carefully as possible to avoid trauma, stress and discomfort.

That year, a lamb died after lab staff placed it in a too-small cage with a 233-pound ewe that fell on it during a two-hour drive to another research facility. Inspectors also cited researchers for performing unnecessary surgery on ewes to see if they were pregnant. Lab staff said less invasive methods were too expensive.

Inspectors also found veterinarians delayed care seven months for a monkey that was bleeding and had chronic diarrhea, and six months for a monkey with chronic vomiting.

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 agency opened its investigation in 2015 after learning that staff had failed to properly secure a monkey to a platform. The unattended monkey chewed through tape securing its upper body to the platform, but its legs remained secured. Hours later, researchers discovered it had suffered a broken leg.

This May, inspectors learned that another monkey broke both legs after leaving an unsecured enclosure. Records do not specify how the injury happened.

In July, inspectors cited UC Davis for a medical procedure that accidentally killed a rabbit; failing to tranquilize rabbits before experiments or quickly euthanize them afterward; and improperly securing a monkeys enclosure during transport. The monkey suffered internal injuries and was euthanized.

UC Davis was also cited in September for failing to secure a divider between two monkeys that didnt get along. One was so badly injured that it had to be euthanized.

UC Davis said it is cooperating with the investigation.

Nanette Asimov is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: nasimov@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @NanetteAsimov
Proposition S asks San Franciscans to dedicate a portion of the citys hotel-tax revenue, which currently goes into the general fund, toward specific services for the arts and homeless families. San Francisco has a 14 percent hotel tax, which generates hundreds of millions of dollars each year.

In 1961, when Mayor George Christopher created the hotel tax, a portion of it was dedicated to the arts. The idea  a very justifiable one  was that cultural facilities play a large role in attracting people to San Francisco. In 1974, some portion of the hotel taxs funding was allocated to low-income housing in the Yerba Buena redevelopment area.

This was also correct  construction of the Moscone Center and Yerba Buena developments were boons to San Franciscos tourism economy, but these projects also displaced the primarily low-income residents whod been living in these areas.

This backstory is why the proponents of Prop. S say theyre merely restoring the hotel tax to its original purposes.

Thats not completely true  the homeless family portion of the allocation is new, for instance. And while providing services to homeless families is an incredibly worthy cause, its not an appropriate purpose for a dedicated funding stream from the hotel tax.

Given the other San Francisco ballot measures seeking to dedicate revenue to homeless services  Proposition J, a $50 million homeless service set-aside for 24 years, and Proposition K, the sales tax increase that proponents say will be partly invested in homeless housing  yet another dedicated revenue stream is unwarranted, especially when the city is in the process of an overall assessment of its homeless programs.

Theres also the matter of dedicating the revenue stream in the first place. While a portion of hotel tax revenue historically went to the arts and low-income housing, it was never locked into funding specific programs. That meant that city officials could  and did  use it for other purposes. So arts proponents, rightly concerned about the citys shrinking investments in cultural programs, decided to lock the money in.

Thats good politics and bad public policy.

In bad times, city officials need the budget flexibility to set priorities. But an ever-increasing plethora of fiscal set-asides is making this task harder and harder.

Vote no on Prop. S.
Like many cities across the nation, San Francisco is working to rebuild trust between law enforcement and communities. As we do this, we always put the sanctity of life at the center of our focus.

More than 10 months ago, I ordered my administration to look at every option at our disposal to address these issues.

We recognized there were immediate actions we could take, which included a $20 million, top-to-bottom police-reform package, but we also knew that we couldnt do this alone. I requested the help of U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch and the Department of Justice to help us find the answers to build stronger trust between law enforcement personnel and the communities they are sworn to protect.

My request resulted in the Department of Justices Community Oriented Policing Services Office performing an independent review of the San Francisco Police Departments policies and practices, particularly as they relate to use of force. We now have the results, including 94 findings and 272 associated recommendations, to map a path of improvement and reform.

I am issuing an executive directive that commits the city, and all of its agencies, to the implementation of each and every recommendation outlined by the COPS Office.

We threw open our doors so that we could get to the root of the problem and help find solutions. We must restore trust, and these measures are important steps forward.

I am optimistic that we are making progress in large part due to the package of police reforms we put in place earlier this year. These included:

A new bureau of professional standards and principled policing.

Expansions to the Crisis Intervention Team network.

The implementation of body cameras.

New prohibitions on the use of firearms in specific circumstances, and

A community safety initiative to recruit young people from neighborhoods most impacted by violence to work with the Police Department.

This package also included the expansion of our mental health crisis intervention partnership between the SFPD and the Department of Public Health, a measure that will help ensure fewer encounters end in officers firing their weapons.

The DOJs report acknowledges these reforms and supports the departments new use-of-force policies, and the department-wide training on crisis intervention and review of time-and-distance protocols.

There is still a lot of critical work to be done. The SFPD needs to significantly expedite its new crisis intervention network, implicit bias training, and general orders on the use of force. New rules will not make a difference if officers arent trained and held accountable to follow them.

This report makes clear we need better data systems, because if we dont have the capabilities to capture data, we cannot track our progress or identify areas for improvement.

This report details the divide between communities of color and the police , a national phenomenon thats happening right here at home. According to the DOJ, SFPD stops and searches blacks and Latinos at a higher rate than whites.

This is unacceptable and needs to stop. My administration has taken steps to begin to heal this divide, and we are reinforcing, every day, the importance of unbiased policing while protecting our communities. The Department of Justices recommendations will build on this important work.

We cannot not lose sight of the most important goal: fair and just policing.

These problems wont be solved overnight, but my entire administration is committed to fixing whats broken. While some reforms will take years, the majority are already under way or near completion.

The report is just the beginning. We will continue to cultivate a 21st century policing and ensure public safety for all San Francisco residents.
WASHINGTON  House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi has been predicting a Democratic takeover of the House every two years since she lost the speakership in 2010. The San Francisco Democrat has been wildly off base each time. Now even Republicans think she could be right.

The presidential race is entering its mid-October phase, a period when in past elections, the ingredients of a landslide have gelled. And it will take a landslide by Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton to pull Democrats to the daunting 30-seat net gain they will need to retake control of the House.

The more closely contested Senate, where Democrats need to net four seats, now appears ripe for a turnover.

The ground began to shift toward a potential Clinton landslide about 2 weeks ago when Republican nominee Donald Trump began a disastrous slide in the polls. Among a multitude of missteps and revelations, Trump bragged that not paying taxes makes me smart, and was caught boasting on a 2005 tape about groping women. New polls now show deep-red states such as Georgia drifting within Democratic range.

Trump has responded to these setbacks by opening an all-out war against his own party, tweeting that he had been freed from the shackles of loyalty to Republican leaders after House Speaker Paul Ryan on Monday gave his members permission to bail from Trumps campaign.

BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP/Getty Images

Addressing a rally in Florida on Wednesday, Trump raised the ante, accusing Ryan of hatching a sinister deal to doom his election.

Were in uncharted water where we have a presidential nominee spending more time attacking members of his own party than attacking his opposition, said veteran California Republican consultant Kevin Spillane.

As Trump hemorrhages critical blocs of swing voters, he is becoming isolated to his narrow base of fervent Republican supporters. That puts Republican politicians down-ballot from Trump in an impossible box: abandon their nominee and with him their own base voters, or stick with Trump and face retribution from the rest of the electorate.

If youre a Republican candidate for Congress in a contested election, sticking with Trump means that youre going to get brutally attacked by your opponent for enabling his language and behavior, said Dan Schnur, executive director of the Jesse M. Unruh Institute of Politics at the University of Southern California. If you withdraw your endorsement, youre going to be just as brutally attacked for having stuck with Trump for so long.

Either way, Democrats in tight races for House or Senate seats are likely to benefit, particularly if more mainstream Republicans decide to abandon their party.

The template for Democrats is a new ad by Tom Nelson, a Wisconsin Democrat running for an open House seat against Republican Mike Gallagher. The television ad is a highlight reel of Trumps lewd taped comments, his mocking of a disabled New York Times reporter, and his boast during his first televised debate with Clinton about having not paid income taxes in years.

On Tuesday, Pelosi told Democrats on a conference call that if the election were held now, they would retake the majority. California Republican Party officials responded in a tweet that her record of predicting House races is as reliable as a carnival palm reader.

David Wasserman, an analyst for the nonpartisan Cook Political Report, said any chance of Democrats winning back the House will be tough. Only about 9 percent of the nations 435 House seats are in play, he said in a television interview. Democrats could win every swing seat and still come up a dozen short, he said. But, he said, Trump is toxic in many districts.

Several Bay Area Democrats out on the campaign trail said their party is making a play in as many as 50 districts.

If you look at the seats Obama won in 2012, and add a whole bunch where he finished very close, you can get well above 30 seats, said Jared Huffman, D-San Rafael. He said hes sending air support  money, staff and volunteers  to more than two dozen candidates.

The ground is moving fast, as we speak, said Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Dublin, who has been traveling the country in an outreach effort to young voters. Swalwell said Trump never misled us about his intentions, so Republicans who now want to disown him are going to pay a price for that because they didnt have the courage to stand up to him early.

I don't think theres anywhere for them to hide.

Carolyn Lochhead is The San Francisco Chronicles Washington correspondent. Email: clochhead@sfchronicle.com
Does the city need more oversight? Should there be another public official to provide that oversight? Those are the driving questions behind Proposition H, the San Francisco ballot measure to create an office of public advocate.

Supporters say a public advocate would make city government more efficient, accountable, and  most important  act as a balance to the mayors power. To a large degree, they have framed the measure as a referendum on Mayor Ed Lee and the direction of the city.

San Francisco needs a public advocate who works for everyone, not just for big corporations and wealthy special interests, said former Assemblyman Tom Ammiano, who supports the measure.

Opponents counter that Prop. H is unnecessary, expensive and essentially a power grab by progressives on the Board of Supervisors.

The whole thing is crafted to be some type of junior mayor, even though we have 11 supervisors, a mayors office of neighborhood services and an independent controller all providing advocacy to the public, said Jim Lazarus, senior vice president of the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce.

Under Prop. H, the public advocate would have wide-ranging responsibilities and investigatory power. The public advocate would review the management and employment practices of city departments, investigate complaints from the public about city services and programs, investigate whistle-blower complaints, and appoint the director of a department charged with overseeing police practices.

Additionally, the public advocate could introduce legislation, hold public hearings and  most controversially  issue subpoenas to access any records held by a city department or agency to complete investigations.

Prop. H mandates a minimum staffing requirement of four positions for the office, including the public advocate, at a cost of between $600,000 and $800,000 annually, according to the city controller. The measure also recommends, but does not require, an additional 22 staff members at a cost of up to $3.5 million annually.

Other large cities that have a public advocate position include New York, Seattle and Portland, Ore. New York Citys position was created in 1993 and held by Bill de Blasio before he was elected mayor. New Yorks public advocate has an annual budget of $3.3 million, with approximately 45 full-time staff, according to its office. New Yorks population is 10 times the size of San Franciscos.

Supervisor David Campos championed the position and was instrumental in getting Prop. H on the ballot.

This is about power relative to the mayor but also about power relative to the bureaucracy, Campos said. There isnt anyone that is looking at the efficiency and effectiveness of the city agencies and bureaucracy as their primary role.

Campos said supervisors dont have that capacity because they are busy balancing the needs of their districts with introducing and voting on legislation. And while supervisors can hold public hearings on everything from police practices to towing fees, the public advocate would have more leverage to push city agencies to change particular practices, Campos said.

He pointed to the series of fires in the Mission District as one example where a public advocate would benefit the city. Campos held a hearing to look into the fires. But he said a public advocate could investigate the coordination between the three city agencies that deal with fires and building safety, and look exclusively at this issue in an in-depth way.

Opponents of Prop. H grumble that Campos  who is termed out this year  simply wants to create a new political office that he can run for. Campos conceded he might run for the position should Prop. H pass, but emphasized the city would benefit from a public advocate no matter who does the job.

Opponents of Prop. H include Assemblyman and former Board of Supervisors President David Chiu. He criticized it as unnecessary and counterproductive.

There are over three dozen elected officials in San Francisco, and I think all of us in public office should already be public advocates, from the mayor to 11 members of the Board of Supervisors, to the city attorney, district attorney, public defender as well as the Ethics Commission, the controller and others, Chiu said. Creating another politician and another bureaucracy is going to make San Francisco government less efficient and accountable.

Chiu said he was especially troubled by the investigatory powers the public advocate would have.

The measure is written so broadly that the so-called public advocate has unlimited subpoena powers, Chiu said. The danger is that this unlimited subpoena power is used in politically motivated investigations to target residents and businesses that may not be on the good side of the so-called public advocate.

The Board of Supervisors also has subpoena power, but a majority of the board needs to agree to invoke it. That rarely happens.

Emily Green is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: egreen@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @emilytgreen
A major reason San Francisco has such a vibrant dining scene is the host of second-tier restaurants that in any other city would be the first tier.

Im talking about places such as Frances, Rich Table, Range and Petit Crenn, all restaurants that have a strong neighborhood vibe but prepare food that makes them a magnet in the Bay Area and beyond.

Id now put Seven Hills in that category. When I initially reviewed it in 2011, it seemed like a very good neighborhood restaurant. It gained a wider following, and in 2013 Zagat rated it the best Italian restaurant in the city. I returned, but it didnt seem to rise to the next level. In that same year, chef-owner Alexander Alioto left to open his own place, and Anthony Florian took over the kitchen after having worked at places such as Dry Creek Kitchen in Healdsburg, Quince and Cotogna.

The restaurant has been on my radar for the last couple years, and a return visit showed Florian deserves to be in the spotlight. The 45-seat space, which spreads over two storefronts, feels as if it could be a dining room in somebodys home with its Venetian chandelier over the bar, artwork and tongue-and-groove wainscoting. By rejecting the hard-edge industrial look that seems to proliferate today, Seven Hills fits the style of this most traditional neighborhood.

And the service, which could only muster 1.5 stars on previous visits, is now a solid three-star experience. The waiters are the best salesmen for specials, which on my visit included a pasta with both black and white truffles, and they automatically bring serving utensils, change out plates and return to see whether our rose needed to be chilled.

Our server was particularly enthusiastic about the mushroom tortelli ($19), where the gossamer packets of pasta were plumped with ricotta and surrounded by a mushroom sauce with a judicious addition of seven-year aged balsamico that added a complex sweetness that enhanced everything around it. Kale tagliatelle ($20) was precisely cooked, with the tangle of green noodles surrounded by a beef, duck and pork Bolognese smoothed with cream. I had probably a dozen versions of Bolognese sauce on a recent trip to Italy, and this beat them all.

What distinguishes a great restaurant is often what appears to be the simplest offering, such as a mixed baby lettuce salad ($10). Ive come to avoid balsamic dressings because they often overpower everything, but in this case it seemed to lift the freshness of the lettuce, which was enhanced with carrot, pomegranate seeds and Parmigiano.

Meatballs ($15) have found a place on most menus today, but the ones here rise to the top. The two generously sized balls, made with pork and beef seasoned with coriander and fennel, have a melting core of fontina cheese and are surrounded by marinara sauce.

Michael Macor/The Chronicle

Florian turns out about 20 savory dishes from the tiny kitchen, plus three or four specials a night. He also makes his own salumi ($7), including lonza and coppa.

In addition to the three main courses  pan-roasted guinea hen with Brussels sprouts, gigante beans and Nardello peppers ($32); market fish with toasted fregola ($30); and Wagyu flatiron steak ($36), the chef offered a special of pork shoulder and loin ($55) that serves two. It was beautifully plated with the thick slices of slightly pink meat on a bed of gigante beans and, for a surprising textural contrast, both long-cooked and quick-cooked Swiss chard dressed with lemon. Each bite showed a unified complexity that was well thought out and attractively delivered.

In comparison to what came before, the desserts were a tad disappointing, particularly the olive oil cake special that at $12 was $3 more than the other choices. The two slices of dense cake had a strong flavor that tasted of rancid oil. The chocolate budino recommended by our waiter was good, and the biscotti that came on the side was excellent.

While I may have been slightly disappointed in the chefs final salvo, when I looked back on the evening, I wanted to return sooner than later.

Michael Bauer is The San Francisco Chronicle restaurant critic and editor at large. Find his blog at http://insidescoopsf.sfgate.com and his reviews on www.sfchronicle.com. E-mail: mbauer@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @michaelbauer1

Food Guide Top 25 Restaurants Where to eat in the Bay Area. Find spots near you, create a dining wishlist, and more.

  

Seven Hills

Food:   

Service:   

Atmosphere:   

Price: $$$$

Noise: Four Bells
Were greeted by a pretty young man wearing tiny briefs, Converse high-tops and spangled epaulets. He directs us to the theater, where were again greeted by a receiving line of drag queens, towered over by the magnificent Mama T. Onstage, shes a staggering 7 feet in heels and aerial wig, with a voice to match.

I love the lesbians! Mama coos to a woman in the front row, Plus, if we need to move anything, we have your Subaru! Oh, look, youre wearing sandals!

Its boozy and raunchy and showy as hell  and its only 4 oclock in the afternoon. And in Seattle.

You know, Microsoft-Starbucks-Space-Needle-fish-tossing-for-tourists Seattle.

It would be easy for visitors to become disoriented and think theyre in West Hollywood or Palm Springs or, of course, San Francisco. But it turns out theres plenty of Pride in the Pacific Northwest, and Seattle has the LGBT scene to prove it.

Spaces that are safe and welcoming for LGBT travelers are easy to find; the city has one of only two LGBT visitors centers in the nation. Drop in and ask them where to find what you need, from gay yoga to nude beaches or a wedding planner  the city has become a destination for gay weddings.

While youre there, pick up a Greater Seattle Business Association business guide; it lists LGBT- and ally-owned businesses. There are listings outside Seattle, too, if you decide to get out of town, including an expanded Washington wine country section.

You can buy a bright red Trump-style Make America Gay Again T-shirt or cap at Cupcake Royale on Capitol Hill. The Seattle bakery has a number of locations, but this one is at 12th and Pike, in the heart of Seattles gayborhood. The cupcakes are gorgeous  Im a sucker for the coconut bunny, a chocolate cake with pink frosting and coconut sprinkled on top  but there are seasonal varieties too. (Right now, its huckleberry and salted honey.)

And there are the shirts; the cafe knows its clientele.

The front of the shop is covered in scaffolding  the Hill (as locals call it) is a hive of construction activity, gentrifying at a breakneck pace. Seattles LGBT population has dispersed into the neighborhoods. According to the business association, West Seattle has the citys fastest growing LGBT population, and Vashon Island, a ferry ride from downtown or West Seattle, is the fastest-growing lesbian enclave.

However, youll still want to start your foray into Seattles LGBT scene on the Hill, maybe at Cupcake Royale for a jolt of sugar and caffeine. The neighborhood has rainbow crosswalks that arent here solely for celebration; at some locations, they mark the site of gay bashings, reminding us that open diversity is a prize not everyone wants.

But the rainbow flag is everywhere, in shop windows and flying from balconies, proudly welcoming visitors to the Hill, no matter which letter of LGBT you identify with.

Across the street from Cupcake Royale is Unicorn  and the venue for Mimosas Cabaret and the aforementioned Mama T (who in less-PC circles is, simply, Mama Tits). Unicorn is all bright colors and sideshow decor, a dozen different striped patterns, taxidermy animals, shiny gold trim and an expansive bar, with a theater downstairs.

The crowd is, well, everyone.

While visiting with a group of locals, I spot a bachelorette party, a young woman and her mom, gay and lesbian couples, and a shockingly good-looking pair of tourists from Australia. Most have come to see Mama T, a YouTube celebrity for confronting the haters at Seattles 2014 Pride Parade. All have come for the show. Mimosas Cabaret is a matinee; nightlife doesnt wait until after dark in Seattle.

Eight or so blocks to the west is Terra Plata. Chef Tamara Murphy is out and proud, but thats a footnote to the gorgeous food and rugged space. I share small plates with my friend Mark (a longtime resident of the Hill). Figs and ricotta, roasted peppers, fries with garlic aioli; I have a house cocktail thats peppery and bright.

The rooftop patio is filled with beautiful Seattleites. The clientele skews pairs and foursomes of men in their 30s and 40s in expensive shirts and designer eyeglasses. We talk about how the Hill has changed over the last 20-plus years  and where the LGBT community still goes to hang out.

There are Hot Flash dance nights at Neighbors for women (and those who identify as such). Theres the Eagle, a leather bar thats been around forever, and gay karaoke nights at Purr. The Wildrose, a lesbian bar and a Capitol Hill cornerstone, has Taco Tuesdays, where the crowd and the tacos both have positive reviews.

Also among them is Pony, a gay bar in a tiny triangle building on a concrete island surrounded by new high-rises. Bananaramas Cruel Summer spills out the front door  the DJ is playing 80s pop this night  and were washed in pink neon light. The walls are covered with graffiti and pinup stencil art, and there are giant spiky penises hanging overhead. Its chill while were there, but word is the place is positively heaving on big nights.

The crowd here is mixed  a few middle-aged white guys at the bar, a bear by the front door, a few barely-over-21 cute guys in tank tops on the patio. And a handful of women.

Gay men are always taking out their straight girlfriends, says Mark, arent they?

No ones throwing shade, though; everyone smiles and says hello. Its as advertised: everyones welcome.

While Seattles main LGBT neighborhood might be diluting  like everywhere, becoming more mainstream  the result is a spreading of the culture and a city that is gay friendly everywhere.

Pam Mandel is a Seattle freelance writer. Email: travel@sfchronicle.com Twitter and Instagram: @nerdseyeview

If you go

GETTING THERE

Alaska, Delta and Virgin Airlines run multiple daily flights from the Bay Area to Seattle. If youre staying on Capitol Hill or downtown, you dont need a car  take the light rail from SeaTac into the city. $2.25 to downtown, $3 to Capitol Hill. Tickets from vending machines at the station. www.soundtransit.org

WHERE TO STAY

Gaslight Inn: 1727 15th Ave.; (206) 325-3654; www.gaslight-inn.com. Eight-room bed and breakfast in a beautifully renovated Craftsman home. Swimming pool, full breakfast, walking distance from everything youll want to do on the Hill. Rooms start around $128; some have shared baths.

Thompson Hotel: 110 Stewart St.; (206) 623-4600; www.thompsonhotels.com/hotels/thompson-seattle. Brand - new hotel, walking distance from Pike Place Market and easy transportation to Capitol Hill. Gorgeous views and custom cocktails at the rooftop bar. Advance purchase rooms start at $300 night. If youre splurging, ask for a view.

WHAT TO DO

Mimosas Cabaret at Unicorn: 1118 E. Pike St., (206) 325-6492; www.mimosascabaret.com . Tickets at the door or in advance online, $25. Delicious junk-food buffet (think corn dogs or chicken and waffles), $13. Full bar; your first mimosa is two bucks with admission.

Twist: Seattle Queer Film Festival: Multiple locations; www.threedollarbillcinema.org/2016. Through next Sunday, Oct. 23. Annual film festival showcasing the best in LGBT work. $240 for the whole festival or a party pass for $85.

WHERE TO EAT

Terra Plata: 1501 Melrose Ave.; (206) 325-1501; www.terraplata.com. Small plates from $6 to $32 with a strong emphasis on local. Monday night is paella night. Make reservations if you want a guaranteed seat, though theres often room at the bar.

Poppy: 622 Broadway, (206) 324-1108, www.poppyseattle.com. Indian-style thali remixed with northwest ingredients. Dinner combos starting at $28. Happy hour thalis $6 each.

MORE INFORMATION

Seattle Gay Scene: www.seattlegayscene.com

Travel Gay Seattle: www.thegsba.org/travel-gay-seattle
Lets Do the Time Warp Again. And again and again.

Fox premieres a new adaptation of the campy 1973 stage musical The Rocky Horror Picture Show on Thursday, Oct. 20. The film may have some minor flaws, but you will easily overlook them because if you dont, Laverne Cox is going to set you, well, not straight, in this case.

Cox not only plays the central character of Dr. Frank N Furter, but she also nearly takes complete ownership of the entire production and would succeed if it werent for terrific work by the other cast members: Reeve Carney as handyman Riff Raff, Victoria Justice as the virginal Janet Weiss and Ryan McCartan as the virginal Brad Majors, Annaleigh Ashford as blue-tongued groupie Columbia, Staz Nair as the mad doctors hunky creation, Rocky Horror, Christina Milian as the sexy, trampy Domestic and Adam Lambert in a showstopping cameo as Eddie, the Ex Delivery Boy.

Tim Curry, who played Dr. Frank N Furter in the 1975 cult film, is the narrator and criminologist, and Ben Vereen is Dr. Everett von Scott, another scientist.

If you care about the story line, you probably havent attended any of the thousands of screenings of the original film over the past 41 years, where fans show up dressed as characters from the film and, en masse, replicate various scenes from the film as they occur, for instance, pulling out newspapers to fold over their heads when the Heroine tries to protect her hairdo from the rain after she and the Hero get stranded close to Dr. Frank N Furters castle.

They make their way to the castle to find the doctor hosting the Annual Transylvanian Convention. Brad and Janet are welcomed into the castle and stripped down to their underwear. They witness the Doctors unveiling of her creature, Rocky Horror. Weirdness, campiness, song, dance and sexual innuendo ensue.

The songs by Richard OBrien are cleverly functional, and The Time Warp and Sweet Transvestite are early showstoppers, staged with appropriate excess by director Kenny Ortega.

Ortega pays appropriate homage to the history of the musical, not only by including Curry in the cast but also in the films overall concept, which is to include a hyped-up audience in the Castle Theater watching and replicating key events in the film. Ortega cuts back and forth a few times to break that fourth wall, but not so much as to hobble the inspired silliness of the film itself, which of course satirizes grade B horror and science fiction films of the 50s and earlier.

Laverne Cox is magnificent, displaying a thrillingly pliable voice that easily ascends to the highest female register and then plummets to a basso profundo. She commandingly swans, dances, dips and shimmies around the set in William Ivey Longs extravagant costumes as if she were born to play the role, and, as it turns out, she was.

In the middle of all this apparent frivolity, there is a message, the same one, really, that resonates through some of the more memorable horror movies: the heartache of being the other. We see it in the sweetness and sorrow of Dr. Frankensteins monster, and in the loneliness of Lon Chaney Jr.s werewolf.

In the case of Rocky Horror, the other includes transvestites, transsexuals and social misfits, all yearning for acceptance by so-called normal people. In Rocky Horror, the protagonist and her minions are literally aliens, which only sharpens the metaphor of not belonging.

Cox adds a personal layer of meaning to the storys inner story.

The film has some minor issues. The lip-syncing isnt perfect, and the cinematography relies unnecessarily on quick shots instead of trusting that there is more than enough going on to supply a sense of raucous movement without trying to inject it with a lot of herky-jerky camerawork.

The dialogue and song lyrics are campy, fun and filled with archaic pop culture references to figures like Leo G. Carroll and Fay Wray. The only drawback to watching this on TV as opposed to seeing it in a movie theater is that youll have to put up with commercials.

But then again, if you want something to do when theyre hawking products between acts, heres a suggestion: Its just a jump to the left/ And then a step to the right/ With your hand on your hips/ You bring your knees in tight.

David Wiegand is an assistant managing editor and the TV critic of The San Francisco Chronicle and co-host of The Do List every Friday morning at 6:22 and 8:22 on KQED FM, 88.5 FM in San Francisco, 89.3 FM in Sacramento. Follow him on Facebook. Email: dwiegand@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @WaitWhat_TV

The Rocky Horror Picture Show: 8 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 20, on Fox.
San Francisco's Potrero Hill neighborhood is a shadow of the outcropping it used to be, if 1870s reports are to be believed.

"The Potrero Hill has been pretty well demolished by the cut recently finished by the Southern Pacific Railroad Company," read an August 8th, 1876 San Francisco Chronicle report. "The material excavated has been used in filling between the old sea wall and the Kentucky Street bridge. The bay shore branch of the Southern Pacific will pass through the cut."

It would appear the neighborhood was used routinely for landfill in the city's early days, according to research in the Chronicle archives. In fact, other neighborhoods - such as the current Dogpatch and China Basin - owe much of their real estate to Potrero.

The neighborhood had earlier been excavated in April of 1872 for a depot at Mission Bay using a crew of 250 engaged in "cutting down Potrero hill, and throwing the rocks and dirt into the bay." Again on December 18, 1896, it was reported that "John Center was grading his property on Sixteenth street, from Bryant and Potrero avenues toward Fifteenth Street, involving the "cutting away of the Potrero Hill." In 1901 a plan was announced to level the hills and use "great quantities of waste earth removed to fill in China Basin."

We've included what photos we could find of the earlier days of Potrero Hill in a slideshow above, but they don't date back far enough to give us a real sense how much the topography changed based on these early projects.

The neighborhood's origins extend back to an 1835 land grant to Don Francisco de Haro to graze Mission Dolores's cattle at the potrero nuevo ("new pasture").

The area had been slower to awaken than other areas of San Francisco closer to the city center. The earliest use was for livestock grazing on land primarily owned by the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe Railroad Company, as detailed in this account of a land purchase from the Chronicle Archives:

"The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad Company has purchased fourteen blocks of realty at the Potrero, for which negotiations have been in progress for over three months. The last piece of property wanted by the company was finally secured at noon yesterday, and today the deeds for the entire tract will go on record.

"The property is bounded on the north by Mariposa Street, on the east by Tennessee Street, on the South by Twenty-second Street, and on the west by Iowa Street. In addition, the purchase includes a block bounded by Illinois , Kentucky, Twenty-fifth and Twenty-sixth Streets. The main tract, comprising twelve and one-half square blocks, included Tennessee Street, the eastward boundary, is the next street west of Kentucky Street, and China Basin, which by legislative enactment, has been leased to the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad Company, is less than half a mile to the northward. The Santa Fe Company now owns the hill property along the east side of Iowa Street, and the Southern Pacific marks the line of their proposed tunnel through the Potrero hill when they shorten their cast line by running from Third and Townsend Streets southerly through tunnels in the Potrero and San Bruno hills in almost a straight line for the Seventeen-mile House."

Gold rush squatters started pushing the herds aside and began the first of many waves of urbanization and immigration: Scots in the 1860's, then Irish, Chinese, Russians, Mexicans and finally African-American Southerners in the 1940's, building battleships at the bustling wartime shipyards.

On August 5, 1881, it was reported that "it is a matter of regret that the Potrero hills have not be utilized before now. The trouble with this spot is inaccessibility. The Long Bridge cars afford the only means of access, and they transfer with but one line of the city cars, the transportation to and from is not only tedious, but expensive."

While families lived on the hill, flatland manufacturing by firms like U.S. Steel, the Union Iron Works, the Western Sugar Refinery, Bethlehem Shipbuilding Co. and American Can Co., among others, ensured that the area remained largely industrial through most of the 20th century. But a combination of de-industrialization and the late-1990's Internet boom began driving the conversion of factories and warehouses into housing or offices.

Bob Bragman is a producer for SFGATE. His writing reflects his love of the Bay Area, in addition to his passion for vintage pop culture, ephemera and vernacular photographs. To see more of his content, please click here.
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Richard Simmons, who owned and operated Specs Twelve Adler Museum Cafe, one of the most celebrated bars in San Franciscos North Beach, died Wednesday morning. Mr. Simmons, who suffered from Parkinsons disease, was 88.

Mr. Simmons, who was always called Specs, was one of the last of the old-school San Francisco bar owners, much admired by his customers and the North Beach community.

He was one of the great, great saloon keepers of our time, said Janet Clyde, an owner of Vesuvios, another famous bar just across Columbus Avenue from Specs.

Mr. Simmons bought a rundown bar in 1968 and turned it into something special.

Its not just a bar, its a cultural institution and community space. Specs is one of the most important people in my life and in a lot of other peoples lives here, Jessica Loos, a poet, once said about the bar and the man who ran it. She was quoted in a long section on Specs in the 2015 book High Spirits, a history of noted San Francisco bars written by Chronicle staff writer J.K. Dineen.

In recent years the bar became so well known it was listed in tourist guidebooks. Mr. Simmons and his bartending staff were famous for welcoming anyone, particularly merchant seamen, people from the neighborhood, writers and poets.

There was a poets night every Wednesday, and good talk most every night.

My father believed that a bar was a place where people could come and tell each other stories about their own lives. It was all about the human connection, said Elly Simmons, his daughter.

You can be anyone you want to be at Specs, said Sean Jackson, one its old-time bartenders. It is an authentic saloon where strangers become friends, politics are debated, anarchy is imagined, sorrows are drowned, triumphs are celebrated, Chronicle writer Catherine Bigelow wrote in 2010 after one of Mr. Simmons legendary August birthday parties.

Mr. Simmons was nicknamed Specs because he always wore thick glasses. He bought Specs the bar with proceeds, it was said, from a song he introduced to the Kingston Trio during their North Beach days.

Richard Edward Simmons was born in Bostons Roxbury neighborhood in 1928 to a Jewish working-class family. His father and uncles were sheet metal workers and sometimes bookies. Richard, who always had an eye for adventure, worked for a while in the family business, went to Europe, was interested in leftist politics, sailed in the merchant marine and ended up in San Francisco, where he became a bartender.

He met his late wife, Sonia, when he was a bartender at Vesuvios.

He seemed to have lived a charmed life. Not long after he bought the bar, Mr. Simmons and several of his bartender friends were aboard a sailboat that sank off the Golden Gate in the middle of the night. They were saved when another sailboat  piloted by the owner of a Sausalito saloon  spotted a light held above the chilly waters. It was a story Mr. Simmons loved to tell. It was a totally true story, too, Elly Simmons said.

Specs was filled with curiosities  old flags, old posters, antique maps, life rings from long-ago ships, and most celebrated of all, the mummified penis of a walrus.

Mr. Simmons presided over it all with a growl, a voice so deep it sounded like a load of gravel falling off a truck. Underneath, he had a heart of gold.

His customers loved him, his staff loved him, everybody loved him, said Clyde.

He was an original, said Supervisor Aaron Peskin, a regular customer.

Mr. Simmons is survived by his daughter, Elly; a stepson, James Farmer; a granddaughter; a niece; and a nephew. And by the North Beach community, said Elly Simmons, Dont forget them.

A memorial service is pending.

Carl Nolte is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: cnolte@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @carlnotesf
Jacom Stephens / Getty Images

A 50-year-old woman whose badly decomposed body was found in her home near Hayward was the victim of a homicide, officials determined after a weeklong investigation.

A neighbor called police the night of Oct. 5 to report a foul odor coming from the residence on the 22300 block of Princeton Street in the unincorporated area of Alameda County.
CSX said Wendesday that its third-quarter net income was $455 million (48 cents per share), exceeding analysts expectations of 45 cents per share.

The Jacksonville, Fla., frieght railroad posted revenue of $2.71 billion, which also exceeded Wall Street forecasts. Analysts expected $2.69 billion in revenue.

Shares of CSX, which operates more than 21,000 miles of track in 23 Eastern states and two Canadian provinces, have risen 16 percent this year, compared with a nearly 5 percent increase in the S&P 500 index.

Automakers

Brakes force

Prius recalls

Toyota recalled 340,000 gas-electric hybrid Prius cars around the world Wednesday, 212,000 of them in Japan and 94,000 in North America, for a defect in their parking brakes.

Toyota acknowledged receiving reports of crashes, injuries and deaths. The Japanese automaker refused to provide details, saying it is still looking into the reports.

Toyota said the parking brake cable can disengage unexpectedly, causing the brakes to stop working properly. So if the car is left in any gear other than park, it could start rolling away, and possibly crash.

Toyota said 17,000 Prius vehicles were recalled in Europe, and the rest in Australia and other regions. The problem models were manufactured from August 2015 through this month.

The company said all the vehicles were manufactured at its plant in Toyota City, Japan, the companys headquarters, one of a handful of plants around the world that make the Prius.

Wall Street

Snap picks

banks for IPO

The parent of Snapchat has picked banks to lead an initial public offering of stock, its first big step toward what is expected to be one of the splashiest market debuts in more than a year.

Snap, as the company recently renamed itself, has picked Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs to handle the offering, people briefed on the matter said Wednesday. A number of other banks are also expected to play a role in the offering.

An IPO from the Los Angeles company would be one of the most awaited since Twitter went public nearly three years ago. Snap was most recently valued by investors at about $19 billion.

Snap makes the mobile storytelling and messaging app Snapchat, which lets users watch videos and send photos and messages to friends. The company also makes sunglasses called Spectacles that are equipped with a video camera.

Animal welfare

TripAdvisor

drops bookings

Travel website TripAdvisor says its taking a stand against animal exploitation by no longer selling bookings to attractions where travelers can make physical contact with captive wild animals or endangered species.

The policy, six months in the making, was formed with input from tourism, animal welfare and conservation groups including the Association of Zoos and Aquariums.

The company also will start providing links on its site to take users to educational research on animal welfare and conservation.

SeaWorld this year announced it would stop using killer whales for theatrical performances, while Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus last year stopped using elephants.

TripAdvisor will cease booking some attractions immediately, but the policy, which may affect hundreds of businesses, takes full effect early next year.

Journalism

Hearst joins

centers board

William R. Hearst III has joined the board of the Center for Investigative Reporting, a nonprofit journalism organization.

Hearst is chairman of Hearst Corp., which owns The Chronicle, and has been involved with the charitable activities and programs of the Hearst Foundations for the last 20 years. He also serves on the boards of the Carnegie Institution for Science, the San Francisco Film Society and other organizations.

Hearst, the grandson of William Randolph Hearst, cited the importance of supporting investigative journalism such as that done by the center. A free society needs a free press, but also a fearless press, he said in a statement.

Economy

Job openings

fall in August

Employers posted the fewest jobs in eight months in August, a sign job gains will likely remain modest in the coming months.

The Labor Department says that job openings dropped nearly 7 percent to 5.4 million, down from 5.8 million in July.

The biggest declines were in professional and business services, which include accountants and engineers, as well as in temp work and manufacturing.

Chronicle News Services
Number of the day

31%

Thats how much Scotts Miracle-Gro stock is up this year as it prepares to supply hydroponic products in states  led by California  that are expected to legalize marijuana for adult recreational use. The company, known mainly for its lawn-care products, has been on a buying frenzy over the past 18 months, gobbling up leading companies that provide specialty fertilizers, lighting and other supplies for hydroponics, the indoor method of growing crops favored by cannabis cultivators.

Wings clipped

Twitter is grounding its Flight developers conference this year, tech news site Recode reported. The company said it is turning instead to smaller, more intimate events around the country. As CEO Jack Dorsey, right, said last year, Somewhere along the line our relationship with developers got confusing, unpredictable, and the San Francisco social media firm says the smaller events might help mend some fences. And canceling Flight gives Dorsey time to focus on righting the foundering company.

The Daily Briefing is compiled from San Francisco Chronicle staff and news services. See more items and links at www.sfgate.com. Twitter: @techbriefing
San Francisco may never be done trying to regulate Airbnb. At Tuesdays Board of Supervisors meeting, lawmakers are expected to hear a new amendment that proposes limiting vacation rentals in private homes to 60 days a year, more stringent than most previous proposals.

One surprise is the bills sponsorship. Board President London Breed, a moderate up for re-election next month against tenant activist Dean Preston, is the lead sponsor, joining with much more progressive Supervisors Aaron Peskin and David Campos.

While Campos and Peskin are dyed-in-the-wool Airbnb critics, Breed voted against legislation proposed by Campos last year to impose a 60-day cap on vacation rentals  the same idea she is now championing. However, this summer, she joined her colleagues to unanimously pass two Campos amendments requiring Airbnb and others to police their websites.

We needed to give the law time to work, Breed said in an interview explaining her stance. I said Id be one of the first to propose amendments if we discovered the law wasnt working.

Critics say that San Franciscos vacation rental law is ineffective and that the city has struggled to enforce it.

Too many hosts (are) not registering with the city, and too many people (are) either exceeding, or just plain ignoring the annual rental caps, Breed said in a statement. This takes critical housing units off the market, rendering them unavailable to all those struggling to find a permanent, affordable place to live.

In a twist, the proposal rewards the 1,650 hosts  a minority of the estimated 8,000 to 10,000 hosts citywide  who complied with the existing laws requirement to register with San Francisco, which took effect 20 months ago. Hosts who had registered by Tuesday would keep the existing caps of 90 days a year for unhosted rentals of entire homes, and no limits for rentals when the host is present, such as a room in a house.

The hosts who have played by the rules and registered already did so with assurances from the city, and we should live up to our promises, Breed said.

The proposal also prohibits neighbors outside a building from suing violators but allows nonprofits or building residents to sue more quickly than they can under current law.

We are concerned this proposal will add one more barrier to compliance for hosts, Airbnb said, repeating its contention that the registration system is broken.

The Home Sharers Democratic Club, which represents hosts on Airbnb and other platforms, likewise said the proposal would not improve enforcement and would discourage registration. Imposing a 60-day cap on stays where the host is present dictates to San Francisco residents who can and cannot stay in their homes, it said, adding that renting out rooms on Airbnb does not affect the supply of rental housing.

Dale Carlson, a spokesman for anti-Airbnb group Share Better, expressed support for the new revisions. No one has defined a way for the City to track hosted vs. unhosted rentals, he said in an email. This ends that silly distinction.

Housing supply is a key issue for Airbnbs critics, who say that landlords divert units to lucrative year-round vacation rentals, fueling the citys housing crisis. Airbnb and hosts counter that rentals supplement their income and allow them to afford living in an expensive city.

Airbnbs runaway success has fueled years of battles with its hometown, as well as other cities with housing issues. A year ago, Airbnb mounted a successful campaign to defeat San Franciscos Proposition F, which would have capped all vacation rentals at 75 days a year.

Meanwhile, a federal judge is weighing Airbnbs attempts to quash this summers updates to San Francisco regulations, which would hold Airbnb, HomeAway and other companies liable for steep fines and criminal penalties if they arrange bookings for unregistered properties.

Airbnb, later joined by HomeAway, sued San Francisco in June, saying that law would violate its rights under the First Amendment and the 1996 Communications Decency Act. San Francisco is suspending enforcement pending a ruling, which could come any day. At a hearing last week, U.S. District Judge James Donato appeared skeptical of Airbnbs and HomeAways arguments. Airbnb would almost certainly appeal a loss.

Political experts said Breeds new alliance could backfire, hurting her possible run for mayor in 2019.

London Breed, who overall has been a moderate, is suddenly jumping on the antitech bandwagon, said Nathan Ballard, a Democratic strategist who is not affiliated with any of the supervisors. By aggressively going after Airbnb, she is making some very powerful enemies. Airbnb plays to win. Their political strategy is overseen by the brilliant political operative Chris Lehane, whose powerful and potent legal strategy killed Airbnbs opposition the last time it reared its head with Prop. F.

Airbnb backer Ron Conway and his wife supported Breed in her successful 2012 race for supervisor, both with direct donations to her campaign and a $98,000 contribution to an independent expenditure committee that attacked Breeds opponent.

Just because someone gives you money doesnt mean they control you or own you, Breed said at that time.

As board president, Breed could choose to skip the 30-day wait before major new legislation heads to committee. Its something were looking at, but were not at that point yet, she said.

The pending legislation, so close to the Nov. 8 election, could affect not just Breeds race, but also the state Senate battle between Supervisors Scott Wiener and Jane Kim.

Breeds legislation puts Wiener in a tough spot because he has consistently supported short-term rentals. Political experts said he wont want this to become a wedge issue three weeks before the election, taking away his focus on homelessness and the soda industrys support of Kim.

With the 11-member boards progressive majority of six members, plus Breed, the legislation seems to have a smooth path to passage. Auto warranty coverage is important!

San Francisco Chronicle staff writer Emily Green contributed

to this report.
The president of San Jose State University addressed concerns from students that they werent told sooner about a school water polo player accused in two sexual assaults, saying earlier notification wasnt warranted because there was no imminent safety threat to the campus community.

SJSU President Mary Papazians email to students Wednesday afternoon came just after a university spokeswoman confirmed a student athlete was under investigation for the sex attacks that occurred in early September, and that he had returned to his home out of the country.

The totality of information available at the time  including the fact that the suspect had been identified and was being closely monitored  led to the determination that there was no imminent safety threat to the campus community, Papazian wrote in her email.

Two women, also SJSU students, accused the freshman athlete of assaulting them at an off-campus party over the Labor Day weekend.

San Jose Police Department detectives investigated the sexual assaults for about a month before handing over their findings to the Santa Clara County district attorneys office.

The water polo player, an international student, returned to his home country while the Santa Clara County district attorneys office determines whether to press charges, said Pat Harris, the university spokeswoman, said Wednesday before Papazian sent out her email.

The water polo player was suspended from school and barred from campus, but many students were surprised that they didnt hear of the allegations until Wednesday.

Chelsie Guzman, a fourth-year international and business student, said she was especially disturbed that students didnt receive an alert earlier. Students typically get an alert whenever something like this happens either on campus or near campus, she said.

While we are confident that this was a reasonable decision based on what we knew, I very much appreciate this concern, Papazian said in her email to students. We will be reviewing all existing protocols and processes in collaboration with our newly established Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusive Excellence and many others.

Sarah Ravani is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: sravani@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @SarRavani
SALT LAKE CITY  A prosecutor said Wednesday that he intends to file misdemeanor drug charges against the wife of the Democratic candidate for governor after federal investigators found about 2 pounds of marijuana at the couples Utah home.

The investigation began after U.S. Postal Service inspectors intercepted a package containing a small amount of pot that Donna Weinholtz tried to mail this year to another home she and husband Mike Weinholtz own in California, Tooele County Chief Deputy Attorney Gary Searle said.

Federal investigators went to the couples Salt Lake City home and found the larger stash of marijuana, which Donna Weinholtz told them that she uses to treat chronic pain, authorities said.

The U.S. attorneys office didnt believe federal charges were warranted and forwarded the case to Salt Lake County prosecutors several weeks ago, spokeswoman Melodie Rydalch said.

The case was then sent to Tooele County because Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill is a political ally of Mike Weinholtz and wanted to avoid a conflict of interest, officials said.

Searle said it appears Donna Weinholtz had the drug for her personal use and theres no evidence her husband was aware she had it. Searle said he plans to file misdemeanor drug possession charges against her soon, meaning she could face up to six months in jail and a $1,000 fine if convicted.

Mike Weinholtz said in a statement that his wife uses marijuana to relieve pain caused by arthritis and degenerative spinal conditions.

She refuses to use addictive opiates and used cannabis after suffering when other medicinal options were either invasive, ineffective or addictive, he said. We have complied at every step of the judicial process and now that we know where the case is landing, we look forward to having the issue resolved and moving on.

The businessman announced soon after winning his partys nomination in April that he would advocate for legalizing medical marijuana in Utah because his wife was under investigation for pot possession.

Searle said he plans to treat Weinholtz like everyone else but that he has no intent to turn this into some political sideshow. He did not know whether she had a medical marijuana card in California. Even if she did, possession of the drug is illegal in Utah.

Mike Weinholtz is facing an uphill battle this year to try to unseat Republican Gov. Gary Herbert in an overwhelmingly GOP state.
In 2014 we had the Great Lime Shortage. Is 2016 gearing up to be the year of the Great Avocado Shortage?

The causes are similar: A fruit grown in Mexico is not making its way north. While deeply embedded in Californias food identity  and a major crop here  most U.S. avocados are imported from Mexico.

Mexican growers are withholding fruit as they try to negotiate higher payment from packers, and now the wholesale avocado price is two to four times higher than usual. As the primary U.S. supplier this time of year, after Californias season has ended and not much is coming out of Chile or Peru, the growers in Mexico have leverage.

Right now, its one or two countries supplying the world with avocados, said Dimitri Vardakastanis, co-owner of three San Francisco grocery stores, including Guss Market. Vardakastanis has noticed sharp price increases over the past three months, and is now selling avocados for $1.99 each, $2.99 for organic.

Last year at this time, the United States imported 45 million pounds of avocados weekly from Mexico, but it imported only 13 million pounds last week, according to the Hass Avocado Board. Thats after a somewhat difficult California harvest, which runs spring through summer, with a little bit in fall. The states avocado farms struggled with drought-weakened trees that produced less and smaller fruit than usual, said Phil Henry, president of Henry Avocado Co., a grower and importer in Escondido (San Diego County).

There has been an extreme slowdown of harvest and in some cases a stoppage of harvest, said Henry of the Mexican growers. Last week, they were down to 25 percent of normal volume, and this week less than 10 percent of usual.

Henry thinks price negotiations with growers should resolve any day now, but there will be a lag after harvest resumes. It takes several days to pack and ship avocados from Mexico to the Bay Area; the fruit then must ripen two to four days before it is sent to markets and restaurants.

Avocados have been imported into the United States from Mexico only since 1997, when a trade ban was lifted, and only since 2007 into California. In 2015, the U.S. brought in 886,392 tons of avocados from Mexico, while California supplied 131,289 tons, according to the Hass Avocado Board.

Limes sold in the U.S. also come primarily from Mexico, and they were severely limited in 2014 due to drought and a cold winter, and also because growers, some controlled by drug cartels, withheld supply. Many speculate there are similar forces at work with avocados.

Most of the growers in Mexico have wanted to harvest, but its been a small minority of growers that have wanted to exert this work stoppage, said Henry. Of course its also hurting the workers, the harvesters, the people that do the packing and truck drivers going north.

While larger supermarket chains wont have as much of a problem because they have contracts in place that guarantee supply, smaller retailers and restaurants will be hit, said Sarah Garcia, co-owner of Pacific Produce, a South San Francisco distributor.

I think this is more severe than the lime situation, because we buy so many avocados in this country, she said.

But Vardakastanis was adamant that his familys stores wont run out of avocados, because their suppliers have plenty in storage. They are just having difficulty getting properly ripe fruit.

He and his staff advise customers who crave avocados for their salads, smoothies and toast to keep them out of direct sunlight for ripening. Dont refrigerate them, he said. Put them next to apples or oranges that release gases that ripen avocados.

At the four Bay Area Tacolicious restaurants, which go through more than 1,000 avocados a day for salsa, guacamole and other dishes, owner Joe Hargrave is philosophical about the shortage. Even though his cost for a 40-piece case of avocados is higher than $80, compared with the usual $39 to $59, he doesnt plan to change menu prices.

He jokingly presented a strategy thats unlikely to convince many avocado lovers: Maybe well have our waiters say you shouldnt get the guacamole, its not very good.
In perhaps the most famous Swedish film of all, a medieval knight, despite living in a time of pestilence, filth and stark black-and-white hopelessness, is so eager to live he cleverly challenges Death to a game of chess in order to survive.

In the new Swedish movie A Man Called Ove, the title character lives in a nice house in a nice neighborhood, drives a Saab, and has lived a generally fulfilling life. His attitude toward death? How about Where do I sign up?

No, A Man Called Ove is no Seventh Seal (obviously), but it does tackle the issue of unrelenting hopelessness in that uniquely Swedish way that became known to the world in Ingmar Bergmans time.

One can understand the position of Ove (Rolf Lassgard), however. At 59, he is still mourning his wife, who died two years previously. And he has just been laid off from the railroad company for which he has worked for 43 years, replaced by automation.

As Hannes Holms appealing but relatively slight and predictable film opens, Ove is trying to commit suicide. Then those pesky new neighbors  a young couple, with the wife a pregnant Iranian woman  come into his life. It is the first of many distractions that keep him from his task.

Soon, this bitter loner  think Archie Bunker and Scrooge rolled into one  is immersed in personal contact and activity. Quite against his will, he teaches the pregnant woman how to drive, revisits a neighborhood feud with his former best friend and his friends wife, and takes in both a rescue cat and a teenage neighbor who has been kicked out when he tries to come out as gay to his father.

Ove also revisits his life with his wife through a series of tender flashbacks as A Man Called Ove unfolds in a genial, quirky tone. Though our put-upon heros gradual realization that he has much to live for is obvious from the get-go, it still is a pleasant journey from pawn to king  spiritually speaking, of course.

G. Allen Johnson is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: ajohnson@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @BRfilmsAllen

A Man Called Ove

Comedy-drama. With Rolf Lassgard, Bahar Pars. Directed by Hannes Holm. In Swedish with subtitles. (PG-13. 116 minutes.)

To see a trailer: https://youtu.be/dPoaN2XROk8
RALEIGH, N.C.  Hurricane Matthew continued to prey upon North Carolina on Thursday, as the death toll climbed to 22 and another town became submerged in as much as 10 feet of water. The deaths raised the U.S. toll to 38.

Princeville is basically underwater at this time, Gov. Pat McCrory said at a news conference Thursday afternoon. He praised town officials and residents for getting everyone out safely.

Were going to have a lot of work to do in Princeville, McCrory said, a lot of work, a lot of recovery. Were going to have to rebuild a town.

Princeville in Edgecombe County, with roughly 2,000 residents, is believed to be the oldest town in the nation incorporated by African Americans. Hurricane Floyd also inundated the town 17 years ago. A dike had failed then. This time, the water simply went over the top of the dike.

Though Hurricane Matthew came through the state on Saturday, the heavy rains it brought continued to push down the Tar and Neuse rivers in eastern North Carolina. The Neuse is expected to crest in Kinston on Friday, while Greenville will see the Tar crest on Saturday, according to flood models. The rivers are expected to remain at abnormally high levels for days.

McCrory said the death toll rose by two on Thursday as one man fell into a hole created by an uprooted tree in Robeson County and another man died after driving his vehicle around a barricade on a closed road and into a washout. The governor again urged people to stay off the roads in flooded areas and away from the water.

The death toll could climb further.

McCrory also warned that the state will not reopen all roads as soon as water recedes because they may be too damaged to be safe. He toured Kinston on Thursday afternoon.

McCrory says the hurricanes impact could last as long as a year for those who lost homes and businesses. He said a top priority is getting those displaced out of shelters and into hotel rooms or rental properties, and then into housing provided by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

McCrory said 60 National Guard troops had been assigned to Fairmont in Robeson County, where a neighborhood is awash in sewage-laced water, but people are afraid their homes will be looted if they leave. The Guard will help with both evacuation and security afterward, he said.

After visiting shelters, McCrory said, I have never met more resilient and thankful people who are bearing up even though its their whole lives they feel like theyve lost.

McCrory said he requested federal assistance for individuals as well as state and local governments for 66 counties. By Thursday morning, homeowners and renters in 17 counties were able to apply for federal assistance to repair or rebuild damaged homes, and 34 counties were approved for public federal assistance.
HACKENSACK, N.J.  Republican Gov. Chris Christie wasnt charged by federal prosecutors in the George Washington Bridge lane-closing case and wasnt held responsible by other investigations into the political revenge plot, but hes now been ensnared again in the legal fallout because of a citizens misconduct complaint.

A New Jersey judge on Thursday allowed the complaint against Christie to move forward. Christies office said he will appeal and described the citizen as a serial complainant and political activist with a history of abusing the system.

The complaint, filed by retired Teaneck firefighter William Brennan, alleges Christie knowingly refrained from ordering that his subordinates take all necessary action to re-open local access lanes from Fort Lee that had been closed with the purpose to injure Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich for not endorsing Christies re-election bid. The complaint claims residents were deprived the benefit and enjoyment of their community.

The judges ruling comes amid the trial of two former Christie appointees who are accused of orchestrating the lane closures in September 2013 as retribution against Sokolich, a Democrat. The governments star witness, David Wildstein, testified that several members in the governors inner circle knew about the plot beforehand or soon after and that Christie himself was told about the traffic jams on the third day of the four-day lane closures.

Christie has adamantly denied that happened and spokesman Brian Murray says, The simple fact is the governor had no knowledge of the lane realignments either before they happened or while they were happening.

The governors misconduct case next goes to the Bergen County prosecutors office, which will decide whether it will lead to an indictment. Christie appointed the prosecutor.

Spectators in the courtroom who were mostly there for minor criminal violations applauded after Judge Roy McGeadys ruling.

Im satisfied that theres probable cause to believe that an event of official misconduct was caused by Gov. Christie, McGeady said. Im going to issue the summons.

Christie attorney Craig Carpenito told the judge that the complaint was intentionally misleading and that what Christie knew about the closures was already thoroughly investigated.

Official misconduct is considered a second-degree offense in New Jersey and carries a possible sentence of five to 10 years. An initial court appearance is scheduled for Oct. 24.

Three investigations into the scandal did not find evidence Christie authorized or knew about the lane closures, a fact that his spokesman reiterated after the summons Thursday. Federal prosecutors did not charge Christie after their investigation, a Democrat-led legislative panel failed to find evidence linking the governor to the plot.

Bill Baroni, former deputy executive director at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, and Bridget Kelly, Christies deputy chief of staff, are on trial in the lane-closures case.

Baroni and Kelly face charges including conspiracy, fraud and deprivation of civil rights. The most serious charge, wire-fraud conspiracy, carries a 20-year maximum prison sentence.
BOSTON  A man wearing body armor and armed with an assault rifle shot two Boston police officers who were responding to a report of a domestic disturbance, before being shot and killed by other officers, police said.

The wounded officers were in extremely critical condition but out of surgery and with their families on Thursday morning, Police Commissioner William Evans said.

Domestic calls, as you know, are probably the most volatile. You never really know what youre walking into, Evans said. And I think we see right now the dangers of our job.

The suspect was identified as Kirk Figueroa, 33, of East Boston.

A car with the name of a website was towed from the shooting scene Thursday morning. On the website, elitepolicing.org, a man who identifies himself as Kirk Figueroa says his company, Code Blue Protection Corp., provides police support, fugitive apprehension and extradition services, and armored car training.

Figueroa described himself as a Boston constable, a former member of a U.S. Army Reserve military police unit, a bounty hunter in California and a former corrections officer. He also said he was trained in mixed martial arts. Constables are authorized to serve subpoenas and other legal documents.

Evans said Figueroa fired at the officers late Wednesday night shortly after they arrived at a home in the citys East Boston neighborhood on a report of a fight between roommates. Several other officers who were stationed outside ran inside and exchanged gunfire with the suspect.

Two of the officers dragged their fellow officers out of the line of fire so they were in a protected zone, and the officers continued to engage in a gun exchange, Evans said.

The officers shot and killed the suspect and then began administering first aid to the wounded officers, one a 28-year veteran, the other a 12-year veteran of the force.

One officer had his hand in one of the wounds and I think that was instrumental in getting the officer down to Mass General quickly, Evans said.

Both officers were taken to Massachusetts General Hospital, where they were being treated for serious injuries. Nine other officers were being treated at Tufts Medical Center for trauma, stress and minor injuries.

Police, initially concerned that there might be a second suspect, ordered residents to shelter in place. That order was later lifted.

Police did not release the names of the wounded officers.
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This story originally appeared on Hoodline.

For Rachel Strobel and Luke Miller, last weeks fire at Noriega and 22nd Avenue could not have come at a worse time.

The couple are expecting their first child, a boy, and had just moved into their new home at 1814 22nd Ave., a one-bedroom apartment that had taken them six months to find.

The fire broke out almost as soon as they moved in.

Its so messed up because I was only there for 20 minutes, said Strobel. My boyfriend had moved the very last box in.

Miller had gone downstairs to park the car when he spotted the flames from his neighbors window. He knocked and rang the door, but there was no answer.

According to Miller and Strobel, the fire started from the apartment below, where neighbors believe Grandmas Kitchen, a to-go restaurant, operated out of the space.

"The [tenant] was operating a legal to-go restaurant an illegal kitchen," said Strobel. "She would cook food and then deliver it. She was on a delivery and left the wok burning on the stove." We've reached out to Grandma's Kitchen, but have not yet heard back.

SF GATE editor's note: Hoodline uses strike-through lines in text to clarify altered portions of original stories.

Miller and Strobel knocked on other peoples doors and called 911. While waiting for the fire department to arrive, Miller located a fire extinguisher and tried to put out the fire, but it quickly grew into a two-alarm blaze.

The fire displaced nine people, including Miller and Strobel. Three people also sustained minor injuries.

When the couple returned back to their new apartment after the fire, everything was gone.

We went upstairs [to the apartment]. The kitchen is gone, the roof is gone, said Miller. The whole building has to be gutted out.

Through the support of the American Red Cross, the couple is now staying at a hotel. They are also raising funds through GoFundMe to find another home.

With a baby on the way, the situation remains challenging for the pair: they lost all their possessions in the fire. Born and raised in San Francisco, Miller is a handyman and landscaper, while Strobel is working office jobs through a temp agency.

It took six months to find this house. Its very hard, explained Miller. [Landlords] want an 800 credit scoreand I dont work at Google.

Strobel says that after the fire, she is in shock and struggling to figure out how to rebuild the couple's lives. "Our family isnt supporting us. Were just kind of on our own."

The fire is currently under investigation by the SFFD. When Hoodline reached out to SFFD spokesman Jonathan Baxter for verification, he would not confirm whether or not the fire originated from Grandma's Kitchen. "We're in the process of doing the scientific investigation at the conclusion of the report," he explained.

This story originally appeared on Hoodline.




Adrian Rosenfeld, who left a major role at the Matthew Marks Gallery last year, has moved to San Francisco and will open his own space. Called simply Adrian Rosenfeld, the gallery will be at 1150 25th St., next door to the much-anticipated new location of Altman Siegel Gallery. A third space in the same building  which itself is part of the ever-expanding Minnesota Street Project  will house an as-yet-unnamed private collection showcase.

In 1999, Rosenfeld joined New Yorks Matthew Marks, where he was a director. One of the most influential galleries internationally, Matthew Marks represents such top figures as Jasper Johns, Nan Goldin, Ellsworth Kelly and Brice Marden. The San Francisco sculptor Vincent Fecteau is also among the gallerys artists.

Its always difficult to say whether there is a market for high-value art in a community like the Bay Area, Rosenfeld said by phone. He plans to ask galleries around the world to partner on exhibitions. I was with Matthew for 15 years  it was a gallery that never worked quickly.

I want to take the time for things to develop, to work with the new generation that has just begun to emerge in San Francisco. Theres a shift, and things are expanding, if not in this super-accelerated way. He later added, by email, I have many existing clients here with whom I have been doing business a long time and there is definitely plenty of demand for great art.

An unconventional design by architect Thomas Ryan is meant to stoke the slow burn. When you walk into the gallery, you will walk into a library, Rosenfeld said, a warm and welcoming space lined with walnut shelves containing books on collecting, collectors and esoteric collections. There will also be a cantina ... a stone-covered plywood bar where 15 people can just hang out in a hallway near the exhibition space. An early 2017 opening is planned.

New chief for Hockney Foundation: If you think you loved the David Hockney exhibition at the de Young Museum in late 2013, consider its effect on the local co-curator of the show, Richard Benefield. Benefield has served in several key roles at the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco (the de Young umbrella institution) in his four years there, including two stints as acting director. Now it has been announced he will begin a new job in January  as executive director of the David Hockney Foundation.

Im over the moon, he said by phone.

Benefield was the first director of San Franciscos Walt Disney Family Museum, a position he held from 2008 to 2011. Earlier, he held administrative positions at the art museums of Brown University, the Rhode Island School of Design and Harvard University. He and his husband, John Kunowski, will move to Los Angeles, where the foundation is headquartered and where Hockney lives.

In 2014, the David Hockney Foundation reported assets  primarily works of art  valued at more than $136 million. The purpose of the foundation, Benefield said, is to further educate the public on arts and culture. It does this primarily through support of Hockney projects  he has four major exhibitions scheduled in the coming year, as he turns 80. A new book, A History of Pictures: From the Cave to the Computer, written with British art critic Martin Gayford, came out last Thursday, Oct. 6.

The Independent newspaper reported that in 2012, Hockney was the most generous philanthropist in Britain. As it has been in the past, San Francisco will likely again be a beneficiary of that largesse: On Oct. 4, the acquisitions committee of the Fine Arts Museums voted to recommend that the full board accept a gift from the foundation of two multi-screen video works, Seven Yorkshire Landscapes, 2011 (which has been on view in the de Young lobby since the show in 2013) and The Four Seasons, Woldgate Woods (Spring 2011, Summer 2010, Autumn 2010, Winter 2010).

A literate Oakland addition: Another new effort, though at the tiny scale of 400 square feet, is Gallery 2301. It will open Thursday, Oct. 13, at 2301 Telegraph Ave. in Oakland, directly across the street from Johansson Projects  ground zero of the lively Oakland gallery scene. It is being launched by Timothy Don, co-founder of the Oakland Book Festival, who is also art editor of Laphams Quarterly.

Don promises to find and work with intelligent, mid-career Bay Area (especially Oakland-based) artists on deeply curated, one-person shows and to bring to the Bay Area some of the New York and international artists I have developed relationships with through the Quarterly.

Theres a literary bent to the program, starting with the first show, of work by Oakland artist Eric Martin on the theme of Wild Fire. Its the first of a series built around the four elements of classical philosophy (fire, water, air and earth) and the ancient thinkers who expounded on those topics. A panel on Heraclitus and the Aesthetics of Fire on Oct. 27 will feature the artist in conversation with a philosopher and an art historian.

Diane Roby / Diane Roby

Ruth Braunstein Memorial: A Celebration of Life for pioneer San Francisco art dealer Ruth Braunstein, who died Sept. 6 at the age of 93, will take place Sunday, Oct. 16, 1:00 p.m. at 1275 Minnesota St., S.F.

Last chance: Rena Bransten Gallerys Lawrence Ferlinghetti: Censored Tarps  three large paintings that give a sense of the Beat poets visual art practice  closes Saturday, Oct. 15 ... and dont miss Matrix 261: Cecilia Edefalk, at the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, which I have called one of the more peculiar and affecting exhibitions of the year, closing Sunday, Oct. 16.

Charles Desmarais is The San Francisco Chronicles art critic. Email: cdesmarais@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @Artguy1
Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej, whose reign witnessed regular bouts of political turmoil, coups and violent unrest, was revered as a serene and caring father of the nation, and a bulwark in troubled times (AFP Photo/Pornchai Kittiwongsakul)

World leaders paid tribute to Thailand's King Bhumibol Adulyadej as a champion of his people during a momentous seven-decade reign, as observers warned his death could plunge the country into renewed turmoil.

Bhumibol, whose reign witnessed regular bouts of political turmoil, coups and violent unrest, was revered as a serene and caring father of the nation, and a bulwark in troubled times.

His death Thursday at the age of 88, with Thailand under a military dictatorship, could cause fresh political tensions and economic hardship, analysts warned as his people come to terms with losing the only monarch most have ever known.

UN chief Ban Ki-moon hailed the king's "long dedication to his country and his legacy as a unifying national leader... respected internationally".

"The Secretary-General expresses his hope that Thailand will continue to honour King Bhumibol's legacy of commitment to universal values and respect for human rights," his spokesman said in a statement.

President Barack Obama praised the monarch as a "close friend" and partner of the United States.

He paid tribute to the king as a "tireless champion" for Thailand's development, praising his "unflagging devotion" to improving the lives of his subjects.

"I had the honor of calling on His Majesty the King during my visit to Thailand in 2012, and recall his grace and warmth, as well as his deep affection and compassion for the Thai people," he said.

Backed by an intense palace-driven personality cult, Bhumibol was revered as semi-divine by many in Thailand, and a towering leader above the din of the kingdom's fractious political scene.

In his heydey he built a reputation as a people's monarch, criss-crossing the nation to visit the rural poor and sometimes intervening to quell political violence -- although he approved most of the army's many coups during his reign.

- 'Greatly missed' -

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Neighbouring Singapore and Malaysia both expressed their sorrow at his passing, with the island city-state describing the king as "an outstanding and deeply revered monarch... (who) worked tirelessly for the betterment of the Thai people".

President Vladimir Putin sent a telegram of condolence, saying that "during the decades of his reign he won the sincere love of his subjects and high prestige abroad".

British Prime Minister Theresa May said Bhumibol "guided the Kingdom of Thailand with dignity, dedication and vision throughout his life. He will be greatly missed".

Chinese President Xi Jinping hailed Bhumibol's contribution to Thailand's development, adding that the "good relationship" between Bangkok and Beijing were due in no small part to "personal efforts made by King Bhumibol himself".

Bhumibol's "rural development projects improved the lives of millions of people in Thailand" and will be remembered for generations to come, said EU President Donald Tusk and European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted: "People of India and I join the people of Thailand in grieving the loss of one of the tallest leaders of our times, King Bhumibol Adulyadej".

As concern mounted over the Bhumibol's health in the days prior to his death, the stock market and baht currency tumbled. And analysts predict further jitters ahead.

"The death of Thailands highly revered king will plunge the country into a state of mourning, and also deep political uncertainty," forecasters Capital Economics said in a note.

"The period of (relative) political calm since the 2014 coup has helped the economy recover... But renewed political instability could quickly derail this recovery."

"Although the King has been unwell for a number of years and has had little or no influence on day-today policymaking for some time, he has continued to act as a unifying force in the country."

Advisory group Bower Group Asia said all eyes would now be on the succession. The junta leader said Thursday that the named heir, Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn, has asked for time before being officially proclaimed the next monarch.

"During the mourning and transition period, the military will retain a firm grip over the country to ensure that the royal succession proceeds smoothly and does not become politicised," it said.
Students and staff at two schools in Lafayette were placed on lockdown for about 90 minutes Thursday after police searched for a pair suspected burglars  including one found hiding inside a school restroom, officials said.

Martinez residents Charles Parks, 34, and Jeremiah Mercure, 35, were arrested by Pleasant Hill police on suspicion of burglary and identity theft, officials said. Parks faces a number of additional charges that include methamphetamine possession, unlawful taking of a vehicle and driving with a suspended license, police said.

Officers began searching for the suspects after reports came in that two men suspected of committing a recent series of burglaries were trying to make fraudulent transactions at a Dicks Sporting Goods on Monument Boulevard. The suspects fled in a stolen vehicle about 10:11 a.m. when officers arrived, authorities said.

Police officers tried to stop the stolen car in Pleasant Hill, but the occupants did not pull over, officials said. Officers chased the vehicle onto Interstate 680 and then to Highway 24 before it exited the freeway in Lafayette.

The suspects stopped the car about 10:30 a.m. in front of Acalanes High School on Pleasant Hill Road, where they jumped out and ran, police said.

As officers searched for the suspects, Acalanes and nearby Springhill Elementary School were placed on lockdown. A California Highway Patrol helicopter and a Concord police dog were used in the search.

One suspect, who was not identified, fled onto the high schools campus and was later found inside the boys bathroom and taken into custody, said Lafayette Police Chief Eric Christensen. The other suspect, who also was not identified, ran into the neighborhood before being tracked down and taken into custody as well, he said.

The lockdown was lifted just before noon.

Hamed Aleaziz is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: haleaziz@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @haleaziz
PORTLAND, OR--(Marketwired - October 12, 2016) - Digital Security Solutions leader Tyfone, Inc., will present on the topics of secure digital banking channels, cybersecurity technologies and security best practices at the Cooperative Credit Union Association's (CCUA) Annual Meeting and Convention, being held on October 12-14 in Uncasville, Connecticut. Representing over 1,000 credit unions in the Northeast, the CCUA's annual gathering provides educational opportunities for the region's credit union executives.

Tyfone co-founder and CEO, Dr. Siva G. Narendra, will present on behalf of Tyfone in Thursday's main session, and will be joined onstage by CCUA's CEO, who will moderate the event. Dr. Narendra is an internationally recognized cybersecurity thought leader who is a frequent guest speaker and has been involved in over 300 issued and pending patents for mobile banking, digital security, integrated circuits, Internet of Things (IoT), wireless and mobile technologies.

Dr. Narendra's presentation, titled "Secure Digital Banking: Best Practices and Techniques for Protecting Your Members and Credit Union in a Connected World," will cover a range of cybersecurity topics which are increasingly important to financial institution executives, including:

What you need to know about security and Digital Banking

5 Keys to an effective Secure Digital Banking Strategy

Why Security is Essential to Digital Transformation Initiatives

Digital Banking without a secure digital identity

The importance of secure digital identity within Digital Banking

"Credit Unions desire to provide their members with banking services across all digital channels, but in a way that is both very secure and also very convenient," according to Daniel Rawlings, Tyfone Chief Revenue Officer. "Mobile and internet connectivity technologies provide tremendous opportunities, but often introduce unacceptable security vulnerabilities. With Tyfone, credit unions and their members can enjoy the highest levels of security and convenience across all digital channels."

Story continues

Tyfone's secure digital banking suite is a unified mobile and online banking solution, allowing financial institutions, such as credit unions and banks, to offer their members and customers the most secure digital banking solution in the industry. The solution's adaptive and responsive design takes advantage of the unique features of each device, while presenting a consistent user experience and rich functionality across all devices. The solution leverages Tyfone's u4ia Digital Security Platform to provide the industry's only banking solution that complies with the latest FFIEC guidelines and all levels of National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) security specifications. This enable the solution to provide the highest levels of security and convenience.

About Tyfone

Tyfone is a leading provider of digital security solutions for identity and transactions. Tyfone solutions bring both security and convenience in the hyper-connected digital world of cloud, mobility and IoT (Internet of Things), where legacy security methods have proven to be ineffective. Protected by over 130 issued and pending patents, the company's secure solutions serve key industries such as financial services (including two of the Top 10 credit unions), converged security for enterprises, critical infrastructure, and the US Government. The company is headquartered in Portland, Oregon and also has operations in Bangalore, India.

Tyfone is securing the connected world.

For more information, visit https://tyfone.com.

Image Available: http://www.marketwire.com/library/MwGo/2016/10/12/11G117855/Images/Siva_Narendra-42619d3c6e11aa14b94782b840804554.jpg


What initially started as an investigation into a New York state Senate candidate's involvement in a real estate scandal, later devolved into a "Is this real life?" discussion over his plan to host a campaign event serving "Kool Aid, KFC and watermelons" in East Harlem.

Reporter Sarah Wallace with WNBC in New York contacted Jon Girodes, a Republican candidate for New York's 30th District seat, for the real estate story. In an email reply back, Girodes invited Wallace to a community event, mentioning the food offerings.

"Ps I'm hosting an event in Harlem which will be in front of the state building in a few weeks," he wrote to Wallace. "We will [donate] Kool Aid, KFC and watermelons to the public on 125th street in Harlem. Please join us to help the community."

This all led to Gothamist.com to run a story with the headline, "Is this Republican NY Senate Candidate More Unhinged Than Trump?"

The food has well-known racist associations with it, as Gothamist pointed out, and NBC went to Harlem to interview residents about how they felt about the food. Pretty much everyone they talked to was ... Not. Pleased.

"It's racist," Harlem resident Tyrone Nero told the news station. "Whoever he is, I think he should go back in whatever hole he crawled in and have a great life."

When NBC gave Girodes a chance to pivot away from his original statement, he instead insisted on it. He told the news station, "What I think is anyone who gives free food to people is doing them a favor."

"Get a bunch of people who say it's offensive and let me go into their neighborhood and give it out for free and see if they take it," he added.

The day after the report aired, however, Girodes did back down on his comments. He even told Gothamist that he never wrote about the event (despite NBC providing the news site with the original email).

"I should say for the record that I grew up in Harlem, I'm Cuban and African-American. For the record we did grow up eating a lot of watermelon," he told Gothamist, defending the comments he said he never made.
The 1997 Miss Teen USA beauty pageant, where contestants said Donald Trump walked in on naked teenagers in the dressing room, was held on South Padre Island in Texas.

The pageant, now almost 10 years ago, was the first under Trumps tenor after he bought Miss USA, Miss Teen USA and Miss Universe in 1996. Ivanka Trump, the reality stars daughter, was just 16 years old at the time and served as co-host of the event alongside actor J. Eddie Peck, according to footage of the pageant.

Buzzfeed News spoke to five contestants from the 1997 Miss Teen USA pageant who said Trump, the Republican nominee for president, would freely walk in the young womens dressing room, whether they were clothed or not.

I remember putting on my dress really quick because I was like, Oh my god, theres a man in here, Mariah Billado, former Miss Vermont Teen USA, told Buzzfeed News.

She said Trump told the young women, who were around the same age as his daughter, not to worry because he had seen it all before, according to Buzzfeed News.

Three other contestants, who spoke to Buzzfeed News on the condition they could stay anonymous, confirmed what Billado saidTrump would walk through the dressing room as contestants rushed to cover themselves up.

In an interview with Howard Stern in April 2005, which was uncovered by CNN, Trump told him a story that mirrored the one Billado told Buzzfeed more than 10 years later:

"Well, I'll tell you the funniest is that before a show, I'll go backstage and everyone's getting dressed, and everything else, and you know, no men are anywhere, and I'm allowed to go in because I'm the owner of the pageant and therefore I'm inspecting it. You know, I'm inspecting because I want to make sure that everything is good. You know, the dresses. 'Is everyone okay?' You know, they're standing there with no clothes. 'Is everybody okay?' And you see these incredible looking women, and so, I sort of get away with things like that. But no, I've been very good," he said.

Victoria Hughes, former Miss New Mexico Teen USA, told Buzzfeed News she was the oldest contestant at the 1997 competition at 19-years-old.

"I was the eldest delegate at age 19 and was in the very back of the large dressing room. I recall chaperones saying that we had a visitor and to get covered up. The black curtains opened and in walks Mr. Trump smiling. He wished us all good luck, did not stay very long and left. As teenagers, it no doubt caught us off guard, as the timing of the entrance could've been better and less awkward for us all," Hughes told Buzzfeed News in an email.

Buzzfeeds story on the beauty queens was published the same day the New York Times reported allegations from two women who said Trump touched them inappropriately and without consent. A reporter from PEOPLE magazine also published a story Wednesday about the time she interviewed Trump and his third wife Melania. She said when Melania Trump left the room, Trump pushed her against the wall and began forcing his tongue down (her) throat.

Trump has denied the claims made in the New York Times and PEOPLE piece.

This entire article is fiction, and for the New York Times to launch a completely false, coordinated character assassination against Mr. Trump on a topic like this is dangerous. To reach back decades in an attempt to smear Mr. Trump trivializes sexual assault, and it sets a new low for where the media is willing to go in its efforts to determine this election, Trumps communications advisor Jason Miller said in a statement.

The campaign followed up the statement with a letter to the New York Times demanding they remove the story and issue an apology.

Hope Hicks, Trumps press secretary, addressed the PEOPLE magazine story in a statement.

This never happened. There is no merit or veracity to this fictional story. Why wasnt this reported at the time? Mr. Trump was the biggest star on television and surely this would have been a far bigger scoop for People magazine," Hicks said. "This is nothing but a politically motivated fictional pile-on.

The reports from the New York Times, Buzzfeed, and PEOPLE were published days after the Washington Post published an audio clip from 2005 where Trump bragged about groping women.

kbradshaw@express-news.net

Twitter: @kbrad5
taxi cab

The price of taxi-cab medallions in New York seem to have hit a new low.



Early this month, a medallion  basically the right to operate a yellow cab in New York  was listed for $250,000 on nycitycab.com.

(We first spotted this detail on DonutShorts' twitter feed. It was originally tweeted by @tavit87.)

That's a stark contrast from 2014, when the value of a medallion was listed around $1.3 million.

Medallions are tightly regulated, and you cannot operate a taxi in New York without one. They're losing value with the cab business taking a hit amid the rise of rideshare apps like Uber and Lyft.

Notably, although taxis are still beating Uber and Lyft in New York City, the share of trips shrank to 65% in April 2016 from 84% in April 2015, according to charts shared by Morgan Stanley analysts in July.

Screen Shot 2016 10 12 at 3.28.33 PM

Moreover, the team also shared a graph showing the total dispatched trips per day in New York in April 2016 compared to April 2015.

Again, although the number of trips per day for NYC taxis is far greater than the number of trips per day by Uber and/or Lyft, the figure for cabs has dropped by about 9%, while the rate for Uber and Lyft has surged.

Screen Shot 2016 10 12 at 3.28.04 PM

For more news videos visit Yahoo View, available now on iOS.

NOW WATCH: FEMA is tracking Hurricane Matthew using the 'Waffle House Index'





More From Business Insider
Beachgoers and boaters on the Northern and Central California coast should exercise caution this weekend as hazardous weather conditions set in Friday morning, U.S. Coast Guard officials said.



The Coast Guard has issued a Coastal Flood Advisory and High Surf Advisory for Friday from 3 a.m. to 9 p.m.



Increasing southerly winds will blow in late Thursday night, followed on Friday morning by northwest swells as large as 14 to 16 feet, Coast Guard officials said.



"Boaters and beachgoers should be especially cautious on and near the water over the next several days," Danielle Couture, a search and rescue specialist at the Coast Guard Sector San Francisco Command Center, said in a statement.



"We're ready to respond if boaters and beachgoers find themselves in distress," Couture said.



Even larger swells are anticipated for Sunday, Coast Guard officials said.



Strong rip currents and large shore breaks are expected to affect all west- and northwest-facing beaches from Sonoma County to Monterey County.



Rip currents can exhaust swimmers and are usually more frequent and stronger near piers, inlets and jetties, Coast Guard officials said.



Large shore breaks can result in injury, and large wave run-ups can unexpectedly pull people into cold, turbulent waters.



Coast Guard officials recommend that all boaters and beachgoers stay informed about weather conditions, keep a working VHF-FM radio when on the water, wear a lifejacket, file a float plan with friends, family or local marinas, and educate children about water safety.



Divers should evaluate their physical condition as well as that of their equipment, never dive alone and cancel their diving plans if surf conditions are unsafe.



Boaters should not consume alcohol or drugs, and dog owners should protect their pets from rough waves, but not to attempt to rescue their dogs from a surf zone.







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SAN MATEO, CA--(Marketwired - Oct 12, 2016) - Wildcat Venture Partners, a venture capital firm committed to enabling early-stage startups to build high-growth businesses, today announced the winners of its first annual Scholarships in Entrepreneurship and Innovation: second-year Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) graduate students Apoorva Reddy Neelapu and Austin Webb. The $5,000 scholarships, awarded for the 2016-17 academic year, are given in partnership with CMU's Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship.

"We are honored to work with Carnegie Mellon in support of its budding entrepreneurs. The university's academic focus on artificial intelligence, machine learning, the Internet of Things and robotics aligns closely with the technologies we look for when investing in early-stage companies," said Bruce Cleveland, founding partner, Wildcat Venture Partners. "Our goal with the scholarship is to foster the next generation of entrepreneurs. We look forward to mentoring Apoorva and Austin on a regular basis and following their entrepreneurial careers upon graduation."

Apoorva Reddy Neelapu is enrolled in the Carnegie Mellon H. John Heinz III College, where she is pursuing a Master of Science degree in Public Policy and Management. Neelapu is the co-founder of Tip4Change, a marketplace that aims to leverage sustainable and ethical products. She also was founder of Eco-Veg in India. Neelapu is a James R. Swartz Entrepreneurial Fellow, a Campus Ambassador for the Graduate Entrepreneurship Club and the Founder of Social Innovation Club at Heinz College.

Austin Webb is pursuing his Master in Business Administration from the Carnegie Mellon Tepper School of Business. In addition to maintaining an almost perfect GPA in graduate school, Webb is the CEO and co-founder of RoBotany Ltd., which is leveraging automation and analytics to transform indoor vertical farming. In his role at RoBotany, Webb has demonstrated vision and the ability to develop technology, fundraise, manage customers and handle financial and legal concerns. RoBotany's patent-pending technology includes robots, sensors, actuators, and a robust IoT platform and database architecture.

"We are delighted to join with Wildcat Venture Partners in offering these scholarships to aspiring Carnegie Mellon entrepreneurs," said Dave Mawhinney, executive director of the Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship. "Wildcat has integrated itself in to the Carnegie Mellon startup ecosystem, both in Silicon Valley and Pittsburgh, and provides a number of great opportunities for our students, faculty and alumni to work with their team and portfolio companies. We are proud that Apoorva and Austin are the first recipients because they represent what is special about Carnegie Mellon."

Neelapu and Webb were presented their scholarships at a cocktail party at The Porch in Pittsburgh, attended by more than 50 graduate students, faculty, administration, entrepreneurs and CMU alumni. Among the guests were Eleanor Haglund, founder of E.E. Books; Ryan Green and Brian Finamore, founders of Gridwise; Jim Jen, executive director of AlphaLab at Innovation Works; Art Boni, distinguished career professor of Entrepreneurship; Kit Needham, entrepreneur-in-residence at Project Olympus; Ari Lightman, professor of Digital Media and Marketing at CMU; and Dave Mawhinney, executive director of the Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship.

To be eligible for the scholarship, recipients must

have completed at least the first year of a Carnegie Mellon graduate program;

be in good academic standing and demonstrate a passion for learning;

show interest in pursuing an entrepreneurial path, such as membership in the Graduate Entrepreneurship Club (GEC), selection as a Swartz Fellow or having started their own venture; and

have interests in Wildcat's thesis areas, such as IoT, marketplaces, digital health, EdTech, FinTech, marketing technology, enterprise and consumer.

About Wildcat Venture Partners

Wildcat Venture Partners is a Silicon Valley-based venture capital firm that invests in early-stage startups leveraging technologies such as: artificial intelligence, machine learning, the Internet of Things and robotics to address the following markets -- consumer, digital health, edtech, enterprise, fintech, marketing technology, and marketplaces. The Wildcat team brings decades of entrepreneurial and venture experience, combined with deep domain expertise to help companies traverse the Traction Gap. For more information, visit wildcat.vc.
Next month, California might almost catch up with Carpinteria.

The small beach town in Santa Barbara County, population 13,500, is rarely cited as a leader in anything. But when it comes to the California cause of eliminating single-use bags  a cause responsible for two measures on the November ballot  Carpinteria is our model city.

Carpinteria boasts Californias broadest ban on single-use bags. It doesnt just bar getting plastic at the grocery store or other larger retailers; its the only place in the state that prohibits paper bags as well. By contrast, the proposed state ban on bags  which voters are being asked to approve by the referendum known as Proposition 67  prohibits only single-use plastic bags and allows people to get their groceries in a paper bag for 10 cents a pop.

The debate over plastic bags may seem like a narrow policy question on whether the benefits of keeping plastic bags out of the environment outweigh the inconvenience of having to bring your own reusable bags to the grocery store. But the bag ban is actually part of a much broader story about how, even in the grandest of states, its still possible for a few individuals in a small place to make an outsize difference.

The roots of the bag ban in Carp (as some locals weary of saying the five-syllable name call their town) lie in the 1990s recession. As vacancies in the small downtown rose and graffiti became more common, several residents incorporated the all-volunteer Carpinteria Beautiful civic organization. Then, as now, it had no dues and no rules for members. It started with graffiti removal and then took on all kinds of local projects, from litter pickups and bus bench painting to maintenance of the millstone fountain in Seaside Park and the Linden Beach pingpong table.

Carpinteria Beautiful and other groups were active in environmental causes, including fighting to protect Carps distinctive seaside bluffs from development. The interest in plastic bags dates to 2007, when Santa Barbara City College students and faculty presented at a City Council meeting on the environmental problems caused by plastic bags ending up in Carps creeks and the ocean. Other California coastal cities were pursuing bag bans, but Carps city government was wary of the high legal costs of defending the city against inevitable litigation from bag manufacturers. Carpinteria Beautiful, instead, began a community campaign to encourage citizens to switch voluntarily to reusable grocery bags; it won some converts, but not as many as a ban would.

In 2011, the conversation changed. The local Albertsons grocery store was undergoing renovations to make the store greener, in everything from lighting to refrigeration, so its manager, Ahmed Jahadhmy, a longtime Carp resident, announced that Albertsons would go bagless and worked to persuade people to switch to reusable bags. Fortuitously, the California Supreme Court a few months later found for the Los Angeles County city of Manhattan Beach in a lawsuit over its own bag ban; that gave Carpinteria the confidence to enact a ban in 2012.

The impact was clear. Volunteers who pre-ban had found 40 to 50 plastic bags during creek cleanups were now finding one or two.

The beauty of it was the community, said Jahadhmy. The people here are just so understanding and patient, and all the groups and the businesses in Carpinteria were involved in the whole process. (Word of Carps green Albertsons has spread beyond the town and the state, to the powers that be in Washington  the store has received visitors from the U.S. Department of Energy and even the White House.)

Locals say the ban  and all the other beautification work  renewed the city and created momentum for tougher fights, including against an effort to permit new oil drilling in Carpinteria. Going forward, the success of the ban could provide momentum to efforts to introduce commercial composting, improve water quality and get the city government of Carpinteria certified as a green business.

As California debates whether to approve the single-use bag ban statewide, the picture can seem complicated. It doesnt help that theres a second bags-related measure, Proposition 65, which involves where the fees consumers pay for paper and reusable bags go but was put on the ballot by the plastic bag industry to create voter confusion about Prop. 67, the referendum on the statewide bag ban. And with so many municipalities having followed Carps lead  by one count, there are 122 local ordinances covering 151 jurisdictions banning single-use plastic bags in the state  Californians have varying experiences with such bans.

So why not keep it simple and think only of that beach city south of Santa Barbara? What, after all, could possibly be wrong with making California a little bit more like Carp?

Joe Mathews writes the Connecting California column for Zocalo Public Square. To comment, submit your letter to the editor at http://bit.ly/SFChronicleletters.
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If anecdotally the political gender gap has never seemed starker, statistically it appears that way too.

According to an election forecast by FiveThirtyEight's Nate Silver, if no men voted in the 2016 election, Hillary Clinton would win 458 electoral votes to Donald Trump's 80.

Candidates must receive 270 electoral votes to win the presidency.

FiveThirtyEight projected these numbers using 12 national polls conducted so far in October. Clinton's lead among women voters ranges from 33 points on the PRRI poll to six points according to the Morning Consult. On average, Clinton leads Trump by 15 points among women; Trump leads Clinton by five points among men.

With only women voters, Trump would still win Idaho, Utah, Wyoming, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee, Kentucky and West Virginia.

According to FiveThirtyEight:

If men were the only voters, conversely, we'd have to subtract 10 points from Clinton's current margin in every state  which would yield an awfully red map. Trump would win everything that could plausibly be called a swing state, with Clinton hanging on only to the West Coast, parts of the Northeast, Illinois and New Mexico. That would yield 350 electoral votes for Trump to 188 for Clinton.

Silver concludes that if Clinton wins the election, it will be because of women voters.

MORE: Clinton feels 'sorry' for pro-Trump protesters

In response to the FiveThirtyEight piece, some Trump supporters have been tweeting the hashtag #RepealThe19th, a reference to the 19th Amendment which gave women the right to vote.

If they were hoping to win over women voters, that's certainly not the hashtag to do it with.
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Hillary Clinton said at a surprise appearance at a San Francisco campaign office Thursday that the nation has "already learned who Donald Trump is." She said the election is about "who we are and what we stand for."

Clinton pointed to First Lady Michelle Obama's remarks in New Hampshire earlier in the day, saying she "not only made a compelling and strong case about the stakes in the election but about who we are as Americans."

Clinton told volunteers at a call center that "we cannot let this pessimism, this dark and divisive and dangerous vision for America take hold in anybody's heart."

Clinton was presented with a home-made picture of herself by 7-year-old Bella Pelosi Kaufman, the granddaughter of House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi.

Clinton noted, "We have 26 days left. I don't think there has ever been a more important 26 days in American history."

Clinton said, "This is such an election between two very different visions, views and sets of values."

Also Thursday, new emails showed Clinton's campaign tried to move the Illinois presidential primary to a later date. Clinton's campaign said a contest held after the Super Tuesday primaries might stop momentum for a moderate Republican candidate and emphasizing that Clinton and her husband "won't forget" a political favor, emails made public on Thursday show.

A November 2014 email hacked from the accounts of Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta was among nearly 2,000 new emails published by the anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks. The email, from Clinton's future campaign manager Robby Mook to Podesta, said Obama administration officials should use their connections in the president's home state to try to push back the March 15 Illinois primary by at least a month.

"The overall goal is to move the IL primary out of mid-March, where they are currently a lifeline to a moderate Republican candidate after the mostly southern Super Tuesday," Mook wrote. "IL was a key early win for (GOP presidential candidate Mitt) Romney" in 2012.

While the request would come from Obama, the president and former Illinois senator, "the key point is that this is not an Obama ask, but a Hillary ask," Mook said.

"The Clintons won't forget what their friends have done for them," he added. Clinton and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, famously gave special attention to allies considered "friends of Bill."

Clinton's campaign has said the FBI was investigating who hacked Podesta's email. Vice presidential candidate Tim Kaine told ABC's "The View" Thursday that the FBI and director of national intelligence have said "the Russian government is behind" the hack, adding that "anybody that would hack to try to destabilize an election, you can't automatically assume that everything in all of these documents are even real."

On the Illinois issue, Mook suggested that Bill Daley, a former White House chief of staff and longtime Illinois power broker, should reach out to Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan to make the request.

Mook made it clear it would be a tough sell because Madigan and other Illinois Democrats "feel forgotten and neglected by POTUS," a reference to Obama.

Daley, whose father and brother were both Chicago mayors, told The Associated Press that he called Madigan as requested, but warned Clinton's team that moving the primary was unlikely because of a short time-frame.

"I made the call and talked to Mike and he listened and understood the reasoning," Daley said. "But my own judgment was the likelihood that either side would want a primary later in the legislative session was going to be slim to none."

The Illinois legislature moved up the 2008 primary to benefit its favorite son, then-Sen. Barack Obama, in his bid for the White House. The primary was held in early February that year to give Illinois more influence, but then moved back to its traditional date in mid-March.

This year the primary was held as scheduled on March 15. Clinton won the Democratic primary, while Donald Trump won the Republican contest.
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Honolulu muralist Estria Miyashiro suffered a memorable blow to his ego in 1984, shortly after leaving Oahu to attend Academy of Art College in San Francisco.

An 18-year-old wannabe graffiti artist, Miyashiro discovered that no one cared to document his christening of his new stomping grounds with an eponymous graffiti tag. The lack of notoriety did not agree with him.

I used the disappointment as fuel to get as good as those guys, says Miyashiro, referring to Bay Area graffiti pioneers such as Dream, Zephyr and Cuba. He eventually became a fixture on the mid-80s scene, emblazoning more than 1,000 walls with his art, which by then had evolved beyond tagging to larger, hip-hop-inflected murals. But Miyashiros prolificacy eventually caught up with him  in 1994, his arrest for vandalism made news on CNN.

A muralist position at San Franciscos nonprofit Precita Eyes helped Miyashiro channel his artistry for good, or as he says, connect my artwork with the community. From 1994 to 1998, he taught a youth mural class and started the Urban Arts Youth Festival, which celebrated its 20th anniversary in July at Precita Park.

Miyashiros experience with Precita Eyes inspired him to co-found his own community arts programs, including Visual Element, a free mural workshop with Oaklands EastSide Arts Alliance, and the Honolulu-based Estria Foundation, which has been generating opportunities for youth to create socially and culturally conscious murals, from Hawaii to Honduras, since 2010.

Miyashiros Water Writes mural series, which began in Los Angeles, showcases global water issues, from pollution to harmful dams. One such piece, on Broadway and 21st Street in Oakland, began with a party in which dozens of community members painted, shoulder to shoulder, a large swell in the style of the famous 1830s Japanese woodblock print, The Great Wave.

Hauntingly, this mural kick-off took place on March 11, 2011  the day of Japans devastating earthquake and tsunami, which caused radiation from a damaged nuclear power plant to seep into the land and water.

Miyashiros Mele Murals program artfully conjures Hawaiian songs (mele). A 2015 creation at the University of Hawaii at Hilo, for instance, reflects A Hilo Au E, recounting King Kamehameha IIs exploration of the Big Islands largest town, on the flanks of an active volcano. The vibrant work, which the universitys vice chancellor called a great legacy, includes representations of lava, a destroyer of land, and water, the great revitalizer.

In July, students from seven Big Island high schools helped create the newest mural, a 125-by-25-foot, owl-shaped panel on a Kailua-Kona warehouse, inspired by legends of the Keahuolu region. The artwork will be formally dedicated Saturday, Oct. 22.

Weve come to realize that meaningful education is best achieved through on-the-spot experiences, says Miyashiro, now 48, from his home in Honolulu.

Much to the joy of the students, such learning is best achieved out of the classroom: Before a single paintbrush is lifted, guest experts and native elders are asked to impart knowledge about the ecology and cultural significance of the land. A group meditation ensues.

First we connect to the land to understand what it needs, Miyashiro says. And then we paint.

Leilani Marie Labong is a freelance writer. Email: style@sfchronicle.com

There: Estria Foundation, Honolulu. www.estria.org

Here: Visual Element, EastSide Arts Alliance, Oakland. www.eastsideartsalliance.com/youth/ve.php
California has been trying to fill its reservoirs for 5 years, and it will get a little help from a storm expected to hit later this week. Right now, Lake Shasta is only at 60% capacity and Lake Oroville is at 44%, with other reservoirs across the state even lower.

"So, there's plenty of room in our reservoirs to accommodate runoff from the storms expected to arrive this weekend," says Doug Carlson with the Department of Water Resources. "But really, the ground has become so dry that much of the rainfall is expected to be soaked up like a dry sponge."
BERLIN  Relief about the capture of a young Syrian suspected of preparing a bomb attack in Germany this week gave way to frustration after he strangled himself in his jail cell, dashing authorities hopes of gaining intelligence about the mans alleged links to the Islamic State group.

Jaber Albakrs apparently self-inflicted death late Wednesday has probably deprived authorities of a key source of information about what extremist groups might be planning in Germany, which has so far been spared the kind of mass-casualty attacks seen in neighboring France.
1 New U.N. chief: The 193 U.N. member states have elected Portugals former Prime Minister Antonio Guterres by acclamation as the next secretary-general of the United Nations. Assembly President Peter Thompson introduced the resolution, said members wanted it approved by acclamation, and banged his gavel in approval as diplomats broke into applause. The 67-year-old Guterres, who served as the U.N. refugee chief for 10 years until December, will take up the job of the worlds top diplomat on Jan. 1 when Ban Ki-moons second five-year term ends.

2 Brexit lawsuit: Rival groups protested outside the High Court in London on Thursday as lawyers inside battled over whether the British government has the power to trigger Britains exit from the European Union without approval from Parliament. Half a dozen protesters carrying a banner asking for the EU exit known as Brexit to start now were met by a dozen other people carrying EU flags. The case is considered the most important constitutional matter in a generation and centers around whether Prime Minister Theresa May can start negotiating Britains exit from the EU without a vote in the House of Commons.
BEIRUT  Overnight shelling and over a dozen air strikes on rebel-held parts of the Syrian city of Aleppo killed at least 11 people, bringing the death toll over the last three days in the embattled city to at least 65, activists said Thursday.

Meanwhile, rebel shelling of government-held areas in the divided city killed two girls at a school. The air strikes came a day after an air raid hit eastern Aleppos biggest market, killing at least 15 people and leveling buildings.

Aleppos unabating violence has given additional urgency to the upcoming meeting between Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Secretary of State John Kerry on efforts to find a peace deal in Syria in Switzerland on Saturday. It will be the first face-to-face contact between the two men since Washington broke off bilateral diplomatic contact with Moscow on Syria over the violence in Aleppo earlier this month.

Russias air raids in support of the Syrian armys offensive on Aleppo have drawn international outrage, and both the U.S. and France called for investigating Russia for possible war crimes in Syria. Moscow has rejected the accusations as unfounded.

In other developments in Syrias multilayered conflict, two Iraqi militia commanders said Thursday they have started withdrawing some of their elite forces from Syria, where they are fighting on the side of President Bashar Assads government, to Iraq in preparation for the battle to retake the city of Mosul from the Islamic State group.

The battle for Mosul is expected to be the most complex yet for Iraqi forces, backed by U.S.-led coalition air power. Since Mosul first fell to the Islamic State group in June 2014, the extremists have been pushed from more than half of the territory they once held in Iraq, according to figures released by Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadis office.

Iraqi Shiite militias are not expected to take part in the operation, although they are likely to be part of the offensive to capture areas nearby such as the town of Tal Afar, which used to have a large Shiite population.

The two commanders, from Iraqs powerful Asaib Ahl Haq and Kataib Hezbollah militias, said more than 2,000 of their fighters have been withdrawn from Syria, mostly from in and around Aleppo, for redeployment near Mosul and the Islamic State stronghold of Hawija. The two spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss military tactics.

But two Syrian opposition activists  Rami Abdurrahman of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and Turkey-based Ahmad al-Ahmad  said they were unaware of the withdrawal, adding that Iraqi Shiite militias have recently sent reinforcements to Syrian government forces in the Aleppo area.

Earlier this month, an official with the Iraqi Shiite al-Nujaba militia said it sent roughly 4,000 fighters to Syria, also to the Aleppo area. The two Iraqi commanders said the al-Nujaba militiamen were not part of the pullout. The militias leader, Sheikh Akram al-Kaabi, recently visited his fighters on Aleppos front lines, vowing to continue to fight Sunni extremists.
New Zealand shares were mixed as Air New Zealand hit a two-year low in the face of increased competition, while Tegel Holdings and Fletcher Building climbed.

The S&P/NZX50 Index gained 12.6 points, or 0.2 points, to 7,120.05. Within the index, 25 stocks fell, 13 rose and 12 were unchanged. Turnover was $131.7 million.

Air New Zealand was the worst performer on the index, down 4.7 percent to $1.715, and down 32 percent this year.

"There are really three headwinds they're facing," said Matt Goodson, managing director at Salt Funds Management. "First, in the last few days there has been a stronger oil price. Then overnight there was a dire warning from Cathay Pacific basically saying they're going back to scratch and reviewing their business - they're having much more direct competition from Chinese airlines who seem more interested in size than profitability. There's also more evidence of rampant competition on routes affecting elements of Air New Zealand's business."

Xero fell 3.1 percent to $17.60, a three-and-a-half month low, and has dropped 11.3 percent in the last week.

"It's interesting to see Xero continuing to fall, they're now down quite sharply," Goodson said. The only recent news has been American venture capitalist Peter Thiel, co-founder of PayPal and an early Facebook investor, reducing his stake in the software-as-a-service company to 5.7 per cent from 6.7 per cent at the beginning of September.

Heartland Bank fell 2 percent to $1.51, Westpac Banking Corp dropped 1.8 percent to $32.35, and Australia & New Zealand Banking Group declined 1.8 percent to $29.67.

Tegel Holdings gained 1.4 percent to $1.47. The shares have dropped over the past month as Ingham Group, Australia's largest chicken processor and the second-largest in New Zealand, heads for an initial public offering and ASX listing. Tegel was taken public by private equity firm Affinity Equity Partners in May this year, and listed at $1.55, rising as high as $1.78 in August.

In September, the cost of chicken breasts declined 4.2 percent to $13.52 per kilogram, the lowest level since October 2007, Statistics New Zealand said today.

"Tegel has finally caught a bid despite quite a weak outcome for chicken prices in the food price index today," Goodson said.

While there had been "some ridiculous speculation" that people have been shorting the stock ahead of the Inghams float, Goodson said from what he's seen it's more concern about the very low poultry price and the earnings implications of that, even if they are fleeting.

"Obviously they won't stay low forever. Poultry prices are very much driven by corn and soy prices, and those remain extremely low globally, so it would need a turn up in those for the price of chicken to rise," he said.

Fletcher Building was the best performer, up 4.6 percent to $10.47, while Meridian Energy rose 2.2 percent to $2.75 and Mercury New Zealand gained 2 percent to $3.02.

Ryman Healthcare rose 0.1 percent to $8.95. The country's biggest listed retirement home operator has bought a former school in the Coburg suburb of Melbourne to redevelop. The 1.2-hectare site is about 10 kilometres from the central business district and next to the Coburg Lions AFL ground and a reserve, the Christchurch-based company said in a statement. The site had previously been approved for a large residential development.

"It's interesting timing because they haven't got development approval for their second village, and clearly it's a red-hot market in Melbourne," Goodson said. "Their first village is showing very good signs, but the jury's still out on their ability to deliver with the rest."

New Zealand Refining was unchanged at $2.40. The country's only oil refinery operator has decided to keep its 74 percent stake in Independent Petroleum Laboratory, ending a sale process that began last year. The lab testing company's assets were valued at $5.2 million as at June 30, with liabilities of $1.5 million. BP Oil New Zealand holds the remaining 26 percent.

Outside the benchmark index, Scott Technology was unchanged at $2.10, and is up 41.9 percent this year. The industrial automation firm reported a record $11 million in full-year pre-tax profits as it benefits from rising interest globally in automation as companies seek to reduce costs and boost productivity.

BusinessDesk.co.nz

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Statoil, the Norwegian state-owned oil company, has given up oil and gas exploration in Northland's Reinga Basin, saying the probably of a find was "too low".

The Norwegian company will return the two exploration permits for the area it was awarded in 2013 and 2014, and has told the government of its decision, Statoil said in a statement. The data it collected will be made available to others, and it will shift its New Zealand focus to the four permits it holds off the North Island's southeast coast.

"After studying 2D seismic data of the search area for the past three years, we think the chance of making a large oil or gas discovery is small, so we have decided to conclude our exploration permits to the Crown," New Zealand country manager Brynjulc Klove said. "Some may speculate we are surrendering the permits for various reasons, but the only reason is that we see the probability too low to justify continuing our search."

The Reinga Basin permits were the first in the largely unexplored area and part of the government's plan to attract major global oil and gas producers to New Zealand to take advantage of the nation's resources. Statoil took a 30 percent interest in OMV's Pegasus Basin permit earlier this year.

Exploration well-drilling in New Zealand was scaled back as international oil prices slumped, making riskier ventures in far-flung prospects less attractive. Royal Dutch Shell is still reviewing its New Zealand operations, which could lead to a scaling back or even departure after more than a century of operation in the country.

BusinessDesk.co.nz

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BENGALURU: Less than two months after the launch of Galaxy Note 7, the Korean electronics company Samsung finally scrapped its flagship officially. The company has taken an extraordinary step of completely shutting down the manufacturing and recalling its latest flagship line of phones sold worldwide.

Following numerous reports of the phones catching fire, the company had recalled 2.5 million Note 7s in early September, deeply damaging the companys reputation and the Galaxy brand name. "We have decided to halt production and sales of the Galaxy Note 7 in order to consider our consumers' safety first and foremost," the South Korean firm said in a filing to the Seoul stock exchange.

The company had earlier informed all global carriers to discontinue sales of the Note 7 and the exchange of devices for a replacement. Even though Samsung has been studying about the issues, the company is not yet able to figure out the reason for the phones catching fire. This has also become one of the costliest product safety failures in tech history. For now, the company is offering to exchange Note 7s for other products or refund them.

Samsung's decision to discontinue sales of Galaxy Note 7 not only raises doubts about the firm's quality control but could result in huge financial and reputational costs as well. Market researchers also reports that a permanent end to Note 7 sales could cost Samsung up to $17 billion and blemish its other phone products.

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ZURICH: Power equipment and automation major ABB, which has completed over a century in the country, is looking at making India an export hub for power and automation technology solutions.



As part of its increased India focus, the Swiss major has also launched its venture capital arm, ABB Technology Venture, to scout for opportunities in software engineering, software applications and artificial intelligence.



"We are keen to make India our export hub for power and automation technology solutions in the future," ABB global chief executive Ulrich Spiesshofer told a visiting group of Indian media at the company's headquarters in Zurich.



Underlining that India has been a key clog in the wheel of his company for decades, with exports to South and West Asia, he said, "ABB India exports to around 100 countries and it's deep local footprint and rich global and local expertise combine for offerings to customers in India and around the world.



"India has always been a very strong pillar of our success in power grids. We have executed large projects. We have a very competitive product offerings that we produce in our Nasik and Vadodara plants. We have fully localised our offerings," Spiesshofer said, adding "we are one of the strongest local players in the power grids space with a large team. Therefore India is becoming more and more an important export hub for us in this area."



ABB has multiple global feeder factories in India, which meets both domestic and global demand. ABB India's exports have been cloaking 21 pct CAGR over the last four years, contributing to 14-15 pct of its India orders as well as 16-17 pct of revenue in the second quarter of this year, he said.



Currently, India is one of the top 10 markets for the group with an annual turnover of USD 1.3 billion in 2015. On an average its annual investments in India have been USD 100 million to meet capex needs to upgrade facilities or put up new facilities.

ABB's venture capital arm, ABB Technology Venture (ATV), started by him in 2009, is also now active in the country, Spiesshofer said.

"We've recently opened our ATV in India and it is an attractive way to gain insights into technology. I am quite excited about it and will be visiting India soon to meet younger entrepreneurs," he said.



ABB India opened two new factories in 2013 at Salvi in Vadodara to manufacture the next level of environment-friendly and efficient power equipment like gas insulated switchgears and dry type transformers.



It is also looking at increasing the business from renewable energy, electric mobility and latest technologies for diesel, dual-mode locos as well as electrified railways.



Spiesshofer also pointed out that renewables is an area where the ABB will look at continuing a healthy double-digit growth going forward.



On M&A opportunities in India, he said the company is not averse to look at areas that complement its capabilities.



On the product side, ABB could likely be an offering to complement ABB's offerings in the local market as well as capitalise on the country's strong capabilities in software application and engineering.



He said the company will be bidding for the Railways' dual engine (diesel-cum-electric engines) contracts as and when it happens.



"We are already supplying different variants of railway engines. Globally we work with many players. We will be happy to tie-up with Indian Railways," he said, adding India is one of the target markets for sustainable transport solutions.



On his India strategy, he said, this is long-term. "We look at India from a very long-term perspective. India is one of the largest economies, and one of our longest partners for all our products for more than 100 years."



Going forward, the company will put lots of its energy on the solar front, Spiesshofer said. "Already half of the installed solar inverters have been provided by ABB India here. With our fully localised value chain and the strong team we expect to continue our high double digit growth in this sector going forward.



ABB is also working with the government's programme to provide technology solutions for solar powered agricultural pumps to farmers, he said.



ABB India recently opened a new solar inverter manufacturing facility in Bangalore, which will enable it to double its production capacity with advanced technology. It also announced the first solar powered microgrid in the country to be set up to power its Vadodara facility.

Read Also:

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India's Investment In U.S. Government Bonds At Record $123 Bn
NEW DELHI: China today assured India that it will act on the concerns expressed by India on giving greater market access to domestic products to bridge the widening trade deficit.

The issue, among others, was discussed during the meeting held here between Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Wang Shouwen, Vice Minister for Ministry of Finance and Commerce, China.

The Chinese minister is here to attend the 6th BRICS Trade Ministers meeting.

The Chinese Vice Minister assured that China would act on the concerns expressed by India regarding market access for Indian goods in the Chinese markets," the commerce ministry said in a statement.

During the meeting, Sitharaman raised concerns over the widening trade deficit between the two countries.

Both the leaders exchanged notes on trade and commerce and agreed that the "mounting bilateral trade deficit has been a cause for concern for India" which seeks greater market access for its goods for a long-term sustainable trade relationship, it said.

Sitharaman requested expeditious clearances for import of Indian rice besides a ?Green Channel? for import of Indian pharmaceutical products to China ? especially those which already have USFDA and EUFDA accreditation, it added.

She also requested the Chinese Vice Minister to consider demonstration of IT/ITeS projects for Indian companies - which have acquired global acclaim.

"She expressed concerns at the long drawn procedures for clearances which tend to frustrate the Indian companies seeking business opportunities in China," it added.

Further Sitharaman asked for buying missions? to India to source amongst other things, Indian tobacco and oil meals.

On the other hand, the Chinese Minister informed that recently China has quickened the pace of granting clearances to Indian pharma companies for import of the pharma products, it said.

The Chinese Vice Minister also sought cooperation of India on various multilateral fora where China and India are engaged and assured that India?s concerns on a ?Single undertaking? will be duly taken on board with services being an integral part of the cooperation agreement.

In 2015-16, Indias exports to China was USD 9 billion, while imports were USD 61.7 billion, leaving a trade deficit of USD 52.7 billion.

Read Also:

India Poses Pakistan to be the Biggest Threat for World Peace

Finance Minister O Paneerselvam to Handle the Portfolios till Jayalalitha Resumes Work
BENGALURU: Indo-Pak diplomatic relationship is at its all time lowest point. There are heated exchanges of words between both countries in United Nations several times after the Uri attack. Pakistani PM Nawaz Sharif accused India of Kashmir atrocities in his UN address then Indian Foreign Minister, Sushma Swaraj, hit back hard on his comments. Thereafter, much as such war of words happened between both countries. And now Indian envoy again hit back hard at Pakistani comments on India. The Times of India reported that on 10th October address, Indian representative, Venkatesh Sharma called Pakistan the biggest threat to the world.

Venkatesh gave the reference of continuous violation of nuclear proliferation norms by Pakistan and their closeness with the militant groups. While responding to Pakistans representatives, Tehmina Januja comments on Jammu & Kashmir, he said that continuous encouragement of terrorism is the biggest threat to peace and stability in the world. He further mentioned that the continuous expansion of nuclear weapons under the hands of non-state actors is also a concern that Pakistan is creating for the world.

The Indian representative reminded the UN that Pakistan has clear hands on current nuclear proliferation linkages. Earlier, Tehmina Januja gave reference to Nawaz Sharifs speech and said that Pakistan wants to resolve issues to maintain strategic stability in the region. However, Verma described Pakistans proposal as self-serving criteria and rebuked that a country whose whole non-proliferation record is filled with obstructions is seeking world community for self-serving proposals.

He also mentioned that Pakistan is the only country which has blocked all movements of the Conference on Disarmament and international disarmament agenda for the fissile material cut-off treaty. India is continuously working to expose Pakistan tactics on International platforms and to isolate them in the world because of their continuous support to terrorism establishments.

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'Trip To Mars Could Cause Dementia In Astronauts'
NEW DELHI: Indian organisations are the most digitally mature globally as nine in 10 enterprises in the country have witnessed the entrance of new competitors as a result of digital technologies, a new report said on Wednesday.

Industry disruption is driving Indian businesses to transform digitally faster than global counterparts, the new research by Dell Technologies said.

"India is considered among the most digitally mature economies today and credit to the Indian government and India Inc. on driving our country's digital transformation agenda. India has the required potential to lead the world's digital transformation journey," said Alok Ohrie, President and Managing Director, India Commercial, Dell EMC, in a statement.

"Less than 10 pct of Indian enterprises rate their IT teams as 'excellent' and 62 pct are planning to invest over 30 pct or more of the 2016 IT budget in transformation projects," the report said.

According to the results, 78 pct of businesses believe digital start-ups will pose a threat to their organisation, either now or in the future and almost half (45 pct) of global businesses surveyed fear they may become obsolete in the next three to five years due to competition from digital-born start-ups.

Given the acute threat of disruption, businesses are starting to escalate a remedy. To advance their digital transformation 73 pct agree they need to prioritise a centralised technology strategy for their business.

While 66 pct are planning to invest in IT infrastructure and digital skills leadership, 72 pct are expanding their software development capabilities, the results showed.

"While transformation is not pervasive, it is critical for organisations to follow the leaders and adopt practices that can enable them to ride the wave of the fourth Industrial Revolution, added Rajesh Janey, President and Managing Director, India Enterprise, Dell EMC.

Dell Technologies conducted the survey in partnership with Greyhound Research.

Read Also:

U.S. Welcomes India's Prominent Role In World: White House Official

U.S. Backs Surgical Strikes, Says India Has Right To Respond Militarily To Cross-Border Terror
NEW DELHI: Aiming to reduce travel time significantly, Railways will ink a pact with Germany for running high-speed trains in the country.



Accompanied by a high-ranking delegation, German Minister for Transport and Digital Infrastructure, Alexander Dobrindt, will meet Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu on October 14.



A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) will be signed between the two countries for bilateral cooperation in the rail sector, said a senior Railway Ministry official.



Dobrindt is visiting India from October 12 to 15. According to railways, it is a "follow-up" to Prabhu's visit to Germany in April.



The German minister will hold talks with Prabhu in Rail Bhavan. Both ministers will focus on deepening collaboration and strengthening ties in the field of railways and high-speed trains.



After the meeting, the MoU will be signed between Indian Railways and DB Engineering and Consulting GmbH.

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NEW DELHI: Pakistan's global isolation continues as the US said that India has the "right to self defence" and that it "empathises with India's need to respond militarily to cross-border threat of terrorism" .

The comments, made by White House spokesperson for South Asia Peter Lavoy, come in the backdrop of the recent surgical strikes carried out by India across the Line of Control to target terror launchpads.

Calling the Uri terror attack of September 18 a "clear case of cross-border terrorism", the White House dismissed the recent attempt by Pakistan to link peace in war-torn Afghanistan with Kashmir.

MOST DYNAMIC RELATIONSHIP

The White House backed India's right to defend itself as with any other country, in view of the recent surgical strikes but advised caution given the heavy militarisation between the two neighbours.

It also said that that the US is making every effort to ensure that India becomes a member of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) by the end of this year.

Making a rare appearance before a Washington audience, Lavoy said that India-US ties are the "most dynamic relationship" for the US as he listed the Obama administration's achievements in strengthening the relationship between the two largest democracies of the world.

A CLEAR CASE OF CROSS-BORDER TERRORISM

"It (Uri) was a clear case of cross-border terrorism. We condemned this act of terrorism. It was a horrific attack. Every country has a right to self-defence. But in a heavily militarised relationship that has also experienced three wars, there is indeed a need for caution and restraint," he said responding to a question on the Uri attack.

"We share with India, the concern for preventing any future attack. We empathise with the Indian position that it needs to respond militarily to cross-border threat of terrorism. But we also advise caution," Lavoy said.

FRICTION-FILLED RELATIONSHIP

India and Pakistan have a "friction-filled relationship" and they have not found a way to overcome that, he said.

Last week, Lavoy met the two special envoys of Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Kashmir. The two Pakistani envoys in their public meetings had linked peace in Afghanistan to resolving the Kashmir issue.

"We certainly do not believe that the situation in Afghanistan is linked with Kashmir," the top White House official said.

INDIA MUST JOIN NSG CLUB BY 2016

Lavoy said the US is making every effort to ensure that India becomes a member of the Nuclear Suppliers Group by the end of this year.

"In 2016 India ought to join the NSG," he said and referred to the commitment made by the US in this regard.

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STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Mierle Laderman Ukeles has been making a spectacle of herself for years now -- and New York City is a better place for it.

The longtime, unsalaried in-house artist of the Department of Sanitation, Ukeles is at work currently on one of the largest-ever public-art commissions, a three-part earthwork for Freshkills Park, the old Fresh Kills Landfill.

It's a pretty glamorous project, but as visitors to the new Queens Museum survey "Mierle Laderman Ukeles: Maintenance Art," will see, Ukeles 50-year career has been ingeniously utilitarian, not glitzy

Ukeles, now in her 70s, found her creative niche around the time the city was plagued with fiscal crises, strikes, bombings, crime waves, Son of Sam, and AIDS.

By comparison, the 21st century seems like a golden era.

As an artist, mother and New Yorker, she came to understand that the people who look after things -- whether their work involves maternity or maintenance -- perform an invaluable, albeit under-appreciated service. She saw art possibilities in it.

At one juncture in the development of her ideas, she recognized the necessity of maintenance, no matter what else is happening, calling it "...the sour ball in every revolution: Who's going to pick up the garbage on Monday morning?"

In some of her early performance-driven works, she scrubbed sidewalks, display cases and gallery floors, and called it art.

Parents will especially enjoy her torturous/funny photo series in which she dresses and undresses her children in elaborate winter gear for a very short play period on a snowy day: Leggings, snow suits, hats, scarves, boots, mittens.

For her well-publicized "Touch Sanitation" project, she travelled through all five boroughs accosting Department of Sanitation workers.

Her quest? To repay everyone on the Sanitation payroll with a handshake, saying "Thank you for keeping New York City alive!"

Footage and photos show the telegenic, blonde Ukeles mano-a-mano with, well, garbage men. She'd hoped to trade that no-nonsense term for a cleaner title, "Sanman," but it never caught on,

Her "Ceremonial Arch IV," a festive 10-foot-tall monument to blue-collar clean-up and infrastructure maintenance, stands at the edge of the museum's lofty center court. It's a kind of giant equipment locker bursting with work gloves, walkie-talkies and tools.

The surrounding walls have Fresh Kills videos, panoramic photographs and large drawings related to "Landing," Ukeles's big Fresh Kills earthwork. Construction's anticipated in 2018.

The artist will travel to Freshkills Nov. 20 to lead a tour of the park and preparations for "Landing." Visit QueensMuseum.org for details.

The museum, on the site of both the 1939 and 1964-65 World's Fairs is home to the fabled Panorama of the City of New York, a scale model of all 320 square miles of the city, and yes, every building built pre- 1992.

WHAT

"Mierle Laderman Ukeles: Maintenance Art,"

(through Feb. 19, 2017)

WHERE

Queens Museum

Flushing Meadows, Corona Park;

718 592-9700

HOURS

Wednesday to Sunday,

11.a.m. to 5 p.m.

COST

$8 adults; $4 seniors

under 18, free
Broadband Privacy

With constantly-changing technology and evolving legislation, are you concerned about your privacy?

(AP Photo/Manu Fernandez, File)

Our every move is tracked on the internet. Police used social media to target activists in recent protests. People are increasingly getting creeped out by it. Hackers are infiltrating large corporations and governments to steal secrets. A resounding 91 percent of Americans feel they've lost control over their online personal information. However, not everyone is concerned, and some are looking forward to having a better and personalized internet experience. What do you think? Vote below!

PERSPECTIVES

Last night I made a post about my ad feed targeting me by phone conversations I had. These ads were things I had not... Posted by Emily Scher on Wednesday, September 14, 2016

This is the exact kind of dystopian future that people have been afraid of for decades. Remember "1984"?

Wow Geofeedia helped police ID rioters w warrants w social media & facial recog to "arrest them directly" from crowd https://t.co/Lj7BSfLxDf pic.twitter.com/e3JY2FxOxu  Kevin Rector (@RectorSun) October 11, 2016

Surveillance is a major problem even if the person has nothing to hide. People should be allowed to live as they want without fear of being watched.

It's not just the government who's watching. In an effort to increase sales and to create a seamless advertising experience, companies are sucking up huge amounts of data about the user. The idea behind this is the more you know about the user, the better you can create and serve advertisements. Those better ads bring a premium cost, and everyone (but the user) wins!

READ MORE: 7 Ways You're Being Tracked Online (and How to Stop It)

At best, Americans are ambivalent about online surveillance. Most are okay with it as long as the average American citizen isn't being watched.

When asked about themselves, Americans just kind of shrugged. -\_(tu)_/-

While it may be unsettling, a lot of internet tracking happens in order to optimize internet experiences for users. Tracking allows websites and platforms to serve better ads and content to people, moving closer to a personalized internet.

The Tylt is focused on debates and conversations around news, current events and pop culture. We provide our community with the opportunity to share their opinions and vote on topics that matter most to them. We actively engage the community and present meaningful data on the debates and conversations as they progress. The Tylt is a place where your opinion counts, literally. The Tylt is an Advance Digital, Inc. property. Join us on Twitter @TheTylt or on Facebook, we'd love to hear what you have to say.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Twenty years ago, Chris Wall and his wife, Mercedes, frequently vacationed in the Spanish providence of Jaen, known as in the "olive region."

"It's probably one of the least visited providences in Spain; it's all farms. ...It has all fields, castles, it's beautiful, but there's just not a lot of American tourism there," said Carter & Cavero co-owner Chris Wall, a former New Dorp resident.

"We fell in love with the whole olive culture and olive fields. We met some friends there, and it turns out they were in the olive oil business. ...He told me about his concept for a store in the United States where they would sell the best olive oils from the Mediterranean," explained Wall.

"It would be all different kinds of flavored olive oils, like garlic, Tuscan herb, blood orange -- all different interesting flavors," he added.

Soon, he partnered with these friends and others to make this concept a reality.

The result is Carter & Cavero.

In 2007, Wall and his partners opened the first Carter & Caveros. The fifth store -- a 1,200-square-foot space in Urby, the new 900-unit rental complex in Stapleton -- will open by late March, said Wall.

He said he gets many Staten Islanders in his store in Pier Village in Long Branch, N.J.

"We think the people of Staten Island get it. They get good food, olive oil and balsamic vinegar," said Wall.

"Freshness is the most important thing when it comes to olive oil. It's just like wine. It matters the quality of olive you pick, the care you take in pressing it the right way, and having all the right storage procedures. ...That's why when you open a bottle of really good olive oil you get hit by the aroma," he added.

OLIVE OILS AND MORE



Carter & Caveros specializes in olive oil imported from Spain and Italy, as well as balsamic or condimentos vinegars. There are tastings for those who want to dip into the various olive oils sold at the shop, said Wall.

"Olives are kind of like grapes. For wine you have Chardonnay grapes, Cabernet grapes, Merlot grapes. Olives are the same. Every region of the Mediterranean has different varietals of olives," Wall explained.

In addition, homemade pasta and sauce imported from Italy are a favorite item of avid Carter & Cavero shoppers.

The shop also offers olive oil-based cosmetics and soaps, as well as ceramics, like imported terracotta.

And all these items can be included in customized gift baskets.

WHY SET UP SHOP IN URBY?

After working with Ironstate Development -- the developer of Urby -- at its Pier Village project, Wall said he was drawn to the Urby concept.

"We have worked with Ironstate at Pier Village and we like the way they do things," said Wall.

"Plus, we love Staten Island; I'm actually from Staten Island originally," he added.

FOLLOW TRACEY PORPORA ON FACEBOOK.
NEW FANTASYLAND OPENS AT WALT DISNEY WORLD

Disney is now giving you the option to tie the knot at Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom at night after the park closes to the public. (Gene Duncan, photographer)

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Always dream of a fairy-tale wedding under the stars?

If so, Disney is now giving you the option to tie the knot at Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom at night after the park closes to the public.

In May, Disney announced the Magic Kingdom would host weddings during the day, when the park is open. But now that option has been extended to after dark.

"Step into your very own fairy tale with an exclusive evening ceremony and reception that takes place in a setting like no other. Imagine saying "I do" in front of the iconic Cinderella Castle and celebrating with a reception amid the magic of Fantasyland at night," says Disney on its website.

"With this highly customizable wedding experience, the beauty is in the details. Simply tell us your heart's desire and let us dream up something that's uniquely you."

Couples can get hitched right in front of Cinderella's Castle at 11 p.m., after the park closes to the public, with up to 300 of their closest friends.

FOLLOW TRACEY PORPORA ON FACEBOOK.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- In response to the drug activity on the Staten Island Railway and several complaints from commuters, members of the Guardian Angels will be patrolling a couple of stops on the train.

The Guardian Angels, a street and subway patrol that started serving New York City in 1979, will be at the Great Kills station, considered to be one of the worst, and the Bay Terrace stop starting Thursday, said Curtis Sliwa, the organization's founder and president.

"We've gotten a lot of calls about heroin in general, but this is the first time people were being specific about certain locations," Sliwa said. "They said, 'I no longer take the train,' or 'I avoid it because there's junkies around.'

"This is a natural fit for us. I think based on this, we'll make a full commitment to Staten Island because it is the epicenter of the problem."

The plan, Sliwa said, is to patrol those two stops around the clock, and Staten Island members of the group would take the night shift. There are four Staten Island members who have patrolled other boroughs, Sliwa said.

"We need to get locals involved and supplement that from Brooklyn," he said. "They've helped us in other boroughs. It's time we return the favor because Staten Island is in need."

On Thursday, four members, from Brooklyn to Long Island, began their shift at noon at the Great Kills stop. The volunteers, dressed in red jackets and berets, found two needles and posted white fliers with information about the Guardian Angels.

"We're here to let people know there is a presence," said member Benjamin Garcia, of Washington Heights. "Everyone should be able to go where they want to go and not be afraid to ride the train or buses. They shouldn't have fear because people are doing drugs."

"It's important we be a visual deterrent," said Guardian Angel John Gavers of Queens.

MTA Police Officers Otis Noboa and Kenneth Murray were also patrolling Great Kills Thursday, a day after the MTA police union told the Advance there would be increased presence on the trains.

The move came after a series of Advance articles chronicling the problem.

When the train arrived, the officers would tell the conductor that they'll be checking the cars while passengers were getting on and off the train.

"I feel better that they're cops here now," said one rider who declined to give her name. "It's shows they're listening to our concerns."
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- In an election cycle not without controversy on both sides of the political spectrum, we asked Staten Island residents what they thought about the latest round of allegations against GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump and whether it would hurt his chances of clinching the presidency.

Still reeling after a 2005 recording of the GOP candidate making lewd comments was released, the latest round of accusations published in The New York Times has reported multiple women saying The Donald allegedly forcibly groped and kissed them.

On the other side, the Democratic candidate and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, has her own controversy to navigate after WikiLeaks released a new round of lost e-mails, some dating as far back as 2008.

Lawyers for Trump have since demanded a retraction from The New York Times, saying the article was defamatory in nature. But, at this juncture, could any more allegations negatively affect the tough-talking GOP candidate?

Watch the video above to hear what people had to say on the matter.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- A Great Kills man previously imprisoned for two New Jersey bank robberies and currently wanted for a bank holdup in New York City, was arrested Wednesday in an upstate homeless shelter after hiding under a bed and threatening to shoot cops, said police.

Anthony Thomas Barlotta, 56, of Oakdale Street, was taken into custody after cops convinced him to surrender, according to the Auburn Police Department.

Police said events unfolded shortly after 1 p.m. when officers responded to a report of an unwanted guest at the Chapel House Homeless Shelter.

Cops were told a man named "Tony" was staying with a female resident without authorization.

Officers found Barlotta hiding under a bed, but he refused to come out, said police.

Instead, he threatened to shoot the cops and began reaching into his pocket, police said.

Officers saw him holding an unknown object, drew their weapons and retreated, said police.

After 10 minutes of negotiations, Barlotta emerged from beneath the bed and was arrested, said police.

Officers later found he had been holding the plug end of a phone charger when he threatened them, according to a published report on Syracuse.com.

Barlotta was charged with third-degree menacing, said police.

Upon further investigation, police determined Barlotta was wanted in connection with an alleged bank robbery in New York City, said cops.

Auburn Police did not say where in the city the purported heist occurred.

NYPD detectives have taken custody of Barlotta to answer robbery charges, police said.

The Advance is currently making inquiries with the NYPD.

Advance records show Barlotta previously served time in federal prison for robbing two New Jersey banks in the summer of 2004.

In January 2005, he pleaded guilty to ripping off the Shrewsbury State Bank in Keyport of $6,000 on July 31, 2004, and the Commerce Bank in Aberdeen of $32,000 seven days later on Aug. 7.

He was sentenced to 125 months in prison and ordered to pay more than $30,000 in restitution.

Barlotta was released on Dec. 1 of last year, according to online federal Prison Bureau records.
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"Many of the most powerful elements of the conservative movement are all Catholic [many converts] from the Supreme Court and think tanks to the media and social groups," Halpin wrote in the 2011 email, according to WikiLeaks. "It's an amazing bastardization of the faith. They must be attracted to the systematic thought and severely backwards gender relations and must be totally unaware of Christian democracy."
The Liberals have vowed to roll back pay parking and look to improve access at the Canberra Hospital and the University of Canberra if elected on Saturday.

The proposal has been criticised a "desperate last ditch" vote grab by ACT Labor leader Andrew Barr, who announced $9.8 million over four years for nine new nurses and training for another 30.

Liberals leader Jeremy Hanson and Giulia Jones want to scale back paid parking in Canberra. Credit:Karleen Minney

The Liberals would abolish night and weekend parking fees at government-controlled car parks, except on Friday night and Saturday morning.
ACT Labor's election campaign took a blow on Thursday when the Australian government solicitor demanded the party stop distributing fake Medicare cards in its campaign.

The fake cards use the official Medicare logo and claim the Liberals would privatise health if elected.

ACT Labor's fake Medicare cards, with 30,000 distributed in the election campaign.

In a letter to Mr Byrne, a lawyer for the Department of Human Services said the cards were a breach of copyright. He demanded they be withdrawn and Labor make no further use of the logo.

"If you do not agree to do each of these things by 5pm [Wednesday] we are instructed, without further notice, to institute proceedings against you including urgent in juncture relief on an interlocutory basis," he said.
A Canberra man who is fighting allegations he raped two sex workers in a violent attack has been refused bail after a court heard he'd booked a one-way flight to Somalia.

Rashid Mohamud Abuuh, 23, allegedly got a quote for the plane ticket from Escape Travel at Belconnen less than two hours after police served him with a summons to face court on charges linked to the alleged assault.

Rashid Mohamud Abuuh outside the ACT Magistrates Court.

It's alleged he was in the company of two other men, who have also been charged, when they attacked the two women in a Reid apartment on March 12.

Police allegations tendered in court alleged the sex workers were threatened at knifepoint, stripped of their clothes and repeatedly raped during the attack, after one of the accused booked a "full service".
Today: Sunny. Areas of frost in the early morning. Light winds becoming north to northwesterly 15 to 20 km/h in the late afternoon then becoming light in the evening. Max 19.

Saturday: Sunny. Patches of light frost in the early morning. Light winds becoming northwesterly 15 to 25 km/h in the middle of the day then becoming light in the evening. Min 3, max 21.

Sunday: Mostly sunny day. Slight (20%) chance of a shower in the afternoon and evening. Light winds becoming northwesterly 25 to 35 km/h during the morning.. Min 9, max 23.






Five young men allegedly assaulted a man at Glebe Park on Wednesday night, continued to hurt him as he tried to escape and then fled with his belongings.

ACT Policing are seeking witnesses to the aggravated robbery in which the group approached the victim about 9pm and took his backpack and headphones.

The men, believed to be between 17 and 20 years old, followed the victim along Akuna Street towards Coranderrk Street before fleeing towards the Canberra Casino with some stolen items.

The victim sustained injuries to his head and face, police say.

Police describe all of the men as having Australian accents, four appearing caucasian and one African.
From a two-year-old Canberra boy with a rare congenital disorder to a doctor working in the Northern Territory to eliminate disease from the indigenous community  the Snow Foundation has been there to support causes across the spectrum.

It has also supported marriage equality by providing money for ventures such as the documentary Gayby Baby and given hundreds of thousands of dollars to address the homelessness crisis.

The Snow Foundation celebrated its 25th anniversary on Thursday at the Vibe Hotel by acknowledging the work of many of its recipients. The foundation's chairman Terry Snow and his wife Ginette are pictured front right with The Big Issue CEO Steven Persson and Canberra's soup kitchen lady Stasia Dabrowski seated at left. Pictured in the back row is YouthCARE Canberra street outreach worker Zach Bryers, two-year-old Sebastian Dowden, of Hughes and his dad Paul, Snow Foundation CEO Georgina Byron, Dr Sam Prince from One Disease and Alison Covington, founder and managing director of Good360 Australia. Credit:Rohan Thomson

The Canberra-based foundation took stock on Thursday of reaching 25 years, in which $18.4 million has been distributed to 235 organisations and more than 200 individuals.

It was started in 1991 by a $1 million donation from brothers Terry and George Snow and has continued to flourish under the direction of the foundation's chief executive officer Georgina Byron, Terry's daughter. Terry's wife Ginette is a board member and their other children Stephen Byron, Scarlett Gaffey and Tom Snow and their respective partners have been, or are, members of the board.
China's September exports fell 10 per cent from a year earlier, far worse than expected, while imports unexpectedly shrank 1.9 per cent after picking up in August, suggesting signs of steadying in the world's second-largest economy may be short-lived.

That left the country with a trade surplus of $US41.99 billion for the month, the General Administration of Customs said on Thursday.

Analysts polled by Reuters had expected imports to rise 1 per cent, after unexpectedly advancing 1.5 per cent in August for the first time in nearly two years on stronger demand for coal as well as other commodities such as iron ore that are feeding a construction boom.

Exports had been expected to fall 3 per cent, slightly worse than in August as global demand for Asian goods remains stubbornly weak.
More than 4000 Qantas ground staff have taken an 18-month pay freeze in return for big bonuses and a "groundbreaking" set of superannuation and leave provisions expected to benefit the female-dominated workforce.

An overwhelming majority  93 per cent  of the airline's employees in head office, call centre, airport, catering, freight and engineering jobs voted in favour of a new enterprise agreement.

The deal between Qantas and the Australian Services Union affects the pay and conditions of 4650 employees nationwide, and will be announced on Friday.

The 18-month wage freeze in the four-year union agreement will apply from July 2016 to January 2018. Employees will receive pay rises totalling 7.5 per cent between 2018 and mid-2020.
On the numbers, t Yerrabi looks awkward for Labor. Gungahlin booths recorded a 45 per cent vote for the Liberals at the 2012 election, and 37 per cent for Labor. Gungahlin's fringe suburbs in 2012 recorded a very strong Liberal vote. In Forde, Nicholls and Amaroo, the Liberals blitzed Labor at the last election, running more than 50 per cent of the first preference vote in Forde and Nicholls and 47 per cent in Amaroo. Since then, a new set of fringe suburbs have been added. Whether they share the same Liberal bias is yet to be seen. In better news for Labor, Yerrabi also takes in a handful of suburbs from the edge of Belconnen, which make up about a quarter of the electorate, and contribute a much more solidly Labor block. Labor had a 10 per cent leader over the Liberals in the booths in Kaleen, Giralang, Evatt and McKellar in 2012. Gungahlin, of course, is the first to get a tramline, which is presumably a net plus for Labor in the electorate. Labor also has the benefit of a high-profile sitting candidate and strong performer in Meegan Fitzharris, although the Liberals have deputy leader Alistair Coe, a leader of the party's conservative wing and also their standout performer (with the exception of a sizeable misstep on rates this week). If the Liberals win the third seat in Yerrabi, they have probably won the election. If Labor wins the third seat in Yerrabi, the fight comes down to Ginninderra, considered a traditional Labor stronghold based around Belconnen, but a seat that has also shown a predilection for electing independents  this was former policeman Dave Rugendyke's seat  and also an inclination for conservatives. Mark Parton polled solidly as an independent in Ginninderra in 2006, winning 6 per cent, as did the Motorist Party in 2012, with 7 per cent, which suggests a strong conservative voting bloc. The Greens have also held this seat, as have the Democrats.

Ginninderra is, for sensible and obvious reasons, the focus of the independents and minor parties this election, with 20 candidates standing on top of the 13 Labor, Liberal and Green candidates. There are nine independents. This is also where Richard Farmer's Canberra Community Voters is running a full ticket of five, headed by former Goulburn mayor Geoff Kettle, in an effort to maximise the preference flow. If there is a generalised backlash against major parties, votes could go anywhere in these columns, with a partially random result. It seems most in Ginninderra are opposed to either light rail or Labor, which suggests they would support the Liberals, but by no means guarantees it. If an independent takes a seat in Ginninderra and holds the balance of power (assuming 12 seats to the Liberals through a majority in the two southern seats, and 12 seats to Labor/Green through Rattenbury retaining his seat and Labor winning a majority in Gungahlin), the question of who forms government is impossible to predict. If the Liberals win the primary vote and more seats than Labor they would argue the right to govern, and if the independent or minor party winner doesn't like light rail, presumably his or her inclination is towards the Liberals. But Labor is the more experienced and probably the more persuasive negotiator. You can expect both parties to offer the world for that kingmaker's support, but Labor might have the edge in this kind of do-or-die negotiation. All of which is highly speculative. The other possibility is a reflection of the 1998 result when disgruntled voters punished a dysfunctional Labor team by throwing out sitting candidates and bringing in new Labor faces. The scenario is not the same as this year's election because Labor wasn't in government  Liberal Kate Carnell was elected for her second term in 1998 with the support of the two Osborne independents and Michael Moore. But for Labor, 1998 was the nadir, an election it would rather forget. The party's primary vote plummeted to a historic low, at 28 per cent. And three of the six parliamentarians were thrown out  former leader Andrew Whitecross in Tuggeranong (replaced by John Hargreaves), Roberta McRae in Belconnen (replaced by Jon Stanhope) and Marion Reilly in the central seat (replaced by Ted Quinlan, although Reilly had not been in the Assembly long, having been elected mid-term on a countback). It is not easy to judge the extent to which this kind of turnover reflects sophisticated and deliberate voter action. But patterns in Saturday's vote are worth watching.
Yet the decision to move away from hormonal birth control is a controversial one. When I did so, I found myself being labelled as ignorant, naive, uninformed, stupid and overly sensitive.

Teenage girls taking combination birth control pills (oestrogen and progestin) were 80 per cent more likely to be prescribed an antidepressant, while those taking progestin-only pills were 120 per cent more likely to be prescribed antidepressants. Author and clinical professor Ojvind Lidegaard told Time that "women who develop depression after starting on oral contraceptives should consider this use as a contributing factor".

The science to back this up is just starting to come out. Earlier this month Time published findings from a study conducted by the University of Copenhagen on 1 million women and found the rate of antidepressants being prescribed for those taking hormonal birth control increased by 40 per cent when compared with those not taking the drug.

A woman's relationship with her body can have the power to define her. The choice to take hormonal birth control is frequently associated with sexual liberation, yet every energetic function a woman has is altered by it in ways that she was unaware of, and never consented to.

I started on the pill as a form of contraception when I was 17, and although I experienced an eating disorder, IBS, anxiety and depression, I didn't think to stop taking it until I was 27. Nor did any doctor suggest I do so. Coming off the drug was like waking from a nightmare I didn't know I was having until it ended. During the process of "withdrawal" I was forced to work through a fever, which induced fainting, congested skin, headaches and acute period pain.

Now that I'm pill-free I see that the daily tension, confusion, anxiety and lingering rage that I experienced while taking the drug wasn't mine. When I went to the GP, all pill-related problems led to pill-related solutions and, seemingly, there was no way out.

Meanwhile, others were paving the way to less-invasive alternatives. The Fifth Vital Sign introduced me to the Fertility Awareness Method, which keeps a woman attuned to her body's natural cycles. Using this, I came to understand that I'm fertile for up to five days a month, an egg lives for 24 hours and sperm survive for three to five days. This alerts me to when I can have sex without the possibility of becoming pregnant, and when I can't. A period-tracker app helps me keep tabs on this, as does keeping an eye on my cervical fluid and body temperature.

A book called The Optimised Woman by Miranda Gray elaborates on what to expect physically, mentally and emotionally during each phase of the hormonal cycle and how best to harness the different qualities. I now know the best time for socialising and networking is when I'm ovulating, and the best time for a bath and switching on Swoon is when I'm menstruating. Some may laugh, but it's empowering information to have when the biological reality you've been given is this one.

Perhaps the social and political weight of a woman's body can be turned into something positive. If the choices she's making about what goes inside her have such extensive repercussions, she holds a lot of power. She can not only change how others define her, but how she chooses to define herself.
The idea was introduced in New Zealand five years ago. Actuaries hired by the NZ government calculated an initial future lifetime cost of $NZ78 billion for all current welfare beneficiaries. Measured annually, that cost has since been reduced to $NZ69 billion through a combination of carrot and stick measures. As a carrot, the NZ government invested $NZ30 million in hiring full-time case managers for young welfare recipients. As a stick, single parents had their pensions cut off when their child turned 6, not 14 as previously. On the hunt for similar budget savings, the Coalition government paid $33 million to PriceWaterhouseCoopers in Australia to do a similar exercise. In contrast to the New Zealand approach, the PWC report tallies the future cost of welfare for all Australians  not just current welfare recipients  and also includes the cost of the age pension, which is excluded from the NZ calculation. Last month PWC came up with the impressively scary figure of a $4.8 trillion future welfare bill. However, nearly half that spending will be on Australians not at present receiving welfare, largely reflecting their future entitlement to the age pension. And by far the biggest single future cost for current welfare recipients comprises age pension payments: half a trillion. In his Press Club address, Porter announced groups for targeted interventions: young single mothers, young carers and students.

Quite how a report which identifies pensioners as the biggest cost to the welfare system was whittled down into this hit list of three remains unclear. A spokesperson for the Department of Social Services confirmed the three groups "were chosen by the Minister of Social Services" under department advice and were not recommended by PWC, as was widely reported at the time. *[see clarification below]. As yet, no policies exist to help the three target groups specifically. The government has set aside $96 million for a "Try, Test and Learn" fund. In December, applications will open for academics, state governments and not-for-profit groups to put forward projects to help these groups. But "help" is a broad definition of success. Porter has a more precise one: "Chosen plans will be subject to a simple basic metric of performance; does the plan improve lives by increasing self-reliance over time?"

Self-reliance. And this is the point at which the seductive simplicity of statistics morphs into ideology. Not everyone who moves from welfare to work has a better life. Sure, there are well documented benefits from having a job  a sense of purpose, camaraderie with colleagues, not to mention income. But sometimes, particularly for parents, meagre incomes can be more than chewed up by increased transport and childcare costs, forcing them into a new class of "working poor". The New Zealand investment approach was heavily focused on quantifying savings to the taxpayer with little emphasis beyond that on tracking outcomes, like quality of work, health, incomes etc. It has been forced to do more work to track these outcomes. It remains to be seen what policies the Australian government will pursue. Perhaps the three groups targeted will indeed benefit from special interventions. Perhaps they would also have benefited from the $1.5 billion the Coalition has stripped from community services, according to the Australian Council of Social Services.
The inquiry started shortly before 11am and, some five hours later, limps towards a finale.

The upshot of today's evidence? The fight between the country's top lawyers is showing no sign of abating.

Solicitor-General Justin Gleeson, SC, has said he considers a direction issued by Attorney-General George Brandis requiring all ministers and departments to seek his permission before asking Gleeson for advice is "unlawful".

He said he will make a "conscientious decision" to ignore the direction if he is asked directly for advice by, for example, the Governor-General.

Brandis has denied he misled Parliament by claiming he consulted Gleeson about this direction, a claim Gleeson denies.

The Attorney-General says both he and Gleeson are "fussy about words" and this whole dispute centres on a difference of opinion about what is meant by consult.

That concludes our live blog. Thanks for reading.
Attorney-General George Brandis has attempted to hose down claims he is seeking to "shackle" the government's chief legal adviser as he faces a growing backlash over his move to stop colleagues seeking advice without his approval.

The country's first law officer is at the centre of a political firestorm over a binding direction he issued before the July 2 election requiring ministers to obtain his written permission before seeking advice from Solicitor-General Justin Gleeson, SC.

Both men are set to face a Senate inquiry on Friday into allegations Senator Brandis misled Parliament by claiming Mr Gleeson was consulted about the change, a claim Mr Gleeson has denied.

The Attorney-General was initially slated to appear first but it is understood he was seeking last night to change the order of appearance.
Sometimes the best attacks are the most subtle.

Tony Abbott's defence of US presidential candidate Donald Trump has elicited a snarky response from Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, who cast doubt on whether his predecessor was familiar with all of Mr Trump's policies.

The former prime minister came to the aid of the Republican nominee on Thursday, telling conservative broadcaster Paul Murray that Mr Trump's policies were "reasonable enough" and his supporters "decent people".

Mr Turnbull, who has described Mr Trump's remarks on women as "loathsome", declined to enter the fray on Friday, reiterating that the US presidential election was a matter for the American people, not Australian politicians or parliaments.
How would Malcolm Turnbull have greeted the news of another parliamentary bungle?

Would it be unreasonable to lament that every time he looks like getting a bit of clear air, someone in his team highlights administrative incompetence.

Turnbull himself may be performing more solidly, especially, in the Parliament, but those behind him keep stepping on landmines.

And we're only 11 parliamentary days into Turnbull's first term proper.
Frank Robson on the gold coast about 1968/9. Credit:Courtesy of Frank Robson Now, with their own parents long dead, the brothers are grandparents. Between them, they've helped to create 16 Australian citizens. Their Kiwi accents are gone, along with all family connections in the Land of the Long White Cloud, their board bumps and some of their teeth. As kids, they thought of Kiwis and Aussies as essentially one tribe  part of the same "family", as Julia Gillard would later suggest. But both countries have changed a lot in recent decades, along with their inhabitants. In the 1960s and '70s, New Zealand was seen by the wider world as deeply conservative, socially isolated and basically broke  "Like a dimly-lit cemetery", as one American said of Auckland during World War II. Australia in the same era, with its vast mineral wealth, expanding cities and migrant-enriched population, beckoned Kiwis like the green light on Daisy Buchanan's jetty, promising a bright future and a "fair go" for all. Somehow, though, the roles reversed: New Zealand reformed its economy, discovered its national identity and pride, celebrated and nurtured its Maori-Pakeha race relations, and rejected religious/conservative fear-mongering in favour of such progressive legislation as its 2013 marriage equality law. Australia, alas, somehow lost itself amid the politics of envy and division engendered largely by its resources boom. From the 1980s, notions of egalitarianism and common good were largely forgotten in a class-crossing scrabble for wealth, status, influence. Having sown the seeds of this obsession, both major political parties became adroitly pragmatic in justifying and maintaining it, and to hell with problematic Aborigines, environmental threats and "illegal" refugees. Common decency, which ordinary people were giving away when the brothers arrived, has become the one commodity Australia can no longer afford.

Australia beckoned Kiwis like the green light on Daisy Buchanans jetty, promising a bright future. Woolloomooloo, Sydney, 2016: I don't see much of my big bro these days, even though we live near each other in south-east Queensland. Walking through Woolloomooloo on a wintry July morning, I can still picture him striding ahead of me up these torturous hillsides to the seedy little pub where we spent our first night in Oz. Half a century later, I've come to Sydney  the focal point for the 25,000-odd Kiwis who move to Australia annually  to look at the evolving natures of the two nationalities. As an Australian citizen who happened to have been born across the ditch, I'm sceptical of suggestions from Australian friends that New Zealanders have somehow become "better people" than us. Yet last year, for the first time in two decades, more people from Australia moved to NZ than the other way around, with many citing employment, stable government, friendly, laid-back locals and "inspiring" race relations as factors behind the move. Conversely, Kiwis who moved here after 2001 (when the Howard government reacted to the myth of the Bondi Bludger by denying them welfare benefits, voting rights and almost any prospect of citizenship) are paying full taxes but being treated as second-class citizens. The inequities affect all kinds of people, from Russell Crowe in his $14-million Sydney harbourside apartment (denied citizenship in 2006 because he was overseas filming when Howard's 2001 crackdown was imposed), to battlers who ended up living on the streets as a consequence. In Bourke Street, Woolloomooloo, a short walk from Crowe's place, is a tiny reserve where homeless New Zealanders gather and sleep. None are around when I pass by, so I ask an elderly Aboriginal woman, packing up her bedroll under a railway bridge, if this is the area known as "Kiwi Park".

She nods. "But it was called Abo Park before it was called Kiwi Park," she says competitively. The woman is a member of the Stolen Generation. Plucked from her country in central Australia and brought to Sydney as a child, she still hasn't managed to find her way "home". Yet her concerns this morning are for a Fijian-born New Zealander, about to be deported to a detention centre under harsh new immigration rules introduced in 2014. "Come on, darlin'," she says to the absent man's young wife, standing forlornly nearby with her belongings. "Let's get your stuff packed up." Walking on, I remember similar small acts of kindness extended to us by Indigenous Australians in the early part of our lost boys period. Race or ethnicity seemed to have no part in such impulses; it was more about our displaced status and their innate ability to recognise it. In a Redfern hotel, three entrepreneurial expatriates talk of how liberated they feel to be free of New Zealand's "tall poppy" attitudes. It's an expression rarely heard here these days, perhaps because more people are looking down than up. Yet my companions  Brent Reihana, 50, Matthew Tukaki, 42, and Peter Brae, 58  insist that behind their modest, no frills exteriors, most Kiwis secretly covet wealth and fame. "We can come to Australia and redefine ourselves," says Tukaki, who arrived in Sydney 16 years ago from Upper Hutt with "a backpack and a credit card", and now owns EntreHub, an online news channel for small business. "No one here cares who we are or what we do  all they care about is that we [New Zealanders] might [threaten] their own rise to the top." What about the way Kiwis spurned stretch limos and other so-called symbols of success in the 1980s and '90s. Surely that wasn't the reaction of a nation driven by ambition?

Brae laughs knowingly. "They might have rejected limos, but they wanted them!" Tukaki: "Oh, they wanted them all right  yet when you succeed they think you've got tickets on yourself, then they knock you down! When I go home, the whole family thinks I'm like a multibillionaire. And they go, 'Hey bru, can you buy us a paddock?' " A paddoc? "Yeah, you know, some land." Like his friend Tukaki, Brent Reihana is a Maori who first came to Sydney 25 years ago from Kaitaia in NZ's far north, and now operates an enterprise called Maori Business Network. In his homeland, Reihana felt "inhibited" by family and cultural responsibilities. "You can express yourself here," he says, "whereas in New Zealand you've got to be more politically correct  and depending on where you are in the family pecking order, [cultural obligations] can become a hell of a responsibility. I know a lot of Maori who say the same thing."

Brae, a Pakeha, came here with his wife in 1983 from Wellington and saw a market for Kiwi "nostalgia food". They now have a business called New Zealand Snack Food and Kiwi Bakery, selling such curious morsels as Black Balls, Pinky bars, Chocolate Fish, onion soup, whitebait, kina and "pies with attitude". The demand for this stuff is indicative of the way many New Zealanders never really "leave" home but drag bits of it around with them, as though nothing elsewhere could match up. They form their own communities, churches and business networks, and tend  even after decades overseas  to interpret everything through the prism of their Kiwiness. Why not embrace the society they've adopted? Or are they trying to turn Australia into New Zealand? "Of course we are!" cries Tukaki. "It's the great southern island, brother, our home away from home. Our culture is intrinsic we bring our work ethic, our desire to succeed. We can be the tall poppy here, and no one's gunna pull us down!" Their most maddening displays of parochialism, of course, are unleashed by rugby union's All Blacks, whose serial thrashings of the Wallabies (and everyone else) fill Kiwis with the sort of vengeful joy only long-humiliated little brothers and sisters truly understand. "The greatest team of all time!" crows Reihana.

"And look at the NRL players," hoots Tukaki. "They're nearly all Kiwis, too. You Aussies can't even muster some rugby league talent!" "The All Blacks are where my heart is," Brae's wife, Val (who has just joined us), murmurs passionately. Australians don't fare too well in their assessment of trans-Tasman character traits, either. Although "refreshingly frank", they're also "blunt, loud as hell, sore losers, lazy, whingers, bad sports" and given to playing "the white father" among smaller neighbouring nations. And Kiwis? Tukaki hunches forward, all but licking his lips. "The difference between us and everyone else," he says, "is our desire to maintain a sense of humanity. We're pretty fing cool. We're not arrogant about it, but geez we're pretty sweet, eh?"

And pretty smug? Tukaki gives me an injured look. "I wouldn't go 'smug', no. But I mean, we are what we are. We're a country at the bottom of the fing planet, with penguins! We're a country with skilled migration, not a country with convicts. And we're culturally rich and diverse, and that plays into how we perform on the global stage. We took our culture to the world in the 1980s, and we still do. It's fantastic! I love it!" He exchanges another triumphant fist bump with Reihana, and is back in Aussie-bashing mode when a bar worker, collecting our glasses, rolls his eyes. Me: "What can we do with these Kiwis?" Bar worker: "I dunno about you, but I'm calling immigration."

During my schooldays, minute details about the Treaty of Waitangi were droningly recited by teacher after teacher, while the rest of us gazed from windows wondering when the rain would stop. These days, New Zealand's founding document, signed in 1840 by agents of the British Crown and a group of Maori chiefs, is celebrated as the main reason contemporary race relations are largely harmonious, while the plight of Australia's Indigenous owners remains a source of internal shame and international condemnation. The treaty gave Maori full rights of ownership of their lands, forests, fisheries and other possessions. And though still hotly debated in some quarters, it remains a key element in the shaping of the nation. Another difference in the make-up of the two countries is the nature of their women. "In Australia, New Zealand women are probably thought of as a bit pushy," ventures Shona Martyn, the NZ-born publishing director of HarperCollins Australia. "But they're actually quite normal in New Zealand. I'm quite sure some people think this about me: quite normal in New Zealand, but a bit pushy here  in Australia, the bulk of women who've ascended to power are sort of there mopping up after there's been some slightly average guy." A resident of Sydney since 1983, Martyn believes her country's settlement by Scottish Presbyterians, whose matriarchal, Temperance Movement women tended even then to run their households, provided core feminist principles for later generations. (New Zealand women were the first in the world to gain voting rights in 1893, followed by Australia federally in 1902, and Finland in 1906.) "My dad's mother insisted, even in the 1920s-'30s, that boys participate in the household chores," says Martyn, a former journalist, at her corporate eyrie in Sydney's CBD. "New Zealand women have been historically more confident. They're very strong-minded, and they're not shy  that [background] is very different from the sort of Irish Catholic migrant families, and more conventional English families, that settled here."

Martyn, who identifies as a Kiwi, believes Jane Campion's 1993 cinematic triumph, , captures the "Gothic darkness" within the national psyche. "I don't know if it's the weather, or the Scottish heritage, but there is a darkness, a negativity thing, a glass-half-empty thing; Australians are more relaxed, they'll confront issues and try to get them sorted, whereas some New Zealanders tend to be a bit morose." They're also fascinated by stories and films about themselves, and their country. NZ publishers devised a special genre  "heartland books"  to meet this nationalistic hunger. "One of the most successful books to come out of the Christchurch earthquake was called Quake," laughs Martyn. "It's about dogs who survived the quake, with beautiful colour pics and little pen portraits saying things like, 'Buster was lying under the ironing board when the quake came ' " Like countless Kiwis, Martyn grew to love Australia for its own quirks, and its acquired-taste landscapes. "It took a long time before I could see the beauty of the eucalypt forests," she admits. "But now I do, I really do." Yet on her last business trip to NZ, when she drove from Auckland south to Cambridge across the Hauraki Plains, something about the verdant pastures and plump, contented cows struck her as reassuring. "I felt quite safe there. Maybe it was after all the mayhem across the world, but there was a point during that trip when I did start thinking there was a vulnerability around Sydney, and that I could always come back to New Zealand." And will she?

"Probably not. It's too small-minded in some ways, and parochial. I see Australia, and Sydney in particular, as part of the world. If you walk on the streets, there are people who live here who are from many other places. Walk on the streets in New Zealand and all you tend to see are lots of happy visitors buying Kathmandu tops and stuff." New Zealand's inclination not to be "part of the world"  typified by its long ban on visits by nuclear vessels  continued when it refused under Labour's then-PM Helen Clark to join the Coalition of the Willing in invading Iraq in 2003. "When all other Western nations were buying into the WMD [weapons of mass destruction] propaganda, that was a highlight of my career," says Jocelyn Prasad, Clark's media adviser at the time. (As it turned out, the decision to dodge the stooged-up Iraq war, along with a massive boost from "Tolkien tourism", enhanced New Zealand's image as a sane, safe destination in an otherwise scary world, especially, and most ironically, within the US. It's now topping global house price rises.) Born in Auckland, Prasad joined Clark's staff soon after meeting her future husband, Australian Chris Niesche (then NZ correspondent for The Australian) in Wellington. Now living in Sydney with their nine-year-old son, Hari, the wryly combative pair see one another as typical of their nationalities. "Kiwis are keenly interested in what the rest of the world thinks about them, in the way Australians were 25 years ago," Niesche observes. "If there's an article about Wellington in travel section, that's almost cause for national celebration." They're also more earnest, open, friendly and trusting people who "smoke a lot of pot and always dress as though they're going for a hike, even if they're just sitting around at home". Even before moving here eight years ago, Prasad, from an Fijian-Indian family, saw Aussies as brash, assured, cocky, and more inclined to racism than New Zealanders. Her first Sydney job, as a media officer with the Labor state government under premier Morris Iemma, didn't improve that view: "It was a really rude awakening. I was told early in the piece, 'We're a lot more right wing 'ere!'  but I still wasn't ready for the level of cynicism. Eddie Obeid [later found to be corrupt] was a government minister then, and it was pretty astounding to see how those processes worked. I got laid off eight months later."

Niesche tops up our drinks before returning fire. Kiwis, he suggests, like to go on about how much more tolerant they are than "racist" Australians because it makes them feel good about their own lives. "It's true they've led the way in race relations, but if you go to regional areas you'll find racism. I met a couple of white guys in a bar in Rotorua, the Maori cultural hub of New Zealand, and they were the most appalling racists I've ever encountered." Prasad concedes she brought her prejudices about Australia with her. "Australians are hard to get to know in a meaningful way," she says, " and I felt that anyone who didn't like me was either sexist or racist, or both." Her husband rolls his eyes, but Prasad admits she even considered using his surname on her job applications to see if it helped: "A lot of Asians here just change their names to make their lives easier. My early default position in Australia was that people were racist until they proved differently." Niesche: "That's outrageous!"

Prasad laughs. "Well, that's how I felt, although it has changed now that I've made some good friends here." In Australia, he counters, " rednecks are proud. They're happy to stand up and say they voted for Pauline Hanson because that's who they are. But in New Zealand no one will admit to that sort of thing, just like no one admits to voting for Winston Peters." (A Maori-Pakeha politician who opposes Asian migration, Peters is leader of the New Zealand First party.) Like his admission that he didn't know the capital of NZ until shortly before being sent there as a correspondent, Niesche's closing anecdote suggests that if chauvinism were a sport, Australia would rarely lose. It involves a newly-arrived Australian he accompanied to a sporting event in Wellington, where a soloist sung the national anthem in Maori. "The Australian was so unused to hearing an Indigenous language, she turned to me and said, 'This guy's really pissed. I can't understand a word he's saying!' " Near the end of a recent piece castigating Australia, writer and columnist Elizabeth Farrelly (NZ-born and Sydney-based) took her foot off the throat to confess: "But I wouldn't consider living anywhere else, especially not in a place where things are 'nice'. I am easily bored and I find 'nice' excruciating." Exactly. In the late '60s, not long after my brother fell in love and gave up being a surf bum, I returned to New Zealand and bullshitted my way into journalism on a regional daily. But the place was so dull and self-absorbed I fled back to Oz and scored a job on the outrageous Melbourne Truth. The newsroom was like a microcosm of the sprawling, delinquent land I'd lost my heart to: full of clatter and irreverence, with its pedal to the metal and little time for navel gazing.
The 17-year-old will join the ranks of the cosmetics brand alongside other representatives including Perry, Rihanna, Ellen DeGeneres and Taylor Swift. He will front a print, TV and digital campaign for a new mascara in the coming months.

He also has more than 540,000 fans on Instagram, where the announcement was made alongside the face of CoverGirl, Katy Perry .

The YouTube star has amassed more than 79,000 subscribers to his official channel since launching online in December last year.

"I started my Instagram one year ago to inspire others and as an artistic outlet to challenge myself creatively," Charles said in an Instagram post following the announcement.

"I truly hope that this shows that anyone and everyone can wear makeup and can do anything if you work hard."

Charles will be the first male to front an advertisement for the brand in its 55-year history.

"One year ago, he [Charles] boldly chose to launch his Instagram to the world, using transformative, dynamic makeup looks to showcase the many facets of his personality, serving as an inspiration to women, men, guys and girls who might have been afraid to do the same," a representative told The Huffington Post.

His how to videos have clocked up almost 1 million views in 10 months, the topic of the tutorials are crowd sourced from Twitter where he asks his 71,000 fans what they want to see and learn.
On September 9, the Sydney Morning Herald reported that Manly rugby league player Steve Matai's mobile phone was seized by police in their investigation into match-fixing in the NRL.

Steve Matai has denied any wrongdoing or involvement in match-fixing and that his phone was seized by police.

Steve Matai of the Sea Eagles

The Herald accepts that its report was incorrect and would like to make clear that Steve Matai did not have his phone seized or examined by police.

The Herald apologises to Steve Matai and regrets any hurt and embarrassment caused to him.
Spy agencies once classified Des Ball as a "person of interest", but he was far, far more interested in understanding their shadowy secrets.

Pine Gap intelligence base in central Australia held a special fascination for him, and more than any other academic, Ball helped reveal to the public just what secrets those remote dishes and antennae plucked from the skies.

Professor Desmond Ball, in his office at the Australian National University in 2013. Credit:Rohan Thomson

He was a patriot and a democrat, believing Australians had every right to know what the alliance with the US had brought to what he called "a suitable piece of real estate" near Alice Springs in the title of his most famous book.

But Ball - who died on Wednesday after a long illness - also took a sweeping view of defence and security threats, and had a rare influence on government thinking for an outsider of officialdom.
At 12.30pm on Thursday, more than 70,000 pens dropped on tables around NSW.

From Tweed Heads to Merimbula, thousands of students poured out of HSC exam rooms, relieved to have finished the first test in the final stretch of their school lives, and confronted by the fact they would have to do it all again on Friday.

English, the only compulsory exam of the HSC, opened this year's exam period and it surprised almost everyone, including the teachers.

"When we flicked through we thought, 'Oh my god, there is no visual stimulus'," Concord High School English teacher, Julie Taing, said.
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Women locking themselves in steel containers to avoid domestic violence, children sleeping on the floors of homes strewn with dogs' faecal matter, the only street light in town the community social centre, and no way of ensuring children are safe from sexual predators in homes where up to 30 people live.

This was a version of Indigenous life in the Northern Territory given to the Royal Commission into the Protection and Detention of Children in the Northern Territory as bureaucrats and health specialists gave evidence on Thursday about government attempts over the last decade to address the problems of child protection.

Dr Damien Howard, consulting psychologist, leaving the Royal Commission. Credit:Glenn Campbell

Psychologist Damien Howard told commissioners overcrowding coupled with the rise of iPhones and other devices had created a second epidemic of people with hearing loss that was now contributing to the breakdown of law and order.

He said 94 per cent of Indigenous prisoners in NT jails suffered impaired hearing, compared with 45 per cent of the wider Indigenous population.
Two teenagers arrested on Wednesday with hunting knives and a note pledging allegiance to Islamic State were caught as they were about to make their final prayers, police believe.

The 16-year-olds, both former East Hills Boys High students who have been converting teens on the streets of Bankstown in recent weeks, were arrested in dramatic fashion on Wednesday afternoon.

Counter-terrorism authorities, who have been watching the pair for at least two years, observed them buy two M9 bayonet knives from Bankstown Gun Shop for $105 each on Wednesday morning.

They then took a three-kilometre bus ride to the Bankstown CBD and were arrested in Adnum Lane just after midday as they entered the Bankstown Musallah, a public prayer hall with no in-house leader.
As allegations of his sexually improper behaviour pour forth, the NSW upper house has passed a motion condemning Donald Trump and endorsing a description of the Republican nominee as a "revolting slug".

Greens MLC Jeremy Buckingham's motion condemning Mr Trump was passed without objection or a formal vote on Thursday morning.

"[This house] agrees with those who have described Mr Trump as 'a revolting slug' unfit for public office," the motion read.

In a reference to Mr Trump's recently revealed remarks about grabbing women, Mr Buckingham said that all "reasonable and decent people find Donald Trump's behaviour obnoxious".
A teenager arrested on Wednesday with a bayonet knife and a note pledging allegiance to Islamic State had allegedly vowed to outdo the Parramatta shooting of police accountant Curtis Cheng.

The 16-year-old, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, was arrested along with a friend, also 16, in a dramatic operation in Bankstown on Wednesday afternoon.

The pair were seen buying knives at a Bankstown gun store that morning and arrested hours later as they entered a prayer hall on Adnum Lane.

The boys did not appear in Parramatta Children's Court on Thursday and did not apply for bail.
American musician Frank Iero says he is "pretty banged up" and still in a state of shock after he and his crew were involved in a serious bus crash in Sydney's CBD on Thursday afternoon.

The 34-year-old and crew members of his band, Frnkiero And The Patience, had arrived at Twitter headquarters on Park Street in the city when police said a bus crashed into the rear of their van about 3.50pm.

Iero, the former guitarist with My Chemical Romance, and another man, aged 42, were standing at the rear of the van at the time and suffered serious leg injuries in the crash. They were taken to St Vincent's Hospital for treatment.

A third man, 29, escaped serious injury and was treated at the scene for cuts and bruises, police said.
The Australian privacy commissioner will call on technology giant Apple to explain reports of staff stealing, sharing and ranking of customers' explicit photos.

News Corp reported four male staff members had been sacked from a store in Carindale, in Brisbane's south, over the scandal.

The company was investigating, telling Fairfax Media in a statement on Thursday that it had "seen no evidence that customer data or photos were inappropriately transferred or that anyone was photographed" by the former employees.

Staff reportedly lifted photos from some Apple customers' iPhones and took more than 100 close-up and explicit photos of female customers and staff without their knowledge.
How I discovered one of the greatest wildlife gatherings on Earth in far-north Queensland

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The Sunshine Coast is perfectly placed to become the home of medical marijuana production for the nation, according to a Queensland MP.

Member for Buderim Steve Dickson said he believed the Sunshine Coast provided the perfect environmental conditions to be a leader in growing and manufacturing medicinal cannabis in Australia.

The economic benefits of medicinal marijuana have been examined, with new laws passing Queensland parliament. Credit:AP

It comes as legislation to allow patients to access medicinal cannabis was passed on Wednesday night.

The Public Health (Medicinal Cannabis) Bill 2016 provides a pathway for Queensland patients of any age and with a range of conditions to access legal medicinal cannabis products.
More than two and a half years after the former state government closed Queensland's then only live-in adolescent mental health facility, Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has announced a replacement for Wacol's Barrett Adolescent Centre to be built in the grounds of the Prince Charles Hospital.

The "new Barrett" will begin as "12 to 15 bed facility" and offer education and counselling services with the ability for teenagers to stay at the centre and possibly progress to attend nearby schools.

At the Prince Charles Hospital for the announcement of a new mental health facility for young Queenslanders were (from left) local MP Dr Anthony Lynham, Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk, policy officer Greg Fowler, Jeannine Kimber and Health Minister Cameron Dick. Credit:Tony Moore

"Today begins a brand new chapter for young people with complex and severe mental health issues," Ms Palaszczuk said.

The still-to-be-designed centre is close to public transport, schools, the hospital's mental health unit, the hospital's heliport and close to Brisbane Airport.
A sex worker accusing Australia's largest regional newspaper publisher of discrimination for placing her ads in the "personal" section has been knocked back a second time.

Tracey Payne took APN News and Media to the Anti-Discrimination Commission in 2014, alleging the company had discriminated against her because of various "attributes", including her "lawful sexual activity".

A sex worker accused APN News and Media of discrimination. Credit:Jacky Ghossein

The self-employed Queenslander alleged the company's practice of placing her ads in the "Personal" section, and charging more for that section, amounted to discrimination.

She also claimed to have been victimised for reporting her concerns to the commission.
Jason Mars is an African-American professor of computer science who also runs a tech start-up. When his company's artificially intelligent smartphone app talks, he says, it sounds "like a helpful, young Caucasian female".

"There's a kind of pressure to conform to the prejudices of the world" when you are trying to make a consumer hit, he says. "It would be interesting to have a black guy talk, but we don't want to create friction, either. First we need to sell products."

Digital assistants: young Caucasian women only need apply. Credit:PhotoAlto/Sigrid Olsson

Mars' start-up is part of a growing high-tech field called conversational computing. This technology is being popularised by programs like Siri in Apple's iPhone, and Alexa, which is built into Amazon's artificially intelligent home computing device, the Echo.

Conversational computing is holding a mirror to many of society's biggest preconceptions around race and gender.
Cancer Council Victoria has launched a Supreme Court bid to get its hands on a dead woman's medical records, to establish whether it has a claim to $12 million left to the organisation in her previous will.

Elizabeth Bell Thomson was 94 when she died last year.

In her first will, in 2004, she left her entire estate to the Cancer Council (then the Anti-Cancer Council) in the event her husband died before her.

But seven years later she wrote another will, cutting the Cancer Council out entirely - as well as her husband, who was still alive.

Instead, Mrs Thomson bequeathed $12.6 million to two individuals, Victoria Anne Wilshire and Peter Gordon Jeffs, and $500 each to the RSPCA and the William Angliss Hospital.
Local households could face an extra $435 rate charge each to help underwrite a proposed new $19 billion train tunnel that would connect Clifton Hill with Newport , the state's key infrastructure adviser says.

In a report released on Thursday, Infrastructure Victoria concluded that the Melbourne Metro 2 project - a proposed train tunnel running from Clifton Hill to Newport via Parkville, Southern Cross Station and Fishermans Bend - could add about $20 billion to land values.

It warned that residential and commercial properties set to benefit from big infrastructure projects might need to get used to the idea of helping pay for them.

In a controversial approach to funding infrastructure known as "value capture", and which is championed by Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, it concluded about one-quarter of the project costs could be funded by hitting those who benefit with a "betterment levy".
Members of Victoria's Chinese community have been circulating thousands of flyers accusing the Safe Schools program of stealing their children's culture, in a Liberal-aligned campaign aimed at curtailing the anti-bullying program.

The incendiary flyer urges the Chinese community to "Stop UnSafe Schools", and accuses the program of promoting "homosexual ideas and practice" and "stealing our children from our own culture".

There has been a second serious HSC security breach at a Sydney high school. Credit:Janie Barrett

Chinese Liberal Party member, Dan Xie, said he was behind the 15,000 flyers, which have been handed out on streets, in public libraries and railway stations over the past two months.

The flyers include links to two Christian blogs, which oppose abortion and homosexuality.
Victoria Police is investigating a Melton council candidate who posted photos online of a toddler holding firearms and ammunition.

Watts ward candidate Dilpreet Singh, a justice of the peace since 2010, has come under fire for posting photos of his son on his personal Facebook page about three years ago.

The photos have since been deleted, but Mr Singh told Melton & Moorabool Star Weekly in a statement the images had been "taken out of context".

He said while he understood why the images "could potentially" be offensive, the images were "culturally acceptable" and there was a "valid explanation for this".
It was never going to go down well.

Without warning, the Andrews government announced on Tuesday that it had tripled the enrolment boundaries of one of Victoria's most sought-after state schools to accommodate an inner-city student boom.

University High School has been ordered to change its zone to take in students from the Dockland

The University High School in Parkville was initially caught off guard, but has now hit back, launching an extraordinary attack on the government's "deeply disappointing" and "poorly conceived" plan.

In a further blow, it said expanding its zone to include all of the CBD, parts of Southbank and the Docklands would place "enormous stress" on its ability to provide an outstanding education.
The City of Perth might want to look up the rules to "hide and seek" after the first edition of its Nike shoe giveaway lasted only a couple of minutes.

The city is giving away 100 pairs of Nike Air Max 90 over two weeks in exchange for the shoes on the feet of keen-eyed punters, who track down "undercover ushers" wearing the Maxes.

The only problem is, a large fleet-footed crowd on Thursday nabbed the council's "undercover" ushers inside PICA about 30 seconds after the city tweeted out the secret location.

Maybe it had something to do with the rather obvious "clue" the council tweeted out. Somewhere, Sherlock Holmes is turning in his grave.
Residents near Fremantle won't find out if they're in path of the contentious $1.9 billion Perth Freight Link before the March state election, Premier Colin Barnett has confirmed.

Homeowners in the suburb of Palmyra were told by the WA government last year that their homes would be compulsorily acquired and razed to make way for the state and federal funded road, which aims to provide a direct route for trucks to Fremantle Port.

A protest against the Perth Freight Link at parliament last year. Credit:Mark McGowan MP

The Barnett government announced on Tuesday it was finalising the construction contracts for the Roe 8 highway extension.

It is the first and most controversial part of the Perth Freight Link as it will cut through the Beeliar wetlands, with work to begin by the end of this year.
A young Perth woman has described the moment her "heart sank" after she discovered social photos from her Facebook page had been altered and published on porn sites.

Noelle Martin, 22, said she was 'reverse Google image searching' herself three years ago when she came across an image of her face, taken from a picture of her with friends at the Claremont Hotel, photoshopped onto the body of a naked woman.

"I really was shocked, I felt like I wanted to vomit, my heart sank," she said.

"They had taken ordinary photos - nothing pornographic, nothing sexually explicit - from my social media... and put my face on naked bodies.
The Federal Court has recognised the native title rights of the Kulyakartu claimants to a part of a 3550 square-kilometre area in the East Pilbara region of Western Australia.

The remote land in the northern reaches of the Great Sandy Desert, about 413 kilometres southeast of Broome, has never been settled by non-Aboriginal people and is surrounded by the Nyangumarta, Ngurrara and Martu determination areas.

The determination acknowledges the exclusive native title rights and interests of the Kulyakartu claimants to possession, occupation and use of the area. Credit:Louie Douvis

The recognition of native title for an area known as Part A is by consent, which means it was reached by agreement with the other parties including the state of WA and the Commonwealth.

The determination acknowledges the exclusive native title rights and interests of the Kulyakartu claimants to possession, occupation and use of the area.
The Collie community was left in shock this week after a senseless act of animal cruelty resulted in the death of six kittens.

Collie resident Michelle Kendall's son Lewis was out with friends at a clay pit on the outskirts of town, when they made the gruesome discovery.

Six kittens were dumped and left for dead in Collie. Credit:Michele Mossop

Ms Kendall said the boys had gone to the pit on Tuesday afternoon in search of yabby nets.

"They saw a pink thing dangling out of the water and they pulled it out because they thought it was a pink yabby net," she said.
If there is something creepy in your neighbourhood? Who you going to call? Clownbusters.

Or, at least a Perth bloke named Les.

Scary clown sightings across Perth and the rest of Australia are causing mass hysteria, and have prompted a warning from WA police that hooligans dressed up as clowns carrying dangerous weapons in suburban streets will not be tolerated.

There are different accounts as to where the phenomenon started but it appears to have its origins in South Carolina in late August and arrived in WA over the past month, with photographs emerging last week of a frightening looking clown at Mandurah shopping centre.
Western Australia's oldest airstrip in the heart of Perth may never see a plane land on it again after an event involving vintage aircraft had to be cancelled because the runway was too soggy after rain.

Around 18 vintage biplanes, including a replica 1916 Sopwith Pup, were supposed to land on Langley Park this Saturday as part of Heritage Perth.

Langley Park is too churned up for vintage planes to land there.

The event was to mark the 100th anniversary of the Australian Flying Corp, which would eventually become the RAAF, leaving Australia to fight in Palestine and Europe.

Heritage Perth CEO Richard Offen said the runway, which was first used in 1921, was too churned up to use.
Yangon: Myanmar's security forces have killed at least 26 people in response to attacks on police that have sparked a dramatic escalation in violence in a Muslim-majority region along its border with Bangladesh, according to reports in state media.

Armed men believed to be from the long-oppressed Rohingya Muslim minority launched a coordinated assault on three border police posts in the early hours of Sunday, killing nine police, injuring five and making off with dozens of weapons and more than 10,000 rounds of ammunition.

Chief of Myanmar's Police Force Zaw Win said fighters attacked three border posts at the western border with Bangladesh. Credit:AP

Military personnel and police reinforcements have poured into the Muslim-majority township of Maungdaw, northern Rakhine State, and have clashed with groups of up to 300 men, armed with pistols, swords and knives, according to official reports.

Human rights groups and advocates for the stateless Rohingya have voiced concern that the civilian population may be caught up in the authorities' violent response.
King Bhumibol Adulyadej, Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn and Queen Sirikit in 1999. Credit:AFP Born a second son on December 5, 1927, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, at a time when the world was lurching towards the Great Depression, Bhumibol Adulyadej was never meant to rule. His father, Songkla Mahidol, was by all accounts a courteous and unassuming medical student at Harvard whose young wife, Mom Sangwan, was taking courses in nursing and nutrition. A commoner, she must have had little inkling that not one but two of her sons would within a few years of each other accede to the throne of the Royal House of Chakri, the dynasty founded in Bangkok in 1782. Thai people outside the Grand Palace as part of the King's 80th birthday celebrations in 2007. Credit:AP Her husband was in fact a half-brother to Thailand's then king and the 69th of 77 children of the dynasty's modernising King Chulalongkorn, who had died in 1910.

The dynasty was drifting by 1932, when a bloodless coup ended absolute monarchy and King Prajadhipok, who was childless, fled to England and abdicated three years later, pushing the royals further to the margins. Songkla Mahidol, father of King Bhumibol Adulyadej. Despite the fact that King Chulalongkorn had fathered 32 sons and 45 daughters by 36 different queens or consorts by the time he had reached 40, the pool of princes had drained during and after his reign. Prince Ananda found himself first in line for the throne and was recognised as king by the Thai National Assembly in March 1935. Well-wishers hold portraits of the king as they wait for him to leave hospital in 2013. Credit:Reuters

The king and his younger brother Prince Bhumibol were inseparable as they grew up in Switzerland after the death of their father in 1929, sharing a passion for fast cars, setting up electric train sets or poring over magazines or board games. "They were like twins  buddies, who were fond of one another more than they were of other friends," their elder sister Princess Galyani recalled later. The royal brothers remained constant companions after they returned to Thailand in December 1945, on Prince Bhumibol's 18th birthday. The King's book about a stray dog called Thongdaeng became a bestseller. Credit:AP Prince Bhumibol became King Ananda's shadow and official photographer, earning a small monthly stipend as contributing photographer to a royal family-owned magazine. The brothers acquired a surplus US army jeep for their less formal outings and started a gun collection. In the afternoons they would conduct target practice on the Grand Palace's lawn. It was not until 33 years after King Ananda's death that King Bhumibol spoke publicly about the tragedy. "Many people wanted to advance not theories but facts to clear up the affair. They were suppressed - and they were suppressed by influential people in this country or in international politics," he told the BBC.

General Prayuth Chan-ocha accepts a royal endorsement certifying his appointment as the country's 29th premier. Credit:AP Three months after acceding to the throne, King Bhumibol left Thailand to study political science and law in Switzerland, telling his subjects "it is essential that I re-create myself". He made regular trips to Paris, where he fell in love with a cousin, Sirikit Kitiyakara, an aspiring pianist who was the daughter of the leading Thai diplomat in Europe. He announced his engagement to the future queen on her 17th birthday on July 19, 1949, in London. "I'm still too young and have never been in love before ... it also excites me," Sirikit said at the time. King Ananda Mahidol, the elder brother of King Bhumibol Adulyadej. Credit:Getty Images King Bhumibol was 24 when he finished his education and returned to Thailand permanently in 1951, as Thais were trying to put their wartime occupation by Japan behind them and rebuild ties with the West.

The early years of his reign were marred by friction with the country's postwar government. "When I'd open my mouth and suggest something, they'd say: 'Your Majesty, you don't know anything'," he recalled in an interview in 1989. "So I shut my mouth. I know things, but I shut my mouth." Thai Princess Galyani Vadhana, the elder sister of the king. Credit:AP But despite having little actual power in those early days, King Bhumibol worked to revive abandoned Chakri traditions and through many appearances around the country boosted the royal prestige. Senior courtiers and others helped him steer the monarchy into being the country's central institution. The king created foundations that became operational bases for his philanthropy and development work. His patronage spread through thousands of projects, such as tackling leprosy and tuberculosis and establishing hospitals and clinics and schemes including fish breeding and dairying in rural areas. Ill health confined the King to a wheelchair when he was in his 80s. Credit:AP

He presented scholarships and awards to improve the country's poor healthcare system. He helped the poor and disadvantaged, creating the belief among many Thais that he was the source of his kingdom's harmony and Buddhist spirit. He became particularly preoccupied with improving the lives of farmers. Remaining on the throne during 29 changes of prime minister, 16 coups and 16 constitutions, his stature and political acumen grew while communist revolutions and other turmoil toppled the ancient monarchies of neighbouring Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam. By the 1960s royalists allied with the Thai military had resecured the monarchy's financial base and resacralised the institution. Although Thailand is a constitutional monarchy, the king retained more power than the Queen or other constitutional monarchs. He could veto laws passed by parliament, pardon convicted criminals and approve or disapprove cabinet ministers. His pet development projects received priority funding. "With his image of devotion to the peasantry, constant ceremonial presence, promotion as the centrepiece of national identity and increasing longevity, the king's baramee (accumulated merit) steadily increased," historians Chris Baker and Pasuk Phongpaichit wrote, referring to the 1980s. Thais overwhelmingly saw the king as an earnest, hardworking and gentle ruler with an impeccably simple lifestyle. Slim and impassive, he cut an imposing public figure in royal ceremonies until ill health confined him to a wheelchair when he was in his 80s. He spoke five languages and was a musician, sailor, painter, writer, inventor and photographer. His picture hangs in many Thai homes and offices and Thais stand in respect when a video of him is shown in movie theatres. They prostrated themselves when they were presented before him. Schools taught respect for him and the notion of his near-infallibility and beneficence.

One of the king's greatest loves was music. He played the clarinet and saxophone and was a composer. For many years musicians gathered at Bangkok's Chitralada Palace for jam sessions. He always carried his trademark camera. He took in a stray dog called Thongdaeng and wrote a book about her that was seen as a parable on many social topics and became a bestseller. Millions of Thais streamed onto the streets to celebrate the 60th anniversary of his accession to the throne in 2006, the high point of his reign. The public reverence for him was carefully nurtured over decades by a formidable palace public relations machine and harsh lese-majeste laws that punish criticism of the monarchy. Thais have never pried too far into the private life of the king or his family, given that even a casual comment on the privileged way of life in the palace could lead to 15 years' imprisonment on each count of lese-majeste. Use of the charge has skyrocketed in recent years, from an average of five cases in 1992 to a high of 478 in 2010. Thai media and foreign journalists based in Thailand have reported on the king and other members of the royal family under the law's severe restrictions, including this article, which includes quotes and information from the palace-approved book King Bhumibol Adulyadej, A Life's Work, published in 2011.

After an increase in politically-inspired lese-majeste complaints in 2005, King Bhumibol used his birthday address to criticise use of the law, saying the British phrase "the king can do no wrong" implied the king was not human. "But the king can do wrong," he said, arguing that when the king is not subject to criticism he is "in trouble". Although the king's comments were unambiguous, authorities dropped few cases and freed none of those already in jail. Former prime minister Anand Panyarachun, who chaired a board that advised on A Life's Work, told the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Thailand in 2007 that "you have to go by the will of the people ... I am sure that the king does not mind whether the [lese-majeste] law exists or not but the Thai people never, never tolerate criticism of the king ... I believe that Thais are more royalist than the king." In 2005 Duncan McCargo, professor of political science at the University of Leeds, published an article on what he called the "network monarchy" in Thailand, making the case that the Thai monarchy is not merely the royal family but an entire network of relationships stretching into the Privy Council and the top ranks of the military. Through a little-known agency called the Crown Property Bureau, King Bhumibol controlled investments and properties worth an estimated $US30billion, including vast land holdings and controlling stakes in some of the country's biggest companies. In Bangkok alone the bureau owns 8400 hectares, mostly in the historic part of the city. The assets belong to the monarchy as an institution which continues from reign to reign, not in the monarch's private capacity, A Life's Work says. Palace officials have long insisted the king remained above Thailand's politics as constitutional monarch while his behind-the-scenes roles have been the subject of debate among royal watchers, historians and commentators. The king endorsed at least half a dozen coups between 1957 and 1991.

His most high-profile intervention in 1992 was televised. Riots had broken out after a coup leader, General Suchinda Kraprayoon, was appointed prime minister. The police and military were rumoured to be dividing into factions. King Bhumibol summoned General Suchinda and protest leader Chamlong Srimuang to the palace where, prostrated on the carpet before him, he requested they co-operate to end the unrest "because the danger is that when people get in a state of blind fury and act in uncontrolled violence they will not even know what they are fighting about or how to resolve the problem". "If a great destruction occurs in Bangkok, then the country as a whole is also destroyed," he said. The intervention led to an era of civilian-led government. According to A Life's Work, the king "used his reserve power, prestige and moral authority to pull the nation back from the brink of calamity and set it once again on a constitutional course".

The king was suffering ongoing health issues from the early 2000s as a power struggle emerged between a dominant rural-based majority and a mostly urban middle class minority frustrated by its inability to win elections or influence national politics. Even when he was ageing and frail, his opaque public utterances were minutely dissected for advice to the nation. But amid the current bitter divide in Thai society, the king chose not to intervene directly, urging Thais to work together for the common good. On May 26, 2014, the king signed a letter endorsing army chief General Prayuth Chan-ocha, who had seized power in a bloodless coup four days earlier, but made no public comment or public appearance. Outside a Bangkok hospital where the king died peacefully at 3.52pm Thailand time on Thursday, thousands of Thais gazed skyward with tear-filled eyes. Loading
Thailand's National Assembly ended an extraordinary session late Thursday night without inviting a successor to the king to ascend to the throne. A young woman lights a candle before praying at Erawan Shrine in Bangkok on Thursday. Credit:Kate Geraghty "We are preparing the next moves," said a spokesman for the assembly, which is made up of military appointees. Assembly members wore black and stood in silence for nine minutes. It is likely to be months before the Crown Prince's coronation as the new monarch,as Thailand goes through a period of intense national mourning. People pray at Erawan Shrine in Bangkok on Thursday following the death of the King. Credit:Kate Geraghty

Many businesses are expected to be closed or provide reduced services as Thais mourn the loss of the ninth Chakri king, whom many regard as semi-divine. Western diplomats in Bangkok say tourists and expatriates in Thailand should wear black and respect the grief Thais will be feeling for their king, whose portrait hangs in every government building and in many shops and homes. Mourning outside the hospital after the Royal Palace made the announcement. Credit:AP People in a crowd that had gathered at Bangkok's Siriraj hospital, where the king has been battling ailments for several years, openly wept as news of the death swept social media. "Long live the King! Long live the King!" they cried, gazing up at the hospital building with tear-filled eyes.

An undated photo of King Bhumibol Adulyadej and Queen Sirikit. Credit:AFP Dozens of doctors wearing white coats solemnly sang the Thai national anthem in the hospital's foyer. One women wearing pink, a colour royal astrologists said was good for the king, collapsed hysterically in the hospital grounds holding photograph of the king and queen. But a Reuters reporter said most of the people at the hospital were dignified. Four of the king's children, including 63-year-old Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn, were at the hospital Thursday evening. The Crown Prince arrived in the country on Thursday from Germany where he owns a lakeside villa. King Bhumibol Adulyadej in 2010. Credit:Reuters King Bhumibol had been treated for various ailments during a year-long hospitalisation in the Thai capital. He had not made a public appearance since January 2016.

Anxiety over his health and eventual succession has formed the backdrop to more than a decade of bitter political division in Thailand that has included military takeovers and sometimes violent street demonstrations. Thailand's Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn. Credit:Reuters The death follows a coup in May 2014 that toppled the democratically-elected government of Thailand's first female prime minister, Yingluck Shinawatra. King Bhumibol acceded to the throne after the mysterious shooting death of his brother, King Ananda Mahidol, at the Royal Palace in Bangkok on June 9, 1946. Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn. Credit:Getty Images
Donald Trump in 1993 talking about his womanising image and saying it was fortunate that he didn't have to run for political office. Credit:AP On Wednesday night, Trump's campaign made public a letter to the newspaper from a lawyer representing Trump, demanding it retract the story, calling it libellous, and threatening legal action if it did not comply. "This entire article is fiction, and for the New York Times to launch a completely false, coordinated character assassination against Mr Trump on a topic like this is dangerous," the Trump campaign's senior communications adviser, Jason Miller, said in a statement. One of Trump's accusers: Jessica Leeds in New York. Credit:AP Reuters could not independently verify the incidents. Leeds and Crooks did not respond to requests for comment from Reuters.

The New York Times said on Thursday it stood by its story and rejected claims the article was libellous. Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton greets a member of the audience after speaking at a rally in Las Vegas. Credit:AP "Nothing in our article has had the slightest effect on the reputation that Mr. Trump, through his own words and actions, has already created for himself," said David McCraw, vice president and assistant general counsel for the newspaper, in a letter to Trump's lawyer. If Trump disagrees that the story was libellous, "we welcome the opportunity to have a court set him straight," McCraw said. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally at the South Florida Fairgrounds and Convention Centre. Credit:AP

The Times report came just two days after a Reuters/Ipsos opinion poll showed one in five Republicans thought Trump's comments about groping women disqualified him from the presidency. The poll also showed him 8 points behind Clinton among likely voters. Trump, a New York businessman and former reality TV star, has never previously run for political office. Controversy has stalked his White House campaign since the day in June 2015 when he announced he was running for president, describing Mexican immigrants as rapists and criminals in a speech. Supporters of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump cheer during a campaign rally in Florida. Credit:AP Establishment Republicans have struggled to get behind Trump, alarmed by both his style and some of his policy proposals. More accounts surface

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. Credit:AP Within hours of The New York Times report, several other media outlets published similar reports. People magazine published a detailed first-person account from one of its reporters, Natasha Stoynoff. Stoynoff said Trump pinned her against a wall at his Florida estate in 2005 and kissed her as she struggled to get away. "I turned around, and within seconds, he was pushing me against the wall, and forcing his tongue down my throat," Stoynoff said. Trump, 70, denied the People story in a Twitter message and in his speech in Florida on Thursday, and mocked the writer.

"I ask her a simple question. Why wasn't it part of the story that appeared 12 years ago. Why didn't they make it part of the story ...if she had added that it would have been the headline." "Look at her and look at her words," he said. "You tell me what you think. I don't think so." The Palm Beach Post reported a claim by Mindy McGillivray, 36, a woman in South Florida, that Trump had grabbed her bottom 13 years ago while she was working at his Mar-a-Lago estate as a photographer's assistant. "There is no truth to this whatsoever," Trump's spokeswoman Hope Hicks told the Post. McGillivray could not be reached for comment. Cloud over Republican hopes

In the 2005 video, Trump bragged about groping women, kissing them without permission, and trying to seduce a married woman. He said during a presidential debate on Sunday that he had not actually done the things he had boasted about, and apologised for his remarks, which he called private "locker room talk." The video has thrown a cloud over Republican hopes of retaining control of the US Congress and deeply split the party as a slew of elected officials have abandoned support for the candidate. US House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan said on Monday he was no longer going to campaign for or defend Trump. Trump has veered since between pronouncing himself free to campaign as he likes, and expressing fury at Ryan and other "disloyal" Republicans. First lady Michelle Obama condemned Trump in scathing terms during a campaign speech for Clinton in New Hampshire. "This is not normal. This is not politics as usual. This is disgraceful. It is intolerable. It doesn't matter what party you belong to - Democrat, Republican, independent. No woman deserves to be treated this way," she said.

A spokeswoman for Clinton, 68, said Wednesday's report in the New York Times was "disturbing." "These reports suggest that he lied on the debate stage and that the disgusting behaviour he bragged about in the tape is more than just words," said spokeswoman Jennifer Palmieri. The Washington Post endorsed Clinton on Thursday. "In the gloom and ugliness of this political season, one encouraging truth is often overlooked: There is a well-qualified, well-prepared candidate on the ballot ... we endorse her without hesitation," it said. One of Trump's highest-profile Republican supporters, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, received a blow on Thursday when a judge allowed a citizen's criminal complaint against him over the "Bridgegate" scandal to move forward. Christie allies were accused of deliberately causing a massive traffic jam in 2013 by closing access lanes to a bridge in order to punish a mayor. Loading
PHILIPSBURG:--- The Prosecutors Office asked for a jail sentence of 15 years against Rolandito Richardson (30) R.O.N.R. (30) on Wednesday, October 12, 2016. He is being accused of two counts of rape, two counts theft, two counts of robbery, two counts of common assault and extortion. All his victims were females and were between 19 and 67 years old. While denying any involvement in the accusations during the preliminary investigation, the suspect did say during the criminal proceedings in court that he had sexual intercourse with one of the victims, but that it was consensual. The Prosecutors Office did not deem this statement likely and believed all accusations against the suspect are legally and convincingly proven. The Court of First Instance will give its verdict on November 2.

Prosecutor's Officers Bulletin
PHILIPSBURG:--- In the view of the Democratic Party of St. Maarten, the incoming UP/NA coalition has to clear the air on a number of issues, if they desire to start their political relationship on a footing of credibility. The leaders of these 2 parties can not get away with the excuse that "this was part of the political and campaign rhetoric". These are critical issues to the people of St. Maarten and the 2 parties have taken hard and sometimes diametrically opposing positions on these matters, long before the campaign begun.

"We therefore await the publication of the UP/NA governing accord and we hope a governing program will soon follow. After all, none of them are new to this, however, their past records of presenting governing programs are not encouraging.

In the governing accord, we expect to receive answers to these 2 parties' positions on at least the following issues:

1. Independence for St. Maarten: yes or no?

2. Integrity Chamber for St. Maarten: yes or no?

3. Pearl of China project: yes or no?

4. The inclusion of different ethnicities in our parliament: yes or no?

5. Financial disclosure and full-time position of MPs: yes or no?

6. Electoral reform to stamp out ship jumping: yes or no?

7. Continued transparency in the new hospital project: yes or no?

8. Tax reform: yes or no?

9. Labor reform: yes or no?

10. Transparency in government-owned companies: yes or no?

11. Rescind the obscure solid waste MOU, yes or no?

12. New school bus policy: yes or no?

13. New screening law for ministers: yes or no?

14. The Harbor's monopolistic position for our waters: yes or no?

15. Arm's length from government-owned companies: yes or no?

And there are more to follow.

Already the corridors are filled with talk about the changes to come.

As the opposition in the incoming parliament, we will observe with a magnifying glass the actions of this government. Already the question is being asked, "Are we going back to the days when board members of government-owned companies were served notice in the middle of the night?"
PHILIPSBURG:--- As a Representative of the People and with a high attendance record for attending meetings, I find it very unfortunate the type of games we play in Parliament.

I find it simply amazing how the presidium of Parliament scheduled meetings this week knowing that there will be no quorum because some Members of Parliament (MPs) are off island attending a conference for the same Parliament which sent several MPs to the conference.

I was called by Parliament to attend a conference off the island with MP Christophe Emmanuel and MP Dr. Lloyd Richardson. How come it was not mentioned in yesterday's Central Committee Meeting with notice for the three MPs attending the conference in which Parliament sent us to represent St. Maarten? Why werent the meetings scheduled for next week when all MPs are back on the island?

I take my job very serious and have a high attendance record of Parliament meetings.

In the past, I lead by example and signed in for every meeting even if to give the opposition a quorum for their meeting.

Before writing an editorial, editors should get the facts straight before labeling by saying the MPs that didnt show up are wasting other MPs time when it is not true. We need to raise the bar and also get the two sides of the story before reporting the news. Today, we report front page news without hearing the other person and when they hear the other person with facts, they put it page 8 or 9 news.

In closing, we need to raise the bar in Parliament and understand our role as MPs which is legislating, drafting and passing laws; understanding the rules of order, representing St. Maarten abroad and inviting Ministers to Parliament to explain to the people about their projects instead of playing these games in the peoples house which only makes Parliament look incompetent and waste our invited guests time.
BRIDGETOWN:--- The Prime Minister of Sint Maarten the Honorable William Marlin, accompanied by the Head of the Department of Foreign Relations, Ms. Khalilah Peters and the Policy Advisor for Donor Coordination from the Department of Interior and Kingdom Relations, Ms. Olivia Lake attended the two-day High Level EU- Caribbean Sustainable Energy Conference held on October 10th - 11th in Bridgetown Barbados. This conference was primarily focused on CARICOM/CARIFORUM and EU relations however both the Overseas Countries and Territories (OCTs) as well as the French Overseas Regions (ORs) were invited to partake in this conference. The inclusion if all groupings in the region were to impress that energy supply vulnerability and fossil fuel dependence is not only a problem of the CARIFORUM countries but that of the entire Caribbean. This event was also a means to set the stage for wider regional cooperation specifically in the area of energy.

During the first day of the conference, in the capacity of Regional Authorizing Officer(RAO) for the Caribbean Overseas Countries and Territories (OCTs) 11th EDF Regional Programme, the Honorable Prime Minister William Marlin participated as a special guest in a Ministerial panel discussion centered around the latest policy developments that support increased investments in renewable energy and energy efficiency. In his intervention, Prime Minister Marlin emphasized that Caribbean countries possess a great potential for alternative energy production and when unified as a block they could benefit from a true comparative advantage. He also discouraged allowing outside investors the advantage of pitting countries against each other for their own profitable gains, drawing from examples the region experienced with the cruise industry. Alternatively, he suggested that all Caribbean countries should make a concerted effort to find ways to overcome the energy challenges in the region by tapping into the wealth of specifically geothermal energy resources. He further proposed the creation of the financial mechanisms to construct the infrastructure necessary to feasibly supply the entire region and beyond. Support of these proposals by Prime Minister Marlin was resonated by other sitting and past Prime Ministers as well as Energy/ Infrastructure Ministers in the interventions that followed.

The 11th EDF Caribbean Regional Programme will also aim to dedicate a significant portion of the  40 million envelopes to Sustainable Energy increase in the Caribbean OCTs. The programming process is still ongoing with as goal to sign the financing agreement near the middle of next year. In the spirit of wider regional cooperation and in the understanding of the related climate change issues that will affect all Small Island Developing States, the Caribbean OCTs have agreed to explore options to blend the funds of the programmes in the area of Knowledge Development. As such, this conference provided an unparalleled opportunity to not only engage with regional partners but moreover to identify the most effective areas for cooperation. Sustainable energy companies from around the world also attended this event as speakers and participants, but also with their exhibitions in a parallel Business Opportunities Forum. This was an extra advantage of the conference as there was the possibility of engaging with existing companies for both access to the technology and possible investments.

Key outcomes of the conference were the signing of the Joint Declaration on Sustainable Energy between the European Union, European Investment Bank and CARIFORUM on reinforced cooperation in the field of sustainable energy. Further, five support programs in the renewable energy sector for the region, totaling 54 million EUROS were also signed during this conference. These agreements are evidence of the European Unions commitment to supporting Caribbean countries in meeting their obligations stipulated in Paris Agreement on Climate Change and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
CAY HILL:--- The late morning fire that took place in the Shanty Town behind Premier Supermarket in Cay Hill has left 14 families homeless while 9 apartments were fully damaged.

Traffic backed up in the Cay Hill area while police did their best to divert the traffic, some road users chose insult police officers when they were asked to take other routes since the firefighters were busy trying to get to the site.

Residents of the area were not at all happy with the performance of the firefighters because they said that they offered the firefighters the opportunity to enter their property to get to the fire faster since the access road to the known Shanty Town was not totally accessible, however the residents said the firefighters refused to accept their offer and chose to run the fire hose from a further distance in order to obtain water. The building a white concrete structure that had nine apartments was completely damaged by the time the firefighters began pouring water on the blazing building.

Nico Van Zand a senior firefighter was not too pleased with the questions posed by SMN News because the fire department responded late to two fires on Thursday morning. Van Zand said they could not accept the offer from the residents because even the access to the private properties alongside the road were not good enough. He said that one of the fire trucks had a flat tire, another point Van Zand raised was that they had to look at the safety of the firefighters since they cannot endanger their workers. He also said that even though they had trucks with water with that type of blaze the water would have been used up within no time. Van Zand further stated that they had to ensure they hook up to a water hydrant that would have produced enough water to bring the fire under control and to ensure that no one got hurt during the operation.

Click here to view photos of the fire in Cay Hill.
Constellation Software Inc. Announces Conference Call to Discuss Third Quarter Results

TORONTO, ONTARIO  (Marketwired)  10/12/16  Constellation Software Inc. (TSX: CSU) announced today it will host its third quarter conference call and live audio webcast on October 27, 2016 at 7:30 a.m. ET.

The Companys quarterly results will be disseminated via press release, and made available on the Companys website () and SEDAR, after the Toronto Stock Exchange closes on Wednesday, October 26, 2016. Mark Leonard, President, and Jamal Baksh, Chief Financial Officer, will be available during the October 27 conference call to answer questions regarding the Companys results.

To access the call, please dial 416-340-2218 or 866-223-7781. The webcast will be accessible at .

A replay of the conference call will be available as of 12:30 p.m. ET the same day until 11:59 p.m. ET on November 10, 2016. To access the replay, please dial 905-694-9451 or 800-408-3053 followed by the passcode 7796883.

About Constellation Software Inc.

Constellation Software acquires, manages and builds vertical market software businesses.

Contacts:

Constellation Software Inc.

Jamal Baksh

Chief Financial Officer

416-861-9677
Glassdoor, Battery Ventures Reveal the 25 Highest-Rated Public Cloud Computing Companies to Work for

BOSTON, MA and MILL VALLEY, CA  (Marketwired)  10/13/16  Battery Ventures, a global investment firm that backs cloud companies, and *, the worlds most transparent jobs and recruiting marketplace, have partnered to reveal the . The roundup of public companies builds on a similar, of privately held cloud companies released by Battery and Glassdoor in August.

The new list highlights 25 larger, publicly traded companies  all focused on business-to-business cloud computing  where employees report the highest levels of satisfaction at work, according to employee feedback shared on Glassdoor. The top five highest-rated companies were Ultimate Software; Instructure; HubSpot; Zendesk; and Guidewire.

Cloud technologies continue to transform traditional business services by lowering costs, improving usability and speeding the secure delivery of key software and IT infrastructure. The highest-ranked public companies on the newest Battery/Glassdoor list deliver a broad range of services, from marketing-automation tools, to technology for chief financial officers, to human resources and IT-operations support. The report also includes data on whether employees approve, or disapprove of their companies CEOs and gauges their view on how their companys business will perform in the next six months (though these additional data points did not impact the overall company ratings or rankings).

Cloud-computing companies are rapidly becoming some of the largest, fastest growing technology companies in the world-and not all of them, like Ultimate Software and Instructure, are household names, said Neeraj Agrawal, a Battery general partner who specializes in cloud and software as a service (SaaS) investing. As savvy job seekers try to tap into this new ecosystem, they appreciate information about which cloud companies are the most well-regarded by employees. This transparency is critically important for people making one of the largest decisions in their lives-where to work. Agrawal also serves on the board of Glassdoor.

Ultimately, happy employees lead to happy customers, Agrawal added, and drive revenue and profits.

For reporting simplicity, the company ratings below are rounded to the nearest tenth of a point, though actual calculations extend beyond the thousandth to determine rank. The ratings are based on a five-point scale, with 1.0 denoting very dissatisfied, 3.0 indicating OK and 5.0 signaling very satisfied.

The are:

Note: Demandware, ranked No. 7, has been acquired by Salesforce since this data was first collected, and No. 21 NetSuite has agreed to be acquired by Oracle.

Employees at these highly rated companies commonly mention in online reviews that they enjoy working for mission-driven companies with strong and unique company cultures; employers that promote transparency; and companies with experienced senior leaders who regularly and clearly communicate with employees. For instance, some employees at #1 ranked Ultimate Software shared:

Amazing Culture! Appreciated and cared for every day, not just during awards ceremonies. Great Salary, Benefits, Co-Workers, Customers / Ultimate Software is the total package.  (Louisville, KY)

Positive people-first culture. Fun place to work. Great benefits. Free food almost daily. Company is currently (as of 2016) in a financial boom.  (Weston, FL)

Glassdoor currently holds millions of workplace reviews, ratings and insights shared by employees anonymously on approximately 580,000 companies around the world. Currently, the average company rating on Glassdoor is 3.3(1). When an employee submits a company review on Glassdoor, he or she is asked to give their opinion on some of the best reasons to work for their employer (pros), any downsides (cons), and is encouraged to provide advice to management. Employees are also asked to rate how satisfied they are with their employer overall, among several other workplace attributes employees can rate and review.

This report identifies public cloud computing companies that are highest rated on Glassdoor, based on company ratings shared by employees. To be considered, a public cloud company must have received at least 30 company reviews on Glassdoor as of 8/2/16. The report tracks public cloud companies with a B2B business model that have at least $500 million in total enterprise value as of July 1, 2016. A companys CEO approval rating and positive business outlook rating  indicating the percentage of employees who believe their employers business will get better in the next six months  was not taken into account to determine rank or overall company rating, though we display these added data points for additional insight and perspective into each of these companies.

*By a company name, denotes a Battery investment. For a full list of all Battery investments and exits, please click . No part of this release should be considered investment advice or any recommendation or solicitation to buy our sell any security.

**Next to CEO approval rating denotes the data is based on less than 30 ratings.

Battery strives to invest in cutting-edge, category-defining businesses in markets including software and services, Web infrastructure, consumer Internet, mobile and industrial technologies. Founded in 1983, the firm backs companies at stages ranging from seed to private equity and invests globally from offices in Boston, the San Francisco Bay Area and Israel. Follow the firm on Twitter @BatteryVentures, visit our website at and find a full list of Batterys portfolio companies .

is the most transparent jobs and recruiting marketplace that is changing how people search for jobs and how companies recruit top talent. Glassdoor combines free and anonymous company reviews, ratings and salary reports with job listings to help job seekers find the best jobs and address critical questions that come up during the job search, application, interview and negotiation phases of employment. For , Glassdoor offers , and employer branding solutions to help attract high-quality candidates at a fraction of the cost of other channels. In addition, Glassdoor operates one of the most popular job apps on and platforms. Launched in 2008, Glassdoor has raised approximately $200 million from Google Capital, Tiger Global, Benchmark, Battery Ventures, Sutter Hill Ventures, DAG Ventures, Dragoneer Investment Group, funds and accounts advised by T. Rowe Price Associates, Inc. and others.

(c) 2016 Glassdoor, Inc. Glassdoor is a registered trademark of Glassdoor, Inc.

(1) Glassdoor Internal Data, July 2016

Battery Ventures:

Alicia Halatsis

Glassdoor:

Scott Dobroski
LogicStream Health Announces Long-Term Agreement With Providence Health & Services

MINNEAPOLIS, MN  (Marketwired)  10/13/16  today announces Providence Health & Services has signed a long-term agreement for use of the LogicStream Platform. Organizations apply LogicStreams Clinical Process Measurement to guide clinical decisions and actions to deliver highly reliable healthcare to their patients. Clinical Process Measurement provides the ability to optimize clinical content, reduce unnecessary care variation and understand the impact of clinical processes on patient outcomes.

Once implemented, LogicStream spreads rapidly throughout health systems. Clinician stakeholders charged with driving quality improvement find great value in having self-service access to measure clinical process. Adoption of Clinical Process Measurement is most often driven by high level of executives who understand the value it brings to a diverse set of stakeholders.

Unlike products that simply facilitate the reporting of health or quality outcomes, LogicStreams Clinical Process Measurement solutions support strategic management and analysis of care delivery, something not offered by any other solution set. Through measurement of clinical processes within care delivery, the solutions are utilized to improve outcomes, patient and provider satisfaction and financial performance. LogicStream delivers specific solutions targeted at issues such as hospital acquired conditions, appropriate use of medications and tests, and regulatory compliance.

Health systems across the country understand that sustained quality improvement requires a deep knowledge of how care is delivered. Beyond that, these systems recognize the need to tie care delivery to positive outcomes. In order to tie delivery to outcomes, visibility into all clinical quality processes across the enterprise is required, said Patrick Yoder, LogicStream co-founder and CEO. Working with leading healthcare organizations like Providence, in addition to all our current clients, will continue to drive innovation. As adoption of Clinical Process Measurement expands, so does the opportunity to deliver highly reliable healthcare to patients throughout the United States.

LogicStream Health optimizes clinical content, reduces unnecessary care variation and identifies the impact of clinical processes on patient outcomes through Clinical Process Measurement. The LogicStream Platform delivers results to health systems by providing the ability to monitor and measure the care delivery process in a robust manner. With a strong and experienced team focused on innovation, LogicStream provides a scalable and sustainable method to deliver highly reliable healthcare to any health system. For more information, visit .

Contact:

Liz Goar

813 503 2297
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Rocket Lab is dedicating itself to launching small satellites cheaply and efficiently  a capability the American company thinks the burgeoning private spaceflight industry desperately needs.

Small satellites, some no bigger than a lunch box, are revolutionizing how people gather data about the Earth, and they might be the future of global communications.

Rocket Lab's business model is a bit like Henry Ford's was when he started selling Model T's: keep the machine simple, produce a lot of them and keep them affordable. Peter Beck, the company's owner, told Space.com that he'd like to reach a point where Rocket Lab launches one of its custom-made, small-satellite rockets about once per week. And similar to Henry Ford (who didn't even want to make different colors of the Model T), Beck said that until that basic goal is met, he has no plans to diversify the company's services. [Satellite Quiz: How Well Do You Know What's Orbiting Earth?]

"Generally, when people come to us and want us to get involved in other projects, we won't, simply because what we're trying to do here is so important," Beck said. "Who knows what the future holds, but we're laser-focused on getting this launch vehicle to market and, hopefully, liberating the small-satellite world."

The two-stage Electron rocket, designed and built by Rocket Lab, carries payloads of up to about 500 pounds (225 kilograms), with a nominal payload of about 330 lbs. (150 kg). It will lift off from the company's private launch facility in a remote part of New Zealand.

Beck said Rocket Lab is on track to make its first test launches this year. The Electron's single-engine second stage has been flight-qualified, but the first stage (which uses nine engines) has not. The company already has contracts with four customers, including NASA, and plans to start delivering on those contracts in 2017, according to Beck. For example, Rocket Lab is scheduled to launch two lunar missions in 2017 for the company Moon Express, which is trying to win the $30 million Google Lunar X Prize.

A single flight currently costs NZ$7.6 million (about $5.5 million at current exchange rates). For comparison, each launch of SpaceX's much larger and more powerful Falcon 9 rocket currently costs about $60 million.

At least 17 other companies worldwide are working on launch vehicles in the same class as Electron (that is, they carry payloads weighing a maximum of about 1,100 lbs., or 500 kg). Three others have announced that they will try to make their first flights in 2017, and two of those companies are also under contract with NASA to fly a payload by the end of 2018. Right now, Rocket Lab is on schedule to stay half a step ahead of its competition, but anyone who follows spaceflight knows that timelines change quickly in that industry.

Although the privatization of the space industry has promised an easier path to commercial launches, space has remained an incredibly difficult and expensive place to reach, Beck said in a statement on the company's website. Electron makes it possible for us to continue to execute on our vision to enable easier access to space."

The small sat revolution

While some satellites are bigger than a pickup truck, the very smallest (called cubesats) are no larger than a lunchbox. Small satellites are being used for a wide range of applications, including Earth imaging, weather tracking and microgravity science experiments. Swarms of small satellites could even be used for communication networks. Small satellites are much cheaper both to build and to launch; that reduced overhead means bantam spacecraft can be replaced sooner if they break, or if their owners want to update them.

The San Francisco-based company Planet, formerly Planet Labs, is using custom-built small satellites to image 85 percent of Earth's landmass in high definition, multiple times per month. The company's coal is to eventually image 100 percent of the Earth's landmass on a daily basis. According to Planet's website, these images can be used for a slew of things, including monitoring wildfires, hurricanes and other natural disasters, as well as broader weather patterns. The images can reveal the rate of urban development or decay and other factors that might influence various industries; the satellites can also provide a look at deforestation and mining operations (either legal or illegal). [ Planet's Cubesat Photos of Earth from Space (Gallery) ]

With modern advances in photography, Planet can get its high-res imaging technology to fit inside a satellite about the size of a shoe box. The company images large areas by putting multiple satellites in orbit at a time, so volume is important. Planet currently has more privately owned satellites in orbit than any other company on Earth, with 60. A company spokesperson said that in order to meet its goal of imaging Earth's entire landmass each day, the company is working to maintain a constellation of 150 imaging satellites.

To get small satellites into orbit, companies like Planet have had to hitch a ride atop large rockets carrying additional, much larger payloads, effectively piggybacking their way to space. For example, Planet cubesats have hitched a ride with cargo going to the International Space Station, and then been released into orbit from the ISS. These cargo missions provide Planet with relatively frequent opportunities to "test new technology on orbit," a company spokesperson told Space.com. But, the station is not in the primary orbit that Planet uses for its satellites, so the company will need to rely on other launch providers to reach its goals. (The company has also launched satellites on India's Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle).

"At Planet, we maintain a diversified launch manifest in order to mitigate the risks inherent in the launch industry," Mike Safyan, director of launch at Planet, wrote in a blog post on the company's website. "Launches can get delayed by several months, or even years. Launches also run the risk of failing (we have 2 launch failures under our belt). In recognition of how unpredictable launch can be, we engage with launch providers from all around the world to try to find multiple launch opportunities for our satellites  in essence, putting many eggs in many baskets. We remain agnostic as to the specific launch vehicle or launch partner we work with; its more about finding launches to the right orbit and in the right timeframe at a reasonable price."

Other companies and scientists who want to launch small satellites are also subject to the restrictions of flight availability, cost and orbital destination.

"The cubesat and small satellite engineers and scientists are coming up with missions that justify flying unique orbits and at altitudes that are not available if we only fly as secondary payloads," Garrett Skrobot, lead for the Educational Launch of Nanosatellites, or ELaNa, mission for NASA's Launch Services Program, said in a statement from the agency. "These are still experimental satellites, but the technology they are employing is mature enough to use in these new ways."

In 2017, Rocket Lab's first customer launch will carry Planet satellites into orbit. (Customers don't have to pay for a full Rocket Lab launch by themselves, however. Sending up a single cubesat on a shared mission starts at $50,000). If Rocket Lab can reach its goal of launching about one rocket per week, it would mean that a company like Planet would have more opportunities to send satellites to space. The dedicated Electron rocket would also mean more control over when they launch and where they go.

One of the biggest reasons Rocket Lab can promise that high flight frequency is that the company owns its own launch range, only recently completed, on the Mahia Penninsula on the northeast coast of New Zealand's North Island. It's relative devoid of air and sea traffic, especially compared with places like Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, and Vandenberg Air Force Base a few hours north of Los Angeles, Beck said.

Rocket Lab announced completion of the facility on Sept. 27. The company is licensed by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration to launch every 72 hours, Beck said. (Because the company is U.S.-based, it must receive flight approval from both the FAA and the New Zealand space agency).

Beck is originally from New Zealand, although he says it's just a coincidence that he chose his homeland as the site of the launch complex. He was searching for a location where launches could happen frequently, with the option to schedule a launch on short notice (weeks or days, as opposed to months or years).

By having its own launch rage, Rocket Lab is also able to reduce the cost of a launch.

"There's a cost sunk in building [the range], but after that it's just maintenance," Beck said. By contrast, using the launch facilities at a place like Cape Canaveral can tack on somewhere around $1 million per launch attempt because they require the support of a large facility that is meant to launch very large rockets, he added.

"It's not that they're inefficient," Beck said. "It's just  the range infrastructure is sized to vehicles that are just totally different [than ours], and totally different missions to what we have."

From its launch complex, Rocket Lab can send rockets into space at a wide range of angles, from straight up to 39 degrees (this is the widest range of any launch complex in the world, according to Beck). The rocket can put payloads in a sun-synchronous orbit, which means the satellite flies over different sections of the Earth at approximately the same solar time each day (meaning the sun is at the same position in the sky). This can be helpful for Earth imaging satellites because it provides the same lighting conditions in different areas and over multiple days. Planet's satellites will primarily fly in sun synchronous orbits, the company spokesperson said.

An aerial shot of Rocket Lab's completed launch site in New Zealand. (Image credit: Rocket Lab)

Rocket Lab's website has declared the launch facility the first private orbital space launch complex in the world. Blue Origin, the company run by billionaire Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos, has completed suborbital launches from its private range in Texas, while SpaceX is working on a private orbital range in Texas as well. The race is on to see whose range becomes operational first.

The Electron rocket

The Electron's Rutherford engines are named after the New Zealand scientist Ernest Rutherford, who won the Nobel Prize in chemistry in 1908, in part for his study of radioactive elements.

Each Rutherford engine is only about 2.5 feet (0.75 meters) long, and generates about 5,000 lbs. of thrust. The first stage of the Electron rocket uses nine engines to get the rocket off the surface of the Earth, and the second stage uses a single engine that's tailored to operate in the vacuum of space and put the payload into orbit. The Electron's first stage will have to be flight-qualified before Rocket Lab can conduct its first test launch.

Beck said nearly every aspect of the Electron rocket's design and construction is done in-house; only a few details, like machining of a few parts, is done off-site. Essentially, he said, the raw materials come in, and the rockets come out.

The payload fairing (the shell that contains whatever it is the rocket is sending into space) is made from carbon fiber, which is durable but light, helping to further lower the cost. Much of the engine is made via additive manufacturing, a category that includes 3D printing. The term refers to the pieces of rocket built by adding layer upon layer. According to the company website, the Rutherford is the "first oxygen/hydrocarbon [fuel] engine to use additive manufacturing for all primary components of the combustor and propellant supply system." [3D Printing In Space: A New Dimension (Photo Gallery)]

Beck said he and his team started designing the Electron with "an absolutely fresh sheet of paper," meaning they weren't required to use any parts or processes that were previously established. Every piece of the rocket could be designed from scratch, in the way that best serviced the company's goals.

"We made decisions not always based on performance but on cost and manufacturability," he said. "We didn't learn how to do all the 3D printing and additive manufacturing of highly stressed structures for fun. We did that because it was the only manufacturing technique that was going to reduce the price and increase the performance of that engine that was out there."

Beck said that the design of the Electron also makes it possible to manufacture rockets at a relatively rapid clip. No part of the vehicle is reusable  every part is discarded after a flight  so if Rocket Lab wants to service customers about once per week, the company will need to be manufacturing rockets at that same rate.

An annual state-of-the-industry report from the Satellite Industry Association (SIA) highlighted four small-satellite launch providers that are scheduled to make their first launches by 2018. Two of those companies have, like Rocket Lab, secured a launch contract with NASA under the Venture Class Launch Services Contract (VCLS): Virgin Galactic and Firefly.

Virgin Galactic is backed by billionaire entrepreneur Richard Branson and is also aiming to sell commercial trips to suborbital space for humans; the company plans to launch small satellites using its Launcher One rocket that blasts off from beneath a modified 747, dubbed Cosmic Girl. Firefly is a startup not unlike Rocket Lab that is dedicated entirely to small-satellite launch vehicles; the company recently furloughed its entire staff after a potential funder backed out of a recent funding round.

The SIA report also shows that Rocket Lab's flights will cost less overall than those of Virgin Galactic or Firefly because its payload size is smaller. When the cost is tallied up by per-kilogram launched, however, Rocket Lab actually charges significantly more: $32,667 per kg, compared with $20,000/kg for Firefly and $25,000/kg for Virgin Galactic.

NASA has more than 50 cubesats scheduled to launch in the next three years, and the VCLS contracts will "demonstrate a dedicated launch capability for smaller payloads that NASA anticipates it will require on a recurring basis for future science SmallSat and CubeSat missions," according to the SIA report.

Laser focus

Other private spaceflight companies tend to diversify their portfolios. For example, Blue Origin has been test-launching its New Shepard suborbital vehicle and is working on an orbital rocket known as New Glenn. The company is also leasing its BE-4 engine to United Launch Alliance (ULA) for use on the latter's Atlas V rocket.

But Beck said he has no interest in doing more than the core mission Rocket Lab is setting out to achieve. The company has no plans to lease the launch site, sell its engines to another provider, build different types of launch vehicles, or even make variations on the Electron with different engine configurations, he said.

Despite the growing successes of other private spaceflight providers and Rocket Lab's focus on its core mission, there are likely bumps in the road ahead for the company. SpaceX, which has already made many successful launches for NASA and other customers, has experienced two rocket anomalies in the last year and a half; Virgin Galactic's human spaceflight program suffered a fatal accident in 2014; and private launch provider Orbital ATK is just now getting its Antares rocket back to flight two years after an explosive anomaly during liftoff. Even when human life is not involved, spaceflight accidents are often catastrophic: destruction to launch complexes can cost millions to repair and cause setbacks for future flights, and customer payloads that may have taken years (and many millions of dollars) to build may be lost.

"We're pretty realistic about that," Beck said. "We're trying to build the most reliable launch vehicle. And I think reliability comes with frequency. The more launch vehicles you launch, the reliabilities improve  That's one of the reasons why we have a three-flight test program before we fly customers. Hopefully get some of those failures out of the road before we get customers on board."

Such catastrophic losses might be discouraging for some would-be entrepreneurs. But Beck said his strategy is to not linger on the obstacles, and have faith in his team and the machine they've designed.

"The barriers to the entry to this market are enormous, and I think if anybody sat down and wrote them all down, nobody would ever start a rocket company. Nobody would ever go to space," Beck said. "I think you just have to [take those things] in stride."

Editor's Note: This story previously stated that there are at least 17 other companies in the U.S. working on launch vehicles in the same class as Electron. The story has been corrected to say that those companies are located throughout the world, not exclusively in the U.S.

Follow Calla Cofield @callacofield.Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Google+. Original article on Space.com.
HE Space CEO Claudia Kessler, founder of "Die Astronautin," joins some of the candidates in Berlin on Sept. 14, 2016.

The search is on for Germany's 12th astronaut to fly into space.

After Americans and Russians, more Germans have been launched into orbit than astronauts from any other country  a total of eleven since 1978. But from Sigmund Jahn to Alexander Gerst, all eleven of the space fliers have been men. Now a private effort is underway to find, train and fly the first German woman to the International Space Station by 2020.

"We thought that after eleven German men, it is time for a woman to fly into space," Claudia Kessler, the CEO of HE Space, an aerospace recruitment agency, told NBC News. [Photos: German Astronaut Alexander Gerst's Blue Dot Flight]

Since launching "Die Astronautin" (The Female Astronaut) in March, HE Space has narrowed its initial applicant pool to a list of 120 candidates. Germany's space agency, DLR (Deutschen Zentrums fur Luft- und Raumfahrt), has joined the effort to help conduct the additional screening needed to identify the finalists.

To be eligible for Die Astronautin, women were required to be German nationals between the ages of 27 and 37, with a degree in engineering or science (or equivalent military credentials). Applicants needed to be in good physical and psychological shape and have a professional or personal interest in aerospace or aviation.

The original call for Die Astronautin applications produced 408 qualified candidates  a 32 percent increase over the number of German women who applied (but who were not selected) for the European Space Agency's 2009 class of astronauts. On Sept. 14, after reviewing the applicants and conducting interviews by video conference, HE Space narrowed down the pool of candidates to 120. The company then held a public event in Berlin, where about 70 of the selected candidates appeared.

Since then, 86 of the 120 candidates have been selected for medical and psychological aptitude tests at the German Aerospace Center in Cologne.

HE Space secured the sponsorships and funding needed to promote the program, bring the candidates together and run the selection in conjunction with DLR. Two finalists are expected to be announced in March 2017.

How and when the chosen candidate will launch to space is still to be determined. HE Space modeled its program on past recruitments run by Malaysia and South Korea, which included those countries purchasing seats on board Russia's Soyuz spacecraft for short stays on the space station.

Roscosmos, Russia's federal space corporation, recently decided to reduce its crew size on the station from three to two cosmonauts. The move could result in seats becoming available on the Soyuz, though it is not yet clear how many free seats,if any, would be on short-term "taxi" flights of the type a Die Astronautin candidate could fly.

HE Space still needs to identify and secure the commercial sponsorships or other sources of funding to underwrite the mission. DLR hasn't said if it plans to contribute financially to the flight.

HE Space has not released its short list of 120 candidates, but some of the women have been identified by German media and some have identified themselves through social media, including by joining a private Facebook group.

Most of the candidates who have come forward are about 30 years old. Many of them work in aerospace or related professions, in line with the competition's requirements. In press statements, HE Space officials said the candidates include a fighter pilot, aerospace engineers, scientists and doctors.

Based on interviews conducted on behalf of collectSPACE.com, the candidates include a mix of women who have harbored a life-long ambition to fly in space but thought they would never get the chance, to those who have been drawn to the International Space Station as the ultimate research lab, to those who were curious to enter the program and see how far their talents could take them.

At least two major European aerospace companies have a number of employees among the group of 120, including satellite provider OHB with six, and Airbus with five.

Continue reading at collectSPACEfor profiles of some of the Die Astronautin candidates.

Follow collectSPACE.com on Facebook and on Twitter at @collectSPACE. Copyright 2016 collectSPACE.com. All rights reserved.
LAS CRUCES, N.M.  2020 may be the year a private space station gets off the ground.

Two companies  Bigelow Aerospace and Axiom Space  plan to launch habitat modules to orbit in 2020, with the aim of making some money off Earth. If all goes according to plan, such habitats will eventually form the backbone of commercial facilities that replace the International Space Station (ISS), which is currently funded through 2024.

Down the road, such private space stations could host a variety of inhabitants, from space tourists to scientists to astronauts from NASA and other space agencies, advocates say. These tenants would simply rent the facilities rather than pay all the operating costs, as NASA and its partners must do now with the ISS. [6 Private Deep Space Habitats Paving the Way to Mars]

"Hopefully, if we're successful in the private-sector community, NASA's going to save a boatload of money, on multiple locations [in orbit]  not just one  with more volume than they've ever had before," Bigelow founder and CEO Robert Bigelow said here Wednesday (Oct. 12) at the 2016 International Symposium for Personal and Commercial Spaceflight (ISPCS). "So, whether it's Axiom or us or other people, that is the future."

Bigelow Aerospace's BEAM expandable module will enhance the living area of the International Space Station. See how the BEAM module works in our full infographic (Image credit: Karl Tate, SPACE.com contributor)

Las Vegas-based Bigelow Aerospace builds modules that launch in a compressed configuration and then inflate upon reaching their destination. These expandables feature much greater internal volume per unit launch mass than do traditional rigid modules, such as those that make up the ISS.

The company's expandable habitats also offer greater protection against micrometeoroid strikes and space radiation than do aluminum-walled structures, Bigelow said.

Bigelow Aerospace has already tested three experimental modules in orbit. It launched the free-flying Genesis 1 and Genesis 2 habitats in 2006 and 2007, respectively, and the Bigelow Expandable Activity Module (BEAM) was attached to the ISS this past April and inflated six weeks later.

Nobody is aboard Genesis 1 or Genesis 2, which remain in orbit to this day. But ISS astronauts have ventured into the BEAM now and again to download sensor data, collect air samples and install equipment.

Genesis 1 and Genesis 2 are both 14 feet long by 8.3 feet wide (4.4 by 2.5 meters), with a post-expansion internal volume of 410 cubic feet (11.5 cubic m). BEAM is a bit bigger, featuring 565 cubic feet (16 cubic m) of usable volume. [The Bigelow Expandable Activity Module in Pictures]

But these are just prototypes. When it comes to fully operational space hardware, Bigelow has something much bigger in mind  a module called the B330, which will offer 11,650 cubic feet of internal volume. (That's 330 cubic meters, which explains the name.) For comparison, the internal pressurized volume of the entire 440-ton, $100 billion ISS is 32,333 cubic feet (916 cubic m), according to NASA.

The company aims to build two B330s over the next four years, Bigelow said.

"Our goal is to ship those out of Las Vegas in the year 2020, and launch them in 2020," he said.

Those launches will occur atop United Launch Alliance Atlas V rockets, as per an agreement between Bigelow and ULA that the two companies announced in April. The solar-powered B330 is so big that only the 552 variant of the Atlas V can loft it, Bigelow said.

The first B330 might link up with the ISS, Bigelow has said. But it doesn't have to do so.

"This constitutes a stand-alone space station," he said. "It needs no other support, no other modules, no other kinds of facilities."

That being said, Bigelow Aerospace also envisions connecting multiple B330s in orbit to create large space stations. Each individual B330 is capable of supporting six people, but orbiting modules probably won't be that crowded, Bigelow said. A station consisting of two B330s might typically host seven people  three Bigelow employees and four clients, he said Wednesday.

Axiom Space, too

Axiom Space plans to use a more traditional rigid-habitat module  one that's about 43 feet long by 16.5 feet wide (13 by 5 m) and weighs 50,000 lbs. (22,680 kilograms).

The company  which was co-founded by Mike Suffredini, a former NASA ISS manager  aims to launch that module in October 2020, perhaps aboard SpaceX's Falcon Heavy rocket.

"We're still looking at that," Axiom Space chief engineer Mike Baine said here at ISPCS 2016 on Wednesday, referring to the habitat's potential launch provider.

If all goes according to plan, Axiom's first module  which will be able to support seven people  will dock with the ISS and stay connected with the orbiting complex through the end of the latter's operational life, whether that comes in 2024 or sometime thereafter. Axiom Space envisions selling stints of varying lengths to a number of different customers, including researchers, space tourists and astronauts from nations that have traditionally lacked a way to get people to space, Baine said.

"There's a lot of interest by other governments looking to get into the space arena," he said during his ISPCS talk. Some of those governments will likely be "anchor customers" for Axiom, he added.

Then, when NASA and its partner agencies are getting set to ditch the ISS into Earth's atmosphere, the Axiom habitat will detach, meet up with another, recently launched Axiom module and form a self-sufficient space station in low-Earth orbit, Baine said.

Axiom Space hopes to keep building, launching and linking up modules, eventually creating an industrial "space city" of 100 or so people by the mid-2030s, Baine said.

Bigelow and Axiom may not be the only entities operating space stations in Earth orbit after the ISS ends its life. Since 2011, China has launched two space labs, to gain the expertise needed to build and operate a planned 60-ton station that the country aims to have up and running by 2022 or so.

Beyond Earth orbit?

Both Bigelow Aerospace and Axiom Space are focused on Earth orbit at the moment. But Robert Bigelow has long said that his company's expandable habitats offer great promise for the exploration of deep space.

"We have an architecture that we think is really practical to deploy these structures as a stand-alone base" on the lunar surface or the moons of Mars, he said Wednesday. "So, we're kind of excited about that."

Indeed, Bigelow Aerospace is one of six companies NASA recently selected to design prototype deep-space habitats that could help astronauts get to Mars. (Bigelow's future plans also include developing habitats much bigger than the B330.)

Axiom's module could "in principle" be adapted for use on the lunar surface, Baine said, though he didn't discuss that possibility in depth.

Follow Mike Wall on Twitter @michaeldwall and Google+. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook or Google+. Originally published on Space.com.
LAS CRUCES, N.M.  Boeing is delaying a series of test flights of its CST-100 Starliner commercial crew vehicle by up to six months, pushing back the first operational mission of the capsule until the end of 2018.

Boeing spokesman William Barksdale said Oct. 11 that a number of development and production issues with the spacecraft led the company to reschedule the test flights that are part of its Commercial Crew Transportation Capability (CCtCap) contract with NASA. News of the delay was first reported by Aviation Week.

Under the revised schedule, a pad abort test of the CST-100, previously scheduled for October 2017, is now planned for January 2018. An uncrewed CST-100 flight, called the Orbital Flight Test, has shifted from December 2017 to June 2018. [Boeing's CST-100 Starliner Spaceship in Pictures]

A crewed flight test of the CST-100 to the International Space Station, carrying a NASA astronaut and Boeing test pilot, has been delayed from February to August 2018. If that schedule holds, Being anticipates flying its first operational, or post-certification, CST-100 mission to the ISS in December 2018.

Barksdale said that several issues prompted the schedule changes. They included development to production delays and minor component qualification test issues, both of which Boeing is resolving. He said the program also suffered delays when a spacecraft dome element was damaged during the manufacturing process.

Boeing is developing the CST-100 capsule for use ferrying astronauts to Earth orbit and to the International Space Station. See how Boeing's CST-100 spacecraft works in this Space.com infographic (Image credit: Karl Tate, SPACE.com Contributor)

"Based on those challenges, we stopped and took a hard look at our schedule moving forward and made the adjustment," he said. "As we learn these hard lessons, well continue to incorporate them throughout the build and test campaigns."

Just a month ago, Boeing officials believed that the CST-100 would be ready for ISS missions by the middle of 2018. Speaking at the AIAA Space 2016 conference in Long Beach, California, Sept. 14, Chris Ferguson, deputy program manager for commercial crew at Boeing, reiterated a schedule that included a crewed test flight in February 2018 and the first post-certification mission in June 2018.

He acknowledged at that time, though, that it was a "very aggressive" development schedule. "We're optimistic that were going to meet the deadline, but we'll fly when we're ready, and that's really what it comes down to, he said. "And if it takes a couple of extra months to ensure we have a safe vehicle, we'll do just that."

This latest delay comes on the heels of a Sept. 1 report by NASA's Office of Inspector General that warned that additional delays were likely on CCtCap contracts held by both Boeing and SpaceX. That report said that technical problems, and not a lack of funding, were causing delays in both companies' programs.

"Notwithstanding the contractors' optimism, based on the information we gathered during our audit, we believe it unlikely that either Boeing or SpaceX will achieve certified, crewed flight to the ISS until late 2018," the report stated.

This latest delay could put more pressure on NASA to purchase additional Soyuz seats to avoid a gap in access to the ISS. NASA's existing contracts with the Russian state space corporation Roscosmos cover flights to the station through 2018, and past contracts have required a lead time of two years or more to acquire additional seats.

NASA Administrator Charles Bolden, asked about the commercial crew program during a Sept. 26 press conference at the International Astronautical Congress in Guadalajara, Mexico, said he was "relatively confident" that the companies would be certified to carry NASA astronauts by late 2018.

He added that, given that schedule confidence, NASA was not thinking about buying additional Soyuz seats. "We are not presently looking at any additional seats beyond those that we have already purchased," he said.

This story was provided by SpaceNews, dedicated to covering all aspects of the space industry.
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British society has become more complex, but its political system doesn't reflect that. The working class of Charles Dickens novels and George Orwell essays has disappeared. Sociologists now divide them into "prosperous workers," the "technological middle class," and "up-and-coming service-sector workers." The steel factories, mines and shipyards that provided millions of families with their identities and daily bread are dead. The forces that tie together the "working class" have weakened.

It wasn't that long ago that England was the roaring, groaning workshop of Europe. Coal played an important role in the rise of the empire and in industrialization. During the 1980s, coal fueled the conflict between the country's miners and the government of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. The strikes, the extended protests, the clash between the workers and the state -- all that is deeply burned into the collective consciousness.

Coal united the country and tore it in two. When the mining industry slowly died, it spurred a phantom pain that can still be felt today. The country's last coal mine closed just before Christmas of last year in Knottingley, near Leeds. An ex-miner who worked in the mines for 47 years told me he was sad that so many of his friends were losing their jobs. Even sadder, he said, was the fact that he was being prevented from finishing the job of extracting all of the region's coal.

Economics Trumps Politics

The white working class feels abandoned: Its older members, who have no sense of direction in the globalized, multicultural UK, and its younger ones, because they feel like they've been denied a future. New forms of exploitation have emerged: temporary contracts, precarious positions as drivers or messengers on the darker end of the "sharing economy." Many of these jobs are hollow and unsatisfying. "This new work doesn't do what the old work did: it doesn't offer a sense of identity or community or self-worth," London author John Lanchester wrote recently in the London Review of Books.

Since the financial crisis, the most common sentiment has been bafflement, incomprehension, disorientation. The phrase one hears most often is: "Something here is going wrong." In that sense, the Brexit camp's promise to "take back control" was as strategically adroit as it was dishonest.

The nation I encountered during my travels was hungry for freedom but unsure where to find it. For decades, the UK has been measuring itself against its past, and the saying by former US Secretary of State Dean Acheson from 1962 still applies: "Great Britain has lost an empire and has not yet found a new role."

During the Brexit campaign, tragedy and farce overlapped in a way that's only possible in the land of Shakespeare. The strangest part, though, was how obvious it all became: Rarely had so many people lied so much, rarely so many untruths been unmasked. It was as if it was all a vast irony, a wink, a game without consequences played by Eton alumni.

Eton Boys

Half of the UK is run by Old Etonians, including law firms, banks and government ministries. The search for why the establishment is behaving so egocentrically and recklessly necessarily leads to the boy's boarding school in the shadow of Windsor Castle. Prime Minister Theresa May, daughter of a vicar from the southern English countryside, may distance herself from the privileged class, but that doesn't mean its influence is disappearing. Another Eton graduate, Boris Johnson, is the government's foreign secretary.

The British elite is different from the leadership classes in other countries in that it has largely been left alone. For centuries, there have been no violent uprisings against the elite of the kind seen in France and Germany. And in Britain, the elite continues to recruit from just a few institutions, including Eton and the universites of Oxford and Cambridge.

Although only 7 percent of the population attended a private school, almost one third of the lawmakers in parliament and more than half of the country's leading journalists were brought up in private educational institutions. Among military leaders and in the judiciary, it's three-quarters.

Those who aren't members of this club are forced to struggle, and for many, it is a struggle that confirms their feeling that they're living in an economic system and not in a political system. For those who grow up in South Wales or the northwest of England, the UK is a gray, hyper-capitalist oligarchy in which anyone with lots of money or a famous last name can rise up the ladder. Cold Britannia.

Democracy works better when the economy is growing, which is why the Tories are trying to offer excluded voters a new home by becoming the new worker's party. Theresa May has recognized this opportunity. Under old-school socialist Jeremy Corbyn, the Labour Party is in ruins. May won't jeopardize the Conservatives' status as the only party capable of governing by turning the Brexit ideologues within her party against her.

She is the second woman to become prime minister after Margaret Thatcher. Both share a disciplined, almost self-exploitative relationship to work, but that's where the similarities end. At the Conservative Party Conference, May spoke highly of the state and that it must be prepared to do what individuals and markets cannot. She spoke about worker's rights and said she would be firm with companies and conglomerates that avoid paying taxes.

For many within her party, those who would like the state to limit its activities to the military and garbage collection, such interventionist rhetoric is an affront. May, though, has bought herself the political leeway to take such a position by adopting a hard line against the EU and immigrants. She wants to be the woman who negotiates the British-European free-trade agreement. That will take years, maybe a decade. And afterwards, this country will be a different one.
Dakhla (Sahrawi Camps), October 13, 2016 (SPS) - The celebration of the 41st anniversary of the National Saharawi Unity conveys a message that nothing can undermine Western Sahara people's will and determination to meet their "lofty and noble goals," Front Polisario's secretary general, Brahim Gali, said Wednesday in the Dakhla Saharawi refugee camp.

"Saharawi people will persevere in their struggle, political activism and loyalty to their martyrs, using every legitimate means, and unified under the leadership of the Polisario Front, with a view to snatching their right to existence and freedom and to establishing an independent state over the entire Western Sahara territory," Saharawi President Brahim Ghali said in a ceremony opening the festivities of the 41st anniversary of the National Unity.

Gali called on the international community to "take serious and urgent actions" to put an end to the sufferings of Saharawi people and dismantle Africa's last colony (Western Sahara).

The Polisario chief urged the UN Security Council to "assume responsibility" in the implementation of its own resolutions regarding the holding of a referendum on Saharawi people's self-determination.

The Saharawis are a people who love peace, understanding and coexistence, Gali said.

The Polisario leader stressed the importance of "abiding by international legitimacy and respecting Western Sahara people's right to self-determination and independence, so that they live with the peoples of the region, including Moroccan people, in mutual respect, cooperation and on neighbourly terms."SPS

125/090/700
Brussels, October 13, 2016 (SPS) - About twenty European parliamentarians called on Tuesday the head of the European diplomacy Federica Mogherini to exert pressure on Morocco to put an end to the illegal detention of the Sahrawi political prisoners of Gdeim Izik group and to quash all the accusations made against this groups members, tried by a Moroccan military court.

We, as members of the European Parliament (), we are asking for your intervention to ensure that all the accusations made against Gdeim Izik group are lifted and their military trial quashed, putting an end to their illegal detention, wrote, in a letter sent to Mogherini, 23 Euro-MPs belonging to the five largest political groups of the European Parliament.

Expressing their solidarity with the Sahrawi prisoners of Gdeim Izik group, the signatories of the letter call on the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy to exert pressure on Morocco so that the international observers are authorized to get to the prisons where the Sahrawi political prisoners are detained in order to ensure the respect of the international law by Morocco.

Recalling that the Moroccan Court of Cassation announced, at the end of July, the quashing of the verdict of the 23 convicted prisoners of Gdeim Izik group and the referral of the case to a criminal court of common law of Rabat, the European parliamentarians underlined that this decision was taken following the international campaign led by human rights organizations in favour of a fair civil trial for these Sahrawi activists, sentenced to heavy penalties to have claimed the right of the Sahrawi people to self-determination. SPS

125/090/700
Dakhla, October 13, 2016 (SPS)  the head of Spanish coordinating associations of solidarity with the Saharawi people Pepe Taboada stressed that the international community is responsible of the rights of Saharwi people, and thus is called to end their suffering that lasted for more than four decades.

Pepe Taboada n his speech on the sidelines of the works of the International Festival Film in Western Sahara said that "the international community is responsible of the rights of the Saharawi people, politically the United Nations, and human rights the Council of the UN Human Rights Council."

CEAS head called Spain as the historical responsible of the Western Sahara, to assume its responsibilities in ending the occupation and enable the Saharawi people of their right to self-determination.

Taboada voiced regret over the situation of the Sahrawi people that lasted more than 40 years, adding that he still the victim of a Moroccan occupier crime without any accountability. SPS

125/090/TRA
STAMFORD  The city will will host an event Friday to teach residents how to use a new crosswalk.

But its a little more complicated than it sounds: the crosswalk signals are placed in the middle of city blocks where there isnt a regularly timed traffic light.
Like so many do following a breakup, a shirtless Erdogan Ceren sat on the edge of his bed, crying.Though the 22-year-old was alone in his bedroom in the Osmaniye Province in southern Turkey on Monday, any one of Facebooks 1.23 billion users could have seen him. Thats what Ceren sought: he was streaming a video of himself through Facebook Live.The young man, who had just broken up with his girlfriend, appeared distraught on the video. He tilted the camera down, so viewers could catch a glimpse of what appeared to be a shotgun in his left hand.According to the Mirror, he read a poem dedicated to his girlfriend that stated, Our love was going to be a saga, our eyes were not going to shed tears, now tell me love, are you leaving, will my hands burn without you.No one believed when I said I will kill myself, he said in the video, according to a translation in USA Today. So watch this.He held the gun up to himself  it isnt clear where as the camera falls away  and pulled the trigger, but the gun produced an audible clicking sound as it jams or perhaps caught on the safety.He then placed the guns barrel to his stomach, and this time it fired. The screen immediately went black, but rap music continued to play in the background, punctuated by occasional horrific gurgling sounds, a man gasping for breath and moaning in pain.Hearing the gunshots, his family rushed him to the hospital, where he died hours later, according to Turkish news outlet Bugunun Haberi.The video has been removed from Facebook, and the company declined a request for comment from USA Today.Facebook describes its Facebook Live feature as the best way to interact with viewers in real time and a way to broadcast to the largest audience in the world with the camera in your pocket.An anecdotal glance at the Facebook Live Map, which allows users to view popular videos from around the world, turned out mostly preachers offering religious sermons, local news broadcasts and homemade pornography.Its used from everyone from professional organizations  Bleacher Reporter just announced it will be livestreaming games on the platform and The Washington Post has used it for political coverage  to amateurs seeking a few moments in the spotlight.Hope this one catches on!
O ne would expect Prime Minister Theresa May, as a former home secretary, to have more respect for the rule of law than the average citizen.

This being so, one would also expect her to be taking more than usual interest in a High Court action targeting the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union that begins today and runs until Monday.

The case is about the constitutional process which must be legally followed for the UK to leave the EU and, though that sounds a bit arcane, it actually goes to the heart of British democracy.

The hearing, brought principally by fund manager Gina Miller of SCM Private, seeks to determine whether or not May has the power to trigger, off her own bat (technically by citing Royal Prerogative), Article 50.

This is the clause in the Lisbon Treaty which starts off the two-year process that will culminate in our leaving the EU, whether or not the negotiations are satisfactory from a UK perspective.

This is because the article clearly states that, after two years of talk, departure becomes a fait accompli.

It was written this way to stop departing countries spinning things out indefinitely.

The question for the court to consider is whether the Prime Minister can take this step herself.

David Davis plays down talk of 'hard' or 'soft' Brexit

Alternatively, given that it took an Act of Parliament to get us to join the EU, should it not also take an Act of Parliament to get us to leave?

Mays stance thus far is that Parliament has no right to be involved. The court has to decide whether this is correct.

Leaving the EU is, after all, the biggest decision this country has taken in 40 years and moreover is one which, for better or worse, will fundamentally affect the lifestyle and prosperity of British citizens for a generation.

What is the point of a sovereign Parliament if it is denied the opportunity to take this kind of decision?

Todays judicial review is therefore not about overturning the result of the referendum; it is about continuing to respect the rule of law and acting only in accordance with the Constitution.

The case against the Prime Minister is that Royal Prerogative powers cannot be used by the Government to remove or reduce rights granted by an Act of Parliament.

In essence, the sovereignty of Parliament means that only Parliament can change its own laws.

Triggering Article 50, because it triggers automatic and irrevocable departure after two years, pre-empts the right of Parliament to decide the issue.

Historians will remember that it was decided by Sir Edward Coke as far back as 1610, in the very infancy of British democracy, that the Royal Prerogative could not be used to pre-empt a decision of Parliament.

But even if they could not put a date on it, that understanding chimes with most peoples grasp of the British Constitution.

If it were otherwise, governments and prime ministers could do what they want, when they want, to whom they want regardless of the law.

Curbing the power of the monarch and asserting the sovereignty of people through Parliament over the Royal Prerogative did not come easy  it took a Civil War and cost Charles I his head.

It is surely not for May to undermine all that because she is scared of a few baying Brexiteers.

The Prime Ministers side does not put it quite like that. Instead, it argues that she has all the mandate she needs from the referendum result, and this gives her the right to ignore Parliament.

Hitler used a similar argument to ignore the German parliament as he harnessed popular votes to consolidate his power in the Thirties.

Of course, this is not meant as a historic parallel, but it does underline the importance of the principle.

The fact is that there is no provision in UK law for referendums: we are a representative, not a plebiscite, democracy.

Specifically, this means that as a matter of law the European Referendum Act 2015 was advisory and binds neither government nor Parliament.

The advisory nature of the vote was made plain in the 1975 referendum when the country voted to stay in; it is typical of the sloppiness of Camerons government that this was not made plain this time but, although the omission is regrettable, it does not change the reality.

The Prime Ministers side argues there was a clear understanding that the Governments policy was to respect the outcome of the referendum.

But that is not what it says on the tin. Government policy is not law, and governments in the past have had no qualms about ditching understandings when they no longer suit.

It is also ironic that the Prime Minister should be in this position, given that a fair slice of those voting for Brexit did so because they wanted to take back control and to return to the position whereby only the British Parliament could make laws to bind the British.

One might suspect, however, that if she thought she would win the vote, then she would have no problem with giving Parliament its rightful supremacy.

It is the fear of losing  in the House of Lords as well as the Commons  which is prompting her to behave like President Putin in trying to pretend that Parliament does not exist.

That, though, is probably not how a vicars daughter from Oxfordshire would like to be remembered by history.

Who knows what the court will decide, but perhaps the Prime Minister has a secret hope that a finding against her in the courts will save her from herself  and the extremists in her own party.
J ittery punters took their cash off the table over the summer as Brexit threw investment plans up in the air, the UKs biggest funds supermarket Hargreaves Lansdown said.

The FTSE 100 company, co-founded by Brexiteer billionaire Peter Hargreaves, reported a 22% slide in inflows to its array of funds and ISAs since July, taking net new business down to 1.1 billion.

Chief executive Ian Gorham said: The amount of money that people have put in is not particularly different to previous years, the difference is that more money has been taken out. People are taking money out either because they are uncertain about markets, or theyre taking profits.

Theyre saying the markets look a bit uncertain, Ill do something else with the money for now and then well see what the world looks like.

But Hargreaves, also trading up against a tough comparative period last year when pension freedoms and junior ISAs were introduced, was also buoyed by a flurry of share trading by its 856,000-strong army of customers in the aftermath of the vote.

David Davis plays down talk of 'hard' or 'soft' Brexit

That drove quarterly revenues up 15% to a record 90.6 million as clients struck more than one million share deals. Its a mixed picture, Gorham added.

Shares in the company, down 20% this year, fell another 26p to 1211p as the City focused on the falling new business and slowing growth in the number of active clients.

But total assets under administration rose 9.5% in the quarter to a record 67.6 billion, buoyed by the stock-market gains.

Gorham again hit out at the Governments move to shelve the sale of its remaining shares in Lloyds Bank to the wider public as a lazy, easy decision.

Chancellor Philip Hammond has instead decided to place the shares with City institutions. Shares in the bank are among the most popular investments for Hargreaves investors.
U nilevers reputation is of being the touchy-feely nice guy of the faceless multinationals. Kindness to animals, sustainable sourcing  you name it, Unilever does it.

The schtick looks a bit hollow on Thursday.

In what other consumer industry do you see a supplier demand  take it or leave it  an instant 10% price rise?

If you thought we had it bad, pity the Latin Americans, where Unilever just increased prices by 15.5% , also blaming currency devaluation.

Sure, currency-related costs for some raw materials have risen post-Brexit, but Unilever is whacking up everything  whether from Burton-on-Trent or Brussels.

Funnily enough, nobody recalls any rush by Unilever to cut prices when the pound was strong.

Thats why its profit margins are presently around 15%: Tescos are 1.8%. Now, you decide, who can best afford to take the brunt of the currency hit and save consumers the pain?

Tescos Dave Lewis, formerly of the Unilever parish, must hold his nerve and wrest a compromise.

He can revel in the irony that after years of being loathed for tyrannising suppliers, its now Tesco which can claim the moral high ground.
I s economics sexist? I think there is sexism everywhere. Donald Trump is running for President, for goodness sake. The words of one senior female academic make depressing listening in the week the annual award of the Nobel prize for economics reminds us that theres only been one woman winner in almost 50 years. The late Elinor Ostrom, who shared the accolade in 2009, is the answer to the dismal sciences pub-quiz question.

This isnt a case of leering in the lecture halls or senior common rooms; more a subtle case of a male-leaning soft bias, which subordinates the female, according to our academic.

She recalls a high-profile article on rising death rates among white American males authored by Princeton economists (and married couple) Anne Case and Angus Deaton, who won the Nobel last year. The coverage focused on Deaton, although Cases name was first on the paper with the co-author becoming his wife Anne Case.

Then there was the scarcely believable letter to US Federal Reserve chairman Janet Yellen from failed presidential candidate Ralph Nader last year, advising the worlds most powerful central banker to sit down with your Nobel Prize winning husband, economist George Akerlof to get a better handle on the US economy.

Yellen politely told Nader to get stuffed. Naders rudeness may be an extreme example  would he have addressed Yellens predecessor Ben Bernanke in that patronising manner, you wonder?  but others in the profession have felt the undertones. One senior economist remembers being subjected to a level of scrutiny by her graduate class that her male colleagues were spared.

Frustratingly  but probably revealingly  most refuse to go on the record, worried about rocking the boat. But the lack of female engagement is such that Victoria Bateman, a fellow in economics at Cambridge University, has just held the second annual Women in Economics Day, aimed at drawing more 16-18-year-olds into the discipline at degree level and addressing the gender gap.

That divide appears to be widening, at degree level at least. According to Ucas figures, there were 2410 acceptances of women onto UK economics degree courses last year, slightly down on the 2445 in 2013, and 34% of the total. Among male applicants, the number has grown 7% to 5795 in the same period.

With falling degree numbers, the chances of anybody following Ostrom in picking up a Nobel looks slim.

The higher up you go, the attrition rate continues. According to the Royal Economic Societys latest snapshot of professors in UK economics departments, 90 are female  just 14% of the total. At least thats better than 1992, when there was just one.

Female academics put the lack of Nobels down to factors such as women doing more applied economics in their PhDs, rather than the more conceptual stuff that tends to win the prize.

Theres also the maths-heavy focus of the subject at higher levels, when boys outnumber girls at A level by around two to one.

An academic recalls how she had to take two months out to travel after two years of maths to remind myself why I liked the subject in the first place. Then there are biological barriers; anecdotally, female academics in the US find it more difficult to get tenure at university  a job for life allowing them to pursue research  as having children intervenes. And family flexibility in economics, whether in academia or at an investment bank for example, is difficult to come by.

This matters because the male-heavy dominance of economics risks skewing policy. A 2013 study of members of the American Economic Association found female economists favoured a bigger role for the state; their male counterparts had greater faith in business and the market. Women were also far less likely to believe the economy excessively regulated, or take the male view that the wage gap between genders was simply down to skills and experience.

The study said its findings lend support to the notion that gender diversity in policymaking circles may be an important aspect in broadening the menu of public policy choices. Thats a heroic understatement. For how long can a profession expected to come up with the answers to tackle a wobbling global economy afford to shut half the population out of the debate?
S candal-torn US bank Wells Fargo parted company with chief executive John Stumpf last night but immediately ran into criticism over the choice of his successor.

Wells Fargo is embroiled in one of the worst banking scandals ever, after admitting that a sales-driven culture saw staff create more than two million fake accounts.

Stumpf, one of the best-paid bankers in America, who received $19.3 million (15.9 million) last year, said: While I have been deeply committed and focused on managing the firm through this period, I have decided it is best for the company that I step aside.

His replacement is president Tim Sloan. But Khalid Taha, a former Wells Fargo personal banker who left after suing the bank over sales pressures, said: Wells Fargos problems go from top to bottom. Sloan is part of that problem.

But Nancy Bush, an analyst at NAB Research, said: The fact they have named him chief executive indicates to me that he has at least passed some litmus test about his part in all of this.

Stumpf will retire immediately. He wont get severance pay and has forefeited $41 million share options.

His exit comes just weeks after Wells Fargo was fined $185 million over its sales practices.

California and federal regulators alleged employees created fake email addresses to sign customers up for online banking without the customers knowledge.
A former fashion buyer has told how scrappy uniforms at a five star hotel inspired her to start her own business making staff clothing for top locations such as The Savoy, The Mondrian and the Mandarin Oriental.

Jane Porter, 35, started Studio 104 in 2010 following a light bulb moment when she noticed the rubbish uniforms at a 3,000-a-night hotel in Johannesburg, South Africa, were not up to scratch.

Someone came to collect our luggage from the room and his uniform was stained, ill-fitting and had no design at all, she said. Robbie Williams has stayed at that hotel - its very exclusive - and it shocked me that the level of quality had not reached the uniforms. Then the idea for Studio 104 came to me. I told my husband and he said it was the best idea I have ever had.

Porter, who previously worked as a buyer for Marks & Spencer and exercise firm Sweaty Betty, now employs a top team of ten designers, pattern cutters and fabric sources to create custom-fitted uniforms out of her studio in Waterloo.

Porters first contract was with The Beaufort Bar in the Savoy in 2012, where she was tasked with making the 1920s-style uniform inspired by the heritage and history of the bar. It was nerve-wracking going in to a pitch with the hotel manager, she said. It was like Dragons Den. But he was blown away. It was our first contract - so we started at the top.

The process of designing the uniforms took six months. Porter, who has since been hired to make the outfits for the Thames Foyer and The American bar also, said every minute detail was considered by the team - from cufflinks shaped like cocktails, to elements of gold leaf incorporates in to the design. She added as well as looking good, the uniform has to be practical and work for staff spending hours on their feet often doing quite physical work. Head bar tender of The American Bar Erik Lorenz, for example, had his jacket altered so that the shoulder on the side he shakes his cocktails is roomier.

Porter said The Savoys celebrity clientele including Will Smith and Russell Brand have commented on the uniforms. Stephanie Mettil, 31, manager of the Beaufort and Thames Foyer, said: People regularly comment on our uniforms. They get great feedback.

The studio is now working with non-hospitality firms and holds contracts with jeweller De Beers and JP Morgan.

London Fashion Week SS17 - street style 1 /26 London Fashion Week SS17 - street style LFW street style Olivia Davies from Shepherd's Bush wearing a coat by Tash Yates and dress by d&g

@phussy Jeff Moore LFW street style Natalia Homolog from Slovakia wearing @shesthebottleblonde

@natinstablog Jeff Moore LFW street style Rebecca O'Donnell wearing a dress from Zara, shoes from Mango, bag by Michael Kors and hat from Camden Town

@rebecca.odonnell Jeff Moore LFW street style Chloe Hill from Sydney

@chloechill Jeff Moore LFW street style Art student Jessie Moore from London wearing Primark

@princelypigeon Jeff Moore LFW street style Cheyenne Keuben is a model from Amsterdam and is wearing all vintage Jeff Moore LFW street style Freya Siu from China, @sinyusiu Jeff Moore LFW street style Olivia Davies from Shepherd's Bush wearing a coat by Tash Yates and dress by d&g

@phussy Jeff Moore LFW street style Reiko Kaye wearing Morphine

@reikokaye Jeff Moore LFW street style Sara Binsalman from Saudi Arabia Jeff Moore LFW street style Katie Keight from London

@katiekeight Jeff Moore LFW street style Tre Danso and Ebelle Ike from London. He is wearing a Versace jacket, while she wears Topshop and Ralph lauren Jeff Moore LFW street style Sarah Lindner from New York wears a jacket from Miss Pap

@thehouseofsequins Jeff Moore LFW street style Maria Sanchez from Spain

@instademaria Jeff Moore LFW street style Anne-Sophie Cochevelou from France wears her own creation Jeff Moore LFW street style The Silver Surfer Jeff Moore LFW street style Kate White from Poland

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O ur pick of the best events and attractions in East London:

Free

The V&A Museum of Childhood in Bethnal Green is the younger sister of one of Londons greatest museums, and theres plenty here to delight big kids and actual kids alike. Alternatively, just by Shoreditch High Street, the creative centre Rich Mix has a number of eye-popping free exhibitions from up-and-coming artists, or you can pop down the road to Hoxton to the free Geffrye Museum, which explores our homes and the way we live.

Concrete high rises are more beautiful than brutal in British artist David Hephers work, and you can see a retrospective of his 40-year career at Flowers Gallery on Kingsland Road. A free exhibition, 64 Bits at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park charts that very thing that gives many people palpitations: internet history. See the worlds first website and use Archie, the worlds first search engine (who?). The National Trust has lots of free events at its Hackney-based Sutton House, with an Alice in Wonderland theme for Easter.

Explore

If youre looking for history, it doesnt get much better than the Tower of London, or you can stroll (or run) over to the Olympic Park at Stratford and remind yourself of the glory of more recent years. Theatre-lovers can see bold new work at The Yard in Hackney Wick or Hackney Showroom, or enjoy a film in the beautiful independent Genesis cinema on Mile End Road. If markets are more your sort of thing, then Columbia Road flower market will brighten up anyones day, and Brick Lane market is not to be missed.

Take a stroll around Olympic Park / Alan Copson/Robert Harding

Spring has sprung and you can probably get away with a walk at Lee Valley without wearing thermal clothing. The gigantic countryside park near Clapton has a host of Easter activities on too if you want more than a ramble. History lovers can find out more about how Wiltons Music Hall went from a Victorian sailors pub to a music hall with one of its fascinating tours. Theres also the chance to visit the gigantic conservatory at the Barbican, which is only open on Sundays and Bank Holidays.

Now

Learn a bit more about all the chocolate youll be stuffing in your mouth this Easter with a tour of east London chocolatier factory Mast Brothers.

Run off all that chocolate with the family-friendly Bunny Run in Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park on Saturday 8 April. If youre still on a high, you can now slide down Anish Kapoors giant ArcelorMittal Orbit, and if youre especially brave, you can abseil it. If you just want a party, RichMix has a night dedicated to The Clash on 8 April, and The Macbeth in Hoxton has Amy Winehouse karaoke on the same night.

Eat

Its a long time since pie, eel and mash shops have been a highlight of Londons food scene, but every Londoner should taste this East End classic at least once. Theres nowhere better than at F Cooke on Broadway Market, which has been open since 1900. For more contemporary treats, head to Dinerama in Shoreditch for street food, cocktails and music into the night  and after a few drinks, grab a Brick Lane bagel from one of the 24-hour shops.

Elsewhere, the Book Club in Shoreditchs Idiot Dinner (11 April) asks guests to try to tell someone they dont know about something they know nothing about. You can snack on giant platters while being a massive idiot. If youd rather just have dinner without looking like a moron, Pizza East is an old reliable, Cabotte on Gresham Street offers French cuisine and fantastic wine, and Perilla in Newington Green promises a modern twist on classic European flavours.

Visit standard.co.uk/thingstodo for our pick of the best events and attractions around London.

Follow Jessie Thompson on Twitter @jessiecath

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Review at a glance









H eres a fine mess. Lets leave aside, so far as possible, the director Nate Parkers personal record and consider this film on its merits. Made in Savannah, Georgia, The Birth of a Nation is certainly well enough acted, shot and edited, albeit at the level of a good TV drama rather than that of Steve McQueens masterpiece, 12 Years a Slave.

Punkily reclaiming the title of DW Griffiths 1915 racist epic (originally called The Clansman), it claims to show not just a true story but a founding fact of American life.

In August 1831, Nat Turner, 30, a Bible-inspired, self-appointed prophet, led the first-ever revolt of enslaved and freed African-Americans, killing 60 or so white people, not sparing women or children, in Southampton County, Virginia.

The rebellion was suppressed within two days and those involved swiftly arrested and tried, some 56 being executed, while white mobs killed more than 200 other black people. Turner hid in a hole for two months before being tried and hanged himself.

Although even more repressive new laws were soon passed after the revolt, Turner has subsequently become an inspiration for black liberation, which is what Parker celebrates with this film.

Loading....

There is one main source for the story, The Confessions of Nat Turner, as fully and voluntarily made to Thomas R Gray, published in 1831 (consultable online), fully acknowledged by Turner in court. Surprisingly, he says little about race or slavery. Instead, he complacently explains his deranged religious visions, spoken by the Spirit, who told him the Serpent was loosened, and Christ had laid down the yoke he had borne for the sins of men, and that I should take it on and fight against the Serpent. He was, Gray concluded, a complete fanatic.

This is not the film Nate Parker has made. To a conventional biopic, full of crassly symbolic imagery, he has added scenes in which Turner is hired out by his owner (Armie Hammer) to preach obedience to slaves on other plantations, thus giving him a regional tour of the cruellest conditions, to fire him up.

True story: the film follows the rebellion led by Nat Turner

Two off-camera rape scenes have been added as ultimate insults, one in which Turners wife Cherry (Aja Naomi King) is gang-raped by slave-catchers, another in which the wife of his fellow rebel Hark is forced to have sex with a plantation guest. The women have nothing to say, except for Cherry brokenly giving her husbands rebellion her blessing. Parker has appropriated these horrors to justify Turners nobility.

And throughout, Parker, having written, directed and produced the film, also himself plays Turner, as an image rather than a character, a righteous martyr. He has assiduously organised his own sanctification, in other words.

On the gallows, he looks to the heavens and a winged angel appears  and a tearful boy in the crowd is inspired to become a soldier for freedom in the Civil War 30 years later. The Birth of a Nation is propaganda, simply  perhaps for a good and urgent cause  but it is propaganda all the same.

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T he Birth of a Nation had all the makings of an awards season shoo-in.

At the Sundance Film Festival in January the movie was lauded for its bold chronicling of an uncomfortable period in American history  the Virginia slave revolts of 1831  from the perspective of the black men and women who lived through it and have been silenced by history. Its title was reappropriated from DW Griffiths racist 1915 film and it had a black director and a mostly black cast, which made it stand out in the wake of last years #OscarsSoWhite outcry.

But now that its out in the US reviews have been lukewarm, and it took only a third as much as The Girl on the Train in its opening week. The Birth of a Nation is released here in January but is screened as part of the London Film Festival tonight. So what went wrong?

It is not an easy film. The Los Angeles Times critic Justin Chang wrote: No film worthy of this particular historical subject could hope or expect to avoid controversy. Still, at Sundance there was a standing ovation and a bidding war for the rights. Fox Searchlight Pictures snapped it up for $17.5 million  not bad for an underdog film that was made on a tight budget of $10 million. Its director and star, Nate Parker, was the darling of the festival, saying: If youve got injustice, this is your film. And Im coming.

In August, though, everything changed. This spotlight on Parker led to the uncovering of an incident 17 years ago, when he and his co-star Jean McGianni Celestin were accused of raping a fellow student at Penn State University. She was 19 and documents say she was drunk. Parker was found not guilty; Celestin was convicted but later had the verdict overturned. The woman committed suicide in 2012. The incident was written about on Parkers Wikipedia page but before the success of The Birth of a Nation it went largely unnoticed, until Variety magazine reported it.

Now The Birth of a Nation was controversial for different reasons, triggering debate about whether a film can be seen in isolation from what we know about the people who made it.

The Birth of a Nation- Trailer

When it was shown in Hollywood this month there was a candlelit vigil outside the cinema, not judging but reflecting on the issues it raises about both rape and race both on and off the screen.

Searchlight, which paid such big money for the film, released a statement saying it was aware of the incident: We also know that [Parker] was found innocent and cleared of all charges. We stand behind him and are proud to help bring this important and powerful story to the screen. Over here, the British Film Institute stuck to its decision to screen a premiere of The Birth of a Nation as part of the London Film Festival.

A spokesperson from the BFI says the film was chosen for the LFF after its success at Sundance: We are proud to bring this powerful film to UK audiences for the first time. The festivals role is to present outstanding cinema from around the world and this is one of the years most significant films, which brings an important story to the big screen.

Parker addressed the allegations with a long post on his public Facebook page in August, where he said: I have never run from this period in my life and I never, ever will. More than a thousand people have commented on the post. He said he was devastated, adding: These issues of a womans right to be safe and of men and women engaging in healthy relationships are extremely important to talk about, however difficult. And more personally, as a father, a husband, a brother and man of deep faith, I understand how much confusion and pain this incident has had on so many, most importantly the young woman who was involved.

I have never run from this period in my life and I never, ever will

He continued, saying he didnt want to ignore the pain that the woman endured: While I maintain my innocence that the encounter was unambiguously consensual, there are things more important than the law. There is morality; no one who calls himself a man of faith should even be in that situation. As a 36-year-old father of daughters, I look back on that time as a teenager and can say without hesitation that I should have used more wisdom.

He has changed so much since 19 but acknowledged that there are wounds that neither time nor words can heal.

Parker is aware of the relevance of the charges in the context of his films claims to face history. In an interview with Deadline magazine he said The Birth of a Nation is about catharsis as a cure: Psychologists will tell you, until there is honest confrontation there can be no healing.

He also said he was sure it would come up. I stand here, a 36-year-old man, 17 years removed from one of the most painful moments in my life. And I can imagine it was painful, for everyone. I was cleared of everything, of all charges. Ive done a lot of living and raised a lot of children. Ive got five daughters and a lovely wife.

Controversial: Nate Parker's past has caused a stir

But in the LA Times, Chang says the films subject matter and the fact that Parker stars in it creates problems. If its especially hard to separate the art from the artist while watching The Birth of a Nation its because the artist in this case is almost always in front of the camera.

Its hard to look at the actors face now without being reminded of his off-screen blunders, his vain and defensive attempts to reclaim ownership of his moment.

The New York Times considers it in the context of what we know about other film-makers with murky pasts. Chang does too, observing that the premiere of Woody Allens Cafe Society earlier this year reminded audiences of the allegations, repeatedly denied, that the director had sexually abused his adoptive daughter, Dylan Farrow, while Mel Gibsons Hacksaw Ridge, out next month, is difficult to separate from memories of Gibsons anti-Semitic tirades.

So far, most reviews in the UK of The Birth of a Nation have been positive, especially as an example of a more equal film industry. The London Film Festivals focus this year is on diversity. Actor David Oyelowo launched the festival with a rousing speech, saying he is hell-bent on having more black-orientated historical films to help Britain understand how it became what it is. The British Film Institute released new research last week revealing that in the past 10 years only 13 per cent of British films have a black actor in a leading role and 59 per cent have no black actors in any role.

True story

But there are still questions over whether The Birth of a Nation can win an Oscar. The Standards film critic, David Sexton, says: Luckily there is a new Oscar contender, Moonlight, which has an entirely black cast, is a remarkable piece of work and offers the Academy a powerful alternative.

On Saturday, film-maker Steve McQueen will receive the BFI Fellowship at the festivals closing gala and all eyes will be on him to see if he comments on Parkers film, considering that he brought the world 12 Years a Slave.

Remy Holwick, founder of Fvck Rape Culture, which organised the vigil in Hollywood, explains her feelings about the film: The goal of the vigil was to show that there is space in Hollywood to both celebrate a film that has incredible promise for people of colour advancing in Hollywood while simultaneously creating space for those that wish to honour victims of rape and sexual assault.

@susannahbutter

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N aples is the pizza capital of Italy. Its people have long claimed the street food as their own and even today, the city is well-known for its delicious, authentic Margherita.

One restaurant in particular, LAntica Pizzeria da Michele, is said to make the best pizza in the city  and by extension, the world. It was even where Julia Roberts, playing Elizabeth Gilbert, fell in love with pizza in Eat Pray Love. And Julia Roberts wouldn't eat just any old pizza.

Now, Londoners won't have to book a budget flight to channel our inner Julia. The famous restaurant will soon open a branch in Stoke Newington in Hackney, The Telegraph reported.

The family-run restaurant, which first opened in Naples in 1870, will serve class pizzas at a reportedly affordable price. In Italy, the restaurant charge around four or five euros per pizza.

Traditional Margherita and marinara pizzas will be the menu's star attractions and two specials will be available on rotation, reported The Telegraph.

The restaurant will also serve the same wines and beers that are sold in the Naples restaurant.

In keeping with the restaurant's roots, Marco Condurro, the son of the restaurant's director, will visit before the launch to ensure the pizzas live up to the high standards of the Naples restaurant.

Furthermore, four chefs who were trained at the original restaurant will come to London to cook at the new restaurant.

No doubt the queues will extend around the block, but we can't wait to grab ourselves a slice of the Neapolitan speciality in the heart of the capital.

Like what you see? How about some more R29 goodness, right here?

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I n the late Sixties, the novelist Angela Carter buttonholed fellow writer AS Byatt to inform her that the sort of thing youre doing is no good at all  thats not where literature is going. A bracing rain-check, but was literature really going Carters way instead, then or now?

Edmund Gordon has done a remarkable job putting her story together. Born in south London in 1940, Carter was stifled by a mother who monitored everything (including bowel movements), turning her into a friendless, fat teen, and then an anorexic. The girl took refuge in a lifelong project of making myself utterly memorable, starting with black-mesh stockings and fox fur (when she added floppy hats and cigarettes to the mix a few years later, a colleague thought she looked like a cross between Quentin Crisp and the Wicked Witch of the West). But leaving home proved hard: she gave up the idea of university when mother threatened to tag along too. When she met a gloomy chemist called Paul Carter she married him, aged 19, primarily as a means of escape.

A decade of dreariness followed while the young couple lived in beatnik squalor in London and Bristol, with Angela first studying for a degree in English and then trying to write fiction. She developed a defensive, superior air and tastes for symbolist poetry, literary theory and affairs with her friends husbands. Long before she was published, she talked of herself with unshakable certainty as a writer.

Her first five novels appeared in six years, establishing a reputation for grotesquerie, surrealism and extravagant stylishness. Blood and sex remained her stock-in-trade, along with freaks, monsters, fairy tales (brilliantly retold in The Bloody Chamber), one-eyed, one-legged gurus (The Passion of New Eve), rape by automata (The Magic Toyshop) and contentious theorising (The Sadeian Woman).

A watershed came after Carters third novel won her a travel grant and ticket to Japan, where this intellectually and sexually hungry young woman was bowled over by garish, bedizened, breathtakingly vulgar Tokyo, the most absolutely non-boring city in the world. When a stranger called Sozo approached her, they booked straight into a love hotel and, two weeks later, she had decided to divorce her glum husband and move to Japan permanently  an act of audacity that teetered on the edge of lunacy, as Gordon says. She returned to England two years later.

The womens movement gave her new allies and a natural home at Virago Press, and in her early forties Carter found domestic stability when a handsome young plumber came to fix a tap and never left: they married and had a child together. Carter had commercial successes with Nights at the Circus and Wise Children but had to take a succession of teaching jobs to make money, and its strange to hear Salman Rushdie claim that one of the really lovely things about the friend who promoted his work for years was that she was not ever envious of other peoples success, when all the evidence here shows that she very much resented her absence from the prize lists, publicity and big-money deals of the Eighties.

More book reviews 1 /24 More book reviews Recovery by Russell Brand Will Russells brand of self-help prove quite so addictive? By Nicholas Lezard. Read review A Life in Questions by Jeremy Paxman Paxo refuses to answer all the really good questions, says David Sexton. Read review Politics: Between: The Extremes by Nick Clegg The basis of this book makes it impossible not to warm to Clegg, says Melanie McDonagh. Read review Serious Sweet by A L Kennedy Thank heavens for London in this tale of self-obsessed lovers. Read review The Last Royal Rebel: The Life and Death of James, Duke of Monmouth by Anna Keay Born a kings b****** and destined for a traitors death. Read review Man Up: Boys, Men and Breaking the Male Rules by Rebecca Asher Getting to the bottom of why boys will be boys. Read review The Course of Love by Alain de Botton A philosophical novel that does run smooth, says Johanna Thomas-Corr. Read review The Tree Climbers Guide: Adventures in the Urban Canopy by Jack Cooke How I gave this book a proper test and ended up with a broken ankle. Read review Reader, I Married Him: Stories Inspired by Jane Eyre Brontes classic tale in the imaginations of other writers, says Claire Harman. Read review Moranifesto by Caitlin Moran Caitlin comes clean about politics  the world according to our funniest feminist. By Rosamund Urwin. Read review Spark Joy An Illustrated Guide to the Japanese Art of Tidying by Marie Kondo Theres no messing wih Marie, says Katie Law. Read review Cockfosters Stories by Helen Simpson After 50, a womans life gets better not worse. By Katie Law. Read review Stalins Englishman: The Lives of Guy Burgess by Andrew Lownie Joker in the spying pack. By Richard Bassett. Read review Even Dogs in the Wild by Ian Rankin The darkness that lies at the heart of the novel is offset by a lightness of touch, says Mark Sanderson. Read review Unfaithful Music & Disappearing Ink by Elvis Costello Elvis proves not quite so lyrical on the page, says Nick Curtis. Read review The Importance of Elsewhere: Philip Larkins Photographs by Richard Bradford His poetry paints better pictures than any camera, says David Sexton. Read review Career of Evil by Robert Galbraith Morality wins out over macabre murders, says Melanie McDonagh. Read review The Grownup by Gillian Flynn Calling all Flynnies: the con girl whos like gone girl. Read review

Edmund Gordon admits the difficulties for a young man writing about a staunchly feminist, deeply sensual, sometimes irascible woman  and hes right, but many women biographers would have shared them. His problem is more the passage of time. In the quarter-century since her death, the issue of how great or not she was is going cold. I need to be extraordinary, Carter wrote to herself in her twenties, but she might just be doomed to be historical.
S omeone in my home has been stealing from me. Its only been small things so far: a little loose change; a silver ring; a spare set of house keys; nothing irreplaceable. The culprits name is Benzene and he is, literally, a thieving magpie. My sister-in-law found him on an industrial estate in Bermondsey a few months ago: a helpless, abandoned little ball of fluff with a stubby beak and clever black eyes. He needed a home and a devoted carer to nurse him to health. My partner, Janina, and I took him in without question. With him, chaos flew into our life.

At six in the morning he would escape his box in the corner of our room, jump into bed, and scream in my face until I got up and made him some breakfast. For what felt like weeks he needed feeding every half hour.

Mealtimes were messy and loud. As soon as he learnt I was good for it, he would open his throat wide and shriek for mushed-up dog biscuits, mincemeat, and disgusting grubs whenever he saw me coming. It didnt help that his food kept escaping. Our housemate was very brave about the live mealworms that wriggled their way into the most unexpected places.

Like a tiny human, he learnt about the world by tearing it apart. He used his newfound strength and his sharp little beak to educate himself about books, laptop chargers, and precious bonsai trees. Living, as we did then, under the reign of our housemates two cats, the only safe place for him was our bedroom. Within days the floor was covered in a Pollock-esque carpet of shredded paper and spattered bird crap. Its hard to imagine how the landlord of our rented Hackney flat would have reacted if hed decided to stop by.

Polly Samson / Polly Samson

Unlike babies, magpies dont come with manuals. This one seemed to demand constant attention. Working from home, it was hard to even read an email, never mind actually sit down to write. Is this normal? I wondered, as he clambered up onto my head and took a great, greasy white dump in my hair. Magpie fanciers I found online reassured me that it was. Get him an iPad, advised one.

Somehow, despite all the mess, that magpie stole our hearts. Its a hard thing to explain. It probably helps that hes cute: he cheeps and chirps and takes little naps in the nape of my neck. But its his naughty side I find most charming. He hides my glasses, snatches food from my plate, and openly covets my wedding ring. Once, when he managed to get hold of it, he ran around in circles, shrieking with delight. Who knew an animal could take such obvious pleasure from mischief?

Magpies generally get pretty bad press. Theyre said to bring bad luck, murder songbirds and, according to legend, refused to mourn for Christ. They are the devils own bird. Even my grandmother  no friend of Jesus  has been known to take pot shots at them with a rifle. But now after centuries of human hostility, it seems they are finally being let in from the cold. It was refreshing to read recent reports of Penguin Bloom, the magpie that saved a family.

Polly Samson

Penguin tumbled from her nest a few months after Sam Bloom, a mother-of-three from Sydney, had a fall that left her paralysed and deeply depressed. Having an affectionate, mischievous and highly intelligent magpie to care for was like therapy for the whole family. Their uplifting story went viral; it was one for joy. Shed make us laugh, Bloom told the BBC.

Little wonder: magpies are hysterical. They love to play, live to steal and have a wicked sense of humour. As I type, mine is peeping out from behind my laptop with a little red ball clenched in his beak. Hes longing for a game of fetch, or chase, and if he doesnt get it hell root around among my things until he finds something I will run after him for. USB sticks and credit cards are, he has discovered, very effective human bait.

Likewise, that a magpie could help heal a familys trauma comes as no surprise. Theyre miraculously clever birds. Indeed, studies suggest they have intellects on par with primates. As members of the corvid family, which includes crows, rooks and ravens, they are sometimes referred to as feathered apes.

Some corvids can make and use tools. Others are capable of remembering the faces of humans who have bothered them for years after the event. Certain members of the family are even said to possess a theory of mind, a trait previously thought to be unique to humans.

We knew much of this when we took Benzene into our flat in early May. Yet, somehow, his intelligence still came as a surprise. This baby magpie, tiny though he may have been, was very much like a human toddler, albeit a kleptomaniac toddler with wings and claws.

And were not alone  magpies seem to be having a bit of a moment. Aside from Penguin Bloom, with her media appearances, best-selling picture book and Instagram fame, the birds are everywhere. A tame magpie recently showed up in Regents Park and started joining family picnics. And just the other week, a friend in Florence was shocked and delighted when one flew in through her window and sat on her sofa to watch TV. The next day, he escorted her to work. His name is Sque Sque, and he has a small following online.

After Benzene learnt to fly, I took him to my parents Sussex farm. It was time for him to soar free and befriend his own kind. Magpies are smart and fascinating creatures. Keeping one prisoner didnt sit well. I felt like Baloo escorting Mowgli to the edge of the village: sad but certain it was the right thing to do.

Benzene enjoyed his rural summer. He loved the chickens, the fruit trees and the flowerbeds. The opportunities for crime were endless: he tossed fragments of tiles from the roof, stuck his beak into wasps nests and jammed up a concert piano with rotting bits of meat. Somehow he could do no wrong. The whole family had fallen in love with him, too.

While he was there, the farm was a hive of activity. Janina and I got married in one of the fields for a start. We hoped Benzene might forge new bonds, too. It wasnt meant to be. Every time the wild magpies came calling, he would run to the nearest human. I cant pretend I wasnt a little bit pleased. He loves us, too! I thought at the time.

After a month, we brought him back to London. Weve moved into a bird-friendly house south of the river, without cats, and built him an aviary outside. Well still be taking him to the countryside from time to time just in case, like Penguin Bloom, he eventually wants to flap off. For now he seems happy enough. Hes less of a manic magpie these days. Hes calmer and more at peace with the world. But who knows? He could just be biding his time. Perhaps one day hell be gone  and so will my wedding ring.

instagram.com/magpie_daily

Follow us on Facebook and Twitter: @EsMagOfficial
T he Pearl District in San Antonio, Texas, has a long and distinguished history as a place where German, Spanish and American settlers converged to create one of the states most culturally diverse areas.

Today, its vying for Austins hipster crown, with its famous brewery, now home to one of Americas hottest hotels, and a culinary scene that offers so much more than standard Tex-Mex fare.

Stay in style

In a previous life, Hotel Emma was one of the Pearl Districts most famous breweries, dating back to the 19th century and taking its name from the legendary Emma Koehler, who kept it going during the Prohibition era.

Hotel Emma's pool

It has industrial-style interiors by Roman and Williams (designers of the Ace Hotel in New Orleans and The High Line Hotel in New York), and the smartest bathrooms youre ever likely to wallow in, but food and drink is still a priority. Should the in-house restaurant, Supper, serving farm-to-table style dishes, or the Peruvian-Asian Botika restaurant nearby, not tickle your tastebuds, the hotels culinary concierge, Hugh Daschbach, has an encyclopaedic knowledge of local alternatives.

Rooms from 275 (thehotelemma.com)

Hotel Emma's lobby

Where to drink

Shoot the breeze with the locals in the Southtown neighbourhood. The area has a flourishing craft beer scene and comes to life on Saturday evenings. Check out The Friendly Spot on South Alamo Street, which has an ace selection of brews. (thefriendlyspot.com)

What to eat (a lot)

Youll find it hard not to put on a few pounds on this trip. As well as being home to the Culinary Institute of America, the Pearl District hosts a buzzing farmers market selling a smorgasbord of Texan delicacies. Cured, a brilliant neighbourhood restaurant serving homemade charcuterie and cold cuts, and Bakery Lorraine, are also well worth a visit.

Macarons at Bakery Lorraine

What to see

Theres more to San Antonio than the Alamo, but its a good place to start. The citys missions became a Unesco world heritage site last year, and the Mission Trail is worthy of a day trip to explore its colonial past. Five missions make up the route, including Mission Valero (aka the Alamo), the site of the Texan Revolutions famous 13-day siege in 1836. (nps.gov)

MIssion Concepcion

Where to shop

El Mercado, 514 W Commerce Street

The biggest Mexican market outside Latin America, this is the perfect place for kitsch homeware and crockery.

Dos Carolinas, 303 Pearl Parkway (doscarolinas.com)

Peruse the traditional cotton guayabera shirts on offer (each takes three hours to make); take home one of its gorgeous seersucker bathrobes.

The Sporting District, 302 Pearl Parkway (sportingdistrict.com)

Offering all the provisions you need for manly pursuits from grooming products to directional menswear.

Get active

Originally a flood channel, the serpentine San Antonio River has pedestrian walkways for scenic strolls. Feeling lazy? River taxis and guided barge tours are also readily available, and will take you past the Arneson River Theatre (which once had a cameo in the 2000 hit film, Miss Congeniality).

Follow us on Facebook and Twitter: @EsMagOfficial
F our days after the worlds top-ranked chef and restaurateur Massimo Bottura arrived in Rio in August to set up a refettorio soup kitchen using up food waste from the Olympics, he had his arm tattooed with the slogan No More Excuses. Bottura, who runs the Michelin three-starred restaurant, Osteria Francescana in Modena, did it, he tells me, out of sheer frustration because nothing was getting done. It was mind-blowing, one of the most difficult projects Ive ever done in my life. There was nothing when I arrived in Rio; no Brazilian company or institution cared about what we were doing, no one wanted to help. For the first few days, the locals were suspicious and distant, but Bottura, who is 54 and had brought his family with him, persevered with all the zeal of a missionary. I said, either Im going to make it or Im going to die in the refettorio here. And youre going to die with me, so lets do it all together, he tells me, gesturing theatrically.

As the self-styled patron saint of food-waste prevention, Bottura has form. He founded the Food for Soul project in 2014, which aims to establish refectory-style dining halls all over the world to feed those most in need, and he is now supporting the Evening Standards food-waste campaign. He demanded, and received, the money he needed to get the refettorio off the ground from several local companies. As the chef patron of the best restaurant in the world  Osteria Francescana is currently ranked above Noma  Bottura enlisted help from many globally-renowned chefs, including mates and mentors Alain Ducasse, Alex Atala and Virgilio Martinez.

As a charismatic Italian guy with a shaggy grey beard and oodles of street cred, who prefers wearing worn jeans and white T-shirts to starched chefs whites, he quickly gained the confidence of the locals. Forty volunteers from the favelas came forward to offer their help; they had never seen anything like him. Im going to be your general, I told them, and from that moment everything changed. They had someone who really cared about them, says Bottura, smiling.

Together, he and his equipe served 180 meals a day in a purpose-built refettorio in Rios bohemian Lapa district, using surplus, mostly raw food from the Olympic Village that would otherwise have gone to waste. It was brought in a large truck every morning and under Botturas expert direction, transformed into three-course meals.

The concept behind Botturas project is, he says, cultural rather than charitable. He wants us simply to change the way we think; everything else will follow. Look, he tells me, there are 60 million starving people in the world;there are 1.4 billion overweight people, and there are 1.3 billion tons of food wasted every year. 1.3 billion, he repeats emphatically. So of course its possible to feed everyone on the planet.

Legislation about supermarket expiry dates and throwing out food is key, he says These rules and regulations are killing us. He goes on to talk about how the change in French law, introduced earlier this year, means that it is now illegal in France for supermarkets to throw out food approaching its sell-by date. Its also illegal to deliberately spoil food to prevent people foraging in the stores bins. Now most supermarkets have special aisles filled with products that have almost expired at lower prices. They never had that before. Its an amazing step because not only does it help in the fight against waste, it also helps people who havent got much money, Bottura says. Its a ruling that could  and should  be applied in other countries.

The flip side to this global crisis is obesity and that, he says, is due to ignorance. Figures are rising because people dont know how to cook. I saw it in Brazil: people making a sorbetto with over-ripe bananas, then adding up to a third more sugar. Frying everything in fat, in leftover, stinky fat. I told them, you cant cook like that. You cant eat fried food every day. If you serve pasta you cannot have rice and meat. This is crazy.

London restaurants with 2 and 3 Michelin stars 1 /16 London restaurants with 2 and 3 Michelin stars The Araki, Mayfair ** 3 Michelin stars Restaurant Gordon Ramsay, Chelsea *** 3 Michelin stars Alain Ducasse at The Dorchester, Mayfair *** 3 Michelin stars Claude Bosi at Bibendum, Chelsea ** 2 Michelin stars Patricia Niven Dinner by Heston Blumenthal, Knightsbridge, London ** 2 Michelin stars Le Gavroche, Mayfair ** 2 Michelin stars Greenhouse, Mayfair ** 2 Michelin stars Helene Darroze at The Connaught, Mayfair ** 2 Michelin stars The Ledbury, Notting Hill ** 2 Michelin stars Marcus, Belgravia ** 2 Michelin stars Sketch (The Lecture Room & Library), Mayfair ** 2 Michelin stars Umu, Mayfair ** 2 Michelin stars

Bottura has a habit of helping people. In 2012 he more or less single-handedly saved the Parmesan industry in his native Modena, after an earthquake destroyed the shelving and threatened to ruin 360,000 large wheels of the precious cheese. He created a Parmesan-laden cacio e pepe risotto recipe that went viral online and within weeks every single wheel was sold. Six months later almost a million kilos of Parmesan had been sold with a percentage of sales going to earthquake victims.

His current obsession  hes obsessive by nature seems to be with saving and using up breadcrumbs. Indeed, we have met at the IFA tech trade show in Berlin, where he has been doing live demonstrations for premium kitchen appliance company Grundig, showing punters how to cook without wasting a single one.

Breadcrumbs are very important. Keep them every day and on Saturday night you put one egg, you mix it, you put in a pan, and you serve with warm soup. This is what we have to do, he says, handing me a breadcrumb dumpling the size of a grape, floating in a Parmesan rind-enriched broth. Its delicious. A book of his recipes made from leftovers is due out next spring.

If Bottura is the star of the show, his crucial behind-the-scenes operations are handled by his American wife, Lara Gilmore, with whom he has two grown-up children. The pair met in 1993 when they were working in an Italian restaurant in the Soho district of New York. Lara was my dream of America, Bottura has said. He left the US to work for Alain Ducasse at the Hotel de Paris in Monaco, where Gilmore subsequently went to visit him. He apparently told her, There are so many beautiful women out there I havent met and she walked out.

Bottura eventually tracked her down and, so the story goes, she got her own back on their wedding day by plunging both hands into the wedding cake, scooping out a large chunk and rubbing it into his face.

London's top foodie influencers 1 /14 London's top foodie influencers Click through the gallery to find out who London's top foodies influencers are 1. Clerkenwell Boy @clerkenwellboyec1 Followers: 146k 2.Giulia Mule @mondomuli Followers: 56k 3. James Thompson @food_feels Followers: 77k 4. Leyla Kazim @thecutlerychronicles Followers: 86k 5. Chris Fynes @wethefoodsnobs Followers: 15.5k 6. Throughly Modern Milly @millykr Followers: 6k 7. Jasmine and Melissa Hemsley @hemsleyhemsley Followers: 265k 8. Rosie Birkett @rosiefoodie Followers: 50k 9. Tun Sin Chang @tschang Followers: 101k 10. KS T @ks_ate_here Followers: 44k

That same year, Bottura opened his restaurant in Modena and began experimenting with food.

He did a stint at El Bulli in Spain, where he mastered the use of a siphon for making foam, although like all true Italians, his biggest culinary debt will always be to his own grandmother, who not only made superb pasta but came from the original waste-not-want-not generation. And it is precisely this mind-set that he wants to instil once more in a whole new generation of chefs, and, through the power of journalism and social media, everyone else.

Look, he says, scrolling on his phone. In the two hours since his cookery demonstration finished hes had 20,000 likes on Instagram. Twenty minutes later, as he gives me a hearty farewell hug, the number has risen. See, 21,000 now. I like it.
A car crash victim left with brain damage was conned out of his six-figure compensation by City businessmen when he fell for a 180,000 art and diamonds scam, the Old Bailey heard.

David Wright was one of five people said to have fallen for the fraud as they were promised easy money in return for investing in luxury goods that ultimately proved to be worthless.

He gave the alleged fraudsters 131,739, losing almost all his payout for the crash that also left him with memory loss.

Another alleged victim, 74-year-old Michael Woods, paid 7,000 and was bombarded with 111 calls over three months in an attempt to persuade him to part with more of his savings.

Two of the gang allegedly even visited him at his squalid Cockfosters flat, where he lived alone, and walked him to a bank so he could withdraw cash for a special diamond.

Pensioner Jean Neal lost all her 9,600 life savings after being cold-called and assured diamonds were a better investment than an ISA, the court heard.

The five accused  Ricky Burgess, 26, of Westcliff-on-Sea, Essex, his brother Michael, 29, Amir Damoussi, 26, and Lucy Murch, 25, all of Southend-on-Sea, and Jimmy Bottle, 27, of Hoo, Kent  deny conspiracy to defraud.

They set up Harrison & Carter Ltd in offices at the Gherkin building and are said to have drawn up a suckers list totalling thousands of people to be targeted.

Victims  picked because of their vulnerability  were promised returns of 10 to 20 per cent within a year if they invested in multi-coloured diamonds or art prints of works by noted painter Harry Bilson, it is said.

Prosecutor Charles Crinion said the alleged fraudsters bought diamonds for under 1,000 and pressured clients to buy them for up to four times the value.

Art and diamonds sound glamorous but this is not a case of men in tuxedos trying to pass off a painting as a lost Monet, he said.

They used tactics like cold-calling or persistently calling to get older and vulnerable people to give them their money. They knew their representations were untrue.

The court heard Harrison & Carter went into liquidation in early 2014 and the gang then set up Globalis Marketing Solutions in nearby Old Broad Street.

It is said they then targeted victims of Harrison & Carter, offering to help them recoup their losses.

Mr Crinion said people were sent formal-looking documents, including brochures, order confirmations, invoi- ces and certificates of ownership.

The gang promised to store the jewels and art at warehouses in Dubai or safe deposit boxes in Switzerland, meaning customers never got to see what they had bought, he added.

Mr Crinion said the defendants claim their investment companies were not fraudulent  that what happened was just business and they werent being dishonest. The trial continues.
A man, who punched a partygoer in the head and knocked out his teeth in a "brutal" attack at a central London nightclub, has been banned from every pub in the capital.

Richard Bowman, 28, from Greenwich, hit his 21-year-old victim so hard it knocked him to the ground during the attack at the Salvador and Amanda club in Westminster, Southwark Crown Court heard.

The man was rushed to hospital and later discharged but lost two teeth in the assault at 2am on October 18 2014.

Police launched an appeal to find Bowman, of Malthus Path, at the BBC Crimewatch Roadshow in June last year, releasing CCTV images of him from the night of the incident.

He was found guilty of causing actual bodily harm, at Southwark Crown Court, last month.

He was slapped with a nine-month prison sentence, suspended for two years, during sentencing at the same court, on Tuesday.

On camera: An image of Richard Bowman is caught on CCTV / MET

Bowman must pay his victim 3,500 in compensation and was ordered to attend a programme for alcohol-related issues.

He was handed an 18-month ban from all pubs and clubs in the capital.

Detective Constable Stuart Green, from Westminster Criminal Investigation Department, said: "This was a cowardly unprovoked assault. The offender punched the victim to the ground with brutal force.

He added: I would like to commend the victim's determination to seek justice, and to the BBC Crimewatch team for all their assistance. I would also like to thank the public for their assistance in identifying Bowman which has led to him being brought to justice.
P olice are hunting for a suspected thief who waved a pair of scissors at Vodafone staff while his accomplice raided the shop of phone accessories.

Two men have been caught on CCTV loitering in the London Victoria station shop at the time of the alleged theft, which took place in rush hour this morning.

One of the men distracted a member of staff at the counter of the Vodafone store while the second man took some mobile phone accessories from the shop display and hid them in a backpack.

A member of the public saw the theft and told staff what had happened, who then tried to stop the men as they were leaving the store.

Vodafone shop: CCTV shows the inside of the London Victoria phone shop. / British Transport Police.

But one of the men pulled the scissors blade from his pocket and became aggressive towards the shop assistant.

British Transport Police have now launched an investigation, following the alleged theft and possession of bladed article, which happened at 8.40am on Thursday morning.

They now want to speak to anyone who recognises the men in the CCTV pictures.

Anyone with information is asked to contact British Transport Police on 0800 40 50 40, or text 61016, quoting reference 151 of 13/10/16. Information can also be passed anonymously to the independent charity Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.


A man has been arrested after a deadly zombie killer knife was seized by police off the street in west London.

The terrifying machete-style knife was snatched by officers in Greenford, Ealing on Wednesday evening.

Officers on routine patrol spotted a man carrying the knife in Adrienne Avenue shortly before 9pm, police said.

He was arrested on suspicion of possessing the outlawed knife by officers and taken to a west London police station.

Ealing officers posted a photo of the seized weapon on Twitter and wrote: Zombie Killer knife recovered and suspect arrested. #Proactive #OpSceptre #StopKnifeCrime."

A Met Police spokesman told the Standard: A male was detained by officers who witnessed him in possession of the knife.

Officers were out on patrol and came across it direct. The investigation is ongoing.

New legislation came into force banning zombie killer knives as part of a government crackdown  with sellers of the blades set to face jail terms if they are caught.

London Mayor Sadiq Khan brought together 150 Londoners today in a bid to form a tough new approach to tackling the capitals knife crime epidemic.

The knife crime summit, which brought together families of victims, young campaigners, teachers and police officers, comes as new figures showed that knife crime has risen by 16 per cent in the last two years.
A rmed police were called to London Zoo this evening after a silverback gorilla "charged at its enclosure window" and escaped from its den.

In a terrifying turn of events "loose animal" sirens blared out and the zoo was on lock-down, with scared visitors trapped in buildings as staff attempted to sedate the animal.

Eyewitnesses reported seeing armed police and helicopters before keepers sedated and recaptured the gorilla.

It is not clear how the aminal got out of its enclosure but zoo visitors said the the silverback was agitated and charging at the glass seconds before the escape.

Gorilla: The lead male silverback, Kumbuka, was seen to be agitated moments before the escape. (Rob Hogan). / Rob Hogan.

The huge animal was seen repeatedly banging his 29-stone body into the glass repeatedly just before alarms started ringing and visistors were ushered to safety.

Escaped gorilla

Jonny Briers, 22, from Tooting told The Standard: We were at the gorilla enclosure and the gorilla charged at the glass.

"It didnt break it, we saw it do it earlier in the day as well.

"And then we started to leave and we heard the siren go off.

"Then we saw zookeepers running and they told us to go inside.

"We went into the aquarium and they locked the doors.

The gorilla is believed to be the male silverback Kumbuka who was brought to the zoo in 2013

We were in there for about half an hour to 45 minutes. We didnt know what was happening. A zookeeper kept us calm and said it was an animal escape siren.

People were let out at around quarter to six.

HOLD FOR PERMISSION Police called to ZSL London Zoo after gorilla escapes

The doors to the aquarium were automatic so we didnt feel that safe, they were glass doors.

Some people were pretty scared. We did see a woman on a bench hyperventilating as we were leaving.

The head of mammals at the zoo dismissed the escape as a "minor incident" and a zoo spokeswoman added the gorilla was now "awake and well".

She said: "A male gorilla got out of his den at ZSL London Zoo and into a non-public keeper area at 5:13pm on Thursday, 13 October 2016. The gorilla remained contained within the exhibits off show area.

"Staff responded immediately and the 18-year-old gorilla - named Kumbuka - was tranquilized by vets and returned to his den, where we can confirm he is awake and well.

Male gorilla: Kubuka at the zoo in 2014 / Steve Parsons/PA Wire

"It is not yet confirmed how the incident occurred and a full investigation will be carried out to determine what happened.

"The exhibit is secure and we are grateful to all of our staff and visitors for their cooperation, enabling us to resolve the situation quickly and efficiently."

The escape comes after, in May, a gorilla was shot dead by keepers when it grabbed a four-year-old boy who fell into a moat at a US zoo.

Harambe, a 17-year-old, 400-pound-plus male western lowland, was killed after he dragged the youngster around for 10 minutes after he fell 12 feet into the exhibit at Cincinnati Zoo.

Metropolitan police were called to the zoo at 5:20pm to support zoo staff dealing with the gorilla in question."

A spokesman confirmed at 6.48pm that the incident had been "concluded".

Rob Hogan, 37, told the Standard the gorilla seemed calm and peaceful just minutes before it charged at the glass right in front of his eyes.

Mr Hogan, who had come to London Zoo from Halifax for a work conference, said: A small group of us went to the gorilla enclosure and started to take pictures, no flash.

I took a picture and then one second, two seconds later, he jumped at the window. It sounded like a car hitting the window.

We stayed there for another two or three minutes looking, then we walked off towards the reptile enclosure. Two minutes later we heard an alarm.

Police and evacuated visitors stand outside London Zoo / AP

We saw park wardens moving to the gorillas. They said it was a drill. But we put two and two together, because it just jumped at the window. You dont do that for a meerkat.

Eyewitness Brad Evans, who was allowed to leave the zoo, told BBC Radio London: "We were in the zoo for the day, having a cup of coffee in the main restaurant area, when they locked us all in and said there was an incident.

"They gave us free teas and coffees and obviously we were asking what was going on, and they told us that a gorilla had got out of its enclosure and that we weren't allowed out of the park at half five, so we had to wait.

"As we were waiting we saw the police turning up in numbers with loads of guns."

He arrived in early 2013 from Paignton Zoo in Devon and is the father of the two infants Alika, 3, and Jernot who was born last year.

Kumbuka was seen charging at the glass of the enclosure / Glenn Copus

According to the zoo's website there are at least seven gorillas living in its Gorilla Kingdom.

Eighteen-year-old Kumbuka is the only male silverback and is the zoo's star attraction.

He arrived in early 2013 from Paignton Zoo in Devon and is the father of the two infants Alika, 3, and Jernot who was born last year.

At an impressive 29 stone Kumbuka is thought to be over six times stronger than the average man.

Videos of lowland gorillas show the animal snapping trees in half with incredible strength.

As the male, Kumbuka is the leader of the troop at the zoo.

Kumbuka the gorilla 1 /6 Kumbuka the gorilla AN20268351Newly arrived at .jpg New arrival: Kumbuka meets the public at London Zoo. He arrived two weeks ago from Paignton Zoo in Devon (Picture: Glenn Copus) Glenn Copus AN20268395Newly arrived at .jpg Ladies' man: despite never having had a female mate before, Kumbuku has already been spotted flirting with females Mjukuu and Effie Glenn Copus kumbuka-jpg.jpg At home: Kumbuka with a green pepper as he settles in at London Zoo Getty AN20268475Newly arrived at .jpg Majestic: Kumbuka is a 15-year-old western lowland silverback Glenn Copus kumbuka.jpg Powerful: the western lowland gorilla Getty

According to the National Geographic, the alpha male defends his troop from threats with impressive shows of physical power.

He is likely to stand upright, throw things, make aggressive charges, and pound his huge chest while barking out powerful hoots or unleashing a frightening roar.

The animal is an endangered species and can reportedly experience stress when held in captivity.
T he 18-year-old gorilla that caused chaos at London Zoo when he escaped from his enclosure is a "star" attraction with a "passion for art".

Kumbuka terrified visitors after charging into the glass wall seconds before he made his escape, leaving the zoo on lock-down.

But the terrifying animal is said to have a softer side after "making" walking sticks that were sold on ebay to raise money for conservation charities.

Kumbuka arrived at ZSL London Zoo three years ago from a zoo in Devon to mate with the females.

Change: The gorilla seemed calm and peaceful just minutes before it was seen jumping at the window. / Rob Hogan.

He is the father of Gernot, a young male who was born in November last year to Effie.

Kumbuka was born in Belfast Zoo in 1997, but after being rejected by his mother Delilah was transferred to Germany, where he was hand-reared in Stuttgart Zoo with other youngsters.

In 2006 he was transferred to Paignton Zoo, where he found a home alongside two other western lowlands, Kivu and Kiondo, who also came from Stuttgart.

Star animal: Kumbuka was brought to London Zoo in 2013 / Steve Parsons/PA Wire

According to media reports, this was where the gorilla discovered his artistic flair and helped make walking sticks - by stripping off the bark - to raise money for international ape conservation.

Another gorilla there at the time, N'Dowe, created a series of abstract paintings on canvas that were also auctioned for the charity.

In their natural habitat western lowland gorillas are found in the lowland tropical forests of central Africa, mainly in the forests of Congo.

Gorilla escape: Police and evacuated visitors stand outside London Zoo / AP

Smaller and lighter than other gorillas, the western lowland is the most widespread and numerous of the four gorilla subspecies.

Despite numbering around 100,000, according to the WWF, they are critically endangered as a species.


A Russian-born beauty queen and actress who received a divorce payout of more than 3.3 million is demanding extra cash from her ex-husband to maintain a reasonable standard of living, a court heard.

Ekaterina Fields, 43, had a lavish lifestyle during her decade-long marriage to American lawyer Richard Fields, 60.

She dined at top restaurants, had a Maserati on the drive and a cook and two nannies at home.

When the couple split in 2011, Mrs Fields, a former child actress, asked for 60,000 a year for clothes for herself and her children, beauty treatments and hairdressing and a 75,000 annual holiday fund.

Last year, Mr Justice Holman gave her assets totalling more than 3.3 million  enough to buy a flat in Kensington and Chelsea with their two children and 370,000 a year in maintenance.

This included 100,000 a year to help her build up a savings pot.

But Mrs Fields, who was Miss World University 1990, now claims she is not being paid enough to leave her sufficiently provided for in the future, saying her ex-husband can afford to double this part of his payment to her.

Lawyer: five-times-wed Richard Fields (Picture: Glenn Copus)

The wife says the provision for the future fund was too small and would leave her unprovided for in later life, Lady Justice Black told the Court of Appeal.

During the divorce battle, Mr Justice Holman heard that the couple, who met in 2001, had an eye-watering standard of living at an apartment overlooking Central Park in New York.

We enjoyed frequent foreign holidays, always flying business class, and ate in the finest restaurants, Mrs Fields said. He encouraged me to spend freely and would buy me lavish gifts of jewellery several times each year.

Mr Fields admitted being generous to his fifth wife, and said he spent close to his limits during their marriage. Mrs Fields moved to London and argued when the couple divorced that she had to stay living in the Kensington and Chelsea area to mirror her New York lifestyle and in order to be located close to the school and nursery attended by her children.

The divorce deal included 100,000 a year in payments to build up her independent savings, so she would have more than 1 million in the bank after a decade.

But Mrs Fields now claims her ex-husbands declining health and his age mean his time as a top earner is limited, so he should increase the payments to 215,000 a year to ensure she gets a proper nest egg.

Lawyers for Mr Fields argue the original settlement was fair, and say he was preparing to apply to reduce the payments because of a downturn in his income. Lady Justice Black adjourned the case to a later date to hear evidence about Mr Fieldss health problems.

Last years original court battle was heard in public after the judge learned the warring couple had run up legal bills topping 1 million.

Mrs Fields said she had tried to work in the past, including as a personal assistant and in diamond trading, but she had no plans to seek employment in the future. I am a very good wife. I will try to find a husband, she said. I intend to make attempts at making money ... It is unclear at this point how I would succeed. She later claimed the comments were intended as a joke.

The court previously heard that Mrs Fields suffers from chronic fatigue syndrome which stops her from "carrying on normal activities".
M ayor Sadiq Khan today brought together 150 Londoners in a bid to form a tough new approach to tackling the capitals knife crime epidemic.

Families of victims, young campaigners, teachers, police officers and officials from hospitals and the criminal justice system were among experts meeting at the knife crime summit in Euston.

The move came as figures showed that knife crime, which accounts for almost half of all murders in London, has risen 16 per cent in the past two years, with 13 people under the age of 25 killed this year.

Yvonne Lawson, who lost her 17-year-old son Godwin to a knife attack in 2010, said: I know there are no quick fixes. What we need is a consistent approach of everybody working together like a jigsaw puzzle.

We cant all do everything but everyone can do something. I am hoping we can conclude that one of the ways forward will be early intervention provision.

Campaigner Reiss Hall, 24, who organises debates for young people on crime issues, urged officials to be more focused on the problems of local areas.

He said: We have had a blanket approach to the problem when we need to have a much better understanding of what the problems are at a local level.

Our efforts need to be more targeted and there needs to be a greater understanding of what sort of problems there are.

He said young people often carried knives to protect themselves.

Mr Hall added: A lot of these issues take place in deprived areas. On a day-to-day level people have to live in an environment where they cannot be sure of their own safety.

Mr Khan said: Every death on the streets of London is an utter tragedy, and I am deeply concerned about the rise in knife crime over recent years.

It is time for a new approach. We must send a strong message that carrying a knife is completely unacceptable, and is more likely to ruin your life than to save it.

I hope that todays summit will help us to harness the knowledge and insights of all those who have experience of knife crime, so we can help rid our communities of this terrible violence.

Also speaking today were Met chief Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe, surgeon Professor Roger Kneebone, and Emily Thomas, governor of London young offender institution HMP Isis.

Sir Bernard said: It is clear we need to do more to get over the message that it is wrong to carry a knife. We will continue to pursue those who carry and use them to hurt people.
M ore women have come forward with claims they were 'touched inappropriately' by Donald Trump.

The claims, including allegations he groped a womans breasts and kissed another against her will, were dismissed as "completely false" by Mr Trump's campaign.

They accused US media of pursuing a vendetta against him.

The claims came following revelations that the Republican candidate made widely-condemned comments about women.

In a letter from his lawyers, Mr Trump demanded the New York Times retract what it called a "libellous article" and apologise.

One woman told the US newspaper that she encountered Mr Trump on a flight three decades ago.

The woman, from New York, alleged he grabbed her breasts "like an octopus" and tried to put his hand up her skirt.

A woman from Ohio said she met him at Trump Tower when she was 22 in 2005.

She claimed he kissed her "directly on the mouth" against her will.

Mr Trump denied the accusations, saying: "None of this ever took place."

Mr Trumps campaign spokesman, Jason Miller said: "For The New York Times to launch a completely false, co-ordinated character assassination against Mr Trump on a topic like this is dangerous.

Hillary Clinton v Donald Trump: US Presidential Election 1 /93 Hillary Clinton v Donald Trump: US Presidential Election Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump votes at PS 59 in New York Carlo Allegri/Reuters U.S. Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton fills out her ballot at the Douglas Grafflin Elementary School in Chappaqua, New York Brian Snyder/Reuters Topless protestors cause commotion at the site where Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump is scheduled to work at PS 59 located at 233 East 56th Street in Manhattan NY Daily News via Getty Images Republician presidential nominee Donald Trump arrives at a polling station in New York to cast his ballot in the presidential election Robyn Beck/AFP/Getty Images Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton arrives to vote in the U.S. presidential election at Grafflin Elementary School in Chappaqua, New York Mike Segar/Reuters A voter looks at a sample ballot as he waits in line at a polling location in Kansas City, Missouri. Whitney Curtis/Getty Images Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton cookies are on sale at the Oakmont Bakery in Oakmont, Pennsylvania Jeff Swensen/Getty Images Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, and her husband former President Bill Clinton, leave their polling place in Chappaqua Seth Wenig/AP lay Smith is the first voter to cast the ballot in the US presidential election, in the small village of Dixville Notch, New Hampshire Herb Swanson/EPA Poll workers look on as US President Barack Obama gestures towards the press as he votes early at the Cook County Office Building in Chicago, Illinois Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images President Barack Obama speaks at a campaign event for Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton at the University of New Hampshire in Durham Elise Amendola/AP Donald Trump takes a break from speaking to compare his face to a mask during a rally at the Sarasota Fairgrounds in Sarasota, Florida Loren Elliott/The Tampa Bay Times via AP Lady Gaga speaks during a campaign rally for Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton in Raleigh Gerry Broome/AP Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and husband, former President Bill Clinton take the stage during a campaign rally in Raleigh Gerry Broome/AP Madonna sings a song as she campaigns for Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton during a surprise performance at Washington Square Park in New York Matt Rourke/AP Musician Bruce Springsteen performs at an election eve rally for Democratic presidential nominee former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Spencer Platt/Getty Images Supporters hold signs and a copy of the Bible during a rally for Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump in Manchester Charles Krupa/AP Republican vice presidential candidate, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, speaks to a campaign rally before the arrival of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump in Manchester Bill Sikes/AP Jon Bon Jovi and Lady Gaga perform during a campaign rally for Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton in Raleigh Gerry Broome/AP Musician Jon Bon Jovi performs at an election eve rally for Democratic presidential nominee former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on November in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Spencer Platt/Getty Images Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton boards her plane at Philadelphia International Airport Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images Part of a Nov. 6, 2016, letter from FBI director James Comey to Congress is photographed in Washington. Comey tells Congress that a review of new Hillary Clinton emails has "not changed our conclusions" from earlier this year that she should not face charges Jon Elswick/AP Supporters of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump cheer during a campaign rally in Leesburg Evan Vucci/AP Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump attends a campaign rally in Detroit, Michigan Carlo Allegri/Reuters NBA basketball player Lebron James introduces U.S. Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton during a campaign rally in Cleveland, Ohio Carlo Allegri/Reuters A member of the audience holds a sign during a campaign rally for Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump in Sterling Heights, , Michigan Paul Sancya/AP President Barack Obama speaks at a campaign rally for Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton in Kissimmee. 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The stunt was organized by artist Alison Jackson Drew Angerer/Getty Images Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump hugs a the American flag as he arrives to speak to a campaign rally in Tampa Evan Vucci/AP Katy Perry speaks at a rally in support of Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton in Las Vegas AP Democratic U.S. presidential nominee Hillary Clinton waves to a member of the audience as she walks off the debate stage as Republican U.S. presidential nominee Donald Trump remains at his podium after the conclusion of their third and final 2016 presidential campaign debate at UNLV in Las Vegas, Nevada Mike Blake/Reuters NFL fans wear Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton masks during a game between the New York Jets and Arizona Cardinals Norm Hall/Getty Images Donald Trump holds a child onstage during a campaign rally in Green Bay, Wisconsin Jonathan Ernst/Reuters Hillary Clinton (Kate McKinnon) and Donald Trump (Alec Baldwin) take on the 'Town Hall Debate Cold Open' on SNL Saturday Night Live Hillary Clinton chats to Ellen DeGeneres during a commercial break during the filming of the Ellen Show Brenan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images A Donald Trump themed fortune telling machine stands on the street in Columbus Circle in New YorK Lucas Jackson/Reuters Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump kisses a "Women for Trump" placard during a rally at the Lakeland Linder Regional Airport in Lakeland, Florida Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump during the town hall debate at Washington University Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images Kevin Lake of Jefferson, Iowa, wears a wall outfit in honour of Donald Trump's pledge to build a wall along the Mexico border Scott Morgan/Reuters Donald Trump holds two-year-old Hunter Tirpak, who is dressed as Trump, during a rally at Mohegan Sun Arena Christopher Dolan/The Citizensi Voice via AP Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump during the town hall debate at Washington University Saul Loeb-Pool/Getty Images Ken Bone found himself going viral after his attention-grabbing question during the town hall debate at Washington University Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images Donald Trump's daughters-in-law Lara Trump and Vanessa Trump and daughter Tiffany Trump Scott Olson/Getty Images Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump leave the stage after the first presidential debate at Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York Timothy A. Clary/AFP/Getty Images Melania (L) and Ivanka (C) Trump sit next to Republican vice presidential nominee Governor Mike Pence ahead of the first debate between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton Joe Raedle/Pool/Reuters Hillary Clinton shakes hands with husband and former U.S. President Bill Clinton after the first Presidential Debate Joe Raedle/Getty Images Donald Trump with wife Melania Trump, Ivanka Trump, Donald Trump Jr.'s wife Vanessa Trump, Eric Trumps wife Lara Yunaska, and Eric Trump Paul J. Richards/AFP US actresses Lena Dunham and America Ferrera speak at the Democratic National Convention at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia Peter Foley/EPA Alec Baldwin as Donald Trump on Saturday Night Live Saturday Night Live Hillary Clinton attempts to open a pickle jar on Jimmy Kimmel Live! Andy Holmes/ABC Donald Trump greets supporters at a rally at Ladd-Peebles Stadium Mark Wallheiser/Getty Images Denis Leary and James Corden on The Late Late Show CBS Donald Trump reacts to the cries of three-month-old Kellen Campbell, of Denver, right, while holding six-month-old Evelyn Keane, of Castel Rock, Colorado Joe Mahoney/Getty Images Bill Clintonon on the final night of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Mike Segar/Reuters Alicia Keys performs at he Democratic National Convention Shawn Thew/EPA Meryl Streep at the Democratic National Convention at the Wells Fargo Center Alex Wong/Getty Images Donald Trump hugs his daughter Ivanka Trump at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images Sarah Palin endorses Donald Trump's run for the Republican presidential nomination Aaron P. Bernstein/Getty Images Donald Trump during a campaign stop on the campus of the University of Central Florida Joe Raedle/Getty Images

"To reach back decades in an attempt to smear Mr Trump trivialises sexual assault, and it sets a new low for where the media is willing to go in its efforts to determine this election."

In Florida, the Palm Beach Post reported that a woman claimed Mr Trump groped her at his Mar-a-Lago estate 13 years ago.

A magazine reporter also posted a story about a 2005 incident at Mar-a-Lago where, she claimed he "was pushing me against the wall, and forcing his tongue down my throat".

The Trump campaign said there was no "merit or veracity" to either story.

Hillary Clinton's communication's director, Jennifer Palmieri, said in a statement that the latest run of allegations "sadly fits everything we know about the way Donald Trump has treated women".

The interviews come days after a videotape from 2005 emerged, on which Mr Trump made a series of vulgar and sexually predatory comments about women.

He was filmed bragging to then-Access Hollywood host Billy Bush that his fame allowed him to force himself on women.

"And when you're a star, they let you do it," Mr Trump said.

He added: "Grab them by the p****. You can do anything."

Mr Trump has apologised for the comments on the recording, but also dismissed them as "locker room talk" and a distraction from the campaign.

Asked during Sunday's presidential debate whether he had ever engaged in the sort of conduct he described in 2005, he said: "No. I do not."
S ky News presenter Eamonn Holmes has presented his last Sunrise programme after 11 years at the helm.

Mr Holmes' colleagues paid tribute to "the king of breakfast TV" this morning, playing a video montage of his highlights on the show.

Hours before his last show he tweeted: The Sun Sets on my 11 years on @SkyNews Sunrise tomorrow. It's been a privilege.

He told viewers: "It has been 11 years thank you very much for putting up with me for all that time.

Emotional: Eamonn Holmes received a farewell group hug as he signed off from Sky News / Sky News

"In that 11 years Ive had to report on some awful news but Ive also had to report on some really fantastic news some really uplifting news and we should have more of that.

"But the main thing is its not important who presents the news the news is the important thing, keep on watching it, keep on doing it, Sunrise and the news continues after the break in the morning."

Eammon Holmes leaves Sky News after 11 years

Behind the scenes shots of the show were live streamed on Facebook.

Colleagues, fellow broadcasters and past interviewees were among those to pay tribute to the presenter.

Jonathan Samuels, who will replace Mr Holmes alongside Sarah-Jane Mee, tweeted: Huge good luck to the king of breakfast tv @EamonnHolmes as he broadcasts his last shown on @SkyNews this morning.

Virgin Radio host Jamie East added: Big props to @EamonnHolmes on his last sky news show. Great stint from a top pro. Also good luck to Sarah-Jane whos filling those boots!

While SNP politician Nathan Sparling wrote: @EamonnHolmes was a pleasure to have been interviewed by you on Sunrise. Best wishes for what comes next!

The 56-year-old journalist announced his departure in September saying he found himself in the fortunate position of having so much to do but little time to do it".

In a Facebook post he hailed the role as the stuff of boyhood dreams which he achieved "because of Sky News".

He said: There is an addiction to a live breaking news studio environment. However, after more than 3,000 editions of Sunrise it is a habit I have to suppress.

Going forward, I will now produce and present a number of documentary projects which I have been stalling for some time, as well as continuing my work with ITV and Channel 5. There is so much going on and I realised it was now or never...

Born in Belfast, Mr Holmes started his broadcast career with at ITVs GMTV which he co-hosted for 12 years before moving to Sky in 2005.

In 2013, he signed a multimillion-pound deal to stay with the channel for five years but has reportedly come to an amicable agreement to terminate his contract early.

He said: Sky's Head of News, John Ryley, has been very understanding and sympathetic of my decision. I would like to publicly thank him and the wider Sky family for all their support throughout my time at Osterley. Johns counsel and guidance in helping me to reach this decision has been invaluable.

Mr Holmes has said he will continue to co-present ITVs This Mornings breakfast show with his wife Ruth Langsford.

He will be replaced as anchor of Sunrise by Sarah-Jane Mee and Jonathan Samuels, currently the senior correspondent for Sky News.
Lisa Nelson had a unique introduction to Salem Lutheran Church.

My first very Sunday here was a celebration  it was the 40th anniversary of the ordination of Pastor Thomas, she said. There was quite a celebration, quite a few pastors with us that day. We had some great music. It was a fun time.

Since then, Nelsons had a variety of opportunities in her new role as interim music and worship director at the Fremont church.

Shes a very talented and gifted young lady, said the Rev. Michael Thomas, senior pastor. She plays the flute, guitar, piano and pipe organ. She teaches piano and is willing to teach pipe organ as well.

Nelson is from Forest City, Iowa, and graduated from St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minn., with a degree in music in 1988. Shes served as an organist, pianist or accompanist at close to a dozen churches in the northern Iowa area  in a variety of different denominations.

Shes served in Lutheran, Catholic, Methodist and Congregational churches.

Nelson and her husband, Mark, have been married for 25 years. They have three adult children: Nehemiah and his wife, Shelby, live in Khandala, India; Natalie Bradbury lives in Mason City, Iowa; Noah has moved with this parents to Fremont.

In August, Lisa Nelson started at Salem, where her memory of the ordination celebration is a good one. There was pipe organ music and brass musicians, she said.

The Rev. Dennis Anderson, former bishop of the Nebraska Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, attended as were colleagues of Thomas. So did the Rev. Don Neihaus, a retired minister from Christ Lutheran Church, who was involved in Thomas ordination. Neihaus preached during the 40th celebration. The Rev. Del Hutton, former visitation pastor at Salem and former professor at Dana College in Blair, also attended.

Nelson enjoyed the celebration.

It was a privilege to get to participate in that, she said. I had never been to a 40th anniversary of an ordination before.

Besides that event, Nelson has been working with the churchs preschool, Salem Little Saints. She plays for the chapel for that group.

I really enjoy that, she said.

Shes also been accompanying the senior adult choir, playing in the bell choir and working with the Sparks program for children. Shes also been selecting music for services and practicing for those services.

She said her greatest joy and primary goal is to help people worship the Lord.

Nelson works closely with Rosie Parde, the choir director, and Matt Wilson, the bell choir director.

We have a large group of volunteers involved in the music program, she said. Ive enjoyed working with them.

More activities lie ahead.

A polka music service is planned for the 8:30 and 10:30 a.m. worship services on Nov. 27.

Salem will host the ecumenical Thanksgiving service this year. The service will start at 7 p.m. Nov. 23. Jeff Hoffman will play for that service. Nelson also will be involved in the service.

Were hoping to have a special group along with our mass choir that will be singing, Thomas said. Our bell choir will be playing. Community brass members will be playing for that also.

The Rev. Lee Foreman will lead the brass group.

Lisas going to be busy getting ready for that, Thomas said.

Other church observations include the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation.

The actual anniversary is Oct. 31, 2017, but the ELCA has begun its observation of the anniversary. Salem is planning observations as well, starting on Oct. 30.

We have planned every month on the last Sunday of the month for Reformation in Five Minutes, Thomas said. Were going to be talking about different aspects of the Reformation over the next year.

On Oct. 31, 1517, an Augustine monk named Martin Luther posted his 95 theses to the door of Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany. The result would lead to changes that reshaped western Christianity.

Nelson will continue to serve Salem, playing music designed to help draw people to worship.

By the end of the year, when Thomas retires, shell decide whether to continue in her role at the church.
T he mother of a teenager who was allegedly murdered in South America has launched a fundraiser to save the life of a disabled child she met during a trip for a court hearing.

Linda Bernard, 52, from Epsom, travelled to Guyana in July to attend a court hearing over the murder of her 18-year-old son Dominic, who disappeared while on holiday in the country last October, when she met seven-year-old Ephraim Collins.

The youngster suffers from hydrochephalus - a condition which causes a large build up of fluid in the brain and makes the head swell.

The circumference of Ephraims head is currently 88cm, believed to be the largest human head in the world.

Tragic: Dominic Bernard was allegedly murdered while on holiday in Guyana / Facebook

Mrs Bernard is aiming to raise around 70,000 to fund a life-saving operation which would see fluid drained from Ephraim's brain.

The bereaved mother hopes to bring-in cash by cutting off a ponytail she has had for 30 years on October 22, in Cheam.

Her hair will be made into a wig for a child with cancer.

Her friend, Zena Alli, said: Linda believes that by helping to raise money for Ephraim to have a life-saving operation, some good may come from her family's loss.

It is believed that Dominic was murdered shortly after he arrived in Guyana in October last year. His body was found badly decomposed in a shallow grave in January.

His godbrother, Aaron Hing, 22, and 23-year-old Staymon George have been charged with the murder, and a man and two women also appeared before a judge accused of helping bury Dominics body and his camera equipment.
T he militant Islamist group Boko Haram has released 21 of the kidnapped Chibok schoolgirls who were taken from their families in 2014, the Nigerian government has confirmed.

Garba Shehu, the Presidents spokesman wrote on Twitter: It is confirmed that 21 of the missing Chibok Girls have been released and are in the custody of the Department of State Services, DSS.

He said: The release of the girls, in a limited number is the outcome of negotiations between the administration and the Boko Haram, brokered by the International Red Cross and the Swiss government adding the negotiations will continue.

Mr Shehu said that the Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari welcomed the release of the girls but that he cautioned that over 30,000 fellow Nigerians were killed via terrorism.

President Buhari said, via his spokesman: "We are getting security right. We are stopping corruption in its tracks and we will get the economy right by the Grace of God."

Mr Shehu said the names of the girls would be released shortly.

276 girls were kidnapped in April 2014 when Boko Haram fighters raided a boarding school in the small north eastern village of Chibok. Over 100 of the girls are still unaccounted for.

The kidnapping was met with international outrage and prompted a global social media campaign with the hashtag #BringBackOurGirls which was championed by American First Lady Michelle Obama.

Boko Haram is an Islamist group which operates mainly in north eastern Nigeria. The group emerged around 14 years ago in opposition to Western education but quickly radicalised.

In 2015 they pledged allegiance to the Islamic State. They are accused of being responsible for thousands of deaths.
T alks with Russia over the Syria conflict have run out of road and new options including military intervention must now be explored, Boris Johnson said today.

The Foreign Secretary sought to galvanise the West to act to end the hell in the besieged city of Aleppo and other parts of the war-ravaged country.

He is to host an emergency summit of foreign ministers, including US Secretary of State John Kerry, in London on Sunday to discuss the crisis as the death toll in Aleppo rises.

We have to do something, Mr Johnson told MPs.

Appearing before the Commons foreign affairs committee, he signalled that the West will consider more kinetic action in Syria, which could include enforcing a no-fly zone to stop the bombing and killings.

Most people, and I think including John Kerry, feel that the process of discussion with the Russians has basically run out of road and on Sunday we will be talking about all the options that we think are available to us and to the West, he said.

Im not going to pretend that there is any easy answer here.

But I think most people are now changing their minds about this and they are thinking we cant let this go on forever, we cant just see Aleppo pulverised in this way. We have to do something.

Whether that means we can get a coalition together for more kinetic action now, I cannot prophesize, but certainly what most people want to see is a new set of options.

Boris Johnson calls for protests outside the Russian Embassy over Syria conflict

He believes the mood in the Commons has changed since it voted against military action in Syria in the summer of 2013 after Bashar Assads regime allegedly used chemical weapons on its own people.

A source close to Mr Johnson added: The Foreign Secretary wants to get momentum going for some solutions to end the hell in Syria and has called Kerry and other ministers to London to get on with this.

An estimated 400,000 people have died in the five-year civil war, with millions forced to flee their homes. Mr Kerry will meet Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, in Geneva on Saturday but hopes of a breakthrough to re-impose a ceasefire which collapsed weeks ago are very slim.

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While Mr Johnsons intervention will increase the pressure on Moscow, any greater military involvement in Syria is not expected until after next months US presidential elections.

Imposing a no-fly zone, without the backing of Russia, would also risk escalating the conflict if its planes clashed with those of a US-led coalition.

Meanwhile, Russias ambassador to the UN said Moscow regretted any civilian casualties in the bombing of Aleppo but added: This is what happens during war.

Vitaly Churkin also unleashed a stinging attack on Mr Johnson after he called for protests outside the countrys embassy in London over its military action in Syria.

Nearly 150 people have been killed in the past two days in renewed bombing of rebel-held eastern Aleppo, according to Ammar al Selmo, the head of the civil defence rescue service.

Mr Churkin insisted that Russian planes were targeting Islamic State and al Qaeda-linked terrorists and that the bombing was not indiscriminate. But several hospitals have been hit and heart-breaking images of children being pulled from rubble have been beamed around the world.

The Syrian regime has been accused of dropping barrel bombs from helicopters and Russian jets of destroying an aid convoy heading for Aleppo.

Mr Johnson has warned Russia it risks becoming a pariah state with its intervention. Mr Churkin described his appeal for embassy protests as quite inappropriate for a Foreign Secretary.
K ing Bhumibol Adulyadej of Thailand , who took the throne after the Second World War has died aged 88.

The cause of his death is unknown but he was described as being seriously ill early today.

The Thai king was highly revered and seen as a unifying figure in a country which has been divided by a succession of political uprisings.

The 2014 military coup took its authority from the king, leaving some commentators to speculate that King Bhumibols death may usher in a period of uncertainty in Thai politics.

In recent years King Bhumibol suffered from ill health and since 2009 he had been living in a suite of a Bangkok hospital. The palace confirmed his death but did not give any further information on its circumstances.

In the days before his death many Thai people wore pink to bring good luck to their king with hundreds gathering outside the hospital.

Grief: People react to the death of Thailand's King Bhumibol Adulyadej in Bangkok / AFP/Getty Images

Born in America and brought up in Switzerland speaking French and English, King Bhumibol grew up the as the second brother, not in line rule.

He only acceded to the throne following the death of his brother Ananda who was found one morning in bed with a bullet in his temple.

Three palace employees were sentenced to death for his murder, despite there being no official investigation into his death.

King Bhumbiol was known for his charity work and he was seen by many as a stabilising force in Thai politics. Those his critics claim he operated a monopoly over charitable initiatives, starving civil society, and that he had supported military coups.

His presumed successor is 63-year-old Crown Prince Vajiralongkorn who is less favourably viewed than his father.

With his death King Bhumbiol leaves the title of the worlds longest reigning monarch to Queen Elizabeth II, who has reigned over Britain for more than 64 years.
F ormer Strictly Come Dancing contestant Melvin Odoom has dismissed claims of racism from the shows viewers following Tameka Empsons controversial dismissal.

Odoom and Empson were the first two celebrities to be eliminated from this years competition.

Odoom facing the chop after Anastacia was unable to take part in the dance off, while Empson ended up in the bottom two last week despite praise from the judges.

With two of the series three black contestants being sent home in the first weeks of the show, some viewers accused voters of targeting minority participants.

Speaking to The Sun, Odoom spoke against the racism claims and said they were nothing.

If there was a racist issue we wouldnt be there in the first place, he said.

I think its got nothing to do with that. I think people are just trying to find a story to make out of nothing essentially.

Do you know what? The thing is, every single person on that show is amazing.

Whoever leaves, its going to be a story.

Guy Levy/BBC

Odoom added that he thought Empson was the "funniest person on the show".

That dance-off for me was like, whoever loses, its going to be a terrible outcome and I think every single week youre going to be sad to see someone go, he explained.

Strictly Come Dancing 2016 1 /58 Strictly Come Dancing 2016 Ed Balls with his dance partner Katya Jones during Saturday's live edition of the BBC1 show, Strictly Come Dancing. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Issue date: Saturday October 8, 2016 Guy Levy/BBC host Tess Daly with Tameka Empson and her dance partner Gorka Marquez after she was voted off Strictly Come Dancing Guy Levy/BBC Judge Robert Rinder with his dance partner Oksana Platero during Saturday's live edition of the BBC1 show, Strictly Come Dancing Guy Levy/BBC Claudia Fragapane with her dance partner AJ Pritchard during Saturday's live edition of the BBC1 show, Strictly Come Dancing Guy Levy/BBC Ed Balls with his dance partner Katya Jones during Saturday's live edition of the BBC1 show, Strictly Come Dancing Guy Levy/BBC Will Young with his dance partner Karen Clifton during a dress rehearsal Guy Levy/BBC Tameka Empson with her dance partner Gorka Marquez Guy Levy/BBC Danny Mac with his dance partner Oti Mabuse during a dress rehearsal Guy Levy/BBC Ed Balls Guy Levy/BBC Claudia Fragapane with her dance partner AJ Pritchard Guy Levy/BBC Lesley Joseph with her dance partner Anton Du Beke Guy Levy/BBC Naga Munchetty with her dance partner Pasha Kovalev Guy Levy/BBC Danny Mac with his dance partner Oti Mabuse Guy Levy/BBC Daisy Lowe with her dance partner Aljaz Skorjanec Guy Levy/BBC Will Young with his dance partner Karen Clifton Guy Levy/BBC Louise Redknapp Guy Levy/BBC Laura Whitmore with her dance partner Giovanni Pernice Guy Levy/BBC Ed Balls with dance partner Katya Jones Guy Levy/BBC Melvin Odoom and Janette Manrara leaving the competition, during the results show Guy Levy/BBC Anastacia with her dance partner Brendan Cole Guy Levy/BBC Laura Whitmore with her dance partner Giovanni Pernice Guy Levy/BBC Ore Oduba with his dance partner Joanne Clifton Guy Levy/BBC Daisy Lowe with dance partner Aljaz Skorjanec Guy Levy/BBC Ore Oduba with his dance partner Joanne Clifton Guy Levy/BBC Naga Munchetty with her dance partner Pasha Kovalev during a dress rehearsa Guy Levy/BBC Claudia Winkleman and Tess Daly Guy Levy/BBC Louise Redknapp with her dance partner Kevin Clifton Guy Levy/BBC Naga Munchetty with her dance partner Pasha Kovalev Guy Levy/BBC Will Young with his dance partner Karen Clifton Guy Levy/BBC Lesley Joseph with her dance partner Anton Du Beke Guy Levy/BBC Judge Robert Rinder with his dance partner Oksana Platero Guy Levy/BBC Pasha Kovalev (right) and Naga Munchetty Guy Levy/BBC Lesley Joseph (left) and Anton Du Beke Guy Levy/BBC Natalie Lowe (left) and Greg Rutherford Guy Levy/BBC Ed Balls with his dance partner Katya Jones Guy Levy/BBC Ore Oduba with his dance partner Joanne Clifton Guy Levy/BBC Greg Rutherford with his dance partner Natalie Lowe Guy Levy/BBC Anastacia with her dance partner Brendan Cole Guy Levy/BBC Robert Rinder Robert Rinder and Oksana Platero dance the cha cha Guy Levy/BBC Greg Rutherford Natalie Lowe and Greg Rutherford dance the jive Guy Levy/BBC Ore Oduba Joanne Clifton and Ore Oduba dance the tango Guy Levy/BBC Naga Munchetty Pasha Kovalev and Naga Munchetty dance the waltz Guy Levy/BBC Laura Whitmore Laura Whitmore and Giovanni Pernice dance the Cha Cha Guy Levy/BBC Lesley Joseph Lesley Joseph and Anton Du Beke dance the waltz Guy Levy/BBC

Empson was evidently upset upon her early exit from the show, and admitted on Strictly: It Takes Two she was surprised to go.

"I was surprised," she said. "I really thought I put all the right moves in and I never put a foot wrong. I had pain in my back but I used that to drive through.

"I'm going to keep dancing. I love to learn different dances and now I can fling down a paso doble. If I can, I'm going to try and bring a little something to EastEnders."

Will Young has become the third person to leave the current series, quitting this week for personal reasons.

Will Young quits Strictly for 'personal reasons'

In a statement he said: Unfortunately, I am leaving the show for personal reasons. I leave with joy in my heart that I have been able to take part in one of the most loved shows on British television.

I am so grateful to everyone who works on Strictly from the lighting designer to catering to the production team. Strictly truly is the most unique family and I thank them from the bottom of my heart.

Young will not be replaced in the series.
One Christmas Eve, Gary Jurgenson had a special delivery to make.

It didnt include toys for a child or fuzzy socks for a grandpa, but it was very important.

Jurgenson, a pharmacist and then-owner of Miller Pharmacy, and his son, Matt, were delivering a prescription for a nursing home patient.

Sitting in his Fremont home, Jurgenson still remembers the call he got on that very snowy night. A woman, whose mother was in the nursing home, had called and asked if Jurgenson would contact the doctor, fill the prescription and bring it to the home.

We were able to do that, Jurgenson said.

Years later, that grateful daughter still talks about that Christmas Eve run whenever she sees Jurgenson, who retired in 2014.

On Thursday  after more than 50 years  Miller Pharmacy East and North retail pharmacies closed their doors.

Its a sad day for my wife and I to see the pharmacies close; unfortunately with declining reimbursements, we have been forced to make some tough decisions, said Mark Vogt of Vogt Pharmacies, Inc. We have decided to focus on our long-term business, which has been keeping the retail locations afloat over the last several years.

We have come to an agreement with HyVee and they have purchased the patient files and those prescriptions, Vogt said in a prepared statement.

The prescriptions were set for transfer on Thursday, Vogt noted.

In the statement, Vogt spoke well of Millers employees and HyVee.

Most of our employees will be continuing their pharmacy careers at HyVee and plan to take the same great customer service along with them, Vogt said. HyVee has been a solid company here for many years and a big community supporter. We along with the employees think they will take very good care of our patients.

Vogt thanked patients and providers for their patronage throughout the years.

Our closing in no way indicates a lack of support and loyalty, however, between the declining insurance reimbursements, and the upcoming changes nationally in the healthcare system, we were unable to continue our retail locations, Vogt said. The need for long-term care pharmacy in our community is growing every day until the retail side. This is why we have chosen to focus our efforts on that part of the business.

With the closing of the Miller Pharmacy locations, Jurgenson recently looked back on the companys five-decade history.

Jerry Miller was a pharmacist at the Daniel Rexall Drug store in downtown Fremont. That pharmacy also opened another store at 22nd and C streets in 1958.

In 1962, Miller started his own pharmacy in the Parkview Plaza shopping center, but the store faced west.

A three-dimensional mortar and pestle symbol still hangs on the brick wall in between Gambinos Pizza restaurant and the Arms and Ammo sporting goods store  in the original Miller Pharmacy location.

In 1965, Miller moved the pharmacy to its most current location in Parkview Plaza, which faces south.

Miller would make other changes. In 1972, he bought the Daniel Rexall Drug at 22nd and C streets and closed the downtown location.

Now, Miller had two locations  the east and the north stores.

Jurgenson, formerly of West Point, graduated from the University of Nebraska College of Pharmacy in Lincoln in 1964. He worked in Fullerton for a year and began working at Daniel Rexall Drug in 1965.

In 1981, Miller gave Jurgenson and pharmacist Ted Zach the opportunity to buy the pharmacies from him. Zach wanted to retire and move to Montana, which he was able to do that year.

Jurgenson and Zach were partners until 1991. Ken McElhose became Jurgensons partner that year.

I had two great partners along the way, Jurgenson said. It made it so much easier. One of us was always at the east store and one of us was always at the north store.

Jurgenson also complemented the pharmacies staff.

We had so many great employees throughout the years at both stores, he said.

Jurgenson worked alongside Pharmacist Dan Bell for 42 years; Bell has continued to work at Miller Pharmacy. Jurgenson recalls Bells compassion for a former worker.

I remember Dan, on more than one occasion, was called to a former employees house, because she had fallen and Dan would go and help her up, Jurgenson said.

Jurgenson praised another longtime employee.

The main person in the whole operation was our bookkeeper for over 40 years, Karen Claussen, Jurgenson said. Both of my partners and I realized without Karen we probably couldnt exist. She was that important.

Jurgenson cited his gratitude for the pharmacies faithful customers throughout the years.

He remembers getting a check in the mail from a customer. The woman had forgotten to sign the check. So Jurgenson mailed back the check with a self-addressed, stamped envelope and asked if he could please have her autograph.

She responded with the signed check and a humorous note, which said: You know, I dont give my autograph to just anyone.

McElhose remembered times when he and Jurgenson delivered prescription medicines in snowy weather.

We always made sure we had four-wheel drive vehicles, McElhose said.

Jurgenson recalls older customers, who werent able to come to the store and didnt have family living nearby. They were happy to see someone from the pharmacy deliver their medicines.

A lot of times, we were their only contact, Jurgenson said. I think they managed to space their medicines so we made weekly trips to their house rather than going once a month.

After the older residents went to a nursing home, theyd recognize and be pleased to see Miller Pharmacy employees making a delivery there.

Many customers were able to make it to the stores, however. Some even left their mark.

McElhose recalls when customers didnt get their cars stopped in time and accidentally plowed into the glass windows at both locations.

Jurgenson and McElhose would see the business change throughout the years. Perhaps the biggest change came in the early 1980s, when the pharmacies became computerized.

It made the job easier and cut down on the paperwork to a certain extent, Jurgenson said. As it evolved, it became necessary, because thats the only way we could bill the insurance companies.

Jurgenson said McElhose grew the nursing home business a great deal throughout the years.

The pharmacies also were known for their selections of greeting cards and gifts  and Jurgenson still sees people who remember coming as children to the pharmacies many years ago to buy candy for a penny or a nickel.

In the years before heart-shaped boxes of candy became available at multiple locations, the pharmacies were the prime places to buy those.

We used to sell an incredible amount of Valentine and Christmas candy, Jurgenson said.

Throughout the years, McElhose and his wife, Alice, were involved in the community. He served on the Fremont Area Chamber of Commerce board of directors and the Jefferson House advisory board. She was involved in the Fremont Area Art Association. The McElhoses and Dale and Fern Olson co-chaired a major fundraising campaign to build onto the Jefferson House emergency placement shelter for children and youth.

When he talks about the pharmacies, Jurgenson speaks with pride.

We were proud of the fact that we were open for business every day of the year for over 45 years until that string ended five or six years ago or more when it snowed really hard, he said.

It had snowed to the point where they couldnt get to the pharmacy, Jurgenson said, and even churches called off their services.

But the night before on that same year, Jurgenson and his son had been able to make a very special Christmas Eve delivery.
Trot Insider has learned that Anndrovette, one of the toughest mares to ever look through a bridle and one of the most decorated pacers of the last decade, has been retired.

Now nine, the daughter of Riverboat King - Easy Miss retires with a summary of 45-22-27 from 144 lifetime starts, a mark of 1:48 and earnings in excess of $3.5 million. That's quite the investment from the $65,000 spent by Bamond Racing and Joe Davino to obtain the then three-year-old pacing filly from the 2010 Summer Mixed Sale at The Meadowlands. In the six seasons after that purchase, Anndrovette banked at least $350,000 in each one.



Anndrovette after winning the 2013 Roses Are Red in a Canadian record and lifetime best 1:48 (New Image Media) Anndrovette after winning the 2013 Roses Are Red in a Canadian record and lifetime best 1:48 (New Image Media)

"At the time I was on my way to The Meadowlands just for a regular race night and I was looking through the sale book," trainer Jeff Bamond told Trot Insider. "I saw a New York-sired horse who had been competing in the New York Sire Stakes. The thing that caught my attention was it seemed like she was willing every week. She was finishing every week, she had 27 last quarters no matter what track she raced at...she came home the same at Yonkers as she came home at Vernon. She was always making up ground, always making up lengths in the stretch and I thought 'here's a horse that can probably make some money in the Sire Stakes.'

"I'd love to pretend that I knew she would be who she'd be but if that was the case I would have retired by now."

Bamond confessed that the price he and his partners paid for Anndrovette at the time was right around the limit they were willing to dole out.

"We paid $65,000 and I don't think we were going much more. That was the best $65,000 I think anyone could have ever spent."

The list of accomplishments on Anndrovette's pedigree page backs up Bamond's statement. A mare that was named the best in North America for four consecutive years -- an unprecedented streak among older racehorses. Her success, however, started prior to her aged career with Grand Circuit-level victories in the American-National and the Lady Maud in addition to six New York Sire Stakes legs and the NYSS Final at three. As an older racehorse, Anndrovette flourished. Stakes conquests on her resume include the Artiscape, the Betsy Ross (twice), the Breeders Crown (twice), the Golden Girls, the Lady Liberty, the Overbid and three straight scores in the Roses Are Red.

"My favourite race she ever had was a Roses Are Red," noted Bamond. "She was passed in the stretch and she came back...halfway down the stretch I thought she'd raced real good and she was second, and then you could see her digging in and fighting back and could hear the crowd react like 'whoa'...that's not something you normally see."

Among a host of stakes wins, a number of Bamond's favourite on-track memories with Anndrovette came on Canadian soil.

"Her first Breeders Crown when she was four, just because it was kind of a crazy night. Luc Ouellette picked up the drive, and she opened up at the three-quarters by five. That was probably her most relaxing race because you could see she was a winner at the three-quarters."

"I remember there was one other race and Ken Middleton's call was, whoever was on the lead, I think it was Drop The Ball in that that race, 'is going to need another eighth of a mile of toughness, and they don't come much tougher.' I think I've watched that replay about ten times, because his call was so good."

Not only is Bamond proud of his pupil's accomplishments, but proud of how many top pacing mares Anndrovette competed against and defeated over her multiple award-winning older seasons.

"I've been watching, over the last couple of days, just a bunch of replays of everything and the biggest thing that stands out to me about her is when I go back and watch the replays how many different horses she raced against," remarked Bamond. "I could name all the horses and they've all since retired. Drop The Ball was a great horse, Dreamfair Eternal was a great horse...you can watch the replays and she outlasted every one of them."

She didn't just outlast them, she outshone them. Over that timeframe, year in and year out, Anndrovette was able to secure one of the top drivers in harness racing -- Tim Tetrick, who told Trot Insider that the pacing mare was "a beast, a great horse and definitely one of my favourites. I'm going to miss her."

"Seven seasons of racing with pretty much the same driver, which is a pretty rare feat these days," said Bamond. "Every year there would be a hotshot three-year-old and Timmy would be driving one of those and we'd be like 'okay, he has a decision to make' and it seemed like every year he'd be like 'no, I'm sticking with her.'

"The fact that stuck with her for that long says enough about her right there."

Anndrovette last started in the 2016 Milton Stakes at Mohawk Racetrack, one of the few stakes events that eluded her over her long and illustrious career.

"I sent her up for the Milton because she'd always been so good up [in Canada] and I figured maybe the change of scenery...maybe she was just getting tired of looking at me. She kind of was the same and that's when I was like maybe it didn't matter who it was, it didn't matter the driver, it didn't matter the track...that to me was the final straw.

"I thought maybe for a little bit there she was trying to tell us that maybe she'd had it," noted Bamond. "I mean, her one thing that she always had -- no matter what happened -- she always fought. I think those last couple of starts there, I've never seen her just pack it in like that and I said 'I can't keep doing this to her much longer.'"



The Bamonds with the second of Anndrovette's four consecutive O'Brien Awards as Canada's top older pacing mare (Iron Horse Photo) The Bamonds with the second of Anndrovette's four consecutive O'Brien Awards as Canada's top older pacing mare (Iron Horse Photo)

Bamond co-owned Anndrovette along with his father, Jeff and Joe Davino. All three owners agreed the time had come for the pacing powerhouse to conclude her racing days.

"I had spoken to my Dad and Joe even before she went up [to Canada] and we all agreed if there was a similar outcome there we'd look to move her."

Not broodmare owners, the collective behind Anndrovette made the decision to sell. It only took one phone call to find a buyer: Al & Michelle Crawford's Crawford Farms.

"I had a horse that I owned and trained with the Crawfords earlier this year so I had been in contact with them and knew that they certainly were always in the market for a broodmare so I reached out to them," said Bamond.

"Were so excited....I couldnt even begin to tell you how excited we are about it," Crawford told Trot insider. "I think they had hoped to race her for the rest of the year and we were kind of in a weird spot, we were trying to get ready for the sales and I wasnt really looking at taking on more broodmares before the sales, but when we talked, I said I think he knows what kind of a home shes going to have."

Bamond noted that one of the key reasons he considered Crawford first and foremost was to ensure the best possible spot for Anndrovette to live out her broodmare and post-broodmare years.

"To me, that was the main thing. I cared about where she went first, where she was going to live out the rest of her life. Breeding operation, whatever it happened to be was second. From everything I've ever heard or seen online, they seem like they take great care of their horses, [Michelle] cares a lot for them. It looks like she's taking pictures with members of her family. No matter what happens breeding-wise in her second career she's got a good home."

"I think everyones really happy," agreed Crawford. "I think they like to come to our farm because they know what kind of care theyre going to get forever and ever. Im excited! I cant imagine what shes going to pass down to her babies. If they have her heart and everything shes done on the track, its going to be awesome."

Crawford confirmed that there are no plans to bring Anndrovette back to the races; she's retired and starting her broodmare career. Being a daughter of Riverboat King out of a Big Towner dam, the bloodline options are fairly wide open.

"Shes done racing. Were retiring her from her racing career and were going back and forth right now on who to breed her to, but we have a little bit of time on that too," said Crawford. "I love the American Ideals, it could be Somebeachsomewhere, possibly Captaintreacherous. But I think Somebeachsomewhere or American Ideal is probably what well start with. I mean, shes a big, beautiful mare so it gives us a lot of options."

While Anndrovette will begin her breeding career at the age of 10, an age by which many mares have a few foals on the ground and often racing, Crawford has no qualms about the late start.

"Being nine years old...I have a couple that are eight and nine, but what theyve done, it does not matter. It does not matter their age when theyve got heart and soul. If you can breed them and get foals out of them, I think its just going to be the most amazing thing."

Crawford also credits her farm staff for doing "an amazing job" on the reproductive side of the operation, noting that the team has achieved a very high in-foal success rate.

"Its just one of those things where you see a mare and youre like wow, I would love to add her to my broodmares. And I never ever thought Id acquire Anndrovette, like you just say that name and its just untouchable."

Bamond, whose stable still boasts the likes of older pacing mares Krispy Apple and Venus Delight, bristles at lofting the expectations of Anndrovette onto any of the current stock in his barn.

"No one will ever fill her void and if I ever get one that even comes close to filling her void then I'd be doing backflips," said Bamond. "Venus Delight doesn't have the same toughness but in fairness I don't think I've seen a mare that did."

Crawford concurs, considering Anndrovette to be hands down the best older pacing mare in the last decade.

"She kept coming back and kept coming back, and you know, shes just a real warrior and thats what you look for," said Crawford. "Talking to Tim and he just glows when he talks about her and just really, its just like nothing Ive ever seen."
Last week marked the 76th anniversary of National Newspaper Week. Nationally, the theme was Way to Know.

However, I think my favorite theme from the past has been Your Community, Your Newspaper, Your Life. It was the theme in 2013 and I think it perfectly embodies the role of the local newspaper.

Ive been fortunate in that Ive worked at both a weekly and a daily newspaper. I grew up reading the newspaper, reading my teacher Mrs. OBriens weekly column in the Western Nebraska Observer, the Kimball newspaper. I also read former Observer editor Steve Millers stories every week. (Later, Steve Miller was the editor of the Star-Herald.) It was a great honor to get to go into the newspaper and have your photo taken for some accomplishment by former publishers Bob Pinkerton or Sherry Pinkerton.

I didnt miss a week of the newspaper. No one did. I was thrilled when that was my first job and I can tell you that sometimes, people loved the stories we wrote. Sometimes, they didnt and they were angry about this issue or that issue. However, every week, when I delivered the newspaper to the local newsstands, people were lining up, waiting for when I rolled in.

My role at the Star-Herald has changed as much as newspapers have changed. As digital news editor, I oversee the digital news stories. I love to get an email or a Facebook post asking me when a story will be posted. Its akin to showing up at the newsstand in Kimball and people are waiting for the paper, in my mind.

Our communities are evolving (I hope). How we get our news is evolving. Some of us like to hold onto the newspaper. Some of us like to browse the headlines on our phone while we sit at the local coffee shop.

However we get the news, I think we can all agree, we like to read about our community. We want to know what is going on at the local city council meeting. We want to see where our local charity dollars go when we donate to the United Way or some other cause. We want to read about the accomplishments of our neighbors. We want to have an issue looked at or explained to us.

Our BH Media CEO Terry Kroeger was recently at the Star-Herald and spoke to our group. I keep on repeating a line that he told our staff: Its not newspaper first. Its not digital first. Its reader first.

Its important to remember that we are also readers  we live and work in the same communities as our readers. We care about it as much as you do and well hope you keep us in mind for telling your stories.

Your Community, Your Newspaper, Your Life, to repeat that 2013 theme.
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The Alexander County Fire Marshals Office issued a warning to people who may have attempted to purchase kerosene recently at the All-American Raceway in Taylorsville.

Pump 14 at the gas station on Millersville Road used to contain kerosene, but its been switched to non-ethanol gasoline, according to Alexander County Fire Marshal Russell Greene.

The pump was changed about a year ago and was labeled as non-ethanol gas, but Greene said officials are now concerned that customers may not have paid attention to the new label.

Greene said that theres no way of knowing how many people purchased regular gas when they thought they were getting kerosene.

Someone made that mistake about a month ago, Greene said. That led to the warning issued this week.

This was a unique and very unfortunate accident, said Angela Riddle, a cashier at the store. Riddle said the store hasnt sold kerosene since the switch.

This could have been a customer who remembers us selling kerosene here, she said.

A press release issued by Alexander County officials said the store owner has been extremely cooperative and the pump has been placed out of service until proper labeling can be established.

The release also warned people about using non-ethanol gasoline in kerosene heaters.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission advises to keep kerosene in a separate container and avoid using a can that previously contained gasoline for kerosene.

It only takes small amounts of volatile fuels like gasoline mixed with kerosene to pose a threat, a CPSC safety alert said. Customers should double check the labels at the pumps to make sure theyre purchasing the correct item.
By MARK EVANS mevans@stegenherald.com Bloomsdale will probably host a major fireworks display. The pyrotechnics will not take place until 2024, however. During the Oct. 12 board of aldermen meeting, Kevin Wehner and city officials again discussed the possibility of a July 4 fireworks display at the youth soccer fields on land leased by the city
Health Minister Vlad Voiculescu on Thursday announced in a debate on the healthcare system in Romania that most likely next week the government will issue an emergency ordinance on the hospital management professionalisation.

"Another battle for us is the professionalisation of the hospital management, and here the Government will also have an emergency ordinance most likely next week, operating some changes that we believe are welcome. At this moment, if we take any of the clinical hospitals in Bucharest, (...) if we want to bring a manager from AKH [Vienna, Austria], or the John Hopkins manager [Baltimore, US], that manager could not work in Romania because he or she isn't a university professor. They couldn't participate in the hiring competition. They are not professors or board certified physicians. These are the requirements to be able to participate in the manager hiring contest," the minister explained,

In his opinion, the manager should make sure including that the hospital looks decent and the toilets are clean.

He maintained that the rules in the healthcare system have not been observed for a long time.

According to him, nosocomial infections must be "correctly" reported and this will be stipulated in the new management contract.

Referring to medicines, Voiculescu said that any price policy represents "a compromise."

He pointed out that he will not leave the ministry until his last day of tenure.

"There are still many things to do. This is also the reason for which I will not leave the ministry until the last day. (...) There are transparency measures that have never been implemented, not only in the healthcare system, but I would dare say in most central public institutions. We are talking about transparency of public contracts, acquisitions, sponsorships," Vlad Voiculescu also said.

agerpres.
The Romanian citizen who had been kidnapped in Nigeria was released, the Foreign Affairs Ministry (MAE) announced on Wednesday evening.

MAE thanks to the institutions which participated in the Crisis Cell and the Nigerian authorities for the involvement and support provided in this case.At the same time, the Foreign Affairs Ministry reiterates the firm recommendation addressed to the Romanian citizens in conflict areas or in areas with major security risk to contact the nearest diplomatic mission of Romania in order to register their presence in the region, so that they can benefit from as efficient as possible consular assistance and protection.At the same time, MAE brings to mind the usefulness of consulting the information supplied both through the "Calatoreste in siguranta" (Travel Safely) application, which can be downloaded on any type of smartphone, and the SMS alert system corresponding to the information campaign "Un SMS iti poate salva viata!" (An SMS can save your life). AGERPRES
Romanian weightlifter Gabriel Sincraian has been stripped of his Rio 2016 Olympic bronze medal and all his achievements for violation of anti-doping regulations, the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) announced on Thursday.

In a press statement released on Thursday, IWF said there are four disqualified weightlifters, Sincraian included. They are Tomasz Zielinski (Poland), Izzat Artykov ( Kyrgyzstan) and Chagnaadorj Usukhbayar (Mongolia).

According to the statement, Sincraian was disqualified for testosterone consumption.

The IWF says it will not make any further comments on the cases until they are closed.

Romania's TVR public broadcaster on August 29 announced Romanian weightlifter Gabriel Sincraian, winner of the bronze medal in men's 85kg category at the Rio 2016 Summer Olympic Games, has failed a doping test, and he will consequently be stripped of his medal.

On 13 August, Gabriel Sincraian won the bronze medal in the men's 85kg weightlifting event at the Rio de Janeiro Summer Olympic Games. Sincraian's total was 390 kg - a 173-kg snatch lift and a 217-kg clean and jerk lift.

Romania sent 96 athletes and 7 alternates to Rio de Janeiro, returning with five medals - a gold, a silver and three bronzes.

Thursday's decision rescinds Romania's Rio 2016 medal tally by one.

agerpres.
NEW YORK  Amazon plans to add 120,000 seasonal workers for the holidays in an effort to meet an expected spike in demand as more and more people trade clicks for bricks.

The seasonal positions will be created at fulfillment centers, sorting centers and customer service sites in 27 states. The move marks a 20 percent boost from the 100,000 seasonal hires a year ago.

Ever since capacity problems in 2013 caused some people to receive packages after the holidays, Amazon has been pouring money into its distribution centers and logistics chain, opening new distribution centers and leasing its own planes and trucks to speed up delivery.

In the state of Illinois, we are hiring thousands of seasonal employees, said Amazon spokeswoman Nina Lindsey. More than 1,000 of these seasonal jobs are available in the Edwardsville area.

Candidates can apply at www.amazon.com/seasonal.

Last year, the company said it transitioned 14,000 seasonal positions to regular, full-time jobs and it expects to boost that figure this year.

By contrast, brick-and-mortar stores holiday hiring has been flat.

Macys plans to hire about 83,000, Kohls Corp. plans to hire 69,000 additional workers, and Target Corp. says it will hire more than 70,000, all about even from a year ago.

Lisa Brown of the Post-Dispatch contributed to this story.
Great Plains Energy Inc. struck a deal with the staff of Missouris utility regulators over its $8.6 billion takeover of rival Westar Energy Inc., a move that may bring the companies closer to completing their merger.

The agreement between Kansas City, Mo.-based Great Plains Energy and the staff of the Missouri Public Service Commission would require the company to keep its capital structure and credit ratings separate from Topeka, Kan.-based Westars, the agencys staff said in a filing Wednesday. It also bars Great Plains from seeking an increase in capital costs or in retail rates as a result of its Westar purchase.

The pact marks a turnaround for the commissions staff, which less than three months ago described the Westar deal as detrimental to the public interest and said it should require approval from the state board as a condition to the mergers closing. An agreement may shorten a review that could otherwise threaten to hold up a transaction that Westar and Great Plains have been expecting to close by next year.

The staff said in its filing that the agreement with Great Plains includes important protections and safeguards for Missouri ratepayers and avoids the uncertainty and expense of protracted litigation. It still requires approval of the utility commission.

Great Plains Energy spokesman Chuck Caisley said by phone that the utility reached a constructive agreement with Missouris staff that would allow the company to move forward. Westar deferred comment to Great Plains.

The Great Plains-Westar deal may end up being one of the sectors richest in recent history based on the premium paid, according to SunTrust Robinson Humphrey Inc. and Evercore ISI. Great Plains stands to almost double its electricity customers with the deal.

Westar emerged as an acquisition target earlier this year as utilities grappled with rising capital costs and weak demand. Before the Great Plains deal was announced in May, St. Louis-based Ameren Corp. was said to be among potential buyers.
A St. Louis Board of Aldermen committee narrowly advanced on Wednesday a key piece of a financing package for the first phase of Paul McKees long-awaited NorthSide Regeneration project.

The 4-3 committee vote advances bills that would authorize $2.8 million in tax increment financing assistance for a gas station and a grocery store near the corner of Cass Avenue and North Tucker Boulevard.

Included in the package is a Community Improvement District, a special taxing district that can be established by property owners to levy property and sales taxes to fund projects.

The financing package is the first phase of McKees massive NorthSide TIF established in 2009 and reapproved in 2013 following court challenges that went all the way to the Missouri Supreme Court. The overall district encompasses 1,500 acres and could authorize more than $350 million in tax increment financing.

This first phase of financing was approved earlier this summer, generating some debate among aldermen. The latest action adds the CID to the package. Part of the CID revenue will help pay off the TIF notes, a combination many developers in the region utilize. TIFs redirect new taxes generated within their boundaries to help finance development.

But several members of the public and board of aldermen werent happy that a planned new sales tax of 1 percent would be imposed in a poor area to help a developer that hasnt built much with the millions in city and state incentives already offered to him. The CID, if a sales tax is approved, would bring the tax rate in the CID footprint up to 9.679 percent.

We are taxing people more who have less, Alderman Megan Green said.

Food purchased with food stamps or EBT cards cant be taxed, McKee replied. The grocery store will be a GreenLeaf Market run by Good Natured Family Farms, a farmers group that provides fresh food from small family farms around the Kansas City area. Financing is lined up, and construction should begin next month, he said.

The store will be funded in part with a $10 million U.S. Department of Agriculture grant as well as New Markets tax credits and brownfield tax credits. The overall construction cost is estimated at $19 million.

The people in my ward deserve something as simple as a grocery store, said Alderman Tammika Hubbard, who is sponsoring the bill for McKee.

Alderman Marlene Davis, who voted to pass the measure, also expressed frustration at the time it has taken for McKees NorthSide project to get off the ground.

It is what it is and we are where we are, she said. But we cant stay where we are. ... Do we just sit here now?
The gunman was identified as Orlando Harris, 19, a recent graduate of the school. One survivor heard him say he was 'tired of everybody' in the school and that his gun jammed at one point.
BEL-RIDGE  The chief of police in Bel-Ridge has been suspended without pay and faces a termination vote before the board of aldermen on Saturday.

Gordon Brock has been with Bel-Ridge police for 26 years and served as chief for the past 16 years. Mayor Rachel White suspended him with pay on July 1, and then without pay on Sept. 30.

In a six-page letter dated Sept. 30, White laid out 37 charges against Brock that she said constituted just cause for his removal.

Brock, a longtime Bel-Ridge resident, said the allegations amounted to a lot of made-up stuff and noted that some of them stemmed from things that happened several years ago. He would not comment on whether he was going to fight termination.

My opinion is if you dont want me there, I dont want to be there, he said. He said the citys board of aldermen was on a witch hunt because they dont like me.

Among the most serious allegations:

 Brock logged on to a police database in 2007 to remove an arrest record for the grandson of another municipal police chief. He was suspended from using the database for five years. (True, Brock said, but he did so because he felt the arrest was unjustified.)

 Brock took money from a wallet found at a city bus stop in June 2015. (Brock said that never happened.)

 Brock accepted bribes from business owners in exchange for giving them passing grades on commercial inspections. (Brock said he didnt inspect businesses and never took a bribe.)

 Brock used a racial epithet and other racially insensitive comments about Michael Brown, who was fatally shot by Ferguson police Officer Darren Wilson in August 2014. (Brock denied that he used that language and said he had disciplined officers for using racist language.)

 Brock failed to properly secure evidence, purge the evidence room and properly report crime statistics to the Missouri Highway Patrol. (Brock said he had no knowledge of this.)

White was not available to speak at length about the effort to discipline Brock. She said she had been trying to make changes to the citys police department for a few years.

In 2012, an audit by former Florissant mayor and Police Chief Robert Lowery found that while the Bel-Ridge police departments overall performance was satisfactory, it was being mismanaged and lacked a true leader.

Bel-Ridge has about 2,700 residents in an area of less than 1 square mile on Natural Bridge Road between St. Louis-Lambert International Airport and the University of Missouri-St. Louis.

The termination hearing is at 2 p.m. Saturday at Bel-Ridge City Hall, 8920 Natural Bridge Road. Under Missouri law, the six-member board is authorized, but not required to, exclude the public. The board needs a two-thirds majority to fire him.
CLAYTON  It is undisputed that Denise J. Hein fatally shot her identical twin sisters husband at a home he owned near Marlborough two years ago. She told police she did it.

But in dispute in her trial this week was whether Hein plotted to ambush her brother-in-law, and if her decades-long history of mental illness led her to kill a man she claimed had terrified her for years.

Hein, 62, a former nurse from Webster Groves, is charged with first-degree murder and armed criminal action in the shooting on June 29, 2014, of Gary Baranyai. Officials said she became increasingly obsessed with him after suffering a mental breakdown in 2011.

Presentation of the case ended Wednesday; St. Louis County Circuit Judge Gloria C. Reno plans to issue her verdict Dec. 5.

Hein killed Baranyai, 65, also of Webster Groves, in a home he owned at 8008 Pembroke Drive in unincorporated St. Louis County about 10:25 a.m. The renters, his daughter and her husband, were away and he had stopped in to feed their dogs.

Hein rode her bicycle to the house and was waiting inside when Baranyai arrived, officials said. She opened fire when he opened a bedroom door, then chased him through the home, firing more shots with a .38-caliber revolver until he collapsed. She called her sister, then 911, and was arrested at the scene.

Prosecutor Marlo Lamb argued that Hein had plotted the murder  noting her practice at a gun range in the days before the killing and deletion of those visits from her phones calendar.

She also cited evidence that Hein made internet searches about carrying a concealed gun, trespassing and the castle doctrine governing use of deadly self-defense.

This was all about her gearing up and getting ready, going and practicing with the gun, getting the gun fixed and working on her defense so she could go execute this man, Lamb said in closing arguments. That woman knew exactly what she was doing in that moment.

Hein told police she had gone to the house to check the dogs and retrieve a watch.

Defense attorneys John Rogers and Scott Rosenblum presented evidence of Heins more than 20-year history of mental illness, including bipolar disorder and delusions that Baranyai was abusing and cheating on her sister.

This case is reflective of how the criminal justice system is ill-equipped to deal with mental illness, Rosenblum said. He accused prosecutors of taking a one-size-fits-all approach.

Donna Baranyai told the court she and her twin were soulmates  until her breakdown. She said that at one point the family tried unsuccessfully to have her sister involuntarily committed.

Donna Baranyai said she knew Hein had thoughts of killing her husband, But I never believed my twin sister could ever do anything like that.

Dr. John Rabun, a forensic psychiatrist in Clayton, testified for the defense that Hein lacked the mental capacity to form an intent to murder Gary Baranyai. He suggested the crime was hatched based upon her delusional paranoia and born out of a delusional belief that Gary was going to kill her and her sister.

Hein chose not to testify.

Gary Baranyais daughter, Jaime Mowers, has said her father was a Marine and retired after many years as a salesman for Alside Supply Co. He enjoyed skydiving, dancing, riding in his 1956 Ford Thunderbird and collecting model trains and vintage toys.

What was taken from me and family can never be replaced, but I hope justice will be served, Mowers said Wednesday.

EDITOR'S NOTE: An earlier version of this story mistakenly used a male pronoun in reference to prosecutor Marlo Lamb.
EAST ST. LOUIS  A man from Park Hills, Mo., who coerced a distraught 15-year-old Metro East girl into prostitution in truck stops and trailer parks in at least three states was sentenced Wednesday to life in federal prison.

Marcus Dewayne Thompson pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in East St. Louis in May of conspiracy to commit sex trafficking of a child by force, fraud, or coercion and sex trafficking of a child by force, fraud, or coercion.

Thompson approached the girl in Madison in June of 2015, as she was contemplating suicide after arguing with her father over becoming pregnant. He was in a pickup with the four other girls inside and promised her a modeling career, court documents say.

Instead, Thompson and his wife, Robin Thompson, arranged sex acts with men in Florida, Georgia and Louisiana via the website Backpage.cm. The group was living in a camper Marcus Thompson stole.

Robin Thompson negotiated prices, helped get hotel rooms, provided condoms and kept records. She also threatened the teen if she tried to escape or talk to authorities.

She also admitted prostituting two other women online.

U.S. District Judge Michael Reagan called Thompson a "predator" who had both raped the minor at least five times and facilitated her rape by others, prosecutors said.

The victim contacted authorities in July 2015 from Cardinal Glennon Childrens Medical Center in St. Louis.

Robin Thompson was sentenced last month to 20 years in prison on the conspiracy charge. At the time, Chief U.S. District Judge Michael J. Reagan called the crime one of the worst he has ever seen.

Parole has been abolished in the federal system, meaning a life sentence is just that.
ST. LOUIS COUNTY  Officials planning Thursday's funeral for St. Louis County police Officer Blake Snyder are encouraging people to line the funeral procession route that will stretch about 50 miles across the St. Louis metropolitan area.

They also warned of some traffic congestion, especially along Interstate 64 (Highway 40).

Snyder, fatally shot in the line of duty Oct. 6, will be remembered at a funeral at 11 a.m. at the St. Louis Family Church, at 17458 Chesterfield Airport Road in Chesterfield.

The church will accommodate about 2,000 family and police officers in its sanctuary, with large closed-circuit TV screens for the public in an adjacent building and outside.

The hearse carrying Snyders body to the church from Wednesdays visitation at the Kutis Funeral Home Affton Chapel, at 10151 Gravois Road in South County, on Thursday morning will pass the police departments Affton precinct station, where Snyder was assigned.

After the funeral, the procession will go east on Edison Avenue to Baxter Road to Interstate 64 (Highway 40) east. Then it goes north on Interstate 270 to Highway 367, and northeast across the Lewis and Clark Bridges into Alton. It turns northwest on the Great River Road (Highway 100) to Clifton Terrace Road north to West Delmar Avenue (Highway 3), and finally east to the Valhalla Memorial Park Cemetery at 2308 West Delmar Avenue in Godfrey

Police said Edison Avenue between Long Road and Baxter Road in Chesterfield will be closed from 8 a.m. until 2 p.m. Thursday. They strongly encouraged a public show of support along Edison. Chesterfield police plan traffic updates on Twitter at @ChesterfieldPD.

Motorists also should watch for intermittent closures of all eastbound lanes in I-64 beginning at 12:30 p.m. The Missouri Department of Transportation plans to provide Twitter updates at @MoDOT_StLouis.

County police are keeping an updated online map of businesses holding fundraising events for Snyders family and The BackStoppers, a nonprofit that provides financial support to families of fallen first responders.
WASHINGTON  Al Gore was back on the campaign trail for Hillary Clinton in Florida this week, sparking lockbox jokes and rekindling the fire over climate change.

Much of the post-Gore analysis was about tactics, as it tends to be in coverage of modern campaigns  and especially in this one that has focused on the walking controversy that is Donald Trump, who is daily attacking what he called on Thursday the corrupt political machine that has no soul.

The Gore coverage was about how Gore, 68, was trying to win over millennials for Clinton, who will turn 69 before Election Day.

About how his style still falls short of halfway on the scintillating scale.

And, finally, about how getting out the vote is important.

Please take it from me, every vote counts, Gore wryly said, a reference to his bitterly fought loss to George W. Bush in Florida that was finally settled by the Supreme Court six weeks after the 2000 election.

The You won! You won! chants in the Miami crowd were testament to the 16-year-old wound that will never heal for some Americans, a reminder that America survived a another controversial election, the hanging-chad election, not that long ago.

In the context of the down-in-the-mud 2016 campaign and the multiple-megaton broadsides of Trump, the most important memory of Al Gore is the one who showed up to concede defeat, the one who said all the right words, on a cold Dec. 13, 2000.

It is in those moments that republics are preserved.

For the nations long-term future, the most important day of 2016 will not be Election Day on Nov. 8.

It will be the following day, Nov. 9, when the losing candidate steps away in defeat.

If its Trump, nothing in his rhetoric so far has indicated hell be a gracious loser who would put healing the country ahead of licking his own wounds. Not the way that Stephen Douglas did in 1860, when a raw and untested Abe Lincoln faced sudden secession; not even the way Richard Nixon decided not to contest the 1960 election after many in his circle believed Illinois was stolen from him by Democratic vote fraud.

Indeed, many fear Trump is setting the predicate for rejecting the results of the election should it go against him, in part by questioning the legitimacy of the election count beforehand, and in part by openly calling for the jailing of his political opponent, Democrat Hillary Clinton.

So important that you get out and vote. So important that you watch other communities, because we dont want this election stolen from us, Trump said in Ambridge, Pa., this week, a town northwest of Pittsburgh. 

In West Palm Beach, Fla., on Thursday, Trump  hit with allegations that he had assaulted women, charges that he called slanders and lies  answered with a blast back at Clinton after the audience shouted, Lock her up!

Honestly, she should be locked up, Trump said.

Trump also claimed in a debate in St. Louis that hed appoint a special prosecutor to go after Clintons destruction of emails from a private server while she was secretary of state. Aside from how hed act if he lost, Trump is forecasting that he would be a vengeful winner.

Would Clinton be a gracious loser? It took her a bit to come around after losing to Barack Obama in in the Democratic primaries in 2008, and some in her party felt she dragged the process on too long after the writing was on the wall. And, certainly, there has been sore-loser evidence within the Democratic Partys wing of Bernie Sanders supporters, many of them who were bitter after the way the Democratic National Committee handled the primaries this year.

So if Clinton loses after cooling The Bern, forgiveness may come hard from the left, too. But Clinton has never made the banana-republic threats of turning the law enforcement power of the state on her opponent if she wins Nov. 8.

Trump may be as gracious as anybody ever has been (if he loses), but the things he has already said in warning some of his supporters that the outcome may be unfair could carry beyond the election, warns David Robertson, chair of the political science department at the University of Missouri-St. Louis. No matter what he says, they may not be appeased by his explanations. And Bernie Sanders supporters didnt flock to Clinton when he said to do it.

Gores finest hour was when he had to have been hurting the most. He had lost the election on a Supreme Court decision, despite getting more votes, when he went to the mic to finally concede defeat.

Almost a century and a half ago, Sen. Stephen Douglas told Abraham Lincoln, who had just defeated him for the presidency, Partisan feeling must yield to patriotism. Im with you, Mr. President, and God bless you.  Gore said. Well, in that same spirit, I say to President-elect Bush that what remains of partisan rancor must now be put aside, and may God bless his stewardship of this country.

No matter who wins Nov. 8, the loser could do no better than to repeat those lines and graciously walk off the stage.
JEFFERSON CITY  A son of a former Missouri House leader has died.

Second Lt. Samuel Diehl, of St. Louis, was found dead in his home in Alabama on Wednesday. He was 23.

As first reported by The Missouri Times, Diehl is the eldest son of John Diehl Jr., former speaker of the Missouri House of Representatives. He served in the legislature from 2008 to 2015.

Samuel Diehl, a 2015 graduate of West Point, was attending flight school at Fort Rucker, Ala.

His cause of death remains unknown. The Fort Rucker Military Police and Criminal Investigation Division is investigating, according to information released Thursday by Fort Ruckers Public Affairs Office.

Samuel Diehl was a 2011 graduate of Chaminade College Preparatory School in Creve Coeur.
With polls rolling in showing Democrat Hillary Clinton having double-digit leads over Republican Donald Trump; with House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., giving members of his caucus permission to abandon Trump if they need to save themselves; with Trump declaring that the shackles are off and fellow Republicans are fair game, it is clear that the national Grand Old Party is coming apart at the seams.

For this newspaper, thats alarming and troubling. Todays Republican Party does not practice most of the values that guide The Platform espoused by Joseph Pulitzer and printed daily on this page. But America needs two (at least) strong and vibrant political parties to check and balance each others power. The bedrock principles that used to guide the GOP  limited government, individual initiative, strong national defense, moral probity  are vital to the national debate.

Trumps aggressively ignorant, xenophobic and vulgar campaign threatens all of that. That it resonates with so much of the Republican base is causing serious angst within the ranks of more thoughtful party leaders.

On Meet the Press Sunday, strategist Steve Schmidt, who was senior adviser to Sen. John McCains 2008 presidential campaign, expressed a kind of existential dread:

This, this candidacy, the magnitude of its disgrace to the country is almost impossible, I think, to articulate. But it has exposed the intellectual rot in the Republican Party. It has exposed at a massive level the hypocrisy, the modern day money-changers in the temple like Jerry Falwell Jr. And so, this party, to go forward and to represent a conservative vision for America, has great soul-searching to do.

That it was Schmidt who signed off on McCains choice of the epically unqualified Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as McCains running mate illustrates an important point: The Republicans opened the door for Trumpism.

Richard Nixons Southern Strategy helped tear the white working class from the Democratic coalition. Ronald Reagan became their hero in the saddle, even as his economic policies made them poorer. Lee Atwater, working as a consultant for George H.W. Bush, honed wedge issues of race, guns, religion and abortion into everyday campaign tactics.

The rise of conservative talk radio and Fox News amplified these messages, wrapping them in a faux patriotic flag. Republicans in Congress abandoned Main Street for Wall Street, with help from Democrats. The economy was shaped to serve bankers and global corporations.

The path was paved for Trump, with his casual relationship with the truth and profound ignorance of policy. The Republican base was angry, but it didnt quite know why. A coarse and corrosive billionaire offered them affirmation and easy answers.

The Republican Party earned this. That some of its leaders still refuse to repudiate Trump does not bode well for the reformation that must come.
So my question is, if the department is defunded, and low pay continues, what will happen the next time the police are desperately needed and only a handful of them are available?
Credit Suisse reinstates coverage on Cheniere Energy Partners LP Holdings (NYSE: CQH) with a Neutral rating and a price target of $24.00.

Analyst Bhavesh Lodaya commented, "Cheniere's (CQP/LNG) 7 train portfolio has secured ~$4.25Bn/yr. of 20-yr take-or-pay fees, with upside from monetizing marketing capacity (~13% of total capacity) and potential upside from opportunistic investments in the global LNG landscape. As construction and export cargoes progress, investor confidence should increase and lower risk premium. We believe current prices present an attractive entry point to a story with potential for step-up in distribution / dividend growth as soon as1Q18. Within the complex, for conservative yield-focused investors, we recommend the safer CQP, albeit with limited upside/catalysts. For investors with a LT bullish view on commodity fundamentals, we recommend LNG which has exposure to most of the growth optionality, at the cost of higher volatility in its cash flows ."

For an analyst ratings summary and ratings history on Cheniere Energy Partners LP Holdings click here. For more ratings news on Cheniere Energy Partners LP Holdings click here.

Shares of Cheniere Energy Partners LP Holdings closed at $22.48 yesterday.
A gas pump is seen hanging from the ceiling at a petrol station in Seoul June 27, 2011. REUTERS/Jo Yong-Hak/File Photo

By Barani Krishnan and Ethan Lou

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil prices settled up on Thursday after a U.S. government report showing hefty draws in diesel and gasoline offset the first crude inventory build in six weeks.

Crude prices fell initially when the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said crude stocks swelled 4.9 million barrels in the week ended Oct. 7. It was the first crude build since the end of August and was far above a 700,000-barrel rise forecast by analysts in a Reuters poll. [EIA/S]

Prices bounced back as the market turned its attention to product inventory drawdowns in the same EIA data. The EIA reported a drop of 3.7 million barrels for distillates, which include diesel and heating oil, and 1.9 million barrels decline for gasoline.

Analysts had expected distillates to draw by just 1.6 million barrels and gasoline to decline by 1.5 million.

Brent crude settled up 22 cents, or 0.4 percent, at $52.03 per barrel.

U.S. crude ended up 26 cents, or 0.5 percent, at $50.44.

"There is a lot of seasonality in this data," Scott Shelton, energy futures broker at ICAP in Durham, North Carolina, said, referring to the EIA inventory report.

Shelton said crude builds were common this time of year as U.S. refineries headed into maintenance.

The rise in crude imports by 110,000 barrels per day (bpd) last week was also "marginal" and "hard to get too excited about if you were bearish", he argued.

John Kilduff, partner at New York energy hedge fund Again Capital, said that while more crude builds were likely in the coming weeks due to depressed refinery runs, "the declines in distillate fuels, of late, are starting to add up".

"We remain a long way from supplies getting tight, but it is a trend worth monitoring," Kilduff added.

In a separate report, the EIA said U.S. crude output averaged 8.7 million bpd in 2016 versus 9.4 million bpd last year. But it also said oil demand growth was expected to slow to 70,000 bpd this year from a previously forecast 200,000 bpd.

Oil prices have trended higher since Sept. 27, with Brent gaining about 13 percent, after the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries announced its first planned output cut in eight years to rein in a global supply glut that forced crude to crash from highs above $100.

Despite its expressed desire to cut output, OPEC this week reported September production at eight-year highs.

Oil industry executives and investors at a Reuters Summit differed on how OPEC action will likely affect oil prices, with some expecting $60 by year-end and others seeing a return to $40.

(Additional reporting by Ahmad Ghaddar in LONDON and Henning Gloystein in SINGAPORE; Editing by Bill Trott, Chizu Nomiyama and David Gregorio)
Air Products (NYSE: APD) and the National Institute of Clean-and-Low-Carbon Energy (NICE) announced the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that outlays a collaborative effort to potentially work together on hydrogen fueling projects in China. The MOU was signed today by representatives of both companies during a ceremony at the opening of NICE America Research, Inc. in California.

NICE, a research and development institute affiliated with the Shenhua Group of Beijing, Peoples Republic of China, has been devoted to the research and development of hydrogen technologies and is interested in developing the hydrogen refueling business in China with major global partners. Air Products has extensive hydrogen fueling experience in the United States and globally, is the largest hydrogen supplier in the world, and also has a leading global position in the hydrogen fueling and infrastructure market.

The companies agree in the MOU to jointly explore hydrogen fueling projects, and to identify low cost hydrogen production and distribution solutions for each project.

"We are looking forward to collaborating with NICE in establishing a business structure to support the development of a hydrogen fueling business in China. We believe both parties to this MOU have strengths, that when combined in a focused approach, can be successful in this developing market," said Marie Ffolkes, President, Americas  Industrial Gases at Air Products.

Commenting on the MOU, Dr. Chang Wei, CEO of NICE, said, "We are pleased to work with Air Products in furthering our hydrogen energy business, and we are very impressed by Air Products' vast experience and tangible results in this area. This MOU formalizes our intentions and sets both parties in the direction of mutual benefits and success."

Additionally, beyond hydrogen fueling projects during the term of the MOU, a longer-term relationship to explore other opportunities will be considered. "We believe there are great opportunities in China on large projects in which our expertise in large scale oxygen production could be an asset and we look forward to examining these opportunities," said Wilbur Mok, President, Asia  Industrial Gases at Air Products.
Allergan plc (NYSE: AGN) announced that Sweden has received the Marketing Authorisation for BELKYRA (deoxycholic acid) after being granted approval by the Swedish Medical Products Agency (MPA). BELKYRA is a prescription medicine for the treatment of moderate-to-severe convexity or fullness associated with submental fat (often called double chin) in adults when the presence of submental fat has a psychological impact for the patient.3 Fullness under the chin can impact how a person feels about themselves and, for both women and men, can lead to feelings of negative self-impression.4

"BELKYRA provides physicians with one of the first clinically evaluated and approved treatments for their patients who are bothered by fullness under the chin. We are very excited to receive the marketing authorisation for BELKYRA in Sweden and we are expecting more countries to follow in the next months," said Bill Meury, Chief Commercial Officer, Allergan. "We believe BELKYRA will be a breakthrough treatment in Europe, as it has been in the United States and Canada, and it complements our established medical aesthetics portfolio. We look forward to introducing BELKYRA to other countries around Europe over the coming months, as we secure the additional national approvals."

BELKYRA is the only non-surgical injectable treatment for reduction of fullness under the chin that has undergone rigorous clinical evaluation, including four Phase 3 clinical studies involving more than 2,600 patients worldwide.5 Until now, treatment options for submental fullness have been limited to surgical options such as liposuction and non-surgical in-clinic procedures using handheld devices or aggressive weight-loss regimens with potentially limited improvement.6 When injected into fat under the chin, BELKYRA permanently causes the destruction of fat cells. Once destroyed, those cells cannot store or accumulate fat.1

Fullness under the chin (or double chin) is a concern for many people. In fact, according to data from the American Society for Dermatologic Surgery (ASDS) in 2015, fat under the chin/neck was one of the top troublesome conditions for patients, with 67% reporting being concerned or bothered about the condition.3 This is similar in number to the percentage of people who are bothered by lines and wrinkles.3 There is a common misperception that fullness under the chin only appears in those who are overweight, when in reality it can occur in any body type and may be related to ageing, genetics or weight gain.7

"In my practice, I see many patients  both women and men  who were bothered by their double chin but who were reluctant to undergo surgery," said Shannon Humphrey, Cosmetic Dermatologist at Carruthers & Humphrey Cosmetic Dermatology, Vancouver, Canada and BELKYRA Clinical Investigator. "In the few months since BELKYRA was approved by Health Canada, many of my current patients have started treatment, and it's also opened a door for patients who have never seen an aesthetic practitioner before but who are concerned about their double chin. BELKYRA has been a valuable addition to my treatment portfolio, as I can offer patients new ways to achieve the results they desire."

Treatment with BELKYRA takes place in-clinic by a trained medical aesthetic physician. Many people experience improvement after two to four treatment sessions spaced at least 4 weeks apart. A maximum of six treatments may be given.3 A patient's physician will carry out a full facial assessment to help them determine how many treatment sessions they may need based on the amount and distribution of the fat under their chin and their personal treatment goals.3

Four phase III clinical studies have evaluated the efficacy and safety of BELKYRA in adults with moderate-to-severe fullness under the chin; two in North America and two in Europe.3 In these studies, BELKYRA was shown to have a high overall efficacy rate, demonstrated by a 1-grade improvement in fullness under the chin as assessed by the clinician in the study at 12 weeks after the last treatment (63.8% in European studies and 78.5% in the North American studies, respectively). Importantly, 44.6% of people treated with BELKYRA in the European studies and 48.6% in the North American studies reported improvement in the psychological impact due to the fullness under their chin (compared with 18% and 17.3% of people treated with placebo, respectively) during the same time period.3 In the clinical studies, BELKYRA was generally well tolerated. Most side effects (including injection site pain/swelling and bruising) were mild or moderate in severity, primarily associated with the treatment area and resolved without intervention.8

As a next step, Allergan will begin to train appropriate healthcare professionals on the safe and effective use of this new treatment to ensure optimal patient satisfaction and outcomes.

BELKYRA was evaluated through a Decentralised Procedure, with the Swedish agency (MPA) acting as the Reference Member State and included 20 other countries in the European Union, as well as Iceland and Norway. Allergan will continue to work with other health regulatory agencies around the world to bring this valuable treatment option to people with fullness under the chin. BELKYRA is already licensed in Canada, Australia, Iceland, Hungary, Austria, Lithuania, Estonia, Latvia, Romania, Bulgaria and Norway, as well as in the U.S. as KYBELLA.
Denison Mines Corp. (NYSE: DNN) announced that it has executed a definitive agreement with ALX Uranium Corp. to acquire an immediate 80% ownership of the entire Hook-Carter property (the "Property") in exchange for the issuance of 7.5 million common shares of Denison (the "Agreement"). Under the terms of the Agreement, ALX will retain a 20% interest in the Property and Denison agrees to fund ALX's share of the first CAD$12M in expenditures.

The Property consists of 28 claims, totaling 16,805 hectares, and is located near the southwestern margin of the Athabasca Basin, in northern Saskatchewan. The Property is highlighted by 15 kilometres of strike potential along the prolific Patterson Lake Corridor - host to the recently discovered Triple R deposit (Fission Uranium Corp.), Arrow deposit (NexGen Energy Ltd.), and Spitfire discovery (Purepoint Uranium Group Inc., Cameco Corp., and AREVA Resources Canada Inc.) which occur within 8 to 20 kilometres of the Property. The Property is located within the Athabasca Basin and features between 250 and 700 metres of Athabasca Group sandstone cover overlying the basement rocks that define the prospective geological trends or corridors. As a result, the Property offers both basement- and unconformity-hosted uranium deposit potential. The sandstone thicknesses are similar to those at Denison's 60% owned Wheeler River property in the eastern Athabasca Basin where Denison has developed proven exploration methodologies which have resulted in the discovery of the high-grade unconformity-hosted Phoenix deposit in 2008 and the high-grade basement-hosted Gryphon deposit in 2014. The Property is significantly underexplored compared with other properties along this trend with only eight historic drill holes, including only five holes over the 15 kilometres of Patterson Lake Corridor strike length. Results from historic holes (including sandstone alteration, geochemistry and basement geology and structure) suggest favorable environments for the presence of unconformity-related uranium deposits. The Property also covers significant portions of the Derkson and Carter Corridors which provide additional priority target areas.

Dale Verran, VP Exploration of Denison commented, "This is Elephant country - a large property that has seen very little drilling on a geological trend with a precedent for large and high-grade uranium deposits. The Hook-Carter property is uniquely situated on the Patterson Lake Corridor, offering potential for both basement-hosted deposits, similar to Triple R and Arrow, and unconformity-hosted deposits which remain the largest and highest grade in Athabasca Basin, namely McArthur River and Cigar Lake which are both operating mines. With Athabasca sandstone thicknesses similar to the Wheeler River project, the Property plays to our team's strengths and we are very excited to get started with exploration in 2017."

Denison's President and CEO, David Cates commented, "While this transaction expands Denison's project portfolio into the western side of the Athabasca Basin, Denison remains focused on advancing our flagship Wheeler River property in the infrastructure rich eastern portion of the Athabasca Basin. Wheeler River continues to deliver significant exploration results, as we continue towards the completion of a pre-feasibility study and positioning the project to become one of the next new uranium mines to be developed in Canada. The acquisition of the Hook-Carter property is about building our project pipeline and generating our own success in the very exciting western portion of the Athabasca Basin. We believe the western Basin has the potential to emerge as a mining camp in the long-term, and could eventually represent an important part of the uranium mining industry in Canada. This property is a unique grassroots exploration opportunity, situated on a prolific trend, with the potential to deliver meaningful exploration results and enhance our portfolio of uranium assets."

Transaction Highlights:

-- Denison acquires an immediate 80% ownership in the entire Property in

exchange for the issuance of 7.5M Denison common shares to ALX;



-- ALX retains a 20% interest in the Property, and Denison agrees to fund

ALX's share of the first CAD$12M in expenditures on the Property;



-- Denison will be the operator of the project and will retain full

discretion as to the nature, extent, timing and scope of all work

projects on the Property;



-- Denison agrees to a modest work commitment, whereby Denison is required

to spend CAD$3.0M on the Property over the first 3 years. If Denison

does not meet the $3.0M work commitment, ALX's interest will increase

from 20% to 25% and Denison's interest in the project will decrease from

80% to 75%.



-- Thirty-six months after the effective date of the Agreement, the parties

agree to form a joint venture, in which all material decisions shall be

carried by a vote representing a 51% ownership interest;



-- The Denison common shares issued to ALX will be subject to an escrow

arrangement, whereby 1/6th of the shares will be available to ALX on

closing, and a further 1/6th of the shares will be released from escrow

in 6 month increments following the closing;



-- The transaction remains subject to and conditional on certain approvals

from the Toronto Stock Exchange, NYSE MKT, and TSX Venture Exchange, as

applicable.





Hook-Carter Property

The Property is located approximately 25 kilometres east of Highway 955 in the southwestern portion of the Athabasca Basin region in northern Saskatchewan. The Property is accessible year round by utilizing a combination of vehicular and helicopter and/or fixed wing aircraft. The Property comprises a total of 28 mineral dispositions covering approximately 16,805 hectares, including three blocks of contiguous claims, namely the Carter West Claims, Carter East Claims and Orphan East Claim. Previous exploration work has been dominated by geophysical surveys dating back to 1997. Airborne surveying has included property-wide electromagnetics (including a VTEM survey on the Patterson Lake Corridor), a property-wide medium-resolution magnetic survey and limited Falcon Airborne Gravity Gradiometry and HeliSAM TEM surveying. These data sets provide an excellent repository for the interpretation of basement geology and area selection for further targeting. Ground geophysical surveying has included property-wide electromagnetic surveys on a reconnaissance spacing. The airborne and ground electromagnetic survey results indicate the prospective corridors on the Property are comprised of multiple conductors suggesting numerous graphitic target horizons are present. Surficial surveys completed include lake sediment sampling, radiometric sampling, and boulder sampling. Anomalies produced by boulder and lake geochemistry along the Patterson Lake corridor provide further encouragement for mineralization.

Very limited drilling has been carried out on the Property, with only eight holes drilled on the Property to date, including only five holes on the Patterson Lake Corridor and three holes on the Derkson Corridor. No drilling has been carried out on the Carter Corridor. The majority of historic drill holes show significant sandstone alteration, encouraging sandstone geochemistry and favorable basement geology in terms of lithology and structure. All the holes drilled to date were designed to test the unconformity (seldom penetrating more than 100 metres into the basement) and therefore the basement is considered unexplored. The five holes on the Patterson Lake Corridor are between 1.5 and 4.3 kilometres apart and considering the corridor is comprised of multiple conductors, significant space and potential exists for sizeable deposits. The Derkson Corridor, followed by the Carter Corridor, offer additional priority target areas based on geophysical and drilling results to date. Approximately 3 kilometres southwest along trend of the Property boundary, drilling on the Derkson Corridor has previously returned mineralized results approximately 5 metres below the unconformity (0.24% U3O8 over 2.5 metres reported in drill hole DER-04 by SMDC-Imperial Oil, 1978, Assessment File Number 74F11-0008, Saskatchewan Mineral Assessment Database).

Illustrative Figures

Figure 1 provides a map of Denison's Athabasca Basin properties including the newly acquired Hook-Carter property. Figure 2 shows the location of the Hook-Carter property in relation to the prospective geological trends and uranium deposits and prospects.

Qualified Persons

The disclosure of a scientific or technical nature contained in this news release was prepared by Dale Verran, MSc, Pr.Sci.Nat., Denison's Vice President, Exploration, who is a Qualified Person in accordance with the requirements of NI 43-101.
EQT Midstream Partners, LP (NYSE: EQM) announced that it has acquired the Allegheny Valley Connector transmission and storage system, along with several Marcellus gathering systems from EQT Corporation (NYSE: EQT) for $275 million in cash. EQM funded the acquisition with borrowings from its revolving credit facility. The acquisition was effective October 1, 2016 and is expected to be immediately accretive to EQMs distributable cash flow per unit.

The Allegheny Valley Connector (AVC) is regulated by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and includes approximately 209 miles of transmission pipeline and 11 Bcf of working gas storage capacity. The AVC system has 450 MMcf per day of transmission capacity and is fully contracted for the winter season by Peoples Natural Gas, one of Pennsylvanias largest natural gas distribution companies, through a firm reservation commitment that expires in 2034. EQM expects to invest approximately $50 million in AVC related growth projects during the remainder of 2016 and into 2017. The AVC is expected to generate Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation and Amortization (EBITDA) of $31 million in 2017, increasing to $35 million in 2018. The Non-GAAP Disclosures section of this news release provides important disclosures regarding projected net income and projected EBITDA.

The newly acquired gathering assets, consisting primarily of the Applegate, McIntosh, and Terra systems in Pennsylvania; and the Taurus system in West Virginia, include 87 miles of gathering pipeline, an estimated 7,000 hp of compression, and provide 370 MMcf per day of gathering capacity. EQT has committed to a total of 235 MMcf per day of firm capacity under a 10-year contract on the systems. EQM expects to invest approximately $105 million over the next several years to complete planned expansion projects, including the installation of approximately 20 miles of gathering pipeline and four compressor units with 20,000 hp of compression. Upon completion of the expansion projects, EQTs total firm capacity will increase to 365 MMcf per day. The gathering systems are expected to generate EBITDA of $16 million in 2017, increasing to $30 million in 2018.
Kennedy Wilson (NYSE: KW) announced that the company and an equity partner acquired Equinox, a 204-unit multifamily community in Seattle, Washington, for $90 million. The company and its equity partner invested $38 million of equity (inclusive of closing costs), of which the companys share is 51%. The partnership also secured a 10-year loan of $53 million through Freddie Mac at a rate of LIBOR + 2.11% with interest only for five years. The acquisition was primarily funded by the company and its equity partner with $24 million of net proceeds from the sale of the Reserve, a multifamily community in Federal Way, Washington, completed in September 2016.

This Smart News Release features multimedia. View the full release here: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20161013005367/en/

Equinox (Photo: Business Wire)

The acquisition of Equinox represents a unique investment opportunity to acquire a well-located asset designed with condo finishes and featuring large floorplans and panoramic lake and skyline views, said Shem Streeter, Managing Director of Kennedy Wilson Multifamily Investments. Both transactions in the greater Seattle area demonstrate our ability to recycle capital from an asset where we realized significant value creation into a high-quality asset in a thriving submarket with future asset management potential.

Equinox is a class-A apartment community located in Seattle, WA. The property was built in 2009 and consists of 204 apartments with stainless steel appliances, custom cabinetry, crown molding, and granite countertops. Equinoxs amenity package includes a rooftop deck with lake views, a large recreational game room with a kitchen, and a fitness center with a yoga studio. The property is one mile away from the South Lake Union submarket and within walking distance to employers such as Amazons headquarters, Facebook, the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, and a future 607,000 sq. ft. Google campus. Equinox is also walking distance to many shops and restaurants, and is conveniently located within one block of an I-5 exit, providing quick access to the SR-99 and downtown Seattle.
Klondex Mines Ltd. (NYSE: KLDX) is pleased to report its preliminary production results for the third quarter of 2016 for its Fire Creek, Midas, and True North mines.



Three months ended September 30, 2016

-----------------------------------------

Fire Nevada True

Creek Midas Total North(2) Total

------- -------- -------- ------- -------

Ore tons milled 26,122 43,934 70,056 31,748 101,804

Average gold equivalent mill

head grade (oz/ton)(1) 0.98 0.28 0.55 0.06

Average gold mill head grade

(oz/ton) 0.97 0.18 0.48 0.06

Average silver mill head

grade (oz/ton) 0.66 7.59 5.00 -

Average gold recovery rate

(%) 93.4% 93.4% 93.3% 88.7%

Average silver recovery rate

(%) 87.2% 87.2% 87.3% -%

Gold equivalent produced

(ounces)(1) 23,858 11,445 35,263 1,752 37,070

Gold produced (ounces) 23,654 7,523 31,177 1,752 32,929

Silver produced (ounces) 15,023 291,031 306,054 - 306,054

Gold equivalent sold

(ounces)(1) 27,500 13,036 40,488 1,000 41,553

Gold sold (ounces) 27,254 8,394 35,648 1,000 36,648

Silver sold (ounces) 18,100 344,400 362,500 - 362,500



(1) Gold equivalent ounces ("GEO") and grades are computed as the

applicable gold ounces/grade plus the silver ounces/grade divided by a

GEO ratio. GEO ratios are computed by dividing the average realized

gold price per ounce by the average realized silver price per ounce

received by the Company in the respective period. Preliminary GEO

ratios for each respective segment are as follows:

GEO Ratio 73.7 74.2 74.9 1.0 73.9

(2) True North's operations were comprised of the re-processing of

existing tailings.





Nine months ended September 30, 2016

-----------------------------------------------

Fire Nevada True

Creek Midas Total North(2) Total

------- ---------- ---------- ------- ---------

Ore tons milled 92,832 137,173 230,005 31,748 261,753

Average gold equivalent mill

head grade (oz/ton)(1) 0.86 0.26 0.50 0.06

Average gold mill head grade

(oz/ton) 0.85 0.15 0.43 0.06

Average silver mill head

grade (oz/ton) 0.76 8.24 5.22 -

Average gold recovery rate

(%) 93.6% 94.1% 93.7% 88.7%

Average silver recovery rate

(%) 87.4% 87.7% 87.7% -%

Gold equivalent produced

(ounces)(1) 74,480 32,374 106,901 1,752 108,634

Gold produced (ounces) 73,673 19,287 92,960 1,752 94,712

Silver produced (ounces) 61,864 990,672 1,052,536 - 1,052,536

Gold equivalent sold

(ounces)(1) 72,644 36,933 109,629 1,000 110,610

Gold sold (ounces) 71,688 23,423 95,111 1,000 96,111

Silver sold (ounces) 73,351 1,022,739 1,096,090 - 1,096,090



(1) Gold equivalent ounces ("GEO") and grades are computed as the applicable

gold ounces/grade plus the silver ounces/grade divided by a GEO ratio. GEO

ratios are computed by dividing the average realized gold price per ounce

by the average realized silver price per ounce received by the Company in

the respective period. Preliminary GEO ratios for each respective segment

are as follows:

GEO Ratio 76.7 75.7 75.5 1.0 75.6

(2) True North's operations were comprised of the re-processing of existing

tailings.





The Company reiterates its 2016 production guidance of:

Nevada Operations: 145,000 to 150,000 GEOs which is split approximately 45%-50% in the first half of 2016 and 50%-55% in the second half of 2016.

True North: 8,000 to 12,000 gold ounces from mining and processing tailing.

Mr. Paul Huet, President and CEO commented, "Our third quarter production was in line with our mine plans as we advanced waste development at both Fire Creek and Midas. We have positioned ourselves to finish the year on a high note and remain on track to achieve our annual production guidance." Mr. Huet continued, "We are also excited to report first sales at True North. We recently completed reprocessing the tailings and have begun running ore through the mill and continue to expect to achieve our annual production targets."

About Klondex Mines Ltd. (www.klondexmines.com)

Klondex is a well-capitalized, junior-tier gold and silver mining company focused on exploration, development, and production in a safe, environmentally responsible, and cost-effective manner. The Company has 100% interests in three producing mineral properties: the Fire Creek Mine and the Midas Mine and ore milling facility, both of which are located in the state of Nevada, USA, and the True North Gold Mine (formerly the Rice Lake Mine) and mill in Manitoba, Canada. The Company also has 100% interests in two recently acquired projects, the Hollister mine and the Esmeralda mine and ore milling facility, also located in Nevada, USA.

Webcast and Conference Call

Klondex will report its third quarter 2016 financial results after market close on Thursday, November 3, 2016. A conference call and webcast will be held the following morning on Friday, November 4, 2016 at 10:30 am ET/7:30 am PT. The conference call telephone numbers are listed below:

Canada & USA Toll Free Dial In: 1-800-319-4610

Toronto: +1 1-416-915-3239

International: +1-604-638-5340

Callers should dial in 5 to 10 minutes prior to the scheduled start time and ask to join the Klondex call. The webcast will be available on the Company's website or by clicking: http://services.choruscall.ca/links/klondex20161104.html.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-looking Information

This news release contains certain information that may constitute forward-looking information or forward-looking statements under applicable Canadian and U.S. securities legislation (collectively, "forward looking information"), including but not limited to information about current expectations on the timing, success and growth of exploration and development activities, the timing and success of mining operations, the Company's ability to produce and sell gold and silver, the Company's achievement of the full-year projections for GEO and gold production, metal grades and production costs, the Company's ability to meet annual operations estimates, the ability to maintain and improve average daily milling rates and mill head grades, the Company's intention and ability to monetize mineralized material, the successful execution and project development at all of the Company's mines and projects, and related permitting. This forward-looking information entails various risks and uncertainties that are based on current expectations, and actual results may differ materially from those contained in such information. These uncertainties and risks include, but are not limited to, the strength of the global economy; the price of gold and silver; operational, funding and liquidity risks; the degree to which mineral resource estimates are reflective of actual mineral resources; the degree to which factors which would make a mineral deposit commercially viable are present; the risks and hazards associated with underground operations; and the ability of Klondex to fund its substantial capital requirements and operations. Risks and uncertainties about the Company's business are more fully discussed in the Company's disclosure materials filed with the securities regulatory authorities in Canada and United States available at www.sedar.com and www.sec.gov, respectively. Readers are urged to read these materials. Klondex assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking information or to update the reasons why actual results could differ from such information unless required by law.

For More InformationJohn SeabergSenior Vice President, Investor Relations and Corporate DevelopmentO: 775-284-5757M: [email protected]



Source: Klondex Mines Ltd.
People look at Deere equipment as they attend National Farm Machinery show in Louisville, Kentucky, February 11, 2016. REUTERS/Meredith Davis

By Meredith Davis

(Reuters) - Deere & Co (NYSE: DE) said its proposal to buy Precision Planting, an agricultural equipment and technology company, will increase consumer choice and directly benefit growers, in a response filed on Wednesday to the U.S. Department of Justice's lawsuit to block the acquisition.

Deere announced its planned acquisition of Precision Planting in November 2015, for about $190 million. Precision Planting's parent is The Climate Corporation, which is a unit of Monsanto Co (NYSE: MON).

In August, the Justice Department said the proposed deal would mean higher prices for high-speed precision planting equipment, which allows farmers to plant row crops, such as corn, up to twice as fast as with conventional machinery.

In its response, Deere challenged the Justice Department's definition of "high-speed precision planting system," saying it was vague and ambiguous. Deere also denied "that there is any meaningful economic market consisting of 'high-speed precision planting systems.'"

The Justice Department declined to comment on Thursday.

Deere said the Justice Department initially cleared its proposed acquisition in October 2015 in compliance with the Federal Trade Commissions Hart-Scott-Rodino Act. Clearance is separate from actual approval of a deal.

Following a protest by an unnamed Deere competitor, the Justice Department opened a new investigation and later filed a lawsuit in August 2016 to block the transaction, Deere spokesman Ken Golden said, referring to legal documents the company filed on Wednesday.

"It is our position that this case is designed to protect a competitor, not competition," Golden said.

Both Deere and the Justice Department declined to name the competitor.

CNH Industrial and AGCO Corp (NYSE: AGCO) are Deere competitors that have agreements to factory install Precision Planting equipment on their new planters. Precision Planting equipment and technology can also be retrofit on older planters manufactured by Deere, Kinze Manufacturing, CNH Industrial and AGCO.

Deere said the company's commitments to CNH Industrial and AGCO, and its license grants, technology transfers are all "pro competitive."

Additionally, Deere entered into an agreement with Ag Leader, an agricultural technology company, to manufacture and sell Precision Planting products if the acquisition is completed, as a possible remedy to the Justice Department's competition concerns.

Ag Leader will remain an independent competitor in the precision agriculture industry, a statement on the company's website said.

Deere's proposed deal is part of a wave of consolidation among agriculture companies as they search for ways to cut costs and improve profits in the face of a shrinking farm economy. Seed and agrochemical producers Monsanto and Germany's Bayer AG have agreed to merge, while ChemChina wants to buy Syngenta AG in a $43 billion deal.

(Reporting by Meredith Davis in Chicago; Additional reporting by Karl Plume; Editing by Leslie Adler)
Infosys Limited (NYSE: INFY) October call option implied is at 61, November is at 36; compared to its 52-week range of 19 to 48 into the expected release of Q2 results on October 14.
FLINT, Mich., Oct. 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Diplomat Pharmacy, Inc. (NYSE: DPLO) has been selected for the fourth year in a row as one of Michigan's Best and Brightest in Wellness as part of an initiative that celebrates quality and excellence in worksite health.

To learn more about Diplomat's career opportunities, click here.

The Best and Brightest in Wellness celebrates companies that are making their businesses, employees, and communities healthier. The Best and Brightest programs provide yearlong education, benchmarking, assessment tools, and interaction amongst the best employers throughout Michigan.

Evaluation criteria included the following categories:

Culture and environment

Employee input

Leadership

Benefits and programs

Participation and incentives

Outcomes, analysis, and tracking

Diplomat scored a perfect 10 in culture and environment; employee input; leadership; benefits and programs; and outcomes, analysis, and tracking, while the regional average score in those areas was eight. Diplomat scored a 9.8 overall. The regional average overall score was 8.

"This is an exciting and crowning achievement recognizing Diplomat's commitment to health and well-being for our employees," said Diplomat CEO and Chairman Phil Hagerman. "We have taken great strides in expanding and improving the programs that we offer our employees. Wellness is not just about healthy eating or exercise; it also represents the entire mind, body, and spirit of employees and what keeps them performing their best at work and at home."

Diplomat offers a wide range of support and encouragement for employees looking to live a healthier lifestyle at home and in the workplace. The company's corporate headquarters features an on-site fitness facility available to employees free of charge. The full gym includes weight and cardio machines, as well as palates and yoga equipment.

Additional initiatives include free fitness classes, lunch-and-learn speakers related to health and wellness, weight-loss challenges, personal trainers for small and large groups, walking challenges, and various special events.

To learn more about Diplomat, visit diplomat.is.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements give current expectations or forecasts of future events or our future financial or operating performance. The forward-looking statements contained in this press release are based on management's good-faith belief and reasonable judgment based on current information. These statements are qualified by important risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond our control, that could cause our actual results to differ materially from those forecasted or indicated by such forward-looking statements. For a discussion of such risks and uncertainties, you should review Diplomat's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including "Risk Factors" in Diplomat's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2015 and in subsequent reports filed with or furnished to the Securities and Exchange Commission. Except as may be required by any applicable laws, Diplomat assumes no obligation to publicly update such forward-looking statements, which are made as of the date hereof or the earlier date specified herein, whether as a result of new information, future developments or otherwise.

About Diplomat

Diplomat (NYSE: DPLO) serves patients and physicians in all 50 states. Headquartered in Flint, Michigan, the company focuses on medication management programs for people with complex chronic diseases, including oncology, immunology, hepatitis, multiple sclerosis, specialized infusion therapy and many other serious or long-term conditions. Diplomat opened its doors in 1975 as a neighborhood pharmacy with one essential tenet: "Take good care of patients and the rest falls into place." Today, that tradition continuesalways focused on improving patient care and clinical adherence. For more information visit diplomat.is.

CONTACT:Kali Lucas, Public Relations Specialist 810.768.9580 | [email protected]

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20140928/148820

To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/diplomat-recognized-among-michigans-best-and-brightest-in-wellness-300344340.html

SOURCE Diplomat Pharmacy, Inc.
EL PASO, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- El Paso Electric (NYSE: EE) will release third quarter 2016 earnings on Wednesday, November 2, 2016. A conference call and presentation will be webcast on El Paso Electrics website, www.epelectric.com. Please use the following information to access the conference call by phone:

Date: November 2, 2016 Time: 8:30 a.m. MT (10:30 a.m. ET) Dial in #: 888-481-2844 Conference ID: 3100623 Host Name: Lisa Budtke Webcast Address: http://www.epelectric.com Participants International Toll Number: 719-457-2604

A replay of the conference call and webcast will be available shortly after the call ends and will be available until Wednesday, November 16, 2016. Please use the replay number and pass code provided below to access the replay.

Replay Toll Free Number: 888-203-1112 Replay pass code: 3100623 Replay Toll Number: 719-457-0820 End Date: November 16, 2016

El Paso Electric is a regional electric utility providing generation, transmission and distribution service to approximately 400,000 retail and wholesale customers in a 10,000 square mile area of the Rio Grande valley in west Texas and southern New Mexico. El Paso Electric has a net dependable generating capability of 2,078 MW. El Paso Electrics common stock trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol EE.

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20161013006650/en/

El Paso Electric

Public Relations

Eddie Gutierrez, 915-497-3495

[email protected]

or

Investor Relations

Lisa Budtke, 915-543-5947

[email protected]

Source: El Paso Electric
ATLANTA, Oct. 12, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Georgia Power has restored power to more than 308,000 customers impacted by Hurricane Matthew  more than 90 percent of all affected customers. The company originally estimated that it would not reach this milestone until midnight Wednesday. Less than 34,000 customers remain without power including those in some of the coastal areas with the most severe damage such as Burnside, Dutch Island, Isle of Hope, White Bluff, Windsor Forest, and surrounding communities.

The path of the storm and the prevalence of large trees caused the most damage in and around Savannah. As restoration enters the final days, approximately 5,000 personnel remain engaged in the restoration effort and are concentrating all efforts and resources in Savannah and other remaining affected areas. Georgia Power estimates there are more than 1,500 individual cases of severe damage remaining from Hurricane Matthew, including broken poles, many of which are located in remote or challenging locations. At this stage of restoration, work can be tedious as each case of damage may only impact service to a small number of customers.

Georgia Power estimates that damage from Hurricane Matthew could include:

Approximately 1,000 power poles broken or damaged.

broken or damaged. Nearly 120 miles of wire (3,000 spans) needing to be replaced.

needing to be replaced. More than 3,500 fallen trees causing damage to electrical equipment.

The company estimates that thousands of customers in some of the hardest hits areas of the coast may not be able to reconnect to Georgia Power service due to extensive damage. Property owners should contact a qualified electrician to make repairs to private property prior to reconnecting to service.

As part of Southern Company, as well as a national mutual assistance network, Georgia Power is able to receive assistance from other utilities not impacted by the storm to aid in restoration efforts. Utilities from other states, including Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas, are currently in Georgia working alongside Georgia Power crews to restore service for customers.

Georgia Power reminds customers that dangerous conditions exist following a storm. Never touch any downed or low-hanging wire, including telephone or cable wires that touch a power line. Never pull tree limbs off power lines yourself or enter areas with debris, downed trees or standing water as downed power lines may be buried in wreckage. If using a generator, follow all manufacturers' connection and safety instructions and shut the generator down before reconnecting to Georgia Power service.

The company also offers the following tools you can use to stay informed during restoration efforts:

Outage Alerts: Subscribe to the free Georgia Power Outage Alert service to receive personalized notifications and updates via text message.

Subscribe to the free Georgia Power Outage Alert service to receive personalized notifications and updates via text message. Outage & Storm Center: Available at www.georgiapower.com/storm, customers can visit this site to sign up for Outage Alerts, report and check the status of outages, and access useful safety tips and information. Customers can report and check the status of an outage 24 hours a day by contacting Georgia Power at 888-891-0938.

Available at www.georgiapower.com/storm, customers can visit this site to sign up for Outage Alerts, report and check the status of outages, and access useful safety tips and information. Customers can report and check the status of an outage 24 hours a day by contacting Georgia Power at 888-891-0938. Outage Map: Housed within the Outage & Storm Center, Georgia Power's interactive Outage Map provides near real-time information, allowing users to see where outages are occurring across the state and track estimated restoration times. The company is also posting regular updates with localized estimated restoration times on the Outage Map.

Housed within the Outage & Storm Center, Georgia Power's interactive Outage Map provides near real-time information, allowing users to see where outages are occurring across the state and track estimated restoration times. Georgia Power Mobile App: Download the Georgia Power mobile app for Apple and Android devices to access storm and outage information on the go.

Download the Georgia Power mobile app for Apple and Android devices to access storm and outage information on the go. @GeorgiaPower on Twitter: Follow @GeorgiaPower on Twitter for storm tips, outage updates, customer service and more.

About Georgia Power Georgia Power is the largest subsidiary of Southern Company (NYSE: SO), America's premier energy company. Value, Reliability, Customer Service and Stewardship are the cornerstones of the company's promise to 2.5 million customers in all but four of Georgia's 159 counties. Committed to delivering clean, safe, reliable and affordable energy at rates below the national average, Georgia Power maintains a diverse, innovative generation mix that includes nuclear, 21st century coal and natural gas, as well as renewables such as solar, hydroelectric and wind. Georgia Power focuses on delivering world-class service to its customers every day and the company is consistently recognized by J.D. Power and Associates as an industry leader in customer satisfaction. For more information, visit www.GeorgiaPower.com and connect with the company on Facebook (Facebook.com/GeorgiaPower) and Twitter (Twitter.com/GeorgiaPower).

Video - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_4uWpESP38&feature=youtu.be

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20050216/CLW066LOGO

To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/georgia-power-restores-power-to-more-than-90-percent-of-customers-impacted-by-hurricane-matthew-ahead-of-schedule-300343630.html

SOURCE Georgia Power
MONTGOMERY, Ala., Oct. 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Car owners in Montgomery will have the opportunity to participate in the Hyundai Before Service Experience Tour on Oct. 19 at the company's assembly plant there for the second year in a row. At this tour stop, participants will have the opportunity to get their vehicle inspected for free regardless of make or age. Hyundai started the Before Service Tour in 2015 to bring attention to the importance of car care and preventative maintenance. It reminds consumers to take care of any issues that may have occurred or been ignored. Some preparation now will help ensure driving plans go smoothly throughout the holiday season.

"The Hyundai Before Service Tour was a big success last year," said Frank Ferrara, executive vice president, customer satisfaction, Hyundai Motor America. "This event is a great way for our dealers and the plant to give back. We want to make sure the people of Montgomery are ready for their holiday road trips. If we can let owners know about a slow leak in a tire or a turn signal that has a burned out bulb that helps them stay safe. You would be surprised by what some of our technicians have found."

The multi-point inspections performed by Hyundai certified technicians will include fluid checks, bulb checks, battery checks and tire pressure adjustments. Owners will have the opportunity to ask technicians about their car or maintenance. Furthermore, Hyundai will be educating shoppers on new vehicle technologies, including Blue Link, Android Auto, Adaptive Cruise Control, Bluetooth and Blind Spot Detection. In addition to consumers test driving Hyundai models at the Before Service Experience, car owners will be able to participate in a free cookout with hamburgers and hotdogs.

WHEN Wednesday, October 19 Time: 10:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. WHERE Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Alabama Training Center 900 Hyundai Blvd, Montgomery, AL 36105 First building on the right when approaching the manufacturing plant from Highway 31 WHAT Free multi-point vehicle inspectionsFree top-offs on motor oil and all vital fluidsFree hot dogs, hamburgers, chips and drinksNew Hyundai models on display, including the award-winning Sonata, Tucson, Santa Fe, Elantra and Genesis G90Free vehicle appraisalsParticipants will receive giveaway items WHY The Before Service Tour brings attention to the importance of car care and preventative maintenance. It reminds consumers to take care of any issues that may have occurred or been ignored. Some preparation now will help ensure driving plans go as smoothly as possible throughout the holiday season. WHO The Before Service event is hosted by Capitol Hyundai, Hyundai Motor America and Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Alabama.

HYUNDAI MOTOR AMERICAHyundai 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. All Hyundai vehicles sold in the U.S. are covered by the Hyundai Assurance program, which includes the 5-year/60,000-mile fully transferable new vehicle limited warranty, Hyundai's 10-year/100,000-mile powertrain limited warranty and five years of complimentary Roadside Assistance. Hyundai Blue Link Connected Care provides owners of Hyundai models equipped with the Blue Link telematics system with proactive safety and car care services complimentary for one year with enrollment. These services include Automatic Collision Notification, Enhanced Roadside Assistance, Vehicle Diagnostic Alert, Monthly Vehicle Health Report and In-Vehicle Service Scheduling.

For more details on Hyundai Assurance, please visit www.HyundaiAssurance.com

Please visit our media website at www.hyundainews.com and our blog at www.hyundailikesunday.com

Hyundai Motor America on Twitter | YouTube | Facebook

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161013/428483Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161013/428482 Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20131002/LA90771LOGO-b

To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/hyundais-before-service-experience-tour-to-stop-at-its-alabama-assembly-plant-for-the-second-year-in-a-row-300344456.html

SOURCE Hyundai Motor America
NEW YORK, NY -- (Marketwired) -- 10/13/16 -- ImageWare Systems (OTCQB: IWSY), GTX Corp (OTC PINK: GTXO)

THANK YOU FOR JOINING US "IN THE BOARDROOM"

John McClurg, Vice President in the Office of Security and Trust (OST), Cylance James Lantrip, Segment Head, Security, Siemens Industry, Inc. Marc Blackmer, Product Marketing Manager, Industry Solutions, Security Business Group, Cisco Jim Miller, Chairman and CEO, ImageWare Systems Scott B. Suhy, CEO, NetWatcher Lucas Le Bell, Chief Executive Officer, CerbAir Patrick Bertagna, GTX Corp, CEO, Founder & Chairman

**** And...From The Newsroom... Revolutionary Car Company, Faraday Future, Selects AMAG Technology's Integrated Symmetry Security Management System AMAG Technology Attains Second FICAM Approval with Symmetry" Security Management Solution Existing GTX Corp Distributor of GPS SmartSoles for Denmark Expands into Norway

*****

MARK YOUR CALENDAR! ISRAEL HLS & CYBER 2016 WHERE PHYSICAL AND CYBER SECURITY MEET NOVEMBER 14-17, 2016 - TEL AVIV CONVENTION CENTER (https://events.myreg.co.il/HLS2016/Default.aspx)

***** IN THE BOARDROOM WITH...

Cylance John McClurg, Vice President in the Office of Security and Trust (OST), Cylance

John McClurg, Vice President in the Office of Security and Trust (OST), Cylance, told us, "CylancePROTECT is a truly advanced threat prevention solution. It sits on each endpoint within the organization, whether it's a desktop, laptop, mobile device, server, or virtual machine. By applying artificial intelligence, machine learning, and mathematic techniques, it instantly identifies and prevents malware and cyberattacks from executing. Basically, it protects from every threat known and yet-to-be-known, including system- and memory-based attacks, malicious documents, zero-day malware, privilege escalations, scripts, and potentially unwanted programs. The solution boosts the efficiency of your IT resources and reduces user impact throughout your organization. The endpoint security product uses little memory, less than 1% of CPU. It requires no Internet connection or signature updates and is engineered to run with minimal updates and fewer system resources. In addition, it works with Windows and Mac OS, easily integrates into existing security platforms, and is available in OEM and embedded versions for technology partners. It operates in every environment, whether it's 1,000, 10,000, or 100,000 endpoints.

For our complete interview with John McClurg, Vice President in the Office of Security and Trust (OST), Cylance, please click here or here: http://www.securitysolutionswatch.com/Interviews/in_Boardroom_Cylance_McClurg.html

***** Siemens Industry, Inc. James Lantrip, Segment Head, Security, Siemens Industry, Inc.

James Lantrip, Segment Head, Security, Siemens Industry, Inc., told us, "Siemens has a very customer-centric view. We look at our customers holistically. We're not just looking at them from a security perspective or a life-safety perspective or building automation perspective. We're looking at how we can help them with their business. And while we do break it down by market segment, we look in each segment and where we have our strengths, but more importantly we look across all the market segments and see if there are synergies that we can bring to the table that really helps our customers, manage, maintain and grow their business, as well as the practices that are underneath it. We can deliver many project sizes to help facilitate all types of projects and we have a strong team of developers that we could integrate and/or adjust specific items to be tailored to our customers' needs. We also have very strong product offerings that are geared towards the total building -- along with the service capability to deliver and support those products and solutions."

For our complete interview with James Lantrip, Segment Head, Security, Siemens Industry, Inc., please click here or here:http://www.securitysolutionswatch.com/Interviews/in_Boardroom_Siemens_Lantrip.html

For more information: SiPass Integrated (http://w3.usa.siemens.com/buildingtechnologies/us/en/security-solutions/access-control/Pages/access-control.aspx ) Siveillance Video Management Solutions (https://www.buildingtechnologies.siemens.com/bt/global/en/security-solution/intelligent-video-surveillance-analytics/siveillance-vms/pages/siveillance-vms.aspx ) Desigo Mass Notification (http://w3.usa.siemens.com/buildingtechnologies/us/en/mass-notification/desigo-mass-notification/pages/desigo-mass-notification.aspx) Siveillance Vantage (https://www.buildingtechnologies.siemens.com/bt/global/en/security-solution/command-control/pages/siveillance-vantage-command-control.aspx) SiteIQ Analytics (https://www.downloads.siemens.com/download-center/d/Siveillance-SiteIQ-Analytics-Flyer-EN_A6V10449063_hq-en.pdf?mandator=ic_bt&segment=HQ&fct=downloadasset&pos=download&id1=A6V10449063 )

***** Cisco

Mr. Marc Blackmer, Product Marketing Manager, Industry Solutions, Security Business Group, Cisco, told us, "We estimate that there will be 50 billion -- with a 'b' -- connected things by 2020, and that includes critical infrastructure, mining, manufacturing, energy production, and so on. Accordingly, malicious hacking is becoming more lucrative and impactful as this connectivity increases. We've already seen how malware can be used to help take down a power grid. Therefore, if we are to reap the benefits of greater connectivity, then we need to be sure we are connecting security to protect human health and safety, as well as environment safety."

For our complete interview with Mr. Marc Blackmer, Product Marketing Manager, Industry Solutions, Security Business Group, Cisco, please click here or here:http://www.securitysolutionswatch.com/Interviews/in_Boardroom_Cisco_Blackmer.html *****

ImageWare Systems ImageWare and Fujitsu Bring Biometric Authentication to User Proofing Fujitsu has Partnered with ImageWare to Deliver Fujitsu Smart Origination, Integrating GoVerifyID to Streamline Online Applications and Increase Fraud Protection

ImageWare Systems, Inc. (ImageWare) (OTCQB: IWSY) a leader in mobile and cloud-based, multi-modal biometric identity management solutions, and Fujitsu, a leading Japanese multinational information and communication technology company, have partnered to provide turnkey integration of ImageWare's GoVerifyID for the Fujitsu Smart Origination product offering.

Fujitsu Smart Origination utilizes the camera on the applicant's smartphone device along with the ImageWare GoVerifyID biometric SaaS offering to collect, process, and verify the user's identity. The solution automatically pre-fills data into application fields, verifies identity with credit bureaus, and undertakes device identification and deep geolocation. It also offers step up and step down authentication options on a per transaction basis and the ability for users to share their proven identity with trusted third parties.

This solution delivers unparalleled levels of security for clients based on their risk appetite and yet removes friction for customers in onboarding and support journeys through intelligent use of digital technologies. ImageWare and Fujitsu are first to market to deliver this solution as a service in a scalable solution either hosted on-premise or on their secure K5 cloud for true global reach and will help enterprises, across all sectors and geographies, convert applicants into customers by providing the user with a fast, simple, and secure process. The combined product offering is available immediately.

ImageWare's GoVerifyID is an enterprise ready, high performance biometric authentication SaaS that automatically verifies a user's identity and checks for duplicate enrollments.

Our partnership with ImageWare allows us to combine best in breed biometric capability with our leading edge origination solution to provide customers with the highest possible confidence in verifying their identity on digital channels with the lowest possible effort," said Ravi Krishnamoorthi, SVP and Head of Business and Application Services of Fujitsu. "ImageWare's biometric solution enables a higher level of efficiency with duplicate checks completed in a matter of seconds. Manual data entry and total application time is substantially reduced, resulting in less applicant dropouts."

ImageWare's Chairman and CEO Jim Miller commented: "Smart Origination is enabling companies to improve online application security and efficiency. We look forward to expanding our partnership with Fujitsu and bringing our industry leading multi-modal biometric authentication solution to an even broader set of customers around the globe."

For our complete interview with Jim Miller, ImageWare Systems, Chairman and CEO, please click here or here: www.securitysolutionswatch.com/Interviews/in_Boardroom_ImageWare.html

For the latest ImageWare Systems news, please click here, or here: http://iwsinc.com/latestnews/

*****

NetWatcher Scott Suhy, CEO, NetWatcher, told us, "We just launched into beta an endpoint that both works with locally deployed sensors when the user is on-premise as well as and with our cloud sensor when the user is at home or at the coffee shop. We agree that all security is moving to the cloud but we also believe that there is a transition period. Our architecture supports detection and response locally for on-premise users and IOT devices and it also supports the mobile workforce when they are not local. Most SIEM/security providers only support on-premise. What is unique with the NetWatcher Cloud Endpoint? 2 big things. The one I already mentioned -- it can work without local on-premise security infrastructure. The second area -- we are offering a free version of the endpoint that anyone can download and use for no cost."

For our complete interview with Scott Suhy, CEO, NetWatcher, please click here or here: www.securitysolutionswatch.com/Interviews/in_Boardroom_Netwatcher_Suhy.html

*****

CerbAir Mr. Lucas Le Bell, Chief Executive Officer, CerbAir, told us, "When it comes to protecting a sensitive site, a lot of risks have to be taken into account, drones being one of them. We understand that integrating new protection layers in an already complex security environment isn't easy. So we strived hard to develop a very pragmatic approach to deliver a high level of security and reliability at a modest cost matching the real level of the drone threat. Every day, we focus on our core activity which is about creating robust algorithms. Combining them with battle-proven sensors and top 3rd party countermeasures allows us to deliver first-class service to our customers. That is what our value proposition is about: selling the right solution at the right price to match a realistic level of threat. As a result, we do not compete with military technologies that most sites at risk cannot afford and which capabilities are overkill regarding our client needs."

For our complete interview with Mr. Lucas Le Bell, Chief Executive Officer, CerbAir, please click here or here: http://www.securitysolutionswatch.com/Interviews/in_Boardroom_Cerbair_LeBell.html

Watch the CerbAir Video here

*****

Patrick Bertagna, GTX CEO, Founder, Chairman GTX Corp (OTCBB: GTXO), an IoT platform in the personal location GPS wearable and wandering assistive technology business, announced existing Demark distributor Safecall expanded their operations into Norway and signed an exclusive distribution agreement for both countries. Safecall first launched the GPS SmartSoles in Denmark last October. Due to an increase in product demand and the recent Dementia Plan 2020 announcement by the Norwegian government, it has expand distribution into Norway and locked up exclusive rights. Safecall has already placed a blanket order of GPS SmartSoles for the remaining of the year for both Denmark and Norway and will be submitting another order to cover the first half of 2017 by end of next month. For more information, see the GTX Corp blog here: http://gpsinsole.com/

GTX Corp Also Expands Distribution in Mexico

Please join Patrick Bertagna, CEO, "In The Boardroom" here, or here: http://www.securitysolutionswatch.com/Interviews/in_Boardroom_GTX_Bertanga.html.

*****

THIS PRESS RELEASE, AND ALL ADVERTISING, CONTENT AND ALL OTHER MATERIAL AND INFORMATION WHICH APPEARS ON SECURITYSOLUTIONSWATCH.COM AND/OR SECURITYSTOCKWATCH.COM, ONLINE AND/OR IN PRINT, IS SUBJECT TO OUR TERMS OF USE, CONDITIONS, AND DISCLAIMER HERE:www.securitysolutionswatch.com/Main/Terms_of_Use.html.

Source: SecuritySolutionsWatch.com
Targeted at low- to mid-rise buildings in Latin America

TOKYO--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Mitsubishi Electric Corporation (TOKYO: 6503) announced today it will launch a machine-room-less (MRL) elevator, the NEXIEZ-GPX, targeted at low- to mid-rise residential and office buildings in the Latin American market, on October 17. Annual sales of 300 units are targeted in 2018. Prices will be available by quote.

While a boom in building construction in Latin America has raised the demand for elevators for low- to mid-rise residences and offices, building height restrictions, particularly in Mexico, have create a need for elevators that do not incorporate machine rooms. In response, Mitsubishi Electric designed its new MRL-type NEXIEZ-GPX elevator to meet this special need in the Latin American market.

Main Features of NEXIEZ-GPX

1) Specifications matched to needs in Latin American market

MRL model eliminates the need for a rooftop machine room to account for building height restrictions

Streamlined, three-dimensional ceiling and LED downlights blend well with diverse architectural popular in Latin American market

2) Product competitiveness improved through local production

Price and delivery-time competitiveness are realized through local designing and manufacturing at a subsidiary company in Mexico, MITSUBISHI ELECTRIC DE MEXICO, S.A. DE C.V. (MELMEX)

3) Energy savings

LED downlights reduce power consumption by 88 percent compared to conventional incandescent lighting

Permanent magnetic gearless traction machine reduces power consumption

For the full text, please visit: http://www.mitsubishielectric.com/news

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20161012005560/en/

Mitsubishi Electric Corporation

Customer Inquiries

Overseas Marketing Division

Building System Group

[email protected]

www.MitsubishiElectric.com/products/building

or

Media Inquiries

Takeyoshi Komatsu, +81-3-3218-2346

Public Relations Division

[email protected]

www.MitsubishiElectric.com/news

Source: Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
TAINAN, Taiwan--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Secretariat Ackum, the alumni association of NCKU in Malaysia, hosted the ACKU Charity Run 2016, which highlighted the value of ethnicity-friendly, at the University of Malaya (UM) on the morning of July 30.

ACKU Charity Run 2016 is a fundraising event for cancer research in the UM Special Center helping deprived patients with better access to cancer treatment.

Over 2,500 runners came in support the event, raising a total of US$25,000 for breast cancer patients.

For NCKU, the bond between alumni and their alma mater is closer than ever before. With a growing community of 140,000+ grads around the world, NCKU is developing its alumni networks to amplify the impacts and create social engagement.

NCKU President Huey-Jen Jenny Su flied from Taiwan to join the run which is the biggest event for NCKU alumni in Asia.

President Sus visit to Malaysia marked an important milestone in the development of the relations between Taiwan and Malaysia.

In the past ten years, NCKU and the UM have fostered close partnership and this beautiful friendship between the two universities will continue to grow and thrive, according to Su.

She noted, the success of last years event made holding another charity run for helping more people in need. The fund raised last year was to support orphans and this year we have commitment to the patients who suffered from breast cancer.

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20161012006407/en/

National Cheng Kung University

Sonia Chuang, +886-6-275-7575 Ext. 50042

News Center

Fax: +886-6-238-9919

E-Mail: [email protected]

NCKU news: http://news-en.secr.ncku.edu.tw/bin/home.php

Source: National Cheng Kung University
DENVER, Oct. 13, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- P2 Energy Solutions announced today that it has signed an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) agreement with SAP (NYSE: SAP). Through this agreement, P2 will offer the in-memory computing capabilities of the SAP HANA platform with P2 Land, a leading land management solution for the upstream oil and gas industry. The integration of P2 Land and SAP HANA is intended to help P2s customers get more value out of their current software investments and simplify their operations.

P2 Land is already the land management solution of choice for a number of customers running SAP software, said P2 Chief Technology Officer Ben Wilson. This partnership is another example of P2 making enabling investments designed to benefit all of our current and future customers.

An end-to-end land management solution designed for both land administration and land operations, P2 Land is used to manage more than 100 million acres across North America. Getting access to the rich, standardized functionality of P2 Land can now become even easier for customers.

The adoption of our platform by complementary solution providers like P2 can help simplify our customers landscape, said Ken Evans, Global VP, Oil & Gas Business Unit, SAP. With P2 Land and SAP HANA, the combination of real-time visualization, one-click data analysis and process automation will help differentiate the land management experience. It can be a win for customers, partners and SAP.

About P2P2 Energy Solutions Empowers the People Who Power the World. Upstream oil and gas professionals who are focused on solving tough challenges rely on P2 software, data and analytics solutions to optimize their business performance. More than 1,200 companies from around the world use P2 solutions every day to manage their land assets, measure and process financial information, optimize production, manage their reserves and so much more. www.p2energysolutions.com.

About SAP HANASAP HANA combines database, data processing and application platform capabilities in-memory. The platform provides libraries for predictive, planning, text processing, spatial and business analytics. By providing advanced capabilities such as predictive text analytics, spatial processing and data virtualization on the same architecture, it further simplifies application development and processing across big-data sources and structures. This makes SAP HANA a highly suitable platform for building and deploying next-generation, real-time applications and analytics.

Note: Interviews about these solutions or this OEM agreement can be scheduled through Alex Schultz, who can be reached at [email protected] or +1 (303) 390-9437.

P2 DisclaimerThe above is intended to outline our general product direction. It is intended for information purposes only, and may not be incorporated into any contract. It is not a commitment to deliver any material, code, or functionality, and should not be relied upon in making purchasing decisions. The development, release, and timing of any features or functionality described for P2 Energy Solutions products remain at the sole discretion of P2 Energy Solutions. SAP Forward-looking StatementAny statements contained in this document that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements as defined in the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Words such as anticipate, believe, estimate, expect, forecast, intend, may, plan, project, predict, should and will and similar expressions as they relate to SAP are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. SAP undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements. All forward-looking statements are subject to various risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from expectations The factors that could affect SAP's future financial results are discussed more fully in SAP's filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"), including SAP's most recent Annual Report on Form 20-F filed with the SEC. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of their dates.

SAP, SAP HANA 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.

Source: P2 Energy Solutions
HARRISBURG, Pa., Oct. 13, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The secretaries of the Pennsylvania departments of Health and State and the attorney general today warned residents that unfitted, decorative contact lenses often sold during the Halloween season are dangerous, and it is illegal for retailers to sell them.

"You are at great risk for a serious injury if you use unfitted contact lenses that have not been prescribed to you by your doctor," said Secretary of Health Dr. Karen Murphy. "Risks of using an unfitted lens include blindness, infections, allergic reactions or even the loss of an eye."

Many decorative lenses lack proper instruction for use. Parents should first consult a physician or optometrist if a child wants to wear them.

"Under federal law, even decorative or cosmetic contact lenses are considered medical devices which can only be legally marketed as prescription devices," said Secretary of State Pedro A. Cortes, whose department licenses physicians and optometrists in the commonwealth. "Pennsylvania law also requires a prescription from a licensed physician or optometrist for fitting any contact lens. As one of the departments charged with protecting public safety, we urge people to safeguard their vision by using only contact lenses prescribed for them by a licensed practitioner."

Attorney General Bruce R. Beemer reminded Commonwealth residents that the Office of Attorney General maintains a Health Care Section that is tasked with protecting the public from unfair or deceptive healthcare business practices.

"We strongly encourage anyone who has found retailers selling these lenses without a prescription to contact our office," Attorney General Beemer said. "We will take the appropriate action to ensure the lenses are being sold in a lawful manner."

Agents with the Health Care Section previously conducted an investigation that involved undercover purchases from retailers selling unauthorized cosmetic contact lenses. The investigation resulted in warning letters being sent to certain retailers.

To report improper use or sale of decorative contact lenses, call:

U.S. Food and Drug Administration at 1-800-FDA-1088, if you know contact lenses are being dispensed without a prescription

The Pennsylvania Department of State at 717-783-1379, if unlicensed businesses are prescribing or distributing contact lenses

The Pennsylvania Department of Health at 1-800-822-2113 or the Office of Attorney General's Health Care Section at 877-888-4877, if businesses other than practitioners are distributing contact lenses without a prescription. Those interested in filing a complaint may also do so by visiting www.attorneygeneral.gov.

Instructions for how to properly obtain decorative contact lenses, as well as information about the severe damage that can result from wearing them, can be found on the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's website.

For more information on how to stay safe and healthy this Halloween season, visit www.health.pa.gov or www.dos.pa.gov.

MEDIA CONTACTS: April Hutcheson, DOH, 717-787-1783Wanda Murren, DOS, 717-783-1621Jeffrey Johnson, OAG, 717-787-5211

To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/pennsylvanians-warned-of-health-risks-from-decorative-contact-lenses-that-are-popular-during-halloween-season-300344621.html

SOURCE Pennsylvania Department of Health; Pennsylvania Department of State; Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General
HONG KONG--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Regulatory News:

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 TRANSACTIONSTRANSPORTATION CONTRACT

Reference is made to the announcements of the Company dated 14 January 2015, 29 December 2015, 20 January 2016, 4 March 2016, 6 April 2016, 20 May 2016, 31 May 2016, 5 July 2016, 14 July 2016, 26 August 2016 and 4 October 2016 in relation to the Previously Disclosed Transportation Contracts. The Company announces that on 12 October 2016, a member of the Group and an associate of En+ entered into an addendum to the Original Contract, pursuant to which the associate of En+ agreed to provide transportation services to the member of the Group.

THE NEW TRANSPORTATION CONTRACT

Reference is made to the announcements of the Company dated 14 January 2015, 29 December 2015, 20 January 2016, 4 March 2016, 6 April 2016, 20 May 2016, 31 May 2016, 5 July 2016, 14 July 2016, 26 August 2016 and 4 October 2016 in relation to the Previously Disclosed Transportation Contracts.

The Company announces that on 12 October 2016, a member of the Group, RUSAL SAYANAL OJSC, and an associate of En+, KraMZ-Auto, entered into an addendum (the Addendum), which is an addendum to the contract between the same parties dated 28 December 2015 (the Original Contract, together with the Addendum, the New Transportation Contract) that was disclosed in the announcement of the Company dated 29 December 2015. Pursuant to the Addendum, all terms of the Original Contract will remain the same, apart from the basis of calculation of payments which will be amended as follows: the service fee is calculated by multiplying the cost per operating hour (with an average of approximately USD24 per operating hour) by the number of operating hours (approximately 6,788 operating hours) plus the compensation for the damage to the roadway that is calculated by multiplying the cost per container (with an average of approximately USD204 per container) by the number of containers (approximately 200 containers).

THE ANNUAL AGGREGATE TRANSACTION AMOUNT

Pursuant to Rule 14A.81 of the Listing Rules, the continuing connected transactions contemplated under the New Transportation Contract and the Previously Disclosed Transportation Contracts 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 provision of transportation services by the associates of En+ to the Group.

The annual aggregate transaction amount that is payable by the Group to the associates of En+ under the New Transportation Contract and the Previously Disclosed Transportation Contracts for the financial years ending 31 December 2016 is estimated to be approximately USD16.469 million.

The Company invited several organizations to take part in the tender in relation to the required transportation services and chose the contractor offering the best terms and conditions (taking into account the price and quality offered by the service provider, the ability to meet the needs of the plants and the business relationship with the service provider) and then entered into the Original Contract with the chosen service provider. As a result of changes of legislation since September 2016, all carriers are required to reimburse the damage to the roadway. Accordingly, the Addendum was entered into.

The contract price under the New Transportation Contract has been arrived at after arms length negotiation with reference to the market price and on terms no less favourable than those prevailing in the Russian market for transportation services of the same type and quality and those offered by the associates of En+ to independent third parties. The annual aggregate transaction amount is derived from the total contract price under the New Transportation Contract, which was based on the need of transportation services by the Group for the relevant year.

REASONS FOR AND BENEFITS OF THE TRANSACTIONS

The New Transportation Contract was entered into for the purpose of goods, cargo and passenger forwarding. The Company considers that the transactions contemplated under the New Transportation Contract are for the benefit of the Company, as the services provided are at a competitive price and the service provider is capable of meeting the Groups transportation needs and is conveniently located.

The Directors (including the independent non-executive Directors) consider that the New Transportation Contract is on normal commercial terms which are fair and reasonable and the transactions contemplated under the New Transportation Contract 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.

None of the Directors has a material interest in the transactions contemplated under the New Transportation Contract, save for Mr. Deripaska, Mr. Maxim Sokov, Ms. Olga Mashkovskaya and Ms. Gulzhan Moldazhanova, who are directors of En+, being the holding company of KraMZ-Auto. 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 resolution approving the New Transportation Contract.

LISTING RULES IMPLICATIONS

KraMZ-Auto is an indirect subsidiary of En+, and is therefore an associate of En+ which is a substantial shareholder of the Company. Accordingly, KraMZ-Auto is a connected person of the Company under the Listing Rules.

Accordingly, the transactions contemplated under the New Transportation Contract constitute continuing connected transactions of the Company.

The estimated annual aggregate transaction amount of the continuing connected transactions under the New Transportation Contract and the Previously Disclosed Transportation Contracts for the financial year ending 31 December 2016 is more than 0.1% but less than 5% under the applicable percentage ratios. Accordingly, pursuant to Rule 14A.76 of the Listing Rules, the transactions contemplated under these contracts are only subject to the announcement requirements set out in Rules 14A.35 and 14A.68, the annual review requirements set out in Rules 14A.49, 14A.55 to 14A.59, 14A.71 and 14A.72 and the requirements set out in Rules 14A.34 and 14A.50 to 14A.54 of the Listing Rules. These transactions are exempt from the circular and shareholders approval requirements under Chapter 14A of the Listing Rules.

Details of the New Transportation Contract and the Previously Disclosed Transportation Contracts will be included in the relevant annual report and accounts of the Company in accordance with Rule 14A.71 of the Listing Rules where appropriate.

PRINCIPAL BUSINESS ACTIVITIES

The Company is principally engaged in the production and sale of aluminium, including alloys and value-added products, and alumina.

KraMZ-Auto is principally engaged in the provision of transportation services.

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. 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. Group the Company and its subsidiaries. KraMZ-Auto KraMZ-Auto Limited Liability Company, an indirect subsidiary of En+. Listing Rules the Rules Governing the Listing of Securities on the Stock Exchange. Mr. Deripaska Mr. Oleg Deripaska, an executive Director. percentage ratios the percentage ratios under Rule 14.07 of the Listing Rules. Previously Disclosed Transportation Contracts the series of transportation contracts entered into between members of the Group and the associates of En+, pursuant to which the associates of En+ agreed to provide transportation services to members of the Group in 2016 and 2017, as disclosed in the announcements of the Company dated 14 January 2015, 29 December 2015, 20 January 2016, 4 March 2016, 6 April 2016, 20 May 2016, 31 May 2016, 5 July 2016, 14 July 2016, 26 August 2016 and 4 October 2016. Stock Exchange The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited. substantial shareholder has the same meaning ascribed thereto under the Listing Rules. USD United States dollars, the lawful currency of the United States of America.

By Order of the Board of Directors ofUnited Company RUSAL PlcAby Wong Po YingCompany Secretary

13 October 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.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/20161012006220/en/

United Company RUSAL Plc

Source: United Company RUSAL Plc
NAIROBI (Reuters) - Burundi's parliament voted overwhelmingly on Wednesday to withdraw from the International Criminal Court, a move no other country has taken despite complaints from Africa that the court disproportionately targets the continent.

Only two lawmakers voted in favor of staying under the jurisdiction of the Dutch-based ICC, while 94 voted against and 14 abstained.

Pro-government lawmaker Gabriel Ntisezerana said the court was "a political tool used by powers to remove whoever they want from power on the African continent".

The bill to remove Burundi from the court's jurisdiction still must be approved by the upper house of the legislature and then be signed by the president. That would trigger a withdrawal process lasting a year.

The ICC declined to comment on the vote, saying it had not yet been formally notified of the action. The U.S. State Department, however, said it was "concerned" by the country's human rights situation, including the government effort to withdraw from the court.

"Such a move ... would isolate Burundi from its neighbors and the international community at a time when accountability, transparency and engaged dialogue are most needed," State Department spokesman John Kirby told reporters.

The ICC opened a preliminary investigation in April into Burundi, focusing on killings, imprisonment, torture, rape and other forms of sexual violence, as well as enforced disappearances.

Burundi's government was infuriated last month by a U.N. report that named officials accused of orchestrating the torture and killing political opponents.

Since then, Burundi has banned three U.N. investigators from its territory and condemned a U.N. decision to set up a commission of inquiry to probe the violence, which began last year after President Pierre Nkurunziza decided to seek a third term in office.

Opponents said his candidacy violated the constitution and a peace agreement that ended a civil war in 2005. The opposition mostly boycotted the polls and Nkurunziza won a third term.

The ICC said in April that political violence had killed about 450 people and forced hundreds of thousands to flee.

Opposition lawmaker Fabien Baciryanino favored staying under ICC jurisdiction, saying to withdraw was "no more, no less, than inciting the Burundian people to commit more crimes".

Since it was set up under the 1998 Rome Statute, the court based in The Hague has focused on prosecuting such politically-motivated crimes as genocide and crimes against humanity.

Most of its investigations and indictments have been of Africans, stirring criticism from many governments on the continent.

Nine out of 10 situations under investigation by ICC prosecutors are African. All five verdicts have dealt with African suspects from Congo, Central African Republic and Mali.

South Africa has been in conflict with the court since Pretoria failed to carry out an ICC arrest warrant against Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir when he visited Johannesburg last year.

Court spokesman Fadi El Abdallah said the ICC could not comment on Burundi's vote because it had not yet been formally notified.

"There is a possibility for countries to withdraw, but it only takes effect one year after being submitted to the UNSG," he said, referring to the United Nations Secretary-General.

"Withdrawal does not effect the past obligation of a country to cooperate with any ongoing proceedings or investigation."

(Additional reporting by Anthony Deutsch in Amsterdam and David Alexander in Washington; Writing by Katharine Houreld; Editing by Angus MacSwan and Sandra Maler)
MADRID (Reuters) - Spanish police have arrested two men accused of belonging to Islamic State and a third man accused of spreading Islamist militant messages on social media, the Interior Ministry said on Tuesday.

Police detained a Spaniard of Moroccan origin and a Moroccan national said to have been communicating with leaders of the jihadist group and distributing recruitment material on social networks from their homes in Gijon and San Sebastian, it said.

The third man, a 38-year-old Spaniard, was arrested after police linked him to social media postings glorifying Islamist militants and after two house raids turned up a cache of banned weapons. He was detained in the northern city of Manresa and had no direct affiliation to militant networks, the ministry said.

Spain has been on high alert and has stepped up security measures following attacks in Paris last year.

Spanish police have arrested a total of 37 people this year with suspected connections to Islamist militants.

(Reporting by Amanda Calvo; Editing by Paul Day and Janet Lawrence)
By Trevor Hunnicutt

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Demand for U.S.-based bond funds showed signs of waning in the latest week, with investors pulling cash from investment-grade corporate debt funds at the fastest rate since March, Lipper data showed on Thursday.

Investors, who have feasted on high-quality corporate debt this year, have become more wary of a potential interest rate hike by the Federal Reserve before year-end that could cut bond values.

Corporate bond prices have leapt this year, with the widely traded iShares iBoxx $ Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETF delivering more than 9 percent returns.

While recent withdrawals have been moderate compared to the strong inflows earlier this year, the data showed high-grade bond funds returned $666 million in cash to investors during the seven days through Oct. 12, the fastest rate of outflows in seven months.

So far this year, the funds have taken in $90 billion.

"Investment grade took it on the chin," said Tom Roseen, Thomson Reuters Lipper's head of research services. "This is tied to the Fed. People are saying, 'We think they're going to pull the trigger in December.'"

Minutes from the Fed's most recent meeting in September showed several policymakers judged a rate hike would be warranted "relatively soon."

Overall, U.S.-based taxable bond funds posted $2.1 billion in withdrawals during the week, Lipper said.

High-yield junk bond funds had $72 million in withdrawals, and investors pulled $385 million from Treasury funds.

Withdrawals were concentrated in taxable-bond mutual funds, which had $3 billion in outflows, while Lipper said their exchange-traded fund counterparts added $898 million.

Investors were willing to take some risk outside the United States during the week.

Non-U.S. stock funds attracted $561 million and their first week of inflows since late August, Lipper said, even as funds focused on domestic shares posted $4 billion in outflows.

Emerging market stock funds took in $764 million, and Japanese equity funds added $106 million in their first week of inflows since July. Chinese stock funds took in $39 million in their ninth consecutive week of inflows, the data showed.

Lipper also said money-market funds posted $10.6 billion in withdrawals during the week, their second straight week of outflows. This came ahead of reforms, taking effect on Friday, that would force some funds to let their share prices float with the market.

(Reporting by Trevor Hunnicutt; Editing by Jennifer Ablan and Richard Chang)
The Verizon logo is seen on one of their retail stores in San Diego, California, U.S. April 21, 2016. REUTERS/Mike Blake/File Photo

By Malathi Nayak

(Reuters) - Verizon Communications Inc (NYSE: VZ) said on Thursday it plans to close call centers in five states, including its home state of New York, as the No. 1 wireless company trims head count and reorganizes operations in a saturated wireless market.

The move, which will affect 3,200 workers is a part of Verizon's effort to consolidate customer service operations across the United States.

The company, which has a workforce of about 162,700, recently agreed to buy Yahoo Inc (NASDAQ: YHOO) for $4.8 billion as it looks to tap new revenue in areas such as digital media and advertising.

"We are realigning our real estate portfolio and relocating these centers into other centers where we have extra capacity," Verizon spokeswoman Kim Ancin said.

Verizon is offering affected employees jobs in call centers in other states, she said.

The consolidation involves Verizon call centers near Rochester and Orangeburg, New York; Bangor, Maine; Lincoln, Nebraska; Wallingford and Meriden, Connecticut; and Rancho Cordoba, California, the company said.

The proposed call center closures, which will impact 850 jobs in New York, drew a testy response from the office of New York's governor, Andrew Cuomo.

"This is an egregious example of corporate abuse  among the worst we have witnessed during the six years of this administration," Rich Azzopardi, a spokesman for the governor, said in a statement. Verizon's call center closures will result in job losses for "hard-working" New Yorkers, he added.

Employees who choose to move to other call centers, which handle sales and billing and help customers with technical problems, will be given relocation packages starting at $10,000, Ancin said. Those who leave the company will be given a severance package, outplacement resources and other support.

In April, nearly 40,000 employees of the wireline business, which includes FiOS Internet, telephone and TV services, represented by unions, went on strike after reaching an impasse in talks over a new labor contract. Sticking points included the relocation of employees and offshoring of call center jobs.

The strike, which was one of the largest in recent years in the United States, drew support from Democratic U.S. Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. A new deal was reached in May and striking wireline employees got back to work in June.

The Verizon wireless call center closures in five states involve employees who are not represented by unions, Ancin said.

(Reporting by Malathi Nayak in New York and Aishwarya Venugopal in Bengaluru; Editing by Martina D'Couto, Bill Trott and David Gregorio)
JOHN HANCOCK FUNDS II

601 Congress Street

Boston, Massachusetts 02210

October 13, 2016

VIA EDGAR TRANSMISSION

Securities and Exchange Commission

100 F Street, N.E.

Washington, DC 20549

RE: John Hancock Funds II (the Trust) on behalf of: U.S. Growth Fund (the Fund) File Nos. 333-126293; 811-21779

Ladies and Gentlemen:

On behalf of the Trust, transmitted for filing pursuant to Rule 497 under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, are exhibits containing interactive data format risk/return summary information for the Fund.

The interactive data files included as exhibits to this filing relate to the prospectus supplement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on September 29, 2016 on behalf of the Fund pursuant to Rule 497(e) (Accession No. 0001133228-16-012848), which is incorporated by reference into this Rule 497 Document.

If you have any questions or comments, please call me at (617) 663-4311.
UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

__________________

FORM 8-K

CURRENT REPORT

Pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of

the Securities Exchange Act of 1934

__________________

Date of Report (Date of earliest event reported): October 12, 2016

___________________

DIFFUSION PHARMACEUTICALS INC.

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

Delaware 000-24477 30-0645032 (State or other jurisdiction of incorporation) (Commission File Number) (I.R.S. Employer Identification No.)

2020 Avon Court, #4 Charlottesville, Virginia 22902 (Address of principal executive offices) (Zip Code)

(434) 220-0718

(Registrants telephone number, including area code)

Not applicable

(Former name or former address, if changed since last report)

Check the appropriate box below if the Form 8-K filing is intended to simultaneously satisfy the filing obligation of the registrant under any of the following provisions:

 Written communications pursuant to Rule 425 under the Securities Act (17 CFR 230.425)

 Soliciting material pursuant to Rule 14a-12 under the Exchange Act (17 CFR 240.14a-12)

 Pre-commencement communications pursuant to Rule 14d-2(b) under the Exchange Act (17 CFR 240.14d-2(b))

 Pre-commencement communications pursuant to Rule 13e-4(c) under the Exchange Act (17 CFR 240.13e-4(c))

Item 5.02. Departure of Directors or Certain Officers; Election of Directors; Appointment of Certain Officers; Compensatory Arrangements of Certain Officers.

(e)

Effective October 12, 2016, Diffusion Pharmaceuticals Inc. (the Company) and Ben L. Shealy entered into an employment agreement (the Employment Agreement) whereby Mr. Shealy will serve as the Companys Senior Vice President  Finance and Treasurer. The Employment Agreement has an indefinite term. Under the Employment Agreement, Mr. Shealy will receive an annual salary of $231,000 and has a target bonus opportunity equal to 25% of his base salary. Mr. Shealys annual salary is subject to increase at the discretion of the Board of Directors of the Company (the Board). The Board may, in its discretion, pay a portion of Mr. Shealys annual salary and annual bonus in the form of equity or equity-based compensation, provided that commencing with the year following the year in which a Change of Control (as defined in the Employment Agreement) occurs, Mr. Shealys entire base salary and annual bonus will be paid in cash. For 2016, the cash portion of Mr. Shealys base salary is $145,000.

In the event that Mr. Shealys employment is terminated by the Company other than for Cause, death or Disability or upon his resignation for Good Reason (as such terms are defined in the Employment Agreement), Mr. Shealy will be entitled to any unpaid bonus earned in the year prior to the termination, a pro-rata portion of the bonus earned during the year of termination, continuation of base salary for 9 months, plus 12 months of COBRA premium reimbursement, provided that if such termination occurs within 60 days before or within 24 months following a Change of Control, then Mr. Shealy will be entitled to receive the same severance benefits as provided above except he will receive (a) a payment equal to 1.5 times the sum of his base salary and the higher of his target annual bonus opportunity and the bonus payment he received for the year immediately preceding the year in which the termination occurred instead of 9 months of base salary continuation and (b) 18 times the monthly COBRA premium for Mr. Shealy and his eligible dependents instead of 12 months of COBRA reimbursements (the payments in clauses (a) and (b) are paid in a lump sum in some cases and in installments over 12 months in other cases). In addition, if Mr. Shealys employment is terminated by the Company without Cause or by Mr. Shealy for Good Reason, in either case, upon or within 24 months following a Change of Control, then Mr. Shealy will be entitled to full vesting of all equity awards received by Mr. Shealy from the Company (with any equity awards that are subject to the satisfaction of performance goals deemed earned at not less than target performance).

In the event that Mr. Shealys employment is terminated due to his death or Disability, Mr. Shealy (or his estate) will be entitled to any unpaid bonus earned in the year prior to the termination, a pro-rata portion of the bonus earned during the year of termination, 12 months of COBRA premium reimbursement and accelerated vesting of (a) all equity awards received in payment of base salary or an annual bonus and (b) with respect to any other equity award, the greater of the portion of the unvested equity award that would have become vested within 12 months after the termination date had no termination occurred and the portion of the unvested equity award that is subject to accelerated vesting (if any) upon such termination under the applicable equity plan or award agreement (with performance goals deemed earned at not less than target performance, and with any equity award that is in the form of a stock option or stock appreciation right to remain outstanding and exercisable for 12 months following the termination date or, if longer, such period as provided under the applicable equity plan or award agreement (but in no event beyond the expiration date of the applicable option or stock appreciation right)).

All severance is subject to the execution and non-revocation of a release of claims by Mr. Shealy or his estate, as applicable.

Mr. Shealy is also subject to certain restrictive covenants, including a non-competition, customer non-solicitation and employee and independent contractor non-solicitation (each applicable during employment and for 18 months thereafter), as well as confidentiality and non-disparagement restrictions (each applicable during employment and at all times thereafter).

The foregoing summary of the Employment Agreement does not purport to be complete and is subject to, and qualified in its entirety by, the full text of the Employment Agreement, which is attached as Exhibit 10.1 to this Current Report on Form 8-K and incorporated herein by reference.

Item 9.01. Financial Statements and Exhibits

(d) Exhibits.

Exhibit

Number Description 10.1 Employment Agreement, dated as of October 12, 2016, by and between Ben L. Shealy and Diffusion Pharmaceuticals Inc.

SIGNATURES

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, the registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned hereunto duly authorized.

Dated: October 13, 2016 DIFFUSION PHARMACEUTICALS INC. By: /s/ David G. Kalergis Name: David G. Kalergis Title: Chief Executive Officer

EXHIBIT INDEX

Exhibit

Number Description 10.1 Employment Agreement, dated as of October 12, 2016, by and between Ben L. Shealy and Diffusion Pharmaceuticals Inc.

Exhibit 10.1

EMPLOYMENT AGREEMENT

This Employment Agreement (this  Agreement ) is entered into as of October 12, 2016 (the  Effective Date ) by and between Diffusion Pharmaceuticals Inc. (the  Company ), and Ben L. Shealy (the  Executive ).

Recitals

WHEREAS, the Company desires to employ the Executive as a full-time employee of the Company and the Executive desires to accept employment with the Company upon the terms and conditions hereinafter set forth.

NOW THEREFORE, in consideration of the premises and the mutual covenants hereinafter set forth, and intending to be legally bound hereby, it is hereby agreed as follows:

Agreement

1. Definitions .

1.1.  Affiliate  means as to any Person, any other Person that directly or indirectly controls, or is under common control with, or is controlled by, such first Person. As used in this definition, control (including, with its correlative meanings, controlled by and under common control with) shall mean possession, directly or indirectly, of power to direct or cause the direction of management or policies (whether through ownership of voting equity interests, by contract or otherwise). For the avoidance of doubt, each member of the Company Group (other than the Company) is an Affiliate of the Company.

1.2.  Board  means the Board of Directors of the Company.

1.3.  Cause  means the Executives (i) indictment for, or entering of a plea of guilty or nolo contendere (or its equivalent under any applicable legal system) with respect to (A) a felony or (B) any crime involving moral turpitude; (ii) commission of fraud, misrepresentation, embezzlement or theft against any Person; (iii) engaging in any intentional activity that injures or would reasonably be expected to injure (monetarily or otherwise), in any material respect, the reputation, the business or a business relationship of the Company or any of its Affiliates; (iv) gross negligence or willful misconduct in the performance of the Executives duties to the Company or its Affiliates under this Agreement, or willful refusal or failure to carry out the lawful instructions of the Board or the Companys Chief Executive Officer (or any designee thereof) or the Companys Chief Financial Officer (or any designee thereof), as applicable, that are consistent with the Executives title and position; (v) violation of any fiduciary duty owed to the Company or any of its Affiliates; or (vi) breach of any Restrictive Covenant (as defined below) or material breach or violation of any other provision of this Agreement, of a written policy or code of conduct of the Company or any of its Affiliates (as in effect from time to time) or any other agreement between the Executive and the Company or any of its Affiliates. Except when such acts constituting Cause which, by their nature, cannot reasonably be expected to be cured, the Executive shall have twenty (20) days following the delivery of written notice by the Company of its intention to terminate the Executives employment for Cause within which to cure any acts constituting Cause. A fter the Company provides the notice of its intent to terminate Executives employment for Cause, the Company may suspend the Executive from all his duties and responsibilities and prevent him from accessing the Companys or its Affiliates premises or contacting any personnel of the Company or any of its Affiliates.

1.4.  Change of Control  means (i) the accumulation (if over time, in any consecutive twelve (12) month period), whether directly, indirectly, beneficially or of record, by any individual, entity or group (within the meaning of Section 13(d)(3) or 14(d)(2) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended) of 50.1% or more of the shares of the outstanding voting securities of the Company, whether by merger, consolidation, sale or other transfer of shares (other than a merger or consolidation where the stockholders of the Company immediately prior to the merger or consolidation are immediately after such merger or consolidation the direct or indirect beneficial owners of a majority of the voting securities of the entity that survives such merger or consolidation), (ii) a sale of all or substantially all of the assets of the Company and its Subsidiaries, determined on a consolidated basis or (iii) during any period of twelve (12) consecutive months, the individuals who, at the beginning of such period, constitute the Board, and any new director whose election by the Board or nomination for election by the Companys stockholders was approved by a vote of at least a majority of the directors then still in office who either were directors at the beginning of the 12-month period or whose election or nomination for election was previously so approved, cease for any reason to constitute at least a majority of the Board; provided, however, that the following acquisitions shall not constitute a Change of Control for the purposes of this Agreement: (A) any acquisitions of voting securities or securities convertible, exercisable or exchangeable into voting securities directly from the Company or (B) any acquisition of voting securities or securities convertible, exercisable or exchangeable into voting securities by any employee benefit plan (or related trust) sponsored by or maintained by the Company or any of its Subsidiaries; provided further, that a transaction will not be a Change of Control unless it satisfies the requirements of Treasury Regulation 1.409A-3(i)(5)(v), (vi) or (vii).

1.5.  Code  means the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended.

1.6.  Company Group  means the Company and the direct and indirect Subsidiaries of the Company.

1.7.  Company Invention  means any Invention that is Invented by the Executive (alone or jointly with others) (i) in the course of, in connection with, or as a result of the Executives employment or other service with any member of the Company Group (whether before, on or after the Effective Date), (ii) at the direction or request of any member of the Company Group, or (iii) through the use of, or that is related to, facilities, equipment, Confidential Information, other Company Inventions, intellectual property or other resources of any member of the Company Group, whether or not during the Executives work hours.

1.8.  Confidential Information  shall mean all information of a sensitive, confidential or proprietary nature respecting the business and activities of any member of the Company Group or any of their respective Affiliates, or the predecessors and successors of any member of the Company Group or any of their respective Affiliates, including, without limitation, the terms and provisions of this Agreement (except for the terms and provisions of Sections 4.4 through 4.17), and the clients, customers, suppliers, computer or other files, projects, products, computer disks or other media, computer hardware or computer software programs, marketing plans, financial information, methodologies, Inventions, know-how, research, developments, processes, practices, approaches, projections, forecasts, formats, systems, data gathering methods and/or strategies of any member of the Company Group or any of their respective Affiliates. Confidential Information also includes all information received by the Company or any other member of the Company Group under an obligation of confidentially to a third party. Notwithstanding the foregoing, Confidential Information shall not include any information that is generally available, or is made generally available, to the public other than as a result of a direct or indirect unauthorized disclosure by the Executive or any other Person subject to a confidentiality obligation.

2

1.9.  Disability  means that the Executive has been unable, as determined by the Board in good faith, to perform the Executives duties under this Agreement for a period of ninety (90) consecutive days or for a total of one hundred and twenty (120) days (whether or not consecutive) during any period of twelve (12) consecutive months, as a result of injury, illness or any other physical or mental impairment.

1.10.  Good Reason  means any of the following actions taken by the Company without the Executives prior written consent: (i) a material reduction in the Executives duties, responsibilities or authority; (ii) a material reduction of the Executives Base Salary (as defined below); (iii) failure or refusal of a successor to the Company to either materially assume the Companys obligations under this Agreement or enter into a new employment agreement with the Executive on terms that are materially similar to those provided under this Agreement, in any case, in the event of a Change of Control; (iv) relocation of the Executives primary work location that results in an increase in the Executives one-way driving distance by more than twenty-five (25) miles from the Executives then-current principal residence; or (v) a material breach of this Agreement by the Company. Notwithstanding the foregoing, Good Reason shall not be deemed to exist unless (A) the Executive gives the Company written notice within sixty (60) days after the occurrence of the event which the Executive believes constitutes the basis for Good Reason, specifying the particular act or failure to act which the Executive believes constitutes the basis for Good Reason, (B) the Company fails to cure such act or failure to act within thirty (30) days after receipt of such notice and (C) the Executive terminates his employment within thirty (30) days after the end of such 30-day cure period specified in clause (B).

1.11.  Invented  means made, conceived, invented, authored, or first actually reduced to practice (in any case, whether partially or fully).

1.12.  Invention  means any invention, formula, therapy, diagnostic technique, discovery, improvement, idea, technique, design, method, art, process, methodology, algorithm, machine, development, product, service, technology, strategy, software, work of authorship or other Works (as defined in Section 4.13), trade secret, innovation, trademark, data, database, or the like, whether or not patentable, together with all intellectual property rights therein.

1.13.  Person  means an individual, partnership, limited liability company, corporation, association, joint stock company, trust, joint venture, unincorporated organization, investment fund, any other business entity and a governmental entity or any department, agency or political subdivision thereof.

3

1.14.  Subsidiary  means, with respect to any Person, any other Person in which such first Person has a direct or indirect equity ownership interest of at least 50%.

1.15.  Term of Employment  means the period of the Executives employment under this Agreement.

1.16.  Termination Date  means the date the Executives employment with the Company terminates for any reason.

2. Employment .

2.1. Executives Representations . The Executive represents that (i) the Executive is entering into this Agreement voluntarily and that the Executives employment hereunder and compliance with the terms and conditions hereof will not conflict with or result in the breach by the Executive of any agreement to which the Executive is a party or by which the Executive may be bound and (ii) in connection with the Executives employment with the Company or any other member of the Company Group, the Executive will not (A) violate any non-competition, non-solicitation or other similar covenant or agreement by which the Executive is or may be bound or (B) use any confidential or proprietary information that the Executive may have obtained in connection with the Executives employment or engagement with any other Person.

2.2. Position; Duties and Responsibilities . During the Term of Employment, the Executive shall be employed as the Companys Senior Vice President  Finance and Treasurer, with such duties and responsibilities that are consistent with such position as may be assigned by the Board or the Companys Chief Executive Officer (or any designee thereof) or the Companys Chief Financial Officer (or any designee thereof), as applicable, from time to time. In addition, during the Term of Employment, the Executive shall serve in such other officer and/or director positions with any member of the Company Group (for no additional compensation) as may be determined by the Board from time to time. The Executive further agrees that, during the Term of Employment, he shall not knowingly take any action that is contrary to, or in conflict with, the best interests of the Company Group.

2.3. Reporting; Outside Activities . During the Term of Employment, the Executive shall report to the Companys Chief Executive Officer (or any designee thereof) until a Chief Financial Officer commences employment with the Company, and thereafter, to such Chief Financial Officer of the Company (or any designee thereof), and the Executive shall diligently and conscientiously devote the Executives full business time, attention, energy, skill and best efforts to the business and affairs of the Company Group. Notwithstanding the foregoing, the Executive may (i) continue to serve as a member of the board of any organization listed in Exhibit A hereto, (ii) serve on other boards as may be approved by the Board in its sole discretion, (iii) engage in educational, charitable and civic activities and (iv) manage the Executives personal and business investments and affairs, so long as such activities (A) do not, individually or in the aggregate, interfere with the performance of the Executives duties under this Agreement and (B) are not contrary to the interests of the Company Group or competitive in any way with the Company Group. Subject to the foregoing, during the Term of Employment, the Executive shall not, directly or indirectly, render any services of a business, commercial, or professional nature to any other Person, whether for compensation or otherwise, without the prior written consent of the Board.

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3. Compensation and Other Benefit s .

3.1. B ase Salary . During the Term of Employment, the Executive shall receive an initial base salary per annum of $231,000, the cash portion of which shall be payable in accordance with the Companys normal payroll practices as in effect from time to time. During the Term of Employment, the Board may review the Executives base salary and the Board may, in its sole discretion, increase (but not decrease) such base salary by an amount it determines to be appropriate. The Executives base salary, as may be in effect from time to time, is referred to herein as  Base Salary . Notwithstanding anything herein to the contrary, with respect to any calendar year during the Term of Employment, the Board may, in its sole discretion, determine that a portion of the Base Salary shall be paid in the form of equity or equity-based compensation; provided that, such determination shall be made before January 1 of the calendar year during which such Base Salary will be earned, and such determination (and the portion of the Base Salary determined to be so paid in the form of equity or equity-based compensation) may not be revoked or otherwise modified at any time during such calendar year; provided, further, that any such equity or equity-based compensation shall be granted on January 1 of such calendar year or such later date during such calendar year as may be determined by the Board in its sole discretion. The Board shall act in good faith in determining the value of the portion of the Base Salary that will be paid in the form of equity or equity-based compensation. For calendar year 2016, the cash portion of the Base Salary shall be $146,415. From and after January 1st of the year immediately following the year in which a Change of Control occurs, no portion of the Base Salary shall be paid in a form other than cash.

3.2. Annual Bonus . During the Term of Employment, the Executive shall be eligible to earn an annual performance bonus based on the achievement of the performance goals established by the Board or a committee thereof in its sole discretion, with an annual target bonus opportunity of 25% of the Base Salary and the potential to earn a higher bonus for above target performance, with the amount of any such bonus to be determined in the sole discretion of the Board or a committee thereof (the  Annual Bonus ). Any Annual Bonus earned for any performance period may be paid in cash or any equity or equity-based awards (or any combination thereof), as determined in the sole discretion of the Board or a committee thereof, with such determination to be made before January 1 of the performance period to which such Annual Bonus relates (or such later date permitted under Section 409A (as defined below)). Any earned Annual Bonus that is payable in cash shall be paid in a lump sum, and any earned Annual Bonus that is payable in equity or equity-based awards shall be granted, in any case, by no later than the first March 15th to occur after the end of the applicable performance period. The Board shall act in good faith in determining the value of the portion of any earned Annual Bonus that will be paid in the form of equity or equity-based awards. Except as set forth in Section 4.2, the Executive must be employed by the Company on the bonus payment date in order to receive an earned Annual Bonus with respect to any performance period. With respect to any performance period commencing in any year following the year in which a Change of Control occurs, no portion of the Annual Bonus shall be paid in a form other than cash.

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3.3. Equity Grants . During the Term of Employment, the Executive shall be eligible for equity or equity-based awards that may be granted to the Executive at such times, in such amounts and in such manner as the Board may determine in its sole discretion. Any such equity or equity-based awards shall be subject to the terms and conditions set forth in the applicable plan and award agreement.

3.4. Expense Reimbursement . During the Term of Employment, the Company shall reimburse the Executives reasonable and necessary business expenses incurred in connection with performing the Executives duties hereunder in accordance with its then-prevailing policies and procedures for expense reimbursement (which shall include appropriate itemization and substantiation of expenses incurred).

3.5. Benefit Plans; Vacation . During the Term of Employment, the Executive shall be entitled to participate in all broad-based employee benefit plans and programs maintained from time to time for the benefit of the Companys employees (e.g., medical, dental and disability benefits) to the extent that the Executive satisfies the eligibility requirements of such plans or programs (including, without limitation, minimum hours worked) and subj ect to applicable law and the terms and conditions of such plans or programs; provided, however, that the Company may amend, modify or terminate any such plans or programs at any time in its discretion. During the Term of Employment, the Executive shall be entitled to 200 hours of paid time off per calendar year (pro-rated for partial years), subject to the Companys paid time off policy, as in effect from time to time.

4. Terminati on; Restrictive Covenants . Upon the Termination Date, the Executive shall be deemed to have immediately resigned from any and all officer, director and other positions the Executive then holds with the Company and its Affiliates (and this Agreement shall constitute notice of resignation by the Executive without any further action by the Executive), and the Executive agrees to execute and deliver such further instruments as are requested by the Company in furtherance of the foregoing. Except as expressly provided in Section 4.2, all rights the Executive may have to compensation and employee benefits from the Company or its Affiliates shall terminate immediately upon the Termination Date.

4.1. Genera l . The Company may terminate the Term of Employment and the Executives employment at any time, with or without Cause or due to Disability, upon written notice to the Executive. The Executive may terminate the Term of Employment and the Executives employment for Good Reason or for any other reason at any time upon not less than ninety (90) days advance written notice to the Company; provided, that following its receipt of the Executives notice of termination, the Company may elect to reduce the notice period and cause the Termination Date to occur earlier, and no such action by the Company shall entitle the Executive to notice pay, severance pay or benefits or pay in lieu of notice or lost wages or benefits. In addition, the Term of Employment and the Executives employment with the Company shall terminate immediately upon the Executives death.

4.2. Separation Payments .

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4.2.1. General . Except as otherwise provided in this Section 4.2, in the event that the Executives employment with the Company terminates for any reason, the Executive (or the Executives estate or legal representative, as applicable) shall be entitled to receive only (i) the cash portion of the Base Salary earned but unpaid through the Termination Date, paid in accordance with the Companys normal payroll policies (or at such earlier time as required by applicable law), (ii) any accrued but unused vacation in accordance with the Companys policies and applicable law, (iii) any unreimbursed business expenses incurred prior to the Termination Date that are otherwise reimbursable, with such expenses to be reimbursed in accordance with the Companys expense reimbursement policies (as may be in effect from time to time), and (iv) any vested benefits earned by the Executive under any employee benefit plan of the Company or its Affiliates under which the Executive was participating immediately prior to the Termination Date, with such benefits to be provided in accordance with the terms of the applicable employee benefit plan (the items described in the foregoing clauses (i) through (iv), collectively, the  Accrued Benefits ). All other rights the Executive may have to compensation and employee benefits from the Company or its Affiliates, other than as set forth in Sections 4.2.2, 4.2.3 or 4.2.4, shall immediately terminate upon the Termination Date.

4.2.2. Death and Disability . In the event that the Executives employment is terminated due to the Executives death or by the Company due to Disability, in either case, during the Term of Employment, then in addition to the Accrued Benefits, and subject to Section 4.2.5, the Executive (or the Executives estate or legal representative, as applicable) shall be entitled to receive: (i) the Annual Bonus earned in the fiscal year immediately preceding the fiscal year in which such termination occurred, to the extent that such Annual Bonus is unpaid as of the Termination Date, with such amount to be payable in cash and/or fully vested shares of the Companys common stock (as determined by the Company in its sole discretion) at the same time as if no such termination had occurred (the  Unpaid Prior Year Bonus ); (ii) the Annual Bonus for the year in which the Termination Date occurs, but multiplied by a fraction (A) the numerator of which is the number of days in the fiscal year that have transpired through the Termination Date and (B) the denominator of which is the number of days in such fiscal year (to be paid in cash and/or fully vested shares of the Companys common stock (as determined by the Company in its sole discretion) at the same time as if no such termination had occurred); (iii) if the Executive and his eligible dependents are eligible for, and timely elect COBRA continuation coverage, the Company shall reimburse the Executive (or the Executives estate or legal representative, as applicable) for the COBRA premiums for the Executive and his eligible dependents under the Companys medical, dental and vision benefit plans for a period of 12 months following the Termination Date (the  COBRA Benefit ); provided, however, that notwithstanding the foregoing, the COBRA Benefit shall not be provided to the extent that it would result in any fine, penalty or tax on the Company or any of its Affiliates (under Section 105(h) of the Code or the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010, or otherwise); provided further, that the COBRA Benefit shall cease earlier if the Executive or his dependents become eligible for health coverage under the health plan of another employer; and (iv) to the extent the following will not result in a violation of Section 409A, with respect to each equity award received by Executive from the Company or any of its direct or indirect parent companies that is outstanding as of the Termination Date, accelerated vesting immediately upon the Termination Date of, (I) with respect to any such equity award received in payment of Base Salary or an Annual Bonus, 100% of such equity award and, (II) with respect to any equity award not described in clause (I), the greater of (x) the portion of the unvested equity award that would have become vested within 12 months after the Termination Date had the Executive remained employed by the Company during such 12- month period (without regard for the vesting schedule set forth in any applicable plan or agreement governing such equity award) or (y) the portion of the unvested equity award that is subject to accelerated vesting (if any) upon such termination under the applicable equity plan or award agreement; provided, however, that any equity awards that are subject to the satisfaction of performance goals shall be deemed earned at not less than target performance; and provided, further, that, with respect to any equity award that is in the form of a stock option or stock appreciation right, the option or stock appreciation right shall remain outstanding and exercisable for 12 months following the Termination Date or, if longer, such period following the Termination Date as provided under the applicable equity plan or award agreement (but in no event beyond the expiration date of the applicable option or stock appreciation right). All other rights the Executive may have to compensation and employee benefits from the Company or its Affiliates, other than as set forth in this Section 4.2.2, shall immediately terminate upon the Termination Date.

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4.2.3. Termination Without Cause or for Good Reason  Not In Connection with a Change of Control . If, during the Term of Employment, the Executives employment is terminated by the Company without Cause (and not due to death or Disability) or by Executive for Good Reason, in either case, and such termination is not covered by Section 4.2.4, then the Executive shall be entitled to receive the Accrued Benefits and, subject to Section 4.2.5: (i) the Unpaid Prior Year Bonus, with such amount to be payable in cash and/or fully vested shares of the Companys common stock (as determined by the Company in its sole discretion) at the same time as if no such termination had occurred; (ii) the Annual Bonus for the year in which the Termination Date occurs, but multiplied by a fraction (A) the numerator of which is the number of days in the fiscal year that have transpired through the Termination Date and (B) the denominator of which is the number of days in such fiscal year (to be paid in cash and/or fully vested shares of the Companys common stock (as determined by the Company in its sole discretion) at the same time as if no such termination had occurred); (iii) continuation of the Base Salary as of the Termination Date for nine months following the Termination Date, with all portions of such Base Salary to be paid in cash in equal installments in accordance with the Companys normal payroll policies, with the first such payment to be made on the 60th day following the Termination Date and to include a catch-up covering any payroll dates between the Termination Date and the date of the first payment, and (iv) the COBRA Benefit for a period of 12 months following the Termination Date; provided, however, that notwithstanding the foregoing, the COBRA Benefit shall not be provided to the extent that it would result in any fine, penalty or tax on the Company or any of its Affiliates (under Section 105(h) of the Code or the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010, or otherwise); provided further, that the COBRA Benefit shall cease earlier if the Executive (or his dependents) become eligible for health coverage under the health plan of another employer. All other rights the Executive may have to compensation and employee benefits from the Company or its Affiliates, other than as set forth in this Section 4.2.3, shall immediately terminate upon the Termination Date.

4.2.4. Termination Without Cause or for Good Reason  In Connection with a Change of Control . If, during the Term of Employment, the Executives employment is terminated by the Company without Cause (and not due to death or Disability) or by Executive for Good Reason, in either case, (A) upon or within 24 months following a Change of Control or (B) within 60 days prior to such Change of Control, then the Executive shall be entitled to receive the Accrued Benefits and, subject to Section 4.2.5: (i) the Unpaid Prior Year Bonus, with such amount to be payable in cash and/or fully vested shares of the Companys common stock (as determined by the Company in its sole discretion) at the same time as if no such termination had occurred; (ii) the Annual Bonus for the year in which the Termination Date occurs, but multiplied by a fraction (x) the numerator of which is the number of days in the fiscal year that have transpired through the Termination Date and (y) the denominator of which is the number of days in such fiscal year (to be paid in cash and/or fully vested shares of the Companys common stock (as determined by the Company in its sole discretion) at the same time as if no such termination had occurred); (iii) a lump sum payment equal to 1.5 times the sum of Executives Base Salary (at the highest rate in effect during the 24 month period commencing on the date of such Change of Control) and the higher of Executives target Annual Bonus opportunity and the Annual Bonus paid to Executive with respect to the fiscal year immediately preceding the fiscal year in which such termination occurred, with such payment to be paid in cash on the first payroll date after the effective date of the release (as described in Section 4.2.5) and in all events no later than 70 days after such termination and (iv) a payment equal to 18 times the monthly COBRA premium for Executive and his eligible dependents (at the rate in effect for Executives coverage at the time of his termination, regardless of whether Executive elects COBRA coverage), with one-third of such payment to be paid in cash on the first payroll date after the effective date of the release (as described in Section 4.2.5) and in all events no later than 70 days after such termination, and with the remaining two-thirds to be paid according to the same schedule as the COBRA Benefit is provided in clause (iv) of Section 4.2.3 (i.e., in installments over 12 months following the Termination Date). Notwithstanding the foregoing, in the event that a termination described in clause (B) of this Section 4.2.4 occurs, then the payments described in clauses (iii) and (iv) of this Section 4.2.4 shall be paid over the same nine-month period (or the same 12-month period, as applicable) and in the same manner as set forth in clauses (iii) and (iv) of Section 4.2.3, respectively, rather than being paid in a lump sum. In addition, if (and only if), during the Term of Employment, the Executives employment is terminated by the Company without Cause (and not due to death or Disability) or by Executive for Good Reason, in either case, upon or within 24 months following a Change of Control, then, to the extent the following will not result in a violation of Section 409A, the Executive shall be entitled to, in addition to the Accrued Benefits and the payments set forth in the foregoing clauses (i) through (iv), and subject to Section 4.2.5, immediate and full accelerated vesting of all equity awards received by Executive from the Company or any of its direct or indirect parent companies that are outstanding as of the Termination Date without regard for the vesting schedule set forth in any applicable plan or agreement governing such equity awards; provided that, any equity awards that are subject to the satisfaction of performance goals shall be deemed earned at not less than target performance; and provided, further, that, with respect to any equity award that is in the form of a stock option or stock appreciation right, the option or stock appreciation right shall remain outstanding and exercisable for 24 months following the Termination Date (but in no event beyond the expiration date of the applicable option or stock appreciation right). All other rights the Executive may have to compensation and employee benefits from the Company or its Affiliates, other than as set forth in this Section 4.2.4, shall immediately terminate upon the Termination Date.

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4.2.5. Release Requirement . Payment and provision of the benefits set forth in Sections 4.2.2, 4.2.3 and 4.2.4 (other than the Accrued Benefits) is subject to the Executives (or, as applicable, the Executives estates or legal representatives) execution of a general release of claims and covenant not to sue in form and substance satisfactory to the Company, such that such release becomes effective, with all revocation periods having expired unexercised, within sixty (60) days after the Termination Date. Notwithstanding the foregoing, if such sixty (60) day period ends in a calendar year after the calendar year in which the Executives employment terminates, then to the extent required by Section 409A, any severance payment set forth in Sections 4.2.2, 4.2.3 or 4.2.4 (other than the Accrued Benefits) that would have been made during the calendar year in which the Executives employment terminates instead shall be withheld and paid on the first payroll date in the calendar year after the calendar year in which the Executives employment terminates, with all remaining payments to be made as if no such delay had occurred.

4.3. Violation of Restrictive Covenants . Without limiting the remedies provided to the Company and its Affiliates as set forth in this Article 4, upon the Executives breach of any of the Restrictive Covenants (as defined below), other than any immaterial and unintentional breach by the Executive of the confidentiality obligations set forth in Section 4.11, the Company will have no obligation to continue to pay or provide any of the compensation or benefits under Section 4.2 (other than the Accrued Benefits) and the Executive shall repay to the Company any amounts paid under Section 4.2 (other than the Accrued Benefits) after such breach occurred.

4.4. Restrictive Covenants . As an inducement and as essential consideration for the Company to enter into this Agreement, and in exchange for other good and valuable consideration, the Executive hereby agrees to the restrictive covenants contained in Sections 4.5 through 4.17 (the  Restrictive Covenants ). The Company and the Executive agree that the Restrictive Covenants are essential and narrowly tailored to preserve the goodwill of the business of the Company and its Affiliates, to maintain the confidential and trade secret information of the Company and its Affiliates, and to protect other legitimate business interests of the Company and its Affiliates, and that the Company would not have entered into this Agreement without the Executives agreement to the Restrictive Covenants. For purposes of the Restrictive Covenants, each reference to  Company ,  Company Group  and  Affiliate , shall also refer to the predecessors and successors of the Company, the members of the Company Group and any of their Affiliates (as the case may be).

4.5. Non-Competition . During the period commencing on the Effective Date and ending 18 months after the Termination Date, regardless of the reason for Executives termination of employment, the Executive shall not, in any state of the United States where the Company conducts business as of the Termination Date, engage in, or own, manage, operate or control, or participate in the ownership, management, operation or control of any business or entity that sells or provides products or services competitive with the products or services sold or provided by any member of the Company Group. Notwithstanding the foregoing, nothing in this Section 4.5 shall prevent the Executive from owning, as a passive investor, up to two percent (2%) of the securities of any entity that are publicly traded on a national securities exchange. For the avoidance of doubt, nothing in this Section 4.5 prevents the Executive from working in the pharmaceutical industry as long as such positions and activities are not competitive with the business of the Company Group.

4.6. Customer Non-Solicitation . During the period commencing on the Effective Date and ending 18 months after the Termination Date, regardless of the reason for Executives termination of employment, the Executive shall not (except on the Companys behalf during the Executives employment with the Company), for purposes of providing products or services that are competitive with those provided by any member of the Company Group, on the Executives own behalf or on behalf of any other Person, solicit any customer or client of any member of the Company Group with whom the Executive had contact, solicited, or served within the twelve (12) months prior to the Termination Date.

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4.7. Customer Non-Acceptance. During the period commencing on the Effective Date and ending 18 months after the Termination Date, regardless of the reason for Executives termination of employment, the Executive shall not (except on the Companys behalf during the Executives employment with the Company), for purposes of providing products or services that are competitive with those provided by any member of the Company Group, on the Executives own behalf or on behalf of any other Person, accept business from any customer or client of any member of the Company Group with whom the Executive had contact, solicited, or served within the twelve (12) months prior to the Termination Date.

4.8. Employee and Independent Contractor Non-Solicitation . During the period commencing on the Effective Date and ending 18 months after the Termination Date, regardless of the reason for Executives termination of employment, the Executive shall not (except on the Companys behalf during the Term of Employment), on the Executives own behalf or on behalf of any other Person, solicit for employment or engagement any individual who (A) is employed by, or an independent contractor of, any member of the Company Group at the time of such solicitation or (B) was employed by, or an independent contractor of, any member of the Company Group within 12 months prior to such solicitation.

4.9. Employee and Independent Contractor Non-Acceptance . During the period commencing on the Effective Date and ending 18 months after the Termination Date, regardless of the reason for Executives termination of employment, the Executive shall not (except on the Companys behalf during the Term of Employment), on the Executives own behalf or on behalf of any other Person, employ or engage any individual who (A) is employed by, or an independent contractor of, any member of the Company Group at the time of such employment or engagement or (B) was employed by, or an independent contractor of, any member of the Company Group within twelve (12) months prior to such employment or engagement.

4.10. Non-Disparagement . During the Term of Employment and at all times thereafter, the Executive shall not, directly or through any other Person make any public or private statements (whether orally, in writing, via electronic transmission, or otherwise) that disparage, denigrate or malign the Company, any of the Companys Affiliates or any of their respective businesses, products, services, activities, operations, affairs, reputations or prospects; or any of their respective officers, employees, directors, partners (general and limited), agents, members or shareholders. For purposes of clarification, and not limitation, a statement shall be deemed to disparage, denigrate or malign a Person if such statement could be reasonably construed to adversely affect the opinion any other Person may have or form of such first Person. The foregoing limitations shall not be violated by truthful statements made by the Executive (i) to any governmental authority or (ii) which are in response to legal process, required governmental testimony or filings, or administrative or arbitral proceedings (including, without limitation, depositions in connection with such proceedings).

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4.11. Confidentiality; Return of Property . During the Term of Employment and at all times thereafter, the Executive shall not, without the prior express written consent of the Company, directly or indirectly, use on the Executives behalf or on behalf of any other Person, or divulge, disclose or make available or accessible to any Person, any Confidential Information, other than when required to do so in good faith to perform the Executives duties and responsibilities hereunder while employed by any member of the Company Group, when required to do so by a lawful order of a court of competent jurisdiction, any governmental authority or agency, or any recognized subpoena power, or in connection with reporting possible violations of federal law or regulation to any governmental agency or entity, or making other disclosures that are protected under the whistleblower provisions of federal law or regulation. In the event that the Executive becomes legally compelled (by oral questions, interrogatories, request for information or documents, subpoena, criminal or civil investigative demand or similar process) to disclose any Confidential Information, then prior to such disclosure, the Executive will provide the Board with prompt written notice so that the Company may seek (with the Executives cooperation) a protective order or other appropriate remedy and/or waive compliance with the provisions of this Agreement. In the event that such protective order or other remedy is not obtained, then the Executive will furnish only that portion of the Confidential Information which is legally required, and will cooperate with the Company in the Companys efforts to obtain reliable assurance that confidential treatment will be accorded to the Confidential Information. In addition, the Executive shall not create any derivative work or other product based on or resulting from any Confidential Information (except in the good faith performance of the Executives duties under this Agreement while employed by any member of the Company Group). The Executive shall also proffer to the Boards designee, no later than the Termination Date (or upon the earlier request of the Company), and without retaining any copies, notes or excerpts thereof, all property of the Company and its Affiliates, including, without limitation, memoranda, computer disks or other media, computer programs, diaries, notes, records, data, customer or client lists, marketing plans and strategies, and any other documents consisting of or containing Confidential Information, that are in the Executives actual or constructive possession or which are subject to the Executives control at such time. To the extent the Executive has retained any such property or Confidential Information on any electronic or computer equipment belonging to the Executive or under the Executives control, the Executive agrees to so advise Company and to follow Companys instructions in permanently deleting all such property or Confidential Information and all copies. Notwithstanding the foregoing, in accordance with the Defend Trade Secrets Act of 2016, the Executive shall not be held criminally or civilly liable under any federal or state trade secret law for the disclosure of a trade secret that: (a) is made (I) in confidence to a federal, state, or local government official, either directly or indirectly, or to an attorney, and (II) solely for the purpose of reporting or investigating a suspected violation of law; or (b) is made in a complaint or other document filed in a lawsuit or other proceeding, if such filing is made under seal.

4.12. Ownership of Inventions . The Executive acknowledges and agrees that all Company Inventions (including all intellectual property rights arising therein or thereto, all rights of priority relating to patents, and all claims for past, present and future infringement, misappropriation relating thereto), and all Confidential Information, hereby are and shall be the sole and exclusive property of the Company (collectively, the  Company IP ). The Executive further acknowledges and agrees that any rights arising in the Executive in any Invention Invented by the Executive, whether alone or jointly with others, during the twelve (12) months following the Termination Date and relating in any way to work performed by the Executive for any member of the Company Group during the Executives employment with or service for any member of the Company Group ( Post-employment Inventions ), shall hereby be deemed to be Company Inventions and the sole and exclusive property of the Company; provided, however, that the Board in its sole discretion may elect to compensate the Executive for any Post-employment Inventions. For consideration acknowledged and received, the Executive hereby irrevocably assigns, conveys and sets over to the Company all of the Executives right, title and interest in and to all Company IP. The Executive acknowledges and agrees that the compensation received by the Executive for employment or services provided to the Company is adequate consideration for the foregoing assignment. The Executive further agrees to disclose in writing to the Board any Company Inventions (including, without limitation, all Post-employment Inventions), promptly following their conception or reduction to practice. Such disclosure shall be sufficiently complete in technical detail and appropriately illustrated by sketch or diagram to convey to one skilled in the art of which the Company Invention pertains, a clear understanding of the nature, purpose, operations, and other characteristics of the Company Invention. The Executive agrees to execute and deliver such deeds of assignment or other documents of conveyance and transfer as the Company may request to confirm in the Company or its designee the ownership of the Company Inventions, without compensation beyond that provided in this Agreement. The Executive further agrees, upon the request of the Company and at its expense, that the Executive will execute any other instrument and document necessary or desirable in applying for and obtaining patents in the United States and in any foreign country with respect to any Company Invention. The Executive further agrees, whether or not the Executive is then an employee or other service provider of any member of the Company Group, upon request of the Company, to provide reasonable assistance with respect to the perfection, recordation or other documentation of the assignment of Company IP hereunder, and the enforcement of the Companys rights in any Company IP, and to cooperate to the extent and in the manner reasonably requested by the Company in any litigation or other claim or proceeding (including, without limitation, the prosecution or defense of any claim involving a patent) involving any Company IP covered by this Agreement, without further compensation but all reasonable out-of-pocket expenses incurred by the Executive in satisfying the requirements of this Section 4.12 shall be paid by the Company or its designee. The Executive shall not, on or after the date of this Agreement, directly or indirectly challenge the validity or enforceability of the Companys ownership of, or rights with respect to, any Company IP, including, without limitation, any patent issued on, or patent application filed in respect of, any Company Invention.

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4.13. Works for Hire . The Executive also acknowledges and agrees that all works of authorship, in any format or medium, and whether published or unpublished, created wholly or in part by the Executive, whether alone or jointly with others, (i) in the course of, in connection with, or as a result of the Executives employment or other service with any member of the Company Group (whether before or after the Effective Date), (ii) at the direction or request of any member of the Company Group, or (iii) through the use of, or that is related to, facilities, equipment, Confidential Information, other Company Inventions, intellectual property or other resources of any member of the Company Group, whether or not during the Executives work hours ( Works ), are works made for hire as defined under United States copyright law, and that the Works (and all copyrights arising in the Works) are owned exclusively by the Company and all rights therein will automatically vest in the Company without the need for any further action by any party. To the extent any such Works are not deemed to be works made for hire, for consideration acknowledged and received, the Executive hereby waives any moral rights in such Works and the Executive hereby irrevocably assigns, transfers, conveys and sets over to the Company or its designee, without compensation beyond that provided in this Agreement, all right, title and interest in and to such Works, including without limitation all rights of copyright arising therein or thereto, and further agrees to execute such assignments or other deeds of conveyance and transfer as the Company may request to vest in the Company or its designee all right, title and interest in and to such Works, including all rights of copyright arising in or related to the Works.

4.14. Cooperation . During and after the Term of Employment, the Executive agrees to cooperate with the Company Group in any internal investigation, any administrative, regulatory, or judicial proceeding or any dispute with a third party concerning issues about which the Executive has knowledge or that may relate to the Executive or the Executives employment with the Company. The Executives obligation to cooperate hereunder includes, without limitation, being available to the Company Group upon reasonable notice for interviews and factual investigations, appearing in any forum at the Company Groups request to give testimony (without requiring service of a subpoena or other legal process), volunteering to the Company Group pertinent information, and turning over to the Company Group all relevant documents which are or may come into the Executives possession. The Company shall promptly reimburse the Executive for the reasonable out of pocket expenses incurred by the Executive in connection with such cooperation.

4.15. Injunctive Relief . The Executive acknowledges and agrees that the Company and its Affiliates will have no adequate remedy at law and would be irreparably harmed if the Executive breaches or threatens to breach any of the Restrictive Covenants. The Executive agrees that the Company and its Affiliates shall be entitled to equitable and/or injunctive relief to prevent any breach or threatened breach of any of the Restrictive Covenants, and to specific performance of each of the terms thereof, in each case, in addition to any other legal or equitable remedies that the Company and its Affiliates may have, as well as the costs and reasonable attorneys fees it/they incur in enforcing any of the Restrictive Covenants. The Executive further agrees that (i) any breach or claimed breach of the provisions set forth in this Agreement by, or any other claim the Executive may have against, the Company or any of its Affiliates will not be a defense to enforcement of any Restrictive Covenant and (ii) the circumstances of the Executives termination of employment with the Company will have no impact on the Executives obligations to comply with any Restrictive Covenant. The Restrictive Covenants are intended for the benefit of the Company and each of its Affiliates. Each Affiliate of the Company is an intended third party beneficiary of the Restrictive Covenants, and each Affiliate of the Company, as well as any successor or assign of the Company or such Affiliate, may enforce the Restrictive Covenants. The Executive further agrees that the Restrictive Covenants are in addition to, and not in lieu of, any non-competition, non-solicitation, protection of confidential information or intellectual property, or other similar covenants in favor of the Company or any of its Affiliates by which the Executive may be bound.

4.16. Tolling During Periods of Breach . The parties hereto agree and intend that the Restrictive Covenants (to the extent not perpetual) be tolled during any period that the Executive is in breach of any such Restrictive Covenant, with such tolling to cease with respect to a Restrictive Covenant once the Executive is in compliance with such Restrictive Covenant, so that the Company and its Affiliates are provided with the full benefit of the restrictive periods set forth herein.

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4.17. Notification of New Employer . In the event that the Executive is employed or otherwise engaged by any other Person following the Termination Date, the Executive agrees to notify, and consents to the notification by Company and its Affiliates of, such Person of the Restrictive Covenants.

5. Miscellaneous .

5.1. Applicable Law . This Agreement shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the Commonwealth of Virginia, applied without reference to principles of conflicts of law.

5.2. Mediation . Any controversy, dispute or claim arising out of or relating to this Agreement, Executives employment or service with any member of the Company Group or the termination thereof shall, if not settled by direct negotiation between the parties, be subject to non-binding mediation under the Employment Arbitration Rules and Mediation Procedures of the American Arbitration Association ( AAA ) as in effect on the date of the notice of demand for mediation. Any demand for mediation by either party shall be made in writing and served upon the other party and shall set forth with reasonable specificity the basis of the dispute and the relief sought. Any mediation hereunder shall be conducted before an independent mediator mutually selected by the parties. If the parties are unable to agree to a mediator within ten (10) days after the receipt of a demand for mediation by either party, the mediator will be chosen by alternatively striking from a list of five mediators obtained by the Company from AAA, and the Executive shall have the first strike. The mediation hearing will occur at a time and place convenient to the parties in Charlottesville, Virginia. Notwithstanding the foregoing, any claims under Section 4.15 are exempt from this Section 5.2 and may be brought in any court of competent jurisdiction without mediation .

5.3. Venue; WAIVER OF JURY TRIAL . In the event that any controversy, dispute or claim arising out of or relating to this Agreement, Executives employment or service with any member of the Company Group or the termination thereof is not settled through mediation pursuant to Section 5.2, both the Executive and the Company agree to appear before and submit exclusively to the jurisdiction of the federal courts located in Charlottesville, Virginia with respect to such controversy, dispute or claim (or if such controversy, dispute or claim may not be brought in federal court, the state courts located in Charlottesville, Virginia). Both the Executive and the Company also agree to waive, to the fullest possible extent, the defense of an inconvenient forum or lack of jurisdiction. THE COMPANY AND THE EXECUTIVE HEREBY WAIVE, TO THE EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, TRIAL BY JURY IN ANY LITIGATION IN ANY COURT WITH RESPECT TO, IN CONNECTION WITH, OR ARISING OUT OF THE EXECUTIVES EMPLOYMENT BY, OR SERVICE WITH, ANY MEMBER OF THE COMPANY GROUP OR THE TERMINATION THEREOF, OR THIS AGREEMENT OR THE VALIDITY, PROTECTION, INTERPRETATION, COLLECTION OR ENFORCEMENT THEREOF (WHETHER ARISING IN CONTRACT, EQUITY, TORT OR OTHERWISE).

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5.4. Amendments . This Agreement may not be amended or modified otherwise than by a written agreement executed by the parties hereto or their respective successors and legal representatives.

5.5. Notices . All notices and other communications hereunder shall be in writing, and shall be given by hand-delivery to the other party, by reputable overnight courier, or by registered or certified mail, return receipt requested, postage prepaid, addressed as follows:

To the Company: Diffusion Pharmaceuticals Inc. 2020 Avon Court #4 Charlottesville, VA 22902 Attention: Thomas E. Byrne With a copy (which copy shall not constitute notice) to: Dechert LLP 1095 Avenue of the Americas. New York, NY 10036

Attention: David S. Rosenthal To the Executive: at the residence address most recently filed with the Company;

or to such other address as any party shall have furnished to the other in writing in accordance herewith. All such notices shall be deemed to have been duly given: (i) when delivered personally to the recipient, (ii) one (1) business day after being sent to the recipient by reputable overnight courier service (charges prepaid); or (iii) four (4) business days after being mailed to the recipient by certified or registered mail, return receipt requested and postage prepaid.

5.6. Clawback . The Executive expressly acknowledges and agrees that he is subject to any clawback policy of the Company as in effect from time to time, and any compensation or benefits provided under this Agreement (whether payable in cash or equity or equity-based awards) may be reduced or be subject to recoupment pursuant to any such policy as in effect from time to time.

5.7. Withholding . The Company may withhold from any amounts payable under this Agreement such federal, state or local income taxes as are required to be withheld pursuant to any applicable law or regulation.

5.8. Code Section 409A Compliance .

5.8.1. The provisions of this Agreement are intended to comply with Section 409A of the Code and any final regulations and guidance promulgated thereunder ( Section 409A ) or an exemption thereunder and shall be construed in a manner consistent with the requirements for avoiding taxes or penalties under Section 409A. The Company and Executive agree to work together in good faith to consider amendments to this Agreement and to take such reasonable actions which are necessary, appropriate or desirable to avoid imposition of any additional tax or income recognition prior to actual payment or provision of benefit to Executive under Section 409A.

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5.8.2. To the extent that Executive will be reimbursed for costs and expenses or in-kind benefits, except as otherwise permitted by Section 409A, (a) the right to reimbursement or in-kind benefits is not subject to liquidation or exchange for another benefit, (b) the amount of expenses eligible for reimbursement, or in-kind benefits, provided during any taxable year shall not affect the expenses eligible for reimbursement, or in-kind benefits to be provided, in any other taxable year; provided that the foregoing clause (b) shall not be violated with regard to expenses reimbursed under any arrangement covered by Section 105(b) of the Code solely because such expenses are subject to a limit related to the period the arrangement is in effect and (c) such payments shall be made on or before the last day of the taxable year following the taxable year in which Executive incurred the expense.

5.8.3. A termination of employment shall not be deemed to have occurred for purposes of any provision of this Agreement providing for the payment of any amounts or benefits upon or following a termination of employment unless such termination constitutes a  Separation from Service  within the meaning of Section 409A and, for purposes of any such provision of this Agreement references to a termination, termination of employment or like terms shall mean Separation from Service.

5.8.4. Any payments under this Agreement that may be excluded from Section 409A either as separation pay due to an involuntary separation from service or as a short-term deferral shall be excluded from Section 409A to the maximum extent possible. Each installment payable hereunder shall constitute a separate payment for purposes of Treasury Regulation Section 1.409A-2(b), including Treasury Regulation Section 1.409A-2(b)(2)(iii). Each payment that is made within the terms of the short-term deferral rule set forth in Treasury Regulation Section 1.409A-1(b)(4) is intended to meet the short-term deferral rule. Each other payment is intended to be a payment upon an involuntary termination from service and payable pursuant to Treasury Regulation Section 1.409A-1(b)(9)(iii), et. seq., to the maximum extent permitted by that regulation, with any amount that is not exempt from Section 409A being subject to Section 409A.

5.8.5. Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in this Agreement, if Executive is a specified employee within the meaning of Section 409A at the time of Executives termination, then only that portion of the severance and benefits payable to Executive pursuant to this Agreement, if any, and any other severance payments or separation benefits which may be considered deferred compensation under Section 409A that is payable on account of the Executives termination (other than by reason of death) (together, the  Deferred Compensation Separation Benefits ) that are due to Executive on or within the six (6) month period following Executives termination will accrue during such six (6) month period and will become payable in one lump sum cash payment on the date that is six (6) months and one (1) day following the date of Executives termination of employment. All subsequent Deferred Compensation Separation Benefits, if any, will be payable in accordance with the payment schedule applicable to each payment or benefit. Notwithstanding anything herein to the contrary, if Executive dies following termination but prior to the six (6) month anniversary of Executives termination date, then any payments delayed in accordance with this paragraph will be payable in a lump sum as soon as administratively practicable after the date of Executives death (but not earlier than such payment would have been made absent such death) and all other Deferred Compensation Separation Benefits will be payable in accordance with the payment schedule applicable to each payment or benefit.

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5.8.6. Notwithstanding anything herein to the contrary, neither the Company nor any of its Affiliates shall have any liability to the Executive or to any other Person if the payments and benefits provided in this Agreement that are intended to be exempt from or compliant with Section 409A are not so exempt or compliant.

5.9. Excess Parachute Payments under Code Section 280G . Notwithstanding any other provisions of this Agreement, if any payments (including, without limitation, any benefits or transfers of property or the acceleration of the vesting of any benefits) in the nature of compensation under any arrangement that is considered contingent on a Change of Control for purposes of Section 280G of the Code, together with any other payments that the Executive has the right to receive from the Company or any corporation that is a member of an affiliated group (as defined in Section 1504(a) of the Code without regard to Section 1504(b) of the Code) of which the Company is a member or from any other Person, would constitute a parachute payment (as defined in Section 280G(b)(2) of the Code), such payments may, at the Executives sole election, be reduced to the largest amount that will result in no portion of such payments being subject to the excise tax imposed by Section 4999 of the Code. Any such reduction in payments shall be applied first against the latest scheduled cash payments; then current cash payments; then any equity or equity derivatives that are included under Section 280G of the Code at full value rather than accelerated value (with the highest value reduced first); then any equity or equity derivatives included under Section 280G of the Code at an accelerated value (and not at full value), with the highest value reduced first (as such values are determined under Treasury Regulation Section 1.280G-1, Q&A 24); and finally any other non-cash benefits will be reduced (in the order of latest scheduled payments to earliest scheduled payments). All calculations hereunder shall be performed by a nationally recognized independent accounting firm selected by the Company, with the full cost of such firm being borne by the Company. Any determinations made by such firm shall be final and binding on the Executive and the Company.

5.10. Severability . The terms and provisions of this Agreement are intended to be separate and divisible provisions and if, for any reason, any one or more of them is held to be invalid or unenforceable, neither the validity nor the enforceability of any other provision of this Agreement shall thereby be affected. It is the intention of the parties to this Agreement that the Restrictive Covenants be reasonable in duration, geographic scope and in all other respects. The Executive agrees that the Restrictive Covenants, including, without limitation, the duration, geographic scope and activity restrictions of each restriction, are reasonable in light of the Executives senior position. However, if for any reason any court of competent jurisdiction shall find any provisions of the Restrictive Covenants unreasonable in duration or geographic scope or otherwise, it is the intention of the parties that the restrictions and prohibitions contained therein shall be modified by the court to be effective to the fullest extent allowed under applicable law in such jurisdiction.

5.11. Captions . The captions of this Agreement are not part of the provisions hereof and shall have no force or effect.

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5.12. Counterparts . This Agreement may be executed in counterparts and delivered by facsimile transmission or electronic transmission in portable document format, each of which shall be an original and which taken together shall constitute one and the same document.

5.13. Entire Agreement . This Agreement contains the entire agreement concerning the subject matter hereof and supersedes all prior agreements, understandings, discussions, negotiations and undertakings, whether written or oral, between the parties and their Affiliates relating to such subject matter (including any term sheet or offer letter)

5.14. Survivorship . The provisions of Article 1, Article 5, Section 2.1 and Sections 4.4 through 4.17 shall survive the termination of the Executives employment with the Company and this Agreement in accordance with their terms.

5.15. Successors and Assigns . The Company may assign, without the Executives consent, its rights and/or delegate its obligations under this Agreement to any successor of the Company, whether by operation of law, agreement or otherwise (including, without limitation, any Person who acquires all or a substantial portion of the business of the Company Group (whether direct or indirect and whether structured as a stock sale, asset sale, merger, recapitalization, consolidation or other transaction)) and, in connection with any such delegation of its obligations hereunder (but only so long as such assignee or delegee has consented in writing to be bound by the obligations hereunder) shall be released from such obligations hereunder. This Agreement may not be assigned by the Executive. Except as otherwise provided herein, this Agreement shall bind and inure to the benefit of and be enforceable by the Executive, the Company and their respective successors and permitted assigns.

[Signature page follows]

17

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the Executive has hereunto set the Executives hand and the Company has caused this Agreement to be executed in its name on its behalf, all as of the day and year first above written.

THE COMPANY: Diffusion Pharmaceuticals Inc. By: /s/ David G. Kalergis Name: David G. Kalergis Title: Chief Executive Officer

EXECUTIVE : /s/ Ben L. Shealy Ben L. Shealy

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EXHIBIT A
Nawaz Sharif was greeted at the airport by Deputy PM of Azerbaijan Ali Ahmedov.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has reached Baku on a three-day official visit to Azerbaijan.

He was greeted at the airport by Deputy Prime Minister of Azerbaijan Ali Ahmedov.

He is paying the visit at the invitation of President Ilham Aliyev.

The Prime Minister would hold wide ranging talks with the leadership of Azerbaijan covering all aspects of bilateral relations and regional and international issues of mutual interest.

Pakistan and Azerbaijan enjoy close and cooperative relations, which are underpinned by commonalities of history, culture and faith.

The mutual support on the Jammu and Kashmir dispute and the Nagorno-Karabakh issue is a testimony to the close understanding between Pakistan and Azerbaijan.

The two countries also share common views on major regional and international issues and cooperate closely in the regional and multilateral forums, including the UN, the OIC and the ECO.

Bilateral relations, economic cooperation and ways to promote trade and investment will be discussed at the talks.

A Joint Declaration is expected to be signed during the visit.
The US military says it has launched strikes on Yemens three coastal radar sites, citing retaliation for two failed missile attacks on American warships in the Red Sea in four days.

The Pentagon claimed that three radar sites had apparently been destroyed early on Thursday in the impoverished country.

It branded the move as "limited self-defense strikes," meant to protect American personnel, ships and freedom of navigation.

"These limited self-defense strikes were conducted to protect our personnel, our ships, and our freedom of navigation in this important maritime passageway," Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook said.

"The United States will respond to any further threat to our ships and commercial traffic, as appropriate," he added.

Read more: Saudi-led air strikes on funeral in Yemen dead over 160

Cook said that President Barack Obama authorized the strikes on the recommendation of Secretary of Defense Ash Carter and General Joseph Dunford, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

The strikes mark the first direct involvement by the US forces in the Muslim country.

US Navy destroyer USS Nitze carried out Tomahawk cruise missiles at about 4:00 a.m. local (0100 GMT), said American military officials, speaking on condition of anonymity.

"These radars were active during previous attacks and attempted attacks on ships in the Red Sea," including the USS Mason, one of the officials said.

The USS Mason, a guided-missile destroyer, came under attack on Wednesday for the second time, according to Cook.

The USS Mason and the USS Ponce, an amphibious warfare ship, were previously targeted on Sunday in a failed missile attack from territory in the Red Sea off the coast of Yemen, according to the Pentagon.

On Tuesday, the US military vowed to retaliate for the missile attack. Counterstrike, retaliatory strike: I can tell you that those things are things that we are looking at, said Captain Jeff Davis, a Pentagon spokesman.

Also read: US military support for Saudi aggressors not a blank check

The US military has been providing logistic and surveillance support to Saudi Arabia in its military aggression against Yemen, the kingdoms impoverished southern neighbor, which has killed more than 10,000 Yemenis since its onset in March 2015.

Washington has on several occasions criticized the Saudi regime for its crimes against humanity in Yemen, but has shown no sign of ending its support for Riyadh.

According to a report published by The Intercept on Monday, the United States and Britain are fully aware of the civilian nature of Saudi Arabias targets in Yemen and yet continue to provide the regime in Riyadh with weapons and intelligence required to hit them.

London and Washington have indiscriminately and at times deliberately led Saudi warplanes to strike civilian targets in Yemen during the kingdoms months-long military aggression against its southern neighbor.
The Arab League, a 22-member regional organization of Arab countries, has reportedly rejected the deployment of Turkish troops to northern Iraq as interference in the domestic affairs of the country.

Ahmed Aboul Gheit, the secretary general of the Arab League, told Iraqi Foreign Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari in a telephone conversation initiated by Jaafari on Friday that the Arab body rejected Turkeys troop deployment and military intervention in Iraq, supported the security, stability and unity of Iraq, and refused any outside interference in the countrys internal affairs, Arabic-language al-Forat news agency reported.

He reportedly added that his Cairo-based organization will step up its efforts and approach various world countries and international organizations to pressure the Turkish government into ending its violation of Iraqi sovereignty.

Jaafari had made the call to urge the 22-member regional organization of Arab countries to adopt a position supportive of Baghdad and reject the Turkish deployment near the militant-held city of Mosul.

Baghdad says the presence of the Turkish military in Iraqi territory without its approval is a violation of Iraqs sovereignty.

Jaafari said his country had called on the international community to stand by its side in the war against the Takfiri Daesh terrorist group, and urged Turkey to end its violation of Iraqs sovereignty.

On Thursday, an unnamed senior Iraqi security official warned the occupying Turkish forces against engagement in a looming military offensive to liberate Mosul from Daesh terrorists.

Baghdad seeks to make clear that there is absolutely no role for Turkish forces in the Iraqi sphere, he said. Any movement or intervention by Turkish during the military operations (to retake Mosul), would be faced with a very strong response.

Read more: Iraq calls for UN emergency meeting on Turkey's military deployment

The Iraqi army and pro-government forces have been preparing for months for the assault on Daesh in Mosul, which slipped into the hands of the terrorist group in 2014.

The remarks came a day after the Iraqi Foreign Ministry called for an emergency United Nations Security Council meeting over the presence of the several hundred Turkish troops inside Iraq, and Turkish parliaments extension by another year of a mandate allowing cross-border military incursions into Iraq.

On Wednesday, the Iraqi Foreign Ministry summoned Turkish Ambassador to Baghdad Faruk Kaymakci over the parliaments decision.

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has also called for the withdrawal of Turkish soldiers from Iraq.
UPDATED: 5.30pm. State Highway 2 has re-opened following a three car accident between Welcome Bay Road and Bell Road earlier.

The crash closed the road with traffic diverted via Tara Road, Parton Road and Bell Road.

The Trustpower TECT Rescue Helicopter was dispatched at 3pm to T ePuke Highway, where a light truck, van and car collided.

The accident happened near a sweeping bend.

A spokesperson for helicopter says most passengers escaped with minor injuries, apart from a 69-year-old woman, who had to be cut from her vehicle by the New Zealand Fire Service.

She received serious arm and leg injuries and was flown to Tauranga Hospital for further treatment.

The helicopter was called due to the patient being trapped and requiring immediate hospital care once she was cut free.
Former president of the Council of Trade Unions Helen Kelly has died in Wellington, aged 52.

The staunch unionist, advocate of workers rights, and medical marijuana campaigner was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer last year.

Tributes are flowing for Helen, who was widely loved and respected by people from all parts of the community.

New Zealand Post Primary Teachers Association communications advisor Liz Robinson is sorry to hear our union rock has died.

Helen never gave up fighting for working people from every sector  whether they be education staff battling for better working conditions, or saving the lives of forestry workers by advocating for improved health and safety protections, says Liz.

Helen dedicated her entire career to improving the working lives of others.

Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Michael Woodhouse extends his condolences to her friends and family.

Helen was a passionate advocate for the rights of New Zealand workers, says Michael.

I enjoyed our robust and respectful discussions on employment law and health and safety and admired her passionate advocacy of the causes she strongly believed in.

NZ First leader Winston Peters says Helen Kelly had a heart for average Kiwis getting a fair chance.

Regardless of anyones political persuasion, New Zealanders admired her feisty commitment to workers and to the union movement.

WorkSafe New Zealand Chief Executive Gordon MacDonald also paid tribute, praising Helens part in putting health and safety front and centre an issue the whole country needs to address.

Helen Kelly was the first person, after the border control officers, I met when I arrived in New Zealand two and a half years ago, says Gordon.

I was jaded and tired after the trip from the UK but I left the airport totally re-energised after my first conversation with Helen.

Helen was committed and passionate about health and safety. She was a constant presence, sometimes a critic and sometimes a supporter but without a doubt always intent on making life healthier and safer for people at work.

I will miss her both professionally and personally. She will be missed but not forgotten by everyone associated with WorkSafe.
At the same time, the brand presented a 250-piece limited edition timepiece, the first in a series. After the success of this approach and the first limited edition, Blancpain reconfirms its commitment with the second series of limited edition timepieces, the Fifty Fathoms Bathyscaphe Flyback Chronograph Blancpain Ocean Commitment II (BOC II).

Earlier this month saw the official unveiling of the Blancpain Ocean Commitment Bathyscaphe Chronograph Limited Edition in the UK. Mr Alain Delamuraz, Vice President and Head of Marketing and Mr Marc Junod, Vice President and Head of Sales of Blancpain, welcomed the UK media to a press conference hosted at the Royal Institute of Great Britain, an iconic scientific education and research establishment based in London.

The Ocean Commitment concept, new timepiece and results from contributions from the previous limited edition were presented. Acclaimed marine scientist, underwater photographer and friend of Blancpain Laurent Ballesta gave a talk about the Gombessa Project.

The press conference was followed by an exclusive cocktail reception and informal presentation at Blancpain Boutique, Bond Street for VIP guests including friends of the brand, clients and watch enthusiasts.

Mr Delamuraz spoke about Blancpains passion to help explore and preserve the oceans. We have always been creative, he said. Our spirit of innovation reflects our investment in a long-term approach. More than sixty years ago we invented the Fifty Fathoms, the first modern diving watch. Since then we have developed important relationships with scientists, divers, governmental organizations and other ocean pioneers.

This is why I'm so very pleased to present our new limited edition Blancpain Ocean Commitment watch in recognition of our close links to diving and Fifty Fathoms history."

Mr Junod commented on how the Ocean Commitment provides the opportunity to become an active participant in protecting the oceans. The concept of this new limited series is the same as with the first limited edition watch presented in 2014, he said.

With every watch purchase, 1,000 Euros will be dedicated to a new project in addition to our regular program and these funds will contribute to supporting scientific research as well as raising awareness.

The new Fifty Fathoms Bathyscaphe Flyback Chronograph Blancpain Ocean Commitment features, for the first time, an all-blue ceramic case. For each timepiece sold in this 250-piece limited edition, an amount of 1,000 Euros will be donated to funding scientific expeditions. The 250,000 Euros resulting from this will be added to Blancpains contributions in support of the oceans.
The British Prime Minister and her Spanish counterpart promised to work together to maintain ties between the two countries

Theresa May and Mariano Rajoy in Madrid on Thursday. REUTERS

Theresa May, British prime minister, continued her Brexit tour of European capitals on Thursday with a visit to Madrid.

May met with her Spanish counterpart, acting-PM Mariano Rajoy, at his official residence, La Moncloa.

The main item on the agenda of the bilateral talks was the impact of the UKs vote to leave the European Union on the rights of the over 100,000 Spanish citizens who live in Britain and the estimated 310,000 UK citizens who are resident in Spain.

According to a statement issued after the meeting Rajoy told May that British firms in Spain as well as residents and the millions of tourists need not worry, just as Spanish residents in the UK can be reassured that Spain will defend their interests.

Although nothing can be decided until Britain invokes Article 50, Rajoy had previously released a reassuring message on Twitter that said, We will work together to preserve the important ties that join Spain and the UK. Rajoy stressed his regret at the UKs decision to leave and defended the future integrity of the rest of the EU countries.

Scotland and Gibraltar

With an eye on his own Catalan separatist issue, Rajoy told May that Spain would support the integrity of the UK in any renewed attempts by Scotland to become an independent country and stay in the EU.

There was no confirmation that Gibraltar was discussed, although diplomatic sources thought it unlikely that the subject could be avoided.

The acting-Spanish government has used the uncertainty over Brexit to repeat its historic demands for eventual sovereignty over the Rock.

Speaking in London on the same day as Mays visit to Madrid, Boris Johnson, UK foreign secretary, said that the UK will maintain a completely implacable, marmoreal and rocklike resistance to any attempt to change the status of Gibraltar.
Official events were held on the October 12th holiday, although councillors in Badalona defied a court order and opened up the town hall

The royal family take the salute at the Fiesta Nacional military parade in Madrid on Wednesday. :: AFP

Official ceremonies were held throughout a rainy Spain last Wednesday to mark the traditional October 12th Fiesta Nacional and Virgin del Pilar saints day.

As usual, the main event was the military parade in the centre of Madrid, attended by King Felipe, Queen Letizia and their children, as well as politicians and other dignitaries.

In recent years the parade has been scaled down, however 3,400 military personnel still took part in the colourful ceremony. This year the event was tainted with both the uncertainty of who will form the next national government and ongoing attempts by some Catalonian politicians to separate from Spain.

Catalonian unrest

In Badalona, Catalonias third largest town, left-wing councillors from the CUPand ERCparties defied a court order forcing them to close on the public holiday and opened the town hall to provide basic services. The councillors said that,we cant commemorate a genocide, in reference to the October 12th holidays origin as the day Christopher Columbus sighted land and the colonisation of the Americas began.

Some Catalonian regional politicians and a few other local councils also ignored the holiday.

The protest comes after the Catalonian parliament last week backed plans by pro-independence first minister, Carles Puigdemont, to hold a controversial referendum to separate from Spain next September.
Look at a map showing population density in Central Asia and it is immediately apparent that the majority of the region's approximately 68 million people live in the east.The reason is equally obvious; the western part of Central Asia is home to two large deserts, Kyzyl Kum and Kara Kum -- the red and black sand deserts, respectively.



At the same time, the bulk of the region's substantial hydrocarbon wealth is located in the western half of Central Asia. Efforts to open up the region and bring people in to work these vast oil and natural gas fields have been limited to a significant extent by the inability to provide adequate water to populations in western Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan.



A solution to this equation is there -- the Caspian Sea -- and now officials in Kazakhstan's southwestern Mangistau Province are preparing to harness this resource by building a water purification plant.



The head of the provincial department for industrial-innovation development, Nurbek Karasaev, announced plans for construction of the plant at the end of September. According to Kazakhstan's Kursiv.kz news website, Karasaev said the plant would be located in the Karakiya district of Mangistau Province. Karakiya is the southernmost district of the province. To the west of Karakiya is the Caspian Sea, to the south Turkmenistan, and to the east Uzbekistan. The name Karakiya means "Black Cliff(s)" and provides an excellent idea of what the area looks like.



Mangistau is one of Kazakhstan's major oil-producing regions. Therefore, it is not surprising that a co-sponsor of the water purification plant is KazMunaiGaz [KMG], the state oil and gas company. Technically the co-sponsor is KMG subsidiary OzenMunaiGaz. Karasaev noted the plant was being built "in the first place for the needs of OzenMunaiGaz and for the population, to relieve the shortage of fresh water."



Mangistau Province is not only oil country, it's where two of Kazakhstan's most important Caspian ports are located -- Aktau and Kuryk, the administrative center of the Karakiya district.

Trans-Caspian Pipeline



Kuryk port facilities are currently under construction but the town is to have a new oil terminal for loading tankers. It is also set to be the end point for the Erskene-Kuryk pipeline, which is to bring oil from Kazakhstan's offshore field Kashagan.



There are plans to construct a trans-Caspian oil pipeline that would link the pipeline from Kuryk to Baku, Azerbaijan's capital, on the western shore. Azerbaijan's energy minister just authored an article about it.



The population of Mangistau Province, currently well under 500,000, is nearly certain to see a noticeable increase in coming years as the oil and shipping industries expand, with the accompanying greater demand for water.



I would be remiss not to mention the social situation in Mangistau Province, which is home to Zhanaozen, an oil town that shot to infamy in December 2011 when police opened fire on striking oil workers. At least 16 people were killed.



The drastic fall in oil prices on world markets has caused Kazakhstan to keep production levels in check. With diminished revenues, Kazakhstan's oil companies have been implementing the inevitable reductions in the work force, although with Zhanaozen in mind authorities are moving very slowly. That said, there have been many reports in Kazakhstan that more layoffs are coming soon -- and that oil workers in Mangistau will be affected.



A new source of potable water can't prevent dismissals in Mangistau's oil sector but better social conditions generally have been a frequent demand from people in the region.

New Possibilities



If successful, the water-purification plant could open up new possibilities along the eastern coast of Caspian Sea, in agriculture for example.



Turkmen leaders have spoken about constructing desalinization plants on the Caspian coast for more than a decade but the focus there has remained on internal water-treatment plants and reclamation programs. The country, nearly 90 percent covered by desert, could use a lot more water.

Turkmenistan's Balkan Province borders the Caspian Sea and is a major oil-producing region. But water is available in the provincial capital Balkanabat for only four hours a day.



Playing with water in Central Asia is a very dangerous proposition. It always has been -- even in the much better supplied regions in the east, where the mountains are.



The horribly desiccated Aral Sea is the best-known example of what can happen. The over-planting of cotton and a population almost 10 times larger than it was 100 years ago has left the "Island Sea" little more than alkaline depression in the Kara Kum Desert with water left in only a very small area.



The Karakiya plant would seem to be an answer to these sorts of problems.

PHOTO GALLERY: The Slow Death Of The Aral Sea

In fact, the water level in the Caspian Sea is rising, more than two meters since the late 1970s. The Caspian Sea is fed by some 130 rivers but has no outlet, so water accumulates with only evaporation causing loss.



So an argument could be made that this is, for now, "extra" water that could do much good for coastal areas in Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan if purified.



That process will not be so easy. Water from the Caspian Sea needs to be desalinated.



Back more than 65 million years, the Caspian Sea was the Paratethys Sea and connected the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Oceans. Only fresh water flows into the Caspian now but there is still a large amount of residual salt left in the Caspian region.



On the average, water salinity is one-third that in the oceans, but the concentration changes, becoming denser further south in the Caspian. There is one exception, the area around the Kara-Bogaz-Gol; the great shallow gulf off northwestern Turkmenistan where water salinity is ten times that of the ocean.



It also happens to be just south of Kuryk.



Still, the planned purification-desalinization plant in Karakiya district presents few apparent downsides while promising what could be ample reward. In a region that has been short on solutions for a multitude of problems, this is one project that could be key to one of the most basic of needs.

RFE/RL's Kazakh and Turkmen services contributed to this report. The views expressed in this blog post do not necessarily reflect he views of RFE/RL.
I've written about hundreds of old cars over the years but I've never used the word cute to describe any one of them. But c'mon, look at this thing for crying out loud. it's the Creamsicle.

Not only is it cute but it's perfect too. It's a 1966 Volkswagen Deluxe Sedan Beetle and it has what no other '66 VW had when it left the factory, a two-tone paint scheme.

The Bug belongs to Mike Smith, of Liverpool, who's owned it for three years. "My son owned a dune buggy and a '70 VW Bug, and I used to own a '69. I always wanted another one," he said.

Because he had the bug for a Bug, Smith started nosing around and saw one advertised. It turns out the person who owned the car had it for many years and had begun a restoration.

"But he didn't get very far with the work and decided he was over his head," Smith said. So the VW went up for sale and since Smith was looking for just that car, the deal was done.

"I bought it with the idea it would be a good retirement project," he said. But as these things sometimes go, Smith then decided he would put the car into the hands of a professional, Mark Cole, of Lyncourt Aircooled, a VW specialist.

After discussion and drawing a plan, Smith delivered the car to Cole during November 2013. We know good things come to those who wait, so during October 2015 the Beetle was returned to Smith in like new condition. Scratch that, there's no question that it's better than it was when it left the factory in Wolfsburg, Germany.

The body was taken off the frame and everything on the car was repaired and rebuilt with the exception of the engine because it was just fine. The 1966 Beetle is equipped with a 1300 cc (cubic centimeters) engine developing 50 horsepower, the only year Volkswagen used that engine in a Beetle.

Smith knows the car was in storage from 1995 until the time he bought it, but he doesn't know how many miles it was driven over the years although his best guess is at least 100,000.

"It starts and runs beautifully," he said, and as it turns out the engine is the only part of the car left untouched. Everything else was repaired and rebuilt. During the restoration process Lyncourt Aircooled made sure to replace the exterior trim work which is a beautiful complement to the Creamsicle color. Like Smith said, "once you start replacing trim you have to do it all," otherwise it looks like you didn't do it all.

Because Smith came up with the idea of a two-tone finish, he had to find the right paint to put against the Creamsicle. Knowing white would be too much of a contrast he decided to use a 1957 Ford color, Colonial White, which can best be described as a shade of cream.

You might remember a car we featured earlier this year, a 1956 Ford Fairlane Sunliner convertible, owned by Chuck Moore, of Queensbury, N.Y. It's finished in the correct Ford colors of Mandarin Orange and Colonial White. Mandarin Orange is very close to Smith's Creamsicle color, and Moore said the same thing that Smith said; white would have been too white to go with the orangey color.

A nice touch on the Beetle are the Coker wide whitewalls giving the car some extra dazzle.

Because Smith wanted a complete job he installed a new, correct Beetle interior in Creamsicle and off-white. The seats have new foam and the interior has a new headliner, a piece that's sometimes overlooked during a restoration.

Of course there's no power equipment on this car but it does have electric windshield wipers, a big plus during the day, although the heater and defroster are driven by the motion of the car which means actual heat for passengers or onto the windshield is mostly wishful thinking. But that doesn't bother Smith because he's too smart to drive this beauty during inclement weather.

Smith said he and his wife, Catie, enjoy the car because it's fun to drive and it never fails to turn heads.

1966 Volkswagen Deluxe Sedan (Beetle)



Owner:

Mike Smith, Liverpool, NY



Cost new:

$1,352



Engine:

Rear mounted, air cooled 1300 cc, 50 hp



Transmission:

Four-speed standard



Wheelbase:

94.5 inches



Length:

156 inches (13'4")



Weight:

1,672 pounds



Fuel economy:

28.5 mpg



Fuel tank:

10.6 gallons



1966 production:

1,080,165



Innovations that year:

One key for ignition, door; air vent in middle of dashboard directing air onto windshield; emergency flashers; larger rearview mirror; slotted wheels to aid in brake cooling

Paint:

Sherman Williams Creamsicle/1957 Ford Colonial White

Know a car you'd like to see featured? Contact Kenn Peters: kpeters@twcny.rr.com. Previously from Kenn:

Tom Crosby's 1959 Cadillac Coupe de Ville is one of America's 10 most iconic cars.

More great cars and news about cars.
Lockheed-F-35.jpg

Congress wants to spend at least $10.1 billion in fiscal 2017 to buy F-35 Joint Strike Fighters, a new generation of stealth fighter jets built by Lockheed Martin. The funding would buy 42 of the stealth aircraft for the Air Force, 16 for the Marine Corps, and four for the Navy.

(Lockheed Martin photo)

WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer on Thursday put his weight behind a proposal in Congress to add $100 million in spending for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, a controversial stealth fighter jet produced by Lockheed Martin Corp.

Schumer, D-N.Y., said the additional spending proposed in a Senate defense appropriations bill would help support and sustain 150 jobs at two Lockheed Martin plants in Upstate New York.

About 50 employees at Lockheed's plant at Electronics Park in Salina would work on the F-35 program, along with 100 others at Lockheed's plant in Owego in Tioga County.

The extra spending would come on top of $10.1 billion in the budget for fiscal 2017 that would pay for 42 of the stealth aircraft for the Air Force, 16 for the Marine Corps, and four for the Navy. House members have proposed purchasing 11 additional planes.

Schumer made public a bipartisan letter he co-wrote to the Senate Defense Appropriations Committee, asking it to approve full funding and increased production of the stealth fighter jet.

The F-35 stealth fighter has cost almost $400 billion to develop and manufacture, making it the most expensive weapons program ever undertaken by the Pentagon.

The program reached a milestone this summer when the Air Force declared the first squadron of F-35A stealth fighters was ready for combat. But a week after that milestone, the Pentagon's top tester said the weapons program is still riddled with deficiencies, Bloomberg News reported.

The Air Force temporarily grounded 13 of its F-35-A Lightning II fighters last month after finding that insulation was "peeling and crumbling" on the avionics cooling lines inside of the fuel tanks. Those aircraft are expected to fly again by the end of the year.

The Senate is expected to consider the defense appropriations bill after the Nov. 8 election. Schumer said full production of the F-35 could help boost Upstate New York's economy.

"The aircraft and critical aircraft components made at Lockheed's facilities in Salina and Owego are not only vital to maintaining local jobs and supporting the Upstate New York economy via many jobs through the supply chain, but they also help keep our troops serving around the world safe," Schumer said in a statement.

Lockheed Martin is one of the largest private employers in Central New York, with a workforce of about 1,600 people at its Salina campus.

Contact Mark Weiner anytime: Email | Twitter | Facebook | 571-970-3751
Anthony_Barlotta_Mug_2.JPG

Anthony Barlotta

(Auburn Police)

AUBURN, N.Y. -A Staten Island man wanted for bank robbery hid under a bed at an Auburn homeless shelter Wednesday threatening to shoot police before officers were able to convinced him to give up.

The incident ended peacefully after officers convinced Anthony Thomas Barlotta, 56, of 21 Oakdale St., Staten Island, to give up and come out from under the bed at the Chapel House Homeless Shelter. Officers later found that Barlotta had been holding the plug end of a phone charger when he threatened to shoot them.

Barlotta was charged by Auburn police with third-degree menacing. New York City detectives taking him back downstate to answer bank robbery charges there, police said.

Here's what Auburn police said happened.

At about 1 p.m. Wednesday, officers were called to remove an unwanted guest from the homeless shelter at 290 Grant Ave. Staff there told police that a man named "Tony" was staying with a female resident, but he was not authorized to be there.

Officers checked the room and found the suspect, later identified as Barlotta, hiding under a bed. When officers told Barlotta to comply with their commands, the suspect responded that he would shoot them. Barlotta then began reaching into his pocket.

Officers drew their duty weapons and took cover. They could see that the Barlotta was holding an unknown object in his hand while he was under the bed.The object was later identified as the plug end of a phone charger, Sgt. Edward Fabrize said.

After about 10 minutes of negotiations, the officers convinced Barlotta to come out from under the bed and he was taken into custody.
jashua williams.JPG

Jashua Williams (right) stands next to his lawyer Dan Magill. To the left is Senior Assistant District Attorney Melinda McGunnigle.

(Douglass Dowty | ddowty@syracuse.com)

Saleina McClain, who was A'Nickalus Hill's fiancee, in the hallway after speaking in court.

Syracuse, NY -- An emotional woman today said she couldn't believe stupid slang -- Deez Nuts -- led to the death of her fiance.

Jashua Williams, 32, was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison for murdering A'Nickalus Hill over the slang term "Deez Nuts." Judge Anthony Aloi found him guilty in a bench trial after Williams gave up his right to a jury.

Williams decided to shoot his new roommate because Hill complained about Williams using the term Deez Nuts in front of a child, prosecutors said.

Around that time, Deez Nuts was a popular slang term on social media and spawned a fake presidential candidate who made headlines for cracking a poll in North Carolina.

In court today, Hill's fiancee, Saleina McClain, described her son's panicked call after hill was killed in July 2015 at 320 Maple St.

The couple's young son heard his father begging for his life: "No, my kids are here!" before being shot, Judge Anthony Aloi noted today.

The young boy then saw his father one last time, fatally wounded, in a bedroom before the victim jumped out a window. A Good Samaritan found Hill and got him to the hospital, where he died.

When McClain arrived at the scene, her young son just "bawled his eyes out," she said.

Left to right: Jashua J. Williams and Harry E. Shelton

At sentencing, Williams maintained his innocence, saying he was "unwittingly involved." He blamed another man, Harry Shelton, who authorities believed actually carried out the shooting.

Williams' lawyer, Dan Magill, said the verdict should be set aside because a key witness, Ryan Ernestine, gave inconsistent testimony and is a criminal currently facing a robbery charge.

"This was a tragic loss of life," Magill said. "But at the end of the day, it was Harry Shelton who caused that tragic loss of life."

Aloi denied the request to overturn the verdict, noting he'd rendered the verdict himself. Part of that was considering Ernestine's credibility, and the judge said he ultimately found the testimony credible.

"Unfortunately, crimes are not committed in front of a bunch of choir boys," Aloi said of the fact Ernestine was in jail himself.

Still, Magill noted that prosecutors had originally believed Shelton pulled the trigger.

But Shelton was acquitted in a jury trial after blaming Williams for firing the fatal shot. Though it was apparently Shelton's weapon, Shelton testified that he only picked it up after the fatal shooting.

Shelton was found guilty only of endangering the welfare of a child, a misdemeanor.

A'Nickalus G. Hill was fatally shot on July 29, 2015.

Prosecutor Melinda McGunnigle has said all along it was Williams' idea to kill Hill, whether he fired the fatal shot or not.

"Why did you have to kill him over 'Deez Nuts?" McClain, Hill's fiancee, asked Williams during sentencing today. "It just can't be that..."

She talked about the hurt that the murder had caused Hill's three young children, who were then all 10 years old or younger. The children were all in a nearby room when their father was killed.

McClain said she had been with Hill for a long time, but he had moved out two weeks before the murder while they "worked some things out."

"We were together for 17 years, but look what 2 weeks did," McClain said.

Hill didn't insult Williams, he simply complained to someone else about Williams' use of Deez Nuts, McGunnigle said. The killer's girlfriend's 3-year-old child had picked up the phrase and Hill didn't think it was appropriate.

That complaint made Williams livid, and he drove around for hours before returning to the residence to kill Hill, McGunnigle said.

Aloi, the judge, said that Hill "died over a stupid phrase said by a young child."

But Williams read a rambling prepared statement in which he blamed the system, his lawyer, the prosecutor and Shelton for a miscarriage of justice.

He called the case full of bias, ineffective counsel and prosecutorial misconduct.
SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- Authorities identified the police officer who fatally shot an armed suspect Sunday night during a traffic stop in the University Hill neighborhood.

The Syracuse police said that at 10:52 p.m. Officer Joseph G. Mauro III stopped a car in the 600 block of Walnut Avenue because the vehicle's tail lights were not working.

Mauro, who was in uniform and driving a marked patrol car, spoke with the driver, Deric Brown. While speaking with Brown Mauro noticed the handle of a handgun in the car and ordered Brown to show his hands, police said.

When Brown didn't show his hands, police said, Mauro retreated to the back of his car.

Brown got out of his vehicle and fired several shots at Mauro, police said, and Mauro returned fire, hitting Brown at least once. Brown fell to the ground and Mauro radioed for an ambulance and backup.

Police said officers found Brown's weapon and performed first aid. Brown, 41, of Syracuse, was rushed by ambulance to Upstate University Hospital where he died.

Mauro joined the Syracuse Police Department January 2001 and graduated from the police academy in June 2001. He is currently assigned to the Patrol Division. As is department policy, he has been placed on paid administrative leave pending an investigation.

Police said they had completed their investigation and turned the case over to the Onondaga County District Attorney's Office for review.
Geekologie has shut down.

Thank you to everybody.

Now go be happy.
Milli Vanilli

Rob Pilatus, left, and Fab Morvan of Milli Vanilli give the thumbs-up as they display their Grammys after being presented with the 1989 best new artist award in Los Angeles Feb. 21, 1990. They were later stripped of their award after being revealed as lip-synching poseurs.

(The Associated Press)

Girl, you know it's true that Destiny USA has been around for more than a quarter of a century -- even if it wasn't always called that.

The Syracuse mall is celebrating the 26th anniversary of the former Carousel Center on Saturday, Oct. 15, with retro music, free carousel rides and more.

"Twenty-six years ago, we celebrated the grand opening of Carousel Center right here in Syracuse, New York," Destiny USA's director of marketing Aiden McGuire, director of marketing said in a press release. "And now, we're focused on celebrating all it has become, the region's premier tourist destination, to the world, from Canada to China and everywhere in between."

Carousel Center, which became Destiny USA in 2012, opened on Oct. 15, 1990. As a result, the mall PA system will play songs that were big that year by artists like Milli Vanilli, Vanilla Ice and Madonna throughout the weekend.

Other promotions include:

Complimentary Carousel Rides

Complimentary Valet Parking for Sharing the Same Birthdate

#Carouselfie Photo Booth

For a complete mall directory, store hours and the latest Destiny USA news, visit syracuse.com/destiny-usa.
Looking for Halloween costume ideas? 2016 may be the year to dress up like a princess, because everyone else will be dressed as Deadpool and Harley Quinn.

The National Retail Federation has identified this year's most popular Halloween costumes, and the popularity of movies like "Batman v Superman," "Captain America: Civil War," "Deadpool" and "Suicide Squad" have made superheroes the No. 1 outfit for both kids and adults. Princesses like "Frozen" sisters Anna and Elsa topped the annual Halloween Consumer Top Costumes Survey, conducted by Prosper Insights & Analytics, for the past 11 years.

"This is definitely influenced by the increase of superhero and action movies that were released this year, and, of course, the very popular Pokemon movement," Ana Smith, NRF's media relations senior director, told NBC.

According to NRF, Americans plan to spend an average of $82.93 on the spooky holiday this year, up from $74.34 in 2015 thanks to what Smith called a "healthy economy." Overall spending, including costumes, candy and Halloween decorations, is expected to exceed $8.4 billion.

Devon Rubink, a marketing specialist at HalloweenCostumes.com, told NJ.com that other trendy costumes this October include pop culture references, like the "Star Wars" Chewbacca Mom, Netflix's "Stranger Things," Beyonce's "Lemonade" album or tributes to celebrity deaths. Prince's "Purple Rain," Gene Wilder's "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory" and David Bowie's "Labyrinth" are among the hottest looks this year, Rubink said.

Some costumes may court controversy as well. Costumeish.com pulled a Kim Kardashian robbery-inspired look ("Parisian heist") after online backlash, Central New York police are asking trick-or-treaters not to dress up as creepy clowns, and HalloweenCostumes.com says gorillas are popular this year for people who want to make light of Harambe, the animal killed at the Cincinnati Zoo after it dragged a 4-year-old boy who fell into the exhibit.

Actual #KimKardashian robbery Halloween costume for sale. Too soon? pic.twitter.com/X8bk8aidZW  Mike Sington (@MikeSington) October 11, 2016

And with a third presidential debate still to come, the political race between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump has offered no shortage of ideas. For Clinton, there's a hospital mask, baskets of "deplorables" or printed out WikiLeaks emails; Trump fans will rub Cheetos on their face, wear Make America Great Again hats and carry around Tic Tacs. Or you could dress up as Ken Bone, the second debate's standout audience member whose red sweater is already sold out on Amazon -- though a "sexy undecided voter costume" now exists on Yandy (disposable camera not included).

Heck, E! News has even come up with a Halloween costume idea for The Chainsmokers, the DJ duo whose song "Closer" feat. Halsey has topped the Billboard Hot 100 for the past eight weeks. Emulate Syracuse University alumnus Drew Taggart and his bandmate Alex Pall with a white t-shirt, cheesy gold chain and a package of fake cigarettes.

2016's most popular Halloween costumes, according to NRF*:

Children (under 18):

1. Action/superhero

2. Princess

3. Animal

4. Batman character

5. "Star Wars" character

6. TIE: witch and DC superhero (excluding Batman)

7. "Frozen" character (Anna, Elsa, Olaf)

8. Marvel superhero (excluding Superman)

9. Zombie

10. Spiderman

Adults (18-34):

1. Batman character (Batman, Harley Quinn, the Joker)

2. Witch

3. Animal

4. TIE: Marvel superhero (Deadpool, Spiderman) and DC superhero (Wonder Woman, Superman)

5. Vampire

6. Video game character

7. Slasher movie villain (Freddy, Jason, Michael Myers)

8. Pirate

9. "Star Wars" character

10. Zombie

Adults (35+):

1. Witch

2. Pirate

3. Political (Trump, Clinton)

4. Vampire

5. Batman character (Batman, Catwoman)

6. Animal

7. TIE: DC superhero (Superman, Wonder Woman, excluding Batman) and "Star Wars" character

8. TIE: ghost and zombie

9. Scary costume

10. Marvel superhero (Iron Man, Hulk, Spiderman)

*Based on National Retail Federation survey conducted among 6,700 consumers from Sept. 6-13 nationwide.
WASHINGTON  Five U.S. senators sent a letter to President Barack Obama Thursday asking that his administration halt construction of the Dakota Access pipeline proposed in Iowa and three other states until affected tribes are consulted and a full environmental review is conducted.

The letter was signed by Sens. Bernie Sanders, a Vermont independent, and Democrats Patrick Leahy of Vermont, Dianne Feinstein of California, Ben Cardin of Maryland and Ed Markey of Massachusetts.

In light of the decision of the Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit to reject the Standing Rock Sioux Tribes request for a temporary halt to construction, the projects current permits should be suspended and all construction stopped until a complete environmental and cultural review has been completed for the entire project, the senators wrote.

Over the past several weeks, hundreds of Native American tribes have mobilized to draw attention to the pipelines encroachment on sacred lands, bringing about a groundswell of opposition to the project.

Until there has been full and meaningful tribal consultation, all pipeline permits and easements should be revoked or denied, the senators added in their joint letter.

The federal Department of Justice, U.S. Department of the Interior and Army Corps of Engineers previously requested that the pipeline company, Energy Transfer Partners, halt construction while an environmental and cultural impact review was conducted. The pipeline company declined to stop the project, and a federal circuit court gave a partial emergency injunction to halt construction.

After hearing the full injunction argument, the court denied the Standing Rock Sioux tribes request to halt the project, a ruling that was affirmed Saturday by a federal appeals court.

The senators made their appeal Thursday for Obama to order the Army Corps to conduct a full review of the pipeline.

If there is one profound lesson that indigenous people have taught us, it is that all of us as human beings are part of nature, the senators wrote. We will not survive if we continue to destroy nature.

Iowas U.S. senators did not agree with their colleagues, however.

Asked if President Obama should halt the pipelines construction, Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, said, I think not. I consider pipelines more safe than travel by train because of all the accidents weve had.

Its probably OK for us to review the processes in the Department of Interior and whatever the agencies are, including the Army Corps of Engineers , Grassley said. But I dont know how you can retroactively go back once all this money was invested based on the government doing what it said. So No. 1, a federal judge has backed that up and secondly, based not on my judgment, but I have to have deference to the agencies of North Dakota, South Dakota and Illinois that said it ought to move ahead.

Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, noted the federal government does not have jurisdiction over the siting of domestic oil pipelines like the Dakota Access project, saying it was approved by the Iowa Utilities Board, which imposed certain terms and conditions to protect landowners.

In addition, she said, the Dakota Access project has followed all the appropriate guidelines as it relates to the Clean Water Act, Endangered Species Act, the National Historic Preservation Act and the National Environmental Policy Act.

Two courts now have denied the injunction requested by the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, Ernst added. In light of these facts, it is time for the White House and Senate Democrats to put an end to their big government intervention in matters that states and courts have the authority to resolve.

Also Thursday, representatives of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe sent a separate letter to the president highlighting 19 U.S. city governments that have passed resolutions or written letters opposing construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline.

To date, the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe has been joined by millions of supporters from across the nation and world, more than 300 tribes and several members of Congress in its fight to stop construction of the 1,134-mile pipeline which threatens the tribes lands, waters and sacred places.

The pipeline threatens the lives of more than 17 million people who get their water from the Missouri River, said Dave Archambault II, chairman of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe in North Dakota. Millions stand with us in opposition to this destructive pipeline.

According to tribal officials, the Obama administration has several options, including denying all easements for the pipeline or declaring sacred lands along the pipeline route to be a cultural district eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places. At a minimum, Archambault said, the tribe urges the administration to analyze all potential impacts of the proposed project, as well as alternatives to the proposal, to prepare a full environmental impact statement.

Dakota Access, a Texas-based company, is in the process of building the underground pipeline from the Bakken oil field in northwestern North Dakota through South Dakota and Iowa to a distribution hub in Illinois.
WATERLOO | Former President Bill Clinton spent nearly an hour laying out Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clintons plans to address everything from small businesses to college affordability to climate change to expanding broadband.

But more importantly, he laid out a vision of the United States that celebrates differences and welcomes people into the country, and contrasted that with the Make America Great Again message touted by his wifes opponent, the Republican nominee Donald Trump.

I have heard now for a year and a half how terrible America is, how were going to hell in a handbasket, how were being by overrun by people from somewhere else, and its us against them, Bill Clinton told a crowd of more than 500 gathered at National Cattle Congress Ag Building Wednesday night.

He continued, So, here we are in Waterloo, youve got an African-American mayor. I met in the line, people associated with every religion, from at least five different European countries  and at least two Muslims. Thats America.

Clintons speech was twice interrupted by protesters but they were quickly quieted. After a handful of people chanted Youre a rapist, the crowd cheered over the protesters.

Thats whats wrong with American politics, Clinton said to cheers, adding, I dont want you to treat them the way they treat you.

Throughout his speech, Clinton offered both the condensed version of Hillary Clintons plans on issues and her vision for an inclusive country. More often than not, the two intertwined.

She believes that the youth and diversity of our workforce is our greatest asset in the 21st century, Bill Clinton said, after discussing his wifes proposals for small businesses and for immigration reform.

Bill Clinton didnt only seek to contrast Hillary Clinton with Trump but Democrats and Republicans. He said the election is a choice between division and cooperation, destruction and concentration and between demonizing people and creating opportunities for all of us to rise together.

Its a pretty straight-forward choice, Bill Clinton said.

Polls in Iowa show Trump with a slight lead; the Real Clear Politics average of polls shows Trump with a 3.7 percent lead over Hillary Clinton in the state, though he lags nationally. But the most recent polls of the state were taken before a 2005 tape leaked of Trump bragging about groping women.

Bill Clinton didnt mention the tape or Trumps treatment of women, even as new stories were breaking just as Clinton took the stage.

While he encouraged people to vote, Clinton also didnt talk much about early voting even though the event was billed as one that would focus on a push to get out voters. Before the event started, about a third of the audience cheered that they had voted early when asked by one of the speakers.

Even those who hadnt voted early didnt necessarily have to be convinced of the importance of going to the polls.

I think this election is a really important election. I think this is where we kind of draw our line in the sand in terms of a nation of where were going and what we going to do, said Will Frost, of Cedar Falls.

Frost said he didnt have any opinion about Trump before he entered the race but as he keeps talking, he cant support the man. He didnt say there was anything in particular that drew him away from Trump, just the way he carries himself.

I feel like he represents the id in us; he says whatever he wants and disregard the consequences, Frost said, adding, I think Trump has an unfair competitive advantage, because no one expects him to be good  but she has to be good; she has to be respectable; she has to be honest; she has to be et cetera, et cetera, et cetera; she has to be great.

While Frost considers himself an independent, he said hes supporting Hillary Clinton.

Harry Carson, of Waterloo, is equally unimpressed with Trump.

I never thought that I would live to see somebody like Trump  to me, hes too stupid to even run for president, Carson said, adding that he supports Hillary Clinton because of her years of experience in the political realm. She knows what shes doing.

He added, She going to win.
MASON CITY | The Office of Consumer Advocate of Iowa wants Alliant Energy's billing issues resolved for customers before winter, according to documents filed with the Iowa Utilities Board.

Alliant, however, is seeking a less formal review of recent problems and suggested "workshops" to discuss the issue extend into 2017.

Alliant claimed the high bills were caused by a combination of higher energy use due to hotter weather and a new billing system.

Winters coming up, and I want this issue to be addressed before winter, consumer advocate Mark Schuling said. I dont want this to happen again.

Alliant has not responded to requests for comment by phone or email Friday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday. In that time, the Globe Gazette sent three emails and made several phone calls to media contacts.

The Globe Gazette has asked for clarification on several questions such as:

When did Alliant realize there was a problem with the billing system?

What prompted the company's statement on Oct. 2 to customers?

Why should customers believe Alliant?

How was the billing system and process tested before it was implemented?

Many customers asked why Alliant said the summer was hotter than normal. The Globe Gazette also asked how the company is measuring the hotter than normal summer and how it defines cooling day.

The Iowa Utilities Board had received complaints from customers and was informed by Alliant of an issue Oct. 3.

Schuling said the board had received in excess of 230 complaints. Those complaints do not include those Alliant received. Schuling wants to know how many customers in Iowa were affected.

Im hoping to get a number from them, but I have not been able to get an official number, Schuling said.

On Oct. 4, the Office of Consumer Advocate requested a formal investigation by the state board into the billing issues.

The formal investigation would include a hearing format with testimony, witnesses and cross examination.

Alliant, parent company of Interstate Power and Light Co., filed a response Oct. 10, requesting an informal workshop format rather than a formal hearing.

The workshop format is more of a discussion, Schuling said.

On Oct. 11, OCA responded saying that a workshop would not be the best way to handle the issue.

Were still in favor of a formal hearing to expedite looking at this issue, Schuling said. He wants the board to look at what occurred and how it can be prevented in the future.

The board has yet to make a decision on the type of review.

Alliant/IPL filed a request for temporary waivers with IUB, spelling out the changes the company will make to help resolve the issue.

Alliant said that the company will work with those struggling with the higher bills by spreading the additional charges over the next 12 months with no negative impact to the account or credit score.

Additionally, the company will suspend late payment fees and disconnection of service until Dec. 31.

Alliant said they will adjust the billing process to prevent estimates for multiple months during periods of extreme temperatures. The company says it is recruiting more employees to handle the review process.
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OSAGE | Nicholas Lenz told a Mitchell County deputy during a recorded interview that he repeated hit and kicked a woman in early March and briefly restrained her using packing tape or zip tape several times.

I beat the f--- out of her for two days straight, he said in the audio recording played for jurors Thursday afternoon during his trial on charges of first-degree kidnapping and willful injury.

Lenz also admitted during the interview that he used packing tape to restrain the woman while they were in her house in Mitchell and later used zip ties to bind her ankles in a camper on his grandparents property near Otranto.

On Wednesday the woman testified Lenz left her zip-tied in the trailer for four hours.

Woman testifies at Mitchell kidnapping trial that defendant threatened to kill her OSAGE  The woman Nicholas Lenz of Mitchell is accused of confining and beating over two day

However, in the recorded interview Lenz said he never left her tied up for long.

I wasnt trying to keep her hostage, he said.

Lenz, 23, also from Mitchell, was in a romantic relationship with the woman.

He claimed they went to the Waterloo-Cedar Falls area twice and bought and smoked crack cocaine there.

He said the second time they drove back to Mitchell from Waterloo, they were in her car but he drove because she was drunk.

Lenz said when the woman, who the Globe Gazette is not naming, is coming down from a crack high, she becomes a totally different person.

She started putting me down, he said.

Lenz said they got back to Mitchell on the morning of March 6, drove around for a while and then went to sleep.

When Mitchell County Deputy Jeff Huftalin, who was the conducting the March 8 interview, told Lenz he expected him to be honest, Lenz began to cry.

I couldnt take the putdowns anymore, he said.

Lenz said when they were in the car she told him she wanted him to pack up his stuff that was in her house.

I punched her like 10 times, Lenz said.

When they were back at the womans house, he said he kicked her and punched her in the face.

Lenz said he was beginning to feel paranoid as he came down from a crack high and was beginning to mistake the trees in the yard for people.

Thats when he decided to go to his grandparents place, taking the woman with him.

He said he repeatedly hit her in her jaw and ribs while they were in the car.

Lenz said when they arrived they sat in the camper for a bit and he told her he was going back to Mitchell to pack up their things and bring them back to the camper.

Lenz said when he was driving he went into a ditch. He then took a Chevy Trailblazer from a residence as well as other items such as a laptop, a Wii and some guns and ammunition.

He said he went back to the camper without returning to Mitchell first. He then took the woman, who had been in the camper, along in the Trailblazer.

Lenz said he drove to St. Ansgar, broke into Sportsmans Bar and Grill and stole some cash.

He said he tried to take a safe from Gerbs Bar in Stacyville, but couldnt lift it into the Trailblazer because it was too heavy.

Lenz has been charged for the burglaries, but is not being tried on them at this time.

He said when he and the woman returned to her house they brought everything inside and she went to bed while he passed out on the couch.

During the interview Huftalin told Lenz officers had been to the camper and seen the zip ties.

When Huftalin asked him what they were used for, Lenz said it was after he had returned to the trailer following the home burglary. He said he was afraid she would try to grab one of the stolen guns and kill him, so I did zip tie her some.

He said he only had her restrained her for a little while as he loaded all the stolen items into the Trailblazer. Then while she was in the vehicle he moved the guns back into the camper and they left for Austin, Minnesota, before heading to St. Ansgar and Stacyville.

Lenz said the woman did not participate in the burglaries and was not zip-tied while in the Trailblazer.

He said he threatened to kill her but didnt really mean it. He denied every pointing a gun to her head.

Lenz repeatedly asked during the interview how the woman was doing. He also asked Huftalin to tell her, I still love her. Sorry for what I did.

The trial resumes at 8:30 a.m. Friday. After cross-examination of Huftalin is finished, defense witnesses are expected to begin testifying.

Judge Christopher Foy said the trial might not be over until Monday.

If convicted on the kidnapping charge, Lenz faces life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Symantec on Tuesday reported on a malware campaign that has targeted financial organizations worldwide for the past 10 months. Dubbed Trojan.Odinaff, it has infiltrated the banking, securities, trading and payroll sectors, as well as organizations that provide them with support services.

Odinaff is used in the first stage of an attack, to get a foothold into a network. It provides a persistent presence, and lets users install additional tools onto the target network, Symantec explained.

Those additional tools appear to be the same ones used by Carbanak, a sophisticated attacker that has targeted the financial industry since at least 2013, the firm said. The Odinaff attacks also use some infrastructure previously used in the Carbanak campaigns.

About 100 organizations have been hit so far, said Jon DiMaggio, a senior threat intelligence analyst in Symantecs Security Response unit.

However, we have no insight into how much money has been taken in these attacks, he told the E-Commerce Times.

Such attacks can be lucrative, though, DiMaggio noted, pointing to the US$81 million hackers looted from the Bangladesh Central Bank.

Targeting the SWIFT Network

There are two primary indications that Odinaff has been targeting users of the SWIFT global financial messaging system, DiMaggio said.

First, Odinaff has similarities with the second-stage malware, tools and tactics associated with previous attacks on SWIFT.

Second, SWIFT Suppressor malware components are present in Odinaff-related activity. Tiny executables written in C, they monitor the SWIFT customers server logs for keywords relating to certain transactions, DiMaggio said, and then move the logs out of the SWIFT software environment. The text strings monitored include references to dates and specific International Bank Account Numbers.

Each executable appears to be clearly tailored to the system its targeting.

The attackers had knowledge and access to target environments that would require a deep understanding of banking applications and security measures put in place to safeguard those applications, DiMaggio pointed out.

Waves of Attacks

Proofpoint saw Odinaff attacks on its customers in May and July, said Sherrod DeGrippo, director of emerging threats.

There was a small email campaign targeting various verticals  not just financial, this summer, she said. There have been additional campaigns since.

The people behind Odinaff are a sophisticated criminal group, DeGrippo told the E-Commerce Times. They choose their targets carefully  they have custom tools.

Attack Vectors

There are three methods of attack, Symantec noted: lure documents containing a malicious macro, possibly spread through phishing; the use of password-protected RAR archives, with the attack vector possibly spearphishing; and distribution through botnets to computers infected with other malware, such as Andromeda and Snifula.

The attackers use an assortment of lightweight hacking tools along with legitimate software tools, including the following:

Mimikatz, an open source password recovery tool;

PsExec, a procession execution tool from SysInternals;

Netscan, a network scanning tool;

Runas, a tool for running processes as another user;

Powershell; and

Ammyy Admin and variants on the Remote Manipulator System.

Ammyy Admin is free remote desktop access software; its website has been hacked repeatedly to spread malware, Symantec said.

The website should be hardened, and theres no reason for it to be compromised this many times unless security wasnt a priority for the site owner or administrator, DiMaggio noted. We would strongly recommend using extreme caution when visiting it  to ensure the site and any downloads from its infrastructure are clean.

Preventive Measures

The threat landscape for the financial industry has changed, and were now seeing more advanced cybercrime campaigns, DiMaggio observed.

SWIFT has called for tighter antifraud controls and closer cooperation among its 11,000 members, according to KPMG.

Thieves dont have to attack SWIFTs core systems to exploit weaknesses in the systems that use its network, the firm noted. The network handled more than 6 billion messages in 2015  nearly 17 million daily  and its 11,000 members have millions of current and former employees, making it difficult to thwart a determined hacker.
The Obama administration on Tuesday indicated it was considering a proportional response to retaliate against Russia for its efforts to influence the United States election process.

The administration last week officially linked Russian operatives to a series of cyberattacks against the Democratic National Committee and other organizations, which apparently were designed to influence the November presidential race.

White House press secretary Josh Earnest confirmed that leaks to WikiLeaks, DCLeaks and Guccifer 2.0 were consistent with methods and motivations of Russian efforts during a press gaggle on board Air Force One on Tuesday, when President Obama was en route to Greensboro, North Carolina.

The intelligence community has assessed that the theft of this information and its disclosure is an attempt to interfere with the U.S. political system, Earnest said.

Russia has used similar tactics in the past to try to destabilize democracies in other parts of the world, but those other countries were not as durable and resilient as the U.S., he added.

Any U.S. response would be proportional, Earnest said, noting that it was unlikely that our response would be announced in advance, and that President Obama might choose options that would not be disclosed.

Asked by a reporter whether those options would include sanctions or retaliatory activity against Russia, Earnest said he would not be specific in terms of foreshadowing potential responses, but that a range of options, including the two mentioned, were on the table.

Battening Hatches

The Department of Homeland Security and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence last week issued a joint statement saying they were confident that the Russian government was behind various hacks designed to interfere with the U.S. election.

The hacks included scanning and probing of election-related systems in Illinois and Arizona.

Based on the hack attacks scope and sensitivity, it appears they were authorized by senior-level officials in the Russian government, the joint statement says.

DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson earlier this week said that 33 states and 11 county or local agencies had requested cybersecurity services from DHS to defend against further hacks.

The services range from cyberhygiene scans on Internet-facing systems to risk and vulnerability assessments, DHS officials said. The hygiene scans are done remotely, and state and local officials are given a report showing vulnerable areas, along with recommendations for improving online voter registration systems, election night reporting systems, and other systems connected to the Internet.

Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif.  who joined Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., in pushing the Obama administration to go public with the allegations  praised the official release of the evidence linking Russia to the hacks.

We should now work with our European allies who have been the victim of similar and even more malicious cyber interference by Russia to develop a concerted response that protects our institutions and deters further meddling, he said in a statement.

Hold Fire

The process of naming Russia as the culprit has become heavily politicized, observed Martin Libicki, an adjunct management scientist at the RAND Corporation and a distinguished visiting professor at the U.S. Naval Academy. One side of the U.S. political aisle is calling out the Russians, while the other side is disputing the level of certainty.

A U.S. administration response cannot help but play into the election season with the other side screaming bloody murder, Libicki told TechNewsWorld.

It might make sense to wait until after the election to respond, he suggested. However, the Russians might then lose interest until the next presidential cycle.

Its difficult to know definitively what specific evidence points directly at the Russian government, but its unlikely the hacks will change the outcome of the race, said Troy Hunt, a Microsoft regional director.

However, theres certainly something to be said about a foreign power attempting to influence a nations democratic process, he told TechNewsWorld, and theyve attempted to do so using the same mainstream techniques that everyday cybercriminals would use.
The U.S. Federal Communications Commission on Tuesday announced that Comcast would pay a record US$2.3 million fine to settle its investigation into whether the cable operator improperly charged customers for services and equipment they never approved, a practice known as zero billing option.

Federal law bans cable operators from charging customers for unauthorized equipment or services.

It is basic that a cable bill should include charges only for services and equipment ordered by the customer  nothing more and nothing less, said Travis LeBlanc, chief of the FCCs enforcement bureau. We expect all cable and phone companies to take responsibility for the accuracy of their bills and ensure their customers have authorized any charges.

Oversell Activities

The FCC received numerous complaints that Comcast charged customers for unauthorized equipment, including set-top boxes, digital video recorders. Some received premium channels they had not ordered. In many cases, customers specifically declined certain items and were charged for them anyway.

Customers complained that they sometimes received unordered equipment in the mail, got bills with charges they found only after close review, or were notified by email of changes they did not request.

Some customers also reported spending hours on the phone with Comcast trying to resolve the issues.

Under the terms of the consent decree, Comcast must abide by a five-year compliance plan. The agreement calls for Comcast to notify customers of new equipment or upgrades separately from regular bills. It allows customers to block new services automatically and requires the company to implement new dispute resolution procedures.

Comcast has been laser-focused on improving its customer service, the company said. It acknowledged that past shortcomings in its customer service and lack of clarity in its billing resulted in unnecessary customer frustration and confusion.

Comcast had initiated improvements even before the FCCs Enforcement Bureau began its investigation two years ago, it claimed. It disagreed with the bureaus legal theory and added that the probe found isolated errors and complaints rather than intentional wrongdoing.

Congressional Hearings

The overbilling problem was the subject of hearings on Capitol Hill led by Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, and Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., respectively the chair and ranking member of the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations.

Overbilling has been a widespread problem throughout the cable and satellite industry, the subcommittee reported. Senate hearings in June and related investigations found that Charter overbilled its customers by $5.3 million annually, and Time Warner Cable overbilled by $12.5 million over a six-year period. The companies agreed to give credits to thousands of customers as a result of the findings.

Legislators last month urged the FCC to examine practices of the cable industry, based on committee testimony and reports.

The Comcast investigation could have a short-term impact on the companys relationships with its customers, suggested telecom analyst Jeff Kagan, considering the increased number of cord-cutting options available to the public.

Yesterday, cable television companies simply didnt care about what customers thought of them since there was no other choice. However, during the last decade we have seen competition grow and take away share from Comcast and all cable television companies, he told CRM Buyer.

That said, it would be naive to think that Comcast or any other incumbent will clean up their act because of the FCCs actions, said broadband analyst Craig Settles.

Even though this is a record breaking fine, he told CRM Buyer, in the corporate world this is a cost of doing business that is easier to pay than the cost of cleaning up the problem.
Social media has sharpened humans age-old appetite for public shaming, providing a stage and unlimited seating for a seemingly unending stream of immorality plays. Those who share even the simplest identifying details about themselves are vulnerable to being pushed into the glare of the spotlight.

The anonymity the Internet provides frees many individuals of the consequences they might face offline for being abusive to other people. Perhaps appearing to their friends, family and connections as ordinary people in the real world, these Jekyll-and-Hyde netizens transform into trolls to carry out their online assaults.

Anonymity has been a hot button issue for just about the entire life of the Internet, and although there is no 100 percent solution in sight, the situation is not entirely hopeless, according to Charles King, principal analyst at Pund-IT.

So long as public sites enable user anonymity, pathological behavior will continue, because it thrives in the shadows, he told TechNewsWorld. Forcing abusers into the sunlight may be difficult or impossible  but changes in rules, laws and enforcement practices could make their lives more complicated and less comfortable.

Deep Dive Into Dirt

We know what the problem looks like, thanks to big data and analytics.

Arecent analysis identified more than17,000 tweets related to body shaming, for example, and ranked the most common terms Twitter users lobbed at others to shame them for their weight.

Artificial intelligence soon might be able to catch and moderate cruel posts mere moments after publication, suggested a University of Lisbon team of researchers who have leveraged machine learning to teach AI to suss out sarcasm.

For now, the moderation and reporting tools available arent set up to prevent or discourage online abuse, said Rob Enderle, principal analyst at the Enderle Group.

Reputation protection services can be used, but that doesnt scale well  they target one person at a time  and it can be really expensive if you have to litigate and your attacker has no money, he told TechNewsWorld.

What to Do?

It appears Reddit currently has the best system in place, in Enderles view, as its shadow-blocking tools shield users from whomever they wish to block, while allowing offenders to keep their accounts. Offenders are none the wiser, barring some detective work.

Of course, publicizing shamers so they lose their jobs, gym memberships, and get attacked themselves does work, he acknowledged, and if it is done enough, that should change behavior.

However, that approach so far hasnt been used enough to make a difference, Enderle said.

That could change if social media sites and other forums were willing to make some changes.

They could take proactive steps that might make a difference, noted King, who pointed to a list of suggestions for Twitter, posted online by Randi Lee Harper, founder of the Online Abuse Prevention Initiative.

Those changes might result in a significant decrease in the prevalence of abuse on Twitter, but what will it take to inspire websites and their parent companies to intercede?

Many, if not most, technology vendors bend over backward to avoid favoritism and maintain level playing fields for users of all stripes, King pointed out. I respect that attitude, but its often subject to being gamed by some users  and in some circumstances has resulted in online environments that amplify abusive behavior.

Societal Shift

Machine learning tools one day might be capable of rejecting abusive comments before their intended targets ever see them. However, even if the companies running social networks work strenuously to stomp out online abuse, its ultimately up to humans to ensure that humanity prevails.

The best line of defense against social shaming starts at home, suggested counselor Scott A. Spackey.

Family validation and bonding, and personal achievement with sports, school work and personal goals is the antidote to ANY source of social shaming, he told TechNewsWorld.

People are more immune to criticism from outsiders when they have evidence to the contrary, provided by self knowledge and by those in their inner circles, Spackey said. For example, its easier to brush off being called stupid when ones grades indicate otherwise.

We all need to remember theres no law against unfriending a social network contact at any time, he noted. Virtual life has same rules as non-virtual life: You get to have the final say on who you interact with and what you are exposed to.

While its ideal to teach those lessons in the home, its never too late to improve oneself with education and re-education.

Pity the Fool?

When Playboy Playmate Dani Mathers snapchatted an image of an older woman nude in a locker room, that was an opportunity for education, according to relationship and etiquette expert April Masini.

It was a moment to talk about what happens, naturally, to our bodies, she told TechNewsWorld.

There is a lesson for Ms. Mathers to learn that bodies age and they dont look the same at 20 as they do at 60 or 70 or 80, and that its important to celebrate the changes of a healthy and aging human being, Masini said, instead of mocking the change that is often difficult to endure because its a signal life is slipping away  as it should.

Mathers undoubtedly was afraid of what she saw to some degree, she suggested, and might not even be conscious of the aging of her own body.

The impetus for body shamers and bullies is usually fear, Masini said. We see bravado and mean-spirited posts  we dont acknowledge the fear behind the person posting.
Robert Bob A. Schukei

MASON CITY  Robert Bob A. Schukei, 88, of Mason City, died Monday, Oct. 10, 2016, at the Muse Norris Hospice Inpatient Unit, after a journey with Alzheimers.

A gathering of friends and family will be held from 5 to 7 p.m. Friday, Oct. 14, 2016 at Major Erickson Funeral Home, 111 N. Pennsylvania Ave., Mason City. A private family memorial service will be held at a later date. Memorials may be directed to the Robert Schukei Memorial Fund in care of his family, who will split memorials between Hospice of North Iowa and the Yacht Club. Online condolences may be left for the family at www.majorericksonfuneralhome.com

Bob was born Dec. 22, 1927, in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. He spent his early years in Waterloo, Iowa, leaving to attend Shattuck Military School in Faribault, MN, returning to graduate with his high school class at West Waterloo High School. Bob attended college from 1946-1949.

From 1936-1946 Bob worked summers and vacations for his Dad at Schukei Chevrolet in Waterloo, IA, learning all aspects of the automobile industry. From 1949-1964 Bob worked full time, refining his skills which prepared him to purchase Paul Pritchard Ford in 1964. In 1967 Bob built the building at 721 S. Monroe in Mason City where the business is currently located today. His son Steve is the current Dealer Principal.

In July of 1980 Bob purchased S & R Chevrolet becoming the Schukei Chevrolet we know today. Bob continued to maintain an office at the dealership up until his time of death.

During the time span of 1970-1981 Bob was on the Boards of Mutual Federal Savings and Loan; NIACC; Mason City Auto Dealers Assoc.; and a member of the Nichols Campbell Management Group. Bob was also fortunate enough to be on the Ford Motor National Dealer Council where he had the opportunity to work with Henry Ford II, Lee Iacocca and William Clay Ford.

His civic organizations and accomplishments included Kiwanis Club; Trinity Lutheran Church Trustee and Chairman; member of the Mason City Chamber of Commerce Ambassador Organization; United Way of Mason City; Director of Cerro Gordo Cablevision; Past President of the Mason City Country Club; Past President of the Iowa Automobile Dealers Association.

Bob was an avid outdoorsman who enjoyed numerous fishing trips to Canada along with numerous duck hunting trips to Mound City, Missouri.

Bob is survived by his wife, Elizabeth Conway Schukei; one sister Janice Hahn (Dr. Gilbert) Glasson of Waterloo, IA; children Steve (Sue) Schukei of Mason City, IA; John Schukei of Great Falls, MT; Ellen (Michael) Paul of Iowa City, IA; William (Angelina) Schukei of Omaha, NE; Monda (Brent) Linderman of Mason City, IA; 11 grandchildren, 2 great-granddaughters; numerous nieces and nephews and special friends Jay and Jacki Lee.

Bob was preceded in death by his father Clarence F. Schukei; his mother and stepfather Grace Schukei (Warren) Dawson; daughter-in-law Keely Hall Schukei.

Bob will be greatly missed by his family and friends.

Arrangements are with Major Erickson Funeral Home and Crematory, 111 N. Pennsylvania Ave., Mason City, IA 50401, 641-423-0924,
Apple has fired staff from one of its Australian stores following allegations they were sharing photos of female customers and colleagues. It's also claimed the employees were stealing images from iPhones that were being repaired.

The original report in Brisbane's Courier-Mail claimed the staff secretly took photos of female co-workers and shoppers without their knowledge. These were added to a sharing ring, which reportedly contained over 100 intimate images, including close-ups of women's chests and behinds. The pictures were then rated out of 10 by the four employees involved.

The publication also states that female iPhone owners who brought their devices in for repair had photos copied from the handsets. It was only when a staff member noticed a store technician looking through a customer's phone in the repair room that things came to light. The Carindale store brought in an HR executive from overseas to look into the matter.

Apple said that based on its investigation thus far, it has found no evidence that customer data or photos were inappropriately transferred or anyone had been photographed without consent. However, the company did say that several employees have been terminated as a result of its findings - so it must have discovered some wrongdoings.

"Apple believes in treating everyone equally and with respect, and we do not tolerate behavior that goes against our values," the company said in a statement.

The chance that a firm could steal or accidentally erase photos from a phone is a concern for many people. Not everyone knows to make backups of their images before sending a handset in for repair. Just last year, Apple had to pay a UK man $1810 in compensation and $1166 in court costs after one of its stores wiped photos of his honeymoon and 15 years worth of contacts when his iPhone was sent in for repair.

This is the second time an Australian Apple store has created unwelcome headlines for the company. In November 2015, several black teenage students were told to leave an Apple store in Melbourne because staff thought they "might steal something."
Samsung has finally acknowledged that the Galaxy Note 7 has too many issues to remain a viable product, and decided to stop both the selling and manufacturing of the device.

Despite the huge meltdown caused by the latest flagship, the company seems to remain a sweetheart to consumers, as pointed out by experts in a Los Angeles Times report.

One reason for which customers will stay loyal to Samsung is the hefty promotions and discounts that the company is offering, giving users plenty of alternatives to the faulty Note 7. To put it into perspective, the Note 7 comprises only about 10 percent of Samsung's shipments.

Other reasons include the deceleration registered by rival brands, as well as the perceived difficulty of changing ecosystems. Samsung also caters to its fans by offering reliable customer service and intuitive interfaces.

Tuong Nguyen, lead research analyst at Gartner, explains that the ecosystem shift is a massive psychological issue for most users.

"If your automatic car breaks down, you're not going to suddenly shift to a stick shift," he affirms.

Brand Awareness

Research firm IDC points out that about 33 percent of handsets that rolled out in the second quarter of 2016 are wearing the Apple or Samsung brand.

Samsung has the upper hand over smaller OEMs due to a huge marketing budget, which makes it easy to popularize its phones at a global scale. Rivals such as Vivo, Huawei or Oppo, on the other hand, are unable to compete in this field.

"In developed markets, people are attracted to brands they know," says Ryan Reith, program VP for IDC.

Samsung Rivals

Samsung faces some competition from Chinese phone brands such as Meizu, LeEco and Xiaomi, which are gunning for the same market as Samsung's affordable lines.

"There's a pretty strong opportunity for us in the U.S. for [affordable] smartphones," points out Hugo Barra, VP of Xiaomi Global.

Google recently unveiled its new Pixel family of handsets, but the tech company could still land on the pricey side, making it hard for many Samsung customers to join their ranks.

So far, Samsung proves that it can react in a mature and determined way during a crisis. Pulling the plug on the production of the Note 7 shows that the company is unafraid to make mistakes and take accountability for them.

The company saw its sales plummet in the wake of the Note 7 exploding batteries scandal, but it does have the resources to bounce back. Analysts are optimistic about Samsung's safety-oriented policy, which could inspire customers to stay true to the brand.

Nguyen affirms that Samsung's recall is the biggest fluke of this kind ever encountered in the mobile industry.

"In that sense, it's hard to say how big of an impact Samsung will take," Nguyen notes.

 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Samsung has officially put the Galaxy Note 7 out to pasture, and it appears the company is putting its energy and resources into its upcoming Galaxy S8. A new report claims Samsung is planning two Galaxy S8 variants, one with a 2K 5.1-inch display and another with a 5.5-inch 4K screen and possibly follow Apple's iPhone naming convention.

In the smartphone world, Apple and Samsung not only build and sell the most handsets compared to rivals by leaps and bounds, but the two also have extremely loyal fan bases that only buy iPhones or Galaxy S and Galaxy Note phablets on an annual basis.

Samsung's current Galaxy Note 7 and its exploding batteries have been officially shut down, and this time, it won't be coming back. In the weeks leading up to the phablet, it appeared as if Samsung had a humongous hit on its hands and would reign supreme over Apple's iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus. The company was already giving an Apple a run for its money with the success of the Galaxy S7 and S7 edge.

Samsung built 5 million of the handsets for its August launch, and just like Apple's new Jet Black and Black iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus, the Note 7 was offered in an exclusive Blue Coral color, which instantaneously became the most in-demand option and remained sold out for weeks. Then reports surfaced of exploding batteries in the handsets, which subsequently led to a recall.

Samsung thought the issue was fixed, and T-Mobile and other carriers began selling the devices for a second time .Just a few days later, the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 has officially been killed off by Samsung. It halted sales and production and will replace or refund customers. The company now faces one of its biggest tests to date. With U.S. carriers reportedly unhappy with the way Samsung handled the Note 7 fiasco, will customers trust the company and buy its new smartphones in droves before the Note 7?

It appears that Samsung will attempt to put the Galaxy Note 7 debacle behind it by first increasing manufacturing of the Galaxy S7 and S7 edge and then turn its resources and attention to next year's flagship Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8 Plus. The smartphones are expected to both boast curved Super AMOLED displays and drop the "edge" branding.

Samsung is expected to announce the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8 Plus at an Unpacked event at Mobile World Congress 2017 on Feb. 26. The company used the same trade show to launch the Galaxy S7 and S7 edge.

You can bet that Samsung will address and quell any concerns consumers may have concerning the device's safety and will also attempt to make the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8 Plus more feature rich, create a sleek, premium and elegant design and, most importantly, regain its previous status in the smartphone world.

According to a new report, Samsung will launch two Galaxy S8 models, which will both feature the popular curved displays found on its extremely popular Galaxy S7 edge. The Galaxy S8 will supposedly rock a 2K 5.1-inch curved Super AMOLED display, while the larger Galaxy S8 Plus will feature a stunning 5.5-inch 4K display, which will have a resolution of 3,840 x 2,160 and a pixel density of 806 pixels per inch (ppi).

Just like Apple's new iPhone 7 Plus, Samsung is also expected to further differentiate the larger Galaxy S8 Plus by using a dual-camera setup on the rear of the 5.5-inch Galaxy S8 Plus. The two smartphones will use a next-generation Qualcomm Snapdragon 830 processor and increased RAM to handle increased virtual reality support. The official naming for the devices could change when they are officially released.

Are you looking forward to the Samsung Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8 Plus and planning on buying it? Please let us and our readers know in the comments below.

 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Microsoft is on track to release the Dynamics 365 by Nov. 1. This is the service that the tech company has been touting as advanced technology that can significantly augment its users' business agility.

For the uninitiated, Dynamics 365 refers to the Azure-based combination of customer relationship management (CRM) and enterprise resource planning (ERP) services.

At the core of this solution is what Microsoft simply calls as Intelligence, which is actually constituted by advanced analytics and machine learning technologies. It powers the apps within Microsoft's cloud service that provides a range of functions for business such as sales automation, operations and customer service.

According to Microsoft, Dynamics 365 is specifically designed to improve manufacturing and supply chain execution. It can also address the efficiency requirements for field service operations and sales through the delivery of exceptional customer experience.

Microsoft initially planned to roll out Dynamics 365 in July as indicated in its previous briefings of reseller partners. This, however, entailed mere repackaging and update of existing capabilities such as Dynamics CRM and Project Madeira. The final Dynamics 365 was delayed because Microsoft has built new softwares within the bundle. For instance, there is the case of the Financials component as well as the Customer Insights app. The 100 new apps underscore the extent of the changes made in order to expand the Dynamics 365 capabilities.

Industry observers consider the Dynamics 365 launch as a response to Salesforce's increasing use of artificial intelligence (AI) in its own array of business solutions. Specifically, one can turn to a recent Tech Times report citing Salesforce continuous development of the so-called Einstein AI technology to power its CRM service. It is also backed by a series of tech acquisitions, which involve startups known for their respective AI initiatives such as Metamind and RelatedIQ.

Microsoft itself seems to be taking on Salesforce directly. In a report published by Fortune, the company maintained that it is building a smarter AI-based CRM/ERP service because it has developed its own technology in-house for several years, indicating it is more seamless and effective. Microsoft scoffed at Salesforce AI initiative, citing that the company is merely cobbling together technologies it acquired through its recent acquisitions.

It is, of course, not yet clear whether Dynamics 365 will indeed be as well-put-together solution for business users as Microsoft claims it will be. One should remember that the company is also cobbling together in Dynamics 365 different product lines, which have emerged from acquired companies in the past. In all fairness, these products are mostly developed using the AX code.

Dynamics 365 is available to users willing to pay a $70 monthly subscription.

 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
With no more than three months of his mandate, President Barack Obama highlights once again the importance of the NASA project to deliver people to Mars.

Since he first endorsed the idea six years ago, the team has made tremendous progress. In 2010, Obama gave a speech at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, where he fist promoted the concept of sending astronauts to the Red Planet by mid-2030s.

His pitch was published in an opinion column for CNN days before the Frontiers Conference, a one-day brainstorming discussion held in Pittsburgh by Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Pittsburgh. The event is co-sponsored by the White House and it gathers specialists and scientists from around the country.

"We have set a clear goal vital to the next chapter of America's story in space: sending humans to Mars by the 2030s and returning them safely to Earth, with the ultimate ambition to one day remain there for an extended time," Obama said.

Aside from being an opportunity for scientific dialogue, the conference will aim at promoting the space mission to the new administration and help sponsor the journey to Mars. Its advocates will be given the chance to fully support and pitch the costly mission, involving a deep-space rocket and the Orion multipurpose crew vehicle, originally created for a go-back to the Moon.

Some Congress members, mostly Republicans, have criticized the president for not allocating a sufficient budget to the critical components of this mission, while dismissing NASA's decision to use an asteroid as a stepping stone to Mars instead of the Moon.

The presidential support for this mission comes alongside various private company owners striving to create their own projects to get to the Red Planet.

While the Boeing CEO declared that he was sure the first person to go to Mars will ride a Boeing rocket, a Dutch venture named Mars One works on colonizing the planet by 2025, with help from major aerospace companies for transportation.

Elon Musk, the SpaceX CEO, announced the intentions to build a rocket system public in September, wishing to transport the first passengers to the Red Planet on the same year as the Dutch company.

"I'm excited to announce that we are working with our commercial partners to build new habitats that can sustain and transport astronauts on long-duration missions in deep space. These missions will teach us how humans can live far from Earth  something we'll need for the long journey to Mars," Obama added in his editorial.

 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Creepy clowns are invading everywhere, with this trend seeming to get a bit out of hand as more and more people report sightings and no longer feel safe in their cities. Getting rid of this craze seems like a job for the only person who has what it takes to save the day against these jokers: Batman.

Batman has come to the rescue to get rid of the creepy clowns that are scaring children. However, he has not left Gotham to save the day in New York City, but rather for residents in Whitehaven, Cumbria in the UK.

Yes, the clown epidemic has spread across the pond. The trend here is a bit hyped up since it has been making headlines since the end of the summer.

The fact is a lot of it is media hype since many of the reported sightings were found to have no evidence behind them. However, social media has caused police in other cases to actually make arrests for real-life threats.

While clowns have been seen lurking in woods and outside school across the United States in a sick prank to spook us all, there have been some cases of violence.

And in the UK, these clowns are leaving many kids scared half to death as they have been reported to jump out from bushes to scare children and chase pedestrians. Clowns are a bit terrifying in their own right, just imagine spotting one being all shady down the street, let alone without having a knife in their hand as they chase you.

There was 50 clown incidents reported in Kent in just three short days, and 61 reports in South Yorkshire over the past three weeks. One clown case in Lancashire resulted in a man getting cut by a knife after defending himself against a clown at an ATM.

Police have since warned that dressing as a killer clown can lead to to a fine or worse, and it can "leave people feeling scared, anxious and intimidated."

But the popular superhero is now making rounds to help keep hysteria among children down.

According to BBC Cumbria, the costume company Cumbria Superheroes has enlisted the help of Batman to come get rid of the clown problem.

Someone dressed as the caped crusader is patrolling the streets to show young children that there is nothing to fear and they are well-protected.

A picture of Batman chasing after the clowns have been posted on Facebook, with kids even reaching out to say thank you to the superhero after parents shared the news.

For Batman, it's all in a good day's work.



 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
OSAGE | A woman accused of causing a crash that killed a man in March near Osage has asked to change her plea.

Shannon Henaman, 43, of Osage, had previously pleaded not guilty to vehicular homicide and drunken driving.

Her plea-change hearing has been scheduled for Nov. 8 at the Mitchell County Courthouse in Osage.

Authorities say Henaman was driving when a vehicle crashed about 3:19 a.m. at Kirkwood Avenue and 370th Street.

Passenger Theodore McPhail, 50, of Osage, was killed in the crash.

Court documents do not indicate if Henaman plans to plead guilty as charged, or if she and her attorney have negotiated a plea deal with prosecutors.

-- Molly Montag.
The Samsung Galaxy S7 edge could soon be available in Blue Coral via Verizon, if the new leaked image is anything to go by.

For the uninitiated, the color proved to be one of the most popular options of the discontinued Galaxy Note 7. This move could be seen as the South Korean company's attempt to revitalize smartphone sales, aside from reportedly ramping up production of the Galaxy S7 to compensate losses that stem from the phablet's cancellation, which is estimated to be about $17 billion.

Now, the leaked image of the Galaxy S7 edge sporting a Blue Coral design comes from SamsungVN (translated), and based on that alone, it shows a rear shell with the aforementioned color option and the "Galaxy S7 edge" branding.

On an interesting note, it also dons the Verizon logo, sparking up the speculations that a Blue Coral Galaxy S7 edge is coming to the Big Red's shelves soon.

Looking closely at the shell at the top, there's no sign of a Verizon mark. That means there's more or less a chance that this potentially upcoming color option isn't exclusive to the U.S. carrier. However, according to the Vietnamese source, Verizon will launch the configuration first before it becomes available in other markets.

In other words, what could go down is that the Big Red will roll out Blue Coral Galaxy S7 edge units first, and other retailers and carriers could follow suit after a while in the foreseeable future.

Of course, nothing is set in stone just yet, and without an official word from Samsung, this leaked image should be taken with a grain of salt. It's also unclear whether this will go official or get scrapped  assuming it's true, that is.

At any rate, this seems to be a wise decision on the smartphone maker's part if it wants disappointed Galaxy Note 7 owners to switch up to the next best thing it has in store. Put differently, using the color option that made the phablet even more well-known aside from its specs and features  minus the explosions, of course  could help Samsung get fans to go through with an alternative in its line.

With all said and done, what do you think of a Blue Coral Galaxy S7 edge? Also, if it does become widely available, will you be nabbing one? Feel free to hit us up in the comments section below and let us know.

 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Google and Facebook are partnering up to deploy a 120 Terabits per second (Tbps) submarine cable that will stretch from Los Angeles to Hong Kong.

The third tech company involved in the ambitious project is a subsidiary of China Soft Power Technology, dubbed Pacific Light Data Communication.

As the new 12,800 km (7,954-mile) cable is installed and working, it will rank as the highest-capacity trans-Pacific cable to date. Previously, the biggest capacity title went to the FASTER cable, a project where Google was also present.

Rumors about the project surfaced earlier this year, and the purported investment ranked as high as $400 million. At the time, neither Facebook, nor Google had confirmed involvement in the Pacific Light Cable project.

Breaking down the connection itself, users should know that the cable features five fiber pairs, and each of the pairs can hold up to 24 Tbps of bandwidth.

According to insiders familiar with the matter, all companies involved in the project will place their own portion of the cable, meaning that Google itself will deploy its own fiber pair in order to make sure that its own traffic stays away from privy eyes.

So far, Google has stakes in no less than five submarine cables, making the Pacific Light Cable the sixth infrastructure of its kind. The other five are FASTER, MONET, SJC, Tannat and Unity.

At the time, FASTER was especially important to Google as its dedicated cable allows a much smoother experience for enterprise clients that are tapping into the Google Cloud Platform. Google's Cloud expansion in East Asia was much easier thanks to the high-speed submarine cable.

Some might raise their eyebrows upon hearing that competitors such as Facebook and Google are best buddies for the project, but such massive projects often ask for companies to set aside their rivalries.

Microsoft and Facebook recently inked a partnership for the building of a trans-Atlantic cable, estimated to carry 160 Tbps. Despite the fact that the submarine Atlantic cable is faster than the Pacific one, it should be noted that is also 50 percent shorter.

Amazon is also tinkering with the idea of installing its own submarine cables, but the company seems to want to do it all by itself.

Google affirms that the main purpose of the new cable is to deliver greater bandwidth and lower latency to its APAC region customers, something that will automatically apply to Facebook's customers.

The Pacific Light Cable Network should be ready to transmit data at high-speeds sometime in 2018.

 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Sony Launches Bravia Z9D TV With 4K HDR Technology | TechTree.com

Sony has today announced the launch of the new Bravia Z9D TV that comes with 4K HDR technology and a unique backlight technology known as 'Backlight Master Drive'.

Adding further, with the introduction of three new technologies; object-based HDR remaster, dual database processing, and Super Bit Mapping 4K HDR, the new 4K HDR ProcessorX1 Extreme provides the ultimate 4K HDR visual experience with 40 percent more real-time image processing as compared to the renowned 4K Processor X1, according to a recent release sent out by the company.

Also, the Backlight Master Drive allows the TV to expand brightness and contrast in order to truly tap the full potential of 4K HDR. Along with this, Bravia Z9D TV comes with a dense LED structure with a super accurate lighting algorithm and unique optical design.

The Z9D runs on the latest Android TV version 6.0 Marshmallow and allows users to explore movies, apps, games, etc. Users can also expand memory via an USB Drive.

With Google Cast, consumers can easily send content from smartphone or tablet to the TV.

Pre-booking of KD-65Z9D will be available from Oct 15 to Oct 31 in all Sony Centers, at a price tag of INR 5,04,990.

TAGS: Sony Bravia
A Very Lucrative Crime

Calling Their Bluff Costs

In Maine, cybercriminals took over the computer system shared by five police agencies for about two weeks last year until the departments paid the crooks $300. In Los Angeles, a large hospital shelled out $17,000 this year to regain access to its electronic medical records that criminal hackers took hostage. And in eastern Ohio, Columbiana County was forced to pay more than $2,800 in ransom in June after computers in its juvenile court system became infected.Cyber-age extortionists  who use so-called ransomware software to hijack computer systems and hold them hostage until their victims pay a ransom  increasingly are preying on local governments, hospitals and even police departments, and forcing officials to decide whether to meet the demands or risk losing their data.Without that information in our computers, we were stuck, said Ronald Young, police chief of Damariscotta, Maine, one of the police departments hit in last years attack. We needed to get it back. We use it on a daily basis. It contains information about arrests and warrants and any contact we have with the public.Even if officials decide to pay hundreds or thousands of dollars in ransom as the Maine departments did, their computer networks and communications are often crippled for a day or more by the viruses. If officials decide not to pay and restore their systems on their own, it can take days, even weeks, to get back up and running. In the meantime, public services for residents, schoolchildren and even hospital patients may be affected.In a nation whose policy is not to pay ransom to terrorists, having to pay what often is taxpayers money to extortionists who frequently operate out of Eastern Europe or Russia is especially galling to someone like Young.Its a sign of terrorism, Young said. Im a former Marine and we dont negotiate with terrorists.But in the end, he said, paying $300 was the only technologically feasible way the departments could reclaim their data. Paying ransom is a prospect that local and state officials increasingly are confronted with.City and county governments, along with local school districts, have seen an exponential rise in threats in the last 18 months, said Srini Subramanian, a state cybersecurity specialist at the consulting firm Deloitte & Touche LLP.Local and state governments were struck by as many as 450 infections a month between October and May, said Brian Calkin, a vice president of the Multi-State Information Sharing and Analysis Center (MS-ISAC), a federally funded group that tracks cybersecurity issues for states and local governments.Since 2005, the FBIs Internet Crime Complaint Center has received about 9,600 ransomware complaints from individuals, businesses and government agencies. The criminals typically demand between $200 and $10,000, but victims face other costs, such as loss of productivity, legal fees and IT services. Last year, they lost more than $24 million, according to the FBI.Its a very large problem. We continue to see it grow, Calkin said.About six to 10 variations of ransomware are now being used to attack local and state agencies fairly regularly, Calkin said.The infectious software typically gets launched when a computer user unknowingly clicks on an email with an attachment or link to a website. Sometimes, a user downloads it by browsing a website and clicking on what appears to be a legitimate link, such as a movie clip.Once the malware is opened, it gets lodged in the computer system and locks files, encrypting them so data such as Microsoft Word documents or Excel spreadsheets cant be accessed. It displays a message saying the computer has been infected and gives victims a certain period to pay ransom to unlock it so they can open their files or risk losing the data forever.The ransom usually is small  in the hundreds or thousands of dollars  to make it easier for victims to comply, and often demanded in the digital currency bitcoin. Once they do comply, scammers send information showing how to unlock the files.Ransomware perpetrators generally arent interested in stealing data and personal information from victims, as are other types of cybercriminals. They see it simply as a means to turn hacking into cash. Ransomware is very lucrative, Calkin said. If they send a million emails and only 1 percent click on it and they get $500 from each person, thats not bad for a days work.The criminals, especially if they operate overseas, can be very difficult to track down, let alone prosecute, said Deloittes Subramanian.Some write the software, others develop and test it, some send out the spam and some handle the ransom payments. Bitcoins are stored electronically and are transferred all over the internet, which makes the payments difficult to trace.Whats easy to see are the effects the criminals can have.When Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center in Los Angeles was struck in February, the malware prevented staffers from communicating by email and using electronic medical records for 10 days. The hospital ended up paying about $17,000 in bitcoin to regain control of its system.Some victims call the criminals bluff and refuse to pay, usually because they have backup systems that can restore data without major delays and expense. But even that often comes at a cost.Tom Barwin, city manager of Sarasota, Fla., said his city had no intention of coughing up ransom money when it was struck by hackers in February after a city staffer inadvertently opened a phony email. The cybercriminals asked for a huge amount  half a bitcoin per file, which staffers estimated would have cost about $33 million at that time, as 160,000 files were affected.The ransomware corrupted the citys file-sharing and storage network, so staffers had to freeze the system to fix it. Although the data was backed up, it took a day and a half to restore the information, Barwin said. Since then, the city has spent at least $100,000 for additional firewall and virus protection, and improving the speed and capacity of its servers.Barwin scoffed at the idea of shelling out ransom. We werent going to pay them a dime, he said. Our job is to enforce laws. We dont encourage people to break them.Most state governments, whose computers store a lode of personal information on their residents, so far have successfully blocked ransomware attacks with firewalls and updated anti-virus programs, said Doug Robinson, executive director of the National Association of State Chief Information Officers.But recently, he said, theyre seeing new, more sophisticated varieties that are harder to protect against.It has become very serious very quickly, Robinson said. In the last few years, it was primarily focused on smaller jurisdictions  local governments, water departments, police agencies. Now, were seeing it spread into the states.A survey of state information technology security officers released last month found that ransomware was one of the most prevalent cybersecurity threats they expect to face in the coming year.Some states are taking extra precautions.In Ohio, State Auditor Dave Yosts office ran an in-house test in June, sending out a fake email to 100 randomly selected staffers. Twenty percent opened it. His office reported the results in an in-house, e-newsletter and warned employees to be careful. Then it sent out a set of fake emails to the entire staff in August. Seven percent opened them. After that, every staffer was required to complete mandatory cybersecurity training.Even so, Yost cautioned that government officials cant stop ransomware just by requiring staffers to be vigilant about email. If something gets through, youd better have your system locked down so they cant do the kind of harm they want to do, he said.Some lawmakers also are taking notice and are seeking to up the punishment for unleashing ransomware. The California Legislature unanimously passed a bill in August that defined ransomware as a type of extortion , making it a felony punishable by up to four years in prison. Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown signed the measure into law last month.But Calkin of the MS-ISAC said its unlikely such laws are going to have much effect on criminal hackers who operate abroad.Realistically, a state bill doesnt make a lot of sense to me, he said. State legislation is not going to stop these people.Calkin said his multi-state group works with the FBI to help build ransomware cases. As of now, he knows of no arrests that have been made.
It has now been several months since more than a dozen financial institutions associated with the Society for a Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT) banking network were first pummeled by a series of malicious hacks. But the unprecedented series of attacks are far from a distant memory. Among other things, the attacks underscored that even the highly regulated banking industry isnt immune to attack, especially if security infrastructure belonging to its partners, business associates or industry counterparts isnt up to par. The overarching message? Your security is only as good as the security of your partners and connected third parties security.

Hackers Target Extended SWIFT Network

The now notorious SWIFT global payments hack occurred when attackers leveraged SWIFT credentials stolen from a Bangladesh bank to compromise and transfer money from the institution, walking away with an estimated $81 million in what became known as the biggest cyber heist in history.

Equipped with the necessary credentials, the attackers were then able to infiltrate other banks connected over the SWIFT network, gaining access to at least a dozen financial institutions, including banks in the Philippines, New Zealand and others located in Southeast Asia. Among other things, the attack indicated a far-reaching, well-funded and meticulously organized campaign targeting the global banking system. And while its still uncertain if the perpetrators took anything in the multiple breaches following the Bangladesh hack, it became abundantly clear that this type of attack would likely happen again on extended third party networks often replete with blind spots to security and risk posture.

That said, the SWIFT hack doesnt embody the classic definition of third party vendor risk  SWIFT is a network of connected banks that provided what was believed to be a secure, reliable and predictable conduit through which financial institutions around the world can send and receive information.

So how was SWIFT responsible for the relentless series of attacks against a dozen banks all over the globe? While the SWIFT network itself was secured, the banking authority failed to ensure that all the banks connected over its network were properly secure. Because SWIFT was the vehicle through which information traveled from bank to bank, it was also the same vehicle that the hackers used to access partnering banks and distribute malware. One successful exploit gave the perpetrators unfettered access to a broad range of other targets. As a result, all of the other banks on the network could be considered the vulnerable third parties.

And while SWIFT is now considering axing any banks on its network with substandard security, the risk around its vulnerable partners could likely have a long and far-reaching impact that include damaged brand and reputation and increased regulatory scrutiny.

Financial Organizations Can Beat the Odds of Attack

Following the attacks, investigations determined that the SWIFT systems have appeared to be secure and compliant. But it didnt matter because the attack also underscored that an organizations security is only as good as the weakest and most vulnerable party in the entire network. If third party partners are vulnerable, then  depending on their level of access to your networks and critical data  its likely youre vulnerable too.

However, there are a few precautions that financial organizations can take to ensure that they dont end up as the next highly publicized data breach victim.

Be Aware of Potentially Hidden Risks Associated with Third Parties, Transfer Authorities and Other Extended Networks

When contracting with third party vendors and other partners, it pays to conduct a thorough assessment of their security posture. Determine compliance requirements. Study previous audits. Assess their security solutions. Then consider their level of access to your network or critical data. Almost all organizations leverage third parties on a regular basis, which increases risk and expands their overall potential attack surface. While most financial organizations are subject to stringent compliance regulations, many of their partners are not beholden to the same standards. Taking the time thoroughly perform proper due diligence and screening, while ensuring that the security measures of partnering third parties are up to par goes a long way to mitigate risk down the road.

Educate Yourself About the Current Threat Landscape

In light of evolving and rapidly accelerating attacks targeting the financial services industry, security teams need to increasingly rely on colleagues and not be averse to sharing threat intelligence with their peers. Attending financial and cybersecurity events enables threat information to travel across the industry that can boost everyones defenses and improves risk posture. In fact, fellow security professionals will likely be your greatest ally in combatting cyberattacks.

Proactively Meet with Auditors Who Can Assess Risk Environment

From Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) mandates to regulations around the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and even the US Patriot Act, the federal government has no shortage of ways to hold financial institutions accountable for securing customers money and sensitive financial information. To put the odds more in their favor, financial organizations should take steps to proactively meet with auditors who can assess compliance and risk posture and make suggestions before it really counts. It never hurts to get ahead of the auditors, and banks that take steps to close security gaps and avoid unnecessary compliance risk will have a few more balls in their court come audit time.

Stay on Top of New and Updated Compliance Regulations

Financial institutions have to adhere to a slew of compliance mandates  even when they abruptly change without notification. Not paying attention to a compliance regulation that requires a new technology or new data to protect (e.g. data accessible by third parties) could result in costly fines and other penalties as well as increased scrutiny from auditors. With an organizations bottom line at stake  not to mention brand and reputation -- it pays to stay ahead of the curve and remain apprised of the latest compliance updates.

Implement a Comprehensive Third Party Risk Reduction Solution

Operational risk teams these days are being stretched ever thinner to deal with the proliferation of vulnerabilities, cyber threats and compliance issues that comprise todays risk environment  making it all the more imperative for them to invest in a comprehensive third party risk solution. Once screened, third parties must be risk assessed by function (Legal, HR, IT, etc) before being contractually on-boarded. Companies also must ensure they have clear risk oversight and control functions implemented to ensure their risk appetite and posture is strategically aligned to business objectives. Finally, a continuous monitoring of things like negative news, service level agreement violations and other aspects of third party performance must also be in place. Modern third party risk solutions offer significant workflow automation to these steps, and provide new and enhanced insights into the risk environment of contractors and partners with access to sensitive financial data, reducing threat vectors, surprises from compliance auditors and the chances of damaging breaches.

Joe Fantuzzi is CEO of RiskVision and drives the company's overall business direction, strategy, and execution. He is an expert in creating high-growth, venture-backed businesses in emerging technology markets, and has helped building over $3 billion in market valuation as an executive for industry leading companies throughout his career.

Edited by Stefania Viscusi
OSAGE  The woman Nicholas Lenz of Mitchell is accused of confining and beating over two days in March testified Wednesday that she feared for her life.

He had threatened to kill me, said the woman.

She said Lenz, whom she was dating at the time, hit and kicked her in the face, breaking her jaw and cheek. At one point he put a gun to her temple and then pressed it hard under her chin.

She said she felt that I was going to die any second.

Lenz, 23, is being tried in Mitchell County District Court in Osage on felony charges of first-degree kidnapping and willful injury. If convicted on the kidnapping charge, he faces life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Defense attorney Parker Thirnbeck said in his opening statement Tuesday that although Lenz committed assault, his client was not guilty of either kidnapping or willful injury.

The woman, whom the Globe Gazette is not identifying, spent much of Wednesday afternoon testifying. She will be back on the stand when the trial resumes Thursday morning.

She said she met Lenz during a July 4, 2015, cookout and they eventually became romantically involved.

The woman described her relationship with Lenz in late February and early March as not good.

She said he left a ring in her mailbox but she did not tell him she would marry him.

He seemed a little more obsessed with me than anything, she said.

The woman said the two of them went in her car from Mitchell to a casino in Waterloo on March 5.

Lenz drove the vehicle, a Nissan Maxima, on the way back.

He was very angry, the woman said.

She testified he started hitting her in the face.

I was knocked out for a little bit, she said.

The woman said when they arrived at her house in Osage, he dragged her out of the vehicle by her hair and covered her mouth so she couldnt scream.

She said Lenz continued to hit her when they were in the house and she went in and out of consciousness.

The woman said at one point he put his hands around her throat and she couldnt breathe. She said he let go just as she was about to pass out.

The woman said the next day she ran out of the house and tried to get the attention of a neighbor, but Lenz caught up with her, threw her face-down in the snow and mud and kicked her in the head and the ribs.

She said he took her to an abandoned camper near Otranto, tied her ankles with zip ties to a pipe inside and left her there. She said she was barefoot and there was no heat in the camper.

I lost feeling in my feet, she said.

The woman said Lenz left her there four hours or more. She said when he came back he was driving a Chevy Trailblazer.

She said he took her along in the Trailblazer and they made several stops. She said she saw a safe during one of the stops and Lenz threatened to kill her if she didnt help him lift it. The woman testified she was too weak to be any help.

She said after Lenz took her back to her house, he let her sleep in her own bed.

The next morning, March 7, law enforcement arrived. The woman was first taken to the Mitchell County Regional Health Center in Osage and later taken by helicopter to St. Marys Hospital/Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota.

During cross examination defense attorney Letitia Turner pointed out inconsistencies between the womans testimony on the stand and her earlier statements to law enforcement and her deposition.

The woman said on the stand that she did not take the sleeping pills she normally takes for insomnia at any time from March 5 until she woke up at the Mayo Clinic, but Turner said she told law enforcement she took the medication before going to sleep the night before officers found them.

The woman insisted she did not take the sleeping pills because she was too weak from being beaten.

Jurors Wednesday morning were shown photos of the inside of the womans house after she was taken to the hospital.

Items were strewn all over the living room, including a set of kitchen knives, packing tape, cigarette butts and a bandanna that Chris Calloway, a special agent with the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation, said appeared to have been knotted and then unknotted.

A chair in living room appeared to have been cut and had packing tape on it, Calloway pointed out.

One photo showed a wad of hair in the bathroom wastebasket.

A pair of jeans found on the living room floor appeared to have dirt and blood stains on them, according to Calloway. He pointed out what he called a blood stain on a pillow in the bedroom.

A photo of the woman taken at the hospital after she was found was shown to the jury. Calloway said a bruise under her chin was consistent with the barrel of a gun being pressed there.

Under cross examination Calloway said he looked at each of the kitchen knives at the scene but they did not have blood or anything else on them.

He also said he did not seize the knives or a number of other items from the scene, including the pillow that supposedly had blood on it.

When Turner asked Calloway if the horseshoe-shaped bruise under the womans chin could have been caused by being kicked by a miniature horse, he replied, Show me a miniature horse and we can do tests.

Turner then asked if it was possible the bruise was caused by something other than a gun. Calloway said it was.

When Turner asked why he didnt call the mobile state crime lab unit to come to the scene to help in evidence collection, Calloway said that unit is only called in for a complex crime scene where DNA evidence is needed to identify a suspect.

Calloway said Lenz admitted on March 8 hitting and kicking the victim in the face and tying her up.
He has extensive experience in public management, speciallly in planning, agrarian development, and territorial development. | Read More
With drama production buoyant, there are concerns the scripted sector is facing a sub-prime mortgage moment.

Late last month, the cast of Netflixs The Crown sat down for a read through of the entire second series of the 100m drama. The first series of the expensive royal biopic only launches in November, but Netflix is already committed to series two.

Four years ago Netflix wasnt producing any originals  now it has 30 scripted shows in production. And this number will only rise as the company targets $6bn in content spend next year, and is aiming for a 50:50 split between original commissions and acquisitions.

Netflix is just one of many companies like HBO, AMC, Sky and Amazon to have clocked on to the power of expensive, high quality scripted to attract subscriptions and audiences. Amazon, for example, recently announced that it plans to double its budget for original content to an estimated $3bn.

British producers such as Left Bank (The Crown), Lookout Point (Amazons The Collection) and Archery Pictures (Sky Atlantics Riviera) have been a key beneficiary of this scripted boom, aided by tax breaks for high-end drama.

Its a boom that will be highly visible at this months Mipcom TV market, which has a record number of international drama screenings including Carnival Films Jamestown, about the first British settlers in North America. Other big budget British-made dramas launching at Mipcom include Left Banks The Halcyon (below).

US TV networks will make 500 original scripted shows in 2017, almost 20% more than in 2015  which was itself a record, said John Landgraf, chief executive officer of FX Networks this summer. We are ballooning into oversupply, and that balloon will eventually deflate, Landgraf said. I continue to believe there is a greater supply of TV than can be produced profitably.

BBC Worldwide chief executive Tim Davie also highlighted the growing competition in scripted last month when he noted that 1,310 international drama series have launched this year, calling it a staggering number. Davie was speaking at the RTS London Conference, where the scripted surge became a major talking point.

Sky Vision boss Jane Millichip caught the ear of the broadcasting bosses in attendance when she warned that warned that the drama sector could be heading for a sub-prime mortgage moment if it didnt invest wisely.

She pointed out that international distributors were investing heavily in drama. There is a gap appearing in the international deficit and we need to be a little bit wary, she said.

Millichip cited the example of zombie drama Z Nation (pictured below), produced by US indie The Asylum for cable network Syfy which was sold to Skys free to air service Pick in the UK. I bet Pick wasnt on their business plan when they forecast their UK licence fees, she said.

Concerns about the amount of drama being produced run parallel with worries about the rising costs of making shows with film star casting and high levels of creative ambition.

Viewers demand higher quality and ultimately more expensive shows, said Kevin MacLellan, chairman of NBC Universal International. This is perhaps the most challenging aspect of the new reality. Increased choice has resulted in increased expectation. So we as an industry need to figure out how to pay for all this new higher quality programming.

Millichip put forward a few ideas for funding that doesnt come from the international pot, including government funding, foundations, branded content or media agencies. Davie also said he was looking at third party money to fund drama. Theres lots of capital out there.

Few at the RTS conference believed the drama boom was likely to run out of steam soon though. Indeed many British broadcasters talked about their plans to push into the genre for the first time.

Virgin Media spoke of its plans to commission a slate of new dramas from All3Media indies, while UKTVs director of commissioning Richard Watsham said the broadcaster will definitely commit ourselves to drama.

BBC1, meanwhile, has an extra 30m to spend on drama following the move of BBC3 online. The latter is still commissioning drama, including the upcoming Edinburgh University-set thriller Clique.

And Sky has an increasingly expensive drama slate, with shows such as The Young Pope, Hooten & The Lady, Tin Star (pictured below) and Guerilla.

Netflixs Ted Sarandos revealed that he is preparing to employ commissioners in the companys London office amid plans to increase original productions in the UK. The OTT platform is already backing new British projects including Charlie Brookers Black Mirror and a four-part adaptation of Watership Down with BBC.

Original programming gets more viewing, said Netflix content boss Ted Sarandos, who explained that originals are good for customer acquisition and help to distinguish Netflix from rivals.

However, the growth in drama investment was also welcomed by many panellists at the conference. Channel 4 chief creative officer Jay Hunt welcomed the millions of pounds being invested in drama by the likes of AMC, citing its co-production Humans which was shot in Britain and did extraordinarily well for us and also did incredibly well for AMC.

BBC Worldwides Davie also noted that dramas dont need to be high concept or long running to succeed in the international market place. Happy Valley worked beautifully for me, he said

And Stephen Lambert, chief executive of Studio Lambert, said it wasnt too late for indies like his to push into the genre. Lambert, who is making a three-parter for BBC1 about the Rochdale sexual abuse scandal, said: The only way to de-risk is if you have enough irons in the fire so that the hits pay for the failures.

NBC Universal ceo Steve Burke also suggested that companies like his would continue to invest heavily in big budget drama. Today the middle of the market is just gone. Theres no such thing as an okay show. People will do whatever they can to find one of those great big breakthroughs.

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New ITV Head of Drama Polly Hill has greenlit four dramas for the broadcasters.



Trauma by Mike Bartlett, Girlfriends by Kay Mellor, White Dragon by Mark Denton and Jonny Stockwood and Next of Kin by Paul Rutman and Natasha Narayan will each begin filming in 2017.

Trauma

Mike Bartletts (Doctor Foster, The Town, Charles III) new project is set in the Trauma department of a central London hospital. The three-part drama tells the story of 15 year old Alex Reynolds who dies under the care of high-achieving trauma consultant Jon Stephens.



Devastated and heartbroken, Alexs father, Dan, believes Jon is responsible for Alexs death and as he strives for justice, he begins to unpick the very fabric of Jons life. Are Dans concerns about how Jon cared for his son in his hour of need justified or are his actions borne of overpowering grief? Trauma questions what makes a man good and explores the idea that sometimes the very institutions established to protect us can let us down.



Bartlett said: Trauma is a story about two fathers with very different lives, locked in conflict. I hope the series will be moving, terrifying and timelyIf we increasingly mistrust institutions and experts, what happens when we desperately need them?"



Trauma is produced by Tall Story Pictures, the newly created ITV Studios label founded by Creative Director Francis Hopkinson and Executive Producer Catherine Oldfield. Hopkinson will executive produce the new series with Oldfield, who has developed Trauma with Mike Bartlett, producing the drama. ITV Studios GE is responsible for international distribution.



Trauma will begin filming in early summer 2017 in the London area.



Girlfriends

Written and created by Kay Mellor (In the Club, The Syndicate, Fat Friends), Girlfriends focuses on Linda, Sue and Gail, each pushing 60 and struggling to cope with what life has to throw at them.



Whilst enjoying a celebratory anniversary cruise, Lindas husband Micky disappears from their cabin. Hes been hitting the booze hard at the Captains table and when he heads back to his cabin on the pretext of finding his glasses Micky is nowhere to be seen. With the balcony door open, an overturned chair and the curtain billowing aimlessly in the wind, has Micky committed suicide? Or has he accidentally toppled into the sea having consumed one too many cocktails?



Sue is still a fine looking woman. Shes never married but has spent the last 30 years in an affair with bridal magazine editor, John, who is also the father of her lawyer son, Andrew. What happens when John takes a shine to younger model Stacey and wants to promote her into Sues job as Features Editor? In spite of her wealth of editorial experience and extensive contacts, will Stacey usurp Sue? How can Sue retain her professionalism, her dignity and the respect she so richly deserves when John is trying to force her out? Shes given the best years of her life to John and with her significant birthday looming will Sue be able to dig her killer heels in at Adorable magazine?



Gail, on the other hand, has received her decree nisi from second husband Dave. She has six weeks and a day to win him back before the divorce becomes absolute, but can Gail switch focus from wayward son Tom and grandson Ben to concentrate on saving her marriage? Particularly as Tom is newly released from prison, tagged, and needs her help getting his life back on track.



The six part series will be produced by Kay Mellors production company Rollem Productions and will be filmed in Leeds, York and Harrogate. Filming is due to commence during the summer of 2017. Kay Mellor will direct the series with Yvonne Francas producing.



Mellor said: Girlfriends is a topic thats dear to my heart being a woman of a certain age. I did a conference recently where there were a lot of women saying that they felt invisible, both in life and on screen. There was nothing on television that they could relate to; older women were playing characters that were mothers or grandmothers of the main protagonists. So I wanted to change things around a bit and put them centre stage  to make the invisible, visible.



White Dragon

Conspiracy thriller White Dragon, written by screenwriting newcomers Mark Denton and Jonny Stockwood, has been commissioned for ITV from Two Brothers Pictures, the drama indie established by writers and producers, Harry and Jack Williams (The Missing, Fleabag, One of Us). The eight part series will be filmed during the autumn of 2017 on location in Asia.



Professor Jonah Mulrays life is turned upside-down when his wife, Megan, is killed in a car-crash in Hong Kong. Although she lived and worked there half the year, Jonahs never been. He lives a small, sheltered life, and his fear of flying has kept him in London. But now he has no choice but to cross the ocean to identify the body of the woman he loved.



Not long after arriving in Hong Kong, Jonah makes a shocking discovery about his wife. Over the course of eight thrilling hours, Jonah is drawn deeper and deeper into a web of conspiracy as he comes to terms with this utterly alien and unfamiliar environment, battling to uncover the truth about his wifes death.



Next of Kin

Contemporary family thriller Next of Kin will be produced by Mammoth Screen.

The six-part series is written and created by husband and wife team Paul Rutman (Indian Summers, Vera) and Natasha Narayan.

Whip-smart psychologist Mona Mirza lives a charmed life at the heart of a loving family living in London. But she is left grief-stricken when her much-loved brother is brutally murdered whilst working for a medical charity overseas. As the death brings buried family secrets to light, Mona is drawn deep into a tangle of betrayal, conspiracy and murder. One way or another, she must find a way of protecting herself, her family and her career as they are all put at risk

The series will be executive produced by Mammoth Screens Preethi Mavahalli (Tripped, NW) and MD Damien Timmer. Casting and key production roles will be confirmed in the coming weeks.

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Republican leaders crying over the Trumpenstein monster destroying them on Twitter (and any real chance their party could capture the White House) have only themselves to blame.

Last summer, House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wisconsin, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, and three-quarters of all elected Republicans made a Faustian bargain with the orange-haired, bile-spewing behemoth whos now their partys standard-bearer.

They surrendered their principles  and their party along with it  in the hope that Trump, who won every primary save Ohio, would be the candidate to sink Hillary Clinton.

To do that, Republicans who loathed Trump and feared the havoc he might wreak had to convince themselves that a New York billionaire with zero impulse control, a virtuosos mastery of the put-down and an onion skin-thin ego could somehow be transformed into a respectable, mainstream candidate.

It was the ultimate exercise in denial and delusion. And with Trumps candidacy imploding and Clinton opening a wider lead in both national and battleground state polls, GOP leaders moved this week to contain the damage as best they could.

On Monday, in the wake of a competent but far from winning debate performance by Trump, Ryan announced that he was finally tossing the Republican nominee overboard.

The revelation of a creepy and lewd 2005 video of Trump bragging about groping women was the apparent breaking point  not, of course, all the other vile stuff Trump has said (including several exhortations of violence against Hillary Clinton) since Ryan threw in with him earlier this year.

Ryan said he would no longer campaign with or defend Trump (which he wasnt really doing anyway) and he was freeing House Republicans to look after their own campaigns and move to protect the GOPs majority.

Cynically, Ryan did not  as other Republicans did  rescind his endorsement. And Republican National Chairman Reince Priebus, whose skeletal structure must be made from the same miracle substance as the stretchy comic book hero Plastic Man, reiterated his support as well. Even still, the news provoked a Category Five Trumpian Tweetstorm. The seemingly apoplectic nominee demolished Ryan and other prominent Republicans, including U.S. Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona. It was as if Godzilla was stomping across Tokyo, blithely ignorant of the fact that he might have to work with the local Planning & Zoning Commission later on the rebuilding effort.

Disloyal Rs are far more difficult than Crooked Hillary, he fumed in one Tweet. They come at you from all sides. They dont know how to winI will teach them!

Trump then rejoiced that it was so nice that the shackles have been taken off me and I can now fight for America the way I want to.

What shackles? But no matter. Republicans now have what some of them privately feared the most: a wounded monster, limping into the final weeks of the campaign, with absolutely nothing left to lose. They, of course, have everything to lose.

A Clinton victory will likely result in a Democratic takeover of the U.S. Senate, easing the White Houses path on at least one, but as many as four, U.S. Supreme Court appointments in the coming years. While Ryan may not have to sweat a total Democratic takeover of the entire House, Democrats could make significant enough inroads to give the Wisconsin Republican a four-year-long case of agita, possibly renewable in 2020. Ryan and the Republicans now find themselves in the same place that their GOP forefathers found themselves in the 1996 election that saw Republicans abandon Bob Dole to focus on holding the Hill.

Back then, Republicans waited three weeks to toss Dole under the bus. This year, its about a month, as Jennifer Rubin of The Washington Post reported. While he has a rabid base, Trumps support has held steady at about 42 to 44 percent in most national polls. Thats nice, but its not enough to win. The worry for Trump  and for Republicans  should be that the high-profile defections, along with what will likely be another bad month of headlines for Trump, will depress GOP turnout and energize the Clintonistas.

Republicans could well skip the top of the ticket and vote on down-ballot candidates, making the hard decision that, to save themselves, and their congressional majorities, theyll have to kiss the White House good bye.

And even then, theyll still have to live with the wreckage that their creation leaves in his wake.John Micek is the opinion editor and political columnist for PennLive/The Patriot-News in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Readers may follow him on Twitter @ByJohnLMicek and email him at jmicek@pennlive.com.
In 2008, Mike Wampold joked about tearing down the State Office Building at Convention and Third because it was blocking the view from II City Plaza, the downtown office building he was developing.

It was right in our way of the Mississippi River, Wampold said. I wished we could buy it and do something with it.

Trouble seeing the video? Click here.

It took eight years and about $34.6 million, but Wampold managed to do something with the State Office Building  Baton Rouge's first skyscraper dating back to 1925. On Wednesday, a ribbon cutting was held for the Watermark Baton Rouge, a 144-room luxury hotel redevelopment.

The Watermark is part of the Autograph Collection, the independent brand of Marriott Hotels. The property features amenities that include more than 1,700 square feet of meeting space, a fitness center and two restaurants: The Gregory, an American tavern serving Louisiana-style foods, and Milfords on Third, a kosher-style deli.

+2 Wampold property will be Marriott Autograph hotel in downtown Baton Rouge Developer Mike Wampold will turn the old State Office Building in downtown Baton Rouge into 

Although the ceremonial ribbon cutting was held and guests got to check out the hotel and eat lunch in The Gregory, the Watermark isnt set to open until Friday or Saturday. Milford's, named after the deli Wampold's grandfather operated in north Louisiana, won't open for another 30 to 45 days. While visitors went on tours of the Art Deco building and admired the views from hotel rooms, workers were still completing tasks like finishing out the interior of elevators and hanging up mirrors in the fitness center.

We tried to get Marriott to let us open, but they told us last night we needed a couple of more days, Wampold said.

The Watermark was originally the headquarters of Louisiana National Bank. When the property opened in 1925, it was the first skyscraper in Baton Rouge. In 1970, the state took over the property and renamed it the State Office Building. It housed state higher education offices and the Louisiana Board of Regents until 2013, when former Gov. Bobby Jindal put the building up for sale to help balance the state budget.

Wampold said he learned about the history of the building a few months before he closed on the property in early 2014.

I was in awe of the architecture, the art and the art deco beauty, he said.

All of the rooms in the hotel have some elements of the original office building, from exposed beams to exposed concrete columns. The bank vault and depository are being turned into private meeting spaces. Murals designed by artist Angela Gregory in the 1940s were restored and hang above the restaurant whose name they inspired.

Rooms in the Watermark will average between $159 and $169 a night, Wampold said. While the property is taking reservations, he said its too soon to say what the occupancy rates will be like early on. We need to be open a little bit, he said.

The Watermark comes as part of a downtown hotel building boom that was kicked off in 2006 by the Hilton Baton Rouge Capitol Center. Watermark will be the fourth hotel to open since then. It overlooks the Courtyard by Marriott, which will hold a groundbreaking ceremony next week.

Paul Arrigo, president and chief executive officer of Visit Baton Rouge, said the Watermark has the potential to be a destination property that draws people to downtown. After all, Wampold developed the 256-room Renaissance Baton Rouge, a Marriott hotel that has been honored by the chain. We expect this will be a hotel of that caliber, he said.

The amount of meeting space in the Watermark is a selling point, Arrigo said. We want to bring in more conference and more groups, he said. The quality of a hotel is significant.
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Last May, The New York Times reported on a pattern of Donald Trumps vulgar behavior with women. Trump refuted every last accusation.

Its only now that a video of Trumps inappropriate behavior in action has come to light that the nation believes hes the type of man that several women have alleged him to be.

Another recent article described how Donald Trump triggers victims of domestic abuse. I am a trauma survivor and an abuse victim, and Ive been triggered by the GOP candidate myself.

Trump and my bully share the same playbook.

My bully, Alan Hutchison, was my supervisor at work. I was 25 and working at a medical software company. He was my senior on a project at a hospital.

The project was ambitious but I was more than competent at my job. Id just gotten a stellar performance review.

Trump and my bully exhibited similar personality traits. The difference is that my tormentor, who was gay, had no interest in grabbing my genitals.

Within six months, shortly after I bought my first house, Alan got me fired.

During those months, he gave me conflicting orders to guarantee that Id disobey one, or hed instruct me to do things that were bad for our client and pressure me when I refused. I would be in trouble either way.

He forbid me to give clients the instruction manual for the software our company had sold them. He continued to add tasks to my workload, jeopardizing our ability to complete the project on time.

And sometimes, he just plain lied. He had no qualms about harming the hospital in order to bully me. I told my boss at work that Alan was bullying me, but he didnt believe me. By the time I tried to tell human resources, it was too late. They didnt believe me either.

And there was no incriminating video to prove my case.

I lost my job for customer dissatisfaction. I lost my house and all of my savings with it.

The customers took me out to dinner a few weeks later. Their manager was furious when he found out I was let go. It took three people to replace me, they said.

Years later, a co-worker on the project told me our company almost lost the entire account, and firing me was the start of their souring relationship with the client.

A decade later, I still have nightmares about my antagonizer.

I think we have two lessons to learn from my experience and from the recent Trump tape.

First of all, victims of bullies often arent believed. The bullies are smooth operators. They deny everything and choose their victims well. It can take a leaked video before a bully is caught.

Second, its not just bad to put a bully in charge at work  whether in the White House or any other job  because theyre mean to their subordinates. Its also bad for the company  or, in this case, the country.

Workplace bullying is legal, and companies tend to promote bullies, not fire them.

If Trump can give one gift to this nation, its shining a light on these oppressors and the danger of tolerating them.
Sacred Heart of Jesus Church and School families are joined by members of Operation Deliverance Relief for Louisiana in the school gym on Aug. 27. The group collected and delivered approximately $15,000 in supplies to Sacred Heart and two other communities affected by August flooding and donated money to the Sacred Heart of Jesus Flood Relief Fund.
As head of the U.S. Department of Education during most of the Obama administration, Arne Duncan has had a significant role in pushing accountability and better funding of public schools. But he made a remarkable admission recently about how prepared new teachers are for the classroom experience.

Not much, he said.

Ive talked to thousands of teachers throughout my career and I can almost count on one hand the ones who said they were ready to teach on day one, Duncan said in an open letter about raising standards in education colleges.

Of course, theres a learning curve in every career and a certain amount of on-the-job training is expected, Duncan said. But given the typical response, teacher preparation programs are not living up to their responsibility to train teachers, effectively costing students years of learning over their K-12 careers.

Among the states, though, Louisiana has not been behind the curve on the issue of classroom preparation for teachers. Initiatives for improving teacher training programs have been a decades-long process for Louisiana colleges, higher education boards and the state Department of Education.

But Duncans comment about classroom readiness  involving far more than just academic preparation  is backed up by a survey of Louisiana teachers. About half of 6,000 educators surveyed in 2014 said they were not prepared for their first day with students.

Louisiana Superintendent John White is pushing a new proposal that would give aspiring teachers more hands-on experience, with a longer internship in classrooms with experienced teachers.

While the concept has gained a lot of support, there remain legitimate questions about how basically a yearlong internship for student teachers would be paid for in the long term. After all, the state reduced aid to public  as well as private  schools in the current years budget, even after raising taxes.

For the moment, a $67 million federal grant for the state will help finance plans to overhaul teacher training in Louisiana, according to Whites department. It is the largest award among the states from the U.S. Department of Education, which Duncan formerly headed.

The money will help with the teacher training program in St. Helena and St. Landry parishes, as well as others in northeast Louisiana. As White told the Press Club of Baton Rouge recently, many of the states most-challenged, F-rated schools are in small rural systems, where tax bases are limited.

The five-year federal grant is thus only a piece of the financing puzzle needed to change teacher training, including the one-year mentorships.

Funding for the long term may be a challenge, but the notion of having a teacher in the classroom ready to teach helps in two ways. The students of the new teacher get a better education from the start; the new teacher has a far better experience, and is more apt to stay in the profession.

The goals of the White initiative are worth a real effort, and we suspect that policymakers will be able to find money in the program shows positive results.
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Riven by a scandal that has pitted its chief executive against almost all of the parish's other elected officials, Jefferson Parish government and business leaders are working on plans to win several upcoming parishwide tax renewal elections, two of which would effectively defund their respective departments were they to fail.

The Jefferson Business Council and the Jefferson Chamber of Commerce will meet with members of the Jefferson Parish Council on Thursday to discuss how to campaign before the December elections for the parishs library system, recreational programs, drainage infrastructure and road repairs.

The Dec. 10 ballot includes:

A 6-mill property tax to finance almost half of the parish Drainage Department's needs.

A 10-mill property tax that funds 93 percent of the Recreation Department budget.

A 6.5-mill tax that funds 97 percent of the library system.

A -cent sales tax that generates about $48 million annually for roadwork, drainage and sewerage improvements.

Parish President Mike Yenni, who on Wednesday became the target of a recall petition, has insisted that his ability to conduct his duties has not been compromised by last months revelation that he sent sexually explicit text messages to a 17-year-old boy and kissed him in the restroom of the mall where the boy worked.

But he has skipped the only Parish Council meeting since the initial WWL-TV report, and he missed a presentation about the tax elections to the West Bank Business and Industry Association.

The most public images of Yenni from the last two weeks have been news footage of him darting back and forth between his car and the Elmwood government office building where he works.

The leaders of both business groups characterized their involvement in the upcoming millage campaigns as something they would do anyway, and they expressed confidence voters would see the importance of passing the taxes.

But they acknowledged the current circumstances only strengthen the importance of an all-hands-on-deck approach.

"I cant imagine that people would vote against quality-of-life funding," said Todd Murphy, president of the Jefferson Parish Chamber. "While the (potential impact of Yennis) situation itself is a concern  I dont mean to downplay it  I think once we get the word out to the public, I cant imagine anyone would not want to see progress in this area."

Murphy, who has already met with parish Chief Operating Officer Keith Conley about the millages and has talked with Yenni since the scandal broke, said he is confident in the administrations ability to advocate for the taxes. But he conceded the level of engagement Yenni has been able to muster in the past two weeks is well below what could normally be counted on.

Tony Ligi, executive director of the Jefferson Business Council, was similarly positive about the tax renewals' prospects, saying he is confident that when the voters are given a clear picture of the importance of these millages, they will understand that the right thing to do is to vote for them.

He said Yennis level of personal involvement in advocating for them is going to have to be his call, but weve always been ready, willing and able to help.

Conley said the Yenni scandal has not been a disruption.

I've talked to the (business) council during the week and the business community, and everyone is on board to educate the public on the millages and stress how important they are for parish government, he said.

Parish Councilman Chris Roberts, however, said there is some concern that the controversy over what Yenni himself has admitted were improper texts could impact the tax renewals.

You dont want the millages to become a referendum on (Yennis) decisions, Roberts said. I think thats what people are more concerned about at this point.

The administration and the council would typically mount their own campaigns for the tax renewals, an arrangement that will come in handy given the current state of affairs.

The entire council has called on Yenni to resign, and before Yenni put out a second statement Tuesday saying he will not, a spokesman said the president had spoken with those council members he respects.

Mike Yenni, facing demands to resign, digs in: 'I am going to keep doing my job' Jefferson Parish President Mike Yenni is digging in for a fight, announcing Monday that he w

According to sources close to Yenni's camp, he called the council's five district members, in the following order: Jennifer Van Vrancken, Paul Johnston, Ricky Templet, Mark Spears and Ben Zahn.

The councils two at-large members, Roberts and Cynthia Lee-Sheng, were not contacted.

Yenni released a statement saying some council members have been and continue to be politically opportunistic and more interested in fulfilling personal agendas than restoring calm to the controversy.

I will rely on the strength and wisdom of those council members who have the parishs best interests at heart, he continued, and together, we will take advantage of every opportunity to move Jefferson forward.

A statement from Roberts, Lee-Sheng and Templet on Friday calling for Yennis resignation did not include a pledge they would not run for his job if he resigns. The similar statement from the others did include such a pledge.

Roberts said Wednesday he has no plans to run for parish president if Yenni steps down.

Ive made it clear that Im not running, said Roberts, who backed Elton Lagasse, the former councilman who was Yenni's main rival in the race for president last year.

There were discussions about that last year," he said. "I enjoy serving on the council, and I enjoy being on the legislative side of parish government.

Roberts said he took issue with Yenni's claim of political opportunism, noting he had been restrained in his public comments about the scandal until Yenni was given a chance to address the public.

For a man who changed his name for the sake of seeking public office, then tainted the reputation of that name that was built by his grandfather  he said, referring to Yennis 1998 decision to change his last name from Maunoir to Yenni. Calling people politically opportunistic, to me, its comical if it werent so pathetic.

Yenni, whose mother, Peggy Jo Yenni, was the daughter of Joseph Yenni and sister of Michael J. Yenni  both former parish presidents  has always contended the name change was a tribute to the family members who helped him get through his parents divorce.

A number of Jefferson political insiders have suggested since the sexting scandal broke that Lee-Sheng  a veteran councilwoman and the daughter of the late Sheriff Harry Lee  would be a formidable candidate if she chose to run for parish president. She would likely enjoy the support of her legendary father's protege, the popular and powerful Sheriff Newell Normand, who also has called for Yenni's resignation.

Lee-Sheng, however, has not given any public indication that she wants the job. She issued a statement Wednesday night saying, "Last year I was so fortunate to be elected to the at-large council seat. I have the job that I want."

Correction: This story incorrectly noted that the recreational department property tax was 6.5 mills and the library department property tax was 10 mills. The recreational department property tax is actually 10 mills, and the library department property tax is actually 6.5 mills. This article has been corrected.
Anti-Islamic far-right group Reclaim Australia has its Canberra organiser running as an independent in Yerrabi, and has endorsed a second candidate in Ginninderra.

Reclaim organiser Daniel Evans makes no mention of his ties to the group or his anti-Islamic stance in his campaign material, including roadside corflutes, or candidate website and Facebook page.

Daniel Evans spoke to an anti-Islam rally outside Parliament in February. Credit:Graham Tidy

Mr Evans has, however, been an active Reclaim member, and helped organise an anti-Islam rally outside Parliament House in February, one of a series of worldwide events linked to the German-based group Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamisation of the West.

He organised a similar event in April last year.
No one is quite certain where this creepy clown craze started or why.

Perhaps it was in Green Bay, Wisconsin, where a man dressed as a clown made frequent appearances at the strangest times, all to promote a video. It worked: He gained considerable media attention of all kinds.

Whatever the origin, the phenomenon has spread, and some people have become a bit concerned.

There always is good reason to suspect someone dressed strangely, but in the case of clowns, we agree with local police and even famed horror novel author Stephen King: Calm down and react sensibly.

Hey, guys, time to cool the clown hysteria, tweeted King, who wrote a novel about a killer clown. Most of 'em are good, cheer up the kiddies, make people laugh.

Indeed, thats what clowns still do  for the most part. But there have been a few disturbing incidents nationwide, including someone dressed as a clown trying to lure young children into the woods in Greensville, South Carolina. In Alabama, a school was put on lockdown after students received online threats in the Facebook account of Flomo Klown (three vehicles and an adult were ultimately charged).

Globe Gazette reporter Molly Montag detailed several incidents in Waterloo, including a clown entering a McDonalds Restaurant, then leaving. Workers locked the doors immediately afterward and called authorities. (Its noteworthy that McDonalds says even Ronald McDonald has been affected by this clown craze and is keeping a low profile until things settle down a bit.)

In Mason City, an employee of Southbridge Mall spotted a person dressed as a clown acting creepily outside her store. The clown was allegedly chased away by a security officer. Police couldnt find the clown. In fact, no arrests have been made in any of the Iowa cases. As far as we know, police havent had much, if any, luck finding the clowns.

All of which leads Mason City Police Chief Jeff Brinkley to advise residents not to panic if they see someone dressed as a clown and only call the police if that person is doing something truly suspicious  which is the case for anyone, no matter how theyre dressed.

Brinkley, like King, said people do all sorts of fun things to get attention.

So if theyre just sitting on a park bench staring at people, probably not a big deal, Brinkley said.

Thats good advice from our top cop.

Unless theyre causing a scene or posing a threat, relax and enjoy clowns for what they do best: Make people laugh.
Qantas will resume fights between Sydney and Beijing in January, more than seven years after it axed services to China's capital.

The return to the route comes ahead of Virgin Australia's plans to launch services to Beijing and Shanghai next June. Australia's two largest airlines are eager to tap into opportunities in China, which is Australia's fastest-growing inbound travel market.

Qantas's resumption of direct services on January 25 using Airbus A330-200 aircraft is part of an expansion of its alliance with one of China's big three airlines, China Eastern.

As part of the deal, Qantas will codeshare on China Eastern's Sydney-Hangzhou, Sydney-Kunning and Brisbane-Shanghai services.
Our land is girt by sea full of fresh seafood, and yet canned and frozen fish remain the most frequently purchased seafood products by more than half of all Australians.

In the largest global analysis of attitudes to seafood consumption, 75 per cent of Australians were revealed to consider sustainably sourced seafood a top priority, while more than 50 per cent were willing to pay more for seafood that was certified sustainable.



The consumer data, commissioned by the non-profit Marine Stewardship Council, was released on Thursday in conjunction with the council's latest annual report into ocean and seafood sustainability.

The international MSC is best known for its blue eco-label, displayed on products that are fully traceable and originate from independently certified wild-catch fisheries.
Sydney's housing boom is coming to an end as restrictions on loans to property investors and a raft of new property developments combine to depress prices, insurance giant QBE says.

After surging 56 per cent in the past four years, the median house price in Sydney will remain broadly flat in the next three years, QBE said in its annual housing outlook released on Thursday. Sydney apartment prices are seen falling 6.8 per cent by June 2019, as slowing growth in rents and unit prices damps investor appetite.

The unprecedented housing boom has been fuelled by the RBA's record-low interest rates, a growing population and a shortage of supply, locking young people seeking to buy homes out of the market. The big banks have tightened lending standards for property investors after pressure from regulators to avert a bubble, and some state governments have imposed stamp duty surcharges on overseas buyers.

In light of these developments, "prices are forecast to soften through the three years to 2019, which is likely to be positive for housing affordability," said Phil White, chief executive officer of QBE Lenders' Mortgage Insurance.
Ever rising tollroad charges are helping to fatten the balance sheet at tollroad owner and operator Transurban, in particular as it hikes charges levied on trucks using its road network in Sydney.

The company on Thursday released September quarter data for use of its road networks, which showed income growth outstripped the rise in traffic volumes, most notably at its Sydney tollroads, where revenue rose 7.9 per cent - double the 3.4 per cent rise in average daily traffic volumes.

The Westlink M7 tollroad (pictured) was the second-biggest money spinner for the group, after Melbourne's CityLink. Credit:Quentin Jones

In Melbourne, roadwork resulted in lower volumes, down 0.5 per cent in the quarter, but with toll revenues rising 2.6 per cent. In Brisbane, where the group has a smaller presence, revenue rose 30.6 per cent to $97 million as average daily traffic rose 19.4 per cent.

In Sydney - along with the rise in the volume of traffic on Transurban's network of roads which includes the M2 and M7 - the company said it has lifted the charge levied on trucks at a faster clip than for car owners.
Even as the Labor Party appears to have blunted the chances of the proposed plebiscite into gay marriage this week, the most vociferous opponents of gay marriage have been hitting the airwaves casting doubt and weaving mischief.

Fronting the push from within Parliament is Tasmanian arch-conservative Eric Abetz, whose opposition to gay law reform has deep roots in conservative Christian fringe allegiances in Tasmania and beyond.

Abetz made waves this week with his latest provocations at a Tasmanian book launch for the ominously titled Stealing from the Child: The Injustice of "Marriage Equality" by Australian Marriage Forum president David van Gend, a book that promises to lay bare the "breathtakingly subversive redefinition of marriage" and expose the "genderless agenda" that comes with genderless "marriage".

Abetz asked: "Ever notice how when some people go from the heterosexual to homosexual lifestyle they are able to be celebrated and honoured for their honesty and courage? They've come out ... ever thought why there is no celebration for those that decide to go from the homosexual to heterosexual lifestyle? Are they not honest? Are they not coming out as well?"
Politicians who fall asleep or play games on their phones during parliamentary business will no longer be shielded from scrutiny after the Senate voted to scrap strict restrictions on photography.

Crossbench senator Derryn Hinch moved a motion to abolish the rule on Thursday and it was passed by the Senate.

The vote followed a long lobbying campaign by photographers and media organisations that argued important moments in Australian democracy were being censored under the restrictions.

The move ends the anomaly in which photographers were free to take pictures at all times in the House of Representatives but not in the Senate.
Tony Abbott has defended Donald Trump and taken a swipe at Hillary Clinton, saying the Republican nominee's positions are "reasonable enough" and his supporters are "not deplorables" but voters simply seeking change in America.

Mr Abbott's intervention in the United States election comes as Hillary Clinton's lead over Mr Trump widened to double-digits following the release of numerous historical tapes in which Mr Trump brags that he can get away with grabbing women by the pussy because he is a star.

Mr Abbott described the tapes as "absolutely disgusting" but condemned NSW MPs for wasting parliamentary time to pass a motion calling Mr Trump a "revolting slug".

"The tapes that have been playing over the last few days are gross, gross beyond belief and I think they are completely indefensible," Mr Abbott told right-wing Sky News commentator Paul Murray on Thursday night.
The federal government has risked national security, put cabinet-sensitive material at risk and ignored the advice of Australia's cyber defence agency by using WhatsApp, according to Labor legal affairs spokesman Mark Dreyfus.

Fairfax Media revealed on Wednesday Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and his cabinet ministers were using the third-party messaging program to conduct confidential discussions, while private chat "groups" exist for government chiefs of staff, ministerial media advisers, the frontline economic team, and a defence-focused "broadcast group" used by Defence Industry Minister Christopher Pyne.

Cyber Security Minister Dan Tehan defended the practice and said the federal government took online security "incredibly seriously" - but declined to say if Defence's cyber agency, the Australian Signals Directorate, had approved the use of WhatsaApp and other third-party messaging programs for cabinet-level communications.

The ASD evaluates and publishes lists of secure "Evaluated Products" and "Certified Cloud Services". WhatsApp and other third party communications apps do not appear on these lists, whereas Apple's iOS operating system and Blackberry's operating system do.
The Westminster Parliament once operated in complete secrecy. The public were allowed to follow proceedings in 1771 but pens and paper were banned and eventually a dedicated Press Gallery was created in 1803.

It's a victory for transparency and accountability in a fight lasting at least 25 years.

Following a resolution in the Senate moved by Senator Derryn Hinch on Wednesday, a censorship provision restricting open parliamentary reporting has finally been repealed. This will mean that, from November 28, Australian voters will actually be allowed to view unrestricted, uncensored photographs of their elected senators at work.

Fairfax Media photographer and Press Gallery president Andrew Meares with Senator Derryn Hinch after the rule change passed the Senate. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

The Australian Parliament has always had a gallery reserved for the media representing the public but controls how its proceedings are communicated to the public through special rules applied to photography that do not apply to other forms of reporting, including television images and social media.

The Senate has used the Parliamentary Precincts Act to regulate photography to limit public scrutiny and therefore accountability. The media rules sought to manipulate public perception of senators in photographs so they could only be seen on their feet and speaking.

It conveyed the impression that senators are always hard at work when that isn't always the case. The drama and personalities in the Senate could be seen from the public gallery or on television but not in a photograph.

Votes in the Senate were kept secret from the public visual record, limiting awareness about the functioning of one of the cornerstones of democracy - the Parliament.
Abbott said most of Trump's policies were reasonable enough. [My report/Fairfax] Unclear if that will include Trump's condemnation of the US bombing of Serbia under Bill Clinton's administration in the 1990s. [The Hill] And sadly, the right-wing Sky news commentator Paul Murray did not check with Abbott if "reasonable enough" included Trump's plan to ban Muslims from migrating to the United States, or Trump's proposal to build a migrant-repelling wall on the border with Mexico and that troublesome question of who will pay for it. 2. Australian politics Tony Abbott. Credit:Andrew Meares Abbott also argued his case for democratising the NSW division of the party ahead of a big meeting this weekend of the right-wing democratic reform convention. Andrew Clark reports on the power struggle. [Financial Review]

Abbott's given an interview to The Australian where he says the NSW division's structures make it ripe for corruption. [Sarah Martin] While David Crowe opines that democratising the party should be as much Malcolm Turnbull's cause as it is Tony Abbott's. [The Australian] In other politics news: Look out for fireworks when Attorney-General George Brandis and Solicitor-General Justin Gleeson appear before a Senate inquiry. [Matthew Doran/ABC] The Liberals are demanding the Port Augusta coal-fired power station in South Australia be reopened after the statewide blackout. [Peter Jean/Adelaide Advertiser] Former Labor Party powerbroker Graham Richardson says Labor needs to borrow from NSW Liberal Premier Mike Baird's book and stage a backdown on renewable energy just like he's done on the greyhound racing ban. [The Australian] The banks are putting around polling they've commissioned to claim the public does not support a royal commission into the sector. [James Massola/Fairfax]

Cabinet Minister Kelly O'Dwyer continues to be in the firing line over her embarrassing blunder on the floor of the house this week and her poor performance in question time on Thursday. [David Crowe/The Australian] Kimberley Kitching. Keep a close eye on the surprise elevation of Kimberley Kitching into the Senate for Labor. A controversial figure, mainly due to her husband Andrew Landeryou, who has penned many humorous but also vicious articles on his now defunct Vex News blog over the years. Landeryou is an ally of Shorten's but his barbs over the years have not been contained to Labor's political opponents, meaning there will be plenty of resentment about his wife being parachuted into the coveted safe Senate spot. Kitching fills the vacancy left by Stephen Conroy. [Royce Millar, Ben Schneiders/The Age] Some cracking comment pieces around to round out the week. Really interesting column from Jesuit priest Frank Brennan, close friend of former Labor prime minister Kevin Rudd, advocating a view unfashionable in left-wing circles at the moment - that the same-sex marriage plebiscite is a second-best option but one that should still go ahead. [The Australian]

Laura Tingle examines the role the Nationals play in stopping Turnbull being his true moderate self. [Financial Review] Waleed Aly also examines Turnbull's handling of the issue. [Fairfax] A nice column from Michelle Grattan delving deeper into the speech delivered by former Prime Minister Julia Gillard this week in London about the treatment women in politics experience, following the murder of Labour MP Jo Cox. [The Conversation] 'Blue Poles' Credit:NGV And a lovely defence from Harold Mitchell on the value of investing in art - specifically Blue Poles, currently on loan from Australia to the Royal Academy of Arts in London. [Fairfax] 3. Real-time banks payments

This is hugely exciting. By the end of next year the Reserve Bank says we will he able to transfer money to each other in real time using just our phone numbers and emails. [James Eyers/Financial Review] 4. Legal challenge to Brexit as Scots push for second referendum Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon wants Scotland to stay in the EU despite the 'Brexit'. Credit:Geoffroy van der Hasselt Nicola Sturgeon will publish a bill next week for a second Scottish independence referendum. [The Scotsman] Sturgeon's push for a second independence referendum follows of course the EU referendum in June.

The Brexit outcome is now before the High Court [Nick Miller/Fairfax] 5. Thailand's King dies Thai people cry after Royal Palace's announcement outside Siriraj Hospital where the king is being treated, in Bangkok, Thailand. Credit:AP King Bhumibol Adulyadej was the world's longest-reigning monarch until his death aged 88. His only son is poised to take the crown aged 63. [Linsday Murdoch/Fairfax]

6. Bob Dylan wins Nobel prize Barack Obama presents Bob Dylan with a Medal of Freedom at the White House. Credit:AP "For having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition". The crowd gasped - then laughed at the announcement. [Fairfax] And that's it from me for this week, I'm heading to Croatia for the weekend. You can follow me on Facebook for more (and perhaps a sneaky Croatia pic or two). Have a great weekend.
The residents of a Townsville home were shocked when they came home to find a stranger asleep in one of their beds.

Two people returned to their Charles Street home in the suburb of Kirwan early Wednesday morning, after spending a night away, to find their home had been broken into.

Residents returned to their homne after a night away and found a stranger asleep in a bed. Credit:Tanya Lake

They went inside and found household items strewn over the floor and a man asleep on one of their beds.

The pair woke up the man, who allegedly had a pair of their scissors in his pocket.
A friend of murdered French student Sophie Collombet says it's a relief her killer has pleaded guilty to the crime, but doesn't want the man to be given any credit for his remorse.

Benjamin James Milward, 26, on Wednesday pleaded guilty to the 2014 murder and will be sentenced on October 26.

Ms Collombet's friend Simon Trott says the French national's family were relieved they would not have to sit through a trial.

"More than anything it's a relief, particularly for the family that they won't have to sit through a long, drawn-out court case and have to endure the details of the actual crime presented to them," he told ABC Radio on Thursday.
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk says she is happy to examine the Gold Coast's new bid for a cruise ship terminal, but admits she is unsure if south-east Queensland needs two of the terminals.

The concept got the preliminary tick of approval from Gold Coast City Council committee on Thursday.

"I'm more than happy to have a conversation with Tom Tate about that," Ms Palaszczuk said.

"But at the moment we have a market-led proposal in front of us for the Brisbane Cruise Ship Terminal," she said.
Sick Queenslanders will have access to medicinal cannabis treatments after the passing of laws allowing doctors to apply to prescribe the drug on a much larger scale.

The legislation, passed unanimously on Wednesday night, opened up a legitimate pathway for patients with certain types of illness to access the treatment.

Doctors will be able to apply to prescribe cannabis.

Regulatory changes introduced last year allowed individuals to apply for treatment but only one person had been approved to date.

A Logan family's "long and at times frustrating" battle to get treatment for their son was highlighted in the lead-up to the bill's passage.
More than $7 million was paid out to Queensland political parties following the 2015 state election.

The Liberal National Party of Queensland was the biggest winner - despite losing the election - receiving $3.24 million in election funding, approved by the Electoral Commission of Queensland.

More than $1 million in fines was collected in 2015-16 from Queenslanders who failed to vote.

The Australian Labor Party Queensland received $2.94 million, The Greens received $450,099, Palmer United Party (PUP) received $358,241, Katter's Australian Party received $148,168, Pauline Hanson's One Nation Queensland Division received $53,033 and Family First Party Queensland received $12,051.

The Greens, PUP, One Nation and Family First all failed to score any seats in the House following the 2015 Queensland election.
A domestic disturbance that left a woman dead and a man fighting for life is now being treated as suspicious.

Police are investigating after the 38-year-old Mount Sheridan woman was found dead with stab wounds in a Woree home, south-west of Cairns on Wednesday.

The stabbing death of a woman in far north Queensland. Credit:Glenn Hunt

Her 47-year-old partner, whose house the disturbance occurred in, remained in a critical condition under police guard in hospital on Friday with apparent stab wounds.

Police are yet to be able to speak to him.
Should pay be kept private? Assume for minute that your organisation publishes a list of employees' pay, from the CEO to graduate level, and ranks pay and performance from top to bottom. You learn that a peer earns 20 per cent more, even though they are less experienced and less productive. Does that make you want to work harder? Or do you storm into your manager's office and demand an explanation for the pay discrimination and a salary bump? And what of the employee who unfairly earns 20 per cent more. Do they offer to take a cut, in the interest of pay fairness and less discrimination? Of course not. Academics who espouse trendy management theories, which are not backed by empirical evidence over long periods, risk damaging companies that fall for the hype. Every organisation is different: generalisations about the need for pay openness are dangerous.

Pay transparency, to varying degrees, might work for an emerging technology company that is full of young staff who are happy to publish their life on social media. It might also work for a government department where people are paid according to their position, on a scale. But complete pay openness would be a disaster in a professional service firm, bank or large company that needs to recruit and keep top talent, or where performance is more subjective. I accept that publishing pay information is needed to reduce gender pay inequality. But that does not mean publishing individual pay. The move towards the publication of aggregate pay statistics in corporate sustainability reports is a step forward and more needs to be done. I have several concerns about complete pay transparency in companies: 1. It pressures overall salaries

Look what happened when listed companies started publishing pay information for their top executives in annual reports. Executives saw what rivals earned elsewhere and demanded more. Publishing pay information lifted the executive pay bar too high. 2. Pay openness discriminates against staff who crave privacy Some staff want their pay kept private. They don't want their peers knowing what they earn or gossiping about whether it is appropriate. They feel uncomfortable talking about pay at work and believe it is nobody's business. Let's respect their rights. 3. Staff compare themselves to outliers In my experience, staff often compare their pay to outliers: those with inflated salaries because they were hired in a boom market, managed to fluke pay rises, or have been there a long time.

They wrongly compare themselves to people with unrealistically high salaries, not the market average for their position, and feel let down. Rarely is their pay compared to those with unrealistically low salaries. 4. Potential for retaliation Over the years, I have seen staff deliberately sabotage a colleague's career after they got wind of their salary. Incensed that their peer earned 40 per cent more, they bad-mouthed them at every opportunity to highlight the pay discrimination. Yes, NOT knowing what a peer earns can cause staff dissent (as they speculate about pay). But finding out they earn much more can be damaging. Better to keep some things secret. 5. Reduces corporate advantage

It's laughable when researchers talk about the virtues of pay openness and no pay discrimination, as if companies are there to serve the needs of employees in Happy Land. The ability to identify, attract and retain high-performing staff for less than their market value is a corporate asset. Perhaps the company has traits that compensate for lower pay: a great culture, good people, interesting work and career opportunity. That does not give companies a licence to exploit staff or discriminate against them based on gender or race, as happens too often now on pay. But expecting companies to broadcast salaries to competitors and fix every pay gap, some of which may be based on hiring decisions in stronger markets, is wrong. 6. Removes personal responsibility Here's a thought: workers who continually moan that they are underpaid should research the market and base their view on latest data, rather than anecdotes or assumptions.

Too many employees never check market rates for their profession or are reluctant to test their value with other employers. Those who feel they are unfairly underpaid relative to the going market rate should join a rival or choose a different profession. Staff who moan the loudest and longest about their supposed pay victimisation typically cannot get a job elsewhere. Those who can, do something about it. 7. Another layer of costly reporting How much more red-tape and bureaucracy do we want to thrust on companies. Large listed companies already publish the pay of top executives and many produce detailed aggregate pay data in areas such as gender. Yet some researchers want them to produce highly sensitive individual pay data  and even rank performance  each year. What about freeing companies up to get on with the job of doing business, rather than spending so much time and money on reporting about their work?
A flood of tax revenue from the property boom and employment growth has delivered a budget windfall to the Andrews government.

A final tally of the state's finances reveals the budget was in surplus by $2.7 billion last financial year.

Commercial lending for residential construction has grown sharply. Credit:Jessica Shapiro

That was $776 million more than predicted, and a massive $1.45 billion increase on the result for the previous year.

The result confirms the Andrews government  and to some extent the state opposition  will be able to plunder a large war chest for road, rail, health, education and law and order announcements ahead of the 2018 state election.
Decorated former homicide detective Ron Iddles is stepping down as head of Victoria's powerful police union after three years in the job.

Mr Iddles announced on Friday that he would bring his long policing career to an end in February 2017, when he will retire as secretary of the Victorian Police Association.

In a statement, the 61-year-old said the time was right for him to quit the force and spend more time with his family.

"For the great majority of my 40 years in policing, I have put 'the job' ahead of my family," he said.
Melbourne Express: Friday, October 14, 2016

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Victoria's overcrowded maximum security psychiatric hospital could be substantially expanded to cope with the number of inmates who need to be transferred from Victoria's prisons.

An independent review into patient safety sparked by a cluster of potentially preventable baby deaths at a Bacchus Marsh Hospital has also found the bed-strapped Thomas Embling Hospital, the only hospital in the state that treats people found not guilty because of mental impairment, urgently needed resources.

Thomas Embling Hospital in Fairfield Credit:Eddie Jim

In April this year, Easton Woodhead, 21, the ex Melbourne Grammar student who stabbed homeless man Wayne 'Mouse' Perry to death in 2014, was reported to have spent at least five months in prison waiting for a bed to become available at Thomas Embling.

In August, staff at the hospital went on strike to demand greater protection after hundreds of attacks from violent patients in recent months raised safety fears.
A delivery driver is in hospital after being mowed down in front of his wife while trying to stop a thief make off with his van in Melbourne's inner-north.

The Schulz Organic Dairy van was stolen in Barkly Street, Brunswick, while the man was making a delivery about 1.30pm on Thursday.

The damaged Schulz Organic Dairy van. Credit:Patrick Hatch

The man gave chase, but the vehicle sped off.

About an hour later, he found his van in nearby Union Street with the thief still behind the wheel.
Abuja: Boko Haram has freed 21 of more than 200 girls kidnapped by the jihadist group in April 2014 in the northern Nigerian town of Chibok, the government said on Thursday.

Their release came after the International Red Cross and the Swiss government brokered a deal with Boko Haram and negotiations would continue to bring home the rest of the girls, a presidency statement said.

Around 270 girls were taken from their school in Chibok in the remote northeastern Borno state, where the jihadists have waged a seven-year insurgency to set up an Islamic state, killing thousands and displacing more than 2 million people.

Dozens escaped in the initial melee, but more than 200 girls are still missing. The kidnapping brought outrage worldwide and the girls' plight was promoted using a Twitter hashtag #bringbackourgirls.
It is an oft-noted fact that a significant part of Donald Trump's appeal is down to Americans' profound disenchantment with the political process and congressional gridlock in Washington. When Trump talks about Hillary Clinton's 30 years in politics, he is signalling to his base that he is not part of the current mess and that his abilities as a dealmaker would clear away all dispiriting obstacles to US "greatness".

But as Paul McGeough writes today, there's still limited choice. America will have to take its pick; the machine politician or the sexual predator.

Lawmaker Leung Kwok-hung, known as "Long Hair", tries to break through the security guards during the election of president of the Legislative Council in Hong Kong. Credit:AP

The problem of parliaments is now a global one. Had it been up to British MPs and traditional representative democracy, the country would still be wedded to the European Union. But then prime minister David Cameron decided that membership of the EU required the additional stamp of direct popular approval to see off dissenters, and from that miscalculation Brexit was born. Now the government of his successor Theresa May is at war both within its ranks and with opposition parties over the degree of control the legislature can have over the process of departure.

In Hong Kong, the city's legislature is a hybrid, with those elected by the citizenry sitting uneasily alongside vested interests from business and the bureaucracy. The advent of a new, younger generation of elected legislators impatient with politics as usual has dramatically raised the stakes in a stand-off between voters and Hong Kong's rulers and - beyond them - the increasingly anxious leadership of the Chinese Communist Party in Beijing. The question of the people's will versus that of the political establishment posed here could have enormous consequences for the whole world.
Berlin: A 22-year-old Syrian man arrested in Germany for a suspected Islamic extremist bomb plot has killed himself in a prison cell in Leipzig, Saxony's state Justice Ministry says.

Justice Ministry spokesman Joerg Herold said Jaber al-Bakr killed himself sometime on Wednesday evening (Thursday AEDT), but the incident was still being investigated.

Police leave the district court in Dresden. Credit:AP

The development was sure to add to pressure on Saxony state authorities, who already had been criticised for allowing Bakr to slip through their fingers as they prepared to raid an apartment where he had been staying in the city of Chemnitz on Saturday.

Bakr, who had been under surveillance by German domestic intelligence since last month, was observed exiting the apartment building and authorities fired a warning shot. He nevertheless was able to elude police on the scene and flee the city. Inside the apartment they found highly volatile explosives and a home-made bomb vest.
United Nations: The 193-member United Nations General Assembly unanimously appointed former Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Guterres on Thursday as the ninth secretary-general of the world body for five years beginning January 1, 2017.

Mr Guterres, 67, will replace Ban Ki-moon, 72, of South Korea, who will step down at the end of 2016 after serving two terms. Mr Guterres was Portugal's prime minister from 1995 to 2002 and UN High Commissioner for Refugees from 2005 to 2015.

Former Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Manuel de Oliveira Guterres. Credit:Keystone/AP

"He is perhaps best known where it counts most: on the front lines of armed conflict and humanitarian suffering," Mr Ban told the General Assembly after Mr Guterres was appointed. "I have long valued his advice, and long admired his spirit of service."

"His political instincts are those of the United Nations: cooperation for the common good, and shared responsibility for people and the planet," he said. "He recognises the crucial importance of women's empowerment, from peace tables to the halls of this house."
Proving that once again she is Hillary Clinton's best surrogate during this election and a political orator who is at the very least her husband's equal (if not his superior), Michelle Obama has delivered her most powerful excoriation of Donald Trump to date, articulating precisely what it feels like to be a woman subjected to sexist comments and behaviour like his.

"I feel it so personally..." she said, describing hearing his words on the leaked video. "The shameful comments about our bodies. The disrespect of our ambitions and intellect. The belief that you can do anything you want to a woman."

"It is cruel, it is frightening. And the truth is, it hurts," she said, patting her heart. "It hurts."

"It's like that sick sinking feeling you get when you're walking down the street minding your own business and some guy yells out vulgar words about your body ... It's that feeling of terror and violation that too many women have felt when someone has grabbed them or forced himself on them and they've said no but he didn't listen."
Moscow: Russia's top diplomat and his team waded into the frayed US election by turning the language of Donald Trump's now-notorious leaked videotape against his opponent.

Departing from diplomatic protocol, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov dodged a question on the scandal that's engulfed Trump's presidential campaign, saying he saw "so many pussies" on both sides of the electoral race.

Relations between the two former Cold War rivals have deteriorated dramatically since the collapse of a Syrian cease-fire agreement, with the US accusing Russia of war crimes in its military offensive in the Middle Eastern country and of cyber warfare aimed at influencing the US election. Appointed by President Vladimir Putin in 2004, Lavrov, 66, is a fluent English speaker and career diplomat who served for many years as ambassador to the United Nations in New York.

"English is not my mother tongue," Lavrov said in English in an with CNN's Christiane Amanpour broadcast on Wednesday. "I don't know if I would sound decent. There are so many pussies around the presidential campaign on both sides that I prefer not to comment on this."
Lithuanian English

Telsiai, Lithuania, 2016-10-13 08:31 CEST (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- ZEMAITIJOS PIENAS, AB (registered office address: Sedos Str. 35, Telsiai, company code: 180240752, hereinafter the Company), on the initiative of the Supervisory Council and following the Companys Board decision dated 12 October 2016, has partly modified the agenda of the Extraordinary General Meeting of Shareholders to be convened on 28 October 2016.

Agenda of the Meeting:

1)Change of the par value of the shares of the Company.
Growth Energy and Sheetz Showcase #62 Racecar, E15 Fuels







CHARLOTTE, NC - October 13, 2016: Growth Energy and Sheetz teamed up this week to showcase the availability of E15 for North Carolina drivers alongside the #62 car that Sheetz is sponsoring in todays Drive For the Cure 300 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

E15, the same high-performance fuel that will power the Sheetz #62 car, is now available at 61 Sheetz stations across North Carolina. The fuel was featured during pit stops at five area Sheetz locations, where motorists checked out the vehicle that will be driven by Brendan Gaughan.

We are proud of our partnership with Sheetz, a retailer committed to providing their customers with the best fueling options in North Carolina, said Emily Skor, CEO of Growth Energy. E15 has been powering teams to victory on the racetrack for the last five years, reducing emissions and boosting performance. North Carolina drivers can now find this same high-performance, 21st century fueling option at Sheetz stores across the state.

E15 is approved for use in all cars made since 2001. Charlotte Mayor Jennifer Roberts and Durham Mayor Bill Bell recently designated Sept. 16 as E15 Day in their cities in recognition of the extensive benefits the fuel offers drivers, the environment and our economy.

"We enjoy working with Growth Energy to ensure our loyal customers have the best, most extensive selection of fuels to choose from at the pump, added Mike Lorenz, executive vice president of petroleum supply for Sheetz. We believe drivers should be able to choose a fuel option that suits their needs. E15, which contains 5 percent more ethanol than standard gasoline, has a higher octane level than regular gasoline, which translates to more horsepower. Its also cleaner burning and cheaper, three benefits we believe our customers will appreciate.

E15 is an advanced fueling option that supports hundreds of thousands of high-tech, American jobs and is generally more affordable than regular gasoline. Added ethanol content also ensures that E15 lowers greenhouse gas emissions while burning cooler and reducing engine wear and tear.

As part of this weeks events, the Sheetz car made appearances at North Carolina stations in Statesville, Troutman, Conover, Hickory and Salisbury.

Sheetz is also taking part in Growth Energys annual Pink Out program, where two cents from the sale of every gallon of E15 will be donated to the fight against breast cancer. Sheetz has chosen to direct their contributions to the American Cancer Society.

About Growth Energy

Growth Energy represents producers and supporters of ethanol working to bring consumers better choices at the fuel pump, grow Americas economy and improve the environment for future generations. Our organizations national campaign  online at www.GetEthanol.com  serves as the leading source of information for consumers seeking cleaner, more affordable fueling options. For more information on our organization, visit us at www.GrowthEnergy.org, follow us on Twitter @GrowthEnergy, or connect with us on Facebook.

About Sheetz

Established in 1952, in Altoona, PA, Sheetz continues to be one of the fastest growing family owned and operated convenience store. Sheetz serves over 1.5 million customers every day, with more than $6.9 billion dollars in revenue. Sheetz was selected a Fortune Top 100 Best Places to Work in America in 2014 and 2016. Sheetz has over 16,000 employees, and has opened or rebuilt 41 stores in 2016. Sheetz operates over 500 stores throughout Pennsylvania, West Virginia, North Carolina, Ohio, Maryland, and Virginia. Sheetz has donated over $16.4 million For the Kidz charity since 1992, and has donated more than $440,000 every year to Special Olympics. For more information, visit www.sheetz.com, or friend us on twitter @sheetz, Facebook (Facebook.com/Sheetz), and Instagram (Instagram.com/Sheetz).
MELBOURNE, Australia and NEW YORK, Oct. 13, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- CLINUVEL PHARMACEUTICALS LTD (ASX:CUV) (OTC:CLVLY) (XETRA:UR9) today announced that it will meet with the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on 7 November to formally discuss lodging its new drug application (NDA) for the novel drug SCENESSE (afamelanotide 16mg). The pre-NDA meeting will focus on finalising requirements for filing SCENESSE with the FDA for the treatment of adult patients with the rare genetic disorder erythropoietic protoporphyria (EPP).



This is the last step required of CLINUVEL before we ask the FDA to review the risk-benefit profile of SCENESSE in a submitted dossier, CLINUVELs Acting Chief Scientific Officer, Dr Dennis Wright said. A successful risk-benefit review will enable CLINUVEL to make the drug available to US EPP patients.

The pre-NDA meeting, with the FDAs Division of Dermatology and Dental Products (DDDP), is part of ongoing dialogue between CLINUVEL and the FDA since CLINUVEL commenced a clinical program for EPP in 2006.

Earlier this year the FDA granted SCENESSE Fast Track designation, enabling  among other benefits  a rolling review of the NDA dossier. The FDA also completed an initial review of CLINUVELs clinical data package, deeming it satisfactory and sufficient for NDA submission. On 24 October the DDDP will host an EPP Workshop to obtain the patients and physicians perspective on certain disease areas, including the effectiveness of treatments.

SCENESSE is the first treatment ever evaluated in contemporary clinical trials for EPP. The drug provides photoprotection to EPP patients who suffer from acute reactions to visible light and sun (phototoxicity). In 2014 SCENESSE was approved in Europe for the prevention of phototoxicity in adult EPP patients, with the drug now prescribed in a number of European countries.

It has always been our goal to make the drug available to US EPP patients, and it has become more pressing now that the drug is available in Europe, CLINUVELs Global Director, Regulatory Affairs, Ms Nicoletta Muner said. In recent months our dialogue with the FDA has intensified as the agency sought to learn more about our program and as the product is being distributed internationally. We look forward to the next steps in the review of SCENESSE.

Note to the media: a longer technical release for investors is available at www.clinuvel.com.

SCENESSE (afamelanotide 16mg) is approved in Europe as an orphan medicinal product for the prevention of phototoxicity (anaphylactoid reactions and burns) in adult patients with EPP. The innovative nature of the therapy in an orphan disorder, the lack of available scientific instruments to adequately measure the therapy, ethical considerations and the drugs positive safety profile were some of the factors which led to the European marketing authorisation of SCENESSE. Information on the product can be found on CLINUVELs website at www.clinuvel.com.

About CLINUVEL PHARMACEUTICALS LIMITED

CLINUVEL PHARMACEUTICALS LTD (ASX:CUV) (OTC:CLVLY) (XETRA:UR9) is a global biopharmaceutical company focused on developing and delivering treatments for patients with a range of severe genetic and skin disorders. As pioneers in understanding the interaction of light and human biology, Clinuvels research and development has led to innovative treatments for patient populations with a clinical need for photoprotection and repigmentation. These patient groups range in size from 5,000 to 45 million worldwide. CLINUVELs lead compound, SCENESSE (afamelanotide 16mg), was approved by the European Commission in 2014 for the prevention of phototoxicity (anaphylactoid reactions and burns) in adult patients with erythropoietic protoporphyria (EPP). More information on EPP can be found at http://www.epp.care.

Headquartered in Melbourne, Australia, CLINUVEL has operations in Europe, Switzerland, the US and Singapore.

For more information go to http://www.clinuvel.com.

SCENESSE is a registered trademark of CLINUVEL PHARMACEUTICALS LTD.

Forward-Looking Statements

This release to the Australian Securities Exchange and to press may contain forward-looking statements, including statements regarding future results, performance or achievements. These statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause CLINUVELs actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performances or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. These statements reflect our current views with respect to future events and are based on assumptions and subject to risks and uncertainties. Given these uncertainties, you should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. Some of the factors that could affect the forward-looking statements contained herein include: that the FDA may require additional studies beyond the studies planned for product candidates or may not provide regulatory clearances, including for SCENESSE; that the FDA may not provide regulatory approval for any use of SCENESSE or that the approval may be limited; that CLINUVEL may never file an NDA for SCENESSE regulatory approval in the US; that the Company may not be able to access adequate capital to advance its vitiligo programs; that the Company may not be able to retain its current pharmaceutical and biotechnology key personnel and knowhow for further development of its product candidates or may not reach favourable agreements with potential pricing and reimbursement agencies in Europe and the US.
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Bristol-Myers Squibb Company discovers, develops, licenses, manufactures, and markets biopharmaceutical products worldwide. It offers products for hematology, oncology, cardiovascular, immunology, fibrotic, neuroscience, and covid-19 diseases. The company's products include Revlimid, an oral immunomodulatory drug for the treatment of multiple myeloma; Eliquis, an oral inhibitor for reduction in risk of stroke/systemic embolism in NVAF, and for the treatment of DVT/PE; Opdivo for anti-cancer indications; Pomalyst/Imnovid indicated for patients with multiple myeloma; and Orencia for adult patients with active RA and psoriatic arthritis. It also provides Sprycel for the treatment of Philadelphia chromosome-positive chronic myeloid leukemia; Yervoy for the treatment of patients with unresectable or metastatic melanoma; Abraxane, a protein-bound chemotherapy product; Reblozyl for the treatment of anemia in adult patients with beta thalassemia; and Empliciti for the treatment of multiple myeloma. In addition, the company offers Zeposia to treat relapsing forms of multiple sclerosis; Breyanzi, a CD19-directed genetically modified autologous T cell immunotherapy for the treatment of adult patients with relapsed or refractory large B-cell lymphoma; Inrebic, an oral kinase inhibitor indicated for the treatment of adult patients with myelofibrosis; and Onureg for the treatment of adult patients with AML. It sells products to wholesalers, distributors, pharmacies, retailers, hospitals, clinics, and government agencies. The company was formerly known as Bristol-Myers Company. The company was founded in 1887 and is headquartered in New York, New York.
BEDMINSTER, N.J., Oct. 13, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Matinas BioPharma Holdings, Inc. (OTCQB:MTNB), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on identifying and developing safe and effective broad spectrum therapeutics for the treatment of serious and life-threatening infections, announced today that Jerome D. Jabbour, Co-Founder and President, will present at the 2nd Annual Dawson James Securities Growth Stock Conference on October 20, 2016 at 12:15 p.m. ET.



Mr. Jabbour will provide an update on Matinas BioPharmas Phase 2 clinical program of its lead antifungal product candidate, MAT2203, an orally administered, lipid-crystal nano-particle formulation of broad spectrum fungicidal agent amphotericin B. As the Company recently announced, patient dosing has commenced in the MAT2203 Phase 2a clinical study for the treatment of refractory mucocutaneous candidiasis infection. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has designated MAT2203 as a QIDP with Fast Track status for the treatment of invasive candidiasis, aspergillus and prevention of invasive fungal infections due to immunosuppressive therapy.

The presentation will also include the Companys development plans for its investigational drug, MAT2501, an orally-administered, encochleated formulation on the broad spectrum aminoglycoside antibiotic agent amikacin for acute bacterial infections, including non-tuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) and multidrug-resistant gram negative bacterial infections.

In addition to the presentation, management will be available to participate in one-on-one meetings with qualified members of the investor community who are registered to attend the conference.

A live audio webcast of the presentation will be available on the Events page of the Investor Relations section of the Companys website (www.matinasbiopharma.com). A webcast replay will be accessible for 90 days following the live presentation.

About Matinas BioPharma

Matinas BioPharma is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on identifying and developing safe and effective broad spectrum therapeutics for the treatment of serious and life-threatening infections. The Company's proprietary, disruptive technology utilizes lipid-crystal nano-particle cochleates to nano-encapsulate existing drugs, making them safer, more tolerable, less toxic and orally bioavailable. The Company's lead drug candidate is MAT2203, an orally-administered, encochleated formulation of amphotericin B (a broad spectrum fungicidal agent). The Company has an open Investigational New Drug (IND) application for MAT2501, which is an orally-administered, encochleated formulation of amikacin (a broad spectrum aminoglycoside antibiotic agent) for acute bacterial infections, including non-tuberculous mycobacterium (NTM) and multi-drug resistant gram negative bacterial infections.

The Company's lead anti-infective product candidates, MAT2203 and MAT2501, position Matinas BioPharma to become a leader in the safe and effective delivery of anti-infective therapies utilizing its proprietary lipid-crystal nano-particle cochleate formulation technology. For more information, please visit www.matinasbiopharma.com and connect with the Company on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and Google+.

Forward Looking Statements: This release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including those relating to the Company's strategic focus and the future development of its product candidates, including MAT2203 and MAT2501, the anticipated timing of regulatory submissions, the anticipated timing of clinical studies, the Companys ability to identify and pursue development and partnership opportunities for its products or platform delivery technology on favorable terms, if at all, and the ability to obtain required regulatory approval and other statements that are predictive in nature, that depend upon or refer to future events or conditions. All statements other than statements of historical fact are statements that could be forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements include words such as "expects," "anticipates," "intends," "plans," "could," "believes," "estimates" and similar expressions. These statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause actual results to be materially different from any future results expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, including, but not limited to, our ability to obtain additional capital to meet our liquidity needs on acceptable terms, or at all, including the additional capital which will be necessary to complete the clinical trials of our product candidates; our ability to successfully complete research and further development and commercialization of our product candidates; the uncertainties inherent in clinical testing; the timing, cost and uncertainty of obtaining regulatory approvals; our ability to maintain and derive benefit from the Qualified Infectious Disease Product (QIDP), Orphan and/or Fast Track designations for MAT2203 and MAT2501, which does not change the standards for regulatory approval or guarantee regulatory approval on an expedited basis, or at all; our ability to protect the Company's intellectual property; the loss of any executive officers or key personnel or consultants; competition; changes in the regulatory landscape or the imposition of regulations that affect the Company's products; and the other factors listed under "Risk Factors" in our filings with the SEC, including Forms 10-K, 10-Q and 8-K. Investors are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this release. Except as may be required by law, the Company does not undertake any obligation to release publicly any revisions to such forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events. Matinas BioPharma's product candidates are all in a development stage and are not available for sale or use.
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.
Winnebago Industries, Inc. manufactures and sells recreation vehicles and marine products primarily for use in leisure travel and outdoor recreation activities. The company operates in six segments: Grand Design Towables, Winnebago Towables, Winnebago Motorhomes, Newmar motorhomes, Chris-Craft Marine, and Winnebago Specialty Vehicles. It provides towable products that are non-motorized vehicles to be towed by automobiles, pickup trucks, SUVs, or vans for use as temporary living quarters for recreational travel, such as conventional travel trailers, fifth wheels, folding camper trailers, and truck campers under the Winnebago and Grand Design brand names. The company also offers motorhomes, which are self-propelled mobile dwellings used primarily as temporary living quarters during vacation and camping trips, or to support active and mobile lifestyles under the Winnebago and Newmar brand names. In addition, it offers other specialty commercial vehicles for law enforcement command centers, mobile medical clinics, and mobile office spaces; commercial vehicles as bare shells to third-party up fitters; and boats in the recreational powerboat industry under the Chris-Craft and Barletta brand names. Further, the company is involved in the original equipment manufacturing of parts for other manufacturers and commercial vehicles. The company sells its products primarily through independent dealers in the United States, Canada, and internationally. Winnebago Industries, Inc. was incorporated in 1958 and is based in Forest City, Iowa.
For Dogs, its Trick and Treat Its almost Halloween, a great time to teach your dog a trick and give him a treat. Most trainers are fans of trick training. Its not as silly as it...

Muzzle is not a bad word If you see a dog in a muzzle, you immediately think the dog is aggressive. Right? Well, this is not always true. Unfortunately, seeing a dog in a muzzle carries...
AUSTIN, Texas, Oct. 13, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- BOXX Technologies, the leading innovator of high-performance workstations and rendering systems, today announced the introduction of the GoBOXX MXL VR mobile workstation. Designed to support immersive virtual reality experiences of users on the go, this new system also includes a number of features essential for boosting the productivity of digital content creators.

"Virtual reality systems shouldn't be restricted to desktop model workstations," said Shoaib Mohammad, BOXX VP of Marketing and Business Development. "Our customers need a powerful, reliable VR system they can take outside of the office. GoBOXX MXL VR is the solutionthe ideal platform for next-gen virtual reality experiences on the go."

A compact, high-performance mobile workstation featuring a true desktop-class Intel Core i7 processor (4.0GHz), NVIDIA GeForce graphics, and up to 64GB of RAM, GoBOXX MXL VR from BOXX Technologies is designed for engineers and architects ready to incorporate mobile virtual reality into their workflow. Recommended for applications like Autodesk 3ds Max, Revit, Unity, and IrisVR, GoBOXX MXL VR is capable of handling complex 3D CAD assets for development, yet also includes the graphics performance necessary to drive demanding immersive experiences found in product design or architectural VR spaces.

"Customer needs are always evolving and our responsibility is to quickly and efficiently provide them with the right tool for their workflow," said Mohammad. "As virtual reality brings exciting new changes throughout many industries, you'll always find BOXX at the forefront, providing reliable, innovative hardware solutions such as GoBOXX MXL VR."

For further information and pricing on GoBOXX MXL VR, contact a sales consultant in the US at 1-877-877-2699. To purchase online or learn more about BOXX systems, finance options, and how to contact worldwide resellers, visit www.boxx.com.



About BOXX Technologies

BOXX is the leading innovator of high-performance workstations and rendering systems for visual effects, animation, product design, engineering, architectural visualization, and more. Combining record-setting performance, speed, and reliability with unparalleled industry knowledge, BOXX is the trusted choice for creative professionals worldwide. For more information, visit www.boxx.com.
Editors Note: This article has been continuously updated as more accusers have emerged.

In the years since the Access Hollywood video emerged showing Donald Trump bragging about his ability to get away with sexual assault, more than 16 women stepped forward to allege the president touched them inappropriately.

In October, that tally grew even more. Forty-three new allegations of Trumps alleged inappropriate behavior with women, including 26 new allegations of unwanted sexual touching were exposed in All the Presidents Women: Donald Trump and the Making of a Predator, a new book by journalists Barry Levine and Monique El-Faizy.

The allegations amount to a substantial list of alleged sexual harassment and assault dating back to the early 1970s. Trump has denied every allegation against him.

Late 1970sJessica Leeds claims Trump groped her on a flight: Leeds, now 74, told The New York Times that shortly after her flight took off to New York, over three decades ago, Trump raised the armrest separating them and grabbed her breasts and tried to put his hands up her skirt. He was like an octopus, she said. His hands were everywhere.

Early 1980sNaKina Carr claims she witnessed Trump grope and forcibly kissed models: Carr was working as a runway model for Oscar de la Renta, when Trump allegedly became known for groping models at random. Carr claims that the real-estate mogul went down a line of women feeling their bodies to guess their size and another time moved his hands all over a womans breasts to purportedly inspect the fabric. He had his hands in the most inappropriate places, always, Carr told the authors of All the Presidents Women in an excerpt published in Cosmopolitan. When he went in to kiss someone, the hand always went to either the hip or the butt. He was also really good when he did pictures or when hed side-hug someone. Hed always get his hand on the boob. Every time. Carr noted that she witnessed Trump kiss models without consent several times. She told the authors: When he met a girl, hed immediately move in to kiss her, not shake her hand or say Hello, how are you? Hed immediately put his mouth on her. I saw him many times go straight to the mouth, to kiss them on the mouth, and they would turn their cheek. But a lot of them didnt because they knew he was the moneyman and it was a way up.

1989Ivana Trump, his first wife, claims that she felt violated during sex: As The Daily Beast reported last year, Ivana Trump said in a court deposition about their divorce that he violated her during sex following a violent attack. Ivana reportedly described the incident as rape to several confidantes. She later said she wouldnt describe the act as rape in a criminal sense, adding: As a woman, I felt violated, as the love and tenderness, which he normally exhibited towards me, was absent. I referred to this as a rape, but I do not want my words to be interpreted in a literal or criminal sense.

Early 1990sKristin Anderson claims he touched her genitals: The Washington Post reported on Friday that Anderson was at The China Club in Manhattan when Trump, without introducing himself or speaking to her, reached his hand up her skirt while they were seated. This is the vivid part for me: The person on my right, unbeknownst to me was Donald Trump, put their hands up my skirt. He did touch my vagina through my underwear, absolutely. At the time, Anderson got up and told her friends but did nothing about the incident. She added that, over the years, her opinion has changed: Its actually not nothing, and it really sends an awful message to women that they are nothing. The bus tape was nauseating to Anderson and that the story of Trump allegedly groping a woman on an airplane motivated her to come forward to back these girls up.

1991Stacy Wilkes said Trump came into a dressing room while young teen girls were changing: Wilkes was 16 years old when she competed in the 1991 Elite Model Look of the Year contest on behalf of the United States. She told reporters that Trump wandered into their dressing area more than once, telling jokes and making the sometimes naked underage girls feel really uncomfortable. Wilkes said: Every time we would change, it was like Trump would find a reason to come backstage to see all the teen-agers, she said. When youre doing a runway show, they have to strip you down and change you. . . . There was no need for him to be back there.

1992Shawna Lee made a second, similar allegation against Trump: Lee told the authors of All the Presidents Women that she was 14 years old at the Elite Model Look of the Year contest and representing Canada when Trump walked backstage into the dressing room. I was thinking, whats that old guy doing back here, she said. I was changing and looked up as he was looking and doing a slow stroll by, checking out the girls.

1993Makeup artist Jill Harth accuses Trump of attempted rape: Harth alleged in a Guardian interview that Trump had cornered her and groped her in his daughter Ivankas bedroom. He pushed me up against the wall, and had his hands all over me and tried to get up my dress again, Harth told The Guardian, and I had to physically say: What are you doing? Stop it. It was a shocking thing to have him do this because he knew I was with George [Harths boyfriend at the time], he knew they were in the next room. And how could he be doing this when Im there for business?

1996Elle advice columnist E. Jean Carroll says Trump sexually assaulted her in a dressing room: Carroll wrote in a New York magazine cover story that Trump violently assaulted her in a fitting room at Manhattan department store Bergdorf Goodman. The two had an initially friendly encounter after running into each other at the store, she said. Trump insisted Carroll try on a lace bodysuit, and when they reached the dressing rooms, he allegedly shoved her against a wall and pulled down her tights, then thrusted his penis halfwayor completely, Im not certaininside me, she said. Carroll said she used her four-inch heels as leverage to push Trump off of her during the colossal struggle. Following the alleged assault, Carroll said she told a couple of her friends about the incident. Tell no one. Forget it! He has 200 lawyers. Hell bury you, one friend allegedly said.

1997Miss Teen USA contestants say Trump walked in on underage girls dressing backstage: Four women who competed in the contest alleged to BuzzFeed News that Trump walked into the dressing room while they were changing. Tasha Dixon, who competed as Miss USA Arizonanot in the teen competitionin 2001 said: He just came strolling right in. There was no second to put a robe on or any sort of clothing or anything. Some girls were topless. Other girls were naked. Some of the contestants in Miss Teen USA were as young as 15. Dont worry, ladies, Ive seen it all before, Trump allegedly said. Bridget Sullivan, who was crowned Miss New Hampshire 2000, also said during the presidential that Trump came into the Miss Universe changing room while the contestants were naked. The time that he walked through the dressing rooms was really shocking. We were all naked, she told Buzzfeed.

Trump would later admit that he did these sorts of things during an appearance on Howard Sterns radio show.

1997Cathy Heller claims Trump forcibly kissed her: Heller told The Guardian and then ABC News that she was attending a Mothers Day brunch at Mar-a-Lago when she put her hand out to say hi to Trump and he grabbed her and began kissing her on the lips. Though Heller says she pulled away, Trump allegedly responded, Oh, come on. He purportedly grabbed her again and, despite her protests, got near her lips, Heller told reporters. The Trump campaign said in Oct. 2016 that it was a false accusation.

1997Temple Taggart McDowell said he forcibly kissed her: As a 21-year-old Miss USA contestant, McDowell was introduced to Trump during a pageant rehearsal in Shreveport, Louisiana. She says Trump embraced her and then immediately kissed her. He kissed me directly on the lips. I thought, Oh my God, gross. she told The New York Times. He was married to Marla Maples at the time. I think there were a few other girls that he kissed on the mouth. I was like Wow, thats inappropriate.

1998Karena Virginia said he grabbed her breast at the U.S. Open: While she was waiting for a car, the then-27-year-old woman claims Trump grabbed her right arm and her breast. Dont you know who I am, dont you know who I am, he said, Virginia said at a press conference with Gloria Allred. I felt intimidated and I felt powerless, she said, adding: I felt ashamed that I was wearing a short dress and high heels. That feeling of shame stayed with me for a while and it made me disinclined to wear short dresses or high heels.

Early 2000sKaren Johnson said Trump groped her genitals at Mar-A-Lago: Johnson, who spoke publicly about her allegations for the first time in the All the Presidents Women, said she was at a New Years Eve party with her husband at Trumps Palm Beach estate, when Trump grabbed her and pulled her behind a tapestry. Im a tall girl and I had six-inch heels on, and I still remember looking up at him. And hes strong, and he just kissed me, Johnson said. When he says that thing, Grab them in the pussy, that hits me hard because when he grabbed me and pulled me into the tapestry, thats where he grabbed me.

2003Mindy McGillivray claims he groped her at Mar-a-Lago: The woman, then 23, told the Palm Beach Post: All of a sudden I felt a grab, a little nudge. I think its Kens camera bag, that was my first instinct. I turn around and theres Donald. He sort of looked away quickly. McGillivray said she recalls telling the photographer, Ken Davidoff, Donald just grabbed my ass.

2005Rachel Crooks said he forcibly kissed her at Trump Tower: Crooks, who was working at the real-estate company Bayrock Group at Trump Tower, told The New York Times on Wednesday that after a handshake, Trump began kissing her on the cheeks and then directly on the mouth. It was so inappropriate, Crooks said. I was so upset that he thought I was so insignificant that he could do that.

2005Trump admits he looks at naked beauty-pageant contestants: During one of his many appearances on the Howard Stern show, CNN reported Trump said he would go backstage while women were dressing for his Miss USA and Miss Universe pageants. Well, Ill tell you the funniest is that before a show, Ill go backstage and everyones getting dressed, and everything else, and you know, no men are anywhere, and Im allowed to go in because Im the owner of the pageant and therefore Im inspecting it, Trump said. You know, Im inspecting because I want to make sure that everything is good.

2005Trump brags he can get away with sexual assault: On a tour bus with Access Hollywood co-host Billy Bush, Trump claims on a hot-mic that his fame allows him to do almost anything to women. You know Im automatically attracted to beautiful womenI just start kissing them. Its like a magnet. Just kiss. I dont even wait, he said on a video first obtained by The Washington Post. Trump explained: And when youre a star, they let you do it. You can do anything... Grab them by the pussy. During this exchange, Trump says he tried to have sex with Access Hollywoods Nancy ODell. Trump was already married to his third and current wife, Melania, who was pregnant with their son at the time.

2005People reporter Natasha Stoynoff alleges Trump pushed her against a wall and forced a kiss on her: Stoynoff, who writes that she had a developed a friendly relationship with Trump and Melania while on the Trump beat for People, had come to Mar-A-Lago to report on the couples first wedding anniversary. When pregnant Melania went upstairs to change clothes, Stoynoff writes, Trump said he had a tremendous room to show her and led her into another room and shut the door. There, she writes, within seconds, he was pushing me against the wall, and forcing his tongue down my throat. The alleged incident ended when Trumps butler entered the room to say Melania was on her way down. You know were going to have an affair, dont you? Trump allegedly said when the butler left.

2005Jennifer Murphy claims Trump kissed her on the lips after a job interview: Murphy was a contestant on the fourth season of The Apprentice and claims that after she was fired from the reality show, Trump said he could offer her a job after the finale aired. After the interview, Murphy told British magazine Grazia, He walked me to the elevator, and I said goodbye. I was thinking, Oh, hes going to hug me, but when he pulled my face in and gave me a smooch. I was like, Oh kay. I didnt know how to act. I was just a little taken aback and probably turned red. And I then I get into the elevator and thought, Huh, Donald Trump just kissed me on the lips.

2006Former Miss Finland Ninni Laaksonen says Trump groped her: A local Finnish newspaper reports that Miss Finland in 2006, Ninni Laaksonen, claims Trump grabbed her on the behind while she was in New York that year, just before she appeared on the Late Show with David Letterman. Trump stood right next to me and suddenly he squeezed my butt. He really grabbed my butt, she said. I dont think anybody saw it but I flinched and thought: What is happening?

2006Jessica Drake claims Trump kissed her and two other women without their consent: Drake announced her allegations in Oct. 2016 alongside famed attorney Gloria Allred. Drake said she first met Trump at a golf tournament in 2006 and that she was invited up to his hotel suite, bringing along two other women because she didnt feel right going alone. Drake said: When we entered the room, he grabbed each of us tightly in a hug and kissed each one of us without asking permission. After they left, she says she got a call from Trump asking her to come back and have dinner with him. Donald then asked me, What do you want? How much?

2007Former Apprentice contestant Summer Zervos says he thrust his genitals at her and groped her: On Friday, Zervos accused Trump of groping her and trying to have sex with during a job interview. Zervos had been a contestant on Season 5 of The Apprentice in 2005 and came to his golf course in Palos Verdes, California to discuss a job opportunity two years later. Zervos said Trump kissed her forcibly on the lips several times and groped her. A second time, Trump allegedly walked her into a bed room and began thrusting his genitals at her before she told him to stop. The two had dinner immediately afterwards, where Trump allegedly "started saying that he did not think that I ever known love."

2010Trump allegedly tries to kiss woman in a boardroom: CNN anchor Erin Burnett told a story relayed to her from a friend about Trump attempting an unprompted kiss. Trump took Tic Tacs, suggested I take them also. He then leaned in, catching me off guard, and kissed me almost on lips. I was really freaked out, Burnett quoted her friend as saying. Afterward, the friend said Trump told her how special I am and asked her to call him.

2013Cassandra Searles alleges that Trump groped her: Cassandra Searles, a former Miss Washington who participated in the Miss USA contest while Trump was an owner, posted on Facebook saying, he continually grabbed my ass and invited me to his hotel room, reported Seattles KING-TV.

2016Alva Johnson alleges that Trump forcibly kissed her: According to the former campaign aides federal lawsuit, filed in February 2019, Trump grabbed her hand and leaned in to kiss her, but the now-43-year-old mother-of-four claims she turned her head to avoid the super-creepy kiss. The future presidents lips allegedly ended up on the side of her mouth. I immediately felt violated because I wasnt expecting it or wanting it, she told The Washington Post, which first reported the allegations. I can still see his lips coming straight for my face. Johnson dropped her lawsuit in September 2019, saying, Im fighting against a person with unlimited resources, and repeatedly the judicial system has failed to find fault in his behavior.

Gideon Resnick contributed reporting.
Kate Middleton engaged in her first solo overseas royal engagement Tuesday.

A mere five and a half years after she married Prince William in a dazzling ceremony at Westminster Abbey, Duchess Kate finally felt confident enough to board a flight on her own.

She went to the Netherlands, where she met with the powerless King Willem-Alexander of that country before going to the national art gallery, followed by a visit to a community center where she chaired a discussion on the mental health of teenagers, currently a favored cause, before flying back home on a scheduled British Airways flight to London (ah, the thriftiness). As the Daily Mail snarkily but accurately observed, she came on board dressed exactly like a pastiche of a flight attendant.

It was certainly a busy day, and came a mere week after Kate had got back from a week-long trip to Canada.

The stated purpose of the trip was Kates attendance at the opening of a remarkable new exhibition of Dutch Old Masters loaned to the countrys national gallery by the queen, At Home in Holland: Vermeer and His Contemporaries From the British Royal Collection.

However, conspiracy theorists in sections of the pro-Brexit British mediathe Telegraph, the Daily Mail, and the Express, to name a fewwere quick to pick up on and disseminate the notion that Kates visit was actually a sort of test run for a new stealth campaign that would involve the royals acting as roving international post-Brexit love-bombers, the idea apparently being that the promise of a visit by Kate Middleton wearing the queens earrings would somehow convince the Dutch government to do business with the U.K.

The Mail noted, Kate has been heralded as a secret weapon for U.K. diplomacy as the country faces Brexit negotiations, while the Telegraph argued ahead of the trip that Kate would be a potent force in Britains bridge-building with EU countries as Brexit looms.

The Telegraph story was based on a quotation, attributed to a recently-retired British ambassador, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The mysterious diplomats actual quote, when taken in context, was rather less emphatic than the Telegraphs introduction made out, and ran as follows: We need to start beefing up our bilateral relationships with EU countries. Those links need to become stronger and the Royal family is a very potent force in that exercise. It would not surprise me if we see more trips to Europe by members of the Royal family because there are 27 countries and we will want to let them know that we havent left the scene.

The Telegraphs premonition that Kates visit to the Netherlands was actually some kind of secret business trip was justified on the day by the presence of the queens private secretary, Sir Christopher Geidt, among Kates entourage.

Certainly it was very unusual for Sir Christophera savvy political operator who is credited with ensuring that Prince Charles will take over from the queen as titular head of the Commonwealthto accompany the duchess.

Buckingham Palace said that Geidt was attending in his capacity as a trustee of the Royal Collection, the body which owns the artworks on display, but many conspiracy theorists were quick to contend that Geidt was really there in a kind of Tyrion Lannister, hand of the king-type role, as a secret adviser to the Duchess.

According to this strain of opinion, Kates visit was a portent of the crucial role that the royal family will have in helping to safeguard the U.K.s relations with its European neighbors as Brexit becomes a reality in the coming years.

There is a certain logic to the argument. After all, the official reasoning behind all international royal engagements is that they foster positive relationships between the U.K. and the country being visited, while also offering an opportunity to promote British interests abroad, while quietly selling the U.K. as a sophisticated tourist destination.

But whatever benefit Kate Middleton going to Holland might bring to the U.K. economy, its hard to imagine it would ever be an effective substitute for a common market.

The allegedly remarkable importance of the royals in our rosy post-Brexit future has been a line relentlessly sold by the pro-Brexit media for some time now.

The Telegraph has probably been the most entertaining of these voices, if you enjoy the theatre of the absurd.

The newspaper has rejoiced at the Brexit result.

Despite some dissenting voices, especially in the business pages, which, even the most ideological of editors and owners would concede need to retain some semblance of credibility on financial issues, the Telegraph has tried hard to convince its readerstypically older, whiter and wealthier than the general British populationthat Brexit will be a wonderful new dawn, in which we will be free not only to repudiate undesirable immigrants from our shores but also joyfully purchase bananas in pounds and ounces.

Last month the Telegraph came up with their big idea; a campaign to re-launch the royal yacht Britannia!

Britannia, the luxurious royal yacht on which the royal family enjoyed many a splendid holiday, was retired by Tony Blairs government in 1997. The queen was cross and upset, going so far as to shed a tearand allegedly blackball Blair from Williams wedding 14 years later.

The Telegraph wheeled out a number of obliging old duffers and obscure Tory MPs to say what a brilliant idea this was. The biggest name was Michael Heseltine, who told the paper, She was a symbol of many things about this country we have now not got.

The royal yacht is portrayed by the Telegraphs campaign as a wonderful mechanism by which to seduce foreign leaders and decision makers, but the truth is that Britannia was always much more about being a luxurious floating fortress for the royals, an environment they could completely control. The queen once said of the yacht, Britannia is the one place I can truly relax.

In an illustration of just how the success of the Brexit movement has emboldened politicians to market self-interested xenophobia as fiscally responsible patriotism, one MP, Gerald Howarth, a former defense minister, argued that money should be diverted from the annual aid budget and spent on a 120 million successor to the royal yacht.

Unfortuantely, that the absurd plan to revive Britannia should have found so many backers, apparently intoxicated by the heady brew of royalty, patriotism and arrogance is not entirely surprising, when you consider that many of the same people think its a good idea to replace a long-standing and successful continental trade deal with the undoubted charms of Kate Middleton.
NEW YORK, Oct. 13, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Wines of Portugal announces its fall 2016 Producer Showcase tasting series as part of a yearlong tour of top U.S. markets. Building on momentum from Producer Showcase events in Boston and Seattle this spring and a 50 Great Portuguese Wines selection earlier this year, Wines of Portugal is featuring a range of Portuguese wineries in Chicago, San Francisco and New York City, concluding the 2016 U.S. campaign.



Portugals over 800 years of rich history continues to receive increased positive recognition in prominent media outlets as a top destination for wine and food tourism, including an impressive 24 awards at the World Travel Awards.

The U.S. market is continuing to show interest in Portuguese wines, with still wine exports to the U.S. increasing 22.6% this year, says Nuno Vale, Wines of Portugal Marketing Director. U.S. consumers recognize the versatility of Portuguese wines, and were confident our fall tastings will continue to build excitement for them, as we head into a busy holiday season.

Wines of Portugals fall events for trade, media and consumers offer a variety of wines for sampling from various regions including Alentejo, Bairrada, Dao, Douro, Tejo, Vinho Verde and more.

Consumers in San Francisco have a unique opportunity to taste Portuguese wines paired with local food trucks at the Perfect Portuguese Pairings event. In its second year, this pairing competition features teams comprised of the citys top sommeliers and retailers.

The schedule for the Wines of Portugal Producer Showcase fall tour is as follows:

Chicago

Tuesday, October 18

Trade & Media Tasting 2:30  5:30 PM

Trade Registration: winesofportugalchi.eventbrite.com

San Francisco

Sunday, October 23

Perfect Portuguese Pairings 5:30  7:30 PM

Tickets: fortmason.org/event/perfect-portuguese-pairings

Tuesday, October 25

Trade & Media Tasting 2:30  5:30 PM

Trade Registration: winesofportugalsf.eventbrite.com

New York

Thursday, October 27

Trade & Media Tasting 2:30  5:30 PM

Trade Registration: winesofportugalnyc.eventbrite.com

About Wines of Portugal

A small, yet diverse country, Portugal offers a stunning variety of terroirs, grape varieties and blends brought alive by a dynamic group of grape growers and winemakers with the perfect balance of creativity, artistry and technical skill. The result is a collection of wines both distinctive and authentic, unique among a sea of the same  this is what Portuguese wines are all about! The more you get to know them, the more these distinctions fascinate and draw you in  until finally its love, pure and simple.

Since 2010, the trade association ViniPortugal has promoted the Wines of Portugal brand in the U.S. and around the world, highlighting Portugal as the hot spot on the international wine scene. Wines of Portugal provides strategic support to the Portuguese wine sector, bringing together organizations representing trade (ANCEVE and ACIBEV), production (FENAVI and FEVIPOR), cooperative wineries (FENADEGAS), distillers (AND), farmers (CAP), demarcated regions (ANDOVI) and governmental bodies (IVV).

For more information about Wines of Portugal, please visit www.winesofportugal.com.

About Full Circle Wine Solutions

Based in the San Francisco Bay Area, Full Circle Wine Solutions is a global wine and spirits education firm that grows brand loyalty and client profits through tailored wine programs and effective hospitality training. Using a vast and established network of sommelier educators, the company hosts high quality and consistent wine tasting experiences across multiple locations around the world. Full Circle Wine Solutions also provides an online resource, WineCouch.com, for trade and consumers who have passion for wine and seek to grow their knowledge about wine.
Having sold their twin Cabo San Lucas villas in April, tequila entrepreneurs and best buds George Clooney and Rande Gerber are moving to a luxury tower in midtown Manhattan.

Clooney and Gerberor Gooney, as theyre knownhave purchased, Page Six reported, identical condos at One Hundred East Fifty Third Street, a luxury, 711-foot-tall, 63-storey white tower set for completion in spring 2017.

The closer-than-close business partners will be neighbors once again in two of the buildings 94 minimalist units (the Gerbers allegedly purchased a loft directly above the Clooneys, ostensibly so Gooney can play games of telephone before bedtime).

No word yet on what theyll name their new living situation, but we can expect it to be every bit as chummy as their Casamigos Mexican compound.

Designed by architect Norman Foster of Foster + Partners, One Hundred East Fifty Third Street is the latest pet project of German-born real estate magnate Aby Rosen, founder and head of RFR Holding Hines, whose best-known masterpieces include refurbishing the Lever House on Park Avenue in 1998 and transforming the Seagram Building in 2000 into a bronze monolith.

Seagram is adjacent to One Hundred East Fifty Third Street, where Gooney and their wives, Amal Clooney and Cindy Crawford, will have access to a Michelin-rated chef (Joel Robuchon will run the Gourmet food court on the buildings ground floor and a restaurant above it); a 60-foot swimming pool; a wellness facility with a steam room, sauna, yoga studio, pilates-and-ballet studio, cardio gym and separate room for weight-lifting; and a William Georgis-designed residential library complete with a highly curated collection and smoky black granite flooring, according to a tip sheet.

In an email to The Daily Beast, a press representative said neither Rosen nor anyone else on the team behind One Hundred East Fifty Third Street would comment on celebrity items due to strict policies around discussing any buyers or potential buyers.

But a source told Page Six that the Clooneys opted for a high-floor residence in the building rather than the penthouse, and that the Gerbers are moving in directly above them.

We can assume, then, Gooney will be living in two of the 3,385 square feet three-bedroom units or 6,700 square feet four-bedroom units, both of which are considered to be among the buildings more traditional apartment on the upper floors.

There are also one- and two-bedroom spaces and alcove lofts, the latter of which will reportedly take up floors five through nine.

Most units are priced between $5 and $14 million, as reported in the New York Times, though the penthouse is listed for $65 million.

Given Rosens extensive contemporary art collectionworth an estimated $40 millionits hardly surprising that the lobby will feature an installation by artist Rachel Feinstein, best known for her whimsical, Rococo-esque sculptures.

Together with his wife, psychiatrist Dr. Samantha Boardman, Rosen hosts notoriously lavish, hot-ticket parties at Art Basel in Miami every year (Peter Marino, Tommy Hilfiger, Larry Gagosian, Vito Schnabel, Katie Holmes, and Julian Lennon all attended last year).

Boardman has her own science-based wellness business, Positive Prescription, and is also a contributing voice on Ivanka Trumps website (her most recent post was 5 Body Language Tips For Your Next Job Interview, on September 11, 2016).

One Hundred East Fifty Third Streets apartments are not pitched toward full-time residents, Georgis, who designed the interiors, told Centurion magazine in 2015 (PDF). The idea was not New York family living. Its about prospective residents coming from somewhere else and seeking convenience and proximity to the citys offerings.

Georgis touches on the apartments include soaring ceilings, exposed concrete columns and concrete walls, white oak flooring and powder rooms with Agora Black Turkish marble countertops and sinks, according to press materials.

One Hundred East Fifty Third Street may well be the modernist equivalent of the Dakota in the 1960s and later years, where John Lennon and Yoko Ono lived (Lennon was famously shot in the buildings archway) with a host of other celebrities including Lauren Bacall, Leonard Bernstein, Judy Garland, and Rudolph Nureyev.

Stars are more scattered around Manhattan today, though Stephen Spielberg, Steve Martin, and Donna Karan all live in The San Remo, built in 1930 on Central Park West.

Demi Moore put her triplex south tower penthouse on the market for $75 million last year, (Bono lives in the north tower penthouse), and Dustin Hoffman sold his 8,000 square foot apartment in the building for $21 million in 2014.

The building has also been home to Diane Keaton and Steve Jobs, though its co-op famously rejected Madonna in the 80s.

Amanda Seyfried and Alec Baldwin both have homes in Greenwich Villages Devonshire House, though Baldwin reportedly has his eye on a $16.5 million penthouse in Chelsea near the High Line.

Meryl Streep was longtime neighbors with Gwyneth Paltrow and Chris Martin in the two-building River Lofts complex in Tribeca before they consciously uncoupled. The two put the apartment on the market for $14.25 in March, and even advertised it on GOOP.

If Midtown seems an odd location for luxury residential buildings catering to celebrities and the uber-rich, Rosen told Centurion that theres a revolution going on in the neighborhood. Its still seriously lacking in the food department, which is one of the reasons why hes putting a swanky restaurant in his One Hundred East Fifty Third Street tower. Young people dont get good tables. We need new people there. We need women.

Gooney and their high-profile wives are a good place to start.
The last time Joe Biden appeared on late-night television less than two weeks ago, he was criticizing Donald Trump for not paying his fair share of taxes. A lot has changed since then.

Vice President Biden, who, along with his wife Dr. Jill Biden, stopped by one of Late Night with Seth Meyers special Washington, D.C., shows on Wednesday, first weighed in on the tape of Trump bragging about groping women without their consent in a tweet on Saturday. Its not lewd, he wrote. Its sexual assault.

The issue is a major one for Biden, who introduced the Violence Against Women Act in the early 1990s and just last month brought his Its on Us campaign to stop sexual assault to Law & Order: SVU. So when Meyers asked him to discuss the latest Trump revelations, Biden was ready. And this was before The New York Times released its report in which two women accuse Trump of doing exactly the things he boasted about but claimed in Sundays debate he never actually did.

What did you find more stunning, Meyers wanted to know, the use of the language or the fact that there are still people who are defending it for not being what you called it out as?

First of all, what I found astounding is that he would so publiclyno matter who he was talking tothat he would acknowledge that he engaged in the textbook definition of sexual assault.

As Biden put it, Trump didnt say he went up and asked women if he could kiss or touch them: He said I go up and grab and I can do this. Biden said he was also shocked to see the report today from BuzzFeed in which several Miss Teen USA beauty pageant contestants described Trump walking into their dressing room while they were changing. Dont worry, ladies, Ive seen it all before, one of the women remembers Trump saying.

I mean, this is absolutely outrageous behavior, Biden said. Ive spent more of my career trying to figure out how to change the culture in this country so that we treat women with respect and with dignity.

And now he has to sit back and watch a man like Donald Trump come within striking distance of succeeding Barack Obama as president.
Nine Boston police officers were wounded, two of them critically, in a late-night shootout with wannabe cop.

Kirk Figueroa, 33, was wearing body armor and carrying an assault rifle when he opened fire on officers responding to a domestic disturbance call in East Boston around 11 p.m. Wednesday. Figueroa was killed. Boston police said they are still investigating Figueroas motives, but his career suggests a long-standing fascination with law enforcement.

Police arrived on the scene after reports of a domestic disturbance between roommates in an East Boston house. One of the two roommates had a gun, police were informed.

After the shooting, Boston Police towed away a Ford Crown Victoria, a vehicle frequently used as squad cars. The car had decals advertising the website ElitePolicing.org, the Boston Globe reported.

The URL links to a website for Code Blue Protection Group, a private security firm where Figueroa is listed as founder. The firm claims to provide bounty hunting and security services for police, financial institutions, technology companies and others.

Figueroas bio on the site boasts of his work in military and police-adjacent careers.

From 2003 until ETS 2011, Mr. Kirk Figueroa was a member of the United States Army Reserve HHC 306 Military Police Battalion (EPW), his biography reads. During this time (from 2008 until 2010), Kirk also gained some experience serving as an apprentice Licensed Private Investigator (cc) in the State of Florida. Then continuing to earn a Professional Diploma in Private Investigations from PDI - University of North Texas.

Figueroas bio also boasts of his medical tech experience with Heron Surgical Inc. located in Queens, New York. When The Daily Beast called the phone number listed on Code Blues website, the woman who answered said it was the number for Heron Surgical, not Code Blue. After being placed on hold, she hung up.

Public records also show that Figueroa had filed a patent for a patch for bounty hunters. Bail Runners LLP Professional Posse, reads the patch, which mimics the design of many police patches.

Figueroa was also a licensed constable, the Boston Globe reported. Boston constables are a civilian force authorized by the police departments legal wing. Constables are allowed to serve civil litigation papers, after passing a background check. Website registration records also suggest Figueroa registered a now-defunct website for constables.

Police said they hope to learn more about Wednesday nights incident following the recovery of the wounded officers.

They're still critical, but they're conscious and we were talking to them," Boston Police Commissioner William B. Evans told the Boston Herald as he left the hospital Thursday morning. "They went through a lot. The nine other officers here went through a lot. It was a traumatic experience for them."
How does Gary Johnson, the Libertarian nominee for president currently averaging around 7 percent in national polls, plan to benefit from pussygate, the release of disturbing audio of Donald Trump discussing his treatment of women?

In an interview conducted the day after the second presidential debate (listen here), he tells me disgruntled and disgusted Republicans are now coming his way despite his staunch support of abortion rights, marriage equality, open borders, and pot legalization. And given ongoing revelations from WikiLeaks that show Hillary Clintons fondness for holding radically different positions in private and public, hes targeting hypocrisy wherever he finds it.

But if hes going to do more than simply cover the growing spread between Clinton and Trump, the former two-term Republican governor of New Mexico is also going to have reverse the perception that he is out of his depth when it comes to foreign policy and commanding the military. Alone among the leading candidates in calling for cuts in defense spending and restraint and skepticism when it comes military interventions, hes also made high-profile gaffes related to foreign affairs and has been likened to Don Knotts, the actor famous for playing hapless, nebbishy characters in sitcoms such as The Andy Griffith Show and movies such as The Shakiest Gun in the West. Until doubts about his foreign policy acumen are overcome, it will be an uphill climb, even for a 63-year-old triathlete whos climbed Mt. Everest.

Well get to foreign policy, but first, lets note that Trumps apparent free fall gives Johnson an opening, especially with traditionalist GOP voters who are barely putting up with the billionaire in the first place. I have never engaged in that sort of conversation that degrades women, Johnson tells me, adding that those who do should not be aspiring to becoming president of the United States. When the Trump tape surfaced, Johnson issued a strongly worded condemnation that reminded folks of his former party affiliation: Millions of Republicans are facing a moment of truth. As a former Republican Governor, I dont envy them. In a report from Albuquerques KOAT he claimed that dozens of GOP officials had contacted his campaign after the tapes surfaced, saying that they wanted to know how to help his effort. He reiterated that in our interview but declined to give any specific names when I pressed him. Naming names of those politicians who are considering endorsing usand I have to believe many of them willIm going to protect the innocent [for now], he said.

Its totally plausible that Republican voters disgusted by Trump would decide to cast their ballots for him. His promise to submit a balanced budget via spending cuts to Congress within 100 days of taking office has always appealed to fiscal conservatives, and his tax-cutting, penny-pinching record in New Mexicoand that of his running mate, Bill Weld, a two-term Republican governor of Massachusettsmight make up for the tickets apostasies on social issues. But until at least some of those dozens of GOP officials go public with their support, its not clear how much difference it will make.

Indeed, throughout the race so far, most polls actually showed Johnson pulling more support from Clinton than Trump. Clinton has even targeted Johnson as a threat, especially among millennials where her support is relatively soft and his has been relatively strong.

As Trump falls, Johnsons appeal to voters leaning toward Clinton might rise, especially if they now see her lead as safe, thus allowing them to cast a protest vote. Revelations by WikiLeaks from the so-called Podesta emails portray Clinton in a harsh light, with her telling private audiences that we need to resist protectionism [and] other kinds of barriers to market access and to trade even as she has become increasingly critical of both the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).

Despite campaigning on a promise to expand old-age entitlements such as Medicare and Social Security, in other settings she said the government needs to restrain spending and embrace the reform framework put forth by the commission run by Alan Simpson and Erskine Bowles, which called for cuts to benefits. During the most recent presidential debate, she didnt disown those views and instead stumbled through an explanation of her belief that  you need both a public and a private position on important policy questions.

Hypocrisy is the one unforgivable thingsaying one thing and doing another, Johnson tells me, pointing toward both Trump and Clinton as prime examples. Ive always lived by the credo that if you tell the truth, you dont have to remember anything. You acknowledge mistakes and theres no quicker way to fix them by acknowledging them.

The talk of owning mistakes brings us to Johnson and foreign policy. In early September, he blanked on a question about Aleppo, Syria on MSNBC by Daily Beast contributor Mike Barnicle. His puzzled response, What is Aleppo?, became a Twitter joke and meme. Not long after that, he stumbled when asked by Chris Matthews to name a foreign leader he admires and compounded the problem by saying he was having an Aleppo moment.

Such gaffes didnt just confirm the worst fears of conservative and liberal hawks. I spoke recently with a millennial journalist who voted for Johnson in 2012, is a dedicated #NeverTrumper, and doesnt want to vote for Clinton this time around. He even agrees with Johnsons skepticism toward military interventions, but hes worried that the guy has no idea of whats going on outside Americas borders. The one thing that would bring him around to Johnson, he said, was if the former governor showed some depth when discussing foreign policy.

When I raise this with Johnson, he dismisses the idea that being able to rattle off the names of world leaders and geographic locations is any sort of sign that your military strategies are worth a damn. He emphatically takes exception to the idea he couldnt identify North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un, or a single foreign leader he admires, insisting, I still cant name a leader I really respect. But Im talking specifically here about Hillary Clinton, he says. The idea that being able to dot is and cross ts [on names and places] qualifies you to put our men and servicewomen in harms way is pure bunk, he says. They end up dying, hurt, maimed, psychologically impacted for the rest of their lives, and hundreds of thousands of innocent people end up dying in these conflictsthats what upsets me so much.

He continues: We need a skeptic in the White House to actually untangle all of what is happening in the world. When it comes to Syria, Johnson stresses that because hes not receiving national security, he can only guess at all the promises that the United States has made to various factions but that the only way outis to join hands with Russia diplomatically. You may not agree with his particular solutions to particular situations, but he doesnt come across as Barney Fife in conversation. He argues that our interventions in the 21st century have left the Middle East and Central Asia less stable, failed to achieve goals (partly because goals were never clearly established) and that military spending, which is still 50 percent higher in real dollars than it was in 2001, can be cut without sacrificing homeland security. Hes insistent also that Congress step up and do its job of actually authorizing wars and paying for them.

Last week, Johnson gave a major foreign policy speech that was as substantive as it was little-noted (it turns out that third-party candidates are more popular with the press when they are goofy than when they are credible). That speech goes a long way toward addressing the perception that Johnson is a gadfly, even as it sharpens the distance between options such as Hillary Clinton, who has a track record of supporting virtually every intervention of the past 20 years, and Donald Trump, who talks promiscuously of bombing the shit out of countries and calling for torture of terrorists. Show me an America with less debt, greater economic strength, and robust trade relationships across the globe, and I will show you a safer, more secure, America, said Johnson in his speech. Terrorism and the threat from extremists are real. But our approach to those threats must be real as well. The notion that we will someday celebrate V-I Day, Victory over ISIS, is both naive and misleading. It wont happen. What must, and I believe, will, happen is that we focus our resources on isolating the extremists, containing them, and starving them of the funds and support they must have to mount large-scale attacks. Tens of thousands of boots on the ground wont do it. Dropping bombs on the other side of the globe wont do it. And pretending that some military-style Global War on Terror will bring about a clear victory is not realistic.

Whether such an approach allows Johnson to pull Republican voters disgusted by Donald Trumps generally unhinged behavior on the one hand and ongoing revelations about Hillary Clintons policy hypocrisy on the other is an open question. But theres little question that the Libertarian has followed his own counsel, owned his mistakes, and put forth a set of proposals worth taking seriously.
In a handful of campaign appearances on behalf of Hillary Clinton this fall, First Lady Michelle Obama has made some off-hand comments about Donald Trump without ever actually mentioning his name. She spoke of those who questioned and continue to question her husbands citizenship. She remarked that someone whos roaming around at 3 a.m. tweeting should not have their fingers on the nuclear codes.

But she has never delivered a speech like the one she gave today in New Hampshire.

Obama began by talking about her week of profound contrast. On the one hand, she spent Tuesday celebrating the International Day of the Girl and her Let Girls Learn initiative at the White House, speaking with some of the most amazing young women you will ever meet.

That was Tuesday, she said. Now here I am, out on the campaign trail in an election where we have consistently been hurting hateful language about women. Language that has been painful for so many of us, not just as women, but as parents trying to protect our children and raise them to be caring respectful adults, who think our nation's leader should meet basic standards of human decency.

Again, the first lady did not mention Trump by name, but spoke of a candidate for president who, over the course of his lifetime and the course of this campaign has said things about women that are so shocking, so demeaning.

And last week we saw this candidate actually bragging about sexually assaulting women, she said of the 2005 tape in which Trump does just that . And I can't believe that I'm saying that a candidate for president of the United States has bragged about sexually assaulting women. And I have to tell you that I can't stop thinking about this. It has shaken me to my core in a way that I couldn't have predicted.

Addressing Trumps non-apology directly, Obama said, This was not just a lewd conversation. This wasn't locker room banter. This was a powerful individual speaking freely and openly about sexually predatory behavior.

The first lady went on to stress how personally she has felt Trumps words and actions hit her over these past several days.

It is cruel. It is frightening. And the truth is, it hurts. It hurts, she said as women in the audience murmured in agreement. It's like that sick sinking feeling you get when you're walking down the street minding your own business. some guy yells out vulgar words about your body. Or when you see that guy at work that stands just a little too close, stares just a little too long, you feel uncomfortable in your own skin. It's that feeling of terror and violation that too many women have felt when someone has grabbed them or forced himself on them and they've said no but he didn't listen.

She also clarified to those still defending Trump in the media , that this type of behavior is not normal. Its not politics as usual.

This is disgraceful, Obama continued. It is intolerable. And it doesn't matter what party you belong to. Democrat, Republican, Independent, no woman deserves to be treated this way. No one deserves this kind of abuse.

Obama ended the Trump portion of her speech by telling the story of a six-year-old boy who told his mother that he thinks Clinton will be president because her opponent called someone a piggy.

You cannot be president if you call someone a piggy, Obama quoted him saying.

Even a six-year-old knows better, she said. A six-year-old knows this is not how adults behave, it's not how decent human beings behave and this is certainly not how someone who wants to be president of the United States behaves.

Because let's be very clear, strong men, men who are truly role models, don't need to put down women to make themselves feel powerful, the first lady continued, before finally pivoting to Clinton. People who are truly powerful bring others together. That is what we need in our next president. We need someone who is a uniting force in this country. We need someone who will heal the wounds that divide us. Someone who truly cares about us and our children. Someone with strength and compassion to lead this country forward.

Im here today because I believe with all of my heart that Hillary Clinton will be that president, she said, getting an enormous ovation from the crowd.
Say it with me now: This Has Been A Very Bad Week in the 2016 presidential campaign. And a pair of speeches today from both sides showcase exactly why things are so terrible now, and arent likely to get any better between now and November 8.

Today, first lady Michelle Obama, speaking at a Hillary Clinton campaign rally in New Hampshire, laid into Trump over recently unearthed comments wherein the Republican nominee for president bragged about committing sexual assault. Her speech was stirring, sincere, and passionate. It avoided feeling like part of the eager pile-on that followed the tapes initial publication. And while Mrs. Obama was clearly upset by the subject matter about which she was speaking, it was, to paraphrase a now-famous line from her Democratic National Convention speech, firmly on the high road. Michelle Obama found perhaps the classiest possible way to discuss the phrase grab them by the pussy.

Mrs. Obama didnt use any of the words Trump used during the now-infamous 2005 Access Hollywood footage. No pussy or tits or bitch. She didnt even say Donald Trump during her speech about Donald Trump, choosing instead to treat his name like a dirty word. It was the declined pre-debate handshake of oratory slights.

Obama didnt directly address the individual droplets in a flood of sexual assault allegations against Trump that have followed the release of the footage, either, but she didnt need to in order to get her point across. In fact, part of her speech could be seen as a call to any woman out there who has been victimized by somebody like, say, Donald Trump, and hasnt yet come forward. Maybe weve grown accustomed to swallowing these emotions and staying quiet, Obama said. Because weve seen that people often wont take our word over his. Or maybe we dont want to believe that theres still people out there who think so little of us as women. Too many are treating this as just another days headline. As if our outrage is overblown or unwarranted. As if this is normal. Just politics as usual. But New Hampshire, be clear, this is not normal. This is not politics as usual. This is disgraceful.

Meanwhile, in Ohio, Donald Trump delivered a speech of his own, showcasing why the last month of the 2016 presidential campaign trail is shaping up to be the political equivalent of a competitive roast battle between a team of Comedy Cellar regulars and a family of concussed squirrels. And why maybe the disparity in artfulness wont ultimately matter.

Calling out his enemies by name (with the exception of his alleged victims), Trump claimed that reports on his behavior from several women who approached several media sources was the result of a vast media conspiracy designed to take him down, and not the comeuppance that comes when a person with a lifetime of documented sexist behavior is put under the presidential microscope.

And now we address the slander and libels [sic], said Trump, that was just last night thrown at me by the Clinton machine and The New York Times and other media outlets as part of a concerted, coordinated, and vicious attack.

The New York Times noted in Wednesdays bombshell piece that the reason two of the accusers came forward now was that they were disturbed by Trumps performance during the debate on Monday. When asked by co-moderator Anderson Cooper about whether he actually did any of the things that Trump told Billy Bush he didgenitalia-grabbing, unwanted kissing, etc.Trump said that hed never actually done those things, that those things were locker-room talk. The Times piece noted that one woman watching at home was so angry by his denial that she wanted to punch the screen.

Trumps hands gesticulated wildly as the GOP presidential nominee read from a teleprompter a denial of this latest round of sexual assault accusations. But he didnt use the words sexual or assault. Instead, Trump sanitized the charges, calling them inappropriate conduct with women. Its one thing for a speaker like Michelle Obama to refrain from specifically using Trumps words, its another for Trump to back away from things he said once theyre dragged into the light.

But Trump went further, calling his accusers liars and apparently encouraging his rally attendees to scrutinize their personal lives. You take a look at these people, said Trump, referring to women who came to the media with stories of sexual assault. You study these people. And youll understand also. He further promised his supporters that he had evidence that the womens claims were false, and that hed be presenting it to the public at an appropriate time.

If it seems strange that a man would victimize women during a speech wherein he claims that he does not victimize women, thats because it is. But everything is strange, and its almost certain that we havent reached the bottom.

While its clear that one message makes for better viral clips and pull-quoting, Trumps camp isnt going for Michelle Obama-esque finesse. Trump is running a kamikaze campaign now, doing what he can to damage his opponent, even if it means his own destruction. Will it matter if the Clinton campaign takes the high road if Trumps trying to blow all the roads up?
The modern cocktail revival were enjoying these days (and if youre not, you should bethese times do nothing to discourage the taking of a good stiff drink, and bartenders are better than ever at mixing such things up) began as a sort of barflies revolt, when drinkers who cared about what they sipped got fed up with the sloth and ignorance that had invaded the venerable American craft of drink-mixing. We wanted our classic cocktails, and we wanted them made right. Now, weve got themindeed, weve had them long enough that some cocktail aficionados are starting to turn on them.

The loose constellation of recipes that are generally considered to be classic cocktails isnt very large, even when you include, as is generally done, all the classic fizzes, sours, juleps, punches, and other drinks that are not technically cocktails. It certainly doesnt stretch beyond a hundred recipes and is probably much shorter than that. The International Bartenders Association cuts things too close with its list, divided into Unforgettables and Modern Classics, which total 61 drinks, but its not all that far off (even if some of its individual choicesthe list has an odd penchant for 1970s drinksmight be head-scratching).

Putting aside those disco drinks, the Godfathers, Godmothers, and Golden Dreams, the canon of classics has been stable since the 1950s, with only a few additions and almost no deletions. Indeed, many of the drinks are utterly unassailable. Not a minute goes by without someone, somewhere in the world, stirring up a martini or a Manhattan, shaking up a daiquiri or a margarita, muddling mint for a mojito or chunks of lime for a caipirinha. These are the drinks that are universally known, universally appreciated, beyond fad or fashion.

Others might be slightly less universal, but make up for that deficit by inspiring unusually deep devotion. You cant get New Orleanss Sazerac and Ramos Gin Fizz, Italys Negroni or Trader Vics Mai Tai in every single cocktail bar on earth, but nobody in their right mind would deny them classic status. The same goes for certain heritage recipes, old achievers that might be spending most of their time nowadays rocking gently back and forth on the front porch, but yet there burns the old fire in their eyes and the memory of their great deeds still lives on. Here youll find the mighty mint julep, Fish House Punch, the French 75, and the Jack Rose.

But that still leaves a couple of dozen drinks that are famous enough that every serious bartender knows them but not so famous or beloved that youll look like an ignoramus for dissing them. Which is just what some bartenders and mixographers have taken to doing of late. Recently, it has become somewhat fashionable among cocktail writers and mixologically-inclined bartenders to pick one or another of these classics and proclaim a long-harbored disdain for it; to claim that it should be kicked out of the canon of classic cocktails because its no good and it never was any good, with a strong implication that the only reason that those who like it do so because theyre unthinking slaves to tradition. (Usually, the plaintiff in this argument also produces a trendy-ingredient-packed recipe that he or she just happens to have come up with that fixes all the alleged problems with said formula.)

Its always the same eight or 10 drinks that come under fire. Some of them, even I wouldnt stick up for, much, and Im as big a classicist as youll find in these matters. The Bronx, a perfect martini smoothed out with a hit of orange juice, has never moved the needle for me, although it certainly did for a lot of other folks (it was to the beginning of the 20th century what the Cosmopolitan was to the end of it: the drink that made it okay for normal people to drink cocktails).

Others, such as the venerable Hot Toddy, a simple, strong and satisfying drink without any frills whatsoever (its basically single-malt Scotch, sugar, and boiling water), are out of step with our times, but for that very reason its perhaps a better use of ones mental energy to cultivate an appreciation for them than to hate on them. After all, that sort of cultivation brought us the return of the Old-Fashioned, one of the great successes of the cocktail revival.

Some of the current punching-bags are good drinks that just arent for everyone. No classic cocktail is more reviled these days than Harry Craddocks Blood and Sand Cocktail, which he created in London at the Savoy Hotels American Bar in the 1920s as a tribute to the Rudolph Valentino movie of the same name. A mix of equal parts Scotch whisky, sweet vermouth, cherry brandy, and fresh-squeezed orange juice, its definitely unusual. According to its critics, its also murky, oversweet, unbalanced, insipid, and unappetizing.

The Blood and Sand is really none of those thingswell, OK, it is kinda murky. And whether its appetizing or not is, I guess, a function of taste. But if, with its portion of orange juice, the drink lacks the tartness of a Sour, the drink actually isnt all that sweet, certainly no more so than, say, a Manhattan. Moreover, the Scotch (use a high-quality blend here, as Craddock would have) adds pungency to keep it from being insipid. And in fact, for every Blood and Sand hater youll find somebody who knows his or her cocktails and appreciates the drink.

But while Ill dig a foxhole on the hill of the Blood and Sand and put a couple of sandbags around it, I must admit that if its critics start in on me with heavy artillery and airstrikes Ill skeedadle and leave it to its fate. Not so the Sidecar, another drink that has come in for a surprising amount of abuse lately. Marshal Zhukov did not defend Stalingrad any more tenaciously than I will defend the Sidecar.

The Sidecar. Three ingredients: one or two parts cognac, one part Cointreau, and one part lemon juice, shaken together and customarily served in a sugar-rimmed glass, although that is a late addition to the drink. Invented in Paris, as far as we can tell, in the late 1910s or early 1920s, adopted with great enthusiasm at the time by Parisians and tourists alike, carried across the Atlantic to become a speakeasy favorite during Prohibition and a Society drink afterwards, the Sidecar has as illustrious a history as any drink in the canon. Made properly, its also as delicious as any.

This is where I have a problem with its critics. For them, the Sidecar is unbalanced, so that its either too hot and boozy or too sweet and insipid, depending on how you make it. And theyre not wrong: Go around to most craft cocktail bars and order a Sidecar and it will fall into one of those camps. Bars, of course, are businesses, and businesses have to make a profit on what they sell. There, when it comes to the Sidecar, is the rub.

Through the 1960s, if you were to buy a bottle of VSOP-grade cognac from a reputable producer, the sort of thing a good cocktail bar would be using in its Sidecars, the brandy within would be a blend of spirits aged from around 10 to 20 years (back then, even a lowly VS would be a blend of 4- to 10-year-old spirits). That age gives a brandy a pungent, rich, and concentrated flavor that, in a mixed drink, makes for a velvety texture and plenty of dark, old-brandy notes. Unfortunately, today, a VSOP is more like a VS was back then, and a VS is even lighter in flavorso light that, when mixed with Cointreau and lemon juice, its flavor practically disappears, unless you up the proportion to the point that the drink is hot and boozy and harsh. And VS is what bars useat over $30 a bottle, its what they can afford. To equal one of those old VSOPs, youd need to use a good XO, which retails these days for $100 a bottle and up.

If, however, you lay out the cash for a bottle of, say, Martell Cordon Bleu (on the darker end of the flavor spectrum) or Courvoisier XO (on the brighter end) and mix up your own Sidecar, even an equal-parts Sidecar will be rich and velvety and as elegant as an Art Nouveau bedroom set, particularly if you jiggle the proportions just slightly so that the brandy part is just a bit more equal and the lemon part just a bit less. Made thus, a Sidecar is a uniquely luxurious drink, and you can get 25 of them out of that bottle. In this case, its best to be your own bartender.

In other words, dont hate on the Sidecar, hate on the economics of the brandy industry.
Oklahomas Republican governor thinks God put oil in the ground.

Gov. Mary Fallin has declared today as Oilfield Prayer Day. Oklahoma is blessed with an abundance of oil and natural gas, Christians acknowledge such natural resources are created by God, states an executive proclamation she made. Fallin will read her proclamation at a prayer breakfast organized by the Oil Patch Chaplains in order to thank fossil-fuel companies for their religious contributions to Oklahoma.

Oil and natural-gas companies in Oklahoma have a long history of supporting faith-based ministries as well as civic projects, said Fallins communications director Michael McNutt. Fallin is not opposed to legitimate requests for divine intervention, he added.

The first commercial oil well in America was drilled in 1859 in Pennsylvania and a few years later, Christian preachers proclaimed fossil fuels were gift from God delivered at the end of the Civil War.

Americans believed God hid the oil until we paid for our sins, said Ken Baake, an associate English professor at Texas Technical University, who studies environmental rhetoric. That proclamation could come straight out of the 1860s.

A book Baake showed from a Rev. Eaton written in 1866 sounds like Fallin.

A terrible struggle was approaching in which the nations life should be at stake, wrote Eaton, so God opens the store-houses he has prepared against the day of sore trial fountains of petroleum gush forth in wondrous exuberance.

This was part of a larger New Jerusalem, city on a hill narrative that Americans had cultivated about themselves, said Baake. But, many of the period pieces also warned about shysters, which Fallins proclamation does not.

We get the Garden of Eden, said Baake.

But that comes with the Fall, today in the form of climate change.

In 2011, when Oklahoma faced Dust Bowl-level droughts because of climate change, Fallin asked Oklahomans to look to a greater power this weekend and ask for rain.

Of course, Fallin doesnt believe in manmade climate change. ThinkProgress reported that in 2007, as a congresswoman, Fallin said Americans need to be more concerned about global warming in the U.S. caused by a nuclear attack. And as such she refused to comply with the Environmental Protection Agencys climate rules regulating carbon emissions.

If thats the type of God youre worshipping, youre worshipping a Las Vegas slot machine, Katharine Hayhoe, a climate scientist and evangelical Christian, said about prayers for rain. You cant just insert a prayer and hope rain pops out.

Hayhoe thought the prayers hit the wrong target. Injecting wastewater into the earth for hydraulic fracking has caused earthquakes in Oklahoma. Maybe Fallin should pray for those who lost their home in the earthquakes too, Hayhoe suggested. Or for the people killed by fossil-fuel pollution worldwide.

Fallins prayers will go unanswered, according to climate models. Future climate-change projections include more precipitation in the northern Great Plains and less in the southern Great Plains, according to the 2014 National Climate Assessment, which was produced by hundreds of researchers with oversight from federal agencies.

If we continue on the current fossil-fuel pathway, 2011 will be the average summer by mid-century, Hayhoe said.

The answer isnt to pray for oil or rain but to get off fossil fuels.

Wind and sun and tide also come from God, and they dont run out on us, said Hayhoe. These fuels are the real answers to prayers.
You would think at this point Hillary could just kick back with a glass of Chardonnay and her laptop and just keep refreshing FiveThirtyEight.com until Election Day, quipped Seth Meyers. After all, shes running against a lying, racist buffoon who doubles as Billy Bushs wingman, and is such a menace to democracy he doesnt even know the date of the electionNov. 8thas he proved at a rally yesterday.

Indeed, Donald Trumpthe aforementioned lying, racist, remarkably sexist buffoonurged his acolytes at a rally to vote on Nov. 28. On the Trump Idiotmeter, it measured somewhere between 2 Corinthians and [Putin] is not going to go into Ukraine. And since Meyers taped Wednesdays edition of Late Night in Washington, D.C. in the late afternoon, he missed out on a string of new allegations accusing Donald grab them by the pussy Trump of unwelcome advances.

So, before welcoming special guest Joe Biden to the Late Night couch, Meyers shifted his focus from Trump to his rival Hillary Clinton, whos up by double digits in several polls following the release of the infamous Access Hollywood Trump tape.

Still, Hillarys ties to Wall Street have caused her problems with at least one constituencyand thats young voters, said Meyers.

The late-night host then dedicated the entirety of his closer look segment to WikiLeakss publication of hacked emails purported to be from Hillarys campaign chairman John Podestaemails that included excerpts of closed-door speeches she gave to Wall Street banks after leaving the State Department.

The biggest revelations in these emails are the excerpts from what are allegedly Hillary Clintons paid speeches to Goldman Sachs and other Wall Street banks. And they contain some very revealing tidbits, said Meyers.

First, there is the revelation that Hillary said politicians need public and private personas in order to operate effectively. In the second presidential debate, Hillary confirmed the veracity of the leaked email by saying, As I recall, that was something I said about Abraham Lincoln after having seen the wonderful Steven Spielberg movie called Lincoln. Well, yes, that was the context of Hillarys public and private commenta comment that Team Trump and his minions over at Breitbart, Infowars, and Fox News have spun wildly out of context.

It turns out Hillary really was telling the truth because in the actual transcript of that speech, she says, if you saw the Spielberg movie, Lincoln, and how he was maneuvering and working to get the 13th Amendment passed politics is like sausage being made we usually end up where we need to be. But if everybodys watching then people get a little nervous, to say the least. So, you need both a public and a private position, said Meyers. He added, So I guess the real scandal is that bankers paid thousands of dollars for Hillary Clintons movie reviews.

But that misconstrued comment aside, Meyers noted how the most recent batch of leaked Hillary-adjacent emailswhich may have been hacked by Russia, a country that seems to have a vested interest in a Trump presidencydo reveal a divergence, in some cases, between what Hillary told Wall Street bankers behind closed doors and what shes said publicly. For example, said Meyers, Hillarys insisted that shes tough on Wall Street, and yet, when she gave paid speeches to those Wall Street banks, it seemed like she was sending them a slightly different message.

Meyers then threw to a Podesta email wherein Hillary reportedly said at a 2013 Goldman Sachs symposium that Wall Street bankers are the ones best suited to regulate the financial industry. Theres nothing magic about regulations too much is bad, too little is bad. How do you get to the golden key, how do we figure out what works? she asked. And the people that know the industry better than anybody are the people who work in the industry. You went to Wall Street and told them they should regulate themselves? You think billionaires regulating themselves is a good idea? Have you met your opponent? cracked Meyers, before confessing that Trump is not a billionaire. So look: Wall Street already has incredible sway over policymaking. We dont need to give them more influence, he continued. These emails underscore just how important it is for people like Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren to keep up the pressure on Hillary if she becomes president.
Charlie Carvers Facebook page tells the story of a man in love.

On July 1, Carver posted that he and his girlfriend were expecting a daughter. On Aug. 1 they bought a house, and on Sept. 1 they were married.

Thats what horrifies Carvers friends and family. All the happy new milestones on his timeline were logged retroactively on Oct. 1, more than a month after he and his girlfriend Kala Brown disappeared.

Carver, 32, and Brown, 30, went missing from their Anderson, South Carolina, apartment on Aug. 31. Carvers car vanished. Their cellphones went dead. Even their beloved Pomeranian dog was left to pace the home without food or water. But someone was still posting to Facebook under Carvers name, sending messages to his friends and writing an ominous new history of the couples life.

I wish I could tell them to stop, Carvers younger sister Katie told The Daily Beast of the Facebook posts, her voice breaking. If they know where he is, bring him home.

Last week someone posing as Carver uploaded and deleted an old picture of the couple, Browns best friend Lindsey Mayson told The Daily Beast.

The caption said we are fine, Mayson said, which is not him. His Facebook posts have been hacked. Its not him posting.

The most recent entry still visible on Carvers page is from Oct. 2, over a month after he and Brown disappeared. What color ribbon supports the people who cant keep their nose out of other peoples business? the post asks.

Its not like the couple to disappear like this, people close to them said. Carver and Brown seldom go a day without speaking to family or friends. So after a few days of silence from her son, Carvers mother asked the building manager at couples apartment complex to check on them. The manager found their door unlocked and the apartment uninhabited, Browns mother told a local Fox affiliate.

If Carver and Brown had gone on an unannounced vacation, theyd left their essentials behind. Kalas glasses and contact lenses were still in the apartment, as were the couples medications. Kalas dog, Romeo, had been left inside alone, his crate mysteriously missing.

That dog is her baby, Kalas mother told NBC News. Shed never leave him like that.

Carver and Brown were last heard from on Aug. 31, when Brown texted a few friends, and surveillance footage showed Carver leaving work.The previous night, Brown had called her friend Mayson to make dinner plans for Thursday.

That was about 6:45 that night, Mayson said. Theyd planned to get dinner with Carver, whom Mayson had never met. Thats what that Thursday night was supposed to be about. It was meeting them and having dinner with them and getting to know each other.

Brown had spent August newly in love and newly uneasy. She and Carver had just moved in together after a few months of dating. But Brown grew worried as the month drew on. She felt she was being stalked, she confided in Mayson. Carver was in the middle of a divorceand Brown saw his ex everywhere. (The Daily Beast is not naming Carvers ex because she has not been identified as a suspect or person of interest.)

Followed, sitting outside the apartment complex watching. All kinds of really crazy scary stuff, Mayson said of the exs alleged behavior. [Brown] made a comment at one time that she didnt feel comfortable at all; that she was scared.

Police said they havent identified any suspects, and that as of Wednesday, they had no new leads.

Theres no new evidence to point any new direction, Lt. David Creamer of the Anderson Police Department told The Daily Beast. Theres no new leads, but were looking at every angle.

Creamer added that, to his knowledge, the department had not taken action to search for the IP address of the person using Carvers account.

To do anything like that, wed have to issue a search warrant to Facebook, he said. I dont know if weve done that but Im pretty sure we have not done that Youd have to serve [Facebook] with a search warrant to search their records for an IP.

Reached by email on Wednesday, a Facebook spokesperson responded in under 90 minutes, referring The Daily Beast to Facebook's policies for law enforcement. If served with a search warrant or a subpoena in connection to a criminal investigation, Facebook will turn over user information including "recent login/logout IP addresses ... and location information."

They said theyre hoping to tell us something soon, but theyve been saying that for a couple weeks, Carvers sister Katie said.

While the search stretches into its second month, police are encouraging locals to look out for Carvers missing car, a 2002 white Pontiac Grand Prix with South Carolina plates and an LSU decal on the back window. The couples family and friends have spent weeks distributing missing fliers and trying to raise funds to hire a private investigator.

The person using Carvers Facebook account is also sharing the missing persons reports.

Since Carver went missing, his Facebook has shared dozens of posts about the missing couple, including pleas for prayers from Carvers sister Katie. The missing persons posters, uploaded in the missing mans name, are sandwiched between sinister memes.

Sometimes late at night I dig a hole in the backyard to keep the nosey neighbors guessing, reads one macro image shared by Carvers account on Sept. 24.

End gun violence now! Bring back the sword, reads another image from earlier that day.

A post from Oct. 1 shares the final lines of The Eagles song Hotel California:

Last thing I remember, I was running for the door. I had to find the passage back to the place I was before. Relax, said the nightman. We are programmed to receive. You can check-out any time you like, but you can never leave.

The person using Carvers account isnt just posting statuses. Theyre messaging his friends.

im just missing to everyone else, Carvers account told one friend in a series of September messages shared with The Daily Beast. We [are] both ok. there is only one person that knows where we are  the person that means the most to me and kala she know where we are and we are coming that way for ever.

The person declines the friends pleas to video chat. But elsewhere, the person claiming to be Carver appears to break character.

On Sept. 26, the person using Carvers account confronted one of the friends commenting on Carvers new Facebook posts.

Well i would keep my nose clean and out off it. And how do you know my hubby? the person wrote. Friends began speculating that Carvers estranged wife had hacked his Facebook, or that someone was trying to frame her.

Still in Carvers voice, the person defended Carvers wife. She didnt hack my page she has the password to my facebook, the person wrote.

While Carvers Facebook continues to post in his absence, the couples loved ones remember the real people they hope will come home.

My brother was a really good guy, is a really good guy, Katie said. Hes an aspiring writer. We were actually working on a graphic novel together.

Carver had recently been promoted at the paper company where he worked, and loved his job. He is a comic book lover, especially of the Marvel comics, an interest hed shared with Katie since childhood.

The last time I heard from him was the Sunday before he disappeared, Katie said. Hed sent me some stupid meme because we were always going back and forth just kidding with each other. I didnt have time to respond immediately, so the last thing I said to him was wow.

Brown is an animal lover, and a steadfast friend, those close to her said. She was a really nice person, really upbeat and outgoing. They just worked together really well, Katie said.

Shes one of those friends who would always be there, Mayson said. No matter what. You need her, shes there.

Now the couples friends are searching for clues the best way they can: by messaging the person who claims to be Carver.

Who is this? Carvers friend Katrina Mega messaged the account in September, adding You can post comments but you cant respond to me[?]

I was reading something, came the cryptic response from Carvers account.

Where are you, Mega asked. Are you OK is this even really you

Yes im fine, the person on Carvers side wrote.

Mega repeated the question.

Is this really you?

No one answered.
BLYTHEWOOD, S.C., Oct. 13, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Spirax Sarco, the leader in products and services for steam system management, recently reached a remarkable safety milestone  1.86 million man-hours, or 3 years without a lost-time accident, which means 288 employees did not miss work due to an injury suffered on the job.

"We are proud of everyone's contribution to this important safety achievement. We take time to educate our employees on what we do and how we do it so that everyone is safe and they leave the same way they come to work," said Kris Brown, Safety Environmental & Training Supervisor for Spirax Sarco.

This significant accomplishment was celebrated on October 6th at the Doko Manor located in Blythewood, South Carolina. The event was attended by Spirax Sarco employees who ate a catered lunch while listening to the President, Lorrain Wiseman congratulate them on their achievement. To mark the event, prizes were given out to employees who answered various safety questions.

When asked why did Spirax Sarco celebrated this event, Kris replied, "Each one of our employees have a role to play when it comes to safety. If something happens, not only does their family suffer but our customers do as well. Spirax Sarco wanted to take a moment to thank our employees because it takes a team effort to be where we are today  1,161 days without a lost time accident."

About Spirax Sarco, Inc.

For engineers around the world Spirax Sarco is synonymous with excellence in steam system management. We offer the industry's most extensive range of products and services, coupled with expertise based on over a century of practical application across a variety of industries. In short we create the solutions that set the benchmark for steam-using organizations worldwide, working alongside them to improve productivity, save energy and reduce waste.

Our commitment to customers is supported by over 1,100 dedicated engineers, a direct sales force in 55 countries worldwide, through which we serve customers in around 100 countries and complemented by substantial investment in state-of-the-art locally based manufacturing. Our aim is to help customers build sustainable and profitable business, using their country and industry insight to tailor solutions precisely to their needs. Further information can be found at www.spiraxsarco.com/global/us.
The latest tranche of Podesta emails shows that the Clinton Team made the same mistake as the rest of the political world the first summer of the campaign: overestimating Jeb Bush.

The emails, published by WikiLeaks and possibly first obtained by hackers connected to the Russian government, give a rare unvarnished window into the Clinton camps thinking and preoccupations in summer 2015. Last summers big focus: Jeb!

The day after the Aug. 6 Republican primary debate, longtime Clinton confidant and Center for American Progress head Neera Tanden emailed with campaign chairman John Podesta about the event. It was the first debate of the cycle and drew massive viewership. The general pundit consensus was that Jeb Bush didnt bomb, but also didnt have any particularly outstanding moments.

Tanden felt differently.

Bush sucked, she emailed to Podesta. Im glad Hillary is obsessed with the one candidate who would be easiest to beat :) Besides Trump, of course.

The concerns that Clintons team harbored about Bush had been popping up ever since he entered the raceparticularly on his shock-and-awe approach to fundraising. In one email, dated July 13, 2015, campaign communications director Jennifer Palmieri suggested changing the focus of a California trip from voting rights to technology.

I know we talked about her doing voting rights in California, but think we should revisit doing something tech related so we are not ceding any ground to Jeb, Palmieri wrote in an email to Huma Abedin, Robby Mook, Jake Sullivan, Podesta, and other top campaign staff.

Agree, Sullivan wrote back.

That email came as Bush was gearing up for a fundraising trip to San Francisco, where he would make headlines for riding around in an Uber.

When Clinton visited the San Francisco Bay area during the first week of August, her team only scheduled one public appearancea round table with homecare providers, according to Fox40. She spent the rest of her time there fundraising, and met with the CEOs of Lyft, Airbnb, and other start-ups, according to Business Insiderin other words, keeping up with Jeb.

When Bush called for less government spending and more limits on lobbyists in his Taking on Mt. Washington speech on July 20, 2015, Podesta seemed impressed.

Bushs speech was smart, he emailed top staff.

Jake Sullivan, Clintons top foreign policy advisor, argued the speechs calling for fiscal restraint might give them an opening.

Making a big deal out of balanced budget will come back to haunt him, Sullivan wrote. May cost more than he gains out of rest of it.

We will make sure it comes back to haunt him, Sullivan then wrote.

Their initial worries were justifiable. After all, Bushs polling numbers peaked in mid-July, as RealClearPolitics aggregation of polls shows. Then they started going downhill as Trump took off.

But there wasnt full consensus on worrying about Bush. On Feb. 23, 2015, months before anyone entered the race, Clinton pollster Joel Benenson aired concerns about Marco Rubio.

Im beginning to worry more about Rubio than the others, Benenson emailed to top staff. Hes playing this very smartonly one who didnt duck like a chicken shit on the Q of whether POTUS loves America. He has stronger right wing cred than Jeb and hes finding a way to the middle enough for now and he will be the most exciting choice to Republicans. Could pose a real threat with Latinos etc.

Lucky for Team Clinton, none of those fears were borne out. Instead, Clinton gets to face up with a candidate whose current top campaign priority seems to be bashing Paul Ryan.
In the wake of the Access Hollywood video featuring Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump bragging about sexually assaulting women at will (I just kiss. I dont even wait. And when youre a star, they let you do it. You can do anything Grab them by the pussy. You can do anything.), numerous GOP stalwarts have defected from Team Trump, including House Speaker Paul Ryan, Sen. John McCain, and Rep. Jason Chaffetz. In total, about 70 prominent Republican politicians renounced Trumps statements on the infamous tape, with more than 20 rescinding their endorsements of the former reality-TV host.

This wave of backlash prompted Trump to whip out his Android phone and, with his tiny hands, type out the following tweet:

Yes, people. Apparently what weve seen up until now was shackled Donald Trump. But not anymore. Now, Trump is like King Kong in that they both broke free of their shackles and like grabbing white women without asking, said Trevor Noah.

The Daily Show host spent a large portion of his Wednesday night program talking how evangelicals have tried to qualify Trumps unmistakably predatory statements while reiterating their support for the GOP candidatethough it remains to be seen what position theyll take in the wake of the revelations that six more women have accused Trump of groping them, making the real-estate heir a veritable Cosby-esque figure.

Ralph Reed of the Faith & Freedom Coalition said, He apologized, he said he was embarrassed by those remarks, and then he moved on and focused on the issues, while Gary Bauer of the Family Research Council opined, Theres nobody watching today on this network that, if everything they ever said, did, looked at, interacted with other people about was on tape or video wouldnt be deeply embarrassed this is not a job interview for a Sunday school teacher. Meanwhile, Pastor Robert Jeffries of the First Baptist Church of Dallas had this kernel of wisdom to offer: Look, I might not choose this man as a Sunday school teacher in my church, but thats not what this election is about.

Thats right! exclaimed Noah. We dont trust this man with our children or our church, but the nation? F*ck him. See ya Sunday, folks.He continued, These men of God do raise a point, though: Who are we to judge? None of us are without sin. I mean, if men of Godthe devoutbelieve that we should forgive Donald Trump, then who are we to disagree?

With that, the Lord appeared, bathing Noah in celestial light. He urged the comedian to run archival clips of that very trio of church folk preaching about the importance of problems of the soul, character and morality, and how a persons judgments in his private life spills into his other life, thus exposing their tremendous hypocrisy. The irony, of course, is that Hillary Clinton is actually a life-long Methodist and genuine person of faith, whereas Donald 2 Corinthians Trump is not, and was even carrying out an affair with Marla Maples while his wife Ivana took their three young children to church services.

You see, my child, many use My name when it suits them. But come election time, they change positions faster than my Son changes water into wine, said the Lord.And by the way, Trevor, he added, stop jacking off so much.
JEREMIE, Haiti  The roads were lined with Gordian knots of massive uprooted trees, twisted, severed palms, torn corrugated roof parts, crushed rural dwellings, schools, local shops. Mile after mile the scenery repeated itself; the devastation growing with an eerie intensity. Leafless trees and palms had turned black, as if scorched by the storm, and stood like frozen, shaven sentinels in a sea of flooded fields for as far as the eye could see. Destruction was everywhere.

A three-day trip through Haitis hardest hit southern peninsula revealed the still-unimaginable scale of suffering Hurricane Matthew left behind, and the long-term catastrophic impact the tempest will have on this Caribbean island. More than 1,000 people are believed to have died. Fears are growing of a cholera epidemic. And despite some long-delayed aid deliveries, hopes for the future are fading.

The colossal storm had hovered slowly, it seemed almost maliciously, over this agriculturally rich region, destroying everything in its path with an especially punishing blow to the region of GrandAnse, Haitis breadbasket on the northern coast of the peninsula. Its final coup de grace: destroying the bridge over the Momance River, effectively severing the peninsula from the capital of Port au Prince and the rest of the country.

Its like a state of war, said Hilaire Delence, a 28-year-old customs worker in the farming town of Torbeck on the south coast of the peninsula. Residents were desperate for any kind of helpwater, food, medical supplies, shelters, anything. The people cleared the streets themselves, he said. Every tree fell. His family was one of the few that had several plots of crops and some cattle after decades of hard work.

Weve lost everything, he said, walking through the rotten remains of their manioc field. We were the only house left standing because we have cement walls. All the other houses in the community were destroyed. Our home became the only shelter as people ran from the fierceness of the storm towards the fields.

Both of Delences parents stood on the porch, visibly shaken. It started in the afternoon, on Monday and continued until Wednesday, said Anne Marie Laurette Laurent, his demure 70-year-old mother, her voice quivering. We huddled for three days here, we couldnt move, we were shaking with fear. We just held on to each other. When we came out, we could not believe what we saw. Delence said she had fainted.

His parents had farmed here for 60 years. It will take five to 10 years to rebuild the coconut trees. Maybe 50 years for the big trees, said Rosulme Gabriel Delence, his 68-year-old father, a proud Haitian farmer whose fixed stare betrayed the trauma he wished to hide.

The big trees bear the fruit called lamveritab in Creole and even ame veritable, meaning true soul, in Frenchthe breadfruit that is prized by farmers for its multiple uses and the revenue it brings in.

We [in the town] lost all our shops, too, said Rosulme. The books are gone. Its the beginning of the school year. We owe credit for our loans. Now we have nothing, nothing.

I didnt believe I would survive, she said. But Ive lost all my resistance. Theres no hope to rebuild what we worked hard for. Those who had sought refuge in the Delence house chimed in. A woman in the small crowd that had gathered around the porch cried, All we have left to do is die.

On Torbecks debris-laden main streets, young men had set up roadblocks in futile protest at the lack of help.

No one, no one has come! Not the government people, not the international aid. Were desperate, said Don Duerviliyouyou, a young teacher. This community is entirely dependent on agriculture and livestock, because there are no institutions, so no jobs. The only support we get is from the [Haitian] diaspora and that too is going to stop because of government corruption. He had just summarized the situation of some 80 percent of Haitis poor. He paused and said gravely, Theres going to be famine here.

Down the road, heavily clad cops from Haitis Corps dIntervention et de Maintien de lOrdre (CIMO) security forces chased other protesters, firing tear gas in all directions. The protesters were outside the Haitian-Taiwan Cooperation plant. Inside, local mayor Guidile Joseph was meeting with the plant managers about getting help for the community. Asked about why no officials from the governments Civil Protection had come to Torbeck, she raised her voice: Me too, I am angry like the protesters. We dont have a government. We have the will but no one is hearing us.

Joseph described the magnitude of crop lossesmanioc, rice, corn, pit mil (made into a type of cornmeal), peas, and many banana plantations.

The loss is devastating, not just for us, but for the whole country, she said. No one has come to help. We have not seen a single delegation from anywhere. We need the international help.

The same macabre landscape of devastation lined the 86-kilometer road to Jeremie. Haitis most vulnerable, its poorest, were putting out mattresses to dry, using the overturned palm trees as laundry lines were every rescued piece of clothing hung. Others were trying to save the trunks that were not completely destroyed to burn charcoal for cooking, one of the main reasons for Haitis massive deforestation.

There was not a dwelling standing. And no convoys of aid. At Camp Perrin, midway to Jeremie, 300 families huddled inside a rudimentary building that served as school and library in this mountain village. A man waived frantically at our car.

Fortil Wisman, referred to himself as the community representative, but is a lawyer by profession. No one has come, you are the first person Im describing the conditions to.

They, too, had no food, no water, just a large tin bowl of beans. Weve been forgotten, no local official has inquired or come, said Wisman. This is an area that is home to nearly 100,000 poor Haitians. A major downpour began. Wisman noticed the uprooted trees. We have no shade to protect us from the harsh sun, but when it rains, theres no protection for all the sans-abris, the homeless, everywhere. People are getting sick and theres no medical help.

GrandAnse, the northern province of the peninsula, one of the largest agricultural regions in the country, had been cut off from all communications. Haitis two main cellular service providers had been severely damaged by the storm. No news had come out of Jeremie, its capital and second port, also known as historical and cultural center.

The picturesque town, known for its gingerbread-style houses, and for its poets, has a prized tourist destination. It looked like a sea of pulverized wreckage stretching from the coast to its hilltops. The cathedrals recently restored roof had been torn off, as were the roofs of most of the houses that lined its streets.

Juliette Nicolas sat on the porch of her Aubergine Inn. Soaked checkbooks, Xeroxed house plans, and a printer were on the table, piles of documents dried in the driveway, sheets and mattresses lined the roofless second floor. The fierce winds and rains had engulfed the inn, drenching every inch, including valuable historical documents.

Jeremie is gone. Its totally destroyed, said Nicolas, a native of this town shes been helping to support for years. She trained as an architect, and spoke of the irony of a meeting set up by the United Nations the week before Hurricane Matthew about managing urban risks in the aftermath of the horrendous 2010 earthquake that killed an estimated 200,000 people. The main goal was to force a national plan for communal structural assessments and make that a law, said Nicolas. That way one would know where to put an airport. In Jeremie, our airport is on a fault linebut where do you put it?"

In Jeremie's famed square, where the damaged cathedral stood, a man walking by stopped to say to us, to anyone, to no one, Ive lost everything. My wife is sick. My kids cant go to school. Our house is destroyed. What are we going to do? Die?

The heat pounded the weary residents on Sunday as they, too, stretched clothing to dry on any surface, including hanging doors or fallen ceiling beams. They cleared debris solemnly. Everyone echoed the same cry of help: The officials havent come, the aid hasnt come, we are desperate, we have no water, we need Aquatabs to purify the local water.

U.S. Army helicopters flew overhead ferrying the 16 tons of supplies the U.S. government was able to bring to Haiti last Thursday, once air traffic had resumed. Tired but angered residents looked up, tempers were beginning to flare. The International Organization for Migration was in charge of distributing the supplies from the staging area at the small airport. But nothing had been delivered. On Monday morning, the first convoy of OIMs huge trucks rolled in, barely passing through Jeremie's narrow streets.

The long-term consequences of Hurricane Matthews destructive path was lost on no one. Even before the storm, 90 percent of Haiti had been deforested and was essentially barren land. More than 35 percent of its agricultural production came from this southern peninsula. The situation is infinitely worse than the impact of the storm felt in the United States. Here, it is not about getting a battered population back to normal. For many, that will never happen, and there is no real hope left.

In Port au Prince, the government promised that a wooden pontoon bridge would be temporarily placed over the Momance River. A Haitian presidential candidate said, even more boldly, that a permanent bridge would be up within days. But such assurances have been drowned in what is still the muddy and treacherous crossing.
Faced with mounting evidence that Donald Trump was telling the truth when he bragged on mic about sexually assaulting women, Trumps supporters are taking a long, hard look at themselves and their preferred candidate, having a nuanced and thoughtful discussion of what it means to respect women and their boundaries. Just kidding! Theyre demanding women have their right to vote taken away and accusing all of Trumps accusers of being liars.

Donald Trump may claim that since he made comments about grabbing women by the pussy, hes a changed man. His most vocal supporters online dont seem to have much interest in that theoretical man.

Yesterday, a certain basket of Twitter users voiced their support of the hashtag #repealthe19th. Their reasoning: poll nerd Nate Silver had shared a map showing an easy Trump victory if only men voted. Ergo, the only way to Make America Great Again is to turn the polls into a sausage fest. Like how it was back in the good old days, prior to 1920, when the amendment was ratified. Before we had such greatness-inhibitors like penicillin (discovered in 1928).

Naturally, everybody loves a righteous pile-on, and the hashtag quickly went from a microtrend among a small number of users to a big trend that everybody wanted to take turns yelling at. The hashtag made it all the way to CNN, where Carol Costello ripped it another in a series of new ones.

But not all Trump supporters are aboard. Some are sure its a conspiracy designed to make them look bad. Over on Reddit, skeptical Trump fans claim that Hillary Clinton-funded robots are responsible for the hashtags trending status, that its a classic false flag. But the hashtag has been in use, at least sporadically, since 2011, and only picked up steam after the airing of this very funny Jimmy Kimmel End Womens Suffrage bit, which was remade, but in a less-good way, as recently as earlier this month.

The Trump campaigns strategy between now and election day will be to trot out women who have accused Bill Clinton of sexual abuse at every turn, according to a report by Bloomberg. But Trump supporters strategy seems to be to doubt women who make nearly identical accusations against Trump.

#NextFakeTrumpVictim is the new thing Trump supporters are yelling about today. Some are claiming that the women who have come forward to The New York Times, Palm Beach Post, and People Magazine brought their charges at a suspicious time. Others are saying that the accusers credibility is nonexistent because the women didnt file charges at the time of their assaults. Others, parroting Trump surrogate talking points, say that too much time has elapsed between the alleged incidents and their coming forward publicly. Almost every point made by Trump supporters and surrogates against Trumps accusers weakens their own argument against Bill Clinton, the hand upon which they are betting it all.

At the core of both of these dismaying trends, that woman cant be trusted to vote or accurately recount what happened to their bodies, is the unwavering belief that women lie, and Donald Trump tells the truth. Except not when hes bragging about sexually assaulting women. Or putting Hillary Clinton in jail. Hes not lying then, either. Hes joking. And he seriously expects voters to believe this.
Donald Trumps misogyny has sent himand the Republican Partyto unfathomable depths of unpopularity. And nowhere is it more pronounced than the state of Utah, which has voted Republican for over 50 years.

Both Clinton and Trump are running behind their partys traditional support in the state, and in a remarkable turn of events, former Congressional aide and CIA operative Evan McMullin is mounting a credible, independent challenge to beat them both in the state.

Clinton and Trump both received 26 percent support in Utah, while independent candidate Evan McMullin moved into a statistical tie, with 22 percent, according to Salt Lake City polling firm Y2 Analytics. The survey was taken after news of a leaked tape showing Trump bragging about sexual assault.

People in Utah are really conflicted because they believe that Trump is bad, but Hillary is worse. And there is also righteous indignation that [Republicans] have been aligned with such a terrible person, said an aide for a Republican member of Congress from Utah.

For comparison, in 2008 Sen. John McCain beat Barack Obama in the state, 62 percent to 35 percent. Romney, a popular Mormon presidential candidate, beat Obama here, 73 percent to 25 percent. The state hasnt supported a non-Republican for president since 1964.

Both Trump and Clinton are under-performing historical trends here, said a source working on a Republican campaign in the state. We were definitely surprised by the poll results This is a wide-open race.

Trump has acknowledged his unpopularity there, telling a Florida audience in August that he was having a tremendous problem in Utah. Even among Republicans, he is deeply disliked: 86 percent voted for Ted Cruz or John Kasich in the March GOP caucuses.

That McMullin, who has no traditional base or party apparatus to rely on, has been able to tie Clinton and Trump in the polls is a testament to just how much voters in the state, dominated by socially conservative Mormons, are shunning both parties.

McMullin strategist Rick Wilson believes that the McMullin campaign has nowhere to go but up, estimating that seven to eight percentage points of Clintons support is from disgusted Republicans who dont think they have other options.

Trump is dressing himself up in a suicide vest in this campaign, Wilson quipped.

It comes down to the idea that both Clinton and Trump are embarrassingly bad as candidates. Trump is so over the top crazy, so crude and vulgarian; and the folks that are flocking to us are conservatives that feel that theres nowhere else to turn to in this campaign, Wilson said. In Utah youre seeing that a lot of the [congressional] delegation is saying, enoughIm not going to be playing this game anymore.

Many Republicans in the Utah Congressional delegation have disavowed Trumpand some have never endorsed.

Its just [Trumps] stylein Utah, generally what is regarded as the proper style for politicians is that they should be thoughtful, kind and generous, attentiveeven if youre very conservative, said Matthew Burbank, a politics professor at the University of Utah. Voters in Utah are also repulsed, he said, by Trumps backstory: the multiple marriages, the womanizingand this tape just fits into that.

Sen. Mike Lee stood against Trump during the Republican convention and tried to prevent him nomination, while lawmakers like Reps. Mia Love and Jason Chaffetz said they could no longer support Trump after the leaked tape. GOP Sen. Orrin Hatch, meanwhile, continues to support the nominee.

Moving forward, whether Utahs GOP congressional delegation endorses McMullin or takes no action at all will be a joint decision, said a source working on a Republican campaign in Utah, who added that discussions on how to proceed were ongoing.

But its not only the congressional delegation that has qualms with Trump: the states governor, Gary Herbert, said he would support neither Clinton nor Trump, describing the leaked tape comments as despicable. Jon Huntsman, a former governor and GOP presidential candidate, went even further by calling on Trump to drop out of the race.

Utahs Mormon population, which makes up approximately 60 percent of the state, will have significant sway over what happens next. Deseret News, a news outlet owned by the Mormon church, recently put out an editorial calling upon Trump to resign.

We are neutral on matters of partisan politics. We do, however, feel a duty to speak clearly on issues that affect the well-being and morals of the nation, the editorial board wrote. Considering his conduct and comportment, we do not believe Trump holds the ideals and values of this community or this paper.

The Mormon community has long been alienated by Trumps politicsin particular when the politician called for banning all Muslims from the United States, a ban which for them brought flashbacks of when Mormons were persecuted as a group for their religion.

It was the same sentiment that led a dying Mormon politician from Utah to renounce Trump from his deathbed back in May.

Are there any Muslims in the hospital? former Sen. Bob Bennett asked, as he was passing away from pancreatic cancer. Id love to go up to every single one of them to thank them for being in this country, and apologize to them on behalf of the Republican Party for Donald Trump.
Wu-Tang Clan master producer RZA has made his choice in the presidential race, and hes backing the candidate he believes is the best man for the job: Hillary Clinton.

I think Mrs. Clinton is qualified, RZA told The Daily Beast this week in Los Angeles. The reason I think shes qualified is because I think shes smart. I watched all the candidates, and even when you had Mr. Sanders, whom I respect, shes the smartest one in the room, yo!

She has the experience and she has the wisdom, he continued, praising the Democratic presidential nominee he vows to vote for in November. When they say the best man for the job we keep forgetting that it says, All men are created equal. That means black man, brown man, red man, yellow man, white man, wo-man. All created equal. And I would love to see that practicethat principlenot just because its her, but because right now shes the most qualified. We dont have anyone more qualified to choose from.

Wu-watchers took note last month when RZA, in a podcast with Interpols Paul Banks, seemed to praise GOP nominee Donald Trump. Im like, Thats New York, man. You could go to any pizzeria and talk to a guy like that, and youre going to get the same thing! he said of Trumps unapologetically egocentric persona in a Sept. 15 Talkhouse Music podcast.

Sitting in the aisles at Hollywoods historic Egyptian Theatre after live-scoring the Shaw Bros. kung fu classic The 36th Chamber of Shaolin to classic Wu-Tang beats at Beyond Fest, he clarified those comments: They were not by any means an official endorsement.

Listen, if Mr. Trump gets up there and says something smart, Im going to always vouch for the truth, he said, explaining that hed been referring to specific statements Trump made about inner-city educational programs. That particular speech he made was about education. It was about taking billions of dollars to help kids in lower income homes go to the school of their choice, invest in the kid, let the money follow the kid from preschool all the way up to 12th grade. Thats smart. Wu-Tang is for the children. If Mr. Trump speaks something for the children, Im going to say, Heyhe finally said something I agree with. If he says something wrong Im going to say I disagree with it, and the same thing for Mrs. Clinton.

RZA, who cofounded the seminal rap outfit the Wu-Tang Clan in the early 1990s and built a two-decade career in music and film with a reported net worth of $18 million, did admit he has respect for Trumpjust not as commander in chief. Trumps Grab them by the pussy comment, said RZA, sounds like a total 22-year-old drunk kid that does shit like that. And even then its wrong.

As a New Yorker I can understand his personality, he said. But hes running for president so his qualifications and his demeanor have to match the qualities of the job. Im not going to hire a house painter to paint me a portrait even though hes a painter! Even though hes a corporate man and a businessman and an icon, hes all these things, as presidential materialto sit here and represent our countrys interests and needsthats something, to me, that he hasnt shown me personally.

But he did his shit as a businessman, Im not going to knock him for that, he added. Some rappers rap about chasing girls and popping pills and they sell a lot of records. I dont complain about what they do. But would I take that rapper and say, I want you to move into my house? No! Keep that over there. My family, we want Hillary Clinton.

Its time, RZA says, that America puts a woman in the Oval Office.

I will be honored and proud of the United States of America that elects the first female president, he said. Im glad that we did it for a black mana beautiful black man. If you look at the history of this country, women werent given their rights until after slavery. So I think its only proper, just for the meaning of what we say we are, to see a woman sit in the White House.

RZAs touring a hybrid project that, in some ways, is the ultimate culmination of his hip-hop career and the cinematic influences that helped shape it. In RZA: Live From the 36th Chamber of Shaolin, he lovingly pairs a contemporary hip-hop soundtrack with Liu Chia-liangs 1978 martial-arts classic about a monk, San Te (Gordon Liu), on a quest to achieve kung fu excellence and teach civilians to stand up to their oppressive government. Standing solo in front of a cinema screen, he scores San Tes journey in front of a live audience, mixing classic Wu-Tang tracks into the films dialogue and sound cues, filling quiet moments with throbbing beats that infuse Shaolin with the energy and attitude of Staten Islands Killa Bees.

For me it was homage, said RZA, who credits the idea to a brainstorm with Alamo Drafthouse and Fantastic Fest founder Tim League. Ive sampled those films and watched them and gotten inspiration from them, and now I can control the mood and the vibe of it. Im realizing some of my music is very nostalgic in a waysome of those songs are 20-years-old now. Its just a beautiful thing that the movie itself inspired my generation, and my music inspired a generation, and now we might have another chance to inspire another generation with the combination of the two.

RZAs 36th Chamber project also synthesizes the Eastern cinematic and philosophical influences that shaped his art and life. Hip-hop, he theorizes, is a form of martial arts in its own way: Its about battling, its about training, its about discipline, its introspective. Some of the lyrics can be very uplifting in the sense of the meaning behind what somebody is saying. Some of the lyrics are spiritual. And some of the lyrics are vicious and violent.

The Wu-Tang style of hip-hop, we call it lyrical swordplay, he added. If you look at other forms of hip-hop, the breakdancing is very acrobatic as martial arts can be, the graffiti goes back to the calligraphy of writingwhich is also very important in martial arts. These things have their common denominators.

Given the impact cross-cultural influences had on his own lifeWu-Tang is named for another Gordon Liu martial arts flick, Shaolin and Wu TangRZA blasted the racist Fox News segment in which Jesse Watters went trolling in New Yorks Chinatown just to mock the Asians and Asian Americans he found on the street.

I think thats so foolish, RZA said. In todays age, no culture can ridicule any other culture. You cannot find a culture on earth that has not been inspired and influenced by another culture. How can you deny beauty, unless youre so ugly? If youre ugly inside, the only thing you see is a reflection of yourself, and you cant see the beauty because theres so much ugliness in you.

RZA, who next takes his 36th Chamber of Shaolin live-score to his hometown of New York City, also mulled over the current state of police brutality in America and how the films anti-authoritarian message resonated as strongly with him as a teenager as it does today. This movie struck a nerve with me on a political level at the age of 14 because I didnt know that oppression existed outside of my own community or outside of the black mans suffering in America. I was like, OK, I dig it now. I can see this is something that was not just inflicted upon my people; its a misuse of power of man thats happened across history.

Police brutality and abuses of power are nothing new, he noted. But in the age of Black Lives Matter, its crucial that misuses of deadly force, particularly those that result in tragic deaths, are scrutinized. Im happy were able to see it now, that people are capturing it. A cop is supposed to be a hero. Youre here to serve and protect the people. We pay for the service. Imagine if you paid me to come to your house and clean your house and I broke all the dishes. We pay for their service, and theyre misusing their service.

He was emphatic, however, to point out a positive interaction hed had the night before with a cop in Phoenix. The only thing I had on were my pajamas and New York Yankees hat, he began. Dont ask me why! He was like, Are you from New York, or do you just like the Yankees? I said, Both. He said, Hey! Im from Queens. It was a nice white cop, he was on his bike, and he helped me out. But he was probably properly trained. If I were looking for cops I would go, When Tommy was in school, he was a good guy. Thats what you want in a police force.
SAN DIEGO, Oct. 13, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- BioNano Genomics, the leader in physical genome mapping, together with Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) Investigator and new Rockefeller University Professor, Erich Jarvis, Ph.D., today announced that his team will use BioNano Genomics Next Generation Mapping (NGM) combined with Pacific Biosciences sequencing technology to construct thousands of vertebrate reference genomes in the Vertebrate Genomes Project.



Dr. Jarviss lab and his collaborator Dr. Olivier Fredrigo, co-director of the Duke University Genome Sequencing Center, performed a systematic evaluation of available DNA sequencing and scaffolding technologies. They concluded that a combination of BioNanos NGM and PacBio sequencing will yield one of the most well-structured and informative genome assemblies, making the technologies a very good combination for establishing reference quality genomes.

Dr. Jarvis has purchased an Irys System for next-generation mapping to play an integral role in generating quality reference genomes for the Genome 10K (G10K) and Bird 10,000 Genomes (B10K) projects. The mission of G10K and B10K projects is to generate high-quality references, diploid to multiploid, genomes of vertebrate species. For future sequencing of species, Dr. Jarvis and other members of these projects plan to generate sequence assemblies with the Pacific Biosciences Sequel System and an optical map with BioNanos Irys System. Combining both outputs using BioNanos hybrid scaffolding software yields high-quality reference genomes.

Genomics research over the past 20 years has produced an unprecedented amount of information and has increased our understanding of the molecular basis for evolution and disease. The addition of next-generation Irys System mapping to the G10K and B10K projects is expected to produce high-quality reference genomes that will allow discovery of structural variations and complete structure of genes that control complex traits and their disorders. Revealing the accurate and complete structure of the thousands of vertebrate genomes will also help researchers understand vertebrate evolution. As such, the project members hope to secure additional Irys Systems to support an increased rate of sequencing and mapping of vertebrate genomes.

Dr. Jarviss work and scientific vision for genomics projects is fundamental to advancing how we understand the diversity of life and how genome variation relates to human health and disease, said Erik Holmlin, Ph.D., CEO of BioNano Genomics. The scope of the Vertebrae Genomes Project has impressed us and we look forward to our Irys System contributing to its success in generating complete genome maps of the highest quality for all vertebrate species. The project reflects validation from published research and recognition by the genomics community that optical mapping using BioNanos Irys System makes an influential difference in identifying structural variations in human and animal genomes.

About G10K and B10K Vertebrate Genomes Project Sequencing Labs

The ongoing G10K project aims to sequence the genomes of 10,000 vertebrate species, representing at least one species per vertebrate genus, and the ongoing B10K project aims to sequence the genomes of all 10,500 bird species on Earth. Dr. Jarvis is one of the co-leaders of G10K, along with Steve OBrien of the Dobzhansky Center for Genome Bioinformatics, David Haussler and Beth Shapiro of the UCSC Genome Institute, and Oliver Ryder of UC San Diego. He is also one of the co-founders of the B10K project, along with Guojie Zhang affiliated at BGI in China and Denmark, and Thomas Gilbert of the University of Copenhagen in Denmark. Dr. Jarvis will set up an operational hub for these projects, to be located at the Rockefeller University and possibly the New York Genome Center (NYGC), where BioNano and PacBio platforms will reside.

This hub will involve working with the worlds leading experts and institutions in genomics, including the National Center for Biotechnology (NCBI) in the U.S., ENSEMBL and the Sanger Institute in the UK, and BGI in China. They will receive vertebrate DNA samples from participating investigators across the world. Over the next three years, they hope to generate high quality chromosomal-level genome assemblies of at least 1,000 species representing each of the 1,000 vertebrate taxonomic families. With these 1,000 species, the consortia plan to conduct a series of focused studies, including studies on complex behavioral and brain traits, a genome-scale vertebrate family-level tree, and unmatched analytical power for detecting selection on every base in the human genome, all of which will impact studies on health and disease. All genomes produced through the G10K and B10K projects will be publicly available.

For more information or if you are an investigator or sponsor interested in becoming involved in or providing funding support for their projects, please visit the G10K (https://genome10k.soe.ucsc.edu) and the B10K (http://b10k.genomics.cn/index.html) websites.

About BioNano Genomics

BioNano Genomics, Inc., the leader in next-generation mapping, provides customers with genome analysis tools that advance human, plant and animal genomics and accelerate the development of clinical diagnostics. The Companys Irys System uses NanoChannel arrays integrated within the IrysChip to image DNA at the single-molecule level with average single-molecule lengths of about 350,000 base pairs, which leads the genomics industry. The long-range genomic information obtained with the Irys System helps decipher complex DNA involving repeats, which are the primary cause of inaccurate and incomplete genome assembly.

On its own, next-generation mapping with the Irys System enables detection of structural variants, many of which have been shown to be associated with human disease as well as complex traits in plants and animals. As a companion to next-generation sequencing, next-generation mapping with the Irys System integrates with sequence assemblies to create contiguous hybrid scaffolds that reveal the highly informative native structure of the chromosome.

BioNano Genomics provides long-range genomic information with cost-efficiency and throughput to keep up with advances in next-generation sequencing.

The Irys System has been adopted by a growing number of leading institutions around the world, including: National Cancer Institute (NCI), National Institutes of Health (NIH), Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, BGI, Garvan Institute, Salk Institute, Mount Sinai and Washington University. Investors in the Company include Domain Associates, Legend Capital, Novartis Venture Fund and Monashee Investment Management.

For more information, please visit www.BioNanoGenomics.com.

Notes: BioNano Genomics is a trademark of BioNano Genomics, Inc. Any other names of actual companies, organizations, entities, products or services may be the trademarks of their respective owners.
DENVER, Oct. 13, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- General Cannabis Corporation (OTCQB:CANN) announced today announced today that it has been made aware of and requested by the OTC Markets Group, Inc. to comment on recent trading and promotional activity concerning CANN common stock.

On October 12, 2016, OTC Markets informed the Company that it became aware of certain promotional activities concerning General Cannabis and its common stock. OTC Markets informed the company that it had received copies of promotional newsletter emails encouraging investors to purchase the Company's common stock. The Company has been informed that this promotional activity coincided with higher than average trading volume in the Company's stock. The Company was unaware of the promotional activity until informed by OTC Markets and is unaware of the full nature and content of this promotional activity, the responsible parties and the extent of the email newsletters' dissemination.

General Cannabis Corporation states definitively that the Company, its officers, directors and, to the Company's knowledge, its controlling shareholders (i.e., shareholders owning 10% or more of the Company's securities) have not, directly or indirectly, authorized or been involved in any way (including payment to a third-party) with the creation or distribution of promotional materials including these email newsletters; and that the Company, its officers, directors and, to the knowledge of the Company, any controlling shareholders, have not sold or purchased the Company's securities within the past 30 days other than as specified below. Further, the Company has not, other than disclosed in its Form 8-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on September 26, 2016 disclosing the offering pursuant to which the Company issued an aggregate of 4,500,000 Series A Warrants exercisable at $0.35 per share and 4,500,000 Series B Warrants exercisable at $0.70 per share, none of which have been exercised, issued any shares or convertible instruments allowing conversion to equity securities at prices constituting a discount to the current market rate at the time of the issuance.

"The Company is not aware of the promotional materials' author or its affiliated entities or persons. The Company's recent press releases have reported on and provided disclosure of legitimate and ongoing corporate activity only, and are not part of any promotional activities or campaign," stated Robert Frichtel, CEO of General Cannabis. The Company encourages those interested in the Company to rely solely on information included in its press releases combined with its filings and disclosures made with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

On October 12, 2016, Robert Frichtel, CEO of General Cannabis, filed a Form 144 indicating his intent to sell 100,000 shares in accordance with Rule 144. On October 12, 2016, Mr. Frichtel sold 25,000 shares of common stock in open market transactions. These sales were made prior to Mr. Frichtel being made aware of the promotional activity. Mr. Frichtels intended sale is in compliance with all Company policies and procedures and Mr. Frichtel has stated that he is not aware of any non-public material information. Mr. Frichtel intends to make any required filings within the requisite time period disclosing any sales.

About General Cannabis Corporation

General Cannabis Corporation is the all-in-one resource for the highest quality service providers available to the regulated Cannabis Industry. We are a trusted partner to the cultivation, production and retail side of the cannabis business. We do this through a combination of strong operating divisions such as real estate, consulting, security, financing and the distribution of important infrastructure products to grow facilities and dispensaries. As a synergistic holding company, our subsidiaries are able to leverage the strengths of each other, as well as a larger balance sheet, to succeed. Our website address is www.generalcann.com.



Safe Harbor

This presentation contains forward-looking statements which relate to future events or General Cannabis future performance or financial condition. Any statements that are not statements of historical fact (including statements containing the words believes, should, plans, anticipates, expects, estimates and similar expressions) should also be considered to be forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance, condition or results and involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements as result of a number of factors, including those described from time to time in General Cannabis filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. General Cannabis undertakes no duty to update any forward-looking statements made herein.
Absolut creates Facet bottle with Ardagh

Absolut is continuing to work closely with Ardagh Group and has collaborated to launch its latest limited edition bottle, Absolut Facet.

Ardagh designers and technologists, working with Pernod-Ricard's Absolut, have developed a new colour and shape to create a blue bottle featuring an asymmetric design.

Gaia Gilardini, global communications director, Absolut, says: With the Absolut Facet limited edition bottle, we want to celebrate the unexpected and encourage people be open to the different journeys a night could take you. We believe the best nights are the ones that happen out of the blue - unplanned and spontaneous. To further demonstrate this, our latest #AbsolutNights campaign also aims to inspire people to celebrate spontaneity and the connections you make along the way.

The round edges of the Facet bottle have been cut like a gem, creating a number of faces that catch the light in unique ways. Achieving this effect and recreating the precise colour was one of several challenges that Ardagh met before producing the bottles at its plant in Limmared, Sweden, as Fredrik Kallqvist, from Ardagh describes:

We have been closely involved in several ground breaking Absolut projects such as Unique with four million differently designed bottles, but each new project encourages us to raise the bar even higher and Facet is no exception. Bringing such a complex design into volume production required painstaking and very detailed preparation, as did replicating the colour to the highest degree of consistency across the complex design and to the required wall thickness.

Creating such packaging innovation is only possible when you have the total support of your customer, and as with all our joint projects, our successful working relationship with the Absolut team assured that it was a smooth process.

To further market the launch of Facet, Absolut is working with Spotify, to develop a digital platfrom called Discovr. The service creates randomised playlists based on the music tastes of friends, whilt recommending Absolut drinks inspired by the tunes.

Absolut Facet will be launched by Absolut at a global event in Amsterdam inspired by the design of the bottle. The event will be in collaboration with the Amsterdam Dance Event, October 19-23, 2016. Precisely 2.5 million bottles have been produced for the limited edition series and will be distributed worldwide.

13 October 2016 - Sam Coyne The Drinks Report, editorial assistant
From questions on how diverse their departments are to how citizens should react when pulled over by an aggressive officer, local police chiefs answered questions from the community Wednesday as part of a panel intended to end what organizers call a "black-white binary."

The panel was the second event of the three-part series "The State of Race and Policing in America" put on by the Bush School of Government and Public Service. Panelists Texas A&M University Police Assistant Chief Mike Johnson, Bryan Police Chief Erick Buske and College Station Police Chief Scott McCollum were moderated by visiting professor Brian Williams, author of Citizen on Community Policing, during the forum at the Annenberg Presidential Conference Center.

The event was personal for audience member Helita Garcia Alonso, who used her audience question as a platform to ask about the rate at which Bryan police search and arrest Hispanic and black residents in Bryan, referencing a report mandated by the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement. Alonso, who works at the Santa Teresa Catholic Church on Lucky Street in Bryan, said it is concerning that the majority of people pulled over for traffic violations are minorities when car ownership is higher among the white population. She called on the Bryan Police Department to look deeper into the statistics.

"The people we serve at Santa Teresa Church, when they are stopped, more than likely, they are probably going to be arrested," Alonso said in the last few minutes of the program. "So I think you need to help us understand, what is it that we can do so it can not be as disproportionate as it is."

Buske said that BPD pays a consultant to analyze data on its traffic reports for unfair targeting every year. He said Bryan's records are consistent with national levels, and that an increase in traffic tickets is often seen in areas where people live on the poverty line. This is in part, he said, because these populations often drive older cars more likely to have violations and because officers are frequently called to these areas, increasing their likelihood of writing citations in the area.

The panel also was asked to delve into the biggest obstacles their departments face. Answers ranged from establishing trust with the community and showing transparency to attracting officers of character and removing "bad apples" from the line of duty.

McCollum said it's the responsibility of officers in administrative positions to weed out these bad apples, and to ensure that officers have quality training needed to be effective in the community. He said part of this training is being able to "flip the switch" between "guardian" mode and "warrior" mode.

Buske said establishing effective training isn't an easy task, as officers often are asked to be a jack-of-many-trades. For example, he said, training on how to handle people with mental illness has improved, but officers don't have the years of education psychologists have.

McCollum said attracting officers who have the character and multifaceted skills for the job is difficult, because many top candidates are drawn to other white-collar jobs.

"Law enforcement is a comfortable job, but when you have corporations knocking on your door, that's a hard mountain [for us] to climb," McCollum said.

This also makes it hard to attract a diverse group of officers, said Buske, adding that in an ideal world the demographics of the department would match that of the community. Drawing on his experience as a black man who is a member of UPD, Johnson said departments also would benefit from a mentorship program.

"As a minority in this line of work, a lot of times you step in, and some of the departments are not as diverse, and you work your way through that, dealing with those challenges," Johnson said.

As audience members asked more questions throughout the night, the conversation increasingly veered toward racial profiling. Justin Gardner, an A&M graduate student, asked how police departments can build trust with a community of minorities that has been treated as "subhuman," referencing what he said is the historical disadvantage put on the black population since the days of slavery. Another audience member asked whether officers thought the Blue Lives Matter movement undercut the meaning of the previously established Black Lives Matter movement.

To this, officers said Black Lives Matter and subsequent movements all represent a hunger to have voices heard. McCollum said while he thinks the verbiage "Black Lives Matter" confuses the organizers' intent, he recognizes the need to work with activist groups to make the community safe.

McCollum cited a recent case where activists called the police ahead of their protest to make sure the event was safe. He said he had his department call back and offer a meeting with the group, and after a conversation that ran an hour long, he said both groups had established a solid working relationship that continues today.

Local resident Lenea Banks said she liked that the panelists discussed the strengths of their departments and the areas that can use improvement.

"They acknowledged that things can be done on both sides," Banks said, adding that she will attend the next lecture in November, which will feature University of Kansas professor Charles Epp.
CLEARWATER, Fla., Oct. 13, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Over 130 young ladies from several Tampa Bay organizations enjoyed a day just for them on Saturday the 8th of October when they celebrated the International Day of the Girl at the Church of Scientologys religious retreat in Clearwater, the Fort Harrison. The Day of the Girl was established by the United Nations in 2012 to ensure a world free of discrimination for young women and girls.



A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/4157ebee-28e0-46f3-bc45-3eb7571f222c

Gracia Bennish, President of United for Human Rights Florida, opened the event, welcoming the guests. She spoke of how women must ensure that they dont accept inequality.

Today, confronting the challenges of gender inequality and women empowerment is here to stay, said Ms. Bennish. This is a huge subject, as it touches the very fabric of life. Women throughout the world are realizing they have human rights; the right to education, equal pay for equal work, reproductive rights, the right not to be enslaved or tortured, the right to democracy.

Several stories were told of young women who are making a difference in their own ways: like the 8 year old girl who wrote to President Obama to get his help in cleaning up the lead-filled water in her small city of Flint, Michigan and actually getting his help; or the girl who raised over $100,000 selling lemonade to support a non-profit fighting human trafficking.

At Saturdays event, an award was presented to a local 14-year-old, Sally, for her outstanding community work. Getting started when she was just 12 years old, Sally raised money for cancer research, toys for other kids and to feed the homeless. Her work has expanded rapidly, so much so that she established her own non-profit organization.

Dylan Pires, Community Affairs Director for the Church of Scientology in Clearwater closed out the afternoon by thanking the guests for all they are doing to improve our communities and told them, The doors of The Fort Harrison are open for your non-profit organizations and any other charities that are doing what is needed to correct abuses and build a better community.

About the Fort Harrison Religious Retreat:

Since its construction in 1927, the Fort Harrison has been the home to many charitable events and community organizations. The Fort Harrisons current owner, the Church of Scientology, has hosted over 500 community events there since its top-to-bottom restoration in 2009. The Scientology religion was founded by humanitarian and philosopher, L. Ron Hubbard and incorporated in 1954. It has since expanded to more than 11,000 churches, missions and affiliated groups in 167 nations. To learn more, visit www.scientology-fso.org.
Texas A&M University has hit a record-high fall enrollment of 66,426 students, school officials announced today.

Of that figure, 60,979 students are on the College Station campus.

That makes it the largest in Texas by terms of enrollment.

Overall enrollment is up by nearly 3,000 students, including 2,464 just at the College Station campus.

Other figures from the report:

- This fall has a record-high enrollment of 15,647 Hispanic and African-American students

- The university has 5,907 international students enrolled

- The Corps of Cadets has 2,530 members this fall, the highest level since 1970. Two units were reactivated this year to accommodate the additional students

- The university maintained its record of having about one-quarter of freshman students be the first in their family to attend college

In May, the university awarded 15,302 degrees, a record as well.

Setting record enrollment is not one of our goals, but we are obviously pleased that so many young men and women want to pursue their college careers at Texas A&Mbright young men and women who will be among the future leaders of our great state and nation, University President Michael K. Young said in a press release.

The numbers, taken on the 20th class day and reported to the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, include students from Texas A&Ms branch campus in Galveston, along with the Texas A&M College of Medicine, Texas A&M College of Nursing, Texas A&M College of Dentistry, Texas A&M Irma Lerma Rangel College of Pharmacy, Texas A&M School of Public Health and the Texas A&M School of Law.

It does not include students enrolled at the Texas A&M branch campus in Qatar, students who have exceeded semester credit hour caps, and non-resident students pursuing degrees by distance education who are taking courses from out of state or other non-funded students.
A long-term goal of ending corporate impunity

Because it is not possible to bring criminal charges against Monsanto, tribunal organizers say, it is necessary to initiate civil actions. They write:

"Critics of Monsanto claim that the company has been able to ignore the human and environmental damage caused by its products and pursue its devastating activities through a systematic concealment strategy through lobbying regulators and government authorities, lying, corruption, commissioning bogus scientific studies, putting pressure on independent scientists, and manipulating the press. Our endeavor is based on the observation that only through civic action will we be able to achieve compensation for victims of the American multinational."

The tribunal organizers also recognize that a company like Monsanto does not exist in a vacuum, but rather is part of a larger system that is imperiling the world's environment:

"Monsanto's history is a paradigm for the impunity of transnational corporations and their management, who contribute to climate change and the depletion of the biosphere and threaten the security of the planet.

Monsanto is not the only focus of our efforts. Monsanto will serve as an example for the entire agro-industrial system whereby putting on trial all multinationals and companies that employ entrepreneurial behavior that ignore the damage wrecked on health and the environment by their actions."

Tribunal will follow customary international law

Lawyers and judges from five continents will be involved in hearing evidence and handing down findings in December. Customary international law will be followed in all proceedings, tribunal organizers say:

"The Tribunal will employ as its legal guidelines: the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, adopted by the Council of the UN Human Rights June 2011; the Rome Statute establishing the International Criminal Court (ICC) giving it jurisdiction to try alleged perpetrators of genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and crimes of aggression.

The UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights is the international authority on the responsibilities of business with regard to human rights. The guidelines state that companies must respect all human rights, including the right to life, the right to health and the right to a healthy environment. They define society's expectations vis-a-vis businesses. They will serve as the basis on which plaintiffs will build their case for demanding compensation from Monsanto for damage caused by the company's activities.

The Court will consider whether Monsanto's conduct could be considered criminal pursuant to existing international criminal law, or under the law of ecocide, which is gaining support for consideration as an offence."

Using international treaties as a basis for adjudicating these questions, the tribunal will focus on six topics:

The right to a healthy environment.

The right to health.

The right to food.

Freedom of expression and academic research.

Complicity in war crimes.

The crime of ecocide.

Monsanto has been invited to present a defense and supporting documents against any evidence presented against it. The company has declined to participate, citing a statement issued last December in which it calls the tribunal a "publicity stunt" by people "not interested in dialogue", adding that it is "is not against organic agriculture".

But in announcing its latest financial results, Monsanto did predict "continued strong penetration of key soybean traits, global corn germplasm upgrades and spend discipline" for 2017. So no change in its behavior should be expected.

Monsanto wants to tell you what to eat

Monsanto's march toward control of the world's food supply is focused on proprietary seeds and genetically modified organisms. Standard contracts with seed companies forbid farmers from saving seeds, requiring them to buy new genetically engineered seeds from the company every year and the herbicide to which the seed has been engineered to be resistant.

The US environmental group Food & Water Watch, in its report Monsanto: A Corporate Profile, summarizes the corporation's power:

"Monsanto is a global agricultural biotechnology company that specializes in genetically engineered (GE) seeds and herbicides, most notably Roundup herbicide and GE Roundup Ready seed. GE seeds have been altered with inserted genetic material to exhibit traits that repel pests or withstand the application of herbicides.

"In 2009, in the United States alone, nearly all (93%) of soybeans and four-fifths (80%) of corn were grown with seeds containing Monsanto-patented genetics. The company's power and influence affects not only the US agricultural industry, but also political campaigns, regulatory processes and the structure of agriculture systems all over the world ...

"Because of Monsanto's market dominance, its products are changing the face of farming, from the use of Monsanto's pesticides and herbicides, to the genetic makeup of the food we eat. ... Monsanto has a close relationship with the US government, which helps it to find loopholes or simply create regulations that benefit its bottom line. Monsanto and other corporations have increasingly funded academic research from public universities, which they use to justify their latest products.

"Monsanto's international power has grown at an alarming rate, much to the dismay of developing countries that have inadvertently been exposed to its relentless business strategy. For all of these reasons, Monsanto has become a company that farmers and consumers around the world should fear."

India has no laws Monsanto is bound to respect

Vandana Shiva, a member of the International Monsanto Tribunal's steering committee, last year provided a case study in Monsanto's practices with an examination of how it forced its way into India.

The introduction of corporate agriculture has been so catastrophic in India that more than 300,000 farmers have committed suicide since 1995, with Dr. Shiva reporting that 84% of farmer suicides have been attributed to Monsanto's genetically engineered cotton.

She explains what she calls Monsanto's "outright illegality" in India as based on Monsanto claiming patent rights to its products even though patents on life forms are illegal in India; that its collections of royalties on unpatenable products have led to a wave of bankruptcies by farmers who struggle to survive in the best of times; and its "smuggling" of unapproved genetically modified organisms into India that "pose grave risks" to health. Dr. Shiva writes:

"India's laws do not permit patents on seeds and in agriculture. But that hasn't stopped Monsanto from collecting close to USD 900 million from small farmers in India, pushing them into crushing debt. This is roughly the same amount of money Monsanto spent buying The Climate Corporation - a weather big data company - in a bid to control climate data access in the future. ... [L]ocal seeds used to cost [a tiny fraction of the cost of Monsanto's seeds] before Monsanto destroyed alternatives, including local hybrid seed supply, through licensing arrangements and acquisitions."

Local pests developed resistance to Monsanto's GMO cotton, which releases toxins, forcing farmers to use more pesticides - an extra expense and environmentally destructive. Although this is bad for farmers, consumers and the environment, it is highly profitable for Monsanto. Dr. Shiva writes:

"Genetic engineering has not been able to deliver on its promises - it is just a tool of ownership. [Monsanto's genetically modified] Bt Cotton is not resistant to Bollworm, RoundUp Resistant varieties have only given rise to super weeds, and the new promises being made by biotech corporations of bio-fortification are laughable.

"There is no benefit to things like Golden Rice. By adding one new gene to the cell of a plant, corporations claimed they had invented and created the seed, the plant, and all future seeds, which were now their property.

"Monsanto does not care if your cotton field has Bollworm infestations, just so long as the crop can be identified as theirs and royalty payments keep flowing in. This is why the failure of Bt Cotton as a reflection of bad science does not bother them - the cash is still coming into St Louis. At its core, genetic modification is about ownership."

Farmers become Monsanto's hired hands

Seeds containing genes patented by Monsanto, the world's largest seed company, account for more than 90% of soybeans grown in the US and 80% of US-grown corn, according to Food & Watch Watch.

Standard contracts with seed companies forbid farmers from saving seeds, requiring them to buy new genetically engineered seeds from the company every year and the herbicide to which the seed has been engineered to be resistant. Farmers have become hired hands on their own farms under the control of Monsanto.

Worse, Monsanto has agreed to sell itself to Bayer A.G., the German chemical conglomerate with its own history of abuse. Should regulators allow these two corporations to merge, it would create the world's largest supplier of seeds and pesticides.

Bayer's chief executive officer, Werner Baumann, enthused that the proposed deal would "deliver substantial value to shareholders, our customers, employees and society at large." That 'value' for shareholders was mentioned first is all you need to know that profits and control are what this deal is really about.

What better monopoly could a corporation achieve than a monopoly in food? That has long been Monsanto's goal, and a merger with Bayer would only tighten its grip.

The unacceptable face of capitalism

This is not reducible, however, to simple greed or evilness. Grow or die is the ever-present mandate of capitalism and one result of that tendency is the drive toward monopolization - a small number of enterprises controlling an industry. Just because food is a necessity does not mean it is exempt from capitalism's relentless competitive pressures.

When markets are allowed to dictate social outcomes, actions like those of Monsanto are inevitable. Capitalist markets are nothing more than the aggregate interests of the most powerful industrialists and financiers.

And they have no interest in you knowing what is in your food, or even that it is safe.

Action: Ask Monsanto a question.

Pete Dolack is an activist, writer, poet and photographer, and writes on Systemic Disorder. His book 'It's Not Over: Lessons from the Socialist Experiment', a study of attempts to create societies on a basis other than capitalism, has just been published by Zero Books.

This article was originally published on Systemic Disorder.
The state terror didn't stop there. After police and paramilitary forces carried out a violent door-to-door search of houses in the six villages of Chapakala, Chipakhurd, Sonbarsa, Churchur, Arahar and Nagri, hundreds of families fled their homes - making all of them fugitives. While they are running from justice for trying to protect their lands, it's the coal miners and police chiefs that should be brought to justice.

This is just one recent example of India's coal war, which is everything but cold. Think it through and the madness of it all is dizzying. India is today a country where almost 1.3 billion people compete for space and access to natural resources that can give them a chance for leading a life in dignity. Whatever coal remains in the ground now is resting under land of high value, either because of an ecosystem or from a livelihood perspective.

So digging coal in India today boils down to destroying very valuable land and evicting ever more people through state violence. As a result, some really desparate but combative people join the ranks of rebel Naxalites. It's no coincidence that Jharkhant, the Walhalla for coal mining companies, is where their struggle has been most intense, often directed towards the coal mines. India's former Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, called the Naxalites "India's gravest security threat", but he could have said just the same about their chief enemy: the mining companies. Arundhati Roy wrote a by now famous essay about this.

However, aside from this violent branch of resistance, there is the much broader and bigger resistance to mining that simply consists of a multitude of communities who decide that they don't want to see their lands turned upside down with them being pushed to some lousy resettlement house with a dirty, underpaid and temporary job in the 'best case' scenario, and to the slums in the worst case.

This 'multitude' - those communities that don't want fossil fuel operations on their doorsteps or their lands - can be found in Lancashire and Dakota as well. When these communities connect and get attention beyond their locality, they become so powerful that in the end they can win.

Two things need to be added to the costs of coal mining and both are of concern to all of us. The first is climate change. Most readers of this piece are likely to care above-average' for the environment in general and climate change in particular. I assume most of us don't need an explanation why runaway climate change is a big problem for all of us and why any coal that is dug up adds to the problem, right? The latest climate science just said how much more new digging we can do if we want to do what the Paris Agreement aims to achieve. For coal, it's zero.

The second cost is air pollution. In Europe alone, effective emission limits could save thousands of lives every year, yet more than half of the coal power stations in Europe are operating with permission to pollute above limits' as set in EU law. These are the findings of a new report Lifting Europe's Dark Cloud: How cutting coal saves lives'. In the much less regulated coal power sector in India a much larger number of Indian lives could be saved by deciding to leave the coal in the hole.

When the people in Kusum Tola and Badkagaon in Jharkhand, India are shouting anti-coal slogans, they echo so many other communities around the globe. For them and for millions of others this struggle is necessary for their survival in the here and now. They don't fight because some violent storm might wreck them in the future. They don't fight because some dirty air might one day kill them. But while they are fighting their survival struggle in the present they are also fighting for the future of their compatriots and for the future of us all.

It is important that we pay respect to the real environmental heroes of our times: those at the fossil fuel frontlines.

This Author

Nick Meynen is one of The Ecologist New Voices contributors. He writes blogs and books on topics like environmental justice, globalisation and human-nature relationships.

http://www.epo.be/uitgeverij/boekinfo_auteur.php?isbn=9789064455803
CLEARWATER, Fla., Oct. 13, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- On November 5th 2016, the Church of Scientology Flag Service Organization and the six downtown Clearwater humanitarian centers supported by the Church are sponsoring a fall Downtown Block Party. The event will take place on the corner of Cleveland and South Fort Harrison Avenue from 6-10pm. The party is free to the community.

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/9ffb816d-e524-4d30-91a6-8ea69d6436f6

This Block Party follows the success of one held over the summer, commemorating the first anniversary of the opening of the Centers. The party brought together some 3,000 guests who enjoyed live music, activities, food from downtown restaurants and vendors as well as raffles for gift certificates donated by downtown merchants and a $500 VISA gift. Included in these celebrations are some non-profits that have partnered with the centers since their opening in July 2015.

In addition to the fun on November 5th, guests will be able to find out about the humanitarian initiatives supported by Scientologists the world over. These include: drug prevention, immorality, reinforcing human rights and championing mental health rights.

Since their opening, these centers have welcomed some 60,000 visitors and have partnered with over 400 like-minded individuals and organizations that work to improve Tampa Bay

The last Downtown Block party gave everyone a sense of belonging and inclusiveness, and this is something we see as important to creating a real sense of community, said Dylan Pires, Community Affairs Director for the Church of Scientology.

For more information on how to participate please contact Amber Skjelset, Manager of the Scientology Information Center, at 727-467-6966 or e-mail her at amber@cos.flag.org.

About the Church of Scientology:

The Scientology religion was founded by humanitarian and philosopher, L. Ron Hubbard. The first Church of Scientology was formed in the United States in 1954 and has expanded to more than 11,000 churches, missions and affiliated groups, with millions of members in 167 nations. Scientologists are optimistic about life and believe there is hope for a saner world and better civilization, and actively do all they can to help achieve this. Based on L. Ron Hubbards words, A community that pulls together can make a better society for all. The Church of Scientology regularly engages in many humanitarian programs and community events.
From the farm to your dinner table, here is a peek into what goes into real pig farming in the United States...

A big thank you to the National Pork Board, the National Pork Producers Council, & the Minnesota Pork Board for hosting me for Pass the Pork 2016. As always, all opinions & thoughts expressed below are 100% my own.





I have to admit that sometimes being a food & travel blogger is a pretty cool gig to have. Every so often I get an invite to travel to a different state, eat some amazing food, learn a little about a city or certain area of food production, and all while getting to hang out with a fabulous group of fellow bloggers. A couple of weeks ago I had the opportunity to travel to Minneapolis as part of the Pass the Pork blogger tour with the National Pork Board . While I am no stranger to buying, cooking up, & enjoying pork (have you guys seen all my recipes using bacon yet?? ;) ), I didn't know much about the actual production side of the pork industry, aka pig farming. I have always been one who has jumped at the chance to see firsthand just exactly where my food comes from, so I was excited that a visit to an actual Minnesota pig farm was on the trip's agenda.





The folks at Wakefield Pork graciously extended a full tour of their pig farming facility to the bloggers attending the Pass the Pork tour, and no question was off limits. I was really impressed with how transparent and gracious they were in explaining everything that goes into their pig farming process from breeding to market...

This baby piglet was less than a day old!





The Langhorst family at Wakefield Pork takes great care and pride in how their pigs are raised. Everything that is done on the farm is done for the benefit & comfort of the sows because let's face it- the sows are literally what bring home the bacon for the pig farmers. To ensure that nothing harmful gets to their pigs or leaves with you, everyone who visits Wakefield Pork has to go through what they call showering in & showering out. And it is exactly what it sounds like, folks. You take a shower before entering & then change into all new clothes (no make-up or hair products allowed- can you tell? ;) ). Then you go through the same process when leaving. This process allows the farmers to keep disease and sickness down thus producing more healthy pigs. And healthy pigs means more good quality pork products for you and I.





At Wakefield Pork, they breed, care for the sows, allow the sows to farrow (give birth), and then the piglets are kept with the sows for 18-19 days after birth. At that point, the piglets are transferred to a nursery until they are about 2 months old.

Photo Credit: National Pork Board





When the piglets are around 2 months old and 50 pounds, they are sent to local finishing barns that are contracted through Wakefield Pork. The pigs remain at the finishing barns until they are about 6 months old and reach a whopping weight of 270-290 pounds! Once they reach their target weight, they are sent to market and then for harvesting to be purchased by nationally known brands such as Hormel & Johnsonville. (Yes, folks. This is how you get bacon, and pork chops, and pulled pork, and ribs, and pork belly, and all the other pork deliciousness we all love, okay? ;) )





Though I learned so much about pig farming during our day at Wakefield Pork, I was most surprised to learn about just how sustainable & eco-friendly pig farming is. The manure from the pig farm and finishing barns is collected and then used on the cornfields of the pig farmers that work with Wakefield. Wakefield actually uses technology to analyze each farmer's fields and its soils so that they receive just the right amount of the fertilizer. This helps reduce unnecessary run-off of fertilizer into streams and water sources because only what the soil needs is used. The corn that is grown in these fields is actually used in the feed for the pigs. In fact, corn makes up to 60% of the feed that is given to the pigs. The pigs eat that feed, their manure is collected and used for fertilizer, and the whole cycle starts all over again. Because of these newer, more sustainable practices, pig farming has managed to reduce its water use by 40%, its land use by 80%, and in turn its carbon footprint is 35% smaller than it was in 1959.

After our tour of their pig farm, the Langhorst family showed us some true Minnesota hospitality and invited us back to their home for a lunch of smoked ribs and ham. And yep, they used that beast below to smoke the ribs. ;)

On our last day of the Pass the Pork tour, we headed to the Kitchen in the Market in downtown Minneapolis to witness the fabrication of a half pig by Neel Sahni, the Manager of Foodservice Marketing & Innovation for the National Pork Board. To actually see how the cuts of pork are broken down and cut was a pretty cool experience. ( CLICK HERE to see a short video of part of the fabrication process.)

Just a few tidbits and tips that I learned during the fabrication process that I want to pass along to you all...

The National Pork Board is currently working with the USDA to rename pork chops to the reflect the cuts of beef that most of us are already familiar with. So soon you will see pork chops in your local supermarket labeled as Ribeye chops, Sirloin roasts & chops, Porterhouse chops, and so on.

When selecting pork chops at your local grocery store, redder is better. Check the color of the meat away from fluorescent lights, if possible. Also look for chops that spring back when you gently push on them.

When buying other cuts like pork loins and roasts, pay attention to whether or not a solution of water, salt, and/or sugar has been added. If a solution has been added, the package must be labeled with that. It is a good idea to brine any cuts of pork that do not have a solution added, especially pork loins since they have less fat.

Photo Credit: National Pork Board





After the fabrication demonstration, we broke off into four different cooking teams to prepare the cuts of pork that we just watched get freshly butchered. I had the pleasure of preparing two different dishes with Mary Langhorst (co-owner of Wakefield Pork), Charlie Torgerson (executive chef and pit master of Charlie T's Foods), and the lovely Kellie Hemmerly of the blog, The Suburban Soapbox I took the helm for the preparing our Bahn Mi Burgers while Kellie headed up most of the prep for our Jamaican Jerk dish. :)

Once all the cooking was done and the final touches were added to each dish, it was time for the best part- getting to try all of the different dishes that we had made!









So I just may be totally biased here, but these little Bahn Mi Burgers my team whipped up were my favorite dish of the day. ;) In fact, they provided the inspiration for a tasty pork recipe that I will be sharing with you all on the blog next week, so be looking for it!





I couldn't have asked for a better experience learning about pig farming in Minnesota. From the breeding process all the way to the tasty dishes on our plates, we touched on just about every aspect of the pork industry in the United States. And I hope that I was able to pass along a little of that knowledge and insight on to you all in today's post. :)













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STUART, Fla., Oct. 13, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Over the past four days residents of Stuart, Florida and its neighboring cities in, a massive hurricane relief drive, provided nearly 100,000 pounds of items for The Bahamas' hurricane victims in Grand Bahama and Andros.



On Thursday, October 6th Hurricane Matthew plowed across the northern part of The Bahamas, as a category four storm, packing winds of up to 140 miles per hour. Although Bahamians had heeded warnings and prepared for the force of the storm, while sparing lives, Hurricane Matthew caused major damage and destruction to buildings, homes, electrical and communications infrastructure throughout New Providence, Grand Bahama and Andros Island.



Grand Bahama was one of the hardest hit and, with utility poles down, much of the island continues to be without power. It has been predicted that power may not be restored for weeks.



Against this background the residents of Stuart, Florida rallied to assist The Bahamas and donations have been pouring in. Private pilots have been using their time, fuel and planes to drop off a wide array of relief items from tarp and generators to food, water and basic personal items.



The massive operation out of Stuart Jet Center is the brainchild of Joseph Rieger, the owner of Blue Marlin Cove in Grand Bahama. Mr. Rieger orchestrated the outreach through his many contacts in the area and the owners/operators of the Jet Center, Jeff Cappen and his brothers, donated one of their hangers for the staging of the relief efforts.



On Wednesday Bahamas Minister of Tourism, and Member of Parliament for West End and Bimini, Obie Wilchcombe, released a formal statement expressing gratitude to Mr. Rieger and the people of Stuart for all that they are doing.



"It is with profound gratitude and appreciation, as the Member of Parliament for West Grand Bahama and Bimini, that I extend my appreciation and gratitude on behalf of the constituents to Mr. Joe Rieger of Blue Marlin Cove in Bootle Bay," he said.



"Mr. Rieger has tirelessly led a relief effort to assist the people by coordinating the collection of supplies, transportation and distribution to the community. Because of his efforts, a relief kitchen has been organized in West End. His efforts have also resulted in the preparation and distribution of relief packages. I am most grateful to him and his staff who have diligently, and with integrity, managed the process."



Patrick Aldrich, one of the lead organizers on the ground at the Jet Center, said that when the project began organizers thought that they would only be sending out a few planes to assist. Mr. Aldrich said he never imagined that the operation would grow to such a large undertaking where planes are flying out throughout the day with supplies and donations are pouring in rapidly.



He said that the efforts began on social media and went viral. "It just got blown up," he said. "People just kept sharing the information and even the media found out about it."



Dozens of volunteers are being used to assist in the efforts, from school children to church organizations and others who simply want to just lend a hand. The volunteers include persons from as far north as St. Augustine, which was also hit by Hurricane Matthew last week.



Jeff Capen shared why he was so happy to assist with the relief effort for The Bahamas. "I travel to The Bahamas and vacation there. I have friends there, wanted to help as soon as possible, and I wanted to be sure that the people who were affected by the storm were taken care of," he said.



The volunteers over the past few days have included students from Treasure Coast High School Junior Air Force ROTC. The students have been helping with the unloading of donations as they arrive, packing items and loading them onto planes for delivery.



Another group of volunteers assisting is from Empowered Masters Commission, a Bible College in Lake Wales, FL.



The operation at the Jet Center in Florida will continue through Friday, when remaining items will be taken down to South Florida to SEACOR Island Lines, where vessels there will ship the supplies to the islands.



SEACOR Island Lines is a shipping company that transports cargo to all of The Bahamas. Mike LaFleur, CEO of the company, said that they are working with private enterprises, foundations and individuals to ship relief cargo to the islands especially Andros and Freeport.



Of the massive operation in Stuart, Florida, he said "we are really hoping to replicate this effort down south." He added that his company would be assisting in relief efforts as long as needed because it has been operating in The Bahamas for years. "We are a part of the community and we want to help our friends, our colleagues, and the businesses."



When the relief operations in Stuart end on Friday, donations will continue to be collected at SEACOR Island Lines, 1300 Eller Drive, Fort Lauderdale tel 954-929-9292.



The Islands Of The Bahamas have a place in the sun for everyone. Each island has its own personality and attractions for a variety of vacation styles with some of the world's best scuba diving, fishing, sailing, boating, as well as, shopping and dining. The destination offers an easily accessible tropical getaway and provides convenience for travelers with preclearance through U.S. customs and immigration, and the Bahamian dollar is on par with the U.S. dollar. Do everything or do nothing, just remember It's Better in The Bahamas. For travel packages, activities and accommodations information, call 1-800-Bahamas or visit www.Bahamas.com. Look for The Bahamas on the web on Facebook Twitter and YouTube

Photos accompanying this release are available at:

http://www.globenewswire.com/newsroom/prs/?pkgid=41670

http://www.globenewswire.com/newsroom/prs/?pkgid=41671

CONTACT:Jeannie Gibson jgibson@bahamas.com (954) 236-9292
NORWALK  Had academic scholarships been as plentiful in his youth as they are today, Larry L. Bentley of the Norwalk High School Class of 1950 might be a retired medical doctor instead of a retired bank president.

But he did so well as a banker that in December 1987 he became the first African-American president of a Connecticut commercial bank, in this case Merchants Bank & Trust Company, once located at Wall and Isaacs streets in Norwalk.

This and wide participation in community activities will bring him installation to the Norwalk High School Alumni Association Wall of Honor at 3 p.m. Sunday in the Norwalk Inn & Conference Center.

As a teenager I had hoped for a career in medicine, but the Korean War broke out soon after our graduation and my best option was to enlist in the U.S. Navy, he said this week. The lack of financial support was another major factor, since I was raised by a single mother of modest means.

Emma Bentley had brought her three children from Jacksonville, Fla. to South Norwalk in the midst of the Great Depression. Larry was the oldest at 5 years of age. They settled in Raymond Street and Emma Bentley secured a job with a New Canaan laundry and dry cleaning establishment. They worshiped at Bethel AME Church then located on Knight Street.

Larry was a good student and was an honor graduate from NHS, where he had been elected to the National Honor Society and had been chosen to be a principal in the induction of the following class of society members. He was also elected vice president of his class.

As a Navy enlistee, Bentley was allowed to pick his assignment and chose to be a medical corpsman. After serving at hospitals and briefly aboard the celebrated battleship USS Missouri just before it was mothballed in Bremerton, Wash., he spent the rest of his tour aboard naval transport ships ferrying military personnel and their families and an occasional civilian refugee group once a month between Bremerton and Yokohama, Japan.

After discharge, he obtained a job as a messenger at Merchants Bank and through assiduous application over 31 years was awarded in December 1987 the presidency and responsibility of chief operating officer reporting to the chief executive officer. During his three-year stint at the top, the bank had total assets of about $600 million with six branches and 150 employees.

The precipitous decline of real estate values in the late 80s and early 90s led to a federal order to close and Bentley resigned. He was hired soon afterward by Norwalk Savings Bank, which was sold to Fleet Bank before being purchased by Summit Bank. He subsequently joined Bank of America and finally Patriot Bank before retiring in 2011 after 54 years in banking. While at Merchants, he graduated from two summer banking programs at Williams College.

Though apolitical by nature, Bentley has found favor with both major political parties in Norwalk. Democratic Mayor Frank N. Zullo (1965-71) appointed him to the Norwalk Housing Authority, the late Republican Mayor Frank J. Esposito (1987-2001) placed him on the Norwalk Police Commission and Republican Mayor Richard Moccia (2005-2013) put him on the Norwalk Zoning Commission for six years until 2010 and also set aside a special Larry L. Bentley Day when he presented the honoree with a key to the city.

Still involved in pro bono work, he is treasurer and director of The WorkPlace in Bridgeport, an agency devoted to training people for new occupations and jobs. He has been honored by the Boy Scouts of America, and Rotary International and has held office with Carver Foundation, Mid-Fairfield Child Guidance Center, United Way of Norwalk and Wilton, Greater Norwalk Chamber of Commerce, Small Business Council, Norwalk Red Crtoss, Norwalk YMCA, Lockwood Mathews Mansion Museun, Norwalk Housing Partnership, Mutual Housing Association of Southwestern Connecticut and Connecticut Suppliers Development Council.

Bentley and his wife, Geneva Holsey Bentley, an NHS graduate a year ahead of him and an alumna of South Carolina State College, who had a career with the Edwards Company, once located on Connecticut Avenue, have been married 52 years. They lived for several years at 10 Inwood Road in the Silvermine section, before moving to Birchwood Condominiums on Hills Road off Westport Avenue. A sister, Deborah Bentley Edmundson, lives in Norwalk.

The public is invited and may obtain tickets at $50 each for the full course dinner and cocktail hour by calling NHSAA President Charles Yost at 203-856-7391 or Pat Street at 203-858-0916.
NORWALK  Following a months-long investigation by police involving drug sales around Ryan Park, a Bridgeport man has been arrested on a warrant for a host of narcotics charges.

Police charged Corey Whitaker, 31, of Quarry Street, Bridgeport, with five counts each of possession of narcotics, possession of narcotics with intent to sell, possession of narcotics within 1,500 feet of a school and possession of narcotics with intent to sell within 1,500 feet of a school.

He was also charged with risk of injury to a minor and driving with a child under 4 without a restraint. During a car stop police said that an infant was a passenger in Whitakers vehicle. The 1-year-old child was not in a car seat, but was instead buckled into an adult seat belt. Officers with the Norwalk Police Departments Special Victims Unit brought a car seat to the scene, and the child was transported to his grandmothers residence.

Whitaker, who police say goes by the street name Rock Rock, had been under investigation by Officer Kyle Lipeika for several months.

Police say that Lipeika was able to develop information into Whitakers sales of crack cocaine and heroin throughout South Norwalk, but primarily in the area of Ryan Park.

There were four controlled purchases of heroin made from Whitaker over the past several months, police said.

Investigators applied for four warrants against Whitaker and on Wednesday during a car stop on Dr. Martin Luther King Boulevard, he was arrested on those warrants. Police said he was also found to have 25 glassine bags of heroin on his person. Police said that Whitaker is a former Norwalk resident.

His bond was set at $285,000 and he was given a court date of Oct. 20.

llake@hearstmediact.com
NORWALK  In advance of this years contentious presidential election, absentee ballots are flying off the shelf at the Town Clerks Office.

The office has issued more than 1,100 absentee ballots since they first became available last Friday, prompting Town Clerk Richard A. McQuaid to wonder if anyone will be left in Norwalk come Election Day this Nov. 8.

I dont know where everybody is going on Election Day but they arent going to be home, McQuaid said tongue-in-cheek. The absentee ballots didnt start going out until Friday by mail and were way over the previous years just in the amount of people coming in in-person and filling out their application for absentee ballots and voting at that time.

In the 2008 presidential election, in which Democrat Barack Obama faced Republican John McCain, 2,932 Norwalkers voted by absentee ballot. In the 2012 race, in which Obama ran against Republican Mitt Romney, 2,539 Norwalkers cast absentee ballots, according to the citys Registrar of Voters Office.

In this years contentious presidential race, where Democrat and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is facing Republican businessman Donald J. Trump, nearly half that many absentee ballots had been issued in four business days. And Election Day remains more than three weeks away.

As of Wednesday afternoon, McQuaids office had issued 1,162 absentee ballots. Another 74 went out Wednesday.

More Information Absentee ballots issued as of Oct. 12 137th District - 292 ballots 140th District - 146 ballots 141st District - 171 ballots 142nd District - 357 ballots 143rd District - 196 ballots See More Collapse

Voters living in District 141A, which includes Rowayton and most of Darien, requested and were issued the most (171 absentee ballots). That amounts to 4.2 percent of registered voters living in the district. Voters living in District 140C in South Norwalk requested and were issued the fewest (16 absentee ballots). Thats about 1 percent of registered voters living in the district.

McQuaid cautioned against reading into what the numbers might mean for Republican or Democratic candidates  voters are not asked to give their political affiliation when requesting absentee ballots  other than to say that interest in this years election is running high. He points to new-voter registrations.

As of Sept. 28, Norwalk had 45,842 registered voters, up 756 from two weeks earlier. Unaffiliated voters formed the bulk (18,333), followed by Democrats (17,474), Republicans (9,098), Independents (846), and smaller parties (91), according to the Registrars Office.

To vote by absentee ballot, a voter must be unable to make it to his or her polling place on Election Day because of active service in the U.S. Armed Forces, he or she will out of town during all voting hours on Election Day, or illness, physical disability, religious tenets or duties as a poll worker elsewhere.

Andy Conroy, Norwalk Republican Town Committee chairman, said the bulk of absentee ballots go to elderly residents or others who cannot leave their home. He said Republicans need to do a better job getting absentee ballots applications to those who want them.

My impression is the Democrats generally do a better job getting the absentee ballots requests out and getting them back in, Conroy said. Im going to see if I can change that. I built lists of target people we should be sending requests to.

Edwin Camacho, Norwalk Democratic Town Committee chairman, could not be reached immediately for comment Thursday afternoon.

To obtain an absentee ballot, a voter must fill out an application form. Applications are available online at http://www.sots.ct.gov/, or at the Norwalk Town Clerks Office at City Hall, 125 East Ave.

The office is open Monday through Wednesday and Friday, from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., and Thursdays, from 8:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. The office will be open Saturday, Nov. 5, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., to issue absentee ballots.
A. The What were you thinking? prep:

B. A long hard look at myself:

C. April 09, 2012:

D. To re take or not to re take?

E. The Final preparation:

F. Test day, May 20th, 2012:



G. Material used:

H. Lessons learned:

Know thy study pattern and work within it:

Simple things go a long way

My MBA application journey, one step at a time https://spoonfulofmba.wordpress.com Signature Read More

Hi everyone!I've wanted to write this post for almost 2 years now. But I hesitated because well, so many of you are breaking the 750 sound barrier! What do I have to offer? I hope some of you out there will relate to my experience and benefit from it. But bear in mind that this is going to be a long post. You can go to the subsections directly if you want:A. The What were you thinking? prepB. A long hard look at myselfC. April 09th 2012D. To re take or not to retake?E. The final preparationF. Test day,May 20th, 2012G. Materials usedH. Lessons learnedI first started my prep in March 2010. I read up about the GMAT, found a great tutor in Bangalore and signed up for his class. But in less than a month, I was losing interest. My math skills, which were rusty after college, were nonexistent. I couldnt even do mental Math in my head. Not the fancy pants mental math, I mean stuff like splitting 720 by 2 or adding 50 and 47. And there I was, stranger in a strange land with all these jocks who kept solving problems, minute after minute! I couldnt keep pace and I lost interest.Verbal on the other hand was great. CR was tough at first, but I savored it towards the end of the course. There were other problems too. I was having trouble concentrating. Im used to taking a 30 minute break every hour in the office. This habit is really bad for the GMAT. You have to sit still and concentrate for 75 minutes. Needless to say, I wasnt prepared and rescheduled my GMAT appointment from June of that year to Dec ember and then March 2011.And guess what. In March, I cancelled my appointment and booked a new one for June 2011. If you think I was nuts at this point, youre right. This time I was determined to keep my date with destiny. I took 10 days off work, buckled down and began studying. I used my tutors handouts, which were a compilation of problems from , Quant review, , questions from BTG and the GMAT club. I purchased two and signed up for their practice tests. I was doing pretty well, starting from 640 to almost 740 in the test. I had managed this in only 10 days of real study? Wow.The night before the test day, I couldnt sleep. I was nervous and edgy when I woke up. It was a damp morning and I had no time to calm myself as the exam was at 9. I reached the center: without breakfast and exhausted. After the AWA, I found the Quant section downright tiring. To make matters worse, I kept yawning madly. I kept shouting at myself, Stop that, stop that! Focus focus! Ah, it didnt work. By the middle, I had already given up and was mentally preparing myself for a retake. The score: 540The humiliation of the score brought into full focus the lack of respect I gave to this test and to me. A few hours later at a mall I swore to get a 700+ score or to die trying (overly dramatic, no?A few weeks later, I began to do some soul searching. I had never seen a test like the GMAT before. I decided to take note of my major stumbling blocks:- Math was a huge pain. All my life I studied Math only to ace the exam, never bothering to learn the logic behind the formula or why we use it (why bother when you can get the A grade without knowing all that!).Instead my little rat brain would search for the numbers, pull out a formula from the bag and stuff the numbers in there to make a solution! This was bad Math learning and I had to undo it. The GMAT is all about the logic and mental discipline. No rat brain math.-I had to learn how to sit still for longer periods and concentrate. Build stamina.-I had to learn how to control my mortal fear of Math. How to think calmly and work through a problem.-Finally, I asked myself some hard questions, Why the heck would I go through so much trouble? Do I know why I am re taking? What I want out of an MBA?So I spent 6 months, learning about the value of an MBA, what it can do for my career, where I ought to pursue it and the kind of applicants B schools were looking for. In short, I was doing my B school research. While others prefer to take the GMAT and then worry about school selection, I did all my homework first. The information gave me the burning motivation to take the GMAT again, and to take it well.Next I tackled mental Math in February.I solved questions in the office whenever I got a chance. I did Verbal exercises on my phone. I took one mock test every weekend. I used various GMAT apps on my friends Ipod. Whenever I went grocery shopping with my boyfriend, he made me add up all the prices of the items in my head before we reached the checkout counterThis last bit was very useful. I was weaned off my calculator. With each week, my score was improving. I started from 680 and went up to 740. I also made a spreadsheet of all questions I got wrong and went over them every alternate day. I used the same test set and downloaded the next gen GMATprep. In the last week, I did mock tests everyday with the AWA section. I could sit for a long duration without fidgeting.I had a good nights sleep this time. My exam was at 3pm. After eating a sensible lunch, I set out for the exam hall. It was very hot and I had to change buses. This made me slightly tired. At the center, I settled down and started with AWAs. They went by easily. Now for the quant. The first question looked like Greek and Latin to me. I struggled on it for a bit, then finally guessed and moved on. This cost me 3 minutes. After the 5th or 6th question, I noticed that they were getting easier but I was unable to solve them. I was panicky. I began to breathe deeply to calm myself. I managed to regain my composure and I did well through the middle of the section, but towards the end, I was running out of time, and I panicked again. I guessed on the last 5 questions and finished with a few seconds to spare.I ran to the bathroom and splashed some cold water. My mind was spinning. Okay what just happened there? I havent done as well as I expected. Maybe Ill get a 70th percentile. Its ok. Dont screw up Verbal. We can still push the score above 700.Since Ive always finished the Verbal section 15-20 minutes ahead of time, I decided to take my time on the harder questions. But then disaster struck. 30 minutes into the section, and my stomach began to ache really badly. I couldnt focus and some minutes went by. I agonized over taking an unscheduled break or fighting it out. I decided to fight it out. I took deep breaths and ignored my stomach ache. 20 minutes to go and the aching finally stopped. I was running out of time, and I raced through each question. I had to guess on many CR questions. I was very upset.My hands shook as I asked to report my scores. Out popped the 710. Q44, V42. Quant was a bitter disappointment and Verbal was a surprise. Right then, I knew I would never be happy with that score. I got a 6 in AWA.My friends were ecstatic for me and said I was crazy to consider yet another retake. But I was worried. Could I afford to submit this score? Did I have other evidence of quant ability? I looked at my transcript. I got really bad grades in Math in my first few semesters. Even building an alternate transcript didnt seem to be the solution. Finally a day after the exam, I found another date in May, well before the new IR section. Id rather do everything to plug in weaknesses than submit a half baked application and wonder If only.Again I noted down my weaknesses:-Math had improved a lot. I was now in the 600-700 range Id say. But any question tougher than that level, and Id crumble.-My basics were shaky in certain Math topics.-I was still unable to control my nervousness in the Quant section. Also during Quant, my little voice would say, Look! An easy question! You must be screwing up! Or look! A hard question. You must be getting better. This was distractingSteps taken:-Took an exam date at 5pm on the 20th of May-Religiously followed the Thursdays with Ron series. This guy is awesome. I cleared my basics on Ratios, word problems and rate because of him.-Bought the GMATprep question pack 1 and GMAT clubs set of tests. This was expensive for me, but it was the best investment I could have ever made. I wish I had known of these before. They were instrumental in raising my quant score.-Practiced exclusively on GMAT prep and . The are good for you if you are sub 700 and are trying to break in. But they will make you cry and tear your hair out. The questions are really tough but after 6-8 tests I stopped getting nervous. This is what happens when you are exposed to tough questions all the time. But do not take these tests if you get disheartened easily.And so here I was, back again. I was not nervous at all since the memory of my last attempt was still fresh. This time, I struggled to find some points on AWA but it still went pretty well. Then came quant. I found the questions tough, but I solved most of them and guessed on 4-5 questions. I had not practiced a lot of verbal for this re take and so the questions were tougher than before. I ended the exam and waited. I was sure I had screwed up.720. The 10 point jump was annoying. But it was only for a second. When I saw the break up (Q49, V40), I was overjoyed. I never ever expected to do that well on Quant. At one point, it even seemed that I might do worse than in April. But its all over nowI got a 6 for the AWA.-Kaplan Math work book to build solving skills.- Number properties and Inequalities. I recommend the number properties guide to everyone. This book is fabulous.-GMAT prep question pack 1 and the . I owe my quant jump to these resources. I stopped thinking about the difficulty of the question and instead, worked through it.-Powerscore for CR. I solved only a couple of questions from this but its good for those who struggle with CR.-Jeff Sackmanns . This was concise and great to start building my skills. But they dont go into detail like . So you need to know your basics before you try this-Thursdays with Ron. Solving word problems was a breeze after watching his sessions. He also gives great sessions on Verbal topics too.-I highly recommend that you start reading the Economist. This helped a lot. The language is almost the same that is used in the GMAT. I could see RC passages and CR questions in every article. They really prepare you for RC and CR. Anyways you have to read them later on, so do it now!For example, I cant keep up a full month of studying. There are highs and lows and I went on full steam for 2 weeks before the test. Consider this and anything else like hectic work days or possible sickness when you schedule your examAlways remember that the questions can be solved in approximately 2 minutes. This means that the questions can never be heavy in terms of calculation. Even if they look scary, there has to be a shorter way to solve it. If you find yourself working on a question for more than 3 minutes, you know youre not doing it right. Be smart. Always avoid lengthy solutions.Many of us have recommended material to look into, but I suggest that you shop around and find resources that help you tackle your weak areas. Many of them are free. GMAT club is great that way. They have some wonderful tutorials on speed distance time and work.Keep noting down your weak areas and work on them one by one. As you get closer to the exam, you should see that list of weak areas shrinking.There are stages in the preparation. First we work on our basics. Then we tackle harder questions. When were comfortable with tough questions, we then look at pacing and stamina. Dont try to time yourself in the early stages of your prep. Youll stress yourself out.Practice guessing and letting go of questions in your mock tests. It may be tempting to hit the stop watch and spend more time, but in the real exam, you cant do that. If you learn to let go in the mocks, youll find that guessing on the harder questions wont be stressful for you in during the exam.. On the advice of another member, I put my drinks and eatables in my jacket and hung it outside my locker. During the break, I didnt waste time opening the locker. I saved 3 minutes this way.During your mock tests, use the same eatables and drinks that you would use in the exam. Dont try anything new on the exam day. If youve never had Red Bull, dont lug it along to the center. I carried almonds and sunflower seeds and cold green tea to the center. I cant eat more than that during an exam.After youve built your skills, take as many mock tests as you can. Adhere to break timings during mocks. Again be wise with what company mock tests to use. Some test prep mocks are not similar to the actual GMAT and you may get too comfortable with that style of questioning. I found GMAT prep question pack 1 to be the best. Some of the types of questions were brand new and similar types appeared in the exam.I am not a morning person and yet my first exam was scheduled early in the morning. Absolute no no. Take the test at a time when you are at your best. Do the mocks in the same time frame.Remember to breathe deeply. Do it often during the exam and your nervousness will stop.Tip for RC. If you find yourself short of time, read the passage very quickly, taking in only the main points of the passage. Pay attention to words like therefore, however. This will help you narrow down the main point of the passage. I managed to solve 2 RC passages plus other questions in fewer than 20 minutes this way.The rule of thumb for most people is to spend a maximum of 3 minutes on a question before you move on. But dont keep looking at the clock every now and then while solving. Again, practice helps. When you work on a question, work on a question. I didnt bother with the time limit in the beginning, spending up to 3 minutes on some questions. Again this is up to you. Find what suits you best.Finally relax! Give the GMAT the respect it deserves. As you progress, youll develop an appreciation for the questions and the test makers. Dont take things too seriously or youll stress out. Nothing kills a good performance like stress.So there you have it. My novella of a debrief. I hope you guys find this stuff useful. Please let me know how your prep goes along. I went from someone who curled into a ball at the sight of a Math question to someone who actively cut through each one. Do let me know if you need any help._________________
WILTON  The Connecticut State Police Union endorsed Senator Toni Boucher, as one of the few elected state officials to receive official endorsement this year.

The state police recognized Boucher for her continued support to public safety and issues the union has faced in the past.
Re: How much time off? [ #permalink

I am in the midst of a pre-MBA sabbatical and every alum I talked to said that should be my top priority before B-school. You can justify it in the way that you can reach out to alum, wrap your head around your future goals and do some informational interviews without the scheduling stress of doing so after work.



To look at it the other way, there are plenty of travel opportunities baked into most MBA programs and I would argue those trips are more valuable than going on a trip alone. If the extra money means you will be able to participate more fully in your MBA program you can justify working later that way. I think at minimum you should be in your new hometown 2 weeks prior to the start of your program just to handle logistics and relax a little.



Becky
After his own crude comments nearly KOed his campaign, Donald Trumps aggressive counter-attack reassured supporters hell press the fight until Election Day in hopes that will keep more top Republicans from abandoning his candidacy.

But House Speaker Paul Ryan told fellow Republicans on Monday that hell concentrate on House elections rather than defending Trump. And the GOP nominees no-holds-barred assault on Hillary Clinton in their second televised debate did little to expand his conservative base and stem her increasing prospects for winning the presidency.

Indeed, his unyielding stance including a threat to prosecute his rival may create further headaches for GOP candidates, who are aware Trumps many offensive comments have turned off swing voters but are fearful of losing votes from his fervent supporters.

With polls showing Clinton leading nationally and in most swing states, Trump entered Sunday nights confrontation at St. Louis Washington University facing increasing questions about his campaigns future after Fridays disclosure of audio tapes displaying his crude comments about his relationships with women.

Trumps running mate, Mike Pence, signaled he succeeded in averting imminent disaster. Though Trump openly disagreed with the Indiana governor on Syrian policy at one point, Pence showed immediately after the testy session he was ready to put aside his own weekend doubts that prompted speculation he might quit the ticket.

Congrats to my running mate @realDonaldTrump on a big debate win, tweeted Pence, who canceled weekend appearances after Fridays disclosure of the Trump tapes. Proud to stand with you.

My guess is that Donald Trump was good enough to stop that bleeding, former Republican National Committee Counsel Ben Ginsburg said on MSNBC. CNNs post-debate poll of debate watchers showed more than half thought Trump exceeded expectations but still rated Clinton the winner by a comfortable margin.

Unlike their first debate, Trump was aggressive from the outset, countering the expected question about his own behavior and language with a long-telegraphed attack on Clintons husband, former President Bill Clinton.

Before an audience including three women who more than 20 years ago accused the former President of sexual misconduct and a rape victim whose accuser Hillary Clinton defended, Trump dismissed his graphic words as locker room talk, adding, If you look at Bill Clinton, far worse. Mine are words and his was action.

As Bill Clinton stared straight ahead, his wife neither defended him nor discussed specifics, replying instead that, so much of what hes just said is not right, but he gets to run his campaign any way he chooses.

When the subject turned to the oft-discussed question whether she withheld some of her emails from the FBI investigation that cleared her, Trump said, If I win, I am going to instruct my attorney general to get a special prosecutor to look into your situation, because there has never been so many lies.

Its just awfully good that someone with the temperament of Donald Trump is not in charge of the law in our country, Clinton replied. Because youd be in jail, Trump countered.

Later, Trump may have increased his political problems about refusing to release his income tax returns. Co-moderator Anderson Cooper of CNN asked if he used a $916 million 1995 loss to avoid paying personal income taxes in ensuing years. Of course, I do, Trump replied. And so do most of her donors.

Trump repeatedly accused Clinton of lying, saying she has tremendous hate in her heart and showing that, unlike their first debate, he was far better prepared to counter her points.

Asked about WikiLeaks recent release of emails quoting her defending politicians who have both private and public stances on issues, Clinton explained she was talking about President Abraham Lincolns tactics winning congressional approval of the 13th Amendment.

Now, shes blaming that lie on the late, great Abraham Lincoln, Trump interjected, adding, Honest Abe never lied. Thats the big difference between Abraham Lincoln and you.

Trumps criticism of Pence came when co-moderator Martha Raddatz of ABC News asked about his comment that, if Russia continues air strikes supporting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, the United States should be prepared to strike the military targets of the Assad regime.

He and I havent spoken, and I disagree, Trump replied, a rare display of discord between presidential and vice presidential nominees during a campaign.

But Pence said Monday on MSNBC that Raddatz mischaracterized his stance. He praised Trump for expressing genuine contrition and remorse, adding he believes he hasnt engaged in any of that behavior.

But amid rumors of further Trump disclosures, Sunday nights fervent denials may hardly have resolved that issue  or the extent of potential damage.
Beware the Boos! Phillies fans will get say on Astros cheating scandal

The Houston Astros have heard all the taunting since their 2017 cheating scandal, but for the first time, they will be hearing it in Philadelphia.
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Linkedin Zaki Mubarok Busro (The Jakarta Post) New York and Port Elizabeth  Thu, October 13, 2016

Illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing and transnational organized crime (TOC) have progressively emerged as major issues, not only in terms of maritime security, but also in their relations to the sustainability of marine living resources. As part of IUU fishing, TOC can be regarded to some extent as a core business of IUU fishing.



It is not uncommon for IUU fishing perpetrators to achieve their illegal objectives by using organized networks, crossing borders and poaching fisheries resources.



Therefore, it is necessary for countries to work hand-in-hand with the other states and the international community to address this problem.



Two major events in Yogyakarta this week constitute a major step in garnering regional and international support to combat fisheries poaching.



The first is a symposium on fisheries crimes followed by a regional conference on IUU fishing and its related crimes.



In the inaugural fisheries crime symposium in 2015, the most underlined view came from the representative of Norwegian Ministry of Trade, Industry and Fisheries. He reaffirmed Norways commitment to fight against fisheries crimes and treat illegal fishing as a TOC.



Norway promotes two approaches: fighting against IUU fishing with administrative sanctions and combatting fisheries crimes with criminal sanctions.



From this perspective, there is a clear distinction between IUU fishing and fisheries crimes in terms of prevailing legal and policy instruments leading to the imposition of sanctions.



In this sense, IUU fishing is not deemed as a crime and therefore it should be addressed under civil law.



However, it is a different story when fisheries crimes occur as clearly criminal law would be imposed. IUU fishing is categorized under the regime of International Plan of Action on IUU fishing (IPOA-IUU), which is administered by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) while fisheries crimes fall under the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) as it is related to organized illegal fishing, tax fraud, human trafficking, etc.



International community has various terms in overcoming fisheries poaching even though the goal is indifferent.



The most familiar terms would not be IUU fishing per se, but it could refer to transnational organized fisheries crimes, fisheries-associated crimes and fisheries crimes. This dissimilarity in terms emerged due to the lack of an agreed definition in an international legally binding agreement that could have been referred to as a common starting point. Nevertheless, it cannot be asserted as a failure to reach a common agreement as this is an evolving process amongst like-minded states.



Dating back to Indonesias proposal for IUU fishing as TOC in international fora, linking between IUU fishing and TOC provoked challenges from various countries.



During the meeting of the Conference of Parties to the UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime (UNCTOC) in 2008, there was concern for IUU fishing to fall within the definition of the TOC provided under the

convention.



However, there are two pending questions in addressing this matter.



First, countries differ in what activities constitute a violation of fisheries regulations and therefore qualify for sanctions.



Second, unregulated fishing for some countries is not regarded as a crime since fishing in areas or fish stocks for which there are no applicable conservation or management measures does not constitute a breach of law.



Then, the other terms of transnational organized crime, fisheries-related crimes and fisheries crimes were introduced as a breakthrough to overcome depleted fishery resources.



Those three terms share the same notion from the fact that fisheries poaching encompasses the other transnational crimes. However, those terms leave an unanswered question regarding the most correct term to use.



There is a silver lining to the resolution of this issue. In February, the UNODC and World Wildlife Fund (WWF) co-organized an Expert Group Meeting on Fisheries Crime in Vienna.



In this forum, fisheries crime is defined as a serious offense within the fisheries resource sector that takes place along the entire food products supply chains and associated value chains, extending into the trade, ownership structures and financial services sectors. Nevertheless, the serious term is not associated to the definition found in the UNCTOC. It is instead meant to have an extensive impact on the community.



Fisheries crime is also regarded as having a connection with other criminal offenses and are generally transnational, largely organized, and can have severe adverse social, economic and environmental impacts both domestically and internationally.



TOC and fisheries-related crime should therefore fall within the definition of fisheries crime. Moreover, fisheries crime is part of IUU fishing. IUU fishing and fisheries crimes should be used altogether consistently.



It is important also to bring to the fore the main responsibilities of UNODC and FAO in advocating member states to develop their domestic policy reforms on mutually agreed issues.



There is a need to differentiate the roles of FAO (IUU fishing) and UNODC (fisheries crimes). This distinction is imperative for each organization to focus more on how to address the problem.



After all, regular collaboration and coordination between the two organizations should be organized more regularly.

***

The writer is a UN Nippon fellow 2016 at the UN Division on Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea and PhD student at the Australian National Centre for Ocean Resources and Security, University of Wollongong. The views expressed are his own.

---------------

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Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not reflect the official stance of The Jakarta Post.
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Linkedin Hindun Mulaika (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Thu, October 13, 2016

When President Joko Jokowi Widodo unveiled his ambitious plan to add 35 gigawatt of energy, including 19 GW from coal, he probably thought he had done his math: Indonesia has huge reserves of cheap coal, there would be plenty of demand from the growing economy and a future built on coal would be good for the country.



None of those assumptions holds true when looked at in more detail.



Indonesia does have plenty of coal reserves  for the moment. But for how much longer? The international consultancy firm, PwC, believes economically retrievable reserves could be depleted by 2033.



Then there is the demand. Jokowis energy program assumed economic growth of 6 percent a year, with an increase in power demand of 7 percent from 2015 to 2019. But economic growth was well below this last year, and growth in electricity demand only 2 percent. So rather than facing a shortage of power, Indonesia may well have a surplus, with as much as 30 percent oversupply, according to PLNs planning director.



With electricity consumption predicted to grow by less than 4 percent this year (compared to initial projections of nearly double that), the figures which President Jokowi was working with are already looking shaky.



That leaves the assumption that coal is a good investment for Indonesia.



Lets look at those figures a little more closely.



The current cost of coal-fired power is US$51.22/MWh  less than the cost of most renewable energies, except geothermal. This price is not fixed; the price of coal can go up as well as down.



But the cost of renewables is heading only in one direction  downwards, even for the more expensive renewables. A Danish company has recently bid to build an offshore wind farm in the Netherlands for a record low $81.50 MWh, excluding transmission costs.



Onshore wind costs are falling too. But the costs of solar are even more astonishing. In July last year, analysts were stunned by a record low price of $38.70/MWh set for solar in the US. Just over a year later, another solar contract has been agreed in Abu Dhabi, for $24.20/MWh. Thats less than half the headline cost of coal  before the hidden costs are taken into account.



In the case of coal, there are plenty of those.



Pollution from coal-fired power plants has a huge impact on human health. A recent Greenpeace report, based on modeling from Harvard University, estimates that coal-fired power plants currently in operation cause 6,500 premature deaths every year in Indonesia. And more coal-fired plants are planned.



Using Harvard University research, Greenpeace estimates that the health costs alone of these planned power stations would be $26.7 billion, or Rp 351 trillion for every year of operation.



If President Jokowis energy planners make a quick call to the ministry of health, they will see that a mere Rp 110 trillion has been allocated for health, less than a third of the sum required just to treat the illnesses caused by coal pollution.



Its impossible to put a figure on the cost of a human life, whether adult or child. But an Indonesian suffering from diseases like lung cancer, strokes, heart conditions, chronic respiratory ailments and acute respiratory infection not only faces an early death. He or she cannot work or support a family.



The assumption that coal is a good investment does not add up. Taking into account the health costs, which will run for the lifetime of the power plant, the price of $51.22/MWh for coal power is shown to be a fiction.



It is a fiction because it ignores the long-term health costs, the cost of environmental impacts such as water pollution, and the expected costs of dealing with the impact of climate change caused by CO2 emissions from coal plants.



Take all of that into account and the true cost of coal is nearer $152 per MWh, well above even the most expensive renewable energy  offshore wind. And more than half of that is the cost of the health impacts.



Investors across the world sense that the energy market is changing, with the International Energy Agency reporting a major shift in investment towards low-carbon energy.



Indonesia needs to be part of this shift, away from coal with its devastating environmental, health and economic costs, and toward renewable energy.

***

The writer is team leader of climate and energy campaign for Greenpeace Indonesia.

---------------

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Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not reflect the official stance of The Jakarta Post.
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Linkedin News Desk (Associated Press) Los Angeles, United States  Thu, October 13, 2016

An online retailer has pulled a Halloween costume that made light of the recent jewelry heist involving Kim Kardashian West.

Time reports that the listing for the "Parisian Heist" costume on Costumeish featured a bound and gagged Kardashian lookalike dressed in a white robe and sporting a giant ring. The listing didn't include Kardashian's name. The costume was being sold for nearly $70.

(Read also: Kim Kardashian West sues online media outlet for libel)

There's now a Kim Kardashian robbery victim Halloween costume https://t.co/fbQ1tXJg4k  TIME (@TIME) October 12, 2016

The company's founder, Jonathon Weeks, told Time that the costume was designed to provoke a strong reaction. He says he didn't want to "make light of a serious situation," and added that the company wasn't mocking her.

The costume prompted outrage from some social media users. The company's Twitter account announced Tuesday the costume had been pulled and apologized if it "offended anyone."
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Linkedin Ayomi Amindoni (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Thu, October 13, 2016

President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo was surprised to learn that Madame Tussauds would display a wax figure of him in its Hong Kong museum next year, said presidential spokesman Johan Budi on Wednesday.

"The President was very surprised and did not expect to be selected to be immortalized by the museum. And I think not only he [thought it], but all Indonesians," Johan said after a meeting with the museums sculpting team and artist at the State Palace in Jakarta on Wednesday.

He further said the President expected more Indonesian wax figures to be featured in the London-based companys museums.

(Read also: Madame Tussauds Hong Kong to feature Jokowi wax figure)

Jokowi's figure is set to be featured in Madam Tussauds Hong Kong's Historical and National Heroes area alongside that of the country's first president, Sukarno, which has graced the museum since September 2012, and that of other world leaders like Mahatma Gandhi and Barack Obama.

Based on a survey conducted by the museum, both via online and at the museum, Jokowi was considered a popular world leader that the public would like to see at the museum.

Madame Tussauds Hong Kong general manager Jenny You said the President was considered a unique and iconic figure, as well as very humble and one that had a very down-to-earth leadership style.

(Read also: Singer Anggun meets her doppelganger in Bangkok)

Madame Tussauds Hong Kong general manager Jenny You (middle) accompanied with Indonesian Consulate General for Hong Kong Tri Taryat (left) and Presidential spokesman Johan Budi (right) speak to the press after meeting President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo at the State Palace in Jakarta on Oct. 12, 2016. (JP/Wienda Parwitasari)

"His name came up as a top world leader [that visitors] want to meet at the museum. Visitors will be able to see his figure in Madame Tussauds in Hong Kong next year," You said during a press conference at the Presidential Office in Jakarta on Wednesday.

To ensure the wax figure is made to perfection, the museum sculpting team and artist flew from the UK to measure Jokowi for exact measurements. The creation of Jokowi's wax figure will cost approximately HK$1.8 million (US$232,022).

"The waxing process itself will be conducted in London and will take around six months," said You. (kes)
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Linkedin News Desk (Associated Press) Bangkok  Thu, October 13, 2016

Thais chanted prayers Wednesday as the country's stock market and currency tumbled and the prime minister canceled an overseas trip amid concerns about long-ailing King Bhumibol Adulyadej's health.

His son, the crown prince, returned home from Germany, as Thais in pink shirts  a color associated with the king  gathered outside Siriraj hospital in Bangkok, which has been his home for much of the last decade.

The royal palace said in a statement late Wednesday that the 88-year-old king's blood pressure had dropped, his liver and kidneys were not working properly and he remained on a ventilator. "His majesty's overall condition is still unstable," it said.

Dozens of Thais holding incense sticks and images of the king chanted prayers outside the hospital for his recovery.

"The king is the heart of our country. So, without a heart, we cannot survive. So we pray for our heart, for the heart of our land," said Donnapha Kladbupha, a 42-year-old English tutor. "I want to see him come and say hello to the Thai people again."

Thai stocks have slid daily since Sunday, when the royal palace announced that Bhumibol's condition was unstable, the first time it has used that phrase regarding the king's health.

On Wednesday, the Stock Exchange of Thailand's benchmark fell nearly 7 percent in afternoon trading before recovering somewhat for a 4.1 percent loss for the day. The Thai baht fell 1.1 percent to end at 35.76 to a dollar.

The highly revered Bhumibol, the world's longest-reigning monarch, has suffered from a variety of ailments related to old age, including kidney and lung problems.

(Read also: Anxious Thais don pink for ailing King Bhumibol)

Last week, doctors performed a hemodialysis to purify his blood. They also replaced a tube that drains excess cerebrospinal fluid.

Because Bhumibol has been king since 1946, there is great concern about the eventual succession. Crown Prince Vajiralongkorn has not earned the same respect as his father.

Vajiralongkorn lives mostly in Germany, and flew back to Bangkok. The government's top bureaucrat, Secretary-General Wilas Aroonsri, said Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha went to the airport to receive him. Prayuth was supposed to fly to Laos on an official visit but canceled it in the morning.

Bhumibol, a constitutional monarch with no formal political role, is widely regarded as Thailand's unifying figure. However, as his health has deteriorated, his participation in public affairs has sharply declined in recent years.

Concern about succession has been entwined with Thailand's political turmoil in the past decade, as royalists have sought to ensure that they control the process instead of certain politicians whose fealty to the monarchy they doubt.

In Washington, Daniel Russel, the top U.S. diplomat for East Asia, described Bhumibol  who was born in the U.S. and visited twice in the 1960s  as "a true friend of the United States."

"We wish the best in terms of the health of the Thai king. He's a revered figure in Thailand and he's an admired figure in the United States. We hope his situation will stabilize," Russel told reporters Wednesday.

___

Associated Press journalists Kiko Rosario in Bangkok and Matthew Pennington in Washington, D.C., contributed to this report.
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Linkedin News Desk (China Daily/Asia News Network)  Thu, October 13, 2016

Wang Jianlin, chairman of Dalian Wanda Group, has retained his crown again as the richest man in China, with a fortune of 215 billion yuan ($32 billion), according the Hurun Rich List 2016 released Thursday.

The billionaire Chinese property tycoon has taken the top spot three times, although this year his wealth fell 2 percent compared with a year ago.

Jack Ma, executive chairman of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd, saw his wealth rise 41 percent to 205 billion yuan, ranking second.

Tencent Holdings Ltd founder Pony Ma Huateng moved up one spot to No 3, with a fortune of 165 billion yuan, up 38 percent year on year, despite donating 13.9 billion yuan last year.

This year's dark horse, financial conglomerate Baoneng's chairman Yao Zhenhua's wealth saw a nine-fold increase to 115 billion yuan, moving up 200 places to No 4 in the ranking.

(Read also: Advice of Chinas richest man goes viral)

Four new names made it to the top 10 list for the first time: Baoneng's chairman Yao Zhenhua, online gaming and news portal NetEase's founder and CEO Ding Lei, Evergrande Real Estate's chairman Xu Jiayin and household appliances company Midea Group's founder He Xiangjian and his son He Jianfeng.

Lei Jun, founder and CEO of China's mobile company Xiaomi, dropped out of top 10 to 14th place.

"Despite a 20 percent drop in the domestic stock markets and a slowdown in the economy, the Hurun Rich List swelled by 179 to 2,056 individuals, double that of three years ago and up 10-fold from 10 years ago," said Rupert Hoogewerf, Hurun Report Chairman and Chief Researcher.

Hurun has released this ranking for the 18th consultative year since 1999, while the threshold was 2 billion yuan for the fourth straight year.

This article appeared on the China Daily newspaper website, which is a member of Asia News Network and a media partner of The Jakarta Post
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Linkedin Margareth S. Aritonang and Ina Parlina (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Wed, October 12 2016

The possible disclosure of a document detailing the facts surrounding the 2004 murder of human rights defender Munir Said Thalib could lead to a new investigation into any individuals or officials involved in the killing.

Former members of a fact-finding team into Munirs murder confirmed the document mentions the names of state officials allegedly responsible for planning the murder.

However, confusion over the whereabouts of the confidential report has created tension between human rights campaigners and the State Secretariat, which is in charge of the governments administrative documents.

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Linkedin Desy Nurhayati (The Jakarta Post) Nusa Dua, Bali  Wed, October 12 2016

Local culture should be the backbone of sustainable development programs that overcome infrastructure and human resources limits that have caged progress in developing economies, according to speakers at a forum in Bali.

Scholars and activists participating in the World Culture Forum 2016 (WCF) in Bali said they were committed to formulating a work plan to advance local culture as an integral part of sustainable development.

This second WCF will push the Bali Promise further toward a more detail and comprehensive insight into the cultural paradigms embedded in sustainable development projects, Hilmar Farid, director general of culture at the Culture and Education Ministry, said Tuesday.

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Linkedin Marguerite Afra Sapiie (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Thu, October 13, 2016

Activists seeking justice for the 1965 anti-communist purge victims are planning to hold a discussion about Indonesian history to verify events that led up to the failed coup, which is blamed on defunct Indonesian Communist Party (PKI).

The 1965 Murder Victims Research Foundation (YPKP 65) chairman Bedjo Untung said the discussion, which would involve prominent historians, experts and 1965 tragedy survivors, aimed to collect evidence and facts that could uncover the truth on the countrys history. He said that all this time, Indonesias history, especially on the 1965 tragedy, had been distorted by the government's version of events.

While the exact date of the discussion has not been set, Bedjo said activists would also invite representatives from Indonesian Military (TNI) and related state officials to participate in the event.

There is still deep confusion [among the public] concerning events that led up to the 1965 communist purge. We just want to make everything clear," Bedjo said on Wednesday.

Among distorted historical events, the activists also criticized Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs official Wiranto, who said the military offense in the 1965 could be justified by law since there was treason that endangered the national security, Bedjo said.

We, as victims who experienced the events in 1965, know that the statement is wrong. If there was treason, then who is at fault? Bedjo said.

Meanwhile, activist Bonnie Setiawan said the discussion aimed to push the government to reveal information behind the 1965 communist purge, as part of the government's commitments to achieve national reconciliation. (ebf)
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Linkedin Ayomi Amindoni (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Thu, October 13, 2016

The former minister of energy and mineral resources, Arcandra Tahar, is likely to get back his Cabinet position, as his name is included on a list of candidates for the job.

Presidential spokesman Johan Budi said President Joko Jokowi Widodo was set to appoint a new energy and mineral resources minister. While he refused to disclose the names of the candidates, Johan confirmed that Arcandra was on the list.

"Last week, the names of several [potential] appointees as definitive energy minister were put on a list. The names suggested included that of AT [Arcandra Tahar], Johan said at the State Palace in Jakarta on Wednesday. He added that most of the candidates were energy sector professionals.

Earlier, Jokowis purported plan to reappoint Arcandra as energy and mineral resources minister drew reservations from various parties.

Arcandra was removed from his position in the middle of August after only 20 days in office following the revelation that he held US citizenship. Coordinating Maritime Affairs Minister Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan has been acting as interim energy minister since then. (ebf)
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Linkedin Anton Hermansyah (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Thu, October 13, 2016

A labor union representing 1,980 employees of Bank Ekonomi Raharja (BER) will hold a two-day strike Oct. 27-28 to demand the Financial Service Authority (OJK) order the postponement of a merger between BER and foreign bank HSBC Indonesia until all parties agree to the terms and conditions, the unions defense lawyer has said.

"The union previously discussed the matter with BER and HSBC Indonesia managements in a forum facilitated by the Manpower Ministry's industrial dispute settlement department on Oct. 12, but the problem has not been resolved. However, the managements are continuing with integration," the unions lawyer, Hotman Paris Hutapea, said at a press conference on Thursday.

The union wanted another round of negotiations with the two banks' managements regarding discriminative treatment between BER employees and HSBC Indonesia employees, Hotman said.

He added that the merger would lead to the laying off of workers from both sides, but more BER workers would lose their jobs.

HSBC Indonesia voice regret over the unions decision to call for a strike.

"We respect the comments and input from the labor union, and we are committed to solving the problem in a positive way," an HSBC Indonesia management spokesperson said in a letter.

Hong Kong-based HSBC Asia Pacific owns both banks and the merger is expected to be completed by April 17, 2017. (dan)
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Linkedin Fadli (The Jakarta Post) Batam  Thu, October 13, 2016

Batam municipal administration has sent a letter to the Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister, asking the minister's office to take over all immigrants in Batam, Riau Islands.

Batam Mayor Muhammad Rudi said Thursday he asked for the ministers guidelines about how to deal with the social problems caused by the immigrants in Batam. He said the high number of unsupervised immigrants living in public facilities had given Batam a negative image.

We are asking for the immigrants to be removed from Batam, Rudi said. We want Batams reputation as an investment destination to be maintained.

Batam Immigration Office recorded 362 immigrants in Batam, 280 of whom live at Kolekta Hotel and 61 at the Immigration Office Detention Center. The immigrants cost of living is funded by the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

There are also 82 immigrants living at Aspirasi Park in Batam. They are from Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Somalia and Ethiopia. The municipality said the immigrants have made the park dirty.

Batam municipality spokesperson Ardiwinata said the number of immigrants in the park had increased every week.

There is no supervision of them. This is dangerous. The central government has to consider the local wisdom when they decide to accommodate immigrants, he said.

Recently the Immigration Office arrested several male immigrants suspected of soliciting themselves. (evi)
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Linkedin Nethy Dharma Somba (The Jakarta Post) Jayapura  Thu, October 13, 2016

Low explosive bomb exploded near the house of a Golkar Party politician in Jayapura, Papua early Thursday, damaging windows of a garage near the location.

The bomb did not contain dangerous materials, but pieces of metal in the explosion came from the metal used to encase the explosive device, said chief of Papuas Police Brigade Corps Sr. Corm. Mathius Fachiri in Jayapura on Thursday.

The incident occurred at 2 a.m. on Thursday near the house of acting secretary to Golkar Partys Papua chapter Marthinus Werimon. There was no report on any casualties resulting from the incident, but its strong explosion had shocked people living in the nearby areas.

Marthen Tenu, a security officer, who guards Marthinus's neighbor's house, said he saw two men ride away on motorcycles after placing a package near Marthinuss house, seconds before the explosion.

The motorcyclists sped up their vehicles after the explosion, said Tenu, who stood roughly 50 meters from Marthinus's house.

Meanwhile, Marthinus linked the explosion to the simultaneous regional elections, saying he had received various terror threats since the Golkar Party officially announced its support of a mayoral pair in Jayapura.

The Golkar Party in Papua had split prior to the elections because its politicians supported two different pairs of Jayapura mayoral candidates: Abisai Rollo-Dipo Wibowo and Benhur Tommy Mano-Rustan Saru. The Golkar chapter officially supported Benhur-Rustan.

Papua Police chief Insp. Gen. Paulus Waterpauw rejected the idea that the explosion was connected to the regional elections. We have not drawn any conclusions. We must focus on arresting the perpetrators, he added. (bbn)
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Linkedin Fadli (The Jakarta Post) Batam  Thu, October 13, 2016

A Garuda flight attendant stopped an alleged stealing attempt by two Chinese passengers who were spotted trying to take valuables from bags belonging to other passengers from the overhead compartment on board a flight from Jakarta to Batam on Wednesday.

The attendant witnessed the two Chinese passengers open the overhead compartment and search for valuables inside other passengers' luggage, Hang Nadim airport general manager Suwarso said on Thursday.

According to Suwarso, the flight attendant reported the case to the pilot, who contacted the airport police to arrest the culprits upon landing. The suspects were identified as Chinese nationals, Zhang Zhengkun, 37, and Zhoo Xiang, 35.

"Preliminary questioning on the suspects found that they had arrived in Jakarta via the Philippines or Singapore and are using the free visa policy to visit Indonesia, Suwarso said.

He added the two Chinese passengers had reserved a return flight from Batam to Jakarta on the same day.

Barelang Police detective chief Comr. Memo Ardian said the police investigators were quizzing the suspects to find out whether the suspects were part of a larger crime network. (dmr)
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Linkedin (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Thu, October 13 2016

The city administration has started the demolition of buildings on the banks of the Krukut River in South Jakarta, which have been blamed for contributing to flooding in the upscale Kemang area.

A joint team of Public Order Agency (Satpol PP) and South Jakarta department of public facility management officers demolished four houses on the riverbanks in Petagogan subdistrict, Kebayoran Baru, on Wednesday. The building owners had already received a final warning letter from the municipal administration and been given apartments in Marunda, North Jakarta, as compensation for the eviction.

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Linkedin Wahyoe Boediwardhana (The Jakarta Post) Gresik, East Java  Thu, October 13, 2016

Authorities in the East Java regency of Gresik are considering high school classes on the oil and gas industry to entice more students to pursue further studies in the field upon graduation.

Gresik Education Agency head Mahin said it was crucial to attract senior high school students to study oil and gas, given abundant oil and natural gas resources across the regency and exploration companies in need of local workers.

Few senior high school graduates from Gresik are keen to pursue postgraduate studies in oil and gas.

We will discuss it with all school principals in the near future. We will ask them whether it is possible to make oil and gas-related materials part of natural science [IPA] or social science [IPS] teaching at schools, he told The Jakarta Post in Gresik recently.

This is our effort to [encourage] them to focus their further studies on the management of oil and natural gas. We can ask oil and gas operators in Gresik to help deliver this material to students, he went on.

Around 18,000 students graduate from senior schools in Gresik every year, including 800 vocational school students who are ready to work.

Mahin said very few vocational school graduates in the regency were attracted to work in the oil and gas sector.

Oil and gas producer PT Saka Energi Indonesia (SEI) CEO Tumbur Parlindungan said it was important for young Indonesians to explore their capacity and creativity to help manage natural resources in the country.

With the creativity of Indonesian youth, SEI managed to push down offshore oil exploration and discovery costs from around US$38 million to $15 million - $17 million in 2014, he said.

According to the subsidiary of state-owned gas producer PT PGN, it would be good for Gresik schools to teach oil and gas classes to third-year students, many of whom do not yet understand what the oil and gas industry is all about.

As a result, their interest to work in the national oil and gas sector is very low, while Gresik and its surrounding areas have abundant oil and gas resources. Should we let foreigners handle the management of our own natural resources? asked Tumbur, highlighting his company readiness to help provide oil and gas-related teaching materials.

SEI, which has oil and gas operations in East Java, said it had delivered basic oil and gas classes at 37 elementary and junior high schools in Gresik. Other East Java operators include JOB-Petrochina in Tuban, Camar Resources Canada in Bawean, PHE-WMO in Madura, Kangean Energy in Kangean Madura, Santos in Sampang, Mobile Cepu in Cepu and Lapindo Brantas in Sidoarjo. (ebf)
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Linkedin Stefani Ribka (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Thu, October 13, 2016

Local steel producers are calling on the government to provide a mechanism that will protect domestic players from unequal competition from overseas firms seeking market slices in the country.

Amid President Joko Jokowi Widodos plan to push for massive infrastructure development over the next few years, the Indonesian Iron and Steel Industry Association (IISIA) predicted that the annual local demand for steel would soar to 27 million tons by 2020 from the current 17.5 million tons. Data from the association, meanwhile, showed that the local steel industry can only supply 7 million tons, leaving a huge gap that has been filled by imported steel.

Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, IISIA standard and certification committee member Basso Datu Makahanap acknowledged that local steel makers must invest more to expand their production capacity to meet the increasing demand. He, however, also stressed that the government must maintain the competitiveness of local steel products to help guarantee their investments.

Protection against imports is the best weapon to deal with inflows of imported steel. This will ensure that the sector will grow well, he said on the sidelines of a press briefing on the International Metal and Steel Trade Fair for Southeast Asia, which will be held late this month.

The government had plans to build 8,200 kilometers of national roads, 1,000 km of toll roads, 3,258 km of railways, 172 new seaports and 15 new airports between 2015 and 2019. All of these need steel for construction.

Steel demand would also traditionally come from particular sectors, like automotives, electronics and telecommunications and yet Indonesias steel consumption per capita was still 45 kilograms per year per person, much lower than in Malaysia where it was 327 kg last year.

However, the national capacity for producing steel and iron as its raw materials and its semi-finished and finished goods are still limited.

In 2015 only, the countrys annual iron-making capacity stood at 4.5 million tons, steel-making at 9.2 million tons, rolling mills at 14 million tons of steel sheets and processed steel products at 4.9 million tons.

Iron is needed to make steel and steel to make sheets and so on, but the capacity is unbalanced so we need more producers, Basso said.

Among industry players, state-owned steelmaker Krakatau Steel has the biggest production capacity of 3.15 million tons a year, with the utilization rate expected to reach about 70 percent this year.

(-/-)

The Industry Ministry recently said that it was considering imposing anti-dumping import duties for a number of steel products, including hot rolled coil (HRC), cold rolled coil (CRC) and cold rolled stainless.

Steel producers, meanwhile, are still concentrated in Java, with 78 percent of total national output produced there, followed by Sumatra, Kalimantan and Sulawesi.

However, to attract investment in remote areas, Indonesian Foundry Industries Association (Aplindo) president A. Safiun said the government needed to lower the price of industrial gas, a key component to run steel factories.

Indonesias gas prices are currently about US$9 per million British thermal units (mmbtu), higher than in most of its ASEAN neighbors. The government is in the process of pushing gas prices down to $6 per 1 mmbtu from an average of $9.50 per mmbtu.
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Linkedin Fedina S. Sundaryani (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Thu, October 13, 2016

As the government works to cut gas prices, the deadline is approaching to provide lower prices for 10 industries. The government has stated that it is looking to slash gas prices to around US$6 per million British thermal units (mmbtu) by the end of next month from the current national average of $9 per mmbtu.



The new price will be available for 10 industries and one industrial zone at the beginning of next year, and is expected to help boost production. At present, only seven industries enjoy such a low price.



The President has ordered his Cabinet to come up with a strategy to realize the plan, but no decision has been made until now.



Coordinating Maritime Affairs Minister Luhut Pandjaitan recently suggested importing liquefied natural gas (LNG) for the western part of Indonesia to drastically cut costs.



Luhut, who is also acting energy and mineral resources minister, said imported LNG from neighboring countries, such as Brunei Darussalam and Malaysia, cost between $3 and $4 per mmbtu, while distribution and regasification could cost an additional $4 to $5 per mmbtu.



Experts and industry players seem to agree that this would be an ideal short-term solution for the pressing problem.



Downstream Oil and Gas Regulatory Agency (BPH Migas) chief Andy N. Sommeng said imports were a feasible option as long as the government imported the LNG with a maximum landed price, or price at the upstream business of $4 per mmbtu.



Considering the current situation, $8 is the lowest price that we can deal with, which is why we definitely need imports. If we import [LNG] with a landed price of $4, it will lower the price for end users, he said on Wednesday.



The country has never imported LNG, although it imported 1 ton of piped natural gas from Singapore in 2014 worth $3,000, while it still has 17 unallocated cargoes of domestic LNG this year and 30 cargoes for next year. In 2015, only 60 percent of all cargoes for the domestic market were absorbed. The government attributed high gas prices as the cause of low domestic absorption.



Ryad Chairil, energy and mineral resources expert at the University of Indonesias (UI) technology department alumni association, agreed that imported LNG could lower costs. He suggested the government subsidize gas prices for select industries as well.



Furthermore, the government could order operators of mature gas fields, such as the Offshore North West Java (ONWJ) field, to lower their prices, to compensate for the high distribution and transmission costs, which inflate the end users costs.



Mature gas fields have already been fully compensated by the government, meaning that they have obtained their investment returns and actually, by law, the government can claim the fields as their own, he said, adding that it was possible to cut gas prices produced by the mature fields to $3 per mmbtu.



On the contrary, it will be difficult for the government to demand similar price cuts to operators of newer gas fields, as they have not reached a break-even point.



However, cutting gas prices also has its downsides.



According to a price cut simulation carried out by the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry and Upstream Oil and Gas Regulatory Special Task Force (SKKMigas) last week, non-tax revenues from gas can drop by $300.1 million if the gas price becomes $5 per mmbtu and can drop even further by $474.9 million if the price reaches $4 per mmbtu.



BPH Migas Andy said the lower revenue would not be a problem as long as the government was serious about transforming natural gas role into an economic prime mover from a revenue maker.



As long as we rely on it for revenue, it cannot be categorized as a prime mover, but it remains a commodity, he said.

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Linkedin Fedina S. Sundaryani (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Thu, October 13 2016

As the government works to cut gas prices, the deadline is approaching to provide lower prices for 10 industries. The government has stated that it is looking to slash gas prices to around US$6 per million British thermal units (mmbtu) by the end of next month from the current national average of $9 per mmbtu.



The new price will be available for 10 industries and one industrial zone at the beginning of next year, and is expected to help boost production. At present, only seven industries enjoy such a low price.



The President has ordered his Cabinet to come up with a strategy to realize the plan, but no decision has been made until now.



Coordinating Maritime Affairs Minister Luhut Pandjaitan recently suggested importing liquefied natural gas (LNG) for the western part of Indonesia to drastically cut costs.



Luhut, who is also acting energy and mineral resources minister, said imported LNG from neighboring countries, such as Brunei Darussalam and Malaysia, cost between $3 and $4 per mmbtu, while distribution and regasification could cost an additional $4 to $5 per mmbtu.



Experts and industry players seem to agree that this would be an ideal short-term solution for the pressing problem.



Downstream Oil and Gas Regulatory Agency (BPH Migas) chief Andy N. Sommeng said imports were a feasible option as long as the government imported the LNG with a maximum landed price, or price at the upstream business of $4 per mmbtu.



Considering the current situation, $8 is the lowest price that we can deal with, which is why we definitely need imports. If we import [LNG] with a landed price of $4, it will lower the price for end users, he said on Wednesday.



The country has never imported LNG, although it imported 1 ton of piped natural gas from Singapore in 2014 worth $3,000, while it still has 17 unallocated cargoes of domestic LNG this year and 30 cargoes for next year. In 2015, only 60 percent of all cargoes for the domestic market were absorbed. The government attributed high gas prices as the cause of low domestic absorption.



Ryad Chairil, energy and mineral resources expert at the University of Indonesias (UI) technology department alumni association, agreed that imported LNG could lower costs. He suggested the government subsidize gas prices for select industries as well.



Furthermore, the government could order operators of mature gas fields, such as the Offshore North West Java (ONWJ) field, to lower their prices, to compensate for the high distribution and transmission costs, which inflate the end users costs.



Mature gas fields have already been fully compensated by the government, meaning that they have obtained their investment returns and actually, by law, the government can claim the fields as their own, he said, adding that it was possible to cut gas prices produced by the mature fields to $3 per mmbtu.



On the contrary, it will be difficult for the government to demand similar price cuts to operators of newer gas fields, as they have not reached a break-even point.



However, cutting gas prices also has its downsides.



According to a price cut simulation carried out by the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry and Upstream Oil and Gas Regulatory Special Task Force (SKKMigas) last week, non-tax revenues from gas can drop by $300.1 million if the gas price becomes $5 per mmbtu and can drop even further by $474.9 million if the price reaches $4 per mmbtu.



BPH Migas Andy said the lower revenue would not be a problem as long as the government was serious about transforming natural gas role into an economic prime mover from a revenue maker.



As long as we rely on it for revenue, it cannot be categorized as a prime mover, but it remains a commodity, he said.

----------------

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Linkedin Grace D. Amianti (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Thu, October 13, 2016

The government reiterated on Wednesday its commitment to combat tax avoidance practices, as nations around the world have agreed to strengthen their respective taxation systems in an effort to support local economies amid weakening global growth.

Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati said efforts to strengthen international taxation mechanisms were the key points discussed in a recent G20 meeting in Washington, DC, that were relevant to Indonesia.

As part of a global effort to fight tax avoidance, Sri Mulyani said G20 members, including Indonesia, were expected to implement measures introduced by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) against base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS) schemes.

The OECD defines such schemes as tax avoidance strategies that exploit gaps and mismatches in tax rules to artificially shift profits to low or no-tax locations. Under the inclusive framework, more than 100 countries and jurisdictions are collaborating to implement the measures and tackle BEPS strategies.

Sri Mulyani also said the OECD would work together with the inter-governmental anti-money-laundering body, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), to strengthen the fight against cross-border money flows that allegedly had elements of tax avoidance and money laundering related to criminal acts, such as drug and human trafficking, as well as financing for terrorism.

It is very important to build a fair international taxation system because it is impossible to build a global economy together while developing countries face difficulties in tax collection that are due to conditions in which it is easy for companies to avoid paying taxes, she said.

The recent G20 meeting, which gathered finance ministers and central bank governors from member countries, was held as a part of an annual series of World Bank-International Monetary Fund (IMF) meetings that ran from Oct. 4 to 9.

The G20 meeting also discussed the latest global trend of avoiding taxes through legitimate transactions that were difficult to tax, such as through e-commerce and in online markets, which continuously posed complicated taxation issues for many governments.

Last month, Indonesian tax investigators visited the Jakarta office of US internet giant Google as part of an investigation into the companys suspected refusal to undergo a state audit of its tax obligations.

Yustinus Prastowo, the executive director of the Center of Indonesian Taxation Analysis (CITA), said the government should be able to negotiate with Google as the UK government had been able to negotiate with social media colossus Facebook, which as a result paid 4.16 million (US$5.08 million) in taxes in the UK last year.

The UK government possessed accurate data on Facebook and formed a new tax nomenclature through which it could force the company to negotiate. We should also have accurate data on Google operations and revenues in Indonesia in order to start negotiations, he said.
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Linkedin Liza Yosephine (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Thu, October 13, 2016

Indonesia is set to host the first Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA) leaders summit in Jakarta in March next year, bringing together heads of state from 21 coastal countries that border the Indian Ocean, officials have said.

"This is going to be the first high level summit for IORA. In the past, it has been at the ministerial level," Indian Ocean Rim Academic Group (IORAG) chair Adriana Elisabeth told reporters following a group meeting on Wednesday.

The concept of Blue Economy envisaged by the organization highlights the importance of inclusive and sustainable values, not separate from marine environmental concerns, she added.

The group meeting of academics in Jakarta on Wednesday resulted in a set of recommendations that will be submitted to IORA secretariat head of the summit, Adriana said.

The document would outline the focus points for the event next year, including highlighting priority areas such as marine safety and security, disaster risk management, fisheries management, trade, tourism, gender empowerment as well as academic science and technology development.

IORA director Graham Anderson said a senior officials meeting would take place in Bali Oct. 22-27 to further discuss preparations, such as an outlook plan for member countries to implement over the next five years.

Indonesia has been IORA chairman for the past two years and will handover leadership to South Africa in 2017. (liz/bbn)
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Linkedin Ayomi Amindoni (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Thu, October 13, 2016

State-run energy giant Pertamina officially received a cargo of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) from Iran on Thursday, marking Irans first shipment as a new supplier of LPG to Indonesia.

Pertamina president director Dwi Soetjipto welcomed the 44,000 metric tons of LPG transported from Asaluyeh Port in Iran 13 days ago by its VLGC Pertamina Gas 2 vessel, at Kalbut Port in Situbondo, East Java.

According to him, the LNG shipment from the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) would open up other business development opportunities between Pertamina and the NIOC, in both the upstream and downstream sectors.

"It marks a new chapter of cooperation between Pertamina and the NIOC and makes trade cooperation between Indonesia and Iran more significant," Dwi said in a statement on Thursday.

Earlier, the NIOC agreed to supply Pertamina with a total volume of 600,000 tons of LPG for 2016 and 2017.

Following the arrival of the first cargo, the NIOC will immediately send the next cargo, which is expected to arrive on Nov. 20.

In addition to the LPG purchase, the two state-run companies signed an agreement to conduct a preliminary study of two giant oil fields in Iran, namely Ab-Teymour and Mansouri, which have an oil reserve of more than 5 billion barrels. (evi)
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Linkedin Indra Budiari (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Thu, October 13 2016

In a dramatic scene, 27-year-old Jessica Kumala Wongso stood from her seat to read out her defense statement after prosecutors demanded that she be sentenced to 20 years in prison for allegedly killing her friend Wayan Mirna Salihin.

I am standing here because I was accused of killing my good friend Mirna, Jessica told the court before bursting into tears.

The large and packed courtroom at the Central Jakarta District Court suddenly became silent.

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Linkedin Callistasia Anggun Wijaya (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Thu, October 13, 2016

The attorney of murder defendant Jessica Kumala Wongso , Otto Hasibuan, said on Thursday that his client could not be determined as a criminal solely based off of her body gestures.

"Gestures cannot be used to determine someone has committed a crime. Gestures can be interpreted differently," Otto said before the judges at the Central Jakarta District Court on Thursday while reading Jessica's defense plea.

During the ongoing trials, which started in June, prosecutors had presented experts from psychologists, digital forensic experts to criminology experts all of whom agreed that Jessica has demonstrated odd behaviors throughout the trial. Jessica is the sole suspect of the murder of Mirna, who died on Jan. 6 at Olivier restaurant in Grand Indonesia shopping mall after drinking a cyanide-laced Vietnamese coffee.

Jessica's gestures, such as playing with her hair, continuously looking around and moving paper bags on the table have become sources of discussion in the hearing. Her calm behavior had also invited suspicions that she was guilty in this case, prosecutors had said.

Otto disagreed with prosecutors interpretation of Jessica's gestures.

"Anything that Jessica does is seen as wrong, sitting, standing, walking slowly, anything. If Mirna hadn't died, would Jessica's gestures still indicate something wrong?" he said.

The defense statement on Thursday was a follow-up from Wednesday's hearing. Jessica and her team of attorneys read out the defense statements consisting of 4,000 pages. The prosecutors had sought 20 years imprisonment against Jessica, the Australian permanent resident, over Mirna's murder case. (rin)
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Linkedin Callistasia Anggun Wijaya (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Thu, October 13, 2016

Defense attorney Otto Hasibuan has pleaded to the judges of the Central Jakarta District Court to exclude the testimony of an Australian police officer in the murder trial of his client, Jessica Kumala Wongso.

The testimony of prosecution witness New South Wales Police officer John Jesus Torres, which was presented during a hearing on Sept. 26, claimed that Jessica, who is accused of murdering her friend Wayan Mirna Salihin, had 14 recorded criminal offenses in Australia.

"The record, which was read out as part of the trial, did not have any relationship with Mirna's death, therefore it should be excluded from consideration," Otto told the judges in a defense statement on Thursday.

Jessica's lawyers in Australia have received legal documents from the New South Wales Police that show Jessica does not have a criminal record there, he said. The documents had also been validated by Indonesian General Consulate in Sydney, which proved that Jessica's criminal record was clean, he added.

In Jessica's defense plea, Otto claimed that Torres was only a 'testimonium de auditu' witness because he did not directly witness Jessica's conduct in Australia. According to the Criminal Law Procedures Code (KUHAP), such testimony could not be considered by the judges, he said.

In the hearing, Torres revealed that Jessica had experienced some problems in Australia, which were mostly related to her ex-boyfriend. According to a police report, her ex-boyfriend had filed for a restraining order against Jessica.

Torres also said that Jessica had reportedly tried to commit suicide a couple of times leading to her involuntary admission to the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital. (rin)
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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Thu, October 13, 2016

The National Commission for Human Rights (Komnas HAM) has urged President Joko Jokowi Widodo to be firm in dealing with intolerant groups, not only in the heated Jakarta gubernatorial election but also in other cases.

On Thursday, Sr. Comr. Listyo Sigit Prabowo was installed as the new Banten Police chief, replacing Sr. Comr. Ahmad Dofiri. Local media reported some ulema groups in Banten protesting the appointment of Sigit, a non-Muslim.

Komnas HAM commissioner Natalius Pigai said Jokowi should stand firm against intolerant groups, because the President had the 1945 Constitution and the state motto of Unity in Diversity to back up his standpoint. Of course, he should still consider human rights principles [in his firmness], Natalius said as quoted by tempo.co Thursday.

Rejecting a non-Muslim police chief because of his religion was not justified, he went on.

The Presidents firmness in dealing with people disturbing unity would prove that the government upheld an Indonesia that respects diversity, modern egalitarianism and promotes meritocracy in the bureaucracy.

Before being appointed as Banten Police chief, Listyo had been Jokowis aide for two years. He was also the Surakarta Police chief in 2011 and 2012, when Jokowi was the mayor there. (evi)
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Linkedin Marguerite Afra Sapiie (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Thu, October 13, 2016

The National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) has called on the state secretary to make efforts to find the "lost" investigation report created by a fact-finding team on the murder of prominent rights defender Munir Said Thalib.

Komnas HAM commissioner Roichatul Aswidah said the state secretary, who claimed they had no idea about the report's whereabouts, should coordinate with other state institutions or members of fact-finding team with access to the archive to locate the investigative document.

"If [after all efforts] the investigative document cannot be found, the government should then push for measures to ensure that the court's rulings [on Munir's murder case] are followed up on," Roichatul said on Thursday.

Finding the lost document would be a start for President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo to fulfill his commitment to finding justice for Munir and his widow Suciwati after 12 years without resolution, which was also part of his pledge to settle past gross human rights abuses, Roichatul said.

The Central Information Commission (KIP) ruled on Monday that the investigation report authored by the government-commissioned fact-finding team and submitted to Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's administration in 2005 was public information and therefore should be disclosed immediately.

Garuda pilot Pollycarpus Priyanto was sentenced to 14 years imprisonment for poisoning Munir with arsenic during a layover on a flight to Amsterdam on Sept. 7, 2004. After being granted remission, he was freed in November, 2014. (evi)
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Linkedin Desy Nurhayati (The Jakarta Post) Nusa Dua, Bali  Thu, October 13, 2016

Former president Megawati Soekarnoputri has opened the World Culture Forum (WCF) in Nusa Dua, Bali, standing in for President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo, who had been slated to open the four-day event himself.

The opening ceremony on Thursday, scheduled to kick off at 9 a.m., was delayed. At around 9:30 a.m., the master of ceremony announced Megawati, as "the fifth president of Indonesia", without mentioning the cancellation of Jokowi's presence.

After a series of opening events that included a traditional dance performance, remarks by Minister of Education and Culture Muhadjir Effendy and recorded speeches by UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon and UNESCO director general Irina Bokova, Megawati officially opened the event by striking the gong prior to delivering her keynote speech.

"I am representing President Joko Widodo, who could not be present at this event. He extends his warm greetings to all of you," Megawati said.

In her address, she highlighted the contribution of culture to creating peace, preserving nature and breaking down boundaries in global relations, which were marred with conflicts.

"Culture must be our common road, so that the earth is preserved [] for the life of us all."

She stressed the state ideology of Pancasila with its five guiding principles as the path for the culture of this nation, which is characterized by remarkable diversity with more than 1,000 ethnic groups. (dmr)
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Linkedin Julie Pace and Kathleen Hennessey (Associated Press) PUEBLO, Colo., United States  Thu, October 13, 2016

Several women levied allegations of sexual assault against Donald Trump on Wednesday in a series of interviews, adding to the already damaging revelations about the Republican presidential nominee's aggressive sexual comments about women.

Trump's campaign dismissed the allegations as having no merit or veracity, and it attacked one of the media outlets that published the women's accounts as acting on a vendetta. In a letter from his attorneys, Trump demanded The New York Times retract what it called a "libelous article" and apologize.

"For The New York Times to launch a completely false, coordinated character assassination against Mr. Trump on a topic like this is dangerous," Jason Miller, Trump's campaign spokesman, said in a separate statement. "To reach back decades in an attempt to smear Mr. Trump trivializes sexual assault, and it sets a new low for where the media is willing to go in its efforts to determine this election."

A story published The Times said Jessica Leeds, 74, of New York, told the newspaper she encountered Trump on an airline flight three decades ago. Leeds said Trump grabbed her breasts and tried to put his hand up her skirt. "He was like an octopus," she told the newspaper. "His hands were everywhere."

Rachel Crooks, of Ohio, said she met Trump at Trump Tower in 2005. Age 22 at the time, Crooks said Trump kissed her "directly on the mouth" against her will.

Trump denied the accusations, telling the Times, "None of this ever took place." The letter from his lawyers said unless the paper removed the article from its website and ceased further publication, it would pursue "all available actions and remedies."

Separately on Wednesday, The Palm Beach Post in Florida reported that Mindy McGillivray, 36, told the newspaper that Trump groped her at his Mar-a-Lago estate 13 years ago. People magazine reporter Natasha Stoynoff also posted a story about a 2005 incident at Mar-a-Lago where, she wrote, Trump "was pushing me against the wall, and forcing his tongue down my throat." The Trump campaign said there was no "merit or veracity" to either story.

Hillary Clinton's communication's director, Jennifer Palmieri, said in a statement the latest run of allegations "sadly fits everything we know about the way Donald Trump has treated women."

The interviews come just days after the publication of a recording from 2005, on which Trump made a series of vulgar and sexually predatory comments about women. While waiting to make a cameo appearance on a soap opera, he bragged to then-"Access Hollywood" host Billy Bush that his fame allowed him to force himself on women.

"And when you're a star, they let you do it," Trump said, adding later: "Grab them by the p----. You can do anything."

Trump has apologized for the comments on the recording, but also dismissed them as "locker room talk" and a distraction from the campaign. Asked during Sunday's presidential debate whether he ever engaged in the sort of conduct he described in 2005, he said: "No. I do not."

The reports about Trump's conduct came at the end of a day during which an increasingly confident Clinton made only brief reference to her opponent's treatment of women  she noted his dismissal of the conversation as "locker room talk"  and did not address the new allegations.

Trying to float above the fray, she warned voters in Colorado and Nevada not to be turned off by the "pure negativity" coming from her opponent.

Clinton's campaign had signaled earlier in the day she would go even harder on Republicans, but after news of the fresh allegations, Clinton demurred. She continued to make newly prominent and explicit pitches for Democratic congressional candidates in tight races, including Florida Rep. Patrick Murphy and Nevada Senate candidate Catherine Cortez Masto.

Even as she did so, two GOP senators and two House members who called for Trump to step aside over the weekend climbed back aboard. Their basic case: They're voting for a Republican next month, and if Trump isn't leaving then he's got to be the one.

John Thune of South Dakota, the third-ranking Republican in the Senate, told the Rapid City Journal he had "reservations about the way [Trump] has conducted his campaign and himself." However, he said, "I'm certainly not going to vote for Hillary Clinton."

Also back on board after calling on Trump to resign: Sen. Deb Fischer of Nebraska and Reps. Scott Garrett of New Jersey and Bradley Byrne of Alabama. There still are some three dozen GOP lawmakers who have withdrawn their support or are calling for Trump to step aside.

The focus on Republican congressional candidates is the latest sign the Clinton campaign is moving past a narrow focus on winning the White House, and now is aiming to win big  by delivering the Senate to Democrats, making deep cuts into the Republicans' majority in the House and, possibly, winning states long considered Republican territory.

"If you've got friends in Utah or Arizona, make sure they vote, too," Clinton told a raucous crowd in Pueblo.

"We are competing everywhere. ... I think Americans want to turn out in as big a number as possible" to reject Trump's message, Clinton said.

She had sympathetic words  serious or not  for Trump supporters who have begun to interrupt her events.

As security escorted one man out in Pueblo, Clinton said, "You have to feel a little sorry for them; they've had a really bad couple of weeks."

Clinton's new swagger and expanded ambitions came as Trump declared he feels unshackled to launch the sort of hard-edged, personal campaign his most ardent supporters love. Hours before news of the assault allegations broke, Trump kept up his unrelenting denunciations of Clinton at a rally in Florida. It's not enough for voters to elect him instead of her, he declared  "She has got to go to jail."

In Florida, he highlighted a new batch of hacked emails from Clinton campaign manager John Podesta's account, published by WikiLeaks, the anti-secrecy group. He asserted that the emails show ever more clearly that the former secretary of state and her family are corrupt.

"It never ends with these people," he said.

WikiLeaks, which US officials have said has ties to Russian intelligence, released a fourth installment of private correspondence between top Clinton campaign officials on Wednesday. Clinton's campaign has not confirmed the accuracy of the emails, but Podesta said the FBI is investigating Russia's possible involvement, raising the extraordinary prospect of a link between Russia and the US presidential election.

The FBI said anew that it is investigating possible Russian hacking involving US politics but made no comment on Podesta.

___

Associated Press writers Steve Peoples, Jonathan Lemire and Jill Colvin contributed to this report.
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Linkedin Nurul Fitri Ramadhani (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Thu, October 13 2016

The House of Representatives passed into law on Monday a 2016 regulation in lieu of law (Perppu) that stipulates chemical castration for sex offenders, though it remains unclear who will carry out the punishment or how it will be executed.

The legislation, now named the 2016 Child Protection Law, does not state mechanisms for carrying out the punishment, which can be done by injecting or orally administering drugs.

Chemical castration, unlike surgical castration, involves the administration of anti-androgenic drugs to reduce sexual interest, fantasies and sexual arousal, according to medical experts. The effects supposedly end if the periodic treatment, administered once every three months, is discontinued.

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Linkedin Lolita C. Baldor (Associated Press) Washington  Thu, October 13, 2016

US-launched Tomahawk cruise missiles destroyed three coastal radar sites in Houthi-controlled territory on Yemen's Red Sea Coast early Thursday, officials said, a retaliatory action that followed two incidents this week in which missiles were fired at US Navy ships.

The strikes marked the first shots fired by the US in anger against the Houthis in Yemen's long-running civil war. The US previously only provided logistical support and refueling to the Saudi-led coalition battling Yemen's Shiite rebels known as Houthis and their allies, including supporters of Yemen's former president, Ali Abdullah Saleh.

While the US military has been focused on al-Qaeda in Yemen, the Houthis had not been a primary target of American forces until the missile launches from Houthi-controlled territory this week.

No information on casualties from the US missiles was provided by American officials. The three radar sites were in remote areas, where there was little risk of civilian casualties or collateral damage, said a military official who was not authorized to be named and spoke on condition of anonymity.

The destroyer USS Nitze launched the cruise missiles, the official said.

President Barack Obama authorized the strikes at the recommendation of Defense Secretary Ash Carter and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Joseph Dunford, Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook said in a statement. US officials had said earlier that the US was weighing what military response to take.

"These limited self-defense strikes were conducted to protect our personnel, our ships and our freedom of navigation in this important maritime passageway," Cook said following the US action. "The United States will respond to any further threat to our ships and commercial traffic, as appropriate, and will continue to maintain our freedom of navigation in the Red Sea, the Bab al-Mandeb and elsewhere around the world."

Meanwhile, the state news agency Saba under Houthis' control quoted an unnamed military official as saying that US accusations that a US destroyer had come under attack from areas under control of Houthis were false. He said, "all these claims are totally untrue and that the popular committees [Houthi militias] have nothing to do with such action."

He added, "such claims are part of the general context of creating false justifications to escalate assaults and cover up the continuous crimes committed by the aggression against the Yemeni people, along with the blockade imposed on it, and after the increasing condemnations to such barbaric and hideous crimes against Yemenis."

Loai al-Shami, a Houthi spokesman, had earlier declined to comment on the US strike.

Early Wednesday, two missiles were fired at the USS Mason, an Arleigh Burke class of guided missile destroyer that is conducting routine operations in the region with the USS Ponce, an amphibious warship. Neither missile got near the ship, said a US military official.

The missiles were fired from the Yemen coast, near the location used Sunday when two missiles were launched at the same two ships, said the official, who was not authorized to be named and spoke on condition of anonymity.

A second official said it wasn't clear whether the ship's countermeasures caused the missiles to hit the water on Wednesday or if they would have landed there anyway. The official also spoke on condition of anonymity.

"These unjustified attacks are serious, but they will not deter us from our mission," the chief of naval operations, Adm. John Richardson, said in a statement Wednesday. "The team in USS Mason demonstrated initiative and toughness as they defended themselves and others against these unfounded attacks over the weekend and again today. All Americans should be proud of them."

Col. Walid Zeyad, a top naval official in Hodeida, told the AP that radars were in three different sites: Ras Eissa and Khoukha [both in Hodeida] and al-Makha port, of the western province of Taiz. He said that they were hit early morning around 7 a.m.

The area is a hub of weapons smuggling. The general impression in Yemen was that since the Saudi imposition of a blockade, and the air campaign, all radars were destroyed. When asked Zeyad if these radars are new, he declined to comment.

The missiles fired on Sunday were variants of the so-called Silkworm missile, and both also fell harmlessly into the water. The Silkworm is a type of coastal defense cruise missile that Iran has been known to use.

Sunday was the first time that US ships were targeted by a missile launch from Yemen. Last week, an Emirati-leased Swift boat came under rocket fire near the same area and sustained serious damage. The United Arab Emirates described the vessel as carrying humanitarian aid and having a crew of civilians, while the Houthis called the boat a warship.

The US has been considering withdrawing its support for the Saudi-led coalition fighting the Houthis following Saturday's airstrike on a funeral and other troubling incidents of civilian casualties as a result of the Saudi bombing campaign.

The strike on the funeral in the capital, Sanaa, killed some 140 people and wounded more than 600. That bombing, among the deadliest of the war, likely sparked the rebels to launch more ballistic missiles in Saudi Arabia and target the US warships in the Red Sea.

Human rights groups have expressed outrage over the deaths and accused the US of complicity, leading the White House to say it was conducting a "review" to ensure US cooperation with longtime partner Saudi Arabia is in line with "US principles, values and interests."

Meanwhile, an international human rights group, Human Rights Watch, said Thursday that the funeral bombing constitutes an apparent war crime and that the remnants of missiles found at the site of the attack showed that they were American-made. It said a disproportionate number of the victims were civilians when the coalition carried out two airstrikes.

An international investigation is needed into the "atrocity," said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director for the rights group. She said the attack on the funeral joins a long list of abuses by the coalition.

The US missile launch also could affect relations with Iran, which says it backs the Yemeni rebels but denies arming them. That's contradicted by the US Navy, which says it has intercepted several shipping boats since the war began carrying Iranian weaponry suspected to be on the way to Yemen.

There was no immediate reaction to the US launch Thursday morning in Iran, which was marking the Shiite commemoration of Ashoura. Houthi-linked media also did not report the strike.

The missile fire by the Houthi raises questions about maritime safety in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, which serves as a gateway for oil tankers headed to Europe through the Suez Canal. The US moved more naval ships near the strait after an Emirati-leased Swift boat came under rocket fire near the same area and sustained serious damage. The United Arab Emirates described the vessel as carrying humanitarian aid and having a crew of civilians, while the Houthis called the boat a warship.

Analysts with the Washington Institute for Near East Policy called the Houthi missile fire "a surprisingly aggressive move," but stressed there were limits to Iran's control of the rebels.

"Houthi relations with the Islamic Republic resemble the Iran-Hamas relationship more than the Iran-Hezbollah relationship  that is, the Houthis are autonomous partners who usually act in accordance with their own interests, though often with smuggled Iranian arms and other indirect help," the analysts wrote in a report released early Thursday.

___

Associated Press writers Maggie Michael in Sanaa, Yemen, and Jon Gambrell in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, contributed to this report.
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Linkedin Moses Ompusunggu and Ina Parlina (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Thu, October 13 2016

The government is set to establish a task force to root out rampant illegal levies as a part of its legal reform, which is primarily aimed at restoring public trust in the countrys law enforcement system.

Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Wiranto said on Wednesday that the task force would be effective by next week. The National Police would be the backbone of the team, he said.

Wiranto did not go into specifics regarding the polices role on the task force, but said the police are at the forefront of the effort to eradicate illegal levies.

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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Thu, October 13, 2016

The head of the National Polices Criminal Investigation Department (Bareskrim), Comr. Gen. Ari Dono Sukmanto, has warned police personnel against taking sides in next years regional elections.

He remained the officers about a statement from National Police chief Gen. Tito Karnavian on neutrality in the regional elections, which will take place simultaneously in 101 regions across the country.

The police are neutral in politics. Dont ever become involved in practical politics, said Ari in front of police investigators from provincial, mayoral and regency police offices across the country in Jakarta on Thursday, as reported by kompas.com.

He reminded the police officers that the neutrality of the police in elections was stipulated in Law No. 2/2002 on the National Police.

That law also stipulates that police personnel have right to vote or stand for election.

If any police officer wants to run in the elections, please simply resign, he said, adding that violators of the law would face sanctions in the form of a warning or dismissal.

He also told police chiefs from across the country to deploy skillful and trained investigators to handle election cases together with representatives of other institutions, like the election monitoring body and prosecutors offices, which would be grouped in the Integrated Law Enforcement Center (Gakkundu). (bbn)
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Linkedin Marguerite Afra Sapiie (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Thu, October 13, 2016

Jakarta-based Human Rights Working Group (HRWG) has deplored the passage law (Perppu) on child protection into law by the House of Representatives that stipulates harsher punishments for sex offenders, saying that the law has violated the country's anti-torture stance.

The law, which punishes rapists with chemical castration and a maximum sentence of the death penalty, has contradicted Indonesia's Convention against Torture Initiative (CTI) which pushed for the ratification of UN Convention against Torture, HRWG acting director Muhammad Hafiz said.

"We urge the government and lawmakers to solve cases of sexual violence against children by imposing severe punishment; however, chemical castration and the death penalty are only reactive solutions chosen without thorough study," Hafiz said in a statement on Wednesday.

Besides, the detailed mechanism to conduct chemical castration against convicted child molesters was still unclear and the Indonesian Doctors Association (IDI) had also publicly refused to execute the injection, Hafiz said.

The law neglected the rights of the victims of molestation since it did not include rehabilitation or medical and social treatment, for which the government should have accounted, Hafiz said.

He further called for the House of Representatives to revise the Perppu and conduct a comprehensive study on its legal substances so that the government could balance the efforts between eradicating sexual violence against children and upholding human rights principles. (bbn)
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Linkedin Apriadi Gunawan (The Jakarta Post) Medan  Thu, October 13 2016

Authorities in North Sumatra have deployed patrol ships around the waters of Tanjung Balai Asahan to prevent 22 vessels from Malaysia that have long been suspected of trying to smuggle goods, including drugs, from entering Indonesian territory.

North Sumatra customs and excise official Rizal said the 22 ships were currently at Malaysias Port Klang.

Those ships are ready to depart for Tanjung Balai Asahan waters, but they decided to postpone their departure because they know there are patrol ships monitoring the waters, Rizal, head of the prosecution and investigation division, told The Jakarta Post, Wednesday.

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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Thu, October 13, 2016

A joint team set up to safeguard the 2017 Jakarta gubernatorial election has detected seven areas in the capital that could be conflict-prone in the lead-up to and during the election.

The Jakarta National and Political Unity Office (Kesbangpol) and Jakarta Police are currently mapping areas in Jakarta that had the potential for conflict during the election campaign period, Kesbangpol chief Ratiyono said on Thursday.

"There are seven areas [that we have detected]. We anticipate [problems in] the most the densely populated areas," he said as reported by Kompas.com.

The conflict-prone areas include Johar Baru in Central Jakarta and Matraman in East Jakarta.

The Jakarta administration and Jakarta Police will tighten security in those areas to prevent any unwanted problems, Ratiyono said.

The joint security team includes the city administration, the Jakarta Military Command, Jakarta Police and Inter-Religious Harmony Forum (FKUB). The team will operate 24 hours a day throughout the campaign period and during and after the election. (rin)
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Linkedin Marguerite Afra Sapiie (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Thu, October 13, 2016

The Supreme Court has requested the House of Representatives Commission III overseeing legal affairs to scrap the so-called Guantanamo article from the draft revision of the 2003 Terrorism Law since it would compromise the fairness of the justice system.

Article 43A, which lawmakers and rights activists have called the "Guantanamo" article, would allow investigators and prosecutors to detain alleged terrorists, terrorist suspects, defendants and former terrorists, along with their families, in rehabilitation centers for six months without charge as a preventive measure.

The authoritarian article, should the bill be passed, would violate the principles of law in a democratic country, Supreme Court justic Salman Luthan said on Thursday.

"It violates human rights principles. If we are referring to [the fight against] international terrorism that says national security is above human rights, we have to criticize it. Moreover, our country is not in the middle of [a war against] terrorism," Salman said in a hearing with Commission III.

He also noted that terrorist suspects should be detained a maximum of 180 days as stipulated in the current law, rather than the 510 days after arrest as stipulated in the bill.

Meanwhile, the deputy chairman of the House's special committee for the law's amendment, Hanafi Rais of the National Mandate Party (PAN), agreed with Salman's suggestion, saying that the detention period should be the one stipulated in the Criminal Law Procedures Code (KUHAP).

"I also agree with the Supreme Court that the 'Guantanamo' article should be omitted," Hanafi told journalists after the hearing. (rin)
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Linkedin Marguerite Afra Sapiie (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Thu, October 13, 2016

A senior minister has ensured that the government would pursue the case of the "lost" investigation report created by a fact-finding team on the murder of prominent rights defender Munir Said Thalib.

"We will investigate this case. The government has nothing to hide," Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Wiranto told reporters on Wednesday.

Should the government locate the document, which was allegedly lost by the State Secretary, Wiranto assured that the investigative report would be disclosed to the public, as requested by the Central Information Commission (KIP).

If the report revealed new findings that could open further investigation into Munir's murder case, the Attorney General's Office would process the new information in accordance with the national law, Wiranto said.

"As long as we remain calm and refrain from placing blame [while searching for the report], I can assure that all will be settled," Wiranto added.

At the hearing held on Monday, the KIP said the investigation report authored by the government-commissioned fact-finding team and submitted to Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's administration in 2005 was public information and therefore should be disclosed immediately.

Garuda pilot Pollycarpus Priyanto was sentenced to 14 years imprisonment for poisoning Munir with arsenic during a layover on a flight to Amsterdam on Sept. 7, 2004. He has already freed since November, 2014. (bbn)
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Linkedin Anton Hermansyah (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Thu, October 13, 2016

Two South American countries, Uruguay and Paraguay, are exploring the possibility of exporting beef to Indonesia, highlighting their prime commoditys high global demand.

Uruguay Foreign Minister Rodolfo Nin Novoa said his country was one of the top premium beef exporters in Latin America. For the Asian market, Uruguay exported its beef products mainly to China, he explained.

The minister admitted Uruguay did not have any experience in halal meat business procedures required by Indonesia as a majority Muslim country.

We are calling on Indonesian businesspeople to invest in the development of halal slaughter houses in Uruguay using our free trade facilities, Novoa said, claiming that his countrys foreign investment permit relaxation was one of the highest in South America.

The minister was speaking after the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between American economic bloc Mercosur and Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin) in Jakarta on Tuesday.

Former Paraguay ambassador to Indonesia Cesar Esteban Grillon said halal meat supply was no longer a problem for his country because it had started its halal meat exportation five years ago with three countries, namely Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Qatar.

Even Gulf carrier Qatar Airlines only imports beef from us, said Grillon, who is also Mercosur Indonesia chairman.

Uruguay and Paraguay produced 600,000 and 300,000 tons of beef respectively in 2015. Both countries have Russia as the main market.

Indonesias beef import amounts to around 600,000 tons per year. To diversify beef supplies, Indonesia brought in beef from Australia, and the Trade Ministry opened trade opportunities with other countries, including Mexico and Brazil. (ebf)
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Linkedin Anton Hermansyah (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Thu, October 13, 2016

Zimbabwe is looking for Indonesian trade partners to supply goods to the country and develop their small and medium enterprises (SMEs).

Zimbabwe Minister of State for Bulawayo Provincial Affairs Eunice Nomthandazo Moyo said she had invited with her four SMEs to find Indonesian trade partners. She also wants the companies to learn about exports from Indonesian SMEs.

"Trade can bring employment to our country and we are interested in how Indonesia develops their SMEs to make exports," she told The Jakarta Post at 31st Indonesia Trade Expo in Kemayoran, Jakarta, on Wednesday.

Indonesian textiles have attracted traders from Africa, who specifically shop for textiles at Tanah Abang Market in Jakarta.

As the minister did not travel with a large delegation, she will collect contact information from exhibitors and purchase samples. Back in her country, she will show the goods to local traders.

"Our local companies can follow up the business opportunities through Skype or email," Moyo said.

Zimbabwe is a southern African country with a population of more than 14 million people. (evi)
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Linkedin (Associated Press) Canberra  Thu, October 13, 2016

The prime ministers of Singapore and Australia say China should not see increased military cooperation between their countries through a bilateral deal that will dramatically expand northern Australian training facilities as an attempt to contain Beijing.

Australian and Singaporean officials on Thursday signed a pact under which Singapore will spend up to 2.25 billion Australian dollars (US$1.7 billion) to double the capacity of its facilities in military training areas in Queensland state.

Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong told reporters he does not think "Singapore and Australia together could possibly be seen as a block" to China.

Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull says he agrees with Lee.

The Chinese embassy in Australia did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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Linkedin Jim Gomez (Associated Press) Manila  Thu, October 13, 2016

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said Wednesday he has ordered his defense chief not to prepare for joint exercises with the US military next year as he moved to realize his threat to scrap a high-profile symbol of his country's treaty alliance with Washington.

Duterte, however, reiterated he would not abrogate a 1951 Mutual Defense Treaty with the US that provides a security umbrella for the Philippines. He has said, however, that he'll chart a foreign policy not dependent on Washington.

"I insist that we realign, that there will be no more exercises next year, 'Do not prepare,' I told Defense Secretary Lorenzana," he said in a speech at the anniversary of the country's coast guard, referring to his defense chief.

Delfin Lorenzana said in a news conference last week that he has explained to the president the value of the annual military maneuvers with the Americans in responding to natural disasters and in potential security crises. The defense chief said he expected a final decision on the Philippines's participation before the two sides started planning the drills.

Top officials of the US Pacific Command in Hawaii are scheduled to fly to the Philippines later this month to discuss a range of defense issues, including plans for future joint exercises, said a Philippine defense official.

Manila's defense department, however, has asked them to postpone their trip until after the US presidential elections next month and after Duterte has finalized his decision to change the Philippine military's engagements with US forces, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the delicate nature of the issue.

An eight-day combat exercise between US and Philippine forces ended a day early Tuesday in an air of uncertainty because Duterte wanted to end such drills, saying the maneuvers only benefit the US military.

Outgoing US Ambassador to Manila Philip Goldberg said Washington wants to continue its robust alliance with the Philippines, saying both countries benefit mutually from the partnership.

"We have the desire to continue our alliance," Goldberg told reporters. "Some of the things are beyond my control, beyond the US control, but what I can tell you is the US has a string of commitment to the Philippines, to the people of the Philippines, to the economic well-being of the Philippines."

Aside from halting at least 28 joint combat exercises with US forces each year, including the Balikatan or shoulder-to-shoulder drills that involve thousands of American and Filipino troops each year, Duterte has opposed joint patrols with the US Navy in the disputed South China Sea. He also wants US counterterrorism troops out of his country's south, saying they inflame restiveness among minority Muslims, who resent atrocities committed by American colonial forces in the early 1900s.

Under Duterte's predecessor, Benigno Aquino III, relations with the US blossomed as the Philippines sought help in confronting Beijing over escalating territorial conflicts in the South China Sea and the US reasserted its influence in Asia as a counterweight to China.

Duterte, who took office in June and labels himself as a left-wing politician, however, has taken steps to scale back his country's military engagements with the US, which has criticized his bloody fight against illegal drugs, earning his ire. Contrastingly, Duterte has reached out to China and Russia.

Last week, the foul-mouthed Duterte told Barack Obama to "go to hell." He issued a new warning to his detractors Wednesday.

"If I don't respect you anymore, be prepared for the worst because I can give you gallons of gallons of epithets, curses," Duterte said.
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Linkedin Zhang Yunbi and Wang Qingyun (China Daily/ANN) Beijing  Thu, October 13, 2016

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte will make a four-day state visit to China next week, bringing along a 250-member business delegation, and a number of deals are expected to be signed.

The visit, which will be Dutertes first outside Southeast Asia since he became president in June, was announced by Chinas Foreign Ministry on Wednesday. It will also be the first state visit by a top Philippine leader in the past five years, during which time maritime disputes soured bilateral ties under Dutertes predecessor.

Philippine Trade Undersecretary Nora Terrado, who told Reuters that initially only about two dozen Philippine entrepreneurs were to accompany Duterte to China, said the number had ballooned to about 250.

Experts said the visit, scheduled for Oct 18 to 21, will be a milestone that might open a new chapter in Beijing-Manila relations as well as the South China Sea issue if Manila maintains its sincerity.

Ties between Beijing and Manila had been chilly over the past few years under former president Benigno Aquino III, who played up the maritime dispute on the international stage and refused to hold direct talks with China.

Duterte, unlike his predecessor, has said he wants stronger ties with China to gain funding for development projects and has kept a cool head on the South China Sea dispute, said Wu Shicun, a South China Sea expert.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang confirmed that Duterte will talk with President Xi Jinping as well as meet with Premier Li Keqiang and Chinas top legislator, Zhang Dejiang.

Although neither side released details of the visit or possible outcomes, Geng said the two sides are maintaining close contacts about detailed arrangements for the visit and the outcome documents.

It is hoped that the visit will put the bilateral ties back on the track of being healthy and stable, Geng said, adding that the Philippines is a traditionally amicable neighbor of China.

Zhou Fangyin, a professor of Chinese foreign policy at the Guangdong Institute for International Strategies, said the preparations for Dutertes visit mirror great sincerity  particularly from the Duterte administration  for thawing ties and for Beijings vision for long-term investment in bilateral ties.

As to deals that might be signed during the visit, Zhou said potential highlights might be increased trade of agricultural produce with China as well as infrastructure construction, which the Philippines needs.

The visit will be an important opportunity that both sides should grasp, and Duterte possibly has his eyes on cooperation with China in the long run in addition to this visit, Zhou said.

The South China Sea issue is unlikely to be resolved overnight, and neither country should give up working on the fragile ties, Zhou added.

Wu Shicun said the times have changed for China-Philippine ties, and he believes the visit will navigate the relationship out of the record low and move on steadfastly.


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Linkedin Rachel Au-Yong (The Straits Times) Canberra  Thu, October 13, 2016

Singapore and Australia signed four key agreements on Thursday morning, marking the start of the first tranche of initiatives under the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, a pact that elevates the relationship between the two countries.

Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and his Australian counterpart Malcolm Turnbull were witnesses to the signing, which took place in Canberra's Parliament House.

One of the agreements will see trade ties being deepened while the other three will see the two countries collaborate more closely in the areas of defense, scientific research and tackling drug trafficking.

More specifically, the agreements are:

- A third update of the Singapore-Australia Free Trade Agreement (FTA), to be enforced in 2017, which promises companies in both countries increased access to the other's markets across sectors.

This includes provisions to make it easier for Singapore exports to qualify for tariff-free treatment, and the reduction of regulatory barriers over goods like wine, medical devices and cosmetics.

Minister of Trade and Industry (Trade) Lim Hng Kiang, who signed the FTA with his Australian counterpart Steven Ciobo, said it "signals the commitment of both governments to promote stronger economic ties by increasing the flow of goods, services, and investment between our countries".

- Enhanced defense cooperation between the two nations, most significantly through a A$2.25 billion (US$1.69 billion) program that would give more Singapore troops access to a bigger training area for 25 years.

When in effect, the Singapore Armed Forces can send 14,000 soldiers, up from 6,600, for 18 weeks, up from six.

Planning and detailed design will begin early next year, and the ramp up in training is expected to take place in the coming years.

Both nations will also develop Exercise Trident as the joint military exercise, work together on defense science technology and hold a pilot Track 1.5 Security Dialogue.

- To promote collaboration on science research and innovation, both nations will jointly provide S$50 million to fund related projects. Discussion to identify these projects will begin early next year.

Australia will also set up its fifth "landing pad" in Singapore to facilitate the first of high-tech Australian start-ups into Asia.

Other areas of collaboration include joint strategic dialogues between the two governments, as well as tie-ups between Singapore's universities and Australia's Data61, to focus on big data and smart cities.

- Singapore's Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB) and the Australian Federal Police are working even more closely to tackle international drug trafficking, which the CNB noted in a statement is becoming increasingly active in a region viewed as a lucrative and growing market.

In particular is the rapid proliferation of new psychoactive substances, which it said are difficult to detect and pose serious threats to public health.

The two bodies will "work together to strengthen capacity and professional development via joint training, learning and development programs and exchange of officers."

At a joint press conference after the signing ceremony, Lee said he had a fruitful discussion with Turnbull on a wide range of issues.

"Both countries share a convergence of views on major strategic issues and we are comfortable working with each other," he said.

"We collaborated to build an inclusive and open regional security architecture, keep the international trading system open and enhance regional trading arrangements, built strategic trust which underpins Singapore-Australia relations and enabled us to conclude an ambitious and forward-looking CSP."
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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Thu, October 13, 2016

The famous Burj Khalifa will soon no longer be the tallest skyscraper in the world as Dubai, United Arab Emirates, has reportedly started building an even higher tower.

Slated for completion in 2020, the exact height of The Tower at Dubai Creek Harbour has not yet been revealed, according to AFP, but if it expects to beat Burj Khalifa, it should be higher than 828 meters.

The structure "will be the world's tallest tower when completed in 2020," according to an official statement released on Monday.

(Read also: Shenzhen plans China's tallest skyscraper)

Dubai's developer firm Emaar Properties reportedly said it had prepared a budget of around US$1 billion to construct the tower, which would feature observation decks and a minaret-like design.

Interestingly, Jeddah in Saudi Arabia also plans to build a taller skyscraper than the Burj Khalifa. Dubbed Jeddah Tower, the 1 kilometer-high building is slated for completion at the end of 2019. (fmn/kes)
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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Thu, October 13, 2016

The country's largest low-cost carrier, Lion Air, has launched a new route to connect two cities in the province of Central Sulawesi, namely Palu and Ampana.

The maiden flight from Mutiara Sis Al-Jufri Airport in Palu to Tanjung Api Airport in Ampana took place on Wednesday, using an ATR 72-600 that can accommodate 72 passengers.

Lion Group representative Dedi Irawan told the Antara news agency that Tojo Una-Una regency was blessed with tourism potential. "Now that air transportation is available, we expect the number of tourists to increase," said Dedi.

(Read also: Lion Air to open new routes from Solo airport)

Lion Group was seeking to connect regions of Indonesia, even in remote places, he continued. "We are committed to entering and opening flight services between regions.

Regular economy fares reportedly start at Rp 431,000 (US$33) for the Palu-Ampana flight and Rp 401,000 for the opposite way. (kes)
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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Thu, October 13, 2016

Wakatobi regency in Southeast Sulawesi is set to hold a festival on Tomia Island on Nov. 3-6, following the success of September's Barata Kahedupa Festival.

"It will be a cultural festival involving cultural competitions, such as a culinary party, a traditional fishing competition and many other competitions," said Tourism Ministry's 10 New Bali Acceleration Working Group coordinator for Wakatobi Destination Arie Prasetyo, as quoted by tempo.co on Wednesday.

(Read also: Wakatobi set to hold traditional matchmaking festival)

Tomia is home to spectacular diving and snorkeling as well as interesting traditions, such as Safar Traditional Festivity every Safar Month, Bose-Bose, which involves parading colorful boats filled with traditional dishes at the beaches and Sajo Moane Dance, which is a sacred dance performed by male dancers.

In December, the regency is slated to hold a combination of festivals and expos dubbed Wakatobi Wave Dec. 1-3. (fmn/kes)
A man who was knocked out and robbed on Baruch Drive earlier this month might also have been raped. [DNA Info]

That heart founded in the trash at the Riis Houses was not a human heart. [Daily News]

The executive producer of the OReilly Factor on Fox News will meet in Chinatown with Asian journalists following that racist segment about the presidential election. [Variety]

An in-depth look at the inner workings of the citys Chinese immigrant real estate market. [Real Deal]

All of the commercial tenants in a 14th Street building were asked to vacate their spaces. These tenants include City Council member Rosie Mendez and Assemblyman Brian Kavanagh. [EV Grieve]

Actor Paul Iacono moonlights as party promoter at the Rumpus Room on Eldridge Street. [New York Times]
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Several women have given interviews in which they make allegations of sexual assault against Donald Trump.

His campaign has dismissed the allegations as having no merit or veracity. But the allegations come just days after damaging revelations about Trump  a recording from 2005 was published where he made a series of vulgar and sexually predatory comments about women.

In a letter from his lawyers, Trump demanded one of the media outlets which published the womens accounts  the New York Times  retract what it called a libellous article and apologise.

Trump arrives to speak at a campaign rally (Evan Vucci/AP)

For The New York Times to launch a completely false, co-ordinated character assassination against Trump on a topic like this is dangerous, said Jason Miller, Trumps campaign spokesman.

To reach back decades in an attempt to smear Trump trivialises sexual assault, and it sets a new low for where the media is willing to go in its efforts to determine this election.

One woman who has made allegations against Trump is Jessica Leeds, 74, of New York. She told the New York Times: He was like an octopus.

She encountered Trump on an airline flight three decades ago and said he grabbed her breasts and tried to put his hand up her skirt.

His hands were everywhere, she said.

The allegations come after a video was leaked of Trump making vulgar comments about women (Evan Vucci/AP)

Meanwhile, Rachel Crooks, from Ohio, said she met Trump at Trump Tower in 2005, when she was 22 years old. She claimed he kissed her directly on the mouth against her will.

Trump denied the accusations, saying: None of this ever took place.

The letter from his lawyers said unless the paper removed the article from its website and ceased further publication, it would pursue all available actions and remedies.

In Florida, the Palm Beach Post reported that Mindy McGillivray, 36, told the newspaper Trump groped her at his Mar-a-Lago estate 13 years ago.

Clinton and Trump will go head to head in the elections next month (John Locher/AP)

People magazine reporter Natasha Stoynoff also posted a story about a 2005 incident at Mar-a-Lago. She wrote, he was pushing me against the wall, and forcing his tongue down my throat.

The Trump campaign said there was no merit or veracity to either story.

Hillary Clintons communications director, Jennifer Palmieri, said in a statement that the latest run of allegations sadly fits everything we know about the way Donald Trump has treated women.
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Funeral services held for former Patong Deputy Mayor

PHUKET: Funeral services are being held for well-known Patong politician Somkiet Kuru, who died on Monday (Oct 10) from kidney failure. He was 53.

patongdeathpolitics

By Tanyaluk Sakoot

Thursday 13 October 2016, 09:01AM

Funeral services are being held for well-known Patong politician Somkiet Kuru, who died on Monday (Oct 10).

Somkiet passed away at Vachira Hospital at 8:30am on Monday, Somkiets brother, Kitisin Kuru, told The Phuket News. He was suffering from kidney failure and infection, he added. Mr Somkiet had served many years as the leader of the Patong Gao Na (Patong Progress, Mr Kitisin noted. In 2002, Mr Somkiet was installed as Patong Deputy Mayor after Patong local Chalermsak Maneesri won the mayoral election against long-term incumbent Pian Keesin. Mr Somkiet in 2008 even contested the seat of Patong Mayor against Mr Pian, but lost by a mere 577 votes. After he lost the Patong mayor election, he focused more on his property business, Mr Kitisin said. Services are being held at Wat Suwankiriwong (Wat Patong) and will continue until Friday (Oct 14). The cremation will be at 12:30pm on Saturday, October 15, Mr Kitisin said.
Gatherings of Kings well-wishers grow nationwide

BANGKOK: The crowd of well-wishers praying for His Majesty the King continued to swell outside Siriraj Hospital as his loving subjects also gathered at government offices nationwide for prayers today (Oct 13).

health

By Bangkok Post

Thursday 13 October 2016, 04:16PM

The crowd grows outside Siriraj Hospital in Bangkok this morning (Oct 13), with alms and prayers for the recovery of His Majesty the King. Photo: Chanat Katanyu

Concerned about reports on His Majesty the Kings health, a steady stream of people was arriving at Siriraj Hospital, many from outlying provinces. Well-wishers gave alms to Buddhist monks at the hospital in the morning, making merit for the King.

Their prayers for the good health of His Majesty continued to be the main activity throughout the day.

HRH Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn, HRH Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn, HRH Princess Soamsawali and HRH Princess Chulabhorn are already at the hospital in Bangkok Noi district.

In Bangkok people wrote their names and best wishes for the Kings recovery in books at the Sahathai Samakom Pavilion in the Grand Palace.

Government organisations were holding gatherings for their officials to pray for His Majestys health.

With most people clearly unable to travel to Bangkok, interior permanent secretary Grisada Boonrach ordered the proper arrangement of places at provincial halls, district offices and local administrative organisation offices nationwide for people to sign books sending their best wishes to His Majesty the King and praying for his good health.

People were reported to be gathering in all provinces.

Read original story here.
Seven arrested in Phuket anti-drug and crime crackdown

PHUKET: Seven people were arrested on Tuesday (Oct 11) and yesterday (Oct 12) as part of polices ongoing anti-drug and crime campaign being carried out across the island.

Thursday 13 October 2016, 11:45AM

Thanapon Yammali, 40, was found in possession of 5.89kg of marijuana and 44 .22 bullets at a house on 50 Pi Rd in Patong. Photo: Provincial Police

Anti-narcotics police led by Phuket City Polices Maj Rittichai Chumchuy arrested seven people who were found in possession of a total of six kilograms of marijuana, 2.37 grams of crystal meth (ya ice), seven methamphetamine pills (ya bah) and 44 bullets.

On October 11 the team arrested six people as follow:

At 2pm - Sin Sansanuk, 22, with 1.14g of ya ice

At 4pm - Saithan Samor, 17, with 1.23g of ya ice and seven ya bah pills

At 5:30pm - Weerapong Wuthithamapor, 60, with 5.02g of marijuana and others items

At 8:30pm -Khajonkiat Senthong, 25, with 7.27g of marijuana

At 8:30pm - Zho Minn Ti, 25, from Myanmar with 7.27g of marijuana

At 10:30pm - Aroon Laoboondet, 53, with 12.53g of marijuana

The arrest of Weerapon at 5:30pm, however, then led police to arrest another drug dealer, Mr Thanapon Yammali, 40, in Patong yesterday. He was found in possession of 5.89kg of marijuana and 44 .22 bullets at a house on 50 Pi Rd.

According to a police statement, on October 11 Weerapon told police that Thanapon asked him to pick up some drugs at the road across from Central Festival Phuket and deliver to him at his home in Patong.

Weerapong led police to Thanapons home but it was already dark inside so officers monitored the house until the next day when they found Thanapon at a neighbouring property. Police escorted him back to his home where they conducted a search and discovered the marijuana and and ammunition.

Thanapon told police that he bought the drugs from a man named Pae, but that he did not know his real name. He had bought from Pae three times and recently bought 10kg which he paid B18,000 per kg.

He said Pae sent another man on a motorbike and sidecar to deliver the drugs to him near Bang Wad Dam and that he distributed most of the drug to his clients and had some for his own personal use.

Thanapon added that the bullets were not his but a friend name Kaew who left them at his house one month ago.

Sin and Saithan were taken to Phuket City Police to be charge with possession of category 1 drug. Weerapong was taken to Kathu Police Station to be charge with possession of a Category 5 drug, while Khajonkiat, Aroon, Thanapon and Zho were all taken to Patong Police Station to be charge with possession of Category 5 drug.

Zho was also charged with living in Thailand illegally and Thanapon with illegal possession of ammunition.
Tears flow as His Majesty mourned

BANGKOK: Praying, wailing and collapsing to their knees, devastated Thais poured out their grief on Thursday as they struggled to process the passing of King Bhumibol Adulyadej, the only monarch most had ever known.



By AFP

Thursday 13 October 2016, 10:11PM

A woman in tears offers prayers at Siriraj Hospital in Bangkok. Photo: AFP

What will the country be like without the Father? Father! bellowed a distraught Patcharapol Piamsaad, one of hundreds of Thais who had held hopeful vigils for days outside his Bangkok hospital.

The revered HM King Bhumibol, the worlds longest-reigning monarch, died Thursday at the age of 88  depriving the nation of a towering, unifying father figure.

For many His Majestys passing was too much for many to take.

Well-wishers had stood quietly below the Kings hospital room praying, as they had for days, when news of his passing suddenly rippled across the crowd, turning quiet prayers into agonised wailing.

Stunned Thais clasped their hands in redoubled prayer, with some throwing themselves to the ground.

Others stood to sing his personal royal anthem, wiping away tears.

Many in the surrounding area flocked to the riverside hospital, clutching portraits of Bhumibol and crying, while other parts of the capital appeared in an eerie silence.

I want the King to hear us in case he will come back to life, said Sukit Tanaboonsombat, 46, one of those leading the chants of Long live the King! and never taking his eyes off the hospital windows.

Sukit said he raced over to the hospital after hearing the news of His Majestys death, which he refused to believe.

Im waiting for a miracle to bring the king back to life because he said he wanted to live until 120 years old.

Across the board, Thai television turned its programming over to honouring the revered King, broadcasting images of him at his 1946 coronation, patrolling in military fatigues, and overseeing programmes aiding the poor.

His worsening health has raised concerns over the countrys political future.

Most Thais have known no other monarch and though His Majesty officially took no part in politics, he has been portrayed as a guiding light through decades of turmoil, coups and violent unrest.

We are waiting for a miracle but its likely impossible, said Panaree Thanawirachotikul.

Were shouting to heaven and angels to tell His Majesty that Thais will always have very strong loyalty toward him.

His Majesty has passed away, but he will always be in all the Thai peoples hearts.

Out of respect, Bangkoks notorious red-light districts also quickly closed on Thursday evening, with images posted on social media showing usually buzzing bars completely empty.
The nation mourns

His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej has died after a long illness, the palace announced today (Oct 13), ending a remarkable seven-decade reign.

deathhealth

By The Phuket News

Thursday 13 October 2016, 07:06PM

At 15:52 (0852 GMT) he died at Siriraj Hospital peacefully, the Royal Household Bureau said in a statement.

The deeply revered His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej, or Rama IX, the ninth king of the Chakri dynasty, which has ruled or reigned in Thailand from 1782, was the longest-reigning monarch in Thai history.

Grandson of the honoured King Chulalongkorn, His Majesty was born on December 5, 1927, at Mount Auburn Hospital in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in the United States, to HRH Prince Mahidol Adulyadej (the Prince Father) and HRH Princess Srinagarindra (the Princess Mother) while HRH Prince Mahidol was studying at Harvard University.

Later, while finishing his degree in Switzerland, His Majesty frequently visited Paris, where he met Mom Rajawongse Sirikit Kitiyakara, daughter of the Thai ambassador to France, and their love blossomed. They were married on April 28, 1950, a week before His Majestys coronation.

HM Bhumibol officially ascended the throne on May 5, 1950 in a grand ceremony at the Royal Palace to the cheers of the people of Thailand, where he pledged that he would reign with righteousness for the benefit and happiness of the Siamese people. The date is now marked in history as the beginning of the deep reverence Thais have for the beloved King.

His Majesty was an accomplished musician. He wrote 49 compositions, including marches, waltzes and patriotic anthems, and was adept at playing the saxophone, clarinet, trumpet, guitar and piano.

Also a keen sailor, His Majesty won a gold medal for sailing in 1967 in the Fourth Southeast Asian Peninsular Games, together with his daughter HRH Princess Ubol Ratana Rajakanya, whom he tied for points.

His Majesty King Bhumibol, however, is likely to be best remembered for the many Royal Projects he initiated, bringing relief to the suffering poor throughout the country.

The Royal Projects range from his groundbreaking move to have hill-tribe farmers in the Far North transform their poppy fields and plant crops that brought dependable household incomes, to his famed Monkey Cheeks reservoirs that officials use today to prevent devastating flooding in the Central Plains, to the Royal Rain-making Project to bring relief from drought, to his renowned Sustainable Sufficiency Economy principles.

In his most recent years, His Majestys concerted efforts to publicly present a united Thailand of all peoples  North, South, Central, and Northeast  brought his nation even closer together.

His Majesty Bhumibol Adulyadej was father to one son, HRH Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn, and three daughters  HRH Princess Ubolratana Rajakanya, HRH Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn and HRH Princess Chulabhorn.

HM King Bhumibol is also grandfather to 12 grandchildren.

May he be forever remembered for the great deeds he accomplished and the love that he inspired from not just Thais, but people from all around the world.

Long live his love. Rest in Peace, Your Majesty.
US President Obama pays tribute to His Majesty

UNITED STATES: US President Barack Obama has extended his condolences to Thailand for the passing of HM King Bhumibol Adulyadej, calling him a close friend and partner of the United States.



By The Phuket News

Thursday 13 October 2016, 09:31PM

US President Barack Obama meets with HM King Bhumibol Adulyadej at Siriraj Hospital in Bangkok on Nov 18, 2012. Official White House Photo by Pete Souza

On behalf of the people of the United States, I offer my heartfelt condolences to Her Majesty Queen Sirikit, her children and grandchildren, and the people of Thailand on the passing of His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej,

His Majesty the King was a close friend of the United States and a valued partner of many US Presidents. I had the honour of calling on His Majesty the King during my visit to Thailand in 2012, and recall his grace and warmth, as well as his deep affection and compassion for the Thai people.

As the revered leader and only monarch that most Thais have ever known, His Majesty was a tireless champion of his countrys development and demonstrated unflagging devotion to improving the standard of living of the Thai people.

With a creative spirit and a drive for innovation, he pioneered new technologies that have rightfully received worldwide acclaim. His Majesty leaves a legacy of care for the Thai people that will be cherished by future generations.

The American people and I stand with the people of Thailand as we mourn His Majesty the King's passing, and today we hold the Thai people in our thoughts and prayers.

See White House statement in full here.
Describing a new construction tower in Downtown Brooklyn, Stephen Smith, of the real estate investment firm Quantierra, says, "You have this sheer curtain wall, and then punctuating it like pockmarks, like acne scars, are these PTACs."

He practically spits the word "PTACs."

The packaged terminal air conditioning unitPTAC, pronounced "PEE-Tack"is perhaps the most unloved, ubiquitous feature of new construction housing in New York City. PTACs are everywhere, from luxurious Manhattan high-rises costing thousands of dollars per square foot to ticky-tack condos built by shady developers in North Brooklyn.

PTACs are large, unsightly air conditioner/heater combo units, hence the "packaged" part of the name. You probably didn't know they had a name, but you've seen plenty of them: they're typically long, low-slung boxes in appealingly nothing shades of beige and white, with a few dials on top, that fit snug against a wall. They're common throughout the country in hotels and motels, because they allow for the temperature of an individual room to be precisely controlled.

In New York City, PTACs are also the standard climate-regulation method for new construction buildings. This sets New York apartnowhere else does a resident of a brand-new condo have to share her home with one, or several, of these hulking metal monstrosities.

"Chicago, Philadelphia, Boston, San Francisco, Los Angelesnone of the buildings there have these fucking glorified window units sticking through their walls," says Smith.

PTACs are installed by drilling a huge hole through the wall of a building. Because a PTAC can only heat or cool the room it's in, PTAC apartments will typically have multiple units. You can spot a PTAC building from a mile. The exterior of a PTAC is covered with a panel of metal grating, also called a grille. Multiplied across the entire facade of a building, these grilles can make even the sleekest glass tower look cheap.

I asked Andrew Dolkart, professor of historic preservation at Columbia's Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation and perhaps the expert on the architecture of New York City, if he feels the PTAC could be consider a pox on the city's buildings. "Yes, of course!" he said. "They become the dominant feature on a lot of these buildings."

The aesthetic of the PTAC grille is the non-aesthetic. Dolkart says he's encountered some buildings that thoughtfully integrate the grilles into their design, but that generally, they're just stuck on there. "You see them and they're pretty egregious," he says. "And there's a lot of that kind of construction going on, especially in Brooklyn."



PTAC grille. (Scott Heins / Gothamist)

Once the grilles are up, they don't come down, even though they're not really designed to last. "In 10 years, they'll be bent out of shape, they'll be dirty," Dolkart says. "Architects don't like themof course notbecause they become eyesores on their building. Even when it's done well, it's eventually going to look bad."

Residents of PTAC apartments also complain about the aesthetic of the interior unit, which is are often three or four feet long and protrudes at least nine inches into a room. (In buildings that have thinner walls, a PTAC will jut out at least a foot.) Sites like Pinterest and Houzz offer dozens of products designed to camouflage or reclaim lost space from PTACs.

The unpleasant form of the PTAC is mirrored by its unimpressive function.

"They break down. They don't have a very long lifespan, these things. I've heard anywhere from five to 10 years, 10 being on the outside," says Dave Maundrell, the founder of AptsAndLofts.com and currently an executive vice president at CITI Habitats.

Scott Miller, of Miller Aire Corp, has been in business of installing and maintaining PTACs for more than 15 years. He says they can last much longer, but they need regular maintenance, which developers and owners often don't realize, or just don't care to do. "A lot of people, they buy a unit, they don't do anything to it, they let it sit for three years, two years, whatever," says Miller. "Then the filter's completely clogged solid, the evaporator coil is clogged solid with dirt, you can burn out your compressor."

Chloe Pinkerton, who lives with her husband in a three-year-old PTAC building in East Harlem, knows that well: "Probably a year into living in the apartment, in the summer, when we were mostly using it as an AC unit, it started to smell like something had died in it," she said.

Apparently, the unit's drainage bin was holding stagnant water, which in the summer induced mold growth, releasing the noxious odor in her apartment. Regular maintenance might have addressed the problem, but Pinkerton, like the vast majority of PTAC owners, had no idea that the thing needed to be serviced. The device has been a constant annoyance, though she prefers the PTAC to the window-mounted ACtwo years ago, she was hospitalized after being struck by a falling window unit at Lexington Avenue near 100th Street.



Chloe Pinkerton's PTAC. (Chloe Pinkerton)

Because PTACs break down so easilytheir lifespan is about the same as cheaper, removable window-mounted ACsdevelopers will often keep spare PTACs in a building for tenants whose units fall apart.

Cecil Scheib, the chief program officer of the Urban Green Council, a nonprofit that advocates for sustainable city living, has a bigger problem with PTACs. His organization conducted a study on room air conditioners (window-mounted, through-the-wall and PTAC) and found that energy losses from these units add up to approximately one percent of the city's annual carbon emissions. "It's absolutely huge," he says. Collectively, the study found, room ACs are responsible for around $150 million per year in excess energy bills.

PTACs are often shoddily installed, with tiny gaps all around that let the elements in, which means users have to crank up the AC or heat extra high to get a room to their desired temperature. The AC study found that the average unit is installed with gaps equivalent to a six-inch hole in the wall. (The gaps also annoyingly let in street noise.)

Even if properly installed, PTACs have a fundamental design flaw that limits their effectiveness: they are constructed out of metal. Metal is a very good conductor of heat, which means that in winter, they draw heat out of your apartment, and in summer, they draw it in. Given the extremes of New York's weatherthere aren't too many weeks each year that we have neither the heat nor the AC onthat adds up to a lot of wasted energy.

So if PTACs are unsightly on the inside and out, poorly made, and inefficient, why do developers insist on using them?

It all comes down to money. Construction in New York is exorbitantly expensive. In fact, according to the design and engineering consultancy Arcadis, it's the most expensive city in the world in which to build. Development involves negotiating miles of red tape and New Yorkers are willing to tolerate just about anything to live here, so the PTAC endures. "Most times, the builders do it because it's cheap. It's the cheapest way to heat and cool a building, really," says Miller.

Putting in a PTAC doesn't require a permit, nor does it require a builder to install ductwork, which means the units are basically plug and play. It's difficult to generalize exactly how much cheaper a PTAC is per unit than a central air systemMiller said he didn't want to offer an estimate because costs vary widely depending on the number of units being purchased, their size, strength and so on. But one broker who spoke to Gothamist guessed that going with PTACs could be as much as 50 percent cheaper than installing central air.

Earlier this month, a provision of the housing code kicked in that will require developers to account for PTAC losses in the energy assessments they submit during the construction permitting process. (Somehow, this wasn't already mandated, leaving developers free to omit from their assessments energy losses from all the holes in the wall).

In the long term, perhaps the new policy will slowly induce developers to move away from the PTAC.



PTAC-ular Silver Towers luxury development in Hell's Kitchen. (Flickr)

For now, PTACs remain a cheap and easy option for developers, and "cheap" and "easy" are magic words to anyone building in New York. So for the foreseeable future, New Yorkers in new buildings will have to make do with these beige beasts.

And architecture aficionados like Stephen Smith will continue to fume.

"When you're making a nice modernist building, the whole idea of it is clean lines," says Smith "You have a nice clean facade, and the PTAC just ruins it. It just ruins the whole look of the building."

Dan Nosowitz is a Brooklyn-based freelance writer. His work has appeared in Atlas Obscura, The Awl, Modern Farmer, the New York Times Magazine, and more.
Surveys for $3B Navigator carbon capture pipeline can begin in South Dakota

Navigator fulfilled two legal prerequisites in South Dakota law that allows them to conduct surveys on private land without a landowner's permission.
After filing a discrimination complaint with the Montana Human Rights Bureau last year, a former head of the Office of the State Public Defender has taken her case to district court.

Randi Hood, 66, is alleging age discrimination and a violation of constitutional rights in her lawsuit against the agency.

She says she was passed over for a position as an assistant public defender in the Helena office because of her age. Two younger applicants with fewer qualifications were chosen over her for two open positions in 2015, the suit alleges. Both candidates were at least 20 years younger than Hood.

The youngest applicant, who is more than 30 years younger than Hood, had less than four years of experience as a public defender, the suit states. Hood has more than 35 years of experience as a criminal defense attorney.

Hood is asking for a position as an assistant public defender in addition to damages, including lost wages and compensation for emotional harm.

Hood left the public defender's office in February. In her time with the agency, she served 18 years as head of the regional office in Helena.

Hood once was chief public defender for the state and opted to step down from the position in 2011 stating she wanted to return to the courtroom. She last worked with the agency in its Major Crimes Unit.

In addition to the age discrimination issue, Hood also alleges her former employer released constitutionally protected information about her to third parties without her consent.

A call to the current head of the agency was not returned.

The suit was filed in Helena district court on Sept. 30, after the Montana Human Rights Bureau issued a notice of right to sue concerning her discrimination claim.
The East Helena Public Schools Board of Trustees voted unanimously this week to direct Superintendent Ron Whitmoyer to look at bonding options for a new elementary school.

The building for first- and second-graders would be built on Dartman Field, said board President Scott Walter.

The bond would likely go to district voters sometime in 2017, said Whitmoyer.

The problem is we have used every conceivable space, he said. Radley Elementary School recently had to move a computer lab into the hallway to free up space for a regular classroom.

Current district enrollment is at 1,191, which is relatively flat, Whitmoyer said. However, future growth is projected in the East Helena district because housing construction has been booming. Last November enrollment was at 1,205 students.

The maximum number of students the district can handle in its current facilities is 1,300, said Whitmoyer in previous Independent Record articles.

In a Dec. 18, 2015, IR column, Whitmoyer wrote, Eastgate and Radley have been forced to reclaim janitor closets, shower rooms and double up gym classes in order to squeeze kids in every conceivable space.

In January of this year, the district began a series of four public meetings to look at a wide variety of facility options. These were narrowed to three by an April 25 public meeting, two of which included building a new school.

If the district constructs a new school, it could take second-graders from Radley School and first-graders from Eastgate Elementary School, thus freeing up more classroom space in those two buildings, Whitmoyer said.

The school configurations would be: Head Start and all-day kindergarten classes at Eastgate; first and second grade at the new school; third through fifth grade at Radley; and sixth through eighth at East Valley Middle School.

The next steps for a school bond will be to meet with a consultant and look at costs and options, said Whitmoyer.

At this time, no date or bond size has been decided.

Were being proactive, said board Chairman Scott Walter of the bond planning. We want to make sure we dont run into a situation where we have to struggle to figure everything out. This way were trying to solve a problem before it becomes too difficult to solve.

Weve gotten a lot of input. Im sure some people will be concerned about the decision the board made, but a lot of people will be very happy with the direction our board is moving toward to handle the enrollment increases.
This frame grab of video provided by the United States Navy shows moments after a U.S.-launched Tomahawk cruise missile hits a coastal radar site in Houthi-controlled territory on Yemen's Red Sea Coast on Thursday, Oct. 13, 2016. Tomahawk cruise missiles destroyed three coastal radar sites in Houthi-controlled territory early Thursday, officials said, a retaliatory action that followed two incidents this week in which missiles were fired at U.S. Navy ships. (U.S. Navy via AP Video)
Montanas secretary of state has released information about the voting records of two candidates running to fill her office.

Linda McCulloch, a Democrat who is term-limited and not running for any public office, said in a letter to the editor sent to the Independent Record on Thursday that Republican Corey Stapleton has failed to vote in a number of elections in recent years."

"In fact, he has failed to vote in three elections since 2013 and six elections the six years before that," she wrote.

A background report on Stapletons voting record, released by him after a request to Montana GOP officials who use the i-360 proprietary voter database, shows him as having voted in every primary, general, special and municipal election back through 2006.

Ive voted twice a year like clockwork since I left the service, said Stapleton, a former U.S. Navy officer, upon first learning of the letter Thursday morning. If I missed an election I would be surprised. What I am surprised about is, what is this sitting Secretary of State doing? I would remind her she needs to remain impartial in an ongoing election.

Lee Newspapers requested the voting record files going back to 2007 for all candidates running for statewide office. The file on Stapleton conflicts with both the account by McCulloch and the GOP report.

Since June 1998, Stapleton was registered to vote on 28 municipal, school, state or federal ballots. He missed six votes-by-mail in that period, all city or school ballots.

McCulloch also wrote that "Monica Lindeen, Mr. Stapleton's opponent has never missed voting in an election going back as far as records can be found. That's the kind of person you want in the Secretary of State's office."

The records released on Lindeens voting history only go back to 2004, but list no missed votes.

The letter from McCulloch, whose face is on the voter information pamphlet released to voters statewide, comes a day after early voting started in Montana. The Independent Record confirmed that McCulloch sent the letter.

In Montana, and several other states, information on whether people voted, but not who they voted for, are public record.

Stapleton has spent eight years in the state Senate and unsuccessfully has run for U.S. Senate and House seats, as well as governor. His opponent, Lindeen, has served as state auditor for the last eight years.

Reached Thursday morning, McCulloch said Stapletons voting record concerns her. When youve missed roughly nine elections, thats a lot of elections to miss, she said, explaining that Montanans can vote at the polls or have absentee ballots sent to them.

McCulloch said she didnt know if a secretary of state has released the voting records of someone running for the office before. I could have put out a press release, but I didnt think that was right. I personally wrote a letter to the editor, she said.

After the voting files were released, McCulloch did not clarify the discrepancies between her letter and what the records showed. She stood by her assertion that it is important to have been a consistent voter if you are seeking to become secretary of state.

After the records were read to Stapleton between campaign events, the Republican said he would not make excuses and could not remember what happened with those particular school and city ballots. He noted that not voting on bond initiatives could sometimes be a form of no vote on taxation increases. Under state law, some school bonds can fail even though they received majority approval because not enough ballots were cast. He said he was proud not to have missed a primary or general election in decades and condemned McCullochs letter.

This is exactly why we need new leadership, he said, calling the letter slimy and especially so since McCulloch is the person who is supposed to uphold fair elections.

She cant get her election data straight, Stapleton said. She came out the day before ballots are mailed to make an attack. She releases voter information as a wrongful and reckless political attack.
But the tribe has a long way to go
With Britain's exit looming before the European Union, efforts are on to ensure that crucial trade ties, which are a lifeline for the EU nations, are not severed. For this purpose, India, one of the main suppliers of food materials to the continent, has been offered a prime position in EU's upcoming trade and investment summit.

The European Chamber of Commerce has extended a Trade and Investment Partnership Summit (TIPS) to be held in Brussels during November 8-12 for nations with whom the EU has trade relations.

The objective of the summit is to create awareness on international business opportunities and feasibility of cross-border expansion for Indian and European business and to better understand each others' concerns.

"We have already sent an invitation to Finance Minister Arun Jaitley to deliver the key note address during the summit," said Ravi Mehrotra, chairman of the Europe India Chamber of Commerce, one of the chief organisers of the business summit in Brussels. The platform will inform European investors about the benefits of GST and other FDI easing norms that the government has introduced in past two years.

During the seven-day summit, the government of India will hold a roadshow on the current FDI regime in India and the business opportunities for European companies, with focus on the sectors like defence, pharmaceuticals, smart cities, digital India, food processing and civil aviation, a commerce and industries ministry official informed. More than 200 participants from Indian and European countries are expected to join the policy roadshow at Brussels.

"The Summit will offer participants an opportunity to share perspective on the economic reforms from our business and industry point of view and also their expectations from the government," said the official, overseeing the planning for India's participation, before this trade summit is held in Brussels next month.

The Summit is being jointly organised with conglomerate of European trade and industry bodies, BusinessEurope, and in association with the Embassy of India. Important chambers of commerce, trade bodies and business organisations of Europe have pitched in as collaborators for holding this big ticket trade summit.

During the last two years, the government of India had taken several economic policy reforms aimed at inviting foreign investment in India and, as recently as in June, the government announced sweeping liberalisation of the FDI rules. With these changes, India is now the most open economy in the world for FDI, the European Chamber of Commerce said in a statement.

The summit would also decide on the future course of action for EU post BREXIT, later in 2017. Deliberations on overcoming the far reaching impacts of Britain's decision to exit from the EU on global trade will also be assessed during the meet.

Calling the BREXIT development ''extraordinary'' the EICC will organise a Colloquium titled: EU, BREXIT and India  Changing Landscapes, to discuss the challenges and opportunities for Indian business in the new scenario during the conclave.
The Union home ministry has asked the Pinarayi Vijayan government in Kerala to send a detailed factual report on the brutal killing of a BJP activist in Kannur district of the state on Wednesday. The home ministry has written to the state home department asking it to share facts of the case and the steps taken by the state administration to book the culprits. "We are awaiting the report of the state government," said a home ministry official.

The MHA also wants to know what steps are being taken by the CPI(M) government in the state to ensure safety of political workers even as the BJP called a bandh in the state on Thursday to protest the killing of its activist.

On Wednesday, BJP activist Remith was hacked to death in the home town of the chief minister. The killing took place within 48 hours of the murder of a CPI(M) activist Mohanan.

Political clashes and violence are not new to the state and the Union home ministry is particularly concerned over the political violence that grips the state every now and then. The MHA is closely watching the developments with officials stating that it is the responsibility of the Pinarayi Vijayan government to maintain law and order.
MISSOULA -- Lumber producers in Montana dont expect big changes after midnight Wednesday, when the U.S.-Canadian Softwood Lumber Agreement expires without a replacement.

But that doesnt mean little ripples wont turn into waves later on as loggers on both sides of the border try to meet American housing market demand for 2x4s. A weak Canadian dollar, increased pace of construction, shifting Asian export demands and a U.S. presidential campaign targeting international trade deals all stir a pot previously covered by the softwood treaty.

If theres less lumber coming from Canada, thats good news for the American sawmills, said Hakan Ekstrom, president of Wood Resources International, a Seattle-based timber market consulting firm. But that also means with less competition, lumber prices go higher, which is a negative to the consumer going to Home Depot to buy lumber. We expect lumber demand will continue to go up as we see more housing starts in the next three to four years.

To get a taste of the current complexity of international politics, look at a stack of 2x4s. Seven of every 10 boards was cut and planed in the United States. Virtually all of the remaining three boards came from Canada.

That number might be higher, except that Canadians have been shipping a lot of lumber to China in the past decade. However, those ships have grown fewer in the past two years. Part of that stems from the cooling of the Chinese construction boom, which many consider an unstable bubble economy.

But the Chinese also arent buying as much Canadian wood because they can get it even cheaper from next-door Russia. Loggers in the Russian forests can truck their boards to China. And they get paid in Russian rubles, which were worth about 35 U.S. cents in 2012 but now bring about 16 cents apiece since Russias military interference with Ukraine triggered international financial sanctions.

Meanwhile, the U.S. housing construction market has recovered from the standstill of the Great Recession. But the 2x4s supporting that market boost havent all come from the United States, according to Todd Morgan at the University of Montana Bureau of Business and Economic Research.

U.S. lumber production hasnt gone up the way Canadian has, Morgan said. U.S. production only went up 2 percent while Canadian production went up 25 percent now that the agreement isnt there to slow them down. Plus, the U.S. dollar is stronger than the Canadian dollar. Both those things make a difference in giving the Canadians a trade advantage.

The 10-year Softwood Lumber Agreement expired on Oct. 12, 2015, but had a years stand-still period while the two nations renegotiated. U.S. timber interests claim Canadian firms take advantage of government subsidies to develop public timber lands and dump their finished lumber on the American market at unfairly low prices. Canadians claim Americans place expensive duty fees on imported lumber in violation of free-trade agreements  cases theyve generally won in international tribunals.

President Barack Obama and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau met on June 29, and produced a joint statement calling for Canada to restrict shipments to levels at or below an agreed-upon quota of the market. But their joint statement noted significant differences remain regarding the parameters of the key features.

That may reflect disagreements within the Canadian parties, according to Zoltan van Heyningen, executive director of the U.S. Lumber Coalition.

Our government has been working very hard to shape the framework of such an approach that addresses all Canadian concerns, van Heyningen said Wednesday. Canada on the other hand, despite commitment of their leader, has continued to insist on a framework that would allow West Coast producers to ship beyond a certain market-share level.

Van Heyningen said that could reflect British Columbias disproportionate supplies of raw logs, which might allow it to absorb export duties more economically than other Canadian lumber producers. Meanwhile, in the stand-still year Canada has increased its exports from 28 percent of the U.S. market to around 33 percent.

In a commodities market, thats huge, van Heyningen said. That is why youre seeing some difficult times for U.S. producers. To be blunt about it, it comes down to jobs. Do you allow the Canadian system of subsidizing their industry to eliminate U.S. jobs?

North of the border, Canadian chief negotiator Martin Moen told Canadian media no deal is better than a bad deal, although he held out hope that an agreement might be reached. But with trade agreements like the North American Free Trade Act and the Trans-Pacific Partnership being negative campaign issues in the U.S. presidential race, pushing for a new lumber deal couldnt have worse timing.

In Montana, local mill owners said they didnt expect much impact, good or bad, after the agreement disappears on Wednesday night. However, they are closely watching the congressional delegation of Sens. Jon Tester and Steve Daines and Rep. Ryan Zinke, who are all involved in the negotiations.

The Montana industry appreciates the efforts of the Montana Congressional delegation and U.S. trade negotiators in working for a new softwood lumber agreement, Montana Wood Products Association President Paul McKenzie of F.W. Stoltze Land and Lumber said in an email. Canadian lumber imports continue to seriously harm Montana lumber companies, workers, and their communities. This is why we need an agreement that is effective and sustainable. Alternatively, we need our government to fully enforce the U.S. trade laws against unfair Canadian trade practices.

That enforcement could come soon. Van Heyningen said the industry intended to demand import duties on Canadian softwood at the earliest possible period that would result in the most effective trade cases.

But were also working with the Montana delegation and negotiators trying to get a new agreement, van Heyningen said. Even if we do end up filing, the governments will continue to negotiate.
In this season of endless political advertisements, we become accustomed to less-than-subtle deceptions in many of them. There are, however, two components of political reality that offer enlightenment. Those items are political party platforms and political history. For Montanans fond of hunting, fishing, and the great wild outdoors, there are some truths or clear "political tracks" we can follow.

One political truth is the party platform a candidate chooses as representing their personal philosophy. What follows are taken from the current Montana Republican Party Platform:

 ... returning federally managed public lands to the states;

 We oppose the federal ... authority over land use and natural resource decisions;

 We support the granting of ... public lands to the state;

 We support the release of current wilderness study areas;

 We urge Congress to repeal  the  Endangered Species Act, and the National Environmental Policy Act...

 We support the private development of energy and mineral resources...

This sample reveals a truth you dont see in political ads of candidates wading streams, fishing rod in hand, dressed in just-out-of-the-box waders. It is what the party bosses put down in black and white  it is their ideological truth. In Montana when you saddle up with an outfit, that is who you ride with.

The bad news is that these are ideas that have been in our culture since the Republican Party bosses rejected Theodore Roosevelt in 1912. While TR was a Republican, the political bosses fought him and his conservation reforms every step of the way. When he ran for president in 1904, a conservative New York newspaper editorialized in his support, noting, He has ruled his party against its will.

It is certainly a mystery why natural resource conservation remains an alien concept to those claiming to be conservative. However, one look at the Montana Republican Platform gives us a truth we can take to the voting booth. If that platform becomes a Montana reality, we could look forward to: potential Berkley Pits at the head of the Smith, Yellowstone and Blackfoot Rivers; a national forest turned into an industrialized, mechanized and privatized landscape; and river trips that prohibit dropping anchor on privately owned stream beds, currently the law in some "conservative" western states.

At one point in his writings, Theodore Roosevelt wrote, A vote is like a rifle. Let us hope that Montana hunters and anglers will look beyond the flashy political ads and shoot straight in November 2016.

Jim Posewitz of Helena spent 32 years with the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks, leading the agencys ecological program for 15 years. He then founded Orion the Hunters Institute, a nonprofit dedicated to the preservation of ethical hunting and wild resources essential to that purpose. In 2015 the National Wildlife Federation named him Conservationist of the Year.
One of the UK's first females to chair a FTSE 100 company once told me there will only be equality of women in business when there are as many mediocre women at the top as there are men.

That was many years ago, when her appointment was considered so rare that it made front-page news, and when women made up only a handful of either executive or non-executive directors.

Since then there has been a big leap in the number of women at board level.

In a stunning move yesterday, some of the City's biggest fund managers said they will vote against board appointments in companies that do not have enough female executives

This was partly due to the work of the Coalition government's Lord Davies report, which told the bosses of listed companies that if they didn't recruit more women as non-executive directors, they would be forced to take them through mandatory quotas.

As you might expect, the stick did the trick. Within a couple of years, the number of female non-executive directors nearly doubled to around 24 per cent.

Yet despite the best efforts of government and much wishful thinking, it's no surprise this proportion has hardly budged because the stick went away.

But now there is a cudgel instead of a stick, and this time it's being wielded by the owners of the UK's listed companies  the fund managers themselves.

In a stunning move yesterday, some of the City's biggest fund managers said they will vote against board appointments in companies that do not have enough female executives.

This is a game-changer and could be just what is needed to get women moving on up again. It's important, too, that the funds making this promise are big beasts such as Jupiter Asset Management, Old Mutual Global Investors, Newton Investment Management and the Environment Agency Pension Fund, to name a few.

These are investors which own billions of shares in the UK's biggest companies  and hopefully, what they do or say will influence other asset managers.

At the same time the 30% Club, which lobbies to increase the number of women in business, is stepping up its campaign for other fund managers to follow suit.

As the club's new boss Brenda Trenowden points out, funds can show their muscle in two ways  by voting against disclosure expectations and voting against directors' elections.

What's more, she's being backed by other big City names: head of the Financial Reporting Council Sir Win Bischoff, London Stock Exchange boss Xavier Rolet and Aviva chief Euan Munro, who are supporting the club's ambition as they know having a more diverse board is good business.

So do 72 of the UK's biggest companies that signed up to the Government's recently launched charter on gender diversity  many in finance  with 60 of them promising to have women in at least 30 per cent of all senior roles by 2021.

Many of them, such as Virgin Money and Legal and General, say they are aiming for parity in senior roles.

These are great ambitions and should be lauded. Yet they are not easy to put into action or to monitor.

For example, how many is enough women? Should there be a third or a half in senior positions? Or, more bluntly, who judges when there are as many mediocre women as men in power?

Now for HS3

If the government can build HS2 then ministers should also get going with HS3. Arguably, the HS3 east to west line is far more important to improving the country's transport infrastructure and turning the Northern Powerhouse into reality.

Anyone travelling regularly will know how truly awful the journeys are crossing the country.

There are few direct intercity lines and the trains are old stock, slow and overcrowded  as I know having travelled from Cambridge to Birmingham for the Tory party conference last week.

The 98-mile journey took three and a half hours. Traversing the country further north takes four hours for the 176 miles between Liverpool and Newcastle.

These crazy journey times are one of the big reasons why economic growth and GDP in the North lag so far behind the South.

HS3 will cost a fraction of HS2, but would contribute far more proportionately to growth.

And funding? Well, let the regions take charge. Local mayors should be given powers to raise local taxes, attract private money and maybe even raise local bonds. That's what the Victorians would have done.

Brand explosion

First to blow up was Samsung with its Galaxy smartphone battery catching fire and now Sweden's Ericsson looks like it is going up in smoke too.

Both companies shocked the market with dire profit warnings yesterday, which sent the shares crashing.

While both are in the mobile market, their problems are quite different and Samsung's are easier to contain.

It's taking a hit of 14.6billion on the recall of its handsets, but has dealt with the problems swiftly is likely to recover.

But Ericsson is in deep crisis, having sacked its chief executive in the summer. It's the world's biggest mobile network equipment operator, but is losing out to Nokia and Huawei.
'Embarrassing': Sir Martin Sorrell was 70m in a year as WPP boss

Aviva's bullish brand director Jan Gooding attacks WPP boss Sir Martin Sorrell, describing his absurd 70million pay package as 'an embarrassing symbol of disparity'.

Sorrell, 71, was yesterday ranked the second best performing boss by Harvard Business Review.

He was beaten by Lars Rebien Srensen, 62, owlish head of Danish pharmaceuticals firm Novo Nordisk, who rubs along on a paltry 2.7million.

Next's 4.8million-a-year chief Lord Wolfson's influential Economic Prize launches this morning.

The winner of the annual competition, which will be judged this year by former chancellor Alistair Darling and Legal & General boss John Kingham, receives a handy 250,000.

Will Wolfson, 48, encourage his wife, Kate Middleton lookalike Eleanor, 34, to enter?

A former management consultant with BCG, she certainly has the brains. Though her last job, senior adviser to George Osborne, might have blotted her copybook economics-wise.

British Airways boss Willie Walsh, 54, renews his attack on the 17billion cost of Heathrow's proposed third runway, which he dismisses as a 'fantasy project.'

Dublin-born Willie's a punchy little fella isn't he? He's wagered Sir Richard Branson 'a kick in the groin' the tycoon won't be in charge of Virgin Atlanic next year. It's possible he lacks the honeyed eloquence of his late, stately predecessor, Lord (John) King.

Bank of England governor Mark Carney's press officer Liam Parker recently departed to spin for Foreign Secretary and foot-in-mouth practitioner Boris Johnson.

How's he getting on? 'His hair's already greying,' says a source. After Boris's call for demos outside the Russian embassy, the entire diplomatic corp must be stockpiling Grecian 2000.

Russian bank VTB summoned a meeting of employees yesterday, after a report by the Financial Times claimed it was pulling its European hub out of London.
Ministers are under pressure to ensure British steel is used to build the High Speed 2 rail link.

The Government has given the go- ahead to the 56billion scheme linking London with the Midlands and the North.

Industry chiefs and the unions are now demanding that a key contract to supply 2million tonnes of steel is not awarded to foreign producers.

The use of British steel would provide a lifeline for an industry that has been ravaged by a crisis claiming thousands of jobs and devastating communities.

Industry chiefs and the unions are now demanding that a key contract to supply 2m tonnes of steel for the HS2 project will not be awarded to foreign producers.

The plea comes after last week's revelation that a contact to supply steel for the next generation of nuclear submarines had been awarded to the French.

Dominic King, head of policy for UK Steel, said: 'We need to move away from the pattern of public money being shifted straight abroad and instead keep it in our industry, protecting jobs and opportunities.

'This is a great opportunity for both the Government and industry to ensure this project and future projects use British steel.'

Transport Secretary Chris Grayling yesterday insisted that the 56billion HS2 project would go ahead, with the first phase due to begin construction in 2017.

British firms are among those which have submitted bids for the first 8.6billion stage between London and Birmingham.

Many, including Balfour Beatty, Kier and Carillion, have teamed up with French or Spanish firms, which have expertise in high speed rail projects.

WHY HS2 IS BIG BUSINESS 2million tonnes of steel will be needed to build the HS2 rail link

At 56billion, it will be the most expensive railway in the world

Over 2billion has been spent without any track being laid

The network will span 330 miles from London to the North

The trains will travel at speeds of up to 250mph

An estimated 40,000 jobs will be created to build the project

14 British firms are bidding to work on the scheme

12 foreign firms are also bidding for the lucrative contracts

The British steel industry has been suffering a decline in recent years, driven by cheap Chinese exports undercutting British producers.

Thousands of jobs have been axed, exacerbated by a combination of higher energy costs and heavier taxes than European rivals.

The Government pledged in April that steel contracts would not go abroad 'if the most competitive bid is British', adding: 'All departments must consider the social and economic impact of the steel they source across all major projects, including on HS2.'

But Government officials yesterday refused to say that British steel would be used in the project. Industry experts now want the Government to guarantee the use of home-grown steel, even if is not cheaper.

They warn that if British steel is not used in key projects such as HS2 and Trident, then the industry will not be able to maintain capability for the future.

A spokesman for steelworkers' union Community said using foreign steel would be 'another massive missed opportunity that puts UK steel jobs at risk in Scunthorpe', adding: 'It isn't just about value for money, it's about value for UK communities as well.

'Given that HS2 is such a massive infrastructure investment, you should really maximise the benefits across the UK from the project. You can't just look at price alone.'

A DfT spokesman said: 'HS2 provides an excellent opportunity for businesses across the UK, with 25,000 jobs created during construction.

'We positively encourage bids from British companies to build HS2 and are already holding discussions with UK suppliers to make sure they are in the best possible position to win contracts for the steel that will be needed.
Sky found itself at the centre of a shareholder revolt yesterday over the reappointment of James Murdoch as its chairman.

More than 28 per cent of shareholders voted against Murdoch, who is the son of media mogul Rupert, over concerns about his independence.

Twenty First Century Fox  owned by 85-year-old Rupert, who is one of the world's most powerful media magnates  holds a 39 per cent stake in Sky.

There has been speculation Fox will make a bid for the remaining shares, sparking fears Murdoch will fail to negotiate the best deal for minority shareholders.

Family ties: More than 28% of Sky shareholders voted against James Murdoch over concerns about his independence

Royal London, which owns 51.5million of Sky shares, said Murdoch's reappointment as chairman was 'inappropriate'.

Piers Hillier, chief investment officer, said: 'Should Fox make a bid for Sky, investors need a strong independent chairman to protect the interests of minority shareholders and negotiate the best possible deal.

'Additionally, no attempts were made to advertise the position externally, or appoint an agency, which goes against the UK corporate governance code.'

Murdoch's return as chairman of Sky in January, after four years away, was mired in controversy.

He had resigned in 2012 in the wake of criticism from industry regulator Ofcom over his handling of the phone hacking scandal.

He had previously built Sky into a powerhouse over four years as chief executive and five as chairman, and was on the verge of selling it to Fox before a bid was abandoned.

However, months before his return as chairman of Sky, 43-year-old Murdoch was made chief executive of Fox  receiving a 15million pay check.

He said that, for Fox, holding 40 per cent of Sky was 'not an end state that is natural for us', implying Fox may want to increase its stake.

Yesterday's shareholder revolt at the annual general meeting in London overshadowed a strong set of interim financial results from Sky, which saw bumper sales boosts in Germany and Italy.

It has posted a 7 per cent increase in group revenues to 3.1billion in the first quarter, with 106,000 new customers signing up to the subscription TV provider.

Jeremy Darroch, group chief executive, said: 'We added customers at a good rate, albeit the quarter got off to a slow start due to the tail end of Euro 2016 and Rio Olympics, both big free-to-air events.

'But since then you've seen demand build across the quarter and September was strong.'

Shares in Sky have fallen 19 per cent in the last 12 months over concerns it will be squeezed by telecoms companies and Netflix, which offers television content over the internet.

It has also been hit with a 600m increase in its bill for English Premier League rights this year.

But it has continued to come up with fresh ways to win new customers.

It is on the verge of launching its own mobile phone contract offer, and just has just invested in a new virtual reality app  Sky VR.

But the potential of a fresh bid from Fox  taking advantage of the fall in the pound and lower share prices  has been a cause for constant uncertainty.

Analysts from Liberum said: 'The evidence seems to be mounting that the competitive and cost environments for Sky are getting tougher.'

And earlier this year investment bank Macquarie said the time was ripe for Fox to make a bid.

Sky released a statement after yesterday's meeting where it noted the 'significant vote' against Murdoch's re-election.

It said: 'The board decision to re-appoint James as chairman was unanimous and recognised that he is a highly experienced executive with extensive knowledge of the international media industry and has been a strong contributor to Sky since he joined the board in 2003.

'The board is confident that with the appointment of Martin Gilbert as deputy chairman and Andrew Sukawaty as senior independent director, there are strong governance processes in place to protect the interests of independent shareholders.

'Nevertheless, we will engage with those shareholders who voted against the resolution.'

Sky also said eight out of ten of the biggest UK institutions which holds shares in Sky voted in favour of Murdoch's re-election.
Lloyds Banking Group is looking to tackle the fraud epidemic facing Britain by investing in new technology to flag potential scammers on the telephone.

The technology works by creating an 'audio fingerprint' of each call by analysing 147 unique call features within 30 seconds, such as location, background noise, number history and call type.

Anything unusual is flagged to the bank, to help stop fraudsters who call up in their tracks.

New technology: Lloyds is to adopt the Pindrop systems early next year in a bid to stop fraudsters on the phone

It also identifies multiple callers associated with the same phoneprint, allowing firms to detect and track fraud rings.

Lloyds, which has around 30million customers, has teamed up with call centre fraud experts Pindrop and its patented Phoneprinting technology.

According to the US firm, its systems have helped prevent millions of dollars of fraud the other side of the Atlantic while also helping reduce call times for banks and other financial companies.

Pindrop data suggests that 53 per cent of fraudulent calls are made using internet-based lines, compared with only 7.2 per cent of legitimate calls, which it will flag to Lloyds call centre staff.

Fraudsters adopt this tactic as the calls are harder to trace.

Pindrop claims its systems detect 80 per cent of fraud, even by attackers not seen before, with a number of large banks, insurers, brokerages and retailers on its books.

How it works: Calls are vetted for a number of factors to then come up with a risk score

Lloyds  which also owns Bank of Scotland and Halifax - says there is no need for customers to provide additional information with the system being introduced early next year. It is the first bank in Europe to adopt the technology.

It has invested in it to help it battle against an army of fraudsters who attempt to disguise their calls.

Fraudsters also use techniques to disguise themselves when they phone individuals, including ID spoofing and voice distortion.

The move by Lloyds comes as Financial Fraud Action figures show banking customers across Britain lost 755million to financial fraud across the UK financial services industry in 2015.

Of this, losses due to telephone banking fraud rose by 92 per cent in 2015 to 32.3million.

LATEST FRAUD STORIES Last month, This is Money launched a fraud hub to help stop the tide of scams hitting readers. All the latest stories can be found here: Beat the Scammers

Three quarters of the total losses, according to FFA UK, is via payment card.

This includes are remote purchase, lost and stolen, card not received, counterfeit card and card ID theft.

A recent report from Pindrop  which was founded in 2011 - shows that one in 700 calls to UK financial services contact centres is currently fraudulent.

Martin Dodd, group telephony managing director at Lloyds, said: 'Protecting our customers, their money and their information is our priority and investing in ground-breaking technology is just one of the many ways we are able to remain a step ahead of potential fraudsters.

'Our partnership with Pindrop will enable us to further strengthen our multi-layered defences and allow us to continue to lead the industry in this important area.'

Lloyds wouldn't confirm how much it has paid to use Pindrop as it's 'commercially sensitive'.

Mike Haley, deputy chief executive at fraud prevention experts Cifas said: 'While many people opt to use online banking methods, there is still a requirement for a telephone conversation and this channel cannot be left to become a weakest link.

'It's important also for consumers to remain vigilant and proactive in protecting themselves against fraudulent activity.
I believe in the power of strong female leadership. I'm a pro-military, pro-equal pay, pro-Second Amendment, pro-immigration, and pro-business Hispanic woman voting for Donald Trump. Hillary Clinton is not a strong leader. Blindly voting for Clinton because she happens to be a woman does not prove feminist bonafides. For me, it would go against everything my husband and I have stood for: love of family, strength of our local community, and defense of our country.

I have seen my husband get dragged through the mud and called every name in the book by cowards on Twitter and in the opinion pages. I've been criticized myself by the left because they cannot comprehend or respect a woman choosing to vote for Mr. Trump. Because I choose to reject the decades of lies and corruption of Hillary Clinton and her husband's sordid past, I've been called uneducated, (I have a law degree, by the way), a puppet (I actually urged Ryan to support Trump), a disgrace to women, and so many more things that are not fit to print. The intolerance of the modern Democratic Party is a far cry from the Democratic Party I used to support as an independent voter.

Let me tell you why I do support Mr. Trump. I'm a wife, daughter, mom and grandma, and I love our country. Like our daughter and granddaughters, I care about what is going on around the world. When Ryan was deployed commanding troops in war, it was my job to keep morale up at home. Navy SEALs are more than colleagues, they are brothers. We are family. When Ty and Glenn died in Benghazi it shook our family. When Hillary Clinton lied about it, it was a slap in the face. When she criticized families for calling her out on it, it was un-American. As a military wife and mom, I will never support somebody who does not support the military.

Everyone knows my husband was a Navy SEAL for 23 years. I also have a daughter who is a Navy Diver and my son in law is an active duty SEAL. My youngest son is considering military service as well. Hillary Clinton will continue the dangerous foreign policy she and President Obama started and she will continue to put our troops in harm's way with no plan. This will open us up to more casualties abroad and more terrorist attacks at home.

I'm a small business woman. I am also the mom of two college students who are about to face an economy that under Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton doesn't have jobs for them. Nearly 13 percent -- that's the unemployment rate for Millennials. Taxes, regulations, and economic conditions are important. I believe Trump's business acumen will help build a stronger economy and he will surround himself with incredibly smart and successful individuals rather than career bureaucrats.

We all know Mr. Trump has said some regrettable things. He's since apologized. I got over it. With everything that is going on in the world -- Iran and North Korea flexing nuclear muscle, terrorist attacks in America, high unemployment with Millennials -- I think this election is about more than locker room talk.

Lolita Zinke is a small business woman, wife of Congressman Ryan Zinke, and a volunteer member on Donald J. Trump's Hispanic Advisory Board.
ResMed Inc. develops, manufactures, distributes, and markets medical devices and cloud-based software applications for the healthcare markets. The company operates in two segments, Sleep and Respiratory Care, and Software as a Service. It offers various products and solutions for a range of respiratory disorders, including technologies to be applied in medical and consumer products, ventilation devices, diagnostic products, mask systems for use in the hospital and home, headgear and other accessories, dental devices, and cloud-based software informatics solutions to manage patient outcomes, as well as provides customer and business processes. The company also provides AirView, a cloud-based system that enables remote monitoring and changing of patients' device settings; myAir, a personalized therapy management application for patients with sleep apnea that provides support, education, and troubleshooting tools for increased patient engagement and improved compliance; U-Sleep, a compliance monitoring solution that enables home medical equipment (HME)to streamline their sleep programs; connectivity module and propeller solutions; and Propeller portal. It offers out-of-hospital software solution, such as Brightree business management software and service solutions to providers of HME, pharmacy, home infusion, orthotics, and prosthetics services; MatrixCare care management and related ancillary solutions to senior living, skilled nursing, life plan communities, home health, home care, and hospice organizations, as well as related accountable care organizations; and HEALTHCAREfirst that offers electronic health record, software, billing and coding services, and analytics for home health and hospice agencies. The company markets its products primarily to sleep clinics, home healthcare dealers, and hospitals through a network of distributors and direct sales force in approximately 140 countries. ResMed Inc. was founded in 1989 and is headquartered in San Diego, California.
The following companies are subsidiares of Cummins: Anvl, Apollo FC Holdings Ltd., Atlantis Acquisitionco Canada Corporation, Atlantis Holdco UK Limited, Brammo, CIFC Worldwide Partner C.V., CMI Africa Holdings BV, CMI CGT Holdings LLC, CMI Canada Financing Ltd., CMI Canada LP, CMI Foreign Holdings B.V., CMI Global Equity Holdings B.V., CMI Global Equity Holdings C.V., CMI Global Holdings B.V., CMI Global Partner 2 C.V., CMI Global Partners B.V., CMI Group Holdings B.V., CMI Group Holdings Cooperatief U.A., CMI International Finance Partner 1 LLC, CMI International Finance Partner 2 LLC, CMI International Finance Partner 3 LLC, CMI International Finance Partner 4 LLC, CMI International Finance Partner 5 LLC, CMI Mexico LLC, CMI Netherlands Holdings B.V., CMI PGI Holdings LLC, CMI PGI International Holdings LLC, CMI Turkish Holdings B.V., CMI UK Finance LP, CMI UK Financing LP, Cherry Island Renewable Energy LLC, Consolidated Diesel Company, Consolidated Diesel Inc., Consolidated Diesel of North Carolina Inc., Cummins (China) Investment Co. Ltd., Cummins (Xiangyang) Machining Co. Ltd., Cummins Africa Middle East (Pty) Ltd., Cummins Afrique de l'Ouest, Cummins Americas Inc., Cummins Angola Lda., Cummins Argentina-Servicios Mineros S.A., Cummins Asia Pacific Pte. Ltd., Cummins Aust Technologies Pty. Ltd., Cummins BLR LLC, Cummins Battery Systems North America LLC, Cummins Belgium N.V., Cummins Botswana (Pty.) Ltd., Cummins Brasil Ltda., Cummins Burkina Faso SARL, Cummins CDC Holding Inc., Cummins CV Member LLC, Cummins Canada ULC, Cummins Caribbean LLC, Cummins Center of Excellence Singapore Pte. Ltd., Cummins Centroamerica Holding S.de R.L., Cummins Child Development Center Inc., Cummins Colombia S.A.S., Cummins Comercializadora S. de R.L. de C.V., Cummins Corporation, Cummins Cote d'Ivoire SARL, Cummins Czech Republic s.r.o., Cummins Deutschland GmbH, Cummins Diesel International Ltd., Cummins Distribution Holdco Inc., Cummins EMEA Holdings Limited, Cummins East Asia Research & Development Co. Ltd., Cummins Eastern Marine Inc., Cummins Electrified Power Europe Ltd., Cummins Electrified Power NA Inc., Cummins Emission Solutions (China) Co. Ltd., Cummins Emission Solutions Inc., Cummins Empresas Filantropicas, Cummins Energetica Ltda., Cummins Engine (Beijing) Co. Ltd., Cummins Engine (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Cummins Engine (Shanghai) Trading & Services Co. Ltd., Cummins Engine Holding Company Inc., Cummins Engine IP Inc., Cummins Engine Malaysia Sdn. Bhd., Cummins Engine Venture Corporation, Cummins Enterprise LLC, Cummins Filtration (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Cummins Filtration GmbH, Cummins Filtration IP Inc., Cummins Filtration Inc., Cummins Filtration International Corp., Cummins Filtration Ltd., Cummins Filtration SARL, Cummins Filtration Trading (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Cummins Filtros Ltda., Cummins Franchise Holdco LLC, Cummins Fuel Systems (Wuhan) Co. Ltd., Cummins Generator Technologies (China) Co. Ltd., Cummins Generator Technologies Americas Inc., Cummins Generator Technologies Germany GmbH, Cummins Generator Technologies India Private Ltd., Cummins Generator Technologies Italy SRL, Cummins Generator Technologies Limited, Cummins Generator Technologies Romania S.A., Cummins Generator Technologies Singapore Pte Ltd., Cummins Ghana Limited, Cummins Ghana Mining Limited, Cummins Global Financing LP, Cummins Global Technologies LLP, Cummins Grupo Comercial Y. de Servicios S. de R.L. de C.V., Cummins Grupo Industrial S. de R.L. de C.V., Cummins Holland B.V., Cummins Hong Kong Ltd., Cummins India Ltd., Cummins Intellectual Property Inc., Cummins International Finance LLC, Cummins International Holdings Cooperatief U.A., Cummins International Holdings LLC, Cummins Italia S.P.A., Cummins Japan Ltd., Cummins Korea Co. Ltd., Cummins LLC Member Inc., Cummins Ltd., Cummins Maroc SARL, Cummins Middle East FZE, Cummins Mining Services S. de R.L. de C.V., Cummins Mobility Services Inc., Cummins Mongolia Investment LLC, Cummins Mozambique Ltda., Cummins NV, Cummins Namibia Engine Sales and Service PTY LTD, Cummins Natural Gas Engines Inc., Cummins New Zealand Limited, Cummins Nigeria Ltd., Cummins Norte de Colombia S.A.S., Cummins North Africa Regional Office SARL, Cummins Norway AS, Cummins PGI Holdings Ltd., Cummins Power Generation (China) Co. Ltd., Cummins Power Generation (S) Pte. Ltd., Cummins Power Generation (U.K.) Limited, Cummins Power Generation Deutschland GmbH, Cummins Power Generation Inc., Cummins Power Generation Limited, Cummins PowerGen IP Inc., Cummins Research and Technology India Private Ltd., Cummins Romania Srl, Cummins S. de R.L. de C.V., Cummins Sales and Service Korea Co. Ltd., Cummins Sales and Service Philippines Inc., Cummins Sales and Service Private Limited, Cummins Sales and Service Sdn. Bhd., Cummins Sales and Service Singapore Pte. Ltd., Cummins Sinai ve Otomotiv Urunleri Sanayi ve Ticaret Limited Sirketi, Cummins South Africa (Pty.) Ltd., Cummins South Pacific Pty. Limited, Cummins Southern Plains LLC, Cummins Spain S.L., Cummins Sweden AB, Cummins Technologies India, Cummins Trade Receivables LLC, Cummins Turbo Technologies Limited, Cummins Turkey Motor Guc Sistemleri Sats Servis Limited Sirketi, Cummins U.K. Holdings Ltd., Cummins U.K. Pension Plan Trustee Ltd., Cummins UK Global Holdings Ltd., Cummins UK Holdings LLC, Cummins Vendas e Servicos de Motores e Geradores Ltda., Cummins Venture Corporation, Cummins West Africa Limited, Cummins West Balkans d.o.o. Nova Pasova, Cummins XBorder Operations (Pty) Ltd, Cummins Zambia Ltd., Cummins Zimbabwe Pvt. Ltd., Distribuidora Cummins Centroamerica Costa Rica S.de R.L., Distribuidora Cummins Centroamerica El Salvador S.de R.L., Distribuidora Cummins Centroamerica Guatemala Ltda., Distribuidora Cummins Centroamerica Honduras S.de R.L., Distribuidora Cummins S.A., Distribuidora Cummins Sucursal Paraguay SRL, Distribuidora Cummins de Panama S. de R.L., Dynamo Insurance Company Inc., Efficient Drivetrains, Efficient Drivetrains (Beijing) New Power Technology Co. Ltd., Efficient Drivetrains (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Hilite International, Hydrogenics, Hydrogenics Corporation, Hydrogenics Europe N.V., Hydrogenics GmbH, Hydrogenics Holding GmbH, Hydrogenics USA Inc., Markon Engineering Company Ltd., Nelson Burgess Ltd., Nelson Industries, Newage Engineers GmbH, Newage Ltd. (U.K.), Newage Machine Tools Ltd., OOO Cummins, Petbow Limited, Power Group International (Overseas Holdings) B.V., Power Group International (Overseas Holdings) Ltd., Power Group International Ltd., Quickstart Energy Projects SpA, Shanghai Cummins Trade Co. Ltd., TOO Cummins, Taiwan Cummins Sales & Services Co. Ltd., Worldwide Partner CV Member LLC, Wuxi Cummins Turbo Technologies Co. Ltd., Wuxi New Energy Automotive Technologies Co. Ltd., and ZED Connect Inc..

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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. LLC, PAH USA IN8 LLC, PF Americas Holding C.V., PF Asia Manufacturing B.V., PF PR Holdings C.V., PF PRISM C.V., PF PRISM Holdings S.a.r.l., PF Prism S.a.r.l., PFE Holdings G.K., PFE PHAC Holdings 1 LLC, PFE Pfizer Holdings 1 LLC, PFE Wyeth Holdings LLC, PFE Wyeth-Ayerst (Asia) LLC, PHILCO Holdings S.a r.l., PHIVCO Corp., PHIVCO Holdco S.a r.l., PHIVCO Luxembourg S.a r.l., PN Mexico LLC, PT. Pfizer Parke Davis, Parke Davis & Company LLC, Parke Davis Limited, Parke Davis Productos Farmaceuticos Lda, Parke-Davis Manufacturing Corp., Parkedale Pharmaceuticals Inc., Peak Enterprises LLC, Pfizer, Pfizer (China) Research and Development Co. Ltd., Pfizer (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd, Pfizer (Perth) Pty Limited, Pfizer (Thailand) Limited, Pfizer (Wuhan) Research and Development Co. Ltd., Pfizer AB, Pfizer AG, Pfizer AS, Pfizer Africa & Middle East for Pharmaceuticals Veterinarian Products & Chemicals S.A.E., Pfizer Anti-Infectives AB, Pfizer ApS, Pfizer Asia Manufacturing Pte. 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. Ltd., Pfizer Financial Services N.V./S.A., Pfizer France International Investments, Pfizer Free Zone Panama S. de R.L., Pfizer GEP S.L., Pfizer Global Holdings B.V., Pfizer Global Supply Japan Inc., Pfizer Global Trading, Pfizer Group Luxembourg Sarl, Pfizer Gulf FZ-LLC, Pfizer H.C.P. 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.

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The following companies are subsidiares of Lloyds Banking Group: A G Finance Ltd, A.C.L. Ltd, ACL Autolease Holdings Ltd, ADF No.1 Pty Ltd, Addison Social Housing Holdings Ltd, Alex Lawrie Factors Ltd, Alex. Lawrie Receivables Financing Ltd, Amberdate Ltd, Anglo Scottish Utilities Partnership 1, Aquilus Ltd, Automobile Association Personal Finance Ltd, BOS (Ireland) Property Services 2 Ltd, BOS (Ireland) Property Services Ltd, BOS (Shared Appreciation Mortgages (Scotland) No. 2) Ltd, BOS (Shared Appreciation Mortgages (Scotland) No. 3) Ltd, BOS (Shared Appreciation Mortgages (Scotland)) Ltd, BOS (Shared Appreciation Mortgages) No. 1 plc, BOS (Shared Appreciation Mortgages) No. 2 plc, BOS (Shared Appreciation Mortgages) No. 3 plc, BOS (Shared Appreciation Mortgages) No. 4 plc, BOS (Shared Appreciation Mortgages) No. 5 plc, BOS (Shared Appreciation Mortgages) No. 6 plc, BOS (USA) Fund Investments Inc., BOS (USA) Inc., BOS Edinburgh No 1 Ltd, BOS Mistral Ltd, BOS Personal Lending Ltd, BOSSAF Rail Ltd, Bank of Scotland (B G S) Nominees Ltd, Bank of Scotland (Stanlife) London Nominees Ltd, Bank of Scotland Branch Nominees Ltd, Bank of Scotland Central Nominees Ltd, Bank of Scotland Edinburgh Nominees Ltd, Bank of Scotland Equipment Finance Ltd, Bank of Scotland Foundation, Bank of Scotland LNG Leasing (No 1) Ltd, Bank of Scotland London Nominees Ltd, Bank of Scotland Nominees (Unit Trusts) Ltd, Bank of Scotland P.E.P. Nominees Ltd, Bank of Scotland Structured Asset Finance Ltd, Bank of Scotland Transport Finance 1 Ltd, Bank of Scotland plc, Bank of Wales Ltd, Barents Leasing Ltd, Barnwood Mortgages Ltd, Birchcrown Finance Ltd, Birmingham Midshires Financial Services Ltd, Birmingham Midshires Land Development Ltd, Birmingham Midshires Mortgage Services Ltd, Black Horse (TRF) Ltd, Black Horse Executive Mortgages Ltd, Black Horse Finance Holdings Ltd, Black Horse Finance Management Ltd, Black Horse Group Ltd, Black Horse Ltd, Black Horse Offshore Ltd, Black Horse Property Services Ltd, Boltro Nominees Ltd, British Linen Leasing (London) Ltd, British Linen Leasing Ltd, British Linen Shipping Ltd, C.T.S.B. Leasing Ltd, CBRail S.A.R.L., CF Asset Finance Ltd, CF1 Ltd, CM Venture Investments Ltd, Cancara Asset Securitisation Ltd, Capital 1945 Ltd, Capital Bank Leasing 12 Ltd, Capital Bank Leasing 3 Ltd, Capital Bank Leasing 5 Ltd, Capital Bank Leasing 9 Ltd, Capital Bank Property Investments (3) Ltd, Capital Personal Finance Ltd, Cardiff Auto Receivables Securitisation 2018-1 Plc, Cardiff Auto Receivables Securitisation 2019-1 Plc, Cardiff Auto Receivables Securitisation Holdings Ltd, Cardnet Merchant Services Ltd, Cashfriday Ltd, Cashpoint Ltd, Caveminster Ltd, Cedar Holdings Ltd, Celsius European Lux 2 S.A.R.L., Central Mortgage Finance Ltd, Chariot Finance Ltd, Cheltenham & Gloucester plc, Cheltenham II Securities 2020 DAC, Cheltenham Securities 2017 Ltd, Chepstow Blue Holdings Ltd, Chepstow Blue plc, Chester Asset Options No.2 Ltd, Chester Asset Options No.3 Ltd, Chester Asset Receivables Dealings Issuer Ltd, Chester Asset Securitisation Holdings Ltd, Chester Asset Securitisation Holdings No.2 Ltd, Chiswell Stockbrokers Ltd, Clerical Medical Finance plc, Clerical Medical Financial Services Ltd, Clerical Medical International Holdings B.V., Clerical Medical Investment Fund Managers Ltd, Clerical Medical Managed Funds Ltd, Clerical Medical Non Sterling Guadalix Hold Co BV, Clerical Medical Non Sterling Guadalix Spanish Prop Co SL, Clerical Medical Non Sterling Megapark Hold Co BV, Clerical Medical Non Sterling Megapark Prop Co SA, Clerical Medical Non Sterling Property Company S.A.R.L., Cloak Lane Funding S.A.R.L., Cloak Lane Investments S.A.R.L., Conquest Securities Ltd, Corbiere Asset Investments Ltd, Create Services Ltd, Credit Card Securitisation Europe Ltd, Dalkeith Corporation, Deva Financing Holdings Ltd, Deva Financing plc, Deva One Ltd, Deva Three Ltd, Deva Two Ltd, Dunstan Investments (UK) Ltd, Edgbaston RMBS 2010-1 plc, Edgbaston RMBS Holdings Ltd, Elland RMBS 2018 plc, Elland RMBS Holdings Ltd, Eurolead Services Holdings Ltd, First Retail Finance (Chester) Ltd, Fontwell Securities 2016 Ltd, Forthright Finance Ltd, France Industrial Premises Holding Company, General Leasing (No. 12) Ltd, General Reversionary and Investment Company, Gresham Nominee 1 Ltd, Gresham Nominee 2 Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 1) Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 10) Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 11) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 12) Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 13) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 14) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 15) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 16) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 19) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 20) Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 21) Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 22) Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 23) Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 24) Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 25) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 26) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 27) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 28) Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 29) Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 3) Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 30) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 31) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 32) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 33) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 34) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 35) Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 36) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 37) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 38) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 39) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 40) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 41) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 44) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 45) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 46) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 47) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 48) UK Ltd, Guildhall Asset Purchasing Company (No 3) Ltd, Guildhall Asset Purchasing Company (No.11) UK Ltd, HBOS Covered Bonds LLP, HBOS Final Salary Trust Ltd, HBOS Financial Services Ltd, HBOS Insurance & Investment Group Ltd, HBOS International Financial Services Holdings Ltd, HBOS Investment Fund Managers Ltd, HBOS Social Housing Covered Bonds LLP, HBOS UK Ltd, HBOS plc, HSDL Nominees Ltd, HVF Ltd, Halifax Credit Card Ltd, Halifax Financial Brokers Ltd, Halifax Financial Services (Holdings) Ltd, Halifax Financial Services Ltd, Halifax General Insurance Services Ltd, Halifax Group Ltd, Halifax Investment Services Ltd, Halifax Leasing (June) Ltd, Halifax Leasing (March No.2) Ltd, Halifax Leasing (September) Ltd, Halifax Life Ltd, Halifax Loans Ltd, Halifax Ltd, Halifax Mortgage Services Ltd, Halifax Nominees Ltd, Halifax Pension Nominees Ltd, Halifax Premises Ltd, Halifax Share Dealing Ltd, Halifax Vehicle Leasing (1998) Ltd, Heidi Finance Holdings (UK) Ltd, Hill Samuel Bank Ltd, Hill Samuel Finance Ltd, Hill Samuel Leasing Co. Ltd, Home Shopping Personal Finance Ltd, Horizon Capital 2000 Ltd, Housing Association Risk Transfer 2019 DAC, Housing Growth Partnership GP LLP, Housing Growth Partnership LP, Housing Growth Partnership Ltd, Housing Growth Partnership Manager Ltd, Hyundai Car Finance Ltd, IBOS Finance Ltd, ICC Enterprise Partners Ltd, ICC Equity Partners Ltd, ICC Holdings Unlimited Company, Inchcape Financial Services Ltd, Intelligent Finance Financial Services Ltd, Intelligent Finance Software Ltd, International Motors Finance Ltd, Kanaalstraat Funding C.V., Katrine Leasing Ltd, LB Healthcare Trustee Ltd, LB Motorent Ltd, LB Quest Ltd, LB Share Schemes Trustees Ltd, LBCF Ltd, LBG Brasil Administracao LTDA, LBG Capital Holdings Ltd, LBG Equity Investments Ltd, LBI Leasing Ltd, LDC (General Partner) Ltd, LDC (Managers) Ltd, LDC (Nominees) Ltd, LDC GP LLP, LDC I LP, LDC II LP, LDC III LP, LDC IV LP, LDC Parallel (Nominees) Ltd, LDC V LP, LDC VI LP, LDC VII LP, LDC VIII LP, LTGP Limited Partnership Incorporated, Legacy Renewal Company Ltd, Leicester Securities 2014 Ltd, Lex Autolease (CH) Ltd, Lex Autolease (VC) Ltd, Lex Autolease Carselect Ltd, Lex Autolease Ltd, Lex Vehicle Finance 2 Ltd, Lex Vehicle Leasing (Holdings) Ltd, Lex Vehicle Leasing Ltd, Lime Street (Funding) Ltd, Lingfield 2014 I Holdings Ltd, Lingfield 2014 I plc, Lloyds (Gresham) Ltd, Lloyds (Gresham) No. 1 Ltd, Lloyds (Nimrod) Specialist Finance Ltd, Lloyds America Securities Corporation1, Lloyds Asset Leasing Ltd, Lloyds Bank (Branches) Nominees Ltd, Lloyds Bank (Colonial & Foreign) Nominees Ltd, Lloyds Bank (Fountainbridge 1) Ltd, Lloyds Bank (Fountainbridge 2) Ltd, Lloyds Bank (I.D.) Nominees Ltd, Lloyds Bank (International Services) Ltd, Lloyds Bank (Stock Exchange Branch) Nominees Ltd, Lloyds Bank Asset Finance Ltd, Lloyds Bank Commercial Finance Ltd, Lloyds Bank Commercial Finance Scotland Ltd, Lloyds Bank Corporate Asset Finance (HP) Ltd, Lloyds Bank Corporate Asset Finance (No.1) Ltd, Lloyds Bank Corporate Asset Finance (No.2) Ltd, Lloyds Bank Corporate Asset Finance (No.3) Ltd, Lloyds Bank Corporate Asset Finance (No.4) Ltd, Lloyds Bank Corporate Markets Wertpapierhandelsbank GmbH, Lloyds Bank Corporate Markets plc, Lloyds Bank Covered Bonds (Holdings) Ltd, Lloyds Bank Covered Bonds (LM) Ltd, Lloyds Bank Covered Bonds LLP, Lloyds Bank Equipment Leasing (No. 1) Ltd, Lloyds Bank Equipment Leasing (No. 7) Ltd, Lloyds Bank Equipment Leasing (No. 9) Ltd, Lloyds Bank Financial Services (Holdings) Ltd, Lloyds Bank Foundation for England & Wales, Lloyds Bank Foundation for the Channel Islands, Lloyds Bank General Insurance Holdings Ltd, Lloyds Bank General Insurance Ltd, Lloyds Bank General Leasing (No. 11) Ltd, Lloyds Bank General Leasing (No. 17) Ltd, Lloyds Bank General Leasing (No. 20) Ltd, Lloyds Bank General Leasing (No. 3) Ltd, Lloyds Bank General Leasing (No. 5) Ltd, Lloyds Bank GmbH, Lloyds Bank Hill Samuel Holding Company Ltd, Lloyds Bank Insurance Services Ltd, Lloyds Bank International Ltd, Lloyds Bank Leasing (No. 6) Ltd, Lloyds Bank Leasing (No. 8) Ltd, Lloyds Bank Leasing Ltd, Lloyds Bank MTCH Ltd, Lloyds Bank Maritime Leasing (No. 10) Ltd, Lloyds Bank Maritime Leasing (No. 13) Ltd, Lloyds Bank Maritime Leasing (No. 17) Ltd, Lloyds Bank Maritime Leasing (No.16) Ltd, Lloyds Bank Nominees Ltd, Lloyds Bank Offshore Pension Trust Ltd, Lloyds Bank Pension ABCS (No. 1) LLP, Lloyds Bank Pension ABCS (No. 2) LLP, Lloyds Bank Pension Trust (No. 1) Ltd, Lloyds Bank Pension Trust (No. 2) Ltd, Lloyds Bank Pensions Property (Guernsey) Ltd, Lloyds Bank Properties Ltd, Lloyds Bank Property Company Ltd, Lloyds Bank S.F. Nominees Ltd, Lloyds Bank Subsidiaries Ltd, Lloyds Bank Trustee Services Ltd, Lloyds Bank plc, Lloyds Banking Group Pensions Trustees Ltd, Lloyds Capital GP Ltd, Lloyds Commercial Leasing Ltd, Lloyds Commercial Properties Ltd, Lloyds Commercial Property Investments Ltd, Lloyds Corporate Services (Jersey) Ltd, Lloyds Development Capital (Holdings) Ltd, Lloyds Engine Capital (No.1) U.S LLC, Lloyds Far East S.A.R.L., Lloyds General Leasing Ltd, Lloyds Group Holdings (Jersey) Ltd, Lloyds Holdings (Jersey) Ltd, Lloyds Hypotheken B.V., Lloyds Industrial Leasing Ltd, Lloyds International Pty Ltd, Lloyds Investment Bonds Ltd, Lloyds Investment Fund Managers Ltd, Lloyds Investment Securities No.5 Ltd, Lloyds Leasing (North Sea Transport) Ltd1, Lloyds Leasing Developments Ltd, Lloyds Nominees (Guernsey) Ltd, Lloyds Offshore Global Services Private Ltd, Lloyds Plant Leasing Ltd, Lloyds Portfolio Leasing Ltd, Lloyds Premises Investments Ltd, Lloyds Project Leasing Ltd, Lloyds Property Investment Company No. 3 Ltd, Lloyds Property Investment Company No. 4 Ltd, Lloyds Property Investment Company No.5 Ltd, Lloyds Secretaries Ltd, Lloyds Securities Inc., Lloyds TSB Pacific Ltd, Lloyds UDT Asset Leasing Ltd, Lloyds UDT Asset Rentals Ltd, Lloyds UDT Hiring Ltd, Lloyds UDT Leasing Ltd, Lloyds UDT Ltd, Lloyds Your Tomorrow Trustee Ltd, Loans.co.uk Ltd, London Taxi Finance Ltd, London Uberior (L.A.S. Group) Nominees Ltd, Lotus Finance Ltd, MBNA, MBNA Direct Ltd, MBNA Europe Finance Ltd, MBNA Europe Holdings Ltd, MBNA General Foundation, MBNA Global Services Ltd, MBNA Indian Services Private Ltd, MBNA Ltd, MBNA R & L S.A.R.L., MBNA Receivables Ltd, Mainsearch Company Ltd, Maritime Leasing (No. 19) Ltd, Membership Services Finance Ltd, Mitre Street Funding S.A.R.L., Molineux RMBS 2016-1 plc, Molineux RMBS Holdings Ltd, Moor Lane Holdings Ltd, NFU Mutual Finance Ltd, NWS Trust Ltd, Nominees (Jersey) Ltd, Nordic Leasing Ltd, Ocean Leasing (July) Ltd, Oystercatcher Nominees Ltd, Oystercatcher Residential Ltd, PIPS Asset Investments Ltd, Pacific Leasing Ltd, Penarth Asset Securitisation Holdings Ltd, Penarth Funding 1 Ltd, Penarth Funding 2 Ltd, Penarth Master Issuer plc, Penarth Receivables Trustee Ltd, Pensions Management (S.W.F.) Ltd, Peony Eastern Leasing Ltd, Peony Leasing Ltd, Peony Western Leasing Ltd, Permanent Funding (No. 1) Ltd, Permanent Funding (No. 2) Ltd, Permanent Holdings Ltd, Permanent Master Issuer plc, Permanent Mortgages Trustee Ltd, Permanent PECOH Holdings Ltd, Permanent PECOH Ltd, Perry Nominees Ltd, Prestonfield Investments Ltd, Proton Finance Ltd, R.F. Spencer And Company Ltd, Ranelagh Nominees Ltd, Retail Revival (Burgess Hill) Investments Ltd, SARL Coliseum, SARL Hiram, SAS Compagnie Fonciere De France, SCI Astoria Invest, SCI De LHorloge, SCI Equinoxe, SCI Rambuteau CFF, SW Funding plc, SW No.1 Ltd, SWAMF (GP) Ltd, SWAMF Nominee (1) Ltd, SWAMF Nominee (2) Ltd, Saint Michel Holding Company No1, Saint Michel Investment Property, Saint Witz 2 Holding Company No1, Saint Witz 2 Investment Property, Salisbury II Securities 2016 Ltd, Salisbury II-A Securities 2017 Ltd, Salisbury III Securities 2019 DAC, Salisbury Securities 2015 Ltd, Sandown 2012-2 Holdings Ltd, Sandown 2012-2 plc, Sandown Gold 2012-1 Holdings Ltd, Sandown Gold 2012-1 plc, Savban Leasing Ltd, Scotland International Finance B.V., Scottish Widows Administration Services (Nominees) Ltd, Scottish Widows Administration Services Ltd, Scottish Widows Annuities Ltd, Scottish Widows Auto Enrolment Services Ltd, Scottish Widows Europe, Scottish Widows Financial Services Holdings, Scottish Widows Group Ltd, Scottish Widows Industrial Properties Europe B.V., Scottish Widows Ltd, Scottish Widows Pension Trustees Ltd, Scottish Widows Property Management Ltd, Scottish Widows Schroder Personal Wealth (ACD) Ltd, Scottish Widows Schroder Personal Wealth Ltd, Scottish Widows Schroder Wealth Holdings Ltd, Scottish Widows Services Ltd, Scottish Widows Trustees Ltd, Scottish Widows Unit Funds Ltd, Scottish Widows Unit Trust Managers Ltd, Scottish Widows Fund and Life Assurance Society, Seabreeze Leasing Ltd, Seaspirit Leasing Ltd, Share Dealing Nominees Ltd, Shogun Finance Ltd, Silentdale Ltd, St Andrews Group Ltd, St Andrews Insurance plc, St Andrews Life Assurance plc, St. Marys Court Investments, Standard Property Investment (1987) Ltd, Standard Property Investment Ltd, Sussex County Homes Ltd, Suzuki Financial Services Ltd, Swan Funding 2 Ltd, Syon Securities 2019 DAC, The Agricultural Mortgage Corporation Plc, The British Linen Company Ltd, The Halifax Foundation for Northern Ireland, The Mortgage Business plc, Thistle Financing Holdings Ltd, Thistle Investments (AMC) Ltd, Thistle Investments (ERM) Ltd, Thistle Leasing, Three Copthall Avenue Ltd, Tower Hill Property Investments (10) Ltd, Tower Hill Property Investments (7) Ltd, Tranquility Leasing Ltd, Trinity Financing plc, UDT Budget Leasing Ltd, UDT Sales Finance Ltd, Uberior (Moorfield) Ltd, Uberior Co-Investments Ltd, Uberior ENA Ltd, Uberior Equity Ltd, Uberior Europe Ltd, Uberior Fund Investments Ltd, Uberior Infrastructure Investments (No.2) Ltd, Uberior Infrastructure Investments Ltd, Uberior Investments Ltd, Uberior Nominees Ltd, Uberior Trading Ltd, Uberior Trustees Ltd, Uberior Ventures Australia Pty Ltd, Uberior Ventures Ltd, United Dominions Leasing Ltd, United Dominions Trust Ltd, Universe The CMI Global Network Fund, Upsaala Ltd, Vine Street IX LP, WCS Ltd, Ward Nominees (Abingdon) Ltd, Ward Nominees (Birmingham) Ltd 1, Ward Nominees (Bristol) Ltd 1, Ward Nominees Ltd 1, Waverley  Fund II Investor LLC, Waverley  Fund III Investor LLC, Waymark Asset Investments Ltd, West Craigs Ltd, Wetherby II Securities 2018 DAC, Wetherby III Securities 2019 DAC, Wetherby Securities 2017 Ltd, Wood Street Leasing Ltd, and Zurich Insurance Group - UK Workplace Pensions and Savings Business.

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ALLETE, Inc. operates as an energy company. The company operates through Regulated Operations, ALLETE Clean Energy, and Corporate and Other segments. It generates electricity from coal-fired, biomass co-fired / natural gas, hydroelectric, wind, and solar. The company provides regulated utility electric services in northwestern Wisconsin to approximately 15,000 electric customers, 13,000 natural gas customers, and 10,000 water customers, as well as regulated utility electric services in northeastern Minnesota to approximately 145,000 retail customers and 15 non-affiliated municipal customers. It also owns and maintains electric transmission assets in Wisconsin, Michigan, Minnesota, and Illinois. In addition, the company focuses on developing, acquiring, and operating clean and renewable energy projects; and owns and operates approximately 1,000 megawatts of wind energy generation facility. Further, it is involved in the coal mining operations in North Dakota; and real estate investment activities in Florida. The company owns and operates 158 substations with a total capacity of 10,066 megavolt amperes. It serves taconite mining, paper, pulp and secondary wood products, pipeline, and other industries. The company was formerly known as Minnesota Power, Inc. and changed its name to ALLETE, Inc. in May 2001. ALLETE, Inc. was incorporated in 1906 and is headquartered in Duluth, Minnesota.
AstraZeneca PLC, a biopharmaceutical company, focuses on the discovery, development, manufacturing, and commercialization of prescription medicines. Its marketed products include Calquence, Enhertu, Faslodex, Imfinzi, Iressa, Koselugo, Lumoxiti, Lynparza, Orpathys, Tagrisso, and Zoladex for oncology; Brilinta/Brilique, Bydureon/Byetta, BCise, Byetta, Crestor, Evrenzo, Farxiga/Forxiga, Komboglyze/Kombiglyze XR, Lokelma, Onglyza, Qtern, and Xigduo/Xigduo XR for cardiovascular, renal, and metabolism diseases; Bevespi Aerosphere, Breztri Aerosphere, Daliresp/Daxas, Duaklir Genuair, Fasenra, Pulmicort, Saphnelo, Symbicort, and Tudorza/Eklira/Bretaris for respiratory and immunology; and Andexxa/Ondexxya, Kanuma, Soliris, Strensiq, and Ultomiris for rare diseases. The company's marketed products also comprise Synagis for respiratory syncytial virus; Fluenz Tetra/FluMist Quadrivalent for Influenza; Seroquel IR/Seroquel XR for schizophrenia bipolar disease; Nexium, and Losec/Prilosec for gastroenterology; and Vaxzevria and Evusheld for covid-19. The company serves primary care and specialty care physicians through distributors and local representative offices in the United Kingdom, rest of Europe, the Americas, Asia, Africa, and Australasia. It has a collaboration agreement with Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. to research, develop, and commercialize small molecule medicines for obesity; Neurimmune AG to develop and commercialize NI006; Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. to develop eplontersen, a liver-targeted antisense therapy in Phase III development for the treatment of transthyretin amyloidosis; Proteros Biostructures GmbH to jointly discover novel small molecules for the treatment of hematological cancers; Sierra Oncology, Inc. to develop and commercialize AZD5153. The company was formerly known as Zeneca Group PLC and changed its name to AstraZeneca PLC in April 1999. AstraZeneca PLC was incorporated in 1992 and is headquartered in Cambridge, the United Kingdom.
Deutsche Post AG operates as a mail and logistics company in Germany, rest of Europe, the Americas, the Asia Pacific, the Middle East, and Africa. The company operates through five segments: Express; Global Forwarding, Freight; Supply Chain; eCommerce Solutions; and Post & Parcel Germany. The Express segment offers time-definite courier and express services to business and private customers. The Global Forwarding, Freight segment provides air, ocean, and overland freight forwarding services; and offers multimodal and sector-specific solutions. This segment's business model is based on brokering transport services between customers and freight carriers. The Supply Chain segment delivers customized supply chain solutions to its customers based on modular components, including warehousing and transport services; and value-added services, such as e-fulfilment and returns management, lead logistics partner, real estate solutions, service logistics, and packaging solutions for various industrial sectors. The eCommerce Solutions segment provides parcel delivery and cross-border non-time definite international services. The Post & Parcel Germany segment transports and delivers mail communication, parcels, physical and hybrid letters, and special products for the delivery of goods; and offers additional services, such as registered mail, cash on delivery, and insured items. This segment also provides digital products, including stamps with data matrix codes and various postal services. Deutsche Post AG was founded in 1490 and is headquartered in Bonn, Germany.
Babcock & Wilcox Enterprises, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, provides energy and emissions control solutions to a range of industrial, electrical utility, municipal, and other customers worldwide. It operates through three segments: Babcock & Wilcox Renewable; Babcock & Wilcox Environmental; and Babcock & Wilcox Thermal. The Babcock & Wilcox Renewable segment offers technologies for waste-to-energy, solar construction and installation, and biomass energy systems, as well as black liquor systems for the pulp and paper industry. This segment provides technologies support solutions for diverting waste from landfills to use for power generation and replacing fossil fuels while recovering metals and reducing emissions. The Babcock & Wilcox Environmental segment offers a range of emissions control and environmental technology solutions for utility, waste to energy, biomass, carbon black, and industrial steam generation applications. This segment provides systems for cooling, ash handling, particulate control, nitrogen oxides and sulfur dioxides removal, chemical looping for carbon control, and mercury control. The Babcock & Wilcox Thermal segment offers steam generation equipment; aftermarket parts; and construction, maintenance, and field services for plants in the power generation, oil and gas, and industrial sectors. This segment has an installed equipment for utilities and general industrial applications, including refining, petrochemical, food processing, metals, and others. The company was founded in 1867 and is headquartered in Akron, Ohio.
Matador Resources Company, an independent energy company, engages in the exploration, development, production, and acquisition of oil and natural gas resources in the United States. It operates through two segments, Exploration and Production; and Midstream. The company primarily holds interests in the Wolfcamp and Bone Spring plays in the Delaware Basin in Southeast New Mexico and West Texas. It also operates the Eagle Ford shale play in South Texas; and the Haynesville shale and Cotton Valley plays in Northwest Louisiana. In addition, the company conducts midstream operations in support of its exploration, development, and production operations; provides natural gas processing and oil transportation services; and offers oil, natural gas, and produced water gathering services, as well as produced water disposal services to third parties. As of December 31, 2021, its estimated total proved oil and natural gas reserves were 323.4 million barrels of oil equivalent, including 181.3 million stock tank barrels of oil and 852.5 billion cubic feet of natural gas. The company was formerly known as Matador Holdco, Inc. and changed its name to Matador Resources Company in August 2011. Matador Resources Company was founded in 2003 and is headquartered in Dallas, Texas.
Capita plc provides consulting, digital, and software products and services to clients in the private and public sectors in the United Kingdom and internationally. It operates through Public Service, Experience, and Portfolio divisions. The company offers solutions for finance and accounting, procurement, property and infrastructure, travel and event, and workplace administration. It also provides customer experience transformation, contact management, collection, complaint handling, customer acquisition and retention, customer experience system and software, and data and analytics. In addition, the company offers capita licensing and support, support, digital policing, and engineering practice; education service and local education authority software; various solutions that help businesses create connected experiences that deliver right message across organisations, customers, and suppliers; solutions for central and local government services; corporate learning, fire service college, employability, and capita apprenticeship solutions; and employer branding and marketing, flexible workforce solutions, agile resourcing solutions, executive and specialist recruitment, background checking and vetting, and digital HR management and transformation solutions. Further, it provides pension administration and software, pensions consulting, and data, insights, and remediation solutions; automation, critical communication systems, finance and payment software, local education authority software, management information systems, and workforce management software solutions; cloud, cyber security, digital connectivity, IT services, robotic process automation, and workplace IT; and actuarial, defence, financial, healthcare, housing, legal, public safety, utility, and welfare and employability services. The company was formerly known as The Capita Group plc and changed its name to Capita plc in January 2012. Capita plc was founded in 1984 and is based in London, the United Kingdom.
West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. designs, manufactures, and sells containment and delivery systems for injectable drugs and healthcare products in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Asia Pacific. It operates in two segments, Proprietary Products and Contract-Manufactured Products. The Proprietary Products segment offers stoppers and seals for injectable packaging systems; syringe and cartridge components, including custom solutions for the needs of injectable drug applications, as well as administration systems that enhance the safe delivery of drugs through advanced reconstitution, mixing, and transfer technologies; and films, coatings, washing, and vision inspection and sterilization processes and services to enhance the quality of packaging components. It also provides drug containment solutions, including Crystal Zenith, a cyclic olefin polymer in the form of vials, syringes, and cartridges; and self-injection devices, as well as a range of integrated solutions, including analytical lab services, pre-approval primary packaging support and engineering development, regulatory expertise, and after-sales technical support. This segment serves biologic, generic, and pharmaceutical drug companies. The Contract-Manufactured Products segment is involved in the design, manufacture, and automated assembly of devices used in surgical, diagnostic, ophthalmic, injectable, and other drug delivery systems, as well as consumer products. It serves pharmaceutical, diagnostic, and medical device companies. The company distributes its products through its sales force and distribution network, as well as contract sales agents and regional distributors. West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. was incorporated in 1923 and is headquartered in Exton, Pennsylvania.
Varian Medical Systems, Inc. designs, manufactures, sells, and services medical devices and software products for treating cancer and other medical conditions worldwide. It operates through Oncology Systems and Proton Solutions segments. The Oncology Systems segment offers hardware and software products for treating cancer with radiotherapy, fixed field intensity-modulated radiation therapy, image-guided radiation therapy, volumetric modulated arc therapy, stereotactic radiosurgery, stereotactic body radiotherapy, artificial intelligence based adaptive radiotherapy, and brachytherapy, as well as quality assurance equipment. Its products include linear accelerators, brachytherapy afterloaders, treatment accessories, and quality assurance software; and information management, treatment planning, image processing, clinical knowledge exchange, patient care management, decision-making support, and practice management software. This segment serves university research and community hospitals, private and governmental institutions, healthcare agencies, physicians' offices, medical oncology practices, radiotherapy centers, and cancer care clinics. The Proton Solutions segment designs, develops, manufactures, sells, and services products and systems for delivering proton therapy for the treatment of cancer. The company has a strategic agreement with McKesson Corp. to supply treatment delivery systems and planning, services, and radiotherapy information system solutions to its U.S. Oncology Network and Vantage Oncology affiliated sites of care; and a strategic partnership with Siemens AG to represent Siemens diagnostic imaging products to radiation oncology clinics in the United States and other select markets. Varian Medical Systems, Inc. was formerly known as Varian Associates, Inc. and changed its name to Varian Medical Systems, Inc. in April 1999. The company was founded in 1948 and is headquartered in Palo Alto, California.
VeriFone Systems, Inc. provides payments and commerce solutions at the point of sale (POS) worldwide. It offers countertop solutions that accept payment options, including contactless, NFC, mobile wallets, and EMV; PIN pads that support credit and debit card, EBT, EMV, and other PIN-based transactions; and multilane consumer facing commerce devices. It also provides portable payment devices, including small, portable, and handheld devices that enable merchants to accept electronic payments wherever wireless connectivity is available; and mobile solutions that attach to and interface with iOS or Android based smartphones and tablets. In addition, it offers integrated electronic payment systems that combine electronic payment processing, fuel dispensing, and ECR functions, as well as secure payment systems for integration with petroleum pump controllers; unattended and self-service payment solutions designed to enable payment transactions in self-service, high-transaction volume, and public transportation environments; and network access solutions. Further, it provides installation, deployment, training, and application development and delivery solutions; project management, client education program, and consulting services; helpdesk support, equipment repair and maintenance, and software post-contract support services; and application libraries and development tools. Additionally, it offers omnichannel commerce, terminal management, and security solutions; and cloud-based managed, transaction payment, and other value added services. It sells its products directly; and through third party and channel partners. It serves financial institutions, payment processors, government organizations, and retailers; petroleum, transportation, and healthcare companies; and quick service restaurants. The company was formerly known as VeriFone Holdings, Inc. and changed its name to VeriFone Systems, Inc. in May 2010. VeriFone Systems, Inc. is headquartered in San Jose, California.
Tyler Technologies, Inc. provides integrated information management solutions and services for the public sector. The company operates in three segments: Enterprise Software; Appraisal and Tax; and NIC. It offers financial management solutions, including modular fund accounting systems for government agencies or not-for-profit entities; utility billing systems for the billing and collection of metered and non-metered services; products to automate city and county functions, such as municipal courts, parking tickets, equipment and project costing, animal and business licenses, permits and inspections, code enforcement, citizen complaint tracking, ambulance billing, fleet maintenance, and cemetery records management; and student information and transportation solutions for K-12 schools. The company also provides a suite of judicial solutions comprising court case management, court and law enforcement, prosecutor, and supervision systems to handle multi-jurisdictional county or statewide implementations, and single county systems; public safety software solutions; systems and software to automate the appraisal and assessment of real and personal property, as well as tax applications for agencies that bill and collect taxes; planning, regulatory, and maintenance software solutions for public sector agencies; software applications to enhance and automate operations involving records and document management; and data and insights solutions. In addition, it offers software as a service arrangements and electronic document filing solutions for courts and law offices; software and hardware installation, data conversion, training, product modification, and maintenance and support services; and property appraisal outsourcing services for taxing jurisdictions. The company has a strategic collaboration agreement with Amazon Web Services for cloud hosting services. Tyler Technologies, Inc. was founded in 1966 and is headquartered in Plano, Texas.
Fortune Brands Home & Security, Inc. provides home and security products for residential home repair, remodeling, new construction, and security applications. It operates in three segments: Plumbing, Outdoors & Security, and Cabinets. The Plumbing segment manufactures, assembles, and sells faucets, accessories, kitchen sinks, and waste disposals under the Moen, ROHL, Riobel, Victoria+Albert, Perrin & Rowe, and Shaws brands in the United States, China, Canada, Mexico, Southeast Asia, Europe, and South America directly through its own sales force, as well as through independent manufacturers' representatives to wholesalers, home centers, mass merchandisers, and industrial distributors. The Outdoors & Security segment offers fiberglass and steel entry door systems under the Therma-Tru brand; storm, screen, and security doors under the Larson brand; composite decking and railing under the Fiberon brand; and urethane millwork under the Fypon brand. This segment also manufactures, sources, and distributes locks, safety and security devices, and electronic security products under the Master Lock and American Lock brands; and fire resistant safes, security containers, and commercial cabinets under the SentrySafe brand. It serves home centers, hardware and other retailers, millwork building products and wholesale distributors, specialty dealers, and remodeling and renovation markets, as well as locksmiths, industrial and institutional users, and original equipment manufacturers in the United States, Canada, Europe, Central America, Japan, and Australia. The Cabinets segment manufactures custom, semi-custom, and custom cabinetry, as well as vanities for the kitchen, bath, and other parts of the home directly to kitchen and bath dealers, home centers, wholesalers, and builders in North America under the AOK, Diamond Brands, Homecrest, Kitchen Craft, Omega, and EVE brands. The company was incorporated in 1988 and is headquartered in Deerfield, Illinois.
Kennametal Inc. engages in development and application of tungsten carbides, ceramics, and super-hard materials and solutions for use in metal cutting and extreme wear applications to enable customers work against corrosion and high temperatures conditions worldwide. The company operates through two segments, Metal Cutting and Infrastructure. It offers standard and custom products, including turning, milling, hole making, tooling systems, and services, as well as specialized wear components and metallurgical powders for manufacturers engaged in various industries, such as the manufacturers of transportation vehicles and components, machine tools, and light and heavy machinery; airframe and aerospace components; and energy-related components for the oil and gas industry, as well as power generation. The company also provides specified product design, selection, application, and support services; and standard and custom metal cutting solutions to aerospace, general engineering, energy, and transportation customers. In addition, it produces compacts, nozzles, frac seats, and custom components used in oil and gas, and petrochemical industries; rod blanks and abrasive water jet nozzles for general industries; earth cutting tools and systems used in underground mining, trenching and foundation drilling, and road milling; tungsten carbide powders for the oil and gas, aerospace, and process industries; and ceramics used by the packaging industry for metallization of films and papers. It provides its products under the Kennametal, WIDIA, WIDIA Hanita, and WIDIA GTD brands through its direct sales force; a network of independent and national distributors; integrated supplier channels; and through the Internet. The company was founded in 1938 and is based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Norman Oberto's journey to becoming a successful business owner is a lesson in determination.

Oberto, a Decatur native and 1974 Millikin University graduate, shared his experience in becoming chairman and owner of Imperial Plastics Tuesday evening as part of the Millikin Institute for Science Entrepreneurship speaker series.

Although Oberto was interested at a young age in owning a business, the path to entrepreneurship did not come quickly.

It took me a long time to get inspiration, said Oberto, 64. I was talking to people, hoping something would rub off. I wanted to be a business owner, but I didn't know how to do it.

After starting his career working at places including Firestone and as vice president of sales and marketing for Wagner Castings Co., Oberto found an opportunity in 1997 with the Imperial Plastics business in Lakeville, Minn. He was interested in talking about buying the company but the owner didn't take his call the first three times.

After another attempt in which Oberto persistently asked the receptionist for help, he talked with the owner for two hours and the connection was established.

I fell in love with the company, Oberto said.

Oberto needed $10 million in financing to buy the company and convinced a lender to provide the money.

That enabled him to get started and since then has expanded the business into the largest plastic injection molder in Minnesota and one of the largest in the country, employing over 800 people in 6 locations along with an office in China. In the past 20 years, the company has grown with $115 million in sales as it specializes in making a variety of small to large plastic components.

Part of Oberto's growth strategy has been to acquire smaller companies, merging them into the larger entity that can provide improved capabilities and services. Imperial has purchased five companies under Oberto's leadership.

It's not always a quick path to become an entrepreneur, Oberto said. You have to make sacrifices, and for me, that was relocating.

Oberto hoped the Millikin students attending the presentation who are interested in starting a science-related business path could find inspiration and perhaps a spark from his story. Part of the goal for the institute, which was founded in 2012, is to contribute to job growth and societal well-being, said David Horn, a biology professor who is one its co-founders.

Horn said students can become well-prepared to transition from a science student to a science career. He said many will become self-employed, meaning they will need to be ready to take charge of their careers.
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MATTOON -- Lake Land College has lent its support to efforts to expand the Effingham Enterprise Zone to include Teutopolis.

On Monday, the Lake Land College Board of Trustees authorized the college district's continued participation in property tax abatement for this enterprise zone in Effingham County. The board also heard proposals regarding a new enterprise zone in Shelbyville and an existing one in Fayette County.

The city of Effingham and Effingham County partnered to establish their enterprise zone in 1988 to offer incentives for commercial and industrial development, including temporary abatement on property taxes for new construction and building rehabilitation projects.

Now, the village of Teutopolis seeks to join the Effingham Enterprise Zone. The participating local governments plan to jointly apply to the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity to expand this zone.

Regarding Shelbyville, Mayor Jeff Johnson presented a proposal for the college district to take part in a new 15-year Shelbyville Enterprise Zone. The proposal calls for the district to temporarily abate property taxes for new commercial, residential subdivision, and industrial development in this zone.

Johnson said enterprise zones are among the few tools that Illinois municipalities can use to promote economic development. If the state approves the Shelbyville Enterprise Zone, he said, local officials will actively highlight these incentives as part of their marketing efforts for the community.

"We can grow. We have the potential," Johnson said. "We see a bright future for Shelbyville and the Lake Shelbyville area."

Lake Land Trustee Ann Deters of Effingham said enterprise zones are a way to attract businesses to a community, businesses that generate property tax revenue for local infrastructure and schools.

"It really would be an economic development engine for the community," said Lake Land President Josh Bullock.

Regarding Fayette County, the board heard a proposal for a 15-year enterprise zone extension from economic development planner Luke Eastin of the South Central Illinois Regional Planning & Development Commission. This zone covers the villages of Brownstown and Ramsey, and the city of St. Elmo.

The Lake Land board is scheduled at its Nov. 14 meeting to vote on the Shelbyville and Fayette County enterprise zone proposals.

In other action, the board accepted a $10,000 Dual Credit Enhancement Grant and a $5,000 Career Pathways Enhancement Grant from the Illinois Community College Board, plus a $15,348 safety grant from the Illinois Public Risk Fund.
DECATUR  U.S. Sen. Mark Kirk, R-Highland Park, said he wants to help farmers by putting an end to the estate tax.

Kirk said during a campaign visit Thursday at the Macon County Farm Bureau office in Decatur that the estate tax, also referred to as the death tax, places an unfair burden on farmers. It is a tax on the transfer of the estate of a deceased person.

Kirk is planning to introduce legislation to fight the tax, as he said the government could get 81 percent from somebody who owns a substantial amount of property if proposed rate increases take effect.

That's way too much for America's family farmers, Kirk said. I want to make sure farmers keep their farms and I want to get that federal tax down to zero percent. I want to make sure the cut the government gets is not 81 percent.

Kirk is seeking another term in a race against U.S. Rep. Tammy Duckworth, D-Hoffman Estates, with Election Day now just over three weeks away on Nov. 8.

Duckworth has said she is open to looking at the estate tax but prefers it coming as part of a comprehensive tax reform plan.

Kirk said repealing the estate tax would provide a benefit for farmers, rather than increasing it as some Democrats, including presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, have proposed. The tax currently applies to individuals with an estate worth more than $5.45 million with the inheritor taxed at a federal rate of 40 percent.

Illinois Democratic Party spokesman Sean Savett said the proposal would affect 220 people in Illinois and significantly raise the deficit.

Kirk's plan is a giant giveaway to multimillionaires that would raise the deficit by $269 billion, Savett said.

Terry Ferguson, a farmer in DeWitt County, said his father is 91 years old and the issue could become a concern for the family.

It will directly impact our family, Ferguson said. We want to keep the farm in the family. It is an unfair tax that impacts the ability for farmers to pass the family business onto the next generation.

Ferguson said many farmers are in similar positions, not wanting to be taxed twice and being able to keep the valuable land they own.

It's important to eliminate the death tax, Ferguson said. It's similar for all businesses.

Kirk made the stop in Decatur before being scheduled to continue on later in the day to meet with students at Illinois Wesleyan University in Bloomington.
Unless you're moving because of a job, the reasons for moving to a new state often are the same as picking a vacation spot:

You want somewhere sunny with a beach, or snowy with slopes; with good recreation choices, good food and lodging, maybe an opportunity learn something new; easy and cheap transportation; and a good value for your hard-earned money.

But a new poll suggests people leaving Illinois  and they are  are considering doing so in part because of high taxes.

A poll from the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute at Southern Illinois University found that 47 percent of registered voters in Illinois say they want to move out, with 27 percent of them citing taxes as their top reason.

However, just 20 percent say its likely theyll move in the coming year, according to a story by Dan Petrella in The Herald & Review's Springfield bureau.

The poll results show people also want to leave because of the weather, government, jobs and education. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 67,535 more people moved out of the state from 2014 to 2015 than moved in.

My theory about taxes is people do not mind paying taxes if they feel theyre getting value for them, David Yepsen, director of the institute, told Petrella. Its when they dont feel theyre getting value that they get upset, and here in Illinois, youve just had too many examples of corruption, misspending and people  just are unhappy.

Thats also reflected by the 84 percent of voters who say the state is headed in the wrong direction, Yepsen added.

We're not sure we needed a poll for that question, but it's clear that something's wrong with Illinois when people want to move out for reasons other than jobs and sunshine.

State leaders do not agree on how to right the ship, but taxes will play a part. If the state is able to entice more businesses and people to stay in (or move to) Illinois, the state will get more revenue from property and sales taxes.

But part of the way of enticing people to stay (or move) here is to have reasonable tax rates. Part of that decision will come from the state, but local property tax rates are set by local governing bodies, with school districts taking the lion's share.

As we said in June 2015, the net loss of 1,359,355 people in Illinois between 1995 and 2014 resulted in an income loss to other states of $45.6 billion. The loss in state and local tax revenues to other states was $7.6 billion.

The people of Illinois know there's a problem with our state government and how it's run.

Hopefully, polls like those from the Simon Institute will provide the impetus for our state legislators to sit down and work out a reasonable solution that includes a hard look at property taxes, workers' compensation laws and right-to-work zones.
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By Patrick Donachie

The New York Catholic Archdiocese announced last week it would initiate a process that could provide compensation for survivors of sexual abuse suffered at the hands of diocesan priests, and a Queens assemblywoman who has advocated for victims cautiously praised it as a positive first step.

Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the archbishop of New York, praised the newly established Independent Reconciliation and Compensation Program, which would be headed by mediator Ken Feinberg. He would be able to make decisions on culpability and compensation without the purview or approval of the church. Feinberg was the master of the Sept. 11 Victim Compensation Fund.

As this Year of Mercy nears its conclusion, it is only appropriate that we take this opportunity to ask forgiveness for mistakes made in the past by those representing the church, myself and my predecessors included, and seek reconciliation with those who have been harmed and feel alienated from the church because of its past conduct, Dolan said.

The Archdiocese, which includes churches in Staten Island, Manhattan, the Bronx and parts of upstate, will proceed with reaching out to individuals who have made a claim against the Archdiocese regarding a sexual abuse allegation, and will also begin investigating new allegations against known offenders or against clergy who have not previously been accused of abuse.

State Assemblywoman Margaret Markey (D-Maspeth) worked for nearly a decade to pass the Child Victims Act, which would change the current statute of limitations for child sex crimes. Presently, an accuser has until the age of 23 to file a civil or criminal claim against abusers. The bill is a priority for Democratic senators this session.

This announcement by the Archdiocese of New York, while welcome news, is a long overdue acknowledgment of its moral responsibility to victims of child sexual abuse, she said. In 2015, before he made his historic visit to New York, I appealed to Pope Francis to use the occasion of his visit to intervene with our New York Bishops to accept their responsibility to past victims of abuse and future generations of children. With this announcement, it appears that process is beginning.

Queens churches fall under the Diocese of Brooklyn, which is headed by Bishop Nicolas DiMarzio.

We intend to closely study the implementation of the new reconciliation and compensation program launched by the Archdiocese of New York, a spokeswoman for the diocese said. We hope to learn from the program and determine what we may do moving forward in the Diocese of Brooklyn.

The Brooklyn diocese also provides referrals for counseling and has an advisory committee made up of survivors.

To receive a compensation decision through the mediation process, anyone who receives money from a claim must surrender any right to go to court to sue any party relating to the alleged sexual abuse, according to the programs website. David Clohessy, the executive director of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, questioned the Archdioceses approach.

Why must survivors give away all their legal options just to get some healing, decades later, from the institution that recruited, educated, trained, ordained and supervised pedophile priests while almost always hiding them, transferring them and protecting them? he said.

The archdiocese pledged to take a long-term loan that would cover the compensation costs, and would not use money given by parishioners for schools, churches and charity to pay back the loan.
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By Bill Parry

The Floating Hospital, one of the last remaining private charity hospitals remaining in the city, marks its 150th anniversary Tuesday. The Long Island City-based non-profit organization is the largest provider of preventive medical, dental and mental health care to New York Citys homeless families, with a mission to provide health care for all, regardless of the patients insurance, legal status or their ability to pay.

Now land-based, the organization operated a succession of vessels which frequently cruised New York Harbor and nearby waterways, giving indigent children and their caregivers a break from overcrowded tenements. While aboard, the Floating Hospitals staff of pediatricians, dentists, nurses and social workers provided health care services, while other staff members would instruct caregivers in good child-rearing practices.

More than 5 million people have been served by The Floating Hospital from its beginning as a charity hospital ship. Its clinic at 41-43 Crescent St. and several satellite clinics serve homeless families and domestic violence victims. A new clinic, open to the community, is set to begin operation later this month at Reality Houses in Astoria.

Founded in 1866, The Floating Hospital has spent the past 150 years providing health care services to New York Citys neediest families, The Floating Hospital President and General Counsel Sean Granahan said. In place of its iconic ship, which last served New York on Sept. 11, it now operates a fleet of vans to transport families to and from over 200 homeless shelters and domestic violence safe houses throughout the five boroughs free of charge.

The vessels last regular home was Pier 11 near Wall Street, but after the 9/11 attacks at the World Trade Center, it was moved to Pier 17 at the South Street Seaport until it had to make way for ferry service. The Floating Hospitals board rejected other piers offered by the city because they were too close to Sanitation Department piers, where garbage was transferred, and the decision was made to come ashore for good.

The Floating Hospital settled in Long Island City just down the street from the Queensbridge Houses, the nations largest public housing project. Shuttle buses operate to the Ravenswood and Astoria Houses as well.

Urban Upbound has been honored to partner with The Floating Hospital to break cycles of poverty among the neediest New Yorkers, while creating affordable and oftentimes free access to health and wellness, Urban Upbound founder Bishop Mitchell Taylor said. The Floating Hospital gives families and individuals who suffer from a myriad of unfortunate experiences a chance to feel safe, gain access to health care and also hope for the future.

This year alone The Floating Hospital will serve 23 percent of the citys homeless children and 35 percent of homeless adults in safe, family-care environments.

Since it moved to my district in 2006, I have witnessed the amazing service The Floating Hospitals staff provides to vulnerable children and families, U.S. Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-Astoria) said. I have enjoyed watching it grow and thrive as it expands services and clinics to deliver comprehensive health care. Over the years, The Floating Hospital has become a beloved community provider that offers compassionate, high-quality health care, and I wish them many more years of success.

It almost went out of business just over a decade ago.

In 2005, the hospitals board asked Granahan to close the storied organization due to the increasing difficulties and losses involved in operating a true charity hospital. He asked for a chance to turn it around and now its 25 percent charity care, or free care to the uninsured, is among the highest in the health care industry.

Each day The Floating Hospital remains open is another day that changes the course of someones life for the better, Granahan said.
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By Gina Martinez

The mysterious death of a Ridgewood grandmother has stunned the community.

On Oct. 6 police arrested 30-year-old Christopher Fuhrer after finding the body of his grandmother, Erika Kraus-Breslin, in her home.

Police visited Kraus-Breslins 67-08 65 St. home the day before after responding to a request from a family member to do a wellness check on the 85-year old. When officers arrived, Kraus-Breslins grandson immediately told officers his grandmother had died and directed police to a bedroom where her dead body was discovered in multiple layers of plastic bags, police said.

Fuhrer told officers Kraus-Breslin died May 21. He said that she suffered from discomfort from bed sores, so he turned her on her side and left the room. When he returned, he found her face down and unresponsive. Fuhrer covered the smell of the decaying body with air fresheners, police said.

Fuhrer was arraigned Oct. 7, and charged with felony concealment of a corpse, the Queens district attorney said. Bail was set $350,000.

Kraus-Breslin, an immigrant from Germany, had two children and four grand kids. She was married until her husband died 15 years ago. Breslin had worked part time at Rudys Bakery in Ridgewood. The owner, Toni Binati, described Kraus-Breslin as someone who never acted her age, was active and healthy and loved the outdoors.

She worked for me in the late 80s into the 90s  she left here over 11 years ago, she said. I know her as a co-worker, and she was a wonderful person. She was very caring and very good at her job/ She was the grandma of the bakery.

Binati said Kraus-Breslin was rarely ever sick.

Im very surprised, I almost still dont believe it, she said. She was very stubborn and not into medicine. She was into healing and praying a lot. She didnt believe in medicine, she always had a remedy. When we were sick she would tell us to eat chicken soup.

Binati also knew her grandson Fuhrer, whom Kraus-Breslin loved.

I met him when he was a teenager, she said. He would come here to pick her up. She talked very highly of Christopher. I remember when he came to live with her, she said Toni, I lost my husband, so God is sending me Christopher. Hes gonna keep me young. Her husband was her soulmate. They enjoyed going to the city, to parks, and cafes.

Fuhrer moved in with his grandmother after trouble with his mother and became Kraus-Breslins main caregiver.

I remember her coming in one day after Christopher came to live with her and she said this is God sending me someone to care for, Binati said. He took my husband and now I have someone to care for, someone to cook for and I understood. I understood that as a grandmother.

Binati said customers were still coming in everyday talking about Kraus-Breslin and giving their condolences. She was well-known in the community and many considered her family, especially in the bakery. She said its not so much the fact that she died but the way that she died that has shocked Ridgewood residents.

He must have just panicked and did not know what to do, Binati said. She must have told him if I get sick, dont call anybody.

The medical examiners officer will determine the cause of Kraus-Breslins death. Investigations were still ongoing.

Fuhis is scheduled to return to court on Oct. 21
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By Patrick Donachie

New Yorks two U.S. senators have asked Washington to halt deportation proceedings against non-criminals from Haiti in light of the havoc created by Hurricane Matthew to the island last week.

Rescue agencies are continuing to assess the damage wrought by Hurricane Matthew with at least 1,000 feared dead and many more displaced by the force of the storm that swept across the Caribbean nation last week. The senators acted as agencies and elected officials in Queens reached out to the community to raise funds and donate supplies.

It is simply imperative that we protect non-violent Haitian nations from deportation to a country in the midst of such turmoil, Sens. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) said in a letter to the State Department and Homeland Security,

They requested what is called Temporary Protected Status to recently arrived Haitians living in the United States in the aftermath of the hurricane. The U.S. government granted TPS to Haiti following the devastating 2010 earthquake that killed thousands and made it impossible to send the foreign nations back because of the widespread wreckage left behind.

A prominent Haitian-American nonprofit in Queens began collecting donations almost immediately after the storm hit Oct. 4.

The Haitian-Americans United for Progress organization, located in Hollis, continues to accept donations, the group said. People can make contributions at haupi nc.org that will aid in the rebuilding after Hurricane Matthew.

Meanwhile, state Sen. James Sanders (D-South Ozone Park) is collecting a variety of items to support Haitian survivors of the hurricane, including non-perishable foods, canned goods, water, toothbrushes, shampoo, blankets, undergarments, flashlights, clothing, batteries and toiletries. People can drop donations off at Sanders district office at 142-01 Rockaway Blvd. in South Ozone Park.

United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon cautioned that the recovery efforts would need to combat an immense and dire need in Haiti.

At least 1.4 million people need assistance at this time. Some towns and villages have been almost wiped off the map. Crops and good reserves have been destroyed. At least 300 schools have been damaged, Moon said Monday. These numbers and needs are growing as more affected areas are reached. Tensions are already mounting as people await help.

Some estimates, including a Reuters tally, have put the death toll as high as 1,000. Matthew made landfall in Haiti as a Category 4 storm before hovering along the coast of Florida and making landfall in the United States Saturday. Members of the FDNY, NYPD and NYC Emergency Management traveled to North Carolina to help with necessary relief tasks. The New York City team worked in the towns of Fayetteville and Lumberton, conducting water rescues of stranded people.

Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Tuesday that city employees would be able to directly donate a portion of their paychecks to relief efforts from the damage wrought by the hurricane in Haiti.

Many at home and abroad have lost their homes and their loved ones in Hurricane Matthews devastating wake, and our thoughts and prayers are with them at this time, de Blasio said. As the extent of damage continues to be assessed, we want to make it as easy as possible to donate.

According to the mayors office, 100 percent of donations will go to the cause.

Moon also expressed concern about an increase in cholera, a potentially deadly water-borne illness, in the region as a result of the storms damage to Haiti, which is already grappling with the disease. The World Health Organization pledged to send a million vaccines to the nation, but it remains difficult for rescue agencies to reach some of the countrys hardest-hit areas.
By Assemblyman Ron Kim

The current blend of racism and hate that has become a part of American political discourse can be traced back to before Donald Trump became the Republican nominee for presidentall the way to when he demanded President Barack Obamas birth certificate, claiming that he was not born in the United States and thus constitutionally disqualified. This brand of bigotry grew when Trump announced his candidacy and in the same breath said Mexican immigrants were drug dealers, criminals and rapists. It metastasized through his many hate-filled diatribes, his belief that a federal judge was unqualified and incapable of impartiality because of his ethnicity, and his inhuman attacks against Khizr and Ghazala Khan, parents of a Muslim-American soldier who gave his life protecting fellow troops.

Simply put, for people like Trump and unfortunately many of his supporters, if you are not like themthat is to say white and Christianyou are not American. Even if you are president of the United States, a federal judge or a slain U.S. soldier, you are still not American enough.

So when this hateful and divisive tone has become a regular part of American political discourse, no one should be surprised to see Fox News broadcast some of the worst racist stereotypes targeting Asians, and specifically Chinese-Americans, on the OReilly Factor.

Nor should we be surprised that Jesse Watters, the journalist who led the ignorant reporting against Asians, issued a non-apologetic statement implying it was the fault of others for being unsophisticated enough to appreciate his racist humor.

Donald Trumps candidacy has disturbingly legitimized this kind of bigotryonce hidden, festering for generations just beneath the surface. Now it is in plain view, on air, and a part of mainstream conversation in the unhealthiest way possible. Put simply, this brand of hatred and racism is now politically acceptable for millions of Americans.

Unsurprisingly, Donald Trump and many of his supporters see people like me as un-American. Never mind that millions of us were born, raised, educated, work and vote here. To them, we are the Perpetual Foreigner simply because of our race. To them, we will never belong because of our faces and the color of our skin.

OReilly, Watters, and Fox News, like other media organizations, had an opportunity and a responsibility to counter this trend of bigotry. They had the ability to use their platform to take a stand. Instead, they chose to reinforce the ignorance and xenophobia that has penetrated our national discourse.

The only thing un-American is the hateful, racist rhetoric of Donald Trump, and the sanctioning by far too many of his brand of hate.

Assemblyman Ron Kim

District 40

Flushing
By Merle Exit

If you happen to be at Flushing Meadows Corona Park and see an odd sanitation truck at the east entrance to the Queens Museum, chances are that its not there to pick up garbage. Instead, it is one of many works at the museum that are part of the exhibit Mierle Laderman Ukeles: Maintenance Art, which is up through Feb. 19, 2017.

Created in 1983 and featured in the grand finale of a New York City art parade, the truck/art piece is covered with mirrored glass which captures the image of the Unisphere. Ukeles, the longtime Artist-in-Residence at New Yorks Department of Sanitation, said at preview event for the exhibit that it was made to help sanitation workers see themselves captured in their job so that they are not outside, but part of the story. Our biggest challenge is how we deal with our waste and the effects of our living in the whole world now.

Ukeles came to her position with the Department of Sanitation after addressing those issues in her work. In 1969 she first created what she called necessity art, which she later named Maintenance Art. She even wrote a Manifesto for Maintenance Art. So perhaps it was inevitable that in the 1970s she would get a call from the Sanitation Department asking if she would like to make art with 10,000 New York City workers.

A museum within a museum, her exhibit encompasses all of the first floor gallery areas including the walls and center space. In it, Ukeles charts her work in terms of both feminist and conceptual performance, referencing both her unsalaried career with the Department of Sanitation and her work as an artist whose Jewish faith has fueled her belief in the capacity of the human spirit.

Ceremonial Arch, which is displayed at the entrance of the exhibition, honors service workers. The arch is composed of 5,000 used, signed work gloves from workers at New Yorks Fire, Police, Sanitation, Environmental Protection, Parks, Cultural Affairs and Transportation Departments, as well as the Metropolitan Transit Authority. The arch is topped with a canopy of tools used by ConEd workers, placed over six sturdy columns.

The black gloves that you see at the entry are from the Fire Department, Ukeles explained. She recounted her memories of 9/11, having had some of her art displayed at a firehouse in the Bronx. Michael Judge, the chaplain of the Fire Department, blessed her work.I put the gloves at the entrance as if to bless everyone for the sacrifice of their lives.

Just beyond the arch sits Peace Table, a clear blue glass table suspended under the center skylight. Its purpose is to engage and contemporize important themes of the exhibition. Public programs will be held here, such as one with Cultural Affairs Commissioner Tom Finkelpearl that was held last month.

The exhibit also incorporates many other art formsphotographs and structures, as well as media that include video on screens and monitors. There are interactive displays and one featuring a book where you view a hand turning the pages. For works entitled Touch Sanitation Performance, Mierle spent a year visiting each New York Department of Sanitation districts to shake the hand of every one of the 8,500 workers who were willing to accept her gesture.

Vito Turso, who was just starting out at the department when Ukeles started out as Artist-in-Residence nearly 40 years ago, was present when Ukeles sent along her manifesto on art. It was the first time that anyone really thanked the sanitation workers for what they do, said Turso. It was Mierle that brought all of this to our department. I am honored to be here on behalf of Commissioner Garcia. He referred to her as the patron saint of Sanitation.

The exhibition is organized by Queens Museum curator Larissa Harris and guest co-curator Patricia C. Phillips, who initiated the project in 2012 with Tom Finkelpearl.

Ukeles and her husband, Jack, currently live in Tel Aviv, to be closer to their three adult children and seven grandchildren.
New Braunfels, TX (78130)

Today

Partly cloudy skies this morning will become overcast during the afternoon. High near 80F. Winds SE at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Considerable cloudiness with occasional rain showers. Low 59F. Winds E at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 60%.
Q&A with PA-16 candidates Robert Matzie and Rico Elmore

Both Beaver County natives, Matzie and Elmore have expressed their interest in making Beaver County a better place in their own unique ways.
CHRISTOPHER WALKER/TIMES RECORD NEWS Trinity Air Conditioning, Inc. Vice President Lynn Robinson accepts the Better Business Bureau's Torch Award for a medium business Thursday. This year, the medium category was tied between Trinity Air Conditioning, Inc. and Davis Kinard and Co, PC. Lynn Dutton of Dutton Funeral Home in Iowa Park presented the award.

SHARE CHRISTOPHER WALKER/TIMES RECORD NEWS Monica Horton, president of the Better Business Bureau Serving North Central Texas' Wichita Falls office, welcomes business and city leaders to the bureau's annual Torch Award event Thursday morning. CHRISTOPHER WALKER/TIMES RECORD NEWS OK Concrete assistant plant manager, Brandon Litteken (left) accepts the large business category Torch Award from Albert Moving & Storage's Lisa Lefevers on Thursday during the Better Business Bureau's annual recognition event. CHRISTOPHER WALKER/TIMES RECORD NEWS Representatives from Dr. John R. Thornton, DDS accepts the Better Business Bureau's Torch Award for the small business category Thursday during the bureau's annual event. Joe Viavattene, owner of EV Electric in Burkburnett, presented the award. CHRISTOPHER WALKER/TIMES RECORD NEWS Faith Mission Refuge CEO Steve Sparks (left) accepts the Better Business Bureau Torch Award for nonprofits from Rob Propp of Hospice of Wichita Falls on Thursday during the bureau's annual award event.

By John Ingle of the Times Record News

Five Wichita Falls area businesses were recognized for their high standards of leadership, character and ethics Thursday afternoon during the Better Business Bureau Serving North Central Texas' annual Torch Awards for Ethics luncheon.

Three Midwestern State University students were also named recipients of the BBB/Louis J. Rodriguez Ethics Scholarship during the event at The Forum in Wichita Falls.

Monica Horton, president of the local BBB office, said she thinks after each event that they can't possibly top the that year's winners, but the depth of businesses that value the premise of the Torch Awards is seen again and again. This year was no different.

"I think what comes through with the winners is basically ethics and integrity coming from the top, and that's our No. 1 principle for TRUST is transformation from the top," she said. "An organization is not going to be trustworthy no matter what you try to do if the leadership and ownership of that organization doesn't operate with trust or integrity."

Businesses were recognized in four categories: small, medium, large and nonprofit. The winners include:

n Small business: Dr. John R. Thornton, DDS

n Medium business (tie): Davis Kinard & Co. and Trinity Air Conditioning, Inc.

n Large business: OK Concrete Co.

n Nonprofit: Faith Mission Refuge

Horton said the competition in each category was close, as seen with the tie in the medium business grouping. Part of the process is for the 24 nominees to substantiate their commitment to the Torch Awards' TRUST requirements, which include transformation at the top, reinforce and rebuild, unite the team, steer performance and treasure people. The final principle is to enthusiastically reinvest.

Jay Newman, CEO of BBB Serving North Central Texas, which now includes the Dallas BBB office after a September merger, thanked those from the business community present at the event Thursday for meeting the standards of the BBB.

"We don't have a Better Business Bureau unless we have better businesses. That's all fine and good, and it's good that we can try to build a better marketplace," he said. "But I was also thinking about this. If we don't have better businesses we'll never get better schools and we'll never get better cities and we'll never get a better state.

"Our economic model basically starts at business."

Recipients of the BBB/Louis J. Rodriguez Ethics Scholarship include Carston Lindsay Gholson, Taylor BreeAnn McCreary and Abby Marie White. White was also a scholarship recipient in 2015.

Newman also announced that Albert Moving and Storage, a Torch Awards category winner in 2015, won the same award recently in a competition among companies in the United States and Canada. Lisa Lefevers accepted the award on behalf of the company.
WFISD school board members.

SHARE

Among its economically disadvantaged and Hispanic students, Booker T. Washington Elementary School reported that only eight met the states advanced performance standard in reading, math, science and writing.

Only eight students, Wichita Falls ISD Associate Superintendent Peter Griffiths emphasized at Tuesdays special session of the school board.

That isnt the only challenge for new principal Mark Davis, who is tackling high teacher turnover rates and high discipline referral rates, too.

God bless him, Mr. Davis needed to hire almost an all-new staff this year, Griffiths said, adding that about 70 percent of his staff is new to the campus.

Washington Elementary is just one of three struggling Wichita Falls ISD campuses targeted by the state for failing to meet requirements on its 2016 accountability ratings. The accountability system  one way the state identifies its failing schools  grades campuses on four indices. Schools must meet target scores on three of those indices.

Administration and board members discussed the districts targeted improvement plans, something mandated by the state, for its improvement-required schools: Washington and Burgess elementary schools and Kirby Middle School.

At Washington Elementary, only 44 percent of all students met the minimum passing standard for student achievement, which looks at student performance across all subjects. Less than 48 percent of economically disadvantaged students met satisfactory performance in reading, math, science and writing, and fewer than 48 percent of Hispanic students met satisfactory performance in reading, math and writing. Also, high student discipline referral rates and teacher turnover rates affected performance.

Superintendent Michael Kuhrt said what the district is doing at Washington is a complete instructional focus change and a classroom management focus change.

He said the district has added another instructional interventionist to the school and has reduced class sizes.

The districts goal is for the previously mentioned student groups to meet standard on the categories indicated, which is 65 percent. Also, the campus aims to decrease the number of discipline referrals by 50 percent.

The struggles are much the same at Burgess, where only 45 percent of all students performed satisfactorily on the 2016 STAAR. Less than 49 percent of economically disadvantaged students met satisfactory performance, and less than 10 percent achieved advanced performance. Burgess also lacks a safe and collaborative culture, the district says.

Again, the goal is to reach that state satisfactory level of 65 percent for the previously mentioned student groups. And Burgess wants to score a 3.0 or higher rating on High Reliability School Surveys to indicate a safe and collaborative culture.

Griffiths said, at Burgess, You can feel the culture of the campus has changed tremendously compared to where they were last year, after Principal Ann Pettit made some changes.

He said last year was an introductory year but this time around, systems are in place, the school participated in a program called Capturing Kids Hearts, and the campus has seen improved teacher retention.

Like at Washington, the district added an instructional interventionist and concentrated on smaller classrooms.

This year, we said keep it down to 16-17 kids per class, Griffiths said.

Trustee Kevin Goldstein wanted to know if parent involvement had improved at Burgess.

Pettit said, One of the things that has improved with our parents is last year at the school improvement meeting, we had two parents. This year we had more than 50 parents show up.

Griffiths added that the community has become more involved. The Junior League adopted the school.

He relayed the addition of after-school programs, too: Last year there was no after-school programs. Burgess added two. Washington added three. Whats nice is they all are arts-related.

Finally, Kirby Middle School reported that English Language Learners, Hispanic, African-American and Special Education students scored below 58 percent in reading and math on the 2016 STAAR. Also, 52 percent of economically disadvantaged students performed below satisfactory achievement level, with 6 percent scoring at the advanced level, in all subject areas on the 2016 STAAR.

The goal is to get those student group numbers up to 65 percent in reading on the 2017 STAAR and up to 70 percent in math. The plan also is for 70 percent of economically disadvantaged students to achieve a satisfactory performance level in all subject areas and 25 percent to be advanced.

Griffiths said the districts implementation of school zones and feeder patterns affected Kirby.

Kirby Principal Troy Farris said the campus is trying to start the Parent-Teacher Organization again to get parents more involved.

He added, Were implementing a professional development period for our core teachers.  Ive also moved people around and moved teachers in key spots where we needed a little more push.

Griffiths said next year, Kirby will go through the Capturing Kids Hearts program.

Trustee Reginald Blow said he hopes the district will use all the resources possible to turn this around and look to people in the past who have been able to greatly improve campuses.

We shouldnt confuse activity for accomplishment, Blow said. I could care less for the way a principal feels if we have to use outside resources to turn it around.  We are going to have to get results.

Washington and Burgess are improvement-required schools two years in a row (Washington also made the list in 2013). Kirby is new to the list this year.
Gilbert family photo Major Troy Gilbert stands on the ladder of an F-16 at Luke Air Force Base, Ariz. Gilbert, an F-16 Fighting Falcon pilot, was killed Nov. 27, 2006, in an F-16 crash 30 miles southwest of Balad Air Base, Iraq. Gilbert was the standardization and evaluation chief for the 332nd Expeditionary Operations Group and was deployed from the 309th Fighter Squadron from Luke Air Force Base, Ariz.

SHARE Air Force Photo by Senior Airman Aaron J. Jenne An Air Force carry team carries the remains of Maj. Troy Gilbert Oct. 3 at Dover Air Force Base, Delaware. Gilbert was killed Nov. 27, 2006, when his F-16C Fighting Falcon crashed 20 miles northwest of Baghdad. U.S. forces were able to return the F-16 pilot's remains about 10 years after he was killed in combat operations saving the lives of U.S. service members and coalition allies

By Times Record News

The remains of an F-16 pilot, originally from Wichita Falls, who was killed in Iraq in 2006 have finally been returned, according to the Air Force.

Maj. Troy Gilbert crashed while leading two other jets in a strafing run against enemy forces that shot down a helicopter near the town of Taji, Iraq, on Nov. 27, 2006, said Mike Martin, secretary of Air Force Public Affairs.

Gilbert opted to use a 20-mm gun on his F-16 to help avoid civilian casualties and destroyed one of the trucks that was threatening coalition forces on the ground, Martin said. On his second approach, he flew even lower and hit the ground, killing him instantly.

Martin said al-Qaida insurgents took Gilbert's body before coalition forces could secure the scene, leading to the 10-year struggle to get his remains back to U.S. soil.

Limited remains were recovered at the time of Gilbert's death, and a funeral was held in December 2006 at Arlington National Cemetery, where Gilbert was buried with full military honors. Additional remains were located six years later, Martin said.

Gilbert's parents are Ron and Kaye Gilbert of Wichita Falls.

In December 2006, the Gilbert family said in a news release that Maj. Gilbert's love for God was the only thing that exceeded his love of flying.

"He has told us on numerous occasions that if he died in his jet as a peace-loving freedom seeker he would be in heaven and would know a paradise without war, agony, suffering, and pain," the release stated.

Gilbert was a 2000 graduate of the Euro-NATO Joint Jet Pilot Training program at Sheppard. During his 12 years of service, Gilbert completed 21 combat sorties in the F-16 supporting ground forces under enemy fire. He was posthumously awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross with Valor.

The Gilbert family requested the Air Force continue the search for additional remains and some scant remains were reported found in 2012.

"We have prayed for this for almost seven years, and we've never given up hope nor will we ever give up hope. We have always known finding Troy's remains would be akin to finding a needle in a haystack or a grain of sand at the beach. Though our deepest desire is that his entire body would be returned to the U.S., we are grateful for this," Ginger (Gilbert) Ravella, widow of Maj. Gilbert said in 2013.

In an Air Force news article, Acting Secretary of the Air Force Eric Fanning in 2013 said, "Major Gilbert was a guardian of freedom and justice, who made the ultimate sacrifice in the defense of our great nation and the Iraqi people. Continuing the search for our fallen comrade demonstrates our promise to never leave an Airman behind."

Through the years, Gilbert's loved ones continued to pray and never gave up hope that additional remains might be found. On Aug. 28, a tribal leader approached a U.S. military leader in Iraq claiming he had remains of a U.S. military pilot who had crashed during Operation Iraqi Freedom. Martin said the remains and gear were quickly handed over, and DNA testing was completed at the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System at Dover Air Force Base, Delaware.

Test results last week revealed the remains were, in fact, Gilbert's, Martin said. Gilbert's remains will be interred at Arlington National Cemetery with the other remains found in 2006 and 2012.

Ravella and the couple's five children attended the dignified transfer of Gilbert's remains at Dover Air Force Base on Monday night.

"The memory of my five children watching their father's flag-draped transfer case being unloaded from the cargo hold and carried by his brothers-in-arms back to American soil renews my hope for all mankind," she was quoted as saying in an Air Force statement.

It was "the closest we have been to Troy in 10 years," she said. "That was bittersweet."
CHRISTOPHER WALKER/TIMES RECORD NEWS Participants in the Beacon Lighthouse White Cane Day and Walk wear blindfolds and use canes Wednesday to simulate what it's like to be blind or visually impaired. The event was held to bring awareness to the blind during October, which is blindness awareness month.

SHARE CHRISTOPHER WALKER/TIMES RECORD NEWS Wichita Falls Police Chief Manuel Borrego participates Wednesday in The Beacon Lighthouse White Cane and Walk day.

By Judith McGinnis of the Times Record News

It was a learning experience for Wichita Falls city leaders, law enforcement and others as they donned blindfolds and took part in White Cane Day and Walk.

The event, organized by staff and employees of Beacon Lighthouse for the Blind, gave participants an opportunity to experience finding their way down city streets without vision, using only a white cane.

"The white cane is our 'staff of independence'," said Lisa San Miguel, sales manager and community liaison for Beacon Lighthouse. "With proper training, we can use a cane and go anywhere we want to."

Tricia Marsh, Region 9 education director brought high school, middle school and elementary schools student from Burkburnett, Iowa Park and Holliday.

Among them was Michaela Yandell, 17, a Holliday High School senior. Michaela, daughter of Kim and Mike Yandell, is visually impaired. She has no peripheral vision or depth perception.

"This is my first time coming to White Cane Day," Yandell said. "I think the biggest thing I realized was the number of people in the area who have vision problems. Community support is important."

Founded in 1974, Beacon Lighthouse works to provide economic and personal independence for people who are blind or visually impaired through employment in the manufacture and sale of quality goods and services. Aircraft cleaning kits, stainless steel scrubbers and cleaning pads are only part of the sales inventory.

"We make supplies for the Army, Navy and Marines. I run the stainless steel scrubber machine," said Jackie Davis, who recently traveled to New Orleans to be recognized as Blind Worker of the Year. "Stainless steel scrubbers are something that keeps the Navy afloat and we provide supplies for veterans hospitals. Our screens kept grills clean when the military went to Iraq. We help military kitchens stay clean and running."

San Miguel is legally blind. With the help of JAWS, a computer screen reader, she handles sales orders, responds to emails and references information "without a mouse, just key strokes." She has worked at BLB for 19 years.

"Being blind is not the end of a life. We find a new way to get around. The white cane is a tool," San Miguel said. "We're able to see where curbs and walls are so we can be independent people."
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Halfmoon

An engineer has outlined plans to build the region's first Chick-fil-A in a proposal retail project on Route 146.

At a Halfmoon Planning Board meeting on Tuesday night, Jason Dell, principal engineer of Lansing Engineering, described the project that encompasses five buildings with a total of 60,250 square feet. In addition to the Chick-fil-A, the site, developed by Scott Earl, will also include a Fresh Market grocery, office building, another restaurant and a retail store at the corner of Old Route 146 and Route 146.

"This is the type of development we would like to see here," said Daphne Jordan, Halfmoon Town Board member and Chair of the Business and Economic Development Committee. "There is a benefit to all of us."

The proposal is going back to the zoning board for a variance on a setback.

In 2012, Chick-fil-A became the subject of national boycotts when its Chief Operating Officer Dan Cathy spoke out against same-sex marriage.
Troy

Local entrepreneurs and business leaders will meet Oct. 27 to discuss the city's emerging small business community.

The first Troy Small Business Summit will be held at the Tech Valley Center of Gravity, and will focus on job growth, marketing and other issues pertaining to entrepreneurship. It will be presented by the City of Troy, the Office of Economic Development and the Troy Local Development Corp.

"Small businesses continue to play a significant role in Troy's continued rebirth, and my administration is committed to providing entrepreneurs and businesses the support they need to succeed," said Mayor Patrick Madden. "The Troy Small Business Summit presents a unique forum for local business owners to expand their brand through a variety of activities and discussions as part of the summit agenda and build upon the momentum generated by our vibrant business community."

The event will include a keynote address from Peabody Award-winning broadcaster and urban revitalization strategist Majora Carter.

Businesses interested in sponsoring the Troy Small Business Summit can contact Cheryl Kennedy, economic development coordinator for the City of Troy, at Cheryl.Kennedy@troyny.gov or 518-279-7412.

rdownen@timesunion.com  518-454-5018  @Robert_Downen
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Did you hear about the half-billion dollar divorce in Galveston? Bet not.

The divorce was done so quietly that two years ago, almost no one heard about the $416 million ruling a Galveston court declared in Winnie Alwazzan's favor. It was so quiet, lawyers contend, that even Winnie's estranged husband, Isa Alwazzan, didn't know.

For the past several years, Isa has lived in the Kingdom of Bahrain. Winnie says she didn't have his exact address. So with the Galveston court's permission, she informed him of the proceedings by publishing a legal notice in the Galveston Daily News. He didn't see it there.

Earlier this year, Winnie's legal team found and froze almost $4 million from Isa's family's company, which is based in Bahrain. That set into motion a chain of events that this summer caused their head-spinning divorce case to be dismissed. (Isa's lawyers accuse Winnie's team of court-shopping and other shady behavior.)

Winnie's attorney, Jared Woodfill, says he plans to appeal the most recent decision. With interest, he calculates that the new stakes are a half billion.

But for now, legally, Winnie and Isa aren't even divorced.

"Ironically, what's happened in my case is we're involved in bigamy now, because I'm still married to him," Winnie says, sitting at a conference table in Tomball.

"She's still married to him, and he married someone else in the interim," adds Woodfill, lifting an eyebrow.

"On the day before our 30th wedding anniversary," Winnie says.

It's salt in the wound for Winnie, who describes herself as a Christian woman who holds marriage as a sacred covenant and makes it a point to follow the law. In Bahrain, bigamy is less of an issue for Isa; it's legal to have up to four wives there.
Albany

Joseph Felix Strevell, a former New York deputy secretary of state facing federal charges of lying about his financial assets, must undergo a mental health evaluation and has been prohibited from selling cars under new conditions of his release set recently by a federal magistrate.

Strevell was indicted in April on charges that he concealed his financial assets to avoid paying fines and restitution from a 2007 conviction in a public corruption case. He was set free while his criminal case is pending but with conditions that included contacting his probation officers within 72 hours of any contact with police.

Federal authorities say Strevell violated that condition when he delayed reporting his Aug. 31 arrest by Rensselaer police for allegedly driving a vehicle without a license.

A week later, during a meeting with federal probation officers, they said Strevell provided a handwritten note and "for the first time" disclosed that he had earned income of about $7,300 from selling 19 cars between April and August. The note provided by Strevell did not include any details on the transactions, including who purchased the vehicles. Federal authorities, who were supposed to monitor Strevell's business activities, ordered him to submit a detailed financial statement on his assets, income and expenses.

Less than 10 days after that meeting, State Police charged Strevell with reckless endangerment, a misdemeanor, for allegedly selling a 2001 Ford Focus with faulty brakes to a 20-year-old woman. Strevell sold the vehicle through the website Craigslist for $1,500 and allegedly "knew the vehicle was unsafe to operate." State Police said the vehicle had an inspection sticker but "was not roadworthy and should not have passed inspection." Law enforcement authorities said it's unclear how the vehicle passed a motor vehicle inspection.

"It appears that Strevell continues to engage in criminal behavior and also has displayed a disregard for complying with the more basic expectations of the court to include full financial disclosure and reporting police contact timely," federal probation officials wrote in a letter last month to U.S. Magistrate Judge Christian F. Hummel.

At a hearing in late September, Hummel allowed Strevell to remain free while his federal criminal case is pending but ordered him to undergo a mental health evaluation and to stop selling cars. A week later, the U.S. Attorney's office obtained a superseding indictment that clarified but did not change the six charges against Strevell, who faces five felony counts of perjury and one misdemeanor count of defaulting on his court-ordered restitution from his 2007 case. Strevell, 54, pleaded guilty that year and admitted to bilking money from the former Institute for Entrepreneurship.

The federal charges allege Strevell, who made minimal efforts to repay the state of New York for his earlier crimes, lied under oath two years ago when he told federal prosecutors that he gave his daughter "a couple thousand dollars" for her wedding, even though bank records showed he had given her nearly $70,000, with much of the money used for the May 2014 event. Strevell, who was being questioned about his ability to pay a court-ordered restitution to the state, also allegedly lied about where he got $75,000 that he used as a down payment for a lease-purchase agreement for a $865,000 horse farm in Nassau.

Strevell moved into the sprawling farm about three years ago with his daughter, who was married at the farm. Strevell told federal authorities the money for the down payment came from his aunt and also his mother's pension, which was false, according to the indictment.

The cash assets and money transfers that Strevell is accused of concealing from the government flowed through two checking accounts at Pioneer Bank that were listed under a pair of private corporations -- Berkshire Properties Corp. and Burkshire Properties Group Corp. The corporations were controlled by Strevell and did business as "Joe's Garage," a used-car business that Strevell and his brother Chauncey operated for many years in the city of Rensselaer. Strevell also was heavily involved in the real estate trade, records show.

If convicted of perjury, Strevell faces a maximum of 5 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000. If convicted on the misdemeanor charge, Strevell faces up to a year in prison.

Federal law enforcement authorities began pursuing a criminal investigation of Strevell two years ago, not long after the Times Union published a story about Strevell's residency at the 138-acre horse farm that had been on the market for nearly $1 million before Strevell and his daughter moved into the residence with a herd of horses.

Strevell was a once-politically connected barber and low-level Senate worker who rose through the ranks and was appointed a deputy secretary of state for New York from 1997 to 1999. His political connections then helped him land a $263,000-a-year job as head of the Institute for Entrepreneurship, which became scandal-plagued during Strevell's tenure. A federal criminal investigation showed Strevell fleeced the state-sponsored agency that was intended to be a small-business incubator for the State University of New York, including arranging questionable jobs for his friends and relatives. Federal prosecutors at the time of his conviction said the actual losses from Strevell's misdeeds topped $200,000.

The recent arrests aren't Strevell's only brushes with law enforcement following his 2007 federal conviction. In 2010, criminal impersonation charges against Strevell were adjourned in contemplation of dismissal in Colonie Town Court in a case that Albany County prosecutors admitted they mishandled. He was charged by State Police with impersonating a state official to get out of a speeding ticket along the Northway and accepted a plea deal approved by an assistant district attorney that resulted in the case being permanently sealed.

Last year, Strevell was ticketed for leaving the scene of a property-damage crash after police said he backed into a parked car outside an East Greenbush store and allegedly left the scene despite causing extensive damage to the other vehicle. Strevell told police he left his contact information on the other vehicle. But a witness to the incident told officers he saw Strevell get out and survey the damage and then get back in his pickup truck, which was pulling a utility trailer, and drive away.

blyons@timesunion.com  518-454-5547  @brendan_lyonstu
Albany

A Saratoga Springs lawyer has been suspended from practicing law for two years.

John M. Hogan III, known as Jake, was disciplined Thursday by the Appellate Division of state Supreme Court, Third Department, which imposed the suspension after a referee found Hogan guilty of eight of 12 charges of professional misconduct brought by the Appellate Division's Attorney Grievance Committee.

The referee determined Hogan, 56, failed to communicate with a client, did not forward a client's requested file, misled the grievance committee and neglected various legal matters and appeals of clients.

The referee found Hogan also failed to obtain a required Surrogate's Court approval of a wrongful death settlement on behalf of a client and held funds of a missing client without trying to locate the client or to seek a court order to disburse the funds to the Lawyer's Fund for Client Protection, which reimburses money to people whose funds were misused in the practice law.

Hogan was admitted to the bar in 1990 after graduating from Delaware Law School.

The discipline ruling said Hogan "expressed remorse" for his conduct but added, "We have also considered the fact that (Hogan')s serious professional misconduct is aggravated by a lengthy disciplinary history that includes two letters of caution and three letters of admonition and oral admonitions issued by (the grievance committee) for similar misconduct."

The suspension takes effect in 30 days. The decision was imposed by Appellate Justices William McCarthy, John Egan, Christine Clark, Michael Lynch and Robert Mulvey.

Hogan could not be reached for comment.

rgavin@timesunion.com  518-434-2403  @RobertGavinTU
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Palm Springs, Calif.

California prosecutors charged a man with first-degree murder and other crimes Wednesday in the ambush shootings of two Palm Springs police officers, saying he deliberately attacked them for no reason.

John Hernandez Felix, 26, was charged with multiple felonies, Riverside County District Attorney Michael Hestrin announced. Attached to the murder charges are special-circumstance allegations of murder of a police officer in the line of duty, multiple murder and lying wait. He also will face three counts of attempted murder.

"This individual wanted to kill police officers," Hestrin said, adding that the defendant prepared by wearing soft body armor. "That's the motive."

The prosecutor said Felix would be assigned an attorney to speak on his behalf this week.

Officers Jose "Gil" Gilbert Vega and Lesley Zerebny were responding to a domestic disturbance call at the home of Felix's family on Saturday when Felix shot and killed them with an AR-15 rifle, authorities said.

Felix was prohibited from legally possessing firearms because of a prior felony conviction, the Riverside County Sheriff's Department said. He served 18 months of a four-year sentence for assault with a gun in connection with a 2009 gang shooting and was paroled in 2011, according to state records.

A relative told police arriving at the home of Felix's family that Felix had some sort of weapon. Officers spoke with him through a metal screen door before he opened fire without warning, the sheriff's department said.

Felix was arrested after a gunbattle and standoff with police.

Vega and Zerebny, like all California peace officers, were trained in handling domestic violence calls and wore ballistic vests as required when in uniform and on duty.

Vega, 63, was a 35-year veteran of the force and was preparing to retire soon. Zerenby, 27, had been with the department about 18 months and left behind a 4-month-old daughter with her husband, a sheriff's deputy.

Palm Springs had not lost an officer in the line of duty since 1962.
New York

John F. Kennedy's scribbled notes for a 1960 campaign speech and a fragment of George Washington's draft of his first inaugural address are among presidential documents going to auction.

The Lion Heart Autographs also is offering the front page of The New York Times from Sept. 12, 2001, autographed by five U.S. presidents  Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush  who were attending a national day of remembrance and prayer for 9/11 victims at the National Cathedral in Washington.

The headline above a photograph of the burning World Trade Center says: "U.S. Attacked: Hijacked Jets Destroy Twin Towers and Hit Pentagon in Day of Terror."

The front page's presale estimate is $6,000 to $8,000. The auction house will donate all of its commission from the proceeds of the sale of the page to the 9/11 charity Tuesday's Children. The New York City auction is Oct. 26.

JFK's fragmented notes reference his famous campaign slogan "The New Frontier" with the words "to ask you to join me on the path toward the new frontier." They were used for a speech at a 1960 rally in Los Angeles. Its pre-sale estimate is $2,500 to $3,500.

The Washington fragment, one of a small number that survive of Washington's handwritten draft for his first inaugural speech, contains the words "Let us advance directly forward in the path of our duty. Should the path at first prove intricate and thorny, it will grow plain and smooth as we go." It carries a pre-sale estimate of $130,000 to $150,000.

Another highlight is a 1993 letter on White House stationery signed by Clinton thanking New York Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan for his support for the renewal of China's Most Favored Nation status. Estimated to bring up to $1,000, it states that China "will be held accountable for its human rights record and its trade and weapons proliferation practices."
Berlin

A 22-year-old Syrian who the authorities said planned an imminent terrorist attack in Germany but was detained by fellow refugees committed suicide in a jail cell Wednesday.

Jaber al-Bakr took his own life at the jail in Leipzig, where he had been taken after being detained early Monday, according to Jorg Herold, spokesman for the Justice Ministry in Saxony, the German state where the events unfolded.

A senior intelligence official, who insisted on anonymity, said hours before the suicide al-Bakr had been refusing to cooperate with investigators, who suspected that he was in contact with the Islamic State.

Berlin

A 22-year-old Syrian who the authorities said planned an imminent terrorist attack in Germany but was detained by fellow refugees committed suicide in a jail cell Wednesday evening.

Jaber al-Bakr took his own life at the jail in Leipzig, where he had been taken after being detained early Monday, according to Jorg Herold, spokesman for the Justice Ministry in Saxony, the German state where the events unfolded.

A senior intelligence official, who insisted on anonymity, said hours before the suicide became known that al-Bakr had been refusing to cooperate with investigators, who suspected that he was in contact with the Islamic State.
Paul Buckowski

The board of the New York Civil Liberties Union's Capital Region Chapter wishes to express its sadness at the loss of Peter Henner, a decades-long friend of the chapter who served on our board and legal committee.

The Times Union once quoted Peter as saying, "I've always been tilting at windmills," but that might suggest his efforts were in vain, which was decidedly not the case.
It was a long way to Tipperary for 180,000 overseas visitors who made the trip in 2015 according to figures released by Failte Ireland this week detailing visitor number breakdown to each county in Ireland.

The latest figures now put Tipperary at 15th place on the list of top most visited counties in Ireland. Tipperary had 36,000 extra visitors than its closest rival Cavan and beat out the likes of Leitrim, Offally, Roscommon and Meath to earn its position among the list of 24 counties. Dublin took the top spot on the list with close to five million overseas tourists visiting the capital last year followed by Cork in second place and Galway finishing out the top three. At the end of the list was Longford which welcomed only 30,000 overseas visitors last year.

However when figures took into account the revenue earned per county by overseas visitors, Tipperary managed to climb to the twelfth spot in the list with visitors spending a total of 66m in the county - a total of 9m behind its closest competitor of Waterford. In first place again was Dublin who earned a total of 1,726m from overseas tourist revenue.

The figures are based on rolling, three-year averages from Failte Ireland's Survey of Overseas Travellers and do not take domestic tourism into account.

Earlier this summer a report released by Failte Ireland revealed the top fee charging attractions in the country with the Rock of Cashel coming at number 12 having welcomed over 300,700 visitors for 2015.
[October 12, 2016] Freedom of Religion Defined in New Website From the Church of Scientology

LOS ANGELES, Oct. 12, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- A new website has been established to provide a comprehensive resource for the bona fides of Scientology by religious scholars, recognitions of Scientology in countries around the world and the Church's commitment to freedom of religion for every human beingaccessible to all at scientologyreligion.org. The website provides an in-depth understanding of Scientology and landmark decisions in countries the world over that define religion and thus protect the very principles of religious freedom for all. For those who value freedom of religion as an essential human right, this site serves as a comprehensive research resource. As scientologyreligion.org begins, "Millions of people around the world sincerely believe in the religious tenets and practices of Scientology. For every one of these individuals, Scientology is their religion and fulfills their deepest spiritual needsthe most important test of any true religion of the world, used by the United States Supreme Court and High Courts in many other countries as the standard and test of a religion. "Neverthelessif one relies on secondary sourcescourts, scholars and governmental agencies around the world have repeatedly determined that Scientology is bona fide in all respects. This website provides an overview of these international recognitions and expertises." Among the features of the website: A new publication titled What is Freedom of Religion? Religious freedom and tolerance have always been an important principle at the heart of Scientology. Despite religious freedom issues appearing prominently in global headlines, many do not understand what these rights encompass or what the term really means. Religious freedom is not a privilege provided by a government, but an individual's birthright.

What is Freedom of Religion? takes up the Universal Declaration of Human Rights andthe International Bill of Rights and addresses key issues that have come under assault in this new millennium, such as freedom to manifest religion or belief; the right to formation, registration or recognition of legal religious entities; and rising social hostility against religion in the media.





Charter on Journalistic Ethics in Relation to Respect for Religion or Belief.

Religious freedom and tolerance have always been an important principle at the heart of Scientology. Despite religious freedom issues appearing prominently in global headlines, many do not understand what these rights encompass or what the term really means. Religious freedom is not a privilege provided by a government, but an individual's birthright. takes up the Universal Declaration of Human Rights andthe International Bill of Rights and addresses key issues that have come under assault in this new millennium, such as freedom to manifest religion or belief; the right to formation, registration or recognition of legal religious entities; and rising social hostility against religion in the media. Charter on Journalistic Ethics in Relation to Respect for Religion or Belief. Landmark legal decisions that stand as victories not only for the Scientology religion but for religious freedom everywhere. While these cases vindicate the rights of Scientologists to practice their religion, they also serve as benchmarks, setting aside archaic and restrictive definitions of religion and guaranteeing the rights of all faiths to practice freely. The website includes full details of these decisions as well as the Church's religious recognitions in dozens of countries around the world.

Copies of expert studies by the world's foremost scholars of comparative religion, history of religion, religious studies, and sociology, incontrovertibly validating Scientology as a world religion. These expertises provide a thorough understanding of how Scientology compares with other religions. They give an academic overview of the religion and the rich traditions from which Scientology springs.

The Creed and Codes, Axioms and Aims of the Church of Scientology. Written by Scientology Founder L. Ron Hubbard in the 1950s during the formative years of the religion, they set the guidelines for the practice and expansion of Scientology and still serve those ends today.

in the 1950s during the formative years of the religion, they set the guidelines for the practice and expansion of Scientology and still serve those ends today. The public benefit of the humanitarian initiatives and social betterment programs the Church of Scientology and its parishioners carry out and support. These bring effective solutions to bear on the global devastation and human misery wrought by drug abuse, human rights violations, illiteracy and moral decay. This section also covers the Scientology Volunteer Ministers, created in the mid 1970s by L. Ron Hubbard and sponsored by the Church of Scientology International as a religious social service.

and sponsored by the Church of Scientology International as a religious social service. Videos of distinguished scholars, rabbis, ministers of diverse faiths, officials, and social betterment professionals speaking about the bona fides of the religion and the public benefit delivered through Scientology humanitarian and social betterment activities.

International human rights standards regarding freedom of religion detailed in international human rights treaties including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, UN Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Intolerance and of Discrimination Based on Religion or Belief, and numerous guidelines set by the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe . All pertinent articles are quoted and the full text of the documents is linked to for ease of reference. The Church of Scientology has championed religious freedom and human rights since its inception, all toward accomplishing the Aims of Scientology as put forth by L. Ron Hubbard in 1965: "A civilization without insanity, without criminals and without war, where the able can prosper and honest beings can have rights, and where Man is free to rise to greater heights."

The Scientology religion was founded by author and philosopher L. Ron Hubbard. The first Church of Scientology was formed in Los Angeles in 1954 and the religion has expanded to more than 11,000 Churches, Missions and affiliated groups, with millions of members in 167 countries. CONTACT:

Church of Scientology Media Relations

[email protected]

(323) 960-3500 phone

(323) 960-3508 fax Related Video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XVkzJxYGpjY Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161012/428135

Video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XVkzJxYGpjY This content was issued through the press release distribution service at Newswire.com. For more info visit: http://www.newswire.com To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/freedom-of-religion-defined-in-new-website-from-the-church-of-scientology-300343955.html SOURCE The Church of Scientology

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By Ani Gevorgyan

In Vanadzor, Armenias third largest city, it is said that young people rarely meet on the street. Residents joke that while everyone in the town is young at heart, in reality, most young people are moving out. Despite the many problems facing the town and the exodus, Vanadzor retains it colorful charm.
[October 13, 2016] Refrigerators Market Trends in China

This study focuses on China's Refrigerators market trends. In the two past decades, the market has been growing at a fast pace. The dramatic expansions of the manufacturing capabilities and rising consumer consumptions in China have transformed China's society and economy. China is one of the world's major producers for industrial and consumer products. Far outpacing other economies in the world, China is the world's fastest growing market for the consumptions of goods and services.The Chinese economy maintains a high speed growth which has been stimulated by the consecutive increases of industrial output, imports & exports, consumer consumption and capital investment for over two decades. Rapid consolidation between medium and large players is anticipated since the Chinese government has been encouraging industry consolidation with an effort to regulate the industry and to improve competitiveness in the world market.







Although China has enjoyed the benefits of an expanding market for production and distribution, the industry is suffering from minimal innovation and investment in R&D and new product development. The sector's economies of scale have yet to be achieved. Most domestic manufacturers lack the autonomic intellectual property and financial resources to develop their own brand name products.



For more information kindly visit : http://www.marketreportsonchina.com/consumer-goods-market-research-reports-23733/refrigerators-china.html As a community-building service, TMCnet allows user submitted content which is not always proofed by TMCnet editors. If you feel this entry is of inferior quality or wish to report it for some reason, please forward the URL to "webedit [AT] tmcnet [DOT] com" with your comments.



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[October 13, 2016] Ricoh Canada Employees Set Out for Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup

TORONTO, Oct. 13, 2016 /CNW/ - Ricoh Canada employees are once again rolling up their sleeves and heading out to local parks, rivers and lakes to take part in another Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup (GCSC). GCSC is a national program that empowers partners take an active role in protecting the natural environments in Canada. As part of the GCSC efforts, team Ricoh is part of the largest direct action environmental program in Canada. Official partners of the GCSC since 2014, Ricoh Canada employees have already diverted over 6,294 pounds of garbage from lakes, ponds, shorelines and parks across Canada. It's an important contribution to the communities where Ricoh employees live and work, and one that is embraced by the team at Ricoh Canada. "The GCSC events are part of a nationwide activity for us," said Eric Fletcher, VP of Marketing at Ricoh Canada Inc. "Respect for the environment and taking active steps to protect it is in clear alignment withthe corporation's sustainability goals, but it's also great fun to get out and make a difference with the teams."



Ricoh Canada participates in Shoreline Cleanups twice a year in the spring and fall, with an average of 300 employees contributing their time to each event. 19 offices are participating this fall, with many of Ricoh's customers also being encouraged to come out and join the effort. Most of Ricoh Canada's national cleanup events will be taking place on October 13th.

For more information on Ricoh's environmental initiatives and activities, go to www.ricoh.ca | About Ricoh | Ricoh is a global technology company that has been transforming the way people work for more than 80 years. Under its corporate tagline  imagine. change.  Ricoh continues to empower companies and individuals with services and technologies that inspire innovation, enhance sustainability and boost business growth. These include document management systems, IT services, production print solutions, visual communications systems, digital cameras, and industrial systems. Headquartered in Tokyo, Ricoh Group operates in approximately 200 countries and regions. In the financial year ending March 2016, Ricoh Group had worldwide sales of 2,209 billion yen (approx. 19.6 billion USD). For further information, please visit www.ricoh.com  2016 RICOH CANADA INC. All rights reserved. All referenced product names are the trademarks of their respective companies. SOURCE Ricoh Canada Inc.

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[October 13, 2016] Signage Melbourne, Australia Offers Affordable Services To Promote Your Brand Through Signage Advertising

If you are looking to promote your business in a unique manner that is quite interesting as well as affordable just check out for the Signage Melbourne Australia services who offer you their expertise to design signs and symbols to reach out your targeted audience. Unlike advertising through classifieds, internet on on yellow pages which is quite expensive the signages has more life and can also easily connect with the customers through communicating the message visually. Signs which are usually graphic works in attractive colors and themes in varying sizes and shapes can be displayed on the streets or inside and outside of the buildings to attract the public. The signages can be of any sort that you can choose like banners, murals, billboards, street signs, corflute signs and sandwich boards etc based on your budget. There are different types of signages offered by the metal signs Australia designers like A-Frame signs, PVC Vinyl banners, Window graphics, Vehicle wraps, Window frosting and also Shop front signage.







All these signages from the Melbourne designers come with the best quality and price that one can easily afford to promote their brand in the market. As there are different types in these signs one can pick up from the range that is best suitable for their business. All you need is to just talk to them about your requirement and with the help of the in-house graphic designer they can create a signage for your approval and accordingly manufacture and deliver that to your door steps. The metal signs are widely used for safety signs Australia and traffic control products that are manufactured from durable aluminium composite panel which is waterproof and also done using UV proof eco-solvent inks along with a glossy finish laminate for the best display.



The signage Melbourne Australia team are also experts in bringing out the best Vinyl banners that are best for outdoor advertising and are digitally printed using the latest technology of large format inkjet printers for quality output. The vehicle signage is also becoming quite popular where a vehicle is totally or partially covered with large vinyl sheets printed with the promo material for display to the public. The signage Melbourne team vouches for low prices, quick turn around time, in-house graphic designer services and also 24/7 support to the customers to ensure 100% satisfaction on the services offered by them to help clients promote their brand in the market.





Contact Details: 67 Elsie GroveEdithvale Victoria Australia +61 423 032 009 Experience the channel letter signs, Teardrop Flag Signs, Corflute Signs, Feather Flags signs and menu board signs in 3D at a best price from Affordable designs. For more information about the signage services, please visit our website at http://www.affordablesigns.com.au/. As a community-building service, TMCnet allows user submitted content which is not always proofed by TMCnet editors. If you feel this entry is of inferior quality or wish to report it for some reason, please forward the URL to "webedit [AT] tmcnet [DOT] com" with your comments.

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[October 13, 2016] Stream Donates $25,000 to the American Red Cross to Support Hurricane Matthew Relief Efforts

Stream, a Dallas-based leading energy, connected life services and direct selling company, donated $25,000 to the American Red Cross to support Hurricane Matthew relief efforts, through its philanthropic arm, Stream Cares. This Smart News Release features multimedia. View the full release here: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20161013005349/en/ Larry Mondry and Dan O'Malley of Stream present Natalie Valenti Butters of the American Red Cross North Texas Region with Stream's donation. (Photo: Business Wire) Stream is also waiving international calling fees for its Wireless customers, allowing them to call without fees until October 20 from anywhere in the United States to the following countries: Aruba, Commonwealth of the Bahamas, Barbados, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Dominican Republic, Republic of Haiti, Jamaica, St. Martin, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and Turks and Caicos. The $25,000 sum represents a corporate donation as well as funds raised by Stream's team of Independent Associates, who convened in Dallas this past weekend for the company's Connect 2016 event, which was originally set to occur in Orlando. To close out the event, Stream President and CEO Larry Mondry presented a check to Natalie Valenti Butters, Corporate Partnerships Officer of American Red Cross North Texas Region. "After moving our Connect event due to Hurricane Matthew, we at Stream wanted to do our part to help those hit the hardest by the natural disaster," said Mondry. "We knew the American Red Cross was the best recipient of our donation. As the premier disaster relief organization, we're confident our contribution will go directly to those needing help getting back on their feet after the hurricane. And by waiving our international calling fees, we can help our cusomers connect with their family, friends and loved ones in the affected areas."



"It is good to know that our friends at Stream are eager to help us fulfill the mission of American Red Cross," said Keith Rhodes, Chief Executive Officer, American Red Cross North Texas Region. "This generous donation will help families impacted by Hurricane Matthew by providing them with much needed items such as blankets, food, toothbrushes and other personal hygiene items as well as cleaning supplies. Donations like this truly help to pave the road to recovery for disaster victims." Held in Dallas October 7-8, 2016, Stream's Connect 2016 event brought together the Stream corporate team and Associates from across the country, focusing on learning, business building, growth, and leadership. During the annual two-day event, Stream announced new promotions and service-related news, and hosted world champion swimmer Diana Nyad and motivational speaker Willie Jolley as keynote speakers.

About Stream Stream (Stream Energy) is a Dallas-based leading energy, connected life services and direct selling company. Founded in 2005, the company's innovative deployment of direct selling revolutionized the energy industry, generating more than $7 billion in total revenue in just ten years and transforming it into one of the largest direct selling companies in the global energy market. Stream Connected Services (Energy Services, Wireless Services, Protective Services, and Home Services) works seamlessly together to fit customers' on-the-go lifestyles, keeping them connected, wherever they are. Energy Services are currently available in Texas, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Maryland, New Jersey, Washington, D.C., and New York. All of Stream's other services are available nationwide. To learn more about Stream, visit www.mystream.com and connect with Stream on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram. About the American Red Cross The American Red Cross shelters, feeds and provides emotional support to victims of disasters; supplies about 40 percent of the nation's blood; teaches skills that save lives; provides international humanitarian aid; and supports military members and their families. The Red Cross is a not-for-profit organization that depends on volunteers and the generosity of the American public to perform its mission. For more information, please visit redcross.org or cruzrojaamericana.org, or visit us on Twitter (News - Alert) at @RedCross. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20161013005349/en/

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[October 13, 2016] UC Berkeley School of Public Health Opens New Center for Lean Engagement and Research in Healthcare

The UC Berkeley School of Public Health today announced its new Center for Lean Engagement and Research (CLEAR) in Healthcare. The center will identify new ways to transform healthcare delivery through continuous improvement strategies that enhance patient outcomes and reduce the growth in the cost of care. "The Center for Lean Engagement and Research in Healthcare will help achieve the triple aim of better healthcare quality and patient experience, improved population health and reduced growth of healthcare costs," said Stephen M. Shortell, PhD, professor and dean emeritus at the UC Berkeley School of Public Health. "Our research will focus on lean methods designed to improve the healthcare system. We will examine new payment models that reward value, identify new ways to lead and manage healthcare organizations, and discover how care providers and health systems can create greater value for patients." CLEAR will conduct research on lean whole system transformation initiatives. Lean is a management and operational system that fosters a culture that empowers frontline workers to create value by eliminating waste, developing standard work and solving problems. CLEAR researchers will: 1. Conduct research on lean in healthcare, beginning with the first national survey of lean in hospitals. 2. Collaborate with specific healthcare organizations and health services researchers to study the effects of lean in particular organizations and departments. 3. Facilitate research among other researchers and healthcare delivery organizations through resources and information available on the CLEAR website www.clear.berkeley.edu. In addition, CLEAR will work with organizations that are in the process of implementing lean methodologies. Researchers will study implementation issues and identify solutions to help healthcare organizations become more efficient. Qualified researchers at leading universities and think tanks in the United States will be invited to submit research proposals tobe jointly selected by lean organizational leaders and center directors.



"We are excited to support new lean research, which will lead to actionable knowledge and information healthcare leaders can use," said Helen Zak, chief development officer at the ThedaCare Center for Healthcare Value. The nonprofit Lean Enterprise Institute, Rona Consulting Group, and ThedaCare Center for Healthcare Value will provide funding support to the CLEAR program. CLEAR will be an affiliate of the Center for Healthcare Organizational and Innovation Research (CHOIR) at the UC Berkeley School of Public Health (www.choir.berkeley.edu). CHOIR is co-directed by Dr. Shortell and Hector Rodriguez, PhD, the Henry J. Kaiser Professor of Health Policy and Management, both of whom have done extensive research with healthcare organizations. Professor Emeritus Thomas Rundall will serve as co-director of CLEAR working with Professor Shortell. Professor Rundall has extensive experience working with and studying healthcare organizations.

About UC Berkeley School of Public Health

The first school of public health west of the Mississippi, the University of California, Berkeley, School of Public Health was founded in 1943 on the Berkeley campus. It is one of 50 schools accredited by the Council on Education for Public Health. The UC Berkeley School of Public Health improves population health, especially for the most vulnerable, through interdisciplinary collaborations to meet health needs and achieve health equity, preeminent education that challenges convention and develops diverse leaders, and transformational research on the major public health threats and opportunities of today and tomorrow. About the Lean Enterprise Institute

Lean Enterprise Institute Inc., a 501(c)(3) nonprofit based in Cambridge, MA, makes things better through lean research, training, publishing, and events. Founded in 1997 by management expert James P. Womack, PhD, LEI also supports other lean initiatives such as the Lean Global Network, the Lean Education Academic Network, and the Healthcare Value Network. Learn more at lean.org. About Rona Consulting Group

Rona Consulting Group develops lean leaders and assists in transforming integrated healthcare systems, hospitals and clinics, medical suppliers and government organizations into lean enterprises. Rona Consulting Group is committed to helping its partner organizations achieve the highest quality through zero defects, increased patient and community satisfaction, empowerment of staff, and improvement of financial performance through the application of the Toyota Management System. Learn more at: ronaconsulting.com. About ThedaCare Center for Healthcare Value

The ThedaCare Center for Healthcare Value is an education institute that believes in care delivery designed around the patient, payment and incentives based on value and outcomes and transparency of performance (quality and cost) throughout the healthcare system. Founded in 2008, the Center is a not for profit with a mission to help change the healthcare industry. Learn more at: createvalue.org. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20161013005147/en/

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[October 13, 2016] Vector Space Systems Opens Manufacturing Facility in Pima County Aerospace, Defense and Technology Business & Research Park

TUCSON, Ariz., Oct. 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Vector Space Systems, a micro satellite space launch company comprised of new-space industry veterans from SpaceX, Virgin Galactic, McDonnell Douglas and Sea Launch, today announced that it is locating its manufacturing facility to the Pima County Aerospace, Defense and Technology Business & Research Park. Pima County and the Arizona Commerce Authority are leading the facility development through a public-private partnership agreement to further the economic advancement of the Arizona technology and aerospace industry. "With cutting edge companies like Vector Space Systems continuing to locate in Arizona, it is no wonder our state is ranked number one for aerospace manufacturing attractiveness by PwC," said Arizona Governor Doug Ducey. "Vector Space Systems is precisely the type of innovative, 21st century company we are working to attract to Arizona through our pro-business policies, and an excellent addition to southern Arizona's already thriving aerospace industry. I thank Vector Space Systems for its commitment to and confidence in our state." Vector's decision to locate its launch vehicle factory in Arizona and place it in Pima County's Aerospace, Defense and Technology Business & Research Park emphasizes its belief in the bright future of Southern Arizona's aerospace manufacturing industry. The partnership between the County, State and Vector will bring together the spirit of innovation and entrepreneurship in an effort to make Arizona one of the fastest growing technology hubs in the nation. "Vector Space Systems has decided to make Tucson the home for its headquarters and manufacturing facilities by relocating to the Pima County Aerospace, Defense and Technology Business & Research Park," said Jim Cantrell, CEO and co-founder of Vector Space Systems. "While Vector's eyes are focused on the stars, our home is in Arizona because we believe in its potential as a competitive tech hub, and we're honored to have the opportunity to contribute toward its economic development in the aerospace manufacturing industry." Vector, a disruptive company that connects space startups and innovators with affordable and reliable space access, officially launched in 2016 to build launch vehicles for micro satellites. The company, whose vision is to reshape the multi-billion launch market, combines dedicated lowcost micro satellite launches (Vector Launch) and software defined satellites (Galactic Sky) to dramatically increase access and speed to orbit. Vector will use the Pima County Aerospace, Defense and Technology Business & Research Park to manufacture its Vector-R and Vector-H launch vehicles that will be transported to sites in Alaska and Florida to launch micro-satellites into orbit.



"With this announcement, Vector Space Systems becomes the second tenant of the County's Aerospace, Defense and Technology Business & Research Park in the Sonoran Corridor, joining World View," said Chuck Huckelberry, Pima County's administrator. "These locally grown aerospace companies are locating to an area acquired by the County in its effort to protect Raytheon Missile Systems from residential encroachment. Raytheon has welcomed these fellow aerospace manufacturers and these three companies combined are creating a gravitational pull of other aerospace companies interested in locating to the park. I congratulate Vector Space Systems on its expansion and expect they'll be seeing a few new neighbors in the near future." "Helping our local businesses grow and prosper is as important to the County's economic and job growth as attracting new companies in town, if not more so," said Sharon Bronson, chair of the Pima County Board of Supervisors. "Our country has embarked on an exciting new era of commercial space flight, and I am immensely proud that Pima County is able to assist an imaginative local company like Vector Space Systems, which is in the vanguard of this new race to space."

"The Arizona Technology Council applauds Pima County, the City of Tucson and Arizona Commerce Authority for this extraordinary opportunity for our region and state," said Alex Rodriguez, vice president of the Arizona Technology Council. "The space technology industry is well underway in Arizona, and we believe Vector Space Systems is a powerful example of what is possible in Arizona regarding the technology and innovation agenda." About Vector Space Systems

Founded by the original SpaceX founding team, Vector Space Systems is a disruptive company that connects space startups and innovators with affordable and reliable launch enabling platforms and vehicles at a price never before possible for accessing space. For more information, visit www.vectorspacesystems.com. About Pima County

Covering an area of approximately 9,200 square miles, Pima County is one of the oldest continuously inhabited areas of the United States. Pima County government serves a population of just over one million residents who thrive in an ecologically and culturally diverse region. Pima County's Economic Development Office believes companies want to grow in communities that have excellent quality of life and that make investments in critical infrastructure that are the foundation for commerce. The Pima County Board of Supervisors enthusiastically supports new businesses and business expansion in Pima County. About the Arizona Commerce Authority

The Arizona Commerce Authority (ACA) is the state's leading economic development organization with a streamlined mission to grow and strengthen Arizona's economy. The ACA uses a three-pronged approach to advance the overall economy: recruit, grow, create  recruit out-of-state companies to expand their operations in Arizona; work with existing companies to grow their business in Arizona and beyond; and partner with entrepreneurs and companies large and small to create new jobs and businesses in targeted industries. Visit azcommerce.com for more information. About Arizona Technology Council

The Arizona Technology Council is Arizona's premier trade association for science and technology companies. Recognized as having a diverse professional business community, Council members work towards furthering the advancement of technology in Arizona through leadership, education, legislation and social action. The Arizona Technology Council offers numerous events, educational forums and business conferences that bring together leaders, managers, employees and visionaries to make an impact on the technology industry. These interactions contribute to the Council's culture of growing member businesses and transforming technology in Arizona. To become a member or to learn more about the Arizona Technology Council, please visit www.aztechcouncil.org. To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/vector-space-systems-opens-manufacturing-facility-in-pima-county-aerospace-defense-and-technology-business--research-park-300344319.html SOURCE Vector Space Systems

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[October 12, 2016] Industrial Control and Factory Automation Market by Technology, Component, Industry - Global Forecast to 2022

LONDON, Oct. 12, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- "The industrial control and factory automation market growth directly linked with penetration of industrial internet technologies and M2M communications"

The industrial control and factory automation market was valued at USD 108.80 billion in 2015 and is projected to reach USD 153.30 billion by 2022, at a CAGR of 4.88% between 2016 and 2022. The advancements in industrial internet and machine to machine communication technologies, increased focus on efficiency and cost of production by manufacturers, government's inclination towards adoption of new technologies in manufacturing sector, and increased connected supply chain are driving the market. Whereas, the factors such as shortage of skilled workforce, high capital investments over conventional manufacturing, and lack of awareness among SMEs are the restraints for the market. However, there are huge opportunities available for players operating in the market.



"The oil and gas industry segment expected to account for the largest market share during the forecast period"

By industry, the oil and gas segment is expected to account for the largest share of the industrial control and factory automation market during the forecast period, primarily due to the increased dependence on automation for material flow in the oil and gas industry. Automation helps mitigate the risks associated with material flow losses, and enhances production efficiency. "APAC region to grow at the highest CAGR during the forecast period"

The APAC industrial control and factory automation market is estimated to grow at the highest CAGR during forecast period owing to the growing industrial sectors in China and India. For instane, factory automation is increasing in China due to adoption of the technology in the country's large number of automotive manufacturing plants.



The breakup of primaries conducted during the study is depicted below.

By Company Type: Tier 1 Companies - 60%, Tier 2 Companies - 20%, and Tier 3 Companies - 20%

By Designation: C-level Executives - 50%, Directors - 25%, and Managers - 25%

By Region: Americas - 30%, Europe - 20%, Asia-Pacific - 30%, and RoW - 20%



Major players operating in the industrial control and factory automation market include Siemens AG (Germany), Emerson Electric Company (U.S.), General Electric Company (U.S.), Schneider Electric SE (France), ABB Ltd. (Switzerland), Honeywell International, Inc. (U.S.), Mitsubishi Electric Corporation (Japan), Yokogawa Electric (Japan), and Rockwell Automation, Inc. (U.S.) among others.





This report aims to estimate the market size and future growth potential of the industrial control and factory automation market across different segments, such as technology, component, industry, and geography. It also analyzes subsegments with respect to individual growth trends, future prospects, and contribution to the market.



Reasons to buy the report:

- This report includes the market statistics pertaining to technology, component, industry, and geography along with their respective market size

- The Porter's Five Forces framework has been utilized along with the value chain analysis to provide an in-depth insight into the industrial control and factory automation market

- Major drivers, restraints, and opportunities for industrial control and factory automation market have been detailed in this report

- Illustrative segmentation, analysis, and forecast for the market on the basis of technology, component, industry, and geography have been conducted to give an overall view of the industrial control and factory automation market

- A detailed competitive landscape includes key players, in-depth analysis, and market share of the key players



Download the full report: https://www.reportbuyer.com/product/3339325/



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 To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/industrial-control-and-factory-automation-market-by-technology-component-industry---global-forecast-to-2022-300343980.html SOURCE ReportBuyer

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[October 12, 2016] Optical Transceiver Market by Form Factor, Data Rate, Distance, Wavelength, Application, & Geography - Global Forecast to 2022

NEW YORK, Oct. 12, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --



"The optical transceiver market growth directly linked with the worldwide increasing Internet penetration and data traffic"

The optical transceiver market was valued at USD 2.71 billion in 2015 and is expected to reach USD 6.87 billion by 2022, at a CAGR of 13.5% between 2016 and 2022. This growth can be attributed to the fact of increasing Internet penetration and data traffic in the world. Growing demand for smartphones and other connecting devices and mainstream adoption of cloud computing are the other factors driving the growth of the optical transceiver market. The industry is more concerned about the increasing network complexity, which is highly restraining the optical transceiver market. This is mainly due to the increasing demand for compactness and adoption of emerging infrastructures such as Internet of Things (IoT) and open source platforms through cloud.



"Data center application is expected to be the fastest-growing application in the optical transceiver market during the forecast period"

The optical transceiver market for the data center application is expected to grow at the highest rate between 2016 and 2022. This is mainly because of the growing Internet usage by the smartphones and other connected devices as well as mainstream adoption of the cloud computing. The second fastest-growing application is the enterprise application. This is primarily because of the growing installation of transceivers in the intelligent network within enterprises and data center applicability within enterprises as well.



"APAC is the fastest-growing region for the optical transceiver market during the forecast period"

APAC is expected to be the fastest-growing region of the optical transceiver market, at an estimated CAGR of 19.3% between 2016 and 2022. The min reason behind this is the extension of network in the China, Thailand, Malaysia, South Korea, India, and other developing countries in the APAC region. The market in the APAC has evolved into the largest producer and also the consumer of smartphones, laptops, TVs, and various other applications across the globe and consequently the demand for Internet is growing tremendously in the region. This trend is expected to continue during the forecast period. APAC also accounts for the second-largest share in 2016 of the total optical transceiver market.







The breakup of primaries conducted during the study is depicted in below.

By Company Type: Tier 1 Companies - 55%, Tier 2 Companies  20%, and Tier 3 Companies  25%

By Designation: C-level Executives - 61%, Directors  25%, and Managers - 14%

By Region: North America - 13%, Europe - 25%, APAC- 51%, and RoW- 11%



Some of the major players in the optical transceiver market include Finisar Corp. (U.S.), Accelink Technologies Co., Ltd. ( China ), Lumentum Holdings Inc. (U.S.), Oclaro, Inc (U.S.), Sumitomo Electric Industries, Ltd. ( Japan ), Foxconn Electronics Inc. ( Taiwan ), NeoPhotonics Corp. (U.S.), Fujitsu Optical Components Ltd. ( Japan ), Reflex Photonics Inc. ( Canada ), and Source Photonics Inc. (U.S.), among others.







Research Coverage:

This report includes the market statistics pertaining to form factor, data rate, distance, wavelength, application, and geography, along with their respective market size.

- The average optical transceiver content per application, region, and country is available in the report.

- The Porter's five forces framework has been utilized, along with the value chain analysis to provide an in-depth insight into the optical transceiver market.

- Major drivers, restraints, and opportunities for the optical transceiver market have been detailed in this report.

- Illustrative segmentation, analysis, and forecast for the markets on the basis component, application, and geography have been conducted to give an overall view of the optical transceiver market.

- A detailed competitive landscape includes key players, in-depth analysis, and market share of the key players.



Read the full report: http://www.reportlinker.com/p04214597-summary/view-report.html



About Reportlinker

ReportLinker is an award-winning market research solution. Reportlinker finds and organizes the latest industry data so you get all the market research you need - instantly, in one place.



http://www.reportlinker.com





__________________________

Contact Clare: [email protected]

US: (339)-368-6001

Intl: +1 339-368-6001 To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/optical-transceiver-market-by-form-factor-data-rate-distance-wavelength-application--geography---global-forecast-to-2022-300343989.html SOURCE Reportlinker

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[October 12, 2016] Ipswitch MOVEit(R) 2017 Offers New Levels of Compliance Support in Secure Managed File Transfer

SINGAPORE, Oct. 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Ipswitch, the leader in easy to try, buy and use IT management software, today announced MOVEit 2017 - the combined release includes new versions of its industry leading Managed File Transfer products MOVEit Transfer, MOVEit Automation and Ipswitch Analytics. These new releases significantly enhance the ability of IT teams to ensure the secure exchange of sensitive data with external partners on a global scale and in compliance with data protection regulations such as HIPAA, PCI and GDPR. MOVEit recently won the Secure File Transfer Solution award from NetworkWorld Asia Information Management Awards 2016. In our information based economy, the daily exchange of data with external organizations has become a core process of businesses across a large number of industries. Healthcare providers and Insurers routinely share Protected Health Information (PHI) between themselves and regulatory agencies. Retailers and Financial institutions transmit payment card data. Organizations in multiple industries routinely exchange Personally Identifiable Information (PII). All of this data is protected by regulations such as HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act), PCI DSS (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard), GDPR (the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation) and others. PHI, PII and payment card data are the target of global cybercriminal activity. MOVEit helps safeguard that data when it is most vulnerable - in transit, as well as when the data is at rest, with best in class encryption. Ipswitch's industry leading MOVEit products help IT teams ensure these exchanges are secure, in compliance with data protection regulations, and automated to reduce IT overhead costs and meet internal and external Service Level Agreements (SLAs). MOVEit Transfer 2017 provides enhanced language support and improvements to its user interface. MOVEit users can now externally transfer files in any language (including support for Japanese and Simplified Chinese) to anywhere in the world securely and in compliance with multiple data protection regulations. MOVEit Automation 2017 includes new features that significantly extend IT team's ability to automate core data exchange processes at high volumes while continuing to meet SLAs and reduce IT costs. These include improvements to its state-of-the-art web admin interface, the ability to manage files and resources in any language and SOCKS proxy support for SFTP hosts. Ipswitch Analytics 2017 enables SLA and compliance reporting with new advanced data filters, and enhanced management of securit keys, licenses and agents. Additionally, Ipswitch Analytics provides new agents for Microsoft Exchange that extend IT teams' visibility to include data transfers that occur through email. This significantly enhances the organizations ability to assure regulatory compliance by providing first time visibility into an area of increasing concern  ad hoc file transmissions of sensitive data by employees.



"With many organizations implementing security policies to restrict manual file transfers, IT teams need a flexible, IT-approved solution that provides the ease-of-use that today's employees crave combined with the security IT teams demand for protection and compliance," said Austin O'Malley, Chief Product Officer at Ipswitch. "Thousands of companies in some of the most data-sensitive industries are using MOVEit 2017 to better manage data exchange processes from a central console that is understandable and easy-to-use." "In the Asia Pacific region, a number of governments are pushing for comprehensive data protection regulations, with new regulatory regimes coming into force," said Alessandro Porro, Senior Vice President of APAC for International Sales at Ipswitch. "The new enhancements incorporated in MOVEit 2017 will help meet the requirements of these new regulations while protecting and monitoring the use and disclosure of extremely sensitive data to provide increased customer value."

Editions and Pricing: To make it easier for IT teams to buy a solution that meets their exact requirements while increasing the value they receive from their investment, MOVEit Transfer 2017 and MOVEit Automation 2017 are offered in Standard, Professional and Premium editions. All MOVEit 2017 solutions -- MOVEit Transfer, MOVEit Automation, Ipswitch Analytics and Ipswitch Gateway - are combined in the comprehensive MOVEit Complete package, which simplifies IT teams' Managed File Transfer needs in Standard, Professional and Premium editions as well. MOVEit has been reliably and predictably transferring files for thousands of customers and millions of users across several vertical industries -- including banking, financial services, insurance, healthcare and retail. To learn more about MOVEit 2017, visit https://www.ipswitch.com/secure-information-and-file-transfer/moveit-mft-complete Register now to join the upcoming MOVEit 2017 Security and Compliance webinar on 18th October. Conducted in English: Register here

Conducted in Mandarin: Register here About Ipswitch Today's hard-working IT teams are relied upon to manage increasing complexity and deliver near-zero downtime. Ipswitch IT and network management software helps them succeed by enabling secure control of business transactions, applications and infrastructure. Ipswitch software is powerful, flexible and easy to try, buy and use. The company's software helps teams shine by delivering 24/7 performance and security across cloud, virtual and network environments. Ipswitch Unified Infrastructure and Applications Monitoring software provides end-to-end insight, is extremely flexible and simple to deploy. The company's Information Security and Managed File Transfer solutions enable secure, automated and compliant business transactions and file transfers for millions of users. Ipswitch powers more than 150,000 networks spanning 168 countries, and is based in Lexington, Mass., with offices throughout the U.S., Europe, Asia and Latin America. For more information, please visit http://ipswitchcn.com/, or connect with us on LinkedIn and Twitter. Magda Niewczas

+65-8452-2069

[email protected]

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[October 12, 2016] How to Become a Hospitality Leader

HAMBURG, Germany, Oct. 12, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- With thousands of user profiles and well-known hotel partners from Fairmont, Kempinski, 25hours-hotels, and Hyatt, Hospitality Leaders is developing the leading career platform for hospitality management worldwide. Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161012/428084 Digital talent development brings cost-efficiency in HR management

Career building on world's largest hospitality community

Recommended by leading hotel partners Co-Founder and CEO Ralf Borchert, top hospitality recruitment specialist with an international career including corporate appointments at Westin, Mandarin Oriental, The Peninsula Hotels and HVS Executive Search, launched www.hospitality.pro to establish the world's leading talent pool for hotels, restaurants and the tourism industry. Today, Hospitality Leaders' aim is to establish a new standard in digital HR management. "To reach the deciding capability with smart hiring tools, we help hotels and hospitality managers around the globe refine their HR strategy for the next stages of the digitalisation in the hospitality industry," Ralf Borchert stated. "We support our users to build their hospitality career by extending their personal network and online reputation by being active in the community; for example, by publishing guest articles to increase their membership grades and visibility." To become a 'Fellow of Hospitality Leaders', the highest highest membership grade available, members must to be highly recommended and regularly publish background articles on the platform. Benefits are obvious: 'Members' and 'Fellows of Hospitality Leaders' are highly promoted to top job openings throughout the upscale hospitality industry worldwide. "A key question for many people working in hospitality, including management trainees is how to boost thei visibility and successfully spread their digital profiles in order to reach the right HR managers at the right time. Digital career management is not about clicking on job ads. It's about building and online reputation and being easily accessibility," Continues Ralf.



For employers, Hospitality Leaders is developing employer branding tools in cooperation with launch partners from Europe and Asia, to create a competitive advantage in attracting potential employees. Hospitality Leaders is free to join.

The main benefits for users are an industry specific focus on networking in the global hospitality industry and to be part of a state-of-the-art digital career community. Hospitality Leaders will be represented at these upcoming events: Heilbronn Hospitality Symposium at the University of applied science in Heilbronn, Germany  13 October 2016

 Seven Stars Hospitality Awards in Malaga, Spain  15 October 2016

 Trainee contest of Selektion Deutscher Luxushotels, Grand Hotel Heiligendamm in Germany  24-25 October 2016 Notice in advance: Leaders of Hospitality reception during ITB fair at Hotel Adlon Kempinski Berlin, Germany  7 March 2017 Watch Hospitality Leaders Explainer Videos: About: https://vimeo.com/hospitalityleaders/about

Membership Grades: https://vimeo.com/hospitalityleaders/membership-grades About Hospitality Leaders Founded 2015, Hospitality Leaders is the world's leading career platform for hospitality management, the industry's leading talent pool and largest industry community for hotels, restaurants and the hospitality industry. www.hospitality.pro For press requests please contact: Carsten Hennig, Managing Editor Europe

email: [email protected]

Mobile/cell phone: +49 151 17205583

Hospitality Leaders, HQ Hong Kong

Office phone: +852 9353 3550 Related Files hospitality-leaders-png-logo.zip Related Images image1.png image2.png image3.png image4.png Related Links iOS App on the Apple App Store Android App on Google Play Related Video https://vimeo.com/183654963 This content was issued through the press release distribution service at Newswire.com. For more info visit: http://www.newswire.com To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/how-to-become-a-hospitality-leader-300343882.html SOURCE Hospitality Leaders

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[October 12, 2016] Apacer Makes a Foray into DDR4 Wide Temperature Memory Module Market

TAIPEI, Taiwan, Oct. 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Actively expanding its industrial memory products, the world-leading industrial memory brand Apacer Technology, with the full support of its strategic partner Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd, has launched its first DDR4 wide temperature memory module series. Using industrial-grade chips, the memory module series provides a rugged solution for industrial equipments operating under extreme temperatures for long hours. Enhanced with underfill and industrial-grade wide temperature components, Apacer DDR4 wide temperature memory module series is cold-resistant, heat-resistant and highly reliable. In combination with its vibration and thermal shock resistance, the scope of applications for wide temperature memory products is expanded, meeting the requirements of industrial products operating in harsh environments. All industrial-grade components further reinforce stability under low/high temperature environments In order to maintain highly stable operating performance in harsh environments, Apacer DDR4 memory module series not only uses original Samsung industrial-grade wide temperature chips, its passive components are also upgraded to full industrial grade. The wide temperature memory series adopts industrial-grade capacitors and resistors. Capacitors with maximum thermal resistance of 125C ensures more stable supply voltage in a high-temperature environment, while industrial-grade precision resistors have lower tolerance (1%) and more matching specifications, significantly increasing circuit stability and durability. Furthermore, to prevent instability of signal transmission in harsh environments, DDR4 wide temperature memory module utilizes 30 thicker golden finger plating for its PCB. Underfill technique improves product reliability Underfill technique is used under the BGA to reinforce the product's resistance against vibration and thermal shock. When subject to greater temperature changes, the difference in coefficient of thermal expansion between the silicon chip and the PCB substrate often causes relative shifts during thermal shock test, resulting in solder points falling off or fracturing. Underfill technique effectively strengthens the solder points between solder balls and circuit board, reducing thermal stress damage, increasing product reliability and thus increasing product lifespan. Apacer's new wide temperature DDR4 SODIMM for industrial use has a maximum capacity of 16GB and supports frequencies of up to 2133/2400MHz. Using high-quality DDR4 wide temperature chips and industrial-grade components, reinforced with underfill technique, it can adapt to extreme operating temperatures, providing impeccable durability for the system. Passing thermal shock test, which exposes a product to alternating extremes of high and low temperatures, it has been proven to operate within the temperature range of -40C and 85C, making it an applicable solution for industrial equipments, such as military, vehicular, outdoor and rugged computers. Apacer DDR4 Wide Temperature Spec:







Module Type DDR4 Wide Temperature SODIMM Frequency 2400MHz /2133MHz Capacity 8GB-16GB Voltage 1.2v Pin count 260-Pin Width 64-Bit PCB Height 1.181" Operation Temp. TC=-40C to 85C

About Apacer

Apacer Technology Inc. offers a wide range of industrial SSD, digital consumer products and memory modules. Together with its broad R&D, design, manufacturing, and marketing strengths, it has become a leading global manufacturer in the industry. Since its establishment, Apacer has always followed its promise, "Access the best," to produce reliable, innovative products and services. Apacer supplies customers with high performance, reliable, high value memory modules and flash memory via a marketing network that stretches across worldwide distributors, product manufacturing facilities, and retail consumers. Apacer provides innovative, state-of-the-art digital storage products to store, record, and share the digital information crucial to their work and essential to their daily lives. Photo - http://photos.prnasia.com/prnh/20161012/8521606514

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NCKU Alumni in Malaysia Run for Charity

Secretariat Ackum, the alumni association of NCKU in Malaysia, hosted the ACKU Charity Run 2016, which highlighted the value of ethnicity-friendly, at the University of Malaya (UM) on the morning of July 30.

ACKU Charity Run 2016 is a fundraising event for cancer research in the UM Special Center helping deprived patients with better access to cancer treatment.

Over 2,500 runners came in support the event, raising a total of US$25,000 for breast cancer patients.

For NCKU, the bond between alumni and their alma mater is closer than ever before. With a growing community of 140,000+ grads round the world, NCKU is developing its alumni networks to amplify the impacts and create social engagement.







NCKU President Huey-Jen Jenny Su flied from Taiwan to join the run which is the biggest event for NCKU alumni in Asia.

President Su's visit to Malaysia marked an important milestone in the development of the relations between Taiwan and Malaysia.

In the past ten years, NCKU and the UM have fostered close partnership and this beautiful friendship between the two universities will continue to grow and thrive, according to Su.

She noted, the success of last year's event made holding another charity run for helping more people in need. The fund raised last year was to support orphans and this year we have commitment to the patients who suffered from breast cancer.

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20161012006407/en/
[October 12, 2016] Public Interest Registry Opens Call for Nominations for Global Leaders to Join NGO Community Advisory Council



Seeking qualified nonprofit leaders from Asia, Oceania and Latin America and the Caribbean RESTON, Virginia, Oct. 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, Public Interest Registry  the not-for-profit operator of the .org, .ngo and .ong domains  announced its search for NGO Community Advisory Council nominations. Focusing on issues unique to the non-governmental organizations (NGOs), the NGO Community Advisory Council members will help Public Interest Registry better serve the worldwide users of .ngo and .ong  top-level domains available exclusively to NGOs. The Public Interest Registry NGO Community Advisory Council provides feedback and advice on issues relating to the NGO community ranging from policy considerations to the introduction of new services. Seeking qualified leaders from Asia, Oceania, and Latin America and the Caribbean, Public Interest Registry collaborates with current Council members from diverse backgrounds, representing major regions from around the globe. Individuals may apply or nominate others now through December 9, 2016. New members will be appointed and will begin their three-year term in January 2017. "The NGO Community Advisory Council play a vital role in helping Public Interest Registry fulfill its mission," said Brian Cute, CEO of Public Interest Registry. "With .ngo domain users representing NGOs of varying size, scope and geography, it is important to us that all have advocates in the Internet community who fully understand their needs as diverse service-based organizations. The Council continually lends its unique global expertise to help us meet those needs and strengthen our efforts in supporting NGOs worldwide."



Comprised of seven members from a broad and geographically diverse spectrum of the non-commercial community, one Council member represents each of the following: Asia, Oceania, Africa, Europe, North America, Latin America and The Caribbean and Middle East/North Africa. Members are also drawn from diverse sectors of the non-commercial community, including educational, artistic, cultural, human rights, political, religious and scientific sectors. Eligible candidates should have notable leadership experience in non-commercial community, an acute understanding of the issues and policies that affect the NGO society and an affinity with the values of Public Interest Registry. Candidates should submit their expression of interest detailing their experience, expertise and qualifications online here.

About Public Interest Registry

Public Interest Registry is a nonprofit organization that operates the .org top-level domain  the world's third largest "generic" top-level domain with more than 10.5 million domain names registered worldwide  and the newly launched .ngo and .ong domains and OnGood community website. As an advocate for collaboration, safety and security on the Internet, Public Interest Registry's mission is to empower the global noncommercial community to use the Internet more effectively, and to take a leadership position among Internet stakeholders on policy and other issues relating to the domain naming system. Public Interest Registry was founded by the Internet Society (internetsociety.org) in 2002 and is based in Reston, Virginia, USA. Contact:

Jessica Dunten

+1-646-428-0610

[email protected]







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[October 13, 2016] Wirecard Partners With Conferma to Extend Reach of Virtual Card Offering

ASCHHEIM, Germany, October 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Joint multi-currency virtual card services for the travel industry

Wirecard's virtual card product offering will be available for the first time in Asia Pacific Conferma, a leading technology provider with a vast network integrating multiple travel suppliers has announced its partnership with Wirecard to introduce 'Virtual Supplier Payment Card' by Wirecard for business travel through Conferma's integration network. The partnership will bring an extension of reach to additional customers for Wirecard, which directly responds to the company's strategic initiative to provide Virtual Card services to the travel network in a multi-currency fashion (including HKD, SGD, AUD, JPY, USD, EUR, and GBP) supporting travel management companies with reconciliation and data to support their own clients travel programs. Wirecard's Executive Vice President of Global Financial Services, Grigoriy Kuznetsov, said: "We were looking for a way to integrate with global distribution systems and travel management platforms that are already on the market without approaching each vendor individually. Conferma offers a unique solution for this need and enables us to address a wide range of clients around the world through a single API integration. We are looking forward to leverage our partnership in combination with our global issuing operations to enable virtual card payments for our joint clients across multiple geographies." Within the partnership, Conferma integrated Wirecard's 'Virtual Supplier Payment Card' product into Conferma's virtual card delivery platform, in order to extend its reach across the travel industry through the network of travel management companies, global distribution systems and other online booking channels that are already integrated into Conferma's offring.



Conferma was able to tap into Wirecard's robust and modern APIs to seamlessly integrate its Virtual Card delivery platform with Wirecard's Card Management System in record time. Darren Blair, Director of Sales, Asia Pacific at Conferma said: "Wirecard is an innovative and forward thinking leader in payments. Together, we have worked to deploy a multi-country and multi-currency tool, and we look forward to powering Wirecard's virtual card payments and data reconciliation, expanding the solution globally." Through the cooperation with Conferma Wirecard's virtual card product will now be offered in Asia Pacific, though Wirecard is looking to expand the offering on a global basis. Current plans are to expand the solution into Singapore followed by Hong Kong and Australia. The solution provides the ability for virtual cards to be issued in expandable number of currencies, with the initial set of seven currencies for the Asia Pacific market available at launch.

Wirecard media contact: Wirecard AG

Jana Tilz

Tel.: +49(0)89-4424-1363

Email: [email protected]

About Wirecard: Wirecard AG is a global technology group that supports companies in accepting electronic payments from all sales channels. As a leading independent supplier, the Wirecard Group offers outsourcing and white label solutions for electronic payments. A global platform bundles international payment acceptances and methods with supplementary fraud prevention solutions. With regard to issuing own payment instruments in the form of cards or mobile payment solutions, the Wirecard Group provides companies with an end-to-end infrastructure, including the requisite licences for card and account products. Wirecard AG is listed on the Frankfurt Securities Exchange (TecDAX, ISIN DE0007472060, WDI). For further information about Wirecard, please visit http://www.wirecard.com or follow us on Twitter @wirecard. Conferma media contact: Lucy Koleva

Phone: +44 (0)161-302-1026

Email: [email protected]

About Conferma: Conferma is a leading FinTech company specializing in Virtual Card technology. A global company, managing transactions in 96 currencies in 193 countries, Conferma is headquartered in Manchester, having been founded by CEO Simon Barker in 2005. With 80% of Buying Business Travel's Top 50 TMCs using Conferma, it is an industry standard for corporate travel payment. Conferma's Virtual Card technology is mainly about simplifying over-complicated processes in Travel and Expense (T&E) payments. It is the gateway between commercial card issuers and the travel community. Conferma's many established travel partners include all three Global Distribution Systems (GDS), Sabre, Amadeus and Travelport; leading corporate Travel Management Companies (TMCs) such as CWT, HRG, AMEX GBTA; online booking tools and other booking technology providers. Part of Conferma's ecosystem are all major card schemes, American Express, Diners, MasterCard and Visa, and over 20 commercial card issuers globally including Barclaycard, Bank of America and Citi. For more information, go to http://www.conferma.com



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[October 13, 2016] Icertis Announces Expansion with New Office in Germany to Support Rapid Customer Growth Across Europe

New Office is Part of Global Expansion to Meet High Customer Demand BELLEVUE, Washington, Oct. 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Icertis Inc., the leading provider of enterprise contract management in the cloud, today announced its plans to expand its presence to Stuttgart, Germany. The office will accommodate the company's new priorities to support some of its largest customers in the European Union. Icertis' continued rapid customer growth and global expansion is to aggressively capitalize on the unprecedented market opportunity for contract lifecycle management (CLM), which is expected to become a $6 billion market by 2018. Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160902/403987LOGO "Some of the largest enterprises in the region recently standardized their enterprise contract management on the Icertis platform; we are expanding our presence in Germany to be closer to them," said Dan Kaltenbach, CFO of Icertis. "We believe that growing our presence in such an important commercial market will also help us execute on our large vision of becoming the gold standard of contract management, capable of plugging in to any enterprise scenario anywhere in the world."



Icertis' Germany office, located in Stuttgart, is scheduled to open in October and will house sales, development, professional services, and customer support. The new office will help meet this fast growing region's demands for enterprise-class CLM. This year has been a landmark year for Icertis marked by major customer wins in North America, Europe, and Asia, best-of-breed partnerships with Microsoft, Box, and PROS, and industry recognition by Gartner, Forrester, and Glassdoor. The momentum is driven by the sophistication of the Icertis Contract Management (ICM) platform, with more and more Fortune 500 companies standardizing on ICM.

About Icertis: Icertis is the leading provider of contract lifecycle management in the cloud. Icertis Contract Management (ICM) is an innovative, easy-to-use platform that is highly configurable and continually adapts to your complex business needs. Today, ICM is used to manage 2+ million contracts, by 750,000+ users, in 90+ countries and 40+ languages. With its intelligent workflow and built-in analytics, ICM provides ongoing contractual insights and best-of-breed contract management. ICM enables customers to increase compliance, improve governance, mitigate risk and enhance user productivity, thereby maximizing ROI and accelerating time to value across the global enterprise. For more information, visit www.icertis.com Icertis Media Contact:

Bailey Fox

Barokas Public Relations for Icertis

[email protected]

206-264-822





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[October 13, 2016] Find Exciting Range of Diwali Gifts From IndiaGift Online Store

GURGAON, India, October 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- As the joy and festivity fills up the air and the country braces up to celebrate one of its largest festival in the form of Diwali, Indiagift.in announced the launch of its exclusive Diwali gifts store. The ideal gifting destination for those looking to send gifts to India, the website has launched its online Diwali gift store keeping in mind the needs of people across the globe. From Diwali sweets to gourmet dry fruits to healthy nuts to Diwali chocolates, the inexhaustive Diwali collection by Indiagift.in is a visual treat. With free shipping to a large number of Indian cities, it is now not only easier but also economical to send Diwali gifts anywhere in India. Indiagift.in was in the news recently when it became the largest gift delivery network in the country. The gifting site helps deliver gifts, cakes and flowers to over 1000 cities and towns of India, and is one of the largest gifting portals of India. With such a mass reach across the country, now anyone can celebrate festivals and occasions with their loved ones in India by sending gifts. <>With Diwali just around the corner, traditional sweets, Indian delicacies and culinary mithai are available for the ones with a sweet tooth. From soft Motichoor Laddoos to evergreen Kaju Barfi to hot and juicy Gulab Jamuns, now one can send sweets for Diwali anywhere in India . All one has to do is log on to the Diwali store of Indiagift.in and schedule gift delivery for their loved ones. The website focuses on express delivery to all its covered locations and believes in delivering emotions through gifts.



Mohit Bansal, an alumnus of IIM-A and founder of Indiagift.in said, "We have a huge customer base of people who like to send gifts to the smaller towns of India. We have put together a special Diwali collection for them and ensure that all types of sweets can now be sent to every part of India. Our vision has always been to make gifting accessible and economical to all, thus we are working towards that progressively." Apart from Diwali sweets, other gifts in demand include chocolates, dry fruits and nuts, Lakshmi and Ganesh idols, Diwali pooja kits, Diwali cracker hampers, etc. Also running off the Indiagift shelf are home decor gifts, and lanterns and diyas to decorate homes. In India, festivals are synonymous with gifting - with websites like Indiagift.in, that make gifting personal and heartwarming, one can celebrate any festival with their loved ones who are miles away.

About IndiaGift.in: IndiaGift.in is a new generation gifting website, which helps you find the right gifts for your loved ones. With customised gifting options for all occasions, there is a present for all your needs. Conceptualised and founded by IIM-A alumnus, it is operated on the philosophy of delivering emotions along with gifts. With its head office in Gurgaon and a vendor base across India, their huge network ensures you can deliver gifts anywhere in India on time. To order online, visit http://www.indiagift.in

Media Contact:

Rupal Bansal

Mynaa Tech Services Pvt Ltd

[email protected]

+91-9899997654





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[October 13, 2016] Actility launches enhanced ThingPark 4.0, opens ThingPark Market for business and accelerates Partner Program

LoRa Alliance All Members' Meeting, Seoul: 13th October 2016 This Smart News Release features multimedia. View the full release here: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20161013005515/en/ Actility, the industry leader in low power wide area networking, today announces a major upgrade to its ThingPark LPWA network platform. The enhanced version 4.0 brings network-based geolocation, enabling tracking and geofencing, advanced radio optimization technology to maximize device battery life and network capacity; solutions to streamline onboarding of devices for suppliers and network operators, and an improved suite of tools for monitoring and visualizing message flows in the LPWA network. "ThingPark 4.0 represents a significant step forward for our carrier-grade IoT platform," says Actility Founder and CTO Olivier Hersent. "The new network-based geolocation capability is the headline feature: we are reaching record-breaking power and cost performance, which will enable a wide variety of new use cases for any customer who wants to locate or track assets, animals or people. The increasing maturity of the platform is clearly demonstrated by the releaseof tools designed to make it simpler and easier for our customers to manage and optimise large scale commercial deployments of ThingPark-enabled LPWA networks," Hersent adds.



ThingPark Market opens for business Alongside the latest ThingPark platform capabilities, Actility is launching ThingPark Market, a web based e-commerce platform through which partners in the ThingPark ecosystem can promote and sell their ThingPark Approved products to registered buyers seeking to build LPWA IoT solutions. The marketplace is open to registered sellers worldwide today, and will be available to buyers in Europe in November. Global buyers will be enabled during 2017. ThingPark Market will also enable the procurement of trusted products and applications thanks to the ThingPark Approved program.

"This is a unique opportunity for ThingPark partners to market and sell their products" says Actility Senior Vice President for Marketing & Digital, Christophe Francois. "The goal of ThingPark Market is to accelerate global market adoption of LoRaWAN and LPWA devices and make it straightforward to put together complete IoT solutions backed by the ThingPark Approved label. ThingPark Market provides global exposure for sellers and immediate availability for buyers." Demonstrating the growing maturity and traction of the ThingPark ecosystem, the Partner program offers new benefits to developers and device makers. ThingPark Explorers can trial the ThingPark development platform free of charge. The program is also launching several activities aimed at developers, including a dedicated online community and developer events. On 31st October, ThingPark will co-animate Swisscom's (News - Alert) Low Power Network Boot-Camp in Zurich, Switzerland. ThingPark has also partnered with several start-up incubators in Paris such as l'Usine IO, Le Village By CA (News - Alert), Numa, Ecole 42 to provide Demo Hubs as well as organizing meet-ups. About Actility Please see: www.thingpark.com View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20161013005515/en/

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[October 13, 2016]

Duke University Medical Center Renews Software License with SynGlyphX,

ALEXANDRIA, VA, Oct. 13, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- ALEXANDRIA, VA - SynGlyphX, the leading provider of 3D interactive data visualization and discovery technology, announced today that Duke University Medical Center has renewed and increased the number of its licenses for the SynGlyphX GlyphIT suite of software. The GlyphIT suite simplifies interactions with complex data for nontechnical users. An interactive 3D visual representation of data, GlyphIT allows users to see more of their data at one time on a single screen, so they can more quickly discover insights in their data.

Schultz describes the analytical efficiencies and effectiveness of GlyphIT in a paper: On Your Mark, Get Set Go, Using data visualization software to get there quicker and without missing landmarks - a case study in healthcare research. Schultz has presented the paper at peer conferences and events. Duke Medical Center and SynGlyphX have submitted a new paper for publication.

Duke University Medical Center renewed its GlyphIT licenses to augment traditional research methodologies. In 2015, using the GlyphIT suite of software, the Duke University Medical Center team discovered that tonsillectomy patients of Hispanic ethnicity had a 312% higher likelihood of a post-operative bleed rate. The team was reviewing tonsillectomy data within GlyphIT to discover insights that were previously unseen in the standard methods of analysis.







SynGlyphX adds significant efficiencies to our research, says Kristine A. Schulz, DrPHa of Duke Medical Center. When we analyze our data within its GlyphIT, we can quite literally see patterns, trends, and anomalies in the data that we do not find in traditional analysis.

Working with Duke Medical Center has been incredibly rewarding, said Mark Sloan Co-founder and CEO of SynGlyphX. The discoveries that they have made using its GlyphIT have far reaching impacts for patients, medical practitioners and researchers. Their renewal is further proof of the power of SynGlyphX to help people to discover insights that change their world.

SynGlyphX understands how the mind assimilates and processes complex data. Its unique approach to interactive visualization technology is enhanced by Perceptual Engineering -- the optimal design of a visual environment to enable the user to more efficiently interact with and synthesize complex data sets. This approach is supported by decades of academic and government-funded research on how the mind best understands and processes complex data.

Government CIO Outlook has ranked SynGlyphX among the Top 10 Big Data Solution Providers 2016.

About SynGlyphX

Headquartered in VA, U.S., SynGlyphX is transforming the way the world interacts with data for discovery and insight. With superior technology, perceptual engineering and knowledgeable staff, it offers its customers the ability to assimilate massive amounts of data in a single computer screen, allowing user to identify patterns, trends, and anomalies and ultimately transform data to knowledge faster. For more info: http://www.SynGlyphX.com/







Contact: Pam Kadlubek (571) 733-9471 [email protected]
[October 13, 2016] Inspyr Therapeutics Appoints Richard Buller, M.D., Ph.D. to Board of Directors

WESTLAKE VILLAGE, Calif., Oct. 13, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Inspyr Therapeutics, Inc. (OTCQB:NSPX), a biotech company developing a novel prodrug therapeutic for the treatment of cancer, announced today the appointment of Richard Buller, M.D., Ph.D. to its Board of Directors. We are excited to have Rich join the Board as his extensive experience in the development of novel oncology therapeutics will very valuable as we plan for additional clinical studies for our lead oncology therapeutic Mipsagargin, said Chris Lowe, Inspyrs President and Chief Executive Officer. With a career built at leading oncology companies such as Pfizer, Exelixis, and GSK and earlier in clinical research, Richs background makes him uniquely qualified to share expertise in how to successfully develop novel therapeutics for patients with cancer. Richard Buller, M.D., Ph.D. has over 25 years of experience leading the development of novel oncology products, resulting in 15 regulatory submissions for 8 oncology drug products as well as 2 premarketing approvals for companion diagnostics. In his most recent positions, Dr. Buller served initially as Vice President of Translational Oncology, adding a brief role as Interim Head of Late-Stage Clinical Development, and then became Pfizers Head of Oncology Clinical Development. Previously, he was Vice President, ranslational Medicine for Exelixis and was a member of the Joint Development Committees with partners Bristol Myers Squibb and Sanofi Aventis. Earlier, he was Director, Oncology Medicine Development Center at GSK. Dr. Buller also has 13 years of direct experience in clinical and laboratory oncology research, holding positions of increasing responsibility including 10 years as Division Director of Gynecologic Oncology at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics. He has been recognized as one of Americas Top Physicians on multiple occasions. Dr. Buller was awarded a Doctor of Medicine from Baylor College of Medicine, with honors. He earned a Bachelor of Science from the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA), graduating summa cum laude with honors in chemistry, where he was selected to receive the 2016 UCLA Chemistry and Biochemistry Alumni Award.



About Inspyr Therapeutics

Inspyr Therapeutics, Inc. is developing a novel technology platform that combines a powerful therapeutic (thapsigargin) with a patented prodrug delivery system that targets the release of drugs within solid tumors. Mipsagargin, its lead drug candidate, has been studied in a Phase 2 clinical trial in patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (liver cancer) and has been granted Orphan Drug designation by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in this indication. Mipsagargin is currently being evaluated in Phase 2 clinical studies in patients with glioblastoma (brain cancer), prostate cancer, and clear cell renal cancer. For additional information on Inspyr Therapeutics, visit www.inspyrtx.com. Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Information

This communication may contain forward-looking statements. Investors are cautioned that statements in this document regarding potential applications of Inspyr's technologies or the future prospects of the company constitute forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties, including, without limitation, risks inherent in the development and commercialization of potential products, uncertainty of clinical trial results or regulatory approvals or clearances, need for future capital, dependence upon collaborators and maintenance of our intellectual property rights and the acceptance of Inspyrs proposed therapies by the health community. Actual results may differ materially from the results anticipated in these forward-looking statements. Additional information on potential factors that could affect our results and other risks and uncertainties will be detailed from time to time in Inspyr's periodic reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Contact: Tim Tennant Inspyr Therapeutics, Inc. 310-384-9991 [email protected]

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[October 13, 2016] Insitu Donates ScanEagle N202SE, the First Type Certified Unmanned Aircraft to Operate in U.S. Commercial Airspace, to the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum

BINGEN, Wash., Oct. 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- ScanEagle N202SE was the first unmanned aircraft to perform an FAA-approved commercial beyond visual line of sight flight in the United States' National Airspace System. Now through a donation of the historic aircraft to the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum, visitors have the opportunity to view this ScanEagle and learn more about the part it has played in aviation history. ScanEagle N202SE's most notable accomplishments are in commercial airspace,

beginning with its historic first commercial flight on September 12, 2013. ScanEagle launched from the converted fishing vessel Westward Wind and completed a 36-minute flight over the Chukchi Sea off the northern Alaskan coast to gather data pertaining to ice floe forecasting. The flight was in collaboration with ConocoPhillips, Olgoonik Fairweather LLC, and Aldrich Offshore Services LLC. Most recently, ScanEagle N202SE conducted the first beyond visual line of sight commercial operation with a certified UAS in the contiguous 48 states. The event was part of a week-long supplemental track inspection operation for Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF) Railway, and took place between Belin and Clovis, New Mexico. The operations were in support of the FAA's "Pathfinder" initiative, a partnership with industry to explore the next steps in unmanned aircraft operations. "At a time when the unmanned aviation industry is advancing faster than ever, we take great pride in the pioneering work Insitu has done to help shape this path," said Ryan M. Hartman, Insitu president and CEO. "We are honored to be represented in the place that embodies the spirit of aviation that we strive for each day." ScanEagle N202SE will reside in the Boeing Aviation Hangar at the museum's Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center. About Insitu: Insitu is an industry-leading provider of information for superior decision making. With offices in the U.S., U.K., and Australia, the company creates and supports unmanned systems and software technology that deliver end-to-end solutions for collecting, processing and delivering superior information. We proudly serve the diverse needs of our global customers in the defense, government and commercial industries. Insitu is a wholly owned subsidiary of The Boeing Company. For more information, visit insitu.com. Follow us on Vimeo, Instagram, LinkedIn and Twitter.







Contact: Jenny Beloy

Insitu Media Relations

+1 509.637.6196

[email protected]

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161013/428281 To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/insitu-donates-scaneagle-n202se-the-first-type-certified-unmanned-aircraft-to-operate-in-us-commercial-airspace-to-the-smithsonians-national-air-and-space-museum-300344143.html SOURCE Insitu

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[October 13, 2016] P&H Partners with Farmers Edge to Boost Grower Profitability Through Precision Agriculture and Big Data

Parrish and Heimbecker Limited (P&H) announced today it has partnered with Farmers Edge, a global leader in precision agriculture and independent data management solutions, to offer world-class agronomic support and precision agriculture solutions for Canadian farm producers. P&H has been moving grain to market for Canadian producers for more than a century and now, in joining with Farmers Edge, they are at the leading edge of advancements in agribusiness practices. Through this partnership, P&H customers will not only be provided with hybrid seed, fertilizer and other crop inputs, but will also have access to the Farmers Edge Precision Solutions platform to help them harness the power of big data and increase yields on the farm. This Smart News Release features multimedia. View the full release here: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20161013005169/en/ "What we're hearing from growers is that they have plenty of relevant, field-centric information, but they need help putting the data pieces together to support informed decision-making on the farm," said Justin Watson, National Director of Crop Nutrients for P&H. "In partnering with Farmers Edge, we are giving our customers access to multiple tools and software with strong support in the field, to help them collect the right data for their operation so they can grow more profitable crops. At the end ofthe day, we're collaborating with Farmers Edge because they're scalable, which makes the technology affordable. They're also a global player and specialists in collecting the right kinds of data, so we're excited to work with them to help accelerate Canada's transition into a data-driven, agricultural future."



The Farmers Edge Precision Solutions platform provides a comprehensive turnkey system that includes: Variable Rate Technology (VRT), soil sampling and analysis, field-centric weather, in-field telematics and data transfer, high-resolution satellite imagery, field-centric data analytics, access to FarmCommand-an integrated farm management platform-and a network of highly experienced, trusted advisors. "P&H has long been at the forefront of agribusiness innovation, so we're proud to call them a partner as we introduce our Precision Solutions to more growers throughout Canada and around the globe," said Wade Barnes, President and CEO of Farmers Edge. "This partnership provides P&H customers with an opportunity to increase their farm's profitability while maintaining an environmentally sustainable approach by leveraging advanced precision tools and big data analytics."

About Parrish & Heimbecker, Limited Parrish and Heimbecker is a Canadian, family-owned company with more than 100 years of experience in agriculture. P&H has grown into a diversified, vertically integrated company, committed to agribusiness that is at the forefront of evolving an innovative agricultural practice. For more information about P&H, please visit: http://www.parrishandheimbecker.com About Farmers Edge Farmers Edge is a global leader in precision agriculture and independent data management solutions. Leading the development and application of new technologies on the farm since 2005, Farmers Edge is defining the future of agriculture through innovation. For more information about Farmers Edge, please visit: http://www.farmersedge.ca View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20161013005169/en/

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[October 13, 2016] CheckedUp Highlights Advances in its Patient Engagement Platform at The American Academy of Ophthalmology Annual Meeting

CheckedUp, the digital patient engagement company, today announced that it will unveil new features, enhancements and partnerships for its interactive platform during the American Academy of Ophthalmology 2016 Annual Meeting in Chicago, Illinois, October 15-18. These advances will be the subject of demonstrations and user presentations given at the CheckedUp exhibit booth (#162). "We continue to innovate the CheckedUp platform to make it an even more seamless and essential component of the way doctors educate and interact with their patients," said Richard Awdeh, M.D., CEO and Founder of CheckedUp. "Consistent with our overall vision for CheckedUp, the new features we are introducing, and the capabilities under development, are designed to contribute to increased practice efficiency, while significantly enhancing the patient experience, in ways that each practice can customize." New Features and Content To enhance the depth of in-clinic consultations, CheckedUp is leveraging its touch technology to allow doctors to mark-up and annotate anatomically correct, three-dimensional images of eyes and other diagrams that help explain disease states and available treatment options. These customized images are captured in real time and sent directly to the patient, allowing them to access the full content of their in-clinic conversation at home and at their convenience through the CheckedUp platform. In addition, more advanced controls are being added to help patients better understand their prospective visual outcomes with different technologies and IOL choices. CheckedUp is also introducing a new Dry Eye content module, with several variations including "Cataract Surgery and Dry Eye" and "Dry Eye and Contact Lenses." These modules were created specifically to help practices address the information and symptom management needs of their dry eye patients, while helping them to achieve their best visual outcomes. Oneof the most recent developments from the CheckedUp team is the ability to embed and share the platform on a practice or physician's website. This will allow for a more customized patient experience, trackable website clicks and prequalified patient information.



EMR Integration CheckedUp now offers the ability to automatically prescribe patient access to customized educational programs directly from the practice's EMR/PMS. Additionally, digital documentation of patient education and choices can now be directly imported into the EMR.

Benefits Management Integration CheckedUp will also be showcasing the integration of a claims management tool into the platform. This digital solution helps streamline eligibility determinations and claim filing for out-of-network benefits. It will allow patients to understand what services their plan covers, while they learn about their condition and treatment options. This feature will be available directly to patients on each practice's website and via CheckedUp in-clinic integrations. Augmented Reality Patient Counselor The company announced that it will offer private beta demonstrations of its augmented reality patient counselor program. This technology will be showcased by appointment only. Speaker Schedule - AAO Booth #162 Several leading cataract surgeons will describe their experience with implementing the CheckedUp platform in their practices. Jonathan Solomon, M.D. - Talk: Becoming a premium practice

Saturday, October 15 - 12:00pm Jodi Luchs, M.D. - Fireside Chat: Growing your practice with digital patient engagement

Saturday, October 15 - 2:00pm Cynthia Matossian, M.D. - Coffee Talk: Increasing premium adoption

Saturday, October 15 - 2:30pm Jai Parekh, M.D. - Conversation: Leveraging technology to build a dry eye practice

Sunday, October 16 - 12:00pm Jennifer Loh, M.D. - Workshop: Using technology to improve practice performance

Sunday, October 16 - 1:00pm Parag Majmudar, M.D. - Conversation: Digital engagement & Practice economics

Sunday, October 16 - 2:00pm Audrey Talley-Rostov, M.D. - Fireside Chat: Implementing digital strategies to grow premium adoption in a multi-physician practice

Monday, October 17 - 11:00am Visit www.checkedup.com/aao2016 for an up-to-date schedule. About CheckedUp CheckedUp is the practice-customized interactive patient engagement platform that provides disease and procedural education, describes practice offerings, and records treatment preferences - before, during, and after the office visit - via smartphone, computer, tablet, or in-office kiosk. CheckedUp is the patient journey enhanced - in the clinic and at home. CheckedUp is available to eye care practitioners by subscription. More information is available at www.checkedup.com. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20161013005486/en/

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Dear Network Operators, Where Are Your MANRS?!

The Internet Society today announced the number of participants in the organization's Mutually Agreed Norms for Routing Security (MANRS) initiative has more than quadrupled in its first two years, growing from 9 to 42 network operators. Launched in November 2014 with an initial group of nine operators, the MANRS initiative, part of the Routing Resilience Manifesto, obliges participants to take action to improve the resilience and security of the routing infrastructure to keep the Internet safe for businesses and consumers alike. The network operators participating in this effort run autonomous system networks (ASNs) across 21 countries, reflecting a broad-based concern about risks to the Internet's routing system and an increased willingness to signal technical excellence to the public and to their operator peers.

The most recent additions are SUNET and NORDUnet (News - Alert), two leading research and education networks in Scandinavia. Thirty-three network operators have now committed to MANRS since the initial launch with 9 members. Among the new members joining during the initiative's second year was Internet Initiative Japan (News - Alert) (IIJ), the first participant from Japan. "Coordination and cooperation based on our relationships of mutual trust are the key elements to run the Internet, and we have shared responsibilities to improve the Internet operations," said Junichi Shimagami, Director and CTO of IIJ. In a follow-up action, the Japan Network Information Center (JPNIC) facilitated the translation of the MANRS document into Japanese. The MANRS initiative, which reduces networking risks and promotes best practices, is now well established in Asia, North and South America, Africa and Europe. Countries with the largest number of members include Russia (six), Netherlands (five), USA (five) and Germany (four).

"As networks have come under increased stress from corporations, governments and other actors, not all benign, the visibility of the Internet's routing infrastructure as a critical component has become as high as that of the Domain Name System (DNS) or other core infrastructure," said Olaf Kolkman, Chief Internet Technology Officer (CITO) at the Internet Society. "By promoting routing security and resilience, MANRS gives operators a way to demonstrate their commitment to networking excellence helping to restore trust in the Internet to anxious peers, businesses, customers and individuals."







In joining MANRS, participants certify that they have taken action in at least one of these four areas: filtering, anti-spoofing, coordination and global validation, with coordination not allowed as the only action. Most operators have implemented all four, including Comcast (News - Alert), one of the world's largest broadband operators, which has done so across 33 ASNs. None have acted on fewer than three.

The first action, filtering, helps prevent the propagation of incorrect routing information. This technique provides assurance against "fat-finger" errors that can lead to "hijacking" traffic directed to other networks, resulting in widespread outages. Up-to-date filters also have mitigated known cases of "route leaks," defined in the IETF's RFC 7908 in June 2016 as "the propagation of routing announcement(s) beyond their intended scope." The second action entails preventing traffic with spoofed source IP addresses, a practice that can help dramatically diminish the prevalence and impact of distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks. The third action facilitates timely communication and coordination among peers, which is essential for incident mitigation and better assurance of the technical quality of relationships. The fourth is facilitating the global validation of routing information, which limits the scope of routing incidents and makes the global system more resilient.

Implementing MANRS helps improve Internet security and resilience and helps enable a sustainable business environment. MANRS provides added value for the network operator and its customers: better protection against traffic anomalies caused by misconfigurations; cleaner setups resulting in easier troubleshooting and lower time-to-resolution (TTR); improved peering conditions; and opportunities for valuable collaboration with other operators through a discussion forum and professional network. Although committing to MANRS has its costs, the scope of the actions is specifically defined to minimize costs and the risks of implementing them.

As word about MANRS has spread and the need for guidance has grown, a team of participants has convened to draft a Best Current Operational Practices (BCOP) document, walking interested parties through the steps to become MANRS-compliant. That document is expected to be presented for review by regional BCOP communities at RIPE 73 in late October. Related efforts involve future training modules and self-assessment guides. Monitoring and debugging (e.g. looking-glass) tools are also under consideration. The MANRS initiative is currently testing the use of BGPStream and Spoofer to check for compliance. Once consensus on application of these tests is reached, it will publish them for transparency and potentially integrate them into the sign-up process.

Public discussions of MANRS tend to occur alongside network operator meetings, such as NANOG (News - Alert), RIPE, and APNIC/APRICOT. A representative from MANRS spoke yesterday, October 12, 2016, at the Internet Society's ION Bucharest Conference, co-located with the Romanian Network Operators' Group. A recently released video featuring Internet Society CITO Olaf Kolkman provides an overview of MANRS and collaborative security. Operators interested in joining MANRS can sign up online.

About the Internet Society

The Internet Society is the trusted independent source for Internet information and thought leadership from around the world. It is also the organizational home for the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). With its principled vision and substantial technological foundation, the Internet Society promotes open dialogue on Internet policy, technology, and future development among users, companies, governments, and other organizations. Working with its members and Chapters around the world, the Internet Society enables the continued evolution and growth of the Internet for everyone. For more information, visit: www.internetsociety.org.

[email protected] | [email protected] Society | [email protected] Society

[email protected] | [email protected] Society

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20161013005667/en/
[October 13, 2016] Edward Field Unveils New Cordura Line For Adventurers

SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Edward Field, an American made accessories brand, today announced the release of its new Cordura line of wallets. The new line is a casual twist on the Classic Edward Field wallet and made for adventure. The Cordura wallet is available in in four bold colors -- Neon Yellow, Royal Blue, Black and Splash Paint for $69 at www.edward-field.com. "Our Cordura wallet is designed for explorers and adventure seekers," said Teddy Winthrop, founder and chief executive officer of Edward Field. "Made with premium grosgrain fabric and threaded with tight bound nylon, it's designed to be extra durable and inexpensive for anyone to take it on their next journey, whether near or far." Introducing the Cordura Wallet

The Cordura's uniue style is refreshing and fun. Handcrafted in San Francisco, its design is reflective of Edward Field's iconic Classic wallet and incorporates micro-suction technology, which bonds mobile phones and non-textured phone cases with a simple press-on with your hands. The micro-suction sheet can bond repeatedly and leaves no sticky residue. Made with high quality grosgrain material and tight bound nylon, it's available in four spirited colors including Neon Yellow, Royal Blue, Black and Splash Paint.



About Edward Field

Edward Field is an American accessories brand, created to make life simpler through quality and utility. The Edward Field Wallet is the embodiment of this mission, bringing together timeless style with modern functionality, seamlessly combining your phone and wallet. The collection is crafted of the finest Italian leather that patinas uniquely with wear, innovative micro-suction technology for durability, and bright and bold colors. The Edward Field line includes the Classic wallet, the first wallet by the company, the Libby wallet, a reflection of Teddy Winthrop's mother, that is elegant and functional, and the Cordura wallet, made of grosgrain material. Edward Field is headquartered in San Francisco and proudly makes all of its products in America. Contact: Christa Fogleman, [email protected]

To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/edward-field-unveils-new-cordura-line-for-adventurers-300344161.html SOURCE Edward Field

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[October 13, 2016] IT Revolution Expands DevOps Enterprise Summit 2016 San Francisco Program with Additional Speakers and DevOps Workshops

PORTLAND, Ore., Oct. 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- IT Revolution (http://itrevolution.com), the industry leader for advancing DevOps, today announced it has added more than a dozen new speakers and multiple DevOps workshops to its 2016 DevOps Enterprise Summit (DOES16) San Francisco agenda. The conference is being held on November 79 (http://events.itrevolution.com/us/) and is the premier event for the leaders of large, complex organizations implementing DevOps principles and practices. IT Revolution and founding partner Electric Cloud strongly encourage attendees to register soon, as space is now extremely limited: (http://events.itrevolution.com/us/register/). "In addition to the amazing lineup of speakers, expert talks and new transformation stories, our hope is that the new DevOps workshops will be of tremendous value and create fantastic learning and networking opportunities for all attendees," said Gene Kim, founder of IT Revolution and co-author of "The Phoenix Project" and "The DevOps Handbook." "The relationships formed from each of the DevOps Enterprise Summits never ceases to amaze me, so we'd like to give attendees a variety of opportunities to engage with the speakers and with each other throughout all three days in San Francisco." Newly added speakers who are joining the program include: Jon Check , Vice President of OCIO Digital Solutions at CSRA

, Vice President of OCIO Digital Solutions at CSRA Adrian Cockcroft , Technology Fellow at Battery Ventures

, Technology Fellow at Battery Ventures John Comas , Manager of Platform DevOps at NBCUniversal

, Manager of Platform DevOps at NBCUniversal Cornelia Davis , Sr. Director of Technology at Pivotal

, Sr. Director of Technology at Pivotal Nicole Forsgren , CEO & Chief Scientist at DevOps Research and Assessment, LLC

, CEO & Chief Scientist at DevOps Research and Assessment, LLC Jim Grafmeyer , Systems Architectat Nationwide Insurance

, Systems Architectat Nationwide Insurance David Habershon , CIO at Ministry of Social Development of New Zealand

, CIO at Ministry of Social Development of Jez Humble , CTO at DevOps Research and Assessment, LLC

, CTO at DevOps Research and Assessment, LLC Rich Jackson , Principal Systems Engineer at Walmart

, Principal Systems Engineer at Walmart Phil Lerner , Distinguished Engineer at Optum

, Distinguished Engineer at Optum Chris McFee , Architect at KeyBank

, Architect at KeyBank Marc Ng , Cloud Infrastructure Engineering & Automation at SAP

, Cloud Infrastructure Engineering & Automation at SAP David Owczarek, Sr. Manager, Cloud Technology at Adobe

Manager, Cloud Technology at Adobe Cindy Payne , Director, IT Architecture at Nationwide Insurance

, Director, IT Architecture at Nationwide Insurance Raghunath Raman , Director of Digital APIs and Integration Delivery at Kaiser Permanente

, Director of Digital APIs and Integration Delivery at Kaiser Permanente Paula Thrasher , Director of Digital Services at CSRA



Each attendee will also receive a copy of "The DevOps Handbook," which shows leaders how to create the cultural norms and the technical practices necessary to maximize organizational learning, increase employee satisfaction, and win in the marketplace. It is co-authored by Gene Kim, Jez Humble, Patrick Debois and John Willis. Attendees will have the opportunity to have their books signed by the coauthors at this year's event.

Join the #DOES16 Conversation

Interested in hearing about the latest industry trends from DevOps Enterprise Summit speakers before the conference? DOES16 organizers will be hosting two live video chats on: Tuesday, Oct. 18 at 11:30 a.m. PDT . To watch the event online, please visit: (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ho0UrHTYL0c).

at . To watch the event online, please visit: (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ho0UrHTYL0c). Tuesday, Oct. 25 at 11:30 a.m. PDT . To watch the event online, please visit: (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2CQpYyW-ss) Share This: #DOES16 Expands #SFO line-up with new speakers and #DevOps workshops http://events.itrevolution.com/us/speakers/ @DOESsummit About IT Revolution

IT Revolution (www.itrevolution.com) researches and amplifies the best practices of high-performing technology organizations. Founded by Gene Kim, the company publishes books, hosts events and supports the adoption of DevOps practices in the IT community. Contact:

Jeremy Douglas

Catapult PR-IR

303-581-7760, ext. 16

[email protected] Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160322/346968LOGO To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/it-revolution-expands-devops-enterprise-summit-2016-san-francisco-program-with-additional-speakers-and-devops-workshops-300344182.html SOURCE IT Revolution

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[October 13, 2016] 22nd Century Very Low Nicotine Cigarettes Could Reduce U.S. Smoking Rates by More than 75%

22nd Century Group, Inc. (NYSE MKT:XXII), a plant biotechnology company that is a leader in tobacco harm reduction, announced today that a group of leading scientists from the United States and New Zealand have published a special paper in an international peer-reviewed journal strongly advocating for a "national nicotine reduction policy." The article, published in the September issue of Tobacco Control journal online, outlines the compelling and urgent case for enacting a national nicotine policy in order to dramatically lower smoking rates. The authors cite results from many of the 15 major clinical studies conducted with 22nd Century's Very Low Nicotine (VLN) tobacco. Drs. Eric Donny, Natalie Walker, Dorothy Hatsukami, and Chris Bullen authored the special paper that asserts governments around the world should reduce the nicotine content of cigarettes to "= 0.4 mg per gram of tobacco, a 95-98% reduction in nicotine content relative to what is currently on the market." The Tobacco Control article reinforces the World Health Organization recommendation that member countries "mandate reductions in nicotine to minimally addictive levels." With ownership or exclusive control of more than 200 patents on the genes in the tobacco plant that regulate nicotine production, 22nd Century is the only company in the world capable of growing tobacco with up to 97% less nicotine than conventional tobacco plants. Company scientists believe that at just 0.04 mg per gram of tobacco, nicotine is non-addictive and yet still present in sufficient amounts to stimulate a small number of bio-receptors in the brain, thus greatly reducing cravings in smokers. 22nd Century's proprietary Very Low Nicotine SPECTRUM, MAGIC, and BRAND A cigarettes have the taste and sensory characteristics of conventional cigarettes, but contain approximately 95% less nicotine than conventional cigarettes made by Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE: MO) and Reynolds American, Inc. (NYSE: RAI), including Marlboro, Newport, Camel, and American Spirit.



Building on the results of previously-conducted clinical studies, the Tobacco Control article authors summarize the highly attractive characteristics of VLN tobacco: "in current smokers, very low nicotine content (VLNC) cigarettes decrease nicotine exposure, decrease cigarette dependence, reduce the number of cigarettes smoked per day and increase the likelihood of contemplating, making and succeeding at a quit attempt." Dr. Donny and his collaborators point out the cost of delaying policies to reduce nicotine: "waiting for the results of [additional] trials before seriously discussing a [nicotine reduction policy] that is rooted in decades of research could delay potential action and ultimately lead to a failure in efforts to more rapidly improve public health." As cited in the Tobacco Control article, scientists associated with a previous recommendation by the American Medical Association, predict that a dramatic reduction in nicotine content in the United States will result in a reduction of smoking rates to just 5%.

The Tobacco Control article authors suggest that such a national nicotine policy could be the centerpiece legislation necessary for New Zealand to reach its goal of becoming smoke-free by 2025. Because the island-nation has a clearly defined goal of becoming smoke-free (< 5% prevalence by 2025), and because regulators and tobacco control experts in New Zealand have well-developed tobacco control programs in place, the Tobacco Control paper recognizes that New Zealand presents a "unique opportunity" to implement a nicotine reduction policy for combustible cigarettes. Furthermore, many New Zealand consumers appear ready to embrace a national nicotine reduction policy. In a recent population-based survey of New Zealanders, 81% of random consumers and 63% of current smokers believe "The nicotine content of cigarettes should be reduced to very low levels so that they are less addictive." (New Zealand Medical Journal, Volume 129, Number 1430.) "New Zealand's goal of becoming smoke free by 2025 is both laudable and achievable," observed Dr. Paul Rushton, Vice President of Plant Biotechnology at 22nd Century Group. "We are proud that world-renowned scientists are proposing that Very Low Nicotine Content cigarettes play an important part in New Zealand's smoke-free objective." "Though New Zealand seems to be winning the race, the FDA already has the regulatory authority to mandate maximum nicotine levels for cigarettes sold in our country," explained Henry Sicignano, III, President and CEO of 22nd Century Group. "We think the United States could - and should - be the first country to require all cigarette manufacturers to offer consumers a Very Low Nicotine brand style alongside their existing products." About 22nd Century Group, Inc. 22nd Century is a plant biotechnology company focused on technology which allows it to increase or decrease the level of nicotine in tobacco plants and the level of cannabinoids in cannabis plants through genetic engineering and plant breeding. The Company's primary mission is to reduce the harm caused by smoking. 22nd Century currently owns or exclusively controls more than 200 issued patents and more than 50 pending patent applications around the world. Visit www.xxiicentury.com and www.heraclespharma.com for more information. Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements: This press release contains forward-looking information, including all statements that are not statements of historical fact regarding the intent, belief or current expectations of 22nd Century Group, Inc., its directors or its officers with respect to the contents of this press release, including but not limited to our future revenue expectations. The words "may," "would," "will," "expect," "estimate," "anticipate," "believe," "intend" and similar expressions and variations thereof are intended to identify forward-looking statements. We cannot guarantee future results, levels of activity or performance. You should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date that they were made. These cautionary statements should be considered with any written or oral forward-looking statements that we may issue in the future. Except as required by applicable law, including the securities laws of the United States, we do not intend to update any of the forward-looking statements to conform these statements to reflect actual results, later events or circumstances, or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events. You should carefully review and consider the various disclosures made by us in our annual report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2015, filed on February 18, 2016, including the section entitled "Risk Factors," and our other reports filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission which attempt to advise interested parties of the risks and factors that may affect our business, financial condition, results of operation and cash flows. If one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or if the underlying assumptions prove incorrect, our actual results may vary materially from those expected or projected. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20161013005922/en/

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[October 13, 2016] Zero Zero Robotics Announces the Highly Anticipated Shipping Launch of the Hover Camera Passport

SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Zero Zero Robotics, the forward-thinking robotics company pioneering the future of consumer-friendly flying smart robotics, today announced the shipping launch of its first Hover Camera product - the Hover Camera Passport - available for sale at http://GetHover.com. The flagship model of the Hover Camera announced in April 2016, Hover Camera Passport (MSRP: $599) is tailored to the personal travel experience, bridging the portability of a smartphone and the point of view image capturing capabilities of a drone. As the only truly self-flying camera on the market, Passport is paving the way for a new category of consumer flying robotics that put simplicity and ease of use first - so that its users can always stay in the moment. Whether exploring the hutongs of Beijing with friends, cliff jumping in the Amalfi Coast, or spending a day in the park as a family - Passport flies without the restraints of controllers interrupting the moments you'll want to remember. Simply unfold the flying camera, power it on, and Passport will take off - steadily framing the perfect shot using Zero Zero Robotics' proprietary Embedded AI technology - to capture memories effortlessly in 13MP photos and 4K video. Beyond ease of use, consumers will also find the Hover Camera Passport introduces a new design into the flying camera field - with its propellers and motors encased in an intricate carbon-fiber structure that's not only strong and light, but ensure one's fingers can't slip through the carbon-fiber enclosure through normal use. Just let go of Hoverand it will fly - and grab it out of the air without worry when you're done.



"Since first announcing Hover Camera in April, we've had a chance to listen to our community's feedback to create a flagship model that is not only more technically advanced, but tailored to their travel and photography needs," said Mengqiu Wang, CEO and Cofounder of Zero Zero Robotics. "Hover Camera Passport encourages you to look up from your screens and enjoy your memories unrestricted, exploring the world from your own point of view. We're excited to share our first step towards a new future with the world, and can't wait to see what our users will capture." Hover Camera Product Features:

Auto-Follow: Tracks your face and body to always keep you in the picture, even on the go, by way of two Auto-Follow modes including Face Tracking and Body Tracking

Tracks your face and body to always keep you in the picture, even on the go, by way of two Auto-Follow modes including Face Tracking and Body Tracking Release & Hover: As soon as you let go, Hover Camera Passport hovers steady in place to allow you to quickly and easily capture any moment

As soon as you let go, Hover Camera Passport hovers steady in place to allow you to quickly and easily capture any moment Portable: At just 242 grams, below the FAA 250 grams Hobbyist Drone Registration weight limit, Hover Camera is portable and convenient to carry for any photo worthy moments

At just 242 grams, below the FAA 250 grams Hobbyist Drone Registration weight limit, Hover Camera is portable and convenient to carry for any photo worthy moments 13 MP Photos & 4K Video: Capture and relive your memories in lifelike quality

Capture and relive your memories in lifelike quality 360 Spin: See a new perspective as Hover Camera Passport films a 360 degree panoramic video of you in your environment

See a new perspective as Hover Camera Passport films a 360 degree panoramic video of you in your environment Orbit: A brand new feature that captures a unique point of view by circling you to capture an iconic 360 degrees wraparound video, even while you walk

A brand new feature that captures a unique point of view by circling you to capture an iconic 360 degrees wraparound video, even while you walk Safe: Hover Camera Passport is both fully enclosed in carbon fiber and boasts AI-based safety mechanisms to ensure the user and their surroundings are unscathed despite being flown indoors and out.

Hover Camera Passport is both fully enclosed in carbon fiber and boasts AI-based safety mechanisms to ensure the user and their surroundings are unscathed despite being flown indoors and out. Self-Positioning: Using a combination of sonar, its downward viewing camera and artificial intelligence, Hover Camera Passport hovers in place so that it's able to be positioned or repositioned 'anywhere' in space like an invisible tripod Hover Camera Passport will be available for sale at an early-bird price of $549 for a limited time. To purchase Hover Camera Passport, please visit GetHover.com.

Watch Hover Camera Passport's shipping launch video here.

The media kit for Hover Camera can be accessed here. About Zero Zero Robotics: Co-founded in 2014 by former Twitter software engineer and Stanford PHD, MQ Wang, and Stanford PHD Tony Zhang, Zero Zero Robotics is a forward-thinking robotics company pioneering the future of smart flying consumer robotics that empower people to enhance their lives. Zero Zero Robotics' flagship Hover Camera product, Hover Camera Passport, is an artificially intelligent, flying camera built using proprietary Embedded AI technology to capture your wanderlust moments on-the-go. Zero Zero Robotics is headquartered in Beijing, with offices in San Francisco, Shenzhen, and Hangzhou. For more information about Hover Camera Passport, visit https://GetHover.com. Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161012/427739 To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/zero-zero-robotics-announces-the-highly-anticipated-shipping-launch-of-the-hover-camera-passport-300343443.html SOURCE Zero Zero Robotics Inc.

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[October 13, 2016] Vertebrate Genomes Project Co-Leader Erich Jarvis will use BioNano to Generate Thousands of Reference Genomes

SAN DIEGO, Oct. 13, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- BioNano Genomics, the leader in physical genome mapping, together with Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) Investigator and new Rockefeller University Professor, Erich Jarvis, Ph.D., today announced that his team will use BioNano Genomics Next Generation Mapping (NGM) combined with Pacific Biosciences sequencing technology to construct thousands of vertebrate reference genomes in the Vertebrate Genomes Project.

Dr. Jarviss lab and his collaborator Dr. Olivier Fredrigo, co-director of the Duke University Genome Sequencing Center, performed a systematic evaluation of available DNA sequencing and scaffolding technologies. They concluded that a combination of BioNanos NGM and PacBio sequencing will yield one of the most well-structured and informative genome assemblies, making the technologies a very good combination for establishing reference quality genomes. Dr. Jarvis has purchased an Irys System for next-generation mapping to play an integral role in generating quality reference genomes for the Genome 10K (G10K) and Bird 10,000 Genomes (B10K) projects. The mission of G10K and B10K projects is to generate high-quality references, diploid to multiploid, genomes of vertebrate species. For future sequencing of species, Dr. Jarvis and other members of these projects plan to generate sequence assemblies with the Pacific Biosciences Sequel System and an optical map with BioNanos Irys System. Combining both outputs using BioNanos hybrid scaffolding software yields high-quality reference genomes. Genomics research over the past 20 years has produced an unprecedented amount of information and has increased our understanding of the molecular basis for evolution and disease. The addition of next-generation Irys System mapping to the G10K and B10K projects is expected to produce high-quality reference genomes that will allow discovery of structural variations and complete structure of genes that control complex traits and their disorders. Revealing the accurate and complete structure of the thousands of vertebrate genomes will also help researchers understand vertebrate evolution. As such, the project members hope to secure additional Irys Systems to support an increased rate of sequencing and mapping of vertebrate genomes. Dr. Jarviss work and scientific vision for genomics projects is fundamental to advancing how we understand the diversity of life and how genome variation relates to human health and disease, said Erik Holmlin, Ph.D., CEO of BioNano Genomics. The scope of the Vertebrae Genomes Project has impressed us and we look forward to our Irys System contributing to its uccess in generating complete genome maps of the highest quality for all vertebrate species. The project reflects validation from published research and recognition by the genomics community that optical mapping using BioNanos Irys System makes an influential difference in identifying structural variations in human and animal genomes.



About G10K and B10K Vertebrate Genomes Project Sequencing Labs The ongoing G10K project aims to sequence the genomes of 10,000 vertebrate species, representing at least one species per vertebrate genus, and the ongoing B10K project aims to sequence the genomes of all 10,500 bird species on Earth. Dr. Jarvis is one of the co-leaders of G10K, along with Steve OBrien of the Dobzhansky Center for Genome Bioinformatics, David Haussler and Beth Shapiro of the UCSC Genome Institute, and Oliver Ryder of UC San Diego. He is also one of the co-founders of the B10K project, along with Guojie Zhang affiliated at BGI in China and Denmark, and Thomas Gilbert of the University of Copenhagen in Denmark. Dr. Jarvis will set up an operational hub for these projects, to be located at the Rockefeller University and possibly the New York Genome Center (NYGC), where BioNano and PacBio platforms will reside.

This hub will involve working with the worlds leading experts and institutions in genomics, including the National Center for Biotechnology (NCBI) in the U.S., ENSEMBL and the Sanger Institute in the UK, and BGI in China. They will receive vertebrate DNA samples from participating investigators across the world. Over the next three years, they hope to generate high quality chromosomal-level genome assemblies of at least 1,000 species representing each of the 1,000 vertebrate taxonomic families. With these 1,000 species, the consortia plan to conduct a series of focused studies, including studies on complex behavioral and brain traits, a genome-scale vertebrate family-level tree, and unmatched analytical power for detecting selection on every base in the human genome, all of which will impact studies on health and disease. All genomes produced through the G10K and B10K projects will be publicly available. For more information or if you are an investigator or sponsor interested in becoming involved in or providing funding support for their projects, please visit the G10K (https://genome10k.soe.ucsc.edu) and the B10K (http://b10k.genomics.cn/index.html) websites. About BioNano Genomics BioNano Genomics, Inc., the leader in next-generation mapping, provides customers with genome analysis tools that advance human, plant and animal genomics and accelerate the development of clinical diagnostics. The Companys Irys System uses NanoChannel arrays integrated within the IrysChip to image DNA at the single-molecule level with average single-molecule lengths of about 350,000 base pairs, which leads the genomics industry. The long-range genomic information obtained with the Irys System helps decipher complex DNA involving repeats, which are the primary cause of inaccurate and incomplete genome assembly. On its own, next-generation mapping with the Irys System enables detection of structural variants, many of which have been shown to be associated with human disease as well as complex traits in plants and animals. As a companion to next-generation sequencing, next-generation mapping with the Irys System integrates with sequence assemblies to create contiguous hybrid scaffolds that reveal the highly informative native structure of the chromosome. BioNano Genomics provides long-range genomic information with cost-efficiency and throughput to keep up with advances in next-generation sequencing. The Irys System has been adopted by a growing number of leading institutions around the world, including: National Cancer Institute (NCI), National Institutes of Health (NIH), Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, BGI, Garvan Institute, Salk Institute, Mount Sinai and Washington University. Investors in the Company include Domain Associates, Legend Capital, Novartis Venture Fund and Monashee Investment Management. For more information, please visit www.BioNanoGenomics.com. Notes: BioNano Genomics is a trademark of BioNano Genomics, Inc. Any other names of actual companies, organizations, entities, products or services may be the trademarks of their respective owners. Contact BioNano Genomics: Kirsten Thomas The Ruth Group [email protected] (508) 280-6592

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[October 13, 2016] Modernizing Medicine Presents Comprehensive Ophthalmology-Specific Suite at American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO) 2016

Specialty-specific health information technology company, Modernizing Medicine, Inc., will showcase its new and expanded ophthalmology suite, modmed Ophthalmology, this week at booth 4017 at the world's largest conference for eye physicians and surgeons, the American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO) 2016 Annual Meeting in Chicago. modmed Ophthalmology is a comprehensive suite of products and services developed to improve the clinical, financial and operational aspects of ophthalmology practices. Modernizing Medicine's intuitive, cloud-based EHR system, EMA (News - Alert), was built by practicing ophthalmologists and comes with deep knowledge of ophthalmology. Its adaptive learning engine remembers individual user preferences, and EMA allows physicians to complete documentation in real time. In addition to EMA, Modernizing Medicine will showcase the following in the suite: Practice Management - a modern all-in-one system for scheduling, document management, billing and reporting designed to help improve practice workflow.

Analytics - capabilities to easily track and understand key financial, clinical and operational metrics to uncover insights that can help practices increase efficiency and revenue, plus identify key performance indicators that reveal ways to optimize your practice.

Outcome-based reimbursement support - the company's products and services support physicians' transition to MACRA, MIPS, PQRS and other quality of care reporting and outcome-based reimbursement.

Revenue Cycle Management - services that use technology, people and processes to help boost your revenue cycle and cashflow.



"Modernizing Medicine is a progressive company at the leading edge of medical software design," stated Dr. Sarah Baroody, Ophthalmologist at Eye Care of Danbury, LLC, in Danbury, Connecticut, and user of Modernizing Medicine's ophthalmology-specific solutions since 2013. "With the new and improved ophthalmology suite, I now have access to more than just an EHR system. It is a full toolkit of features and services that improve workflow, streamline reporting and ensure I'm providing the highest quality care possible. With less stress on administrative tasks, I can spend more time doing what I love most: helping patients."

Dr. Goldman and other representatives of Modernizing Medicine will provide demonstrations of modmed Ophthalmology at booth # 4017 during AAO 2016 exhibit hours from Saturday, October 15 to Tuesday, October 18. For more information about the event, click here.

About Modernizing Medicine

Modernizing Medicine and its affiliated companies are transforming how healthcare information is created, consumed and utilized in order to increase efficiency and improve outcomes. Our specialty-specific, data-driven and cloud-based electronic health records (EHR) and practice management (PM) systems, plus revenue cycle management (RCM) services, were built by a team including specialty physicians and practice management professionals. Our suite of products and services is designed to transform the clinical, financial and operational aspects of dermatology, gastroenterology, ophthalmology, orthopedics, otolaryngology, pain management, plastic surgery, rheumatology and urology practices. We also offer products designed specifically for ambulatory surgery centers. For more information, please visit www.modmed.com. Connect with Modernizing Medicine on our Blog, Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. Modernizing Medicine is a member of CommonWell Health Alliance.* *'CommonWell Health Alliance' and the CommonWell logo are licensed trademarks of CommonWell Health Alliance in the U.S. and other jurisdictions. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20161013006062/en/

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[October 13, 2016] Autonomous Vehicles Market to Provide over USD 5 Billion Revenue Post 2016

PUNE, India, Oct. 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Market Research Future Published a Cooked Research Report On Autonomous Vehicles Market. The Global Autonomous Vehicles Market is expected to grow over the CAGR of 26.2% during the period 2016 to 2027 from USD 3.6 billion in 2015. Market Highlights The Global Autonomous Vehicles Market has been evaluated as growing market and expected that the market will touch high growth figures. Since the technology has arrived in the automotive industry, many players are concentrating on developing a car which can be self-driven without any human command. Heavy investment in R&D and strategic collaboration is driving the market of autonomous vehicle with CAGR of 26.2% Taste the market data and market information presented through more than 20 market data tables and figures spread over 86 numbers of pages of the project report. Avail the in-depth table of content TOC & market synopsis on "The Global Autonomous Vehicles Market Research Report - Forecast to 2027. Access Report Details @ https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/global-autonomous-vehicles-market-researh-report-global-forecast-2027



Autonomous Vehicles Market: There are various changes which are taking place in the automotive industry and companies are trying hard in order to gain high market share as well as increase in profit by deployment of advance technologies in the automotive sector. Autonomous vehicle is one of the concept which has emerged decades ago but now coming into picture. These vehicles are equipped with high class technology and sense the environment for safe and secure ride. Driverless cars are capable of taking you from one place to another without any input of yours. They can find the best route, give the ride information, can pick up you at time and can park itself. As the technology is growing and companies are making several attempts to make this reality, it is expected that these cars will hit the road by the end year 2020.

Request a Sample Report @ https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/sample-request/global-autonomous-vehicles-market-research-report-global-forecast-2027 The major participants of this market are Google (U.S.), General Motors (U.S.), Volkswagen (Germany), BMW (Germany), Ford Motor Company (U.S.), Baidu (China), Toyota (Japan), Tesla (U.S.), Audi (Germany), Jaguar (U.K.) among others. Market Research Analysis: Autonomous vehicles or driverless cars could be a revolutionary product for the automotive industry. Need of change is what makes the industry sustain and run and with the advancement of technology, people do expect some revolutionary product. Autonomous vehicles could change the whole automotive industry and can make the life of a person easier. Aging population, increase accident rate around the world and increasing consumption of passenger and commercial vehicles are some key drivers for the market of autonomous vehicles. Market Research Future has estimated that the market size of autonomous vehicle market will reach to US $65.3 billion by the end of forecasted period from US $3.6 billion in 2015 with CAGR of 26.2%. The Early Diners are Offered Free Customization - Up to 20% on this Report. Make an Enquiry for this Report @ https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/enquiry/global-autonomous-vehicles-market-research-report-global-forecast-2027 About Market Research Future: At Market Research Future (MRFR), we enable our customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through our Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Raw Research Reports (3R), Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services. MRFR team have supreme objective to provide the optimum quality market research and intelligence services to our clients. Our market research studies by products, services, technologies, applications, end users, and market players for global, regional, and country level market segments, enable our clients to see more, know more, and do more, which help to answer all their most important questions. In order to stay updated with technology and work process of the industry, MRFR often plans & conducts meet with the industry experts and industrial visits for its research analyst members. Contact:

Ruwin Mendez,

Market Research Future

Office No. 528, Amanora Chambers

Magarpatta Road, Hadapsar,

Pune - 411028

Maharashtra, India

1-646-845-9349

Email: [email protected] Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161006/415948LOGO To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/autonomous-vehicles-market-to-provide-over-usd-5-billion-revenue-post-2016-300344396.html SOURCE Market Research Future

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[October 13, 2016] Titan Spine Initiates Full U.S. Launch of New nanoLOCK Surface Technology

Titan Spine, a medical device surface technology company focused on developing innovative spinal interbody fusion implants, today announced that it has expanded the distribution of its line of Endoskeleton titanium implants featuring the company's new proprietary nanoLOCK surface technology nationwide. The full U.S. launch follows the successful alpha introduction of the nanoLOCK technology initiated recently in a limited number of sites. The Company has achieved sales of nanoLOCK implants in 14 hospitals in 8 states since its introduction and is in the process of signing contracts with several large hospital systems. This Smart News Release features multimedia. View the full release here: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20161013006094/en/ A human stem cell proliferating on the nanoLOCK surface. (Photo: Business Wire) The nanoLOCK surface technology, which is manufactured through a proprietary subtractive process, has received two differentiated government agency designations that highlight its uniqueness within the interbody fusion device market. In late 2014, Titan Spine added an additional U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) clearance for "nano-textured surface" to the product line's initial 510(k). In October 2016, nanoLOCK was granted its own new technology category and code, formally known as an "ICD-10pcs New Technology (News - Alert) Section X Code," by the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). Steve Cichy, Vice President of Sales for Titan Spine, said, "Te full launch of nanoLOCK will add to Titan Spine's continued sales growth, highlighted by our 51% sales increase in 2015 compared to prior year. The interest in nanoLOCK has been incredibly strong and has challenged us to keep up with demand. We have generated a strong start and anticipate rapid surgeon adoption of nanoLOCK as we ramp up the full U.S. launch and showcase the technology at the upcoming North American Spine Society (NASS) Annual Meeting in Boston."



Kevin Gemas, President of Titan Spine, commented, "The full U.S. launch of our nanoLOCK surface technology comes at an optimal time as the interbody market is rapidly shifting toward titanium surface-enhanced implants. It represents a major milestone for Titan Spine and is the culmination of years of preparation through scientific study, manufacturing validation, IP protection, and unique regulatory clearances through collaboration with the FDA and CMS. This effort resulted in nanoLOCK being the only nano-cleared interbody device on the market and is the only interbody device that has access to the recently-created new technology ICD-10 code for a nanotextured surface on an interbody fusion device. Through our extensive research, which has been published in several peer-reviewed journals, the industry is now beginning to understand the importance of our very specific titanium nano-architecture in its ability to promote the generation of osteogenic and angiogenic growth factors necessary for bone growth and fusion compared to other surfaces.1 And finally, we appointed a general counsel to protect our legal interests and ensure that our extensive IP portfolio and proprietary scientific data are fully defended. We have taken all of these vital steps to ensure that our nanoLOCK surface is truly differentiated in a market that is quickly becoming crowded with imitators. We are very pleased with its launch thus far and look forward to it benefiting more surgeons and patients moving forward." Titan Spine offers a full line of Endoskeleton devices that feature Titan Spine's proprietary nanoLOCK surface technology, consisting of a unique combination of roughened topographies at the macro, micro, and nano levels (MMN). This unique combination of surface topographies is designed to create an optimal host-bone response and actively participate in the fusion process by promoting the upregulation of osteogenic and angiogenic factors necessary for bone growth, encouraging natural production of bone morphogenetic proteins (BMPs), downregulating inflammatory factors, and creating the potential for a faster and more robust fusion.1,2 All Endoskeleton devices are covered by the company's risk share warranty.

About Titan Spine Titan Spine, LLC is a surface technology company focused on the design and manufacture of interbody fusion devices for the spine. The company is committed to advancing the science of surface engineering to enhance the treatment of various pathologies of the spine that require fusion. Titan Spine, located in Mequon, Wisconsin and Laichingen, Germany, markets a full line of Endoskeleton interbody devices featuring its proprietary textured surface in the U.S. and portions of Europe through its sales force and a network of independent distributors. To learn more, visit www.titanspine.com. 1 Olivares-Navarrete, R., Hyzy S.L., Gittens, R.A., Berg, M.E., Schneider, J.M., Hotchkiss, K., Schwartz, Z., Boyan, B. D. Osteoblast lineage cells can discriminate microscale topographic features on titanium-aluminum-vanadium surfaces. Ann Biomed Eng. 2014 Dec; 42 (12): 2551-61. 2 Olivares-Navarrete, R., Hyzy, S.L., Slosar, P.J., Schneider, J.M., Schwartz, Z., and Boyan, B.D. (2015). Implant materials generate different peri-implant inflammatory factors: PEEK promotes fibrosis and micro-textured titanium promotes osteogenic factors. Spine, Volume 40, Issue 6, 399-404. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20161013006094/en/

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[October 13, 2016] MMT SwissConnect Makes Its Debut as Leading Swiss Wearable Technology Provider

Manufacture Modules Technologies Sarl. is proud to announce that it has completed the spin-out from the Frederique Constant Group and moved to new offices and workshops in Skylab, one of Geneva's main high-tech hubs. This Smart News Release features multimedia. View the full release here: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20161013006114/en/ MMT365 Smartwatch (Photo: Business Wire) Manufacture Modules Technologies Sarl. is the Swiss company established in Geneva in 2015 for the development and commercialization of Horological Smartwatch modules, firmware, apps and cloud. MMT offers a tightly integrated End-to-End Solution for Horological Smartwatches: Firmware, iOS and Android (News - Alert) Aps, Cloud, Manufacturing and Service Applications. MMT modules have been implemented by brands such as Frederique Constant, Movado, Mondaine, Ferregamo and Alpina. We have a production of +70'000 modules.



MMT is the OEM Software/Hardware Supplier for the Swiss Watch Industry. The company is independent and has an Inclusive Philosophy. We realize that most brands are too small to invest individually in a comprehensive Technology Platform. However, when we work together with a number of brands, we have the critical mass to expand the current platform long-term. Brands can create unique products with modules and individual technology components. MMT has been inventing the new technologies that have helped shape the Horological Smartwatch Platform.

Under its trademark MMT SwissConnect, MMT will continue to innovate and will expand into the development and manufacturing of new modules and mobile applications. The company is heavily investing in new employees for ongoing research and development, helping to create the next generation of smart wearables and applications. Innovation is at the core of everything we do at MMT. We license and own over 150 granted and pending patents covering construction, display, software, images, algorithms, machine learning, and works of authorship of any kind. The innovations our patents cover power key features and functionality that are at the core of the Horological Smartwatch today. Combining the very best of Swiss engineering and our passion for technology, MMT SwissConnect brings consumers the latest solutions to improve daily life. Latest developments are the new SwissConnect Gym app, SwissConnect Analytics to keep track of accuracy of a mechanical watch collection and SwissConnect Password to keep passwords safe. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20161013006114/en/

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[October 13, 2016]

InnovMetric Launches PolyWorks Europa

QUEBEC CITY, Quebec, Oct. 13, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- InnovMetric Software Inc., the leading provider of universal 3D metrology software solutions, proudly announces that it has launched PolyWorks Europa, a new European subsidiary, to promote the PolyWorks Universal 3D Metrology Software Platform in the industrial manufacturing industry in France, Italy, and Spain.



Providing PolyWorks software and services









PolyWorks Europa will work at increasing the PolyWorks market presence in France, Italy, and Spain, three regions with a total population exceeding 175 million people, strong automotive and aerospace industries, and a well-established PolyWorks client base in point-cloud metrology, said Marc Soucy, President of InnovMetric. Having local teams in each market will also enable us to increase the personalized service that InnovMetric is known for.

PolyWorks Europa will market PolyWorks to the regions various manufacturing VIP accounts that want to standardize their 3D metrology operations on a single software platform. It will also supply high-end services to PolyWorks customers, including technical support, training, metrology process consulting, and software customization through macro programming.

In addition, PolyWorks Europa will support the sales efforts of InnovMetric's local 3D metrology hardware partners, and provide technical support and training services to their customers.

For further inquiries:

In France, email [email protected]

In Italy, email [email protected]

In Spain, email [email protected]

About InnovMetric Software

Founded in 1994 and headquartered in Quebec, QC, Canada, with subsidiaries worldwide, InnovMetric Software Inc. is the leading provider of universal 3D metrology software solutions. The worlds largest industrial manufacturing organizations (Toyota, GM, Volkswagen, Honda, BMW, Daimler, Ford, Rolls-Royce, Pratt & Whitney, Boeing, Embraer, Bombardier, Apple, and many more) trust InnovMetrics PolyWorks software solutions and associated technical services to maximize the benefits of 3D measurement technologies for their engineering and manufacturing applications.

With its subsidiaries and joint ventures, InnovMetric has more than 250 employees in 13 countries: Canada, United States, Mexico, Brazil, France, Italy, Spain, Netherlands, Turkey, India, Thailand, China, and Japan.

For more information about InnovMetric Software, please visit: www.innovmetric.com.
[October 13, 2016] WEWS/WCPO to broadcast and live stream debate for U.S. Senate race in Ohio on Oct. 20

CINCINNATI, Oct. 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- WEWS in Cleveland and WCPO in Cincinnati, both ABC network affiliates owned by The E.W. Scripps Company (NYSE: SSP), are partnering with ideastream and The City Club of Cleveland to broadcast and live stream across the state the debate between Ohio's top two contenders for U.S. Senate. "Ohio Counts: Race for the U.S. Senate," will take place in Cleveland on Oct. 20. The televised debate is between incumbent U.S. Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, and Democrat challenger and former Ohio Governor Ted Strickland. It is the last of three debates in October and the only one carried live across multiple platforms throughout Ohio, between the major party candidates vying to represent Ohio in the U.S. Senate. "Ohio is a hotbed political state," said Steve Weinstein, vice president and general manager for WEWS. "The spotlight was on Cleveland earlier this summer for the Republican National Convention. WEWS provided coverage not only for local audiences but across the nation. Now our station again has the opportunity to be at the center of the conversation over who Ohio voters will elect to represent us in the U.S. Senate for the next term." "Leveraging partnerships and convening the community is what ideastream does best," said Jerry Wareham, president and chief executive officer for ideastream. "We are pleased to host this live event at the Idea Center in the Westfield Insurance Studio Theatre." "With leading local TV brands in both Cincinnati and Cleveland, Scripps has an essential footprint for political discourse in the key state of Ohio," said Jeff Brogan, vice president and general manager of WCPO. "For this senate race, our combined audience reach delivers hundreds of thousands of potential voters who can decide from the comfort of their living room or while on the go watching the live stream, who might get their vote in November." Danita Harris, WEWS anchor, nd Karen Kasler of the Ohio Public Radio and Television Statehouse News Bureau will serve as debate moderators. The format of the debate will include opportunities for some audience members to ask questions.



The debate will air/live stream, without commercials, from 7-8 p.m. ET on these television stations along with select public radio stations across Ohio:

WCPO (Cincinnati)  Live stream

WEWS (Cleveland)  Live stream

WYTV (Youngstown)

WILO (Lima)

WSYX (Columbus)  6.2 digital channel

WTVG (Toledo)  Live stream only

PBS stations (select locations  check listings) The candidates are squaring off in two additional debates not included in this televised coverage: Oct. 14 in Youngstown and Oct. 17 in Columbus.

About Scripps

The E.W. Scripps Company (NYSE: SSP) serves audiences and businesses through a growing portfolio of television, radio and digital media brands. Scripps is one of the nation's largest independent TV station owners, with 33 television stations in 24 markets and a reach of nearly one in five U.S. households. It also owns 34 radio stations in eight markets. Scripps also runs an expanding collection of local and national digital journalism and information businesses, including multi-platform satire and humor brand Cracked, podcast industry leader Midroll Media and over-the-top video news service Newsy. Scripps also produces television shows including "THE LIST" and "The Now," runs an award-winning investigative reporting newsroom in Washington, D.C., and serves as the long-time steward of the nation's largest, most successful and longest-running educational program, the Scripps National Spelling Bee. Founded in 1878, Scripps has held for decades to the motto, "Give light and the people will find their own way." About ideastream

The mission of ideastream is to strengthen our communities. ideastream pursues this mission as a multiple media public service organization by providing distinctive, thought-provoking programs and services that enlighten, inspire, educate and entertain. About The City Club of Cleveland

The City Club of Cleveland is dedicated to creating conversations of consequence that help democracy thrive. A product of the Progressive Era, the City Club was founded in 1912 and is renowned for its tradition thoughtful debate and discussion. For more than a hundred years, audience members have posed unscripted questions to every speaker, from sitting presidents to community activists, striving to fulfill the vision of strong and informed communities and individuals that prize freedom of speech and civil, civic dialogue. To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/wewswcpo-to-broadcast-and-live-stream-debate-for-us-senate-race-in-ohio-on-oct-20-300344452.html SOURCE The E.W. Scripps Company

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[October 13, 2016] Catapult Introduces a New Approach to Data Analytics for the Public Sector

AUSTIN, Texas, Oct. 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Catapult, a leading IT consulting firm, announced the work they are doing to drive change in how the public sector consumes, manages and delivers data analysis. Catapult presented this week at the DIR Technology Forum. Larry Clark, Catapult Data Analytics Practice Lead, co-hosted a presentation with Ed Kelly, the Texas Department of Information Resources (DIR)'s Statewide Data Coordinator. The presentation covered the process and results of a pilot for the Business Analytics and Reporting (BAR) platform, during which the DIR and four other State Agencies explored how to more efficiently and effectively draw value from their data by leveraging Catapult's Agile Analytics methodology and the Microsoft Azure cloud hosted data platform. The Agile Analytics methodology aims to make data-driven insight more accessible to agency employees and citizens, while decresing administrative burden and accelerating the speed at which agencies can drive data-backed initiatives. This is accomplished while ensuring they adhere to strict security and compliance regulations.



"The work that Catapult is doing in data analytics is just one aspect of our long-standing commitment to government agencies at the local, state and federal level," said Michael Kennedy, Director of Public Sector Cloud Strategy at Catapult. "We're excited to share the results this pilot project brought to the State of Texas and we look forward to expanding Catapult's Agile Analytics approach to other states." In addition to Catapult's participation in the DIR Technology Forum, last week GovLoop released their Data Analytics Guide with an interview from Catapult's Michael Kennedy. Titled, "How the cloud can support your analytics journey," Mr. Kennedy sheds light on Catapult's cloud-based approach to Data Analysis within the public sector, and how agencies are gaining greater insight more quickly and at a lower cost with Agile Analytics.

ABOUT CATAPULT

Catapult is a consulting firm that uses technology to solve complex business challenges, delivering exceptional value to our clients based on their priorities and timeframes. Recognized as the 2016 Microsoft Partner of the Year (U.S.), Catapult specializes in digital transformation and cloud-based technologies. We work on behalf of our clients to imagine, build, and sustain IT-enabled business solutions that people love to use. Catapult works with customers around the U.S. and has offices in Austin, Dallas, Denver, Houston, Phoenix, San Antonio, Tampa and Washington, D.C. Media Contact: Jessica Cowan, Marketing Communications Manager, Catapult, 512-605-3903, [email protected] Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20151202/292819LOGO To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/catapult-introduces-a-new-approach-to-data-analytics-for-the-public-sector-300344497.html SOURCE Catapult

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[October 13, 2016] IBC reminds consumers to safeguard their online identity

OTTAWA, Oct. 13, 2016 /CNW/ - October is Cyber Security Awareness Month and Insurance Bureau of Canada (IBC) is reminding consumers that safeguarding your identity can help prevent insurance fraud. "If your personal information is stolen, criminals can use it in elaborate schemes, including insurance fraud," says Craig Stewart, Vice-President, Federal Affairs (IBC). "Hackers and criminals can use the internet to access your bank accounts, secure new credit cards, make purchases and pursue other criminal activities. Follow IBC's cyber safety tips to help keep you and your family safe from online crime." IBC's top 10 cyber safety tips:











1. Don't share your personal information online.

Never give personal information over e-mail or phone to someone who has contacted you to ask for it, without authenticating their identity.



2. Guard your financial information.

If you shop, do insurance transactions or banking online, make sure you aren't saving personal financial information, such as credit card numbers, that someone could easily take.



3. Change your login and your passwords regularly.

Make your passwords hard to decipher by using numbers and characters in addition to letters.



4. Before opening a website or email, ensure the URL is trustworthy.

Criminals often use phishing, which uses an official-looking email to direct you to a website that looks legitimate, to steal personal information.



5. Install and regularly update security software.



6. Check financial statements regularly and look for any unusual activity.



7. Be social media savvy.

Set your social media profiles to the private setting and be careful what you post online.



8. Make sure your home Wi-Fi network is protected.

When using public "hot spots," recognize that the data you share is vulnerable and do not conduct financial transactions, such as obtaining automobile or home insurance, on these networks.



9. Only download programs from reputable websites.



10. Take the time to report the crime; call 1-877-IBC-TIPS.

About Insurance Bureau of Canada

Insurance Bureau of Canada (IBC) is the national industry association representing Canada's private home, auto and business insurers. Its member companies make up 90% of the property and casualty (P&C) insurance market in Canada. For more than 50 years, IBC has worked with governments across the country to help make affordable home, auto and business insurance available for all Canadians. IBC supports the vision of consumers and governments trusting, valuing and supporting the private P&C insurance industry. It champions key issues and helps educate consumers on how best to protect their homes, cars, businesses and properties. P&C insurance touches the lives of nearly every Canadian and plays a critical role in keeping businesses safe and the Canadian economy strong. It employs more than 120,000 Canadians, pays $8.2 billion in taxes and has a total premium base of $49 billion. For media releases and more information, visit IBC's Media Centre at http://www.ibc.ca/ . Follow IBC on Twitter @InsuranceBureau or like us on Facebook . If you have a question about home, auto or business insurance, contact IBC's Consumer Information Centre at 1-844-2ask-IBC. If you require more information, IBC spokespeople are available to discuss the details in this media release. SOURCE Insurance Bureau of Canada

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[October 13, 2016] KinderCare Education Introduces Its Newest Brand: KinderCare Education at Work

KinderCare Education continues to set the standard in early childhood education. Today, the company announced its new brand - KinderCare Education at Work, which provides exceptional family benefits for employers. This new brand brings together KinderCare, the best-known name in early childhood education, with the company's suite of family-focused benefits for organizations to offer to their employees, including on-site and near-site early learning centers, back-up care for last-minute or sick-child care and Care Select, which offers employers access to early learning facilities at more locations than any other provider. KinderCare Education is the leader in high-quality early childhood education with more accredited early learning centers than any other provider and corporate accreditation for its Champions before- and after-school programs. This Smart News Release features multimedia. View the full release here: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20161013006389/en/ "This is a positive change for our clients, our employees, and the families and children we serve," said KinderCare Education CEO Tom Wyatt. "Now, more than ever, employees want to work for companies that offer competitive benefits, like on-site or near-site childcare. KinderCare Education at Work gives employers the option to customize a family-friendly childcare benefit that best fits their needs and the needs of their employees." According to a KinderCare Education client survey, an employer' ability to attract and retain employees increasingly depends on their family care benefits. Nearly half of all employees surveyed said they take family care solutions into consideration before accepting a job. In addition, a recent PricewaterhouseCoopers (News - Alert) survey found that 71 percent of employees said the main reason they don't look for other job opportunities is their current family care solution. Family care needs are the leading cause of absences from work, costing employers thousands of dollars annually, according to The New York Times.



KinderCare Education at Work offers unique childcare solutions to organizations looking to provide their employees with best-in-class childcare benefits. Offering flexible childcare benefits helps organizations attract and retain talent, build employee productivity, and strengthen their workplace culture. KinderCare Education currently serves more than 400 clients with its suite of family-focused offerings. "The introduction of this new brand gives us the opportunity to positively impact the lives of even more children," said Wyatt. "KinderCare Education has three great brands to meet busy families wherever they are. We'll continue to meet families in their neighborhoods with our KinderCare Learning Centers, at their schools with our Champions before- and after-school programs, and now KinderCare Education at Work allows us to meet families where they work. Working families have even more options to choose from when they need us most."

About KinderCare Education At KinderCare Education, we believe that education creates brighter futures. We are passionate about creating a world of learning, joy, and adventure for more than 160,000 children every day. Our devoted family of education providers leads the nation in accreditation and includes KinderCare Learning Centers, KinderCare Education at Work, Champions Before- and After-School Programs, Cambridge Schools, Knowledge Beginnings and The Grove School. To learn more, visit us online at http://kc-education.com/. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20161013006389/en/

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Employers Holdings, Inc. Schedules Third Quarter 2016 Earnings Release and Conference Call

Employers Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EIG), a Nevada-based company whose subsidiaries are specialty providers of workers' compensation insurance focused on small businesses, will review the Company's third quarter 2016 financial results during a conference call and webcast on Thursday, October 27, 2016, at 8:30 a.m. PDT. The webcast will be accessible on the Employers Holdings, Inc. web site at www.employers.com through the "Investors" link.

A archived version of the webcast will remain on the Employers Holdings, Inc. web site for up to seven days following the live webcast. To listen to a recording of the call by telephone, dial +1 (404) 537-3406 or +1 (855) 859-2056 and use the conference call access code 96092684.







Employers Holdings, Inc. will release earnings after market close on Wednesday, October 26, 2016 and file its Form 10-Q with the Securities and Exchange Commission after the earnings call. After release, these materials will be available on the Company's web site at www.employers.com through the "Investors" link.

 2016 EMPLOYERS. All rights reserved.

EMPLOYERS and America's small business insurance specialist are registered trademarks of Employers Insurance Company of Nevada. Insurance is offered through Employers Compensation Insurance Company, Employers Insurance Company of Nevada, Employers Preferred Insurance Company, and Employers Assurance Company. Not all insurers do business in all jurisdictions.

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20161013006489/en/
[October 13, 2016] ViON to Demo New Hitachi Video Management Platform with Leading-Edge Surveillance and Analytics Solutions at IACP 2016

ViON Corporation, a market leader in the design, delivery and maintenance of mission critical IT infrastructure solutions, announced today it will be demonstrating leading edge video surveillance technologies at the 2016 International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) Conference and Exposition. Located at booth #3144, ViON will showcase a wide range of public safety solutions, including the new Hitachi (News - Alert) Video Management Platform (VMP) for video surveillance storage and compute, as well as Hitachi Visualization Suite, which supports geospatial video surveillance deployments, data integration from the internet of things (IoT) and other sources, and provides predictive analytics. "This year at IACP, we are pleased to present an array of public safety and data analytics solutions with Hitachi that are designed to support law enforcement agencies of every size in their efforts to predict and prevent crimes, increase situational awareness and enhance their investigative efforts," said Tom Frana, CEO of ViON. "Public safety officials have a tremendous responsibility and our focus is to help agencies collect, store and analyze video and data, so they can focus on what matters most - protecting their towns, cities and communities." The IACP Conference and Exposition is the largest gathering of law enforcement officials in the world. The 2016 event will take place October 15-18 at the San Diego Convention Center. ViON will be on site throughout the event and will feature authentic, custom hand-rolled Cuban cigars in their booth on Sunday, October 16th from 1:00 to 4 p.m. Attendees are invited to visit ViON to see demos and schedule a Proof of Concept for Hitachi Visulization Suite and the new Hitachi VMP.



Hitachi VMP is a Criminal Justice Information System (CJIS) compliant solution designed specifically to support enterprise video security and monitoring deployments, storing large files from hundreds or thousands of cameras simultaneously. Using virtualization and dynamic tiering with flash storage, the system is highly scalable, able to deliver high levels of availability with no single point of failure. Hitachi VMP was built from the ground-up to support high performance video compute and analytics for large enterprise video surveillance environments of 150 to 10,000 2-megapixel cameras. Hitachi Visualization Suite (HVS) is a cloud-based public safety solution that enables the correlation of disparate data types and video systems into a single, user-friendly interface. HVS integrates video and data from diverse sources including video surveillance systems, Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD), 911 Systems, License Plate Recognition (LPR), gunshot audio sensors, traffic data, and weather alerts into a single interface enabling public safety officials to gain full situational awareness and accelerate response times.

"Hitachi's public safety and video security and monitoring solutions unify disparate data sources and leverage the internet of things and advanced analytics to provide powerful insights that will help to keep people, businesses and communities safer and more secure," said Mark Jules, vice president, smart city and public safety solutions, at Hitachi Insight Group. "ViON is a long-time and highly valued partner of Hitachi. Working together, we're helping to deliver end-to-end public safety and video security solutions that are helping our mutual customers to achieve real-time visibility and insight into their security monitoring environments and get greater value from their video surveillance assets." Drawing on more than 35 years of success with large-scale IT implementation and extensive experience with data management, video surveillance and analytics, ViON offers full end-to-end video solution expertise ensuring the systems it provides meet customers' unique needs and expectations. ViON also provides Managed and Professional Services across the entire lifecycle of its solutions. To learn more about ViON's video surveillance expertise and solutions, visit www.vion.com/hv and www.vion.com/vmp. About ViON Corporation (News - Alert) ViON Corporation designs, delivers and maintains mission-critical IT infrastructure solutions on an enterprise scale for the military, governments and commercial businesses, while offering the highest level of security available anywhere around the globe. ViON is well known for its cost-effective compute, network and storage capabilities, delivered on premise or through the cloud anywhere on earth. Supported by cleared resources that are highly trained and armed with the industry's latest certifications and specializations, ViON has a legacy of helping its customers meet business goals and mission objectives, support warfighters and deliver citizen services and drive innovation and business growth. The veteran-owned business is located in Herndon, Virginia with field offices throughout the United States. For more information visit www.vion.com. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20161013006509/en/

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[October 13, 2016] "Bring Your Green Challenge" Winners Announced

Dayton Regional Green, DP&L, and Vectren recognized local businesses and organizations from Montgomery and surrounding Counties for their environmental commitment and announced the winners of the year-long "Bring Your Green Challenge" as more than 100 buildings and offices competed to reduce their environmental impact and save energy and resources while engaging their employees. By deploying energy efficient, and sustainable practices, Bring Your Green participants realized collective savings of $534,000 from energy reduction, prevented the release of 5,100 tons of CO2 into the atmosphere (the equivalent of planting over 131,000 trees), and diverted over 17,000 tons of waste from landfills (the equivalent of filling the Dragons Stadium Field with a pile 370 feet tall of recyclables). "As part of the County's commitment to a greener region, we wanted to encourage as many businesses and organizations to save resources and reduce our Greenhouse gas emissions," said Montgomery County Commission President Judy Dodge. "We are absolutely thrilled with the results of this challenge." "Dayton Power and Light is committed to helping Miami Valley businesses save energy and protect the environment," said Tom Raga, President and CEO. "We will continue offering Bring Your Green participants and the community energy efficiency rebates to assist adoption of energy-saving technologies like LED lighting and high efficiency HVAC equipment. DP&L looks forward to providing our experience and expertise so all customers can enjoy the rewards of being energy efficient." "Vectren would like to commend all of our customers who are participating in the 'Bring Your Green Challenge' and for doing their part promoting energy efficiency and sustainability in our region," said Colleen Ryan, President, Vectren Energy Delivery of Ohio. "We would also like to congratulate Dayton Regional Green action teams that have received Vectren Sustainability Grants as voted on by Bring Your Green participants."







Awards Recipients Buildings Awards: 1st Place: $25,000 - Reed Elsevier (News - Alert), Lexis Nexis 2nd Place: $15,000 - Waibel Energy Systems 3rd Place: $10,000 - Archdiocese of Cincinnati, Pilarczyk Center Tenants Awards: $10,000 - Go Sustainable Energy Innovation Awards: $10,000 - Dayton International Airport $10,000 - Miami Valley Hospital South

To learn more about the program, visit www.bringyourgreen.com or e-mail [email protected]. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20161013006519/en/

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[October 13, 2016] UPDATE -- Vertebrate Genomes Project Co-Leader Erich Jarvis will use BioNano to Generate Thousands of Reference Genomes

SAN DIEGO, Oct. 13, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- BioNano Genomics, the leader in physical genome mapping, together with Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) Investigator and new Rockefeller University Professor, Erich Jarvis, Ph.D., today announced that his team will use BioNano Genomics Next Generation Mapping (NGM) combined with Pacific Biosciences sequencing technology to construct thousands of vertebrate reference genomes in the Vertebrate Genomes Project.

Dr. Jarviss lab and his collaborator Dr. Olivier Fredrigo, co-director of the Duke University Genome Sequencing Center, performed a systematic evaluation of available DNA sequencing and scaffolding technologies. They concluded that a combination of BioNanos NGM and PacBio sequencing will yield well-structured and informative genome assemblies, making the technologies a very good combination for establishing reference quality genomes. Dr. Jarvis has purchased an Irys System for next-generation mapping to play an integral role in generating quality reference genomes for the Genome 10K (G10K) and Bird 10,000 Genomes (B10K) projects. The mission of G10K and B10K projects is to generate high-quality references, diploid to multiploid, genomes of vertebrate species. For future sequencing of species, Dr. Jarvis and other members of these projects plan to generate sequence assemblies with the Pacific Biosciences Sequel System and an optical map with BioNanos Irys System. Genomics research over the past 20 years has produced an unprecedented amount of information and has increased our understanding of the molecular basis for evolution and disease. The addition of next-generation Irys System mapping to the G10K and B10K projects is expected to produce high-quality reference genomes that will allow discovery of structural variations and complete structure of genes that control complex traits and their disorders. Revealing the accurate and complete structure of the thousands of vertebrate genomes will also help researchers understand vertebrate evolution. As such, the project members hope to secure additional Irys Systems to support an increased rate of sequencing and mapping of vertebrate genomes. Dr. Jarviss work and scientific vision for genomics projects is fundamental to advancing how we understand the diversity of life and how genome variation relates to human health and disease, said Erik Holmlin, Ph.D., CEO of BioNano Genomics. The scope of the Vertebrae Genomes Project has impressed us and we look forward to our Irys System contributing to its success in generating complete genome maps of the highest quality for all vertebrate species. The project reflects validation from published research and recognition by the genomics community that opticalmapping using BioNanos Irys System makes an influential difference in identifying structural variations in human and animal genomes.



About G10K and B10K Vertebrate Genomes Project Sequencing Labs The ongoing G10K project aims to sequence the genomes of 10,000 vertebrate species, representing at least one species per vertebrate genus, and the ongoing B10K project aims to sequence the genomes of all 10,500 bird species on Earth. Dr. Jarvis is one of the co-leaders of G10K, along with Steve OBrien of the Dobzhansky Center for Genome Bioinformatics, David Haussler and Beth Shapiro of the UCSC Genome Institute, and Oliver Ryder of UC San Diego. He is also one of the co-founders of the B10K project, along with Guojie Zhang affiliated at BGI in China and Denmark, and Thomas Gilbert of the University of Copenhagen in Denmark. Dr. Jarvis will set up an operational hub for these projects, to be located at the Rockefeller University and possibly the New York Genome Center (NYGC), where BioNano and PacBio platforms will reside.

This hub will involve working with the worlds leading experts and institutions in genomics, including the National Center for Biotechnology (NCBI) in the U.S., ENSEMBL and the Sanger Institute in the UK, and BGI in China. They will receive vertebrate DNA samples from participating investigators across the world. Over the next three years, they hope to generate high quality chromosomal-level genome assemblies of at least 1,000 species representing each of the 1,000 vertebrate taxonomic families. With these 1,000 species, the consortia plan to conduct a series of focused studies, including studies on complex behavioral and brain traits, a genome-scale vertebrate family-level tree, and unmatched analytical power for detecting selection on every base in the human genome, all of which will impact studies on health and disease. All genomes produced through the G10K and B10K projects will be publicly available. For more information or if you are an investigator or sponsor interested in becoming involved in or providing funding support for their projects, please visit the G10K (https://genome10k.soe.ucsc.edu) and the B10K (http://b10k.genomics.cn/index.html) websites. About BioNano Genomics BioNano Genomics, Inc., the leader in next-generation mapping, provides customers with genome analysis tools that advance human, plant and animal genomics and accelerate the development of clinical diagnostics. The Companys Irys System uses NanoChannel arrays integrated within the IrysChip to image DNA at the single-molecule level with average single-molecule lengths of about 350,000 base pairs, which leads the genomics industry. The long-range genomic information obtained with the Irys System helps decipher complex DNA involving repeats, which are the primary cause of inaccurate and incomplete genome assembly. On its own, next-generation mapping with the Irys System enables detection of structural variants, many of which have been shown to be associated with human disease as well as complex traits in plants and animals. As a companion to next-generation sequencing, next-generation mapping with the Irys System integrates with sequence assemblies to create contiguous hybrid scaffolds that reveal the highly informative native structure of the chromosome. BioNano Genomics provides long-range genomic information with cost-efficiency and throughput to keep up with advances in next-generation sequencing. The Irys System has been adopted by a growing number of leading institutions around the world, including: National Cancer Institute (NCI), National Institutes of Health (NIH), Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, BGI, Garvan Institute, Salk Institute, Mount Sinai and Washington University. Investors in the Company include Domain Associates, Legend Capital, Novartis Venture Fund and Monashee Investment Management. For more information, please visit www.BioNanoGenomics.com. Notes: BioNano Genomics is a trademark of BioNano Genomics, Inc. Any other names of actual companies, organizations, entities, products or services may be the trademarks of their respective owners. Contact BioNano Genomics: Kirsten Thomas The Ruth Group [email protected] (508) 280-6592

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[October 13, 2016] Assurant Teams Respond to Hurricane Damage in Southeastern US

Assurant's claims teams are responding to extensive homeowners and flood insurance claims from Florida to Virginia in the wake of Hurricane Matthew. The Assurant First Response Team is giving priority handling to claims and inquiries from areas impacted by Hurricane Matthew, with an emphasis on property and flood insurance policies. Toll-free numbers are operational for customers to report hurricane-related claims and make inquiries. Customers should contact the appropriate company for their policy:







American Security Insurance Company 800.326.2845 Standard Guaranty Insurance Company 800.326.2845 American Bankers Insurance Company of Florida Property Claims | 800.358.0600 Flood Claims | 800.423.4403 Voyager Indemnity Insurance Company 800.358.0600

"Our teams are working diligently to assist customers whose property has been damaged by the hurricane," said Assurant President and CEO Alan Colberg. "At the same time, we know there are needs beyond those covered by insurance, so we're looking at other ways we can help to provide resources and relief." The Assurant Foundation, the charitable arm of Assurant, Inc. (NYSE: AIZ), today announced a $50,000 contribution to the American Red Cross for its Hurricane Matthew relief efforts. The Assurant Foundation also will match 2-for-1 all Assurant employee contributions made to the American Red Cross in October. "We salute the work of the American Red Cross to help those recovering from the hurricane, and we're committed to playing a part in supporting their efforts," Colberg said. The Assurant Foundation made a similar contribution to the Red Cross' relief efforts in August, following devastating flooding in Louisiana. # # # About Assurant Assurant, Inc. (NYSE:AIZ) is a global provider of risk management solutions, protecting where consumers live and the goods they buy. A Fortune 500 company, Assurant focuses on the housing and lifestyle markets, and is among the market leaders in mobile device protection; extended service contracts; vehicle protection; pre-funded funeral insurance; renters insurance; lender-placed homeowners insurance; and mortgage valuation and field services. With approximately $30 billion in assets and $6 billion in annualized revenue as of June 30, 2016, Assurant is located in 16 countries, while its Assurant Foundation works to support and improve communities. Learn more at assurant.com or on Twitter (News - Alert) @AssurantNews. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20161013006597/en/

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[October 13, 2016] Sikorsky, A Lockheed Martin Company, Delivers 1000th H-60M BLACK HAWK Helicopter to U.S. Army

STRATFORD, Conn., Oct. 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Sikorsky, A Lockheed Martin Company (NYSE: LMT), delivered the 1,000th H-60M BLACK HAWK helicopter to the U.S. Army today in a ceremony held in Stratford, Connecticut. The event was attended by distinguished guests from the U.S. Army, government officials, the Defense Contracting Management Agency, industry suppliers, and Lockheed Martin employees. Speakers included Brigadier General Robert L. Marion, Program Executive Officer, U.S. Army Program Executive Office for Aviation; Colonel William "Billy" Jackson, Project Manager, Utility Helicopters, U.S. Army Program Executive Office; Connecticut Governor Dannel Malloy; U.S. Senators for Connecticut, Richard Blumenthal and Chris Murphy; U.S. Representative for Connecticut's 3rd Congressional District, Rosa DeLauro; and Sikorsky President Dan Schultz. During the ceremony, Brigadier General Robert L. Marion said, "The UH-60 is often referred to as the workhorse of Army Aviation and as such your efforts here, past, present, and future are critical to the continued defense of our nation. The rollout of the 1000th UH-60M BLACK HAWK marks an important outcome of our Aviation Modernization Plan, and these aircraft will transform our aviation fleet to a more flexible, capable, and ready team." Sikorsky delivered the first UH-60M BLACK HAWK helicopter in 2007 and the first HH-60M MEDEVAC helicopter in 2008. Today's ceremony marked the delivery of the 792sup>nd UH-60M and the 208th HH-60M helicopters. The 'Mike' model helicopters represent the Army's third standard baseline H-60 BLACK HAWK aircraft version in the 38-year production history of the program. The newest models feature more powerful engines than older variants, a new airframe, avionics and propulsion system, improved rotor blades, a digital cockpit, and an autopilot among other modern enhancements.



In his remarks, Colonel William "Billy" Jackson said, "Providing the Wings of the Eagle is a solemn responsibility. I am proud to report that this program has delivered many important attributes to our warfighters including more power, more durability and vastly increased situational awareness. We have fielded a fully integrated systema machine that allows our warfighters to focus on the battlefield. These attributes improve not only our performance, but also our combat readiness." Currently, there are 2,135 H-60 BLACK HAWK helicopters in service, making the Army's BLACK HAWK helicopter fleet the largest flying fleet of all the services. The Army fleet of BLACK HAWK helicopters of all models has flown nearly nine million flight hours, many of them in combat.

The U.S. Air Force, National Guard, Army Reserve and 10 militaries throughout the world fly H-60M model aircraft. U.S. Government agencies including the Department of State, Customs & Border Protection and the Federal Bureau of Investigation also are operators. "I know that I speak for all of our employees, many of us military service veterans, when I describe the tremendous pride we feel today," said Dan Schultz, president of Sikorsky, A Lockheed Martin Company. "We are honored to provide our country's men and women in uniform with a proven multi-role aircraft they can count on to perform their missions every day." The UH-60M BLACK HAWK helicopter has been purchased by several international militaries, through the U.S. Government Foreign Military Sales (FMS) program. The U.S. Army has active H-60M BLACK HAWK programs with Bahrain, Jordan, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, Slovakia, Sweden, Taiwan, Thailand, Tunisia and United Arab Emirates. Sikorsky delivered the UH-60A BLACK HAWK helicopters from 1978 until 1989, and delivered the UH-60L from 1989 until 2008. The Army plans to keep the BLACK HAWK fleet flying through 2070. For additional information, visit our website: www.lockheedmartin.com . About Lockheed Martin Headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, Lockheed Martin is a global security and aerospace company that employs approximately 98,000 people worldwide and is principally engaged in the research, design, development, manufacture, integration and sustainment of advanced technology systems, products and services. Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20141118/159313LOGO To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/sikorsky-a-lockheed-martin-company-delivers-1000th-h-60m-black-hawk-helicopter-to-us-army-300344745.html SOURCE Lockheed Martin

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Delphi man arrested in killings of Libby German, Abby Williams

Richard Allen of Delphi, Indiana, was charged with two counts of murder in the deaths of two teen girls who had been hiking.
Saddling up to help children What gave rise to the Ventura County Sheriffs Posses latest initiative to help kids with disabilities? Just a man and his horse. Somis resident Russell...

CRPD to dedicate latest neighborhood park near Janss/23 The newest installation in the Conejo Rec and Park District system is now open to the public. On Oct. 21, CRPD crews took down the...

The best birthday gift ever As Kerri Braemer-Castro looked down at the mountains and valleys of Camarillo from the cockpit of a World War II B-25 bomber earlier this month,...

Break out the costumes HISTORIC FUNTop, Layla Sayegh, 8, of West Hills tries her hand at roping on Oct. 22 during Leonis Adobe Museums annual Pumpkin Party. Above, Lisa...
Coming a few months after the release of their sophomore album Dance With Me For A While, Melbourne alt-country duo Miles And Simone have just released the video for their newest single Never Leave, a gorgeous, restrained slice of Americana centring around the duos immaculate harmonies.

Directed by Tom Salisbury, its a quirky effort that takes us on a trip back to yesteryear through the means of an old-style American country and western variety show, complete with funny interjections from its host  and a flock of hens. Heartfelt and genuine, the video provides a pleasant counterpoint to the gentle and slightly sombre Western tale, and Miles And Simone really do manage to capture the spirit of their old-timey inspirations.

Theyll be making a couple of stops in Melbourne and Sydney very shortly to launch the single, dates below, and their delicate harmonies are sure to shine under the spotlight of the live stage.

Never Leave Single Launch

Friday, October 21st

The Grace Darling, Collingwood, VIC

Tickets

Saturday, October 22nd

Leadbelly, Newtown, NSW

Tickets: Free show
Having released their third album Modern Vintage in 2015, Cheap Fakes are back with their new single Deep Space and its accompanying video clip, a kaleidoscopic look into the recent single launch tour across Japan, Aus and NZ.

The snap of snare and burble of bass locks Deep Space into a steady groove from the off, decorated with wisps of smoky vox and a raucous horn section  everything weve come to expect from the self-described six-headed hydra of brass-fuelled funk, soul, and ska (spot on, guys).

The crew have been honing their craft on the live stages of Woodford Folk Festival, Big Pineapple Festival, Island Vibe, Caloundra Music Festival and Golden Days, not to mention supporting the Melbourne Ska Orchestra and Cody ChestnuTT. Showing no signs of stopping, theyve launched into a huge run of shows (dates below), so if you havent yet soaked up their raucous energy in a live setting, nows your chance.

Cheap Fakes Deep Space Tour Dates

Saturday October 15th Summertime RiverFest  West End Brisbane

Tickets

Thursday October 20th Nelsons Art Festival. NZ

Tickets

Friday October 21st The Matterhorn. Wellington NZ

Tickets

Saturday October 22nd Swagger Festival. Victoria

Tickets

Sunday October 23rd Northcote Social Club. Melbourne

Tickets

Sunday October 30th Island Vibe Festival. Stradbroke Island

Tickets

Friday November 4th Australian Music Week. Sydney

Tickets

Saturday November 5th Lakeside Festival. Tuncurry NSW

Tickets

Sunday November 6th Bitter and Twisted Festival. Maitland NSW

Tickets

Friday November 25th Jungle Love Festival. QLD

Tickets

Saturday November 26th NightQuarter. Gold Coast

Tickets
Each week, triple j give us a heads up on the new music theyll be pumping through our stereos, so we thought wed pass the news on to get you geared up.

This week, Julia Jacklin gets a well-deserved feature album nod, edging out another great pick in Two Door Cinema Club who score the album packet. An interesting mix of adds this week, as rapper Illy gets joined by Kid Cudi, who has teamed up with Pharrell for new track Surfin. Kingswood, Pond and Tired Lion are also great additions in a strong week overall.

Heres the full list of all the new music youll be hearing on triple j next week.

Feature album

Julia Jacklin  Dont Let The Kids Win

[Liberation/Mushroom]

Album packet

Two Door Cinema Club  Gameshow

[Warner]

Full Rotation

George Maple  Lover

[Future Classic]

Illy  Catch 22 (Ft. Anne-Marie)

[ONETWO/Warner]

Kid Cudi  Surfin (Ft. Pharrell Williams)

[Universal]

Kingswood  Creepin

[Dew Process]

Mura Masa  Love$ick (Ft. A$AP Rocky)

[Universal]

Pond  Sweep Me Off My Feet

[EMI]

Running Touch  Aubrey

[Universal]

Tired Lion  Agoraphobia

[Dew Process]

Spot Rotation

B-Town Warriors  People Of The Red Sunset [Desert Pea Media]

The Laurels  Hit And Miss [Rice Is Nice]

Moon Holiday  Out Of Bounds [Inertia Access]

Polish Club  Beat Up [Double Double/Universal]

Timberwolf  Something That I Said [Independent]
If youve been looking to forge a career in music production and sound engineering, well point you firmly in the direction of Abbey Road  yes, the Abbey Road  which made its way to Australia in 2015 in the form of the Abbey Road Institute, a new avenue for those hoping to get a leg up in a competitive industry.

Clearly our music scene caught the eye of the legendary British studio (which of course famously produced a host of iconic recordings for The Beatles, and a great many others), as they opened up a brand new educational institute in Melbourne. The course on offer is a 12-month advanced diploma in music production and sound engineering bringing with it the hefty cache of an iconic name, backed by an equally-weighty curriculum and range of facilities.

This weekend, the Melbourne campus is opening the doors of those facilities to anyone pondering their next step towards a career in music production, offering aspiring mixing board maestros a chance to learn everything they care to about the institute.

From 11am to 3:30pm, itll host inspiring and informative talks, performances, and tours, while also answering any questions you may have about the place. Youll have a chance to pick the brains of staff and peers about music production and the audio industry, and get an exclusive insight into what the life of a student attending the production school is like.

Industry-leading producers will be there to discuss techniques and the current state of the music industry over a series of panels, including ARI staff member and 12-time ARIA winner Charles Fisher, who can also boast awards for his Lifetime Contribution to Australian Music, Australian Producer of the Year, and Australian Engineer of the Year  a cluttered mantlepiece that proves youll be in very safe hands. Meanwhile, drummer/producer Beau McCree and music industry lawyer Julian Davis will also be there to provide their experiences in a range of other fields.

The state-of-the-art recording facilities will also be open for technical demonstrations all day by technical manager Brad Toan, so if the words Avid S6, SSL or API 1608 mean anything to you, or the prospects of fiddling with microphones by Shure, Neumann and Royer hold any allure, youll be in for a fun time.

Even just registering and attending the Open Day could give you a push in the right direction in the form of some nifty prizes, as youll be entered into a draw to win a full licence version of the industry-standard music production software Pro Tools 12, worth a fair whack at $785, and pair of Beyerdynamic DD770 headphones to boot. Other prizes will include tickets to the variety of free gigs that take place at the institute throughout the year, or a swag of Abbey Road merch.

Love The Beatles? Get the latest The Beatles news, features, updates and giveaways straight to your inbox Learn more JOIN

If you cant make it to the open day, theres another option, Study For A Day, which will take place on Friday November 5 from 10am to 3pm and offer insight from Abbey Roads Lance Krive and Bradley Toan, who have worked with the likes of Michael Jackson, Stevie Nicks and Madonna  not a bad resume by anyones standards.

Places are limited, and Registrations are open now, with the Open Day taking place on Saturday at October 15 at the Abbey Road Institute campus at 1/135 Sturt St. Southbank, Melbourne.
Weve been faced with some pretty outstanding covers for triple js Like A Version over the last year, in fact, we might even think that 2016 has been the best year for Like A Version yet.

But its not just the last year that there has been some amazing covers, after all, Like A Version has been happening since 2004, so if you do the math, thats an absolute boatload of quality thats been coming out of the Like A Version segment over the years.

Weve decided to take a look back at some of the highlights that have been produced since Like A Versions inception. We wrote about 12 of the best last year, but weve decided to update the list with 10 more that you certainly wouldnt want to miss.

triple js Like A Version 12 CD is out now, featuring covers from The Rubens, Tame Impala, and more  get it via the ABC Shop or iTunes!

Art vs Science  Enter Sandman By Metallica

From the opening notes of the track, you can instantly tell that Art vs Science arent going to cover this song in a conventional manner. In fact, given their history, you really have no idea which direction theyll take with this one. What they delivered though, was one of rocks most famous songs delivered with the groups trademark electronic funk, mixed in with a chilled vibe that no one saw coming and a guitar solo that would probably make Metallicas Kirk Hammet jealous. Truly one of the all-time Like A Version highlights.

Something For Kate  Rock The Casbah By The Clash

Something For Kate and frontman Paul Dempsey are responsible for some of the greatest covers in Australian music, so its only fitting that this was the last cover that original Like A Version host Mel Bampton was around to witness. Taking inspiration from some of their musical heroes, Something For Kate take The Clashs classic track and throw their own uniquely Australian alternative take into the mix.

Mark Ronson Supergroup  I Sat By The Ocean By Queens Of The Stone Age

Mark Ronson is undoubtedly one of the biggest names in music, so to have him in for Like A Version is a pretty big deal. It got even bigger when he brought in some friends to help him out, including Andrew Wyatt from Miike Snow, Kirin J. Callinan, and a certain someone who happens to go by the name of Kevin Parker. Together, this unfathomable entity of a supergroup took on Queens Of The Stone Ages recent classic I Sat By The Ocean. The result was an atypically Kevin Parker-type psychedelic take on one of the biggest rock groups in the world, proving that this is exactly what Like A Version was made for.

Gyroscope  Monument By Jebediah

Back in 1997, Jebediah took the Aussie music scene by storm when they released Leaving Home. Some fans, like fellow WA musos Gyroscope clearly checked out the second track on that single. Monument has since been voted one of the Jebs best songs, regularly featuring at concerts these days, and it clearly resonated with Gyroscope enough for them to belt out this amazing cover.

Hermitude  Joga By Bjork

To promote their third album Threads 8 years back, Hermitude ducked into the triple j studios and undertook a feat that few have managed to pull off; successfully cover a Bjork song. Armed with their vast array of unique instruments and samples, the Blue Mountains duo kicked into a luscious downtempo rendition of Bjorks 1998 track Joga, pulling it off without a hitch, and proving that they were a band who were stowing away some serious talent.

Jonathon Boulet  Colour Television By Eddy Current Suppression Ring

Following on from his stint as the drummer for Sydneys Parades, Jonathon Boulet took off on a successful solo career. Early into that solo career he dropped into the triple j studios to give us a take on the classic Eddy Current Suppression Ring track. Backed by a band armed pots and an empty chlorine bucket amongst other things, Boulets soulful tones are in stark contrast to the Aussie drawl of Brendan Suppression on the original.

Grouplove  Bullshit By Dune Rats

One of the more famous Like A Version covers in recent years comes from honorary locals Grouplove. After turning Dune Rats already amazing Bullshit in a inde-folk number, Grouploves bass player Daniel Gleason did the most Aussie thing ever seen in the Like A Version studios and necked a shoey.

Ball Park Music  Do You Realize?? By The Flaming Lips

The Flaming Lips Do You Realize?? is considered one of the greatest songs in modern rock, and was even the official rock song for the American state of Oklahoma, the home of The Flaming Lips. Covering this would be a pretty daunting task as you could imagine, but one of Australias favourite musical outfits decided to try this one on for size and managed to throw down a cover that was equal parts intimate, delicate, and fun.

Cub Sport  Ultralight Beam By Kanye West

We wrote earlier this year how this was easily the best Like A Version cover of 2016, and its very easy to see why. One of the select few Like A Version covers that does more than just rehash the original, Brisbanes Cub Sport take Kanyes epic track and truly make it their own by adding in some stunning harmonies, lush synths, and even a guitar solo.

Austra  None Of Dem By Robyn

Back in 2012, Canadian group Austra joined the ranks of Like A Version greats when they belted out this cover of the Robyn classic. While they stripped away the funky percussion and Scandinavian badassery that Robyn embodies, they replaced it with a relatively simple piano riff fronted by an immensely impressive vocal performance from the rest of the group. Capturing the essence of Robyns upfront vocals, the group delivers a cover that takes away a lot of the original, but delivers so much more.
Having previously announced the exciting news that Gizzfest would be returning this year, King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard unveiled an absolutely stacked lineup for their touring psychedelic extravaganza last month.

In addition to a headlining performance from King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard themselves, who recently confirmed theyve completed the follow-up to Nonagon Infinity, therell be appearances from Pond, White Fence, The Murlocs, and more.

Last years Gizzfest was one of the most acclaimed local mini-festivals of the year, with each of the bands on the lineup coming together to form a community and deliver unforgettable performances.

The band have now dropped a wild trailer for Gizzfest 2016, featuring footage from their recent trek around Europe. As we wrote, the band were playing to absolutely massive crowds, who proceeded to go absolutely nuts for the Melbourne crew.

Gizzfest 2016 will be going all over the country, hitting up venues in Brisbane, Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide, and Perth. Check below for all the dates and ticketing details.

So pumped for Gizzfest!!! A video posted by kinggizzard (@kinggizzard) on Oct 11, 2016 at 10:14pm PDT

Gizzfest 2016

King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard

Pond

White Fence

The Murlocs

Mild High Club

Stonefield*

Orb*

Jaala*

Boulevards

Dinner

Friday, 25th November 2016

The Marquee RNA Showgrounds, Brisbane

Saturday, 26th November 2016

Coburg Velodrome, Melbourne

Tuesday, 29th November 2016

Big Top & Luna Park, Sydney

Saturday, 3rd December 2016

Thebarton Theatre & Carpark, Adelaide

Sunday, 4th December 2016

Urban Orchard, Perth Cultural Centre, Perth

*Sydney and Melbourne only
JOIN TODAY'S KANSAS CITY CAPTION CONTEST FEATURING FORMER COUNCIL LADIES ENJOYING THE GOOD LIFE!!! WE'RE ASKING OUR BLOG COMMUNITY FOR THE APPROPRIATE TAG!!!

THIS COWTOWN'S FAVORITE POLITICAL CHEERLEADER

CAPTION THESE KANSAS CITY GIRL POWER COUNCIL LADIES GIVEN THEIR PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE COWTOWN POLITICAL WINNING!!!

So far today we've been far too serious so right now we're going to engage in just a bit of Kansas City political fun times for the midday.To wit . . .In the spirit of Halloween, one of oursent in this photo to compliment the shared social media image.That's kinda harsh but very timely for this spooky season.Now, just in caseabout our blog community.. . . Check this rundown of these council ladies and their current power brokering from left to right:- Right now she's probably making sure one of her cousins gets elected or stays in office. This local lady continues an active role in East side politics after her term.- Continues to hype and help the toy train streetcar extension with her pal Doug Stone. Also, she has not updated her potato salad recipe that continues to be the curse of Brookside.- KCP&L PR Hottie And Kansas City TIF Chair i.e. Sexy Cindy remains The Corporate Welfare Queen Of Kansas City.- Some call her "The First Lady of South Kansas City" . . . Alright, that's just me and her husband Council Dude Scott Taylor. Nowadays,Which is whysits at the head of this table and so many others in around the metro.And so, this trip down memory lane for Throwback Thursday brings us right up to date with the current Presidential election.Accordingly . . .You decide . . .
Share your opinion on this topic by sending a letter to the editor to tctvoice@madison.com. Include your full name, hometown and phone number. Your name and town will be published. The phone number is for verification purposes only. Please keep your letter to 250 words or less.
The online advertisement outraged many who remember the horrors caused by a man once called "The Butcher of Kansas City."





Serial killer Bob Berdella of Kansas City once sold wares inside a booth in the Westport Flea Market.









Before Berdella had tortured and killed six men inside his home, he was known in the community as an eccentric man who sold antiques.

FALSE: WESPORT FLEA MARKET WILL NOT REOPEN THE BOB BERDELLA'S BOTH AND SELL MERCH RELATED TO THE KANSAS CITY SERIAL KILLER!!!

Kansas City media reports this online hoax with glee in order to fact check social media denizens who will believe anything . . .Westport Flea market quickly dispelled talk of this hoax and continues their pledge to downplay the connection to the infamous killer out of respect to the families of the victims.
Yael on Chastain's trail

A new denizen to the Kansas City blogosphere . . . Kansas City's former newspaper editorial honcho must now contend with longtime transit activistTake a look:As you might expect Yael Abouhalkah (another non thinking non-technical Kansas City journalist who represents one of the least trusted professions in America) thinks he knows it all about Light Rail Ballot Question #3. Yael entreated readers on his new blog to vote against it. Of course, Yael's piece was also full of personal attacks against Clay Chastain. This just proves my point that Yael's brand of journalism only adds to the public's distrust of the media.Yael thinks the city's $90 million a year bus system, that only a small fraction of taxpayers use and which does nothing to grow and prosper the city, is an award winning transit system that deserves to be left alone.Yael thinks Kansas City does not need a rapid, environmentally-sound citywide light rail system to improve mobility and grow and prosper the city, even though Denver is booming around its 76-mile light rail system.Yael thinks Kansas City should not repurpose the lesser of the two bus sales taxes to help Kansas City secure $1.0 billion from the feds to build light rail and create thousands of new jobs, even though Phoenix did exactly that.Yael thinks the city's streetcar line for tourists is going to help a low-income person get to a job across town.I know Yael. Yael is not a friend of mine. And Yael, you're no engineer.Clay Chastain...Degreed electrical engineer (on the Dean's Honor Role and passed the professional engineering (EIT) exam, and leader of the people's Light Rail Question #3 ballot initiative.###########
NO, DESPITE THE HORRIBLE PHOTO - THIS DUDE ACCUSED OF KIDNAPPING AND RAPE OF A JOCO SHERIFF'S DEPUTY IS NOT MEXICAN!!! HE JUST WORKS AT A TEX-MEX RESTAURANT!!!

The most important part of this tragic local story is thatbecause this tragic assault against law enforcement fits a pattern.Sadly, more deets related to the horrific allegations are being down played. As usual, our blog community believes it's important to offer the public the full story. So, here's a bit more insight without having to rely on local coverage . . .Moreover . . .Worse still is that the crime was allegedly carried out in the car of the suspects wife . . . He also has a kid.Both suspects made their first court appearance yesterday and the victim is helping in the investigation.Developing . . .
The European Central Bank (ECB) looks forward to a solution on Greece's debt that will restore the country's access to the markets, ECB Executive Board member Benoit Coeure said

The European Central Bank (ECB) looks forward to a solution on Greece's debt that will restore the country's access to the markets, ECB Executive Board member Benoit Coeure said on Wednesday, speaking in the European Parliament Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee.

He noted that a discussion was ongoing in the Eurogroup on the short-term, medium-term and long-term measures needed to secure the sustainability of Greek debt. "All stakeholders in the Greek adjustment programme realise that there are serious concerns about the sustainability of the Greek public debt," Coeure pointed out, noting that the ECB had supported a debt sustainability analysis that evidenced this conclusion.

"We are looking forward to a solution that can reassure markets, restore confidence in the dynamics of public debt, allow the full involvement of the IMF in the programme, which would enhance the programme's credibility and restore market access for Greece's ahead of the end of the programme in July 2018, without undermining the reform effort," Coeure said.

At the same time, the Greek government had to show serious commitment to the goals and measures taken in the context of the programme, so that all stakeholders can be confident that reforms will not be reversed and instead be strengthened in the aftermath of the programme, he added.

"A year ago, European leaders agreed on a set of measures that will secure the future of Greece in the eurozone ...If everyone plays their part, I am firmly convinced that at the end of the programme Greece will be in a better position to reap the benefits of Economic and Monetary Union and its economy will be stronger and more resilient," he told MEPs.

"We can make Greece stronger in a stronger Europe," he added, pointing out that Europe needed a strong economy in order to address issues of security and migration and "had a lot to do to make economic and monetary union stronger." The ECB, as central bank for the euro and therefore of Greece, was committed to playing its role, he added.

Fiscal stability

Noting that the conclusion of the first review was a great step forward for ensuring fiscal stability and preparing the way for economic recovery, he said that a lot more remains to be done and cited two "deliverables" that the ECB expects in the context of the second review.

The first was an overhaul of the out-of-court workout framework to provide creditors and debtors with an incentive to become involved in mutually advantageous schemes. The second "deliverable" was the development of a corporate insolvency court to support restructuring of the Greek non-financial sector and to overcome possible obstruction by non-cooperative shareholders. More generally, he noted a need for a strong justice system in order to support Greek banks struggling with high levels of non-performing loans and to restore confidence that was slow in returning, as evidenced by the fact that deposits were still at three quarters of their level in late 2014.

Replying to MEPs questions, Coeure admitted that the ECB had been overly optimistic in some of its forecasts about the Greek economy, which were not borne out, but also pleasantly surprised by other developments, such as a lower-than-expected recession in 2016, indicating a return to growth.

He said that levels of cooperation and dialogue between the creditor institutions and Greek authorities were much improved, which he attributed largely to Greece's Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos.

Regarding the future, he noted that the ECB considered it essential that Greece's Eurozone partners fulfill their commitments for a settlement on public debt, in order for Greece to gradually regain its access to markets. "We also have concerns about the sustainability of Greek public debt," he said, with respect to the IMF position on this issue.

Read more here.

RELATED TOPICS: Greece, Greek tourism news, Tourism in Greece, Greek islands, Hotels in Greece, Travel to Greece, Greek destinations , Greek travel market, Greek tourism statistics, Greek tourism report
Serka Taahhut Insaat, the construction unit of Turkish conglomerate Adali Holding, has been awarded a RO107-million ($276 million) contract to build the infrastructure of the commercial quay at the Port of Duqm in Oman.



The scope of work includes the construction of roads and the development of a port operation zone, reported the Oman Observer.



The Infrastructure Package 2 (IP2) involves the construction of dedicated terminals along the length of the 2.2 km commercial quay that was completed in 2012 as part of the marine infrastructure development of the port. Significantly, a pair of 1,600-m-long container terminals will be created as part of the contract.



Located adjacent to each other, the container terminals will offer a combined throughput capacity of 3.5 million TEUs per annum on completion, said the report.



The project consists of all necessary infrastructure like ground improvement, crane rails, power distribution, drainage and sewer systems, site lighting, pavements, roads, perimeter security systems, refer gantry systems and also the administrative buildings and warehouses on an area of roughly 1 million sq m, it added.



It is due for completion by the middle of 2019.
Denmark-based DFDS, a provider of shipping, port terminal services, transport and logistics, has signed a contract with CSC Jinling Shipyard, China, for two large roll-on-roll-off (RoRo) vessels.



Knud E Hansen has worked closely with DFDS and CSC Jinling Shipyard over the past four months in order to refine and optimise the concept, said a statement from the company.



The result of these efforts is a new generation of RoRo vessels that will be among the largest in the world and will raise the bar for what is considered environmental friendly, it said.



The EEDI (Energy Efficiency Design Index) is a big challenge for RoRo vessels and there has been a strong focus on structural solutions and optimised hydrodynamic capabilities, it added.



During the contractual design, a preliminary model test has been performed in order to validate the vessels speed/power performance, said a statement.



The future task for Knud E Hansen is to further develop the design into a basic design, it stated.  TradeArabia News Service


Careem, a leading app based cab booking service in the region, has announced their plans to create more employment opportunities in Jordan and will aim to recruit 10,000 captains by 2018.



As one of the fastest growing start-ups in the Mena region Careem, which already operates across 32 cities, will aim to strengthen its operations in Jordan, investing in both its personnel and technology resources.



Careem stands for technological innovation, which is why we look to capitalize in markets such as Jordan which is leading regional IT hub, due to the efforts of His Majesty King Abdullah, said Ibrahim Manna, Careem  Emerging Markets.



We hope to work closely with the Jordanian government to support and encourage the local people by creating more job opportunities in different sectors, reinforcing us as a home-grown business. Employment will be created through hiring more Captains, reaching a target of 10,000 by 2018.



Careem will also aim to set up a full-fledged call center in Jordan by 2018, which will cater to all regions and hire 2000 employees. The company, which currently has call centres in different key locations such as Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the UAE, will thus be able to not only create numerous job opportunities for Jordanians but help them maximize their full calibre, adding value to the community.



Last month, based on a request from the Public Transport Committee, Careem also opened discussions with regard to becoming an officially licensed and regulated operator within Jordan, stating the immense benefits the partnership would have on local communities in terms of jobs as well as improving the transportation system. Additionally, the company will also look to include 11,900 taxis in Jordan, just like it recently did in the UAE and Cairo.



We aim to stay true to our mission of making the peoples live simpler by providing Jordanians with a variety of simple transportation solutions, whereby anyone can book a mode of transport they prefer - be it economy, business or a regular taxi service. We will therefore continue to be a smart platform, mutually benefiting Jordanians and our Captains and in turn, the community, said Manna.  TradeArabia News Service
Saudi Aramco's Offshore Projects Department recently awarded a fifth long-term agreement (LTA) to National Petroleum Construction Company (NPCC) of Abu Dhabi, UAE for the execution of its world-class offshore development programme.



In June 2015, four LTA contracts were awarded to international Engineering, Procurement, Fabrication and Offshore installation (EPIC) contractors.



The LTA was signed by Saudi Aramco Project Management executive director Tofiq Gabsani and Aqeel Madhi, CEO of NPCC.



Under the LTAs, contractors will be entrusted with the responsibility to deliver a huge number of offshore oil and gas producing platforms, tie-in platforms, pipelines, power cables, and all the related facilities required under the current Master Plan for Saudi Aramco's offshore fields. The LTA contracts have a fixed duration of six years with options to be extended for up to twelve years in total.



Ahmad Al Saadi, senior vice president of Saudi Aramcos Technical Services said This fifth strategic LTA is needed for the successful execution of the complex and extensive offshore projects to be completed in the offshore Oil & Gas fields in the Arabian Gulf  all within an aggressive schedule.



He also underlined the importance of local procurement and working with local companies, contractors and employing Saudis as outlined in the Companys In-Kingdom Total Value Add (IKTVA) programme.



It is a great honour and a great opportunity to be part of the LTA for Saudi Aramcos offshore projects, said Madhi.



We consider Saudi Aramco a strategic partner for us, and will spare no effort to ensure we meet the expectations of Saudi Aramco in terms of performance, quality and adherence to delivery schedule considering that NPCC have a good record in providing services according to the highest standards and foremost to achieve the aspirations of the IKTVA programme, he added.  TradeArabia News Service
Amman Rotana hotel, the newest property by leading hospitality group Rotana, is already creating an expectant buzz and attracting widespread attention from both visitors and tourists in the kingdom since opening its doors in mid-July 2016.



Amman Rotana, the tallest building in Jordan, towers 188 metres and features 50 floors that include 412 lavish rooms and suites that were designed to combine luxury and comfort. Additionally, the hotel is home to a number of world-class dining venues, the cutting-edge Bodylines Fitness & Wellness Club and an outdoor swimming pool.



Mohammad Haj Hassan, area vice president of Rotana in Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Egypt, Iraq, Kuwait, Qatar, Jordan and Bahrain, said: "The opening of Amman Rotana falls in line with our group's determined expansion vision and Jordan's rich tourism offerings and diverse cultural identity made it an appealing prospect, one that Rotana is proud of. Amman Rotana has already become a landmark in the city, towering over the capital and offering a unique luxury experience housed in a magnificent design.



Located in Amman's new downtown as an integral part of the Abdali project, the hotel is centrally located with a spectacular 360-degree panoramic view of the capital and its seven hills. Amman Rotana is adjacent to The Boulevard Arjaan by Rotana and is steps away from the contemporary Boulevard commercial district, which features luxurious outdoor shopping options as well as a number of popular restaurants and cafes. Also close by is the Al-Abdali Mall, Jordan's largest commercial complex, showcasing numerous international brands and boutique shops.



Cluster general manager of Amman Rotana and The Boulevard Arjaan by Rotana, Atieh Hamarneh said: "The hotel's design, architecture and interiors reflect creativity and innovation. The hotel has, in a short period of time, become an outstanding landmark of the kingdom, and we are looking forward to being a qualitative addition to the hospitality sector in Jordan through our distinctive characteristics, world-class services and strategic location."



Amman Rotana hosts six diverse restaurants with menus boasting delicacies from around the world, including the venue ThreeSixty all-day-dining, The Lounge, Rodeo Grill steakhouse, Italian restaurant Gusto, Bar on Four and The Deck Pool Lounge. Additionally, the hotel houses the Monarch Ballroom, a deluxe hall for special occasions and nine exclusive meeting spaces, as well as Bodylines Fitness & Wellness Club with modern gym facilities that offer up-to-date equipment, expert trainers, a sauna, Jacuzzi and steam rooms.



"Amman Rotana is focused on providing the best services to our guests in addition to providing exceptional facilities and meeting their needs in line with Rotana's approach," said Haj Hassan. - TradeArabia News Service
Sheraton Hotels & Resorts announced today the reopening of its property in Oman following a transformative renovation of its guestrooms, public spaces and food and beverage offerings.



Owned by Al Hashar Hotels, under the umbrella of Al Hashar Group, and in association with Twenty14 Holdings, the 230-room Sheraton Oman has been a landmark in Muscat for over three decades ensuring guests can experience more in the heart of the city.



Speaking on the occasion, Sheikh Al Muhannad Al Hashar said: Sheraton Oman, the tallest building in the country, has played a key role in shaping the hospitality sector in Oman since it first started business in 1985. The hotel interior has been completely redesigned, leaving the exterior shell as it is. With this magnificent transformation, the hotel is well positioned not only to be a leader in the sector but also to support the efforts of the Ministry of Tourism in promoting the countrys tourism potential at the international level. Significantly, with the sultanate all poised for a long-term, major growth in the MICE segment, Sheraton Omans enhanced conferencing facilities are sure to add great value to the future of tourism.



The Sheraton Oman is one of the most iconic hotels in Oman and it gives us great pleasure to open the property to travelers and members of the local community. We are delighted to further strengthen our portfolio in the region with this new landmark property and firmly believe that the new look and feel will provide guests the most unique, genuine and world-class hospitality experience, said Adeeb Ahamed, managing director, Twenty14 Holdings.



Sheraton Oman features 230 modern and spacious rooms, including 27 suites with panoramic views of the Al Hajar mountain range. Showcasing interiors with distinctive touches of Omani culture, all rooms are outfitted with the Sheraton brands signature amenities and services, including the Sheraton Signature Sleep Experience. The renovation features the addition of 38 Sheraton Club rooms, which offer exclusive access to the Sheraton Club lounge with complimentary wifi, daily breakfast and a premium selection of beverages and hors doeuvres. Sheraton Oman also features Al Deyafa, a lounge dedicated for guests with early check-ins and late check-outs - the only hotel in the country to offer such a facility.



The hotel also features a range of leisure facilities such as the state-of-the-art Sheraton Fitness & Spa with Technogym equipment, with a separate gym for ladies. Facilities include an outdoor and indoor pool with an option for resistance swimming, two jacuzzis and exclusive access for ladies every morning from Monday to Thursday from 9 am to 12 pm. The expansive spa features four treatment rooms, with one room exclusively for men and one for women. Fitness aficionados can look forward to a Kinesis Studio for Zumba and other movement classes.



For business travellers, the hotel offers nine meeting rooms, two boardrooms and the Oman Ballroom which is designed to pay tribute to the splendour and generosity of Omani hospitality. With a capacity to host large events of over 1,000 guests and smaller intimate gatherings as well, Sheraton Oman is the perfect choice for both private celebrations and business functions.



Since its opening in 1985, Sheraton Oman has had a history of bringing people together in the heart of Muscat with its imaginative and innovative range of dining experiences. Restoring the tradition of refined gastronomy, the hotel opens with Courtyard - the hotels all-day dining venue where guests can look forward to a return of the classic Seafood Night and Asado South American Steakhouse - serving the finest steaks and grills expertly paired with an international selection of beverages. The hotel will also feature Paired, Sheratons food and beverage program comprised of artisanal small plates and elevated bar snacks, served alongside suggested premium and local refreshments.



Sheraton Oman is poised to offer its guests an elevated modern experience nestled in its original location at the top of Ruwi - the financial and business hub of Muscat. An ideal setting to experience Muscat, Sheraton Oman is half an hour away from Muscat International Airport and offers easy access to the Old Town, the Muttrah Souk, the Fish Market and the National Museum of Oman.



The renovation of Sheraton Oman reflects the brands approach to an elevated and customized design and further reinforces Sheraton as a trusted voice in global travel, said Alex Kyriakidis, president and managing director, Middle East and Africa, Marriott International. Marriott International remains committed to setting new hospitality benchmarks in Oman and being a part of the countrys development. With a strong presence in the sultanate across three hotels, we are also on track to double our portfolio in the country with four new properties and over 1,000 rooms set to open in the next five years.



With more than 30 years of hospitality experience, Thomas van Opstal will lead the team at Sheraton Oman as general manager, after previously holding successful general manager positions at Sheraton properties in Doha, Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Singapore, Riyadh and Karachi.



Sheraton Oman has been an integral part of the Omani hospitality landscape for more than three decades, said Thomas van Opstal, general manager. We are delighted to reopen our doors and welcome our guests back to enjoy our hospitality and world-class service in a fresh innovative ambience." - TradeArabia News Service
Frankfurt Airport reports 1.2 percent decline in passenger traffic during the first nine months of 2016, despite achieving a new September record - Cargo volumes continue to rise

Frankfurt Airport (FRA) has set a new September record, welcoming a total of 5.9 million passengers in September 2016. However, this positive result was helped by the fact that in the same month of the previous year, a strike had led to a noticeable reduction in passenger volumes. Without this base effect, passenger traffic would have remained almost level year-on-year.

Cargo throughput (airfreight + airmail) at FRA was positively impacted by the slight recovery of the global economy, resulting in a gain of 5.9 percent in September 2016.

Despite the rise in passenger and cargo volumes, aircraft movements shrank by 0.6 percent to 41,973 takeoffs and landings. Adjusted for the base effect (pilot strike in September 2015), aircraft movements saw an underlying decline of 2.3 percent in September 2016. Accumulated maximum takeoff weights (MTOWs) expanded by 1.8 percent to almost 2.7 million metric tons, thus also posting a new September record.

During the January-to-September 2016 period, Frankfurt Airport served a total of 46.7 million passengers, representing a 1.2 percent decrease compared to the previous year. This development can partly be attributed to the ongoing geopolitical situation, which has led to a reduction in air travel bookings worldwide. FRA welcomed some 18.0 million passengers during the holiday months from July to September 2016 - a 1.8 percent drop compared to the summer period of 2015.

In contrast, cargo volumes increased 1.3 percent to just under 1.6 million metric tons in the first nine months of 2016. MTOWs continued their upward trend, reaching a new record high of 22.6 million metric tons (up 0.6 percent) in the reporting period. Aircraft movements, however, declined by 1.4 percent to 353,449 takeoffs and landings in the year to September 2016.

Airports in Fraport AG's international portfolio registered diverging traffic development during the first three quarters of 2016. At Slovenia's Ljubljana Airport (LJU) traffic fell by 5.0 percent (September 2016: down 3.7 percent to 151,658 passengers). At Peru's capital city airport in Lima (LIM) traffic climbed by 10.9 percent to 14.0 million passengers (September 2016: up 8.7 percent to almost 1.6 million passengers). Similarly, the combined traffic figures for the Twin Star airports of Varna (VAR) and Burgas (BOJ) on Bulgaria's Black Sea coast grew by a noticeable 22.5 percent to 4.4 million passengers (September 2016: up 26.8 percent to 691,780 passengers). Due to the international geopolitical situation in the region as well as Russia's sanctions, Antalya Airport (AYT) on the Turkish Riviera reported a 34.2 percent decline to about 15.1 million passengers (September 2016: down 31.7 percent to 2.5 million passengers). In St. Petersburg, Russia, Pulkovo Airport (LED) welcomed nearly 10.2 million passengers, a 6.1 percent drop compared to the same nine-month period last year (September 2016: down 0.9 percent to almost 1.4 million passengers). Although northern Germany's Hanover Airport (HAJ) achieved positive results in September 2016 (up 2.3 percent to 586,181 passengers), cumulative traffic for the first three quarters of the year dipped by 0.8 percent to about 4.2 million passengers. In China, Xi'an Airport (XIY) again achieved strong double-digit growth of 11.3 percent to 27.6 million passengers (September 2016: up 13.1 percent to 3.3 million passengers).

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Horses in Clark County, Wisconsin, look for higher ground as numerous rounds of storms in late September dropped rainfall of 1 to 3 inches per hour, repeated over the same locations in some areas. Rainfall totals of 3 to 7 inches were reported over a few days in western and west-central Wisconsin, with some localized amounts of 9 to 11 inches.
Tribune News Service

Mohali, October 13

The Mohali police today booked seven persons, including a social worker and four women, in the case pertaining to Reality Foundations, Lakhnaur.

The rehabilitation centre, located at Lakhnaur village near Kurali, was sealed around a week ago by the authorities after grave violations came to fore there during a raid by a team of police and health officials.

Inspector Amarbir Singh, SHO of the Kurali police station, said the police had booked Rajbeer Singh (36), Rani Puri (60), Jagjit Singh Bajwa (29), Sandeep Singh (27), Pritpal Kaur (38), Kamaljeet Kaur (35) and Reema Chauhan (26) in the case.

We have slapped Sections 341, 342, 465 and 120-B of the IPC against all persons who formed a society, Reality Foundation (Drug Counselling and Rehabilitation Centre), Mohali, to run the rehabilitation centre.

All six persons are office-bearers of the society, said Amarbir. The inspector said the police had also procured the record from the Punjab Health System Corporation in this regard. The record shows several discrepancies, indicating that there was some understanding between health officials and the accused, said the inspector. We are looking into various aspects such as the number of beds, the change in the location of the centre from Mohali to Lakhnaur after its renewal in 2007 and reports regarding searches at the centre, said the inspector.
Tribune News Service

Mohali, October 13

Two more snatching incidents were reported from Mohali today.

Two motorcycle-borne youngsters targeted a woman near her house at Phase II here and took away her purse containing Rs 1,500 this morning. The incident occurred around 11 am when the victim, Simmy, was returning from a bank after paying the school fee of her ward.

As soon as she was about to enter her residence, the miscreants snatched her purse and sped away. The victim tried to catch them, but failed. One of the snatchers was wearing a helmet, said a relative of the victim.

The incident has been captured in a closed-circuit television (CCTV) camera, installed at a neighbours house. The police are looking into the case.

In the other incident, two motorcycle-borne miscreants snatched a purse containing Rs 2,500 from an elderly woman near the Commando Complex at Phase XI this morning. According to the police, the victim, Jasmine, was coming back after paying obeisance at a local gurdwara when the incident occurred around 8.45 am.

We are investigating the matter, said the police.
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, October 13

The crime branch of the UT police has arrested two snatchers, including Vicky against whom around 125 cases of snatching, burglary and vehicle theft have been registered in different states. The police claim to have solved 18 cases of snatching and three cases of vehicle theft with the arrest of the duo.

Sukhchain Singh Gill, SSP, UT, said Vicky (30) was a resident of Delhi while his accomplice Dilshad (24) was a resident of Mauli Jagran, Chandigarh. A total 18 cases of snatching reported this year have been worked out with their arrest and 18 gold chains have been recovered. Three two-wheelers stolen from the city have also been recovered, the SSP said.

He said the accused could not sell the snatched chains in Chandigarh following which they decided that they would sell these in Bijnor, Uttar Pradesh, the native place of Dilshad. No jeweller in Chandigarh purchased the snatched chains from the accused, he said.

The police said last year also, Dilshad was arrested in a case and was later released on bail.

Modus operandi

The police said the accused used to target women pedestrians with gold chains. They used to strike a conversation with the victims on the pretext of asking for some address and then snatch their gold chain. The accused used stolen motorcycles. The motorcycles had fake registration numbers and the number plate was changed after every incident.

Accused a PO

One of the accused, Vicky, is a proclaimed offender (PO) in around 45 cases and is involved in over 125 cases of snatching, vehicle theft and burglary.
Tribune News Service

Amritsar, October 13

The Municipal Corporation (MC) is planning to install solar panels on unipoles for providing eco-friendly advertisement infrastructure in the city.

Mayor Bakshi Ram Arora has instructed advertisement cell of the MC to prepare a proposal to get approval from the government. Officials of the MC are expecting that the government would give a green signal to the project.

There are as many as 200 unipoles installed at various locations in the city. The unipoles have power connection and glow during nights. The MC made separate arrangements of power connection for every pole. Officials are seeking eco-friendly substitute of power to make illuminate unipoles in the night.

Following guidelines of the Smart City Project from the Centre government, Municipal Commissioner Sonali Giri has asked the advertisement cell to suggest a model of the unipole. The MC will send the proposal to install solar panel on unipoles to the state government.

We hope that the proposal will be approved as the state government has been promoting use of the solar energy. It will be beneficial for the MC and residents. We always stress on saving power. It will encourage residents to adopt solar energy, said Mayor Bakshi Ram Arora.

Meanwhile, in another such initiative, officials of the MC are preparing a proposal to install LCDs for advertisement in the city. Observing the potential of advertisers, the MC Commissioner asked the staff to prepare a separate proposal to install LCDs for advertisement in posh markets of the city.

Giri stated that the MC had been collecting good revenue from the unipoles. She said, There is a demand for sophisticated advertisement infrastructure in the city. Observing the potential, we are planning to install LCDs in markets. The MC can earn good revenue from LCDs as people are ready to pay for the goog advertisement infrastructure.

It is pertinent to mention here that the Centre government has announced to develop Amritsar as a Smart City recently. Now, the MC has been planning several projects as per guidelines of the Smart City project.
Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, October 13

Following the declaration of recent 29 seats list of the AAP, activists in Jalandhar have opposed the selection of the Jalandhar (West) candidate in the city, while demanding that another candidate be chosen to represent the constituency.

Activists of the Aam Admi Party, from the Jalandhar West Constituency, expressed resentment against the candidacy of Darshan Bhagat from Jalandhar West. Stating that the party had given preference to Darshan Bhagat over a well read doctor Dr. Shiv Dyal Mali in the area, activists said this wasnt in keeping with AAPs vision of a better political alternative. Demanding candidature for Dr, Mali from the area they also said they shall meet Arvind Kejriwal on the issue.

They said while the chosen candidate Darshan Bhagat is plus 2 pass, he has also formerly been in the BJP from which he had been ousted for six years in 2012. In choosing him, they said, the party had ignored the well read MBBS doctor Dr. Shiv Dyal Mali.

Belonging to the Kabirpanthi Megh Bhagat community, the activists said while the Aam Admi Party stands for change in the political system, corruption free country and unemployment free state, it should have brought in a well-read candidate like Dr. Mali from the area.

Addressing the press, Labh Bhagat said, As many as 50,000 voters are from the Megh Bhagat community in the area had suffered due to poverty, illiteracy etc and due to lack of proper political representation for them for over 70 years.

He said some people had  for their vested interests downplayed Dr. Malis work and contribution in the area twisting his sir name as not representational to the community  even though he belongs to the Bhagat Community - while choosing Darshan Bhagat over him just for carrying the Bhagat sir name.

Activists said Malis 30 years of government service and works carried out in the area were even ignored.
The lone holdout in Columbia Countys efforts to acquire property for its building project has filed a federal lawsuit calling for, among other things, a halt to the construction alongside the Portage Canal.

But John Gruber said Tuesday that hell settle for a better price for his property, and for some help in finding a new location for his business, Gruber Automotive, 208 E. Edgewater St.

And if he gets those things, he said, hell leave quietly  and forget about the other allegations contained in his lawsuit, including allegations that police are plotting to kill him, and that toxic waste dredged from the canal was secretly dumped in the dark of night.

The suit was filed Oct. 4 in United States District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin, based in Madison.

The named defendants include Columbia County, the County Boards Ad Hoc Building Committee, County Board Chairman Vern Gove, Ad Hoc Building Committee Chairman Kirk Konkel, Corporation Counsel Joseph Ruf, Assistant Corporation Counsel Krista Miller, the Portage law firm of Miller and Miller LLC, attorney John Miller of the Miller firm, attorney Mark Hazelbacker of the Kasieta Legal Group LLC in Madison, the City of Portage, City Administrator Shawn Murphy, the Portage Police Department, Police Chief Ken Manthey, Police Officer Klaude Thompson, the construction firm J.H. Findorff and Sons Inc. (the construction manager for the county building project) and the Columbia County Condemnation Commission.

The suit alleges a violation of civil rights. It asks the federal court to:

Declare the county building project to be unlawful;

Declare the condemnation action against Gruber to be unlawful;

Issue an injunction to halt and stop all construction of the canal-side building project;

Vacate not only the acquisition of the Gruber property, but also the acquisition of all property that was purchased for the project.

Declare the city-affiliated defendants as participating in unlawful hazardous waste disposal related to the canal dredging project, and declare the city defendants plan to cause death or injury against the plaintiff in conspiracy with defendant Columbia County to be unconstitutional and unlawful;

Issue an injunction prohibiting Columbia County from borrowing money or disbursing any taxpayer funds for any purpose related to the construction project;

Issue declaratory judgment that the defendants acted under the color of law depriving and violated (sic) Plaintiff Gruber of rights to possession of his property.

The canal was dredged last summer by Infrastructure Inc. of Rockford, Michigan, with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources paying most of the cost; the city and county also contributed, mostly in the form of in-kind services. The sediment removed from the canal was filtered for impurities such as mercury and lead, then was landfilled.

Gruber said he plans to bring in an appraiser from Fond du Lac to get an accurate estimate of his propertys value as a business. He has said previously that he has no place to move the business, and that available suitable sites cost more than twice as much as the $140,000 that he has been paid for the property.

Gruber said Tuesday that he has notified all who sold property to Columbia County for the building project that he believes the acquisition of their property was fraudulent, and he said he thinks the countys acquisition process should be declared null and void for all the properties, not just his.

They frauded everybody, so they have to start over, he said.

But only one other person is named with Gruber as a plaintiff in this lawsuit, and he does not claim to be an owner of any of the property purchased for the project. Rather, Michael Edwards of Mauston declares in the suit that he was a tenant in the property at 204 E. Edgewater St., owned by Dennis Dorn, and that he had been asked to the leave the property because it had been sold for the county project.

As of Tuesday, construction continues on the three-story Administration Building and the two-story Health and Human Services Building on opposite sides of the Portage Canal. Both structures are expected to be completed next summer  the Administration Building in June, the HHS Building in July. (Plans call for the HHS structure to be used, for about a year, as the temporary location for Columbia Countys court-related offices, while the courthouse at 400 DeWitt St. is renovated.)

On Monday evening, a man in plain clothes, who identified himself as a process server, delivered a copy of the suit to Murphy during a meeting of the Portage Common Councils Finance and Administration Committee. According to witnesses, the man dropped a stack of papers on the conference table and said, Youve been served, OK?

Jesse Spankowski, attorney for the city of Portage  who works for the Miller law firm  said Tuesday that the city has referred the matter to the citys insurance carrier for coverage, and he declined to comment further.

Hazelbaker, who has represented the county in its eminent domain case involving Gruber, said that each of the defendants has to decide how to respond to the suit.

Options, he said, include filing a response to the allegations contained in the suit or asking for the suits immediate dismissal, based on a contention that, even if the allegations are true, the plaintiff cannot legally get the judgment that he seeks from the defendant.

In his case, Hazelbaker said, the likely response is a motion for immediate dismissal.

At least one of the parties, including me, is going to move for dismissal, he said. Mr. Gruber cannot sue the lawyer.

Hazelbaker frequently handles eminent domain cases, and he said that the federal court, as a rule, is very reluctant to take on a state eminent domain case until the case has proceeded through all levels of the state court system.

Gruber has filed a suit in Columbia County Circuit Court appealing the Condemnation Commissions August decision to award him $140,000 for his property. The money has been paid. As far as the courts are concerned, Columbia County owns the property, and has the right to ask Gruber to vacate the property in 90 days.

Gruber said he has not yet received any notice that the county wants him to vacate by any certain date. The Gruber property is in an area thats been designated to become a parking lot to serve the Administration Building, so its not immediately needed for the project to proceed.

For the appeal, a telephone scheduling conference has been scheduled for 8:30 a.m. Nov. 7 at the Dodge County Justice Facility in Juneau, with Judge Brian Pfitzinger presiding.

Because Grubers most recent suit was filed in federal court, it does not necessitate having any of Columbia Countys judges determining whether to recuse himself from the case.

Neither Gove nor Murphy could be reached for comment Tuesday.

Hazelbaker said city and county officials have no intention of committing any type of violence against Gruber, and he said he doesnt believe Gruber intends to act violently, either.

I understand his frustration, he said. The law is harsh, but the law is the law.

Craig Sauer contributed to this report.
Dinesh Kumar

The Seventh Central Pay Commission (CPC) award has been the cause for serious disquiet within the Armed Forces ever since it was submitted to the government last November. The situation recently came to head with the three Service Chiefs unprecedentedly asking the Union government to withhold the implementation of the CPC for the Armed Forces until pending anomalies are resolved. Following Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar's response asking the Service Chiefs to implement the new salary structure while assuring them that their grievances could be looked into later, the Services have backed off and agreed to the implementation of the current pay commission. But going by recent events, there never is a "later".

Acting in unison

Although every pay commission award has evoked discontent within the Armed Forces, the difference this time was that the three Service Chiefs had acted in unison. Such an unprecedented step reflects the extent of resentment and discount within the otherwise apolitical Armed Forces that remains unquestionably subservient to civilian control. This development does not auger well and it is imperative that the government take notice and not leave it unresolved as it has with anomalies pertaining to the Sixth CPC.

In recent years, the Services have become more vocal than usual in expressing their disappointment with issues related to pay, allowances and pensions. Only a few months ago, the three Service Chiefs took the unusual step of writing (in vain) a joint letter to first the Defence Minister and then the Prime Minister expressing dissatisfaction with the Seventh CPC. In March, a tri-Service Pay and Allowances Review Committee delivered a detailed presentation before an Empowered Committee comprising 13 Secretaries. But the effort failed to cut ice even though the Air Force Chief, Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha, who was present at the meeting, specifically stated that there exists "discontentment among the rank and file". Taking note of the growing disquiet within the Armed Forces, the then Defence Minister AK Antony in June 2012 wrote to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, informing him of the growing discontentment among both serving and retired defence service personnel due to fixation of pay and pensions by the Sixth CPC. "My apprehension is that unless we take some corrective action, the issue may take a bad turn", he is reported to have warned. A Committee of Secretaries formed to look into the six core anomalies arising from the Sixth CPC passed the buck saying that it needed to be resolved by an expert committee which is yet to be instituted.

Four specific anomalies

This time the Armed Forces want four specific anomalies to be corrected. One, that there should be a common pay matrix for the three Services and civilian employees. In contrast to 24 pay levels as per the latest CPC, there are 40 pay levels for the civilians. The implication is that the pay of all Service officers will stagnate after 31 years of service which will result in their earning a pension Rs 20,000 less than their civilian counterparts. Bureaucrats give the excuse that a common pay matrix is not feasible because the Armed Forces have a higher number of ranks.

The second demand pertains to reciprocity of allowances. While all compensatory field and other allowances applicable to the Armed Forces also apply to the central armed police forces (CAPF), the allowances entitled to the latter have not been extended to the Armed Forces. For example, a soldier deployed for disaster management will not be paid any extra allowance whereas a National Disaster Response Force personnel who be paid Rs 6,000 per deployment and a CAPF constable Rs 17,000. A third demand pertains to payment of other allowances such as, for example, technical allowance while a fourth demand relates to disability pension being made applicable on a percentage basis as it is to civilians.

At the very core of all these anomalies and grievances of the Armed Forces is that they are finding their extant status and parity vis-a-vis their civilian counterparts being systematically downgraded by every successive CPC. From first figuring below the IAS and then the IPS, the Services now find themselves being equated and in some respects inferior to the CAPF such as the CRPF and BSF on pay and allowances. Despite their large numerical strength, the Armed Forces do not find representation on the Central Pay Commissions. Nor do they find representation on the Committees of Secretaries that get constituted to examine anomalies. Indeed the Services harbour the grudge that they are always treated as the "other".

Cost to government

The Armed Forces consider themselves as constituting "the cheapest gun fodder" since they incur the least lifetime cost to the government; as incurring the "lowest induction cost" since unlike their civilian counterparts they are not paid during their training period; have the "lowest retention cost" as they retire earlier than their civilian counterparts and hence draw salaries less than the latter; have the "lowest advancement cost" since relatively low numbers are promoted to the higher rank in view of the steep pyramid rank structure in the Services (only one per cent officers become Lieutenant Generals); and command the "lowest pension cost" because their pensions are fixed at just 50 per cent of the last pay drawn.

Theorists of Civil-Military relations argue that in a democracy "civilians have a right to be wrong". But then because they have the right to be wrong, civilians must also bear greater responsibility and accountability. The security of a nation is not the exclusive preserve of the Armed Forces. The civilian government is ultimately responsible. Perhaps the government can take a cue from Kautilya"s Arthashastra, that mentions "not being given due honours" at the very top of its list of 28 calamities that can adversely affect the efficient functioning of an army. A country that does not look after its Armed Forces - the instrument of last resort - does so at its own peril.





dkumar@tribunemail.com
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, October 13

The Central Bureau of Investigation registered three cases on allegations relating to violence during the Jat agitation in Rohtak district of Haryana in February this year.

Allegations include attacking, looting of weapons of the police guard, attempting to murder the family members, and burning down the residence of Haryana Finance Minister Captain Abhimanyu.

The CBI took over the investigation of these cases on the request of the Haryana government and further orders from the Centre, a CBI release said here on Thursday.

The allegations in two of these three cases pertain to violence and arson at the residence of the Finance Minister.

The third case relates to allegations of looting of weapons from a company of the BSF and Haryana Police and attempting to murder them by thousands of armed rioters while they were on law-and-order duty at Delhi Bye Pass, Rohtak.

A large number of people were allegedly injured and some of them grievously in these violent attacks.

It was further alleged that property worth crores was burnt and weapons of police guards were looted by the agitators who were demanding reservation for the community in Haryana.
Vishal Joshi

Tribune News Service

Kurukshetra, October 13

Confusion prevails in two state universities as the Haryana Government has failed to issue a notification about the affiliation status of 165 educational BEd colleges.

Education Minister Ram Bilas Sharma told the Assembly on August 29 that all B.Ed colleges affiliated with Kurukshetra University would be restored to it.

However, sources in Chaudhary Ranbir Singh University (CRSU), Jind, said the university was managing BEd colleges, including those earlier affiliated with KU.

There were certain media reports that more than 160 BEd colleges affiliated to the upcoming CRSU might be taken back. But we are smoothly working with over 520 B.Ed colleges of KU, MDU and Chaudhary Devi Lal University (CDLU), Sirsa, said an official .

Prof Rajneesh Sharma, Dean of Colleges, KU, told The Tribune today that the university sent a letter to the Director, Higher Education, last month to clear air about the affiliation but the communication had failed to evoke any response.

We are waiting for a response from the state government. As of now, KU has affiliation of only four BEd colleges enjoying minority status and its on-campus education college , said Sharma.

Meanwhile, sources at KU said the state government had acted in haste by giving all BEd colleges to the Jind university that was in its infancy and then announcing to reverse the decision.

Both universities want affiliation of BEd colleges only to gain crores of rupees in terms of annual affiliation fees and other charges. Scores of these privately managed educational colleges have compromised quality of education. KU has to spare a sizable manpower for annual inspections and allied affairs on not so productive private institutes over which the affiliating universities have hardly any control, said a senior faculty member.

Another KU functionary said the BEd colleges should be given the freedom of affiliation with any university.
Naveen S Garewal

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, October 13

Lack of experience hit Haryana hard in the second year of the BJP government. Unprecedented violence erupted out of mishandling of the Jat agitation for reservation, scarring governments image and inflicting a gash in the social fabric.

The BJP assumed power in October 2014 on the back of the slogan Maximum governance, minimum government. Two years down the line, it is learning to get a grip on state affairs.

Mostly first-timers, including Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, the MLAs are yet to learn the functioning of the government. To date, bureaucrats rule the roost and vested interests dominate. Directives from the BJP headquarters, interference by the RSS, and one-upmanship within the Cabinet did not help the state. It however, introduced the saffron agenda.

Fire of Jat stir

After the Jat agitation in February, that left 30 persons dead, and public and private property damaged, and Murthal rapes on NH-1, politicians and bureaucrats are embroiled in discrediting former UP DGP Parkash Singh and his report.

In his report, Singh has indicted several high-ups for failing to do their duty. In the process, police reforms suggested by him have been put on the backburner.

The governments handling of the situation in the aftermath of violence has been even worse, as it has been unable to take decisive action against those responsible. The fallout of the agitation has cast a slur on the Khattar government.

Saffron agenda

Saffronisation is predominant in the state with the government focusing on the revival of the elusive Saraswati river, introduction of Gita slokas in schools and cow protection rather than concentrating on health, education and civic amenities.

Stray cows have become the biggest threat on roads; several people have died in accidents. Cow protection has remained in speeches, as poor animals can be seen feasting on squalor in various parts of the state.

Beef politics

As part of beef politics, samples of biryani were collected from shopkeepers in Mewat to check for beef. This invited nationwide criticism. The government is reportedly working under the influence of RSS, whose leaders pull the strings from Delhi.

At the instance of the central leadership, a plethora of OSDs and advisers were appointed; they primarily watch the interests of their political masters in Haryana, in several cases to the displeasure of the Chief Minister.

In March, the government had organised Happening Haryana. It claimed to have signed MoUs worth Rs6 lakh crore. But not much investment has come to the state. It is alleged several investors who signed MoUs are from real estate.

Notwithstanding paddy scam, the government has been appreciated for transparent HCS recruitment. But police recruitment came under the scanner because of the death of four candidates.
Parveen Arora

Tribune News Service

Karnal, October 13

Several doctors recommend goat milk to dengue patients to increase blood platelets. Whats in it that enhance their count?

This is the subject of study of scientists at National Dairy Research Institute (NDRI) here.

They are working on a project Profiling of milk proteome in different species of farm animals and comparative evaluation of host defence proteins, said Dr AK Srivastava, Director, NDRI.

It is yet to be determined which factors of goat milk are responsible for enhancing platelets. Soon, we will have evidence to prove goat milk is beneficial to dengue patients, he told The Tribune.

A three-month experiment on rats showed goat milk significantly decreased triglycerides and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), known as bad cholesterol, and increased high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), known as good cholesterol, Srivastava said.

The research brought out that goat milk decreased cholesterol in liver and increased cholesterol excretion in faeces.

Besides having nutritional value, goat milk has medicinal properties. People who suffer from lactose intolerance can digest goat milk better than cow milk, he said.

The NDRI Director said goats were among the first animals to be domesticated and they were considered poor persons cow, and ensured livelihood for over 5 million households in India.

The country ranks second in terms of goat population, Srivastava said, adding globally, goats contribute to about 2 per cent of milk production. In India, their contribution is double.
Our Correspondent

Nurpur, October 13

The ongoing construction activities have come to a halt within 300 metres (regulated area) of the remains of the Nurpur Fort in this historical town thanks to the restrictions imposed by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) in 2010 on raising any construction, including carrying out additions or alternations to old structures.

Local residents and even government agencies have become victims of the provisions of the Ancient Monument and Archaeological Sites and Remains (AMASR) Act, 2010, as the ASI authorities are not allowing undertaking of any new construction, completing the ongoing construction and repairing the old structures. However, the construction of a mini-secretariat and an additional building of the government girls senior secondary school situated in the regulated area of the Nurpur Fort has been completed after procuring the requisite permission, but the construction of the proposed new judicial court complex has been hanging fire for the past few years.

Taking a serious note of the restrictions by the ASI under the AMASR Act in the town, Rakesh Pathania, former MLA of the local area and recently appointed member of the state BJP executive, alleged that this Act was of draconian nature and had grabbed fundamental rights of those residing in urban areas.

He demanded relaxation in the ASI restrictions for those residing in the regulated area of the protected monuments in urban areas. He said the state government should pursue this burning issue with the Government of India so that certain amendments could be made to the AMASR Act in the public interest.

It is notable that the local ASI staff used to lock the main gate of the Nurpur Fort for restricting the entry of vehicles into the fort premises. The management committees of the Janmashtami and Dasehra festivals have been organising these fairs for long, but now they are unable to celebrate or organise these functions in the fort premises.

For this purpose, the president of the committees has to pay Rs 25,000 to the state ASI authorities for organising these public-cum-religious celebrations. The committees, led by former president of Nurpur Municipal Council RK Mahajan who has been bearing this huge cess after the enforcement of the AMASR Act, has demanded that public and religious celebrations should be exempted from this unjustified cess.
Kuldeep Chauhan

Tribune News Service

Shimla, October 13

After hanging fire for 22 years, the 175-m-high Renukaji Dam has finally set to see the light of day as the Ministry of Water Resources has released Rs 446. 96 crore to Himachal that will enable HP Power Corporation Ltd (HPPCL) to pay land award to dam oustees.

Though Himachal had demanded Rs 1,981.35 crore as an immediate assistance to expedite the land acquisition process and give awards to the project-affected villages, the Centre has released Rs 446. 96 crore early this month, saying, The rest of amount will be released after the Niti Aayog gives its clearance to the project.

The ministry has released this amount to Himachal asking the state government to release it to the HPPCL within 15 days.

The HPPCL has appointed the Chief Engineer, Renukaji Dam, to expedite the payment of land award to the oustees whose land measuring about 1,130 hectares has been acquired over the years.

All clearances have been given for the project as far as Himachal is concerned, said HPPCL managing director HK Sharma. Even the state committee, headed by Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, had constituted by the National Green Tribunal (NGT) to assess the status of the project, had submitted its report to the NGT and nothing is pending on the part of Himachal, he pointed out.

The Renukaji Dam on the Giri river in Sirmaur will supply 23 cumecs of water to Delhi. It will store 49,800 ha m of water in which Himachal will get 40 mw power while water will be distributed among Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh.

The cost of project has already shot up from Rs 3,572 crore in 1994 to Rs 6,000 crore in 2016 as the project remained in deep freeze for the last 22 years. As per agreement, the Centre has to give 90 per cent funds while 10 per cent share would be paid equally by five beneficiary states.
Our Correspondent

Hamirpur, October 12

Retired soldiers and officers of the 3rd Dogra Regiment celebrated the 117th Raising Day here today.

Speaking on the occasion, Brig SK Verma (retd) said the regiment was raised on this day in 1900 in Jalandhar by Lt Col ET Gastrell. He said in the post-Independence period, the then President Dr Zakir Hussain bestowed the colours on the battalion on November 8, 1968.

Detailing history of the battalion, he said immediately after its raising, the battalion was part of the Allied Forces that went to China to quell the Boxer Rebellion. He said during World War I in Mesopotamia (now Iraq), the 35th Composite Brigade as part of the British Indian Army was to attack the Turkish lines. In this aggression Lance Nayak Lala of medical corps of the battalion was decorated with the Victoria Cross for his act of splendid gallantry under extreme battle conditions, he added.

SK Verma said it was this regiment of the Indian forces that protected aerodrome from the enemies in under the command of Lt Col ML Hayne at Kota Bharu in Malaya. He said 3rd Dogra halted the advancement of Japanese to the airfield and were confined to an ice land that was later heavily bombarded.

He said the battalion lost Major GC Verma who was wounded in the head and he refused to be evacuated and breathed his last on seeing the success signal being fired from pistol by Sub Rattan Singh.
Dipender Manta

Tribune News Service

Kullu, October 13

The efforts of the district administration to make Kullu Dasehra world famous by providing live webcast on mobile have earned the appreciations from people living abroad and different parts of the country.

Facebook and WhatsApp have been active for the past two days where people are expressing happiness to get an opportunity to enjoy Kullu Dasehra live on the Net, which is the first-of-its-kind initiative taken by the authority.

Narender Sharma living in South Korea posted, Thanks watching live at South Korea while another post by Mumbai resident Namgial Sher Singh is, Great Mumbai. Arvind Pinki Sharma of Punjab posted on her wall Watching live at Punjab, which encouraged the authority to do more efforts to succeed the event.

Sub-Divisional Magistrate, Kullu, Rohit Rathor told The Tribune here today that the authority was trying to promote this event and this was a new initiative.

Cultural activities are being organised at Lal Chand Prarthi Kala Kendra, Kullu, in evening hours, where cultural troupes of India and abroad perform their show on the stage during a week-long festival each year.

Kullu Dasehra had marked its glory on international stage last year when more than 9,000 women displayed a splendid show Kullu Natti in traditional attire at historical Dhalpur Ground, which got recognition as the largest folk dance of the world in the Guinness World Record Book.
Tribune News Service

Shimla, October 13

Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, daughter of All-India Congress Committee (AICC) president Sonia Gandhi, today arrived at Shimla to inspect her dream cottage at Chharabra near Retreat, about 14 km from here. This was her second visit in less than a month.

She reached here by road and after checking in Hotel Wildflower Hall inspected her house where she spent more than three hours. She clicked photographs of the house which is nearing completion and reportedly gave directions regarding interior and exterior look of the house to the architect. Sources said Priyanka was keen to complete the house by Diwali.
Nordic Consulting, the fast-growing Madison health IT consultant company, says it has received an investment from Silversmith Capital Partners, a Boston equity firm.

Nordic wont say how much money Silversmith is providing. But according to the Boston firms website, since Silversmith finalized its $460 million fund in 2015, it has funneled money into five other companies, with investments ranging from $17 million to $50 million. Two of those companies went on to acquire other businesses shortly after the Silversmith infusion.

When Silversmith Capital Partners was formed, its initial news release said the firm planned to invest $15 million to $50 million per company with the ability to increase the equity commitment in select situations.

Nordic called the Silversmith funding a minority recapitalization, in a news release, and said the new money will let Nordic continue to expand and diversify, both organically and via Nordics potential acquisition of other firms, the services it provides to healthcare organizations.

Nordic says it is the nations largest independent electronic health records and information technology consulting firm. It was founded, in 2010, as a consultant to customers of Epic Systems Corp., the mammoth electronic health records systems developer, based in Verona.

Nordic, 740 Regent St., has 750 to 800 employees, more than 100 of them in Madison, said chief operations officer Eric Sampson. The company was No. 1459 on the 2016 Inc. 5000 list of the fastest-growing businesses in the U.S. with $137 million in revenue in 2015. Nordic is projecting $180 million in revenue in 2016, Sampson said.

Silversmiths investment is not a purchase of Nordic. Our current investors will remain invested in the business, Sampson said in an interview Thursday. He said Nordic also has expanded the group of banks backing the company.

In 2012 and 2013, Nordic received a total of $38 million, primarily from three East Coast venture capital firms and from Kaiser Permanente.
Puchpa Gujral Science City, Kapurthala, today celebrated International Day for Disaster Reduction. This programme was organised with the help of the Ministry of Earth Sciences Government of India. Speaking on the occasion, Dr Rajesh Grover, Director, PGSC, said since 1990, there had been three times increase in natural disasters most of which are the direct result of climate change as a consequence of global warming. Disasters disrupt progress and often push nations, in quest for progress, back by several decades. Recalling the worst floods ever experienced in the last 100 years by the Southern city of Chennai in November 2015 which destroyed crops in 10,000 acres worth Rs 1,350 Crore, he mentioned that floods continue to be the most frequently occurring disaster. He further said, "Whatever type of a disaster it may be, whether natural or man-made, it is the community itself that is the first to cope with it. It is what the people should know so that they are able to lead the first line of action at the time of disaster and in reducing its impact." On this occasion, Dr Raman Chawla, heart specialist talked about the importance of first aid during an accident and heart attack.

Indian Air Force workshop

An Indian Air Force workshop was held on the Shahpur campus of the CT Group of Institutions today. Representatives of the Airmen Selection Board spoke to the students.The workshop was organised under the guidance and supervision of District Administration, Jalandhar, in collaboration with District Bureau of Employment Generation and Training and CT Group of Institutions. A seminar on Circulation of knowledge about the various Airmen Trades in Indian Air Force was organised. GS Arora (Wing Commander, IAF) apprised students about the employment opportunities in the Air Force, requisite qualifications and capabilities for the jobs and recruitment process. He informed students on how they prepare themselves, if they want to pursue a career in Indian Air Force as Airmen. The event was attended by the faculty and students of BTech (all streams) besides a team of seven officers from IAF. More than 1,000 students from St Soldier Polytechnic College, Mehr Chand Polytechnic College, CT Group of Institutions, GNA University, Government Senior Secondary School (Ladowali Road), Governemnt Senior Secondary Co-Education School (Ladowali Road)), Boys Senior Secondary School, MGN Public School, Ramgarhia Polytechnic College and others attended the seminar.

Prof gets 38th rank in CSIR-UGC exam

Ranjita Kapoor, Assistant Prof in Mathematics in the Department of Mathematics of Apeejay College of Fine Arts Jalandhar has made the Institution proud by getting an All India Rank of 38 in the CSIR (UGC) NET examination. She has credited the achievement to Dr Sucharita, Principal of the College for providing her with an academic environment. She also thanked the Head of the Department Meera Aggarwal, Associate Professor in Mathematics, and other teachers of the department, for her success. Principal Suchairta congratulated Ranjita Kapoor on the achievement and said the college always encouraged teachers to make the most of the resources available at the college.

Creative essay writing

A creative essay writing competition aimed at enhancing students writing skills was held today in Lyallpur Khalsa College. Organised by the English Literary Society of the PG Department of English, the competition witnessed the participation of over 50 students in which students rightfully showcased their creative thoughts using writing skills as the medium. All the participants and the winners adjudged by the panel of judges were given away prizes by Principal Dr Gurpinder Singh Samra and Prof Jasreen Kaur, college registrar and Head of the PG Department of English. Speaking on the occasion Dr GS Samra said the aim of an academic institution, in addition to providing education, was to bring out the latent abilities of its students thus leading to their overall development. He reiterated the commitment of the college to the achievement of this goal. Vote of thanks on the occasion was made by Dr Charanjit Singh, president Literary Society and the Prof in-charge of the event. Stage was managed by Dr Kanchan Mehta and the event was attended by the entire faculty and students of the department as well as the college.TNS
Majid Jahangir

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, October 13

A day after the three-day-long gunfight ended on Srinagar outskirts, initial police investigations hint that one attacker was a Pakistani national and active in south Kashmirs Pulwama for the past five months.

Police sources said one of the slain militants was operating under the code name Abu Maaz. One of the slain militants is Abu Maaz and was operating in Pulwama and police district of Awantipore. He was part of the fidayeen squad that was holed up inside the Jammu and Kashmir Entrepreneurship Development Institute, a police source said.

Most probably the second militant is Abu Waleed, also a Pakistani, but we are trying to ascertain his identity, the source added. The police investigations have also hinted that the militants had sneaked into the building few hours before they set the attic on fire to draw the attention of the security forces.

Two fidayeen of the Lashkar-e-Toiba were killed in the three-day gunfight that erupted on Monday after they barricaded themselves inside a multi-storey EDI building on the outskirts of Srinagar. For the first two days, the forces fired several hundred rounds of rockets and grenades at the building and finally on Wednesday the building was stormed by the Armys Special Forces.

Inspector General of Police, Kashmir, SJM Gillani had yesterday said the militants could not carry out the attack on the highway and they took shelter in the building.

Meanwhile, the two slain militants were buried at Sheeri in Baramulla, 60 km from here, along the Srinagar-Uri highway late Wednesday. The J&K Police have not been handing over the bodies of Pakistani militants to locals fearing large-scale law and order problem.

The bodies were buried after carrying out the medical examination and collecting the DNA samples.

Lashkar warns police against helping Army

Militant outfit Lashkar-e-Toiba on Thursday said they had profiles of police officers who were helping the Army and the government. Lashkar chief Mehmood Shah in a statement to a local news agency in Srinagar, said the police are natives of Kashmir and they should join the people and respect their lives and honour. The Indian Army will not remain here forever, the police are natives of Kashmir and they should join the people and respect their lives and honour. Kashmiri people have not committed any crime, they are out against illegal Indian occupation. They are giving sacrifices for your future as well, and you should not allow these sacrifices to go in vain, Shah said. We have complete profiles and records of all police officers that are facilitating the Indian Army and government against Kashmiris. he added. Shah said the Lashkar had no womens wing. The enemy is well aware of our tactical strength and battlefield capabilities. Our mothers and sisters would not need to come to the battlefield till we are there, he said.  TNS
Manav Mander

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, October 13

Despite the instructions of the Health Department not to charge more than Rs 600 for dengue and chikungunya tests, private hospitals and laboratories continue to fleece patients with impunity.

Private hospitals and laboratories here are charging as high as Rs 1,200 for dengue and up to Rs 6,000 for chikungunya test. The departments hands are tied in the absence of complaints. The department has asked people to lodge their complaints on helpline number 104 if they are overcharged and keep the receipt as proof.

When a private hospital located on the Ferozepur road was visited by The Tribune team and asked about the cost of tests for dengue and chikungunya, the receptionist said the cost of dengue test was Rs 1,300 and that of chikungunya Rs 6,000. The reason he gave for the high cost of chikungunya test was that the hospital got the test done from outside as facility was not available at their hospital.

When asked about the instructions issued by the Health Department that no hospitals or labs would charge more than Rs 600 for these tests, he said he was not aware of any such instructions, nor had the hospital authorities given any such instructions to the staff.

The same is the case with other private hospitals and laboratories. One such private laboratory located at Model Town was charging Rs 1,000 for dengue and Rs 4,500 for chikungunya test with a discount. Even the laboratory staff was not aware of the instructions of the Health Department.

Many of these private hospitals and laboratories are conducting rapid card tests, the report of which comes within an hour. However, the department does not accept the reports of these tests and instead stresses conducting Elisa test for confirmation of both diseases.

Harjinder Kaur, a resident of Barewal Road, said she paid Rs 8,000 for getting both tests done on her father-in-law. I was not aware that we can lodge a complaint against this malpractice. Since I have lost the receipt, I can do little in this regard now, she said.

Another city resident said he had to shell out nearly Rs 5,000 for a chikungunya test on his wife. Had I known that the test was done free of cost at Civil Hospital, I would have gone there only, he said.

Dr Ramesh, District Epidemiologist, said the department had time and again asked people to complain in case they were overcharged for these tests. They can show the receipt as proof and action will be taken against the violators. Any person, whether or not he is taking treatment from Civil Hospital, can get these tests done at Civil Hospital free of cost.

Meanwhile, 18 more patients have tested posted for dengue, including five women.
Vibha Sharma

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, October 13

Responding to the Muslim Personal Law Boards decision to boycott the Law Commission's questionnaire on Uniform Civil Code (a key part of its agenda and manifesto for many years), the ruling BJP today urged all sections of the community to approach the issue with an open mind.

The issue was related to protecting the fundamental rights of women and moving towards a progressive society, party leaders asserted.

Party national secretary Siddharth Nath Singh said many Islamic countries moving in progressive direction had amended laws for betterment of women and similarly India should also take steps to bring gender equality.

The Law Commission, he said, was taking opinion of all stakeholders on the issue to present it to the Supreme Court. Now it is for the Muslim Personal Law Board to consider whether they want to be part of the stakeholders or they want to be an individual identity, he added

BJPs prominent Muslim face in the council of ministersMukhtar Abbas Naqvialso urged all sections of the community to join the discussions on reforms without any prejudice or prejudging. We are an open, democratic and secular country. The effort should not be judged with a closed but an open mindset, he said.

Any debate on the controversial issue is expected to work for the BJPs political health just like the ongoing political storm on the surgical strikes across the LoC, many political observers believe.

Any discussion on the issue is good for the BJPs political health. Polarisation works better for the BJP than divisions on the basis of the caste lines. Muslims, in any case, are not expected to vote for the BJP. Now, if the saffron party manages to consolidate Hindu votes, it may gain in the coming Assembly poll, they say.
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, October 13

The CBI today registered three cases to probe incidents of violence and arson during the Jat reservation agitation in Rohtak in February this year, including the burning of Haryana Finance Minister Captain Abhimanyus residence.

The agency said it took over the investigation in these cases on the request of the Haryana Government and orders from the Centre.

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Allegations to be probed include attacking, looting of weapons of the police guard, attempting to murder the family members and burning down the residence of the Finance Minister, a CBI spokesperson said.

The allegations in two of the three cases pertain to violence and arson at the FMs residence on February 19. The third case relates to allegations of looting of weapons from a company of the BSF and the Haryana Police and attempting to murder them by thousands of armed rioters at the Delhi bypass in Rohtak.
Moscow, October 13

President Vladimir Putin on Thursday described India as Russia's "privileged strategic partner".

"India is Russia's especially privileged strategic partner," said Putin in an interview ahead of his visit to Goa to attend the BRICS Summit.

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"Cooperation between our countries is making good headway in all areas on the basis of strong traditions of friendship, trust and mutual respect," Putin said in response to questions from IANS.

Putin said Russia remained India's leading supplier of advanced weapons and defence technology as the two countries have been active military partners.

"Our countries actively collaborate in the military technical field. Russia remains in the lead in terms of both direct supplies of most advanced weapons and military equipment and conducting joint researches with India as well as producing goods for military purposes," Putin told IANS in an interview.

"The construction of the BrahMos supersonic cruise missile and the development of a new, fifth generation fighter aircraft are mong the successful joint projects," Putin said in response to questions ahead of his visit to Goa to attend the BRICS Summit.

He said many of the Russian projects in India not only have commercial importance, but also play a significant social and economic role for the economies of the two countries.

Such projects "harmoniously fit in the new Indian industrialisation programme" of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Putin said, referring to Modi's "Make in India" initiative.

IANS
New Delhi, October 13

JNU administration on Thursday ordered an inquiry into burning of effigy of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and others by a section of students in the university campus on the occasion of Dasehraby projecting them as Ravana.

"We have ordered an inquiry into the effigy burning incident and are examining the issue," said JNU Vice-Chancellor Jagadesh Kumar, whose picture was also put on the effigy set ablaze on Tuesday night.

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The move comes nearly a week after the varsity ordered a proctorial inquiry into burning of effigy of Gujarat government and 'gau rakshak' (cow vigilantes) and issued show-cause notices to the students concerned.

While Pakistan's Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, 26/11 mastermind Hafiz Saeed and heads of several other militant organisations were the faces of Ravana effigies burnt on Dasehra across the country, members of Congress-affiliated National Students' Union of India (NSUI) chose the visages of PM and BJP chief Amit Shah to represent the demon king and burnt the effigy on Tuesday.

They claimed that it was a protest against the Centre's "failure" to honour its promises and the "continuous attacks" on various educational institutions across the country.

While university officials maintained that no permission was sought for the event, the organisers claimed that effigy burning was a "routine" thing on campus and did not require permission from the administration.

Besides Modi and Shah, the effigy had faces of Yoga guru Ramdev, Sadhvi Pragya, Nathuram Godse, Asaram Bapu and the Vice-Chancellor. The students also carried placards with the slogan, 'Truth shall prevail over evil'. PTI
Simran Sodhi

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, October 13

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will meet Chinese President Xi Jinping, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina over the weekend in a series of bilateral meetings on the sidelines of the BRICS Summit.

The three meetings assume great significance in the context of the India-Pakistan tension also because of the many important bilateral issues India has with each of the three countries.

Modi is likely to discuss a variety of defence-related issues with Putin. The first joint Russia-Pakistan military exercise was held recently and that adds to Indias headache as it attempts to isolate Pakistan globally. However, sources indicate both countries are likely to make progress on Indias desire to purchase Russian air defence missile systems, helicopters and upgrading of Sukhoi-30 MKI.

The tricky bilateral will be with the Chinese President. While it is reliably learnt that Modi will raise the issues of Indias renewed efforts to get membership of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) and that of Masood Azhars designation as an international terrorist, China is unlikely to go along with India in either case.

The statements coming out of China in the last few days are a fair indication that on the NSG, China will stick to consensus and also drag Pakistans membership issue alongside Indias. On Masood Azar issue, China is likely to stand by its friend Pakistan.

The third important bilateral that Modi is scheduled to hold is with Bangladesh PM Sheikh Hasina. Sources privy to developments said Bangladesh would raise the Teesta water treaty issue. Bangladesh, under Hasina, has been extremely supportive of India and has backed India on terror-related issues vis-a-vis Pakistan. Hasina now expects the Modi government to go along with her on the Teesta treaty as a sign that her support to India is recognised.

The spotlight during the summit will be on terror. Though Pakistan will not be present at the summit, it will remain a constant point of reference. The future of BRICSa club made up of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africahas become a little uncertain with India reaching out to the US in a tighter embrace.

Besides BRICS, India will also host BIMSTEC (Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Initiative) member countries and most heads of state have confirmed their participation. BIMSTEC comprises Bhutan, Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Thailand.
New Delhi, October 13

The Law Commissions decision to invite views on the contentious uniform civil code on Thursday drew criticism from the All India Muslim Personal Law Board and other Muslim organisations, which said they would boycott it and accused the Modi government of waging a war against the community.

As the Muslim outfits claimed that the uniform civil code (UCC) would kill Indias pluralism, right wing organisations like the BJP and Shiv Sena, long-time votaries of the common code, strongly supported the governments decision, insisting it would bolster gender equality and end discrimination against women.

Centrist parties like Congress and JD (U) said the idea of UCC was unimplementable and accused the BJP-led government of trying to polarise people ahead of the assembly polls in several states, including key state Uttar Pradesh.

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Addressing a press conference here, the AIMPLB members and representatives of Muslim organisations contended that the UCC, if implemented, would paint all people in one colour, which would threaten the countrys pluralism and diversity.

Trashing the governments stand on the issue of triple talaq, the outfits claimed that the community had reported lesser number of divorce cases vis-a-vis other communities, especially the Hindu community which, they said, had reported higher divorce ratio, according to Census 2011.

AIMPLB general secretary Wali Rehmani, Jamiat-Ulema-e-Hind president Maulana Arshad Madani and representatives of other bodies said all Muslim sects and its women were one on these issues.

They said the outfits would launch a campaign to create awareness among Muslims from Thursday, beginning with a gathering in Lucknow.

The Board members, however, admitted that there were flaws in the personal laws governing Muslims and they were addressed from time to time.

They said the country is facing problems on various fronts, including the LoC and issues like killings elsewhere. This is all destructive. The government should try to fix this and ensure peace than seeking views on issues like UCC, Madani said.

Contrary to the Commissions claim that the step is an endeavour to address discrimination against vulnerable groups and harmonise the various cultural practices, Rehmani said when implemented, the UCC would bring to an end the countrys pluralism and paint all in one colour and finish diversity.

Also, we dont want the practice of triple talaq to be abolished. There are more divorces in other communities. Rather the highest rate, which is double that of Muslims, is among Hindus, he claimed.

As the Muslim outfits panned the governments action, the Congress said enforcement of the UCC was impossible, while the BJP claimed it was aimed at moving towards a progressive society.

Other opposition parties like JD (U) accused the Modi government of trying to polarise people ahead of the Assembly polls in several states.

All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) leader Asaduddin Owaisi said bringing the UCC would kill the diversity and plurality of India. He, however, said his party would certainly respond to the questionnaire.

If you enforce something in the name of UCC, then it will kill the diversity and plurality of the country. Its not right to look at it from a Muslim perspective because Indian diversity also comprises Dalits and tribals. There are different traditions in Hinduism as well, he said.

The Hyderabad MP said the governments real agenda was to focus on Muslims and polarise the society.

Reacting to the issue, former Law Minister and Congress leader Veerappa Moily said it would be difficult to implement the UCC in a country like India where various communities and groups are governed by personal laws.

In a country of this nature, implementation of the UCC is next to impossible, he said, adding that no one should take it as a communal agenda or a Hindu versus Muslim issue. He said 200-300 personal laws existed in India covering various communities.

BJP national secretary Sidharth Nath Singh said the Law Commission is taking opinion of all stakeholders on the issue following which it would form a considered opinion and give it to the Supreme Court.

Now it is for the Muslim Personal Law Board to consider whether they want to be part of the stakeholders or they want to be an individual identity. If Personal Law Board people are misinformed, I cannot do much about it, he said.

Singh also referred to some international declarations and countries like Turkey, Iran and Indonesia, saying they changed law to ensure gender equality. He said it was a move towards building a progressive society.

Shiv Senas Sanjay Raut said, For how long the Muslims will stay away from the national mainstream? The Muslim Law Board should support the UCC as it would help the community, especially women, to come out of misery. Our partys stand is one code, one law and it should be viewed as a national issue rather than religious one.

JD (U) MP Ali Anwar asked the government why it was focusing only on Muslims and said it is not the time to start such a debate. They want to polarise society.

Meanwhile, women members of the Board contended that contrary to perception, the personal law balanced rights of Muslim women and men very well and that there is no need for change.

There is no need for any reform in the law. Triple talaq is not an issue and the governments move to impose UCC intends to snatch our religious freedom guaranteed in the Constitution. Thats the reason we are fighting for our rights, Aasma Zehra, a Board member, said.

In a statement issued later, the Board alleged that the Commissions decision to seek public feedback on UCC was a calculated move aimed at disrupting communal harmony and urged all secular parties to oppose the step.

It alleged that the questionnaire highlighted the ulterior intentions of the Commission and an attempt was being made to nullify the Muslim Personal Law.

It also termed the questionnaire as vague and confusing and one giving impression that personal laws are responsible for social inequalities and gender disparities and had nullified the rights of women.

The Law Commission had on October 7 sought feedback from public on whether the practice of triple talaq be abolished and whether a uniform civil code should be optional. PTI
Ajay Banerjee

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, October 13

India and Russia are set to re-invest in their longstanding military ties. The two countries have agreed to make four more warships, while India will buy the Triumf S-400 air defence missile system, besides inking a contract to make 200 Kamov helicopters in India.

The deals will be formally announced when Prime Minister Narendra Modi meets Russian President Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of the BRICS summit in Goa on October 15. This will be an annual inter-governmental meeting.

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The move comes after New Delhi assured Moscow that the India-US relationship does not change the growth, connect or the importance of their own ties. Moscow had been edgy over the growing India-US relationship. Last December in Moscow, Modi soothed the Russians by saying, In times of crisis, where you need a friend, Russia has always stood with us.

Last week, the Modi government appointed a Russian-speaking former Indian Foreign Service officer PS Raghavan to head the National Security Advisory Board (NSAB).

However, the much-awaited joint production of the fifth generation fighter aircraft (FGFA) is not on the agenda this time, due to multiple pending issues as regards financial and technical aspects. The two nations had signed a preliminary design contract and are now looking to sign a $8-billion research and development contract.

Both sides have reportedly agreed that India will buy Truimf S-400. It can target enemy planes even as they are ready to take-off from their runaways An inter-governmental agreement will be signed for missile, sources said. This is Russia's latest anti-aircraft and missile defence system. It can track 300 targets and shoot down around three dozen simultaneously over a range of 400 km.

The two sides have agreed to have a follow-up on the Talwar-class guided missile frigates of the Indian Navy. The Yantar shipyard in Russia made six of these warships between 2003 and 2013. India is planning for four more. Two will be made in Russia, while the other two will be made in India at a shipyard selected for the purpose, indicating that the private sector in India could get involved. The warships will be equipped with the supersonic BrahMos cruise missile.

Kamov will be deployed for surveillance, dropping small loads and for rescue, including of troops posted at forbidding heights such as the Siachen Glacier-Saltoro Ridge region.
EatStreet, the Madison company that lets consumers order restaurant meals online and through mobile devices, has brought in another big investment: nearly $11 million.

That brings the total the company has raised so far to $38.5 million.

EatStreet is not saying anything about the new funds yet, but confirmed that the investment occurred. Two investors participated in the round, according to papers filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Founded in 2010, EatStreet moved into spacious new quarters in August on the seventh and eighth floors of the 316 Building, 316 W. Washington Ave. EatStreet has 135 employees, all but two of whom work in Madison.

The company has signed on 15,000 restaurants in more than 250 cities across the U.S.

CEO Matt Howard has declined to disclose revenues.

After the previous investment, last December, called a Series C round, Howard acknowledged that funds received at that stage can serve as a prelude to a companys acquisition or initial public stock offering; however, theres been no indication of either, at this point.
Washington, October 13

SAARC has not lived up to its potential, a top White House official said and regretted that the regional summit has to be postponed this year after most of the member countries pulled out of it.

It is regrettable that the SAARC meeting could not be held this year, Peter Lavoy, Senior Director for South Asia at the National Security Council (NSC), White House told a Washington audience in response to a question at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).

In fact SAARC has not lived up to the potential of other regional groupings like ASEAN. That grouping has countries with similar frictions, similar boarder disputes, ethnic concerns and other problems at the time ASEAN was created, he said.

But SAARC has not been able to provide that platform, which has negative effect on the relationships, Lavoy said when asked about Americas relationship between India and Pakistan.

I think, the bottom line is we do not try to balance this relationship, he said, adding that the Obama Administration has been focused on deepening and broadening its relationship with India.

We wish that were to be the case with Pakistan. We work very hard with Pakistan to turn that into a productive mutually beneficial relationship. I am sure the next administration would continue with these tendencies, Lavoy said.

The US he said already has a very vibrant trilateral co-operation with India and Japan.

There is no reason why other countries cant join in on this partnership, he said.

Following the attack in Uri in which 19 soldiers were killed, India decided not to participate in the SAARC Summit that was scheduled to be held in Islamabad in November.

Following India, several other South Asian countries  Bangladesh, Bhutan, Afghanistan and Sri Lanka  pulled out of the summit.

This forced Pakistan to postpone the SAARC Summit for an indefinite period.  PTI
Beijing, October 13

Superior infrastructure in Tibet will provide China an upper hand over India by being a gateway to Nepal and Bangladesh for greater trade and investments, Chinese media said on Thursday.

The competition of China and India over building railways in Nepal will influence the future development of Nepal and Bangladesh. It will also bring more challenges to Tibet, an article in the state-run Global Times here said.

In the next decade, if India continues on its high growth track and speeds up the development of infrastructure and manufacturing, this will impose multi-dimensional pressure on China, of which Tibet will bear the brunt, it said.

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Fortunately, as the central government has attached great importance and offered considerable support to the region, Tibet has gained the upper hand over India in terms of infrastructure development and has established sound economic cooperation relations with neighbouring provinces and cities, it said.

How to further open up Tibet exploit its advantages over India to deal with challenges and exercise an influence over the region while maintaining Tibets stability needs policy support, it said.

It also requires coordination among all western provinces, cities and autonomous regions, it said.

India and Nepal are linked by comparatively good roads.

For years, India has occupied 60 to 70 per cent of Nepals total trade while China has only 10 per cent.

During his visit to India, Nepals new Prime Minister Prachanda revealed that the two countries would discuss the possibility of India helping build a railway connecting Mechi and Mahakali, it said.

If this comes true, a network not only connecting India, but also Tibet and Bangladesh will be formed, it said.

The article said Tibet is emerging as an important part of the China-initiated One Belt and One Road (Silk Road) initiative.

Geographically, as a hub of critical value in connecting China and South Asia, the autonomous region is playing an increasingly important role in regional networks with the acceleration of Indias development and the boosting of Sino-Indian economic relations, it said.

Over 200 km northeast of Bhairawa, a Nepali city close to the border with India, is Nepals capital Kathmandu. 100 kilometers northward from Kathmandu is Kodari, a border crossing from Nepal into China. The three cities make up one of the most important passageways connecting China and the Indian Subcontinent, it said.

The other side of the border from Kodari is Zhangmu, a Chinese customs town and port of entry in Tibet.

The town accounts for around 82 per cent of bilateral trade between China and Nepal and 90 per cent of that between Tibet and Nepal, it said.  PTI
Washington, October 13

Supporting India's "right to self-defence" in the aftermath of the Uri attack, which it dubbed a "clear case of cross-border terrorism", the US has dismissed the recent attempt by Pakistan to link peace in war-torn Afghanistan with resolution of the Kashmir issue.

The White House backed India's right to defend itself as with any other country, in view of the recent surgical strike, but advised caution given the heavy militarisation between the two neighbours.

It also said that that the US is making every effort to ensure that India become a member of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) by the end of this year.

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Making a rare appearance before a Washington audience, Peter Lavoy, the White House's point person for South Asia, said that India-US ties are the "most dynamic relationship" for the US as he listed the Obama administration's achievements in strengthening the relationship between the two largest democracies of the world.

"It (Uri) was a clear case of cross-border terrorism. We condemned this act of terrorism. It was a horrific attack. Every country has a right to self defence. But in a heavily militarised relationship that has also experienced three wars, there is indeed a need for caution and restraint," he said responding to a question on the Uri attack.

"We share with India, the concern for preventing any future attack. We empathise with the Indian position that it needs to respond militarily to cross-border threat of terrorism. But we also advise caution," Lavoy said.

India and Pakistan have a "friction-filled relationship" and they have not found a way to overcome that, he said.

Last week, Lavoy met the two special envoys of Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Kashmir.

The two Pakistani envoys in their public meetings had linked peace in Afghanistan to resolving the Kashmir issue.

"We certainly do not believe that the situation in Afghanistan is linked with Kashmir," the top White House official said.

Lavoy said the US is making every effort to ensure that India becomes a member of the Nuclear Suppliers Group by the end of this year.

"In 2016, India ought to join the NSG," he said and referred to the commitment made by the US in this regard.

India becoming a member of NSG, he argued would exhibit New Delhi's new leadership in non-proliferation.

"Every effort is being made to ensure India ought to join NSG this year," Lavoy said to a question. PTI
Washington DC, October 13

The United States has refused to respond to Jamaat-ul-Dawa chief Hafiz Saeed's remarks on its ties with Pakistan, and said that they would dignify comments made by an avowed terrorist.

Addressing a daily press briefing, John Kirby, spokesperson of the United States' Department of State said, I'm not going to dignify the comments of an avowed terrorist one way or the other.

And we continue to work with Pakistan and continue to urge Pakistan to take steps to shut down access to areas inside their borders to terrorists, to terrorist individuals and to terrorist groups, said Kirby.

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Kirby's remark comes a day after Saeed had reportedly said that the United States is the real enemy of Pakistan.

Calling the US Pakistan's enemy, Saeed has reportedly said it is time Pakistan shifts its focus from the US to building a relationship with India.

He also said that despite the US declaring a bounty on his head, Washington DC could not achieve anything for the last five years.

When asked about whether the US State Department had any concrete information on the perpetrators of the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, Kirby responded, I don't. I would refer you to the Pakistani authorities on that. Obviously, as I've said before, we continue to want to see the perpetrators of the Mumbai attack brought to justice. ANI
Tribune News Service

Mohali, October 13

State Health and Family Welfare Minister Surjit Kumar Jyani handed over appointment letters to 86 new Medical Officers (MBBS), appointed through Baba Farid University of Health Sciences in Faridkot, druing a function at the State Institute of Health and Family Welfare in Mohali today.

Principal Secretary (Health) Vini Mahajan was also present on the occasion. Welcoming the new doctors, the minister exhorted them to work hard and serve the people of Punjab. Jyani said recently, 341 vacancies of Medical Officers were advertised by the Baba Farid University of Health Sciences in Faridkot and after following the due selection procedure, the first lot of 86 doctors was given letters today.

The minister added that the next round of counselling would be held shortly by the department, wherein more appointment letters would be issued. The induction course for these doctors has also been started simultaneously, after which these doctors will join different government hospitals in the state.

Vini Mahajan, while addressing the doctors, said as the number of visitors to government hospitals had increased a lot, the new doctors will get the required exposure and experience.

Dr HS Bali, Director Health Services, Punjab, gave orientation to the new doctors regarding various health programmes and schemes of the Health Department.
Chandigarh, October 13

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Thursday launched a week-long campaign Vote Jodo Jharu Nal with a view to reaching out to the voters across the state and inform them about the achievements of the Arvind Kejriwal government in Delhi.

AAP state convener Gurpreet Singh Waraich (Ghuggi) said the campaign was launched and would continue till October 19.

According to the programme, he said, AAP co-incharge and Delhi MLA Jarnail Singh would hold rallies in the Malwa region, Sangrur MP Bhagwant Mann in the Majha region while he would hold rallies in the Doaba region.

Every day, all three leaders will be holding two rallies each, he said.

He said that as per the plan, the party candidates would visit five villages every day and about 3,000 to 5,000 volunteers would meet the voters under the door-to-door campaign.

The documentaries related to the achievements of the AAP government in Delhi and message of AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal would be shown through the projectors, he said. PTI
Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, October 13

Independent legislator Simarjit Singh Bains has ruled out the Awaaz-e-Punjabs merger with the Congress. Back here from New Delhi last night, he said talks for a pre-poll alliance were on with the central leadership of the Congress as well as the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). The state leadership of both parties does not figure in the talks, he added.

He further said, Awaaz-e-Punjab is united. There are no differences among its members. Bains reiterated that Navjot Singh Sidhu would take the final call on forging an alliance.

He said Capt Amarinder Singh was frustrated over some pre-poll surveys that are not very flattering.
Tribune News Service

Patna, October 13

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar flagged off Jagriti Yatra from Takht Harmandir Sahib here today, ahead of Prakash Parv to commemorate Guru Gobind Singhs 350th birth anniversary early next year.

The yatra  comprising two buses, two mini-buses and a car  will pass through 16 states over the next two months. It will reach Punjab in the third week of November.

Nitish said: The state government has limited resources at its disposal, but it is committed to serving the devotees expected to attend Prakash Parv. Most of the pilgrims are likely to converge on Patna between December 30 and January 10.

The yatras objective is to propagate the Gurus philosophy, said Sajinder Singh, general secretary of Takht Harmandir Sahib (Patna Sahib).

Meanwhile, Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said Prime Minister Narendra Modi was likely to participate in the Gurus anniversary celebrations here.
Rajmeet Singh

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, October 12

As many as 900 private colleges have usurped funds totalling Rs 100 crore meant for students belonging to the Scheduled Castes through 32,000 fake enrolments.

A probe by the Punjab Welfare Department has already submitted its report to Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal. An inquiry was ordered after the matter was raised by Akali MLA Justice Nirmal Singh in the state Assembly during the Budget session. Several other MLAs, cutting across party lines, had supported his demand for an inquiry into the fraud in the name of SC students.

The government is in the process of recovering the money from the managements of these colleges even as some are pressing the authorities to brush the matter under the carpet, say sources. The maximum bogus enrolments of 22,000 students have been detected in colleges under the direct/indirect control of the DPI (Colleges) followed by technical colleges (10,000), including polytechnics and Industrial Training Institutes, under the Director, Technical Education.

Bogus admissions have also been detected in institutions under the control of the State Council for Education Research and Training, Animal Husbandry and Directorate of Research and Medical Education. In most cases, the students have been shown as having dropped out or are enrolled in more than one institution.

The private colleges are on the warpath. Their joint action committee has asked the government to release Rs 80 crore for 2014-15 and Rs 400 crore for 2015-16. We will take action against the erring institutions. But if they have genuine demands, we will certainly look into these, said Gulzar Singh Ranike, Minister for Welfare of SCs and BCs.
Ravi Dhaliwal

Tribune News Service

Kotli Surat Malhi (Gurdaspur), October 12

Punjab Pradesh Congress chief and former CM Capt Amarinder Singh today stormed the Kotli Surat Mali police station before launching his partys door-to-door campaign. Not finding the SHO there, he was livid. The latter had left before the PPCC chiefs arrival.

A well-publicised affair, the local CID had informed the Batala SSP about Amarinders plans. Sources said SHO Manjit Singh developed cold feet when he learnt that scores of people were waiting to apprise the PPCC chief about cases registered by him (SHO) at the behest of local SAD leaders.

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There is not a single person in the area who has not complained against the SHO. His name is sure to top my list of errant officers, warned a livid Amarinder, adding he would not hesitate to invoke Article 311 of the Constitution to cleanse the Police Department of officers with a political bias, if voted to power.

During my earlier tenure as CM, I had dismissed 23 officers under Article 311. This is a warning to officers who openly toe the line of ruling party politicians, including halqa chiefs. There are reports that officers are reporting to their political masters, not their seniors. These officers will be dismissed, Amarinder said. He was apparently referring to scores of false cases registered against Congress workers.

Accompanied by MLA SS Randhawa and PPCC executive member Gurmeet Pahra, he was on the premises for 25 minutes. As Amarinder stepped out of the police station for campaigning, he was approached by some youths who complained about the SHOs behaviour. Later in the day, DS Cheema, SAD minister, said: Capts campaign is not picking up. He is resorting to gimmicks to grab headlines.
Chris Drosner Chris Drosner writes the Beer Baron column for the Wisconsin State Journal. Follow Chris Drosner 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. Save Manage followed notifications Close Followed notifications Please log in to use this feature Log In Don't have an account? Sign Up Today

It turns out that beer, a noted social lubricant, also pairs nicely with social media.

Ive been impressed by the thirsty Twitter audience for beer news and information  not to mention the copious supply  since opening an account at the launch of this column in 2011. (Its @WSJbeerbaron if you dont make it to the fine print at the bottom of these columns.)

And on Facebook, local and national groups of beer enthusiasts and industry people have sprung up to share news and commentary on new releases, industry news or other items of interest.

Untappd, a social network built around beer ratings or check-ins, takes those pesky non-beer posts out of the equation.

The accounts of breweries and retail outlets have a place, too, but for the most part Ive found the user-driven channels to be far more engaging.

While each platform has its own feel and audience, what they share is an ability to bring together people, regardless of location, around a topic of shared interest. That capacity to indulge an often intense but still relatively niche passion with people of a like mind is a powerful draw.

The bread and butter of beer social media posts is what has come to be known as beer porn. These photos share much with their namesake: They vary widely in quality and artistry, they can disgust or titillate, and often whats going on in the background is just as interesting as the intended subject.

Such posts are often littered with hashtags, a way of organizing and rallying the like minds of various social media such as #wibeer or #craftbeer. One popular hashtag, #TopBrewsTues, turns an otherwise droll midweek night of drinking into a kind of index of the nations beer fridge, from the mundane to the rarest and most-sought-after brews.

Top Brews Tuesday also was the inspiration for a new, closer to home version: #WIBeerWednesday.

Vintage Brewing brewmaster Scott Manning was cruising Twitter during Top Brews Tuesday, Sept. 27 when it struck him that Wisconsin could use its own day in the Twitter spotlight. Manning, whos on the marketing committee of the Wisconsin Brewers Guild, immediately put the word out to others in the states beer industry and a few beer media people. Seizing on some catchy alliteration, Vintages #WIBeerWednesday post the next day launched the hashtag, and by midnight about 60 tweets populated the feed, including missives from Florida and Oregon state.

Mannings message to his fellow brewers focused on the value in replicating Top Brews Tuesday.

Its an amazing kind of free, unsolicited, word-of-mouth promotion for those beers and breweries mentioned, always positive and almost entirely customer-driven, he wrote. Incredible. Thats the idea for #WiBeerWednesday, but focused on our state, our breweries, Wisconsin craft beer.

While its origin isnt quite organic, the hashtag  like any  can be owned by the audience that wants to own it.

Ultimately, Id love to see #WiBeerWednesday gain momentum and become a self-perpetuating phenomenon, Manning said. Like Top Brews Tuesday, it can be a message board and sharing tool for photos and such, between Wisconsin beer lovers, or between breweries and their fans, or distributors and retailers, anybody who wants to use it.

Manning said he could see retailers or bars linking Badger State-boosting specials or promotions to it. He noted Vintage debuted its guest brewer showcase on the first #WIBeerWednesday featuring special beers from other local breweries alongside his house brews.

Ive found it to be a handy way of exploring the world of Wisconsin beer without leaving the couch or desk, another way of sorting the bottle shops or tap lists cacophony of choices.

The highly regional nature of craft beer is one of my favorite things about it, and Top Brews Tuesday intrigues by showcasing beers from all corners of the country, including those well never see here. While a lot of the user-generated #WIBeerWednesday beer porn has depicted limited beers from the likes of Central Waters and New Glarus, a lot of the states smaller brewers  like Wisconsin Dells Port Huron and Eau Claires Brewing Projekt  have been highlighted as well.

Its a way to elevate Wisconsin beer pride to a national audience, and Im not shy about embracing it. My first two #WIBeerWednesdays were celebrated with Potosi Brewings new Shot Tower coffee stout and Oso Brewings Hop Whoopin. The third, well, let me tell you a little more about it.

Black Cloud

Style: Belgian dark ale

Brewed by: Furthermore Beer, which now has a Black River Falls address instead of a Spring Green one. While Furthermore says its spiritual HQ remains there, the company merged about a year ago into Sand Creek Brewing, where nearly all of Furthermores beer had been made under contract since the brand was launched in 2006.

What its like: While a black cloud is not an inapt description, lets say more literally that it drinks like a black and tan of 25 percent Belgian quad and 75 percent oatmeal stout.

Where, how much: Black Cloud debuted on draft in January at Isthmus Beer and Cheese Festival, and it joined Furthermores year-round bottle lineup in July. Six-packs run $9-$10.

The beer: The opaquely black Black Cloud opens with a sweet, gently roasty aroma that bears a touch of distinctly Belgian fruitiness owed to its Belgian yeast. The other key ingredient, Midnight Wheat malt, lightens the body while blackening the beer, without the acerbic bitterness common to many dark malts. That dark malt and the yeasty esters dance around each other in the flavor, with notes of banana and other, less distinct fruit playing off the chocolatey malt with just a touch of brown sugar character. It finishes with a sprightly, slightly acidic zing along with a lingering dark chocolate character and a little hop bitterness. Its full mouthfeel plays as fluffy, not heavy.

Thats a lot going on, but it all comes together very nicely. Furthermore prides itself on beers that defy categorization, and the enigmatic Black Cloud does exactly that while retaining a clear identity all its own.

Booze factor: Dark Belgians can vary widely in alcohol content; Black Cloud comes in at 7 percent ABV.

The buzz: There have been a lot of breweries, big and small, sold or merged into others in the past 18 months or so. That the only deal we know of in Wisconsin came between two small brewers  that, furthermore, had a longstanding relationship  is heartening to those who cherish the feel-good status quo.

Given the pace of acquisitions around the country, the attractiveness of Wisconsin breweries and the age of some of their owner-founders, it seems a safe bet that will change. When that day comes, surely some Wisconsin beer fans will reevaluate their definition of a local brewery.

In the meantime, Im happy Furthermore is still Furthermore, and kicking out wild ideas as well executed as Black Cloud.

Bottom line: 4 stars (out of five)

Ultimately, Id love to see #WiBeerWednesday gain momentum and become a self-perpetuating phenomenon. Like Top Brews Tuesday, it can be a message board and sharing tool for photos and such, between Wisconsin beer lovers, or between breweries and their fans, or distributors and retailers, anybody who wants to use it. Vintage Brewing brewmaster Scott Manning
Mohit Khanna

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, October 13

For the past few days, dyeing unit owners are being visited by the men in khaki who want their help in burning narcotics substances at their furnaces.

The order issued by the police headquarters, Chandigarh, states that narcotic substances of the decided cases, (dating before 1989 and afterwards) and kept as case property in various police stations of the state, will have to be set on fire till the third week of October.

Nearly three tonnes of poppy husk and around one ton of opium, besides a huge quantity of heroin, smack, cocaine and habit-forming drug need to be destroyed.

Sources in the industry said police officers were checking if the dyeing units have installed state-of-the-art incinerator system to comply with all the norms laid down by the apex court.

The Supreme Court had prohibited the police from burning narcotic substances in the open as it causes pollution.

Sources said the police are looking at the industry as incinerators are not available in public sector units.

The Ludhiana rural and the city police combined have a stock of over 500 kg of poppy husk and nearly 100 kg opium. Further, there is a huge quantity of narcotics and habit-forming drugs.

TR Misra, Chairman of Federation of Dyeing Factories Association, said, No dyeing unit in the city has the capacity to destroy such a huge stock in a single day.

Narcotic substances do not catch fire easily. So their burning will take over a week. In such a scenario, the dyeing unit will not be able to do business. This will cause losses to the unit owner.

Industry sources said that the police might rope in a pharmaceutical company located in Nawanshahr for destroying the narcotics as that drug manufacturing major of the country is equipped with a state-of-the-art incinerator.

This destruction of drugs will be carried out under the supervision of senior police officials and Punjab Pollution Control Board.
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, October 13

Punjab Congress MLAs Sunil Jakhar and Kuljit Nagra on Thursday accused the Akalis of sponsoring state terrorism even as a meeting between protesting party leaders and Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal in Chandigarh failed to break the deadlock over the demand for action against Ludhiana police officers.

Congress leaders earlier marched to the CM residence to demand action against Ludhiana Police Commissioner Jatinder Singh Aulakh and dismissal of SP Jaswinder Singh for registering cases of murder and kidnapping against Congressmen following a clash with Akali workers over Dasehra celebrations in Ludhiana.

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Demanding that Akalis should condemn the Ludhiana incident, the leaders also raised incidents of Mansa, Muktsar and Abohar.

CLP leader Charanjit Channi asked why the Akalis had reacted to the word 'chitta'. He was referring to the clash over the Congress attempt to burn a white effigy of Ravan.

Congress MLAs staged a dharna outside the gate at the CMs residence and raised slogans against the Akali government, calling it a mafia.

Later, the Chief Minister met them, and also asked the DGP to go to Ludhiana and investigate the matter, and not spare the guilty officers. However, the Congress leaders were not satisfied and continued with the dharna.

Related stories:

YAD-Cong clash over chitta Ravana

FIR on SAD-Cong clash contradicts facts

Ludhiana clash: Youth Cong leader held
The Leader (Allahabad) considers that special attention should be called to the fact that one issue of the Nation (London), viz., that of the 29th July, 1916, was mangled by the censor at Bombay before it was allowed to pass on to addresses. Objection, however, is not limited to the exercise by the censor of the power vested in him in this particular instance. We perceive no reason why exchange copies addressed to newspapers should be censored in India when in England editors are privileged to read and know from their exchanges a good deal more than they are at liberty to reproduce. Moreover the provisions of the defence of India Act are wide enough to promptly bring within its meshes any editor who is likely to trifle with his responsibilities. Whatever may be the necessity for censoring copies of newspapers addressed to private persons, exchange copies of newspaper editors may fairly be expected to pass unmolested here as in England. The Nation is perhaps not the only journal that is being molested in this manner. The Congress organ, India, has during the last many, many months been reaching this office after several days' delay.
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, October 13

Two Polish trekkers have been stuck for more than 72 hours at the Shivling peak in the Uttarkashi district of Garhwal Division. The State Disaster Response Team (SDRF) had conducted a search and rescue operation to find trekkers, but could not succeed due to rough weather. The trekkers have been identified as Greg Michael (46), and Lucas John (42).

According to information, a trekking expedition team comprising five trekkers had reached at Tapovan from Gangotri on September, 24 in the Uttarkashi district. The team moved to the base camp on September, 25 and reached the advance base camp the next day. Out of the five trekkers, two trekkers had fallen sick during the expedition on October 8, while the remaining trekkers had called the Embassy after they had reached Uttarkashi safely.

IG (SDRF) Sanjay Gunjyal said the SDRF and the high altitude mountain search and a rescue police team had been sent to look out for the trekkers in the Uttarkashi district. He said choppers had tried to slither the rescue teams at the Tapovan but adverse weather conditions had become a hindrance in the rescue operations. He said the state government had requested the Army to help in carrying out the rescue operation near the Shivling peak. Gunjyal assured that no stone would be left unturned to rescue the stuck trekkers.

Sources said the trekkers had tried to scale the Shivling peak, located at an altitude of 6,543 metres from its north side, which was never scaled by any trekker due to its tough mountain terrain. The physical condition of the trekkers is critical due to mountain sickness.
Bangkok, October 13

About 300 people gathered at a Bangkok hospital on Thursday where Thailand's King Bhumibol Adulyadej, the world's longest reigning monarch, is in an unstable condition as the government urged jittery stock market investors to ignore rumours.

The palace said in a statement late on Wednesday the king's health had "overall not yet stabilized" and the 88-year-old was on a ventilator and battling a new infection.

It followed a statement on Sunday saying the king was in an unstable condition after receiving haemodialysis treatment.

Well-wishers gathered on Thursday outside Siriraj Hospital, which is near Bangkok's Chao Phraya river.

Some wore yellow, the king's colour, and others donned pink, a colour they believe will bring the king an improvement in his health. Some prayed.

"I was worried so I came here to see for myself," said housewife Thornpan Tornueng, 67.

"This evening I will take part in chanting for the king." District police commander Rithee Visetkamin said more people were expected to gather at the hospital through the day.

The king has long been seen as a unifying figure in Thailand, which has grappled with political uncertainty in recent years. His health, which is watched closely, is a sensitive subject.

Strict laws lese-majeste laws mean public discussions of his health and any succession plans are punishable by length jail terms.

Investors in the Stock Exchange of Thailand have sold shares since Sunday's statement from the Royal Household Bureau on the king's health.

The main index fell as much as 6.9 per cent on Wednesday to its lowest since March 1, but recovered to close down 2.5 per cent, its lowest since the end of May.

It was down 2.1 per cent by the mid-day break on Thursday.

Deputy Prime Minister Somkid Jatusripitak said he had asked the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to investigate rumours that had been affecting the market.

"I will tell the SEC to investigate who spread the news and who caused stocks to fall. Foreigners are waiting to pick up stocks and Thais are selling them," Somkid told reporters.

"I don't think it's beneficial to do that because this is an important time for the country and we should not undermine ourselves."

"Don't listen to rumours. Please only listen to the government," he added.

The government on Wednesday urged people to ignore rumours on social media and wait for official announcements. Reuters
Beijing: Raj Kapoors 1951 classic Awaara is set for a theatrical reboot, according to an agreement signed between India and China. The film was a huge success in China, and its song Awaara Hoon and Kapoor became widely known across the nation. The agreement between the Indian Council of Cultural Relations (ICCR) and China Shanghai International Arts Festival (CSIAF) calls for cultural performances in India and China during 2017 and 2018.  PTI

MJ breaks record as top-earning dead celebrity

Los Angeles: King of Pop Michael Jackson has earned more in the past year than any deceased star over a 12-month period. MJ has topped the macabre annual list with a record-breaking income of USD 825 million, thanks in part to the sale of Jacksons share in the Sony/ATV Music Publishing catalogue, featuring an archive of Beatles tracks. A distant number two is Peanuts creator and cartoonist Charles M Schulz.  PTI

Producer fined $1.95 m for Fords injury

Los Angeles: Production company bosses behind Star Wars: The Force Awakens have been fined USD 1.95 million for the mishap that led to Harrison Ford breaking his leg on the sets. The 74-year-old actor was seriously injured in June 2014 at Pinewood Studios in Buckinghamshire, England, when his leg got trapped in the door of his character Han Solos Millennium Falcon spaceship.  PTI
Bangkok, October 13

Thailand's King Bhumibol Adulyadej, who was the world's longest-reigning monarch, died in hospital on Thursday, the palace said in an announcement. He was 88.

He was credited with restoring the influence of Thailand's royalty during 70 years on the throne and earning the devotion of many of his subjects.

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For the majority of the country's 68 million people, the king was a pillar of stability in rapidly changing times  Thailand embraced industrialisation during his reign but also saw its parliamentary democracy punctuated by 10 military coups, the most recent in May 2014.

King Bhumibol, who ascended the throne on June 9, 1946, was seen as a force for unity, and there have long been concerns that the political tensions that have riven Thailand over the past decade could worsen after his death.

That may be less likely under the regime of the leader of the most recent coup, Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha. The former general has held a tight grip on power since toppling the remnants of Thailand's last democratic government in 2014.

"His Majesty has passed away at Siriraj Hospital peacefully," the palace said in a statement on Thursday, adding he died at 15:52 (0852 GMT).

Thailand has been divided for years between the royalist establishment and the red-shirted supporters of exiled former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted in a 2006 coup.

Telecommunications billionaire Thaksin, now in self-exile, built up a powerful patronage network that competed for power and opportunity with Thailand's old-money order.

Poor health

The king had been in poor health for some time, and has spent most of the past six years in Bangkok's Siriraj hospital.

King Bhumibol was re-admitted in May 2015 and was last seen in public in January, when he spent several hours visiting his Bangkok palace.

The Royal Household Bureau in its statement on Thursday did not give a reason for the king's death. The king been treated for a respiratory infection, a build up of fluid surrounding the brain and a swollen lung in the past few months.

Born in 1927 in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where his father, Prince Mahidol, was studying medicine, King Bhumibol spent much of his early life abroad, first in the United States and then in Switzerland.

He became king in 1946 after the still unexplained gunshot death of his elder brother, 20-year-old King Ananda Mahidol who was also known as Rama VIII. King Bhumibol returned to Thailand for good four years later to be crowned King Rama IX.

The saxophone-playing King Bhumibol was a celebrity visitor to foreign capitals in the early years of his reign with Queen Sirikit, a distant cousin whom he married in 1950 shortly before his coronation.

Politics

Though officially above politics, he first started to speak out on political issues in the 1960s against the backdrop of a creeping communist insurgency.

In 1973, he intervened personally after bloodshed in Bangkok when students demonstrated against military rule. He nominated a new prime minister, defusing the political tension.

Although backing the students then, as a social conservative King Bhumibol was worried about the threat to public order inherent in any people's movement, and three years later he intervened on the side of the military after another bloody putsch.

The king's image as a political truce-maker peaked after bloody clashes in 1992 between pro-democracy protesters and the army. He summoned the protagonists, a former general leading the protests and an army-chief-turned-prime minister, and with the two prostrate before him, ordered them to desist.

His intervention led to the subsequent collapse of military rule.

His presumed successor, Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn, 63, has taken a more prominent part in royal ceremonial and public appearances in recent years, but he does not command the same level of devotion as his father.  Reuters
New York, October 13

Two women have said that Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump touched them inappropriately in the past, one of them on board an airplane three decades ago and the other in 2005 in Manhattan.

Jessica Leeds, 74, told The New York Times on Wednesday that over three decades ago the mogul, who was seated in first class beside her on a flight to New York, touched her breasts and tried to put his hand under her dress a few minutes after takeoff and without knowing her in advance.

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"He was like an octopus," she said, adding "His hands were everywhere." She fled to the back of the plane. "It was an assault", Leeds said.

Leeds, a travelling businesswoman at the time of the alleged attack, said she had told at least four people about the incident, and they also spoke with The New York Times.

The second account came from Rachel Crooks, who was a 22-year-old receptionist at Bayrock Group, a real estate investment and development company in the Trump Tower in Manhattan, ran into Trump one morning outside an elevator.

She introduced herself to Trump, and they shook hands, but the mogul would not let go, she said. Then, he began kissing her cheeks and finally "kissed me directly on the mouth".

"It didn't feel like an accident, it felt like a violation," she said.

"It was so inappropriate," Crooks recalled, "I was so upset that he thought I was so insignificant that he could do that." After the incident, Crooks returned to her workplace and called her sister, Brianne Webb, in Ohio, to tell her what had just happened.

The New York Times said that Trump was informed about these two new claims but rejected them.

Leeds and Crooks have never publicly told their stories but their description of the incidents are similar to those of other women who have claimed that Trump kissed or touched them without their consent.

During the second presidential debate with Democratic rival Hillary Clinton on October 9, Trump denied sexually assaulting any women.

Last Friday, a 2005 videotape was made public on which Trump can be heard making lewd and sexist comments about women, including saying that he often kisses women he meets on the mouth.

"I just start kissing them," Trump said on the videotape. "It's like a magnet. Just kiss. I don't even wait."

Trump sends legal notice to NYT

Meanwhile, Trump has sent a legal notice to The New York Times asking it to retract the reckless and defamatory story.

Your article is reckless, defamatory and constitutes libel per se. It is apparent from, among other things, the timing of the article, that it is nothing more than a politically-motivated effort to defeat Mr Trumps candidacy, said Marc E Kasowitz, the attorney on behalf of the Republican presidential nominee.

That is why you apparently performed an entirely inadequate investigation to test the veracity of these false and malicious allegations, including why these two individuals waited, in one case, 11 years, and, in another case, more than three decades, before deciding to come forward with these false and defamatory statements, he said.

Clearly, The New York Times is willing to provide a platform to anyone wishing to smear Mr Trumps name and reputation prior to the election irrespective of whether the alleged statements have any basis in fact, he said.

We hereby demand that you immediately cease any further publication of this article, remove it from your website and issue a full and immediate retraction and apology. Failure to do so will leave my client with no option but to pursue all available actions and remedies, Kasowitz said in the legal notice sent to the daily.  Agencies
Washington, October 13

The US military launched cruise missile strikes on Thursday to knock out three coastal radar sites in areas of Yemen controlled by Iran-aligned Houthi forces, retaliating after failed missile attacks this week on a US Navy destroyer, US officials said.

The strikes, authorised by President Barack Obama, represent Washingtons first direct military action against suspected Houthi-controlled targets in Yemens conflict.

Still, the Pentagon appeared to stress the limited nature of the strikes, which were aimed at radar that enabled the launch of at least three missiles against the US Navy destroyer USS Mason since Sunday.

These limited self-defense strikes were conducted to protect our personnel, our ships, and our freedom of navigation, Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook said.

US officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said US Navy destroyer USS Nitze launched the Tomahawk cruise missiles around 4 a.m. local (0100 GMT).

These radars were active during previous attacks and attempted attacks on ships in the Red Sea, including the USS Mason, one of the officials said, adding the targeted radar sites were in remote areas where the risk of civilian casualties was low.

The official identified the areas in Yemen where the radar were located as: near Ras Isa, north of Mukha and near Khoka.

The failed missile attacks on the USS Mason - the latest of which took place on Wednesday - appeared to be part of the reaction to a suspected Saudi-led strike on mourners gathered in Yemens Houthi-held capital Sanaa.

Michael Knights, an expert on Yemens conflict at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, suggested the Houthis, fighters from a Shiite sect, could be becoming more militarily aligned with groups such as Lebanons Shiite militant group Hezbollah.

Targeting US warships is a sign that the Houthis have decided to join the axis of resistance that currently includes Lebanese Hezbollah, Hamas and Iran, Knight said.

The Houthis, who are battling the internationally-recognized government of Yemen President Abd Rabbu Mansour al-Hadi, denied any involvement in Sundays attempt to strike the USS Mason.

But US officials have told Reuters there were growing indications that Houthis fighters, or forces aligned with them, were responsible for Sundays attempted strikes, in which two coastal cruise missiles designed to target ships failed to reach the destroyer.

The missile incidents, along with an October 1 strike on a vessel from the United Arab Emirates, add to questions about safety of passage for military ships around the Bab al-Mandab Strait, one of the worlds busiest shipping routes.

The Houthis, who are allied to Hadis predecessor Ali Abdullah Saleh, have the support of many army units and control most of the north, including the capital, Sanaa.

The Pentagon warned against any future attacks.

The United States will respond to any further threat to our ships and commercial traffic, as appropriate, Cook said.

Although Thursdays strikes against the radar aim to undercut the ability to track and target US ships, the Houthis are still believed to possess missiles that could pose a threat.

Reuters has reported that the coastal defense cruise missiles themselves used against the USS Mason had considerable range, fuelling concern about the kind of weaponry the Houthis appear willing to employ and some of which, US officials believe, is supplied by Iran.

One of the missiles fired on Sunday, for example, traveled more than two dozen nautical miles before splashing into the Red Sea off Yemens southern coast, one US official said.  Reuters
Miko Poke is small for a Food Fight restaurant, sitting in the footprint of what used to be the Bluephies bar room.

Its owners expect to do a big to-go business, selling poke-style bowls  raw fish over rice and seasonings  which are a perfect take-out food because the ingredients are served cold (but over warm rice) and are already packed in to-go containers.

Caitlin Suemnicht, the local restaurant groups chief creative officer and a part owner in Miko Poke, said about a third of the restaurants business is take-out. Online ordering recently became available and Suemnicht expects it to boost take-out sales, making it easier for those placing complicated custom bowl orders.

Miko Poke, which opened Aug. 25, is the first of a pair of health-conscious restaurants taking the place of Bluephies, which at 22 years old, was the third Food Fight restaurant.

I didnt think it was time for the popular Bluephies to close, but the brains behind Food Fight wanted to freshen things up. And boy, is Miko Poke (pronounced POH-kay) fresh, serving deconstructed sushi in a bowl.

The Hawaiian-style poke was clearly the best out of the three house favorites a friend and I ordered on a recent Sunday night. The six house favorites plus build-your-own bowls are available in three sizes, small ($7.50), medium ($10.50) and large ($14.50). Bowls feature cubes of tender, raw, sushi-grade fish on top of either white or brown rice, or greens, with a variety of add-ons, garnishes and sauces.

Bowl is probably the wrong word, because the meals actually come in plastic deli containers.

The Hawaii style had ahi tuna, which was our favorite fish, but it was also the combination of the other ingredients that made it stand out: avocado, cucumbers, edamame, poke sauce, garlic chili oil and spicy aioli.

Next best was the Cali salmon: delicious raw salmon paired with avocado, cilantro, and other ingredients that mostly worked well, except that it was too heavy on the lime.

We didnt care as much for the spicy albacore because the fish wasnt as flavorful, and the mix of sweet (yuzu and melon) and hot (thinly sliced serrano peppers) was a bit jarring.

Yet each of the meals was a treat. Neither my friend nor I could ever tire of sushi, but nonetheless, these bowls are a great diversion. Plus, if youre in a hurry, its faster than sushi, with the Miko Poke counter people getting you through the line quickly.

There are only two sides, a wonderful seaweed and cucumber salad ($5) in a sesame ginger vinaigrette; and paper-thin, hand-cut Hawaiian purple sweet potato chips ($2.50), which come in an elegant white paper bag.

The chips were too salty for me, but just right for my companion, who ate most of them. The reverse was true for the salad. It was too bland for him, but for me there was nothing not to like.

Miko Poke will offer some Hawaiian beers when it gets its liquor license, which is tied to the license of its sister restaurant, Everly. In the meantime, the sparkling limeade ($3) was perfectly tart and sweet, and a sparkling Honolulu iced tea ($3) had a bit of fizz and only a hint of sweetness.

Domes of Hawaiian shave ice ($3.50) for dessert should not be passed up. The caramelized part of the caramelized pineapple didnt come through, but the ice was a nice, light way to end a nice, light meal.

My companions main complaint was that he had to stare at a larger-than-life picture of a Magnum P.I.-era Tom Selleck on a beach in shorts and a tank top. That and the Ramones song playing only added to my fun.
The city of Madison now has three options to consider for renovating an aging city building for a Downtown emergency shelter for homeless men.

At the citys request, Engberg Anderson Architects produced three preliminary options that use part of the citys three-story Fairchild Building, 120 S. Fairchild St., to replace existing facilities now in three church basements.

The late 1920s, 43,340-square-foot structure, built into a slope that allows street access on all three floors, is now used for storage and parking by Madison police, parking enforcement and the Parks Division.

The city has made no decisions about the buildings reuse but is reviewing the following options:

Leave all existing uses in the building and use part of the top floor for a shelter with roughly the same number of beds and features as the existing mens shelters.

Relocate one existing use and convert the entire top floor to a shelter with 160 beds and flexible overflow sleeping areas, an upgraded pay to stay area with computer room and lounge, four rooms for couples and a smoking enclosure. Theres also a safe room, described as a flexible space that could be used to separate guests such as transgender people who may feel uncomfortable in the main area.

Leave all existing uses and add a fourth floor with essentially the same offerings as Option 2, plus an outdoor patio.

All options would provide an intake area, kitchen, dining area, a place to sleep for those whove been drinking, a lounge, offices, space for service providers, more showers and laundry space than available at existing facilities, a heat-treating room to control bedbugs, and storage. Options 1 and 2 could have a public restroom.

Our goal was to combine the three shelters into one, said Mike Zuehlke, senior associate at Enberg Anderson, which will make a presentation at a neighborhood meeting on Monday night. I think we are adding a lot more things than we have now.

Zuehlke said preliminary cost estimates were not available but would be shared at the meeting. Social service providers will also attend.

Currently, Porchlight Inc. offers night shelter to single homeless men at Grace Episcopal Church on the Capitol Square with overflow space at St. Johns Lutheran Church on East Washington Avenue and First United Methodist Church on Wisconsin Avenue.

During winter months, Porchlight serves an average of 160 to 180 men per night. Guests get two hot meals per day, personal grooming supplies, laundry facilities and counseling. There is a 90-day limit for the drop-in shelter per year, but exceptions are made for extreme weather.

The city sought the study because the Fairchild Building is in disrepair, the existing shelter situation is inadequate, and part of the Grace Episcopal Church block may be redeveloped in a way that requires discontinuing the main mens shelter in coming years.

(But) we are not on the verge of siting a homeless shelter at the Fairchild Building, said City Council President Mike Verveer, 4th District, who represents the area and set the neighborhood meeting to ensure all study and discussion on the possibility are transparent.

The Fairchild Building is structurally sound but needs improvements to its exterior and roof whether converted to another use or not, Zuehlke said, and it will need insulation added if a shelter is located there. The architects studied existing shelters, traveled to Minneapolis and Rockford, Illinois, to tour others, and conducted phone interviews to determine the best shelter programming, he said.

The long and narrow building gets plenty of light that can be brought inside a shelter, but the configuration presents challenges in ensuring safety, security and proper separation of existing and new uses, Zuehlke said.

Each option has advantages and drawbacks, he said. The first requires no existing uses be moved but offers limited space. The second requires an existing use to relocate. And the third means adding stairs and an elevator and a new floor, which would be the most costly, he said.

Porchlight executives like Option 2, using the entire top floor for a shelter.

It has everything on a main floor with separate entrances for guests and staff and volunteers, associate executive director Karla Jameson said. I like the outside smoking enclosure so that is not visible to people driving by. I like the inside intake area so guests can be inside as they are checking in.

The private rooms for outreach and other staff, the bedbug room, and extras such as the safe room, pay-to-stay area and rooms for couples, would be outstanding, Jameson said, adding, We would love to run a shelter in this space with this setup.

Residents have questions about potential crime and impact on quality of life in the neighborhood, Verveer said.

The city is unlikely to pay for a renovation, but a developer requiring the existing shelters relocation and private sources could deliver required funding, community development director Jim OKeefe said.

This is only a study, he said. There are a lot of people who have to have a lot of conversation about whether or not this is a project the city would entertain at this site.

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A federal judge Thursday ordered the state to better publicize the process for people who face hardships complying with Wisconsins voter ID law to get a temporary credential allowing them to vote in November.

Judge James Peterson reiterated that he wont give plaintiffs in a legal challenge to the law what they sought: a full suspension of the law in advance of the Nov. 8 election.

Peterson instead said in a court hearing that he would instruct the state to patch up the law in time for the November election, the first presidential election in which it will be in effect.

It remained unclear if the plaintiffs in the case, which include the liberal groups One Wisconsin Institute and Citizen Action of Wisconsin, will appeal the ruling. An attorney for the plaintiffs, Josh Kaul, said after the hearing that he was very pleased that (Peterson) ordered a lot of reforms that we think are going to make it easier for people to access the right to vote.

Now its up to the state to take that order very seriously and to do what it can to make sure that people arent disenfranchised in this election, Kaul said.

A spokesman for the state Department of Justice, Johnny Koremenos, said in a statement that it will not appeal or seek a stay of the order.

After yet another attempt by the plaintiffs to strike down voter ID, the law remains in effect for the November election, Koremenos said.

Peterson entered the formal order Thursday night.

Under the voter ID law, the Division of Motor Vehicles provides free IDs to voters who lack them. The DMV also oversees whats at issue at this stage of the years-long legal battle over the law: the petition process to get a temporary voting credential for a small subset of voters who lack both an ID and the underlying documents, such a birth certificate, to get one.

A recent investigation by the voting rights group VoteRiders showed staffers at DMV locations throughout the state gave inaccurate information to people who came seeking IDs  particularly people who lacked the underlying documents and might have needed to enter the petition process.

DMV officials have said everyone who enters the petition process promptly receives a temporary voting credential, as is required by an order Peterson issued in July.

But Peterson, speaking to attorneys in the case in court Thursday, said that may not matter because the process has been so poorly publicized  and DMV staffers so poorly trained in how to administer it.

One of the problems here is that people may not be getting into the process because theyre not getting the right information about it, Peterson said.

Peterson said more information must be circulated about what it takes to enter and complete the petition process. He said hell require documents with that information be provided to DMV locations and outreach groups  and that changes must be made to state websites to better publicize the process  by Monday.

The state must make clear to voters who lack IDs that even if they dont have all the required documents, they can go to the DMV and get a credential to vote, Peterson said.

Peterson rejected a request from the plaintiffs that he require DMVs to issue voting credentials to people the same day they go to DMV offices to enter the petition process. Attorneys for the state said doing so would allow petitioners to bypass identity verification measures, such as running their picture through facial-recognition software, they typically go through before issuing an ID by mail.

Currently, those who enter the petition process are to be mailed a temporary voting credential no later than six days after they enter the process unless the state can show theyre ineligible. But audio recordings produced by VoteRiders showed that information was not conveyed to several of the groups volunteers, who instead were told they might not get IDs in time to vote in November.

Wisconsin Elections Commission administrator Michael Haas testified to the court Wednesday that the commission had done all it could to publicize the petition process, despite limited resources.

The Legislature provided the commission with $250,000 to publicize the voter ID requirement. North Carolina, another state that recently implemented a similarl voter ID law, set aside $2 million for a publicity campaign.

Peterson, who was given authority by a federal appeals court to ensure the state complies with his July order, said Thursday hell require more steps be taken in the coming weeks and after the election to improve the process.

DMV officials said last week that, in the wake of the VoteRiders revelations, they have ramped up training of their field staff to ensure everyone understands voter ID procedures.

One of the problems here is that people may not be getting into the process because theyre not getting the right information about it. Judge James Peterson
OWASSO  Kim Turner was almost the age of her 10th-grade students when she remembers watching the Vietnam War unfold on the evening news. But the immensity of 58,000-plus lives lost in action struck her decades later when she saw their names listed on the 2-acre memorial in Washington, D.C.

It struck me then, and it was overwhelming ... It just was overwhelming that all those names represented people, Turner said.

After teaching a unit on the war for 15 years, Turner hopes her students feel the same impact this week when they visit The Wall That Heals, a 250-foot replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in D.C., that she has worked for 18 months to bring to Owasso.

I was their age, roughly ... So I was just a teenager living my life, and you know how teenagers are, theyre in their own little world, Turner said. And thats another reason they need to be exposed to this.

The Wall arrived Wednesday and will be available to visitors 24 hours a day from 12 a.m. Thursday until 4 p.m. Sunday at Tulsa Techs Owasso campus, 10800 N. 140th E. Ave.

Opening ceremonies for The Wall will begin at 6 p.m. Thursday and include a welcome from Owasso Mayor Lyndell Dunn and state Sen. J.J. Dossett, D-Owasso. The main program begins at 10:30 a.m. Saturday and will include a reading of the names of Oklahomans who died in action, with wreaths to honor the families of three people from Owasso who were killed in the war.

Turner has worked with a committee of veterans, educators and others to bring The Wall to Owasso, and its visit will coincide with a Vietnam War unit she teaches to her pre-advanced placement English students at Owasso Mid-High School.

In addition to the educational experience, Turner said she hopes seeing The Wall will help students relate to their own family members who served in the war.

I want them to feel the impact of a generation that they still know, Turner said. ... I dont know that theyve ever really appreciated those people in their lives as men who went and fought for something they believed in. Political feelings aside, these guys were brought up to be patriots. They were brought up to go and do what their country told them to do, and they didnt question it.

And for local veterans, Turner said she hopes they can find closure visiting The Wall in their own community, if theyve been unable to visit the memorial in Washington, D.C.

Vietnam veterans Will Williams, Carroll Harris, Alan Hughes and Walt Vreeland worked on the committee with Turner to bring The Wall to Owasso.

They still believe in this country and love it with all their hearts, and thats why they continue to serve, Turner said. ... They might serve through a veterans organization. They might serve in some other way. But they are so passionate about their country that they continue to believe in it, and they continue to serve.

Williams, who served two tours of duty in Vietnam, said he often wears a medallion that reads, Retired U.S. Army soldier for life.

For my family, this is huge, Williams said. ... There are just so many things related to this. I mean, I think about other soldiers that I served with: Some came home; some didnt. It all comes back.

Though he hasnt felt ready to visit the memorial when hes been in D.C., Williams said he thinks hell be emotionally equipped to view The Wall now because it will be in his own community, where family and friends will provide support.

Theres been story after story and citizens and individuals telling the committee that without this opportunity, they would never be able to remember and recognize their loved one to this extent, Owasso City Manager Larry Langford said.

This is not The Walls first trip to Oklahoma, but it will be its first appearance in Owasso, Langford said.

We have so many kids nowadays that have never been involved, their parents havent been involved, in any kind of war, skirmishes or any kind of battles, Langford said. So really as our veterans get older, theres a disconnect with understanding the sacrifices that were made. And we believe as a city, that its just vital that we educate, and then honor our veterans.
A Tulsa County official on Wednesday questioned the need for proposed legislation triggered by former Tulsa County Sheriff Stanley Glanzs patronage appointment of foreclosed property assessors.

Im not saying the citizens dont have a right to transparency, but whose battle are we fighting? Terry Simonson, director of Governmental Affairs at the Tulsa County Sheriffs Office, said during a live-streamed legislative hearing in Oklahoma City. Where is the customers complaint saying, We demand credentialing for these appraisers.

At issue was legislation proposed by Rep. Regina Goodwin, D-Tulsa, that would require sheriffs appraisers in counties of more than 65,000 population to be certified real estate appraisers, licensed real estate brokers or licensed real estate professionals with at least two years experience.

For all counties, the proposed law also bans close relatives of the sheriff from acting as an appraiser.

Current law requires only that sheriffs appraisers be disinterested parties and county residents.

In May 2015, then-Sheriff Glanz told the Tulsa World he considered the part-time appraiser positions patronage jobs and assigned them to friends and political supporters.

Records showed hundreds of thousands of dollars were paid to each of 12 appraisers over a five-year period. Appraisals are charged to parties involved in the foreclosures, chiefly financial institutions.

Simonson said he is unaware of any complaints about the cost or accuracy of those appraisals, and said when Sheriff Vic Regalado took office in April he hired a certified appraiser to review the work of Glanzs appraisers.

He found nothing wrong, Simonson said.

Simonson said Regalado has not replaced any of the appraisers because he is waiting for the dust to settle on Goodwins proposed legislation.

As he has previously, Simonson proposed giving sheriffs the option of contracting with county assessors for the appraisals.

Goodwins bill passed more than a half-dozen preliminary votes during the spring legislative session but failed final consideration because of late opposition by county sheriffs, she said.

Addressing Simonson, Goodwin said, The point is, the sheriff appoints the appraisers, and there is money attached to that appointment. What were saying is that if the sheriff is going to make those appointments, theyre going to be based on merit, not favor.
The Minister of Local Government.. says when the local government legislation comes into effect.. regional corporations can better service their communities. He made the remark.. during the San Juan Laventille Corporation's interfaith service and military parade.. as the corporation turns 30 years.
A federal judge said Wednesday the state has shown a disturbing pattern of failing to foresee problems with the rollout of Wisconsins voter ID requirement  but that hes unlikely to suspend the law before Election Day.

Judge James Peterson signaled in a court hearing that he is unlikely to grant a request by plaintiffs challenging the law to enjoin, or lift, it so close to Nov. 8. Peterson said hes not certain he even has authority to do that.

But Peterson indicated he likely will require action by the state to ensure the public is better informed about a petition process for people to get a temporary credential allowing them to vote. The process is for a very small subset of voters who face real hardships complying with the law because they lack both an ID valid for voting and the underlying documents, such as a birth certificate, needed to obtain one.

There really hasnt been any real outreach by the state to publicize the process, Peterson said Wednesday. He spoke after hearing testimony in U.S. District court in Wisconsins Western District.

Parties in the case will reconvene Thursday, when Peterson said he expects to issue specific instructions.

Peterson scolded the state Wednesday for its implementation of the voter ID law  particularly the Division of Motor Vehicles, which is tasked with providing free IDs to people who lack them. The process is getting its first real test this year, the first presidential election year in which voter ID is in effect.

The state, particularly the DMV, responds to litigation. But it doesnt actively anticipate problems, even when the problems are really predictable, Peterson told the states attorneys Wednesday.

Wednesdays hearing was prompted by a probe by the voting-rights group VoteRiders. Audio recordings by the groups volunteers showed people who sought IDs were given incorrect information by DMV staffers at locations across the state.

The court case, one of two ongoing lawsuits against Wisconsins voter ID law, was tried in May. Peterson issued a July order requiring the state to promptly give temporary voting credentials to people who enter the petition process unless the state can show that person is ineligible to vote. The order also requires the state to make the public aware of the existence of the petition process. A federal appeals court later gave Peterson authority to enforce his order.

Two Democratic state election commissioners, Mark Thomsen and Ann Jacobs, also raised concerns about the states efforts to publicize the petition process in a letter to the court made public Tuesday.

Attorneys for the plaintiffs in the case, which include the liberal groups One Wisconsin Institute and Citizen Action of Wisconsin, responded by suggesting a course of action that falls short of fully enjoining the law. Attorney Bruce Spiva said Peterson could order that people who lack IDs be permitted to cast provisional ballots in the November election that would be counted unless the state could show the voter was ineligible.

Currently, a voter may cast a provisional ballot without an ID, but they must return to their municipal clerk by 4 p.m. on the Friday after the election to show their ID. If they do not, their vote will not be counted.

Spiva said problems that have been demonstrated with Wisconsins voter ID law indicate the burden of proving eligibility should be on the state, not the voter.

But there also are signs that trouble could arise from making major changes to voter ID procedures this close to the high-turnout presidential election. Michael Haas, administrator for the state Elections Commission, testified Wednesday that local election clerks dont want to see more changes related to voter ID this close to an election, when early voting already is underway in many municipalities.

Attorneys for the state invoked a similar legal principle in their arguments to the court Wednesday; it holds judges should not change election rules in the period just before the election. An attorney for the state also said VoteRiders volunteers posed complex questions in an effort to trip up DMV staffers.
A few weeks ago TV audiences were hooked on the true life mystery of a US child pageant queen murdered 20 years ago, with bumper ratings and watercooler buzz.

If viewers are fascinated by unsolved crimes can we hope that Deep Water: The Real Story also draws a sizeable audience? It is, after all, much closer to home and there are 88 more reasons why this is more important.

There are two indisputable, unforgiveable chapters evident in this sorry saga: one is the horrendous violent crimes that took place in Sydney in the 1980s and 90s, and the second is that New South Wales police swept so many under the carpet.

Indeed as interview subjects here recall, teenage gangs attacking gay men were acting in response to societal attitudes of the era, knowing gay men would not report them and that police would not investigate them.

Much of this excellent documentary by Blackfella Films centres around crimes committed in Bondi, where Marks Park, an unlit isolated clifftop, became a notorious gay beat. Teen gangs went poofter bashing as a sport, or even a rite of passage, against many men who were still closeted. Some of them never came home, their bodies found on the rocks below. Many cases were attributed to misadventure or suicide, leaving families angry with crimes lacking justice.

David McMahon tells of a 1989 incident where he was assaulted during a jog and almost thrown off the cliffs. Ted Russell, father of John Russell, speaks about his sons death and the pointless and inconclusive inquest that followed.

Doesnt matter if hes gay. Hes still your kid, he says. Both Ted and son John (pictured) are still waiting for answers.

TV personality Susie Elelman remembers WIN News presenter Ross Warren who never came home one day in 1989. It took family members to search the rocks below rugged Tamarama cliffs to find his keys carefully placed in a small rockface -his body was never found.

However in one case there were students charged with crimes, but who remained at school during the interim. They attended the same school where a teacher, in an unrelated case, was also murdered. It was clear there were gangs at work.

The Alexandria Eight as they came to be known were convicted over the death of Richard Johnson, 2 for murder and 6 for manslaughter. But as one man recalls, A lot of them felt it was the gay mans fault.

There were also other incidents around Sydney. In Moore Park one night Alan Rosendale was assaulted by men with clubs -but what makes his case so disturbing is that it is now alleged to have been perpetrated by out of uniform police. In 2014 NSW police ruled there was no evidence to implicate police.

Near Manlys northern beach American Scott Johnsons body was found naked in 1988. His brother was forced to hire an investigative journalist to seek answers to his death after police ruled his death as suicide. Last year NSW Chief Inspector Pamela Young told Lateline the death was investigated to the standard of the day. Following media pressure an unprecedented third coronial inquest has since been ordered.

Former detectives, crime journalists, forensic pathologists and an ex-State Coroner back up the documentarys argument that police failed to actively investigate a plethora of crimes. There are mind-numbing quotes about disinterest, quick conclusions, poor detective work which helped create a culture of violence in Sydney.

They are contrasted with helpless family members, some defeated, some angry -all in search of justice.

The documentary also moodily re-enacts key incidents and uses actors to bring to life actual dialogue from prison recordings. A final 2016 letter makes for a powerful footnote to 90 minutes of tough but compelling viewing.

Its important to note that there remains 88 unsolved cases here. NSW Police were approached on multiple occasions to participate in the documentary. As the film reminds us, it was print media pressure that has helped to move some cases forward.

That these crimes remain unsolved should make everybody angry. There are still witnesses, now into their 40s, who know what went on. It is essential that media once again plays a role in helping justice to be served. SBS and Blackfella Films are to be congratulated for turning the spotlight to this horrific chapter in our social history.

Sometimes television can play a role other than merely entertaining us. If we as a society care.

Deep Water: The Real Story airs 8:30pm Sunday on SBS.
Season 2 of UK sci-fi Humans begins at the end of the month.

It returns at 8:30pm Monday October 31st on ABC2, following on from Doctor Who spin-off Class.

This will be fast-tracked same day as the UK which is excellent news.

Based on the Swedish drama, Real Humans, the second season sees Carrie-Anne Moss join the cast as Dr Athena Morrow.

The drama series where the latest must-have gadget for a busy family is a synth  a life-like humanoid, returns for a second season.
There are now rumours Seven West Media is keen to sell its one third share of Australian News Channel, parent organisation to SKY News.

The Australian reports Seven West Media had been keen to retain its interests but has had a change of heart.

ANC is jointly owned by Seven, Nine and Britains SKY (which is itself 39.3 per cent owned by 21st Century FOX).

With Nine said to be keen to also exit, News Corp is tipped to become the sole owner of Sky News Australia -a move that some have suggested could even impact TEN News.

The Australian suggests Nine and Seven would continue to provide content for the channel under a separate deal.
Mike Willesee speaks to Mel Gibson on Sunday Night about that infamous rant.

Hes Back

From Mad Max to Hollywood outcast, Mel Gibsons life on and off the big screen has been a wild ride. Along the way hes picked up two Oscars, earned a pile of cash and attracted a bucket load of bad publicity. But theres no doubting that Mel is a survivor, overcoming scandals that would have destroyed the careers of just about anyone else in Tinsel Town. On Sunday Night, in an exclusive interview with Mike Willesee, the award winning actor- director speaks from the heart about his breakdowns, his break ups and his struggle with sobriety.

Class War

Its highly controversial and its dividing schools around the country. The Safe Schools program is promoted as the answer to schoolyard bullying and discrimination. But its critics, and there are many, warn its only pushing an extreme left-wing ideology. As PJ Madam discovers, children as young as five are being exposed to sexual material designed to increase their acceptance of homosexual and transgender kids. But how young is too young?

Towering Ambition

Theyre two-years in the making but the results are nothing short of spectacular. Human towers that reach dizzying heights when teams of more than 100 men, women and children climb on top of each other to create a living skyscraper. Its a celebration of strength, courage and most of all, balance. And the highlight  when the smallest child in the team clambers to the summit. This year, Sunday Nights Denham Hitchcock put his body on the line to take part in this death-defying feat.

Sunday at 8.15pm on Seven.
The long-cherished Wisconsin Idea  the principle that the University of Wisconsins role in education extends to the people of Wisconsin and beyond  is hitting the campaign trail. The Wisconsin Alumni Association is sponsoring four town hall meetings in October on important issues as we prepare to elect our countrys leaders.

The goal of these town halls  in Appleton, St. Paul, Milwaukee and Madison  is to challenge the notion that we are in an era of post-truth or post-fact elections. We firmly believe most voters are hungry for objective information on the important issues facing our communities, state, country and world.

We also know our students are very frustrated in trying to figure out which claims by the candidates are true, which claims are false, and which are somewhere in between. One of our roles as social scientists is to provide objective analysis to help inform public debates.

The first town hall in Appleton focused on foreign policy and immigration. Panelists provided interesting insights not frequently heard during the campaign. One of us  David Canon  set the context by pointing out that despite the central focus on the economy in nearly all presidential elections, three of the top six issues for voters in this election are related to foreign policy (fighting terrorism, foreign policy and immigration).

Our colleague Yoi Herrera argued that even on an issue on which both candidates agree  creating a safe zone with a no-fly zone for Syrian refugees  there is no obvious way to implement the policy without starting a war with Russia. Would we be willing to shoot down Russian planes in the no-fly zone? How would we get humanitarian aid to people in the safe zone?

Nils Ringe, another political science faculty member, pointed out that every president since Harry Truman, including six Republicans and six Democrats, have not questioned the importance of our NATO alliance, illustrating the historic anomaly of Donald Trumps position. Joe Conti of the Sociology Department made the case for free trade, something that neither Hillary Clinton nor Trump have been willing to do, in sharp contrast to every recent Democratic and Republican presidential candidate.

All of the UWMadison faculty members serving on the panels have devoted their careers to their respective fields of study and are experts on these key issues.

We have the utmost respect for our colleagues, and the people of Wisconsin are extremely fortunate to have them serving our state.

After the Appleton town hall meeting, one of the UWMadison alumni in the audience said, I wish we could get this kind of analysis in the campaign.

In Milwaukee on Oct. 13, three panelists discussed education, crime and poverty. La Follette School faculty members  and UW-Madison alumni  John Witte and Tim Smeeding served on the panel with sociology professor Mike Massoglia. One of us  Susan Yackee  served as moderator.

The town hall series concludes Wednesday, Oct. 19, in Madison with a focus on health care, crime and climate. Two UWMadison alumni  La Follette School professor Jason Fletcher and Law School assistant professor Cecelia Klingele  will serve on the panel with La Follette School associate professor Greg Nemet.

Please join us for the Madison event.
Hefty price tags can weigh down a man. Fernando Torres said that dealing with the expectation that followed his 50m (57.5m) move to Chelsea in January 2011 was like "swimming in wet clothes".

Now put yourself in Wayne Rooney's boots in September 2004, ahead of his Old Trafford debut against Fenerbahce in the UEFA Champions League. He was 18 and had just arrived at Manchester United from Everton in a deal initially worth 25m (29.6m), dubbed "the best young player this country has seen in 30 years" by Sir Alex Ferguson  no bad judge.

No one would have begrudged the youngster some first-night nerves; even the more demanding fan might have understood if the burden had weighed heavily on his broad shoulders, restricting his legs like fetters. Yet at a venue the locals call the 'Theatre of Dreams', Rooney put in a command performance. One for the ages.

Watch Rooney's 2004 debut hat-trick against Fenerbahce

United favourite Sir Bobby Charlton had managed two goals on his club debut as an 18-year-old back in 1956; Rooney went one better. He was untouchable, showing no ill-effects after three months out with a broken foot in a dazzling demonstration of pace, poise, power and precision.

His first strike in United colours came on 17 minutes, firing in from just outside the area following good work by Ruud van Nistelrooy. He created the second for himself not long after, sidestepping the challenge of visiting skipper Umit Ozan to rifle in from the edge of the box. A free-kick before the hour completed the hat-trick.

Fenerbahce never gave up, scoring twice themselves, but simply had no answer to Rooney. The teenager showcased his selfless side late on to tee up David Bellion for the final goal in a 6-2 triumph. "Rooney, Rooney, Rooney," chanted the Old Trafford faithful. Twelve years on, that refrain still echoes around those parts; so does that display.
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).
Russian-backed militants launched 36 attacks on positions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine over the past day.

This is posted on the official website of the Defense Ministry of Ukraine.

As reported, 20 attacks were launched in Mariupol direction. The terrorists used 120mm mortars to shell Novotroitske (32km south of Donetsk) and mortars, small arms, and 122 artillery to shell Shyrokyne (20km east of Mariupol) and Vodiane (16km north-west of Donetsk).

In Luhansk direction, 14 ceasefire violations were recorded. The Russian mercenaries fired at Novozvanivka (70km west of Luhansk), using 82mm mortars and Novooleksandrivka (65km west of Luhansk), using grenade launchers and heavy machine guns.

The militants launched two more attacks on ATO troops in Donetsk direction, using heavy machine guns.

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Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has signed a resolution terminating the intergovernmental agreement with Ukraine on the use of oil products pipelines, the Russian governments website reports.

The agreement was signed on July 26, 1995 in Moscow. It envisaged that oil product pipelines stretching along Samara-Western direction and Grozny-Armavir-Trudovaya, passing through Ukraines territory, were operated by the subsidiaries of JSC Transnefteproduct . The agreement also specified certain aspects of operation of the main oil pipelines.

Under the resolution, the Russian Foreign Ministry is to inform Ukrainian side about the approved decision

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Australian Federation of Ukrainian Organizations calls on every representative of the Ukrainian community of Australia to write a letter to the Foreign Minister or the members of the Parliament to draw attention to human rights violations committed by the regime of Russian President Vladimir Putin, namely the illegal detention of Ukrainian citizens.

This is said in the statement of the Federation, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

"There are 38,000 Ukrainians in Australia. Even if 10% of you react, there will be 3,800 letters, emails or phone calls. 20% is 7,600 letters, emails or phone calls," the AFUO statement reads.

In turn, the AFUO leadership has already appealed to Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop urging her to condemn the illegal actions of Russia and to step up pressure on Russian President Putin demanding to release all Ukrainian political prisoners.

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The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) has approved Ukrainian delegations amendments to the Assemblys resolution regarding the extension of sanctions against Russia, condemnation of Russian Duma illegal elections in Crimea. In addition, in the resolution the phrase " conflict in Ukraine" was replaced by "Russian aggression in Ukraine.

Head of the Ukrainian delegation to PACE Volodymyr Ariev wrote this on his Facebook page

I am proud of the team work of the delegation to the PACE! As soon as we have reached all the most important amendments in the two resolutions on Ukraine, namely: the extension of sanctions against Russia to restore full sovereignty of Ukraine, the condemnation of the illegal elections in the Crimea, the ban of Majlis, refuse to accept the call to return the Russian Federation to the Assembly, in spite of everything, to release prisoners and much more. Even the title replacement from "the conflict in Ukraine" to "Russia's aggression in Ukraine is a great achievement", he wrote.

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President Petro Poroshenko had a phone conversation with President of France Francois Hollande. The conversation was also joined by Foreign and Security Policy Advisor to the German Chancellor Christoph Heusgen who apologized that Angela Merkel had been unable to take part in the conversation.

This is reported by the press service of the Head of State.

Petro Poroshenko informed on the deterioration of the security situation in Donbas, particularly the increased shelling carried out by Russian militants using, inter alia, heavy artillery. He also drew attention to the absence of the OSCE permanent observation points in the areas of troops delimitation, the statement reads.

As noted, the Presidents of Ukraine and France agreed on special importance of the security component, which still has not been fulfilled by Russia and must be the primary part of the road map for the implementation of the Minsk agreements.

The Head of State noted that Moscow blocked the process of releasing hostages, which is absolutely inadmissible.

Petro Poroshenko and Francois Hollande agreed to continue consultations in Minsk at the level of diplomatic advisors to the Heads of State of the Normandy format. Following the consultations, the leaders of Ukraine, France and Germany will carry out a phone conference next week.

President Poroshenko thanked delegations of Germany and France for supporting the PACE resolution on the necessity of preserving sanctions against Russia.

The President of Ukraine urged the EU countries to speed up the process of granting the visa-free regime for Ukrainians and ratification of the Association Agreement.
German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier has admitted that it is so far impossible to hold elections in Donbas.

Head of the Ukraines delegation to PACE Volodymyr Aryev posted this on his Facebook page.

"I put a few questions to Steinmeier. He admitted that it was so far impossible to hold elections in Donbas. He admitted that it was so far impossible to agree on the special status of certain areas of Donetsk and Luhansk regions. He believes that there is alternative to Minsk and that much has to be done still. He did not answer to a part of my question related to strengthening sanctions against Russia," he wrote.

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Ambassador of Ukraine to the United States Valeriy Chaly has said that an organized group is engaged in fraud on his behalf, using a fake Facebook account.

"Ukraine's Ambassador in the U.S. is open to the public and appears to attract some attention. This, unfortunately, doesn't always help to serve a decent purpose. For instance, an organized group is trying to use this fact in pursuing their obviously crooked goals. Using a fake Facebook messenger account they are in contact with a number of Americans offering employment," he wrote on Facebook, UNIAN news agency reports.

According to Chaly, the final purpose remains unclear but obviously it is a fraud. Read also Ukraine's Ambassador to U.S.: Trump's comments send wrong message to world "Maybe it is just an intermediary stage to discredit the Ambassador or the Embassy of Ukraine in the U.S. Please always check who are you talking to online," he said.

"I would also like to stress that I do not have any other account besides this one. Thank to all of my friends for attention and support," Chaly added.

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Rakhine State in western Myanmar has seen years of ethnic tensions, causing death, displacement and loss of livelihoods.



MAUNGDAW, Rakhine State, Myanmar, 12 October 2016  When Saw Myat Thu was 20 years old, she discovered a new passion. Done with school and eager to help her family, she took a job as an assistant teacher at an Early Childhood Development (ECD) centre in Maungdaw, Myanmar. To her surprise, she loved it.

I used to read poems to children, sing songs, help them draw and paint, tell them stories, teach them how to wash hands and brush teeth, she recalls. I loved taking care of children. It was a great environment and I was happy.

The ECD centre was run by the NGO Community and Family Services International (CFSI), and was located in Rakhine State  an area that has seen years of ethnic tensions. Saw Myat Thu taught at the centre twice  first with Buddhist children, and then with a mixed class attended by Buddhists, Muslims and Hindus. But to the children, she says, there were no differences.

It was a similar environment, it was the same dynamic. They are all children playing together with no fighting.

Now, two years after her first class, Saw Myat Thu will soon work with children again. She was one of the first assistant facilitators recruited to work in one of the Child Friendly Spaces (CFS) formed by CFSI, a project supported by UNICEF with financial assistance from the European Commission - Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection (ECHO).

She and the other facilitators received specialized training, which included life skills, HIV prevention, risks faced by adolescents, and training of trainers to help build capacity in the community.

The religion of the communities I am working with doesnt make any difference to me. Whatever group I am given, I will be happy, she says.



Strong partnership

The CFS project is part of a larger ECHO-funded programme carried out by UNICEF and CFSI. The organizations are working together to strengthen child protection in three townships in the northern part of Rakhine State: Maungdaw, Buthidaung and Rathedaung. With the overall goal of preventing the abuse, exploitation and neglect of all children living in these townships, the programme will establish strong community-based child protection mechanisms and public awareness.

The main child protection concerns in northern part of Rakhine stem from poverty, discrimination and inter-communal conflict, says Aaron Greenberg, Child Protection Chief at UNICEF Myanmar. The area is also prone to natural disasters, such as the 2015 Cyclone Komen that affected 15 per cent of the total population in these three townships.

Children still feel the effects of inter-communal tensions and dedicated support is still very much needed, Mr. Greenberg adds. Adolescents, too, have limited access to youth services, which can lead to child marriage, child labour, risky migration and conflict with the law.

The UNICEF-CFSI programme will work closely with communities, including women leaders, to identify protection concerns and implement appropriate responses. The programme also provides case management services to child survivors of abuse, exploitation and neglect. Another key part of the programme is establishing safe spaces, like the one where Saw Myat Thu will work. These spaces provide physical, psychosocial, and cognitive protection to children while teaching essential life skills.

The activities will be inclusive of the affected populations across the community divides, and will focus particularly on the vulnerable  those girls and boys affected by conflict, the floods, migration and trafficking. More than 140,000 people will directly or indirectly benefit from the year-long project.
UNICEF/UNI176999/Moreno

BANGUI, Central African Republic, 13 October 2016 - Three teachers in training and the director of the Regional Pedagogical Centre were violently killed in Kaga-Bandoro on Wednesday the 12th of October, according to accounts by the Ministry of Education. The Vice President of the Association of Parents was also killed.

According to witnesses reporting to UNICEF, armed men attacked the secondary school while a teachers training was underway. The training was part of a UNICEF program funded by the European Union to strengthen the education system in CAR in partnership with and the NGO InterSOS.

These men have committed unacceptable violence against civilians, even attacking displaced persons, said Mohamed Malick Fall, UNICEFs Representative in Central African Republic. We are deeply shocked by these developments and saddened that teachers have been targeted, people who were working tirelessly for the education of children in the Central African Republic.

The city of Kaga-Bandoro has been on edge for the past month following multiple violent incidents, with attacks and crimes against humanitarian organisations, whove already reduced their staff levels in the region and cut back their activities. The start of the school year, which was scheduled for the 19th of September, has been delayed in Kaga-Bandoro because of ongoing security concerns.

Throughout the Central African Republic, several thousand children are deprived of education because their schools have been looted or are occupied and controlled by armed groups.

Schools and educational facilities should never be targets by any armed groups, said Mohamed Malick Fall. All children have the right to learn in the safety of their schools and of course teachers needs that same security to be effective educators and mentor.

UNICEF stressed that attacks against schools are a serious violation of international humanitarian law and called on all parties to honor their obligations and cease attacks on educational institutions.

###
Apple and Samsung are not only competing against each other to win the hearts of the tech crowds, as they are now on a war of design patents in the Supreme Court that has been going on since 2012.

Apple vs Samsung: Who copies what?

Apple accused Samsung for copying the Cupertino giant's patents. There are three patents at issue - first is a black rectangle with rounded edges, another one is the bezel, and the third is the colorful grid with 16 icons, Forbes reported.

Apple and Samsung battle is not a new case. In 2012, both tech giants had their first trial won by Apple. Samsung was found guilty in copying Apple patents and trademarks, wherein the South Korean company was ordered to pay nearly $1 billion.

The recent case would make a fortune for Apple if the company wins, as the company has asked $2.75 billion, which is the total profit for the phones that have used the design patented by Apple.

In a petition, Samsung defended that Apple would 'extortionate patent litigation, especially in the field of high technology.'

It would be hard to decide how much money Samsung should pay Apple since the design itself is something that consumers can see, and not about the wires or chip inside the phone. Hence, the damage award is considered ridiculous to Samsung, ArsTechnica reported. The company's spokesperson said that by awarding the profits for a single patent, it would affect hundreds of thousands of other patents in a single phone.

Apple vs Samsung: What will happen to the flagship smartphone design?

Apple was a customer of Samsung for products such as displays and microchips, according to Quartz. The battle of the design dominance in the Supreme Court could almost certainly affect the flagship phones designs in the future. More than 100 designers wrote the Supreme Court in Apple's defense, stating that 'stealing' a visual design means much more than that, as it affects the consumers emotional connections to the company's brand.
Republican 2016 U.S. presidential elections nominee Donald Trump is losing the vote of college degree-holders. This may be caused by his vague stance on higher education, as opposed to Democrat candidate Hillary Clinton who is vocal in her support for free college.

Hillary Clinton's primary education focus is on the soaring costs of college. She has suggested free tuition at in-state public colleges and universities for working families that earn up to $125,000.

Moreover, she also plans to implement a three-month moratorium on loan payments for all federal borrowers. With that, students would be able to consolidate their loans or enroll in other plans that can help cut costs.

Trump, on the other hand, has been slammed by Clinton's running mate, Senator Tim Kaine. This was for boasting about his Ivy League education but, at the same time, having "no intention of offering anyone else the same opportunity."

According to The Chronicle of Higher Education, a survey by the Pew Research Center revealed that Clinton had a 23-percentage-point lead over Trump among registered voters who have earned at least a college degree. Moreover, data from polls found that Trump may be the first Republican nominee to lose among white, college-educated voters in 60 years.

The publication noted that, while the study did not specify what a "college degree" was, it usually refers to people who have achieved their four-year bachelor's degrees. It does not include those who attended college but did not complete their degree or those who have associate degrees and job-training certificates.

John T. Scott, chairman of the political-science department at the University of California at Davis, noted that separating voters based on their educational attainment is nothing new. It has been a trend for about 20 years or more.

There is a great divide among voters. Clinton's supporters are those who value college education while Trump's supporters rally about not having manufacturing jobs in the nation anymore.

The college degree is becoming a source of divide for voters as well, not only for the 2016 U.S. Elections but economically. This fact is expected to be a deciding factor on who will win the presidential race.
Vault.com has recently revealed its rankings of the companies with the best internship programs. For Accounting majors who want to gain relevant work experience as an intern, read on below.

Companies like Google, Apple, Goldman Sachs & Co., Facebook and J.P. Morgan are the top five organizations with the most prestigious internship programs. Other companies include Microsoft, Tesla, Morgan Stanley, The Walt Disney Company and Twitter.

The data came from a survey of more than 8,500 current and former interns. The participants were asked to review their experiences and rate the prestige of other companies.

The top company with the best internship program for Accounting majors is Frank, Rimerman + Co. According to an overview by Vault.com, the organization offers an eight-week rotational summer internship program that allows students majoring in Accounting to try audit, tax and consulting, among others.

The program is mainly based in the company's headquarter in Palo Alto but some interns can have the opportunity to go to their San Francisco and San Jose locations. The summer internship is aimed to provide students with the chance to gain practical work experience in a professional environment.

Elliott Davis Decosimo's ENVISION Summer Internship Experience comes in second place while Plante Moran's Internship program comes in third. Other companies in the list are Dixon Hughes Goodman LLP, Moss Adams, TravisWolff, BDO USA LLP, PwC, KPMG and Wipfli, among others.

Internships are a vital part of a college student's career plan. It is one way for you to get your foot in the door of your dream company. There is no better way to get an authentic feel of what you can expect in the real workplace.

Being an intern is also one of the things that college students need to do in order to succeed in the modern workplace. Not only will you gain relevant work experience, it offers a good opportunity to network and make connections that can eventually help you in your career.
Talk about a family activity. Actress Katie Holmes sits down with "no longer a baby girl" Suri to watch the United States Presidential debates together. For her, it is an opportunity for her child to see Hillary Clinton in action.

The United States of America is preparing for what will be one of the most debated agendas of all time - the education system of America. And both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump have their own directions.

While Katie Holmes is busily cheering on Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, Suri watches on, cites People Katie Holmes is obviously with Hillary. And it is important for her daughter to see. Suri is already 10 years old and Hillary is a powerful symbol for her to be seeing on stage and defending her platform. "That's so powerful for a 10-year-old girl to see," says Holmes.

Holmes believes that Clinton is working hard for America's children. "I believe that our country will be taken care of with her as president," she adds.

With Suri growing up and attending school, it is important for her to be exposed to the right media. Holmes explains that children should focus on what they want to do in their lives and "what their passions are and finding them."

This is why she is very focused on Suri. She wants Suri to experience school, find extracurricular activities and be proud of herself and not "the way you look or what you have."

Seeing Clinton on the stand is a powerful symbol for the young girls of America. And Holmes thinks it would be great to have a woman president. She empowers young girls like Suri to become scientists, doctors and more. In a way, affecting gender diversity towards STEM.

"I think more importantly we really have to focus on education for everyone in our country," ends Holmes. After all, her daughter is going to school and it is important she gets the right education from the right system.
During her recent visit to Malawi, 'Beauty and the Beast' actress Emma Watson challenges the nation to end child marriages.

Being a representative of the United Nations Women, Emma Watson knows it is her responsibility as a humanitarian representative to end this practice. And she calls on the authorities across Africa to end child marriages.

Child marriages puts the lives of young girls at risk and at the same time prohibits them from getting the right to education. Which leaves them at a disadvantaged for a bright and better future, cites Sky News.

She wants to make sure her message is heard before the International Day of The Girl happened. First Lady Michelle Obama also talks about education and calls on the different cultures on the world to vote for change. She uses America's women for example. A hundred years ago, women could not vote. Now, because of men and women, young and old, fighting for a change in system, they can now vote.

Emma Watson hopes to do the same for the young girls of Africa. Last year, Malawi passed a law to raise the minimum age of young girls getting married to 18 years old. Before the law was passed, a study showed that one in three girls in developing countries (excluding China) are married before they turn 18 years old. This denies them their childhood experience and the right to go to school. The tradition of marrying little girls off to men has been long protected and Watson is excited to see changes happening.

"Meeting with young girls, who like many in their country, are struggling with poverty and were pressured into early marriage ... [This] made me realize just how important it is for women to be able to make their own choices," says Watson.

But there is still work to be done. Even though Malawi has made child marriage illegal, there are still more developing countries that practice early marriages.
Known for her work in 'I Am Sam,' Dakota Fanning uses her voice to empower girls for their right to education.

"Around the world, girls face unique challenges. They are more likely to be out of school and face higher rates of discrimination. Every girl deserves to follow her dreams, no matter where she comes from or what her circumstances are," says Dakota Fanning.

This is her statement during the International Day of the Girl. And Dakota supports Save the Children - an international non-profit organization that believes all kids deserve a future, cites Bustle. And Dakota Fanning is the ambassador for this organization and she encourages everybody to do their part.

"You don't have to be a celebrity to do your part - anyone can take action," she says. She herself sponsors a girl in Easter Tennessee. Dakota Fanning explains that there are two steps everyone can take in order for children to gain access to education and reach their potential.

The first is to bring attention to the barriers that girls face globally. For instance, 'Beauty and the Beast' star Emma Watson is challenging African nations to end early child marriages. This traditional practice prohibits young girls from a right to education and at the same time loses their childhood.

The second step is to empower young girls to reach their full potential. Dakota Fanning emphasizes the importance of education and it is her dream for all young women around the world to learn and realize their dreams and passions.

To date, there are still girls around the world that are missing out on the right to education because of poverty, war and conflict. "Save the Children's mission is to try to get those kids to have basic health care, to get into school and stay in school, and to be protected from harm," says a representative from Save the Children.
Alzheimers Disease Workshops Set Oct. 21 in Laramie

Two workshops focused on Alzheimers disease will take place Friday, Oct. 21, from 7:30 a.m.-5 p.m. in the University of Wyoming Conference Center, located at 2229 Grand Ave. in Laramie. The workshops are free and open to the public.

The Wyoming Center on Aging, housed at UW, sponsors the workshops in partnership with the Wyoming Chapter of the Alzheimers Association and the UW College of Laws Estate Planning Practicum.

The first workshop is designed for the public, family members and caregivers.

The schedule is as follows:

7:30-8 a.m. -- Workshop registration.

8-8:45 a.m. -- Basics of Dementia, Management and Treatment, Tonja Woods, UW School of Pharmacy associate dean and certified geriatric pharmacist.

9-10:30 a.m. -- Behavior and Communication: Tips and Basic Skills, Kyle Page, geriatric psychologist in Cheyenne.

10:30-10:45 a.m. -- Break with refreshments.

10:45-11:30 a.m. -- Advanced Decisions and Planning for the Future, Kelly Davis, attorney, Davis Elder Law Office in Cheyenne.

11:30-11:45 a.m. -- Wrap-up.

In conjunction with the workshops, UW Estate Planning Practicum students will consult on various legal topics, including wills, powers of attorney and advance health care directives from 9 a.m.-noon. Workshop attendees can sign up for an appointment at the registration table.

The second workshop is intended for health care and legal professionals.

The schedule is as follows:

Noon-12:30 p.m. -- Workshop registration.

12:30-2:30 p.m. -- Assessing Medical Consent Capacity: A Clinicians Perspective, Kyle Page, geriatric psychologist in Cheyenne.

2:30-3 p.m. -- Break with refreshments.

3-4:45 p.m. -- Working with Diminished Capacity Individuals in Estate and Healthcare Planning, Kelly Davis, attorney, Davis Elder Law Office in Cheyenne.

4:45-5 p.m. -- Wrap-up and evaluation.

For more information and to register for the workshops, visit www.uwyo.edu/wycoa, email wycoa@uwyo.edu, or call (307) 766-2829.
Church News  October 20, 2022 LIGHT OF THE VALLEY LUTHERAN CHURCH Needing Answers We want God to be like FedEx and deliver overnight. Things dont happen that way, but in...

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Firemen extinguish the fire at a fireworks shop in Bocaue, Bulacan, north of Manila on October 12, 2016. (Photo: AFP/Noel Celis)

The fire set off a series of explosions at a strip of shops that overturned a truck and badly damaged three other vehicles on a major road in Bocaue, a town about 30 kilometres (18 miles) north of Manila.

"I was hurled to the back of the shop by the force of the explosion," Mel Berbosa de Castro, 50, her lip still bleeding and her back hurting from the blast, told AFP from her shop across the street.

"I saw a bloodied old man running away looking for his grandchild. Others were just running for their lives."

Driver Ricky Salvador, 47, said he helped take a victim with a bloodied face to hospital.

"It was like a war zone. I saw shards of glass, nails flying up in the air. Firecrackers were flying all over," he told AFP.

The town's fire marshal, Senior Inspector Renan Batchine, put the updated toll at two dead, including a woman burnt beyond recognition and the body of local man unearthed from beneath the debris hours later.

Twenty-four other people were injured, he told AFP.

Huge and sometimes deadly fires at sprawling slums, markets and factories are common in the Philippines, where safety regulations are poorly enforced.

In May last year 72 people were killed after a huge blaze tore through a footwear factory in the northern suburbs of Manila.

In one of the country's deadliest-ever fires, 162 people were killed and 94 were injured at a Manila disco in 1996.
Taxi drivers in Hanoi who are found to driver the taxi for four consecutive hours without a rest will have their badge confiscated for a month.

The Hanoi Department of Transport in July this year issued the regulation that all taxi drivers in the city who are found to driver the taxi for four consecutive hours without a rest will have their badge confiscated for a month.

Since the regulation was applied, up to 463 taxi drivers have been found to have violated the regulation. As a result, their taxi badge has been revoked.

The regulation however faces opposition from the Hanoi Automobile Transport Association as well as the city's taxi firms.

Nguyen Minh Hong, Director of Nguyen Minh Taxi Company, said that under the regulation, taxi drivers have to take a rest for at least 15 minutes while driving for four consecutive hours.

According to Hong, the regulation is only suitable for drivers of passenger cars who drive on fixed routes, not taxis. It is impossible to request taxi drivers to take a rest while they are taking passengers for emergency aid, Hong added.

In reality, taxi drivers often take a short rest of between 4-5 minutes among trips; however, this is not recognised by GPS. So, their total rest time per day is even more than 15 minutes.

To avoid being fined, drivers have to refuse passengers when the driving time is approximately 4 hours or even ask passengers for a 15-minute stop to ensure the regulated rest time.

Meanwhile, Hanoi currently lacks parking lots, so, in many cases, it is not easy for taxi drivers to find a parking place.

Bui Danh Lien, Chairman of the Hanoi Automobile Transport Association, said that the association has sent a document to the Ministry of Transport to ask for the regulation to be revised.
The move is admittedly the first step to aggressively taking the companys products and services to the Asia-Pacific region.

According to Businesswire.com, on October 12, Wizeline officially opened its office in Ho Chi Minh City. The office will focus on delivering machine learning and artificial intelligence solutions, in addition to full-stack design and engineering services, to a growing number of Wizeline customers in the Asia-Pacific.

"We selected Vietnam because of its stable economy and political system, and most importantly because the country has phenomenal tech talent. Our team in Vietnam will be focused on building sophisticated AI-driven (artificial intelligence-driven) applications and help our customers in the Asia-Pacific get their products to the market faster," said co-founder and CEO Bismarck Lepe.

Vietnam is an emerging market and the entrepreneur scene is only beginning to flourish. We were a part of Guadalajara's start-up scene when it started a few years ago, and now we want to participate in and contribute to Ho Chi Minh Citys environment while its on the rise, said Lepe.

Wizeline, a leading provider of intelligent product management software and expert development services, recently added new enterprise solutions for artificial intelligence, social media chatbots and machine learning.

Wizelines long-time customers include the fastest-growing software companies, as well as many of the worlds most established brands, counting News Australia, Yahoo!, National Rugby League, Tatts Group, and others.
The institutes intentions were revealed at its 10th Eurasia conference held in Ho Chi Minh City, which was organised with the aim of connecting the institutional network of Broward College with other partners.

David D. Moore, dean of international education at Broward College, told VIR, Over the past decade, Vietnam has climbed from the 30th to the 8th place in terms of the number of Vietnamese students in the US. Thus, various US universities are looking to up their Vietnamese enrolment, including California State University Monterey Bay, State University of New York at Albany, Florida International University, St. Thomas University, and Wayne State University.

He further noted that the most exciting demand for higher education in Southeast Asia is in Vietnam, making this a great time for Broward College to bring American education to young Vietnamese students.

Set up in 2011, Broward College Vietnam has over 400 Vietnamese graduates to date. The schools curriculum is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SASC), one of the six regional accreditation organisations recognized by the US Department of Education and the Council for Higher Education Accreditation.

Under the 2+2 model, students will spend two years completing Broward undergraduate programmes in Vietnam. After these first two years, students are equipped with advanced English, job skills as well as the widely-recognised Broward Associate Degree to enter the international workforce. They can either choose to transfer abroad to the US, Australia or Canada to finish their Bachelors degree as a third year student.

Hoang Anh Tuan Kiet, chancellor at Broward College Vietnam, commented that the programme has been maturing rapidly. The school is looking to secure governmental approval to extend this programme to four years, so that Vietnamese students can save cost as well as get exposure to the US learning environment while still in Vietnam.

Students who enrolled at Broward College Vietnam also automatically enrolled at Broward College in Florida. They will have official student IDs, transcripts, online resources, and degrees issued by Broward College. The school also holds summer camps and international exchange programmes to facilitate students access to dynamic international education, he added.
Under the framework of the concert series Hearing Differently, the programme aims to offer surprising and unusual sound experiences to listeners.

Baroque meets electronic music two seemingly incompatible genres merge, yielding a surprising synergy. The result is a fascinating dialogue of musical structures and rhythms. It seems that the Elbipolis Orchestra is helping to bring old music to younger audiences.

Founded in 2008, the Elbipolis Orchestra has achieved many successes. The orchestra includes musicians from Bremen, Hamburg and Berlin. Some milestones for the orchestra include their invitation to the philharmonic orchestra of Cologne, to the Potsdam Sanssouci Music Festival and to the Rheingau Music Festival. In 2008, they started a new concert series called Baroque Lounge in cooperation with the NDR, the RADIALSYSTEM V from Berlin and Kampnagel, in which baroque and electronic music meet.

Brezel Goring is a theologian and musician. As a teenager he played with electronic instruments he had made himself. In 1993, together with Francoise Cactus, he founded the underground pop duo Stereo Total. They published 37 albums and played concerts in the US, South America, Australia, Japan and many European countries.

The DJ, who is one of the leading artists on the German electronic scene, will interpret the classic sounds of the Elbipolis Orchestra and translate them into electronic sounds.

Free tickets are available at Goethe-Institut Hanoi from October 13.
The committee has requested the PM to direct ministries and relevant authorities to urge the co-investors, namely Malaysian Jaks Resources Bhd. and China Power Engineering Consulting Group Co., Ltd. (CPECC), to implement the construction on schedule as previously committed. The province asked the PM to issue treatment measures for the continuous delay.

This is the second time the province submits the proposal to the PM. In August 2016, after receiving the first request, the PM directed the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT), in collaboration with the Ministry of Planning and Investment to prepare a report on the investors financial capacity as well as the difficulties causing the long delay in construction, and propose the necessary measures.

On March 27, the projects construction was kicked off. This is the latest movement since its ground-breaking ceremony organised by Jaks Resources in September 2011.

Earlier in early 2014, suspicions arose regarding the Malaysian investors financial capacity to carry out the project in the context of the projects delay in construction.

In July 2015, Jaks Resources announced signing a co-operation deal with CPECC to implement the project. Accordingly, their equity will make up 25 per cent of the total investment capital, while the remaining 75 per cent will be covered by loans. The project will be developed under a build-operate-transfer (BOT) model.

According to Jaks Resources chairman Tan Sri Datuk Husun Bin Haji Ismail, CPECC has the necessary financial resources and extensive experience in constructing thermal power plants, thus the co-operation will massively accelerate construction.

However, since the construction was restarted on March 27, no development has been forthcoming.
Today, VNUA and Monsanto celebrated two years of the Monsanto-VNUA scholarship programme by giving out scholarships to five students for the 2016-2017 school year.

Through the programme, Monsanto will distribute $75,000 in scholarships to VNUA students over five years. Two types of scholarships are available, one rewarding academic excellence with VND42.5 million ($2,000) per student, and a research scholarship worth VND100 million ($5,000) per year for three to five research projects.

After two years, the programme has provided financial assistance to nine research projects conducted by 36 students. One example is the research led by lecturer Nguyen Quoc Trung, the results of which were presented at the second national conference on Research and Teaching of Biology in May 2016.

Nguyen Duc Bach, head of VNUAs biotech department, said that the programme had positive effects on students academic performance.

Specifically, the ratio of seniors with excellent results in the 2015-2016 academic year was five times that in 2013-2014, when the programme did not exist, he said.

Do Quang Son, a junior studying Biotechnology at VNUA who has just received the 2016-2017 scholarship for academic excellence, said that he found out about the scholarship in his sophomore year. Since then I have been trying really hard to get the scholarship. This year I am so happy to have finally made it. VND42.5 million ($2,000) is a big amount. I will use it to buy books and a computer, and pay for my tuition. I will continue working hard to get the scholarship again. The scholarship encourages all the students in the Biotech department to work harder than ever, he said.

Aruna Rachakonda, general manager of Dekalb Vietnam, the Vietnamese subsidiary of Monsanto, said the group is very proud of the fruitful cooperation with VNUA in the past three years in training agri-biotech talents.

We are very happy to see the positive effects of the cooperation programme. I hope it will continue being a source of motivation and encouragement for students in their studies and research in the next years, and contribute to the training of the local biotechnology talent pool, she said.

Besides the Monsanto-VNUA scholarship, the Biotech department and Dekalb Vietnam also organised trips and internships for students. 200 students and teachers participated in three field trips to study genetically modified corn cultivation in Phu Tho and Moc Chau in 2015 and 2016. Six students interned at Dekalb Vietnam in the same years.
Syrians walk over rubble following air strikes on the rebel-held Fardous neighbourhood of the northern embattled Syrian city of Aleppo. (AFP/Ameer Alhalbi)

The new measure followed the failure of the council to adopt two resolutions on a ceasefire in Syria, one of which was vetoed by Russia during a stormy meeting at the weekend.

The draft text seen by AFP "demands an immediate and complete end to all attacks which may result in the death or injury of civilians or damage to civilian objects in Syria, in particular those carried out by air in Aleppo."

It remains unclear if the proposed measure will come to a vote at the Security Council.

Council members will discuss the crisis in Syria during a luncheon meeting with Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Wednesday, ahead of a new council session on Monday.

The United States and Russia are convening international talks in Europe at the weekend to try once again to secure a ceasefire and end the Russia-backed Syrian bombing campaign in Aleppo.

"We believe that the council has a responsiblity to address what is clearly the biggest issue on its agenda," said New Zealand's Ambassador Gerard van Bohemen.

"With the level of killing and destruction going on, just to give up seems to us to be an unacceptable course of action," he told reporters.

The move by New Zealand came as Canada was leading a push at the General Assembly to mobilise international efforts after a US-Russian ceasefire deal collapsed and the Security Council failed to take action.

The General Assembly is expected to hold a special session on Syria next week that could lead to further measures, possibly targeting Syria's voting rights at the United Nations.

Canadian Deputy Ambassador Michael Grant told AFP that the meeting would allow UN member-states to "express their anxiety and distress over what is happening in Syria and the lack of an appropriate response by the international community and the UN."
A fishing vessel brought victims ashore after the ship Ngoc Tuan 01 sank off Quang Tri Province. - Photo news.zing.vn

The Ngoc Tuan 01 cargo ship was transporting construction materials when water flooded the vessel, causing the ship to sink 5 nautical miles from the island.

The sea was calm at the time of the incident, but the sky was very dark, according to Le Minh Tuan, chairman of Con Co island district Peoples Committee.

Tuan told local newspapers that 43 people had been rescued from the sinking ship, and were now safe on the island. Related agencies are now investigating the cause of the incident.

At the time, a local border guard unit and three fishing boats travelling near the site helped to rescue the victims.

The unit head affirmed that a 53 year old female passenger had died, and her body was transferred to shore for funeral preparations.
The Government should offer incentives to projects funded by overseas remittances, a conference on policies related to remittances heard in HCM City on October 11-Photo thoibaonganhang.vn

Dr Nguyen Van Lich of the Diplomatic Academy of Viet Nam said while it is all very well to get inward remittances, a way must be found to use them effectively rather than merely collecting interest on them or spending them.

Projects funded by remittances must be given greater priority than those by foreign direct investment, he said.

Inward remittances in 2002-15 accounted for 6 per cent of the gross domestic product compared to 7.7 per cent and 3 per for FDI and ODA.

The remittances jumped from $140 million in 1993 to $13.2 billion last year.

Nguyen Kim Anh, deputy governor of the State Bank of Viet Nam, said remittances would keep increasing thanks to labour export and many policies designed to solicit them.

More and more Vietnamese are living and working abroad while improved services are making it easier for them repatriate money home, she said.

To attract more money from overseas Vietnamese and use it more effectively, participants suggested modernising the remittance system.

Le Xuan Sang, deputy director of the Viet Nam Economic Institute, said a system must be developed to monitor remittance sources to ensure everyone benefits and avoid money laundering.

Unofficial channels of money transfer should be stopped, he said.

Investment and tourism policies, including those related to visas for Viet kieu, should be more open, the investment environment should be made more attractive and the banking industry should improve its services and reduce rates, he said.

Some attendees called on the Ministry of Planning and Investment to set up a division that would work to attract overseas remittances and work with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to comply with policies related to remittances to attract money from overseas Vietnamese.
Photo: VGP/Quang Hieu

Speaking at the event, PM Phuc highlighted the crucial role of businesses, which create commodities for society, jobs and prosperity for the nation.

As many as 600,000 enterprises are operating in Viet Nam. A total number of 91,000 newly-established ones were recorded over the recent nine months of the year.

Viet Nam is heading to raise the total number of businesses to one million by 2020, he said, adding that the Governments guideline is to support Vietnamese enterprises to improve their capacity in the world, form Viet Nams renowned products and trade mark as well as encourage businesses to join the global chain and distribution network.

The PM required ministries, agencies and localities to enhance administrative procedure reform, improve competitiveness, complete institutions and laws on such areas as imports and exports, tax, land, construction, credit and investment to ensure transparency and reduce expenditure for people, businesses.

They were also asked to protect legal rights and benefits for businesses, especially in the process of establishing and organizing the implementation of policies, laws, strategies, plans and projects.

PM Phuc demanded launching support for start-up and renovation, operational effectiveness, favorable environment to guarantee fair business rights and access to resources and opportunities, establishment of trade mark in line with businesses and human resource training.

The Government chief called on each business and businessman uphold their spirit, solidarity, political firmness, and intellectual strength and strive to overcome difficulties and challenges to make contribution to the national development.
Chairman of the Vietnam Union of Literature and Arts Associations Huu Thinh said the festival is expected to introduce Vietnamese revolutionary and contemporary music to international friends.



It also updates development in the music industry of Asian and European countries and helps foreign audiences understand more about Vietnams land, people, and culture, he added.



Visitors could enjoy special concerts, symphonies, chamber music, chorus, opera, and ballet with the participation of nearly 200 artists and musicians from 30 countries and territories.



The festival will run until October 18 under the theme Music  Convergence and Pervasion.



On the sideline of the event will be two workshops featuring Asian-European new music exchanges and Vietnamese monochord (dan bau).
From Sentosa to Phu Quoc

In Asia, Singaporean real estates rank second after those in Hong Kong in terms of price. They have been a magnet to investors for many years. However, investors have recently started shifting focus to other regional markets to expand their portfolios.

The reason is that real estates in Singapore are getting more and more expensive, despite the Singaporean governments intervention policies, such as tightening the conditions for uncollateralised borrowing to buy real estates, and raising property ownership tax. Moreover, investors are paying a 7 per cent tax on the transaction value of their second property in Singapore, and a 10 per cent tax on the third.

Singapore ranks third in the world in the number of rich people, according to a Knight Frank report. As Singaporean investors are the most nimble, these exogenous reasons, together with the hope to own prime land plots, have pushed the flow of capital outwards. Besides traditional markets, such as Phuket and Bali, Phu Quoc Island in Vietnam has become a new favourite destination for this capital flow.

Phu Quoc, with its white, sandy beaches and blue coast, convinces any tourist. On the other hand, international standard villas and condotels are being pulled up, turning the most beautiful island in the Gulf of Thailand into the new bright spot on the map of Asian real estate investment. Together, these factors have attracted the attention of Singaporean investors.

Sam Ong, real estate agent at Savills Singapore, said Sun Groups Premier Village Phu Quoc Resort and Premier Residences Phu Quoc Emerald Bay in the South of Phu Quoc Island are unique thanks to the beauty of the surrounding ocean blue and mesmerising white sand.

He said Phu Quoc is on its way to becoming Vietnams Sentosa, with its prime geographic location, natural beauty, and unfathomable tourism potential. On the other hand, Sun Groups South Phu Quoc portfolio also leaves similar projects in Singapore in the dust price-wise.

In Sentosa, two-bedroom beachfront condotels of about 110 square metres go for at least $3 million per unit ($27,000 per square metre). The hottest products, beachfront condotels, already at $7 million, continue to be scarce and getting more costly, while villas in Sentosa cost about $11 million.

Meanwhile, Sun Groups villas and condotels of the same segment are much cheaper. Villas in Premier Village Phu Quoc Resort are only $1-2 million each. Condotels in Premier Residences Phu Quoc Emerald Bay cost $150,000 -1 million.

A good developer is key

Ong said that the capital flows shift away from Singapore to regional markets did not take place easily.

Singaporean investors are attracted to high growth prospects, but prefer to play safe, he said. Therefore, only projects with international quality and prestigious developers that have been recognised worldwide can convince them.

Michael Leong, an investor, joined the September 27 conference at Royal Plaza on Scotts Hotel in Singapore where Sun Group showcased its vacation real estate projects on Phu Quoc Island. Leong said the developers prestige is a key factor.

We need to know how famous the developer is and what other products they have. Knowing that Sun Group has developed world-renowned hospitality real estate, I am totally convinced, he said. I am looking to expand my portfolio and the products introduced here today are very alluring.

Experts said that Singaporean investors are paying more attention to hospitality real estate in Vietnam because of the quality of construction, the prime location, and the competitive prices as well as the good, sustainable profit rates on offer.

On the other hand, many of Sun Groups products reach or even raise the bar for international standards. Timo Schmidt, head of International Residential Sales at Savills Vietnam Ltd., said he is impressed with the groups work/developments. Sun Group holds their projects to high standards and are very attentive to detail, he said.

With quality, class, and distinction, Sun Groups products make a good impression on international investors and contribute to increasing the appeal of real estates in Vietnam.

> Sun Groups Phu Quoc portfolio commands Singaporean investors attention

The sales event for villas in Premier Village Phu Quoc Resort and condotels in the S4 tower of Premier Residences Phu Quoc Emerald Bay directly overlooking the sea, will be held at 9 am on Saturday, October 22 at Daewoo Hotel, 360 Kim Ma, Ba Dinh district, Hanoi.

Official sales agents in the north:

 Titan Real-Estate Service JSC  Hotline: 0948581977 or 0967758686

 TNB Investment and Services Ltd.  Hotline: 0981152666

Official sales agents in the south:

 Smart Realtor & Partners Real Estate Ltd. Hotline: 0909803939

 G20 Real Estate Service JSC  Hotline: 0901105115

 Amber Estate JSC - Hotline: 0962625959

 Central Real Investment Development JSC - Hotline: 0947796850




The local telecommunications market is the scene of fierce 3G competition

The prime minister last week gave in-principle approval to FPT Group and FPT Telecom being strategic investors of EVN Telecom.

EVN Telecom will this month announce its strategic investors after its negotiations with FPT and its affiliate FPT Telecom are finalised.

An EVN Telecom source revealed that the stake to be sold to FPT and FPT Telecom would be more than 50 per cent.

FPT Telecom was already licenced to be a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) and is piloting LTE TDD technology.

Mobile business is what we want in our business portfolio and we are enthusiastic in our negotiations with partners. Our investment capital will be 10-times the amount we previously planned to invest in EVN Telecom, said FPT deputy general director Phan Duc Trung Trung.

FPT previously planned to invest VND400 billion ($21 million) in EVN Telecom as the former wanted to use the latters facility to provide mobile service.

The upcoming involvement of FPT and FPT Telecom in EVN Telecom means there would be no chance for foreign entities to be the mobile operators strategic partners.

Previously, EVN Telecom, which is expected to be the first mobile operator to be equitised in Vietnam, announced its plan to sell a 30 per cent stake to a foreign strategic investor. Details of the plan were not revealed then, except that the strategic investor would be a Singaporean or Malaysian firm.

EVN Telecom then also said the foreign strategic investors name would be made public after the company completed its equitisation process in September, this year.

Meanwhile, MobiFones long-awaited equitisation has seen many delays. The company was converted into a one-member company in early July and is still waiting for new government directions. The company planned to sell a 30 per cent stake to investors, including 15 per cent to strategic partners.

Viettel Telecom does not have a clear equitisation plan, as it is trying to complete a restructuring proposal by expanding into other business segments such as mobile handset production.

The long-awaited VinaPhone equitisation is still distant, as VNPT Groups restructuring proposal has not yet been approved by the Ministry of Information and Communications.
Toyota is the world's biggest automaker. (Photo: AFP/Saeed Khan)

Toyota, the world's biggest automaker, and small car specialist Suzuki did not announce details but suggested any partnership could focus on new safety and environmental technologies.

"The environment surrounding the automotive industry has been changing drastically and rapidly in an unprecedented fashion," a joint statement said.

"As such, the industry is required to work not only on conventional automobile R&D (research and development), but also on R&D for advanced and future technologies in the fields including environment."

Toyota added that it was trailing competitors in North America and Europe in some areas, while Suzuki was struggling to forge its own path in the fiercely competitive industry.

The firms are holding a press briefing in Tokyo around 0930 GMT.

Japan has eight domestic automakers in an intensely competitive market.

Suzuki sells about 2.8 million vehicles a year globally compared with more than 10 million for Toyota.

Nissan earlier this year announced plans to buy a one-third stake in Mitsubishi Motors - which was embroiled in a fuel-testing scandal - forging an alliance that will challenge some of the world's biggest auto groups.

In January Toyota made its mini-car unit Daihatsu a wholly-owned company in a move that gave Toyota definitive control over a company that has battled with Suzuki in Japan's domestic mini-car segment. It also strengthens its footing in Southeast Asia.

Suzuki formed a capital alliance with Volkswagen in 2009 after ending a partnership with US giant General Motors.

But the tie-up ended in August last year due to disagreements over management control and other issues, weeks before the emissions-cheating scandal tainted the Volkswagen brand.
The pagoda was built in 541-548 on the bank of the Red River in the territory of Yen Hoa village (now the Yen Phu Ward, Tay Ho district).

The pagoda was recognized as cultural relic at national level in 1989. In late 2003, the pagoda had a more significant project: a lotus tower on the grounds.

Tran Quoc Pagodas abbot Thich Thanh Nha said: This work is consistent with the will of the chief because the lotus tower is symmetrical with linden tree that is in front of the pagodas gate. The linden tree was presented by Indian President Prasat on his visit to Vietnam in 1959. The symmetry carries a profound meaning: lotus symbolizes Buddha sincerity. The linden tree is cognitive and ultimate wisdom. They all imply the nature of the phenomenon and methods.

The 11-storey tower is 15 meters high and 10.5 square meters wide. Each storey consists of 6 arches, with statues of Buddha Amitabha made of precious stones. The total number of statues is 66 and at the top of the tower have 9 lotus layers made of precious stones.

The tower was built in June, 1998, but due to lack of conditions, it was delayed until February 2003, the work was completed with the total cost of VND525 million. By the end of November 2003, the monument was inaugurated in the presence of authorities, the Buddhist Sangha of Vietnam and numerous Buddhists and people.
Photo: VGP

Vietnamese Deputy PM and FM Pham Binh Minh and Danish Foreign Minister Kristian Jensen reached the consensus during their talks in Ha Noi on October 11.

Viet Nam always treasures friendly relations and cooperation with Denmark, the host said, expressing his belief that the Danish FMs visit will contribute to lifting bilateral ties to a new height, particularly when the two countries are celebrating 45 years of diplomatic ties (November 25, 1971-2016).

Danish FM Jensen congratulated Viet Nam on its socio-economic development and international integration achievements, affirming that the Danish government wishes to promote cooperation with Viet Nam, a country with an increasing role in the region.

Both sides expressed their pleasure at the active developments in Viet Nam-Denmark friendly relations and cooperation over the past 45 years, while agreeing to enhance the exchange of all-level delegations, effectively implement the political consultation mechanism at the deputy foreign minister level and the Inter-government Committee on Economics and Trade mechanism, and fulfill the Viet Nam-Denmark Action Plan for 2016.

They also reached consensus on encouraging and creating favorable conditions for businesses of both countries to strengthen meetings, explore each others market and enhance cooperation in the priority fields such as agriculture, food processing, renewable energy, green growth and environment.

Deputy PM Minh thanked the Danish government for providing practical official development assistance (ODA) sources to Viet Nam over the past years, suggesting the two sides coordinate to work out new effective cooperation methods in the areas of adaptation to climate change, environment, energy and green growth.

Viet Nam welcomes Denmarks support for ASEAN over the years and hopes that both sides will soon implement specific cooperation programmes concerning the fields of maritime security, institution building, infrastructure, education, agriculture, green technologies and adaptation to climate change, the deputy PM added.

The two officials also discussed a number of international and regional issues of mutual concern and agreed on enhanced cooperation at multilateral forums, particularly the United Nations.

With regards to the East Sea issue, both the host and the guest voiced their concern over the recent proceedings in the East Sea, stressing the need to peacefully solve disputes in line with international laws, the United Nations Charter and the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) and the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea (DOC), and move towards finalizing a code of conduct (COC) aiming to maintain peace, stability, and trade, aviation and maritime safety and freedom in the East Sea.
Photo by THE FAYETTEVILLE OBSERVER

Travis Odum, from left, Tony Ford and Carlos Gomez ride a boat to retrieve items from their flooded home in Lumberton, N.C., on Wednesday.
A GOP that can't rebuke Trump deserves its time in the wilderness
Mindful Eating: Slower Consumption for Better Health

With tight schedules and busy lives, sitting down to a meal free of distraction can be more of a luxury than the norm. Mindful eating gets pushed aside for many reasons. Taking a break to satisfy your hunger may also seem like the perfect opportunity to catch up on social
Prime Minister Hun Sen has rejected a request from the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party for the courts to drop charges against opposition officials.



Hun Sen, president of the ruling Cambodian Peoples Party, said in a letter on Wednesday that the judiciary was independent and the executive could not intervene in ongoing cases.



He argued that an intervention from his office would be contrary to the rule of law, however, the cases against senior opposition officials including the CNRPs deputy leader, Kem Sokha, are widely viewed as politically motivated.



Some 20 opposition officials and supporters have been charged with a range of offenses since mid-2015.



Sam Rainsy, CNRP president, went into self-imposed exile last year after he was sentenced to two years over a years-old defamation ruling.



Yim Sovann, CNRP spokesman, said the party would try to find an alternative route to ending the political deadlock, which has seen the opposition boycott parliament for several months.



We are trying to avoid staging demonstrations, he said. Demonstrations are a last resort that we could choose. But we are still hopeful that there will be a diplomatic solution.



Prior to the 2013 election, Rainsy was pardoned by King Norodom Sihamoni, with the approval of Hun Sen, paving the way for him to return to the country and take part in the polls.



Sok Eysan, ruling Cambodian Peoples Party spokesman, said that the CNRPs decision to continue a boycott of parliament was the worst thing.
From the crackdown on freedom of expression by the military government in Thailand to restrictions on LGBT communities in Singapore and Indonesia, 2016 has not been a good year for the human rights situation in Southeast Asia.



Events elsewhere in the region also indicate that the situation is deteriorating - fast.



That was the prognosis from a prominent regional human rights monitor who told VOA Khmer that government actions have made it quite clear that the rights situation across Southeast Asia is getting much worse.



The situation broadly in the region  and certainly within Asean [the Association of Southeast Asian Nations]  is going downhill very quickly, said Phil Robertson, deputy director of Human Rights Watchs Asia division.

New York-based Human Rights Watch has recorded a wave of repression and rights abuses, from Myanmar to the Philippines, including: Freedom of expression severely curtailed by Thailands military leadership; online activists jailed in Laos and Vietnam; opposition figures mistreated in Malaysia; Rohingya Muslims suffering severe abuse in Myanmar; opposition politicians and rights workers jailed in Cambodia; LGBT communities curtailed in Singapore and Indonesia; and thousands of extra-judicial killings in the Philippines.



Robertson described the situation as a disaster in the Philippines, where President Rodrigo Dutertes so-called war on drugs has led to thousands of suspected drug dealers and users being shot dead across the country. As the death toll mounts, the government in Manila both denies responsibility and also hits out at international criticism, citing  as the Philippines Foreign Affairs Secretary Perfecto Yasay did recently  a need to fight the drug scourge that has torn apart communities across the country.

Robertson expressed concern that Western countries, particularly the United States, traditionally known for its commitment to human rights and democratic principles in foreign policy and international cooperation, are not doing enough to advocate respect for rights in Southeast Asia.



Its pretty worrisome that, despite increasing engagement by the United States  the so-called Asia pivot strategy by President Obama  human rights remains the policy that is left off the list, Robertson said.



At the U.N. General Assembly last month, senior representatives from the Asean region, including Cambodia and the Philippines, hit back at their critics.



Defending their much-criticized rights records, the representatives of Manila and Phnom Penh cited national sovereignty and offered their own interpretation of respect for human rights and what defines a democratic state.



Cambodias Foreign Minister Prak Sokhon defended his countrys record on human rights and political freedom, telling the U.N. that a perfect model democracy does not exist, the Cambodia Daily reported.



Robertson said the situation is unlikely to improve unless Western countries focus more on human rights and democracy in their engagement with Southeast Asia.



Despite the 10-nation Asean bloc adopting an unprecedented declaration of human rights four years ago in Phnom Penh, basic rights-related issues remain unaddressed and donor countries are dashing out rather than pressing the region on abuses and the narrowing democratic space, Robertson said.



Theres lack of respect on basic democratic principles of having a main political opposition that contributes to the country, he added.



Many of these governments view any sort of political challenges to themselves as being [attempts] to topple them, he said.



Robertson said he did not think that the situation would improve without a renewed commitment from regional governments to democratic principles.



Despite the dire forecast, Robertson said people needed to continue to exercise their right to speak out and stand up peacefully for their rights in line with international human rights standards.
The U.N. envoy or human rights, Rhona Smith, on Wednesday met with the deputy leader of Cambodias main opposition party, pledging to help ease tensions with Prime Minister Hun Sens ruling Cambodian Peoples Party.



Smith met Kem Sokha of the CNRP and discussed a range of issues, including legal cases that have been lodged against him and other opposition members and parliamentarians, according to an opposition spokesman.



Eng Chhay Eang, the spokesman, said Smith had said she would help to find a solution to the political stalemate that has gripped the country in recent months and seen the opposition boycott parliament amid a swath of lawsuits that are widely believed to be politically motivated.



She said that she would try to work on this because this she also said that the issues are related to the immunity of members of parliament and the judicial system. She believes that there will be a solution, he said.



Smiths visit came as the Phnom Penh Municipal Court sentenced Um Sam An, an opposition lawmaker, to two and a half years in prison for comments he made about about the demarcation of Cambodias border with Vietnam.



Hong Sok Huor, an opposition senator, also faces charges for claiming that Vietnam had encroached on Cambodian territory.



Smith did not respond directly to questions about the court cases against members of the opposition.



I think there are a lot of issues to discuss to make sure that the constitution is applied correctly and Cambodian law is applied correctly and equally to all people, she said.



Political analysts said relying on international pressure to improve the human rights situation would not provide long-term solutions.



Heang Sreang, an analyst, said politicians should seek to move away from expectations of foreign assistance.



Khmer politicians must find a solution, or unity, by bringing the national interest to the table so there will be a compromise and an end to the problems, he said.
Hungarian officials recently declared several British cities no-go zones where immigrants  many of them Muslim  dominate, using them as examples of why Hungary should not accept migrants or refugees. One of the cities mentioned - Peterborough, in Britain - has protested and has begun to receive Syrian refugees after a careful debate among city leaders. VOA Europe Correspondent Luis Ramirez reports.
Eighty-six percent of the registered Muslim voters in the U.S. say they plan to vote in the Nov. 8 presidential election in the midst of a perceived rise in Islamophobia, according to a new survey.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) released the results of a nationwide survey Thursday that found that 72 percent of American Muslim voters plan to cast their votes for Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, compared to 4 percent for Republican rival Donald Trump.

Three percent intend to vote for Green Party candidate Jill Stein and 2 percent plan to support Libertarian Party candidate Gary Johnson.

The survey also shows that 85 percent of Muslims believe that Islamophobia and anti-Muslim sentiment have increased in the U.S. in the past year. CAIR Executive Director Nihad Awad attributes the perceived rise to politicians like Trump, former Republican presidential hopefuls Ben Carson and Ted Cruz, and "ideologues around them who have allowed this Islamophobia to mushroom."

Reports of discrimination

Nearly one-third, or 30 percent, of the survey respondents said they felt they were discriminated against in the past year. Awad expressed serious concern, citing reports of apparent discrimination at public places such as airports, as well as vandalizing of mosques and hate-crime-related murders of Muslims.

"These numbers tell a story of a Muslim community that is hopeful and worried at the same time, worried that the national political discourse has deteriorated so much that they feel unsure about their future as American citizens because of the threats of having special policies that will be designed to target them," Awad said at a Washington news conference.

Awad said the possible policies that concern Muslim Americans include proposals that would, for example, require them to wear special identification cards, force the closure of mosques and bar foreign Muslims from entering the U.S.

Party leanings

Of the Muslims surveyed, 44 percent said they considered themselves political moderates, 25 percent were liberals, and 11 percent said they were conservatives.

The results suggest the historical trend of Muslims aligning with the Democratic Party has leveled off. Sixty-seven percent said they were Democrats, compared with 66 percent in 2012 and 49 percent in 2006.

Muslim affiliation with the Republican Party remains little changed, with 6 percent of the respondents expressing GOP membership compared with 9 percent in 2012 and 8 percent in 2008.

However, more Muslims have a negative perception of the Republican Party. Sixty-two percent of those surveyed said the Republican Party was unfriendly toward Muslims, an increase from 51 percent in 2012. The Democratic Party is perceived more favorably, with only 2 percent saying that party was not friendly toward Muslims.

An overwhelming majority of the respondents, 91 percent, thought that Trump's proposed temporary ban on Muslims entering the U.S. was wrong. Only 3 percent thought it was the right decision.

The survey also showed that nearly half of Muslim voters said the U.S. did not provide adequate support in the past year to defeat the Islamic State terrorist group in Iraq and Syria.

Eighty-two percent of the respondents support the resettlement of Syrian refugees in the U.S.

"Our survey results indicate that presidential candidates still have time to appeal to American Muslim voters by addressing issues such as the erosion of civil rights and growing Islamophobia," said CAIR Government Affairs Director Robert McCaw.

More than 800 Muslim voters were queried for the pre-election survey between Sept. 7 and Oct. 5. CAIR said the survey has a margin of error of 3.5 percentage points.
A platoon of African Union soldiers patrol a village outside Mogadishu.

They walk on foot ahead of three armored vehicles in order to sweep for improvised explosive devices (IEDs) planted by al-Shabab insurgents.

The goal is to find and defuse any bombs before they go off.

Over the last five years, the African Union (AU) troops, called AMISOM, forced al-Shabab from most major towns, but the rebels have regrouped with IEDs as their weapon of choice.

The insurgents have developed a sophisticated IED building network, regularly targeting both soldiers and civilians in ever larger attacks which have managed to slow AMISOM's advance.

The IEDs have been very effective

"IEDs are the biggest threat in this counter-insurgency, counter-terrorism operation," says AMISOM Deputy Force Commander Major General Nakibus Lakara. "Al-Shabab has been able to leverage its expertise on IEDs to very, very devastating effect."

2016 is set to be the worst year yet for IED attacks in Somalia, with more than 225 attacks so far, according to the Sahan Research Group.

In late August, blasts at two hotels in Mogadishu killed 22 people. Shortly after, a car bomb killed a senior Somali general and his bodyguards.

Though there are no exact numbers, hundreds are believed to have been killed form IED attacks in the last 12 months.

The bombs are getting bigger too, up to 80 kilograms compared to five or 10 kilograms just a few years ago, according to Major General Lakara.

IEDs come in different forms

"The use of IEDs has really evolved. IEDs are in different types. Trucks that are filled with explosives. There are pressure plate IEDs. There are also magnetic IEDs. IEDs that are remote controlled, as a combination of this really creates a lot of challenge," the general explained.

One of al-Shabab's most devastating tactics are "complex attacks" which begin with a large IED blast followed by gunmen who spray bullets at survivors and responders.

But IEDs are also effective because they are so simple.

No need to import IED parts

Most of the materials to build an IED are available in Somalia, including cell phones to trigger explosives made from fertilizer or old munitions.

IEDs are often filled with ball bearings and nails to maximize carnage.

The only imported components are blast caps and detonators believed to be smuggled from Yemen, according to AMISOM commanders and independent researchers.

"The IEDs they manufacture gives them a lot of flexibility," says AMISOM IED expert Hollypass Lagat. "They can place on a road, on the side of a road, under vehicles. They are easily modified. They can easily be transported. They are easily connected, and the triggerman can easily hide somewhere."

This flexibility makes it difficult for AMISOM to counter the IED threat.

Counter measures

AMISOM and Somali security forces have modified their patrols with IEDs in mind. They also search cars in places like Mogadishu where attacks are most frequent.

But better intelligence is needed to break up the bomb-making groups.

"Keeping an eye on where potential IED factories might be, keeping an eye on where the materials are coming from, if certain materials, which are known IED components, are visible in high quantities or running through the hands of certain people, now that kind of intelligence can start to dismantle an IED network," says Andres Perez, a counterterrorism expert at the Royal United Services Institute for Defense and Security Studies.

For AMISOM soldiers on the frontlines, reducing the IED threat can not come soon enough.
Activists in Britain are challenging Prime Minister Theresa Mays authority to trigger an exit from the European Union without a parliamentary vote.

The High Court took up the legal challenge Thursday and its decision is considered to be the most consequential constitutional ruling in a generation.

On one side, the government says May has the authority to begin negotiations for Britain's exit from the EU without a vote in the House of Commons, thanks to a type of executive privilege called royal prerogative.

At the same time, activists, including investment manager Gina Miller, are arguing that the Brexit process cannot begin without a vote in parliament.

Miller, the lead claimant in the case, said the lawsuit is not meant to keep Britain in the EU, but rather it is meant to uphold the democratic process.

About democracy

It's about democracy, she told the Associated Press. To my mind, the most dangerous precedent we'd be setting is that a government can overrule parliament and not consult it when we are making decisions about people's rights. And that to me is a very, very dangerous place.

In Britain's June 23 referendum, voters narrowly chose to leave the EU by a 52-48 percent margin.

Protesters from both sides of the issue gathered outside the doors of the High Court in London Thursday morning in anticipation of the court hearing, which is scheduled to last until Monday.

Regardless of the outcome of the court case, May said Wednesday she would allow parliament to debate the issues surrounding Brexit, though she made clear the outcome of the referendum would not change.

The UK will be leaving the European Union, she said. Were not asking ourselves what bits of membership we want to retain.
As troops across Iraq prepare for the long-awaited battle for Mosul, archaeologists are preparing for the aftermath. Experts with the British Museum are giving Iraqi archaeologists top level training to prepare them for the destruction left by Islamic State. Sebastian Meyer reports from Rania, in northern Iraq.
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton is facing new scrutiny for comments her campaign staffers made about Christian teachings and the differences between Catholics and evangelical Protestants and their political leanings in the 2016 presidential race.

WikiLeaks has been disclosing thousands of what it says are internal emails hacked from inside the Clinton campaign as she seeks to win the November 8 election and become the country's first female president.

In one of the emails, campaign spokeswoman Jennifer Palmieri messaged back and forth in 2011 with John Halpin, a senior fellow at the liberal think tank Center for American Progress. He wrote that the country's most powerful conservatives are all Catholic and called their politics "an amazing bastardization of the faith."



"They must be attracted to the systematic thought and severely backwards gender relations and must be totally unaware of Christian democracy," he said.

Palmieri replied, writing, "Catholicism is the most socially acceptable politically conservative religion. Their rich friends wouldn't understand if they became evangelicals."

Another 2011 email sent to current Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta from the head of a progressive group called for a "Catholic Spring," adapting the pro-democracy "Arab Spring" in the Middle East.

"There needs to be a Catholic Spring, in which Catholics themselves demand the end of a middle-ages dictatorship and the beginning of a little democracy and respect for gender equality in the Catholic Church," Voices for Progress President Sandy Newman wrote.

Trump react



Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump told supporters Wednesday the emails show Clinton staffers "viciously attacking" Catholics and evangelicals.

"It's just the latest evidence of the hatred that the Clinton campaign has for everyday faithful Americans," he said. "If you're a person of faith, I think you're gonna vote for Donald Trump, and I have such endorsements and such support."

Podesta said a Federal Bureau of Investigation investigation into his leaked emails is part of a wider FBI probe into the suspected Russian hacking of Democratic Party emails - a charge that Russia denies.

Podesta alleged that longtime Trump adviser Roger Stone had "advance knowledge" of the leaks. Stone has admitted he has been in contact with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. Stone also tweeted in August that WikiLeaks would attack Clinton and Podesta.

Podesta says Russia may be trying to influence the outcome of the U.S. presidential election to favor Trump, who has said he admires President Vladimir Putin.

Other leaked emails from the Democratic Party include allegations that Clinton campaign officials tried to discredit former Democratic presidential rival Bernie Sanders and suggestions the campaign should laugh off the controversy surrounding Clinton's State Department emails.
Thousands of people flooded streets in cities across Colombia Wednesday to protest in favor of a peace deal between the government and a group of Marxist rebels who have been feuding for more than five decades.

The marches Wednesday mark the second mass gathering of Colombians in support of the peace deal that was signed with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), but was later rejected by voters.

The protests come as 2016 Nobel Peace Prize winner President Juan Manuel Santos has continued talks with opposition politicians and FARC representatives in an attempt to save the peace deal.

Voters narrowly rejected the deal 50.2 percent to 49.7, or by a margin of just 54,000 votes. The result came as a shock to Colombian leaders as public opinion polls leading up to the vote forecast the referendum would pass by a two-to-one margin.

Last week, Santos said he would extend a cease-fire agreement with the rebels until October 31, though expectations for a deal remain low because FARC leaders refuse to budge on the already-signed peace accord and opponents say the rebels need to accept tougher terms.

Many "no" voters were genuinely offended that nearly all FARC rebels will avoid prison time for crimes allegedly committed during the uprising and get various financial support from the government.

They are also upset that FARC would be guaranteed seats in the Colombian congress without an election in exchange for transforming FARC into a political party.
Less than a month before Election Day, Republican Donald Trump is scrambling to recover momentum after the release of a damaging video tape, a steep drop in the polls and an increasingly bitter feud with party leaders.

Despite his recent troubles, some of Trumps most loyal supporters continue to stand with him, especially coal miners in West Virginia.

Coal miner Chris Rose has been an enthusiastic Trump supporter from the beginning.

He speaks his mind. Hes not afraid to say what is on his mind. Hes got gall, Rose said at his home outside Morgantown recently.

But Rose and his wife, Amber, were clearly put off by the release of the Access Hollywood videotape that contains Trumps vulgar language about women. Rose said he and his wife were extremely disappointed and disgusted with the tape, and he added that Trump will have to try hard to convince voters that he has changed his view on women and marriage.

Despite the tape, Rose said they are sticking by Trump.

I hope the American people will remember that this is just a flash in the pan compared to all the scandals the Clintons have been in throughout the years, he said, adding that he finds Clinton to be crooked, deceitful, lying.

Rose is 26 and has been mining for eight years. The coal mining industry is crucial in West Virginia, and Rose decided long ago he wanted to be part of it.

I mean, people you grow up with, family members, everybody works in the coal mine," he said. "So it is a way of life, a brotherhood.

Hard times for miners

But the coal mining industry has fallen on hard times in West Virginia in recent years. A group that monitors the coal industry called Workforce West Virginia reports that about 11,500 miners have lost their jobs since March of 2012. The miners blame government regulations and many of them are enthusiastically embracing Donald Trump for president.

Rose said Trump does need to make some changes, adding that he does need to learn to make it [his campaign] a little more presidential.

But Rose also argued that West Virginia miners have welcomed his support for the coal industry and are suspicious of what Clinton would do as president. He also said voters want change.

They are fed up with the Clintons. They are fed up with the Bushes. Its time to run an outsider. Time to give someone else a chance.

'He kind of disgusts me'

A few miles away, on the campus of West Virginia University in Morgantown, Trump is also the subject of discussion, but this time its by members of the Young Democrats club.

Sophomore Angel Mullen is, to put it mildly, not a fan. Donald Trump, he kind of disgusts me. And I feel bad saying that, but as a woman and a minority, I dont feel very comfortable with him. I dont feel comfortable with him handling womens rights.

Mullen is supporting Democrat Hillary Clinton for president, and says even though Trump remains a heavy favorite to win West Virginia on election day, it is still important to get Democrats to turn out to vote.

And even if (the) state overall votes for Trump, it is still really important for those Hillary supporters to go out there, and for us to see those numbers and to see how many people actually really support her.

Fellow Young Democrat Emma Harrison said she is inspired by Clinton whose candidacy gives her hope that women can aspire to high office. Well for me, I really want to run for office some day, and to have her break the ultimate glass ceiling of (becoming) president, hopefully, that would just mean the world to me.

Harrison added that, in her view, there is no comparison between Trump and Clinton. I mean, she is the most qualified. And she is level-headed, she is strong-willed. I just think she is the perfect candidate for the job.

Looking for a savior

Known as the Mountain State, West Virginia ranks as one of the poorest states in the country.

Its aging and predominantly white population is looking to Trump as a savior, according to Patrick Hickey, an assistant professor of political science at West Virginia State University. Trumps message really resonates here because part of his message is that the global economy has left American workers behind, and I think nowhere is that felt more, or very few places is that felt more, than in West Virginia.

West Virginia last voted for a Democrat in a presidential election 20 years ago, when voters supported Bill Clintons re-election bid in 1996. Since then, the state has taken a sharp turn toward the Republicans, in part because Democrats nationally are not seen as supportive of the coal industry.

We had a strong Democratic tradition, a strong union tradition, but as the mining jobs have gone away and some of those union jobs have gone away, we have seen the state increasingly turn Republican, said Hickey.

Trump has been an outspoken supporter of the coal industry in West Virginia going back to the primaries earlier this year, and Hickey said he still retains a lot of support. West Virginia really sets up well for Trump. We are an older state, we are a whiter state, and so some of these statements that Trump has made that are really concerning to folks elsewhere are maybe not as concerning to folks here.

West Virginia looks to be Trump country come Election Day. Voters here seem ready to overlook his faults in the hope of bringing change to a state with an uncertain future.

We are not getting any younger here in terms of the state in general, Hickey added.

We are not getting any more diverse in terms of racial diversity here in the state, and so again, demographically, West Virginians are the folks being left behind by this more multi-cultural and globalized society.
A leaflet put out by Hungarys leaders recently identified several British cities as no-go zones where immigrants, many of them Muslim, dominate. The leaflet cited the cities as examples of why Hungary should not accept migrants or refugees.

At least one of those British cities, Peterborough in England, has protested and has begun to receive Syrian refugees after a careful debate among city leaders.

Suhad el Marsomi, an asylum seeker from Iraq, defies the stereotypes of the newcomer who will not assimilate and who will take more than give.

Im a graduate from the college of economics in Iraq, she said. I have a business administration degree in my country. And I was working [at] the ministry of finance in Iraq.

At an old union hall that now serves as a refugee center, she stands at a table with sewing machines, surrounded by refugees and British natives, taking turns among them, teaching them to make clothing and other items.

El Marsomi arrived in Britain last year with her elderly parents and has, like thousands of other refugees, an application pending for asylum. Several months into the process, she waits. Sitting at home was not an option for her.

Until now I cannot work because I still wait the decision of the Home Office on my case. Until now, they are not agreeing to [grant] me [asylum]. I need to work, she said.

Rich mix of culture

By some definitions, el Marsomis neighborhood, Peterboroughs Millfield area, is a ghetto, reflecting a rich diversity but also a reality that is unsettling to many.

English is often not heard on the streets, where Afghan fruit vendors peddle their wares and store signs advertise products in Dari, Pashto, Arabic, Polish and Hungarian.

Peterborough has a long tradition of welcoming immigrants, starting with Italians, who came by the hundreds in the 1950s to work in the citys brick factories.

The city has a heart, a real culture to it, which is one of acceptance, said Adrian Chapman, a city council official. The debate wasnt whether or not we should accept Syrian refugees.

Unlike other cities, where officials and citizens have raised concerns about terrorism and demographic changes, it was practical considerations and responsible management of the newcomers that were the key issues here.

The debate in the first instance was really, do we have the finances to support any new arrivals? The issue around where these people were coming from did not feature, Chapman said.

The city councils consensus was to accept 25 families over five years.

Some quiet concerns

The decision was unanimous, but some residents quietly express concerns stemming from the struggle the city has faced in the past when it comes to assimilation.

Im not against foreign people, because Im a foreigner myself, said one Millfield resident who asked not to be identified other than as the son of Italian immigrants. But some of these people come here and expect help, and the government forgets about people who are from here who also need help.

Not one English person comes on this street, he said. Not one person speaks English.

A media official with the local UKIP party of anti-immigration advocate Nigel Farage, hung up on a reporter who asked for comment on the citys decision to accept Syrian refugees.

But John Whitby, UKIP member of the city council, voted to accept the refugees and readily agreed to an interview. He said his constituents concerns focused on making a responsible, thoughtful decision.

Cultural assimilation isnt a problem when youve got small numbers, Whitby said.

We were for accepting them, he said, but once we knew what we were agreeing to we werent going to write an open check and say, Yes, great, bring as many as you like.' We wanted to make sure that the numbers were manageable.

Key for Whitby was an arrangement in which funding would not be siphoned from local programs in the city of nearly 200,000, which faces a severe housing shortage.

Charities step in

To mitigate the concern, the city turned to private, church-based charities, which found dwellings and received donations.

Sharon Keough of the Care Zone charity organization, showed a reporter around a warehouse stacked with furniture, clothing and food that have poured in.

We will help anyone that has a need, Keough said. We will help anyone whether they have faith, no faith. No matter what background they come from. If they have a need, we will help.

Ed Walker, head of Hope Into Action, another charity group, shares the same altruistic spirit, but also realism at a time when Britain has become more ethnically diverse.

When I went to school, every one of my classmates was white, bar one or two, in the entire year or the entire school, said Walker, who is 40. My daughter now goes to a school with a whole range of colors, religions, languages and ethnicities. I see that as a wonderful thing for her to grow up in, but whether you think it is or isnt, its our country now and you have to embrace it because its not going away.

The alternative, he said, is not acceptable to him.

We have to embrace this rich mix of people because the alternative is we ostracize them, and it does create hard lines between our communities and their communities and divisions and all this fear that comes from that, Walker added.

One thing all sides agree on is that Peterborough is not a no-go zone. Ironically, among the most visible groups in the Millfield neighborhood are the Hungarians.

Integration isnt a problem

At the refugee center run by a charity called the Promoting African Refugees Committee Association, where el Marsomi teaches sewing, integration is happening.

If you cant speak English, we are able to help you to speak English so you move into employment, from the job seeker allowance to the route to employment, we can help you, said Moez Nathu, the associations director. We have a lot of refugees and asylum [seekers] from African continent and other parts of the country coming here, including Hungarians, in the city here.

Joyce Youles, a Peterborough native, takes exception at any suggestion that Millfield is a no-go zone.

Theyre wrong, arent they? They shouldnt say things like that, Youles said.

It is a good neighborhood to come. Especially coming here as well. Its brilliant coming here. So much to learn. So many new people to meet, so many people to help in the world, she added.

We all get on great as a team, dont we? We all work together as like a team. Everyone gets on all right, Youles said.

One stitch at a time, el Marsomi has begun weaving herself into the fabric of Peterborough, starting as someone who receives help and becoming one who gives it.

She said she will continue to teach at the center while awaiting a decision on her asylum.

Even if [it is for] free, its not a problem for me. Just I want to feel Im human. Im still human. Im still in the life.
Insisting the demonstrations in Ethiopias Oromia region during the past year are a mass movement, not just two or three protest groups, Merera Gudina, the chairman of Ethiopias opposition Oromo Federalist Congress, is calling for the government to listen to the people's demands.

Our struggle, until a democratic state is created in the country, a political system that accommodates for all the citizens in the country, is created, we continue our struggle, said Gudina. Whatever the cost may be.

He says the government has been using "carrot and stick" tactics. Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn has promised political reforms, which Gudina says are too little, too late." Desalegn also announced a six-month national state of emergency to restore order.



Recent violent protests have targeted mostly foreign-owned businesses, burning and damaging almost a dozen factories and flower farms, and an estimated 60 vehicles across the Oromia region. An American researcher was killed near Addis Ababa when her car was attacked.

Rights groups such as Amnesty International have accused security forces of using excessive force to put down the protests.



During the recent thanksgiving celebration in early October at least 55 people were killed in a stampede when police fired tear gas and shots into the air. In August, protests in the Oromia and Amhara regions left dozens dead and hundreds injured after Ethiopian security forces allegedly opened fire on unarmed anti-government protesters.



Several requests by VOA for a response from the Ethiopian communications minister were not answered.



Disagreement on credibility

Rashid Abdi, Horn of Africa analyst for the International Crisis Group, says violence is counterproductive to the protest movement.



Yes, I think, in these kind of protests, you know, more militant elements tend to take actions necessary without the interests of others, and I think the turn of events in probably the last three weeks, has really dented the image of the protest movement and undermined their credibility, said Abdi.

Gudina disagrees.

I dont think that it is losing credibility. It is probably the fabrication of the government and some Western media. Otherwise, really, it is a popular movement; across the country people are refusing to be ruled in the old way, said Gudina. I dont think it is losing any credibility in the eyes of the people of Ethiopia.

Elise Dufief is the research and monitoring manager at transparency group Publish What You Fund, who did her PhD work on Ethiopia. Dufief said political and opposition parties have a role to play in turning frustrations into a constructive political force.



Because whenever violence occurs in that way, it gives another reason to the government to say, You see, these are distracting forces. We cannot really have a discussion or a dialogue with them. We cannot have a constructive discussion to see how we can identify the way forward. All we can do is reassert our authority and make sure that these people do not have a voice in the political sphere of the country. So that is not helping their case, said Dufief.



Dufief added the protesters are trying these different tactics in an attempt to make their voices heard.

But regardless of tactics, Gudina said protesters know what they want in the end.

Now people want real change, you know, real change on the ground, real change in the tangible things, but not empty promises, said Gudina.



The protests began in November 2015 over a government plan to expand the boundaries of the capital, Addis Ababa. Issues have since expanded to include human rights, political representation, and political participation.
A former Brazilian senator was sentenced Thursday to 19 years in prison for corruption, money laundering and obstruction of justice in the investigation of kickbacks at state-run oil company Petrobras.

Gim Argello was arrested in April on evidence he took 7.35 million reais ($2.28 million) in bribes to ensure executives at major infrastructure companies would not be summoned by an investigative congressional committee in 2014.

Argello, a senator for the federal district from 2007 to 2015, was serving as the vice president of the congressional committee looking into accusations of widespread corruption in Petrobras projects in 2014.

"Instead of fulfilling his duty, the condemned took advantage of power and opportunity to illegally enrich himself and continue a criminal cycle," federal judge Sergio Moro wrote in his decision. "The practice of crimes by congressmen, overseers of law, is especially reprehensible."

The decision found that Argello, of the centrist Brazilian Labor Party, received 5 million reais in campaign contributions from UTC Engenharia SA and 2 million reais in contributions from Toyo Setal Engenharia.

Argello was also convicted of taking 350,000 reais from builder OAS SA  money that was laundered through a Catholic church in the district.

Thursday's ruling was the latest chapter in the probe centered on Petroleo Brasileiro SA, known as Petrobras. It has uncovered systemic corruption at multiple companies and at the highest levels of government.

To date, nearly 200 executives and former politicians have been charged in the Petrobras probe and over 80 have been found guilty. Prosecutors are seeking some 38 billion reais in damages from companies and individuals involved.

Many of those jailed have been executives at Brazil's biggest construction companies that paid billions in bribes in return for inflated contracts.

But the investigation has begun to focus on public officials. Brazil's top prosecutor is investigating 66 current and former lawmakers, including the sitting head of the Senate and several former high-profile government ministers.
A Syrian man under arrest in Germany for allegedly planning a bomb attack killed himself Wednesday evening in a detention center in Leipzig, officials said.

Saxony's state justice ministry announced the death of Jaber Albakr, 22. One unconfirmed report said Albakr hanged himself; further details were expected Thursday.

Authorities said Albakr, who arrived in Germany last year, was close to staging an attack comparable to those that killed 130 people in Paris 11 months ago and 32 in Belgium in March of this year.

Albakr had been under surveillance by German domestic intelligence since last month. Authorities said they thought he had links to the Islamic State group and was thought to be planning to attack a Berlin airport, possibly as soon as this week.

The suicide was sure to increase pressure on Saxony state authorities, who already have been criticized for allowing Albakr to slip through their fingers Saturday as they prepared to raid an apartment where he had been staying in Chemnitz.

Albakr was seen leaving the building. Authorities fired a warning shot but did not chase him, allowing him to flee the city. Inside the apartment they found highly volatile explosives and a homemade bomb vest.

He was caught Monday after asking fellow Syrian refugees for help. They recognized him from wanted posters, tied him up in their apartment in Leipzig and alerted police.

Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere said that Albakr had undergone a security check last year, but it did not turn up anything suspicious.

"There was a check against security authorities' data in 2015, but without any hits,'' he said. "It's not clear when he was radicalized.''
Greece signaled Thursday that it was running out of patience with international lenders sitting on the fence over its call for debt relief, with Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras saying delays would damage the battered economy further.

Against the backdrop of a slump in ratings from unpopular economic reforms seen as vital under a multibillion-euro bailout program, the leftist party is seeking to rally its supporters at a three-day national congress.

"The July [bailout] accord is clear. As we abide by it, despite the costs, we expect our partners to keep their end of the deal. There is no more 'we will see,' " Tsipras told a sea of cheering supporters in a conference hall in Athens.

Heavy taxation, pension cuts and the highest unemployment rate in the eurozone seven years into the crisis have seen his Syriza party tumble in ratings against the opposition New Democracy party, which is leading in some polls by up to 10 percentage points.

The crisis-hit country has been lobbying hard to get its debt, which at 176 percent of gross domestic product is the highest in the eurozone, back to manageable levels. International lenders agree to the idea, but have yet to agree how it will work.

'Cusp of recovery'

In May, eurozone governments offered Greece debt relief in 2018, but left key details to be decided later in an attempt to bridge Germany's view that no immediate action was needed and the International Monetary Fund's call for decisions now.

"There is no excuse for delaying the inclusion of Greece in the ECB's quantitative easing. The economy is on the cusp of recovery. It needs just a nod [from the ECB] to turn the recovery into a takeoff," Tsipras told party supporters.

But, he said, the continuous dispute among the country's lenders  its eurozone partners and the International Monetary Fund  was exactly the nod that Greece did not need.

The IMF has said it can take part in Greece's latest bailout, brokered in mid-2015 and worth up to 86 billion euros, only if its debt is sustainable. The Washington-based lender of last resort believes debt relief is essential.

Tsipras is pinning hopes on a deal following the conclusion by lenders of a second review of economic reforms required under its third multibillion-euro bailout. Athens and representatives of lenders formally start talks on the second review next week.

He said the government did not feel isolated in its effort to secure debt relief as support even in the German parliament was rising.

"This must be comprehended by the German government," Tsipras said. "The Greek crisis must come to a definitive end. Europe cannot bear more turbulence, especially before crucial elections in France, Germany, the Netherlands and the referendum in Italy."
The International Criminal Court may have the jurisdiction to prosecute perpetrators of thousands of alleged extrajudicial killings in the Philippines' crack down on drugs, a prosecutor at the Hague-based tribunal said.

Earlier on Thursday, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte called U.S. President Barack Obama, the European Union and United Nations "fools" and said he would humiliate them if they questioned his war on drugs.

Nearly 2,300 people have died since Duterte started the campaign on June 30, according to police, of which 1,566 were drug suspects killed in police operations.

"I am deeply concerned about these alleged killings and the fact that public statements of high officials of the republic of the Philippines seem to condone such killings," ICC Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda said in statement.

The Philippines joined the ICC in November 2011 and extrajudicial killings could be prosecuted by the ICC if they are "committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack against a civilian population," she said.

The ICC, established under the 1998 Rome Statute, is a court of last resort. It only intervenes if a country is found to be unwilling or unable to prosecute crimes under its statute, including war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide.
Iran has disrupted an Islamic State bombing plot targeting the Shiite religious commemoration of Ashoura, according to state media reports on Thursday.

"Intelligence ministry agents, with the cooperation of other security forces, succeeded to defuse one of the anti-security plots of the 'takfiri' terrorist groups and prevent an inhuman crime in the ceremonies," Intelligence Minister Mahmoud Alavi said, according to the official IRNA media outlet.

The term takfiri is used by Iranian officials when referring to militant Sunni Muslim fundamentalist groups such as IS.

Alavi did not provide details as to how the alleged attackers entered Iran. IRNA quoted Alavi as saying some 100 kilograms (220 pounds) of explosives were confiscated and several foreign nationals were arrested.

The attacks were planned in Iran's southern Fars province, police said.

"During multiple complex operations, 11 non-Iranian terrorists were arrested, and intelligence equipment and an enormous amount of explosives, cars, and guns were discovered and seized from them," General Ahmad Ali Goodarzi, the head of Fars province police, told Iranian media outlets.

Ashoura commemorates the death of Imam Hussein, the grandson of the Prophet Muhammad. It is a high holy time for Shi'ites. Ceremonies through the years in Iran, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iraq and other Mideast and Persian Gulf nations have been disrupted by Sunni extremism attacks in sectarian rivalries.

"Sunni extremists and takfiris use every chance to attack Shia rituals and especially Ashoura, said Abdolhossein Amiri a political analyst in Tehran.

"They have attacked Shia mourners several times in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iraq, and no wonder that they have tried to plot attacks in Iran.

Alavi said Iran's foreign "enemies" were involved in the plot but offered no further details.

Iran said in June that it broke up a plot by what authorities said were Sunni extremists who had planned to carry out a series of bomb attacks during the holy month of Ramadan.
Twenty-two Liberian girls are in Washington, D.C., as part of the U.S. governments "Let Girls Learn" initiative. Their trip is a follow-up to first lady Michelle Obamas visit to Liberia and Morocco in June to highlight girls' education and U.S. support.

During their week-long stay in Washington, the girls visited the newly opened National Museum of African American History. The girls also attended workshops and visited the White House to watch the screening of a CNN documentary about girls' education: "We Will Rise: Michelle Obamas Mission to Educate Girls Around the World."

During a luncheon at the Liberian Embassy in Washington, the girls talked about some of the challenges they face in trying to receive an education.

Some of the challenges girls face are parental care, because of our friends lost their parents during the Ebola crisis. Some want to go to school, but due to low finance they are unable to go to school, said Shalita Jill of the Frank Emmanuel Tolbert senior high school in Monrovia.



Scourge of FGM



The girls also said some of their friends' education has been affected by the Sande womens secret society, where it is alleged female genital mutilation takes place.

The Sande business is really high in Liberia, especially where I live  Bensonville  you will notice that the people will take the girl children from school and carry them to the Sande bush, and the girls lose their education for that year, Jill said.

Every year thousands of girls leave their homes to attend the forest camps aimed at preparing them for marriage. They learn everything from social etiquette, good morals, domestic skills and correct sexual comportment to how to look after their future home and husband.

It is alleged that during this rite of passage that girls are subjected to Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) in which the clitoris and labia are cut. The procedure is said to prevent promiscuity and improve fertility, but it can prove fatal.

Activists around the world have campaigned against the practice.

The girls said they were grateful to the U.S. Embassy in Monrovia for making their trip to Washington possible.



Vocational training

One girl, Harriette, appealed to the U.S. to help construct vocational schools for girls who might not have the opportunity to go further in their education.

[T]hey go to grade school and then they feel shame," she said. "But if the U.S. Embassy helps us with some trade schools, like soap-making, hairdressing, I think it will be better for us."

Alice N. Mulbah said Michelle Obama encouraged them not to give up on their education in the face of the many challenges they face.



According to the U.S. Embassy in Liberia, the 22 girls were selected due to their participation in educational programs supported by the Peace Corps, U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the State Department.

"Investing in adolescent girls through education benefits not only girls and their families, but entire communities and economies," the embassy said. "When girls remain in school, they are more likely to marry later, have fewer and healthier children, and earn an income that they will invest back into their families and communities."
The Maldives said Thursday that it would leave the Commonwealth, weeks after the organization warned it could be suspended because of its lack of progress in promoting the rule of law and democracy.

Best known as a paradise for wealthy tourists, the Indian Ocean archipelago has been mired in political unrest since Mohamed Nasheed, its first democratically elected leader, was ousted in disputed circumstances in 2012.

The Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group last month warned the Maldives that in the absence of substantive progress in rule of law and democracy, it would consider its options, including suspension.

The Commonwealth comprises 53 states that were mostly former British colonies.

"The decision to leave the Commonwealth was difficult, but inevitable," the Foreign Ministry said in a statement. "Regrettably, the Commonwealth has not recognized that progress and achievements that the Maldives accomplished in cultivating a culture of democracy in the country and in building and strengthening democratic institutions."

Nasheed's Maldivian Democratic Party said the move by President Abdulla Yameen's government was taken without consulting parliament and would bring "irredeemable damage" to the country's standing in the international community.

'Despotic move'

"This is an absolute despotic move, which says much about the Yameen regime and its political posturing and disregard for international or public opinion," it said in a statement.

Commonwealth Secretary-General Patricia Scotland expressed sadness and disappointment about the decision and said she hoped the separation would be temporary.

Amnesty International said the Maldives authorities should address their own human rights situation rather than lashing out at legitimate criticism.

"Human rights have been in a complete free-fall in the country over the past few years. The government has locked up opponents through politically motivated trials and led an unprecedented crackdown on independent media," Amnesty's South Asia Director Champa Patel said.

Yameen's administration reintroduced the death penalty in July, rejecting repeated requests by rights groups and the West.

Nasheed, in exile in Britain after being allowed out of jail to travel for medical treatment, formed the Maldives United Opposition in June with the aim of toppling Yameen.

Yameen's administration has arrested most of his opponents.

The opposition says the administration is trying to cover up money laundering and other corruption, accusations the government has denied.
When it comes to deciding who should be the next U.S. president, many people in the politically active community of Vietnamese-Americans say they will not be voting for the candidate they like the best, but rather for the candidate they dislike the least.



Between the two devils, I choose the lesser one. Thats Donald Trump, said Leslie Le.



Le was a colonel in the South Vietnamese army before fleeing to the United States decades ago. Like most of the other Vietnamese refugees of his generation, Le has voted for Republicans in every election since he became a U.S. citizen.



This year, however, it took Le a long time to make up his mind.



'Two bad candidates'



It is very difficult this time because [there are] two bad candidates," he said.



Of Republican Trump, Le said, "he never thinks before speaking... before speaking out what hes thinking, and he changed policies a lot. He plans to build a wall between United States and Mexico, and he forces the Mexican government to pay for it. Its not reality, so what he said is just his imagination.



Le said Democrat Hillary Clinton would be more dangerous than Trump if she becomes president.



Hillary Clinton as secretary of state, she must [have been] able to tell what information is classified, related to national security, and which information is OK to transmit over private server email. If shes not capable to do that, she cannot be a president, Le said.



The younger generation of Vietnamese-Americans views things differently; many of them support Democrat Clinton.



Gender bias against Clinton?



Anyone whos served in politics for 20, 30 years will have some skeletons in the closet," said 33-year-old Viet Tran. "The only things thats been mentioned about her - nothings really that outrageous, nothing that hasnt been done before by other politicians. I think people are just more harsh on her because shes female.



Twenty-six-year-old Hugh Tra supported Democrat Bernie Sanders until the Vermont senator dropped out of the race.



I will be supporting Hillary," Tra said. "She has adopted a lot of Bernie Sanders' policies and implemented a lot of progressive platforms into her personal platform.



Vietnamese are the sixth-largest immigrant group in the U.S. Vietnamese-Americans are known for their interest in politics, and also for a generational divide in their political preferences.



Traditional Republicans



Dzung Do, managing editor of the Vietnamese-language newspaper Nguoi Viet, explained why older Vietnamese-Americans have traditionally voted Republican.



During the Vietnam War, the Republicans were very aggressive where the Democrats were anti-war," Do said. "So that kind of thinking... They [older Vietnamese] think the Democrat was responsible for the loss of Vietnam.



Do said there also is a gender bias among some older Vietnamese. He said he asked members of his community whether a woman could lead the United States government, and the older people he surveyed informally were emphatic: No. No way.



But over the past decade, even older Vietnamese-Americans seem to be switching toward support for the Democratic Party, Do said.



"People live here longer, especially old people. They got some benefits from social programs," the newspaper editor said. "When they first came here, they thought that they might do something to change Vietnam. Now they see the relationship between Vietnam and U.S. [is getting] warmer and warmer, so theres no way they can do that.



Reluctant Trump supporters



Some aging Vietnamese now have a more favorable view of Democrats, Do said, because they appreciate that party's support for government-funded social-welfare programs.



But Mike Nguyen, who fled the communist regime and does not believe in an expansive social welfare system, said he will vote Republican because he believes Republican economics work.



I vote Republican because of the policy, not because of Trump," Nguyen said. "I would like to give [tax] money back to the people who create jobs. If you tax them too much, and you give it away, everything in the country will go down.



Many Vietnamese who traditionally vote Republican, however, are only reluctantly supporting Trump. Le sums up why: If you dont vote for anybody, you indirectly vote for the bad one.



On the other hand, Do said he expects some Vietnamese-Americans will leave their ballots for president blank on election day next month.
Medical clinics in Singapore are carrying out female genital cutting on babies, according to people with first-hand knowledge, despite growing global condemnation of the practice, which world leaders have pledged to eradicate.

The ancient ritual, more commonly associated with rural communities in a swath of African countries, is observed by most Muslim Malays in Singapore where it is legal but largely hidden, said Filzah Sumartono of womens rights group AWARE.

Worldwide, more than 200 million girls and women are believed to have undergone female genital cutting or mutilation (FGM), according to United Nations figures.

But its existence in Singapore, a wealthy island state that prides itself on being a modern, cosmopolitan city with high levels of education, shows the challenge of tackling a practice rooted in culture, tradition and a desire to belong.

Sumartono said it was too early to press for a ban in Singapore although many countries have outlawed the practice. She said they first needed to create more awareness and debate around the practice and galvanize public support for ending it.

In my own circle of friends who are Malay and Muslim, 100 percent have been cut, said Sumartono, who was cut herself at 1 month old.

Whenever I bring up the subject with non-Malay theyre shocked and cant believe it happens in Singapore, she said.

The health ministry did not comment despite several requests.

Sumartono said FGM, known locally as sunat perempuan, was usually done before the age of 2 and may involve cutting the tip of the clitoris or making a small nick.

Even within the community we dont discuss this much, she told Reuters by phone from Singapore.

If a male baby gets circumcised there is this big celebration and prayer ritual, but if it is a female baby its quite quiet. Its usually only the mother or grandmother making the decision. Sometimes the father doesnt even know.

She said cutting was usually done by medical professionals.

We know five or six clinics offer the procedure, at around 20-35 Singapore dollars ($15-$26), she added. There's no legislation. Its done openly. You can just call up to make an appointment.

Religion and culture

The genital mutilation takes many forms and in some communities in Africa all the external genitalia are removed and the opening sewn closed.

Sumartono said although the type practiced in Singapore was milder, it was still a violation of a womans rights and underpinned the view that female sexuality must be controlled.

What I get from talking to my community is, Oh, its just a small cut so why are you complaining? But at its foundation, she said, it is really an act of violence against women. At infancy already, the child is taught that your body is not your own.

Singapore, home to more than 525,000 Malays making up more than 13 percent of the population, is not included in the latest U.N. global report on FGM, and there are no studies on its prevalence. Although FGM is not mentioned in the Koran and predates Islam, some Muslims believe the prophet endorsed the ritual.

Female circumcision, if done in the proper manner as prescribed by our Prophet Mohammad, ought to be continued, one Malay woman from Singapore, who recently had her granddaughter cut, told Reuters.

The retired civil servant, who asked not to be named, said this improved hygiene and had no adverse affect on a womans sex life.

She said the amount removed was very tiny and should not be classed as FGM because it was different to the more extreme types of cutting, which can cause serious health problems.

The World Health Organization, however, says FGM includes any injury to the female genitals.

Global action

Sumartono said that even if women did not want to cut their daughters they often came under family pressure to do so.

My mum didnt want to do it, it was my grandmother who really pressured her. My grandmother said its our culture. Community pressure is really quite strong, added Sumartono, who only started speaking out this year.

She said the Islamic Religious Council of Singapore had advocated the practice on its website, but this had been removed. The council did not respond to a request for clarification.

In 2012 the United Nations called for a global ban on FGM, increasing pressure on countries to take action. Last year world leaders agreed a target of eliminating FGM by 2030.

A U.N. report this year lists 30 countries where cutting is practiced, almost all in Africa. Indonesia is the only Asian country cited.

However, the Orchid Project, a charity that campaigns against FGM, says it believes cutting occurs in at least 45 countries and is more widespread in Asia and the Middle East than commonly perceived.

Research suggests sunat perempuan is common among Muslim Malays in Malaysia, which neighbors Singapore, and is also practiced in Brunei and part of southern Thailand.

Often we think about it being a very rural practice linked to lack of education so its surprising when we find it in countries like Singapore and it shows there is still a lot more we have to understand about why this is being held in place, said Orchid CEO Julia Lalla-Maharajh.
Russia is pouring money into Montenegro's election campaign in an attempt to derail the country's progress towards joining NATO, the country's Prime

Minister Milo Djukanovic said on Thursday, three days ahead of an election.

Djukanovic, who has led the tiny Balkan country as president or prime minister for more than 25 years, is facing his toughest ever electoral challenge from opposition parties that accuse him of cronyism and of treating Montenegro as a personal fiefdom.

In an interview with Reuters, he said opposition parties were being financed by Moscow, which saw Sunday's parliamentary vote as a final opportunity to stop the Balkan region's rush to integrate with the European Union and the Atlantic alliance.

"Russia has engaged a serious financial potential, which is I assume, made possible through its oligarchs and funneled through secret channels through Serbia and Republika Srpska," Djukanovic said, referring to the Serbian part of Bosnia, Montenegro's northern neighbor.

"Traditional opposition, pro-Serb parties are now proponents of Russian interests in the Balkans," he added."These elections are the last chance for opponents of Montenegro and the Balkans adopting European values," he said.

Russia and opposition parties have denied allegations that Moscow has intervened in the election campaign, though Russia's foreign minister has dubbed as "irresponsible" NATO's planned admission of Montenegro.

Sunday's vote pits Djukanovic's Democratic Party of Socialists against two major opposition alliances, containing a mixture of pro-Serb and pro-Western parties. They accuse Djukanovic of using scare tactics to stay in power.

"He labels every opponent a danger to Montenegro and its state interests," Nebojsa Medojevic, a senior figure in the opposition Democratic Front alliance, said on Thursday.

He also accused Djukanovic of being the one most closely aligned with Moscow's interests.

"Russian interests and influence entered Montenegro during Djukanovic's [rule]. In 2005, Djukanovic communicated closely with Russian official politics, informal centers of power, the Russian mafia and intelligence structures," Medojevic said.

He pledged to hold Djukanovic to account for alleged corruption if he took power.

The Adriatic republic of 620,000 people has strong economic and traditional ties with Russia, another predominantly Orthodox Christian country. But Djukanovic said Montenegro had to look westwards.

"The stability of the Western Balkans and [European] integration go hand in hand," he said.

The European Union and the US see closer integration with Europe's political and economic alliances as the best way of maintaining peace in a region, which was wracked by war in the 1990s when Yugoslavia broke up into seven successor states.

Croatia and Slovenia have already joined NATO and the EU, while Serbia and Bosnia are both pursuing EU membership. NATO membership is a sensitive issue in Montenegro, which was bombed by NATO in 1999 when it and Serbia were all that remained of Yugoslavia. Nonetheless, it is nearing the end of the accession process. Ten countries have already ratified its accession treaty.
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump said Thursday that allegations by four women that he kissed and touched them inappropriately are "totally and absolutely false."

With his campaign reeling from the accusations, the brash real estate mogul told supporters in Florida, "These claims are all fabricated. They're pure fiction and outright lies. These events never, ever happened and the people who said them fully understand." He said he has "substantial evidence to dispute" the claims that will be made public at an "appropriate time very soon."

Trump claimed that his opponent in the November 8 election, Democrat Hillary Clinton, and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, "know it and know it very well" that the allegations are not true, but offered no supporting comments. Trump said the national news media was a "political special interest" aligned with the Clinton campaign and published the claims to thwart his run for the White House.



Trump offered his rebuttal to the incendiary accusations in the hours after the four women alleged that he made unwanted sexual advances on them, just days after he denied acting out on taped boasts he made in 2005 that he could grope women with impunity because he was a celebrity.

The women, in accounts published Wednesday in The New York Times, The Palm Beach Post and People magazine, all described incidents in which Trump, seeking his first elected office, kissed or groped them in unwelcome encounters on an airplane, inside his Trump Tower skyscraper in New York or at his oceanside Mar-a-Lago mansion in Florida. One of the incidents was more than three decades ago, the others in 2003 and 2005.

Before his remarks at the Florida rally, Trump rebuffed the claims on his Twitter account. "Why didn't the writer of the 12-year-old article in People magazine mention the 'incident' in her story? Because it did not happen!" he said.

He called The New York Times account phony and "a total fabrication." His lawyers said they were drafting a lawsuit against the newspaper.

WATCH: Trump slams NY Times, media, female accusers

Trump's remarks on the 2005 tape have roiled the late stages of his 2016 presidential race against Clinton, a former U.S. secretary of state. National polls show his support plunging after the widespread broadcast of the tape and his second debate last Sunday with Clinton.

Real Clear Politics, a political web site, said Clinton now has a national 6.2-percentage-point lead less than four weeks before the November 8 election. In addition, numerous polls show her surging to bigger leads in the key battleground states that will decide the outcome.

The Clinton campaign said the new allegations against Trump "sadly" concur with "everything we know about the way Donald Trump has treated women. These reports suggest that he lied on the debate stage and the disgusting behavior he bragged about in the tape are more than just words."

In the debate, moderator Anderson Cooper of CNN asked Trump if he had actually done the activities he boasted about on the tape.

"No, I have not," Trump replied, calling his crude remarks "locker room talk."

But two of the women said they reacted angrily when they heard his denial as they, along with more than 60 million Americans, watched the debate unfold on television.

Mindy McGillivray, who says Trump grabbed her rear end while she was assisting a photographer at an event at his Florida estate in 2003, said she got off her couch at her home and yelled at the TV, "You liar!"



Another woman, Jessica Leeds, now 74, told the Times, "I wanted to punch the screen." She alleged that Trump, in the first-class cabin on a flight to New York more than 30 years ago, sat beside her and suddenly lifted the armrest between them, grabbed her breasts and tried to put his hand up her skirt.

"He was like an octopus," she recalled. "His hands were everywhere."

Leeds said she fled to the back of the aircraft. "It was an assault," she said.

In the other incidents, Rachel Crooks, then a 22-year-old receptionist, said that in 2005 she encountered Trump at his office building in New York, introduced herself and shook hands with him. But she said Trump wouldn't let go and began kissing her cheeks and then "kissed me directly on the mouth."

"It was so inappropriate," Crooks said. "I was so upset that he thought I was so insignificant that he could do that."

The fourth woman, Natasha Stoynoff, a People reporter assigned to cover Trump for the gossipy, celebrity magazine, said while she was at Mar-a-Lago in 2005 interviewing Trump and his then-pregnant wife Melania, he found a moment when his wife was elsewhere changing clothes to take her into a room and shut the door.

"Within seconds," Stoynoff recalled, "he was pushing me against the wall and forcing his tongue down my throat."

"I was stunned," she said. "And I was grateful when Trump's longtime butler burst into the room a minute later, as I tried to unpin myself. How could the actions of one man make me feel so utterly violated? I'd been interviewing A-list celebrities for over 20 years, but what he'd done was a first. Did he think I'd be flattered?"

She said that afterward Trump added, "You know we're going to have an affair, don't you?"

The women's descriptions of Trump's advances on them come close to the way he depicted himself in 2005, remarks captured on a live microphone as he rode on a bus on a Hollywood back lot as he headed to a cameo appearance on a television soap opera.

"I just start kissing them," he told a celebrity television host. "It's like a magnet. Just kiss. I don't even wait. And when you're a star, they let you do it. You can do anything." Trump said he would just grab women's genitalia.

First lady Michelle Obama, in a campaign appearance Thursday for Clinton in New Hampshire, denounced Trump's comments, calling them "an insult to decent men."

"This isn't about politics," she said. "It's about human decency. The men in my life do not talk about women this way."

Referring specifically to the Times account, the Trump campaign said, "It is absurd to think that one of the most recognizable business leaders on the planet with a strong record of empowering women in his companies would do the things alleged in this story, and for this to only become public decades later in the final month of the campaign for president should say it all."

Attorneys representing Trump sent a letter to Times Executive Editor Dean Baquet demanding the newspaper remove the article from its website and issue an apology.

"Your article is reckless, defamatory and constitutes libel per se. It is apparent from, among other things, the timing of the article, that it is nothing more than a politically-motivated effort to defeat Mr. Trump's candidacy."

The newspaper stood by its story and said it would "welcome the opportunity" to have a court fight over publication of the article.

Trump has often criticized the media's reporting on his campaign, including singling out what he calls the "failing New York Times."
Twenty-one newly freed Chibok girls, kidnapped by Boko Haram in 2014, met with Nigerian Vice President Yemi Osinbajo on Thursday in Abuja.

The release of the girls is "very exciting news for the whole country," he said.

Osinbajo denied press reports that the girls had been swapped for four captured Boko Haram militants.

Information Minister Alhaji Lai Mohammed called the girls' release "the product of painstaking negotiations and trust on both sides."

The International Red Cross and the Swiss government brokered the talks that led to freedom for the 21. Nigerian officials said talks with Boko Haram for the remaining captive girls would continue.

The names of all 21 girls will be released as soon as their families are contacted. Information on their health has also not been disclosed, but one of the girls is pregnant.







Mohammed thanked all Nigerians for their support and for "never losing confidence in the ability of Mr. President [Muhammadu Buhari] to secure the safe release of our Chibok girls."

Buhari, who is traveling to Germany on official business, said on Twitter he had been briefed on the girls' release before departing. "I welcome the release of 21 of our Chibok girls, following successful negotiations," he said.

Boko Haram kidnapped nearly 300 girls from a secondary school in the Borno state town of Chibok in April 2014. Dozens escaped, but 219 remained captive.

These were the first of the Chibok girls to be rescued as a result of government action.

Buhari has repeatedly vowed to rescue the girls and crush Boko Haram, which has frequently attacked schools as part of its seven-year insurgency in northeastern Nigeria, aimed at setting up an Islamic state.

The group, whose name is roughly translated as "Western education is forbidden," has been blamed for about 20,000 deaths in the region since 2009.
Hungarian officials recently declared several British cities "no-go zones" where immigrants, many of them Muslim, dominate, using them as examples of why Hungary should not accept migrants or refugees. One of the cities mentioned  Peterborough, England  has protested and has begun to receive Syrian refugees after a careful debate among city leaders. VOA's Luis Ramirez reports.
The man accused of last month's bombings in New York and New Jersey that injured dozens of people pleaded not guilty to attempted-murder charges Thursday in a New Jersey state courtroom.

Ahmad Khan Rahimi appeared from his hospital bed in Newark, New Jersey, via video link. He is still recovering from gunshot wounds incurred during his arrest. His court-appointed attorney stood next to him, clad in hospital scrubs.

Rahimi allegedly planted a pipe bomb near a Marine Corps charity footrace in Seaside Park, New Jersey, September 17. The device detonated while a bomb squad was trying to defuse it.

Rahimi, who is 28 and an Afghan-born U.S. citizen, pleaded not guilty to five counts of attempted murder of a police officer, as well as weapons offenses. The hearing in Elizabeth, New Jersey, took only a few minutes.

Rahimi also faces federal terrorism charges for that incident and one in nearby New York City, where an explosion in the Chelsea neighborhood, also on September 17, injured 31 people.
It's one of the big questions in the 2016 U.S. presidential race: To trade or not to trade? And interestingly enough, it's one of the few economic issues both Republican and Democratic candidates seem to agree on. But what do economists have to say?

To hear Republican candidate Donald Trump put it, countries like China and Mexico have taken advantage of America's generosity and poor negotiating skills to hijack U.S. jobs.

"We have to renegotiate our trade deals and we have to stop these countries from stealing our companies and our jobs," he said.

Trump blames trade deals such as NAFTA  the 1994 North American Free Trade Agareement  for eliminating millions of American manufacturing jobs, calling it "the single worst trade deal ever approved."

TPP controversy

If elected, he promises to scuttle the pending Trans-Pacific Partnership, or TPP, a wide-ranging pact with Pacific Rim countries that Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton once described as the "gold standard" of trade deals. But that was when Clinton was still secretary of state, and before free trade became a toxic issue during her primary contest with Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders.

"The facts are, I did say I hoped it would be a good deal. But when it was negotiated, which I was not responsible for, I concluded it wasn't," Clinton said during the first debate.

The TPP negotiations, which were finalized earlier this year, would create one of the largest free-trade zones involving 12 Pacific nations that represent nearly 40 percent of the world's GDP.

Labor groups have been among the most fervent trade rejectionists. The AFL-CIO, the largest labor union in the U.S., warns that TPP, like NAFTA, is a job killer. AFL-CIO president Richard Trumka expects further job losses as American companies move to nations where labor costs are cheaper.

"TPP is not a trade deal," Trumka said, "but an outsourcing deal."

Threat of protectionism

However, economists say trade is not a zero-sum game. A recent survey by the nonpartisan National Association for Business Economics (NABE) shows that 47 percent of business economists believe TPP would create more winners than losers and should be adopted in its current form. NABE spokesman LaVaughn Henry said another 30 percent want a further review.

"So what that fundamentally means is: three out of four of the 414 survey respondents are saying move forward with trade on an adjusted basis. Don't throw out what works," he said.

And that is precisely what many fear. World Bank president Jim Yong Kim worries the protectionist mood among voters could further hurt the slowing global economy.

"These are not ordinary times," he said. "When we were at the G-20 meetings, we heard many world leaders really sound the alarm about the storm clouds of isolationism, protectionism, and they were very worried, every single one of them."

Job losses

Those storm clouds attributed to global trade have grown more consequential since China's entry into the World Trade Organization in 2000. Cheaper labor costs and the surge of Chinese goods have been blamed for the loss of an estimated 5 million manufacturing jobs in the U.S. in the following decade. On the other hand, China's entry into the WTO also added a billion more consumers to the global marketplace.

Many American farmers believe lower tariffs for Pacific Rim countries will increase U.S. food exports by more than $5 billion. But reducing tariffs might hurt U.S. automakers, who could face increased competition from Japanese carmakers.

The International Monetary Fund credits expanded global trade for raising living standards worldwide. But the Brookings Institution's William Galston says anti-trade sentiments are likely to persist because the U.S. has done little to help displaced workers.

"That has been the critical policy failure in the past 25 years  that policymakers have known in the abstract that there would be losers," Galston said. "But the assumption was that the economy was dynamic enough and flexible enough and big enough and diverse enough to absorb the people who had been displaced by trade."

Others say trade is often blamed unfairly.

"Trade is actually a relatively minor cause of job losses," said Roberto Azevedo, director general of the World Trade Organization. "The evidence shows that well over 80 percent  eight in 10  of job losses in advanced economies are not due to imports or to trade but through increased productivity through technology and innovation."

U.S. President Barack Obama has enlisted business leaders to convince lawmakers to pass his signature trade legislation before he leaves the White House in January. Despite opposition from both sides of the political spectrum, Obama insists expanded trade, lower tariffs and a level playing field ensures the U.S. can remain competitive around the world for years to come.
A leading human rights group is warning that the Malaysian government is increasingly taking a tougher line to limit free speech amid a growing climate of fear in public debate, including focusing on ordinary citizens on social media.

The report, released by the New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) Thursday, comes amid ongoing pressure on Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak over allegations of corruption linked to the sovereign wealth fund, 1 Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB).

Human Rights Watch report

The 40-page report says the Malaysian government has sought to curtail debate over the allegations and limit protests calling for Najib to step aside.

Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director for Human Rights Watch, said the government is drafting further laws aimed at silencing critics as well as intimidate amid concerns over the political situation in the country.

What were seeing is a deepening of the culture of fear in Malaysia and this has intensified over the past two years and particularly since Prime Minister Najib has been called out by citizens and the political opposition in Malaysia about his involvement in the 1MDB financial scandal, Robertson said.

Human Rights Watch says the government is pressing on with legislation to criminalize peaceful speech and assembly.

Worldwide Investigation

Investigations into the allegations are ongoing in Switzerland, Singapore and the United States.

The charges relate to more than $3.5 billion being diverted from the 1MDB fund that Najib set up in 2009. Both Najib and 1MDB have denied any wrong-doing.

Swiss prosecutors Wednesday said they were launching criminal proceedings against the Zurich-based Falcon Private Bank for alleged money laundering activities linked to 1MDB.

Falcon Banks subsidiary in Singapore was shut down by regulators this week, with authorities arresting the local branch manager and fining him on anti-money laundering breaches.

Other Singaporeans, former private bank employees, have also been charged in cases linked to the 1MDB allegations.

Crackdown on critics of government

The Human Rights Watch report says the government has sought to punish individuals who have criticized the Najib administration commenting on the 1MDB scandal or making comments on social media deemed insulting to Najib or to Malaysias royalty.

The rights group said the government has also used the Official Secrets Act to shield reports on the 1MDB scandal from public view.

Robertson says criminalizing peaceful speech is part of the Malaysian governments larger effort to tighten the noose on those expressing political discontent.

What weve seen is well over 100 persons pulled up on Sedition charges, on communication and media violations which deal with content that are put online, he said.

What we see is a full-on onslaught by the government against the citizens, certainly the activists but also the political opposition. There is well over a dozen opposition MPs [members of parliament] who are facing political charges, he said.

Political opposition to the government

Among those charged under the Sedition Act is Tian Chua, vice president of the opposition Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR), who was convicted and sentenced to three months in prison.

Analysts say a further test of the governments harder line on political gatherings is expected to come in November when a new opposition backed party, Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia, or Bersatu (United) Party, is to stage street protects.

Bersatu is led by a former member of the governing United Malay National Organization (UMNO) deputy Prime Minister, Muhyiddin Yassin, who was sacked by Najib after Muhyiddin challenged him over his role in the 1MDB fund.

The Bersatu party is backed by former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohammad, who had earlier failed to convince the UMNO party to oppose Najib.

The party has also been endorsed by imprisoned de facto opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim, who is serving a five year jail term for sodomy  charges his supporters say were politically motivated.

The Malaysian government has not yet responded to the Human Rights Watch report.
The Russian correctional system will be reintroducing compulsory labor as a criminal punishment starting January 1, 2017.

According to the provision, which was originally included in the criminal code in 2011 but postponed due to a lack of facilities, compulsory labor will be an alternative punishment to prison.

Valery Maximenko, Deputy Director of Russias Federal Penitentiary Service, told the Russian news service TASS that the new sentencing would be better than completely isolating convicts from society. He also dismissed comparisons of the new punishment with the Stalin-era Gulag system, which also utilized forced labor.

According to Maximenko, convicts sentenced to compulsory labor would live in facilities with a much lower security level than prison. They would even be allowed to leave the facilities with permission from the authorities, but they would not be allowed to refuse or switch jobs once they are assigned.

Although the Russian constitution and the penal code ban forced labor, the Russian labor code does include an article which states that labor performed as part of a judicial sentence is not considered to be forced labor. This gives Russian authorities a loophole to use forced labor as an alternative punishment.

Currently, prisoners in Russia are allowed to work in order to earn money, but theoretically they cannot be made to do so. In reality, however, this is often not the case.

Forced to work for peanuts

Ivan Pavlov, a lawyer and leader of Team 29, an NGO that promotes free access to information, told VOA the problem of prisoners being forced to do labor against their will is widespread in Russian penitentiaries.

People serving time there are forced to work for peanuts, Pavlov said. If anyone refuses to work or stops working without a legitimate excuse, this is a gross violation of established order leading to disciplinary penalty, e.g. confinement in an inmate discipline unit or a negative character evidence preventing release on parole. Therefore, a prisoner has no choice, he explained.

While acknowledging the Federal Penitentiary Services promises that the new form of punishment wouldnt be anything like the hazardous forced labor in the Soviet period, Pavlov noted that the list of jobs or the type of labor has not yet been included in the law. It will be the penitentiary administrators who will issue work assignments based on the individuals age, gender, and health condition, he said.

Much like in American prisons, the Russian compulsory laborers would be employed by both the state and private companies, alleviating strain on Russias prison system while giving the latter access to very cheap labor.

There are also economic reasons for using the labor of prisoners, related first of all not with state projects behind schedule but with over-crowding of prisons, Pavlov said. However, this type of punishment will permit working for both state and private companies, so it is rather probable that they will try to increase performance at prisoners' expense.

Russia has the ninth highest incarceration rate in the world at 447 people per 100,000. The United States stands in second place at 693 per 100,000 people.

Jim Kovpak is an American writer in Moscow who runs the Russia without BS blog.
The United Nations says its Special Envoy for Syria, Staffan di Mistura, has been invited to join U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov for crisis talks on Syria Saturday in Lausanne, Switzerland.

Di Misturas deputy, Ramzy Ezzeldin Ramzy confirms the envoy will participate in the Kerry-Lavrov discussions. He is unwilling to speculate on the likely outcome of the meeting. But he acknowledges that it has been a bad week since Washington suspended talks with Russia on eastern Aleppo.

He says the situation in rebel-held eastern Aleppo remains critical and the violence has to be reduced.

There has to be a stop to the bombardment, shelling and fighting, especially indiscriminate attacks against civilian centers, medical facilities, and heavily populated areas," said Ramzy. "This is the only way the U.N. can be able to discharge its responsibilities in the humanitarian field.

Eastern Aleppo has been under sustained air attack from Syrian and Russian forces for weeks. This has made it impossible for U.N. humanitarian convoys to deliver desperately needed food, medicine and other relief supplies to the citys 275,000 inhabitants. No aid has reached the city since early July.

Ramzy says the health situation in eastern Aleppo is dire. He says it is barely possible for the few remaining doctors to treat the many wounded who need help. He says hospitals, which have been bombed, are only partially functional and medical supplies are practically exhausted.

He says the United Nations is still working on a plan for medical evacuations so hundreds of sick and wounded can get the urgent medical care they cannot receive in Aleppo.

I think more than 200 are in critical situations," said Ramzy. "But I also heard the figure of 400 children that need to be evacuated. So, I think we are still working on these figures. We do not have the final lists yet.

Ramzy says everything hinges on achieving a cease-fire. Without this, he says there will be no medical evacuations out of eastern Aleppo, nor will there be any humanitarian aid entering this beleaguered city.
The world's longest reigning monarch, Thailand's King Bhumibol Adulyadej, has died at the age of 88. During his 70-year reign, the king was a symbol of unity, stability, and tradition. But the monarchy's moral authority was also co-opted by politicians and the military to attack opponents. VOA's Daniel Schearf reports on the life of one of Asia's most influential leaders.
The death of the world's longest reigning monarch, Thailand's revered King Bhumibol Adulyadej at the age of 88, is a stunning blow for the kingdom of 67 million people, most of whom have known no other sovereign.

His son and heir apparent, the country's Crown Prince, has said he wants to mourn the loss of his father before ascending to the throne.

The king had been in poor health for a long time, primarily spending his last years in a Bangkok hospital. He died Thursday evening.

Bhumibol, also known as Rama IX, came to the throne as an 18-year-old in 1946 after the mysterious shooting death of his 20-year-old brother, King Ananda Mahidol.

Thailand's Prime Minister, Prayuth Chan-ocha, announced the heir to the throne has been designated for many years, and the Cabinet will inform parliament of the decision.

"Let us wait for the right time," Prayuth told reporters after the king's son and heir apparent, 63-year-old Prince Vajiralongkorn, asked for more time to mourn.

Government officials in the country will observe one year of mourning starting Friday. Parliament observed a nine-minute silence during an impromptu meeting at 9 p.m. local time, at which the prime minister warned that national security is the most important issue and that no one should take advantage of Thailand at this "time of crisis.

Prayuth also said security measures were being boosted throughout the country, with a visibly heavier presence of soldiers.

Thitinan Pongsudhirak, a political scientist at Chulalongkorn University, said King Bhumibols reign was marked by a long period of development in Thailand.

All living Thais have been under the same reign by His Majesty. A lot of people went through the 1960s, '70s and '80s, seeing the king working so hard for the people, for the country. So the modernization of Thailand was really under this king. Thats why the people of Thailand are deeply grateful and also very sad by his passing," Thitinan said.

In Photos: The Reign of King Bhumibol

Revered in Thailand

Thailand celebrated the 70th anniversary of Bhumibol's accession on June 9, with millions of his subjects donning yellow shirts for the day.

U.S. President Barack Obama, in a statement of condolences, called Bhumibol "a tireless champion of his countrys development and demonstrated unflagging devotion to improve the standard of living of the Thai people."

Bhumibol Adulyadej was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in the United States, a grandson of one of the Kingdom of Siam's most revered monarchs, Chulalongkorn, or Rama V.

Throughout the last half of the 20th century, Rama IX became the most familiar king Thailand had ever known with the advent of mass media portraying him as a wise and compassionate head of state, working effortlessly to improve the lives of his mostly rural subjects.

The king was revered as a semi-deity in the deeply Buddhist country. His rule provided a bedrock of stability in a country faced with many social and economic challenges, including a fragile democratic system. The kingdom now is governed by a military junta, which took power in a bloodless coup on May 22, 2014, ousting a weak civilian government beset by sometimes violent street protests.

During his reign, there were frequent military coups. Bhumibol acted as the ultimate arbitrator over feuding generals, defusing dangerous situations and sometimes consenting to the army's request for the overthrow of elected governments.

Thitinan said the new monarch, Vajiralongkorn, will move to cultivate a moral authority evident by his fathers long reign and adjusting to balance both monarchy and democracy.

We need both to have a monarchy but also to have a workable democracy. Not too much of one at the expense of the other. To do this, we also have to bear in mind that the moral authority is not the same and therefore some adjustment, some accommodation will have to be made. Otherwise, we will see some tension, he said.

Heir apparent

When the time comes to ascend to the throne, Prince Vajiralongkorn will also inherit properties said to be worth in excess of $35 billion.

The prince has never achieved the esteem enjoyed by the king and Queen Sirikit, who has also been in poor health for years. The prince remains a rather remote figure, especially compared with his popular younger sister, Princess Sirindhorn, known for her charitable work and humility.

Some Thais have quietly spoken of having the princess succeed her father. But she has not been designated a possible heir and most Thai political analysts say the powerful military backs the crown prince.

The succession can not be openly discussed in Thailand, which has harsh lese majeste laws. Any perceived criticism of the monarchy or its top royals can result in quick arrest and long prison terms.





The death of the monarch, who was always the critical political institution in the kingdom, creates "a shift in the Thai political landscape," says associate professor Pavin Chachavalpongpun of Kyoto University's Center for Southeast Asian Studies. "Whether it's smooth or violent remains to be seen. From now on, we might see a more prominent role of the military."

Analysts say the yearlong period of official mourning will put on hold any quick return to civilian government, indefinitely extending the military's rule.
By the year 2020, two neglected tropical diseases, lymphatic filariasis, commonly known as elephantiasis, and trachoma, a blinding illness, may be eliminated in the worlds poorest countries, thanks to a partnership of governments, charitable foundations and pharmaceutical companies.

The U.S. provides the most funding for elimination of neglected tropical diseases, through the U.S. Agency for International Development. That funding, between 2006 and today, has provided 1.6 billion treatments in about 30 countries.

In the areas that USAID has supported, NTD program coordinator Emily Wainwright said, there are going to be 400 million people who dont have to worry about getting lymphatic filariasis again. We will have addressed that problem. And there will be about 184 million people who arent going to have to worry about getting trachoma, the leading cause of preventable blindness.

According to the World Health Organization, neglected tropical diseases affect an estimated 1.5 billion people in the poorest countries.

Other diseases that are targeted for elimination include onchocerciasis, known as river blindness, schistosomiasis or snail fever, which causes intestinal and urogenital infections, and soil-transmitted helminthiasis, a systemic illness that causes diarrhea, fever, fatigue and malnutrition.

Children are disproportionately affected by the parasitic and bacterial illnesses, which stunt growth and affect brain development.

Recently, WHO released data showing that in 2015, 979 million people received preventive chemotherapy for neglected tropical diseases, an increase of 121 million from 2014.

More diseases are predicted to follow the path of elimination, according to Ariel Pablos-Mendez, assistant administrator for Global Health, Child and Maternal Survival Coordinator at USAID.

Just like in polio, he said, which is in the last battle of the disease to remove from the face of the Earth, or leprosy, which is down 95 percent [from] the levels we used to have 50 years ago, these diseases we are in a position right now ... to end all of the diseases of extreme poverty by 2030.

USAIDs Neglected Tropical Disease Program and the WHO have put a priority on eliminating 17 NTDs in 149 countries, where one in six people suffer from at least one of the illnesses.
Thirty people were killed and over 50 others were injured when violence erupted Wednesday in the Central African Republic, the U.N. said.

Fighters with the former Seleka rebel group attacked the town of Kaga-Bandoro before eventually being repelled by U.N. peacekeepers, who killed 12 of the rebels. Nine civilians were also among the dead.

The attack was likely retaliation for a Tuesday killing of a suspected former Seleka member, the peacekeeping mission said in a statement.

Many ex-Seleka rebels, a group that rose to power in 2013, have reorganized in Kaga-Bandoro after fleeing the capital of Bangui two years ago.

Sporadic clashes between rebel groups in several villages in the Central African Republic are threatening the nations fragile peace process.
The United Nations has formally approved its next Secretary-General. Antonio Guterres of Portugal will become the world bodys ninth leader on January first, succeeding Ban Ki-moon, who leaves office at the end of this year.

The former Portuguese prime minister and former U.N. refugee agency chief said he feels humility and gratitude, as well as a profound sense of responsibility in the face of so many global challenges.



The dramatic problems of todays complex world can only inspire a humble approach  one in which the secretary-general alone neither has all the answers, nor seeks to impose his views; one in which the secretary-general makes his good offices available, working as a convener, a mediator, a bridge-builder and an honest broker to help find solutions that benefit everyone involved, he said Thursday.

Guterres, who is 67-years old, was selected over 12 other candidates during a 10-month-long process that, for the first time, took place in the public eye and included an equal number of women candidates.

He told VOA in an interview during his campaign that he was running for the top U.N. job because he wanted to "create the conditions for solutions" to global challenges.

Members of the United Nations widely praised the nomination of Guterres.

U.S. Ambassador Samantha Power said for the U.N. to succeed Guterres must be a peacemaker, bureaucratic reformer and advocate for the vulnerable.

"Mr. Guterres, challenging as these roles may be, we are confident that you can fill them with distinction," she said before member states. "We have the privilege today of appointing a supremely qualified candidate as Secretary-General, but also one who has a passion for using this office as an independent force to prevent conflict and alleviate human suffering."

Ban also called Guterres a superb choice for secretary-general.
Top diplomats from the United States, Russia, and the Middle East will attempt to salvage a failed Syria cease-fire agreement Saturday with talks in Lausanne, Switzerland, followed by a separate meeting Sunday in London.

The renewed efforts come less than two weeks after the United States suspended bilateral negotiations with Russia and the two sides exchanged mutual recriminations. Russian officials say they are hopeful for positive results.

But as fighting continues in the besieged city of Aleppo, analysts are skeptical of any lasting cease-fire.

And Russia is intensifying its strikes in order to support exhausted forces of [Syrian President Bashar al-]Assad in their last attempt to take over Aleppo, says deputy editor of Yezhenedelny Zhurnal (Weekly Journal) Alexander Golts. Now, its absolutely clear that (the) Russian goal is not to fight terrorists from IS (Islamic State) or Jabhat al-Nusra. (The) Russian goal is to support Assad, to save Assad. And, its the main point of contradiction between (the) West and Russia.



Many believe Russia wants to first help Assad take Aleppo so they can have a stronger negotiating position.

But Russia has also warned coalition forces targeting militants to keep their distance and threatened to shoot down any planes that get too close to Russian or Syrian forces.

Wider conflict feared

While a cease-fire would be welcomed, analysts say the bigger concern is preventing a wider conflict developing in Syria.

Three weeks ago we discussed the possibility of military cooperation between Russia and the United States. Now all these possibilities disappeared, says Golts. The main realistic goal is to avoid direct military confrontation now between [the] United States and Russia in Syria.

A White House spokesman ruled out the possibility of any U.S. military cooperation with Russia in Syria. U.S. officials say it is now clear their goals in Syria are no longer compatible with Russias, a view echoed by some analysts.

The pretense at a possibility of strategic cooperation went on for far too long and was a major contributing factor to the lack of communication between the two sides that has led us to this dangerous situation now, says Chatham Houses Keir Giles. So, recognizing what is and is not achievable, in terms of cooperation with Russia on shared challenges, and there are some, is the first step toward making it actually happen and reducing the current tensions.

Russia has increased its military presence in Syria and announced plans to maintain bases there indefinitely.

Russian President Vladimir Putins attempt to impose Russia as a partner on the United States did not work, its support for Assad failed to reach a decisive victory, so the war is going to last longer than Moscow expected, says Carnegie Moscow Center director Dmitri Trenin.

The political rift appeared after the bombing of a U.N. aid convoy, which Washington blamed on Moscow, and Russia stepped-up military support for the Syrian offensive on Aleppo.

The United States and France suggested Russia be investigated for war crimes in Syria for attacks on civilians, a notion that Putin dismissed as rhetoric in a Wednesday interview with French television. Putin said the West was responsible for the war in Syria and fueling the rise of radical Islam.

European Union foreign ministers, who are scheduled to meet Monday, will accuse the Syrian government and its allies of using disproportionate violence in its assault on rebel-held eastern Aleppo that may amount to war crimes, Reuters reported, citing a draft statement.

The ministers are also likely to discuss the possibility of further sanctions against Russia, although analysts say there is a lack of consensus between the member nations over sanctions.

Russia points the finger at the United States for a mistaken airstrike on Syrian forces and for not doing enough to separate moderate rebels from Islamist militants.

Russias Foreign Ministry Thursday said separating the groups would be among key points of discussion during the weekend talks.
The U.S. military said Thursday it struck three radar sites in Yemen in response to missile launches from territory controlled by Houthi rebels that targeted a U.S. Navy destroyer.

A Pentagon statement said the destroyer USS Nitze launched Tomahawk cruise missiles at radar sites along Yemen's Red Sea coast, north of the Bab-el-Mandeb strait. The statement said destroying the radar sites will degrade their ability to track and target ships in the future.

Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook described the strikes as "self-defense" in order to protect U.S. personnel and ships.

"The United States will respond to any further threat to our ships and commercial traffic, as appropriate, and will continue to maintain our freedom of navigation in the Red Sea, the Bab-el-Mandeb, and elsewhere around the world," he said.

Officials said Wednesday a missile fired in the Red Sea targeted the destroyer USS Mason, which was accompanied by the amphibious docking vessel USS San Antonio at the time. The rocket failed to reach the ships, a U.S. official who asked not to be identified told VOA.

The destroyer deployed countermeasures once it detected the missile launch, another U.S. official said, but it was unclear whether that defensive action drew the missile off course, or if it fell into the Red Sea for other reasons. Officials confirmed no one aboard the destroyer was injured, and that there was no damage to the ship.

The missile launch, the second in the past four days, was from a Houthi-controlled area south of Al Hudaydah, officials said.

The Pentagon had hinted about possible retaliatory strikes on Tuesday, with Pentagon spokesman Navy Capt. Jeff Davis saying that anyone who fired on U.S. Navy ships in international waters was doing so at their own peril.

The Houthi movement in Yemen denied any involvement in the first attack on the USS Mason, a few days ago. They reiterated their denial on Thursday.

Wednesday was the 16th anniversary of a terrorist attack in Yemen that killed 17 American sailors from the guided-missile destroyer USS Cole in Aden harbor. Al-Qaida claimed responsibility for that attack in 2000, and U.S. courts subsequently held the government of Sudan responsible; over $13 million in frozen Sudanese assets was released for compensation payments to relatives of the victims.
The path from the State Department to the White House is less well trod than it once was.

While it was common in the early days of the American Republic for a secretary of state to become president  in all, six made the transition  that tradition ended midway through the 19th century.

Back then, the young nation was little involved in international affairs, and its chief diplomat's job encompassed mostly domestic responsibilities  including oversight of the patent office.

"On the whole, the secretary of state didn't have that much actually to do," said Anders Stephanson, a professor of American history at Columbia University.

Nor did foreign policy always help them in the White House. James Buchanan, the last secretary of state to be elected president, was blamed for allowing the country to drift toward its ruinous Civil War while John Quincy Adams, regarded by many historians as the greatest secretary of state in American history, saw his presidential agenda blocked by a hostile Congress.

Over the past two centuries, only a handful of presidents has had experience in foreign affairs before being elected.

"This is because American politics is overwhelmingly domestically oriented," said H. W. Brands, a professor of history at the University of Texas at Austin, who listed only John Quincy Adams, Theodore Roosevelt and Richard Nixon in that category.

Stephanson added Woodrow Wilson, Franklin D. Roosevelt and John F. Kennedy to the list, though none served as a secretary of state.

But even as the department of state has grown from "six guys and six pencils and six desks" as Stephanson put it, into a diplomatic behemoth headed by a globe-trotting trouble shooter, it has not elevated the importance of foreign policy in U.S. national politics.

Low on priority list

So indifferent to foreign policy are American voters that "when a president was elected with foreign policy experience, it was usually less about his foreign policy experience than other things," Brands said, citing Nixon's 1968 election as an example.

Americans are far more likely to elect a senator or governor than a former secretary of state. A 2015 Pew study of 131 presidential nominees showed that by far the most common highest prior offices held by those candidates (other than sitting or former presidents) were governor and senator.

That trend has continued in recent years. President Barack Obama served as a U.S. senator before he was elected. George W. Bush and Bill Clinton were both state governors. Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton was a senator from New York before being appointed as secretary of state.

"In recent years, voters have looked for executive experience, candidates that have been governors and senators," said Mike Purdy, who runs the popular history website presidentialhistory.com. "I think the power has shifted from an appointive secretary of state position to Americans looking for elective office in terms of senators or governors."

Most American voters go to the polls with domestic concerns in mind and "if you can satisfy them in those regards, you can get elected," Brands said.

Former president George H. W. Bush, considered a foreign policy stalwart, lost a 1992 reelection bid amid deep voter dissatisfaction about the state of the economy.

Bush's defeat popularized a campaign refrain that has proved resonant in recent elections: "It's the economy, stupid."

"It taught American candidates for president, at least the ones that were paying any attention, 'Don't count on foreign policy doing you any good,'" Brands said.

Paying more attention now?

With global crises proliferating, are voters taking foreign policy experience more seriously?

As in recent elections, the economy remains the dominant issue for most voters, but they seem to be paying greater attention to foreign affairs.

In a July Pew Research Center survey, 84 percent of registered voters said the issue of the economy will be very important to them, while 80 percent said terrorism will be very important, and 75 percent called the issue of foreign policy very important.

In the same survey, backers of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump appeared to take foreign policy more seriously than Clintons fans. Seventy-nine percent of Trump supporters and 73 percent of Clinton supporters said it was very important to their vote.

Clinton can tout her foreign policy acumen, but rival Trump has used her four years as secretary of state as a punching bag. During the first presidential debate last month, Trump said, "Hillary has experience, but it's bad experience."

Stephanson said Clinton was less "brilliant" as a secretary of state than as a senator.

"But that's neither here nor there," he said. "For those who think that foreign relations matter, yes, it is a definite plus, but it's not going to make her or break her."

In times of war, public interest in foreign affairs rises. However, on the only global threat voters care about  terrorism  they see little difference between the two parties or their candidates, Brands said.

"Neither party has been able to gain a lot of traction against the other party by saying, You're soft on terrorists, Brands said.

If Clinton is elected president, she'd become the seventh former secretary of state to enter the White House, but she may not easily hand over the diplomatic reins to a new head of the State Department.

"Strong presidents with strong interest in foreign relations could have competent secretaries and even strong ones, but ... usually as advisers and close associates," Stephanson said, citing James Baker, secretary of state in the elder Bush's cabinet, as an example.
World leaders are expressing their condolences to the Thai people as they mourn the loss of their beloved King Bhumibol, who had served for 70 years.

U.N. Secretary General Ban ki Moon expressed his "deep condolences" for the Royal family, the government, and people of Thailand Thursday, acknowledging the King's dedication to unifying the country.

"The Secretary-General expresses his hope that Thailand will continue to honor King Bhumibol's legacy of commitment to universal values and respect for human rights," a statement attributable for his spokesperson said.

President Barack Obama said the king was a close friend of the United States and a valued partner of many U.S. presidents, recalling a meeting with the King during a 2012 visit to Bangkok.

"His majesty leaves a legacy of care for the Thai people that will be cherished by future generations," a statement released by the White House read. "The American people and I stand with the people of Thailand as we mourn His Majesty the King's passing, and today we hold the Thai people in our thoughts and prayers."

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry joined President Obama in expressing his condolences to the Thai people, saying their King "will be long remembered and will be deeply missed".

Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said he remembered the King as a "highly gifted and gentle person," expressing his "deep sorrow" at his death.

King Bhumibol, also known as King Rama IX, died Thursday afternoon in a hospital in Bangkok at the age of 88.



In Photos: The Reign of Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej
More allegations emerged Wednesday involving Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump and what multiple women described as incidents of groping or kissing them on an airplane, inside Trump Tower in New York and at his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida.

And the Clinton campaign is facing more controversy stemming from thousands of hacked emails written by staffers and published by WikiLeaks.

A common thread in the reports featured in the New York Times, Palm Beach Post and People magazine were women seeing the video that emerged last week in which Trump described kissing or grabbing women without their consent and his subsequent denial at Sunday's debate with opponent Hillary Clinton.

"No, I have not," Trump said when debate moderator Anderson Cooper of CNN asked if the candidate had done the activities he boasted of in the tape.

The Times story featured two women, including a businesswoman who described sitting next to Trump on a flight to New York. She said he grabbed her breasts and tried to put his hand up her skirt.

"He was like an octopus," Jessica Leeds told the Times. "His hands were everywhere."

The other woman, Rachel Cooks, worked as a receptionist for a real estate firm located in Trump Tower. She said that in 2005 she introduced herself to Trump outside an elevator, but he then did not let go of her hand and kissed her on the mouth.

"I was so upset that he thought I was so insignificant that he could do that," Cooks said.

The Times also quoted Trump saying, "None of this ever took place."

His campaign later called it an attempt to smear the candidate.

"It is absurd to think that one of the most recognizable business leaders on the planet with a strong record of empowering women in his companies would do the things alleged in this story, and for this to only become public decades later in the final month of the campaign for president should say it all," the statement said.

And attorneys representing Trump sent a letter to Times Executive Editor Dean Baquet demanding the newspaper remove the article from its website and issue and apology.

"Your article is reckless, defamatory and constitutes libel per se. It is apparent from, among other things, the timing of the article, that it is nothing more than a politically-motivated effort to defeat Mr. Trump's candidacy."

Trump has often criticized the media's reporting on his campaign, including singling out what he calls the "failing New York Times."

In the Palm Beach Post story, Mindy McGillivray recounted helping a photographer friend at an event at Mar-a-Lago. She said she was standing next to Trump and his now-wife Melania when she felt a grab and turned to see Trump look away quickly.

"It was pretty close to the center of my butt. I was startled. I jumped," McGillivray said.

The other account involving Mar-a-Lago came from Natasha Stoynoff, who once covered Trump for People.

She wrote that she was working on a story about Donald and Melania Trump's first anniversary when he took her on a tour.

"We walked into that room alone, and Trump shut the door behind us. I turned around, and within seconds, he was pushing me against the wall, and forcing his tongue down my throat," Stoynoff said.

She said that afterward Trump added, "You know we're going to have an affair, don't you?"

People reported a Trump spokeswoman said: "This never happened. There is no merit or veracity to this fabricated story."

A Clinton campaign statement called the new allegations "disturbing."

"These reports suggest that he lied on the debate stage and that the disgusting behavior he bragged about in the tape are more than just words," spokeswoman Jennifer Palmieri said.

Meanwhile, the Clinton campaign faced more criticism of its own on Wednesday with the latest batch of hacked emails released by WikiLeaks.

The messages included correspondence from 2011 between Palmieri and John Halpin, a senior fellow at the liberal think tank Center for American Progress.

Halpin wrote that the country's most powerful conservatives are all Catholic and called their politics "an amazing bastardization of the faith."

"They must be attracted to the systematic thought and severely backwards gender relations and must be totally unaware of Christian democracy," he said.

Palmieri replied by writing, "Catholicism is the most socially acceptable politically conservative religion. Their rich friends wouldn't understand if they became evangelicals."

Another 2011 email sent to current Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta from the head of a progressive group called for a "Catholic Spring," adapting the pro-democracy "Arab Spring" in the Middle East.

"There needs to be a Catholic Spring, in which Catholics themselves demand the end of a middle-ages dictatorship and the beginning of a little democracy and respect for gender equality in the Catholic Church," Voices for Progress President Sandy Newman wrote.

Trump told supporters Wednesday the emails show Clinton staffers "viciously attacking" Catholics and Evangelicals.

"It's just the latest evidence of the hatred that the Clinton campaign has for everyday faithful Americans," he said. "If you're a person of faith, I think you're gonna vote for Donald Trump, and I have such endorsements and such support."

Podesta said an FBI investigation into his leaked emails is part of a wider FBI probe into the suspected Russian hacking of Democratic Party emails -- a charge that Russia denies.

Podesta alleged that longtime Trump adviser Roger Stone had "advance knowledge" of the leaks. Stone has admitted he has been in contact with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. Stone also tweeted in August that WikiLeaks would attack Clinton and Podesta.

Podesta says Russia may be trying to influence the outcome of the U.S. presidential election to favor Trump, who has said he admires President Vladimir Putin.

Other leaked emails from the Democratic Party include allegations that Clinton campaign officials tried to discredit former Democratic presidential rival Bernie Sanders, and suggestions the campaign should laugh-off the controversy surrounding Clinton's State Department emails.
Nigerian officials say 21 of the "Chibok girls" kidnapped by militant group Boko Haram in 2014 have been released.

A spokesman for Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari said on Twitter Thursday that the 21 girls are in the custody of the Department of State Services, Nigeria's main intelligence agency.

The spokesman, Mallam Garba Shehu, said the girls' release was the result of talks between Buhari's administration and Boko Haram that were brokered by the International Red Cross and the Swiss government.

He said "negotiations will continue" for the other kidnapped girls, adding that the girls released will be handed over to Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, and that their names will soon be made public.

The Associated Press, citing a Nigerian military officer, reports that the girls were swapped for four detained Boko Haram leaders.





Released in Banki, flown to Maiduguri



Sources in Nigeria say the 21 girls were released late Wednesday in the northeastern town of Banki and were flown by helicopter to the Borno state capital, Maiduguri.

President Buhari, who is traveling to Germany, said on his Twitter account that he was briefed on the girls release before leaving for Germany on official business. "I welcome the release of 21 of our Chibok Girls, following successful negotiations," he said.

2 years in captivity

Boko Haram kidnapped nearly 300 girls from a secondary school in the Borno state town of Chibok in April 2014. Dozens escaped, but 219 remained captive.



Buhari has repeatedly vowed to rescue the girls and crush Boko Haram, which has frequently attacked schools as part of its seven-year insurgency in northeastern Nigeria. The group's name is roughly translated as "Western education is forbidden."

These are the first of the Chibok girls to be rescued as a result of government action. One of the girls was found, pregnant, in a forest in May.
The meeting was called to order at 2.40 p.m.

The President (spoke in Russian): In accordance

with rule 37 of the Councils provisional rules of

procedure, I invite the representatives of Andorra,

Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Costa

Rica, Croatia, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Denmark,

Estonia, Finland, Georgia, Germany, Hungary, Iceland,

Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta,

Mexico, Monaco, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland,

Qatar, Romania, San Marino, Saudi Arabia, Slovakia,

Slovenia, Sweden, the Syrian Arab Republic, Turkey

and the United Arab Emirates to participate in this

meeting.

The Security Council will now begin its

consideration of the item on its agenda.

Members of the Council have before them

documents S/2016/846 and S/2016/847, which contain

the texts of two draft resolutions, respectively.

I shall now give the floor to those members of the

Council who wish to make statements before the voting.

Mr. Ayrault (France) (spoke in French): Faced

with the unbearable horror of Aleppos martyrdom, the

Security Council must again assume the responsibility

entrusted to it by the international community to

guarantee peace, ensure security and protect civilians.

We heard yesterday from Special Envoy of the

Secretary-General Staffan de Mistura. His description

resounded like a warning cry. If this situation continues,

by the end of the year we will bear witness to the

destruction of Aleppo. The message Staffan de Mistura

addressed to the Security Council is unambiguous. If

we do not act, the city will soon be no more than a field

of ruins and will go down in history as a place whose

inhabitants were abandoned to their executioners.

Fifteen days ago in this Chamber, on behalf of France

I called for an immediate ceasefire (see S/PV.7774).

Since then, following a stillborn agreement, the Syrian

regime has confirmed its objective with breathtaking

brutality  and it has nothing to do with the fight

against terrorism. Its objective is the capitulation

of Aleppo. Daraya, Hama, Aleppo  with each,

the tactics of the Syrian regime have been the same:

indiscriminate bombing and the methodical destruction

of civilian infrastructure to inflict maximum suffering

on the population. Most recently, this has included

eliminating the supply of drinking water in Aleppo

and the systematic targeting of hospitals and health

personnel. Each time, those who back Damascus

provide decisive support for a strategy that seeks

exclusively to secure the surrender of fighters and the

exodus of civilians through operations that involve a

cycle of potentially devastating ethnic cleansing.

How can we collectively tolerate this? The

Secretary-General has spoken of war crimes. We

all recall Guernica, Srebrenica and Grozny. What is

happening before our eyes in Aleppo is the sinister

repetition of those tragedies. If it does not pull itself

together, the international community will share the

responsibility for these events.

The regime and its supporters claim to act on

behalf of the fight against terrorism. I denounce that

fraudulent claim with great force. Bashar Al-Assad does

not fight terrorism; he feeds it. Since the beginning of

the conflict, he has targeted the moderate opposition

above all because it embodies the only hope for the

eventual restoration of a united and peaceful Syria. He

has organized a lethal understanding between himself

and Daesh and Al-Qaida, groups with which he has

shared goals and which he deliberately spares.

France has paid the price of terrorism. It cannot

allow this critical fight, which should bring us all

together, to be derailed by punitive actions that

ultimately only strengthen those it claims to wish to

eliminate. Destroying hospitals, starving civilians,

massacring women and children, and besieging cities

as in the Middle Ages merely fuels radicalization and

terrorism. We must therefore halt this vicious cycle on an

urgent basis. Today, faced with this horror, the Security

Council must make a simple and obvious decision. It

must demand immediate action to save Aleppo, an end

to all bombing by the regime and its allies, and the

unhindered and unconditional delivery of humanitarian

assistance to a population that desperately requires it.

That is what the situation in Aleppo calls for.

And that is what France, alongside most members

of the Council, has promoted tirelessly. A week

ago, alongside Spain, we submitted a simple draft

resolution in response to this emergency. What does

it say? It reaffirms the obvious unacceptability of the

indiscriminate repression by the Syrian regime of its own people. It recalls all the decisions taken by our Council since the onset of the crisis. It sets out the conditions for a just and lasting peace  a political solution whose outline we defined long ago. Finally, it expresses a desire for unity around the goal that brings us together  the fight against terrorism.

The draft resolution also makes clear and precise demands, including an immediate halt to the bombing and military flights over Aleppo; humanitarian access; respect for the truce, guaranteed by an effective verification mechanism whose modalities are open; the withdrawal of all forms of support or collaboration with terrorist groups designated by the Security Council; and the resumption of the political process.

Some would impose conditions on the halt to the bombing, including the precise identification of the whereabouts of terrorist groups and their separation. That is a sham because it is unachievable so long as the bombing continues. That much is obvious. Moreover, smashing a city with bombs and massacring civilians is tantamount to doing the terrorists work for them, not fighting them. I reiterate that the genuine emergency is an end to the bombing, which is the only valid precondition because it determines everything else.

We patiently negotiated the draft resolution in good faith and with the desire to unite the international community around a single goal. The legitimate concerns raised by some have been taken into account, and it is with an open heart and extended hand that I have personally striven in recent days and hours to create the conditions for consensus, in all sincerity and without ulterior motives, driven by the sole desire to promote the return of peace in Syria, to end the martyrdom of a people and to promote a solution to the plight of millions of refugees and displaced persons. I feel that the broad majority of Council members understand and approve of this approach.

The adoption of the draft resolution could restore to the inhabitants of Aleppo, the Syrian people and the rest of us a glimmer of hope for an end to the spiral of violence and for a new political dynamic based on the immediate resumption of negotiations for a transition, the outlines of which were unanimously defined by the Security Council a little less than a year ago.If instead our draft is rejected, despite enjoying broad support, what will we have left? There will be more death, more refugees, and more displaced. But we must neither reject it nor give up. Each of us will have to imagine the consequences and take the serious and necessary decisions to ensure that the perpetrators of war crimes do not go unpunished, that those responsible for the use of chemical weapons are identified and punished, and that those who abet an exhausted regime shoulder the consequences. All those who refuse to give up must come together and act.

In 2011, a people rose up peacefully against oppression. For five years, despite savage repression, that people has not given up. Let us not leave that sorely tested and suffering people to choose between an inhumane executioner or the abject terrorism of Daesh and the Al-Nusra Front. I call on every member of the Council to assume its responsibilities to save the population of Aleppo, come together for peace and send the Syrian regime the message it should have heard long ago.What is at stake today is, first of all, the fate of Aleppo and its population, but it is also above all the hope of finally ending a conflict of whose catastrophic costs we must all pay the price. Faced with such dire stakes, to hinder the adoption of the draft resolution before us today would be to allow Bashar Al-Assad to keep on killing. It would above all be offering a senseless gift to the terrorists. My dearest wish is that the Council does not offer such a gift.

Mr. Oyarzun Marchesi (Spain) (spoke in Spanish): Along with France, Spain has supported this draft resolution (S/2016/846) on Aleppo in order to try to respond to a desperate situation. During more than five years of a heart-breaking conflict in Syria, we have seen indiscriminate attacks against civilians. We have seen both parties destroy hospitals, schools and even humanitarian convoys. We have seen with alarm the use of chemical weapons by the Syrian army. In spite of that, we are here today because the worst phase of the war in Syria could still lie ahead. The offensive by President Al-Assad against eastern Aleppo is a tragedy against which the international community cannot turn its back.

As the French Minister for Foreign Affairs has correctly said, this draft resolution seeks to avoid a humanitarian catastrophe. We therefore demand an immediate halt to aerial attacks, which are terrorizing the 275,000 civilians trapped in the eastern part of the city. The main goal of the draft resolution is to save from disaster an ancient city at risk of being levelled to the ground by the brutality of a fratricidal war. Spains Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr. Jose Manuel Garcia Margallo, clearly expressed our view here in the Security Council when the increase in clashes began in late September (see S/PV.7774). He identified three essential steps on which we must focus our efforts.The first was to ensure that a ceasefire takes effect; the second was to ensure humanitarian access; and the third was to create the necessary conditions to relaunch United Nations mediation. The draft resolution in effect calls for the immediate observance of a ceasefire throughout the entire country. We also aim to improve the monitoring mechanism, which has not worked as desired in recent months. We call on the Security Council  for the first time since the war in Syria began  to send a clear message to the parties to isolate the terrorist groups in Syria, who are posing a threat to the entire international community.

Secondly, we aim to ensure once and for all that humanitarian access is in the hands of the professionals of the United Nations and of the Red Crescent. It is intolerable that the Syrian Government continues to block assistance to its own population, using fictitious bureaucratic hurdles and deliberate tactics, such as removing medical materials, which amount to war crimes. The draft resolution therefore establishes that it ought to be the United Nations that determines the number of beneficiaries and the needs of almost 900,000 civilians in Syria. We also call for an investigation into the attack on the United Nations-Red Crescent convoy at Urum Al-Kubra on 19 September. We will not rest until we have done everything possible to ensure that those responsible are held accountable before justice. We hope that, wherever they may, they will listen clearly to this message today on the part of all members of the Security Council.

Lastly, the draft resolution calls for a return to the path of dialogue as soon as possible, while also expressing our full support for the Special Envoy of the Secretary-General.

France and Spain have done everything within their power to garner the support of the 15 members of the Security Council. This has been a sincere effort to incorporate the various points of view, while always respecting the main purpose of the draft resolution  nothing less than avoiding catastrophe in Aleppo and slowing the escalation of violence. We note that we are near to achieving consensus. We still hope that the countries seated around this table will allow the adoption of this draft resolution. We still have time to make the right decision.

Lastly, Spain would like to express its gratitude to the many States Members of the United Nations that are sponsoring this draft resolution. We interpret that support as a message that the Security Council should fulfil the responsibility entrusted to it by the Charter. From the seat we occupy here as a non-permanent member of this organ, we will work tirelessly to ensure that is the case.

The President, M. Churkin (Federation of Russia) (spoke in Russian): I shall now make a statement in my capacity as the representative of the Russian Federation.Today we are participants in one of the strangest scenarios in the history of the Security Council. We are about to vote on two draft resolutions (S/2016/846 and S/2016/847), and we are all perfectly aware that neither of them will be adopted. Considering that the crisis in Syria is going through an agonizing stage that demands the greatest possible political cooperation on the part of the international community, such a waste of time is unacceptable.

We all know the background to the Syrian crisis. After destroying Libya and considering that a great success, the troika of the three Western permanent members of the Security Council turned on Syria. And this time, most unfortunately, Paris  which in 2003 joined with Moscow and other clear-thinking capitals in an effort to deter the United States and United Kingdom from an opportunistic invasion of Iraq  has become one of the loudest promoters of an ill-conceived policy of regime change in Damascus.

It grieves us to point out that in all the years of the Syrian crisis, the French delegation in the Security Council has never once made any constructive proposals, with its rare initiatives clearly calculated for propaganda effect and doomed to failure. And that is what happened this time. Our French colleagues approached us about a week ago, informing us that they wanted us to support a draft resolution on Syria, and emphasizing that Paris did not want a Russian veto. On 6 October, those assurances about the desire to avoid a Russian veto were confirmed at a higher level. But 24 hours later, after only one round of serious consultations, a draft resolution, doomed to receive the Russian veto that we had repeatedly and justifiably discussed, was put in blue and submitted for a vote.

We should point out that Spain  which was specifically invited to be a member of the International Syria Support Group by Russia  has continually reminded us of its co-authorship of the draft resolution. The Spanish diplomatic efforts are disappointing. In particular, the French-Spanish draft resolution features a ban on all military flights over Aleppo, and not only over the eastern part of the city but also the west, which has been continually under fire from fighters from the eastern side. In September alone, according to United Nations data, more than 80 civilians were killed and 170 wounded. Moreover, the concept of banning all military flights has not been thought through at all. To the question of whether that also meant a ban on the reconnaissance drones tracking fighters movements, there was no answer. To the question of why it also applies to the western part of the city, which the Government controls, the anwer was that it was more convenient. Is that what you call a serious discussion?

Another main point is that there has never been an instance in the entire history of the Security Council when a permanent member was allowed to adopt a resolution that directly or indirectly predetermined its course of action without prior discussion of the matter. I do not think we will see any such cases in future  unless France, having renounced the right of veto, is then controlled by a majority of Security Council members. Whatever the restrictions, they can be considered only in the context of compliance with the ceasefire, which terrorists and other illegal armed groups are routinely violating. Another basic flaw in the French-Spanish draft resolution is that instead of the International Syria Support Group (ISSG) monitoring mechanism provided for in resolution 2268 (2016), it proposes a duplicative plan pulled out of thin air. We regard this as an attempt to do away with the existing collaborative architecture.

In the circumstances, yesterday afternoon we took the unusual step of drafting a resolution intended to demonstrate that a reasonable course of collective action does exist whereby we can build on all the positive things that we previously worked out so painstakingly. Our draft includes a provision relating to the still-relevant parameters of the Russian-American agreement of 9 September, emphasizing the importance of ensuring immediate and unhindered humanitarian access, specifically via weekly 48-hour humanitarian pauses. The text of the document is annexed to the draft resolution.The draft resolution includes a provision on the importance of ensuring that the ceasefire is adhered to by every side in Aleppo and affirms the existing monitoring arrangement involving the ISSG ceasefire task force. It establishes the fundamental priority of distinguishing the moderate opposition from Jabhat Al-Nusra and urges ISSG members to require all parties to cease conducting joint combat operations with terrorists and to separate from them and officially adhere to the cessation of hostilities. It points out that in order to make progress with humanitarian efforts, the fighters should stop blocking traffic on the Castello road, in accordance with the 9 September agreement.

The draft resolution welcomes Special Envoy Staffan de Misturas initiative of 6 October aimed at normalizing the situation in Aleppo. It requests that the Secretary-General submit a detailed plan for its implementation for the Security Councils approval. Incidentally, in another of its major shortcomings, the French-Spanish draft resolution completely ignores Mr. de Misturas initiative. Our draft resolution emphasizes how crucial it is to achieve full, unconditional compliance with resolution 2254 (2015) on every front  political, humanitarian and counter-terrorism. We continue to believe that we should work to make progress in all those directions simultaneously, with no attempts at mutual coordination or preconditions. The inter-Syrian political process, which the radical opposition, with the direct connivance of its foreign sponsors, has been blocking since May, must be relaunched as soon as possible.We realize that our draft resolution will not get enough votes today. Some will be guided by anti-Russian sentiments, others by false notions of prestige, and some will simply not have the courage. Russia will nonetheless continue to work to achieve a settlement in Syria with all interested international and regional stakeholders. The amount of fighting overall in eastern Aleppo has been falling. Yesterday, for example, almost no combat missions were flown. We hope that trend will continue.I now resume my functions as President of the Security Council.

I shall first put to the vote the draft resolution contained in document S/2016/846, submitted by Andorra, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Costa Rica, Croatia, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Mexico, Monaco, Morocco, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Romania, San Marino, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Turkey, Ukraine, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the United States of America.

A vote was taken by show of hands. In favour:Egypt, France, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, Senegal, Spain, Ukraine, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, United States of America and Uruguay Against:Russian Federation and Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of) Abstaining:Angola and China

The President (spoke in Russian): There were 11 votes in favour, 2 votes against and 2 abstentions. The draft resolution has not been adopted, owing to the negative vote of a permanent member of the Council.

I now give the floor to those members of the Council who wish to make a statement after the voting.

Mr. Rycroft (United Kingdom): I normally begin my statements in the Council with the words Thank you, Mr. President. I cannot do that today, because today we have seen the fifth veto of a vote on Syria in five years from you, Mr. President  a veto that has once again stopped the Council from creating the unity needed to give the people of Syria any hope of respite from their suffering; a veto that has once again denigrated the credibility of the Security Council and respect for it in the eyes of the world; a veto that is a cynical abuse of the privileges and responsibilities of permanent membership. I simply cannot thank you for it. Nor can the thousands on thousands of innocent men, women and children trapped in Aleppo. Tonight they will endure another night of fear and pain, and another night of wondering whether they will live to see the morning. One hundred thousand of them are children.

The current tactics being used in Aleppo under the alibi of countering terrorism are turning a humanitarian crisis into a catastrophe, and your veto today, Mr. President, has only confirmed what we have known for a long time. Russias actions in recent weeks have exposed just how hollow its commitment to the political process is. Today we have seen that commitment for what it really is  a sham. Instead of investing energy in peace and diplomacy, Russia has supported, facilitated and cooperated with the Syrian regime in order to retake and destroy areas standing against Al-Assad, literally killing off those who want a moderate, peaceful and pluralistic future, free from both the barbarism of Al-Assad and the horrors inflicted by Daesh and other terrorists in Syria. And it is Syrian civilians who continue to bear the brunt of that cruelty and Russias complicity. Civilians, medics, White Helmets are under direct attack from barrel bombs, cluster munitions and incendiary weapons, and that is even before we mention the continued barbaric use of chemical weapons by the regime.

I echo the words of the Archbishop of Canterbury, who described the destruction of Aleppo as the absolute contempt for the human spirit and for the dignity of the human being. The Security Council cannot stand by while such misery is meted out on the people of Aleppo, and yet, thanks to you, Mr. President, that is exactly what we are doing.

This text that you vetoed, Sir, was not unreasonable. It called for sensible, overdue steps that would have saved lives, starting with the complete end of the bombardment of Aleppo. There can be no military justification for aerial attacks that indiscriminately hit civilians and their homes and their hospitals. The text called for full and unhindered humanitarian access. It is despicable that the regime continues to refuse access to besieged and hard-to-reach areas. It is despicable that the violence is so extreme that the safety even of humanitarian convoys cannot be assured, as seen through the strike on a United Nations aid convoy last month, for which the evidence is clear that Russia was responsible.

Further, this text called for the full implementation of resolution 2268 (2016) and the resumption of the cessation of hostilities. We see every day in Aleppo that there simply can be no military victory in this conflict. There can only be losers. We also see every day that obligation after obligation, set by resolution after resolution of the Security Council, are being flouted. We need Council unity to end this war, and that unity will only come when Russia changes its policy and stops the aerial bombardment.

This has been a strong week for Council unity, and yet we have ended on sadly familiar ground. We, the whole Council, stood with you, Mr. President, on Wednesday, as you announced the next Secretary-General. Thanks to your actions today, Sir, Antonio Guterres job will be even harder. And worse still, thanks to your actions today, Syrians will continue to lose their lives in Aleppo and beyond to Russian and Syrian bombing. Please stop now.

Mr. Ibrahim (Malaysia): I wish first to acknowledge the presence of His Excellency Mr. Jean-Marc Ayrault, Minister for Foreign Affairs of France, and thank him for introducing the draft resolution contained in document S/2016/846, co-authored by France and Spain. We also note the draft resolution contained in document S/2016/847, submitted by the Russian Federation, on which the Council will take action later.

Malaysia has repeatedly called for the Security Council to act more decisively on Syria. We view this latest effort by France and Spain as an attempt to assert the Councils authority and discharge its responsibility to effectively address the deteriorating situation in Syria. We believe that the main objective of the draft resolution contained in document S/2016/846 was to prevent further escalation of violence and hostilities, including by calling for a halt to aerial bombardment, is key to reducing the death and destruction that have disproportionately affected thousands of Syrian civilians, particularly women and children, for far too long.

Cessation of aerial bombardment would have been a very welcome and necessary step in elevating the despicable suffering of those civilians in eastern Aleppo who have borne the brunt of such bombardment in recent weeks. Of utmost importance to my delegation is the understanding that, had this draft resolution been adopted, all parties to the conflict with the capacity to carry out air strikes would have to heed the provisions of paragraph 3 of the Franco-Spanish text. Given its clarity of purpose and the compelling reasons behind it, my delegation voted in favour of the Franco-Spanish draft. We are gravely disappointed that the draft resolution was voted down. It is shameful and a betrayal of all the hopes pinned upon the Security Council to alleviate the dreadful suffering caused by a brutal conflict.

Briefly, on the draft resolution contained in document S/2016/847, there is no question that the draft has some merit and contains elements that also speak to alleviating the humanitarian situation, on restarting the political process in Syria and on combating terrorism. That notwithstanding, Malaysia and other members of the Council are not privy to the 9 September bilateral agreement between Russia and the United States. Since the United States has publicly repudiated the agreement on account of lack of implementation, we do not believe that the Council is in a position to endorse such an agreement. We are therefore not in a position to support this draft.

We are fearful of the consequences of the Councils actions, particular on the message of Council disunity that we have displayed today. The Security Council cannot afford to continue in this state of paralysis, with total disregard for the abysmal situations faced by innocent civilians in Syria. With such deep disunity, how much hope and prayers can those besieged Syrians in such appalling situations pin on us?

In our view, these initiatives today do not represent the Councils best efforts. The responsibility of addressing the conflict in Syria remains squarely on our shoulders. In this regard, a number of us could perhaps coalesce around a middle ground with the hope of finding a way out of the current stalemate and move closer to a common understanding on ending hostilities and conflict. We will certainly work to this end alongside interested Council members and other partners. We must never give up hope. We must not let eastern Aleppo end tragically.

Mr. Pressman (United States of America): Yesterday we met in the consultations room and listened to United Nations Special Envoy Staffan de Mistura describe the daily deadly indiscriminate bombings raining down on eastern Aleppo. We heard Special Envoy de Mistura implore the Security Council to take urgent action to avert a large-scale massacre, noting that failure on our part would be a tragedy and a stain on the Security Council that lingers like others in recent history.

The draft resolution contained in document S/2016/846, vetoed by Russia today, had a simple demand and one goal: stop the bombing in Aleppo City. Over the last two weeks, Russia and the Al-Assad regime have launched a terrifying military offensive in eastern Aleppo that has laid waste to an area of the city with 275,000 civilians trapped inside of it. Air strikes from this Russian and Syrian regime offensive have systematically eliminated whatever infrastructure was left to support the people of eastern Aleppo. Hospitals have been bombed. Pumps for drinking water have been bombed. Ambulances and fire trucks for first responders have been bombed. Families have been trapped under the rubble. Hundreds of civilians are dead, and hundreds of thousands of civilians are literally at risk of starving to death if nothing changes.

The Secretary-General has described Aleppo as worse than a slaughterhouse. The United Nations Special Envoy has warned the city will be completely destroyed by the end of the year. And we know the cause  the air strikes conducted by Russia and the Al-Assad regime are the cause. Russia and Al-Assad want to seize eastern Aleppo to further bolster the regime in Damascus. Russia could not let this draft resolution stand in their way, so they vetoed it. Russia dropped its veto here in the Security Council to strengthen Bashar Al-Assad at the expense of 275,000 Syrians. We have heard so many warnings in this Chamber, so many words of anguish offered, so many descriptions of the barbarism that is unfolding. Simply put, today was time for the Council to act, to learn the lessons of the recent past. We failed to do that because one of us  perversely, the President of the Security Council  is intent on allowing the killing to continue and, indeed, participating in carrying it out. It is grotesque.

Russia, as always, will offer a different narrative. Russia has said that it is fighting terrorism. They will probably somehow blame the United States of America for the suffering in Aleppo; they will suggest that we are the ones not serious about the fight against terrorism; they will invoke past conflicts in distant lands; and they will lie. In short, they will do anything and everything to deny and deflect from the truth.

The truth is that Russia is using counter-terrorism as an excuse to help the Al-Assad regime re-take control of Aleppo by brutal force, snuff out whatever opposition groups dare to resist the Al-Assad regimes brutality, and cow civilians who yearn for a different government into submission. As Secretary of State John Kerry has said,this is a targeted strategy to terrorize civilians and kill anybody and everybody who is in the way of their military objectives.

There is no other plausible explanation. Why else would the first targets in the Syrian/Russian offensive be hospitals and the bases for first responders, which should have been protected? Why else would each hospital in eastern Aleppo have been struck not once, but at least twice? Why else would a convoy of life-saving humanitarian aid bound for Aleppo be destroyed?

One does not have to be an international legal scholar to know that there is a term that may well describe these actions: war crimes, and they must be investigated. Russia cannot use the presence of what the United Nations estimates to be a couple hundred members of Al-Nusra to justify an indiscriminate aerial bombing campaign devastating an entire population of hundreds of thousands of civilians currently trapped by Russia and the regime.

Russia has the privilege of serving as a permanent member of the Security Council, with a responsibility to maintain international peace and security. But through the campaign it describes as counter-terrorism, Russia has become one of the chief purveyors of terror in Aleppo, using tactics more commonly associated with thugs than Governments. Russia and the Al-Assad regime think the world will look the other way if they recite the word counter-terrorism. That is wrong, and each and every one of us must make that clear to Russia.

There are terrorists in Syria  a lot of them. The United States does not need anyone to explain why terrorists are serious, deadly and dangerous. That there are terrorists in Syria is the reason the United States leads a 67-member coalition in the region to fight them. It is why the United States remains unambiguous in our call for opposition groups to separate themselves from Al-Nusra. It is why this week the United States conducted an air strike that targeted a senior Al-Nusra leader in Idlib, Syria.

The United States will be relentless in our fight against terrorism. We spent months looking for a way to work with Russia on a campaign that would have effectively targeted Al-Nusra. We agreed on a way forward that would have allowed us to focus on terrorist targets. In return, we asked that Russia show a good faith commitment by upholding a cessation of hostilities and allowing for humanitarian aid. When presented with this opportunity to cooperate on counter-terrorism, Russia decided to walk away. Russia decided to ignore the Councils repeated calls to implement the cessation of hostilities. Russia decided that it would support the Al-Assad regimes military campaign to re-take every inch of Syria, to use Al-Assads own words.

Some here today will criticize this draft resolution for lacking balance, but there is no balance in the bombardment of eastern Aleppo. It is simple. Russia and the Al-Assad regime launched the deadliest campaign of aerial bombardment since 2011. Russia and the Al-Assad regime are using incendiary weapons and bunker-buster bombs, which are magnifying human suffering, hitting even doctors trying to treat patients in basement emergency rooms because nowhere else was safe. Russia and the Syrian regime are causing this bloody chaos. So we must demand that the ones responsible for this air campaign stop. This is not how you defeat terrorists; it is how you create them.In this conflict, violence begets violence. Our effort today was to stop bombardments over Aleppo, nothing more. It is a deadly shame that we were unable to do so. The United States remains committed to finding ways to de-escalate this violence, put a ceasefire in place and start a genuine political process. But for that to happen, there must be an end to the horrific suffering of the people of eastern Aleppo, caused by the current President of the Security Councils and Syrian aircraft. It is time for Russia to stop starving and killing Aleppos children.

Mr. Van Bohemen (New Zealand): The situation in Aleppo is devastating, as Special Envoy Staffan de Mistura made very clear to us yesterday. He warned us that we are facing a situation not dissimilar to those in Rwanda and Srebrenica, atrocities the Council signally failed to prevent. We must learn our lessons; we must stop the destruction of the entire city of eastern Aleppo.

Terrorism is a scourge to the world, but it is not acceptable that Russia and Syria use counter-terrorism as a pretext for a large-scale bombing campaign for which civilians are paying the greatest price. Whatever the sins of the hundreds or thousand plus terrorists in eastern Aleppo, that cannot justify the prolonged bombardment of 275,000 civilians.

We had hoped that the Council would have been able to come together on a text that all parties could accept and that could stand a chance of contributing to practical and constructive action on the ground. The failure of todays draft resolution, contained in document S/2016/846, contributes to the polarized dynamic on Syria among the major Powers and undermines the credibility of the Security Council.

Given the recent breakdown of the cessation of hostilities and the curtailing of diplomatic efforts by the United States and Russia, it is vital to use all multilateral channels, particularly the Council, to move the parties away from the killing and back towards the negotiating table and, in the meantime, to spare the Syrian people and allow them the humanitarian assistance they so desperately need.

The Council has a special responsibility. We will continue to talk with other Council members to explore what action might be possible in the coming days.

The President (spoke in Russian): We know that New Zealand attempted to develop a draft resolution that would have been a happy medium between the two approaches before us today, and we regret that some influential members of the Council did not allow that draft to go forward.

Mr. Yelchenko (Ukraine): Ukraine co-sponsored and voted in favour of the draft resolution contained in document S/2016/846. We commend the hard work carried out by the French and Spanish delegations in drafting and negotiating it.

We are extremely dismayed, but not surprised, by the fact that all these efforts were, in the end, derailed by the veto power of Russia. This is the fifth veto exercised by Russia with respect to draft resolutions concerning Syria over the past years. Had the draft resolution seen the light and been adopted, it would have been a real meaningful step by the Council towards exercising preventive diplomacy. It would have helped to prevent what is about to become one of the gravest humanitarian tragedies of our times. History will hold accountable those who did not let the Council discharge its duties. Bearing in mind the clear humanitarian character of the draft resolution aimed at stopping the razing of eastern Aleppo by the end of the year, we acted fully in line with the code of conduct regarding Security Council action against genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes, which Ukraine joined last year.

We are extremely disappointed that the political statement on the suspension of the veto in the case of mass atrocities, an initiative designed to curb the use of veto by the permanent members of the Council, has yet to gain traction. Here again, the Russian Federation is more interested in safeguarding its privileges than in fulfilling its responsibilities before the international community. For Ukraine, that is nothing new; we have seen Russia exercise its veto quite recently, in March 2014 and July 2015. In those cases, the Councils action would have saved thousands of human lives and sent a powerful messages to perpetrators of heinous acts against civilians, and their crimes would not have gone unpunished.

What we see today has a meaning  Russias policies remain unchanged. If the current dynamics of the Syrian conflict continue and the logic of war prevails over the voices of peace, we, as the international community, face a real risk of a protracted deadly conflict lasting many more years. The repercussions for such a scenario are a Pandoras box that is easy to open but nearly impossible to close  more refugees flowing to Europe and other places, more destabilization in neighbouring countries, a rising death toll and a deepening humanitarian crisis. If Russia is not waging hybrid warfare to reassert itself in the world at any price, then black is white and white is black.

Those who oppose peace and prolong war risk setting the wider region ablaze in a fire of sectarian war and radicalization, giving more space for the extremist to exploit. Finally, I want to echo the words of Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura, that we do not want to live through another Srebrenica or Rwanda. To that, I would add that we also do not want to live through another Grozny.

Mr. Seck (Senegal) (spoke in French): The situation in Syria is intolerable. Against the backdrop of exploding bombs, meeting after meeting, negotiation after negotiation, resolution after resolution, human beings are annihilated. Homes, markets, schools, health facilities are all reduced to rubble, in violation of all the rules of international humanitarian law. I echo the sentiments of my President, Mr. Macky Sall, who expressed them here on 21 September under the presidency of New Zealand (see S/PV.7774). By deciding to vote in favour of the draft resolution submitted by France and Spain, Senegal echoed the heartfelt appeal of the Special Envoy for Syria, Mr. Staffan de Mistura, for the Council to act urgently to avoid eastern Aleppo from becoming an unprecedented tragedy.

Senegal had hoped that the time had come for the Council, as guarantor of international peace and security, to shoulder its responsibilities to reestablish a ceasefire, not only in eastern Aleppo, but also across Syria. Unfortunately the draft resolution proposed by France and Spain was unsuccessful. Mr. De Mistura had warned us about the risk of Aleppo being completely destroyed in two months with thousands dead and wounded if air strikes were to be deployed.My delegation takes this opportunity to once again urge the International Syria Support Group, in particular its two co-chairs, to do whatever it takes to reach an effective and lasting truce across Syria in order to allow unfettered and unconditional humanitarian assistance and the resumption of a credible process, under the aegis of the United Nations, on the basis of the Geneva communique (S/2012/523, annex) and resolution 2254 (2015).

If we do not rally around the objectives of peace and stability in Syria, we will run the risk of strengthening terrorist organizations such as the Islamic State in Iraq and the Sham, Jabhat Fath al-Sham and the former Jabhat al-Nusrah, who are our common enemies that must be fought in the framework of a shared comprehensive strategy.

Mr. Bessho (Japan): Japan supported the French and Spanish proposal, because among other things, it demands that all parties immediately end all aerial bombardments of Aleppo. Those bombardments are ruthlessly destroying hospitals and killing civilians. The situation is devastating. It is deeply regrettable that the Security Council has failed, thus far, to overcome its differences. All military activities in eastern Aleppo must be halted immediately, particularly the indiscriminate attacks which are violating international humanitarian law.

Todays failure to adopt a draft resolution that would have improved the humanitarian situation in Aleppo is yet another unfortunate example of the Security Council not being able to take effective measures on a matter of great urgency. That should not be an excuse for inaction in the crisis in Aleppo. There are pressing humanitarian needs on the ground. We must undertake measures to enable immediate medical evacuation as well as the movement of humanitarian supplies from western Aleppo. The Council has a responsibility to take concrete actions to bring about actual changes on the ground. The Syrian people have already suffered far too long.

Mr. Ramirez Carreno (Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela) (spoke in Spanish): With the firm commitment to fully respecting international humanitarian law, the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela condemns indiscriminate attacks against the civilian population and humanitarian personnel carried out by any party. It also condemns air strikes carried out against hospitals and health facilities, just as we have denounced them in the Gaza strip, in the occupied territories of the State of Palestine, in Iraq, Libya, Yemen, Afghanistan and Syria. Nevertheless, our country voted against the draft resolution on the situation in eastern Aleppo because the it does not adequately address the humanitarian problem that is severely impacting the civilian population in that province, due to the terrorist barbarism of Jabhat al-Nusrah and its related groups, and the terrible logic of war in the country.

We are concerned that although the humanitarian situation calls for concrete responses based on the principles of impartiality, objectivity and non-politicization, in this case the noble humanitarian aim has been distorted in favour of the political interests of some of the members of the Security Council to the detriment of the Syrian people. Specifically, the humanitarian tragedy of the people in eastern Aleppo is being used in an attempt to blame Syria and Russia for exacerbating the humanitarian situation in the zone, where in truth those directly responsible for that tragedy are the terrorist groups with foreign backing that have been committing heinous crimes against the people of Syria for five years now, in their desire and purpose of overthrowing a legitimate Government.

We cannot ignore the fact that there are other interested parties to the conflict within the Security Council. Therefore, in that regard, we members of the Council have a shared but differentiated responsibility. Those players have been direct participants in the armed conflict since its inception, providing weapons to violent non-State actors who then became terrorist groups that are no longer under their control. They now claim not to understand the consequences of their own actions and employ dramatic rhetoric while continuing to fuel a war, not only in Syri, but throughout the Middle East.We believe that, had there been genuine interest in producing a consensus document, the Council would have been in possession of a draft resolution that reflected its unity. Regrettably, the political agendas of some of the members of the Council took precedence, which prevented a positive outcome  to the detriment of the people in Aleppo. The obstinate insistence on pushing this draft resolution (S/2016/846) in the Council while knowing that it was not viable has deepened divisions within this collegial organ. We now run the risk of undermining the progress that has been made, in particular by the co-Chairs of the International Syria Support Group  the Russian Federation and the United States  as well as the efforts of Special Envoy Staffan de Mistura.

The fight against terrorism being conducted jointly by the Governments of Syria and Russia cannot be viewed as an excuse for destroying the Syrian population in Aleppo, as some are attempting to encourage without good basis. A genuine threat exists in that region and is reflected by the thousands of fighters of the Al-Nusra Front and other terrorist groups that are holding hostage the thousands of civilians living there and using them as human shields  all in breach of international humanitarian law and international human rights law. We need only recall that the Government of Syria opened up humanitarian corridors to evacuate the city of Aleppo, while the terrorist groups executed those who attempted to leave the city.

Given the fight against terrorism is a goal shared by the international community, as stated in various Security Council resolutions, we do not understand how the so-called moderate opposition has not disassociated itself once and for all from the Al-Nusra Front. If its intentions for peace and stability in Syria are indeed sincere, the moderate opposition should join in the efforts to eliminate the scourge of terrorism and take part fully in the peace talks without any preconditions. What is urgent is to stop outside support to armed groups  which evolve into terrorist groups  and to implement the cessation of hostilities agreed upon on 9 September.

In addition, it is paradoxical that todays draft resolution demands that Syria curtail its legitimate right to exercise full sovereignty over its territory, in particular its airspace by ceasing all military flights over Aleppo. That demand stands in contrast to the flexibility  or the failure  of the Council in other conflicts, such as in the Gaza Strip, Fallujah, Baghdad, Yemen or Afghanistan. We insist that issues brought before the Council should not be addressed with double standards. We believe that Syrias full exercise of its sovereignty, by way of controlling its territory, is a guarantee for an effective fight against the scourge of terrorism in that country. We wonder how Syria could be asked to limit its sovereignty when sovereignty, territorial integrity and political independence are all enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations as being key to international peace and security.

The Council does not have the right to violate the sovereignty of Member States, and it cannot decide whether or not a Government is legitimate. That is solely up to peoples. We cannot allow the disastrous military acts of aggression that occurred in Iraq, Libya and other places to reoccur. Those events inflicted a great deal of suffering on the people of those countries by creating fertile ground for Al-Qaida to expand and Daesh/Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant to emerge, following the dismantling of their institutional and political structures.

In conclusion, we reject the fact that the human tragedy being experienced the Syrian people is being manipulated by a war imposed from abroad and financed and sustained by foreign players and fighters. In spite of the media pressure and manipulation, in order to address the issue without double standards, uphold the principles of the Charter of the United Nations and work towards a political, negotiated solution to such a terrible conflict, we will resolutely continue working towards peace.

The President, M. Churkin (Federation of Russia) (spoke in Russian): Members of the Council have before them document S/2016/847, which contains the text of a draft resolution submitted by the Russian Federation.

The Council is ready to proceed to the vote on the draft resolution before it. I shall put the draft resolution to the vote now.

A vote was taken by show of hands. In favour:China, Egypt, Russian Federation, Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of) Against:France, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, Senegal, Spain, Ukraine, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, United States of America Abstaining:Angola, Uruguay

The President (spoke in Russian): There were 4 votes in favour, 9 against and 2 abstentions. The draft resolution has not been adopted having failed to obtain the required number of votes.

I shall now give the floor to the members of the Council who wish to make statements following the voting.

Mr. Aboulatta (Egypt) (spoke in Arabic): I find myself at a loss for words to express our deep sorrow at the scene we are witnessing today  the military escalation that compelled the Security Council to convene before the entire world in order to convey a message of failure to the Syrian people. Regrettably, the Council, which was created in the previous century to peaceably settle disputes, is gradually becoming a mere media platform. Instead of holding serious political consultations, in open and closed meetings, to stop the Syrian bloodletting, consultations have amounted to no more than a repetition of traditional positions and dialogue that falls on deaf ears.

We used to prepare our statements and deliver them in the Chamber to express condemnation and denunciation, or to share new information to apprise ourselves of what happened and what is happening in Syria. We have forgotten that the impact of our statements hardly goes beyond this building or the mass media, whereas the tragedy of the bereaved Syrian people continues, with half of the Syrian population displaced and hundreds of thousands of its men, women and children killed. Allow me to express my sorrow and sympathy to any Syrian citizen who is following todays meeting, although I wonder if there is anyone in Syria who is genuinely interested in following this meeting.

Egypt voted in favour of the two draft resolutions (S/2016/846 and S/2016/847) that were put forward for voting today, which focused on a de-escalation of the situation in Syria, in particular in Aleppo. Regrettably, although we had already known that the two draft resolutions would fail, our voting simply served to express our position. Egypt can no longer tolerate the fact that the fate of the regions people is being manipulated. Today, we are simply conveying a message on the part of the biggest Arab population to the international, regional and internal Powers in Syria to end the tragedy  and end the political rivalries, ambitions and disputes, which are claiming Syrian lives  in that country.

It is not my wish to conclude my statement by expressing regret, because we still have a window of opportunity to address the Syrian crisis in earnest. If all the members of the Council were to express and confirm their desire to end the bloodshed, we would seriously consider all the various approaches contained in the two draft resolutions proposed today. Let us agree that the two draft resolutions covered key points that should serve as a foundation for us to build upon in the coming days. We voted in favour of the following five points today.

First, it is imperative to stop the targeting of Syrian civilians and infrastructure and allow unhindered access to humanitarian aid in conjunction with the United Nations. Secondly, we must work towards implementing a cessation of hostilities in Syria that would pave the way for a full ceasefire, prioritizing Aleppo in line with resolution 2268 (2016), in tandem with enhancing the supervision and monitoring mechanisms. Thirdly, it is very important to confront certain armed groups that disregard of the will and volition of the international community, the ambitions of the Syrian people for a change towards a better future, and their determination and persistence in cooperating with terrorist groups, especially Jabhat al-Nusrah Jabhat Fatih al-Sham. Fourthly, the Security Council should shoulder its responsibility and the International Syria Support Group and its co-chairmansip must play its pivotal role in carrying out the realization of the aforementioned points. Fifthly, earnest negotiations must be launched among the Syrian parties with regard to the transitional phase stipulated in the Geneva communique (S/2012/522, annex) and resolution 2254 (2015).

Egypt is fully prepared to work within the framework of the International Syria Support Group and the Security Council,  whether it be with the permanent or non-permanent members of the Council  to carry out and achieve the efforts to which I referred earlier.To conclude, let me call upon members of the Security Council to work towards restoring the Councils role and facilitating open and serious discussion in ending the Syrian tragedy.

Mr. Rycroft (United Kingdom): The lonely veto and four votes in favour of your draft resolution, Sir, were a double humiliation. This text was a cynical attempt to divert attention from Russias exercise of the veto today that once again denied any hope to the people of Aleppo. It failed because it failed to demand an immediate end to the aerial bombardment of Aleppo. It is a sham, just as Russias hollow commitment to a political process in Syria is a sham. The indiscriminate bombing of civilians in Aleppo is sickening and barbaric. Please stop now.

Mr. Pressman (United States of America): This text was a deceptive attempt to get the Security Council to ratify what Russia and the regime are doing in Aleppo, as they will undoubtedly claim that any and all of the devastation that they are raining down is directed at terrorists, not the innocent civilians and civilian infrastructure that they are very clearly striking. But I will not belabour this point. What Russia wants is for there to be more talk while they seek to take the city by brutal force. What we want is less talk and more action for them to stop the slaughter.

Mr. Ramirez Carreno (Venezuela) (spoke in Spanish): Unfortunately, today the Security Council has effectively shown its inability to achieve consensus on how to manage and resolve the horrible tragedy faced by the people of Syria since the beginning of the war. The fundamental reason for the lack of unity is based on the fact that certain permanent members of the Security Council are deeply involved in the conflict and supported the development of this type of asymmetric war, a new and absolutely illegal mechanism designed to overthrow Governments.

We entirely subscribe to the statement made by the representative of Egypt because, unfortunately, hundreds of thousands of Syrian people are dying on the ground and are paying the price for a disastrous policy in the Middle East. In our view, this is a warning to the non-permanent member of the Security Council, and we must thoroughly consider that we are encouraging conflicts by taking steps that are in flagrant violation of the Charter of the United Nations and everything represented by the international legal system.

We are a sovereign country, but we have no military or geopolitical interests beyond our borders. We see the need to raise our voice to ensure that the international community will defend those principles underlying the United Nations, including respect for sovereignty and the non-interference in the internal affairs of people and the concept that sovereignty lies in the people of any given country. Those are fundamental principles. No one in the Security Council can decide whether the Government of Syria is legitimate. No one in the Security Council has the right to suppress the sovereignty of the Syrian Government over its own territory.

We have already had painful experiences that need to be analysed and discussed in depth in assessing the question of whether the Security Council is fulfilling the role that it was given when the United Nations was founded. We see ourselves in the middle of a conflict between powerful countries, and we need to defend such principles. Much pressure is being generated to ensure that brotherly countries, particularly non-permanent members, align themselves with one position or another. We appeal to everyone to respect the principles as the only means to come up with a political solution not only to the Syrian conflict, but also to the conflicts in Yemen and Palestine, among so many other countries.

The exercise of the right of veto by Russia was criticized. We believe that the right of veto serves in many instances to establish balance in situations that are otherwise totally out of balance. If only they could have exercised the right of veto in connection with the intervention in Iraq or the NATO bombings in Libya, we would not be facing the regrettable situation in which we find ourselves today. Double standards are often used in addressing a situation. Some Council members that are directly involved in the conflict tell dramatic accounts of human suffering, which are of course deeply regrettable, yet they remain in inexplicable and complicit silence when faced, for example, with the suffering of the Palestinian people during the terrible Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip, or remain inexplicably silent on the matter of other conflicts, such as the situation in Yemen.

We voted in favour of the second draft resolution (S/2016/847) proposed by the Russian Federation because we believe that, like the draft resolution proposed by New Zealand, it contained elements that could have led the Council to unite regarding the need to end civilian suffering in eastern Aleppo and throughout Syria.I believe that once the Council has publicly demonstrated its lack of unity in that regard, it should work constructively, beyond its members own national agendas, to find a political and negotiated solution to the tragedy. The massacres in Syria must end. State interventionism in Syria must end. The delivery of weapons to groups that are not able to disassociate themselves from terrorist groups must end. The United Nations and the Security Council must arrive at a negotiated solution to the conflict or, as already has been said, the phenomenon of terrorism will continue to bring suffering to the people of the Middle East.

Mr. Yelchenko (Ukraine): Ukraine voted against draft resolution S/2016/847, proposed by the Russian Federation, for the following reasons. We simply do not agree with tactics that aim to divert attention from the solid and meaningful draft resolution S/2016/846, which could have affected the situation on the ground and help put an end to the massacre in Aleppo. The draft resolution proposed by Russia barely mentions the devastating developments in Aleppo, which is cynical, given the gravity of the situation in that symbolic Syrian city. We also strongly condemn the attempt to put a draft resolution to the vote that has never been discussed in the Council.

Mr. Liu Jieyi (China) (spoke in Chinese): China has followed the escalation of the conflict in several regions of Syria and is deeply moved by the wartime suffering of the Syrian people. China strongly condemns all terrorist activities that harm and kill innocent people.

In that regard, the international community should continue to work towards and push for a political solution to the dispute through dialogue between all parties involved in the conflict, so as to stop the fighting as soon as possible. Actions taken by the Security Council concerning the situation in Syria should be able to concretely improve the situation, help push for a cessation of hostilities, support and coordinate United Nations efforts for humanitarian assistance and facilitate stronger efforts to combat terrorist groups designated by the Security Council, including the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant. Such action should promote the search for a solution that is acceptable to all parties in a political process owned and led by the Syrians under the auspices of the United Nations.

The draft resolution submitted by France and Spain (S/2016/846) contains a number of important elements, such as the need for a ceasefire, a call for a political solution, improvement of the humanitarian situation, and enhanced efforts to combat terrorism. However, some of the draft resolutions provisions do not fully respect the sovereignty, independence, unity and territorial integrity of Syria. Moreover, the constructive views of some Security Council members were not incorporated. For those reasons, China had to abstain in the voting on the draft resolution.

The draft resolution submitted by the Russian Federation to the Security Council (S/2016/847) urges the parties to immediately cease hostilities, enable access to humanitarian aid, enhance efforts to combat terrorism, and support the good offices of Special Envoy Staffan De Mistura, and calls for an early resumption of peace talks in Geneva. The draft resolution reflects a four-track strategy comprised of a ceasefire, humanitarian assistance, joint efforts in

combating terrorism and political negotiations. It also reflects respect for the sovereignty, independence, unity and territorial integrity of Syria, with complete, comprehensive and balanced content. China voted in favour of the draft resolution and regrets that it was not adopted.

Syria is an important country in the Middle East. An immediate restoration of peace and stability is in the common interests of Syria, other countries of the region and the international community. China hopes that the Security Council will maintain the safety of the Syrian people as its first priority and remain united in order to reach consensus, pursue its efforts to push for a political solution to the conflict in Syria, work jointly to prevent the further breeding and spread of terrorism and play a positive and constructive role in maintaining peace and stability in Syria and the region.

Mr. Van Bohemen (New Zealand): New Zealand voted against the draft resolution submitted by the Russian Federation (S/2016/847) due to its partial and misleading nature and Russias destructive role in the Syrian conflict and because Russia provided no scope for any negotiation on a text on such a sensitive issue  an issue to which Russia is a direct party.

Action of this kind only serves to deepen the divides in the Council that are preventing constructive action from being taken. As you earlier observed, Mr. President, New Zealand has been working on some ideas to try and bring the Council together on this most difficult issue. That we have not yet put our ideas forward has been our decision and ours alone, but I invite Russia and all Council members to work with us in the coming days to see if we can chart a course in a more positive direction.

Mr. Rosselli (Uruguay) (spoke in Spanish): In this very Chamber, we have already said that we are pained by the situations in Syria, Yemen, South Sudan and in all other parts of the world where the civilian population is subject to the brutalities of war. We have also said in this very Chamber that, as we give speeches, we are pained by the fact that bombs continue to fall on the civilian population, hospitals and schools. In this very Chamber, we have also said that what is happening in Aleppo is, without any doubt, a true massacre.

Today, an end to hostilities, bombings and carnage are of the utmost importance. Allow me to add that the babies being pulled from the rubble in Aleppo are not terrorists; the old people crushed in the debris of their homes are not terrorists; the patients buried in the rubble of hospitals in Aleppo are not terrorists; and the children buried in the remains of their schools are not terrorists.

Regarding the draft resolution in document S/2016/847, my delegation abstained for reasons of procedure and of substance. Regarding procedure, the draft resolution was presented yesterday at 5 p.m. as a take-it-or-leave-it proposition. There was no possibility of negotiation. Moreover, after briefly reading through it, we noted that it included a bilateral agreement on which the Security Council had no say or any reason for being aware of it. We all know that there is a strong discrepancy between those members who would sign the agreement and those who would not, and it is not up to the Security Council to mediate in that regard.

Regarding substance, the draft resolution does not address something that is vital at the present stage, namely, putting an end to the bombing in Aleppo. My delegation is committed and will continue to work in the Security Council to relaunch a process of negotiation that will contribute to ending the current situation and channeling Syria towards a better future.

Mr. Gaspar Martins (Angola): Members of the Security Council were confronted today with a peculiar situation. They had to cast two consecutive votes on two draft resolutions on the same issue  the cessation of hostilities in Syria.First and foremost, we would like to state our deep distress about the current humanitarian situation in Aleppo, which has left the vast majority of the citys population without access to basic necessities and life-saving assistance, while the horrific bloodshed, particularly in eastern Aleppo, has caused far too many deaths and injuries among the civilian population.

In Aleppo, we are witnessing destruction of truly historical proportions to which we in the Council can put a stop if we act constructively and decisively. The bombing of hospitals is unacceptable and we strongly condemn such actions. However, the regional and international stakeholders that have directly involved themselves in the conflict by supplying weapons and logistic support to belligerents guilty of grave human rights violations, bear the greatest responsibility for resolving this grave issue. We expect the permanent members of the Council, whose special responsibility lies in the maintenance of peace and security, to set the example by putting aside strategic interests and mobilizing all possible political action for the sake of the Syrian civilians whom we are called upon to protect.

Even though the brave and dedicated Members of the United Nations and other humanitarian agencies continue to operate in Syria, the reality is that the latest wave of fighting in Aleppo has caused the destruction of essential infrastructure, such as schools, hospitals and ambulances, and depleted the ranks of medical staff able to provide much-needed care and assistance. The numbers of casualties, wounded and displaced are absolutely overwhelming.We have voted here today on two draft resolutions that, in our opinion, contain constructive proposals. We find the inability to make progress on a single resolution addressing the most pressing concerns  the protection of civilians, the cessation of hostilities and the establishment of a political process conducive to lasting peace in Syria  to be most unfortunate.Angola abstained in the voting on the two resolutions. The draft resolution submitted by France and Spain (S/2016/846), in our view, does not address the fundamental issue of reviving the process conducive to a meaningful cessation of hostilities. On the contrary, it seeks to feed the acrimonious and dangerous debate among the main players in the conflict, permanent members of the Security Council and it most probably will represent the burial of the International Syrian Support Group (ISSG).

While the Russian proposal (S/2016/847) contains some positive elements with a view to relaunching a process conducive to the cessation of hostilities, Angola decided to abstain in the voting in order to avoid being dragged into the unfortunate prevailing acrimony among the members of the Council that bear the main responsibility for the conflict and the duty to find solutions to it.

I support Special Envoy De Misturas efforts and his permanent commitment to relaunching an agreement on the cessation of hostilities, guaranteeing safe and unrestricted humanitarian access, resuming the repairs of Aleppos damaged water and power facilities and allowing medical evacuation for urgent cases in and around the city. Surely that effort depends on the cooperation between the Russian Federation and the United States of America. We deeply regret the suspension of bilateral discussions on the cessation of hostilities between the co-Chairs of the ISSG Ceasefire Task Force. We sincerely hope that the respective Governments will be able to agree on the importance of maintaining open lines of dialogue and renewing cooperation in the search for peace and the fight against terrorism, and easing the plight of the Syrian civilians who bear the heaviest burden of the conflict.

In conclusion, after the show of unity of the Security Council on the recommendation for the next Secretary-General, todays events are a very negative signal regarding the Councils ability to contribute meaningfully to international peace and security, which we deeply regret. Angola reiterates its determination to remain engaged in the search for peace and to save lives in Syria by advancing the political process through negotiations and dialogue involving, above all, Syrians.

Mr. Bessho (Japan): We voted against the proposal submitted by the Russian Federation (S/2016/847). I repeat what I said earlier today. All aerial bombardments of Aleppo must be ended immediately. All military activities in eastern Aleppo, particularly the indiscriminate attacks that violate international humanitarian law must be halted immediately. Had the agreement of 9 September between the United States of America and Russia been in effect, we may have been able to implement measures based on that. Sadly, that is not the case. Japan cannot support the Russian proposal.

The President, M. Churkin (Federation of Russia) (spoke in Russian): I shall now say a few words in my national capacity. I will be very brief because we are still going to be hearing from another speaker.

The representatives of the United States of America and the United Kingdom, as usual, stuck to their provocative rhetoric. We are used to that free-flowing discourse and shall not react to it. Attempts to insult us do not upset or distract us from what is most important. But I do have two topics I would like to touch on.

The representative of the United Kingdom made an emotional appeal for putting an end to this immediately. Indeed, how about it? How about immediately putting an end to supporting various thugs around the world  terrorists, extremists and all the other amateurs exacerbating the situation in one country or another? How about putting an end to interfering in the affairs of other sovereign States? Just give up these colonial customs and leave the world in peace. The situation would improve in a great many parts of the world.

The argument made by the United States is that more action is needed. We completely agree. It took our Minister for Foreign Affairs and the United States Secretary of State several months to work out an agreement, but the United States could not implement it or manage to separate the moderate opposition from terrorists. It could not even ensure the withdrawal of opposition groups from the Castello road so as to provide better conditions to get humanitarian aid to eastern Aleppo. Yes, more action is needed.

I think the representative of Uruguay made an important point about the fact that it is the terrorists are to blame while it is the civilians who are suffering. I would take that argument further  it is the politicians who are to blame, as they try to realize their grandiose plans all over the world while civilians suffer. And they do not even try to admit to the catastrophic mistakes, if not crimes, that result from their policies, fanning the flames of conflict and fomenting chaos in many parts of the world.

Finally, the representative of Angola expressed alarm that what is going on could mean the collapse of the International Syria Support Group. We do not agree. We believe we will be able to preserve both the multilateral formats and todays draft resolution (S/2016/847), which, as I said, we did not expect to be adopted and viewed it merely as a political demonstration. It was aimed at preserving those multilateral formats and hence what was valuable in the Russian-American agreements. While they have not been implemented, we think they can be. I would like to assure the Council that some very complex work is continuing, both multilaterally and bilaterally, and we all hope fervently that the situation in Syria can be normalized, which would undoubtedly improve the situation in eastern Aleppo. We hope that will happen as soon as possible.I now resume my functions as President of the Council.

I give the floor to the representative of the Syrian Arab Republic.

Mr. Jaafari (Syrian Arab Republic) (spoke in Arabic): Clearly, the truth unnerves the representatives of colonial Powers in the Chamber. We have seem them leave when they hear the truth being spoken. By such actions, they prove that they have malicious colonial intentions against my country and the people of Syria. Similarly, they demonstrate that their diplomacy is a diplomacy of chaos, coercion and the use of force, and it is not based on the principles of dialogue and peaceful conflict resolution. To those colleagues who walked out of the Chamber while we were still in session (see S/PV.7777), I would like to thank them because they gave me the status of permanent member instead of them.

I would like to congratulate you, Mr. President, on presiding over the work of the Council this month  at a time when the whole world, and our region in particular, are experiencing major, serious challenges. Such difficult challenges come as a result of the erroneous policies of some States, including permanent members of the Security Council. They are seeking to implement their own interventionist policies, which contravene the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations. However, your experience and wisdom, Sir, serve to provide leadership for the work of the Council at this critical time.

Allow me to take this opportunity to condemn the cowardly act of terrorism perpetrated by the Al-Nusra Front against the Russian Embassy in Damascus a few days ago. Several Member States voted positively for the French draft resolution (S/2016/846), but they opposed releasing even a press statement condemning that attack. We are also sorry that the Council failed to adopt the draft resolution (S/2016/847) submitted with a view to achieving peace and expediting the political process in Syria by differentiating between the so-called armed opposition forces and the terrorist Al-Nusra Front. Blocking the Russian draft resolution serves to reaffirm, for the hundredth time, the lack of political will on the part of those who oposed it. They have no real political will to combat terrorism and no genuine will to reach an inter-Syrian resolution to the crisis. Clearly, differentiating between extremist terrorists and the moderate armed groups is a difficult process, akin to trying to separate enriched uranium from unenriched uranium, if there were such a thing as unenriched uranium.I have not bothered to reflect on the French draft resolution, as it was crystal clear that it had its own objectives  clear not just to me, but to the Syrian people too. It makes me recall the one-hundredth anniversary of the infamous Sykes-Picot Agreement, a colonial agreement between France and Britain that brought continuous suffering to our people, created divides in our society and looted our wealth and resources. We think that the French draft resolution reflects the nostalgia France feels for its dark colonial past. It was under the illusion that fuelling the Syrian crisis would create a golden opportunity for it to revive its former colonial power, which will not return.

Today, the Foreign Minister of France attempted to be the Syrian peoples guardian when he spoke about what was good for them and what he, in his capacity as Foreign Minister, should do to help them  as though he were still dreaming that he represented a colonial Power that could hijack the right to speak on behalf of the Syrian people in the Council. However, French politicians should be ashamed of what they have done to Libya and to the Libyan people. And when turning our attention to the Guernica and Srebrenica massacres, we see that such massacres were the result of European competitive barbaric policies to which we, nor anyone else, bears any relation. Such policies were purely European barbaric policies.

As for the carnage in Syria today, it has been caused by mercenary foreign terrorists whoe were born in France, Britain, Germany, Italy, Norway, Spain and Belgium. These are terrorists who are manipulated by the intelligence agencies of Western States, the fatwas on jihad, financing from Qatar and Saudi Arabia and Turkish sponsorship for all these acts of aggression. Before I proceed with my statement, I would like to remind the French Minister of what his predecessor once said: (spoke in French) The French jihadists are doing a good job in Syria.

(spoke in Arabic) This is the policy of France, as expressed by the Foreign Minister of France at the time, Laurent Fabius, in 2012.

Elements and provisions of the French draft resolution prove yet again that they have malicious intentions towards my country. From the very beginning, successive French Governments have sought to undermine the Syrian State in its totality, not simply targeting a particular Government. The draft resolution clearly calls for an end to the operations conducted by the Syrian Army and its allies to defend the Syrian people and combat terrorism, on behalf of all the members of the Security Council, from the Al-Nusra Front, the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and affiliated terrorist groups. It seems that whenever the Syrian Army and its allies gain ground against the terrorist groups  namely, the Al-Nusra Front  well-known members of the Council rush to rescue them from their inevitable defeat by convening meetings or putting forth draft resolutions that completely disregard the suffering of the Syrian people. They seek only to rescue the terrorists, whether in Aleppo or in other cities and regions of Syria.We had hoped that this unprecedented and tireless effort by France to push for the adoption of its resolution  similarly with the draft resolution by Russia  would have been geared towards finding a political solution to the crisis in Syria, led by Syrians without any foreign intervention or preconditions. We had hoped that, instead of submitting a draft resolution to impose a no-fly zone in our own air space, France and its allies would have imposed a moratorium on the support provided by their Governments to terrorism, which they then export to Syria. We had hoped that the Government of France would be able to answer the question that the Syrian people continue to ask, that is, whether the money from the Total oil deal, the Qatari gas deal and the Saudi Arabia arms deals were worth the Syrian blood spilled?

For more than six years, the United States, France and Britain have persistently called for one meeting after another. They have sponsored draft resolutions, presidential statements and press statements in the Council with one purpose, namely, to deceive the public into believing that they are seeking to resolve the crisis in my country. Meanwhile, they have launched media, diplomatic and political campaigns to falsely promote certain ideas, including that the situation taking place in Syria is a confrontation between the so-called moderate armed opposition and Government forces, which they accuse of committing war crimes. They completely disregard the fact that their policies have jeopardized the lives of hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians in Syria due to their continued support for the armed terrorist groups that have used civilians as human shields.

In response to remarks by some colleagues who talked about targeting hospitals, the fact is that in eastern Aleppo terrorists have turned the largest and most important eye hospital in the Middle East into a base for their military operations.

I would like to remind members that, since the beginning of the crisis in Syria, the Security Council has held 75 official formal meetings, 97 consultations and 8 Arria Formula meetings. It has also adopted 17 resolutions, in addition to releasing a number of presidential and press statements, on the situation in Syria. However, those efforts have not prevented the world terrorist diaspora from destroying my country, Syria. I would like to remind the Council that the United States has used its veto 77 times, Britain 33 times and France 19 times. The representatives of those countries have no shame. When they block draft resolutions, they simply call for an end to the Israeli occupation of our lands and justice for the Palestinian people.

It is self-evident that the support programmes provided to moderate armed groups by the United States, as well as by some regional and Arab countries following the paymasters of the region, continue to reach the hands of ISIL and the Al-Nusra Front. These groups, along with their affiliates, are terrorist groups. The Syrian people have rights, and these countries are claiming that they seek to achieve their interests. They should consider the logic and the mechanisms that govern their approach towards Syria. The United States has estbalished a programme to train fighters that it has pre-determined as moderate: according to officials, the United States has spent $500 million to train 49 fighters. Forty-four of them took weapons provided by the United States and, as soon as they reached Syrian terrority, joined the terrorist Al-Nusra Front. That leaves five, and we have no idea where they are now.The United States, Saudi Arabia and Qatar have provided arms and money to the Yarmouk Martyrs Brigade in the southern region of Syria and the occupied Golan Heights. This Brigade has announced its allegiance to ISIL. Those countries have insisted that Harakat Nur al-Din al-Zanki was moderate, despite it being a terrorist organization supported by Turkey and its claiming of responsibility for its crimes in Aleppo. They have in fact now officially joined the Al-Nusra Front. Therefore, all of those moderate armed groups are now affiliated with ISIL. The most recent incident involves the Suqour Jabal al-Zawiya Brigade, which, supported by the United States, has announced its allegiance to the Fateh al-Sham Army  the new name of the terrorist group Al-Nusra Front. I would like here to mention 1,800 electronic messages that were deleted from the inbox of the former United States Secretary of State. Those messages included details on consignments of weapons that were transferred to armed terrorist groups in Syria from Libya through Turkey, by decision of the American Administration.

In implementing such destructive policies, these countries have relied on a misleading political media campaign to convince global public opinion that they are fighting terrorism and that the terrorists that they fund, support, harbour and transfer into Syria from more than 100 States are either moderate opposition or first responders. Recently, the term White Helmets has been used to refer to them, and they have even been nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize. I have with me pictures that show these moderate members of the opposition  the White Helmets  with one of them firing an rocket-propelled grenad at aeroplanes. By the way, he is a physician. We have dozens of similar pictures, if any Council members would like to take a look. I would also like to point out that the founder of these malicious White Helmets is in fact James Le Mesurier, an intelligence officer from Britain.

As the United States-based Ron Paul Institute for Peace and Prosperity recently reported, the Pentagon paid $540 million to the British public relations firm Bell Pottinger, which typically renders services to Chile and Saudi Arabia, to develop an aggressive propaganda campaign against the Syrian Government. The firm fabricates YouTube videos, photos, video clips and so on.

The United States of America formed an international coalition under the pretext of fighting ISIL and other terrorist organizations, including organizations for which they have, since 2003, provided fertile ground for them to spread. However, the facts on the ground have proved that, since the establishment of the so-called coalition, ISIL has expanded and gained more ground, because that coalition has not been seriously combating terrorism  to the contrary. The coalition air forces have been responsible for killing hundreds of Syrian military personnel and civilians, destroying infrastructure and economic installations and providing air drops with weapons and military supplies to terrorist organizations to spread still more chaos and wreak havoc in my country. However, according to the coalition, all that was simply a mistake. Therefore, the coalition air forces have killed civilians, destroyed infrastructure, aided and armed terrorists and then justified those crimes by calling them simply mistakes that need to be forgiven. Days later they repeat those same mistakes.

Honestly, one now needs to decipher the actual strategy of the United States-led coalition based on a code based of repeated mistakes. Those offences

appear to be governed by a systematic, intentional policy, as was the case when their aeroplanes targeted the positions of the Syrian Army in Deir ez-Zor. That attack actually exposed dozens of civilians to the ISIL threat. They even had the audacity to request that safe humanitarian corridors be opened for the terrorists to maintain their dignity. Did the United States, Britain and France open safe humanitarian corridors to protect the moderate terrorists of Al-Qaida in Afghanistan, or for those who committed the massacres at Charlie Hebdo or the Bataclan Theatre  or in Nice, California, Boston, Chicago, New York or London? Why have they failed to open such humanitarian corridors in Europe and the United States for terrorists to escape?The United States representative said, we must learn from the lessons of the past. I would like to tell him: I hope that the United States can do that. I hope that the United States could learn from their mistakes in Viet Nam, Cambodia, Korea, Cuba, Nicaragua, Yugoslavia, Iraq, Libya and Africa. I hope that he would recall and apologize for what they did to innocent Iraqis  the 408 civilians they killed on 13 February 1991 in the Amiriyah shelter in Baghdad.

My Government reaffirms that it will continue to cooperate with the United Nations and its specialized agencies to implement the monthly humanitarian response plan. We have approved the October response plan and wish to note that the failure to fully implement it is because of the practices of armed terrorist groups and their allies that continue to obstruct humanitarian access. Those groups continue to target convoys and humanitarian workers and to loot the assistance provisions. The most recent attack targeted the humanitarian assistance convoy headed to Oram Al-Kubra, in rural Aleppo, on 19 September, which led to the deaths of a number of Syrian citizens and volunteers of the Syrian Arab Red Crescent (SARC). They looted supplies and burned the trucks. The moderate armed groups have denied access to SARC staff to deliver assistance to a number of areas. Those are facts of which United Nations agency workers in Syria are well aware. We have initiated an investigation into the attack against the United Nations-SARC convoy in Oram Al-Kubra and will provide the Council with the results of the investigation when it is concluded.

The fact that we are sitting in the Chamber today at this meeting to consider the situation in eastern Aleppo as some shed crocodile tears is a direct result of the United States shirking its agreement reached with the Russian Federation on 9 September. That agreement was supposed to differentiate between the moderate armed groups and the Al-Nusra Front. The Syrian Arab Government has been committed to the cessation of hostilities agreement and has taken action to implement its provisions and to deliver assistance in Aleppo. However, the fact is that the United States has not been honouring its obligations. Terrorist groups, supported by the United States and its allies, continue to violate the agreement and are regrouping to launch new attacks, all of which has led to the end the cessation of hostilities agreement and to the continuing deterioration of the situation in Aleppo after the terrorists killed 157 Syrian soldiers and 300 civilians in eastern Aleppo.In conclusion, the blood being spilled in our country is our blood. We are the victims of a terrorist war and its pain, anguish and torment. It is ours and no one elses. It is the height of hypocrisy and falsification of evidence that those sponsors of terrorism actually shed crocodile tears on this humanitarian crisis. We will continue to fight terrorism, and that continues on a parallel track with the commitment to reach a political solution through intra-Syrian dialogue wherein Syrians and no one else decides on the future of Syria, with no foreign intervention.

In addition, I wish to call upon those who have shed crocodile tears for the Syrian people and to advise them to shed genuine tears for the 250 Yemenis killed today by Western air forces  with Western aeroplanes used by the Saudis.

The President (spoke in Russian): The representative of New Zealand has asked for the floor to make a further statement.

Mr. Van Bohemen (New Zealand): I am used to the fantastical reveries of the Syrian representative. Very little of what he says can be relied upon as accurate. But when he tells blatant lies about the delivery of humanitarian aid to the Syrian people, I must speak up. The record is clear. The delays in the delivery of humanitarian aid, the removal of medical equipment and the other obstructions that are put in the way of United Nations convoys  all the responsibility lies very much with the Syrian regime.

The President (spoke in Russian): The representative of the Syrian Arab Republic has asked for the floor to make a further statement. I now give him the floor.

Mr. Jaafari (Syrian Arab Republic) (spoke in Arabic): I did not want to respond to my colleague, because I am in constant contact with him and I always try to explain to him what is going on in my country regarding the humanitarian crisis we are facing. However, I did not expect him make the mistake of calling me the representative of a regime, especially as he is an experienced diplomat and a member of the Council. He is supposed to respect international legitimacy and he should address me as the representative of my country, the Syrian Arab Republic. That is the first mistake. The second mistake is that it seems that the Permanent Representative of New Zealand and other colleagues do not read what we send to them. We have addressed a compendium of 500 letters to the Council on behalf of the Government of Syria concerning international terrorism sponsored by countries known to all. We have been sending such letters since the beginning of the crisis. It would seem that my colleague, the Permanent Representative of New Zealand, has not read them. We have sent 60 letters, addressed to the Permanent Representative of New Zealand among others, on the use of chemical weapons by terrorists in Syria. It appears that some Council members do not read what we send them. I would therefore urge my colleagues to read these letters, which would definitely help them to see the situation clearly. We in Syria have fallen victim to the misunderstandings of some and the misleading lies of others. We, as diplomats, have the responsibility to correct such misunderstandings. We should not lie to one another.

The meeting rose at 4.50 p.m.
Squishmallows provide the hug your inner child has been craving. A local group embraces the collectibles.
WASHINGTON, DC - MAY 29: Bob Dylan receives the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Barack Obama in the East Room of the White House as astronaut John Glenn applauds on May 29, 2012 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Leigh Vogel/WireImage) Photo: Leigh Vogel/WireImage

If Bob Dylan has a trophy case, hell have to do some rearranging soon, now that hes been announced as a recipient of the Nobel Prize in Literature. On top of getting a snazzy medallion and the equivalent of $900,000, its an amazing achievement for Dylan, though it will be interesting to gauge his feelings about being honored when (if?) he shows up to accept the award at the Nobel Prize Award Ceremony in December. As you see below, Dylan has a mixed history with these sorts of things. Sometimes hes gracious, other times hes dismissive, and then there are the times when hes totally inscrutable.

1963 - Tom Paine Award

Just weeks after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, the 22-year-old Dylan accepted this award from the Emergency Civil Liberties Committee, which recognized his work in the civil-rights movement, by giving a meandering speech criticizing the March on Washington and the United States ban on travel to Cuba, before delivering this gem: I got to admit that the man who shot President Kennedy, Lee Oswald, I dont know exactly where, what he thought he was doing, but I got to admit honestly that I, too, I saw some of myself in him. After getting booed by the audience, Dylan later apologized in an equally rambling letter, closing with See yuh, respectfully an unrespectfully.

1970 - Honorary Doctorate of Music Degree

During a reclusive period in his career, Dylan surprisingly agreed to attend Princetons graduation ceremony to get an honorary degree alongside Coretta Scott King and several other notables. According to a Rolling Stone report of the day, Dylan was nervous, barely spoke to anyone, and nearly left before the ceremony even started. Tricked once more, hed write in his autobiography Chronicles: Volume One. I was losing all kinds of credibility.

1988 - Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Inductee

Dylan used his brief induction speech to thank Muhammad Ali, Little Richard, and folk-music historian Alan Lomax. And then he cracked wise about the Beach Boys Mike Love, whod earlier blasted the Beatles, Diana Ross, Billy Joel, and Mick Jagger. I want to thank Mike Love for not mentioning me, Dylan said to laughs. Peace, love and harmony is greatly important indeed but so is forgiveness and we gotta have that too.

1991 - Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award

With the Gulf War in progress, a 50-year-old Dylan performed Masters of War before accepting his honor. After taking his plaque from presenter Jack Nicholson, he gave a short speech which included a quote he attributed to his father: Hed say, You know its possible to become so defiled in this world that your own father and mother will abandon you and if that happens, God will always believe in your own ability to mend your own ways. Thank you. Those words were his paraphrasing of a Biblical psalm: Even if I were so depraved that my own mother and father would abandon me to my own devices, God would still gather me up and believe in my ability to mend my ways.

1997 - Kennedy Center Honoree

Dylan wasnt required to say anything upon receiving this award. Instead, then-President Bill Clinton said, Like a rolling stone, Bob Dylan has kept moving forward, musically and spiritually, challenging all of us to move forward with him. Thank you, Bob Dylan, for a lifetime of stirring the conscience of the nation. Gregory Peck also spoke, The reediness of [Dylans] voice and the spareness of his words go straight to the heart of America.

1997 - The Dorothy and Lillian Gish Prize

For his outstanding contribution to the beauty of the world, Dylan gets a silver medallion and $200,000. At the ceremony, critic and historian Greil Marcus delivers a lovely speech in praise of the honoree.

1998 - Grammy Award for Album of the Year

After winning two golden gramophones, for Best Contemporary Folk Album and Best Male Rock Vocal Performance for Cold Irons Bound, (and getting soy-bombed) Dylan and producer Daniel Lanois took home the Album of the Year Award for Time Out of Mind. Dylans acceptance speech consists of a comprehensive listing of the people who helped record the album, then veers into a story about being a teenager and seeing Buddy Holly perform in Duluth, Minnesota.

2000 - The Polar Music Prize

Nervously rocking from one side to the other, Dylan silently accepts this Swedish award from King Carl XVI Gustaf. He almost smiles.

2000 - Oscar for Best Original Song, Things Have Changed from Wonder Boys

Dylan accepted his Oscar via satellite from Australia, thanking Wonder Boys director Curtis Hanson and many people who worked at Columbia Records. Obviously, a song doesnt pussyfoot around or turn a blind eye to human nature, he said. Obviously.

2001 - Golden Globe for Best Original Song, Things Have Changed from Wonder Boys

Looking pretty bored, he thanks director Hanson, his band, the record company, everybody in my family and I guess thats about it.

2004 - Doctorate of Music, St. Andrews University

Much like at Princeton 34 years earlier, Dylan is depicted as somewhat ambivalent when getting this degree. Hearing himself described as a great writer he clenched and unclenched his right fist, The Independent reported. He also yawned.

2007 - Prince of Asturias Award for the Arts

Dylan gets a diploma, medallion, a Joan Miro sculpture, and a 50,000 check for winning this Spanish royalty prize. He doesnt go to the ceremony; he plays a gig in Omaha that night.

2008 - Special Pulitzer Award

Dylan won this prize because of his profound impact on popular music and American culture, marked by lyrical compositions of extraordinary poetic power. In the New York Times, novelist Jonathan Lethem questioned the committees decision, saying, Its like giving Elvis Presley a tuxedo: It doesnt exactly fit.

2010 - National Medal for the Arts

Dylan is a no-show to receive his award from President Obama, but in fairness, hed been at the White House a few weeks earlier to perform Blowin in the Wind at the Celebration of Music from the Civil Rights Movement.

2012 - Presidential Medal of Freedom

There is not a bigger giant in the history of American music, President Obama said when giving Dylan this award, the nations highest civilian honor, for meritorious contribution to the country. Wearing a tuxedo and black aviator sunglasses, Dylan didnt smile or speak. His only reactions were to raise his eyebrows when Obama put the medal around his neck, and to nod and pat the commander-in-chief on the arm before returning to his seat.

2013 - The Order of Legion dHonneur

Frances highest public honor is usually given to its own citizens in recognition of military and civil service, and Dylans award was temporarily blocked after some members of the nominating committee raised concerns over his anti-war beliefs and marijuana use. Eventually, Dylan joined Paul McCartney, Miles Davis, Liza Minnelli, and Sir Laurence Olivier in joining the Legion of Honour, wearing cowboy boots to the ceremony and saying, I am grateful and proud, thats all. He was previously named a Commander of Arts and Letters by France in 1990.

2013 - American Academy of Arts and Letters, Honorary Member

An elite honors society, the Academy includes members such as Kurt Vonnegut, Meryl Streep, and Duke Ellington. Dylan didnt make it to the ceremony, where Wonder Boys novelist Michael Chabon read an essay about him. In a cursory statement, Dylan said, I feel extremely honored and very lucky to be included in this pantheon of great individual artists who comprise the Academy of Arts and Letters. I look forward to meeting all of you some time soon.

2015 - MusiCares Person of the Year, from the Recording Academy

Honored for his art and charity work, Dylan used his acceptance speech to delve into the history of rock and roll, praise the likes of Johnny Cash, Jimi Hendrix, and Nina Simone, and gripe about Merle Haggard, Atlantic Records founder Ahmet Ertegun, and the Lieber and Stoller songwriting team. But his real grudge was against his critics: Critics say I cant sing. I croak. Sound like a frog. Why dont critics say that same thing about Tom Waits? Critics say my voice is shot. That I have no voice. Why dont they say those things about Leonard Cohen? Why do I get special treatment? Critics say I cant carry a tune and I talk my way through a song. Really? Ive never heard that said about Lou Reed. Why does he get to go scot-free?
Are you wondering if this episode ends with Ghost Rhonda helping Andre have sex with someone? You have a very specific and creative imagination, but you are right. Empire is really taking this thing to new heights. More flashbacks, more scenes at Chicagos Lyric Opera, more references to Jack & Jill to prove a characters bougie-ness, more whisper-singing. Its got everything.

Andre and Lucious are heading to what Empire would call The Hood to get Nessa to sign a contract. Lucious also says something about an experience only black women can give you. Lucious is pretty complimentary toward black women even though he treats them like garbage. Hes a man of contradictions, that Lucious. Shyne is inside his studio tending to a bunch of bonsai trees when Nessa and Andres eyes lock from across the room and it is on. Shyne refuses to sign the contract that Lucious brought because  SURPRISE!  he wants to start a bidding war. So all those record executives were just hiding behind a coatrack waiting for Lucious to show up? Okay. Luciouss perm is quite disturbing in this episode.

Lucius storms back to Empire and starts yelling at Becky for not doing the job they wouldnt give her. Cookie comes in to let Lucious know theyve hired a new head of A&R and its a white guy who acts like hes black. Hes obnoxious. Also, Tiana is working on a clapback to Gram and Hakeem. Lucious says that Cookie is throwing attitude his way because Angelo hasnt called her back.

Cookie heads out into the lobb  OH NO A CREEPY CHILDRENS CHOIR. Angelo has sent tiny children to play the recorder and xylophone to sing Frere Jacques to Cookie because thats  romantic? Angelo is hiding behind a pillar watching the stuff of psychological thrillers serenade Cookie and pops out to invite her to a concert. Cookie makes sure that its a date. Go head, Cookie. Cookie tells Porsha that Angelo probably picked a concert so that she would be comfortable because hes a gentleman. Cookie has a flashback to her dad picking her up while she was hanging out with Barry, her tragic dark-skinned boyfriend, and tells her dad that she made sure to defrost the chicken, which is the blackest thing a child can say. Her dad knows that shes been skipping school and doesnt want her to hang out with that Lucifer Lyon or whatever his name is because Barry is going to lift his woman up and get Cookie out of The Hood.

Lucious is lurking nearby, watching Cookie with Angelo, and tries to sow some doubt in Cookies mind because Angelo dates only socialites, so what would he want with her? See what I mean about the hot garbage thing?

Jamal goes back to prison with the PTSD group therapist to help him apologize to Freda  then he leaves before Freda gets there. What is the point of going there if youre gonna leave? Freda arrives and Jamal sees that shes been beaten up by Jamal Lyon fans and has two black eyes. Freda brushes it off and Jamal vows to get her out of jail.

Hakeem is hosting a party for Nessa and Shyne on Xstream. Who would watch that? Who is that for? Is anyone settling in to watch a party on Tidal? Shyne goads Hakeem into writing Empires offer on a napkin and when Hakeem does so against all good judgment because Hakeem is a damn mess, Shyne shows the number to the camera. He says that Empires offer is now the number to beat. Hakeem is left to eat the entire roast pig with the Empire logo branded onto the side by himself. Meanwhile, Cookie is listening to Jamals new songs and trying on outfits for her big date with Angelo. She rejects several outfits with hats and every booty-centric outfit. She settles on an a-mah-zing look with a glitter eye and a black lip. Unfortunately, its a black-tie fundraiser filmed at the Lyric Opera house (I recognized it because Im a long-time subscriber and a member of the Lyric Young Professionals). Angelo introduces Cookie to some other bougie bitches he knows and Cookie overhears them talking shit about her in the bathroom and she says shes the head of the Make-A-Wish Foundation because theyre gonna wish they hadnt met a hoodrat like her. Cookie sneaks off so Angelo doesnt know she left.

Cookie convinces Tiara to finish the song that claps back at both Hakeem and Gram. The new (white) head of A&R says that he has a black girlfriend and they talk about empowerment all the time. I want to punch him in the goddamn face. Jamal plays matchmaker for his mom and tries to tell Angelo to turn down the black tie and turn up the, well, regular blackness. Angelo offers to help Freda get legal help to pay Jamal back for helping him bang Cookie.

Andre heads back to Shynes studio, where Nessa is overseeing women count stacks of cash. He tries to explain just how great Empires contract is and why she wont want to be controlled by some huge corporation or some Dutch conglomerate. Instead, just go with the weird company run by one family who is always sleeping with each others wives and girlfriends and/or getting each other shot. Nessa says that Shyne is always trying to protect her, so she has to listen to him. Andre stands very close to her and says that shes worth more than she knows. Mmm-hmm.

Andre gets Nessas signature on the contract and Shyne storms into Luciouss office to beat Andre up because no one is allowed to talk to Nessa. Andre, hardened by a life of crime, punches back. When Shyne pulls a gun on him, Lucious hits Shyne in the back with a bat and forces him to sign the other half of Nessas contract. Lucious is weirdly proud of his son for kicking Shyne while hes down. Meanwhile, Jamal goes with Freda to an emergency bail hearing with the lawyer Angelo recommended. After an impassioned speech that the Lyon family is to blame for Fredas problems because she got too famous too fast, Freda is granted bail.

Tiana is getting ready for her live Xstream performance (which my boyfriend kept insisting is not a thing anyone does) while Cookie sits by in a mostly sheer sequin dress. Angelo shows up in a black T-shirt and Jamal says, Looks to me like hes about that club life. Uh, okay, sure. Lucious tries to intimidate Angelo by telling him a flashback story where he beat up her tragic dark-skinned boyfriend and claims the whole thing will explain how she got her nickname. (It doesnt.) Lucious congratulates Jamal on getting Freda out of jail and says that getting a doctor to falsify records for Freda is a classic, garbage Lucious move. How does it feel to be like your dad, Jamal? Jamal goes to practice his whisper-singing with his PTSD therapist who tells him its a bad idea to mix alcohol and pills. It appears to be the first time hes ever heard the notion. He does it anyway.

Finally, Nessa comes to visit Andre at his office and they start kissing and she immediately takes her panties off. After a few thrusts on his desk, Andre says he cant do it and then he imagines Ghost Rhonda egging him on and she says shell help him and pushes his head to make out with Nessa. Oh boy. Because another man talked to Nessa, Shyne tells his boys to stock up on their guns to start a war with the Lyons. Whatever he does when he finds out Andre is banging his sister is going to be outrageous.
Photo: Frazer Harrison/Getty Images

Brooklyn Nine-Nines excellent season four roster keeps on comfortably expanding, and just like Charles happily preparing a Turkmenistani goat stew, we have zero complaints. Following the early additions of Maya Rudolph, Jorma Taccone, and Jim OHeir on the Fox comedy, The Hollywood Reporter has reported that Jimmy Smits is set to guest star in one Thanksgiving-themed episode as Amys (Melissa Fumero) father, Mr. Santiago. Smitss character is described as a no-nonsense retired cop who loves his daughter very much, and whom Jake (Andy Samberg) will do anything to impress. There are already 1000 scenarios in which Jake, that lovable buffoon, will inevitably embarrass himself in grand fashion.
We know, we know  this is getting a little ridiculous. How many Star Wars trailer analyses can the internet take before it bends and breaks under the weight of geek-hegemony hype? But bear with us, as the new Rogue One: A Star Wars Story trailer appeared earlier today and has a surprising amount of new imagery. Fire up your U-wing and cruise along with us as we take a gander at some of the relevant screenshots.

As Pynchon said, A screaming comes across the sky. That there is an Imperial shuttle, jetting its little self above a shoreline. One might be inclined to think were looking at the tropical planet of Scarif, but the next shot undermines such a conclusion. A cheesy version of John Williamss Force Theme plays. Above the shuttle are, of course, chemtrails. Dont believe what the mainstream media tells you, folks.

The shuttle lands a somewhat inexplicable distance away from its riders destination. Mads Mikkelsens character, unkempt scientist Galen Erso, stands in the foreground. The folks trotting toward him are Imperial dudes led by Director Orson Krennic (Ben Mendelsohn). Galen and Orson used to be friends, but dont appear to be on the best of terms by this point. Whatever the Ersos planet of residence is, it aint tropical.

Orsons entourage consists of elite Stormtroopers known as Death Troopers. A little on-the-nose, no?

Galen comforts his wee daughter, Jyn. Shell grow up to be the movies protagonist. For her sake, I hope she didnt inherit her pops overactive sweat glands.

Orson and Galen have a little tete-a-tete. Given that the latter has gone missing by the time the main events of the film take place, this might be the prelude to some kind of arrest or kidnapping. Gotta love the directors jaunty little Imperial cap.

*record scratch* *freeze frame* Yep, thats me. Youre probably wondering how I ended up in this situation. Felicity Jones plays an adult Jyn whos found herself in an Imperial prison. She shares a cell with what I can only presume is a Cthulhu. We dont get a great look at the prison, but I wonder whether its the same one that was introduced in the recent Star Wars comic story line Rebel Jail. I could absolutely be wrong.

Heres an Imperial Star Destroyer looming, Trump-like, above the surface of Jedha. Its a planet thatll play a key role in the movie, one thats unusually strong in the Force and where the Jedi used to have an important headquarters. This shot is a continuation of the post-Disney Star Wars motif of images of spaceships within a planets atmosphere.

Diego Lunas character, Rebellion intelligence agent Cassian Andor, busts Jyn out in a little Come with me if you want to live moment. Hes giving Orson a run for his money in the hat department. The shots nearly identical in composition to the one of Galen talking to Jyn, for whatever thats worth.

Okay, this is pretty rad. That appears to be an Argonath-esque statue of a Jedi on Jedha (perhaps the alliteration is a bit much there, Lucasfilm). Its been toppled and half-buried, possibly as part of an Imperial campaign to go full Taliban on Light Side monuments.

Galens back. Orson needs the mans smarts for the construction of the Death Star and Galens mandarin-collared jacket suggests he may or may not have turned to the side of the Empire. All that really matters is that its a water-slicked Mads Mikkelsen. How do you say Ay, papi in Danish?

Thats no moon.

Riz Ahmeds nervous Rebel Bodhi Rook announces that the words rogue and one are involved in the plot of the movie, undermining the speculation that director Gareth Edwards didnt really have any idea why his movie is called that.

This is probably a shot of Darth Vader being reflected on a spotless Death Star floor, but I prefer to believe hes just cribbing his workout routine from Agent Dale Cooper.

What good is a Star Wars movie if it doesnt have a bad guy overenunciating the word power?

A motley crew of Rebels debate strategy.

An AT-ST (All-Terrain Scout Transport) blasts its way through a Jedha street. Street traffic will be a nightmare for the rest of the day.

Here come the erstwhile feet of the weary Clone War veteran Saw Gerrera, played by Forest Whitaker. The character first appeared in the cartoon Star Wars: The Clone Wars, so lets hear it for brand synergy!

A ragtag group of Rebels and Rebel affiliates get a pep talk in a troop transport or drop ship of some kind. Donnie Yens character, blind warrior monk Chirrut Imwe, is feeling it, dude.

Okay, now were on Scarif. The Empire seems to be taking cues from the architecture of the Ryugyong Hotel with that base.

Isnt this adorable? Cassian, Jyn, and droid K-2SO (voiced by the eternally charming Alan Tudyk) play Imperial dress-up for some kind of infiltration. We saw Jyn in a helmetless version of her getup in the first trailer.

Not sure what nonhuman race this dude is from, but he doesnt look Imperial. Mayhap he leads a band of Jedha highwaymen? Perhaps hes first cousin to an Ood?

See what I mean about putting spaceships close to the ground? Some Rebel X-wings and Imperial TIE fighters shoot it out above a rainy spot, presumably the one we saw Galen in a while back.

Chirrut is a five-time champion in the Galactic Olympics Blind Crossbow category.

X-wings shoot up some kind of circular orbital space station. Cue up The Blue Danube.

Me when Seamless gets my order wrong.

What in the world is going on here? Did someone pop in footage from Mad Max: Fury Road?

You already know whats going on here, so Ill leave you with a fun fact: Darth Vaders helmet was partially based on the Teutonic helmets in Sergei Eisensteins Soviet classic Alexander Nevsky! Pop culture is a rich tapestry, folks.
The Nobel Prize gold medal awarded to Colombian writer Gabriel Garcia Marquez is exhibited at the National Library of Colombia in Bogota, on April 17, 2015. One year after the death of Garcia Marquez, an exhibition shows off the writers personal objects, including the typewriter on which he typed One Hundred Years of Solitude. AFP PHOTO/Eitan Abramovich (Photo credit should read EITAN ABRAMOVICH/AFP/Getty Images) Photo: Eitan Abramovich/AFP/Getty Images

The Nobel Prizes are always shrouded in secrecy, the prize for literature, which will be announced tomorrow morning, no less than the rest. But we do know something about the process. An international set of dozens of nominators send their recommendations to the 18-member Swedish Academy, and the academy selects a shortlist of finalists and makes a recommendation for the award to the Nobel Committee for Literature, which makes the final decision. The selection of journalist and oral historian Svetlana Alexievich last year was surprising to many outside Russia, including myself, but she was a Ladbrokes favorite, at least in part because it was public knowledge that she had been nominated by Ural Federal University, in Sverdlovsk Oblast, Russia.

In most cases we have no idea who the nominators are until 50 years after the prize is awarded, when the Nobel Foundation makes the records public. Currently the Nobel foundation describes the nominators as qualified persons, defined as:

Members of the Swedish Academy and of other academies, institutions, and societies which are similar to it in construction and purpose; Professors of literature and of linguistics at universities and university colleges; Previous Nobel laureates in literature; Presidents of those societies of authors that are representative of the literary production in their respective countries.

Going by this definition we know that in the U.S. and Canada, past winners Alice Munro and Toni Morrison are qualified nominators, as are critics who hold professorships, like Harold Bloom (Yale), James Wood (Harvard), and Michael Wood (Princeton), to name just three. The president of the American Academy of Arts and Letters is a composer, Yehudi Wyner, but its current vice-presidents for literature are the philosopher Kwame Anthony Appiah, the poet Jorie Graham, and the novelist Lorrie Moore. The president of PEN USA is the journalist Andrew Solomon.

Who knows how many of these qualified persons are exercising their privileges? And who knows if they did, whether theyd maintain provincial loyalties to North Americans. In 1965, the last year we can see in the records, Jorge Louis Borges was nominated by the Swedish PEN Club. After T.S. Eliot won the prize in 1948 (his nominator was Justin OBrien, a professor at Columbia), he nominated six writers over the years: Riccardo Bacchelli (1949), Saint-John Perse (1955, 1958, 1960), Eugenio Montale (1955), Giuseppe Ungaretti (1955), Rudolf Alexander Schroder (1958), George Seferis (1961). Perse, a French poet born in Guadeloupe, won in 1960, and the Greek poet Seferis would win in 1963. Eliot certainly knew no loyalties to his fellow countrymen. Not that Americans or anglophones were going unrewarded at the time. William Faulkner won in 1949, followed by Bertrand Russell (1950), Winston Churchill (1953), Ernest Hemingway (1954), and John Steinbeck (1962). The record shows that W.H. Auden was a frequent finalist, and its said that he was passed over for his mistranslations of Peace Prize winner Dag Hammerskjolds journals, and for suggesting publicly that Hammerskjold was, like Auden, a homosexual.

Combing through the records of Nobel nominations is arcane fun, if also quite sad. So many nominated writers who might have gained immortality! But then again, who reads Saint-John Perse these days? Or even 2008 winner J-M Le Clezio? And quite a few deserving winners unrewarded, Nabokov at the head of the class. Surely many un-garlanded writers comfort themselves knowing that theyre in the company of, say, Sherwood Anderson.

What does this tell us about what might happen tomorrow? Whom would Alice Munro nominate? Perhaps the Irish writer William Trevor, one of her acknowledged heroes. Or perhaps Jonathan Franzen, who has obsequiously, if somewhat nonsensically, praised Munros fiction. We know from Edward P. Joness interview with the Paris Review that he and Toni Morrison, frequently compared by critics, admire each others work. Perhaps Morrison is a supporter of her Princeton colleague Joyce Carol Oates. Philip Roths most eloquent champion is James Wood. Harold Bloom is outspoken in his campaign to canonize Don DeLillo and Cormac McCarthy. From his 1973 review of Gravitys Rainbow on, theres no one better to read on Thomas Pynchon than Michael Wood, a critic of omnivorous brilliance. Jorie Graham could be stumping for John Ashbery. Lorrie Moore can be coy about her influences, at least while theyre alive, but shes written in praise of Nicholson Baker and Geoff Dyer, both of whom would be shockers if Stockholm took notice. Perhaps Coetzee might back his pen pal Paul Auster, or fellow (adopted) countryman Gerald Murnane. V.S. Naipaul might be too grumpy and snobbish to nominate anybody. For myself, Ive put money on the Albanian Ismail Kadare and DeLillo (at 66 to 1, before he shot up in the odds to 14 to 1). America could use a break this year, but if the prize went to perennial favorites Ngugi wa Thiongo or the increasingly juvenile Haruki Murakami I would not be surprised. Please, Stockholm, just dont give it to another dull Frenchman.
Two movies screening next week are worthy of some advance notice, one an Austin story showing in Waco, the other a Waco-made movie showing in Dallas.

The former is Tower, Keith Maitlands critically-praised 2016 documentary on the 1966 shootings from the University of Texas at Austin tower that killed 16 people and wounded 32 others. Its in a different visual style than that seen in most documentaries, using actors to recreate scenes, then rotoscoping the footage into animation (a technique that Austin director Richard Linklater used on his film A Scanner Darkly).

The screening is part of the Movie Monday series thats a collaboration between Baylor Universitys Student Activities division and the Hippodrome. Films are open to the public  and free.

The latter is Blur Circle, the latest film from Baylor film professors Chris Hansen and Brian Elliott. Its a story about a mom stuck in grief at the disappearance of her young son two years earlier and a man whose past makes her see things differently. The two co-produced the film, whose screenplay Elliott wrote and Hansen directed.

For those who enjoyed Hansens last movie, Where We Started, (I did) the main actress in that film, Cora Vander Broek, is one of the leads in Blur Circle.

Youll have to leave town to see Blur Circles debut: Its showing at 7 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 20, at Dallas Angelika Film Center (http://bit.ly/2elOkZ1 ) as part of the Dallas VideoFest (http://videofest.org/), held Tuesday through Oct. 23.

The Baylor director will be on hand to talk with the audience. Tickets cost $10, available online at http://bit.ly/2elOkZ1
An airport can be something of a welcome mat to a city, one that gives you a feel for what, if any, kind of distinctive cultural experience youve got coming on your visit there. Some airports, however, simply cant do it. DFW, for example, has no character at all: Upon arriving there (apart from the gift shops bursting with Dallas and Texas merchandise), one doesnt find any cultural cues to let you know youre in Texas, let alone in a particular major city.

Smaller airports often do this much better. I was in New Orleans last week and it took only a few moments in the airport terminal before I knew I was in the birthplace of Louis Armstrong and American jazz. Coming through the sound system was not the bland pop music that one often hears at airports but Armstrongs distinctive trumpet. I heard at least two full songs of his before I got to the baggage claim, and they were followed by more New Orleans jazz tunes.

The airport certainly wasnt flashy or impressive compared to newer ones. Indeed, most of its facilities and architecture seemed quite dated, but the effect of the music was powerful: It rooted you instantly where you were.

Moreover, photographs and displays throughout the airport depict not only world-famous people like Armstrong, but numerous lesser-known figures in the jazz world like the Original Dixieland Jazz Band, which made the first recordings ever of jazz in 1917. Here in Texas, the only airport that I know that comes close to this is the one in Austin, and it does it pretty well, to the point of having a live music stage thats regularly occupied.

While in New Orleans, I visited a couple of art galleries and found similar examples of visual art with a distinctive flavor rooting it in a place almost as thoroughly as does the citys music. New Orleans is my home, from the brass bands and music that fills our streets, to the smiles of people in the street, said artist Darrin Butler, whose work I saw in a show at the Brand Art Gallery a block or two from my hotel. (The gallery focuses specifically on artists from the region.) There is a diversity that lives here that doesnt live in many other places, Butler added. I strive for all of these things to be reflected in my work.

Examples like these speak to the power that some art has to identify with a specific spot in a chaotic world. Places with such an art are fortunate. Cities often capitalize on these distinctive art styles for the sake of tourism, and theres nothing inherently wrong with that. Its an acknowledgement of arts power, in fact, whether cities really understand this or not. It could be Armstrong in New Orleans or Willie Nelson in Austin. The art of both has a special relationship with one particular place to which it gives color and depth unlike any other location.

A singular piece like Wacos trail drive sculpture can be an effective focal point for locals and tourists alike, but is best thought of as a core around which to build more: a memorable piece, but one that is part of a larger ensemble, not just a solo act.
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University Parks Drive at Franklin Avenue / 254-299-7971 / madhasherwaco.com / On Facebook, Twitter, Instagram

Hours: 10 a.m.-10 p.m. Tuesdays-Wednesdays, 10 a.m.-midnight Thursdays-Saturdays.

Price: $ (see guide)

Takeout: Yes

Alcohol: No

On the menu: Breakfast hashes (basics of fried potatoes, meat and cheese, topped with fried eggs) with multiple optional toppings; and sandwiches (Cuban, two with breakfast sausage/ground sirloin patties, two jalapeno waffle sandwiches).

Good to know: Vegetarian The Green Thumb hash is locally sourced. Candied bacon featured on some sandwiches. Waffle sandwiches have fillings of fried chicken and maple syrup or brisket with barbecue sauce.

Restaurant origin: Owned by Jonya Williams of Rio Brazos Catering Company and opened by Williams and general manager Dean Covic in early September.

Moroso Wood Fired Pizzeria

4700 Bosque Blvd. / 254-235-6000 / morosopizzeria.com / On Facebook, Instagram

Hours: 5-9 p.m. Tuesdays-Wednesdays, 5-10 p.m. Thursdays and Saturdays, 5-11 p.m. Fridays.

Price: $-$$

Takeout: Yes

Alcohol: Yes

On the menu: 13 types of Neapolitan pizza (dough from 00 flour, fresh yeast, sea salt and purified water; San Marzano tomatoes; cooked at very high temperature); appetizers including aranchini (fried ravioli balls), made-from-scratch meatballs, charcuterie board; salads; desserts including cannoli, risotta cheesecake and torta al cioccolato (flourless chocolate cake).

Good to know: Tomatoes and flour are imported from Italy with Italian sausage custom-made in Texas. Pizza oven, dough mixer designed for neapolitan pizza. Many recipes are from owner Dan Morosos family.

Restaurant origin: Dan Moroso trained in restaurant and hotel service before following a career as a television production and writer. He and his wife Robyn, a Baylor University graduate with family in Waco, moved to Waco after 17 years in Miami to set up their own restaurant with an emphasis on hand-crafted food and premium ingredients. Opened Sept. 1.

Silos Baking Co.

601 Webster Ave. / 254-235-6111 / magnoliamarket.com/silos / On Facebook, Instagram

Hours: 7:30 a.m.-6 p.m. Mondays-Saturdays.

Price: $

Takeout: No

Alcohol: No

On the menu: Eight flavors of cupcakes; cookies (chocolate-chip and chocolate-chip/peanut-butter-chip/walnut); cinnamon rolls (with and without pecans); biscuits (bacon/cheddar and orange/cranberry); almond pastry; and blueberry muffins. Drinks include milk, lemonades and water.

Good to know: Some of the recipes are favorites of Magnolia Market co-owner/founder Joanna Gaines of HGTVs Fixer Upper. Several cupcakes carry Fixer Upper-inspired names, such as the Shiplap (vanilla cake with vanilla buttercream icing), Nuts & Bolts (vanilla cake with pecans and walnuts, cream cheese icing), Silobration (vanilla cake with chocolate buttercream icing) and Cup O Jo (chocolate cake with espresso buttercream icing).

Restaurant origin: Located on the Magnolia Market grounds in the shadow of the twin silos. Opened June 29.

The Provender Store

608 B Austin Ave. / 254-265-4327 / TheProvenderStore.com / On Facebook, Instagram

Hours: 9 a.m.-3:30 p.m. Mondays-Thursdays, 8 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Fridays-Saturdays.

Price: $-$$

Takeout: Yes. Catering available.

Alcohol: No

On the menu: Organic delicatessen and bakery with locally sourced foods wherever possible. Hand-cured pastrami, corned beef and chicken; homemade bread, pickles, preserves, mustards and sausage; specialty desserts.

Good to know: Menu updated every few months to reflect seasonally available produce and meats.

Restaurant origin: Owner Craig Parker came to the Waco area as a wine-making consultant, but success with his homemade jams at the Downtown Waco Farmers Market persuaded him of a need for a downtown deli. The Provender Store opened in 2013.

Georges Restaurant and Bar

1925 Speight Ave. (original location) and 1201 Hewitt Drive (Westrock) / 254-753-1421 and 254-420-2060 / georgesrestaurant.com

Hours: 6:30 a.m.-midnight Mondays- Saturdays and 11 a.m.- midnight Mondays, 7 a.m.-midnight Tuesdays-Saturdays

Price: $-$$

Takeout: Yes. Catering available.

Alcohol: Full bar

On the menu: Mix of American, Southern and Tex-Mex with breakfast, lunch and dinner served. Recent menu additions include sandwiches The George (hamburger with bacon, mushrooms, grilled onions, Swiss cheese, spinach and roasted tomatoes), the Bruiser (chicken-fried steak with grilled onions, mushrooms bacon, jalapenos and Bruiser Sauce; and the chick-queso potato (potato stuffed with chicken-fried steak and queso).

Good to know: Both Georges offer a new 15-item $5.99 menu and both have outdoor seating on the Big O Deck (original location) and the Big O Patio patio (Westrock).

Red Wagon BBQ

169 Halbert Lane / 254-829-2277 / www.redwagonbbq.com

Hours: 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Fridays and 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Saturdays. Brisket and ribs often sell out before closing.

Price: $-$$

Takeout: Yes

Alcohol: No

On the menu: Brisket, chicken, beef ribs, beef sausage; brisket and chicken plates, sandwiches. Sides of potato salad, cole slaw, beans, all organic. Salads topped with chopped beef, chicken or smoked salmon also available.

Good to know: Grass-fed beef used for sausage, which is made onsite; all-natural ribs; all-natural brisket when available. Sandwiches made with bread baked at nearby Homestead Heritage using flour from wheat milled onsite. Honey used as sweetener in cole slaw; no sugar added to sides or barbecue rubs.

What About Cupcakes?

1001 Franklin Ave. / (254) 224-6610 / whataboutcupcakes.com / on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter

Hours: 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Mondays-Saturday or when cupcakes are sold out.

Price: $ (see guide below)

Takeout: Yes. Same-day calls to reserve cupcakes accepted with payment at time of call. Those with large or custom orders advised to call at least a day in advance.

On the menu: Cupcakes in mini, regular and jumbo sizes. Daily flavors of strawberry, vanilla, chocolate, peanut butter and Oreo plus two or three featured cupcakes each day. Ice cream, frosted sugar cookies and tea cake cookies also available.
The nonprofit Youth Connection Inc. will hold its 10th annual Down on the Bayou fundraiser from 7 to 11 p.m. Oct. 22 at Knox Center at the Texas Ranger Hall of Fame, 100 Texas Ranger Trail.

The event will feature Cajun food, beer, wine, a silent auction, dancing and live music from Classie Ballou and the Family Band.

Tickets cost $75, and reserved tables for eight cost $525.

For reservations and more information, call 202-8480 or email Carolyn.Nichols1@BSWHealth.org.

Airport info meeting

Waco Regional Airport will hold an Airport Master Plan Public Information Workshop from 5:30 to 7 p.m. Thursday at Waco Regional Airport Terminal Building, 7909 Karl May Drive.

The event will feature an open-house format, allowing the public and airport stakeholders to visit with the airport master plan team.

Residents also can use the comments feature at www.waco.airportstudy.com.

For more information, call Joel Martinez at 750-8657.

Lorena garage sale

Community Action League of Lorena is having a Lorena citywide garage sale at 8 a.m. Saturday.

A map of sale locations can be picked up at 8 a.m. on the day of the event at Lorena United Methodist Church, 205 S. Bordon St.

For more information, call 857-4283.

Veterans breakfast

Robinson Area Lions Club will host a free pancake breakfast for military veterans in Robinson from 8 to 10 a.m. Saturday at the Peplow Park Pavilion, located next to Brookshires Grocery, 100 Peplow Drive in Robinson.

Veterans are welcome to bring a spouse or guest.

The event is free, but reservations are requested.

For reservations, call Linda Sanders at 881-1821.

Storybook fundraiser

Americana Heritage Tours by Snobby Tours is having a cheesemaking class and grazing lunch fundraiser benefiting Storybook Christmas from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Nov. 7 at Texas Cheese House, 102 E. Center St. in Lorena.

Cost is $59 through Nov. 1 and $74 after. Space is limited to 25 people.

For reservations, call 754-8687.

Adult coloring

Hewitt Public Library, 200 Patriot Court, will have a colorful conversations event for adults from 1:30 to 2:30 p.m. Friday.

The free event will include conversation and adult coloring. Supplies will be provided, but participants can bring their own as well.

For more information, call 666-2442.
At a time when overall homeownership is at a 30-year low in the United States, the Greater Waco Advanced Manufacturing Academy is a leading example of an institution with students who get it and a community that supports the idea that college isnt the only avenue to a successful career, U.S. Rep. Bill Flores, R-College Station, said.

GWAMA soon may train part of the workforce needed to build the countrys new homes, in addition to preparing students for careers that may allow them to buy their own homes.

Campus leaders are pushing to launch a construction science program for next school year to bridge gaps in the housing industry, which could be approved by Waco Independent School District trustees as early as this month.

Flores, who received the Defender of Housing Award on Wednesday at GWAMA, used his acceptance speech to focus on the schools ability to give students a head start in an area where the jobs are many but the employees are few.

GWAMA offers classes and dual credit courses in welding, precision metal manufacturing, robotics and electronics to sophomores, juniors and seniors from any school district within a 60-mile radius.

The National Association of Home Builders gives the award to 133 federal legislators who have demonstrated strong support for housing and for the associations positions on issues in the industry, the associations website states.

If we really want to re-instill that American dream, weve got to give people the opportunity to have the home they want at an affordable price, and also weve got to actually have the folks who can build these things, said Flores, whose district includes Waco, to more than 50 GWAMA students at the ceremony. Its exciting to see how this community is leading them to building the workforce of the 21st century with the skills we need.

Flores said GWAMAs model, and its partnership with Texas State Technical College and programs offered at McLennan Community College, should be followed all over the country.

College is a great pathway, but I get frustrated when people think its the is the only path to having a great economic future in this country and the only path to having a decent career, Flores said. Yall get it, and youve already made the good decisions. Stick with it. Work hard. Study hard, and the world will be your oyster.

In 2014, 169,000 people worked in Texas construction industry, but there were 270,000 jobs available, said Scott Bland, president of the Heart of Texas Builders Association.

The difference in those numbers shows a critical deficiency, Bland said. He and Greater Brazos Valley Builders Association representatives presented the award to Flores, and both groups have a key role in developing the construction science program GWAMA may add.

If the board passes the program, the HOT Builders Association wants to start GWAMA sophomore students learning the basics, including Occupational Safety and Health Administration regulations for on-site safety, he said.

In a students junior year, they could learn more in-depth skills related to plumbing, electricity, heating, masonry and carpentry. In the final year, students could have paid internships in specialized areas, where they could work four days in the field and one day in the classroom and work toward certifications, Bland said.

That would put GWAMA students light-years ahead of traditional high school graduates, he said.

Because the education system is geared mostly toward a college-only pathway, the construction industry has lost students willing to pursue the field because they arent being taught about other opportunities that dont involve a four-year degree, he said.

The field also has shifted away from simple home construction and toward complex, heavily-regulated and technologically-advanced homes.

This means trained and skilled workers are difficult to come by, and fighting the stigma that construction careers are low on the social totem pole is critical, he said.

Jobs that pay $20, $30 and even $40 an hour exist in the field, and starting training before students graduate can play a key role in filling those positions, he said.

Jobs in our industry are every bit as complicated and require these students here (at GWAMA), students who have good heads on their shoulders and are squared away and know what they want to do, Bland said. We need those kids in our industry. We can no longer be an industry of jobs that are a last resort.

The district is looking forward to the possibility of a long and productive partnership with the associations, considering building a new home itself is a partnership, Waco ISD Superintendent Bonny Cain said.

Its a partnership between homebuilders, their crews and their clients. Owning ones home remains the American dream, Cain said during the award ceremony. As Waco ISD makes training for the home building industry more affordable and attainable, Wacos community dream broadens.

It broadens to include homeownership, to include local, high-quality, well-paying jobs to assist families who want to buy their own homes, and it includes Waco homebuilding industries having a much easier time hiring local workers who are trained to meet local homebuilder specifications. GWAMA construction students will go to work for local builders, not ready to be trained, but ready to work, Cain said.
Bellmead resident Dianne Zapata has lived in the area since she was 4. The city has an almost 30 percent poverty rate, according to the United States Census Bureau, and with two children at ages 4 and 2, Zapata said she is struggling to live paycheck to paycheck in the same area where she grew up.

Two kids, youre having to buy diapers, food and with no help, its one of the hardest things to deal with. Not showing them is harder, Zapata, a hair dresser, said about her children as she pushed them in swings at the Bellmead Civic Center on Wednesday afternoon. Theres times where I think they do understand that sometimes Momma cant do or Momma cant provide for them. My oldest, he may not completely understand, but hell tell me its OK. As long as they think its OK, I think were OK.

A nearly $600,000 grant may soon offer some relief to Zapatas family and others facing similar issues. The money will help put people in touch with local health care resources by placing 12 community health care workers in four high-need areas in the county as part of the new McLennan County Community Health Worker Initiative. The workers will be ready to go into the 76704, 76705, 76706 and 76707 zip codes by fall 2017, Prosper Waco spokesperson Christina Helmick said via email Wednesday. Zapata lives in the 76705 area.

The Episcopal Health Foundation awarded the grant to Prosper Waco in September, but Prosper Waco didnt announce the grant until this month, Helmick said. Prosper Waco serves as a collective impact group, bringing other community efforts, nonprofits and partnerships together to tackle issues in education, health and financial security across the city.

With support from local hospitals, health centers, the Waco Foundation, the McLennan County Health District and other organizations, multiple agencies will work to implement the program as a way to help tackle poverty-related issues in heavily economically disadvantaged areas, a press release from Prosper Waco states. The program was created after Prosper Waco asked residents what changes were necessary to help those most in need in Waco neighborhoods, the release states.

We believe all Texans deserve to live a healthy life, especially those who are often on the outside looking in, stated Elena Marks, Episcopal Health Foundations president and CEO, in the release. Nonprofits, clinics, health departments, hospitals, people of faith and philanthropic institutions must work together to create a health system that ensures Texans can not only receive quality medical and mental health care, but that the places they live and work enable them to get and stay healthy.

The neighborhoods chosen have poverty rates higher than the national average and even higher than the average in Waco and McLennan County, Helmick wrote. Because of the high poverty rates, the zip codes also have lower quality of life and poorer health outcomes, she wrote.

The workers in the new program wont provide any medical health care services themselves but will connect residents to resources by building individualized care plans, providing health education and serving as advocates in the community, she wrote.

For example, if a community health worker is meeting with a resident who needs help getting her family affordable healthy food options, the worker can work with the family to understand their needs, what barriers the family faces and where to locate the food options.

Were one of the few families who really dont get that kind of help. My kids and me, we dont have insurance. We dont have Medicaid. Theyve been kicked off the program, Zapata said. Were one of the families thats really struggling, so I dont think much of it. I would hope this does some good, because its hard.

Her family tries to stay involved in community activities, but shes in a position where she makes too much to get benefits but not enough to stay ahead, she said.

The Waco Foundation will manage the grant funds as a philanthropic partner to Prosper Waco, while McLennan County Public Health District will evaluate and measure the impact the community health workers will have to ensure the programs working.

The district will use pre- and post-surveys to measure changes in health knowledge changes in behavior, Helmick wrote. Additionally, in line with the Prosper Waco collective impact initiative, the program will be evaluated on a larger scale by looking at other public health interventions in Waco that are integrating a component of the community health worker program into their strategies, she wrote. Other data sources used will be the Community Health Needs Assessment, which will be conducted again in 2019.

We dont expect to be able to credit this program with single-handedly improving population-level health outcomes across target zip codes, she wrote. However, we expect this project to assist in moving the needle on the measurable goals.

Those measurable goals include decreasing the number of avoidable emergency room visits initiated from the four neighborhoods and increasing utilization of comprehensive primary care at the local federally qualified health center. The measurable goals also include contributing to Prosper Wacos drive to reduce obesity, increase womens preventive care and reduce ER usage for mental health problems, Helmick wrote.

Before the 12 workers can begin though, theyll complete a 160-hour training pre-approved by the Texas Department of State Health Services, she wrote. Once thats been done, the workers will receive badges from the department indicating theyre recognized by the state as certified community health workers, she wrote.

The Community Health Worker model embraces community members as the key to addressing public health challenges, Prosper Waco executive director Matthew Polk said in the release. It draws on the strengths of our community to solve the challenges our community faces.

Zapata doesnt know if the initiative will make a difference, but she said its a start. If shes able to get help, shell be happy, she said. If not, her family will keep pushing through.

It would just be awesome if a lot of these government programs actually help the people in need instead of people who dont need it, she said. I see a lot of people who dont need the help. And theyre getting more help than I am, and thats hard, you know?
Waco saw a 10 percent increase over last year in the sales tax rebate it received this month, but Woodways 40 percent jump led the way in McLennan County.

State Comptroller Glenn Hegar sent the city of Waco a check for $3.15 million, up from $2.86 million in October of last year, according to figures released Wednesday.

Rebates received in October reflect sales in August reported to the comptrollers office in September.

Statewide, Hegar sent rebates totaling $650 million to cities, counties, transit systems and special purpose taxing districts, according to a press release from Hegar.

That is 5.5 percent more than their allocation one year earlier, the press release states.

The cities of San Antonio, Dallas, Fort Worth, Plano and McKinney saw noticeable increases in sales tax allocations. The cities of Houston and Midland saw significant decreases, Hegar wrote in the press release.

The communities suffering a setback are tied to the Texas struggling oil industry, Hegar said.

Overall, Waco and its neighbors enjoyed a robust month, as Bellmead, Hewitt, Lorena, Lacy Lakeview, Robinson, West and Woodway all reported double-digit increases in the size of their rebate. Beverly Hills was close with an increase of 9.7 percent, the comptrollers office reported.

For the calendar year, Waco has received rebates totaling $30.9 million, about 4.3 percent more than the $29.6 million it received through October of 2015.
Thick plumes of smoke billowed through a Bellmead neighborhood as multiple fire agencies battled a house fire near Hatcher Street and Hogan Lane late Wednesday afternoon.

Shortly before 4:30 p.m., neighbors reported seeing smoke spread out of a home on Hatcher Street that appeared to spread to another home on Hogan Lane. The two homes appeared to be attached by a common garage area.

One of the kids came running over to our house saying that their house was on fire, and I just panicked, said Frances Wallace, who lives next to one of the homes on Hogan Lane. I was washing my hair and I am pretty sure I left the faucet on. But I ran out and started pounding on the doors and windows, trying to get everyone out.

Bellmead, Lacy Lakeview and Waco fire crews attempted to control the blaze, but flames continued to reignite, Bellmead Police Chief Lydia Alvarado said. Thick black smoke blanketed the neighborhood as several neighbors stepped out of their homes to see the commotion.

When units arrived on scene, the home was heavily involved in smoke and flames, Alvarado said. There was no one in the residences at the time. The children were on their way home from school and were at a neighbors house.

No injuries were reported, but Alvarado said a neighbor inhaled some smoke while outside their home and was given oxygen at the scene. A common garage-area reportedly connected to the two separate homes, but it was unclear where the fire started and what the cause may have been.

I was just worried about (my neighbors) kids, because I know four people live in that house and I am so worried about her babies, Wallace said. At first, I was just in shock, because they are my neighbors and my friends. I am just glad everyone is OK.

Oncor energy employees were called to disconnect electricity to the home while firefighters continued to battle hot spots. Fire crews remained on scene for more than two hours to fully extinguish the blaze.

Alvarado said no serious injuries were reported. The cause of the fire remains under investigation.
A mother of a 12-year-old boy was arrested Wednesday after Child Protective Services opened a case when the boy arrived at school with injuries last November, Waco police Sgt. W. Patrick Swanton said.

Karina Castillo-Carrer, 41, was arrested on an injury to a child charge.

Her son arrived at school with a bruise to the left side of his face, and school officials to notified authorities, according to an affidavit for her arrest.

Victim reported he gets hit when he goes home for disciplinary issues but would not elaborate on how he was hit, the arrest affidavit states. CPS investigator spoke to victim who reported being hit by (Castillo-Carrer). He said the bruise had been darker and that he felt pain.

The boy told the investigator his mother normally hits him, but the boy did not want to talk about it, the arrest affidavit states.

Castillo-Carrer denied hitting the boy and told investigators he fell over a pot and broke his glasses, the arrest affidavit states.

Swanton said the incident was determined to go beyond reasonable discipline, and officers found probable cause to issue an arrest warrant in July for Castillo-Carrer. She was arrested Wednesday and booked into McLennan County Jail. She has been released after posting bond.
U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, a Texas Republican and former presidential hopeful, said Wednesday liberating business from the shackles of regulation will pull the country out of its economic malaise and create momentum to attack the national debt that has nearly doubled to $19 trillion since President Barack Obama took office in 2009.

Reducing taxes and government red tape could push economic growth to the 3 to 4 percent level it has not enjoyed in decades, eclipsing the sluggish rate of less than 1 percent annually that has become the norm, Cruz said. Such a rebound would reduce dependence on government assistance programs, he said.

This should become a bipartisan priority, because were a much stronger nation at 5 percent economic growth than an anemic 1 percent, Cruz said to about 300 people at the Greater Waco Chamber of Commerces State of the Nation Luncheon in the Baylor Club at McLane Stadium.

U.S. Rep. Bill Flores, R-College Station, and Rob Engstrom, national political director for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, joined Cruz for a panel discussion.

Not once did the panel mention the name Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton, the Republican and Democratic presidential candidates, respectively.

Asked afterward about Trumps campaign and his performance in the last debate, Cruz said, I have released a statement, and I believe I will leave it at that.

Tumultuous primary

A tumultuous Republican primary run for the presidential nomination featured Trump posting unflattering photographs of Cruzs wife, Heidi, and referring to his opponent as Lying Ted. Cruz thumbed his nose at nominee Trump at the Republican National Convention, telling delegates and the public to vote their conscience.

But Cruz on Sept. 25, the day before the first presidential debate, seemed to reverse course and endorsed Trump. On Monday, Cruz said his support would stand, though he found distasteful the Access Hollywood tapes showing Trump making lewd comments about women and sexual assault.

New reports of Trump sexually assaulting women were published later Wednesday by the New York Times and The Palm Beach Post in Florida. The reports came out after the event in Waco.

Cruz said Clinton is unfit to serve as president.

On Wednesday, he said the election cycle has generated much criticism of free trade, particularly the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which would establish trade regulations between 12 Pacific Rim countries if it is put into effect.

But Cruz said international trade creates one of every five new jobs in Texas, and if pacts are negotiated fairly, they can benefit the state and nation.

I believe our ranchers, farmers and small businesses can outperform anybody in the world, Cruz said.

He said he thinks the 6,000-page TPP is more of a back-door attempt by the Obama administration to implement labor reforms and environmental regulations than to protect American workers.

He said the regulatory policies Obama is pursuing should be made by Congress.

Flores said Obama considers the Trans-Pacific Partnership a touchstone of his legacy, but Democrats arent making the necessary concessions to get it passed.

If they were serious, they would agree to a two-year delay in enacting the 10 worst regulations, give everyone a chance to take a closer look, he said.

Cruz said the federal government is putting weights around the neck of small business, causing them to swim against the tide in a global economy.

I hold about 20 town hall meetings each year around the state and invited business owners to have their say. I just shut up and listen, Cruz said. There has never been a meeting at which Obamacare was not singled out as the biggest burden. In Kerrville, I had a man tell me he manufactured hunting blinds. He said he has moved all his production to China because he could not survive having to comply with the Affordable Care Act. Thats a loss of 150 good-paying jobs.

Cruz said he thinks Republicans are making headway in their pursuit of young voters disenchanted with the status quo in Washington, D.C.

Conservatives are pounding the daylights out of Obamas economic agenda, which has created nothing but stagnation, he said.

He said the $19 trillion national debt the country has run up is like taking a credit card and going on a spending spree. And guess who is going to get stuck with that bill? Our children and grandchildren.

The chambers Engstrom, a Baylor University graduate, said the nation traditionally has spent $6 on programs benefiting young people for every dollar spent on older adults.

Kicking the can

But those numbers have flipped, and weve broken our right foot kicking the can down the road, Engstrom said, suggesting solutions have given way to political expediency.

Flores said the trust fund that keeps Social Security afloat faces an uncertain future, possibly causing benefits to be reduced by 22 percent.

Discussing upgrades to the nations infrastructure, Flores said the U.S. House has approved a $305 billion highway improvement bill that is a good first step.

But some of the funding strategies are gimmicky, one being the sale of petroleum reserves, some of which have been sold three times, Flores said.

Cruz said the Obama administration earmarked $900 billion for shovel-ready infrastructure upgrades, including those related to transportation.

But the president has been shoveling something different, Cruz said. Virtually none has gone for transportation improvements.

Cruz said he favors sending federal block grants to states and communities, and let local people decide which roadways to fix and how.
U.S. Rep. Bill Flores, R-College Station, maintained his support for Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump on Wednesday, as other leading Republicans in Congress have distanced themselves in recent days.

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas; Rob Engstrom, national political director of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce; and Flores, whose district includes Waco, did not mention Trump by name during a panel discussion Wednesday for the Greater Waco Chamber of Commerce State of the Nation Luncheon at McLane Stadium.

Flores reiterated his support for Trump in the morning before the New York Times and The Palm Beach Post in Florida published stories quoting women saying Trump had groped or kissed them without their consent. Trumps campaign denied the reports.

Flores comments came after Trump made vulgar comments about groping and kissing women without their consent and trying to have sex with women during a 2005 conversation, the public learned through a tape released late last week.

Trump has described his words as locker room talk.

The Tribune-Herald was unable to reach Flores for comment after the new reports Wednesday.

Engstrom made the only reference to the presidential race during the discussion, mentioning the candidates positions on the Trans-Pacific Partnership.

What direction does the country go with each of those candidates? Flores said after the discussion. One of thems got a filthy mouth. One of them has some really bad history in her background. Four Americans died in Benghazi, setting the foundation for ISIS to grow, deleting emails from her server even though they were under subpoena. If you just forget about that for just a minute, Im not saying you can, but if you do forget about it, what direction do they take the country? What happens to the Supreme Court? What happens to economic policy?

After the tape was released Friday, many Republican leaders across the country released statements retracting either endorsements or support for Trump. Flores released a statement condemning Trumps comments but did not drop his endorsement.

As a husband to a wonderful woman and a grandfather of two precious granddaughters, I found Donald Trumps comments to be despicable, he said in the statement. More importantly, his comments do not reflect the values of Republican conservatives or the way that we view the proper treatment of women.

It is my hope that this election will focus on the great challenges faced by hardworking American families  national security, defeating ISIS, securing our borders, improving our economy, reforming health care and creating jobs that help strengthen our middle class and lift families out of poverty.

Trump on Tuesday took aim at the GOP establishment, including House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis. Trump called Ryan a very weak and ineffective leader in a tweet.

Disloyal (Republicans) are far more difficult than Crooked Hillary, he later tweeted. They come at you from all sides. They dont know how to win  I will teach them!

Trumps criticism of Ryan puts Flores in an awkward position, he said.

Its unfortunate because I was on the conference call and I know what Paul said, and Paul got taken out of context, Flores said. Paul said he is still supporting Donald Trump.

At the end of the day, Donald Trump has got to realize theres only one other name on the ballot. Its not Miss Universe. Its not Paul Ryan. Its not John McCain. Its Hillary Clinton. He needs to focus everything on the differences between him and Hillary Clinton. So if he does that, hes going to have a lot higher likelihood of success than he is if he keeps trying to fight with everybody else around him.

McCain, a Republican senator from Arizona, announced Saturday he will not vote for Trump.

If youre a member of Congress today, the left attacks you because you support Trump, and the right attacks you because you dont support him enough, Flores said. I had to come back to two people, two histories and two different futures and which future, in my view, is better for the country.

Cruz, a former presidential hopeful, did not take questions from the media.
A hearing to determine if McLennan County District Attorney Abel Reyna will be disqualified from prosecuting Twin Peaks biker cases resumes Friday amid accusations that Reyna was not truthful at a hearing in August and continues to deflect questions about who is paying his legal fees for civil lawsuits.

Judge Matt Johnson of Wacos 54th State District Court recessed a hearing in August and instructed attorneys for biker Matthew Clendennen and Ray Nelson to confer with Reyna and his attorney to answer basic questions concerning Reynas insurance coverage in civil rights lawsuits.

The attorneys for the two bikers, Clint Broden and Abigail Anastasio, are seeking to disqualify Reyna from the cases, asserting he has a financial conflict of interest because he is a named defendant in 10 federal civil rights lawsuits filed in Austin by bikers arrested after the Twin Peaks shootout.

At the hearing in August, Reyna either said he was unsure of his exact coverage or deferred questions to his attorney, Thomas Brandt, of Dallas. Brandt, when questioned at the hearing, claimed attorney-client privilege and would not answer.

That prompted Broden to file a motion asking Johnson to compel Reyna to answer the questions, which include whether any insurance coverage Reyna has will cover the costs of defense, compensatory damages and punitive damages, and whether McLennan County commissioners have agreed to commit taxpayer funds to cover any judgments or defense costs that exceed indemnification coverage.

The motion claims that Reyna and Brandt asserted attorney-client and attorney-work product privileges as reasons they would not answer the questions posed during and after the hearing about Reynas potential financial exposure in the civil suit.

After the motion to compel was filed, Reyna issued a press release on his Facebook page that charged the motion was without merit and an attempt at delay.

I answered each and every question asked of me regarding civil lawsuits, my defense to those lawsuits and my potential exposure, no matter how remote. To claim otherwise is false, misleading and defamatory, Reynas statement said.

Reyna did not return a phone message left at his office Thursday.

Broden challenged Reynas truthfulness Thursday, continuing to say his questions have not been answered. Broden and Anastasio have subpoenaed all four county commissioners, County Administrator Dustin Chapman and County Judge Scott Felton to testify at Fridays hearing.

Mr. Reyna has said in the past that he wants transparency, but his actions demonstrate obfuscation, Broden said. Mr. Reyna has said in the past that he fully answered questions regarding his insurance coverage, yet the transcript of his testimony says exactly the opposite. Mr. Reyna has said he is against delay in these cases, but he has opposed every single speedy trial request that has been filed in these cases.

Mr. Reynas actions speak volumes and now the question is going to be whether the county commissioners join him in the effort to avoid providing answers to simple questions regarding insurance coverage for the civil rights cases naming Abelino Reyna as a defendant.

In a motion filed Thursday, Broden continued to question Reynas veracity. At the Aug. 8 hearing, Reyna testified that he carried one cellphone with him when he arrived on the scene of the May 17, 2015, deadly shootout. He said he spoke by phone to former Waco Police Chief Brent Stroman, who was out of state, about how authorities would proceed with the mass arrest of 177 bikers.

Review of phone records

He further testified that he believed Chief Stroman called him to authorize the mass arrests, Brodens motion says. Nevertheless, a review of the phone records for (Reynas phone number) reveal that there were no phone calls (outgoing or incoming) from telephone number . . . to the phone Chief Stroman testified he was using that day.

Broden also says Reynas phone records make it appear that Reyna called Brandts law firm only two days after the incident and apparently had two phone conversations with Brandts law partner, Steve Henninger, totaling more than an hour.

Given this was long before Mr. Reyna was being sued in this matter, it is not clear under what capacity the law firm of Fanning Harper Martinson Brandt and Kutchin was operating during these conversations with Mr. Reyna unless it was immediately obvious that Mr. Reyna had liability for his actions taken two days previous, Broden contends in his motion.
Fallen trees from floods within the past year will serve a new purpose as a natural play space under construction at Mother Neff State Park.

Park Superintendent Melissa Chadwick said the idea has been in the works for a few years. The natural play space will include balancing stumps, a dig site, climbing logs and boulders, among other amenities.

Texas State parks officials are working toward developing spaces that are more natural for children to explore, Chadwick said.

We want to go away from your more traditional plastic playgrounds and have something that strikes imagination and creativity, she said.

There is still a traditional slide in the play area, but it is mounted into a hill so children will have to climb the hill, not a ladder, to get to the top.

A large concrete armadillo was delivered this week to the park off Texas Highway 236 near Moody. The structure will serve as an prop for photos and a climbing challenge for kids, Chadwick said.

Logs recovered from the parks flood damage in 2015 are being used for part of the playground, Chadwick said.

Were going to have areas where they can get sticks and be creative and build things, she said. When you see the big picture its really quite awesome.

Pending the weather, work should be complete by winter, Chadwick said.

There are plenty of logs to choose from for the project. There has been a logjam in the Leon River since before the 400-acre park was declared a disaster area in May 2015 because of flood damage.

Park officials are still in the process of finding a vendor to help with the cleanup, said Steve Lightfoot, a Texas Parks and Wildlife spokesman.

In March, the U.S. Department of Agriculture offered $230,000 to help Mother Neff State Park recover. The funding was part of $21.2 million that went to Texas and a total of $93 million that went to disaster recovery efforts nationwide.

Cleanup will take at least another few months as the bid process and grant requirements are finalized, Lightfoot said.

Meanwhile, a 50 acre section of the park remains closed because of last years flood damage, he said.

Despite the ongoing recovery, park activities and visits continue, Chadwick said.

The park southwest of Waco is hosting a large event from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Nov. 5 that is free and open to the public. Festivities will celebrate fall and allow guests to see the newly renovated Civilian Conservation Corps Cabin, near the old park headquarters.

Chadwick said there will be barbecue, a live band, live reptiles and childrens activities.
In Washington last Sunday night, the popcorn was popped, the pitchers of election-themed cocktails given a final stir. And then a hush fell over the city as the streets emptied and the professional political class huddled around screens to watch the presidential debate and find out whether Donald Trump would somehow rescue his improbable campaign or pound the final nails into its coffin after a brutal weekend of scandalous recordings and cascading Republican disendorsements.

The consensus going in was that Trump would self-destruct. But he had two saviors: Moderators prevented him from rambling and harming himself as much as he otherwise probably would have, and the questions about his appalling remarks came early in the debate. Psychological research suggests that people tend to disproportionately judge events by how they ended.

The consensus in Washington was that Trump had stopped the bleeding. But 12 hours later, the hemorrhaging seemed to restart. NBC and The Wall Street Journal released the results of a poll taken before the debate but after the release of the bombshell tape that had sent Trumps campaign into its weekend death spiral. In a four-way race, it showed Clinton at 46 and Trump at 35, a five-point drop from the previous poll. If you just looked at Clinton and Trump together, she was leading by 14.

The question now is whether the defections restart. If Trumps debate achievement was to arrest his slide at 35 percent, then it makes sense for Republicans to start jumping into the lifeboats.

Heres the basic calculation that Republicans who face re-election now face: Unendorse Trump and see his base stay home, or endorse and lose swing voters appalled by his remarks.

At this juncture, I think of Republican voters as falling into five broad categories, each with a different propensity for retaliation against Republican candidates who oppose Trump:

Die-hard Trump supporters: These people wanted Trump, and only Trump, in the primaries. They hate the establishment. They viewed Trump as a weapon against the establishment and will support sitting politicians only to the extent that those folks go along with Trump.

Propensity for retaliation: Absolute. Incumbents who oppose Trump can expect these voters to refuse to vote for them  or even to vote for their opponents.

Trump primary voters: These folks voted for Trump in the primary but are not engaged in an all-out war on the establishment of their party. They liked the fact that hes an outsider. They admire his business acumen. They would rather listen to his unpolished style than the boring, focus-grouped talking points of a normal politician.

Propensity for retaliation: Medium-high. These people would have voted for another Republican, but they prefer Trump and they will view an unendorsement as an attempt by leadership to thwart the will of the voters. However, some unknown number of these voters will have been offended by the tape and will probably not retaliate against Trump defectors.

Party loyalists: These folks probably voted for someone else in the primary but do not feel the same horrified revulsion against him that #NeverTrump voters do. They will pull the lever for anyone with an (R) after their name. Their biggest concern is maximizing the partys power.

Propensity for retaliation: Medium-low. They also dont like the idea of the party ignoring the voters. On the other hand, they are horrified by the idea of giving a Senate or House seat to a Democrat. The incumbents biggest risk with these people is that they get demoralized and stay home.

Squishy Republicans: These folks usually vote Republican but may not be registered as a Republican and occasionally drift over to the other side of the ballot. They are not particularly interested in an attempt to remake the party into a more nationalist, populist entity and are not going to participate in the Trumpista revolt. They will also find it psychologically easier to support Clinton than the aforementioned groups if they are horrified by the tape.

Propensity for retaliation: Low. They might stay home. They might vote for Clinton. But they are probably not going to get involved in strategically placing their congressional votes in order to serve some grand vision of the partys future.

#NeverTrump: Uncertain in number but high in passion, these people will vote Gary Johnson or Evan McMullin or write in their Aunt Agnes before they will ever pull the lever for Trump. They tend to be loyal Republicans, but some of them have cancelled their registrations over Trump.

Propensity for retaliation: None. They may phone bank for you if you call on Trump to step aside.

The problem is, no one knows exactly how big any of these groups is. Republican politicians essentially have to make a blind bet: Do I lose more swing voters by sticking with Trump or more base voters by defecting from him?

If the results of the NBC/WSJ poll hold, they suggest that Trump has not only lost all swing voters but is now cutting into the Republican base  and not just #NeverTrumpers, because hed already lost them. The next question is: Does swing voters animus toward Trump also affect their vote for Republicans in general?

Theres no way to know yet, but my guess would be that at least some downticket Republicans will lose if they stand with Trump. Whats on the tape is not spinnable, especially given prior accusations that hes actually done things similar to what he talked about on tape. The public hasnt heard as much about that yet. But by November, they will have.

By now there may be no way to win; no matter what they do, down-ticket Republicans may lose too many voters to win their election. But not every loss is created equal: Even the doomed can decide to die with honor.

Megan McArdle is a Bloomberg View columnist. She writes mostly about economics, finance and government policy from a libertarian perspective.
This year the Association of Washington Student Leaders is holding its annual conference in southwest Washington, and local Wahkiakum High School students are getting involved.

The bulk of the conference is being held at Mark Morris High School. As the host, student leaders at Mark Morris were responsible for the planning of this years event. Last fall when they got the news, they asked student leaders from Kalama, R.A. Long and Wahkiakum to join them in the process.

Wahkiakum High School senior Sydney Hansen was invited to join the 15 plus member committee after participating in another leadership event, Make the Change.

Ive loved every second of it, Hansen said of her experience on the committee. We learned about organization. Everything has been on us students to do. We came up with the ideas and it was our job to execute. Its given me a feeling for adulthood.

The three day conference begins this Friday and ends two days later, on Sunday. There are two guest speakers, and some high schools will be giving presentations. There is also a social at R.A. Long on Saturday night and a service project at Kalama High School on Saturday afternoon.

In partnership with an outreach program at United Way, two sessions of students will meet in Kalama from 2:10-5:00 p.m. and form an assembly line to package a total of 100,000 meals. The meals will be given to five food banks in Cowlitz and Wahkiakum Counties, including the Wahkiakum County Food Bank, which will receive 20,000 of those meals, according to Hansen, who was on the subcommittee for the service project.

A couple Wahkiakum students have joined Hansen in the planning and they, along with 10 other delegates from the local high school will attend the conference.

According to Hansen, they are expecting more than 600 students from throughout the state of Washington to attend.

Conference hosts were responsible for finding overnight stays for these students. Wahkiakum initially committed to finding a bus full, which is approximately 30 students, but generous families opened their homes and now there will be 60 students from around the state visiting the county.

Hosts were asked to provide three students a place to sleep for two nights, one dinner, two breakfasts and transportation to Wahkiakum High School.

Sixteen or 17 hosts have stepped up, according to Hansen, but shes pretty sure that Principal Stephanie Leitz has volunteered to take in the most.

I didnt know many of the people I was going to work with but now we are all super close, Hansen said. Were excited to put on the conference, because weve done it all. Its been a blast.

And it sounds like it will be.
WAHOO  Registered voters in Saunders County will be among those counties in Nebraska voting on a $369 million bond issue placed on this General Election ballot by Southeast Community College (SCC).

After an 18-month long facilities study in 2015 by The Clark Enersen Partners, SCC is looking at replacement, renovation and new construction in Lincoln, Milford, Beatrice and other cities like Wahoo where there will be more permanent Learning Center sites.

The facilities study was part of SCCs 2015-2019 Strategic Plan to meet two guiding needs in their service area, said SCC President Dr. Paul Illich.

Those needs are a lack of qualified workers in career and technical fields and a need for an affordable option for a four-year degree.

SCC has produced over 16,000 graduates in the last 10 years in a wide range of areas, but there is still a need for workers in those areas, Illich said.

The need for workers was derived from Bureau of Labor statistics and surveys done of employers and their needs, he said.

Specifically, the plan is to replace facilities in Beatrice, renovate facilities in Milford and Lincoln, establish a new campus near downtown Lincoln and provide more permanent facilities at Learning Center sites.

Learning Center sites in Plattsmouth, York and Nebraska City are currently leased.

SCC was established in 1973, but was not given dollars to build campuses. It worked with what was available at the time, Illich said.

New Learning Center sites, like what is coming to Wahoo, are also part of the plan.

If the bond does not pass, SCC is committed to opening a learning center in Wahoo as it is part of the 2015-2019 Strategic Plan.

Plans at all Learning Center sites will depend on the particular needs of the location, Illich said.

The bond is an opportunity to be strategic about meeting those needs, he added.

Learning Centers work toward one of SCCs roles as having open access to education, Illich said.

Whether needing foundational courses to fill a gap beyond a high school and working toward a technical degree, working to prepare to get a degree or coming back for continuing education after a four-year degree, Learning Centers will help with those, Illich said.

Learning Centers are designed to meet the needs of all 15 counties, as theyre within 35 miles of an actual campus, Illich said.

Currently, SCC offers over 50 career and technical programs at close to $90 per credit hour, he said.

And were able to stay affordable because of how were funded, Illich said.

The three funding sources are state aid, tuition and local property tax.

The maximum estimated impact of the bond is 3.9 cents per $100 valuation, Illich said.

The bonds would be issued in a series so that the levy would initially be less than that.

The design is to meet all the needs of the 15 counties served in southeast Nebraska, Illich said.

There are colleges in Nebraska with similar models. Its an opportunity were recognizing when looking at programs that not just meet the communitys current needs, but for the future as well, Illich said.

For more information about the 2016 SCC bond, visit their website at https://www.southeast.edu/bondissue2016/.
The epic aerial defense of Britain against the German Luftwaffe during the summer of 1940 was a seminal battle in WWII. It is also regarded as the first major campaign fought almost entirely in the air. Outgunned and outmanned, the Royal Air Forces fighter pilots showed true grit and enormous bravery in thwarting their enemy, with many heroes emerging from the Battle of Britain. By its official conclusion in late 1940, the Royal Air Force was bloody, but unbroken. The great British lion, Prime Minister Winston Churchill, perfectly described the courage and sacrifice of the RAFs fighter pilots with the now famous phrase, Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.



In the spirit of memorializing their bravery, AVI-8 has commissioned a special limited edition wrist watch commemorating the RAF pilots of the epic Battle of Britain. It is a labour of love that has taken more than a year of meticulous research, design and production to complete. The many details within the 4046 watch make this much more than just a timepiece. It is in part a wearable testament to the Battle itself. The 43mm diameter case conforms to the shape of a classic vintage pilots watch, and includes a genuine, scratch resistant, sapphire lens and coin-edged crown. The bezel is carefully hand polished for an elegant, high-end look.



With 1,963 British aircraft having taken part in the Battle of Britain, AVI-8 decided to produce exactly 1,963 time pieces, representing those aircraft and the brave pilots who flew them. Running along the left side of the case is an individually applied plate, hand-inscribed with each watches unique production number. The right side of the case bares the letters RF D. The RF refers to the squadron code for the famed, Polish-manned 303 Squadron, which was the highest scoring Hurricane unit during the Battle of Britain. The flared coin-edged crown has a vintage, machined look and is topped with an engraved roundel completing the side view of the case which mimics the fuselage profile of a Hawker Hurricane.

The see-through, exhibition case back displays the workhorse reliability of the Miyota 8215, 21 jewel self-winding automatic movement that has been painstakingly customised with a cutaway rotor in the shape of a Hawker Hurricane (see above). The Hurricane 4046 timepiece comes with a beautifully supple, double-lined, leather NATO strap and is presented in our iconic field box-style packaging alongside an extra nylon NATO strap for extra versatility.

The dial is an intriguing mix of depth and detail. The base panel captures the concentric, circular outline of the RAF roundel upon a three-armed panel which lifts the 12, 4 and 8 oclock indexes. A raised tension ring precisely marks the minutes while the lower layer is embossed with a subtle, horizontal pattern separating five minute intervals in a vintage 1940s font. The hour and minute hands make obvious reference to the Hawker Hurricanes propeller blades, right down to the painted tips. Each owner of this unique timepiece will belong to a select group of watch enthusiasts and collectors.

About AVI-8

The best engineers, scientists, designers and pilots have combined over the years to produce cutting edge machines that were designed for the crucial purpose of a countrys defense. Drawing on the absolute best in materials and resources, a series of iconic planes have emerged over the years that serve as a benchmark to look upon our prowess in the skies.

AVI-8 offers a collection of timepieces whose objective is to honor both the aircraft and the untold story of the airmen who have dedicated themselves, both in and out of the cockpit, to bring these incredible machines to life. To purchase these limited edition watches, visit www.avi-8.co.uk
The opposition's chief tactician, Tony Burke, is getting stuck into Financial Services Minister Kelly O'Dwyer.

"She couldn't answer a basic question....There's a serious confidence issue already for the minister," Mr Burke says.

"It's not the first time an opposition has moved an amendment of that nature.... t's the first time a government has supported one inadvertently."

"You've got government ministers who pay no attention to the legislation in the parliament."
After a six week initial public offering, Victorian beer firm Broo has announced it has raised $10.5 million and can now list on the ASX.

The move is part of broader strategy to target the biggest beer market in the world, China.

Broo Ltd boss Kent Grogan is focused on expanding into China. Credit:Pat Scala

"We are very happy to say the least," said Kent Grogan, founder and CEO of Broo Ltd.

Grogan described the company's plan to expand into China and the reliability of the kangaroo logo on Broo's "premium but mainstream" products.
It's invariably dull to read articles about the business benefits of employee loyalty. That these benefits are still not obvious to many employers really raises questions about how they're managing to survive in business at all. But a hugely underexplored area is the reverse: what are the benefits that employees themselves derive from being loyal? Or are there indeed any consequences?

A study just published in the Journal of Economic Psychology focuses very much on the latter and has found that if you're a loyal worker it's possible your employer may be taking you for a ride.

Have you been at your workplace long enough to receive a gold watch?

The economics professor who authored the study was compelled to do so after analysing research that found many organisations don't actually recognise or reward their most loyal workers. For evidence, you only have to look at the accelerating pace with which long-standing employees are becoming casualties in this modern era of downsizing, much of which is occurring even when financial pressures aren't present.

In this particular study, the researcher examined the data of more than 10,000 British employees to see if those who were loyal earned less than those who were disloyal. The unambiguous answer was yes. And not by a little. On average, loyal employees earned between 19 and 30 per cent less than their peers.
Royalty are expected to bypass Melbourne for the race that stops the nation and head instead to Perth's very own Ascot for the big day.

The Dutch King and Queen will visit Western Australia later this month as part of a week-long official visit to Australia - with Ascot high on the agenda for Melbourne Cup day.

Dutch King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima will be in Perth later this month. Credit:Getty Images

King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima of the Netherlands will be in Perth on October 31 and November 1 to commemorate the 400th anniversary of the landing of Dutch explorer Dirk Hartog in WA.

Premier Colin Barnett said the royal couple will officially be in town to open the Travellers and Traders in the Indian Ocean World exhibition at the WA Maritime Museum and unveil Hartog's pewter dish which is on loan from the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.
Kara Bandoro: Fighters from Central African Republic's attacked refugees in the country's remote north on Wednesday, stabbing or hacking to death 13 people before UN peacekeepers opened fire, killing at least 10, officials said.

Several people were also wounded in the attack by largely Muslim Seleka militia targeting Kaga Bandoro, a town of dirt roads and thatched mud huts. A Reuters witness saw militiamen stab two refugees to death as people were fleeing. When some tried to fight back with clubs, the militiamen began firing their guns.

Central African Republic President Faustin Archange Touadera addresses the 71st session of the United Nations General Assembly last month. Credit:AP

Hundreds of panicked villagers, already refugees from earlier violence, then fled in the direction of the UN base.

Central African Republic has been in chaos since early 2013 when the Seleka, which draws mostly from the country's minority Muslim population, toppled then president Francois Bozize.
Patrick Norman Pat Chapman is a 34-year-old, Caucasian male who was last known to be in Piedmont which is near the area of Greenville, Missouri on May 10, 2020.

Pat had stayed the night with a friend and his wife at their home. In the early morning when the friend woke to go to work.

Pat was gone in his own Burgundy color 1995 Ford Escort. That is the last anyone was known to have seen him. The vehicle was later recovered on May 29, 2020 in Mill Spring, Missouri.
On Wednesday, 12 October, the WCO Secretary General Kunio Mikuriya was invited to address the issue of trade policy and the sustainability of wildlife at the public hearing of the European Parliaments Committee on International Trade in Brussels. It is the first time that the issue of illegal wildlife trade is brought up during the Committee hearing.

Mr Mikuriya opened the session on policy framework governing trade and sustainability of wildlife by addressing the areas the WCO is active in: awareness raising and global advocacy, capacity building and operational activities. Having highlighted the WCO Declaration on Illegal Wildlife Trade that was unanimously adopted by the WCO Council in 2014, he also underlined the role of the WCO as one of the founding members of the International Consortium on Combating Wildlife Crime (ICCWC) alongside the CITES Secretariat, INTERPOL, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), and the World Bank. In his speech he addressed the necessity of cooperation among the law enforcement agencies, particularly Customs and Police, and with the private sector and non-governmental organizations (NGOs). The Buckingham Palace Declaration and the establishment of the United for Wildlife Transport Task Force were also highlighted as the positive steps towards successful stakeholder engagement.

The Secretary General drew attention of the audience to the WCO - INAMA Project, aimed at strengthening Customs enforcement capacity related to CITES in selected countries of the Sub-Saharan Africa and pointed out that this type of projects have been very successful on the ground and thus more support for this type of endeavor is necessary.

In conclusion, the Secretary General commended the latest developments in the EU as regards the EU Action Plan against Wildlife Trafficking as well as the efforts made to include the specific chapters on prevention of illicit wildlife trafficking into the bilateral trade agreements between the EU and other countries as one of the mechanisms to bring more awareness and action in this sphere.

The representatives of the European Commissions Directorate General Trade and Directorate General Environment made an update on the current regulatory framework of the EU, including the status quo relating to the EU Action Plan and the bilateral trade agreements. They also mentioned the successful Conference of the Parties to CITES (CoP17) meeting in Johannesburg, South Africa.

The questions from the Members of the European Parliament were mainly related to the means necessary for Customs and other law enforcement agencies can do their job better in preventing illicit trafficking of wildlife.

The second panel discussion was dedicated to the implementation challenges and included the speakers from the Vietnamese NGO, ENV, DHL Express UK and Ireland, Traffic International and INTERPOL. The speaker from Vietnam gave an overview of the situation in her country and the work her NGO is doing in this sphere along with the latest legislative changes in Vietnam allowing for better protection of wildlife. The CEO of DHL Express UK and Ireland, who also is a part of the United for Wildlife Task Force, gave a presentation on the express industrys work to support Customs and other law enforcement agencies and underlined the critical role of information exchange between all the stakeholders to curb this illicit trade. The representative of Traffic International stressed the need to raise awareness of logistics industry and the private sector and enhance their collaboration with Customs and other law enforcement agencies. The Environmental Security Coordinator from INTERPOL outlined the work of his organization in this crime area and specifically focused on the need to strengthen Customs-Police cooperation.

The Chair closed the public hearing by highlighting the necessity to provide more capacity building support with resources for Customs authorities to combat effectively against this crime and pointing out that more support and attention should be given to the countries of origin.

------------------------------------------

Photo (from right to left):

Mr. Cees Van Duijn, Environmental Security Coordinator, INTERPOL; Mr. Kunio Mikuriya, WCO Secretary General; Ms Emma McClarkin, Member of the European Parliament; Mr. Phil Couchman, CEO, DHL Express UK and Ireland; Ms Michelle Owen, Project Leader  ROUTES, Traffic International; Ms Nguyen Phuong Dung, Vice-Director, ENV.

Photos:  European Union, 2016 - Source: European Parliament
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Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Limited, a pharmaceutical company, develops, manufactures, markets, and distributes generic medicines, specialty medicines, and biopharmaceutical products in North America, Europe, and internationally. The company offers sterile products, hormones, high-potency drugs, and cytotoxic substances in various dosage forms, including tablets, capsules, injectables, inhalants, liquids, transdermal patches, ointments, and creams. It also develops, manufactures, and sells active pharmaceutical ingredients. In addition, it focuses on the central nervous system, pain, respiratory, and oncology areas. Its products in the central nervous system include Copaxone for the treatment of relapsing forms of multiple sclerosis; AJOVY for the preventive treatment of migraine; and AUSTEDO for the treatment of tardive dyskinesia and chorea associated with Huntington disease. The company's products in the respiratory market comprise ProAir, QVAR, ProAir Digihaler, AirDuo Digihaler, and ArmonAir Digihaler, BRALTUS, CINQAIR/CINQAERO, DuoResp Spiromax, and AirDuo RespiClick/ArmonAir RespiClick for the treatment of asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Its products in the oncology market include Bendeka, Treanda, Granix, Trisenox, Lonquex, and Tevagrastim/Ratiograstim. Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Limited has a collaboration MedinCell for the development and commercialization of multiple long-acting injectable products, a risperidone suspension for the treatment of patients with schizophrenia. The company was founded in 1901 and is headquartered in Tel Aviv-Yafo, Israel.
DERIDDER -- An art conservator who has restored art in age-old buildings in Europe is uncovering history and beauty in downtown DeRidder.

Elise Grenier, of Grenier Conservation LLC, was hired to conserve the canvas mural on the second floor of the Beauregard Parish Courthouse. Spanning the wall above the judge's bench, the mural, a marouflage, depicts scenes from Ancient Rome. The artist is unknown.

"This is someone very masterful," Grenier said. "The way he painted this was a very sure hand. You can certainly see the difference if someone is used to small-scale painting and required to do a large-scale mural. There's a big difference in their approach and the brush stroke."

Grenier believes the mural was conceived for the main courtroom when the courthouse was built in 1913-1914, which was the same time the jail was built.

The 102-year-old courthouse is under major renovations as part of a $12 million project to enlarge and reconfigure it, allowing more accessibility. Voters approved a 15-year, quarter-cent sales tax in December 2012 to fund the project.

Some have speculated that the mural was painted as part of a Works Progress Administration (WPA) project during the Great Depression like the fresco by Conrad Albrizio in the old DeRidder post office, but Grenier doesn't think so. Another idea is that it was locally commissioned, perhaps painted by one of the Italian immigrants who settled in the city. Grenier can tell that someone has added touch-ups to the work, many years ago.

"The content was a little mystifying when I first saw it because I am used to seeing in a courthouse, an allegory of justice is what you would normally see ... a figure often a female figure with scales, or the scales of justice. In this case, this may have been developed to fit this wall, about 36-feet long. So, a landscape is also ideal for it, conceptually and visually, but the message behind it is still a little bit of a mystery," Grenier said.

After earning a master's degree in art history and a minor in fine arts from Louisiana State University, Grenier trained and worked in Italy. Around 2001, she formed Grenier Conservation for her stateside work. She divides her time between Louisiana and Italy, where she still takes on projects. She has completed restorations in churches, museums, villas, palaces and at major monuments, working extensively in Florence, Italy.

"I think it was probably on some early trip to Europe with my parents where I saw some people doing it, but I was too young to really understand what it was. I just knew I wanted to do that. I saw people on scaffolding like we are right now and I said, 'I want to do that,' " she said.

Grenier said aside from art, a conservator must know science and chemistry. Special chemicals are used to clean and revive paintings that decades have masked. The cleaned sections of the courthouse mural are noticeably brighter and show finer detail.

"I know my chemistry to be able to deal with restoration, but I also have the support of chemical labs and experts," she said.

Grenier is assisted in her local work by intern Alicia Baggett, a recent McNeese State University graduate in fine arts. Grenier said it helps to have another person working with her to bounce ideas around with and to break the solitude of the long, tedious days.

Judge Martha Ann O'Neal said she and Judge Kerry Anderson learned of Grenier after reading about her in an LSU publication.

"First of all, I want to say we're delighted to find Elise. There was an article about Elise in the LSU Alumni magazine that both Judge Anderson and I happened to just come across at the same time and there was an e-mail for her mother who is on staff at LSU, works on campus. We e-mailed her mother and found out Elise happened to be in the states, fortunate for us," O'Neal said.

Local officials had thought the painting was a fresco and Grenier was able to correct that. Her knowledge also gave them an idea about its meaning.

"This represents probably something from the Roman period, recognizing that it was the beginning of civil justice and civilian law as we know it, more or less, today," O'Neal said. "We have often wondered what it meant. In the back, there appears to be some flames like the burning of Rome, but then it progresses toward today with the stairs toward today, which actually leads toward the bench, which indicates the progress to justice."

Dome

The mural hangs just below the stately dome interior, which was exposed during the renovation by construction crews after being hidden by ceiling tiles for decades.

"Well, we knew it (dome) was under there. We had no idea if we were going to be able to actually bring it back to its original luster and grandeur but I think it looks beautiful," O'Neal said.

The dome has been repainted by workers with its original colors, a mint green and golden yellow. Pieces of the dome's original center stained glass were used in a reproduction. The wagon wheel pattern matches woodwork in the courtroom and the banisters of the courthouse's original stairwell.

"It features the lotus flower, again, which would be part of Roman history, Roman art and was used very much during the time period that this mural depicts," O'Neal said.

Access

At center of the courthouse renovations, however, are upgrades to make the building accessible for those with special needs.

The old courthouse lacked an elevator. Accessibility issues limited and discouraged public access. The revamp includes elevators, spacious restrooms, three courtrooms and more room for offices. It will be equipped with mechanical lifts, accessible counsel tables, witness stands and judges' stands that comply with Americans with Disabilities Act standards.

"Anyone in a wheelchair experiencing disabilities will be able to have their day in court. As an attorney, if they have a disability of some sort, they will be able to practice here. Even if a judge experiences a disability, it has been addressed and those are requirements of ADA. We're happy to comply with that to make this an all-access courthouse," O'Neal said.

The architect is Paul Lemaire, of Lafayette, and local contractor Pat Williams is handling construction. O'Neal said parish administrator Bobby Hennigan has helped in the process. The renovation project is under budget and could be complete in the spring.

"That's the best news, I think, considering all the progress they've made and all of the changes. New electrical work, new plumbing, all the infrastructure has been replaced and restrooms," O'Neal said.

Once the courthouse staff moves in and settles from their temporary location in the former First Baptist Church next door, officials plan to host several opportunities for the public to see the changes.

Mystery

As for the mural, Grenier said she and Baggett will work for several more weeks. The search continues for the artist's identity. She is hoping the cleaning will uncover a signature.

"Who knows," she said. "It merits further research. We'll get to the bottom of it by the time we're done."

-----

Some facts about the Beauregard Parish Courthouse:

Location: 1st Street (corner of Stewart Street)

Construction: 1913-1914

Style: Beaux-Arts. Find out more on the style HERE.

Architect: Stevens and Nelson; New Orleans, also the architect on the parish jail.

Construction Company: Falls City Construction; Louisville, Kentucky. See courthouses constructed by Falls City Construction HERE. This was also the contractor for the parish jail. Both buildings were completed at a cost of $168,000.

Similar design: Stevens and Nelson repeated this design, with some changes, for the Morehouse Parish Courthouse in Bastrop, La. The contractor for the Morehouse Parish Courthouse was also Falls City Construction. See photos HERE.

Reporter's Note: Some historical information for this story was taken from files and records at the Beauregard Parish Library. Thanks to staff members for their assistance.

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By West Kentucky Star Staff Oct. 13, 2016 | 10:36 AM | MCCRACKEN COUNTY, KY

A Ballard County man is facing methamphetamine charges following his arrest on Wednesday.

According to the McCracken County Sheriff's Office, detectives with the drug division received information that illegal drug activity was occuring at a home on Coleman Cut Road. Detectives conducted an investigation which led to a search of the home Wednesday morning.

Police said 42-year-old Deron Wooley of Lovelaceville arrived at the home while detectives were conducting the search. Wooley allegedly had in his possession a syringe containing suspected methamphetamine.

Detectives found an additional loaded syringe with methamphetamine, a burnt spoon and two sets of digital scales inside a bedroom of the home that Wooley claimed ownership of. Wooley was arrested and booked into the McCracken County Regional Jail on charges of possession of methamphetamine and possession of drug paraphernalia.

Wooley was on felony probation at the time of his arrest for other drug offenses.
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By West Kentucky Star Staff

Oct. 12, 2016 | PADUCAH, KY

By West Kentucky Star Staff Oct. 12, 2016 | 09:51 AM | PADUCAH, KY

UPDATE: An anonymous tip led authorities to locate Hendrickson. McCracken County detectives contacted the Graves County Sheriff's Department for assistance in finding the missing teen. After a search of the area where Hendrickson was suspected to be hiding, she was located and is currently being returned home to her family.







ORIGINAL STORY:



The McCracken County Sheriff's Department is asking for your help in locating a missing Paducah teenager.



Deputies say 17-year-old Sarah Hendrickson went missing from her home on South Friendship Road at around 3:00 pm Monday. Her father reported to deputies that Hendrickson is depressed and may have run away from home.



She has not been seen or heard from since Tuesday afternoon from either her friends or family members, according to deputies.



Deputies say Hendrickson has been known to hang out with friends in Mayfield.



A clothing description is not available, but deputies say Hendrickson is 4' 10", 120 lbs, thin build, below shoulder length brown hair, and a cancer awareness ribbon tattoo on her left arm.



If you know of Sarah Hendrickson's whereabouts, you're being asked to contact the McCracken County Sheriff's Department at 270-444-4719 or your local law enforcement agency right away.




US 68 blocked by crash at Blue Springs Road near Cadiz
By West Kentucky Star Staff Oct. 12, 2016 | 09:52 PM | MURRAY, KY

A Murray man faces a long list of drug and gun charges after his arrest late last week.

According to the Murray Police Department, officers went to a home on Vine Street on Friday to serve a bench warrant. While at the home, police reportedly saw in plain view what appeared to be illegal drugs. A drug detective was notified and several items were found in the home.

The renter of the home, Kim Kingins, was arrested and charged with three counts of trafficking in controlled substance, possession of controlled substance, illegal possession of a legend drug, possession of marijuana, possession of drug paraphernalia, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, possession of a handgun by a convicted felon and possession of a defaced firearm.

He was booked into the Calloway County Jail.
Rita Redmond was a true lady who felt that every pupil had something to gift to the world
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Martin Luther King - Michael King Junior before God - died on 4 April 1968; shot on the second-floor balcony of a Memphis motel. In a speech the day before he told a crowd that death no longer concerned him. "I've been to the mountaintop," he said. "I've seen the promised land."

Katori Hall's play, which pipped Jez Butterworth's Jerusalem to an Olivier Award in 2009, is set that night in Room 306 of the Lorraine Hotel. It shows us King behind closed doors - and Gbolahan Obisesan looks the spit of the man. Ready to knock up another speech, he calls room service and opens the door to Camae (Ronke Adekoluejo), an African-American maid on her first day in the job. She's a flirtatious streak, a militant edge and a seemingly endless supply of Pall Mall cigarettes  by miraculous coincidence, King's exact brand. Not such a coincidence, as it turns out. Camae's a godsend: an angel come to ready King for death.

Theirs is a meeting of minds, bodies and, ultimately, souls. They're two people connected by a cause, but from very different worlds, fighting the same fight in very different ways; privileged, educated King with pacificism, and street-sharp Camae with the Black Panthers. It makes for a feisty clash - assimilation against positive segregation, peaceful means against aggressing - that's always underpinned by attraction. They circle each other like planets, pulled together; two bodies always aware of each other. It's impossibly sexy; intellectual stimulation that crackles.

Roy Alexander Weise, winner of this year's JMK Award for emerging directors, ups the supernatural element. Rather than the odd flicker of proof - cigarettes that self-light, flowers that spring from tears through the carpet - he lets Rajha Shakiry's beige Sixties suite flood with colour and light. It looks divine, but there are gains and losses. Though it ups the surreality of their encounter, it can make Hall's play look a touch naff in places. There's magic enough in King talking to God on a lowly motel phone; add a pink glow and angelic underscoring, and it's overkill. It lessens the leap of faith involved.

At the same time, however, it frees up the play, building to the most extraordinary climax: ten breathtaking minutes of theatre. With a kiss, Camae shows King the world's future. Superb throughout, Adekoluejo speeds off through a syncopated beat-poem rushing through half a century. Nina Dunn's videos light the walls like newsreel. She dances the future - and the future is that same fight; good and bad, OJ Simpson next to Obama. It ends not with words, but with a gesture: her hands up above her head.

In 2009, The Mountaintop asked a question. With a black president in place, Hall's play questioned whether the summit had been reached. It warned against complacency. It's different today, seven years on. Against the backdrop of Black Lives Matter, it's a call to action backed up by history. It's as empowering as it is powerful.

In humanising King, Hall shows us the man beneath the icon: one whose feet smell, who jumps at thunder, who lusts and cheats on his wife. Obisesan captures the contradictions and if, at first, that seems to undercut this cultural hero, suggesting that we've sanctified a man like any other, Hall turns the thought back on itself.

King achieved all he did as a man. He wasn't predestined to do so, nor did he start out or speak up as the idol we think of today. He was a man; one who feared death, who wrestled with uncertainty and conscience, who gave up a quiet life for a cause. The Mountaintop shows his courage anew and, what's more, it encourages it in us. With the same courage and conviction, any of us could step up now as he did then. "Why me?" King asks of God. "Why not?"

The Mountaintop runs at the Young Vic until the 29 October.
DONALD TRUMP, JUNIOR VISITED MILLS RIVER THURSDAY

Donald Trump, Jr made a stop in Mills River Thursday to campaign for his father.

Thursday, Trump Junior was campaigning at Jason Davis's North River Farms.

It wasn't just farmers who tunred out...word had been circulating in the local Republican community for several days that Trump Junior was coming. He was scheduled to travel on to a similar campaign stop at Lake Norman near Charlotte Thursday.

Trump was in the Tar Heel state and in western North Carolina to shore up conservative and Christian support after the embarrassing video of his father was released last week.

The latest polls show Trump Senior trailing Hillary Clinton by two per centage points in North Carolina.

(PHOTO FROM NEWS 13)
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Culture Minister Rochelle Squires says shes outraged by what she says was an offensive and sexist comment hurled her way by an NDP MLA in the legislature last week, but its far from clear that Rob Altemeyer actually uttered the remark.

Squires, who is also minister responsible for the status of women, accused Altemeyer of yelling, Take your pants off when she rose Oct. 6 to answer an Opposition question directed at Premier Brian Pallister.

She came forward with her complaint on Thursday after her party reviewed an audio tape of the proceedings.

WAYNE GLOWACKI / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Minister for Women Rochelle Squires (right) says New Democrat Rob Altemeyer (left) yelled 'take your plants off' in the house.

Altemeyer wasnt in the chamber in the morning when Squires levelled her accusation, claiming her privileges as an MLA were violated. Speaker Myrna Driedger reserved her decision.

But when he arrived in the House for Question Period Thursday afternoon, Altemeyer immediately rose to table a copy of the same tape, which, he says, shows he said nothing offensive. He said the words he used were: Take a pass on it.

The New Democrats distributed the enhanced Hansard audio tape to the media Thursday. The NDP contends that Nahanni Fontaine questioned Pallister, who left it to Squires to answer. Thats when Altemeyer yelled at Pallister, NDP press secretary Rachel Morgan told reporters Thursday afternoon.

On the tape, a voice that appears to be Altemeyer yells what sounds like, Take a pass before being drowned out on the tape by Driedgers command of Order!

NDP house leader Jim Maloway later told reporters, You can draw your own conclusion. Its pretty clear he didnt say what was attributed to him.

And there it sits, in the ear of the beholder, until Driedger rules on what is now the third Conservative accusation in a week of New Democrats allegedly violating the privileges of MLAs.

Driedger forcefully told the MLAs they are not to comment on the controversy either inside or outside the legislature, including on social media, until she has ruled.

Thursday morning, Squires told the house, This comment is outrageous, insensitive, and not befitting of this place.

When it happened last week, I heard the member for Wolseley (Altemeyer) say something, said Squires, but at the time she could not make out the words. Some colleagues at the time told me he said, Take your pants off!, Squires told Driedger.

The member for Wolseley should apologize to this house, said Squires.

Maloway said the NDP wants Squires to apologize and retract her accusation.

In a brief media scrum Thursday afternoon, Squires said, I read my statement in the house and that is factual, refusing any further questions until Driedger rules.

A few hours earlier, Squires said the behaviour by some MLAs will not encourage more women to enter politics.

I am a proud member of a caucus fighting to end the old boys club, Squires said.

The series of charges, countercharges, apologies and demands for apologies all started a week ago, when Conservative Sarah Guillemard claimed her privileges were violated by male New Democrats yelling Shame! as Tory women voted on an NDP private members bill on sexual assault on postsecondary campuses.

The Conservatives also laid a complaint of privilege violation against Fontaine over a Canadian Press interview in which the New Democrat allegedly questioned Driedgers impartiality.

nick.martin@freepress.mb.ca
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THE Sobeys store at Burrows Avenue and Keewatin Street is closing Dec. 3.

A company spokeswoman said the decision was made after a review of all the stores performance.

We regularly look at store operations, and in this case the decision was made to close that location, said Keri Scobie. It has been an underperforming store for quite some time. It made the most sense to close.

WAYNE GLOWACKI / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS The Burrows Crossing Sobeys store is closing Dec. 3, putting 85 employees out of work.

The 85 full- and part-time employees were told of the closure Tuesday.

It is not yet clear what will happen to the 31,000-square-foot building.

Scobie said the closure did not necessarily have anything to do with the fact a Sobeys-owned Safeway store is located on the other side of Keewatin Street.

We were able to keep both locations, even after the Competition Bureau review, she said.

As part of the regulatory considerations when Sobeys acquired 213 Western Canada Safeway stores in 2013, it agreed to sell four Winnipeg Safeway locations and one Price Chopper store.

At the time of the acquisition, there were 11 Sobeys stores and 24 Safeway stores in Winnipeg.

Scobie said Sobeys regularly opens and closes stores, pointing out the company opened a Sobeys Extra store on Pembina Highway earlier this year.

It is important for us to have the right stores in the right format in the right market to makes sure we are meeting our customers needs, she said. Because of a whole bunch of factors, it was the right decision (to close the Burrows store), as hard as it is to close a store.
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Americans who hid gun in their campers, cars  and socks  were stopped in their tracks from entering Canada this summer by Manitoba border guards.

On July 17 at Sprague, Canada Border Services Agency officers seized a loaded .44-magnum revolver and a box of ammunition and another loaded .357 revolver hidden in a pair of socks stashed inside a truck camper, said Jaquie Callun, the agencys regional spokeswoman.

The man with the hidden guns paid a $2,000 penalty and was released on $500 recognizance with a promise to appear in Winnipeg provincial court.

SUPPLIED Several American travellers to Manitoba in July and August hid their firearms instead of declaring them.

The sock stash was part of a rash of gun seizures made by Manitoba border guards, the agency says.

Border officers seized 11 prohibited weapons and firearms in July and August.

On July 5 at Emerson, a .38-calibre handgun was seized from a Texas man. The gun was inside a suitcase in the Texans vehicle. He paid a $1,000 penalty before he was returned to the U.S.

On July 12, also at Emerson, a 9-mm semi-automatic pistol loaded with two 15-round overcapacity magazines was seized from an Alabama man travelling to Alaska.

The pistol was found in his suitcase. The man paid a $1,500 penalty and was returned to U.S.

The Canadian border agency has tried to warn American travellers packing heat that their guns arent welcome in Canada. Callun said they issued a news release to American media outlets last summer to raise awareness about Canadas gun laws.

The Aug. 22 communique reminded Americans planning to travel to Canada to leave their firearms at home or declare them at the border, carry necessary permits and have them properly stored.

The release said failure to declare any firearm may lead to seizure, penalty and prosecution and may make someone inadmissible to Canada. Their vehicle may also be seized, and they will have to pay a penalty to get it back, the release said.

Firearms are high-risk commodities, and their interdiction is an enforcement priority for Canada, the release stated.

The news release was picked up by a few media outlets in the U.S., including Time on Aug. 22: Canadian Government Asks American Tourists to Leave Their Guns at Home and AFP on Aug. 23: Canada to U.S. tourists: please leave your guns at home.

carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca
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This article was published 12/10/2016 (2210 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Even though anti-retroviral drug cocktails are keeping people with AIDS alive, pioneering HIV researcher Frank Plummer says a vaccine for the virus is still needed.

Plummer, who conducted research in Africa for almost two decades looking at a group of sex workers who were not infected by HIV and appeared to have a natural resistance to it, said drugs that suppress the virus to stop the progression of the disease are not enough to keep all people alive.

I frankly believe we need an HIV vaccine, he said.

The Canadian Press files Dr. Frank Plummer

There are problems getting drugs to people who need them, there are problems getting people tested and there are problems making sure people take them.

Look at tuberculosis. We have great drugs and we havent solved it yet.

Plummer, who was the first scientific director of the National Microbiology Laboratory from 2000 to 2014, made the comments while answering questions posed to him by students and medical professionals Wednesday as part of the annual Gairdner lecture.

Earlier this year it was announced Plummer was one of seven scientists to win the Canada Gairdner Wightman Award, which honours a Canadian who has demonstrated outstanding leadership in medicine and medical science. He will receive the award at a gala in Toronto Oct. 27.

Plummer was honoured for what was called his groundbreaking research in Africa that helped scientists understand HIV transmission.

The award, also known as the Baby Nobel because 83 of the 344 winners of the award have gone on to win the Nobel Prize, comes with a $100,000 prize.

Plummer said while an HIV vaccine is needed, he said one isnt on the horizon yet, and a lot more research needs to be done.

Were still quite a long ways off, he said, adding it isnt known yet whether a single vaccine shot will be all thats needed, a series of them, or regular shots over a lifetime.

Its a tough problem you may need boosters, he said.

I frankly believe we need an HIV vaccine. There are problems getting drugs to people who need them, there are problems getting people tested and there are problems making sure people take them Dr. Frank Plummer (above), who conducted HIV/AIDS research in Africa for two decades

Some of our work suggests you may need booster shots. Weve found that if the women weve been following stop doing sex work and then come back, their chances of infection go up.

Earlier, as part of his lecture entitled The Untold Story of the National Microbiology Lab, Plummer touched on several of the success stories at what was popularly known through the years as the virology lab.

Plummer said the laboratory came to Winnipeg as a political consolation prize after the city lost a major maintenance contract for CF-18 jets.

I think Winnipeg came out with a better deal, he said chuckling.

Plummer noted through the years the facility, a section of which houses the only Level 4 containment lab in the country for the worlds deadliest viruses, has been responsible for finding an outbreak of listeriosis leading to a recall of meat in 2008, coming up with a vaccine for the Ebola virus and being the first to realize there was a H1N1 flu pandemic in 2009.

kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca
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The Royal Aviation Museum of Western Canada is halfway to its goal of moving to a new facility following a $1.2-million contribution from the federal government.

Liberal MP Doug Eyolfson (Charleswood-St. James-Assiniboia-Headingley) announced Thursday the federal government would contribute the money to the museums $40-million capital campaign.

This museum tells the story of a truly Canadian adventure: bush flying to some of the most remote, rugged and beautiful areas of our great country, Eyolfson said in a statement. I look forward to visiting this space once construction is complete.

MIKE DEAL / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS FILES Prince Edward (front, centre) and his wife Sophie, the Countess of Wessex (rear, left), tour the Royal Aviation Museum of Western Canada last June.

Melanie Joly, the federal heritage minister, said in a statement that by supporting the construction of the new Royal Aviation Museum of Western Canada, we are helping ensure Canadians have access to a unique facet of Canadas aviation story.

Helen Halliday, the museums president and chief executive officer, said they are thankful for the federal governments contribution, noting they have raised $19.7 million. The $40-million target also includes an endowment fund that has raised $2.25 million of its $5-million goal.

Weve moved over the 50 per cent point, which is just awesome, she said. We are just delighted.

The museum is currently housed in an almost 80-year-old former terminal building and hangar at 958 Ferry Rd. beside the airport. It opened in 1984. It features 45 rare aircraft.

The new facility will be 105,000 square feet in size and include nine exhibition galleries.
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Every dog has its day and at a Friday civic committee meeting one allegedly ferocious pup, along with a beloved potbellied pig will attempt to have theirs.

Two pet owners will appeal to the citys protection, community services and parks committee to reverse decisions by the city regarding their animals.

The city argues Emily Sydors pet potbellied pig violates its Responsible Pet Ownership bylaw and has ordered its removal from her house on Sherburn Street. The bylaw states Winnipeggers are not allowed to keep or raise a commercial animal (in this case a hog) in a residential home.

Sydor will appeal the August decision at the meeting, stating in a letter to the committee the pig is necessary for her health and well-being.

I have a special bond with this pet that cannot be replaced with any other animal, she writes in the letter. The immediate neighbours love his presencethere is no noise or smell issue.

The committee will also hear from Kewen (Kelly) Qiang, whose black Labrador named Coco has been declared dangerous under the citys Dangerous Dog Determination Responsible Pet Ownership bylaw after it allegedly attacked and killed a neighbourhood dog in August. The city has ordered that Coco be declared dangerous, meaning the owner must keep it confined indoors or kept in a secure, enclosed pen.

Records from Qiangs first meeting with the citys animal services agency noted Coco had attacked a two-year-old boy and another dog in a separate incident.

A detailed record of the Aug. 26 meeting said that Qiang told the agency Coco is always tied up at her Lindenwood Drive home and showed remorse over the incidents.

However, the chief operating officer of the agency declared after the meeting it is my finding that the subject dog IS declared dangerous because the dog is likely to cause significant harm or injury to individuals or animals.

Both appeals are expected to be heard by the citys four-member committee Friday morning.

Emterra dumps on city

The trash talk between the city and its largest private garbage collector continued Thursday with Emterra Environmental accusing city officials of misleading the public in its bid to replace the private contractor.

With Ottawa looking to impose a carbon tax in 2018, Emterra claimed the city could save $1 million annually if it extends Emterras contract for two more years because it uses a natural gas fleet. Its contract expires in 2017 and the public service has recommended the city sign two seven-year contracts with new private contractors worth about $25 million annually.

City administrators told reporters Wednesday that the four bidders  including Emterra  quoted their contract price using diesel trucks. The citys manager of solid waste, Daryl Doubleday, said he could not elaborate on the specifics of the bids, citing legal constraints.

Bill Waddell, the vice-president of operations for Emterras prairie division, refutes the claim arguing the company did submit a bid detailing how they would use a natural gas truck. He sent a letter to Doubleday imploring him to correct the record.

When asked by an elected official if any of the bidders to Request for Proposal No. 302-2016 had proposed the use of Compressed Natural Gas-powered vehicles, I believe your response was no one bid with natural gas without caveats. This statement is at a minimum misleading, Waddell wrote. Your comments are being repeated by elected officials and the media as fact. I would ask that you immediately make it clear to elected officials and the media that this is not the case.

Dutch Elm disease relief

The citys finance committee has approved a $576,000 over-expenditure by the public works department to combat Dutch Elm disease infecting Winnipegs large Elm tree canopy.

WAYNE GLOWACKI / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS FILES

More than 6,000 trees were removed in 2015-16, almost double the 3,500 historic average calculated into the budget for the citys Dutch elm disease management team.

(It is) the highest volume of elm trees to remove since 1999, a report tabled at Thursdays committee meeting states.

Bureaucrats asked the committee for an over-expenditure of $576,000 to combat the higher than budgeted volume of trees needed to be removed.

The finance committee unanimously approved the over-expenditure, however questioned whether city administrators should be going to the province to ask for additional funds. Currently the province provides a $1 million grant to combat the disease, which is spread by elm bark beetles.

The city requested additional funding by the former NDP provincial government in 2014, but the request was refused.

A spokesman for the province said the city has not made an official request to the Progressive Conservative government to increase the grant.

Budget talks

The citys finance chairman says growth fee revenues will not be in the 2017 budget, but funding to re-open Portage and Main could be on the table.

Coun. Marty Morantz told reporters on Thursday the city remains on track to table a preliminary budget on Nov. 22.

Mayor Brian Bowman said during the summer that he wants to see Portage and Main open to pedestrians before the Canada Summer Games open in late July, but hasnt said whether money will be allocated in the upcoming budget.

I know the mayor and councillors are very, very interested in it and we are still having ongoing discussions about that, Morantz said Thursday after a finance committee meeting. Whether there will be a budget line this year or not, I dont know at this point.

Morantz said there have been no decisions, but discussions are ongoing.

The intersection was closed in the late 1970s for construction of the Winnipeg Square underground shopping mall and cannot be reopened until the end of 2019.

When asked if revenues from growth fees  implementation plans have been put on pause as Coun. John Orlikow consults with developers  would be factored into the budget, Morantz had a quick answer about the controversial fee.

No, he said, without elaborating further.
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A national student organization is applauding the Pallister governments bill addressing campus rape culture.

The Canadian Federation of Students issued a statement Thursday pledging its support to help the legislation get passed into law.

The province tabled the legislation Wednesday. Bill 15, The Sexual Violence Awareness and Prevention Act, mandates sexual assault policies on Manitobas public and private university and college campuses, along with 46 private vocational schools.

PHIL HOSSACK / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS FILES Michael Barkman, chairman of Canadian Federation of Students, Manitoba chapter.

We are happy to see that the Progressive Conservative government has tabled legislation that will protect students on our campuses and move our public institutions to challenge rape culture and proactively replace it with a culture of consent, Manitoba CFS chairperson Michael Barkman said in the statement.

Bill 15 requires schools to implement comprehensive sexual violence policies on campus, including student consultation and five-year policy reviews. The bill also broadens the definition of sexual assault to include social media and online communications.

Rochelle Squires, the minister responsible for the status of women, told the legislature the government expects unanimous support to push the law through the house.

CFS has actively lobbied governments and institutions for the implementation of strong measures, releasing a video in September and hosting events to draw attention to the need for policies. Theyre more than willing to stump for the bill, too.

Wed be happy to be present at any consultations that come forward to make sure students voices continue to be put forward, said Laura Garinger, vice-president of student affairs at the University of Winnipeg Student Association and a womens commissioner with the federation.

The University of Manitoba has a policy in place and both the University of Winnipeg and Brandon University are in the process of doing so. Student leaders are concerned that other campuses may lack the financial resources to enforce any policies they design on their own or the government imposes.

Thats why Im in favour of the bill, to make sure universities have standards across the board they can meet, Garinger said.

The federation is the largest post-secondary association of its kind in Canada, representing some 650,000 students on 80 campuses.

alexandra.paul@freepress.mb.ca
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This article was published 12/10/2016 (2210 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

When someone asks Const. Jeff Boehm if police marching with the Bear Clan Patrol for the first time is official recognition of the patrol, he stops them short.

The Bear Clan is way past needing any confirmation from the Winnipeg Police Service, the officer replies.

I dont think they need confirmation based on the work theyve done. They do a fine job speaking for themselves with the actions theyve taken.

BORIS MINKEVICH / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Wendy Kroeker, a Canadian Mennonite University instructor, and Bear Clan Patrol co-ordinator James Favel walk Selkirk Avenue with their group Wednesday.

The Bear Clan keeps having coming-out parties, with its reputation spreading leaps and bounds, and Wednesday night was another one.

Not only did four Winnipeg police officers join them for their nightly three-hour rounds, but a dozen female university students also marched, wanting to see how conflict resolution works on Winnipegs grittiest streets.

We wanted to walk with people who have said they want to practise working on peaceful solutions, said Wendy Kroeker, who teaches peace studies at Canadian Mennonite University.

What better place to put theory to practice than on the streets of the North End, she said. Its finding ways to be actors for peace, Kroeker said.

She is surprised all 18 of her students  some couldnt make it Wednesday night  are women, in a course called Cultures of Violence, Cultures of Peace. She hoped a mention in the Free Press might serve as a shout-out to the guys.

The leaders of the Bear Clan look like biker gang members turned good. Theyre big, brawny guys who could be scary if they werent on the right side of the law.

BORIS MINKEVICH / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Bear Clan Patrol co-ordinator James Favel, middle-second from right, and police officer Jeff Boehm, right, talk to tonights volunteers before they walk Selkirk Avenue.

The original Bear Clan shut down in the 1990s but was revived in 2014 by truck driver James Favel following the death of Tina Fontaine. Tina, a 15-year-old from Sagkeeng First Nation, was slain in August 2014. Her body was pulled from the Red River.

The new Bear Clan started as a patrol to help search for missing individuals. It has been involved in high-profile searches, including those for Winnipeg high school student Cooper Nemeth, MacGregor-area toddler Chase Martens and the unresolved cases involving Thelma Krull and Christine Wood.

It has evolved into more than that. It has grown into a kind of community outreach service helping to make North End streets safer. It is also serving as a bridge between indigenous and non-indigenous people.

Patrols are only armed with walkie-talkies and flashlights. None of it is funded by government. Nobody gets paid.

Now theyll have some police accompaniment.

Its just an opportunity for us to do what theyre doing, Boehm said. Theyre boots are on the ground. Theyre out here walking in the North End.

BORIS MINKEVICH / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Bear Clan Patrol co-ordinator James Favel, right, and police officer Jeff Boehm, left, talk to media before they walk Selkirk Avenue with their group Wednesday.

Their boots attract more boots. Typically, about 20 volunteers make the walks. There were more than 30 Wednesday night.

They split into four groups to walk streets that frequently show up in newspaper crime reports: Stella, Dufferin, Selkirk, Jarvis and Sutherland avenues.

Favel, who is the Bear Clan executive director, instructs volunteers to be on the lookout for things such as crack pipes and needles.

Its a big deal to have a collaborative effort like this, Favel said. Im just really proud to be part of it.

Bear Clan Patrols are in five Canadian cities: Winnipeg, Kenora and Fort Frances in Ontario, Regina and Toronto. Plans are in the works to start up in Lethbridge, Alta., and Prince George, B.C. In Manitoba, the Bear Clan is also represented in Selkirk, Portage la Prairie and Brandon.

Favel said partnering with the police is a big resource for us.

BORIS MINKEVICH / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Police officers patrol with the Bear Clan for first time in Winnipeg. Bear Clan Patrol co-ordinator James Favel, left, and police officer Jeff Boehm, right, brief the media before they walk Selkirk Avenue.

The Bear Clan also has direct links with police units for sexual exploitation and missing persons.

Were just getting started, Boehm said. Police will walk with Bear Clan members again in the future, he said.

bill.redekop@freepress.mb.ca
Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 13/10/2016 (2209 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It would appear that, despite lofty rhetoric, the Arctic hasnt been a high priority for the federal government for years.

It should be. Fully 40 per cent of Canada is in the Arctic, we have 162,000 kilometres of Arctic coastline and 25 per cent of the global Arctic is within our territory, according to government documents.

Canadian defence policy states that the Canadian Forces must be able to exercise control over and defend Canadas sovereignty in the Arctic. And yet the only permanent operational unit of the Canadian Forces in the north is the RCAFs 440 Squadron. It operates four aging Twin Otter aircraft from a base in Yellowknife.

HANDOUT / FISHERIES AND OCEANS CANADA The Canadian Coast Guard could benefit from the deep-water port at Churchill.

Thats pathetic.

It gets worse. We have abandoned Canadas only functional deep-water port in the Arctic. The dock facility at Churchill has been closed by its U.S. operator, along with the freight service that brought prairie grain there for shipment to overseas markets.

Once upon a time, Churchill was a naval station. It was part of Canadas long-range radio communications network, serving as a listening post first for U-boats during the Second World War, and then for Soviet communications during the Cold War. Its also served as a site for launching sounding rockets, as a centre for conducting atmospheric research, and as a military airfield.

The previous Conservative federal government announced ambitious plans for the region, including putting a naval station at Nanisivik, a former company mining town on the northern tip of Baffin Island and making it a deepwater port and a base for Arctic/offshore patrol vessels and icebreakers.

Nanisivik is at the western entrance to the Northwest Passage, and maintaining Canadian presence and sovereignty there makes strategic sense. But those plans have been scaled back, and now it is likely only to see limited service as a refuelling station for the Navy and Coast Guard.

If Canada wants to prove it is serious about the North, it should take another look at Churchill.

Why not resurrect Churchill as a military base? A lot of what would be needed is already there: a deep-water port on Hudson Bay, a rail line connecting it to the rest of the continent, and an airfield. It could serve as an important base for Arctic sovereignty missions, not to mention a ready source of infrastructure projects that demonstrate Canadian engineering prowess in one of the toughest environments on Earth.

Churchill could then be the base for the new Harry DeWolf-class Arctic/Offshore Patrol Ships (AOPS) the first two of which are under construction in Halifax and theyd be more credible in their intended role in exercising our sovereignty over the Arctic if they were based in the North rather than in Halifax.

To those who ask, Can we afford to do it? a better question might be, Can we afford not to?

With Churchill falling on hard economic times, it is likely the government will be asked to provide financial assistance. An investment there that advances our Arctic sovereignty efforts will pay dividends.

It should also be noted that Canada has made a commitment (along with our NATO allies) to spend two per cent of GDP on defence. Based on World Bank data from 2013, Canadas GDP is around $2.4 trillion, which means two per cent is $48 billion. Our current defence budget, however, is a paltry $18.6 billion.

We have a long way to go to catch up to our commitment, but reviving Churchill as a military base would be seen as a positive step towards security in the Arctic. Money has been earmarked for infrastructure projects and for increased investments in defence. Why not combine them, and do a little nation-building at the same time?

If we are serious in our claims that the North is ours then we need to act. Churchill would be a bold first step toward ensuring we have a permanent military, security and law enforcement presence in the Arctic.

Or, we can sit back and let the Russians claim the Arctic as their private pond, while the United States claims the Northwest Passage as an international waterway that it can use with impunity.

The choice is ours.

Jeff Griffiths is a retired Canadian air force officer, and certified management consultant, in Calgary.

jeff@griffiths-sheppard.com
Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 13/10/2016 (2209 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Thomson Reuters, a worldwide information company, will open a new technology centre in downtown Toronto employing 400 people immediately and 1,500 in a few years. In the context of Canadian economic stagnation and sluggish employment growth, the Oct. 7 announcement by the Canadian-owned multinational company suggested a possible growth path for the Canadian economy.

Thomson Reuters has until now been centred in New York, but the controlling shareholders, the Thomson family, are at home in Toronto. The president and chief executive officer of Thomson Reuters, Jim Smith, and the chief financial officer, Stephane Bello, will relocate to Toronto in 2017 as the new technology centre takes shape. The corporate centre drifted away from Toronto in 2008 when the Thomsons bought the London-based Reuters agency. Now, in a certain sense, the company is coming back home.

The company decided it needed to bring all its technology innovators together into one centre where they could support and encourage each other. It decided the cluster of information technology universities and employers in the corridor extending from Toronto to Waterloo could ensure a rich mix of technology talent and a steady stream of software development graduates from local universities.

ERIC J. SHELTON / THE CANADIAN PRESS

Thomson Reuters started moving in this direction a year ago when it established Thomson Reuters Labs  Waterloo Region to drive innovation through applied research. Also in 2015, Thomson Reuters began sponsoring an innovation hub in Toronto to foster technology advance for the legal industry. With those initiatives behind it, the company had a solid basis for launching its Toronto technology centre.

Canada has prospered in the past by extracting natural resources. It started four centuries ago with beaver pelts. More recently, we have been cutting trees, growing cattle and wheat, digging up metals and drilling for oil and natural gas. Income from resource exploitation brought Canada to the front rank of industrial economies.

Lately, however, this strategy hasnt been working so well. Pulp and paper plants have closed for lack of demand, mines have closed on account of low prices or depletion. Currently, the premiers of Alberta and Saskatchewan are in despair because glutted oil markets and low prices have eliminated oil patch jobs and reduced government revenues. Their solution is somebody should build them pipelines through other provinces or through the United States to bring their hydrocarbons to world markets.

Pipelines may help, but they will be hard to achieve and they can accomplish only so much in a glutted market. The Thomson Reuters announcement suggests a different avenue to economic recovery.

Most companies can benefit from more astute use of information. The companies that use information better than their competitors will probably prosper. Bright young information technology professionals who might look for work in Californias Silicon Valley can also be drawn to Toronto because it is an interesting city with a strong IT subculture.

At the moment, those bright young professionals might not spontaneously think of Calgary, Saskatoon or Winnipeg as places to pursue their careers. Those communities will have to figure out how to make themselves appealing to the IT crowd because that is where employment growth can be found. Industry will still need welders and millwrights and heavy equipment operators, but it will need even more handlers of information.

This should be a good moment to recruit IT hotshots. In a Canadian city you can have most of the good things about the United States without the guns and the toxic political environment. We should try to build pipelines in the hope of bringing back the resource boom of yesteryear, but we should also build a new future.
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Minnesota is facing a health care crisis.

Hundreds of thousands of families will see health insurance costs increase by 50 percent or more next year. Thousands more will lose their plan or access to their doctor through no fault of their own. Greater Minnesota will be hit especially hard; 45 counties  all outside the seven county Metro area  will have just two insurers offering health plans.

Irresponsible enrollment caps approved by Gov. Mark Daytons Department of Commerce mean many Minnesotans will effectively have just one option. This creates difficult choices for Minnesota families: race through a broken MNsure website, spending hours on the phone seeking help from a dysfunctional call center in Illinois, while trying to enroll before one plan meets its cap, or wait and enroll in an uncapped narrow network plan with a 67 percent premium increase.

An even tougher choice: enroll in a plan that will eat up your familys budget, or go with lesser or no coverage and pay a steep federal penalty  a minimum fine of $2,000 for a family of four.

How did we get here? How is it that the individual and family insurance market, which has withstood decades of changes in healthcare delivery and utilization, stands at the brink of collapse just a few short years after relative financial health?

This mess is a result of MNsure and federal mandates that destroyed states ability to design an insurance market that meets the needs of its people. This was particularly devastating to Minnesota, which was a national leader in programs to insure low-income and high-risk families. Democrats at the state and federal level rammed through MNsure and Obamacare without a single Republican vote.

Gov. Dayton began crafting MNsure over five years ago. Information technology contracts worth millions of dollars were signed without proper vetting, and partisans were put in charge of a massive buildout. Republican concerns were largely ignored  even silenced during legislative debate  when questions were raised about the improbability of vast promises made by legislative Democrats.

You dont hear them anymore, but you may remember those promises from 2013: MNsure would be the Travelocity of health insurance, families would save $500 a year, small businesses would save thousands.

Its important to remember those promises because Democrats primary solution to the current crisis is to keep pouring money into MNsure  at least $400,000,000 of taxpayer money to date  raise taxes on healthcare, and add more Minnesotans to public health insurance.

House Republicans recognize that we are only one half of one branch of government, but we pushed for major reforms at MNsure and in the wider marketplace anyway. Over the past two years, we led efforts to eliminate MNsures special exemptions from oversight, force improvements in technology and customer service performance, reduce the MNsure tax that drives up the cost of health insurance, and eliminate ridiculous bonuses for MNsure executives.

While we succeeded in improving oversight of MNsure, too often legislative Democrats and Gov. Dayton chose the status quo over bold reforms.

Republicans also led on creating more health insurance options for the employees of small business  a group that also faces declining choices and rising costs. That measure received broad bipartisan support in the House, but was stymied by the Dayton administration.

Just as importantly, we worked in a bipartisan manner to eliminate unfair Medical Assistance liens on families and seniors, and passed telemedicine reform to increase access to quality care in rural areas of our state.

House Republicans will continue putting families first as we seek solutions to this crisis.

The top goal must be to lower costs. Our plan would provide immediate relief by cutting the MNsure Tax by half to save families $22 million over the next three years. Republicans also support using $35 million in leftover funds from a now-defunct health program for direct premium reductions. And passing the tax relief bill unnecessarily vetoed by Gov. Dayton would put money back in the pockets of families that could help defray rising healthcare bills.

Second, Minnesotans need more choices. Republicans believe in giving Minnesotans access to tax credits outside of MNsure. If lowering the uninsured rate is the goal of Obamacare, why limit peoples choices only to plans sold on a broken website? Families need options and easier access to federal premium tax credits, and should be allowed to shop wherever is most convenient for them.

Third, we need long-term stability and competition. While options are constrained by the Affordable Care Act or Obamacare, we can employ creative solutions that stabilize the individual market and lower costs either through portable premium assistance for consumers or a reinsurance program similar in purpose to the former Minnesota Comprehensive Health Association.

In order to fix this mess, we need bipartisan solutions for Minnesotas healthcare system. That means moving past partisan allegiance to the dysfunctional MNsure website, and taking common-sense steps to help residents struggling with rising costs and shrinking choices. Time is short. Families are waiting. Republicans are ready.
Now is the time to stand up to protect the fragile and diverse Driftless region of southeast Minnesota that we call our home.

Ample reasons and evidence now exist to show why industrial silica mining is harmful to the residents, economy and environment of Winona County and Southeast Minnesota.

The health risks from exposure to silica dust and diesel exhaust for transporting silica, the permanent destruction of valuable farmland soils and habitat, and the risks to contaminating the aquifer serving three adjacent states due to the fragile karst geology in the region are just a few of the reasons we, as citizens and stewards of our homeland environment, must support a ban on industrial silica mining. (Construction mineral mining for natural rock, stone, aggregate, gravel and sand for construction purposes would not be affected by a ban.)

Need more reasons and evidence? Attempts to regulate industrial silica mining has not worked satisfactorily, judging from the Wisconsin experience. Adding county regulatory staff to provide oversight is more costly to taxpayers, and may not provide the measure of protection county residents and land resources require. Laying waste to the bluff-lands, valleys and farmlands of the Driftless region, which provide cold, clear and pristine water sources for trout habitat and sources of drinking water throughout the region, threatens the safety of local communities, and the economic foundation of agriculture, tourism and recreation in the region.

Banning rather than regulating industrial silica mining, processing and transporting is a legal and effective way to protect the beauty, safety and economic future of this unique environment we call home. Please stand up and let our Winona County Board of Commissioners know that the best protection of the Driftless region is a ban on industrial silica mining in Winona County!

Jim and Nancy Reynolds,

Winona
Baraboo leaders rejected Tuesday a proposal to expand the citys ordinance governing possession of drug paraphernalia.

The police chief and city attorney introduced the change to provide an additional option in handling drug cases. But citizens and aldermen regarded the change as an overreach, and said its wording could subject the city to lawsuits. The measure failed by a 3-6 vote.

I just dont see what we gain from this other than a lot of exposure for the city, said Alderman Scott Sloan.

The proposed change to city code wouldve broadened its definition of drug paraphernalia, making the ordinance more restrictive than state law. It wouldve made it unlawful to carry items associated with drug use, ranging from syringes and pot pipes to plastic bags and spoons  unless the holder has a legal reason to do so.

Violators wouldve been subject to civil  not criminal  convictions. Under current law, someone found in possession of a pot pipe only can be prosecuted if residue from the drug is present. Under the proposed change, no evidence of use wouldve been required. Officers wouldve been allowed to consider other factors  such as the suspects criminal history and complaints from neighbors about suspected drug dealing  when conducting an investigation.

It gives us an enforcement tool, Schauf told the council.

The measure came to the full council on a 3-0 recommendation from its administrative committee last week.

Speakers sound off

Before the council took up the matter, citizen speakers criticized the proposed change. Some spoke against criminalizing the possession of common household items. Others said the expanded ordinance would give officers too much latitude.

Eugene Robkin, an Ash Street resident who formerly served on the council, said the change may have been well-intended, but could have disastrous results. These could include a protracted legal challenge. This is a bad idea, he said, producing a barbecue tool that could be used to inject drugs. This will do you no good in terms of actual enforcement. Youre not solving anything.

Others said the change is out of step with national trends. While other states are legalizing marijuana, the city was considering cracking down on pipe possession. Tammy Wood of Wood Pipes Smoke Shoppe in Reedsburg said the change would be bad for business. This would criminalize their means of employment, she said of artisans who make pipes. If my store was in your town, Id have to close my doors.

Speakers also said that at a time when mistrust is sparking violence between police and citizens around the country, creating more potential misunderstandings could prove tragic. You dont want to go down that path, Robkin said.

Wood said such an ordinance would make citizens guilty until proven innocent. This takes away the onus on the officer to prove guilt, she said.

I think it puts an awful lot of discretion in the hands of the officer, Alderman Tom Kolb agreed. As society is moving more toward a treatment modality, this seems to be geared in the opposite direction.

Multiple speakers, including Mark Kelderman of Brownsville, said the ordinance could get the city sued. The language of the ordinance itself is so sophomoric as to invite litigation, he said.

Defending the change

City Attorney Alene Bolin said the wording of the ordinance change was based on similar regulations in other communities, ones that have passed constitutional muster. Officers still would have to prove that a suspicious item was intended for use with drugs.

Schauf said the change would provide an alternative means of enforcement, other than criminal prosecution. He said law-abiding citizens wouldnt be prosecuted for carrying resealable plastic bags or balloons. Everyone has spoons in their house, Schauf said. Were not going to arrest you.

Aldermen in opposition

Several aldermen objected to the change. Mike Plautz said his son, a long-haired pipe collector, wouldnt be able to walk around town freely. It opens it up so the police could stop someone on the street in that situation, Plautz said.

Alderman Joel Petty said officers shouldnt be allowed to create probable cause that otherwise wouldnt exist. Accusation is a very powerful thing, he said.
Authorities say a woman who did not have a license falsified her identity to get a nursing job at a Reedsburg hospital.

Officials at Reedsburg Area Medical Center say they have conducted an extensive review of all the patients cared for by Jennifer L. Browne, 40, of Wisconsin Dells. They say the review determined that the unlicensed nurse caused no harm to patients.

Its unclear how many patients Browne tended to during nearly three months of employment at the hospital.

I could not answer that for you, said Carla Mercer, the hospitals Vice President of Marketing and Customer Experience. I do not know that. I do know that we have reviewed every chart of any patient that she may have had contact with. We can assure you that no patient care was ever compromised.

Court documents suggest Browne was employed at other hospitals in Wisconsin and Florida in prior years. But the extent of her contact with patients at most of those facilities is not clear.

The Sauk County District Attorneys Office on Wednesday charged Browne with one felony count of using someone elses identity for financial gain and three misdemeanor counts of obstructing an officer.

The criminal complaint states that Browne was hired as a Registered Nurse at Reedsburg Area Medical Center in May. After encountering what Mercer described as red flags with regard to her job performance, the hospital began to look more deeply at her application documents.

In August, a hospital official reported to the Reedsburg Police Department that it appeared Browne had falsified her identity in order to gain employment. Police then opened a month-long investigation into the matter.

Browne allegedly used the name and nursing license number of a woman from Milwaukee to misrepresent herself to the hospital.

Hospital officials reported that she claimed to have a nursing degree from Madison Area Technical College in Reedsburg. But when asked, the college had no record of a degree.

The complaint states that Browne continually denied that she had lied on her application, and led a Reedsburg police detective through a maze of excuses. The detective concluded his investigation after Browne promised to produce documents that would clear up the matter on multiple occasions, but never came through.

Browne worked at other hospitals

In application documents, Browne allegedly stated that she had worked as a Registered Nurse for other hospitals in Wisconsin and Florida.

An employee for Saint Clare Hospital in Weston confirmed to the detective that Browne was employed as a unit coordinator and nurse tech, not a Registered Nurse. And an employee at Naples Community Hospital in Naples, Florida, said Browne worked as a unit secretary.

Documents state the Reedsburg investigation prompted a similar one by the Wausau Police Department. Browne allegedly worked at North Central Health Care, which provides mental health, addiction, skilled nursing, developmental disability, water therapy and adult protective services for three counties and has offices in Wausau, Merrill, Antigo and Tomahawk.

In an application to work at the Wausau facility, Browne allegedly listed a number of work dates and degree specifications that conflicted with those she provided to the Reedsburg hospital.

A Wisconsin Dells landlord who was contacted by authorities provided a copy of a rental application document in which Browne allegedly stated she had worked for St. Clare Hospital in Baraboo as a certified Registered Nurse anesthetist and at Divine Savior in Portage as a Registered Nurse.

An employee for Divine Savior told authorities Browne had never worked there. But the complaint does not say whether authorities followed up with the Baraboo hospital.

St. Clare Hospital spokeswoman Melanie Platt-Gibson said Browne was employed there as a unit clerk from September 2005 to November 2007. However, she had only clerical duties and did not provide any bedside care to patients, Platt-Gibson said.

Incident sparks review

Mercer said Reedsburg Area Medical Center has reviewed its hiring practices and implemented additional steps to prevent a similar situatoin in the future. She said one reason Browne came under suspicion was due to the hospitals lengthy supervised training program.

In a news release, Reedsburg Area Medical Center President and CEO Robert Van Meeteren said the hospital is working with state health officials and legislators to better protect the access to licenses and verification process for all Wisconsin hospitals.

A spokesperson for the Wisconsin Department of Safety and Professional Services did not respond to an inquiry before deadline Wednesday.

The felony charge against Browne carries a maximum penalty of six years in prison and $10,000 in fines. She is due to appear in Sauk County Circuit Court on Nov. 16.
Sometimes, stories come along in the course of a news day that would be laughable if not for the problems accompanying the foolishness.

So lets talk about clowns.

For most Americans, we presume, clowns conjure up images of silly performers who entertain crowds for comedic effect. There are rodeo clowns and circus clowns and clowns you can hire for your 6-year-olds birthday party.

The older among us may even remember beloved and famous clowns like Emmett Kelly and his alter ego Weary Willie, or Red Skeltons famed TV clown Freddie the Freeloader. Clowns were good guys. People liked clowns.

Maybe author Stephen King is to blame for making the clown the bad guy in his best-selling book It.

And, of course, serial killer John Wayne Gacy gave clowns the ultimate bad name.

Now, with the help of social media  which often seems to go hand-in-hand with weird behavior  spooky clowns have become the fad around America threatening murder and mayhem. Beloit and other regional cities and villages have joined the clown parade, with social media driven threats frightening young children and forcing parents, police and school officials to respond.

Ignoring such foolishness would be the sane way to approach this situation. But authorities do not have that luxury. They have to take seriously any potential threat to safety, so police respond and school authorities react with caution. Meanwhile, parents have found the need to cope with young childrens fears. In the long run, will that make these little kids afraid to see a circus act? We hope not.

Almost certainly, all across the country, this is nothing more than a few jerks getting their jollies by causing problems for other people.

Its not funny. In fact, as police and school officials waste their time on such nonsense, theres a cost and somebody has to pay for that waste. Taxpayers lose again.

Which brings us to this point: Somebody is responsible for this negative nonsense, wherever these make-believe threatening clowns pop up, including in Beloit or Roscoe or Rockford. And social media, like any other function, leaves a digital trail that smart technical sleuths can follow. We recommend that effort be taken seriously.

The individuals responsible need to be identified and their actions taken seriously by the criminal justice system. Make an example of them. Clamp the cuffs on them, if at all possible, for a perp-walk of shame in front of their peers. Send the message that this kind of bad behavior has consequences.

Theres another point to be made, and its for parents. Modern conveniences like smartphones and social media have many positive applications, but the potential for abuse is just as real. Pay attention to what your kids are doing. Odds are, you are paying for their devices so why shouldnt you have full access to how those devices are used? Digital access allows kids  and adults  to create their own networks and worlds that may be real or unreal. Its mostly harmless, but dont assume that. Be a parent. Pay attention.
What about Benghazi when our ambassador was killed plus others? After it was over she had the audacity to say, What difference does it make now? Tell that to their loved ones and see if it makes a difference! What about those emails? If any one of us pulled what she did, we would be in prison. What kind of an example does that set for a would-be president of this country? What about all those other crooked dealings she has been involved in, too many to mention?
The Columbia County Circuit Court Branch 1 courtroom was filled past capacity as attorneys, judges, law enforcement and concerned citizens came to see the two candidates for District Attorney meet in person to argue their cases.

The forum on Wednesday night, presented by the Columbia County Bar Association and moderated by Portage Daily Register editor Kerry Lechner, gave Jane Kohlwey and Douglas Kammer an opportunity to address the public and answer the personal criticisms coming from each campaign.

District Attorney Kohlwey has not had to publicly defend her seat since defeating former DA Tim Henney in 2000. Kammer has practiced law in Columbia County since 1970.

Following a cordial introduction and handshake, Kohlwey began her opening statements by picking up a copy of Kammers flyer and arguing against its allegations that her office has been inefficient with an unacceptable losing record.

Using a PowerPoint presentation through the courts suspended flat screen monitors, Kohlwey argued that Kammers point regarding wasted time in pre-trial conferences, calling on defendants to arrive in court only to wait in the hall, is baseless.

Some officers may recall we had a cattle call, Kohlwey said referring to senior law enforcement in the room. Weve come a long way from then.

Kohlwey said nearly two decades of experience has proven that conferences in civil and criminal court work.

That is what we do and thats what we will continue to do, she said.

When Kammer announced his candidacy, a large plank of his platform was the conviction record of the District Attorneys Office, pointing to notable losses in court over the past two years. These have included the years-long cases bringing a homicide charge against Leah Waldhart and first-degree attempted homicide charge against Stephanie McMillen, the first being acquitted and the second convicted of stalking and obstructing justice following a second trial, after the first ended in a mistrial in 2015.

Theres nothing wrong with a jury trial, Kohlwey said. It is a basic right  we are not going to take away a persons right because it is inefficient.

Going directly to the McMillen trial, Kohlwey told the room that although the first trial ended in mistrial, the jury at the time was in favor of conviction by a margin of 11 jurors to one.

A reason for this, Kammer suggested, speaking to a group of voters at the Portage Public Library, is that Kohlwey was taking marching orders from someone else.

This led to him pointing out the 2005 case of David Riedel, a former Sauk County deputy who drove, drunk, over his then-girlfriend. Kohlwey was appointed special prosecutor in the case, which ended with a plea agreement in 2007 in which Kohlwey later said that she could not recall why Riedel did not enter his plea in open court. Kohlwey was reprimanded by Crime Victim Rights Board for failing to notify the victim of the details and her right to be present in court for sentencing.

In addressing the Riedel case, Kohwey spoke with a slide titled: DA Office Learned and Improved Systems.

However, in mid-stride, Kohwley was interrupted as she was informed that her 10 minutes were up.

Kammer explained to the audience, seated in front of him and filling the jury box, that his top qualification is that of being an Eagle Scout and went on to say that there is little for an attorney to gain by running for District Attorney.

Public servants dont get rich unless they are corrupt, he said before promising to be a one-term district attorney. Despite arguing for the necessity of the position being competitive every term, he also promised a different kind of long-term presence.

I will have a successor, Kammer said. You should have continuity.

The first question for the candidates was to describe the function of the District Attorneys Office as they saw it.

Kammer described it in terms that, The sheriff does the hands-on stuff, but the DA determines who gets charged and with what, while also being comparable to managing a small law office.

Kohlwey suggested the office can carry a larger responsibility than some other areas of law practice and described her staffs handling of the prosecution of the Oneida Street torture and murder case.

And we have had numerous cases of the same caliber, said Kohlwey. This is not general practice, this is a very specialized practice.

This is a ruse, really, Kammer argued countering Kohlweys accusation of him lacking relevant experience. Ive tried every kind of case... its all the same game.

Kohlwey said specialization isnt a bad thing.

When I came into the office I had already been practicing criminal cases for 15 years, said Kohlwey. If your kid came down with leukemia, you would not go to a general practitioner.

Lechner asked Kammer about a statement that he had made at a public event, saying he would be ready to fire three attorneys on day one. Kammer stood by the statement, but clarified it not being on account of inefficiency, but that there were attorneys he had in mind with reputations of being discourteous to the people they dealt with.

He was unwilling to give specific names, but gave an example of being told, so and so talked to my wife like she was dirt.

Each presented the other as being overly-politicized, with Kammer promoting his campaign as the independent choice, likewise running as an independent against Kohlwey who is a registered Republican. At the same time, Kohlwey told voters that the position requires more than a politician, a label which Kammer said would never be applied to him by anyone who knew him.

Kohlwey and Kammer have both operated relatively low-key campaigns with both waiving financial disclosure to the Wisconsin Elections and Ethics Commission, each informing the state that their respective committees would spend less than $5,000 over the course of the campaign.

In closing statements, Kohlwey told the audience, I offer you experience that counts, experience that has been recognized by the state, she said explaining her roles as a state trainer, specializing in domestic abuse cases, and volunteer work judging mock trials.

I started teen court in Columbia County, she said. I build an expert team to serve you in Columbia County. I am a mother and a grandmother and I support strong ethical prosecution.

Kammer returned to questioning Kohlweys judgment in the cases that she chooses to prosecute and not prosecute, promising that if given a situation such as with the Riedel case, he would have recused himself.

I have over 12,000 dead files at this point, he said, I have 12,000 former clients.
JUNEAU  DNA extracted from chewing tobacco found at a crime scene in 2011 has led to charges against a 24-year-old inmate at the Stanley Correctional Facility.

Donny Lafferty faces one count of theft after he allegedly took copper cable from Link Aggregate Quarry, W8876 Spruce Road, town of Trenton. If convicted he faces up to 6 years in prison and $10,000 in fines.

Lafferty made his initial appearance in court Thursday via video conferencing from prison. Judge Steven Bauer set a $1,000 signature bond for Lafferty with the condition that he not set foot on the premises at Link Aggregate Quarry.

On March 24, 2011, officers were dispatched to Link Aggregate Quarry for a report of theft of electrical copper cable. The owner of the quarry told officers that his brother had come to the quarry and noted that some large electrical cable was wrapped around a power control box and he had noticed that the electrical wire had been cut off of the electrical control panel and stolen from the property. Another piece of coiled up copper wire was taken as well and a small trail camera.

He estimated that $8,400 worth of cable was stolen and the trail camera was valued at $400. Chewing tobacco was located hear where the copper wire was stolen which was taken into evidence to be tested for DNA.

On April 21, 2014, the Wisconsin Department of Justice division of Law Enforcement Services State Crime Laboratory discovered that the DNA found on the chewing tobacco matched Lafferty. A search warrant was issued for Laffertys DNA sample.

On April 5, 2016, officers traveled to the Stanley Correctional Facility where Lafferty was held. Lafferty told officers that prior to his incarceration he had committed a number of drug related crimes. He was convicted of two burglaries but admitted to committing 38 other burglaries or thefts.

Lafferty admitted that the chewing tobacco found at the quarry was likely his. He admitted to stealing the wire which he said he sold for $1,000. He told officers he used the money to buy Percocet, a prescription drug that contains oxycodone.

He will appear in court again on Oct. 27 at 8:30 a.m. for a preliminary hearing.
Columbus School District business administrator Nancy Liverseed is still waiting for a few final numbers to come in before finalizing the 2016-17 budget, but early projections look good for the district and its taxpayers.

Enrollment and property values are both going up, which means the tax levy and mill rate should be coming down, Liverseed told the School Board at its meeting Monday night.

Official enrollment counts taken the third Friday in September, which are used to determine state revenue limits, showed 1,342 students attending Columbus schools.

That number included 178 students who were open enrolled into the district and 101 resident students who were open enrolled out to other districts.

At the elementary school, enrollment was up by eight, at the middle school enrollment increased by 39, and at the high school enrollment fell by 11.

Taking into account early childhood and 4K students, who for state accounting purposes are credited as .5 and .6 of full time equivalency, because they dont attend a full day of school, the school district has a total membership of 1,229. Last year, the districts total membership was 1,204.

Liverseed said most of the students who were open enrolling into Columbus were coming from Fall River  83 students  and Sun Prairie  25 students. Likewise, Columbus kids who were open enrolling out of the district were mostly going to those same districts, with Fall River gaining 20 students and Sun Prairie gaining 36.

Overall, there were 14 schools that open enrollment kids were coming from and 18 schools that kids were going to; of those at least four are virtual schools where students take classes online.

Liverseed said most of the open enrollment kids were coming or going for logistical reasons.

A lot of our ins and outs are kids that have never attended here or have never attended at the school [district] theyre now living in, she said. Parents move in and out, but want to stay at the school theyre at.

For younger students who are only in school half-days, the determining factor is often where their parents are working and where they may already have day care.

Rising enrollment is good news, Liverseed said.

A lot of school districts are seeing a decrease in enrollment, so being at the edge of Dane County probably helps, she said.

Estimates are that the district will receive state aid in the amount of $6,743 per student for regular ed students and $12,000 per student for special ed students.

As for property values, Liverseed reported that the Columbus School District has seen an overall 5.22 percent increase.

Across the districts 11 municipalities, the highest increase was in the town of Hampdem, which had a 12.66 percent rise in property values. On the opposite end of the spectrum, the town of York experienced a .68 percent decline.

In the city of Columbus, property values rose 4.01 percent.

Keep in mind, when the property values go up, the levy can come down, Liverseed said.

While some pieces of the budget puzzle are still unknown, she projected the total levy to come in at about $6.79 million, a decrease of $99,231 or 1.44 percent from 2015-16.

Considering the higher property values, shes projecting a mill rate of about 9.86, compared to 10.52 last year, a 67-cent or 6.3 percent decrease.

The final budget and levy will be presented to district residents at the annual meeting Monday, Oct. 24 at 8 p.m. in the City Hall Council Chambers.
A countywide business group is looking for financial support from local municipalities. At least one of those municipalities, the city of Baraboo, is looking for accountability.

On Tuesday, Keri Olson reported to the City Council on a task forces progress in repositioning the Sauk County Development Corp. When the municipal governments that support the economic development agency pulled their support in 2014 over what they saw as a lack of results, the organizations leaders opted to retool.

We have made tremendous, tremendous progress, Olson said.

Shes making the rounds to inform partners about the task forces efforts, and also to ask that municipalities earmark funds for the group as they write their 2017 budgets.

Alderman Joel Petty asked how the organization will gauge its effectiveness. What are the measurements of success youre going to report to municipalities for the return on their investment? he asked.

Olson said SCDCs revamped website will report progress in key areas of emphasis.

Thatll come with time, and Ill be patient, Petty said.

The organization is transforming itself from a quasi-governmental agency to a public-private partnership. Twenty-four leaders from across the county have accepted yearlong commitments to serve on a transitional board of directors.

Among their chief tasks is identifying an executive director to lead the organization. Olson said a hire could be made at the end of this year or early in 2017. This individual will need to be a game-changer, Olson said.

In the meantime, leaders are addressing board member recruitment, amending the organizations bylaws and charting a course for SCDCs future. The agency has moved from its former home in the West Square Building to the McArthur Properties facility in the Madalon Industrial Park, which houses a mix of businesses and nonprofit organizations.

A new logo has been created, committees have formed to carry out the organizations work, and fundraising  from public and private sources  is under way.

We have many, many good things happening at SCDC right now, Olson said.

As before, the organization will work with local chambers of commerce and agencies such as the Baraboo Economic Development Commission to foster growth. SCDC was created in 1976 to address rampant unemployment following the closure of Badger Army Ammunition Plant.

We are hoping you will see the vision for SCDC, Olson said.
Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump plans to hold events in Green Bay and West Allis on Monday, his campaign said Thursday.

Trumps campaign website shows he plans to hold a rally at 4 p.m. at the KI Convention Center in Green Bay.

He also plans to hold a rally at the Wisconsin State Fairgrounds in West Allis at 7 p.m., campaign spokesman Matt Schuck said. Details for the second rally were not posted on Trumps website Thursday.

Trump was scheduled to attend a GOP unity rally in Elkhorn last weekend, but House Speaker Paul Ryan disinvited him after a 2005 video surfaced of Trump making predatory comments about women.

The visit Monday would be Trumps fourth to the state since he accepted the nomination in July.

Trump last visited Green Bay on Aug. 5. That visit capped a week in which Trump refused to endorse Ryan ahead of the Janesville Republicans primary election, which he won with 84 percent of the vote. At the event he read an endorsement of Ryan from a sheet of paper.

This week his feud with Ryan ratcheted up after Ryan told House members he would no longer campaign with or defend Trump. The real estate mogul responded with a series of online statements suggesting he would blame Ryans lack of support if he loses the Nov. 8 election.

Trumps support in the state cratered over the weekend in the wake of reports about his predatory comments, which Trump apologized for and called locker room talk. The latest Marquette Law School Poll showed Democrat Hillary Clinton leading by seven points, though her support grew throughout the weekend as several prominent national Republicans abandoned their previous support.

Top Wisconsin Republicans have said Trumps comments were indefensible, but none, including Ryan, has rescinded an endorsement.

Gov. Scott Walker will not be attending either event because he was already scheduled to speak in New Jersey at an event for GOPAC, a nonprofit group that trains Republican candidates, his campaign spokesman said.

Ryan spoke at a Waukesha County Business Alliance event in Brookfield on Thursday but did not mention Trump or the upcoming visit. Campaign spokesman Zack Roday said Ryan would be in Texas on Monday helping Republican House candidates there.

Brian Reisinger, a spokesman for Sen. Ron Johnson of Oshkosh, said Johnson has prior engagements and would not attend the events with Trump.

The Marquette poll did not measure how Trumps support was affected by his Sunday debate performance, which appeared to stanch the defections among GOP officials. Past Marquette polls have showed Trump getting more support in polls than 2012 GOP nominee Mitt Romney in the Green Bay area in votes, while underperforming Romney in the Milwaukee suburbs.

State Journal reporter Molly Beck and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
JPMorgan Chase & Co. is the 5th largest bank in the world and the largest in the U.S. The current company is the result of a series of mergers that began in the earliest days of American banking history and include more than 1,200 original banks. The oldest predecessor is The Bank Of The Manhattan Company which was founded in 1799 by Aaron Burr. At the time, The Bank Of The Manhattan Company was the 3rd oldest bank in the U.S. and the 31st oldest in the world. The Chase Manhattan Bank, a precursor to JPMorgan Chase, was later formed when The Bank Of Manhattan Company purchased Chase Bank which was established in 1877.

JPMorgan & Co came to life in 1895 in order to finance the United States Steel Corporation. Itself a result of merger, the company also financed other early American businesses as well as aided the federal government by backing a bond offering. It wasnt until the year 2000 and after several more mergers that JPMorgan Chase & Co was born. It will be four more years before the merger with Bank One which is notable because it brings CEO Jamie Dimon into the picture.

JPMorgan Chase & Co was instrumental in aiding the US government during the 2008 financial crisis. It backed the accounts of several major banks including Bear Stearns and eventually took over their operations. Today, JPMorgan Chase & Co operates as a financial services company worldwide with operations on every continent and in more than 60 countries.

JPMorgan Chase & Co operates through four segments that are Consumer & Community Banking (CCB), Corporate & Investment Bank (CIB), Commercial Banking (CB), and Asset & Wealth Management (AWM). Services are available in branches in 48 of the 50 US states and around the world. Services are available via ATM, online, mobile, and telephone.

The CCB segment offers traditional banking services to consumers that include but are not limited to deposits, loans, mortgages, and lines of credit. The CIB segment provides investment banking products and services to businesses, institutions, and governments that range from prime brokerage, insurance, corporate strategy, and access to capital markets, to lending, cross-border financing, and derivative instruments. The CB segment provides financial services for small, medium, and large businesses including commercial real estate banking of all types.

The AWM segment provides investment management solutions to institutional and retail investors. This segment also provides retirement products, brokerage, trusts and estates, and investment management products.
EnPro Industries, Inc. engages in the design, development, manufacture, marketing, and service of engineered industrial products in the United States, Europe, and internationally. It operates through three segments: Sealing Technologies, Advanced Surface Technologies, and Engineered Materials. The Sealing Technologies segment offers single-use hygienic seals, tubing, components and assemblies; metallic, non-metallic, and composite material gaskets; compression packing products; hydraulic components; expansion joints; wall penetration products; and dynamic, flange, resilient metal, elastomeric, and custom-engineered mechanical seals for chemical and petrochemical processing, pulp and paper processing, power generation, food and pharmaceutical processing, primary metal manufacturing, mining, water and waste treatment, heavy-duty trucking, aerospace, medical, filtration, and semiconductor fabrication industries. This segment also provides aseptic fluid transfer products for the pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical industries. The Advanced Surface Technologies segment offers cleaning, coating, testing, refurbishment, and verification services for critical components and assemblies used in semiconductor manufacturing equipment, as well as for critical applications in the space, aerospace, and defense markets; and specialized optical filters and thin-film coatings for various applications in the industrial technology, life sciences, and semiconductor markets. The Engineered Materials segment provides self-lubricating, non-rolling, metal polymer, engineered plastics, and fiber reinforced composite bearing products for various applications in the automotive, pharmaceutical, pulp and paper, natural gas, health, power generation, machine tools, air treatment, refining, petrochemical, and general industrial markets. The company was incorporated in 2002 and is headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina.
China Mobile Limited provides mobile telecommunications and related services in Mainland China and Hong Kong. The company offers local calls; domestic and international long distance calls and roaming services; and value-added services, such as caller identity display, call waiting, conference calls, and others. It also provides wireless Internet service, as well as digital applications comprising music, video, reading, gaming, and animation; wireline broadband services; and wireline voice services. In addition, it offers dedicated line and IDC services to corporate customers in a range of industry sectors; and basic corporate communication products comprising corporate VPMN and SMS, and tailor made solutions. Further, the company provides international telecommunications services, which includes IDD, roaming, Internet, MNC, and value added business services. Additionally, it offers telecommunications network planning, design, and consulting services; roaming clearance, IT system operation, and technology support services; value-added platform development and maintenance services; mobile data, and system integration and development services; network construction and maintenance, network planning and optimizing, and training services; electronic communication products design and sale of related products; and non-banking financial services. It also provides mobile cloud research and development services; call center services; e-payment, e-commerce, and Internet finance services; and mobile Internet digital content services, as well as operates a network and business coordination center. The company serves 950 million mobile customers and 187 million wireline broadband customers. The company was formerly known as China Mobile (Hong Kong) Limited and changed its name to China Mobile Limited in May 2006. The company was incorporated in 1997 and is based in Central, Hong Kong. China Mobile Limited is a subsidiary of China Mobile Hong Kong (BVI) Limited.
The Bank of New York Mellon Corporation provides a range of financial products and services in the United States and internationally. The company operates through Securities Services, Market and Wealth Services, Investment and Wealth Management, and Other segments. The Securities Services segment offers custody, trust and depositary, accounting, exchange-traded funds, middle-office solutions, transfer agency, services for private equity and real estate funds, foreign exchange, securities lending, liquidity/lending services, prime brokerage, and data analytics. This segment also provides trustee, paying agency, fiduciary, escrow and other financial, issuer, and support services for brokers and investors. The Market and Wealth Services segment offers clearing and custody, investment, wealth and retirement solutions, technology and enterprise data management, trading, and prime brokerage services; and clearance and collateral management services. This segment also provides integrated cash management solutions, including payments, foreign exchange, liquidity management, receivables processing and payables management, and trade finance and processing services. The Investment and Wealth Management segment offers investment management strategies and distribution of investment products, investment management, custody, wealth and estate planning, private banking, investment, and information management services. The Other segment engages in the provision of leasing, corporate treasury, derivative and other trading, corporate and bank-owned life insurance, renewable energy investment, and business exit services. It serves central banks and sovereigns, financial institutions, asset managers, insurance companies, corporations, local authorities and high net-worth individuals, and family offices. The company was founded in 1784 and is headquartered in New York, New York.
Timothy Alan Hanson

By: Chan Yuan

(Scroll down for video) A father was arrested on a charge of assaulting a police officer after allegedly punching a police in the face, according to police in Montana.

Great Falls police said that they have arrested 19-year-old Timothy Alan Hanson, after being accused of allowing his baby to crawl on the street alone in very cold temperatures.

Hanson has been charged with assault on a police officer, endangering the welfare of a child and resisting arrest. He was booked into jail, and his bail was set at $10,000.

According to the criminal complaint, Detective Jesse Slaughter heard a child crying on the street while walking with his family on Sunday.

The baby was wearing a short-sleeved shirt and pants without socks or shoes. The temperature at the time was around 39 degrees.

Slaughter was trying to find the childas parents when Hanson approached him. Slaughter identified himself as a police officer and Hanson started a physical altercation.

Hanson then punched the police officer in the face and ran into his apartment. When the officer noticed a gun in the apartment, he called for backup.

Hanson resisted arrest, and a Taser had to be used to detain him.
Dutch & French Companies Amongst Rail Operator Shortlist  However Union Calls For End to Nonsense of Foreign Operators Profiting From Welsh Railways

This article is old - Published: Thursday, Oct 13th, 2016

A Dutch, Hong Kong and French rail providers are among the shortlist of preferred bidders for services on the new Wales and Borders franchise and Metro.

The shortlist of four were revealed today by Economy and Infrastructure Secretary Ken Skates.

They have been selected to progress to the next stage in the procurement process to operate rail services in Wales and the Borders from October 2018 as well take forward key aspects of the next stage of Metro.

This will form part of the Welsh Governments ambition to deliver a new not for profit rail model similar to the way in which Transport for London manage public transport services.

The Operator and Development Partner (ODP) will help deliver on the Welsh Governments commitment to an improved, faster and more accessible rail service fit for modern Wales.

The four preferred ODP bidders (in alphabetical order) are:

Abellio Rail Cymru

Abellio operates public transport services in Europe, with both bus and rail networks.

The company is the international arm of the Dutch national rail operator Nederlandse Spoorwegen.

It won its first UK contract, Merseyrail, in 2003  since then, the company has grown to become a major operator in the UK, adding Abellio Greater Anglia and ScotRail to its portfolio. Abellio London & Surrey operates bus services in Central, South and West London and across North Surrey

Arriva Rail Wales/Rheilffyrdd Arriva Cymru Limited

Arriva Trains Wales is the existing franchise holder for the Wales & Borders franchise. It is a subsidiary of Deutsche Bahn the German railway company Headquartered in Berlin.

It runs passenger services to all railway stations in Wales.

The Welsh Government funds around 170 million per year for the franchise which Arriva Trains Wales won the contract for in 2003, this will end in 2018

KeolisAmey

Keolis operate Docklands Light Railway and the urban light rail network in Nottingham.

The company has been in the UK since 1996 and employ 13,000 people across its franchises

Globally, Keolis operates in 16 different countries.

Keolis is 70% owned by SNCF  Frances state-owned railway operator  and 30% owned by Canadian pension fund, Caisse de depot et de placement du Quebec

MTR Corporation (Cymru) Ltd

Mass Transit Railway Corporation was established in 1975 as a Hong Kong government-owned statutory corporation to build and operate a mass transit railway system to meet Hong Kongs public transport needs.

In May 2015, MTR Crossrail commenced an eight-year contract to operate the Crossrail 18-kilometre railway line under development in London and the home counties of Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Essex.

Bidders will now progress to the next stage having demonstrated to the Welsh Government a track record and appetite for providing high quality services as well as the financial standing and expertise to ensure delivery.

Economy and Infrastructure Secretary Ken Skates said: I am pleased with the way we are taking forward our ambitious plans to transform rail services in Wales. The new Wales and borders service from 2018 and the next phase of the Metro are part of an ambitious and creative not for profit model that we are building for Welsh rail.

The rail network will be managed by Transport for Wales and I am pleased to be able to announce progress today on who will deliver some key services within that model.

We now have four highly skilled, experienced companies entering the next, competitive phase and I am keen to hear more from them about what they can offer Wales and how they can deliver on our plans for integrated public transport.

He added: Over the next 10 years I envisage significant strides in the delivery of our public transport network including the electrification of the Swansea, Valleys and North Wales lines, a South and North Wales Metro and widespread structural improvements that are already in the pipeline.

The priorities for the next franchise will include updated rolling stock, reduced journey times and the use of modern technology and approaches to deliver an improved service for passengers across Wales.

Im confident that we are putting the building blocks in place to deliver on our ambition and I look forward to working with these bidders in developing a high quality integrated public transport system for Wales.

The procurement process to select an Operational and Delivery Partner is being undertaken by Transport for Wales, a wholly owned, not-for-profit company established by the Welsh Government.

Transport for Wales will be publicly consulting on proposals in early 2017, subject to that consultation process, it is anticipated that the final contract will be awarded by the end of 2017.

However rail union RMT has called on the Welsh Government to put an end to the nonsense of foreign operators profiting out of Welsh railways as bidders announced to run services in Wales and the Borders.

Mick Cash, RMT General Secretary, said: RMT believes that the Welsh Government will argue that they are taking this action because they dont have the power to run rail services in the public sector. That is an appalling situation which makes a nonsense of the whole policy of devolved government.

RMT is also deeply concerned that the Welsh Government will use this process to allow the successful bidder to lever themselves into both train operations and infrastructure on the Metro section  raising the whole issue of vertical integration under a private company. It is simply wrong to hold up TFL rail operations as not for profit as Arriva are making a killing out of their rail concessions in and out of London.

Mr Cash added: RMT is meeting the Welsh Government shortly to discuss their rail policy and the union will be calling on them to demand the power to run services in the public sector particularly as the Brexit vote will free us from the shackles of EU rail diktat. We will also be demanding that the publicly-owned Network Rail are not privatised by the back door piece by piece.

All these bids will mean that the foreign owned railways will be making profit out of Welsh services whilst the Welsh public sector is not even being allowed to bid  that is a ludicrous situation that we should be uniting to fight.
Local Politicians Urge Wrexham Council to Support Plas Madoc Leisure Centre

This article is old - Published: Thursday, Oct 13th, 2016

Wrexham Council has been urged to follow the Welsh Governments lead and contribute funding to Plas Madoc Leisure Centre.

Last week Wrexham.com reported that Plas Madoc Leisure Centre was to receive a 500,000 grant as part of the Welsh Governments Community Facilities programme.

The grant will help fund a series of urgent repairs to the centre including a replacement roof, fixing wiring and insulation, replacing pool plant equipment and upgrading the CCTV and fire alarm.

Plas Madoc Leisure Centre was saved from closure by a team of volunteers and the Splash Magic Trust in 2014, after Wrexham Council announced they could no longer keep the facility due to ongoing budget cuts.

However in a u-turn in October 2014, Wrexhams Executive Board voted in favour of handing over a 20 year lease to Plas Madoc Leisure Centre over to the Splash Magic Community Trust, along with a 50,000 grant to help kick start the reopening of the leisure centre.

Clwyd South AM Ken Skates is now calling on Wrexham Council to show the same good faith in the volunteer-run Trust, who recently asked for a 50,000 loan from the council to ease cash-flow concerns caused by the huge repair bill it inherited.

Mr Skates said: Im proud that the Welsh Labour Government has shown its support for Plas Madoc Leisure Centre and the local community, and Id love for Wrexham Council to now do the same and agree to help the volunteers.

Maintenance problems passed on to the Trust from the councils watch have already cost more than they are asking for. I would now urge the leadership at the Guildhall to emulate the Welsh Labour Government, which earlier this year gave them an interest-free loan of 1m to fund the revamp of Chirk Leisure Centre and Waterworld in Wrexham.

Before the council voted to close Plas Madoc in 2014, it was running at a 500,000-a-year loss.

Cllr Kevin Hughes, deputy leader of the council Labour group, said: This funding from the Welsh Labour Government comes just at the right time. I dont think anyone envisaged just how much work was required and how much money was needed when they took over the building.

Its a tribute to the dedication of the management team, employees and all the volunteers that theyve kept this much-needed facility going with limited resources.

Local councillor Paul Blackwell added: A loan from Wrexham Council would further ease financial pressures caused by neglect over a number of years. The Welsh Labour Government is investing in the facilities of Wrexham, its about time the council did as well.

Clwyd South MP Susan Elan Jones said the Trust has spent in excess of 50,000 on repairs which had been allowed to deteriorate as a result of the council assuming eventual demolition of the building.

Ms Jones added: There is clearly great support from the public and the profile of the centre is rapidly growing, its successes being noted on a national scale. I am also aware of the contributions of community councils such as Cefn Mawr, Ruabon and Rhos, who are doing everything possible on very tight budgets to support Plas Madoc Leisure Centre.

I feel that the population of Wrexham would welcome their council supporting such a worthy cause.

However Cllr Hugh Jones, Lead Member for Communities and Partnerships, said that Wrexham Council are currently in discussion with management from the leisure centre.

Cllr Jones added: We are delighted that Splash Magic have received the grant from the Welsh Government and that we were able to provide funding in support of their application.

We are currently discussing with the Management of Splash Magic their request for further funding from Wrexham Council and hope for a resolution fairly soon.

Any further funding will need the approval of the Executive Board.
Wales Air Ambulance Charity Carries Out First Baby Transfer

This article is old - Published: Thursday, Oct 13th, 2016

The first baby to be transported in the Wales Air Ambulance Charitys new fourth aircraft has been flown home.

Baby Noah Griffiths, from Carmarthen, was born thirteen weeks prematurely at the unit in Bodelwyddan, but as soon as he was deemed well enough to make the long journey home, medics were faced with the prospect of sending him on a four-hour trip by road.

Noah, and the team charged with taking care of him on the way, were spared the winding trek back to Glangwili Hospital in south west Wales thanks to a new dedicated aircraft introduced by the Wales Air Ambulance (WAA) Charity.

Accompanying him during the aircrafts maiden voyage were Emergency Medical Retrieval and Transfer Service (EMRTS Cymru) medic Jason Hughes, Glan Clwyd Neonatal Consultant Dr Tarek El-Aalem and Advanced Neonatal Nurse Practitioner, Rhian Smith.

Rhian said: It was a great honour to be a part of the first transfer in the new aircraft. We had training with the Wales Air Ambulance and EMRTS Cymru team the week before to familiarise ourselves with the equipment.

It was a bit nerve-wracking, but on the way down I had Noah to focus on. On the way home though, I could appreciate from the air just how amazingly beautiful Wales is.

It was just really nice to be able to get Noah home and back with his own support network.

Noahs parents were waiting patiently for him to touch down at Glangwili Hospital in Carmarthen. His mum Shaylynn says she is thankful to all the team at Glan Clwyd Hospital and the Wales Air Ambulance Charity for their support throughout:

Shaylynn said: The staff up there were really nice. They made you comfortable and they were really good with Noah. We also had accommodation so we could stay with Noah for the full four weeks he was there. It was a bit scary but they looked after him really well, and ever since then hes been fine. They did a really good job with him.

Noahs condition continues to improve.

Noahs journey signalled the launch of the WAAs fourth aircraft as a dedicated service for neonatal and paediatric transfers in Wales.

The North Wales Neonatal Transfer Service, Wales and West Acute Transport for Children (WATCh) service and the Cymru-Inter-Hospital Acute Neonatal Transport Service (CHANTS) will work closely with the WAA Charity and EMRTS Cymru on the pilot operation, which will initially run for six months.

It was also the first time that a Welsh Government/NHS Wales-funded 70,000 bespoke incubator was used. Made in Switzerland, the incubator was designed with input from expert Welsh nursing staff, including Claire Richards from CHANTS and medics from EMRTS Cymru.

It is the most advanced flight incubator in the UK and its introduction to the Wales Air Ambulance Charity helicopters will replace long road journeys for vulnerable babies.

WAA Charity Chief executive Angela Hughes said: Because of its geography, Wales has one of the busiest air ambulances in the UK. We aim to be at the forefront in adopting latest technology to increase the cover we provide.

We are a charity that does not get government funding and is not eligible for lottery funding. It is thanks to the generosity of the people of Wales who continue to make donations that we can keep the helicopters flying.
According to media reports, the Turnbull government is demanding changes to the work agreement (EBA) covering 18,000 employees at the Australian Tax Office (ATO) to make it easier to arbitrarily dismiss workers for under performance.

Epitomising the corporate backing for the ongoing assault on public sector workers, the Canberra Times, a Fairfax Media publication, on October 4 reported the proposed changes under the provocative headline: Public service prepares to sack the Tax Office slackers.

Such scurrilous labelling, designed to portray public sector workers as lazy and overpaid, is routinely rolled out by the mainstream media in a bid to fashion public support for government assaults on jobs, basic services and working class conditions.

The changes are part of a sweeping overhaul of wages and conditions that the Liberal-National government is attempting to impose across the public service during protracted negotiations for new EBAs. Agreements covering 100,000 workers in 13 government departments expired almost three years ago.

During that period, workers at the ATO and elsewhere have overwhelming rejected regressive contract offers by departments that would have stripped away conditions while imposing the governments 2 percent annual pay cap. Many offers have been far below even this figure.

The latest government offer to ATO employees contains a pay increase of 6 percent staggered over three years, but not backdated, resulting in an effective pay freeze for the past three years. In return, workers must deliver millions of dollars in savings each year. Similar ultimatums have been made in other departments.

The reported changes involve replacing the current two-step performance counselling process with a fast-track one-step procedure for employees deemed by line managers to be under-performing.

Under the present rules, a manager must offer workers assistance to improve their performance, such as role clarification and training. Affected employees also can be offered alternative duties. They have a right of appeal if they believe they have been unfairly treated.

Under the proposed changes, a manager would be obliged only to hold a discussion with a worker and if the employee fails to improve in a time specified by the manager, underperformance measures may commence, leading inevitably to dismissal.

The dismissal plan is bound up with the governments ongoing agenda to destroy thousands of jobs across the public sector in line with the demands of the financial and corporate establishment for drastic cuts to public spending.

Amid massive job cuts, resulting in ever-increasing workloads, thousands of public sector workers would be unable to keep up with the ramped-up demand and face being charged with underperformance.

There is evidence that line managers are already making increased allegations of poor performance to remove workers. According to the latest Australian Public Service Commission data, 76 employees were sacked for underperformance in the 2015-2016 financial year, with another 60 fired for misconduct. This was an increase on 2014-2015, when 64 workers were dismissed for underperformance and 57 were sacked for misconduct.

If the fast-track measures are pushed through at the ATO, they will become a benchmark for similar changes across the public sector to assist the government to impose job cuts.

The government has already foreshadowed winding up 250 public sector bodies and is conducting reviews into a host of other departments, with the view to closing them or reducing staff.

Job cuts are continuing, with a further 810 slated to go at the Department of Human Resources, 300 at the Immigration Department and 344 in Social Services. As of February, 3,000 jobs had been shed at the ATO, with another 1,700 to go by the end of year. This amounts to 20 percent of the departments workforce. Over the past decade, under both Labor and Liberal-National governments, over 16,500 federal public sector jobs have been axed.

This ongoing assault has been possible only because the Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU) has worked overtime to restrict all opposition to limited stoppages and impotent protests, and to ensure that public sector workers remain divided on a department-by-department basis.

Throughout the long-stalled EBA negotiations, the union hoped that forcing workers to continuously vote on government offers would eventually wear down resistance, particularly in key departments, opening the floodgates to the imposition of regressive outcomes across the public sector.

In line with this agenda, at the end of last month the CPSU rushed to comply with a directive by the Fair Work Commission (FWC) to end limited rolling stoppages by Border Force employees, following an application to the industrial tribunal by the Department of Immigration and Border Protection (DIBP).

The suspension could clear the way for the FWC to enforce an arbitrated outcome in the DIBP dispute, along the lines sought by the governmenta course supported by the CPSU.

A CPSU bulletin on September 30, ordering union members to immediately end industrial action, hailed the FWC ruling with the heading: Member action wins Fair Work hearing. It declared the CPSU will argue in the commission for a termination of bargaining instead of simply suspending industrial action, as this means arbitration and a resolution.

The CPSU, like every other union, insists that the FWC is an independent umpire, in which workers should place confidence. It is nothing of the sort. The FWC is part of the state apparatus, which includes the courts and the police, and is used to enforce corporate demands.

Introduced by the Labor government in 2009, with the full support of the trade unions, the FWC is armed with a barrage of anti-strike provisions and the power to impose severe penalties on workers. The industrial laws also allow the FWC to impose a settlement in a dispute if the parties fail to reach an agreement.

Since its inception, the commission has intervened in dispute after dispute, from the airlines to the waterfront, to shut down industrial action and ensure outcomes in line with the employers requirements.

The unions support the industrial laws because they provide them with further means to contain disputes and enable them to convince employers that they are the most reliable means of policing the workforce.

If the government, with the aid of unions and the FWC, can foist its cost-cutting demands on the border protection workers, the same modus operandiso-called arbitrationwill be utilised throughout the public sector.
At midnight on Monday, officials for Chicago Public Schools (CPS) and the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) announced a last-minute tentative agreement, blocking a strike by 25,000 teachers and paraprofessionals.

The proposed four-year contract is essentially the same as, if not worse than, the one the CTU bargaining committee was forced to reject in February this year after major provisions were leaked on social media, provoking widespread opposition. The agreement is a further attack on the living standards of teachers and the learning conditions of the nearly 400,000 children and young people in Chicagos public schools. If it is forced through, it would set the stage for more school closures, more layoffs and the further dismantling of public education, which for the past eight years has been spearheaded nationally by the Obama administration.

The deal, worked out behind closed doors over the past 15 months by the CTU and the Democratic Party administration of Mayor Rahm Emanuel, is also a devastating exposure of the International Socialist Organization (ISO), whose member Jesse Sharkey is the vice president of the CTU, as an accomplice in the pro-corporate attacks on teachers and public education. The ISO is carrying forward the work it began in earnest with its sabotage of the 2012 Chicago teachers strike, which it sought to falsely portray during and since as a victory.

Immediately following the announcement of details of the latest agreement Monday night, the ISO published a colossally dishonest article, titled Chicago teachers get a tentative agreement, which seeks to market the deal to teachers using phony left rhetoric.

It begins with a lie: Alan Maass [the editor of the ISOs newspaper and web site] and Lee Sustar report on what we know about a tentative deal that headed off the second teachers strike in four years. For the authors to suggest they are just now learning and are only aware of the initial framework of the deal, when their organization has in effect led the contract negotiations, is preposterous.

Throughout the article, Maass and Sustar attempt to portray the CTU as having been locked in a bitter battle with Emanuel and the school board. This fabrication has been repeatedly contradicted by the leadership of the union itself, with CTU President Karen Lewis praising her relationship with Emanuel, and Sharkey offering that everything is on the table in the contract negotiations.

In an admission that discloses the real outcome of the CTU and ISO in heading off a strike, Maass and Sustar write in their article, An open-ended strike could have finished off [Emanuels] already damaged political career. Precisely. Instead of conducting a struggle, the ISO and CTU have instead come to the rescue of Emanuel and the Democratic Party.

About both the latest agreement and the 2012 teachers strike, the authors declare, As in 2012, when the CTUs nine-day strike shook the city, the union appears to have pushed back CPSs harshest concession demands and won some long-sought contract provisions. To claim, however, that anything of substance could have been achieved in the current contract negotiations without a genuine struggle is ludicrous.

They assert the city mostly caved on the so-called pension pickup, in which CPS had previously paid pension contributions equivalent to 7 percent of teachers salaries, a practice that had been implemented in return for wage cuts years ago. In fact, as they go on to blithely note, the pickup will be eliminated for new hires (supposedly to be offset by a salary increase), an effort to divide to teachers and reduce future labor costs.

Offering a craven apology for further major concessions the CTU handed over to Emanuel, they write, Increases in base pay are meager, adding up to 4.5 percent in the final years of a four-year contractCPS will be able to increase CTU members contributions to health care, but by less than 1 percent of total pay over the course of a year. Thats a setback, but other unions have suffered worse in recent bargaining.

What the ISO neglects to mention is what the CTU views as its major achievement in the negotiations: the creation of a joint union-school board advisory budget committee, which will enable the union (and the ISO) to play an even more direct role in the administration of cuts to education.

In a live Facebook interview with Crains Chicago Business on Tuesday, Emanuel, egged on by reporters for the right-wing business magazine to disclose the extent of the attacks on teachers, offers an account that contradicts the rosy picture painted by the ISO. Unable to prevent himself from boasting about the concessions that he extracted, he gloats, I believed in the January deal, as did the [CTU] leadership. They couldnt pass that. So we have the first contract ever between the city and any labor union, let alone the teachers union, that has on the COLA [cost of living adjustments to teachers salaries] 0, 0, 2, 2.5 [yearly percent increases]. If you compared it to January, that was 0, 2.75, 3 and 3.

Second, there hasnt been a change to either the [health care] plans and networks, the deductibles, the premiums, or the co-pays since a little over a decade. This one, theres a significant change to all of those, totaling almost $60 million in health care savings [i.e., cuts to teachers benefits].

Third, while the components are different, the overall financial package of this saving money for CPS and bending the cost curve is the same [as the January proposal]. Emanuel goes on to state that the contracts cuts to teachers compensation would save CPS between $200-300 million dollars over its four years.

There are no doubt further concessions concealed within fine print of the agreement. On Tuesday, CPS spokeswoman Emily Bittner said, During the coming days, CPS will respect the CTUs process for deliberating on this contract, and we expect to have more details to share after the CTU has had a chance to share information with their members, i.e., after the union has had time to spin it and try to ram it through.

The ISO first came into the leadership of the CTU in 2010, when the so-called Caucus of Rank-and-File Educators (CORE), a reform faction in which it figured heavily, was elected. Sharkey became the vice president of the union, and Karen Lewis the president.

In the 2012 contract negotiations, the CTU, aware of the intransigence of Emanuel and the simmering discontent of a membership that had suffered decades of worsening working and living conditions, felt compelled to call a strike in order to get an agreement passed. And while they were fundamentally indifferent to meeting the needs of teachers, they did hope to use the strike to extract concessions from Emanuel which would improve their own institutional interests.

Belying the radical posturing of the CTU, which purported to oppose Emanuels pro-business education agenda, the union waited until September 10, after the Democratic National Convention ended on September 6, so as not to embarrass Obama, the leader of school reform, in his presidential reelection bid.

Neither the ISO nor the CTU predicted or wanted the massive response the strike foundby teachers, school workers and the broader working class of Chicago, which had faced setbacks similar to teachers for years. The CTU attempted to shut down the strike as quickly as possible, calling for a vote by the House of Delegates to end the mobilization after just four days and before an agreement had even been finalized.

The union bureaucrats encountered the unexpected resistance, however, of teachers who were growing increasingly skeptical and angry at the attempts of the CTU to reach a resolution on Emanuels terms. The critical role in this was played by the Socialist Equality Party and the World Socialist Web Site, which provided teachers with an analysis of the social and political forces they faced and called on teachers to demand that they had the right to know what was in the contract they were being asked to sign. The SEP and the WSWS sought to develop the strike into a broader mobilization of the working class in defense of public education and workers rights, which would inevitably pose the question of a political struggle with the Obama administration and the Democratic Party.

Under immense pressure from the Democratic Party in Chicago and nationally to bring teachers back under control, the CTU and ISO, by a combination of intimidation and deception, managed to shut down the strike on the ninth day and force a contract through that met all of Emanuels demands. This included the expansion of test-based evaluation systems, the extension of the school day without compensation, and the granting of broad authority to principals to hire and fire teachers. At the time, Lewis openly admitted that the deal was an austerity contractcontrary to the claims of the ISO.

The defeat of the strike paved the way for closing nearly 50 schools, laying off thousands of teachers and slashing hundreds of millions in school funding. The CTU, meanwhile, received its quid pro quo for services rendered when the city allowed one of its affiliates to organize teachers at a charter school system.

Following the events of 2012, the CTU and ISO have shifted further to the right. They determined that they would never again allow teachers to almost get out of hand and have instead sought to develop closer ties with Emanuel.

In the current period, the ISO is seeking at all costs to suppress the opposition of teachers and maintain the political domination of the Democratic Party, particularly in the immediate run-up to the presidential elections. With the American Federation of Teachers having been the first union to endorse Hillary Clinton, a warmonger and shill for Wall Street, the last thing either the CTU or ISO wants is for a potential teachers strike to disrupt their cozy relationship with the Democrats.

In the final analysis, the limitless treachery of the ISO is driven by its class interests. It represents a thin layer of the upper-middle class, including trade union bureaucrats, professionals and academics. It is pro-war and deeply hostile to the working class. It seeks privileges and positions of influence for itself and is profoundly hostile to socialism and the interests of the working class.

A precondition for waging a successful struggle in the coming periodfor public education, job security, health care, a decent retirement and other basic social rightsis the sober assessment of the class nature, program and record of the ISO, and on that basis the understanding of the necessity to conduct an intransigent fight against it.
French President Francois Hollandes decision to cancel his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, amid deep military tensions between NATO and Russia, comes as Washington and its European allies escalate the pressure on Russia, threatening it with war in Syria.

The meeting between the two heads of state was slated for October 19, for the inauguration in downtown Paris of a Russian Orthodox spiritual and cultural center consisting of a church, a school, and cultural services of the Russian embassy. The meeting reportedly was confirmed by the Elysee presidential palace with the Kremlin during the September truce in Syria. As fighting intensified around Aleppo, however, and the NATO powers escalated their threats against Russia, the meeting no longer corresponded to Hollandes strategy.

To allow US- and European-backed Islamist militias to reinforce their positions around the strategic city of Aleppo, last week France tried to push through a UN resolution demanding a no-fly zone over Aleppo. This would have prevented Russian warplanes from supporting Syrian government troops against the Islamist militias. Predictably, the resolution was vetoed by Russias delegation on the UN Security Council.

At the beginning of the week, French officials made clear that any visit by Putin to Paris would lead to an open confrontation over Syria.

On Monday, French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said, If the President of the French Republic decides that the Russian president is coming, it will not be to discuss pleasantries, but to speak truths. He added, There are war crimes, it is the General Secretary of the United Nations that said so. Afterwards, one must determine who is responsible.

On Tuesday, the Elysee reported that Putins visit had been postponed indefinitely: There was a discussion between the Kremlin and the Elysee this morning to propose a working visit on Syria at the Elysee, but ruling out participation by the president in any other event. In response, Russia has just indicated that it prefers to postpone the meeting scheduled for October 19.

The Hollande administrations denunciations of war crimes in Syria are hypocritical lies. Hollande is proceeding ruthlessly with contempt for the Syrian people, as the main forces responsible for the war are the NATO imperialist powers.

The war in Syria is an attempt by the imperialist powers to bring down Assad as they did the Libyan regime in 2011, with Islamist proxy forces funded by the Persian Gulf oil sheikdoms and armed by the imperialist powers. These Al Qaeda-linked militias have repeatedly carried out massacres against ethnic and religious minorities in Syria.

Above all, it is imperialist foreign policy, composed of pillage and massacres aimed at dominating the oil-rich Middle East, that constitutes a political crime. The NATO proxy war in Syria has caused the deaths of nearly a half million people and forced into exile over 10 million who are now living in refugee centers in Syria, trapped in refugee camps in neighboring countries, or desperately trying to obtain refugee status in Europe.

In this policy, Francethe former colonial power in Syria, which it plunged into war twice in the 20th century in order to crush anti-imperialist uprisingsplays a particularly aggressive role. It pressed for a direct NATO intervention in 2013, although London, and ultimately Washington, both decided not to launch NATO troops in a war against Damascus.

Now, as it denounces Moscow and the Assad regime over the fighting in Aleppo, Paris is preparing Frances participation in the planned bombardment of Mosul, the main Iraqi city controlled by the Islamic State militia, that could force hundreds of thousands of Iraqis to flee. Hollandes Socialist Party (PS) government has sent the aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle to the region and is organizing the intervention of French special forces on Iraqi soil. This week, two French parachutists in Erbil in Iraqi Kurdistan were wounded by a booby-trapped drone.

NATOs military escalation in Syria goes hand in hand with a rapid movement towards the right of the entire French political establishment.

Hollande has seized upon terror attacks in France and Belgiumcarried out by the same Islamist networks that are working with NATO intelligence agencies to fight Assadto impose a state of emergency, first used during Frances war against Algerian independence. The main target of this state of emergency is the working class, whose protests against the PS anti-worker labor law were met with repeated police crackdowns under the terms of the state of emergency.
Tens of thousands in the southeast United States continue to be impacted in the wake of Hurricane Matthew, which came ashore late last week. Thirty-eight people have died due to circumstances caused by the storm, including record flooding.

Over the weekend, areas throughout the southeast USincluding the states of Florida, Georgia, South Carolina,North Carolina and Virginiasaw record levels of rainfall. According to Climatesignals.org, three tide gauges from Georgia to Virginia saw record-setting storm surges from Friday through Sunday. In addition, areas farther inland saw flooding for hundreds of miles. One location, Fayetteville, NC, saw more than double its previous rainfall record of 6.80 inches Saturday, when it rained more than 14 inches in a single evening.

More than half of the deaths, 20, occurred in North Carolina, as cities and towns have been inundated with surging rivers along the shores. As of Wednesday, 110,000 people in North Carolina still remained without power in their homes. Over 4,200 of the states residents have been evacuated to shelters in nearby schools and recreation centers. Throughout the state, over 2,000 people required emergency evacuation, including 100 needing airlifts, as floodwaters destroyed nearly 7,000 homes.

In Greenville, over 10 percent of the citys more than 90,000 residents have been evacuated. The citys regional airport has grounded flights until October 20 and nearby East Carolina University has canceled classes.

Certain parts of the state were still going through ongoing floods. And now we have other parts of the state that are about to deal with some very serious circumstances, especially along two of our major rivers, said North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory, referring to conditions along both the Tar and Neuse rivers in the northeast part of the state.

As of Monday October 10, as many as one-third of the states 100 counties remained under an official state of emergency. On Monday night, a North Carolina state trooper shot and killed a man in the town of Lumberton in the states southeast. According to a statement released by the governor, the police killing occurred in a swift water incident as police were involved in search and rescue. The name of the individual killed is being withheld until further information is available.

McCrory warned residents, [d]o not get near the water  It will kill you while declaring that it was unacceptable that some still had not evacuated high-danger areas.

Hurricane Matthews record rainfalls occurred even as the storm system dissipated and the hurricane was downgraded to a post-tropical storm. When it comes to extreme precipitation, the human fingerprint is clear, stated the website Popular Science. The website noted that as global temperatures increase, higher levels of condensation will be stored in the atmosphere, leading to increased rainfalls.

While Matthew didnt produce many iconic scenes of palm trees felled by high-speed winds, it added, [t]he biggest hazards often come in small dosesa million tiny drops that add up to a devastating flood.

Aside from excoriating the public for supposedly failing to take the flood warnings seriously, US officials offered little more than public gestures of hand-wringing and empty condolences to the millions affected by the storm and floods. Such were the statements of President Barack Obama, who was in North Carolina Tuesday to stump for Democratic Party nominee Hillary Clinton: A lot of communities are dealing with terrible flooding Lives have been lost, and so the entire country has been thinking about North Carolina.

As is the case in such circumstances, aside from a few rhetorical platitudes, no serious steps will be taken to compensate those who have had their livelihoods and homes destroyed by the hurricane.

Nor will the crumbling US infrastructure be upgraded in order to cope with the predicted effects of disasters caused by climate change. According to a 2013 infrastructure report in North Carolina, 29 percent of the states dams are considered high hazard, meaning that their failure could lead to significant loss of life, homes, utilities, highways or roads and commercial buildings. According to the report, less than 30 percent of dams deemed high hazard have emergency action plans put in place that meet federal standards.

In addition, the report notes that over 60 percent of communities statewide lack steady storm water infrastructure funding, meaning they are forced to raise funds locally for any significant infrastructure projects, a task which is considerably harder to do in more impoverished areas.

An article published Wednesday in the Washington Post details the social impact of the flooding in North Carolina. The flooding has dealt a direct blow to the poorest section of North Carolina, a tract of farmland and towns struggling after losing manufacturing jobs, it says. The Post quotes Rev. William Barber, the president of the states chapter of the NAACP, as saying [w]hen a flood like this hits, the pain of it is exacerbated by the poverty What were talking about, particularly in eastern Carolina, are some of the poorest communities in the countryblack and white, who already had economic challenges before something like this.
To conclude her three-day Africa visit which also took her to Mali and Niger, German Chancellor Angela Merkel travelled to the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa on Tuesday where she was welcomed with military honours.

Her reception speaks volumes about the reactionary character of the return of German militarism to Africa. Just two days prior to the chancellors visit, the Ethiopian regime declared a six-month state of emergency in order to undertake even more brutal measures to suppress popular protests.

On the previous weekend, heavily armed security forces attacked a mass rally to mark the traditional harvest festival of the Oromo people. Fifty-five people were killed, according to official statistics, but opposition sources reported more than 650. Youtube videos showed helicopters dropping tear gas onto the crowd of people and security forces firing into the crowds.

According to media reports, the army has shot more than 1,000 people since the protests broke out last November in the Oromo and Amhara regions.

The protests are directed against the government of the Ethiopian Peoples Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), which has governed the country in an authoritarian manner since 1991 and brutally suppressed all opposition. The uprising by the Oromo and Amhara peoples was triggered above all by the governments land policy, which compels impoverished farmers to sell off their land for next to nothing to the state in order for it to be sold off to foreign investors.

With a population of 92 million and an average gross national income of $570, Ethiopia is among the poorest countries in the world. The economic growth of the past decade has benefited only a small corrupt ruling elite. The vast majority of the population lives below the absolute poverty level. According to World Bank data from 2015, more than 30 percent of the population in 2011 had to live on less than $1.25 a day.

The repressive measures of the regime are so obvious that even sections of the bourgeois press in Germany could not avoid discussing it. If we had peace in this country, then 200 people would not have died in this way, Biru Tadese, the father of a victim, told ARD. Who should we complain to? The government acts like God. Who should we talk to? We just bury our dead. I saw how they loaded bodies onto trucks like wheat or corn. But these are human beings.

Another father named Khala complained, My son just went out to charge his phone. They shot him from behind as he tried to run away from them. He never threw any stones, nothing. He is a teacher. My son died even though he did nothing bad.

None of this prevented Merkel from meeting with Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn and the commission president of the African Union (AU), Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma. She presided over the opening of the so-called Julius Nyerere building for peace and security, which was funded by Germany to the tune of 30 million, as planned. It will serve as the headquarters for the AU and has a conference hall as well as a store and headquarters to lead military interventions.

It is becoming ever clearer that an important factor in the imperialist powers offensive in Africa is the fear of a revolutionary upsurge of the masses as took place in Egypt and Tunisia five years ago. At a joint press conference with Desalegn, Merkel offered German support for the Ethiopian police and warned, The hatred and dissatisfaction towards the political institutions is growing to such an extent that the acceptance of the state is no longer there.

In her speech to the AU, Merkel also made clear to the African regimes that she supports the suppression and brutal exploitation of their populations in the name of peace and security. She cynically declared, The African Union and its regional organisations have demonstrated how important the ability to act is. With rapid reactions and negotiations, it has been possible to prevent several large-scale outbreaks of violence. This experienced responsibility saves lives and opens new perspectives.

Merkel made clear the perspectives she was talking about in her subsequent remarks. She called for the prevention of illegal migration, caused by Africans with completely wrong impressions setting off for Europe. To this end she referred to the migration partnerships with the European Union (EU). Under these agreements, despots like the Egyptian dictator al-Sisi, Sudans Omar el-Bashir and even Desalegn himself will receive 1.8 billion from the EU to detain refugees in Africa and keep them away from Europe.

In addition, Merkel praised Germanys military interventions in Africa. Of the German armys military operations in Mali, she said, Germany is making its own contribution there. Up to 600 German soldiers are involved in MINUSMA. Securing the stability of Mali is of decisive significance for developments throughout West Africa.

Berlin is now apparently advancing similar plans in other parts of Africa. Merkel referred to the Democratic Republic of Congo and how ten years ago [] German soldiers ensured that the presidential elections took place peacefully. Now the issue is whether free elections take place, to protect Congo from a deep crisis.

The situation in Burundi caused her great concern. One could see there the danger that old conflicts could flare up once again. By contrast, the engagement of the African Union in Somalia was impressive. Now more than ever it was necessary to direct all forces to stabilise Libya. For this, she explicitly encouraged the African Union to intervene and brings its influence to bear to resolve the conflict.

While Berlin officially opposed the NATO bombardment of Libya in 2011, it has been pushing more strongly into Africa since the foreign policy shift carried out in 2013-14. This has not only included German imperialisms traditional spheres of influence during the colonial period, but also those of its historic rivals.

An article in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung entitled In the French sphere of influence remarked in noticeably excited tones, The European security mission in Mali [] is strongly characterised by German influence and is taking place in a region which was previously an exclusively French sphere of influence and area of interest. Alongside the terror threat and the pressure of economic migration ...Frances declining security resources had contributed to the destabilisation of countries on the southern border of the Sahara and created new conditions. Mali showed [t]he answer the European Union is trying to givewith overwhelmingly German weight.

The FAZ left no doubt that the German-European mission in Mali is only the prelude to a much broader process of recolonising the continent, which is rich in resources and has a large population. The intervention was spreading also into Malis neighbours. Four further states in the Sahel regionChad, Niger, Burkina Faso and Mauritaniawould be incorporated into the military and civilian strengthening of their security forces. The Eucap Sahel mission, which was led by German diplomat Albrecht Conze, was preparing a much more energetic expansion into neighbouring countries.

Diplomats under the EU flag were currently being sent to the capital cities of the countries concerned to register their security deficits. It would soon become clear how many forces from European countries would be required to cover them. Germany would certainly then have to mobilise more forces.

Therefore it was timely that the German air force is in the process of building an air transportation base in the heart of the Sahel zone in Niamey, the capital of Niger. 10 million had already been allocated for the coming year to establish waiting rooms and permanently accommodate the German contingent.
One week after Hurricane Matthew struck the southern coast of Haiti, the full dimensions of the devastation inflicted on the people of this impoverished Caribbean nation are only beginning to emerge.

The unofficial death toll has risen well past 1,000. Tens of thousands are injured and unable to receive medical aid, with hospitals and clinics badly damaged and lacking basic supplies such as painkillers and antibiotics, not to mention power and clean water. The United Nations estimates that 2.1 million Haitians--more than 20 percent of the countrys population--have been affected by the storm, with 1.4 million in urgent need of humanitarian assistance.

What is still to come will almost certainly be worse. The crops of Haitis southern coast have been wiped out and there are warnings of famine. Cholera cases are again on the rise. The disease has already claimed the lives of over 10,000 Haitians after being introduced into the country by United Nations peace-keeping troops.

The immense suffering from Hurricane Matthew comes less than seven years after the 2010 earthquake, which killed 230,000 people, injured 300,000 more, and left over 1.5 million people homeless. As we wrote at the time, the people of Haiti were victims not merely of a natural catastrophe. The lack of infrastructure, the poor quality of construction in Port-au-Prince and the impotence of the Haitian government to organize any response are determining factors in this tragedy.

These social conditions are the product of a protracted relationship between Haiti and the United States, which, ever since US Marines occupied the island nation for nearly 20 years beginning in 1915, has treated the country as a de facto colonial protectorate.

This bitter legacy of imperialist oppression remains the essential factor in the horrific impact of natural disasters like Hurricane Matthew.

In the wake of the 2010 earthquake, international donors pledged $10.4 billion for Haiti, including $3.9 billion from the US. The chief figure overseeing this relief effort was Bill Clinton, whose previous gift to the people of Haiti was a trade deal that eliminated tariffs on rice imports from the US subsidized by the American government, bankrupting Haitis own rice producers and leaving the country unable to feed itself.

Welcoming the earthquakes death and destruction as a golden opportunity for further capitalist profit-making, the former Democratic president vowed that the aid money would allow Haiti to build back better. Nearly seven years later, the universal question asked by Haitians is what happened to the money?

Today, just as in 2010, Haiti remains the poorest and most socially unequal country in the Western Hemisphere. While the masses of Haiti remain mired in poverty, the former US president and his wife Hillary, the 2016 Democratic presidential candidate, have seen their own wealth soar, raking in an estimated $230 million in income since Bill Clinton left the White House.

The couple parlayed lives supposedly spent in public service into admission into the upper stratosphere of American wealth, with incomes in the top 0.1 percent bracket. The source of this vast wealth was a political machine that might well be dubbed Clinton, Inc. This consists essentially of a seedy money-laundering operation to ensure big business support for the Clintons political ambitions as well as their personal fortunes. The basic components of the operation are lavishly paid speeches to Wall Street and Fortune 500 audiences, corporate campaign contributions, and donations to the ostensibly philanthropic Clinton Foundation.

It was the foundation that played a prominent role in Haiti after the 2010 earthquake. Its most visible legacy is a low-wage garment factory run by a South Korean company known for its use of violence and intimidation to subdue its workers, alongside a pair of luxury hotels catering to businessmen seeking opportunities to extract profit from the oppression of the super-exploited Haitian working class.

In an investigation of the foundations activities in Haiti, ABC News wrote that the garment factory has under-delivered on projected jobs. It continued: Haitian workers have accused managers of bullying and sexual harassment. Andafter opening its factory in the Haitian industrial park--built with $400 million in global aid--the Korean firm became a Clinton Foundation donor and its owner invested in a startup company owned by Hillary Clintons former chief of staff.

The report made clear that the relief operation did more for the Friends of Bill than for the Haitian masses, and that those who coughed up donations to the Clinton Foundation were rewarded with opportunities to mount profitable ventures in Haiti.

In addition to Hillary Clintons former chief of staff at the State Department, the Democratic candidates younger brother, Tony Rodham, also cashed in on the Clinton connection in Haiti, including through his position on the advisory board of a US company that in 2012 secured the first gold mining permit issued in the country in half a century. The Haitian Senate subsequently put a hold on the controversial permit.

The Clinton Foundation is emblematic of the role played by imperialist humanitarianism. In Haiti, it serves as an instrument for shoring up Washingtons semi-colonial domination under conditions in which US imperialist hegemony is being challenged by the growth of Chinese trade and investment elsewhere in the hemisphere. In Syria, it provides the pretext for a proxy war that has killed hundreds of thousands of people.

The real relationship of the Clintons to Haiti was further exposed by the decision of the Department of Homeland Security Secretary to resume the deportation of Haitian refugees. While temporarily suspended because of the hurricane, the deportations are to begin as soon as possible. In the meantime, the refugees are being imprisoned in detention camps.

While the Obama administration claimed the action was warranted because of improved conditions in Haiti, it was driven by proof of the exact opposite, in the form of thousands of Haitian refugees arriving at the US-Mexican border. The decision was taken in large part out of fear that allowing them into the country could undermine Hillary Clintons presidential bid.

Anger over the conditions in Haiti is growing. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon warned Monday, Tensions are already mounting as people await help. Among the first moves of the UN has been to extend for six months the mandate of the UN Stabilization Mission (MINUSTAH), which deploys armed peace-keepers in Haiti. US Marines have also been deployed to the country and are reportedly operating with the Haitian National Police against looters.

Overcoming the legacy of imperialist oppression in Haiti is possible only through the revolutionary struggle of the Haitian workers and oppressed, in unity with the workers in the United States and internationally, to put an end to the capitalist system.
Thousands of plantation workers are continuing a protest campaign that began on September 27, demanding an increase in their daily wage to 1,000 rupees ($US6.86). They have defied a call by the Sri Lankan government and the trade unions on October 5 to stop their actions. The present daily wage with allowances of a tea-plucking worker is just 620 rupees.

Pickets and demonstrations have stopped traffic in towns and cities across the Nuwara Eliya, Badulla and Ratnapura, Matara, Galle and Colombo districts. Rubber estate workers at Awissawella and Mathugama in the Western Province blocked the main road for nearly two hours.

The government has mobilised the police to ban or disperse protesters, worried that their agitation will encourage struggles by other sections of workers and the poor against the mounting attacks on living conditions and social rights.

Protesting workers have opposed a wage offer made by Labour Minister W.D.J. Seneviratne, backed by trade unions and some plantation companies. According to the Sunday Times, the offer would raise the wage to 730 rupees for three days a week, with the tea plucking target increased from 18-20 kilograms a day to a backbreaking 24 kilograms.

The daily wage on the other three days would remain at 500 rupees, with a tea plucking target of 15 kilograms per day. For any additional harvest, workers would be paid at the rate of 26 rupees a kilogram.

Plantation workers have been kept in the dark about what is happening to their wages. The closed-door discussions between the unions, employers and the government only indicate that a sharp workload increase is being prepared. This exercise is so anti-democratic that the agreements clauses will be revealed to workers only after the unions and the Employers Federation have signed it.

Ceylon Workers Congress (CWC) president Muthu Sivalingam claimed that only a few workers were protesting, but most were obeying the union. On the contrary, workers from several estates in plantation districts have participated in protests, defying the unions.

About 2,500 workers from three Bogawanthalawa estates1,500 at Kotiyagala, 500 at Bogawana and 500 at Selvakandaihave been on strike since October 4, resisting appeals to halt their protests. Workers in these estates are demanding not just the 1,000-rupee daily wage, but also 18 months arrears since the end of the last collective agreement and six days work a week.

Workers who spoke to the WSWS expressed anger about the role of trade unions and discussed the Socialist Equality Party (SEP) statement Sri Lankan plantation workers struggle: Build action committees, fight for socialist policies.

Balakumar, a worker at Kotiyagala, said the CWC, Lanka Jathika Estate Workers Union (LJEWU), National Workers Union (NUW) and Up-country Peoples Front (UPF) had branches in his estate. They all asked workers to stop the strike. Balakumar commented: With high cost of living, even 1,000 rupees is not enough. If these trade unions refuse our demands and sign the collective agreement, we would stop subscriptions for the trade unions.

K. Shanthakumar, from the Drayton estate at Kotagala, explained the harshness of the productivity-based wage system, which has been implemented already by some estate managements. We are working under brutal working conditions, he said. In the past three months the working days of many workers were reduced because they did not reach the target of 14 kilograms.

If we have not reached the target, that day is counted as a half day of work. In this manner, the management cut off the days and we will not be able to complete the 19 days work [per month] that is needed for the incentive payment. As a result, last month I lost 3,400 rupees. The trade unions do not oppose these draconian cuts and they are collaborating with the management.

Last year, the CWC told us that the company agreed to pay around 800 rupees a day but the union was insisting on 1,000 rupees. Now they have dropped that demand and after 18 months they agreed to 730 rupees.

The Tamil Progressive Alliance, a combine of the NUW, DWC and UPF, said they were organising a protest on October 6 at Talawakelle demanding 1,000 rupees, but after the minister of labour announced a 730-rupee daily wage, they cancelled the protest. All the trade unions cheated us.

Commenting on the SEPs call for workers to build action committees and fight for a socialist program, Shanthakumar said: Now plantation workers are coming onto the streets to fight for their wages without leadership. I agree workers must form action committees to continue their fight, breaking from the trade unions. I also very much agree that the action committee leadership must be democratically elected.

The plantation owners, supported by the media and the government, are conducting a propaganda offensive, claiming they cannot pay any increase due to declining tea exports, especially to the Middle East and Russia. Instead, they are pushing for the new system, tied to output.

Planters Association chairman Sunil Poholiyadde told the media: They [plantation companies] had agreed to the increase [with the labour minister] despite being unable to afford such increases due to low commodity prices, as they view the move as the first step toward a productivity-based wage formula.

With the cost of living escalating due to the devaluation of the rupee and increased taxes, workers face grave difficulties to survive. Hence this revolt against the plantation companies, the government and the trade unions.

S. Chandrakanthan, from the Mayfield estate at Kotagala, who was participating in a protest at Fruit Hill junction, Hatton, said: We reject the wage of 730 rupees per day proposed by the company. The government is very far from our demand. We want 1,000 rupees per day. With the present cost of living this is also not enough for us.

All the trade unions have cheated us. We are facing starvation. We cant educate our children with this wage. We voted to bring this government to power but it ignores us. Since all the trade unions betrayed us, our workers decided to leave the trade unions. Chandrakanthan added that in future elections we will not vote for anybody.
The US Department of Justice (DOJ) announced October 7 an investigation into the overcrowded and violent conditions in the state prisons of Alabama. According to the Washington Post, The investigation by the Justice Departments Civil Rights Division will focus on whether male inmates are housed in safe, secure, and sanitary conditions and protected from physical harm and sexual abuse...

The Post quoted Deputy Assistant Attorney General Vanita Gupta as saying, We hope to work cooperatively with the state of Alabama in conducting our inquiry and ensuring that the states facilities keep prisoners safe from harm. Surely these lines were penned by someone at DOJ struggling to keep a straight face.

The timing of the DOJs announcement coincides with a nationwide strike by US prisoners against slave labor in the Alabama units and near slave labor at some 40 to 50 prisons in 24 other states across the country that began September 9. That date was chosen because it coincided with the anniversary of a 1971 uprising by prisoners at the notorious Attica prison in New York against the brutal conditions they faced.

In a national blackout, Americas corporate media has effectively censored any news of the first nationwide work stoppage in state and federal prisons in US history. The action has been organized by the prisoners themselves, with support by their families and such organizations as the Free Alabama Movement (FAM) and the Incarcerated Workers Organizing Committee (IWOC).

As of last week, the Daily Kos web site estimated the strike was continuing in at least 12 states in about 29 prisons. But estimations are very difficult, and many prison officials around the country have denied work stoppages or hunger strikes are going on at all, although inmates are known to have ceased work.

The William C. Holman Correctional Facility near Atmore, on Alabamas Gulf Coast, houses 1,000 inmates even though its official capacity is just 500. It is well known as the most violent prison in Alabama, aggravated by decades of overcrowding. The unit does not have air-conditioning, and in the summer, coastal temperatures soar above 100 degrees Fahrenheit, with high humidity. The prison houses a license plate and a sewing factory where inmates work without pay.

The inmate strike organizers in most states were immediately subjected to prison lockdowns and either thrown into solitary confinement, or threatened with loss of the few privileges they have or with extended prison sentences and denial of access to parole hearings. Planning for the prison work stoppages began at least as early as last April in several states, including Alabama, Texas, and Oregon. Access to phones, the web, and social media has been very difficult for the strikers, and has been ferociously suppressed by prison authorities.

At the Red Onion State Prison in Virginia, during the early days of the strike, 17 prisoners in solitary confinement refused meals for about three weeks in support of the work stoppage. Then, prison authorities split them up and transferred them to other units, a practice which has been widespread.

Prison officials at the William P. Clements Unit in Amarillo, Texas preempted the work stoppage by putting the prison in lockdown on September 8, and according to one inmate, Kevin Rashid Johnson, this has continued for the duration of the national work stoppage.

IWOC announced on its Facebook page that strike-supporting inmates at Merced County Jail in California went on hunger strike, and that the sheriffs department retaliated with violence by its Correctional Emergency Response Team (C.E.R.T.) and attack dogs.

The day after the strike began, hundreds of inmates at the Kinross Correctional Facility in Michigan reportedly returned to their cells peacefully when over a hundred guards armed with shotguns and pepper spray attacked the units. Over a hundred inmates were handcuffed, dragged from their cells, pepper sprayed, some directly in the eyes, and left outside overnight in Michigans Upper Peninsula, during a rain storm.

Of the 2.4 million persons incarcerated in the US, some 900,000 are compelled to work for between 23 cents and $1.15 an hour. In Texas, Arkansas, Georgia, and Alabama, prisoners are forced to work for no wages at allin other words, they are effectively slave labor.

The vast majority of the incarcerated youth and adults in the US grew up in working class neighborhoods and come from poor families. Americas epidemic of imprisonment and killings by police does not afflict inhabitants of Manhattans luxury high-rises or residents of the Hamptons on the east end of Long Island. Business Insider noted this year that the 11962 zip code in the Hamptons was the location of the countrys most expensive homes, which sold for an average of $8.5 million.

Professor Heather Thompson at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor told Mother Jones magazine this month that Some (work) farms in Nevada are paying (inmates) 8 cents a day, Thompson notes that the US Congress created the Prison Industry Enhancement Certification Program (PIECP) in 1979, which provided an incentive for private businesses to use prison labor.

The first sentence at the National Correctional Industries Association website for PIECP reads, The Prison Industry Enhancement Certification Program exempts certified state and local departments of correction and other eligible entities from normal restrictions on the sale of offender-made goods in interstate commerce. In other words the reforms workers struggled for in earlier periods can be abandoned.

Thompson also notes that, Historically, prison labor has been the one thing that tends to really bring prisoners together.

The state of Texas ranks first in the US in the number of prisons, the number incarcerated, and the number of executed persons. The Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) imprisoned 146,843 persons at 109 facilities as of July 31 this year, according to the Dallas Morning News website. Some 10,464 persons are imprisoned in privately owned units. And about 12,500 inmates are female.

In an interview with The Atlantic, Prof. Thompson noted, Texas is one of the largest and most brutal prison systems in the nation, rivaled by states such as Louisiana, but not just Southern states. Northern states and Western states have the exact same brutal conditions.

She also noted that, there has been a wholesale abandonment of the idea that prisoners deserve any good treatment behind bars. In Texas, for example, prisoners are literally locked in cages longer and longer than they have ever been, with no time out of the cell. Its sweltering, of course, because its Texas. Its hundreds of degrees in these cement cages. Theyre serving horrendous time in solitary ... mistreated with lack of food (and) suffering lack of medical care.

Melvin Ray of the Free Alabama Movement told ABC News from inside the William E. Donaldson Correctional Facility, Recidivism is guaranteed in living conditions like these. If I want to smoke crack, I can smoke crack right now. But as Im talking to you, there are 96 men on both sides of me and not a single one of them can get access to a book.

The website, buycott.com, lists 43 major US corporations that are using prison labor.
The Pentagon is threatening to directly intervene militarily in Yemen after charging Wednesday that at least one missile was fired from Houthi-held territory on the guided missile destroyer USS Mason. The US warship was patrolling the Red Sea between the southern tip of Yemen and the northeastern coast of Africa. It is part of a three-ship deployment armed with cruise missiles and carrying US Special Forces.

The alleged missile firing on Wednesday was the second such incident reported in the past four days. On Sunday, the US Navy claimed that two missiles were fired on the USS Mason, also from Houthi-held territory. Both incidents took place in the strategic Bab al Mandab Strait. Houthi officials denied responsibility for the Sunday attack.

The US ship fired salvos in yesterdays incident, reportedly bringing down an incoming missile. There was no damage to any US vessel on either Wednesday or Sunday.

The Pentagon on Wednesday issued a statement warning that it would respond at the appropriate time and in the appropriate manner. On Sunday, a Navy official was more bellicose, declaring that anyone who fires against US Navy ships operating in international waters does so at their own peril. Top US security officials were reportedly meeting Wednesday in Washington to decide on the American response.

NBC Nightly News led its evening program with a report on the missile firing, linking the incident to Iran, which it described as supporting the Houthi insurgency against the US- and Saudi-backed regime of Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi. Hadi was brought to power in a single-candidate election in 2012 that was boycotted by the Houthis.

Hadi was forced to resign and fled the country after Houthi militia seized the capital, Sanaa. He has since resided in Saudi Arabia.

The Houthi insurgents are allied with military forces loyal to ex-president Ali Abdullah Saleh, who was forced out of office by the revolutionary upheavals that shook Yemen in 2011.

The missile incidents follow a savage bombing carried out last Saturday by Saudi war planes on a packed funeral hall in Sanaa that killed at least 140 civilians and wounded more than 500 more. The Saudi attack targeted leading officials in the Houthi-led government in Sanaa, killing them as well as family members and friends.

The Saturday atrocity was the latest war crime in a criminal war waged since March of 2015 by Saudi Arabia and its Sunni Gulf allies and actively assisted by the United States, Britain and France. The onslaught on the most impoverished country in the Middle East is being carried out to oust the Houthis and reinstall Hadi.

Bomb fragments near the funeral home demolished in last Saturdays Saudi attack bore markings identifying them as US-supplied munitions, part of Washingtons multi-billion-dollar arms sales to the Saudi monarchy.

The United Nations reports that the number killed since the Saudis launched the war has risen to 10,000. Hospitals, schools, mosques, refugee camps and residential neighborhoods have been routinely targeted. An estimated 3 million people have been displaced by the war, while half of the population of 14 million is suffering from hunger. Cholera is spreading under conditions where hospitals have been deprived of basic supplies by a Saudi blockade.

Since 2009, the Obama administration has bolstered the Saudi regime with $115 billion in arms and military support. Washington has repeatedly resupplied the Saudi military with bombs and missiles to replace those dropped on Yemen.

The Pentagon is providing the Saudis with targeting information, deploying US personnel to a joint command center that directs the air war. US military planes provide refueling for Saudi warplanes and the US Navy is helping enforce the blockade aimed at starving the Yemeni population into submission.

On Wednesday, Stratfor, a private security web site with close ties to the Pentagon and CIA, called a US military response to the reported missile firings almost inevitable. The stage is being set for the US to extend its war in the Middle East to Yemen, even as it prepares to escalate its intervention in Iraq and dramatically step up its war for regime-change in Syria, bringing closer a direct military confrontation with Russian forces in the region.
JACKSON COUNTY, FL (WTXL) - Due to recent car burglaries, Jackson County deputies have warned citizens to be wary.

The Jackson County Sheriff's Office released a public service message on Wednesday regarding recent car burglaries in the area. They have reminded people to lock their doors on their cars whether at home or in public.

They said to keep valuables out of sight. They said items like money, credit cards, and check books all invite criminals to break into cars.

Deputies have asked citizens to hide these items in the trunk of the car or carry them inside their homes.

They also recommended that gun owners list all the serial numbers of each gun they have.
YAKIMA, Wash. -- There are no guarantees, but it's possible you'll see Batman knocking back highballs at a local bar on Saturday.
An aide to Hillary Clinton aide says Donald Trump's campaign needs to explain its "possible ties to foreign espionage."

Spokesman Glen Caplin says it's "clear" that the hacking of top Clinton adviser John Podesta's email "is the work of the Russian government." Caplin attributes that to the FBI, though the bureau has not said so publicly. Russia's ambassador to the United States has denied that his country is interfering in the American presidential election.

Caplin also says it's "disturbing" that longtime Trump associate Roger Stone has confirmed he had communications with Wikileaks, the organization that released Podesta's emails. Stone told the AP that he has had "back-channel communications" with Wikileaks founder Julian Assange.

Stone separately told the AP that it was "categorically false" that he had advance warning about Podesta's hacked emails, as the Clinton adviser has suggested.
A 22-year-old Syrian man arrested in Germany for a suspected Islamic extremist bomb plot killed himself Wednesday in a prison cell in Leipzig, Saxony's state Justice Ministry said late Wednesday.

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Justice Ministry spokesman Joerg Herold told The Associated Press that Jaber Albakr killed himself sometime in the evening, but that the incident was still being investigated.

The development was sure to add to pressure on Saxony state authorities, who had already been criticized for allowing Albakr to slip through their fingers as they prepared to raid an apartment where he had been staying in the city of Chemnitz on Saturday.

Albakr, who had been under surveillance by German domestic intelligence since last month, was observed exiting the apartment building and authorities fired a warning shot. He nevertheless was able to elude police on the scene and flee the city. Inside the apartment they found highly volatile explosives and a home-made bomb vest.

Jaber Albakr (Photo: AP)

Albakr, who had been granted asylum after coming to Germany last year, was finally arrested Monday in the city Leipzig after three fellow Syrians tied him up and alerted police.

Earlier Wednesday, Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere said that Albakr had undergone a security check last year, but it did not turn up anything suspicious.

"There was a check against security authorities' data in 2015, but without any hits," he said. "It's not clear when he was radicalized."

German authorities have said they believe he had links to the Islamic State group and was thought to be planning to attack a Berlin airport, possibly as soon as this week.

German media have reported that after his initial arrival, Albakr later returned to Syria through Turkey and then came back to Germany. De Maiziere said that was part of the investigation and would not comment.

Federal prosecutors also refused comment.

The three Syrians who captured the suspect have already been granted asylum, de Maiziere said in response to calls for their applications to be fast-tracked due to their heroism.

He said, however, that their "behavior deserves praise and recognition."
A 25-year-old Palestinian from Nazareth Illit, who was previously a resident of the West Bank, was arrested during Yom Kippur on suspicion of uploading incitement material to Facebook.

According to the police, the suspect published pictures of terrorists who had carried out suicide attacks accompanied with comments praising their actions. He had also uploaded pictures of himself holding a gun.

The magistrate court in Nazareth extended the suspects arrest yesterday by four days.
The Gaza Strip is one of the most densely populated places on Earth, and on the eve of Yom Kippur on Tuesday, its two millionth resident was born in a Rafah hospital.

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Two millionth Gazan

X

Shortly after his birth, the Palestinian Interior Ministry released a statement that read, "The Gaza Strip broke the barrier of two million people when the baby Walid Shaath was born. The two million and first baby is Lana Ayad from Gaza City."

The happy family (Photo: AFP)

Walid's father, Jihad Shaath, said in reply, "I hope that just like we broke the barrier of two million in the Gaza Strip, we'll also break the Israeli blockade on it. I hope that my son will become one of the soldiers of the al-Aqsa (Martyrs' Brigade) who will bring about the liberation of the al-Aqsa Mosque."

Jihad and Walid's mother, Tahani, received a certificate from the Interior Ministry.

Walid Shaath (Photo: AFP)

Passing two-million-persons mark, Gaza has 4,661 inhabitants per square kilometer. In the West Bank, by comparison, which is 16 times larger than the Gaza Strip, there are about 2.5 million Palestinians.
A plane crash that killed a student pilot and left his flight instructor with serious burns appears to have been a suicide attempt, a US official familiar with the investigation said.

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The two men had an altercation inside the cockpit of the small plane and the instructor was unable to regain control from the trainee before it crashed near the Connecticut headquarters of a military jet engine manufacturer, according to the official, who was not authorized to speak publicly and spoke Wednesday on the condition of anonymity.

The Piper PA-34 Seneca crashed with the two men aboard during a training flight Tuesday in East Hartford near the headquarters of Pratt & Whitney, while returning to Brainard Airport in Hartford, authorities said. The flight instructor was badly burned, but survived.

The instructor described the student pilot as disgruntled about learning to be a pilot, the US official said.

The Jordanian pilot who was killed

The flight instructor is Arian Prevalla, 43, and the student was Feras Freitekh, a 28-year-old Jordanian national, said a law enforcement official, who wasn't authorized to disclose the information and spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity.

Prevalla's social media pages indicate he is president of the American Flight Academy and a managing member of the Hartford Jet Center, both based in Hartford. The pages say he is originally from Albania and now lives in Hartford. On LinkedIn, Prevalla said he received a bachelor's degree in Aviation Science from Mountain State University, a now-defunct university in Beckley, West Virginia.

Plane crash results in a fireball

Public records show Freitekh received a private pilot certificate last year from the Federal Aviation Administration. They also indicate he lived in the Chicago suburb of Orland Hills since 2013, but authorities there said that there was no record he ever lived in the village but that he received mail there at the home of a friend of his father, who worked for a container company in a nearby town.

The survivor told police detectives it was not an accident, according to East Hartford Mayor Marcia Leclerc.

"It's troubling," Leclerc said. "But I also know that stories change and information can be skewed. We're waiting for the facts to come out."

Wreckage from the crash (Photo: AP)

Authorities said the student and instructor were about to land at Brainard Airport in Hartford when the plane struck a utility pole and crashed onto the road at around 4 p.m. Tuesday, bursting into flames. The crash site is a short distance from the airport, across the Connecticut River and in line with the runway.

"The path that the plane took could have been much worse. So we're very fortunate in that sense," East Hartford Police Chief Scott Sansom said.
WASHINGTON 

Even after the latest debate between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump , there is still a sharp Jewish dilemma in the current US presidential election. On the one hand, how can a Jew identify with such a morally problematic and controversial figure like Trump ? On the other hand, how committed are the Jews to the Democratic Party, after many of its leaders and voters have distanced themselves in recent years from the traditional core values of the American center?

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For decades, US Jews identified with the liberal center that promised them the status of a minority which shares the American vision and is identified with the American democratic ethos, which was also attached to the Israel-US relations. But this ethos has been worn down in recent years among progressive democrats, like Bernie Sanders, who have also moved away from sympathizing with the Jews as a minority.

The conservative right gave the Jews a safer place.

On the one hand, how can a Jew identify with such a morally problematic and controversial figure like Trump? On the other hand, how committed are the Jews to the Democratic Party? (Photo: Reuters)

In addition, while progressive Democrats ceased to see Israel as a democratic state but rather as an occupying state, the Republicans presented Israel as a spearhead in the battle for worldwide democracy.

In the current elections, Trump represents the perception of returning to tribalism, fear of universalism, a demand for American greatness based on the values of the past and an objection to anti-capitalist social activism. All these are values which Jewish liberals were always afraid of, in addition to their fear of the religious-Christian elements of this perception.

Many of the more religious Jews, the Orthodox and ultra-Orthodox, US Jewrys fastest growing group, feel secure even against these messages. They are not afraid of the old white anti-Semitism and do not hesitate to define themselves as a separated tribal group. In a meeting with Republican Jews, I was jokingly told by my hosts that the difference between a Reform Jew and Trump is that the latter will at least have Jewish grandchildren.

The Jewish liberals, on the other hand, are caught in a trap. Their communities are growing weaker due to mixed marriages and an erosion of their Jewish ethnic identity. The focus on universal social activism, which they like to refer to as tikkun olam, has moved them further away from the tribal Jewish experience. There is a reason why US President Barack Obama used the expression we are all Jews to define the American liberal Jewry.

In the upcoming elections in November, many of the tribal Jews will vote for Trump although his image, personality, rhetoric and messages are very far off from the American Jewish cultural experience and tradition. They too have essentially moved away from these values and this tradition. Nonetheless, the large Jewish majority is expected to vote for Clinton because it perceives Trump as unexpected and dangerous.

Despite the dramatic changes taking place in the Jewish community and the numerical increase of the more religious forces, most US Jews are concerned that Trump may lead a radical change in direction. They believe that he cannot lead the US in an organized manner and that his term as president may evoke a social unrest which will also affect the economic system. Even Jews in the Democratic center, who are repelled by the progressive voice in the party and do not trust Clinton, will prefer her conventionalism,- the expected - even if it is problematic.

Surprisingly, the Israeli issue has almost disappeared in this election. The Democratic camp is avoiding a conflict with the Israeli government at this stage, for fear that the Jewish forces in the center that applauded Trump at the AIPAC conference will take a further step and vote for him. In fact, it is Clintons campaign which is stopping the administration right now from advancing an international initiative on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Meanwhile, the US Jewrys leadership is sitting on the fence and trying not to get caught in the eye of the storm, which is reaching new intolerable lows. The American Jewry, just like all of America, is greatly divided in this election campaign, but its leaders understand very well that they must make an effort to reduce the internal rifts, including concerning the Israeli issue, as they face the unknown.
The 22-year-old Syrian man arrested in Germany for a suspected Islamic extremist bomb plot, was arrested with the assistance of a Syrian refugee who managed to tie up the would-be killer and tip off the police, according to a report by the Spiegel Online.

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Jaber Albakr, who killed himself Wednesday in a prison cell in Leipzig, approached Mohammad A. at a train station in Leipzig Sunday night and explained that he needed a place to stay overnight as he was unable to return to his own apartment in Chemnitz.

According to Mohammad A., he only discovered that he had agreed to inadvertently harbor the terrorist upon viewing a police announcement on Facebook when he returned home.

Terrorist captured and tied up by Syrian refugees

Mohammad A. immediately reported the matter to his friends who then made their way to his apartment. When Albakr realized that Mohammad A. had discovered his identity, he attempted to bribe them into remaining silent by offering them 1,200 Euros in his possession. "But we told him: 'You can give us as much money as you want, but we're not letting you go,'" said Mohammad A.

After calling the police but failing to establish contact due to technical difficulties, the group tied Albakr up using telephone cables, took a photo of him and drove to the police station to report the matter directly.

"I am so thankful to Germany for taking us in," Mohammad A. told the tabloid Bild as reported in the Spiegel Online. "I couldn't allow him to do anything to the Germans."

The heroic actions prompted gratitude from Chancellor Angela Merkel. Moreover, Saxony Governor Stanislaw Tillich praised their "courageous and responsible" actions.
The Palestinian delegation to the United Nations successfully initiated an informal meeting of the Security Council on Israeli settlements in the West Bank that is to be held on Friday and to be attended by representatives of B'Tselem.

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According to the UN's website, the "Arria-Formula meeting," which is how Friday's discussion has been defined, is a "very informal, confidential" meeting that enables "Security Council members to have a frank and private exchange of views."

It is believed that this meeting is the Palestinian delegation's first step in a plan to have the Security Council issue a resolution against Israel regarding the settlements.

Friday's meeting will take place at 10am EDT (5pm Israel time) and will be co-chaired by Angola, Egypt, Malaysia, Senegal and Venezuela. The meeting's title is 'illegal Israeli Settlements: Obstacles to Peace and Two-State Solution.'

UN Security Council (Photo: EPA)

B'Tselem's executive director, Hagai El-Ad, will present an up-to-date summary of West Bank settlements to the 15 countries that sit on the Security Council. "This is the most important international forum that deals with the occupation and perhaps the only one that can promote significant action on the matter," he said.

"This will be one of the most important diplomatic opportunities in the history of B'Tselem," El-Ad added. He explained that he would repeat on Friday that "the occupation is not an internal Israeli matter, and the Israeli public is not authorized to decide if it wants it to continue. It is a clear international matter."

A press release from his organization stated, "The responsibility for ending the occupation and the human rights violations that it entails lies first and foremost with Israel, yet this reality will not change as long as the international community stands idly by."

Israel's permanent representative to the UN, Amb. Danny Danon, criticized the meeting, saying, "The Palestinians continue to look for a way to bypass direct negotiations and are generating diplomatic terrorism against Israel. It's sad and disappointing that precisely on days of self evaluation and prayers for the unity of the people of Israel, Israeli organizations are giving moral cover to the persecution of Israel at the UN."

Peace Now announced that it would not be participating in the meeting. However, Lara Friedman of Americans for Peace Now will speakher organization is affiliated with but not subsidiary to the Israeli Peace Now.

The Israeli organization did take the opportunity to condemn Danon, stating, "Danon needs to explain that this year alone, Israel built 1,200 new housing units in the territories. Danon needs to explain that there is no Palestinian people and in the opinion of the Israeli government, a two-state vision isn't forthcoming.

"But Danon is afraid, and so instead he attacks the Israeli peace camp and spreads hateful messages against those who oppose him and the government. Tomorrow, there will be no Israel representative of Peace Now before the Security Council. As for the negative message seeking to disconnect from the world and destroy Zionism, we leave that to Danon."
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has agreed to submit a request to the Israeli Supreme Court to postpone the decision to evacuate Amona in the West Bank by half a year to enable the construction of a legal solution, according to Bayit Yehudi officials.

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The reported decision came following a meeting on Thursday between Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman, Netanyahu and Bayit Yehudi officials but has yet to be confirmed the Prime Ministers Office.

The evacuation, scheduled to commence in December, has been at the center of much controversy over recent weeks and has risked giving rise to a political showdown within the fragile coalition.

Amona (Photo: Tomerico)

Bayit Yehudi party members stated shortly after the meeting that a compromise would have to be struck which enabled both a swift solution to Amona and the placement of mechanisms which would enable a strategic solution to ensure that future evacuation orders could be successfully staved off.

Officials in Bayit Yehudi clarified that in the absence of any other choice, they would have to support legislation that would legalize the outpost, proposed by MK Shuli Mualem-Rafaeli and backed by Likud MKs.

While the govrnment did not confirm the conclusion of the meeting, a diplomatic official said that the prime minister, defense minister and the attorney general were shocked to hear of a briefing provided by Bayit Yehudi Chair Naftali Bennett in which he claimed that the decision to submit the request to the Supreme Court was the fruit of pressure exerted by his party.

In practice, the decision was already taken days ago during discussions between the prime minister, defense minister, the justice minister and the attorney general, said one official. Bennett is once again using the known technique of taking credit for decisions already taken. The request to delay is born out of a desire to find a solution without violence. All the unnecessary talk about the issue of Amona only damages the process.

The political establishment heaped criticism on the government over its decision, citing a flourishing culture of indecision. As usual, the government has decided not to decide on the issue of Amona and has returned the ball to the Supreme Court. Afterward they will complain about the inability to govern and attack the justice system, said Hatnuah Leader Tzipi Livni.
The United Nation Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) passed a draft resolution on Thursday that failed to acknowledge the Jewish people's ties to the Temple Mount, raising ire in Israel.

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Read the full text of the draft resolution here



The proposal "strongly condemns the Israeli escalating aggressions and illegal measures against the Waqf Department and its personnel, and against the freedom of worship and Muslims access to their Holy Site Al-Aqsa Mosque/Al-Haram Al Sharif, and requests Israel, the Occupying Power, to respect the historic Status Quo and to immediately stop these measures."

It omits the Jewish name for the holy sitethe Temple Mountand instead refers to it only by its Muslim nameAl-Haram Al Sharif.

The Temple Mount (Photo: AP)

The Palestinians have demanded that an international delegation experts be sent to the holy sites to examine what they have described as the destruction of historical and archeological heritage by Israel. They allege that this has been carried out in a variety of manners, including the building of the Jerusalem light rail and archeological excavations.

The Palestinians are seeking, inter alia, to appoint a UNESCO permanent observer in Jerusalem and to appoint a series of condemnations of Israeli activities, such as the alleged demolition of a school in Kfar Adumim. Israel claims that it was a dilapidated caravan that was destroyed and "not a school."

The draft resolution, submitted by Algeria, Egypt, Lebanon, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, and Sudan, will be referred to UNESCOs executive board for formal approval next week.

Twenty-four countries voted in favor of the proposal: Algeria, Bangladesh, Brazil, Chad, China, Dominican Republic, Egypt, Iran, Lebanon, Malaysia, Morocco, Mauritius, Mexico, Mozambique, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, Russia, Senegal, South Africa, Sudan and Vietnam.

Six countries voted against it: Estonia, Germany, Lithuania, The Netherlands, United Kingdom and United States.

While 26 countries abstained from the vote: Albania, Argentina, Cameroon, El Salvador, France, Ghana, Greece, Guinea, Haiti, India, Italy, Ivory Coast, Japan, Kenya, Nepal, Paraguay, Saint Vincent and Nevis, Slovenia, South Korea, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Togo, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda and Ukraine.

Serbia and Turkmenistan were absent from the vote.

Israel, along with the United States, has been working in recent weeks to reduce the majority support within UNESCO's executive board. These efforts bore fruit, leading France, Sweden, Slovenia, India, Argentina, and Togo, who initially supported the resolution, to abstain instead.

As part of these efforts, the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs has released a pamphlet of the historical Jewish connection to Jerusalem, which has been distributed to all 120 permanent delegates to UNESCO whose countries have diplomatic relations with Israel.

Israel slams draft resolution

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu slammed the decision to adopt the resolution, saying The theatre of the absurd continues with UNESCO and today the organization has made its most bizarre decision by saying the people of Israel have no connection to the Temple Mount and the Western Wall.

Obviously they have never read the Bible," he continued, but I would advise UNESCO members to visit the Arch of Titus in Rome, where they can see what the Romans brought to Rome after they destroyed and looted the Temple Mount two thousand years ago. One can see engraved on the arch the seven-branched menorah, which is the symbol of the Jewish people as well as the symbol of the Jewish State today.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (Photo: Ohad Zwigenberg)

Surely UNESCO will say that Emperor Titus was a part of Zionist propaganda, he noted wryly.

To say that Israel has no connection to the Temple Mount and Western Wall is like saying China has no connection to the Great Wall of China or Egypt has no connection to the pyramids. With this absurd decision, UNESCO has lost what little legitimacy it once had. However, I believe that the historical truth will prevail, he concluded.

Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked added that the UN is breaking its own record of ignorance and anti-Semitism. An organization that purports to represent science and education, instead presents the rotten politics of dictatorial Islamic countries. Instead of enlightened Western countries leading the organization, some are blindly following the shameful decision.

Israeli efforts against the resolution

In an unusual move, Israel on Thursday sought the Holy See's help in forestalling the adoption of the resolution, arguing that it will also harm Christians.

In addition, Israel's permanent delegate to UNESCO, Ambassador Carmel Shama Hacohen, explained that the Palestinians enjoy an automatic majority of support at UNESCO and so his goal was to expand as much as possible the number of those opposed.

"We are mobilizing to erode and drive a wedge in the automatic majority that has stood against us for the past two years," he said. "The efforts are indeed bearing fruit: From the situation we were in when only the USA voted for us alone, we've gradually increased the number to six countries and also increased the number of abstainers."

Shama Hacohen went on to say that "Israel and the Jewish people don't require UNESCO's or any other country's confirmation of the special connection between the Jewish people and the State of Israel and Jerusalem in general and the holy sites therein like the Western Wall and the Temple Mount in particular."

The ambassador continued, "There is no connection of another people to another place in the world that comes close to the strength and depth of our connection to Jerusalem from a religious, historical and national perspective, a connection that has stood the test of 2,000 years."

US Permanent Delegate to UNESCO Ambassador Crystal Nix-Hines has explained in the past to UNESCO's executive board that unilateral decisions on the Middle East have made it harder for the American administration to resume paying its UNESCO membership fees.

Shama Hacohen noted that the US Congress has blocked President Barack Obama's efforts to resume the payments, some 80 million per annum, as both the Republicans and Democrats have opposed UNESCO's decisions regarding Jerusalem.

Earlier Thursday, before the passing of the resolution, President Reuven Rivlin remarked that "There is no festival more connected to Jerusalem than Sukkot. The festivals of Israel all highlight the inextricable bond between our people and our land, and no forum or body in the world can come and deny the connection between the Jewish people, the Land of Israel and Jerusalemand any such body that does so simply embarrasses itself."

Rivlin added that "We can understand criticism, but you cannot change history."
DOHA - Yemen's Houthi movement warned the United States against hitting Yemeni territory again after US cruise missiles targeted coastal radar sites on Thursday in retaliation for failed missile attacks on a Navy destroyer.

"The direct American attack targeting Yemeni soil this morning is not acceptable," Brigadier General Sharaf Luqman, a spokesman for Yemeni forces fighting alongside the Houthis, was quoted as saying by the Houthi-controlled Saba news agency.

"Yemen has the right to defend itself and we would deal with any development with the right steps."
OTTAWA- French Prime Minister Manuel Valls said Thursday that his country supports the election of Hillary Clinton over Donald Trump in the upcoming U.S. presidential election.

Valls said during a visit to Ottawa that he and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau have discussed the U.S. election. Valls didn't share Trudeau's thoughts, but he was categorical about his pick in the Nov. 8 election: Clinton.

Valls, speaking in French, said U.S. President Barack Obama was "elected by the world" and "Trump is rejected by the world."

On the allegations of sexually predatory behavior swirling around the Republican nominee, a stone-faced Trudeau -- a self-avowed feminist -- would say only that he "has stood clearly and strongly all my life around issues of sexual harassment."
Hospitals in Aleppo, Syrias second city, are referred to by code numbers rather than the names they once held before the war. This is in the hope of making it less easy for Syrian government forces to identify and target hospitals when listening in to medical staff speaking on the radio.

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So widespread and systematic are the repeated airstrikes against medical facilities that many observers monitoring Syria are convinced that the strikes are part of a targeted campaign and not collateral or accidental damage. Under the rules of war, deliberate attacks of this nature could constitute war crimes.

Photo: AFP

Instead of helping get lifesaving aid to civilians, Russia and Syrian President Bashar Assad are bombing the humanitarian convoys, hospitals and first responders who are trying desperately to keep people alive, Samantha Power, the United States Ambassador to the United Nations, said recently to a UN Security Council emergency meeting.

Near simultaneous attacks on different hospitals, repeated strikes, and the use of double-taps  where a second bomb is dropped on the same location several minutes after a first strike in order to hit first responders  have been cited as evidence for these claims.

Observers are arguing that a cold logic of attrition is the thinking behind the attacks.

The Syrian government understands that when you kill a doctor its not just the loss of that individuals life but it can be the loss of all the lives that the doctor could have saved, Widney Brown, Director of Programs at the US-based Physicians for Human Rights, told The Media Line. "Killing doctors in rebel-held territory reduces the number of their fighters that can be treated for injuries sustained in combat, the logic goes."

Photo: AFP

"Each doctors death has a permanent impact as there are no new doctors available to replace those killed," says Brown, who documents strikes on health care facilities and staff as part of her work with the non-profit. "The number of doctors working in Syria has decreased due to sniper and bombing attacks and through detention by government forces, Brown explained. Others have simply fled the country fearing for their lives and the lives of their families.

But the logic goes beyond simply obstructing the Syrian Oppositions access to medical care. Attacks on facilities are "an attempt to make life for civilians in rebel held areas of Aleppo so hellish that they flee the area," said Tim Eaton, research fellow for the Middle East and North Africa at Londons Chatham House thinktank. The cold hearted pragmatism is to bomb all facilities in an area which are critical for civilians to live in order to drive them out and to allow government forces to take control, Eaton said.

Photo: Reuters

This is a strategy learned by the Russian military during its conquest of Grozny in 2000 during the unsuccessful Chechen independence drive, the analyst suggested. If you look since the Russian intervention in Syria last year, the Grozny-style tactic of depopulation has taken sway since that point, he explained.

Following the fighting and siege warfare in Grozny, which claimed the lives of thousands, the UN described the capital as the most destroyed city on the planet.

While acknowledging the similarities in the scorched earth policy in Aleppo to the devastation wrought in the Chechen capital, Brown suggested that the policy was not a shift introduced by Russian military planners. The Russian intervention brought much greater fire power but the targeting policy was always on civilians, that hasnt changed, she explained.

Photo: AFP

As well as force, the Syrian government is attempting to persuade citizens to leave Opposition-held territory. The Assad government has said it will allow civilians to evacuate the area of Aleppo by creating a humanitarian passage, Derek Averre, a scholar in Russian foreign and security policy at the University of Birmingham, told The Media Line, adding, this allows the government to retake the area and leaves the opposition nowhere to go.

A lack of action by the international community has allowed the violence in Syria to escalate to this level, Dr. Osama Abo El Ezz, SAMSs Aleppo Field Coordinator said. M10 was not destroyed by bombs. It was destroyed because of the silence and inaction of the international community that knows whats happening in Aleppo, he said, in the non-profits recent press release.

Article written by Rob Swift
WASHINGTON- US President Barack Obama and his top foreign policy advisers are expected to meet on Friday to consider their military and other options in Syria as Syrian and Russian aircraft continue to pummel Aleppo and other targets, US officials said.

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Some top officials argue the United States must act more forcefully in Syria or risk losing what influence it still has over moderate rebels and its Arab, Kurdish and Turkish allies in the fight against ISIS, the officials told Reuters.

One set of options includes direct US military action such as air strikes on Syrian military bases, munitions depots or radar and anti-aircraft bases, said one official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations.

US President Barack Obama

This official said one danger of such action is that Russian and Syrian forces are often co-mingled, raising the possibility of a direct confrontation with Russia that Obama has been at pains to avoid.

US officials said they consider it unlikely that Obama will order US air strikes on Syrian government targets, and they stressed that he may not make any decisions at the planned meeting of his National Security Council.

One alternative, US officials said, is allowing allies to provide US-vetted rebels with more sophisticated weapons, although not shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missiles, which Washington fears could be used against Western airliners.

The White House declined to comment.

Destruction in Aleppo (Photo: Reuters)

Friday's planned meeting is the latest in a long series of internal debates about what, if anything, to do to end a 5-1/2 year civil war that has killed at least 300,000 people and displaced half the country's population.

The ultimate aim of any new action could be to bolster the battered moderate rebels so they can weather what is now widely seen as the inevitable fall of rebel-held eastern Aleppo to the forces of Russian- and Iranian-backed Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

It also might temper a sense of betrayal among moderate rebels who feel Obama encouraged their uprising by calling for Assad to go but then abandoned them, failing even to enforce his own "red line" against Syria's use of chemical weapons.

This, in turn, might deter them from migrating to Islamist groups such as the Nusra Front, which the United States regards as Syria's al Qaeda branch. The group in July said it had cut ties to al Qaeda and changed its name to Jabhat Fatah al-Sham.

ANOTHER TRY AT DIPLOMACY

The US and Russian foreign ministers will meet in Lausanne, Switzerland on Saturday to resume their failed effort to find a diplomatic solution, possibly joined by their counterparts from Turkey, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Iran, but US officials voiced little hope for success.

Russian surface to air missiles in Syria (Photo: AP)

Friday's planned meeting at the White House and the session in Lausanne occur as Obama, with just 100 days left in office, faces other decisions about whether to deepen US military involvement in the Middle East -- notably in Yemen and Iraq -- a stance he opposed when he won the White House in 2008.

Earlier Thursday the United States launched cruise missiles at three coastal radar sites in areas of Yemen controlled by Iran-aligned Houthi forces, retaliating after failed missile attacks this week on a US Navy destroyer, US officials said.

In Iraq, US officials are debating whether government forces will need more US support both during and after their campaign to retake Mosul, Islamic State's de facto capital in the country.

Some officials argue the Iraqis now cannot retake the city without significant help from Kurdish peshmerga forces, as well as Sunni and Shi'ite militias, and that their participation could trigger religious and ethnic conflict in the city.

Syrian President Bashar Assad (Photo: AP)

In Syria, Washington has turned to the question of whether to take military action after its latest effort to broker a truce with Russia collapsed last month.

The United States has called for Assad to step down, but for years has seemed resigned to his remaining in control of parts of the country as it prosecutes a separate fight against Islamic State militants in Syria and in Iraq.

The US policy is to target ISIS first, a decision that has opened it to charges that it is doing nothing to prevent the humanitarian catastrophe in Syria and particularly in Aleppo, Syria's largest city.

Renewed bombing of rebel-held eastern Aleppo has killed more than 150 people this week, rescue workers said, as Syria intensifies its Russian-backed offensive to take the whole city.

Anthony Cordesman of Washington's Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank suggested the United States' failure to act earlier in Syria, and in Aleppo in particular, had narrowed Obama's options.

"There is only so long you can ignore your options before you don't have any," Cordesman said.
Dore Gold, Director General of the Foreign Ministry, has resigned from his position due to personal reasons. Gold, a former Israeli ambassador to the UN, took the position a year and four months ago and is considered very close to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

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Officials in the foreign ministry say Gold has felt frustrated that Netanyahu has both excluded him from core issues in international relations and dealt directly with Yitzhak Molcho and acting head of the National Security Council, Yaakov Nagel. Gold was not involved in secret contacts with Turkey and was excluded from talks with Egypt, the Palestinians, the Americans and others. Gold found himself dealing only with Africa and employee disputes within the Foreign Ministry. Additionally, large budget cuts at the Foreign Ministry showed that Gold doesn't really run the ministry. He recently raised the issue of leaving, but Netanyahu asked him to wait a bit.

Dore Gold (Photo: Miriam Alster)

Among candidates set to replace Gold are Alon Ushpiz, the Deputy Director General for Diplomacy and Yuval Rotem, Head of Public Diplomacy.

In a message from Foreign Ministry administrators, Gold emphasized that he wanted to retire because his family was growing, and he wanted to spend more time with his grandchildren. In the accompanying statement, the Foreign Ministry said, "Dr. Dore Gold asked the Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Benjamin Netanyahu, to tender his resignation for personal reasons. Dr. Gold has served in his position since June 2015 and has been with the Prime Minister for 25 years, since the Madrid Conference."

Dore Gold with PM Netanyahu in Africa (Photo: Reuters)

In personal comments, Gold said, "I would like to thank the Prime Minister for his confidence in me and I will continue to make myself available for every task imposed on me in the future. The role of Director General of the Foreign Ministry was a personal and professional peak reached while serving on the diplomatic front. I am grateful for the professional and dedicated employees of the Foreign Ministry. Together, we navigated Israel's diplomatic struggles. In the period I served as Director General, we experienced a boom in foreign relations led by Prime Minister Netanyahu. I feel proud to have been a part of this and wish luck to my successor."

Gold is considered one of the people closest to Netanyahu. In the past, he served in several diplomatic positions, including Israel's ambassador to the UN (1997-1999) and political advisor to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (1996-1997). As political advisor, Gold served as the Prime Minister's envoy to Egypt, Jordan and the Gulf States.

Gold, Netanyahu and Arafat in 1997 (Photo: EPA)

The year prior to his appointment as Director General of the Foreign Ministry, he served as special Foreign Policy Advisor to Netanyahu. During operation Protective Edge, Gold was one of Israel's most prominent spokesmen on foreign networks. He is considered one of the best and most effective English speakers in Israeli leadership. His name was mentioned as a candidate for Israeli ambassador to the United Nations and also held several conversations with Netanyahu on the position.

At the end of his role in the public sector, Gold served as president of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs. In this role, Gold was active in the international arena on behalf of Israel and was involved in various dialogues with representatives of Arab countries. He was one of the few to confront Justice Richard Goldstone, who headed the inquiry committee for the United Nations following operation Cast Lead.

In 2011, as a private citizen, Gold was asked by the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court in The Hague to review the Palestinian attempt to recognize the ICC's jurisdiction over their territory. Additionally, Gold's book, "The political war on Jerusalem," was a bestseller in the US and was translated into Chinese and published in Beijing by the Chinese Foreign Ministry. His 2009 book "The Rise of Nuclear Iran," was on the bestseller list of the Washington post.
Fatah, the ruling party in the Palestinian Authority, welcomed on Thursday a UNESCO resolution which fails to acknowledge Jewish ties to the Temple Mount

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This decision is an important victory for the Palestinian people, the protectors of al-Aqsa, and in terms of national defense, a Palestinian spokesperson said.

A Fatah press release said that the importance of the decision lies in its content, specifically that it denies any historical connection between Jews and Jerusalem and the Temple Mount.

Palestinian flag outside the UN (Photo: EPA)

The statement also stressed the important timing of the resolution, which comes at a time of increased Judaization of Jerusalem and an increase in the number of infringements (by Jews) into al-Aqsa, along with the number of home demolitions.

The Fatah statement also asserted that the resolution would never have passed had it not been for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbass diplomatic skillsan apparent jab at rivals Hamasand the help of both Arab nations and other countries all over the world.

The PA leadership then thanked the 24 countries that supported the Palestinians," and called on the six countries who voted against the initiative to reconsider their positions as they relate to the legitimate rights of the Palestinian nation.

A message from Abbass office to the US noted that This decision (by UNESCO) highlights the need for the United States to re-examine its erroneous policies and stances which only encourage Israel to continue to occupy Palestinian lands.

Palestinian Spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeineh asserted that international resolutions against the Israeli occupation and Israeli policies, including this latest UNESCO decision, are a clear message to Israel that the international community doesnt agree with the occupation, and that the occupation only contributes to chaos and instability.

He stressed that the decision is an important message to the Israelis that they must end the occupation and recognize a Palestinian state with its capital in East Jerusalem, and that the Palestinians must have exclusive sovereignty over all Christian and Muslim holy sites.

The spokesman ended, saying that Israel must internalize the fact that its policies are only creating and maintaining a negative athmosphere, and that negative athmosphere radiates throughout the region. He added that the international community sees this, and is therefore against the State of Israel.
KAGA BANDORO -- 30 people were killed and 57 others wounded during an attack on refugees by the largely Muslim Seleka militia in the north of Central African Republic on Wednesday, UN peacekeepers said on Thursday.

Avenging what they said was the recent murder of four young Muslims in the remote town of dirt roads and thatched mud huts, armed Seleka stabbed and hacked to death refugees who had fled previous violence in the region and set fire to buildings.

Central African Republic's UN peacekeeping mission MINUSCA, which has a base in the town, repelled the Seleka, killing 12, it said in a statement on Thursday. The other 18 killed were civilians.

"MINUSCA expresses its strong indignation and strong condemnation of the resurgence," the UN mission said, calling the Seleka response "disproportionate."
ABUJA -- Jihadist group Boko Haram has freed 21 of more than 200 girls it kidnapped in April 2014 in the northern Nigerian town of Chibok, the government said on Thursday.

Their release came after the International Red Cross and the Swiss government brokered a deal with the group, and negotiations would continue to bring home the rest of the girls, a statement from the Nigerian presidency said.
CAIRO- Egypt's president has vehemently denied Ethiopian allegations that his country supported outlawed rebels in the East African nation.

President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi said in a televised speech on Thursday that Egypt has never supported the opposition in Ethiopia and has no intention of doing so.

He says Egypt doesn't oppose the ongoing construction of a massive hydroelectric dam on the Blue Nile in Ethiopia, provided that his nation's "historic right" to the Nile River water is safeguarded.

El-Sissi says "it's a life or death matter." Egypt, a mostly desert country of some 92 million, is almost entirely dependent on the Nile for agriculture and drinking water. Ethiopia said Monday there is ample evidence that Egypt provided training and financing to the Oromo Liberation Front, which Ethiopia calls a terrorist group.
AMSTERDAM - The International Criminal Court may have the jurisdiction to prosecute perpetrators of thousands of alleged extrajudicial killings in the Philippines' crack down on drugs, a prosecutor at the Hague-based tribunal said.

Earlier on Thursday, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte called U.S. President Barack Obama, the European Union and United Nations "fools" and said he would humiliate them if they questioned his war on drugs.

Nearly 2,300 people have died since Duterte started the campaign on June 30, according to police, of which 1,566 were drug suspects killed in police operations.

"I am deeply concerned about these alleged killings and the fact that public statements of high officials of the republic of the Philippines seem to condone such killings," ICC Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda said in statement.
BEIRUT - Syria's military backed by Russian warplanes have killed more than 150 people in eastern Aleppo this week, rescue workers said, part of a renewed bombardment supporting an offensive to seize the city's shattered rebel-held sector.

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As air strikes and shelling of the city's east intensified since Tuesday after a brief period of relative calm, Syria's government approved a UN plan to allow aid convoys into most besieged areas of Syria, with the exception of Aleppo.

Rising casualties in Aleppo, where buildings have been reduced to rubble or are lacking roofs or walls, have prompted an international outcry and a renewed diplomatic push, with talks between the United States and Russia planned for Saturday.

Now in its sixth year, Syria's civil war has killed 300,000 people and made millions homeless while dragging in regional and global powers as well as inspiring jihadist attacks abroad.

President Bashar al-Assad is backed by the Russian air force, Iran's Revolutionary Guards and an array of Shi'ite militias from Arab neighbours, while Sunni rebels seeking to oust him are backed by Turkey, the United States and Gulf monarchies.

Aleppo destruction (Photo: Reuters)

Air strikes killed 13 people on Thursday in the rebel-held Aleppo districts of al-Kalaseh, Bustan al-Qasr and al-Sakhour according to a civil defence official, while European Union foreign ministers drafted a statement accusing Syria and its allies of violence that "may amount to war crimes".

"Since the beginning of the offensive by the (Syrian) regime and its allies, the intensity and scale of aerial bombardment of eastern Aleppo is clearly disproportionate," a draft of their statement seen by Reuters said.

Syrian military officials could not immediately be reached for comment on the situation in Aleppo. The Syrian and Russian governments say they target only militants.

To the south, hundreds of insurgents and their families have left two rebel-held towns on the northern outskirts of Damascus, residents and fighters said, under a deal with the government which is pushing its opponents to rebel areas further from the capital.

An injured man being carried to safety in Aleppo (Photo: AFP)

The evacuation happened after the army gave community leaders in Qudsiya and Al-Hama - which had enjoyed relative calm under local truces - an ultimatum to get several hundred fighters out of their towns or face a widescale assault.

"They gave us little option: leave or all hell breaks loose," said Yousef al Hasnawi, a resident on the local rebel council.

The government says such amnesties are a "workable model to bring security and peace" but its opponents say forcing Sunni Muslim fighters and their families from their home towns could create new demographic frontiers and worsen sectarian tensions.

Aerial bombing of Aleppo (Photo: Reuters)

OBAMA TO REVIEW OPTIONS

US President Barack Obama and his senior foreign policy advisers are expected to meet on Friday to consider military and other options in Syria, US officials told Reuters.

Some officials argue the United States must act more forcefully in Syria or risk losing what influence it still has over moderate rebels and its Arab, Kurdish and Turkish allies in the fight against ISIS.

US officials said they consider it unlikely that Obama will order US air strikes on Syrian government targets, and they stressed that he may not make any decisions at the planned meeting of his National Security Council.

Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov are due to meet in Switzerland on Saturday to resume their effort to find a diplomatic solution along with counterparts from some Middle East states.

Destruction in Aleppo (Photo: Reuters)

Moscow called on Thursday on regional states not to supply portable anti-aircraft missiles to Syrian rebel groups, warning that any unfriendly actions against Russian forces would draw an appropriate response.

Speaking to a Russian newspaper, Assad said Syria's only hope was that Moscow could persuade Turkey to end its support of the rebellion, a move that would cut insurgents off from their main external supply route.

"IT'S GOING ON NOW"

Air strikes against rebel-held areas of eastern Aleppo had tapered off over the weekend after the Syrian army announced it would reduce raids for what it described as humanitarian reasons, but they have intensified since Tuesday.

"The bombing started at 2:00am and it's going on until now," Ibrahim Abu Laith, an official at the civil defence rescue organisation in Aleppo, told Reuters from Aleppo. Rescue workers said 154 people had been killed in recent days. Reuters could not independently verify the death toll.

Aleppo has been divided between government- and rebel-controlled areas for years. More than 250,000 people are believed to be trapped in eastern Aleppo, the rebels' most important urban stronghold, facing shortages of food, fuel and medicine.





A man pulled from the rubble of a bombed out house in Aleppo (Photo: AFP)

In Geneva, the United Nations said Damascus had partially approved its aid plan for October, giving the green light for convoys to 25 of 29 besieged and hard-to-reach areas across Syria, which are also deprived of some vital supplies.

However, the Syrian government did not give approval for either eastern Aleppo or three districts near Damascus, Ramzy Ezzeldin Ramzy, the United Nation's deputy special envoy to Syria said on Thursday, describing the situation as "dire".

The war has badly affected government-held regions of Syria too and on Thursday Damascus and Moscow struck a deal to import one million tonnes of Russian wheat, enough to cover the needs of those areas for a year, at cheap prices.

In a government-held area of western Aleppo, at least four children were killed and 10 wounded on Thursday when shells landed near a school, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported.

Syrian state news agency SANA said the school in the al-Suleimaniya area had been targeted in what it described as a terrorist attack.
ELIZABETH- A man accused of setting off bombs in New Jersey and New York, injuring more than 30 people, pleaded not guilty on Thursday to charges he tried to kill police officers before they captured him.

An attorney for Ahmad Khan Rahimi entered the pleas as Rahimi appeared via video from his hospital bed in Newark. It was Rahimi's first public appearance since last month's bombings and police chase.

Rahimi, an Afghan-born US citizen, has been hospitalized with gunshot wounds since a police shootout that led to his capture on Sept. 19 outside a bar in Linden. His head was propped up on pillows, while public defender Peter Liguori stood by his side wearing a disposable hospital gown and plastic gloves.

Rahimi, 28, is charged with five counts of attempted murder of a police officer and weapons offenses. He was read his rights by Judge Regina Caulfield and answered "yes" in a faint voice to a series of questions she asked him.
UNITED NATIONS- Antonio Guterres pledged Thursday to make the pursuit of peace in a conflict-torn world his "over-arching priority" after being elected the next secretary-general of the United Nations.

The former Portuguese prime minister and UN refugee chief told the 193 members of the UN General Assembly who elected him by acclamation that the United Nations has "the moral duty and the universal right" to ensure peace -- and he will be promoting a new "diplomacy for peace" advocating dialogue to settle disputes.

Gutteres said he will do his best before taking the reins of the UN from Ban Ki-moon on Jan. 1 to prepare "to act as a convener, an honest broker, someone trying to bring people together" in conflicts and crises from Syria and Yemen to South Sudan.

"It's high time to fight for peace," he said, and make people understand that whatever divisions exist it's more important to unite and end the suffering because of the risks for countries in conflict and the international community.
Dobra, k. Szczecina 900 m2

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Atut: Dodatkowe dochody z paczkomatow InPostu, a juz niedugo i z myjni samoobsugowej.



Tradycyjny zakup nieruchomosci, mozliwosc wykupienia uzytkowania wieczystego.
Latest News

Washington, DC - Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs Richard Stengel will travel to Chicago, Illinois October 13-14. On October 13, Under Secretary Stengel will participate in a roundtable discussion with Syrian students at Illinois Institute of Technology. In the evening, the Under Secretary will be interviewed at the University of Chicago Institute of Politics for a conversation on countering violent extremism, including U.S. efforts to counter ISIL's propaganda online.

On October 14, the Under Secretary will speak at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs.

These events are part of the Secretarys #EngageAmerica initiative to discuss foreign policy priorities across the United States.
Yuma News

Yuma, Arizona - This morning, at approximately 3:41 a.m., there were multiple reports of shots fired in the area of the 100 block North 20th Avenue. Upon arrival several shell casings were located in the street.

Residents on the block stated they witnessed a small gray newer model convertible sedan speeding southbound on 20th Avenue while the passenger fired rounds up in the air. No damage was found to any vehicles or residences, nor was anyone found who was injured. The vehicle fled the scene and was not located.

The Yuma Police Department encourages anyone with any information about this case to please call the Yuma Police Department at (928) 373-4700 or 78-Crime at (928) 782-7463 to remain anonymous.
Yuma News

Yuma, Arizona Residents and visitors looking for a place to hold a special event that takes advantages of Yumas fall, winter and spring weather are invited to consider the newly improved Sunset Terrace at the Yuma Civic Center.

Built under a Capital Improvement Project using development fees that were approaching expiration, the City unveiled the improved Sunset Terrace in conjunction with the kickoff meeting for the American Cancer Societys local Relay for Life on Wednesday.

The Yuma County Chamber of Commerce assisted with the ribbon cutting, in which members of the Yuma City Council attended along with local business owners.

Highlights of project include the following:

Overhead structures for lighting and decorations.

Permanent food service areas with access to electricity for food warmers.

Permanent bar area with a hand washing station.

Lighting upgrades to LED technology.

A raised head table area with an overhead structure for lighting and decorations.

A raised platform for ceremony / speaker / band / DJ

A raised platform for display of gifts, cake etc.

All new raised areas are ADA accessible.

To visit the Sunset Terrace or book it for an event, call the Yuma Civic Center at 928-373-5040.
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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. <BR><BR> 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. <BR><BR> 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. <BR><BR> 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. <BR><BR> 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). <BR><BR> 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! <BR><BR> 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! <BR><BR> 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.! <BR><BR> 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). <BR><BR> 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. <BR><BR> 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? <BR><BR> 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. <BR><BR> 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.
Abuja: Twenty-one of the more than 200 girls kidnapped over two years ago in a raid on their school in Chibok town by Boko Haram militants have been released, the BBC reported on Thursday citing a government official.

Two spokesman for President Muhammadu Buhari told Reuters they were unaware of the report. Military spokesmen have not responded to phone calls or text messages.
Ahmedabad: To motivate talented youths to take up research and development, Gujarat government has decided to invite Nobel Prize winners from across the world, a day before the inauguration of the next Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit.

According to Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani, around 12 to 15 Nobel Prize winners will be invited by the government to come to the state and talk about their research, for which they received the prestigious honour.

The three-day summit will kickstart on January 10, 2017, at Mahatma Mandir in Gandhinagar. Just like the previous edition in 2015, Prime Minister Narendra Modi would inaugurate the biennial summit this time too, said Rupani.

"On January 9, we have planned to invite 12 to 15 Nobel Prize winners of Chemistry, Physics and Medicine field to interact with people here. We have also planned to exhibit their research and inventions at Science City here, so that people can understand their work and get motivated," he said.

"The entire exhibition would run for five weeks. We will also invite Indian scientists to visit the exhibition and be a part of our endeavour to spread awareness about these subjects," Rupani said in his inaugural address at 'Pharmac India-2016', an exhibition of pharmaceutical industry.
Washington: The Washington Post today became the latest US newspaper to emphatically endorse Hillary Clinton for the White House, saying it was swayed as much by her competence as by the alarming specter of a Donald Trump presidency.

"Hillary Clinton has the potential to be an excellent president of the United States, and we endorse her without hesitation," the influential US daily wrote, adding, "no, we are not making this endorsement simply because Ms Clinton's chief opponent is dreadful."

Clinton, the Democratic presidential nominee "is dogged, resilient, purposeful and smart," the newspaper wrote while acknowledging her many political and personal missteps of the past -- failings it said are outweighed by her strengths.

"She has executive experience. She does not let her feelings get in the way of the job at hand. She is well positioned to get something done," the daily wrote.

The newspaper took note of the former first lady's litany of shortcomings, writing: "We recognize that many Americans distrust and dislike Ms Clinton. The negative feelings reflect in part the bitter partisanship of the nation's politics today; in part the dishonest attacks she has been subjected to for decades; and in part her genuine flaws, missteps and weaknesses.

"We are not blind to those," wrote The Post, which nevertheless gave Clinton its full-throated support.

The Post editorial made little mention of Trump, the bombastic real estate magnate who is the Republican nominee for next month's presidential election.

Trump has been eviscerated by the editorial board of The Post and many other leading US newspapers in numerous other opinion pieces over the past several weeks, as the raucous US election heads for the final few weeks.
Hyderabad: YSR Congress Party chief Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy on Thursday urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to make public the list of individuals who declared their undisclosed income under Income Declaration Scheme 2016.

The Leader of Opposition in Andhra Pradesh said this was necessary as people in power were speaking in different voices, giving a misleading picture to the people.

Jagan drew the attention of the Prime Minister to Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu's statement, in which he claimed that Rs 13,000 crore were declared in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh and of which Rs 10,000 crore was declared by one individual.

He wondered how Naidu could make such a statement when Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) tweeted on Oct 3 that no break-up of declarations on the basis of trades/cities/states will be released.

"How is that Mr Chandrababu Naidu alone is privy to this information? If true, then the person declared should have been a 'benami' of Chandrababu Naidu, otherwise how can he be so specific on the numbers," wrote Jagan.

He reiterated his demand for a probe into allegations of corruption against Naidu.

He said Andhra Pradesh under Naidu has been ranked as the most corrupt state in the country by NCAER, New Delhi.

Jagan recalled that he had submitted to the Prime Minister a book, giving details of corruption charges against the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) government led by Naidu. He alleged that the money involved in corruption scandals is more than Rs 1.5 lakh crore. He said no action was taken on their representation so far.

The YSR Congress Party Chief said Naidu was the only Chief Minister in the country who was continuing in power despite being caught red-handed while distributing 'ill-gotten' and 'unaccounted' black money to buy legislators.

Jagan's statement came a day after Naidu called for abolishing Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes and for doing away with all cash transactions to curb black money in the country.


Lahore: Sixteen countries are slated to participate in Physical Agility and Combat Efficiency System military exercises scheduled to begin in Lahore from October 18.

According to the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the countries will take part in the six-day drills aimed at enhancing physical and military capabilities of troops, The News International reported.

A 25-member Sri Lankan Army team arrived in Lahore on Wednesday.

The first ever joint exercise between Pakistan and Russian military which started on September 27, meanwhile, ended on October 10.
Karachi: Rattled and frustrated with Indian Army's devastating surgical strikes along the Line of Control last month, the chief of terror outfit Jaish-e-Muhammad, Masood Azhar, has now urged the Pakistani establishment to allow jihadist groups to escalate attacks on India.

An Indian Express report said on Thursday that the JeM chief has appealed to the Pakistan-based terrorist outfits to step up attack on India, arguing that a lack of decisive decision-making could rob Pakistan of a historic opportunity to seize Kashmir.

His appeal was published in the current issue of the Jaish weekly magazine al-Qalam.

Must Read: Parrikar says no surgical strikes conducted in past; Cong accuses Defence Minister of lying, seeks apology

The JeM chief's remarks came in the wake of a bitter controversy about stretched ties between Pakistans civilian government and military over the continued operations against various anti-India terrorist outfits operating from its soil.

If the government of Pakistan shows a little courage the problem of Kashmir, as well as the dispute over water, can be resolved once and for all right now. If nothing else, the government simply has to open the path for the mujahideen. Then, god willing, all the bitter memories of 1971 will be dissolved into the triumphant emotions of 2016, Azhar wrote in a front-page article in the JeM magazine.

Don't Miss: 56-hour Pampore encounter over; two militants, suspected to belong to LeT, killed

Through his hard-hitting article, Azhar also directly questioned Pakistan government's policy establishment, arguing that the jihadist policies it backed in the 1990s had brought strategic benefits to the country.

India had sought to build Akhand Bharat, but its hopes were degraded in the course of the jihad which left every one of its limbs badly injured, he added.

What remained of its military prowess was exposed in Pathankot and Uri, he said.

India is putting pressure on Pakistan at this time. Looking at the situation in Kashmir, though, Pakistan should have been doing all this. Given that Kashmir is our jugular vein, we should have cancelled the SAARC conference ourselves, and cancelled the ceasefire on the Line of Control. In the last ninety days, how many Muslims have been martyred, and how many more injured, he asked.

The JeM chief argued further saying ''the jihadist operations in Kashmir have significantly eroded Indias military capacities. Consider India before and after the jihad in Kashmir.

You will see a dramatic difference. In the course of this journey, which I have been an eyewitness to, I have seen India reduced from a serpent to an earthworm, he added.
Islamabad: Pakistan Army chief General Raheel Sharif today confirmed death sentence handed down to 10 terrorists by military courts for their involvement in killing civilians, polio workers and armed forces personnel.

The 10 condemned terrorists, belonging to the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) rebel outfit, were convicted by speedy trial in military courts.

"These terrorists were involved in heinous offences related to terrorism, including killing of innocent civilians, polio workers, NGO employees, police officials and armed forces personnel," army said.

Fire-arms and explosives were also recovered from their possession.

The military courts were set up in Pakistan to expedite the trial process for terror-related offences following the December 2014 Talibans massacre at an army-run school in Peshawar in which over 150 people, mostly school children, were killed.

Following the attack, the government had lifted the moratorium on the death penalty and the Parliament passed the 21st amendment which established military courts which was challenged in the Supreme Court.

The apex court ruled in favour of setting up of the courts in August last year.

It is not known where the trial was held and when the verdict of conviction announced, as the military courts work in secrecy due to fear of backlash by militants.
Manila: Firebrand Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte heads to China next week seeking billions of dollars in investments and buckets of respect, as he pivots angrily away from traditional ally the United States.

Chinese President Xi Jinping is set to give the mercurial leader a warm welcome, after Duterte threatened to end a decades-long alliance with the United States and gave Beijing a timely boost in its quest for more control over the strategically vital South China Sea.

Duterte, 71, has said he is trying to wean the Philippines off an unhealthy reliance on its former colonial ruler, although he has signalled the shift is also due to his outrage at US criticism of his deadly war on crime.

Analysts believe Duterte`s attraction to a rising China is typical of his ultra-pragmatic governing style, following repeated speeches from him highlighting what he believes is the United States` diminishing economic and military might.

"He is a results-oriented person, Machiavellian, too," University of the Philippines political science professor Clarita Carlos told AFP.

"The guy knows if he can find markets for our bananas, pineapples, and create employment, whether it`s China, Russia or Mali, that`s where we are going. Whatever works."

Duterte is bringing along a delegation of hundreds of businessmen, including many of the Philippines` most powerful tycoons, in a bid to capitalise on the warming of relations that have taken place due to his efforts to placate Beijing on the South China Sea row.

China claims nearly all of the strategically vital sea, even waters approaching the Philippines and other Southeast Asian nations, and has in recent years built artificial islands in the disputed areas that are capable of hosting military bases. Duterte`s predecessor, Benigno Aquino, infuriated Beijing by challenging it on a range of fronts.

Aquino allowed American troops to be stationed in the Philippines, launched joint patrols in the sea, filed a legal case at a UN-backed tribunal, repeatedly raised the issue at regional summits and refused to hold direct negotiations with Beijing.

In July, 12 days after Duterte took office, the international tribunal handed the Philippines a surprisingly resounding victory, ruling that China`s claims to most of the sea had no legal basis and that its artificial island-building was illegal.

But, instead of using the verdict to pressure China as Aquino would have done, Duterte sought to mend ties with Beijing.

He also launched a sustained verbal assault on the United States, scrapping the joint patrols as well as a series of annual war games.

During the election campaign, Duterte said he was willing to "set aside" the South China Sea dispute in return for China building a railway through the impoverished southern Philippine region of Mindanao.

He also said it was not in the nation`s interest to insist on its claim over Scarborough Shoal, a fishing ground within the Philippines` exclusive economic zone that China seized in 2012.

"Let`s just not dwell on Scarborough because we cannot fight them," Duterte said this week.Duterte has also signalled he wants to go to Beijing to enjoy some respect, following relentless criticism from the West about alleged extrajudicial killings in his war on crime.

More than 3,300 people have been killed in the crackdown, and US President Barack Obama has been among the many critics to express concern about an apparent breakdown in the rule of law.

"Eventually I might in my term, break up with America. I would rather go to Russia or to China. Even if we do not agree with their ideology, they have respect for the people. Respect is important," Duterte said this month.

He also said he hoped to visit Russia soon after China.

Maritime law expert Jay Batongbacal warned Duterte`s approach was a big gamble for the Philippines, with China the only sure winner at this stage.

Duterte "is taking a huge risk, betting all on China`s goodwill and beneficence without the insurance provided by the diversified, multilateral support of historical and traditional friends and allies", Batongbacal, a University of the Philippines law professor, wrote this week.

Still, it is too early for China to claim victory, according to Richard Javad Heydarian, a regional expert at De La Salle University in Manila.

"I won`t be surprised if at some point Duterte will hedge his bets and pivot back to the US if he fails to get any satisfactory concession from China," Heydarian said.
Washington: Two women accused Donald Trump of inappropriate touching in a story posted on the New York Times website on Wednesday, accusations his spokesman called "fiction" but which may further damage the Republican presidential nominee`s campaign with only four weeks to go until the Nov. 8 election.

One of the women, Jessica Leeds, appeared on camera to recount how Trump grabbed her breast and tried to put his hand up her skirt in the first class cabin on a flight to New York in or around 1980.

The second woman, Rachel Crooks, described how Trump "kissed me directly on the mouth" in 2005 outside the elevator in Trump Tower in Manhattan, where she was a receptionist at a real estate firm.

Trump`s campaign denied there was any truth to the accounts.

"This entire article is fiction, and for the New York Times to launch a completely false, coordinated character assassination against Mr. Trump on a topic like this is dangerous," the Trump campaign`s senior communications adviser Jason Miller said in a statement.

Reuters could not independently verify the incidents described in the New York Times story. Leeds and Crooks did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Reuters.

The report comes on the heels of a 2005 video that surfaced on Friday that showed Trump bragging about groping women, kissing them without permission, and trying to seduce a married woman.

`OCTOPUS`

Trump said during the second presidential debate on Sunday that he had not actually done the things he had boasted about, and apologized for his remarks, which he called private "locker room" talk.

A spokeswoman for his opponent, Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton, said Wednesday`s story was "disturbing."

"These reports suggest that he lied on the debate stage and that the disgusting behavior he bragged about in the tape is more than just words," said Jennifer Palmieri, a spokeswoman for the Clinton campaign.

Trump`s assertion that he had not groped women spurred one of the women to speak out, the New York Times said in its report.

"He was like an octopus," said Leeds, now 74. "His hands were everywhere."

The New York Times reported that Trump, in an angry phone call, denied the incidents and threatened to sue the newspaper.

"We stand by the story, which falls clearly into the realm of public service journalism," a New York Times spokeswoman said.

REPUBLICAN CRISIS

The release of the video plunged Trump and the Republican Party into a crisis that has jeopardized his chances of winning the White House, when he was already lagging Clinton in national opinion polls, and has possibly put Republican control of the U.S. Congress in danger.

He was chastised by Republican leaders, and some called on him to drop out of the presidential race.

Trump escalated his attacks on U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan on Wednesday, after Ryan said he was no longer going to campaign for or defend Trump and advised House Republicans not to support the White House candidate if they did not want to.

Trump told thousands of supporters jammed into a livestock arena in Ocala, Florida, that Ryan and others had not congratulated him on his debate performance, and the crowd booed in sympathy.

"There is a whole deal going on there. There is a whole deal going on and were going to figure it out. I always figure things out. But theres a whole sinister deal going on," Trump said.
New Delhi: The Election Commission of India (ECI) has given Delhi`s 21 Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) legislators time till October 17 to explain why they should not be disqualified from the Assembly after their appointment as Parliamentary Secretaries.

The 21 lawmakers have faced disqualification from the Delhi Assembly for allegedly holding `office of profit` as Parliamentary Secretaries.

In the notice issued on Monday, the ECI also told petitioner Prashant Patel to submit his rejoinder to the 21 AAP lawmakers` reply by October 21.

The AAP legislators had earlier written to the Election Commission requesting for more time to file their replies, following which the extension till October 17 has been given.

"It may be noted that if no reply is received by the aforesaid date, it will be presumed that you have nothing to say in this matter and the Commission will take appropriate action without any further reference to you," the notice said.

After coming to power in February 2015, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal`s government appointed 21 party lawmakers as the Parliamentary Secretaries, saying this would facilitate smooth functioning of the government but would not cause any burden on the exchequer.

The Delhi High Court in September quashed the appointment of 21 Parliamentary Secretaries.

In June 2015, a major row was sparked off on the issue of `Office of Profit` after President Pranab Mukherjee rejected the Delhi government`s bill to exclude the post of Parliamentary Secretary from the `Office of Profit` definition.

The Delhi government sought through the bill an amendment to the Delhi Members of Legislative Assembly (Removal of Disqualification) Act, 1997, so as to exclude the post of Parliamentary Secretary from the definition of `Office of Profit`.

The AAP has maintained that none of the Parliamentary Secretaries was given "pecuniary benefits" and the appointment of the party legislators as Parliamentary Secretaries did not amount to creation of a "public office".
New Delhi: The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has strongly condemned the NSUI for burning the effigy of Prime Minister Narendra Modi inside the JNU campus and demanded an unconditional apology from the Congress party.

Commenting on the issue, BJP spokesperson Shahnawaz Hussain on Thursday said, The Congress has stooped to the lowest level, adding, the country will never pardon it for insulting the leaders whom the nation loved.

We have never expected that the Congress will touch this level, he added.

Must Read: NSUI claims responsibility for burning PM Modi's effigy as 'Ravan' in JNU, video goes viral - WATCH

In India, burning the effigy of Indian PM like this is condemnable and a case must be filed against them, BJP spokesperson said.

Congress president Sonia Gandhi must apologise for this act as it is not at all acceptable, he said and added police will act on this issue.

The matter came to light after some members of the NSUI recorded the entire incident on camera and posted it on social networking sites like Facebook and YouTube.

They also raised objectionable slogans against PM Modi, who was projected as 'Ravan' . The footage has now gone viral on social media.

Must Read: NSUI students burn effigy of PM Narendra Modi, Amit Shah; JNU VC orders probe

According to reports, NSUI members celebrated Dussehra on Tuesday night by burning the effigy of Modi, claiming that it was a protest against the Centre's "failure" in honouring its promises and the continuous attacks on various educational institutions across the country.

Besides Modi and Shah, the effigy had faces of Yoga guru Ramdev, Sadhvi Pragya, Nathuram Godse, Asaram Bapu and JNU Vice-Chancellor Jagadesh Kumar.

The students also carried placards with the slogan, 'Truth shall prevail over evil'.
Islamabad: A Spanish diplomat, who had been living in Pakistan for 34 long years, was found dead here and police said on Thursday that he may have committed suicide.

Juan Jose Giner was found dead at his residence in the posh F-7 sector and the room was locked from the inside. A 38 bore pistol was found near the body, The News International reported.

Superintendent Police (SP) City Shaikh Zubair said that a forensic mobile lab had reached the spot and further investigations are underway.

He said that Giner's body had been shifted to Polyclinic hospital and the Spanish consulate had been informed of the incident.

"But we will further investigate the incident," he said.

Giner had been living in Islamabad for 34 years. He had married twice but both his wives had left him, the police said.

His cook, a Pakistani, alerted the police.

It was not immediately known in which capacity the deceased was working in the embassy.

(With Agency inputs)
London: British foreign minister Boris Johnson said on Thursday it was not "entirely right" to talk about a new Cold War with Russia because Moscow did not pose as much of a threat to global stability as the former Soviet Union had.

"It is doing many, many terrible things ... but I don`t think Russia today can be compared with the Soviet Union that I remember as a child. I don`t think it is as much of a threat to the stability of the world as the former Soviet Union," he told a parliamentary committee.

"I don`t think it`s entirely right ... to talk about a new Cold War."
Ahmedabad: Amid heightened India-Pakistan ties, the Gujarat Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) on Wednesday nabbed two persons, allegedly working as spies for Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), the Pakistani intelligence agency, from Kutch district.

An FIR under various sections of Official Secrets Act and Indian Penal Code was registered against the accused today.

The duo have been identified as - Alana Hamir Sama (40), a resident of Kukma village of Bhuj taluka, and his associate Shakoor Sumra (38), resident of Sumrapor in Bhuj taluka of the district.

Several documents related to the movement of the Indian Army and paramilitary forces in the region have been recovered from them.

Doordarshan News reported that a Pakistani woman was used as `honey trap agent` to lure the two.

"We had been keeping a close watch on the duo since some time as we learnt that they were sending sensitive information about troop movements of Army and Border Security Force in this region to their Pakistan-based ISI handlers," news agency PTI quoted ATS Deputy Superintendent of Police BH Chavda as saying.

"We nabbed the duo last night when they came to Bhuj bus station to discuss about sharing of more information with ISI," he said today.

According to an official release by the ATS, a mobile phone made by a Pakistani company was recovered from Alana, who was in touch with ISI since last two years.

"From Alana, ATS recovered a Pakistani-made mobile phone, his I-card issued in Pakistan and an Aadhar card issued here. Preliminary questioning revealed that he visited Pakistan four times on Indian passport in the recent past," the release said.

Both of them are now being questioned in Bhuj by various state and Central agencies to dig out more information from them, it said.

The action comes amid tension between India and Pakistan after the recent surgical strikes by the Indian Army on terror launch pads across the LoC. A high alert has been sounded in Gujarat, specially in border areas due to the threat of terror attack.

Kutch district shares border with Pakistan.

(With Agency inputs)
New Delhi: The CBI on Thursday registered three cases to probe incidents of violence and arson during the Jat quota agitation in Rohtak in February, including the burning of residence of Haryana Finance Minister Capt Abhimanyu.

CBI spokesperson said the agency took over the investigation in these cases on the request of Haryana government and further orders from Department of Personnel and Training.

"Allegations include attacking, looting of weapons of the police guard, attempting to murder the family members and burning down the residence of Finance Minister in the government of Haryana," she said.

One of the cases registered by the agency relates to the alleged arson at the residence of Abhimanyu on February 19 while another is related to assault and looting of weapons from the company of BSF and Haryana Police by the rioters.

The rioters had allegedly attempted to murder the troops while they were on law and order duty at Delhi bypass, Rohtak, the spokesperson said.

"A large number of persons were allegedly injured & some of them grievously in these violent attacks. It was further alleged that property worth crores of rupees was burnt and weapons of police guards were looted by the agitators who were demanding reservation for a certain community in Haryana. These cases have been transferred by the Government of Haryana to CBI," the spokesperson said.

Rohtak was the hotbed of agitation related to demand of reservation for Jats in OBC category in February during which over 30 people lost their lives.
Chandigarh: Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) today launched a week-long campaign 'Vote Jodo Jharu Nal' with an aim to reach out to the voters across the state and inform them about the achievements of the Arvind Kejriwal government in Delhi.

AAP state convener Gurpreet Singh Waraich said campaign was launched today and will continue till October 19.

As per the programme, he said, AAP co-incharge and Delhi MLA Jarnail Singh would hold rallies in the Malwa region, Sangrur MP Bhagwant Mann in Majha region while he will hold rallies in the Doaba region of Punjab.

"Everyday, all the three leaders will be holding two rallies each," he said.

Waraich said that as per the plan, the party candidates will visit five villages every day and about 3,000 to 5,000 volunteers will meet the voters under door-to-door campaign.

The documentaries related to the achievements of AAP government in Delhi and message of AAP National Convener Arvind Kejriwal will be shown through the projectors, he said.
New Delhi: The central government on Thursday sought a report from the Kerala government on the killing of a 25-year-old BJP activist in Kannur district.

In a communication, the Union Home Ministry has asked the state government to provide details of the incident and steps taken to nab and punish those responsible for the incident.

BJP activist Ramith was allegedly hacked to death at a village in Dharmadam, the home constituency of Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, in Kannur district on Wednesday.

The Home Ministry has also asked the Kerala government to inform it about the steps taken for security of political workers in the state, official sources said here.

The BJP organised a statewide 'bandh' in Kerala on Thursday to protest the killing of its party activist, which they alleged have been done due to "political vendetta".

BJP President Amit Shah had on Wednesday said: "Murder of Ramith in Pinarayi's home town is disturbing. Attacks on BJP karyakartas (workers) in Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan's home constituency is a matter of grave concern and smacks of political vendetta."

The BJP President also said that Ramith's father Chavassery Uttaman was also killed in 2002 in a similar manner.
Washington: The "real threat" to Pakistan's nuclear weapons is from rogue elements inside its military rather than from the terrorist outfits, India's former national security advisor Shivshankar Menon has said.

Noting that terrorists have easier and cheaper ways of wreaking havoc, Menon said the nuclear weapons are complex devises that are difficult to manage, use and deliver and require very high level of skills.

"To my mind, the real threat (to Pak nukes) is from insiders, from a Pakistani pilot or a brigadier who decides to wage nuclear jihad, with or without orders," Menon writes in his book titled "Choices: Inside the making of India's Foreign Policy."

"The risk increases as Pakistan builds tactical nuclear weapons for battlefield use, control of which will necessarily be delegated down the command chain," he said.

Menon says Pakistan is the only nuclear weapon programme in the world that is exclusively under military control.

"There are good reasons why no other country chose to go down this path," he said.

Menon writes that India has nuclear weapons for the contribution that make to its national security in an uncertain and anarchic world by preventing others from attempting nuclear blackmail and coercion against India.

"Unlike in certain NWS, India's nuclear weapons are not meant to redress a military balance, or to compensate for some perceived inferiority in conventional military terms, or to serve some tactical or operational military need on the battlefield," he notes.

While India has a declared policy of no-first use of nuclear weapons, Menon in his book warns that if Pakistan were to use tactical nuclear weapons against India "even against Indian forces in Pakistan," it would effectively be opening the door to a massive Indian-first strike, having crossed India's declared red line.

"Pakistani tactical nuclear weapons use would effectively free India to undertake a comprehensive first strike against Pakistan," he said.

"There are several responses short of war available to a state like India," he writes.
New Delhi: The Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) is probing into the incident of burning of an effigy of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP chief Amit Shah at the campus on Tuesday, its vice chancellor said on Wednesday.

While Pakistan's Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, 26/11 mastermind Hafiz Saeed and heads of several other militant organisations were the faces of Ravana effigies burnt on Dussehra across the country, a section of JNU students chose the visages of the PM and Amit Shah to represent the demon king Ravana and burnt their effigy.

Members of the Congress-affiliated National Students' Union of India (NSUI) celebrated Dussehra on Tuesday night by burning the effigy of Modi as Ravana, claiming that it was a protest against the Centre's "failure" in honouring its promises and the continuous attacks on various educational institutions across the country.

Besides Modi and Shah, the effigy had faces of Yoga guru Ramdev, Sadhvi Pragya, Nathuram Godse, Asaram Bapu and JNU Vice-Chancellor Jagadesh Kumar. The students also carried placards with the slogan, 'Truth shall prevail over evil'.

Meanwhile, JNU VC Jagadesh Kumar took to Twitter to say that a probe is on.

"The effigy burning incident at JNU was brought to our notice. We are investigating the matter and examining all relevant information."

Sunny Diman, an NSUI activist and the outfit's candidate in the recently-concluded JNUSU polls, said: "The effigy-burning was to symbolise our dissatisfaction with the current government. The idea is to root out the evil from governance and bring about a system that is pro-student and pro-people."

"Look at what this government has done to our country. The promises it made are still on paper and are repeated only in speeches. Whenever students want to raise their voice, they are attacked by the administration, certainly on instructions from the government. This Dussehra, we wanted to put an end to these rubbish activities," he added.

The effigy was burnt at the famous Saraswati Dhaba on the JNU campus. University officials, when contacted, were tight-lipped about whether the students had sought a permission for the event or not.

Here is what the JNU VC tweeted last night:

The effigy burning incident at JNU was brought to our notice. We are investigating the matter and examing all relevant information.  M. Jagadesh Kumar (@mamidala90) October 12, 2016

Last week only, the university administration had ordered a proctorial inquiry into the effigy-burning of the Gujarat government and 'gau-rakshak' (cow vigilantes).
Murshidabad (West Bengal): A woman accused of having an extra-marital affair had her hair snipped allegedly at the behest of a kangaroo court in Chandpur village of Nowda in West Bengal's Murshidabad district.

The incident took place few days back when the 32-year old woman left her home and fled with another man. Both were brought back by the villagers after which the village head set a kangaroo court and asked the woman to pay a fine of Rs. 6000.

As the woman failed to pay the fine, some villagers barged into her home late on Sunday night and cut her hair.

Yesterday, the woman filled a complaint at the Nowda Police Station against seven people. Till now, three people have been arrested by the police for setting up an unofficial court.
Bhopal: It's a news which forces us to think - Do we really respect the families of our martyrs?

The mother of a martyred Army Captain has accused Shahpur police in Madhya Pradesh of demanding a bribe to make efforts to trace the bravery medals of her son that were stolen in 2014.

Her son was martyred in Operation Rakshak

Nirmala Sharma, a resident of Shahpura locality in Bhopal, said that her only son, Captain Devashish Sharma of Punjab Battalion, was killed on December 10, 1994, during Operation Rakshak.

He was posthumously awarded Kirti Chakra by the government of India and a bravery award by the Jammu and Kashmir government.

The medals were stolen during a theft at their house on October 21, 2014, regarding which a report was lodged in Shahpura police station.

Nirmala said certain police officials demanded money to make efforts to trace the stolen medals, which she refused.

When contacted, Bhopal (South) Superintendent of Police Anshuman Singh said the police had not received any complaint in this regard.

"We got to know about this from the media only," he said and assured of suitable action.
New Delhi: Following the Centre's criticism of triple talaq in the supreme court, the Muslim Personal Law Board on Thursday decided to boycott the Uniform Civil Code, saying that India's diversity of cultures needs to be respected.

The Uniform Civil Code is not good for this nation. There are so many cultures in this nation which have to be respected, Hazrat Maulana Wali Rehman of the Muslim Personal Law Board (MPLB) said.

He alleged that the commission is not independent but working as a government body. We will boycott the law commission, the law commission is biased, Rehman said.

Also Read: 'Triple talaq implicates injustice on Muslim women, has no relation with any religion'

We are living in this country with an agreement held by the constitution, which allowed us to practice our religion, he said.

Muslims have equally participated in Indias freedom struggle, but their participation is always underestimated.

"In America, everyone follows their personal laws and identity. How come our nation doesn't want to follow their steps in this matter?," he asked.

He slammed the Modi government, saying it is using the uniform civil code to divert attention from its failures.

They cannot protect Indias borders and seem to be fueling internal strife, he said.

Also Read: Muslim women in Islamic countries enjoy more equality than in India: Maneka Gandhi

The members also claimed that Hindus practised polygamy more than Muslims and that the divorce rates were also high.

The MPLBs reactions come after the law commission released a questionnarie on October 7 which included 16 questions regarding the relevance and need of UCC, its impact on womens development, triple talaq among other things.

The questionnaire comes in the backdrop of a case being heard in Supreme Court regarding the relevance of triple talaq.

The case was filed by one Shayada Bano who challenged the practice and her petition was later merged with similar petitions by other organisations including the Bhartiya Muslim Mahina Andolan.

In its affidavit, the Centre had submitted in the apex court that triple talaq is not an integral part of Islam.

However, Muslim women have welcomed the government's stand that triple talaq violated the women's equality and must go.

"We ... whole-heartedly welcome the stand taken by the government in the Supreme Court," 16 women activists said in a joint statement.

"We welcome the clear statement in the (government) affidavit that practices such as Triple Talaq, Nikah Halala and polygamy are violative of womens' equality and dignity and therefore need to be abolished."

The statement said Triple Talaq took place in gross violation of Quranic injunctions and values of justice and equality enshrined in the Indian constitution.

"We welcome the statement that gender equality is non-negotiable... There can be no progress without gender equality and justice.

"We also welcome the stand that the fact that these practices are legally regulated in several Muslim countries indicates these are not essential practices in the Islamic religion," the statement said.

"The Constitution allows for personal laws with the objective of upholding diversity and pluralism in our country. But it nowhere sanctions violation of the principles of gender justice."

Also Read: Muslim women hail government move on Triple Talaq, say it violated issue of women's equality

The women said that Muslim women were entitled to legal justice just as Hindu women had moved towards justice through the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 and the Hindu Succession Act, 1956.
New Delhi: A day after the Jawaharlal Nehru University ordered a probe into the incident of burning Prime Minister Narendra Modi in effigy, the Home Ministry on Thursday has asked the Delhi police for a report on the matter.

NDTV has quoted sources as saying that the ministry has asked the police to submit a detailed report.

On Wednesday night, JNU vice-chancellor Jagadesh Kumar, whose picture was also put on the effigy set ablaze on Tuesday night, tweeted to inform about an inquiry into the burning of an effigy of PM Modi and others by a section of students on the university campus on the occasion of Dussehra by projecting them as Ravana.

"We have ordered an inquiry into the effigy burning incident and are examining the issue," said Kumar.

While Pakistan's Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, 26/11 mastermind Hafiz Saeed and heads of several other militant organisations were the faces of Ravana effigies burnt on Dussehra across the country, members of Congress-affiliated National Students' Union of India (NSUI) chose the visages of PM and BJP chief Amit Shah to represent the demon king and burnt the effigy on Tuesday.

They claimed that it was a protest against the Centre's "failure" to honour its promises and the "continuous attacks" on various educational institutions across the country.

While university officials maintained that no permission was sought for the event, the organisers claimed that effigy burning was a "routine" thing on campus and did not require permission from the administration.

Also Read: NSUI burns Narendra Modi's effigy: BJP seeks police action, demands Congress chief Sonia Gandhi's apology

Besides Modi and Shah, the effigy had faces of Yoga guru Ramdev, Sadhvi Pragya, Nathuram Godse, Asaram Bapu and the Vice-Chancellor. The students also carried placards with the slogan, 'Truth shall prevail over evil'.
Amsterdam: Kashmiri leaders have strongly condemned a terrorist attack on the premises of the Jammu and Kashmir Entrepreneurship Development Institute (JKEDI) at Pampore located on the outskirts of Srinagar, describing it as an attack on the future of Kashmiri youth.

The 56-hour standoff between security forces and terrorists reduced the riverside multi-storey building into a charred skeleton,leaving the future of hundreds of Kashmiri students in the dark.

The JKEDI building was earlier targeted on February 20 by LeT terrorists in which three commandos of the elite forces were martyred during a three-day-long operation.

The terrorists also killed eight CRPF personnel in a separate attack on June 25 in the vicinity of the JKEDI building.Kashmiri writer and journalist Junaid Qureshi, who is based in Amsterdam, termed such attacks as a deliberate strategy by Pakistan to target education and educational establishments.

"Ignorance is the foundation of terrorism and it is ignorance which is being promoted in Jammu and Kashmir by Pakistan, so that their propaganda can find a foothold", said Junaid.He further added, "For three months now, schools in the valley are closed.

This particular education establishment in Pampore was targeted earlier as well. There seems to be a deep rooted conspiracy to target education in order to Talibanize Jammu and Kashmir".

The Kashmiri activists from Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK) have also strongly opposed the terror attack of educational institutes in Kashmir valley.

Jamil Maqsood, Secretary-Foreign Affairs of United Kashmir People`s National Party, who is based in Brussels said, "Pakistan backed terrorists are destroying infrastructure in Jammu and Kashmir, the reason is very simple, they are ignorant and brainwashed by the security establishment of Pakistan.

Targeting state educational institutions and other premises shows their intentions".Jamil, who praised India for carrying out surgical strikes on terrorist camps in PoK, said a surgical operation was required to wash out terrorists camps whereever they exist in POK.He said, "Pakistan doesn`t need surgical strikes.

That country needs a major surgical operation so that the terrorist infrastructure can be properly dismantled."Col. (Retired) Wajahat Hassan Khan, who hails from Gilgit Baltistan, also strongly condemned the terrorist attack on the JKEDI in Pampore.

He said, "I strongly condemn this type of terrorist activity, which target educational institutions. It`s an attack on Kashmiri youth and is designed to deny them skill development."Junaid Qureshi said such attacks by Islamabad are its continuous attempt to distort the history of Jammu and Kashmir."Many in Jammu and Kashmir refuse to believe that it was Pakistan which violated the Standstill Agreement with Maharaja (Hari Singh) and attacked us on the 22nd of October 1947.

Pakistan keeps talking of the UN resolutions on Kashmir, but what it doesn`t tell, is that the first clause of the said UN Resolutions obligates Pakistan to withdraw its forces from the part of Jammu and Kashmir which it occupies.

"He also targeted the separatists for destablizing Kashmir.Junaid said, "After getting our children killed, ruining our economy and turning this paradise into hell, what is next on the agenda? Make us illiterate and beggars.

I fail to comprehend the audacity of those who think that the blockade of education will solve the Kashmir issue and bring Azadi. And even if it does bring a Talibanised inspired solution, what happens next?

What do we Kashmiris do when our next generations cannot read and write? What happens to our society? It is highly condemnable that our education and next generation are being attacked in this way".
Bhopal: Ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Bhopal on Friday, his security apparatus has gone into a tizzy after it emerged that hundreds of calls were made from a particular number in Afghanistan to the city residents here.

Although there were hundreds of calls made to the city over the past few days, there was, however, one particular number that raised the alarm.

According to news18.com, one of the numbers was showing the callers identity as Tererist. The number from which the call came was 093729864241 while the country code for Afghanistan is +93.

PM Modi will arrive in Bhopal on Friday to inaugurate a war memorial in the city's Lal Parade Ground. He will also address the ex-servicemen.

The report said that nearly a thousand people have received calls from the number, including the family of a senior intelligence officer.

The Ministry of Home Affairs has issued an alert following the development.

Security officials are now trying to find out more details about the calls from the telecom companies.

However, the Madhya Pradesh ATS in a statement said that the calls have nothing to do with PMs Bhopal visit.
Panaji: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will arrive in Goa on Friday for the upcoming two-day BRICS Summit, Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar said, adding that both Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin would be housed in the same resort during their stay in the coastal state.

Speaking to reporters at the State Secretariat, Parsekar also said that nearly Rs 70-75 crore had been spent by the state government for maintenance and creating additional infrastructure for the summit, including widening of roads, beautification of the road route from the airport to the hotels where the summit will be held and the delegates put up.

"We had asked the central government for these funds and they granted it to us," Parsekar said.

"Modi ji and the Russian President will be hosted at the Taj (Exotica) while the other heads of state will be put up in other hotels," Parsekar said.

The Chief Minister said that the two-day meet scheduled to be held on October 15-16 will help boost Goa's tourism prospects.

"The heads of state of countries which account for 42 per cent of the world's population. This will certainly bring Goa brand recall on in these countries. At the end of the summit, the BRICS countries will release a Goa declaration, which will be reported by the media worldwide," Parsekar said.
New Delhi: Union Minister Arun Jaitley on Thursday asserted that religion cannot dictate upon the rights of an individual and attacked Congress over its stand on the Uniform Civil Code, saying it was the Constituent Assembly controlled by the party that had envisaged a common civil law for all Indians.

"The Constitution today guarantees each individual right to equality, right to live with dignity. Therefore as far as personal laws are concerned I am one of those who believe that set of rights that personal law has... Will have to be regulated by the Constitution.

"Personal law cannot practise, propagate discrimination; cannot allow a compromise with human dignity. Personal law and practises can certainly deal with religion, can dictate upon rituals. The religion cannot dictate upon rights of individuals," the Finance Minister said.

The government's affidavit on triple talaq is a secular approach, an approach that cuts upon religion, he said.

He rejected the criticism of the government by various Muslim bodies, saying personal laws have been amended by the various governments and cited the amendment brought in by the first NDA government in divorce laws governing Christians. The Church fully supported it, he said.

The Manmohan Singh government had also brought changes in Hindu Succession Act to bring the woman at par with the man in inheritance, Jaitley told Times Now.

Taking a dig at Congress, he said he was "amazed" at its stand as he recalled that the likes of Jawaharlal Nehru and Sardar Patel, who belonged to the party, had envisaged an Uniform Civil Code.

He added that the Law Commission, which has sought views of various stake holders on the UCC, is carrying out an academic exercise following a judicial order and it was not the government's decision.
New Delhi: India showed the world its firm resolve against terrorism when it carried out the surgical strikes on September 29, Union Minister of State for Home Hansraj Gangaram Ahir said here on Thursday.

"India has shown its might. The world has seen what is the difference between those talking too much and those talking less on the intervening night of September 28 and 29," Ahir told reporters on the sidelines of a Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Ficci) event.

The minister was reacting to the rhetoric from Pakistan in the wake of the strikes across the Line of Control.

Addressing a seminar on 'Border Management and Illicit Trade' organised by Ficci, Ahir said that India has always tried to improve its ties with neighbouring countries, including Pakistan and China, but the reciprocal gestures have not always been good.

"We believe some tasks cannot be carried out through arms but through dialogue. But, Pakistan has created a lot of problem by indulging in drug-trafficking. This is a persistent challenge which needs to be tackled," he said.

Ahir also alleged that the "neighbouring country (Pakistan) does not want to see our youths flourish and progress".

Raising concern over Pakistan and China's strategy, Ahir also stressed the need to save the minerals and its utilisation.

"Apart from saving our borders, it is necessary to protect the minerals and utilise it properly. China and Pakistan would not easily allow us to take our minerals," Ahir said.

On the occasion, the minister also released Ficci CASCADE report "Need For Policy Reforms to Combat Illicit Markers".

Over trans-border smuggling, Ahir said: "Safe borders are critical to nation, hence collaborative and cooperative measures are required as an anti-smuggling initiative in the country."

He said that the existence and operation of illicit markets such as smuggling had been an enduring problem that had escalated in scope and magnitude, impacting industries, government, economies and, the health and safety of the consumers.

"Moreover, smuggling operations have close links to terror organisations and criminal networks. In fact, it is one of the biggest challenges faced by India and its industry today, tarnishing the country's image in the global arena," he said.

Ficci Secretary General Didar Singh said illicit trade and smuggling of products impact India's economy and industries as well as safety and security of consumers.

India faces a loss of nearly Rs 40,000 crore in taxes due to illegal trade of just seven products, Singh said.

The seminar was attended by over 150 Border Security Force (BSF) officers from across the country.
Delhi: Even as the All Indian Muslim Personal Law Board and various other outfits on Thursday opposed the Law Commission's questionnaire on Uniform Civil Code, Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said that the Narendra Modi government does not intend to review its considered observation on the issue.

This is a well thought out and considered view of the government in pursuit of gender equality and dignity of women, Prasad told Hindustan Times in an interview.

Prasad added, "There are many Islamic countries in the world, who have regulated triple talaq. They have made provision for arbitration and conciliation. At some places, only court decides in such matter. You simply cannot say talaq-talaq-talaq. We have taken a position that if Islamic countries have regulated their matrimonial laws, which has not been found violative of the Sharia, how can the same argument be raised in a secular country like India."

"Countries such as Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Morocco, Tunisia, Turkey, Indonesia, Egypt, Iran and even Pakistan have regulated their laws much earlier. Agar wahan ho sakta hai to bharat mein kyon nahi (If it can happen there, why cant it happen in India)," he said.

AIMPLB, Muslim outfits oppose questionnaire on civil code

Meanwhile, addressing a press conference in the national capital, AIMPLB contended that UCC, if implemented, will paint all people in 'one colour' which will threaten the country's pluralism and diversity.

Trashing government's stand on the issue of triple talaq, the outfits instead claimed the community has reported lesser number of divorce cases vis-a-vis other communities, especially the Hindu community which, they said, has reported higher divorce ratio according to Census 2011.

AIMPLB general secretary Wali Rehmani, Jamiat-Ulema -e-Hind president Maulana Arshad Madani and representatives of other bodies said all the Muslim sects and its women were 'one' on these issues.

The Board said that there were 'flaws' in the personal laws governing Muslims and they were being addressed from time-to-time.

Also Read - Muslim law board to boycott Uniform Civil Code

They said the country was facing problems on various fronts including the LoC and issues like killings elsewhere.

"This is all destructive. The government should try to fix this and ensure peace than seeking views on issues like UCC," Madani said, as per PTI.

Contrary to the Commission's claim that the step is an 'endeavour' to address discrimination against vulnerable groups and harmonise the various cultural practices, Rehmani said when implemented the UCC will bring to an end country's pluralism and paint all in 'one colour' and end diversity and pluralism.

"People of different cultures stay in this country. If the UCC is implemented, attempts will be made to paint all in one colour, which is not in the interest of the country. Also, we don't want the practice of triple talaq to be abolished. There are more divorces in other communities. Rather the highest rate, which is double that of Muslims, is among Hindus," he claimed.

(With Agency inputs)
New Delhi: A huge controversy over Uniform Civil Code on Thursday.

The All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) and a number of other prominent Muslim organisations on Thursday rejected the Law Commission's questionnaire on the Uniform Civil Code, calling it "misleading".

AIMPLB and various other outfits have opposed the Law Commission's questionnaire on Uniform Civil Code and announced their boycott of the move, accusing the government of waging a "war" against the community.

Addressing a press conference here, they contended that Uniform Civil Code (UCC), if implemented, will paint all people in "one colour" which will threaten the country's pluralism and diversity.colour" which will threaten the country's pluralism and diversity.

AIMPLB General Secretary Maulana Wali Rahmani calling the questionnaire "misleading and divisive", said, "Muslims will not respond to it."

"We will boycott this questionnaire. No Muslim will respond to it because it is misleading and deceitful. The Uniform Civil Code is divisive and will lead to social unrest," Maulana Wali Rahmani told media persons in Delhi.

Here you can see the PDF file of Law Commission's questionnaire on the Uniform Civil Code, which has become the bone of contention. Law Commission on October 7 had put up on its website a questionnaire, comprising 16 questions, to seek public opinion on the civil code issue.

You can access these questionnaires here in English and Hindi to give your opinion on Uniform Civil Code (UCC):-

English - http://lawcommissionofindia.nic.in/questionnaire.pdf

Hindi - http://lawcommissionofindia.nic.in/hindiqn.pdf

According to AIMPLB General Secretary Maulana Wali Rahmani, "The uniform code is not suited for this nation. There are so many cultures in India and they have to be respected. A uniform code is against the spirit of the Constitution, which safeguards the right of citizens to practise their culture and religion."

Questioning the timing of the move, Rahmani said the Narendra Modi government had deliberately thrown up this issue now to "hide its failures in the last two-and-half years".

The development comes days after the Union government told the Supreme Court that 'triple talaq', 'nikaah halala' and polygamy were not integral to the practice of Islam or essential religious practices.

Subsequently, the Law Commission on October 7 put up on its website a questionnaire, comprising 16 questions, to seek public opinion on the civil code issue.
Washington: The United States of America on Wednesday described the Uri attack a "clear case of cross-border terrorism" and extended support to India's "right to self-defence".

The US further dismissed the recent attempt by Pakistan to link peace in war-torn Afghanistan with the resolution of the Kashmir issue.

The White House backed India's right to defend itself as with any other country in view of the recent surgical strike but advised caution given the heavy militarisation between the two neighbours.

It also said that that the US is making every effort to ensure that India becomes a member of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) by the end of this year.

Making a rare appearance before a Washington audience, Peter Lavoy, the White House's point person for South Asia, said that India-US ties are the "most dynamic relationship" for the US as he listed the Obama administration's achievements in strengthening the relationship between the two largest democracies of the world.

"It (Uri) was a clear case of cross-border terrorism. We condemned this act of terrorism. It was a horrific attack. Every country has a right to self-defence. But in a heavily militarised relationship that has also experienced three wars, there is indeed a need for caution and restraint," he said responding to a question on the Uri attack.

"We share with India, the concern for preventing any future attack. We empathise with the Indian position that it needs to respond militarily to the cross-border threat of terrorism. But we also advise caution," Lavoy said.

India and Pakistan have a "friction-filled relationship" and they have not found a way to overcome that, he added.

Last week, Lavoy met the two special envoys of Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Kashmir.

The two Pakistani envoys in their public meetings had linked peace in Afghanistan to resolving the Kashmir issue.

"We certainly do not believe that the situation in Afghanistan is linked with Kashmir," the top White House official said.

Lavoy said the US is making every effort to ensure that India becomes a member of the Nuclear Suppliers Group by the end of this year.

"In 2016 India ought to join the NSG," he said and referred to the commitment made by the US in this regard.

"Every effort is being made to ensure India ought to join NSG this year," Lavoy said to a question.

India becoming a member of NSG, he argued would exhibit New Delhi's new leadership in non-proliferation.

Meanwhile, Pakistan on Wednesday stuck to its stand there was no surgical strike across the LoC on September 29 as India says, with its High Commissioner Abdul Basit saying there was only cross-border firing.
Amsterdam: Kashmiri leaders have strongly condemned a terrorist attack on the premises of the Jammu and Kashmir Entrepreneurship Development Institute (JKEDI) at Pampore located on the outskirts of Srinagar, describing it as an attack on the future of Kashmiri youth.

The 56-hour standoff between security forces and terrorists reduced the riverside multi-storey building into a charred skeleton, leaving the future of hundreds of Kashmiri students in the dark.

The JKEDI building was earlier targeted on February 20 by LeT terrorists in which three commandos of the elite forces were martyred during a three-day-long operation.

The terrorists also killed eight CRPF personnel in a separate attack on June 25 in the vicinity of the JKEDI building.

Kashmiri writer and journalist Junaid Qureshi, who is based in Amsterdam, termed such attacks as a deliberate strategy by Pakistan to target education and educational establishments.

"Ignorance is the foundation of terrorism and it is ignorance which is being promoted in Jammu and Kashmir by Pakistan, so that their propaganda can find a foothold", said Junaid.

He further added, "For three months now, schools in the valley are closed. This particular education establishment in Pampore was targeted earlier as well. There seems to be a deep rooted conspiracy to target education in order to Talibanise Jammu and Kashmir".

The Kashmiri activists from Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) have also strongly opposed the terror attack of educational institutes in Kashmir valley.

Jamil Maqsood, secretary-foreign affairs of United Kashmir People`s National Party, who is based in Brussels said, "Pakistan backed terrorists are destroying infrastructure in Jammu and Kashmir, the reason is very simple, they are ignorant and brainwashed by the security establishment of Pakistan.

Targeting state educational institutions and other premises shows their intentions".Jamil, who praised India for carrying out surgical strikes on terrorist camps in PoK, said a surgical operation was required to wash out terrorists camps where ever they exist in PoK.

He said, "Pakistan doesn`t need surgical strikes. That country needs a major surgical operation so that the terrorist infrastructure can be properly dismantled."

Col (retired) Wajahat Hassan Khan, who hails from Gilgit Baltistan, also strongly condemned the terrorist attack on the JKEDI in Pampore.

He said, "I strongly condemn this type of terrorist activity, which target educational institutions. It`s an attack on Kashmiri youth and is designed to deny them skill development."

Junaid Qureshi said such attacks by Islamabad are its continuous attempt to distort the history of Jammu and Kashmir.

"Many in Jammu and Kashmir refuse to believe that it was Pakistan which violated the Standstill Agreement with Maharaja (Hari Singh) and attacked us on the 22nd of October 1947. Pakistan keeps talking of the UN resolutions on Kashmir, but what it doesn`t tell, is that the first clause of the said UN Resolutions obligates Pakistan to withdraw its forces from the part of Jammu and Kashmir which it occupies."

He also targeted the separatists for destablising Kashmir.

Junaid said, "After getting our children killed, ruining our economy and turning this paradise into hell, what is next on the agenda? Make us illiterate and beggars. I fail to comprehend the audacity of those who think that the blockade of education will solve the Kashmir issue and bring Azadi. And even if it does bring a Talibanised inspired solution, what happens next? What do we Kashmiris do when our next generations cannot read and write? What happens to our society? It is highly condemnable that our education and next generation are being attacked in this way".
Kannur: The Bharatiya Janata Party on Thursday began observing dawn-to-dusk strike to protest the murder of a 25-year-old worker in the hometown of Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan in the politically-sensitive Kannur district.

Buses and autorickshaws were off the roads as the 12-hour state-wide hartal began at 6 am.

Early reports said no untoward incident was reported in any part of the state, including the politically sensitive northern district of Kannur, where there is heavy police patrolling.

The murder of the worker, identified as Remith, on Wednesday at Pinarayi had sparked a slugfest between the CPI(M), which is heading the ruling LDF, and the BJP.

Remith was murdered allegedly by CPI-M members, less than 48 hours after the murder of a Marxist member.

Remith's body was brought from Kozhikode Medical College Hospital after postmortem to Kannur this morning and kept at Thalassery new bus stand for public to pay homage before cremation.

This is the second hartal in Kannur district within three days as the CPI(M) had observed a hartal in protest against the murder of their worker.?

IGP Northern Range, Dinendra Kashyap, said over 2000 police personnel have been mobilised in Kannur. Those who have gone on leave have been asked to report for duty, he told PTI.

There is simmering tension and more police personnel have been deployed at places where the body will be kept for public homage, he said.

Meanwhile, police have registered cases against 10 CPI(M) workers in connection with the attack on Remith. A special squad under DYSP (Administration) TP Renjith has been formed to investigate the case.

Police have made special arrangements to take patients, who had come by trains from various parts of the state for treatment at the Regional Cancer Centre Hospital in the state capital.

BJP activists took out a march to the Secretariat at around 11 am.

Examinations which were to be conducted today by Kerala, Kannur, Calicut and Cochin Universities have been postponed due to the hartal.

Condemning the killing, BJP national president Amit Shah tweeted, "Attacks on BJP karyakartas in CM Pinarayi Vijayan's home constituency is a matter of grave concern and smacks of political vendetta".

"Chavassery Uttaman, Remith's father was similarly killed in 2002, his mother suffered serious injures when his house was attacked recently", Shah tweeted.

CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury had said the violence in Kerala has been started by the RSS-BJP combine itself and blaming the state's ruling party for the same is "total fabrication" of facts.

Vijayan had yesterday hit out at the RSS for the growing violence in the state which he alleged was with the support of BJP government at the Centre.

Vijayan, while speaking at a function in Alappuzha, attacked RSS and BJP over the attack on a Marxist worker in Kannur two days ago and accused RSS of spreading violence in the state.

The incident comes within two days of the murder of a CPI(M) activist and toddy shop worker Mohanan (40) by a six-member gang at Pathiriyad in Kannur district, with CPI(M) pointing fingers at RSS for the attack.

Ever since the Left government assumed office in Kerala in May, four BJP and three CPI-M workers have been killed in Kannur district.

(With Agency inputs)
Itarsi (Madhya Pradesh): A minor rape victim of Madhya Pradesh's Itarsi city has attempted to immolate herself after getting threats from the accused rapists.

The minor yesterday around 11 a.m. poured kerosene on herself and tried to immolate herself. The victim was rushed to a nearby hospital and her treatment is underway.

"She was raped on February 16 this year, one of the accused was recently released from jail so she thought that he will kill her," said victim's father.

The minor is out of danger now, informed the police."She is out of danger right now, but has suffered third-degree burns on 40 percent of her body. Investigation is underway," said Anil Sharma (SDOP).

The investigation into the matter is on.
Mumbai: Bharatiya Janata Party MP Kirit Somaiya on Thursday alleged that an attempt was made on his life by gangsters and 'mafia agents' near his home in suburban Mulund two days ago.

In a letter addressed to Mumbai Police Commissioner Datta Padsalgikar, he has demanded a probe into the 'mafia conspiracy' to eliminate him and sought stringent action against those involved in the attack.

The 62-year-old Lok Sabha Member from Mumbai North-East constituency said that on Dussehra, around 100 goons were waiting for him with arms in vehicles near the Ravan Dahan venue in Mulund, north-east Mumbai.

"After 'Mafia Ravan Dahan', after most of the BJP activists left, when I came out to board my car, suddenly they rushed to me with 'hathiyars' (arms)," Somaiya said in his complaint to Padsalgikar.

"It seems their plan was to kill/incapacitate me to protect their Boss/Mafiasa. It was a well-designed attack of the group/guns/mafias/party," he added.

The Dussehra celebrations became controversial after Somaiya decided to burn an 'effigy of corrupt mafia' in the Brihan Mumbai Municipal Corporation, as 'Mafia Ravan Dahan', to which Shiv Sainiks took strong objection.

Though in the police complaint, Somaiya has refrained from mentioning the Shiv Sena, in public he has alleged that the attack was carried out by that party's activists.

He added that the police security guard provided to him rushed to his rescue and saved him from the assailants that evening.

The police have so far arrested around 13 persons in connection with the incident in which seven BJP activists were also injured as they got into a scuffle at the venue.

Since the past few days, Somaiya has targeted the BJP ally in the BMC, state government and the Centre, and charged that the BMC was beset with "corruption and mafia-raj", to which the Sena has taken umbrage.

The BMC is ruled by the Shiv Sena-BJP alliance since the past two decades and the crucial civic elections are due after three months, in early 2017.


Thane: Situation in powerloom town of Bhiwandi in Thane district was tense but peaceful as security was beefed up hours after members of two communities clashed during a Muharram procession, police said.

A meeting was convened late last night by senior police officials with the local peace committee soon after the situation was brought under control. It was also attended by local MP Kapil Patil, who urged the people to maintain calm, an official at Thane City Police Control Room said.

The incident occurred when some of arches put up for just-concluded Navratri festival got damaged during the Muharram procession in the evening. This led to tensions between the members from both community. They later hurled stones at each other.

Later, a sub-inspector, a police naik and one more person received injuries when a two-wheeler of a police official was set on fire.

Those injured were sub-inspector Sanjay Rathod, police naik santosh Mali and a photographer, the officer said, adding that all of them are undergoing treatment at National Burns Hospital in Airoli, Navi Mumbai.
Mumbai: Bharatiya Janata Party MP Kirit Somaiya on Thursday alleged that an attempt was made on his life by gangsters and 'mafia agents' near his home in suburban Mulund two days ago.

In a letter addressed to Mumbai Police Commissioner Datta Padsalgikar, he has demanded a probe into the 'mafia conspiracy' to eliminate him and sought stringent action against those involved in the attack.

The 62-year-old Lok Sabha Member from Mumbai North-East constituency said that on Dussehra, around 100 goons were waiting for him with arms in vehicles near the Ravan Dahan venue in Mulund, north-east Mumbai.

"After 'Mafia Ravan Dahan', after most of the BJP activists left, when I came out to board my car, suddenly they rushed to me with 'hathiyars' (arms)," Somaiya said in his complaint to Padsalgikar.

"It seems their plan was to kill/incapacitate me to protect their Boss/Mafiasa. It was a well-designed attack of the group/guns/mafias/party," he added.

The Dussehra celebrations became controversial after Somaiya decided to burn an 'effigy of corrupt mafia' in the Brihan Mumbai Municipal Corporation, as 'Mafia Ravan Dahan', to which Shiv Sainiks took strong objection.

Though in the police complaint, Somaiya has refrained from mentioning the Shiv Sena, in public he has alleged that the attack was carried out by that party's activists.

He added that the police security guard provided to him rushed to his rescue and saved him from the assailants that evening.

The police have so far arrested around 13 persons in connection with the incident in which seven BJP activists were also injured as they got into a scuffle at the venue.

Since the past few days, Somaiya has targeted the BJP ally in the BMC, state government and the Centre, and charged that the BMC was beset with "corruption and mafia-raj", to which the Sena has taken umbrage.

The BMC is ruled by the Shiv Sena-BJP alliance since the past two decades and the crucial civic elections are due after three months, in early 2017.
Mumbai: A five-storey building collapsed in Behrampada slum of Bandra East in Mumbai on Thursday afternoon.

Two girls are believed to be trapped inside, news agency PTI quoted fire brigade sources as saying.

There are no reports of any casualties so far, they said.

The National Disaster Response Force has reached the spot.

The building is located on Anant Kanekar Marg, Behrampada, near National School in Bandra East.

First floor to the fourth floor portion of the building collapsed, thereby trapping two girls as learnt from people around, fire brigade sources said.

Efforts were underway to clear the rubble, they said.

Further details were awaited.
Mumbai: Shiv Sena today hit out at BJP over its timing to question "corruption" in Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) and accused its senior ruling partner of trying to gain "undue political benefits" by demanding probe into various civic projects in view of 2017 civic elections.

"The BJP today speaks about corruption in BMC. But why did they not make these allegations in last 20 years (BJP and Sena are in power in BMC). They have found their voice and the need to speak after the 2014 Lok Sabha polls," Sena spokesperson Neelam Gorhe told reporters here.

Taking aim at Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, she said if the BJP in Delhi holds Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal responsible for everything that happens there, why should the civic corporation be held responsible for Mumbai.

"Why apply double standards? If you hold the CM responsible there (in Delhi), make Maharashtra CM responsible for Mumbai's affairs too," Gorhe said, adding that only the Sena corporators in BMC are being held responsible for the irregularities.

The Sena leader said the Congress and NCP didn't find any wrongdoings in BMC when they were in power prior to 2014.

"Congress leaders held UDD (Urband Development Department) portfolios. If they found something wrong then, would they not have initiated an inquiry? Why demands for inquiry now? This is all being done for political benefits. Their agenda is to call for enquiries after alleging corruption and gain undue benefits (in the upcoming BMC polls)," Gorhe alleged.

BJP MP Kirit Somaiya has been targeting Sena over "corruption" and has expressed his party's resolve to end "corruption mafia" in the civic body.

BJP's Mumbai unit president Ashish Shelar too has taken barbs at Sena, drawing pointed reactions from the Uddhav Thackeray-led party.
Chandigarh: Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal today directed the DGP to immediately reach Ludhiana for an on the spot inquiry into a clash between Akalis Dal and Congress workers over a white coloured effigy of demon king Ravana which left at least 35 persons injured.

DGP Suresh Arora has been asked to submit his report within three days and he has already left for Ludhiana, a spokesperson of the CMO said.

Badal also personally called on Congress leaders who are agitating outside his official residence here and assured them that the law of land would take its own course and anybody found guilty would be punished, the spokesman said.

Congress leaders, including Ravneet Singh Bittu and Bharat Bhushan Ashu staged a protest in front of Badal's residence here, protesting against "excessive crackdown" on party leaders.

Jakhar claimed that Congress leaders were "falsely implicated" in the incident and alleged that Congress leaders were charged with attempt to murder and kidnapping, whereas no action was taken against the Akalis.

Police had yesterday arrested Youth Congress' Punjab Secretary Parvinder Singh Lapran in connection with the clash.

Police has registered a case in the matter under various sections of the IPC including 307 (attempt to murder), 365 (kidnapping), 506 (threatening) and 295 (hurting religious sentiments) against these leaders.

Congress had reportedly prepared white effigies in protest against the sale of heroin in Punjab and the party had planned to burn them on Dussehra along with photos of the Chief Minister and his deputy Sukhbir Singh Badal leading to the protest.

Traditionally, Ravana effigies are covered with black glaze paper.

Deputy Leader of the Opposition Bharat Bhushan Ashu, who represents Ludhiana West Assembly constituency, said as many as 12 Congress men were injured in the clash.

According to police, the SAD workers damaged the white Ravana. The workers also allegedly damaged the vehicle of Congress MP Ravneet Singh Bittu.
Chennai: Under attack over reported portfolio allocation to Tamil Nadu's Finance Minister O Panneerselvam by state's ailing Chief Minister Jayalalithaa, the ruling AIADMK said on Thursday the latter gave verbal consent regarding the same.

The clarification from the party after the DMK-led Opposition parties asked how could Jayalalithaa convey her decision to allot eight of her portfolios to Panneerselvam while she is recovering at the Apollo Hospital where she has been put on respiratory support.

Jayalalithaa had advised the state's Governor Vidyasagar Rao to assign her portfolios to Finance Minister O Panneerselvam while she recovers in hospital, her party had said on Wednesday evening.

Portfolios looked after by Honourable Amma have been allocated to Finance Minister O. Panneerselvam on the advice of Puratchi Thalaivi Amma.  AIADMK (@AIADMKOfficial) October 11, 2016

Also Read: 'How did Jayalalithaa convey to Governor to allocate her portfolios to Panneerselvam?'

The chief minister, party spokesperson CR Saraswathi also told reporters that she is "reading newspapers and recovering fast."

"A message was sent to Jayalalithaa about giving portfolios to O Panneerselvam, She said 'yes'. She's not unconscious," Saraswathi said, also explaining that "everybody can't go inside (to her room) due to infection. Only doctors go. Without the Chief Minister's knowledge, nothing happens in AIADMK."

It was rebuttal to opposition parties who asked just how Ms Jayalalithaa had advised the state's Governor Vidyasagar Rao to assign her portfolios or departments to Mr Panneerselvam, who has stood in for Ms Jayalalithaa twice before when she stepped down as chief minister over corruption cases against her.

Must Read: Mass prayers for Tamil Nadu CM Jayalalithaa's recovery

However, this did not go down well with the Opposition with one of the top leaders, S Ramadoss of the Pattali Makkal Katchi, hitting back saying, ''Till the Governor explains, the decision will be suspect... Jayalalithaa could not have gestured or signed while on respiratory support."

DMK chief Karunanidhi also sought to know whether Jayalalithaa had "signed a file" to advice the Governor on the changes. He also asked why visitors have not been allowed to meet Jayalalithaa.

Among those who have visited the hospital are BJP chief Amit Shah, Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi and several union ministers.

The opposition leaders have earlier questioned why so much secrecy is being maintained regarding Jayajalithaa's health.

The Opposition also demanded the Tamil Nadu government to make statements on her condition and release her photograph to put rumours that she is gravely ill at rest.

The AIADMK, however, rejected that demand.

The Chief Minister has been at Chennai's Apollo hospital since September 22. Doctors said she is being treated for lung infection and has been on respiratory support for several days. Ms Jayalalalithaa will not be able to leave hospital soon, they said.
Lucknow: BSP supremo Mayawati on Thursday said her party will form the next government in Uttar Pradesh, even as she warned her supporters of rival parties, which she claimed can go to any extend to mislead the people.

"With the support of the 'sarv samaj' (public), BSP is sure of forming the next government but as BJP, SP and Congress are very good at instigating people with the help of their capitalist friends, there is a need to remain vigilant till the completion of the election process," she said addressing a meeting of her party office bearers here.

The state goes to polls early next year.

The BSP chief, who took stock of poll preparations and the party's ongoing efforts to connect with the people, alleged that "newspapers and TV news channels owned by capitalists are working to create an atmosphere favourable to BJP, SP and Congress through poll surveys as these parties suit them more".

Criticising the ruling Samajwadi Party, Mayawati said it was taking credit for the schemes initiated by her government by renaming them and claiming to be their own projects.

She also blamed the police and administration under the SP government for "mismanagement" which led to the stampede during her 'Maharally' in Lucknow on Sunday, claiming two lives.
New Delhi: Surgical strikes have boosted BJP's prospects in Uttar Pradesh assembly elections as the "political will" shown by the Modi government on the issue will resonate among the people, a top party leader said on Thursday.

National security will "obviously" be a poll plank, he said, underlining the "political will" shown by the Modi government in asking the Army to cross the LoC to hit terrorist launch pads in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.

"Development and national security are definitely issues. Who did take this decision (of surgical strikes)? It is this government that showed the political will of crossing the border. The Army carried this out but the decision was of the government," said the leader, who did not want to be quoted, in an informal interaction with reporters.

BJP will get a strong majority in the polls scheduled for early next year, he asserted.

The saffron party has been out of the power in the country's largest state for close to 15 years. Riding on the 'Modi wave' it had swept UP in the Lok Sabha polls but is now facing stiff fight from two regional parties, ruling Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party, which have ruled it by turn all these years.

The issue of surgical strikes will appeal across the caste divide in the state and, BJP leaders believe, will fetch them extra votes in a same manner as Modi's "developmental agenda" did in 2014 Lok Sabha polls.

The Samajwadi Party remains a strong rival, he said,

despite the feud in the ruling Yadav clan as it has a "big base" and BSP supremo Mayawati's appeal to Muslims to vote for her party is an indication that its support base was slipping away.

BJP is better prepared for the assembly polls compared to the Lok Sabha poll in UP, he said, adding that it has formed booth committees in 87 per cent of total booths against 36 per cent in 2014.

Asked what difference does he find in the UP election compared to Bihar, another key Hindi heartland state where the party had lost badly last year, he said light-heartedly, "There is a change in atmosphere. Surgical strikes have happened."

He also rubbished the opposition's criticism of Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar over his comments over the strikes, wondering who will speak if not the Defence Minister on this issue.

Asked about the issue of triple talaq among Muslims, he said the party and the Centre remained firmly against it.

A section of Muslim clerics has lashed out at the government over its stand on the matter, presently being heard by the Supreme Court.

He, however, noted that the matter has been in courts since the UPA's time and not "BJP-sponsored".

If the issue flares up, it will only help the party, BJP leaders said.
Singur: The West Bengal government is set to provide physical possession of land to Singur farmers before October 21, senior state Minister Partha Chattopadhyay said on Thursday.

"We are happy with the progress. We hope we will be able to start the process of giving physical possession of land before October 21, after getting a green signal from Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. Most land has been made cultivable except 75 acres," said Chattopadhyay after a meeting with district officials at Singur.

On September 29, Banerjee, in the Hooghly district's administrative meeting, had given the October 21 dateline to remove all constructions from the Tata Nano project area as the state government was given the responsibility to return the land to farmers by the Supreme Court.

"In the initial phases, we are targeting to provide physical land possession for about 200 acres," a district official told IANS.

The Supreme Court, on August 31, struck down the land acquisition made by the erstwhile Left Front government for the small car factory and ordered the land be returned to the cultivators within 12 weeks.

Redeeming a pledge she made years back, Banerjee had returned 9,117 land records to farmers and compensated 800 peasants from whom land had been taken against their wishes.


Donald Trump assailed as "absolutely false" the allegations by several women that he groped them, and blamed Democratic rival Hillary Clinton, the media and lobbyists of being engaged in a vicious effort to stop him from winning the White House.

With his numbers dropping in opinion polls only weeks before the Nov. 8 election, the Republican presidential nominee told supporters at a rally in Florida that his campaign was engaged in "a struggle for the survival of our nation."

Trump said accusations that he groped women in a series of incidents going back to the 1980s were part of a coordinated attempt to keep him from the Oval Office.

"These vicious claims about me of inappropriate conduct with women are totally and absolutely false," he said, adding that "the Clintons know it." He said he would make public at some point evidence to dispute the charges.

Trump spoke after The New York Times reported that two women said they had endured sexual aggression from him, and several other women made similar allegations in other media outlets.

The New York businessman`s campaign was already struggling to contain a crisis after a video surfaced last week showing him bragging in 2005 about groping women and making unwanted sexual advances.

First lady Michelle Obama criticized Trump in scathing terms in a campaign speech for Clinton in New Hampshire on Thursday.

Her voice close to cracking with emotion, Obama described the Republican as "a powerful individual speaking freely and openly about sexually predatory behaviour."

"It`s one of countless examples of how he has treated women his whole life and I have to tell you that I listen to all this and I feel it so personally," she said.

One woman, Jessica Leeds, appeared on camera on The New York Times` website to recount how Trump grabbed her breasts and tried to put his hand up her skirt on a flight from the Midwest to New York in or around 1980.

The second woman, Rachel Crooks, described how Trump "kissed me directly on the mouth" in an unwanted advance in 2005 at Trump Tower in Manhattan, where she was a receptionist at a real estate firm.

Reuters could not independently verify the incidents. Leeds and Crooks did not respond to requests for comment from Reuters.

The New York Times said on Thursday it stood by its story and rejected charges the article was libelous after a lawyer for Trump threatened legal action and demanded a retraction.

SLUMP IN POLLS

Trump has slumped in opinion polls in recent days as uproar over the video threatened to engulf the former reality TV star`s White House campaign in a way that earlier controversies surrounding him have not.

A Reuters/Ipsos survey showed one in five Republicans thought Trump`s comments about groping women disqualified him from the presidency. The poll also showed him 8 points behind Clinton among likely voters.

Trump trails Clinton by up to 11 points in other polls.

He has never previously run for political office. Provocative statements have been a feature of his presidential bid since the day in June 2015 when he described Mexican immigrants as rapists and criminals in a speech announcing he was running for president.

Establishment Republicans have struggled to get behind Trump, alarmed by both his style and some of his policy proposals.

Within hours of The New York Times report, several other media outlets published similar reports. People magazine published a detailed first-person account from one of its reporters, Natasha Stoynoff.

Stoynoff said Trump pinned her against a wall at his Florida estate in 2005 and kissed her as she struggled to get away.

"I turned around, and within seconds, he was pushing me against the wall, and forcing his tongue down my throat," Stoynoff said.

Trump, 70, denied the People story in a Twitter message and in his speech in Florida on Thursday, and mocked the writer.

"I ask her a simple question. Why wasn`t it part of the story that appeared 12 years ago? Why didn`t they make it part of the story ... if she had added that, it would have been the headline."

"Look at her and look at her words," he said. "You tell me what you think. I don`t think so."

The Palm Beach Post reported an allegation by Mindy McGillivray, 36, a woman in South Florida, that Trump had grabbed her bottom 13 years ago while she was working at his Mar-a-Lago estate as a photographer`s assistant.

"There is no truth to this whatsoever," Trump`s spokeswoman, Hope Hicks, told the Post. McGillivray could not be reached for comment.

At the rally on Thursday, Trump said he had been prepared for attacks, but "I never knew it would be this vile, that it would be this bad, that it would be this vicious."

He said the "corrupt political establishment," which he said included special interests, was trying to stop him so it could carry out a program of "radical globalization and the disenfranchisement of working people."

"Our great civilization, here in America and across the civilized world has come upon a moment of reckoning," he said.

REPUBLICAN HOPES

In the 2005 video, Trump bragged about groping women, kissing them without permission, and trying to seduce a married woman. He said during a presidential debate on Sunday that he had not actually done the things he had boasted about, and apologised for his remarks, which he called private "locker room talk."

Fallout from the video has thrown a cloud over Republican hopes of retaining control of the U.S. Congress and deeply split the party as elected officials have abandoned support for the candidate.

U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan said on Monday he was no longer going to campaign for or defend Trump. Trump has since veered between pronouncing himself free to campaign as he likes, and expressing fury at Ryan and other "disloyal" Republicans.

A spokeswoman for Clinton, 68, said Wednesday`s report in The New York Times was "disturbing."

The Washington Post endorsed Clinton, a former secretary of state, on Thursday. "In the gloom and ugliness of this political season, one encouraging truth is often overlooked: There is a well-qualified, well-prepared candidate on the ballot ... we endorse her without hesitation," it said.
Beirut: Overnight shelling and more than a dozen airstrikes on rebel-held parts of Aleppo killed at least 11 people today, while rebel shelling of government-held areas in the divided city killed two girls at a school, according to an opposition activist group and Aleppo's volunteer civil defense forces.

The airstrikes came a day after an air raid hit eastern Aleppo's biggest market, killing at least 15 people and leveling buildings. At least 65 people have been killed in Aleppo's rebel-held eastern districts in the last three days.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported more than 20 airstrikes on eastern Aleppo that killed seven while shelling killed four, adding that clashes were taking place between government forces and insurgents on the city's northern edge.

The Halab Today TV channel reported "intense" airstrikes on rebel-held parts of Syria's largest city, adding that cluster bombs were being dropped.

Ibrahim Alhaj, a member of the Syrian Civil Defense, said the airstrikes killed 13 and wounded 25. He said some people remained buried under the rubble and search operations are underway.

State media reported that two girls were killed and five were wounded in rebel shelling of western government-held neighborhoods in Aleppo that hit a school in the Suleimaniyah neighborhood.

The Observatory said yesterday that at least 358 civilians have been killed in eastern Aleppo since a US and Russian-brokered truce collapsed on September 19. The UN says over 100 children have been killed in the campaign, which has also included a limited ground offensive.

Near the capital Damascus, government buses gathered outside the suburbs of Qudsaya and Hammah where they were supposed to evacuate dozens of civilians to the rebel-held northwestern province of Idlib, the Observatory and state news agency SANA said.

The Observatory said the evacuation is part of an agreement between rebel factions in the two suburbs and the government that would include giving partial amnesty to some 300 fighters from the area.

It said that after the evacuation ends, government forces would take control of the two areas. Such evacuations have been carried out in other suburbs of the capital in recent months, including Daraya and Moadamiyeh.
Kano: Jihadist group Boko Haram has freed 21 of the more than 200 Chibok schoolgirls kidnapped more than two years ago, raising hopes for the release of the others, officials said Thursday.

Nigerian Vice President Yemi Osinbajo met with the freed girls in Abuja and said it was "very exciting news for the whole country."

"They are reasonably in good health considering the circumstances in which they have been held," Osinbajo told reporters after the meeting.

The vice president`s office also released the names of the girls.

Local sources said their release was part of a prisoner swap with the Nigerian government, but the authorities denied doing a deal with Boko Haram.

Nigerian officials said the breakthrough would help the recovery of the 197 girls who remain in captivity.

"It`s just a first step in what we believe will lead to the eventual release of all our girls," Nigerian Information Minister Lai Mohammed said in Abuja.

"When you are fighting an insurgency, it`s a combination of carrot and stick," Mohammed said. "The release of these girls does not mean the end to military operations. But it could mean a new phase in the conduct of the war against terror."

In a statement, the Nigerian presidency said the girls were freed after negotiations between Boko Haram and the Nigerian government brokered by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the Swiss government.

"Switzerland facilitated contacts between representatives of the Nigerian government and intermediaries of Boko Haram on the release of the Chibok girls," confirmed Swiss foreign ministry spokesman Pierre-Alain Eltschinger.

The girls were exchanged for four Boko Haram militants in Banki, a town in northeast Nigeria close to the Cameroon border, said local sources.

"The girls were brought to Kumshe, which is 15 kilometres (nine miles) from Banki where a military base is stationed, in ICRC vehicles," said a local source.

"The four Boko Haram militants were brought to Banki from Maiduguri in a military helicopter from where they were driven to Kumshe in ICRC vehicles."

From Kumshe the Chibok girls were flown by helicopter to Maiduguri, capital of northeast Borno state, said another local source.

Information minister Mohammed denied that the 21 girls were exchanged for Boko Haram prisoners, saying "this is not a swap."

"It is a release, the product of painstaking negotiations and trust on both sides," he added.

In September, the Nigerian government had admitted it had come close to a swap last year, but that talks broke down.

The Chibok girls were abducted in April 2014, drawing global attention to the Boko Haram insurgency engulfing the area when US First Lady Michelle Obama joined the #BringBackOurGirls online movement.

Of the 276 girls initially seized, scores escaped in the hours after the kidnapping, while another 19-year-old was found with her four-month-old baby earlier this year.

Despite winning back swathes of territory from the jihadists, Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari had faced intense criticism for failing to recover the young captives, who became the defining symbol of Boko Haram`s brutal campaign to establish a fundamentalist Islamic state in the country.

The alleged swap was "bittersweet" said Ryan Cummings, director at intelligence firm Signal Risk.

"Whatever is being given to Boko Haram in exchange for the girls would potentially be used against the Nigerian state again."

While the return of the 21 girls is an encouraging sign, analysts point out that Boko Haram is still a potent force in the region with rival factions competing for control.

"It`s a good stepping stone and a good process but I think we should keep our expectations a bit realistic," Omar Mahmood, a researcher at the Pretoria-based Institute for Security Studies.

"They are still very capable of conducting attacks, we`ve seen that in Maiduguri."

On Wednesday, Boko Haram was believed to be behind a suicide attack that saw eight people killed in Maiduguri.

The insurgency has claimed more than 20,000 lives and displaced 2.6 million people from their homes since Boko Haram took up arms against the Nigerian government in 2009.
London: The battle over Brexit reaches the High Court on Thursday in a legal challenge to Prime Minister Theresa May`s right to start negotiations for Britain to leave the European Union.

The case was launched in the aftermath of Britain`s June 23 referendum which saw 52 percent of Britons vote to leave the EU.

It seeks to challenge May`s assertion that she as prime minister has the right to trigger Article 50 of the EU`s Lisbon Treaty, which would spark two years of negotiations on Britain`s departure from the bloc.

The government says it has "royal prerogative" -- a type of executive privilege -- to negotiate Brexit without needing a legally-binding parliamentary vote.

But those behind the legal challenge -- including an investment fund manager, a hairdresser and an expatriate living in France -- argue such a process cannot begin without a vote in parliament.

Gina Miller, co-founder of investment fund SCM Private, wants parliament to legislate on the terms of Brexit before May can trigger Article 50.

"This is not about whether we should stay or leave -- this is actually about how we leave," Miller told AFP on Wednesday.

The fund manager is being represented on a pro bono basis by Mishcon de Reya, a prestigious law firm whose offices were picketed by pro-Brexit campaigners in July for taking on the case shortly after the referendum.

Miller, who campaigned for the UK to remain an EU member, said other business leaders had not joined her legal challenge because "people are really frightened to put their heads above the parapet".

"I myself have received death threats... Apparently my head belongs on Traitors` Gate," she said, referring to the arch through which prisoners were brought to the Tower of London in the 16th century.

"Our business has been boycotted. It`s been quite vile. But I won`t be bullied because to my mind this is best for everyone, to have legal certainty".

Although May has accused the claimants of trying to "subvert" the results of the referendum, the prime minister on Wednesday signalled she would let parliament scrutinise her Brexit plan before starting the formal EU exit process.

But she stopped short of agreeing a vote for MPs on her plan before the government triggers Article 50.

Asked in the House of Commons if there would be a vote, May only replied: "The idea that parliament somehow wasn`t going to be able to discuss, debate, question issues around (Brexit) was frankly completely wrong."

She made it clear that any scrutiny would not change the outcome of the referendum, telling MPs: "The UK will be leaving the European Union. We`re not asking ourselves what bits of membership we want to retain."

May has promised to start Brexit procedures by the end of March 2017, a timetable which could be delayed for months if Miller and her fellow claimants win their case.

Miller said her battle was not mainly about her business but about the principle of parliament`s rights.

"If we bypass or we set a precedent... that a prime minister can decide what rights we have and what rights we don`t, then basically we go back to being a dictatorship and we roll back democracy 400 years."
Phnom Penh: China`s President Xi Jinping arrived in Cambodia Thursday for a state visit to one of its staunchest regional allies, with ties flourishing after the kingdom supported Beijing in a maritime dispute.

Hundreds of students waving Cambodian and Chinese flags greeted Xi alongside officials at the airport before his motorcade sped into town for an audience with the royal family and later Prime Minister Hun Sen.

Cambodia has long been a strident supporter for Beijing`s communist rulers, who have lavished the poor country with aid and loans.

In recent years it has become a thorn in the side for its neighbours hoping to present a unified front against Beijing`s island building in the South China Sea.

Several Southeast Asian nations have competing claims to parts of the strategic waters and many in the region want to keep pressure on China over its efforts to militarise the sea.

But Cambodia`s unwavering support for China has scuppered regional efforts to jointly rebuke Beijing.

Ahead of his trip, a leading Cambodian newspaper published an article signed by Xi that praised the Southeast Asian nation for coming to its defence over the sea row.

"When China acted to safeguard its territorial sovereignty and maritime interests and was devoted to resolving related disputes through peaceful negotiation, Cambodia did not hesitate to speak out to uphold justice," the Chinese president wrote in the article published by Cambodia`s Rasmei Kampuchea newspaper.

He also described the two nations` friendship as "beaming with new vitality" and enjoying "deep political trust and win-win economic cooperation".

Large portraits of the Chinese leader and Cambodia`s King Norodom Sihamoni were erected along the streets of the capital Phnom Penh ahead of the two-day visit, which is Xi`s first there as president.

At least 28 pacts, including deals to boost the sale of Cambodian agricultural products to China, will be signed during a meeting between Xi and the premier later Thursday.

China is Cambodia`s top foreign investor and has given the country billions of dollars in grants and low-interest loans during Hun Sen`s 31-year rule.

In July it offered Cambodia nearly $550 million in aid, days after the kingdom was accused of undermining regional unity over South China Sea disputes.

When Xi visited Cambodia in 2009 as vice president, the two countries signed 14 bilateral agreements worth $1.2 billion dollars in aid and loans to Cambodia.

Hun Sen regularly praises Beijing`s "no-strings-attached" aid, compared to help from the United States and European Union which is often accompanied by calls to address corruption and human rights abuses in his country.

"For Cambodia, China is the most important strategic and economic partner," said Vannarith Chheang, who chairs the Cambodian Institute for Strategic Studies, adding that Cambodia, in turn, is China`s "most reliable friend in Southeast Asia".
Beijing: China hopes that Australia acts and speaks with caution on the South China Sea and that its words and actions on the matter match each other, a senior Chinese officer told the visiting head of the Australian Defence Force.

Australia, a staunch U.S. ally, has previously drawn criticism from China for running surveillance flights over disputed islands in the South China Sea and supporting U.S. freedom of navigation exercises there.

However, Australia has not conducted a unilateral freedom of navigation voyage of its own.

Meeting in Beijing, Vice Chairman of China`s Central Military Commission Fan Changlong told Australia`s Air Chief Marshal Mark Binskin that China hopes to push forward the healthy and stable development of bilateral military ties, China`s Defence Ministry said late on Wednesday.

China "hopes that on the South China Sea issue the Australian side can speak and act cautiously, and that its words and deeds match", the ministry paraphrased Fan as saying.

He did not elaborate.

China claims almost the entire South China Sea where about $5 trillion sea-borne trade passes annually. Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam also have claims on parts of the sea, which is believed to have rich deposits of oil and gas.

China has been angered by U.S. freedom of navigation patrols in the South China Sea, while China`s building of artificial islands there including new airstrips has rattled nerves around the region.

China says much of the building and reclamation work it has been doing in the South China Sea is to benefit the international community, including for civilian maritime navigation.

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.

Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull discussed the South China Sea with Chinese President Xi Jinping last month, stressing the importance of complying with international law.
Bogota: The leader of Colombia`s FARC said Wednesday it may have been for the best that the peace accord negotiated with the government was rejected in a national referendum.

The victory for the "No" vote in the October 2 referendum was a stunning setback to a nearly four-year effort to end Latin Americas last major guerrilla war.

Polls had predicted that the peace agreement would easily pass but turnout was low and many voters were troubled by its lenient treatment of war crimes by FARC leaders.

Londono, known as Timochenko, said the FARC was responding to the loss with a massive effort to educate voters about the agreement and lay their doubts to rest.

"It was almost good that it happened, because it is enabling many doubts to be cleared up, and especially in getting that important sector of the Colombian people that did not vote -- more than 63 percent -- interested in this historic event," he said in an interview with Radio Caracol.

"It is permitting us to correct what we didn`t do in developing the agreements, which was a massive education effort," he said.

So confident were they of victory that President Juan Manuel Santos and the FARC signed the peace agreement on September 29, days before the referendum.

Despite the thumbs down, both sides have agreed to continue to observe a ceasefire that went into effect August 29 and to discuss fixes to the accord.

"We cannot toss aside the possibility of halting a confrontation that has already lasted 52 years," Londono said. "We are listening to the different sectors, the `No" as well as the `Yes.`"

He said government negotiators and the FARC "have been working judiciously to find solutions and think that soon, soon there may be news," he said.

Londono seemed disinclined to making changes to the accord on issues relating to justice and the rebel group`s integration into the country`s political life.

"It would be out of place to go back and revive a discussion that took us more than a year and a half, which was one of the hardest and most difficult discussions," he said.

Opponents of the accord led by "No" champion and former president Alvaro Uribe, now a senator, insist that as it now stands the accord would result in "total impunity" for guerrillas guilty of atrocities.

"Our main goal is building a national agreement that would protect FARC (interests), and protect democratic values," he said, referring to his support for limiting ex-rebels` eligibility for political office, and possible sentence reductions for authorities who have been jailed for abuses.

"I cannot underscore enough: we are not just talking about cosmetic changes."
There could be a pact between AAP and the Patidars in Gujarat.

By Shashank Shekhar: All eyes are now on Surat where Delhi Chief Minister and AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal is slated to hold a rally this week. Observers are closely monitoring the political development as the AAP may get support from Patidar leaders like Hardik Patel.



PACT BETWEEN AAP, PATIDARS

According to observers, there could be a pact between AAP and the Patidars in Gujarat. If social media is considered an indicator, then a clear pattern seems to be emerging: Kejriwal has endorsed the views of Hardik Patel by retweeting the Patidar leader's tweets in the last one week.

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Following the Army's surgical strikes across LoC, Patel had slammed the Prime Minister on social media, tweeting: "BJP is responsible for the Hitler-esque politics in Gujarat which is the worst in Indian history. It is a sour truth yet is the truth." Kejriwal had re-tweeted this post, saying: "So true."

Also Read: Parrikar belittling valour of Indian Army: AAP



KEJRIWAL,HARDIK TWEETS CLIP MODI OVER SURGICAL STRIKES

Earlier too, Patel had posted a tweet criticising Modi for taking credit for the surgical strikes which he said was actually the Indian Army's achievement. Patel's harsh words came at a time when the AAP was seeking proof of the strikes.

Kejriwal had also re-tweeted another tweet by Patel which was on the employment scenario in Gujarat. He had said that even after seven 'Vibrant' summits in Gujarat, 35 lakh people are still unemployed. He also wrote that 31 per cent factories are closed. Kejriwal re-tweeted these two posts in a span of a few hours, which triggered speculation about the two joining forces.

Both Kejriwal and Patel are known critics of Modi. While there is no official word on whether the AAP and Patidars will form an alliance in the next Gujarat Assembly election, observers point out that there is a clear bonhomie which could lead to a tie-up.

BIGGEST RALLIES BY KEJRIWAL

Echoing a similar view, Delhi minister Kapil Mishra said: "Patidars have assured support to the AAP and they will not disrupt the rally. If anything happens it would actually be BJP activists who will try to disrupt the rally in the guise of Patidars." He also said that it will be one of the biggest rallies by Kejriwal, who will meet traders, industrialists and local organisations in Surat.

A top AAP leader confirmed that party leaders are in touch with Patel, who is in Udaipur. AAP leaders said that no meeting of the two has been scheduled. Soon after Kejriwal's Surat rally got confirmed, an AAP delegation, including Gulab Singh Yadav, had met Patel in Udaipur

Also Read: Congress, Akali Dal leaders running illegal mining rackets in Punjab: AAP

PUBLIC RALLY AT YOGI CHOWK

Kejriwal will be addressing a public meeting in the Patidar-dominated Yogi Chowk in Puna and will be in Gujarat from October 14 to October 17. The Delhi CM is expected to reach Mehsana in Gujarat on the evening of October 14. He will then visit the temple of a local deity before reaching Ahmadabad on October 15.

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AAP leaders from Gujarat and Delhi have been camping in the city for the last one month. Kejriwal is expected to share the stage with Patidar leaders Vandana Patel and Kanubhai Kalsariya. Vandana Patel was among the agitators during the Patidar protest and had even spent 28 days in jail.

BJP TO DISRPUT AAP IN GUISE OF PAAS WORKERS

The Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS) leaders have already warned that the BJP is planning to disrupt Kejriwal's public meeting by sending its workers in the guise of PAAS workers at the venue. Expecting trouble, close to 200 AAP volunteers have been tasked with ensuring Kejriwal's safety during the rally.

The BJP has been trying stop us from holding the rally. In the past, our offices were vandalised and our volunteers assaulted. Keeping that in mind, we have made attempts from our own side also," said an AAP leader from Gujarat.

Interestingly, BJP president Amit Shah had to face the ire of Patidars during a felicitation event for Patidar leaders at Abrama in Mota Varachha on September 8. Supporters of Hardik Patel had stormed the venue and created ugly scenes in Shah's presence. Both Shah and Gujarat CM Vijay Rupani had to leave the event.

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Also Read: Kejriwal slams L-G's move to declare AAP's decisions illegal, says it will create chaos





--- ENDS ---
Beirut: Syrian and Russian warplanes carried out fresh strikes on rebel-held districts of Aleppo early Thursday, after an intense bombardment over the previous two days killed at least 71 civilians, a monitor said.

Rebel fire on government-held areas of the city killed at least eight civilians on Tuesday and Wednesday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights added.

More than 20 air strikes hit the rebel-held east at dawn on Thursday, the Britain-based monitoring group said. It had no immediate word on casualties.

The bombardment was accompanied by a fresh government advance on the northeastern outskirts of the city, where troops captured several hilltops overlooking rebel-held areas.

State television said four children were killed by rebel rocket fire which hit a school in a government-controlled district early on Thursday.

The army launched its offensive to retake the whole of Aleppo on September 22. The east has been held by the rebels since 2012.

The operation has been backed by Moscow, which stepped up its air strikes against rebel areas earlier this week.

Seven children were among 56 civilians killed in rebel-held areas on Tuesday, Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman said. Another 15 civilians were killed on Wednesday.

"The toll jumped because there were so many people who died of their wounds, and others whose bodies were still stuck under the rubble," Abdel Rahman told AFP.
Yangon: Myanmar`s security forces have now killed at least 26 people in response to attacks on police that have sparked a dramatic escalation in violence in a Muslim-majority region along its border with Bangladesh, according to reports in state media.

Armed men believed to be from the long-oppressed Rohingya Muslim minority launched a coordinated assault on three border police posts in the early hours Sunday, killing nine police, injuring five and making off with dozens of weapons and more than 10,000 rounds of ammunition.

Military personnel and police reinforcements have poured into the Muslim-majority township of Maungdaw, northern Rakhine State, and have clashed with groups of up to 300 men, armed with pistols, swords, and knives, according to official reports.

Human rights groups and advocates for the stateless Rohingya have voiced concern that the civilian population may be caught up in the authorities` violent response.

Myanmar`s de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi said that her government was "exercising the rule of law" in dealing with the attacks, the state-run Global New Light of Myanmar newspaper said on Thursday.

Authorities had not yet confirmed who was behind the attacks, Suu Kyi said on Wednesday.

The military`s official newspaper, Myawady, said that another 10 alleged attackers were killed, and a rifle was seized, in a clash on Tuesday morning at Kyetyoepyin village, Maungdaw Township.

In a separate incident on Wednesday, the military accused armed attackers of setting fire to 25 houses after an aborted attack on border police quarters in Kyikanpyin village, the site of one of Sunday`s attacks.

The killings bring the total death toll in northern Rakhine State since Sunday to 39, including 13 security personnel.

The 26 alleged attackers reported killed include several who a local resident told Reuters were shot while unarmed and fleeing soldiers.

Campaign group Fortify Rights said on Wednesday it had received reports of extrajudicial killings in the area and called on Myanmar`s government to "protect civilians regardless of religion or ethnicity."

Authorities have also detained four men, identified as local Muslims, who they allege were involved in the attacks.

The Rohingya bore the brunt of intercommunal clashes in Rakhine in 2012, in which more 100 people were killed. They make up most of the 125,000 people still living in displacement camps in Rakhine State and face severe restrictions on their movements.
Washington: U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon said he hoped Thailand will honor King Bhumibol Adulyadej`s legacy of commitment to universal values and respect for human rights, his spokesman said in a statement following the king`s death on Thursday.

King Bhumibol, who reigned for seven decades, died in hospital at age 88. In 2006, he received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the United Nations Development Programme, according to Ban`s statement.
Moscow: Russia appears to be in a war-ready mode these days.

The Sun, a leading tabloid published from the United Kingdom, has said in its report that the Russian government has ordered all its citizens staying abroad to return home at the earliest.

The order has been passed by Russian President Vladimir Putin, it claimed, amid rising tensions over the prospect of a new world war.

Move comes days after Moscow held defence drills for nearly 40 million citizens in apparent preparation for an all-out nuclear war, the report said.

Russia, as per the report, has ordered all its officials, their kids and relatives to return to the 'motherland' as soon as possible.

Russian politicians and top ranking figures have reportedly received a high-level warning from none other than President Vladimir Putin himself, it was reported.

The reported call to return to the Motherland  which comes after Putin suddenly cancelled a visit to France  applies to all state employees, report quoted Daily Star.

Those who fail to comply with the orders will find the future employment prospects in tatters.

Though, no official reason has been given for the urgent recall of Russian citizens, a top analyst claimed that it could be a hint war is on its way.

Russian political analyst Stanislav Belkovsky said, ''This is all part of the package of measures to prepare elites to some big war.

Relations between Russia and the US are at their lowest since the Cold War and have soured in recent days after Washington pulled the plug on Syria talks and accused Russia of hacking attacks.
Abuja: Boko Haram has freed 21 of more than 200 girls kidnapped by the Islamist militant group in April 2014 in the northern Nigerian town of Chibok, the government said on Thursday.

Around 270 girls were taken from their school in Chibok in the northeastern Borno state, where the jihadists have waged a seven-year insurgency to try to set up an Islamic state, killing thousands and displacing more than 2 million people.

Dozens escaped in the initial melee, but more than 200 girls are still missing. The kidnapping brought outrage worldwide and their plight was promoted by a Twitter hashtag #bringbackourgirls.

"The release of the girls ... is the outcome of negotiations between the administration and Boko Haram brokered by the International Red Cross and the Swiss government," a presidency statement said. "The negotiations will continue."

The presidency gave no details of the deal, saying only that the 21 girls were very tired and would first rest in the custody of the national security agency. They would then be handed over to Vice President Yemi Obinsajo, the statement said. President Muhammadu Buhari will travel to Germany on Thursday.

CNN published on its website a picture it said showed several of the freed girls, wearing veils and being escorted by soldiers in Maiduguri, capital of Borno state.

Authorities said in May one of the missing girls had been found and Buhari vowed to rescue the others.

In the past days, the Nigerian military has been carrying out a large-scale offensive in the Sambisa forest, a stronghold of Boko Haram, which last year pledged loyalty to the Islamic State militant group.

Boko Haram controlled a swathe of land around the size of Belgium at the start of 2015, but Nigeria`s army, aided by troops from neighbouring countries, has recaptured most of the territory. The group still stages suicide bombings in the northeast, as well as in neighbouring Niger and Cameroon.

Boko Haram published a video in August apparently showing recent footage of dozens of the kidnapped girls and said some had been killed in air strikes.

The militant group has kidnapped hundreds of men, women and children but the kidnapping of the Chibok girls brought it worldwide attention.

In the last few months Buhari has said his government was prepared to negotiate with Boko Haram over the release of the girls.
Male: The Maldives on Thursday pulled out of the Commonwealth calling as "unjust" the grouping's decision to penalise the island nation over the circumstances that led to then President Mohamed Nasheed's ouster in 2012 and the lack of subsequent progress in resolving the political unrest.

The Maldives Foreign Ministry termed as "difficult" but "inevitable" the decision to leave the Commonwealth, a grouping of 53 nations that were mostly territories of the former British Empire.

Last month, the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group (CMAG), had warned Maldives of suspension from the bloc expressing its "deep disappointment" over the country's lack of progress in resolving the political crisis.

Severely critical of Commonwealth, the Maldives said in the name of promotion of democracy, the grouping used the country to increase the organisation's own relevance and leverage in international politics.

"The Commonwealth has sought to take punitive actions against the Maldives since 2012 after the then President of Maldives (Nasheed) resigned, and transfer of power took place as per the procedures set out in the Constitution," the Maldives Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

"The Commonwealth's decision to penalise the Maldives was unjustified especially given that the Commission of National Inquiry (CoNI), established with the help of the Commonwealth, found that the transfer of power in the Maldives was consistent with the constitutional provisions," it said.

The Maldives said, since then the CMAG and the Commonwealth Secretariat have treated the Maldives "unjustly and unfairly".

"The Commonwealth has sought to become an active participant in the domestic political discourse in the Maldives, which is contrary to the principles of the Charters of the UN and the Commonwealth.

"The CMAG and the Commonwealth Secretariat seem to be convinced that the Maldives, because of the high and favourable reputation that the country enjoys internationally, and also perhaps because it is a small state that lacks material power, would be an easy object that can be used, especially in the name of democracy promotion, to increase the organisation's own relevance and leverage in international politics," the statement said.

"The Maldives reassures that its international engagement will continue both bilaterally and multilaterally," it said.

Maldives said it had joined the Commonwealth in 1982 with high hopes and expectations, holding that it will be a platform for coordinating critical issues that the member states, in particular, the smallest members of the organisation face.

The CMAG had criticised the inquiry commission set up to investigate the removal of then President Nasheed from power in 2012.

"Since 2012, the Government of Maldives has been giving maximum cooperation to the Commonwealth, shown maximum transparency, and engaged with the Commonwealth at the highest levels," the statement said.

"The Government of President Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom has enacted a total of 110 pieces of legislations. Out of which, 94 legislations were directly related to the core values set out in the Commonwealth Charter.

"An overwhelming majority of these legislations (69 out of 94) were specifically designed to promote human rights, to strengthen democratic governance, and to reinforce the separation of powers. These achievements have resulted in strengthening the rule of law and produced tangible outcomes in strengthening democratic institutions in the country," the statement said.
Aboard the Astral: Some 15 migrants were feared drowned Thursday after a high-seas rescue off the coast of Libya in which several ships pulled 100 people to safety from a sinking dinghy.

The dinghy left Libya at 1200 GMT Wednesday but quickly ran into trouble, hit by 2.5 metre-high waves and a fierce 50 kilometres an hour wind, said AFP photographer Aris Messinis, who is aboard the Astral, a vessel chartered by Spanish humanitarian NGO, Proactiva Open Arms.

Though the dinghy was spotted at 1700 GMT by a reconnaissance drone belonging to a ship run by the Maltese NGO MOAS, those aboard could not be saved for another two hours because they were still in Libyan waters, off limits to rescue vessels.

"We said to the Libyan coast guard that we were entering no matter what because the boat was sinking, and they finally accepted," Messinis said. Questioned by AFP, a MOAS spokesman could not confirm the operation took place in Libyan waters.

The rescue efforts, which took place after nightfall and as the dinghy began to sink, saw 113 people pulled to safety, including 89 men, 11 women, 11 children and two teenagers.

But survivors told MOAS that there had been some 130 people on board originally.

The missing included a three-year old boy, whose mother was in shock after describing how the toddler fell into the sea.

One of the surviving teenagers said he had lost five friends to the waves, while one family said their 16-year-old had died.

Many of those rescued were suffering from fuel burns, including a woman in a severe state who could not be evacuated immediately due to the bad weather, the MOAS spokesman said.

Mixed with salt water, the fuel has devastating effects on the skin, particularly for women who, unlike men, often do not want to remove their contaminated clothing for modesty or religious reasons.
Elizabeth: The New York bomb suspect wanted for injuring 31 people in a September attack in Manhattan pleaded not guilty today to state charges from his hospital bed.

Ahmad Khan Rahimi's public defender entered a plea of not guilty on state charges that his client attempted to murder police officers and unlawfully possessed weapons while on the run in New Jersey.

Bail was set at USD 5.2 million. Rahimi was shown lying in his hospital bed, where he is being treated after being critically wounded in a shootout with police on September 19 that led to his capture.

"Yes ma'am," said the Afghan-born American weakly in response to questions from Judge Regina Caulfield, who spoke from the court, as he recovered in his home town of Elizabeth, New Jersey.

Looking pale, with a thick black beard and black hair, he had a hospital sheet pulled up almost to his neck.

His public lawyer, Peter Liguori, stood over him wearing a hospital gown over his shirt and tie, and blue rubber gloves on his hands.

Liguori told the court he wished to correct the spelling of his 28-year-old client's last name to Rahimi -- not Rahami as previously listed by US authorities.

In addition to the New Jersey charges, Rahimi has been indicted for terrorism, including use of weapons of mass destruction, by federal prosecutors in Manhattan. He has yet to appear on those charges.

The bomb attack in New York's upscale neighborhood of Chelsea wounded 31 people on September 17.

A separate bomb attack forced the cancellation of a US Marine Corps run in the New Jersey town of Seaside Park.

If convicted, the suspect, who worked in his family's fried chicken restaurant, could spend the rest of his life behind bars.

Rahimi was captured while carrying a handwritten journal that lauded Osama bin Laden and US-born Al-Qaeda recruiter Anwar al-Awlaki, and criticized US wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria, prosecutors said.

The FBI believes that he acted alone.

Another bomb found in Chelsea on September 17 was defused safely. Five additional pipe bombs were subsequently found and defused in Elizabeth.

US officials say the suspect traveled extensively to Afghanistan and spent around a year in Pakistan, where he married and his wife became pregnant.
Islamabad Capital Territory: Pakistan deployed hundreds of security forces in the capital Islamabad Thursday as the Supreme Court readied to hear a final appeal in the country`s most notorious blasphemy case.

Lawyers for Asia Bibi, a Christian mother of five who has been on death row since 2010, will seek to have her death sentence overturned, with observers warning of "tremendous" repercussions for minorities in deeply conservative Muslim Pakistan.

Up to 100 police, many in riot gear, were deployed outside the Supreme Court in Islamabad as Bibi`s lawyer and husband arrived, an AFP reporter said, with more deployed throughout the city.

"Security is very tight in Islamabad all around today. Additional troops have been deployed on checkpoints and city junctions in general. There is also deployment of paramilitary force Rangers and FC (Frontier Corps) on some additional points," a police source told AFP.

"I have made my preparation, we are very hopeful," Bibi`s lawyer Saif-ul-Mulook told AFP.

Blasphemy is a hugely sensitive issue in Muslim-majority Pakistan. Anyone even accused of insulting Islam risks a violent and bloody death at the hands of vigilantes.

Rights groups complain the controversial legislation is often abused to carry out personal vendettas, mainly against minority Christians.

Bibi was convicted and sentenced to hang in 2010 after an argument with a Muslim woman over a bowl of water. Her supporters maintain her innocence and insist it was a personal dispute.

But successive appeals have been rejected, and if on Thursday the three-judge Supreme Court bench upholds Bibi`s conviction, her only recourse will be a direct appeal to the president for clemency.

She would become the first person in Pakistan to be executed for blasphemy. The repercussions for minorities, human rights, and the blasphemy laws will be "tremendous" if that happens, says Shahzad Akbar, a human rights lawyer.

Observers have warned of possible violence if the conviction is overturned, with some calling the case a battle for Pakistan`s soul as the state walks a line between upholding human rights and appeasing hardliners.
Karachi: Pakistan's Supreme Court on Thursday adjourned the hearing of blasphemy convict Aasia Bibi's appeal against her execution for an indefinite period.

The lawyers for Aasia Bibi, a Christian mother of five who has been on death row since 2010, will seek to have her death sentence overturned even as observers warn of "tremendous" repercussions for minorities in Pakistan, reports the Express Tribune.

The apex court had earlier in July 2015 stayed the execution of the blasphemy convict, admitting her petition for full hearing.

A three-member bench at the Supreme Court had then asked for all records pertaining to the case to be presented before it.

In her petition, the death row prisoner claimed that she had not made any blasphemous remarks and the allegations levelled against her by her neighbours were based on a personal feud.

She urged the court to strike down her death sentence.

The Lahore High Court had upheld her death sentence in 2014.She has been on death row since November 2010 after being convicted of making derogatory comments about Prophet Muhammad during an argument with a Muslim woman over a bowl of water.
By PTI: Washington, Oct 13 (PTI) Academically talented girls in India surpass boys in language performance, while male students hold an overwhelming advantage in math performance over their female counterparts, a new study has found.

Researchers from the Duke University Talent Identification Programme (TIP) found that girls in the US surpass boys in language performance and are narrowing the gap with their male peers in math achievement.

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In both US and India, academically talented boys perform better than girls in science, researchers said.

"The US has made great strides since the 1980s in preparing girls to perform at the highest levels in math, and there may be things that have been done in the US that could help inform education practices in India," said Matthew Makel, director of research at Duke TIP and lead author of the study.

The findings are among the results of a study of 320,554 gifted seventh graders in the US and 7,119 seventh standard students in India who participated in the Duke TIP talent search between 2011 and 2015.

The talent search identifies academically talented 12- and 13-year-olds and offers them above-level testing, using a standardised test geared towards older students: the SAT or ACT in the US, and the ASSET test in India.

In the US, girls accounted for 28 per cent of top-level scores (SAT 700 and above before turning 13) on the math portion of the talent search test.

This is a significant change from the early 1980s, when girls accounted for just seven per cent of scores at that level, researchers said.

In India, girls accounted for only 11 per cent of top-level scores (35 and above) on the math portion of the ASSET test.

On the language tests, US girls have gradually surpassed boys as the leading performers. In the early 1980s, girls and boys were equally represented among top performers in language, however girls now account for 60 per cent of top SAT language scores.

In India, girls earned 62 per cent of top scores on the language portion of the ASSET test despite the fact that fewer girls participated overall in India.

The researchers noted that girls were significantly underrepresented in the talent search pool in India, making up only 36 per cent of participants in the Duke TIP talent search. PTI SAR AKJ SAR

--- ENDS ---
Washington: The US military launched cruise missile strikes on three coastal radar sites in Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen, retaliating after failed missile attacks this week on a US Navy destroyer, US officials said on Wednesday.

The strikes authorized by President Barack Obama represent Washington`s first direct military action against Houthi-controlled targets in Yemen`s conflict. The Pentagon said initial U.S. assessments indicated the radar sites were destroyed.

"These limited self-defense strikes were conducted to protect our personnel, our ships, and our freedom of navigation in this important maritime passageway," Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook said. "The United States will respond to any further threat to our ships and commercial traffic, as appropriate."
London: Racially and religiously aggravated abuse incidents in the UK registered a 41 per cent jump in July, a month after the Brexit vote, according to new official statistics released today.

The Home Office said while the figures registered a drop in August, they still remain at a higher level than before the UK's referendum on June 23 to leave the European Union (EU).

As many as 5,468 race hate crimes were registered in July this year, compared to 3,886 in July, 2015, according to figures released by the UK Home Office.

"The number of racially or religiously aggravated offences recorded by the police in July, 2016 was 41 per cent higher than in July, 2015. This level of increase in these offences broadly mirrors the increase in hate crime reported by the National Police Chiefs' Council (NPCC) over the summer," the Home Office statement said.

"There was an increase in the number of racially or religiously aggravated offences recorded in June, 2016, followed by an even sharper increase in July 2016. The number of offences declined in August but remained at a level higher than prior to the referendum," it added.

Hate crime is defined by police as "any criminal offence which is perceived, by the victim or any other person, to be motivated by hostility or prejudice towards someone based on a personal characteristic".

UK Home Secretary Amber Rudd said: "I am pleased to see government action is working and that more victims are finding the confidence to come forward to report these crimes. Our hate crime laws are among the best in the world, but we cannot be complacent," Rudd said.

UK police forces monitor hate crimes under five broad strands of race, religion, sexual orientation, disability or transgender identity.

Overall, in 2015-2016, there were 62,518 offences recorded by the police in which one or more hate crime strands were deemed to be a motivating factor.

This was an increase of 19 per cent compared with the 52,465 hate crimes recorded in 2014/15.

Mark Hamilton, NPCC's lead on hate crime, said: "Nobody in this country should have to live their lives enduring fear, intimidation or - in a third of cases - violence because of who they are."

"We are encouraged by the analysis that a large part of this increase is driven by better police reporting and support systems giving victims the confidence to speak up and get help," Hamilton said.
Paris: Nicolas Sarkozy was forced onto the defensive Thursday over his legal woes in the first debate of right-wing rivals for the French presidency, widely expected to be won by the right.

Former president Sarkozy, who is trailing ex-prime minister Alain Juppe in the race for the right-wing nomination, was challenged about the various investigations in which he is entangled.

"After 37 years in politics my criminal record is clean," Sarkozy said, claiming he had been hounded by investigators and subjected to "slander" during probes for influence-peddling and suspected illegal funding of his failed 2012 re-election campaign.

"Do you think I would take part in this campaign if I had anything on my conscience?" a visibly exasperated Sarkozy said.

Thursday`s debate was the first among the seven candidates for next month`s primary.

The former leader of Sarkozy`s Republicans party, Jean-Francois Cope, said he had hoped Sarkozy would be a reformer when he came to power in 2007 on a promise to shake up the established order.

"Ten years ago, I and millions of French people hoped for the change that Nicolas Sarkozy offered for our country.

"That change unfortunately never took place," he said, accusing Sarkozy of ducking the hard choices.

Sarkozy, 61, argued his hand had been constrained by "the worst (economic) crisis the world had experienced since 1929" and vowed "strong, energetic" leadership if he returned to power after five years of Socialist rule.

The right-wing primary is widely seen as the main battle for the presidency.

Terrorism and immigration were among the top topics after a string of jihadist attacks that have killed 238 people in the past two years.

The winner of the two-stage November 20-27 contest is expected to meet -- and defeat -- far-right National Front leader Marine Le Pen in the second round of the election in May.

Polls show Bordeaux mayor Juppe -- a 71-year-old moderate -- leading Sarkozy by between eight and 14 percentage points, with the five other candidates, including Cope and Sarkozy`s former prime minister Francois Fillon trailing behind.

Thursday`s debate was far more sedate than the debates between US presidential rivals Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump.

But both Sarkozy and Juppe faced questions about scandals in their past.

Juppe was given a 14-month suspended term in 2004 and barred from holding elected office for a year over a party funding scandal.

"I cannot be the scapegoat," he said, insisting he had not profited personally from his misdeed.

Sarkozy, 61, has been accused of tapping into fears about immigration and Islam to win back the keys to the Elysee Palace.

Le Pen has accused him of "aping" her proposals in efforts to bridge the gap with Juppe, who has campaigned as a unifier.Sarkozy has unveiled a slew of populist proposals, including a pledge to hold referendums on tightening immigration and jailing suspected Islamist radicals.

Thursday`s debate is the first of three before the first round of the primary on November 20.

The two top vote-getters will then debate one-on-one before the November 27 run-off.

Two in five respondents told an Oxoda opinion poll that unemployment was their top concern, followed by terrorism and immigration.

All seven right-wing candidates said French companies should have greater freedom to extend working hours.

Stubbornly high unemployment has been a scourge of President Francois Hollande, who has conditioned his re-election bid on achieving a "credible" fall in joblessness.

The deeply unpopular Socialist leader will only announce in December whether he will stand for a second term.

US-style primaries are a relatively new phenomenon in France.

This time around, polls show the Socialist candidate being eliminated in the first round of voting, coming in after the conservative candidate and Le Pen.

In the final duel against the far-right leader, the conservative candidate is expected to come up trumps.
Seoul: The bodies of three South Koreans with gunshot wounds to the head have been found in the Philippines, a South Korean foreign ministry official said on Thursday, the latest in a string of killings of Koreans in the southeast Asian nation.

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has waged a ruthless anti-crime campaign since taking office on June 30 in which more than 3,600 people have died in police operations and alleged vigilante killings.

The bodies of two men and a woman, all older than 40 and all with gunshot wounds to the head, were found on Tuesday in the city of Bacolod outside the capital, Manila, the ministry official said by telephone.

A South Korean consular official is working with Philippine authorities on the case, but no motive or suspects have yet been identified, said the official, who declined to be named because he was not authorised to speak to the media.

The Philippine embassy in Seoul declined to comment.

The legs of one of the male victims were bound while the woman`s wrists were tied, the official added.

The case takes to six the tally of South Koreans found dead this year in the Philippines, where more than ten South Korean citizens have been killed each year since 2013, South Korean media said.
Washington: Two US police officers were injured and a suspect killed during a shoot-out in the city of Boston, authorities said.

The police officers were fired at on Wednesday night when they responded to a call about a "person with a gun", the police confirmed.

Boston Police Commissioner William Evans told reporters that one officer was shot multiple times and was in a critical condition, and the other officer was in stable condition, NBC News reported.

The officers were responding to a call about a person with a gun at a Gladstone street address at 10.51 p.m. when "officers came under fire", Evans said on Twitter.

One suspect was killed, Evans told reporters, adding that the call the officers were responding to was possibly a domestic incident.

"Commanding officers, they moved in and neutralised the threat pretty quick that no one else got killed," Evans said.

Boston Police on Twitter told residents to "shelter in place" and that a search for a suspect was underway, but said around 30 minutes later that the order was lifted and one suspect was located.
Dubai: The US military directly targeted Yemen`s Huthi rebels for the first time on Thursday, hitting radar sites controlled by the insurgents after US warships came under missile attacks twice in four days.

Defence officials in Washington said five Tomahawk cruise missiles destroyed three mobile radar sites in Huthi-held territory on Yemen`s Red Sea coast and that the Pentagon was preparing for possible new retaliatory strikes.

The Shiite Huthi rebels have denied firing missiles at US warships in the Red Sea on Sunday and Wednesday that fell short of their targets.

The United States is providing logistical support to a Saudi-led coalition that has been battling the rebels since last year, but Thursday`s bombing marked the first time Washington has taken direct action against the Huthis.

Following the US strikes, Iranian media reported that Tehran which backs the Huthis had dispatched two warships to the Gulf of Aden on October 5, tasked with "protecting commercial ships and oil tankers" from pirates.

The Pentagon said the cruise missile strikes -- authorised by President Barack Obama -- were launched by the destroyer USS Nitze.

"Initial assessments show the sites were destroyed," Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook said in a statement.

The strikes "targeted radar sites involved in the recent missile launches threatening USS Mason and other vessels operating in international waters in the Red Sea and the Bab al-Mandab (Strait)," he said.

"The United States will respond to any further threat to our ships and commercial traffic, as appropriate, and will continue to maintain our freedom of navigation in the Red Sea, the Bab al-Mandab, and elsewhere around the world," Cook added.

The US strikes did not target Huthi missiles and, though the radars` destruction makes it harder to aim the weapons, a senior defence official warned the rebels could still use small spotter boats or even online ship-tracking websites to find new targets.

"They do need to knock it off. We will not hesitate" to launch new retaliatory attacks, said the official, speaking to AFP on condition of anonymity.The Huthis said the accusations they had fired on US warships were "baseless".

"Such claims aim to create false justifications to step up attacks and to cover up for the continuous crimes committed by the aggression against the Yemeni people," the rebel-controlled Saba news agency quoted a military official allied with the insurgents as saying.

The Saudi-led coalition launched its campaign in March last year, after the rebels seized control of large parts of Yemen including Sanaa, forcing the government of President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi to flee.

The coalition has since carried out hundreds of air strikes and provided ground troops to support Hadi`s forces, but it has failed to dislodge the rebels -- who are allied with forces loyal to ex-president Ali Abdallah Saleh -- from key areas.

The US military provides intelligence and refuelling for coalition aircraft. It also supplies advanced munitions and logistics support to the effort, and is Saudi Arabia`s biggest arms supplier.

The campaign has faced increasing international criticism over civilian deaths, with critics calling on Washington to end its support for the coalition.

After a coalition air strike on a funeral in Sanaa on Saturday killed more than 140 people, the US administration announced an "immediate review" of its cooperation.Human Rights Watch, which has regularly criticised the Saudi intervention, said the funeral strike needed to be investigated as "an apparent war crime".

"While military personnel and civilian officials involved in the war effort were attending the ceremony, the clear presence of several hundred civilians strongly suggests that the attack was unlawfully disproportionate," it said.

Francois Heisbourg, an analyst at the Paris-based Foundation for Strategic Research, said it was unlikely Washington was stepping up its participation in the coalition.

"They reacted in a limited manner and it should stop there," he said.

Soufan Group, a US-based security consultancy firm, said the Huthis "represent an increasingly significant instrument of Iran`s regional strategy".

"To counter Saudi Arabia, Iran is supplying the Huthis with capabilities similar to those it provides to its most important regional ally," the Lebanese Shiite militant group Hezbollah, it said.

Yemen`s conflict has killed more than 6,800 people, wounded more than 35,000 and displaced at least three million since the coalition launched military operations, according to the United Nations.

As well as supporting the coalition, Washington has for years carried out drone attacks against jihadists in Yemen, regularly killing members of the local branch of Al-Qaeda.
District of Columbia: US President Barack Obama extended condolences Thursday to Thailand for the death of King Bhumibol Adulyadej, calling him a "close friend" and partner of the United States.

Obama paid tribute to the king, whose death at age 88 was announced Thursday, as a "tireless champion" for Thailand`s development, praising his "unflagging devotion" to improving the lives of his subjects.

"His Majesty the King was a close friend of the United States and a valued partner of many US presidents," Obama said.

"I had the honor of calling on His Majesty the King during my visit to Thailand in 2012, and recall his grace and warmth, as well as his deep affection and compassion for the Thai people.

"With a creative spirit and a drive for innovation, he pioneered new technologies that have rightfully received worldwide acclaim," Obama said.

"His Majesty leaves a legacy of care for the Thai people that will be cherished by future generations."
Washington: In a stern message, a top American senator on Wednesday said that Pakistan needs to target the Haqqani network and not the press.

Notably, the Pakistani government is in the dock after extending travel ban on a Dawn journalist who reported alleged differences between the military and civilian leadership over terrorists.

Taking to Twitter, Senator Bob Corker, the chairman of the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said: "Instead of targeting the press, Pakistan should focus on ending its sanctuary for the Haqqani network."

Notably, Corker was instrumental in blocking the sale of F-16 fighter jets to Pakistan early this year.

Dawn columnist Cyril Almeida on Tuesday said he was put on the Exit Control List - a border control system of the Pakistan government which allows it to bar people whose names appear on the list from leaving the country.

Almeida had reported on October 6 that the civilian leadership had bluntly told the military that Pakistan would face international isolation unless the armed forces acted against terrorist groups.

The report also spoke about a nasty exchange at a meeting between Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, a brother of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, and a senior military officer.

Also Read: Pakistan daily backs Dawn reporter, asks Nawaz Sharif govt, 'why action against Masood Azhar, Hafiz Saeed danger to national security'

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's office has thrice denied the report.

Meanwhile, Amnesty International condemned the Pakistan government for imposing a travel ban on Almeida.
District of Columbia: The Washington Post on Thursday became the latest US newspaper to endorse Hillary Clinton for the White House, saying it was swayed as much by her competence as the disastrous specter of a Donald Trump presidency.

"Hillary Clinton has the potential to be an excellent president of the United States, and we endorse her without hesitation," the influential US daily wrote, adding, "no, we are not making this endorsement simply because Ms Clinton`s chief opponent is dreadful."

Clinton, in contrast, "is dogged, resilient, purposeful and smart," the newspaper wrote, while acknowledging her many political and personal missteps in the past -- failings it said are outweighed by her strengths.

"She has executive experience. She does not let her feelings get in the way of the job at hand. She is well positioned to get something done," the daily wrote.
By Siraj Qureshi: The growing interference of China in India's efforts to ensure the global isolation of Pakistan on the issue of state-sponsored terrorism is being strongly resented by the citizens all over India and with the beginning of the festival season in the country, the people are strongly inclined to give China a taste of its own pie by boycotting Chinese goods on Diwali.

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Taking a step in this direction, the bulk traders and importers of various Chinese goods, including toys and lighting products in Agra recently took a pledge to minimize the imports from China and also promote the domestic products in their place.

Bhartiya Muslim Vikas Parishad Chairman Sami Aghai and Hindustani Biradari secretary Ziauddin Qureshi told India Today that the boycott of Chinese goods began on the social media, with 7 out of 10 posts on this subject after the surgical strikes, but now it is not limited to the social media alone, spreading far and wide, having being adopted by social welfare organizations and traders guilds. Some social organisations have also launched signature campaigns, taking signed pledges from traders, making them promise they won't import or sell Chinese products.

According to the business sources, there are more than 500 bulk traders and importers in Agra who deal in Chinese lighting products, but this Diwali, most of them have not imported the Chinese stuff and are instead, selling Indian lights.

Agra Vyapar Mandal President T N Agrawal told India Today that China has destroyed Indian markets, flooding them with cheap and sub-standard products and decreasing the demand for domestic products that were slightly more expensive but a whole lot better in quality. He said that the people will have to realize themselves that the Chinese products were not only destroying India economy, but they were also strengthening the economy of a country that sympathized with Pakistan and its terrorism-focused policies. He said that just like imported clothes were burned during the freedom struggle, the Agra traders will burn Chinese products this Diwali.

Agra Footwear Manufacturers and Exporters Chamber (AFMEC) President Puran Dawar said that despite Agra being the hub of footwear production in India, most of the domestic footwear industry of Agra has been destroyed by Chinese footwear and it is the correct time to increase resistance against the incursion of Chinese products into the Indian markets, otherwise the domestic industries of India will be wiped out.

A garment accessories trader in Agra's Lohar Gali claimed that China has even entered the garment accessories business and today, the accessories market is filled with Chinese machine-made products like borders, buttons etc., destroying the livelihood of thousands of domestic cottage industry workers who toiled hard to make these products by hand. He said that the situation was so drastic that 90 percent of the sarees selling in Agra markets for this Karwachauth had one of more Chinese accessory attached to it, while merely four years back, all this work was done by Indian workers by hand.

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Social activist Mohd. Akbar Qureshi said that India, Pakistan, Nepal and Bangladesh were the only markets for the sub-standard Chinese products, while most of the other countries did not compromise on quality. He said that the Indian government should establish some quality control measures to prevent China from flooding India with environmentally harmful and sub-standard goods.

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By PTI: New Delhi, Oct 13 (PTI) The Law Commissions decision to invite views on the contentious Uniform Civil Code today drew criticism from the All India Muslim Personal Law Board and other Muslim organisations which said they will boycott it and accused the Modi government of waging a "war" against the community.

As the Muslim outfits claimed a Uniform Civil Code (UCC) will "kill" Indias pluralism, right wing organisations like BJP and Shiv Sena, long-time votaries of a common code, strongly supported the governments decision, insisting it would bolster gender equality and end discrimination against women.

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Centrist parties like Congress and JD(U) said the idea of UCC was "unimplementable" and accused the BJP-led government of trying to polarise the people ahead of the assembly polls in several states, including key battle ground state Uttar Pradesh.

Addressing a press conference here, the AIMPLB members and representatives of Muslim organisations contended the UCC, if implemented, will paint all people in "one colour" which will threaten the countrys pluralism and diversity.

Trashing governments stand on the issue of triple talaq, the outfits claimed the community has reported lesser number of divorce cases vis--vis other communities, especially the Hindu community which, they said, has reported higher divorce ratio according to Census 2011.

AIMPLB general secretary Wali Rehmani, Jamiat-Ulema -e-Hind president Maulana Arshad Madani and representatives of other bodies said all the Muslim sects and its women were "one" on these issues.

They said the outfits will launch a campaign to create awareness among Muslims from today, beginning with a gathering in Lucknow.

The Board members, however, admitted that there were "flaws" in the personal laws governing Muslims and they were addressed from time-to-time.

They said the country is facing problems on various fronts including the LoC and issues like killings elsewhere.

"This is all destructive. The government should try to fix this and ensure peace than seeking views on issues like UCC," Madani said.

Contrary to the Commissions claim that the step is an "endeavour" to address discrimination against vulnerable groups and harmonise the various cultural practices, Rehmani said when implemented the UCC will bring to an end countrys pluralism and paint all in "one colour" and finish diversity.

"Also, we dont want the practice of triple talaq to be abolished. There are more divorces in other communities. Rather the highest rate, which is double that of Muslims, is among Hindus," he claimed. More PTI ENM NAB PR MPB RT SK SK

--- ENDS ---
Amit Shah and Arun Jaitley reached the hospital around 2.20 pm and were present for nearly 20 minutes.

By Pramod Madhav: Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and BJP president Amit Shah today visited Apollo hospital in Chennai to enquire about Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa's health and wish her speedy recovery.

After Jayalalithaa was admitted to the hospital for high fever and dehydration, a string of VIPs have visited the party to enquire about her health including, Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi and even the State's Opposition party leader MK Stalin.

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Amit Shah and Arun Jaitley reached the hospital around 2.20 pm and were present for nearly 20 minutes.

While they refused to give any statement, they made their visit public through Twitter.

"Visited Apollo hospital Chennai today. I wish J Jayalalithaa Ji, Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu a speedy recovery, "said Arun Jaitley.

Amit Shah also took to twitter to wish speed recovery to Jayalalithaa. "Visited Apollo Hospital in Chennai to enquire about the health of Tamil Nadu CM J Jayalalithaa Ji. I wish and pray for her, "he tweeted.

ALSO READ:

Chennai: Troubled by Jayalalithaa's health, man sets himself on fire

Tamil Nadu CM Jayalalithaa's portfolios allocated to Panneerselvam





--- ENDS ---
EU was ordered to withdraw subsidies for Airbus in 2011

The EU on Thursday appealed a decision by the World Trade Organization that found the European Union guilty, as charged by giant US rival Boeing, of providing illegal subsidies to Airbus.

The European Commission, the EU's executive arm that handles WTO disputes for the bloc, said "significant aspects of the compliance panel report cannot be regarded as satisfactory."

The WTO appeals panel, ruling in a dispute dating back to 2004, said that the EU had not taken steps it had ordered in 2011 to withdraw several support and subsidy programmes for Airbus.
Germany's top court on Thursday gave the government the go-ahead to approve a planned EU-Canada free trade deal, in a setback for activists who had sought to block the agreement.

The Constitutional Court did set certain conditions however, stipulating that Germany may only commit to the so-called CETA deal if it wins assurances that it can quit the accord later if told to do so by the court.

Some 200,000 citizens, campaigners and leftist politicians had asked the court in the southwestern city of Karlsruhe to rule against the pact, arguing that the process had been undemocratic because no approval was given by parliament.

But judges said the plaintiffs would not suffer any "serious disadvantages" if the deal was provisionally approved.

The ruling, which followed an emergency hearing on Wednesday, paves the way for the government to formally endorse CETA at an EU ministers' meeting on October 18.

The agreement is then scheduled to be signed at an EU-Canada summit on October 27, allowing CETA to be partially implemented before it's been ratified by national parliaments -- a process that could take years.

Germany's vice-chancellor and economy minister Sigmar Gabriel welcomed the court's decision.

"I am pleased that we are taking a big step towards giving rules to globalisation. That's what this is all about," he told reporters.

- 'Slap in the face' -

It would have sent "a difficult signal to the rest of the world" if the deal had been derailed by Germany, he added.

CETA negotiations were formally concluded in 2014 but the deal has since faced fierce opposition across Europe, delaying implementation.

Opponents argue it would hand too much power to multinational companies and undermine consumer and environmental protection standards.

Activists also charge that it will set a dangerous precedent for a similar but far more ambitious agreement with the United States known as TTIP.

The anti-CETA groups who brought the legal challenge said they had scored a partial victory with the court's conditional approval of the deal, which still left the door open for it to be quashed.

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"This ruling is a slap in the face for the government," Joerg Haas of the Campact pressure group said in a joint statement with two other organisations. "Now we have to keep up the pressure to make sure CETA is not ratified."

The campaigners also praised the restrictions set by the court, which they said would make the deal more democratic.

Among them is a provision that says only the parts of CETA that fall under EU jurisdiction can be provisionally implemented, while measures that fall under national responsibilities -- such as maritime transport regulation -- should first be ratified by member states' parliaments.

Germany's Gabriel said he saw no issues with implementing the judges' conditions.

In Brussels, the European Commission said it took note of the ruling.

"It is for the German authorities to draw the necessary conclusions of the ruling when all the relevant proceedings are concluded," commission spokesman Daniel Rosario told reporters.

The Karlsruhe court still has to rule on whether the CETA deal is constitutional, though a decision is not expected for several more months.
Google and Facebook are working with Pacific Light Data Communication Company and with undersea communications technology firm TE SubCom on a high-capacity internet cable that will run from Los Angeles to Hong Kong

Google and Facebook on Wednesday announced plans to work with a China Soft Power Holdings subsidiary to connect Los Angeles and Hong Kong with a high-capacity internet cable.

The Pacific Light Cable Network will stretch 12,800 kilometers (8,000 miles), crossing beneath the Pacific Ocean in a first-of-its-kind direct connection between the two locations, according to companies involved with the project.

PLCN is expected to handle some 120 terabytes of data per second, enough capacity to enable 80 million high-definition video conference calls simultaneously between Los Angeles and Hong Kong, said Google network infrastructure director Brian Quigley.

Google and Facebook are working with Pacific Light Data Communication Company and with undersea communications technology firm TE SubCom on the cable, which was scheduled to be ready in mid 2018, according to a joint release.

"PLCN will be among the lowest-latency fiber optic routes between Hong Kong and the US and the first to connect directly using ultra-high-capacity transmission," PLDC chairman Wei Junkang said.

"It is certainly gratifying that global technology companies like Google and Facebook have become co-investors in PLCN."

Most Pacific subsea cables stretch from the US to Japan, according to Facebook vice president of network engineering Najam Ahmad.

"As the number of people using Facebook apps and services continues to grow in the region, PLCN will help further connect Asia and our data centers in the US," Ahmad said.

"This new direct route will give us more diversity and resiliency in the Pacific."

- Cables to Clouds -

Lifestyles increasingly centered on access to cloud-based online services as well as to video, pictures and other content on the internet have increased the need for infrastructure capable of quickly and efficiently moving digital data.

PLCN will be the sixth submarine cable in which Google has an ownership stake, according to Quigley. The US internet giant claimed to have the "largest network backbone of any public cloud provider."

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Microsoft and Facebook early this year teamed together to lay a high-speed Internet cable across the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean.

The subsea "MAREA" cable was expected to be completed by late 2017, with the aim of meeting growing demand by the tech companies' customers for fast, reliable data connections.

MAREA was expected to have a capacity of some 160 terabytes per second of data, according to the companies.

The 6,600 kilometer cable system will also be the first connecting the United States and southern Europe, running from Northern Virginia to Bilbao, Spain, Microsoft and Facebook said.
Google, like other tech firms, maintains that it protects user privacy while cooperating with lawful requests from police and other official agencies

Google said Wednesday that data requests from governments around the world hit a record high in the six months ending in June, extending a steady rise.

The 44,943 requests amounted to a 10 percent increase from the prior six-month period and a fourth consecutive increase, Google said in its "transparency report."

The official requests related to 76,713 user accounts in the latest period, down from 81,311 in the second half of 2015.

Google provided at least some data in response to 64 percent of the requests in 2016, unchanged from the previous reporting period.

The number of requests to Google has been generally rising since it began releasing transparency data in 2011.

The online giant, like other tech firms, maintains that it protects user privacy while cooperating with lawful requests from police and other official agencies.

"As we have noted in the past, when we receive a request for user information, we review it carefully and only provide information within the scope and authority of the request," Google law enforcement director Richard Salgado said in a blog post.

"Before producing data in response to a government request, we make sure it strictly follows the law, for example to compel us to disclose content in criminal cases we require the government use a search warrant, and that it complies with Google's strict policies (to prevent overreach that can compromise users' privacy)."

In the latest report, the United States had the largest number of requests at 14,169, with data supplied in 79 percent of those cases.

Germany was second with 8,788 requests, followed by France (4,300), India (3,452) and Britain (3,302).

The company said it received its first-ever requests from Algeria, Belarus, the Cayman Islands, El Salvador, Fiji and Saudi Arabia in 2016. Google did not agree to provide data in any of those requests, according to the report.
Three OPEC members expected to be exempt from a deal to limit production and Iraq ratcheted up output by a total of roughly 300,000 barrels a day in September, according to the cartel's monthly oil market report.



The increase drove total OPEC production to an eight-year high, despite a sizable decline in output from top exporter Saudi Arabia . But perhaps more worrisome than the headline output figure is the prospect that three of the countries  Iran , Libya and Nigeria  will restore a substantial portion of sidelined supply.

This has been a growing concern for market watchers. Goldman Sachs has cautioned a thaw in conflicts in oil-exporting countries could put more crude into an oversupplied market and complicate efforts by OPEC to scale back output.

Last month, members struck an agreement in Algeria to cut supply by several hundred thousand barrels a day, though Iran, Libya and Nigeria may not be subject to quotas under the terms of a final deal to be hammered out by OPEC's annual meeting on Nov. 30. Saudi and Russian officials said Tuesday they would also work to secure cuts from non-OPEC producers, as well.

Saudi Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih has said Iran, Nigeria and Libya could be allowed to pump "at maximum levels that make sense" given their special situations.



Libya increased production by more than 92,000 barrels a day last month after resuming crude exports from ports once closed amid the country's civil strife. Nigeria's output was up about 95,000 barrels as the western African nation brings back production after a series of attacks on oil infrastructure carried out by militants seeking a greater share of the country's fossil fuel wealth for impoverished Delta residents.

Andrew Lipow, president of Lipow Oil Associates, said this "puts OPEC in an even tougher spot because they have to cut even more production to accommodate the resumption of sales out of Libya and Nigeria."



Meanwhile, Iran is continuing to restore production after the lifting of international sanctions in January. The country tacked on a little more than 21,000 barrels a day, roughly in line with gains in the previous two months. Many believe Tehran will soon hit the upward limits of its production capacity.

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Iraq accounted for the largest increase in September, with production up 105,000 barrels. The country's oil minister, Jabbar al-Luaibi, raised concerns just hours after news of the Algeria agreement broke. He said Iraq, the No. 2 OPEC producer, could walk away from a deal if the cartel did not adjust the way it calculates current output.

"The fact is that the OPEC production is just a free for all over the next couple of months as they try to produce at maximum rates," before oil limits are enforced, Lipow said.

Saudi Arabia saw the largest production declines in September, with output down more than 87,000 barrels a day. The kingdom experiences a seasonal downshift in production at this time of year as electricity demand for air conditioning winds down at the end of the punishingly hot summer season.

On Tuesday, Bob McNally, founder and president of energy consulting firm The Rapidan Group, told CNBC any so-called freeze by Saudi Arabia should be considered "smoke and mirrors" because the country will merely be returning to a normal rate of production after helping to push OPEC output up by about 900,000 barrels a day since February.







More From CNBC


The prime ministers of Canada and France on Thursday called for the EU to endorse a trade pact with Canada, or, according to Justin Trudeau, risk sending the wrong message to the world.

Canadian and European leaders are scheduled to meet in Brussels to formally sign the so-called CETA free trade deal at a summit on October 27.

"If in a week or two we see that Europe is unable to sign a progressive trade agreement with a country like Canada, well, then with whom will Europe think that it can do business in the years to come?" Trudeau warned after a meeting with his French counterpart Manuel Valls.

Rejection of the trade pact, he said, would send "a very clear message not just to Europeans but to the whole world that Europe is choosing a path that is not productive."

All 28 EU member states must ratify the agreement in order for it to come into effect next year.

"It is a win-win agreement for workers, for our agriculture industry, for the environment and for public services," commented Valls.

Earlier Thursday, a German court cleared the way for Berlin to provisionally sign on to the pact.

European activists, however, have been seeking to block the free trade deal, and opposition by the French-speaking Wallonia region of Belgium could still sink it.

Trudeau touted CETA as setting "a new standard" for international trade agreements, while suggesting its rejection would lead to the inevitable existential question being raised: "What's the point of the EU?"

"We live in an open world and it would be inconceivable for the EU to not sign onto a good agreement with Canada," echoed Valls, contrasting the Canada-EU deal with a proposed EU-US trade pact still under negotiation and which France "strongly opposes."

- World needs more Canada -

Valls noted that under CETA, Canada has agreed to respect geographical indications for 42 French foods. Under this clause, for example, Canadian cheese makers could no longer use terms such as Asiago, Feta, and Gorgonzola to describe their products since they are not made in those regions for which the original products were named.

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The EU is Canada's second-largest trading partner currently, behind the United States, while Canada ranks 12th on the EU's list of partners.

"There's room for improvement on both sides," Valls said, adding that France wishes to act as Canada's gateway into Europe -- a role held by Britain before it voted in June to leave the bloc.

"There has never been a better opportunity to renew the bilateral relationship," he said.

The two leaders, during their first face-to-face meeting, also took stock of various international crises, including the war in Syria and besieged Aleppo.

They also discussed Russia's support for the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, and said Canada and France planned to increase intelligence-sharing between their security agencies, and would work together to fight Islamic radicalization.

"We need Canada in the Middle East, in Africa, at the United Nations, everywhere where such crises threaten stability and our security," Valls said.

Paris is seeking particular support in Mali where French troops have been fighting jihadists since 2013.

On their differing views on the place of Islam in society -- French laicism or secularism versus Canadian multiculturalism -- Valls and Trudeau, meanwhile, appeared to waffle while sidestepping questions from journalists.

"France and Canada and other Western nations share the same goal of showing that Daesh is wrong, that the extreme right in our countries are also mistaken," said Trudeau, using an Arabic acronym for the Islamic State group.

"Islam is not incompatible with Western pluralist and democratic societies," he affirmed.
By PTI: Kutch (Guj), Oct 13 (PTI) In a late night operation in Bhuj town, the Gujarat Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) nabbed two suspected ISI agents allegedly involved in sending sensitive information about movement of Army and BSF troops to their Pakistan-based handlers.

An FIR under various sections of Official Secrets Act and Indian Penal Code was registered against the accused today.

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The ATS had been keeping a close watch on the duo after learning about their suspected role as spies for the Pakistans intelligence agency ISI, officials said.

They have been identified as - Alana Hamir Sama (40), a resident of Kukma village of Bhuj taluka, and his associate Shakoor Sumra (38), resident of Sumrapor in Bhuj taluka of the district.

"We had been keeping a close watch on the duo since some time as we learnt that they were sending sensitive information about troop movements of Army and Border Security Force in this region to their Pakistan-based ISI handlers," ATS Deputy Superintendent of Police B H Chavda said.

"We nabbed the duo last night when they came to Bhuj bus station to discuss about sharing of more information with ISI," he said.

According to an official release by the ATS, a mobile phone made by a Pakistani company was recovered from Alana, who was in touch with ISI since last two years.

"From Alana, ATS recovered a Pakistani-made mobile phone, his I-card issued in Pakistan and an Aadhar card issued here. Preliminary questioning revealed that he visited Pakistan four times on Indian passport in the recent past," the release said.

Both of them are now being questioned in Bhuj by various state and Central agencies to dig out more information from them, it said.

The action comes amid tension between India and Pakistan after the recent surgical strikes by the Indian Army on terror launch pads across the LoC. A high alert has been sounded in Gujarat, specially in border areas due to the threat of terror attack. PTI PJT PD GK SRY

--- ENDS ---
John Stumpf, Chairman and CEO of the Wells Fargo & Company, testifies before the House Financial Services Committee September 29, 2016 in Washington, DC

Embattled Wells Fargo chairman and CEO John Stump has retired with immediate effect following a sham accounts scandal, the San Francisco bank announced Wednesday.

Stump?s departure from the US commercial and retail banking giant capped mounting public outrage after the bank admitted last month that employees had opened millions of deposit and credit card accounts in customers' names without their knowledge in order to meet sales quotas.

Lawmakers in Washington had called for Stumpf's resignation, repeatedly castigating him in public hearings for stealing from customers and pressuring low-level employees to meet unrealistic sales targets, all while touting the results to investors.

"While I have been deeply committed and focused on managing the company through this period, I have decided it is best for the company that I step aside," Stumpf said in a statement.

Stumpf had said publicly in mid-September that he would not resign.

The bank last month settled with US regulators and the City of Los Angeles for about $190 million in fines and restitution, a sum that did not reflect the magnitude of the scandal's effect on the bank, which has seen officials in Illinois and California suspend ties with it.

Wells Fargo announced last month that Stumpf would forfeit $41 million in compensation and receive no bonus for the year.

The bank told AFP on Wednesday that Stumpf would also not receive any severance payment.

Stumpf will be succeeded as CEO by president and chief operating officer Tim Sloan, a 29 year veteran of the company.

"My immediate and highest priority is to restore trust in Wells Fargo," Sloan said in a statement.

"We will work tirelessly to build a stronger and better Wells Fargo for generations to come."

Stephen Sanger, Wells Fargo's lead director, will serve as the board's non-executive chairman.

Wells Fargo shares rose 2.1 percent in after hours trade following the announcement.

The activist organization Public Citizen noted Wednesday that, while the bank had fired more than 5,000 employees accused of wrongdoing, Stumpf was allowed to retire.

Story continues

"Those fired employees didn't receive golden parachutes and CEO John Stumpf shouldn't either," the organization's president Robert Weissman said in a statement, calling for federal authorities to press ahead with criminal probes.

"Americans are beyond sick and tired of big banks and their executives escaping accountability."

Stumpf's ouster represents a scalp for the bank's critics on Capitol Hill. Senator Elizabeth Warren, who has campaigned for stronger oversight of the US financial sector, accused him of "gutless leadership" and calling on him to step aside.

Stumpf had been with the company for more than three decades, having joined Norwest Bank in 1982 prior to its merger with Wells Fargo.

He became CEO in 2007 on the eve of the financial crisis. But he leaves the bank in a difficult state. Prior to the scandal, Wells Fargo had been the world's largest bank by market value. But shares in the company have fallen more than 9 percent following the September settlement, closing Wednesday at $45.32 in New York.
The government of Hawke's Bay, New Zealand imposing an energy-company-backed tax on people who put solar panels on their homes. Greenpeace's petition in support of sustainable, renewable power was delivered with a catchy, angry song by Tiki Taane.



Tiki Taane and four sunny dancers delivered 45,000 tiny suns to the Electricity Authority in Wellington  all the while serenading them with his brand new song, Shine Your Love written especially for the occasion!

Each sun carried the name of someone who signed Greenpeace's Stop the Solar Tax petition.

The world is in a climate crisis and to survive, we have to adopt clean renewable energy as soon as possible.

Solar power is one of the fastest growing clean energy sources in the world  but our ability to use it in New Zealand is under threat.

Big energy companies see solar as a threat to their profits and their control of your power.

Right now they're moving to cut it off. Their first move is the new solar tax in Hawke's Bay which penalises people who have solar panels.

We must push back before that spreads nationwide and tell the Electricity Authority to Say No to the Solar Tax.
Basics

Woman meeting two advisers copyright wavebreakmedia/Shutterstock.com

copyright wavebreakmedia/Shutterstock.com

If you have a complaint about your bank, thrift or credit union, it's always best to first try to resolve it with the institution itself.

If that doesn't work, here's where to turn:

The CFPB

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, or CFPB, accepts complaints about products or services offered by a bank or credit union.

You can submit the complaint online at Help.ConsumerFinance.gov.

Office of the Comptroller of the Currency

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, or OCC, deals with complaints against national banks or federal savings associations.

You can file your complaint at HelpWithMyBank.gov.

RATE SEARCH: Compare savings rates today on Bankrate.com.

Federal Reserve

The Federal Reserve investigates complaints related to federal consumer protection laws.

To file a complaint, you can:

Fill out a consumer complaint form at FederalReserveConsumerHelp.com.

Call the Federal Reserve consumer hotline at (888) 851-1920.

Send a fax: (877) 888-2520.

Write to: Federal Reserve Consumer Help

P.O. box 1200

Minneapolis, MN 55480

FDIC

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, or FDIC, directly examines and supervises more than 4,500 banks and savings banks, more than half of the institutions in the banking system.

The FDIC has an online consumer assistance form that allows you to state your case involving an FDIC-regulated institution.

RATE SEARCH: Compare CD rates on Bankrate today.

NCUA

The National Credit Union Administration oversees federal credit unions and all credit unions in Delaware, South Dakota, Wyoming and Washington, D.C.

After attempting to resolve the complaint with your credit union, you can file a complaint online at Complaint.MyCreditUnion.gov.





More From Bankrate.com


Tony Hayward, Chairman of Glencore and Genel Energy responds to questions during a panel debate at the Institute of Directors annual convention in London, Britain, September 27, 2016. REUTERS/Toby Melville

By Ahmad Ghaddar and Julia Payne

LONDON (Reuters) - Glencore (GLEN.L) is seeking to increase oil trading with Libya, Iran and Iraq to beat what looks to be a much tougher trading environment compared with last year, Glencore's global head of oil Alex Beard told the Reuters Commodities Summit.

Crude trading in places such as Libya or Iraqi Kurdistan have been the cornerstone of trading activities for many trading houses in the past few years, generating good returns when oil majors were hesitant to enter those places.

Beard said Glencore would be seeking to trade more crude from the Middle East, including Iraq and Iran, as well as from Libya and Russia.

"We are currently lifting products from (Iran's) NIOC and private firms and are looking to expand into crude," Beard said, adding he was looking into pre-financing Iranian exports.

Glencore's trading divisions have been in the spotlight for the past two years during the commodities price collapse as the company told the market its trading serves as a cushion when the mining division suffers.

After strong oil and coal trading results in 2015, Glencore reported a 47 percent drop in core earnings for the energy trading division in the first half of 2016 to $252 million citing coal hedging writedowns and less positive oil marketing conditions.

But oil trading volumes rose 33 percent to 4.4 million barrels per day, putting Glencore on track to regain the world's No.2 spot among independent traders ahead of Trafigura and behind Vitol this year.

"Volume is not really a metric that we look at," Beard said. "In 2016, you'll see the energy segment not as good as 2015."

Success in 2015 was attributed to the steep contango market structure, which encourages traders to store crude to resell it at higher prices later, high freight rates and strong refining margins.

"In the first half of 2016, you had certainly the contango element, but declining. Wet freight rates were very poor and getting poorer and refining margins ... were nowhere near as good as the first half of 2015," Beard said.

Story continues

Contango is a market structure when forward prices are higher than prompt prices. It has flattened over the past year after prompt oil prices rose steeply on hopes that OPEC would help rebalance the market quicker while forward prices failed to catch up with that pace due to modest demand growth expectations.

Beard said trading houses had to stay opportunistic, which implies higher risk taking when supplying oil and pre-financing producers or refiners in distress or difficulty.

LIBYA BOOST

In Libya, where Glencore reached an exclusive deal with state-owned NOC to take all exports of the Messla and Sarir grades a year ago, volumes are rising.

Production for the two crude streams stands at around 330,000 bpd, Beard said.

"We're very happy with our relationship with NOC and we've been very pleased to support them through some difficult times in the last 12 months and we're open to do more business there."

Libyan oil production stands at just over 500,000 bpd, more than doubling after a deal last month to reopen key ports in the east of the country.

Going into difficult places in search of higher margins will remain a risky business.

For instance Glencore, and several oil majors and trading houses, are owed over $1 billion by Morocco's Samir refinery, which they supplied with crude and products but failed to receive payments for after the government ordered it into liquidation in 2015.

"Pre-finance has always been a good part of our business... We have seen defaults before and we will see more in the future," said Beard, when asked about Samir. He said the firm was still hoping the plant will restart.

Beard also sees rising opportunities for Glencore in the liquefied natural gas trading business in supplying a rapidly growing base of gas end-users.

"The end-users of LNG are increasing in volume and number all of the time. There are more and more, whether its floating LNG, regas vessels or whether it's gas-fired power stations or new gas distributors in China," he said.

Follow Reuters Summits on Twitter @Reuters_Summits)

(Additional reporting by Karolin Schaps; Writing by Dmitry Zhdannikov; editing by Susan Thomas)
By Alexis Akwagyiram and Felix Onuah ABUJA (Reuters) - Nigeria's government is in advanced talks with its sovereign wealth fund and stock exchange to create a $500 million exploration fund and corporate mining bonds to attract investment, its mining minister said. Kayode Fayemi also told Reuters Nigeria had made a "promising" nickel discovery and was looking for investors for a moribund steel plant, part of efforts to reduce reliance on oil exports. The OPEC member has made boosting the mining sector a priority as a slump in crude sales, which provide 70 percent of government revenues, has pushed Africa's biggest economy into recession. "We are looking at a $500 million fund from their side which would primarily focus on exploration," Fayemi, minister for mining and steel development, said in an interview, referring to the sovereign wealth fund. The ministry was also discussing with the stock market selling "corporate mining bonds" in partnership with mining and other investors. He gave no details or timeframe for either project. Nigeria has been trying to attract foreign mining firms. Currently, the only significant foreign investor in the sector, where 80 percent of mining is carried out on an artisanal basis, is Australia's Kogi Iron. Nigeria has largely untapped deposits of 44 minerals, which include gold, iron ore, coal, tin and zinc, in more than 500 locations spread across Africa's most populous nation. NICKEL DISCOVERY The minister wants to increase mining's contribution to gross domestic product (GDP) to 10 percent, from just 0.3 percent now, within a decade. He said a geologically "strange" discovery of nickel in the northern state of Kaduna seemed promising. The discovery of some 40 million tonnes of nickel with a depth of five metres over a 13 kilometre area, around the town of Dangoma, was announced in August by an Australian team registered as Comet Nigeria Limited. "It could also be that what they are telling us is an under-estimation of what it ought to be by the time we do core drilling," he said. Fayemi also said there was a need to get a grip on Nigeria's informal gold rush which he said is dominated by smugglers. "Clearly a lot is being taken out illegally," he said, adding that gold was being smuggled to neighbouring Cameroon and Niger, as well as Togo and is registered in those countries. Fayemi said his ministry did not have figures for gold production but the central bank had provided figures that his department was trying to validate. "They have given figures in the region of about 100kg of gold leaving the country on a daily basis," he said. "None of this gets accredited as gold from Nigeria," added Fayemi. The most recent official estimate of proven gold reserves is 300,000 ounces and dates from 2013 but Officials say it is likely to be more since no new research has been done for 30 years. Nigeria also hopes to revive the moribund steel plant in Ajaokuta. In August, a deal was reached with Global Steel Holdings, an Indian firm, giving the government renewed control after four years of mediation and eight years of inactivity. Fayemi said PricewaterhouseCoopers' was conducting an audit which began on Aug. 1 and would last 150 days, followed by a public bid process. The minister said companies from China, Ukraine, Russia and Belarus had expressed an interest in operating the plant. "By the time we put it out on offer to everyone we will get the best bidder who can really do what we want done with the steel plant," he said. Fayemi said the priority was to "produce steel locally rather than from scrap metal". He estimated that steel production could begin as soon as March 2019. (Writing by Alexis Akwagyiram; Editing by Ulf Laessing and Ruth Pitchford)
[Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has announced his government will introduce a plan to put a price on carbon pollution by 2018. (Getty Images)]

The Liberal governments plan to introduce a carbon price by 2018 may lend some credibility to Justin Trudeaus pledges to ratify the Paris climate accord, but its a bit tricky to get a handle on how it will ultimately impact consumers.

For starters, the government has yet to unveil more than a few details of the plan, which so far consists of a pledge to impose a $10 per tonne cost on carbon emissions beginning in 2018 on any province that doesnt have an equivalent plan in place. The cost will then go up by $10 increments per year to $50 by 2022, presumably at which point a new scale will be introduced.

So that gives us some numbers to work with.

But the other challenge is figuring out how the plan will mesh with the plans currently in place in several of the provinces.

British Columbia has had a carbon pricing regime in place since 2008, and Alberta plans to introduce its own plan next year. Manitoba has also pledged to bring in its own plan, and cap-and-trade schemes are in place in Quebec and in the offing in Ontario.

So theres been action afoot on carbon even before Trudeau surprised the provinces with his plan last week.

Altogether, those provinces comprise 85 per cent of Canadas population, but its unclear how the federal plan will mesh with them, particularly the cap-and-trade systems.

(In) Ontario and Quebec there will have to be a calculation to determine whether the price of carbon imposed on the cap and trade meets the federal standard or not, says Len Coad, director of energy and environmental research at the Conference Board of Canada.

But some have taken a stab at running the numbers. According to the Ecofiscal Commission, an economics think-tank, the Ontario plan should have an estimated equivalent price of $19.40 per tonne by 2020, which suggests the Ontario scheme may have to be altered to keep up with the federal scheme.

But Ecofiscal doesnt envision major disruption to consumers at that level.

A $30 carbon price in Canadian provinces would impose small costs on households, it says in a report written before Trudeau unveiled his plan.

Story continues

B.C.s experience backs that up to this point. The $30-per-tonne price currently in place in that province led to an additional cost of 6.7 cents per litre of gasoline and 7.7 cents per litre of diesel, hardly a shock to the system, but perhaps enough to begin to sway behaviour, which is the point.

But beyond the pump, where would consumers feel it?

Industries that rely heavily on transport could see prices go up.

The issue there becomes, are (industries) able to pass the cost increase through to their customers or not, says Coad.

And certainly in home heating, costs would rise if your electricity is sourced from gas or coal. So in Quebec, with its vast hydroelectric capacity, there should be very little impact. In Alberta and Saskatchewan, which have significant gas and coal-fired electricity (not to mention considerable resource extraction industries), the impact would be much greater. Indeed, Ecofiscal pegs those two provinces the two most likely to see a significant impact from a carbon price.

Also, because of the impact on home heating and gasoline, carbon pricing is likely to hit low-income households a bit more than higher-income households.

But Coad stresses the unknowns at this point, including how the revenue will be recycled back into the economy. The federal plan stresses the proceeds from any taxes will stay within the provinces, and those could end up coming back to benefit consumers.

And of course, since the goal of all this is to encourage shifting to lower-emitting solutions, industrial players who expect costs to rise could be seeking ways to mitigate that.

This is complex question. Right now there are lots of political and emotional responses, the analytical response is to want more information, says Coad.
The Duchess of Cambridge, nee Kate Middleton, made a chic arrival in the Netherlands on Tuesday (Oct. 11) as she carried out her first solo engagement abroad.

Kate turned heads in a pale blue Catherine Walker skirt suit for her arrival at the royal residence Villa Eikenhorst, where she met with King Willem-Alexander.

TAP FOR GALLERY The Duchess of Cambridge carried out her first solo overseas engagement.

The Duchess styled the belted peplum jacket and pencil skirt with nude heels and a clutch bag, completing the look with pearl earrings and her hair tied back into a low chignon.

Kate has long been a fan of Catherine Walker, and wore a cream coat from the designer on the final day of her recent tour of Canada.

The 34-year-old left her husband Prince William and children Prince George and Princess Charlotte at home for the short trip, which will see her carry out three separate engagements in The Hague and Rotterdam.

Kate wore a Catherine Walker skirt suit for the engagement.

Kate, who studied art history at university, will visit the Mauritshuis in The Hague for the exhibition, At Home in Holland: Vermeer and his Contemporaries from the British Royal Collection.

The Duchess will tour the gallery's permanent collection before visiting the exhibition. She will then meet children taking part in the gallery's learning programme and attend a short reception with museum supporters.

Next, Kate will attend the British Ambassadors Residence in The Hague where she will take part in a roundtable discussion on the themes of addiction, intervention, family and mental health.

Her last engagement of the day will take Kate to the neighbouring city of Rotterdam to visit Bouwkeet, a new community-focused initiative in the centre of an economically deprived district.

Kate looked pretty in floral Kate Spade on Monday.

Kate's busy day of engagements follows her outing with Princes William and Harry to mark World Mental Health Day on Monday. The Duchess looked pretty in a pink floral Kate Spade dress as she promoted the Heads Together campaign during a visit to County Hall and a ride on the London Eye.
STEM

President Obama Talks AI, Space Exploration and More at Carnegie Mellon U

Image credit: Michael Henninger, Pittsburgh Post Gazette.

President Obama traveled to Pittsburgh, PA today to speak on building up the United States capacity for STEM innovation at the White House Frontiers Conference, a one-day national convening co-hosted with the University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University.

The Frontiers Conference brought together global researchers, business leaders, technologists, philanthropists and local innovators to discuss how to keep Americans on the cutting edge of innovation with next-generation science and technology that will help improve lives. More than 700 innovators across academia, industry, government and civil society will participate in the conference, according to a White House fact sheet on the event.

At the event, which was livestreamed, the president explored five frontiers of innovation:

Personal Frontiers: Innovation in health care and precision medicine;

Local Frontiers: Investments in open data and IoT (Internet of Things);

National Frontiers: Harnessing the potential of artificial intelligence through data science, machine learning, automation and robotics;

Global Frontiers: Advancements in clean energy and developing advanced climate information, tools, services and collaborations; and

Interplanetary Frontiers: Space exploration and the United States journey to Mars.

Leading up to the Frontiers Conference, Obama released a national plan for artificial intelligence yesterday.

Obama also issued a space-weather Executive Order to coordinate efforts to prepare the nation for space-weather events, according to the fact sheet. The president has been dedicated to 21st century space exploration since his early days in office. Earlier this week, he expanded the countrys commitment to exploring new frontiers that extend beyond Earth, with a new pledge to send humans to Mars and back by the 2030s.

To continue momentum, the Obama Administration is providing more than $300 million to support research initiatives that reflect the aim of the five frontiers. Funding can be broken down into the following investments:

$70 million to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to advance research on the human brain and uncover mysteries that hold the key to future scientific breakthroughs in areas such as Alzheimers and Parkinsons diseases, depression and traumatic brain injury, according to the fact sheet;

$16 million and four new partners within the NIHs Precision Medicine Initiative, a national research study;

$165 million to support cities in using technology and data to tackle quality of life challenges like traffic congestion; and

$50 million to fuel a revolution in small-satellite technology for high-speed internet connectivity.

To learn about the five frontiers, funding and other information, watch the video footage of the event.
By PTI: Ahmedabad, Oct 12 (PTI) The Gujarat Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) has nabbed two persons allegedly working as spies for Pakistans intelligence agency ISI, police said.

Both of them were held tonight from Kutch district, which shares border with the neighbouring country.

"ATS was keeping a close watch on the movement of two residents of Khavda village of Kutch for last one year on the suspicion that they are working as spies of Pakistans ISI. Both of them were held by ATS today," a police official said on the condition of anonymity.

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"We have learnt that ATS has recovered one Pakistani SIM card along with a mobile phone during the search of their house," he added.

The arrest comes amid rising tension between India and Pakistan. PTI PJT PD PNK GVS

--- ENDS ---
Distance Learning

U Pennsylvania's Low-Cost Online Anatomy Courses Use VR

Spurred by the success of an earlier anatomy class offered as a massive open online course (MOOC), the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine is expanding its course offerings through its own institutional website and enhancing the course content with the help of a textbook publisher and 3D simulation company.

The university's anatomy faculty has been developing the materials for a series of courses using Elsevier texts, Netter Atlas of Human Anatomy, Gray's Anatomy for Students and Larson's Human Embryology. The content creators have also worked with Sharecare Reality Lab to add digital, 3D, anatomic simulations that use virtual reality to enable students to explore the human body.

The idea for the series came from an earlier MOOC titled, "Going Out on a Limb," which drew 39,000 participants for an anatomy course on the upper limb. Feedback encouraged the university to create similar programs on other aspects of human anatomy.

The first offering, "Thoracic Anatomy," is open for enrollment and will begin Oct. 11, 2016. It costs $115, has nine hours of lectures and comes with a certificate of completion. Other courses in the works include "Heart & Lung Embryology" and "Head & Neck Anatomy." All of the programs are self-paced and will be open for eight weeks. Next year the university plans to deliver additional classes on the abdomen, pelvis, back, extremities and brain.

"Penn has been a pioneer in the use of digital media in medical education for more than 20 years. We were one of the first medical schools to provide online streaming of its entire curriculum. The new courses further Penn's vision of a school without walls," said Gail Morrison, senior vice dean for education in the School of Medicine, in a press release. "Along with the prestige of our brand and our phenomenal teachers, we will continue to create innovative ways to educate online as we move into teaching the next generation of students embarking on medical careers."

The use of the virtual reality components, Morrison added, "is changing the way people learn. By making anatomy visual, we are improving one's overall understanding of how the body functions  something you can never get from a cadaver."
WEDNESDAY, Oct. 12, 2016 (HealthDay News) -- Watch-like wristbands that monitor heart rate may not offer true readings during exercise, a small study finds.

Researchers at the Cleveland Clinic's Heart and Vascular Institute tested four different wrist-worn heart rate monitors.

"All worked pretty well at rest," said Dr. Marc Gillinov, the Cleveland Clinic cardiac surgeon who led the experiment. "But as people exercised, the accuracy diminished."

None of the four devices achieved the accuracy of a chest strap monitor. In treadmill tests, the Apple Watch and Mio Fuse were the most accurate.

The other two devices fell short: Basis Peak, which is no longer being manufactured, overestimated heart rate during moderate exercise, and Fitbit Charge HR underestimated heart rate during more vigorous exercise, the study found.

Intel Corp. issued a safety recall last summer due to incidents of the Basis Peak overheating, causing burns or blisters on the skin. Intel and its Basis Science Inc. unit urge people to stop using the device and return it for a full refund.

In a statement, Fitbit defended its "PurePulse" technology, saying it performs to industry standards for wrist-based optical heart rate monitors, with an average absolute error of less than 6 beats per minute (bpm) and an average error of less than 6 percent.

"Fitbit devices were tested against properly calibrated industry devices like an EKG chest strap across the most popular activities performed worldwide, including walking, running, biking, elliptical and more," the company said.

For Fitbit, the findings follow other disappointing reports on its products. Earlier this month, a report in The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology found that fitness trackers, including one marketed by Fitbit, fail to boost activity levels enough to improve health.

Fitbit said its trackers "are not intended to be medical devices."

But, the Cleveland Clinic team noted that cardiac patients increasingly rely on wrist-worn monitors to gauge heart rate during rehabilitation and exercise.

These watch-like devices retail from roughly $70 to several hundred dollars, based on prices quoted online.

Dr. Mitesh Patel is an assistant professor of medicine at the University of Pennsylvania's Perelman School of Medicine in Philadelphia. He studies the impact of technology-based interventions on behavior but was not involved in the new analysis.

Despite growing interest in so-called wearables to measure heart rate, there has not been much evaluation of their accuracy, he noted.

"For the general consumer, wearable devices may still be able to give them a general sense of their heart rate trends," Patel said. "However, further study is needed to determine which devices are more reliable for use in clinical care."

An adult's average resting heart rate is 60 to 100 beats per minute; maximum heart rate is about 220 bpm minus the person's age, according to the American Heart Association.

An electrocardiogram records the heart's electrical activity. It's the "gold standard" for measuring heart rate, Gillinov said. A chest strap, which also monitors electrical activity, is just as accurate, he added.

Wrist-worn heart monitors use optical sensing technology to detect heart rate. They emit LED light to measure blood flow in and out of tissue, and a sensor picks up that data and converts it into heart rate readings using proprietary algorithms, Gillinov explained.

In the study, published online Oct. 12 in the journal JAMA Cardiology, the Cleveland Clinic team recruited 50 healthy men and women, with an average age of 37. Participants wore a Polar H7 chest-strap monitor and were randomly assigned to wear two different wrist-worn monitors during 3-minute intervals of exercise on a treadmill.

Heart rate readings were recorded when participants were at rest and at the 3-minute mark of each exercise. Participants exercised at increasing levels of intensity, from 2 to 6 miles per hour (mph), with rests between each exercise.

The researchers also measured people's heart rates at three points during their recovery.

Compared with electrocardiogram, the optical heart rate monitors varied in accuracy, the investigators found.

At 2 and 3 mph, median differences of roughly 9 and 7 bpm, respectively, were recorded between the Basis Peak.

With Fitbit, researchers recorded median differences of approximately 7 and 6 bpm at 4 and 6 mph, respectively.

"We're not being nitpicky because as people moved, we had readings that could be off by 30 and 40 bpm, so it's not a small difference," Gillinov said.

His advice?

"If you're an elite athlete and you're using your heart rate to guide training, or you're a cardiac patient who's been given specific heart rate targets or ranges, use a chest strap," he advised.

More information

Visit the American Heart Association to learn more about target heart rates.
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte pose for photo during the ASEAN Plus Three Summit in Vientiane, Laos September 7, 2016. REUTERS/Soe Zeya Tun/File Photo

The Chinese government said on Wednesday that Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte will visit China from October 18 to 21.

But even before the visit was confirmed, business leaders and executives in the Philippines were clamoring to take part in Duterte's trip to one of the world's biggest economies.

Who will be part of the delegation has not been announced, but on October 11 Reuters reported that business groups and government officials said registration for the trip had been "oversubscribed."

The number of Philippine entrepreneurs to travel with Duterte swelled from about two dozen to about 250, according to Trade Undersecretary Nora Terrado, as they look to discuss potential deals in the rail, construction, tourism, agribusiness, power, and manufacturing sectors.

"I understand there are 100 more wanting to go," Terrado told Reuters, adding that the size of the delegation was unusual because the two countries agreed on the visit only about a month ago.

The eagerness to do business with China comes amid an apparent thaw in previously frosty relations between Manila and Beijing, ties that had been strained over China's assertive territorial claims in the South China Sea, which the Philippines and several other neighboring countries have rebuffed.

China Philippines Russia Medvedev Li Keqiang Cambodia Rodrigo Duterte ASEAN Asia

Duterte has not capitalized on a July 12 international-court ruling that dismissed China's expansive claims. The current Philippine president said in April, prior to his election, that he would be willing to "shut up" about disputes in the sea if China provided aid.

Weiterlesen

Since Duterte took office in June, he has kept his conciliatory stance toward China, particularly on economic and political matters  a position that appears to have been enabled by China's more measured approach to issues in the South China Sea.

More recently, business dealings between the two countries appear to be heating up.

On Saturday, Philippine Finance Minister Carlos Dominguez said that Duterte would seek billions of dollars in infrastructure investments from China over the coming months (which Chinese firms are open to providing). The following day, Philippine Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Pinol said China would lift a ban on fruit exports from 27 Philippine firms as a "gift" to Duterte.

Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte (C) clenches fist with members of the Philippine Army during his visit at the army headquarters in Taguig city, metro Manila, Philippines October 4, 2016. REUTERS/Romeo Ranoco

"We are neighbours ... this is actually what the president is thinking: instead of fighting, why don't we just become friends?" said Francis Chua, chairman emeritus of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry, according to Reuters.

"The clouds are fading away. The sun is rising over the horizon, and will shine beautifully on the new chapter of bilateral relations," Zhao Jianhua, the Chinese ambassador to the Philippines, said in September.

'One cannot replace the other'

Despite the apparent enthusiasm among Filipino executives about the potential to work with the Chinese, there are reasons to worry about the footing of the Philippine economy.

Since taking office, Duterte has egged on a anti-narcotics campaign that has driven up homicides in the country. Since June, nearly 4,000 people have been killed  the majority of them by unknown assailants it what are likely vigilante killings. He has also accused public figures of criminal activity with scant evidence, stirring fears among the business community.

Duterte has also railed against the US, raising concerns about the health of Manila and Washington's longstanding relationship.

"Many investors have been turned off by threatening remarks made by Duterte against the US and China, casting doubt on the future of Manilas foreign policies and his handling of the economy," CNBC reported at the end of September.

Benigno Aquino Rodrigo Duterte Philippines president government

"A lot of people are hesitant to put their money into the Philippines at this point," Guenter Taus, who heads the European Chamber of Commerce in the Philippines, told The Economist in September.

Duterte has remained broadly popular through the first three months of his term, but that behavior has put him at odds with much of the rest of the world.

And a trip to Beijing is unlikely to sooth the frayed nerves the Philippine business community.

"There is still significant concern among businesses about the potential of Dutertes policies, both domestic and international, to cause instability and upset the economic growth" of the Benigno Aquino administration, which ran from 2010 to 2016, said Gregory Poling, the director of the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

Given the size of the Chinese economy, expanded business dealings with Beijing only make sense for Philippine businesses, but deeper relationships with China's businesses can't take the place of Manila's extensive economic ties to the US and other countries.

"They are going on the trip with him because there is no reason to pass up potential opportunities in China," Poling told Business Insider, "but given that China lags well behind the US, Japan, and European nations on the list of investors in the Philippines, one cannot replace the other."

NOW WATCH: Philippines President Duterte: 'Mr. Obama, you can go to hell'





More From Business Insider


USS Mason

The US officially entered the conflict in Yemen with a salvo of cruise-missile strikes on three coastal radar sites in areas of Yemen controlled by Houthi rebels, retaliating after failed missile attacks this week on a US Navy destroyer, US officials said late Wednesday.

There was no immediate word of any casualties in Yemen.

US officials told Reuters that the Arleigh Burke-class USS Nitze launched the Tomahawk cruise missiles at about 4 a.m. local time on Thursday.

"These radars were active during previous attacks and attempted attacks on ships in the Red Sea," US officials told USNI News' Sam LaGrone, adding that the radar sites were in remote areas with a low risk of civilian casualties.

"Targeting US warships is a sign that the Houthis have decided to join the axis of resistance that currently includes Lebanese Hezbollah, Hamas, and Iran," Michael Knights, an expert on Yemen's conflict at The Washington Institute for Near East Policy, told Reuters.

The strikes authorized by President Barack Obama represent Washington's first direct military action against Houthi-controlled targets in Yemen's conflict. The Pentagon said initial US assessments indicated the radar sites were destroyed.

"These limited self-defense strikes were conducted to protect our personnel, our ships, and our freedom of navigation in this important maritime passageway," Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook said. "The United States will respond to any further threat to our ships and commercial traffic, as appropriate."

Yemen map

Two times in the past four days the USS Mason, a guided-missile destroyer, fired interceptor missiles in self-defense after detecting incoming missiles launched from the territory held by Iranian-backed Houthi militants. The incidents occurred in the Bab al-Mandab Strait between Yemen and Eritrea with no damage or injuries to the US Navy.

Weiterlesen

The Houthis, a militant uprising against the internationally recognized government of Yemeni President Abd Rabbu Mansour al-Hadi, denied previous attempts on the USS Mason, but had taken credit for a similar missile strike that savaged a former US Navy ship operated by the United Arab Emirates.

The direct strike against the Houthis makes the US a participant in the conflict in Yemen, where Saudi Arabia has led a brutal air campaign linked to high civilian deaths and potentially war crimes.

Reuters previously reported that the US had worried that direct involvement in the conflict on Saudi Arabia's behalf could make it liable to be tried for possible war crimes committed during the 18-month conflict.

Yemen

Simultaneously, the US has been trying to manage a fragile relationship with Iran after the adoption of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action to curb Iran's nuclear program.

Iran backs the Houthi militants, has provided them with arms, and previously has openly provoked the US Navy in international waters.

NOW WATCH: The US struck radar sites in Yemen after rebels tried to attack a Navy ship with missiles





More From Business Insider


Distributed via the CDC Health Alert Network

October 13, 2016, 13:00 ET (1:00 PM ET)

CDCHAN-00397

Summary

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is advising hospitals to notify patients who underwent open-heart (open-chest) surgery involving a Stockert 3T heater-cooler that the device was potentially contaminated, possibly putting patients at risk for a life threatening infection. New information indicates that these devices, manufactured by LivaNova PLC (formerly Sorin Group Deutschland GmbH), were likely contaminated with the rare bacteria Mycobacterium chimaera during manufacturing. Hospitals should advise potentially exposed patients to seek medical care if they are experiencing symptoms such as night sweats, muscle aches, unexplained weight loss, fatigue, or unexplained fever. In addition, hospitals that use or have used this device are strongly encouraged to make and execute a plan to communicate with potentially exposed patients and to increase awareness among healthcare providers.

Background

In the spring of 2015, investigators in Switzerland reported a cluster of six patients with invasive infection of M. chimaera, a species of nontuberculous mycobacterium (NTM) commonly found in soil and water. The infected patients had undergone open-heart surgery that used contaminated heater-cooler devices during extracorporeal circulation (1). In July 2015, a Pennsylvania hospital also identified a cluster of invasive NTM infections among patients who had undergone open-heart surgery. CDC assisted in a field investigation that used both epidemiologic and laboratory evidence to identify an association between invasive Mycobacterium avium complex (including M. chimaera) infections and exposure to contaminated 3T heater-cooler devices, consistent with the Swiss report (2).

The water circuits in these heater-cooler devices that are used to regulate temperature during cardiopulmonary bypass do not come into direct contact with the patients circulating blood; however, these reports suggest that M. chimaera can be aerosolized by the devices and result in infections (1,2). The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and CDC have issued alerts about the need to follow updated manufacturers instructions for maintenance and use of the devices, evaluate the devices for contamination, remain vigilant for new infections, and continue to monitor reports from the United States and overseas (2).

CDC in collaboration with National Jewish Health completed a whole-genome sequencing analysis and results demonstrate that M. chimaera isolates from patients with heater-cooler associated infections and from the 3T heater-cooler devices from several U.S. hospitals (in Pennsylvania and Iowa) are all highly related to each other (3). This evidence for likely point-source contamination of the 3T heater-cooler devices is consistent with recent reports from Europe (http://www.fda.gov/MedicalDevices/Safety/AlertsandNotices/ucm504213.htmExternal ) that describe matching of M. chimaera sequences from environmental isolates at the device production site in Germany and isolates from patients and devices in Europe.

More than 250,000 heart bypass procedures using heater-cooler devices are performed in the United States every year; the 3T heater-cooler device linked to these infections represents about 60% of the heater-cooler devices in the country (2,4). In hospitals where at least one infection has been identified, the risk of infection was between about 1 in 100 and 1 in 1,000 patients. Initial information suggests that patients who had prosthetic material implanted are at highest risk for NTM infections. These infections are difficult to treat and delays in diagnosis further complicate patients clinical management. Therefore, it is imperative that patients and providers are informed about the risk of infection associated with use of the 3T device and the need for appropriate diagnostic evaluation to facilitate timely diagnosis and treatment.

Recommendations

Healthcare providers

Internists, infectious disease specialists, cardiologists, cardiothoracic surgeons, and other clinicians should suspect NTM infections among patients who have signs of infection and a history of open-chest cardiac surgery.

Infections can take months to cause symptoms.

Patients with NTM infections following cardiac surgery have presented with a variety of clinical manifestations. Common examples are endocarditis, surgical site infection, or abscess and bacteremia. Other clinical manifestations have included hepatitis, renal insufficiency, splenomegaly, pancytopenia, and osteomyelitis.

Diagnosis can be difficult due to the nonspecific presentation of illness and the slow growing nature of the bacteria.

Physicians should consider consulting with an infectious disease specialist if caring for patients who have undergone an open-chest cardiac procedure and present with signs of infection.

Cultures for acid fact bacilli (AFB) should be obtained as part of the evaluation.

Other specialized testing to detect M. chimaera may be needed and further laboratory testing should be discussed and arranged in consultation with an infectious disease specialist or health department.

Hospitals

Hospitals performing open-chest cardiac surgery should immediately assess their use of heater-cooler devices and determine whether they are currently using  or have previously used  3T devices. Facilities should ensure that they are implementing current FDA recommendations to minimize patient risk to infections associated with heater-cooler devices (http://www.fda.gov/MedicalDevices/Safety/AlertsandNotices/UCM520191.htm External ). Hospitals should notify cardiothoracic surgeons, cardiologists, infectious disease physicians, internists, primary care physicians, and other clinicians who evaluate patients that have had open-chest cardiac or other bypass surgery, about the risk of infection associated with 3T heater-cooler devices. CDC has sample letters available at https://www.cdc.gov/hai/outbreaks/heater-cooler.html. Hospitals should review their facilitys microbiology laboratory database and records of surgical procedures for any positive NTM cultures in surgery patients that might indicate a possible case. CDC has provided guidance on case-finding: https://www.cdc.gov/hai/pdfs/outbreaks/Guide-for-Case-Finding.pdf Cdc-pdf . Hospitals should consider institution-specific strategies for alerting patients of the risk of infection related to potentially contaminated heater-cooler devices. CDC has sample patient notification letters available at https://www.cdc.gov/hai/outbreaks/heater-cooler.html. Hospitals can consider prospective surveillance of patients who have undergone open-chest cardiac surgery involving a 3T heater-cooler device. Hospitals should consider using informed consent to educate patients of the potential NTM infection risk. The overall risk of M. chimaera infection is low relative to other complications following cardiac surgery; emergent cardiac procedures should not be delayed because of the use of 3T devices. Continued use of 3T devices should be done in accordance with the latest manufacturers recommendations, including maintenance and proper positioning of devices to minimize the risk of patient exposure. Hospitals that have identified contaminated 3T heater-cooler devices or patient infections associated with devices should promptly alert their local or state health department and submit a report to FDA via MedWatch at http://www.fda.gov/Safety/MedWatch/HowToReport/DownloadForms/default.htm External

Health Departments

Health departments should communicate with healthcare facilities that perform cardiac surgery using heater-cooler devices about the risk of M. chimaera infection associated with open-chest cardiac surgery involving use of the 3T heater-cooler devices. Health departments should direct facilities to CDC and FDA heater-cooler guidance documents in these communications.

Health departments should track reports from healthcare facilities about potential infections associated with heater-cooler devices and encourage facilities to report these events to FDA. Health departments should be prepared to assist healthcare facilities with further investigation; CDC is available for further consultation as needed.

Patients

Symptoms of NTM infection, including M. chimaera infection, can take months to appear. Patients should be aware of the symptoms of NTM infection which can include persistent or unexplained fever; night sweats; redness, heat, or pus around a surgical incision; muscle aches; unexplained weight loss; or fatigue. Patients who have had cardiac surgery should seek medical evaluation if they have one or more of these symptoms or have questions about possible exposure to a heater-cooler device.

References
Negotiations for a merger between Navjot Sidhu-led Awaaz-e-Punjab (AeP) and Congress for Punjab polls are in the last phase, a decision is likely within a week.

By Ankit Tyagi: A senior leader of the Awaaz-e-Punjab (AeP) front, led by former BJP leader Navjot Singh Sidhu, has told India Today that their outfit and Congress are in the last round of negotiations on a possible merger ahead of Punjab elections.

A decision on the merger of the Sidhu-led front with the Congress for Punjab polls is likely within a week.

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This was concluded in a meeting of the front that took place yesterday at Sidhu's residence, the AeP leader said on the condition of anonymity.

TALKS STUCK ON LAST CONDITION



According to top sources, Congress has more or less agreed to the conditions of AeP. "Negotiations are now on the last condition. AeP wants a say in deciding all the 117 tickets in the state, which is being discussed now", he said.

Also read: Punjab polls: AAP promises 25 lakh jobs, free Wi-Fi hotspots in villages



The AeP leader said that the ball was now in the Congress' court.

India Today has also learnt from sources both within the Aam Aadmi Party and AeP that talks between them at least formally are over and the possibility of any alliance between Kejriwal-led party and Sidhu-let AeP is unlikely.

WATCH THE VIDEO HERE:



AWAAZ-e-PUNJAB REJECTS RUMOURS OF DIVIDE

AeP also dismissed rumours of any divide within the front. Top sources said all the 5 faces -- Navjot Singh Sidhu, his wife, Pargat Singh and Bains brothers were together and would fight unitedly as one unit. Sidhu remain the chief negotiator of the alliance.

Also read: Congress, Akali Dal leaders running illegal mining rackets in Punjab: AAP



According to sources, Sidhu and Congress have agreed to the following formula.. Awaaz-e-Punjab will take Deputy + 1 cabinet berth if the alliance, once formed, comes to power. Sidhu then will have to decide whether he wants the deputy CM post for himself or the Lok Sabha seat from Amritsar, which will be vacated by Amrinder Singh if Congress wins Punjab.

India Today has also learnt Rahul Gandhi and Congress strategist Prashant Kishore have had a couple of meetings with Sidhu. A major hurdle now is Amarinder Singh's opposition to Sidhu being given a say in deciding who must be given tickets.

--- ENDS ---

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Using Advanced Odor Control

Thanks to this solution, the site has not experienced any downtime due to odor and work is back on schedule to wrap up by the date of WRTA's transition from the old facility to the new one. Site managers anticipate no disruptions in service for public transit customers.

Municipalities and developers that reclaim pre-existing industrial sites for urban renewal projects must perform an abundance of environmental tests due to the likelihood that there is some form of contamination left over from prior activities. However, it is nearly impossible to predict the full impact from those activities until the ground is broken and work has commenced. And unfortunately, mid-project issues more often than not increase budgets, expand scope and stress timelines.

That was the case for an urban renewal project by the Worcester Regional Transit Authority (WRTA) in Central Massachusetts involving an 11-acre site of an old manufactured gas plant that operated on the property from 1870 to 1969. WRTA received a $39 million federal grant to construct a 156,000-square-foot maintenance and operations facility with a 7-acre paved lot. Upon testing, TRC Companies (TRC), an environmental consulting company based in Massachusetts, found coal tar waste from the gas manufacturing process had leached into the soil. This raised the cost of the project by nearly $15 million and increased the scope significantly, adding tension to the schedule because of the firm completion date.

Manufactured gas uses a heat and filtration process to extract gaseous fuel for use in homes as a supplement to natural gas reserves. To create it, the previous owners used coal carbonization, carbureted water gas (water gas passed through a heated and oiled retort to boost the caloric value) and oil. Residual waste products of the process include contaminated water and coal tar, so from the 1930s until the 1950s, the property was also used for tar distillation. Over the century of operation, some of the waste from the process was mishandled and leached deep into the soil. After demolition of the structures in the late 1960s, rather than perform a proper cleanup, the site was merely covered in a 3-foot layer of topsoil, surrounded by a fence, and left unused.

A Tight Work Schedule

Over time, single family and multi-family housing units grew up around the site, with a large park built across the street. Residents considered it a blighted area and an eyesore. This was until WRTA proposed to use the site to house and maintain its fleet of 52 buses and 16 vans. The organization had been operating out of an old trolley barn from the 1920s that was converted to a bus facility after World War II. Over time, the small and outdated site fell into disrepair.

The new property is conveniently located only a short distance from the transit authority's main bus hub at Union Station, which allows for more efficient operations. "Before the general contractor broke ground, the WRTA gave us a hard end date for the project, due to the tight transitional timeline between old and new maintenance facilities," said Chris McDermott, senior project manager for TRC. "Any delays in remediation or construction would cause the entire region to suffer a transit service interruption, affecting thousands of residents who depend on the system for transportation everyday. Needless to say, if we ran into any obstacles, we required a fast solution."

Naphthalene Odor Emissions

As the Licensed Site Professional (LSP) on the project, TRC takes the lead in permitting, oversight, and compliance. This role also puts the company in charge of creating environmental remediation plans, along with working closely with the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) and the local conservation commission. After TRC's remediation plan was approved, project managers gave the green light for work to begin. "Because we detected traces of naphthalene in the soil, we included an odor control plan into the remediation strategy, but the odor emission levels are unpredictable," said McDermott.

Naphthalene is a volatile organic compound (VOC) composed of carbon, hydrogen, and multiple aromatic benzene rings (the cause of the odor). It is a derivative of the coal tar distillation process, which removes moisture and impurities using heat. Coal tar can contain of up to 50 percent naphthalene. Commonly used in mothballs, when the VOC is refined it becomes a white chalky substance with a unique aroma that repels household pests. The smell is described as acrid, bitter and chemical -- similar to the odor emitted by roofing tar -- and can be detected by humans in concentrations as small as 0.08 parts per million (ppm). In large quantities, the smell can become overwhelming and disruptive to people with existing respiratory issues or sensitivity to smell.

As part of the odor control plan, excavators worked in sections, stripping the site's topsoil cover layer and exposing the contaminated subsoil. Tests had revealed that the contamination penetrated between 10 feet and 15 feet deep across the entire site. The estimated 85,000 tons (77,110 metric tons) of soil extracted from the site was piled into storage mounds approximately 30-40 feet high. Front loaders filled trucks and train cars that were covered to mitigate fugitive dust and odor emissions. The material was then transported to a landfill in upstate New York.

"The deeper we dug and the more soil we exposed, the worse the odor became," explained Brian Burk, field technician for TRC. "When summer temperatures heated the soil, complaints from neighbors started coming in, so we immediately implemented our odor strategy."

Two areas of operation on the work site were identified as the primary sources of the smell: the exhumed zones and the storage piles. As excavators and front loaders disrupted material in the ground or stored in piles, the odor was released and immediately carried on air currents. Higher temperatures increased the intensity of the smell, and westerly wind extended the travel distance, carrying the odor for several blocks toward the most densely populated residential area near the site. With operating hours of 7 a.m. to 5 p.m., strategies were implemented to address both active and dormant periods. The primary method of odor control was surface suppression. As excavated zones were uncovered, workers sprayed environmentally safe chemical foam over the exposed areas. The foam acted as a barrier between the contaminated soil and the open air, but did not neutralize the odor, so if the area was disrupted, the smell would return and workers would have to re-spray.

A combination of urethane sheeting and foam was employed in the storage pile area. Piles that were not in the process of loading onto train cars were wrapped in urethane sheets to provide an extra layer of protection, a labor-intensive task that took time away from other productive activities on the site. According to Burk, operators also placed individually timed misting units containing perfume spray canisters at the site's western fence line. These were intended to mask any fugitive odor emissions leaving the site. He explained that the units offered inadequate coverage, only changed the smell slightly and required labor to monitor and maintain on a regular basis.

"The first summer had its issues, but our strategy worked for the most part," Burk said. "But as excavation continued in colder weather, we realized that as we exposed more of the area and the storage piles grew, we may require a new strategy for the next summer."

Choosing an Odor Control Solution

When warmer weather returned, TRC worked closely with the local community and DEP officials. Managers agreed to halt operations, cover all exposed material with foam and/or plastic sheeting and seek another, more sustainable odor solution. However, the firm transition date between facilities was swiftly closing in, and excessive downtime was not an option. "Everyone involved in the project was extremely concerned about the odor's impact on the local community and the workers on the site," McDermott said. "We needed a solution quickly that could deliver odor control on an industrial scale. Technology that was mobile, environmentally safe and  most of all  worked."

A few frustrating days of downtime had already passed when TRC site managers discovered Dust Control Technology, manufacturer of the OdorBoss line of odor suppression systems. Offering industrial-scale airborne odor suppression over a large area, the units employ proprietary environmentally-safe chemicals delivered by an innovative atomized misting technology. "They delivered a unit to us on site within days," McDermott said. "We were very relieved."

The two methods TRC used, trapping the smell or masking it with perfumes, were unsuccessful because neither approach actually eliminated the odor. Containing it under foam merely held it in as it became more concentrated, so once the substance was disrupted by machinery, the odor escaped. In addition, many industries have discovered that perfumes like those placed on the sites perimeter fence only add to the smell rather than mask it, with minimal benefit in most cases. Instead, the OB-60G introduces an engineered mist of the OdorBoss air treatment agent solution, comprised of millions of tiny droplets as small as 15 microns in diameter (approximately the size of airborne plant spores). Biodegrading in just 36 hours and safe for humans, animals, and plants, this chemical travels on air currents with the odor-causing molecules. It attaches to molecules and alters their composition, eliminating the component that causes the smell. The process applies to a host of other odor-causing elements, such as sulfides, mercaptans, ammonia and amines. Since VOCs -- like naphthalene -- are particularly volatile during hot periods, the water droplets are merely used as a delivery system to introduce the chemical over a large area. Once the droplets evaporate, the chemical remains airborne for a period of time, further treating lingering odor molecules.

At a 1000:1 water-to-chemical ratio, the 500-gallon tank and 5-gallon additive container provide a full day of odor suppression at a volume of about 0.5 gallons of solution per minute. At that rate, the tank delivers about 16 hours of run time between refills, depending on the level of activity.

Creating an Area of Odor Control

To be effective, the air treatment agent must be delivered in the finest mist possible, said DCT President Laura Stiverson. "That's why the unit features a single air atomizer, a very specialized nozzle that transforms pressurized liquid into tiny droplets." The unit uses a large, ducted fan to propel the solution into the air, covering large areas with an odor-neutralizing mist.

The special open-cylinder cannon design is mounted with the large water tank on a towable trailer with foam-filled tires. Just 8.8 feet wide, the unit can be quickly positioned anywhere on the WRTA site by a single worker using a pickup truck or other towing vehicle. And since adding it to TRC's odor control plan, the site has not experienced any downtime due to odor. With work back on schedule to wrap up by the date of WRTA's transition from the old facility to the new one, site managers are anticipating no disruptions in service for public transit customers.

Complaints about odors stopped completely as a result, McDermott said. "We are extremely happy with the results and the service DCT provided and will definitely use this solution on other projects."
Mohammad Ammar Hezbollah Miami drug trafficking money laundering

Three men alleged to have links to Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah have been accused of using Miami banks to launder money for Colombian cartels, according to court documents seen by the Miami Herald.

Mohammad Ahmad Ammar, 31, a resident of Medellin, Colombia, who was arrested in Los Angeles in September, is believed to be the main figure in the scheme and is currently in a Miami-Dade jail facing state felony money-laundering charges.

Ammar's father is a well-connected Hezbollah associate, according to court documents.

Hassan Mohsen Mansour, a dual Lebanese and Canadian citizen, is also believed to be a Hezbollah associate and is currently in custody in Paris, facing a different money-laundering case in southern Florida.

The third man charged is Ghassan Diab, purported to be a "high-ranking member of Hezbollah who has access to numerous international bank accounts." Diab, who has not be apprehended, was based in Nigeria, and he is thought to currently be in that country or in Lebanon.

According to an arrest warrant seen by the Miami Herald, Ammar was contacted by a confidential informant working for the US Drug Enforcement Administration in early 2014. He was asked to help launder $250,000 in Australian dollars from cocaine sales and move it to Miami banks, where it would be available to Colombian traffickers.

Hezbollah members carry the coffin and a picture of top Hezbollah commander Mustafa Badreddine, who was killed in an attack in Syria, during his funeral in Beirut's southern suburbs, Lebanon, May 13, 2016. REUTERS/Aziz Taher

Ammar, allegedly with the help of Mansour, moved the money to an account in Dubai's opaque banking system, after which the money disappeared. Later, bank accounts in Miami set up by the DEA as part of the sting operation began to see deposits trickle in from vague sources, usually accompanied by fake invoices.

Story continues

After that laundering operation, another deal to launder $250,000 was made, with the same process of transferring and disguising the funds playing out.

According to the Herald, Ammar boasted of his criminal connects throughout the operation, telling investigators that he knew people who worked for an airline and could smuggle cocaine to Miami and that his family had strong ties to Hezbollah.

"These drug trafficking and money laundering schemes... provide a revenue and weapons stream for an international terrorist organization responsible for devastating terror attacks around the word," DEA Acting Deputy Administrator Jack Riley said in a statement earlier this year, when the DEA announced a "significant enforcement activity against Hezbollah's financing operations."

Latin America's criminal nexus

Ammar also admitted to a DEA informant that he worked with a high-powered Medellin-based trafficking organization called La Oficina de Envigado. The case against Ammar is not the first report of Hezbollah involvement in Latin American criminal networks, but it does fit with the general pattern of the terrorist group's purported activities in the region.

Global cocaine map

In 2011, a Lebanese man was charged with selling cocaine to the Zetas cartel and laundering money for the group, and then using the profits of those laundering activities to finance Hezbollah. In 2014, Brazilian police accused a prison gang in the country of providing protection for Lebanese inmates in exchange for Hezbollah providing the gang access to international arms markets.

Lebanese traffickers with links to Hezbollah have long been suspected of operating in the relatively lawless region where Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay's borders meet.

The people with links to Hezbollah who have been arrested are almost all thought to be "associates," not active members of the group, and most have been charged with crimes related to money laundering, Insight Crime notes.

"There has been a longstanding presence of Hezbollah, one of the principal surrogates of Iran, in the region. Their activities have largely been involved in logistics support, providing funds back to Lebanon to Hezbollah itself," Adm. Kurt Tidd, head of US Southern Command, testified before the Senate Armed Services Committee earlier this year.

Zetas

While Hezbollah's presence in Latin America has typically been overstated, and though the group's activities in the region have usually been limited to logistics, the evolving criminal landscape raises the potential for the terrorist group to pursue more nefarious undertakings.

The fragmentation of criminal groups in Colombia and Mexico in particular has opened space for more groups to operate, and the increasingly decentralized nature of these criminal networks, along with the rise of subcontracting among organized-crime groups, creates the possibility that traffickers may not always know who or what they are smuggling.

"There is not yet any indication that the criminal networks involved in human and drug trafficking are interested in supporting the efforts of terrorist groups," US Marine Corps Gen. John Kelly told the Senate Armed Services Committee in a written statement in March 2015.

But, Kelly went on, "these networks could unwittingly, or even wittingly, facilitate the movement of terrorist operatives or weapons of mass destruction toward our borders, potentially undetected and almost completely unrestricted."

NOW WATCH: GREEN BERET: Why our strategy against terrorism is making things worse





More From Business Insider


DUBAI, United Arab Emirates, Oct. 07, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Russos Coal-Fired Italian Kitchen is laying franchise growth strategy in new markets in the Middle East. The upscale casual Italian restaurant which is known for its unique, chef-driven menu is also showcasing coal-fired ovens and mozzarella bars. Chef Anthony Russo will be exhibiting at the Global Restaurant Leadership conference October 10th - October 12th at the JW Marriott Marquis Hotel Dubai, and will be seeking new multi franchise partners to meet growth plans that call for over 50 restaurants by 2020.



After successfully launching seven franchise locations of his Russos New York Pizzeria concept in the United Arab Emirates since 2013, Chef Anthony Russo will be expanding his presence in the UAE with the opening of his first Russos Coal-Fired Italian Kitchen and Mozzarella Bar at The Pointe in Dubai in spring 2017, with franchisee partner Prime Hospitality. The UAEs inaugural Russos Coal-Fired Italian Kitchen will be home to the regions first coal-fired brick pizza oven, bringing the authentic flavors that only coal-fired baking can impart. The chef-driven restaurant concept that marries the freshness of premium ingredients with the warmth and hospitality of classic Italian culinary culture will undoubtedly be a standout destination on the Dubai dining scene.

We are thrilled to be the first restaurant to use a coal-fired oven in the Middle East and to introduce this delicious, unique style of pizza to our growing fan base and new customers in the region, said Chef Anthony Russo, Owner and CEO of Russos Coal-Fired Italian Kitchen Russos New York Pizzeria. We are unique because we have cooked authentic family recipes since 1978 and we anticipate that coal-fired pizza will be an instant success in Dubai. We are excited by the expansion of our coal-fired concept across the UAE.

Russos 2-ton, custom designed coal fired pizza oven will be imported from the U.S. to serve as the centerpiece of an open-air kitchen, unlike any other. The oven will be heated by 50 lbs. of coal imported from Pennsylvania reaching temperatures of up to 1,000 degrees to perfectly cook pizzas in approximately 4 minutes. Russos signature pizza is known for its delicious, crispy New York style thin crust. Russos Coal-Fired Italian Kitchen will serve favorites including fresh hand crafted mozzarella, Osso Buco, Risotto di Mare and NY Prime Steak. The menu will also blend local flavor profiles with Russos traditional recipes, utilizing fresh ingredients unique to the region like Saffron Risotto, Fresh Seafood Pizza with local fresh seafood fare and Hammour. Chef Anthony Russo and his kitchen team create all recipes from scratch and exclusively use ingredients that are all natural with no preservatives, no additives and zero trans-fats. As promised by the Russo family and maintained by each and every franchisee, If it isnt fresh, dont serve it!

As Russos Coal-Fired Italian Kitchen is slated for a spring 2017 opening in Dubai, the markets enthusiasm for Chef Anthonys New York-style pizza has also secured the development of 10 new Russos New York Pizzeria locations in the UAE and 10 more in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The seven current locations of the Russos New York Pizzeria concept located in Abu Dhabi, Sharjah and Dubai notably serve the largest pizza in the UAE, offering the giant 28 pie. Always prioritizing customer service and convenience, Russos also has an elite delivery program in the Middle East. The tremendous demand for Russos Coal-Fired Italian Kitchen and Russos New York Pizzeria provides an exceptional franchise opportunity in the region and signals continued international franchise growth for Russos both brands.

For more information about Russos Coal-Fired Italian Kitchen and Russos New York Pizzeria, please visit https://www.facebook.com/RussosUAE or follow us on @RussosNYRest.

About Russos Restaurants

Russos Restaurants is a 44-location national and international franchisor of the fast casual and casual dining brands Russos New York Pizzeria and Russos Coal-Fired Italian Kitchen. Based in Houston, Russos Restaurants is composed of a mix of corporate and franchised locations across Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Tennessee, Florida and Hawaii. Russos has entered international markets as well, with locations in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Sharjah, in the United Arab Emirates. There are an additional 20-plus units in development both in the United States and internationally. Chef Anthony Russo has created his concepts from years of applying his unique, family recipes featuring New York-style pizza, along with a broad variety of handcrafted pasta creations, calzones, salads, sandwiches, soups and desserts, reflecting his commitment to his Italian roots where food and family come first.

To learn more about Russos franchise development opportunities, visit www.nypizzeria.com, http://www.russoscoalfired.com/, or call toll free 855-978-7767.

For International development please contact Anthony Russo at anthony@nypizzeria.com. For Domestic development, please contact Jerell Denton, Director of franchise development, at j.denton@nypizzeria.com or by phone at (972) 983-9024.
WASHINGTON and NASHVILLE, Tenn., Oct. 11, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Global well-being improvement leader, Healthways, a Sharecare company, and world-leading management consulting firm, Gallup, have released new research assessing active living factors within large and mid-sized communities across the United States. This report, part of the Gallup-Healthways State of American Well-Being series, examines the active living infrastructure within 48 medium and large metro communities across the U.S. and the respective impact on various aspects of residents well-being.



Gallup and Healthways analyzed four key components of a communitys built environment including walkability, bike-ability, availability of parks, and public transit structure to calculate an active living score. Based on this analysis, Boston is the number one active living community in the U.S., with San Francisco, Chicago, New York City and Washington D.C. rounding out the top five.

Residents in these five highest ranked active living communities have, on average, significantly lower rates of obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol and depression as compared to residents in the five lowest ranked active living communities. The highest active living communities also report better health behaviors including higher rates of exercise, healthy eating, and fresh produce consumption, and lower rates of smoking.

Communities around the country are taking an environmental approach to community health by creating vibrant, livable, walkable, and bikeable public spaces that foster active living and high well-being. Examples include:

Albert Lea, Minnesota, a community that has established bike lanes and new sidewalks, adopted policies to reduce tobacco use, and started workplace programs to promote health and social interaction. These and other active living improvements helped Albert Lea increase the overall well-being of their residents by 2.8 points from 2014 to 2016, easily outpacing respective state and national trends. During that same timeframe, smoking rates dropped to less than 15%, below the national average of 18.5%; and residents who are eating their recommended amounts of fresh produce at least most days of the week rose to 62%, above the national average of 57.5%

Since 2010, the California Beach Cities  Redondo Beach, Hermosa Beach and Manhattan Beach  have collectively secured over $8.1 million in transportation funding for walkability, bike-ability, and livability projects. These projects helped the Beach Cities reduce the number of residents who are above normal weight by 15% since 2010. Additionally, the smoking rate has declined by 17 percent bringing the smoking rate in the Beach Cities to 8.9 percent.

The Iowa community of Muscatine added approximately 10 miles of new sidewalks and trails including a 10-foot-wide trail that now counts 10,000 pedestrian trips a year, improving community connectivity and making it easier for residents to move naturally. Since 2012, Muscatine has seen a 17 percent increase in the percentage of residents who exercise regularly, rising to 55.8 percent in 2016; and has seen a drop of 13.6 percent for those who report significant daily stress.

Communities that want to promote well-being, balance city budgets, attract the best new workforces, and spur economic growth should prioritize investments that encourage active living, said Dan Burden, director of innovation and inspiration, Blue Zones, LLC. From protected bike lanes, mixed use development, trails, and wide sidewalks to landscaping and other amenities, its been proven that an active environment results in healthier citizens, steadier long-term growth, and a more vibrant economy.

As the leading community transformation program in the country, the Blue Zones Project is a growing nationwide well-being improvement initiative designed to make healthy choices easiercommunity by communitythrough permanent changes to environment, policy, and social networks. Founded by National Geographic Fellow and best-selling author Dan Buettner to leverage public and private partnerships, the Blue Zones Project draws upon more than 200 evidence-based practices to help restaurants, schools, churches, and worksites make sustainable changes that encourage healthier choices.

Sustainable, lasting well-being becomes achievable when residents, city leaders, businesses, schools, and other partners work together to the benefit of public health, said Katrina Worlund, senior vice president of the Blue Zones Project at Healthways. In addition to healthier populations, communities benefit by lower healthcare costs, less chronic disease and improved productivity.

For more information and to access the complete report, State of American Well-Being: Active Living Environment in U.S. Communities, visit www.well-beingindex.com/2016-community-impact.

About the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index

In 2008, Gallup and Healthways initiated a 25-year partnership merging decades of clinical research and development expertise, health leadership and behavioral economics research to track and understand the key factors that drive well-being. Together, the partnership has built the worlds largest data set on well-being, with over 2.5 million surveys to date of people and their perceptions of their well-being.

Launched that same year, the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index provides unmatched, in-depth insight into the well-being of populations. Gallup conducts 500 telephone interviews a day with Americans to gather their perceptions of well-being, for a resulting sample that projects to an estimated 95 percent of all U.S. adults.

About Gallup

Gallup delivers forward-thinking research, analytics, and advice to help leaders solve their most pressing problems. Combining more than 75 years of experience with its global reach, Gallup knows more about the attitudes and behaviors of the worlds constituents, employees, and customers than any other organization. Gallup consultants help private and public sector organizations boost organic growth through measurement tools, strategic advice, and education.

About Healthways

Healthways, a Sharecare company, is a global provider of well-being improvement solutions and services. Dedicated to creating a healthier world one person at a time, the Company uses the science of behavior change to produce and measure positive change in well-being for our customers, which include employers, integrated health systems, hospitals, physicians, health plans, communities and government entities. Learn more at www.healthways.com.




The film's trailer has crossed 1 crore hits in just 24 hours of its launch, and has also been a trending topic in India for over 13 hours.

By Mail Today Bureau: If Switzerland became B-Town's mascot of mush since Yash Raj Films blockbusters romanced that nation since the eighties, the banner now looks all set to move base.

Aditya Chopra's upcoming Befikre is all about romancing France. Quite in sync, the film's stars Ranveer Singh and Vaani Kapoor turned out among a crowd of starstruck Bollywood fans at Eiffel Tower in Paris to launch the film's trailer.

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BOLLYWOOD'S CHAMELEON STAR

Ranveer has emerged as Bollywood's chameleon star and is known for his ever-dynamic makeovers. At the Eiffel, he was spotted sporting a thick beard that complimented gelled-back hair. His navy blue suit complimented Vaani's longflowing off-shoulder designer gown of similar hue. Both stars looked happy posing for selfies.

ALSO READ: Befikre: The truth about Vaani Kapoor's chin, in 7 photos



In all this, Ranveer took a moment to mention victims of the Paris terror attacks during a chat with the international press at the Gustave salon.

"Just when we were prepped to begin shooting in November last year, the 13/11 Saint Denis terror attacks hit the city. There was nervousness about feasibility of shooting in Paris, with some advising Adi sir to shift to another city. But having conceived the film entirely in Paris and laced with its inherent spirit of joie de vivre, he decided to shoot here. In a manner, Befikre advocates the typical Parisian spirit of living carefree, and he thought that standing by this idea was very important, in the wake of such aggression," he said.

Befikre tells the story of Dharam and Shyra, Indian youths in Paris who decide to have a good time together but avoid commitment. However, as their bond grows, they increasingly find it difficult to avoid the deeper context of a relationship they were trying to keep undefined.

"Befikre is not just about two characters. There is another very prominent third character, and that is Paris. Aditya Chopra used to tell us how he wanted to present Paris like never before. He wanted to film this city like an insider, and so he chose French technicians," said Vaani.

The trailer has crossed one crore hits in just 24 hours since its launch, and has been a trending topic in India for over 13 hours.

ALSO READ:

Befikre trailer: Ranveer and Vaani's new-age romance is a shocker from ol' school Aditya Chopra





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News_release

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has named the California Precision Medicine Consortium as a regional medical center group in the national network of health care provider organizations that will implement the Precision Medicine Initiative (PMI) Cohort Program.

The California Precision Medicine Consortium is led by University of California San Diego School of Medicine, with partners Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles; San Diego Blood Bank; University of California, Davis; University of California Health; University of California, Irvine; University of California, San Francisco; and University of Southern California, Los Angeles. These are the first regional medical center enrollment sites in California, and join several other regional medical centers around the United States that were announced earlier this year.

The PMI Cohort Program is a landmark longitudinal research effort that aims to engage one million or more U.S. participants to enable research that will, over time, improve the ability to prevent and treat disease based on individual differences in lifestyle, environment and genetics. Participants will be invited to contribute a range of data about themselves by completing questionnaires, granting access to their electronic health records, providing blood and urine samples, undergoing physical evaluations and sharing real-time information via smartphones or wearable devices. Data collected will be protected by privacy and security safeguards. A primary goal of the PMI Cohort Program is to create a national resource for researchers, including citizen scientists, to help answer important questions about a variety of health conditions.

The California Precision Medicine Consortium assembles a talented team from across California to develop a comprehensive approach that will ensure the rich demographics of the state are reflected in the cohort of one million or more people who will help advance health discoveries in the U.S., said Lucila Ohno-Machado, MD, PhD, a principal investigator in the California Precision Medicine Consortium and professor of medicine, chair of the Department of Biomedical Informatics and associate dean for informatics and technology at UC San Diego School of Medicine. It will be great to see people from all ethnicities and various socio-economic levels benefiting from and being able to contribute to the overall Precision Medicine Initiative that President Obama announced in his 2015 State of the Union Address.

Like other regional medical center groups in the NIHs PMI Cohort Program, the health care providers that make up the California Precision Medicine Consortium will enroll interested individuals, gather participants health information and biospecimens, and provide input on developing plans for the program.

We want this program to be open to everyone across the United States, said Eric Dishman, director of the PMI Cohort Program at the NIH. These additional health care provider organizations will help us in our efforts to reach communities that have been underrepresented in research. By contributing their information, these communities will help people and their health care providers identify the right prevention strategies or treatments. With the PMI Cohort Program, were making a concerted effort to include people from all communities and walks of life, to make sure that the knowledge we gain benefits everyone.

With this new designation, the California Precision Medicine Consortium will receive an initial $1.3 million over the next five months. The Consortium may receive additional NIH funding as efforts advance over the next year.

When the program opens for enrollment, people may sign up through a participating health care provider organization, such as the California Precision Medicine Consortium, or directly using the program website, smartphone application or call center. Visit the NIHs PMI Cohort Program website to learn more and sign up for updates on program developments, including forthcoming enrollment opportunities.
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
By Press Trust of India: Ringing of mobile phones again became a topic of discussion in Parliament on Wednesday, with BJP member S.S Ahluwalia wondering as to how could the devices ring within the House.



Even as Finance Minister P. Chidambaram was replying to the discussion on the supplementary demands for grants in Rajya Sabha, a member's mobile phone started ringing.



Immediately, Deputy Chairman K. Rahman Khan informed the House that work is going on to rectify the functioning of jammers.



This prompted Ahluwalia to ask "how the phone can ring in the House ... How come mobile towers are allowed to be erected near Parliament".



CPI(M) leader Sitaram Yechury said in a lighter vein, "may be as the Telecom Minister A. Raja (who belongs to DMK) has submitted his resignation to his party leader (M. Karunanidhi), the problem could not be rectified".



The deputy chairman asked the concerned member to switch off the phone.



On Tuesday, RPI MP Ramdas Athawale too had wondered as to how his mobile phone was ringing within the House, when he was in Lok Sabha.



"How can my mobile ring? Where are the jammers," he had asked, even as the Speaker Somnath Chatterjee asked him to hand over his mobile.

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BJP called for bandh across Kerala today over the death of its worker in protest against the murder of its worker in Kannur district yesterday.

Streets in Kerala wear a deserted look as vehicles were mostly off roads in the wake of the bandh.

By PTI: BJP has called for bandh across Kerala today over the death of its worker in protest against the murder of its worker in Kannur district yesterday.

There have been protests witnessed across the state by BJP supporters, including outside the Kerala Secretariat in Thiruvananthapuram.

The statewide dawn-to-dusk hartal has been called after 32-year-old Remith was killed in front of a petrol pump in Pinarayi village around 10 am on Wednesday. Police are maintaining a strict vigil, although no untoward incidents have been reported from the state yet.

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AMIT SHAH BLAMES KERALA CM

BJP Amit Shah has blamed Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan for the murder of a party worker yesterday in Kannur district, said they have no faith in state police or the Left govt.

Also read: Kerala: BJP worker hacked to death, his father was killed in 2002

Vehicles in most parts of the state remained off roads.

According to a local news channel, those supporting the strike started blocking the vehicles except two-wheelers in Kochi after 8 am.

Although BJP leaders had earlier warned that the bandh would affect the functioning of InfoPark in Kakkanad, most people managed to reach their offices on time.



Thiruvananthapuram: Call for shutdown in Kerala by the BJP over murder of a party worker in Kannur district. pic.twitter.com/hXcx0RrMCS ANI (@ANI_news) October 13, 2016



VEHICULAR TRAFFIC HIT

Meanwhile, Kerala police commissioner Loknath Behera has urged BJP supporters to observe the bandh peacefully, and has warned them against indulging in any act of violence.

Remith's murder followed the killing of local CPM leader K Mohanan, who was hacked to death by suspected RSS activists on Monday.

WATCH THE VIDEO HERE:

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BJP-LJP workers today torched effigies of Congress leaders, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Mamata Banerjee as form of protest against Modi's pictures being burnt in JNU.

By Rohit Kumar Singh: The Bharatiya Janta Party and Lok Janshakti party workers on Thursday torched the effigies of Congress President Sonia Gandhi, Vice-President Rahul Gandhi, Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamta Bannerjee. The infuriated workers also torched pictures of the prestigious JNU.

Also read: Students burn effigy of PM Modi, Amit Shah at JNU campus dubbing them 'Ravana'



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JNU TORCHES MODI'S EFFIGY

The anger spilt over the streets of Patna after the NSUI cadres on Tuesday burnt an effigy representing PM Modi, BJP President Amit Shah, Yog Guru Baba Ramdev, Sadhvi Pragya, Nathuram Godse, Sadvi Prachi and Yogi Adityanath. These students from NSUI were expressing their dissatisfaction with the incumbent Narendra Modi govt at the Centre. JNU Vice-Chancellor has ordered a probe into the matter.



Also Read: Students burn effigy of Modi, Shah at JNU campus dubbing them

BJP-LJP REACT

BJP and LJP workers who torching the effigies of the Congress leaders demanded that the Congress President Sonia Gandhi tenders an apology to the PM for the act of NSUI cadres, the students wing of the Congress party.

Also read: Modi will play Jai Shri Ram politics in days to come

"The burning of effigy is a insult to the PM of the country and Congress President should tender apology for this. We will not tolerate this. We demand that Sonia Gandhi should be sent back to Italy," said Krishna Singh, a LJP worker.







JNU ANTI-NATIONAL DEBATE

BJP workers said that JNU was becoming a hub of anti-national activities. The workers demanded that the Centre should initiate steps to shut down JNU.



"In the last few months JNU has become hub OF an anti-national activities. We are not against burning of effigies but depicting PM Modi as "Ravana" and torching his effigy is wrong. Time has come to close down JNU," said a BJP worker.







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Dylan had been mentioned in the Nobel speculation for years, but few experts expected the academy to extend the prestigious award to a genre such as pop music.

By India Today Web Desk: Bob Dylan was named the winner of the 2016 Nobel Prize in Literature today in a stunning announcement that for the first time bestowed the prestigious award to someone primarily seen as a musician.

The Swedish Academy cited the American musician for "having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition."

Dylan had been mentioned in the Nobel speculation for years, but few experts expected the academy to extend the prestigious award to a genre such as pop music.

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The literature award was the last of this year's Nobel Prizes to be announced. The six awards will be handed out on December 10, the anniversary of prize founder Alfred Nobel's death in 1896.

Dylan has won already won a Grammy, an Oscar and a Pulitzer Prize.





Fun fact: Bob Dylan and George Bernard Shaw are now the only two people to have won an Oscar and a Nobel Prize. Guy Lodge (@GuyLodge) October 13, 2016

Bob Dylan, meanwhile, becomes history's first winner of the elusive Grosno: a Grammy, an Oscar and a Nobel. The Grosnoto is still unclaimed. Guy Lodge (@GuyLodge) October 13, 2016

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By PTI: From Shirish B Pradhan

Kathmandu, Oct 13 (PTI) China will provide assistance for Nepal Armys modernisation programme and strengthening its disaster management capabilities, sources said today.

China made the commitment during a recent visit by Defence Minister Balkrishna Khand to China during which he met his Chinese counterpart General Chang Wangquan, who is also the member of the Central Military Commission of China, sources said.

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The exact nature of Chinas help to the Nepalese Army for its modernisation was not spelt out.

During the meeting, Khand stressed the development of a standard on basis of cooperation and support to deal with the current security challenges facing the world.

He also took part in the Enhance Security Dialogue and Cooperation: Build a New Model of International Relation 7th Xiangshan Forum held in Beijing from October 10 to 12.

Khand visited China at the invitation of China Association for Military and China Institute Strategic Studies (CIISS).

He pledged Nepals readiness for cooperation on regional and international security policies and standards.

Both the ministers discussed matters relating to Nepals new Constitution, Chinese President Xi Jinpings visit to Nepal and security cooperation, sources said. PTI SBP CPS AKJ CPS

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By PTI: (Photo: PTI10_13_2016_000049A)

Mumbai, Oct 13 (PTI) Finance Minister Arun Jaitley today expressed concern over increasing protectionist tendencies in Western economies, especially in the US, but hoped that post- elections the worlds largest economy will adopt a business as usual approach.

"I believe that there are trends today which on the surface indicate that the world, at least a part of the developed world, is moving towards protectionism. These worries are real because the spillover impact of such policies on other parts of the world could be extremely adverse," Jaitley told a BRICS seminar on Investment Flows here.

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Without naming Donald Trump, the Republican candidate for the US presidency, and the loose talks on clamping trade protection measures at the campaigns, Jaitley said, "I think the fears are real because the US is increasingly becoming more and more protectionist".

Like the post-Brexit British who want to remain an open economy, such threats in the US would also die down once the poll heat is over, he said. The US election is on November 8.

"My own experience has been that some statements made during the elections get over subsequently under the burden of governance. The tenor of the debate is protectionist during the elections and after that you get back to business as usual. So we have to keep our fingers crossed this time and hope that free trade returns back to the table once the heat of the elections are over," Jaitley said.

Trump has been talking about the need for trade protection and threatened to scrap most of the free trade pacts that the US has with other nations. He has also threated to get back most of the manufacturing that US companies shifted to China.

Similarly, one of the major reasons for the British to vote to quit the EU was the increasing job losses for the not-so-qualified locals to well-educated immigrants from across the world, and especially the mainland EU as well as the duty disadvantages arising from the worlds largest political union.

Jaitley said, however, the post-Brexit Britain proves that globalisation is a reality that cannot be wished away.

"I was pleasantly surprised when British officials told me please do not view this (Brexit) as the sign of protectionism and that our policy towards open trade would continue. Dont confuse taking back control with restricting trade and that the nature of our decision-making will be different but the openness to trade will remain," he said. PTI HV BEN GK SA

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The Dark Knight has risen in North West England's Cumbria and he has vowed to take down all the creepy clowns.

By India Today Web Desk:

Creepy clown craze has been spreading from the United States of America to the United Kingdom, terrifying kids and adults alike. Multiple incidents of people dressed as clowns inflicting harm on civilians/frightening people have been reported.

Also read - Clown menace spreads from US to UK: Clowns armed with blade climb car, terrify young girls



As the'killer clown craze'took Britain by storm, police even issued a warning against people dressing as clowns to scare or harm people.

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But in Whitehaven, Cumbria, North West England, a Dark Knight has risen. A man dressed as Batman has taken over the streets, reassuring kids that it is safe and that he will hunt down creepy clowns.

Photo: Facebook - BBC Cumbria

A photograph was recently shared on Facebook of'Batman'seemingly chasing off a killer clown. BBC Cumbria reported local company'Cumbria Superheroes'is behind the effort to rid the streets of scary clowns.

Also read: These jokers are no joke: How creepy clowns are terrorising America's



They have reassured that the caped crusader is not a vigilante, but he is only trying to reassure local children who are scared of the'killer clowns'.

Screenshot: Facebook Comment



BBC Cumbria also shared a screenshot of an image apparently from a local child who was reassured after hearing 'Batman' caught the clown.

Photo: Facebook - BBC Cumbria



Cumbria Superheroes even shared a video asking parents to reassure that their kids are safe.

Here is the video:





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Congress MLA Srinivas Prasad says will resign from party on October 17 claiming that chief minister Siddaramaiah and other leaders betrayed him.

By Rohini Swamy: Congress MLA Srinivas Prasad from the Nanjangud constituency in Mysuru is all set to resign on October 17. The former minister and veteran Congressman today announced that he will not contract elections under the leadership of Siddaramaiah.

Prasad had accused Siddaramaiah of being a dictator and also accused the Congress leaders of betraying the Dalits by not fighting for their cause. He also accused Opposition leader Mallikarjun Kharge of ditching the Dalits and that the state and centre 'killed him and his ideologies' just to make his son a minister in Siddaramaiah's government.

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WHO IS SRINIVAS PRASAD

Prasad was one of the 14 ministers who were dropped from the cabinet during the reshuffle in June this year.

The Karnataka in charge general secretary Digvijaya Singh has made it clear that there will be no change of leadership in the state Congress party for the elections in 2018.

Prasad objected this decision and has now confirmed his date of resignation as October 17.

The JDS and the BJP are trying to woo the senior Congressman but Prasad has decided to take his own time to make a decision. Rather he is still nursing a grudge against Siddaramaiah and the senior Congress leaders who he says betrayed him, said sources.

Also read

Rebellion from within Karnataka Congress hits Siddaramaiah hard



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News

Dynamics 365 To Arrive Next Month

Microsoft's latest cloud service that combines components of its CRM and ERP offerings, Dynamics 365, will arrive Nov. 1.

First unveiled in July, Dynamics 365 is a set of apps for seven CRM and ERP functions: financials, operations, marketing, sales, customer service, project service automation and field service management. Organizations can purchase each Dynamics 365 app separately, adding more as their needs change. They also have the option to purchase a set of apps as a subscription bundle.

Organizations can also bolt on other apps from Microsoft and its partners to their Dynamics 365 solution, extending its capabilities. Microsoft announced one such app on Tuesday called "Dynamics 365 for Customer Insights." This app "connects and analyzes data from Microsoft -- and other widely used CRM, ERP, web, social and IoT sources -- and applies intelligence to it to give you a 360-degree customer view with automatic suggestions to improve engagement," said Takeshi Numoto, corporate vice president of Microsoft's Cloud and Enterprise group, in Tuesday's announcement.

Another app from Microsoft dubbed "Relationship Insights" was unveiled onstage at the Dynamics User Group Summit on Tuesday by Scott Guthrie, executive vice president of Microsoft's Cloud and Enterprise group. Relationship Insights lets users keep track of their correspondences with specific customers, assess the "health" of their customer relationships, and receive alerts when too much time has passed between communications.

Microsoft's AppSource app marketplace will list Dynamics 365 apps and services from Microsoft ISVs and solution integrators (SIs). Microsoft launched AppSource in July as a searchable portal where ISVs can list their business apps. As of Tuesday, the company also allows SIs to list their services on the marketplace. The marketplace currently has about 250 apps, according to a blog post by Ron Huddleston, corporate vice president of Enterprise Partner Ecosystem at Microsoft.

Microsoft's announcement on Tuesday touted Dynamics 365's AI capabilities. Microsoft has not been quiet about its AI-related efforts lately, with last month's Ignite conference acting as a showcase for those efforts. For instance, the company described the two years of investments it has made in the underlying infrastructure of its Azure cloud, effectively turning the platform into a supercomputer that has the capacity to support AI and other compute-intensive processes. It also announced the formation of a 5,000-person AI research group.

Dynamics 365 is a beneficiary of Microsoft's progress in AI, according to Numoto. "[B]uilt-in intelligence capabilities are infused throughout Dynamics 365 apps including: sentiment and intent analysis, preemptive service, relationship insights, lead and opportunity scoring, product recommendations and up-sell/cross-sell, and many more," he said. Dynamics 365 also takes advantage of the machine learning, AI and analytics capabilities in Office 365, Power BI, Cortana Intelligence and Azure.

Guthrie emphasized Dynamics 365's intelligence capabilities during his presentation, saying that the product "comes with built-in features that are backed by artificial intelligence and machine learning algorithms."

The Nov. 1 availability date for Dynamics 365 will apply to customers in 135 markets and support 40 languages. Microsoft will deliver Dynamics 365 with fully native mobile apps for iOS, Android and Windows, Guthrie said.

The product can be purchased on a per app/per user basis, or as one of two plans -- the Business Edition for small to mid-sized firms, and the Enterprise Edition for larger organizations. "With the app-based subscription you pay for the app you need, licensed to a particular user. With our new plan-based approach you can create roles that have access to all the apps and functions employees in that role need to perform their jobs," Numoto said.

Microsoft has not publicly shared any pricing information for Dynamics 365. However, an article last month by ZDNet's Mary Jo Foley, citing a since-deleted partner blog post, suggests that the Business Edition will cost $50 per user and the Enterprise Edition either $115 or $210, depending on feature level. Slides from the deleted partner blog also indicate that Microsoft plans to deliver lighter-weight "team member" versions of each plan. However, Microsoft has not confirmed these details.

Microsoft has also not explained how, or if, Dynamics 365 will impact the delivery of its current Dynamics CRM and ERP products. Guthrie did say that it will integrate with users' existing Dynamics implementations. He also briefly described upgrade paths to Dynamics 365 for current Dynamics users.

"For existing Dynamics CRM Online and Dynamics AX 7 customers, you'll be able to automatically update your systems to Dynamics 365 without having to change anything. And all of the existing functionality you use today will continue to just work," Guthrie said. For users of on-premises Dynamics NAV and Dynamics GP who want to move to Dynamics 365, Microsoft will provide migration tools, he said.
A 30-year-old Dalit man was found murdered in Dhamat village under Purqazi police station in Muzaffarnagar district of UP, police said today.

By PTI: A 30-year-old Dalit man was found murdered in Dhamat village under Purqazi police station in Muzaffarnagar district of UP, police said today.

The body of Pappu was found with his throat slit yesterday. He was killed after he had gone in the field to relieve himself, SP Crime Pradeep Gupta said.

BODY SENT FOR POST MORTEM



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Police have registered a case against unidentified miscreants and the body has been sent for post-mortem.

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News

Windows Server 2016 and System Center 2016 Now Generally Available

Microsoft today announced that Windows Server 2016 and the System Center 2016 management suite of products have reached "general availability" (GA) status.

GA means that the products can be purchased and used in production environments. Both are now licensed on a per-core basis, instead of the earlier per-processor approach. In addition, today's GA milestone means that that Microsoft's service provider partners can now begin testing Windows Server 2016 in their datacenters.

In late September, both products were at the earlier "release-to-manufacturing" stage. They got a small bit of stage time during Microsoft's Ignite keynote product "launch" back then.

Microsoft seems to have reserved Windows Server 2016 and System Center 2016 product details for its Ignite session attendees. Many of those sessions are currently available on demand via the Ignite 2016 Channel 9 portal. The agenda for Windows Server 2016 and System Center 2016 sessions at Ignite can be found at this page.

Also, Microsoft announced this week that it will broadcast a Windows Server 2016 Webcast on Oct. 13, starting at 9:00 a.m. Pacific Time. The Webcast will feature talks by Microsoft luminaries such as Jeffrey Snover, Jeff Woolsey and Erin Chapple.

Windows Server 2016 Highlights

Microsoft is marketing Windows Server 2016 as another advance in its "hybrid cloud" approach. The "hybrid" part means that the traditional customer-maintained server model can work with the services delivered from Microsoft's datacenters, such as Microsoft Azure services and Office 365 services.

Windows Server 2016 was "forged in our own Azure datacenters," Microsoft stressed in its announcement. The new server also has software-defined capabilities that come from Microsoft's experience in running Azure datacenters. Microsoft also had previously announced that the Docker Engine was added to Windows Server 2016 at "no additional cost" to customers. It facilitates running applications without conflict by using either Windows Server Containers or Hyper-V Containers, which both tap Docker Engine technology.

Microsoft lists its application server product support on Windows Server 2016 in this TechNet publication. The main Microsoft application server products that aren't yet supported on the new Windows Server 2016 product include Skype for Business Server 2015, BizTalk Server 2016, Visual Studio Team Foundation Server 15 and Host Integration Server 2016. They will get supported eventually, though, a Microsoft spokesperson indicated.

IT pros looking for hardware recommendations for Windows Server 2016 might take a look at this list compiled by Thomas Maurer, a Microsoft Most Valuable Professional. He's also compiled other useful links on "deployment, upgrading and certification" in this blog post.

Microsoft is touting access to its new server technology via a relatively new licensing portability option. It's for current Windows Server users that have Software Assurance coverage. Under this "Azure Hybrid Use Benefit" option, if an organization has Windows Server products installed on premises that are covered by the Software Assurance annuity program, then it's possible to move that licensing from an organization's infrastructure and use Windows Server virtual machines on Microsoft Azure datacenter infrastructure.

Windows Server 2016 currently can be downloaded. It's available via the MSDN subscriber portal and the TechNet Evaluation Center (a free 180-day trial copy).

System Center 2016 Highlights

The GA announcement of Microsoft's System Center 2016 suite of products means that all of its components are now available, including Virtual Machine Manager, Operations Manager, Orchestrator and Service Management Automation, Service Manager, Data Protection Manager and Configuration Manager. A 180-day trial edition is available for download at Microsoft's evaluation portal here.

Instead of listing the exhaustive feature details, Microsoft broadly listed the following highlights of the System Center 2016 suite:

Faster time to value with simple installation, in-place upgrades, and automated workflows.

Efficient operations with improvements in performance and usability of all System Center components.

Greater heterogeneity and cloud management with broader support for LAMP stack and VMware, including monitoring resources and services in Azure and Amazon Web Services.

There's also a Microsoft white paper listing the System Center 2016 highlights (PDF).

Microsoft is also touting an option to license System Center 2016 components via its Operations Management Suite (OMS) subscriptions. OMS is Microsoft's solution for managing public cloud workloads. There are four service options available to OMS subscribers, namely Insights & Analytics, Automation & Control, Security & Compliance, and Protection & Recovery. They are priced per node.

Various System Center 2016 components come with each of those OMS service options. For instance, Configuration Manager use rights come with an Automation & Control OMS subscription. It's also possible to "attach OMS services to your existing System Center license," which Microsoft calls the "OMS Add-on for System Center." It requires having Software Assurance coverage on System Center to use this add-on option. More details about these System Center-OMS licensing options can be found in Microsoft's OMS "Pricing and Licensing Datasheet" (PDF).

SCCM Current Branch vs. LTSB

Today's System Center 2016 GA announcement also was accompanied by news that System Center Configuration Manager (SCCM) now has reached release version 1606, per a Configuration Manager team blog post. Typically, a new version release will show up in SCCM's Update and Servicing node when it's available. Version 1606 also can be downloaded at this MSDN subscription page.

Unlike the rest of the System Center 2016 components, the SCCM component was released last year to keep pace with the Windows 10 client operating system's faster update cycle. Microsoft's first SCCM release was version 1511 back in December, for instance. Microsoft now updates SCCM two to three times per year in a Windows 10-like servicing model, although each of those updates is described as a new "current branch" release for the SCCM product.

The Configuration Manager component in the newly released System Center 2016 product suite is at the same version as the SCCM current branch product, namely version 1606, Microsoft's team blog clarified. That detail has been ambiguous until now.

One big distinction to note, though, is that the Configuration Manager component in the System Center 2016 product suite can be considered to be the "long-term servicing branch" (LTSB) component. Unlike the "current branch" SCCM product, Configuration Manager LTSB has a 10-year traditional product lifecycle. The LTSB servicing model is designed for organizations requiring infrequent Windows 10 client updating, such as for organizations with medical devices to update, rather than for business organizations, according to Microsoft's past servicing model descriptions.

Microsoft recently explained, in an oblique way, that the SCCM current branch product follows a new "Modern Lifecycle Policy" support model. Organizations get frequent product updates under this new model, but they also just get a one-year advance notice should Microsoft plan to discontinue a product under this new policy.

While Configuration Manager LTSB's 10-year product lifecycle support might seem to be the superior choice, Microsoft's team blog post offered reasons why organizations should opt instead for the SCCM current branch product, which is Microsoft's favored recommendation for most organizations. The reason is that Microsoft removes some feature support from the Configuration Manager LTSB product. Here's what Configuration Manager LTSB lacks, according to the team blog:

Support for Windows 10 Current Branch (CB) and Current Branch for Business (CBB)

Support for the future releases of Windows 10 LTSB and Windows Server

Windows 10 Servicing Dashboard and Servicing Plans

The ability to add a Microsoft Intune Subscription, which prevents the use of Hybrid MDM and on-premises MDM

Asset Intelligence

Cloud-based Distribution Point

Support for Exchange Online as an Exchange Connector

Any pre-release features available in the current branch of Configuration Manager

It's a dizzying list. Apparently, the reason why Configuration Manager LTSB is so limited is that it gets infrequently updated, and so Microsoft has removed support for the products that depend on frequent updating.

In response to a question I asked Microsoft last month, there appears to be a way for Configuration Manager LTSB users to move to the "current branch for business" (CBB) servicing model. They need to have Software Assurance (SA) coverage in place to make that move, though. Here's how the spokesperson described that circumstance, via e-mail:

SC 2016 is known as LTSB (long term service branch) release and will carry the 2016 brand. This will also include SCCM 2016, a LTSB edition of SCCM. A customer under SA can also access the SCCM CBB as part of their licensing. That release takes on the "Update" branding and can be used with all components of SC 2016. The core difference between the SCCM 2016 and SCCM "update" releases are the update releases will provide agile access to new features at a regular instance.

Microsoft also announced this week that its System Center Configuration Manager documentation has moved from TechNet to a new documents portal (docs.microsoft.com) here. However, the documentation for the 2007- and 2012-branded editions of Configuration Manager will be staying on TechNet.
France Creates National Guard Following Terrorist Attacks

Frances government has approved a decree to create a National Guard following terrorist attacks across the country.

The Guard is a new version of the existing reserve forces. Following the Nov. 13 attacks in Paris last year, President Francois Hollande proposed the creation of the force to include citizens willing to get involved to serve their country.

Currently, Frances regular military and police reserves now include 63,000 people. Government officials hope that they will be able to grow the National Guard to 84,000 people by 2018.

Guard members tasks will vary, you could find a member patrolling the streets of a big city or working in a military office. The members of the French National Guard will be fully integrated into regular troops and police forces for a certain period of the year, from a few days to several months. They can be students, job seekers, or employees as well as retired police officers and military veterans.

Students under the age of 25 who join the National Guard a minimum of 37 days a year for five years will get a state grant of 100 euros ($110) a month. Businesses that allow their employees to enlist  up to 10 days a year  will be granted tax cuts.

Authorities believe theyll be able to deploy around 9,000 Guard members each day in 2018, through a rotation system.

France hopes this will help to relieve regular troops and police that face additional activity as the country is still under a state of emergency.
Bobshirt returns with yet another banging in-depth interview, this time with former Zoo York pro Anthony Correa discussing everything from Eli Gesner Zoo York graphics, Mixtape , Harold Hunter memories and more.

The first in what promises to be an interesting series whereby skaters pay homage to their favourite photos by recreating them  episode 1 sees...

Reup and BMT crews in New York city for BMT TV featuring Meka, Jake Snelling, Tom Moatti, Josh Jennings and more besides having it as...

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Read our full Privacy Policy as well as Terms & Conditions.
Paul Grahams excellent Hangup zine just posted Yorkshire beast Joe Howard s interview online where he talks about UK skateparks, DIY, trick choices and road tripping. Click the fullpipe photo below to read the full thing, then go buy a copy of Issue 2 .

Press play for good DIY vibes, scratch your head at how the fuck Blinky can do frontside inverts on a five foot high transition and...

Little video clip of Joe Howard to accompany his Hangup Online interview that we posted yesterday. Filmed in Leeds, Upton, and Preston. Grafter power. Frontside invert photo...

Saturday 29th of October saw a ghoulish coming together of Leeds RWTB collective and various itinerant visitors for a loosely-planned Halloween Jam on the ever-growing...

Hangup Zine have just put up a short interview with Zach Riley, covering growing up skating in Grimsby, moving to Manchester and London, slamming really...

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.
After we posted a little piece about Mark Trawler Lawers second UK Skateboard history book Snakes & Moguls last week, Mark got in touch to give us a little more info and to show a few more spreads of the in-progress book, which should be required reading for anybody with even a passing interest in UK Skateboarding culture. The book can be pre-ordered here: http://snakesandmoguls.bigcartel.com/

This book is called Snakes and Moguls and is about all the short-lived skateparks of the Seventies and the skaters that loved them.

The initial idea was inspired by a friend in Cornwall called Elliot Mallenson, who had said that I should do a book about this era as nobody was better qualified to compile it. The more I thought about it, the more the idea grew. Within a week I was off on one! On July 1st I went to Romford skatepak and met Dion, the long-term local and then on the next day, Rob Ashby to talk about the very first UK skatepark  Portland.

On the way home from that meeting, I had tea with Graham Inchley and talked about Thruxton and the insanely good Andover pool that used to be there.

During all of these meetings, I had my laptop and portable scanner with me to steal all their images. Soon I was on a roll and in accordance with my plan to not use any photographs from old magazines and to label Snakes and Moguls as a scrapbook, I found myself frantically scanning all kinds of ephemera relating to long dead skateparks  tickets, membership cards, badges, all kinds of stuff that will sit alongside interviews with people who were locals at each park.

There are thankfully some professional photographers involved in the book as well: I have Surf Photographer Alex Williams shots of Plymouth Zoo skatepark and the first bowl contest in the UK at Watergate Bay. Ben Liddells mother-load of Skate City in London, Spandrell Skate Domes in Uxbridge and The Barn in Brighton, plus Darren Burdell helped me out with Southport in Merseyside and Colne in Lancashire, these photos are amazing too. I tracked down the Cross brothers, sons of a skatepark manager in Exmouth who had passed away and they scanned their dads archive that was hidden away in the loft. I was getting recorded-delivery packages every day for three weeks of skaters memories, which I carefully scanned and dutifully returned; everybody has been so cool and helpful. It was a lot of hard work with visits to Southsea, Barnstaple, Brighton and Cornwall but it came together pretty quickly and within two months I was ready to go to meet Ian Roxburgh to lay it all out and design it in Oxford.

I worked with Ian on the previous book and he was the guy that put together the pages of R.A.D. Magazine in the Eighties so he knows his stuff.

The book covers thirty-five parks from Cornwall to Scotland, of which only five still remain today. It forms a little time capsule of when skateboarding was the craze to end all crazes and businessmen threw money at it. These parks had cheesy names like Solid Surf, Locomotion and Earth and Ocean. They had massive overheads and not much forward thinking in terms of design or business plans, which is why most died a death within three years. For the time they were up and running though, kids loved them and some fell in love with skateboarding forever because of these parks. I hope that the mini interviews can capture that feeling because a lot of young people felt let down and gutted when the parks they loved closed. Inside this book you will see some rad skateboarding and some terrain that you will wish you had a chance to skate and plenty of fun oozing out of the pages. This was an innocent time of the pioneering days of British skateboarding.

It should make you feel lucky too, lucky that skateparks are better now and that there are more of them everywhere with most being free to skate. Be thankful that shorts are longer, pads are better, and that equipment these days is almost space age compared to back then! People tell me that this needed documenting because none of us are getting any younger and it is nice to have it all in one place. They say you need to know your history to go forward so I hope this book goes some way in doing that. Thanks Trawler

http://snakesandmoguls.bigcartel.com/




Communication is an incredibly important part of running a successful business. You need to be able to effectively communicate with your target customers and the members of your own team. But doing so requires a lot of skill and strategy.

This week, members of our small business community share tips for targeting your ideal customer, creating effective communication in the workplace and more.

Read on for a full list of valuable resources.

Use These Questions to Target Your Ideal Customer

In order to target your ideal customers, you first need to find out who he or she is. In this post, Brittany Taylor of See Britt Write shares a long list of 80 questions you can use to find out who your target customers are.

Create Effective Communication in the Workplace

If you want your business to succeed, you need to make sure that your team can work well together. And to do that, you need to create a system of effective communication in the workplace. Kelly Riggs of Business LockerRoom discusses the importance of effective communication at work, along with some tips for creating such an environment.

Make People Fall in Love With Your Online Store

Running an ecommerce business means you have to convince customers to fall in love with your store if you want them to shop with you again and again. Vanhishikha Bhargava of Exit Bee includes some tips for doing just that. And BizSugar members also share their input on the post here.

Make the Most of Marketing Automation

There are so many different services and processes out there today to help make your marketing tasks easier. But marketing automation isnt a magic solution. Stacy Jackson of Jackson Marketing Services shares some tips to ensure that your marketing automation actually increases the effectiveness of your overall marketing plan.

Add These Must Haves to Your About Page

Your about page is an important part of your website because it tells visitors and potential customers who you are and why they should want to work with you. This post by Crystal Rice of PixelSmith includes three must-haves to include on your about page for contractors, but most of the points are relevant to other industries as well.

Get Over These Self Publishing Obstacles

People come up with all kinds of excuses for not writing or publishing their own books. But self publishing is now easier than ever, thanks to platforms like Amazon Direct Publishing. Vinay Kachhara of Aha!NOW shares some reasons why you should get over those obstacles. And members of the BizSugar community also discuss the post here.

Check Out This Guide to Local SEO

When marketing a local business, its important that you make it as easy as possible for local customers to find you via search engines. If youre starting a local business or just want to improve your local SEO strategy, check out this guide to local SEO by Chris Babajide on WP Site Updates.

Create a Call to Action That People Actually Click

So youve added a call to action on your website, but its not getting any results. There can be several reasons why your CTA isnt getting the results you hoped for. This post by Nicole Dieker on KlientBoost includes some potential problems your call to action may have, along with ways to fix them. BizSugar members also share thoughts on the post here.

Keep Both Your Body and Your Biz in Shape

To have sustainable success in business, you also need to take care of your own health. And since January is a popular time for people to renew their health goals, this post by Nellie Akalp of CorpNet includes some tips for keeping both your body and your business in shape.

Dont Be Fooled by Prior Business Models

When youre running a startup, it can be easy to fall into the trap of thinking that a business model will work simply because it has worked in the past. But that isnt a great strategy, as this post by Martin Zwilling on Startup Professionals Musings points out. You can also see discussion about the post in the BizSugar community.

If youd like to suggest your favorite small business content to be considered for an upcoming community article, please send your news tips to: sbtips@gmail.com.
A new study reaffirms small business owners optimism, but presents an interesting fact about their hiring plans.

According to the latest PNC (NYSE:PNC) Economic Outlook Survey, small businesses are confident about growth, but they dont want to increase headcount.

Fall 2016 PNC Economic Outlook Survey

Economic Optimism at a 10-year High

In exact numbers, about 71 percent of business owners say they are optimistic about the U.S. economy. Thats the most since 2005, and up from 55 percent in the spring.

Whats more, 77 percent are optimistic about their local economy, which is highest since 2014.

As far as their business growth is concerned, entrepreneurs appear just as confident. Half (51 percent) expect their sales to increase during the next six months. Forty-seven percent say their profits will rise.

Hiring on Hold

But most (67 percent) will maintain the same number of full-time workers.

In fact, 22 percent expect to recruit new full-time employees, compared to 24 percent in the spring. Only 8 percent say they are planning to reduce staff.

The glass for small business owners appears half full instead of half empty, but they arent ready to buy a round for everyone, said Stuart Hoffman, PNCs chief economist in a press release. We expect to see moderate economic growth for the rest of this year with enough improvement for a federal funds rate increase at the Federal Open Market Committees meeting in December.

Why Small Businesses are Hiring with Caution

Its no secret that small businesses operate on smaller budgets. Finding and retaining a competent workforce is therefore crucial for growth.

Thats why most small businesses are cautious when it comes to hiring more people.

Of course, the news isnt all bad. In fact, ADP, creators of human resources management software, reported that small businesses added 34,000 jobs in September 2016.

In announcing those numbers, Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moodys Analytics said, The current record of consecutive monthly job gains continued in September. With job openings at all-time highs and layoffs near all-time lows, the job market remains in full-swing. Job growth has moderated in recent months, but only because the economy is finally returning to full-employment.

The Fall 2016 PNC Economic Outlook Survey was conducted between July 21 to Sept. 11, 2016, by telephone within the United States among 1,867 owners or senior decision-makers of small and mid-sized businesses.

Below is an infographic from this report (source):
During the Great Recession, two federal programs for small business stimulated billions in additional capital and lending, says the U.S. Treasury Department, which had oversight of both.

The department today issued program evaluation reports for the State Small Business Credit Initiative (SSBCI) and the Small Business Lending Fund (SBLF). The evalutaion detailed how these federal programs for small business have provided small businesses and entrepreneurs with greater access to loans and investments over the past six years.

Through the course of recovery, SSBCI and SBLF have collectively resulted in over $27 billion of additional capital for Americas small businesses, including an increase of $18.7 billion in small business lending reported by SBLF participants and $8.4 billion in SSBCI-supported small business lending and investing, said a Treasury Department statement announcing the release of the reports.

These federal programs for small busniness are nearing their end, and new initiatives are needed to take their place, said Jacob Lew, U.S. Treasury Secretary, speaking at a public event, held today at the Center for American Progress in Washington D.C., Lew said.

Our gathering  marks just over six years since the passage of the Small Business Jobs Act that created SBLF and SSBCI, Lew said. We are extraordinarily proud of these programs and the impact they have made and continue to make.

Two Federal Programs for Small Business Explained

The SBLF provides capital to Main Street banks and community development loan funds. Since its inception, in 2010, the program has stimulated small business lending across 3,000 communities in 47 states and the District of Columbia.

The SSBCI provides funds to state lending and investment programs. But those programs are more inclusive than private venture, Lew explained. Three-quarters of private venture capital in the United States is typically directed at San Francisco, New York and Boston, Lew said. But the SSBCI supports investments in businesses across 38 states and lower income areas.

The initiative has a unique ability to drive innovation  innovation created through states working with private lenders to design programs specific to the small business needs of their communities, he said. With a relatively small investment, the program has supported $8.4 billion in new small business lending or investing through almost 17,000 transactions, 42 percent of which were to businesses in low and moderate income communities.

Looking at the U.S. economy as a whole, businesses have created 15.3 million jobs; GDP is now more than ten and a half percent larger than its previous peak, and millions of mortgage holders are back above water, Lew added. We continue to make a historic economic turnaround, and entrepreneurs and small businesses have been a critical driver of this progress. Building on this success and ensuring that our economy is working for all of its citizens must also involve efforts to level the playing field for American entrepreneurs and small business owners.

Lew stressed that such efforts should include increasing access to capital, something that even for many highly-qualified candidates is an uphill climb and, for others, simply out of reach.

Americas small businesses are the life-blood of our economy, Lew said. They create jobs, drive innovation, and produce the kind of inclusive, sustainable growth that is so important to our nations economic future. But, without capital, no matter how hard you are willing to work or how detailed your entrepreneurial vision may be, you cannot put your plan into action. That is why the Administration has moved so aggressively to ease the flow of credit.

A report released today by Center for American Progress calls for the reauthorization, and even expansion, of SSBCI, which is set to expire in 2017.

The CAP report notes the lower rates of entrepreneurship among minority communities and women, which, it says, are largely a result of a longstanding and persistent wealth gap.

Lew said the Treasury Department continues to support reauthorization and expansion of SSBCI with an additional $1.5 billion in funding as outlined in President Barack Obamas budget. He also noted that bills have already been introduced in Congress to do so.

You can download the full Treasury reports on State Small Business Credit Initiative and Small Business Lending Fund in PDF form here and here.
AV Education

InfoComm to Offer AV Education at Downey School District

InfoComm International, the trade association representing the commercial audiovisual industry in the United States and internationally, has signed an agreement with Downey Unified School District in Los Angeles County to offer foundational AV coursework.

Downey Unified School Districts high school students will have access to InfoComms online course Essentials of AV Technology and the Recognized AV Technologist Certificate Program exam. Students will also have access to the Certified Technology Specialist online prep course.

Downey Unified, located 12 miles south of downtown Los Angeles, serves about 22,500 students in grades K12 and has an extensive adult education program. The district was recently named an exemplar district by P21 Partnership for 21st Century Learning, a recognition for schools who are preparing students for college, career and life by embedding critical 21st century competencies into the learning environment.

We hope that students will learn about the audiovisual industry in general, as well as develop skills and competencies that are in high demand by local employers, said June Bayha, CEO of Bayha Group, an educational partner for Downey Unified, in a statement. Ultimately, we want to create courses that are pathways leading to high-wage, high-skill careers for all of our students.

Developing tomorrows AV workforce is a key focus for InfoComm and its foundation, the International Communications Industry Foundation (ICIF), said Betsy Jaffe, executive director of ICIF and senior vice president of member services at InfoComm International, in a statement. Were mindful that California represents some of the largest AV markets in North America and the AV industry needs more professionals who can become the next generation of AV innovators.

So far in 2016, InfoComm has built partnerships with Columbia College in Chicago, Valencia College in Orlando, Bogota public schools in Colombia and other learning institutions to bring AV education into the classroom.

For more information on the associations workforce development, visit infocomm.org/icif.
Deepika Padukone says she would like to relive the whole shooting experience of xXx: The Return Of Xander Cage with the cast while inside the house.

Deepika Padukone will be the first celeb guest to appear on Bigg Boss 10.

By Indo-Asian News Service: Actress Deepika Padukone, who will be launching Bigg Boss 10 with Salman Khan, says she wants to be locked inside the Bigg Boss house with the whole cast of her Hollywood maiden project xXx: The Return Of Xander Cage, including Vin Diesel.

Directed by D.J. Caruso, xXx: The Return of Xander Cage is a sequel to the 2002 film xXx and 2005 film xXx: State of the Union. The film, slated to release on January 20, 2017, also stars Ruby Rose, Samuel L. Jackson, Donnie Yen and Tony Jaa.

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In a special video posted on the official Facebook page of Colors channel, Deepika says she would like to relive the whole shooting experience with the cast while inside the house.

Also read: Bigg Boss 10: THIS Bollywood superstar might be Salman Khan's first celeb guest



"I think I would like the entire cast of xXx... in the Bigg Boss house because I think we had so much fun while making this movie. Four months in Toronto, we had such an amazing time and I wish that all of us could go into the house and relive the entire experience again," Deepika said.

The reality show, an Indian version of international series Celebrity Big Brother, features celebrities locked inside a house for three months under constant camera surveillance, without any gadgets or luxury. This time the spotlight is on the common man

The Piku star also has a survival tip for the contestants.

"One of the things that I have learnt through all the films that I have made and especially xXx is to enjoy the experience. Seeing the Bigg Boss concept, I know that sometimes there are extremely challenging situations but I think it is important to stay focused and most importantly make friends and enjoy the experience while you are there," said the actress, who stole hearts with her debut film Om Shanti Om in 2007.



The excitement begins. Look who is coming to @BiggBoss for the launch. 16th October 9 PM - Book your seats Now ! @xxxMovie @deepikapadukone pic.twitter.com/HHOPZq7Gub Raj Nayak (@rajcheerfull) October 10, 2016

For the first time, the controversial reality show will open its doors to the common people to appear as contestants along with the stars.

After months of auditions and scrutiny, 13 names have been shortlisted, of which eight will be entering the house. The format details for the new season are yet to be revealed.

Deepika feels that the whole concept of getting common people into the house will change the dynamics of the reality show.

She said: "I think with common people entering the house this time the entire dynamic will change. Not to say that celebrities are not common people but I think it will be interesting to see completely new people with their personalities coming out."



--- ENDS ---

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Internet Accessibility

Sprint Initiative Aims to Close Homework Gap for 1 Million Students

Less than a week after pledging to give away 5,000 free WiFi hotspots to families in New York City, Sprint has expanded its commitment and will now provide free wireless devices to 1 million high school students nationwide.

According to the Pew Research Center, 5 million families in the United States with school-aged children lack Internet access at home. With nearly two-thirds of teachers assigning Internet-based homework, many students face a homework gap when they go from a digital oasis at school to a digital desert at home. The lack of Internet access creates obstacles to learning, forcing students without broadband to go to great lengths to complete homework assignments.

Sprints 1Million Project is the largest corporate initiative in the United States aimed at bridging the digital divide and closing the homework gap. Scheduled to begin early in 2017, the multiyear initiative targets low-income, U.S. high school students without reliable home Internet access. For the initiative, Sprint and the Sprint Foundation will work with nonprofit agencies to recruit community organizations such as schools, libraries and public housing authorities, to locally deliver and install the Sprint devices  which will either be a smartphone, tablet, laptop or hotspot device. Students can use 3GB of high-speed LTE data per month, with unlimited data available at 2G speeds when the 3GB runs out.

Education is the foundation for our society to prosper, and the internet is an incredibly powerful tool for learning, said Sprint CEO Marcelo Claure, in a statement. But its a huge problem in America that we have 5 million households with children that lack internet connections. Those kids have a huge disadvantage and we are failing them. All of us at Sprint are committed to changing this by providing 1 million students in need with free devices and free wireless connections.

Sprint will pilot the program in seven to 10 markets before rolling out the whole plan for 2017-2018 school year. The company seeks to reach its goal of a million students in five years.

To apply or to learn more about 1Million Project, visit the Sprint site.
Curriculum Tools

Shmoop Debuts Daily Lesson Plans for Elementary Teachers

Digital publisher Shmoop has released daily lesson plans for elementary school teachers in English, social studies and science, with math coming soon.

"Every lesson is packed with valuable, skill-building activities that teach the nitty-gritty while building up to bigger-picture concepts," according to a news release. "Teachers can follow the course verbatim in its day-by-day progression or pick specific lessons by previewing the curriculum maps and seeing which standards skills, or texts they'd most like to teach."

All courses are divided into themed units and lessons feature warm-ups, direct instruction, guided and independent practice, worksheets, answer keys, videos and ideas for differentiation and extension. There are also weekly quizzes and each unit's final lesson is a test with downloadable answer keys and explanations.

More information is available at shmoop.com.
LAS CRUCES  Republican Congressman Steve Pearce sparred with Democratic challenger Merrie Lee Soules on the economy, education, immigration, health care and the congressmans support for Donald Trump in the first debate of the 2nd Congressional District contest.

Pearce, the conservative former owner of an oil-field services firm in Hobbs, has held the southern New Mexico district for 12 years in two stints. Soules, a former General Motors executive of 30 years and Las Cruces resident, is a progressive with an uphill battle in a district that has been a longtime Republican stronghold.

The New Mexico League of United Latin American Citizens hosted the debate Tuesday evening. More than 150 voters packed a Christian fellowship hall to hear the candidates lay out their views.

Pearce described a vision in which the federal government would play a reduced regulatory role in education, health care, and land management. On immigration, he said, Comprehensive immigration reform means amnesty.  Where is the fairness for those people who wait patiently?

Soules said the federal government has a critical role to play in ensuring standards of excellence in education and health care. Soules said she supports providing legal status to those who are living in this country in the shadows.

The sprawling district stretches from the rural Bootheel in the southwest, to the southeastern oil and gas patch, north to Cibola, Valencia and Guadalupe counties. It is mostly Hispanic, with the largest eligible Hispanic voter population of the states three congressional districts.

The testiest moment came when the moderator read an audience question about each candidates support for the top of their ticket  Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican Donald Trump, who has peppered his campaign with disparaging remarks about Mexicans that have irked many Hispanic voters.

The question was a potential minefield for Pearce, who has indicated his support for Trump in the past, but who had been quiet since the release last week of a tape in which Trump is heard making lewd comments about women.

Since the tape emerged, dozens of congressional Republicans and governors  including Gov. Susana Martinez  have disavowed their partys presidential candidate. Pearce stood by Trump during the debate and reaffirmed his support afterward to the Journal, calling Trumps comments on an 11-year-old tape about kissing and grabbing women without their consent horrid and indefensible but reiterated that he could never support Mrs. Clinton.

I have said that I would gladly support Mr. Trump, but I have also withheld an endorsement in order to get his attention in saying that, You have a problem with Hispanics,  Pearce said during the debate. I am using what little position I have to say, Please get that conversation going. 

Soules, who said she was proud to support Clinton, turned to Pearce and said, Well, how is that working for you?
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.  Colorado Springs is ordering homeless people to leave a tent city that has developed around a shelter.

The Gazette (http://bit.ly/2egmVr6) reports that theyve been given until 3 p.m. Wednesday to move about 55 tents that have been put up on the Springs Rescue Mission campus.

The mission has allowed people to camp there as it builds a new campus that will include a new shelter, a day center and a 65-unit apartment complex.

Mayor John Suthers says the situation there has gotten out of hand. Police say theyve been called to the tent city 28 times in the last three weeks.

The move came on the same day that homeless people in Denver went to federal court to challenge that citys sweeps of encampments there.

___

Information from: The Gazette, http://www.gazette.com
PUEBLO, Colo.  Hillary Clinton denounced scorched earth tactics by Republicans on Wednesday, saying Democrats must not allow themselves to turn away from the election in disgust.

Those tactics have recently included protesters accusing former president Bill Clinton of rape. Clintons campaign appearances were interrupted two days in a row this week by people shouting while holding or wearing T-shirts that brand her husband a rapist.

Her rally here was briefly interrupted by two demonstrators, but it was not clear they were accusing Clintons husband.

Americans want to turn out in as large numbers as possible, Clinton said to applause. Reject the dark and divisive and hateful campaign that is being run.

The Democratic presidential nominee contrasted what she calls Republican Donald Trumps efforts to divide voters and her own plan to govern inclusively.

We have done our best to stay out of all the meanness, Clinton said.

I want you to know, I want to be the president for everyone, she said. I am tired of all the division and the barriers. I want to bring people together across party lines, across all the lines that divide us.

Clinton welcomed the support she is getting from Republicans and independents and scoffed that scorched earth is an act of desperation.

Thats all they have left  pure negativity, she said.

Obviously Hillary Clinton is very concerned about how divisive this race has become and all that Donald Trump has done, campaign communications director Jennifer Palmieri told reporters traveling with Clinton.

Trumps tactics have just created more enthusiasm and mobilization among Democrats, Palmieri said.

Clinton drew a record crowd of more than 18,000 this week, and early voting and voter registration in Nevada, where Clinton will also campaign Wednesday, Florida and other places are encouraging for Democrats, Palmieri said.

If anything, we feel that enthusiasm is growing on the Democratic side, Palmieri said.

Clinton will not directly engage on the rapist protests, Palmieri said.

These are people that are being paid to come and heckle her, Palmieri said, adding that she applauded President Barack Obamas dismissal of a similar protest at a pro-Clinton event Tuesday.

Its just more of the effort that Trump is undertaking to try to intimidate her, Palmieri said. He will find that it will not have much effect.

Cellphone toting protesters with handmade T-shirts scrawled with Bill Clinton is a rapist interrupted President Obama mid-joke in Charlotte on Tuesday.

Oh, no, he let out, grinning and chuckling as the crowd booed and the protesters were let out. The chants started Hillary! Hillary! Hillary!

He said, You know, this is the great thing about politics in America. It takes all kinds. Folks will just do . . .

Anything the riled up crowd screamed back.

Do all kinds of stuff, Obama finished. Now where was I?

Democrats will also hold Republicans to account for their support  current or past  for Trump and for the toxic nature of the contest in the final weeks, Palmieri warned.

The Clinton campaign has directly implicated conservative radio host Alex Jones and his conspiracy-driven website Infowars for urging Clinton opponents to raise the rape allegation  and offering to pay those who get on television.

Jones made such an offer on his Sept. 30 show, and referred to longtime Clinton opponent and Republican operative Roger Stone.

Another shirt that was designed and licensed from Roger Stone is the Bill Clinton rape shirt, Jones said. Looks like the Communist-style Obama Hope shirt, but says Rape. 

Wear it, get aggressive, start the conversations, get on TV with it, Jones urged. Anyone that gets on national TV with the shirt clearly for more than five seconds gets $1,000. Anyone that gets it on air on national TV and gets the words out Bill Clinton is a rapist or things along the line with a bullhorn, could get $5,000, he said.

It is not clear whether those protesting last week and this week at events held by Clinton, her husband or other surrogates were directly inspired by that offer, or whether anyone has been paid.

Clinton did not directly address a disruption Tuesday during an appearance in Miami alongside former vice president Al Gore in which a man yelled allegations about Bill Clinton and rape.

Clinton pleaded with voters Monday not to let the nastiness of the final weeks of the campaign become a reason not to vote. That is just what her enemies want, she suggested.

Thats what the other side wants you to feel, that Im not going to vote because its so nasty,  she had told a college audience in Detroit.

Thats the main reason to vote, to make it clear that were not going to put up with that kind of attitude.

That rally was also briefly interrupted by a man in the crowd wearing a T-shirt with Bill Clintons picture on it and the word rape. The man yelled rapist as he was escorted out.

Hillary Clinton said nothing about the accusation and made light of the incident, which came the day after her second debate with Trump and as his support among voters and elected Republicans was melting.

I hope somebody follows that man out and stages an intervention, Clinton said to laughter. He clearly has not been following this election very closely.

Bill Clinton also laughed off a disruption last week, in Akron, Ohio, in which a woman shouted that he had harmed women while holding aloft a hand-lettered T-shirt that read, Bill Clinton a Rapist.

The demonstration was staged near the back of the hangar-style event hall, directly in front of risers where television cameras were recording the former presidents remarks.

  

The Washington Posts Abby Phillip in Washington contributed to this article.

clinton-accusations
The U.S. Navy launched Tomahawk missiles early Thursday from the Red Sea at three coastal radar sites in Yemen, destroying targets associated with rebel missile attacks on U.S. ships this week.

The missiles were launched from the destroyer USS Nitze at about 4 a.m. at three locations north of the Bab el-Mandeb strait, said Pentagon Press Peter Cook. President Barack Obama authorized the strikes upon the recommendations of Defense Secretary Ashton Carter and Marine Gen. Joseph Dunford, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

These limited self-defense strikes were conducted to protect our personnel, our ships, and our freedom of navigation in this important maritime passageway, Cook said. The United States will respond to any further threat to our ships and commercial traffic, as appropriate, and will continue to maintain our freedom of navigation in the Red Sea, the Bab al-Mandeb, and elsewhere around the world.

The strikes were announced late Wednesday in Washington. A defense official said the radar sites were in remote areas held by Houthi rebels where there was little risk of civilian casualties. The equipment was set up near Ras Isa, north of Mukha and near Khoka. All are on Yemens western coastline.

The Tomahawk strikes followed cruise missiles attacks that were launched against Navy ships on Sunday night and Wednesday in Yemen. Another missile launched Oct. 1 caused near-catastrophic damage to the HSV-2 Swift, a catamaran-style high-speed vessel that was operated by the Emiratis and once was a part of the U.S. Navy. Video of the strike published online shows the ship engulfed in a fireball.

The Houthis, who use weapons smuggled from Iran, claimed responsibility for the attack on the Swift, but denied launching missiles at the Navy on Sunday. But Navy Capt. Jeff Davis, a Pentagon spokesman, said Tuesday that the facts certainly point to the Houthis being involved.

In the first attack launched at the U.S. Navy, two cruise missiles were launched Sunday at the USS Mason, a guided-missile destroyer, and the USS Ponce, an amphibious staging base. In that case, the first missile was launched while the ships were at least 12 miles away from Yemens shore in international waters near the Bab el-Mandeb strait, a waterway between Yemen and Djibouti that is heavily trafficked by oilers. The ships were even farther away when the second one was launched.

In the second attack Wednesday, at least one missile was fired from rebel-held territory at the Mason, Cook said. That missile was launched at about 6 p.m. from south of the coastal city Al Hudaydah. The Houthis pushed the central government out of power in the capital city of Sanaa in 2014, and has resisted U.S.-backed efforts by Saudi Arabia to restore President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi to power.

Adm. John Richardson, the chief of naval operations, said in a statement Wednesday that the Navy will remain on watch in the Red Sea. He credited the crew of the Mason for demonstrating initiative and toughness as they defended themselves from both attacks.

These unjustified attacks are serious, but they will not deter us from our mission, Richardson said. We are trained and ready to defend ourselves and to respond quickly and decisively.

The Washington Institute for Near East Policy, a foreign-policy think tank, said in an analysis published Wednesday that the Mason, the Nitze and the Ponce were ordered to patrol the area north of the strait after the attack on the Swift. The analysis, published by two Navy officers and a think-tank analyst, said that the attack Wednesday removes all doubt that the missiles fired Sunday were intentionally aimed at U.S. ships.

The missiles were launched at the U.S. ships after airstrikes on the funeral of a Houthi rebel leader in Sanaa killed more than 140 people and wounded hundreds more Saturday. U.S. defense officials, speaking on condition of anonymity in order to discuss ongoing operations, said Tuesday that it is all but certain that the Saudis carried out the strike.

The Saudis have waged an air war against the Houthis since March 2015, carrying out hundreds of airstrikes. The United States has backed the effort, but slowly backed away from it in recent months as concerns rise about the number of civilians killed. The death toll is close to 4,000.

A White House spokesman, Ned Price, said Saturday that the Obama administration was deeply disturbed by reports of the strikes on the funeral, and launching an immediate review of U.S. support for the Saudi-led campaign against the Houthis.

The Pentagon has provided logistical support, including aerial refueling, and intelligence that can be used for targeting to the Saudis. In recent months, however, they have dramatically scaled back that effort almost exclusively to refueling, citing concerns for how the Saudis have waged their war in Yemen.

  

Video link: UAE HSV-2 Swift Explosion

https://youtu.be/WTNeEYlO3Iw

yemen-us-2ndld-writethru
By India Today Web Desk: For everyone waiting with bated breath to see the trailer of Deepika Padukone's much-awaited Hollywood debut xXx Return of Xander Cage, there's some great news. The trailer of xXx Return of Xander Cage will be launched by Salman Khan during the opening episode of this year's edition of Bigg Boss.

A double treat for all fans of Salman Khan and Deepika Padukone, the opening episode of Bigg Boss 10 will see Salman launching the trailer of Deepika Padukone's xXx Return of Xander Cage, where she is paired opposite Hollywood star Vin Diesel.

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ALSO SEE: Deepika Padukone in Vin Diesel's arms in new xXx video

ALSO SEE: Deepika Padukone's Serena from xXx Return of Xander Cage is reckless, fearless, relentless

ALSO SEE: Deepika Padukone looks deadly in new xXx Return of Xander Cage teaser

This is the first time that a trailer which has not been seen by the audience on any other platform will be showcased on Salman Khan's reality show. Salman has not even done it for his own big releases in the past seasons of Bigg Boss.

Salman Khan and Deepika Padukone might never have worked together in a film, but Khan's love for Padukone is the reason he is launching the trailer on Bigg Boss 10.

Deepika, who is playing huntress Serena Unger in xXx Return of Xander Cage, has kept her fans hooked to her social media pages over the last few months. Ever since news broke that Deepika was making her Hollywood debut alongside Vin Diesel, her fans have been going crazy, waiting for every new bit of news on the film.

The teaser-trailer of xXx Return of Xander Cage was released on the web in July this year, and Deepika fans weren't exactly happy with her few-second appearance in it. However, Deepika assured her fans back then that there's a lot more in store.

"There are more than six months to go. Be patient, just wait and watch. Every few days, we will be putting up a new campaign. It is also the return of the film after many years, return of Xander Cage (Diesel), and that is what it is. But slowly and slowly, more will be unveiled," Deepika said back then.

Now, with the release date of the film just about three months away, Deepika and Vin are all set to dish out more dope on xXx Return of Xander Cage. The film is scheduled for a January 20, 2017 release.

--- ENDS ---
Anti-riot police arrive in downtown Albuquerque during a protest the day after the the mistrial in the trial of two former officers. (Roberto E. Rosales/ Journal) Anti-riot police arrive in downtown Albuquerque during a protest the day after the the mistrial in the trial of two former officers. (Roberto E. Rosales/ Journal) Protesters take to the streets Wednesday afternoon following hung jury in Keith Sandy and Dominique Perez trial. (Roberto E. Rosales/ Journal) Protesters take to the streets Wednesday afternoon following hung jury in Keith Sandy and Dominique Perez trial. (Roberto E. Rosales/ Journal) Protesters take to the streets Wednesday afternoon following hung jury in Keith Sandy and Dominique Perez trial. (Roberto E. Rosales/ Journal) Protesters gather in wake of hung jury announcement in Keith Sandy and Dominique Perez murder trial. (Chris Quintana/ Journal) Protesters gather in wake of hung jury announcement in Keith Sandy and Dominique Perez murder trial. (Chris Quintana/ Journal) Prev 1 of 7 Next

Around 40 protesters marched in Downtown Albuquerque Wednesday evening  blocking roads, facing off with police and calling for justice  after a jury deadlocked the day before in the trial of two former police officers charged with murder in the fatal shooting of a homeless camper in 2014.

Starting at the 2nd Judicial District Courthouse on Fourth and Lomas NW, the group made its way to police headquarters nearby, before returning to the courthouse around 6 p.m. They then marched through the streets to First and Central, where they banged on drums until 8 p.m.

Police blocked Central to the west and didnt interfere with the protest as it moved east.

The protest almost tipped into violence near the courthouse when demonstrators and law enforcement officers wearing tactical gear collided on Lomas NW.

One protester in the middle of the street smashed a sign against a truck trying to navigate the area. Others waved signs with statements such as jail killer cops and justice for James Boyd.

Protesters were engaged in a shoving match with officers wearing tactical gear while in the middle of the street.

Hey hey, ho ho, killer cops have got to go, the protesters chanted over a bullhorn as the sun set.

Some wore masks. Others wore scarves. An occasional motorist would honk their horn. One cursed at the protesters.

Make some noise if youre pissed off, a woman shouted. The crowd responded with a din of shouts.

The group then marched through the streets to Central and First where they banged on drums before dispersing.

No arrests were made, according to a BCSO spokeswoman.

Police in social media posts had asked the public to avoid the area and sent updates as the protest closed roads. They had asked drivers to be careful for pedestrians in the area.

Due to peaceful protests, there are multiple road closures, the Albuquerque Police Department posted on its Twitter feed. Please avoid the downtown area.

The 12-day trial of Keith Sandy and Dominique Perez ended Tuesday afternoon when the jury decided they were unable to agree on whether to convict or acquit the two former officers.
SANTA FE  An Espanola infant who was brain dead from allegedly being shaken severely by one of his mothers friends died Tuesday afternoon after being taken off life support.

Julian Trujillo, 35, is now charged with child abuse resulting in death, a first-degree felony. The victim in what is only the latest in a tragic series of recent child abuse cases in New Mexico was identified as 9-month-old Jayden Santana.

Trujillo, who was babysitting for the childs mother, claimed he hadnt hurt the infant but that the babys head jerked when he bent over to pick up a diaper bag with the child in his arms.

But hospital personnel told police that the baby had head trauma. The criminal complaint against Trujillo specifically accuses him of severely shaking the child and causing brain trauma.

Trujillo originally was arrested and charged with child abuse after baby Jayden was taken to an Espanola hospital Saturday. But Wednesday morning, an amended criminal complaint was filed in Espanola Magistrate Court after the baby died. Trujillo is in jail on a $500,000 cash-only bond, EPD Detective George Martinez said Wednesday.

According to the criminal complaint against Trujillo, Jayden was rushed to the hospital Saturday around 1 p.m. after Trujillo took the baby to the workplace of the childs mother, identified as Eva Roybal, at the CVS pharmacy on Riverside Drive. Jayden was unconscious and not breathing, Trujillo told police.

Martinez wrote in the criminal complaint that he later spoke with a Presbyterian Espanola Hospital nurse who said Jayden was not doing well and that he had signs of trauma on his head. Jayden was transported to University of New Mexico Hospital in Albuquerque and was placed on life support there.

Martinez was notified about 1:30 a.m. Wednesday that Jayden had died at the hospital. Im not going to lie, I shed a little bit of tears, even though I didnt know the child, Martinez said. It sent chills through my body. Ive dealt with cases involving children before, but when you deal with an infant, its really sad.

Trujillo was detained at the CVS and later told Martinez that he was at Eva Roybals house with her three other children  boys ages 10 and 7 and a 4-year-old girl  and two neighbor friends. Trujillo said he was holding Jayden in his right arm and said Jaydens head tilted back and jerked as Trujillo bent over to pick up a diaper bag. The boy began to shake and his eyes rolled back, Trujillo told Martinez.

Trujillo said he got nervous and called Roybal to tell her what was happening. He got in Roybals car along with a female friend and drove Jayden, who Trujillo said was awake the whole time and coughing in his arms, to the CVS.

Roybal was outside and grabbed Jayden and then ran back inside the store for help, Trujillo said. The mother later told police that Trujillo took off running and never attempted to help her.

Trujillo said he got out of the car and ran back toward Roybals house because he wanted to get his own van that hed left there. He said an officer called his phone and told him to come back to the CVS, Martinez wrote.

Martinez asked Trujillo during the interview if he was under the influence of drugs or alcohol, but Trujillo said he was just taking his prescription medication. A Children, Youth and Families Department staffer later conducted a drug test on Trujillo and found Opiates, Cocaine, Oxycodone, etc. in his system, according to Martinezs narrative.

Roybal told Martinez that Trujillo was watching her kids because she couldnt find a babysitter and that hed watched them before and she trusted him. She did tell me that he does take prescription drugs due to the problems he has, the detective wrote.
The Nobel committee just joined the rest of the world in betraying the Syrian people  by failing to give the peace prize to the group that deserved it the most.

This was the moment to award the medal to the White Helmets, the 3,000 or so Syrian volunteers who rush in to rescue victims of government and Russian air strikes. While Western leaders wring their hands as waves of barrel bombs deliberately destroy Aleppos hospitals and aid convoys, the White Helmets pull survivors from the rubble. Theyve saved more than 60,000 civilians, while losing hundreds of their own members.

At the very moment on Friday when the Nobel committee named the president of Colombia the winner, Syrian (or Russian) planes were bombing a White Helmet headquarters in Aleppo.

True, the medal winner, Juan Manuel Santos, did negotiate a peace deal with FARC guerrillas (although the deal was rejected in a popular referendum). But the work of the White Helmets has a greater global significance. Giving them the prize would have countered the damning narrative delivered daily by Syrias Bashar al-Assad and Russias Vladimir Putin that the world has entered an era where regimes can commit heinous war crimes with impunity because the rest of the world doesnt care.

To understand the courage of the groups members, take a look at the film The White Helmets on Netflix. It begins with a young, sweet-faced, former construction worker named Khalid Farah saying goodbye to his toddler daughter, Amal, as he grabs his helmet and rushes out to meet his fellow volunteers. As a Russian plane whooshes overhead, he runs toward the carnage. Does anyone need rescuing? Khalid shouts.

A moment of joy in the film comes when Khalid and his colleagues, who have worked for 16 hours straight, extract a 1-month-old infant alive from the rubble of an apartment building.

Late last month, Raed Saleh, the founder of the White Helmets, told the Atlantic Council in Washington how the group formed in 2013 after Assad started using barrel bombs, which are designed to injure as many civilians as possible. He recalled speaking before the U.N. Security Council 18 months ago, when a resolution was passed condemning barrel bombs.

Six months later, one of his colleagues spoke to the U.N. council about the regimes continued use of chlorine bombs. Is it really possible we will we be speaking again in six months about bunker bombs? he asked, referring to weapons used against civilians seeking refuge in basements.

Today, he said, in eastern Aleppo, 275,000 civilians live under siege with no access to food, water, electricity, basically awaiting their death. According to Saleh, the fresh-faced young volunteer Khalid, who rescued the baby in the Netflix film, was recently killed.

Its clear that neither Assad nor Putin was ever really interested in the cease fire that Secretary of State John Kerry worked so desperately to negotiate in September  with very little political or military leverage. The cease fire ended after Russian planes bombed a U.N. aid convoy.

In a maximum of two months, the city of eastern Aleppo may be totally destroyed, (causing) the deaths of thousands of civilians, said Staffan de Mistura, the U.N. special envoy to Syria. He could have added, but didnt: while the world stands by.

At this late date, its hard to imagine a plausible political plan that would stop the Syrian slaughter in the near term. President Barack Obama is unlikely to shift course before he leaves office, leaving Washington with little leverage on Moscow. Hillary Clinton  who, as secretary of state, had tougher instincts than her boss on Syria  has said little on the subject. Meantime, Donald Trump praises and defends Putin (while his running mate contradicts him).

So what difference could the Nobel committee have made?

For one thing, it could have rewarded a valiant group that embodies the meaning of the peace prize. On one side of the prizes gold medal is an inscription that reads: Pro pace et fraternitate gentium, which means, For the peace and brotherhood of men.

For another, the award would have signaled that the world does not passively accept the ethos of the barrel bombers. It would have shamed Western politicians who have failed to put sufficient pressure on Moscow  and Tehran  to advance a political deal on Syria.

And it would have given the White Helmets reason to believe the world had not forgotten Syrias civilians.

That end wont come soon, but the Nobel committee missed the chance to provide a glimmer of hope.

To support the work of the White Helmets, visit herofund.whitehelmets.org/donate/crowdfund

Trudy Rubin is a columnist and editorial-board member for the Philadelphia Inquirer. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
Copyright  2016 Albuquerque Journal

CIUDAD JUAREZ  Alex left behind sugar cane fields in Guatemala, traveled for two months by foot, bus and freight train to Ciudad Juarez with nothing but a plastic bag of clothes and a destination in mind: Santa Fe, where he hopes an aunt and a job await him.

He is one of a new wave of illegal immigrants either crossing or planning to cross at the New Mexico border. This year, alone, apprehensions by Border Patrol in New Mexico have surged to 18,500 people in the 11 months through August, compared with 11,216 in all of fiscal 2015.

Many of the migrants are from Central America like Alex, a 30-year-old farmworker.

About 7,900 of the migrants apprehended this year in New Mexico are classified by Border Patrol as other than Mexican, mostly from Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador and, lately, Brazil  and they have accounted for much of the increase.

The strength of the U.S. dollar, which makes basic goods more expensive in Latin America; stagnant wages and few job opportunities; and endemic violence, murder and extortion by criminal organizations continue to drive families from Central America.

An improving U.S. economy and a perception that Central Americans seeking asylum may be allowed to remain in the country while their cases wind through the courts contribute as pull factors.

What drives immigration is the violence and poverty in those countries, said Tristan Reed, lead analyst with Stratfor, an Austin, Texas-based intelligence firm.

What attracts migrants to cross at the New Mexico border  even when they dont plan to stay in the state  is more complicated.

In interviews with migrants at the Casa de Migrante shelter in Ciudad Juarez, a way station for those who are headed north and those who have been deported, and at a Border Patrol station in Santa Teresa, migrants say their decision to cross the line at New Mexico is a mix of chance, force and crime dynamics on the Mexican side.

One Mexican woman in Border Patrol custody said she had no idea where she was crossing; she paid a coyote, or smuggler, who made the decision for her. Others, like a 33-year-old Mexican man also in custody, crossed alone from Ciudad Juarez into New Mexico because people told me it was easier here, he said.

Alex said he was less worried about getting caught on the U.S. side of the border than the dangers he might face in Mexico, and this area seemed a safer bet compared with Mexicos Tamaulipas state, bordering South Texas, where the brutal Zetas criminal organization dominates.

The risk we run is that the narcos get us, he said. They kidnap you, force you to carry a backpack (of drugs) and walk. Here it is a little less dangerous. At other borders, (the narcos) are forcing people to carry the backpacks.

Apprehensions

Migration patterns across the Southwestern border ebb and flow. Overall illegal immigration has plummeted over the past 15 years, if apprehensions are an indicator, dropping to about 331,000 apprehensions last fiscal year from more than 1.6 million in 2000.

In New Mexico, Border Patrol agents say, the desert around Deming  a hotbed of illegal traffic 10 years ago  is quiet. Backpackers carrying loads of marijuana make up most of the illegal crossings in the Bootheel, while the area around Sunland Park and Santa Teresa has had a rush of Central American and Brazilian migrants, dozens per day.

A lot of traffic is concentrated to the eastern end of southern New Mexico, Border Patrol spokesman Ramiro Cordero said.

Apprehensions of family units began climbing again this past year, nearly doubling to 68,080 borderwide.

Many Central Americans claim asylum and are paroled into the United States, meaning they can stay with a family member while awaiting a court hearing. Due to a backlog, it could be years before hearings are held.

Two other men at the Casa de Migrante, a 48-year-old Honduran named Gerardo and a 26-year-old Guatemalan named Manuel, said poverty and gang threats drove them out.

The situation in Honduras is deplorable, said Gerardo, who has tried three times in past years to cross the U.S. border and is this time headed for Canada. The government does nothing to stop the gangs.

Manuel, who wants to reach Kansas, described the evil that has gripped the community where he raised corn and beans; extortion by gangs made it impossible to earn a living.

Back home, Alex has a wife and two sons to support.

He isnt sure what his aunt in Santa Fe does for a living or what jobs he might find there  only that he might earn more than the $7 a day he earned back home. He hopes she will send him money to pay a coyote, but if she doesnt, he says, Ill cross alone.


After four years of financial troubles, Hidalgo Countys gamble on a new $7.5 million jail five times the size of the one it replaced appears to be paying off.

Its due in part to the increase in illegal immigration at New Mexicos southern border, which led to a contract earlier this year with the U.S. Marshals Service to hold federal prisoners in Hidalgo County  most of whom are undocumented immigrants.

The new 148-bed detention center, which replaced an old 32-bed jail, opened in 2012. It was built in hopes of landing a federal contract that could be a county moneymaker.

For four years there was no contract. The jail sat empty except for the usual two dozen or so local inmates. The detention center cost the poor, rural county upwards of half a million dollars annually, pushing the budget roughly $2.5 million into the red over those four years, said County Manager Bob Hill, who was not part of the leadership when the decision was made to build it.

The county invested heavily in the facility to meet federal standards, but services had to be cut and staffing reduced to a minimum, said county Commissioner Dar Shannon.

Then, in 2012, illegal immigration at New Mexicos southern border began climb. Apprehensions by Border Patrol in New Mexico  although they remain at historic lows  have tripled since then. And the U.S. Marshals Service, the custodian of federal inmates, appears to have needed more beds.

A U.S. Marshals spokesman declined to comment on the Hidalgo County contract.

With the new deal, the detention center holds an average of 80 to 90 inmates today at $60 per bed per night, said Skeater Lassiter, the detention center administrator. The cost per inmate is between $52 and $56, so the county comes out ahead, he said.

Two months into fiscal 2017, Hill said the detention center is still in the red but the indications are all positive for us at this point.
Two film legends will begin a production in New Mexico.

Christopher Plummer and Faye Dunaway will begin filming Cliffs of Freedom.

The New Mexico Film Office announced that the project will be shooting this month through December in Santa Fe and surrounding areas.

Cliffs of Freedom follows the ill-fated romance between a Greek village girl and a conflicted Turkish officer during the dawn of the Greek War for Independence against the Ottoman Empire in 1821.

Young Anna Christina is smitten by Colonel Tariq, a rising star in the Turkish army with growing doubts about his countrymens brutal methods, who had once spared her life on a cliff-top when she was a child, but their budding romance brings tragedy to her family and her village.

Swearing revenge against the Turks, Christina joins the Greek rebellion and faces off against the man who still loves her and wants to keep her safe. Their encounters and skirmishes inevitably lead to a tragic confrontation on the cliffs high above a pivotal battle between the Greeks and Turks.

The film will star Christopher Plummer, Faye Dunaway, Tania Raymonde, Jan Uddin and Raza Jeffrey.

According to the film office, the production will employ more than 200 New Mexico crew members and about 800 New Mexico background talent.

Were very pleased to host Cliffs of Freedom in Santa Fe, not only for the historic nature of the story but also because it proves the tremendous variety of creative resources for staging a production here, said Mayor Javier Gonzales. If we can double for early 19th century Greece, we can do just about anything.

The film is being produced by Freedom Film Partners, LLC and Phaedra Films, LLC.

The independent historical drama is the first feature to be written and directed by longtime VFX veteran Van Ling, from a story by Marianne Metropoulos, and is produced by award winning VFX and feature producer Casey Cannon and Metropoulos, executive produced by Stephen Marinaccio.
Editors note: This is the third in a series of stories about contested New Mexico races

SANTA FE  Since first being elected to the Legislature in 2012, Republican Rep. Paul Pacheco, a retired police officer, has taken a leading role in pushing criminal penalty bills backed by Gov. Susana Martinezs administration.

His Democratic opponent in the Nov. 8 general election, Daymon Ely, says hed have a different focus  on jobs and state revenue levels  if he succeeds in knocking off the two-term incumbent in House District 23, a key battleground district that includes swaths of Albuquerque and Corrales.

What I tell people is crime is important, but until you address jobs and revenue, you can throw as much money at crime as you want  at some point, youre going to run out of money and were still going to have the crime, Ely, a legal malpractice attorney and former Sandoval County commissioner, said in a recent interview.

Pacheco, who was also the face of the governors proposal to stop issuing drivers licenses to undocumented immigrants, narrowly won election to the seat in 2012. He won by just 78 votes over his Democratic challenger in a race that had more than 13,000 votes cast. But he was re-elected by a comfortable margin in 2014, a non-presidential election year.

Pacheco told the Journal that high violent crime rates make out-of-state companies think twice about relocating in New Mexico, saying, We cant have people roaming the streets killing police officers.

We have a responsibility to ensure our communities are safe, said Pacheco, who worked for the Albuquerque Police Department for more than 25 years and served as president of the Albuquerque Police Officers Association.

Crime bills

Pacheco agreed that hes been closely aligned with the two-term GOP governor on crime issues, but said hes tried to work with Democratic lawmakers when possible. As one example of bipartisan outreach, he cited work earlier this year on a proposal to expand the states three-strikes law for violent offenders that was approved in the House, but ultimately stalled in the Senate.

Ive worked hard to be a problem solver, not a problem creator, said Pacheco, who insisted he was trying to address safety concerns while sponsoring bills to repeal the 2003 law allowing undocumented immigrants to obtain New Mexico drivers licenses. A compromise plan that puts the state in line with the federal Real ID Act passed the Legislature and was signed into law this year.

Ely, who is married to former state Court of Appeals Judge Cynthia Fry, also said hed be pragmatic and willing to work across party lines if elected to the Legislature. But he told the Journal hed also be willing to shake up the system.

To generate more state revenue, he proposes using unspent capital improvement funds and enacting a Colorado-type system of legalizing and taxing recreational marijuana. He said revenue from legalizing marijuana could go toward policing efforts and behavioral health programs, including drug treatment.

The question with marijuana is a question of when, not if, Ely said.

Meanwhile, Ely also described the states current practice for funding capital improvement projects as corrupt, saying legislators should have to be more transparent about which projects they fund.

Pacheco has come under fire from a progressive nonprofit group over capital outlay spending, as a complaint filed in August alleged the two-term lawmaker failed to disclose his brothers connection to a Rio Rancho charter school that, in recent years, received thousands of dollars in state infrastructure funds.

In a recent interview, Pacheco called the complaint, which is still pending at the Attorney Generals Office, a smear campaign and said its come up only occasionally on the campaign trail.

There was nothing nefarious about that situation, he told the Journal.

Ely said he hasnt raised the ethics complaint against Pacheco with voters, but has discussed it when asked about it.

But Ely has blasted Pacheco on other issues, including the incumbents yes vote on a budget-cutting bill during a special legislative session that ended last week. Ely claimed proposed cuts in the bill for the AGs Office and district attorneys statewide could hamper law enforcement efforts. Most House Democrats voted against the plan  one part of a larger solvency package  though all Senate Democrats voted in favor of it.

Fundraising

Meanwhile, Ely has outraised  by a 9-to-5 ratio  and outspent Pacheco during this years election cycle. Ely has spent $143,012, most of it on campaign mailers, compared with $71,980 for Pacheco, according to reports filed with the Secretary of States Office.

However, Pacheco reported earlier this week having $88,006 in his campaign war chest, some of it carried over from previous years campaigns, compared with $39,709 for Ely.

Pacheco has reported receiving contributions from a state homebuilders association and several petroleum or oil companies. He also got a donation from the National Rifle Associations political committee.

For his part, Ely has reported getting big donations from labor unions, an environmental groups political committee, Democratic legislators and various fellow attorneys.

Candidate positions on 

Legalizing recreational marijuana use:

Pacheco  Oppose at the present time

Ely  Support

Reinstating capital punishment for certain crimes:

Pacheco  Support

Ely  Oppose

Taking more money from the states largest permanent fund for early childhood programs:

Pacheco  Oppose

Ely  Support

Enacting a so-called right-to-work law:

Pacheco  Support with exception for public safety workers

Ely  Oppose
Albuquerques mayor laid out a crime fighting agenda Wednesday that centers on efforts to keep repeat offenders behind bars longer, rather than having them repeatedly arrested and released to commit new crimes.

Mayor Richard Berry, in an effort to bolster the ranks of a department that is about 170 officers short of full strength, said he also hopes to contract with a team of retired police officers to handle lower priority police calls such as auto theft and burglary investigations.

At the local level, Berry is urging better screening of those released from pretrial detention and changes in procedural rules that police and prosecutors say have led to many charges being dismissed because of tight deadlines.

At the state level, he is advocating measures such as bringing back the death penalty in limited cases such as the murder of a police officer and creating a more stringent three-strikes law.

But the mayors 14-point agenda unveiled at a luncheon of the Greater Albuquerque Chamber of Commerce received some push back from officials who work in other aspects of the criminal justice system. They said the mayor might have oversimplified the cause of a recent crime rate increase.

There are a number of complex factors that go into this jump in crime, and that includes fewer police officers, fewer bookings, a jump in opioid and heroin use and fewer resources for prosecutions, said County Commissioner Maggie Hart Stebbins. Its important not to point fingers but to understand all those factors and sincerely look for a solution.

The mayor cited a study completed by Peter Winograd, a retired University of New Mexico professor, which found a direct correlation between the declining jail population and increasing crime rates  and no correlation between crime rates and the number of officers.

Sometimes you just have to keep the bad guys in jail, Berry said during his presentation. But he added that no one should have to languish in jail while waiting for a fair trial.

Albuquerque Police Chief Gorden Eden said city officials arent advocating that most people should be held in jail pending trial, only those likely to reoffend.

Its not the entire jail population that should be detained pending trial, Eden said. Its the worst of the worst.

Property crimes, specifically auto theft cases, have been on an uptick in Albuquerque in recent years. In 2015, the Duke City had the ninth highest auto-theft rate of any city in the country with more than 100,000 residents, according to FBI crime statistics. Violent crimes have also increased during the past several years after seeing some of the lowest rates in the citys recent in history, according to the data.

Berry said the city-commissioned study found a strong correlation between the rise in auto thefts and a declining jail population.

The document hasnt been released, except for a four-page handout and PowerPoint presentations about the study.

Bernalillo County operates the more than 2,000-bed Metropolitan Detention Center on the far West Side, and a group of representatives from the courts, law enforcement and the jail have been meeting regularly for the past three years to address jail conditions. There is an ongoing lawsuit about conditions there, including medical care, use-of-force and other issues.

The average population at the jail has decreased from 3,008 in 2010 to 1,713 in 2015. Berry said the citys study found many people who have been arrested and then released from jail went on to commit more crimes, accounting for the increased crime rate.

Matt Coyte, the president of the New Mexico Criminal Defense Lawyers Association, said lengthy pretrial detention wont decrease crime rates and efforts should instead be focused on balancing punishment, rehabilitation and prevention.

We already know that society can eliminate crime almost completely if it puts everyone suspected of criminal behavior in jail forever, he said. The former Soviet Union did this very effectively in the 20th century, and currently North Korea is making a good run of it.

One reason for the decrease in jail population was a Supreme Court decision from November 2015 that reiterated that defendants in almost all cases are entitled to reasonable bail while awaiting trial. The decision stemmed from a case against Walter Brown, a 19-year-old mentally disabled man, who spent nearly three years in jail before the case against him was dismissed.

Jail population initiatives have been thoughtful and responsible and theyve been proven in other communities, Hart Stebbins said. Not having seen the (citys) report, its hard for me to see where theyre getting their information.

Second Judicial District Chief Judge Nan Nash said three years ago the Metropolitan Detention Center had a much higher rate of inmates who were being held prior to trial than jails in similarly sized cities. Officials from the courts, law enforcement and attorneys on both sides of criminal cases have been meeting regularly and have made changes that reduced the jails population. Specifically, the group has came up with ways to reduce the amount of time inmates have been held waiting for hearings.

We hope that the city and APD will fully engage with the other criminal justice partners and present the data and study findings as we continue to work together to address the criminal justice issues facing our community, Nash said in a statement.
WASHINGTON  National Catholic organizations are demanding that top aides to Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton be disciplined after emails surfaced Tuesday in which they make disparaging remarks about the faith and conservative Catholics.

The April 2011 emails released by WikiLeaks show an exchange between current Clinton communications director Jennifer Palmieri and John Halpin, a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, a Democratic think tank with close ties to both the Clinton campaign and the Obama White House.

Halpin wrote that the most powerful elements of the conservative movement are all Catholic and described their positions as an amazing bastardization of the faith.

They must be attracted to the systematic thought and severely backwards gender relations and must be totally unaware of Christian democracy, Halpin wrote.

Palmieri, who was at the Center for American Progress at the time, responded that Catholicism is the most socially acceptable politically conservative religion. Their rich friends wouldnt understand if they became evangelicals.

The Catholic League, which bills itself as a civil rights group defending Catholics against discrimination or defamation, condemned the email banter.

These anti-Catholic remarks are bad enough, but it makes one wonder what else Clintons chiefs, and others associated with the campaign, are saying about Catholics and Catholicism, Catholic League President Bill Donohue said in a statement on the groups website. If Trumps inner circle spoke with derision about transgender persons, the sirens would be sounded by the mainstream media and his operatives would be hung out to dry.

John Podesta, Clintons campaign chairman, was included on the emails but did not respond, according to the emails released by WikiLeaks.

Podesta told reporters on Clintons campaign plane Tuesday that the FBI is investigating the leaks as part of a broader investigation into Russian hacking of Democratic groups. On Twitter, Clintons press secretary noted that Palmieri is Catholic, while another Clinton aide in an email to the Journal condemned WikiLeaks as a tool of the Russian government.

Donohue of the Catholic League said Hillary Clinton is not responsible for this Catholic bashing, but she has a moral obligation to sanction Podesta and Palmieri immediately.

The conservative group CatholicVote.org on Wednesday called for Palmieri to resign or be fired over the remarks. The group also criticized Podesta for failing to push back on the emails.

They mock Catholic converts, the organization said on its website in reference to the emails. They ridicule Catholics for raising their kids Catholic. They call our faith severely backwards. Make no mistake, had Clinton staff and allies spoken this way about other groups, they would be dismissed.

Catholic teachings oppose abortion and dont recognize gay marriage.

Thirty-four percent of New Mexico adults identify as Catholic, according to the Pew Research Center. Archbishop John C. Wester could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

Brian Fallon, press secretary for the Clinton campaign, dismissed the criticism in a tweet on Wednesday.

Latest faux controversy out of @Wikileaks hack: Accusing Jen Palmieri, who is Catholic, of being anti-Catholic, he wrote.

Asked for comment by the Journal, the Clinton campaign harshly criticized WikiLeaks, whose self-described goal is to bring important news and information to the public.

By dribbling these (emails) out every day WikiLeaks is proving they are nothing but a propaganda arm of the Kremlin with a political agenda doing Putins dirty work to help elect Donald Trump, said Clinton campaign spokesman Glen Caplin. The FBI is now investigating this crime; the unanswered questions are why (Republican presidential candidate) Donald Trump strangely wont condemn it and whether any of his associates are involved.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
OSLO, Norway  Speaking through her tears, cross-country skier Therese Johaug denied knowingly taking a banned performance-enhancing drug.

Johaug, a three-time Olympic cross-country medalist from Norway, has tested positive for the steroid clostebol. The Norwegian ski federation said Thursday the drug came from sun lotion given to her by team doctor Fredrik Bendiksen.

I am not guilty. I asked the doctor and he said it was not on the doping list, Johaug said at a news conference, wiping tears away with her hands. And he said no.

Bendiksen, who was also at the news conference, stepped down from his job after taking the blame for the positive test.

It is my personal mistake as a medical doctor, said Bendiksen, who said he only read the ingredients that were printed on the box. It is my responsibility.

Bendiksen said he had given Johaug the cream Trofodermin to treat sun burns on her lips after altitude training with the Norwegian cross-country team in Italy in late August.

She has told the whole truth, Bendiksen said. I take responsibility for Therese using the balm that has the illegal drug clostebol.  In my opinion, she is innocent.

Johaug had a urine test on Sept. 16, and the Norwegian anti-doping agency informed her of the finding on Oct. 4.

Torbjorn Skogstad, the head of Norways cross-country committee, said a meeting has been called to discuss any immediate measures.

Norwegian ski federation secretary general Stein Opsal said it was too early to say if she would be suspended, saying they were awaiting a decision from Anti-Doping Norway.

Anders Solheim, the head of the anti-doping agency, said the matter would be treated with the highest priority.

All aspects of the matter must be disclosed in the best possible way, also facts that support the athlete, so we can present it to (the bodys) prosecution committee for review, Solheim said.

Johaug, a seven-time world champion, won gold in the 45-kilometer relay at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics. She took silver and bronze medals at the 2014 Games in Sochi.
In a controversial tweet, Congress leader Digvijaya Singh has accused Prime Minister Modi of being a war-monger for pushing India to a war-like situation with Pakistan.

By India Today Web Desk: In a controversial tweet, Congress leader Digvijaya Singh has accused Prime Minister Modi of being a warmonger for pushing India to a war-like situation with Pakistan. Singh has said, "Modi sees doing this as the only option to win the next election."

Since both the nations were armed with nuclear weapons, they could not afford a war, he added.

advertisement

DON'T PLAY WAR GAMES: DIGVIJAYA

Singh said that the two countries must stop playing war games and come to the negotiating table for the sake of the future of the children on both sides of the border.





War Monger Modi is slowly getting India in a War like situation with Pakistan. He sees this as the only option to win the next election digvijaya singh (@digvijaya_28) October 13, 2016

The Congress leader added that in pushing for a confrontational situation with Pakistan with tensions at the border having escalated, Modi was only strengthening ISI and Pakistan Army clique and weakening the political leadership in Pakistan.

Also read: Modi should learn lesson from Emergency, says Digvijaya



--- ENDS ---
FARMINGTON  In a new bill, the Navajo Election Administration is requesting $510,616 in supplemental funding to cover expenses related to the tribes Nov. 8 general election.

Delegate Lee Jack Sr. is sponsoring the bill, which would provide the amount from the Unreserved Undesignated Fund Balance to pay for services such as ballots, stipends and travel expenses for poll officials, and operational expenses for the election office.

Edison Wauneka, executive director for the election administration, said the number of ballots needed for the general election is 94,500 and printing the ballots would cost $98,915.

The office has yet to pay the printing company in Albuquerque, but the good relationship the two entities have developed through the years allowed the election office to receive ballots, Wauneka said.

Early walk-in voting started Monday at the agency election offices in Shiprock and Crownpoint, and in Chinle, Tuba City and Window Rock in Arizona.

Another concern is paying 440 poll officials for their services on Election Day, Wauneka said.

There are approximately 70 positions that have no candidates, and the office will use a portion of the supplemental funding to hold special elections to fill those positions, he said.

As of Sept. 14, there were 17 open seats in the Northern Agency, according to the election office.

The balance of the UUFB is $7 million, according to a Sept. 21 memorandum from Controller Jim Parris to the three branch chiefs.

At the time, there were three pending supplemental funding requests, including a $482,566 request for the election office, which was approved by the Navajo Nation Council during the budget session for fiscal year 2017.

The three requests were among those that were line-item vetoed by tribal President Russell Begaye last month.

Speaker LoRenzo Bates called into question the legitimacy of Begayes veto actions, and tribal officials are continuing to discuss how to proceed with the fiscal year 2017 budget.

In Begayes memorandum to the speaker and the council on Sept. 27, the president explained his reasoning for vetoing the funding. The president wrote that the election office requests supplemental funding each election season, and permanent funding should be identified and provided for each election cycle.

Wauneka called the presidents veto disappointing and said he explained to tribal leaders the need for the amount.

Its disappointing to look at whats going on with the president and council. I was hoping the president would sign off on the budget, Wauneka said.

The legislation containing the $510,616 supplemental request will be eligible for consideration by the Budget and Finance Committee on Thursday. It has also been assigned to the Naabikiyati Committee and to the council.

If the council does not consider the bill during its fall session next week, Wauneka is considering another route for paying poll officials by asking chapters to use money from the public employment program.

Noel Lyn Smith covers the Navajo Nation for The Daily Times. She can be reached at 505-564-4636.



2016 The Daily Times (Farmington, N.M.)

Visit The Daily Times (Farmington, N.M.) at www.daily-times.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

_____
WASHINGTON  The Latest on the U.S. presidential race (all times EDT):

2:35 a.m.

Hillary Clinton says Donald Trump was trying to stalk her on the debate stage last weekend. She says it was really weird.

Clinton says in an interview on The Ellen DeGeneres Show that her Republican rival tried to dominate the debate stage.

The Democratic presidential nominee says you could just sense how much anger he had in the aftermath of the revelation of a video showing Trump making vulgar comments about women more than a decade ago.

Clinton says in her first interview since the debate that Trump would literally stalk me around stage and it was so odd.

Clinton says, I would just feel this presence behind me. I felt, whoa, this is really weird.

2:30 a.m.

Hillary Clinton says she doesnt want anybody to think this election is over because her race against Donald Trump has been so unpredictable.

Clinton says in an interview on The Ellen DeGeneres Show that she isnt taking anything for granted and her supporters need to work hard for the next 3 1/2 weeks because who knows what can happen.

Clinton is urging everyone watching the popular daytime talk show to turn out and vote because she says nothing is more powerful than your vote.

The former secretary of state says if you show up and vote and enough people agree with you, then we win.

8:48 p.m.

Donald Trump made no mention of the sexual accusations that have rocked his campaign in his final rally on Thursday.

More than 10,000 people packed an arena in Cincinnati to cheer wildly for Trump and loudly boo the reporters covering the rally.

But while Trump devoted most of his morning rally in Florida to defending himself against the accusations and attacking the media that printed them, he didnt discuss it during the evening rally in Ohio.

Several woman have come forward to claim Trump sexually assaulted them or made unwanted advances. The celebrity businessman has denied the accusations.

___

8:41 p.m.

President Barack Obama says Republicans who are disavowing Donald Trump over his recent controversies about women dont deserve any credit for distancing themselves.

He says they created Trump because they stood by while Republicans fed their base a swamp of crazy for years. Obama says Republicans knew better, but were silent because it was politically convenient.

Obama is speaking at an annual dinner in Columbus benefiting Ohio Democrats. Hes working to saddle Republicans with Trumps unpopularity even if theyve withdrawn their support for the GOP nominee. Obama is holding up Ohio Sen. Rob Portman as an example. The Republican is running for re-election and recently renounced his support for Trump.

Obama says hes more forgiving of Republicans who actually believe what people like Trump say than the ones who disagree but have said nothing for years.

___

8:02 p.m.

Melania Trump says portions of a People Magazine story alleging a sexual assault by her husband are false and completely fictionalized. She is demanding a retraction and apology and threatening to sue the publication.

The story was a first-person account by Natasha Stoynoff of an interview she did with Donald and Melania Trump at their home in Mar-a-Lago. Stoynoff says that when Melania Trump left the room, her husband pushed Stoynoff against a wall and sexually assaulted her. The Republican presidential candidate says the account is untrue.

Lawyers for Mrs. Trump wrote that the articles description of an encounter between Melania Trump and Stoynoff after the interview is false and completely fictionalized.

___

7:15 p.m.

Mike Pence is blaming the media and Hillary Clinton for what he characterizes as a discussion of slander and lies targeting his running mate Donald Trump.

Pences remarks Thursday evening are the first time the Republican vice presidential candidate has addressed multiple allegations of sexual assault leveled at Trump.

Pence is telling attendees at a GOP dinner in Orefield, Pennsylvania, that Trump denies accusations that he groped or forcefully kissed women against their will. Pence says the claims are unsubstantiated.

Pence blames Clinton for pushing the story. He says Democrats are trying to draw attention away from hacked emails that are unflattering to her campaign.

___

7:12 p.m.

None of Wisconsins top Republicans will be appearing with Donald Trump when he campaigns in the state on Monday.

Republican Sen. Ron Johnsons spokesman on Thursday said prior engagements will keep him from attending. Both House Speaker Paul Ryan and Gov. Scott Walker will be out of state. Ryan is campaigning for House Republicans in Texas and Walker is the keynote speaker at a previously scheduled GOP candidate training event in New Jersey.

Trump plans to campaign Monday in both Green Bay and West Allis near Milwaukee. His state spokesman Matt Schuck says the schedule of who will be appearing with him is still being finalized.

Ryan had said Monday he would not defend or campaign with Trump. But he, Walker and Johnson have not revoked their support.

___

5:33 p.m.

Donald Trump is saying he never met some of the women who have accused him of sexual assault and unwanted advances.

Trump told supporters Thursday in Ohio the accusations were false claims, and said that media has slandered and lied about me with false accusations.

He said he, never met these people and added he doesnt know who they are. Trump said his accusers have made up stories.

Trump has threatened to sue the New York Times for printing the claims of two women. Earlier Thursday in Florida, he accused the press of coordinating with Hillary Clintons campaign to conspire against his White House bid.

___

4:52 p.m.

Hillary Clinton says she doesnt care if Donald Trump goes after her, adding I signed up for this.

But she adds a fund raiser in San Francisco that she will defend every person or group that he insults.

The Democratic presidential nominee says disturbing stories about Trump just keep on coming and there is hardly any part of America that he has not targeted.

She jokes that its enough to make you want to turn off the news or unplug the Internet or just look at cat GIFs. She says in the past few weeks she has watched a lot of cats do a lot of weird and interesting things.

___

4:25 p.m.

Advance voting shows positive signs for Hillary Clinton in North Carolina and Florida, two states that could help her lock up the presidency.

There are encouraging signs for Donald Trump in Ohio. Thats a vital state for the Republican nominee, but a victory there would be one of many steps needed to win the presidency.

The latest data represent at least 756,000 ballots cast and millions more requested.

Even if Trump can capture two states hes targeted  Pennsylvania and Ohio  he would need to pull off major upsets in multiple Democratic-leaning states.

Democrats are stepping up outreach in North Carolina and will launch souls to the polls programs in a bid to boost black turnout after in-person voting begins next week.

___

3:05 p.m.

Donald Trumps all-out effort to drag Hillary Clinton down by focusing on her husbands sexual misconduct may be a relatively new strategy for him, but its not for the advisers whispering in his ear.

Four of Trumps top advisers have waited a quarter-century to more deeply explore accusations that the former president assaulted women. Roger Stone, David Bossie, Kellyanne Conway and Steve Bannon comprise much of Trumps brain trust outside his family.

The right has long harbored a grudge that the Clintons have built a political dynasty in spite of the allegations. Now, Republican operatives are seizing the moment, using Trump as their megaphone.

___

Bill Clinton says that even Donald Trump occasionally gets something right.

The former president campaigned for wife Hillary Clintons presidential campaign at a college in Mt. Vernon, Iowa Thursday. He avoided naming her opponent, but recalled the moment in the last debate when the candidates had to praise each other.

He committed a fact, Bill Clinton said. He said she is not a quitter and that is true.

Bill Clinton decried the division and rhetoric in the race. He said social division may win votes, but its a lousy way to run the country.

No protesters came to the event, but Bill Clinton said he had a message for them when they show up. He likes to say dont boo them give them a hand, theyre having a bad week.

___

3:01 p.m.

Mike Pence is making campaign stops in Pennsylvania after ditching reporters who regularly travel with him.

The move by the Republican vice presidential candidates campaign comes as several women have accused Donald Trump of sexual assault.

Pence has yet to comment on the allegations. His campaign told reporters Thursday morning that Pence was attending two fundraisers that were closed to the press.

But Pences official Twitter account has since shown him meeting with faith leaders and stopping at a restaurant.

One tweet from the account shows Pences tour bus accompanied by the caption: Were glad to be back in Pennsylvania on the campaign trail! Pence spokesman Marc Lotter could not be reached for comment.

___

3:00 p.m.

Hillary Clinton made a surprise appearance at a San Francisco campaign office that serves as a call center for the campaign. Clinton was presented with a home-made picture of herself by 7-year-old Bella Pelosi Kaufman, the granddaughter of House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi.

Clinton noted, We have 26 days left. I dont think there has ever been a more important 26 days in American history.

Clinton said, This is such an election between two very different visions, views and sets of values.

___

2:55 p.m.

Many GOP officeholders and candidates are sticking with Donald Trump despite new allegations that he sexually assaulted women.

Several of these officials say Trump would still be better on key issues than Democrat Hillary Clinton.

Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson adds that although both candidates are flawed, hes focusing on the economy, fighting terrorism and the Supreme Court.

Missouri Sen. Roy Blunt, who is running for re-election, says Trump has a better chance of fixing health care, out of control regulators or our terrible foreign policy.

And West Virginia GOP gubernatorial candidate Bill Cole says he wont excuse what Trump says, but, You have one candidate who wants to be there for our coal and our natural gas industry, and another one that wants to destroy them.
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia  China has canceled a 600 million yuan ($90 million) debt that Cambodia owed it last year, and will provide an additional 100 million yuan ($15 million) to Cambodias defense ministry, in further signs of deepening relations between the two countries.

The announcements were made Thursday during Chinese President Xi Jinpengs first visit to Cambodia. A total of 31 agreements were signed during the visit, which started Thursday, said Eang Sophalleth, a spokesman for Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen.

He said Xi told Hun Sen that he was canceling the 600 million yuan debt, and that the two countries agreed to expand trade from the current $4.4 billion to $5 billion in 2017. The Chinese president also assured Hun Sen that he will encourage Chinese people to visit Cambodia, boosting the number of visitors from around 700,000 now to 2 million by 2020.

Hun Sen thanked China for its support, he said.

The development of Cambodia cannot have happened without help from China, he quoted Hun Sen as saying. Hun Sen asked for more support, especially in defense, investment, health care and infrastructure.

Sophalleth said Xi promised to convince Chinese companies to help Cambodia in building a new airport in Siem Reap province and a new railway.

The spokesman refused to say if the two leaders talked about territorial disputes in the South China Sea.

China is a key ally and economic partner of impoverished Cambodia. It has provided millions of dollars in aid and investment over the past decade, granted it tariff-free status on hundreds of trade items and written off debt.

In return, Cambodia supports China in international forums, including in Beijings ongoing dispute with other Southeast Asian countries in the South China sea.

In July, China provided Cambodia with nearly $600 million in aid to support the countrys election infrastructure, education and health.

Chinas influence in Cambodia is considerable despite Beijings strong backing of the former Khmer Rouge government that caused the deaths of some 1.7 million Cambodians in the late 1970s.
LAS CRUCES  A Virgin Galactic executive says the company will begin glide flight testing SpaceShipTwo before year end, a milestone in its march toward one day flying tourists to the edge of space and back from New Mexicos Spaceport America.

Virgin Galactic has been working to recover from an October 2014 accident that tore apart its spaceship and killed one pilot. The tragedy set back billionaire founder Richard Bransons oft-delayed plans to become the first private company to transport space tourists, and it also forced Spaceport America  where Virgin Galactic is anchor tenant  to re-evaluate its business plans.

Were going through materials testing, assembly, ground testing all the integrated stuff you need to do to get the actual product to flight test, said Virgin Galactic President Mike Moses, during an update of the companys progress to about 250 people at 2016 International Symposium on Personal and Commercial Spaceflight in Las Cruces.

The next phase of our testing is free flight, he said. Were getting really close to that. In fact, were probably just a month or two away from being ready to start our glide flight program, or a test of the spaceships flight capabilities without rocket power.

In that test phase, carried out at the companys test facility in Mojave, Calif., the dual fuselage WhiteKnightTwo carrier plane will take SpaceShipTwo up to about 50,000 feet and release, allowing the vehicle to glide back to land without firing up its propulsion system, Moses said.

As much as a SpaceShip is a space ship, its also an airplane and a glider, he said. A lot of the testing we need to do initially is subsonically in that glide envelope.

One of Virgin Galactics top competitors in the budding commercial human spaceflight industry was also on hand at the spaceflight conference to update its progress.

Blue Origin tests its rockets and space vehicle in Van Horn, Texas, about 3 hours southeast of Spaceport America. The company owned by Amazon founder and billionaire Jeff Bezos has notched several successes this past year, including returning a reususable rocket to the launch pad.

Virgin Galactic no longer says publicly when it expects to fly tourists to space from New Mexico. But Blue Origin, famously tight-lipped about its progress, now says it plans to test fly astronauts to space by the end of 2017 and begin sending tourist passengers in 2018, President Rob Meyerson said at the conference.
Copyright  2016 Albuquerque Journal

When laser-equipped fighter jets hit the skies in the 2020s, theyll include a lot of Made in New Mexico technology.

The Air Force Research Laboratory at Kirtland Air Force Base is overseeing the governments new fighter jet demonstration project known as SHiELD, or Self-Protect High Energy Laser Demonstrator. The program aims to place small-scale laser pod defense systems on older military aircraft, with the first system demonstration scheduled for 2021.

To build it, the Air Force lab awarded an initial $39 million contract in late August to Northrop Grumman to create a new laser beam control system. Two more contracts will follow in the coming months, one for a laser pod that contains the systems power, thermal management, battery and cooling technology, and another to develop the laser itself, said SHiELD program manager Richard Bagnell.

Northrop will manage the beam control research and development at a division in Redondo Beach, Calif., and at the AFRLs directed-energy directorate in Albuquerque. The AFRLs project team will oversee all contract work  including systems alignment, integration and testing  in New Mexico.

Northrop will work out of Redondo Beach, but we have significant staff on the government side at Kirtland, plus contractors supporting it off base, Bagnell said. We expect testing eventually will be done at Kirtland and White Sands Missile Range, because we have the infrastructure here to effect the best test we can.

The projects total cost is not yet known, but the upcoming pod contract will be for about $40 million. In addition, the AFRL expects to spend $25 million to $50 million over the next five years on local contractors.

Once fully built, the pod-based laser system would be mounted on the outside of aircraft. The Air Force has not yet identified which planes would get the system or which targets it would be used against. But it would, at least at first, be used for defensive purposes, such as shooting down incoming air-to-air missiles.

Its part of a broad Department of Defense effort to incorporate laser systems for defensive and offensive purposes on ground, maritime and air vehicles, said Shaun McDougal, Forecast Internationals North America military market analyst.

Its a growing area of interest for all the services, McDougal said.

Separate programs are underway to mount lasers on armored trucks and Navy ships. Boeing Co. has contracts for a lot of that work, much of which is at its facility in Albuquerque.

Mounting lasers on aircraft can, however, offer many tactical advantages.

For one, it gives weapons operators a better line of sight to see targets over hills and buildings compared with ground-based lasers, McDougal said. Its cheaper than conventional weapons and offers unlimited fire power, with no need to land and reload.

SHiELD is one of the first major efforts to build scalable laser systems for fighter jets since the massive Airborne Laser Program ended in 2011. That project, also headed by Boeing at a cost of $5 billion over 15 years, aimed to mount a chemical laser on a Boeing 747.

That program successfully demonstrated basic laser technology, but funding ended, in large part because the system was huge, difficult to manage and expensive.

SHiELD will build on lessons from the Airborne Laser Program and other projects, Bagnell said. In particular, it will use electronic lasers that can be designed to occupy much less space.

We want it to be compact with the right size, weight and power to fit inside a pod on potentially any aircraft, Bagnell said.

Northrop Grumman will focus on building a robust beam control system to withstand extreme turbulence on aircraft, which can affect laser accuracy. The beam control, pod and laser components will be built simultaneously, and then later integrated for full system testing within five years.

This investment is another example of the militarys growing appreciation for directed energy and the game-changing potential for our national security, said Sen. Martin Heinrich, D-N.M. New Mexico is home to AFRL and a number of industry leaders who are working to develop and deploy this technology.
BRUSSELS  The Latest on the influx of asylum-seekers and migrants in Europe(all times local):

7:15 p.m.

Germany and Switzerland are stepping up patrols along their common border to stop migrants from traveling northward in breach of European Union asylum rules.

Switzerland, which isnt a member of the bloc, has become a key transit country for migrants who cross the Mediterranean, land in Italy and want to continue to Germany and Scandinavia.

Germanys Interior Ministry said Thursday that police recorded about 4,500 illegal border crossings from Switzerland between January and August of this year.

It said the two countries would work more closely to stop people from illegally entering Germany  particularly by train  and return those who have.

Last year, around 890,000 people arrived in Germany seeking asylum. EU rules require asylum-seekers to file their request in the first EU member state they enter.

___

6 p.m.

Pope Francis has denounced the forced repatriation of unaccompanied children migrants who flee wars and poverty.

The pontiff says that countries should try to meet their needs and the needs of their families rather than return them to uncertain futures.

Francis took up the plight of child migrants in his annual message for the World Day of Migrants and Refugees on Thursday.

Historys first Latin American pope didnt cite specific cases, but the plight of unaccompanied children crossing into Mexico from Central America en route to the U.S. has been a concern of Catholic bishops and Catholic grassroots organizations for years.

___

5:50 p.m.

Macedonia has again extended the state of emergency declared at the height of Europes migration crisis along its borders with Greece and Serbia until the end of June 2017.

The decision was made by the countrys parliament Thursday. Macedonia first imposed a state of emergency on its southern and northern borders in August 2015 for a six-month period. It has been renewed a few times since.

About 1 million refugees and other migrants transited through Macedonia last year on their way to Europes prosperous heartland.

The country erected a 20-kilometer (13-mile) long metal fence along the border with Greece last November to stop illegal crossings.

More than 200 people remain stranded in Macedonia since the Balkan transit route was closed this year after a series of countries sealed their borders to refugees and other migrants.

___

2:35 p.m.

French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve says Italy is not doing enough to screen arriving migrants and is failing to ensure that people who do not qualify for asylum are sent home.

Cazeneuve told reporters in Luxembourg Thursday that we have to do what was decided, by properly screening people from northern Africa at registration centers known as hotspots.

He says its unthinkable that some of those who arrive in Italy do not pass through the hotspots, otherwise we are taking a security risk.

Cazeneuve says most migrants who come to Italy want to improve their way of life and are not fleeing conflict. He said these people who do not qualify for protection in Europe must be sent back.

Around 150,000 migrants have entered Italy by sea this year.

___

10:35 a.m.

Aid groups have asked a court to delay government plans to close a wretched migrant camp in the French port of Calais, arguing that authorities arent ready to relocate its thousands of residents.

Concern has been mounting particularly about hundreds of unaccompanied children in the so-called jungle camp in Calais, a troubling symbol of Europes migrant crisis.

Thierry Kuhn of aid group Emmaus said Thursday that the groups filed an emergency request with a court in Lille seeking to delay the closure. A decision is expected within 48 hours.

The government is expected to close the camp in the coming weeks and relocate migrants to centers around France, but has not given a firm shutdown date. The camp has attracted migrants from the Mideast and Africa seeking to reach Britain.
Bible teacher Beth Moore is someone who keeps politics out of it, so the saying goes. When she speaks at events or on social media, the founder of Living Proof Ministries typically shares encouraging spiritual quips and jokes about her big Texan hair.

But this Sunday, in just 94 words, the 59-year-old Houstonian lighted a fire that arguably burned Donald Trumps strained attempts to woo many evangelicals  especially women  to the ground. In four tweets, without even mentioning the Republican presidential nominee, she pinpointed what many evangelical women have surmised throughout the election season: Having a president who is not ashamed of his misogyny and instead boasts of it would harm and dishonor women in this country  and the larger Christian church.

As the news broke that Trump had bragged in 2005 about sexually assaulting a woman, many Christian women stepped up to essentially say, No more.

Kay Warren, wife of Saddleback Church pastor Rick Warren and mental-health advocate, tweeted, As a victim of sexual assault, I tell you firsthand of devastation wreaked on women & girls by predatory men & boys who think women like it. 

Popular author Jen Hatmaker took to Instagram to call Trumps comments a travesty and national disgrace, and she reminded followers that they had many options on Election Day. Julie Roys, a host with the conservative Moody Radio network, wrote, I honestly dont know what makes me more sick. Listening to Trump brag about groping women or listening to my fellow evangelicals defend him.

We were angry after Trump minimized his words as locker room talk. But we were just as angry watching Christian leaders describe the statements as merely inappropriate and low on [evangelicals] hierarchy of their concerns.

Its actually hard to know which stung worse: Trumps words or our leaders defense of him. Try to absorb how acceptable the . . . objectifying of women has been when some Christian leaders dont think its that big of a deal, Moore tweeted.

Silence on the seriousness of sexual assault is akin to what assault survivors feel when they are not believed or are otherwise told that the violence they endured is ultimately minor. Theres a word for it: re-traumatization. Its what happens when the men who are called to honor, defend and stand by you trade that duty for political expedience.

Pastors, college presidents and policy advisers who continue to defend Trump after his comments not only risk harming the churchs witness, they also risk alienating the largest segment of every evangelical church in America. According to a 2016 Pew study, Christian women are more religious than men by all measures.

Women outnumber men in nearly every evangelical church in the country; they are often the ones serving on the church board, conducting the choir and planning vacation Bible school. True, at almost every evangelical church, a man is behind the pulpit. But take away the women, and hes preaching to near-empty pews.

As evangelical author Tyler Wigg-Stevenson quipped this week, If I were running for president, and I needed the evangelical vote to win as [Donald Trump] does, Id better not get [Beth] Moore mad at me. Based on Twitter followers, he said, shes talking to 60 times more regular churchgoers than Ralph Reed.

To be sure, some evangelical leaders  notably the editors at Christianity Today and World magazines, as well as individuals like James MacDonald and Wayne Grudem have decried Trumps comments.

But especially in light of more women coming forward with accusations of Trump groping them, evangelical leaders need many more of our male leaders to publicly denounce Trump and the normalization of misogyny that he represents.

The lack of public acknowledgement signals to women a self-preserving fear of losing followers and constituents, and, at worst, a disregard for the seriousness of sexual assault.

The good news is that Christians have a unique story that upholds the dignity of women amid our rape culture. We believe God has entrusted his own image uniquely to women, so that we might live with worth, dignity and creative rule alongside men.

In light of the gospel, women are restored to Gods original intent for us to flourish as co-stewards over creation. And, in light of the gospel, men can see women not as objects, conquests, threats or mere temptations, but as essential partners in the work of taking this gospel to the ends of the Earth. Misogyny is replaced with shared mission. If only more men would join us.

  

Katelyn Beaty is author of A Womans Place: A Christian Vision for Your Calling in the Office, the Home, and the World (Howard) and an editor at large at Christianity Today magazine.

trump-evangelical-comment
ELIZABETH, N.J.  The man suspected of terrorizing New York and New Jersey with a series of bombings last month appeared in court here for the first time Thursday via a video feed from a hospital, where he continues to recover from wounds he suffered in a shootout with police.

Ahmad Khan Rahimi, 28, a U.S. citizen who was born in Afghanistan, lay in a medical bed, his arms covered with a blanket and his head propped up with a pillow, as Judge Regina Caulfield read the state charges against him. He answered yes  his voice barely audible in the courtroom  as Caulfield asked him whether that he understood he had legal representation and that his bail had been set at $5.2 million.

Defense attorney Peter Liguori stood next to Rahimi, yellow medical garb covering his regular clothes.

The hearing lasted just minutes. Liguori asked that the court note his clients last name is spelled Rahimi, and not Rahami, as had been widely reported.

Prosecutor Ann Luvera said the matter would be presented to a grand jury in the next few months.

Rahimi is facing state and federal charges in connection with what authorities have alleged was a terrorism spree that seemed to be inspired by an eclectic mix of radical Islamic influences. He is suspected of a bombing that injured dozens in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan and three other blasts in New York and New Jersey that didnt hurt anyone.

In one of those instances, a bomb exploded along a planned race route in Seaside Park, New Jersey, but no runners were passing because the race had been delayed. In the other, authorities were tipped to a possible explosive device at a train station in Elizabeth and inadvertently set it off while trying to disarm it.

Soon after the incidents, federal and local law enforcement officers began a widespread manhunt for Rahimi, who had been caught on surveillance video and who left fingerprints on a fourth device, an unexploded bomb found in Manhattan. He was taken into custody on Sept. 19 in Linden, New Jersey, after a shootout with police that left him seriously wounded.

Rahimi had not been able to appear in court earlier because of his injuries, and one of his attorneys said he has still not been served with federal charges, which include using weapons of mass destruction and bombing a public place.

In Union County, New Jersey, he is charged with attempted murder and related weapons counts stemming from his shootout with police.

Alexander Shalom of the New Jersey American Civil Liberties Union, who is representing Rahimi in the federal case, said the hearing in state court doesnt necessarily trigger any movement on the federal case. He said it is unclear when Rahimi will be able to leave the hospital and face those charges.

In a journal recovered after his capture, Rahimi had written about his hopes for martyrdom and referenced former leaders in both al-Qaida and the Islamic State, authorities have said.

Inshallah, he wrote, using an Arabic term for God willing, the sounds of the bombs will be heard in the streets, according to federal prosecutors.

Authorities have been scrutinizing Rahimis foreign travels and his previous contacts with law enforcement. The FBI had opened an inquiry of Rahimi in 2014 after his father called the FBI and said his son was a terrorist. His father later recanted his statement and the FBI found no evidence of terrorist connections.

Rahimi traveled to Pakistan in 2013 and 2014, including stays in Quetta, a stronghold of militant groups, and Customs and Border Protection officials flagged him for questioning at least twice, law enforcement officials have said. But authorities found no reason to accuse him of any wrongdoing, officials have said.

newyork-bombing
ICARD, N.C.  If Hillary Clinton becomes the first female president of the United States, a lot of women will be upset at Grannys Country Kitchen.

They know Trump has said crude things about women. He may even have behaved like a lout. But when forced to weigh Trumps behavior against their disdain for Clinton, the women at Grannys say its not even close.

She couldnt care less about me, said Brenda Vaughn, 62, wearing a Women for Trump shirt at a rally at this landmark restaurant, home to Friday night Gospel gatherings and a reputation for the best fried chicken in these Blue Ridge foothills.

Like most of the women here, Vaughn came out Wednesday to listen to wives of Republican congressmen, who are on a week-long barnstorming bus tour through this critical swing state. And she was happy to disparage Clinton as much, if not more, than to cheer for Trump.

When I see her, all I see is plastic  all fake. He might have said things people dont agree with, but he is real, said Vaughn, who helped distribute 400 Trump signs around neighboring McDowell County, North Carolina.

I know of only one Hillary sign, she said proudly.

A growing gender gap is marking the 2016 campaign. Not since CBS News exit polls were first taken in 1972 has there been such a divide in how men and women view candidates. Polls show that more women are abandoning Trump, while men are still more likely to support him than Clinton.

After The Washington Post released a video Friday showing Trump making vulgar comments about women and bragging of his ability to force himself on them sexually because he was a star, Clintons advantage among women jumped, according to a Wall Street Journal/NBC Survey.

Overall, the survey showed Clinton had an 11-point lead, 46 percent to 35 percent. But among women, her lead grew from 12 points in mid-September to a remarkable 21 points this month.

Perhaps more unexpected than women abandoning Trump are those who still enthusiastically support him. Judging from conversations with those leading the Women for Trump bus tour, and the women it is attracting, the female Trump support has little to do with him.

Many of these women are steadfast supporters of traditional GOP policies of low taxes and small government. But many simply cant stomach Clinton. They call her unrelatable, corrupt and a machine who has been angling for the presidency for what they say feels like a lifetime. Many strongly disagree with her policy positions, especially her views in support of abortion rights.

Many also said they do not like things about Trump. But they have been forced to disregard his less savory attributes and focus on issues important to them, such as Trumps promise of tighter immigration controls.

I am voting for policies, not the personalities, Suzanne Conaway, wife of Mike Conaway, R-Texas, told the crowd at Grannys.

I am voting on Americas future, not on Trumps past, said Carolyn Yoho, wife of Ted Yoho, R-Fla., before she set off Thursday morning for another day on the trail. The Clinton regime and machine has been rife with corruption for years and years and years and we dont want to go down that path again.

Since the video surfaced Friday, several women have come forward to say that Trump has groped them or made other unwanted sexual advances. Many here said Thursday they have heard those reports but treat them with great skepticism because of what they perceive as media bias against Trump.

Still, these women accept that Trump made the vulgar comments they heard on the video, and they are worried that Republicans in GOP strongholds like this town of 2,700 will be so disgusted they just wont vote at all.

Is it offensive? Yes. Can we forgive it? Yes! said Debbie Meadows, wife of Mark Meadows, R-N.C.

Amen! a woman shouted.

Some people say, I am not voting because both candidates are trash. Youve heard it. Ive heard it. But you have got to pick because one of them will be president, Meadows said.

Meadows said Clinton would be far worse, reminding people, Hillary Clinton calls me a deplorable!  Even worse, she argued, Clinton said, Im irredeemable.

She told the Christian crowd that Clinton was essentially telling her she couldnt go to heaven.

LeeAnn Johnson, wife of Rep. Bill Johnson, R-Ohio, also urged people not to stay home Nov. 8.

If someone says both candidates are flawed and dont want to vote, tell them that as many as seven justices on the Supreme Court are at stake, she said.

Yoho also addressed the video, saying, When I found out, I had a few moments of righteous indignation. Then I got some perspective.

She said she has heard professional men speaking very inappropriately and it doesnt make them incompetent. And, she noted that huge numbers of women bought Fifty Shades of Grey, the bestselling erotic novel that centered on bondage and rough sex.

Women can be just as inappropriate, she said.

Vaughn, the retiree in the Women for Trump shirt, said she is definitely voting, as the saying around here goes, If the Lord is willing and the creek doesnt rise.

Many of the women interviewed said they are insulted when people tell them they should vote because they would be electing the first female president. In fact, they are energized to campaign against her because they dislike her so much.

How can she be so offended by his nasty talk, his lewd talk, when she bullied, silenced and intimidated women who had been abused by her husband? Meadows said, repeating a common sentiment here.

Nancy Schulze, a Republican activist who organized the bus tour, said a rotating handful of congressional wives are on the bus, along with staff members from Capitol Hill. Earlier in the week, Dorothy Woods, widow of Tyrone Woods, who was killed in the 2012 attack in Benghazi, Libya, also spoke at stops to urge people to support Trump.

Schulze said she believes women will decide the 2016 election in key states including North Carolina and Pennsylvania. She is urging people to forget locker room talk and focus on the two very different visions for the country.

Alison Lloyd, a cashier at Grannys, said she is an independent who voted for Barack Obama last time. She is still undecided and getting more confused about whom to support.

After the Trump gathering was over and the Women for Trump bus motored on to its next stop, Lloyd recalled the criticism against Mitt Romney in 2012 when he talked of having binders full of women.

Remember the backlash? It was out of control against Romney. And for Donald Trump to say what he did, and for me then to watch all these women speak on his behalf, and 25 more sit back and clap, is remarkable, said Lloyd, a mother of two.

She said it is so puzzling that she finds herself questioning if there isnt more to Trump than she realizes, because he had done so many offensive things and yet his support holds.

Is there something about this man that I am not getting? she said, shaking her head and serving another customer a country boy a bowl of pinto beans, cornbread and coleslaw.

As Lloyd rang up Carol Smiths bill at the register, the scheduler for a local orthodontist group said she is worried that Trump could kill Obamacare. She said that would be bad news for those with preexisting conditions, including her husband, who has heart disease.

It would devastate us, she said.

Yet she still plans to vote Trump.

I just feel she is corrupt, said Smith, adding she wouldnt put it past Clinton to somehow steal the election.



Scott Clement contributed to this story.

trump-women
EL PASO, Texas  Two of the Borderlands most iconic and enduring neighborhoods, both nestled against the border, are on a list of historic places that are in danger of losing their identity.

The Segundo Barrio and Chihuahuita neighborhoods in South El Paso were added to the National Trust for Historic Preservations list of Americas 11 Most Endangered Historic Places, a list that seeks to bring national attention to places with rich architectural and cultural heritage that might be facing demolition. The trust said the areas are endangered because El Paso is still in its development and expansion boom.

The 11 list is a call to action, Sehila Mota Casper, a field officer for the trust, told the El Paso Times (http://bit.ly/2dJhgqs). Its a campaign that we use to help highlight to different communities and issues surrounding different preservation issues, and how we can continue to help preserve.

The neighborhoods will spend the next year on the list. During that time, the trust will work with local organizations to gauge what needs to be done to protect the neighborhoods from possible future rezoning, demolition and damage. The trust also wants to get the community involved.

What we hope is to catalyze a community, and to bring life to particular and key issues.

Casper added that the trust will be providing support to organizations like the Texas Trost Society, the El Paso County Historical Commission and Preservation Texas, which in turn will work to reach out to the community and find out what the community wants done.

The Segundo Barrio and Chihuahuita are some of El Pasos most easily recognizable neighborhoods. Segundo Barrio is home to iconic people and places, including artists, activists and world-famous panaderias. Chihuahuita is deeply embedded in the history of the border, including deep ties to the Mexican Revolution and Pancho Villa.

The trust was in Socorro last month to announce that the Rio Vista Farm had been named as a National Treasure. In that campaign, the trust is working to help save the farm and structures at the farm; but for the campaign with the Segundo Barrio and Chihuahuita, it is working on getting the word out about why its important to preserve the communities.

One of the exciting things about the NTHP naming them to this list is that yes, it brings attention to the buildings, but more so it highlights the stories of the people who live there and it shows the influence of the two barrios in El Paso, said Yolanda Chavez Leyva, the director of the Institute of Oral History & The Borderlands Public History Lab at The University of Texas at El Paso. Leyva is also an associate professor at UTEP.

Leyva specializes in border history, and has spent time studying and writing about the Segundo Barrio and Chihuahuita. She said that South El Paso has been called the Ellis Island of the Southwest and that families across the United States can trace their roots back to the neighborhoods.

Its been a place of people who literally built El Paso  working in construction, factories, agriculture, Leyva said.

During the next year, the trust wants to find out what residents of the Segundo Barrio and Chihuahuita want and need for their communities. Both Casper and Leyva stressed the importance of getting the communitys input on future projects.

I think awareness is important, Leyva said. Its going to create a space for barrio residents to talk about what they need. So often city governments will tell neighborhoods, This is what you need, but who knows better than the people living there? I think itll provide a space for people to talk to each other. I hope they will be listened to because theyre the experts of the neighborhood.

Residents are proud of their neighborhoods.

The people who live here are good people; were living here because its good, said Estanislao Camancho, a resident of the Segundo Barrio, who spoke in Spanish. Its an old barrio. Before, it was dangerous, but not anymore. The state has done good things. Our parks, our library  theyre here for the community. I think we all live comfortably, and not just the viejitos. Young people, too.

Casper said she encourages residents from both communities to reach out to local organizations that will be working with the trust, and she encourages people to make their voices heard.

Vocalize your thoughts and what your hopes and visions are, Casper said. Theres a long history of homes and people that have lived here, and we want to continue on. But its only through the leadership of community residents that this will happen, and they will be the ones that mobilize.

___

Information from: El Paso Times, http://www.elpasotimes.com

Editors note: This is an AP Member Exchange shared by the El Paso Times.
Fawad Khan is reportedly interested in the film, but is waiting for the hostility between the two nations to cool down before he agrees to be a part of it.

By India Today Web Desk: At a time of increased hostility between India and Pakistan, reports suggest that National Award winning filmmaker Shyam Benegal is set to produce a film starring Pakistani actor Fawad Khan.

According to a report in Mumbai Mirror , the film titled Ye Raaste Hai Pyar Ke will talk about mongering peace between the warring countries through cultural exchange. The cross-border story, directed by Harsh Narayan, will be about two musicians who set out on a tour of both the countries, and Fawad may be seen as one of the musicians.

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ALSO READ: Fawad Khan's role chopped from MS Dhoni biopic: Other films the Pak artists' ban will affect

ALSO READ: Mahira Khan dropped from Raees? What MNS's threat is doing to films

ALSO READ: Singer Abhijeet says Fawad ditched 'Mrs Karan Johar Khan' which is why he is depressed

Fawad is reportedly keen on the film, but is expected to give a green signal only once the tension cools down. "At the moment, he is skeptical about reactions to him working in an Indo-Pak co-production. He has shown a keen interest and will respond as soon as the present situation cools down. We are hoping he agrees to play the lead musician in the film," Narayan said.

In the wake of the Uri attack and its aftermath, many are opposed to Pakistan artists working in India. In fact, the Indian Motion Picture Producers Association (IMPPA) has imposed a temporary ban on them working in India, while the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) has been openly threatening filmmakers against working with Pakistani artists. However, Benegal and Narayan are unperturbed, with Narayan saying, "I believe there couldn't be a better time to put out a film that explores love and peace and promotes humanity."

--- ENDS ---
Future American military assistance to Saudi Arabia will hinge partly on whether the gulf kingdom embraces a U.S.-backed cease-fire with Houthi rebels in Yemen, officials said Thursday, as President Barack Obamas administration intensifies efforts to distance itself from a bloody bombing campaign.

Its not going to help sustain any support . . . if they dont accept the unconditional cessation of hostilities that we think is absolutely, urgently needed, now more than ever, a senior official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations.

In a sign of tensions with a core Middle Eastern ally, officials issued the blunt warning to Saudi Arabia as the White House begins a top-to-bottom review of military aid for the kingdom, including both a massive, long-standing program of arms sales and more-limited assistance for the extended air war over Yemen.

The review follows a grisly Oct. 8 bombing in the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, which capped a series of apparent Saudi strikes on civilian targets and deepened U.S. concerns about involvement in a war that has killed more than 4,000 noncombatants.

The Oct. 8 strike, which killed more than 100 people at a funeral, appeared to be a final straw for administration critics of Saudi Arabias handling of the campaign, which they believe has ranged far beyond its original mission to defend the kingdoms border from Houthi attack.

We are telling the Saudis that supporting their territorial integrity, their sovereignty, thats one thing. But their campaign inside Yemen is something else, particularly if theyre not prepared to accept the unconditional, immediate cessation of hostilities that weve called for, the official said. That will obviously be a factor in our assessment.

Officials spoke about the review hours after the Pentagon launched Tomahawk cruise missiles against Houthi targets in Yemen, a response to a series of attacks this week on nearby U.S. ships. The Obama administration has blamed those shore-to-sea missile attacks, which inflicted no damage, on the Houthis; the rebels have denied involvement.

The officials said the exchange of missile fire, while potentially complicating efforts to secure an immediate cease-fire between the two parties, would not affect the deliberations about future support to Saudi Arabia.

They signaled determination to continue a gradual reduction in U.S. military aid to the Saudi air campaign that has taken place in recent months. Since the campaigns start last year, U.S. tanker planes have conducted more than 1,400 missions, offloading tens of millions of pounds of fuel. U.S. personnel also have advised their Saudi counterparts on targeting rebels and avoiding civilian casualties.

But U.S. support has dropped off since a now-abandoned cease-fire earlier this year, officials say. According to U.S. military statistics, the frequency of U.S. refueling missions, which has fluctuated throughout the campaign, fell in late summer from a peak earlier in 2016. Today, only four U.S. personnel remain at the Saudi command center in Riyadh.

[We are] distancing ourselves both in terms of what we say but also in terms of what weve done, the official said.

U.S. personnel do not approve Saudi targets beyond providing a no-strike list of civilian and off-limits targets, officials say.

A spokesman for the Saudi military was not available for comment.

For administration critics of the Saudi campaign, the Sanaa strike, which Human Rights Watch labeled an apparent war crime, provided an opportunity to press the case that the U.S. support for the campaign must be curtailed even further.

Officials said reductions in or changes to arms sales, not just to support to the Yemen campaign, would be under discussion during the high-level review.

Everything is on the table, the official said. The United States has already halted new sales ofcluster munitions to Saudi Arabia.

Officials are open to exploring additional restrictions, but a number of approved sales are already in the pipeline. No matter what the review concludes, officials said, some assistance will continue for defense of the Saudi border, in keeping with a pledge from President Obama.

While support for change appears to be growing, some officials within the Pentagon and State Department continue to stand up for Saudi Arabia, stressing the severity of the Houthi threat the country faces on its borders. Neither will it be easy for the Obama administration to impose further stress on a relationship already damaged by new legislation exposing Riyadh to lawsuits over the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in the United States.

According to the State Department, the Saudi government agreed in principle after the Sanaa airstrike to accept a 72-hour cease-fire, if that proposal is also embraced by the Houthis. But previous efforts to broker a lasting cease-fire and peace agreement have faltered.

We encourage the Yemeni government and Houthi-General Peoples Congress factions to agree to a cease-fire immediately and without preconditions, State Department spokesman John Kirby said.

If a lasting cease-fire can be established, Kirby said, political talks can resume.

Ilan Goldenberg, a senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security, said the Obama administration may be stuck with support for a campaign many officials have disliked from the beginning, but which was seen as necessary to mitigate Saudi opposition to the nuclear deal with Iran.

Its disturbing when you see these types of bombings, he said. But what are you going to do, walk away from the U.S.-Saudi relationship?

  

The Washington Posts Dan Lamothe contributed to this report.

us-yemen
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Reproduction citations for selected images can also be found in a variety of hard-copy publications that, unlike the "Select List" pamphlets and the War and Conflict book, do not have the bulk of their visual entries represented in electronic form. Among the more expansive of these publications are:

The American image: photographs from the National Archives, 1860-1960 (Exhibitions staff, Office of Educational Programs, National Archives and Records Service. General Services Administration ; with an introd. by Alan Trachtenberg. New York : Pantheon Books, c1979)

(Exhibitions staff, Office of Educational Programs, National Archives and Records Service. General Services Administration ; with an introd. by Alan Trachtenberg. New York : Pantheon Books, c1979) NARA exhibit catalogues such as A New Deal for the Arts.

To find additional NARA publications containing photographs consult the NARA Library Catalog or your local library. For further information about obtaining such publications, consult the NARA Publications Main Page.

Information About the Records

The bulk of the available descriptions are at the series levelrather than at the item level crucial for requesting information about specific images.

A series described in the National Archives Catalog, or in the published Guide to the Holdings of the Still Picture Branch, might contain several items or several hundred thousand items. Few series will ever be listed by individual item.

Even the more than 80,000 images digitized under NARA's Electronic Access Project, and viewable through the National Archives Catalog, represent only selections from the much larger universe of Still Picture holdings.

Reproduction work involving any still pictures in Presidential Libraries or in Regional Archives is handled through the respective site holding the items to be copied.
By Vidya : The Bombay High Court today asked the state government to ascertain allegations made by a petitioner against Nashik police and DGP for not registering a case. The petitioner had written that her children were beaten up during the ongoing Maratha reservation agitation, which has escalated tension in Nashik but the police did not entertain her complaint.

The writ petition has been filed in the Bombay High Court by Babybai Banshi Shinde, who is a housewife, belonging to the Scheduled Ccaste. Shinder has claimed that they were attacked by the Maratha community which led to destruction of Buddha and Dr Ambedkar idols in Nashik. In the petition, she had claimed of brutal attack on the basis of untouchability which had led to assault on her two sons. While one son is in a critical condition and admitted in JJ Hospital, another son is admitted at a civil hospital in Nashik.



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ATTACKED BY MARATHA MOB



The petition also alleged that on October 9, a Maratha youth mob attacked Buddha Vihar in village Sanjegaon, Igatpuri in district Nashik, during which Buddha and Ambedkar idols were destroyed but no FIR was filed in this regard. The lawyer, appearing for the petitioner, told the court that Shinde was affected by social boycott and was not allowed to file a complaint with the police. The court was further informed that there were prohibitory orders in the area at that time, to which the division bench of Justice Naresh Patil reiterated that, "If there were prohibitory, orders no one is allowed to venture out and the complaint can be filed thereafter."

The lawyer also said that the DGP had failed to entertain their compliant when they approached him at midnight. "Why did you approach him then, you could have met him the next day," said the court. "The state government should take instructions why the FIR was not filed in the matter and if the DGP failed to entertain their complaint," added the court.



SOCIO-ECONOMIC BOYCOTT



"The villages of Taluka Igatpuri, district Nashik are facing socio-economic boycott. People are not allowed to fetch water from the common well, Scheduled Caste people are not allowed to walk on the public roads," claimed the petition.

The petitioner seeks issuance of directions to the police to register the crime for destroying the idols of Buddha and Ambedkar and to record the statement of the victims before the judicial magistrate. The petitioner has also sought a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation in this matter.

--- ENDS ---
Charity sector organisations have called for measures to address the sectors 1.5bn irrecoverable VAT bill and for a strategic framework to improve government grant-giving, in a joint submission ahead of the governments Autumn Statement.

Sector bodies also called for funding for better voluntary sector technology, partnership hubs to develop stronger relationships between local voluntary sector organisations and public bodies, and funding for the transfer of public assets to the local voluntary sector.

Chancellor Phillip Hammond will make his Autumn Statement, which identifies government spending plans for the next year, on Wednesday 23 November.

Ten charity infrastructure bodies including NCVO, Acevo and the Charity Finance Group wrote to him last week outlining their main priorities.

Change irrecoverable VAT

The charities called for a reduction in the irrecoverable VAT bill, which costs more than 9,000 for each registered charity in the UK.

This gap is the unforeseen circumstance of the exemptions and exceptions that charities received when VAT was created in order to ensure that they were not forced to charge beneficiaries for their services, the submission said. However, this redirects charities resources away from their beneficiaries and creates an uneven playing field for charities that wish to engage in public service delivery as public bodies already have a rebate mechanism for their irrecoverable VAT.

The tax system should be fair to charities, and resources should not be wasted due to complexities within the VAT system that was not designed with the unique position of charities in mind.

In Autumn Statement 2014 and Budget 2015, the government set up a rebate scheme for hospices, blood bikes and search and rescue charities, proving reform is possible without the need for European action. This should be the start of a process to develop a sector wide rebate scheme.

Strategic framework for grants

The letter also said that the government has given a lot of grants to charities, but lacks any kind of strategic framework to decide which organisations get money.

Since 2013, the government has committed over 450m of Libor fines to good causes  predominately, military charities, air ambulances and health charities, the submission said. These funds have been a welcome income boost for the individual organisations that have been able to benefit from them. However, this funding was allocated without reference to the strategic funding needs of the wider voluntary sector.

The submission said that there should be a transparent, evidence-led process for determining the distribution of direct Treasury funding for voluntary organisations.

Full list of signatories:

Caron Bradshaw, chief executive, Charity Finance Group

Sir Stuart Etherington, chief executive, NCVO

Neil Cleeveley, chief executive, NAVCA

Tony Armstrong, chief executive, Locality

David Emerson, chief executive, Association of Charitable Foundations

Kunle Olulode, director, Voice4Change England

Asheem Singh, interim chief executive, ACEVO

John Barrett, acting chief executive, Small Charities Coalition

Peter Holbrook, chief executive, Social Enterprise UK

Peter Lewis, chief executive, Institute of Fundraising
By PTI: London, Oct 13 (PTI) People who regularly smoke large amounts of cannabis have reduced bone density and are more prone to fractures, putting them at greater risk of osteoporosis in later life, new research has warned.

The study also found that heavy cannabis users have a lower body weight and a reduced body mass index (BMI), which could contribute to thinning of their bones.

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Researchers say this could mean heavy users of the drug are at greater risk of osteoporosis in later life.

Scientists at the University of Edinburgh in the UK assessed 170 people who smoke cannabis regularly for recreational purposes and 114 non-users.

The team used a specialised X-ray technique called a DEXA scan to measure the bone density of study participants. They found that the bone density of heavy cannabis users was about five per cent lower than cigarette smokers who did not use cannabis.

Fractures were more common in heavy users compared to non-users, the study found. Moderate users, however, showed no difference from non-users.

The researchers defined heavy users as those who reported smoking cannabis on 5,000 or more occasions in their lifetime. In this study, however, the average heavy cannabis user had taken the drug more than 47,000 times. Moderate users had, on average, taken the drug about 1,000 times.

Smoking cannabis is often associated with increased appetite so the researchers were surprised to find that heavy cannabis users had a lower body weight and BMI than non-users.

This could be because cannabis may reduce appetite when taken in large amounts over a long period of time, researchers said.

The study is the first to investigate bone health amongst cannabis users. Researchers say further studies are needed to better understand the link between use of the drug and thinning of the bones.

"We have known for a while that the components of cannabis can affect bone cell function but we had no idea up until now of what this might mean to people who use cannabis on a regular basis," said lead researcher Stuart Ralston, from Edinburghs Centre for Genomic and Experimental Medicine.

"Our research has shown that heavy users of cannabis have quite a large reduction in bone density compared with non-users and there is a real concern that this may put them at increased risk of developing osteoporosis and fractures later in life," said Ralston.

The study was published in the American Journal of Medicine. PTI SAR SAR

--- ENDS ---
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10/12/2016

Photo (c) Michail Petrov - Fotolia Along with a good prenatal vitamin containing folic acid, many doctors recommend that moms-to-be take a daily vitamin D supplement during their pregnancy.

Now, a new study suggests that doing so may lower the risk of having a child with symptoms of ADHD by the time they reach 2 years old.

The study, published in the Australia & New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, uncovered a link between the concentration of vitamin D in a pregnant womans umbilical blood and fewer indications of ADHD by the time children reached 2 years.

For every 10 nmol/L increase in the vitamin D concentration in umbilical blood," explained Professor Niels Bilenberg, "the risk of a being among the 10% highest score on the ADHD symptom scale fell by 11%."

Study details

To conduct the study, researchers monitored 1,233 children. When children were 2 years old, their mothers completed the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL).

Researchers found that mothers who had taken vitamin D while pregnant had children with lower ADHD scores. However, the study's authors explained that the CBCL can only identify early symptoms of ADHD. It cannot officially diagnose the disorder or predict which children will develop it later on.

For scores to be lowered, mothers needed to have a vitamin D level in their umbilical blood over 25 nmol/L. Bilenberg noted that this trend held true even though the team had controlled for factors such as the mother's age, smoking, alcohol, obesity, education, number of children, psychiatric disease in the parents, child's sex, age, and seasonal variation.

Clear link

Until now, the link between vitamin D and early ADHD symptoms had not been described. The studys authors, Jens Bull Aaby and Mats Mossin, said they were very surprised that the link was so clear as there was no previous awareness that this link could be identified at such an early age.

Aaby and Mossin explained that the exact reason why vitamin D protects against ADHD is still hazy, but previous studies have shown that it plays an important role in childrens brain development.

Follow up needed

The study does not prove that low vitamin D levels are the cause of ADHD, Aaby explained. The team's findings simply indicated that "there is a link that we cannot explain in any other way."

A follow up study will be needed to determine which children with early symptoms of ADHD actually went on to develop the disorder.

The NHS notes that pregnant women should not seek to increase their levels of vitamin D through sunbathing, as a report by The Daily Telegraph recently suggested. Sunbathing during pregnancy carries risks and should be avoided when possible.
Good luck staying competitive today without offering members mobile banking. Its now a necessity, says Danielle Green, marketing strategist at $155 million asset Park City Credit Union, Merrill, Wis.

A 2015 report by the Federal Reserve Board, Consumers and Mobile Financial Services, revealed consumer trends and demand for mobile options. Key findings included:

Mobile phones are in widespread use, with 87% of U.S. adults using them and 71% of them being smartphones.

with 87% of U.S. adults using them and 71% of them being smartphones. The ubiquity of mobile phones is changing the way consumers access financial services: 52% of smartphone owners with a bank account have used mobile banking.

is changing the way consumers access financial services: 52% of smartphone owners with a bank account have used mobile banking. Mobile phones are changing the way consumers make payments, with mobile bill payment, point-of-sale, and other mobile payments on the rise.

the way consumers make payments, with mobile bill payment, point-of-sale, and other mobile payments on the rise. Personal preferences and security concerns continue to be the main impediments to the adoption of mobile payments.

continue to be the main impediments to the adoption of mobile payments. Smartphones are changing the way people shop and make financial decisions. For example, 63% of survey participants check their account balances on their smartphones before making a large purchase, and more than half decide not to purchase as a result of their account balance or credit limit.

Mobile phones are prevalent among unbanked and underbanked consumers. A full 90% of underbanked consumers have access to mobile phones, 73% of which are smartphones. And 48% of underbanked consumers use mobile banking.

Rates of mobile phone use remain high and consistent across demographic and socioeconomic groups, notes the report. The prevalence of mobile phones demonstrates the extent to which theyve become engrained in modern culture.

Where to start?

When choosing a provider, Green recommends starting by defining your credit unions needs: What features are most important to your members?

In Park Citys case, functionality and ease of use for both members and the credit union were top priorities.

It had to have a very user-friendly interface, says Green. We dont want to complicate members lives with more log-ins or multiple clicks to get where they need to go. On our end, the app has a platform that makes it easy for us to go in and make updates on our own, and also to view reports to see how our app is doing.

Rockford Bell Credit Union, Loves Park, Ill., added mobile banking three years ago, serving as a beta site, sponsored by the Illinois Credit Union League.

We wanted to get something out there, says John Hansen, president of the $31 million asset credit union.

As banking customers in the area asked why mobile banking wasnt available, Rockford Bell decided to step in. If you can offer a service that others dont offer, its an advantage, he explains.

We knew the future of our credit union is in the next generation, and they want mobile banking capability on their phones, he adds. Thats a nice little niche to be into offer mobile banking even when some of the larger financial institutions in the area dont.

Features and functions

Mobile apps designed for credit unions provide full functionality, no matter the size of the credit union. Generally, they work with major mobile smartphones and tablets, and allow members to participate in remote deposit capture (RDC).

In most cases, members can:

Transfer money between accounts;

View branch locations and hours;

Find the closest ATM;

Fill out a loan request;

Calculate loan payments;

Contact the credit union; and

Access RDC using a smartphone or a tablet, if this feature is offered by the credit union.

Offering mobile banking to members is a win-win for members and the credit union, says Green, and now its become a necessary service for the modern financial institution to provide.

Theres a lot of research and studies out there showing that more people are going on the internet or doing their banking right from their phones, and our membership is no different, Green says. Having a mobile app allows us to continue to stay innovative, not only for our current membership, but also for our potential membership.
Wells Fargo said on Wednesday that Chairman and CEO John Stumpf will retire effective immediately in the wake of a sales practice scandal at the bank.

The companys board of directors elected President and Chief Operating Officer Tim Sloan to succeed him as CEO, while Lead Director Stephen Sanger will serve as the boards non-executive chairman.

The news comes after it was revealed that employees in Wells Fargos community banking division opened about 2 million accounts without customer authorization, which resulted in the bank paying $185 million in penalties. Stumpf was grilled on Capitol Hill as he defended the banks sales practices.

Stumpf said that he was grateful for the opportunity to have led Wells Fargo and is optimistic about the banks future.
In New Zealand, Hacking Is A Serious Business

The concerns of New Zealand's leading chief executives vary but if there is anything close to a consensus, it is that cybersecurity is major one.

On a scale of one (equaling no concern) to 10 (extreme concern) respondents to the Mood of the Boardroom survey rated cybersecurity 7.16/10 out of a list of 16 international factors.

To underline the scale of their concern, almost twice as many chief executives rated cybersecurity at 9/10 or 10/10 as they did the next most concerning issue, the outcome of the November 8 US presidential election.

Scott Bartlett, CEO of Kordia, the Government's broadcast and telecommunications network operator, believes we need to get serious about the threat posed by cybersecurity vulnerabilities. "As a country, we are immature when it comes to understanding and coping with the risks associated with cybersecurity," he said. He ranks it as one of the top three issues facing the nation.

Though acknowledgement of the risks may not be as widespread as it could be, it is certainly at the forefront of the minds of many New Zealand business leaders. "Seeing that our technology is robust from cyber-attacks is a key priority," said Cathy Quinn, chair of Minter Ellison Rudd Watts. "Failure to successfully manage this risk has the potential to fundamentally threaten the viability of our business.

"Cybersecurity is something we take seriously and we are grateful for the quality of the team we have who are focused on preventing attacks and responding to cyber threats."

Facilitating that response can sometimes mean internal and external frustrations, such as when email might be blocked because it appears suspicious to firewalls.

But that's a cost Quinn sees as well worth bearing: "We trust, though, that our people and clients will accept the occasional frustration given that the objective is to protect confidential client and business information."

When asked for their business priorities for the year ahead, many other executives also pointed to addressing cybersecurity risks. A retail sector CEO identified "enhancing the risk environments across the business, especially cyber risk," as a major focus. Z Energy CEO Mike Bennetts ranked risk management as a key priority -- two examples of the diversity of risks on his radar were cyber security and climate change.

The fact that cybersecurity now ranks alongside what have long been seen as the world's greatest challenges is telling. A real estate director said, "Both terrorism and cybersecurity are always cause for concern of the highest level, as we do not know when and where it will next hit."

In light of the increasing acknowledgement of the risk, there are opportunities for the businesses that help address it. Kordia acquired Aura Information Security, a leading cybersecurity company, for just over $10m in late 2015.

Bartlett sees addressing cybersecurity threats as a potential selling point for New Zealand.

"We are small enough to make our little country a stand-out example of how to get it right," he said. "If we can, our cyber-safe brand will be as important as, and more credible than, 100 per cent Pure New Zealand."

According to a report cited in the Government's National Plan to Address Cybercrime, released in 2015, the annual cost of cybercrime to the global economy has been estimated at US$400 billion.

Notable examples of cyber-attacks in recent times include the 2015 server breach of VTech, a children's toy manufacturer, and Anthem, a health insurance company.

The former resulted in the theft of 4.8 million parents' records, and over 6.8 million children's records. The hack on Anthem saw almost 80 million personal health records exposed.

After Sony was the victim of a well-publicised hack in 2014, thought to be linked to North Korea, the company had to put aside US$15m in the following quarter alone to beef up its cybersecurity systems. Some estimates suggested the true cost of the hack may have been closer to US$100m.

With fallout like that, it's little wonder that New Zealand's CEOs are beginning to take note.

NZ Herald: Insurance & Cyber Vulnerability - Get Your Report for 2016


Method cheap and accessible; in two-thirds of cases detected, there were no symptoms

A smartphone app, combined with a hand-held wireless single lead heart monitor (ECG), could feasibly be used to test for irregular heart rate, a potentially fatal condition known as atrial fibrillation or AF for short, suggests research published online in the journal Heart.

The method is cheap and accessible and so might be particularly useful for systematic mass screening, given that the condition was silent in around two thirds of newly diagnosed cases, suggest the researchers.

AF is associated with a heightened risk of stroke, heart failure, and death, and its prevalence is predicted to triple in the USA by 2050, because it is increasingly more common after the age of 65. But appropriate treatment can cut the risk of a stroke by up to 70%.

The researchers tested more than 13,000 adults in Hong Kong for atrial fibrillation between May 2014 and April 2015, using a smartphone app combined with a hand-held, wireless, single lead heart monitor (ECG). Participants were recruited to this community screening programme as a result of media campaigns and posters in community hubs.

The test, which lasted 30 seconds, picked up 101 cases (0.8%) of AF that had not been diagnosed before. In two thirds of these cases, the condition was symptomless, but their combined risk scores topped 3, suggesting that they would have benefited from treatment.

The result was uninterpretable in only 56 (0.4%) of those tested.

Overall, almost one in 10 (8.5%) of those tested had AF--a prevalence that is comparable with that of populations in developed countries. Increasing age (60+), male sex, weight, and a history of heart disease/surgery and peripheral vascular disease were all predictive of the condition.

Current guidelines recommend opportunistic screening for AF, but the researchers suggest that their findings indicate that systematic mass screening might instead be feasible.

"A systematic population-based ECG screening for AF, instead of an opportunistic approach, as recommended by the current [European Society of Cardiology] guidelines, may lead to a reduction in the incidence of stroke in the community," they conclude, advocating the need for a well designed clinical trial to test this out.

A linked editorial by Swedish cardiologists, Drs Emma Svennberg and Engdahl, from, respectively, the Karolinska Institute and the Sahlgrenska Academy at Gothenburg University, agree that the findings are important, but they sound a note of caution.

Systematic mass screening programmes for AF have not achieved coverage of more than 50% when targeted at those most at risk--uptake that is lower than most other established screening programmes, they say. And while the results are promising, "much more data on the optimal mode and duration of ECG recording are needed."

They go on to say that a major drawback of the research is the lack of data on the proportion of people who received appropriate medication (anticoagulants) after their test, pointing out that screening alone does not afford protection against the risk of stroke.

"In order to relieve both patients and society from the consequences of untreated AF, we believe and hope that AF screening in risk groups will be a part of the standard healthcare in many countries in the near future," they write.

"Besides, isn't it encouraging that we can use our smartphones to search for other things than Pokemons?" they add.

###

Research: Screening for atrial fibrillation in 13 122 Hong Kong citizens with smartphone electrocardiogram http://heart.bmj.com/lookup/doi/10.1136/heartjnl-2016-309993

Editorial: Why should we screen for atrial fibrillation? http://heart.bmj.com/lookup/doi/10.1136/heartjnl-2016-310305

About the journal: Heart is one of 60 specialist journals published by BMJ. The title is co-owned with the British Cardiovascular Society. http://heart.bmj.com
Perinatal brain injury often results in severe developmental disabilities, including neurodevelopmental delay and cerebral palsy. Furthermore, three to five per 1,000 infants experience brain injury caused by hypoxia-ischemia (HI), or insufficient blood flow to cells and organs, at birth. The resulting neurodevelopmental disabilities can place a lifelong burden on parents and society.

Toward determining the most effective treatment strategies for full-term and premature infants exposed to HI and other perinatal brain injury, Barbara Stonestreet, MD, a neonatal-perinatal specialist at Women & Infants Hospital of Rhode Island, a Care New England hospital, and professor of pediatrics at The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University, has received two two-year grants totaling $881,100 from the National Institutes of Health. The grants are entitled, "Beneficial effects of inter-alpha inhibitors in fetal brain injury" and "Inter-alpha inhibitors: Novel neuroinflammatory modulator of neonatal brain injury." Collaborating with Dr. Stonestreet on these programs will be Yow-Pin Lim, MD, PhD, founder and CEO of ProThera Biologics. ProThera Biologics is pioneering the application of Inter-alpha inhibitor proteins (IAIPs) to severe inflammatory diseases including HI. In addition, Xiaodi Chen, MD, PhD who is a member of Dr. Stonestreet's team and an assistant professor at Brown, has significantly contributed in writing these grants.

IAIPs are known to be effective in modulating inflammatory responses. However, Dr. Stonestreet explained, there is limited information regarding the neuroprotective properties of IAIPs, which could be beneficial in treating full-term and premature infants suffering from perinatal brain injury.

Dr. Stonestreet said, "These studies have exciting translational potential for an important new treatment strategy to prevent or decrease brain injury in infants at risk for brain damage, mental retardation or cerebral palsy."

Dr. Lim added, "ProThera is extremely pleased to be collaborating on this critical work. This is such an unmet medical need, and Dr. Stonestreet and her team of researchers at Women & Infants Hospital are world leaders in addressing the needs of these patients."

###

About Women & Infants Hospital

Women & Infants Hospital of Rhode Island, a Care New England hospital, is one of the nation's leading specialty hospitals for women and newborns. A major teaching affiliate of The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University for obstetrics, gynecology and newborn pediatrics, as well as a number of specialized programs in women's medicine, Women & Infants is the 12th largest stand-alone obstetrical service in the country and the largest in New England with approximately 8,500 deliveries per year. A Designated Baby-Friendly USA hospital, U.S.News & World Report 2014-15 Best Children's Hospital in Neonatology and a 2014 Leapfrog Top Hospital, in 2009 Women & Infants opened what was at the time the country's largest, single-family room neonatal intensive care unit.

Women & Infants and Brown offer fellowship programs in gynecologic oncology, maternal-fetal medicine, urogynecology and reconstructive pelvic surgery, neonatal-perinatal medicine, pediatric and perinatal pathology, gynecologic pathology and cytopathology, and reproductive endocrinology and infertility. It is home to the nation's first mother-baby perinatal psychiatric partial hospital, as well as the nation's only fellowship program in obstetric medicine.

Women & Infants has been designated as a Breast Imaging Center of Excellence by the American College of Radiography; a Center of Excellence in Minimally Invasive Gynecology; a Center of Biomedical Research Excellence by the National Institutes of Health (NIH); and a Neonatal Resource Services Center of Excellence. It is one of the largest and most prestigious research facilities in high risk and normal obstetrics, gynecology and newborn pediatrics in the nation, and is a member of the National Cancer Institute's Gynecologic Oncology Group and the Pelvic Floor Disorders Network.

About ProThera

ProThera Biologics, Inc. is a Rhode Island-based bio-therapeutics Company pioneering the development of innovative products based on Inter-alpha Inhibitor Proteins (IAIPs). The Company was founded in 2001 to focus on the critical role and commercial potential of IAIPs for treating acute, life-threatening inflammatory diseases. IAIPs are a family of naturally occurring proteins found in high concentration in human plasma and play an important role in the regulation of host immune response. Led by Yow-Pin Lim, MD, PhD and Denice Spero, PhD, the company is backed by the Slater Technology Fund and has received continuous funding from the National Institutes of Health with Phase I and II Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grants over the past 10 years.
LEDs have inspired a new generation of electronics, but there is still work ahead if we want luminescent materials to consume less energy and have longer lifespans. Certain inorganic metals seem promising, but they are rare, expensive to process, and potentially toxic. In Chem on October 13, researchers in China present an alternative: a group of metal-free phosphorescent molecules that efficiently and persistently glow different colors at room temperature and are potentially three times more efficient than a fluorescent organic LED.

Phosphorescence from organic compounds has typically been observed at extremely low temperatures and in the absence of oxygen, which limits their scope for practical applications. Room-temperature phosphorescence (RTP) has been more of a challenge, given that oxygen and physical vibrations interfere with the ability of organic phosphorescent molecules to emit light.

"Organic RTP systems are desirable, thanks to their wider availability and better tailorability, but are challenging to develop," says senior author Ben Zhong Tang, a chemist at the Hong Kong University of Science & Technology, and the South China University of Technology. "In this paper, we report pure organic RTP molecules with high efficiencies and long lifetimes that will help promote basic study and practical applications of RTP processes."

Tang, Weijun Zhao, and Zikai He, graduate students at the Hong Kong University of Science & Technology, and colleagues overcame the challenge by modeling how organic RTP systems behave. On the basis of this information, they designed and synthesized five carbonyl-containing aromatic molecules that stay excited and emit light for up to 230 milliseconds. The molecules could also be tuned to glow blue to orange-red. Other groups looking at the problem had focused more on blocking the phosphors' nonradiative decays.

The researchers hope that these engineered phosphors can be continually tweaked to meet the requirements for sensors and light-sensitive switches. "Based on our model or structural design principle, we will try to develop RTP systems with lifetime up to seconds and efficiency up to unity (100%)," Tang says. "In particular, we will work on the developments of RTP molecules and polymers with potential of finding high-tech applications in bioimaging, optical recording, anti-counterfeiting, and afterglow organic LEDs."

###

The work was supported by the National Basic Research Program of China 973 Program, the Research Grants Council of Hong Kong, the University Grants Committee of Hong Kong, the Innovation and Technology Commission, the National Natural Science Foundation of China, and the Guangdong Innovative Research Team Program.

Chem, Zhao and He et al.: "Rational Molecular Design for Achieving Persistent and Efficient Pure Organic Room-Temperature Phosphorescence" http://www.cell.com/chem/fulltext/S2451-9294(16)30112-7

Chem (@Chem_CP) is the first physical science journal published by Cell Press. The sister journal to Cell, Chem provides a home for seminal and insightful research and showcases how fundamental studies in chemistry and its sub-disciplines may help in finding potential solutions to the global challenges of tomorrow. Visit http://www.cell.com/chem. To receive Cell Press media alerts, contact press@cell.com.
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. -- One of the biggest untapped clean energy sources on the planet -- wave energy -- could one day power millions of homes across the U.S. But more than a century after the first tests of the power of ocean waves, it is still one of the hardest energy sources to capture.

Now, engineers at Sandia National Laboratories are conducting the largest model-scale wave energy testing of its kind to improve the performance of wave-energy converters (WECs). The project is taking place at the U.S. Navy's Maneuvering and Sea Keeping facility at the Carderock Division in Bethesda, Maryland, one of the largest wave tanks in the world at 360 feet long and 240 feet wide and able to hold 12 million gallons of water.

Sandia project leads Ryan Coe and Giorgio Bacelli spend long days in the dark wave tank, where minimal lighting reduces the growth of algae in the water. They are collecting data from their numerical modeling and experimental research to benefit wave energy technology with improved methodologies, strategic control systems design and testing practices for wave energy converters.

"Our goal is to improve the economic viability of these devices," said Coe. "In order to do so, we are working out ways to control the WEC's generator to increase the amount of power it absorbs. At the same time, we are looking at how to reduce the loads and stresses on these devices in harsh conditions to ultimately lengthen a WEC's lifespan in the water."

Coe said numerous initial studies estimate that improving control of the WECs' generators can dramatically increase energy absorption by as much as 300 percent. Transitioning these simplified studies to more realistic large-scale devices is the challenge at hand.

To control the dynamics for better, faster results in the wave tank, Coe and Bacelli are using modeling and control methods that have been successful in other industries, such as in the aerospace industry.

"The systems we used have been around for a while, but strangely enough they had never been applied to wave energy converters," Bacelli said. "So far, we know the techniques we are using are more efficient and cost-effective than existing methods. We are getting more information in a fraction of the time."

Now that Sandia has completed the first round of analyses in the water, Coe said the goal is to process all the collected data to develop a new, enhanced model that will make sure the next test yields even more valuable results.

"Make no mistake, these are extremely complex machines," Bacelli said. "They have to be fine-tuned continuously because ocean waves are constantly changing. With this setup at the Navy's facility, we have a unique opportunity to study the problems and quantify the effects. We want to help the industry by offering solutions to the challenges the wave energy world is facing."

Sandia's continuing wave energy project, Advanced WEC Dynamics and Controls, kicked off in 2013 and is funded by the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy.

Innovations from Sandia's Water Power Technologies Program advance our nation's energy security by making renewable energy more economically feasible. Contributions include WEC-Sim, an open source code for modelling the performance of wave energy converters, extreme-conditions modeling and tidal and turbine modeling. Sandia researchers serve as advisers and judges for the Department of Energy's Wave Energy Prize competition.

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Sandia National Laboratories is a multimission laboratory operated by Sandia Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of Lockheed Martin Corp., for the U.S. Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration. With main facilities in Albuquerque, N.M., and Livermore, Calif., Sandia has major R&D responsibilities in national security, energy and environmental technologies and economic competitiveness.

Sandia news media contact: Rebecca Brock, rabrock@sandia.gov, (505) 844-7772
UPTON, NY--Tomoyasu Mani, former Goldhaber Fellow at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory and now an assistant professor in the University of Connecticut's Department of Chemistry, has received the 2016 Blavatnik Regional Award for Young Scientists in the chemistry category. The awards, established in 2007 by the Blavatnik Family Foundation in partnership with the New York Academy of Sciences, celebrate the innovative achievements of postdoctoral scientists 42 years of age or younger who work in New York, New Jersey, or Connecticut. Mani is being recognized for his "advances in the understanding of electron transport occurring in organic photovoltaics used in solar energy capture and conversion."

"I'm very honored to be recognized by the Blavatnik Regional Award. As an early-career scientist, I appreciate the increased visibility in the field of chemistry and the larger scientific community that this award will bring me, and I look forward to continuing to make contributions to the field," said Mani. "Although younger generations of scientists may be unfamiliar with radiation chemistry or find it hard to apply to their work, my research to understand fundamental processes in organic solar cells is a good example of how radiation chemistry can provide us with valuable information that is hard or impossible to come by using other means."

Mani joined the Chemistry Department at Brookhaven Lab in 2013. The following year, he was awarded the prestigious Gertrude and Maurice Goldhaber Distinguished Fellowship, which is given to exceptionally talented candidates who have a strong desire for independent research at the frontiers of their fields. He held this appointment until August 2016, when he became part of the Department of Chemistry faculty at the University of Connecticut.

While at Brookhaven, Mani studied how delocalized electrons move through chains of organic molecules with alternating double and single bonds. Organic photovoltaic devices use these "conjugated" molecules to convert sunlight into electricity. While organic solar cells are more flexible and lightweight than the conventional silicon-based versions, their power-conversion efficiency has been limited. Understanding how the electrical charges generated by sunlight are separated and transported to produce a current is critical to increasing this efficiency.

"The challenge is to characterize these charged species in the non-polar environments where the electricity-producing chemical reactions occur. We are trying to elucidate the basic principles that govern the nature of charges on a very fundamental level in such an environment," said Mani.

To investigate the nature of charges in conjugated molecules, Mani combined chemical synthesis (to make the molecules), pulse radiolysis (to inject charges into the molecules), infrared spectroscopy (to study the atomic vibrations of these charged molecules), and theoretical analysis (to understand how the electrons move). His research demonstrated that molecular vibrations provide insights into the nature of charged species that can help scientists design better molecules and materials for harnessing and storing solar energy.

"For someone only a few years out of graduate school, Tomo has made impressive accomplishments," said John Miller, leader of Brookhaven's Electron- and Photo-Induced Processes Group and Mani's former advisor. "He came up with several innovative ideas and designed and carried out experiments to test these ideas, often using sophisticated equipment such as accelerators and performing complex theoretical computations. Creativity, initiative, and enthusiasm are important characteristics of a young scientist, and Tomo has them all."

A distinguished jury of senior scientists and engineers selected Mani from among 125 nominations submitted by 24 academic and research institutions in the New York tri-state area. One winner and two finalists were selected in each of the three award categories: life sciences, physical sciences and engineering, and chemistry. Winners each receive $30,000; finalists receive $10,000.

"Tomo asked important science questions and was creative in designing new molecules to test his ideas, adept in chemical synthesis, astute in using the unique capabilities of the division's Accelerator Center for Energy Research, and insightful in his collaborations to understand how his results could give new meaning to molecular charge dynamics," said Alex Harris, chair of the Chemistry Division at Brookhaven. "We expect more great work will come from him, and we look forward to continuing our collaboration with him while he is at the University of Connecticut."

This fall, Mani is teaching a course on advanced physical chemistry and leading a new research group that seeks to understand how to control electronic excited states, charge and energy transfer reactions, and spin dynamics in molecules and molecular assemblies. For his research, he continues to combine various approaches, including chemical synthesis, photo- and radiation-chemistry experimental techniques, and theoretical and computational analysis. Part of his computational work will involve the use of the computer cluster at the Center for Functional Nanomaterials, a DOE Office of Science User Facility at Brookhaven Lab. Mani will be back at Brookhaven from October 10 through 14 to discuss his research at the 2016 International Conference on Ionizing Processes.

Mani regularly presents his work at conferences and is invited to talk at institutes throughout the United States and abroad. For the past five years, he has been mentoring undergraduate and graduate students. His professional memberships include the American Chemical Society, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the Japanese Photochemistry Association. He earned a BS in biochemistry from the University of Texas at Dallas in 2009 and a PhD in biochemistry and molecular biophysics at the University of Pennsylvania in 2013.

Mani, the other two regional award winners, and the six regional finalists will be honored at a ceremony during the New York Academy of Sciences Annual Gala on November 7, 2016 in New York City.

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Brookhaven National Laboratory is supported by the Office of Science of the U.S. Department of Energy. The Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States, and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, please visit science.energy.gov.
The British territory of Bermuda has shut down overnight as Hurricane Nicole rapidly strengthened into a major Category 4 storm. The US National Hurricane Center in Miami called Nicole "extremely dangerous" and warned islanders to brace themselves for the storm.

By India Today Web Desk: Heavy wind and rain began battering Bermuda late Wednesday as the British territory and the storm has quickly reached Category 4 status late Wednesday evening with windsspeed clocked in at 130 mph.

Forecast from the National Hurricane Center (NHC) in Miami called Nicole an "extremely dangerous" storm and urged islanders to rush preparations for its powerful rain and winds.

#BREAKING #HurricaneNicole is now a extremely dangerous category 4 with 130mph winds. Serious situation in #Bermuda as #Nicole hits tomorrow pic.twitter.com/1MroQGM65g Mike Thomas (@MikeTFox5) October 13, 2016

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Just few days after the devastating Hurricane Mathew took lives of thousands and caused massive destruction in Haiti, Nicole started barrelling down on Bermuda as a Category 2 storm with 110 mph sustained wind. Since Nicole had formed, about 500 miles northeast of Puerto Rico in October, NASA has been tracking the storm.

Hurricane Nicole continues to strengthen as it heads toward Bermuda. The storms large eye visible via satellite: https://t.co/wE5uLdfzxX pic.twitter.com/lBVGQX9A3P NASA (@NASA) October 12, 2016

The storm formed on October 4 strengthened into a hurricane on October 6. According to Hurricane News, Nicole then slowly meandered southward before finally beginning to drift northward late on October 9. The storm moved northward on October 11 and reached the category 4 status yesterday. Currently, the storm continues to strengthen as it heads toward Bermuda and a the above satellite image by NASA shows the storm's large eye.

Perspective: Major category 4 hurricane #Nicole has an eye that is approximately 50 miles (80 km) wide, about double the width of #Bermuda. pic.twitter.com/kRXo3da5u2 Ben Noll (@BenNollWeather) October 13, 2016

The categorization scale from 1 to 5 of a hurricane helps residents to gauge the strength of the storm and prepare accordingly.

Category 1: Wind speed can touch 74 to 95 mph and cause minor damage.

Category 2: Wind speed s go up to 96 to 110 mph and the velocity can cause extensive damage.

Category 3: Wind speed which touch 111 to 130 mph has the potential to destroy humans, and animals, cause inland flooding and destroy property.

Category 4: With winds ranging from 131 to 155 mph the storm can be catastrophic, the stage at which Hurricane Nicole has currently reached.

Category 5: Winds at or greater than 155 mph can cause complete destruction of human and animal life, massive power cuts and flooding.

The video below explains the different categories:



For Those Who Don't Know The Difference In Category Hurricanes FYI #HurricaneMatthew Is A Category 4 #PrayForFlorida pic.twitter.com/4EU69L5KGd Slice Wrestling (@EntSlice) October 7, 2016



Bermuda braces for the menacing storm

Although Bermuda has sturdy infrastructure and is accustomed to storms, government officials have instructed people to prepare for the hurricane and remain indoors on Wednesday and Thursday, reports AP.

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Hundreds of people had rushed to shops and gas stations for last-minute preparations as rain and wind began to batter Bermuda. Those at home got ready to face what is coming their way, with resident Danni Joell saying she was "cooking up a storm" with her son, Tyler, in the kitchen.

"We have a long night in front of us.We better be prepared for the onslaught of hurricane force winds, but if we heed the warnings, we will be in a strong position once the storm blows through." " Premier Michael Dunkley told AP.

The damage so far



American Airlines and Air Canada are among several that have cancelled flights to the island, and several cruise ships have canceled trips as well. Nicole has disrupted the next US cargo supply trip to the International Space Station.



The hurricane is kicking up heavy surf in islands south of Bermuda including Puerto Rico, where authorities said they were looking for the body of a surfer who disappeared on Tuesday. He was identified as 37-year-old Gabriel Pantoja.



With Inputs from AP



--- ENDS ---
OAK RIDGE, Tenn., Oct. 13, 2016 - Small businesses in the clean-energy sector have another opportunity to request technical assistance from the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory through the DOE Small Business Vouchers Pilot.

"The business voucher program helps small businesses access the world-renowned expertise and instrumentation at ORNL and other DOE labs, bringing innovative clean energy products to market," said Moe Khaleel, Associate Laboratory Director for Energy and Environmental Sciences at ORNL. "Companies can take advantage of high-tech resources that they may not have realized were available, whether it is collaborating with our researchers or gaining assistance from top engineers or facilities."

Johanna Wolfson, Director of EERE's Technology to Market program announced the launch of Small Business Vouchers' (SBV) third round on October 10 at South By Southwest Eco in Austin, Texas. The pilot is part of EERE's National Laboratory Impact Initiative portfolio.

The SBV Pilot opened its first funding round in fall 2015 and launched its second last spring. Through the first two rounds, 76 small businesses from 25 states have been awarded almost $15 million in vouchers.

For this third round, EERE hopes to increase new small businesses collaborating with the DOE national laboratories. As such, small businesses with little to no experience working with the DOE national labs are strongly encouraged to submit requests for assistance.

Individual vouchers range from $50,000 to $300,000 per small business and can be used to perform collaborative research or access to lab instrumentation or facilities. Companies selected must also provide a 20 percent, in-kind cost share for completing voucher work.

Currently, ORNL has 16 small businesses completing more than $3 million in vouchers to work on projects in advanced manufacturing, building technologies, fuel cells, geothermal energy and vehicle technologies.

Businesses interested in SBV funding must be U.S.-based and U.S.-owned with no more than 500 full time employees worldwide. A total of $12 million is available for vouchers in rounds three and four. Companies have until November 10 to submit assistance requests.

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To learn more about ORNL's expertise and the process to submit a request, please visit http://www.SBV.org.

UT-Battelle manages ORNL for DOE's Office of Science. The Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States, and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, please visit science.energy.gov. For ORNL partnerships information, contact http://www.ornl.gov/partnerships.

NOTE TO EDITORS: You may read other press releases from Oak Ridge National Laboratory or learn more about the lab at http://www.ornl.gov/news. Additional information about ORNL is available at the sites below:

Twitter - http://twitter.com/ornl

RSS Feeds - http://www.ornl.gov/ornlhome/rss_feeds.shtml

Flickr - http://www.flickr.com/photos/oakridgelab

YouTube - http://www.youtube.com/user/OakRidgeNationalLab

LinkedIn - http://www.linkedin.com/companies/oak-ridge-national-laboratory

Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/Oak.Ridge.National.Laboratory
A minimally invasive procedure to fix a life-threatening condition may be associated with an increase in long-term complications, compared to an alternative procedure

A minimally-invasive procedure to fix a life-threatening condition may be associated with an increase in long-term complications, compared to an alternative procedure.

The research, from scientists at Imperial College London and the University of Cambridge, followed patients for up to 15 years who underwent a minimally-invasive procedure to fix an aortic aneurysm, called endovascular aneurysm repair (EVAR).

They also tracked patients with an aneurysm who underwent 'open surgery', which involves a large incision in the belly.

The patients who underwent the EVAR procedure had a lower mortality risk in the first six months following the operation, and were shown to have a similar mortality risk up to eight years following the operation.

However, the researchers wanted to then track what happened after this eight-year period.

In the latest study, published in The Lancet, the researchers found that after eight years the EVAR patients had a higher mortality rate than patients who underwent the open procedure.

The authors stress that, overall, the EVAR procedure has benefits for patients, such as less pain and a shorter hospital stay. However they urge doctors to assess patients annually following the operation, to prevent complications.

The research involved 1252 UK patients who had been diagnosed with an abdominal aortic aneurysm. This is a bulge in the aorta, the main blood vessel that runs through the body, and affects around one in 20 men over the age of 65.

If the bulge bursts it is often fatal, therefore once the bulge reaches a width of 5.5cm surgeons must operate. The EVAR procedure, which can be performed under local anaesthetic, is the most common option.

The technique involves inserting a tiny flexible plastic tube, called an EVAR device, inside the bulge to strengthen the vessel walls. The tube is inserted into the body through a small incision in the groin, and fed up to the aorta with a guide wire.

The other option is open surgery, which is performed under general anaesthetic, and involves surgeons making a large incision in the abdomen to access the aorta. A piece of man-made fibre is then used to replace the section of bulging artery.

In the longest running study of its kind, the research assessed whether one operation had advantages over the other, and randomly assigned 626 patients to have the EVAR procedure, while 626 were assigned to the open procedure. All patients were aged 60 or over (the average age was 74), and had the procedure between 1999 and 2004.

The initial results of the study suggested that in the six months immediately following the operation, patients who underwent the EVAR procedure had a 42 per cent reduction in mortality risk compared to patients who underwent the open procedure.

This was thought to be due to the complications from the open operation such as bleeding and chest problems.

The team then assessed the patients again from this six-month period to eight years after the procedure. They found no difference in mortality risk between the two patient groups.

In the latest study, the team assessed longer-term mortality risk, between 8 and 15 years after the procedure.

The patients who received the EVAR procedure were found to have a 14 per cent increased risk of mortality during this period.

They also had a greater risk of the initial aneurysm expanding again and rupturing, which in the majority of cases was fatal.

There had been 13 deaths among the EVAR patients between 8-15 years due to an aneurysm bursting. Two deaths were due to this complication in the open surgery group.

The EVAR patients were found to have a four-fold increased risk of aneurysm-related death compared to patients who received open surgery.

Professor Roger Greenhalgh, lead author from the Department of Surgery and Cancer at Imperial said these deadly aneurysms could be prevented if the patients' aortas were scanned regularly.

He explained: "These findings need to be a wake-up call to doctors across the world. Many of these aneurysms could have been caught with regularly scanning, such as ultrasound scanning. Therefore we should be scanning patients who undergo the EVAR procedure at least once a year, rather than the current situation where patients receive scans far less often."

He added: "The vast majority of aneurysm repairs performed in the world are EVAR procedures, and we are certainly not recommending switching back to the open operation. This involves a large incision in the body and carries serious risks."

Professor Greenhalgh explained that the aneurysms in EVAR patients seem to be re-filling when the tube inserted into the artery slips out of place. This may be because a patient's artery continues to widen following the operation, causing the tube to eventually come loose.

"What appears to be happening is that the device inserted into the aorta can move slightly over time. This allows tiny leaks to occur. Over time, these leaks cause a pressure build-up in the original aneurysm, which is then at risk of bursting. However, if patients were regularly scanned, these aneurysms could be caught in time."

He added that the devices used in modern procedures have improved over the last 15 years, when this study first started. Furthermore, 3D dimensional imaging has emerged to enable surgeons to fit the device more accurately, which reduces the risk of leaking.

"However, even taking these improvements into account, regular, life-long, scanning is still essential," he said.

The team also found patients who had the EVAR procedure appeared to have a higher rate of cancer deaths in the latest follow-up period.

"We don't know what could be responsible for this. One possibility is the higher number of CT scans these patients received, as well as the additional corrective procedures which involved radiation imaging, which is why ultrasound scans are now used. These additional cancer deaths warrant further investigation," said Professor Greenhalgh.

He also added scientists need to investigate why some people's artery walls seem to be more prone to widening, and developing aneurysms. Research suggests genetics may play a role, while lifestyle factors such as smoking and high blood pressure also increase risk.

Professor Greenhalgh added: "Aneurysm repair - of either type - is an essential, life-saving operation. However, any patients concerned about the operation should talk to their healthcare team, and discuss which type would be best for them, and how often they will be monitored."

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The study was funded by the National Institute of Health Research Health Technology Assessment Programme. This article presents independent research funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR). The views expressed are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the NHS, the NIHR or the Department of Health.
PROVIDENCE, R.I. - The Minimally Invasive Urology Institute (MIUI) at The Miriam Hospital is now performing a completely laparoscopic surgery for the treatment of bladder cancer.

The procedure - robotic-assisted laparoscopic radical cystectomy with intracorporeal urinary diversion - can be used to remove the bladder, pelvic lymph nodes and prostate in men, and the bladder, uterus and fallopian tubes in women. The surgery concludes with removing a piece of bowel and using it to create a urinary diversion, or way for urine to leave the body in the absence of the bladder. The entire surgery is performed with an intracorporeal approach, meaning completely laparoscopically within the body, versus traditional open surgery.

Previously, the surgery was performed at The Miriam Hospital with a seven- to 10-centimeter incision at the belly button, and the urinary diversion was created through this incision, outside the body. Most other institutions still perform the surgery with a large incision in an open surgical approach. In addition to featuring smaller incisions, the minimally invasive intracorporeal approach offers improved patient outcomes, including a lower complication rate and shorter hospital stay, according to the International Robotic Cystectomy Consortium.

Dragan Golijanin, M.D., director of genitourinary oncology at The Miriam and Rhode Island hospitals and co-director of the MIUI, is among the first 11 urologists nationwide, and the only physician in New England, to have successfully performed a robotic cystectomy with intracorporeal urinary diversion. The first hospital in Southern New England to perform a robotic-assisted procedure, The Miriam has completed more than 2,000 urologic robotic-assisted surgeries since 2006.

"In being able to perform this difficult surgery laparoscopically from beginning to end, we are able to remain on the leading edge of bladder cancer treatments by offering patients the latest, most innovative care available. The result is improved outcomes for our patients. This further demonstrates our commitment to advanced urologic treatments," said Golijanin.

Cancer of the urinary bladder is the fifth most common cancer in Rhode Island, and the sixth most common in the United States. Bladder cancer also has the highest recurrence rate of any form of cancer. The most common symptom is blood in the urine, and a patient who experiences this should contact his or her physician immediately. Other symptoms include frequency, urgency, or pain while urinating.

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About The Miriam Hospital

The Miriam Hospital is a 247-bed, not-for-profit teaching hospital affiliated with The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University. It offers expertise in cardiology, oncology, orthopedics, men's health, and minimally invasive surgery and is home to the state's first Joint Commission-certified Stroke Center and robotic surgery program. The first in Southern New England to perform robotic surgery and the only hospital in Rhode Island that offers a kidney stone center, The Miriam Hospital received more than $23 million in external research funding last year. It treats a range of urologic conditions and is one of three New England hospitals to offer blue-light cystoscopy for the diagnosis and treatment of bladder cancer. Named 2015-16 best regional hospital in Rhode Island and the Providence metro area by U.S. News & World Report, The Miriam Hospital has been awarded Magnet Recognition for Excellence in Nursing Services five times and is a founding member of the Lifespan health system. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter (@MiriamHospital and Pinterest.
New Rochelle, NY, October 13, 2016--Too often overlooked is the risk of depression in caregivers of patients with dementia, and a new study focuses on how depressive symptoms may differ depending on the familial relationship between caregiver and patient. The study shows how patients' behavioral symptoms are predictive of depression to different extents when the caregiver is the patient's daughter versus daughter-in-law, as reported in Journal of Women's Health, a peer-reviewed publication from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers. The article is available free on the Journal of Women's Health website until November 13, 2016.

In Asian societies, a daughter-in-law often takes on the caretaker role, rather than a spouse or child, note Juwon Lee, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Bo Kyung Sohn, MD, Sujeong Seong, MD, and Jun-Young Lee, MD, PhD, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Hyunjoo Lee, Daegu University, Gyeongsan, and Soowon Park, PhD, Seoul National University, Republic of Korea, coauthors of the article "Impact of Behavioral Symptoms in Dementia Patients on Depression in Daughter and Daughter-in-Law Caregivers." In both groups of caregivers, depressive symptoms increased as the frequency and severity of a patient's behavioral symptoms rose. But the level of depression was more strongly affected among one group of caregivers than the other, which the authors attribute to the relationship between patient and caregiver.

"This novel look at how factors such as relationship to the patient can affect caregiver depression offers valuable insights to help guide future studies and interventions aimed at understanding and safeguarding caregiver health," says Susan G. Kornstein, MD, Editor-in-Chief of Journal of Women's Health, Executive Director of the Virginia Commonwealth University Institute for Women's Health, Richmond, VA, and President of the Academy of Women's Health.

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About the Journal

Journal of Women's Health, published monthly, is a core multidisciplinary journal dedicated to the diseases and conditions that hold greater risk for or are more prevalent among women, as well as diseases that present differently in women. Led by Editor-in-Chief Susan G. Kornstein, MD, Executive Director of the Virginia Commonwealth University Institute for Women's Health, Richmond, VA, and President of the Academy of Women's Health, the Journal covers the latest advances and clinical applications of new diagnostic procedures and therapeutic protocols for the prevention and management of women's healthcare issues. Complete tables of content and a sample issue may be viewed on the Journal of Women's Health website. Journal of Women's Health is the official journal of the Academy of Women's Health and the Society for Women's Health Research.

About the Academy

Academy of Women's Health is an interdisciplinary, international association of physicians, nurses, and other health professionals who work across the broad field of women's health, providing its members with up-to-date advances and options in clinical care that will enable the best outcomes for their women patients. The Academy's focus includes the dissemination of translational research and evidence-based practices for disease prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of women across the lifespan. Journal of Women's Health and the Academy of Women's Health are co-presenters of Women's Health 2017: The 25th Anniversary Congress which will take place April 28-30, 2017 in Washington, DC.

About the Publisher

Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers is a privately held, fully integrated media company known for establishing authoritative peer-reviewed journals in many promising areas of science and biomedical research, including LGBT Health, Population Health Management, and Breastfeeding Medicine. Its biotechnology trade magazine, GEN (Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News), was the first in its field and is today the industry's most widely read publication worldwide. A complete list of the firm's 80 journals, books, and newsmagazines is available on the Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers website.
Why reinvent the wheel when nature has the answer?

That's what researcher Michael Janech, Ph.D. of the Medical University of South Carolina, has found to be true, drawing from the field of biomimicry where researchers look to nature for creative solutions to human problems.

In Janech's case, his natural inspiration is coming from dolphins who seem to have protective proteins that may contain clues to treatments for aging-associated diseases in humans. A recent study published in Nature's Scientific Reports September 26 issue found dolphin serum contains very high levels of an antioxidant protein.

Janech, director of MUSC's Nephrology Proteomics Laboratory, said he was surprised by the finding and excited about how this might be used in future studies to help humans. Dolphins survive dives that deprive vital organs of oxygen without causing damage and that for humans would be lethal. During dives that can last as long as 90 minutes, marine mammals restrict blood flow to their kidneys, liver, heart and lungs to shunt more oxygen to the brain.

When marine mammals resurface, oxygenated blood flow is restored to those organs without the organs suffering damage. In humans, though, the same phenomenon of hypoxia or being deprived of oxygen followed by re-oxygenation, such as experienced during heart attack, stroke and acute kidney injury, causes the release of free radicals thought to damage human organs. Janech, a kidney researcher and expert in proteomics, was curious what gives dolphins this advantage.

Proteomics is the study of all proteins that are encoded by the genes, he said. "We attempt to analyze all the proteins at once rather than individual proteins at one time in a cell or a tissue or an organism. It's just like genomics - when people are looking at 20,000 genes and seeing if they are high or low in certain disease states. We're doing the same thing with certain proteins."

That's no small feat.

"There are more than 100,000 protein variants, but each protein can be modified. We have more than a million different protein variants based on modifications."

Because the diversity of proteins is so large, researchers usually require mass spectrometers that perform at high resolution, allowing investigators to accurately determine the identity of proteins and other molecules of interest. This expertise came in handy in how the current study came about.

While Janech was working with the Marine Mammal Center in Sausalito, California, and the National Marine Mammal Foundation in San Diego, California, to identify biomarkers in sea lions affected by toxic algae blooms on the west coast, he learned that some of the managed dolphins in the U.S. Navy Marine Mammal program were living much longer than wild ones.

They were developing insulin resistance and fatty liver disease as they aged, a process consistent with the development of metabolic syndrome in people. This observation presented a rare opportunity.

"That's not a model that anybody sees in nature, because dolphins usually don't get this old in nature," said Janech.

Janech joined forces with Stephanie Venn-Watson, director of the National Marine Mammal Foundation's Translational Medicine Research Program in San Diego, and Randall Wells, director of the Chicago Zoological Society's Sarasota Dolphin Research Program in Florida. Venn-Watson is a veterinary expert of the Navy's managed dolphin populations, while Wells is an internationally respected expert of wild dolphin biology.

Together the group is attempting to determine the cause for insulin resistance in managed dolphins, and then use knowledge of human and dolphin similarities to find clues for treating the condition in both species. With funding provided by the Office of Naval Research, the Janech laboratory began to track adiponectin in the serum of the managed and wild bottlenose dolphin populations.

Levels of adiponectin, an insulin-sensitizing hormone, were predicted to be different in managed dolphins with metabolic syndrome in comparison with those in the wild. In order to verify the relevance of their work to human metabolic syndrome, they also performed simple proteomic analyses in human and dolphin serum samples.

Given that the major proteins in mammals are constant across species, they expected the highest concentration of proteins to be similar in both species. What they found when they looked just below the threshold, however, was surprising, he said.

Eleven proteins were at least 100-fold more prevalent in dolphin serum than in humans. At first, the group wrote this off as a difference in genetic ancestry: at some phylogenetic branch in the evolutionary tree of development, some mammals branched off and developed into two-toed ungulates and some went on to become primates.

Bottlenose dolphins are mammals descended from even-toed ungulates such as pigs, deer, and giraffes. To check that this was the case, they also mapped the serum proteome of the pig, and were again surprised. The 100-fold rank differences in 5 of the proteins, including vanin-1 and adiponectin, could not be explained away by simple phylogenetic differences.

While adiponectin is known to be higher in dolphins, as a way to control glucose storage during feeding, very high vanin-1 was a novel finding. Interestingly, excessively high vanin-1 levels were correlated with decreased liver function in the wild dolphins, which suggests they provide a protective effect in avoiding metabolic syndrome. But Janech, Venn-Watson, and Wells also noticed another potential need for vanin-1. The function of vanin-1 is to make vitamin B5 and in doing so it releases an antioxidant that has been shown to protect tissues from injury like that which occurs after the hypoxia and re-oxygenation of diving and resurfacing.

The question is if this could work also to help humans resist the hypoxia that causes acute kidney injury, which Janech has applied for a grant to the National Science Foundation to study. He and colleagues are gathering samples from a number of different diving and non-diving marine mammals, and land-bound mammals, and mapping their proteomes as well. They have continued their current collaboration, and also included graduate students from the College of Charleston's Grice Marine Laboratory and investigators from the National Institutes of Standards and Technology at Hollings Marine Laboratory to help with their measurements.

Janech said there's much to learn from the field of biomimicry, especially paired with proteomics.

"Proteins are the workhorses of the genes. It is how the gene provides function to the cell. The action of the cell happens through the proteins. That's why we want to study the proteins. These are your enzymes," he said.

"This is the first step. We wanted to ask what's different in an animal that can do something that would hurt a human, and they do this every single day. And can we take it back to human medicine?"

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A new study published in the International Journal of Epidemiology indicates that women across 34 countries are at increased risk for domestic violence if they marry before age 15.

Globally, 34% of young women (aged 20-24) were married before age 18 and 12% before age 15 during the period 2000-2011, with the highest prevalence found in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa.

This study used data from Demographic and Health Surveys conducted in 34 low and middle income countries. Women 15-49 were surveyed; typically one ever-married or partnered woman per household was randomly chosen to complete a domestic violence questionnaire.

Respondents who have ever been married or cohabitated with a man were asked about their experience with domestic violence.

A third of the women surveyed were married as children: 9% were married before they turned 15, another 25% married between the ages of 15 and 17. Among the countries included, the overall prevalence of child marriage among women 20-24 was lowest in Kyrgyzstan (8%) and highest in Mali (58%). Approximately half (48%) the sample had completed primary education and 64% lived in a rural area.

Over a fifth (22%) of the sample reported experiencing past-year physical violence by their intimate partner; prevalence ranged from 2% in Ukraine to nearly 60% in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Past-year sexual violence was less prevalent (8%) but had a substantial range. The majority of women who reported experiencing past-year sexual abuse also reported past-year physical abuse.

The study demonstrated that, globally, past-year physical and/or sexual violence was higher among women who married as children (29%) compared to those who married as adults (20%).

East Asia consistently had the highest odds of domestic violence, particularly when related to child marriage before age 15. Sub-Saharan Africa was on the other end of the spectrum, with odds ratios of comparatively lower magnitude. Europe and Central Asia was unique in showing no evidence of a relationship between early child marriage and any type of past-year domestic violence, though this should be interpreted with caution given the low rates of both early child marriage and sexual violence in the region.

There are a number of potential reasons why child marriages may be characterized by greater violence. Women who marry as children are more likely to be uneducated, live in poverty, and subscribe to traditional gender norms. Child marriages are characterized by spousal age gaps, power imbalances, social isolation, and lack of female autonomy. These factors are demonstrated risk factors for domestic violence. It may be that the same inequitable gender norms that give rise to child marriage also perpetuate violence.

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The paper "Child marriage and intimate partner violence: A comparative study of 34 countries" is available at: http://ije.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2016/10/12/ije.dyw225.full

Direct correspondence to:

Rachel Kidman, PhD

Core Faculty, Program in Public Health

Assistant Professor, Department of Family, Population, and Preventive Medicine

Stony Brook Medicine, Health Sciences Center

Level 3, Stony Brook, NY 11794

Email: rachel.kidman@stonybrook.edu

Phone: 631 444-2645

The International Journal of Epidemiology encourages communication among those engaged in the research, teaching, and application of epidemiology of both communicable and non-communicable disease, including research into health services and medical care.

Sharing on social media? Find Oxford Journals online at @OxfordJournals
New research led by Portland State University glacier scientist Andrew Fountain reveals how a single warming event in Antarctica may be an indication of future ecosystem changes.

In the scientific paper, "The Impact of a Large-scale Climate Event on Antarctic Ecosystem Processes," published in a special section Thursday in Bioscience, Fountain and his team detail the climate event and summarize the cascading ecological consequences over the last 15 years caused by a single season of intense melting in Antarctica between 2001 and 2002.

"What we saw in the Antarctic summer of 2001 and 2002 could be the Antarctic future in the decades to come," said Fountain, the study's lead author. "What was an otherwise unchanging environment could be on the cusp of very dramatic changes."

Stationed in East Antarctica's McMurdo Dry Valleys -- a polar desert that's among the driest places on Earth -- Fountain and his research team studied the effects of massive flooding caused by the glaciers that melted when air temperatures suddenly warmed to 39 degrees Fahrenheit. Flooding streams eroded, lake ice thinned, lake levels rose, and water reached new places across the barren landscape.

The ecosystem still responded to this event after five or more years. Scientists suspect these events will appear more frequently in the future as climate warming affects Antarctica.

Fountain's research was conducted in tandem with another National Science Foundation-funded site, Palmer Station, on the West Antarctic Peninsula, a vastly different Antarctic landscape.

The extreme climate shift at Palmer during 2001 and 2002 caused freezing and melting at the edge of the peninsula, resulting in increased algal bloom and Antarctic krill, a devastating decline in the population of Adelie penguins, and an increase in the populations of gentoo and chinstrap penguins.

###

About Portland State University

Oregon's public urban research university, recognized for excellence in sustainability and community engagement, is located in the heart of downtown Portland. PSU's motto is "Let Knowledge Serve the City," and it offers more than 200 degrees with opportunities to work with businesses, schools and organizations on real-world projects. (http://www.pdx.edu)
Low socio-economic status and fear of abandonment early in life can lead to poor health in adulthood, regardless of adult socio-economic status, according to a new study from psychologists at Rice University.

"Attachment Orientations, Respiratory Sinus Arrhythmia and Stress Are Important for Understanding the Link Between Childhood Socio-Economic Status and Adult Self-Reported Health" appears in the current edition of Annals of Behavioral Medicine. The study examined the self-reported measures of childhood socio-economic status, attachment orientations (such as fear of abandonment or difficulty in forming relationships), stress and adult health of 213 participants from 2005 to 2011.

The study found that people who were in the lowest 25 percent of the sample for socio-economic status as children had 65 percent worse self-reported health as adults than people who were in the top 75 percent of the sample as children. The researchers noted that this poor health later in life occurred regardless of adult socio-economic status.

"Low socio-economic status places burdens on parents where they are less available to their kids at times," he said. "This can lead to the development of 'attachment orientations' - which include fear of abandonment or difficulty in forming close relationships - that can compromise adult health," said Chris Fagundes, an assistant professor of psychology and the study's co-author.

Fagundes said the study is one of the first to examine how these attachment issues link early adversity and adult health. He and his co-author, Kyle Murdock, a postdoctoral research fellow in psychology, also found that a person's biological capacity to regulate their emotions -- including stress -- had a correlation to overall health.

"If individuals are better at managing negative feelings and levels of stress, they are more likely to be healthy as adults," Murdock said. "However, if they are not so good at managing emotions, they are more likely to be less healthy."

Fagundes and Murdock hope the study will encourage further exploration of why low socio-economic status during childhood is associated with an increased risk of experiencing health disparities in adulthood.

"Ultimately, early childhood is a critical time for adult health, regardless of whether you move up the socio-economic ladder as an adult," the authors concluded.

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Rice University funded the research. The paper is available online at http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12160-016-9842-4.

This news release can be found online at http://news.rice.edu/.

Follow Rice News and Media Relations via Twitter @RiceUNews.

Located on a 300-acre forested campus in Houston, Rice University is consistently ranked among the nation's top 20 universities by U.S. News & World Report. Rice has highly respected schools of Architecture, Business, Continuing Studies, Engineering, Humanities, Music, Natural Sciences and Social Sciences and is home to the Baker Institute for Public Policy. With 3,910 undergraduates and 2,809 graduate students, Rice's undergraduate student-to-faculty ratio is 6-to-1. Its residential college system builds close-knit communities and lifelong friendships, just one reason why Rice is ranked No. 1 for happiest students and for lots of race/class interaction by the Princeton Review. Rice is also rated as a best value among private universities by Kiplinger's Personal Finance. To read "What they're saying about Rice," go to http://tinyurl.com/RiceUniversityoverview.
LA JOLLA--Helmsley-Salk Fellow Jesse Dixon is among 16 scientists nationwide to receive the Director's Early Independence Award from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to pursue promising and innovative research. Dixon is the third Salk Fellow to receive the prestigious award since it was established in 2010.

Dixon, who will receive $1.25 million in funding over 5 years, received his MD/PhD from the University of California, San Diego studying how DNA is packaged into chromosomes. The double helix of human DNA, if stretched out, is two meters long, yet has to fit into cells that are over one million times smaller. To achieve this, DNA and associated proteins are folded into complex packaging within the cell nucleus. Dixon will delve into how the genome folds into three-dimensional configurations known as higher-order structure, and the implications of those structures for human disease and health.

"Jesse's experiments will greatly expand our understanding of the mechanisms used to construct higher-order structures in our genome," says Salk President Elizabeth Blackburn. "They will provide the necessary foundation to link our knowledge of 3D genome organization to human physical variation and disease. And, of course, we are delighted that he is the third Salk Fellow whose work is being recognized with this award." Helmsley-Salk Fellows Dmitry Lyumkis and Patrick Hsu were 2015 recipients of the Early Independence Award for their cutting-edge research in imaging and gene editing, respectively.

With the award, Dixon will explore how the higher-order genome structure mediates communication between genes and regulatory sequences in the genome. Problems with this structure have been associated with cancer and other diseases so unraveling the connection between DNA folds and gene regulation could help to better understand human health.

"How do you take that much material and package it into such a small space? And how do you do that in such a way that you can still read the information that your genome encodes to allow a cell to use it as its blueprint for function? These are some of the questions I aim to address with the support of this award," says Dixon.

The Early Independence Award provides an opportunity for exceptional junior scientists who have recently received their doctoral degree or completed their medical residency to skip traditional post-doctoral training and move immediately into independent research positions.

"The program continues to support high-caliber investigators whose ideas stretch the boundaries of our scientific knowledge," said NIH Director Francis S. Collins, MD, PhD. "We welcome the newest cohort of outstanding scientists to the program and look forward to their valuable contributions."

This year, the NIH issued 12 Pioneer awards, 48 New Innovator awards, 12 Transformative Research awards, and 16 Early Independence awards. The awards total approximately $127 million and represent contributions from the NIH Common Fund and multiple NIH centers and offices.

###

About the Salk Institute for Biological Studies:

Every cure has a starting point. The Salk Institute embodies Jonas Salk's mission to dare to make dreams into reality. Its internationally renowned and award-winning scientists explore the very foundations of life, seeking new understandings in neuroscience, genetics, immunology and more. The Institute is an independent nonprofit organization and architectural landmark: small by choice, intimate by nature and fearless in the face of any challenge. Be it cancer or Alzheimer's, aging or diabetes, Salk is where cures begin.
LA JOLLA--Salk Associate Professor Sreekanth Chalasani has been awarded a grant from the National Institutes of Health's (NIH) Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies (BRAIN) Initiative for developing a way to selectively activate brain, heart, muscle and other cells using ultrasonic waves, which could be a boon to neuroscience research as well as medicine.

Chalasani will receive over $1 million for the first year of the award to expand his groundbreaking technology into mammalian cells. If it works in humans, such a technology could be used for deep brain stimulation--a common treatment in Parkinson's and depression. It could also be used outside of the brain to act as a pacemaker for a heart or to produce insulin from pancreatic cells.

"The Chalasani lab developed a revolutionary way to precisely target specific cells in a living organism using sound waves," says Salk President Elizabeth Blackburn. "With support from the BRAIN Initiative, Sreekanth will be able to expand his trailblazing science which could lead to many exciting applications in research and medicine."

Chalasani's new technique, which he calls sonogenetics, has some similarities to the burgeoning use of light (optogenetics) to activate cells in order to better understand the brain, but is less invasive. This method-which uses the same type of waves used in medical sonograms-may have additional advantages over optogenetics particularly when it comes to adapting the technology to human therapeutics. Chalasani first demonstrated the technique on nematodes in 2015, showing that low-intensity ultrasound waves propagating into the worms caused a membrane ion channel called TRP-4 to open and activate cells. His team also added the TRP-4 channel and successfully activated neurons that don't usually react to ultrasound. With the new grant, Chalsani is developing technology to deliver focused ultrasonic waves to particular regions of the mammalian brain and is also exploring additional ion channels that could be targeted with ultrasound.

"I am very grateful for the support to pursue this research and see whether this technique can work in mammals and translate to humans for medical benefits," says Chalasani, who is collaborating with additional Salk labs as well as with the University of California, San Diego on the effort.

"In only three years we've already seen exciting new advances in neuroscience research come out of the BRAIN Initiative," says Walter J. Koroshetz, MD, director of NIH's National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. "There are very few effective cures for neurological and neuropsychiatric disorders. By pushing the boundaries of fundamental neuroscience research, NIH BRAIN Initiative scientists are providing the insights researchers will need to develop 21st century treatments."

###

About the BRAIN Initiative:

The Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies (BRAIN) Initiative is part of a new Presidential focus aimed at revolutionizing our understanding of the human brain. By accelerating the development and application of innovative technologies, researchers will be able to produce a revolutionary new dynamic picture of the brain that, for the first time, shows how individual cells and complex neural circuits interact in both time and space. Long desired by researchers seeking new ways to treat, cure, and even prevent brain disorders, this picture will fill major gaps in our current knowledge and provide unprecedented opportunities for exploring exactly how the brain enables the human body to record, process, utilize, store, and retrieve vast quantities of information, all at the speed of thought.

About the Salk Institute for Biological Studies:

Every cure has a starting point. The Salk Institute embodies Jonas Salk's mission to dare to make dreams into reality. Its internationally renowned and award-winning scientists explore the very foundations of life, seeking new understandings in neuroscience, genetics, immunology and more. The Institute is an independent nonprofit organization and architectural landmark: small by choice, intimate by nature and fearless in the face of any challenge. Be it cancer or Alzheimer's, aging or diabetes, Salk is where cures begin. Learn more at: salk.edu.

About the National Institutes of Health (NIH):

NIH, the nation's medical research agency, includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. NIH is the primary federal agency conducting and supporting basic, clinical, and translational medical research, and is investigating the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs, visit http://www.nih.gov.
The "real threat" to Pakistan's nuclear weapons is from rogue elements inside its military rather than from the terrorist outfits, India's former NSA Shivshankar Menon has said.

By PTI: The "real threat" to Pakistan's nuclear weapons is from rogue elements inside its military rather than from the terrorist outfits, India's former national security advisor Shivshankar Menon has said.

Noting that terrorists have easier and cheaper ways of wreaking havoc, Menon said the nuclear weapons are complex devices that are difficult to manage, use and deliver and require very high level of skills.

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"To my mind, the real threat (to Pak nukes) is from insiders, from a Pakistani pilot or a brigadier who decides to wage nuclear jihad, with or without orders," Menon writes in his book titled "Choices: Inside the making of India's Foreign

Policy."

"The risk increases as Pakistan builds tactical nuclear weapons for battlefield use, control of which will necessarily be delegated down the command chain," he said.

Menon says Pakistan is the only nuclear weapon programme in the world that is exclusively under military control. "There are good reasons why no other country chose to go down this path," he said.

Menon writes that India has nuclear weapons for the contribution that they make to its national security in an uncertain and anarchic world by preventing others from attempting nuclear blackmail and coercion against India.

"Unlike in certain NWS, India's nuclear weapons are not meant to redress a military balance, or to compensate for some perceived inferiority in conventional military terms, or to serve some tactical or operational military need on the battlefield," he notes.



While India has a declared policy of no-first use of nuclear weapons, Menon in his book warns that if Pakistan were to use tactical nuclear weapons against India "even against Indian forces in Pakistan," it would effectively be opening the door to a massive Indian-first strike, having crossed India's declared red line.

"Pakistani tactical use of nuclear weapons would effectively free India to undertake a comprehensive first strike against Pakistan," he said.

"There are several responses short of war available to a state like India," he writes.

--- ENDS ---
Antarctica's surrounding waters are home to some of the healthiest marine ecosystems on Earth and support thriving populations of krill, seabirds, fish and whales. But efforts to establish a network of effective Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) in the Southern Ocean are being hobbled by political infighting and demands that prioritize fishing interests over conservation by members of the international consortium tasked with conserving the region, Stanford scientists say.

The findings, published Oct. 14 in Science, come as 24 countries and the European Union convene in Hobart, Australia, next week for the annual meeting of the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR), to resume negotiations of Southern Ocean MPAs.

"Our research shows that CCAMLR's positions for and against MPAs have become entrenched," said lead author Cassandra Brooks, a PhD candidate at Stanford School of Earth, Energy & Environmental Sciences. "Negotiations have become entangled with larger global geopolitics and we see an emerging scramble for marine resources in this remote frontier."

The authors argue that as a leader in international fisheries management, CCAMLR has the opportunity to set an example for ongoing negotiations at the United Nations level to develop a legal instrument for conserving biodiversity in international waters, also known as the high seas. But if CCAMLR continues to fall short in its duties, it could set a sorry example with ramifications for marine protection in other parts of the world, said study coauthor Kristina Gjerde, senior high seas advisor at the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and adjunct professor at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies in Monterey California.

"It would send the message that fishing interests trump conservation, despite the global interests at stake," Gjerde said. "It could raise doubts that nations will be able to set aside short-term national interests to confront global ocean challenges stemming from accelerating climate change. And finally, it is doubtful that these diminished sites would count toward global goals for MPAs as they would not meet the IUCN MPA criteria."

Reverse burden of proof

Despite more than a decade of international negotiations informed by robust scientific planning, CCAMLR has failed to meet its goal of adopting a system of MPAs in the Southern Ocean to conserve biodiversity in the face of threats from climate change and potential overfishing, the authors say.

A major obstacle is agreement about the concept of "rational use," which sets the terms under which CCAMLR's member nations are allowed to fish in the Southern Ocean. The region contains some of Earth's least exploited fish stocks, and its large populations of krill - small crustaceans that are food for the region's fish, seabirds and whales - and toothfish have made it an increasingly prized fishing spot. Krill is valuable as fishmeal and for making health supplements, and toothfish are sold as lucrative "Chilean sea bass" around the world.

As originally defined, rational use required that fishing not cause irreversible damage to the greater marine ecosystems of the Southern Ocean and for precautionary catch limits and scientific oversight to be set in place. But as the number of CCAMLR's fishing nations has grown, and as pressure increases to secure access to current and future resources in the Southern Ocean, some nations are pushing to equate rational use with the unfettered right to fish.

Countries such as China and Russia have argued against MPA proposals that in any way restrict fishing and demand sufficient evidence to show that fishing threatens ecosystems. "MPA opponents want to reverse the burden of proof," said co-author Larry Crowder, science director of the Center for Ocean Solutions in Monterey, California, and a fellow at the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment. "When rational use was first negotiated, the whole idea was that you needed data in order to fish. Now, it's being interpreted by some fishing nations as unequivocal fishing."

Sunset clauses

Sunset clauses on the MPAs are another source of fierce debate. MPAs are usually established in perpetuity, but some CCAMLR member nations are advocating that Southern Ocean MPAs have built-in expiration dates ranging from 20 to 30 years. "Twenty years is shorter than the lifespan of most Antarctic predators which the MPAs are proposing to protect," Brooks said. But not only are sunset clauses inconsistent with the stated goals of MPAs, they do not meet internationally established criteria for protected areas and may not qualify for global MPA targets, the authors warn.

Broader geopolitics have also infiltrated CCAMLR negotiations, the authors say. For example, poor international relations between nations - such as tensions between Russia and the United States over Crimea - seem to be spilling into the negotiating room. Nations opposing MPAs are being accused of not negotiating in good faith, while proponents of MPAs are accused of using MPAs a political tool.

"The result is a breakdown of trust between member nations, causing a stalemate over MPAs," Crowder said.

High seas implications

Two large MPAs are currently being negotiated at CCAMLR: one in the East Antarctic and one in the Ross Sea - a region that has been deemed "The Last Ocean" because it is perhaps the healthiest large marine ecosystem left on the planet.

"We've seen an East Antarctic and Ross Sea MPA come to CCAMLR's decision-making table five times now without being adopted. Next week will be the sixth," Brooks said. "Each year, during the course of negotiations, the proposed MPAs in these two regions have continued to be downsized, with ecologically critical areas removed and 'research fishing zones' added."

With CCAMLR meetings set to resume on Oct. 17, Brooks and her co-authors urge member nations to find a way forward in upholding their mandate and meeting their commitment toward MPAs. "The Southern Ocean is our best-case scenario," Brooks said. "If we can't figure out how to protect marine ecosystems there, it suggests it will be extremely difficult to protect them anywhere else."

###

Other co-authors on the paper, "Science-based management in decline in the Southern Ocean," include Robert Dunbar of Stanford School of Earth, Energy & Environmental Sciences; Lisa Curran, Stanford professor of anthropology and a fellow at the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment; David Ainley of H.T. Harvey & Associates; Klaus Dodds of the Royal Holloway University of London; and Rashid Sumaila of the University of British Columbia.
A new study chronicles how central Asia dried out over the last 23 million years into one of the most arid regions on the planet. The findings illustrate the dramatic climatic shifts wrought by the ponderous rise of new mountain ranges over geologic time.

Researchers have long cited the uplift of the Tibetan Plateau and the Himalayan Mountains around 50 million years ago for blocking rain clouds' entry into central Asia from the south, killing off much of the region's plant life.

The new study, published online in the journal Geology, paints a more nuanced picture of Central Asia's desertification. It suggests that the relatively recent rise of lesser-known mountain ranges, such as the Tian Shan and the Altai, further sealed off moisture from the west and north. As a result, great stretches of what we now consider western China, southwestern Mongolia and eastern Tajikistan became barren earth or laced by sand dunes.

"While Central Asia was probably never lush and verdant, it was certainly greener 23 million years ago and probably even greener in the more distant past," said Jeremy Kesner Caves, the lead author of the study and a doctoral student at Stanford's School of Earth, Energy & Environmental Sciences.

"One way to think about this change is that when viewed from space today, Central Asia appears very brown because of its expansive deserts," Caves said. "If viewed from space 23 million years ago, though, Central Asia would have looked somewhat darker, simply due to there being considerably more leaves and vegetation."

Reading carbon

Caves and his co-authors arrived at their conclusions after measuring the carbon isotope values in buried, ancient soil samples. A particular isotope, or version, of carbon found in the samples speaks to the dryness of conditions at the time of the soil's deposition. Wetter, rainier conditions allow for greater numbers of organisms, including plants and soil-dwelling bacteria, to thrive and pull carbon out of their surroundings to fuel their growth and metabolism, leaving telltale carbon isotopes in their environment.

Previously, scientists had relied on these sorts of soil sample measurements primarily to study plant types and atmospheric carbon dioxide levels. Caves and colleagues instead looked at samples over extensive geographic and temporal spans in order to draw a fuller portrait of the climatic changes influencing soil composition.

"Our paper is the first-ever attempt to present maps of carbon isotopes over a geologic time frame of more than a million years," Caves said.

He and several co-authors traveled to Mongolia, eastern Kazakhstan and northern China to collect the bulk of 171 new soil samples, while Russian co-authors collected samples near Lake Baikal. The new specimens were considered alongside more than 2,200 previously collected samples. Because most of those existing samples originated from the Tibetan Plateau, the research team plugged a gap in the geographical coverage by going to little-studied northern central Asia.

The samples themselves "are honestly pretty boring," Caves admitted. "Basically, they look and feel like dirt." But the rocky outcrops exposing the old, hardened soil chunks can dazzle. "The outcrops are striped deep purple, red and green, and they often erode in crazy patterns," Caves said. "Imagine Badlands National Park in South Dakota or the Painted Desert in Arizona."

Asia's de-greening

Overall, the samples were well-distributed from 23 million to 2.6 million years ago during a geological period known as the Neogene. The Earth's climate cooled off substantially as the Neogene wore on, setting the stage for an Ice Age when glaciers crept from polar regions into lower latitudes.

Upon analysis, the samples' carbon isotope values revealed an exceptionally arid region deep in Asia's interior going back 23 million years, initially ringed by areas of higher rainfall. Starting about five million years ago, however, that dry region expanded to the north and west, as new mountain ranges reached heights sufficient to block westerly winds from delivering moisture.

The findings will help researchers disentangle how much of Central Asia's de-greening occurred in response to localized geological changes versus global shifts happening during the Neogene.

Investigating North America

With this compelling demonstration of using ancient soil samples as proxies for regional climate in Asia, Caves now plans to extend his investigations elsewhere on the globe. "I hope to be able to apply this method to other continents, such as North America, where there are large datasets of carbon isotopes," Caves said.

Doing so could illuminate impacts on western North America's climate due to the uplift of the Sierra Nevada in eastern California, as well as the Rocky Mountains further east, which reached near their present elevations around 40 million and 50 million years ago, respectively.

"Only by making these continental-scale maps, like Jeremy has done for Central Asia, can you further understand how the uplift of mountain ranges controlled rainfall patterns against this backdrop of global cooling in the Neogene," said Page Chamberlain, co-author of the study and a professor of Earth system science at Stanford. "North America is really ripe for this kind of research."

###

Other Stanford co-authors on the study include graduate student Daniel Ibarra. Page Chamberlain is also a member of Stanford Bio-X and an affiliate of the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment. Other co-authors are from Dartmouth College, the Institute of Zoology in Kazakhstan, the China University of Geosciences, Northwestern University, L.N. Gumilyov Eurasian National University in Kazakhstan, and the Institute of the Earth's Crust in Russia.

Funding was provided by the National Science Foundation, the Stanford University McGee Grants, the Geological Society of America, and the National Basic Research Program of China.
In Fortaleza -- the fifth-largest city in Brazil -- cars jam the streets, bicycles weave through traffic and bus stops are crowded with passengers who might have to wait much longer than expected to catch their ride.

The bustling metropolitan area of about 3 million people has faced a number of challenges with its public transportation system, including long delays and overcrowding on buses.

The University of Arizona is helping to address those issues by leveraging big data in a unique partnership with Fortaleza officials.

Sudha Ram, director of the INSITE: Center for Business Intelligence and Analytics in the UA's Eller College of Management, and her collaborators helped develop an online dashboard where Fortaleza city planners can access a wealth of valuable data about the city's bus system to help them better understand where problems exist and make informed decisions about how to fix them.

"This is something that makes an impact; we're not just simulating data but working with a real-world problem and real datasets," said Ram, professor of management information systems and computer science at the UA.

The work is part of the ongoing "smart cities" partnership between Fortaleza and the UA, which began when Fortaleza Mayor Roberto Claudio, a UA alumnus, approached his alma mater to see how the University could help his city use data and technology to improve residents' quality of life.

Since then, Ram and her colleagues at the UA have analyzed two to three years of data from the Fortaleza bus system, used by an estimated 90 percent of the city's residents, who rack up 30 million trips a month.

The researchers looked at how many people rode the bus, and when and where they boarded, using data collected from the cards passengers scan to ride. They also analyzed data from the GPS trackers on each of the city's 2,200 buses, which log location information every 15 to 30 seconds. In addition, the researchers looked at the locations of the city's 4,800 bus stops and considered data on weather conditions and traffic accidents that might have contributed to delays.

"We were able to write our own algorithms to derive exactly how much time it takes for a bus to move from one bus stop to the next, so we can see how fast it's moving and where the delays occur and where there are no delays," Ram said. "Really, this is about understanding human mobility patterns."

The work is detailed in a paper in Proceedings of the IEEE, a scientific journal published by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. The study was recognized as "best paper" at the recent IEEE International Smart Cities Conference in Trento, Italy.

Ultimately, the research led to the development of the dashboard that Fortaleza planners are now using to guide their decisions about where to add additional buses, dedicated bus lanes, or more stops and terminals along the city's 320 routes to help cut down on delays, which can last anywhere from 15 minutes to several hours. Planners have access to two years' worth of data in the tool.

"They can pick a particular bus route, they can pick the direction, they can pick a particular date and a particular hour, and they can see how many people were on the bus and where there were delays," Ram said. "They can then take this information and decide whether it's worth putting dedicated bus lanes on those segments of the road where there are most delays. And they're able to justify and explain to their citizens why these decisions are important.

"They've actually made some decisions using this dashboard, so we're able to look at the 'before and after' to see if it's making a difference or not," Ram said.

The same concept could be used by other developed or developing cities worldwide, she said.

"This is really about harnessing or leveraging data that is coming from the 'internet of things,' the GPS signals and the smart cards -- these are all objects that generate signals, and they have a time stamp and a location and you want to be able to put all these points together and see patterns," Ram said. "To build a smart city, you want to be able to get all that data together to understand people's usage patterns, mobility patterns, and then design services that are actually going to help them."

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RIVERSIDE, Calif. (http://www.ucr.edu) -- A team of researchers at the University of California, Riverside has developed a highly reliable and accurate navigation system that exploits existing environmental signals such as cellular and Wi-Fi, rather than the Global Positioning System (GPS). The technology can be used as a standalone alternative to GPS, or complement current GPS-based systems to enable highly reliable, consistent, and tamper-proof navigation. The technology could be used to develop navigation systems that meet the stringent requirements of fully autonomous vehicles, such as driverless cars and unmanned drones.

Led by Zak Kassas, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering in UCR's Bourns College of Engineering, the team presented its research at the 2016 Institute of Navigation Global Navigation Satellite System Conference (ION GNSS+), in Portland, Ore., in September. The two studies, "Signals of Opportunity Aided Inertial Navigation" and "Performance Characterization of Positioning in LTE Systems," both won best paper presentation awards.

Most navigation systems in cars and portable electronics use the space-based Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS), which includes the U.S. system GPS, Russian system GLONASS, European system Galileo, and Chinese system Beidou. For precision technologies, such as aerospace and missiles, navigation systems typically combine GPS with a high-quality on-board Inertial Navigation System (INS), which delivers a high level of short-term accuracy but eventually drifts when it loses touch with external signals.

Despite advances in this technology, current GPS/INS systems will not meet the demands of future autonomous vehicles for several reasons: First, GPS signals alone are extremely weak and unusable in certain environments like deep canyons; second, GPS signals are susceptible to intentional and unintentional jamming and interference; and third, civilian GPS signals are unencrypted, unauthenticated, and specified in publicly available documents, making them spoofable (i.e., hackable).

Current trends in autonomous vehicle navigation systems therefore rely not only on GPS/INS, but a suite of other sensor-based technologies such as cameras, lasers, and sonar.

"By adding more and more sensors, researchers are throwing 'everything but the kitchen sink' to prepare autonomous vehicle navigation systems for the inevitable scenario that GPS signals become unavailable. We took a different approach, which is to exploit signals that are already out there in the environment," Kassas said.

Instead of adding more internal sensors, Kassas and his team in UCR's Autonomous Systems Perception, Intelligence, and Navigation (ASPIN) Laboratory have been developing autonomous vehicles that could tap into the hundreds of signals around us at any point in time, like cellular, radio, television, Wi-Fi, and other satellite signals.

In the research presented at the ION GNSS+ Conference, Kassas' team showcased ongoing research that exploits these existing communications signals, called "signals of opportunity (SOP)" for navigation. The system can be used by itself, or, more likely, to supplement INS data in the event that GPS fails. The team's end-to-end research approach includes theoretical analysis of SOPs in the environment, building specialized software-defined radios (SDRs) that will extract relevant timing and positioning information from SOPs, developing practical navigation algorithms, and finally testing the system on ground vehicles and unmanned drones.

"Autonomous vehicles will inevitably result in a socio-cultural revolution. My team is addressing the challenges associated with realizing practical, cost-effective, and trustworthy autonomous vehicles. Our overarching goal is to get these vehicles to operate with no human-in-the loop for prolonged periods of time, performing missions such as search, rescue, surveillance, mapping, farming, firefighting, package delivery, and transportation," Kassas said.

###

In addition to Kassas, graduate students Joshua Morales, Joe Khalife, Kimia Shamaei, Jesse Garcia, and Sonya Ragothaman and undergraduate student Souradeep (Gogol) Bhattacharya contributed to this research, which was funded with support from the Office of Naval Research (ONR). Additional videos of the team's research can be viewed on the ASPIN Laboratory's YouTube page.

The UCR Office of Technology Commercialization has filed patents for the inventions above.
Animals feeding at sea inherit a chemical record reflecting the area where they fed, which can help track their movements, according to a new study by scientists from the University of Southampton.

Chemical testing of the source of marine food products could be a powerful tool to help to fight food fraud, maintain healthy sustainable fish stocks or marine protected areas, and ensure consumer confidence in marine eco-labelling.

Tracing the location of marine animals is difficult as they generally can't be seen and are often a long way from the nearest person.

The Southampton research team, led by Dr Clive Trueman and PhD student Katie St John Glew, built maps of chemical variation in jellyfish caught across the North Sea. They then compared the same chemical signals in scallops and herring caught in known places across the North Sea, and used statistical tests to find the areas of the North Sea with the most similar chemical compositions. These chemical tests were able to accurately link scallops and herring to their true locations, and can be used to test if the chemical composition of an animal matches a claimed area of origin.

Dr Trueman, Associate Professor in Marine Ecology, said: "Understanding the origin of fish or fish products is increasingly important as we try to manage our marine resources more effectively. Fish from sustainable fisheries can fetch a premium price, but concerned consumers need to be confident that fish really were caught from sustainable sources.

"Recently, genetic tests have revealed widespread mislabelling of the type of fish being sold worldwide, but currently we don't have any way of testing where a fished product was caught."

The study, published in the journal Methods in Ecology and Evolution, was funded by a NERC SPITFIRE PhD award to Katie and also involved Dr Kirsteen MacKenzie from the Institute for Marine Research in Troms, Norway.

###
A collaborative team of leading social psychologists from the University of Surrey, Clark University, University of Ghent and Middlesex University London have investigated how lads' mags normalise sexism in three new studies. The results are published today in Psychology of Men and Masculinities.

While editors of men's magazines such as Zoo and FHM have long claimed that sexist humour in these publications is harmless because male readers perceive it as ironic, the latest research refutes this idea. In a study of 81 UK men aged between 18 and 50, participants were presented with sexist jokes both in and out of a lads' mag context. Young men - particularly those who scored lower on sexism measures - considered the jokes less hostile when they were in a lads' mag context (but not more ironic or funnier).

Another study, with 423 UK men aged 18 to 30, aimed to identify the correlation between sexism and lads' mag consumption. This revealed that if a man displays ambivalent sexism he is more likely to buy lads' mags than other men, but not more likely to indulge in other forms of direct sexual consumption (paying for sex or going to strip clubs).

Finally a third study conducted in the US with 274 undergraduate students demonstrated that when shown evidence of the extreme hostility of content found in lads' mags, young men delegitimise these magazines. In this study, selected participants took part in a sorting task which involved identifying which of a group of quotations had appeared in lads' mags and which had been used by convicted rapists. Having failed to do this effectively - correctly identifying only half of the quotations - the men who had taken part in the sorting task viewed lads' mags as less legitimate.

The three studies have built on earlier research led by the University of Surrey which helped to ignite a public debate about the role lads' mags were playing in normalising sexist attitudes. Using the same sorting task as the recent US study, a series of studies in 2012 found that not only could men not distinguish between quotations from lads' mags and convicted rapists, but they also identified more with quotes from either source when they were said to have originated in lads' mags. This research contributed to the decision to put lads' mags in black plastic wrappers on supermarket shelves in the UK.

Lead author, Professor Peter Hegarty of the University of Surrey's Department of Psychology said: "Sales of lads' mags have declined significantly in recent years, with several ceasing publication, but 'lad culture' and the normalisation of sexism is still a major concern, particularly on university campuses and online.

"These latest studies demonstrate how a concrete source of social influence (lads' mags) can shape the expression of a prejudice that is generally considered unacceptable in an egalitarian society. However - in a microcosm of what we have seen in the lads' mag market in recent years - when the extreme hostility of the content of lads' mags is made obvious, men are more likely to reject these magazines."

###

Notes to Editors:

About the University of Surrey

The University of Surrey is one of the UK's top higher education institutions and was recognised as the University of the Year in The Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide 2016. With 125 years of academic heritage since our founding in Battersea, and 50 years of world-class teaching and research in Guildford, the University of Surrey is the intellectual home for more than 15,200 students, 100,000 alumni and 2,800 staff.

Freedom of thought, pursuit of academic excellence, and the advancement and application of knowledge underpin the wonderful things happening here. Our mission is to transform lives and enrich society through outstanding teaching and learning, pioneering research and impactful innovation.

The University of Surrey has been recognised by three Queen's Anniversary Prizes for Further and Higher Education and is a destination of choice for higher learning in subjects ranging from Engineering to the Arts. As a global university, we are proud of our strong partnerships with internationally leading institutions and businesses, while being firmly engaged with our local community in Guildford and Surrey. We are committed to educating the next generation of professionals and leaders, and to providing thought leadership and innovation to address global challenges and contribute to a better tomorrow for the world.
Researchers at The University of Texas at Dallas are sweating the small stuff in their efforts to develop a wearable device that can monitor an individual's glucose level via perspiration on the skin.

In a study recently published online in the journal Sensors and Actuators B: Chemical, Dr. Shalini Prasad, professor of bioengineering in the Erik Jonsson School of Engineering and Computer Science, and her co-authors demonstrated the capabilities of a biosensor they designed to reliably detect and quantify glucose in human sweat.

The team has previously demonstrated that their technology can detect cortisol in perspiration.

But for diabetics and those at risk for diabetes, self-monitoring of blood glucose, or blood sugar, is an important part of managing their conditions.

"Fitness trackers that monitor heart rate and step count are very popular, but wearable, non-invasive biosensors would be extremely beneficial for managing diseases," said Prasad, the Cecil H. and Ida Green Professor in Systems Biology Science.

Typical home-use blood glucose monitors require a user to obtain a small blood sample, usually through the prick of a finger and often several times a day. However, the UT Dallas textile-based sensor detects glucose in the small amount of ambient sweat on a person's skin.

"In our sensor mechanism, we use the same chemistry and enzymatic reaction that are incorporated into blood glucose testing strips," Prasad said. "But in our design, we had to account for the low volume of ambient sweat that would be present in areas such as under a watch or wrist device, or under a patch that lies next to the skin."

Prasad said that researchers who work with sweat often use a process called iontophoresis, which sends an electric current through the skin to generate enough perspiration for sensing experiments. However, because this method can lead to rashes and burns on the skin, the team sought an alternative that would work with small amounts of sweat.

Their design works with volumes of sweat less than a microliter, which is the approximate amount of liquid that would fit in a cube the size of a salt crystal.

The technology also provides a real-time response in the form of a digital readout.

Prasad and bioengineering doctoral student Rujuta Munje, lead author of the journal article, incorporated an off-the-shelf polymer-based textile material in their glucose sensor and used UT Dallas clean-room facilities to construct the electronic elements. The prototype is a small, flexible, rod-shaped device about an inch long.

"We used known properties of textiles and weaves in our design," Prasad said. "What was innovative was the way we incorporated and positioned the electrodes onto this textile in such a way that allows a very small volume of sweat to spread effectively through the surface."

Typical blood glucose testing strips also contain a molecule that ultimately amplifies the signal from the chemical reactions on the strip enough to register electronically on a monitoring device. But if used in a device that is worn next to the skin, those molecules can be irritating, Prasad said, which presented another challenge.

To ensure that such a tiny amount of sweat would generate a strong enough signal, Prasad and Munje modified the surface topography of the textile material.

"Our modifications allow this material to entrap glucose oxidase molecules, which effectively amplifies the signal," Prasad said. "We did it this way because we are thinking about possible commercialization -- to make these, we need a fabrication process that is not complex."

Prasad and Munje also were able to account for the fact that the chemistry of a person's sweat changes throughout the day.

"Glucose is a tricky molecule to monitor because other factors can confound a signal," Prasad said. "For example, the pH, or acidity, of your sweat can vary greatly depending on the circumstances."

She noted that when individuals exercise or are under stress, the level of other compounds in their sweat, such as cortisol and lactic acid, change as well, and these can interfere with glucose detection.

"We have shown that with our technology, we address three critical issues: low volume of ambient sweat, interference from other compounds and pH swings," Prasad said

Prasad and Munje tested their prototype using samples of human sweat from donors.

While a consumer product based on the technology is still a few years away, the concept was developed with commercialization and scaled-up production in mind.

"At this point, we are thinking of this sensor as something you use for a day and toss out, and we believe it could easily be incorporated into existing consumer electronics platforms," Prasad said. "We're very excited about the potential for licensing this technology."

The research was supported by the Cecil H. and Ida Green endowed fellowship at UT Dallas.

Researchers at UT Dallas and elsewhere have investigated whether glucose found in other bodily fluids -- such as urine and tears -- might be used to track glucose levels, further eliminating the need for invasive blood draws. Google, for example, is investigating a smart contact lens designed to measure glucose levels in tears.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimate that 29 million people in the United States have diabetes and 86 million have prediabetes.

###
University of Texas at Arlington researchers are using an advanced computational approach or artificial intelligence to help experts assess learning difficulties in children very early in their lives.

Professor Fillia Makedon and Associate Professor Vassilis Athitsos, both in the College of Engineering's Department of Computer Science and Engineering, received $1.27 million of a total $2.7 million National Science Foundation grant for the project. Yale University will receive the remainder of the grant.

This large, highly competitive NSF grant is awarded because of its huge potential impact in understanding and learning how to enhance the cognitive abilities of children.

Untreated cognitive disorders in children are a widely recognized challenging problem. Center for Disease Control statistics show that about 11 percent of American children ages 4 to 17 have Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder. That is an increase of 42 percent of ADHD in just the last eight years, according to the CDC.

Makedon, who is the principal investigator and a Jenkins-Garrett Distinguished Professor, said the project uses the latest methods in computer vision, machine learning and data mining to assess several children while they are performing certain physical and computer exercises that are designed to produce executive function skills, and involve attention, decision-making and managing emotions. The data collected is then analyzed to generate recommendations for the best type of intervention.

"We believe that the proposed computational methods will help provide quantifiable early diagnosis and allow us to monitor progress over time. In particular, it will help children overcome learning difficulties and lead them to healthy and productive lives. Working with top neuroscientists and psychology experts, our aim is to develop new computer methods to help discover problems with the underlying neurocognitive processes," Makedon said. "The goal is to design a low-cost, easy-to-use systems that can be implemented in special education practices world-wide."

Makedon said that the proposed system builds upon many years of expertise and a track record of a strong interdisciplinary team.

"It also builds upon a large existing education program that was designed by top psychiatry experts, our Yale collaborators," she said.

During the past five years, the Makedon and Athitsos team has received three other large NSF grants which have built the computational foundation for this award.

At the heart of the project is a computer vision recognition and machine learning system that assesses children while they're performing certain physical and computer exercises. The data collected is analyzed to recognize patterns of inattention, hyperactivity or acting impulsively, two features common to executive function disorders, including ADHD. Monitoring and analyzing how children are behaving during such game-like exercises can be used to build a knowledge base that will enable health-care professionals to apply predictive methods and make recommendations for effective intervention.

Hong Jiang, chair of the Computer Science and Engineering Department, said this research is yet another example of the power of computer science in addressing real-world problems to empower the experts in making targeted decisions and providing for personalized intervention.

"Dr. Makedon is leading breakthrough research, building human-centric innovations that have wide applicability to improving the quality of life at home or the workplace, especially for people with special physical or cognitive needs," Jiang said. "This award now opens the road for larger funding efforts in areas that use evidence-based, data-driven approaches to improve the human condition, a priority of UTA's Strategic Plan 2020: Bold Solutions | Global Impact."

Makedon directs the HERACLEIA Human Centered Laboratory and the Motion Capture Lab, both of which support research in pervasive technologies for human monitoring. She currently supervises 12 doctoral students, several master's students and a high number of undergraduate students funded through the NSF. Since joining UTA in 2006, she has graduated seven doctoral students.

Currently, she is director of an NSF iPerform I/UCRC Center that focuses on working with industries to develop computer-based innovations that enhance human performance at all levels. She also is a member of several journal editorial boards and chair of the PETRA international conference sponsored by UTA and NSF. Makedon has received more than $5 million in NSF and other grants during the last several years.

Makedon was a professor at Dartmouth College for nearly 17 years before coming to UTA. She directed the Dartmouth Experimental Visualization Lab.

Athitsos focuses on computer vision, machine learning and data mining. He has established the Vision-Learning-Mining or VLM research lab. He is a recipient of the prestigious NSF Career Award and one of the top experts in American sign-language research. He has received more than $1 million in grants here at UTA.

###

About The University of Texas at Arlington

The University of Texas at Arlington is a Carnegie Research-1 "highest research activity" institution of about 55,000 students in campus-based and online degree programs and is the second-largest institution in The University of Texas System. U.S. News & World Report ranks UTA fifth in the nation for undergraduate diversity. The University is a Hispanic-Serving Institution and is ranked as the top four-year college in Texas for veterans on Military Times' 2016 Best for Vets list. Visit http://www.uta.edu to learn more, and find UTA rankings and recognition at http://www.uta.edu/uta/about/rankings.php.

For more on the Strategic Plan, see Strategic Plan 2020: Bold Solutions | Global Impact.
Living things have long used a previously unrecognized method for diversifying and evolving. This strategy, as reported this week in Science, could account for some of the variation seen across species.

The work was led by the labs of Pedro Beltrao of the European Molecular Biology Laboratory, European Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL-EBI) in the United Kingdom, and UW Medicine researcher Judit Villen, assistant professor of genome sciences at the University of Washington School of Medicine.

They worked with the labs of Maitreya Dunham, UW associate professor of genome sciences, and of Francesc Posas and Eulalia de Nadal of Universitat Pompeu Fabra in Spain as additional collaborators.

"This study is about understanding how evolution works, which tells you how species adapt to changing environments over many generations," said Beltrao in a news release on the paper from EMBL-EBI.

Most studies of evolution examine differences in the DNA or genome, but there are many implications of these differences that are not obvious by just looking at the DNA.

"For example," he said, "when you compare humans and chimps, they are obviously different, even though a good part of their genetic makeup is more or less the same. Our task is to figure out how diversity is generated, so that we can see in detail how life evolves."

The genome contains the instructions for making proteins, the machines and building blocks of life. These proteins are frequently modified after their production to regulate their biological function and other characteristics.

This mechanism offers an avenue to expand functional diversity beyond the sequences encoded by the DNA.

The researchers concentrated on a particular protein modification called phosphorylation.

"Phosphorylation is important to regulate protein function and to respond to changing environments," explained Villen, "so we thought new phosphorylation sites could be created during evolution to allow species to occupy new niches and adapt their metabolism to exploit available nutrients."

In their work, Villen and her collaborators traced the evolutionary history of thousands of phosphorylation sites on proteins across 18 yeast species. These are single-cell eukaryotic microorganisms that originated hundreds of millions of years ago.

Eukaryotes are living things whose cells contain a membrane-surrounded nucleus and whose DNA is housed in chromosomes. Human cells, too, are eukaryotic.

Existing knowledge about the origins and evolutionary history of yeast and their DNA sequences, along with recent developments in phosphoproteomics -- identifying and cataloging proteins modified by phosphate -- enabled the researchers to approach this project.

"Until recently," Villen said, "the technology was not ready to study phosphorylation at such depth or for so many samples. Now these experiments are much easier. In fact, a team of three very talented undergraduate students conducted most of the initial phosphoproteomic experiments for this project."

The authors found that only a small fraction of phosphosites -- locations on a protein molecule that can be phosphorylated -- remain conserved across the hundreds of millions of years that separate the various yeast species under study. Additional research on these few ancient sites suggests that the older sites are more likely to be functionally important, compared to those most recently acquired.

"Many young sites have also been found to be functional, and the fact that most of the sites are relatively new acquisitions shows the rapid scale of evolution of phosphorylation," Villen explained.

The researchers thought that the rapid evolution of phosphorylation could contribute strongly to the development of diverse characteristics observed across species or allow for new species to arise. This is analogous to what happens in cancer, where changes to cellular signaling and protein phosphorylation can alter what a cell looks like, as well as its metabolism, proliferation and migration properties.

Further analysis and comparisons of the yeast protein phosphosites revealed significant differences in phosphorylation motif preferences across species. Motifs are distinctive patterns around the site.

"This suggests that the proteins responsible for those phosphorylation events have changed in some way, either in abundance, specificity, or activity,'' Villen explained.

"On the whole, our results showed that the evolution of phospho-regulation is highly dynamic," the researchers concluded.

Changes in the regulation of proteins by such modifications, according to the scientists, have the capacity to quickly generate a diversity of solutions to conditions faced by organisms during evolution.

###

The research was supported by an Ellison Medical Foundation Award, an Amgen scholarship, a Mary Gates scholarship, a National Science Foundation grant, a Human Frontier Science Program award, a European Research Council grant, and several Spanish and Catalan government awards.

The title of the Science article is, "Evolution of protein phosphorylation across 18 fungal species."
YORK, Pa.  Pennsylvania Farm Bureau and its charitable organization, the Pennsylvania Friends of Agriculture Foundation, welcomed the 1,000,000th student inside one of its Mobile Agriculture Education Science Labs during a visit to the North Salem Elementary School in Dover, York County.

2003

The Mobile Agriculture Education Science Lab program has been bringing agriculture education to schools across Pennsylvania since 2003, when the first lab began making visits to schools in south central Pennsylvania.

Since then, the program has expanded to six Ag Labs, which travel into school districts across the Commonwealth, bringing hands-on learning to students in kindergarten through eighth grade.

Farm Bureau notes that the feedback from schools has been overwhelmingly positive and that many schools invite the Ag Lab back year after year, including the North Salem Elementary School.

School districts further benefit from an Ag Lab visit, because the lesson plans are aligned with the Pennsylvania Department of Education standards for Environment and Ecology and Science and Technology.

A Mobile Lab can educate up to 900 students and involve up to 30 teachers per week. Once stationed at a school, students enter the lab to perform science experiments, such as making crayons from soybeans and testing the water capacity of different soils.

Fungi fun

During the 1,000,000th celebration, students took part in the Fungi Fun lesson, which allowed them to work as plant botanists to identify functions, characteristics and properties of plants and fungi. The experiment included the dissection of a mushroom.
By PTI: New Delhi, Oct 12 (PTI) India and Brazil will sign an agreement on cooperation and facilitation of investment on the sidelines of the upcoming BRICS Summit in Goa.

"Although the two countries have been part of several multilateral fora, it is important to work closer bilaterally to make the partnership truly strategic," Brazilian Ambassador to India Tovara Da Silva Nunes said.

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"The two countries enjoy several common aspirations. They have strong services sector, IT, strength in medicines, their foreign policy is focused on sustainable development, they discuss global issues and peaceful solution to conflicts and they face similar challenges and believe that social inclusion is not possible without a good economy," he added.

Talking about Brazil, he said agriculture is the strength of the Brazilian economy. Over the last decade and a half, there has been an increase in the intensity of trade flows to Brazil, he added.

The major sectors of focus in Brazil are medical equipment and medicines, aerospace, aeronautics, oil and natural gas, chemicals, fertilizers and processed food.

The Brazilian Ambassador termed the country as an attractive destination for companies.

"Brazil is one of the major trade partners of India in Latin America. There is more than USD 5 billion Indian investments in Brazil," Nunes said.

He said private companies will have the opportunity to invest in sectors like ports, civil aviation, energy, sanitation, oil and gas.

Agriculture, robust banking system, defence and aeronautics are the pillars of the Brazilian economy, he emphasised. PTI RSN ABM

--- ENDS ---
The decision to withdraw from the European Union could have an impact on land values over the next few years, says Andrew Black, director of land agent Savills.

He says the uncertainty following the decision to withdraw from the European Union may lead to reducing land values.

He said he expected moments of concern and anxiety over the next year or two.

Prime Minister Theresa May has indicated that the United Kingdom will give formal notice of its intention to leave the EU by the end of March next year.

Andrew Black, director of land agent Savills

The subsequent two-year negotiating period would mean the UK leaving the bloc by the end of March 2019.

However, Andrew Black said the benefits of land ownership remained the same.

He hoped that land would continue to be seen as a safe haven even if other markets became jittery.

Early days and many unknowns

But the full impact of Brexit on property values will be dependent on the economic story in the next couple of years.

"We must stress it is early days and there are many unknowns," said Ian Bailey of Savills Research.

English farmland values fell by just 1.7% in the second quarter of 2016

"Uncertainty has to be the key factor and this will principally be around those factors that have direct impact on farm incomes.

"It is likely that farmland market activity in the remainder of this year will be more subdued as potential sellers wait and see."

The most pessimistic scenario is that the combination of suspended corporate decision making, sharp falls in consumer confidence, rises in lending rates and other factors leads to a short term recession in early 2017, followed by a period of much lower than forecast growth.

Farmland values

English farmland values fell by just 1.7% in the second quarter of 2016, compared with a slide of 3% during the first three months of the year.

The average value of English farmland is now 7,773/acre.

While this is 6% lower than the record-high of 8,306/acre hit last September, it still represents an increase of almost 160% over the past 10 years.

"Our research shows just over 100,000 acres were publicly marketed across Great Britain in the first half of 2016, which was on a par with activity for the same period of 2015," Mr Bailey said.

"Historic trends suggest uncertainty creates a lull in the market activity and this appears to be the case across England, where supply in the first half of this year, at 68,000 acres, was 10% lower than the same period last year.

"However, in Scotland and Wales the opposite pattern was recorded."

'Referendum fatigue'

"Anecdotal evidence suggests that, in Scotland at least, there has been a degree of referendum fatigue which has not hindered activity, Mr Bailey said.

"In Wales the market is very small and a few farms can make a difference either way."

"In the short term the weak pound makes our exports more competitive.

"In addition, UK farmers may receive a significant increase in farm subsidies in 2017 if the weak pound continues through September.

This may be a short term benefit. Rural businesses should use this and the window of opportunity created, by the time it will take to leave the EU after Article 50 has been triggered, to assess and mitigate potential risks to income and asset values of reduced government support, Mr Bailey concluded.
"Imagine A Day Without Censorship" Speakout At Facebook Zuckerberg's SF Mansion by Labornet

A speak out was held on John Lennon's birthday at the San Francisco mansion of Facebook owner Mark Zuckerberg. He is censoring Facebook with critics of Israel and is colluding with the police and US government to stop live streams from Standing Rock by Native People in North Dakota and also shut off the video stream of Korryn Gaines and then killed her. Facebook is also seeking to privatize the internet.
From the Open-Publishing Calendar From the Open-Publishing Newswire Indybay Feature

Free Korean Jailed Trade Unionists! Solidarity Rally Held At San Francisco Korean Consulat by United Public Workers For Action As part of an international day of solidarity action for jailed Korean trade unionists and for striking KPTU Truck-SOL workers as well as Korea Railway and subway workers a speak out was held at the Korean consulate in San Francisco.



For more information:

https://youtu.be/VwQPzPB9jOQ

https://www.facebook.com/PSIglobalunion/posts/10153578485100718

https://www.facebook.com/kctueng/



http://www.zoominkorea.org/korean-truck-drivers-begin-industrial-action-as-rail-strike-enters-its-third-week/

http://english.hani.co.kr/arti/english_edition/e_international/765154.html

http://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20161010000800



Initiated by United Public Workers For Action

http://www.upwa.info



Production of Labor Video Project October 12, 2016 was an international day of solidarity for the over 50 jailed trade union truck drivers at Truck-SOL and other trade unionists and union leaders who have been jailed by the Korean government. The striking truckers are fighting deregulation and union busting.For more information: http://www.itfglobal.org/ /support-koreas-strikers-for-jus/Initiated by United Public Workers For ActionProduction of Labor Video Project For more information: https://youtu.be/z3W-OmGszVY Related Categories: International | San Francisco | Labor & Workers

 Supporters Of Jailed Korean Trade Unionists At Korean Consulate by United Public Workers For Action Supporters of Korean jail trade unionists and striking Truck-SOL and other public workers in Korea rallied at the Korean Consulate in San Francisco.

The Korean government is trying to crush the workers strike and also has arrested over 50 strikers as well as jailing union leaders. https://youtu.be/z3W-OmGszVY

 Korean Police Guard Scabs At Trucking Company by United Public Workers For Action Thousands of Korean police are being mobilized to break the KPTU truckers strike and destroy the unions which are fighting deregulation. https://youtu.be/z3W-OmGszVY

 Korean Striker Trucker Hurt and Arrested by United Public Workers For Action A striking trucker in Busan Korea was hurt and arrested while on the picket line. The Korean government is using mass repression to break the union. https://youtu.be/z3W-OmGszVY

 Stop Labor Repression by United Public Workers For Action Workers around the world supported the strike of Korean Truck-SOL workers and other workers who are under attack and also faced arrest. https://youtu.be/z3W-OmGszVY

 Korean KPTU leaders announce strike by United Public Workers For Action The Korean KPTU leaders announced that they would launch a strike against deregulation that would harm health and safety conditions and cut wages. https://youtu.be/z3W-OmGszVY
Almost one million cigarettes have been seized by Revenue.

They were located in a number of operations in Dublin and Cork over the past week.

Detector dog Casey (pictured below) located 900,000 of them smuggled in five pallets labelled as catering equipment in Dublin Port today from the Netherlands.

The cigarettes seized at Dublin Port

In Cork on Sunday, detector dog Harvey found 7,000 cigarettes in two houses in Castletownbere. Two Lithuanian men in their 40s were questioned and a prosecution file is being prepared.

Meanwhile, in Dublin Airport last Wednesday, Revenue officers seized 22,000 cigarettes when they stopped and searched two men who had arrived on a flight from Istanbul.

The 48-year-old Bulgarian and 37-year-old Moldovan were arrested at the scene and appeared before Judge Halpin in the District court. They were remanded in custody to Cloverhill prison and will appear in court again tomorrow.

In all, 930,000 illegal cigarettes have been seized. The total value of the seized cigarettes is 511,000, representing a potential loss to the Exchequer of 412,000.

Four men have been arrested in connection with the operations.
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Oct. 13, 2016) - Gold Standard Ventures Corp. (TSX VENTURE:GSV) (NYSE MKT:GSV) ("Gold Standard" or the "Company") today announced assay results from three core holes, DS16-23, DS16-24 and DS16-27, at the recently discovered North Dark Star gold deposit on its 100%-owned/controlled Railroad-Pinion Project in Nevada's Carlin Trend. In the most recent core holes, DS16-24 returned 97.3 meters of 3.16 g Au/t, including two higher grade intervals of 10.1m of 4.02 g Au/t and 49.1m of 4.62 g Au/t; and, DS16-27 returned 39.0m of 0.72 g Au/t. These new results continue to increase the size, width, continuity and down-dip extent of the deposit.

The primary objective of this year's drill program at North Dark Star was to expand the high grade gold zone discovered in core hole DS15-13 (15.4m of 1.85 g Au/t and 97.0m of 1.61 g Au/t) at the end of the 2015 drill program (see January 21, 2016 news release). DS16-08, located 100m south of DS15-13, subsequently returned a 126.2 meter section grading 3.95 g Au/t including, higher grade intervals of 44.0m of 4.70 g Au/t, 17.9m of 5.6 g Au/t and 7.9m of 10.7 g Au/t (see August 9, 2016 news release). DS16-03B, located 120m south of DS16-08, intersected a 101.2 meter section grading 1.50 g Au/t including a higher grade interval of 32.3m of 2.87 g Au/t (see August 18, 2016 news release). Then, DS16-21 returned a 56.2 meter interval grading 1.83 g Au/t, including higher grade interval 9.8m of 3.78 g Au/t (see September 14, 2016 news release), up-dip to the east of DS16-08 (Please click the following link to view plan and section maps: https://goldstandardv.com/lp/north-dark-star-oct-results/ ). All of these intercepts report continuous gold values above the cut-off grade of 0.14 g Au/t established by APEX Geoscience Ltd. of Edmonton, Canada in its Dark Star NI43-101 resource estimate announced on March 3, 2015 (see news release).

Jonathan Awde, CEO and Director of Gold Standard commented: "Drilling at North Dark Star continues to find unusually high grades in oxide material. I think we can now safely say that this deposit represents an important new discovery in the Carlin Trend and we have yet to establish its limits. Our technical team has noted that key geological characteristics of the North Dark Star occurrence are present in untested areas within the Dark Star Corridor. Drilling continues."

Key North Dark Star Highlights

DS16-24 intersected 97.3m of 3.16 g Au/t approximately 65m down-dip to the west from 126.2m of 3.95 g Au/t intersected in DS16-08 (see August 9, 2016 news release) (Please click the following link to view a cross section of DS16-24 and DS16-08: https://goldstandardv.com/lp/north-dark-star-oct-results/ ). The dip of the mineralization appears to be flattening to the west, rather than steepening, a positive development. Mineralization occurs within the host package of decalcified, variably silicified, and collapse brecciated debris flow conglomerate, the same part of the conglomerate section that hosts gold in core holes DS16-08, DS16-03B, DS16-21 and DS15-13.

The intercept in DS16-24 is split into two contiguous zones: an upper, pervasively oxidized zone, with limonite and hematite; and, a lower reduced zone with sooty pyrite, carbon, weak limonite and hematite on fractures (click the following link for DS16-24 core photos: https://goldstandardv.com/lp/north-dark-star-oct-results/ ). The transition from oxide to reduced zones with increasing depth in Carlin-style gold systems is a well-documented and expected pattern. The two higher grade intervals of 10.1m of 4.02 g Au/t and 49.1m of 4.62 g Au/t are indicative of a robust gold system.

Approximately 120 meters south of DS16-24 and -08, the oxide intercept of 39.0m of 0.72 g Au/t in DS16-27 represents the down-dip continuation of 101.2m of 1.50g Au/t mineralization intersected in DS16-03B (see August 18, 2016 news release). Separation between the DS16-27 and DS16-03B mineralized intercepts is approximately 60 m and mineralization appears again to be flattening to the west (Please click the following link to view a cross section of DS16-27 and DS16-03B: https://goldstandardv.com/lp/north-dark-star-oct-results/ ). Mineralization in DS16-27 occurs in decalcified, weak to moderately silicified, oxidized and collapse brecciated debris flow conglomerate, bioclastic limestone, calcarenite, and silty limestone.

The north-striking Ridgeline fault has emerged as an important control on mineralization with the gold system focused in the eastern, hanging wall side of the fault. A new and evolving interpretation suggests that the North Dark Star gold zone occurs in a syncline within the hanging wall of the Ridgeline fault. Faults and folds are well-documented controls on mineralization within Carlin-style gold systems of northern Nevada.

DS16-23, a core hole located approximately 80m east and up-dip of DS16-03B, returned anomalous gold values from altered and oxidized debris flow conglomerate. Initial interpretations suggest DS16-23 may be east of mineral-controlling structures.

North Dark Star drill results are as follows:

Drill Hole Method Azimuth Incl. TD (m) Intercept (m) Thickness (m) Grade (g Au/t) DS16-23 Core 090 -45 411.6 No intercepts > 0.14 g Au/t DS16-24 Core 090 -60 423.2 104.5 - 114.0 9.5 0.16 119.8 - 136.9 17.1 0.41 143.3 - 144.5 1.2 0.30 152.4 - 161.5 9.1 0.28 171.6 - 175.7 4.1 0.33 180.8 - 278.1 97.3 3.16 Including 203.9 - 214.0 10.1 4.02 Including 225.9 - 275.0 49.1 4.62 Also Including 262.5 - 275.0 12.5 6.09 DS16-27 Core 090 -75 389.6 67.4 - 69.7 2.3 0.21 Including 77.7 - 80.1 2.4 0.16 93.0 - 94.2 1.2 0.19 98.5 - 101.2 2.7 0.15 108.8 - 110.1 1.3 0.20 114.6 - 153.6 39.0 0.72 136.9 - 144.2 7.3 1.49

(i) Gold intervals reported in this table were calculated using a 0.14 g Au/t cutoff. Weighted averaging has been used to calculate all reported intervals. True widths are estimated at 70-90% of drilled thicknesses.

Mac Jackson, Gold Standard's Vice President of Exploration stated, "This stellar, high-grade intercept in DS16-24 is very important in adding width and flattening the dip of the North Dark Star gold zone. Intercepts with that thickness and grade, add ounces quickly. We are continuing to test altered Pennsylvanian-Permian carbonate host section along the northerly striking Ridgeline fault and are looking forward to future results."

Sampling Methodology, Chain of Custody, Quality Control and Quality Assurance:

All sampling was conducted under the supervision of the Company's project geologists and the chain of custody from the project to the sample preparation facility was continuously monitored. A blank or certified reference material was inserted approximately every tenth sample. The North Dark Star samples were delivered to Bureau Veritas Mineral Laboratories preparation facility in Elko, NV. The samples are crushed, pulverized and sample pulps are shipped to Bureau Veritas certified laboratory in Sparks, NV or Vancouver, BC. Pulps are digested and analyzed for gold using fire assay fusion and an atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS) finish on a 30 gram split. Over limit gold assays were determined using a fire assay fusion with a gravimetric finish on a 30 gram split. All other elements were determined by ICP analysis. Data verification of the analytical results includes a statistical analysis of the standards and blanks that must pass certain parameters for acceptance to insure accurate and verifiable results.

Drill hole deviation is measured by a gyroscopic down-hole survey that has been completed on all holes by International Directional Services of Elko, NV. Final collar locations are surveyed by differential GPS by Apex Surveying, LLC of Spring Creek, Nevada.

The scientific and technical content and interpretations contained in this news release have been reviewed, verified and approved by Steven R. Koehler, Gold Standard's Manager of Projects, BSc. Geology and CPG-10216, a Qualified Person as defined by NI 43-101, Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects.

ABOUT GOLD STANDARD VENTURES - Gold Standard is an advanced stage gold exploration company focused on district scale discoveries on its Railroad-Pinion Gold Project, located within the prolific Carlin Trend. The 2014 Pinion and Dark Star gold deposit acquisitions offer Gold Standard a potential near-term development option and further consolidates the Company's premier land package on the Carlin Trend. The Pinion deposit now has an NI43-101 compliant resource estimate consisting of an Indicated Mineral Resource of 31.61 million tonnes grading 0.62 grams per tonne (g/t) gold (Au), totaling 630,300 ounces of gold and an Inferred Resource of 61.08 million tonnes grading 0.55 g/t Au, totaling 1,081,300 ounces of gold, using a cut-off grade of 0.14 g/t Au. The Dark Star deposit, 2.1 km to the east of Pinion, has a NI43-101 compliant resource estimate consisting of an Inferred Resource of 23.11 million tonnes grading 0.51 g/t Au, totaling 375,000 ounces of gold, using a cut-off grade of 0.14 g/t Au (announced March 3, 2015). The 2014 and 2015 definition and expansion of these two shallow, oxide deposits demonstrates their growth potential.

Neither the TSXV nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) nor the NYSE MKT accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release.

CAUTIONARY NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This news release contains forward-looking statements, which relate to future events or future performance and reflect management's current expectations and assumptions. Such forward-looking statements reflect management's current beliefs and are based on assumptions made by and information currently available to the Company. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, included herein including, without limitation, statements about our proposed exploration programs are forward looking statements. By their nature, forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause our actual results, performance or achievements, or other future events, to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Risk factors affecting the Company include, among others: the results from our exploration programs, global financial conditions and volatility of capital markets, uncertainty regarding the availability of additional capital, fluctuations in commodity prices; title matters; and the additional risks identified in our filings with Canadian securities regulators on SEDAR in Canada (available at www.sedar.com) and with the SEC on EDGAR (available at www.sec.gov/edgar.shtml). These forward-looking statements are made as of the date hereof and, except as required under applicable securities legislation, the Company does not assume any obligation to update or revise them to reflect new events or circumstances.

CAUTIONARY NOTE FOR U.S. INVESTORS REGARDING RESERVE AND RESOURCE ESTIMATES

All resource estimates reported by the Company were calculated in accordance with the Canadian National Instrument 43-101 and the Canadian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy Classification system. These standards differ significantly from the requirements of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for descriptions of mineral properties in SEC Industry Guide 7 under Regulation S-K of the U. S. Securities Act of 1933. In particular, under U. S. standards, mineral resources may not be classified as a "reserve" unless the determination has been made that mineralization could be economically and legally produced or extracted at the time the reserve determination is made. Accordingly, information in this press release containing descriptions of the Company's mineral properties may not be comparable to similar information made public by US public reporting companies.

On behalf of the Board of Directors of Gold Standard,

- Jonathan Awde, President and Director
TORONTO, Oct. 13, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- McEwen Mining Inc. (NYSE:MUX) (TSX:MUX) is pleased to announce that total production for the third quarter (Q3) was 36,496 gold equivalent ounces using a gold to silver ratio of 75:1, or 24,281 gold ounces and 916,168 silver ounces. Production is on target to achieve our 2016 guidance of 144,000 gold equivalent ounces, or 99,500 gold ounces and 3,337,000 silver ounces.

2016 Consolidated Production Summary Guidance YTD Q1 Q2 Q3 Gold ounces 99,500 81,145 28,975 27,888 24,281 Silver ounces 3,337,000 2,464,941 673,767 875,006 916,168 Gold Eq. ounces 144,000 114,009 37,958 39,555 36,496



San Jose Mine, Argentina (49%)(1)

The San Jose Mine produced 12,527 gold ounces and 909,017 silver ounces attributable to us in Q3, for a total of 24,647 gold equivalent ounces. Year-to-date the San Jose Mine produced 33,839 gold ounces and 2,443,527 silver ounces attributable to us, for a total of 66,419 gold equivalent ounces. Full year production guidance for San Jose in 2016 is 45,000 gold ounces and 3.3 million silver ounces, for a total of 89,000 gold equivalent ounces attributable to us.

El Gallo Mine, Mexico (100%)

The El Gallo Mine performed as expected in Q3, producing 11,849 gold equivalent ounces. Production in Q3 was lower than the prior quarter due to lower ore grades, as we previously forecast (1.4 gpt in Q3 2016 vs. 2.3 gpt in Q2 2016). Year-to-date the El Gallo Mine produced 47,590 gold equivalent ounces. Full year guidance for El Gallo is 55,000 gold equivalent ounces.

Mexico Exploration Update

The 2016 exploration budget for Mexico is $4 million. Exploration drilling in the district around our El Gallo Mine has been concentrated primarily on three prospective areas; one area called Encuentro South has returned particularly encouraging results at shallow depths. Highlights are summarized below:

Hole ID Gold Grade (gpt) Intercept Width (m) ENX-032 9.59 9.1 including 126.50 0.5 and 2.94 38.2 including 27.3 1.2 ENX-043 7.82 5.4 including 28.70 1.1 ENX-009 16.09 2.1 ENX-041 16.27 1.9 ENX-051 1.30 19.5 and 6.13 4.8 ENX-019 1.85 15.2 including 3.99 5.0 ENX-021 1.66 12.7



Encuentro South is located 7 miles (11 km) southwest of the El Gallo Mine. The project area lies on an important 4 mile (7 km) long, regional NW-SE mineral trend that also hosts two of our other exploration targets (Las Milpas and Twin Domes). Extensive exploration along this trend has identified favorable alteration signatures and abundant anomalous gold and silver mineralization in surface rock and soil samples.

A total of 51 core holes (8,980 meters) have been drilled in the project area, with 42 of those (7,522 meters) at the Encuentro South prospect. Initial interpretations indicate that the favourable gold assays occur in at least three distinct zones that are either shallow dipping NW, or sub-vertical NS structures and are still open along strike and at depth. Mineralization has been identified from surface to a depth of 130 meters. The known length (or strike) of the zone is approximately 230 meters. For full results of the recently drilled holes at Encuentro South see Table 1 here:

Mineralisation at Encuentro South is characterized primarily by structurally controlled, multi-event quartz breccias and stockwork zones hosted by propolytically altered meta-andesites. Minor silicification and hematisation alteration is also seen locally. The mineralization is considered to be of the low-sulphidation, epithermal style as seen elsewhere on the property. Very early stage test results show that the gold mineralization at Encuentro South is potentially amenable to heap leaching.

Financial Results

Operating costs for the quarter ended September 30, 2016 will be released with our 10-Q Quarterly Financial Statements in early November. As at October 7, 2016 we have no debt and liquid assets of $61 million composed of $39 million of cash, $18 million of precious metals, and $4 million of marketable securities. We have not issued equity to finance our operations since completing a rights issue in 2013, and we have preserved our leverage to higher gold and silver prices by not encumbering our assets with royalties, metal streams or hedges.

ABOUT MCEWEN MINING (www.mcewenmining.com)

McEwen Minings goal is to qualify for inclusion in the S&P 500 Index by creating a high growth, profitable gold and silver producer focused in the Americas and Europe. McEwen Mining's principal assets consist of the San Jose Mine in Santa Cruz, Argentina (49% interest), the El Gallo Mine and El Gallo Silver project in Sinaloa, Mexico, the Gold Bar project in Nevada, USA, and the Los Azules copper project in San Juan, Argentina.

McEwen Mining has a total of 300 million shares outstanding and 305 million fully diluted. Rob McEwen, Chairman and Chief Owner, owns 25% of the Company.

Footnotes:

(1) The San Jose Mine is owned by Minera Santa Cruz S.A., which is a joint venture 49% owned by McEwen Mining Inc. and 51% owned and operated by Hochschild Mining plc.

RELIABILITY OF INFORMATION REGARDING THE SAN JOSE MINE

Minera Santa Cruz S.A. (MSC), the owner of the San Jose Mine, is responsible for and has supplied to the Company all reported results from the San Jose Mine. McEwen Mining's joint venture partner, a subsidiary of Hochschild Mining plc, and its affiliates other than MSC do not accept responsibility for the use of project data or the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

TECHNICAL INFORMATION

The technical aspects of the production results section has been reviewed and approved by Nathan M. Stubina, Ph.D., P.Eng., FCIM, Managing Director and a Qualified Person as defined by Canadian Securities Administrator National Instrument 43-101 "Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects".

The exploration section has been reviewed and approved by Luke Willis, P.Geo, McEwen Minings Director of Resource Modelling, who is a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101 and is responsible for program design and quality control of exploration undertaken by the Company at its Mexican exploration properties. Samples from the core drilling were split on-site at the Companys El Gallo Mine. One half of the split drill core is shipped to ALS Chemex for sample preparation and analysis by fire assay for gold and 4-acid digestion with ICP determination for silver. Samples returning greater than 10 ppm gold or 1500 ppm silver were re-analyzed using gravimetric fire assay. Standards and blanks were inserted every 20 samples. All holes were drilled with HQ bits and reduced to NTW where required. Samples were taken based on lithologic and/or mineralized intervals and vary in length. The true width of the mineral zones has not yet been determined.

CAUTION CONCERNING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This news release contains certain forward-looking statements and information, including "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The forward-looking statements and information expressed, as at the date of this news release, McEwen Mining Inc.'s (the "Company") estimates, forecasts, projections, expectations or beliefs as to future events and results. Forward-looking statements and information are necessarily based upon a number of estimates and assumptions that, while considered reasonable by management, are inherently subject to significant business, economic and competitive uncertainties, risks and contingencies, and there can be no assurance that such statements and information will prove to be accurate. Therefore, actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements and information. Risks and uncertainties that could cause results or future events to differ materially from current expectations expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements and information include, but are not limited to, factors associated with fluctuations in the market price of precious metals, mining industry risks, political, economic, social and security risks associated with foreign operations, the ability of the corporation to receive or receive in a timely manner permits or other approvals required in connection with operations, risks associated with the construction of mining operations and commencement of production and the projected costs thereof, risks related to litigation, the state of the capital markets, environmental risks and hazards, uncertainty as to calculation of mineral resources and reserves, and other risks. The Companys dividend policy will be reviewed periodically by the Board of Directors and is subject to change based on certain factors such as the capital needs of the Company and its future operating results. Readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements or information included herein, which speak only as of the date hereof. The Company undertakes no obligation to reissue or update forward-looking statements or information as a result of new information or events after the date hereof except as may be required by law. See McEwen Mining's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2015 and other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, under the caption "Risk Factors", for additional information on risks, uncertainties and other factors relating to the forward-looking statements and information regarding the Company. All forward-looking statements and information made in this news release are qualified by this cautionary statement.

The NYSE and TSX have not reviewed and do not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of the contents of this news release, which has been prepared by management of McEwen Mining Inc.
By Jun Ji-hye



The former commanders of the United States Forces Korea (USFK) have expressed their support for possible pre-emptive strikes against North Korea if a nuclear attack is deemed imminent.



Burwell Bell, who commanded U.S. armed forces stationed in South Korea from 2006 to 2008, said that pre-emptive strikes are necessary if information that the North is making the final touches on a nuclear attack is detected, according to Voice of America (VOA), Wednesday.



"Their sovereign right to defend themselves against a catastrophic surprise attack demands that they reserve the right and have the capability (of pre-emptive strikes)," Bell told the VOA.



The former commander noted that it is improper to wait until an actual attack takes place even if an imminent attack has been detected.



"This is not just about an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) and nuclear weapons. This is about any kind of weapon capable of mass destruction that can be delivered by surprise if that has a high probability of success," he said.



The argument about the need for pre-emptive strikes has been brought up especially after Pyongyang conducted its fifth and most powerful nuclear test, Sept. 9, claiming to have detonated a miniaturized nuclear warhead that can be mounted on a ballistic missile.



The ICBM, believed to have a range of more than 10,000 kilometers, is in theory capable of striking targets on the U.S. mainland.



Walter Sharp, who was USFK commander from 2008 to 2011, has made a comment similar to that of Bell, the VOA added. He said that pre-emptive strikes should be guaranteed if there is clear evidence that the United States and its allies have become targets of attack by an enemy including North Korea.



Comments from former USFK commanders are in line with previous remarks from Mike Mullen, former chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff.



Mullen said during a forum hosted by the U.S. Council on Foreign Relations, Sept. 16, that it is important to develop "the capability to defend ourselves," noting 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.



He said allies could theoretically take out launch capabilities on the launch pads of the North or take them out once they are launched.



James Thurman, who served as USFK commander from 2011 to 2013, said he supported Mullen's argument, adding that all possible options should be considered, according to VOA.




The White House has come out in support of India's surgical strikes across the LoC and said India has the right to self defence.

Calling the US-India ties most dynamic, the White House backed India's surgical strikes across the LoC. (Photo: PTI)

By Press Trust of India: Pakistan's global isolation continues as the US said that India has the "right to self defence" and that it "empathises with India's need to respond militarily to cross-border threat of terrorism" .

The comments, made by White House spokesperson for South Asia Peter Lavoy, come in the backdrop of the recent surgical strikes carried out by India across the Line of Control to target terror launchpads.

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Calling the Uri terror attack of September 18 a "clear case of cross-border terrorism", the White House dismissed the recent attempt by Pakistan to link peace in war-torn Afghanistan with Kashmir.

ALSO READ: 'Declare Pakistan terror sponsor' is most popular US petition ever



MOST DYNAMIC RELATIONSHIP

The White House backed India's right to defend itself as with any other country, in view of the recent surgical strikes but advised caution given the heavy militarisation between the two neighbours.

It also said that that the US is making every effort to ensure that India becomes a member of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) by the end of this year.

ALSO READ: After blocking India's move to ban Masood Azhar, China now wants action against global terrorists

Making a rare appearance before a Washington audience, Lavoy said that India-US ties are the "most dynamic relationship" for the US as he listed the Obama administration's achievements in strengthening the relationship between the two largest democracies of the world.

A CLEAR CASE OF CROSS-BORDER TERRORISM

"It (Uri) was a clear case of cross-border terrorism. We condemned this act of terrorism. It was a horrific attack. Every country has a right to self-defence. But in a heavily militarised relationship that has also experienced three wars, there is indeed a need for caution and restraint," he said responding to a question on the Uri attack.

"We share with India, the concern for preventing any future attack. We empathise with the Indian position that it needs to respond militarily to cross-border threat of terrorism. But we also advise caution," Lavoy said.

WATCH THE VIDEO HERE:



FRICTION-FILLED RELATIONSHIP

India and Pakistan have a "friction-filled relationship" and they have not found a way to overcome that, he said.

ALSO READ: Pak terrorists may target BRICS summit in Goa in retaliation to surgical strikes, warn agencies

Last week, Lavoy met the two special envoys of Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Kashmir. The two Pakistani envoys in their public meetings had linked peace in Afghanistan to resolving the Kashmir issue.

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"We certainly do not believe that the situation in Afghanistan is linked with Kashmir," the top White House official said.

ALSO READ: Pakistan accuses India of sponsoring terrorism at Brussels conference



INDIA MUST JOIN NSG CLUB BY 2016

Lavoy said the US is making every effort to ensure that India becomes a member of the Nuclear Suppliers Group by the end of this year.

"In 2016 India ought to join the NSG," he said and referred to the commitment made by the US in this regard.

ALSO READ: Petition filed in British parliament condemning Pakistan on terrorism gains support



--- ENDS ---
By Yi Whan-woo



South Korea and China collided Thursday over Seoul's plan to actively use force against illegal Chinese fishing boats in its territorial waters  a further sign of diplomatic conflict following their dispute over an advanced U.S. missile defense system.



China is accusing South Korea of "abusing its authority" in its decision made in the wake of the sinking of a Coast Guard patrol boat after it was rammed by a Chinese fishing vessel in waters 76 kilometers southwest of Socheong Island near Incheon in the West Sea.



The Coast Guard boat sank at latitude 37 degrees 23 minutes and 6 seconds north and longitude 123 degrees 58 minutes and 56 seconds east, according to the South Korean government.



On Wednesday, the Chinese foreign ministry cited that such a position is in the Exclusive Fisheries Zone, where both countries are allowed to fish in line with a bilateral fishing agreement. The ministry spokesman Geng Shuang claimed South Korea's decision was therefore "not persuasive enough."



Seoul's Ministry of Foreign Affairs refuted the Chinese government's statement, pointing out that the Chinese vessel was first spotted fishing illegally in South Korean waters at latitude 37 degrees 28 minutes and 33 seconds north and longitude 124 degrees 2 minutes and 3 seconds east.



"The Coast Guard exercised its rights to chase an illegal fishing boat as stipulated by the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea before the boat was rammed by the Chinese vessel outside its zone of jurisdiction and sank," the Seoul government said in a statement. "Our responses against illegal fishing and challenges to law enforcement are in full compliance with international and domestic laws."



During a National Assembly audit, Thursday, Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se said his ministry will discuss with other related ministries to ask China extradite those who are responsible for sinking the 4.5-ton Coast Guard speed boat



He also said he has requested the Beijing government to investigate, apprehend and punish the crew of the 100-ton Chinese vessel that fled back to China after the incident.



In separate efforts, the Incheon Coast Guard held its first live-fire drill using large vessels' weapons.



A total of six ships of various tonnages  50 tons, 100 tons, 300 tons and 500 tons  were mobilized. The crew fired a series of rounds using 40-milimieter deck guns, 20-millimeter Vulcan automatic cannons and M60 machine guns.



They also conducted drills aimed at countering Chinese fishermen on board who frequently resist the Coast Guard by using deadly weapons such as hacksaws and knives.



The dispute came amid China's repeated opposition toward the planned deployment of a U.S. Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) battery in South Korea next year.



Beijing has been insisting that THAAD's long-range radar can be used to spy on its military activities despite Washington's assurance that it will only be used to deter North Korea's ballistic missile attacks.



The Huanqiu Shibao, a sister daily to the Chinese communist party's People's Daily, called South Korea's plan to actively use force against the Chinese fishing boats "crazy."



It claimed that Seoul's actions is "intended to express its complaint and displeasure toward Beijing" following the argument over THAAD.



"The South Korean government must have been crazy," it said in an editorial, Tuesday. "This is a collective seizure of nationalism."



In a separate article, it also said the two countries should remain calm considering their relations have worsened because of THAAD-related issues and that there has been misunderstanding over "minor conflicts."



Park Won-gon, an international relations professor at Handong University, speculated that the dispute over illegal Chinese fishing boats can worsen Seoul-Beijing ties more than that over THAAD.



He cited that the Chinese media outlets have been referring to the Chinese fishermen as "Those who desperately need to make a living."



"I've been told fishing stock in China is almost depleted because of illegal fishing and that's probably why the Chinese fishermen are operating illegally outside their territorial waters," he said. "It's possible that they will rise against their government if it cooperates with South Korea in banning fishing in South Korean waters because they will have no way to earn money."




According to the India Today-Axis Opinion Poll, the Congress may emerge as the single largest party in Punjab by winning 49-55 seats.

By India Today Web Desk: The Congress is likely to emerge as the single largest party in Punjab by winning 49-55 seats in the Assembly election due early next year, according to the India Today-Axis Opinion Poll.

Arvind Kejriwal's Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which has witnessed both a massive interest by the voters as well as bitter dissent within, is a close second with 42-46 seats. In terms of vote share, while the Congress may command a third of Punjab's votes (33 per cent), the AAP will trail at 30.

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The Congress tally, however, is still a few seats short of a simple majority in the 117-member state Assembly. However, the party is likely to form an alliance with Navjot Singh Sidhu's Aawaz-e-Punjab, which might manage to win a few seats and help the combine reach the magic figure of 59.

With a host of controversies, including corruption and allegations of drug peddling haunting them, the ruling combine of the Akali Dal and the BJP is staring at a possible rout with just 17-21 seats, while 3-7 seats may go to smaller parties.

AMARINDER SINGH NEXT CM?

In further boost for the Congress, the opinion poll says almost one-third of the state's voters (33 per cent) want Captain Amarinder Singh to return as Chief Minister. Singh was Punjab Chief Minister from 2002 to 2007.

The survey found that only 25 per cent of state's voters want incumbent Parkash Singh Badal of the Akali Dal to remain in power. Also, 58 per cent of the respondents rated Badal's performance as bad, while 29 per cent were satisfied with his tenure.

The incumbent Chief Minister's son as well as his deputy, Sukhbir Singh Badal, was picked by just three per cent of the voters as their next Chief Minister.

Kejriwal, who many believe is likely to desert Delhi if his party wins Punjab, was picked by just 16 per cent of those surveyed as their best bet.

The other names considered by those surveyed include Sidhu and AAP MP Bhagwant Mann tied at 8 per cent, Gurpreet Singh Ghuggi (3), HS Phoolka (1), and Sucha Singh Chhotepur (1).

THE DRUG MENACE

With agricultural production on the decline and lack of employment opportunities, Punjab has been battling drug addiction for a long time, especially among its youth.

A whopping 76 per cent of those surveyed by India Today-Axis said drugs is a major issue in the election next year. When asked who is responsible for the menace, an overwhelming 80 per cent of the respondents blamed the politicians mainly in the government.

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Only a negligible minority (4 per cent) said the issue is the creation of the opposition, while one per cent blamed the media for making it a big deal. Fifteen per cent of the voters didn't know who to blame for the problem.



Also read:

Congress announces mega farmer outreach programme in Punjab

Punjab: AAP attempts to cut into BJP's votebank by wooing businessmen

Punjab election move? BJP's Vasundhara Raje makes Gurmeet Ram Rahim's MSG- The Warrior tax-free in Rajasthan

Punjab's drug menace also reflects in the response to the question on what is the biggest election issue: 35 per cent of those surveyed said it's employment, while 39 per cent want more development in what used to be one of India's most prosperous states.

THE AAP FACTOR

That the AAP has already made its presence felt in Punjab will be an understatement. Since its landslide victory in Delhi last year, the party has been running an aggressive campaign to be seen as a viable alternative in Punjab against the Akali Dal-BJP combine and the Congress.

When asked if the AAP has given the best model of governance in Delhi, 36 per cent of the respondents said they were impressed. While 18 per cent were not sure, nearly half of those surveyed (46 per cent) were not sure of the AAP's performance in Delhi.

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Also, one-fifth of the respondents (21 per cent) said the rebellion within the party in Punjab might hurt its chances while an equal number of people (22 per cent) said it will not matter. The majority of those surveyed were not sure which way the rebellion would go.

The AAP has had its share of turmoil in Punjab. From losing Navjot Singh Sidhu despite multiple claims of the cricketer-turned-politician joining the party to charging veteran Sucha Singh Chhotepur with corruption and forcing him to quit, the party has had a bumpy ride in the state.

Also read:

India Today-Axis Opinion Poll: UP, Uttarakhand, Punjab back surgical strikes over war

India Today-Axis Opinion Poll for Uttar Pradesh: BJP dream run to continue, but a hung Assembly likely

PM MODI'S PERFORMANCE

Both the Akali Dal and the BJP face a curious anti-incumbency in Punjab. While the former is the leading coalition partner in the state, the latter is not only an ally, but also forms the government at the Centre.

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It is for this reason that Prime Minister Narendra Modi's performance also becomes a decisive factor in Punjab this year, and the BJP has little to be happy about here. While 39 per cent of those surveyed said Modi's performance has been good, 31 per cent said it was bad. Only five per cent rated it 'Very good'.

When asked if Modi has fulfilled his election promises, almost half the voters (49 per cent) ticked 'Not at all', 32 per cent said 'very few', while only 12 per cent were satisfied with the government at the Centre.

Watch the video



THE RULING COMBINE

It was perhaps for this reason that a significant 45 per cent of the respondents said the BJP should break its alliance with the Akali Dal and fight the election on its own. One-fourth of the voters wanted the alliance to continue, while 29 per cent of them were not sure.

--- ENDS ---
Real threats to India are 'internal' and emanate from communal and social violence, not from outside forces such as Pakistan or China, says former NSA Shivshankar Menon.

By Press Trust of India: The real threats to India are "internal" and emanate from communal and social violence, not from outside forces such as Pakistan or China, former National Security Advisor Shivshankar Menon has said.

Asked if Pakistan or China pose an existential threat to India, Menon said, "no".

"In terms of national security, I think the real threats are internal," he told PTI.

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Also read: After Hafiz Saeed's comments, US warns Pakistan: Go after Mumbai attackers, shut terror shops



"There's no existential threat to India's existence today externally, unlike in the 50s or when we were formed. And for many years till the late 60s, there were actual internal separatist threats, but not any longer. I think that we have actually dealt with," Menon said.

MENON'S CAREER GRAPH



His long career in public service spans diplomacy, national security, and India's relations with its neighbours and major global powers. Menon served as National Security Advisor to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh from January 2010 to May 2014.

Menon's first book post retirement - Choices: Inside the making of India's Foreign Policy - is all set to hit book stores globally next week.

India Today Conclave: How Test matches, not T20, can solve India, Pakistan conflict, explains Shivshankar Menon



Asked to elaborate on what he meant by internal threats, he said: "If there are real threats to India, to the idea of India, India's integrity, today they actually come from within the country."

THREATS TO INDIA INTERNAL



"If you look at violence in India, deaths from terrorism, from left-wing extremism, declined steadily throughout this 21st century until 2014-2015. Even now the basic trend for terrorism, left wing extremism is down. What has increased is since 2012, instances of communal violence, social violence, and internal violence have gone up. That is something we need to find a way of dealing with," Menon said.

"This is not a traditional law and order problem, which our traditional instruments, the police, the states know how to deal with. You look at violence against women, communal, caste violence, if you look at those forms of violence, these are all a result of tremendous social and economic change of uprooting of population, urbanisation... various forms of change, which we still need to learn how to deal with," he said.

Also read: Pakistan High Commissioner Abdul Basit rubbishes surgical strikes, term them 'fictional'



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Menon said these are the threats, which in the long run, has a "potential to make real difference".

RAPID DEVELOPMENT ALSO CAUSE OF THREATS



"India has changed. It is normal. It happens to most societies where there is change. But you also have to learn new ways of dealing with the same," he said and attributed the new threats to the rapid and fast development of the country.

When asked that some people attributed this to the BJP's coming to power, Menon said even that is a consequence of the change that the Indian society is undergoing now.



Also read: Common ground on the border



Menon previously served as Indias foreign secretary from 2006 to 2009 and as ambassador and high commissioner to Israel from 1995-1997, Sri Lanka (1997-2000), China (2000-2003) and Pakistan (2003-2006).

--- ENDS ---
The spying bird that was recently taken into custody now has no wings to flutter. The Indian forces have clipped the pigeon's wings to stop it from flying back to Pakistan.

By India Today Web Desk:

On October 2, a pigeon from Pakistan, carrying a hate message in Urdu against PM Modi, was arrested by the BSF at Simbal post in Bamial sector.

Read: The message written in Urdu on the piece of paper - "Modi Ji, do not consider us same people as we were during 1971 (Indo-Pak war). Now each and every child is ready to fight against India."

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Nearly two weeks after arresting the 'spy' pigeon that allegedly flew over from Pakistan, Indian forces have clipped the bird's wings so that it cannot fly back to Pakistan, says a The Telegraph report.



"The wings of the pigeon have been clipped to ensure the suspected spy does not fly back to Pakistan," a senior Punjab police official told Calcutta-based newspaper.



"We have sent a preliminary report to the union home ministry, including an X-ray report of the bird which did not reveal anything suspicious."

The pigeon is presently at an animal husbandry hospital, where he's being fed and kept in a cage.

"We don't know how long the pigeon will stay in the police station. Residents are flocking to the police station to see the intruder," an officer told the newspaper.

Also Read: Music, pigeons, balloons, hackers: Pakistan's bizarre new propaganda game



According to the Telegraph report, when they asked whether clipping the bird's wings amounted to cruelty, an officer said, "It's not cruelty. Clipped wings grow fast and the pigeon will be able to fly soon. It's hale and hearty as it is being fed well."

The incident has stirred countless debates as the animal rights activists do not have the same impression.



"They should have released the pigeon since they didn't find anything suspicious after getting the X-ray done," the newspaper quoted animal rights activist Gauri Maulekhi as saying.

"The mindless act amounts to cruelty to animals. It also shows how stupid as a nation we are becoming."





--- ENDS ---
21 Chibok girls that were kidnapped by the dreaded Boko Haram terrorist group have been released.

According to BBC, the girls were released in the early hours of Thursday, October 13.

More than 200 girls were abducted from their schools in Borno state in 2014 by the terrorists and while some of them have reportedly died, the rest have been held by the dreaded group.

READ ALSO: Bomb blast rocks Maiduguri in Borno state

A government source who spoke to BBC Africa revealed that the terrorists dropped the girls in the Banki area of Borno state where they were subsequently picked up by a military helicopter.

Some of the mothers of the abducted girls have called on President Buhari to help locate their children.

Garba Shehu, the senior special adviser to President Muhammadu Buhari on media and publicity, spoke to Legit.ng via phone and said he does not have information yet:

"I don't have any information on the release of the girls, I'm trying to understand what's going on."

He later confirmed the release of the girls and said they have been handed over to the Department of State Service.

The release of the girls comes a few months after the group called on the President Muhammadu Buhari-led federal government to release its fighters in exchange for the girls.

The identity of the released girls cannot be ascertained yet, while it is also not clear if Boko Haram fighters arrested by security operatives were exchanged for the girls.

This is coming a day after the group carried out a deadly attack through a car bomb in Maiduguri, Borno state, killing eight people.

Some Nigerians have reacted to the release of the girls with some wondering if Boko Haram terrorists were exchanged for the girls.

Source: Legit.ng
IndiGo's announcement of Quiet Zones in flights has created waves among travellers from all parts of the world. Here's how the world thinks about it.

By Samonway Duttagupta: In order to make sure that feel business travellers feel a lot more comfortable, Indian budget airline IndiGo has introduced Quiet Zones in its flights, where children below the age of 12 years will not be allowed to sit.

Announcing the child-free zone, IndiGo released a statement saying, "Keeping in mind the comfort and convenience of all passengers row numbers one to four and 11 to 14 are generally kept as a Quiet Zone on IndiGo flights. These zones have been created for business travellers who prefer to use the quiet time to do their work."

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The airline further added to this restriction saying that the same age group of children won't be allowed to sit on rows one, 12, and 13, which are known to have extra legroom and emergency exits.

Although this announcement has been made for business fliers, this will affect travellers in general as well. Divided opinions have been put across by fliers and the media since the announcement has been made.

Hindustan Times quoted a flier named Anshuman Sinha saying, "The policy is discriminatory. It means that you cannot ask for more leg space while travelling with your children. It's clear that they do not want children to disturb fliers paying extra for these seats. But then why permit children in the nearby rows?"

Rhea Lobo, Founder of Mom is Born, and an award-winning filmmaker voiced her opinion on similar lines in a column with The Huffington Post: "While IndiGo airlines defends itself by saying that this is a "globally accepted practice" adopted by a handful of airlines to save their premium flyers from crying children, it makes you wonder, as a mother, what is happening to the world? Forget discrimination based on gender, race or colour, we have now got increasingly intolerant to God's very own--babies and children."

Also read: 8 things you must never eat or drink before a flight



This move by IndiGo airlines created waves in other parts of the world as well. Mirror UK, among other things, mentioned about a 2014 survey which indicates that 70 per cent fliers support child restrictions and 35 per cent would pay extra to travel in a flight without children.

In the same report, Jessica Boulton, Mirror's Deputy Features Editor, voiced her opinion: "Our holidays are important to us. But starting a well-earned break trapped in a confined space with a bunch of unruly kids screaming, crying and running up and down the aisles does not make a traveller happy." She ended her thoughts saying, "There's only one problem I have with IndiGo's new scheme - why can't the ban apply to the whole plane?"

In an opinion piece written on Independent UK, Charlotte Gill highlights the rise of baby bigotry in several places. She brings in the reference of IndiGo's move by saying, "Paedophobia is on the rise, which businesses are only too happy to accommodate. Even airlines are trying to blot children out of existence with new "quiet zones" which exclude kiddies altogether. IndiGo has recently introduced rules meaning that anyone under the age of 12 has to sit in a special place (far from amazing adults, who we know are always pinnacles of virtue on flights)."

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She then goes on to highlight the fact that it's not just the airlines and its passengers who show intolerance towards children--she takes the example of how Treacles Tea Shop, a London-based made news when it banned babies and small children from its premises.

A few paragraphs later, Charlotte writes, "Baby bigotry has become one of the most open, yet underestimated, types of discrimination in our country--meaning that adults are only too happy to vocalise any disdain they may have for fledglings, whom they perceive to be the drain of civilisation. For women, a hostile attitude to children may even help them cure the dissonance between their desire for babies and the realisation they can cost professional success."

What we know for a fact is that IndiGo is not the airline to have introduced such a thing in its flights. The airline simply followed what Malaysia Airlines, AirAsia X, and Singapore's Scoot airline have done in recent times.

On one hand are those travellers who want to start their holiday peacefully, and on the other is the issue of being disrespectful towards children. Is it a good thing to have child-free zones in flights? Keep us posted with your opinions in the comments section below.

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The writer tweets at @SamonwayDg



--- ENDS ---
The Communist Party of Indiapaid tribute to 13-year-old Aradhana Samdhariya and said that action must be taken against her parents.

By Ashish Pandey: The Communist Party of India has demanded strong action against the parents of the 13-year-old Jain girl Aradhana Samdhariya who died after a 68-day long fast.

Party's Greater Hyderabad council paid tribute to the child by lighting candles near the Ambedkar statue yesterday.

The state executive member D Sudhakar said such practice is inhuman in nature and society should take note of this.

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"We demand strong action against those responsible for her death. Police should act firmly in such cases," he said.

Also Read: Hyderabad: Parents of Jain girl who died after 68-day fast booked for culpable homicide



COMMUNITY LEADERS WRITE A LETTER

Meanwhile, Jain community leaders from the city wrote a letter with names children like Aradhna who are made to fast in compliance with rituals. They alleged that the case filed against the parents is without merit and violates the constitutional right to religious freedom.

CHILD RIGHTS ASSOCIATION

The Child Right Association had earlier approached Hyderabad commissioner seeking case against the parents.

The Monda Market Police has booked a case against theM for culpable homicide and under Section 75 of Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015 for willful neglect of a child and the case is under investigation.

The girl Aradhana studying in class eight died on October 3 after completing a 68-day long fast as a Jain ritual.

--- ENDS ---
Karnataka governmen's decision to build a steel flyover in Bengaluru is being opposed by both the local residents and the Opposition leaders.

By Rohini Swamy: Karnataka government has come down with an iron hand on the issue of building a steel flyover beginning from Chalukya circle to the Hebbal flyover to ease the traffic congestion in that area.

But this decision was met with opposition. Several online petitions and public interest groups have been asking the government to reconsider the plan.

Bengaluru development minister KJ George tweeted about the importance of building a flyover.



'Salient features of Steel flyover from Chalukya Circle to Hebbal'

for more details pls ref;https://t.co/VYGoVbwQD9 pic.twitter.com/HpPn9f1Qbg KJ George (@thekjgeorge) October 12, 2016

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He even shared the questions he asked the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) seeking details on how the steel bridge would help and impact the environment.

The report also explains that the "project corridor (road section between Basaveshwara circle to Hebbal, totalling 6.7 km) is one of the busiest roads in Bangalore city taking traffic from the southern part, parts of south east and south west extensions and the central business district towards northern Bangalore and beyond."

"The road section between Hebbal and Basaveshwara Circle (via Mekhri circle) is already congested with traffic during peak hour. Traffic from airport will covulge at Hebbal flyover (2 lane) and towards the city. The existing land use pattern is such that horizontal widening of existing road is practically not possible," said the report.

It also states the reason proposed elevated road is important to make the project corridor signal free:

? To reduce signal time and delay

? To increase travel speed

? To cater for unhindered movement of traffic from NH-7

? To cater for airport bound traffic

? To cater for future project traffic"

GOVERNMENT'S STAND ON THE FLYOVER

Earlier too the chief minister Siddaramaiah defended the Government's stand on the flyover saying that the decision was taken after careful consideration.

"To build a 1,791 crore flyover was not taken just like that, a lot of thought has gone into it, and it was passed in the Cabinet," Siddaramaiah said.

On being asked as to why a whopping amount of 1,791 crores is being spent, the chief minister was quick to respond with a counter question, "Will you fly to avoid he traffic congestions in the city?"

PROBLEMS FACED BY CITIZENS

One of the major concerns of citizen groups who have been spearheading the anti-steel flyover campaign is that not only will the flyover be an eyesore and an obscene amount of money being wasted, but also it would be an environmental hazard with nearly 812 trees being axed to make way for the project.

George in his submission says that the BDA has proposed to plant 6,000 ornamental plants in lieu of the tress felled.

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"The project was proposed 2 years ago, but it was delayed unfortunately. We will resume work and it will help ease traffic," said George.

OPPOSITION



This met with stiff opposition, especially from citizen groups such as Rajya Sabha MP Rajeev Chandrashekhar's "Namma Bengaluru Foundation"and Bangalore's prominent citizens such as Actor Prakash Belawadi, noted architect Naresh Narasimhan and Urban expert Ashwin Mahesh.

Former chief minister HD Kumaraswamy made alleged that the Congress is bent on spending money on the flyover as they want to raise funds for the party in the upcoming Uttar Pradesh elections.



Bengaluru urban Minister KJ George has however invited public opinion to be voiced through his twitter handle @thekjgeorge.



--- ENDS ---
Karnataka has been at loggerheads with Maharashtra over sharing of Mahadayi river water.

By Rohini Swamy: While the Cauvery water dispute is boiling over, another water war is brewing among the states of Karnataka, Maharashtra and Goa.

While on one front, Karnataka is fighting a battle with Tamil Nadu on how much water can be released from the Cauvery river to Tamil Nadu, on the other, it is locked in a battle with Goa seeking the state's share of water from the Mahadayi river.

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In order to try and resolve the dispute, a delegation of senior BJP leaders led by Union Minister Ananth Kumar met Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis to hold discussions on the issue.

Also read: Mahadayi row: Karnataka DGP suspends 6 officers for assault on elderly people



While former chief minister and Karnataka Opposition leader Jagdish Shettar has sought an out-of-court settlement, Goa has maintained that they will not accept that offer.

MEETING OF 3 CMs ON OCT 21



A meeting of the chief ministers of Goa, Karnataka and Maharashtra is to be held on October 21 in Mumbai to try and work out a solution. This is based on the recommendation made by the Mahadayi water tribunal.

While holding talks with Fadnavis, Karnataka submitted that the state should get its fair share of water from the Mahadayi river for drinking water purposes.

The states of Maharashtra, Goa and Karnataka have been at loggerheads for several years with Maharashtra and Goa objecting to Karnataka's demand to draw water from Mahadayi by linking it to the Mallaprabha river in Karnataka by building two canals -- Kalasa and Banduri -- for drinking water purposes for the cities of Dharwad, Hubballi, Belagavi and Gadag.

PROTESTS OVER MAHADAYI



Several protests have been held even earlier on the Mahadayi water sharing issue that have crippled normal life especialy in the Nargund Taluka of Gadag district, which is known to be the epicentre of the protests.

In July 2016, Kannada film stars united to protest against the Mahadayi tribunal verdict, which rejected the interim petition of Karnataka for releasing 7.5 TMC feet of water to the state by Goa. They had taken out street protests seeking justice for the state.

Now Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has convened an all-party meeting on October 19 to discuss the issue.

Also read: Karnataka falls short of 20 TMC water, Central Water Committee field visit



As the issue is brewing, Karnataka BJP President BS Yeddyurappa shot off a letter slamming Goa Opposition party leader Pratap Singh Rane, who made a statement saying that Karnataka should not get a drop of water from the Mahadayi river.

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'The statement is provocative and unwarranted. It shows that the Congress is uncooperative and unreasonably adamant on not resolving the dispute, Yeddyurappa said in his media release.

SO WHAT IS THE PROJECT ABOUT?

Karnataka has plans to divert 7.56 tmc of water from the Mahadayi Basin to the Malaprabha dam to meet the drinking water needs of Dharwad, Hubballi, Belagavi and Gadag.

Drinking water can be channelised to these cities with the help of two canals -- Kalasa and Banduri.

There is a huge scarcity of water in these areas and drinking water is available once in a week and during drought, once in ten days.

Kalasa-Banduri project was planned in 1989 but Goa raised serious objections to it.

Goa sought setting up a tribunal to resolve the issue in 2002.

After being kept in abeyance till September 2002, the Mahadayi Water Disputes Tribunal was set up on November 22, 2010 after Goa approached the Supreme Court in 2006.

The Mahadayi river is an inter-state river that originated in Degaon village of Khanapur taluk in Belagavi district.

The river travels 35 kms in Karnataka, 82 kms in Goa before it joins the Arabian Sea.

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Mahadayi is called River Mandovi in Goa and its total catchment area is 2,032 sq km.



--- ENDS ---
DMK Leader Karunanidhi, seems a bit skeptical about this 'arrangement' and raised doubts as to what way did Jayalalithaa advise in the matter.

By Pramod Madhav: The Governor of Tamil Nadu, Vidyasagar Rao, released a statement on October 11 carrying information that the State's Finance Minister, O Panneerselvam has been allocated with subjects that came under the Chief Minister's portfolio using 'clause 3 of Article 166' of the Constitution of India. It also noted that Panneerselvam will head cabinet meetings and take care of portfolios until the return of Jayalalithaa. She will remain as Chief Minister.

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The statement also noted that the arrangement has been made as per the advice of the Chief Minister.

DMK Leader Karunanidhi, seems a bit skeptical about this 'arrangement' and raised doubts as to what way did Jayalalithaa advise in the matter.

Also Read: Chennai: Troubled by Jayalalithaa's health, man sets himself on fire

NOT HALT FOR ANY REASON

Karunanidhi, stated that he believes that this arrangement has been made to make sure that the democratically elected government does not halt for any reason. But then the veteran leader, who is well known for his 'word play' brought forth a set of points not questioning, but raising doubts over the Governor's statements.

Karunanidhi then raised a series of question such as how Jayalalithaa could have advised in allocating to portfolios to Paneerselvam when Apollo administration denied permission to anyone who wished to see her. He further stated that some are raising questions if she sent a note carrying her advice authenticated by her signature.

Also Read: DMK welcomes decision to allocate Jayalalithaa's portfolios to Panneerselvam



DOUBTS OVER GOVERNOR'S ACTIONS

Karunanidhi then raised concerns about Jayalalithaa's signatory note as Ex-AIADMK Rajya Sabha MP Sasikala Pushpa whose name he did not mention, earlier wrote a letter to the State Governor claiming that people close to Jayalalithaa might forge her signature and document signed by the Chief Minister should be thoroughly verified.

He concluded that it even though it was delayed he would consider the Governor Vidyasagar Rao's move as a way to ease administration but isn't clear on how the governor verified the constitutional rights in such a short period of time.

Also Read: Jaitley, Amit Shah visit Apollo hospital to enquire about Jayalalithaa's health

--- ENDS ---
By PTI: The deployment of jammers has become important in view of

The deployment of jammers has become important in view of increasing threat to security personnel who are being targeted by IEDs, detonated by cell phones and radio signals along LoC in hinterlands, officials said while giving details about the risks encountered by the soldiers.

Top army and BSF officers and jawans have been targeted with remote control IED by militants with support of the Pakistani army and rangers along LoC and IB during past several years making it necessary to arm the foot and motorable patrols along the border with Jammers.

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One November 17, 2009, a BSF DIG O P Tanwar was killed and two jawans of the paramilitary force BSF were injured when militants triggered an IED at Baland along the International Border (IB) in Jammu and Kashmirs Samba district.

On June 8, 2013, an army porter was killed and 3 jawans were injured in IED blast along LOC in Poonch.

Subsequently on June 12, 2014, an army jawan was killed and three others, including a Major were injured in an IED blast targeting a patrol party along the LoC in Gambhir battalion area of Poonch district.

On December 15, 2014, five IEDs were defused on IB in Samba.

Last year, on Novemebr 29, an IED blast was triggered to hit a truck suppling ration to forward post along LoC in Poonch.

On December 26, last year, 4 BSF jawans were injured in an explosion near International Border in Samba sector.

On May 29, this year, an army jawan was injured in IED blast on LoC in Rajouri sector. PTI AB AKK AKK

--- ENDS ---
What does it mean to live a pure life? Is it having high morals or abstaining from toxic substances? Following individual passions instead of cultural dogma perhaps? Or is it experiencing the best that life has to offer?

Whatever your definition, Costa Ricans live a figurative and literal version of it. Pura Vida, they ask upon greeting one another. Pura Vida, comes the reply. The phrase can be used to express excitement, to say youre welcome, offer a no worries when a minor offense has taken place, or even encourage the receiver to hang loose and go well.

For a list of reasons, Costa Rica isnt as undiscovered as it once was. Since the late 1980s, the country has bloomed into the poster child for ecotourism and adventure travel. In fact, nearly 3 million visitors come to this rich coast each year to witness five percent of the worlds total biodiversity, zip-line some of its finest jungles, surf its greatest beaches, or river raft through emerald rainforests.

If youre searching for a destination to impress your well-traveled friends or value rock-bottom prices over remarkable experiences, dont go to Costa Rica. But if you like getting wet and want to experience one of the worlds most proven and beautiful playgrounds for green adventure, exotic wildlife, and extremely good vibes, heres why you should immediately upgrade Costa Rica to your bucket list.

On my first five days in Costa Rica, I rappelled, climbed, cliff jumped, swung, swam, and conquered Gravity Falls. I tried and failed to touch the powerful Fortuna Waterfall before being baptized by it; mountain-biked through rural towns; and paddle-boarded in front of an exhilarating volcano at Lake Arenal. Flew like Superman and swung like Tarzan through the extreme Cloud Forest of Monteverde. Surfed righteous waves in the warm waters of Jaco Beach. And floated 17 miles on the Indiana Jones-approved Pacuare Rivera top rafting adventure. All of that doesnt come cheap, mind you. But its still 30% less on average than youd pay for something you cant get elsewhere. Two full days of jungle rafting, for instance, plus one overnight at a crazy remote retreat and all meals included costs only $300 per person.

Costa Rica can be defined as highly accessible and concentrated fun. These qualities allowed me to do all of the above in such a short amount of time. Costa Rica is the size of Maryland and Connecticut put together and possesses less than .02% of the worlds landmass. Which means you can drive to all its goodness on its admittedly slow-moving roads in a few hours at most. Not that youd want to go any faster on these byways. All of the country is a scenic route after all, if not for the surrounding views then certainly for the insane amount of animal and plant life youll encounter at virtually every turn.

Unless I can eat them, Im usually not one to fuss over plants and animals. I love my dog and respect mother nature. But I wouldnt call myself a biology or botany enthusiast. That said, the non-human things that grow and live in Costa Rica still gave me pause a number of times. I observed the famously poisonous (and tiny) red and black frogs in a patch of trees by a parking lot. I was dumbfounded by the slowness of naturally occurring sloths (spoiler alert: they live up to their reputation of not doing much). I counted more Toucans in five days than I ever saw in two years of living in Brazil. I saw oversized blue, yellow, and red butterflies drunkenly fly in the air all week. I was told there are more birds here than in all of North America combined and believe it after hearing their raucous symphony at volumes I didnt think were possible. National Geographic must love this place.

Costa Rica is both beautiful and has a lot of things for visitors to eat, sleep on, and do. And for the ecologically minded, Costa Ricans offer this in a respectful, preservation-minded sort of way. But theyre also creative, as in the case of Studio Hotel. The quality matches what might expect from a top resort in the case of El Establo. And utterly relaxing in the case of Arenal Monoa, my new favorite place to unwind. Seriouslyits wonderful, especially after several full days of adventuring.

Unlike some other beautiful lands Ive visited, Costa Ricans are sure of their place in life. They dont feel the need to ask for your repeat business or referrals with things like, Please tell your friends about us. They confidently know you will because theyve lived pura vida their entire life. They build adorably small but immaculately clean pink square houses atop rainforest peaks. They welcome you onto their local farms to enjoy homemade tortillas, vegetable hash, shredded pork bbq, and homemade cheese that degrades other hispanic cheeses to Kraft levels. They laugh wholeheartedly with you, never at you, since they pay no mind to your being a gringo. They wont hound you to buy souvenirs or charge you to take a picture. Theyll never ask you to use a dirty bathroom since they take so much pride in cleaning even the truck stop ones. They are as beautiful as the land they inherit.

Since visiting Costa Rica, Ive often pondered what pura vida really means. And although Ive known it for less than a week, I think Ive found the answer. Despite its small size, pura vida is warm, natural, and welcoming. It lives up to its big reputation. Always constant, its seasons, sunsets, and weather never change. It is satisfied, self-assured, trusting, inclusive and accommodating. It doesnt need your validation. But youll miss out should you choose not to visit it for the sake of fashion or pennies saved.

Image: Daniel Mennerich, CC-BY

Off the Grid columnist Blake Snow writes epic stories for fancy publications and Fortune 500 companies. Follow him on Twitter.
The Spanish Hotel Sector Report presented to the media by BNP Paribas Real Estate offers an attractive outlook for one of the key sectors in the Spanish economy and the generator of 13% of GDP, namely tourism. Direct investment in the year to date has reached 996 million, that is

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NCC has signed a project agreement with the Real Estate Department of the City of Helsinki on the joint development of the Jakomaki district centre in Helsinki. There are currently five buildings used as schools and day care centres in Jakomaki which, as a result of the development work,

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According to the latest report prepared by JLL, High Street Retail in Prague 2016/2017, Prague has been the most attractive CEE destination for international retailers. Prague is considered as the gateway to entering the CEE markets (excluding Russia). If we leave out Moscow and Vienna, Prague is the only location

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New research finds that men purposely are breaking their own condoms and pressuring female partners in their teens and 20s to go without birth control in order to get them pregnant.

The study, led by a Michigan State University scholar and published online in the journal Contraception, provides doctors and nurse practitioners a streamlined set of questions to discuss with their female patients about this troubling issue, known as "reproductive coercion."

Half of all pregnancies in the United States are unintended. Further, women of reproductive age are at highest risk of intimate partner violence and often experience unintended pregnancies, miscarriages and preterm labor as a result of the victimization. With reproductive coercion, similar to other forms of controlling behavior in abusive relationships, male partners interfere with women's birth control use as a means to control them.

"This study provides guidance for clinicians to augment interventions that have already been proposed for reproductive coercion -- specifically which questions they should be asking to guide their clinical decision-making with their patients, including whether a partner has ever prevented them from using birth control and whether a partner has ever interfered with condom use while having sex," said Heather McCauley, a social epidemiologist and assistant professor in MSU's Department of Human Development and Family Studies.

McCauley was part of the medical research team -- led by physician and researcher Elizabeth Miller -- that in 2010 identified reproductive coercion as a phenomenon in abusive relationships. Their work has influenced clinical practice guidelines; in 2013, for example, the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists recommended doctors incorporate intimate partner violence and reproductive coercion assessment into routine sexual and reproductive health care.

But clinicians were still unsure how to talk to their patients about the issue, so the current study dug further into the issue for answers, said McCauley, who has trained various groups of doctors, health care administrators and policymakers in Michigan and across the United States on reproductive coercion.

The study involved a survey of 4,674 women seeking care at reproductive health clinics in California and Pennsylvania. McCauley and colleagues found that reproductive coercion included two distinct characteristics: pregnancy coercion and condom manipulation. Pregnancy coercion includes threats or pressure to promote a pregnancy, while condom manipulation includes active sabotage of condoms. From those findings, the study recommends the following questions that health care providers can ask their patients:

In the past three months, has someone you were dating or going out with: Pregnancy coercion:

Told you not to use birth control (like the pill, shot, ring, etc.)?

Taken your birth control away from you or kept you from going to the clinic to get birth control?

Made you have sex without a condom so you would get pregnant?

Condom manipulation:

Taken off the condom while you were having sex, so you would get pregnant?

Put holes in the condom or broken the condom on purpose so you would get pregnant?

It's not that doctors don't want to talk to their patients about reproductive coercion and intimate partner violence, McCauley said, but that they don't know how to talk to them about these complex issues and, until recently, didn't recognize that violence and coercion in women's relationships could be driving why they were seeking reproductive health care.

"This study helps clinicians provide better care for their patients, particularly their adolescent patients," she said.

McCauley's co-authors were Jay Silverman of the University of California, San Diego; Elizabeth Miller, Kelly Jones and Heather Anderson of the University of Pittsburgh; Daniel Tancredi of the University of California, Davis; Michelle Decker of Johns Hopkins University; and Marie McCormick and Bryn Austin of Harvard University.
The largest and longest running clinical trial of medical therapies for heavy periods has found that women can be greatly helped by having treatments just from their GP, with most avoiding hospital operations.

Heavy menstrual bleeding is a common and debilitating condition which can significantly affect the quality of life of 25 per cent of women aged 18-54. Around one million women seek help for this problem every year in the UK and it accounts for 12 per cent of all gynaecology referrals.

The multicentre NIHR-funded randomised controlled trial was carried out by researchers at the Universities of Nottingham and Birmingham and Aston University. They followed the cases of 571 women from 63 general practices across the Midlands over a five-year period. The results are published in the British Journal of General Practice.

The women who volunteered were randomly allocated to receive either a levonorgestrel Intra Uterine System such as the Mirena coil or commonly used oral medications -- such as tranexamic/mefenamic acid or the contraceptive pill.

The patients were asked to report their menstrual experiences using the Menorrhagia Multi-Attribute Scale. This measures the effect of heavy periods on practical problems, social life, psychological and physical health as well as on work and family life. Other consequences recorded were surgical intervention, general quality of life, sexual activity and safety.

After five years, both groups had similar and very significant improvement in the heaviness of their periods and its impact on their lives. Rates of surgical intervention were also low (80 per cent and 77 per cent did not have any surgery such as endometrial ablation or hysterectomy) with no significant difference between the coil group and those who took oral medications.

Leading the trial, GP and Professor of Primary Care, Joe Kai, said: "This is very encouraging news. Women were badly affected by heavy menstrual bleeding when they entered this trial, with most having problems for over a year beforehand. We know some women may be reluctant to seek help or be unaware that treatment is useful. Others may be put off by the idea of some treatments, such as having a coil, or of needing surgery. This trial shows women can be helped very considerably by treatments from their GP alone, with most avoiding hospital procedures up to five years later. It also shows women starting with either a Mirena coil or other oral medications will have similar benefit over time. This is helpful for women and their GPs to know when first considering what treatments to use, taking account of individual preferences and circumstances. If women troubled by heavy menstrual bleeding do choose to see their GP, we can be confident we can help."

The researchers are following up the same women for a further five years -- as by then around half will have reached the menopause -- to assess if they are still using treatments or have needed surgical treatment for this problem.
Every fourth employee regards promises made by the company they work for as having been broken and every third is not satisfied with their relationship to their superior and with their co-workers. This is shown by the current results of the Swiss Human Relations Barometer of the University of Zurich and ETH Zurich. Although more than half of the employees feel emotional ties to their employer, there is widespread cynicism in the workplace, e.g. in the form of derogatory remarks and ridicule.

This year's Swiss Human Relations Barometer focuses on the main discussion topic of "loyalty and cynicism" and cynicism, -- a negative, even derisive, attitude that employees develop toward their employers. "The results show that the situation is essentially a good one in regard to employee loyalty," says Prof. Bruno Staffelbach of the University of Zurich. 54 percent of employees feel emotional ties to their employer and only 16 percent are seriously considering resigning. Nonetheless, every fourth employee regards some promises made by the company they work for as having been broken and every third person is not fully satisfied with their relationship to their superior and with their co-workers. "As a result, 60 percent of employees manifest cynical behaviour toward their employer by, e.g., making deprecatory comments," according to Staffelbach.

Companies can take steps to combat the development of cynicism

"Companies can take steps to combat the development of cynicism and promote loyalty among their employees," Prof. Grote of ETH Zurich observes. Employees who perceive their employers as loyal are more motivated to remain and show less cynicism. Moreover, job security plays a major role. Those who fear that they will soon lose their job are more likely to develop a cynical attitude or show corresponding behaviour and play with the idea of resigning from their job. However, according to Prof. Grote, a certain dose of cynicism can also help in addressing grievances and in maintaining a healthy distance from the company.

Discrepancy between work conditions and expectations grows

In addition, the Human Relations Barometer trend analysis shows that the discrepancy between work conditions and expectations, especially in regard to wages and the opportunity to develop, is growing. In order to better prepare employees for uncertain times, companies should promote the financial security and above all, the employability of those so affected. However, the necessary measures for systematic career planning, such as career assessments or mentoring have still not been taken by many companies.

Little initiative to take charge of one's own career

In regard to career orientation, the survey shows that employees only wish to take limited responsibility for their own careers. While most do not expect their company to plan and further their careers for them, they nonetheless want to stay at one company for a long time. The necessity to deal with uncertainty and in some circumstances to even be able to use it to one's advantage, is something that is not recognized by a large and even growing number of employees. If companies want to change these circumstances, then they must choose fundamentally new approaches in human resource development. Taking the initiative for one's own career can only be promoted by measures that focus on the career opportunities and needs of employees rather than those that primarily serve the interests of the company.

The Swiss Human Relations Barometer

The Swiss Human Relations Barometer gathers data on how Swiss employees experience their work situation. For example, surveys have been conducted on the following themes: Mutual expectations and proposals of employees and employers as an aspect of the work relationships (psychological contract), practices in human resource management such as job design and personnel development, leadership, job satisfaction, employability and career orientation. This survey is regularly put out and edited by Prof. Gudela Grote, Professor of Work and Organizational Psychology at ETH Zurich and Prof. Bruno Staffelbach, holder of the Chair for Human Resource Management at the University of Zurich. The basis of the 2016 Human Relations Barometer was a survey of 1506 employees based on a random sample registry of the Swiss Federal Statistical Office (SFSO). The survey took place between March and June 2016 in the German, French and Italian-speaking parts of Switzerland. The current edition focuses on the main discussion topic of loyalty and cynicism.
The camera near the cinema caught the policemen selling the tickets in black and the video has surfaced online.

By Revathi Rajeevan: A group of policemen in Kerala's Kottayam are in trouble after a video of them reselling tickets has surfaced online. The video caught on a mobile surfaced on social media on Wednesday showing that the policemen were selling tickets in black after they had confiscated them from those who were initially selling it.

The tickets are said to have been sold in a theatre in the city on Tuesday for Mohanlal's latest film, Pulimurugan.

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The theatre which was reportedly houseful had unusual number of policemen for security, after a youth was stabbed to death on Monday, for questioning sale of tickets in black in a theatre in Changanassery, about 20 kms from Kottayam city.

Also read: BJP holds statewide protests in Kerala after party worker's killing in Kannur



ALLEGATION BASELESS

The local police have denied the allegations that they resold any tickets in black.

"Those who bought the tickets were known to the policemen who were already there. The buyers were a woman police officer and her husband. Since the policemen were already there, they had bought the tickets earlier as the queue was long. But unfortunately it was caught on camera and was made to look like something else," said MJ Abhilash, SI, Kottayam West.

Also read: Kashmir not part of India on these globes sold in Kerala



In the video, two policemen are seen giving away tickets in exchange of money to two different people. The Kottayam Dy SP has asked for a report in the incident.

--- ENDS ---
China is today the largest emitter of certain toxic fluorinated chemicals in the world, as presented in a new study published in Environmental Science and Technology.

"Our field measurements have confirmed the theoretical calculations of emissions," says Thanh Wang, researcher at Orebro University who led the research project.

Researchers from Sweden, Norway and China have measured the levels of 12 fluorinated substances at the mouths of 19 Chinese rivers. They studied two fluorinated substances in particular, PFOS (perfluorooctane sulfonate) and PFOA (perfluorooctanoic acid). PFOS is used, for example, in the manufacturing of insecticides and chrome plating. PFOA is used in the manufacturing of PTFE, a coating material used for non-stick kitchen utensils and frying pans (commercially known as Teflon).

"We have previously shown that the manufacture of PTFE is the main source of PFOA in the environment," says Ian Cousins, Professor at Stockholm University and co-author of the study.

Research has shown that this group of chemicals is harmful to animals and humans.

There are explanations for the high levels in the Chinese estuaries: "Chemical manufacturers in the US and Europe have phased out local production, and instead moved its manufacturing to China, since regulations are less strict there," says Thanh Wang, pointing out at the same time that emissions from the West have been "extremely high" in the past.

The researchers have also measured F-53B levels in Chinese rivers, a substance used as an alternative to PFOS, mainly in chrome plating.

"More studies are underway. There are signs that F-53B may be even more hazardous than PFOS, but so far its use has been relatively limited," says Thanh Wang.

The use of PFOS is regulated by the Stockholm Convention which aims to limit the spread of persistent organic pollutants. PFOS was banned in the EU in 2008, and major manufactures in the US have agreed to stop using PFOA.

"We have provided strong evidence that China is the largest emitter of all these substances in the world today, and that they are discharged into the oceans of the world. Our study forms the basis for further research and can provide help in aligning international regulations," says Thanh Wang.

"Toxic fluorinated chemicals substances are not only China's problem. They are a global, long-term pollution problem," says Ian Cousins, and points out that PFOA will probably be included in the Stockholm Convention soon.

The research project is a collaboration between Orebro University, Stockholm University, the Norwegian Institute for Air Research, and the Chinese Research Centre for Eco-Environmental Sciences, and was co-funded by the Norwegian Research Council and the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
In leukemia cells it is often the case that genes are reactivated that, in physiological terms, mediate the self-renewal of blood stem cells. In a common subtype of acute myeloid leukemia, this abnormal activation of such self-renewing genes is apparently caused by structural modifications of the DNA packaging. In turn, these modifications are caused by two specific proteins of the so-called chromatin regulator group, on which leukemia cells are dependent. These discoveries were made by oncologist Dr. Michael Kuhn from the Department of Internal Medicine III, which is a part of the University Center for Tumor Diseases (UCT) at the Mainz University Medical Center, in a collaborative effort with researchers from the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York and Harvard University in Boston. The researchers were able to demonstrate that a targeted drug-based inactivation of the two chromatin regulators will interrupt the self-renewing program, thereby causing leukemia cells to revert to normal blood cells. The results have been published in the October issue of Cancer Discovery.

Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) refers to a group of disorders that are also known as blood cancer. AML is an aggressive disease of malignant immature blood cells which, if left untreated, almost always causes the death of the affected patient. The established method of treatment is the use of a combination of various chemotherapeutic agents. However, dependent on the genetic subtype and the age of the patient, only about half of those with AML respond to this kind of treatment.

The goal of current research is thus to develop more efficient and less toxic forms of treatment. To achieve this, Dr. Michael Kuhn of the University Medical Center of Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU) has been collaborating with the work groups of Professor Scott Armstrong in New York and Boston. They built on the relatively recent scientific discovery that changes to the "packaging structure" of DNA can contribute to the development of cancers. These chemical modifications particularly occur in the so-called histone proteins. These proteins are responsible for the coiling of DNA in mammalian cells. Various chemical modifications of these histone proteins will result in an increase or decrease in the relevant gene activity. DNA wrapped around histones is also called chromatin. Accordingly, the proteins writing, reading, or removing the chemical modifications of histones are called chromatin regulators.

These modifications represent a layer of information that can be passed from a parent cell to a daughter cell but is not encoded in the DNA sequence. This field of research is therefore known as "epigenetics." Medical research focusing on epigenetics is currently trying to block the enzymes that regulate these changes thereby silencing cancer promoting genes. One example of such research is the study undertaken by Dr. Michael Kuhn and his colleagues. Its subject is the NPM1-mutated (NPM1mut) AML subtype, which is one of the most common leukemias in adults under the age of 60 years.

It has been known for quite some time that NPM1mut AMLs are associated with the activation of the so-called homeobox (HOX) stem cell genes. The HOX genes play a fundamental role in the developmental processes of organisms. They are particularly responsible for the self-renewal of blood stem cells. It has been assumed that activation of HOX genes turns normal blood cells into leukemia cells by initiating stem cell-like self-renewal. However, it has been unclear to date how this activation occurs. In an attempt to answer this question, the researchers undertook a targeted manipulation of leukemia cell DNA in the lab. Using a relatively new technology called CRISPR/Cas9, they managed to accurately cut out specific DNA sequences from leukemia cells. This enabled them to analyze the functioning of two proteins, namely, the mixed lineage leukemia (MLL) protein and the disruptor of telomeric silencing 1-like (DOT1L) protein.

Based on these experiments, the researchers were able to demonstrate that the survival of NPM1mut leukemia cells depends on these two proteins. Both proteins belong to a group of regulators that control chromatin and thus an important structural component of the cell nucleus. The researchers then used two highly specific chemical agents to block the specific functions of those proteins. While they were able to block DOT1L directly using an inhibitor substance currently being tested in a clinical trial for a different type of leukemia, a direct drug-based inhibition of MLL proved impossible. The researchers therefore inhibited chromatin binding of MLL using drugs that target this protein indirectly.

Both drugs reduced the activity of the homeobox stem cell genes in NPM1mut leukemia cells, while the combination of the two compounds resulted in nearly complete inactivation of these genes. Following combined exposure to the two substances, the leukemia cells underwent substantial changes and, to the surprise of the researchers, started to turn back into normal blood cells.

The described approach represents the first molecularly targeted treatment of NPM1mut leukemias by reversing a key mechanism of leukemogenesis and builds a basis for future clinical trials assessing these drugs in patients with NPM1mut leukemia.

The research field of cancer epigenetics

Cancer epigenetics is a relatively new field of cancer research that has raised tremendous attention within recent years. While all cells in a specific organism share the identical DNA sequence, only a fraction of those genes are activated in a given cell type. For example, it is possible for two people to carry the same cancer gene that is activated in only one of the two individuals and therefore causes cancer in only one of the two persons. Epigenetics involves the study of the circumstances that cause genes to be activated or silenced. The field of cancer epigenetics was recently transformed by the finding that genes encoding for epigenetic regulators are among the most commonly mutated genes in human cancers. Thus, many experts would agree that the next major developments in cancer research are expected in the field of epigenetics.
A parent gets home from work just as a new email "dings" on his or her phone. At the same time, the toddler is calling out for a snack or because big brother isn't sharing, and he would really like to show off his Lego creation.

Meanwhile, the phone keeps buzzing -- more emails, social media notifications, a breaking news alert, an "urgent" text.

As smartphones and tablets blur lines between work, home and social lives, parents are grappling to balance it all, a new small study suggests. Parents' use of mobile technology around young children may be causing internal tension, conflicts and negative interactions with their kids, suggests the qualitative study in the Journal of Developmental & Behavioral Pediatrics.

It's a challenge both parents and health care providers should tune in to.

"Parents are constantly feeling like they are in more than one place at once while parenting. They're still 'at work.' They're keeping up socially. All while trying to cook dinner and attend to their kids," says lead author Jenny Radesky, M.D., a child behavior expert and pediatrician at University of Michigan C.S. Mott Children's Hospital who conducted the study with colleagues from Boston Medical Center.

"It's much harder to toggle between mom or dad brain and other aspects of life because the boundaries have all blurred together. We wanted to understand how this was affecting parents emotionally. We found that parents are struggling to balance family time and the desire to be present at home with technology-based expectations like responding to work and other demands."

The study involved in-depth interviews with 35 caregivers, which included moms, dads and grandmothers.

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'The whole world is in your lap'

Participants consistently expressed an internal struggle between multitasking mobile technology use, work and children, information overload and emotional tensions around disrupting family routines, such as meal time. As one mom in a focus group described it, "the whole world is in your lap."

Some parents also reported a trickle-down effect. Their emotional response to whatever they were reading on their mobile device -- whether it was a work email or bad news -- sometimes affected how they responded to their children, for example. Parents also described more attention-seeking behaviors from children when they were heavily attentive to their mobile devices, which prompted negative interactions such as snapping at kids.

At the same, caregivers said that mobile technology provided "an escape" from the boredom and stress of parenting and home life demands. One mom said that after long days with kids, plugging into the outside world was a reminder, "I have a life beyond this."

Other boons included more ability to work from home (when digital connection to work could be kept in check); easier communication with estranged family members by allowing a more "filtered" view of their life; and serving as a tool to keep peace and quiet in the house.

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"You don't have to be available to your children 100 percent of the time -- in fact, it's healthy for them to be independent. It's also important for parents to feel relevant at work and other parts of their lives," Radesky says.

"However, we are seeing parents overloaded and exhausted from being pulled in so many different directions."

Parents are estimated to use mobile devices such as tablets, smartphones and wearables nearly three hours a day. But few studies have explored the role these technologies play in family interactions.

Radesky and colleagues wanted to explore the issue further after an observational study of caregivers eating with young children in fast food restaurants. In that study and subsequent videotaped research, her team found that parent mobile device use is associated with fewer verbal and nonverbal interactions with the children.

"Technology has transformed the way parents use digital media around their children," Radesky says. "Compared to traditional distractions like books, mobile technology is described as much more commanding of attention that is unpredictable and requires a greater emotional investment.

"Kids require a lot of different types of thinking, so multitasking between them and technology can be emotionally and mentally draining. As clinicians, we have an opportunity to start conversations with parents and help them manage this conflict with ideas on how to unplug and set boundaries."

With all this in mind, physicians can recommend some ideas for families struggling to stay unplugged. Some suggestions from Dr. Radesky:

Get screen time under control

Set boundaries. Create a family plan that includes unplugged spaces or times of day. For example, you may abolish tech use at dinner time or bedtime. Or maybe it's right when you get home and your kids are excited to see you. Maybe you plug in your device in a certain room and only use it there or agree not to use it in certain areas of the house (i.e. kids' bedrooms).

Track your mobile use. Consider creating a filter or block on your device to avoid the temptation of tech use at home. Apps like "Moment" and "Quality Time" may also help you track mobile use and see where you may be spending too much time. If 90 percent of your time is on Facebook or work email, for example, you can think of ways to cut down technology time for these purposes.

Identify top device stressors. Think about which parts of your mobile device use are most stressful for you. If it's reading the news or checking work email, for example, reserve these tasks for times when you know your kids are occupied. This way, you have your own time and space to process the information rather than interrupting time with kids who may react to your negative emotions with their own negativity.




The tiny arms on the otherwise mighty Tyrannosaurus rex are one of the biggest and most enduring mysteries in paleontology.

But researchers will soon get more insight as an arm bone from the most famous T. rex in history -- the Field Museum's SUE -- was studied at the Advanced Photon Source at the U.S. Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory, where the most detailed scan ever taken of that skeleton occurred earlier this month.

The extremely bright X-rays from the Advanced Photon Source, a giant synchrotron light source nearly a mile around, will give scientists an unprecedented look inside the arm bones of SUE, which is the largest and best-preserved T. rex skeleton ever found.

"These X-rays will give us a map of the blood vessels and muscle attachments in the bone, which have never been seen before," said Carmen Soriano, a paleontologist and beamline scientist with the Advanced Photon Source. "This data could provide new insight into dinosaur biology, as well as clues to how SUE lived her life."

Peter Makovicky, the Field Museum's Curator of Dinosaurs, added, "It's wonderful to have access to this tool that allows us to examine the structure of the bones in unprecedented detail without harming them fossil -- and it's just down the road."

During the recent experiments, researchers directed intense X-rays -- about a million times more powerful than an X-ray at a doctor's office -- at the fossil.

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They scanned an area about three inches square and one to two inches deep on both bones of SUE's forelimb, which is about the same length as a human arm, but much more robust.

Based on the ways the beams scatter from the rock, researchers can reconstruct the locations of different anatomical elements in the bones and the tiny holes deep inside that were once blood vessels and cells.

"Understanding the fine internal morphology of the skeleton will give us clues about how the arm could move and what it was used for," Soriano said.

Even bare bones contain hints at what they were used for in life. For example, the bones of birds are hollow and less calcified for flying, while heavier, denser bones might indicate bones were used for tasks of strength. Patterns revealed by these intense scans will give scientists more information to decode what SUE might have used her arms for.

The study was performed in collaboration with Paul Tafforeau of the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility in France. The collaboration began when he and Soriano met at a conference in Chicago as the only paleontologists-in-residence at X-ray light sources in the world.

"Paleontologists really love any high tech we can use," Soriano said, "since it's the closest we can get to time travel."

The experiments took place at the X-ray Science Division's beamline 2-BM. The arm was returned to display at the Field October 11 while the data is analyzed.
Researchers at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) have previously estimated that the Norwegian continental shelf may contain a great wealth of minerals and metals. Now they suggest Norway take steps to clarify the industrial potential of mineral extraction from the seabed.

In September, a research ship returned to Norway from the Arctic waters between Jan Mayen and Svalbard, where its crew spent three weeks collecting mineral samples and data. The research cruise is part of the MarMine project. MarMine was established by NTNU to investigate the potential for seafloor mineral extraction. MarMine is supported by the Research Council of Norway and several leading Norwegian players in the offshore industry and land-based mining.

Copper, zinc, gold and silver

The expedition travelled to the Mohns Ridge area, north of Jan Mayen in the Norwegian Sea. The University of Bergen, among others, has conducted research charting geological formations along the Mid-Atlantic Ridge that may be very rich in copper, zinc, gold and silver.

The research vessel was loaded with various underwater vehicles with which to collect data. In addition, robots drilled cores in the seabed and did geological and biological sampling at the seabed site.

"The data and samples from this expedition will form the basis for research on various technological aspects related to seafloor mineral extraction. The expedition will test previous resource estimates, and the data will enable new estimates to be made," says MarMine project leader Kurt Aasly. He is an associate professor at NTNU's Department of Geology and Mineral Resources Engineering.

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The researchers believe that this research cruise has collected data for at least four years of study on various related issues.

Huge global interest

Interest in seabed minerals is huge, and Japan, South Korea, China, India, Germany, Russia and France have already established large national programmes to explore the potential for seafloor mineral extraction.

"Norway is a nation with a long tradition and great expertise in the maritime industry, marine research, offshore oil and gas," says Martin Ludvigsen, expedition leader and professor at the Department of Marine Technology.

Ludvigsen and his colleagues from NTNU's AMOS, the Centre for Autonomous Marine Operations and Systems, have recently published a paper describing the different kinds of tools that are under development at AMOS to explore and map the seabed -- and that researchers tested on the recent mapping cruise.

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He thinks that Norway "should take greater advantage of these marine minerals in order not to be left behind. If we don't, we could miss valuable possibilities and related industrial development," he says.

Cutting-edge expertise

The transfer of expertise from both oil and gas extraction and land-based mining can help position Norway well in this potential new industry.

"Norwegian oil companies have built up cutting-edge expertise in the oil and gas industry that could prove useful for Norway if the mineral resources on the seabed turn out to warrant developing them as an industry," says Aasly.

"The service and supply industry can also help strengthen our position as it develops into an important support market. For suppliers, this market could be important even if it turns out that the resource base isn't commercially viable in the Norwegian Economic Zone," Aasly adds.

The development of a new industry in seafloor minerals will require resource mapping, technology development, and further development of a management plan and the environment.

"This is a capital-intensive exercise that can be tough for industry to carry out alone. You have to put a national strategy and commitment into place, like happened when the groundwork of the petroleum adventure was laid in the 1960s and 70s," says Ludvigsen.
Researchers from the Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona (UAB) in collaboration with the Institut Catala de Paleontologia Miquel Crusafont (ICP), have discovered in Vallcebre (Barcelona) an impression fossil with the surface of the skin of a dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous, a period right before their extinction. Its characteristics make it a unique discovery in Europe.

A geological research conducted in the village of Vallcebre, near Barcelona, to study the origins of rock sediments from the Late Cretaceous period (approx. 66 million years ago) has revealed an extraordinary artefact. Researchers discovered the impression of skin scales left by a dinosaur which had lain down in the mud. During that period, the area was a muddy region corresponding to the banks of a river. As chance had it, that muddy region where the animal's scales had left their mark was later covered with sand which, in the course of thousands of years, finally petrified to form sandstone and thus become the sedimentary rock which preserves the impression recently discovered by the researchers. The sand acted as a mould and therefore, what actually can be seen on the rock is not really the impression, but the relief of the animal's original skin.

The characteristics of the discovery are unique, given that the Late Cretaceous period corresponds to the moment short before dinosaurs became extinct, there are few places on Earth containing sandstone from this period, and characterising these dinosaurs is very important in order to understand how and why they disappeared. "This is the only registry of dinosaur skin from this period in all of Europe, and it corresponds to one of the most recent specimens, closer to the extinction event, in all of the world," highlights UAB researcher Victor Fondevilla, main author of the research. "There are very few samples of fossilised skin registered, and the only sites with similar characteristics can be found in United States and Asia," Fondevilla states. He goes on to say: "Other dinosaur skin fossils have been found in the Iberian Peninsula, in Portugal and Asturias, but they correspond to other more distant periods."

The shape of the scales observed on the rock show a pattern characteristic of the skin of some dinosaurs: in a form of a rose with a central bump in the shape of a polygon, surrounded by five or six more bumps. However, the scales are large, too large for the typical size of carnivorous dinosaurs and hadrosaurs roaming this area 66 million years ago. "The fossil probably belongs to a large herbivore sauropod, maybe a titanosaurus, since we discovered footprints from the same species very close to the rock with the skin fossil" Fondevilla says.

In fact, two skin impressions were found, one measuring approximately 20 centimetres wide, and the other slightly smaller, measuring only 5 centimetres wide, separated by a 1.5 metre distance and probably made by the same animal. "The fact that they are impression fossils is evidence that the animal is from the sedimentary rock period, one of the last dinosaurs to live on the planet. When bones are discovered, dating is more complicated because they could have moved from the original sediment during all these millions of years," Fondevilla states.

The finding verifies the excellent fossil registry of the Pyrenees in terms of dinosaurs living in Europe little before they became extinct throughout the planet. "The sites in Bergueda, Pallars Jussa, Alt Urgell and La Noguera, in Catalonia, have provided proof of five different groups of dinosaurs: titanosaurs, ankylosaurids, theropods, hadrosaurs and rhabdodontids," explains Angel Galobart, head of the Mesozoic research group at the ICP and director of the Museum of Conca Della in Isona. "The sites in the Pyrenees are very relevant from a scientific point of view, since they allow us to study the cause of their extinction in a geographic point far away from the impact of the meteorite," Galobart explains.

The research, published in Geological Magazine, was led by Victor Fondevilla and Oriol Oms from the UAB Department of Geology, in collaboration with Bernat Vila and Angel Galobart, both from the Institut Catala de Paleontologia Miquel Crusafont (ICP) and the Museum of Conca Della.
Researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago have been awarded a $1.5 million grant from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality to study the impact of diagnostic error on outcomes for pulmonary patients and the use of lung-function testing in primary care.

More than 30 million adults in the U.S. have been diagnosed with asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, which includes emphysema and chronic bronchitis, and many receive daily treatment. However, studies suggest 30 to 50 percent of these patients may have an incorrect diagnosis.

Spirometry is the nationally and internationally recommended test for diagnosing asthma and COPD.

"Despite the clinical guidelines supporting the use of spirometry to identify asthma and COPD, many patients do not receive the test prior to receiving a diagnosis," says Dr. Min Joo, principal investigator on the grant and associate professor of medicine in the UIC College of Medicine.

Spirometry tests lung function by measuring how much and how fast a patient can move air out of the lungs. The patients takes a big breath and exhales as hard and long as possible into a machine.

Joo says that without a spirometry test, patients are at risk for worse sickness and even death, as well as unnecessary medical costs that disproportionately affect African Americans and underserved minority populations.

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"A shocking number of patients are misdiagnosed and face a two-fold danger," she said.

"First, they are taking medication for a condition they may not have, creating unnecessary exposure to the side effects and complications of those medications, such as pneumonia from using inhaled corticosteroids. Second, their real conditions are left unidentified and untreated. This may be particularly true for minority and underserved populations who are known to have multi-morbidities and therefore have a number of potential causes for shortness of breath and other breathing-related issues," Joo said.

One study found that up to 65 percent of COPD patients seen in a federally qualified health center turned out not to have COPD when spirometry was later performed.

"In the past, attempts to increase the use of spirometry in a primary care setting have had limited long term success, and a new approach is needed to reduce diagnostic error and better understand its impact on patient safety and outcomes," Joo said. "Our study will test an approach that relies on trained community health workers to facilitate the test, educate patients, and work with primary care physicians."

The Reducing Diagnostic Error to Improve Patient Safety in COPD and Asthma (REDEFINE) study is a three-year clinical trial that will enroll 60 primary care providers and 400 adults who have a diagnosis of asthma and/or COPD but have not had spirometry testing.

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One group will receive spirometry testing and be provided with recommended patient education from trained community health workers around the time of their primary care visit. Participants in a control group will receive usual care and education from community health workers, but will not undergo spirometry testing.

Both groups will be followed for one year, at which time the control group will have a spirometry test to confirm their initial diagnosis.

To evaluate the effectiveness of the REDEFINE program, researchers will collect data on the prevalence of diagnostic error, the efficiency of the REDEFINE program's intervention on patient-centered outcomes, and the cost of the program.

"We will look at the key indicators of misdiagnosis and poor outcomes for asthma and COPD," Joo said. "Specifically, we want to track use of respiratory medication, acute visits to primary care physicians, emergency department visits and hospitalizations. We hope to see these numbers reduced for patients who receive our intervention."

Joo hopes her study will illustrate the importance of spirometry testing and help primary care physicians find how best to use spirometry testing for all patients who have breathing issues.
And her fans couldn't help but clap for their social media queen.

By India Today Web Desk: She's the youngest in the Kardashian-Jenner klan but that doesn't stop the the social media star and lipcolour maven Kylie Jenner from holding her own.

Also read: These pictures prove that birthday girl Kylie Jenner has the sexiest swimwear collection

Trolling is something every member of the family is used to. In fact Kylie's elder sister Kim Kardashian was trolled even after reports of her being bound and robbed in Paris were released. Though the family is usually too busy expanding their empire to bother with these things, recently, when Twitter user louie thomas--who goes by the name @ovoGATOR--called Kylie a prostitute, assuming that since the teen is a celeb louie thomas had all the rights in the world to troll her, he had no idea that he'd be in for a comeback from the reality TV star herself.

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Also read: In the past, cops had indirectly warned Kylie Jenner about what's just happened to Kim Kardashian

@ovoGATOR's tweet, "@KylieJenner looks like a 14 year old prostitute," was met by Kylie's burn who replied tweeting, "Idk I feel like I look like a 19 year old prostitute."

A Twitter screengrab of Kylie's response.

The teen's response been already liked over 250,000 times with fans appreciating Kylie for not letting a hater get to her.

A Twitter screengrab of the fans cheering Kylie for her response. A Twitter screengrab of the fans cheering Kylie for her response.

--- ENDS ---
LONDONThe true cost of Brexit hit home for U.K. shoppers as Unilevers iconic Marmite spread and a host of other products remained absent from Tescos online store Thursday because of a standoff over price increases triggered by the Brexit vote.

Britains biggest supermarket chain said Wednesday that its currently experiencing availability issues on a number of Unilever products, and aims to have the issue resolved soon. Unilever, which reported a decline in third-quarter sales volumes Thursday, told analysts that it was confident the issue would be resolved quickly, noting that the U.K. accounts for just 5 per cent of its business.

The dispute lays bare the close ties between Tesco and its third-largest supplier, which produces household brands like Hellmanns mayonnaise and Ben & Jerrys ice cream, and was Tesco chief executive officer Dave Lewiss long-time employer. Unilever, along with other consumer-product makers like Nestle, is facing heightened sourcing costs from a plunge in the pound since the June vote to leave the European Union, yet passing those expenses along to retailers will be difficult with U.K. grocers already locked in fierce competition.

Tough price negotiations are a constant factor of the relationship between food manufacturers and retailers, and are going to be very tough in the U.K. following the Brexit vote, Andrew Wood, an analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein, said in a note. But they rarely break out in public or lead to de-stocking of manufacturer products.

Tesco is Unilevers third-biggest customer after Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Kroger Co., accounting for 2.3 per cent of its revenue, according to Bloomberg data.

The Guardian newspaper has reported that Unilever wants to raise prices by about 10 per cent because of the fall in sterling. Among Unilevers brands to exit the Tesco web store were Persil detergent, Flora margarine and more than 100 products in the Dove range of body care. A check of Tesco.com Thursday morning showed the products were still unavailable.

Retailers margins are already squeezed, Justin King, former CEO of J Sainsbury, said at an event hosted by Bloomberg in London on Wednesday. So there is no room to absorb input price pressures and costs will need to be passed on. https://www.thestar.com/news/world/2016/10/02/britain-will-launch-brexit-by-april-says-uk-prime-minister.html

The Brexit vote has already affected pricing of products ranging from floor coverings to toilet paper. Unilever was among companies that lobbied voters to remain in the European Union, while supermarkets including Tesco took a more neutral stance ahead of the vote in a bid not to alienate either faction of consumers. Sainsbury and WM Morrison Supermarks declined to comment on their relationships with Unilever. Wal-Marts Asda unit did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The question is whether Sainsbury, Asda, Waitrose and others are taking it on the chin or if they will play hardball too, Alan Clarke, an economist at Scotiabank in London, said in a note. What about other suppliers  Unilever is probably not a one-off trying to pass on higher input costs.

Food companies such as KitKat-maker Nestle and Swiss dairy concern Emmi AG have both said they will look to raise prices in the U.K. to respond to the plunge in sterling. Nestle is due to report third-quarter sales Oct. 20.

The margin in the U.K. will be lower next year than this year or last year, thats for sure, Emmi chief executive officer Urs Riedener said on Oct. 6. Were obliged to push price increases in most of the segments.

Any dispute between Tesco and Unilever would be particularly touchy for Lewis, the Unilever veteran. Tesco has sought to improve relations with its vendors in the wake of an accounting scandal and criticism from a grocery industry regulator. The tussle also risks damaging Unilevers reputation as a good corporate citizen, an image that chief executive officer Paul Polman has sought to enhance in recent years.

This sort of standoff benefits no one, said Bryan Roberts, an analyst at researcher TCC Global. Unilever will lose market share by not being in Tesco, and shoppers will feel a huge degree of frustration. A speedy resolution would be in everyones best interests.

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Christine

Starring Rebecca Hall, Michael C. Hall, Tracy Letts, Maria Dizzia and J. Smith-Cameron. Directed by Antonio Campos. Opens Friday at TIFF Bell Lightbox. 123 minutes. STC

Rebecca Halls superb title rendering makes a vital woman out of hazily remembered Florida TV news reporter Christine Chubbuck, whose mysterious 1974 on-air suicide may have influenced Oscar winner Network.

This expository drama by Antonio Campos (Simon Killer) rings with emotional truth in the absence of hard facts. In so doing it turns a probing and revelatory lens on the soul-destroying task of chasing eyeballs with sensationalistic news, long before clickbait became a journalistic mission.

Halls Chubbuck is an ambitious journalist at Sarasotas sleepy WXLT-TV, an ABC affiliate peddling fender benders and strawberry festivals as news. A feminist and justice advocate weeks shy of her 30th birthday, she wants to aim higher and possibly land a network job. But her boss Mike (Tracy Letts) sets his sights even lower, demanding juicy stories to goose ratings.

Campos and screenwriter Craig Shilowich deliberately and credibly situate Chubbucks interior unravelling within the exterior transformations of her working world, which is also struggling to shift from film to video.

Hall buries her posh Brit accent within Chubbucks flat American one. But her characters nail-biting anxieties, maddening perfectionism and chronic pain remain near the surface, conveyed with empathy behind a forced smile.

Chubbucks intellect and integrity are never in doubt, but her sense of self-worth constantly is. A self-described undateable virgin, she lives at home with her divorced mom (J. Smith-Cameron). Romance beckons via the stations on-air announcer (Michael C. Hall), but does despair speak louder?

We already know the tragic answer, which Campos doesnt flinch from showing. He and Hall make us mourn for a woman few people ever knew, apart from her horrifying fade to black.

Peter Howell

Also opening: Alan Gilsenans family drama Unless, at Cineplex Yonge-Dundas; Joshua Marstons dramatic mystery Complete Unknown, at the Carlton; Remi Chayes animated adventure Long Way North, at Canada Square; and Victor Kanefskys iconoclastic artist doc Art Bastard, at Hot Docs Ted Rogers Cinema.

American Honey

Starring Shia LaBeouf, Sasha Lane and Riley Keough. Directed by Andrea Arnold. Opens Friday at Cineplex Yonge-Dundas. 158 minutes. STC

Like many visiting filmmakers before her, British writer/director Andrea Arnold (Fish Tank) falls prey to Americas endless distractions in this dramatic road odyssey, her fourth feature and first made in the U.S.

Plotless perambulations, including cinematographer Robbie Ryans Malickian fascination with random insects and animals, pad out a nearly three-hour running time.

Smart casting sweetens the journey. Newcomer Sasha Lane, hired by Arnold while on spring break from college, impresses as pouty protagonist Star, a teen rebel from Texas who yearns to escape a life of poverty and abuse.

Shes felicitously and fractiously paired with seasoned troublemaker Shia LaBeouf, who reconjures his early claim to stardom as Jake, top salesman with the itinerate crew of magazine subscription sellers who Star joins.

Watch also for Riley Keough, granddaughter of Elvis, wearing a Confederate flag bikini while bossing around the periodical peddlers.

Together they make this road trip more than the sum of its shaky-cam parts.

PH

Tower

Documentary on the 1966 mass shootings at the University of Texas. Directed by Keith Maitland. Opens Friday at TIFF Bell Lightbox. 82 minutes. STC

Mass shootings have become so commonplace in America, theyve taken on a surreal quality. Places, victims and villains blur into tragic headlines.

Keith Maitland recognizes this reality while fighting against it his hybrid documentary, which recalls one of the first such shootings of modern times: the Aug. 1, 1966 sniper rampage by student Charles J. Whitman at the University of Texas at Austin that left 14 people dead and 32 wounded.

Using the rotoscopic animation technique employed for Richard Linklater's Waking Life, Maitland recreates the 90-minute siege, with actors standing in for surviving witnesses  many of whom also briefly appear in the film.

The effect summons lucid memories of a scene one woman describes as feeling like an invasion from outer space. It also frees the story from the musty confines of newsreel footage. Bystanders become prey but also heroes as the clock on the snipers tower perch ticks off terrifying minutes.

Whitmans face and story are deliberately kept murky. In the end, hes just another madman in historys dustbin.

PH

Alice Through the Looking Glass (DVD)

Starring Mia Wasikowska, Johnny Depp, Anne Hathaway, Helena Bonham Carter and Sacha Baron Cohen. Directed by James Bobin. Available Oct. 18 on DVD. 113 minutes. PG

Time flies but also plods in this curiously frantic yet flatlining sequel to Tim Burtons 2010 blockbuster reimagining of Lewis Carrolls antic fantasy.

Time, in the villainous figure of Sacha Baron Cohens frightful man-machine, leaps about through various contraptions and gyrations. Hes the amusing new addition to a returning cast of mainstays: Alice (Mia Wasikowska), the Mad Hatter (Johnny Depp), the White Queen (Anne Hathaway) and the Red Queen (Helena Bonham Carter).

But time, the clock-ticking kind, is far less fleet. Shorn of much of the whimsy and wordplay that made Carrolls Alice tales immortal and Tim Burtons Alice in Wonderland a treat, this belated revisiting by James Bobbin (The Muppets) fractures the narrative and tries the patience.

Everybody is dressed up with nowhere to go  either through the looking glass, the rabbit hole or the time-travelling Chronosphere that adds a bizarre sci-fi slant to a fantasy that requires only imagination.

Extras include deleted scenes, commentary and making-of featurettes.

PH

Cafe Society (DVD)

Starring Jesse Eisenberg, Kristen Stewart, Steve Carell, Blake Lively and Corey Stoll. Written and directed by Woody Allen. Available Oct. 18 on DVD. 96 minutes. PG

Woody Allen predictably convenes a bevy of boldface for his 47th feature but pleasantly surprises with a less celebrated hire behind the camera.

Its cinematographer Vittorio Storaro (Apocalypse Now, Reds), who brings to Allens work a visual dimension that has long been given lesser status to the writer/directors words and increasingly slim concepts.

Storaro rapturously brings the films 1930s Hollywood setting into colourful focus, layering shades of indigo and amber. Its in service, alas, of yet another Allen movie where a younger woman falls for an older man.

Kristen Stewart, 26, stars as Vonnie, a beauty from Hollywoods celebrated Golden Age, who falls for a talent agent played by Steve Carell, 54.

Plot turns have Vonnie simultaneously romancing Jesse Eisenbergs nebbishy Bobby, a wannabe who is fleeing his Bronx blue-collar parents (Jeannie Berlin and Ken Stott) and gangster older brother (Corey Stoll).

The film barely plumbs the shallows of the N.Y./L.A. celeb swirl, but it is not without its pleasures, chiefly Storaros lush visuals.

PH

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OTTAWAThe Liberal government is ready to put Canadian troops in harms way in Africa but only where it can be assured the mission will have a meaningful impact, Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan said.

Were going in with eyes wide open on this, Sajjan said Thursday about the pending military deployment that is still taking shape in government circles.

Once we look at the various options where we can have the most impact, thats when we start looking at how we can mitigate the risk, making sure our troops have the right training, the right equipment, he said.

Where there is risk, we want to make sure that were actually having an impact on the ground, Sajjan said in an interview from New York City Thursday, where he was at United Nations headquarters for meetings about the evolving mission plan.

We want to make sure that the contribution we make actually move the yardsticks forward.

On Thursday, French Prime Minister Manuel Valls used an Ottawa visit to voice his countrys support for the plans to deploy up to 600 Canadian soldiers to Africa on a peace support operation.

Speaking on Parliament Hill, Valls said France welcomes Prime Minister Justin Trudeaus declaration that Canada is back on the world stage. But he pointedly said that he hopes that sentiment leads to real action.

I told Prime Minister Trudeau that his decision to reengage Canada on the international scene is crucial. . . . We need Canada in the Middle East, in Africa, the United Nations, everywhere where such crises threaten stability and our security, he said.

Both Canada and France  which already has several thousand troops in Africa  can play an important role training local soldiers in a variety of trouble spots across the continent, he said.

I know Canada will assume its responsibilities but I know that is up to the prime minister, Valls told reporters during a news conference with Trudeau.

We are glad that Canada is back. It is important for us and I know that that will translate with concrete actions.

In an earlier meeting with journalists, Valls laid out the challenges and potential deployment spots, such as Mali, where French troops are serving in what he called extreme conditions.

Extreme because of the heat, and because of the danger posed by small terrorist groups and groups involved in all sorts of trafficking, drugs, cigarettes and human beings towards Libya. So the situation in the north of Mali is politically very difficult, the Stars Paul Wells reports.

Valls named Burkina Faso, Mauritania and Senegal as other countries that also need help to train their troops.

And on that Im convinced Canadians have the resources to help . . . its very important for Africans to take their own destiny in hand, Valls said.

Still, he noted that it wasnt his place to give advice, saying it was up to the Canadian government to make their important decisions.

During his New York visit, Sajjan met UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon; Herve Ladsous, who heads the UNs department of peacekeeping operations; U.S. Ambassador Samantha Power; Jeffrey Feltman, the UNs undersecretary general for political affairs.

Sajjan had no time frame for when a decision about the deployment might be made, saying, we are moving on this as fast as possible.

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OTTAWAFrances visiting prime minister says his country supports the election of Hillary Clinton over Donald Trump in next months U.S. presidential election.

Canadian counterpart Justin Trudeau, however, wasnt prepared to go anywhere near as far.

Manuel Valls  the guest of honour Thursday in a welcome ceremony and news conference on Parliament Hill  was categorical on how he saw the November election: Clinton is the preferred choice.

Speaking in French, Valls said U.S. President Barack Obama was elected by the world and that Trump is rejected by the world.

Trudeau would only repeat his long-standing message that he will work with whomever the U.S. people choose as their president on Nov. 8.

On the allegations of sexual assault swirling around the Republican nominee, a stone-faced Trudeau  a self-avowed feminist  would only say that he has stood clearly and strongly all my life around issues of sexual harassment.

I dont need to make any further comment at this time, he added.

Valls also said he expects Trudeau to be in Brussels on Oct. 27 to sign the Canada-EU free trade deal. Trudeau called the deal a win-win for both sides.

He also said its a progressive agreement that heralds a new approach with regard to defending the rights of governments to legislate on the environment, the rights of workers, the issues that our constituents care about.

Trudeau also ended the news conference on a pointed note: in a post-Brexit world, not signing the agreement would send a strong and unsavoury message.

If Europe cannot manage to sign this agreement, that sends a very clear message not only to Europeans but to the whole world that Europe is choosing a path that is not productive either for its citizens or for the world, he said.

That would be a shame.

The French prime minister and Trudeau travel to Montreal later today for a luncheon hosted by Quebec Premier Philippe Couillard, where the free trade deal is expected to be the main topic of discussion.

Senior Canadian government officials say that the event is designed to highlight the leading role Quebec played in the protracted negotiations for the trade pact with Europes 28 member countries.

The visit will also allow us to promote greater trade and innovation flows  particularly though CETA  to help grow the middle class and strengthen our economies, Trudeau said in a statement.

Climate change and the Canada-EU free trade deal have been singled out by Trudeaus office as being among Canadas top priorities.

Speaking to reporters at the French Embassy early Thursday, Valls reiterated Frances desire to see Canada send peacekeepers to West Africa to join the fight against Islamic militants.

The Trudeau government has said it will commit 600 peacekeepers to UN missions, and France has been pushing Canada hard to join the UN mission in West Africa.

France has 3,000 troops fighting a separate counter-insurgency mission in several countries that used to be its colonies, under the banner of Operation Barkhane.

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HALIFAXA popular Canadian rapper says he cant understand why a prominent lawyers group is condemning his angry response to a controversial sexual-assault sentencing.

Classified, whose real name is Luke Boyd, took to Facebook earlier this month asking supporters to tell a judge they were unhappy with a five-year sentence handed to a man who sexually assaulted an 11-year-old Newfoundland girl.

On Tuesday, the Newfoundland and Labrador branch of the Canadian Bar Association said the rappers personal attack on the judge is inappropriate and threatens judicial independence, although it didnt identify Classified by name.

Canadians enjoy an open and transparent judicial system. All Canadians have a right to know what is happening in the courts, how justice is administered, and to be critical of court decisions. However, personal attacks on judges threaten their independence and ability to deliver justice effectively, it said in a statement.

In a response posted on Facebook Thursday, Classified said asking people to email a judge doesnt seem like much of an attack compared to what that little girl went through.

And he asked why the bar association criticized him, rather than questioning how the legal system treats rape victims.

I received over 500 emails from people. People I dont know. That told me what they have went through, whether it was rape, being molested as a child and put through some horrible things and how all of their accusers got off with next to nothing, Classified, who lives in Enfield, N.S., said in his Facebook post.

Every time I read one of their stories, it hits me again and blows my mind that the people in proper power and that understand the system a lot better than myself (and have put me down for addressing it the wrong way) do nothing to change these laws so that the judge can sentence these messed up people a lot longer.

Justice William Goodridge had sentenced Christopher Butt to five years in prison followed by three years probation following Butts guilty plea to sexual assault and uttering threats. The sentence, the minimum for the offence, was jointly recommended by the Crown and defence.

Classified wasnt the only critic. Jenny Wright, executive director of the St. Johns Status of Women Council, said it reinforces what she calls a widespread rape culture.

She said people need to advocate for change by speaking to their justice ministers, to the prime minister and to police, and by working with womens groups.

St. Johns lawyer Mike King, of the Canadian Bar Association, told VOCM radio this week that judges cant make decisions based on their own feelings, but must follow the law and give deference to the sentence suggested by the lawyers.

The judge had said he accepted the joint submission for the minimum punishment, in part, because of other factors, including doubt about the girls ability to testify at trial, which created uncertainty about a conviction.

The 41-year-old man lured the young girl, who was 11 years old at the time, to his home and repeatedly sexually assaulted her during the summer of 2014. Butt was a neighbour and a family friend.

Goodridge said Butt used threats and physical force to ensure co-operation, including threatening to burn down her familys house and pulling her hair. The victim was not able to walk properly for days afterward.

The decision said mitigating sentencing factors were Butts lack of a criminal record, the fact that he pleaded guilty and apologized for the crimes, his participation in rehabilitation programs and his commitment to continued counselling.

It also notes Butt was himself a victim of sexual assault during his childhood and that he suffers from bipolar disorder.

This does not justify or excuse his criminal acts, but it does help in understanding possible contributing forces that are at play, it said.

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After a difficult year that included a high-profile divorce and a custody battle that forced him to quit politics, tragedy has once again struck Quebec media magnate Pierre Karl Peladeau.

His new girlfriend, Marie-Christine Couture, was found dead Wednesday in her Montreal home. Police believe it was a suicide.

Police received a call at 6:30 a.m. concerning a woman who had made worrying statements to her family members. Arriving at the scene, they found the dead body of a 33-year-old woman. The hypothesis being investigated at the moment is that it was a voluntary act, said police spokesperson Benoit Boisselle.

Peleadeau was at the scene and was inside the Couture home in the morning while officers investigated the death. He emerged around 11:30 a.m. looking exhausted.

The home belonged to Couture, a former owner of the Laurier Gordon Ramsay restaurant, as well as Daniel Lacombe, a little-known businessman who is active in the restaurant and food distribution industries.

Lacombe and Couture had been in a common-law relationship since 2009. They had two children together and lived in the home in Montreals Outremont neighbourhood.

They were to have begun official separation procedures on Tuesday, according to Lacombe. He had contacted La Presse by telephone last Friday after learning that his spouse had begun a romantic relationship with Peladeau.

Couture and Peladeau has been together for several months. Several sources said that Couture had already presented Peladeau as her new partner at a school event on Sept. 16 where the two were seen together.

The couple had planned to start living together.

Tensions between Lacombe and Couture came to the attention of police on Sept. 30 when officers were called to the house at 2:30 a.m.

The call concerned a dispute between a couple. According to the police, the woman (Couture) had complained that the man (Lacombe) had broken into her house and had tried to steal her cellular telephone.

The investigators concluded that there was no break and enter committed by the man because it was his house and there was no theft because the telephone belonged to him. Once that was dealt with there were no charges. The woman spoke of having been assaulted, but there were no signs of violence, neither on her nor on him, said Montreal police spokesperson Jean-Pierre Brabant.

Peladeau has had a particularly difficult year. At the end of January, less than six months after his high-profile marriage to television host Julie Snyder, the couple announced that they were separating. Later, Peladeau resigned his position as leader of the Parti Quebecois due to family reasons.

In a July Facebook entry, Peladeau recalled that his mother, Raymonde Chopin, killed herself 40 years ago when he was 14. He had spoken about it for the first time in 2015 during the 25th annual suicide prevention week.

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A year before 72-year-old Peter Brooks was charged in the slaying of fellow nursing home resident Joycelyn Dickson, he was referred to a geriatric psychiatrist for displaying aggressive behaviour, a jury heard Thursday.

I felt that he might present a chronic risk to other residents in the facility, but I did not feel he was an acute or imminent risk, psychiatrist Dr. Stephen Barsky concluded after a 45-minute meeting with Brooks in April 2012 at the Wexford Residence.

Barsky recommended that Brooks be moved to a psychiatric group home where there might not be frail, elderly people he could prey upon.

However, nursing home staff testified that Brooks remained at the Wexford nursing home until March 2013 when he was arrested after Dickson, 72, was killed and Lourdes Missier, 91, another resident, was injured.

Brooks has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder and attempted murder.

The Crown argued that Brooks targeted three women hed previously assaulted or had altercations with.

The Crown also argued that a walking cane was used to strike Missier in the head and to beat the partially paralyzed Dickson to death. Nursing home staff testified that Brooks was found outside the door of Margaret Burke. The jury has heard recorded testimony from Burke who said Brooks punched her on two occasions  once in her eye and once on her jaw  and roughly grabbed her arm.

Nursing home staff testified that both Dickson and Missier expressed fear of Brooks on the day they were attacked.

It was after Brooks was aggressive toward other residents three times in early 2012 that Wexford was called in to assess him, the jury heard Thursday.

Barsky testified that Brooks did not display any of the characteristics usually associated with dementia such as memory loss and that Brooks was not taking any medication related to dementia.

A previous mini mental state assessment by another doctor gave Brooks a score that indicated a normal range of cognitive function, he said.

Brooks was a challenge to interview, Barsky said, describing him as sarcastic and somewhat irritable.

It was also hard to tell when he was lying, Barsky said.

Brooks told Barsky hed served jail time for armed robberies in Jamaica and Canada, then laughed about it and asked whether or not Barsky believed him, Barsky told the court.

Barsky was concerned about Brooks judgment and that he appeared disinhibited, he testified, adding that Brooks likely had a long-standing personality disorder.

He also found Brooks likely had a mild form of alcohol-related dementia, a condition that results from excessive use of alcohol and could have an impact on Brooks inhibitions and his insight into his actions.

Brooks seemed to blame the victims of his actions for annoying him before he responded in a way that was excessive, Barsky said.

Barsky testified that he suggested the police consider charging Brooks if he committed further assaults to help him understand the seriousness of his actions.

I felt he was indeed able to appreciate the difference between right and wrong, Barsky testified. I felt he could understand the nature and quality of those acts.

Barsky said he prescribed an anti-depressant for Brooks, one that is used in geriatric psychiatry to calm down patients and reduce aggression.

During cross-examination, Barsky agreed that the mini-assessment of Brookss cognitive state is not definitive and had been triggered by a doctors concerns that Brooks did have dementia.

Brooks was not referred to him again, he said.

A police officer who helped arrest Brooks on the night of March 13, 2013 also testified Thursday.

Const. Nick Cheung told the jury that when Brooks was asked by a Wexford staff member if he remembered what he did to Joycelyn, he said: I hit her with my cane.

When asked about dried blood on his hand, Cheung said Brooks said: Thats my blood. I broke my stick when I hit her.

The trial continues.

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The province wants to add more than two dozen waterways and wetlands to the Greenbelt, but not the headwaters of Carruthers Creek, an omission that has flummoxed and outraged Ajax Mayor Steve Parish.

As far as hes concerned, the swath of land northeast of Pickering is prime turf that needs to be included in the soon-to-expand Greenbelt.

For Ajax this is not negotiable. There is no middle way. This goes in the Greenbelt. Its a no brainer, and we will fight until that is done, Parish said of the spot where rivulets spawn one of the major creeks that flows south through his town.

Parish claims that without protection, the headwaters will likely be developed, which would increase the likelihood of flooding problems in his municipality downstream and force taxpayers to foot the bill to upgrade storm drainage systems.

If the headwaters are developed, theres nothing we can do, theres no amount of money we can spend, that can fully protect that downstream area, he said.

From a growth perspective, from an environmental perspective, this has wrong written all over it.

The Greenbelt was created more than 10 years ago by the Liberal government of then-Premier Dalton McGuinty to contain suburban sprawl and protect environmentally sensitive areas and farmland in southern Ontario. The policy is currently being reviewed as part of a process to update the provinces urban growth strategy for the Golden Horseshoe. In May, the province released proposed amendments to the Greenbelt and three other urban growth and conservation plans, which included adding 21 major urban river valleys to the Greenbelt, along with seven coastal wetlands.

Environmental organizations, municipalities and property developers can make suggestions to the proposed amendments until Oct. 31. So far, this has included more than 600 site specific requests to have land removed from the Greenbelt, as well as applications from towns such as Ajax to have certain areas added.

Conrad Spezowka, spokesperson for the Ministry of Municipal Affairs, did not explain why the Carruthers Creek headwaters are not included in the proposed Greenbelt expansion. In an emailed statement, he said the proposed changes give municipalities like Ajax policy direction for protecting hydrologic and natural heritage features and areas on their own. The changes also provide a framework for the future inclusion of places like the Carruthers Creek headwaters in the Greenbelt, Spezowka said.

Parish argued the best way to protect the area is to put it in the Greenbelt, adding that theres no time to waste because parts of the land northeast of Pickering that comprise the headwaters are in the hands of developers with plans to build there.

Currently, a company called Dorsay Development owns nine parcels of land totaling 889 acres, with plans to build on the land no earlier than 2021, according to their website.

The Town of Ajax passed a resolution on Oct. 3 to submit a staff review to the province, requesting that the Carruthers Creek headwaters be included in the Greenbelt now. The report suggests the creek may be the only urban river valley in the Greenbelt area that does not have its headwaters included in a protected zone. That came after the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority (TRCA) passed a motion asking the province to seriously consider adding the Carruthers Creek headwaters to the protection plan.

The area has been a locus of the development-vs-conservation debate for more than half a decade. In 2010, in the midst of a fight over development of the headwaters that pitted Durham Region politicians from Pickering and Ajax including Parish, who was mayor back then as well  against each other, the province rejected a proposal to build a housing community for 30,000 people on the land.

At the time, Pickering Mayor Dave Ryan supported the development. In an email this week, the manager of business development and public affairs in the Pickering office of the mayor, Mark Guinto, pointed out that the TRCA is in the midst of a four-year review of how to best protect the Carruthers watershed. As such, Guinto said it is premature to discuss future plans for the headwaters area.

Geoffrey Grayhurst, president of Dorsay Development, said in an email that the company intends to build a complete community that enhances the health of the built environment, ecological systems and human interaction with both. He added the company will continue to work with the relevant municipalities and the province to abide by growth plans and environmental regulations.

Parish, the Ajax mayor, is adamant that development would be bad for his town. Its a poster child for going into the Greenbelt, he argued. Its the only way to protect these headwaters.

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Canadas heritage minister Melanie Joly urged participants at a consultation session in Toronto on Tuesday to be bold as the country grapples with ensuring Canadian content thrives in the digital world.

Its clearly time to rethink how we support and promote Canadian content, Joly told the group of representatives from various cultural industry players gathered at the Art Gallery of Ontario. We need to create a system that better aligns with how we consume content today, including on digital platforms that didnt exist at the time when our cultural policies were put in place.

Tuesdays gathering is the third of six consultations held by the Department of Canadian Heritage across the country, trying to determine how the government can ensure the strength and survival of Canadian culture in the digital age.

Joly hopes the people gathered at the consultation  a diverse group that included actor Paul Gross, Youtube star Corey Vidal, Sleeping Giant director Andrew Cividino, and representatives from the Toronto International Film Festival, Vice Media, and Twitter  will provide the government with ideas and feedback on the future of digital Canadian content.

The consultation was live-streamed on Facebook, where people were able to comment and weigh in on the discussions. The online feedback covered a broad range of topics. Ash Catherwood suggested microfinancing as opposed to big budgets, which creates more opportunities for diverse content and content creators. Erin Benjamin said a government and industry led committee should examine the state of Canadian music venues. Another user, Ayla Lukic-Roman, asked why Netflix was exempt from paying into the Canadian system.

The consultations come at a challenging time for some aspects of the cultural industry. In September it was announced that Canadian streaming service Shomi  Canadas own version of Netflix - would be shutting down at the end of November.

The media landscape is going through a lot of complexity, Joly said. We want to make sure we have a good ecosystem that is able to support content creators and at the same time that their content is discovered, watched and liked.

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Maldives has pulled out of Commonwealth alleging that the 53-nation inter-governmental organisation was discriminatory against it.

By India Today Web Desk: Island nation Maldives has decided to leave the Commonwealth, an inter-governmental organisation of 53 nations that were mostly territories of the former British empire. The foreign ministry of Maldives issued a statement to this effect on Thursday.

Calling the decision as 'difficult, but inevitable', Maldives alleged that it was being unjustly targeted after change of regime in the country.

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The Maldives foreign ministry's statement said, "The Commonwealth has sought to take punitive actions against the Maldives since 2012 after the then President of Maldives resigned, and transfer of power took place as per the procedures set out in the Constitution."

TROUBLE AND THE CHANGE OF GUARD

There was a change of government in Maldives following widespread protests led by the police in the country. As a result, the then president Mohammad Nasheed fled the country and Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom occupied the top post.

"The Commonwealth's decision to penalise the Maldives was unjustified especially given that the Commission of National Inquiry (CoNI), established with the help of the Commonwealth, found that the transfer of power in the Maldives was consistent with the constitutional provisions", it said citing the reason for pulling out of the multi-national body.

The foreign ministry statement said that the Gayoom government tried to cultivate "a culture of democracy in the country and in building and strengthening democratic institutions." But, the Commonwealth did not recognise the progress and achievement that Maldives accomplished.

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The jury at the coroners inquest into the fatal police shooting of John Caleb Ross has ruled the young mans death was a suicide.

Ross, 21, died on April 13, 2014 after he was shot twice by a York police officer on a quiet street in Aurora, north of Toronto.

Officers were called to the area of Leslie St. and State Farm Parkway just before 9 p.m. by an erroneous 911 call reporting a girl and her mother had been shot. Officials later determined Ross himself had placed the call to summon police.

According to Ontarios Special Investigations Unit (SIU), the civilian police watchdog that probes deaths involving police, officers arrived to find Ross alone, brandishing a gun and refusing to drop it.

Two minutes later, Ross was fatally shot by Const. Adam Bosomworth. Another officer, Const. Sean Morrison, fired his shotgun but did not strike Ross.

It was later determined that Ross was carrying a pellet gun painted to resemble a firearm.

The SIU cleared Bosomworth, finding he had reasonable grounds to shoot because he believed his life was at risk.

Coroners inquests are held not to assign blame but to probe the circumstances surrounding a death, and they are mandatory when a death occurs in police custody.

Among the tasks of the jury is to determine if the death was natural, a homicide, a suicide, an accident, or if the means of death is undetermined.

The jury concluded Rosss death was a suicide, a finding likely informed by the revelation on the first day of the inquest that, shortly after Ross death, officials located a note that had initially been taped to Ross arm, but had come off during emergency efforts.

Ripped and stained with blood, it appeared to read: No funeral, no marker, please.

Harrowing police dashcam video entered into evidence at the inquest shows a two-minute standoff immediately prior to the shooting. York Regional Police Staff Sgt. Rod Fraser, the first officer to arrive on scene, can be seen getting out of his vehicle as Ross approaches him, gun raised and pointed at the officer.

Fraser and Ross begin to circle around the police vehicle, Fraser using the car as a barrier between himself and Ross, as Ross slowly follows him around. Both men have their guns raised.

Get back in the car, Rod (Fraser). Get back if you can, Const. Richard Harakal, another officer who rushed to the scene, can be heard saying in the video.

Ross then turns his attention away from Fraser and towards Harakal. He begins walking towards Harakals car and other police vehicles arriving on scene.

Okay, Im backing up, hes walking towards me  holding the gun up, Harakal says. Rod (Fraser), if you can, get back in your vehicle.

As Ross continues towards the officers with his gun raised, police shout drop the gun, drop the gun. When Ross doesnt comply, Bosomworth and Morrison fire from off camera. It is not clear in the video how close Ross was to the officers at the time of the shooting.

Ross immediately drops to the ground. He was pronounced dead in hospital a few hours later.

In an email to the Star Thursday, Will Ross, Johns father, said the family was not satisfied with the inquest, saying we started with a great deal of trust and confidence in the office of the coroner but weve ended in a different place.

Alongside his wife and daughter, Ross was self-represented at the inquest, and he noted a lack of support for families  the strongest advocates on behalf of their loved ones  who want to participate in the inquest but cannot hire a lawyer.

I have read that some families mortgage their houses or beg lawyers to act for them pro bono so that they can advocate for their loved one and try, on behalf of everybody in Ontario, to make the province a safer place for vulnerable people in contact with the police; maybe thats what we should have done.

During the inquest, Will Ross said his family noted there was a significant amount of confusion surrounding the definition of suicide and other means of death.

It seemed that a lot of time was spent on a drawn out and confusing discussion regarding the manner of death. We were certainly confused and I expect that the jury was as well, Will Ross said, noting that the jury was apparently confused enough to make a recommendation the coroners office review the definitions of each means of death, specifically suicide.

On the stand at the inquest, Bosomworth said the shooting had forever altered his life and those of the other officers involved in the shooting. He testified that he shot Ross because he was scared and wanted to stop the threat.

I wanted him to put the gun down. Our backs were against the wall  If I could have done anything to prevent the death of your son, I wish that could have happened, Bosomworth told Ross mother and father.

Bosomworth said he eventually sought outside help to process the traumatic experience.

There was no support from anyone in a leadership capacity, he said, later adding that since the shooting, steps have been taken to help officers in need, namely the creation of an internal peer support team.

York Regional Police spokesperson Andy Pattenden told the Star in an email Thursday that the forces Critical Incident Stress Management (CISM) team provides support for officers at the time or shortly after a traumatic incident, and has done so for 20 years.

Pattenden said the CISM team met with officers who were directly involved in the incident at the police district after the incident occurred.

But he said there may have been some confusion caused by the fact that, once the SIU begins an investigation, officers must be segregated and they are prevented from discussing the incident until after the SIU has completed its interviews.

If the SIU and/or province chooses to make changes that would allow us to debrief our members in a more timely manner, we would support that, Pattenden said.

Among the recommendations put forward by the jury was that York Regional Police increase the support following an on-duty shooting, saying officers should have immediate access to another police officer in order to talk about the situation without any recourse or ramifications.

Pattenden noted the recommendation would be difficult to implement given the province-wide restrictions on officers discussing matters under investigation by the SIU. But he said the service would support any amendment to the regulations that would allow us to provide support to our officers immediately after a critical incident.

Among the other recommendations put forward by the jury: that a public service announcement be made about suicide warning signs and prevention; that the federal government consider regulating replica firearms; and that the provincial and federal government force replica gun manufacturers to include a warning on packaging stating the product will be treated as a firearm by law enforcement.

With files from Jeremy Grimaldi from YorkRegion.com

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Uno Prii was light years ahead of his time. The Estonian-born architect shot Toronto into the space age, an Orbit City right out of The Jetsons animated TV series, with futuristic apartment buildings sporting curved, looped balconies and white concrete structures pointing skyward like rocket ships. They were so unlike the boxy, no-nonsense Modernist designs of the 1960s.

Some admired his peek into a where-no-one-has-gone-before Star Trek universe, while no-frills advocates dissed his designs, considering them strange, dull and blights on the landscape.

But whatever camp you were in, his creations were something that couldnt be ignored and were as ubiquitous as the stars strung throughout the galaxy. Prii designed no fewer than 250 buildings, many of them in Toronto, during the 1960s, with a handful in Ohio and Miami Beach.

Even now, decades after they first appeared, these are structures that speak of the future, wrote the Stars Christopher Hume in October 2009. Little wonder people called them the Jetson buildings. They conjure up images of winged cars, robot butlers and space ships.

The future has now become something to be feared, Hume said. The optimism of Priis architecture will likely never be replicated in this or any city, he concluded.

Prii utilized his engineering background and took advantage of the slipform moulds at the time, which slide up the buildings as liquid concrete is poured. He favoured white concrete, which stood out against Torontos traditional brick buildings.

Hume said Prii understood concretes potential and the importance buildings played in the life of the city. His interiors remained more or less ordinary; the focus was on the exterior, wrote Hume.

The advent of concrete construction made it possible for me to make the buildings into giant sculptures because masonry is a very restrictive material  except with arches, Prii told the Stars Robert Burg. So my idea was to give it a sculptural expression, and besides that, I actually got to do something different and not just a regular boring building.

Prii was born on Feb. 28, 1924 in Tallinn, Estonia. He escaped a Nazi takeover during the Second World War aboard a tiny sailboat to Finland, where he joined the Finnish army. He moved to Sweden after the war and earned a degree in engineering. He immigrated to Canada in 1950 with his wife Silvia, enrolling in the University of Torontos School of Architecture in 1951.

Eric Arthur, a professor and forward-thinking architect, befriended Prii, who worked for Arthurs firm during the summers while attending U. of T. Prii started his own firm at age 33 in 1957 and worked until a heart condition slowed him down in the 1980s.

Prii collaborated with Polish-born Harry Hiller, a real estate developer who began his career as a carpenter. Their partnership resulted in 10 buildings, which include 11 Walmer Rd. (1963), 20 Prince Arthur Ave. (1968) and 44 Walmer Rd. (1969).

Between the 1950s and the late 1970s, about 2,000 highrise apartments were built in Toronto. Municipal planning decisions and flying-form concrete construction fueled their growth, particularly along the suburban arterials. The 1960s were a time when apartments represented the highlife of city living, precursors to todays condos. Apartments advertised luxuries geared to middle-class renters, including swimming pools, saunas, dishwashers and maid services.

The citys zoning laws at that time called for tall buildings set well back on landscaped lots. The requirement inspired Prii to shape free-standing sculptures, instead of boxlike structures.

Everything he did was clean, white and modern, said architectural historian Catherine Drillis, who knew Prii until his death from cancer in November 2000 at the age of 76.

Uno literally changed the face of Toronto, Drillis told the Star. He lifted the city up from its low-rise origins, and reshaped the skyline. He was an eccentric, but an eccentric who found lots of clients. He created his opportunity and had a lot of fun filling his niche.

The 23-storey Prince Arthur Towers at 20 Prince Arthur Dr., near Yorkville, had a huge, flared base, which the Stars Alfred Holden compared to a giant pair of standing bell-bottom pants.

Prii told Holden he had conceived of the idea from the medieval cathedrals of Europe, with their flying buttresses that work to brace the buildings against the wind.

Another example of flying buttresses was the Jane/Exbury Towers (1969), a cluster of five towers staggered across a large suburban lot along Jane St., north of Wilson Ave.

They appear to be sitting on elevated saucers, then taper to blunt peaks 20 storeys above, commented the Star in 1969.

It is a relief to the eye to see something that is not square, Prii told the Star. I would like to see a little imagination. Most of our building is boring.

A circle theme was the inspiration for 44 Walmer Rd.: circular holes emitted light through the canopy over the entrance and also formed the patterns in the steel balcony railings.

The Vincennes at 35 Walmer Rd. (1966) featured a dramatic, sophisticated flair on the fifth floor, allowing for deeper balconies and its magnificent facade.

His buildings always had a covered driveway and a fountain in front. Younger people thought they were really cool, Drillis explained. He was creative and artistic and wanted to make things that were different.

The shapely, mostly white apartments that became his trademark have often been compared to Miami Beach hotels.

During the 1970s, Prii shifted from using smooth, white concrete to textured grey. He redirected his focus to rectilinear designs, which incorporated setback and other details and served to break up the geometry.

The gentle man, who also enjoyed painting and pottery, closed his practice in 1985, although he continued to sketch designs for buildings. They would not be built.

And although he garnered accolades for his work, Prii never received any awards from his fellow architects.

Before Priis death there was a resurgence in interest in his buildings from a new generation of architects. During the 2000s, more than a dozen of Priis buildings, mostly in the Annex area, acquired heritage designations for the designs that had propelled Toronto into the space age.

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Alicia Raimundo said she feels lucky to only live with anxiety, depression and a thyroid issue, where her three prescriptions range from $30 to $90 a month.

Like nearly two thirds of Ontarians, the 27-year-old doesnt have public health insurance for prescription medication and so is paying out-of-pocket. As a mental health advocate, she says it is not uncommon for those with complex health issues to be spending hundreds of dollars a month on their prescriptions, or for them to go off meds they cant afford.

Inequity creates these holes in health care coverage, according to a report from Health Quality Ontario (HQO) released Thursday. The report looks at a range of complex points-of-access and the performance of the provinces public health care system.

Titled Measure Up 2016, it paints the picture of a province divided by geography and class, noting significant gaps in coverage for low income families, new Canadians and those living in poor and remote areas.

Income matters, said Dr. Joshua Tepper, president and CEO of the provincial advisory group, who is also a family doctor. It affects suicide rates, infant mortality, smoking, mental health issues and addiction.

When Ontarians are facing income challenges, the data shows they simply cant access care, said Tepper, leaving people sick and contributing to higher costs down the road.

The poorest people in our province have dramatically different access and outcomes  measure after measure  (and) to have the data is very important.

Tepper agreed that we are penny wise, pound foolish not to provide system supports that people expect around medications.

Economic barriers to accessing health care are an important aspect of health spending and overall system performance, the report noted, finding that prescription medication insurance disparities are based on income, education, and immigration status.

Ontarians who did not have prescription medication coverage most often fell into those groups, in addition to people living in poor neighbourhoods.

Hamilton resident Brian Lewis, 62, knows this well. He is on 12 different medications for complex health needs and hasnt been able to work for the past decade.

Our whole world fell apart after he had his stroke, said his wife Mary, 53, who suffers with fibromyalgia, depression and joint problems and is on three prescription medications.

As her husbands primary caregiver, Mary says shes worried 24/7 about his health and their poverty. Her daughter buys groceries to keep their cupboards from going bare.

For a time, Mary said, the couples pharmacist scrambled with pharmaceutical reps to find them free samples. Today, she cant imagine how theyd survive were they not on the Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP), which currently runs out when Brian turns 65, after which he has to reapply. Their combined 15 medications would cost the couple $900 per month were they not covered.

It scares the hell out of me to think about a future where Brian is no longer eligible for ODSP, said Mary. I dont know what is going to happen. I dont know if his drugs will be covered.

Everybody should (get) the meds they need, to have the availability and affordability to get the health care they need, she added.

One of the fastest-growing expenditures, prescription drugs account for 16.6 per cent of total public health spending in Ontario, according to the HQO report. It found Ontario is the second-highest spender on prescription drugs among comparable countries, behind only the U.S.

In its tenth iteration, Measuring Up 2016 offers other big-picture takeaways about the complexity of Ontarios publicly funded health care system, too.

Some good news: Smoking and smoking-related illnesses are in decline; physical inactivity has improved and we have shorter wait times for surgery.

Some bad: Caregiver distress is on the rise; 65 per cent of palliative care patients die in hospitals instead of at home, which is their first choice; Ontarians dont eat enough fruits and vegetables.

There are also clear trends illustrating gaps in the quality of care for patients living with mental illness and addictions living in the poorest neighbourhoods, the report noted. Two million people are affected by a mental illness or addiction in Ontario, and it is among the top causes of disability nationally.

Poor Ontarians also had a significantly lower rate of follow up with a doctor after a mental episode and had the highest 30-day readmission rates to hospital.

So clearly, there are gaps to close.

Just because we lack a yearly income or are living in poverty doesnt mean we are any less of a person, or less deserving of health care, Mary said.

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The provinces doctors are expressing grave concerns about the Liberal governments plans for eHealth Ontario.

In the wake of Health Minister Eric Hoskins decision to ask Premier Kathleen Wynnes privatization guru, Ed Clark, to appraise the monetary value of the electronic health records agency, the Ontario Medical Association is sounding the alarm over patient privacy.

To be clear, Ontarios physicians are very concerned about the sanctity of the information shared by their patients in the context of the physician-patient relationship, wrote OMA president Dr. Virginia Walley in an open letter to Clark on Thursday.

We have grave concerns about how your mandate from Minister Hoskins is being interpreted, Walley wrote to the former TD Bank CEO, who now serves as an unpaid advisor to the premier.

We are particularly concerned to read in media reports that the government may be seeking to monetize this data-gathering ability for profit, she continued, as she urged safeguards to protect patients.

Walley, whose organization represents the provinces 42,000 doctors, also took issue with the governments assertion that its digital health strategy is paying off dividends.

The blunt reality is that we do not currently have a functional eHealth system that benefits patient care and it is unclear to us currently how your mandate from Minister Hoskins will help encourage or support this, she wrote.

Her letter comes two months after doctors rejected a four-year contract negotiated by the OMA and the provincial government.

On Wednesday, Hoskins denied that requesting Clark, who recommended the sell-off of Hydro One, to assess the value of eHealth was about privatization, saying its so we can understand the assets.

In a sense, its almost like taking an inventory. A tremendous amount has been accomplished through the development of our digital health strategy . . . 80 per cent of primary care providers use it in their offices, the minister said.

So its prudent to see what that inventory is to establish the value of the assets, both from an infrastructure perspective, but also, importantly, (from an) intellectual-property perspective, so we can leverage that as we go forward with a new strategy, he said.

Let me be clear about one thing . . . there will be no sale of eHealth or its assets or its intellectual property.

As the Star revealed Thursday, the Liberals want Clark to deliver a valuation of eHealth ahead of what could be a critical report on the agency from Auditor General Bonnie Lysyk later this fall.

The government hopes Clark will conclude the database is worth much more than the hundreds of millions invested in it over the years.

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The question facing leaderless New Democrats: How to grow their political support.

One possible answer: Choose a leader who is still growing as a politician.

My weekend column on Jagmeet Singh, now deputy leader of Ontarios NDP, described his talents and provenance: Toronto-born, Newfoundland-reared, Windsor-educated, bilingual, multicultural, youthful.

He checks off every demographic box. But whats inside the box?

He has style  made-to-measure suits, colourful turbans, enviable media attention. What about substance, which New Democrats still seek in a leadership race?

Hes got humility and affability aplenty. Policy?

With the convention a year away, no candidate has formally declared, and Singh says he wont say until the new year. Even if he doesnt run federally, leadership still beckons in Ontario.

Ill be honest with you  people have been encouraging me to think about it down the road provincially, after the 2018 election.

Regardless of where he runs, what exactly is he running to achieve? Singh says he gets the question from grassroots supporters encouraging him to make the leap.

 Hey, we want you to do this. So  what would you do?

Good question.

His answers, like the politician himself, are not fully formed. Partly, Singh is still coming to terms with translating his fleeting fame as a minor political celebrity into more enduring ideas.

I think of myself as a little kid from Windsor, he laughs, sitting on a park bench outside his Queens Park office. Its a little overwhelming for the little Jagmeet inside me.

Yes, he possesses that ineffable energy successful leaders project  call it charisma, presence, confidence. But once he has people in his sights, whats the vision he wants them to see?

A criminal lawyer, Singh talks passionately about social justice and income inequality as motivating precepts. He wants to get Canadians excited about progressive issues such as pharmacare and human rights.

Progressives are always apologists, he says. My whole persona  I dont apologize for who I am . . . . I want to build a society thats more fair.

Singh disdains the message box that politicians lapse into. Ive really nurtured the importance of being authentic.

He wants New Democrats to be upbeat, not downers. Singhs track record suggests he can be positive, but also pointed, on issues dear to his heart.

He campaigned against police carding, advising young men of colour to stand up for their rights, albeit politely. He criticized the Indian government for its treatment of women and minorities, to the point that he was denied a visitors visa in 2013. He insists its a human right for Sikhs to ride motorcycles without a helmet.

Good for Singh for standing up for what he believes in (even if Ive argued against his view that Sikhs should be exempted from helmet laws while the province foots the bill for medical injuries).

Sometimes, though, defying powerful authority figures from a distance is easier than standing up to your own cultural community closer to home.

Singh has a blind spot about the backlash against sex education. When Ontarios Liberal government updated a two-decade-old curriculum, and social conservatives predictably trashed the update, Singh rose in the legislature to show solidarity with sex-ed opponents  sparking quiet criticism from fellow New Democrats and public rebukes in the LGBT community.

I stand today once again to voice the concerns of my constituents around the (sexual) health curriculum in our schools, he began, calling it disrespectful to parents in my constituency and a mistake. Singh hid behind the fig leaf of perpetual consultations and traditional values, arguing: Ontario is a diverse province, and we must respect the diversity of beliefs when it comes to educating our children . . . . My constituents have sought clarification about the age appropriateness of some materials.

It was not his finest hour. Singh says now he always supported the sex-ed update, but it certainly didnt sound that way at the time. Rather than show leadership in his own constituency  both parliamentary and cultural  Singh merely parroted the message box used by diehard opponents of modern sex education.

It was not unlike the tactic used by Progressive Conservative Leader Patrick Brown to win favour. Just as Brown was savaged for trying to have it both ways on sex-ed, Singh has been criticized for sending mixed messages.

Like Brown, Singh is young enough to learn from his mistakes. Like Justin Trudeau  to whom Singh has been compared (not least because he has great hair underneath that turban)  Singh is easily underestimated.

He may not be quite ready for the top job, and could benefit from more political seasoning. Then again, thats what they once said about Trudeau. Well soon see if New Democrats are ready to take the leap on a progressive politician who remains a work in progress.

Martin Regg Cohns political column appears Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. mcohn@thestar.ca , Twitter: @reggcohn

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The Liberal government is scrambling to get a valuation of eHealth Ontario before the auditor general releases what is expected to be a damning report on the controversial electronic health agency, the Star has learned.

Sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity in order to discuss internal government matters, said officials are worried about auditor general Bonnie Lysyks upcoming audit of eHealth.

Insiders said thats why Health Minister Eric Hoskins has asked Premier Kathleen Wynnes privatization guru, Ed Clark, to appraise the value of assets connected to the provinces digital health strategy without compromising patient privacy.

The hope is that Clark  architect of the Liberals sell-off of Hydro One and the expansion of beer and wine sales in supermarkets  will mitigate Lysyks expected criticism of eHealths computer networking problems by showing it is worth the hundreds of millions of dollars spent.

While Canada Health Infoway, the federal-provincial body overseeing digital health initiatives, estimates such online systems have generated $16 billion in benefits nationwide over the past decade, eHealth Ontario has been plagued with issues.

A 2009 auditor generals report found $1 billion had been spent on eHealth and its predecessor with little to show for it at that point in time.

Then in 2012, the legislative watchdog found that $24.4 million was spent on an electronic registry of diabetes patients that was unceremoniously scrapped before it was up and running.

The organization also weathered an expense account scandal when it was revealed that private consultants earning $3,000 a day were billing taxpayers for $3.99 cookies and $1.65 cups of tea.

In an interview, the auditor general confirmed she and her team had been looking at the electronic health records agency long before Hoskins move on Friday.

I heard about the (Clark) announcement and, yes, we are doing an audit of eHealth, Lysyk said Wednesday.

Were not looking at the value of it for  sales purposes or anything like that. So we wouldnt be commenting on anything like that (in the annual report), she said, adding it would be released within a couple of weeks of when the house rises on Dec. 8.

That means her annual value-for-money report could come as early as late November.

Lysyk, an independent officer of the legislature, stressed that she could not discuss this latest eHealth audit until it is tabled in the house.

But in terms of why theyre doing the announcement and the timing, its their decision, she said of the health ministers gambit. Were just proceeding along the way of doing the audit.

Hoskins defended his decision to announce the eHealth evaluation on the Friday afternoon before the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, during the Toronto Blue Jays playoff game against Texas.

Please dont read anything into the timing of it, the health minister said, noting that eHealths 10-year mandate expires at the end of 2017, so the government must begin looking ahead to next steps.

The reason for asking Mr. Clark to conduct this  value audit  is so we can understand the assets. In a sense, its almost like taking an inventory, Hoskins said Wednesday.

A tremendous amount has been accomplished through the development of our digital health strategy . . . 80 per cent of primary care providers use it in their offices, he said, arguing that most hospital-based diagnostic imaging is now digital and lab results can be accessed through the system.

So its prudent to see what that inventory is  to establish the value of the assets, both from an infrastructure perspective but also, importantly, (from an) intellectual property perspective, so we can leverage that as we go forward with a new strategy.

Hoskins emphasized that patient privacy will be protected.

Let me be clear about one thing  there will be no sale of eHealth or its assets or its intellectual property, the minister said, adding that Clark, the former TD Bank CEO who now serves as an unpaid adviser, will report back in the coming months.

New Democrat MPP France Gelinas (Nickel Belt) has warned that the Liberals want to privatize more of our health-care system by somehow monetizing the investment in eHealth.

Progressive Conservative MPP Jeff Yurek (Elgin-Middlesex-London) has accused the Liberals of creating more uncertainty for patients.

Everything this government touches ends up in scandal and waste  and those most affected by their many experiments are the people of Ontario, he said.

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An American firm fighting Ontarios halt on offshore wind power has won a landmark $25-million claim for a energy project in Lake Ontario that was put on hold.

Its a fraction of the $568 million sought by Windstream Energy, but it remains the largest award granted against the federal government in a challenge under the North American Free Trade Agreement.

While it was an Ontario government decision that halted the project near Kingston, NAFTA matters are a federal responsibility. The case was handled by trade lawyers at the Department of Global Affairs.

Windstream, which was also granted $2.9 million in legal costs, was seeking reimbursement for lost profits, arguing the Ontario governments 2011 moratorium on offshore wind projects was arbitrary, irrational and discriminatory.

While the federal and Ontario governments consider next steps, the payout comes as residents of the province are feeling the sting of skyrocketing hydro bills, for which Premier Kathleen Wynne has promised to scrap the 8-per-cent provincial tax.

Ontarians are already footing costs of up to $1.1 billion for two natural gas-fired power plants scrapped by the previous Liberal administration of Dalton McGuinty before the 2011 election.

We are disappointed by the (NAFTA) tribunals ruling, spokesman John Babcock of the Department of Global Affairs in Ottawa said Thursday.

However, we welcome the tribunals dismissal of the majority of the companys claims, and its decision to award only a small fraction of the damages requested.

Windstream said it considers the ruling a start at rekindling the project, because the tribunal ruled the company was treated unfairly and inequitably.

This award is a good first step at remedying the challenges we have faced, said Windstream director David Mars in a statement, noting the ruling also found the companys contract for the 300-megawatt project, worth $5.2 billion, remains in force.

We look forward to working with the Ontario government to build this project in accordance with the contract.

That outcome appears unlikely, however.

Premier Kathleen Wynnes government, which is struggling in the polls, announced last month that a surplus of electricity has prompted the cancellation of $3.8-billion worth of renewable energy projects to keep pressure off hydro bills.

The moratorium issued by the McGuinty government, which cited environmental concerns, stalled development of Windstreams 300-megawatt wind-turbine installation off Wolfe Island, south of Kingston.

It had been approved six months earlier and the contract awarded, but construction was awaiting the completion of project engineering, wind and sound studies.

As such, the $25 million would be the latest cost to taxpayers for power that was not built in Ontario.

The provinces auditor general, Bonnie Lysyk, has found axing the gas-fired plants in Oakville and Mississauga could cost up to $1.1 billion over 20 years as the facilities are moved to the Sarnia and Napanee areas.

That long-term tab has been a magnet for criticism by opposition parties and electricity ratepayers.

The Ontario government said it stands by the 6-year-old halt on offshore wind projects and hailed the $25-million award as significantly less than the full claim.

Ontario is carefully reviewing the decision and we understand that Canada is doing the same in order to determine next steps, said a statement from the Ministry of Energy, headed by new minister Glenn Thibeault.

The decision to place a moratorium on offshore wind is one our government still believes is correct. Ontario continues to take a cautious approach.

The province and the federal government have three months to decide if they will go to court to ask the award be set aside.

The tribunals decision has not been released, but will be made public as soon as possible, Babcock said.

Its unclear if Ontario would reimburse the national treasury for the money awarded Windstream.

This dispute represents a very small portion of the billions in investments that Canada attracts and the billions that Canadian companies invest abroad. We are currently assessing the decision to determine next steps, Babcock added in an emailed statement.

The decision by a NAFTA tribunal was reached recently following several days of hearings this year on the complaint filed in 2012.

As part of its green-energy push  heavily polluting coal-fired power plants were being phased out  Ontario awarded the Wolfe Island contract to Windstream in August of 2010.

Six months later, in February 2011, then-energy minister Brad Duguid ordered the offshore wind moratorium as the government prepared for an election in October.

The government, which was facing opposition from anti-wind power activists, denied the moratorium was for political reasons.

There isnt a lot of science on freshwater offshore wind, Duguid, now economic development minister, said at the time.

In the meantime, the Liberal government continued development of land-based wind turbines.

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For 27 years, Ive been in Donald Trumps crosshairs.

Im a member of the Central Park Five, a group of teenagers imprisoned for a brutal sexual assault in Central Park in 1989. When we were arrested, the police deprived us of food, drink or sleep for more than 24 hours. Under duress, four of us falsely confessed. Though we were innocent, we spent our formative years in prison, branded as rapists.

During our trial, it seemed as if every New Yorker had an opinion. But no one took it further than Trump. He called for blood in the most public way possible. Trump used his money to take out full-page ads in all of the citys major newspapers, calling for the reinstatement of the death penalty in New York.

During that time, our families tried to shield us from what was going on in the media, but we still found out about Trumps ad. My initial thought was, Who is this guy? I was terrified that I might be executed for a crime I didnt commit.

Thirteen years later, in 2002, we were exonerated. Matias Reyes eventually confessed to the rape and was definitively linked to the victim by his DNA. New York paid us $41 million (U.S.) in 2014 for our false imprisonment.

Trump has never apologized for calling for our murder. In fact, despite all evidence to the contrary, hes still convinced that we were guilty. When the Republican nominee was recently asked about the Central Park Five, he said, They admitted they were guilty. In a statement to CNNs Miguel Marquez, Trump wrote, The police doing the original investigation say they were guilty. The fact that that case was settled with so much evidence against them is outrageous. And the woman, so badly injured, will never be the same. Its further proof of his bias, racism and inability to admit that hes wrong.

When I heard Trumps latest proclamation, it was like the worst feeling in the world. I felt as if I couldnt breathe. Since I was 15, my life has never been my own. I had no control over what happened to me. Being in the spotlight makes me wary and self-conscious again. I am overwhelmed with a nagging fear that an overzealous Trump supporter might take matters into his or her hands.

Doing something simple like picking up dinner for the family or going to the aquarium takes on a whole new wrinkle. Im always looking over my shoulder, keeping an eye out for people who stare too long. Like a soldier always on high alert, I feel as if I can never enjoy myself fully, with all of the adrenalin that comes with that. Its a scary feeling.

In some ways, I feel as if Im on trial all over again. Like Trayvon Martin and Mike Brown, young men who were killed and then crucified in the media, I know what it is to be a young black man without a voice. Even though we were found innocent by a court of law, we are still guilty in the court of public opinion. That brings a certain kind of stress.

I realize, too, that Im not the only victim. Trump has smeared dozens of people, with no regard for the truth. And he has backed a law and order system that would systematically target minorities. Trump says he would like to reinstitute practices like New Yorks stop and frisk, a policy proven to be unconstitutional and unjust. When we hear that he is going to be a law and order president, a collective chill goes down the spine of those of us who have been the victims of this law and order.

Black people across America know that because of the colour of our skin, we are guilty before proven innocent. As a result, sometimes we lose the best years of our lives. Sometimes we lose our actual lives. We must not let this man ascend to the highest office in the land when he has always proven that he lets neither facts nor humanity lead his steps.

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LUMBERTON, N.C.A day after fleeing from the swollen Lumber River, the residents of this down-but-not-quite-out former mill town waded into the swirling, tea-coloured floodwaters Wednesday and filled jugs for something most of us take for granted: flushing their toilets.

We still dont have water or power in our house, Caroline Kahn said as she sloshed through someones flooded front yard in a pair of flower-print boots. So we need water for the necessities of life.

The river gave this town its life. Now it has torn the community apart.

About 1,200 residents had to be evacuated by boat and plucked from their roofs by helicopters as the river crested. Two of the states 20 fatalities occurred in Robeson County, of which Lumberton is the seat.

Of all the towns affected by Hurricane Matthew, this city of 22,000 was among the hardest hit and the least able to absorb the blow.

It is just a heartbreak, said novelist Jill McCorkle, a Lumberton native. She and her husband, Tom Rankin, drove southeast from their home in Hillsborough, his pickup filled to the gunwales with diapers and drinking water. Its a very poor area anyway.

In her youth, McCorkle worked as a lifeguard on the Lumber. The river meanders through her fictional landscape, where the mosquitoes are so big they roll up your pants legs to bite you.

When people are missing in Marsh County, the river is one of the first places to go, the novelist wrote in Carolina Moon, published in 1996. The police regularly drag nets up and down through that twisting brown river, one man in the boat designated to watch the branches of the live oaks for snakes that might sense the warmth of bodies below and drop onto them.

Theres the constant trade-off of the river giving and taking away, McCorkle said. Its a really beautiful, beautiful river  until it bursts its banks and goes out of control.

Like so many early settlements, Lumberton depended on the river for survival. By the late 18th century, the town had become a trading centre for timber and related materials.

Rafts of pine logs on which were piled other pine products such as tar, pitch, turpentine and resin were floated down the river to Georgetown, South Carolina, according to a history produced by the Federal Writers Project in the 1930s.

But it wasnt timber that gave the river and town their names.

To local Indians, it was not the Lumber, but the Lumbee. Poet John Charles McNeill, a native of neighbouring Scotland County who grew up along the river, said the name was from a local Indian word meaning black water.

Early European surveyors and settlers called it Drowning Creek.

In the 2011 book Communities in Economic Crisis: Appalachia and the South, Lumbee Indian activist Richard Regan drew a primal connection between his people and the waters upon which they live.

Like the river, the Lumbees have a mystery, excitement and violence in their history; and like the river they persevere, he said. Our very identity is wrapped up in the river. The river gave us isolation to develop community identity. It gave us protection from our many enemies. It gave us spiritual power to sustain our bodies and souls.

When the timber was depleted, locals turned to tobacco and other crops. In addition to textile mills, the town once boasted about half a dozen tobacco warehouses. But like timber, those industries waned.

The historic downtown is dominated by the courthouse, attorneys offices and bail bondsmen. A decal on one window reads: for a small FEE, we will set you FREE.

Once-genteel department stores are now empty, and windows into vacant shops are dusty and barren.

The Lumberton Visitors Bureau website lists its location along Interstate 95  and the four exits off it  as its key attraction.

Lumberton is the midpoint between New York and Florida, the site declares. All hotels are visible from the interstate, making access easy for visitors.

Lumberton served as the setting for director David Lynchs 1986 neo-noir film Blue Velvet.

The look of it was inspired by my childhood in Spokane, Washington, Lynch once told an interviewer. There are many Lumbertons in America. I picked it because we would get police insignias and stuff, because it was an actual town. But then it took off in my mind.

But the director used only the name. Most of the movie was filmed in the more scenic 18th century port city of Wilmington, about 71 miles (114 kilometres) to the southeast at the mouth of the Cape Fear River.

Two years later, a violent episode in the racially divided town made national headlines.

On Feb. 1, 1988, two Tuscarora Indians entered the offices of The Robesonian newspaper armed with a pistol, knife and two sawed-off shotguns. They chained the doors shut with 20 hostages inside. One of the men, Eddie Hatcher, told a local radio station that they took the action because We have no justice here in the county.

Indians and blacks have been oppressed too long, he said, demanding to speak to then-Gov. Jim Martin.

The standoff lasted for 10 hours before the men surrendered. Hatcher was sentenced to 18 years in prison. Co-defendant Timothy Jacobs entered a plea bargain and received a six-year prison sentence.

Lumberton is still a rough place. It and surrounding Robeson County had the highest violent crime rate in the state in 2014, the most recent year available, according to state data.

On Monday night, a state trooper shot and killed a man who allegedly confronted officers while holding a gun.

Resident Keira McGirt hopes the floods might help wash some of that history away.

The 23-year-old beauty supply store clerk and her 3-year-old son escaped from the storm with nothing but the clothes they were wearing. They spent the night in a shelter and are now staying with a friend in the city.

On Wednesday, she stood in front of Gold Rush Beauty Supply, next to a shuttered Super Dollar store, handing out food and water. Despite some sporadic gunfire early on, she is proud of how residents have reacted.

Lumberton needed this, she said. We needed this to come together as a city.

The city thought it was prepared. But no one expected more than a foot of rain in less than 24 hours, on top of heavy rains the week before, said Jim Walters, deputy director of public works.

We were in a pickle before this even started, Walters said, noting there was a weak point in the dike where the railroad goes under Interstate 95.

Some of the waters have receded. But left behind is a sense of despair.

Terry Jones, 48, wept as he stood on downtown sidewalk Wednesday morning. The water that rose to 4 or 5 feet deep destroyed everything in his home.

Hes staying in his sons camper. The Smithfield pork-packing worker has lived in Lumberton his entire life and wiped tears from his face with his big hand when he thought about the enormity of what was ahead.

I cant even get to work, he sobbed.

Lumbee Tribal Chairman Harvey Godwin Jr. said the tribe was struggling to get bottles of drinking water.

Its kind of amazing, he said. Life itself cant sustain without water, and what caused this was water.

And you cant blame water, he added, because its just part of the environment, and its part of what Gods created for us to manage.

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Watching Donald Trump talk during a presidential debate about jailing his opponent was a jarring experience for Al Cardenas, who traces his Republican identity in part to his hatred of the authoritarian Castro regime he fled more than a half-century ago.

As a refugee from a dictatorship, that attitude sounds all too familiar, said Cardenas, former chairman of the Florida Republican Party and of the American Conservative Union.

For John Yoo, the conservative legal scholar and former Justice Department official under President George W. Bush, Trump reminds me a lot of early Mussolini . . . very disturbingly similar.

The populist candidacy that upended the GOP order and has torn through many of the norms of American politics is now raising a concern among critics in both parties: that Trump is, in effect, running to be a strongman with dictatorial powers.

In addition to vowing to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate Hillary Clinton and put her in jail, Trump has also pledged to open up our libel laws so when reporters write purposely negative and horrible and false articles, we can sue them and win lots of money. He has also talked of establishing a religious test on immigrants and about setting up a national stop-and-frisk program, despite the fact that policing policies are considered to be in the purview of state and local governments.

Trump promises to rip up long-standing trade agreements. He has presented himself as a singular force to remake a broken political system, saying at the GOP national convention that, I alone can fix it. His latest campaign ad ends with the words: Donald Trump will protect you. He is the only one who can.

It would seem few aspects of daily life would be beyond the reach of the executive power that he envisions for himself. If I become president, were gonna be saying Merry Christmas at every store, Trump told Iowa evangelicals last year. You can leave Happy Holidays at the corner.

Trumps supporters and defenders say his words should not be taken literally, but that his muscular approach is precisely what the country needs to put itself back on track.

They also argue that his comments should be viewed in the context of the choice that voters have this fall, and that many Americans are justified in wondering whether President Barack Obamas Justice Department gave Clinton a pass in deciding not to prosecute her after investigating her use of a private email server while she was secretary of state.

To me, its a comparative question, said Charles Kesler, senior fellow at the Claremont Institute, a conservative think tank in California.

Which is more concerning, that a major partys presidential candidate has to undergo an FBI investigation before she can run for office? Kesler said. Or that the other partys candidate, reasonably suspicious of the energy and probity of the investigation, insists that a fresh investigation be launched by a new administration? I say the former.

Maine Republican Gov. Paul LePage this week defended Trump, telling an interviewer that he wonders whether we need a Donald Trump to show some authoritarian power in our country and bring back the rule of law.

The Trump campaign did not respond to requests for comment.

Trumps view of the job of the nations chief executive reflects his decades of experience in business, in which he was the ultimate decider in a world where executives are expected to be confident and decisive. The question is whether that sort of leadership translates to the presidency in a democratic system.

The real estate developer has cast himself as a lone ranger who leads a one-man army. And he has extolled the power of narcissism, citing a book called The Productive Narcissist by psychoanalyst Michael Maccoby.

Trump wrote in Think Like a Billionaire that Maccobys book makes a convincing argument that narcissism can be a useful quality if youre trying to start a business. A narcissist does not hear the naysayers. At the Trump Organization, I listen to people, but my vision is my vision.

That sentiment raises the question of whether, if Trump is elected president, he would listen to advisers or others who disagree with him.

Maccoby, who works from a Washington office, said he didnt know that Trump had cited his book until informed by a Post reporter. He said in an interview that although narcissists with an altruistic streak can be powerful leaders, he is concerned that Trump represents the most negative side of narcissism.

There is something that these people do that is very dangerous, he said. They make organizations into tribes. If you look at Trump, he really is not leading the party. He is creating a tribe of people who share a sense of both resentment and being better than other people. History shows this kind of personality, when they are given power and they are puffed up, can become totally abusive and dangerous.

Trumps campaign rhetoric, of course, might be only talk. He is the author of The Art of the Deal, and he has emphasized that he would use his skills to work with Congress.

But Trump has also repeatedly praised authoritarian leaders, famously saying, for instance, that Russias Vladimir Putin is a stronger leader than Obama.

Trump has also expressed admiration for the way dictators have dealt with their enemies.

Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein was a bad guy, really bad guy, Trump said earlier this year. But you know what he did well? He killed terrorists. He did that so good. Trump added that Saddam Hussein didnt read them the rights  they didnt talk, they were a terrorist, it was over.

Trump also said he admired the way North Korean leader Kim Jong Un killed his uncle to consolidate power. Hes like a maniac, OK? Trump said. And youve got to give him credit. He goes in, he takes over and hes the boss. Its incredible. He wiped out the uncle.

Constitutional scholars say they are alarmed that Trump does not seem to understand the separation of powers.

I have genuine concerns about his grasp of the most basic principles of American constitutional law, such as free expression, racial and religious equality, limited presidential power and more generally the rule of law, said Akhil Reed Amar, a professor of law at Yale University.

Amar said he is a registered Democrat who has been cited as much by judicial conservatives as liberals, and is the author of The Constitution Today: Timeless Lessons for the Issues of Our Era.

Some conservatives point to a glaring inconsistency in Trumps rhetoric. Many of his supporters on the right have traditionally stood for limiting the role of government and curtailing its influence.

Yoo, the former Bush administration official, said Trumps promise to appoint a special prosecutor to go after Clinton is a compounded stupidity, because it would erode power that should remain in the executive branch with the Justice Department.

If you are a Republican or a conservative, you think that special prosecutors are unconstitutional, Yoo said. He said that the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, who Trump cites as his model for future Supreme Court nominees, warned against conducting prosecutions outside the normal executive-branch channels and would be rolling in his grave.

Even former attorney general Michael Mukasey, who has been critical of Clintons email practices, said Trumps approach seemed un-American.

It would be like a banana republic, Mukasey said. Putting political opponents in jail for offences committed in a political setting, even if they are criminal offences  and they very well may be  is something that we dont do here.

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Russian Trade and Industry Minister, Denis Valentinovich Manutrov said that key defence deals are on the cards to re-enforce defence ties between Moscow and New Delhi.

By Devina Gupta: As India plays host to the BRICS summit this year, India-Russia dynamics are being watched very closely.

An old ally of India, Russia has ruffled feathers with its joint army exercise with Pakistan ahead of the BRICS. While a naval exercise has been conducted in the past, it was strictly a counter narcotic operation drill. A full fledged military exercise between Pakistan and Russia has set the alarm bells ringing in India.

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In an exclusive interview with India Today, Russian Trade and Industry Minister, Denis Valentinovich Manutrov revealed that Russia's key defence deals are on the card to re-enforce defence ties between Moscow and New Delhi.

Also read: Modi, Putin to sign $1 billion Kamov chopper deal during Goa BRICS summit

"We have very tight relations with India, specially with military co-operation and supplying military equipment. We have strong relations in industrial co-operation. We are looking forward to more facilities and new military industrial co-operation, not only in aviation, land forces but also in other spheres. Military industry is always like a locomotive for civil industries," said Manturov.

DEFENCE DEALS

One of the key defence deals between Moscow and New Delhi at BRICS is going to be the 200 Kamov Ka-226T helicopters. While KA-226T will replace ageing Cheetah and Chetak choppers, the Russian industry minister confirmed to India Today, how its components will be manufactured in India.

"We are looking forward for civil industry co-operation like helicopter KA-226T for which Mr Modi decided to establish the assembly manufacturing in India. We are finalising the details of the contract of this project," said Manturov to India Today.

Also read: Russia vetoes UN demand for end to bombing of Syria's Aleppo city

Talking about a joint co-operation in military deals, Russian minister emphasised on proposal to set up production unit of its regional aircraft Illyushin IL-114 in India.

"We are in discussion for the co-operation in the original Sukhoi jets to produce components by Indian companies, as well as, new project for Turboprop regional aircraft IL-114. We are willing to have co-operation in this project. So, we have a wide range of projects not only in military but civil areas as well," said Manturov ahead of the BRICS summit in Goa.

--- ENDS ---
When a tape surfaced of Donald Trump talking with Access Hollywood host Billy Bush about women in a vulgar manner, the Republican presidential candidate dismissed it as locker room talk. During Sunday nights second presidential debate, he denied he ever forced himself on women or grabbed them by the p----, as he was heard saying in the tape. However, since then, the following women have come forward saying Trump sexually assaulted them. Trump denies all allegations.

1. Jessica Leeds, now 74 years old, was travelling more than three decades ago in a first-class cabin on a flight to New York. In an interview with the New York Times, Leeds said Trump lifted the armrest 45 minutes after takeoff and began to touch her. He grabbed her breasts and tried to put his hand up her skirt. He was like an octopus. His hands were everywhere, she told the Times.

2. Rachel Crooks told the New York Times that in 2005 when she was 22 and working as a receptionist at the real-estate company Bayrock Group at Trump Tower she rode the elevator with Trump. She introduced herself and they shook hands, but Trump would not let go, she said. Instead, he began kissing her cheeks. Then, he kissed me directly on the mouth. He later asked for her phone number, suggesting that he wanted to give it to his modelling agency.

3. Mindy McGillivray, 36, told the Palm Beach Post that she was groped by Trump at his club Mar-a-Lago in Florida 13 years ago. She said she never reported it to authorities. But her companion that day, photographer Ken Davidoff, vividly remembers that McGillivray pulled him aside moments after the alleged incident and told him, Donald just grabbed my ass!

4. Natasha Stoynoff, a former Toronto Star reporter, writes in People magazine that Trump groped her in December, 2005 when she visited Mar-a-Lago to interview Trump and his wife, Melania, who was pregnant. While Melania was getting changed, Stoynoff says, Trump took her to another room. Within seconds, he was pushing me against the wall, and forcing his tongue down my throat, she says in an account of the incident for People. Later, he told her, You know were going to have an affair, dont you? She told a colleague after the trip and thought about reporting it, but she writes, I was ashamed and blamed myself for his transgression. I minimized it (Its not like he raped me); I doubted my recollection and my reaction. I was afraid that a famous, powerful, wealthy man could and would discredit and destroy me, especially if I got his coveted People feature killed.

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In this U.S. election, the fight against sexism comes of age  maybe: Timson

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5. In 2013, Cassandra Searles, then Miss Washington USA, competed in the Trump-owned Miss USA pageant. Yahoo News reports that in June, Searles posted on Facebook a photo of Trump with the Miss USA 2013 competitors. Do yall remember that one time we had to do our onstage introductions, but this one guy treated us like cattle and made us do it again because we didnt look him in the eyes? Do you also remember when he then proceeded to have us lined up so he could get a closer look at his property?  Oh I forgot to mention that guy will be in the running to become the next President of the United States. After some of her fellow beauty queens responded to the post, she added in a comment: He probably doesnt want me telling the story about that time he continually grabbed my ass and invited me to his hotel room.

7. Jill Harth, a makeup artist, alleged that when she and her partner worked with Trump on a beauty competition in the early 90s, he harassed her, eventually escalating to what she calls attempted rape. In July 2016, she told the Guardian, He pushed me up against the wall, and had his hands all over me and tried to get up my dress again  and I had to physically say: What are you doing? Stop it. Harth filed a sexual assault lawsuit in 1997, which she later dropped after Trump settled a breach of contract lawsuit with her.

8. Temple Taggart told the New York Times that when she was Miss Utah in 1997, He kissed me directly on the lips. I thought, Oh my God, gross. He was married to Marla Maples at the time. I think there were a few other girls that he kissed on the mouth. I was like Wow, thats inappropriate.

9. Ivana Trump, his ex-wife, said in a divorce deposition that he raped her, alleging in a deposition that he assaulted her when he was angry and in pain after undergoing a hairline procedure with a plastic surgeon she had recommended. In the 1993 book Lost Tycoon: The Many Lives of Donald J. Trump, Harry Hurt III described a violent episode. According to versions she repeats to some of her closest confidantes, he raped me,  Hurt wrote. Ivana later said: I referred to this as a rape, but I do not want my words to be interpreted in a literal or criminal sense.

10. Tasha Dixon, the 2001 Miss Arizona winner, told CBS Los Angeles that Trump walked in on her and other Miss USA pageant contestants while they were changing. He was the owner of the contest. Our first introduction to him was when we were at the dress rehearsal and half naked changing into our bikinis, Dixon told the news station. He just came strolling right in. There was no second to put a robe on or any sort of clothing or anything. Some girls were topless. Other girls were naked.

Her story is similar to one Trump himself talked about on the Howard Stern Show in 2005.

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TEHRAN, IRANIrans government has long tried to keep out American pop culture, but it seems happy to let Iranians watch the backstabbing, deceitful machinations of fictional U.S. politician Frank Underwood in House of Cards.

Irans hard-liners point to the show and say: This is what America is really like.

The sudden arrival of the Netflix series, which stars Kevin Spacey as a South Carolina congressman who connives his way to the presidency, illustrates the reach and popularity of Western television and film. It also offers a window into the thinking of Irans censors, who have approved the dark portrayal of power politics and even murder in the corridors of Washington  but not the bedroom scenes.

It shows how politics is dirty in the United States, said Mohammad Kazemi, a student of mechanics at Tehrans Azad University. They do anything to reach power.

Every night at 11 p.m., the state-run Namayesh channel airs the program dubbed into Farsi, calling it Khaneh Poushaly, or Straw House. It started playing the show in late September, beginning with its first season, which follows Underwood as the manipulative House majority whip.

The arrival of House of Cards has caused something of a stir in Iran, where American programming is extremely rare, and where authorities routinely denounce Western pop culture as decadent and un-Islamic. The government blocks many websites, but a ban on satellite dishes is rarely enforced. Many Iranians, particularly the young, watch foreign shows on the internet or purchase pirated DVDs of movies and TV series, which are widely available at street markets.

Farnaz Rahmani, a 17-year-old high school student, said she thinks state TV is showing House of Cards to prove that U.S. politicians are deceitful.

For me it is a chance to fill my spare time with a good TV series. Maybe it is also a chance for the TV to attract more people to Iranian channels, she said.

Iranian media have also noted its arrival, with the conservative website Tabnak praising Spaceys brilliant portrayal of Underwood, who conspires with his wife to amass power in Washington through blackmail and betrayal. On social media, users have shared a clip of Spacey and co-star Robin Wright dubbed over in Farsi, discussing how to navigate the halls of power.

The drama offers a jaundiced view of American politics that plays well in a country long suspicious of U.S. intentions. Iranians still blame America for the CIA-engineered coup in 1953 that installed the shah, and fury at the United States boiled over during the 1979 Islamic Revolution, leading to the seizure of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran.

Nearly 40 years on, Iranian hard-liners still portray the United States as the Great Satan, hatching conspiracies involving everyone from Israels Mossad spy agency to the Islamic State group  in other words, as the Frank Underwood of the Middle East.

House of Cards has been able to skilfully show the deception in the complicated political sphere of liberal American civilization, as well as treason, power-hungriness, promiscuities and crimes behind those ruling in the country, the hard-line website Mashregh wrote.

The show was approved by the massive Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting corporation, whose chief is directly appointed by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Iranian television previously broadcast the British series that inspired the show.

Neither Namayesh nor the IRIB have commented publicly on the decision to air House of Cards, and there are no figures for viewership. Calls to the IRIB were not immediately returned this week.

Its also unclear what deal, if any, Iran struck with the shows producers. Iran and the U.S. have no official agreements on copyright protection, and Netflix is not available in Iran.

Netflix, based in Los Gatos, California, said it did not have a global license to sell House of Cards, without commenting on its new-found home on Iranian state television. A public relations firm for Media Rights Capital, the production house behind the show, did not respond to requests for comment.

The IRIB is happy to show Iranian viewers the seductions of power, but not the more literal variety.

The show has been edited to remove the steamier scenes between Underwood and young reporter Zoe Barnes, played by Kate Mara, in line with Islamic sensibilities.

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BANKI, NIGERIAThey survived Boko Haram. Now many of them are on the brink of starvation.

Across the northeastern corner of this country, more than 3 million people displaced and isolated by the militants are facing one of the worlds biggest humanitarian disasters. Every day, more children are dying because there isnt enough food. Curable illnesses are killing others. Even polio has returned.

About a million and a half of the victims have fled the Islamist extremists and are living in makeshift camps, bombed-out buildings and host communities, receiving minimal supplies from international organizations. An additional 2 million people, according to the United Nations, are still inaccessible because of the Boko Haram fighters, who control their villages or patrol the surrounding areas.

We will see, I think, a famine unlike any we have ever seen anywhere, unless immediate assistance is provided, said Toby Lanzer, the top UN official focused on humanitarian aid for the region.

The staggering hunger crisis created by the insurgents has been largely hidden from view, partly because it has been extremely dangerous for aid groups and journalists to visit the area. But institutional failures have exacerbated the situation: For over a year, the UN and humanitarian groups dramatically underestimated the size of the disaster, and the Nigerian government refused to acknowledge the huge number of people going hungry in Africas second-richest nation. Thousands of people have already died because of the inaction, aid experts say.

Its just a complete failure of the system, said Natalie Roberts, an emergency program manager with Doctors Without Borders, an international aid group.

It took over a year for UN humanitarian teams to arrive in cities that were liberated from the rebels by the Nigerian military in a major offensive starting in early 2015. Until recently, the UN had only tiny staffs working in the northeast. The world body had deferred to Nigerias woefully unprepared government agencies to provide assistance, not realizing, UN officials said, the scale of the disaster.

Even now, the UN admits that it is distributing food to only a fraction of those who need it. It says its mission in Borno state, the focus of the crisis, is dramatically underfunded. UNICEF warned recently that as many as 75,000 children will die in faminelike conditions in Borno and two adjacent states over the next year unless more assistance arrives.

The rising toll of the crisis is evident in such places as Banki, a city of about 15,000 near the Cameroonian border that was controlled by Boko Haram until a year ago. On a recent morning, four malnourished children writhed in beds in a clinic run by Doctors Without Borders.

One of them, Fana Ali, was 6 months old but weighed only 12 pounds, her skeletal frame convulsing with each breath. She wore a tiny, bright yellow dress and she had big brown eyes. A doctor fed her sugar water through a syringe. She locked her lips around it.

Less than an hour after she arrived at the clinic, health workers decided Fana needed to be evacuated to a hospital with electricity and more medicine. Xavier Henry, the local co-ordinator for Doctors Without Borders, called the Cameroonian military for an escort. This is still a war zone, and access to roads is largely dictated by the armed forces in the region.

But the request was rejected without explanation. Thirty minutes later, Fana died. She had malaria and severe acute malnutrition.

The babys aunt carried the body back to their two-room home. Fanas mother, Adama Adam, wept, the tears streaking onto the blue head scarf wrapped under her chin. She was only 15, her skinny arms mostly hidden under flowing clothes.

We never have enough food, said Jeme Bukar, Adams cousin, who lives in the same house.

Male relatives washed Fanas tiny body and placed it in a wheelbarrow. Then they picked up shovels and axes, walking toward the packed cemetery just outside the town.

I tried to call for the escort, said Henry, shaking his head, his voice cracking.

His last posting was in Yemen, where yet another hunger crisis was unfolding. But the desperation and the scale of the problem in Nigeria have levelled him.

Ive never seen anything this bad, he said.

Aid workers belatedly realize severity of crisis

In 2014, after years of guerrilla attacks, Boko Haram fighters swept across Borno, forcibly recruiting young men to fight and detaining young women in what effectively became rape camps. The insurgents killed thousands of civilians. The rebels became notorious worldwide in 2014 for kidnapping nearly 300 schoolgirls, an atrocity that prompted the Bring Back Our Girls campaign. Less well-known was the insurgents destruction of the agricultural output of Borno, a Belgium-size state that was once a breadbasket for the region.

The Nigerian military, working with the armies of neighbouring countries, launched an offensive in 2015 that reclaimed major cities across Borno. But Boko Haram fighters still moved freely throughout much of the vast countryside. Often, humanitarian workers say, it was too dangerous to send food to those areas, and it wasnt even possible to learn the level of need in isolated cities. Only the military moved around much of the state.

Even as malnutrition rates soared, army commanders in this oil-rich country were reluctant to call for international assistance. They finally did so in June. Now aid trucks can move along some roads.

A Nigerian Defense Ministry spokesman, Brig. Gen. Rabe Abubakar, defended the performance, saying that security was the first priority of the armed forces.

We had to get that right before we started providing for these people. Nobody predicted this kind of situation would exist, he said.

But aid workers acknowledge that they only belatedly realized that the crisis had outstripped the governments ability to respond.

Progress was far too slow in jointly recognizing the enormity of the situation, said Simon Taylor, the deputy head of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Nigeria.

Initially there was a sense that it could be handled by the state authorities, said another UN official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity for diplomatic reasons. It was only in April when we realized the magnitude, and the fact the government couldnt handle this alone.

When aid groups did start to get access to some cities in Borno this past summer, they were shocked by what they found. People were eating grass and locusts. The rates of severe acute malnutrition  a life-threatening lack of food  were among the highest in the world. About half of all children were malnourished. In August, two children were found paralyzed by polio after eradication campaigns were cut back because of insecurity. They were the first recorded polio cases in Africa in almost two years.

Yet even now, after the crisis has been acknowledged, many people in accessible areas where food aid is meant to be arriving are going hungry. In some cases, humanitarian groups say they are still trying to determine where the needs are.

Every time I think I know how bad it is, we get more data and its worse, said Arjan de Wagt, the head of nutrition at UNICEF in Nigeria.

In parts of Maiduguri, the relatively safe capital of Borno, where more than a million people fled and where aid groups have been working for two years, many are still dying of malnutrition. There is not enough food being distributed in enough places to sustain them. The mortality rate in some camps and informal settlements is five times what is considered an emergency, according to Doctors Without Borders.

Each time we hear of these [gaps in aid] we try and verify and, if we can, begin a distribution, said Mutinta Chimuka, the head of field operations for the World Food Program in northeastern Nigeria.

The government still does not publicly acknowledge how dangerous the state remains. Last month, President Muhammadu Buhari said in a speech that residents in Borno and neighbouring Yobe and Adamawa states lived in relative safety. Commuters can travel between cities, towns and villages without fear, he said.

But in July, a UN convoy was attacked by Boko Haram gunmen outside the city of Bama, which is east of Maiduguri. The vehicles were armoured and no one was injured.

In August, the UN sent two helicopters to Maiduguri, to fly humanitarian workers to reclaimed cities across Borno. Late last month, a Washington Post reporter and photographer travelled with aid workers to three newly accessible cities across the state.

But a huge portion of the state is still off-limits, too dangerous for the helicopters to land.

You look out the window and you wonder: How bad are things down there? We just dont know, said Carmen Yip, an emergency health co-ordinator with the International Rescue Committee.

Barely surviving

The city of Gwoza, the former headquarters of Boko Haram, is still scarred by the years insurgents ran it. Hundreds of buildings are charred, missing roofs and crumbling from rocket-inflicted damage.

Now, the city is controlled by Nigerian forces. Days after they seized the town in March 2015, Gen. Chris Olukolade, a military spokesman, visited from the capital with a group of journalists, telling residents, Everything you have gone through is very bad, but this is the end.

But more than a year later, many of those living here are barely surviving.

Ramatu Musa, 22, and her extended family live in a bombed-out house near the centre of the city. They fled from nearby Hambada village over a year ago, after Boko Haram fighters overran it.

They have enough food to eat only one meal a day, and Musa has struggled to feed her baby daughter.

The breast isnt bringing milk, she said.

In many cases across Borno, mothers are eating so little that they are unable to breastfeed  a major cause of child malnutrition. At a UNICEF clinic in Gwoza, one doctor reported seeing as many as 70 malnourished children a day.

We need more food, oxygen, a blood bank, IVs, an ultrasound, said Ernest Okoli, a doctor, standing outside his clinic in a former courthouse, where patients were being treated on the floor. Should I go on?

Many of the hungry are hidden away in war-ravaged neighbourhoods and havent been included in any rough population count. The UN estimates that there are about 36,000 displaced people in Gwoza. But the top military commander there put the figure at 80,000.

More are coming every day.

When they arrive here, escapees tell of villages under Boko Haram control, some of them taken recently.

They destroyed everything, said Alima Auza, 30, who escaped as her village of Bura Manga was attacked by insurgents last month.

The Nigerian military has formulated its own strategy to end the war: starve the enemy. It is now blocking all food, including from regional markets, from entering parts of Borno where Boko Haram might be lurking.

That has contributed to the possibility that hundreds of thousands of civilians held or isolated by insurgents could starve alongside fighters.

We know when we get there, we are going to see some scenes that will disturb us greatly, Taylor said.

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NEW YORKStumping for Donald Trump in Ocala, Fla., on Wednesday, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani told a crowd that Hillary Clinton had falsely claimed to have been in New York on Sept. 11, 2001  an incorrect claim he took back a few hours later.

I made a mistake. Im wrong and I apologize, Giuliani told The Associated Press.

In Florida, addressing what he portrayed as Clintons past remarks on the subject, Giuliani said: Dont tell me, if you said that, that you remember Sept. 11, 2001. I remember Sept. 11, 2001. Yes, yes, you helped to get benefits for the people that were injured that day. But I heard her say one day she was there that day. I was there that day. I dont remember seeing Hillary Clinton there.

In fact, she wasnt in New York, but she never claimed to be, either.

On many occasions, Clinton has described being in Washington, D.C., on Sept. 11 when hijacked jets struck the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. She was a member of the Senate at the time, and Congress was in session.

The next day, commercial flights remained grounded but Clinton travelled to New York City aboard a government plane. There, she circled the smouldering World Trade Center in a helicopter, then toured ground zero with Giuliani and New Yorks Republican governor, George Pataki.

Photos of that tour show Clinton standing shoulder to shoulder with Giuliani.

Asked about his comments, Giuliani said he thought he had heard Clinton say during the last presidential debate that she was in New York on 9/11. But after being contacted by a reporter, he reviewed a transcript and found out he was wrong.

Told that he was being criticized online by people posting photographs of him with Clinton at ground zero, Giuliani was contrite.

I probably deserve it, he said.

After returning to Washington, Clinton worked with other lawmakers to secure billions of dollars in federal aid for New York to assist in the citys recovery.

In his speech in Ocala, Giuliani questioned Clintons commitment to people killed or injured in the attacks.

Dont tell me you subscribe to the notion that all of us who lived through Sept. 11 and were lucky to be alive and have lost so many friends, he said. I lost so many friends on Sept. 11. I think about it every day. Dont tell me you belong to our very, very tight group of Never Forget!

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GLASGOW, SCOTLANDFirst Minister Nicola Sturgeon said shell publish a draft Scottish Independence Referendum Bill next week, holding out the threat of a new bid to break up the U.K. if she feels her nations interests arent being protected in Brexit negotiations.

I am determined that Scotland will have the ability to reconsider the question of independence  and to do so before the U.K. leaves the EU  if that is necessary to protect our countrys interests, Sturgeon said, to cheers from delegates at her Scottish National Partys annual conference in Glasgow on Thursday.

The publication of the bill doesnt mean an imminent vote. Prime Minister Theresa Mays spokeswoman immediately fired back, saying that the question of independence had been settled in 2014, when Scots voted by 55 percent to 45 percent to stay in the U.K. But Sturgeons words offered a hint that if shes dissatisfied with the tone of Britains departure negotiations with the European Union, a new vote could be held before those talks are completed.

Sturgeon acknowledged that shes under constant pressure from her own side to call a second referendum, and Thursdays announcement will go some way to easing that. It was also an attempt to put May under pressure to deliver a Brexit that will keep close ties to the EU, including membership of its single market. But Sturgeons success will depend on the extent to which the government in London judges her threat to be credible.

The SNP wont pursue another independence referendum unless it judges it can win. A survey by Kantar TNS published last month found 53 per cent of people were opposed to independence and 47 per cent in favor after excluding respondents who were undecided.

The recent rhetoric on Brexit also has done little to sway voters, according to a poll for the Glasgow-based Herald newspaper published Thursday. It found people evenly split on whether to hold another referendum at all. The SNP highlighted that the new figures showed that if the U.K. heads for a hard Brexit, surrendering single-market membership, 55 per cent of respondents agree there should be another vote on breaking from the rest of Britain.

Ruth Davidson, leader of the Scottish branch of Mays Conservative Party, was dismissive. She really has given up any pretense of being a first minister for all of Scotland, in order to play to SNP gallery, she said on Twitter. Yet more division.

Davidson pointed out that she had just left a meeting with Brexit Secretary David Davis in which they discussed Scotlands situation once the U.K. has left the EU.

Sturgeon warned that Mays government is on course to take Britain out of the single market to ensure controls on immigration, something she said the SNP would resist. Scotland voted in June to stay in the EU by 62 per cent to 38 per cent, even as England and Wales backed Brexit.

The prime minister may have a mandate to take England and Wales out of the EU, but she has no mandate whatsoever to remove any part of the U.K. from the single market, Sturgeon said. And if the majority in the House of Commons stand up for what they know to be right, she will not get away with doing it.

Sturgeon said she would push for substantial additional powers as part of the Brexit negotiations for the Scottish Parliament, which is currently responsible for transport, policing, health, education and, increasingly, taxation. The first minister said she wants powers to strike international deals and greater powers over immigration.

She mocked the Tories as insular and obsessed with borders and blue passports at the expense of economic strength and stability.

And she had a warning for the prime minister: If you think for one single second that Im not serious about doing what it takes to protect Scotlands interests, then think again.

RELATED:

May heads north to reassure Scots

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BANGKOKKing Bhumibol Adulyadej, revered in Thailand as a demigod, a humble father figure and an anchor of stability through decades of upheaval at home and abroad, died Thursday. He was 88 and had been the worlds longest reigning monarch.

The Royal Palace said Bhumibol died in a peaceful state at Siriraj Hospital in Bangkok, where he had been treated for various health problems for most of the past decade.

During a reign that spanned 70 years, Bhumibol became much more than Thailands constitutional monarch. He was the nations one constant as governments rose and fell, a gentle leader who used his influence to unify the nation and rally troops through the Cold War as Thailands neighbours fell under communist control. In his heyday, the frail-looking, soft-spoken man in spectacles wielded so much power and respect he was able to squelch coups and rebellions with a gesture or a few well-chosen words.

Bhumibol was viewed by many in the majority Buddhist nation as a bodhisattva, or holy being who delays entering nirvana to aid the human race. But while junta leaders, prime ministers and courtiers approached him only on their knees, Bhumibol was remarkably down-to-earth. He hiked into impoverished villages and remote rice paddies to assess the state of his country. He played a half-dozen musical instruments and jammed with American jazz greats including Benny Goodman.

Bhumibol was the worlds richest monarch and one of the planets wealthiest people: Forbes magazine estimated his fortune at more than $30 billion in 2011.

In the last decade, Bhumibol withdrew from public life due to illness and was often ensconced at Siriraj Hospital. His wife, Queen Sirikit, has also long been ailing and has been seen even more rarely.

Hundreds of weeping mourners stood outside the hospital Thursday, chanting prayers and looking up at the building.

Since army-staged coups in 2006 and 2014, political rivals had increasingly invoked the need to protect the palace as a pretext to gain or hold power, and some politicians have been sidelined by opponents who accused them of disrespecting the king, a grave crime in this Southeast Asian country. Although Bhumibol once said he is not above criticism, Thailands lese majeste law  the worlds harshest  has been routinely employed in recent years, with anyone charged with defaming the palace facing 15 years in jail.

Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha said Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn will become the new monarch, in accordance with the constitution. He said the government will notify the National Legislative Assembly, or parliament, of the succession.

Prayuth told reporters he had an audience with the prince, hours after Bhumibols death, and Vajiralongkorn had asked for a delay in proclaiming him king so he could take some time to mourn, together with the people of Thailand.

With the kings passing, the worlds longest reigning monarch is Queen Elizabeth II, who ascended to the British throne in 1952.

Bhumibol Adulyadej was born Dec. 5, 1927, in Cambridge, Mass., while his father, Prince Mahidol of Songkhla, was studying medicine at Harvard University.

Thailand has been a constitutional monarchy since 1932, with the prime minister and parliament holding political power, and the king serving as head of state and placed in a position of revered worship.

Bhumibol ascended to the throne in 1946, when his brother, 20-year-old King Ananda Mahidol, was found dead of a gunshot wound to the head in a palace bedroom under circumstances that remain mysterious.

After the shooting, Bhumibol returned to school in Switzerland. In 1948, he was seriously injured in a road accident that left him blind in his right eye; Sirikit Kitiyakara, the daughter of a Thai aristocrat and diplomat, helped nurse him back to health. Bhumibol and Sirikit wed in 1950, a week before the coronation.

The name Bhumibol means Strength of the Land, and the bounty of Thailands soil and waters was the kings passion. In 1952, he set out to breed a better freshwater fish, a staple of the Thai peasantry, in the ponds of his Chitralada Palace in Bangkok.

Over his reign, as Thailand hurtled from a traditional agrarian society of 18 million people to a modern, industrial country of 70 million, Bhumibol spearheaded more than 4,300 development projects. He travelled his nation to join village elders on a patch of grass to discuss the harvest or plot an irrigation ditch.

They say that a kingdom is like a pyramid: the king on top and the people below, he once told The Associated Press. But in this country its upside down. Thats why I sometimes have a pain around here. He pointed to his neck and shoulders.

Usually in the background, the king stepped forward at crucial moments. During a pro-democracy uprising in 1973, he ordered the gates of the Grand Palace to be opened to students fleeing the gunfire of troops loyal to a dictatorial triumvirate. The message was clear, and the trio went into exile. Amid another bloody confrontation in 1992 between the military and pro-democracy protesters, the king called in the two key protagonists, who prostrated themselves before him on nationwide TV and promised peace. The crisis ended immediately.

After mass protests against Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra began in 2006, Bhumibol urged the top courts to resolve the political crisis. A bloodless military coup followed.

By 2011, the kings health had worsened and Thaksins sister Yingluck Shinawatra had become prime minister through elections. Mass protests helped fuel an unstable climate that triggered another army coup in 2014.

Through it all, Bhumibol remained adored and revered. His occasional public outings drew tens of thousands of people trying to catch a glimpse, with most dressed in the royal colour yellow.

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TEHRAN, IRANU.S.-launched Tomahawk cruise missiles destroyed three coastal radar sites in Houthi-controlled territory on Yemens Red Sea Coast early Thursday, officials said, a retaliatory action that followed two incidents this week in which missiles were fired at U.S. Navy ships.

The strikes marked the first shots fired by the U.S. in anger against the Houthis in Yemens long-running civil war. The U.S. previously only provided logistical support and refuelling to the Saudi-led coalition battling Yemens Shiite rebels known as Houthis and their allies, including supporters of Yemens former president, Ali Abdullah Saleh.

While the U.S. military has been focused on al-Qaida in Yemen, the Houthis had not been a primary target of American forces until the missile launches from Houthi-controlled territory this week.

No information on casualties from the U.S. missiles was provided by American officials. The three radar sites were in remote areas, where there was little risk of civilian casualties or collateral damage, said a military official who was not authorized to be named and spoke on condition of anonymity.

The destroyer USS Nitze launched the cruise missiles, the official said.

President Barack Obama authorized the strikes at the recommendation of Defence Secretary Ash Carter and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Joseph Dunford, Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook said in a statement. U.S. officials had said earlier that the U.S. was weighing what military response to take.

These limited self-defence strikes were conducted to protect our personnel, our ships and our freedom of navigation in this important maritime passageway, Cook said following the U.S. action. The United States will respond to any further threat to our ships and commercial traffic, as appropriate, and will continue to maintain our freedom of navigation in the Red Sea, the Bab al-Mandeb and elsewhere around the world.

In a sign of the regional nature of the Yemen conflict, the Houthis ally Iran announced Thursday that it was deploying two warships into the Bab el-Mandeb strait and the Gulf of Aden.

The semi-official Tasnim news agency said the deployment of the Alvand and the Bushehr was part of a regular anti-piracy patrol off Yemen and East Africa. Still, its announcement hours after the American strike appeared aimed at sending a signal to the United States.

Iran says it supports the Houthis, though it denies arming the rebels. The U.S. Navy says it has intercepted shipments of weapons from Iran bound for Yemen.

Meanwhile, Yemens state news agency Saba  under Houthis control  quoted an unnamed military official as saying that U.S. accusations that a U.S. destroyer had come under attack from areas under control of Houthis were false. He said, all these claims are totally untrue and that the popular committees (Houthi militias) have nothing to do with such action.

He added, such claims are part of the general context of creating false justifications to escalate assaults and cover up the continuous crimes committed by the aggression against the Yemeni people, along with the blockade imposed on it, and after the increasing condemnations to such barbaric and hideous crimes against Yemenis.

Loai al-Shami, a Houthi spokesman, had earlier declined to comment on the U.S. strike.

Sharaf loqman, spokesman for the Yemeni army, called it an American farce to find a reason to interfere in Yemen directly after failure of the Saudis.

He said that the army never targets ships outside the territorial waters and only those that enter the Yemeni waters come under attack.

Early Wednesday, two missiles were fired at the USS Mason, an Arleigh Burke class of guided missile destroyer that is conducting routine operations in the region with the USS Ponce, an amphibious warship. Neither missile got near the ship, said a U.S. military official.

The missiles were fired from the Yemen coast, near the location used Sunday when two missiles were launched at the same two ships, said the official, who was not authorized to be named and spoke on condition of anonymity.

A second official said it wasnt clear whether the ships countermeasures caused the missiles to hit the water on Wednesday or if they would have landed there anyway. The official also spoke on condition of anonymity.

These unjustified attacks are serious, but they will not deter us from our mission, the chief of naval operations, Adm. John Richardson, said in a statement Wednesday. The team in USS Mason demonstrated initiative and toughness as they defended themselves and others against these unfounded attacks over the weekend and again today. All Americans should be proud of them.

Col. Walid Zeyad, a top naval official in Hodeida, told the AP that radars were in three different sites: Ras Eissa and Khoukha (both in Hodeida) and al-Makha port, of the western province of Taiz. He said that they were hit early morning around 7 a.m.

The area is a hub of weapons smuggling. The general impression in Yemen was that since the Saudi imposition of a blockade, and the air campaign, all radars were destroyed. When asked Zeyad if these radars are new, he declined to comment.

The missiles fired on Sunday were variants of the so-called Silkworm missile, and both also fell harmlessly into the water. The Silkworm is a type of coastal defence cruise missile that Iran has been known to use.

Sunday was the first time that U.S. ships were targeted by a missile launch from Yemen. .

The U.S. has been considering withdrawing its support for the Saudi-led coalition fighting the Houthis following Saturdays airstrike on a funeral and other troubling incidents of civilian casualties as a result of the Saudi bombing campaign.

The strike on the funeral in the capital, Sanaa, killed some 140 people and wounded more than 600. That bombing, among the deadliest of the war, likely sparked the rebels to launch more ballistic missiles in Saudi Arabia and target the U.S. warships in the Red Sea.

Human rights groups have expressed outrage over the deaths and accused the U.S. of complicity, leading the White House to say it was conducting a review to ensure U.S. co-operation with long-time partner Saudi Arabia is in line with U.S. principles, values and interests.

An international investigation is needed into the atrocity, said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director for Human Rights Watchgroup. She said the attack on the funeral joins a long list of abuses by the coalition.

The U.S. missile launch also could affect relations with Iran, which says it backs the Yemeni rebels but denies arming them. Thats contradicted by the U.S. Navy, which says it has intercepted several shipping boats since the war began carrying Iranian weaponry suspected to be on the way to Yemen.

There was no immediate reaction to the U.S. launch Thursday morning in Iran, which was marking the Shiite commemoration of Ashoura. Houthi-linked media also did not report the strike.

The missile fire by the Houthi raises questions about maritime safety in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, which serves as a gateway for oil tankers headed to Europe through the Suez Canal. The U.S. moved more naval ships near the strait after an Emirati-leased Swift boat came under rocket fire near the same area and sustained serious damage. The United Arab Emirates described the vessel as carrying humanitarian aid and having a crew of civilians, while the Houthis called the boat a warship.

Analysts with the Washington Institute for Near East Policy called the Houthi missile fire a surprisingly aggressive move, but stressed there were limits to Irans control of the rebels.

Houthi relations with the Islamic Republic resemble the Iran-Hamas relationship more than the Iran-Hezbollah relationship  that is, the Houthis are autonomous partners who usually act in accordance with their own interests, though often with smuggled Iranian arms and other indirect help, the analysts wrote in a report released early Thursday.

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During separate incidents last year, Toronto Police Sgt. Christopher Heard allegedly sexually assaulted two women after offering to drive them home. Heard, a veteran officer, is facing two counts of sexual assault after the provincial Special Investigations Unit looked into complaints against him  the allegations have not been proven in court and Heard was suspended with pay while his case is before the courts.

Public fear that police can abuse their power explains the emerging popularity of police cameras, especially body worn cameras, as a way of achieving greater police accountability.

Not so fast. Toronto police are also investigating Heard for misconduct: he is accused of not turning on the camera in his police cruiser when he picked up one of the women, who claims he assaulted her inside the car. This is the problem with police cameras  they seek an indirect solution to the problem of police brutality. Our police now want to spend hundreds of millions of tax dollars on cameras they alone will control  this is an insult to accountability.

The Police Services Act requires officers to turn on their in-car cameras in many situations, including whenever there is a public benefit in doing so, such as instances when a member of the public enters a police car.

Heard is accused by Toronto police of not only failing to turn the camera on, but of failing to notify his police operator of his whereabouts during the interaction, and for making notes about his Sept. 24, 2015 interaction with the 27-year-old woman only after she formally complained. These allegations have not been proven at the ongoing police tribunal.

Its obvious why police officers would be reluctant to document situations that could result in their own discipline or criminal prosecution. But, given our collective denial about the depth of police brutality, this means we are allowing the cops the choice to police themselves. We seem to believe police abuse their power through some accident, or in a few exceptional cases, and not because we give them the unchecked power to do so.

The police services board is currently considering a proposal to equip all of Torontos 3,200 front line officers with body cameras. The cameras alone will cost $85 million, but we would pay much more for the significant police labour needed to manage all the video footage. A police report on the cameras says the cost is worth it, and promises cameras will ensure the unbiased, independent account of police/community interactions.

Perhaps they will, in some cases. In many other cases the video evidence, which is only one part of any investigative process, will prove inconclusive. More importantly, some police will simply decide not to turn on their cameras at all. By assuming this kind of discretion makes sense, the police are demonstrating their tolerance for inevitable abuses, from unnecessary searches to sexual assault to homicide.

It would probably be too expensive to monitor all our police 24/7, but the fact such surveillance is necessary is the sad point. We cant trust our police, and we shouldnt spend a fortune monitoring them instead of acknowledging why they need to be watched in the first place.

Cameras can be part of the effort for police accountability, but the money and time needed to employ them would be far better spent in directly addressing the violence the Toronto police continue to perpetrate against the public. Body cameras are the new tasers, the new technological wonder that allows us to avoid calling out police brutality. We change the equipment, but the violent behaviour continues.

The most remarkable thing about Heards alleged sexual assault is that the SIU determined his behaviour to be worthy of charges. In about 97 per cent of SIU investigations across Ontario, no police officer is charged. The SIU itself is made up almost entirely of former police officers.

If Torontos police board wants to spend hundreds of millions of dollars in the name of police accountability, body cameras are of low priority. The best bang for our accountability buck is to overhaul our failed oversight bodies, which are currently numb to the reality of systemic police brutality.

Desmond Cole is a Toronto-based journalist. His column appears every second Thursday.

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Its amazing what shining a spotlight on a problem can achieve.

In December 2014 Canadas prison service flatly rejected recommendations from a coroners jury into the death of Ashley Smith that it curb its use of solitary confinement, saying it would hobble the safe management of the system.

But under constant scrutiny from human rights organizations, an ombudsman and even a judge, thats exactly what Correctional Service Canada (CSC) has done.

First, over the past two years it cut in half the use of indefinite solitary confinement. In the 2015-16 fiscal year, 247 federal prisoners spent more than 120 days in segregation, down from 505 in 2013-14.

Second, according to new information released by the CSC, it halved the numbers held in solitary confinement on a daily basis. On August 14, 2016, there were 361 offenders held in segregation, down from 775 on April 13, 2014.

And, contrary to its own predictions, CSC did not lose control of its prisons, demonstrating that the critics were right: the prison service can curb the excessive use of solitary confinement.

Still, as federal prisons ombudsman Howard Sapers warned the Star, that could change if the current spotlight on solitary confinement dims. Thats why the federal, provincial and territorial governments should legislate changes to ensure that segregation is, indeed, a limited, last resort at prisons across the country and that no one like Ashley Smith is placed in solitary again.

Appallingly, Smith choked herself to death in 2007 at the age of 19 as guards watched. In the final year of her life, she had been on segregation status for more than 300 days and was forcibly restrained and injected with drugs. She should have been in psychiatric care.

The prison service admits that recent reductions came about partly by looking more closely at alternatives to solitary confinement, including sending some prisoners to mental health services and ensuring inmates admitted to segregation are released at the earliest and safest time.

Still, prisoners continue to be forced unjustifiably into segregation cells. Just last August an Alberta judge freed three inmates from solitary confinement at a federal prison, ruling that the decision to send them there was not reasonable.

Whats clear is that every day that goes by without government action is another day that prisoners across the country are thrown into segregation cells when other alternatives might be just as safe  and more humane  for them and their fellow inmates.

And for that there is hope. In Ontario, then-correctional services minister Yasir Naqvi announced a review of the provinces policies on segregation for inmates back in March 2015. Its due out shortly. And in Ottawa, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau directed Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould last November to implement recommendations stemming from the death of Smith. Trudeau added that solitary should not be used to control mentally ill inmates.

Now its time for governments to stop pondering and start acting. There is only so much that public pressure, alone, can achieve.

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Editors' pick: Originally published Oct. 13.

A recent study by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) forecasts that the 2016 holiday shopping season will be the best that retailers have seen in many years. Similarly, retail trade groups such as the National Retail Federation (NRF) remain positive about the potential of this year's consumer holiday spending.

The NRF predicts that holiday sales for 2016 are expected to reach $655.8 billion, a 3.6% increase over last year, which far outpaces the 7-year average of 3.4% since the economy started to recover from the recession in 2009. An all-time high amount is also expected to be seen in this year's Halloween spending, which is estimated at $8.4 billion, according to NRF's annual survey conducted by Prosper Insights.

According to PWC, a number of factors are at play in the increased expected holiday spending: including the rise of the millennial shopper, increased mobile orders and a generally more healthy economy.

So with that expected bump in holiday sales, retailers of all shapes and sizes are gearing up and hiring large amounts of seasonal holiday workers.

Amazon.com (AMZN) became the latest to do so, announcing Thursday that it plans to hire 20% more seasonal workers for its U.S. warehouses this holiday season as some competitors have kept hiring steady. Macy's (M) , Target (TGT) , CostcoWholesale (COST) and WalMart (WMT) will also bring on swaths of seasonal workers.

"Consumers have seen steady job and income gains throughout the year, resulting in continued confidence and the greater use of credit, which bodes well for more spending throughout the holiday season," said Jack Kleinhenz, NRF Chief Economist.

"Shoppers told us they plan to spend 10% more this holiday season; an average of $1,121 each. And consumers with annual household incomes less than $50,000 will increase their percentage spending levels even more than consumers overall," wrote PwC in a report released Oct. 4. "Hipsters-upwardly mobile, college-educated millennials in enclaves such as Austin, Brooklyn, Oakland, and Portland-will spend $500 more this season than consumers overall."

The kicker, "hipsters" will spend about 33% of their budget on themselves, according to PwC.

Big retailers eager to lock in temporary holiday workers have started recruitment as early as October. According to NRF, retailers are expected to hire between 640,000 and 690,000 seasonal workers this holiday season, in line with last year's 675,300 new holiday positions.

Macy's announced their plan to hire 83,000 employees back in September, an increase of 3,000 jobs compared to last year. Target is looking to hire an additional 70,000 seasonal team members across the country and 7,500 team members for their distribution and fulfillment facilities. Toys 'R' Us, while refusing to disclose a national figure, said it will hire tens of thousands of seasonal team members to staff their stores and distribution centers across the country.

While companies are looking to hire, its not always easy to find employees to work the holiday season especially if there is competition for these employees. Some, including Toys 'R' Us and Yankee Candle, are offering seasonal employees perks such as higher pay, bigger merchandise discounts, more flexible hours and access to online schedule systems. Some have even broadened the pool to include people with criminal backgrounds.

"People that are searching for jobs during the holiday season should be aware that so many of these jobs are actually in the back room. Order fulfillment, processing, transportation, it's not only customer service but also people that are good with operation and very organized," said Andrew Challenger, vice president at Challenger, Gray & Christmas, a Chicago-based outplacement consulting company.

Finding the right staff to handle the significant volume and customer interaction during the holiday shopping season is especially important.

"One piece of advice I can give to every retailer out there is to communicate as much as you can across the departments so that everyone understand what is going on, so that everyone is well prepared to serve the customer," said Kevon Hills, vice president of research at StellaService, a customer service analytics company.

While the general positive outlook for the all-important holiday shopping season signals a return of consumer confidence in the American economy, brick-and-mortar retailers face challenges and competitions posed by their e-commerce counterparts, in particular, the one-stop online shop for everything from TV sets to baby diapers - Amazon.com. For customers who value convenience, price, speed and variety at their fingertips, other fast-growing e-commerce sites such as Wal-Mart's Jet.com also present a challenge to the rosy expectations of retail merchants.

Still, there are risks that may present themselves between now and the holiday season.

"Increased geopolitical uncertainty, the presidential election outcome and unseasonably warm weather are the main issues at play with the greatest potential to shake consumer confidence and impact shopping patterns," Kleinhenz, the NRF Chief Economist, said.

Costco is a holding in Jim Cramer'sAction Alerts PLUS Charitable Trust Portfolio. Want to be alerted before Cramer buys or sells COST? Learn more now.
A 16-year-old girl was raped by a colleague, who worked with her at an old age home in Hyderabad. His two friends also tried to rape her.

By India Today Web Desk: A 16-year-old girl who was working at an old age home in Hyderabad was allegedly raped by a colleague on Tuesday night. The incident took place near the girl's home when the accused, G Ganesh, 25, forced her into his vehicle and raped her even as two of his friends kept watch.

The accused, G Ganesh, a resident of Nandigama, and his two accomplices have been arrested. The minor girl was working at the old age home as a nurse, police said.

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Police say that Ganesh called her out to his vehicle which he had parked in the parking lot of the old age home and raped her.

His two friends, Venkatesh and Subba Rao, also tried to rape her, but when she raised an alarm, they left her near her room after warning her to not tell anyone about the incident.

The victim however, informed the police the next day which in turn arrested the three accused from the old age home.

--- ENDS ---
NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Shares of Kellogg (K) were flat in pre-market trading on Thursday as the Battle Creek, MI-based company agreed to purchase Brazilian food manufacturer Parati for $429 million in cash.

Parati makes biscuits, powdered beverage and pasta products, Kellogg said.

To preserve financial flexibility, Kellogg said its reducing its 2016 share repurchase program to be in the range of $450 million to $550 million, down from its prior range of $700 million to $750 million.

The food company has made several investments in emerging markets in the past two years, according to Bloomberg. Last year, Kellogg purchased a 50% stake in Nigerian food company Multipro for $450 million to expand its presence in Africa.

Parati products are sold mostly in small to medium retail stores in Brazil, Kellogg noted.

The deal is expected to close by year's end.

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.

The team rates Kellogg as a Buy with a ratings score of B+. The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its notable return on equity, expanding profit margins, good cash flow from operations, solid stock price performance and impressive record of earnings per share growth. 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: K



K data by YCharts
NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Shares of Chevron (CVX) were lower in mid-morning trading on Thursday as the company enters "commercial discussions" about its Bangladesh assets, Reuters reports.

Chevron, a San Ramon, CA-based energy company, could be seeking up to $2 billion for its natural gas units in the country, sources told Bloomberg. The business has attracted interest from Indian and Chinese oil producers, the sources said.

But the company has not made any formal decisions to sell the assets, Reuters notes.

Chevron said it will only proceed in talks "if we can realize attractive value for Chevron," according to a statement cited by Reuters.

In late 2015, the company said it planned to divest of about $10 billion in assets by 2017.

Additionally, oil prices were down mid-morning on Thursday after OPEC revealed yesterday that it pumped at eight-year highs in September.

Crude oil (WTI) was down 0.38% to $49.99 while Brent crude was falling 0.33% to $51.64 per barrel this morning.

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 "hold" with a ratings score of C.

The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its solid stock price performance and largely solid financial position with reasonable debt levels by most measures. However, as a counter to these strengths, we also find weaknesses including feeble growth in the company's earnings per share, deteriorating net income and poor profit margins.

You can view the full analysis from the report here: CVX
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Managing Editor | Naval War College Press

Robert Ayer is the Naval War College Press Managing Editor. He has taught extensively and held administrative positions at the Coast Guard Academy. While at Defense Security Service and the Food and Drug Administration, he served as a technical writing editor. On active duty, he served as a deck watch officer on Coast Guard Cutter (CGC) Vigilant (WMEC 617) and subsequently as commanding officer on CGC Point Knoll (WPB 82364). He earned a master of arts in law and diplomacy, and a doctorate from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. He graduated from the Coast Guard Academy in 1979.
Chanting, "Hey, hey, ho, ho, Donald Trump has got to go," union workers picket outside the Trump Hotel in Washington, D.C., on Thursday. The Trump Hotel in Las Vegas refused to acknowledge a union vote. (Nikki Kahn/The Washington Post)

Those wishing to protest on public property along Pennsylvania Avenue near the entrance of Donald Trumps new hotel are welcome to apply for a permit securing space in front of the $212 million building  a permit that Trump has the power to approve or deny.

Adorned with a statue of Benjamin Franklin, the plaza in front of the hotel, like the building itself, remains owned by the federal government.

But through a series of agreements signed before the real estate mogul announced his run for president, decisions over who can use the plaza space now rest with Trumps real estate company.

If Trump wins the election, the arrangement would create a remarkable scenario in which the president of the United States could block protests in front of his hotel, just down the street from the White House.

Even without the election as a backdrop, the situation is drawing fierce criticism from free-speech advocates, who say it amounts to the privatization of Americas Main Street. The conflict  a largely local one thrust under the bright lights of a bitter presidential election  illustrates the tension between a dogged effort to revive one of the Districts central corridors and the desire to protect Pennsylvania Avenue as a stage for all voices in the nations capital.

The fact is people have the right to be on that sidewalk. They have a right to be in that plaza space. It should not be up to the Trump Organization to determine whether that space is open to the public, said Mara Verheyden-Hilliard, a lawyer who frequently argues on behalf of First Amendment rights.

The Partnership for Civil Justice Fund, a nonprofit group co-founded by Verheyden-Hilliard, sued a series of government agencies in August for access to agreements made for the Trump hotel.

Some of the agreements have since been released. One, made by the Districts Transportation Department, requires road access to the hotel even during festivals, protests and other events that in the past would be allowed to occupy the entire street.

Permit holders for the street would be required to wall off their events from a lane of traffic providing access to the hotel using plastic barriers and fences, according to official documents.

Truly Trump is building a wall around his hotel and he is making the American people pay for it, Verheyden-Hilliard said.

In the meantime, at least one group has staged a protest without the proper permitting.

Carlos Jimenez, executive director of the Metropolitan Washington Council AFL-CIO, said his group filed paperwork with D.C. police so officers would be aware of a planned protest Thursday. The group didnt receive a permit because of the late notice, but several union members did gather. Jimenez said he was aware that Trump had some rights to the property but was willing to risk it.

The Trump International Hotel, formerly the Old Post Office Pavilion, stands in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Friday, Sept. 16, 2016. (Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg)

We put in the request, but I dont know that we even gave them enough time to reply. Were going to kind of say its a sidewalk, and if Trump wants to kick out 200 or 300 people, fine, but were not going to risk arrest or do anything like that, he said.

Several officials said that for the 117-year-old former mail-sorting facility to be put to modern use, connections had to be made between the building and the increasingly cosmopolitan neighborhoods around it. That meant giving the developer the right to control the outdoor space around the hotel.

But some former officials who signed the deal also expressed regret at the implications for free speech.

Most of the sidewalk out front remains under control of the National Park Service, available for public access and permitting. And much of Trumps rights to the property  such as his leeway to create an outdoor cafe with movable furniture on the plaza  were closely vetted in securing numerous regulatory approvals for the Old Post Office, which his company is leasing from the government for 60 years.

A spokesman for the General Services Administration, which leased the building to the Trump Organization, said in an email that this whole agreement and how the space was going to be used was part of a completely open and public process.

A spokeswoman for the National Park Service said transferring jurisdiction of these areas made sense to both agencies to simplify future management.

Some of the deals over control of the property, made before Trump launched his presidential campaign, were less transparent.

According to official documents, the Park Service transferred two parcels totaling about one-sixth of an acre to the General Services Administration in January 2014. One includes a wavelike brick-and-granite plaza outside the building, upon which the Ben Franklin statue sits, and the other a path across the sidewalk to the hotels driveway.

On rare other occasions, the Park Service has entered into public-private partnerships, such as its naming of the nonprofit Trust for the National Mall as an official partner in an effort to rehabilitate the Mall.

Both parcels were then conveyed to the Trump Organization as part of its lease for the Old Post Office, a key component of a renewed effort to bring new life to Pennsylvania Avenue.

The transfers were originally made to ensure the hotel would succeed and take the government off the hook for any associated costs with the property, said Dan Tangherlini, who was GSA administrator at the time of the deals.

I think innocently in 2014, when GSA asked for jurisdiction over that area, the idea was that the lessor would then take care of maintaining and fixing it, he said. At issue now is whether that [control] is going to be used to limit peoples First Amendment access, and that was certainly not the intention.

I think people are right to say there should be free and available access to Pennsylvania Avenue, he added.

The Trump Organization issued a statement saying that the property line is consistent with how private property that is set back far from the street usually is delineated.

One of the GSAs requirements in the [project] and a goal of our organization was to bring life to Pennsylvania Avenue. The plaza allows us to have the areas most unique outdoor dining experience that will further enliven the neighborhood, the statement said.

The D.C. Transportation Department, which controls the street itself, made its own agreement in May 2015 allowing the hotel to keep a traffic lane open during special operations providing for valet parking service and to provide an accessible area suitable for use as an emergency fire lane.

A agency spokesman said the allowances werent required before the hotel was built because the Old Post Office, then occupied by a food court and government offices, didnt previously require round-the-clock access. It is also not likely to apply during the inaugural parade.

The prior use of the property was not residential in nature and vehicle access during Specials Events was not critical to its operations, the agency said in a statement.

Verheyden-Hilliard said creating such a buffer around the property may amount to an illegal restriction on speech.

I believe people have the right to be able to protest there because there is a right to pedestrian access, and I dont believe the Trump Organization can determine that there is a free-speech exclusion zone, she said.

However Jerome A. Barron, emeritus law professor at George Washington University, who has argued First Amendment cases before the Supreme Court, said there may not be anything illegal about the arrangement.

I dont see any constitutional violation, Barron said. There are plenty of other places to protest in Washington. And property can be used one way by the government at one time, but there is nothing saying it cant be used for another purpose such as this.

Indeed, permitting continues on the sidewalk. The Presidential Inaugural Committee has applied to use it from Dec. 7 to Feb. 10, dates surrounding the planned Jan. 20 inaugural parade.

The advocacy group ANSWER (Act Now to Stop War and End Racism), which joined a protest in front of the hotel during its initial opening Sept. 12, has applied for two permits that would stretch from Election Day on Nov. 8 to Jan. 23, according to the Park Service. Both applications are under consideration.

During the Sept. 12 demonstration, protesters strayed well beyond the sidewalk onto the plaza but Trump Organization security allowed them within about 10 feet of the front door. Eventually the company plans to offer sidewalk dining that, according to its alcohol license application, will include up to 552 seats and a live band occasionally but specifies no nude dancing.

Barron said such access would undermine advocates argument that their free-speech rights were being hampered. I think thats fatal to the First Amendment argument, he said.

I suppose its all a matter of degree, he added. You couldnt lease the Mall, I suppose. But a building might be a different story.
Robert Janker from the Dutch company Clear Flight Solutions BV readies to launch the remotely controlled "Robird" on Wednesday in Merignac, southwest France, during the UAV Show. This realistic-looking bird of prey has a similar weight and flight performance as a real bird, and is sold as a solution for bird control, especially along airport runways. (Georges Gobet/AFP via Getty Images)

CREDIT

Rate of subprime car loan defaults is rising

Subprime borrowers are falling behind on their car loan payments at the highest rate in more than six years, according to S&P Global Ratings.

Competition has spurred lenders to loosen standards and resulted in more delinquencies and default by people with weak credit, the ratings firm said. Subprime borrowers were behind by more than 60 days on about 4.85 percent of auto loans in August, the highest level since January 2010. For prime loans, delinquencies in August rose to 0.5 percent, up from 0.41 percent in the same month in 2015. The figures apply to loans that have been bundled into bonds.

The ratings firm said it may have to downgrade some subprime auto loan securities that have high-yield grades because of the increased delinquencies and loan losses, a statement it first made last month.

After the financial crisis, mortgage lenders have been required by law to verify that applicants can repay their debt, but car lenders do not have that obligation.

 Bloomberg News

AUTO SAFETY

NHTSA threatens fine in air bag parts probe

The federal government has accused a small air bag parts maker of stonewalling an investigation into a fatal car crash and threatened a large fine over the lack of cooperation.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said ARC Automotive of Knoxville, Tenn., has missed deadlines and failed to report crash information and test results as required by law. The allegations are contained in documents made available on the agencys website late Tuesday.

The failures raise serious questions regarding the quality and integrity of ARCs air bag inflaters, the agency wrote in an Oct. 4 letter to the company.

The agency threatened to hold a public hearing and fine the company up to $21,000 per day, up to a maximum of $105 million.

NHTSA began asking for detailed information in August after an ARC air bag inflater ruptured and killed a woman in Canada. As many as 8 million ARC inflaters are under scrutiny. The investigation is separate from one that resulted in the recall of 69 million inflaters in the United States made by Takata Corp. of Japan.

Authorities say the Canadian woman was killed July 8 when the ARC inflater ruptured and sent metal shrapnel into the passenger compartment of the 2009 Hyundai Elantra she was driving. Without the shrapnel injuries, she likely would have survived the low-speed crash, Canadian officials said. Now, U.S. and Canadian investigators are trying to figure out what caused the inflater to blow apart.

 Associated Press

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A minor in was murdered in Hyderabad yesterday. She was found by her aunt in a pool of blood with throat slit.

By Ashish Pandey: In a shocking instance from Hyderabad, an unidentified killer yesterday murdered a seven-year-old girl by slitting her throat.

This incident was reported from Yellampet village near Medchal.

The victim Sai Laxmi Prasanna was in the house with her ten-year-old sister who was sleeping, and her parents had gone to work. When her aunt Venkata Lakshmi came to check on the girls in the afternoon, she found Laxmi in who had come to see the girls in noon saw Sai Laxmi in a pool of blood, with her hand and throat slit.

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She was declared dead in the hospital.

According to Petbasheerabad ACP Ashok Kumar "No trace of sexual assault was found on the girl and it looks like that a known person killed her."

A case under section 302 has been registered by the police and a manhunt has been launched to nab the assailants.



Also Read

Nashik tense after teenage boy tries to rape 5-year-old girl; Fadanvis, Pawar appeal for peace

Minor girl raped at old age home in Hyderabad





--- ENDS ---
The day after the second presidential debate, YG tweeted a picture of himself crouched over Donald Trumps star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, both middle fingers aimed directly at it. It was an opportune moment for the Compton, Calif., rapper to reiterate his loathing of the Republican presidential candidate and promote his F--- Donald Trump tour.

Before his show Wednesday night at the Fillmore Silver Spring, YG was on the other side of things: Members of the Chinese American community protested outside the venue, citing lyrics from his song Meet the Flockers, a home-invasion instructional that targets Chinese communities.

His response was vulgar, unapologetic and punctuated with: Protest that.

Being habitually outspoken is just one way the rising 26-year-old star has made himself stand out within hip-hops current environment. The melodious bounce of his 2010 single Toot It and Boot It gave him his first taste of success, a mere glimpse of the polish that manifested on his debut album, 2014s My Krazy Life. That project was notable for sounding as if it were plucked from a time two decades earlier as YG, with the help of producer DJ Mustards wailing synths and heavy bass, summoned the prevailing G-Funk sound of 90s Los Angeles rap. Thats another key YG identifier  in an era when broad tastes have blurred hip-hops regional lines, he remains distinctly West Coast.

And even without Mustards assistance (the two had a falling-out but have since reconciled), YGs second album, Still Brazy, channels the unmistakably West Coast spirit of old. Thats as much a credit to YG as it is to his production, and the anti-Trump tours stop at the Fillmore displayed the energy, charisma and defiance that personifies his appeal.

YG fancies himself a reporter. He speaks on what hes seen and experienced growing up in Compton, so he balanced the expected delivery of favorites such as BPT, the ode to his home town, or My N---- and Who Do You Love? with the introspection of Blacks & Browns. On the latter, he and rapper Sad Boy spoke to the discrimination levied against the African American and Hispanic communities. It was the perfect segue into the tours namesake.

Before performing FDT (the song the tour gets its name from), YG selected fans to join him in destroying a remarkably orange Trump effigy. They did so with glee and fury, while the songs chorus  which simply invokes the title  rang out with ardent disgust. Its a sentiment that will surely endure beyond this election cycle.

style@washpost.com
The following review appears in The Washington Posts 2016 Fall Dining Guide.



Lemon cream tart, roasted meringue and basil ice cream. (Courtesy of Austin Fausett)

Proof

GOOD/EXCELLENT

Two of the best things to happen to Proof this year were Austin Fausett and Brent Kroll. Theyre the recently acquired executive chef and general manager, respectively, of the already agreeable wine-themed restaurant near Verizon Center. Fausett, formerly of Trummers on Main in Clifton, takes lunch as seriously as dinner. White grape gazpacho with roasted corn ice cream took the edge off one of the hottest summers on record, while rich duck confit gets a nice foil in an electric green tomato chowchow. Kroll, previously wine director for the Neighborhood Restaurant Group, infuses the brick-walled dining room with his trademark charm as he plots a wine bar of his own. Sunday nights are a bonanza for grape nuts. Thats when Proof offers nearly 100 wines, including some serious treasures, at half price. Opus One, here I come!

Previous: Peter Chang | Next: Rasika West End

2 1/2 stars

Proof: 775 G St. NW. 202-737-7663. proofdc.com .

Prices: Mains $25-$36.

Sound check: 74 decibels / Must speak with raised voice.
The Post's food critic Tom Sietsema is excited to see places like Pineapple and Pearls and Sushi Taro on the list of Michelin star restaurants in D.C., but he also notes a few deserving eateries were left out. (Nicki DeMarco,Erin Patrick O'Connor/The Washington Post)

No Rasika, the contemporary Indian restaurant that I consider to be the best in the country?

[No three-star restaurants in Michelins DC guide. But these restaurants earned two.]

And wheres the love for Johnny Monis, the chef whose modern Greek and Thai-flavored restaurants  Komi and Little Serow, respectively  serve as standard-bearers for those cuisines?

The Michelin Guides shutout of three of Washingtons most esteemed dining destinations, all of them among my Top 10 favorites in the Fall Dining Guide, is as much a surprise as the French tastemakers decision not to bestow its highest award.

Shockingly, no local restaurant received three stars, which the guide defines as exceptional cuisine, worth a special journey. For the sake of comparison, neither description fits the underwhelming meals Ive left at Alinea in Chicago or Masa in New York, both rated three-star by Michelin. More on them later.

[Tom Sietsemas 2016 Fall Dining Guide: Its bigger and better than ever]

Only three D.C. establishments got two stars, described as excellent cuisine, worth a detour. They are Minibar by Jose Andres, Pineapple and Pearls and the Inn at Little Washington. The selection of the Inn  the romantic, over-the-top creation of chef Patrick OConnell set in bucolic Washington, Va.  was a surprise bonbon. When Michelin announced plans to survey Washington earlier this year, the publisher said inspectors wouldnt critique outside the District.



Minibar won two Michelin stars, but did it deserve three? (Goran Kosanovic/For The Washington Post)

Minibar was a natural for the honor  but it deserves even more. The avant-garde restaurant, basically a 30-course magic show, is very much in the vein of Arzak, a Michelin three-star in San Sebastian, Spain, where I had the great good fortune to eat two years ago and where one of multiple astonishments was an ocean-fresh lobster displayed on a tablet computer, its screen animated with blue waves. Was it worth a special journey? Absolutely. But I feel the same way about Minibar, an evening-long spectacle that includes luscious sight gags and moves guests from salon to dining room to bar for a truly transporting feast.

Minibar is also a vastly superior experience to its closest competitor in this country, the aforementioned Alinea. Having eaten there this summer, I can vouch that watching servers remove ceiling tiles for the dessert course is more awkward than astonishing.

Waiting in line for a great meal has become common in D.C. where diners can wait hours before being seated at Bad Saint, Rose's Luxury or Little Serow. Washington's dining scene has gained national attention because of these restaurants and places like Pineapple & Pearls. (Jayne Orenstein/The Washington Post)

Clearly Michelin saw what I did in Pineapple and Pearls, the Capitol Hill restaurant helmed by Aaron Silverman thats changing the fine-dining format. With obsessive devotion to detail and yet zero pretension, the restaurant guides diners through a dinner punctuated with marvels (roasted potato ice cream with caviar is a match made in heaven) and narrated in parts by the chefs themselves.

Judges seemed partial to Italian and modern American experiences in awarding single stars to Fiola and Masseria, along with Blue Duck Tavern, the Dabney, Kinship, Plume, Roses Luxury and Tail Up Goat.

Michelin tapped into one of the citys much-discussed dining trends by including Roses Luxury, another Silverman success story on the Hill. The whimsical venue is known for its signature dish of ground pork, sweet litchis and habaneros, but perhaps is most famous for a no-reservations policy that typically finds long lines out front, meaning everybody but the first family waits.

Michelin inspectors: (Sometimes) theyre just like us!



Even a Michelin inspector would have to wait in line at Roses Luxury, which was awarded one star. (Olivier Douliery/AFP/Getty Images)

The sole Asian representative on the one-star list, Sushi Taro, deserved that recognition, foremost for the omakase (chefs choice) staged by Nobu Yamazaki at a six-seat counter in the back of the Japanese restaurant  far more enchanting than the chilly, overpriced Masa I endured in New York last year. Aside from Sushi Taro, with its sea urchin and shrimp served in an abalone shell with fish jelly, the list of one stars doesnt reflect the reality that Washington is a world capital, with abundant foreign cuisines feeding it.

The omission of Rasika is especially lamentable. Many would consider it one of the best Indian restaurants in the country, Michael Ellis, international director for the Michelin Guides, told The Washington Post. Yet, he added, We found that we couldnt confirm the star this year.

Why not? The Indian model, helmed by James Beard award-winning chef Vikram Sunderam, is one of only six restaurants I currently call superlative (with four stars, my highest rating). Rasika delivers delicious drama: Lamb shank rising from a fragrant red moat of saffron and rose petals projects a bone, wrapped in spiced lamb, that glints with gold leaf. Open for both lunch and dinner, the gem-colored dining room is also approachable. Indeed, one of the most popular dishes in town is Rasikas palak chaat, baby spinach fried in spiced chickpea batter and tossed with sweet yogurt and date chutney.

Michelin has been criticized for overlooking ethnic cooking in the past. Only in 2001, for instance, did the guide deem Indian restaurants worthy of star recognition. That year, the accolade went to Tamarind and Zaika in London. Carved from a former bank near Kensington Palace, the latter restaurant won me over with its minty, tandoor-cooked duck rolls and lamb biryani sheathed in fine pastry. Better than Rasika? Id say they were at least equals.



Chef Vikram Sunderam of Rasika. (Melina Mara/The Washington Post)

Unlike in the other U.S. cities where Michelin also rates restaurants, including San Francisco, no solidly French restaurant in Washington made the French guides cut; had the inspectors dined there last year, Marcels might have been a contender, but the cooking I encountered there this fall had slipped.

The inspectors gave Komi a particularly harsh assessment. We found that there was not a lot of harmony between the different courses, Ellis said. We did not find the level of consistency throughout the menu. Ah, but one of the reasons I flagged the restaurant in my Top 10, and gave it four stars, was Komis sublime steadiness over the years. The seaweed brioche capped with shimmering trout roe caviar always makes my heart skip a beat, and the crispy goat with escorts of tangy yogurt, pickled peppers and puffy pita never fails to make me swoon. I figured the restaurants understated dining room held it back from the inspectors love; Michelins one-star selections in Washington are all lookers, varying from attractive (the airy Blue Duck Tavern) to alluring (Fiola, as chic as Milan).

The one restaurant on the list guaranteed to raise food lovers eyebrows: Plume in the Jefferson Hotel. While the dining room, attired in silk wallpaper and crystal chandeliers, is one of the most opulent around, and wine director Jenn Knowles ensures fine drinking, the setting has always struck me as more memorable than anything coming from the kitchen.

The star awarded to the hotel restaurant would have been better attached to a number of other places. Convivial, for instance, where Cedric Maupillier reminds us that he was mentored by the legendary, much-missed Michel Richard, a fellow Frenchman with the eye of an artist.

Another wonder among the one-star selections is the relatively new Tail Up Goat in Adams Morgan. Thats not a knock on the winsome neighborhood eatery, where bread gets its own course and lamb ribs are eaten with ones hands. Ive had terrific meals there. Its just that hip is not a flavor I thought the Michelin tasters could pick out.
Natasha Guynes, 35, is president and founder of HER Resiliency Center, a nonprofit for vulnerable young women. She lives in Washington.

Im going to thumbnail-sketch you for a second, and Im sorry about that. You went from being a commercial sex worker to working on Capitol Hill.

I moved to D.C. when I was 20. Things deteriorated very quickly. For me, drugs and alcohol came after the escort work. It was me trying to cover those traumas. Until I hit a bottom where I didnt want to be touched, didnt want to be looked at, I was not fit for work. End of that year, I got sober in a 12-step recovery program. The women in that program didnt just say, Go do this and come back and tell me how it works, but they literally would show me step by step how to be an adult.

When you say escort work, it was through an agency?

The media has glamorized who I worked for. Its not glamorous. Even though the D.C. Madam was a high-profile escort service, they werent all high-profile people we were going to see, and it was quite scary. To have a choice in the matter, you have to have choices.

How did you go from a homeless shelter to Congress?

A lot of years in between! At our employment empowerment workshops I like to tell the story about how my first job in sobriety was working at Safeway. I balanced a till every night, and I hated that job. And I tell them my last job on Capitol Hill was running $3.5 million budgets. If I hadnt learned how to balance my drawer at the end of the night at Safeway, would I have known how to balance a budget at the United States Senate?

Was there any time that you had to keep people [on the Hill] from knowing things about you?

2012 or 13, the D.C. Madams phone records were online. Someone Id worked with in a senators office was circulating it. It had gotten back to one of my favorite people on the Hill. And I went and talked with him and said, Its not true! I later had to go back [and tell him it was].

Any moment [from HER Resiliency Center] thatll stick with you?

One woman had signed up for all these student loans, but we found out that since shes from the foster care system in Maryland her tuition to community college is waived.

You saved her a lifetime of debt!

I took one [woman] on an interview to a grocery store, and she didnt own a bra. Didnt have one with her and didnt own one. The shocker of that day was Weve got to make sure they all have bras.

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Reader 1: My daughter works for a car dealership that employs 19 people. The owner, an Orthodox Jew, gives every employee two paid holidays a year: Thanksgiving and Christmas. He personally observes every major Jewish holiday and insists his five Jewish employees take those days off with pay. The owner and Jewish employees also clock out early on Fridays to observe Shabbat, but in the winter, when Shabbat starts earlier, they do not come in earlier to make it an eight-hour day. Morale is low for the rest of the workers, who have just two paid holidays and work a full eight-hour day on winter Fridays.

This does not seem good policy, but is it illegal discrimination based on religion?

Karla: The owner has the right to decide what paid holidays to grant, says employment attorney Jonathan Segal of Duane Morris: The problem is when you mete out benefits or pay based on religion. Not only is it indefensible to give extra paid holidays only to members of a particular faith, but its also illegal to require employees who share your faith to observe the same practices as you.

To avoid discrimination, the owner could grant an equal number of floating paid holidays to all  including those who have no dogma in this fight. Allowing workers flex or unpaid time to observe their faiths would be a reasonable accommodation, as long as that doesnt disproportionately burden co-workers.

Workers can complain directly to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, but Segal recommends approaching the owner first, bringing fact sheets from eeoc.gov to explain why his lopsided holiday policy is illegal.

Reader 2: A colleague, the regional director of multiple businesses in my field, contacted me regarding an opening, scheduled the interview and forwarded my resume to the hiring manager.

The day of the interview, my colleague called, sounding embarrassed, to tell me the interview was canceled. He said the manager had tossed my resume aside and stated, Im not interviewing anyone American-born.

Is there any recourse?

Karla: Even well-meaning employers have been known to speak carelessly while trying to increase diversity, Segal notes. But rejecting an applicant because of national origin is blatant discrimination, says Segal  yes, even if the nation of origin is the U.S. of A.

If you can confirm thats what happened to you, Segal suggests you  or better yet, your colleague  ask the supervisor to reconsider interviewing you, because American-born is not a legal criterion for rejection. And your director colleague should be urging everyone in his sphere of influence to ensure their hiring practices are unbiased. Blind applications and diverse interview panels would be an excellent start.

Ask Karla Miller about your work dramas and traumas by emailing wpmagazine@washpost.com. Read more @Work Advice columns.

For stories, features such as Date Lab, Gene Weingarten and more, visit The Washington Post Magazine.

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A threatened lawsuit by Donald Trump against the New York Times for its article about two women who said he subjected them to unwanted sexual advances would face almost insurmountable odds and very likely fail, legal experts say.

But they added that Trumps vow to sue the newspaper for its story might have a more immediate effect: It could serve as a warning shot to other women who are considering making similar allegations against the Republican presidential candidate.

The Times reported late Wednesday that two women, Jessica Leeds and Rachel Crooks, said Trump had inappropriately touched them in separate incidents in the early 1980s and in 2005.

The women said they came forward after Trump said during Sundays presidential debate that he had merely engaged in locker-room talk on a leaked Access Hollywood recording from 2005. Although on the tape he talks about kissing and grabbing women with impunity, Trump denied he had ever physically assaulted women.

At a rally Thursday, Trump again denied the womens claims, which he said were preposterous, ludicrous and defy logic. He also denounced another Times story, published in May, in which several women recounted unwelcome advances by Trump in the past. The two stories, he said, will be part of the lawsuit we are preparing against them.

In the Oct. 9 presidential debate, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump denied acting on the sexual touching he described in video released by The Washington Post. Now, several women say he forced himself on them. (Peter Stevenson/The Washington Post)

As a practical matter, Trumps chances of prevailing in such a suit are low. As a public figure, he would have to satisfy two principles embedded in libel law: Did the Times publish its stories knowing the womens statements were false, and were they published with actual malice  with reckless disregard of whether they were true or false?

The standard comes from a landmark Supreme Court ruling in 1964 involving the New York Times. The ruling in that case, New York Times v. Sullivan, made it difficult for public figures to win libel cases because it requires them to prove the defendants prior knowledge and intentions. The courts intent was to give the news media wide latitude in reporting on politicians and other public figures.

Actual malice is a very high bar, and I cant imagine that Trump could possibly clear it, said Samantha Barbas, a professor at the University at Buffalos law school who specializes in the First Amendment. He would have to show that the Times didnt research or check their facts at all, or actually knew the story was false and published it anyway.

In fact, the paper made extensive efforts to corroborate the allegations, talking to multiple sources and providing Trump himself a chance to respond.

Barbas said she doesnt think Trump will follow through in suing the Times; such an action would open him up to discovery by the newspaper, potentially forcing him to disclose past compromising behavior.

Rather, she said, this does seem to be about intimidating women who might come forth with their experiences  also, of course, about intimidating the press.

In a response to Trumps attorney on Thursday, New York Times attorney David E. McCraw said the paper wouldnt remove, retract or apologize for Wednesdays article, as Trumps camp had demanded. Noting Trumps own claims about his mistreatment of women, including barging in on semi-naked contestants in Trump-owned beauty pageants, McCraw wrote, Nothing in our article has had the slightest effect on the reputation that Mr. Trump, through his own words and actions, has already created for himself.

Donald Trump strongly denied that he had groped and kissed women without their consent, following a number of news reports detailing allegations made by four women. (The Washington Post)

Sonja R. West, a First Amendment expert and law professor at the University of Georgia, said Trump would have a problem proving he was defamed even if he could show the Times stories were false, because hed have to prove that the stories harmed his reputation. Considering all the other shocking news about him lately, much of it about his treatment of women, its hard to imagine that the Times story significantly changed very many peoples opinion of him, West said.

Trump has sued for libel before; in 2006, he went to court against former New York Times journalist Timothy OBrien, claiming that OBriens book Trump Nation had damaged his reputation by lowballing Trumps net worth. Trump lost the case; his appeal was dismissed.

Trump has frequently demonized press coverage of him and his campaign, and at one point he vowed to open up the libel laws to make it easier for public figures to sue journalists.

But Ronald K.L. Collins, a law professor at the University of Washington, was dismissive of Trumps vow, which would require action by Congress and a likely review by the Supreme Court. We dont have a king, Collins said.
Security has been beefed up in Bhopal as it gears up for Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit.

By Hemender Sharma: A day before Prime minister Narendra Modi's visit to Bhopal, a spam call received by several people in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Uttar Pradesh has sent the state police into a tizzy.

Among those who received a call from this number is a top IB official and a relative of the state intelligence chief. Preliminary investigations have traced this number to a proxy server in Afghanistan.

advertisement

According to Madhya Pradesh ATS chief Sanjeev Shami it is a phishing call that is aimed at cheating people. While speaking to India Today Shami accepted that people had indeed received calls from this number but added that it had nothing to do with Prime minister Narendra Modi's visit to Bhopal.

Also Read: Prime Minister Modi set to inaugurate war memorial in Bhopal on Friday

MODI'S VISIT TO BHOPAL

Prime Minister Modi is visiting Bhopal on October 14 to inaugurate a war memorial that has been built on 13 acres of land in the heart of the city on Arera Hills. The war memorial has pictures of all the Param Veer Chakra and Maha Veer Chakra awardees along with paintings depicting the wars fought by India since independence. Also paintings depicting ancient Indian wars have been put up on display at the war memorial.

Meanwhile dogs have also gone missing from the streets of Bhopal after a directive was issued by the district collector to this effect keeping the prime minister's visit in mind.

During the last visit of the Prime minister to the city a stray dog had crossed the Prime Minister's cavalcade and there was nothing much that the security apparatus could do about it.

This time around police claims, nothing is being left to chance and standard operating procedures are being followed to the hilt.

--- ENDS ---
Dear Readers: October is National Window Covering Safety Month. The Window Covering Safety Council (WCSC) wants to remind you that older homes, rental properties and apartments may have outdated window coverings, with cords and pulls that can pose a choking hazard.

Military families can be at a higher risk; they typically move frequently and into rental homes.

Window treatments manufactured before 2001 should be replaced with cordless window coverings, or coverings with inaccessible cords. Ask the landlord.

The WCSC also recommends the following:

There are lots of hazards in the home, and if you dont have small children around on a regular basis, it might not be on your radar.

Keep all kids furniture, beds and cribs away from window treatments and, ideally, completely away from windows.

Make sure that babies and toddlers cannot reach cords at all. The risk of strangulation is too high. Visit Windowcoverings.org for more information.

Dear Heloise: Many of us are now drinking bottled water. Is there a special kind we should be looking for? Im drinking natural spring water.

Alberta W., Hobart, Ind.

Alberta W.: Walking down the water aisle can be overwhelming  so many choices! One is not better than the next; it is really a matter of personal preference. Here are some definitions:

 Purified water  has had all minerals and chemicals removed.

 Distilled water  is made from steam, so minerals and bacteria are not present.

 Spring water  comes from an underwater pool; nothing is added or removed.

 Sparkling water  has carbon dioxide added and is bubbly.

Read the label on these waters. You may be surprised; some of these waters are sourced from municipal supplies  its tap water! You might consider getting a vacuum bottle with a filter and filling it from the sink. Youll save money!

Dear Heloise: I subscribe to several well-liked magazines, and after reading them, I put them in my car. Then, next time I visit a doctor, dentist or lab, I donate the magazines for the waiting-room area. The staff is always appreciative when I show up with a fresh supply of magazines.

Laurie L., Costa Mesa, Calif.

Dear Readers: Here are some quick hints to clean your desktop computer:

Dust the screen with a lint-free cloth. Never spray a window cleaner or liquid cleaner on the screen.

Turn the keyboard upside down and give it a gentle shake over the trash receptacle. Pick up dust on the keys with a microfiber cloth. Again, do not spray any cleaners on the keys.

To dust the printer, open it and use a long-handled duster to pick up any debris.

Dear Heloise: For years, I have been wondering what that mysterious SKU stood for. You answered it in the Omaha World-Herald on Sept. 1 (stock-keeping unit). Thanks for the many years of hints.

Marcia J., via email

Heloises column appears six days a week at washingtonpost.com/advice. Send a hint to Heloise , P.O. Box 795000, San Antonio, Tex. 78279-5000, or email it to Heloise@Heloise.com.
It would be nice if this hellscape of an election managed to raise thoughtful discussions on one or two issues of national concern, but instead it appears that it has come down to a single-question personality test. Not, Which candidate would you rather have a beer with? but, Which candidate, or candidates husband, would you be most afraid to ride alone in an elevator with?

The procession of women this week who accused Donald Trump of forcibly touching and kissing them  one woman said he accosted her on a plane 30 years ago; another said he pinned her against a wall in 2005 while his pregnant wife was upstairs  was unnerving. In a bonkers way, it was also perhaps inevitable for a campaign that kicked off with Trump accusing illegal immigrants from Mexico of being rapists, and then devolved into a scary race in which womens votes became a symbolic fight for their own personal safety. The ballot as a can of pepper spray.

Or, as the writer Amanda Hess was compelled to tweet as the curtain rose on the second presidential debate, Never imagined the election of the first female president would come down to a fight over whos the real rapist, but here we are.

In the past week:

The Republican nominee is caught on tape telling a television host that he likes to kiss women without warning and grab em by the p---y.

In this video from 2005, Donald Trump prepares for an appearance on "Days of Our Lives" with actress Arianne Zucker. He is accompanied to the set by "Access Hollywood" host Billy Bush. The Post has edited this video for length. (Obtained by The Washington Post)

He responds to the uproar by dismissing this as locker-room talk and holding a news conference with women who had previously accused Bill Clinton, the Democratic nominees husband, of sexually harassing or assaulting them.

Then he claimed Hillary Clinton laughed at a 12-year-old rape victim, whose attacker she was assigned to defend as an attorney several decades ago (the accusation has been debunked). Then four women came forward to say that Trump had actually assaulted them  it wasnt just locker-room talk  and then Trump denied the allegations, and then first lady Michelle Obama on Thursday gave a fiery speech about it all. (Stop the madness, she said. This is not normal.)

It would be nice if the election could contain zero rape accusations, but thats not being presented as an option. The whole presidential race has become a trigger-warning, a public parade of the kind of grabby, gropey behavior that many women have experienced in private but choose not to discuss.

Recently, a pair of United States maps produced by the data and forecasting site FiveThirtyEight were widely circulated online. One predicted the presidential outcome if only women voted, and the other if only men did. These maps placed the election math in starkly chromosomal relief: The male map gave Trump 350 electoral votes to Clintons 150. The female map gave Clinton a hefty 458 and Trump a teeny 80. Womens votes are more important than they have been in recent memory, and wooing them has become an activity performed with a bludgeon.

Were not talking about rape in the context of abortion policy in cases of assault or incest  a topic on which reasonable, thoughtful minds have disagreed. Were not talking about funding for schools to provide sexual-assault awareness programs, or about the Title IX implications of universities handling their own assault allegations. Were not even really talking, philosophically, about how much a female public figure should be responsible for the actions of her philandering husband  a topic that is at least pertinent, even if it does have a whiff of victim-blaming.

What were being told is that were going to have a leader of the free world who stands accused of being a little bit rape-ish. Or at least tolerant of it.

The silver lining, activists keep telling us online, is that these discussions are, despite it all, raising real questions about sexual assault. This election puts a powerful spotlight on the depravity that has always lurked in the darker corners of the countrys psyche. Its allowing thousands of women to share examples of harassment in their own lives.

Former President Bill Clinton (Rodney White/AP)

In the course of all of this, terminology has become muddled, and understandings have gotten twisted. There is pervy behavior, like leering and ogling, which is immoral but not illegal. There is sexual assault, an umbrella term that includes rape, but also includes unwanted fondling, or sexual contact without permission.

Some people seem confused by this. Rush Limbaugh seemed to be on Wednesday, when he said the following on his show: The left will promote and understand and tolerate anything as long as there is one element. Do you know what it is? Consent . . . If the left ever senses and smells that theres no consent in part of the equation then here come the rape police.

Its true, Mr. Limbaugh, except it wont be the rape police, it will just be the police, because what youve just described is the very definition of sexual assault.

In Texas, a Republican congressman went on live television and responded to the moderators question, If a tape came out with Donald Trump saying that, saying, I really like to rape women, you would continue to endorse him? by saying, That would be bad. Id have to consider it.

Its true, Mr. Congressman, that it would be bad  and the only correct answer to that question should have been, No, I will not endorse anybody who says they like raping women.

But here we are. For three more weeks, here we are.
At an Oct. 13 Hillary Clinton campaign event, first lady Michelle Obama grew emotional while talking about allegations of sexual assault against Republican nominee Donald Trump. (Youtube/Hillary Clinton)

At an Oct. 13 Hillary Clinton campaign event, first lady Michelle Obama grew emotional while talking about allegations of sexual assault against Republican nominee Donald Trump. (Youtube/Hillary Clinton)

Michelle Obama ditched her campaign speech at a rally for Hillary Clinton today in Manchester, N.H., to discuss the language Donald Trump has used to describe women and the accusations of sexual assault he is facing.

To dismiss this as locker-room talk is an insult to decent men everywhere, she said, referring to comments Trump made off-camera during a 2005 taping of Access Hollywood.

Keeping with her tack of not addressing Trump by name, she said, We have a candidate for president of the United States that has said things about women that are so shocking, so demeaning.

Obama said she could not repeat the words that were used because they were so distasteful.

She described herself as shocked and compared Trumps actions to those of men who sexually harass and disrespect women in the workplace, placing Trumps comments in a realm familiar to women who have faced sexual assault or know those who have.

Michelle Obama, Hillary Clinton.

It is that feeling of terror or violation that too many women have felt when someone has forced themselves on them,she said.

Too many are treating this as just another days headline, as if this is normal . . . just politics as usual, she said, raising her voice. Be clear, New Hampshire: This is not normal. This is not politics as usual. This is disgraceful; this is intolerable. It doesnt matter what party you belong to . . . no woman deserves to be treated this way.

She continued framing the election in moral, rather than political, terms. I know its a campaign but this isnt about politics. Its about basic human decency  about right and wrong.

She told the story of a 6-year-old boy who concluded that Trump could not be elected president because he called a woman piggy.

If we have a candidate that brags about sexually assualting women, then how can we maintain our moral authority in the world? she said, calling on voters to stop this madness.

While our mothers and grandmothers were often powerless . . . we have all we need to determine the outcome of this election, she said. On Nov. 8, we as women, we as Americans, we as decent human beings can come together and declare that enough is enough and we do not tolerate this kind of behavior.

And remember this, she said near the end of her remarks, when they go low, we go . . .

The first lady has been cashing in on her popularity as she tours the country in support of Hillary Clinton and an election she seems to be taking very personally. Her skewering criticism of Donald Trump is all the more potent for her refusal to ever utter his name. (Erin Patrick O'Connor/The Washington Post)

High! the crowd shouted, finishing her sentence. This phrase has become a mantra for Clintons campaign.

We need to recover from our shock and depression and do what women have always done in this country, she said. We need to roll up our sleeves and get to work.
The author, Kathryn Mohrman, shot this image along the Seine next to the Institut du Monde Arabe. "I was looking for a new perspective on this often-photographed city, she wrote. (Kathryn Mohrman)

Our readers share tales of their ramblings around the world.

Who: Kathryn Mohrman of Friendship Heights, Md.

Where, when, why: When I retired in 2015, I realized that while I no longer had an employer to pay for my tickets to locations abroad, I did have much more time to use at my discretion. I learned about house-sitting websites and explored opportunities to travel by trading services for accommodations.

The author and her camera. (Stan Engebretson)

Last December and January, I arranged to be a pet-sitter for a French family in Versailles. The parents had planned a family trip to the Caribbean for their three adult daughters (and their significant others) just after Christmas, so they needed someone to take care of Perle, a cairn terrier, and Pipa, a cat. It was a success on all fronts.

[Interested in sharing your own What a Trip story? Apply here.]

Highlights and high points: I am passionate about photography, so Versailles and Paris were both wonderful locations. My favorite image comes from the palace at Versailles. Its hard to photograph something new at such an iconic site, but I managed to capture some of the ornate details of the palace in a reflection on a wet floor. My favorite place to take photographs of Paris was from the rooftop terrace at the Institut du Monde Arabe, looking across the Seine. This location, east of Notre Dame cathedral, provided a different perspective on Paris.

Cultural connection or disconnect: As is the case with most pet-sitting arrangements, I arrived a day or two before the family was scheduled to depart. I took the train from Paris to Versailles on the morning of Dec. 24 so that I could meet Perle and Pipa, learn how to operate the alarm system and household appliances, and gain the respect of the family.

What I couldnt know was what a good cook Madame was! On Christmas Eve, with her daughters and significant others around the table, we had a traditional dinner, complete with Coquilles St. Jacques and plenty of Champagne. The family asked if I wanted to attend Christmas church services with them the next morning. I was curious, so of course I said yes, only to learn that the family was Protestant (about 2 percent of the French population), members of a relatively small congregation near the family home. This group of Protestants was a merger of Reformed and Lutheran churches (and I was raised Lutheran in America) so the service was amazingly familiar. The order of service was listed on the board at the front of the church, just like home, and the melody of the hymns was also familiar, just with the words in French. I couldnt understand the sermon, but that wasnt a problem  I could imagine the Christmas message.

Then we went home for Christmas dinner. Goose, so many side dishes, and more Champagne  Ive never had such a wonderful Christmas feast! I have since stayed in contact with the family by email and Facebook, even providing some career advice to one of the daughters. I think of them as my Versailles relatives.

Biggest laugh or cry: For several months before my trip, I reviewed my rather pathetic college French to communicate as best as I could. People were kind enough to acknowledge the fact that I tried to speak French but, in most cases, they answered me in English. This included the cheese monger who questioned my order for 500 grams of a particular kind of cheese. Really? she said, and from there on we conversed in English. I still bought 500 grams (a point of pride not to admit that I had miscalculated my fromage requirement), but we both smiled to acknowledge that she was the superior communicator. All this happened at a relatively small farmers market on a Saturday morning.

How unexpected: On one of my day trips into Paris, I ate lunch at a small bistro near the Canal St. Martin. Looking out of the window from my table, I could see some flags hanging over the nearby street corner  they almost appeared to be Tibetan prayer flags. I went to investigate after finishing my meal. Much to my surprise, I was standing in front of Le Carillon, the site of one of the terrorist attacks last November. The flags commemorated the deaths of more than a dozen Parisians on that quiet street. I then walked to the Bataclan concert hall, a few blocks away, another one of the terrorist sites. The small park across from the Bataclan served as the location for flowers, candles, photos, messages and other memorials. On a beautiful, sunny winter day, I was reminded of the randomness of life and death as people went about their daily lives. I was happy to be in Paris, however, as a small act of defiance to those who sought to spread fear among the public.

Fondest memento or memory: In addition to needing human assistance to go outside, Perle needed medications four times a day. The schedule limited the amount of sightseeing that I could do. Luckily, there are trains between Versailles and Paris several times each hour, so I could attend to my doggy duties, take the bus to the train station, catch the next train to Paris, do one thing in the city (go to a museum, take photographs, have lunch, walk around a particular neighborhood) and then rush back home. I learned the different train routes, figured out how to connect the bus, train and subway routes, and even helped some other foreigners sort out the best train to take to their desired destination. In those two weeks, I realized I had become a local.

To tell us about your own trip, go to washingtonpost.com/travel and fill out the What a Trip form with your fondest memories, finest moments and favorite photos.
More consumers are concerned about ethics, and a clever declaration of values fulfills their desire to believe that they, by extension, are ethical people if they buy goods and services from ethical businesses, says Anne Klaeysen, leader of the New York Society for Ethical Culture. (robynmac/Getty Images/iStockphoto)

Maybe you missed the announcement that the American Society of Travel Agents (ASTA) is introducing a ground-breaking new course focused on ethics in the travel industry.

If youre like most travelers, you may not know the American Society of Travel Agents from the American String Teachers Association.

But ethics? Well, in the final throes of an election season, when values are front and center, I probably had you at ethics, didnt I?

Maybe not.

After weeks of research, in which I asked both travelers and travel industry organizations if they could share their stories of how an ethics statement benefited customers, I drew a frustrating blank. Experts say thats because most ethics statements are little more than marketing gimmicks. But that doesnt necessarily mean these corporate ethics pledges are useless.

Ethics statements are becoming common, says Anne Klaeysen, leader of the New York Society for Ethical Culture. More consumers are concerned about ethics, and a clever declaration of values fulfills their desire to believe that they, by extension, are ethical people if they buy goods and services from ethical businesses, she says.

But are they? Consider the ASTAs course and the questions it raises. One of the goals of its Business Integrity and Ethical Standards course, which is billed as an in-depth study of critical ethical considerations facing travel agents and the industry, is to boost travelers confidence in member agents.

[A proposed bill limits third-party hotel booking, but consumers have greater concerns]

To consumers, the ASTA logo is synonymous with trust, and adding this course to our existing code of ethics will help drive that message home, says Zane Kerby, president and chief executive of the ASTA.

The ASTAs code of ethics is supposed to work like the Good Housekeeping Seal. Members pledge to conduct their business activities in a manner that promotes the ideal of integrity in travel and to follow all laws, refrain from any conflicts of interest and offer accurate information to customers. Travelers see the logo and think: Were safe.

Among hotel and airline trade groups, I could find no comparable, industry-wide ethics pledge. But some companies have adopted ethics or values statements that work in a similar way. For example, Marriott dedicates a section of its corporate website to ethics, in which it reveals its commitment to responsible business, human rights, and uncompromising ethical and legal standards in all aspects of our business. It even publishes its business-conduct guide, which offers specifics on how employees are to behave.

Among air carriers, Delta Air Lines does the same thing, posting its employee code of ethics online, which encourages crew members to know whats right and do whats right.

The US Travel Insurance Association (USTIA) has a code of ethics that promotes standards of ethical and professional behavior. Among its requirements: to conduct business in good faith, according to the highest standards of honesty and fairness, not make false claims and to offer insurance products and services that represent value and high quality.

I asked if the USTIA could connect me with a member who had benefited from the code of ethics.

I cannot comment on any consumers, executive director Megan Freedman told me.

For the United States Tour Operators Association (USTOA), safety is in numbers. Its ethics statement is a consumer protection promise that requires each tour operator member company to set aside $1 million of its own funds to protect consumers deposits and payments against losses arising specifically from bankruptcy, insolvency or cessation of business of that member company.

Each USTOA tour operator member company is required to participate in the associations $1 million travelers assistance program, says Terry Dale, the USTOAs president and chief executive. But like the USTIA, it would not connect me with travelers who had benefited from the $1 million program.

[A pending bill would prohibit retribution for negative TripAdvisor and Yelp reviews]

One of the toughest-looking ethics statements is that of the Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA).

The cruise industrys trade organization requires members to sign an anti-corruption principles statement and to offer a cruise passenger bill of rights. The anti-corruption principles prohibit bribery, corruption, facilitation payments and hospitality gifts, and require members to engage in only ethical business conduct among other things.

The bill of rights gives passengers the right to leave a docked ship if the cruise cant provide essentials such as food, water, bathroom facilities and medical care; the right to a full refund for a trip canceled because of mechanical failures, or a partial refund if a trip is cut short for the same reason; and the right to timely updates about any changes in a ships itinerary caused by a mechanical failure or an emergency. It is widely seen as a successful industry-wide effort to thwart the U.S. governments regulation push several years ago.

Still, says CLIA spokeswoman Elinore Boeke, The bill of rights is a contractually binding agreement between a cruise line and its passengers and can be enforced by the courts if needed.

I asked the ASTA for details of its ethics course. Like the ethics statements offered by other trade organizations, it looked appealing on paper. The curriculum covers agency relationships, fiduciary duties, legal compliance and dispute resolution. The course, which is sponsored by Hilton Hotels & Resorts, underscores the trade groups goal, as outlined in its ethics statement, to have agents who are ethical and trustworthy. And that ethics statement has teeth, according to the ASTA. Violators can lose their membership and are reported online on the ASTAs consumer website, TravelSense.org.

The number is surprisingly small, on average just three or four per year, which is quite a low rate given the organizations 8,000-plus members worldwide, says Peter Lobasso, ASTAs general counsel. Nearly all of the expulsions originate with a complaint received from either a consumer or another ASTA member agency, he added.

So are these trade group ethics statements and company-specific values promises just meaningless rhetoric? While not one of the organizations contacted for this story could connect me with a consumer who benefited from an ethics statement, I know firsthand how difficult it can be to establish a cause-and-effect relationship. But I suspect that such a relationship exists.

Every day, I read help requests from customers, and many of them will invoke the ethics to which companies publicly commit themselves in their correspondence. And that is perhaps the silver lining to what critics see as a cynical effort to persuade customers that the cruise, tour or travel insurance policy they are booking is safe.

An ethics statement can be an effective card to play when youre trying to persuade a company to see things your way. It says: You promised to do the right thing. It doesnt really matter why  a promise is a promise.

Elliott is a consumer advocate, journalist and co-founder of the advocacy group Travelers United. Email him at chris@elliott.org.
Tourists in Thailand pose for a photo with a tiger before the relocation of the animals by officials of the Department of National Parks. Viator, soon will no longer sell tickets that include such experiences with captive wild animals or endangered species. (Narong Sangnak/EPA)

The elephant ride in Bali listed today on Viator could be gone tomorrow. Same for swimming with dolphins in Mexico. Cuddling tiger cubs in Thailand might also disappear from the booking sites worldwide listings.

This week, TripAdvisor, parent company of Viator, announced that it will no longer sell tickets to or generate booking revenue from attractions that do not meet its animal-welfare standards. After consulting with animal rights groups and industry experts earlier this year, the company decided to eliminate activities that involve travelers coming into physical contact with captive wild animals or endangered species. The company would not name any specific attractions or businesses but it did describe the types of experiences included in the sales ban  riding, swimming and petting. The decision builds on the companys current policy, which prohibits bookings that involve killing or injuring animals, such as bullfights and captive hunts.

We will use our strength for good and bring awareness to the issue, said Barbara Messing, TripAdvisors chief marketing officer.

[How TripAdvisor altered your vacation-planning universe]

TripAdvisor features nearly 700,000 attractions, of which only a few thousand involve animal encounters. The company expects to discontinue sales on hundreds of activities that do not comply with its criteria.

Its not a huge revenue loss, she said, and its a big win for animal-welfare standards.

Messing conceded that there is no universal standard for this tourism sector, so the company will rely on the advice and expertise of reputable conservation groups, animal rights organizations and scientists. It will start removing the offending tours from Viator immediately and will continue to weed them out through early next year. Tours cut from the site can appeal the decision and may be reinstated, depending on the evidence.

The policy shift has several exceptions. Experiences with educational, scientific or conservation value  such as zoos, aquariums and safari parks  will remain. Other exemptions include attractions that feature domestic animals, such as childrens petting zoos; aquarium touch tanks used for teaching purposes; supervised feeding programs; and voluntourism excursions at zoos, aquariums and sanctuaries. However, if a facility qualified for inclusion offers an add-on tour that fails the test, Viator will remove the tour but keep the main attraction. As for the millions of consumer reviews on TripAdvisor, the company said that it will not take down any write-ups, including ones covering the noncompliant attractions, and will even update the entries with new postings. Messing hopes the personal accounts will help raise awareness and assist other travelers contemplating a specific wildlife excursion.

[A proposed bill limits third-party hotel booking, but consumers have greater concerns]

For additional information on the issue, the company will affix to each relevant listing a paw icon that will link to an educational portal. Nearly a dozen organizations in the field will contribute to the educational tool, including activist and conservation groups (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, World Animal Protection, Think Elephants International), sustainable tourism organizations (Sustainable Travel International, Pacific Asia Travel Association) and academics (Oxford Universitys Wildlife Conservation Research Unit).

The portal will provide links and information on animal welfare practices, helping travelers to write more informed reviews about their experience, and to be aware of opinions that exist on the conservation implications and benefits of some tourism attractions, the company stated in a news release. In turn, TripAdvisor believes that better reviews will enable travelers to make more informed booking decisions and improve the standards of animal care in tourism worldwide.

Look for the paw prints early next year.

More from Travel:

Around the world in 20 days: How to visit seven countries in one 21,623-mile adventure

This isnt Darwins Galapagos: The wildlife-rich islands are more tourist-friendly than you think

Still finding kicks on Route 66
Tim and Savannah Finch, along with the Eastman String Band, will perform bluegrass and Americana at Calvert Marine Museum on Friday. (Calvert Marine Museum/ )

THU 13

Serrano Shoots Cuba The film follows controversial Cuban artist Andres Serrano across the country as he photographs influential figures, the poor, the rich and the dead. 6:30 p.m. Brentwood Arts Exchange at Gateway Arts Center, 3901 Rhode Island Ave., Brentwood. 301-277-2863. arts.pgparks.com. Free.

A Tale of Two Schools Morgan Freeman narrates this documentary about two struggling schools and the dedicated leaders who try to save them. 8-9:15 p.m. St. Marys College of Maryland, Cole Cinema, 18952 E. Fisher Rd., St. Marys City. 240-895-2000. www.smcm.edu. Free.

Inbal Pinto & Avshalom Pollak Dance Company: Wallflower A contemporary piece featuring 10 dancers in body suits that was first performed at the Tel Aviv Museum of Arts sculpture gallery. 8 p.m. Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center, Kay Theatre, University of Maryland, Route 193 and Stadium Drive, College Park. 301-405-2787. theclarice.umd.edu. $25, students $10.

FRI 14

Tim and Savannah Finch with the Eastman String Band The Maritime Performance Series continues with live bluegrass and Americana music. 7 p.m. Calvert Marine Museum, 14200 Solomons Island Rd., Solomons. 410-326-2042. www.calvertmarinemuseum.com. $15, in advance $12.

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum The Twin Beach Players stage this musical comedy about a slave in ancient Rome who tries to win his freedom by helping his master woo a neighbor. Opens Friday at 8 p.m., continues Saturday at 8 p.m., Sunday at 3 p.m. Through Oct. 30. North Beach Boys and Girls Club, 9021 Dayton Ave., North Beach. 301-502-3517. www.twinbeachplayers.com. $20; seniors, students and military $18.

Through Their Eyes reception A celebration of the exhibit by graduates of the Prince Georges County Public Schools Center for Visual and Performing Arts program. 6-9 p.m. On display through Jan. 31. Prince Georges African American Museum & Cultural Center, 4519 Rhode Island Ave., North Brentwood. 301-809-0440. www.pgaamcc.org. Free.

SAT 15

U.S. Oyster Festival The 50th annual festival features live music, an oyster cook-off, an oyster shucking contest, beer tasting, arts and crafts, and vendors. Saturday 10 a.m.-6 p.m., Sunday 11 a.m.-6 p.m. St. Marys County Fairgrounds, 42455 Fairgrounds Rd., Leonardtown. 301-475-2256. usoysterfest.com. $7, age 12 and younger free.

Charles County Food, Wine & Beer Festival Taste food and wine from local restaurants and wineries. Also features live music, vendors, crafts and a Paint & Sip event (noon, 2 p.m. and 4 p.m.). 11 a.m.-7 p.m. Regency Furniture Stadium, 11765 St. Linus Dr., Waldorf. 240-776-5028. charlescountywinefestival.com. $45, designated drivers $30. In advance $30, designated drivers $15; Paint & Sip $25. Nonperishable food donations welcome.

Chili Cook-Off Visitors can taste and vote for their favorite chili. Prizes awarded. Proceeds will benefit the Fraternal Order of Police and Hospice of Charles County. 1-5 p.m. Fraternal Order of Police, 10285 Rosewick Rd., La Plata. 301-861-5315. www.hospiceofcharlescounty.org. $5.

Diwali Festival A community celebration of Indian culture and tradition with dance, music, poetry, cultural programs and vendors. 1-6 p.m. Langley Park Plaza, 8001 New Hampshire Ave., Hyattsville. 301-445-7910. www.takomalangley.org. Free.

SUN 16

Calvert County Farm Festival The American Chestnut Land Trust hosts this community day with live music, hayrides, a farmers market, games, a raffle and more. 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Double Oak Farm, 676 Double Oak Rd., Prince Frederick. 410-414-3400. www.acltweb.org. Free.

Jazz Talk: The Sounds of Brazil Brazilian saxophonist and composer Michel Nirenberg showcases instruments and rhythms of his country, accompanied by a percussionist. (Nirenberg and his quartet will also give a concert Friday at 8 p.m.) 2 p.m. Montpelier Arts Center, 9652 Muirkirk Rd., Laurel. 301-377-7800. arts.pgparks.com. Free; concert $25, $22.50 for seniors.

MON 17

The Armor of Light Director Abigail Disneys documentary explores gun ownership and violence. Screening followed by discussion with Talaya Grimes of the Creative Edge Collaborative. 7 p.m. Hyattsville Library, 6530 Adelphi Rd., Hyattsville. 301-985-4690. www.pgcmls.info. Free.

Black Films Matter: The L.A. Rebellion St. Marys College of Marylands Department of Theater, Film and Media Studies 10th annual film series closes with the 1977 film Killer of Sheep. Screening followed by Q&A with director. 8:15 p.m. St. Marys College of Maryland, Cole Cinema, 18952 E. Fisher Rd., St. Marys City. 240-895-4225. www.smcm.edu. Free.

TUE 18

Poetry Night open mic Patrons can hit the stage with original or known works. 7-9 p.m. New Deal Cafe, 113 Centerway, Greenbelt. 301-474-5642. www.newdealcafe.com. Free.

WED 19

Pumpkin carving Participants can get their hands dirty and carve a pumpkin to take home. For age 10 and older. 6:30-7:30 p.m. Piccowaxen Community Center, 12834 Rock Point Rd., Newburg. 301-259-2503. www.charlescountyparks.com . $12, residents of Prince Georges and Montgomery counties $10. Registration requested.

 Compiled by

Jillian S. Jarrett

from staff reports
Two adventurous teenagers were in for a shock when they tried to board the Mumbai local train in style.

By India Today Web Desk: A teenager was saved by his friend from being run over by a train at the Kurla station in Mumbai yesterday.

Two engineering students, Virendra Pokle (16) and Sarvesh Dheere (16), while returning from their classes decided to be a little adventurous.

When the train entered the station around 1.44 pm, the boys started walking in the opposite direction. As they boarded the train, Pokle lost his balance and fell in the gap between the train and the platform. Fortunately, Dhere managed to pull him out before the train started to move.

advertisement

According to Railway Protection Force, the incident was caused because of the boys' carelessness.

Pokle suffered minor injuries and has been admitted to a nearby hospital.

Also watch: Man miraculously survives high-voltage electric shock in Mumbai



READ: Woman injured after coming under wheels of express train



--- ENDS ---
THE DISTRICT

Man charged in August shooting death

D.C. police Wednesday arrested a suspect in the August shooting of a man who authorities said was killed after a neighborhood block party had been broken up in Northeast.

Montez J. Warren, 35, of Southeast, has been charged with first-degree murder while armed. He is accused of shooting Dante Miller, 24, a few minutes after 2 a.m. on Aug. 21 during an altercation in the 1200 block of 18th Place NE.

A neighborhood advisory commissioner said at the time that the shooting occurred after police broke up a block party.

Police said Miller was shot several times and pronounced dead at the scene. Police did not say what they think the motive was.

 Peter Hermann

Obama to speak at Banneker High School

President Obama plans to visit the Districts Benjamin Banneker Academic High School on Monday to deliver a speech highlighting his administrations record on education during the past eight years, according to a White House spokeswoman.

Obama had planned to deliver the speech last month at Annandale High in Fairfax County, but that event was postponed when he traveled to Jerusalem for the funeral of Shimon Peres, the former president of Israel.

Banneker High, located in Northwest Washington across the street from Howard University, is one of several selective-admissions public high schools in the District. Enough of its 450 students are low-income that all receive free lunch, but the school boasts a 100 percent graduation rate.

Obama visited Banneker in September 2011, giving a back-to-school speech that focused less on policy than on personal advice to students. Youve got to work hard in school, he told them. But youve also got to take time to wonder, explore, and color outside of the lines.

 Emma Brown

MARYLAND

Police ID man struck, killed by car

Police have identified a Hyattsville man as the person fatally struck by an SUV on Wednesday night.

Kevin Fowler, 47, was crossing the street about 10:30 p.m. near Annapolis Road and West Lanham Drive in New Carrollton when an SUV struck him, according to Prince Georges County Police.

Fowler was not in a crosswalk, and the driver remained at the scene, police said.

 Lynh Bui
Beverly Smith lost her son, Alonzo Smith, in November while he was in the custody of law enforcement. She is photographed Aug. 3 in her Washington home. (Marvin Joseph/The Washington Post)

Federal prosecutors announced Thursday that they will not pursue criminal charges against two security guards involved in a deadly November confrontation with a District man at a Southeast Washington apartment complex.

Alonzo Smith, 27, was stopped by the guards after he was spotted running through the complex, shirtless and shoeless, yelling for help. The U.S. attorneys office offered condolences to Smiths family for what it called a tragic incident but said there is insufficient evidence to prosecute the guards.

Prosecutors said Smith suffered a cardiac incident. He was under the influence of a significant amount of cocaine and was being restrained by the guards, prosecutors said, both of which may have contributed to his death.

After interviewing more than two dozen witnesses and reviewing medical reports and other records, prosecutors concluded there was not enough evidence to prove that the guards violated Mr. Smiths civil rights by using excessive force or that they possessed the requisite criminal intent at the time of the events, according to a lengthy statement released by the office of U.S. Attorney Channing D. Phillips.

The Districts medical examiner last year ruled Smiths death a homicide. The examiner found that compressions to the torso contributed to his death, and officials said the injury may have occurred as a guard pressed his knee into Smiths back.

Alonzo Smith, 27, who died Nov. 1, 2015, after being found handcuffed by special police officers in an apartment building in Southeast Washington. (Family photo)

[U.S. attorneys office full statement on Alonzo Smith]

Standing outside the prosecutors office, Smiths mother told supporters and reporters that she was not satisfied with the explanation.

They are still not giving me any information, so therefore its still a coverup and they are still complicit in my sons murder, Beverly Smith said after meeting privately with prosecutors before the official announcement.

[D.C. woman seeks answers in death of son following confrontation with guards]

The encounter unfolded early Nov. 1, 2015, at the complex on Good Hope Road near Anacostia, where the guards were working as special police. Such guards are armed, have limited arrest powers and are licensed by the District. They protect schools, libraries, local and federal government buildings, and apartment complexes.

Smith worked as a teachers assistant at Accotink Academy Learning Center, a private school in Springfield, Va., for students with special needs and those with troubled histories. His family previously said that he may have been visiting a woman and that the two may have had a dispute.

Authorities said the incident began when complex residents called 911 to report a man racing through the halls, shouting and banging on doors.

In the detailed account issued Thursday, prosecutors said Smith arrived just before 2:30 a.m. to visit a friend and then abruptly returned to his car about an hour later. Multiple witnesses told investigators that they saw Smith running outside  shirtless and shoeless  and yelling for help. One resident saw him trying to climb a fire escape ladder leading to the roof.

Two residents reported hearing a voice telling Smith to calm down and to come down from the ladder.

According to prosecutors, one guard grabbed Smith in a bear hug-type move, pivoted, and put Mr. Smith onto the floor after Smith tried to jump past the special police officer and/or over the railing.

No witnesses told investigators that they saw anyone chasing or assaulting Smith. Prosecutors also said there is no evidence that either guard punched, kicked, or otherwise struck Smith.

D.C. police officers arrived at the complex just after 4 a.m. The scene was captured on police body-camera footage, which was the first such video released by Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D).

The officers found Smith lying on his stomach on a staircase landing, conscious and breathing. His hands were cuffed behind his back. One of the guards knelt next to him, kneeling occasionally on Smiths lower back, according to prosecutors. The other held Smiths head down.

The guards told the officers they believed Smith was high on PCP, and an officer shackled Smiths ankles in case of a drug-induced violent outburst, according to the statement.

About a minute after police arrived, prosecutors said, the officers realized Smith had stopped moving and making sounds, although he still had a pulse.

Officers administered CPR before Smith was rushed to United Medical Center, where he died just after 5 a.m.

Prosecutors said Thursday that the toxicology screening showed Smith had an exceedingly high amount of cocaine in his blood, which can cause hallucinations and erratic behavior similar to reactions associated with PCP.

According to the autopsy, Smith had no broken bones, no injuries to his vital organs, and no signs of trauma to his spine or neck. The autopsy did show blunt force injuries  described as abrasions, contusions and hemorrhages  on Smiths head, neck and torso.

Although the medical examiner ruled Smiths death a homicide, prosecutors said such a determination is insufficient, in and of itself to prove that a person is criminally responsible for the death.

To prove that any officer violated local laws or federal criminal civil rights laws, prosecutors must be able to show that officers willfully used more force than was reasonably necessary, a bar the U.S. attorneys office described Thursday as a heavy burden.

Defense attorney Justin Dillon, a former homicide prosecutor, said the large amount of cocaine probably contributed to the decision not to charge the guards.

The government would still have to prove that they were grossly negligent, and you cant assume that simply because someone died during an arrest  especially when they had acute cocaine toxicity that may have required more force than usual for the arrest.

Defense attorneys Danny Onorato and Steven McCool, who represent the guards, declined to comment on the case.

In the year since Smiths death, his mother has repeatedly sought more information, including the names of the guards, which officials have not made public. She also has taken on a public role as an advocate, speaking out against police brutality and gun violence.

While Beverly Smith met with prosecutors Thursday, about two dozen protesters stood outside the Judiciary Square office chanting, Justice for Zo, a reference to her sons nickname. Representatives from various organizations, including Black Lives Matter, called for an end to police violence and what they described as systemic racism.
D.C. police on Wednesday arrested a suspect in the August shooting death of a man who authorities said was killed after a neighborhood block party had been broken up in Northeast Washington.

Montez J. Warren, 35, of Southeast, has been charged with first-degree murder while armed. He is accused of shooting Dante Miller, 24, a few minutes after 2 a.m. on Aug. 21 during an altercation in the 1200 block of 18th Place NE.

[Police searching for gunman who fatally shot man after block party]

A neighborhood advisory commissioner said at the time that the shooting occurred after police broke up a neighborhood block party.

Police said Miller was shot several times and pronounced dead on the scene. Warren was arrested by members of the Capital Area Regional Fugitive Task Force. Police did not say what they believe the motive was.
RICHMOND - Donald Trump has shifted some staff from Virginia to North Carolina, but campaign officials said Thursday that was a temporary move and not a sign that the Republican presidential nominee had given up on the crucial battleground state.

A Trump spokesman said the campaign had redeployed an unspecified number of staffers for early voting in North Carolina.

We remain absolutely committed to winning in Virginia, John Ullyot, the campaigns deputy political director for communications, said in a written statement. While were reallocating some of our staff strategically to accommodate early voting in nearby priority states such as North Carolina, our campaign leadership and staffing remains strong in Virginia.

Earlier Thursday, the acting chairman of Trumps Virginia campaign, John Fredericks, had provided a different account of the shifting resources. Fredericks, a conservative radio host, said the campaign recently sent one of the states two Trump buses to neighboring North Carolina for a Trump womens tour.

All campaigns move resources around, he said. Ill confirm that the Trump bus in Virginia went to North Carolina for several days. . . . You would have to be an idiot not to do that. You drive down 95, you hit the state [line]. . . . Its temporary. Theyre coming back.

The statements came in response to an NBC report early Thursday that Trump was pulling out of Virginia, a critical piece of the electoral map. The report, quoting unidentified people, said the campaign announced the move in a conference call with its Virginia staff late Wednesday.

Fredericks said the campaign has a regular Wednesday-night phone call, although he does not participate, because he gets up very early for his radio program. On Thursday, he said he saw the NBC report and called a Trump family member who assured him it was not true. He declined to identify the Trump relative.

Not True! Totally False! Bogus! Planted to dispirit our tens of thousands of volunteers in Virginia, Fredericks wrote in a text message to The Washington Post. I confirmed this with Trump family at 5:00 a.m. False. . . . We are committed to winning Virginia and our volunteer base is in the tens of thousands.

A member of Trumps Virginia staff gave a similar account, saying that there had been a temporary shift of resources to North Carolina. He spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to comment for the campaign. Another paid Trump staffer confirmed Thursday that he was still on the job in Virginia.

Corey Stewart, who was ousted this week as Trumps Virginia co-chairman, said that multiple paid campaign staffers contacted him after the conference call to say they had been redeployed to North Carolina.

Stewart initially said he was not sure whether only those jobs had been moved or whether Trump was pulling entirely out of the state. He said he later concluded, based on news reports, that the campaign was, in fact, quitting Virginia.

Stewart is a 2017 contender for Virginia governor and chairman of the Prince William Board of County Supervisors. Still a Trump supporter, he accused the Republican National Committee of depriving the campaign of necessary resources for months.

We asked for and were promised 80 new paid staff for the ground campaign last August, and we went ahead and proceeded to hire those people. And then the RNC pulled the funding, he said. We had to let a lot of them go.

At the time, the RNC already had about 70 staffers in the state, but Stewart said he wanted to more than double that because Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton had 300 to 400 in Virginia. He said Virginia still had about 70 staffers at the time of his ouster.

I made an appeal to a member of the Trump family, and right after that, the RNC said, Fine, what do you need? They said, Fine, go ahead and start hiring them,  Stewart said. Its been a pattern of reaching out to Trump family, pressure put on the RNC, the RNC temporarily say, Okay, fine. Well do that, and they promise the resources but they never materialized.

Stewart said the Virginia campaign was so hard up that it had trouble getting yard signs and literature.

But Wendell Walker, a GOP activist leading Trumps efforts in central Virginia, said there has been no shortage of campaign materials in his part of the state. He said the one paid staffer in the region was still on the job.

Together with the RNC and the state Party, we will have all the resources we need to re-take the Commonwealth at the Presidential level in November, as historically early voting in Virginia is much less of a focus for both parties than in some other states such as North Carolina, Ullyots statement said.

Virginia does not offer early voting to all voters, but it does allow citizens to cast in-person absentee ballots if they are unable to do so on Election Day for certain reasons, such as personal or business travel or military deployment

Clinton has held a comfortable lead in Virginia polls for months. Trumps Virginia campaign was roiled this week as it dismissed Stewart as its state co-chairman. Against the wishes of the campaign, Stewart had participated in a rally outside RNC headquarters in Washington, accusing establishment Republicans of undermining Trumps effort.

A plea to the Trump campaign: Dont pull out of Virginia, Stewart wrote this week on Facebook. Thousands of dedicated volunteers have spent millions of hours knocking on doors, making phone calls and raising money for Mr. Trump over the past 15 months. Virginia is winnable. An aggressive ad campaign - in combination with the efforts of these volunteers - will produce results. Pulling out now would be a betrayal to these volunteers.
Daniel Turissini, owner of recharj, relaxes in one of the power-nap cocoons in Washington. (Katherine Frey/The Washington Post)

In the go-go culture of the nations capital, where power brokers brag about how little sleep they need and every dawn seems to bring another cafe brewing caffeine for the workforce, a new enterprise is making a play for the weary.

Its a windowless room downtown with real bark walls, faux grass floors and curtain-divided sleeping pods, where suited-up professionals can pay $15 to take a 20-minute nap  a brief midday respite in the middle of bustling Washington.

Welcome to Recharj, which opened in September near the White House as a sanctuary from the stress and constant noise of the outside world. The business is part of the nascent workday sleep industry, which banks on dragging workers out of their offices to meditate and, yes, power nap.

As discordant as Recharj may seem against the workaholic stereotype of downtown Washington, its origins have a familiar D.C. beginning: an underslept government consultant.

Daniel Turissini, the companys 31-year-old founder, has worked downtown since 2008 and recalls unsuccessful searches for a comfortable place to nap. He wasnt alone in his quest, discovering that co-workers were also discreetly dozing.

Certified yoga and meditation instructor Christine Marcella, studio manager at recharj, talks with Kat Song after her first meditation session. (Katherine Frey/The Washington Post)

It wasnt a matter of whether or not people were napping each day, Turissini said. It was a matter of where they were doing it.

Recharj joins a movement of boutique fitness studios, pricey restaurants and trendy bars opening in the District. Like these establishments, Turissinis business is capitalizing onthe changing demographics of the city, particularly the influx of affluent millennials concerned about work-life balance and healthy living.

[This new apartment has an Uber room to wait for your ride]

Recharj also promotes meditation and mindfulness, an en vogue practice that encourages full awareness in the present and is touted as a way to reduce stress and improve mood.

Individual sleep pods, dubbed cocoons, allow nappers to crawl under a slate-colored blanket and lie on a firm, bean bag-like bed that molds to their bodies. The lights shut off, nappers don lavender-scented eye masks and doze as a soft soundtrack timed to the frequency of their sleep cycle plays. They lay their heads on colorful pillows with words like awesome, peace and love. After 20 minutes, a faint beep  far more pleasant-sounding than an alarm clock  wakes everyone.

When a power nap just isnt enough, certified instructors lead 20-minute meditation classes with names such as realign, reborn and re-center.

Its an oasis in the middle of the city offering a serene sense of calm that you cant find anywhere else, Turissini said. We have a consciously curated, dedicated space for both mindfulness and power napping.

Certified yoga and meditation instructor Christine Marcella, studio manager at recharj, makes sure that Kat Song is comfortable before a meditation session. (Katherine Frey/The Washington Post)

Mindfulness practices are becoming more popular as meditation studios sprout across the country. Companies such as Google and the Huffington Post have dedicated spaces in their offices for employees to nap.

In San Francisco, a company called Doze allows businesses and events to rent high-tech, $11,000 reclining nap pods by the month.

The biggest challenge is the American cultural work ethic and getting people more comfortable napping throughout the day, Doze owner Brandon Smith said.

Doze nearly closed at one point but turned around after a steady stream of advertising agencies and co-working spaces began renting pods for their employees, Smith said.

Sleep scientists say midday naps can help workers fight drowsiness that typically hits in the afternoon. And although a power nap isnt intended to replace a decent nights sleep, it can help offset natural afternoon drowsiness, said Vivek Jain, director of the Center for Sleep Disorders at George Washington University.

But there is a correct way to doze in the middle of the day, he warned. Effective naps should not exceed 30 minutes, and sleepers should not fall into a deep slumber. When done correctly, he said, nappers should wake feeling refreshed  not with the grogginess of waking in the morning.

[Downtown YMCA to close amid rising competition from upscale gyms]

Naps are a good thing when done appropriately, Jain said. There is science showing improvement in memory-processing in the afternoon, and overall, our cognitive efficiency goes up.

Recharj quietly opened a month ago and plans a grand opening in November. Through word of mouth and local media reports, customers are starting to trickle in.

About 12:30 p.m. on a recent Monday, two LivingSocial employees  whose offices are in the same New York Avenue NW building  arrived for a power-napping session decked out in their professional attire. Taking a nap is far more rejuvenating than their usual midday coffee, they said.

Its just a nice break in the middle of the day, Colleen OReilly said after her third session at Recharj. Everyone always comments on how refreshed we look when we walk back to the office.

Turissini said some workers are afraid bosses and co-workers might see a midday nap as a sign of laziness. With the backing of sleep science, he hopes Recharj squashes the siesta stigma.

And hes hoping businesses will subsidize the cost for their employees.

Christy Stillwall, a 28-year-old account supervisor at D.C. marketing firm Delucchi Plus, has a health-and-wellness budget for her team and is considering purchasing sessions at Recharj for her employees, who are starting their busy season. After attending meditation classes and power-napping sessions, her team noticed the results.

Its a different idea, and in advertising, you always look to the newest and best idea, so I was intrigued, she said, adding that she came away from her nap feeling more productive.

Its unclear whether Washingtons workday culture will be hospitable to a routine midday sleep, but Turissini said he hopes fast-paced professionals will at least try it.

Everyone is kind of curious, he said. This is a new concept.
Lucille Johnson, center, gets help from her friend David Joyner, left, and Edgecombe County Sheriff Sgt. Tony Harper as she evacuates from her home in Princeville, N.C., on Oct. 9. (Chris Seward/Associated Press)

TARBORO, N.C.  The evacuated residents of Princeville, N.C., are stuck here on the other side of a swollen river, trying to make sense of what might happen to their threatened town. All roads to Princeville are blocked and all views from bridges are obscured, so they sit at a high school thats been turned into a temporary shelter and check their phones for news about the Tar River.

A dike protecting their town stands 37 feet.

The river, on Wednesday, was at 36.2 feet. On Thursday morning, 36.3 feet.

Another nightmare, said Timothy Lyons, 54.

[These North Carolina towns have been nearly wiped out before: From Floyd to Matthew]

1 of 34 Full Screen Autoplay Close Skip Ad  Incredible photos of floodwaters in North Carolina View Photos Rivers are rising to record crests in the state after more than 17 inches of rain fell during Hurricane Matthew. Caption Rivers are rising to record crests in the state after more than 17 inches of rain fell during Hurricane Matthew. Oct. 13, 2016 Floodwaters associated with Hurricane Matthew surround a church sign and homes in Lumberton, N.C. Gov. Pat McCrory said Thursday the number of power outages was down to about 55,000, from a high of nearly 900,000 when the storm hit last week. Brian Blanco/AP Wait 1 second to continue.

In an increasingly close call that residents here are struggling to fathom, the flooding is again endangering low-lying Princeville  a town that was decimated by rainfall from Hurricane Floyd in 1999 and then rebuilt. Officials in Edgecombe County say they think Princeville will escape without major damage, but water began entering one section of the city Wednesday morning.

Its ankle-deep in the back of town, said William Johnson, Edgecombe Countys assistant manager.

This town was one of many facing historic flooding in the aftermath of Hurricane Matthew, which killed more than 500 people in Haiti before inflicting destruction on beaches and coastal communities from Florida to Virginia. The storm dumped massive amounts of rain onto inland North Carolina starting Saturday, and the full river basins have been rising ever since.

Some rivers are expected to remain at major flood stage until the end of next week.

The storms death toll is at 22, Gov. Pat McCrory (R) said Thursday, and officials have continued to warn that more of those reported missing may be found drowned. The governor said one victim drowned when the car they were in went around a barricade and encountered a washed-out road. A second victim died when he walked into a hole from an uprooted tree and couldnt get out.

Sections of Interstate 95, one of the nations major arteries between Maine and Florida, remained closed, and thousands were still in shelters in North Carolina. McCrory said the states top priority was getting people into hotel rooms or rental properties and then into temporary housing provided by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

However, he warned that the storms impact could last for a year for those who lost homes and businesses. After days of visiting towns that sat eerily quiet with brown still water covering their streets and house porches, McCrory said, Its a surreal experience to see this on a sunshiny day.

Quavas Hart was sharing flood footage from his drone when it caught the eye of the brother of a veteran stranded in Hope Mills, N.C.  in the very house Hart filmed. Hart flagged a rescue crew, who then saved Chris Williams and his dog, Lana. (Jenny Starrs/The Washington Post)

The meandering Neuse River, expected to crest in Kinston on Friday, has taken over the communities that line its banks one by one. On Wednesday, rescue workers and sheriffs deputies persuaded the last woman in Seven Springs to leave the only home she had ever known.

The mayor predicted that the scenic place once known for its mineral waters might never be inhabited again.

It is unreal, said Iris Hudson, who lives opposite Seven Springs on high ground. They said it would never happen again. And hello, here we are again.

The specter of a new disaster is particularly troubling to Princeville, because the town is only slightly better fortified against flooding than it was two decades ago. In the aftermath of Floyd, President Bill Clinton created a new council to draw up a plan to better protect the town, citing its unique historic and cultural importance. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers made a few modest and immediate improvements, but a more extensive construction plan  detailed in a December 2015 feasibility report  is still awaiting funding from Congress. The Corps of Engineers says the dike protecting Princeville is no higher than it was in 1999, when the Tar River crested at 41.5 feet.

We met with the Army Corps of Engineers this summer about the new improvements, said Princevilles mayor, Bobbie Jones. But they were going back to Congress to get the funding. We dont want to blame anybody, but it has to deal with Congress.

[Death toll climbs to 19 in North Carolina as disaster shifts downstream]

It takes years and years to get these things up and running, said Lisa Parker, a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers spokeswoman. Everybody is fighting to get at the trough. Theres a vetting process. Theyre looking at cost and environmental impact and it has to be funded.

Although the dike  a crown-like cap at the north part of town  has held as designed, water is entering a side where the dike tapers off. Princeville town manager Daniel Gerald said water was also being pushed into town through a storm drain, reverse-vacuumed in under pressure from the Tar River.

Princeville is thought to be the first town in the United States settled by freed slaves. After Floyd, up to 20 feet of water covered the town for 10 days. Coffins were dredged up from the soil and floated across the water like canoes. Nearly every home was destroyed. The town remained uninhabited for months, with people relocating to FEMA trailers, and residents briefly debated whether to accept a government offer to federalize the property and tear everything down. But they decided not to, and the population rebounded.

Princeville looked so pitiful, whew, said Annie Battle, 63.

She recalled returning to her single-wide trailer after the water receded.

The furniture was warped. Dark mold covered the walls.

I had to wear a mask and boots, Battle said. And a smock, like in an operating room. I took some family photos and that was all.

[Flooding from hurricane hits lower-income North Carolina residents hard]

In the years after Floyd, some federal money did pour into Princeville. Town hall was reconstructed. So was a senior community center. An African American museum was rebuilt  though with only a few original items from Princeville. Damage to Princeville from Floyd was estimated at $116 million.

On Wednesday, Battle and more than 100 others were at Tarboro High School, which sits on higher ground across the river from Princeville. Data from the National Weather Service projects that the Tar River is on the verge of receding. But if it reaches 37 feet, failure may be expected at the Princeville levee, the agency said, and flooding begins in the town.

Common sense would have told you, they could have made the dike higher by now, said Terry Brown, 55, a Princeville resident who sat on a cot next to Battle.

I know, Brown said. What were they thinking? Did the people involved even care?

Arelis R. Hernandez in Seven Springs, N.C., and Angela Fritz in Washington contributed to this report.

Read more:

Finally. Someone who thinks like me.

Hurricane victims face another challenge: Exercising their right to vote

North Carolinas flood disaster is more than peak crest. Its going to last for days.
Muslims across the country fear that the government may try to impose Hindu marriage laws on other communities if the UCC is brought in.

By Javed M. Ansari : The All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) has reacted with predictable hostility on the question of a Uniform Civil Code (UCC) in the country. It's reaction is akin to its harsh response to the Supreme Court verdict in the Shah Bano case, which forced the Parliament to overturn the verdict, leading to far reaching political repercussions.

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The position adopted by the AIMPLB has drawn support from a section of the community leadership. "I whole heartedly support the AIMPLB's position, we will not tolerate any interference in our religious affairs. The Constitution guarantees us the right to practice and conduct our religious affairs in accordance with our scriptures", says Mehmood Madani, General Secretary of the Jamiat Ulema-I-Hind.

AIMIM Chief Assauddin Owasi has also opposed the move to bring about a UCC in the country. "The government has no business interfering in the religious affairs of communities. We are a multi-cultural, multi-religious country and each community has its own practices, and customs. The government needs to stay out of this," said Owiasi.

Also read: Muslim NGO condemns Centre's take on triple talaq, says will defend the 'faith' if challenged



REFORM NEEDED



However, there are others like eminent jurist AG Noorani who holds a more nuanced view on the subject. He is of the view that by delaying the much needed reforms in the Muslim marriage laws, the clergy has brought upon itself the situation it faces today. "I'm not in favour of a UCC but I feel very strongly that there is need for a reform of the Muslim marriage laws. The Quran prohibits polygamy," he added.

The law commission has sent a questionnaire to several religious organisations soliciting their views on the question of adopting a common civil code laws for all religions, particularly relating to issues like marriage, inheritance, divorce, adoption and maintenance. This would replace personal laws based on the scriptures and customs of each religion.

The AIMPLB's strong reaction comes a week after the government told the Supreme Court that it is opposed to the practice of triple talaq and polygamy in Muslim community.

Also read: Triple talaq row: Muslim personal law board to boycott law panel, calls it biased



INTERFERENCE IN COMMUNITY LAWS



The country currently has a separate set of personal laws for each community. Though many women organisations from within the Muslim community have approached the apex court calling for an end to the practice of triple talaq. Although, they are also opposed to the UCC.

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"Rather than a Uniform Civil Code, what we need is a gender just reform in Muslim marriage laws," says Noorjehan Safia Niaz, co-founder of the Bhartiya Muslim Mahila Andolan. Niaz said that there is a strong suspicion that under the garb of bringing in a Uniform Civil Code, the government will try and impose Hindu marriage laws on other communities.

--- ENDS ---
Aedes aegypti mosquitoes, responsible for transmitting Zika. The office of Florida Gov. Rick Scott announced Thursday that the virus has been detected in another Miami neighborhood. (Felipe Dana/AP)

MISSOURI

Death-row drug rms anonymity ruled legal

Missouri can keep secret the identity of the supplier from which the state purchases the drugs it uses for lethal injections, a federal appellate court ruled Thursday, reversing its own earlier ruling that the supplier had to be revealed.

A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit in St. Louis overruled a Sept. 2 ruling by the same judges that the state must disclose its pentobarbital supplier to two Mississippi death-row inmates suing for the information.

At that time, the panel rejected as inherently speculative Missouris claim that revealing how it gets the powerful sedative could hamper its ability to obtain such chemicals for future executions.

But the 8th Circuit granted Missouri a rehearing and on Thursday found that the state  and, more notably, the drugs supplier, identified in court filings only by the pseudonym M7  made a more persuasive case than in previous arguments.

The supplier insisted in court filings since the Sept. 2 ruling that it no longer would provide pentobarbital to Missouri if its anonymity vanishes.

 Associated Press

NEW JERSEY

Judge allows Bridgegate case targeting Christie

A New Jersey judge allowed a citizens criminal complaint against Gov. Chris Christie (R) over the Bridgegate scandal to move forward, referring it to state prosecutors for consideration.

A court official confirmed that Roy McGeady, the presiding judge for municipal courts in Bergen County, had found probable cause for a complaint filed last month by Bill Brennan, an activist and retired firefighter, accusing Christie of official misconduct.

The case now moves to the Bergen County Prosecutors Office, which will decide whether enough evidence exists to support a criminal charge.

Brennan filed the complaint in municipal court in Fort Lee, N.J., where Christie allies were accused of deliberately causing a massive traffic jam in September 2013 by closing access lanes to the George Washington Bridge to punish the towns mayor.

Christie wasnt charged by federal prosecutors in the lane-closing case and wasnt held responsible by other investigations into the political revenge plot.

 From news services

Zika spreads to one more Miami neighborhood: Florida health officials have identified another Miami neighborhood where mosquitoes have spread the Zika virus to people. The office of Gov. Rick Scott (R) announced that five people have been infected with Zika in a 1-square-mile area just north of the Little Haiti neighborhood. Health officials said last month that another transmission zone in Miamis Wynwood district had been cleared.

 Associated Press
Mr. Fendler, his feet still bandaged, is honored in 1939 in Rye, N.Y., upon his return from his ordeal on Mount Katahdin. (AP File Photo)

Donn Fendler, a Boy Scout who lost his way during a mountain trek in Maine in 1939, embarking on a nine-day survival story that transfixed the nation and inspired generations with its themes of self-reliance and intrepidity, died Oct. 10 at a hospital in Bangor, Maine. He was 90.

His son, Dennis K. Fendler, confirmed the death. The cause could not immediately be determined.

Mr. Fendler was a month shy of his 13th birthday when he became a national hero, the victor in a battle not of man vs. nature, but of boy vs. nature. His ordeal landed him in newspapers across the country and, it was said, in the prayers of mothers everywhere.

It was the summer of 1939. Mr. Fendler was vacationing with his parents and siblings in Newport, Maine, the annual retreat from their home in Rye, N.Y. On July 17, he set out with his father, his twin brother, another brother and two friends to hike Mount Katahdin  at roughly a mile high, the tallest peak in Maine.

As they made their way to the summit, Mr. Fendler and a friend sped ahead of the group. When fog suddenly rolled in, Mr. Fendler panicked and turned back to join his father. Along the way, he veered off the trail and became lost.

Mr. Fendler, pictured at 13, receives an award from President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1940 for the bravery he showed in surviving nine days stranded atop Maines tallest mountain. (AP File Photo)

I had a feeling I was right on the edge of a great cliff, he recalled in an as-told-to memoir, Lost on a Mountain in Maine (1939), co-authored with Joseph B. Egan. The way the clouds swirled scared me. The rocks about me looked more like ghosts than rocks, until I tried to climb over them.

Sleet followed the fog, and cold began to set in. A search party was formed and swelled during the next days into the hundreds, including police and fire officials, forestry authorities, game wardens, the National Guard, and concerned citizens.

As searchers combed the mountain, Mr. Fendler survived on what he described as his faith in God and his will to live  along with pointers from the Scouts.

By day, he gathered strawberries and checkerberries. By night, he slept in a burlap sack salvaged on the trail. He lost his shoes and, soon after, his pants, when he attempted to toss them across a stream, only to watch them float away in the water. What little clothes remained were snagged to shreds on jagged rocks, leaving Mr. Fendler with no defense against mosquitoes and flies.

At one point, he looked down at his bare feet and saw he had lost part of a toe.

Through his tribulations, he stuck to certain routines, such as going to bed early and saying his prayers. And he remembered a tip from the Scouts: If lost in the wild, follow a stream to civilization.

Unbeknown to Mr. Fendler, the search went on, but hopes began to dim. At a low point, a bloodhound traced his trail to a 400-foot precipice. Im trying to make myself believe there is still a thread of hope, Mr. Fendlers father told the New York Times during the ordeal.

Mr. Fendler in 2011. (Michael C. York/AP)

Finally, on July 25, the owner of a sporting camp spotted a half-clothed, exhausted boy crying on the banks of the Penobscot River, 35 miles from where his family had last seen him. When the man asked for the childs name, the lost boy replied, Donn Fendler. I was lost on the mountain, according to an account from the Associated Press.

Mr. Fendler was down from 74 to 58 pounds. After a joyful reunion with his parents, he received a heros welcome home, including a parade, a feature in Life magazine and a medal from the governor of Maine declaring him the most courageous boy in America. Later, Mr. Fendler received a medal of valor from President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

This boy is not strong and yet he achieved a superhuman endurance, Egan, Mr. Fendlers co-author, wrote in a foreword to the memoir. He is highly nervous in temperament; yet he achieved calmness under circumstances that would have driven grown men insane.

Donn Charles Fendler was born in New York City on Aug. 29, 1926. His father sold clerical vestments.

When Mr. Fendler was honored by President Roosevelt, he declared that if I were old enough, I would enlist in the Army today. Five years to the day after he went missing, he joined the Navy, serving in the Pacific during World War II.

He later joined the Army Special Forces, serving in the Vietnam War, among other postings, before his retirement in 1978 at the rank of lieutenant colonel.

His wife of 56 years, the former Maryrose Connolly, died in 2009. Survivors include four children, Dennis K. Fendler of Nashville, Judith King of Cary, N.C., Bridget Fendler of Clarksville, Tenn., and Joanie Fendler of Guthrie, Ky.; two brothers; two sisters; six grandchildren; and a great-grandson.

Mr. Fendler divided his time between Clarksville and Maine, where he spoke to young people about his adventure on the mountain. His memoir, which was adapted into a graphic novel with co-creators Ben Bishop and Lynn Plourde, became assigned reading in schools.

He replied to every student who wrote to him; he owed a debt of gratitude to Maine, he said. He gave them tips for the outdoors: If you go hiking, carry food and water, a first-aid kid and a whistle. If you get separated, it will really help, he said in remarks recorded by the Sun Journal of Lewiston, Maine.

Mr. Fendler once reflected on why his saga had so gripped the country.

It was before the war, he told the Boston Globe. There just wasnt much going on in the country, and so my story caught peoples attention.

As for why it held the attention of youngsters so many decades later, he speculated that perhaps they looked at him and saw not an old man, but rather the plucky Scout he had been. He told the Bangor Daily News two years before his death, Im always the little boy.
The head of the former ruling dynasty of Mysuru takes to social media to show how the iconic Mysore Palace has been littered during the festival.

By Rohini Swamy: Not even the cleanest city in the country could save itself from the public litter that follows any festive celebration.

The head of the former ruling dynasty of Mysuru, Yaduveera Krishnadatta Chamaraja Wadiyar, took to Instagram to show his disappointment at the iconic Durbar Hall of Mysore Palace turning into a trash can.

Yaduveera Krishnadatta Chamaraja Wadiyar. (Source: PTI)

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Ironically, Mysuru was declared the first open defecation-free city and recently won the Cleanest City award at the India Today Safaigiri Awards 2016.



ALSO READ: Mysuru declared first open defecation-free city

In his Instragram post, Wadiyar lashed out at people for littering the Durbar Hall. "When will people understand that the Palace durbar hall is not a theatre," he said in the post.

Source: Instagram

A shocked Wadiyar then went on to say that "Never has anyone at any point been allowed to consume food at the durbar hall, let alone throw around their trash like in some theatre. (Not that we should throw trash around in a theatre)".

ALSO READ: A fine city: How Mysuru cleaned up its act to win Safaigiri Award



Wadiyar said that festivals are no reason for littering a public place, which is also a popular tourist spot. "We should understand at some point that we must preserve the sanctity of our sacred festival, our great city and its landmarks. Hope this blatant disregard to our most sacred building is not an annual feature," the post read.

Source: Instagram

Wadiyar's post has drawn similar sharp responses from fellow Mysoreans. While some said that a ban on bringing and consuming food inside the palace is the only way out, some others said people travelling from other cities are to be blamed.

ALSO READ: Mysuru Dasara: Royal family perform Ayudha puja



--- ENDS ---
NIGERIA

Boko Haram militants free 21 schoolgirls

The Nigerian government announced Thursday that it had secured the release of 21 of the more than 200 Chibok schoolgirls kidnapped by Boko Haram militants in April 2014.

The mass abduction in the northeastern town of Chibok thrust Nigerias Islamist insurgency into a global spotlight and underscored the challenges that security forces face in battling the militants.

A government spokesman said the release of the 21 captives was part of ongoing negotiations between Boko Haram and Nigerian officials.

It was brokered by the International Red Cross and the Swiss government. The negotiations will continue, the spokesman, Mallam Garba Shehu, said on Twitter.

In August, Boko Haram posted a video purporting to show recent footage of dozens of the Chibok schoolgirls, saying that some have been killed in airstrikes. In May, one of the missing girls was found wandering in the bush.

The government has been negotiating with Boko Haram for months, officials say. But with fighters dispersed across a vast stretch of northeastern Nigeria, including the dense Sambisa Forest, it was unclear whether the girls were being held together or whether there was a viable point of contact within the insurgency.

 Kevin Sieff

CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC

30 killed in attack by rebel group, U.N. says

Fighters with the former Seleka rebel group attacked a northern town in the Central African Republic in an overnight raid this week, and clashes left at least 30 people dead and 57 wounded as U.N. peacekeepers confronted the attackers, the United Nations said.

The attack in Kaga-Bandoro was probably in retaliation for the death Tuesday of a suspected former Seleka member, the peacekeeping mission said. Peacekeepers repelled the attackers, killing at least 12 of them, the mission said.

The United Nations condemned the violence, in which rebels attacked civilians, targeted authorities and looted aid organizations.

Armed men attacked a secondary school during a teacher training session, witnesses told the U.N. childrens agency, saying that among those killed were three teachers.

We are deeply shocked by these developments and saddened that teachers have been targeted, said Mohamed Malick Fall, a UNICEF representative.

The Central African Republic descended into conflict in 2013 when the mostly Muslim Seleka rebels overthrew the Christian president. That ushered in a brutal reign in which the rebels committed atrocities. When the rebel leader left power, a backlash by the Christian anti-Balaka militia against Muslim civilians followed. The sectarian violence has since continued.

 Associated Press

BRITAIN

Scots take step toward 2nd independence vote

The Scottish government next week will publish a bill laying the groundwork for a new vote on independence from the United Kingdom, Scotlands leader announced Thursday.

Scottish voters rejected independence in 2014 by 55 percent to 45 percent, but Britains June 23 vote to leave the European Union has reopened the Scotland question. By a large majority, Scots backed remaining in the E.U., but they were outnumbered by a majority in England who wanted to leave.

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon told her pro-independence Scottish National Party on Thursday that the Independence Referendum Bill will be published for consultation next week. She said that if Britain leaves the E.U.s single market of 500 million consumers, Scotland will have the right to decide, afresh, if it wants to take a different path.

A U.K. out of the single market  isolated, inward looking, hemorrhaging jobs, investment and opportunities  will not be the same country that Scotland voted to stay part of in 2014, Sturgeon said.

A new Scottish referendum is not a certainty. Opinion polls suggest there is not yet a majority in favor of independence.

 Associated Press

Macedonia extends emergency: Macedonia has again extended the state of emergency it declared at the height of Europes migration crisis along its borders with Greece and Serbia, this time until the end of June. Macedonia first imposed a six-month state of emergency on its southern and northern borders in August 2015. It has been renewed a few times since. About 1 million refugees and other migrants transited through Macedonia last year en route to Europes heartland.

 From news services
The GOP presidential nominee is out on the trail ahead of the general election in November.

The GOP presidential nominee is out on the trail ahead of the general election in November.

In the interest of fairness, I wish to raise an issue on which Donald Trump has been consistently and resoundingly right: The Republican Party is utterly pathetic.

During a decade of commentary, and in a career of government service before that, I have often argued that the GOP is better than its liberal stereotypes. It is a case I can no longer make, at least when it comes to presidential politics.

The Trump ascendancy is the triumph of anti-reason  of birtherism, of vaccine denialism, of suggestions that Justice Antonin Scalia was smothered with a pillow and that Hillary Clinton may have been involved in the death of Vince Foster. It is the triumph of nativism  of a political appeal based on hatred against migrants and Muslims. It is the triumph of white nationalism, which has moved inward from the fringes of Republican politics. It is the triumph of misogyny, demonstrated with words that require a disinfectant shower after hearing. It is the triumph of authoritarian impulses. Since the Constitution is broken, argued Maine Gov. Paul LePage, we need a Donald Trump to show some authoritarian power in our country.

Trump has made the party a laughingstock among the young, a toxic brand among minorities, an offense to many women, and a source of worry among U.S. allies and alarm among national security professionals. And this was before Trump pronounced himself unshackled from the style-cramping expectations of his establishment Republican captors. The main use of his newfound freedom has been to attack GOP leaders. House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (Wis.) has authored bad budgets. In what way? They were very, very bad budgets, Trump elucidated. He wouldnt want to be in a foxhole with Sen. John McCain (Ariz.)  which, presumably, was the point of Trumps five Vietnam deferments.

Steve Bannon, the chief executive of Trumps campaign, once said, What we need to do is bitch-slap the Republican Party. The lift, it might be said, of a driving dream. And how has the object of this contempt responded? It is supine. It is docile. It licks the hand that beats it.

House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) told Republican lawmakers on Oct. 10 that he would no longer support presidential nominee Donald Trumpthe start of a messy breakup that will go on through Election Day. (Peter Stevenson/The Washington Post)

Trump can hardly maintain, for even five minutes, the pose of apology for predatory and abusive language against women before dismissing it as salty language or the equivalent of a sneeze. Yet Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus calls his apology heartfelt, a description he must know to be false. And running mate Mike Pence goes further, urging evangelical Christians to accept Trumps apology because they are required to believe in grace and forgiveness. Pence is seeking theological cover for cruelty and political cynicism. This is nigh to blasphemy.

There is also a group of Republicans who unendorsed Trump after the most recent taped evidence of misogyny, only to withdraw their unendorsements under pressure. It is hard to secure scientific proof of a politician betraying his or her conscience for political reasons, but this comes pretty close. And the position of Ryan  refusing to defend Trump any damn longer but not unendorsing him  is not much better. His transparent disgust for Trump has become a self-indictment.

This much is clear: Republican leaders offered no effective resistance to the ideological and political demolition of their party. Which may, in the worst case, give George W. Bush the distinction of being the final Republican president.

Trump, it appears, has ceased to seriously pursue that office, using American democracy to work out his inner demons or perhaps to position his brand. And he  employing conspiracy theories and rented spokesmen  may well take the country down a post-election rabbit hole by questioning the legitimacy of what he is already calling a rigged system and a total fix job.

But assuming Trump is one of U.S. historys biggest losers  his direction, though not yet his destiny  it will be more difficult for him to make the charge of loserhood against others. And his conspiratorial, self-serving attacks on our constitutional order may seem like spraying graffiti on the Lincoln Memorial. Massive electoral repudiation might speak a language that Republican leaders finally understand, after proving themselves unable to learn the strange tongues of conviction and courage. Maybe they will even be ashamed of themselves, as they should be.

This would set the stage for the recovery of a hopeful center-right conservatism that sees politics as something nobler than scalp-hunting  a politics that begins with gratitude for our national blessings and views the nations flaws and failures as occasions for common purpose. This task, however, will start from scratch. A building on a ruin.

Read more from Michael Gersons archive, follow him on Twitter or subscribe to his updates on Facebook .
In this Aug. 25, 2016, file photo, a South Korean army soldier watches a TV news program, which shows images published in North Korea's Rodong Sinmun newspaper of North Korea's ballistic missile and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, in Seoul. (Ahn Young-Joon/Associated Press)

When South Korean officials talk about the growing nuclear challenge from North Korea, they use red-alert phrases such as existential threat, imminent danger and dagger at the throat. They want Americans to understand that this long-running story of brinkmanship has entered a new phase.

One senior South Korean official told me starkly: A nuclear missile from the North can land on this office in four to five minutes. We dont have the luxury of thinking twice. . . . This is no longer a dark cloud on the horizon. Its a threat at our doorstep.

A few miles away at U.S. Army Garrison Yongsan , where U.S. troops are headquartered, a senior U.S. military officer offered a similar warning. He noted that the base, like most of Seoul, has lived for decades under threat from North Korean artillery across the demilitarized zone, but he said the nuclear menace is different: This is not just a throwback to the Korean War. Its an evolving threat that is becoming dangerous outside the Korean Peninsula.

These conversations illustrate why the North Korean nuclear issue may top the security worries of the next U.S. president. Theres a sense here, among South Korean and American officials alike, that Kim Jong Un, the mercurial leader in Pyongyang, is racing through the warning lights to gain nuclear weapons and missile capabilities to attack his neighbors, and also the United States. The next U.S. president will have to decide what to do about it.

What North Korea wants is what it cant get, which is acceptance as a nuclear weapons state, argued Christopher Hill, a former U.S. ambassador who headed the unsuccessful six-party talks with North Korea in 2005-2007. He was speaking at the World Knowledge Forum conference here.

The frustration voiced by U.S. and South Korean officials is that nothing has succeeded in checking North Koreas relentless advance toward nuclear weapons. Diplomatic talks, U.N. economic sanctions and threats of military force have all failed. North Korea is a pitifully backward country, except in its nuclear and missile programs.

Even China seems to have limited leverage. Many analysts think Beijing could successfully pressure North Korea. But although the Chinese sent a special emissary last year to warn against a fourth nuclear test, the regime went ahead with a test in January. Beijing then supported a U.N. Security Council resolution in March condemning North Korea and imposing sanctions, and Kim responded with a fifth nuclear test last month.

How should the United States work with Seoul to combat this intractable problem? Some leading South Korean officials offered useful suggestions.

Tightening sanctions is a first step. U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power was just here discussing a new resolution to do that. South Korea hopes the United Nations will close the livelihood exemption that allows North Korea to export coal to China. Coal exports totaled about $1 billion last year and are a major source of foreign exchange to finance the nuclear program. The Chinese have so far balked at squeezing their neighbor harder.

Driving a wedge between Kim and members of his government elite is another South Korean proposal. President Park Geun-hye told her cabinet this week that a recent increase in high-level defections shows the fragility of Kims regime  and that South Korea should encourage even more defectors. Seouls message is that if Kim keeps subordinating all other concerns to his nuclear ambition, the regime will eventually implode.

Deterring North Korea militarily is what South Korea wants most from the United States. Park has agreed to installation of the U.S. THAAD missile-defense system , but that wont be ready until December 2017. South Korean officials hope the United States can reassure a jittery public about the reliability of its nuclear umbrella  politely termed extended deterrence. That could mean more overflights by B-52 and B-1 bombers, more visits by top U.S. officials and more joint defense talks like those scheduled in Washington next week.

Restarting diplomacy with Pyongyang gets little public support here, but South Korea and the United States have left the door open. One face-saving approach would be secret, preliminary U.S. talks with North Korea that would lead later, in concert with China, to public talks about denuclearization. But theres no sign North Korea wants such a dialogue.

What happens if all these efforts fail, and Kim deploys nuclear-tipped missiles that could hit U.S. territory? We should have a euphemism for preemption,  commented one former senior U.S. official at the conference here.

But whatever word is used, an unpalatable military choice may confront the next president  for the simple reason that nothing else seems to have worked.

Read more from David Ignatiuss archive, follow him on Twitter or subscribe to his updates on Facebook.
The Democratic nominee is not the lesser of two evils. She is a choice Americans can be proud of. (Adriana Usero,Julio Negron/The Washington Post)

The Democratic nominee is not the lesser of two evils. She is a choice Americans can be proud of. (Adriana Usero,Julio Negron/The Washington Post)

IN THE gloom and ugliness of this political season, one encouraging truth is often overlooked: There is a well-qualified, well-prepared candidate on the ballot. Hillary Clinton has the potential to be an excellent president of the United States, and we endorse her without hesitation.

[The closing argument against Donald Trump]

In a moment, we will explain our confidence. But first, allow us to anticipate a likely question: No, we are not making this endorsement simply because Ms. Clintons chief opponent is dreadful.

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump is dreadful, that is true  uniquely unqualified as a presidential candidate. If we believed that Ms. Clinton were the lesser of two evils, we might well urge you to vote for her anyway  that is how strongly we feel about Mr. Trump. But we would also tell you that was our judgment.

Fortunately, it is not.

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.

We recognize that many Americans distrust and dislike Ms. Clinton. The negative feelings reflect in part the bitter partisanship of the nations politics today; in part the dishonest attacks she has been subjected to for decades; and in part her genuine flaws, missteps and weaknesses.

We are not blind to those. Ms. Clinton is inclined to circle the wagons and withhold information, from the closed meetings of her health-care panel in 1993 to the Whitewater affair, from the ostensibly personal emails she destroyed on her own say-so after leaving the State Department to her reluctance to disclose her pneumonia last month. Further, she and her husband, former president Bill Clinton, are not the first to cash in on the speech circuit, but they have done so on an unprecedented and unseemly scale. And no one will accuse Ms. Clinton of an excess of charisma: She has neither the eloquence of President Obama nor the folksy charm of former president George W. Bush or, for that matter, her husband.

But maybe, at this moment in history, that last weakness is also a strength. If Ms. Clinton is elected, she will attempt to govern an angrily divided nation, working with legislators who in many cases are determined to thwart her, while her defeated opponent quite possibly will pretend her victory is fraudulent.

What hope is there for progress in such an environment  for a way out of the gridlock that frustrates so many Americans? The temptation is to summon a revolution, as her chief primary opponent imagined, or promise to blow up the system, as Mr. Trump posits. Both temptations are dead ends, as Ms. Clinton understands. If progress is possible, it will be incremental and achieved with input from members of both parties. Eloquence and charm may matter less than policy chops and persistence.

It is fair to read Ms. Clintons career as a series of learning experiences that have prepared her well for such an environment. As first lady, she failed when she tried to radically remake the American health-care system. Instead of retreating, she reentered the fray to help enact a more modest but important reform expanding health-care access to poor children.

Her infamous reset with Russia offers a similar arc. We have not hesitated to criticize the Obama administrations foreign policy, including its lukewarm support for Ukraine in the face of a Russian invasion, but criticism of the reset is off-base. When Ms. Clinton launched the policy, Dmitry Medvedev, not Vladimir Putin, was president of Russia, and nobody  maybe not even Mr. Putin  knew how things would play out. It was smart to test Mr. Medvedevs willingness to cooperate, and in fact the United States and Russia made progress under Ms. Clintons leadership, including in nuclear-arms control and in facilitating resupply of U.S. troops in Afghanistan across Russian territory. As Mr. Putin reasserted himself and Russia became more hostile, Ms. Clinton was clear-eyed about the need to adjust U.S. policy.

She was similarly clear-eyed after winning election to the Senate in 2000. You might have expected her to hold some grudges, especially toward Republican legislators who had lambasted her husband in the most personal terms during his then-recent impeachment and Senate trial. But colleagues in both parties found her to be businesslike, knowledgeable, intent on accomplishment, willing to work across the aisle and less focused than most on getting credit.

Professionals in the State Department offer similar testimonials about her tenure as secretary during Mr. Obamas first term: She reached out, listened to diverse points of view and, more than many politicians who come to that job with their own small teams, was open to intelligent advice. She was respected by employees and by counterparts overseas. She set priorities, including ensuring that womens rights are human rights would rise from slogan to policy.

Her 2016 presidential campaign offers one more case study of lessons learned  a model of efficiency and of large egos subordinated to a larger cause  after her far less disciplined 2008 effort.

Ms. Clinton, in other words, is dogged, resilient, purposeful and smart. Unlike Mr. Clinton or Mr. Bush when they ascended, she knows Washington; unlike Mr. Obama when he ascended, she has executive experience. She does not let her feelings get in the way of the job at hand. She is well positioned to get something done.

So what would she do? Her ambitions are less lofty than we would like when it comes, for example, to reforming unsustainable entitlement programs, and than many in her party would like, in their demand, for example, for free college tuition. But most of her agenda is commendable, and parts may actually be achievable: immigration reform; increased investment in infrastructure, research and education, paid for by higher taxes on the wealthy; sounder family-leave policies; criminal-justice reform. In an era of slowing growth and growing income inequality, these all make sense, as do her support for curbing climate change and for regulating gun ownership.

Ms. Clinton also understands the importance of U.S. leadership in the world, her campaign-year anti-trade epiphany notwithstanding. Inside the Obama administration, Ms. Clinton was a voice for engagement on behalf of democracy, human rights and stability. At times (the surge in Afghanistan), Mr. Obama listened. At times (Syrian intervention), he did not  and the world is far more dangerous because of that. Ms. Clinton can be faulted, perhaps, for excessive loyalty; though the hyper-investigated Benghazi affair proved to be no scandal at all, Ms. Clinton should have argued more persistently to help stabilize Libya after its dictator fell.

But her foreign-policy inclinations were sounder than her presidents. It is telling that, even as she tacked left to survive the primaries, she did not give ground to Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) on the core value of American engagement in the world. Allies would find her more reliable than the incumbent and far more dependable than her opponent. The world would be more secure as a result.

No election is without risk. The biggest worry about a Clinton presidency, in our view, is in the sphere where she does not seem to have learned the right lessons, namely openness and accountability. Her use of a private email server as secretary was a mistake, not a high crime; but her slow, grudging explanations of it worsened the damage and insulted the voters. Her long periods of self-insulation from press questioning during the campaign do not bode well.

The Clinton Foundation has done a lot of good in the world, but Ms. Clinton was disturbingly cavalier in allowing a close aide to go on its payroll while still at State, and in failing to erect the promised impenetrable wall between the foundation and the government. She would have to do better in the White House.

Even here, however, Mr. Trump makes her look good. She has released years of tax returns. She has voluntarily identified her campaign bundlers. The Clinton Foundation actually is a charitable foundation, not a vehicle for purchasing portraits of herself. She is a paragon of transparency relative to her opponent.

Mr. Trump, by contrast, has shown himself to be bigoted, ignorant, deceitful, narcissistic, vengeful, petty, misogynistic, fiscally reckless, intellectually lazy, contemptuous of democracy and enamored of Americas enemies. As president, he would pose a grave danger to the nation and the world.

Rather than dwell on that danger here, we invite you to visit wapo.st/thecaseagainsttrump. There we have assembled a timeline of Mr. Trumps most alarming statements, accompanied by video and linked to some of the most trenchant commentary from our columnists, guest contributors, editorial writers and cartoonists over the past 16 months. This closing argument is far from exhaustive, but it is horrifying enough. If you have any doubts about Mr. Trumps unfitness, please take a look.

Meanwhile, Ms. Clinton underlined her fitness for office in what was essentially the first major decision of her potential presidency: her choice of Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) as running mate. Rather than calculate how best to assuage or excite this or that part of her base, Ms. Clinton selected a person of sound judgment, with executive and legislative experience and unquestionable capacity to serve as president if necessary.

That presages what Americans might reasonably expect of a Clinton presidency: seriousness of purpose and relentless commitment, even in the face of great obstacles, to achievements in the public interest. We believe that Ms. Clinton will prove a worthy example to girls who celebrate the election of Americas first female president. We believe, too, that anyone who votes for her will be able to look back, four years from now, with pride in that decision.
In a speech not long before she launched her 2016 presidential campaign, Hillary Clinton made a stunning declaration of war on religious Americans. Speaking to the 2015 Women in the World Summit, Clinton declared that deep-seated cultural codes, religious beliefs and structural biases have to be changed.

Religious beliefs have to be changed? This is perhaps the most radical statement against religious liberty ever uttered by someone seeking the presidency. It is also deeply revealing. Clinton believes that, as president, it is her job not to respect the views of religious conservatives but to force them to change their beliefs and bend to her radical agenda favoring taxpayer-funded abortion on demand.

This is the context in which we must read a recently released trove of emails  which, according to WikiLeaks, come from the accounts of Clinton staff  showing the rampant anti-Catholic bigotry that permeates Clinton World.

In a 2012 email that WikiLeaks says was sent to John Podesta, now chairman of the Clinton campaign, Voices for Progress president Sandy Newman writes that there needs to be a Catholic Spring, in which Catholics themselves demand the end of a middle ages dictatorship and the beginning of a little democracy and respect for gender equality in the Catholic church and proposed that the Clinton team plant the seeds of the revolution to change Catholic teaching. Podesta replies, We created Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good to organize for a moment like this . . . Likewise Catholics United. He adds, Ill discuss with Tara. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend is the other person to consult.

So members of the Clintons inner circle created front groups to foment a Catholic Spring  because, as their dear leader had announced, deep-seated cultural codes, religious beliefs and structural biases have to be changed.

Thats not all. In another email exchange with the subject line Conservative Catholicism, Clinton communications director Jennifer Palmieri and Podesta co-author John Halpin appear to mock Catholics and evangelical Christians for their backwards views. Halpin ridicules Fox News chairman Rupert Murdoch for raising his kids Catholic, declaring Friggin Murdoch baptized his kids in Jordan where John the Baptist baptized Jesus. Many of the most powerful elements of the conservative movement are all Catholic (many converts) from the SC and think tanks to the media and social groups. Its an amazing bastardization of the faith. They must be attracted to the systematic thought and severely backwards gender relations and must be totally unaware of Christian democracy.

Palmieri responds that Catholicism is the most socially acceptable politically conservative religion. Their rich friends wouldnt understand if they became evangelicals. Excellent point, Halpin responds, adding that they can throw around Thomistic thought and subsidiarity and sound sophisticated because no one knows what the hell theyre talking about. Podesta is included on both emails.

The hostility to people of faith here is simply breathtaking. Apparently when Clinton aides speak in private, their basket of deplorables includes faithful Catholics and evangelicals who believe in the sanctity of human life. If they had made such comments about any other group, they would be politically excommunicated.

Yet the mainstream media has, for the most part, ignored these revelations of anti-religious bias. After Donald Trumps disgusting comments about women were leaked, his vice-presidential running mate, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, was besieged with questions of whether he would leave the ticket. Has anyone asked Clintons running mate, Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.), who professes to be a faithful Catholic, whether he will quit the ticket over this? Does he agree that Catholics are backwards, that the Catholic Church is a middle ages dictatorship and that it is the job of politicians to foment a Catholic Spring? Does he agree that Democrats should be creating front groups to launch a revolution against the bishops? Does he share Clintons belief that the religious views of American Catholics have to be changed? He should be forced to answer.

Imagine what might happen if people with these kinds of bigoted views gain the levers of power. Trumps behavior toward women is appalling, but the republic has survived with sexual miscreants in the Oval Office (see Clinton, William Jefferson and Kennedy, John Fitzgerald). If Clinton is elected, she could be the most consequential president in history in terms of reshaping the nations highest court. She will immediately get to pick a Supreme Court justice to replace the late Antonin Scalia. And if other justices retire  such as Ruth Bader Ginsburg (83), Anthony Kennedy (80) and Stephen Breyer (78)  she could select as many as four new justices. Does anyone imagine that Clinton and her team will pick justices who respect religious liberty? Not a chance.

Speaking at the American Enterprise Institutes annual dinner, Professor Robert P. George pointed out that while our Founding Fathers were a mixed lot when it came to religion, they all understood the importance of religious freedom. That is why, he said, our Bill of Rights begins with the words Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof. We get that principle . . . before we ever get to or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press, or the right of the people to assemble peaceably [and to] petition the government for redress of grievances.  They knew that religious liberty was essential to dignity of the person, he added.

The Clinton campaign emails have thus put the stakes of this election in sharp relief not only for Americans of faith but also for all those who care about human dignity. Clintons presidency would be a threat to the religious freedom of all Americans. Lets see if all those on the left who have complained about bigotry this election season call out Clinton and her team  or give her a pass.

Read more from Marc Thiessens archive, follow him on Twitter or subscribe to his updates on Facebook.
When some in the crowd at a Donald Trump rally in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., started chanting Lock her up! about Hillary Clinton on Oct. 10, the Republican presidential nominee replied: Lock her up is right. (The Washington Post)

When some in the crowd at a Donald Trump rally in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., started chanting Lock her up! about Hillary Clinton on Oct. 10, the Republican presidential nominee replied: Lock her up is right. (The Washington Post)

The second presidential debate  bloody, muddy and raucous  was just enough to save Donald Trumps campaign from extinction, but not enough to restore his chances of winning, barring an act of God (a medical calamity) or of Putin (a cosmically incriminating WikiLeak).

That Trump crashed because of a sex-talk tape is odd. It should have been a surprise to no one. His views on women have been on open display for years. And hed offered a dazzling array of other reasons for disqualification: habitual mendacity, pathological narcissism, profound ignorance and an astonishing dearth of basic human empathy.

To which list Trump added in the second debate, and it had nothing to do with sex. It was his threat, if elected, to put Hillary Clinton in jail.

After appointing a special prosecutor, of course. The niceties must be observed. First, a fair trial, then a proper hanging. The day after the debate at a rally in Pennsylvania, Trump responded to chants of lock her up with Lock her up is right. Two days later, he told a rally in Lakeland, Fla., She has to go to jail.

The Fix's Aaron Blake breaks down Trump's extraordinary call to jail Hillary Clinton over her handling of a personal email server. (Daron Taylor/The Washington Post)

[Fareed Zakaria: The GOP is history. What about the country? ]

Such incendiary talk is an affront to elementary democratic decency and a breach of the boundaries of American political discourse. In democracies, the electoral process is a subtle and elaborate substitute for combat, the age-old way of settling struggles for power. But that sublimation only works if there is mutual agreement to accept both the legitimacy of the result (which Trump keeps undermining with charges that the very process is rigged) and the boundaries of the contest.

The prize for the winner is temporary accession to limited political power, not the satisfaction of vendettas. Vladimir Putin, Hugo Chavez and a cavalcade of two-bit caudillos lock up their opponents. American leaders dont.

One doesnt even talk like this. It takes decades, centuries, to develop ingrained norms of political restraint and self-control. But they can be undone in short order by a demagogue feeding a vengeful populism.

This is not to say that the investigation into the Clinton emails was not itself compromised by politics. FBI Director James B. Comeys recommendation not to pursue charges was both troubling and puzzling. And Barack Obama very improperly tilted the scales by interjecting, while the investigation was still underway, that Clintons emails had not endangered national security.

But the answer is not to start a new process whose outcome is preordained. Conservatives have relentlessly, and correctly, criticized this administration for abusing its power and suborning the civil administration (e.g., the IRS). Is the Republican response to do the same?

Wasnt presidential overreach one of the major charges against Obama by the anti-establishment GOP candidates? Wasnt the animating spirit of the entire tea party movement the restoration of constitutional limits and restraints?

1 of 28 Full Screen Autoplay Close Skip Ad  Here are some of the Republicans who cut ties with Trump after lewd remarks View Photos Following a Friday report by The Washington Post on a 2005 video of the GOP presidential nominee, various Republicans have said they no longer plan to vote for him and some call for him to drop out. Caption Following a Friday report by The Washington Post on a 2005 video of the GOP presidential nominee, various Republicans have said they no longer plan to vote for him and some call for him to drop out. Sen. John McCain Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) joined the cavalcade of Republicans withdrawing their support for Trump. There are no excuses for Donald Trumps offensive and demeaning comments in the just released video; no woman should ever be victimized by this kind of inappropriate behavior. He alone bears the burden of his conduct and alone should suffer the consequences, McCain said in a statement. Susan Walsh/AP Wait 1 second to continue.

In America, we dont persecute political opponents. Which is why we retroactively honor Gerald Ford for his pardon of Richard Nixon, for which, at the time, Ford was widely reviled. It ultimately cost him the presidency. Nixon might well have been convicted. But Ford understood that jailing a president for actions carried out in the context of his official duties would threaten the very civil nature of democratic governance.

[Michael Gerson: Donald Trump is right: The GOP is utterly pathetic]

What makes Trumps promise to lock her up all the more alarming is that its not an isolated incident. This is not the first time hes insinuated using the powers of the presidency against political enemies. He has threatened Amazons Jeffrey P. Bezos, owner of The Post, for using the newspaper as a tool for political power against me and other people. . . . We cant let him get away with it.

With exercising free political speech?

Trump has gone after others with equal subtlety. I hear, he tweeted, the Rickets [sic] family, who own the Chicago Cubs, are secretly spending $s against me. They better be careful, they have a lot to hide! And after National Review editor Rich Lowry made a particularly cutting remark about him on Fox News, Trump tweeted, He should not be allowed on TV and the FCC should fine him!

Trump also promises to open up libel laws to permit easier prosecution of those who attack him unfairly. Has he ever conceded any attack on him to be fair?

This election is not just about placing the nuclear codes in Trumps hands. Its also about handing him the instruments of civilian coercion, such as the IRS, the FBI, the FCC, the SEC. Think of what he could do to enforce the fairness he demands. Imagine giving over the vast power of the modern state to a man who says in advance that he will punish his critics and jail his opponent.

Read more from Charles Krauthammers archive, follow him on Twitter or subscribe to his updates on Facebook.
METRO HAS so many hoops to jump through in order to slow its death spiral that celebrating just one, and calling it a milestone, is ill-advised. Still, restoring the areas subway system to a state of good repair, first and foremost by improving its safety record and oversight, is job No. 1. So at least on that score, the fact that D.C. officials are on their way toward establishing a new safety oversight commission  one with teeth, to replace its ineffectual predecessor  is good news.

A bill that would set up the new body seems on its way to enactment in the District now that officials have removed a senseless provision that would have allowed the overseers to operate in secrecy by withholding from public view the results of investigations of lapses or mishaps in the system. Identical enabling legislation will need to be passed by state lawmakers in Virginia and Maryland after the two states legislatures convene in January.

As things stand now, Metro is virtually the only major transit system whose safety oversight, a function generally undertaken by an independent local or regional body, has been taken over by the federal government, in this case the Federal Transit Administration. The FTA stepped in a year ago after Metros controlling jurisdictions  the District, Virginia and Maryland  had failed to devise a replacement for an impotent local agency that proved itself incapable of policing or correcting Metros deepening safety lapses.

Assuming no hitches with legislation or funding  all three localities will have to pony up $1 million or $2 million annually to pay for the new commission  the overseers should be selected and ready to work next year. Their powers are to include enforcing safety rules by conducting inspections, ordering fixes, imposing fines, issuing subpoenas during investigations, bringing legal actions and moving to dismiss employees for cause.

Critically, the oversight commission would also be empowered to force Metro to reorder spending on the subway system to ensure top safety priorities are funded. In the long-term, that may be the most significant muscle it is able to flex.

In the throes of ongoing safety lapses, plummeting ridership and a massive, months-long effort to overhaul decaying and antiquated tracks and other infrastructure, there has been relatively little public discussion of Metros future funding needs. For the time being, the constituency and political pressure for increasing funding is all but nonexistent given that so many riders regard Metros reliability and service with a mixture of anxiety, frustration and fury.

Thats not a tenable state of affairs. In the not-very-distant future, local officials will have to step up to advocate long-term and sustainable funding from all three local jurisdictions, as well as from the federal government, tens of thousands of whose workers use the subway to get to work every day. An effective safety oversight commission could help highlight that unavoidable reality.
India and Russia are likely to sign a nearly $ 1 billion Kamov-226 chopper deal on the sidelines of Goa BRICS summit on Saturday, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Vladimir Putin hold bilateral discussions.

By India Today Web Desk: Keeping in tune with the government's focus on Make in India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Vladimir Putin are all set to sign the Kamov 226T chopper deal during the BRICS summit on Saturday.

It is a $ 1 billion deal for joint production and export of 200 Ka-226T choppers. The preliminary contract for 200 helicopters was signed during PM Modi's Russia tour.

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KAMOV DEAL

Kamov-226T is a light multipurpose helicopter, which is designed to work in tough conditions of high mountains, hot-arid climate, and marine-oceanic areas. It is manufactured by the Russian Helicopters.

Ka-226T choppers are useful in reconnaissance, targeting and monitoring of transportation of upto 1,500 kg load. It can carry seven soldiers or service professionals at a maximum cruise speed of 220 kmph and a maximum takeoff weight of 3,600 kg.

The Kamov chopper deal is aimed at replacing India's ageing Cheetah and Chetak helicopters.

India to acquire 200 Kamov-226T choppers (Photo: @DefencePost)



CLOSE DEFENCE COOPERATION

"The contract for export and joint production of 200 Ka-226T helicopters is one of the key projects in the framework of trade and industrial relations between Russia and India. We plan to expand them in both military-technical and civilian areas," PTI quoted Sergei Chemezov, head of Rostec, as saying.

Rostec is a Russian state corporation, founded in 2007, bringing together about 700 firms to promote, develop and export products of civil and military use. Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) could be the partner of Rostec in the deal.

OTHER DEALS

Some other deals between India and Russia are also in the offing.

S-400 Air Defence Missile System: It is very crucial missile defence shield. Also called S-400 Triumf, it is the most advanced weapon in the Russian arsenal. It is capable of shooting down the most advancd fighter jet of the US- F-35. India is learnt to be looking at 5 systems. India is the only the second country after China to be working on acquiring this system

Mi-17 V-5 medium lift transport helicopters: Talks for procurement of 48 helicopters for the IAF are underway. India has been relying extensively on the Mi-17 for its transport helicopter fleet.

BMP: It is an armoured personnel carrier. To augment the existing fleet of infantry Combat vehicles, Indian Army is learnt to be looking for more than 100 upgraded BMPs from Russia.

2 Diesel-electric submarines: Russian media has reported that India is considering purchase of Varshayanka class Diesel-electric submarines to augment the Indian Navy submarine fleet

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Leasing another nuclear powered submarine: Russian media also reported that India was in talks with Russia for lease of a nuclear powered submarine for a stronger presence in the Indian ocean region.

PUTIN BACKS INDIA

President Vladimir Putin called India on Thursday Russia's 'privileged strategic partner'. He underlined that his county remained the top supplier of advanced weapons and defence technology to India.

Putin backed India in its fight against terrorism saying that Moscow and other BRICS nations were determined to back New Delhi's anti-terror fight.

(With inputs from agencies)





ALSO READ:

India unhappy over Russia's military exercise with terror-sponsor Pakistan



--- ENDS ---
In their Oct. 8 Religion essay, Why physician-assisted death is dangerous, Allen Roberts and Scott Redd wrote that terminally ill individuals should not have the legal right to end their lives with physicians assistance, invoking biblical passages and their own religious beliefs as major components of their argument. They failed to recognize, however, that the legality and morality of U.S. laws emanate not from the Bible but from the Constitution, which emphasizes the rights of individuals.

If Mr. Roberts and Mr. Redd choose to decline physician aid in dying because of their religious beliefs should they be in that horrific situation, that is certainly their right. However, their personal religious beliefs should not be a reason to prevent others from being legally able to do so.

In this country, the rights of real humans should always come before belief in unproven Gods.

John Galt, Stanardsville, Va.
Politics is an enduring feature of human life, but political parties are mortal. This week we watched the beginning of the end of one of the United States great, illustrious parties. The Republican Party, as we knew it, is dying.

The death of a party is not so unusual. Scholars divide U.S. history according to six distinct party systems, each responding to a particular political era. Sometimes parties retain their names but morph ideologically, like the Democratic Party, which went from being Southern, pro-slavery and pro-Jim Crow to the opposite. On other occasions, parties collapse entirely, as did the Whig Party in the mid-19th century, torn apart by divisions over slavery. (In fact, in an interesting parallel, the fall of the Whigs was hastened by the rise of a party called the Know-Nothings, dedicated to stopping what was then seen as uncontrolled immigration.) Whatever the form of the Republican Partys collapse, it will be messy.

Sundays debate may have been the watershed moment. As many commentators and some of his own strategists noted, it was pretty obvious what Donald Trump needed to do  apologize, be contrite, and then strike broad themes of change, bringing back jobs and putting the nation first. Ideally, he would have reached out to women  the group of voters he desperately needs to win the election.

Instead, Trump did the opposite. He minimized his behavior as locker-room banter, accused Bill Clinton of much worse and paraded the former presidents accusers at a news conference. Since then, things have spiraled downward. Trumps strange, self-defeating strategy has led to speculation that his real ambitions lie beyond the election, when he may set up a conservative media network to rival Fox News.

Its quite possible. But in any event, what it means for the Republican Party is simple: Donald Trump is not going away. Many Republicans have nurtured a fantasy that their party has been briefly taken over by a strange historical aberration who will lose the election, and then somehow things will go back to normal. Trump has now made it clear that he will not go gently into the night.

House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) told Republican lawmakers on Oct. 10 that he would no longer support presidential nominee Donald Trumpthe start of a messy breakup that will go on through Election Day. (Peter Stevenson/The Washington Post)

In fact, he has declared war on the GOP establishment. His goal is surely to take over the Republican Party and remake it into a populist, protectionist, nationalist party, the kind that his Breitbart-oriented advisers have been dreaming about for years.

There will be a fight for the soul of whats left of the Republican Party. We can see the battle lines. People such as House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (Wis.), backed by most serious conservative intellectuals, will try to restore the party to its Reaganesque ideology  with free markets, limited government, entitlement reform and an assertive foreign policy. Others, such as Trumps running mate, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, backed by Christian conservatives, will try to bridge divides and keep everyone in a big tent. But then there is Trump, who has  for now, at least  the crowds, the energy and a powerful message. Political scientist Justin Gest recently surveyed white Americans on whether they would support a party committed to stopping mass immigration, providing American jobs to American workers, preserving Americas Christian heritage, and stopping the threat of Islam. Sixty-five percent said yes.

The Republican establishment could have stopped Trump but instead surrendered to him months, perhaps years, ago. When they want to criticize opponents for being weak-kneed, Republicans often recall Neville Chamberlain and his policy of appeasing Adolf Hitler. And yet that is exactly the approach that the partys senior leaders took with Trump  appeasing him in the hope that doing so would satisfy his appetites. They tolerated, excused and covered up for Trump as he began his political career with birther racism, launched his presidential campaign with anti-Mexican slurs and heightened it with anti-Muslim bigotry, and thrilled crowds with policies that would be unconstitutional or amount to war crimes  all while demeaning and objectifying women. Winston Churchill said of appeasers: Each one hopes that if he feeds the crocodile enough, the crocodile will eat him last.

Trump will lose the election. Forget his dismal polls last week. He has almost never been ahead of Hillary Clintons for a single week since they were both nominated. The major models predicting the election have only once or twice put his chances over 40 percent.

But Trump will not sit in loyal opposition to Clinton. He tells his legions that the election will be rigged. He says that the media are lying and that reporting cannot be believed. He warns that the country will be utterly destroyed if Clinton wins. He is fueling a toxic movement of protest and insurgency.

Trump will lose. And he will destroy the Republican Party. The frightening question is what he will do to the country in the process.

Read more from Fareed Zakarias archive, follow him on Twitter or subscribe to his updates on Facebook.
Lets begin with the People magazine writer who says that Donald Trump took her into a room at his Mar-a-Lago estate  while his pregnant wife was changing her clothes upstairs  and within seconds he was pushing me against the wall and forcing his tongue down my throat.

Natasha Stoynoff is an experienced journalist with multiple books to her credit, and her story is similar to those told by others. A second woman told the Palm Beach Post that she, too, was groped by Trump at the Florida estate. Two other women told the New York Times of being accosted by Trump, one of them groped and the other forcibly kissed. A former Miss Washington says Trump continually grabbed my ass at a beauty pageant. Another woman alleged in a lawsuit that Trump pushed her against a wall and tried to put his hands up her dress.

Trump denies it all. But there is reason to believe these stories of sexual assault  lets call it what it is  because of Trumps own words about the way he treats women.

This is the very behavior Trump boasts of in the Access Hollywood videotape that surfaced last week. He relates how he moved on co-host Nancy ODell, a married woman, without success. He says that when he sees beautiful women, I just start kissing them. Its like a magnet. Just kiss. I dont even wait. He says that when youre a star, you can grab them by the p---y. You can do anything.

At Sundays debate, Trump tried to dismiss those unguarded words as locker-room talk. Pressed by moderator Anderson Cooper, he claimed never to have actually done any of these things. Imagine how that denial sounded to women who knew otherwise.

The creepiest new revelation comes from CBS News, which discovered footage from a 1992 interview in which Trump says of a girl who looks to be about 10 years old: I am going to be dating her in 10 years. Can you believe it? And there have also been reports in the Guardian and BuzzFeed about Trump walking in on contestants in the Miss USA and Miss Teen USA pageants when they were half-dressed.

Ick.

The story here is not just that Trump is a pig, which we already knew. It is that the Republican nominee for president of the United States appears not to be a rakish lothario but a sexual predator who uses his wealth and power, including his physical strength, to force himself on women.

Yet vice-presidential nominee Mike Pence  who calls himself a Christian, a conservative and a Republican, in that order  tells audiences that Trump is a good man. There are no words for such hypocrisy.

The GOP claims to stand for traditional family values. Indeed, some leading Republicans abandoned the Trump Titanic when the Access Hollywood tape made it impossible to pretend the party had nominated a candidate worthy of the presidency. But others  notably Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.)  have stuck with him, hoping to survive the electoral disaster they fear is coming.

Inside the gilded Trump Tower bunker, the self-described habitual groper is reported to be in a constant rage. His narcissism leads him to blame everyone else for his predicament  the women who alleged the assaults, the news media that seek to hold him accountable, the Republicans scrambling for the lifeboats. He will never, ever blame himself.

Trump and his inner circle apparently believe that screaming about Bill Clintons sexual peccadilloes will somehow excuse or neutralize what we have learned over the past week. But Hillary Clinton is on the ballot, not her husband. Voters know the difference.

They also understand that women who suffer sexual assault often do not immediately come forward. In an article that People posted Wednesday night, Stoynoff described what happened after Trump allegedly jumped her at Mar-a-Lago:

I tried to act normal. I had a job to do, and I was determined to do it. . . . You know were going to have an affair, dont you? he declared, in the same confident tone he uses when he says hes going to make America great again. Have you ever been to Peter Lugers for steaks? Ill take you. Were going to have an affair, Im telling you. 

Stoynoff wrote that like many women, I was ashamed and blamed myself for his transgression. . . . I was afraid that a famous, powerful, wealthy man could and would discredit and destroy me.

Back in New York, I asked to be taken off the Trump beat, Stoynoff wrote. Most Americans feel the same way.

Read more from Eugene Robinsons archive, follow him on Twitter or subscribe to his updates on Facebook. You can also join him Tuesdays at 1 p.m. for a live Q&A.
WikiLeaks released yet another batch of hacked emails from inside Hillary Clintons campaign Wednesday, and with them came another round of embarrassing headlines and new glimpses of internal anxiety over the candidates weaknesses.

Republican Donald Trump and his allies seized on the emails, which reveal comments by an aide about Catholics, a line from a paid speech in which Clinton might be seen as playing down the threat of terrorism and an internal dispute over potential conflicts of interest posed by the Clinton Foundation.

The drip-drip-drip of damaging attention is likely to continue. WikiLeaks, the anti-secrecy organization, began releasing new messages last Friday from the personal email account of Clintons campaign chairman, John Podesta, and has promised to issue tens of thousands more.

The correspondence reveals a campaign that has struggled all year to improve a flawed candidate. As far back as March, aides were keenly aware that she was resistant to the media, perhaps out of touch with regular Americans and unable to convey a clear message to voters.

A month before Clinton launched her campaign, her aides worked to corral her well-known love for granular policy details into a message that would both capture her agenda and present a forward-looking, aspirational vision for her presidency.

The Posts John Wagner breaks down some of the consequences of the release by WikiLeaks of hacked emails from Hillary Clintons campaign. (Bastien Inzaurralde/The Washington Post)

Nearly a year later, a similar struggle cropped up as they attempted to revise her core campaign message.

Do we have any sense from her what she believes or wants her core message to be? asked Clinton adviser Joel Benenson.

Benenson contrasted the simplicity of Bernie Sanderss anti-Wall Street message with Clintons multitiered campaign slogans.

Seven months later and on the cusp of Election Day, the concerns laid out in these emails and others largely remain. Clinton has proven to be a lackluster candidate who has struggled to win over the liberals who gravitated to Sanders during the primary, and who remains ahead in large part due to Trumps historic weaknesses.

Right now I am petrified that Hillary is almost totally dependent on Republicans nominating Trump, Brent Budowsky, a political columnist and former political adviser, wrote in a March 2016 email to Podesta and Roy Spence, an ad maker for the campaign. She has huge endemic political weaknesses that she would be wise to rectify.

Even a clown like Ted Cruz would be an even money bet to beat and this scares the hell of out me, Budowsky added.

Indeed at least one aide, Benenson, believed that Marco Rubio posed the greatest threat to Clinton if he were to become the Republican nominee.

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Hovering over the trickle of embarrassing emails are suspicions both within the Clinton campaign and in intelligence circles that Russia is behind the hack. The FBI is investigating the cyber incident as part of a broader inquiry into Russian hacking of political organizations such as the Democratic National Committee, law enforcement officials said. Clinton and her allies have linked the hacking to an attempt by the Russians to influence an American election.

By dribbling these out every day, WikiLeaks is proving they are nothing but a propaganda arm of the Kremlin with a political agenda doing Putins dirty work to help elect Donald Trump, said Clinton spokesman Glen Caplin. The FBI is now investigating this crime. The unanswered questions are why Donald Trump strangely wont condemn it and whether any of his associates are involved.

Regardless, the emails are likely to be a source of headaches for Clinton from now until Election Day. The Clinton campaign has declined to confirm the authenticity of the emails, nor has it denied it.

At a Wednesday afternoon rally in Lakeland, Fla., Trump called the WikiLeaks revelations big stuff and repeatedly slammed his Democratic rival over them.

The Hillary Clinton documents released by WikiLeaks make more clear than ever just how much is at stake on Nov. 8. She would be the most dishonest and the most corrupt person ever elected to high office, Trump told the crowd.

His campaign held a conference call with reporters singling out an exchange showing campaign communications director Jennifer Palmieri describing people who convert to Catholicism.

I imagine they think it is the most socially acceptable, politically conservative religion  their rich friends wouldnt understand if they became evangelicals, Palmieri wrote, according to WikiLeaks. Palmieri, who is Catholic, said Wednesday aboard Clintons campaign plane that she has no recollection of the email.

House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) seized on the email in a statement denouncing the Clinton campaigns disdain for the Catholic faith, although he cited a portion of the email not written by Palmieri or any other Clinton staffer.

The emails also show the campaigns internal struggle with how best to address the controversy surrounding the use of an email server while Clinton was at the State Department and her resistance to her aides counsel about how best to but the issue aside.

In March 2015, Nick Merrill, now Clintons traveling press secretary, wrote to Palmieri suggesting that Clinton sit down with comedian and writer Larry Wilmore, who was already scheduled to appear with Bill and Chelsea Clinton at a Clinton Global Initiative event.

HRC is not slated to join, but maybe she should, Merrill wrote, suggesting Wilmore could make a joke about hearing Hillary Clinton is a big emailer.

As the email issue persisted, top aide Huma Abedin asked Clintons advisers in May 2015 whether Clinton could survive not answering questions from press at events during the first leg of the campaign when she rolled out new policy.

In the fall, starting to do avails at message events, interviews, and Q and A with press but having had a series of policy proposals already announced and reported on that she could point to, Abedin suggested, seemingly to relay Clintons thinking to a number of top aides.

Podesta disagreed in no uncertain terms.

If she thinks we can get to Labor Day without taking press questions, I think thats suicidal, Podesta wrote. We have to find some mechanism to let the stream out of the pressure cooker.

A similar debate re-emerged in 2016, after Clinton went months without answering questions from her traveling press, only to change course after Labor Day with more frequent news conferences.

Still unable to lay the email issue to rest in 2015, Clintons aides talked about their effort to persuade Clinton to use the decision to turn over her server to the Justice Department as an opportunity for her to be seen as having dealt with the issue.

It is clear that she is not in same place (unless John has a convo with her and gets her in a different place), Palmieri wrote in August 2015.

To this day, Clintons email server is a major part of Trumps case against her and is regularly cited by voters as among the reasons they dont trust her.

The battle with Sanders also proved challenging. Campaign aides sought to balance the need to reduce the damage his candidacy did to hers by bringing the primary to an end while also not alienating his liberal supporters, whom she planned to rely in during the general election.

In the wake of Sanderss resounding defeat of Clinton in the New Hampshire primary, the emails show top Clinton advisers discussing ways to slow the momentum of the senator from Vermont, a self-described democratic socialist.

In one email, Clinton adviser Mandy Grunwald discusses several possible lines of attack, including one under the header: FREE STUFF FOR EVERYBODY.

Combined, Sanders proposals would put the government in control of more than half of the American economy, but Sanders has never told anyone who would pay for all of this or how it would work, she wrote.

Others warned against attacking Sanders too hard  and risking turning away his supporters.

The emails show that Clintons campaign also worried about the influence of Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) over the left wing of the party and the possibility that she might endorse Sanders.

In October 2015, as Sanders was attracting huge crowds on the campaign trail, Grunwald asked whether Clinton should modify her views on a proposed banking regulation to mollify Warren.

I am still worried that we will antagonize and activate Elizabeth Warren by opposing a new Glass-Steagall, Grunwald wrote. I worry about defending the banks in the debate.

An excerpt of one of Clintons paid speeches show some aides were concerned that her comments seemed like an admission that she is out of touch.

And Clinton mused about her own shortcomings and challenges with being a more authentic candidate in an off-the-record interview she had with New York Times journalist Mark Leibovich in the summer of 2015.

Im trying to let people into my life, she said, according to the transcript. Im trying to relate to people  not relate to them, you know, talk about being a grandmother  talk about, you know, the experiences I had growing up and all that. Talk about my own mother. And in that way, kind of make connections.

The leaked emails also offer a glimpse of the often plodding nature of her campaign. While Trump often speaks off the cuff  and his staff doesnt even know some of what hell say  most everything Clinton does is scripted.

On an email chain in October 2015 that included more than a dozen aides, there was great debate over whether Clinton should tell a joke at an Iowa dinner about her grueling 11-hour testimony before a House panel investigating the Benghazi attack.

As described, the joke, which was apparently suggested by Bill Clinton, involved the former secretary of state half-expecting Sanders to burst in during hour eight of her testimony and repeat his famous debate line: Enough about your damn emails, Hillary! 

In the end, the line never saw the light of day.

I defer if others think this buys us good will with Sanders people, Podesta wrote. But email jokes in Iowa usually end up badly and dont we want to move on?

Anu Narayanswamy, Sean Sullivan, Carol Morello and Ellen Nakashima contributed to this report.
First lady Michelle Obama speaks during a campaign rally for Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton on Oct. 13, 2016, in Manchester, N.H. (Jim Cole/AP)

In a presidential campaign being waged primarily over questions of personal integrity, the current occupants of the White House are staking out the moral high ground against Donald Trump, whom they are casting as morally unfit to be president.

President Obama and the first lady are making the case with increasing vigor on the campaign trail that the Republican nominees personal conduct has disqualified him from holding the nations highest office.

On Thursday, Michelle Obama, who has generally refrained from political combat, delivered her most forceful and emotional rebuke of Trump, calling his treatment of women disgraceful and declaring that no woman deserves to be treated this way.

Lets be clear: This is not normal. . . . This is intolerable, she said during a campaign rally for Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton in Manchester, N.H., directly addressing news reports that Trump had groped and kissed several women against their will.

I cant stop thinking about this, the first lady said, her voice cracking at times. It has shaken me to my core in a way that I couldnt have predicted.

At an Oct. 13 Hillary Clinton campaign event, first lady Michelle Obama grew emotional while talking about allegations of sexual assault against Republican nominee Donald Trump. (Youtube/Hillary Clinton)

The Obamas had been campaigning against Trump before the disclosure last week of a videotape in which he made lewd comments about women in 2005 and the allegations against him of sexual assault. But the new revelations have raised the stakes of their personal plea to the public to reject the New York real estate developer.

You dont have to be a husband or father to say, Thats not right. You just have to be a decent human being, President Obama said of Trumps lewd comments, during a Clinton campaign rally in Greensboro, N.C., on Tuesday.

While the president seemed to revel in his takedown of Trump, mocking him as unfit for a job at 7-Eleven, it is the first ladys increased political role in the campaign that has added an emotional punch to the Obamas argument.

Michelle Obamas speech, televised live on cable news networks, marked her second appearance on a national stage in which she assumed the role of mom-in-chief to speak to the nations moral conscience.

Her address at the Democratic National Convention in July  during which she said the first familys motto is when they go low, we go high  was widely viewed as an emotional rallying point for the Democratic Party.

In New Hampshire, Obama, the mother of two teenage girls, warned that the country cannot endure this or expose our children to it any longer  not for another minute, let alone another four years.

The first lady retains broad popularity, with her national approval ratings reaching 64 percent after her convention address, according to Gallup, and in many ways she is Clintons most effective public surrogate on matters of personal conduct and moral authority.

The first lady has been cashing in on her popularity as she tours the country in support of Hillary Clinton and an election she seems to be taking very personally. Her skewering criticism of Donald Trump is all the more potent for her refusal to ever utter his name. (Erin Patrick O'Connor/The Washington Post)

A former corporate lawyer who met her husband when she was assigned to mentor him, Michelle Obama has spent her adult lifetime balancing the demands of work and family life. In her remarks Thursday, she reflected on the stories from previous generations of the male boss who could say and do whatever he pleased to the women in the office.

Trump has been accused of walking in on naked contestants in his beauty pageants, and a reporter for People magazine wrote this week that he sexually assaulted her while she was interviewing him for an article shortly after he married his current wife, Melania.

So many have worked for so many years to end this kind of violence and abuse and disrespect, the first lady said. But here we are, in 2016, and were hearing these exact same things every day on the campaign trail. We are drowning in it.

The latest Trump controversies have come at a time when both Obamas have been emphasizing their work as role models to young boys and girls.

The president participated in a town-hall-style event Tuesday with ESPN to talk about the My Brothers Keeper initiative his administration began in 2014 to provide support for at-risk young African American men. And the first lady has spent the past 18 months building Let Girls Learn, a global initiative focused on girls education.

But on a more personal level, the first couple stands as a moral contrast to Trump, whose three marriages have been longtime tabloid fodder.

The Obamas marked their 24th wedding anniversary this month, and a 12-page cover story in the October edition of Essence magazine celebrated their marriage under the title Grace & Power. The package included photos of the Obamas gazing at each other while holding hands.

The president, while promoting policies for women and girls, has often spoken admiringly about being surrounded in the White House by strong women, including his mother-in-law, Marian Robinson.

At the town-hall event, President Obama jokingly told a young woman, who asked for advice on balancing work and family, that her husband should just do what you tell him to do, which has worked very well in my house.

On Thursday, the first lady took a more serious tone, when she contrasted Trumps lewd comments to the example set inside the White Houses living quarters.

I can tell you that the men in my life do not talk about women like this, she said. And I know that my family is not unusual. And to dismiss this as everyday locker-room talk is an insult to decent men everywhere.
Donald Trump supporters kneel in prayer following a rally led by Women for Trump, a group of women married to members of Congress who are touring North Carolina this week. (Mary Jordan/The Washington Post)

If Hillary Clinton becomes the first female president of the United States, a lot of women at Grannys Country Kitchen will be upset.

They know Trump has said crude things about women. He may even have behaved like a lout. But when forced to weigh Trumps behavior against their disdain for Clinton, the women at Grannys say its not even close.

She couldnt care less about me, said Brenda Vaughn, 62, wearing a Women for Trump shirt at a rally at this landmark restaurant, home to Friday night gospel gatherings and a reputation for the best fried chicken in these Blue Ridge foothills.

Like other women here, Vaughn came out Wednesday to listen to wives of Republican congressmen, who are on a week-long barnstorming bus tour through this critical swing state. And she disparaged Clinton as much, if not more, than cheered Trump.

When I see her, all I see is plastic  all fake. He might have said things people dont agree with, but he is real, said Vaughn, who helped distribute 400 Trump signs around neighboring McDowell County.

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I know of only one Hillary sign, she said proudly.

A growing gender gap is marking the 2016 campaign. Not since CBS News exit polls were first taken in 1972 has there been such a divide in how men and women view candidates. Polls show that more women are abandoning Trump, while men are still more likely to support him than Clinton.

After The Washington Post released a video Friday showing Trump making vulgar comments about women and bragging of his ability to force himself on them sexually because he was a star, Clintons advantage among women jumped, according to a Wall Street Journal/NBC Survey.

Overall, the survey showed Clinton had an 11-point lead, 46 percent to 35 percent. But among women, her lead grew from 12 points in mid-September to a remarkable 21 points this month.

Perhaps more unexpected than women abandoning Trump are those who still enthusiastically support him. Judging from conversations with those leading the Women for Trump bus tour, and the women it is attracting, the female Trump support has little to do with him.

Many of these women are steadfast supporters of traditional GOP policies of low taxes and small government  and many simply cant stomach Clinton. They call her unrelatable, corrupt and a machine who has been angling for the presidency for what they say feels like a lifetime. Many strongly disagree with her policy positions, especially her views in support of abortion rights.

Many also said they dont like everything about Trump. But they have been forced to disregard his less savory attributes and focus on issues important to them, such as Trumps promise of tighter immigration controls.

Supporters of Republican U.S. presidential nominee Donald Trump cheer at a campaign rally in West Palm Beach, Fla., October 13, 2016. (Mike Segar/Reuters)

I am voting for policies, not the personalities, Suzanne Conaway, wife of Rep. K. Michael Conaway (R-Tex.) told the crowd at Grannys.

I am voting on Americas future, not on Trumps past, said Carolyn Yoho, wife of Rep. Ted Yoho (R-Fla.), before she set off Thursday morning for another day on the trail. The Clinton regime and machine has been rife with corruption for years and years and years and we dont want to go down that path again.

Since the video surfaced Friday, several women have come forward to say that Trump has groped them or made other unwanted sexual advances. Many here said Thursday they have heard those reports but treat them with great skepticism because of what they perceive as media bias against Trump.

Still, these women accept that Trump made the vulgar comments they heard on the video, and they are worried that Republicans in GOP strongholds like this town of 2,700 will be so disgusted they just wont vote at all.

Is it offensive? Yes. Can we forgive it? Yes! said Debbie Meadows, wife of Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.).

Amen! a woman shouted.

Some people say, I am not voting because both candidates are trash. Youve heard it. Ive heard it. But you have got to pick because one of them will be president, Meadows said.

Meadows said Clinton would be far worse, reminding people, Hillary Clinton calls me a deplorable!  Even worse, she argued, Clinton said, Im irredeemable.

She told the Christian crowd that Clinton was essentially telling her she couldnt go to heaven.

LeeAnn Johnson, wife of Rep. Bill Johnson (R-Ohio) also urged people not to stay home Nov. 8

If someone says both candidates are flawed and dont want to vote, tell them that as many as seven justices on the Supreme Court are at stake, she said.

Yoho also addressed the video, saying, When I found out, I had a few moments of righteous indignation. Then I got some perspective.

She said she has heard professional men speaking very inappropriately and it doesnt make them incompetent. And she noted that huge numbers of women bought Fifty Shades of Grey, the best-selling erotic novel that centered on bondage and rough sex.

Women can be just as inappropriate, she said.

Vaughn, the retiree in the Women for Trump shirt, said she is definitely voting, as the saying around here goes, If the Lord is willing and the creek doesnt rise.

Many of the women interviewed said they are insulted when people tell them they should vote because they would be electing the first female president. In fact, they are energized to campaign against her because they dislike her so much.

How can she be so offended by his nasty talk, his lewd talk, when she bullied, silenced and intimidated women who had been abused by her husband? Meadows said, repeating a common sentiment here.

Nancy Schulze, a Republican activist who organized the bus tour, said a rotating handful of congressional wives are on the bus, along with staff members from Capitol Hill. Earlier in the week, Dorothy Woods, widow of Tyrone Woods, who was killed in the 2012 attack in Benghazi, Libya, also spoke at stops to urge people to support Trump.

Schulze said she believes women will decide the 2016 election in key states including North Carolina and Pennsylvania. She is urging people to forget locker room talk and focus on the two very different visions for the country.

Alison Lloyd, a cashier at Grannys, said she is an independent who voted for Obama last time. She is still undecided and getting more confused about whom to support.

After the Trump gathering was over and the Women for Trump bus motored on to its next stop, Lloyd recalled the criticism against Mitt Romney in 2012 when he talked of having binders full of women.

Remember the backlash? It was out of control against Romney. And for Donald Trump to say what he did, and for me then to watch all these women speak on his behalf, and 25 more sit back and clap, is remarkable, said Lloyd, a mother of two.

She said it is so puzzling that she finds herself questioning if there isnt more to Trump than she realizes, because he had done so many offensive things and yet his support holds.

Is there something about this man that I am not getting? she said, shaking her head and serving another customer a country boy  a bowl of pinto beans, corn bread and coleslaw.

As Lloyd rang up Carol Smiths bill at the register, the scheduler for a local orthodontist group said she is worried that Trump could kill Obamacare. She said that would be bad news for those with preexisting conditions, including her husband, who has heart disease.

It would devastate us, Smith, 48, said.

Yet she still plans to vote Trump.

I just feel she is corrupt, said Smith, adding she wouldnt put it past Clinton to somehow steal the election.

Scott Clement contributed to this story.
Donald Trump's surrogates took to the television airwaves to defend his lewd comments  but some of the male surrogates have been less than helpful. (Peter Stevenson/The Washington Post)

Donald Trump's surrogates took to the television airwaves to defend his lewd comments  but some of the male surrogates have been less than helpful. (Peter Stevenson/The Washington Post)

Waves of aides and surrogates have fanned out in recent days to defend Donald Trump after the release of a video in which he brags about forcing himself on women and subsequent allegations that he groped or kissed multiple women without their consent.

But in trying to justify or dismiss the reports, many of Trumps defenders only seem to be making the situation worse.

Trumps top supporters, many of them middle-aged or older men, have tried to explain away Trumps behavior in terms that range from puzzling to offensive  angering people in both parties and complicating the Republican nominees attempts to move past the controversies.

Trump and his surrogates have brushed off his crude remarks about sexual assault on the 2005 videotape as locker room banter, infuriating many who say it is not how most men actually speak to one another. Some, including former New York mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani, have described Trumps comments on the video as typical male behavior in general.

Others are also attempting to discredit the women accusing Trump of assault.

Donald Trump insists he's never acted on the lewd comments he made on tape in 2005, but since the Oct. 9 debate, multiple women have accused him of forcing himself on them sexually. Trump's TV surrogates are doing their best to defend him. (Peter Stevenson/The Washington Post)

The New York Times goes back over 30 years to find somebody who had a bad airplane flight, said former House speaker Newt Gingrich, referring to a woman who alleges that Trump grabbed her breasts and tried to put his hand up her skirt on a flight around 1980 when she was 38.

[These male Trump surrogates cant help mansplaining away his lewd comments]

And some of Trumps male supporters seem more than willing to lecture women on how they should put up with sexist talk.

Ladies out there, this is what guys talk about when youre not around. So if you're offended by it, grow up. Okay? actor Scott Baio said on Fox News.

Baio added: And by the way, this is what you guys talk about over white wine when you have your brunches. So take it easy with your phony outrage.

On the tape, which was released by The Washington Post on Friday, Trump tells Access Hollywood host Billy Bush he could grab women by the p---y because he is a star and bragged about trying to have sex with a married woman. Campaigning Tuesday in Colorado, Trumps son Eric said conversations like that are what happens when alpha personalities are in the same presence. Eric Trump also said his fathers behavior wasnt right and does not reflect his true personality.

Trumps campaign did not respond to multiple requests for comment about its surrogates.

Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), left, said it would be a stretch to say that lewd remarks by Donald Trump, center, described sexual assault. (Evan Vucci/AP)

Some Trump defenders, including Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), have said that Trumps comments on the video do not describe assault.

I dont characterize that as sexual assault. I think thats a stretch, Sessions, a former Alabama attorney general, told the Weekly Standard.

Republican National Committee spokesman Sean Spicer, when asked if Trumps declaration described sexual assault, said: I dont know, Im not a lawyer.

On Tuesday, Rep. Blake Farenthold (R-Tex.) suggested he might still support Trump if the Republican nominee said he liked raping women; he quickly apologized.

Jerry Falwell Jr., a lawyer and chancellor of Liberty University, said he would still vote for Trump even if the allegations against him are true. He and others instead went after the New York Times, calling it biased against Trump. Liberty students are now protesting their schools association with Trump.

[Trump recorded having extremely lewd conversation about women in 2005]

The candidates eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., said on WBT radio Thursday that he believes most Americans brushed off his fathers comments on the tape because they have said similar things.

Ive had conversations like that with plenty of people where people use language off color. Theyre talking two guys among themselves , Trump Jr. said. I think it makes him a human. I think it makes him a normal person, not a political robot.

These varied attempts at defending Donald Trump have angered some Republicans, particularly many women.

Jeff Sessions says that he wouldnt characterize Trumps unauthorized groping of women as assault. Are you kidding me?! tweeted Wisconsin conservative activist Marybeth Glenn in declaring that she was leaving the Republican Party. Im sooo done. If you cant stand up for women & unendorse this piece of human garbage, you deserve every charge of sexism thrown at you.

In an impassioned speech at a Thursday rally for Clinton, first lady Michelle Obama said she has been shaken by Trumps comments.

This was not just a lewd conversation, she said. It was not just locker room banter. This was a powerful individual talking freely and openly about sexually predatory behavior.

One theme that has emerged from Trumps surrogates over and over again is the contention that men routinely talk in boorish terms about women  and shock that many others do not agree. Giuliani and CNN host Jake Tapper, for example, got into a heated exchange this week when Tapper said he had been in many locker rooms and a fraternity, but had never heard a man talk like Trump on the tape.

Retired neurosurgeon and Trump backer Ben Carson said this week that when he was growing up, men were constantly boasting about their sexual exploits.

Im surprised you havent heard that, I really am, Carson said to host Brianna Keilar.

I havent heard it, and I know a lot of people who have not heard it, Keilar said to Carson.

Well maybe thats the problem. Maybe thats the problem, Carson said.

[Multiple women accuse Trump of making unwanted sexual advances]

The real problem, according to Republican strategist Katie Packer, is that Trumps supporters do not grasp the reality that millions of women have been sexually assaulted or harassed and that it should not be taken lightly.

I just think that these guys dont get it, so they should quit talking about it, Packer said. For women in our party and decent men in our party, its an affront.

Some of Trumps female supporters have also taken up the cause of defending his behavior. Former New York lieutenant governor Betsy McCaughey tried to compare Trumps comments on the Access Hollywood video to lyrics sung by Beyonce, an artist Hillary Clinton admires.

On CNN earlier this week, Trump surrogate Scottie Nell Hughes said Trumps remarks were appropriate in a culture where the erotic novel Fifty Shades of Grey sold millions of copies and the movie Magic Mike about male strippers was successful. Republican strategist Ana Navarro, who opposes Trump, scoffed at the comparison.

To compare running for president to an erotic film or an erotic movie, an erotic novel, its crazy, Navarro responded. If he wants to be held to that standard, great. Then go write The Art of the Groping.

Others have taken umbrage at the idea that men in locker rooms talk about grabbing women without their consent.

Just for reference. I work in a locker room (every day). . . That is not locker room talk. Just so you know, tweeted Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver Chris Conley.

[Theres nobody left. Evangelicals feel abandoned by GOP after Trumps ascent]

Trumps top evangelical supporters have stood by him during the tape fallout. They include Falwell, Faith and Freedom Coalition Chairman Ralph Reed and Family Research Council President Tony Perkins, who said his support of Trump has never been based on shared values.

Their defense of Trump has caused some Christian women to denounce both the Republican nominee and his evangelical supporters.

Try to absorb how acceptable the disesteem and objectifying of women has been when some Christian leaders dont think its that big a deal, tweeted Beth Moore, an evangelist who said that she was one of many women who had been sexually abused, misused, stared down, heckled, talked naughty to. Like we liked it. We didnt. Were tired of it.

Katelyn Beaty, editor at large of Christianity Today, said it signals a divide between the leaders of evangelicalism and those in the pews, and a failure to take the experience of women in the pews into account. Many evangelical Christians have been leery of Trump, a thrice-married, brash-talking New Yorker.

Now, with fallout from the tape plunging the Republican Party into an unprecedented crisis, Packer said she does not understand why certain people are being allowed to defend it publicly.

I dont know where they get these surrogates from, Packer said. They have better people than this.
By PTI: From Lalit K Jha

Washington, Oct 13 (PTI) With just 100 days left in Barack Obamas presidency, a top American think-tank has suggested the new US president should meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi within first 100 days to strongly signal importance of continuing close relations between the two countries.

In a major report on India-US Security Co-operation, the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) urges the upcoming administration to ensure that India signs the foundational agreements, which it believes is important for strengthening the India-US defense relationship.

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The absence of such agreements will also make it nearly impossible (if not completely impossible) for the US to provide to India certain advanced sensing, computing and communications technologies that India believes are necessary for its own defense capabilities, it said.

"The next administration should work with Australia, India and Japan to establish a quadrilateral security dialogue, led by the US

State Department and foreign ministries. The dialogue should focus on issues of common interest across the Pacific and Indian Ocean regions," the report said.

It said creating a specific opportunity for the US president and Indian Prime Minister to meet in the first 100 days will send a strong signal about the importance of bilateral ties.

CSIS in its report recommends that the US and India should deepen announced efforts on submarine safety and anti-submarine warfare to include combined training and exercises to expand the capability of both countries as well as their interoperability with each other.

Seeking to increase the FDI limit in defense sector to 100 per cent, the report also calls for strengthening and expanding the homeland security dialogue.

The think-tank recommends the new president should invite India to participate (as an observer or stakeholder) in the Quadrilateral Coordination Group talks with the Taliban.

It also urges for establishing a US-India dialogue on the Middle East, modeled on the "East Asia Consults" of the US State Department and Indias Ministry of External Affairs.

CSIS said Modis emergence as a strong leader, just as the US was seeking to consolidate its strategy of re-balance to the Asia Pacific, gave America an opportunity to engage with a rising leader in India, and India an opportunity to reprioritise and rethink its engagement with the world.

Obama continues a bipartisan run of three presidents who have seen India as key to US strategy in Asia, it said.

Observing that Obama has built a strong relationship with Modi, and maintained a high tempo of engagements at the highest levels, the report said the US engagement with India has increasingly focused on the security aspects and India has responded with uncharacteristic warmth to this outreach. PTI LKJ MRJ

--- ENDS ---

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The GOP presidential nominee is out on the trail ahead of the general election in November.

The GOP presidential nominee is out on the trail ahead of the general election in November.

What Donald Trump is doing on the campaign trail

What Donald Trump is doing on the campaign trail

Donald Trump issued a breathtaking call to arms Thursday as he emphatically denied allegations that he groped and kissed multiple women without their consent, charging that his accusers were part of a global conspiracy to extinguish his outsider movement.

Scrambling to turn around his floundering campaign, Trump declared war on the news media and multinational corporations, alleging that they are colluding with Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton to orchestrate the single greatest pile-on in history and undermine his campaign, which he said was an existential threat to the global establishment.

The Clinton machine is at the center of this power structure, the Republican nominee said at a rally in West Palm Beach, Fla. Anyone who challenges their control is deemed a sexist, a racist, a xenophobe and morally deformed. They will attack you, they will slander you, they will seek to destroy your career and your family. . . . They will lie, lie, lie.

Trumps fiery invective came just minutes after first lady Michelle Obama tried to summon the morality of a nation by saying that Trumps degrading comments about women were an affront to all citizens.

The dueling speeches made for a remarkable moment in a roiling presidential campaign and signaled that the final 25 days would focus not on policy or ideology but on character.

Donald Trump insists he's never acted the way he described in the lewd comments he made on tape in 2005, but since the Oct. 9 debate, multiple women have accused him of forcing himself on them sexually. Trump's TV surrogates are doing their best to defend him. (Peter Stevenson/The Washington Post)

The first lady, exasperated and angry, said video of Trump in 2005 bragging about leveraging his stardom to force himself upon women has shaken me to my core. Although careful never to mention Trump by name, Obama sternly admonished him for behavior she called cruel, sick and devoid of basic human decency.

This is not politics as usual, Obama said at a rally for Clinton in Manchester, N.H. This is disgraceful, it is intolerable, and it doesnt matter what party you belong to  Democrat, Republican, independent  no woman deserves to be treated this way. None of us deserves this kind of abuse.

[A brief guide to the flood of allegations women have made against Trump]

President Obama picked up where his wife left off, denouncing Trump and casting this election as about affirming democracy.

Obama also sought to shame Republicans who stood by silently during Trumps ascent. You claim the mantle of the party of family values, and this is the guy you nominate? And stand by? And endorse? And campaign with? he said at an Ohio Democratic Party dinner in Columbus.

In his Florida speech, Trump framed his candidacy in epic, global terms. He said the Nov. 8 election represents a crossroads in the history of our civilization, with his populist movement fighting to upend radical globalization and the disenfranchisement of working people.

Trump hopes his revolutionary message will galvanize his base of aggrieved working-class whites to vote in historic numbers and help him overcome what polls suggest could be an insurmountable deficit to Clinton with virtually every other demographic group.

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump responded to a former People magazine writer who wrote that he kissed her without her consent in 2005 saying, "I don't think so." (The Washington Post)

Trumps remarks, which he read from a teleprompter, were laced with the kind of global conspiracies and invective common in the writings of the alternative-right, white-nationalist activists who see him as their champion. Some critics also heard echoes of historical anti-Semitic slurs in Trumps allegations that Clinton meets in secret with international banks to plot the destruction of U.S. sovereignty and that media and financial elites were part of a soulless cabal out to destroy our great civilization.

Its a global power structure that is responsible for the economic decisions that have robbed our working class, stripped our country of its wealth and put that money into the pockets of a handful of large corporations and political entities, Trump said.

The speech bore the imprint of Stephen K. Bannon, the Trump campaigns chief executive, who until recently was the executive chairman of Breitbart, a conservative website that serves as the virtual town square of the alt-right movement.

Jonathan Greenblatt, chief executive of the Anti-Defamation League, tweeted that Trump should avoid rhetoric and tropes that historically have been used against Jews and keep hate out of campaign.

Trump leveled searing charges against Clinton and her husband, former president Bill Clinton. He accused them of engaging in a massive coverup of widespread criminal activity at the State Department and the Clinton Foundation.

The Clintons are criminals, Trump said. Remember that. Theyre criminals.

[For Donald Trumps supporters, this election is about him  not the GOP]

Trump dismissed the claims of sexual harassment made by several women Wednesday as an absolute horror show of lies and labeled his accusers  as well as the journalists who reported their stories  horrible, horrible liars. He claimed he could prove that their accusations were false, but he declined to detail his evidence.

Trump also claimed that the women were put forward by the Clinton machine, although there is no evidence that the Clinton campaign was behind the women going public with their accusations. Two women who told the New York Times that Trump touched them inappropriately said they came forward after watching Trump, in Sunday nights debate, deny ever taking such actions.

In his Florida speech, Trump lashed out at former People magazine reporter Natasha Stoynoff, who wrote in a first-person account published Wednesday that Trump kissed her without her consent at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida in 2005 when they were alone before an interview with him and his then-pregnant wife, Melania.

Take a look, you take a look, Trump urged his supporters. Look at her. Look at her words. You tell me what you think. I dont think so.

Clinton, who was in California on Thursday raising money, told donors at a San Francisco event that the accounts about Trump were disturbing.

The whole world has heard Trump brag about how he mistreats women, and the disturbing stories just keep coming, Clinton said. But its more than just the way he degrades women, as horrible as that is. He has attacked immigrants, African Americans, Latinos, people with disabilities, POWs, Muslims and our military, which hes called a disaster. Theres hardly any part of America that hes not targeted.

The abuse allegations have put Trump further on the defensive at a time when he trails Clinton badly in key battleground states and has been abandoned by dozens of elected Republican officials. House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) said Monday he would no longer defend Trump or campaign with him, though he has not withdrawn his endorsement.

[The GOP tumbles toward anarchy: Its every person for himself or herself]

Democrats on Thursday marveled at what they see as Clintons good fortune: The allegations against Trump, and his decision to dig in and rebut them one by one, distract from damaging revelations that have emerged from the WikiLeaks hack of Clinton campaign emails.

Paul Begala, a Democratic strategist and adviser to the pro-Clinton super PAC Priorities USA, said Trump was self-destructing.

To quote the late great Nelson Mandela, its like drinking poison and thinking its going to hurt your enemy, Begala said. Hes a billionaire tycoon in a total meltdown, and hes going to try to take as many people down with him. Its not a political strategy, but it will be an unlovely 26 days until we dispatch him to the ash heap of history.

Trump also faced new criticism over vulgar comments he made about forcing himself physically on women in a 2005 video, first reported by The Washington Post last Friday. In the video, Trump is heard talking about soap-opera actress Arianne Zucker on a hot microphone right before meeting her, and she told NBC News that Trumps words were offensive comments for women, period.

Trump was asked at a presidential debate Sunday whether he ever did the things he talked about on the tape, including grabbing women by the p---y. He said, No, I have not.

But Trumps answer is at odds with the accounts of the four women who spoke in the Wednesday reports.

Early Thursday, Trumps campaign released a letter from lawyer Marc E. Kasowitz demanding a retraction by the Times and threatening a lawsuit. In response, Times general counsel David E. McCraw sent Kasowitz a letter Thursday defending the newspapers reporting. If Trump disagrees with it, McCraw wrote, we welcome the opportunity to have a court set him straight.

Michelle Obama referenced the allegations against Trump and his 2005 conversation with Access Hollywood host Billy Bush in her Manchester speech, which was perhaps her most personal and indignant of the campaign season.

Its not something we can just sweep under the rug as just another disturbing footnote in a sad election season, Obama said. Because this was not just a lewd conversation. This wasnt just locker-room banter. This was a powerful individual speaking freely and openly about sexually predatory behavior.

Obama said this campaign is teaching important lessons to the nations children.

If we let Hillarys opponent win this election, then we are sending a clear message to our kids that everything theyre seeing and hearing is perfectly okay, she said. We are validating it. We are endorsing it. Were telling our sons that its okay to humiliate women. Were telling our daughters that this is how they deserve to be treated.

Jose A. DelReal in West Palm Beach contributed to this report.
The GOP presidential nominee is out on the trail ahead of the general election in November.

The GOP presidential nominee is out on the trail ahead of the general election in November.

What Donald Trump is doing on the campaign trail

What Donald Trump is doing on the campaign trail

Donald Trump waged a fight against both the Republican establishment and Hillary Clinton on Wednesday, while the Democratic nominee denounced scorched earth tactics by Republicans.

Speaking at an afternoon rally in Ocala, Fla., Trump continued his verbal assault against House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.), who said Monday that he would no longer campaign with Trump or defend him. The GOP nominee bragged about his performance in Sundays debate and voiced disappointment that Ryans reaction to it wasnt warmer.

Wouldnt you think that Paul Ryan would call and say, Good going? Trump asked the crowd.

Then, without evidence, he seemed to accuse Ryan and Republicans of a larger conspiracy against him. He vowed to get to the bottom of it.

Theres a whole deal going on  were going to figure it out. I always figure things out. But theres a whole sinister deal going on, he said.

Donald Trump started attacking members of his own party in a series of tweets Tuesday after many Republicans rescinded their support for the presidential nominee. The Fix's Chris Cillizza weighs in on the unprecedented unraveling of the GOP. (Jayne Orenstein/The Washington Post)

At a second rally in Lakeland, Fla., Trump used the debate to insult Clintons intelligence.

I dont think shes smart. Look how badly she performed in the last debate. I thought she was terrible, he said.

In Pueblo, Colo., on Wednesday afternoon, Clinton urged her supporters to head to the polls and not back down against deeply personal attacks by Republicans.

Americans want to turn out in as large numbers as possible, Clinton said to applause. Reject the dark and divisive and hateful campaign that is being run.

Clintons campaign appearances were interrupted two days in a row this week by people shouting while holding or wearing T-shirts that brand her husband, former president Bill Clinton, as a rapist.

The Clinton campaign has directly implicated conservative radio host Alex Jones and his conspiracy-driven website Infowars for urging Clinton opponents to raise the rape allegation  and offering to pay those who get on television.

Jones made such an offer on his Sept. 30 show and referred to longtime Clinton opponent and Republican operative Roger Stone, a Trump ally.

At a rally in Lakeland, Fla., Oct. 12, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump said his Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton is nothing without support from the news media. (The Washington Post)

Another shirt that was designed and licensed from Roger Stone is the Bill Clinton rape shirt, Jones said. Looks like the communist-style Obama Hope shirt but says Rape. 

Wear it, get aggressive, start the conversations, get on TV with it, Jones urged. Anyone that gets on national TV with the shirt clearly for more than five seconds gets $1,000. Anyone that gets it on air on national TV and gets the words out Bill Clinton is a rapist or things along the line with a bullhorn could get $5,000, he said.

It is not clear whether those protesting last week and this week at events held by Clinton, her husband or other surrogates were directly inspired by that offer or whether anyone has been paid.

Before Sunday nights debate, Trump held a brief news conference with several women who had accused Bill Clinton of unwanted sexual advances.

In Pueblo, the Democratic nominee contrasted what she calls Trumps efforts to divide voters and her own plan to govern inclusively.

We have done our best to stay out of all the meanness, Clinton said.

I want you to know, I want to be the president for everyone, she said. I am tired of all the division and the barriers. I want to bring people together across party lines, across all the lines that divide us.

At his rally in Lakeland, Trump continued hitting back against critics who accused him of invading Clintons personal space during Sundays debate.

Believe me, the last space that I want to invade is her space, he said, drawing laughter from the crowd.

Trump has escalated his attacks against Clinton in recent days. On Tuesday, he released a TV ad showing Clinton coughing and stumbling during a recent battle with pneumonia. On Wednesday, he released an ad alleging that she only cares about power, money and herself.

Republican leaders abandoned Trump in droves after a Washington Post report Friday about a 2005 video in which Trump is heard making vulgar comments about forcing himself on women sexually. He has apologized for the remarks but has also played down his words as merely locker-room talk, angering many people.

While many GOP elected officials swiftly voiced outrage with the video and ran from Trump, some have moved back toward him this week.

Sen. Deb Fischer (R-Neb.) tweeted Saturday that it would be wise for him to step aside and allow Mike Pence to serve as our partys nominee. But in a Tuesday radio interview with Lincoln radio affiliate KLIN, Fischer said, I support the Republican ticket, and its a Trump-Pence ticket.

A top surrogates attacks on Clinton also drew scrutiny Wednesday. In Ocala, former New York mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani accused Clinton of failing to honor the victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, suggesting at one point that she lied about visiting Ground Zero in the aftermath.

Dont tell me, if you said that, that you remember September 11, 2001. I remember September 11, 2001, Giuliani said at the Trump campaign rally. Yes, you helped to get benefits for the people who were injured one day. But I heard her say she was there that day. I was there that day, I dont remember seeing Hillary Clinton there.

While Clinton was not in New York on Sept. 11  she regularly mentions being in Washington that day  she flew there on Sept. 12, in one of the few airplanes allowed to travel in the aftermath of the attacks. Pictures of Giuliani and Clinton inspecting the destruction together are widely available.

Gearan reported from Pueblo. DelReal reported from Lakeland. James Hohmann contributed to this report.
Donald Trump strongly denied that he had groped and kissed women without their consent, following a number of news reports detailing allegations made by four women. (The Washington Post)

Donald Trump strongly denied that he had groped and kissed women without their consent, following a number of news reports detailing allegations made by four women. (The Washington Post)

Two speeches. Two Americas. A pair of apocalyptic arguments and one call to burn down the house. Thats the summation from just two remarkable hours Thursday that crystallized the final month of Campaign 2016.

In back-to-back appearances, in what might be the two most compelling hours of the entire election, Michelle Obama in New Hampshire and Donald Trump in Florida delivered the fiercest, most provocative and hardest-hitting speeches of an election cycle that has been without precedent in hot rhetoric.

The presidential campaign has been building toward all this. Day after day after day, the rhetoric has intensified, the charges and countercharges have escalated, the issues have been reduced to asterisks, and the gulf between the Trump and Clinton coalitions has widened. Sundays debate in St. Louis foreshadowed what was to come. Now there will be no turning back.

Obamas was a scorching takedown of the Trump who was revealed in the Access Hollywood hot-mic video, a sexual predator who bragged about using his celebrity status to go after women. The impassioned first lady said that, no matter ones political affiliation, Trumps language is an affront to women and girls  and to men and boys as well. She pleaded with voters not to allow him to occupy the highest office in the land.

[This is intolerable. . . . Stop this madness: Michelle Obama rallies women against Trump]

At a Hillary Clinton campaign event on Oct. 13, first lady Michelle Obama grew emotional while talking about allegations of sexual assault against Republican nominee Donald Trump. (Youtube/Hillary Clinton)

Trumps was an angry and all-out defense against overnight charges of sexual assault by multiple women coupled with a blistering attack on an establishment that he charged is led by Hillary and Bill Clinton, protected by a complicit news media and so totally corrupt that it threatens the very future of country.

[Trump calls womens claims of sexual advances vicious and absolutely false ]

If the two speeches changed few minds  and there probably arent that many left to change  they were an indication of how charged the final days of this campaign are likely to be, and suggest that the conflict will not end with the declaration of a winner after Nov. 8.

Michelle Obama has been on the campaign trail on behalf of Hillary Clinton before. She has delivered powerfully on Clintons behalf. Her speech in Philadelphia on the opening night of the Democratic convention helped turn a bad first day into a successful week. Subsequent speeches at campaign rallies have shown her to be as effective a surrogate as the former first lady has.

Never has the country seen the first lady like this. Thursday brought out in Obama something different, something more personal, more passionate, more urgent. She was, she said, shaken by the Trump she saw in the Access Hollywood video.

I cant stop thinking about this, she said. It has shaken me to my core in a way I couldnt have predicted.

And so she threw away much of her standard pro-Clinton speech and laid bare her feelings with a sense of moral outrage and indignation over the idea that Trump could be the nominee of a major political party and a threat to win the presidency.

1 of 60 Full Screen Autoplay Close Skip Ad  What Donald Trump is doing on the campaign trail View Photos The GOP presidential nominee is out on the trail ahead of the general election in November. Caption The GOP presidential nominee is pressing his case ahead of Election Day. Nov. 7, 2016 Donald Trump speaks during a campaign event at SNHU Arena in Manchester, N.H. Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post Wait 1 second to continue.

She said she had listened closely to Trumps words. And I have to tell you that I listen to all of this and I feel it so personally, and Im sure that many of you do, too, particularly the women. The shameful comments about our bodies. The disrespect of our ambitions and intellect. The belief that you can do anything you want to a woman. It is cruel. Its frightening. And the truth is, it hurts.

She said that to dismiss what Trump had said as locker-room banter is an insult to decent men everywhere. She said that to treat the episode as just another chapter in a heated campaign does not do justice to the degradation to which many women are subjected regularly.

This is not normal, she said. This is not politics as usual. This is disgraceful, it is intolerable, and it doesnt matter what party you belong to. No woman deserves to be treated this way  none of us deserves this kind of abuse.

Her speech lit up Twitter and the Internet. She spoke as Trump was waiting to appear, and on the cable networks  two at least  the images showed a fiery first lady dominating the screen with a tiny box in the corner of the crowded arena awaiting the GOP nominee. Both CNN and MSNBC broke away from regular coverage to show the Obama speech. Fox News did not carry it.

When Obama had finished, Trump came out to thunderous applause, a sign that the support among his most loyal backers has not slackened in the face of the hot-mic video, the latest allegations against him, and the turmoil in his campaign and in the Republican Party. If anything, that support has hardened further, and if there were any concerns about that, Trump gave his supporters every reason to stand firm.

He cast the choice in November as between a political-media-corporate establishment against the rest of the country, a divide-to-conquer strategy that has been urged on him by his advisers.

This is not simply another four-year election, he said. This is a crossroads in the history of our civilization that will determine whether or not we the people reclaim control over our government.

He said the most recent allegations of sexual misconduct were preposterous, ludicrous, and defy truth, common sense and logic. He promised to produce evidence to refute them and appeared to take a swipe at a People magazine reporter who said he had kissed her and forced himself against her, seeming to suggest that her appearance should cast doubt on her allegations.

You take a look. Look at her, he said. Look at her words. You tell me what you think. I dont think so. I dont think so.

He said the establishment will try to retain its grip on power through all manner of means. Anyone who challenges their control is deemed a sexist, a racist, a xenophobe and morally deformed. They will attack you, they will slander you, they will seek to destroy your career and your family, they will seek to destroy everything about you, including your reputation. They will lie, lie, lie, and then again they will do worse than that, they will do whatever is necessary. The Clintons are criminals, remember that. Theyre criminals.

Not only criminals, he said, but also the leaders of an establishment whose goal is power and enrichment at the expense of everyday Americans.

The Clinton machine is at the center of this power structure, he said. Weve seen this firsthand in the WikiLeaks documents, in which Hillary Clinton meets in secret with international banks to plot the destruction of U.S. sovereignty in order to enrich these global financial powers, her special-interest friends and her donors.

Trump called the election a moment of reckoning as a society and as a civilization itself, and he issued an exhortation to his followers to overturn the current order.

The only thing that can stop this corrupt machine is you, he said. The only force strong enough to save our country is us. The only people brave enough to vote out this corrupt establishment is you, the American people.

In two hours Thursday, the lines were drawn as never before. Michelle Obama delivered a case against Trumps personal and moral fitness with a forcefulness that Hillary Clinton cannot match, given the past charges against her husband. Meanwhile, Trump has embraced fully the blow-it-up argument that will rattle Republican leaders but which animates those Americans who are most alienated from the countrys establishment. Those are the parameters of the political debate as it stands today  and the choice that will be settled on Election Day.
1 of 15 Full Screen Autoplay Close Skip Ad  Where We Live | Friendship Heights in Northwest Washington View Photos The D.C. neighborhoods housing variety, amenities and walkability continue to draw residents. Caption The D.C. neighborhoods housing variety, amenities and walkability continue to draw residents. Located walking distance from upscale shopping and dining options along Wisconsin Avenue, Friendship Heights offers potential buyers a chance to live in a part of the city that has equal parts urban and suburban vibes, said Gretchen Koitz, an agent with Compass, a residential real estate firm. Amanda Voisard/For The Washington Post Wait 1 second to continue.

Donald Chip Levy kept an open mind during his housing search in the early 1990s.

He considered a number of architectural styles and didnt have a particular square footage in mind, he said.

There was one thing, however, that was nonnegotiable. The location, he said, had to be just right.

Buying a house is all about the location. I like to say that I bought a location and got a nice little house with it, said Levy, referring to his 1926 semidetached house in Northwest Washingtons Friendship Heights neighborhood.

Located within walking distance of upscale shopping and dining options along Wisconsin Avenue, Friendship Heights offers potential buyers a chance to live in a part of the city that has equal parts urban and suburban vibes, said Gretchen Koitz, an agent with Compass, a residential real estate firm.

Koitz said that life in Friendship Heights revolves around access to Metros Red Line and the ease of walking to nearby stores and restaurants.

The neighborhood is extremely appealing to young families who may have started out in a one-bedroom apartment in Dupont Circle, Koitz said. Now theyre married with children but became used to living in the city and they dont want to move out of the District. Friendship Heights offers them a lot of everything, she said.

[Arlingtons Dominion Hills: Urban amenities and a suburban feel]





No car needed: The neighborhood, said Koitz, is home to a mix of architectural styles, including Colonials, rowhouses and farmhouse-style homes. With everything from high-end apartments to condominiums and single-family houses, Friendship Heights has something for every buyer, she said.

Ive sold homes to clients who sold a larger house in Bethesda and wanted to remain close to the action. Friendship Heights allowed them to accomplish that goal.

Jarilyn Dupont purchased her three-bedroom, two-bathroom home about 18 years ago and said that she loves the neighborhood and plans to remain there for the long term. Theyre going to take me out in a coffin, she said.

I can easily walk to four or five grocery stores, 10 restaurants and Im near the Metro.

The proximity to public transportation isnt always a plus, she said.

You get people who park here and walk to take the Metro and that sometimes gets a little annoying but if thats the hardest thing I have to deal with  good Lord, said Dupont with a chuckle.

Jessica Gada was so taken by Friendship Heights that she made an offer the same day she toured a three-bedroom, two-bathroom brick Colonial. She moved into the home in January 2013 and said she loves that her block has a city feel but our back yard is just so family-friendly, with access to playgrounds and parks.

Fred Block said that he wasnt sure what to expect when he moved to Friendship Heights in 2005. Hed recently married and moved to the area from Chicago. But he quickly fell in love with the neighborhood, he said. He said he loves that you dont really need a car in Friendship Heights, said Block, who lives in a four-bedroom, three-bathroom Cape Cod on Ingomar Street NW.

[D.C.s Trinidad neighborhood sheds its troubled past]

The one downside, he said, is that some of the houses in Friendship Heights tend to be on the small side.

My youngest daughter doesnt realize her room is basically the size of her bed.



Jeanine Hull practices yoga at Fort Reno Park alongside her dog, Sancho. (Amanda Voisard/For the Washington Post)

Living there: There are no definitive boundaries for Friendship Heights. According to Koitz, the agent with Compass, the neighborhood is roughly bordered by Western Avenue to the northwest, 41st Street NW and Fort Reno to the east, Chesapeake Street to the south, and River Road to the southwest.

In the past 12 months, 35 properties have sold in Friendship Heights, ranging from a 445-square-foot, one-bedroom, one-bathroom, condominium for $320,000 to a 2,625-square-foot, three-bedroom, four-bathroom condominium for $2.4 million, said Koitz.

There are four properties for sale in Friendship Heights, ranging from a three-bedroom, three-bathroom rowhouse for $699,000 to a 1,400-square-foot, two-bedroom, two-bathroom condominium for $1.2 million, Koitz said.

Schools: Janney Elementary, Deal Middle and Wilson High.

Transit: Friendship Heights is extremely accessible to public transportation. The neighborhood is a short walk to the Friendship Heights Station on Metros Red Line and is close to a number of bus routes along Wisconsin Avenue.

Crime: Since January, there have been 27 burglaries, 14 reports of assault and eight robberies in the service area that includes Friendship Heights, according to D.C. police.
Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej and his wife, Queen Sirikit, are seen during the kings birthday parade in Bangkok.

Dec. 2, 2005 Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej and his wife, Queen Sirikit, are seen during the kings birthday parade in Bangkok. Narong Sangnak/European Pressphoto Agency

Thailand was plunged into mourning Thursday with the death of King Bhumibol Adulyadej, the worlds longest-reigning monarch and the only ruler most Thais have ever known.

The death of Bhumibol  on the throne for seven decades  poses questions about the direction of the monarchy in the transition from a figure widely viewed as a near-deity.

Although the king has limited official power, the 88-year-old Bhumibol was seen as a unifying force in a nation that has faced coups and periods of crippling political unrest. At times, it took only a few words or gestures from Bhumibol to quell disputes or pull the nation back from crisis.

The Royal Palace said Bhumibol died in a peaceful state at Siriraj Hospital in Bangkok, where he had been treated for various health problems for years. His family, including his presumed heir, Crown Prince Vajiralongkorn, had been at his bedside in recent days as his health deteriorated.

[Seven decades of rule under Bhumibol]

Moments after the announcement of his death, crowds gathered outside the hospital. People sobbed, hugged and collapsed into the arms of others. The throng grew by the hour, turning the compound into a sea of pink and yellow clothing, the colors of luck and royalty.

Chants of Long live the king! Long live the king! regularly broke out. Buddhist monks led prayers as well-wishers lit candles and fragrant joss sticks.

Others simply stared up, tears filling their eyes, at the hospital tower, across the Chao Phraya River from his palace, that had been the kings home in recent months during his long illness.

The palace announced a year of official mourning at state agencies and government offices, with flags flying at half-staff for 30 days.

[Gallery: The life of Bhumibol]

At Bangkoks Erawan Shrine, where 20 people were killed in August 2015 in the citys worst bombing attack, mourners placed offerings of garlands, fruit and joss sticks as they paid their respects to the monarch.

This is a very sad day for our country, said Piyanath Maneechot, an advertising executive. He united us like a father. We really dont know what will happen next to our country.

Parithep Pongtong, 34, an events manager, was also anxious. We have known nothing else but his rule, he said. He was a great leader, and we just dont know what to expect for Thailand.

And even as the late kings subjects mourned, the succession process was, at least temporarily, muddied. For shortly after he was unveiled as the next monarch by the prime minister, Prince Vajiralongkorn declared that he did not want to assume the position immediately.

The national assembly had convened an emergency session that was initially expected to proclaim the prince as King Rama X. But the prime minister and junta chief, Gen. Prayuth Chan-ocha, disclosed that Vajiralongkorn was not yet ready to take the throne  a gesture of humility that may bolster his standing.

He already accepted his appointment as a royal heir, but he requested time to deal with his grief and express his sadness alongside the people across the nation at this time, Prayuth said. As for the succession, he wishes to wait until the appropriate time.

So the legislatures session consisted solely of nine minutes of silence in honor of the late king  to the surprise of millions of viewers.

The late kings body will be carried from the hospital on Friday afternoon to the Temple of the Emerald Buddha, next to the Grand Palace. There he will lie in state  a period expected to last 100 days  before the funeral rites.

Bhumibol had retreated from public life in recent years as his health declined, but his past outreach was known to nearly every Thai. He had pitched in at rice paddies in a symbolic show of solidarity with the countrys agricultural roots and had strongly encouraged Thailands rapid modernization since the 1960s. He played several musical instruments and once jammed with American jazz greats including Benny Goodman.

Bhumibol was born in Cambridge, Mass., on Dec. 5, 1927, making him the only king from any country born in the United States. His father, Prince Mahidol, was studying at Harvard Medical School at the time and died two years later of kidney and liver ailments. His mother was a Thai commoner.

[Watch: The king in his latter years]

In a televised address, Prayuth said that there would be no festivities for 30 days in a country whose economy is heavily dependent on tourist dollars.

If the succession goes as planned, Vajiralongkorn  the crown prince who has spent much of his time living with his entourage in Germany  will face the challenges of carving out his own identity as ruler amid political tensions.

The pro-royalist junta, which took power in 2014, has promised to hold elections by the end of next year after the passage of a new constitution that enshrines military influence in sectors of public life. But some analysts have predicted that the election timeline might slip into 2018 after a period of prolonged national mourning.

President Obama expressed heartfelt condolences and recalled meeting the king during a visit to Thailand in 2012.

Bhumibol was a close friend of the United States and a valued partner of many U.S. presidents, the White House statement said.

U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon called the late king a unifying national leader.

Brian Murphy and Carol Morello in Washington contributed to this report.

Read more:

Todays coverage from Post correspondents around the world
According to the opinion poll by Axis-My-India for the India Today Group, Congress will emerge as the party in Punjab Assembly elections.

By Harmeet Shah Singh: Led by Captain Amarinder Singh, the Congress is poised to emerge as the largest party in Punjab followed by Arvind Kejriwal's AAP, delivering the worst-ever blow to the ruling Shiromani Akali Dal-BJP alliance in recent history, if elections were to be held today in the state battling a chronic drug epidemic, an opinion poll by Axis-My-India for the India Today Group showed.

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But none of the two leading players is projected to secure a sweeping majority in the 117-seat assembly.

SEAT SHARE

The poll forecast 49 to 55 seats for the Congress, 42 to 46 for the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and 17 to 21 for the SAD-BJP combine. Other smaller groups, according to the poll results, may win three to seven seats together.

Also read: India Today-Axis Opinion Poll: UP, Uttarakhand, Punjab back surgical strikes over war



In terms of share, the Congress has been projected to grab 33 per cent, the AAP 30 per cent and the governing alliance 22 per cent of the total votes. Others will likely get 15 per cent of the vote share, the poll showed.



DRUG ISSUE

Most of the respondents - 76 per cent of them - acknowledged drugs as a major problem afflicting Punjab. Around 80 per cent of them blamed the scourge on the Punjab government and politicians.

FARMER SUICIDE

Hit by a spate of farmer suicides because of crippling debts, more than 65 per cent of participants in the opinion poll expressed dissatisfaction with the state's crop insurance scheme. Around 55 per cent voiced similar sentiments with the Minimum Support Price and crop payments.

On average, more than 60 per cent of respondents said they were dissatisfied with the government over 19 indices, including the drug problem.

Also read: Punjab polls: Decision on merger between Sidhu-led Awaaz-e-Punjab, Congress within a week



ANTI-INCUMBENCY

The poll recorded an anti-incumbency level from 61 to 77 per cent in the state, which has been ruled by the SAD-BJP coalition for two successive terms since 2012.

CASTE



Punjab is home to the highest percentage of SC population amongst all the states in the country. SCs account for around 32 per cent of the state's total population of 2.7 crore, according to the 2011 census.

The poll showed the Congress securing the support of around 35 per cent of SC Sikhs and SC Hindus. Its vote-share among upper-caste Sikhs stood at 30 per cent and among upper-caste Hindus at 38 per cent. Around 35 per cent of OBC Hindus and 29 per cent of OBC Sikhs also threw their weight behind the Congress party, the poll found.

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Kejriwal's AAP, the findings showed, had a slight edge among OBC Sikhs, with more than 30 per cent of them backing the Delhi chief minister's party. The AAP's support-base among upper-caste Hindus was found to be standing at 26 per cent followed by 29 per cent among the upper-caste Sikhs.

ECONOMIC GROUPS

Across several income groups, the Congress was found to be the favourite followed by the AAP. Around 35 per cent of respondents in the monthly bracket of Rs 10,000-Rs 20,000 and above backed the Congress. In the lower income category of up to Rs 10,000, as high as 32 per cent of the participants also favoured Singh's party.

Support for Kejriwal's AAP in the three economic categories was less than 30 but more than 25 per cent, the poll observed.

Also read: Punjab: AAP attempts to cut into BJP's votebank by wooing businessmen



One third of Punjab's farmers and professionals were found to be supporting the Congress. More than 35 per cent of small shopkeepers and labourers also endorsed the same party, according to the poll. The AAP, on the other hand, appeared to be enjoying the support of 37 per cent of students and 34 per cent of the state's unemployed youth.

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The incumbent SAD followed the Congress closely in terms of its traditional base among the farming community. The poll showed 30 per cent of Punjab's farmers still backed the ruling alliance.

In recent history, the SAD suffered its worst defeat in 2002, when it won 41 seats on its own in the middle of a split between then party chief Parkash Singh Badal and Akali stalwart Gurcharan Singh Tohra.



VOTE SHIFT

Since the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, around 22 per cent of the SAD/BJP's vote share has shifted to the AAP and 19 per cent to the Congress, according to the poll.

Also read: Patidar leaders to support Aam Aadmi Party ahead of UP polls

Amarinder Singh's party has been able to retain 74 per cent and the AAP 80 per cent of their share over the past two years, the findings suggest

METHODOLOGY

In a sample size of 6,552, pollsters conducted one-on-one interviews with the questionnaire for all 117 constituencies.

--- ENDS ---
Thailands King Bhumibol Adulyadej and Queen Sirikit in 1977 attend a symbolic mass cremation ceremony for Thai soldiers and civilians killed by communist insurgents over a one-year period. (Neal Ulevich/AP)

King Bhumibol Adulyadej of Thailand, the worlds longest-reigning monarch, a strong U.S. ally and a national unity symbol who acted as tiebreaker during sometimes-bloody confrontations between his countrys military leaders and democracy advocates, died Oct. 13 in Bangkok. He was 88.

The king had long suffered from lung infections, liver problems and other medical issues. Thailands royal palace announced the death but gave no specific cause.

His frail health was closely watched in a country marked by frequent coup attempts and changes of prime minister, and his death was expected to plunge the nation into further distress. His only son, Crown Prince Vajiralongkorn, a career military officer, is his heir apparent.

Though his formal powers were limited, King Bhumibol in effect stood above the law, parliament, courts and other civil and religious authorities for the past seven decades. Foreigners often viewed his celebrity as bordering on cultlike. Among Thais he enjoyed a reputation as the very model of a virtuous Buddhist leader, even a near-deity.

[King of our hearts: Thais pay touching respects to Bhumibol Adulyadej]

At crisis points in Thailands turbulent political history, a nod from him one way or the other was often enough to turn the tide. He helped exile a ruling junta in 1973 and bring in a civilian prime minister. But he was widely viewed as backing the militarys overthrow of a civilian government in 2006.

After World War II, U.S. policymakers viewed Thailand as a front-line against communist influence in Southeast Asia. Starting in the late 1960s, the king played a role securing an alliance that helped transform his agriculture-based country into a major recipient of Cold War military and economic aid from the United States.

Thailand became an important base for U.S. military forces during the Vietnam War and a bulwark against political crises in neighboring Cambodia and Laos. In recent years, Thailand has become a strategic partner in anti-terrorism operations, with the palace remaining an influential background force in that relationship.

Absolute monarchies around the world had long been on the wane when Bhumibol  also known as Rama IX  was proclaimed king in 1946. He and his royalist supporters revived the authority of the crown through alliances with a succession of anti-communist military rulers.

[As Thailand mourns death of king, appeals to respect transition to heir]

By official accounts, however, King Bhumibol distanced himself from daily politics. In a rare interview, the king told the BBC in 1979 that the crown tried to keep in the middle, neutral, in peaceful coexistence with everybody. We could be crushed by both sides, but we are impartial. One day it will be very handy to have someone impartial.

That image was reinforced by unremittingly adoring news coverage in Thailand and rigid enforcement of lese-majeste laws that criminalized real or perceived criticism of the monarchy. Several books about the king, even one he proposed, were banned without explanation.

1 of 26 Full Screen Autoplay Close Skip Ad  Thailands King Bhumibol Adulyadej remembered in pictures View Photos Thailands King Bhumibol Adulyadej, the worlds longest-reigning monarch, has passed. He was 88. Caption Thailands King Bhumibol Adulyadej, the worlds longest reigning monarch, has died. He was 88. Dec. 2, 2005 Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej and his wife, Queen Sirikit, are seen during the kings birthday parade in Bangkok. Narong Sangnak/European Pressphoto Agency Wait 1 second to continue.

Many Thais found the kings manner deeply endearing. He did not stand on ceremony when talking to peasants, and he expressed genuine desire to help the most vulnerable. The king often used his authority to slice through bureaucracy and distribute aid quickly during national crises, or to help the poor and marginalized by dispensing mercy during court appearances.

He used the royal purse to fund development projects that affected nearly every Thai village, often visiting a site himself, camera in hand. Projects included clinics, schools and, in a more controversial undertaking, grand-scale dams named after him and his family members that uprooted entire communities. His charitable contributions were far-reaching, as well.

His picture hung everywhere, in homes, schools and places of business. His actions and words were often described by commoners in magical terms. Cabinet ministers and farmers alike knelt in his presence.

Once viewed as an elitist institution, the crown repositioned itself during the kings reign as essential to the values and needs of the peasant class. But the kings words and actions suggested that at key points in history he had mixed feelings about liberal democracy.

He was to many Thais a hero for standing up to the ruling generals in 1973 after they used tanks and machine guns against crowds of young people demonstrating for a new constitution. More than 70 protesters were killed. At one point, the king acted against his bodyguards advice and turned his palace grounds into a shelter from the army. The ruling officers soon left the country.

But he was shaken when communists abolished the monarchy of neighboring Laos after their takeover there in 1975. The next year, King Bhumibol supported a military crackdown that led to the deaths of at least 46 student protesters and the injury of hundreds more at Thammasat University in Bangkok. Some were hanged from trees.

One of his most brilliant and sensitive public roles came in 1992, when he calmed a crisis in which soldiers began massacring democracy demonstrators on the streets of Bangkok. The king was credited with helping halt confrontations between the prime minister, Gen. Suchinda Kraprayoon, and opposition politician Chamlong Srimuang, who led the street protests.

Television broadcast images of the two leaders kneeling before him, the king speaking of their moral and patriotic duty to the nation.

Paul M. Handley, a journalist whose biography of King Bhumibol, The King Never Smiles (2006), was banned in Thailand, said in an interview with The Washington Post that the king reduced the entire episode to a personal feud between two ambitious men and stopped it.

The king, Handley wrote, avoided alienating the demonstrators, his loyal subjects, and condemning the military, the men who protected him. He also skirted the real issues of the constitution.

Jazz fanatic and bon vivant

Bhumibol Adulyadej, whose name means strength of the land, incomparable power, was the ninth king of the Chakri dynasty, which was established in 1782.

His ancestors included King Mongkut (1804-1868), whom Yul Brynner portrayed as an autocrat in the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical The King and I, and his grandfather King Chulalongkorn (1853-1910), a revered figure credited with modernizing government and society.

Bhumibol was born in Cambridge, Mass., on Dec. 5, 1927, making him the only king from any country born in the United States. His father, Prince Mahidol, was studying at Harvard Medical School at the time and died two years later of kidney and liver ailments. His mother was a Thai commoner.

In 1932, a military-civilian group staged a successful and bloodless organized revolt against the absolute monarchy, instituting a constitutional government. Bhumibol, his mother and his older brother, Ananda, lived in comfortable exile in Switzerland into the 1940s as Europe and Thailand endured war and political upheavals.

Bhumibol studied at the University of Lausanne but mostly cultivated a reputation as a race-car enthusiast (a road accident in 1948 severely injured his right eye), jazz fanatic and bon vivant.

A saxophonist and clarinetist, he led a small jazz ensemble and wrote dance songs, among them Blue Night, which the New Yorker magazine dubbed Bhumibols beguine when it was featured in the 1950 Broadway revue Michael Todds Peep Show.

The Thai military emerged from World War II in disgrace for having allied the country with Japan in 1941. The Free Thai Movement, which gained national prestige by fighting the Japanese, helped bring Bhumibol and the family back after the war, hoping the monarchy would unite the country.

The plan suffered a traumatic reversal when Ananda was found dead on June 9, 1946, at the royal palace in Bangkok near one of the pistols he collected. He was lying on his back in bed, with a bullet in his head.

Speculation ranged from suicide to political murder to accidental fratricide, and the death was never fully explained. The matter was officially resolved in 1954 when the chief of police pushed through the execution of three pages of a former senior palace official for conspiring to kill Ananda.

Coming to power

Bhumibol was declared king after his brothers death, but his official coronation did not take place until 1950, after his marriage to a distant cousin, Princess Sirikit. Besides his wife, survivors include their son and three daughters.

The generals reasserted control of politics shortly after the war. They shunted King Bhumibol to the side during his early years on the throne, but his stature rose dramatically after he gave support to the 1957 coup that installed Field Marshal Sarit Thanarat as prime minister. The king became an active participant in the Thai militarys long effort to win U.S. funding during the Cold War.

He was the subject of glowing public relations campaigns orchestrated by the U.S. Information Service and the Agency for International Development. Books were published extolling the kings wisdom.

In a round of state visits in the early 1960s, the king met Elvis Presley and Walt Disney and sat in with Benny Goodmans jazz combo. The king and queen won dazzling media acclaim and were feted as a glamorous couple comparable to John and Jacqueline Kennedy.

Although the kings personal habits, often bordering on the ascetic, were viewed by many Thais as beyond reproach, his family life was at times rocky. In 1972, his eldest daughter, Ubolratana Rajakanya, shocked Thai society when she gave up her title to marry an American; they later divorced. Prince Vajiralongkorn acquired a reputation for personal indulgence that left many Thais concerned over how the monarchy would fare if he eventually took the throne.

Considered closer to the king in temperament and popularity is his second daughter, Princess Sirindhorn. She has been mentioned as a possible successor in recent years, but any attempt to elevate her to the throne was viewed as likely to trigger a succession crisis.

Under Thai law, the reigning king has the sole right to amend a 1924 Palace Law of Succession that provides for a male heir.

In his latter years, the king remained a player in politics, in large part through his senior adviser, former prime minister Prem Tinsulanonda. Prem was widely believed to have helped orchestrate the 2006 coup against the elected prime minister, Thaksin Shinawatra, a populist, authoritarian tycoon whose family business dealings led to protests dominated by middle-class Thais.

In 2014, during the military coup against the civilian government led by Thaksins sister, Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, the new junta declared that it had received an endorsement by the ailing king.

Amid the political machinations, King Bhumibol remained in the popular imagination a stabilizing and commanding figure. In 2002, he wrote what became one of the best-selling books in Thai history, a biography of his favorite dog, Tongdaeng. In the tale, about a humble, adoring pet whom he protects, some saw a social parable.

He wrote, She would always sit lower than the King; even when he pulls her up to embrace her, Tongdaeng would lower herself down on the floor, her ears in a respectful drooping position, as if she would say, I dont dare. 
Am image from a video made public on April 14 apparently shows some of the more than 200 schoolgirls abducted by Boko Haram in 2014. (AFP/Getty Images)

The Nigerian government announced Thursday that it had secured the release of 21 of the more than 200 Chibok schoolgirls who were kidnapped by Boko Haram militants in April 2014.

The mass abduction in the northeastern Chibok town thrust Nigerias Islamist insurgency into a global spotlight and underscored the challenges that security forces face in battling the militants.

A government spokesman said the release of the 21 captives was part of ongoing negotiations between Boko Haram and Nigerian officials.

[Video purports to show captives, claims some killed by airstrikes]

It was brokered by the International Red Cross and the Swiss government. The negotiations will continue, the spokesman, Mallam Garba Shehu, said on Twitter.

Shehu added that the girls were very tired coming out of the process. Their names were not made public.

The International Committee of the Red Cross confirmed its role in the swap.

Today we transferred 21 of the #Chibokgirls and handed them to the #Nigeria government authorities, acting as a neutral intermediary, the ICRC said on Twitter.

Although the worlds attention was drawn to the Chibok schoolgirls in 2014, thousands of other women and girls have been abducted by Boko Haram in similar circumstances. Many of them were forcibly married to fighters and moved into what were effectively rape camps across northeastern Nigeria.

In August, Boko Haram posted a video purporting to show recent footage of dozens of the Chibok schoolgirls, saying that some have been killed in airstrikes. In May, one of the missing girls was found wandering in the bush.

[Graphic: The brutal toll of Boko Harams attacks on civilians]

The government has been negotiating with Boko Haram for months, officials say. But with fighters dispersed across a vast stretch of northeastern Nigeria, including the dense Sambisa forest, it was unclear whether the girls were being held together or whether there was a viable point of contact within the insurgency.

Boko Haram has split into two factions over the past year, with the group holding the schoolgirls based mostly in the southern part of Borno state and another group based farther north, near the border with Niger. President Muhammadu Buhari, who was elected last year partly for his pledge to defeat the insurgency and rescue the girls, has been criticized for not doing more.

In May, a pro-government vigilante group found one of the schoolgirls, Amina Ali, wandering in the Sambisa forest. She was taken to the capital, Abuja, where she met Buhari and other officials in front of cameramen  a move that was criticized by many Nigerians.

Insurgents are not the only threat to the region. Northeastern Nigeria is beset by one of the worlds biggest hunger crises, with many on the brink of starvation.

Read more:

As Nigeria battles Islamist terrorists, millions are at risk of starvation

They were freed from Boko Harams rape camps. But their nightmare isnt over.

Todays coverage from Post correspondents around the world
Supporters of the peace agreement between the government and leftist FARC rebels rally in Bogota, Colombia, on Oct. 12. (John Vizcaino/Reuters)

Ten days after voters in Colombia rejected their governments peace deal with leftist FARC rebels, the countrys main opposition party has published proposals that would modify the agreement but leave significant portions intact.

At first glance, the proposals by the Democratic Center party of former president Alvaro Uribe appear to reflect relatively modest changes to the deal and may raise hopes that Colombia can avert a return to war.

The biggest modifications would scrap plans under the accord to establish a special justice system to prosecute leaders of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, who are guilty of serious crimes and bar them from holding public office. But the changes would not require rebel commanders to go to prison or take away a guarantee of 10 seats in Colombias Congress through 2026 for the rebels future political party.

Considering that No voters have rejected the Accord and have called for substantial corrections, our country should consider the possibility of a major national coalition to recognize the will of the voters and act on it, reads the 26-page document, Foundations for a National Peace Accord, which was delivered this week to President Juan Manuel Santos.

Santos, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday for his effort to end his countrys 52-year conflict, has yet to respond formally to the proposals, but he has pledged to recalibrate the deal to make it more palatable to critics.

On Sunday, Oct. 2, Colombian voters will decide whether to accept a peace deal with the FARC, whose members have waged the longest-running insurgency in the Western hHemisphere. The rebels met last week to discuss the accord and figure out their future after 52 years at war. (Nick Miroff,Jason Aldag/The Washington Post)

[The rejection of the peace deal, by the numbers]

Tens of thousands of Colombians have marched through the streets in recent days demanding a political compromise to save the accord.

Many Colombians were worried that Uribe and other opponents would condition their support for a reworked deal by making demands that FARC leaders would find unacceptable, thus risking a return to hostilities when a cease-fire expires Oct. 31.

But the oppositions proposed modifications  especially if viewed as an opening move to a new stage of negotiations  do not read like deal-breakers.

The technical tone of most of these proposals is a relief, said Adam Isacson, a senior associate at the Washington Office on Latin America with a focus on Colombia. Most of it is pretty moderate and not fundamentally changing the accord.

Whether FARC commanders will see it that way remains to be seen, and they are waiting to find out which elements of the proposed changes will be assimilated by the government for a new phase of talks.

FARC commanders say they remain committed to ending the war. But they may bristle at other changes proposed by Uribes party that would undermine their most prized victories, especially a government commitment to bring roads and social services to long-neglected rural areas.

Uribe and his party insist that those projects must be reconciled with the fiscal realities of a slowing economy and should not threaten large landowners and agribusiness.

The most significant proposed changes to the accord relate to what many Colombians view as its most controversial element: the prosecution of FARC members accused of terrorism, kidnapping and other war crimes.

[The paradox of Colombias peace deal for FARC]

Rather than establish a separate judiciary, the opposition proposal would create special tribunals within Colombias existing court system. Under this proposal, by fully confessing their crimes and paying reparations to victims, FARC leaders could serve five-to-eight-year terms on work farms, avoiding prison. But those convicted of atrocities would not be eligible to run for office.

The proposed modifications would open the tribunals to members of the security forces convicted of rights abuses and other crimes over the course of the war and afford them preferential treatment.

Ordinary FARC soldiers who are not guilty of major crimes or drug trafficking would be eligible for amnesty, an offer that would probably apply to the vast majority of the rebel groups 5,800 fighters and perhaps thousands more civilian supporters and militia members.

Read more:

5 stories to read to understand Colombias conflict

Todays coverage from Post correspondents around the world
A undated photo of Syrian terrorist suspect Jaber Albakr, who committed suicide at a prison in Leipzig, Germany, two days after his arrest. (German police via Reuters)

Germanys highest-profile prisoner, a Syrian refugee suspected of plotting to detonate a suicide vest at a Berlin airport, strangled himself in his jail cell in the eastern city of Leipzig, German officials said Thursday.

Jaber Albakr, 22, was found dead Wednesday night by a trainee guard, the prisons warden, Rolf Jacob, told reporters. The detainee, who had been arrested Monday, had effectively hanged himself by tying his T-shirt to the bars of his cell.

This should not have happened, Sebastian Gemkow, the Saxony state justice minister, said at a news conference Thursday. We did everything possible to prevent it.

Politicians across the political spectrum reacted to the incident with shock and outrage.

In the face of the gravity of the alleged offense . . . and the considerable threat our country faces, this is a tragedy, Wolfgang Bosbach, a member of Chancellor Angela Merkels Christian Democratic Union, told the Bild newspaper. How could this even happen, if Albakr was monitored because of an acute suicide risk?

A hearse arrives at the prison in Leipzig, Germany, early Oct. 13 to collect the body of suspected terrorist Jaber Albakr. (Jan Woitas/AFP/Getty Images)

Bosbachs rattled reaction mirrored that of many Germans, who wondered whether authorities could secure the country if they were not able to keep a major terrorism suspect alive. A total loss of control by the authorities, a group of Social Democratic lawmakers tweeted.

[Germans wonder about security risks from asylum seekers]

Officials in Leipzig defended themselves by saying they did all they could to prevent Albakr from harming himself or others. Officers had initially inspected his cell every 15 minutes. After Albakr spoke to a psychologist, the window was extended to 30 minutes. The suicide occurred while he was alone for 15 minutes, between 7:30 and 7:45 p.m., officials said.

Albakrs lawyer, Alexander Hubner, accused prison officials of inadequately monitoring his client, who had been on a hunger strike since his arrest. Albakr had exhibited destructive behavior, destroying a light fixture and an electrical outlet in his cell, Hubner said.

There was the option to monitor him continuously, Hubner told The Washington Post. With him not eating and tearing out the socket, there would have been enough reason for this. . . . To say that nobody made any mistakes . . . misses the point. . . . Everyone kept saying what an important witness he was. If for no other reason, authorities should have made sure because of that, that nothing happens to him.

The warden confirmed Albakrs destructive actions but said that they were viewed as vandalism and that, based on the psychologists report, administrators had decided not to move Albakr to a special suicide-proof cell. Jacob acknowledged that the psychologist had no previous experience with terrorist suspects.

German Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere called Thursday for the circumstances of the suicide to be cleared up fully and quickly and described Albakrs death as a setback for terrorism investigations.

The incident was not the only blunder by German law enforcement authorities in this case. After Albakrs arrest, Bild published a list of five mishaps that had occurred during the hunt for the suspect. Police observation of his house had been so obvious, for example, that even the neighbors noticed it and Albakr managed to escape. He traveled about 60 miles before being captured and handed over to police by a group of fellow Syrians two days after a massive manhunt was launched.

[Terrorist suspect in Germany captured by Syrian migrants]

According to German media reports, Albakr had also shown up at a former address of his and a resident had called the police. The resident said police arrived more than an hour after his call, when the suspect had already left. Germanys chief prosecutors office, which is in charge of the investigation, declined to comment Thursday.

Walfried O. Sauer, a former counterterrorism officer and now a private security consultant, said he fears that the string of events could give the impression that Germanys security agencies are not equipped to cope with the threat of major terrorist attacks.

Its an embarrassment, especially considering the explosive political implications it could have all the way up to Angela Merkel, Sauer said. After all, there are going to be elections next year.

Albakr, who was granted asylum after arriving in Germany last year, had been under surveillance by German intelligence since last month. Officials said he was believed to have links to the Islamic State and was suspected of planning to attack a Berlin airport as soon as this week.

Read more:

Todays coverage from Post correspondents around the world
By PTI: From Sajjad Hussain

Islamabad, Oct 13 (PTI) Pakistan Army chief General Raheel Sharif today confirmed death sentence handed down to 10 terrorists by military courts for their involvement in killing civilians, polio workers and armed forces personnel.

The 10 condemned terrorists, belonging to the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) rebel outfit, were convicted by speedy trial in military courts.

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"These terrorists were involved in heinous offences related to terrorism, including killing of innocent civilians, polio workers, NGO employees, police officials and armed forces personnel," army said.

Fire-arms and explosives were also recovered from their possession.

The military courts were set up in Pakistan to expedite the trial process for terror-related offences following the December 2014 Talibans massacre at an army-run school in Peshawar in which over 150 people, mostly school children, were killed.

Following the attack, the government had lifted the moratorium on the death penalty and the Parliament passed the 21st amendment which established military courts which was challenged in the Supreme Court.

The apex court ruled in favour of setting up of the courts in August last year.

It is not known where the trial was held and when the verdict of conviction announced, as the military courts work in secrecy due to fear of backlash by militants. PTI SH CPS AKJ CPS

--- ENDS ---
The man suspected of terrorizing New York and New Jersey with a series of bombings last month appeared in court here for the first time Thursday via a video feed from a hospital, where he continues to recover from wounds he suffered in a shootout with police.

Ahmad Khan Rahimi, 28, a U.S. citizen who was born in Afghanistan, lay in a medical bed, his arms covered with a blanket and his head propped up with a pillow, as Judge Regina Caulfield read the state charges against him. He answered yes  his voice barely audible in the courtroom  as Caulfield asked him whether he understood that he had legal representation and that his bail had been set at $5.2 million.

Defense attorney Peter Liguori stood next to Rahimi, yellow medical garb covering his regular clothes.

[What we know about Ahmad Khan Rahimi]

The hearing lasted just minutes. Liguori asked that the court note his clients last name is spelled Rahimi, and not Rahami, as had been widely reported.

Ahmad Khan Rahimi. (Union County Prosecutors Office via Associated Press)

Prosecutor Ann Luvera said the matter would be presented to a grand jury in the next few months.

Rahimi is facing state and federal charges in connection with what authorities have alleged was a terrorism spree that seemed to be inspired by an eclectic mix of radical Islamic influences. He is suspected of a bombing that injured dozens in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan and three other blasts in New York and New Jersey that did not hurt anyone.

In one of those instances, a bomb exploded along a planned race route in Seaside Park, N.J., but no runners were passing because the race had been delayed. In another, authorities were tipped to a possible explosive device at a train station in Elizabeth and inadvertently set it off while trying to disarm it.

Soon after the incidents, federal and local law enforcement officers began a widespread manhunt for Rahimi, who had been caught on surveillance video and who left fingerprints on a fourth device, an unexploded bomb found in Manhattan. He was taken into custody Sept. 19 in Linden, N.J., after a shootout with police that left him seriously wounded.

Rahimi had not been able to appear in court earlier because of his injuries, and one of his attorneys said he has still not been served with federal charges, which include using weapons of mass destruction and bombing a public place.

In Union County, N.J., he is charged with attempted murder and related weapons counts stemming from his shootout with police.

Alexander Shalom of the American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey, who is representing Rahimi in the federal case, said the hearing in state court doesnt necessarily trigger any movement on the federal case. He said it is unclear when Rahimi will be able to leave the hospital and face those charges.

In a journal recovered after his capture, Rahimi had written about his hopes for martyrdom and referred to former leaders in both al-Qaeda and the Islamic State, authorities have said.

Inshallah, he wrote, using an Arabic term for God willing, the sounds of the bombs will be heard in the streets, according to federal prosecutors.

Authorities have been scrutinizing Rahimis foreign travels and his previous contacts with law enforcement. The FBI had opened an inquiry of Rahimi in 2014 after his father called the FBI and said his son was a terrorist. His father later recanted his statement, and the FBI found no evidence of terrorist connections.

Rahimi traveled to Pakistan in 2013 and 2014, including stays in Quetta, a stronghold of militant groups, and Customs and Border Protection officials flagged him for questioning at least twice, law enforcement officials have said. But authorities found no reason to accuse him of any wrongdoing, officials have said.

Read more:

Ahmad Rahimi, suspected New York bomber, cited al-Qaeda and ISIS, officials say

The FBI looked into suspected bomber Ahmad Rahimi in 2014 and found no ties to terrorism
Future American military assistance to Saudi Arabia will hinge partly on whether the gulf kingdom embraces a U.S.-backed cease-fire with Houthi rebels in Yemen, officials said Thursday, as the Obama administration intensifies efforts to distance itself from a bloody bombing campaign.

Its not going to help sustain any support . . . if they dont accept the unconditional cessation of hostilities that we think is absolutely, urgently needed, now more than ever, a senior official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations.

In a sign of tensions with a core Middle Eastern ally, officials issued the blunt warning to Saudi Arabia as the White House begins a top-to-bottom review of military aid for the kingdom, including both a massive, long-standing program of arms sales and more-limited assistance for the extended air war over Yemen.

The review follows a grisly Oct. 8 bombing in the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, which capped a series of apparent Saudi strikes on civilian targets and deepened U.S. concerns about involvement in a war that has killed more than 4,000 noncombatants.

The Oct. 8 strike, which killed more than 100 people at a funeral, appeared to be a final straw for administration critics of Saudi Arabias handling of the campaign, which they believe has ranged far beyond its original mission to defend the kingdoms border from Houthi attack.

We are telling the Saudis that supporting their territorial integrity, their sovereignty, thats one thing. But their campaign inside Yemen is something else, particularly if theyre not prepared to accept the unconditional, immediate cessation of hostilities that weve called for, the official said. That will obviously be a factor in our assessment.

[Airstrike kills more than 100, injures hundreds at Yemen funeral]

Officials spoke about the review hours after the Pentagon launched Tomahawk cruise missiles against Houthi targets in Yemen, a response to a series of attacks this week on nearby U.S. ships. The Obama administration has blamed those shore-to-sea missile attacks, which inflicted no damage, on the Houthis; the rebels have denied involvement.

The officials said the exchange of missile fire, while potentially complicating efforts to secure an immediate cease-fire between the two parties, would not affect the deliberations about future support to Saudi Arabia.

They signaled determination to continue a gradual reduction in U.S. military aid to the Saudi air campaign that has taken place in recent months. Since the campaigns start last year, U.S. tanker planes have conducted more than 1,400 missions, offloading tens of millions of pounds of fuel. U.S. personnel also have advised their Saudi counterparts on targeting rebels and avoiding civilian casualties.

But U.S. support has dropped off since a now-abandoned cease-fire earlier this year, officials say. According to U.S. military statistics, the frequency of U.S. refueling missions, which has fluctuated throughout the campaign, fell in late summer from a peak earlier in 2016. Today, only four U.S. personnel remain at the Saudi command center in Riyadh.

[We are] distancing ourselves both in terms of what we say but also in terms of what weve done, the official said.

U.S. personnel do not approve Saudi targets beyond providing a no-strike list of civilian and off-limits targets, officials say.

A spokesman for the Saudi military was not available for comment.

For administration critics of the Saudi campaign, the Sanaa strike, which Human Rights Watch labeled an apparent war crime, provided an opportunity to press the case that the U.S. support for the campaign must be curtailed even further.

Officials said reductions in or changes to arms sales, not just to support to the Yemen campaign, would be under discussion during the high-level review.

Everything is on the table, the official said. The United States has already halted new sales of cluster munitions to Saudi Arabia.

[Civilian casualties in Yemen bring charges of U.S. responsibility for Saudi actions]

Officials are open to exploring additional restrictions, but a number of approved sales are already in the pipeline. No matter what the review concludes, officials said, some assistance will continue for defense of the Saudi border, in keeping with a pledge from President Obama.

While support for change appears to be growing, some officials within the Pentagon and State Department continue to stand up for Saudi Arabia, stressing the severity of the Houthi threat the country faces on its borders. Neither will it be easy for the Obama administration to impose further stress on a relationship already damaged by new legislation exposing Riyadh to lawsuits over the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in the United States.

According to the State Department, the Saudi government agreed in principle after the Sanaa airstrike to accept a 72-hour cease-fire, if that proposal is also embraced by the Houthis. But previous efforts to broker a lasting cease-fire and peace agreement have faltered.

We encourage the Yemeni government and Houthi-General Peoples Congress factions to agree to a cease-fire immediately and without preconditions, State Department spokesman John Kirby said.

If a lasting cease-fire can be established, Kirby said, political talks can resume.

Ilan Goldenberg, a senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security, said the Obama administration may be stuck with support for a campaign many officials have disliked from the beginning, but which was seen as necessary to mitigate Saudi opposition to the nuclear deal with Iran.

Its disturbing when you see these types of bombings, he said. But what are you going to do, walk away from the U.S.-Saudi relationship?

Dan Lamothe contributed to this report.

Read more:
The Philippine defence secretary, Delfin Lorenzana, announced last Friday that he would suspend any participation in joint patrols with the United States in the South China Sea and ask a US Special Forces detachment on the southern island of Mindanao to leave.

The moves, which were previously declared by President Rodrigo Duterte, are aimed at encouraging closer relations with China, which the president will visit next week. The announcement will deepen a rift with Washington that Duterte opened up last month when he branded US President Barack Obama the son of a whore.

Lorenzana has indicated his disagreement with the decisions. Associated Press reported that he attempted to press Duterte to reconsider and stressed the importance of the 28 annual joint exercises with the US, including three major ones involving thousands of troops. He said on Friday that US military officials wanted to continue the war games.

While Lorenzana suspended joint exercises in the South China Sea, it is not clear whether other drills will be axed. He also added a rider to the removal of 107 US troops from Mindanao, saying it would only take place once Philippine forces could operate independently. An American military unit has been operating drones and collecting intelligence, nominally to assist in countering the Islamist Abu Sayyaf militia.

Under the previous president, Benigno Aquino, the US integrated the Philippines far more closely into its military build-up throughout the region against China, signing an agreement that came into effect this year to open up a string of military bases to US forces. Aquino was also central to Washingtons aggressive campaign against Beijing in the South China Sea, which included the US-backed Philippine legal challenge in the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) to Chinese territorial claims in the disputed waters.

Duterte has made clear that, while balancing between the US and China, he intends to shift toward Beijing and Moscow. He declared last Tuesday that he was reconfiguring his foreign policy and was very emotional because America has certainly failed us. Eventually, he added: I might in my time  break up with America.

Yesterday, while declaring he would not abrogate the military alliance with the US, Duterte openly questioned its value to the Philippines, asking: But do we really need it? After pointing out that US troops take all their hi-tech weapons away with them after joint exercises, he declared: They are the ones who benefited, theyre the ones who learned but we got nothing.

The reconfiguration of Philippine foreign policy is aimed at securing closer economic relations with China, currently the countrys second largest trading partner. Duterte heads to Beijing next week with a delegation that could include more than 250 Philippine businessmen, according to his trade undersecretary Nora Terrado.

Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez signalled last Friday that Duterte would look to China for major infrastructure funding. He criticised the previous Aquino administration that hardly spoke to them [China]. He called for a lowering of tensions, adding: You know the Chinese, they dont like to lose face. Just so long as they dont lose face its OK to continue arguing with them.

The Duterte administration has removed a major obstacle to improving relations with China by publicly shelving any mention of the PCA ruling, which went overwhelmingly against Beijing. By doing so, the Philippines has mollified China, which refused to recognise the decision, and alienated the US, which planned to use the verdict to ramp up pressure on China.

Duterte is confronting a mounting social time bomb at home, with about a quarter of the population living in poverty. While the economy is projected to grow by 6.4 percent this year, it is highly vulnerable to global recessionary tendencies. The mining industry has been hit by falling commodity prices and the closure of mines for failing to meet safety standards, which, according to the Chamber of Mines, threatens 750,000 jobs.

Since coming to office, Duterte has launched a murderous anti-drug war that has claimed more than 3,600 victims in extra-judicial killings by police and vigilantes. Overwhelmingly, those killed have been from the poorest and most oppressed layers of society. In the name of combatting illegal drugs, the administration is implementing police-state measures, including a state of national emergency and arbitrary arrest powers, that will be used in the future against the working class.

Washington, which initially supported this fascistic agenda and allocated funds for the anti-drug war, has become increasingly critical of human rights abuses in the Philippines as Duterte has shifted his foreign policy. Dutertes hysterical tirades against the US are in part an indication that he is aware that Washington will take steps to remove him if he establishes close ties with Beijing.

A New York Times article on Sunday, entitled Behind Dutertes bluster, a Philippine shift away from the US, indicated the mounting concerns in Washington. It declared that Dutertes foreign policy marked a radical departure for a country that has historically been the most dependable American ally in South East Asia, and could undermine Mr Obamas so-called pivot to Asia, a keystone of his foreign policy. That strategy depends on American allies to counter Chinas increasing power in the region.

The newspaper cited Richard Javad Heydarian, a political scientist at De La Salle University in Manila, who said Duterte had shifted the balance of power in the South China Sea. The article added: By declining to press claims against China over disputed territory there, despite a favorable ruling by a United Nations tribunal, Mr Duterte has made it hard for the United States to galvanise international pressure on China over the issue.

An apparently innocent remark late last month by US Defence Secretary Ashton Carter contained an ominous warning to Duterte. As it has been for decades, our alliance with the Philippines is ironclad, he commented. In other words, Washington is not going to allow any undoing of an alliance that is critical for US preparations for war with China.

Already there are divisions within the Duterte administration over his moves to distance himself from Washington. Former President Fidel Ramos, whom Duterte credits with being instrumental in him winning the presidency, also has become critical, writing in Sundays Manila Bulletin: Team Philippines [is] losing in the first 100 days of [his] administrationlosing badly. This is a huge disappointment and let-down to many of us.

While referring to Dutertes gutter language and the controversy over his anti-drug war, Ramos described as discombobulating the Philippine presidents off-and-on approach to the United States, particularly his ending of joint exercises. What gives? Are we throwing away decades of military partnership, tactical proficiency, compatible weaponry, predictable logistics, and soldier-to-soldier camaraderie just like that, he wrote.

These remarks by Ramos, who has been generally supportive of closer economic relations with China, are highly significant. The former Philippine Armed Forces chief is saying that Duterte endangers the alliance with the United States at his own peril. The implicit threat is: what has been given to Duterte, can also be taken away.
Defence Secretary Michael Fallon has announced that new army cadet units will be allocated to 150 state schools. The announcement, made at last weeks conference of the ruling Conservatives, is shaped by an agenda to escalate militarism, war and austerity. Fallon said the scheme would give young cadets the skills and confidence they need to thrive.

The first of an initial 25 units was launched on October 4 at Rockwood Academy in east Birmingham. Rockwood Academy, formerly Park View School, was at the centre of the highly dubious Trojan Horse investigation into allegations of an Islamist takeover of academy schools in BirminghamEnglands second largest city. At the time, Ofsted, the official schools inspectorate, downgraded Park View from outstanding to inadequate, saying it was failing to safeguard pupils from extremist influence.

Rockwood, Fallon said, was a phoenix from the ashes of a Trojan horse school that is now instilling British values, instead of promoting religious segregation.

According to its website, Rockwood Academy, run by CORE Education Trust, has become one of the latest schools to join the Cadet Expansion Programme (CEP). Gary Newbrook, a Contingent Commander who is based permanently at Rockwood Academy, said, The Combined Cadet Force is designed to instil values in young people that will help them get the most out of their lives, and to contribute to their communities and country.

Ofsted has upgraded Rockwood to good and praised the school in its latest report for how fundamental British values are promoted highly effectively.

Attempts made previously to get such schemes embedded into schools met with little success. Troops to Teachers, set up in June 2013 by the Tories, had little uptake with only 28 qualifying out of a target of 2,000. Currently, there are about 300 school cadet units across the UK, but fewer than 100 in the state sector with more than two-thirds in private schools.

According to the Rockwood website, the government remains on course to achieve its manifesto target of creating 500 cadet units in schools by March 2020. Fallon supported this target, stating that the Armed Forces provide the most apprenticeships... I am setting a target to deliver 50,000 apprenticeships over this Parliament.

One of the ways in which the army is pushed in schools is through careers days, where they put on an attractive show designed to appeal to all levels of academic ability but particularly those for whom school is a struggle.

Applications for pupils to join the army are accepted at the age of fifteen-and-a-half, and military training can start at sixteen, either at Harrogate Army Foundation College in Yorkshire, or Welbeck Army Defence sixth-form College in Loughborough. The UK is the only European Union country to permit 16-year-olds to join up and start military training. According to human rights organization Child Soldiers International (CSI), only 17 other countries, including Zambia and El Salvador, allow it. In June, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child asked the government to reconsider its active policy of recruitment of children into the armed forces and ensure that recruitment practices do not actively target persons under the age of 18 and ensure that military recruiters access to schools be strictly limited.

Annual events such as the November Armisticecommemorating the end of the First World Warare used in schools to promote the military rather than the traditional reflection on the huge loss of lives in conflicts since the 1914-18 war.

Militarisation of education complements the governments PREVENT strategy and Channel programme. Since July 2015, teachers have been legally obliged to report any suspected extremist behaviour to police. This has turned teachers into a spying agency for the authorities, with children as young as four being referred to police.

ForcesWatch, a nonprofit founded in 2010, aims to scrutinise the ethics of armed forces recruitment practices and challenge efforts to embed militarist values in civilian society. Coordinator Emma Sangster told the Guardian, Recruitment is a process, its not a single event. During visits to school, armed forces recruiters, drip feed things of interest to children of school age. They sanitise what conflict involves, and also glamorise it. They focus on adventure, which young people are desperate for.

Rachel Taylor, CSI programme manager, says that the risks children bear in the forces may be greater than if they were to enlist later. A study by CSI and ForcesWatch showed that those who joined at 16 were twice as likely to be killed in Afghanistan as those who joined at 18 or older. Taylor says, This is because theyre channelled into the most dangerous roles when theyre recruited... So, although the Ministry of Defence always says its not dangerous to join at 16 because you arent deployed until youre 18, our response is its your age when you enlist that determines the degree of risk you face over your whole career.

The Labour Party is not opposed in principle to the recruitment into the armed forces of children. In his response to Fallons announcement, Clive Lewisuntil last week Labours shadow defence secretarymade no mention of the fate of thousands of young people who are being dragooned into the war machine. Instead, Lewis attacked Fallons conference speech from the right, on the basis that government cost-cutting, weakened and demoralised our Armed Forces, leaving them poorly-equipped, over-stretched, under-paid and too often living in squalid conditions. Lewis railed against the decision not to use British steel to build armaments.
BERLIN (Reuters) - The European Union must seek a deal with countries across Africa's desert Sahel region if it wants to curb an influx of migrants, rather than focusing on bilateral deals with individual countries, the president of Chad said on Wednesday. President Idriss Deby was speaking in Germany where he met Chancellor Angela Merkel after her trip this week to Mali and Niger - two of the five countries which form the G5 Sahel security organization. Chad, Burkina Faso and Mauritania are the three other members of the Sahel group of countries, which stretches 4,200 km (2,600 miles) across northern Africa, from the Atlantic in the west to the border of Sudan in the east. "We can only resolve the issue if we involve the G5 frontline states, not through country by country agreements," Deby, the first head of state from Chad to visit Germany. "That is the only possibility to slow the flow of migration." He said working with the G5 countries would also enable progress on issues such as drug and human smuggling and terrorism in the remote deserts of the Sahel, which host several jihadist groups. Deby, current chairman of the African Union, said 90 percent of the refugees transiting through Niger also crossed into neighboring Chad on their journey north to the Mediterranean since the Niger route was closed by militant groups. Merkel, who has said she will make Africa a priority for Germany's G20 presidency next year, noted that EU officials have set up a G5 Sahel strategy that emphasized the need to deal with the countries as a group. "That means other EU countries will have to get engaged, also with the cooperation of the commission," she said. Merkel told reporters that Germany would boost its development aid to Chad by 8.9 million euros to help address water- and food supply issues, noting that it was dealing with over 700,000 refugees from neighboring countries. Italian data on sea arrivals so far this year show a sharp increase in migrants from several African countries including Mali, Senegal and Nigeria. The EU last year launched a $2 billion fund for Africa to combat the poverty and conflicts driving people to migrate to Europe. It has also proposed making development aid conditional on governments' cooperation in curbing migration. (Editing by Dominic Evans)
ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Iran sent two warships to the Gulf of Aden on Thursday, the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported, establishing a military presence in waters off Yemen where the U.S. military launched cruise missile strikes on areas controlled by Iran-backed Houthi forces. "Iran's Alvand and Bushehr warships have been dispatched to the Gulf of Aden to protect trade vessels from piracy," Tasnim reported. The U.S. military strikes were in response to failed missile attacks this week on a U.S. Navy destroyer, U.S. officials said. Iran's key regional rival Saudi Arabia accuses Tehran of providing support to the Houthis, a charge the Islamic Republic denies. Tasnim said the Iranian ships will patrol the Gulf of Aden, south of Yemen, which is one of the world's most important shipping routes. (Writing by Parisa Hafezi; Editing by Toby Chopra)
One teacher had a problem with how much a black childs mother was moisturizing her hair. (Photo: Getty Images)

It seems we cant go too long without hearing another story of someone complaining about a black childs hair. Whether its in an Afro, braided, or locd, there seems to sometimes be an issue if it isnt styled or cared for in a way that does not conform to Eurocentric ideals of what hair looks like and how it should be treated. And the same issue arose again on Monday when Tionna Norris, a Chicago parent, shared on Facebook that she got a note from her daughter Amias teacher, asking her to stop using as much coconut oil in her daughters hair. I understand the necessary of coconut oil on Amias hair, but please do not use as much. The children were complaining that her hair stinks. If you have to apply this daily  please do so lightly, so the kids dont tease her. Thank you for understanding.

Norriss daughter has kinky-curly hair, which needs lots of moisture to be healthy. If hair with that particular texture is not moisturized regularly, it can cause breakage.

Norris posted an image of the letter side-by-side with a snap of her daughters (admittedly fresh-looking) hairstyle, which included a side braid and a crown of seriously gorgeous curls. And her caption for the photo confirmed that she had no intention of taking the teachers advice. *applies the same amount of coconut oil* yall gone feel that black girl magic. Sincerely, unapologetically black mom. P.s. Coconut oil has no stinky smell.

Norris says her child is the only black student her class at the Raggedy Anne Learning Center, which adds another layer to the issue. This is why I make it a point to keep her hair natural and tell her yes shes different and its magical, she wrote on Facebook. The photo, which has been shared more than 3,000 times on Facebook, has a few people wondering why Norris and her daughter should make any changes to what theyre doing, when the teacher should instead be telling kids not to bully others. Why is the ill manner of another child your responsibility? Its absurd, one commenter said. I hope the teacher wrote the other kids parents about being bullies since shes so damn concerned, another echoed. Others pointed out the fact that coconut oil in general doesnt have that strong a scent.

Norris wrote that she and her fiance went for a sit-down with the schools director to talk about the issue. They apparently learned that her daughter wasnt getting bullied for her hair in the first place. In the conversation she explained the letter was never supposed to be offensive in any way shape or form, no one ever said anything to my daughter, and Amias teacher is just a complainer (shes Russian). We had an adult conversation, and my daughter has many friends, so no I will not be removing her from the school. The teacher is also being disciplined, she wrote in an update to Facebook.

On Wednesday, Norris posted again, reflecting on how the situation made her feel, saying that she isnt of the opinion that the teacher meant no harm from the letter, considering she was the only one who had a problem with the childs hair. It was just something the teacher was not used to and thought it was heavy, she wrote. Do I still believe the teacher didnt have ill intentions? Not for a second because the way she tried to talk to me about how she thought my daughter smelled ( she is the only person who felt that way) was absolutely and totally unacceptable, but Amia is deftly my child, her clap back will always be REAL!

Once again, a lack of understanding or tolerance for black hair rears its ugly head, and it is unfortunate that a child was made to feel different and othered in the process. Fortunately, little Amia has parents teaching her that no matter what her teacher says, there is nothing wrong with the way her hair grows out of her head  or the way she takes care of it.

Tionna Norris did not respond to a request for a comment as of press time. We called the Raggedy Ann Learning Center and were told, simply, No comment.

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ROME  Dario Fo, the Italian playwright, actor and director who won the 1997 Nobel Prize in Literature and was best known for his passionately political 1970 play Accidental Death of an Anarchist, has died. He was 90.

Fos death was announced by the Italian government. He had been hospitalized in Milan 12 days ago for a respiratory ailment, the Milan daily Corriere della Sera said.

With Dario Fo, Italy loses one of the great protagonists of theater, culture and the civic life of our country, said Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi. His satire, his research, his work on set design, his multifaceted artistic activity remain the legacy of a great Italian in the world.

A self-described jester, Fo had a prolific, multidisciplinary career that spanned more than six decades.

Fo first performed in the U.S. in 1986, after being denied a visa for years, when he took his one-man show Mistero Buffo to New Yorks Joyce Theatre and was compared by American critics to, among others, Richard Pryor and Monty Python for his unique mix of outrageousness and subversiveness.

His 1974 absurdist play We Wont Pay, We Wont Pay, about a group of housewives who filch groceries from supermarkets unbeknownst to their husbands, caused him to be prosecuted as an accessory to the crime when several Italian women were arrested for doing just that. The prosecutor claimed the play had incited incidents of mass theft. He was acquitted.

Fo first started acting and directing satirical sketches in small cabarets and theaters during Italys early postwar period. In 1959 he and his wife, actress Franca Rame, founded the Compagnia Dario FoFranca Rame and were able to bring their sketches on public broadcaster RAIs popular variety show Canzonissima, which soon turned them into popular TV personalities. They subsequently developed their sometimes blasphemous agitprop theater, which was rooted in Italys Commedia dellArte tradition.

The first play that brought them international notice was Gli arcangeli non giocano al flipper (Archangels Dont Play Pinball), in 1959, involving a prank in which a marriage is arranged between a young Milanese man and a prostitute posing as an Albanian princess. After drawing rave reviews in Italy, the two-act play traveled widely in Europe.

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In 1962, a TV sketch Fo and Rame performed on Canzonissima about construction workers, just as they were fighting a union battle with Italys government, sparked a furor and got Fo effectively banned from appearing on Italian television for the following 14 years.

His next play Isabella, tre caravelle e un cacciaballe also ruffled feathers because it debunked the myth of Christopher Columbus. Fo received threatening letters and was physically assaulted in Rome.

Starting in 1968, Fo and Rame started performing outside the regular theater circuit in community centers and alternative theater workshops and basing their works in contemporary issues.

Accidental Death of an Anarchist  about the death of Italian anarchist and railway worker Giuseppe Pinelli, who fell or, it was believed at the time, might have been thrown out of a police station window after being accused of a terrorist bank bombing in Milans Piazza Fontana  is now considered a contemporary theater classic. It has been performed in more than 40 countries.

More recently, Fos tribute to American anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan, Peace Mom, played on the London stage in 2005.

That same year, Fo ran for mayor of Milan. My theater has always been a political battle on the stage. But now I have to take it a step further, he told Variety.

In recent years, Fo started delivering public performances, which he called lectures, on artists  Giotto, Leonardo, Raphael, Caravaggio, Picasso. In 2014, he published his first novel, titled The Popes Daughter, about Lucrezia Borgia, the alleged femme fatale and daughter of Pope Alexander VI.

Franca Rame, whom Fo had married in 1954, assisted him in these performances, one of many instances of their intense creative collaboration which also included her input on writing several of his plays. Rame died in 2013.

Fo remained a committed political activist to the end, skewering Italian government politicians and recently appearing at a rally in support of Italys anti-establishment 5-Star Movement.

He is survived by his son, Jacopo Fo, a writer, actor and director.

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Investigative Journalist Svetlana Alexievich Wins Nobel Prize For Literature
Pakistan has banned Christian television channels in the country,for the first time in 17 years.

By India Today Web Desk: Pakistan has banned 11 Christian television channels, after the country's TV regulatory body declared them illegal in September.

The move has left the country's 2.8 million christian residents with no public media presence, according to a report in express.co.uk. have called the move a blow to religious freedom.

The Pakistani Media Regulatory Authority had in its order accused the stations of being "illegal" and "not having permission" to broadcast.

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Local priests and various members of the local Christian community are calling the move an "act of intimidation" and an "attack to religious freedom". They have appealed to the government to revoke the measure.

"As citizens, Christians have the right to practice their religion, but if they block you, it means not all citizens are equal. When someone bans the expression of faith, which is a fundamental right, there is persecution," Father Morris Jalal, founder of Catholic TV, told the newspaper.

Catholic TV was broadcasted from Lahore, where 72 people -- including 30 children -- were killed in a suicide blast while celebrating Easter last March. Pro-Christian channels had been allowed to broadcast for 17 years until now.

Most pro-Christian channels in Pakistan, are based abroad since because PEMRA does not release licenses for religious broadcasting. It allows the airing of Christian messages only for Christmas and Easter.

Certain programmers, meanwhile, don't want to protest against the authorities' decision at all. One of them is Saleem Iqbal, director of Isaac TV which was the first Pakistani Christian satellite broadcaster.

"We look at it like it is, we do not have the license. We can only ask people to continue to watch us online. Many people are passionate about our channel, which is broadcast from Hong Kong. A ban on cable transmission will not stop us," he told AsiaNews.it.

The move comes on the heels of a 16-year-old Christian boy facing the death penalty under Pakistan's strict blasphemy laws. He was accused of insulting Islam in a Facebook post, which allegedly showed a photo of the Kaaba in Mecca with a pig's head on top.

It is unclear if the teenager posted the image, 'liked' it or was simply tagged in the post.

--- ENDS ---
Women are coming forward about Donald Trump as more discerning footage of the candidate resurfaced on Wednesday.

The New York Times spoke with Jessica Leeds and Rachel Crooks, who both claim they were touched and kissed without their consent by the GOP presidential nominee. Neither woman had told their story publicly before speaking with the newspaper.

In the article published on Wednesday, Leeds, 74, of Manhattan, details how more than three decades ago while traveling in first class, Trump lifted the armrest between them and began to touch her. According to Leeds, then 38, he grabbed her breasts and tried to put his hand up her skirt.

The post details each woman's experience with Trump. "He was like an octopus," Leeds told the New York publication, who also spoke to four people close to her to corroborate her account. "His hands were everywhere."

She added, "It was an assault."

Crooks, of Ohio, said she ran into Trump while working in his Trump Tower at her Manhattan real estate firm, Bayrock Group, in 2005 - the same year of the recently surfaced recording of Trump and Billy Bush that has embroiled the GOP nominee.

Crooks, who was 22 at the time, claims that Trump began kissing her when they were first introduced. He "kissed me directly on the mouth," she said. "I was so upset that he thought I was so insignificant that he could do that."

The newspaper also spoke to Crooks' sister, Brianne Webb, who recalled speaking to Crooks that day.

The Times says a "highly agitated" Trump denied both claims during a phone interview, telling the reporter who called about the story, "This never took place" and "You are a disgusting human being."

On Wednesday night, Trump's lawyers sent the Times a demand for a retraction, calling the article "reckless" and "defamatory."

"It is apparent from, among other things, the timing of the article, that it is nothing more than a politically-motivated effort to defeat Mr. Trump's candidacy," the letter reads. "That is why you apparently performed an entirely inadequate investigation to test the veracity of theseand malicious allegations, including why these two individuals waited, in one case, 11 years, and, in another case, more than three decades, before deciding to come forward with theseand defamatory statements. Clearly, The New York Times is willing to provide a platform to anyone wishing to smear Mr. Trump's name and reputation prior to the election irrespective of whether the alleged statement have any basis in fact."

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It continues, "We hereby demand that you immediately cease any further publication of this article, remove it from your website and issue a full and immediate retraction and apology. Failure to do so will leave my client with no option but to pursue all available actions and remedies."

Also on Wednesday, the Palm Beach Post published an interview with a local woman named Mindy McGillivray, 36, who claimed Trump groped her in 2003 after a concert at the Mar-a-Lago hotel. While standing with then-fiancee Melania Trump, McGillivray says Donald Trump grabbed "close to the center of my butt." (Trump spokeswoman Hope Hicks denied the story.)

CBS News unearthed Entertainment Tonight footage from 1992, also on Wednesday, where Trump is heard saying, "I am going to be dating her in 10 years, can you believe it?" about a young girl. (The Trump campaign did not immediately respond to The Hollywood Reporter's request for comment.)

Read more: Tom Hanks on Donald Trump's Vulgar 'Access Hollywood' Remarks: "I'm Offended as a Man"

During Sunday's presidential debate, Trump denied that he had ever acted on the words he is heard saying in the 2005 conversation recorded on a hot mic with former Access Hollywood host Bush, who is now negotiating his exit from the Today show with NBC due to his involvement.

In the audiotape, Trump says he "did try to f - " Bush's married co-host Nancy O'Dell - who is now a correspondent on Entertainment Tonight - and that famous men can "grab" women "by the pussy" and "do anything." Saying of women, "When you're a star, they let you do it."

Moderator Anderson Cooper pressed Trump on the tape Sunday, saying: "You described kissing women without consent, grabbing their genitals. That is sexual assault. You bragged that you have sexually assaulted women, do you understand that?"

Trump, however, again dismissed his words as "locker room talk."

When asked whether he had ever sexually assaulted a woman, Trump said flatly, "No, I have not."

Leeds told the Times of her reaction while watching that moment during the debate. "I wanted to punch the screen," she said.

In May, Temple Taggart, Miss Utah 1997, also told the Times of alleged unwanted advances from Trump. "He kissed me directly on the lips. I thought, 'Oh my God, gross.' He was married to Marla Maples at the time," she said of his behavior at the first Miss USA pageant he supervised as owner.

Read more: Tapes or No Tapes, 'The Apprentice' Alums Recall Donald Trump's Sexist and Racist Behavior

The Trump campaign issued a statement on Wednesday from communications director Jason Miller, calling the "entire" Times article "fiction."

"For the New York Times to launch a completelycoordinated character assassination against Mr. Trump on a topic like this is dangerous," the statement reads. "To reach back decades in an attempt to smear Mr. Trump trivializes sexual assault, and it sets a new low for where the media is willing to go in its efforts to determine this election."

The statement continues: "It is absurd to think that one of the most recognizable business leaders on the planet with a strong record of empowering women in his companies would do the things alleged in this story, and for this to only become public decades later in the final month of a campaign for president should say it all.

"Further, the Times story buries the pro-Clinton financial and social media activity on behalf of Hillary Clinton's candidacy, reinforcing that this truly is nothing more than a political attack. This is a sad day for the Times."

On Thursday, The New York Times' lawyer responded with the below statement:

David McCraw, NYT lawyer, responds to Trump's letter. pic.twitter.com/ziPBCIjkvP

- Sydney Ember (@melbournecoal) October 13, 2016

Oct. 12, 4:35 p.m.: Updated with Trump statement.

5:07 p.m.: Updated with Palm Beach Post story.

5:18 p.m.: Updated with ET video footage.

9:30 p.m.: Updated with lawyers' demand for retraction.

Oct. 13, 10:40 am: Updated with NYT lawyer response.
Just days after kicking off their Chinga Tour Madre Latino trek in South America, the Mexican rock band Molotov took to social media to announce the cancelation of their upcoming shows in Uruguay, Chile and Ecuador, all scheduled for this week.

"To our fans and friends, we are sorry to inform you that we won't be able to go on with the scheduled shows for this tour," the band explains in a statement. "After two concerts in Peru, we are forced to interrupt the tour due to personal and urgent matters that require our immediate presence in Mexico."

"Keep checking our socials for any updates regarding re-scheduled dates. We're very sorry and hope to have more info soon." The Chinga Tour Madre Latino international trek is part of Molotov's 20th anniversary celebration.

Comunicado oficial con informacion del #chingatourmadrelatino en Sudamerica. pic.twitter.com/iGluC3wcZj

- Molotov (@MolotovBanda) October 11, 2016

After tweeting out about the canceled tour dates, the "Gimme The Power" quartet shared a sneak peak of their upcoming clothing line in partnership with Levi's Mexico.

Banda, tenemos una sorpresa para todos los Molochos. Esperala pronto X @LevisMX #LiveInLevis #molotov20anos pic.twitter.com/oWSEh8JeUG

- Molotov (@MolotovBanda) October 11, 2016
space shuttle discovery launching

Two former staffers at Izzy Englander's Millennium Management are launching a new hedge fund.

The New York-based investment firm, Carbon Investment Partners, is scheduled to launch November 1 with $10 million under management.

Lee Bressler, the new firm's portfolio manager and CIO, and Brandon Bradford, the president and CEO, are behind the launch.

The stock-focused hedge fund is investing in the industrials sector with a focus on bottom-up fundamental analysis, and targeting a net return of 8% to 10% per year, according to marketing documents viewed by Business Insider.

Acorn Growth Partners, an Oklahoma City-based private equity firm focused on aerospace and defense, is backing the new firm, alongside Rick Nagel, Acorn's managing partner. Acorn plans to add more capital to the new fund later this year, Bressler said.

Bressler and Bradford managed money together at $34.3 billion Millennium from 2012 to 2013, Bressler said. Bradford was a portfolio manager for the materials/industrials sector managing $750 million, and he currently is a partner at Acorn, according to the marketing materials. Bressler said he was a senior analyst.

Bressler was also a vice president and sector head for industrials stocks at hedge fund Sterling Ridge Capital Management from 2014 to 2015, he said.

Sterling Ridge, which has since shuttered, was founded by Rich Schimel, the cofounder of Diamondback Capital. Schimel now heads up Citadel's Aptigon stock trading unit, which made headlines earlier this year when it poached a team of portfolio managers from fallen rival Visium Asset Management.

Bressler also worked as an analyst at Balyasny Asset Management and as an associate at private equity firm Harvest Partners, according to the marketing materials.

NOW WATCH: Former Wells Fargo employees say they were fired after reporting fraudulent activity





More From Business Insider


The Daily Beast

STRINGER/ReutersVideo footage shows pedestrians attempting to sway an Indian suspension bridge in the moments before it catastrophically collapsed, leaving at least 141 people dead as of Monday.Rescuers expect the death toll to continue to rise after the bridge fell apart in the western state of Gujarat on Sunday. The majority of those killed were women, children, or elderly people, a local official told the BBC. Almost 180 people were successfully rescued, however, in an overnight operation inv
Many investors like to look for momentum 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 momentum investors in the near term.



This method discovered several great candidates for momentum-oriented investors, but today lets focus in on AAR Corp. AIR as this stock is looking especially impressive right now. And while there are numerous ways in which this company could be a great choice, we have highlighted three of the most vital reasons for AIRs status as a solid momentum stock below:



Short Term Price Change for AAR Corp.



A great place to look for finding momentum stocks is by inspecting short term price activity. This can help to reflect the current interest in a stock and if buyers or sellers have the upper hand right now. It is especially useful to compare it to the industry as this can help investors pinpoint the top companies in a particular area.



With a one week price change of 2.3% compared to an industry average of -0.1%, AIR is certainly well-positioned in this regard. The stock is also looking quite well from a longer time frame too, as the four week price change compares favorably with the industry at large as well.



Longer Term Price Change for AAR Corp.



While any stock can see a spike in price, it takes a real winner to consistently outperform the market. That is why looking at longer term price metricssuch as performance over the past three months or year-- and comparing these to an industry at large can be very useful.



And in the case of AIR, the results are quite impressive. The company has beaten out the industry at large over the past 12 weeks by a margin of 39.2% to 5.7% while it has also outperformed when looking at the past year, putting up a gain of 45.3%. Clearly, AIR is riding a bit of a hot streak and is worth a closer look by investors.



Story continues

AAR CORP Price



AAR CORP Price | AAR CORP Quote

AIR Earnings Estimate Revisions Moving in the Right Direction



While the great momentum factors outlined in the preceding paragraphs might be enough for some investors, we should also take into account broad earnings estimate revision trends. A nice path here can really help to show us a promising stock, and we have actually been seeing that with AIR as of late too.



Over the past two months, 1 earnings estimate has gone higher compared to no downward revisions for the full year, while we are also seeing 1 upward revision with no downward revisions for the next year time frame too. These revisions have helped to boost the consensus estimate as two months ago AIR was expected to post earnings of $1.41/share for the full year, though today it looks to have EPS of $1.48 for the full year now, representing a solid increase which is something that should definitely be welcomed news to would-be investors.



Bottom Line



Given these factors, investors shouldnt be surprised to note that we have AIR as a security with a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) and a Momentum Score of B. You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.



So if you are looking for a fresh pick that has potential to move in the right direction, definitely keep AIR on your short list as this looks be a stock that is very well-positioned to soar in the near term.



Confidential from Zacks



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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



AAR CORP (AIR): Free Stock Analysis Report



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Bangui (Central African Republic) (AFP) - Thirty people were killed and 57 hurt when fighters from a mainly-Muslim militia group attacked civilians and clashed with UN peacekeepers in Central African Republic, the UN mission said Thursday.

Twelve militia fighters were killed by UN troops in the clashes on Wednesday.

The violence in the central market town of Kaga Bandoro began when a member of the mainly Muslim ex-Seleka militia was killed as he and three others tried to steal a generator from a local radio station.

"There was a disproportionate response from ex-Seleka people, who attacked civilians including displaced people hiding in church premises," said a statement from the UN mission, MINUSCA.

The militia men also looted UN and NGO premises, it added.

"Peacekeepers immediately responded, trying to keep the assailants back, leading to the death of 12 of them," the MINUSCA statement added.

Some 12,000 UN peacekeepers have been deployed in the country, one of the world's poorest, following sectarian violence that broke out after the March 2013 ousting of president Francois Bozize, a Christian, by the Seleka rebel alliance.

The UN's humanitarian affairs office OCHA said the trouble in the region was undermining efforts to provide food aid for 120,000 people as well as more than 70,000 displaced by the conflict.

Armed groups have been chased from the capital, Bangui, but continue to cause trouble in the countryside.
Pakistan daily, The Nation, attacks the Pakistani government for not taking action against terror masterminds Hafiz Saeed and Masood Azhar.

The daily has hit out at the government for not acting against terror masterminds Masood Azhar and Hafiz Saeed. (Photo: PTI)

By India Today Web Desk: In a scathing attack on Pakistan's civilian government and the military leadership, a Pakistani daily said that the two should focus on acting against terror masterminds Hafiz Saeed and Maulana Masood Azhar rather than lecturing the press.

The Nation, which is considered close to the government, in its editorial 'How to Lose Friends and Alienate People' hits out at the government for putting a ban on Dawn journalist Cyril Almeida from travelling outside the country following his story on government-military rift.



DON'T LECTURE PRESS

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The editorial asked the Pakistani government why action against Jaish-e Mohammad chief Azhar and Jammat-ud Dawa chief Saeed was "danger" to the country's national security.

ALSO READ: China extends block on India's move to ban JeM chief Masood Azhar by three months



The editorial comes at a time when Pakistan is facing pressure from the US and other countries to act against terror and not let terrorists use the country as a safe haven.

The editorial said that it was a "disturbing day when civilian and military top leadership meet to lecture the media on how to do their job".

ALSO READ: PM Modi to meet Xi Jinping, NSG bid and ban on Masood Azhar on top agenda



IDENTIFY THE REAL DANGER

"Apparently a barrage of online abuse, and three official denials were not enough to assuage tempers riled after Almeida's exclusive story in Dawn, detailing an unusual exchange between the very same civilian and military top brass that yesterday issued forth a statement on the violation of 'universally acknowledged principles of reporting on national security issues', the editorial said.

ALSO READ: Pak Army moves terror masterminds Hafiz Saeed, Syed Salahuddin to safe location after surgical strikes



"The report by Almeida has been called 'fabricated', and 'speculative reporting'. But the government and military top brass in yesterday's meeting delivered no explanation for why government MNA's are protesting the visible presence of banned outfits in Pakistan. Or why possible action against Masood Azhar, or Hafiz Saeed is a danger to 'national security'. Or why Pakistan faces increasing isolation? We're all ears," the editorial said, tearing into Pakistan's official stand that it doesn't harbour any terrorists.

"Instead, how dare the government and military top brass lecture the press on how to do their job. How dare they treat a feted reporter like a criminal. And how dare they imply that they have either the right or the ability or the monopoly to declare what Pakistan's 'national interest' is," the editorial said.

ALSO READ: 'Which egg is Hafiz Saeed laying for us': it's Pakistan vs Pakistan as clamour for action against terror grows



MORE POWER TO THE PEN

The editorial expressed the paper's solidarity with the Dawn reporter. "And for Almeida, nothing but solidarity. More power to you, and to your pen. The press stands with you," it added.

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In an editorial, Dawn said it continues to stand-by Almeida's story and has rejected allegations of "vested interest and false reporting".

The Karachi Press Club has also demanded that the travel ban on Almeida be lifted.

(with inputs from PTI)



ALSO READ: Lahore HC quashes plea by Hafiz Saeed to raise Kashmir issue at UNSC



--- ENDS ---
Presidential hopeful Donald Trump is no stranger to voicing his opinions on the internet -- even when it comes to pop music.

Despite being called out by many musicians for his political views and his use of their songs during his rallies without permission, the candidate doesn't shy away from responding to their criticism and stirring up controversy of his own.

Going back as early as 2011, we take a look at Trump's thoughts on musicians over the years, from his input on the infamous Solange/Jay Z elevator incident to his suspicions surrounding Katy Perry's marriage to Russell Brand. (Oh, and he thinks Taylor Swift is "terrific.")

Katy Perry

I like Russell Brand, but Katy Perry made a big mistake when she married him. Let's see if I'm right---I hope not.

- Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 29, 2011

.@katyperry Katy, what the hell were you thinking when you married loser Russell Brand. There is a guy who has got nothing going, a waste!

- Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 16, 2014

.@katyperry is no bargain but I don't like John Mayer--he dates and tells--be careful Katy (just watch!).

- Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 19, 2012

Taylor Swift

@taylorswift13 Thanks for the beautiful picture--- you are fantastic!

- Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 1, 2012

Glad to hear that @taylorswift13 will be co-hosting the Grammy nominations special on 12.5. Taylor is terrific!

- Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 30, 2012

Miley Cyrus

I am a defender of @MileyCyrus, who I think is a good person (and not because she stays at my hotels), but last night's outfit must go!

- Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 24, 2013

Jay Z

I really like Jay Z but there is trouble in paradise. When his wife's sister starts whacking him, not good! No help from B leads to a mess.

- Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 18, 2014

Lady Gaga

@RickyTheBitch @ladygaga I think Gaga is great--her 1st major appearance at my Miss Universe Pageant in Vietnam/6 yrs ago Should give me 25%

Story continues

- Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 19, 2012

Madonna

Does Madonna know something we all don't about Barack? At a concert she said "we have a black Muslim in the White House."

- Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 27, 2012

Many people walked out on Madonna's concert when she told them to vote for Obama. Years ago I walked out because the concert was terrible!

- Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 29, 2012

Cher

.@cher should spend more time focusing on her family and dying career!

- Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 13, 2012

Mac Miller

Little @MacMiller, I'm now going to teach you a big boy lesson about lawsuits and finance. You ungrateful dog!

- Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 31, 2013

It was just announced that @MacMiller's song "DonaldTrump" went platinum - tell Mac Miller to kiss my ass!

- Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 6, 2013

Bette Midler

They should have allowed applause during the TRIBUTE to the departed - Really bad production. Bette Midler sucked! #Oscars

- Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 3, 2014

Prince

I met Prince on numerous occasions. He was an amazing talent and wonderful guy. He will be greatly missed!

- Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 22, 2016

Rihanna & Chris Brown

If @rihanna is dating @chrisbrown again then she has a death wish. A beater is always a beater--just watch!

- Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 11, 2012

Beyonce

Via @BET: "Donald Trump Blasts Beyonce for Suggestive Super Bowl Show" https://t.co/MlYD7hc4

- Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 12, 2013

Michael Jackson

"@michaeljackson: #FriendlyFriday Michael Jackson with Donald Trump. pic.twitter.com/K4exeDeX1Z" Michael was very misunderstood - a great talent

- Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 11, 2015

Justin Timberlake

.@JTimberlake It was great having you play The Blue Monster. Thanks for your nice statements-many agree that it is best they've seen!

- Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 3, 2014

Whitney Houston

Clive Davis gave a great eulogy at my friend Whitney Houston's funeral--absolutely amazing!

- Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 24, 2012

Whitney Houston was a great friend and an amazing talent. We will all miss her and send our prayers to her family.

- Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 13, 2012

Bruce Springsteen

Why would Ohio listen to Bruce Springsteen reading his lines? Be careful or I will go to Ohio and @MittRomney will win it!

- Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 19, 2012

Elton John

11,000 inside venue tonight in Tampa! Broke record set by Elton John in 1988 w/out musical instruments! Another 5,000 outside. Will be back!

- Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 13, 2016

Axl Rose

Axl Rose should take his #rockhall2012 honors and be happy. Stop the no induction nonsense. Do it for your fans @axlrose.

- Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 14, 2012

Johnny Cash

"Success is having to worry about every damn thing in the world, except money."

--Johnny Cash- Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 17, 2012

Rod Stewart

"@billboard: .@RodStewart on his (naked) "young and carefree" days and pal Donald Trump https://t.co/47RflaEHXG" Rod, album is great!

- Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 31, 2015

Rolling Stones

Congratulations to the Rolling Stones on marking their 50th anniversary in London.

- Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 26, 2012

Neil Young

.@Neilyoung's song, "Rockin' In The Free World" was just one of 10 songs used as background music. Didn't love it anyway.

- Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 24, 2015

.@Neilyoung A few months ago Neil Young came to my office looking for $$ on an audio deal & called me last week to go to his concert. Wow!

- Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 24, 2015

For the nonbeliever, here is a photo of @Neilyoung in my office and his $$ request - total hypocrite. pic.twitter.com/Xm4BJvetIa

- Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 24, 2015

Billy Joel

Thank you @BillyJoel- many friends just told me you gave a very kind shoutout at MSG. Appreciate it- love your music!

- Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 28, 2016
No matter how you feel about Johnny Depps musical career or his questionable choices in acting roles, you must concur that his downtown penthouse complex in the Art Decostyle Eastern Columbia Building is one of the most spectacular properties on the market in L.A.

The actor-musician-real estate investors interconnected condos are super cool, and sales are hot. If you want your own piece of this property pie, act now. One of the five units availableunit No. 5just sold for a reasonable $2,545,000.

Unit No. 5 offered two bedrooms and three baths spread over two levels, spectacular decor, and a wraparound terrace.

Still available for sale are three two-bedroom units and one one-bedroom unit. Depp, who paid $7.2 million for the five-condo collection in 2008, listed it about a month ago for $12.78. Currently, the prices for the four individual units, or the entire collection, are available only by request.

Whats so cool about these condos besides their obvious celebrity connection? For starters, theyre located in the heart of downtown L.A.s historic district, in a building that is widely considered to be the citys greatest surviving example of Art Deco architecture.

Turquoise terra-cotta and gold leaf tiles cloak the Claud Beelmandesigned 13-story building, which is topped by a four-sided clock tower.

Kitchen and eating nook James Lang/Berlyn Photography

The actors influence is also apparent in the interior spaces. The units are saturated with bright colors and a mix of salvaged, vintage, and modern hardware; fixtures; artwork; and furniture, much of which could be negotiated into the final price.

A few of the more striking pieces include unit No. 4s chandelier made of lights from an airport in Germany, and unit No. 2s tile floor patterned after one of Depps tattoos.

Bedroom James Lang/Berlyn Photography

Theres no word on whether or not the sale of the complex was related to Depps divorce from actress Amber Heard. Partners Trust listing agent Kevin Dees (son of radio host Rick Dees) told the Wall Street Journal that it was the right time to divest of that asset.

Story continues

Depp has plenty of real estate holdings, including a 37-acre vineyard in France, a private island in the Bahamas, and a Mediterranean Revivalstyle compound tucked behind the Chateau Marmont in Los Angeles.

One of several living rooms James Lang/Berlyn Photography

Pool atop the building James Lang/Berlyn Photography

Building exterior James Lang/Berlyn Photography

The post 4 Units in Johnny Depps L.A. Penthouse Complex Are Still Available appeared first on Real Estate News and Advice - realtor.com.
The third-quarter earnings season has kicked off with Alcoa reporting results earlier this week. With the Q3 earnings season expected to pick pace in the coming days, the market will be focused on seeing if the overall earnings picture will improve this season.



Q2 was the 5th quarter in a row of earnings declines for the S&P 500 index with earnings declining 2.8%. Current expectations for Q3 show an earnings decline of 2.9%. Half of the 16 Zacks sectors are expected to record negative earnings growth this quarter with Oils/Energy leading the group with expected negative earnings growth of 68.3%, followed by Transportation (-21.4%) and Autos (-18.5%).



However, the overall expectation is that the worst is behind us with a turnaround in earnings growth expected from Q4 (Read more: What Will the Q3 Earnings Season Bring?).



Sectors that Should Perform Well in Q3



Meanwhile, Business Services (+7.1%), Construction (+6.3%) and other sectors like Retail, Finance, Utilities and Medical are expected to record earnings growth in Q3. In fact, Medical is one of the few sectors that has consistently recorded earnings growth over the last 4 quarters.



With the Medical sector expected to record earnings growth of 2.7% on revenue growth of 7.4% in Q3, it makes sense to select stocks from this sector that performed well in Q2 and are expected to do well in Q3. Investing in such stocks could prove beneficial for investors as an earnings beat usually leads to significant share price appreciation.



5 Drug Stocks to Keep an Eye on This Earnings Season



With the help of the Zacks Stock Screener, we have zeroed-in on five drug stocks that sport a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) or 2 (Buy) and have an Earnings ESP of at least 5%. Earnings ESP is a very valuable tool for investors looking for stocks that are most likely to beat earnings estimates. Moreover, adding a Zacks Rank of #1, 2 or 3 (Strong Buy, Buy or Hold) has produced a positive surprise 70% of the time.



ARIAD Pharmaceuticals Inc. ARIA: Cambridge, MA-based ARIAD is focused on the discovery, development and commercialization of precision therapies for patients with rare cancers. ARIADs sole marketed product is leukemia drug Iclusig and the company is currently seeking FDA approval for brigatinib for a specific type of lung cancer.



The Zacks Rank #1 company, which had posted an earnings surprise of +670.00% in the last quarter, has an Earnings ESP of +10.00% for Q3. Average surprise over the last 4 quarters is +153.54%. ARIAD is expected to report third quarter results on Nov 1.

Story continues

ARIAD PHARMA Price and EPS Surprise

ARIAD PHARMA Price and EPS Surprise | ARIAD PHARMA Quote

United Therapeutics Corporation UTHR: Silver Spring, MD-based United Therapeutics is focused on the development and commercialization of innovative products to address the unmet medical needs of patients with chronic and life-threatening diseases. The company holds a strong position in the pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) market with four approved products targeting this indication.



The company, which had posted an earnings surprise of +38.65% in the last quarter, has an Earnings ESP of +5.46% for Q3. Average surprise over the last 4 quarters is +43.93%. The Zacks Rank #1 stock is expected to report third quarter results on Oct 25. You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

UTD THERAPEUTIC Price and EPS Surprise

UTD THERAPEUTIC Price and EPS Surprise | UTD THERAPEUTIC Quote

Achillion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. ACHN: New Haven, CT-based Achillion is focused on the development of potent and specific complement factor D inhibitors for rare and other diseases. The Zacks Rank #2 stock, which had posted an earnings surprise of +12.50% in the last quarter, has an Earnings ESP of +6.25% for Q3. Moreover, the company has consistently surpassed earnings expectations in each of the last four quarters with an average surprise of +364.79%. Achillion is expected to report third quarter results on Nov 3.

ACHILLION PHARM Price and EPS Surprise

ACHILLION PHARM Price and EPS Surprise | ACHILLION PHARM Quote

Ascendis Pharma A/S ASND: Denmark-based Ascendis is a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company which uses its TransCon technology to address significant unmet medical needs in rare diseases. The Zacks Rank #2 stock, which had posted an earnings surprise of +10.45% in the last quarter, has an Earnings ESP of +15.49% for Q3. The company is expected to report third quarter results on Nov 10.

ASCENDIS PHARMA Price and EPS Surprise

ASCENDIS PHARMA Price and EPS Surprise | ASCENDIS PHARMA Quote

Exelixis, Inc. EXEL: South San Francisco, CA-based Exelixis is focused on the discovery, development and commercialization of new medicines for people with cancer. Approved products include Cabometyx, Cometriq and Cotellic. The Zacks Rank #1 stock, which had posted an earnings surprise of +40.74% in the last quarter, has an Earnings ESP of +15.39% for Q3. Average surprise over the last 4 quarters is +9.10%. The company is expected to report third quarter results on Nov 8.

EXELIXIS INC Price and EPS Surprise

EXELIXIS INC Price and EPS Surprise | EXELIXIS INC Quote

Where Do Zacks' Investment Ideas Come From?



You are welcome to download the full, up-to-the-minute list of 220 Zacks Rank #1 "Strong Buy" stocks free of charge. There is no better place to start your own stock search. Plus you can access the full list of must-avoid Zacks Rank #5 "Strong Sells" and other private research. See the stocks 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



EXELIXIS INC (EXEL): Free Stock Analysis Report



ACHILLION PHARM (ACHN): Free Stock Analysis Report



UTD THERAPEUTIC (UTHR): Free Stock Analysis Report



ARIAD PHARMA (ARIA): Free Stock Analysis Report



ASCENDIS PHARMA (ASND): Free Stock Analysis Report



To read this article on Zacks.com click here.



Zacks Investment Research
When you get ready to sell your home, you might very well have a false sense of security. After all, you got through the hard part of buying. Now all you have to do is call a Realtor, put your home on the market, and wait for the buyers to line up. Selling will be a breeze, right?

Of course not! Selling a home is as much a science as buying one is. And lots of people whove been there before will want to tell you how its done. Beware of these (well-meaning) storytellers, and dont fall for some of the most common misconceptions about selling your home.

Myth No. 1: You can do it solo

selling solo

We knowyoure cringing at the idea of paying those seller fees. But theres more to this process than putting a sign in the front yard and an ad on Craigslist.

If you try to sell on your own, you have to do all the hustleand theres a lot of hustle to marketing a home. Plus, whos going to weed out the creeps and the nonserious buyers? A Realtor does the heavy liftingto attract the right kind of buyer, sift out the ones you would never want to do business with, and negotiate the heck out of potential offers to get you the best possible deal.

Its about establishing relationships, trust, and facilitating communication to keep the deal alive until it closes, says Deborah Stewart, a sales associate for Jan Scholtz Realty in Louisville, KY.



Myth No. 2: You know best what your home is really worth

know everything

Who understands what your home is worth better than you? After all, you know all the sweat and money youve poured into it over the yearsplus a few tiny flaws here and there.

But stop right there. Home valuations are always better left to the pros.

Sellers arent always the best judges of value, Stewart says. Its an intensely personal thing to put your home on the market.

In fact, sales by owners tend to be overpriced because of the emotional factor, she saysand that can make it harder to attract buyers. Your agent will know the neighborhood and has access to comps in order to suss out the best price for your home.

Story continues



Myth No. 3: Its fine to sell your home as is

fine

Were reiterating this one because we simply cant emphasize it enough. You might think your home is in great shape (or at least adequate enough to sell), but youre probably overlooking some necessary changes that could boost your profits. What are some of the home improvements that will get you the best ROI? Walls and floors, doors, and kitchens.



Myth No. 4: Upgrades should be drastic

drastic upgrades

But you dont have to do a gut reno in order to get your home in selling condition. Maybe you need to freshen up the kitchen instead of getting a whole new one. Maybe you have to do a bit of front-yard landscaping to boost curb appeal. No matter what, sellers should be judicious about improvements, Stewart says.

Simple things make a big difference. When I walk through, I advise sellers to remove most personal items, she says. When people come to look, if theres a lot of memorabilia, they feel like theyre intruding, not shopping. Get pros to help clean it up.

When you make too many improvements, you might be wasting money, because your taste and style might not appeal to prospective buyers. They might want to rip out your upgrades, or be turned off altogether.



Myth No. 5: Spring is the best time to sell a home

spring

Spring and summer have long received all the real estate glory as the best (and busiest) time to buy and sell a home. But the truth is that any season can be the best. It just depends on the market.

In Louisville, spring used to be a strong time, but not anymore, Stewart says. I think houses sell pretty well all year long.

Kristen Riffle, co-partner of the Schilling Group at Urban Nest Realty in Las Vegas, says the hot season to sell homes is when its, well, hot.

Summer or school break is a busy time, and slow time is generally mid-November to early January, due to holidays and family, she says. But she still sees plenty of buyers, even if there isnt a lot of inventory.

Its a great time to get a good price if you list your home during the holidays, she says.

Bottom line: Know whats going on in your local housing market and dont wait for the best time to list. With the services of a savvy Realtor, youll make out OK no matter when you decide to make a move.



Myth No. 6: You can rely entirely on online home value estimates

internet

Although online home value estimates (like the ones on realtor.com!) are a good starting point, theyre no substitute for the expertise of a Realtor.

There are all kinds of variables. You cant plug in a standard formula and expect it to give you accurate results, Stewart says. Theres no substitute for a real person.

Riffle agrees. Most professionals have no problem giving someone a comparative marketing analysis, she says. If a neighborhood is all over the place as far as prices go, not only do I run a CMA, I [also] go through last sales, what the photos look like, and everything listed in the area to compare. I also go to the home to see upgrades to add value.

The post 6 Home-Selling Myths You Need to Stop Believing Immediately appeared first on Real Estate News and Advice - realtor.com.
[Photo: Flickr]

Calling all tequila lovers; some great news for you mdears, not only does this fine spirit make you happy (oh yes) it also has a host of surprising health benefits.



So, whether youre knocking it back straight with some salt and lime, enjoying it in a classic margarita or just sipping it on the rocks, grab your drink, step up to the mirror, give yourself a pat on the back and repeat out loud Im doing my body a favour.

1. It doesnt give you a hangover

True story. Okay, okay, theres a condition with this one; firstly youve got to drink the good stuff, none of that cheap corner shop junk. Tequila can be called tequila even if it has a load of other stuff mixed in with it. Sugar, colorants and other alcohols reduce the quality of your drink and we all know that mixing your booze maketh for a morning after horror show. Look out for 100% Agave, according to Forbes, Under Mexican law, tequila must be made from only the blue Weber agave plant from the Tequila region in the state of Jalisco. Thats the good stuff youre looking for. Treat yo self.

2. Tequila may work as a pain reliever

Yes, a wee dram of tequila improves blood flow by dilating the blood vessels and its this reaction that contributes to relieving pain - not just the booze impacting on your brain. According to TABElog If you drink a shot or two of high quality tequila when youre experiencing back pains for example, you should be able to feel the difference after only a few minutes. Obviously dont mix booze with medication and avoid self-medicating with booze!

3. Its good for your gut

Tequila can aid digestion, according to researchers at Plant Foods for Human Nutrition the fructans have pre and probiotic properties. Prebiotics promote the growth of friendly bacteria in your intestines and probiotics contain good bacteria that help fight bad bacteria. Winin moderation obviously.

4. Its better for diabetics

Tequila has significantly less sugar than other alcohol meaning diabetics can have a shot or two without it having such an intense impact on blood sugar levels.

Story continues

5. It reduces the chances of developing dementia

According to the Beeb, indulging in a couple of alcoholic beverages can reduce your chances of developing dementia, and whats in tequila? Alcohol of course. But before you go necking copious amounts of booze, the same report also showed a correlation between high alcohol consumption and increased risk of dementia. So moderation, yeah?

6. Use it as a cold and flu remedy

Mix tequila, agave nectar and fresh lime juice and youve basically got Mexicos answer to the hot toddy.

5 pretty vile ways your yoga gear is bad for your health



Have your beloved cat embroidered on a shirt


The Galaxy Note 7: A Product up in Flames

The Samsung Galaxy Note 7, the Korean electronics company's newest smartphone, was supposed to be Samsung's answer to Apple Inc's (ticker: AAPL) iPhone 7. A blockbuster product. But those plans went up in flames just like the phone itself ... and like the replacement phones that were supposed to be less combustible. Now the company is telling Galaxy Note 7 owners to turn off their phones and send them back in a fireproof box via ground mail, just in case, and Samsung has stopped selling and producing the handset altogether. The Samsung Galaxy Note 7 joins the following legendary failures as one of the worst product flops of all time.

Ford Edsel

One of the most famous product flops ever, the Ford Motor Co. (F) Edsel was a heavily marketed hunk of metal that Ford had big plans for. If those plans were measured in dollars, you'd have seen 400 million of them invested in the project. Some Edsels did sell, but not nearly enough: Ford lost $250 million -- in 1958 dollars -- on the project. The car, which was supposed to take the auto industry by storm, had a poorly defined niche and an overblown marketing campaign. Projections called for the model year 1958 Edsel to sell 200,000 models. Instead, it sold 64,000 units and was out of production by 1959.

Google Glass

It almost seems like Google (GOOG, GOOGL) co-founder Sergey Brin ripped the description of this product from the pages of a sci-fi novel, took it to his top engineers and said: "Make this. We'll figure out the details later." The Google Glass, introduced in 2011, was a head-mounted, internet-connected display. Essentially, it looked vaguely like glasses but was really a tiny, voice-activated computer, screen, and video camera. Due partly to the inescapable and arguably painfully foreseeable privacy concerns that followed its release, the $1,500 poorly selling gadget was taken off the market in 2015. Google (now called Alphabet) still claims new iterations of the Glass are forthcoming, but today it looks like a failed product.

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New Coke

The Coca-Cola Co. (KO) saw its market share steadily dwindle at the hands of PepsiCo (PEP) for more than three decades after World War II, and the company's top brass thought the time was nigh to change the taste of its flagship product. Then-CEO Roberto Goizueta thought the answer was "New Coke or no Coke," and in April 1983 Coca-Cola changed the formula of its iconic soft drink, which became much sweeter than the original. Shortly thereafter protests erupted and some of the company's own bottlers were on the verge of boycotts; Coca-Cola was forced by the market to reintroduce the original once more, and sales soared past previous levels.

Microsoft Zune

Apple changed the music business forever in 2001, launching both iTunes and the iPod. It took Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) five years -- an eternity in the world of consumer electronics -- to respond with its own line of Zune MP3 players in November 2006. Within 18 months it would sell 2 million of them. If that sounds like a huge success, it's not; by the end of 2007, Apple had sold 141 million iPods and over 3 billion songs on iTunes. The Zune is widely considered to be a laughable, late and inferior imitation of a hit product, which is why it goes down as one of the worst product flops ever.

WOW! Chips

While the sweet taste of Pepsi may have forced Coca-Cola to briefly abandon (and then bring back) their flagship soda, PepsiCo's WOW! chips forced consumers to do something else entirely. Frito-Lay, a division of Pepsi, introduced WOW! chips to the public in 1998, branding them as healthier potato chips due to their low fat and caloric content. Alas, if it seems too good to be true it probably is: The "healthy" chips used fat-substitute Olestra, which has unfortunate side effects like diarrhea and incontinence. Sales quickly went down the drain and the product was renamed Light in 2004.

Trump Steaks

Former GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney gave a televised speech in March urging Americans not to vote for Donald Trump in the primaries. One of the many reasons he cited for not voting for Trump was the candidate's claim to be a masterful businessman. Romney pointed to a number of failed Trump endeavors, including Trump Steaks, as evidence to the contrary. Trump Steaks debuted in 2007 in a promotion with Sharper Image, and were briefly hawked that same year on QVC. Both deals ended shortly thereafter. The boxes of steak ranged from $199 to $999, depending on the quantity, and the trademark for Trump Steaks was canceled in December 2014. Bad!

Apple Lisa

Success is impossible without trial and error, and when Apple's Lisa came out in 1983, it was an undeniable error. Although the Apple Lisa was one of the first computers to have a graphical user interface, it was also one of Apple's most notorious commercial failures. The machine retailed for $9,995 ($23,962 in 2016 dollars), putting it way out of range for individuals and even largely pricing it out of the business market it was aiming for. To add insult to injury, the 1983 release was followed by 1984's Macintosh, which came with a mouse and retailed for $2,495, cannibalizing Lisa's already poor sales.

John Divine is a staff writer for U.S. News & World Report. He is also a longtime investor, and has previously written about investing and the markets for InvestorPlace and The Motley Fool. You can follow him on Twitter @divinebizkid or give him the Tip of the Century at jdivine@usnews.com.
Vice President Joe Biden helped usher in the Obamacare era with a now-famous expression that, while commonly used, cannot be printed here in full. But the voluble veep has kept an uncharacteristically low profile for the past three weeks as Obamas signature domestic achievement has labored through a thoroughly botched rollout.

Biden, so often at the heart of solutions to past fiscal standoffs, also was silent during the government shutdown and debt ceiling wars. One unconfirmed report said he was deliberately sidelined by Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. On two occasions, the White House left the vice president off the list of attendees when President Barack Obama met with congressional leaders.

When Obama pushed for immigration reform Thursday, there was Biden  standing and smiling next to Obama but not speaking.

Is this the calm before the 2016 storm? Has the VP  the guy who rode sheriff on the stimulus, handled major foreign policy headaches, and led the ill-fated push on gun violence  been, for lack of a better coinage, Bide-lined?

Not even close. And that Biden-shaped hole in your life is about to be a thing of the past.

In the next couple of months, the vice president will travel an average of two days a week and will continue to be deeply engaged on foreign policy, an aide told Yahoo News.

(Not long after this story posted, the vice presidents office announced that Biden would go to Austin, Texas, on Oct. 30 to highlight efforts to curb violence against women. In a separate statement, it also announced that he would travel to Panama in late November to have a look at the Panama Canal expansion project.)

In the runup to the Obamacare rollout, Biden sat down for interviews and placed op-eds (like this one in the key 2016 state of Iowa) and telephone calls designed to directly reach young Americans, Latinos [and] African-Americans, and thank key stakeholders who are still working tirelessly to educate their communities about the law, a Biden aide said.

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Biden, joined by Department of Health and Human Services officials, held a conference call with 3,000 nurses from 25 nursing organizations working to enroll patients around the United States in Obamacare.

Op-eds by Biden or HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius ran in 29 local papers, according to the vice presidents office.

As the health care marketplaces opened Oct 1, Biden did an interview on College Radio Day, reaching 400 college radio stations. That kind of outreach will be crucial to whether the law succeeds, since the exchanges need young and healthy Americans to sign up in order to offset older, sicker members who require more care.

So what about the shutdown? Where was Biden, so often the administrations point man for negotiating last-minute deals with Republicans?

Biden and Obama aides said that the vice president was in every meeting at the White House. He spent many hours with President Obama every day, a Biden aide said.

So what about those two instances, on Oct. 9 and Oct 15, when the White House left him off the list of upcoming high-profile meetings? Biden and Obama aides said this was entirely unintentional, the result of thinned-out communications staff who were racing to match leaks from congressional Republicans. Its absurd. If wed wanted to sideline him, we just wouldnt have invited him, one West Wing official said.

Did Reid really work to make sure Biden didnt cut a deal with Republicans? Another option: The VP wasnt involved in negotiations because our position was no negotiations, said a Democratic official.

But the shutdown did sideline Biden in one respect: A scheduled (and announced) Oct. 11 fundraising event for Newark Mayor Cory Bookers successful Senate run fell by the wayside.

The shutdown forced our office to reschedule a number of official and political events, a Biden aide explained.

Even so, Biden was hardly low-profile. On Oct. 4, he joined Obama for a highly unusual stroll to a sandwich shop near the White House.

Biden also has stayed busy behind the scenes. On Wednesday, he met behind closed doors with Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.

With the shutdown now in the rearview mirror, Biden attended an Oct. 15 Medal of Honor ceremony and the Oct. 18 nomination of a new Homeland Security secretary, and traveled to Massachusetts on Oct. 23 for an event promoting mental health.
Abercrombie & Fitch is revamping its brand to make it more approachable and inclusive. (Photo: Getty Images)

Abercrombie & Fitch was named Americas most hated retailer earlier this year when it received the lowest ranking score for the retail industry on the American Customer Satisfaction Index. Since then, the retailer has made dramatic changes, and its introducing a new look to fire back at the critics and win back customers. Today the company unveiled an entirely redesigned website and a new marketing campaign to emphasize how committed it is to change.

The promotional holiday video starts off with the simple message, People have a lot to say about us. They think theyve got us figured out. The retailer then explains that it is time for a fresh start for the brand and introduces the new campaign, This is Abercrombie and Fitch.

This Holiday campaign is the brands opportunity to show the world it is a new day at Abercrombie & Fitch, Fran Horowitz, the companys president and chief merchandising officer, tells Yahoo Style. The campaign not only showcases the brands new and evolved collections, but also shows the brand as approachable, inclusive, and fun. The teaser part of the campaign hopefully addresses some of the previous controversy the company has faced; that said, this is a new start for this true American heritage brand.

Will fuzzy sweaters and lobsters make Abercrombie & Fitch cool again? (Photo: Josh Olins and Matt Jones for Abercrombie & Fitch)

The company is attempting to reach the modern consumer by celebrating individuality and eradicating the exclusive and judgmental undertones that the retailer is usually marked with. The holiday campaign is noticeably less sexy and scandalous than campaigns released in the past. The design teams have put a lot of effort in fit, quality, and finish, Horowitz says. The assortment has more breadth, and we would urge customers to check out our denim, outerwear, and shirting offerings, specifically. In a sense, the brand is going back to the basics but still attempting to produce creative pieces to keep consumers interested.

The brand has wiped both its Instagram and Twitter pages clean to emphasize how committed it is to the rebrand.

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A&F is no stranger to controversy, as it has faced intense backlash and disdain from critics and customers for the past couple years. The brand has struggled in rebranding itself since the ousting of CEO Mike Jeffries in 2014. Jeffries left a lasting impact on the company in its designs and reputation, considering he was known for wanting the brand to be only for the cool kids. Since then, the retailer has released new ad campaigns and styles to promote a different message and gravitate away from Jeffries vision.

A couple gets cozy in the Abercrombie & Fitch Fall/Winter 2016 campaign. (Photo: Josh Olins and Matt Jones for Abercrombie & Fitch)

Glancing at the retailers website or walking through one of its stores could prove to be an unfamiliar experience for some shoppers, as the walls are no longer lined with an overwhelming number of tight T-shirts, adorned with obnoxious slogans, and minuscule denim shorts. Conservative and classier styles have replaced them.

However, despite the retailers best efforts, the design changes havent positively affected sales by any means. Abercrombie & Fitchs reported second-quarter fiscal 2016 revealed that total comparable sales decreased by 4 percent. That was the 14th straight quarter the retailers sales have dropped. The This is Abercrombie and Fitch campaign comes at an important time for the retailer, as performance during the holiday season will affect its overall success. Horowitz says the retailer also plans to launch a new store concept in 2017 to celebrate the brands 125th anniversary.

Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest for nonstop inspiration delivered fresh to your feed, every day.
Abercrombie & Fitch wont feature shirtless models with chiseled abs anymore

Occasionally fashion companies will decide that in order to keep up with changing perceptions and trends, the best course of action is a total rebranding. Abercrombie & Fitch, the cool-kid brand of our high school days that has faced massive financial losses in recent years, has opted for a refresh  and it has come out swinging with a strong re-brand campaign.

In a video released today, the company showcases its (actually very cute) holiday collection along with a confident message: People have a lot to say about us. They think theyve got us figured out.

With exactly zero exposed abs, sun-kissed bikini bods or golden highlights in sight, the video insists that the new Abercrombie is more inclusive than the brand of yore.

Indeed, Abercrombies president and chief merchandising officer, Fran Horowitz, said in an interview with the Wall Street Journal, We are a positive, inclusive brand, with a nice sensibility, very different from what [customers] encountered in the past.

The company suffered serious financial losses after fat-shaming comments made by ex-CEO Mike Jeffries came to light in 2013, and the bad press continued when A&Fs so-called hot employees only policy was revealed (one it has since changed).

So its refreshing to see that the company is clearly taking the feedback to heart and truly being constructive with their criticism. Bravo!

But, if its new ad campaign and the fact that it wiped its Instagram clean are any indication, the brand is confident that a revival is in its future.

Will you be shopping A&F again? Check out Abercrombies new collection here and let us know!

The post Abercrombie & Fitch wont feature shirtless models with chiseled abs anymore appeared first on HelloGiggles.
By Joseph Ax ELIZABETH, N.J. (Reuters) - The man accused of last month's bombings in New York and New Jersey that injured dozens of people made his first court appearance on Thursday from a hospital bed, pleading not guilty to attempting to murder police officers. Ahmad Khan Rahimi, 28, whose last name had previously been reported as Rahami, appeared via live video on a television screen in a courtroom in Elizabeth, New Jersey, from the hospital where he has been recovering from gunshot wounds suffered during a shootout with police. With his court-appointed lawyer, Peter Liguori, standing bedside in hospital scrubs, Rahimi lay still with a blanket pulled up to his neck during the hearing. Rahimi, said by U.S. authorities to have been inspired by radial jihadism, spoke in a quiet voice, answering "yes" to several questions from Union County Superior Court Judge Regina Caulfield about whether he understood the charges and wished Liguori to represent him. Liguori told the judge that his client's last name was spelled "Rahimi." The hearing, which lasted only a few minutes, concerned state charges against him stemming from a gunfight with police on Sept. 19, after an officer discovered him sleeping in the doorway of a bar. Rahimi, a U.S. citizen born in Afghanistan, is also facing federal charges of using weapons of mass destruction and bombing a place of public use in New York and New Jersey. He is accused of setting off an explosive in Manhattan's Chelsea neighborhood that injured 31 people as well as a pipe bomb near a charity running race in a New Jersey shore town on Sept. 17. In addition, Rahimi is charged with planting another pressure-cooker bomb in Chelsea that did not go off and with leaving several devices at a train station in Elizabeth, just blocks from the courthouse where he appeared on video on Thursday. One of those explosives detonated when a bomb squad robot attempted to defuse it. None of the blasts killed anyone. It remains unclear when Rahimi will appear in federal court, but it is likely he will face charges there before New Jersey's state case proceeds to trial. The hearing had been delayed while Rahimi, who was unconscious for weeks, recovered from his injuries. Two officers suffered injuries in the shootout, and at least one of them attended the hearing on Thursday. (Reporting by Joseph Ax; Editing by Phil Berlowitz and Steve Orlofsky)
By PTI: By Juhi Chakraborty

New Delhi, Oct 13 (PTI) The exotic locales of Paris steal the show in the trailer of upcoming Ranveer Singh-Vaani Kapoor starrer "Befikre", and its cinematographer Kaname Oyonama says he has shot the city like the third lead character of the movie.

Oyonama, who shifted to Paris from his native Japan to pursue higher studies, has now settled in the city and considers himself a true Parisian.

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He says the reason Yash Raj Films approached him to shoot the film was because he could provide both the local as well as the touristic view of the city.

"Paris is a very important aspect of the film, like the third lead character. I think the reason they got me on-board was because I know the city very well. They were looking for someone local in order to get present the city in a way Parisian look at it," Oyonama told PTI.

"At the same time, the film is about the mixture of French and Indian culture, so they wanted that touristic aspect as well. I could shoot Paris that way. I see Paris in a different aspect as I am both a local and an outsider. I have tried to describe the city in a real and beautiful way."

The film sees Ranveer and Vaani play youngsters exploring their relationship and themselves, as they flirt with each other, and the city of romance.

It marks the return of Chopra to direction after a gap of eight years. The movie releases on December 9.

Oyonama, who has worked in commercials for major fashion brands and several award-winning feature films, says before "Befikre", he did not have much idea about the Indian film industry and the call from Yash Raj Films was a surprise to him.

"All my life I have had nothing to do with this film industry before. They (YRF) were looking for someone fresh completely different, young, energetic and dynamic. They just called me up one day and it was so sudden that I was surprised."

Oyonama says he has made many attempts to watch some movies but till date he hasnt been able to finish any.

"I have never seen an entire Bollywood film before. I knew some main actors. I knew what kind of films are made in Bollywood but not much details."

Working on "Befikre" was an interesting experience for Oyonama and he says he enjoyed collaborating with the Indian crew, which was very professional and talented.

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"My shooting experience was very good. The Indian crew was very professional, technical and organised. It was a great fusion and went very smooth."

After having such a great time on his debut Hindi film, Oyonama says he would love to work on more Bollywood projects in the near future.

"I would love to work in more Indian films, if there is anything as interesting as Befikre. It was an unforgettable experience for me. It would be a real pleasure to work again in a Hindi film." PTI JCH PSH

--- ENDS ---
By Joseph Ax

ELIZABETH, N.J. (Reuters) - The man accused of last month's bombings in New York and New Jersey that injured dozens of people pleaded not guilty on Thursday to charges of attempted murder stemming from his shootout with police.

Ahmad Khan Rahimi, whose last name had previously been widely reported as Rahami, appeared via video in a New Jersey state courtroom from his hospital bed, where he is recovering from gunshot wounds suffered during his arrest.

The 28-year-old was laying under a sheet as his court-appointed lawyer, Peter Liguori, stood beside his bed in hospital scrubs. He did not speak aside from answering "yes" to several questions from Union County Superior Court Judge Regina Caulfield about whether he understood the charges and wished Liguori to represent him.

Liguori told the judge that his client's last name was spelled "Rahimi."

The hearing in Elizabeth, New Jersey, lasted only a few minutes. Prosecutors said the state charges would be brought before a grand jury within a few months.

Rahimi, a U.S. citizen who was born in Afghanistan, is also facing federal terrorism charges in both New York and New Jersey. He is accused of setting off an explosive in Manhattan's Chelsea neighborhood that injured 31 people as well as a pipe bomb near a charity running race in a New Jersey shore town on Sept. 17.

In addition, Rahimi is charged with planting another pressure-cooker bomb in Chelsea that did not go off and with leaving several devices at a train station in Elizabeth. One of those explosives detonated when a bomb squad robot attempted to defuse it. None of the blasts killed anyone.

(Reporting by Joseph Ax; editing by James Dalgleish and Phil Berlowitz)
(Reuters) - About 70 sub-Saharan African migrants forced their way over a barbed wire barrier into Spain's North African enclave of Melilla on Thursday. They ran to a local immigration center where they were met by dozens of migrants cheering "victory, victory" although their legal status in Spain has yet to be determined. Migrants wait weeks and sometimes months at the short-stay immigrant center in the hope of being transferred to a refugee reception center in mainland Spain, said Government Delegation of Melilla spokesperson Irene Flores. Spain has two enclaves in Morocco - Ceuta and Melilla - and both are hot spots for African migrants making their way to Europe either by climbing over the barriers around them or swimming along the coastline. After thousands of migrants crossed into the enclave in 2014 and 2015, Spain stepped up security partly funded by Europe, and passed a controversial law enabling its border police to outright refuse migrants the opportunity to apply for asylum. (Reporting by Amanda Calvo; Editing by Julien Toyer)
Johannesburg (AFP) - Prosecutors in South Africa said Thursday they had charged firebrand opposition politician Julius Malema under an apartheid-era law after he urged his supporters to occupy land illegally.

The National Prosecution Authority (NPA) said it had "decided to institute criminal prosecutions" against Malema on two counts for contravening anti-riot laws and incitement to trespass.

The charges arose from remarks Malema made two years ago and in June this year urging his supporters, most of them black and landless, to seize any land they wanted.

Malema's leftist Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) party has garnered growing public support by campaigning for South Africa's deep inequality to be tackled through land expropriation.

Land reform is a key issue in the country, where much of the wealth remains in white hands 20 years after the end of apartheid.

"This is what the state does when it's desperate," Malema told a news conference after the charges were announced.

"All those who are seen to be opponents, they must be suppressed through state institutions.

"But with me they have met their match, I am not scared of anything."

In June Malema told his supporters: "If you see a piece of land and you like it, dont apologise, go and occupy that land. That land belongs to us."

Founded in 2013, the EFF entered parliament the next year with 25 lawmakers, becoming the third largest party.

Prosecutors said they would not charge Malema with treason as demanded by the ruling ANC party, after he threatened a violent overthrow of the government, in an interview with Al-Jazeera television.
Julius Malema, the leader of South Africa's radical Economic Freedom Fighters party, says he supports students who have been rioting for free tertiary education across the country saying they are being subjected to violence from the state. He has also called for a massive protest in the capital, Pretoria, on November 2 to protest the leadership of President Jacob Zuma who he says is running a "banana republic" by allowing his business friends from the Gupta family to influence state decisions.
By Tim Cocks and Edward McAllister DAKAR/AGADEZ (Reuters) - When German Chancellor Angela Merkel toured three African nations this week for talks on curbing migration to Europe, the leader of the world's poorest country, Niger, suggested it would take a "Marshall Plan" of massive aid to stop people coming. Merkel politely declined the request, expressing concern about how well the aid would be spent and noting that, at a summit in Malta last year, the European Union had already earmarked 1.8 billion euros for a trust fund to train and resettle migrants. But Niger's President Mahatma Issoufou also proposed something perhaps more significant, in the long run, than a development package - bringing Niger's population growth down from 3.9 percent, the highest in the world. Though he gave no details on how this could be achieved, demography clearly holds the key both to Europe's migration crisis and to the African poverty feeding it. As long as population growth in African countries outstrips their ability to educate, house and employ their citizens, large numbers of people will continue to brave the deserts and seas to escape. "You can't resolve this by just paying money," said Owoeye Olumide, a demographer at Bowen university in southwest Nigeria, one of the world's most densely populated regions. "There are going to be too many people ... the development you need will not be possible. You have to lower fertility rates and bring down population (by educating and empowering women)." Niger, a vast, largely desert nation to the north of Nigeria, presents the starkest example of Africa's challenges. With an average of 7.6 children born to each woman, its population is projected to more than triple to 72 million by 2050, from about 20 million now, according to the latest U.N. figures. By then, Africa will have more than doubled its population to 2.4 billion, the United Nations says. Frequent droughts in Niger cause hunger, and low investment in education means a dearth of skills. Yet somehow it must hugely increase food production just to stay where it is. SMUGGLERS' PARADISE Ironically, Niger's location in the largely unpoliced sands of the Sahara also makes it a draw for migrants. They come from across Africa hoping to be smuggled to a better life in Libya or Algeria -- or over the Mediterranean to Europe. In doing so, the migrants bring cash to Niger, a country that has repeatedly proved unable to feed itself. Ousmane Diallo, 38, traveled for 10 days by bus from Sierra Leone on the Atlantic coast to Agadez, a Saharan town in Niger at the crossroads of the people-smuggling business. He spent $700 on police and military checkpoints along the way. His is precisely the kind of ambition the German chancellor would like to discourage. "I want to work in a car factory in Germany," he said in a dimly lit restaurant in Agadez, his few possessions - spare trousers, shoes, water and a Bible - crammed into a small bag. The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) expects migration through the Agadez region this year to reach 300,000, more than twice the 120,000 it estimates came through in 2015. EU officials hope to deter migrants like Diallo by making clear that life as an illegal immigrant in Europe is hardly better than staying in Africa. But that message has yet to filter down. Diallo was swindled out of 150,000 CFA francs ($256) he paid smugglers in Agadez to reach central Libya. Desperate, he has given his last 50,000 CFA to a gang he hopes will come good. "(In) Europe ... I can save and earn money. I cannot return back. I have nothing there," he said of his native Sierra Leone. In 2013, Niger's corruption investigators did a study on smuggling that was never published, but which Reuters has seen. It said Niger's security forces make almost half a million CFA francs ($850) from every round trip by a smuggling truck -- just from migrants alone, not including payoffs from the gangs. The government did not respond to a request for comment. "PRETTY UNSTOPPABLE" Agadez, a desolate town of sandy streets and mud houses, is booming. Touts flock to fresh migrants at the bus station. For $10, they offer space in padlocked courtyards where arrivals sleep on dirt floors. Landlords might squeeze 40 migrants into one yard, making hundreds of dollars a night. Money changers and motor oil vendors throng the streets. "Pretty much the whole population of Agadez now lives off providing services to migrants in transit," said Richard Danziger, IOM regional director for West and Central Africa. "What we can't do right now is offer real alternatives," he said, adding that "a mixture of development aid and job creation is the only way forward". According to a theory popular with investment bankers and management consultants, Africa's population woes will solve themselves. Africa, they say, will reap a "demographic dividend" as its bulging youth population drives innovation and consumer markets -- as happened to Asia in decades past. The latest commodity crash highlighted reasons for being less optimistic: Africa remains over-dependent on raw materials and has failed to create the manufacturing or service jobs that helped drive Asia forwards. And despite predictions, economic growth hasn't significantly cut birth rates in most African countries. Yet even if Africa is 'rising', says Renaissance Capital's Charles Robertson, himself an optimist, migration will remain "pretty unstoppable". Any bright youth who chooses to stay in most African countries has a good chance of doubling his wealth over 10 years, he says, but that still presents a dilemma: "You can stay where you are and go back to where Germany was in 1920 or you can leapfrog 90 years of development and have a better standard of living now," he said. "That isn't going to change for half a century." (Additional reporting by Andreas Rinke in Niamey, David Lewis in Nairobi and Alastair MacDonald in Brussels; Editing by Gareth Jones)
Johannesburg (AFP) - South African President Jacob Zuma moved on Thursday to block a watchdog's potentially explosive report into graft allegations against him, in his latest legal bid to protect his battered reputation.

Zuma, 74, has survived a series of damaging scandals while in office, but has faced increasing criticism as the economy stalls and after the ruling ANC party suffered unprecedented losses in local polls.

Public Protector Thuli Madonsela had been expected to release on Friday her report into allegations that Zuma let a wealthy business family have undue influence over government and were even able to choose ministers.

"There is an application for an urgent interdict," Zuma's spokesman Bongani Ngqulunga told AFP, giving no further details.

Madonsela's spokesman said the court application was due to be heard Tuesday.

Madonsela, who is celebrated in South Africa for her diligent work unearthing official misconduct, stands down on Saturday after completing her seven-year term in office.

In 2014, she dealt a major blow to Zuma in a report that found he had "unduly benefited" from the refurbishment of his Nkandla rural home -- valued in 2014 at 216 million rand (then $24 million).

Zuma fought the case until being berated by the Constitutional Court and ordered to pay back $500,000 (450,000 euros) of money that had been spent on upgrades including a chicken coop and a swimming pool that was described as a fire-fighting precaution.

- Corrupt influence? -

The Nkandla scandal became a symbol of corruption and greed within the African National Congress and triggered several unsuccessful impeachment bids against Zuma by the opposition.

The president's new legal battle is to seek to block a report into "state capture" -- the alleged corrupt influence of the powerful Gupta business family on government appointments, contracts and state-owned businesses.

The three Gupta brothers, Ajay, Atul and Rajesh, have built a business empire in mining, media, technology and engineering since moving to South Africa in the 1990s.

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Madonsela questioned Zuma for four hours earlier this month over the allegations, including the suggestion that deputy finance minister Mcebisi Jonas had been offered a promotion by the Guptas.

"One would think that President Zuma has concluded that the report won't be too friendly on him, that it might contain explosive findings," Richard Calland, political analyst based at the University of Cape Town, told AFP.

Ralph Mathekga, an independent political analyst, described Zuma's action as "abuse of the legal system".

- Political tussles -

"He is under pressure," he said. "He wants to try and bury the report in its current form before it even sees the light of day, which is a complete suppression."

Zuma, 74, endured another bout of criticism this week after Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan, with whom he has repeatedly clashed, was summoned to court on separate graft charges.

Gordhan, a vocal campaigner against corruption within the government, has alleged that the case against him is politically motivated.

The announcement that Gordhan would be prosecuted sent the rand plummeting and sparked investor fears that he would soon be sacked -- a move likely to spell further trouble for South Africa's dire economic health.

Gordhan, an internationally-respected technocrat, was appointed only last year to calm panicked investors after Zuma sacked two finance ministers within four days.

Madonsela will be succeeded by Busisiwe Mkhwebane, currently a senior official at the intelligence agency.

Zuma, who is due to step down in 2019, is also fighting a court order that could reinstate almost 800 corruption charges against him.

The 783 charges relate to alleged corruption, racketeering, fraud and money laundering over a multi-billion dollar arms deal in the 1990s.
Alaska Air Group Inc. (ALK) sent a clear message to catcallers: Not on our flight.

Amber Nelson, an Alaska Airlines passenger on a recent Seattle flight, posted on Facebook (FB) about a man that called out "ohh, sexy!" during a flight attendant safety demonstration.

Nelson, along with the two women in her row, were unsure of what to do next. "Before we could do more than glare in his direction, the flight attendant removed her vest, purposely walked up to him and said, 'You need to be respectful,' and started to walk back to her task," Nelson said in her Facebook post. "He said, 'C'mon, I'm just playing with you!'"

Later, an airline employee told the man to take his belongings and leave the plane.

The airline's media relations manager Ann Johnson Zaninovich corroborated Nelson's story in an email to Fortune. "We stand behind the actions taken by our employees," she told Fortune.

Sexual harassment accounts and accusations have been flooding the news cycle in recent days regarding Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump. Wednesday, several news organizations published women's stories recounting Trump's alleged sexual harassment. This all follows a leaked tape of Trump talking to Billy Bush about groping women, which Trump has referred to as merely "locker room talk."

ALK stock is down 12.5 percent on the year, although it climbed 2.5 percent on Thursday morning.

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The winter session, which generally began towards the end of November, has been advanced to ensure the government gets adequate time for parliamentary nod to bills supporting the GST. By the first week of December, the government wants to clear the legislative works.

By India Today Web Desk: Parliament's winter session will be held from November 16 to December 16, the government announced today. The early start of the month-long session has been done to facilitate the rollout of the landmark Goods and Services Tax (GST) by April 1 next year.

The winter session, which generally began towards the end of November, has been advanced to ensure the government gets adequate time for parliamentary nod to bills supporting the GST. By the first week of December, the government wants to clear the legislative works.

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GOVT MAY ISSUE CIRCULAR ON ADVANCING BUDGET SESSION

The government is also likely to issue a circular on advancing the Budget session. The dates would be finalised after the poll dates for Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Manipur, Punjab and Goa are announced.

There are indications that the Budget session, which normally starts in February, may now be held towards the end of January. The merger of the Railway Budget with the General Budget from next year has already been announced.

According to the new proposals, the integrated Budget may now be presented to both houses of Parliament on January 31 next year.

--- ENDS ---
Alliant Energy Corporation LNT announced that it has reached a settlement with customer groups for its proposed New Wind Project. This project, if approved, will add 500 megawatts (MW) to Alliant Energys wind generation portfolio.



Alliant Energy has proposed to expand the Whispering Willow Wind Farm in Franklin County and is exploring opportunities to develop additional wind energy assets in other areas of the state. The New Wind Project would bring online 250 MW in 2019 and the remaining 250 MW in 2020.



The company currently owns nearly 568 MW of wind generation plants and plans to add more renewable assets to its portfolio over the next 10 years.



Future Plans



Going forward, Alliant Energy plans to invest $1 billion for developing wind energy farms in Iowa. The proposed investment would almost double its owned and operated wind generation capacity and places it among the leading U.S. electric utilities with owned wind energy.



Per Alliant Energys management, the New Wind Project aims to supply low-cost clean energy to customers in the state of Iowa.

ALLIANT ENGY CP Price

ALLIANT ENGY CP Price | ALLIANT ENGY CP Quote

Extension of Investment Credit



The wind energy industry will benefit significantly from the production tax credit (PTC) extension. The PTC, which pays 2.3 cents per kilowatt-hour of electricity generated, has expired at 2014 end due to Congressional gridlock. Now, the PTC will be extended through 2020 but will be gradually decreased over the next four years before being completely phased out.



We expect the upcoming wind projects in the U.S. to be able to enjoy the benefit of the tax credit extension. As per the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), wind generation capacity is expected to increase 11% in 2016 and another 11% in 2017.



Scope for Renewable Energy



The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) had proposed total CO2 reduction of 29% by 2025 and 30% by 2030. But only shutting down coal-based generation units will not be of much help, thereby underscoring the need to increase the share of clean energy in the generation mix.



The renewable space is also getting support from the government in the form of tax credit extensions. This is driving conventional utility companies to shift focus from coal to renewable sources. The EIA report also envisioned U.S. electricity generation from renewable sources to increase 9.5% in 2016 and 5.8% in 2017.



Some of the utilities that are shifting from fossil fuel for renewable sources for energy generation include NRG Energy Inc. NRG, Sempra Energy SRE and Duke Energy Corp. DUK.



Zacks Rank



Alliant Energy currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

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(Reuters) - Amazon.com Inc said it would hire more than 120,000 seasonal workers in the United States for the holiday season, 20 percent more than last year, highlighting the growing threat the e-commerce giant poses to traditional retailers. U.S. retailers such as Macy's Inc, Target Corp and Kohl's Corp have said they plan to hire fewer temporary workers or to keep seasonal employment levels little changed this holiday season. More than 14,000 seasonal positions were transitioned to regular, full-time roles after the holidays last year, and the company expects to increase that number this year, Amazon said on Thursday. The U.S. National Retail Federation earlier this month forecast a 3.6 percent rise in holiday sales this year, with online sales expected to climb 7 percent to 10 percent. U.S. brick-and-mortar retailers' biggest challenge in recent years has been tackling the growth of online retailers, specially Amazon, which offer the same products at lower prices and have made shopping more convenient. They are also keeping sales expectations and inventories low - and hiring light - ahead of the holiday season to avoid a repeat of last year, when unusually warm weather hit sales and piled up unsold goods. (Reporting by Subrat Patnaik and Abhijith Ganapavaram in Bengaluru; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila)
San Francisco (AFP) - US online giant Amazon on Thursday announced that it plans to hire 120,000 seasonal workers to help handle an expected crush of holiday shopping.

The Seattle-based internet retail colossus takes such measures every year, but its recruitment goal for this Christmas season represent a 20 percent jump from 2015.

Amazon turned 14,000 of those temporary positions from last year into regular full-time jobs, and hoped to increase that number this time around, according to vice president of global customer fulfillment Mike Roth.

"This is our favorite time of year," Roth said.

"We're excited to bring on more than 120,000 seasonal employees this year to support growing customer demand."

Amazon is not the only retailer to beef up its forces during the year-end holiday shopping season, but seemed more optimistic about demand than some traditional players who plan to keep seasonal hiring unchanged or even lower than last year.

Macy's is hiring 83,000 holiday workers as compared to 85,000 last season. Target increased the number of holiday delivery and shipping related jobs by 1,000 to a total of 7,500, but hiring in retail shops will remain the same as last year -- 70,000 positions.

Shipping service UPS plans to take on 95,000 seasonal workers to meet holiday demands for deliveries.

The US National Retail Federation estimated that spending by US shoppers during the holiday months of November and December could reach $655.8 billion in a 3.6 percent increase year-over-year.

The NRF expected online sales to surge seven to 10 percent to as much as $117 billion.

The research firm eMarketer is projecting a stronger 17 percent jump in online holiday retail sales.
By any number of measures, Washingtons Russia policy has failed. While ostensibly suffering from diplomatic and economic isolation under a U.S.-led international sanctions regime, Moscow has succeeded in challenging a wide range of American interests, most notably in Ukraine, Syria, and cyberspace. Coming up with a new approach on Russia should therefore be a top priority for either President Hillary Clinton or President Donald Trump soon after Jan. 20, 2017. So far, however, neither candidate has offered a vision that goes beyond the failed tropes of the past, with Clinton painting Russian President Vladimir Putin as a cartoonish villain and Trump viewing Moscow as an ally in-waiting.

The most common U.S. policy responses to Russia  from both Republican and Democratic administrations across three decades  have depended either on the hope that Moscow can be fully defeated or that it can become a friend and fellow democracy. But Russia is not a democracy, nor is it democratizing, and although Russia may be in secular decline, it is a major power on the world stage. The next president needs to accept that Moscow cannot simply be defeated or contained in the emerging multipolar, globalized world order. It must be engaged through a comprehensive balance of cooperation and competition.

The next president will have to persuade Moscow to cooperate where cooperation is needed on things like preventing the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) while limiting room for Russia to maneuver where its interests largely oppose American ones, such as in Syria. And this new U.S. policy must also recognize that tensions with Russia do not divide neatly along the lines of geography or individual issues, and that even shared interests will seldom overlap entirely. The goal should involve constructing a web of interactions, both cooperative and competitive, that yields the most beneficial balance for our national interests. But above all, rather than setting out to defeat or transform Russia, a new U.S. approach should deal with Russia as it really is.

Story continues

President Vladimir Putin enters a hall before a meeting of the Victory Organizing Committee at the Kremlin in Moscow on Mar. 17, 2015. (Photo by SERGEI ILNITSKY/AFP/Getty Images)

1) Understand That Its Not Just About Putin

The next president must begin by abandoning the two axioms that have plagued Washingtons Russia policymaking for the last 25 years: The first, that Moscow opposes the United States because of the Kremlins undemocratic politics. And, secondly, that areas of agreement between the two countries can be walled off from areas of conflict.

Its also essential to recognize that Americas problems with Russia arent solely because of Putin: Theyre geopolitical. Neither Putins departure nor broader regime change in Russia will resolve this challenge. Putin stands squarely within centuries of tradition in Russian strategic thinking, and his foreign policy enjoys overwhelming elite support while resonating with the public. Geopolitical competition of some dimension is inevitable among major powers with strategic interests stretching across the globe, regardless of what politics they practice at home.

The next administration needs to break with its predecessors and realize that relations with Moscow cant simply be compartmentalized into areas of cooperation and disagreement. American actions on one issue will influence Russias assessment of U.S. approaches on other issues. The George W. Bush administration, for example, unsuccessfully sought to insulate counterterrorism cooperation following 9/11 from competition with Moscow in the former Soviet space. Barack Obamas administration hoped to continue cooperation on nuclear security even as overall relations deteriorated sharply. But that, too, failed, evidenced by Russias skipping the U.S.-sponsored nuclear security summit in April and suspending the Plutonium Disposition Agreement because of hostile American actions last week.

After 1991, successive U.S. administrations attempted to integrate Russia into the West by encouraging its transformation from a totalitarian Communist state into a free-market democracy. At a time of Russian weakness following the collapse of the Soviet Union, Washington also reshaped the structure of Europe by enlarging NATO and supporting the expansion of the European Union. But as Moscow regained its geopolitical strength and expanded its ambitions under Putin, Russia pushed back against U.S. efforts, first in the former Soviet Union, then in Europe, and more recently in the broader Middle East. After 25 years of U.S. and European efforts, Russia has made it clear that it is not interested in integrating into the West and that it is prepared to challenge the United States along a broad front, even by interfering in domestic U.S. politics.

U.S. policy must adapt to new challenges, and Washington may need to give ground on other, lesser priorities. For example, if forced to choose between securing cooperation on nuclear nonproliferation and supporting pro-Western political change in Russias neighborhood, a tactical withdrawal on the latter may be necessary to preserve a larger victory on arms control. In other cases, Moscows actions that directly threaten vital U.S. interests will demand that Washington impose costs in proportion to the threat, such as supporting NATO allies when Russia deploys its forces or conducts provocative military exercises along their borders.

Ukrainian soldiers drive tanks along the road leading out of Debaltseve on Feb. 19, 2015 in eastern Ukraine. (Photo by BRENDAN HOFFMAN/Getty Images)

2) Stop Ukraine From Becoming a Frozen Conflict

Russias aggression against Ukraine was the tipping point for the tensions and mistrust that define the U.S.-Russia relationship today. Washington used the pressure of international sanctions and diplomatic isolation to compel Moscow to withdraw from Ukraine. But the Russians responded with countermeasures of their own, and the resulting reciprocal sanctions and warring narratives now combine to block even basic diplomatic engagement.

Making any sort of diplomatic progress with the Kremlin will first hinge on how the next U.S. president interprets Moscows motivations in Ukraine: Is Russia primarily holding Ukraine hostage because of its fear of Western encirclement and regime change? Or is Putin exploiting Ukraines vulnerability for his governments political and territorial aggrandizement? The answer is most likely a combination of both, but from a policy perspective it makes sense to operate on the basis of the more positive interpretation, while hedging against the chance of being wrong.

In many respects, the hedge is already in place. NATO has decided to rotate new forces through the Baltic States and stepped up planning for various contingencies involving conflict with Russia. The Wests support for political and economic reform in Ukraine  to help build a competent democratic state and raise standards of living  is another important part of the strategy. But a solution to the crisis in Ukraine will need more than preparing for the worst-case scenario.

A voluntary Russian withdrawal from Ukraine depends for now on the highly flawed Minsk II peace deal signed in February 2015 by France, Germany, Russia, and Ukraine. Despite Minsks obvious imperfection, it has two key features that cannot be abandoned: a legal and political commitment undertaken by major European powers and Russia and military de-escalation on the ground linked to a sustainable political process for ending the conflict. Abandoning either element would practically guarantee that eastern Ukraine will become yet another frozen conflict. Although Washington is not a signatory to the deal, the United States can help incentivize Minsk for Moscow by linking specific sanctions relief to concrete Russian steps it can implement to sustain a cease-fire, withdraw heavy military equipment from the zone of conflict, and return control of Ukraines side of the border with Russia to Kiev.

U.S. army soldiers stand in formation during a joint military tactical training exercise with Bulgarian military on Apr. 11. (Photo by NIKOLAY DOYCHINOV/AFP/Getty Images)

3) Have an Honest Talk About Europe

For better or worse, Moscow retains sufficient power to shape the security environment in Europe. In this realm, the task for the next president in shaping U.S. policy will be to insulate European allies against Russian action in the short term while laying the groundwork for a more durable European security framework, with Russian participation, in the long term.

The next administrations most urgent and immediate goal should be to maintain the integrity of NATO as the guarantor of European security. In light of Russias threatening behavior, many of its neighbors look to the transatlantic alliance, and the United States in particular, for the necessary commitment of manpower, hardware, and political will. Washington must also bolster NATOs collective defense capabilities, not simply by spending more, but by coordinating efforts and expenditures far better. U.S. leadership in this arena is essential, and American credibility in Europe will be judged not just by what is said and done on the continent, but by Washingtons performance in managing security commitments globally, such as in East Asia and the greater Middle East.

Enhancing the forums in which Russia and the West participate, like the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) and the NATO-Russia Council, even if they cant resolve or even manage disagreements, is a necessary step toward preventing conflict. The OSCE, still the only fully inclusive security organization for North America, Europe, and the entire former Soviet space, has an important role to play. Washington should seek to re-launch talks with Moscow and its place in the European security architecture through the body in an unofficial, second track format.

Where these discussions will end up is an open question. But the next administration will have better chances of reducing tensions and building a stable security order in Europe by allowing Russias legitimate security interests in the region to be heard.

A Russian Yars RS-24 intercontinental ballistic missile system drives during the Victory Day military parade in Moscow on May 9, 2015. (Photo by -/AFP/Getty Images)

4) Push for More Arms Control

Even with reductions in nuclear forces under various arms-control agreements like the new START agreement of 2011, Russia is still the only country that can destroy the United States as a functioning society in 30 minutes. Absurd as it may seem more than 25 years after the Cold War, both sides maintain their nuclear forces on hair-trigger alert. That means the possibility of a crisis escalating to a nuclear exchange is still very real, even if the probability remains low. Stability in U.S.-Russia nuclear relations isnt just one of the most important issues for the two countries, it is also critical to the stability among the worlds other major powers.

In addition, Russia, like the United States, is one of a handful of countries with the scientific prowess and industrial capacity to weaponize new technologies that can change the global balance of power, including the advanced air-defense systems Russia is deploying in Syria and selling to Iran, or cyber-weapons that could cripple critical infrastructure in the United States and elsewhere. As the second-largest arms seller after the United States, Russia can either hinder or facilitate the spread of advanced conventional weapons. Given the speed, accuracy, and destructive power of Russian weaponry, they could affect regional and global stability by eroding a countrys faith in its deterrent capability. Russian sales to Iran, for example, remain a top concern for Israel, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey in the Middle East, while the sale of advanced weaponry to China alarms Japan and South Korea and complicates U.S. efforts to guarantee security in East Asia.

Finally, as the largest non-Western supplier of civilian nuclear technology, Russia can either greatly assist or totally derail international efforts to limit the nuclear ambitions of Iran and North Korea. Given the profound distrust between the United States and Russia, a key step, beyond safeguarding the agreements already in place, would be to promote maximum transparency about each sides strategic objectives and doctrines for nuclear weapons, advanced conventional weapons, cyber-weapons, missile defenses, and other technologies with the potential to erode either sides confidence in its deterrent capability. The need for this step has grown even more urgent as Russias public threats about its possible use of nuclear weapons have increased, it has suspended arms-control agreements, and has hacked into the Democratic National Committee to disrupt the U.S. presidential campaign.

Russia and the United States will rarely join hands as the worlds nuclear and WMD proliferation police force. That means U.S. policy must contemplate the need to counter Russian moves in sharing weapons and technologies with hostile or potentially hostile countries, like Iran. Washington will also need to compete with Russia when it deploys conventional, cyber, or other capabilities designed to neutralize current U.S. advantages in those areas. Success in maintaining strategic stability and preventing weapons proliferation is vital to U.S. national security, but will demand a careful balance among competing concerns in Europe and East Asia, where the Kremlin has been willing to challenge U.S. interests or hold agreements on strategic stability and nonproliferation hostage until its demands are met.

Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping attend a Bilateral Meeting on Nov. 9, 2014 in Beijing, China. (Photo by HOW HWEE YOUNG - Pool/Getty Images)

5) Work With Russia in Asia

Containing China is an impossible task in todays world. Instead, the next president should pursue flexible coalitions with other major powers to channel Chinese energies in ways that dont endanger Americas core interests or, better, work to Washingtons benefit. Russia could be one of those partners if the United States is able to avoid forcing the Kremlin into a position of de facto commercial and strategic dependence on Beijing.

Despite its attempts in the wake of Western sanctions to reduce its dependence on European energy markets by building up ties with China, Russia remains deeply concerned about Beijings growing influence along its borders. Moreover, the economic promise of Moscows own pivot to Asia, particularly in penetrating the Chinese market, has so far failed to unfold as the Kremlin had hoped, with trade and investment slow to materialize. In East Asia, Moscow has sought to diversify its commercial relations, including with South Korea and Japan, two major U.S. allies, to reduce the risks that the development of Russias far eastern provinces will become hostage to Chinese markets. South Korea and Japan also view Russia as a potential economic and security partner in managing their concerns about China. This leaves an opening where American and Russian interests can align in forging new coalitions that give each party more leverage in relations with China.

Former Soviet Central Asia is another area where Washingtons and Moscows interests could actually align on China. Russia is unsettled by the rapidly growing Chinese presence within what the Kremlin considers its own backyard. Beijings One Belt, One Road initiative, a massive network of roads, railways, and pipelines, has brought billions of dollars worth of investment into the region and dwarfed Russias projects, like the Eurasian Union. The Kremlin has so far welcomed the emergence of other regional players, such as India and Japan, to counterbalance China. The United States could play a role here if it reversed its policy since the end of the Cold War of seeking to reduce Russian influence in Central Asia. Recognizing that Chinas expansion into the region poses more of a long-term challenge to U.S. interests than Russias continued presence, Washington should not work against Russian initiatives in the region and promote other regional powers in Central Asia.

Syrian civilians and rescuers gather at site of government forces air strikes in the rebel held neighborhood of Al-Shaar in Aleppo on Sept. 27. (Photo by KARAM AL-MASRI/AFP/Getty Images)

6) Recognize That Syria Is About More Than Syria

With the collapse of the U.S.-Russia negotiated cease-fire and the humanitarian catastrophe unfolding in Aleppo, the Syrian crisis demands urgent attention. Like it or not, the United States has no better option than to keep trying to work with Russia, which inserted itself into the region with a dramatic military intervention in September 2015. Moscow has the wherewithal to maintain its military deployment for a prolonged period, and regional powers like Iran, and perhaps even Turkey, support its continued presence. The more forceful options that some are now advocating  such as a no-fly zone or the destruction of the Syrian air force  carry too large a risk of outright military confrontation with Moscow in the region and elsewhere.

Discussions with Moscow on Syria, however, will have no greater chances of success unless they include a new willingness to discuss the broader relationship with Russia, especially in Europe. In its statements and proposals, Moscow has effectively linked the situation in Syria to the Ukraine crisis and the larger issue of European security, but Washington has so far refused to recognize this linkage. Instead, the Obama administration has followed in the missteps of its predecessors and doubled down on trying to compartmentalize issues from one another. Only by acknowledging that the links among the various regional challenges posed by Russia are real can the next president extract a favorable balance for U.S. interests.

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Col. Gen. Oleg Salyukov during the Victory Day military parade on May 9, 2015 in Moscow. (Photo by Host photo agency / RIA Novosti via Getty Images)

7) Show Americas Promise

As in the Cold War, there is an ideological element to U.S.-Russia competition today. However, rather than advocating Communist class struggle, Moscow is focused on diminishing American credibility. Russia will be most effective where U.S.-led economic and political initiatives fail to serve the needs of the American people. This theme has been evident in the disconcerting overlap between damaging cyber-leaks from apparent Russian-related sources to favorable coverage in the Russian press of Trumps harsh attacks on the U.S. establishment.

How the next U.S. president tackles the well-known domestic and global challenges of wealth inequality, cultural pluralism, migration, resource insecurity, and climate change will determine the degree to which the United States is actually vulnerable to Russias political and propaganda broadsides. As George F. Kennan, the U.S. diplomat who mapped out Americas Cold War containment policy toward the Soviet Union, recognized in his famous Long Telegram, if Americans demonstrate vision and resolve to address the United States most pressing challenges, the country can have far greater influence on developments in Russia than it ever could through direct confrontation.

The Cold War ended to a great degree because Russians saw the United States as a successful and prosperous society, whose model they hoped to emulate. By contrast, todays deterioration in relations has been deepened by American failures in Iraq and Afghanistan and the still lingering consequences of the global financial crisis of 2008-2009, which shattered Russians faith in the American model for economic development. An aura of renewed success and growing power will go a long way toward restoring the United States as an attractive partner, and perhaps eventually as a leader by example.

For the moment, Americas priorities must be on putting out the fires of regional conflicts in Ukraine and Syria and preventing the simmering threats of WMD proliferation and a new arms race from igniting. But success on any one of these issues cannot occur in a vacuum and depends on the credibility and effectiveness of the U.S. approach to other regions and issues where Russia holds important cards. By weighing the value of cooperation and competition with Moscow in terms of what matters most to the United States, the next presidential administration has its best chance to come out ahead in dealing with the Kremlin.

Photo Credit: KIRILL KUDRYAVTSEV/AFP/Getty Images
President Barack Obama discussed the Affordable Care Acts disastrously botched rollout with 16 Democratic senators at the White House on Wednesday, including those seen as most vulnerable in the 2014 elections.

The president and Vice President Joe Biden addressed the lawmakers concerns about the implementation of the law popularly known as Obamacare, according to sources who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Senators gave profoundly different accounts of the meeting, which did not appear on Obamas publicly released schedule.

It was a positive, constructive discussion, said Sen. Chris Coons of Delaware, who described Obama as engaged and responsive and eager to show that he has been listening to the concerns and frustrations we've shared on behalf of our constituents.

But Senators Mark Begich of Alaska and Mark Udall of Colorado reported back that they gave the president an earful about the embarrassing  and potentially politically crippling  rollout of the insurance marketplaces at the heart of the law.

Its absolutely unacceptable in this day and age that the administration cant deliver on the promises it made to all Americans because of technical problems with a website, Begich said in a statement.

Alaskans should be appreciating the critical benefits of the Affordable Care Act but there is an understandable crisis in confidence because the administration has yet to get it off the ground, Begich said.

In a separate statement, Udall declared that "the rollout of HealthCare.gov has not been smooth  to say the least  and I shared the concerns of Coloradans directly with the president.

Udall said he pressed Obama to extend the enrollment period to give consumers time to buy insurance  and avoid the fines meant to force the uninsured to get covered.



Sen. Jeff Merkley of Oregon said in a statement after the talks that he was very frustrated with the rollout and pushed for delays in the sign-up deadline equal to the delays in getting the enrollment process up and running.



The dysfunction and delays are unacceptable, he said. After meeting with the President today, I remain deeply convinced that this is a show-me moment. This will not be resolved until Americans can, day after day, sign on to the health marketplace, review their options, and complete their applications.

Story continues

Three Democratic officials disputed the notion that the lawmakers present were worried about the potential impact of the Affordable Care Acts disastrous rollout on next years midterm elections. One noted that several of the lawmakers attending hold safe seats.

But the White House released a summary that read like a carefully edited catalog of complaints from Democrats worried that Obamacare could cost them their seats next year  or could collapse entirely.

Obama and Biden sat down with the lawmakers to hear their input on existing challenges with implementation of the law popularly known as Obamacare and discuss the progress made, a White House official said.

During the meeting, the president discussed ongoing efforts to fix HealthCare.gov and improve the experience of Americans looking to enroll in coverage, the official said.

The president emphasized that he shared the Senators commitment to ensuring that Americans who want to enroll in health insurance through the marketplaces are able to do so in time for insurance to start as early as January 1st, and throughout the open enrollment period which goes through March 31.

Amid the controversy over Americans seeing their existing health care plans scrapped in response to the law, Obama also discussed ongoing efforts to ramp up communication and education outreach to consumers who have received or might receive letters about how their individual market plans might be affected.

Obama also recommitted himself to safeguarding the privacy and security of consumers applying for health insurance on the marketplaces created by the law.

And he asked the lawmakers for input on how implementation of the law is impacting their constituents, and expressed appreciation for their ongoing help to ensure the law works best for families and businesses and all Americans can take advantage of the benefits of the law, the official said.

The Democratic senators who attended were: Begich, Cory Booker of New Jersey, Coons, Dick Durbin of Illinois, Al Franken of Minnesota, Kay Hagan of North Carolina, Mary Landrieu of Louisiana, Merkley, Mark Pryor of Arkansas, Jack Reed of Rhode Island, Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, Brian Schatz of Hawaii, Mark Udall, Tom Udall of New Mexico, Mark Warner of Virginia, and Michael Bennet of Colorado.
From Town & Country

It appears another member of the historically Republican Bush family is pledging support to Hillary Clinton, the Democratic nominee for president.

This time it's former President George H.W. Bush's granddaughter, Lauren Bush Lauren.

The 32-year-old founder of FEED Projects, a company that provides a meal for a child in need for every handbag or accessory purchased, is the third member of the Bush family to appear to be supporting Clinton in some way.

In an Instagram post Monday, Bush Lauren, whose father is Neil Bush, the elder Bush's fourth son, shared an image of the Democratic nominee along with an "#ImWithHer" caption. Since then it has garnered thousands of likes and hundreds of comments.

Earlier this month, Barbara Pierce Bush, former President George W. Bush's daughter, was seen at a fundraiser for Clinton in Paris. There, she posed for photos next to Huma Abedin, Clinton's longtime aid.

And despite telling the Texas Tribune in May that he was "retired from politics," the 92 year old Bush supposedly told Kathleen Hartington Kennedy Townsend he would be voting for Clinton in November.

George W.'s personal aide, Freddy Ford, told the Tribune he did "not plan to participate in or comment on the presidential campaign."

Jeb Bush dropped out of the race for the White House in February and has since said he would not be voting for Clinton or Donald Trump, the Republican nominee for president.

From: Houston Chronicle

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Anushka Sharma is one busy actor who is shooting for Imtiaz Alis The Ring in a full swing and has been in Europe for more than a month. She is also gearing up for the release of her upcoming Karan Johar directorial Ae Dil Hai Mushkil. The actress is working continuously to complete her work commitments and is literally on her toes!

An insider revealed to a popular daily stating, A couple of days back, Anushka wrapped up the shoot for a new commercial with a leading Indian brand in Budapest. Although she was neck-deep in work, she took time out for the ad whenever she got a few days off from the shoot of her film."

Recommended Read: I wont hide the relationship behind dark car windows or use the back entrance - Anushka Sharma

She has also dubbed for the certain portion of ADHM. The insider further added, "She has regularly been in touch with the films team to ensure that she can participate in the movies promotions.

After wrapping the Europe schedule of The Ring, the beautiful actor will return back to Mumbai to promote KJo directorial. They concluded by saying, However, she isnt complaining, as 2016 has been a special year for her. In fact, with Karans film, Anushka will conclude a busy and a successful year that saw her star in Sultan besides wrapping up her second home production.




Obamacares contraceptive mandate illegally infringes upon the religious freedom of two Catholic grocery store owners in Ohio, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled on Friday.

The courts ruling means Francis and Philip Gilardi do not have to provide contraceptives in their employees health care plans pending the resolution of their case. The Gilardis, who own Freshway Foods and Freshway Logistics, are among at least 39 for-profit corporation owners who have sued the federal government over the 2010 health care reform laws provision that says large employer health plans must include all FDA-approved contraceptives without co-pays.

Judge Janice Rogers Brown wrote for the majority that the mandate put the Gilardis, both devout Catholics, in an impossible position to provide health coverage for their 400 employees. They can either abide by the sacred tenets of their faith, pay a penalty of over $14 million, and cripple the companies they have spent a lifetime building, or they become complicit in a grave moral wrong, wrote Brown.

The court said the government had not shown it had a compelling enough interest in forcing employers to provide birth control to justify infringing upon individual owners religious objections. A parade of horribles will descend upon us, the government exclaims, if religious beliefs could serve as a private veto for the contraceptive mandate, Brown wrote.



Brown argued that religious business owners should be allowed to opt out, as the Obama administration has already carved out exceptions to the mandate for nonprofit religious organizations such as churches and other groups.

The decision is the latest to add to a lower court split on the contraceptive mandate, which means the Supreme Court will almost certainly decide to weigh in and settle it, just a year after it upheld health care reforms individual mandate.



So far, the 3rd and 6th circuit courts have rejected arguments that businessmen's religious freedom is infringed upon by the birth control mandate. The 10th, 8th and 7th circuit courts have disagreed, forwarding the religious freedom argument.

Many of the cases challenging the contraceptive mandate cite Citizens United, the controversial 2010 Supreme Court decision that found corporations cannot be restricted in how they spend their money for political reasons, because it infringed on their right to free speech. The Gilardis argued that their grocery store corporation also had its own right to free exercise of religion and thus was protected from having to provide contraceptives to employees.

The D.C. judges wouldnt weigh in on this matter, writing that the Court has been all but silent on whether for-profit corporations have a freedom of religion right. The judges instead decided the case in reference to the Gilardis as individuals.
Delhi recorded 'unhealthy' level of air pollution on Wednesday with many parts of the city reporting high levels of PM 10 and PM 2.5.

By Astha Saxena: After Delhi celebrated Dussehra, doctors in the national Capital are treating increasing number of patients with respiratory ailments. The extreme use of crackers during the celebrations have raised the level of pollution in the city. Delhi recorded 'unhealthy' level of air pollution on Wednesday with many parts of the city reporting high levels of PM 10 and PM 2.5.

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POLLUTION LEVEL ALARMING FOR NORMAL POPULATION

"Almost 60 per cent of the patients came with respiratory illness on Wednesday. The weather has changed in Delhi and after Dussehra celebrations the air got polluted. This is the time when people with a history of asthma and respiratory ailments should take extra care," said Dr SP Byotra, senior consultant, department of internal medicine, Sir Ganga Ram hospital.

On Wednesday the air quality index (AQI) in Anand Vihar was recorded at 369 - which is considered to be hazardous. Gurugram recorded the AQI of 410. An AQI is a number used by government agencies to communicate how polluted the air curcurrently is or how polluted it is to become. As the AQI increases, large percentage of the population is likely to experience severe adverse health effects.

"The alarming level of pollution in the city is detrimental for not only people suffering from respiratory illnesses but also for the normal population. We are advising air-sensitive kids and the elderly to stay indoors with air purifiers at work," said Dr Manav Manchanda, pulmonologist, Asian Institute of Medical Science.



NO CHANCE TO ACCLIMATISE DUE TO TEMP DIP

"The dip in temperature is causing an increasing incidence of upper respiratory tract infections and cases of viral fever, cough and cold. The difference of temperature (day and night) affects the immune system and results in infections as a person's body does not get a chance to acclimatise to the sudden fall and rise in temperature," he added.

People have been advised to cover their faces while walking; asthmatic patients must carry an inhaler.





STUBBLE BURNING MAJOR CONTRIBUTOR

Recently a report prepared jointly by TERI and the University of California, San Diego said, about 60 to 80 per cent of ozone concentration in Delhi was also attributed to sources outside the city. Even if all emissions from Delhi were to be stopped, the PM (particulate matter) levels would still exceed the standards at several locations in the city, mainly due to higher contributions from outside regions to Delhi's air quality, the report had said.

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Delhi environment minister Imran Hussain on Tuesday had written to Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan governments urging them to take steps to curb burning of crop stubble.

Stubble burning in this season is a major contributor to air pollution apart from road dust, industrial sources and vehicular emissions.

Also Read: Delhi appeals to Centre, neighbours on curbing air pollution



ONSET OF WINTER DELHI FACE CRITICAL POLLUTION PHASE

"With the onset of winter season, Delhi faces a critical phase of pollution due to meteorological conditions like wind pattern and low temperature, which aggravates pollution level especially concentration of particulate matters. The detailed analysis of ambient data shows pollutants increasing trend in the month of October-November, which coincides with agricultural burning in the neighbouring states," the letter said.

The maximum and minimum temperatures on Wednesday were recorded at 33 and 20.4 degrees Celsius, respectively.

The humidity levels oscillated between 81 and 35 per cent. The weatherman has predicted a clear day for Thursday with possibility of mist in the morning. The maximum and minimum temperatures for Thursday are likely to be 34 and 20 degrees Celsius.

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Also Read: Delhi: Kejriwal to launch awarness campaign against use of crackers to curb air pollution









--- ENDS ---
IRVINE, CA / ACCESSWIRE / October 13, 2016 / Khang & Khang LLP (the "Firm") announces a class action lawsuit against Corrections Corporation of America ("Corrections Corporation" or the "Company") (CXW). Investors who purchased or otherwise acquired shares between February 27, 2012 and August 17, 2016 inclusive (the "Class Period"), are encouraged to contact the Firm in advance of the October 24, 2016 lead plaintiff motion deadline.

If you purchased shares of Corrections Corporation during the Class Period, please contact Joon M. Khang, Esquire, of Khang & Khang LLP, 18101 Von Karman Avenue, 3rd Floor, Irvine, CA 92612, by telephone: (949) 419-3834, or via e-mail at joon@khanglaw.com.

There has been no class certification in this case yet. Until certification occurs, you are not represented by an attorney. You may choose to take no action and remain a passive class member.

The complaint alleges that through the Class Period, Corrections Corporation made false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose: that the Company's facilities lacked adequate safety and security standards and were less efficient at offering correctional services than the Federal Bureau of Prisons' ("BOP") facilities; that the Company's rehabilitative services for inmates were less effective than the BOP's services; that the U.S. Department of Justice ("DOJ") was unlikely to renew and/or extend its contracts with Corrections Corporation; and that as a result of the above, Corrections Corporation's public statements were materially false and misleading at all relevant times. On August 18, 2016, Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates announced that the DOJ decided to stop using private prisons, since they are less safe and less effective than federal government-run prisons. When this information became public, Corrections Corporation's stock price dropped, thus causing investors harm.

If you wish to learn more about this lawsuit, or if you have questions regarding this notice or your rights, please contact Joon M. Khang, a prominent litigator for almost two decades, by telephone: (949) 419-3834, or via e-mail at joon@khanglaw.com.

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This press release may constitute Attorney Advertising in certain jurisdictions.

Contacts

Joon M. Khang, Esq.

Telephone: 949-419-3834

Facsimile: 949-225-4474

joon@khanglaw.com

SOURCE: Khang & Khang LLP
By David Schwartz

PHOENIX (Reuters) - An Arizona woman accused of smuggling publications distributed by Islamist militant groups into a prison as part of a plot to help her inmate husband build a bomb, has been arrested on suspicion of terrorism and conspiracy, court documents showed on Thursday.

Michelle Bastian, 49, was taken into custody on Wednesday and charged with taking part in the alleged plot at the Arizona State Prison Complex - Lewis, where her husband, Thomas Bastian, is incarcerated for murder, according to the documents filed by the state Attorney General's Office in Maricopa County Superior Court.

The court papers said agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation learned of the plan in September from an unidentified source who previously told state prison officials that Thomas Bastian was a radicalized Muslim.

Michelle Bastian was accused of giving her husband known terrorist publications distributed by al Qaeda and Islamic State, including information on building a bomb out of everyday kitchen materials, the probable cause statement said.

Authorities said they were also tipped off that during visits to the prison, Michelle Bastian was going to provide her husband with materials to attack the warden or to construct a device to be hidden in a vending machine where inmates met with visitors.

It was not clear if any bomb-making materials were found and no charges have been filed against Thomas Bastian. A prison spokesman said Bastian remained in maximum security at Lewis, where he is serving a life sentence for first-degree murder.

Publications by militant groups and a stack of detailed handwritten documents on how to build an explosive device were discovered in searches of his cell, according to court documents.

Letters from the inmate were found at Michelle Bastians work and residence requesting the publications, including copies of an al Qaeda training manual and a piece titled: 44 ways of Supporting Jihad, according to the documents. Several of the requests had checkmarks next to them.

Michelle Bastian was being held on $100,000 bond on charges of terrorism, conspiracy to commit terrorism and conspiracy to promote prison contraband. It was unclear on Thursday whether she had retained an attorney.

(Reporting by David Schwartz in Phoenix; Editing by Dan Whitcomb and Peter Cooney)
Lisbon (AFP) - Around 80,000 pilgrims gathered at the Roman Catholic shrine of Fatima in central Portugal on Thursday to mark the anniversary of what is said to be the final apparition of the Virgin Mary to three shepherd children in 1917.

Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican secretary of state, presided over the open air mass held on the shrine's vast esplanade, which comes ahead of a visit by Pope Francis in May 2017 for the 100th anniversary of the first apparition of the Virgin.

The pope will come to Fatima "on a Marian pilgrimage on the centenary of the apparitions", he told a news conference, without giving further details about the papal visit which was first announced last year.

"Everything still needs to be organised," he added.

Hotels in the region for the 100th anniversary of first apparition on May 13, 2017 are already almost fully booked with some charging up 1,500 euros ($1,650) per night, daily newspaper Diario de Noticias reported on its front page on Thursday.

Pope Francis will be the fourth pontiff to visit Fatima, where the Church believes the Madonna appeared to three poor shepherd children each month from May to October 1917.

The late John Paul II attributed his narrow escape from death following a 1981 assassination attempt to the intervention of the Virgin Mary, and donated the bullet extracted from his abdomen to the Fatima shrine.

The shrine, located about 130 kilometres (80 miles) north of Lisbon, draws millions of visitors each year, with many making the journey by foot over several days as a sign of devotion, and the pilgrim trade is the engine of the area's economy.
(Adds details and background on case)

WASHINGTON, Oct 13 (Reuters) - Artis Capital Management and a senior research analyst at the hedge fund have agreed to settle charges related to their failure to detect insider trading by an employee, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said on Thursday.

San Francisco-based Artis Capital will disgorge profits of $5.2 million plus $1.1 million in interest and pay a penalty of $2.6 million, the SEC said in a statement.

Michael Harden, the employee's supervisor, has agreed to pay a $130,000 penalty and was suspended from working in the securities industry for 12 months, the statement said.

The employee, Matthew Teeple, was sentenced in 2014 to five years in prison after pleading guilty to conspiracy to engage in securities fraud.

Artis Capital and Harden consented to the SEC's order without admitting or denying the findings, the statement said.

Besides Teeple, a former executive of Foundry Networks Inc was sentenced to 6-1/2 years in prison in the insider trading case.

Prosecutors said David Riley, Foundry's former chief information officer, in 2008 tipped off Teeple about an unannounced plan for Brocade Communications Systems Inc to acquire Foundry for $3 billion.

That tip, along with prior information about sales figures at Foundry that Riley allegedly supplied Teeple, enabled the hedge fund to earn $39 million, prosecutors said.

(Reporting by Mohammad Zargham; Editing by Phil Berlowitz and Alan Crosby)
By Rafael Nam

MUMBAI (Reuters) - Finance Minister Arun Jaitley warned on Thursday against the dangers of protectionist tendencies in developed economies spreading to other parts of the world and hurting global growth.

Arun Jaitley's comments came days after the International Monetary Fund urged policymakers to support global growth by resisting protectionist forces.

Growing frustration with persistently low growth rates, stagnant wages and diminishing job security has sparked a popular uprising in Europe and the United States against free trade and globalisation, which critics blame for worsening income and social inequities.

Addressing a gathering of finance officials of the BRICS group of emerging nations, Jaitley singled out Britain's vote to leave the European Union, as well as aggressive criticism of trade deals in the U.S. presidential election.

"Part of the developed world is moving towards protectionism," Jaitley said. "If developing countries see a trend of protectionism, the spillover impact on the policies in other parts of the world would be adverse."

After its June vote to leave the European Union, Britain last week signalled capping immigration. Free trade has also become a political taboo in the United States, with Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump championing an "America First" policy.

Protectionist rhetoric has already rattled financial markets, which some investors say could depress an already weak and fragile world economy.

Underscoring their concern, the World Trade Organization last month slashed its global trade volume growth forecast to the slowest pace since 2007, saying it expected it to rise just 1.7 percent this year, down from the 2.8 percent it forecast in April.

Jaitley, however, expressed hope that economic needs would prevent countries such as the U.S. from following through on pledges to renegotiate trade deals and enact punitive tariffs.

"The tenor of the debate is more protectionist during elections and much less when you get back to business as usual," he said. "Therefore we have to keep our fingers crossed this time and hope for that the tenor of free trade returns back once the heat of the election is over."

(Writing by Rajesh Kumar Singh; Editing by Sanjeev Miglani and Kim Coghill)
The American Society of Cinematographers has announced the honorees for the 31st annual ASC Awards for Outstanding Achievement.

Edward Lachman, Ron Garcia, Philippe Rousselot, and Nancy Schreiber will be recognized for their contributions to the art of cinematography at the organizations awards gala on February 4, 2017, at the Ray Dolby Ballroom at Hollywood & Highland.

Lachman will receive the Lifetime Achievement Award. Garcia will be bestowed with the Career Achievement in Television Award. Rousselot will take home the International Award, and Schreiber will keep the Presidents Award.

The work of these individual cinematographers is varied, yet it all exemplifies a stellar level of achievement, said ASC president Kees van Oostrum. As a group, they also are a prime example of great careers in the industry and, over the years, they have set creative standards of the highest order.

Lachman has photographed over 90 titles in narrative, experimental and documentary forms. He has collaborated with directors such as Todd Haynes, Steven Soderbergh, Robert Altman, Paul Schrader, Todd Solondz, Sofia Coppola, Werner Herzog, Wim Wenders, Volker Schlondorff, Ulrich Seidl, and Jean-Luc Godard. He copped Academy Award noms for his work with Haynes on Carol (2015) and Far From Heaven (2002)  and the HBO miniseries Mildred Pierce (2011) earned him an Emmy nomination.

Garcia has collected Emmy nominations for Murder in the Heartland (1993) and The Day Lincoln was Shot (1998), both of which received ASC Award noms. He earned additional nods from his peers in the ASC for Thomas Carters Divas (1996) and the pilot of Twin Peaks (1991).

Rousselot earned an Academy Award for A River Runs Through It (1993), as well as an ASC nomination. He was Oscar-nominated for Hope and Glory (1987) and Henry & June (1990), with the former also receiving a BSC Award.

Schreiber is a Detroit native who, early in her career, worked as a gaffer on the Academy Award-nominated documentary The Other Half of the Sky: A China Memoir for co-directors Shirley MacLaine and Claudia Weill. As a cinematographer, Schreibers work includes Your Friends and Neighbors, The Nines, Visions of Light, episodes of ABCS The Family, and the new FX series Better Things. She has cinematography at the American Film Institute and, between shooting, continues to guest lecture at film schools.

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(Pictured above: Carol)

Related stories

Daryn Okada 'Never Dreamed' He Would Be President of American Society of Cinematographers

Kees Van Oostrum Elected President of American Society of Cinematographers

'Carol' Cinematographer Ed Lachman on Challenges of a Tight Budget
When Dave Numme started his online MBA at Southern New Hampshire University, he wanted his education to focus on more than courses and grades.

"Obviously the academics are highly important, but at the same time, I found it challenging to form more personal relationships" outside of class, says the 43-year-old, who finished the program in February and now works full time at SNHU as an associate dean of graduate faculty in STEM, or science, technology, engineering and math.

Numme joined several virtual groups hosted through SNHUconnect, the school's online student center, including a peer leader program and a student advisory board.

[Discover how to join a virtual club as an online student.]

SNHU isn't the only online program offering student organizations outside of class. Experts say extracurriculars allow online students to a do what they would be able to on campus: build a sense of community , pursue interests and build leadership skills.

"Their first thought may not be, 'How can I get engaged with my peers? ' But I definitely encourage students to take the time to think about that. A strong collegiate experience should be full of something more than just your relationship with your professor and what you're learning in class," says Ashley Adams, director of student affairs at Pennsylvania State University--World Campus. The university's online arm has student groups ranging from honor societies to ones connected to certain majors, such as the economics club.

Prospective online students considering joining extracurricular activities should answer the following five questions when researching programs.

1. Are activities geared toward online students in particular? Prospective online students should start by researching what clubs are available, experts say.

"When you're on campus, you may walk through the student union, and there's posters or flyers about clubs and organizations," Adams says. But learning about student groups is more challenging for online learners, she says, though they can usually find information on a program's website or from admissions officers, faculty or school officials.

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[Learn tips to interact successfully with professors and students in online classes.]

SNHU, which has both online and on-ground degree programs, has 19 online student groups, says Tiffany Fifer, the school's director of online engagement. Among them are the outdoors club -- which teach es members about nature -- and a book club.

2. How do members communicate? "I think they should ask, do you have the opportunity to interact without being on the physical campus?" Fifer says.

At the for-profit Kaplan University, which has more than 30 clubs, mostly made up of online students, members mainly talk through Facebook and Adobe Connect videoconferencing software, says David Starnes, the school's chief academic officer.

Those methods of communication, along with email, are common in online program student organizations across schools, experts say.

Experts say understanding how groups communicate can help reassure members that they will build meaningful relationships and determine whether they'll be able to catch up on their own time if they miss a meeting.

"It's really nice to have these various technological tools to record a meeting, post a meeting and then when someone has the time, they can access it," says Fitzroy Lewis, a Penn State--World Campus online bachelor's student who helped form the school's Active Minds chapter dedicated to spreading mental health awareness.

3. Will the time commitment fit into your schedule? Many online students juggle their education with jobs and family obligations, experts say. These students in particular need to find out how much time to set aside for clubs.



[Explore four time management tips from online students.]

Adams, of Penn State, suggests prospective students figure out whether club leaders have to devote more time than members would. They should understand whether clubs meet at specific times or only as needed.

4. How might joining a club enhance your online learning? Online students are generally pretty busy outside of class, so they should make sure extracurriculars are worth their time, experts say.

Online learners, experts say, might pursue extracurriculars for similar reasons as on-ground students -- to connect with peers, dive deeper into subjects of interest or network.

"Part of creating a professional network is about spending some time investing in relationships and getting to know people in different ways outside of classes," says Dana Grossman Leeman, associate dean for online and continuing education and program director at SocialWork@Simmons, the online master's in social work program at Simmons College.

5. Are clubs recognized by the university? Online students should confirm that the clubs they want to join are legitimate -- or approved by the online program -- or look into ways to start their own, says Fifer from SNHU. At SNHU, virtual clubs must have a constitution with concrete goals, specific activities and at least 11 members.

"It's that value added for a student that really ties them much closer to their institution, and it provides them with a lot more value to their experience," Fifer says.

Trying to fund your online education? Get tips and more in the U.S. News Paying for Online Education center.

Jordan Friedman is an online education editor at U.S. News. You can follow him on Twitter or email him at jfriedman@usnews.com.


VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / October 13, 2016 / Austral Gold Limited, (AGD.AX) (AAM.V) ("Austral" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that it has filed on SEDAR a National Instrument 43-101 ("NI 43-101") and JORC 2012 compliant Technical Report on the Casposo Gold-Silver Mine, Department of Calingasta, San Juan Province, Argentina (the "Casposo Technical Report" or "Technical Report") dated September 7, 2016. The Casposo Technical Report has also been filed on the ASX website (www.asx.com.au).

As announced in the Company's news release on the 27th of September, 2016, commercial operations have recommenced at Casposo. Austral Gold is operator of the Casposo mine with 51% ownership, with the right to acquire up to 100% ownership over the next five years.

Life of Mine Plan Highlights

Changes in underground mining methods are expected to reduce dilution;

Optimisation of processing plant is expected to improve efficiency of the plant;

Mine life: 4 years ;

Pre- Tax NPV(5%) of $53 million and After-tax NPV(5%) of $ 37 million ;

Proven and Probable Mineral Reserves as of June 30, 2016, totaling 972,000 tonnes at 2.53 g/t Au and 231 g/t Ag, containing approximately 79,000 ounces of gold and 7.2 million ounces of silver;

Measured and Indicated Mineral Resources as of June 30, 2016, inclusive of Mineral Reserves, totalling 1.4 million tonnes at 3.0 g/t Au and 238 g/t Ag, containing approximately 136,500 ounces gold and 10.8 million ounces silver;

Average production of 800 tonnes per day (tpd) from underground (300,000 tonnes per year)

All-In Sustaining Cost (AISC) of $1,038 per oz gold equivalent .

Metallurgical recovery based on operating data averaging 91% for gold, 83% for silver;

Average annual gold production of 21,000 ounces of gold and 1.7 million ounces of silver per year ;

Life of Mine (LOM) capital totals $41.7 million, including reclamation and closure costs.

The Casposo Technical Report summarizing the results of the Life of Mine Plan and updated Mineral Resource and Mineral Reserve Estimate is filed on the Company's profile on SEDAR (www.sedar.com) and the ASX website (www.asx.com.au). The RPA Qualified Persons (QPs) for the Casposo Technical Report include:



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Kathleen A. Altman, Ph.D., P.E. (metallurgy, processing, and environmental)

Jason J. Cox, P.Eng. (mining, Mineral Reserves, costs, and economic analysis)

Chester M. Moore, P.Eng., (geology and Mineral Resources)

This press release has been reviewed and approved by the RPA Qualified Persons.

About Austral Gold

Austral Gold Limited is a growing precious metals mining, development and exploration company building a portfolio of quality assets in Chile and Argentina. The Company's flagship Guanaco project in Chile is a low-cost gold and silver producing mine with further exploration upside. The company is also operator of the underground silver-gold Casposo mine in San Juan, Argentina. With an experienced local technical team and highly regarded major shareholder, Austral's goal is to continue to strengthen its asset base through acquisition and discovery. Austral Gold Limited is listed on the TSX Venture Exchange (AAM.V) and the Australian Securities Exchange (AGD.AX). For more information, please consult the company's website www.australgold.com.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

For further information please contact:

Alison Crealy

info@australgold.com.au

+61 (2) 9380 7233

Mr Mike Brown

VP Corporate Development

mbrown@australgold.com.au

+1 604 568 2496

Forward Looking Statements

Statements in this news release that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical, and consist primarily of projections - statements regarding future plans, expectations and developments. Words such as "expects", "intends", "plans", "may", "could", "potential", "should", "anticipates", "likely", "believes" and words of similar import tend to identify forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements in this news release include; expectation that dilution will be reduced; expectation that optimisation of plant will improve operational efficiency; LOM, cash flow and other economic projections;; the future mine grades, recovering and production rates expected from Casposo; the estimation of mineral reserves and mineral resources; the realization of mineral reserve and mineral resource estimates; and the outlook for prices of gold and silver. All of these forward-looking statements are subject to a variety of known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual events or results to differ from those expressed or implied, including, without limitation, business integration risks; uncertainty of production, development plans and cost estimates, commodity price fluctuations; political or economic instability and regulatory changes; currency fluctuations, the state of the capital markets, uncertainty in the measurement of mineral reserves and resource estimates, Austral's ability to extract mineralization at Casposo profitably and its ability to attract and retain qualified personnel and management, potential labour unrest, reclamation and closure requirements for mineral properties; unpredictable risks and hazards related to the development and operation of a mine or mineral property that are beyond the Company's control, the availability of capital to fund all of the Company's projects and other risks and uncertainties identified under the heading "Risk Factors" in the Company's continuous disclosure documents filed on SEDAR. You are cautioned that the foregoing list is not exhaustive of all factors and assumptions which may have been used. Austral cannot assure you that actual events, performance or results will be consistent with these forward-looking statements, and management's assumptions may prove to be incorrect. Austral's forward-looking statements reflect current expectations regarding future events and operating performance and speak only as of the date hereof and Austral does not assume any obligation to update forward-looking statements if circumstances or management's beliefs, expectations or opinions should change other than as required by applicable law. For the reasons set forth above, you should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements.

SOURCE: Austral Gold Limited
President Vladimir Putin has asked Russian officials, politicians and their families working across the world to return home, according to a news report.

By India Today Web Desk: President Vladimir Putin has asked Russian officials, politicians and their families working across the world to return home as tensions over the prospect of a global war have escalated, according to a news report.

Of late, ties between Russia and the United States have soured over the Syria conflict. Relations between Moscow and Paris have also strained with Putin accusing France of drawing Russia into vetoing a UN resolution on Syria at the behest of the United States.

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PUTIN CANCELS PARIS VISIT



Putin's had cancelled a planned trip to Paris to meet with French President Franois Hollande at the last minute after the latter accused Russia of carrying out airstrikes to aid Syrian forces, who had committed a "war crime" in Aleppo.

Also read: Putin questions US commitment to Syria cease-fire



"This is all part of the package of measures to prepare elites to some big war," Russian political analyst Stanislav Belkovsky has said.

The interests of the United States will suffer if tensions escalate, retired Russian Lt. Gen. Evgeny Buzhinsky told the BBC.

CONFRONTATION TO HARM UNITED STATES



"A confrontation won't be one that doesn't harm the interests of the United States," Buzhinsky warned.

Also read: Putin-backed party set to win more than half of vote in parliament election



US-Russian relations have soured in the past few weeks following President Obama's decision to pull out of talks on Syria and point a finger at Russia for hacking into computers at the Democratic National Committee.

--- ENDS ---
SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australian police on Thursday charged two 16-year boys with planning an imminent, Islamic State-inspired terror attack. The two teenagers, who were arrested in a western suburb of Sydney on Wednesday, were found to be carrying two knives, though police said the exact target of their alleged plot is unknown. "We did prevent what we would suspect was going to be an attack," said Catherine Burn, deputy commissioner, New South Wales Police. Australian police said they were aware of the two teenagers before their arrest. Local media reported one of the boys is the son of a man convicted of terror offences. A staunch U.S. ally, Australia has been on heightened alert for attacks by home-grown radicals since 2014, having suffered several "lone wolf" assaults, including a cafe siege in Sydney in which two hostages and the gunman were killed. The country has seen a spate of arrests and charges against radicalize youths and more than 100 people have left Australia for Syria to fight alongside Islamic State. Australia has sought to tighten oversight of potential threats by lowering the age of people who can be subjected to telecommunications interceptions and searches to 14. (Reporting by Colin Packham; Editing by Michael Perry)
VIENNA (Reuters) - Austrian Chancellor Christian Kern said on Thursday many of his concerns about a free trade deal between the European Union and Canada had been addressed in an additional declaration, toning down his rhetoric days ahead of a vote on the deal in Brussels. Social Democrat Kern has kept other countries guessing on whether Austria will give its approval for the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) which many see as a blueprint for TTIP, an EU trade deal with the United States. EU ministers in charge of trade, including Kern's Conservative coalition partner Reinhold Mitterlehner who is a supporter of CETA, are expected to vote on the deal on Oct. 18 before a planned signing at an EU-Canada summit on Oct. 27. Kern reiterated in an ORF radio interview that his decision on whether to support CETA would depend to a large extent on a ruling by the German constitutional court on the accord expected on Thursday. When asked whether a positive ruling would automatically remove pressure on an additional declaration which he had pushed for, Kern said: "The additional text attempts to improve detailed regulation beyond (the ruling), which has been successful to a large degree already." Kern's concerns include how far-reaching the decisions of investment tribunals created under the pact would be, adding he had asked legal experts to assess to what extent the declaration would be binding, although he seemed to soften his stance. When asked whether he insisted on having a phrase in the text cementing its legally binding status, Kern said it depended on the experts' opinion and that the exact phrasing "is maybe a question of secondary importance". In addition to uncertainty about Austria's vote on CETA, Southern Belgium is set to block the deal, while backing from Slovenia remains uncertain. (Reporting by Shadia Nasralla; Editing by Nick Macfie)
In our school days, we learned a stitch in time saves nine, which implies that timely action is likely to prevent serious loss later on. How about applying the same principle to your portfolio? Dumping an underperforming stock at the right time helps maximize your portfolios return. So, as an investor it would be a rational decision to shun a stock that has been witnessing falling share price and estimates from your portfolio, before it hurts your return.

Here is one such consumer discretionary stock, Rent-A-Center, Inc. RCII, which is in troubled waters at the moment. The Zacks Rank #5 (Strong Sell) companys shares tanked nearly 29% on Oct 11 after it issued dismal preliminary guidance for third-quarter 2016.

Preliminary Data a Jolt Ahead of Earnings

Rent-A-Center, which is slated to report its third-quarter 2016 results on Oct 26, expects Core U.S. same store sales to be down nearly 12% in the quarter, while Acceptance Now same store sales is estimated to be flat. Core U.S. gross profit is likely to be flat year over year. Rent-A-Center anticipates earnings per share both on the GAAP and non-GAAP basis to be in the range of 5 cents to 15 cents per share, well below the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 40 cents, which is likely to witness a downward revision in the coming days.

Management stated that the technical snags and outages after the execution of new point-of-sale system negatively impacted Core sales. The company further said: While we expect it to take several quarters to fully recover from the impact to the Core portfolio, system performance has improved dramatically and we have started to see early indicators of collections improvement.

Waning Top-line Performance

Rent-A-Center has been disappointing investors with its top-line performance for the past four consecutive quarters. Accelerated point of sale system rollout, sluggishness across the computers and tablets categories, headwinds across the oil-impacted markets and continued smartphones recast impacted the results.

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Well from the above discussion it is quite apparent that it would be prudent to keep this stock off your portfolio at least for the time being.

Where to Invest Now?

Obviously, nothing about Rent-A-Center inspires confidence in the stock at the moment. Nevertheless, the consumer discretionary market still has a few promising stocks to offer. Given a rebounding U.S. economy, the sector is bubbling with optimism. A gradual recovery in the housing market and manufacturing sector, along with an improving labor market and lower gasoline prices, are favoring the economy and are acting as catalysts in raising buyers confidence. We anticipate this positive sentiment to translate into higher consumer spending.

Based on growth, valuation, fundamentals and the top Zacks Rank, we have picked three stocks that have potential.

3 Prominent Picks

We suggest investing in Francesca's Holdings Corporation FRAN, which operates as a chain of retail boutiques. The company has delivered an average positive earnings beat of 15.4% over the trailing four quarters and has a long-term earnings growth rate of 13.8%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate too has been on the rise over the last 90 days and has a VGM Score of B.

The stock has surged more than 35% in the past three months and has a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

FRANCESCAS HLDG Price

FRANCESCAS HLDG Price | FRANCESCAS HLDG Quote

Deckers Outdoor Corp. DECK, a leading designer, producer and brand manager of innovative, niche footwear and accessories developed for outdoor sports, and other lifestyle-related activities is another solid bet. The stock carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) and has surged more than 29% year to date. The company has delivered positive earnings surprises in the trailing four quarters, and has a long-term earnings growth rate of 10.8%. Further, the Zacks Consensus Estimate has been showing an uptrend over the past 90 days and also has a VGM Score of A.

DECKERS OUTDOOR Price

DECKERS OUTDOOR Price | DECKERS OUTDOOR Quote

Another Zacks Rank #2 stock that investors may consider is Michael Kors Holdings Limited KORS. This global luxury lifestyle companys shares have risen nearly 17% so far this year. It also has a VGM Score of A. An average positive earnings surprise of 10.9% over the trailing four quarters and a long-term earnings growth rate of 10.3% make the company quite an attractive investment option.

MICHAEL KORS Price

MICHAEL KORS Price | MICHAEL KORS Quote

Bottom Line

Investors can confidently end their search at stocks with a better Zacks Rank status of either #1 or #2, which encompasses its strong fundamentals, promises favorable price movement and highlights analysts constructive view on the same via positive estimate revisions. A sturdy portfolio always promises higher returns.

Where Do Zacks' Investment Ideas Come From?

You are welcome to download the full, up-to-the-minute list of 220 Zacks Rank #1 ""Strong Buy"" stocks free of charge. There is no better place to start your own stock search. Plus you can access the full list of must-avoid Zacks Rank #5 ""Strong Sells"" and other private research. See the stocks free >>



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Photo: Chicco Singapore

Good news parents and parents-to-be! Italys popular baby care brand Chicco will finall open its first Southeast Asian concept store in Singapore on Saturday (15 October), on the first level of Tanglin Mall.



The 58-year-old brand carries thousands of baby care products ranging from apparels to strollers and high chairs, among other essentials, that cater to newborns and children up to 8-years-old.

Photo: Chicco Singapore

Chiccos first outlet in the region, which takes up 4,400 sq ft, is also the first of eight outlets that will open in Singapore in the next two to three years, said Stefano Colombo, 50, the brands regional manager for emerging and developing countries.

He told Yahoo Lifestyle Singapore that opening mono brand stores is part of Chiccos new branding strategy, as it strives to offer a higher service and a redefined experience to its customers in Singapore, who are used to purchasing their products at multi brand stores such as Toys R Us.

Photo: Chicco Singapore

Customers can get lost at these multi brand stores, whereas at a concept store, the people (who work) here are trained in the brands products, he said.

On why the brand has chosen Singapore as its first location in Southeast Asia before moving on to open in Indonesia and Thailand, Colombo cited the countrys multi-cultural society as one of the factors.

Highlights of the products available at the concept store include a multi-functional baby bath and change table ($390) and its Next 2 Me co-sleeping baby crib ($309).

Photo: Chicco Singapore
Dubai (AFP) - Bahraini police on Thursday fired tear gas to disperse hundreds of protesters who were trying to march on the capital from a Shiite village, witnesses said.

They said the demonstrators set off from the village of Diya and wanted to head to Manama's Pearl Square, where more than five years ago authorities crushed anti-government protests.

Police blocked the road leading from the village to the nearby capital and fired tear gas and warning shots to force the demonstrators to retreat, said the witnesses who spoke by telephone to AFP in Dubai.

The protest came after a ceremony to mark Ashura, and many of the demonstrators wore black in mourning for the seventh-century killing of Imam Hussein, the grandson of the Prophet Mohammed.

The witnesses, who declined to be identified for security reasons, said protesters chanted slogans hostile to the Sunni rulers of Shiite majority Bahrain.

There were no immediate reports of casualties or arrests.

Hundreds of Shiites have been arrested and put on trial since security forces backed by Saudi-led troops crushed in March 2011 month-long protests that demanded democratic reforms.
MADRID (Reuters) - Gareth Bale has agreed to sign a six-year contract extension with Real Madrid and the European champions are set to announce new deals for Cristiano Ronaldo, Pepe and Luka Modric, Spanish media reported on Wednesday. Radio station Cadena Ser said Bale, who joined Real for a then world-record fee of 100 million euros ($112 million) in 2013, will sign a new contract until 2022 in the next two weeks. Central defender Pepe, whose existing deal was set to end next year, will extend his contract until 2018. Ronaldo, Real's all time top scorer, is poised to sign a four-year contract until 2020 while midfield playmaker Luka Modric is also about to be offered a new deal. Wales international Bale has won two Champions Leagues and a King's Cup in three full seasons with Real, scoring 65 goals in all competitions. France midfielder Paul Pogba replaced him as the world's most expensive player when he completed a 89 million-pound (105 million euros) move from Juventus to Manchester United this year. Real midfielder Toni Kroos has agreed a new contract until 2016, which the Germany international will sign at the club's Santiago Bernabeu stadium on Thursday. Real are banned from registering new arrivals for the next two transfer windows due to a ban imposed by FIFA for breaking rules regarding the signing of under-age foreign players. ($1 = 0.8928 euros) (Reporting by Richard Martin, editing by Ed Osmond)
We expect Intel Corporation INTC to beat expectations when it reports third-quarter 2016 results on Oct 18.



Why a Likely Positive Surprise?



Our proven model shows that Intel is likely to beat earnings because it has the right combination of two key ingredients.



Zacks ESP: Intels Earnings ESP stands at +1.39%. This is because the companys Most Accurate estimate is 73 cents, whereas the Zacks Consensus Estimate is pegged lower at 72 cents. A favorable ESP serves as a meaningful and leading indicator of a likely positive surprise.



Zacks Rank: Intel currently has a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). Note that stocks with a Zacks Rank #1, #2 (Buy) or #3 (Hold) have a significantly higher chance of beating earnings estimates. Conversely, Sell-rated stocks (Zacks Rank #4 or 5) should never be considered going into an earnings announcement.



The combination of Intels Zacks Rank #1 and +1.39% ESP makes us reasonably optimistic of an earnings beat.



What is Driving the Better-than-Expected Earnings?



We note that Intel has posted positive earnings surprise of 11.86% over the trailing four quarters. The consistent performance reflects significant growth from Intels data center and cloud businesses.



INTEL CORP Price and Consensus

INTEL CORP Price and Consensus | INTEL CORP Quote

In mid-September, Intel raised its guidance for third-quarter 2016. The company now expects revenues to be $15.6 billion (+/- $300 million), compared with the earlier range of $14.9 billion (+/-$500 million). The Zacks Consensus Estimate is currently pegged at $15.55 billion.



Intel also increased its gross margin expectations by couple of percentage point (pp) to 63% (+/- 1 pp). Research & development (R&D) and marketing, general & administrative (MG&A) are anticipated to be approximately $5.2 billion, $100 million higher than the previous guidance of approximately $5.1 billion.



We believe that Intels growing focus into areas with better growth prospects, such as the artificial intelligence (AI) and Internet of Things (IoT) businesses are key catalysts.



Moreover, the recent acquisitions of artificial intelligence (AI) startups Movidius and Nervana Systems will help Intel in strengthening its footprint in data center, machine learning, deep learning and IoT businesses.



Sluggish Demand for PCs to Hurt Results?



The mid-September guidance update was based on the assumption that the PC market will improve in the second half of the year. Intel still derives over 50% of its revenue from the PC business (Client Computing), shipments of which declined for the eighth-consecutive quarter in the third quarter, as per data available from market research firms IDC and Gartner.



The preliminary data released by Gartner showed that PC shipments in the quarter slumped 5.7% year over year to 68.9 million units. IDC, on the other hand, stated that PC shipments fell 3.9% year over year to about 68 million units in the third quarter. Note that the actual figures are roughly 3.2% narrower than the research firms prior prediction of a 7.1% decline.



However, we note that the downtrend has rather moderated in the third quarter, compared with the previous quarters, which is encouraging for Intel. (Read More: : PC Shipments Fall for 8th Consecutive Quarter: Gartner & IDC).



Moreover, Intels recently launched 7th generation CPU  14nm Kaby Lakechip holds promise. Apart from improved graphics performance, better CPU performance and longer battery life Kabys biggest feature is improved support for 4K, which will drive demand going ahead.



Stocks to Consider



Here are some companies you may consider as our proven model shows they too have the right combination of elements to post an earnings beat this quarter:



Asure Software ASUR, with an Earnings ESP of +14.29% and a Zacks Rank #1.



NVIDIA NVDA, with an Earnings ESP of +8.93% and a Zacks Rank #1. You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.



NetApp NTAP, with an Earnings ESP of +5.26% and a Zacks Rank #1.

Story continues

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Swamy claims that the construction of the Ram temple in Ayodhya is on the BJP's manifesto for UP elections and will definitely be the party's main focus.

By India Today Web Desk: BJP's Rajya Sabha MP and National Executive member Subramanian Swamy has claimed that the construction of a Ram temple in Ayodhya is a part of the BJP's plans in Uttar Pradesh even as the India Today-Axis Opinion Poll found out that nobody in the state will vote on the basis of the contentious plank in election next year.

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Speaking to news channel CNN-News 18 on Wednesday, Swamy said, "The issue (Ram temple) has not gone anywhere. If we do not raise it in Uttar Pradesh, then where will we raise it? It is on our manifesto and will definitely be our main focus."

Also read: India Today-Axis Opinion Poll for Uttar Pradesh: BJP dream run to continue, but a hung Assembly likely

Although the BJP has not officially yet announced making the Ram temple at the disputed Babri Masjid site an election issue, Prime Minister Narendra Modi attending a Ramlila in Lucknow last week, and beginning and ending his speech with 'Jai Shri Ram' slogan has fuelled speculation that the BJP might go back to its strategy that worked wonders for the party in the 1990s.

RAM JANMABHOOMI MOVEMENT



The Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid movement reached its peak in the early nineties with BJP veteran LK Advani taking out a Rath Yatra which triggered massive riots across India. The movement culminated with the demolition of the Mughal era mosque on December 6, 1992 by Hindu activists.

Also read: Opinion poll: BJP ahead in Uttar Pradesh on back of OBC support



Since then, the construction of a grand Ram temple at the site where the Babri Masjid once stood has been a recurring demand of the BJP.

But, with the matter pending before the Supreme Court, the Ram temple has become a polarising election plank exploited by the BJP, especially when there are elections in Uttar Pradesh.

DON'T WANT RAM TEMPLE: INDIA TODAY-AXIS OPINION POLL



However, the India Today-Axis Opinion Poll conducted in the run-up to the Assembly election in Uttar Pradesh saw zero per cent voters saying they will vote for the BJP on the basis of a Ram temple in Ayodhya. Performance of the state (32) and central (31) governments topped the list, followed by the performance of their local leaders (21).

The survey further found that barely three per cent of the respondents want a Ram temple in Ayodhya. Caste, another polarising issue in Uttar Pradesh, managed two per cent approval.

Also read: Modi government spreading hatred in Uttar Pradesh, says Mayawati



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Also, significantly, just one per cent of the voters said cow protection is an issue for them. This, in the state where the lynching of Mohammad Akhlaq over beef last year and subsequent death of one of the accused has turned Dadri into a national headline.

When the respondents were asked what the BJP's biggest plank in the politically-critical state should be, a whopping 88 per cent of those surveyed chose development.

WILL SEEK VOTES ON DEVELOPMENT: AMIT SHAH



BJP president Amit Shah also recently said he will seek votes on PM Modi's performance, and the promise of development and good governance, which was also the party's main agenda when it swept Uttar Pradesh in the 2014 general election.

With less than six months to go for the Uttar Pradesh election, it is anybody's guess that hardline elements within the BJP, like Swamy, will continue to rake up Ram temple, while the party's top leadership will be dismissive and insist on development.

Also read: Now, Subramanian Swamy calls for war with Pakistan, says they need to be taught a lesson



--- ENDS ---

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Billy Bush's exit from NBC News isn't going to be as amicable as many thought it would be.

The embattled Today show host, who has been suspended for his role in the lewd Donald Trump tape recorded in 2005 when Bush was an anchor at Access Hollywood, has hired a prominent Los Angeles litigator to help work out his separation from the network. And that lawyer is now going on the attack.

Marshall Grossman, one of Los Angeles' fiercest and most well-respected attorneys, has joined Bush's team, suggesting the anchor is ready to litigate against NBC if the network can't reach a deal with its former rising star. Grossman, who has represented Erin Andrews in her peephole case and Steven Spielberg and Clint Eastwood in other matters, declined to comment on the status of the negotiation. But he defends his client's role in the Trump tape, in which Bush is heard laughing and encouraging the now-GOP presidential nominee as Trump made misogynistic and predatory comments about women.

Bush, Grossman says, was an NBCUniversal employee interviewing an NBC star in The Apprentice's Trump, so he wasn't exactly in a position to challenge his interview subject.

"If Billy had been passive or responded 'Shut the f - up' to Trump, Billy would have been out of a job the next day," Grossman, a partner at Orrick in Los Angeles, tells The Hollywood Reporter.

Read more: Donald Trump's Media Threats Are Why a Free Speech Protection Law Is Needed

The shot at NBC comes as negotiations resumed Thursday between the network and Bush over the terms of his exit. The former Access Hollywood host, whose contract pays him about $3 million a year, believes he has leverage in the talks because he had told NBC colleagues about his Trump conversation at least as far back as August, when he was covering the Olympics in Rio.

NBC News sources have insisted news division management - chairman Andy Lack and Today senior vp Noah Oppenheim - did not learn about the tape that captured Bush and Trump on a hot mic and offcamera engaged in a misogynist and predatory conversation until early last week.

Story continues

"NBC News did exactly what you would expect from a great news organization," an NBC spokesperson said in a statement after the tape was released. "As soon as we saw the tape and made the assessment it was undoubtedly newsworthy, we moved quickly and deliberately to get it published and to do so in the most responsible way."

Bush, who continues to be repped by WME, attorney Robert Lange and publicists Jill Fritzo and David Goldin, may have a different story to tell.

A rep for NBC referred THR's request for comment on Bush's lawyer's statement to a rep for Access Hollywood, who did not immediately respond.

Full disclosure: Early in his career, the author worked as a lawyer at a law firm run by Grossman.
Negotiations resumed Thursday between NBC and embattled Today co-host Billy Bush over the terms of his exit from the network. Sources say a deal is far from finalized, but after a break for the Jewish holiday yesterday, both sides are returning to the table expecting a speedy resolution.

The exit is likely to be amicable, but the former Access Hollywood host has leverage; sources confirm he had told NBC colleagues about his lewd 2005 conversation with Donald Trump at least as far back as August, when he was boasting about it while covering the Olympics in Rio. He was there to make his debut as the newest member of the Today show team. It's unclear exactly whom he told. And that is said to be one of the issues NBC is looking into since suspending Bush from the 9 a.m. hour of Today in the wake of the tape's Oct. 7 release.

NBC News sources insist news division management - chairman Andy Lack and Today senior vp Noah Oppenheim - did not learn about the tape that captured Bush and Trump on a hot mic and off camera for an Access Hollywood segment engaged in a misogynist and predatory conversation until early last week.

"NBC News did exactly what you would expect from a great news organization," an NBC spokesperson said in a statement issued two days after the tape was released. "As soon as we saw the tape and made the assessment it was undoubtedly newsworthy, we moved quickly and deliberately to get it published and to do so in the most responsible way."

Sources say Bush does not want to make the negotiations rancorous by naming names. But it's unclear what NBC's posture is in the talks. The network could continue to pay him out on his contract, which sources say is worth close to $3 million annually. But if it attempts to fire him for cause - perhaps invoking a morality clause standard in media contracts - talks could quickly go south.

Read more: Michael Wolff: Trump Tapes Can't Kill a Candidate Who Plays by Shock Jock Rules

Story continues

Bush, 45, was no stranger to Today when he officially joined the morning-show franchise earlier this season. A first cousin of former president George W. Bush and erstwhile GOP aspirant Jeb Bush, Billy had hosted NBC's syndicated infotainment magazine Access Hollywood for 15 years and spent six years on its spinoff, Access Hollywood Live. When he expressed more than a year ago a desire to move on - and to relocate from Los Angeles to New York - executives began to think about where he would fit in. The 9 a.m. hour of Today - long considered the weakest link between the flagship 7-9 a.m. program co-anchored by Matt Lauer and Savannah Guthrie and the crowd-pleasing 10 a.m. hour presided over by Hoda Kotb and Kathie Lee Gifford - was a logical fit.

"Billy has been a part of the Today extended family for quite some time - he brings boundless energy, a great interviewing style and a deep knowledge of pop culture," Oppenheim wrote in an internal memo to Today staffers last May, adding that Bush "has covered and interviewed literally everyone in Hollywood."

Of course, it turns out that Bush had rubbed some celebrities - and their publicists - the wrong way as the host of the gossipy Access. Since the tape was revealed, numerous publicists have relayed doubts about Bush.

When the tape leaked, one celebrity publicist told THR, "People who were already booked on the Today show were saying, 'Maybe we should look at GMA or make sure it's not him doing the interview.' There are people who wouldn't talk to him before the news. At Access, he was always 'that guy.' There were people who were anxious about him before he started [on Today]."

Marcel Pariseau, a partner at True Public Relations, who has a number of high-profile female clients, including Scarlett Johansson, wrote on Facebook: "He was rude and lewd to a few female clients of mine. Boycotting the 9 a.m. hour of the Today show."

Bush, represented by WME, attorney Robert Lange, publicist Jill Fritzo and crisis PR guru David Goldin, likely will agree not to discuss the terms of his exit if a deal can be worked out to his liking. But if not, Bush could choose to go public with his side of the Trump story and NBC's role in the debacle.

Representatives for Bush and NBC declined comment.

Read more: Tapes or No Tapes, 'The Apprentice' Alums Recall Donald Trump's Sexist and Racist Behavior
Orange and black are so strongly associated with Halloween that wearing the two colors together outside of the month of October is practically taboo. Because of their connection to Halloween, many people also associate the festive hues with all things spooky. Still, the majority of people have no idea about the history of Halloween, or how its famous color combination came to be.

According to History.com, although the beginnings of Halloween stem from the people who inhabited a territory spanning parts of modern-day France, Ireland, and the United Kingdom (known as the Celts), these people didn't necessarily decorate with black and orange to mark the occasion. At least not right away.

Thousands of years ago, the Celts' calendar year began not on January 1, but on November 1. This date coincided with the end of harvest season and the beginning of winter. As the History.com article explains, the Celts believed the day before November 1 was the time of year when the spirits of the departed returned and allowed priests to make accurate predictions about the future, especially in regard to future crops and nature. To celebrate the day (known as Samhain to the Celts), people would wear costumes, make sacrifices to the dead, and build bonfires. In other words: Before October 31 was known for candy and pet costumes, it was a slightly different type of celebration (but a celebration all the same  and a spooky one at that).

As an article on House Beautiful explains, black and orange were deliberately chosen as Halloween colors because of the fall-winter connection the day represents. Orange symbolizes the warmth of autumn and the last of harvest season, while black represents the cold, dark, and long winter.

Black

While some speculate that people gravitated toward wearing black because it represents the darkness and cold of winter, there's another option to consider, too. Black is also, conveniently, associated with death. Given that Samhain was all about the return of the departed, this makes sense. The Celts relished the opportunity for contact with their departed ancestors, so black was a natural choice to represent the temporarily open doors of communication between the dead and the living.

Story continues

Orange

I know what you're thinking: Pumpkins. And while that would be the very obvious origin story for Halloween's use of the color orange, you'd be wrong. In fact, pumpkins were not even a thing in the earliest of October 31 celebrations by the Celts. Why? They originated in North America, where All Hallow's Eve wasn't celebrated until the 1800s. Interestingly though, lantern-carving (Jack-o'-Lantern, anyone?) did originate in Ireland, where they would shape vegetables like potatoes and turnips to create lanterns for Stingy Jack.

Following the potato famine of 1846, an influx of Irish immigrants began using pumpkins instead, solidifying the tradition in American culture. Maybe this only added to the popularity of orange during the October 31 holiday, but it was likely a feature of Halloween long before the 1800s. Given that orange is such a familiar hue of fall, when leaves exhibit shades of orange and red not typically seen in nature during the rest of the year, this makes sense. Remembering the bonfires of the Celts, it's also a tone associated with fire.



The combination of fall and winter themes may not be something you've thought about frequently when it comes to Halloween, but when you consider where the holiday falls on the calendar year, it makes perfect sense. After all, that's what Halloween is all about  the coziness and warmth of fall combined with the spooky darkness of a cold, dark winter. But there's one more color to consider: Purple.

Purple

Haven't thought of purple as a Halloween color? Look for it next time you stroll through your local party store's holiday decoration or costume aisles. It's not as frequently used as orange and black, but it's certainly present. According to Board & Brush, the assumption with purple is that it's a Halloween hue because of its association with all things mystical. "According to legend, for instance, a purple door is sometimes used to mark the home of a witch," the article states, though it's possible that's just an old wives tale. Perhaps it's purple's connection to religious, spiritual rituals (its often worn by priests) that ties it to the ancient history of October 31.

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From Cosmopolitan

According to SCMP, Houston Rockets player Bobby Brown apologized shortly after he posted a picture to Weibo of his initials and number onto the Great Wall of China. Though the picture and the apology have been removed since they were posted earlier today, people continue to bash him on social media for being disrespectful of Chinese culture.



The graffiti, pictured below, was accompanied by the caption Had a blast at the Great Wall of China today. People immediately told Brown the landmark was not his to deface; the Washington Post reports one Weibo-user commented Are you proud of your carving? This is a part of world heritage, not the toilet of your home.

NBA star Bobby Brown under fire for Great Wall graffiti, as netizens comment: this is world cultural heritage, not your bathroom! pic.twitter.com/Cgrw3jxJGq - CCTVNEWS (@cctvnews) October 12, 2016

A screen grab of Browns now-deleted apology (grabbed by CCTV) reads: Im so sorry for this!! I apologize I didnt mean any harm by this, I respect the Chinese culture I made a [sic] honest mistake.. hope you forgive me. The only photos that remain on Browns Instagram from the outing are of him and fellow Rockets player Trevor Ariza and a landscape shot of the Great Wall.

Though drawing on the Great Wall is forbidden, there are graffiti zones tourists are permitting to draw on. Its unclear if Brown will face legal consequences.

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By Alexis Akwagyiram and Felix Onuah ABUJA (Reuters) - Jihadist group Boko Haram has freed 21 of more than 200 girls it kidnapped in April 2014 in the northern Nigerian town of Chibok, the government said on Thursday. Their release came after the International Red Cross and the Swiss government brokered a deal with the group, and negotiations would continue to bring home the rest of the girls, a statement from the Nigerian presidency said. Around 270 girls were taken from their school in Chibok in the remote northeastern Borno state, where Boko Haram has waged a seven-year insurgency to set up an Islamic state, killing thousands and displacing more than 2 million people. Dozens escaped in the initial melee, but more than 200 girls are still missing. The kidnapping prompted outrage worldwide and the girls' plight was publicised using a Twitter hashtag, #bringbackourgirls. "It is the first step in what we believe will be the release of all the girls," Information Minister Lai Mohammed told reporters. He denied reports that the government had swapped Boko Haram fighters for their release and said he was not aware if any ransom had been paid. He said a Nigerian army operation against Boko Haram would continue. The girls were released at 5.30 a.m. and will be taken to the capital Abuja during the afternoon to meet doctors and psychologists, Mohammed said. The Swiss government "facilitated contacts between representatives of the Nigerian government and intermediaries of Boko Haram" after a request from Abuja, a spokeswoman said in a statement. "We have nothing to add," she said, when asked if it had been a prisoner swap. CNN published a picture on its website it said showed several of the freed girls, wearing veils and being escorted by soldiers in Maiduguri, capital of Borno state. Authorities said in May one of the missing girls had been found and President Muhammadu Buhari promised to rescue the others. [nL5N18G2JI] In the past days, the Nigerian military has been carrying out a large-scale offensive in the Sambisa forest, a stronghold of Boko Haram, which last year pledged loyalty to the Islamic State militant group. Boko Haram controlled a swathe of land around the size of Belgium at the start of 2015, but Nigeria's army, aided by troops from neighbouring countries, has recaptured most of the territory. The group still stages suicide bombings in the northeast, as well as in neighbouring Niger and Cameroon. Boko Haram published a video in August apparently showing recent footage of dozens of the kidnapped girls and said some had been killed in air strikes. [nL8N1AV0FG] The militant group has kidnapped hundreds of men, women and children but the kidnapping of the Chibok girls brought it worldwide attention. In the last few months Buhari has said his government was prepared to negotiate with Boko Haram over the release of the girls. [nL8N1B905W] (Additional reporting by Ulf Laessing and by Stephanie Nebehay in Geneva; Editing by Janet Lawrence and John Stonestreet)
The RSS activists blocked traffic and demanded action against the police personnel who had allegedly beaten up four members of the organisation.

By Hemender Sharma: The Rashtriya Swayam Sevak (RSS) activists today blocked traffic in Petlavad area of Jhabua district in Madhya Pradesh after four members of the organisation were allegedly beaten up by the police.

Three RSS pracharaks and a BJP mandal president had allegedly incited a mob to set fire to a kiosk that belonged to youth of a certain community in the intervening night of October 12 and October 13.

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The police also arrested six other youths in the case who have been remanded in judicial custody. The three pracharaks are Mukul Chauhan, Vikas Joshi and Pankaj Prajapati, while the mandal president has been identified as Shankar Rathore.

As soon as the news of the four RSS members allegedly getting beaten up by the police spread, several activists gathered at the Gandhi Chowk area and blocked the traffic for more than two hours demanding action against the policemen.

ALSO READ: RSS ends its shorts story: After 90 years, members don trousers



They also demanded that a complaint be lodged against the policemen for attempt to murder and that the personnel should be immediately suspended.

Further, the RSS activists have also announced a district bandh on Friday.

This is the second such recent incident where the RSS activists have resorted to coercive tactics to put pressure on the administration to act against police officials.

The Additional Superintendent of Police in Balaghat Rajesh Sharma and Baihar SHO Zia-ul Haque were suspended after RSS district pracharak Suresh Yadav was allegedly beaten up the police. Yadav had allegedly posted offensive content online.

ALSO READ: RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat calls for distinction between 'good' gau rakshaks and those breaking the law

ALSO READ: RSS pants: Lalu cuts long story short, says Rabri Devi forced them to cover up



--- ENDS ---
Nathan Copeland and robotic hand

A dozen years ago, an auto accident left Nathan Copeland paralyzed, without any feeling in his fingers. Now that feeling is back, thanks to a robotic hand wired up to a brain implant.

I can feel just about every finger  its a really weird sensation, the 28-year-old Pennsylvanian told doctors a month after his surgery.

Today the brain-computer interface is taking a share of the spotlight at the White House Frontiers Conference in Pittsburgh, with President Barack Obama and other luminaries in attendance.

The ability to wire sensors into the part of the brain that registers the human sense of touch is just one of many medical marvels being developed on the high-tech frontiers of rehabilitation.

You learn completely new and different things every time you come at this from different directions, Arati Prabhakar, director of the Pentagons Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, said last week at the GeekWire Summit in Seattle.

Prabhakar provided a preview of the Copelands progress during her talk. DARPAs Revolutionizing Prosthetics program provided the primary funding for the project, which was conducted at the University of Pittsburgh and its medical center, UPMC.

The full details of the experiment were published online today in Science Translational Medicine.

Copelands spinal cord was severely injured in an accident in the winter of 2004, when he was an 18-year-old college freshman. The injury left him paralyzed from the upper chest down, with no ability to feel or move his lower arms or legs.

Right after the accident, Copeland put himself on Pitts registry of patients willing to participate in clinical trials. Nearly a decade later, a medical team led by Pitt researcher Robert Gaunt chose him to participate in a groundbreaking series of operations.

Gaunt and his colleagues had been working for years on developing brain implants that let disabled patients control prosthetic limbs with their thoughts. Slowly but surely, we have been moving this research forward, study co-author Michael Boninger, a professor at Pitt as well as the director of post-acute care for UPMCs Health Services Division, said in a news release.

Story continues

This experiment moved the teams efforts in a new direction. Four arrays of microelectrodes were implanted into the region of Copelands brain that would typically take in sensory signals from his fingers. Over the course of several months, researchers stimulated specific points in the somatosensory cortex, and mapped which points made Copeland feel as if a phantom finger was being touched.

Nathan Copeland

Sometimes it feels electrical, and sometimes its pressure, Copeland said, but for the most part, I can tell most of the fingers with definite precision. It feels like my fingers are getting touched or pushed.

To test the results, the researchers placed sensors onto each of the fingers of a robotic hand. They connected the system to Copelands brain electrodes, and put a blindfold over his eyes. Then an experimenter touched the robo-hands fingers and asked Copeland if he could tell where the feeling was coming from.

Over the course of 13 sessions, each involving hundreds of finger touches, Copelands success rate was 84 percent. The index and little fingers were easy to identify, while the middle and ring fingers were harder.

During the experiment, Copeland learned to distinguish the intensity of the touch to some extent  but for what its worth, he couldnt distinguish between hot and cold. Thatll have to come later.

The ultimate goal is to create a system which moves and feels just like a natural arm would, Gaunt said. We have a long way to go to get there, but this is a great start.

Prabhakar said neurotechnology is a high priority for DARPA, in part because of the kinds of injuries that warfighters have suffered in conflicts abroad.

Lower-limb prosthetics have gotten very good  but upper-limb prosthetics, until very recently, have still been limited to a very simple hook, she said.

One of the advanced robotic arm models funded by DARPA is just now hitting the commercial market. Its called the Luke Arm, in honor of the prosthetic that was given to Luke Skywalker in Star Wars.

The experiments in Pittsburgh add touch sensitivity to the mix. and theres more to come. Prabhakhar shared a video clip in which a patient who lost most of his arm could feel the touch of a virtual hand upon a computer-generated door.

Oh my God! I just felt that door, the patient said. God, that is so cool. (You can watch the clip starting at the 28:30 mark in the archived GeekWire Summit video.)

Prabhakar said the system was wired into the nerves running from what was left of the patients arm.

We dont have to go into his brain directly, she explained. That chip is just in the peripheral nervous system. We now know how to send the precise neural signals that give him a sensation of touching that virtual door.

Prabhakar said that kind of technology can be applied to much more than rehabilitation. Human-computer interfaces that blend the real world with virtual reality, including virtual touch, could open the door to enhancing human experience and connecting us with the outside world in completely new ways.

We dont know where all thats going to go yet, she said. But its an interesting threshold.

Pitt researcher Sharlene Flesher is the lead author of the study published by Science Translational Medicine, titled Intracortical Microstimulation of Human Somatosensory Cortex. In addition to Gaunt and Boninger, the co-authors include Jennifer Collinger, Stephen Foldes, Jeffrey Weiss, John Downey, Elizabeth Tyler-Kabara, Sliman Bensmaia and Andrew Schwartz.

Todays White House Frontiers Conference is being live-streamed from Pittsburgh. Obama is due to participate in a panel on the future of medicine and health care innovation. Seattle-based speakers at the conference include Blue Origins Erika Wagner, W2O Groups Dana Lewis, Microsoft Researchs Jeannette Wing, Amazon Web Services Jed Sundwall and University of Washington law professor Ryan Calo.

More from GeekWire:
Sao Paulo (AFP) - Brazilian aircraft manufacturer Embraer's stock rose Thursday after the company said it was "close" to a deal with US authorities to settle corruption allegations that have dogged it since 2010.

Embraer, the world's third-largest commercial plane-maker after Boeing and Airbus, is under investigation by the US Securities and Exchange Commission over allegations it violated anti-corruption regulations in sales outside Brazil.

The company "is looking to finalize definitive agreements with the Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission in the United States to resolve the allegations," it said in a statement released Wednesday.

It is also in talks with Brazilian authorities to settle a local investigation, it said.

Embraer's stock rose more than three percent on the New York stock exchange and 1.5 percent in Sao Paulo Thursday morning.

The international corruption probe was opened after officials in the Dominican Republic allegedly accepted a $3.5 million bribe to buy eight of Embraer's Super Tucano military planes.

Former Dominican defense minister Rafael Pena Antonio and three other people were arrested in August in the case.

Embraer said it would give details on the settlement deals once they were complete.

The company had set aside $200 million in the second quarter to settle the allegations.

That helped push it into the red as it lost nearly $100 million for the quarter amid falling demand for executive jets.
London (AFP) - The battle over Brexit reached the High Court on Thursday in a legal challenge to Prime Minister Theresa May's right to start negotiations for Britain to leave the EU without a vote in parliament.

The move could delay Brexit if successful and set up an unprecedented constitutional face-off between the courts and the government.

It was launched after Britain's June 23 referendum, which saw 52 percent of Britons vote to leave the European Union in a shock result that plunged the value of the pound and raised global economic fears.

The case seeks to challenge May's assertion that she has the right to trigger notification of Article 50 of the EU's Lisbon Treaty, which would spark two years of negotiations on Britain's departure from the bloc.

The government says it has "royal prerogative" -- a type of executive privilege -- to negotiate Brexit without needing a legally-binding parliamentary vote.

"The issue in this case is not whether this country should remain a member of the EU, or leave the EU," argued lawyer David Pannick, acting for several different individuals who brought the challenge.

"The question is whether the government may take action unilaterally to notify, or whether it needs parliamentary approval to do so."

He said deploying the royal prerogative was unlawful because under the European Communities Act 1972, it was for parliament to decide whether or not to maintain the rights contained within it.

"Notification has the consequence of depriving individuals of rights which they currently enjoy under the 1972 act," he said.

A few protesters for and against the legal action rallied outside the court in London as lawyers and claimants arrived for the first hearing.

A man holding an EU flag shouted "Parliament must vote!", while another distributed leaflets urging people to "Uphold the Brexit vote".

But those behind the legal challenge -- including an investment fund manager, a hairdresser and an expatriate living in France -- argue such a process cannot begin without a law passed by parliament.

Story continues

Gina Miller, co-founder of investment fund SCM Private, wants parliament to legislate on the terms of Brexit before May can trigger Article 50.

"This is not about whether we should stay or leave -- this is actually about how we leave," Miller told AFP on Wednesday.

The fund manager is being represented by Mishcon de Reya, a prestigious law firm whose offices were picketed by pro-Brexit campaigners in July for taking on the case shortly after the referendum.

- Sturgeon eyes independence -

Although May has accused the claimants of trying to "subvert" the result of the referendum, the prime minister on Wednesday signalled she would let parliament scrutinise her Brexit plan before starting the formal EU exit process.

But she stopped short of agreeing a vote for MPs on her plan before the government triggers Article 50.

May has promised to start Brexit procedures by the end of March 2017, a timetable which could be delayed for months if Miller and her fellow claimants win their case.

Meanwhile Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon unveiled plans for a new independence referendum in case her demands for more autonomy and for Scotland to stay in Europe's single market are not met.

Sturgeon said she would publish a draft referendum bill next week.

"I am determined that Scotland will have the ability to reconsider the question of independence and to do so before the UK leaves the EU if that is necessary to protect our country's interest," she said.

Some 62 percent in Scotland voted for Britain to stay in the EU.
13 Oct - Despite the fact that it was his movie "Ma Rosa" that was selected as Philippine's bet at the Oscars, director Brillante Mendoza said that there is no animosity between him and fellow filmmaker Lav Diaz.



As reported on PEP News, the director, whose movie was picked as Philippine's submission for the 89th Academy Awards' Best Foreign Language Film category rather than Lav Diaz's Venice Golden Lion-awarded film, "Ang Babaeng Humayo", stated that both he and Diaz encourage each other as fellow Pinoy filmmakers.



"Whatever the success Lav gets, is a success of all Filipino filmmakers," said Mendoza, who stressed that they are not competing with each other.



"Whenever I win something, he will congratulate me. If he wins, I will immediately send him an email. I watched his movies, he watched mine."



Mendoza also urges everyone to support Filipino films, just like how he would support "Ang Babaeng Humayo" or Diaz would support "Ma' Rosa", instead of pitting them against each other.



(Photo source: bandera.inquirer.net)
By Kylie MacLellan LONDON (Reuters) - Britain is looking at its military options in Syria but any action would need to be part of a coalition involving the United States and is not likely to happen soon, foreign minister Boris Johnson said on Thursday. Prime Minister Theresa May's spokeswoman took a more cautious approach, saying there were no plans for further military action and no decisions had been made. But Johnson's comments reflected frustration, shared in other Western capitals, at the worsening humanitarian situation in Syria and what he described as the barbaric role of Russia alongside the forces of President Bashar al-Assad. "It is right now that we should be looking again at the more kinetic options, the military options," Johnson told a committee of lawmakers. "But we must be realistic about how these in fact work, and what is deliverable." "We can't do anything without a coalition, without doing it with the Americans. I think we're still a pretty long day's march from getting there but that doesn't mean that discussions aren't going on, because they certainly are." The British government failed to win parliament's support in 2013 for a plan to bomb Assad's forces to punish him for using chemical weapons. But it has been involved in air strikes against Islamic State in Syria since winning the support of lawmakers last December. May's spokeswoman said the government was looking at a range of options as it seeks to help bring an end to more than five years of civil war in Syria. "We need to think through carefully the consequences of any action," she said. "We are talking to partners about is there any more we can be doing to end this appalling conflict." Renewed bombing of rebel-held eastern Aleppo has killed more than 150 people this week, rescue workers said, as the Syrian government steps up its Russian-backed offensive to take the whole city. Syria and Russia blame their foes for breaking a ceasefire and say they target only militants in the city. Johnson said it was important not to raise false hopes over the idea of a no fly zone over parts of Syria to prevent the Russian and Syrian government air strikes on Aleppo. "We know the difficulties and implications of a no fly zone or a no bombing zone," he said. "But if there is more that we can reasonably and practically do together with our allies, then of course we should consider those measures." Russia said it would welcome Britain's involvement if it targeted terrorists rather than Assad's forces. Johnson, who said another option was to intensify sanctions on key players in Assad's administration, said he would host a meeting between U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and European foreign ministers in London on Sunday to discuss the situation. Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov are due to attend a meeting in Lausanne on Saturday for talks on Syria. (Additional reporting by William James; Editing by Mark Trevelyan)
LONDON (Reuters) - Britain has no plans to extend its military action in Syria, Prime Minister Theresa May's spokeswoman said on Thursday. The British government lost a 2013 parliamentary vote over plans to bomb the forces of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, but has been involved in bombing raids against Islamic State in Syria since winning the support of lawmakers last December. Earlier on Thursday Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said Britain was looking again at its military involvement in Syria but any action would need to be part of a coalition involving the United States and is not likely to happen soon. "There are no plans for military action. We are working with the international community to look at how to bring the conflict to an end," May's spokeswoman said when asked about Johnson's comments, adding that there were a range of options available. (Reporting by William James, Editing by Kylie MacLellan)
London (AFP) - Britain should consider "military options" in Syria but they are still a distant prospect and could only happen in a coalition with the United States, foreign minister Boris Johnson said Thursday.

"It is right now we should be looking again at the more kinetic, military options," said Johnson, who is due to host talks on the conflict with other Western powers on Sunday.

"Whether that means we can get a coalition together fore more kinetic action now, I can't prophesise," he told a parliamentary committee.

The British parliament in 2013 voted against air strikes on President Bashar al-Assad's forces.

It has since voted to approve air strikes but only against Islamic State jihadist group targets in Syria.

Some lawmakers have recently called for Britain to impose a no-fly zone in Syria to prevent Russian and Syrian forces bombing Aleppo.

Referring to military options, Johnson said: "We must be realistic about how these work and what is deliverable.

"You can't do anything without a coalition, without doing it with the Americans. We're still a pretty long day's march from getting that.

"It doesn't mean that discussions aren't going on. They are," he said.

"Most people, including John Kerry, feel that the process of discussion with the Russians has basically run out of road," he said.

Kerry and his Russian counterepart Sergei Lavrov are due to meet in Lausanne on Saturday, in talks also joined by their counterparts from Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar.

Prime Minister Theresa May's spokeswoman said the British premier would "weigh up very carefully" any military or other options put forward to end the crisis in Syria.

"Clearly when the government and parliament considered this before, there were concerns about a range of action.

"Since then, obviously the conflict has continued and we started taking action against Daesh," she said, using an Arabic term for Islamic State jihadists.

Story continues

"But I think the prime minister would weigh up very carefully any options that were put forward and the potential consequences of those," she said.

Russia said Thursday it was prepared to secure safe passage for rebels to quit Syria's Aleppo but kept up air strikes on the battleground city as world powers readied new truce talks.

Syria has been plunged into some of the worst violence of its five-year war since the collapse last month of a truce brokered by Washington and Moscow.

The ensuing surge in fighting has accompanied a large-scale government offensive, backed by Russian air power, to capture the opposition-held half of battered Aleppo.
By Temesghen Debesai LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Britain is the country most worried about immigration and border control, according to a global survey published on Thursday as the government vowed to crack down on migration as it prepares to leave the European Union. Forty-two percent of Britons surveyed said they feared immigration, compared to 41 percent in Germany and 33 percent in Sweden, which both have taken much larger numbers of migrants in proportion to their population than the UK. Britain will trigger the formal process to leave the EU by March 2017 after 52 percent of Britons voted in June to leave the bloc amid concerns about immigration, deteriorating public services, competition for jobs and a general economic malaise. "Britain is most worried about immigration from all 25 countries included in the study, showing that the concern very clearly flagged in the EU referendum has not subsided," Bobby Duffy, managing director of UK-based pollsters Ipsos MORI, which carried out the survey said in a statement. British Immigration Minister Robert Goodwill said bringing down migration is a priority for the government as it prepares to exit the EU. "Reducing the number of migrants coming to the UK will be a priority in our negotiations to leave the EU," Goodwill said in an email to the Thomson Reuters Foundation. "We are also committed to reducing non-EU migration across all visa routes in order to bring net migration down to sustainable levels as soon as possible," the minister said. Britain is also the most concerned about the rise of extremism, with 28 percent of those surveyed citing it as an issue in the "What Worries the World" survey. Other countries concerned about extremism include Germany (27%), Belgium and Sweden (both 25%), and France (21%). Globally, the poll found unemployment is the biggest concern, with 38 percent of all those surveyed fearing not to find work, while 33 percent worried about poverty and social inequality. In China, where efforts are under way to enforce controls over high levels of air pollution, 21 percent said they wanted more to be done about climate change. Ipsos MORI carried out its survey of adults under 65 in Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Britain, Germany, Hungary, India, Israel, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Poland, Peru, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Turkey and the United States. The pollsters interviewed just over 18,000 people in an online poll conducted between late August and early September. (Reporting by Temesghen Debesai; Editing by Astrid Zweynert. Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, women's rights, trafficking, property rights and climate change. Visit http://news.trust.org to see more stories)
By India Today Web Desk: After Salman Khan jokingly said that Jacqueline Fernandez had been "kicked out" of Kick 2 at the AIBA awards in Dubai last year, rumours were abuzz that all is not well between the two. Jacqueline's item number in Salman Khan's production Hero was also dropped, fuelling more such rumours.

According to reports, Jacqueline is now back in the project. The second installment of the hit film is scheduled to go on floors next year. The news that Jacqueline was set to be replaced by Kriti Sanon or Amy Jackson is false, sources say.

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ALSO READ: Salman Khan gifts 3-BHK flat to Kick co-star Jacqueline?

Jacqueline, in an earlier interview had said that the film catapulted her to success, "Kick has been one of the best experiences I have had in my life. Salman has done a lot for me." She added that her life had changed after the film, and that she was getting a lot more offers.

Sources say that while the first installment of Kick was a remake of the 2009 Telugu hit of the same name, the sequel will have a fresh script.

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Https%3a%2f%2fblueprint-api-production.s3.amazonaws.com%2fuploads%2fstory%2fthumbnail%2f24358%2fcumkcbbviaaaxsg

Reporter Homa Bash and her cameraman were reporting in Plano, Texas, near school on Wednesday afternoon when someone phoned the police. Bash tweeted about the incident, stating that the cops were called because a "hispanic-looking woman & black man with a suspicious white truck & camera" were near a school.

Seriously.

When you get the cops called because a 'Hispanic-looking woman & black man with a suspicious white truck & camera' are near a school  pic.twitter.com/6wuMmXzliV  Homa Bash (@HomaBashNBC5) October 12, 2016

The tweet has since racked up more than 31,000 retweets at the time of writing.

SEE ALSO: 'Racist' Fox News piece blasted by Asian-Americans and people with basic sense of decency

Other people and even reporters weighed in, stating that they had shared similar experiences.

@baldwinreports I did too! The cop was like 'so.. you're marked in every way.. not sure what was confusing for them here..'  Homa Bash (@HomaBashNBC5) October 12, 2016

.@HomaBashNBC5 when the cops are called because you are delivering someone's Amazon package in the boonies, and you look "suspicious" pic.twitter.com/WPJt0pv4l5  Derek (@KentuckyBlacc) October 13, 2016

Bash noted that she is Indian, not Hispanic.

Bash also thanked the Plano Police Department for their handling of the matter.

Story continues

Shout out to @PlanoPoliceDept Officer Hunter for being so cool & letting us do our jobs   Homa Bash (@HomaBashNBC5) October 12, 2016

Unfortunately, her live shoot had another major issue. Bash accidentally stood on an anthill while reporting. Ouch.

More importantly, I accidentally stood on an anthill for my live shot and now I basically need a new foot #ouch  Homa Bash (@HomaBashNBC5) October 12, 2016

Mashable has reached out to Bash for additional information and comments.
By Ingrid Melander PARIS (Reuters) - Plans to dismantle the "Jungle" migrant camp in northern France where thousands of refugees are holed up will go ahead to "take people out of the slums," France's asylum chief pledged after a group of charities asked a court to halt the closure. Over 6,000 refugees live in the makeshift camp in squalid conditions, dreaming of reaching Britain, barely 21 miles (33 km) away across the English Channel. The French government has now undertaken to resettle them to small reception centers throughout the country and wants to have the Jungle closed by the end of the month. "Calais is over, it's finished," said Pascal Brice, the director of Ofpra, the agency in charge of handling asylum requests in France, referring to the makeshift camp. "What is at stake is for this message to get across and for people to realize there's no point in going there, that it's a dead-end," Brice told Reuters and a small group of European newspapers in a joint interview. A tightening of security in Calais makes it "near impossible" to slip through toward Britain, Brice said, and refugees are being persuaded to apply for asylum in France instead of attempting the perilous journey to Britain, often in the back of trucks. "What matters is to get people out of these slums," Brice said. "We need to convince people. We've been doing a lot of groundwork to accompany them in the process of abandoning their project to go to Britain. It's very difficult. It's like a mourning process." Given that Britain remains a favored destination for many refugees and migrants due to family links, the language they are often more likely to speak than French, and higher prospects of employment, charities say many will still come to Calais even if the Jungle is no more. Brice said that was the focus of much of ongoing talks now, including with charities. "We need to take into account the possibility that some still come - albeit in smaller numbers - and make sure we can move them on to (France's) national asylum process," Brice said. He added that there had been no decision yet but talks were looking into the idea of allowing parts of the Grand-Synthe migrant camp in nearby Dunkirk to remain and not be dismantled. Brice said he anticipates a maximum of 100,000 asylum requests to be made in France this year, an increase of 20 percent from 2015 but still much smaller than the million expected to arrive in Germany. France promised last year to take in 30,000 refugees stranded in countries bordering on Syria, as well as in Greece and Italy as part of an EU-wide resettlement plan. Some 4,000 have been taken in so far, Brice said. (Reporting by Ingrid Melander; editing by Mark Heinrich)
Ottawa (AFP) - France's Prime Minister Manuel Valls during a visit to Canada on Thursday said both nations are "committed" to strengthening their efforts against terrorism.

"We are absolutely committed to strengthening our counterterrorism cooperation," Valls told a joint news conference with his Canadian counterpart Justin Trudeau.

Valls said the two nations planned to increase intelligence-sharing between their security agencies, and would work together to fight Islamic radicalization.

The two leaders, during their first face-to-face meeting, took stock of various international crises, including the war in Syria and the "horrible situation" in besieged Aleppo, which has been hit by relentless air strikes. They also discussed Russia's support for the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Valls praised Ottawa's higher international profile since that start of the Trudeau administration, saying his Canadian counterpart's decision "to re-engage on the world stage and share its values are crucial."

"We need Canada in the Middle East, in Africa, at the United Nations, everywhere where such crises threaten stability and our security," Valls said.
Mexico City (AFP) - Mexico and Canada have launched a task force to improve conditions for Canadian-owned mines in the Latin American nation, where security problems and protests have affected operations.

Goldcorp temporarily suspended production at Mexico's biggest gold mine in the northern state of Zacatecas last week after a transport company blocked access to the site.

The blockade, which was removed last week, occurred as the Canadian firm plans to diversity its local transportation supply chain.

Last year, Goldcorp voiced concerns about violence in communities surrounding another gold mine in the southern state of Guerrero, where drug cartels buried victims in clandestine graves and taxed mine workers.

Mexican Foreign Minister Claudia Ruiz Massieu and Canadian counterpart Stephane Dion announced the task force following talks in Mexico City, but they did not directly mention the problems that have affected Goldcorp and other miners.

"We have also discussed the way we may improve the ability for Canadian businesses and investors to succeed in Mexico," Dion said.

"The (minister) and I agreed to established a high level task force to resolve challenges faced by Canadians firms in the extractive sector," he told a news conference.

He noted that Canadian companies represent 70 percent of direct foreign investment in Mexico's mining sector and "we'll do anything to improve it through this task force."

At another mine owned by Canada's McEwen Mining company in the northern state of Sinaloa, armed robbers made off with 7,000 ounces of gold worth $8.5 million in April 2015.

Rob McEwen, the company's chief, caused a stir when he told the Business News Network that while drug cartels are active in the region, "generally we have a good relationship with them."

McEwen later issued a statement denying that his company had regular contact with criminals, saying that his remarks were related to contacting "property owners or impacted community members" in areas the firm wishes to explore.
By Alastair Sharp TORONTO (Reuters) - U.S. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump can be pursued for some claims made by investors in a hybrid hotel-condo tower in Toronto bearing his name, according to a Canadian court ruling released on Thursday. An Ontario appeals court reversed an earlier decision to throw out a case brought against Trump and associates by the investors, who said they were misled into investing in the development in Toronto's financial district. The investors bought units in the tower that were then placed into a pool of rooms to be rented out at luxury rates by the hotel's operator. "There would be no factual or legal basis to hold my client liable, principally because my client did not enter into a contract with any of the buyers, did not sell anything to any of the buyers, and did not receive any money from any of the buyers," said Alan Garten, general counsel for the Trump Organization. A lawyer representing all the defendants, Symon Zucker, did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The 65-story property is managed by the Trump Organization. Lawyers for Trump and two others had argued that no misrepresentations had been made or that in any event they should not attract personal liability. Trump won a victory last year when a lower court absolved the real estate businessman of any personal responsibility, as his company had only licensed the Trump name to Talon International Development Inc, which owns the property. In the Court of Appeal for Ontario ruling published on Thursday, Justice Paul Rouleau dismissed claims against Trump and two associates for misrepresentation and breach of a ruling by a securities regulator. However, the judge said it was unfair for the original ruling to dismiss claims "based on oppression, collusion, or breach of fiduciary duties," and said these can still be heard in court. Trump "is still a defendant in this action...and he can still be held liable to these people for damages," said Mitchell Wine, a lawyer for the plaintiffs. "This court said you're still very much part of this thing, and you still have to answer to all of these allegations other than the two that the court considered in this decision." The ruling also said Talon must pay damages to one buyer for "negligent misrepresentation" and another sale must be rescinded. The case is: Singh v. Trump, 2016 ONCA 747, docket number: C60787 (Reporting by Alastair Sharp; Additional reporting by Emily Flitter; Editing by Leslie Adler)
A kangaroo court in Bengal equivalent of Khap panchayats ordered a husband to cut the hair of his wife as punishment for alleged adultery in West Bengal's Murshidabad.

By India Today Web Desk: In yet another incident of kangaroo courts taking the law into their hands, Shalishi Sabha, the Bengali equivalent of Khap panchayats, ordered a husband to cut the hair of his wife as punishment for alleged adultery in Muslim-dominated Murshidabad district.

A 32-year-old woman, who was accused by the Shalishi Sabha of Chandpur village in Nowda Police Station limits of having an extra-marital affair, was asked along with her husband to pay Rs 6,000 to the Shalishi Sabha as 'cost of honour'.

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COST OF HONOUR DEMANDED



"The couple could manage Rs 1,000 and pleaded the Shalishi Sabha to let them go. However, the kangaroo court refused to budge and demanded that the husband cut the hair of the accused woman if the Shalishi Sabha was not paid the demanded money. On Sunday, the Shalishi Sabha was called again and the husband was forced to cut the hair of his wife in full public glare," a source said.

Also read: Haryana Khap panchayat orders shoe-slap justice in molestation case



FIR LODGED



The accused, along with his kin, lodged an FIR with the Nowda Police Station. "We nabbed two accused Imadul Sheikh and Liton Sheikh from within our police station limits," officials of Nowda Police Station told the media. The infamous Shalishi Sabhas or kangaroo courts of West Bengal had earlier pronounced judgements on women to be raped, tied to trees, lynched and paraded naked.

--- ENDS ---
(Adds details on meeting with economists)

By Andrea Hopkins and Alastair Sharp

OTTAWA/TORONTO, Oct 13 (Reuters) - The Canadian government will closely watch the country's housing market but has no imminent plans for further cooling measures, its finance minister said on Thursday, as data showed prices were still on the rise.

Canadian resale home prices rose in September, while new home prices were up in August, separate reports showed, suggesting that slowing sales in some regions have not cooled prices.

Low borrowing costs have kept Canada's housing market robust since the financial crisis, but surging prices in Toronto and Vancouver have fueled concerns about a potential housing bubble.

Canada's Liberal government tightened mortgage rules and closed a tax loophole on home sales earlier this month in its latest bid to cool the market.

Finance Minister Bill Morneau told reporters in Toronto, after meeting economists for pre-budget consultations, that the government did not have more measures to announce imminently.

"We will remain vigilant in watching the market to ensure that it is stable for the long-term," he said.

The government will release an economic and fiscal update this fall.

Doug Porter, chief economist at BMO Capital Markets, said he and some others at the meeting counseled the government to be patient as its stimulus announced earlier this year takes hold, rather than embarking on fresh measures.

"They should keep some resources at bay in case we run into some serious heavy weather in the years ahead," Porter said.

Some thought more stimulus was appropriate, while others advocated for a return to balanced budgets in the medium-term, he added.

In a research note, economists at TD cautioned against taking stimulus actions that would significantly deepen the deficit. TD said the deficit for the current fiscal year was on track to hit C$34 billion ($25.58 billion), bigger than the government forecast of C$29.4 billion.

Morneau said it was impossible to say precisely what the economic impact of the new housing measures would be and expected they would ensure Canadians take on appropriate mortgages. Stress tests for insured home buyers will come into effect on Monday.

Story continues

Prices for repeat sales of single-family Canadian homes rose 0.8 percent in September from August as the Toronto market continued to soar, according to the Teranet-National Bank Composite House Price Index.

A separate report from Statistics Canada showed prices for new homes rose 0.2 percent in August.

($1 = 1.3290 Canadian dollars) (Additional reporting by David Ljunggren and Leah Schnurr in Ottawa; Editing by Chris Reese and Richard Chang)
Photo credit: (FABIOLA LARA)

From LennyLetter

Military service taught me important lessons about what it means to be a leader. Sometimes, those lessons came up when I least expected them - like on one winter day, while I was a lieutenant stationed outside Chicago, when I decided to provide hot cocoa for my platoon.

Back then, I was the only woman serving in my unit - and I was in the habit of avoiding doing or saying anything that would make me appear less tough than the men around me. When I was learning to be a helicopter pilot, I flew more simulation hours than any other student in my class, and as a result, I earned the top score on an important check ride. Even though I'd succeeded because I'd done my homework, one of the guys tried to insist I'd had an easy flight examiner. The class leader, who was a tanker in Desert Storm, spoke up for me and pointed out that unlike my critic, I'd been practicing in the flight simulator every night for the past three months.

Like many women, I felt like I had to work harder in order to be as successful as the men around me. It led to my having a bit of a chip on my shoulder, and I tried to show I could work harder, stay longer, and fly more and tougher missions.

Like many women, I felt like I had to work harder in order to be as successful as the men around me.

When you fly helicopters like I did, you have to pay attention to the details and take good care of your crew, especially when the weather gets bad. I appreciated their hard work, and as their boss, I wanted to make a tough task a little easier, so I requisitioned hot drinks, including hot cocoa, for them. It seemed like the right thing to do, and I didn't think much of it.

That is, until the name-calling started. Another unit's leader tried to make fun of me, calling me "Mommy Platoon Leader." And, caught up in my own insecurities, I took the insult as an offense. Their words made me feel like I wasn't perceived as being tough enough and, even worse, made me feel embarrassed about doing something that reinforced their stereotypes about women. I didn't want to be perceived as a "woman leader," because I knew that to some, being a woman was synonymous with being weak or just different. So I stopped requisitioning the hot drinks.

Story continues

But, looking back on the experience, I realized I was missing the point. By listening to the people who called me names and changing my behavior in reaction to them, I was actually being less of a leader. My idea to provide my platoon with uncaffeinated, warm drinks was a good one. I empathized with my crew. As their leader, I thought of a simple way to make a day of hard work a little bit easier.

When I was promoted to the rank of captain and felt more secure, I realized that I needed to do a better job taking care of my soldiers. Instead of making sure they got adequate rest and the support they needed, I'd been too hung up on trying to outdo others, and it was affecting the readiness of my crews. I needed to stop listening to my ego and start sticking with my instincts.

I needed to stop listening to my ego and start sticking with my instincts.

With that in mind, when we went out on trips and members of the group wanted to go out at night, I didn't want to be a killjoy. But I also realized that I wasn't doing any favors for the quieter people in my unit who wanted to get some rest. If the one woman present was out hanging with the guys, they felt like they couldn't "wuss out" by staying in the barracks. So I started insisting on driving at least one of our vehicles back early. I didn't care if others called me an "old woman" or made fun of me - there were always guys who wanted to ride back with me.

When we change ourselves to accommodate other people's false assumptions, we miss out on opportunities to challenge stereotypes and lead by example. In Congress, I've seen women's leadership in action. As a veteran, as a woman, and as a parent, I've been able to advocate for women and families whose voices aren't always heard in the halls of power.

When we change ourselves to accommodate other people's false assumptions, we miss out on opportunities to challenge stereotypes and lead by example.

The Army taught me that "rank has its privileges, but also its responsibilities." Loyalty goes both ways, and as a member of Congress, I know how important it is to take care of the people who work for me. I make sure that staffers are able to take time off for illness or for military service. I also instituted paid volunteer days in my congressional office. Women so often volunteer in addition to all their other responsibilities, and I wanted to encourage a spirit of volunteerism among all staff.

After my daughter was born, I found that airports presented one of my biggest challenges as a working mother. It was often difficult or even impossible to find a clean, private space to breastfeed while traveling. So I introduced the Friendly Airports for Mothers Act to ensure that all airports provide a place for traveling mothers to breastfeed or pump breast milk.

This year, I'm running for US Senate because our country needs these perspectives in policy debates more than ever. Taking good care of people and making sure they have the resources they need to do their jobs well is a hallmark of strong leadership. Caretaking shouldn't just be associated with women, and it certainly shouldn't be associated with weakness - it should be associated with strength.

Congresswoman Tammy Duckworth is running to represent Illinois in the US Senate.
* Serbian central bank holds fire, dinar steadies * Stocks ease as Chinese data ups risk aversion * Hungary's bond auction draws good demand, yields drop * Czech 2-year bond yield dips below Bund equivalent (Adds fall of Polish bank stocks) By Sandor Peto BUDAPEST, Oct 13 (Reuters) - Central European stocks fell and government bonds firmed on Thursday as weak Chinese trade figures sapped investors' appetite for risk.

The dinar was steady at 123.15 against the euro at 1500 GMT, after the Serbian central bank kept its 4 percent benchmark interest rate on hold, citing uncertainty over monetary policy in the United States and the euro zone.

Romania's leu also steadied, although it is seen remaining under pressure over worries about a draft law on the conversion of Swiss franc mortgages.

Warsaw's blue-chip stock index shed 1.9 percent. Polish stocks extended their losses after financial regulator KNF said banks faced bigger-than-expected costs from planned legislation to force them to return "excessive" currency conversion spreads to clients.

Shares in Pekao fell more than 5 percent as a 90-day lock-up by UniCredit on its 40 percent stake in the Polish lender has ended, traders said.

A recent rise in yields ensured robust demand at a Hungarian government bond auction, with Hungary selling 86 billion forints ($316.41 million) worth of bonds, twice as much as planned.

The bonds have become attractive after a 15 to 20 basis point rise in their yields in recent weeks. Yields dropped by 2 to 3 basis points on Thursday, with the three-year paper trading at 1.36 percent.

Hungarian bonds are expected to receive additional support from a central bank measure which will limit funds in its three-month deposit facility from late this month.

The same measure, which is aimed at boosting liquidity in interbank markets, may weigh on the forint.

Hungary's currency eased 0.2 percent against the euro, but is still near 17-month highs reached last week, buoyed by a Standard & Poor's credit rating upgrade last month.

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Czech government bonds, which have ultra-low yields, joined the regional trend, with the two-year benchmark trading near record-low yields. It dropped 2 basis points to -0.68 percent, below corresponding Bund yields, with the crown stuck at the central bank's cap of 27 per euro.

Central bank governor Jiri Rusnok reaffirmed a "hard commitment" late on Wednesday that it will not drop the floor on its crown range before the second quarter of 2017. The bank has bought billions of euros in the last few months.

"Flow into the crown looks strong and constant at the moment," one dealer said.

CEE SNAP AT 1700 MARKETS SHOT CET CURRENCIES Late Prev Dail Chan st ious y ge bid clos chan in e ge 2016 Czech 260 260 00% 0% Hungary 0600 5300 7% % Polish 75 50 17% 2% Romanian 30 01 7% % Croatian 80 81 00% % Serbian 1500 1300 2% 6% Note: calcula prev clos 1800 daily ted ious e at CET change from STOC KS Late Prev Dail Chan st ious y ge clos chan in e ge 2016 Prague 886. 890. -0.4 -7.2 64 74 6% 9% Budapest 2814 2839 -0.9 +17 0.87 6.87 0% .64% Warsaw .55 .43 7% 8% Buchares 6858 6919 -0.8 -2.0 t .69 .39 8% 8% Ljubljan 57 62 4% 37% Zagreb .69 .88 6% .69% Belgrade 13 86 20% 4% Sofia 34 24 22% .73% BOND S Yiel Yiel Spre Dail d d ad y (bid chan vs chan ) ge Bund ge in Czech spre Republic ad 2-year 84 22 bps s 5-year 25 06 6bps ps 8 16 0bps ps Poland 2-year 2 13 2bps s 5-year 3 4 2bps s 7 29 0bps ps FORWARD RATE AGREEMENT 3x6 6x9 9x12 3M inte rban k Czech (PRIBO R=) Hungary (BUBOR =) Poland (PLNFRA 1.74 1.74 1.73 1.72 )(WIBOR =) Note: are for FRA ask quotes prices ***************************************** ********************* ($1 = 271.8000 forints) (Additional reporting by Jason Hovet and Robert Muller in Prague/Marcin Goettig in Warsaw; Editing by Catherine Evans)
By Amanda Calvo MADRID (Reuters) - A centuries-old tapestry factory in Spain has come back from the brink of bankruptcy after an injection of public money, a debt restructuring plan and its biggest order in 200 years - a German commission for dozens of tapestries. The turnaround of the 296-year-old Royal Tapestry Factory in Madrid is a rare bright spot for Spanish companies facing insolvency. Nearly 50,000 businesses have entered administration since the start of the country's economic downturn in 2008. The market for hand-woven tapestries and rugs plummeted during Spain's financial crisis, with key clients like the government crippled by spending cuts. Just one square meter costs thousands of euros and months of skilled work to weave, depending on the amount of silk, wool and gold and silver thread used in a process that has barely changed since the 18th century. From shelves of wool to workers weaving by hand and a designer working on a pattern, a Reuters photographic essay captures the process at http://reut.rs/2dmwfav Twenty years ago the factory changed status from private business to foundation in the hope of preserving the craft. But years of losses pushed it close to going into administration last year. "It was now or never," said Maria Pardo, a Madrid city council official who announced, together with the regional government and the Ministry of Culture, an increase in annual subsidies to 1.5 million euros ($1.7 million) next year from 900,000 euros this year. Prior to 2015, the factory barely received any public money. The cash enabled the factory, which restores historical pieces as well as taking on new orders, to cover delayed salary payments. A restructuring of bank debt and a focus on international sales have also helped turn around the business. The revived company, which holds a priceless collection of tapestry templates by Spanish artists such as Francisco de Goya, has increased staff this year to 60 from 36 to deal with new orders. The German regional government of Saxony has recently commissioned 32 tapestries, the factory's biggest order in the last two centuries. Long-standing staff went unpaid for months last year while the factory's future hung in the balance. "We struggled a lot. I own my home but there were people who had mortgages and they suffered even more," said Jose Antonio Carbajal, 59, pushing down the silk threads of a soaring 21 square meter (69 square foot) tapestry of the 1982 Sabra and Shatila massacre in Beirut commissioned by a Lebanese client. It is expected to take three years to complete. For now Carbajal, who has worked at the factory for over four decades, remains hopeful that his job is secure, alongside dozens of staff painstakingly working yarn in a hundred-year-old listed red brick building in the center of Madrid. "I was told this industry wouldn't last beyond tomorrow," said Carbajal who is hoping to retire soon. "It's been 43 years and I'm still here." (Reporting by Amanda Calvo; Editing by Sonya Dowsett/Jeremy Gaunt)
Shares of Chatham Lodging Trust CLDT have witnessed around a 4.9% decline over the past two days. Shares fell after the company declared a drop in its RevPAR (revenue per available room) in third-quarter 2016 and cut in its projections.



The company now estimates third-quarter adjusted funds from operations (FFO) per share of 7071 cents, adjusted EBITDA of $37.0$37.5 million and RevPAR decline of 2.1%. It had earlier expected adjusted FFO per share in the range of 7275 cents, adjusted EBITDA of $38.0$39.5 million and RevPAR growth of -1.0 to +1.0% for the quarter.



This lodging real estate investment trust (REIT) blamed lower GDP growth for this adverse impact on RevPAR. Poor GDP growth has been preventing business travels. Moreover, the company also attributed new supply and reduced demand in oil-industry influenced markets, like Houston and western Pennsylvania, for this weak RevPAR performance. Its six hotels in these markets have experienced a 21% plunge in RevPAR, affecting the companys RevPAR by about 200 basis points.



Along with weak RevPAR performance, the company also faced increased wage pressures and mounting guest acquisition expenses, mainly from online travel agency commissions. All these factors led to the cut in the projections for adjusted EBITDA and FFO per share.



Notably, Chatham Lodging Trust is slated to release its third-quarter results before the market opens on Nov 3. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the third-quarter FFO per share is currently pegged at 71 cents, which reflects a decline of 6.6% from a year ago. Moreover, the company presently has a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell).

CHATHAM LODGING Price

CHATHAM LODGING Price | CHATHAM LODGING Quote

However, investors interested in the REIT industry can also consider stocks like Arbor Realty Trust Inc. ABR, Crown Castle International Corp. CCI and InfraREIT, Inc. HIFR. All of them have a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.



Arbor Realty Trust has exceeded estimates in three out of the trailing four quarters with an average surprise of 32.33% while Crown Castle has witnessed an upward revision of 2 cents over the past two months, in its 2016 estimate, to $4.45. On the other hand, InfraREIT has a long-term expected growth rate of 10% against the industry average of 5.8%.



Note: FFO, a widely used metric to gauge the performance of REITs, is obtained after adding depreciation and amortization and other non-cash expenses to net income. All EPS numbers presented in this write up represent FFO per share.



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SINGAPORE, Oct 13 (Reuters) - Chevron Corp could this month start selling condensate produced at the Australian Gorgon gas field, trade sources said on Thursday.

Chevron could market a 600,000-650,000-barrel cargo for loading in December, they said, although the company is still finalising some details.

The firm did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

It started operations at the Gorgon field in March, but was forced to shut briefly in July due to unexpected technical problems.

The introduction of the new condensate comes at a time when demand for the light oil is rising as two new splitters in South Korea and Qatar have started trial runs.

Gorgon condensate has an API gravity of about 52.9 degrees and a sulphur content of 0.0088 percent, the two sources said, declining to be identified as they were not authorised to speak with media.

Splitters process condensate to obtain mainly naphtha for petrochemical production.

(Reporting by Florence Tan)
Chevron Corporation CVX, the second-largest U.S. oil producer, recently confirmed that it is contemplating the sale of its natural gas assets in Bangladesh to counter weak commodity prices. The assets that are likely to be sold produce natural gas and condensate from three fields in the northeast of the country.

In Bangladesh, Chevron operates the Bibiyana, Jalalabad and Moulavi Bazar fields. Moreover, the company sells all the production to state oil company Petrobangla. Its net daily production last year averaged 720 million cubic feet of natural gas and 3,000 barrels of condensate.

According to Bloomberg reports, Chevron is seeking about $2 billion from the potential sale of natural gas assets in Bangladesh. Notably, the proposed sale has drawn interest of several Indian and Chinese oil producers. WTI crude oil is trading around $50 per barrel, much lower than the $90$100 per barrel mark reached just a few years ago. On the other hand, natural gas is being sold at around $3/MMBtu. As a result of the persistent weakness in commodity prices, the companys earnings and cash flows have been severely affected.

Chevrons upstream unit, which is its largest earnings generating segment, was the worst hit by the ongoing oil price slump, as its results are directly influenced by commodity price movements. Also, these negatives led to Chevrons biggest quarterly loss since 2001 as indicated by its announcement in July.

Hence, Chevron has been selling assets to raise money and counter the losses. In October last year, the company disclosed plans to sell about $10 billion of assets by 2017.

CHEVRON CORP Price

CHEVRON CORP Price | CHEVRON CORP Quote

San Ramon, CA-based Chevron is one of the largest global publicly traded oil and gas companies, based on proved reserves. It is engaged in oil and gas exploration and production, refining and marketing of petroleum products, manufacturing of chemicals, and other energy-related businesses.

Story continues

Chevron currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold), which implies that the stock will perform in line with the broader U.S. equity market over the next one to three months.

Some better-ranked players in the broader energy sector include Evolution Petroleum Corp. EPM, Ultra Petroleum Corp. UPLMQ and Bill Barrett Corp. BBG. All these stocks sport a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

In the last four quarters, Evolution Petroleum posted an average positive earnings surprise of 45.84%.

Ultra Petroleum, on the other hand, posted an average positive earnings surprise of 65.91% in the last four quarters.

In the current quarter, Bill Barrett posted a positive earnings surprise of 71.46%.

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By Timothy Mclaughlin

CHICAGO, Oct 13 (Reuters) - A Chicago-based disability rights group on Thursday filed a federal lawsuit against Uber Technologies Inc alleging that the ride-hailing company has violated wheelchair accessibility laws.

The lawsuit, filed by Access Living of Metropolitan Chicago and three disabled people associated with the group, alleges that Uber fails to provide vehicles equipped to handle wheelchairs and is seeking an order to bring the company into compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Uber did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Out of millions of rides, the company has provided just a handful to disabled users requiring wheelchair accessible vehicles since launching in the city in 2011, the lawsuit claims.

Uber's "service to people who require wheelchair accessible vehicles ranges from token to non-existent," court documents said.

"That position threatens a return to the isolation and segregation that the disability rights movement has fought to overcome," the documents added.

According to the lawsuit, from September 2011, when Uber began operating in Chicago, to August 2015, the company provided just 14 rides to motorized wheelchair users requiring wheelchair accessible vehicles. It did this by connecting riders with wheelchair accessible taxi services, a blog from the company said.

By comparison, court documents said, Uber provided nearly 5.5 million rides from April to June 2015 in Chicago, the third largest U.S. city.

In May, Uber launched uberWAV in Chicago, which provides riders with vehicles equipped with wheelchair ramps or lifts and uberASSIST, designed for people who need additional assistance while using the ride-hailing service.

At the time, the company acknowledged that it needed to increase disability access in the city and said that it "won't happen overnight."

During an August meeting with Uber officials that included a demonstration of the app, court documents said, the program showed there were no wheelchair accessible vehicles operating in Chicago at the time. Charles Petrof, Access Disability's lawyer, said on Thursday this continues to be an issue.

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Taxi operators in Chicago with more than 20 cabs must maintain at least 5 percent as accessible vehicles, according to city ordinance. The city also provides financial incentives for wheelchair accessible taxis.

The San Francisco-based Uber has faced questions over accessibility for riders in the past.

Last July, Massachusetts attorney general's office began examining how Uber, and its rival, Lyft, ensure equal access for people with disabilities.

Uber is also facing dozens of lawsuits across the country challenging its status as an employer and the way it compensates its drivers.

(Reporting by Timothy Mclaughlin; Editing by Sandra Maler)
By PTI: Bhopal, Oct 13 (PTI) Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan today said the Shaurya Smarak, to be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi tomorrow, here would apprise people, especially the younger generation, of the valour and sacrifices of those guarding Indias borders.

"I always cherished a dream that Bhopal should have a grand and unique Shaurya Smarak that would apprise the people, especially the younger generation of the valour and sacrifices made by the sentinels of our borders besides filling them with spirit of patriotism," Chouhan said in a blog on the occasion.

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"Our history is replete with glorious sagas of brave sons and daughters of the land. They are household names and favourite characters of our folklores for eons. These all symbolise our gratitude to them," he said.

"It is a matter of pride that Prime Minister Narendra Modi, a great patriot committed to all round development of the country, is going to inaugurate the memorial," he said, adding, "Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar will also grace the function. Our endeavour is to ensure presence of chiefs of three forces of the country on this historic occasion."

Built on 12.67 acre at a cost of Rs 41 crore, the memorial has been conceptualised very imaginatively. It has been envisaged as a journey through the various experiences of life, war, death and liberation of spirit (victory over death), all exhibited through an extremely non-archetypal design, he said.

"The forms, volumes and textures conceived in each of these zones depict, metaphorically, various aspects of this journey. Designed as a quasi-subterranean structure that is more submerged than visible on ground, it is indeed to influence the mind and soul of the visitor by being contemplative in spirit.

"The 62-feet high Shaurya Stambh, rising from the ground, depicts the life of a soldier, built on a foundation of inner strength and courage. Their sacrifices at various stages of life and ultimately of life itself are displayed very vividly.

"The traditional eternal lamp Amar Jyoti, lit in reverence to the martyrs, is represented by a state-of-the-art holographic image at the memorial. An Interpretation Centre has been set up on the premises, designed as a semi-open congregation space with an information display system, explaining the essence of the memorial and providing a preview to visitors before physically experiencing it," Chouhan said. (MORE) PTI MAS LAL DK KIS RDS

--- ENDS ---
By Zabihullah Noori and Sally Hayden LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - The fate of up to 1,000 children living without families in the "Jungle" migrant camp that is set for demolition within days remains uncertain with some seeking smugglers to take them to Britain, according to residents and charity groups. The filthy, ramshackle camp has become a symbol of Europe's struggle to respond to an influx of migrants fleeing war and poverty and is home to more than 6,000 people dreaming of coming to Britain, just 21 miles (33 km) across the English Channel. An estimated 1,000 unaccompanied children are currently living in the Jungle of which around 180 have been identified as having family ties to Britain. Afghan teenager Nasir said many of the unaccompanied children were fearful of what would happen to them when the camp closes which has spurred many to seek out smugglers who are charging up to 3,000 pounds ($3,661) for passage to Britain. "An agent asked me for 3,000 pounds to put me in a refrigerated lorry and get me to the UK in two days but I don't have money," Nasir, 16, who did not give his last name, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation by phone from Calais. "Not only me, but every one in the camp is really worried ... They say the camp will be shut on Monday." Britain's anti-slavery commissioner Kevin Hyland has warned that children were turning to smuggling gangs rather than official routes to claim asylum or to join relatives in Britain as he called for ministers to do more to help lone youngsters. Despite a group of charities asking a court to halt the closure, French asylum chief Pascal Brice said on Thursday plans to dismantle the camp will go ahead to "take people out of the slums". The French government has undertaken to resettle the migrants from the Jungle to small reception centers throughout the country and wants to close the camp by the end of the month. "Calais is over, it's finished," said Brice, the director of Ofpra, the agency in charge of handling asylum requests in France, referring to the makeshift camp. "What is at stake is for this message to get across and for people to realize there's no point in going there." RISING TENSION Uncertainty about exactly when the camp might close, fueled by a lack of information from the authorities, has heightened tensions among all the camp's residents. "No one knows what's going on. There's been no official information. That's the crux of the whole problem," said Kirstin Shirling, working on the Refugee Info Bus, which was set up to dispense information to migrants and refugees in the camp. The British volunteer is concerned the demolition of the camp, which shelters migrants mainly from Afghanistan, Sudan, Eritrea and Syria, will be quick and volunteers will not be allowed on site once it begins. Britain had been accused of dragging its heels on helping move unaccompanied children from the Jungle and the United Nations children's agency UNICEF urged the government to speed up the transfer of children as the camp closes. On Monday, Britain's home secretary (interior minister) Amber Rudd said the UK would honor a commitment to take in migrant children from the camp and urged Paris to help speed up the process. Under European Union rules, asylum seekers must make a claim in the first country they reach but unaccompanied children can have their applications examined in another country if, for example, they have relatives there. But many children, like Nasir, are unaware that they may qualify to have their asylum claim heard in Britain. The issue came to light last month following reports that a 14-year-old Afghan boy  said to have a legal right to travel to Britain  was killed in a hit-and-run accident as he tried to climb onto the roof of a lorry near Calais. "I have my uncle in the UK, but I don't know whether they will take me," said Nasir, who has tried unsuccessfully several times to get to Britain. "I will keep trying myself until they force us to leave the camp." Rudd said more than 80 unaccompanied children have been accepted for transfer this year under this rule and called on France to come up with a list of those who are also eligible. The Home Office said in an email to the Thomson Reuters Foundation it would send two teams of officials to Calais to work alongside French officials to speed up work on the list and to identify and prioritize children who could come to Britain. (Reporting by Zabihullah Noori and Sally Hayden. Editing by Katie Nguyen and Astrid Zweynert. Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, women's rights, trafficking, property rights and climate change. Visit http://news.trust.org)
ST PETERSBURG, Russia (Reuters) - A Russian firm has caused a stir after putting on sale a children's bed in the shape of a Buk missile launcher of the kind that shot down a Malaysian Airlines passenger jet in eastern Ukraine in 2014. International prosecutors said last month the airliner had been shot down by a Buk missile fired from a village held by pro-Russian rebels. Moscow denies any involvement and points the finger at the Ukrainian army. All 298 people on board flight MH17, most of them Dutch, were killed. The children's bed, made by the company in St Petersburg, has angered many Russian consumers who have vented their spleen online complaining that it is in bad taste. But Anton Koppel, who runs CaroBus, which makes unusual furniture for children, shrugged off any political overtones as he spoke next to a camouflage-colored bed crafted to look like the Buk surface-to-air self-propelled launcher. Retailing at 11,000 rubles ($176.78) at a shopping center in St Petersburg, Russia's second city, the bed has a red star and Russia's tricolor flag. But instead of "Buk" it bears the name "Defender" - a concession to angry consumers. "We didn't want to traumatize people, many people wrote about this being related to the situation in the Donbass (separatist region), to the downed plane and other horrific things, but this is not what we think," Koppel told Reuters. He said the bed's frame was simply a design that had proved popular with customers. "This is simply a military vehicle which looks really cool. But nevertheless, we understand that people can be different, we appreciate their interest in this. And of course, we didn't mean to traumatize anyone and we simply renamed it Defender." (Reporting by Reuters Television; Writing by Dmitry Solovyov; Editing by Jack Stubbs)
Asia has reportedly produced a new billionaire every week.

Well, it turns out to be much faster than that.

A new report by UBS and PricewaterhouseCoopers found that one billionaire pops up in Asia every three days, outpacing all other regions in the world.

China accounted for 71% of Asia's new billionaires in 2015, up from 35% in 2009, according to the report, which has analyzed data covering more than 1,300 billionaires over the past two decades.

Billionaires

Of 113 Asian entrepreneurs who reached billionaire status last year, 80 of them are from China, the report says. That's more than half of the world's total count, and means China gains a new billionaire every five days.

Last September, the government earmarked innovation reform as a priority. "Promoting entrepreneurship and innovation will offer college graduates opportunities for fair competition no matter where in the country they come from," Premier Li Keqiang said in a meeting with tech companies.

This fosters a favorable environment for young Chinese entrepreneurs to get rich fast, according to the report.

Here is UBS-PwC:

"Almost half of these came from the technology (19%), consumer & retail (15%) and real estate (15%) sectors. E-commerce businesses are in the ascendancy. At the same time, many of the countrys wealthy are diversifying out of their existing businesses into real estate. Moreover, Chinas urbanization and increasing consumer spending have fostered an environment where businesses are growing fast."

Outside China, but still in Asia, Hong Kong and India had the highest number of new billionaires at 11 each, according to the report.

Meanwhile, Europe was home to 56 new billionaires. Most European billionaires inherited their wealth, which was almost unchanged from the previous year at $1.3 trillion.

The count of new US billionaires was relatively stagnant. While 41 people achieving billionaire status last year, 36 dropped out of the group, according to the report.

Story continues

Of note, one key difference between US self-made billionaires and the rest of the world is that they tend to cash out or pass much of their wealth to philanthropies, said Steven Crosby, senior managing director of global private banking and wealth management at PwC.

In Europe, there's a much stronger family dynasty culture, thanks to a shared vision and clear governance, the report says.

NOW WATCH: Things are getting worse for Wells Fargo and now the FBI is getting involved





More From Business Insider


BEIJING (Reuters) - China expressed anger on Thursday after Britain's foreign minister said he continued to have concerns about legal interference by Beijing in Hong Kong despite pledges to the contrary. British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said in a report on its former colony that he had specific concerns about the "integrity of Hong Kong's law enforcement" which is separate from mainland China under the "one country, two systems" arrangement under which Hong Kong returned to China in 1997. Johnson said the case of Lee Bo and four other Hong Kong booksellers who went missing and were subsequently found to have been detained by China was a serious breach of the Sino-British joint declaration on Hong Kong that undermined "one country, two systems". "Although Lee Po has now returned to Hong Kong, the issues raised by the case remain of concern," he said, using an alternate spelling for Lee's name. The controversy over the Hong Kong booksellers erupted last year when the five men associated with a Hong Kong store that had specialized in gossipy books about China's leaders, including President Xi Jinping, disappeared. Such books are banned on the mainland, but legal in Hong Kong. China has denied wrongdoing. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said China was "resolutely opposed" to Britain's report, and that it could not accept its "unfounded criticism" of China. He said Hong Kong people enjoyed full rights and freedom under law. "Hong Kong is China's domestic affair. Foreign countries have no right to interfere," Geng told a daily news briefing in Beijing. "We demand that Britain be discreet with its words and stop interfering in Hong Kong affairs." Hong Kong's government also rejected the report, saying foreign governments should not interfere in its affairs. (Reporting by Michael Martina; Additional reporting by Farah Master in Hong Kong; Writing by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Nick Macfie)
BEIJING, Oct 13 (Reuters) - China's September exports fell 10 percent from a year earlier, far more than markets had expected, while imports unexpectedly shrank 1.9 percent after an encouraging bump up in August, official data showed on Thursday.

That left the country with a trade surplus of $41.99 billion for the month, the General Administration of Customs said.

China's exports in the first nine months of the year fell 7.5 percent from the same period a year earlier, while imports dropped 8.2 percent.

Analysts polled by Reuters had expected imports to rise 1 percent, after unexpectedly expanding 1.5 percent in August for the first time in nearly two years on stronger demand for coal, iron ore and other resources which are feeding a construction boom.

Exports had been expected to fall 3 percent, slightly worse than in August as global demand for Asian goods remains stubbornly weak.

Analysts had expected the trade surplus to expand to $53 billion in September from August's $52.05 billion.

(Reporting by Yawen Chen and Kevin Yao; Editing by Kim Coghill)
By Yawen Chen and Kevin Yao

BEIJING (Reuters) - China's September exports fell 10 percent from a year earlier, far worse than expected, while imports unexpectedly shrank after picking up in August, suggesting signs of steadying in the world's second-largest economy may be short-lived.

The disappointing trade figures pointed to weaker demand both at home and aboard, and deepened concerns over the latest depreciation in China's yuan currency, which hit a fresh six-year low against a firming U.S. dollar on Thursday.

"This comes on the heels of weak South Korean trade data, and it definitely make us worry about to what extent global demand is improving," said Luis Kujis, head of Asia economics at Oxford Economics in Hong Kong.

Asian stocks tumbled to three-week lows and U.S. stock futures and Treasury yields fell after the data, while copper prices in London slipped. China's exports had been expected to fall 3 percent, slightly worse than in August, as global demand for Asian goods remains stubbornly weak despite heading into what is usually the peak year-end shopping season.

Weaker demand for Chinese goods was seen in nearly all of its major markets in the U.S., Europe and much of Asia.

Imports shrank 1.9 percent, dashing hopes for a second rise in a row. Imports had unexpectedly grown 1.5 percent in August, the first expansion in nearly two years, on stronger demand for coal and commodities such as iron ore which are feeding a construction boom.

That left China with a trade surplus of $41.99 billion for the month, the lowest in six months, the General Administration of Customs said on Thursday. Analysts had expected it to expand slightly to $53 billion.

The weaker trade readings could raise concerns about the other September data and third-quarter GDP over the coming week. Economists had expected that data to show the economy was stabilising and perhaps even slowly picking up.

The import reversal raises questions over the strength of the recent recovery in domestic demand, Julian Evans-Pritchard at Capital Economics said in a note.

Story continues

"This could be an early sign that the recent recovery in economic activity is losing momentum, although we would caution against reading too much into a single data point given the volatility of the trade figures," he said.

"The continued underwhelming performance of Chinese exports adds weight to our view that the Peoples Bank will maintain its recent policy of gradual trade-weighted renminbi (yuan) depreciation in coming quarters," he added.

Last month, the World Trade Organization cut its forecast for global trade growth this year by more than a third to 1.7 percent, reflecting a slowdown in China and falling levels of imports into the United States.

"Sluggish external demand will continue to weigh on China's trade outlook, given downside risks stemming from the U.S. election to the UKs execution of the Brexit process. We do not foresee exports being a growth driver of the Chinese economy over the next few quarters," ANZ economists said in a note.

Not even a sharp increase in China's Apple iPhone shipments could offset the broad-based downturn in September, ANZ added.

DOUBTS ABOUT RECOVERY

To be sure, China's imports of crude oil rose 18 percent on-year to a daily record, while iron ore purchases surged to the second highest on record, suggesting its demand for global commodities is hardly falling off a cliff.

Steel mills, in particular, appear to be running hot to meet demand from a housing boom and government infrastructure projects, which are driving higher profits though complicating government efforts to cut excess capacity.

But copper, coal and soybean imports all fell from August.

"China imported too much copper in the beginning of this year," said Chris Wu, an analyst at CRU Beijing, a metals consulting firm. "The lagging effect from the property market is still helping with some of the end use sectors for example wire and cables and white goods, but we are afraid the boom is close to the end."

A Customs spokesperson said on Thursday rising imports of oil and other commodities showed demand is improving, adding that the government's trade policies is having positive effects.

After a rough start to the year, China's economy has shown signs of steadying thanks largely to the building boom, but some analysts warn the housing frenzy may be peaking as more cities impose restrictions on home buying to keep prices from overheating.

Data have also highlighted increasing imbalances in China's economy, with growth increasingly reliant on government spending as private investment falls to record lows. Larger state firms are expanding, likely thanks to Beijing's largesse, but smaller manufacturers continue to struggle.

(Reporting by Yawen Chen and Kevin Yao; Editing by Kim Coghill)
By Alan Valdes, director of floor operations at Silverbear

We didnt wake up to any surprises this morning. Chinese exports came in at -10% for the month, a number in range with what most on Wall Street had been expecting. The handwriting on the wall for the last quarter had been pointing to a rather large disappointment. However to see that number (-10%) based on US dollars was a eye opener.

Chinese imports also came in down, at -1.9%. This just highlights the problems the next president is going to have. This is not just a Chinese problem. Its a global problem, and its getting worse across the pond in the eurozone. Germany, the biggest economy in the 19-member block, had industrial production pulling back the most in 23 months. Like China, exports were weak. Italy, the blocks third biggest economy, cut its forecast for this quarter, and it also has a major election this year in which, like Britain, they will be debating whether to leave the European Union. As of today, the vote is too close to call. Meanwhile, since Brexit, things have begun to slow down in Britain, and its general economy looks to be contracting in the next quarter.

We often talk about the price of oil, which is down about 60% from the highs. We blame the worldwide glut of oil, but we often fail to mention that worldwide industrial production is falling off around the world.

This past summer, Hanjin Shipping, South Koreas biggest container line, filed for bankruptcy. The shipper, which is 6.1 trillion won in debt, was the worlds seventh biggest container line. Hanjin spokesperson blamed the slowdown in worldwide trade.

Here in the US, freight train giant CSX just beat analysts projections for the quarter. However, compared to last year, things have gotten worse for the freight train carrier. Revenue was down 8%, volume was likewise down 8%, and income was down from $3 billion in the first quarter of 2015 to $2.71 billion this quarter. The company will need more than just coal to get back on track (pardon the pun) for real growth to return.

Story continues

We cant expect to see sustainable growth in the US with just a minuscule 1.3% GDP. Unfortunately, none of the candidates running for president has really addressed the problem.

Yesterday, we saw more of the same from the Fed minutes. Harris Shapiro, editor of Focustrader.com, feels the Fed should have raised rates months ago. As the minutes show, the members cant seem to make up their minds. This continues to cause major problems for pension funds, baby bloomers and savers. After spending trillions and printing cheap money, all we have to show for it is that weak 1.3% GDP.

Friday will be another volatile day for markets. We get earnings from three of the major financials: Citi, Wells Fargo & JPMorgan. The banks are one of the groups that can really move markets one way or another, and most analysts are expecting a beat. If so, that will probably mean an up day in the marketsbut dont expect that to set the tone for much longer than a few days.
Total foreign reserves shrank by USD18.8bn to USD3,166.4bn in September.

China's foreign reserves will shrink further over the coming months as the PBoC continues to attempt to defend the Chinese yuan, which is still under significant downside pressure, said BMI Research.

According to the People's Bank of China (PBoC), total foreign reserves shrank by USD18.8bn to USD3,166.4bn in September, versus a contraction of USD15.9bn in August. The decline reflected the central bank's efforts to defend the CNY6.700/USD level when China was hosting the G20 summit in Hangzhou in early September and ahead of the SDR inclusion on October 1.

"We expect foreign reserves to decline further over the coming months, as the PBoC attempts to defend the Chinese yuan by depleting reserves. Indeed, we expect the CNY to weaken gradually against its trade-weighted peers over the coming months," it said

The yuan is still overvalued in real effective exchange rate (REER) terms, and it will continue to face capital outflows over the coming quarters amid an economy that is still in a prolonged deceleration and a fragile banking sector, it added.





More From Singapore Business Review


Pakistan banned at least 11 Christian TV stations. The local priests are calling this a searing blow to religious freedom in the nation.

By India Today Web Desk:

As many as 2.8 million Christians live in Pakistan, calling it their home. But the nation has ordered censoring of pro-Christian programmes after the country's television regulatory body declared the channels illegal.

One censored station, Catholic TV had broadcast a report about 42 adult Christians and 30 children killed in a suicide blast while celebrating Easter last March from Lahore. Its founder Father Morris Jalal said, "As citizens, Christians have the right to practice their religion, but if they block you, it means not all citizens are equal", according to an Express report.



"When someone bans the expression of faith, which is a fundamental right, there is persecution."

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The censorship has left the Christian minority in Pakistan with no public media presence after 17 years of having been allowed to broadcast across the nation.

"We must protest this decision, and we hope the West does it as well," Father Jalal said.

Speakers and activists across Pakistan have been raising their voices condemning this discriminatory decision which affects non-Muslims.

Other members of the local Christian community have also asked the government to revoke the measure, calling it an "act of intimidation" and an "attack to religious freedom".



CENSORSHIP AND BLASPHEMY

It comes as a 16-year-old Christian boy faces the death penalty after he was accused of maligning Islam in a Facebook post.

After a photo of the Kaaba in Mecca, one of the holiest sites in Islam, appeared on his Facebook profile, the boy was arrested and charged with blasphemy.

According to what locals have reported, the picture showed the holy site with a pig's head on top.

It is unclear if the boy posted the image or he was merely tagged in the post or liked the post. Nonetheless, under Pakistan's uncompromising blasphemy laws, the teenage faces the death penalty or a life sentence.



--- ENDS ---
Some offers an annual flexible credit line at 1-1.5% over LIBOR.

Chinese banks are stepping up lending to midsize metals traders in Singapore, pushing into a gap in the market as U.S. regulations and fading appetite for risk drive Western rivals to focus on larger commodity merchants, metals industry sources said.

The move adds to a broader push by Chinese banks overseas and comes as markets for metals such as zinc and aluminum show signs of revival after half-a-decade in the doldrums.

It is also likely to help efforts by the world's No. 2 economy to boost its influence in the region's supply chain, with Singapore a major hub for trade in base metals, used in everything from batteries to construction.

Three executives at medium-sized metals trading companies in Singapore told Reuters they had in the past few months been approached by Bank of China International (BOCI), a unit of Bank of China, with two of those securing new credit lines.

Those two borrowers said they had also been approached by the Singapore corporate unit of Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC). None of the executives wanted to be identified due to the sensitivity of the issue.

Here's more from Reuters.





More From Singapore Business Review


Netflix has nabbed Chris Rock for two new stand-up comedy specials, the streaming giant announced on Thursday.

The service shelled out the big bucks for Rock with insiders telling Variety the two-special-deal is worth a whopping $40 million. Amazon, Hulu and HBO  where he has a long history with his late-night series The Chris Rock Show  were also bidding for the specials.

The Netflix specials marks Rocks return to stand-up after an eight-year hiatus. Most recently, the comedian hosted the Oscars this year.

Chris Rock is a beloved actor and director, and his remarkable stand-up makes him comic royalty. There is no one like him, and Netflix offers the global platform and creative freedom that will serve as a perfect home for someone with his incredible talent, said Ted Sarandos, Netflix chief content officer.

Rock commented, Im very excited to be working with Ted and Lisa and all the good people at Netflix. I cant wait to get back on stage.

Rock is one of many high-profile comedians who have inked deals with Netflix for stand-up specials. The service has been home to projects from Aziz Ansari, Chelsea Handler, Patton Oswalt, Cedric the Entertainer, Iliza Shlesinger, Jeff Foxworthy and Larry the Cable Guy, Chris Tucker and David Cross, among others.

Increasingly, Netflix is becoming the preeminent destination for stand-up comedy, partnering with top-tier talent across a wide variety of styles and humor, enabling them to bring their fresh, distinctive and hilarious voices to our members in 190 countries around the world. Our members discover every day that we truly offer something for every comedy fan, and the comedians we partner with understand the power of having a direct line to our ever-growing global audience, said Lisa Nishimura, Netflixs VP of original documentary and comedy. Mentioning Oswalts Emmy win, she added, Coming on the heels of our first Emmy win in the category, now is the perfect time to take things to the next level with Chris Rock.

Story continues

Rock recently worked with Netflix, making in appearance in Bill Murrays special, A Very Murray Christmas.

Aside from the 2016 Oscars, for which Rock received generally positive reviews, he recently had a guest-starring role on Foxs Empire. He also directed HBOs comedy special last year, Amy Schumer: Live at the Apollo. Rock has won four Emmys, three Grammys and is an Oscar nominee. Some of his most notable credits include The Chris Rock Show, his scripted sitcom Everybody Hates Chris, which he created and narrated, plus Saturday Night Live from 1989 to 1993. On the film side, he starred in Grown Ups, Death at a Funeral, Head of State and the Madagascar franchise.

Cynthia Littleton contributed to this report.

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Chris Rock is ready to bring the pain again.

The Saturday Night Live alum is returning to stand-up comedy with two all-new specials on Netflix, the streaming service announced Thursday. And hes getting paid a pretty penny to do it: Rock will be paid a total of $40 million for the specials, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The specials will mark Rocks first stand-up shows in eight years; the first will tape next year, with a world tour to follow. (No premiere date has been set.)

RELATEDChris Rock Hosts the Oscars: Grade His Race-Conscious Opening Monologue

Rock is one of the most influential stand-up comedians of all time, winning an Emmy for his 1996 HBO special Bring the Pain and a pair of Grammys for 1999s Bigger & Blacker and 2004s Never Scared. Since then, hes concentrated on movies, with starring roles in Grown Ups, the animated Madagascar series, and the critically acclaimed Top Five, which he also wrote and directed. And oh yeah, he also hosted this years Academy Awards.

Chris Rock is a beloved actor and director, and his remarkable stand-up makes him comic royalty, Netflix chief content officer Ted Sarandos said in a statement. There is no one like him, and Netflix offers the global platform and creative freedom that will serve as a perfect home for someone with his incredible talent.

Excited to see Chris Rock back on the stand-up stage? Hit the comments and share your favorite Chris Rock bits.

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By Joseph Ax

PRINCETON, N.J. (Reuters) - A citizen's complaint against New Jersey Governor Chris Christie related to the "Bridgegate" lane-closure scandal can move forward, a judge ruled on Thursday, referring the case to state prosecutors to consider possible criminal charges.

Roy McGeady, the presiding judge for Bergen County municipal courts, found probable cause for the criminal complaint filed last month by Bill Brennan, an activist and retired firefighter, a court official confirmed.

The complaint of official misconduct accused Christie of knowing about a plot to close down lanes at the George Washington Bridge as an act of political payback. The governor has repeatedly denied any prior knowledge of the closures, which created massive traffic jams in northern New Jersey.

The ruling ratchets up the political pressure on Christie, who became a major supporter of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump after dropping his own White House bid and now heads his White House transition team.

The controversy surrounding the scandal, which has resulted in criminal charges against two of Christie's associates, helped scuttle his bid for the Republican presidential nomination and has eroded the governor's approval ratings in New Jersey.

The misconduct case now moves to the Bergen County Prosecutor's Office, which will decide whether enough evidence exists to support a criminal charge. "The office has no comment at this time," spokeswoman Maureen Parenta said in an email.

Brennan filed the complaint in municipal court in Fort Lee, New Jersey, where Christie allies were accused of deliberately causing a massive traffic jam in September 2013 by closing access lanes to the George Washington Bridge in order to punish the town's mayor. The bridge is a major link to New York City.

The two Christie associates - his former deputy chief of staff, Bridget Kelly, and former Port Authority of New York and New Jersey executive Bill Baroni - have been on trial in federal court in Newark, New Jersey, for their alleged roles in the scandal.

Story continues

Brennan's complaint was based on testimony from David Wildstein, another Port Authority executive who pleaded guilty in the case and has been cooperating with prosecutors, that Christie was aware of the lane closures at the time.

A Christie spokesman, Brian Murray, said the governor would appeal the ruling immediately.

"This is a dishonorable complaint filed by a known serial complainant and political activist with a history of abusing the judicial system," Murray said. "The simple fact is the governor had no knowledge of the lane realignments either before they happened or while they were happening. This matter has already been thoroughly investigated by three separate independent investigations."

Brennan has filed numerous complaints, as well as lawsuits, against various officials in New Jersey over the years.

Federal prosecutors have accused Kelly, Baroni and Wildstein of orchestrating the lane closures to send a message to Fort Lee Mayor Michael Sokolich after the Democrat refused to endorse Christie's 2013 gubernatorial re-election campaign.

At the time, Christie was already eyeing a White House run, and his advisers believed a show of bipartisan support would help enhance his national standing.

Christie, 54, was among the 17 Republicans who originally vied for the Republican presidential nomination, but he dropped out of the race in February after failing to gain traction in the early voting. He became one of eventual nominee Trumps staunchest supporters.

As head of the New York businessman's transition team, he would work to smooth the handover from Democratic President Barack Obama to Trump should Trump defeat Democrat Hillary Clinton in the Nov. 8 election.

U.S. prosecutors are nearing the end of their case against Kelly and Baroni after four weeks of testimony. Lawyers for the two defendants have argued that virtually the entire Christie administration was aware of the scheme and have portrayed Kelly and Baroni as scapegoats.

Both were expected to take the witness stand in their defense.

(Reporting by Joseph Ax; Editing by Frank McGurty and Jonathan Oatis)
By Rishika Sadam

(Reuters) - Aryaka, a provider of cloud-based private network for companies, plans to go public in 2018, aiming for a valuation of more than $1 billion, Chief Executive Shawn Farshchi said.

Aryaka, which helps enterprises connect branch offices around the world, expects annual recurring revenue of $50 million by the end of 2016, doubling to $102 million by the end of 2017, Farshchi said. Revenue in 2015 was about $24 million.

The company, whose more than 500 customers include audio products maker Skullcandy, fashion house Gucci and Air China Ltd, expects to be profitable by mid 2017, the CEO said.

"We will be ready within next 18 months and then we will wait for the right market conditions to go public," Farshchi said in an interview.

As more software companies offer services on the cloud, businesses are ditching public networking services provided by telecommunication companies and are adopting private cloud-based networking systems provided by companies such as Aryaka.

"Traditional networking approaches ... offer very limited connectivity to cloud services," Ashwath Nagaraj, founder and chief technology officer of Aryaka, told Reuters.

Investor appetite for cloud-related IPOs was underscored last month when data storage company Nutanix Inc's shares more than doubled in their first day of trading, even though the company has never made a profit.

Nutanix is valued at about $4.5 billion. Aryaka - which Farshchi describes as "a unicorn in the making" - has some way to go to match that.

Based on six to 10 times recurring 2016 revenue, the company is worth between $300 million and $500 million.

According to research firm IDC, the software-defined networking market is likely to be worth about $6 billion in revenue in 2020. (http://bit.ly/2dKAT2F)

Milpitas, California-based Aryaka received $16 million in funding in March last year, led by Nexus Venture Partners, which joined existing investors Trinity Ventures, InterWest Partners, Mohr Davidow Ventures and Presidio Ventures.

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Aryaka has partnered with network service providers in Europe, China, Israel, Malaysia and South Korea to offer its services and is in talks with companies in India and Singapore to form partnerships.

"Telcos are our best friends actually ... they should realize that and partner with us," Farshchi said.

(Reporting by Rishika Sadam in Bengaluru; Editing by Ted Kerr)
Colombia coca cocaine crops eradication war on drugs

Efforts to staunch the flow of cocaine in recent years have focused on the source  ripping coca plants out of the ground or dousing them with herbicide.

And attacking cocaine production at the source has yielded some success at the beginning of that supply chain.

In 2014, Colombia, Bolivia, and Peru  the drug's three biggest producers  destroyed some 300,000 acres of the crop, up from 15,000 in 1994.

"When you look back, we've seen that there has been a pretty effective interruption of the supply of coca," Tom Wainwright, the former Economist reporter in Mexico City and author of "Narconomics," told Business Insider earlier this year.

But the drag created on the production of the cocaine that's shunted north toward the voracious US market doesn't seem to be reflected in the price of the drug on US streets in recent years.

"The price of cocaine in the United States has hardly moved," Wainwright said. "In the past couple of decades it's been about $150 per pure gram, and that's barely budged, so there's a puzzle there."

The static nature of cocaine prices can likely be explained by the hold cartels and other traffickers have over the cocaine market at its origins  specifically their ability to dictate prices to producers. Wainwright elaborated:

"What's really going on there is that the cartels in parts of South America have what economists call a monopsony, which is like a monopoly of demand for a particular product  they're the main buyers by far." "And what this means is that even when the supply is interrupted or restricted the farmers there aren't able to push up the price in the way that you'd expect, because the cartels there have this kind of Walmart-like grip on the market, which means that they can say, 'Sorry guys, we're the only buyer in this region, the price stays where it is.'"

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Wainwright explained the Walmart comparison in his book. For farmers and manufacturers, "Their complaint is that Walmart and other big chains have such a big share of the groceries market that they are able more or less to dictate terms to their suppliers."

Average US cocaine prices, 1992-2012

"In the same way that a monopolist can dictate prices to its consumers, who have no one else to buy from, a monopsonist can dictate prices to its suppliers, who have no one else to sell to," Wainwright writes.

Walmart, one of the world's biggest retailers, and the drug cartels that control the world's cocaine market are vastly different enterprises  most significantly in that Walmart is a legal business operating in accordance with national and local regulations, while cartels are organized-crime groups operating outside the law.

But they are both businesses, with similar dynamics.

Just as Walmart's suppliers can strain under the low prices that the retailer can dictate, coca farmers are caught between pressure on their crops from authorities and prices dictated by traffickers.

"And so the effect of all these interruptions of supply" from eradication efforts, Wainwright said, "are to really squeeze the farmers. It's not hitting the cartels. It's not hitting the consumers in the States or in Europe. The people that it's really damaging are the farmers who grow this stuff."

'The real drugs millionaires are right here in the United States'

Coca goes through several stages to become cocaine, with value added at each step.

To produce a kilogram (2.2 pounds) of pure cocaine requires about a ton of fresh coca leaf, Wainwright told Business Insider. "It then gets dried out, it weighs a bit less, but that ton of leaf to start with costs only about $400 or $500 in Colombia," he said.

Farmers who process that coca leaf into a base paste and then sell that to traffickers can get about $900 a kilo, an Associated Press report earlier this year found.

Once that paste is turned into cocaine and shipped north, it can fetch between $10,000 and $20,000 a kilo, depending on where it arrives.

Colombia cocaine paste

"Then, by the time it makes it to dealers, it's worth maybe more like $70,000, $80,000, and by the time they cut it into grams, sometimes dilute it, a pure kilo is worth equivalent of about $150,000, so the markup is gigantic," Wainwright said.

The actual price paid by the street-level customer can vary based on location, purity, and other factors. But overall, "You're going from hundreds of dollars to hundreds of thousands of dollars. That's why the profits involved in this business are just so sky-high," he added.

According to Wainwright, the pressure eradication efforts put on cocaine's source have little impact on the consumer. "Imagine that through eradicating coca plants in Colombia, you managed to double the price coca leaf from, say, $400 to $800," he said. If all that extra cost lands on the US buyer, the price of that pure kilo is only $150,400.

"You've increased the cost of the raw material by 100%, and you've only increased the price of final product by less than 1%," Wainwright said. "The economics of the war on drug just don't add up."

NOW WATCH: Federal agents found one of the longest US-Mexico drug tunnels hidden under a dumpster





More From Business Insider


Charles S. Cohens Cohen Media Group has acquired North American distribution rights to 10 features by French New Wave driving force Jacques Rivette for release by the Cohen Film Collection, Charles S. Cohen, CMG chairman and CEO, announced Thursday.

Marking most probably the biggest deal to go down at the time of Lyons Lumiere Festival, where the Cohen Film Collection is one of the U.Ss highest-profile attendees.

Deal also takes in three very early and recently discovered Rivette shorts. The films, which will be individually restored and remastered by Celluloid Dreams, will be released theatrically beginning Spring 2017.

Twinning two of Charles S. Cohens defining film passions  classic films and French cinema  deal was closed by CMG SVP John Kochman, and Hengameh Panahi, president of Paris-based film sales-production company Celluloid Dreams.

Francois Truffauts best friend in the 1950s, regarded as the Cahiers du Cinemas most assertive writer, and its editor from 1963 to 1965, Rivettes 1956 Le Coup de Berger is credited with bringing the flag down on the French New Wave, whose figures included Jean-Luc Godard, Truffaut, Claude Chabrol and Eric Rohmer.

Rivette was also the first New Wave director to develop a feature, Paris Belongs To Us, though it was released until 1961.

Over the next half-century he created singular works that were as formally groundbreaking as they were challenging  films, often of unusual length, that managed to be both rigorously controlled and loosely improvisational, CMG wrote in a statement Thursday, citing critic David Thomson who called Rivettes Celine and Julie Go Boating the most innovative film since Citizen Kane.

The 10 features acquired by CMG cover Rivettes mature period after 1983, when Rivette teamed with producer Martine Marginac at Pierre Gris Productions, securing stable finance as he discovered an artistic second wind.

The titles include 1984s Love on the Ground, with Geraldine Chaplin and Jane Birkin, Emily Bronte adaptation Wuthering Heights (1985) and maybe the two most acclaimed of Rivettes later films, The Gang of Four, about four young female drama students, and the four-hour The Beautiful Troublemaker (aka La Belle Noiseuse), starring Michel Piccoli as a painter newly-inspired by his young model (Emmanuelle Beart), which was reworked by Rivette in a two-hour version, Divertimiento.

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Also acquired: a two-part Joan of Arc bio, starring Sandrine Bonnaire: Joan the Maiden: Part 1  The Battles, and Joan the Maiden: Part 2  The Prisons; 1995s Up, Down, Fragile, a womens drama with musical numbers; crime thriller Top Secret, again with Bonnaire, and 2003 mystery romance The Story of Marie and Julien, with Beart and Jerzy Radziwilowicz.

These films are an exciting addition to the Cohen Film Collection and will be treasured by cinema lovers everywhere, said CMGs Kochman.

The Gang of Four will be the first film to be released. Now restored, Rivettes shorts are Aux Quatre Coins (1949), shot in his native Rouen, the avant-garde La Quadrille (1950, produced by and starring a 19-year-old Jean-Luc Godard!) and what is described as the Rohmer-esque La Divertissement (1952). Anticipating Rivettes subsequent career, the three films are being screened at the current New York Film Festival.

The deal announcement comes as, in a major move for horror fans, the Cohen Media Group V.P. archivist Tim Lanza revealed at Lyons Lumiere Festival that the Cohen Film Collection is working with Universal on the restoration of James Whales 1932 The Old Dark House. Written by J.B. Priestley, the comedy/gothic horror film stars Boris Karloff, in his first credited role, given his name was left of Frankenstein, Charles Laughton, Gloria Stewart, 63 years before she starred in Titanic, and Raymond Massey.

The Old Dark House was considered lost until director Curtis Harrington discovered material in the late 60s. CFC will be using material stored in the Library of Congress, said Lanza. It plans a 4K restoration, he added.

Cohen Film Collection has also licensed all but major French territories on French director Philippe de Brocas 1967 anti-war satire, starring Alan Bates and Genevieve Bujold, a cult success on original release.

Of high-profile 2016 restorations, Julie Dashs 1991 Daughters of the Dust, one of the first U.S. films by an African American filmmaker to get general release, screened in its restored copy at the 2016 Toronto Festival. Referenced by Beyonce in her 2016 video album Lemonade, Daughters of the Dust is now screening at the London Film Festival. Cohen Film Collection has world sales rights on the pioneering film. Liz Mackiewicz, CMG senior VP, international distribution, will be introducing the restored film to buyers at next weeks Mipcom trade fair.

Daughters of the dust will have a November U.S. release., Lanza said.

Created by CMGs acquisition in 2012 of the 700-plus Rohauer Film Collection, Cohen Film Collection to date has restored 35-40 features. It will restore 12-15 new features in 2017, said Lanza.

Major strategic partnerships include an alliance with Italys Cineteca di Bologna on the restoration of the near-whole Buster Keaton oeuvre, and a co-financing partnership with the British Film Institute to restore an about dozen British movies under the BFIs Unlocking Film Heritage, Lanza said.

Cohen Film Collection has also acquired the 21-feature Merchant-Ivory collection for restoration and re-release. Howards End played 2016 Cannes Classics. Another CFC restoration, David Millers noirish thriller Sudden Fear, starring Joan Crawford, plays in the 2016 Lumiere Festivals Hollywood, City of Women section.

Cohen Film Collection plans include restorations of further Douglas Fairbanks, Paul Robeson and D.W Griffith titles and titles from Norma, Constance and Natalie Talmadge, Buster Keatons one-time wife.

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From Cosmopolitan

Photo credit: Getty

As Kim Kardashian continues to recover from her Paris robbery, one columnist has offered a stunning take on why its wrong to support, defend, and empathize with the reality star. On Tuesday, The Daily Telegraphs Rendez View section published an op-ed by self-described feminist writer, author, actress, and sex-columnist Vanessa de Largie, who titled her piece, I wanted Kim Kardashian to die. She first explains that she too was shocked to have arrived at such a thought, wishing death upon another person, but goes on to explain that shes actually never liked Kim. Any human being who has the time and inclination to take 1,200 selfies a day, is lost on me, she writes. I have zero interest in anything without a soul. Women that inspire me are women who contribute to society. Women that inspire me are women who send positive messages to young girls. (She probably didnt get around to reading Kims full-page ad letter to Armenian Genocide deniers in the New York Times. Or maybe she forgot about the time Kim donated 1,000 shoes to the Soles for Souls charity to help a victim of Hurricane Katrina? Or maybe shes never played Kim Kardashian: Hollywood, a game many would consider to be a huge contribution to society!)



The columnist also takes down a recent New York Post article in which writer Andrea Peyser declares that Kim has risen above the ashes to become one of the worlds leading post-feminist icons. According to de Largie, Feminist-Icon-Land only reserves places for women like Camille Paglia, Germaine Greer, and Gloria Steinem. Oiling up your butt-implants for a glossy doesnt get you a guernsey. Sorry, Kim! She calls Kim vapid, vacuous, and narcissistic and says society should be disturbed to have her as a model for the youth.

According to de Largie, thousands of online comments also shared her initial thoughts of death when news of the robbery broke. The masses wanted her blown away, she writes. When you offer so little to the world, is it any wonder that people react viciously to you when something tragic occurs? I wonder what James Corden has to say about this accusation. Or maybe Chrissy Teigen, Amber Rose, or Piers Morgan, even?

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De Largie has since clarified her column via Facebook, writing to one reader (who called her a hypocrite, by the way) that she was misinterpreted and obviously does not want Kim to die. But I just wanted to be totally honest and admit to this thought. Most people wouldnt write about the thoughts they think. Thank you for approaching me in a civil manner. There has been much hatred towards me this morning on Twitter and its unnecessary. Im sorry if my column didnt agree with you. It was not my intention.

Kim right now, probably:

Photo credit: Giphy

Follow Peggy on Twitter.

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By Aukkarapon Niyomyat and Amy Sawitta Lefevre BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thailand's King Bhumibol Adulyadej, the world's longest-reigning monarch and a father-figure to the nation, died in hospital on Thursday. He was 88. King Bhumibol reigned for seven decades after ascending the throne in 1946, providing a pillar of stability during the Cold War, the long conflict in Vietnam and his country's own political upheaval and rapid development. The military government of Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha, who has kept a tight grip on power since toppling an elected government in 2014, will try to allay long-standing concerns that Thailand's sharp political divisions could worsen without the king. The king's son, Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn, is expected to become Thailand's new king and does not command the same adoration in the kingdom of 67 million people that his father earned over a lifetime on the throne. Prayuth, a former army chief who staged a coup in 2014, said the appointment of a successor would be made later, and the crown prince had asked for time to mourn with the Thai people. "When the right time comes, the crown prince confirmed that he has realized his duty and will continue to perform his duty as the heir to the throne," Prayuth said. PM URGES VIGILANCE A palace statement did not give a cause of death but the king has been sick in hospital with various ailments for much of the past year. "His Majesty has passed away at Siriraj Hospital peacefully," the palace said, adding he died at 15:52 (0852 GMT). Prayuth, wearing a black suit and tie, urged vigilance on security in a televised address. Thailand has suffered from political violence over the past decade of upheaval, as well as bomb attacks blamed on Muslim separatists from southern provinces. The prime minister also asked businesses to keep investing and stock market traders to maintain their holdings and not "dump" shares. Banks and financial markets will open as usual on Friday, industry association officials said. The Thai government, which has promised elections by the end of next year, is facing an uncertain transition period, said Lindsey Ford, director of Asian Security at the Asia Society Policy Institute. "This period will be a challenging test of its ability to navigate an unprecedented loss and return the country to the stable footing it desires." "LIKE OUR DAD" More than 1,000 people gathered at the hospital where the king had been staying. Many of them started to cry as the news of his death broke. Most Thais have known no other monarch and his picture is hung in almost every house, school and office across the country. Until his later years, he was featured on television almost every day, shown visiting poor areas and working on development projects. Parichart Kaewsin, 35, who works in a bank, stood at the edge of the hospital garden, gazing up at the top floor of the building where the king was treated. "I knew he was sick but I still can't believe this day has come," she said, choking back tears. "That's why I came here - to hear for myself." She said it was like a member of her family has died, she said. "He was like our dad." U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said he hoped Thailand would honor the king's legacy of commitment to universal values and respect for human rights, his spokesman said. U.S. President Barack Obama said the king "was a tireless champion of his country's development". THE CROWN PRINCE Prince Vajiralongkorn has kept a lower profile than King Bhumibol for most of his life but in the past two years he took on more of the public duties the king was no longer able to perform. The prince divorced his third wife in 2014. Thailand's strict lese-majeste laws have left little room for public discussion about the succession. It has been so long since Thailand has had a succession, there is no modern precedent. Queen Sirikit, 84, has also been in poor health over recent years. Prayuth said civil servants would observe mourning for a year. He also urged Thais to refrain from "festivities" for 30 days. Flags would fly at half-mast at all government buildings and schools for 30 days, he said. A royal cremation is expected to take months to prepare. When the king's sister died in 2008, a 100-day mourning period was declared. She was cremated 10 months after her death. The heir's coronation will not take place until the mourning period is over. Some bars in one of the city's infamous night spots closed early while others turned their music down and business appeared very quiet. Thailand is unlikely to face major economic disruption after the death of the king, some risk analysts and diplomats said. The government might postpone to 2018 a general election scheduled for next year, and Thai stocks and the baht currency are likely to be volatile in the short term, the Eurasia Group of risk analysts said in a report issued before the announcement. But given a smooth transition, major disruption is not expected, it said. (Refiles to correct spelling to "Lindsey" in paragraph 12) (Additional reporting by Andrew R.C. Marshall, Amy Sawitta Lefevre, Panarat Thepgumpanat, Pracha Hariraksapitak, Patpicha Tanakasempipat and Pairat Temphairojana; Writing by Amy Sawitta Lefevre; Editing by Robert Birsel and Bill Tarrant)
In a statement, the palace said that king Bhumibol Adulyadej, the world's longest-reigning monarch, has died at 88 after battling a new infection.

By India Today Web Desk: King Bhumibol Adulyadej of Thailand, the world's longest-reigning monarch, has died after 70 years on the throne, the palace said. Adulyadej, 88, was widely revered in Thailand. He was seen as a stabilising figure in a country hit by massive political turmoil and many coups.

The Royal Palace said Bhumibol died "in a peaceful state" at Siriraj Hospital, where he had been treated for various health problems for most of the past decade.

King Adulyadej in the Parliament. Photo: Reuters

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ADULYADEJ'S 70-YEAR-REIGN

Bhumibol Adulyadej was born on December 5, 1927. The nineth monarch of the Chakri dynasty, he is also known as Rama IX. He became the Thai king on June 9, 1946 and has been serving as the head of state ever since. He has been in power for 70 years and 125 days, becoming the world's longest reigning current head of state and the longest reigning monarch of Thailand.

Bhumibol ascended to the throne in 1946, when his brother, 20-year-old King Ananda Mahidol, was found dead of a gunshot wound to the head in a palace bedroom under circumstances that remain mysterious. Bhumibol, then an 18-year-old prince, was named king 12 hours later following an extraordinary legislative session.

Britian's PM Margaret Thatcher visting King Adulyadej in Bangkok, August 8, 1988. Photo: Reuters

During a reign that spanned 70 years, the U.S.-born Bhumibol became much more than Thailand's constitutional monarch. He was the nation's one constant as myriad governments rose and fell, a gentle leader who used the influence of the throne to unify the nation and rally troops through the Cold War as Thailand's neighbors fell under communist control. In his heyday, the frail-looking, soft-spoken man in spectacles wielded so much power and respect, he was able to squelch coups and rebellions with a gesture or a few well-chosen words.





ADULYADEJ'S THAI TITLE

King Adulyadej's full title in Thai will be quite amusing to the rest of the world. It is "Phra Bat Somdet Phra Paraminthra Maha Bhumibol Adulyadej Mahitalathibet Ramathibodi Chakkrinaruebodin Sayamminthrathirat Borommanatthabophit", and this is the title that's used in legal documents.

The long title is often shortened to "Phra Bat Somdet Phra Paraminthra Maha Bhumibol Adulyadej".

The name Bhumibol means "Strength of the Land," and the bounty of Thailand's soil and waters was the king's passion.

KING'S FORTUNE

King Bhumibol was listed first in the Forbes magazine's 2008 version of the World's Richest Royals and he stayed on top of that list till 2014 with as estimated wealth of 30 billion US dollars. Although not known for having extravagant tastes, he nevertheless lived the elite life of a modern-day king, racing yachts and appearing at official functions clothed in ornate golden robes.

King Bhumibol with Queen Sirikit. Photo: Reuters King Bhumibol with Queen Sirikit. Photo: Reuters

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However, his assets are owned by the Crown Property Bureau, a body that's neither private nor government-owned, and not by the king as an individual.

Photo: Reuters

Over the last decade, the once vigorous Bhumibol had withdrawn from public life due to a series of illnesses. His wife, Queen Sirikit, has also long been ailing and has been even more rarely seen.

The king was often ensconced at a Bangkok hospital, emerging from time to time to gaze across the Chao Phraya River from a special pavilion. He had been notably silent about the political upheaval and protests that have shaken the country in recent years.

Photo: Reuters

Some have speculated that it was not just poor health that led Bhumibol to increasingly retreat behind palace walls, but his own worries about the future. Some of his private conversations toward the end of his reign reflected a deep concern that Thailand had lost much of the core culture he had sought to embody all his life.

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(with inputs from Associated Press)

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This Wednesday on CBS Criminal Minds, Aaron Hotcher was sent away on assignment for temporary duty  in a move that will eventually tee up original cast member Thomas Gibsons permanent exit.

RELATEDCriminal Minds Thomas Gibson Details Kick That Got Him Fired, Hopes Good Work Is What People Will Remember

In Season 12s third episode, titled Taboo, Hotchner was revealed to be on special assignment at the Directors request. Arriving to help the team during his absence was BAU member turned Interpol unit chief Emily Prentiss. Once again reunited with JJ, Rossi et al  as well as meeting new addition Luke Alves  Prentiss assisted in the hunt for an escaped serial killer, on top of the BAUs normal case load.

Though Hotchners absence was originally only to last an episode or two, to accommodate what was at the time Gibsons suspension in the wake of an on-set altercation (described below), this week in fact marked the beginning of his permanent exit, since he was eventually fired. As such, Paget Brewsters short-term return has been upgraded to full-time, while Damon Gupton (Bates Motel) will be introduced later this fall as Stephen Walker, a seasoned profiler who will bring his spy-hunting skills to the BAU.

RELATEDCriminal Minds: Paget Brewster Upped to Series Regular in Season 12 Following Thomas Gibsons Firing

According to Gibsons recent account of the kick that ultimately found him terminated from the show he called home for more than 11 seasons, while filming the second episode of Season 12 in late July, he questioned a line of dialogue, but was overruled by co-executive producer/writer Virgil Williams. Later, when Gibson was relating the differing of opinions to castmates, Williams came into that room and started coming towards me. As he brushed past me, my foot came up and tapped him on the leg. If I hadnt moved, he would have run into me, the actor said.

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Following that, We had some choice words, for which I apologized the next day, and that was it. It was over, Gibson said. We shot the scene, I went home  and I never got to go back, suspended as he originally was for two episodes, before eventually being fired on Aug. 12.

How do you think Criminal Minds will write out Gibson, by November sweeps?

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Mark Cuban

Billionaire businessman Mark Cuban told CNBC Thursday that he thinks Donald Trump's presidential aspirations, as well as his business career, is at "the middle of the end."

"Oh he's certainly not Teflon," the owner of the NBA's Dallas Mavericks and star of ABC's "Shark Tank" told CNBC. "His numbers keep going down. I think there's plenty more stories to come out."

Trump has faced a brutal backlash following a leaked tape that showed Trump in 2005 saying he could "grab" women "by the p---y" because "when you're a star they let you do it."

Multiple women came forward on Wednesday to allege Trump made unwanted sexual advances on them. Trump has strongly denied the validity of the allegations.

"I've heard a few," Cuban said of the stories that are now beginning to spill out into the mainstream. "I don't know if they will ever become public."

"I think this is the beginning of the end ... the middle of the end for Donald Trump," he continued. "Not just for the presidency, but his brand, his properties, his businesses. He's been scorched and I think the whole thing has a chance of going down with him."

Cuban has been a Clinton supporter since he endorsed the Democratic nominee at a Pittsburgh rally in July, and he has ripped Trump repeatedly on social media and in interviews, calling him the most "dangerous" presidential candidate he could imagine during an interview with Business Insider.

Cuban recently offered Trump $10 million to hold a four-hour policy debate with him.

He was more enthusiastic about a potential Trump presidency earlier in the cycle, but soured on the candidate after the primary season had ended.

Watch Cuban's comments below:

Mark Cuban on Trump to @CNBC: This is "the middle of the end"  "he's been scorched". pic.twitter.com/cRV6paHDQO  Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) October 13, 2016

NOW WATCH: Trump had a great response when he was asked to name one thing he liked about Clinton





More From Business Insider


Hong Kong (AFP) - British film star Benedict Cumberbatch said Thursday the pressure is on to please diehard comic fans as he takes on the role of Marvel's Doctor Strange, a fictional superhero sorcerer.

Speaking in Hong Kong ahead of the movie's release later this month, Cumberbatch said he hoped his first time playing a superhero would meet the high bar of enthusiasts.

"These comics and the films that Marvel make are driven by the people who read them and are fans," Cumberbatch said.

"It's very important to us that the fans are thrilled, that their expectations are met, but most importantly that they're exceeded," he added.

With co-star Tilda Swinton, director Scott Derrickson and Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige at his side, Cumberbatch also said playing the character had rubbed off -- and he too wished he could have a superpower.

"I'd love to be able to fly," he told reporters.

"There's nothing better than that, and I got to do some of that in this film."

While in Hong Kong, Cumberbatch also said he was looking forward to a possible swim in Hong Kong's famous Victoria Harbour and eating dim sum.

Cumberbatch, 40, who rose to global stardom playing the title role in the BBC's hit television detective series "Sherlock", did most of his own fight scenes in Dr. Strange.

"When I think about the production, a lot of what comes to mind is Benedict being in physical pain and having to perform in situations where he's sparring or fighting and getting hit and kicked -- because that's what happens when you do your own fight scenes," director Derrickson said.

Surreal, reality-bending scenes set in international locations, including Nepal and New York were featured in the trailer of the movie, which opens in Hong Kong on October 27 and November 4 in the US.

Cumberbatch is the latest of a slew of Hollywood stars to take lead roles in Marvel movies, including Robert Downey Jr. as Iron Man, Scarlett Johansson, as Black Widow, and Chris Evans as Captain America.

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Kevin Feige said the British actor had always been his first choice to play Stephen Vincent Strange, a neurosurgeon who loses the use of his hands in a car accident.

"We moved the schedule of the movie release around specifically for Benedict which we've never done before, but he's clearly, perfectly Doctor Strange."

In his quest to repair his injuries, Dr. Strange starts a mystical journey which sees him become a hero sorcerer with superpowers.

Created in the 1960s, the character uses his large trademark red "cloak of levitation" to fly.
Snapchat userscan now design a geofilterfor custom travel experiences, likeyour work outing to Nantucket or your stay at a chicall-inclusive.

Users can make two types ofcustomgeofilters: community and on-demand.Community geofilters can be submitted by any user to highlightlandmarks, universities, and other public hotspots. On-demand geofilters, meanwhile, can be purchasedby businesses or individuals for branded events or spaces.

Here's how to make one:

How to make a Snapchat geofilter for your next vacay

Download a template

Travelers creating anon-demand geofilter havetwo options: make a completely uniquedesign, or build a geofilter onlineusinga Snapchat template.

How to make a Snapchat geofilter for your next vacay

To design a filter on Adobe Photoshop, head to Snapchat's website and click on the geofitlers tab on the top header.For community geofilters,you'll find a page explaining specifications for the file, as well as a tab that says Download Templates.Click there todownload the Adobe Photoshop template.

How to make a Snapchat geofilter for your next vacay

On the "Use Your Own" option, you'll see a link for downloadable templates for Photoshop, which rangefrom birthday messages to anniversary greetings.If you'd preferto create a geofilter online, clickCreate Online, where you'll see designs forbirthdays, celebrations, and weddings.Each category has a variety of filters, colors, and fonts.

How to make a Snapchat geofilter for your next vacay

Create your design

How to make a Snapchat geofilter for your next vacay

Be sure you're followingSnapchat'sspecific guidelineswhen designing (think:keeping yourgeofilterlocal rather than covering an entire country, state,or province). Additionally, all graphics used on community filters mustbe 100 percentoriginalnologos or trademarks of any kindexcept in the case of college or university logos submitted by authorized school officials.Snapchat also prohibits the use ofphotographs or hashtags.

For on-demand filters, users must have to have the necessary rights and permissions for any business names, logos, or trademarks.

Be sure you upload the image as a transparent PNG Adobe Photoshop file with a width of 1080 pixels and a height of 1920 pixels, and that the file isunder 300KB.

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Upload

Once yourdesign is ready, you can upload thefile to Snapchat. For communityfilters, youll be asked to include your name, e-mail, and provide details about why the location is important to you.Snapchat reviews all community filtersfor approval. You'll thencreatea geofencethe geographic boundarywhere your geofilter can be used. Simply clickon the map and dragthe arrows to frame the area.

How to make a Snapchat geofilter for your next vacay

On-demand geofilter designers will be directed to a calendar, where you can select how long you'd like your geofilter will be available.Afterward, you createa geofence: the pricewill decrease or increasebased on the size of your zone.Prices for on-demand geofilters start at $5 for a geofence of 20,000-square-feet. The cost will also increase the longer you intend to use the geofilter.

How to make a Snapchat geofilter for your next vacay

Finally, submit your imagefor approval. Snapchat will typically respond to on-demand filter creatorswithin one business dayperfect for that totally spontaneous trip to Paris.

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UFC president Dana White on Wednesday shot down hopes of a Georges St-Pierre comeback at UFC 206 in Toronto, declaring that Daniel Cormier vs. Anthony Johnson would headline the Dec. 10 fight card.

The fight between Cormier and Johnson had already been announced, but there were questions swirling that St-Pierre might return for that event. Being not only the most popular Canadian fighter in MMA history, but one of the most popular fighters globally, it would be a surprise if St-Pierre returned and was not the headliner.

Asked by Cormier, who serves as co-host of UFC Tonight, who the main event would be at UFC 206, White on Wednesday responded, You're the main event. There shouldn't be a TBD (to be determined designation) above you (on the website).

Cormier is obviously happy to hold the top slot, but also a little discouraged because, as a champion, he gets an additional bonus based on how many pay-per-view buys the event sells. Any fight card that features the return of the greatest welterweight champion in UFC history would be accompanied by a surge in PPV purchases, meaning Cormier would make more money. It's a fact not lost on him.

RELATED > Dana White Shoots Down Georges St-Pierre vs. Anderson Silva Rumor

I don't know if that's good news or bad news, I was kind of hoping that Georges St-Pierre would be fighting, Cormier joked. I don't know if that's good news or bad news boss.

If White is correct, it is bad news, not only for Cormier's pocketbook, but also for fans awaiting St-Pierre's return. Although the Canadian superstar has said that he is ready to return if the deal is right, White is adamant that St-Pierre doesn't have the desire that he believes is necessary to get back in the cage.

I know guys that wanna fight, said White. He's not one of them.

Follow MMAWeekly.com on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram
Dario Fo, a rubber-limbed, goggle-eyd writer and performer whose onstage antics offended popes and presidents, bureaucrats and bamboozlers, con artists and conservatives of every stripe, died today at home in Milan. His death was confirmed by his Italian publisher, Chiaralette.

In 1997, the Swedish Academy extended Fos gadfly reach by awarding him the Nobel Prize in Literature, moving William Donohue, spokesman for the New York-based Catholic League, to write, I am well aware of the extent to which literature has become thoroughly politicized and debased in the West. Giving the Nobel Prize in Literature to an anti-Catholic bigot, and to a man who describes his own scatological work as grotesque, settles the issue: the deans of literature enjoy celebrating what the common folk regard as trash.

Many others disagreed with that assessment of the author, often with his wife, Franca Rame, of such works as Accidental Death Of An Anarchist, Mistero Buffo and We Wont Pay! We Wont Pay! (also known as Cant Pay, Wont Pay). Merging the roustabout acting style of Italian commedia dellarte and the scathing social satire of Moliere, Fo and Rame were unapologetic anti-capitalists who routinely skewered power figures. The result was often blistering, and blisteringly funny, as the couples rare performances in New York and on tour demonstrated. They also were personally dangerous: Fo and Rame were always surveilled, often arrested, and not infrequently subject to violent threats and, indeed acts: After performing an anti-police show in Milan in 1973, Rame was kidnapped, tortured and raped by fascist thugs.

The couple, who worked as a unit, were themselves a study in contrasts, Rame a classic beauty with an elegant air; Fo a natural clown with a passing resemblance to Rodney Dangerfield. They took their theater to the streets of cities all around the world, and found kindred souls in New York with such companies as Theater For The New City and Julian Beck and Judith Malinas Living Theatre. In 1984, producer Alexander Cohen brought the Arena Stages production of the 1970 Accidental Death Of An Anarchist, which had been adapted by American playwright Richard Nelson, to Broadways Belasco Theatre, where it closed after 20 performances.

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From the beginning of their careers at Milans famed Piccolo Teatro, Fo and Rame, who died in 2013, used their platform to champion the rights of workers, poor people and the disenfranchised, and to protest establishments political, social and religious, often drawing stern rebukes and nearly as often infuriating even their most ardent supporters.

Accepting the Nobel, Fo remarked in words that find a strong echo in todays announcement that Bob Dylan had won the Prize for Literature this year: A theater, a literature, an artistic expression that does not speak for its own time, he said, has no relevance.

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Rome (AFP) - Dario Fo was one of the leading figures in modern farce and political theatre, whose brilliant satire earned him both a rebuke from the Vatican and the literary world's highest honour.

The Italian satirical dramatist, who died on Thursday aged 90, was banned, censored, rebuked, reviled and refused a US visa for his political affiliations.

Yet he won the Nobel prize for literature in 1997 and many of his 40-odd plays were translated into dozens of languages and performed to packed houses all over the world.

Mime, stand-up comic, historian and political commentator, described by one critic as "quite possibly the world's largest performing rabbit," Fo was a darling of the avant-garde but a thorn in the side of bureaucrats and politicians.

His agit-prop drama drew on such highbrow effects as Jacobean and miracle plays, Japanese theatre and Aristotle, not to mention the writings of Marx, Freud and other polemicists.

The eldest of three children of a railway station master and amateur actor, Fo was born on March 24, 1926, in Sangiano, "a town of smugglers and fishermen" on the shores of Lake Maggiore in northern Italy.

In his childhood he was steeped in popular theatrical and narrative traditions -- his grandfather was a well-known "fabulatore" or storyteller.

- Courting controversy -

After studying fine arts and architecture in Milan, he was irresistibly drawn to the theatre.

He made his debut as an actor in 1952 at Milan's Teatro Odeon and recorded a series of comic monologues for radio.

At the same time he began to write satirical cabarets and to act in the Piccolo Teatro in Milan, forming his own revue company with two friends.

Their first collaboration was an irreverent history of the world, "A Finger in the Eye", in which the actress Franca Rame, a member of a famous theatrical family, was a member of the cast.

Fo married her in 1954 and together they founded their own company, in which she was the leading lady and Fo writer, producer, mime and actor.

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Early plays were gentle satires like "Corpses Disappear and Women Strip" (1958) and "Archangels Don't Play Pinball" (1960) and "Anyone Who Robs A Foot Is Lucky In Love" (1961).

His work became more political in response to the popular uprisings and turmoil of 1968. With left-wing support he founded the cooperative theatre "Nuova Scene," which soon however wound up because of ideological controversy.

He found a ready audience for his topical satire, epitomised by "Mistero Buffo" -- a retelling of the Christian gospels in an improvised format, which allowed him to comment on everything from corruption in the Catholic church to contemporary social and political issues.

The play outraged the Vatican and was condemned by the pope at the time as "desecrating Italian religious feelings".

- 'Jesters of the Middle Ages' -

In 1970 Fo broke with the Communists and formed a new troupe, "La Comune", with one of his best known works, "The Accidental Death Of An Anarchist", opening that year.

His outspoken views and political commitment did not endear him to the authorities, and he had numerous run-ins with the Italian government and his works resulted in court cases.

Fo's 2003 play "The Two-Headed Anomaly", which took aim at Italy's then-prime minister Silvio Berlusconi and Russian President Vladimir Putin, sold out in the theatre but was censored on television after a complaint by one of the billionaire politician's aides.

In the play, part of Putin's brain is transplanted into Berlusconi's, transforming him into a muddled, vodka-swilling Russian speaker.

Fo became increasingly engaged on the political left, running for mayor of Milan in 2006, and in recent years Fo fought for Italy's populist, anti-establishment Five Star Movement.

The Nobel jury honoured Fo for work which emulated "the jesters of the Middle Ages in scourging authority and upholding the dignity of the downtrodden".
AIMPLB has decided to boycott the law commission over the triple talaq issue accusing it of acting on the behalf of Modi government to pave way for imposition of uniform civil code.

By Brijesh Pandey: All India Muslim Personal Law Board said on Thursday that it would boycott the law commission over triple talaq issue, which was being heard by the supreme court. Officiating general secretary of the APMPLB, Maulana Wali Rahmani alleged that the law panel was biased.

"We will boycott the law commission. It is biased. Law commission is not working as independent body. It is acting as a government body," Rahmani said.

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TRIPLE TALAQ VS UNIFORM CIVIL CODE

Rahmani rejected the questionnaire put forth by the law commission seeking public response on the matter of triple talaq and Uniform Civil Code. "This has been done facilitate imposition of Uniform Civil Code. It is a sort of cheating. Law commission's actions are illegal," Rahmani alleged.

Rahmani said that people of various faiths were living in the country by an agreement, which is reflected in the Constitution. Some people are trying to break the country in the name of Uniform Civil Code, he said.

"Uniform civil code is not good for the country," Rahmani said. He also announced to place a questionnaire in response to law commission's set of questions on the issue of UCC.

WATCH THE VIDEO HERE:



MODI GOVERNMENT'S FACADE

The AIMPLB's officiating general secretary alleged that the Modi government was trying to shift the people's focus from its work to uniform civil code as it failed to fulfill the promises made during the polls.

"It seems that the Modi government is trying to hide its failures behind the facade of uniform civil code. The issue does not concern the Muslims only. It's about various communities," Rahmani said.

He said, "Boundaries are not being handled properly (by Modi government). Yet, this government has launched an internal war."

BJP RESPONDS

Reacting sharply to these allegations, the BJP hit back at the AIMPLB saying what the Board calls a fraud is a decision of the Supreme Court. BJP National Secretary Sidarth Nath Singh said, "It was under the initiative of the Supreme Court that the government of India, had through the law commission, tried to engage all the stakeholders and this is what democracy is all about. If the AIMPLB doesn't want to engage with a constitutional machinery, it's their call."

On the allegation that the government is destroying the social fabric of the society, Singh said, "The Constitution of India under its various provisions talks about how each individual needs to protect other's right. So a social fabric is maintained if the Constitution is respected and this is exactly what the government intends to do."

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BJP General Secretary Kailash Vijaywargiya said that we don't need any certificate from the AIMPLB. He said that all this issues arose when Muslim women went to the Supreme Court. The Modi government respects the rights of of Muslim women and we are committed that women get their rights. He added, "The government is working to ensure that like other women in the country, Muslim women should also get their rights".

BJP leader, Shahnawaz Hussain responding to the AIMPLB said that this government doesn't buckle under any pressure. Hussain said, "This government is woking towards the empowerment of Muslim women. This government doesn't do anything (bringing Unicform Civil Code) by deceit."



TRIPLE TALAQ IN SC

Meanwhile, the issue of triple talaq is being heard by the Supreme Court, which is expected to deliver a verdict on the matter soon. The central government had opposed the triple talaq in its affidavit calling it discriminatory against women and a violation of right to equality, guaranteed by the Constitution.

The AIMPLB, on the other hand, opposed the move to strike off the practice of triple talaq. It told the apex court that personal laws cannot be re-written in the name of reforms. The Uniform Civil Code is not enforceable by a court of law, the Muslim body maintained.

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WATCH THE VIDEO HERE:



ALSO READ:

Centre opposes triple talaq in Supreme Court, says gender equality not negotiable

Minorities panel chief comes out openly against triple talaq

Muslim NGO condemns Centre's take on triple talaq, says will defend the 'faith' if challenged





--- ENDS ---
By Simon Lewis YANGON (Reuters) - Myanmar's security forces have now killed at least 26 people in response to attacks on police that have sparked a dramatic escalation in violence in a Muslim-majority region along its border with Bangladesh, according to reports in state media. Armed men believed to be from the long-oppressed Rohingya Muslim minority launched a coordinated assault on three border police posts in the early hours Sunday, killing nine police, injuring five and making off with dozens of weapons and more than 10,000 rounds of ammunition. Military personnel and police reinforcements have poured into the Muslim-majority township of Maungdaw, northern Rakhine State, and have clashed with groups of up to 300 men, armed with pistols, swords and knives, according to official reports. Human rights groups and advocates for the stateless Rohingya have voiced concern that the civilian population may be caught up in the authorities' violent response. Myanmar's de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi said that her government was "exercising the rule of law" in dealing with the attacks, the state-run Global New Light of Myanmar newspaper said on Thursday. Authorities had not yet confirmed who was behind the attacks, Suu Kyi said on Wednesday. The military's official newspaper, Myawady, said that another 10 alleged attackers were killed, and a rifle was seized, in a clash on Tuesday morning at Kyetyoepyin village, Maungdaw Township. In a separate incident on Wednesday, the military accused armed attackers of setting fire to 25 houses after an aborted attack on border police quarters in Kyikanpyin village, the site of one of Sunday's attacks. The killings bring the total death toll in northern Rakhine State since Sunday to 39, including 13 security personnel. The 26 alleged attackers reported killed include several who a local resident told Reuters were shot while unarmed and fleeing soldiers. Campaign group Fortify Rights said on Wednesday it had received reports of extrajudicial killings in the area and called on Myanmar's government to "protect civilians regardless of religion or ethnicity." Authorities have also detained four men, identified as local Muslims, who they allege were involved in the attacks. The Rohingya bore the brunt of intercommunal clashes in Rakhine in 2012, in which more 100 people were killed. They make up most of the 125,000 people still living in displacement camps in Rakhine State and face severe restrictions on their movements. (Additional reporting by Wa Lone and Aung Hla Tun; Editing by Michael Perry)
In August 2014, a 26-year-old New Zealand woman plunged 14 stories to her death outside of an apartment complex in Brisbane, Australia.

Pathologist Diane Little was assigned to the case; she said the woman's body "almost folded over itself" from the impact. Little found part of the woman's jeans embedded in the woman's skull.

Before her death, the woman  Warriena Wright  had found a match on Tinder. The man, 28-year-old Brisbane resident Gable Tostee, swiped right on Warriena. She did the same to Tostee, and sparks started flying soon after.

"Can you be a freak in the sheets, Cletes?" Tostee asked Wright through Tinder (her username was "Cletus Bob," a reference from "The Simpsons"). The two continued flirting through Tinder, then moved their conversation to text message and, eventually, to an in-person meeting.

tinder swiping

That meeting was on August 8, 2014. The two reportedly met in a mall, hung out for a bit, picked up a six-pack of beer, and went back to Tostee's apartment, according to the Washington Post.

At 2 a.m. the next morning, Wright fell 14 stories to her death from Tostee's apartment balcony.

According to Tostee's neighbor on the floor below, Wright was seen dangling from the balcony above before the fall. "Legs came down and dangled in the air. I froze there, then the body fell on my balcony railing," Tostee's downstairs neighbor Gabriele Collyer-Wiedner told an Australian court, according to the Brisbane Times.

What happened between the Tinder date and Wright's fall? That's a story of he said/she said, but an audio recording of the evening, coupled with reports from the prosecuting and defense lawyers in the case, paints a picture of a date gone very wrong.

Never before seen photos of Warreina Wright and Gable Tostee taken inside his apartment just hours before she died #tosteetrial pic.twitter.com/TPhzNARThM  Kim Stephens (@kimbo_stephens) October 11, 2016

As the Post reports, Tostee claims Wright got physically violent with him (which can apparently be heard on the recording) at some point during the evening, and he locked Wright on his balcony.

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According to the pathologist on the case, Wright's blood alcohol content was 0.156 percent, the Guardian reports  US law considers legally drunk to be .08 percent.

All of which is to say: Wright may have fallen to her death by accident, while attempting a drunken escape from Tostee's balcony.

The case is ongoing in Australia, and a decision is expected shortly for the now 30-year-old Tostee. He's being tried on charges of murder, and faces up to life in prison if convicted.

NOW WATCH: Google just unveiled the Pixel  its first smartphone





More From Business Insider


By Meredith Davis

(Reuters) - Deere & Co (DE.N) said its proposal to buy Precision Planting, an agricultural equipment and technology company, will increase consumer choice and directly benefit growers, in a response filed on Wednesday to the U.S. Department of Justice's lawsuit to block the acquisition.

Deere announced its planned acquisition of Precision Planting in November 2015, for about $190 million. Precision Planting's parent is The Climate Corporation, which is a unit of Monsanto Co (MON.N).

In August, the Justice Department said the proposed deal would mean higher prices for high-speed precision planting equipment, which allows farmers to plant row crops, such as corn, up to twice as fast as with conventional machinery.

In its response, Deere challenged the Justice Department's definition of "high-speed precision planting system," saying it was vague and ambiguous. Deere also denied "that there is any meaningful economic market consisting of 'high-speed precision planting systems.'"

The Justice Department declined to comment on Thursday.

Deere said the Justice Department initially cleared its proposed acquisition in October 2015 in compliance with the Federal Trade Commissions Hart-Scott-Rodino Act. Clearance is separate from actual approval of a deal.

Following a protest by an unnamed Deere competitor, the Justice Department opened a new investigation and later filed a lawsuit in August 2016 to block the transaction, Deere spokesman Ken Golden said, referring to legal documents the company filed on Wednesday.

"It is our position that this case is designed to protect a competitor, not competition," Golden said.

Both Deere and the Justice Department declined to name the competitor.

CNH Industrial and AGCO Corp (AGCO.N) are Deere competitors that have agreements to factory install Precision Planting equipment on their new planters. Precision Planting equipment and technology can also be retrofit on older planters manufactured by Deere, Kinze Manufacturing, CNH Industrial and AGCO.

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Deere said the company's commitments to CNH Industrial and AGCO, and its license grants, technology transfers are all "pro competitive."

Additionally, Deere entered into an agreement with Ag Leader, an agricultural technology company, to manufacture and sell Precision Planting products if the acquisition is completed, as a possible remedy to the Justice Department's competition concerns.

Ag Leader will remain an independent competitor in the precision agriculture industry, a statement on the company's website said.

Deere's proposed deal is part of a wave of consolidation among agriculture companies as they search for ways to cut costs and improve profits in the face of a shrinking farm economy. Seed and agrochemical producers Monsanto and Germany's Bayer AG (BAYGn.DE) have agreed to merge, while ChemChina wants to buy Syngenta AG (SYNN.S) in a $43 billion deal.

(Reporting by Meredith Davis in Chicago; Additional reporting by Karl Plume; Editing by Leslie Adler)
Donald Trump fiercely escalated his attacks on the media in a Thursday speech, following new accusations of sexual misconduct against the Republican nominee.

The corporate media in our country is no longer involved in journalism, Trump told a raucous crowd in West Palm Beach, Fla.

Theyre a political special interest no different than any lobbyist or other financial entity, with a total political agenda, he said. And their agenda is to elected crooked Hillary Clinton at any cost, any price, no matter how many lives they destroy. For them, its a war. And for them, nothing at all is out of bounds.

Trump also turned blistering fire on Bill and Hillary Clinton, whom he alleged are criminals, remember that. He added: Theyre criminals.

Earlier in the speech, as Trump was attacking his Democratic rival, his supporters started chanting, Lock her up!

Trump concurred. Honestly, she should be locked up. Should be. Should be locked up, he said, as his fans cheered.

Supporters of Donald Trump cheer at a campaign rally in West Palm Beach, Fla. (Photo: Mike Segar/Reuters)

The real estate mogul is facing new allegations by four women published Wednesday in three different publications. The women, who all spoke on the record, said Trump groped or kissed them without their consent years ago.

Trump accused the Clinton machine of orchestrating the accusations, and used his Thursday speech to rebut them emphatically. He repeatedly told his supporters to look at the accusers.

These claims are all fabricated, he said. Theyre pure fiction, and theyre outright lies. These events never, ever happened, and the people that said them meekly fully understand. You take a look at these people, you study these people, and youll understand also.

Jessica Leeds, one of the women, told the New York Times that more than three decades ago, she was on a plane sitting next to Trump when the real estate developer grabbed her breasts and tried to reach under her skirt. Rachel Crooks told the Times that in 2005, Trump kissed her without her consent in Trump Tower. Mindy McGillivray told the Palm Beach Post that Trump groped her 13 years ago at his Mar-a-Lago estate. And Natasha Stoynoff, a People magazine writer, said Trump forced her against a wall and kissed her while she visited the same estate in 2005.

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In his speech, Trump questioned why the women came forward only this week, less a month before Election Day. He said he had substantial evidence to refute their lies, but declined to offer it just yet. He also said that some of the incidents occurred in public places and would have had other witnesses.

Take a look, Trump said of the People magazine writer. Look at her. Look at her words. You tell me what you think. I dont think so.

Donald Trump in West Palm Beach, Fla. (Photo: Mike Segar/Reuters)

The four accusations against Trump that surfaced on Wednesday follow the release on Friday by the Washington Post of a 2005 video recording in which Trump can be heard boasting about kissing and grabbing women without their consent. He subsequently insisted that this was simply locker-room talk that he had not acted upon.

Meanwhile, other questionable comments from Trump have come to light, as well as allegations against him of various forms of misconduct.

In his Florida speech on Thursday, Trump urged his supporters to disregard poll numbers showing him lagging behind Clinton and to embrace his campaign as part of the survival of the United States.

This is a struggle for the survival of our nation, believe me. And this will be our last chance to save it, on Nov. 8  remember that. This election will determine whether we are a free nation, or whether we have only the illusion of democracy, but are in fact controlled by a small handful of global special interests rigging the system. And our system is rigged, he said.

Trump also repeatedly attacked the Times, which he vowed to sue.

Facts mean nothing, he said of the newspapers reporting standards. Third-rate journalism. The great editors of the past from the New York Times and others, ladies and gentlemen, are spinning in their grave.

The Times released a statement essentially daring Trump to launch his lawsuit, which it described as without merit and undermined by Trumps own 2005 comments lewdly boasting of such behavior.

David E. McCraw, a lawyer for the newspaper, said that if Trump believes American citizens had no right to hear what these women had to say and that the law of this country forces us and those who would dare criticize him to stand silent or be punished, we welcome the opportunity to have a court set him straight.
An unusual condition called sleep paralysis has been frightening people for centuries, and now a new review sums up the many creepy stories from different cultures that try to explain the episodes of waking up and being unable to move.

Cultural explanations that try to account for the terrifying experience of waking up feeling paralyzed range from alien abductions to strange demons creeping into people's bedrooms and sitting on their chests, according to the review, published in September in the journal Frontiers in Psychology.

Together, the stories show how a single biological phenomenon can be interpreted differently by societies, the researchers, led by Jose F. R. de Sa of the Jungian Institute of Bahia in Brazil, wrote in their review.

The biological explanation of sleep paralysis is that two aspects of REM sleep  dreaming and paralysis  are occuring while a person is awake, said Brian Sharpless, an associate professor of clinical psychology at Argosy University in Washington, D.C., who was not involved with the review. Sleep paralysis occurs more often than most people think, and it is more likely to occur when a person is waking up than during other parts of sleep, he said. [Top 10 Spooky Sleep Disorders]

During REM, or rapid eye movement sleep, dreaming takes place and the brainstem paralyzes the body by inhibiting motor neurons, Sharpless told Live Science.

But normally, dreaming and paralysis occur when people are unconscious, said Sharpless, who is also the author of "Sleep Paralysis: Historical, Psychological and Medical Perspectives" (Oxford University Press, 2015).

When someone experiences sleep paralysis, these two things occur while a person is conscious, with his or her eyes open, Sharpless said. This means that the dreams are technically hallucinations, and they're just as vivid as anything you'd see when you're awake, he said. In addition, the dreams can be "multisensorial," meaning a person may not only see things, but hear and, in some cases, feel them too, he said.

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Sleep paralysis around the world

The sense of touch is very often highlighted in explanations of sleep paralysis around the world. Many cultures refer to a weight on the chest, according to the review.

In certain parts of Brazil, for example, there are folkloric tales of a creature with long fingernails that lurks on people's rooftops during the night. The creature, called "Pisadeira," comes into a person's house and tramples on the chests of those who sleep, according to the review. [7 Mind-Bending Facts About Dreams]

Catalonia, a region in Spain, has the tale of the "Pesanta," a black animal, often a dog or a cat, that invades people's homes and sits on their chests while they are asleep, making it difficult to breathe and causing nightmares, the authors wrote.

In Newfoundland, Canada, it's the "Old Hag" that comes and sits on a sleeping person. And among an ethnic group in Vietnam and Laos, a "pressing spirit" sits on sleepers' chests and tries to asphyxiate them, the researchers found.

The idea of a weight holding someone down is also reflected in the terminology used in Mexico to describe sleep paralysis, according to the review. Translated from Spanish, the phrase means "a dead body climbed on top of me."

Some cultures use tales of spells cast by shamans or summoners to explain sleep paralysis.

In Inuit culture, for example, people tell of shamans who can cast a spell when a person is sleeping, causing an experience called "uqumangirniq," during which a person can't move, talk or scream and is visited by a shapeless or faceless presence, according to the review.

And Japanese folklore refers to a summoner who calls upon a vengeful spirit to suffocate enemies through a phenomenon called the "kanashibari," which is "the state of being totally bound, as if constrained by metal chains," the review found.

In other cultures, ghosts or supernatural beings are the perpetrators.

In a study of Cambodian refugees from the 1970s, researchers found that many patients referred to something called "khmaoch sangkat" or "the ghost that pushes you down." In Thailand, a ghost called "phi am" haunts people when they are half asleep and unable to move. And in some traditional Chinese cultures, "ghost oppression" caused sleep paralysis, the researchers wrote.

The researchers noted that the purpose of the review was not to belittle the various spiritual explanations for sleep paralysis but rather to "enrich the knowledge about these experiences and their psychological and cultural aspects," they wrote.

Originally published on Live Science.

Editor's Recommendations
By Ben Hirschler LONDON (Reuters) - Immunotherapy, which boosts the immune system to fight cancer, could be the next big opportunity for Genmab, potentially driving peak sales of its top-selling drug well past $10 billion a year, its chief executive believes. Shares in the Danish firm have surged 4,000 percent in the past five years as it has morphed from a cash-burning biotech into a profitable business, on the back of hopes for Darzalex, and Jan van de Winkel says the story is far from over. "The thing I'm excited about is the recent data that shows Darzalex is not only good at killing cancer but it also knocks out the suppressor cells of the immune system," he said in an interview during a visit to London. "It could be a novel way of accelerating anti-tumor immunity in a much broader population." Currently approved to treat multiple myeloma, a cancer of cells found in the bone marrow, Darzalex is marketed by Johnson & Johnson and has got off to a flying start since its approval last November. Genmab receives tiered royalties of between 12 and 20 percent from J&J on its sales. Van de Winkel said he was "very comfortable" with current analyst forecasts for annual sales of the drug reaching a peak $9 billion but added this did not include the possibility it might also be used in a much wider range of cancers. The medicine, which is given by infusion, is now being tested in multiple myeloma in combination with three immunotherapies -- Roche's Tecentriq, Bristol-Myers Squibb's Opdivo and durvalumab, from AstraZeneca and Celgene. Significantly, it is also being investigated in solid tumor with a trial combining it with Tecentriq due to begin "within weeks". Van de Winkel declined to say which cancer was involved, but Roche's immunotherapy drug is currently approved for bladder cancer and a lung cancer decision is imminent. Just how well Darzalex works alongside such so-called checkpoint inhibitors will not become clear until at least the end of 2017, since a key focus of clinical trials will be the durability of response. Checkpoint inhibitors, which help the immune system to recognize and fight cancer, are the hottest new drug class to have emerged in oncology for years and adding Darzalex to the mix would clearly extend Genmab's market. "It could represent a very dramatic expansion beyond $9 billion of forecast peak sales," Van de Winkel said. "It's a guess at this moment but it could definitely be double-digit billions per year, if it works." With a market capitalization of $10 billion, 17-year-old Genmab is Europe's second-biggest biotech company behind Actelion, although both still lag well behind U.S. groups like Gilead, Amgen and Celgene. Van de Winkel aims to take Genmab to the next level by using the "cash machine" of Darzalex royalties to fund research into a new wave of early-stage cancer drugs in which it will retain majority control. "My strategy is to select the next clear winner in the next three to four years and hold on to 50 percent or more," he said. (Editing by Elaine Hardcastle)
Washington (AFP) - Troubled German lender Deutsche Bank on Wednesday agreed to pay a $9.5 million penalty after US securities regulators accused it failing to safeguard market-sensitive information.

The penalty comes with investors on tenterhooks as the capital-weak Frankfurt bank negotiates a multi-billion-dollar settlement with the US Justice Department over the bank's trading in toxic mortgage-backed securities prior to the global financial crisis of 2008.

According to the Securities and Exchange Commission, Deutsche Bank encouraged analysts to talk frequently with customers and trading staff, but lacked internal controls to prevent unpublished research from being passed on during morning calls, dinners and road shows.

Securities laws require analysts to protect so-called "material non-public information", like buy and sell recommendations, from disclosure to investors before it is published.

"Information generated by research analysts such as ratings, views, estimates, and trading recommendations can move markets,"Antonia Chion, associate director for enforcement at the SEC, said in a statement.

"Broker-dealers must maintain and enforce policies and procedures that are reasonably designed in light of the nature of their business to prevent the misuse of such information."

Insider-trading laws and regulations generally prohibit investors from buying or selling a company's stock based on "material non-public information."

In one example cited by the SEC in the case, Charles Grom, a former Deutsche Bank analyst, paid a $100,000 penalty in February and was suspended from the securities industry for certifying a "buy" rating on the discount retailer Big Lots while privately telling others that the company should have been downgraded.

The bank was also penalized for published an improper research report and failing to preserve or surrender electronic records during the SEC's investigation.

The bank neither admitted nor denied the allegations.
Reacting strongly to Hafiz Saeed's comments, the US has asked Pakistan to go after the Mumbai attackers.

By India Today Web Desk: A day after terror mastermind Hafiz Saeed said that the US is Pakistan's real enemy, the US has warned Pakistan to shut terror shops and go after the perpetrators of the 26/11 Mumbai attacks.

Saeed, the man who plotted the attacks, had mocked the US for not being able to catch him despite announcing a bounty on his head.

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GO AFTER MUMBAI ATTACKERS



ALSO READ: US is Pakistan's real enemy, best to focus on building ties with India: Hafiz Saeed

The US surely didn't take his comments lightly and has now asked Pakistan to go after the Mumbai attackers (read Saeed).

In a stern message to Pakistan, the US said that the country must stop giving access to terrorists. India, at the United Nations address, had recently called Pakistan the "Ivy League of Terror".

ALSO READ: Hafiz Saeed releases new video before Eid, asks Kashmiris to back Hurriyat



WHAT DID HAFIZ SAEED SAY?



Declared a wanted man by both India and the United States, Saeed had spewed venom against India and the US, but reserved his most bitter remarks for Uncle Sam.

Taking a dig at the US for declaring a bounty on his head, Saeed had said "There is a bounty worth crores on me but in the last five years US could not achieve anything out of it".

ALSO READ: Hafiz Saeed does it again, asks Pak Army chief to send troops to Kashmir

Accusing the US of doing India's bidding on putting pressure on Pakistan to not build nuclear arsenals, Saeed had said, "The US is after us to reduce the size of our army, to reduce our nuclear arsenal. They are doing this at our enemy's behest".

Inciting people to fight for Kashmir, he said, "All parties should come together for Kashmir's freedom. India cannot do anything. Don't remember the US but remember Allah," the terror mastermind said.

(with inputs from agencies)

WATCH THE VIDEO HERE:



ALSO READ: Pakistan 'silently' lifts ban, Hafiz Saeed appears on TV pushing Kashmir agenda

ALSO READ: Lahore HC quashes plea by Hafiz Saeed to raise Kashmir issue at UNSC



--- ENDS ---
Discovery Communications, in a significant consolidation in the digital media sector, is investing $100 million into a new digital media holding company that will merge Thrillist Media Group, NowThis Media, The Dodo and Discoverys digital network Seeker and its SourceFed Studios.

The new company, Group Nine Media, will be headed by Ben Lerer (pictured above), formerly CEO of Thrillist. The deal is expected to close by the end of 2016.

Discovery will own a 35% stake in Group Nine. German media conglomerate Axel Springer, a minority owner of Thrilist, will maintain its investment as the second-largest shareholder of Group Nine. According to the companies, the merging of the millennial-focused properties will immediately make Group Nine one of five biggest U.S.-based digital-media companies, generating more than 3.5 billion global monthly video views.

Today marks the start of a strong new company with tremendous brands, reach and scale, said David Zaslav, president and CEO, Discovery Communications, in a statement. The merger of these assets will bring together best-in-class management, led by Ben and his team, expertise in data analytics technology and global reach to create one of the worlds largest digital-first content companies attracting young passionate enthusiasts that advertisers want to reach.

The deal combines Discoverys San Francisco-based digital networks with three ventures backed by seed-stage VC fund Lerer Hippeau Ventures, headquartered in New York City: lifestyle publisher Thrillist, founded in 2005 by Ben Lerer (son of Ken Lerer); news aggregator NowThis, founded in 2012 by Ken Lerer and Eric Hippeau; and The Dodo, dedicated to animal lovers and advocacy, founded by Izzie Lerer (daughter of Ken Lerer) in 2014.

Under the terms of the pact, Discovery has an option to buy a controlling stake in Group Nine Media in the future. In addition, the deal encompasses a commercial agreement between Discovery and Group Nine under which both will be able to sell advertisers packages that span linear TV, digital and social content, and live events.

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The agreement forming Group Nine will let Thrillist, NowThis and The Dodo remain independent while benefiting from Discoverys backing, according to Ben Lerer.

Each of our brands has found great success independently, but with consolidation of digital content companies around the corner, there is extraordinary value in all existing under one multi-brand roof, Lerer said in a prepared statement.

Discoverys foray into digital video kicked off with the 2012 acquisition of Revision3, followed a year later with its purchase of DeFranco Creative, the online channels and ventures of YouTube star Philip DeFranco. Now called Seeker and SourceFed Studios, those businesses will become part of Group Nine Media. Discovery also led rounds of funding in The Dodo in 2014 and 2015.

Thrillist has about 250 employees, while NowThis has 120, Seeker and Sourcefed Studios have a combined staff of 125, and The Dodo employs 45 people.

While each brand in the Group Nine portfolio will remain editorially independent, they will share services at the corporate level. Under the proposed combo, Thrillists sales team and content studio, The CoLab, will combine with NowThis Studios, The Dodo and Seekers branded-content team to create a core advertising solutions group across all Group Nine Media brands.

Group Nine also will combine Thrillists Pinnacle and NowThiss Switchboard publishing platforms for all the brands. In addition, the new company will create a centralized, long-form video unit responsible for creating digital and linear TV programming across all properties.

For Group Nine, LionTree Advisors was financial adviser and Cooley LLP acted was the legal adviser on the transaction. For Discovery, Proskauer Rose LLP was legal adviser.

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Discovery Communications, AT&T Get Boost From Extended Distribution Pact
By Jessica Toonkel

(Reuters) - Discovery Communications (DISCA.O), which owns networks like the Discovery Channel and Animal Planet, on Thursday became the latest TV company to invest in digital content in an effort to reach mobile viewers.

Discovery invested $100 million in a new holding company, Group Nine Media, that combines millennial-focused online publishers Thrillist, a food, drink and travel brand; video news creator NowThis and animal video site The Dodo with its own digital assets, the company said in a statement.

Through the deal, Discovery will have the option in two years time to acquire a controlling stake in Group Nine, which will be run by Thrillist CEO Ben Lerer, according to David Zaslav, CEO of Discovery.

Discovery, like many traditional media companies, is working to get more of its content online as viewers increasingly go to their phones or other mobile devices to view programs. Discovery's move comes months after Comcast Corp's (CMCSA.O) NBCUniversal invested $200 million in online publisher BuzzFeed and Vox media.

"We think this is a great play in attacking the 7 billion mobile devices with streams across the world," Zaslav told Reuters in an interview Thursday. "This company is great at creating short form content that people want to consume and send to their friends...it's going to be a few more innings before we figure out how to monetize it."

For Discovery, the deal marks a push to become a bigger player on platforms like Facebook Inc (FB.O), where NowThis is the number one video news publisher, as well as platforms like Snapchat, Zaslav said.

Additionally, the Silver Spring, Maryland-based company hopes to learn from the data and analytics that the new digital venture will offer up, and share that with advertisers, he said.

Given its focus on science, Zaslav sees a lot of opportunity to expand its reach with more short form video content digitally, he said.

"This is really a global play for us," he said, noting that Discovery's Science Channel is available in 200 countries. "Culturally right now smart is the new sexy."

(Reporting by Jessica Toonkel; Editing by Andrew Hay)
Hunger Games and Captain Phillips scribe Billy Ray has come on to develop and pen the script for an adaptation of Don Quixote sources confirmed to Variety.

Ray will produce with Gordon Gray.

Written by Miguel de Cervantes in 1605, the story is about a lower class aristocrat named Alonso Quixano who goes insane and comes to believe that knights, maidens and dragons exist in real life.

Sources tell Variety the plan is to give the film a Pirates of the Caribbean vibe with the possibly of creating a franchise. Disney is about to release its fifth Pirates of the Caribbean film next year after the previous four installments have grossed more than $3 billion dollars combined worldwide.

Grays previous credits include McFarlane USA and Million Dollar Arm, both of which were produced by Disney. Ray most recently wrote and directed STXs The Secret in Their Eyes.

Ray is repped by CAA and Management 360.
Doctor Strange (Photo: Marvel/Disney)

By Karen Chu, The Hollywood Reporter

Benedict Cumberbatch, Tilda Swinton, producer Kevin Feige and director Scott Derrickson met the press in Hong Kong on Thursday on the first stop of the international press tour for latest Marvel film Doctor Strange.

Swintons casting as the Ancient One has caused critics to speak of whitewashing, since the original character in the comic book is Tibetan. But Feige and Derrickson insisted that the role in the film was written for Swinton, and they would have had to rewrite the script if Swinton had not been available.

Looking at Marvel movies, I think that were missing a major character that is Tildas age and has this kind of strength and power, said Derrickson, expanding on a Twitter comment he had made earlier in the year. The Ancient One in the comics is a very old American stereotype of what Eastern characters and people are like, and I felt very strongly that we need to avoid those stereotypes at all costs.

Swinton, who has also said that she wasnt asked to play an Asian character, meanwhile, revealed Thursday that Cumberbatchs baby boy made his presence known on the set of the film. Your baby was a great distraction, Swinton joked in addressing Cumberbatch. The set just stops when his baby appears, added Derrickson.

Cumberbatchs son was born in June 2015, and shooting started in November. We were running at four hours of sleep and a lot of caffeine, said Cumberbatch about the experience.

Doctor Strange charts the journey of neurosurgeon Stephen Strange whose career is ruined by a car crash and becomes the Sorcerer Supreme of multiple dimensions under the tutelage of the Ancient One.

Related: Marvel Denies Whitewashing Doctor Strange to Appease China

Doctor Strange and all the Marvel films are made by Marvel super-fans, said Cumberbatch, so that fans of the comic books need not worry. Thankfully we have a studio boss who is also a massive fanboy, there is nothing [Feige] does not know about the original comics, said Cumberbatch. So, together with the rest of his team, its done out of love, and theres a huge amount of respect  respect for detail.

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Swinton said she enjoyed the fight scenes in the movie the most. The greatest fun for me was the fighting, she said. That was a great thrill. And possibly the most difficult thing was casting spells while remembering the lines. That was a tricky thing. But truly, it was a blast.

Cumberbatch said the most fun part for him was also the hardest. Its the most extraordinary character journey he goes on, he said. This man was part of a very material, logic-driven, binary world, something we essentially experience everyday of our lives, he is obviously very much ahead in his profession. And he has his whole world turned upside-down in a car crash, both physically and mentally. Its the destruction of him to create something new. He has healing in his hand, and he used it for his own gain. To play that part, there are countless different stages, from a confident man, to a broken man, and then slowly turning into a Marvel superhero. While that was hard, it was also the most enjoyable.

Director Derrickson commended on Cumberbatchs physical stunt work for the film. What a lot of people dont understand is that when an actor performs a lot of his own stunts, as Benedict did in this movie, its very physically demanding, he said. So when I think about the production, a lot of what comes to mind is Benedict being in physical pain, and having to perform in situations where he is getting hit, getting kicked, being in harnesses, doing very difficult things. Its unpleasant but he was a total trouper and kept getting better and better as we went along.

Related: Doctor Strange: 4 Highlights from Watching 15 Minutes of Footage

Doctor Strange is the origin story of the titular character that made his debut in comic book form in 1963, steeped in Marvels own brand of mysticism and 1960s psychedelia. In, not just the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but also in comic books and comic book movies, there is always a need and a necessity to explain where the superpowers come from, said producer and Marvel Studios president Feige. And in the comics and certainly in the MCU, an explanation always has a grounded basis.

He added: When you talk about magic and mystery, you talk about something that defies explanation. Magic by definition is mysterious. It taps into things that you dont fully understand. Thats what makes magic magic. The very nature of the supernatural is that it defies easy explanation. It goes beyond the limits of what we really understand. And thats why I am always drawn to it, [to] the fantastic and supernatural, and [it] taps into our own sense of awe. Those are the kind of stories Id like to watch and Id like to tell.

Doctor Strange will have its world premiere in Hong Kong on Thursday night and will be released in theaters there on Oct. 27, a week ahead of its North American bow.

Doctor Strange is a very exciting character who goes on a fantastic journey in this film, said Cumberbatch. Its an origin story, its full of humor, its full of truth to the original source material, and its got the most fantastic cast. And a wonderful director, and a studio which knows exactly what it is doing, thanks very much to [Feige]. I think the audience is in for a truly spectacular, very heartfelt, at times funny, really thrilling journey.

Related: Benedict Cumberbatch Says Doctor Strange Will Be Arrogant, But Funny

Watch Cumberbatch talk about how Doctor Strange is a different kind of Marvel movie:




In his documentaries, Ken Burns has examined the legacy of seminal historical figures such as Teddy Roosevelt, Frank Lloyd Wright, and Thomas Jefferson. Men whose names echo through the ages. In his most recent film, Defying the Nazis: The Sharps War, Burns and co-director Artemis Joukowsky, turn their camera on Waitstill and Martha Sharp, a Unitarian minister and his wife, who left their quiet life in Massachusetts to help refugees flee Europe as Hitler came to power. Their heroism may be largely unknown, but theirs is a remarkable story of courage and sacrifice. By laundering money and arranging for safe passage, the couple helped rescue dozens of Jewish children and political dissidents from the gas chambers, even as they neglected their own family in the States. Its also a story that had a personal resonance for Joukowsky, the grandson of the Sharps.

The documentary is currently airing on PBS. Burns spoke with Variety about what drew him to the Sharps story, its parallels with the refugee crisis in Syria, and the danger of a Trump presidency.

How did you get involved in the film?

Ive known Artemis since we went to Hampshire College. He sent in a rough cut some three years ago. He had done some filming and preliminary editing. It was a rough cut, emphasis on rough, but I saw the diamond and sort of went at it. It started out as me just giving advice, to me being at the periphery to becoming a creative consultant, a co-producer, and eventually a co-director with him. It was sort of walking deeper, deeper into the story.

It almost seems like a spy film at points?

When we looked at it, my heart was pounding in some places. I thought, this is an Alan Furst novel. This is John Le Carre. This is phenomenal. The fact that a Unitarian minister and his wife, who one has to presume the biggest drama in any given week was what he was going to say on Sunday, the phone rings and a month later hes in Prague. Hes laundering money in European capitals and shes dodging Gestapo agents. Its just unbelievable.

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This is a film about sacrifice, but also its cost and its a film about potentiality. Every one of those people that they saved became somebody and that by extension suggests that six million [Jews] isnt an opaque figure, but six million different potentialities that didnt get saved. It obviously has contemporary resonances, but I never went into the film thinking, Oh, this is like Syria. Thats not the way to make good films or certainly not good history films.

Are you hoping that people will make a connection to the refugee crisis in Syria?

Of course. Faulkner said it best, that historys not what was, but is. Anything you do resonates in the present. Human behavior, human nature never changes. So what you find is the good and the bad and all the shades in between. The Sharps, in their extraordinary sacrifice, call to us. Its a kind of existential query, would you have done this? Many of the people throughout the film realize, no, no, no, the Sharps were very rare.

These are not people that are widely known. Was it interesting to focus on a lesser known heroes as opposed to iconic historical figures?

Yes, and I try to do that in almost all the films we make, which is to try to tell a top down story. We made The War, which is about World War II, but we did it through the eyes of people who are lived in four, geographically distributed, sort of, randomly chosen American towns. The Sharps contain everything. If this were a feature film of the period, Jimmy Stewart would have to play Sharp. And Martha is a protofeminist. Shes going to college and her parents are kicking her out and putting her clothes on the lawn because she wants to be somebody. Shes a social worker. A devoted wife in a progressive congregation.

The architecture of the atom is very similar to the architecture of the solar system. We get seduced by the immensity of the solar system and we tend to the stories of the Great Men, but we forget we can find really available and accessible narratives in these so-called ordinary people. We can relate to them a little bit, because they dont come with a bold-faced name. They come with the seeming ordinariness of their lives. That allows them to be narrative Trojan horses where they suddenly disgorge all of their complications. Youre not dealing with a happy story with a happy ending. You realize that theyve only been able to save a few hundred people, like Oskar Schindler. Theyre devastated by the smallness of the catch, and theyre butting up against the six million victims of the Holocaust. Theres a fury in them and a clock-ticking kind of urgency to what theyre doing. Because their story is smaller, you can personalize it. You can see that each one of those kids they saved, went on to become professors of French or Russian or of mathematics or an RAF pilot or a poet. They would not have been able to do that. They would not have lived had it not been for Waitstill and Martha Sharp. That to me is the essence of a good story.

They did not seem to be the best parents to their own children.

Thats a huge part of it. You could see in the way Hastings, the son, reads a letter [from his mother], hes flippant and hes angry. Hes in his eighties and hes angry. Artemis mom is angry, and shes in her seventies. I like that the process of making the film, helped her. Shed be reconnected with survivors and theyd say, the only reason we survived and were saved is that your parents knew you were strong enough to withstand this. At the heart of this is that this is a Unitarian minister and his wife who leave their small children in the care of the congregation and go and save other peoples children. Thats not neat and tidy.

How much did their faith play a part in their decision. Was it something about Unitarianism that encouraged them to go do this?

I think so. Its very much focused on this life. On what you do now. On the primacy of human beings to affect positive change. They imbibed a progressive, muscular Christianity that was not distracted by sin or hell or heaven, as much as it was by what would you do in this life.

Why have you been so publicly opposed to Donald Trump?

I have never in my professional life ever spoken out in this way. I certainly have my own opinions and have a yard sign at elections and make sure I vote. But I spoke out because he represents the greatest threat to American democracy since the Second World War. He is so fundamentally un-American, and not only because he is unqualified, but because he is mentally unsuited. He represents a kind of strong man, narcissistic thing that represents the potential death of the Republic. All of my films are about the United States and all of them are about trying to understand how it works and how it doesnt work, and I just felt compelled to speak out.

Whats so dangerous about his appeal?

He has tapped a dark unconscious, in which it is easier to vilify the other than to see what you share in common. Its easier to be afraid than to welcome change. Its always been there. We had a civil war, you know. We killed 750,000 of ourselves over this issue. Hes appealing to that in the most venal and vulgar ways.

I could have answered your question in a much simpler way by just saying hes too vulgar for me. Theres no one who has occupied the presidency of the United States like that. This is coming from a person who has just finished a ten-part series on the Vietnam War, so I have been listening for years to Johnson and Nixon on tapes that they forgot were being recorded, and the vulgarity there is pretty extreme, but nothing compares to the vulgarity of this man.

Are you referring to the Access Hollywood tape?

The most recent one does it in spades, but its more than that. My daughter and my son-in-law and I made a film about the Central Park Five. He took out full page ads asking for the death penalty to be brought back and applied to five innocent children and on Friday he doubled down on that. Its only the sex tape thats kept that relatively quiet, but I was very impressed by Sen. McCain who finally disavowed Trump and not only mentioned the completely off-the-rails sex tape, but also the Central Park Five as one of the reasons. He had the trifecta last Friday because he also said while being endorsed by border control folks that the Obama administration under the direction of Hillary Clinton was letting in immigrants so they could vote against him. This is the greatest country on earth, and one of the many reasons is because we have a smooth transition of power. Hes set himself up to continue to roil that dark unconscious that he has tapped into for his base. The fact that he could say the things he said about women, and that his adoring masses are not even flinching at that, is Hitler-esque. I refer you to Michiko Kakutanis review of the Hitler biography two weeks ago in the Times, in which she didnt mention the contemporary situation, she just put the bullet points of Hitlers rise and every single one of them was exactly what Trump has done.



Do you think hes a fascist?

Absolutely. When you talk about having extra-judicial, threatening rivals with jail. You can call it fascistic or you can call it dictatorial. You can call it monomaniacal or imperial. Whatever you want to say, this is not the way that our country works.

Are there any modern political or public figures you would want to make a film about?

All the time. If I were given a thousand years to live, I wouldnt run out of topics in American history.

Would that extend to Trump?

No, I dont think so. I did one on Frank Lloyd Wright, who is a wholly disagreeable character, but he is arguably the greatest architect in American history. That was important to do. I guess, I would never say never to anything. If we dodge this bullet, it may be very important to understand how close we actually came.

Do you have to find something you like about your subjects?

No Ive done now wars. Wars are hell as William Tecumseh Sherman said. These were cataclysmic, horrible events that contribute to untold suffering and death. But they also provide opportunities to study human nature and to see the better angels that sometimes emerge from these things. The Civil War you cant divorce from Abraham Lincoln, for example.

Would you be involved with virtual reality?

Weve done some stuff, but Im conservative. I think the technological tail wags the dog. Im an old-fashioned guy, and I think thats neat, and I hope the kids like it, and then I go back to trying to tell stories the old-fashioned way.

Do you have any preference for how people access or watch your films?

Not at all. Ive wanted to be a filmmaker since I was 12 years old, and filmmaking is essentially the communion of strangers in dark rooms. That just doesnt happen. I learned very early on because of the labor intensiveness of these historical subjects that I needed to get funding from organizations  most of whom expected to have public television get them. I traded the hundreds that would see it in a film festival or the thousands that would see it in a limited theatrical run and perhaps the tens of thousands that would see it on a cable run, for the tens of millions that watch my films on PBS. Thats a bargain Ive been happy to make. So sure, would I love to show it in a room with 350 staring up at a big screen? Yep, but I also know that somebodys going to watch fourteen hours of The Roosevelts on their phone with ear buds and thats OK too. Im in the storytelling business.

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When asked to define the American dream, Laura Judge has to take a minute to think. "I think of someone overcoming great obstacles," the 32-year-old resident of Lowell, Michigan, finally says.

It's not a term she would use for herself or any of her friends, either. Rather than having to pull herself up by the bootstraps -- as she envisions those living the American dream must -- Judge says, "I feel like I'm very blessed and have a lot."

[See: 10 Foolproof Ways to Reach Your Money Goals.]

Rebekah Casper, 22, is another millennial who doesn't think the term is particularly relevant to her life. "I haven't heard that term in a long time," says the Brookston, Indiana, resident. "It's something older people use."

Replacing the white picket fence. The American dream, as it's traditionally understood, refers to the idea that all people have the opportunity for success and prosperity in the U.S. It's often characterized as having a stable, well-paying job and a house with a white picket fence out front.

Millennials aren't foregoing these things completely, but they are taking a different approach. "Young people still want to own a house, but not right out of college," says Benjamin Lupu, a baby boomer and owner of finance firm Kensington A.M.I. in Burbank, California. "They want stable employment, but on their own terms." For that, Lupu sees millennials turning to freelancing and entrepreneurial pursuits to earn income.

Chantel Bonneau, a millennial and wealth management advisor with Northwestern Mutual, says a main difference between generations may be the emphasis young adults place on having a fulfilling job. "Millennials really think a satisfying career is a part of the American dream more than anything else," she says.

[See: How to Manage Your Money in Your 20s.]

Changing priorities. That focus on career satisfaction may reflect the fact many young adults are pursuing a college degree. "When you spend that much effort on schooling, a lot of my friends [say] 'I don't even want to think about not using my education,'" Casper says.

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Judge has seen a similar phenomenon. While she married at age 23 and currently has three children, she says many people in her circle of friends are only just now settling down and starting families. "I was by far the youngest in my core group of friends to have kids," Judge says. "[Other] people put their careers first and that isn't a bad thing."

Even those who aren't career-minded may feel they have no choice but to delay the start of a family. Nearly 70 percent of college seniors graduated with student loan debt in 2014, according to The Institute for College Access and Success. On average, those students owed $28,950, an amount that may feel overwhelming given the low starting salaries associated with some four-year degrees. The average starting salary for a psychology major from the class of 2015 was $35,108 while an English major brought in a mere $34,702 on average, according to the National Association of Colleges and Employers.

From where Bonneau stands, it's not that the basics of the American dream have changed for millennials. They still want a house, a family and a good job, but "the order in which those things happen is changing."

Not every millennial is delaying family. While the average age of first marriages has climbed to 27 for women and 29 for men, according to 2015 Census Bureau data, not every millennial fits the mold of the single 20-something. Both Judge and Casper were married and started families in their early 20s. "I've always wanted to be a mom," Judge says. Although supportive of her friends who have chosen other paths, climbing the corporate ladder was never on her list of priorities. "It's not my American dream," she says.

Casper has similar ideas. "My American dream is to raise my kids and support my husband," she says. "If I raise good children who are successful and my husband is successful, then I'm successful."

[See: The High Costs of the Retirement Dream.]

That mentality is a far cry from the more colorful stereotypes some might have of millennials -- such as that of the unencumbered 30-year-old who is launching an internet start-up in his parents' basement. The reality is that while some millennials are choosing a different route to reach happiness, the younger generation tends to share the same core goals as the preceding generations. "Everyone wants to assault traditional ideas because that's what gets headlines," Lupu says. "But the American dream is very much alive."
Donald Trump has been fact checked again and again, but no fact checker is more authoritative than the voice of Ron Howard.

Howard shared a YouTube video on Thursday that combines statements made by Trump at the first Presidential debate with lines Howards narration from the cult classic TV series Arrested Development.

In the video, dubbed Trump-rested Development, Trump extols his role in getting President Obama to release his long form birth certificate, saying he did a good job. But he really didnt, Howards voice replies.

Also Read: New York Times Fires Back at Donald Trump: We'll See You in Court

Later, after Trump denied that he had ever said that pregnancy is an inconvenience to employers, the scene cuts away to an NBC News clip of Trump saying just that.

Jokes began circulating online after the first debate that people wanted to hear Howard fact check the controversial GOP candidate in the same way the narrator contradicted the characters on Arrested Development.

Watch the video

It has been a rough week for the GOP candidate. Trump is still dealing with the fallout of a leaked recording from 2005 in which he openly bragged about being able to grope women due to his celebrity status. Since then, more women have come forward to claim that Trump exhibited predatory behavior toward them over the years.

Related stories from TheWrap:

Donald Trump Is Beating Hillary Clinton in One Race, Anyway

Tom Hanks Trashes Trump Over Leaked 2005 Audio: 'I'm Offended as a Man' (Video)

Trump Campaign Demands NY Times Retracts Story In Which 2 Women Claim He Groped Them
The Mukha waterfall on Belan river, about 40 km from the rock sites of Robertsganj, is a hidden gem of UP. Picture courtesy: Mail Today

By Mail Today: ock art in Uttar Pradesh is one major crowd puller. A number of people have contributed to the discovery and study of rock art in the state and due to their consistent efforts, painted rock shelters and their details are known from districts Chandauli, Sonbhadra, Mirzapur, Allahabad, Chitrakoot and Banda in northern Vindhyas and around Fatehpur Sikri and Agra in the Aravalli ranges.

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Some of the rock art sites in Chandauli, Mirzapur and Sonbhadra districts are attractive tourist destinations as well. These sites are ideally located close to popular tourist destinations like Varanasi and Allahabad. The district headquarters of Robertsganj in Sonbhadra district, 90 km from Varanasi, is an ideal place to visit these cave and rock shelters as well as the Fossil Park in Salkhan and the Kaimur wildlife Sanctuary.

ROCK PAINTINGS IN MIRZAPUR & SONBHADRA

The Vindhya and the Kaimur ranges have at least 250 rock art sites spread across them. The rock paintings range from the mesolithic to the chalcolithic ages. Among important rock painting sites found in the region are the Panchmukhi Rock Shelters (8 km from Robertsganj), Kauva Khoh Rock Shelters (near Churk), Lakhania Rock Shelters (22 km from Robertsganj) and Lakhma caves (near Baghma).

Also read: 5 hidden homestays in Uttarakhand every avid traveller would love to stay in



KAIMUR WILDLIFE SANCTUARY

Thirteen kilometres from Robertsganj, spread over an area of 500 sq km, the sanctuary has a variety of wildlife. The Mukha waterfall is a tourist attraction. Other excursions include Jaunpur, Allahabad and the Vindham and Chachai falls.



SALKHAN FOSSIL PARK, SONBHADRA

About 15 km from Robertsganj on Chopan Road, this is the oldest botanical fossil found in the world. The tree fossils, which are covering 25 hectares of park, date back to meso-protcrozoic period. They are said to be about 1,400 million years old. The types of fossils found in the area are algae and Stromotolities. The park is three times larger than the Yellow Stone Park of America.

About 1,400 million-year-old tree fossils in Salkhan Fossil Park. Picture courtesy: Mail Today

OTHER DESTINATIONS

Ghurhupur rock shelters are about 60 km to the east of Chakia in the northern scarp of the Kaimur hills on the border of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. A steep climb leads to the rock shelters. Inside the shelters are the ancient paintings and inscriptions painted on their walls and ceilings. Some of them are related with Buddhist motifs.

Further east, on another hill in one of the rock shelters, an inscription identified as minor rock edict of Ashoka has been discovered recently. Between this shelter and Nindaur is a circular structure made of square stone blocks which is supposed to be representing an ancient Buddhist stupa.

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In Chakia are the painted rock shelters of the Ama Chuan (a waterfall). Close by are Malhar and Phakkada Baba on the right bank of the Karamnasa river, ancient sites for iron production. In Karamnasa river, crocodiles abound in its green waters. On a lucky day leopards, bears and wild pigs can be spotted. The Musa Khand dam and the celebrated waterfalls of Latifshah, Rajdari and Chandraprabha are not far away from Chakia.



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Donald Trump categorically denied multiple allegations of sexual assault Thursday, blaming the media and arguing that rival Hillary Clinton is systematically trying to destroy him.

Speaking in West Palm Beach, Florida, Trump argued that stories in the New York Times and People magazine were pure fiction and outright lies created to undermine his campaign. He also argued that he had substantial evidence to dispute them that he will make public later.

These vicious claims about me of inappropriate conduct with women are totally and absolutely false. And the Clintons know it, and they know it very well, he said. These claims are all fabricated. Theyre pure fiction, and theyre outright lies. These events never, ever happened.

Reading off a Teleprompter at his Thursday rally, Trump barely contained his anger as his unleashed a series of allegations of his own, claiming that the media is coordinating with Hillary Clintons campaign in an attempt to ruin his candidacy.

Trump responded to two allegations directly during his speech. Of Jessica Leeds, who told the Times that Trump grabbed her breasts on an airplane, Trump said: Another ridiculous tale, no witnesses, no nothing. And of People writer Natasha Stoynoff, who said Trump pushed her up against a wall and kissed her without her consent while she was writing a profile, Trump seemed to imply that her looks prove he would not have wanted to kiss her.

Look at her, look at her words, you tell me what you think, he said. I dont think so.

Trump also argued that the news media is not objective, characterizing it as a special interest seeking to maintain its own privileged position at the expense of average Americans.

The most powerful weapon deployed by the Clintons is the corporate media, the press. Lets be clear on one thing: the corporate media in our country is no longer involved in journalism, he said. Theyre a political special interest  and their agenda is to elect crooked Hillary Clinton at any cost, at any price, no matter how many lives they destroy. For them, its a war. And for them, nothing at all is out of bounds.

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They will attack you, they will slander you, they will seek to destroy your career and your family, Trump continued. They will seek to destroy everything about you, including your reputation. they will lie, lie, lie, and then again they will do worse than that. They will do whatever is necessary.

The Republican nominee then focused his ire on one publication in particular: The New York Times. (The Times published two sexual assault allegations against Trump Wednesday, as well as another piece in May that included other examples of alleged inappropriate contact between Trump and women). Trump said he is currently preparing a lawsuit against the newspaper, and threw in some insults as well: The New York Times is fighting desperately for its relevance and its financial survival, he said.

Trumps campaign demanded a retraction from the newspaper on Wednesday. The Times responded to the cease and desist letter, writing that the reporters worked diligently to confirm the womens accounts, and, We did what the law allows; we published newsworthy information about a subject of deep public concern. If Mr. Trump disagrees, if he believes that American citizens had no right to hear what these women had to say and that the law of this country forces us and those who would dare to criticize him to stand silent or be punished, we welcome the opportunity to have a court set him straight.

But after getting specific with the New York Times, Trump brought his Florida speech back to broader election themes. Tying the Clinton family to the media allowed Trump to continue hammering an idea hes been teeing up before a potential loss on November 8: that the entire American political system is rigged against him and his supporters.

This is a conspiracy against you, the American people, he said.
Donald Trump is not backing down from denying charges of sexual assault. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)

After six women came forward in the past twenty-four hours with allegations of having been groped and sexually harassed by Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, the candidate himself addressed these claims at a rally this afternoon, Oct. 13, in Palm Beach, Florida.

Trump told supporters, These claims are all fabricated. Theyre pure fiction, and theyre outright lies. These events never, ever happened and the people that said them meekly fully understand.

He added, We already have substantial evidence to dispute these lies, and it will be made public in an appropriate way and at an appropriate time, very soon.

Trumps remarks negating and denying the allegations made by women  thus far, two in The New York Times, one in People magazine, one in the Palm Beach Post, and two in Buzzfeed News  is, unfortunately, not an uncommon response that survivors of sexual violence hear, especially from those they are accusing.

A 2006 study published in the American Journal of Community Psychology notes that rape survivors, for example, who speak out about their sexual assault experiences are often punished for doing so when they are subjected to negative reactions from support providers, resulting in a silencing function that stops many survivors from talking about their experiences to anyone, ever. The researchers note how silence is thus emblematic of powerlessness in our society  an unsurprising side effect of negative social reactions like blaming or doubting victims that results in survivors choosing to remain silent. They determined that there are four general types of negative reactions experienced by survivors who come forward with their stories: being blamed, receiving insensitive reactions, experiencing ineffective disclosures  that is, receiving inadequate help after reporting their assault, and receiving inappropriate support from friends and family. Ultimately, the researchers concluded, the negative consequences faced by survivors who disclose is what often keeps survivors from disclosing in the first place.

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Par for the course, not only did Trump call out his accusers at Thursdays rally, but also took to Twitter to further attempt to negate their stories. Over 50,000 people liked the tweets in which Trump attacked his accusers.

The phony story in the failing @nytimes is a TOTAL FABRICATION. Written by same people as last discredited story on women. WATCH!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 13, 2016

Why didnt the writer of the twelve year old article in People Magazine mention the incident in her story. Because it did not happen!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 13, 2016

Trumps response is unfortunately exactly the kind of move that further stigmatizes survivors and prevents them from reporting their own assaults.

Speaking with Yahoo Beauty earlier this summer, Candice Lopez, the director of the National Sexual Assault Hotline, noted how crimes of sexual violence are the only crimes where we put blame on the victim of the crime. But the only person who is responsible is the person who committed the crime, the perpetrator.

She added, Victims are very powerless in their interactions with their perpetrator, whether they know the perpetrator or not. There is not a lot they can do because they are not the active agent.

Which is why its so important to trust survivors, which is exactly what RAINN, the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network, makes clear. The group says that the best way to support a survivor of sexual assault is communicate with them without any judgment, to remind the survivor that their assault was not their fault and that their claims are believed.

In other words, the opposite of Trump and members of his team calling the claims made against him preposterous and ludicrous and attempting to undermine the credibility of the women who have come forward against him.

Its behavior like this that is just why it took so long for the women who accused Bill Cosby of sexual assault to be believed and why many of his victims waited years  decades, even  before coming forward to tell their stories.

And its behavior like this that is why the words of the woman who survived having been sexually assaulted by former Stanford student Brock Turner resonated so emphatically with so many people and why the open letter Vice President Joe Biden wrote to this survivor brought so many people to tears: Not only did he unwaveringly voice his support for her but he also articulated that, without question, her experience was real, horrible, and unacceptable.

Its behavior like this, literally, that brought First Lady Michelle Obama close to tears speaking at a campaign event for Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton on Thursday, October 13, as she described the way the allegations against Trump have shaken me to my core in a way that I couldnt have predicted and that the conversation leaked on the Access Hollywood tape, wasnt just a lewd conversationthis was a powerful individual speaking openly and freely about sexually predatory behavior.

This is not something we can ignore, said Obama. Now is the time for all of us to stand up and say enough is enough. This has got to stop right now.

According to RAINN, every 109 seconds, another person experiences sexual assault in the United States. One out of every six American women has been the victim of attempted or completed rape in her lifetime and 90 percent of all victims of rape are women. And while 48 percent of all sexual assaults occur to a person sleeping or doing another activity in the home, another 29 percent of sexual assaults occur to people traveling to and from work or school or completing other normal daily errands, 12 percent occur at a persons place of work, and another 7 percent occur while attending school.

And a 2014 national survey commissioned by the group Stop Street Harassment found that 65 percent of all women had experienced street harassment at some point in her lifetime, with 23 percent of women reporting having been sexually touched, 20 percent of women reporting having been followed, and 9 percent reporting they had been forced to engage in some kind of sexual act. Almost half of all women surveyed reported having been subjected to unwanted sexual touching or grabbing.

Simply existing puts women at risk for sexual violence  which is why seeing their allegations belittled and diminished is all the more horrifying, especially given the great courage it takes for a survivor to come forward and share her story.

The women who have come out with allegations of sexual violence and harassment against Donald Trump are not doing so meekly, but bravely. The U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics reports that only 15.8 to 35 percent of all sexual assaults are reported to the police and when an offender is a friend or acquaintance of the survivor, only 18 to 40 percent of assaults are reported. Survivors list fear of reprisal, belief that their assault is a personal matter, fear that their report would not be seen as important enough to the respondent, not having enough proof or evidence of the crime, and feeling that the crime was not serious enough to report all as reasons to not report a sexual assault.

And so any time a survivor comes forward, her reporting is far from meek, but in fact remarkably courageous  and an act, as seen in the Cosby case, that often inspires other survivors to find power in numbers and do the same.
Donald Trump has a theory about what is happening to his campaign.

There is a global elite, with a plan to continue its domination of the American people. Hillary Clinton is one of them, enabled by the press and nefarious elements of the U.S. government, to promote its globalist agenda. No financial statistics, poll, nor bureaucratic decision is out of its reach, nor are the results at the ballot box. And these powers have the power to elevate women who will lie about his sexual misbehavior.

Trump laid out his grand unified theory in a speech Thursday in October, less than four weeks before Election Day, calling on his supporters to rise up and defend not just his campaign but civilization itself.

For those who control the levers of power in Washington, and for the global special interests, they partner with these people that dont have your good in mind, he said at a rally in West Palm Beach, Fla. Our campaign represents a true existential threat like they havent seen before.

The bombastic Trump released his most treacherous charge yet Thursday, following months of alleging that the U.S. election system would be rigged against him. This election will determine whether we are a free nation, or whether we have only the illusion of democracy, but are in fact controlled by a small handful of global special interests rigging the system, he said. And our system is rigged. This is reality.

Trumps visions draw upon conspiracy theories that have been nurtured for years by far-right-wing outlets like InfoWars, which has been a home for 9/11 truthers, and unfounded claims about the Bilderberg Group and the World Economic Forum. Just this week, founder Alex Jones alleged that Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are demons. I been told this by high-up folks, and they tell me Obama and Hillary both smell like sulfur, he said on his radio show Monday.

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Trump has been laying out his theory for weeks, gradually expanding the list of institutions that are rigged against the American people. Those involved in the effort against him include the political establishment, Republican leaders like House Speaker Paul Ryan, the Federal Reserve, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Department of Justice, globalist elites with unlimited checkbooks, the Clinton campaign, the Commission on Presidential Debates and major corporations. Most of all, he blames the national media, which he claims is single-handedly keeping the Clinton campaign afloat. He said the Washington elite and national media existed for a single reason: to protect and enrich itself.

For them, its a war, he said of the powers arrayed against him, and for them, nothing at all is out of bounds.

He adds the establishment has trillions at stake on the election, and blamed a global power structure for the decline of manufacturing cities like Detroit and small towns in Ohio, Pennsylvania and North Carolina. Theyve stripped these towns bare, and raided the wealth for themselves.

Trump has toyed with conspiracy theories before, suggesting without specific evidence that federal unemployment numbers are manipulated, that the independent Federal Reserve takes its cues from the White House, and that the Clintons bribed the Attorney General with a Cabinet post to prevent charges in her email case. Even the polls are crooked, Trump declared Monday at a rally in Wilkes Barre, Pa., of the preponderance of respectable surveys showing him trailing Clinton nationally and in swing states. And of course, he strew muck as he publicly questioned the site of Obamas true birthplace for half a decade.

Trumps latest descent into the world of false intrigue and deceit came on the heels of stories Wednesday evening alleging his culpability in new groping incidents. He cast them as another data point in the conspiracy against him.

These claims are all fabricated, they are pure fiction, and they are outright lies, he said, before raising questions about how a half-dozen women made the allegations to four publications in stories published within in an hour of each other. Its not coincidence, Trump said, that these attacks come at the exact same moment and all together at the same time as WikiLeaks releases documents exposing the massive international corruption of the Clinton machine.

The WikiLeaks release of Clinton campaign chairman John Podestas hacked emails, which the FBI blames on Russia as part of a widespread attempt to undermine faith in the U.S. electoral process, proved to be a frequent proof point for Trump to the existence of a global plot against him and his supporters.

Weve seen this firsthand in the WikiLeaks documents in which Hillary Clinton meets in secret with international banks to plot the destruction of U.S. sovereignty in order to enrich these global financial powers, her special interest friends and her donors, Trump said, mischaracterizing, and in some cases inventing, revelations from the release of the emails.

Theyre criminals, he continued of the Clintons. This is well documented. And the establishment that protects them is engaged in a massive cover-up of widespread criminal activity at the State Department and the Clinton Foundation in order to keep the Clintons in power.

Firing up his supporters a month after Clinton cast half of them as deplorables, Trump seemed to project his statements onto his supporters. Anyone who challenges their control is deemed a sexist, a racist, a xenophobe and morally deformed, he said of the elites. They will attack you. They will slander you. They will seek to destroy your career and family. They will seek to destroy everything about you including your reputation.

It is a campaign message he is likely to carry into November. This is a conspiracy against you, the American people, and we cant let this happen or continue, he said in West Palm Beach, unbowed and defiant. This is our moment of reckoning.
Hillary Clintons campaign is behind this weeks media reports in which women claim to have been assaulted by Donald Trump years ago, the GOP candidate told supporters today in West Palm Beach, FL. Trump blasted as slander and libel what he described as attempts to destroy his reputation and his family.

In a rambling scorched-earth speech, Trump urged supporters to just look at her to ascertain the reliability of the People magazine reporter who is among those claiming Trump assaulted her, hearkening to his primary campaign remark about then-GOP candidate Carly Fiorina.

The real-estate developer insisted his camp has substantial evidence to dispute these lies which it will make public in an appropriate way and at an appropriate time, very soon.

I knew they would throw every lie they could at me and my family and my loved onesthey would stop at nothing to stop me. But I never knew it would be this vile, this bad, this vicious, Trump said.

Nevertheless I take all of these slings and arrows gladly, for you. I take them for our movement, so that we can have our country back, he added in his speech.

The Clinton machine is closely and irrevocably tied to the media organizations publishing these accounts, Trump said. Clinton is intent upon the destruction of our campaign, the great great movement, the likes of which our country has never seen before, never ever, and media is no longer involved in journalism. Theyre a political special interest.

For them, its a war and, for them, nothing at all is out of bounds. This is a struggle for the survival of our nation. Believe me. And this will be our last chance to save it, he charged.

Anyone who challenges their control is deemed a sexist, a racist, a xenophobe, and morally deformed, Trump said, ticking off things various politicians and political strategists appearing as contributors on TV news outlets have said about his campaign.

Story continues

They will attack you. They will slander you. They will seek to destroy your career and your family. They seek to destroy everything about you including your reputation. They will lie, lie, and then again. They will do worse than that, he said as the crowd, for a second time, erupted with shouts of Lock Her Up! Lock Her Up!

The reports of sexual assault claims have been deliberately timed to distract from Wikileaks daily release of documents exposing massive international corruptions of the Clinton machine, Trump charged. These people are horrible people. Theyre horrible, horribleand it happens to appear 26 days before our very important election. Isnt that amazing?

These claims are all fabricated, pure fiction and theyre outright lies, Trump insisted. These events never ever happenedThe claims are preposterous, ludicrous and defy truth, common sense and logic.

Trumps campaign has sent a letter to the New York Times that a lawsuit is coming if the publication does not retract its report, published late yesterday, about two women who claim the candidate was inappropriately physical with them years ago. In that report, one woman claimed Trump grabbed her breasts and tried to put his hand up her skirt during a commercial flight, while the other says he kissed her on the mouth after she introduced herself to him while waiting for an elevator at Trump Tower.

It was closely followed by an account in which a People reporter claimed she was victim of an unwanted sexual move by the GOP candidate at Mar-a-Lago in 2005. And, the Palm Beach Post reported another woman has claimed Trump groped her at the resort more than a decade ago. Also last night, CNN devoted much airtime to its interview with a former Miss USA pageant contestant in which she said Trump walked in on contestants room backstage while they were making a costume change, entering as some were topless and others naked.

Trump went after the People magazine report at greatest length in his rally speech this morning, saying Natasha Stoynoff came to Mar-a-Lago to write a story about Trump and wife Melania Trump on their first anniversary.

Why wasnt it part of the story that appeared 12 years ago?I was one of the biggest stars on television with The Apprentice and it would have been one of the biggest stories of the year. Think of it! She is doing a story on Melania, who is pregnant at the time, and Donald Trump, our one-year anniversary. And she said I made inappropriate advances and, by the way, it was a public area, people all over the place. Take a look, you take a look at her, take a look at her words. You tell me what you think. I dont think so!

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Donald Trump Jr. Donald Trump Melania Trump

Donald Trump Jr. suggested to a Charlotte radio station on Tuesday that he's made similar comments to the remarks his father made about women in a leaked 2005 tape.

In the tape, Donald Trump boasted about kissing and groping women. Trump Jr. said such remarks made his father sound more "human."

"I've had conversations like that with plenty of people where people use language off color," Trump Jr. told Charlotte Morning News on WBT radio, as first spotted by CNN.

He continued: "They're talking, two guys, amongst themselves. I've seen it time and time again. I think it makes him a human. I think it makes him a normal person, not a political robot. He hasn't spent his whole life waiting for this moment to run for the presidency."

He did say that his family is "not happy" with what the Manhattan billionaire said.

"I think most American people just say, you know what, I've probably said those kind of things myself," Trump Jr. added. "So, we're not happy that he said, that's for sure, I get that but I think it means that he's a human being that he's a regular person like everyone else. I think that's what endeared him to the American public."

Of the recent allegations of unwanted sexual advances, specifically those reported in The New York Times against his father, Trump Jr. said he's "never heard anything dumber in my life."

"All of sudden, two, three weeks before election, someone comes out  it's not like he hasn't been in the public eye for 30 years," he said.

Trump Jr. added that the attacks were "probably a typical New York Times smear campaign." He said that his father may sue the newspaper.

"They keep libeling and doing these kind of things I imagine that would be the intention," he said. "It's one thing to report the news, it's another to try to smear someone's name time and time again for political motives and political gain. So I imagine that would certainly be on his mind."

Trump Jr. also targeted the media for spending less time discussing the leaked Hillary Clinton campaign emails than the 11-year-old tape of Trump.

Story continues

NOW WATCH: 'He never said that': New Clinton ad shows Trump contradicting Pence's VP debate denials





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Donald Trump

Donald Trump's campaign is clearing out of Virginia, effectively conceding the battleground state's 13 electoral votes to Hillary Clinton, NBC News reported on Thursday.

The move "blindsided" Republican operatives and Trump staffers in the state, according to NBC News.

Clinton's lead in polls of the state, a modest 4 percentage points this summer, has now ballooned to 7.5 points, according to a RealClearPolitics average of state polls.

Trump's increasingly narrow road to victory now hinges on four other battlegrounds, which his campaign will now primarily focus on: Pennsylvania, Florida, North Carolina, and Ohio.

But former Trump Virginia state chairman Corey Stewart blasted the decision, telling NBC News it was "totally premature" and insisting on Facebook that his state was "winnable" in November.

"Thousands of dedicated volunteers have spent millions of hours knocking on doors, making phone calls and raising money for Mr. Trump over the past 15 months," Stewart said on Facebook. "Virginia is winnable. Pulling out now would be a betrayal to these volunteers."

Stewart was fired by the Trump campaign this week after he took part in a protest outside the Republican National Convention headquarters.

Virginia is the home state of Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Kaine.

For more news videos visit Yahoo View, available now on iOS.

NOW WATCH: Clinton opens up a massive lead against Trump, with lopsided support from a key voting demographic





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Donald Trump is spending the waning days of his buckling presidential campaign complaining about unfairness in the media. On Wednesday, he took it up a notch by circulating word that he was drafting a lawsuit against The New York Times and Palm Beach Post for detailing the allegations of women who have come forward to accuse Trump of sexual aggression.

The Republican could soon be set to shrug off a half century of jurisprudence that makes it extremely difficult, if not impossible, for a public figure to win a libel claim over stories built on the back of multiple non-anonymous sources. Trump looks to use courts as a glorified public relations vehicle to punctuate his denials and lay shade on the media. It is now time to meet Trump's gambit with a legal reform that would forever make it more difficult for those in the midst of a hissy fit to punish free speech.

Trump is no stranger to the libel laws of this country, having complained about them upon the 2009 defeat in a $5 billion lawsuit about his net worth and this year, having promised to "open up" libel laws should he emerge victorious in his bid for the highest office in the land.

He's not only witnessed such laws from the plaintiff side but also from the other side. For example, Trump is currently the defendant in an ongoing defamation lawsuit that charges him with bullying a female political consultant by tweeting last February that the woman, Cheryl Jacobus, "begged my people for a job. Turned her down twice and she went hostile. Major loser, zero credibility."

Trump has filed a motion to dismiss in that case and urged the judge to recognize the broader social context. Among the arguments that Trump's very own lawyer has used to defeat the libel claim is that the "plaintiff, as a national media commentator, had more than sufficient access to the means of counter-argument to address the allegedly defamatory statements."

When it suits Trump, he will rely upon legal precedents that impose a greater burden on public figures, because they have greater opportunity outside the legal system to rebut supposed untruths. But Trump, with his own microphone and the ability to command live television coverage whenever he wishes, sees courts as a way to serve a more vicious endeavor. USA Today has counted an astonishing 1,900 lawsuits in which Trump or one of his companies was a plaintiff. Remember the lawsuit against Bill Maher over a joke that Trump was spawned from an orangutan?

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If a lawsuit comes, he'll surely be demanding great damages, but the money sought will not be as important as the public relations aspect of attempting a counteroffensive against the media at a time when a struggling Trump looks to deflect attention away from a tape catching him bragging about grabbing women's private parts. His demand for a retraction from The New York Times reads like a cursory missive, from an attorney, Marc Kasowitz, who knows better but is throwing a Hail Mary under orders from above. The letter doesn't specify which allegations are untrue; it merely issues a blanket charge that statements are " and defamatory."

At least 28 states have anti-SLAPP statutes aimed at preventing the purposeful chilling of First Amendment protected rights. Those statutes vary, but typically, when lawsuits are brought where defendants see improper interference with their free speech, judges address the likelihood of the plaintiff's success at an early stage before moving the case any further. If a plaintiff has a lawsuit rejected on an anti-SLAPP motion, the plaintiff often has to pay the defendants their legal fees. Some critics believe certain anti-SLAPP statutes go too far by dissuading meritorious lawsuits by creating roadblocks, like an automatic right to appeal. But the primary advantage of these laws is to more expeditiously address legal actions that have the potential of deterring citizens' most sacred constitutional rights.

As many have recognized, if Donald Trump does bring a lawsuit against media outlets over their coverage of sexual assault allegations, it will hardly be resolved by Election Day. Many speculate that Trump will quickly drop such claims post-election to avoid a discovery process that would investigate the real truth. No one should fail to recognize, however, that the lawsuit itself is a form of bullying intended to give members of the media and other women pause before reporting about this public figure's fitness for office.

The only way to ensure that members of the media throughout the nation continue to be strong participants in civic affairs is to erect downsides to the filing of lawsuits. The U.S. Congress has such an opportunity and can discourage attacks on the First Amendment with a federal anti-SLAPP act that imposes penalties on frivolous lawsuits that cost money to defend and suck up judicial resources. It's time for lawmakers to act.

Read more: Two Women Claim Donald Trump Groped Them: "He Was Like an Octopus"
San Francisco (AFP) - Shipping port industry colossus DP World Group of Dubai on Thursday joined backers of a US startup working on the futuristic super-speedy train concept Hyperloop.

DP World Group, the third-largest port operator in the world, led a $50 million round of investment in Hyperloop One, according to the company.

A breakdown of the funding was not disclosed, but Hyperloop One said that latest round brought to $160 million the amount of financing raised since it was founded in 2014.

DP World Group recently announced it is exploring the potential to use a Hyperloop system to move containers between ships docked at the port of Jebel Ali to a new inland depot in Dubai.

The fresh investment came with DP World Group chief executive Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem taking a seat on Hyperloop Ones board of directors.

"We continue to seek opportunities to invest in and utilize our expertise to develop disruptive technology, Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem said in a release.

"We are exploring many innovations in our sector."

Hyperloop One said that Summa Group chairman Ziyavudin Magomedov was also joining the startup's board.

The private holding company was described as having significant investments in port logistics, engineering, construction, telecommunications and the oil and gas sectors

Hyperloop One planned the first demonstration of a full Hyperloop system in the first quarter of next year.

With a team of nearly 200 brilliant employees, the company is leading the way in the development of Hyperloop technology and we are on track to show the world our full system early next year," said Hyperloop One chief executive Rob Lloyd.

The startup also announced it has brought on a new finance executive with internet industry credentials as it worked to polish an image tarnished by a nasty legal battle with co-founder Brogan BamBrogan.

BamBrogan accused former colleagues of nepotism, threats and mismanagement, igniting a drama at a startup devoted to revolutionizing transport systems.

Story continues

Earlier this year, Hyperloop One held its first public test in the desert outside Las Vegas, trying out engine components designed to rocket pods carrying people or cargo through tubes at speeds of 700 miles per hour (1,125 kilometers) or more.

The company one of the startups with its site set on realizing a futuristic vision for transportation at near-supersonic speeds laid out three years ago by billionaire Elon Musk, the entrepreneur behind electric car company Tesla and private space exploration endeavor Space X.

Instead of developing the idea himself, Musk made freely available his research into the feasibility of getting people or cargo places at unprecedented speeds by firing them in pods through low-pressure tubes.

The list of backers for Hyperloop One includes the French national rail company; US industrial conglomerate General Electric and Russian state fund RDIF.
[Photo: Getty]

The Duchess of Cambridge really is the Peoples Princess 2.0.

After attending her first solo engagement abroad on Tuesday, the royal took a commercial flight on the 7:15 p.m. British Airways flight from the Netherlands to London.

Passengers were said to have been absolutely shocked when the mum-of-two walked onto the aircraft, according to the New Zealand Herald, and took a seat closest to the front of the plane.



Wearing the same light-blue Catherine Walker skirt suit she had worn for that days activities, the 34-year-old traveled with a team of bodyguards and staff during the flight. Aside from the prime seating and permission to deplane a few minutes before other passengers, the royal was treated just like any other commoner throughout the flight.

Can you imagine sitting on the plane waiting to take off and Kate Middleton walks on. My dream! She obvi got to get off the plane first pic.twitter.com/fqzho0eGau  Alyssa Ashton (@AlyssaJAshton) October 12, 2016

A passenger on the flight said that he had never seen so many iPhones pop up at once upon the Duchess entrance.

Kates no stranger to British Airways, as her mother, Carole, and father, Michael, have both worked as flight attendants for the airline company. Prince William also surprised passengers when he was spotted taking an American Airlines commercial flight from Memphis to Dallas in 2014.

[Photo: Getty]



The duke and duchess also flew commercial in 2011 on a British Airways flight from Los Angeles to London.

While one might assume that members of the royal family would charter private planes for transportation, flying commercial is not only acceptable, its preferred within the ranks of the British monarchy.

The only royal who does not fly commercial is Queen Elizabeth.

Yet, whenever the royals do travel on a commercial airline, they are accompanied by a large security detail and sometimes even a pre-approved photographer. Arthur John Edwards, a notable British photographer, has been seen with them on many flights.

Story continues

The size of the security detail depends on the particulars of the trip. On Prince William and Kates commercial flight to Australia, the pair traveled with 11 security and staff members.

One unique rule for the monarchy relates to the situation in which two heirs to the throne travel with one another. Generally they are not supposed to, since it is a security threat to the throne. However, Prince William broke this rule when he traveled with his son, Prince George, to Australia in 2013.

On the Cambridge familys most recent tour of Canada, the government in Ottawa graciously provided an aircraft from the Royal Canadian Air Force, which operates planes similar to Air Force One.

The ultimate Duchess of Cambridge style file

The royal style moments that will go down in history


It's the first large European lender moving staff to UK post-Brexit.

ING Groep NV will move as many as 60 trading jobs from Amsterdam and Brussels to London as the biggest Dutch lender seeks to consolidate operations and cut costs, a person with knowledge of the plans said.

The company also plans to shut its equity derivatives business for financial institutions in New York, Singapore and Brussels, said the person, who declined to be identified as the plans were confidential.

ING is the first large European lender shifting staff to London after the U.K. decided to leave the European Union in a June referendum. Other banks have signaled they may have to move jobs and operations abroad, with UBS Group AG Chief Executive Officer Sergio Ermotti saying last month the Swiss lender may have to shift as many as

1,500 positions elsewhere.

Here's more from Bloomberg.





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The Hague (AFP) - Almost 15 years after legalising euthanasia, the Dutch government may broaden the law to give elderly people who are not sick the legal right to assisted suicide if they feel their lives are "complete".

The project, which is unlikely to be put forward as a draft law before elections due in March, was already triggering strong debate Thursday across The Netherlands.

"People who believe after deep reflection that they have completed their lives, should be able under strict conditions to end their lives in the dignified manner they choose," the Dutch health and justice ministers said in a letter sent to parliament late Wednesday.

The Netherlands and neighbouring Belgium became the first countries in the world to legalise euthanasia in 2002.

But it is carried out under strict conditions, and only after a minimum of two doctors have certified that there is no other reasonable solution for the patient and that their suffering is "unbearable and without any hope of improvement".

- 'Assistant in death' -

Last year there were some 5,516 cases of euthanasia in the country -- or 3.9 percent of all registered deaths.

More than 70 percent of those who opted to end their lives in this way suffered from cancer, while some 2.9 percent had dementia or psychiatric illnesses. It was also a steady increase on the 3,136 cases registered in 2010.

The sensitive issue has often raised eyebrows abroad as terminally-ill minors aged between 12 to 18 are also allowed to opt for euthanasia while certain mental conditions, such as dementia, can be found to constitute "unbearable suffering."

The proposed draft law will be drawn up after consultations with doctors and medical practitioners.

But acknowledging that the belief of "having accomplished one's life is mainly something felt among the elderly", it would only apply to senior citizens, the ministers said, without specifying any ages.

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It would be for people who "no longer see any possibility of giving their life meaning, deeply feel their loss of independence, and remain isolated or lonely perhaps because they have lost a loved one," the ministers said.

"But to be able to end their lives, they need help."

An "assistant in death" -- someone with medical and special training -- would have to authorise an assisted suicide after ruling out that there is any treatment which could overcome the "wish to die."

As in euthanasia cases, a committee of specialists would afterwards review that the law had been followed.

- Fears for vulnerable and lonely -

For 95-year-old Pieter Jiskoot it would be a blessing as he has sought for years to be able to end his days, but does not want to do so alone.

"I have lost my wife and by daughter. My family no longer come to see me and I can no longer read," the life-long booklover told the public broadcaster NOS.

"I am left with just my thoughts, and those always turn back to the past. The future has disappeared."

Assisted suicide remains illegal in The Netherlands, but in 2013 a man who admitted having helped his 99-year-old mother to die was not punished by judges who ruled he had "acted out of love."

But several political parties slammed the idea and many Dutch were troubled, raising fears for "vulnerable, lonely and desperate" people.

The Socialist Party warned such a law could lead to "pressure on elderly people, who will feel that they are a burden on their community."

The hashtag #voltooidleven (#lifecomplete) was trending on Twitter and Health Minister Edith Schippers was quick to defend the project, saying it was not "death on command."

There would have to be a very "conscientious procedure", Schippers told NOS.

"This shouldn't involve people who are lonely or depressed and whose problems can be resolved in a different way," she said.

According to a recent poll, some 64 percent of Dutch people are in favour of there being "a pill to end one's life" for those elderly people who want it.
Veteran cinematographer Edward Lachman, who received Oscar nominations for 2002's Far From Heaven and earlier this year for Carol, will receive the American Society of Cinematographers' Lifetime Achievement Award at the 31st annual ASC Awards on Feb. 4 at the Ray Dolby Ballroom at Hollywood & Highland.

Also during the ceremony, Ron Garcia will be presented the Career Achievement in Television Award, Philippe Rousselot will be honored with the International Award and Nancy Schreiber will take home the Presidents Award.

Lachman has photographed over 90 titles, working with such directors as Robert Altman, Wim Wenders and Todd Haynes, for whom Lachman photographed Carol (which also received the Camerimage Golden Frog) and Far From Heaven, as well as HBO miniseries Mildred Pierce, which earned him an Emmy nomination.

His cinematography credits include A Prairie Home Companion, Erin Brockovich and Selena, while he also directed documentaries including In the Hearts of Africa and Life for a Child.

Garcia collected Emmy nominations for Murder in the Heartland and The Day Lincoln Was Shot, both of which also received ASC Award nominations. He earned additional ASC nominations for Twin Peaks and Divas. His credits also include Rizzoli and Isles, Providence, Gilmore Girls and Michael Mann's Crime Story.

Rousselot earned an Oscar for A River Runs Through It, and additional Academy Award nominations for Hope and Glory and Henry & June. He has worked with such directors as Tim Burton, Stephen Frears, Robert Redford and Denzel Washington, while earning credits including Dangerious Liaisons, Interview With the Vampire, Antwone Fisher and upcoming Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. A native of France, Rousselot won his first Cesar Award for Diva, and earned additional trophies for Therese and Queen Margot.

Schreiber's credits include Chain of Desire, which earned her a Spirit Award nomination; documentary The Celluloid Closet, which brought her an Emmy nomination; and new FX series Better Things. She has served on the ASC Board of Governors and Women in Film board and is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Schreiber has taught advanced cinematography at AFI and, between shooting, continues to guest lecture at film schools in the U.S. and around the world.

"The work of these individual cinematographers is varied, yet it all exemplifies a stellar level of achievement," ASC president Kees van Oostrum said Thursday in a statement. "As a group, they also are a prime example of great careers in the industry and, over the years, they have set creative standards of the highest order."

Read more: William Friedkin on How He Filmed 'The French Connection's' Iconic Car Chase
(Adds background)

CAIRO, Oct 13 (Reuters) - Egypt received a $2 billion central bank deposit from Saudi Arabia in September, the prime minister told Reuters on Thursday, confirming it had been accounted for in the previous month's foreign reserves total, which stood at $19.6 billion.

The timing of the deposit makes clear it was received before a suspension of petroleum aid by Saudi Arabia, which began on Oct. 1 and had raised questions over the fate of Saudi aid destined for Egypt.

Egypt's central bank said late on Wednesday that it had received a $2 billion deposit that could bring it closer to clinching a $12 billion IMF lending programme aimed at plugging the country's deficit and balancing its currency markets but had not clarified when the money was received.

Egypt secured a preliminary agreement for the loan in August, but head of the IMF mission in Cairo Chris Jarvis told Reuters at the time that Egypt would have to secure $5-6 billion in bilateral financing before the board grants final approval.

The Saudi deposit follows an agreement by the United Arab Emirates in August to give Egypt's central bank a $1 billion deposit for six years.

Egypt is also in talks with China. An IMF official said during its annual meeting last week that the IMF and Egypt had made "good progress" on securing the funding but did not specify how much might still be needed.

(Reporting by Ehab Farouk; Writing by Eric Knecht; Editing by Alison Williams)
Cairo (AFP) - President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on Thursday defended Egypt's decision to vote for a UN resolution on Syria strongly opposed by Saudi Arabia, in a rare public dispute between the allies.

Cairo voted in favour of a Russian-drafted resolution on Syria at the UN Security Council on Saturday, angering Riyadh, one of Sisi's main backers since he toppled Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in 2013.

Two days later, Cairo announced Saudi oil giant Aramco halted petroleum shipments for October, which were part of a deal signed in April for Aramco to deliver 700,000 tonnes of products monthly to Egypt.

Riyadh's UN envoy Abdullah al-Muallimi described as "painful" the fact that Senegal and Malaysia were "closer to the Arab consensus" on Syria than Egypt, the Arab representative at the security council.

"Some commentators thought that halting the shipment of petroleum products was a response to that issue (Egypt's UN vote)," Sisi said in a speech aired on state television.

"I say no; take note that this deal is commercial."

Still, he did not offer an explanation as to why the deliveries were halted, and Aramco has yet to comment on its decision.

"We don't know what the situation is with these companies," Sisi said commenting on the halted shipments, adding that "we have taken the necessary procedures and there won't be problems in petroleum products."

"We are very, very careful about our historical relations with our brothers in the Gulf," Sisi said, "but in the context where we respect our sovereignty, together."

Sisi said there was "an attempt to sabotage Egypt's relations and isolating it," without elaborating.

"If you want real sovereignty in decision-making, nations that are sovereign in their decisions suffer, suffer a lot," said Sisi.

"Those who want to have a free will must endure," he said.
CAIRO (Reuters) - Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi denied on Thursday Ethiopian accusations that his country was supporting the opposition after a wave of violent protests that left hundreds dead. Ethiopia accused "elements" in Eritrea, Egypt and elsewhere on Monday of being behind protests over land grabs and human rights that prompted the government to declare a state of emergency. The unrest has cast a shadow over Ethiopia, where a state-led industrial drive has created one of Africa's fastest-growing economies, but whose government also faces criticism at home and abroad over its authoritarian approach. Ethiopia's government spokesman said Egypt, which is embroiled in a row with Addis Ababa over sharing Nile waters, was a source of backing for armed gangs though that backing may not come from state actors. Sisi denied those accusations. "Egypt does not conspire against anyone," he said in a speech to the military. "I want to assure the brothers in Ethiopia that Egypt has never ever offered any support to the opposition and will not carry out any conspiratorial action against Ethiopia." The construction of Ethiopia's 6,000-megawatt Grand Renaissance Dam has become a bone of contention between Ethiopia and Egypt, which lies downstream and relies on the Nile River for agricultural, industrial and domestic water use. (Reporting by Ali Abdelatti, Writing Lin Noueihed; Editing by Hugh Lawson)
CAIRO (Reuters) - Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said on Thursday that a suspension of Saudi petroleum aid to Egypt was not related to his country's vote on Syria at the U.N. Security Council and the motives for the stoppage were unclear. "Some observers imagine that the stoppage of petroleum cargoes from Saudi Arabia was a response to this but this is not true because the oil cargoes come as part of a commercial agreement signed in April and we do not know the situation of the companies and will take the appropriate response," the official news agency quoted Sisi as saying in a speech to the military. At a U.N. Security Council meeting on Saturday, Egypt voted for both a French draft resolution on Syria, which was vetoed by Russia, and a subsequent Russian draft, which dropped calls for an end to the bombardment of Aleppo, and failed to pass. Though the oil aid was suspended before the vote, diplomats and analysts have said Saudi Arabia was angered by Egypt's position. Sisi said that Egypt would not bow to pressure from anyone. (Reporting by Omar Fahmy and Lin Noueihed, Editing by Eric Knecht)
From Esquire

Not long ago, the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau, the muscular brainchild of Senator Professor Warren, concluded an investigation that exposed the vast and richly appointed den of thieves at the Wells Fargo Company. In turn, this resulted in Wells Fargo CEO John Stumpf coming to Washington to get turned on a spit by the Democrats on the Senate Committee on Banking.

(And, in case you're wondering, the revelations have continued, including the news that Wells Fargo participated in a sub rosa blacklist of its employees who refused to go along with the company's multifarious scams. Read the Planet Money transcript all the way down to the story of the old gentleman who couldn't buy a newspaper. It will get you looking for a pitchfork.)

There's a case in federal court involving the Bureau, and the judge delivering a decision today was a cat named Brett Cavanaugh, who has a political history that can best be described as, well, interesting. He worked for Ken Starr during the Great Penis Hunt of 1998. In this capacity, it was Cavanaugh who argued most strenuously that the graphic details of Bill Clinton's canoodling with Monica Lewinsky be included in the Starr Report. He also was involved in investigating the suicide of Vince Foster. According to The Washington Post, Cavanaugh was an armed pecksniff on the topic of the president's sex life.

"The narrative shows how pathetic Clinton is," Kavanaugh argued, "that he needs therapy, not removal. It's a sad story. Our job is not to get Clinton out. It is just to give information."

Yeah, right.

Anyway, Cavanaugh went on to a job in the White House with the Avignon Presidency. When C-Plus Augustus nominated Cavanaugh for a job on the bench, Democratic senators balked at first; Senator Dick Durbin called Cavanaugh the "Forrest Gump of Republican politics." Eventually, Cavanaugh took his seat on the appeals court bench in September of 2006. The following July, Senators Durbin and Patrick Leahy of Vermont accused Kavanaugh of misleading the Senate during his confirmation regarding what his involvement was in formulating the Bush administration's policy on the detention of people suspected of being terrorists.

Story continues

From The New York Times:

Mr. Durbin asked Judge Kavanaugh about his role in screening the nomination to an appeals court of William J. Haynes IV, who was the Pentagon's general counsel and was involved in creating many of the administration's interrogation policies for detainees at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and elsewhere. "What did you know about Mr. Haynes's role in crafting the administration's detention and interrogation policies?" Mr. Durbin asked. Mr. Kavanaugh replied: "Senator, I was not involved and am not involved in the questions about the rules governing detention of combatants and so I do not have any involvement in that." In a news report first broadcast by National Public Radio, those comments were compared with an account last month in The Washington Post that Judge Kavanaugh had told colleagues in the White House in 2002 his view that Justice Anthony M. Kennedy of the Supreme Court would probably reject any administration claim that detainees were not entitled to lawyers. Judge Kavanaugh had served as a law clerk to Justice Kennedy. The Post account did not, however, place Judge Kavanaugh at what it described as the heated meeting where the subject was discussed. In a June 26 letter to Judge Kavanaugh, Senator Durbin said, "It appears you misled me, the Senate Judiciary Committee and the nation."

This has been a public service announcement from the management of this shebeen to remind you that there is an election coming up and that presidents appoint federal judges. We continue.

Since its birth as part of the Dodd-Frank financial reforms, the CFPB has worked like charm, clawing back over $11 billion to customers who have been scammed by various outposts of the financial-services industrial complex. This has made it a fat target from birth to various conservatives who believe that it infringes on the free-speech rights of con-men and the right of crooks to free assembly.

[contentlinks align="center" textonly="false" numbered="false" headline="Related%20Story" customtitles="Elizabeth%20Warren%20Stood%20Up%20for%20Our%20Country%20Today" customimages="" content="article.48758"]

(Most notably, Tailgunner Ted Cruz has been one of the most energetic vandals in this regard. "Don't let the name fool you, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau does little to protect consumers," Cruz said. There are, of course, 11 billion arguments to the contrary.)

However, on Monday, a federal appeals court stepped in and did some of Cruz's dirty work for him. From Reuters:

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit threw out a $109 million penalty against PHH Corp in 2014, saying the structure of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau gives its sole director too much power. The three-judge panel, though, also sought to remedy the problem by giving the president the power to fire the director, which it said made the position similar to the Attorney General and other constitutionally sanctioned agency heads who answer to the White House.

It could've been worse. The court could've tossed the CFPB entirely, and Monday's decision is likely to be appealed en banc to the full court of appeals. But the decision is ominous nonetheless. The way this agency works best, of course, is when it is insulated from political influence entirely, when its mandate is solely rescuing consumers from the fraudulent business model of predatory capitalism. What the court seeks to do, I fear, is to render the CFPB a toothless entity, the way that the FEC was defanged, or the SEC was during the run-up to the collapse of 2008.

In a statement in response to the ruling, SPW made it clear that this thought had occurred to her, too.

The CFPB has been, and will remain, highly accountable to both Congress and the President, and continued Republican efforts to transform the agency's structure or funding should be seen for what they are: attempts fostered by big banks to cripple an agency that has already forced them to return over $11 billion to customers who have been cheated.

In the previous Gilded Age, of course, the courts were the last redoubt behind which the predatory capitalism of the time could find shelter. When the Sherman Anti-Trust Act was passed in 1890, the business interests of the time went to war against it almost immediately and succeeded in weakening it in Farmer's Loan (1895). And, of course, it was through the federal courts of the time that the preposterous theory that corporations have 14th amendment rights was established in Wabash v. Illinois and, most memorably, in Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railroad, a constitutional absurdity for which we still are paying a price today.

And then there was Lochner v. New York, the case on which various conservative legal scholars look backwards with great fondness. Speaking for the Supreme Court, which determined that New York's limits on working time violated the 14th Amendment, Justice Rufus Peckham explained that the personal freedom of New York's bakers to be worked to an early death should not be abridged.

There is no reasonable ground for interfering with the liberty of person or the right of free contract by determining the hours of labor in the occupation of a baker. There is no contention that bakers as a class are not equal in intelligence and capacity to men in other trades or manual occupations, or that they are able to assert their rights and care for themselves without the protecting arm of the State, interfering with their independence of judgment and of action. They are in no sense wards of the State.

You can hear old Rufus chuckling mordantly behind the words of Federal Judge Brett Cavanaugh who, in ruling against the CFPB on Tuesday ,wrote that the agency:

"poses a far greater risk of arbitrary decision making and abuse of power, and a far greater threat to individual liberty, than does a multi-member independent agency."

"Individual liberty"?

The poor old guy just wanted to buy a newspaper.

Click here to respond to this post on the official Esquire Politics Facebook page.

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(Adds more on dispute, EU arguments)

BRUSSELS, Oct 13 (Reuters) - The European Union launched an appeal on Thursday against a World Trade Organization (WTO) panel finding last month that it had failed to rein in billions of dollars of subsidies to planemaker Airbus.

The WTO's 574-page ruling is part of a series of tit-for-tat transatlantic complaints about aircraft subsidies that together make up the world's largest trade dispute, still raging after 12 years of arguments.

The WTO said the EU and four nations - Britain, France, Germany and Spain - had failed to comply with earlier rulings against all but two of 36 contested measures, including billions of dollars of European government loans to Airbus.

However, the EU disagreed with the conclusion that, even though most of the subsidies challenged by the United States had ended, the EU had not yet fully complied with a previous ruling, the European Commission said in a statement.

The EU also considered that the panel made several errors in its assessment of the alleged harm that these subsidies caused to Airbus rival Boeing.

U.S. officials said Airbus had failed to undo subsidies worth $22 billion, including $4 billion for the A350, on which Airbus's prospects in the wide-body jet market largely depend.

The European Commission said the $22 billion figure reflected the face value of all repayable loans granted to Airbus and had nothing to do with the actual amount of subsidies.

It also said the WTO panel had sided with the EU on some points, such as that there had been no prohibited subsidies for the Airbus 350 XWB or A380 models and that most of the other subsidies challenged by the United States had come to an end.

"The present appeal should be seen in the context of two on-going WTO challenges brought by the EU against billions of U.S. subsidies to Boeing for its aircraft production," the Commission added.

(Reporting by Philip Blenkinsop; Editing by Alissa de Carbonnel and Mark Potter)
Brussels (AFP) - The EU on Thursday appealed a decision by the World Trade Organization that found the European Union guilty, as charged by giant US rival Boeing, of providing illegal subsidies to Airbus.

The European Commission, the EU's executive arm that handles WTO disputes for the bloc, said "significant aspects of the compliance panel report cannot be regarded as satisfactory."

The WTO appeals panel, ruling in a dispute dating back to 2004, said that the EU had not taken steps it had ordered in 2011 to withdraw several support and subsidy programmes for Airbus.
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Members of the European Parliament's industry committee voted in favor of a proposed compromise on reforming the bloc's carbon market that also seeks to protect European businesses. The Emissions Trading System, which is designed to make big polluters pay for their emissions, has suffered from a surplus of carbon credits following the economic crisis that has weakened prices. The reform proposals seek to tighten the amount of carbon permits overall as part of the EU's policy to implement a landmark global climate deal, the Paris Agreement. Parliament's Environment Committee, which has the main responsibility for shepherding the bill through Parliament, favors a faster pace of reduction to take into account the ambitious climate goals of the Paris Agreement. The industry committee, which provides an opinion to the environmental committee, voted 45 to 13 in favor of the report. (Reporting by Marilyn Haigh and Philip Blenkinsop; editing by Robert-Jan Bartunek)
Brussels (AFP) - The EU misspent 5.5 billion euros ($6 billion) in 2015, the bloc's financial watchdog said Thursday, warning that Brussels needed to regain the trust of European citizens shaken by Brexit and other crises.

Badly spent funds went on paying overcharged personnel costs for developing cloud computing services, it said.

Another example included aid earmarked for small- and medium-sized enterprises in the Czech Republic, Italy and Poland also benefiting people deemed ineligible, it added.

In issuing the report for 2015, Klaus-Heiner Lehne, the president of the European Court of Auditors, said Europeans have lost trust in EU institutions amid economic troubles, the migration crisis and the British vote to leave the EU.

"In the months and years to come, a major challenge for the EU will be to regain that trust," Lehne said in a presentation of the report, stressing that a good start would be to ensure funds are better spent.

"People cannot even begin to trust us if they do not believe we are looking after their money properly," Lehne said.

The report said the so-called error rate for spending fell slightly to 3.8 percent of the EU's 145.2-billion-euro budget in 2015, but was still far above the acceptable level of 2.2 percent.

That was better than the 6.3 billion euros that were estimated misspent in 2014.

The report said the figures were not a measure of fraud, inefficiency or waste, but an estimate of the money that should not have been paid out because it did not fully comply with EU rules.

Spending managed jointly by Brussels and member states had the same level of error as that managed directly by the European Commission, the EU's powerful executive branch, the report said.

The total EU budget amounts to around one percent of EU gross national income and around two percent of total public spending in member states, it said.

EU spending amounts to around 285 euros for every citizen in the bloc of around 500 million people.
Brussels (AFP) - The number of people signed up to a petition launched by EU staff demanding that former European commission President Jose Manuel Barroso lose his pension after he took a job with Goldman Sachs on Wednesday reached 152,000.

Barroso, a former Portugese prime minister who led the commission from 2004 to 2014, took an advisory position at US investment bank Goldman Sachs this summer, causing a furore over conflict of interest.

The decision by Barroso to join Goldman Sachs "is a further example of the irresponsible revolving-door practices, which are highly damaging to the EU institutions and, even if not illegal, morally reprehensible," the petition said.

"It is irresponsible because it feeds into a political context which is not only Eurosceptic but now even openly Europhobic," it added.

A delegation attempted to present the petition on Wednesday to the commission, but was turned away.

Since its launch by a small group of EU employees in July, the petition movement has gathered momentum as anger grows against top officials in the EU entering the private sector.

French President Francois Hollande labeled Barroso's new job as "morally unacceptable" at the time of his hiring.

Barroso has since strongly hit back at his critics, calling the accusations "discriminatory", adding that he complied with the EU's 18-month separation rule.

More recently it emerged that former EU Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes had been a director of a Bahamas-based firm during her tenure from 2004 to 2009.

This was in violation of EU code of conduct rules that state "commissioners may not engage in any other professional activity, whether gainful or not."

A commission ethics panel is now investigating both the Barroso and Kroes cases.
Ottawa (AFP) - The prime ministers of Canada and France on Thursday called for the EU to endorse a trade pact with Canada, or, according to Justin Trudeau, risk sending the wrong message to the world.

Canadian and European leaders are scheduled to meet in Brussels to formally sign the so-called CETA free trade deal at a summit on October 27.

"If in a week or two we see that Europe is unable to sign a progressive trade agreement with a country like Canada, well, then with whom will Europe think that it can do business in the years to come?" Trudeau warned after a meeting with his French counterpart Manuel Valls.

Rejection of the trade pact, he said, would send "a very clear message not just to Europeans but to the whole world that Europe is choosing a path that is not productive."

All 28 EU member states must ratify the agreement in order for it to come into effect next year.

"It is a win-win agreement for workers, for our agriculture industry, for the environment and for public services," commented Valls.

Earlier Thursday, a German court cleared the way for Berlin to provisionally sign on to the pact.

European activists, however, have been seeking to block the free trade deal, and opposition by the French-speaking Wallonia region of Belgium could still sink it.

Trudeau touted CETA as setting "a new standard" for international trade agreements, while suggesting its rejection would lead to the inevitable existential question being raised: "What's the point of the EU?"

"We live in an open world and it would be inconceivable for the EU to not sign onto a good agreement with Canada," echoed Valls, contrasting the Canada-EU deal with a proposed EU-US trade pact still under negotiation and which France "strongly opposes."

- World needs more Canada -

Valls noted that under CETA, Canada has agreed to respect geographical indications for 42 French foods. Under this clause, for example, Canadian cheese makers could no longer use terms such as Asiago, Feta, and Gorgonzola to describe their products since they are not made in those regions for which the original products were named.

Story continues

The EU is Canada's second-largest trading partner currently, behind the United States, while Canada ranks 12th on the EU's list of partners.

"There's room for improvement on both sides," Valls said, adding that France wishes to act as Canada's gateway into Europe -- a role held by Britain before it voted in June to leave the bloc.

"There has never been a better opportunity to renew the bilateral relationship," he said.

The two leaders, during their first face-to-face meeting, also took stock of various international crises, including the war in Syria and besieged Aleppo.

They also discussed Russia's support for the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, and said Canada and France planned to increase intelligence-sharing between their security agencies, and would work together to fight Islamic radicalization.

"We need Canada in the Middle East, in Africa, at the United Nations, everywhere where such crises threaten stability and our security," Valls said.

Paris is seeking particular support in Mali where French troops have been fighting jihadists since 2013.

On their differing views on the place of Islam in society -- French laicism or secularism versus Canadian multiculturalism -- Valls and Trudeau, meanwhile, appeared to waffle while sidestepping questions from journalists.

"France and Canada and other Western nations share the same goal of showing that Daesh is wrong, that the extreme right in our countries are also mistaken," said Trudeau, using an Arabic acronym for the Islamic State group.

"Islam is not incompatible with Western pluralist and democratic societies," he affirmed.
Washington (AFP) - Students at a major evangelical Christian university are seeking to cut ties with Donald Trump, joining other conservatives in moving away from the Republican presidential nominee following lewd comments about groping women.

"Donald Trump does not represent our values and we want nothing to do with him," read an online petition circulated Wednesday by students at Liberty University, where the White House candidate made a pitch to Christian voters in January.

"A majority of Liberty students, faculty, and staff feel as we do," said a statement entitled "Liberty United Against Trump," which also denounced school president Jerry Falwell Jr, the son of an influential evangelical pastor.

Falwell said earlier that he will vote for Trump, even if the mounting allegations that he sexually assaulted women are true.

"He has taken all the right positions on all the issues," Falwell told CNN, calling Trump a "changed man."

"He will do what's best for America as president."

The student petition angrily denounced the university leader's support for the candidate.

Trump "has made his name by maligning others and bragging about his sins. Not only is Donald Trump a bad candidate for president, he is actively promoting the very things that we as Christians ought to oppose," it added.

"Because our president has led the world to believe that Liberty University supports Donald Trump, we students must take it upon ourselves to make clear that Donald Trump is absolutely opposed to what we believe, and does not have our support."

Falwell himself promptly criticized the movement, dismissing the students as people who "are young and still learning."

"I am proud of these few students for speaking their minds but I'm afraid the statement is incoherent and false," he said in a statement.

"I am not 'touring the country' or associating Liberty University with any candidate. I am only fulfilling my obligation as a citizen to 'render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's' by expressing my personal opinion about who I believe is best suited to lead our nation in a time of crisis.

Story continues

"This student statement seems to ignore the teachings of Jesus not to judge others but they are young and still learning."

Trump has less support from Republican youths than their older counterparts.

An average of September Washington Post-ABC national polls found that less than two thirds of Republican-leaning voters under 30 back Trump, compared to more than three quarters of those age 30 to 64 and 85 percent of seniors.
Barcelona (AFP) - Catalonia's former separatist chief Artur Mas will stand trial for staging a symbolic independence vote, judicial authorities said Thursday, just weeks after the Spanish region's current president promised a referendum.

In his court order, the investigating magistrate said Mas would take the stand on charges of "serious disobedience" and "malfeasance" for allowing the non-binding ballot to take place in November 2014 in the wealthy, northeastern region.

He risks a 10-year ban on holding public office.

Mas had initially wanted to organise an independence referendum like the one held in Scotland, but the Spanish government went to court to block his plans.

The Constitutional Court upheld the government's complaint, so Mas decided to go ahead with a symbolic vote instead.

Over 80 percent cast their ballot in favour of independence -- although just 2.3 million people out of a total of 6.3 million eligible voters in Catalonia took part.

Authorities subsequently launched a probe into the vote.

Apart from Mas, two members of his former government will also be tried as "accomplices," the court order said, in a case that the former Catalan president and his allies say is politically motivated.

Prosecutors, though, argue that they "created a strategy of complete and effective defiance of the (vote) suspension decided by the Constitutional Court."

News that Mas will stand trial comes two weeks after Carles Puigdemont, the current president of Catalonia, promised he would call a referendum on whether to secede from Spain in September 2017.

He hopes to hold the vote with the agreement of Madrid, but has said he will press ahead anyway if the central government refuses.

Catalans have nurtured a separate identity for centuries, with their own language and customs.

Their long-standing demands for greater autonomy have been exacerbated by Spain's recent economic downturn, leaving many resenting the amount of taxes they pay to the central government in Madrid to subsidise poorer regions.

Calls for outright independence have increased over recent years.
A former girlfriend of Donald Trump has jumped to his defense after explosive new allegations that he groped several women.

Read: Profane Tape Emerges of Trump Talking About Women: 'Grab Her By The P****'

Allison Giannini, who dated Trump back in 1997, told Inside Edition, "It's just hard for me to believe that he would actually be that person who would grope somebody."

The two got together not long after he separated from his second wife, Marla Maples.

At the time, Giannini was 27 years old and a model who graced the pages of Elle magazine.

Asked whether Trump ever did or say anything considered demeaning toward women, she said: "He didn't as much as lay a finger on me. I mean, after three dates, he pecked me on the cheek goodnight and was the perfect, perfect gentleman."

She said she was shocked by the now-infamous 2005 hot-mic tape that has rocked the real estate mogul's presidential campaign, but thinks too much is being made of it.

"The whole conversation should have never taken place, but at least he apologized for it," she said.

"I see 'locker room talk' as pretty much what he said," she added.

Read: Jill Harth Says Trump Told Her to Get Breast Implants, Treated Her 'Like Cattle'

Meanwhile, Days Of Our Lives actress Arianne Zucker  the subject of those leers by Trump and Billy Bush, is speaking out.

Zucker told the Today show, They are offensive comments for women, period.

She said she was only doing her job when Trump got off the bus to make a guest appearance on the show.

Asked if she accepts his apology, she paused, saying, that was an interesting apology.

Meanwhile, first lady Michelle Obama spoke with emotion about the taped remarks at a rally in New Hampshire on Thursday.

"This is disgraceful. It is intolerable. And it doesn't matter what party you belong to. No woman deserves to be treated this way," she said in an impassioned speech.

Story continues

Watch: Trump Accuser Jill Harth Reacts to His Groping Comments: 'How Can People Not Believe Me Now?

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Girl Meets World star Sabrina Carpenter has nothing but respect for Selena Gomez.

The 17-year-old actress stopped by ET's Burbank, California studios on Wednesday to dish on her new album, the upcoming Halloween episode of her Disney Channel show, Girl Meets World, and what she loves about Gomez.

EXCLUSIVE: Sabrina Carpenter and Sofia Carson Will Pull Off 'Epic' Pranks in Disney XD's 'Walk the Prank'

Among the list of former Disney stars, the teen says she relates to Gomez the most. As a recording artist, Carpenter admires the way that 24-year-old Gomez has balanced music and acting.

"I think she's done a great job with that," Carpenter told ET's Katie Krause. "She's also just very class and beautiful, so I respect her a lot."

Like Gomez, Carpenter has a hand in writing her own music. In fact, she penned nearly every track on her sophomore LP, EVOLution, which debuts on Oct. 14.

"There's so many things that I've gone through that I want to share because there's other teenagers that are going through the same things, or will go through the same things," Carpenter said.

She may be just a teenager, but Carpenter works as hard as most adults. Besides releasing a new album, she will kick off her sold-out EVOLution tour in Nashville, Tennessee on Oct. 18.

MORE: 'Girl Meets World' Stage an Epic 'Boy Meets World' Reunion With Both Morgans  See the Pics!

As for the Halloween edition of Girl Meets World, fans can expect a departure from previous seasons. The episode will show what life would be like if Carpenter's character, Maya Hart, and her bestie, Riley Matthews, were never friends.

"Instead of doing what we usually do which is kind of telling a couple of different spooky stories, we kind of did this [alternate] universe of what it would be like if we never met and how different we would all be," she explained. "Maya would just be this punk chick that doesn't give anybody any time and Riley is just over the moon, just like too happy for anyone's comfort. It's a really interesting episode, I'm excited for everyone to see it."

Story continues

The Girl Meets World Halloween episode airs this Friday at 8 p.m.

WATCH: Sabrina Carpenter and Sofia Carson Pull Off Hilarious Pranks in Disney Series

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By Arshad Mohammed and Jonathan Landay WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama and his top foreign policy advisers are expected to meet on Friday to consider their military and other options in Syria as Syrian and Russian aircraft continue to pummel Aleppo and other targets, U.S. officials said. Some top officials argue the United States must act more forcefully in Syria or risk losing what influence it still has over moderate rebels and its Arab, Kurdish and Turkish allies in the fight against Islamic State, the officials told Reuters. One set of options includes direct U.S. military action such as air strikes on Syrian military bases, munitions depots or radar and anti-aircraft bases, said one official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations. This official said one danger of such action is that Russian and Syrian forces are often co-mingled, raising the possibility of a direct confrontation with Russia that Obama has been at pains to avoid. U.S. officials said they consider it unlikely that Obama will order U.S. air strikes on Syrian government targets, and they stressed that he may not make any decisions at the planned meeting of his National Security Council. One alternative, U.S. officials said, is allowing allies to provide U.S.-vetted rebels with more sophisticated weapons, although not shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missiles, which Washington fears could be used against Western airliners. The White House declined to comment. Friday's planned meeting is the latest in a long series of internal debates about what, if anything, to do to end a 5-1/2 year civil war that has killed at least 300,000 people and displaced half the country's population. The ultimate aim of any new action could be to bolster the battered moderate rebels so they can weather what is now widely seen as the inevitable fall of rebel-held eastern Aleppo to the forces of Russian- and Iranian-backed Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. It also might temper a sense of betrayal among moderate rebels who feel Obama encouraged their uprising by calling for Assad to go but then abandoned them, failing even to enforce his own "red line" against Syria's use of chemical weapons. This, in turn, might deter them from migrating to Islamist groups such as the Nusra Front, which the United States regards as Syria's al Qaeda branch. The group in July said it had cut ties to al Qaeda and changed its name to Jabhat Fatah al-Sham. ANOTHER TRY AT DIPLOMACY The U.S. and Russian foreign ministers will meet in Lausanne, Switzerland on Saturday to resume their failed effort to find a diplomatic solution, possibly joined by their counterparts from Turkey, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Iran, but U.S. officials voiced little hope for success. Friday's planned meeting at the White House and the session in Lausanne occur as Obama, with just 100 days left in office, faces other decisions about whether to deepen U.S. military involvement in the Middle East -- notably in Yemen and Iraq -- a stance he opposed when he won the White House in 2008. Earlier Thursday the United States launched cruise missiles at three coastal radar sites in areas of Yemen controlled by Iran-aligned Houthi forces, retaliating after failed missile attacks this week on a U.S. Navy destroyer, U.S. officials said. In Iraq, U.S. officials are debating whether government forces will need more U.S. support both during and after their campaign to retake Mosul, Islamic States de facto capital in the country. Some officials argue the Iraqis now cannot retake the city without significant help from Kurdish peshmerga forces, as well as Sunni and Shi'ite militias, and that their participation could trigger religious and ethnic conflict in the city. In Syria, Washington has turned to the question of whether to take military action after its latest effort to broker a truce with Russia collapsed last month. The United States has called for Assad to step down, but for years has seemed resigned to his remaining in control of parts of the country as it prosecutes a separate fight against Islamic State militants in Syria and in Iraq. The U.S. policy is to target Islamic State first, a decision that has opened it to charges that it is doing nothing to prevent the humanitarian catastrophe in Syria and particularly in Aleppo, Syria's largest city. Renewed bombing of rebel-held eastern Aleppo has killed more than 150 people this week, rescue workers said, as Syria intensifies its Russian-backed offensive to take the whole city. Anthony Cordesman of Washington's Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank suggested the United States' failure to act earlier in Syria, and in Aleppo in particular, had narrowed Obama's options. "There is only so long you can ignore your options before you dont have any," Cordesman said. (Writing By Arshad Mohammed; Additional reporting by John Walcott; editing by Stuart Grudgings)
* Experimental drug kept monkeys free of HIV-like virus

* Monkeys free of HIV-like virus for nearly 2 years

* Treatment hits same target as Takeda's Crohn's disease drug

* Human safety trials underway to test Takeda drug in HIV patients

By Julie Steenhuysen

CHICAGO, Oct 13 (Reuters) - A new drug combination helped stave off a monkey version of HIV for nearly two years after stopping all treatments, raising hopes for a functional cure for HIV, U.S. researchers said on Thursday.

The treatment involved standard HIV drugs, known as antiretroviral therapy or ART, plus an experimental antibody that hits the same target as Takeda Pharmaceutical's Entyvio, a drug approved in more than 50 countries for ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease.

The findings, published Thursday in the journal Science, are promising enough that scientists at the National Institutes of Health, which funded the research, have already begun testing the Takeda drug, known generically as vedolizumab, in people newly infected with HIV.

"The experimental treatment regimen appears to have given the immune systems of the monkeys the necessary boost to put the virus into sustained remission," said Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious diseases, part of the NIH, who co-led the study.

Sustained remission - known as a "functional cure" - could have sweeping implications for people infected with the human immunodeficiency virus or HIV, which attacks the immune system.

Highly effective treatments known as antiretroviral therapy push the virus down to undetectable levels in the blood, but they must be taken every day over a person's lifetime to remain effective, said Aftab Ansari of Emory University School of Medicine who co-lead the study.

Ansari said the study was based on the understanding that in the early days of infection, HIV attacks a specific class of immune cells that congregate in large quantities in the gut. They theorized that if they could protect these immune cells, they could buy the immune system enough time to mount an effective response.

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To do this, the team tested an antibody that blocks a protein called alpha-4/beta-7 integrin that HIV uses to attack immune cells in the gut.

For the study, they infected 18 monkeys with simian immunodeficiency virus or SIV, the monkey version of HIV. They then treated all of the animals with ART for 90 days, and, as it does in humans, the ART controlled the virus, reducing it to undetectable levels.

Antiretroviral drugs used in this stage of the experiment included Gilead's tenofovir and emtricitabine, sold in a combination drug for people as Truvada, and a Merck integrase inhibitor known as L-870812.

In 11 monkeys, the scientists then gave infusions of the antibody for 23 weeks, and seven monkeys got a placebo. Three of the 11 monkeys developed a reaction to the treatment and had to stop the therapy.

In the eight monkeys that got the treatment, six initially showed signs that SIV was rebounding, but eventually their immune systems were able to control the virus. In two others, the virus never rebounded. All eight have continued to suppress SIV to undetectable levels for up to 23 months after all treatment stopped. In the control group, SIV rebounded and all seven animals died.

The study did not look at whether the monkeys were still able to transmit the virus, but studies in people have shown that reducing HIV to undetectable levels cuts transmission rates by nearly 100 percent.

Ansari said the study is promising because it could eventually lead to a treatment for HIV in people that would not require a lifetime of ART therapy.

Scientists have recently focused on efforts to cure HIV, reducing the burden of lifelong treatment, but prior efforts have been frustrated by the HIV virus' ability to form hidden reservoirs that replenish the virus when treatments are halted.

In one dramatic case, Timothy Ray Brown, the so-called "Berlin patient," was cured of HIV after an elaborate treatment for leukemia in 2007 that involved the destruction of his immune system and a stem cell transplant from a donor with a rare genetic mutation that resists HIV infection.

Ansari cautioned that not all treatments that work in monkeys will work in people. He said the findings are still very early, and said many more experiments are needed to understand why the antibody protected the monkeys.

Still, he said Takeda's antibody vedolizumab is "identical" to the one the team used on the monkeys.

NIH researchers already have begun a study to see if a 30-week course of Takeda's drug vedolizumab is safe and helps control HIV when patients are temporarily taken off conventional ART treatments. Preliminary results are expected by the end of 2017 with further data becoming available into 2018.

If proven safe, the drug would need to be studied in larger trials to prove it is also effective.

Takeda spokeswoman Elissa Johnsen said the company is "pleased to support the trial and contribute to scientific discovery" but said it was too early to comment on future development plans.

(Reporting by Julie Steenhuysen; Editing by Bernard Orr)
Pueblo (United States) (AFP) - Hillary Clinton on Wednesday slammed rival Donald Trump's "pure negativity" in their bitter presidential race, as he adopted an increasingly incendiary tone and renewed his call for the Democratic nominee to go to jail.

With less than four weeks before Election Day, and Clinton maintaining her edge in national polls, the pair bore down on key battleground states where the race is likely to be decided.

Trump slammed his opponent, declaring her a criminal who should be prosecuted for endangering national security by using a private email account while secretary of state, and deleting some 33,000 messages that Clinton said were personal and not work-related.

"After getting the subpoena to give over your emails and lots of other things, she deleted the emails," a fired-up Trump told supporters in Lakeland, Florida.

"She has to go to jail," he added, to rousing cheers.

"Based on her crimes, she should not be allowed to run for president. It's time for a new direction," he said, to chants of "Lock her up!" from the crowd.

Trump made similar remarks hours earlier in Ocala, another city in the crucial central region of Florida near Orlando.

"Whether I win, lose or draw, I'm ashamed of what's happened to our country, and so are you," he said.

Trump is facing intense outside opposition and a wave of anger from fellow Republicans for vile remarks he made about women that were caught on a hot mic in 2005, and made public last Friday.

With his support teetering, the candidate appeared ready to unleash scorched-earth tactics against Clinton, as he did to a degree in their second debate on Sunday, when he reminded the nation of former president Bill Clinton's infidelities and threatened to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate Hillary Clinton if he wins the election.

He also went negative once more on Paul Ryan, after the House speaker told fellow Republican lawmakers that he could no longer defend or campaign with Trump.

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"Already the Republican nominee has a massive disadvantage and especially when you have the leaders not putting their weight behind the people," Trump said, angry that Ryan failed to congratulate him for his debate performance against Clinton Sunday.

- 'Sinister deal' -

"You'd think they'd say great going Don, let's go. Let's beat this crook," Trump said.

"No, he doesn't do that," he added of Ryan. "There's a whole sinister deal going on."

Clinton sought to strike a more positive tone to her supporters in Colorado to counter the Trump effort to turn off voters.

"I want to give you something to vote for, not just something to vote against," she said in Pueblo, dismissing Trump's assaults as "desperate."

"That's all they have left. Pure negativity, pessimism, and we're not going to let Donald Trump get away with it, are we?" she said.

"America is better than what Donald Trump says and represents."

She also cast an eye to potentially expanding the electoral map in her favor, after new polling came out showing that races in traditionally Republican bastions Utah and Arizona were in play.

"If you've got any friends in Utah and Arizona, make sure they vote too," Clinton said.

Trump meanwhile blasted her for comments she apparently made in closed-door speeches to Wall Street banks and other corporations in recent years, after portions of the speeches were made public when anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks published hacked emails to and from Clinton staffers.

"She pledged to dissolve the borders of the United States of America," Trump fumed.

Clinton apparently told a Brazilian bank in 2013: "My dream is a hemispheric common market, with open trade and open borders, sometime in the future with energy that's as green and sustainable as we can get it."

Clinton's campaign has expressed concern that Russian hackers are to blame for the cyber-attacks on her campaign's emails.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation has determined that Russian intelligence agencies are behind the hack of Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta's email account, according to the Wall Street Journal.

"This level of meddling by a foreign power can only be aimed at boosting Donald Trump and should send chills down the spine of all Americans, regardless of political party," Podesta said in a statement.
Rules changes promise to streamline the FAA certification process for smaller aircraft, which should benefit buyers and owners, as well as the builders.

Honda Aircraft had good reason to celebrate when the HondaJet received its Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) certification this past December. The event in Greensboro, N.C., where the company is headquartered, included more than 2,000 guests, who were showered with confetti when FAA Administrator Michael Huerta presented an oversize ceremonial certificate for the aircraft to Honda Aircraft Company president and CEO Michimasa Fujino. That act marked the conclusion of a very long saga.

Honda, which conceived the personal jet as early as 1986 and first flew it in 2003, initiated the certification process in 2006, expecting to complete it by 2009, or 2010 at the latest. Problems with the original engine caused delays, but even after the FAA approved the new engine, it still took two years for the company to secure the aircrafts certificate. Along the way, Honda Aircraft conducted more than 3,000 hours of test flights.





The HondaJet experience is extreme, in part because it was a new manufacturer with a completely new design, but it illustrates how complicated and long the FAA certification process can be. An aviation journalist once described the journey from concept to certification as one of the most frustrating, time-consuming, bureaucratically convoluted, mind-bogglingly expensive yet ultimately rewarding business ventures of all.

The process is about to become simpler and shorter and, according to at least one aviation-industry expert, more rewardingfor aircraft buyers and owners. The changes will lead to more choices when youre looking to acquire an aircraft, and if you already have a plane, the new process will make it easier to upgrade the technology. All the big manufacturers are supporting this, says Gregory Bowles, a policy analyst at the General Aviation Manufacturers Association, an international industry trade group.

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The FAA already has allowed the owners of small aircraft to install angle-of-attack indicators without making them jump through bureaucratic hoops, which usually happens when you try to add new equipment to the cockpit. The indicator is a simple device that helps pilots maintain better control in flight. The FAA also made the process easier for manufacturers, who were able to keep costs low and bring the indicators to the market faster.

The next step, which the FAA is expected to take by the end of this year or early next, will be to revise Part 23, the set of rules the administration has long used to certify newly introduced smaller aircraft. The revisions will simplify the certification process for manufacturers, reducing their costs at the outset. The result, according to Bowles, will be more choices and lower prices for buyers.

Also, with the revamped process in place, aircraft manufacturers may find it easier to introduce radically new technology, such as electric and hybrid engines, which arent covered under the current rules because they werent considered viable when those rules were written. I think well see some really strong utility hybrid aircraft enter the market over the next few years, that can do things that airplanes havent done before, says Bowles.

The new rules also could help advance simplified vehicle operationsor increased autonomywhich NASA and university research teams in the United States and Europe are developing. This technology enables the airplane to do a lot more of the basic flying itself, so the pilot can concentrate on the bigger picture, says Bowles.

The big question was whether the new standards would compromise safety. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) cited this concern during the FAAs official period for hearing comments on the proposed changes. But John DeLisi, the director of the NTSB Office of Aviation Safety, later issued a statement saying the board is hopeful the new rules will have a positive impact. We see great potential for the proposed rule to allow manufacturers to more rapidly introduce safety improvements into the fleet, as compared against the current pace associated with the FAA approval processes, DeLisi wrote. By streamlining these processes, the proposed rule will help change the introduction of innovative new safety technologies from something that is nearly impossible to something that is encouraged and sought after.

Another advantage for buyers would be the further development of a global marketplace for the aircraft in question, says Bowles. Currently, manufacturers in Europe must first have their airplanes approved by the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) and then get a second approval from the FAA. Likewise, U.S. manufacturers first have to pass muster with the FAA and then submit to a review by the EASA. Large manufacturers such as Textron and Daher can manage this process, but it prevents many smaller companies from reaching international markets. Now the European Union is working on its own rewrite of the certification rules, switching to standards similar to those that the FAA is going to adopt. If that happens, says Bowles, the global marketplace could become more accessible for more aircraft builders, leading to more choices for aircraft buyers.

Officials at the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA), the largest pilot group in the United States, also are excited about the coming changes. They will streamline the FAAs certification and approval of new aircraft and clear the path for more innovative and safer product designs, says Justin Barkowski, who oversees regulatory affairs for the group. AOPA anticipates manufacturers passing along those benefits to consumers faster and at more affordable prices.

Bowles says the new rules are under review in the federal government, a complex and slow process that is finally nearing the finish line. Weve all got our shoulders behind it, he said. Its a global effort.

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DAKAR (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Boko Haram has freed 21 of more than 200 schoolgirls kidnapped by the Islamist militant group in April 2014 in the northern Nigerian town of Chibok, the government said on Thursday. Around 270 girls were taken from their school in Chibok in the northeastern Borno state, where the Islamist militants have waged a seven-year insurgency to try to set up an Islamic state. "The release of the girls ... is the outcome of negotiations between the administration and Boko Haram brokered by the International Red Cross and the Swiss government," a presidency statement said. "The negotiations will continue." Nigeria will continue its military operations against Boko Haram, the country's information minister said. He also said Nigeria did not swap any Boko Haram prisoners for the release of the girls, who would be brought to the capital Abuja later on Thursday. Here are 10 key facts about the Chibok schoolgirls and the Islamist militant group Boko Haram: Since 2009, Boko Haram has waged an insurgency to carve out an Islamic state in northeast Nigeria that has killed at least 15,000 people and displaced more than two million. The most high-profile attack took place on April 14, 2014, when Boko Haram kidnapped 276 school girls, from a secondary school in Chibok in northeast Borno state. About 50 of the girls escaped in the initial melee but 219 were captured. Nigeria's government and military, then under the command of former president Goodluck Jonathan, faced heavy criticism for their handling of the incident, with towns and cities across the nation witnessing protests. The kidnappings prompted a strong social media reaction, with the phrase #bringbackourgirls tweeted around 3.3 million times by mid-May 2014, and the campaign which followed backed by U.S. First Lady Michelle Obama. Hope for the girls was briefly raised in April 2015 when the Nigerian military announced it had rescued 200 girls and 93 women from the Sambisa forest, northeast of Chibok. It was later revealed that the Chibok girls were not among them. One of the Chibok girls, Amina Ali, was rescued in May. Held for months by the Nigerian government, she told her mother that the girls were starved and resorted to eating raw maize, and that some had died in captivity, suffered broken legs or gone deaf after being too close to explosions. Boko Haram in August published a video showing footage of dozens of the Chibok girls, and a masked man saying some of their classmates had been killed in air strikes. In the video, unidentified bodies could be seen on the ground. About 2,000 girls and boys have been kidnapped by Boko Haram since the beginning of 2014, according to Amnesty International, which says they are used as cooks, sex slaves, fighters and even suicide bombers. Boko Haram used 44 children to carry out suicide attacks in West Africa last year, up from four in 2014, with some as young as eight, mostly girls, detonating bombs in schools and markets, according to the U.N. children's agency UNICEF. Boko Haram, which last year pledged allegiance to Islamic State, controlled a swathe of land in northeast Nigeria, around the size of Belgium, at the start of 2015 but was pushed out by Nigerian and regional troops, which are now in a final push to defeat the militants. (Reporting By Kieran Guilbert, Additional Reporting by Reporting by Alexis Akwagyiram, Felix Onuah and Ulf Laessing in Abuja; Editing by Katie Nguyen. 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 news.trust.org)
(Reuters) - Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump's provocative proposals on immigration, trade and other issues have drawn attention and verbal attacks - as well as some praise - well beyond the United States' shores. Here is a sampling. RUSSIA Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin have often praised each other. Last December, Putin described the New York businessman as "a very flamboyant man, very talented." Trump, who lauded Putin in return, also spoke well of him in September, saying at a televised forum with Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton that Putin had been a better leader than Democratic U.S. President Barack Obama. MEXICO Some of the strongest criticism of Trump from abroad has come from Mexican officials because of his verbal attacks on illegal Mexican immigrants and his promise to build a wall on the southern border and make Mexico pay for it. Following talks in Mexico City between Trump and Enrique Pena Nieto, the Mexican president said the American's policy stances "could represent a huge threat to Mexico, and I am not prepared to keep my arms crossed and do nothing." Earlier this year, he likened Trump to dictators Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini. CHINA In April, Chinese Finance Minister Lou Jiwei called Trump "an irrational type" because of the candidate's proposal that tariffs on imported Chinese goods be increased to up to 45 percent. "If he were to do this, that would be in violation of the rules set by the World Trade Organization," Lou said in an interview with the Wall Street Journal. BRITAIN Then-British Prime Minister David Cameron in May called Trump's initial proposal for a temporary ban on Muslim's entering the United States "very dangerous." In December, Cameron had called Trump, potentially the leader of Britain's closest ally, "divisive, stupid and wrong" for calling for the ban. Nigel Farage, a politician who played a key role in the successful campaign to get Britain out of the European Union, lent his support to Trump in August, appearing with the candidate at a rally in Jackson, Mississippi. Farage said Trump represented the same type of anti-establishment movement that he had masterminded in his own country. London's first Muslim mayor, Sadiq Khan, said in May that Trump had an "ignorant view of Islam," referring to Trump's initial proposed ban on Muslims. {nL2N18709R] In September, during his first U.S. visit, Khan expressed support for Clinton. FRANCE French President Francois Hollande said in August that a Trump victory could make politics more conservative around the world and that the New York businessman made people "feel nauseous." A Trump win could also affect France's spring 2017 presidential election, said Hollande. GERMANY Germany's European affairs minister, Michael Roth, said in August that Trump's assertion that Chancellor Angela Merkel's open-door refugee policy had resulted in a huge increase in crime was incorrect. Roth said it was important to correct campaign statements in other countries that were based on "fears, lies and half-truths," given the importance of the U.S. election for the world. In April, the German foreign minister, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, criticized Trump's "America First" policy, which the candidate had unveiled in a speech that week. Steinmeier said world security could no longer be ensured unilaterally and that international conflicts could only be solved nowadays if heavyweights like the United States and Russia and others joined forces. JAPAN The "America First" stance - which included a portrayal by Trump of longtime ally Japan as a free rider on security - also came in for a veiled swipe from Japan's ambassador to the United States, Kenichiro Sasae, in May. Without mentioning Trump by name, Sasae said he did not want to see an isolationist United States. "I want to see the United States to be strong and come with a strong robust position, not really thinking of the United States only," he said. UNITED NATIONS U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad al Hussein said on Wednesday that the world would be in danger if Trump became president. He cited Trump's views on vulnerable communities, including minorities, and his talk of authorizing torture in interrogations, banned under international law, as "deeply unsettling and disturbing." (Compiled by Jonathan Oatis in New York; Editing by Peter Cooney)
Global health officials are racing to better understand the Zika virus behind a major outbreak that began in Brazil last year and has spread to almost 60 countries.

The following are some questions and answers about the virus and current outbreak:

How do people become infected?

Zika is transmitted to people through the bite of infected female mosquitoes, primarily the Aedes aegypti mosquito, the same type that spreads dengue, chikungunya and yellow fever. The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) said Aedes aegypti mosquitoes are found in all countries in the Americas except Canada and continental Chile, and the virus will likely reach all countries and territories of the region where Aedes mosquitoes are found. The virus can also be transmitted through sex, from either a male or female partner who has been infected, and a few cases of apparent infection via blood transfusion have been reported.

How do you treat Zika?

There is no treatment or vaccine for Zika infection. Companies and scientists are racing to develop a safe and effective vaccine for Zika, but a preventative shot is not expected to be ready for widespread use for at least two or three years.

How dangerous is it?

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention concluded that infection with the Zika virus in pregnant women is a cause of the birth defect microcephaly, a condition defined by unusually small heads that can result in developmental problems, and other severe brain abnormalities in babies. The CDC said that since the causal relationship had been established, several important questions must still be answered with studies that could take years.

The World Health Organization in an updated assessment said the "most likely explanation" is that Zika virus infection during pregnancy is a cause of congenital brain abnormalities including microcephaly. In addition, the agency said infection is a trigger of Guillain-Barre syndrome (GBS), a rare neurological disorder that can result in paralysis.

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The update from the WHO came after considering months of research. Its previous statement, based on a rapid assessment of evidence, said there was strong scientific consensus that Zika virus caused GBS, microcephaly and other neurological disorders.

Brazil recently reported 1,949 confirmed cases of microcephaly believed to be linked to Zika infections in pregnant women. It is investigating more than 3,030 suspected cases of microcephaly.

Current research indicates the greatest microcephaly risk is associated with infection during the first trimester of pregnancy, but health officials have warned an impact could be seen in later weeks. Recent studies have shown evidence of Zika in amniotic fluid, placenta and fetal brain tissue.

What are the symptoms of Zika infection?

People infected with Zika may have a mild fever, skin rash, conjunctivitis, muscle and joint pain and fatigue that can last for two to seven days. But as many as 80 percent of people infected never develop symptoms.

How can Zika be contained?

Efforts to control the spread of the virus focus on eliminating mosquito breeding sites and taking precautions against mosquito bites such as using insect repellent and mosquito nets. U.S. and international health officials have advised pregnant women to avoid travel to Latin American and Caribbean countries, sections of Miami, Florida in the United States and Singapore where they may be exposed to Zika. They are also advising that men and women who have traveled to Zika outbreak areas use condoms or abstain from sex for six months to prevent sexual transmission of the virus.

How widespread is the outbreak?

Active Zika outbreaks have been reported in at least 59 countries or territories, most of them in the Americas, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Brazil has been the country most affected. (http://1.usa.gov/1ovAJyh)

Africa (1): Cape Verde

Americas (49): Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Aruba, The Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bolivia, Bonaire, Brazil, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Curacao, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, French Guiana, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Martinique, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Saba, Puerto Rico, Saint Barthelmy, Saint Lucia, Saint Martin, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Saint Eustatius, St. Maarten, St. Kitts and Nevis, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, Turks and Caicos, United States, U.S. Virgin Islands and Venezuela.

Asia (1): Singapore

Oceania/Pacific Islands (8): American Samoa, Fiji, Kosrae, Federated States of Micronesia, Marshall Islands, New Caledonia, Papua New Guinea, Samoa and Tonga.

What is the history of the Zika virus?

The Zika virus is found in tropical locales with large mosquito populations. Outbreaks of Zika have been recorded in Africa, the Americas, Southern Asia and the Western Pacific. The virus was first identified in Uganda in 1947 in rhesus monkeys and was first identified in people in 1952 in Uganda and Tanzania, according to the WHO.

What other complications are associated with Zika?

Zika has also been associated with other neurological disorders, including serious brain and spinal cord infections. The long-term health consequences of Zika infection are unclear. Other uncertainties surround the incubation period of the virus and how Zika interacts with other viruses that are transmitted by mosquitoes, such as dengue.

(Compiled by the Americas Desk)
With the debuts of USA Networks Falling Water on October 13 and Epixs Berlin Station on October 16, the battle to be a cable contender just became more interesting. As I say in my video review above, both series  Gale Anne Hurd and Blake Masters on the home of Mr. Robot, and the Olen Steinhauer-created and Bradford Winters-showrun spy thriller, respectively  succeed admirably in planting flags for their channels, though with very different approaches.

If you are looking for the conventional, the dreamscape of Falling Water will spin your head round and round. The 10-episode first season of the Universal Cable Productions series created by Masters and former Homeland EP Henry Bromell (who passed away in 2013) dives deep into notions of the unconscious, the powers that be and the experience of even when you are here, you are not here, to quote the show.

Deadline Review Badge Dominic Patten

At its shimmering and sometimes intangible core, the stylized Falling Waters tracks a trio of seemingly disconnected characters who are dreaming parts of the the same dream with a bigger picture looming. American Horror Story: Asylum alum Lizzie Brochere plays Tess, a designer and trend predictor; Will Yun Lee is Taka, a NYPD detective with lingering family responsibilities who is pursuing a cult of dream seekers; and a very strong David Ajala portrays Burton, the security chief for a global investment bank teetering on the edge of some very big deals. Casuals Zak Orth pieces together the puzzle a bit as a CEO obsessed with the untapped power of dreams and a collective unconscious.

Although the pilot moves along at a good pace, Falling Water has a bit of a slow lift-off that ends up, from what Ive seen, pushing the boundaries and the science and weaves its way into occupying a lot more than the present moment.

On another side of the narrative spectrum, Paramount TV and Anonymous Contents Berlin Station with a cast featuring Richard Armitage, Michelle Forbes, Richard Jenkins and Rhys Ifans is a pretty standard spy thriller that tackles some surprising new angles of modern espionage. With an Edward Snowden-Julian Assange mix in the form of infamous leaker Thomas Shaw revealing the CIAs secrets to the world, Hannibal alum Armitages Daniel Miller is put in the agencys German office to catch the whistleblower. However, it is the top-notch performances by Jenkins as the insecure and scheming CIA station chief, Forbes as an ambitious administrator who disregards The Companys hierarchy, and Ifans as a veteran agent who is equal parts hard-living, hard-edged and frustrated that really makes the drama in Epixs first original scripted series so compelling.

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Take a look at more of what I think of Falling Water and Berlin Station by clicking on my video review above. You can also take a look at the shows themselves as both cablers have put early episodes online. Tell us what you think.

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Family members unable to reach their grandmother in Florida after Hurricane Matthew made sure she was safe by ordering a pizza to her house.

Eric Olsen, who lives in Omaha, Nebraska, said he grew worried after being unable to reach Claire Olsen, his 87-year-old grandmother who lives alone in Palm Coast, Florida, for two days after the storm ripped through the area, according to ABC News. When he spoke to her on Friday, she told him she had lost power.

I was calling the police department, I was calling the sheriffs department, and no one was answering, so I was really worried, Olsen told ABC News. So I just said, Im going to order her a pizza, and if they can deliver it, then I know shes alive.

Olsen ordered the pizza from Papa Johns and gave special instructions for the delivery person to call his phone upon getting to his grandmothers house and give the phone to Claire Olsen so he could speak to her. It workedto his relief, Olsen heard his grandmother alive and well on the other line.

Police and fire couldnt do it, but Papa Johns got there in 30 minutes and put the cellphone to her ear, he said. People are asking why I didnt call the police and ask them to do a wellness check, but I did. Trust me, Papa Johns was a last resort.

Claire Olsen told ABC News affiliate WFTV the surprise pepperoni pizza was fantastic.

Lance Tyler, the pizza deliveryman, told WFTV that Claire Olsens expression was just priceless while speaking to her grandson.
The ever-expanding Harry Potter universe just got larger.

The Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them spinoff will be a five-film franchise, J.K. Rowling said at a Warner Bros. fan event in London on Thursday.

We always knew that it was going to be more than one movie  we knew that from the start  so we set a trilogy as a sort of placeholder, because we knew there would be more than one movie, Rowling said at the Empire Theatre in London. But Ive now done the plotting properly, so were pretty sure its going to be five movies.

Rowling wrote the screenplay for Fantastic Beasts,which marks her first script.

So I learned how to write a screenplay while writing a screenplay. she added. I wouldnt recommend it.

The London event also drew stars Eddie Redmayne, Katherine Waterston, Alison Sudol and Dan Fogler, director David Yates, and producer David Heyman. Colin Farrell and Jon Voight, meanwhile, attended the fan event in Los Angeles. The global event was streamed via satellite to gatherings in New York, London, Mexico City, Sao Paulo, and Rome.

Oscar winner Redmayne stars as Newt Scamander in the films.

Warner Bros. Pictures had announced in August that a second movie in the Fantastic Beasts series was already in the works. Yates is also directing the sequel from a script by Rowling. Yates teased on Thursday that the second film will take place in another global capital city  not the upcoming pics New York City setting. It will be very different, Yates, who directed the final four Harry Potter films, added.

The second movie will be produced by Rowling, Heyman, Steve Kloves, and Lionel Wigram. Rowlings agent, Neil Blair, Rick Senat, and Danny Cohen will serve as executive producers.

Following Rowlings revelation about the five films, attendees at the fan event were shown footage from the first 10 minutes of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, which opens with investigators tracking the unseen beasts in the countryside, followed by a variety of headlines from 1926 papers and references to the dark wizard Gellert Grindelwald.

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The first sequence shows Redmayne telling the creatures in his briefcase to settle down as hes about to go through U.S. customs. Thats followed by a scene where Farrell surveys an area thats been devastated by the beasts. Redmayne then encounters anti-beast forces holding a rally while one of the animals escapes from the briefcase. Fogler, who appears to provide the comic relief, is later seen trying to stuff himself into the briefcase.

Redmayne said Scamander is incredible passionate in an answer to a fan question. He also acknowledged that the success of the Harry Potter franchise has created high expectations.

The honest answer is that I feel enormous pressure, he said. We put quite high expectations on ourselves. We didnt want to screw it up.

Redmayne also praised the intricacies of production design included such items as mocked-up newspapers from 1926, adding, The detail was intoxicating.

Fogler revealed that his great great grandfather was also a baker  as is his character in Fantastic Beasts. That prompted Farrell to say, My grandfather was a wizard.

Yates also said the upcoming Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, which hits theater on Nov. 18, will feature a cameo by a young Albus Dumbledore and Gellert Grendelwald  characters from the original Harry Potter movies.

He is featured in a wonderful scene between Colin and Eddie, said Yates.

The Los Angeles event was held at the TCL Chinese Theaetre with the courtyard transformed into a streetscene from 1926 New York City with a bakery, Italian grocery store and wanted posters for Newt Scamander.

I'm at the Warner Bros. fan event at the Chinese for "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them" #FantasticBeasts pic.twitter.com/tSvONMaX8a  Dave McNary (@Variety_DMcNary) October 13, 2016

The second installment is slated for worldwide release on Nov. 16, 2018.

Watch a stream of the event below.

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Nederland Police

The FBI and Colorado law-enforcement officials are investigating a bomb that was discovered outside of a police station in the city of Nederland on Tuesday, officials said in a statement.

Nederland is about 45 miles northwest of Denver.

Police said that the bomb was active, but failed to detonate.

A police officer found the object, which authorities identify as an improvised explosive device (IED), on Tuesday morning outside of the Nederland Police Department and Boulder County Sheriffs Office substation.

A nearby shopping center was evacuated as the Boulder County Regional Bomb Squad and bomb technicians from the FBI investigated the device.

The FBI took the lead in the investigation Wednesday and is working to find the suspect who placed the bomb, FBI Denver spokesperson Deborah Sherman told Business Insider.

"We are trying to determine who did this and why. Right now everything is a possibility," Sherman said.

Officials are asking anyone with information to contact the FBI Denver division at (303) 629-7171.





More From Business Insider


Nearly four months after Anton Yelchin's tragic death, Felicity Jones is still reeling from the loss.

The 32-year-old actress opens up in a new interview with The Hollywood Reporter, revealing how difficult it was to lose her close friend and Like Crazy co-star, who died in June after his car pinned him against a gate in the driveway of his L.A. home.

WATCH: 'Like Crazy' Director Drake Doremus Reflects on Anton Yelchin's Death: 'There's Just No One Like Him'

"It's been devastating. It doesn't feel like there's any justice or there's no way of understanding it, really," she shares before revealing that she became close with Yelchin's family after they shared the screen.

"It's just been a very difficult time for his family. They're very dignified, beautiful people," she adds. "He was just like no one else. He really was a unique soul."

Five years after she and Yelchin starred as a couple in the Sundance darling, Jones is preparing for the release her biggest film yet -- Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. And while the highly-anticipated film has concerned the masses with its recent reshoots, Jones says there's nothing to fear.

"Obviously when you come to the edit, you see the film come together and you think, 'Actually, we could do this better, and this would make more sense if we did this,'" she explains. "I've done it so many times."

RELATED: 'Rogue One: A Star Wars Story' Behind-the-Scenes Look Promises Badass Action and Plenty of Aliens

ET caught up with Jones at Comic-Con in July, where she dished all about her role in the Star Wars film -- and delivering one of the franchise's iconic lines.

"I have to say it was one of those moments that I was really nervous about for weeks before," she admitted of tackling the famous "May the Force be with us." "I kept walking around my house just trying out the line."

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"I'd just be in the bathroom and be like, 'May the force be with you. May the force be with you. May the force be with you,'" she added. "You just go over and over and over again because I knew it was such a momentous moment for the film."

WATCH: New 'Rogue One: A Star Wars Story' Trailer Shows Some Familiar Faces and Exciting New Heroes

See more in the video below.

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High-profile Donald Trump campaign surrogates fanned out across cable news in full damage-control mode Thursday morning, hours after multiple women turned to various publications to accuse Trump of sexual assault.

On Wednesday night, People magazine, The New York Times, BuzzFeed, and the Palm Beach Post all published different stories from women accusing Trump of sexual assault.

Trump's high-profile surrogates immediately began working to discredit the accusations and the reporting, focusing most of their fire on The Times, which had previously reported on women who felt degraded by Trump in the workplace.

Several Trump surrogates suggested that the women came forward out of a desire for fame.

"There's an atmosphere that has been created by The New York Times and others that says, 'Look, if you're willing to come out and say something, we'll give you fame, we'll give you whatever you need,'" retired neurosurgeon and informal Trump adviser Ben Carson told Fox News. "What a bunch of crap."

Former campaign manager Corey Lewandowski dismissed the accusers on CNN as "people making accusations about Donald Trump who ran into him in an elevator for three minutes."

National spokeswoman Katrina Pierson argued on CNN that there was no way one of the accusers who alleged Trump assaulted her on an airplane could have been telling the truth, arguing her story couldn't be real because of the plane's armrest configuration.

"Why would they come out?" Pierson said. "Fifteen minutes of fame."

Other notable Trump supporters suggested that these accusations were directed at a younger Trump who was comparable to the current Republican presidential nominee.

Liberty University President Jerry Falwell Jr. described the Times as "very anti-Trump," and said that he would support Trump despite the accusations of sexual assault.

"I'm going to vote for Donald Trump because I believe he's best qualified to be president of the United States. I'm not going to say anything to besmirch the character of any of these women. It's the heat of an election, it's four weeks until election day," Falwell said.

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He added: "What about the Donald Trump of today? He's a changed man."

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich said that The Times "went back over 30 years to find someone who had a bad airplane flight," and attempted to pivot to a critique of Hillary Clinton.

"I'm happy to stipulate Donald Trump in the past. That's not the Donald Trump that Callista and I know. But Donald Trump in the past may have been crude, if you're willing to accept that Hillary Clinton is both corrupt and dangerous," Gingrich told Fox Business on Thursday.

NOW WATCH: Watch the brutal Hillary Clinton ad that pits Trump against himself





More From Business Insider


By Crispin Dembassa-Kete KAGA BANDORO, Central African Republic (Reuters) - Fighters from Central African Republic's largely Muslim Seleka militia attacked refugees in the country's remote north on Wednesday, stabbing or hacking to death 13 people before U.N. peacekeepers repelled them, killing at least 10, officials said. Several people were also wounded in the attack targeting Kaga Bandoro, a town of dirt roads and thatched mud huts. A Reuters witness saw militiamen stab two refugees to death as people were fleeing. When some tried to fight back with clubs, the militiamen began firing their guns. Hundreds of panicked villagers, already refugees from earlier violence, then fled in the direction of the U.N. base. Central African Republic has been in chaos since early 2013 when the Seleka, which draws mostly from the country's minority Muslim population, toppled then-President Francois Bozize. Militias representing the interests of the Christian majority responded by attacking Muslims and a fifth of the population fled their homes to escape the violence, leaving the isolated nation deeply divided along ethnic and religious lines. "We were in the house when suddenly the Seleka arrived and set it on fire," said a witness, Marcelline Kanga, 40. "They killed my uncle and stabbed my brother to death right there." Yongon Samson, 48, described seeing a body with the head sliced off it as he ran for cover. Thousands of people displaced from the latest flare up of violence gathered around the U.N. peacekeeping base. A Catholic priest took refuge inside. Troops from the mission, called Minusca, opened fire to dispel the militias, a Reuters witness saw. A U.N. official, who declined to be quoted, said the peacekeepers had to open fire in order to protect the civilian population and confirmed that at least ten Seleka were killed. Central African Republic's U.N. peacekeeping mission, which has sought to try to keep the rival factions from each other's throats, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The country, which holds reserves of uranium, gold and diamonds, is one of the world's most isolated economies, with exports and imports having to travel around 850 miles by road between the capital Bangui to the Cameroonian port of Douala. France said on Friday it was keeping an eye on the worsening security situation in Central African Republic, but that it would still withdraw most of its troops by the end of the month. Eleven people were killed in clashes in the capital Bangui last week, set off by the murder of an army officer. Pope Francis visited the capital at the end of last year to implore Christians and Muslims to end a spiral of hate. (Writing and additional reporting by Tim Cocks in Dakar; Editing by Dominic Evans and Chris Reese)
After a man is arrested for selling $40 worth of drugs outside his family home in Philadelphia, his law-abiding parents are evicted and watch as police seize their house as government property. A woman loses her car in Albuquerque after her son took it without her knowledge and is accused of driving drunk. Authorities take $50,000 in cash from a touring Christian band pulled over for a broken taillight in Oklahoma. These stories, and others like them, sound unbelievable. But the seizures are legal  and theyre common practice. In fact, police departments across America have become increasingly reliant on them to fund their own war on drugs.

While horror stories of forfeiture abuse have percolated beneath the public consciousness the last few years, its only recently that lawmakers have shouldered serious legislation.

Through a process called public asset forfeiture, authorities can take property associated with alleged wrongdoing without ever entering a courtroom. While horror stories of forfeiture abuse have percolated beneath the public consciousness the last few years, its only recently that lawmakers have shouldered serious legislation. So far this year, at least 22 states have introduced laws to limit civil asset forfeiture, according to the Center for Public Integrity, and at least nine states  including Florida, Maryland, New Mexico and Wyoming  have already passed reforms. Significant legislation rings from the whitewashed walls of Washington, D.C., where the federal Due Process Act is alive but has not yet passed, to the sunny climes of California, where the governor just signed a state assemblybacked bill. It puts people in the nightmare situation of potentially losing their property forever without ever being accused of a crime, says Institute for Justice attorney Rob Peccola. The only people who support civil forfeiture are people who personally profit from it.

The idea behind public asset forfeiture has roots in age-old maritime tradition, where the king was able to possess ships that didnt observe British law, and the first U.S. Congress used it to quickly settle customs disputes rather than try a shipowner leagues across the sea. Still, the practice fell from popularity, until it was revived before the turn of the century as a creative way to battle drug cartels. And certainly its useful for law enforcement to defund criminal syndicates quickly and efficiently, when warranted. Yet present laws not only allow forfeiture but add a financial incentive: Only eight states bar the use of forfeiture proceeds by law enforcement, while the full amount goes straight to police pockets in at least half the states, according to the Institute for Justice, which has compiled perhaps the most comprehensive look at the issue with its Policing for Profit project. In most forfeiture cases today, the property is charged with the crime  not the person  so the owner has no constitutional right to a public lawyer.

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policing for profit web pdf page 18 of 186 1024x767

Policing for profit? This is the percentage of forfeitures each state can keep.

Source Courtesy Institute for Justice

Even if states pass laws removing that profit motive, experts say the measures will fall short without action from the nations next president. Thats because of a loophole called equitable sharing, in which local police forces team up with the U.S. Department of Justice on joint investigations. Afterward, they get a cut of the proceeds, in most cases circumventing any state laws that may ban the practice. That climate makes forfeiture policy one of the few areas where Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton could change America on Day 1  with or without help from a cooperating Congress. Neither has focused prominently on forfeitures. But an incoming administration could have the new attorney general discontinue equitable sharing  closing hundreds of millions of dollars worth of seizures and making police less dependent on the funds, says policy expert Jason Snead.

It speaks to the issues broad appeal that Snead and his employer, the conservative Heritage Foundation, have taken up the anti-forfeiture banner alongside ardent left-leaners like the Center for American Progress, the ACLU and the NAACP. Bipartisan concerns have increased as forfeiture activity ramped up since it was first adopted in the Ronald Reagan days. In 1986, the feds took in $93.7 million from forfeitures, but by 2014, that number had reached $4.5 billion. They didnt put enough protections in place, says the Justice Action Networks Jenna Moll, who has worked on legislation being considered in Pennsylvania and Ohio. Most experts point to New Mexico, Nebraska and Washington, D.C., as the gold standards of reform, passing laws that ended property confiscation without a conviction while severely limiting equitable sharing deals. States like Florida and Montana have shifted the burden of proof in court onto government lawyers. And some have encouraged broader transparency, as is the case in Georgia and Virginia, which now require that property seizures be reported publicly.

screen shot 2016 09 14 at 5.56.12 pm

Department of Justice payouts to state police have increased through equitable sharing programs.

Source Institute for Justice

Forfeiture reform faces fierce opposition from law-enforcement groups, who insist the funds are necessary to take on well-greased criminal organizations, and theyve stymied, stalled or watered down reform legislation when possible. The California Police Association opposed efforts in 2015, arguing a reform bill would be severely problematic for cops because it required a criminal conviction for seizures of more than $25,000. The CPA supported this years version, calling it a compromise that ensures law enforcement has the tools necessary to combat the gangs and drug traffickers damaging our communities. But foes in other states, most notably in Oklahoma, have remained stubborn, and many lawmakers are loathe to pick a fight with law enforcement.

As the political battle is waged, the spoils of forfeiture arent hidden in plain sight, but sold in it. Take a glance at the U.S. Marshals Service website  theres new jewelry, artwork to spice up an apartment and even a new boat that could be bid on. Sure, it could come at someone elses expense, but hey, you might score a sweet deal. You know the government already did.

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If you feel as though the news cycle has been all-Trump all the time for the past few days, you arent wrong.

The spectacular days-long flameout of Donald Trumps presidential campaign has driven a lot of stories that would normally have been front page news out of the headlines and relegated them to the back pages. Here are a few items that you might have missed in the fallout after a major party presidential candidate revealed himself to be a sexual assault enthusiast.

Related: Inspired by Trump, Russian Foreign Minister Blasts US Election with Lewd Comment

Russia moved nuclear capable medium range missiles into Kaliningrad, the Russian enclave on the Baltic Sea between Poland and Lithuania. The Iskander mobile launch system has a range of at least 500 kilometers, meaning that meaning that locating them in the enclave places the capitals of several NATO countries, like Poland, in range.





A US Navy destroyer, on patrol off the coast of Yemen, has had cruise missiles fired at it twice by Iran-backed fighters since Sunday. The USS Mason on Sunday, and then again this morning, detected a pair of cruise missiles launched from territory controlled by Iran-backed Houthi rebels, who have taken over much of the country with the backing or Iran. The Mason took countermeasures, and both attacks failed to hit the ship.





The coming battle to retake the Iraqi city of Mosul got closer -- and a lot more complicated. The long-planned assault on the ISIS-held city is coming, but the plan for just how the multiple forces converging on the terrorist stronghold will attack, and how they will govern the city in the event they are successful, is still a major concern. Moreover, Reuters reports that ISIS has rigged the city with bombs and lethal booby traps.



Related: How Trump Will Win Back Women Voters: The Fake Locker Room Defense

The valuation of the British Pound fell to its lowest level in recorded history when measured against a group of foreign currencies. The drop in value appears to be directly related to the decision British voters took earlier this year to separate the UK from the European Union. Statements this week from British leaders saying that the so-called Brexit is on track caused a major selloff of the countrys currency.





Babies born by C-section are at greater risk for allergies, The Wall Street Journal reports. The reason: Not passing through the mothers birth canal robs the baby of beneficial microbes that protect the infant in later from childhood allergies and asthma. The other plussesbreastfeeding and the having a dog in the house. Medical microbiologists say each newborns personal collection of gut bacteria has a lifelong effect on the immune system, The Journal reports.

Top Reads from The Fiscal Times:
A former People writer accused Donald Trump of attacking her and kissing her without her consent during a 2005 visit to the billionaires Florida estate, in an account published Wednesday evening that added to a flood of allegations against the Republican presidential nominee.

Natasha Stoynoff traveled to Trumps Mar-a-Lago property in December 2005 to conduct an interview with Trump and his pregnant wife Melania. Trump pounced when Melania left her husbands side, according to Stoynoff. We walked into that room alone, and Trump shut the door behind us, she writes. I turned around, and within seconds he was pushing me against the wall and forcing his tongue down my throat.

Trumps campaign denied the allegations, which came days after a recording of Trump bragging about groping women became public and amid similar allegations from other women. This never happened, a spokesperson told People. There is no merit or veracity to this fabricated story. Trump himself chimed in on Thursday morning.

Why didn't the writer of the twelve year old article in People Magazine mention the "incident" in her story. Because it did not happen!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 13, 2016

Stoynoff joins a growing list of women who have accused Trump of groping and unwanted sexual advances. Two women shared such allegations with the New York Times and another with the Palm Beach Post, in stories published Tuesday.

Read Stoynoffs full account in People
TOKYO (Reuters) - A group of investors, mostly foreign institutions, are suing Toshiba Corp in a Tokyo court for 16.7 billion yen ($162.3 million) in damages, over a $1.3 billion accounting scandal uncovered last year. Toshiba said in a statement on Thursday that the 45 unnamed shareholders were seeking compensation for damages caused by its "inappropriate accounting". It will take an unspecified provision to cover any eventual payout, Toshiba said. The laptops-to-nuclear conglomerate has been sued by 15 groups and individuals since it first admitted to reporting inflated profits going back to 2008, including Japan's public pension fund. GPIF, the world's biggest pension fund, has been shifting into shares to attempt to boost returns. Thursday's case, however, is the largest - the remaining suits are seeking a combined 15.3 billion yen in compensation. Toshiba is still overcoming the reputational and share price hit of an investigation last year that found widespread accounting errors throughout its sprawling business, blaming a corporate culture in which employees found it difficult to question their superiors. High profile Japanese companies from Olympus to Fukushima Daichi nuclear power plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co (Tepco) have faced shareholder damages suits over the years. Tepco shareholders in 2012 sued the utility's executives for a record 5.5 trillion yen. That case, still ongoing, accused former Tepco directors of ignoring multiple warnings of a possible tsunami and of failing to prepare for a severe accident. In 2008, five former executives of Janome Sewing Machine Co were ordered by a court to pay 58.3 billion yen compensation to the company, local media reported at the time, saying it was the biggest compensation pay out to date. Toshiba shares rose on the day, trading up 3.2 percent at 366.4 yen. (Reporting by Junko Fujita and Osamu Tsukimori; Editing by Stephen Coates and Christian Schmollinger)
Miss Teen USA 2010 Kamie Crawford in 2011. (Photo: Barnard/Getty Images)

A flood of news has broken this week about Donald Trump: a 2005 videotape surfaced, forgotten quotes were unearthed, and women have stepped forward alleging sexual assault. Watching it all unfold on social media with the rest of us was one woman who had a front row seat to Trumps antics: Miss Teen USA 2010, Kamie Crawford.

I wanna spill my tea so bad, Crawford tweeted after retweeting quotes from a BuzzFeed story alleging that Trump had walked into the dressing rooms of pageant contestants as young as age 15. But let me just say  I believe every word, Crawford wrote. After some encouragement from her followers, she pressed on, sharing what she alleged happened when she encountered Trump years ago.

The most Trump tea Ill spill for the day is this when I was 17, I met Mr. Trump for the first time as Miss Teen USA. As the first WOC  Kamie Crawford (@TheRealKamie) October 12, 2016

To win the title in almost a decade  I was forewarned prior to meeting him that, Mr. Trump doesnt like black people. So dont take it  Kamie Crawford (@TheRealKamie) October 12, 2016

the wrong way if he isnt extremely welcoming towards you. If he is, then u just must be the "type of black he likes.  Kamie Crawford (@TheRealKamie) October 12, 2016

A recent photo of Kamie Crawford, Miss Teen USA 2010. (Photo: Allen Berezovsky/WireImage)

Crawford describes the pageant as an interesting experience. According to her account on Twitter, at just 17 years old, Crawford was warned about Trump. I was forewarned prior to meeting him that, Mr. Trump doesnt like black people so dont take it the wrong way if he isnt extremely welcoming towards you. If he is, then u just might be the type of black he likes, she tweeted. It was startling advice for the new titleholder.

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Now again Im 17. Raised in the suburbs of Potomac, MD. Only experienced racism personally ONCE and it was outside of my hometown. SO  Kamie Crawford (@TheRealKamie) October 12, 2016

Needless to say, I was totally caught off guard&super nervous bc this is supposed to be my boss Im meeting  &he might not like me ALREADY?  Kamie Crawford (@TheRealKamie) October 12, 2016

According to Crawford, who declined Yahoos requests for an interview and seems to be declining all interview requests per her Twitter account, this was her only personal experience with racism.

I wont be doing any interviews about it the world is full of too many crazies & I have to protect myself too! More comfortable here https://t.co/amNHnQyeXr  Kamie Crawford (@TheRealKamie) October 13, 2016

And if she doubted the advice, it wasnt long before she says she saw it up close and personal. Sure enough after I was warned about him, I saw him in action&witnessed him completely snub a black contestant at Miss Universe rehearsals, the model and cast member of BETs F in Fabulous tweeted. While she was practicing on stage. Literally turned his back to the stage and made a face like he was going to vomit at the sight of her. Crawford does allow that the action could have been initiated by something else.

Sure enough after I was warned about him, I saw him in action&witnessed him completely snub a black contestant at Miss Universe rehearsals..  Kamie Crawford (@TheRealKamie) October 12, 2016

While she was practicing on stage. Literally turned his back to the stage and made a face like he was going to vomit at the sight of her.  Kamie Crawford (@TheRealKamie) October 12, 2016

Granted, he couldve had some bad Thai food right before but I doubt it. pic.twitter.com/ONlhXX3I6O  Kamie Crawford (@TheRealKamie) October 12, 2016

This news is one of a few admissions from those who have had interactions with Trump that they say fall into the racist category. Kwame Jackson, a former contestant on The Apprentice, told Salon he believed the presidential candidate to be at his core, racist. In fact, a producer for the first two seasons of the show alluded to there being far worse tapes of Trump than the now infamous Access Hollywood footage published by the Washington Post last Friday, with one source saying that the tapes could include racist language.

In 1973, the Justice Department sued Trump Management for anti-black bias, charging both Donald Trump and his father, Fred Trump, with discrimination against black people in the way they operated apartment rentals they owned. Trump, who was 27 years old at the time, called the allegations completely ridiculous, saying we never have discriminated, and we never would.

Trumps separation from the Miss Universe Organization came after a racially fueled dispute. Both NBC and Univision refused to air the Miss USA pageant after Trump made controversial comments implying that Mexican immigrants are rapists when he announced his presidential campaign in June 2015. Trump then sold the Miss Universe Organization, which includes the Miss Universe, Miss USA, and Miss Teen USA pageants to WME/IMG in September 2015.

In an interview with the Hollywood Reporter, sources who worked closely with Trump when he owned the Miss Universe and Miss USA pageants claim he demonstrated a bias against women of color. According to the article, one source recalled that he did not want African-Americans in the top 10 of the Miss USA pageant. This person also said: He was very concerned one year. He did not want one woman to win because she was Puerto Rican. He said, She cant win. Dont get me wrong shes a beautiful girl, I just dont want her to win.

That said, a source close to the pageant, who asked to remain anonymous, tells Yahoo Beauty that she has never heard any comments about racism relative to Trump. During his ownership of the Miss Universe Organization from 1996 to 2015, the source notes that the organization moved away from crowning the typical pageant Barbie and moved toward crowning Latina, and somewhat later, multi-ethnic or racially ambiguous contestants.

According to the source, Crawford loves to be the center of attention.

We also reached out to a number of participants in the 2010 Miss Teen USA pageant, and spoke with former Miss Teen Alabama Ashlyn Alogi, who is white.

Based on my own experiences, as well as general consensus from the other state winners of 2010, Mr. Trump did NOT make the described barfing gesture, I would have known about it if he had, Alogi said via email. It is disappointing for individuals to make claims so offensive and untrue. I hold people to a higher societal standard than lying out of misplaced enmity and political allegiances.

Crawford, though, says she was the type of black woman Trump reportedly likes. He toted me around his buddies who were all there gawking at the Miss Universe girls, she tweeted. Bragged about how beautiful and well spoken I was. Shes so smart, look how smart she is, he kept saying. Mind u, baby boy just met me.

The Trump campaign has not responded to Yahoo Beautys request for comment.

Lets keep in touch! Follow Yahoo Beauty on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest.
Fox International Productions has bought World War II thriller Silent Night from White Horse Pictures and plans to co-finance with White Horse.

The companies are looking to start production on the film in 2017 in Europe, with Fox distributing worldwide.

James Luckard wrote the screenplay, set in 1941 Berlin, where a brutal serial killer roams the blacked-out streets, targeting young women. Determined to keep the nation focused on the war effort, Nazi leadership tasks a homicide detective with tracking down the killer. Hes forced to ally himself with the only living authority on the mind of a serial killer  a renowned Jewish criminal psychologist.

Fox International Productions President Tomas Jegeus commented: James script is incredible, pulling me in from page one with its moody, mysterious setting and unexpected twists. Its set in one of the most disturbing periods in history, which only adds more intrigue and suspense.

White Horse Pictures Nigel Sinclair and Nicholas Ferrall will produce along with Peter Dealbert of Pacific View Management. White Horses Cassidy Hartmann will serve as executive producer and Jeanne Elfant Festa as co-executive producer. David Whitney introduced the project to White Horse, and will also serve as a co-executive producer.

Fox and White Horse are currently looking to hire a director for the project.

Luckard, a Virginia native and USC film school graduate, is an historian with expertise in World War II and Cold War/Soviet Studies. He is represented by Peter Dealbert and attorney David Fox.

White Horse is represented by attorney Dan Stutz of Stutz Law Corporation.

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PARIS (Reuters) - France will offer companies the same tax credit when they buy gasoline cars than the one currently allowed for diesel cars, its energy minister said on Thursday, removing a key tax break that had boosted sales of diesel cars in the past. "We are going to give gasoline the same tax benefit that diesel currently has," Segolene Royal told France 2 television. "We won't remove diesel's benefit to take into account the importance of the diesel industry and give it enough time to transition towards clean transportation," she said. She added that the new tax discount will take effect gradually over the next two years but did not disclose the cost of the new measure. (Reporting by Michel Rose; Editing by Mathieu Rosemain)
Paris (AFP) - French President Francois Hollande called on all parties in the Ukraine conflict to draw up a roadmap to end the crisis, after talks with his Ukrainian counterpart on Thursday.

The aim would be to help Ukraine regain control of its borders with Russia, he said after speaking by telephone with Petro Poroshenko, the French presidency said in a statement.

Hollande had spoken Wednesday with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Russian President Vladimir Putin about organising a summit on the conflict.

Russia, which annexed Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula in 2014, backs a separatist, pro-Moscow insurgency in eastern Ukraine that has claimed nearly 10,000 lives.

Moscow has denied accusations that it has sent troops and weaponry across its border with Ukraine to fuel the conflict.

German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said Thursday he hoped the ceasefire in the separatist-held east, part of a deal signed in September, would hold.

"We have no reason for complacency," he told journalists in Strasbourg, eastern France, where he is attending a Council of Europe meeting.

"We are trying to stabilise the ceasefire," he said, adding: "We are advancing, but slowly, millimetre by millimetre."

Germany currently holds the rotating presidency of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), which has monitors in eastern Ukraine.

All sides agreed to a peace deal brokered by Germany and France in February 2015, but while the so-called Minsk accords reduced the intensity of fighting, they failed to stop it.

Steinmeier said Thursday there was "no alternative" to the accords.

France is pursuing efforts to organise a summit on the Ukraine conflict despite tensions with Russia over Syria.
PARIS (Reuters) - French President Francois Hollande is ready to take part in talks over the Ukraine crisis with the leaders of Russia, Germany and Ukraine in the coming days, his office said on Thursday. Hollande hopes a roadmap defining steps that would eventually give Ukraine back control over its border with Russia could be outlined soon, his office said in a statement, adding that Hollande had spoken with Ukrainian president Petro Poroschenko earlier in the day. On Wednesday, Germany had played down the prospects of a summit with France and Russia on Ukraine taking place any time soon, after the three countries' leaders discussed the crisis there. (Reporting by Michel Rose; Editing by Andrew Callus)
A new tome based on Francis Ford Coppola's iconic mafia movie "The Godfather" is slated for release next month, described by by Coppola as a "multi-layered roadmap to directing" the film.

Titled "The Godfather Notebook", the book will be published by Regan Arts and is set to feature a bevy of annotations on the novel "The Godfather" by Mario Puzo and other marginalia written before and during production (via IndieWire).

Now available for pre-order, as is a limited edition signed by Coppola, both versions will be widely available from next month.

Commenting on the book's release, Coppola said: "When I realized that I was actually going to make a movie out of the novel The Godfather', I sat down and began to read the book again, very carefully, my pencil poised. Upon that second reading, much of the book fell away in my mind, revealing a story that was a metaphor for American Capitalism in the tale of a great king with three sons: the oldest was given his passion and aggressiveness; the second his sweet nature and childlike qualities; and the third, his intelligence, cunning and coldness."

Watch the teaser trailer for "The Godfather Notebook" here: https://youtu.be/X-QCPf553Ko
DALLAS, TX / ACCESSWIRE / October 13, 2016 / Is self-dealing a "scheme to defraud" under the federal mail and wire fraud statutes, asks John Helms a fraud lawyer in Dallas TX. The answer may surprise you, and it illustrates how important it is to look carefully at the law and facts in any criminal fraud prosecution.

Self-dealing is when someone is required to act for another person's benefit but instead acts to benefit him or herself at the expense of the other person. Corporate officers, business partners, attorneys, and many others are normally required to put someone else's interests before their own. In most situations, corporate officers and business partners should put their company or partnership first, and attorneys should put their clients first.

An example of self-dealing is if a business partner hires a company that he owns to do something for the partnership and has the partnership pay his company more than what other companies would charge. That benefits his company and hurts the partnership, says fraud defense lawyer Helms.

Self-dealing is usually wrong on some level, but is it a "scheme to defraud" under the federal criminal mail and wire fraud statutes? The answer is that, without more, it probably is not.

The federal mail and wire fraud statutes make it a crime to use the mail or interstate wires in a "scheme to defraud." A "scheme to defraud" means using false or misleading representations to trick someone out of money or property. It can also mean a scheme "to deprive another of the intangible right of honest services." See 18 U.S.C section 1346.

Doesn't it seem like self-dealing would deprive someone of "honest services"? For years, federal prosecutors thought so. But in Skilling v. United States, a case about former Enron CEO Jeffrey Skilling, the United States Supreme Court held that "honest services" fraud had to involve kickbacks or bribery and that self-dealing alone was not enough.

This does not mean that someone who engages in self-dealing has not committed a crime, adds fraud defense lawyer Helms. If they made a false representation about their conduct or their business, including if they made a statement that fails to disclose something important, they may have committed mail or wire fraud. Also, if they made a false statement or failed to disclose something important in connection with a sale of securities or in corporate public filings, they may have committed criminal securities fraud. Each of those crimes has specific elements that must be met, and those would have to be analyzed to determine whether a crime was committed.

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As someone who has prosecuted and defended both civil and criminal fraud cases, I know that it is critical to do a careful and thorough analysis of the law and the facts in any fraud case. As the example of "honest services fraud" shows, something that certainly seems like fraud may not actually be fraud.

If you, a family member or someone you know has been charged with a fraud or any other serious crime, contact John Helms a fraud lawyer in Dallas, TX at (214) 666-8010 or fill out the online contact form. You can discuss your case, how the law may apply and your best legal options to protect your rights and freedom.

source: http://johnhelms.attorney/fraud-lawyer-dallas-tx-reveals-self-dealing-criminal-fraud/

SOURCE: John Helms Law Firm via Submit Press Release 123
PARIS, Oct 13 (Reuters) - It is inevitable that big U.S. banks will move activities from London in the coming years following Britain's decision to leave the European Union, French Finance Minister Michel Sapin said on Thursday.

Senior U.S. bankers who Sapin met with last week in Washington indicated that they were no longer considering whether to leave London but plotting the transfer of business, Sapin said.

"There will be a transfer of activities to the continent. I don't know what magnitude and I don't know exactly what activities, but there will be a transfer of business to the continent," Sapin told a news conference.

"That's the inevitable consequence whatever the outcome of the Brexit negotiations," he added.

The French government is hoping to attract as much business leaving London as possible by fast-tracking the registering of firms and extending tax benefits expatriates can qualify for.

However, France's comparatively high taxes remains an obstacle as does the Socialist government's support of financial transaction tax in 10 EU countries.

Sapin said that progress on the long-stalled tax was made a at a meeting in Luxembourg and that the European Commission had been tasked to come up with a proposal by the end of the year.

(Reporting by Leigh Thomas; Editing by Toby Chopra)
Three months after his heart bypass surgery at Greenville Memorial Hospital in South Carolina, 74-year-old Henry Weinacker found himself back in a hospital exam room with a bad fever. Hed been recovering steadily enough until then, his wife Lori thought. He kept saying his chest hurt, but she figured that was to be expected given that the operation had involved cracking his sternum.

It wasnt until nurses checked his surgical wound that Lori realized something was terribly wrong: The wound had burst open and was oozing pus, she said.

Tests revealed that Henry was infected with non-tuberculosis mycobacteria (NTM), a microbe thats harmless in healthy people but can be deadly in those with weakened immune systems. NTM is common in soil and water; but its so rarely found in hospitals that one nurse told Lori she had never seen it in a chest wound before.

The news got worse from there: Doctors said Henry was too sick to withstand the treatment for NTM (several powerful drugs taken multiple times each day for six months or longer), and that not much else could be done for him. We had to put him on hospice, she told Consumer Reports.

He died on June 22, 2014, three weeks after the infection was discovered. In the months that followed, officials at Greenville Memorial confirmed that 14 additional patients had been diagnosed with the same rare infection and that three others had also died.

An investigation conducted by the hospital and the South Carolina Public Health Department traced the offending bacteria to a piece of medical equipment well-known among surgeons but one most patients have never heard of: a heater-cooler device, or HCD.

Heater-coolers are essential surgical devices that regulate a patients body temperature during surgery; theyre used in hundreds of thousands of surgeries each year, including heart bypass, heart-valve replacement, and other heart and lung operations. But owing to a basic design flaw, the machines can harborand then spraydeadly bacteria through their exhaust vents, across operating rooms, and into patients open cavities.

Story continues

The investigation at Greenville stopped short of saying that its heater-cooler devices were responsible for the outbreak of NTM infections, in part because the bacteria was found in other places throughout the hospital.

But attorneys for the victims say that the link is clear. Yes, the bacteria is a common environmental contaminant, says Blake Smith, the lawyer who settled Lori Weinackers wrongful death suit against Greenville Memorial Hospital in 2015. But only the heater-cooler device is capable of aerosolizing that bacteria and spraying it directly into the chest cavity during surgery.

In the two years since Henrys death, that argument has been bolstered by a string of similar incidents (in Iowa, Pennsylvania, and elsewhere) and by an acknowledgement from the Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that heater-cooler devices pose a small but potentially serious risk to heart surgery and other patients. From Jan. 1, 2010, to Feb. 29, 2016, the FDA received 180 incident reports related to heater-cooler devices around the world. The reports include 16 U.S. hospitals across 10 states, where at least 45 patients were infected and at least nine died.

So far, the vast majority of those incidents have involved a specific brand of heater-cooler: the Stockert 3T, manufactured by the European company LivaNova, formerly known as Sorin. But at least three other companies devices have also been linked to bacterial contamination worldwide, and both the FDA and CDC have acknowledged that the concern goes beyond any one brand.

A wet machine with a big fan can result in these organisms, says Michael Bell, M.D., deputy director of the CDCs Division of Healthcare Quality Promotion. We need a better way of managing machines like this or a better design that doesnt have that problem.

In the meantime, hospitals are scrambling to manage a problem that pits an essential surgical device against a deadly bacterial infection, federal agencies are struggling to raise awareness of the issue, and experts are divided over whenor even whetherpatients should be notified of the newly discovered risk.

Catherine Chang, M.D., chief medical officer for Greenville Memorial Hospital, said her facility stopped using the Stockert 3T device in June 2014 and has adopted a wide range of additional precautions, going above and beyond CDC recommendations, to better protect patients.

Since 2015, the FDA and CDC have each issued advisories urging hospitals to take steps to prevent their heater-coolers from spraying bacteria across the operating room, and to be on the lookout for NTM infections in heart-surgery patients who have had valve replacement or bypass surgery. So far, the CDC says, those warnings have yet to catch on among doctors and hospitals. Despite 12 months of communication on this issue, awareness remains much lower than it should be, says Joseph Perz, Dr.P.H., an infection control expert with the CDC.

In October, the agency issued a third, more urgent advisory calling on hospitals that use the Stockert 3T device to develop a system for alerting patients and healthcare providers in the event of an outbreak. Critics say that advice doesnt go far enough, in part because it should extend to all hospitals using any brand of heater-cooler.

A Difficult Diagnosis

Heater-cooler devices, which look like freestanding portable air conditioners and have been used for heart surgery since the 1960s, contain tanks of water that circulate through narrow tubes. The machines were considered safe because although the water isnt sterile, it also doesnt come into direct contact with the patient.

But in 2015, researchers discovered that bacteria from the water can seep into other parts of the machine and multiply there, and that if that bacteria reaches the exhaust fan, it can be sprayed through the air during surgery.

So far, the numbers suggest that the risk of any given HCD being contaminated or infecting patients is very small. But NTM infection is inherently difficult to diagnose, and several experts have said that the confirmed cases probably represent just a fraction of the actual infections.

We know there are infections out there that are going undiagnosed, says Michael Edmond, M.D., a hospital epidemiologist at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics in Iowa City, where heater-cooler contamination has been detected.

Part of the problem is the bacteria itself. Some strains of NTM grow so slowly that it can take as long as four years for symptoms to emerge, making it unlikely that a doctor will link those symptoms to the surgery.

Whats more, the infection is so rare, and the tests used to diagnose it so cumbersome, that most doctors never bother to look for it in the first place.

A Growing Problem

Since the Greenville outbreak, several more NTM-infection clusters have been potentially linked to HCDs. In Pennsylvania, two hospitals have publicly reported NTM outbreaks that could be linked to their heater-cooler devices, and at least 14 probable patient infections have been identified. In Iowa, two hospitals reported a total of three possible heater-cooler-related NTM infections.

And the Mayo Clinicwhich has major campuses in Arizona, Florida, and Minnesotahas confirmed one NTM infection in a heart-surgery patient and found that several of its heater-coolers were contaminated with the bacteria. The hospital is in the process of sending out 17,000 letters, warning every patient who has been exposed to the contaminated devices.

At the University of Washington Medical Center in Seattle, five patients were sickened and two of them died after being infected with another type of bacteria, legionella. Like NTM, legionella is common in the environment but rare and potentially deadly in hospitals. As with Greenville Medical, the Washington hospital acknowledged that its HCDs had been found contaminated with the offending bacteria but stopped short of saying that the device was responsible for the infection or deaths.

In the other cases, the link is more certain. The CDC compared the bacteria found in heater-cooler devices in Pennsylvania and Iowa with the bacteria found in patients at those hospitals and found that all samples had the same genetic fingerprint. The agency concluded that those heater-coolers (all of them Stockert 3T) were contaminated by the same source of water, most likely at the factory.

The same day the CDC issued its October advisory, LivaNova released a statement to its customers acknowledging the concerns raised. The company told Consumer Reports that it is working closely with stakeholders to resolve the problem while pointing out that heater-coolers are not easily replaced: Without these devices, hospitals would be unable to perform many of the hundreds of thousands of heart surgeries needed by patients each year.



A Question of Transparency

In early June, the FDA convened a two-day meeting to discuss the HCD problem and to come up with recommendations for how to handle it. Several panel members argued that alerting all patients who underwent surgeries using an HCD might incite needless panic, or worse, scare very sick patients off of surgeries that could save their lives.

Concerns over cost were also raised: Richard Hopkins, M.D., a cardiac surgeon at Childrens Mercy Academic Medical Center in Kansas City, Mo., said, Im a little loath to make a recommendation thats going to cost a hospital $1.5 million based on one case.

But not everyone agreed. Jonathan Zenilman, M.D., chief of the division of infectious diseases at Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center in Baltimore, suggested that even one case of NTM infection could qualify as an outbreak and could trigger a wide alert.

And Laurence Givner, M.D., a pediatric infectious disease specialist at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, N.C., argued that all patients who have surgery with an HCD should be warned of the risk.

Ultimately, the panel recommended that providers be notified first and that patient notifications be limited. If a facility discovers one patient infection, the panel does not recommend notifying all patients, the meeting summary states. The panel was more receptive to the idea of notifying all patients after two infections but suggested that if a hospital could determine exactly which patients had been in an operating room with a contaminated HCD, then only those patients should be notified.

Lisa McGiffert, director of Consumer Reports' Safe Patient Project, says thats not enough. The CDC and FDA should call more forcefully on hospitals to inform all patients of the risk associated with heater-coolers before surgery, she says. Without that awareness, patients dont know what symptoms to watch out for, or if and when to get tested for this rare infection.

Bell says that although both agencies can issue guidelines, neither the FDA nor the CDC has the power to compel hospitals to notify patients. Those powers live at the state level, he says. So any mandate really has to come from individual hospitals working with state health departments.

Hospitals and device-makers are required to report incidents to the FDA, but not to notify patients. And Lawrence Muscarella, Ph.D., a medical-device expert, says there is an alarming gap between whats reported to the agency and whats shared with patients.

There are infection clusters in the FDA database that have not been publicly acknowledged, he says. And we have no idea whether those hospitals are taking any steps to inform patients or address the problem. (Hospitals are not named in the FDA database.)

Attacking the Problem

Some hospitals are responding aggressively. In January 2015, when the University of Iowa Medical Center detected NTM in a heart-surgery patient who had valve-replacement surgery, the hospital convened an emergency response team made up of experts from every relevant departmentincluding infection control, lab testing, surgery, and cardiology.

Within two weeks, the team had sent samples from all of the hospitals HCDs out for testing and had developed a workaround that involved drilling holes through its operating room walls so that the devices could be kept away from patients but still be used in surgeries. It was a busy couple of weeks, says Daniel Diekema, M.D., director of the hospitals division of infectious diseases.

The hospital used billing codes and surgical logs to develop a list of all patients who had been exposed to a heater-cooler device, going back five years to account for the long lag time of some NTM infections. It identified 1,500 patients. We decided to notify all of them, Edmond says. We even notified the patients where the device wasnt used but was running on standby during their surgery.

They also created an alert in their electronic medical record system that pops up for any patient who develops symptoms of NTM infection after bypass surgery. The alert advises clinicians to order NTM tests and an infectious disease consult.

Those steps go well beyond what the CDC and FDA have recommendedincluding that hospitals follow strict HCD cleaning protocols, that they direct the devices exhaust fan away from the operating table, and that, should any heater-coolers test positive for bacterial contamination, they look back through lab records to check for cases of NTM.

But Edmond says the federal guidelines fall short of whats needed. Youre not going to find many NTM cases by just passively looking back through lab records, he says. You have to be more proactive than that."

Symptoms and Safety Precautions

Consumer Reports suggests that patients undergoing heart or lung surgery ask their physicians whether the device will be used for their operations, and if so, whether it has been tested for contamination or implicated in any outbreaks.

If youve already had heart surgery, you and your doctor should be on the lookout for signs of infection, including irritation around the surgical incision, and unexplained fevers, night sweats, muscle aches, or weight loss, which can emerge as long as four years after surgery.

Lori Weinacker says she wishes she had known about the risks. I assumed for open-heart surgery, everything is going to be clean, spotless, sterile, she says. And they didnt tell us, and they didnt tell anyone else, that theres a slight chance that this is not the case.

Protecting Patients: What Needs to Change

Consumer Reports' Safe Patient Project says that to better protect patients from infections related to heater-cooler devices, heart surgeons, hospitals, and the FDA should take the following steps:

Surgeons should inform prospective patients of the risk of these infections and the symptoms they should be alert to.

Hospitals should notify all patients who have been exposed to these heater-cooler devices in the past five years about the potential risk of infection.

Hospitals should report infection outbreaks to exposed patients, healthcare providers, local and federal health officials, and the public as soon as they are identified.

The FDA should review every medical device submitted for approval or clearance for infection control issues.

Every hospital should take immediate steps to move the device outside of the operating room.

Editors Note: An earlier version of this article was originally published October 13, 2016, under the headline "The Frightening New Risk in Heart Surgery." The current story has been updated to reflect additional information from the CDC, FDA, device-makers, and several hospitals, and will appear in the February 2017 issue of Consumer Reports magazine.







More from Consumer Reports:

Top pick tires for 2016

Best used cars for $25,000 and less

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Consumer Reports has no relationship with any advertisers on this website. Copyright  2006-2016 Consumers Union of U.S.
VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / October 13, 2016 / Gainey Capital Corp. (GNC.V) (OTC PINK: GNYPF) ("Gainey" or the "Company") is pleased to announce the continuation of the Company's Phase 1 drilling program of an additional three holes at the 'La Higuerita Gold-Silver mineralized zone' ("La Higuerita") located in the Sierra Madre Occidental Trend in Western Mexico.

La Higuerita is a part of Gainey's 100% owned, 187 km2 El Colomo Gold-Silver project that hosts 21 highly prospective, gold-silver mineralized zones located within the Sierra Madre Golden Belt, Mexico. The Company is currently in the process of drill testing at La Higuerita which has encountered the following surface samples, located in Table 1 below, that appear on the Gainey news release disseminated on October 06, 2015:

Surface Sample Highlights:

Table 1 - La Higuerita Length: 1,000 Meters, Width: 80 Meters

Width (meters) Au g/t Ag g/t 0.40 33.30 1,550.00 1.00 20.00 895.00 2.00 3.20 147.00 0.50 1.54 491.00

Gainey recently announced the drilling results from the 'La Nueva Victoria mineralized zone' which can be seen in Table's 2 and 3 below:

Table 2 - Hole DHEC160001 from La Nueva Victoria Zone (released September 29, 2016):

HOLE ID FROM TO Width Au_g/t Ag_g/t Au_Equivalent* DHEC160001 5.15 76.00 70.85 0.65 35.31 1.14 Including 5.15 44.8 39.65 0.79 43.86 1.39 and 60.50 76.00 15.50 0.73 38.54 1.27

*Au Equivalent calculated using a price of $1,300 US/oz for gold and $18 US/oz for silver.

Table 3 - Holes DHEC160002/3 from La Nueva Victoria Zone (released October 04, 2016):

HOLE ID FROM(m) TO(m) Width(m) Au_g/t Ag_g/t Au_Equivalent* DHEC160002 19.40 91.60 72.20 0.41 20.21 0.69 Including 57.00 73.20 16.20 0.74 28.88 1.14 DHEC160003 10.50 44.70 34.20 1.19 86.57 2.39 Including 10.50 14.00 3.50 4.32 438 10.39 And 27.10 44.70 17.60 1.29 37.06 2.29

*Au Equivalent calculated using a price of $1,300 US/oz for gold and $18 US/oz for silver.

Story continues

Rafael Gallardo, Senior Geologist of Minera Cascabel S.A. de C.V., who is leading the drill program, commented, "The targets of La Higuerita and El Arrayan mineralized zones host the same characteristics of mineralization and alteration as was encountered at the La Nueva Victoria target and all three zones are part of the Golden Corridor.

These two targets have strong potential to find veins of high grade values hosted in felsic dykes and permeable lithic tuff. We are very excited to drill these two additional targets."

David Coburn, CEO of Gainey, commented, "We are very encouraged by the success and drill results that have been encountered at the near-surface, La Nueva Victoria mineralized zone. As we continue to move forward with our Phase 1 drilling program on La Higuerita, we are most encouraged by the fact that the Company's El Colomo Project hosts a further 19, drill-ready, prospective gold-silver mineralized zones that Gainey plans on drill-testing in the near future."

El Colomo Property

El Colomo is a highly prospective, 187 km2 property with district-scale gold-silver potential located within the 'Golden Corridor' in Sierra Madre, Mexico. High-grade and bulk tonnage targets have already been identified through prior exploration and there are strong indications of continuity between La Higuerita, La Nueva Victoria and El Arrayan (at least 2 km in strike length).

97% of this 18,766-hectare project has not been explored using modern concepts & technology. All 21 mineralized zones identified to date are located in the central portion of the property and within a 1.5 km radius of each other.

Qualified Person

David Hladky, P. Geo. is the Qualified Person with respect to NI 43-101 at El Colomo.

About Gainey Capital Corp.

Gainey Capital is a gold and silver exploration, development and mineral processing company exploring an aggregate of 187-km2 strategically located in the gold/silver-rich Sierra Madre Occidental Trend in western Mexico. The company's processing center, located outside of Huajicori, in Nayarit, Mexico, is capable of processing up to 300 tons of mineralized material per day and the company has the capability to upgrade to 600 tons per day with a low capital expenditure. Additional information on Gainey Capital, its current operations and its vision is available on the Company's website at www.gaineycapital.com or from info@gaineycapital.com.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS

"David Coburn"

David Coburn, Chief Executive Officer

For information, please contact the Company:

Phone: 480-347-8904

E-mail: info@gaineycapital.com

Website: www.gaineycapital.com

FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS: This press release may contain forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical facts and are generally, but not always, identified by the words "expects", "plans", "anticipates", "believes", "intends", "estimates", "projects", "potential" and similar expressions, or that events or conditions "will", "would", "may", "could" or "should" occur. Although the Company believes the expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results may differ materially from those in forward looking statements. Forward-looking statements are based on the beliefs, estimates and opinions of the Company's management on the date such statements were made. The Company expressly disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) has reviewed or accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this Release.

SOURCE: Gainey Capital Corp.
General Motors Company GM has invested in Chinas Yi Wei Xing (Beijing) Technology Co. Ltd., a leading car-sharing technology solution provider. This decision supports the companys aim of exploring personal mobility in the country. Details of the deal have not been disclosed yet.

Yi Wei Xing, which has been in operation since 2014, is now available in over 40 cities in China. The company will provide General Motors with an insight into the countrys car-sharing industry as well as the requirements of individuals there along with its technology. This investment will help General Motors further establish itself in the car-sharing market that is gaining popularity globally.

Earlier this year, General Motors launched its own car-sharing brand, Maven, to provide customers with personalized transportation services on demand. The brand expanded its services to five markets after its debut in the U.S. in less than four months. In January, the company also announced its decision to invest $500 million in Lyft Inc. to develop a network of self-driving vehicles on demand, along with ride-sharing facilities.

GENERAL MOTORS Price

GENERAL MOTORS Price | GENERAL MOTORS Quote

Shares of General Motors fell around 0.7% to close at $31.68 on Oct 12.

Zacks Rank

General Motors currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

Better-ranked companies in the auto space include The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company GT, Tata Motors Limited TTM and SORL Auto Parts, Inc. SORL, all sporting a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Goodyear Tire has seen its earnings estimates move north over the last 60 days. Also, the company posted positive earnings surprises over the last four quarters, with an average of 10.28%.



Tata Motors has a long-term expected growth rate of 3.6%.



SORL Motor Parts has posted an average positive earnings surprise of 7.46% over the last four quarters.



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Karlsruhe (Germany) (AFP) - Germany's top court on Thursday gave the government the go-ahead to approve a planned EU-Canada free trade deal, in a setback for activists who had sought to block the agreement.

The Constitutional Court did set certain conditions however, stipulating that Germany may only commit to the so-called CETA deal if it wins assurances that it can quit the accord later if told to do so by the court.

Some 200,000 citizens, campaigners and leftist politicians had asked the court in the southwestern city of Karlsruhe to rule against the pact, arguing that the process had been undemocratic because no approval was given by parliament.

But judges said the plaintiffs would not suffer any "serious disadvantages" if the deal was provisionally approved.

The ruling, which followed an emergency hearing on Wednesday, paves the way for the government to formally endorse CETA at an EU ministers' meeting on October 18.

The agreement is then scheduled to be signed at an EU-Canada summit on October 27, allowing CETA to be partially implemented before it's been ratified by national parliaments -- a process that could take years.

Germany's vice-chancellor and economy minister Sigmar Gabriel welcomed the court's decision.

"I am pleased that we are taking a big step towards giving rules to globalisation. That's what this is all about," he told reporters.

- 'Slap in the face' -

It would have sent "a difficult signal to the rest of the world" if the deal had been derailed by Germany, he added.

CETA negotiations were formally concluded in 2014 but the deal has since faced fierce opposition across Europe, delaying implementation.

Opponents argue it would hand too much power to multinational companies and undermine consumer and environmental protection standards.

Activists also charge that it will set a dangerous precedent for a similar but far more ambitious agreement with the United States known as TTIP.

Story continues

The anti-CETA groups who brought the legal challenge said they had scored a partial victory with the court's conditional approval of the deal, which still left the door open for it to be quashed.

"This ruling is a slap in the face for the government," Joerg Haas of the Campact pressure group said in a joint statement with two other organisations. "Now we have to keep up the pressure to make sure CETA is not ratified."

The campaigners also praised the restrictions set by the court, which they said would make the deal more democratic.

Among them is a provision that says only the parts of CETA that fall under EU jurisdiction can be provisionally implemented, while measures that fall under national responsibilities -- such as maritime transport regulation -- should first be ratified by member states' parliaments.

Germany's Gabriel said he saw no issues with implementing the judges' conditions.

In Brussels, the European Commission said it took note of the ruling.

"It is for the German authorities to draw the necessary conclusions of the ruling when all the relevant proceedings are concluded," commission spokesman Daniel Rosario told reporters.

The Karlsruhe court still has to rule on whether the CETA deal is constitutional, though a decision is not expected for several more months.
BERLIN (Reuters) - German authorities are still investigating whether the Syrian bomb plot suspect who committed suicide in jail on Wednesday had accomplices, a senior state official said on Thursday. "We don't know yet if there were people pulling the strings," Klaus Fleischmann, chief public prosecutor in the state of Saxony, told a news conference. German media had earlier quoted investigation sources as saying that the suspect Jaber Albakr, 22, told investigators shortly before his suicide that three Syrians who handed him over to police were accomplices. (Reporting by Michael Nienaber,; Editing by Paul Carrel)
BERLIN (Reuters) - Police and judicial officials in the German state of Saxony faced a blaze of criticism on Thursday after a Syrian man suspected of plotting to bomb a Berlin airport killed himself in a detention center where he had been deemed not at risk of suicide. Jaber Albakr, 22, who evaded police on Saturday and sparked a two-day manhunt before being turned in by fellow Syrians, hanged himself in his cell on Wednesday evening with his T-shirt, officials said. Facing calls to step down, Saxony's State Justice Minister Sebastian Gemkow, a member of Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives, told a news conference the suicide "should never have happened" but he denied authorities had made any mistakes. Politicians from across the spectrum rounded on Merkel's conservatives who rule in Saxony after the suicide, which followed the bungled police attempt - acting on a secret service tip-off - to catch Albakr on Saturday. "This is an unprecedented sequence of failures by the police and judicial system," said Thomas Oppermann, head of the center-left Social Democrats (SPD) parliamentary group. "It looks as if Saxony lacks any capacity to fight terrorism professionally." SYRIANS ALERT POLICE Albakr's defense lawyer, Alexander Huebner, accused the authorities of a "justice scandal", adding: "I'm totally shocked and absolutely speechless that something like this could happen." The chief of the detention center, Rolf Jacob, said Albakr was questioned by a psychologist at the center and determined not to be at serious risk of committing suicide. The Syrian, who arrived in Germany in February last year, appeared calm and was monitored at 15 minute intervals. These were lengthened to 30 minutes despite Albakr pulling a lamp in his cell out of its fitting and tampering with a plug socket. "There was no major sign that he was upset," said Jacob, before adding that at 7.45 p.m. (1745 GMT) on Wednesday the suspect was found having hanged himself. Huebner said Albakr's suicidal tendencies had been well documented, adding that his client decided to go on hunger strike directly after his arrest on Monday. Little else is known about Albakr, who evaded police in Chemnitz on Saturday and traveled to Leipzig, where he met up with a group of Syrians he contacted via an online network before they tied him up at their flat and alerted police. Die Welt newspaper, citing investigative sources, reported on Tuesday that Albakr had spent several months in Turkey this year, leaving in the spring and returning to Germany in late August. Prosecutors are still investigating whether the suspect had any accomplices. "We don't know yet if there were people pulling the strings," Klaus Fleischmann, chief public prosecutor in the state of Saxony, told the news conference. (Reporting by Michael Nienaber and Paul Carrel; editing by Ralph Boulton)
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STRASBOURG, France (Reuters) - Germany would give a "strong" response should a member of NATO be attacked, its foreign minister said on Thursday in response to a question by a British lawmaker at the Council of Europe in Strasbourg. Frank-Walter Steinmeier was asked by Mark Pritchard, a Conservative member of the British delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe in Strasbourg, whether Germany would be "weak or strong" if a member of NATO was attacked, and whether under the organization's Article 5 it would consider launching military action against, for example, an aggressive action by Russia: "I can answer you very briefly and say: strong," Steinmeier said. Article 5 is the Western military alliance's collective self-defense mechanism under which all NATO countries must help any member which invokes it. (Corrects title of British official.) (Reporting by Gilbert Reilhac; Writing by Michel Rose; Editing by Andrew Callus and Toby Chopra)
What Durga Puja really means to Kolkatas youth.

My head is as heavy as a fluffy towel soaked in water, my face is bloated, my joints ache (its not a lack of Vitamin D), my feet have calluses, I have lost a pair of slippers, another one is in tatters, I think I have ruined one of moms saris and I havent been home in 6 days. Yes, Durga Puja got over a night ago and I really dont know if Im thinking straight because what Im experiencing right now is a cumulative hangover from drinking and getting high for 6 days non-stop, all over Kolkata city. So are my friends, and almost all other people my age, because thats what we do every year.

More From 101 India: Travel & Food

This is a city where most people will comfortably quit their jobs for a lesser paying one in order to accommodate their dupurer ghoom (afternoon siesta), except during Durga Puja when even the laziest lad will take out his Bata sneakers and gear up for pandal-hopping, turning it into a city that refuses to sleep. Kolkata also looks beautiful around this time of the year. The windscreen of your car is a cluster of sunbursts created by rice lights and the air is thick with the combined smells of bubbling oil in large pans frying fish, of butter popcorn, evanescing incense from the morning aarti and a lingering redolence of night-flowering Jasmine. There is something that still happens to us when we hear the dhaak playing but what Durga Puja really means to us is this: its a unanimously sanctioned excuse to get shitfaced. REALLY SHITFACED!

My friend at sindoor khela



Its isnt like we dont dress up, most of us girls still put on that sari on Ashtami (8th day of Goddess Durgas homecoming), some guys give in to their pestering moms wishes and glumly slip into Fab India Kurtas that make them look like broke poets from Jadavpur University. We wear that classic red bindi and touch elders feet for blessings, we participate in sindoor khela (playing with sindoor) and dance like maniacs during bhashan (idol immersion). Hell, some of us even make it to the morning Anjali, scurrying out, gathering our pallus in an untidy bundle, our hair still wet from the super quick shower we took because we woke up late after being out drinking till 6 a.m.

Story continues

We found a pandal where Ma Durgas third eye was a camera



So, we have retained some of the quintessentially Bangali Durga Pujo culture because we do put up Facebook posts on Dashami (10th day) with the aasche bochor abar hobe (well do it again coming year) hashtag. But thats where it stops. We dont really care for the religiosity behind it, more so the exquisite pandals that are mounted all over the city or the humongous crowd they pull. In fact, we hate it. We hate it because its nothing but an impediment to our liberal atheist Satan loving hearts and all it means to us is traffic - which implies taking unusually longer to reach whoevers place we are drinking at! However, we dont want these ridiculous Puja committees to stop foolishly spending their money on building pandals to win awards for the best pandal instead of doing something meaningful with it because its our gate pass to getting high.

Sorry we were high



Honestly, what we really love about the Durga Pujo spirit (that everyone seems to be talking about ALL THE FUCKING TIME) is how our parents, for once, arent being a pain in the wrong place. We love how this spirit takes over them, and we love that they are busy visiting family member and friends, locked up in holy rituals, subsumed with eating, cooking, feeding and frolicking, because that also means they are occupied enough to not constantly obsess over when we are coming home.



More From 101 India: Taking Grandma To The Sex Capital Of The World

The beauty of Durga Puja really lies in this: our parents dont expect us back home! They assume we must be stuck, sweating profusely in one of the protracted queues outside some famous Pujo in New Alipore, or worse still, in North Calcutta, waiting to catch a glimpse of Maa Durga. No details are asked about who we are going with, or for what, or when well be back. Or elongated lectures on how we are in bad company and are ruining our lives. The five days of Durga Puja perhaps marks the time when parents and children really get along and start having simple conversations. It goes like:

Kothay Jachchish? (Where are you going?)

Pandal hopping Ma

Oh achcha achcha (Oh alright alright)

And the achcha achcha is said with a great compassionate understanding towards the child that is really uncommon and hard to find in Bengali mothers whose hobbies include smothering, mollycoddling and gossiping among others.

We found a psychedelic pandal so we rolled a J



So we have a 5 day pass from home, to do whatever we wish, to our hearts content, in the grand pretext of Pujo. And then there is the general mood of the city itself. Dearest Mamata Banerjee (our CM) finally did something apart from building and extending flyovers for this city by reducing dry days to a mere four in the state of West Bengal. Prior to this our Saptamis (7th day) mostly comprised of stocking up on booze because Ashtami used to be a dry day. Every year on Saptami night, the scene outside a booze shop resembled a great scramble, with a crowd almost as huge as the one outside the Best Pandal of the Year. Thank god thats over.

The Pujo-Rum selfie



Cops all over are too busy managing the traffic of cars and pedestrians to notice what teenagers are doing. Like parents, they too are thankfully occupied. This has been used all too well in our own favor, wherein we wobble around town drinking and rolling spliffs as if it were Amsterdam.

More From 101 India: Im On A Trip Around The World. 46 Countries, No Agenda

Dashami nights get a little rough for the liver



To us, pandal hopping literally means going to the pandals that are closest, driving around in cars, staying miles away from the original pandal-hopping exodus, and occasionally getting off these cars if the parking isnt too far and people are sparse; not out of any love for Maa Durga or desire to witness the grandeur of the pandal, but simply because it gives us a kick knowing that we are doing what we otherwise save for Friday nights and behind closed doors, bang in the middle of the road. We never start before 10pm and we never stop before 5am. Everyone is just too damn happy or high or both to give a damn. We swing our rum and coke punches in our hands joyfully, taking swigs every now and then, the cops smile at us and we smile back, because thats what Durga Puja does to Kolkata people. We love Durga Puja because it makes us high and happy.

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 Suman Quazi

Photographs by Suman Quazi and Ankita Sarkar

For more visit www.101india.com


LOS ANGELES, CA / ACCESSWIRE / October 13, 2016 / Lundin Law PC (the "Firm") announces a class action lawsuit 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 yet. 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 information became public, Goldcorp's stock price fell,thus causing investors harm.

Lundin Law PC was founded by Brian Lundin, a securities litigator based in Los Angeles dedicated to upholding the rights of shareholders.

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
Apparently, when it comes to Vogue and its many international branches, there's no such thing as Hadid fatigue.

The eldest of the supermodel sisters, Gigi Hadid, has just landed her 12th (yup, count 'em) cover for the brand in less than two years. Her latest follows just three months after the release her first-ever American Vogue cover, which she shared with U.S. Olympian Ashton Eaton. The 21-year-old's first Vogue cover was for Vogue Spain's March 2015 issue, and she has since graced the front of the Australian, Brazilian, Dutch, Italian, British, Parisian (twice), Chinese, German and American editions.

The 21-year-old was chosen to star on American Vogue's "Special Edition It Girl" issue, which also spotlights fellow first-name-only stars including Rihanna, Selena [Gomez], Zendaya, Cara [Delevingne] and, of course, her BFF Kendall [Jenner] - because Vogue needs a back-up cover girl when Gigi and little sister Bella are all booked up.

Read more: The Fanning Sisters Are Winning Fall Fashion

"I'm so honored to be on the cover of @VogueMagazine's Special Edition issue & to be joined by so many It-Girl Style icons & friends !!!!!!!!" wrote Hadid on Instagram of the issue, which is available now on Amazon and on newsstands on Oct. 18.

Hadid was photographed by Gregory Harris on Atlanta Beach in New York, wearing a sparkling paillette sequin Altuzarra dress and her winning, $9 million smile. Photographed outdoors in the sunlight, the image is reminiscent of the 2014 September issue, which dubbed Delevingne, Karlie Kloss and Joan Smalls the "Instagirls," a term the glossy ditched for the special edition issue in order to more accurately reference the scope of Hadid's monster success, which reaches far beyond just her (massive) social media following.

At this point, Hadid's career shows no signs of slowing down. In addition to launching her first Tommy x Gigi collection in collaboration with Tommy Hilfiger, she also revealed that she was designing boots for Stuart Weitzman, was recently named the face of Reebok and told The Wall Street Journal that her future goals include hosting her very own cooking show. Not bad for a 21-year-old.

A photo posted by Gigi Hadid (@gigihadid) on Oct 13, 2016 at 8:32am PDT
Gigi Hadid is all smiles on stunning special edition Vogue cover

Alright, lets be honest here. Is there ever a time that supermodel and style extraordinaire Gigi Hadid looks less than stunning? We absolutely think not!

The 21-year old model took to Instagram today to share her latest achievement with the world  a special edition cover of Vogue in which she looks insanely breathtaking!

I'm so honored to be on the cover of @VogueMagazine's Special Edition issue & to be joined by so many It-Girl Style icons & friends !!!!!!!!  Available NOW on @Amazon and on stands October 18th! A photo posted by Gigi Hadid (@gigihadid) on Oct 13, 2016 at 8:32am PDT

Im so honored to be on the cover of Vogue Magazines Special Edition issue and to be joined by so many It-Girl style icons and friends!!! she wrote.

As she should be! Its a huge deal! Shes giving us all-American mermaid vibes here  seriously, this is the perfect Fourth of July look that were pinning to save for next years festivities!

Gigi scored her first American Vogue cover earlier this year; however, the blonde beauty is no stranger to Vogue covers at all! Shes graced the covers of British Vogue, Vogue Netherlands, and Vogue Paris, just to name a few!

The supermodel has also been quite busy the past couple months. She walked in a ton of shows during New York Fashion Week and Paris Fashion Week, and even collaborated with designer Tommy Hilfiger for an exclusive fall 2016 collection called TOMMYXGIGI which we absolutely adore!

Story continues

Thank you @wwd for your support of #tommyxgigi  @tommyxgigi @tommyhilfiger A photo posted by Gigi Hadid (@gigihadid) on Sep 15, 2016 at 9:29am PDT

Keep slayin those Vogue covers, girl.

The post Gigi Hadid is all smiles on stunning special edition Vogue cover appeared first on HelloGiggles.
Rudy Giuliani, the former New York City mayor and one of Donald Trumps top advisers, aimed a fiery rebuke at members of the media Thursday for publishing multiple allegations of unwanted sexual advances lodged by women against the Republican presidential nominee.

They are liars! Giuliani said in West Palm Beach, Fla., while warming up the crowd at a rally for the embattled GOP candidate. They dont like Republicans. They dont like conservatives. They dont like what we stand for and they want to undercut our values.

Giuliani railed against the New York Times  which he referred to as the Clinton Campaign Newsletter  after the newspaper published a report detailing claims by two more women who say Trump groped them without their consent. A lawyer for Trump issued a letter accusing the Times of libel and demanding a retraction from the paper. (The paper published a letter in response refusing to do so.)

Giulianis comments came hours after he issued an apology for suggesting Hillary Clinton had lied about being at Ground Zero following the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks. The former mayor was widely mocked on social media by users who quickly posted photographs of Giuliani and Clinton together at Ground Zero on Sept. 12, 2001.

I made a mistake, Giuliani told the Associated Press. Im wrong and I apologize.

In his Florida speech before Trump spoke, Giuliani also accused national newspapers of putting the allegations against Trump on the front page while burying stories about revelations from the recent WikiLeaks publication of Clinton campaign emails on page 10.

Two of Americas three highest-circulation newspapers did have stories about the email scandal on their front pages on Thursday. The one that didnt  the USA Today  ran a cover story on Giuliani.

The former mayor then accused the press of a long-standing bias against conservative candidates.

It gets worse every year, Giuliani said. They did this to Romney. They did it to McCain. They did it to Ronald Reagan.

Story continues

Later, Trump himself took the stage, blasting the media for publishing outright lies and false smears.

These attacks are orchestrated by the Clinton campaign and their allies and the press, he said, adding: I never knew it would be this vile, this bad, this vicious. Nevertheless, I take all of these slings and arrows gladly for you.
Glenn Beck, the former Fox News host and founder of TheBlaze, said the news of his support of Hillary Clinton's campaign for the White House has been greatly exaggerated. His picture with a backdrop of Clinton's "I'm With Her" logo bounced around social media this week courtesy of a report he suggests originated at Breitbart News, which was run by Stephen Bannon, who left to become Donald Trump's campaign chairman.

Beck told The Hollywood Reporter that "the meme they created of me campaigning for Hillary seems a little too much like Saturday Night Live" and that he has no intention to vote for either Trump or Clinton. He chalks much of the confusion about his political stance toward the alt-right movement, which Beck has not exactly cozied up with for years.

Here's what Beck has to say about that, while he also weighs in on what he thinks is happening behind the scenes between Trump and former Fox News honcho Roger Ailes.

Read more: Two Women Claim Donald Trump Groped Them: "He Was Like an Octopus"

So the media is reporting that you are with Hillary Clinton. True?

No, it's not. That is Breitbart News intentionally looking to make my life more interesting.

Why would Breitbart want to do that?

I believe the story broke on Breitbart, and it doesn't take a genius to figure out what I actually said. I don't expect CNN to know what I say all the time, but I certainly expect Breitbart to know who I am or am not actively supporting for president. The meme they created of me campaigning for Hillary seems a little too much like Saturday Night Live.

But what would be their motivation?

They are the voice of the alt-right, and Bannon is Trump's campaign person, and he ran Breitbart, and they have their alt-right platform that is also pro-Trump.

But I've seen some in the media describe you as alt-right.

Oh my gosh, no. I couldn't be further from alt-right. And those who are in the alt-right seem to be proud of it. When I was on Fox, I warned of this very thing happening, though I didn't know Donald Trump. I said to Republicans and also Democrats, "You are disenfranchising people. You are lying to them, and all it will take is a persuasive personality to use that for his own accomplishment." It's like in the 1930s with Father Coughlin, the priest who was a nationalist, socialist and populist. Very bad news.

Story continues

So what did you say about the election that was twisted into something else?

That people need to find their place on the bridge. Where does it break for you? If it doesn't break at him saying you can grab women and have your way with them because you're a celebrity, well, then, where is your line? People who aren't condemning it say, "We have to stop Clinton." No, you don't. You have to retain your values. If you sell out your principles, there's nothing left. How am I supposed to find honor in you? I'm going to stand where I'm at. If it means I don't join the party, then I don't join.

Read more: Tom Hanks on Donald Trump's Vulgar 'Access Hollywood' Remarks: "I'm Offended as a Man"

Sounds like you're agreeing with Clinton when she called Trump supporters "deplorable."

No, I'm agreeing with the first version of Ted Cruz, when he said, "Vote your conscience." But that assumes you have a conscience.

Are you taking hostility from your fans who are Trump supporters? Or your former fans?

Former fans? You know something I don't know? I'm taking hostility but not from fans. Our ratings are steady, and my audience understands what I say. They don't want to do something, they want to do the right thing. We could have had Rand Paul, Ted Cruz, even Marco Rubio, and it would have been fine. But this guy was destined to lose by 11 points.

So, then, who are you voting for?

Somebody asked me Sunday and I said [Constitution Party candidate] Darrell Castle, but I don't know. I'll make that decision in the booth, but it won't be Hillary Clinton and it definitely won't be for Donald Trump.

Do you remember the moment you became a never-Trumper?

I thought he was a clown for a long time, so I've never taken him seriously. But I think early on when he talked about his faith and said he never did anything bad that required forgiveness, I thought, "This is not a humble guy." Then I saw him try to turn the crowd against the press, and against anyone he disagreed with, and I thought, "This is just dangerous."

What's the worst thing, or a bad thing, that could happen under a President Trump?

He could not know he's being gamed by Russia's Vladimir Putin. All Putin would have to do is say, "Trump is the most luxurious president ever and he has the hugest hands, and he's the ultimate capitalist and I wish we could be more like him," and Trump would be in the bag for Putin. Or, if Putin called Trump a disgrace and a weak leader, we could see retaliation. Trump's a deeply flawed man, and he can be played.

And what's the worst, or a bad thing, that would happen under a President Hillary Clinton?

We'd slide deeper into oligarchy. Under both of them we could nationalize the banks, we could be at war more than we are already, but I don't think Hillary will kill us. We'll survive.

Read more: How NBC's Infotainment Agenda Led to Its Donald Trump Debacle (Guest Column)

One of your radio competitors, Dennis Prager, argued today against never-Trumpism because it is important to keep Clinton from transforming America with open borders, more refugees, activist judges, etc.

I don't necessarily disagree. The problem with the lesser of two evils is that eventually you get down to evil. The devil you know might be better than the devil you don't know. I don't know what Trump will do. I know Hillary is not going to take us to a more Constitutional and free system - there will be more oligarchy and corruption - but that will happen with Donald Trump, too, plus he's unstable. The last thing we need is an unstable man in the White House.

You say Clinton's tactics are juvenile. Got an example?

Like with the emails, saying she didn't do it, then she didn't realize she did it. It's the kind of lies my children would tell me. "No, I didn't get into the cookie jar. It wasn't me. Okay, I had one." Then you find out all the cookies are gone. It's a foolish game. I would so respect somebody who would say, "This is what I believe. It's different than what I told you before, but here's why," and just let me handle it as an adult. Hillary and Trump are both like 4-year-olds.

Any update on your movie aspirations?

We are in development with a Christmas production.

What are the details?

It's a feature film, working title The Christmas Sweater, with somebody in Hollywood, but I can't say who yet.

There are reports that your business is in financial difficulty.

We are fine. We are hiring at TheBlaze. We're getting ready to launch 2.0, which is not a new website, it's a whole redesign of the business, and we hope to have it out by the end of the year. Everything in Mercury is doing better than it ever has. We are in the black for the first time in our company's history, and have been for two years, and I've paid down about $10 million in debt in two years. I don't know of a failing company that can do that.

Concerning your old gig at Fox News, what do you think of Roger Ailes stepping down?

If Donald Trump wins it will be because of Roger Ailes. You can like him, you can hate him, you can think he's a god or a scoundrel, but he is a political genius. Any move I have seen Trump make that was locked in and solid, I believe was due to Ailes, whereas all the craziness has been Trump himself or Bannon.

Do you think Ailes is still helping Trump behind the scenes?

I think he is, but I don't know how much Trump is listening to him anymore. He said the shackles were off of him, so that is more about what Bannon wants to do and less about Ailes and [campaign manager] Kellyanne Conway.

Do you believe the sexual harassment allegations against Ailes? Did you ever witness anything?

I never saw any of that. As sexy as I am, he never hit on me.

Read more: Scott Baio: Death Threats for Supporting Donald Trump, Cheers for Billy Bush

Update: Breitbart News Editor-in-Chief Alex Marlowe sent THR a short statement in reply to the Q&A with Beck.

Glenn Beck declared taking measures that he acknowledges would elect Hillary Clinton "moral, ethical." He is playing semantic games by suggesting this does not make him "for her" or "with her." Mrs. Clinton sold parts of the American government while Secretary of State, lied to the families of Benghazi victims, has stated that her "dream" is "open borders," and deleted over 30,000 emails (and then lied about them repeatedly). To suggest to a largely conservative audience that there is a "moral, ethical" case to hand her the White House is tantamount to support. Clearly.
By Zoe Tabary LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - A new United Nations strategy to address the challenges faced by rapidly growing cities lacks sufficient detail to allow cities to act on it, warned a leading government resilience expert from South Africa. Debra Roberts, chief resilience officer of the city of Durban, warned that the U.N.s New Urban Agenda - which sets out guidelines for sustainable urban development over the next 20 years  is too vague to be effectively put into action. The strategy is expected to be approved next week at a major U.N. conference on housing and urban development in Quito. The draft in its current form is too aspirational. It isnt associated with any clear development pathways for cities, Roberts said at an event in London this week. It doesnt tell me as a local government official how I should do anything differently, she said. The creation of new Sustainable Development Goals and a new global climate change agreement are "substantial achievements, but my concern is that we become so obsessed with getting the word 'city' or 'urban' into a U.N. text that we forget why we are doing it in the first place," she said. PREPARING FOR THE UNPREDICTABLE Roberts told the Thomson Reuters Foundation that increasingly frequent and intense weather extremes, driven by climate change, will add to the pressures cities already face, such as rapid expansion, dwindling natural resources and aging populations. More than half of the worlds people live in cities today, but by 2050 that will rise to 70 percent, according to the U.N. Human Settlements Programme, or UN-Habitat. Those challenges are compounded by increasingly unpredictable events with unintended or unforeseen consequences, said Roberts. We live in a scenario where history is no longer a good predictor of the future, she said. That uncertainty and growing combination of pressures means cities face much more difficult and complex decisions, she said. Thirty years ago, cities' main concern would be delivering services like getting buses on time  but they now need to think about the bigger role they play in development, she said. LOCAL CONTEXT KEY Roberts advice to policymakers is that there is no global recipe for success. Instead, it all comes down to understanding the local context, she said. In Dar es Salaam in Tanzania, for instance, 70 percent of the city is made up of informal settlements. That means it has a completely different development profile from another city  you cant just apply any global policy to it, she said. Roberts added that building resilience at a city level is quite a new idea in the government lexicon. Durban, for instance, has carried out ambitious reforestation efforts in an effort to combat climate change while simultaneously creating jobs in a country where the official unemployment rate is over 25 percent. According to a report by the city leadership, the project created jobs for local community members in managing the nursery and planting the trees on site, and provided others with the opportunity to become treepreneurs by growing locally sourced indigenous seedlings for the project. Around the world, were seeing more initiatives around the world to help cities focus on climate adaptation and resilience, she said. NEW PARTNERS One key to creating genuinely sustainable development will be creating a platform for exchange of ideas and action plans among cities, Roberts said. Right now, many cities are excluded from the global conversation for lack of access and resources. We need to seek out those voices, she said. She added that urban policy makers need to re-imagine government and engage with a wider range of actors, from civil society to business and academia. Practical demonstrations of what works also are needed, she said, as only in that way do you capture the minds of leaders. But she cautioned against looking to technology as a default solution to cities problems. For many cities around the world, technology just isnt the answer yet. Social cohesion is key, she said. Ultimately, she said, global policymakers do not lead revolutions. Local people do. (Reporting by Zoe Tabary; 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)
Insurance Back TAKAFUL International and TRUST Re hold joint Surety Bond conference in Bahrain

TAKAFUL International (TIC) and TRUST Re successfully partnered to hold a Surety Bond conference at the Ritz Carlton Hotel in Bahrain on 6th October 2016.



Approximately 60 professionals from the broking and construction fields were in attendance at the seminar which began with a welcome address from Mr. Younis Jamal AL-SAYED, Chief Executive Officer of TAKAFUL International and Mr. Fadi ABUNAHL, Group CEO & Director of TRUST Re.



Combined, the two companies offer a wide range of guarantees required to take part in tenders and contracts. The seminar shed light on the bonds and guarantees that are normally required under the terms of construction or engineering contracts and the speakers explained how these instruments work and how contractors can benefit from such partnerships.



The seminar opened with a presentation entitled "Why Bond Insurance?" delivered by Mr. Essam AL ANSARI, General Manager of TIC. He was followed by Mr. Domenico ESPOSITO, Head of Surety Underwriting at TRUST Re who spoke about the technicalities and opportunities of bonds and guarantees.



Lastly, Mr. Patrick SCHWEGMANN, Reinsurance Treaty Underwriter at ATRADIUS Re, presented "Surety Bond Reinsurance: a Win-Win Proposition".



Mr. Younis Jamal AL-SAYED, Chief Executive Officer of TAKAFUL International commented "TAKAFUL International and TRUST Re is jointly proud to organise this seminar as it will shed light on the bonds and guarantees required for Construction or Engineering contracts helping them to benefit from such partnerships. Surety Bonds are issued by Insurance companies and banks to guarantee satisfactory completion of a project by a Contractor. Surety bonds or guarantees secure the fulfilment of a contract or an obligation. Our long term experiences and customer satisfaction lead us to promote this awareness amongst the Construction and Engineering sectors helping them to gain knowledge on the risk factors faced in Surety Bonds".



Mr. Fadi ABUNAHL, Group CEO & Director of TRUST Re remarked, "We are proud to offer this seminar jointly with Takaful, one of our respected partners in the Kingdom of Bahrain". He continued by saying "Diversifying our service offering to include Surety Bonds reinsurance underlines our commitment to ensuring that we deliver products and services that meet customers' requirements. Sharing knowledge is consistent with our values and strategic goals".



Mr. Domenico ESPOSITO, Head of Surety Underwriting at TRUST Re emphasised "Surety is a relatively new class of business for insurance companies in the GCC. In an evolving environment, it is crucial for TRUST Re to offer strong technical expertise and sizeable capacity to our partners. This will ensure that contractors have the necessary support not to lose out on business opportunities in tenders and contracts".



TRUST Re is a reinsurance company based in the Kingdom of Bahrain with branches in Malaysia and Cyprus, as well as a representative office in Morocco and a Liaison Office in India. With authorised, issued and paid up capital of USD 200 million, TRUST Re earned its recognition as a solid and reliable security through its long term professional commitment to the Insurance & Reinsurance Industry. It is classified as a highly reliable security (S&P: A- and A.M. Best: A-), and writes both life and non-life business on a Facultative & Treaty basis with a wide scope of geographical operation that includes: Africa, Asia, Russia, the Former Soviet Union (FSU) countries and the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Region. TRUST Re has a fully-owned subsidiary, Afro-Asian Assistance, which provides Travel Assistance and Personal Accident products.



TAKAFUL International Company , established in 1989, is the first Islamic Insurance Company in the Kingdom of Bahrain and one of the pioneering Islamic insurance companies in the Middle East. The company provides insurance coverage and services that cope with the individuals/corporations needs and the vast growing demands of the new millennium. Over the past twenty five years TAKAFUL International was able to achieve a high ranking position and build upon a trustworthy reputation in the local and international insurance market which has enabled us to compete with elite Takaful insurance companies worldwide.





Author: Vlad BOLDIJAR on 13.10.2016





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By Foo Yun Chee

BRUSSELS, Oct 13 (Reuters) - Alphabet unit Google has been given about three more weeks to counter EU antitrust charges that it unfairly demotes rival shopping services in internet search results, a move which could further delay regulators' decision on the six-year-old case.

The U.S. technology giant was due to respond to the accusations on Thursday but requested more time to prepare its defense. The company now has until Nov. 7, a European Commission spokesman said.

"Google asked for additional time to review the documents in the case file. In line with normal practice, the commission analysed the reasons for the request and granted an extension allowing Google to fully exercise its rights of defence," he said.

Google has an Oct. 26 deadline to reply to another charge of blocking competitors in online search advertising and Oct. 31 to a third charge that it uses its dominant Android operating system for smartphones to squeeze out rivals.

The EU antitrust enforcer intends to impose deterrent fines in the Android and shopping cases, according to charge sheets seen by Reuters.

Google faces fines up to $7.4 billion, or 10 percent of its global turnover, for each case if found guilty of breaching EU rules.

(Reporting by Foo Yun Chee; Editing by Alexandra Hudson)
Yahoo Finance is tracking the stocks youre following, based on your Yahoo Finance ticker searches.

GoPro (GPRO)  Piper Jaffray analyst Erinn Murphy says the company is not currently shipping to Amazon.com, which represents about 12% to 14% of its sales. GoPro will reportedly resume shipping to the online retail giant at the end of the month.

Amazon (AMZN)  The company is hiring more than 120,000 seasonal employees for the upcoming holiday season. The new hires will work at Amazons fulfillment centers and customer service sites.

Wells Fargo (WFC)  Wall Street is keeping a close eye on the bank following news Wednesday that its CEO John Stumpf is stepping down, effective immediately. Stumpf came under fire after Wells Fargo was accused of opening 2 million fake accounts. President and chief operating officer Timothy J. Sloan will replace Stumpf.

Deutsche Bank (DB)  The German bank is reportedly implementing a company-wide hiring freeze as it looks to lower costs as concerns mount regarding the Department of Justices request that it pay $14 billion to settle a probe over misselling mortgage-backed securities. Deutsche Bank has lost nearly half of its market value so far this year.

Ulta Beauty (ULTA)  The company raised its third-quarter and full-year guidance ahead of its analyst day event. The company now expects third-quarter comparable sales to increase between 14% to 15%.

Delta Air Lines (DAL)  The airline reported mixed third-quarter results ahead of the bell, posting earnings per share of $1.70 on revenue of $10.48 billion.
OUAGADOUGOU (Reuters) - Unidentified gunmen killed three Burkinabe soldiers and two civilians on Wednesday, a military source said, in the latest sign that instability in Mali is spreading to its southern neighbor. The defense ministry had earlier confirmed the deaths of the soldiers. Attacks by Islamist militants in Burkina Faso were rare before a major strike by al Qaeda-linked fighters in the capital killed 29 people in January. The latest attack prompted President Roch Marc Kabore to delay a trip to Belgium and call an emergency ministerial meeting, government sources said. The military source said three soldiers were also wounded. Earlier, the defense ministry had said two of the attackers were dead in the attack at Ingangom, five kilometers from the Malian border. The source said the military later realized the dead were civilians. The same base was attacked in June, resulting in the death of three police officers. A newly-formed militant group called Islamic State division in the Greater Sahara, led by a fighter formerly loyal to Algeria's Mokhtar Belmokhtar, also claimed to have attacked a Burkinabe military position in the far north last month. (Reporting by Mathieu Bonkoungou; Writing by Emma Farge; editing by Ralph Boulton, Bernard Orr)
Asgardia satellite

A Russian scientist and businessman today unveiled a social-media-savvy plan to create the first-ever nation in space, named Asgardia. But many of the details of the plan, including how Asgardias first satellite will be launched, havent yet been pinned down.

The mastermind behind Asgardia, which takes its name from the city of the skies in Norse mythology, is Igor Ashurbeyli. Five years ago, he left his position as the CEO of one of Russias top defense contractors, Almaz-Antey, and turned his attention to Socium Holding, a company he founded in 1988.

Ashurbeyli is also the founder of the Vienna-based Aerospace International Research Center and the editor-in-chief of a space journal called Room.

The idea is that once Ashurbeyli and his fellow Asgardians launch a satellite, that will open the way for them to designate the spacecraft as the first territory of a new nation in the sky. That would pose a challenge to the 1967 Outer Space Treaty, which appears to rule out assertions of sovereignty in space.

Asgardia is a fully fledged and independent nation, and a future member of the United Nations  with all the attributes this status entails: a government and embassies, a flag, a national anthem and insignia, and so on, Room quoted Ashurbeyli as saying during todays news conference in Paris.

The website is already running contests to come up with the flag, the anthem and the insignia. Its also letting anyone sign up for Asgardian citizenship. More than 16,000 registered today, and Ashurbeyli said the citizenry will be capped at 100,000, at least for the initial phase of the Asgardian independence plan.

We are not selling pieces of land on the moon, or water in Antarctica, he said. Were actually not selling anything at all at the moment. Only after we have proven this idea with a confirmed launch of an equipped satellite may we begin talking about Asgardias budgets.

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Igor Ashurbeyli

So what about that satellite? Ashurbeyli declined to go into the technical aspects and details, other than to say hes currently funding the Asgardia project with his own money.

Of course we are going to make use of crowdfunding and sourcing, and private donations, he said. And we welcome cooperation with new partners and investors.

The aim is to launch a satellite in 2017, to mark the 60th anniversary of the Soviet Unions Sputnik launch. If that somehow happens, it could reopen the international debate over who owns what in outer space.

The Asgardia project, among other things, may help prepare better answers to the future governance of outer space  a topic of major concern to the United Nations, Joseph Pelton, former dean of the International Space University, said in a statement. The exciting aspect of this initiative is its three-phase approach to providing broader access to space; promoting peace in outer space; and addressing cosmic hazards and planetary defense.

Does Asgardia have any chance of getting off the ground? Even Ashurbeyli acknowledges that the idea sounds kooky.

I wouldnt be surprised if today or tomorrow, some or all of you write that some crazy Russian rocket scientist talked utter nonsense here today, he said. It would be worse if you write nothing at all!

At least by that measure, Ashurbeyli wont be disappointed.

More from GeekWire:
Halle Berry (Photo: Getty Images)

When Halle Berry joined Instagram, she said her goal was to share images that reflect her emotions and perceptions. Her latest  a tribute to domestic violence victims  does both of those things.

The Call actress, 50, dedicated a #WCW (Woman Crush Wednesday) to all my QUEENS who have suffered any form of domestic violence, writing, I think this quote captures it perfectly Dear women, Sometimes youll just be too much woman. Too smart, too beautiful, too strong. Too much of something. That makes a man feel like less of a man, which will start making you feel like you have to be less of a woman. The biggest mistake you can make is removing jewels from your crown to make it easier for a man to carry. When this happens, I need you to understand, you do not need a smaller crown You need a man with bigger hands.

The photo shows a side view of the mom of two as she wears a crown in front of a stunning sunset.

The post is timed with Domestic Violence Awareness Month, and she tagged the Jenesse Center, a national domestic violence prevention and intervention organization that provides services and outreach efforts to afflicted families. Berry frequently collaborates with the charity, which does work close to her heart, as someone who was the victim of domestic abuse.

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Berry revealed in 1996 that while filming The Last Boy Scout, a boyfriend, whom she described as someone well-known in Hollywood, hit her so hard that her eardrum was punctured and she lost 80 percent of hearing in that ear.

At the time, her famous exes included Wesley Snipes as well as first husband, MLB player David Justice. Last year, as Berry filed for divorce from Olivier Martinez, Justice spoke out to say he was not her abuser.

Berry attended a benefit for the Jenesse Center last year and spoke about how she saw her own mother battered and beaten many years of my life and that shes still affected by it. Thats what connects me to this organization. I have an understanding, a knowing. I feel like I have something that I can impart to these women. It seems like Ive overcome it, but I really havent. In the quiet of my mind, I still struggle. So while Im helping these women, Im helping myself through it too.




By Aradhana Aravindan

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - U.S. motorcycle maker Harley-Davidson Inc <HOG.N> plans to boost its focus on Asia to accelerate growth by entering new countries and expanding its dealerships, its chief executive said, as it seeks to become less dependent on its home market.

Harley is optimistic about its growth from existing Asian markets including China, India and Vietnam, and was studying entering new countries like Cambodia, CEO Matthew Levatich said.

"There is really an incredible amount of potential for us in the region," he said in an interview at the company's regional headquarters in Singapore.

Levatich did not provide a specific outlook figure for Asia-Pacific, but said the "vast majority" of its new international dealerships would be in the region. Asia-Pacific contributed about 12 percent to Harley's retail unit sales in 2015.

"I think (Asia-Pacific) is going to become a more and more significant part of our business," he said.

"There are so many untapped markets, there is incredible passion for the brand, the growing middle-class and disposable income and time people have for more leisure-oriented pursuits - that's only increasing."

Harley is facing slowing demand for motorcycles in its biggest market, the United States, and cut its outlook in July.

But in Asia's emerging economies, Harley hopes to attract riders who want to buy two-wheelers not just for commuting but also as an aspiration.

Asia is home to some of the world's largest two-wheeler markets, although its roads are dominated by lower-end commuter bikes rather than the luxury models Harley makes.

The Milwaukee, Wisconsin-based company has set out a plan to grow its international dealer network by 150 to 200 new dealerships through 2020.

Harley had previously said retail sales for its bikes in Asia were hurt after it exited Indonesia, Southeast Asia's largest economy where bikes are hugely popular, at the end of last year.

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Levatich said Harley was rebuilding its distribution network and would re-enter the country of about 250 million people by year-end.

It competes with the likes of Polaris Industries <PII.N>, Italy's Ducati and Germany's BMW <BMWG.DE> as well as the high-end ranges from Japanese rivals Honda <7267.T>, Yamaha Corp <7951.T> and Suzuki Motor Corp <7269.T>.

(Reporting by Aradhana Aravindan; Editing by Stephen Coates)
WASHINGTON, Oct 13 (Reuters) - San Francisco-based Artis Capital Management has agreed to disgorge profits of $5.2 million plus $1.1 million in interest and pay a penalty of $2.6 million to settle charges related to the hedge fund's failure to detect insider trading by an employee, the Securities and Exchange Commission said on Thursday.

Michael Harden, a senior research analyst at Artis Capital, also agreed to pay a $130,000 penalty to settle the charges and was suspended from the securities industry for 12 months, the SEC said in a statement.

The employee, Matthew Teeple, was sentenced in 2014 to five years in prison after pleading guilty to conspiracy to engage in securities fraud.

(Reporting by Mohammad Zargham; Editing by Phil Berlowitz)
Currency instability affects Brazilian shoe exports

Brazil

Brazilian shoe exports registered a slight increase so far in 2016 compared with the previous year, but the near future remains unclear due to macroeconomic uncertainty.

Figures from Abicalcados, the Brazilian Shoe Manufacturers Association, show that a total of 10.4 million pairs of footwear were exported in September 2016, generating US$84.7 million in value. This represents a 3.6% increase in volume year-on-year, but lower than the previous month of August 2016 (-3.4%).

Between January and September 2016, a total of 87 million pairs have been exported, meaning a 1.1% increase in value and +0.5% in volume compared with the same period in 2015.

We were expecting a better performance since the beginning of 2016, but currency instability caused by the economic and political crisis, together with macroeconomic uncertainty, have led the figures to be negative in the first half of the year, said Heitor Klein, Executive President, Abicalcados. As the situation becomes better defined, we can get a glimpse of the results being a little superior to 2015, he added.

According to Klein, much of the positive results can be attributed to higher demand in important markets such as the U.S. and Argentina. The latter opened up after a series of government led protectionist measures between 2012 and 2015.
Heather was diagnosed with congestive heart failure and cardiomyopathy and had a defibrillator put in to help manage her condition, but the device horribly malfunctioned.

One night while watching TV with a friend, her defibrillator began to shock her over and over. She was thrown from the couch on to the floor and she describes it like she was being kicked by a horse. After numerous surgeries and procedures, Heather has been left with both physical and emotional scars from her near-death experience.

Watch: Muscle Pain or Heart Pain?

She joins The Doctors seeking help as she fears shes now suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.

Every time I look at my scar its a reminder of what happened. I have constant anxiety. Im crying myself to sleep. Im afraid that my husband thinks Im ugly with the scar my worst fear is leaving my daughter the constant fear of dying runs through my head every day, she explains.

She tells The Doctors her heart is doing much better, but she is still suffering emotionally.

Watch: Pregnancy-Induced Heart Failure?

I used to be so care-free and so happy all the time now Im just constantly scared and on edge. I just want to go back my old self again, she says.

With the help of psychiatrist Dr. Todd Hutton and dermatologist Dr. Sonia Batra, The Doctors have some surprises for Heather that should help her live a healthier and less stressful life. Find out more in the video above!
The thieves who snatched $11 million in jewels from Kim Kardashian in Paris made off better than the "Bling Ring" burglars, who in 10 months beginning in late 2008 gathered $3 million worth of designer clothes, Rolexes, jewelry, handbags and shoes from stars' homes. Though they were less successful, the burglars did get a movie made about them: 2013's The Bling Ring, starring Emma Watson.

THR praised the film, saying it "fits quite snugly in the realm of privilege examined in director Sofia Coppola's Marie Antoinette and Somewhere." Except this realm of privilege was the West Valley. It was from there that eight middle-class youths would come over the hill to burgle homes ("going shopping," they called it).

Though Lindsay Lohan and Orlando Bloom also were targeted, the thieves made a specialty of Paris Hilton (Kardashian was her assistant at the time). Hilton's Mulholland Estates mansion was hit five times. The first entry netted lingerie, a dress and a bottle of vodka - and went undetected. But she definitely noticed when they later took $2 million in jewelry.

Hilton appeared as herself in the film, telling THR before a Cannes screening that it was "very strange" to see the bandits, who were caught and served sentences of 18 months or less, "sell my Birkin bags and heirloom jewelry on Venice Beach."

This story first appeared in the Oct. 21 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. To receive the magazine, click here to subscribe.

Read more: "Parisian Heist" Kim Kardashian Halloween Costume Gets Backlash
Dont poke the gator.

Alligator wrangler Gary Saurage had the fight of his life this week trying to capture a massive reptile that had been chasing people at a Texas lake.

With a chicken-wielding associate, Saurage was able to lasso the 900-plus-pound beast that had become a dangerous nuisance in the Trinity River National Wildlife Refuge.

Read: Man Wakes Up to Find 10-Foot Alligator Knocking at His Door

I felt like I had a Navy ship on the end of the rope, Saurage told InsideEdition.com Thursday.

He was able to rope the reptile after a colleague threw a chicken and the gator swam toward it.

The alligator measured 13 feet and 8 inches, a state record for live captures.

Read: Woman Fights to Keep 6-Foot Alligator That Wears Clothes and Wags Its Tail

This is a tremendous animal, he said. Over the years, he said, alligators at the lake have grown accustomed to humans lurking about.

Theyve gotten used to people and become a real danger. They come up on the bank and chase people, said Saurage.

He was called to come catch the reptile, which he relocated to his 20-acre habitat called Gator Country, where he has an assortment of alligators, crocodiles and snakes.

"Instead of shooting them and getting money for the meat and skin, we wanted to give them a refuge," he said.

Watch: Alligator Takes a Leisurely stroll on College Campus While Students Snap Photos

Related Articles:
By Joseph White

DETROIT, Oct 13 (Reuters) - Honda Motor Co is expanding capacity for the new generation of its CR-V sport utility vehicle, shifting production to the United States from Mexico in a move that will intensify competition in one of the U.S. auto industry's hottest segments.

Honda executives unveiled the re-engineered 2017 CR-V Wednesday at Detroit's Eastern Market. They said the company plans to expand overall output of the vehicles in North America by building CR-Vs at factories in Alliston, Ontario, East Liberty, Ohio and for the first time at a plant in Greensburg, Indiana.

The Indiana factory will take CR-V production from a factory in Mexico, company executives said. The Greensburg plant is capable of producing about 250,000 vehicles a year, and will continue to build Civic compact cars alongside CR-Vs, Honda said.

With the added production, "it's possible next year CR-V could be our best selling vehicle," said Jeff Conrad, general manager of the Honda Division. The new CR-V goes on sale late this year. Honda did not release pricing or mileage data at a briefing Wednesday. The 2016 CR-V starts at $24,745.

Honda's manufacturing strategy reflects broader challenges for auto makers as U.S. consumers turn toward sport utility vehicles such as the CR-V and away from sedans such as the Honda Civic.

Building the Civic and CR-V side by side allows Honda to more easily adjust to market shifts. Factories that Detroit automakers have dedicated solely to smaller cars have suffered temporary layoffs as demand for those models has slumped. Fiat Chrysler Automobiles has begun laying off workers at two U.S. car plants which it plans to retool to build trucks and SUVs.

Meanwhile, U.S. sales of compact utility wagons such as the CR-V, the Chevrolet Equinox, the Nissan Rogue, Ford Escape, Toyota RAV4 and other models are growing. In September, the CR-V was the fourth best-selling vehicle in the United States, trailing the three best-selling large pickups from General Motors Co, Ford Motor Co and Fiat Chrysler.

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Conrad said boosting CR-V output will intensify competition in the crowded compact SUV segment, as rivals are making similar moves. The new CR-V will offer more interior space than the outgoing model, new safety features and a physical volume knob for the radio. That responds to complaints about digital volume controls.

"We build a better mousetrap, we win," Conrad said.

(Reporting By Joe White; Editing by David Gregorio)
(Reuters) - HP Inc, the hardware business of former Hewlett-Packard Co, said it expects to cut about 3000 to 4000 jobs over the next three years, sending its shares down 1.3 percent in extended trading.

The company said it expects adjusted profit for fiscal 2017 to be $1.55-$1.65 per share. Analysts on average had expected $1.61 per share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

HP also raised its quarterly dividend by 7 percent and said it is increasing its share repurchase program by $3 billion.

As part of the restructuring plan, the company expects to record $350 million-$500 million in charges.

The company had said in September that about 3000 jobs could be cut by the end of fiscal 2016.

(Reporting by Rishika Sadam in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta)
A double airstrike incinerated a packed funeral hall in Yemens capital on Oct. 8, killing about 140 people. It was a scene of fire and blood that was widely blamed on a military coalition led by Saudi Arabia that has intervened in Yemen since March 2015.

The attack underscored the human cost of the Saudi-led operation in Yemen, where an estimated 10,000 people have been killed, according to the United Nations. It also illustrated one of the more uncomfortable aspects of American foreign policy in the Middle East, where the U.S. supports the Saudi-led military campaign while condemning similar mass attacks on civilians elsewhere in the region.

Read More: The U.N. Failed Yemens Children

Washington responded to the attack by announcing a review of aid to its longtime ally Saudi Arabia, whose government purchased more than $20 billion in arms from the U.S. in 2015 alone. A White House statement on the attack says the administration has serious concerns about the conflict in Yemen and how it has been waged. The statement, by U.S/ National Security Council Spokesman Ned Price, added that U.S. security cooperation with Saudi Arabia is not a blank check.

But Saturdays attack was not the first one to call into question the rationale for U.S. support for the Saudi-led operation. The Saudi coalition has a long record of attacking civilian targets in Yemen, including schools, hospitals, factories and marketplaces. In May 2015, the coalition dropped leaflets declaring the entire province of Saada a military target. Data compiled by independent researchers and published by the Guardian in September showed that one in three Saudi-led airstrikes hit civilian targets.

Read More: Salmon Fishing in Yemen

Unfortunately the reality is United States support has not actually decreased the human cost at all, says Farea Muslimi, a Yemeni analyst with the Carnegie Middle East Center. It has unfortunately contributed to it, given the Saudis a blank check over Yemen in this war.

Story continues

The timing of Saturdays attack seemed to illustrate U.S. inconsistency in its approach toward alleged war crimes. The same day as the Saudi-led strikes on the funeral in Sanaa, the United Nations Security Council met in in New York, where U.S. ambassador David Pressman condemned the Russian and Syrian regime offensive in the besieged city of Aleppo, calling the bombing there terrifying and an exercise of brutal force. That juxtapositioncriticism for Russia and Syria, relative silence for Saudi Arabiaoffered fodder for critics who say American support for the Saudis undermines U.S. credibility elsewhere in the region.

You cant be trying to negotiate a resolution at the U.N. Security Council on Saturday to condemn Russia and sanction Russia for airstrikes in Syria when your ally and partner, Saudi, is doing the exact same thing, says Sarah Leah Whitson, director of the Middle East and North Africa Division at Human Rights watch.

Like the conflict in Syria, the current war in Yemen has its roots in the Arab Spring of 2011. After months of protests, Yemens autocratic president Ali Abdullah Saleh agreed to hand power to his deputy, Abed Rabu Mansour Hadi, in February 2012. But by 2014, the government failed to build a consensus around the transition process. Riding a wave of popular discontent, Houthi rebels entered the capital and in 2015 forced Hadi into exile. The Houthisdrawn from the Zaydi-Shiite population primarily in northern Yemenare now allied with former President Saleh and his supporters, who control some units of the military.

Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and other mainly Sunni Arab states intervened in Yemen in March 2015 in an attempt to roll back the Houthis, who they regard as a proxy for Saudi Arabias chief rival in the region: the Shiite power Iran. The intervention also came as the U.S. had entered the final stages of negotiations toward a nuclear deal with Irana deal Saudi Arabia was vociferously opposed. In part to assuage those Saudi concerns, the U.S. lent its support for the war in Yemen.

From the beginning, the operation was marred by attacks on civilian targets, including at least four hospitals supported by the renowned international aid group Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF). In August, the aerial bombing of a hospital in Hajja province killed 19 people, forcing MSF to evacuate its staff from northern Yemen.

The Obama administration has given the Saudi coalition intelligence and ammunition, but U.S. officials have often sounded less than enthusiastic in their defense of the operation. The U.S. has also places some limits on its operational support. In May the White House quietly halted the transfer of cluster munitions to Saudi Arabia after human rights groups documented their use in attacks on civilians. Its impossible to defend this or justify this or explain this in a way that doesnt undermine everything else youre trying to pursue in the region, says Whitson. They know it.

The recent fighting in has also created a power vacuum that offered opportunities for Yemens al-Qaeda franchise to grow in strength. Months after the launch of the Saudi operation, al-Qaedas forces had gained ground, but in 2016 the coalition announced that it began actively fighting al-Qaeda, declaring that it retook key areas from the group. ISIS has also attempted to capitalize on the chaos, with limited success.

The funeral that came under attack on Saturday was for Sheikh Ali al-Rawishan, the father of the interior minister in the Houthi government, and was packed prominent Yemeni officials and elites. The location of the funeral was publicized in advance, suggesting that the attack could have been deliberate. The victims included Sanaas mayor, Abdel-Qader Helal, a popular figure unaffiliated with either side in the war. The attack was a so-called double tap airstrike: an initial strike, followed by a second bombing that often comes after ambulances arrive. There is no doubt in our minds that the Saudis knew they were striking a funeral hall, says Whitson.

Muslimi, the analyst with Carnegie, puts it simply: Its an unbelievable war crime.
Naturally, another factor in these trends is Irans own eagerness to reenter global markets. But the Wall Street Journal observes that European importers are starting from a weaker position in trying to take advantage of the effects of the JCPOA. European imports of Iranian oil and gas have indeed been growing in the wake of the nuclear agreement, but unlike India, China, and others, Western European nations took no such imports in the previous year. Furthermore, it has been widely reported that European reentry into Iranian markets has been constrained by the persistence of non-nuclear sanctions measures.

But recent articles at Iran News Update have also emphasized that the Islamic Republic has been criticized over the past year for declining to take certain steps that could have brought it in line with international banking regulations and otherwise improved the prospects for reconnection with the West. Those articles went on to suggest that Iran may be deliberately dragging its heels in this regard while focusing on expansion within Asian markets.

It was perhaps with this in mind that Iranian President Hassan Rouhani undertook a trip last week to three Southeast Asian countries, to explore comprehensive expansions in economic relations, as well as security cooperation. On Friday, Irans state-affiliated Tasnim News Agency reported that Rouhani had said of his first stop on that tour, Vietnam, that it could become the center of Irans economic activity in East Asia. The Daily Mail added that the specific target outlined during his visit was two billion dollars in trade, as compared to the 350 million last year.

Rouhanis discussions with the Vietnamese were followed by similar visits to Malaysia and Thailand. Malaysia Kini reported on Friday that during Rouhanis second stop, the Malaysian Prime Minister expressed only slightly less ambitious hopes, namely a mutual effort to double trade in the shortest period of time possible and to continue expansion from there. And during Rouhanis subsequent visit to Bangkok, he met not only with the Thai leadership but also with visiting Chinese Vice President Lu Yuanchao, according to Xinhua News Agency.

The focus of Iranian-Asian trade relations will certainly be crude oil, but they will also include natural gas exports and various industrial and consumer goods. Trend News Agency notes that during his Asian tour, Rouhani expressed Irans intentions to expand natural gas exports to Asia, alongside the steadily increasing crude oil exports. And the Wall Street Journal points out that India and China are competing to make serious investments in Irans oil production and overall petrochemical industry.

The Sunday meeting between Rouhani and Lu sought to expand upon comprehensive cooperative plans that were generally outlined on January, relating not only to Iran and China themselves, but also to broader aims to continue an Asian cooperative dialogue. Rouhanis week of meetings in Asia led the Daily Mail to reiterate the possibility of an ongoing turn to the East for Iranian foreign policy and trade. Such observations may reinforce the conclusion that the Islamic Republic is deliberately eschewing trade with the West, even as the highest ranking figures, including Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, insist that the US is holding back Irans reintegration by continuing to enforce economic sanctions and banking restrictions that were not covered by the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.
(Reuters) - Hurricane Nicole plowed directly into Bermuda on Thursday before churning into the open sea and weakening, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said, as local media reported significant damage to the tiny Atlantic island chain. The Royal Gazette newspaper said the storm, rated as a Category 3 hurricane on the five-step Saffir-Simpson scale, sheared rooftops from buildings, uprooted trees, flooded homes and downed power lines as it hit Bermuda with sustained winds of up to 120 miles per hour (195 kph). But there were no immediate reports of any casualties from Bermuda, a low-lying archipelago occupying just 21 square miles (54 sq km) and home to more than 65,000 people. After passing over Bermuda, the storm, packing maximum sustained winds of 110 miles per hour (175 kph), was downgraded to a Category 2 hurricane, still capable of causing extensive damage. The Bermuda Electric Light Company (BELCO) said that nearly 26,000 customers were without power, roughly 85 percent of its customers, and that many power lines and utility poles had been knocked down. By late afternoon, the storm was 130 miles (210 km) northeast of Bermuda but a still a threat to the British overseas territory that is a major insurance and reinsurance center. "A dangerous storm surge will raise water levels by as much as 6 to 8 feet (1.8 to 2.4 meters) to above normal tide levels in Bermuda," warned the Miami-based hurricane center in its latest advisory. "The surge will be accompanied by large and destructive waves. The storm surge should subside this evening," it added. Bermuda is often in the paths of Atlantic storms and has extensive experience in handling them. Nicole shot through Bermuda just a week after Hurricane Matthew tore a path of destruction through impoverished Haiti en route to the United States, where it triggered severe flooding. Matthew, which briefly rose to the maximum Category 5 intensity, killed more than 1,000 people in Haiti, and left more than 30 dead in Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas. (Reporting by Sandra Maler in Washington; Writing and additional reporting by Steve Gorman in Los Angeles; Editing by Peter Cooney and Sandra Maler)
Oct 13 (Reuters) - Los Angeles-based company Hyperloop One, which is developing technology for a futuristic transit system, said it had raised an additional $50 million as it prepares for a full-scale test of a Hyperloop system in the first quarter of 2017.

A Hyperloop involves using magnets to levitate pods inside an airless tube, creating conditions in which the floating pods could shuttle people and cargo at speeds of up to 750 mph (1,200 kph).

The concept originated in a paper by Tesla Motors Inc Chief Executive Elon Musk in 2013, who envisioned it whisking passengers from Los Angeles to San Francisco in 30 minutes.

Hyperloop One got its latest round of funding from DP World Group of Dubai. The $50 million takes its total funding to $160 million.

DP World Group, whose chief executive is also joining Hyperloop One's board, signed an agreement with the company in August to explore a Hyperloop system to move containers from ships docked at its flagship Port of Jebel Ali to a new inland container depot in Dubai.

Los Angeles-based Hyperloop One has previously got funding from the likes of 137 Ventures, Khosla Ventures, the French National Rail Company and GE Ventures.

Former Uber Chief Financial Officer Brent Callinicos was also appointed as a full-time adviser to Hyperloop One Chief Executive Rob Lloyd and the board.

There are currently no functioning Hyperloops anywhere in the world, and skeptics wonder if the technology can ever make the leap from science fiction to reality.

(Reporting by Aishwarya Venugopal in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta)
The first time that Sophies* partner hit her, she blamed herself for hurting his feelings.

Wed only been together for two months and although hed called me names and put me down, I put that down to him being a bit insecure, says Sophie, 34, a customer services manager from London. We were in my house when we had a disagreement and Id told him that if he wasnt happy, he could leave. He slapped me hard across the face with the back of his hand.

I was stunned and started to cry. Ten minutes later he was standing in the doorway saying Sorry and trying to give me a hug. I didnt know what to do. I thought perhaps it was my fault and Id said the wrong thing and upset him. I hoped it was a one-off.

It wasnt. Over the coming weeks and months, the violence Sophie suffered at the hands of her partner escalated to a horrifying degree.

He became heavy with his feet, kicking and stomping on me when he got angry, she says. He would drag me across the room by my hair, punch me in the ribs and smash bottles over my head. I remember once, he was beating me so badly with a glass bottle that I was willing for the glass to break so that he would stop.

At night, I would barricade myself in my walk-in wardrobe as a kind of safe-room to escape from him. When he got tired of shouting from outside, Id stay locked in and sleep on a pile of clothes until morning.

These graphic scenes are only a glimpse into Sophies life over four long years with her partner. She ended up in hospital at least three times with broken bones and internal bleeding.

Yet incredibly, despite beatings sometimes on a daily basis, it took her two years to first report the assaults to the police. Id had enough, she says simply.

Yet her case is far from unique. On average it takes two years for a victim to seek support, a fact highlighted in a powerful new short film launched today by Victim Support and the National Centre for Domestic Violence.

The haunting three minute film called #breaktheroutine, features real-life husband and wife Jennifer White and Jason Kittelberg depicting a brutal abusive relationship through dance. With an exclusive backing track donated by Brit Award winner Ellie Goulding, the dance was choreographed by Sidi Cherkaoui, an associate artist at Sadlers Wells ballet. The film will be shown on You Tube from tonight and several TV channels later this month.

Story continues

Its a very emotional and really powerful film which we hope resonates with people in that situation and helps them to see that there is support out there for them, says a spokesperson from Victim Support. Domestic violence is an epidemic and its not just about physical violence but the hidden emotional and psychological abuse that goes on too  the name-calling, the intimidation, the coercion. Often, victims will not report the abuse for many years because theyre scared, threatened or fear that they will lose their children. Weve helped 40,000 people last year who recognised themselves as victims of domestic abuse but many others wont see themselves as victims so this is just the tip of the iceberg.

The reported figures are shocking enough. One in four women in England and Wales will experience domestic violence in their lifetimes and around 100 people a year are killed by a current or past partner. The Crime Survey for England and Wales 2014/15 shows that an astonishing 6.7million men and women have experienced domestic abuse at some point in their lives.

Although over a quarter of women are victims of domestic abuse, 13 per cent of men have suffered it at some point in their lives. The majority of victims are aged between 25 and 34 but over there were nearly 2000 victims aged 17 and under.

But the study also shows that only one in five partner abuse victims report it to the police and those that dont say that the abuse is not worth reporting, it was a private matter or that they dont think that the police can help

In Sophies case, she says she didnt report the abuse for so long because she was scared of the repercussions and had, to an extent, normalised her situation.

She was 26 when she met her partner through friends at a party.

Looking back, he wasnt the sort of man Id normally have gone for  he was arrogant and insecure but made an effort to meet up with me after the party and I thought Id like to get to know him better, she says. Id had boyfriends before and never stood for any trouble but he must have caught me at a very vulnerable time because my father had died recently and my mother was very ill. Thats the only reason I can explain for why I put up with his behaviour.

The couple were soon in a relationship but as the violence continued, Sophies family urged her to leave her partner. When she did finally report the violence to the police, she says she still felt trapped.



After one altercation, I ended up bleeding and called an ambulance and the police asked me if I wanted to press charges, she says. I said yes and he was put on bail for two weeks but as soon as they released him, he was kicking in my front door and hitting me again. I lost consciousness as he dragged me around the floor and when I woke up I was too scared to call the police again.

I did feel let down by the police. I remember on one occasion I called them up and one officer came into my house and shrugged: Well, what do you want me to do about it? I find it amazing that police are trained in things like terrorism, but not domestic violence. If I go out into the street and punch someone, Id be immediately arrested but every time I called the police on my partner, theyd let him go so he could do the same to me again.

Sophies salvation came after four years when Victim Support got in touch after one of the later assaults. A lady rang me and asked if Id like some help and I thought: Ok, whats this about? and went to her office and told her everything, she says.

My case worker told me I was the victim of domestic violence but Id never thought of myself in that way. Id normalised it and thought it was just the same as getting bullied at school  only worse. She saved my life, Im convinced of that. If Id carried on for any longer with this man he would have killed me.

Victim Support helped Sophie press charges against her partner who was later sentenced.

Today, she says shes in a good place. But while the physical scars are long gone, the emotional ones are harder to heal.

It took me a long time to be able to trust men again but Im in a new relationship now and hes a complete angel, she says. My abusive partner broke down my confidence so much that I dont even think Ill be the same person again. But if speaking out now helps just one person in a situation like mine, then job done. I want to tell them that there is an end in sight and they need to get support.

*name has been changed

For help and support with domestic violence visit www.victimsupport.org.uk.

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The International Criminal Court's chief prosecutor said on Thursday she was "deeply concerned" about thousands of alleged killings in the Philippines, warning that those responsible could face prosecution.

"I am deeply concerned about these alleged killings and the fact that public statements from high officials of the... Philippines seem to condone such killings," Fatou Bensouda said in a statement issued in The Hague.

Bensouda added she was also concerned that high officials "seem to encourage State forces and civilians alike to continue targeting these individuals with lethal force."

Since July Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte has overseen a brutal crackdown on illegal drugs that has left more than 3,300 people dead, both at the hands of police as well as in unexplained circumstances, according to official data.

The United Nations, the European Union, the United States and international human rights groups have all raised concerns over alleged extrajudicial killings.

Bensouda issued a warning: "Let me be clear: any person in the Philippines who incites or engages in acts of mass violence including by ordering, requesting, encouraging or contributing... to the commission of crimes within the jurisdiction of the ICC is potentially liable for prosecution before the Court."

The acid-tongued Duterte has rejected the allegations and called the campaign an internal affair of the Philippines.

He has also branded US President Barack Obama a "son of a whore" and UN chief Ban Ki-moon a "fool" over their criticism.

- 'The court has jurisdiction' -

Duterte last month challenged Ban and international human rights experts to visit the country, both to investigate the allegations and to face him in a public debate.

On Wednesday Manila formally issued an invitation to UN Special Rapporteur Agnes Callamard to investigate the killings.

The government had initially rebuffed Callamard when she announced plans to take up Duterte's challenge.

Story continues

Callamard has since told AFP she would discuss with Manila the date and scope of a fact-finding mission, state guarantees for her freedom of movement and inquiry, and assurances about the safety of mission members and their interview subjects.

Duterte has insisted that he and his police forces have done nothing illegal, and that law enforcers have been forced to shoot and kill after suspects put up a fight.

The Philippines has been an ICC member state since November 2011 "and as such, the Court has jurisdiction over genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity committed on the territory or by nationals of the Philippines," Bensouda said.

She added that her office "will be closely following developments in the Philippines in the weeks to come and record any instance of incitement or resort to violence with a view to assessing whether a preliminary examination into the Philipines needs to be opened."

The ICC's prosecutor has to the power to ask the Hague-based court's judges to authorise a preliminary probe, which gathers evidence to see whether a full-blown investigation -- which could lead to an eventual trial -- should be opened.
I ate like a king, and felt like a millionaire in Indonesia.

Earlier this year, I quit being CEO of my start-up, and started travelling for a living. Its something Ive always wanted to do. For 9 months now, travel has been my life; theres no looking back. One of the countries I recently knocked off my bucket list was Indonesia; and this is the tale, albeit just a summary, of the 30 days I spent in that crazy, big, humongous country.

More From 101 India: Getting High With Maa Durga

I measure my life with the moments I have lived for



First of all, lets think of Indonesia as much more than just Bali. I spent most of my time around Java and some of the regions around Bali. I made a conscious effort to stay away from Bali itself.

My trip started off with a ferry ride from Singapore to Batam, and then a really, really long journey by ship to Jakarta. Sailings always been something of an interest in the back of my mind. Well, here I was  on a 30 hour long voyage.

As usual (being Indian), I was late. I think, because I was the only non-Indonesian on board, I got even more of the royal treatment  from VIP access to different parts of the ship, to the food, I got it all. Sadly, with a broken phone and a missing GoPro, I wont be able to share any pictures of the voyage. But trust me on this, a journey by ship, though exhausting, is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. It guarantees some of the most interesting conversations youll ever have.

I am a wanderer. A true wanderer



So there I was, in Jakarta  a city that, Im surprised to say, has even worse traffic than Bangalore. Jakarta showed me what Indonesian food is all about; I had five meals a day. Mind you, the currency value here is so low, that even when you spend on something really cheap, youll be spending millions. Its a great fix for when youre feeling really low, and want to feel like a millionaire.

More From 101 India: Travel & Food

The street food in Jakarta was the cheapest and the best I have ever had. Vegetarians rejoice: they have rice, lots of rice; just couple it with their famous potato dishes, or any other vegetable that you may prefer, and itll be like having ghar ka khana.

Story continues

Vegetarians can rejoice in Jakarta



On the way from Jakarta, I met lots of locals on the train. If theres one thing that travel has taught me, its this: Keep Calm And Smile At Everyone. Life gets easier that way. I had lots of conversations with many Indonesians, who didnt understand a word of what I was saying. I didnt get anything they were saying either. Still, with smiles on our faces, we exchanged pleasantries.

Side note: When you travel in an AC compartment here, it literally means theres a split AC fitted into the train.

Keep calm and smile at everyone



I reached my station at 2AM to find all the hostels closed and no place to spend the night. Without an option, I began my tour of the city in the middle of the night. Up until I met a cycle rickshaw guy who offered me a place to sleep. What that meant was  I slept on the cycle rickshaw; best sleep Ive had in ages.

I moved to a hostel the next day. Hostels are a great place to meet new people, some of who showed me around the city, and even took me on a hike. Mt. Ijen is an active volcano. I climbed the mountain at midnight, to see the blue fire within the volcano. Along with hundreds of climbers, I trekked all the way up, inhaling sulphur every step of the way just so we could witness the best sunrise of our lives.

Mt. Ijen, an active volcano



Despite myself, I reached Bali. It was all its made out to be. Commercial, and how. I picked fights with overcharging taxi drivers every day. Heres a tip: Skip the four wheels, and opt for a motorcycle. Theyre super cheap. Riding around Bali in one of these was the highlight of my time there. I found myself island-hopping and party-hopping for three days straight.

Lombok made for great R and R after Bali. Its a lot more peaceful, and way less crowded. I spent 2 days fishing and relaxing with locals. An Australian even helped me learn to surf. A regular, he comes to Indonesia every other weekend because its closer for him to get here than go from Perth to Sydney or Melbourne.

More From 101 India: Taking Grandma To The Sex Capital Of The World

Food was the highlight of my trip, and it was only fitting that I ended my journey at a restaurant  waiting tables for a day!

30 days, lots of experiences, and many new names in my contact list later, I found myself on a flight to the next country  Malaysia.

Its one straight road. Flat, straight road. Ride on



101 Indonesia

1.Book your flight tickets in advance.

2.Slow down, dont race to pack in everything at once.

3.Alternate between the mountains and the beaches.

4.Teri ma kasih means Thank You: and not what you think.

5.Shahrukh Khan is popular here as the Chaiya Chaiya guy.

6.Weather wise: it can get hot, cold, and rainy on the same day.

7.Eat! Everything! Everywhere!

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 Rohith Subramanian

Photographs by Rohith Subramanian

For more visit www.101india.com


From ELLE

Like Cinderella, the story of Bethann Hardison and Iman's decades-old friendship starts with a shoe. Iman had only just arrived in New York when the two met. She had been discovered by the photographer Peter Beard, who spotted her as a first-year Nairobi University student and insisted he take her picture. By the time she stepped into Stephen Burrows' downtown showroom in 1975, Hardison had already heard of her.

"She had just come into the country a couple of weeks before," Hardison remembers. "And people were wanting to see her-this woman!" At the time, Hardison, who would later embark on a career as an agent to champion models of color, headed up Burrows' studio, and he wanted to meet Iman. "So, it was like a basic go-see," Hardison says. Hardison was used to nerves, but Iman was so anxious she couldn't even lace up her shoes. Hardison swooped in, reaching down to help her slip on the heels.

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"She got down on her knees to help me put the shoes on," Iman remembers. "The whole room erupted, telling her, 'Don't do that! Now she will think because she is a princess that we all have to go on our knees." You know, all that horrible stuff. She didn't pay any attention to them. She put the heels on, and she looked up at me, and she said, 'You speak English and you understand everything they're saying, right?' And I said 'Yes' to her in English."

"From that moment, we were bonded," Hardison says. "She likes to tell people I was her Statue of Liberty, because I was the first face to welcome her to this country."

Story continues

"Well, she didn't have to do that, and I've never forgotten that first kindness," Iman says. "So, we just started to just hang out together. And she has literally been my friend since-my closest friend."

They're comrades; two women in the business who care deeply about representation and the achievements of black women. They joined forces to form the Black Girls Coalition in 1988. They organize monthly dinners. They are constantly in communication. They share, according to Iman, "everything." When Iman married David Bowie in 1992, Hardison was her maid of honor. "She was the first person who knew I was dating David," Iman remembers. "I didn't even have to say to her, 'Don't tell anyone.' I knew she never would."

"From my joys to my sorrows, to divorces to children, to ups and downs of life-everything," Iman says.

Photo credit: #ActuallySheCan/Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin

They were most recently shot by photographers Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin for #ActuallySheCan, an empowerment campaign by Allergen. The entire series is an exuberant celebration of well-known women and their mentors. But the photos of Iman and Hardison are especially evocative. Because while it's true that Hardison has been a role model to Iman and an advisor and a fount of wisdom, the photos demonstrate a mutual admiration between the women.

"As tough as she is and as strong as she is, she has a very sensitive soul, and I'm the person that she cries to," Iman says. "I'm the one who sees beyond what people see. I see her insecurities and vulnerabilities. And that's what makes this so special. Because female friendship-a true friendship-is a safe haven. It's a place where you're not criticized, but you are listened to." It's a place where women support each other, where the positions of mentors and mentees are in constant flux. Iman pauses, laughing: "At the same time, it's a place that when you fuck up, a good friend will tell you you're fucking up."

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MEXICO CITY, Oct 13 (Reuters) - The oil-rich Mexican state of Veracruz, whose administration has been mired in corruption allegations, will require a financial bailout because of its excessive debts, the incoming new governor said on Thursday.

Opposition allegations that outgoing governor Javier Duarte had presided over misuse of public funds have hurt the federal government, and on Wednesday Duarte resigned to face down the accusations. Duarte has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing.

He ran the state for President Enrique Pena Nieto's Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), though the PRI voted to suspend Duarte's party membership late last month, anxious to counter allegations it has been soft on corruption.

Miguel Angel Yunes of the opposition center-right National Action Party (PAN), who is due to assume the governorship of Veracruz at the start of December, told local television debt had spiraled under Duarte and the state would need a bailout.

"Veracruz's debt is unpayable," Yunes said, noting the debt could exceed 100 billion pesos ($5.18 billion).

The debt load in a number of states has risen sharply in the last few years, though Veracruz, which lies on the Gulf of Mexico, has been one of the worst offenders.

Between 2010, when Duarte took office, and the end of last year, the debt of Veracruz more than doubled to 45.9 billion pesos, according to finance ministry figures.

The opposition says that the real debt is higher. At the end of August, rating agency Moody's downgraded the issuer ratings of Veracruz, citing a "drastic deterioration" in the state's liquidity metrics. It gave the state a negative outlook.

Veracruz is one of the most populous states in Mexico with more than 8 million inhabitants. Gang violence has risen sharply in recent months and the opposition has accused Duarte's administration of allowing impunity to flourish there. ($1 = 19.2900 Mexican pesos) (Reporting by Dave Graham and Veronica Gomez; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)
Lyle Denniston, Constitution Dailys Supreme Court correspondent, examines what could be one of the most consequential decisions of modern times on the structure of the federal government.

Basing its decision on the Founders belief that concentrated government power threatens Americans liberty, a federal appeals court has ruled that the Constitution forbids a federal regulatory agency from being run by a single director. This is the latest challenge to the power of independent federal agencies  a challenge that has been running for decades and has been a favorite cause of businesses and conservative advocates.

In fact, the appeals courts opinion on Tuesday embraced the derogatory phrase that those challengers have been using for years, calling the agencies the headless fourth branch of the U.S. Government. It said that those agencies exercise enormous power over the economic and social life of the United States.

It added that, because of their massive power and the absence of presidential supervision and direction, the independent agencies pose a significant threat to individual liberty and to the constitutional system of separation of powers and checks and balances.

If that decision withstands further appeals, which apparently are planned, it could be one of the most consequential decisions of modern times on the structure of the federal government, putting added power into the hands of each occupant of the White House.

Although asked to rule that independent agencies, as such, are always unconstitutional if they are not directly supervised by the president, the appeals court said it was bound by a 1935 Supreme Court decision upholding the creation of such agencies to use executive-style power while not being answerable to the White House. That ultimate issue, though, will remain in the case, and could be pressed by the agencies critics as this particular case unfolds further.

For now, the effect of the 2-to-1 ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit was confined to a single agency  the six-year-old Consumer Finance Protection Bureau.

Story continues

Created as a part of the sweeping congressional attempt to reform the nations financial industry in the wake of the 2008 near-collapse of that industry, the so-called Dodd-Frank Act, the Bureau has broad power to enforce 19 different federal laws that seek to protect consumers financial interests. It can regulate, the appeals court noted, everything from home finance to student loans to credit cards to banking practices. The Bureau was an idea promoted strongly by Elizabeth Warren, now a U.S. senator from Massachusetts, when she was an adviser to President Obama.

The appeals court stopped short of shutting down the agency altogether, as it had been asked to do. But, saying it was deeply troubled by the fact that the Bureau operated entirely on its own, and under the unilateral leadership of a single director, the court modified that structure by  in effect  putting the Bureau into the Executive Branch and by explicitly giving the president the authority to fire the director at any time, for any reason and even for no reason at allin legal terms, at will.

The court majority accomplished that feat by simply deleting from the law creating the Bureau a phrase that allowed the director to be removed only for cause, meaning that he could only be discharged for inefficiency, neglect of duty, or malfeasance in office. Under that provision, the director could not be fired even for a deep disagreement on policy with the president, the constitutional head of the Executive Branch.

The first director of the Bureau is Richard Cordray, a former state official in Ohio. He has a five-year term that began in the summer of 2013 so, under the law as written, he could serve until 2018 even after a change in the presidency. He now will be subject to removal by the new president chosen in November. (The court opinion spoke highly of Cordray in a footnote.)

As set up by Congress, the court majority said, the Bureau director can use enormous executive power even while being unaccountable and unchecked. It described that official as the single most powerful official anywhere in the government, other than the president.

Major portions of the 101-page majority opinion, written by Circuit Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh and joined by Senior Circuit Judge A. Raymond Randolph, were devoted to the constitutional analysis and history of the independent agencies as a group. It found that, of the many such agencies created since 1887, only the Bureau was set up with a single director as its head.

The checks and balances system works in other independent agencies, the opinion said, because they all have several members who can check each other. The president, the majority noted, is checked by being accountable to the entire nation and by the constitutional command that he must faithfully execute: the laws passed by Congress. No one, it found, checks the Bureau director.

Legendary journalist Lyle Denniston is Constitution Dailys Supreme Court correspondent. Denniston has written for us as a contributor since June 2011. Denniston has covered the Supreme Court since 1958. His work also appears on lyldenlawnews.com.

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The execution of political prisoners often happens en masse in the country. The Secretary General of the United Nations denounced the executions in the most recent report on Iran.

Following a fatwa issued by Khomeini in 1988, more than 30,000 political prisoners were killed in the space of a few months. Most of these people were members or followers of the Peoples Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI). In August this year an audio recording was published in which Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri, then heir-apparent to Khomeini, denounced the crime.

The speakers called for justice for the people who died. Today, many of the officials who organized the massacre hold powerful positions in the government. They continue to sentence Iranians to death.

Iran, with more than 1,000 hangings per year, has the highest rate of executions per capita in the world. International human rights groups have denounced the countrys use of capital punishment.

Jean-Francois Legaret, mayor of Paris 1st district, hosted the exposition in his office. He said that there is a battle to fight against the death penalty and other barbaric acts in Iran, such as the 1988 prison massacre. He wanted the campaign to raise awareness that should continue until those responsible are judged before an international tribunal.

He emphasized that we should never negotiate with a barbarous regime, even if commercial exchanges are important.

Jacques Boutault, mayor of Paris 2nd district, praised the Iranian Resistance and all those who fight alongside it. He pointed out that the Iranian regime is complicit in the war in Aleppo and called on the French government to have the courage to denounce the crimes that Iran has perpetrated in Syria.

Mr. Henri Leclerc, Honorable President of the League for Human Rights, said that the use of the death penalty in Iran should be challenged, stating that unpunished crimes will recur. He said that the massacre of political prisoners in Iran is a crime against humanity when we know that thousands were executed while they were in prison. This must be denounced and we must act. We have sufficient materials. I hope that the U.N. conducts an investigation which brings those responsible to trial. He added that the victims of the 1988 massacre died for liberty around the world; these men, women, and children have a right to justice. If we leave such crimes unpunished, it is our future that will truly be tragic.
Add Insecures Prentice Penny to the list of showrunners who are doing star turns in front of the camera. Turners TruTV has given a 12-episode order to Upscale with Prentice Penny, an unscripted series from Defy Media featuring Penny exploring how to achieve the good life, even on a budget.

Penny is showrunner and exec producer of the new HBO comedy Insecure, starrring Issa Rae. The series opened Sunday to glowing reviews for its fresh and frank take on the life of a romantically challenged professional African-American woman.

Like so many people from working-class families, I grew up believing that a high-end lifestyle also comes with a high price tag. As I got older I learned that doesnt have to be the case, said Penny. With Upscale, I want to show people that cost and quality arent mutually exclusive, and an elevated life can come at every price point.

The half-hour show will be exec produced by Penny and Defy Medias Chris Pollack and Jared Hoffman. Its set to premiere next spring.

Prentices unique point of view, enviable sense of style and comedic insights make Upscale truly relatable for everyone, said Marissa Ronca, exec VP and head of programming for truTV. He brings incredible talent, creativity and an infectious curiosity to the series and were all looking forward to him upscaling our lives.

Penny joins a steady stream of showrunners who are taking on side gigs as hosts. Dan Harmon of Community fame is the host of an offbeat pilot for IFC, Great Minds. Larry Wilmore, a veteran multihyphenate veteran who is co-creator of Insecure, had an 18-month run as host of Comedy Centrals The Nightly Show. And Everybody Loves Raymond boss Phil Rosenthal hosts a foodie travelogue series for PBS, Ill Have What Phils Having.

Of course, Seinfeld showrunner Larry David remains the gold standard of showrunner-to-star trajectories with his run on HBOs Curb Your Enthusiasm.

Pennys other TV credits as a writer include ABCs Happy Endings, Foxs Brooklyn Nine-Nine and UPNs Girlfriends.

Story continues

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If you only read one thing: In the space of one hour Wednesday night, at least four news outlets brought to light new allegations of inappropriate touching against the Republican presidential nominee. Coming on the heels of the explosive 2005 video in which he bragged about such incidents, the first-person accounts of Trumps alleged actions have sent his campaign reeling once more, after it briefly felt a shift in momentum amid the release of hacked Clinton campaign documents by Wikileaks. Trumps team is bunkered down with the candidate as they try to combat the reports. Trump took to Twitter to try to discredit the accounts by arguing they were from so long ago, and his lawyers demanded a retraction and sent a legal threat to the New York Times, but the candidate never disputed the factual claims made by the women. And theres no indication that the parade of allegations is going to stop.

Hillary Clintons campaigns dirty laundry is being aired in the ongoing Wikileaks release, as emails from chairman John Podesta reveal some embarrassing details about how the Democratic campaign functions. A aides insulting jokes about Catholics, internal backbiting and strategic disagreements are hardly going to derail the campaign, but paint a picture of a campaign not nearly as well-oiled as polls suggest.

Inside Donald Trumps meltdown. Trump plans to intensify his attacks on the Clintons. And which Republicans have stopped supporting Donald Trump.

Here are your must reads:

Must Reads

Inside Donald Trumps Total Meltdown

Unshackled and unafraid [TIME]

Hillary Clinton Adviser Suggests Donald Trump Campaign Knew About Hacked Emails

Allegations of collusion [TIME]

Physically Attacked by Donald Trump

A PEOPLE Writers Own Harrowing Story

More Questionable Footage of Trumps Comments on Women

1992 tape about 10-year-old girls draws scrutiny [CBS]

Trump Rampages Through Florida

He promised to jail Clinton and her lawyers, while getting to the bottom of Paul Ryans sinister deal to foil him [Politico]

Story continues

Trump to Intensify Attacks on Clinton Over Husbands Accusers

Campaign says more women will soon come forward [Bloomberg]

Sound Off

Theres a big Trump and a little Trump. The little Trump is frankly pathetic.  Former Speaker of the House and Trump wannabe-veep Newt Gingrich on Fox Business Thursday

She deleted the email. She has to go to jail.  Donald Trump in Florida Wednesday

Bits and Bites

Maine Gov. Paul LePage: Barack Obama is a dictator [CNN]

MGM Says It Cant Release Donald Trumps Unaired Apprentice Tapes to the Public [Associated Press]

Third Presidential Debate Will Focus on Supreme Court, Immigration [TIME]

Ruth Bader Ginsburg Suggests Senate Should Confirm Merrick Garland in Lame-Duck Session [TIME]

Hillary Clinton Campaign Pushes Back on Anti-Catholic Charge [TIME]

Which Republicans Have Stopped Supporting Donald Trump? [TIME]

Heres the Photo That Contradicts Rudy Giulianis Criticism of Hillary Clinton [TIME]

Obama team gets first gifts from Cuba and Iran  but nothing from Russia [Yahoo]

Trump backers tweet #repealthe19th after polls show hed win if only men voted [LA Times]

How One 19-Year-Old Illinois Man Is Distorting National Polling Averages [New York Times]

Pence tries to stem evangelical rebellion against Trump [Yahoo]
The call to gather went out Sunday morning, arriving on cell phones before many of the pastors had left their congregations. These 23 men and three women, all members of Donald Trumps evangelical advisory council, had long ago signed on to pray for his vision for the nation. But now a scandalous recording from Access Hollywood was threatening to blow up the prayer circle.

From California to Florida, members of the group joined a late-afternoon emergency conference call on Oct. 9 to ponder the ugly spectacle of a 59-year-old man boasting about trying to seduce a married woman, forcing himself on others and getting away with it all because he was a star. It had to be an awkward moment for the faithful: Trump was bragging about sexual assault. Grab them by the p-ssy, the Republican nominee for President, now 70, was heard saying. You can do anything.

Seeking guidance in Scripture, they found a Bible abounding in useful scoundrels. One participant on the call noted that Jesus had befriended tax collectors and sinners. Another invoked the Old Testament figure Nehemiah, who served a pagan king, Cyrus of Persia, but leveraged the relationship to accomplish the holy mission of rebuilding the ancient walls of Jerusalem. Even an imperfect ruler might be the means to a righteous end.

And so the panel overwhelmingly stuck with the sinner, according to four people on the call. It was Hillary Clinton, not Trump, who worried them. Can anybody say she is morally superior to Donald Trump? I dont think so, said Dallas megachurch pastor Robert Jeffress, days later. This election is not about Donald Trumps past, it is about Americas future.

This cold calculation induced cringes among many of their fellow church leaders. The editors of Christianity Today, a leading voice of evangelicals founded by Billy Graham, weighed whether it would profit the movement to gain the world at the cost of its soul. Trump has been, his whole adult life, an idolater, the magazine intoned, and a singularly unrepentant one.

Story continues

As the 2016 campaign moved into its final weeks, Trump had put the whole country on the rack alongside the Christian conservatives, stretching the sinews of American politics to the breaking point. While some voters were tugged toward the wincing sophistry of the conference call, a larger number pulled disgustedly into the ranks of #nevertrump. The candidate himself was consumed by petty grudges. The furor over the leaked recording seemed to liberate him. Free of the shackleshis own tweeted wordTrump reduced his campaign to a primal grunt.

It sounded, at times, like the last gasp of the angry white man. Trump threatened to throw his opponent in jail, bragged of avoiding income taxes and peddled an empty conspiracy theory about undocumented immigrants being given voter-registration cards. He insisted he was right to stoke the racial tensions of New York City during the Central Park jogger drama in the 1990s, refusing to accept the DNA proof that he had the case wrong. He promoted a fiction that Muslim friends of the San Bernardino, Calif., terrorists knew their plans but failed to alert authorities, and he injected a crude Russian propaganda effort into one of his rallies without a care about its inaccuracy. Another tape (it wasnt easy keeping track) caught him agreeing as a radio shock jock labeled his daughter Ivanka a piece of ass. Having congratulated himself for keeping the first presidential debate slightly above the muck, in Round 2 he plunged into the wallow, deflecting attention from his own vulgarity by saddling Clinton with the alleged sexual sins of her husband and trying to seat Bill Clintons accusers in the front row.

Trump once said on the campaign trail that he would approve of torture as President, even if it doesnt work. With four weeks left to Election Day, he seemed to be testing the proposition on the public. Unshackled, he flirted with unhinged and erased the emollient line between a campaign aimed at the base and one intended to debase.

While his followers reveled, his more reluctant allies squirmed. Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, Washingtons highest-ranking Republican, came within a whisker of withdrawing his endorsement of the partys nominee, urged on by his wife, who marched for womens rights while a student at Wellesley. Trumps running mate, Indiana Governor Mike Pence, considered quitting the ticket. Then, attempting a straddle, Pence released a stinging rebuke of Trumps Access excesses before resuming his role as chief cheerleader. I dont find myself thinking a whole lot about party right now, he said on Oct. 11.

But others could no longer stay silent. Enough! insisted former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, calling on Trump to withdraw. Offensive and despicable, declared Utah Governor Gary Herbert. I cannot and will not vote for Donald Trump, said Governor Robert Bentley of Alabama.

The Trump campaign, party insiders admit, could do irreparable damage to a generation of prospects by rendering them enablers. Rivals for the nomination, like Texas Senator Ted Cruz, had cozied up to him until they realized it was too late. Elected officials had hesitated to oppose him lest they rouse his army of pitchfork populists. Many of the leaders of the religious right repeatedly blessed a candidate who bats 0 for 3 on the biblical injunction to do justice, love mercy and walk humbly. Barring a last-minute surprise, Trump is on track to lose his race. The question now is whether hell destroy the partys congressional majorities as well.

Its us against the world, declared a digital ad from the Trump campaign on the morning after the debate. But it wasnt clear whether his main foe in the final month would be Clinton or Republican officials. After his incendiary debate performance, he turned on Ryan and company with a gas can and lighter in hand. Disloyal Rs are far more difficult than Crooked Hillary, Trump tweeted of the fleeing Republicans. They come at you from all sides. They dont know how to winI will teach them! Almost immediately, his fans took up the chorus: Trump loyalists circulated a rumor that Establishment Republicans were behind the leak to the Washington Post of the disastrous tape. When protesters gathered outside the partys white brick headquarters on Capitol Hill, the organizer turned out to be Trumps Virginia campaign chairman. One sign waved at the RNC offices read, Better to grab a p-ssy than to be one.

And there was no reason to think that the GOP was done tearing itself apart. Purging the party of moderates has long been the dream of alt-right provocateurs like the gang at Breitbart News. With Breitbart chairman Stephen Bannon now in league with the rampaging Trump, the revolt may only be beginning. Election Day could be the start of the real civil war, warns Kevin Sheridan, a GOP consultant and former adviser to Ryan. Not the end of it.

A veteran party official who has watched the party go from conservative to crazy during Trumps rise says the saddest part of the conflict is how predictable it was. We have been warning the party that this was the likely outcome. You cant fix what is at the core of a persons character, says the official, who opposed Trump from the beginning. This is who he is. And now its who we as Republicans are, because we went along with it.

The day after the nastiest presidential debate in modern memory, Trump traveled to Wilkes-Barre, Pa., for one of his trademark rallies. At events like this, Trumps excesses are celebrated or forgiven, and his provocations are championed as bravery. In the year of the first female major-party nominee, T-shirts are emblazoned with vulgar words for the female anatomy. Vendors hawk Hillary for Prison buttons. The rhetoric is even more acidic. Shes a murderer, shes a liar. You name it, shes done it, says Neil McNamara, who drove from New York to join the thousands thronging the arena. Trump is happy to indulge their fever. Lock her up is right! Trump hollered from his podium as the crowd chanted a favorite refrain.

Trumps stump speech is a sort of jazz riff, and one of his favorite themes involves reciting the lyrics of an old soul anthem, The Snake, a parable about the dangers of showing too much compassion to strangers. To the delight of his Wilkes-Barre audience, he wove it into this rally. Oh shut up, silly woman, Trump quoted. You knew damn well I was a snake before you took me in. Trump uses the tune to illustrate the dangers of welcoming Syrian refugees. But it can also be read as a rebuke to the GOP for letting Trump into the tent.

He hid nothing of himself as he stormed through the primaries; the man on the Access tape was entirely consistent with the crude and bullying Trump of last autumn and spring. He had long been a proud womanizer whose affairs have often made tabloid headlineshe frequently leaked the details himselfand he had no problem boasting about his manhood at a presidential debate. Could anyone truly be surprised that he privately bragged about groping strangers and trying to bed married women, and explained it away as locker-room talk?

Which is why the statements of outrage from fleeing Republicans struck Trump allies as entirely disingenuous. The tape was catalytic not because it showed a new Trump but because it made clear that the old Trump is the only Trump this election is going to see. (Trumps initial response to the tapes release was not a full-throated apology but a hedged I apologize if anyone was offended.) The Access tape snuffed the wan but cherished hopes of GOP mainstreamers that a more sober and responsible version of the candidate would emerge in the final act of the tragedy.

In this gerrymandered age, most elected Republicans hail from districts where victory is possible without the support of Muslims or Mexicans or African Americans or any of the other ethnic and cultural groups named by Trump as part of the nations problem. But the GOP cannot survive without white married women, who are reliable members of their coalition. Tagged by Democrats with waging a war on women, endangered Republicans heard in Trumps lewd rhetoric an existential threat. Of all the candidates combustible comments, clearly this one crossed a certain kind of a line, says Debbie Walsh, director of the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University. It smacked of a predatory aggressiveness.

Certainly party leaders knew Trump had gone too far. On an Oct. 10 conference call, Ryan told House Republicans they were free to cut themselves loose from the nominee. GOP caucus campaign chief Greg Walden told lobbyists the same day that Trump could be a drag in every race around the country. They were in uncharted waters, he told the group, and it was every candidate for himself or herself. You gotta do whats best for you, explained an aide to one Republican Congressman who withdrew his Trump endorsement. Every member is going to have to make their own decision.

So few truly competitive seats remain that there may not be enough for Democrats to retake the House in a single election cycle. And as of September, Republicans had some $65 million at the ready to defend vulnerable incumbents. But the Senate is another story. There, the Democrats need to flip just four of the 24 seats the GOP is defending this year if Clinton wins. In most of those contests, Democrats are pouring money into advertisements yoking the local Republican to Trump. The GOPs Senate campaign arm urged its candidates to stay calm and wait a week until polls could measure the depth of Trumps fall. But there is a danger in that wait-and-see approach, one party strategist noted: with early balloting under way in many states, voters are already sealing their decisions.

At the same time, the party must deal with the anger in Trumps ranks. Ryan got an earful on his conference call from the congressional faction that wanted a full-throated defense of Trump. Democrats, when attacked, become musk ox. They all rally together and stand there looking stubbornly out, refusing to move, says former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, a close ally of Trumps. Republicans, when theres a large, loud noise, are sort of like deer who scatter. There are just different party cultures.

Trump left no easy way out. Party boss Reince Priebus continued to nurse his uneasy alliance with the nominee, aware that the partys fundraising and turnout operation both hinge on enthusiasm for the top of the ticket. Not that Trump was cooperating. According to one senior Trump adviser, enthusiasm is no longer a part of his strategy. He has largely given up on broadening the electorate. We have no problems going deeper into the mud, the adviser said. A low-turnout election is better for us.

For the Clinton campaign, the danger was premature gloating. The former Secretary of State, Senator and First Lady remains a wooden candidate whom many Americans say they dont trust. Hackers, believed by U.S. intelligence experts to be linked to Vladimir Putin, have tapped the email accounts of top Clinton aides, and theres no telling when the flow of stolen documents and embarrassing revelations will dry up. Indeed, were it not for the Trump meltdown, Clinton would have endured a rough week of her own. As the nation gawked at Trumps crass words, Clintons own private admissions were laid bare by WikiLeaks release of a top advisers correspondence. Among the disclosures were partial transcripts of past paid speeches, which suggested that her public agenda deviated from her private opinions and revealed her dream of a hemispheric common market, with open trade and open borders. Her senior advisers have no choice but to bet that moreand maybe worseis on its way.

And they know that Clinton is frequently her own worst enemy. Her penchant for secrecy fueled the scandal of her private email server and led her to hide a pneumonia diagnosis, only to stagger on camera while leaving a 9/11 memorial service. Never underestimate Hillary Clintons ability to make this harder than it has to be, one top Clinton aide says of the boss. She never takes the easy route. If the path is from New York to Washington, D.C., its even odds that her trip will go through Utah.

Democrats remain haunted by Trumps unique resilience. In roughly a years time, he had attacked women, Muslims, minorities, POWs and the disabled, and, like the familiar old clown toy, bounced back each time he fell. Weve lived through too many incidents where things should have been extinction-level events for his campaign and did not materialize that way, another top Clinton official muses. Even after the video exposed Trumps crass comments, polls remain stubbornly close in several must-win states.

As his chances narrowed, Trump holed up inside his apartment on the 66th floor of his Manhattan tower. He spent much of the weekend alone, watching the tape loop on cable news and working the phones to solicit advice. Among the billionaires tight inner circle, some of the most influential figures are insurgents who have spent years more focused on tearing apart what is left of the Republican Party than on getting the GOP back to the White House.

One of them is Bannon, the Trump campaigns CEO. The former Goldman Sachs banker and conservative filmmaker has waged a long, often lonely crusade against Republican leaders through his online news outlet Breitbart. Ryan has been a recurring target. Long game is him gone by spring, Bannon wrote last December to a Breitbart staffer, according to an email obtained by the newspaper The Hill.

It didnt happen, but not for lack of trying: Breitbart campaigned relentlessly against Ryan, propping up his primary challenger. In one stunt that Breitbart covered breathlessly, Ryans challenger gathered a group of women whose children had been victims of criminals who were in the U.S. illegally to protest outside Ryans Wisconsin home, demanding he tear down the propertys fence if he would not support Trumps border wall.

Bannon found a home with Trump through Robert and Rebekah Mercer, a father-daughter donor duo who have funneled tens of millions of dollars toward conservative causes, including efforts to defeat Establishment Republicans. After Trumps tape went public, the Mercers were among the only voices to express no interest in his transgressions.We are completely indifferent to Mr. Trumps locker-room braggadocio, the family said in a statement to the Washington Post. America is finally fed up and disgusted with its political elite. Trump is channeling this disgust  We have a country to save and there is only one person can save it. Trump is a powerful instrument for the Mercers shared campaign to create a purer Republican Party, even if he loses in a wipeout in November. Such a result might only hasten the transformation. A Clinton presidency will drive the country further to the right, explains Gingrich, architect of the last Republican revolution a generation ago.It will make us angrier, more alienated.

Trump is already laying the exculpatory groundwork for defeat. Without the media, Hillary Clinton couldnt be elected dogcatcher, Trump told his Pennsylvania audience. For months he has claimed that the political system, along with national institutions that have gone unquestioned for decadesfrom the Bureau of Labor Statistics to the FBIare rigged against him. That includes Republican leaders. I wouldnt want to be in a foxhole with a lot of these people, he told Fox News Bill OReilly on Oct. 11, especially Ryan.

It all points to a Republican civil war that is, if anything, just getting under way. The fight youre seeing now is a preview of what youre going to see on steroids after the election, says Alex Conant, a Republican strategist and former adviser to Marco Rubio. The real debate is about what the Republican Party represents and what its values are. Bill Weld, the former Republican governor of Massachusetts who is now campaigning against Trump from his perch as the vice-presidential nominee on the Libertarian Party ticket, is even more direct. Theres going to be a schism, he says. Already Trump has torn apart the conservative movement. A generation of rising stars, such as Ryan and Rubio, may find their futures tainted by Trumpfrom their failure to enlist in his army, or perhaps from their failure to take up arms against him. Or both.

Religious conservatives, who for decades defined themselves as values voters, will now have to explain why they lined up behind a thrice-married playboy who once said he had never asked God for forgiveness. Samuel Rodriguez Jr., president of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference, says Trump has exposed the disconnect between evangelicals words and their political deeds. Russell Moore, the president of the Southern Baptist Conventions public-policy arm, says church leaders lost credibility when they cast their lot with Trump. This has been traumatic for the Republic, and traumatic for the church, says Moore, one of the top evangelicals to oppose Trump from the beginning. It is going to take years and years and years to recover and rebuild.

Perhaps most notable is how Trumps antics have overshadowed the real arguments he brought to the table. With his tart tongue, Trump has exposed something real: a populist fury at the decades of bipartisan consensus for a more globalized world; frustration over 15 years of slow economic growth; impatience with an immigration system that depends, because of bureaucratic dysfunction, on ignoring or not enforcing written laws; a rejection of the governments apparent helplessness in the face of conundrums like homegrown terrorism.

Win or lose, Trumps rise has forced the Republican Party to rethink its identity in a way that hasnt been done since the civil rights era. The GOPs introspection after Mitt Romneys 2012 loss will seem quaint by comparison. A report commissioned then by party bosses, dubbed the Autopsy, called for a gentler, more inclusive Republican Party that could expand its appeal beyond its aging white base. The suggestions were sensible. They were also dead on arrival long before Trump hit the scene.

Will a post-Trump GOP now turn back toward conservative orthodoxy? Or, egged on by alt-right news outlets and talk radio, fully embrace a new brand of populist nationalism? Trump is unlikely to recede from the spotlight. This campaign has cemented him as a star. GOP insiders from all points on the partys ideological spectrum predict he may use his notoriety to launch a branded news outlet for his fervent fans.

Certainly those believers show no signs of abandoning him. After the tapes release, crowds clogged the sidewalk outside his apartment, hoping to catch a glimpse of their under-fire candidate. As the cable networks continued the second day of wall-to-wall coverage, Trump put down the remote control and decided to face his supporters. Shortly before 5 p.m. he walked from the marbled lobby to greet the throng. The crowd went wild, shouting his name and waving signs. For five minutes Trump worked the crowd, smiling and thanking supporters. Then the Republican nominee hoisted his right fist into the air, clapped his hands and disappeared back inside his tower.

With reporting by ELIZABETH DIAS, TESSA BERENSON and SAM FRIZELL/WASHINGTON; CHARLOTTE ALTER/NEW YORK and ZEKE J. MILLER/WILKES-BARRE, PA.



This appears in the October 24, 2016 issue of TIME.
By Mica Rosenberg NEW YORK (Reuters) - A former employee of internet gambling company PokerStars pleaded guilty on Thursday to operating an illegal gambling business, as part of a long-running case by U.S. prosecutors against the online poker industry. Paul Tate, 42, told U.S. Magistrate Judge Barbara Moses that he was guilty of one charge that has a maximum sentence of five years in prison. A sentencing hearing will be held on Nov. 21. The case dates to 2011, when the U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara in Manhattan won the indictment of 11 defendants, including Tate, who were involved with PokerStars, Absolute Poker and Full Tilt Poker. The charges against them included bank fraud, money laundering and other charges. Wearing a gray suit and glasses in court, Tate, a British citizen, said he began working for the Isle of Man-based PokerStars in 2006 doing technical work and interacting with companies that processed payments. "My family and I have paid a heavy price for this conduct," he told the judge. Amaya Inc, the Canadian company that owns the PokerStars and Full Tilt brands, said in an emailed statement that it was not involved in the case and the outcome would have "no impact or legal implications on our business or operations." In 2012, PokerStars paid $731 million to settle civil claims brought by the U.S. Justice Department. PokerStars also agreed to purchase Full Tilt Poker as part of the agreement, after the former rival collapsed following the indictment. The U.S. government alleged the offshore poker companies circumvented laws against internet gambling to trick U.S. banks and credit card issuers into processing billions of dollars of payments on their behalf. The case is USA v. Tzvetkoff et al, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, No. 1:10-cr-00336. (Editing by Steve Orlofsky)
Iran says it has dispatched two warships to the Gulf of Aden to ply the same waters as several U.S. Navy vessels are already operating there, one of which launched several Tomahawk missiles at Tehran-backed Houthi radar installations early Thursday morning.

According to the Iranian Tasnim news site, which has links to the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps, the frigate Alvand and logistics ship Bushehr are heading to the Yemeni coast to protect the countrys trade vessels against piracy. But the site also notes that the presence of the Iranian fleet in the Gulf of Aden coincides with the US decision to directly get involved in a Saudi-led war against Yemen. Piracy has all but disappeared in the area, and the Iranian ships are scheduled to then sail south down Africas east coast.

The Iranian warship heading to the Gulf of Aden  the 45 year-old Alvand, which carries anti-ship missiles, a Mark 8 gun as well as various machine guns  already has a checkered history with the U.S. Navy. In July 2015, the ship trained its guns on a U.S. Navy helicopter and an allied supply ship operating with the USS Farragut in the waterway, but the incident was contained before any violence broke out.

The news of the deployment comes hours after the USS Nitze launched several Tomahawk missiles at three radar sites in a Houthi rebel-controlled part of Yemen, sites the U.S. believes took part in the three separate missile attacks on U.S. Navy ships operating off the Yemeni coast this week.

Yemens Saba news agency, which acts as a mouthpiece for the Houthi-led government, charged Thursday that U.S. allegations of its ships being targeted were made to create false justifications to pave the way for Saudi-led coalition to escalate their aggression against Yemen and to cover for crimes continually committed by the coalition fighting to oust the Houthis from power.

Houthi military spokesman Brig. Gen. Sharaf Luqman Haq also lashed out at Washington on Thursday, telling The Wall Street Journal that the direct American attack and targeting of Yemeni territory this morning is unacceptable and any developments will be dealt with accordingly.

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The Pentagon is trying to assure regional actors that its not interested in taking on a bigger role in the Saudi-led war in Yemen.

We dont seek a wider role in this conflict, Peter Cook, the Pentagon press secretary told reporters Thursday. The strikes were not connected to the broader conflict in Yemen, he added, but should we see a repeat, we will be prepared to take appropriate action again, he said.

U.S. officials contend that the strike on the three Houthi radar sites was an act of self-defense. White House spokesman Eric Schultz told reporters Thursday that the intent of our strikes were to deter future attacks and to reduce the risk to U.S. and other vessels. We are prepared to respond if necessary to any future missile launches.

It is unclear what prompted the missile launches toward the USS Mason and other ships, but they come days after the Houthis claimed credit for a missile strike on the HSV Swift, a U.A.E-operated navy vessel in the Red Sea that almost completely destroyed the ship.

In a significant move, the Mason deployed two Standard Missile-2s and a single Enhanced Sea Sparrow Missile to intercept the incoming missiles, marking the first time either self-defense system has been used to protect an American warship from incoming missiles.

The attack on the American ships also comes amid the backdrop of a Saudi airstrike on a funeral in Sanaa that killed 140 people, including several high-ranking Houthi officials, among them some well-known moderates who were attempting to set up negotiations between the Saudis and Houthis. The strike has led Washington to again assess its support for the air campaign, which includes refueling of Saudi and Emirati bombers, and some intelligence support.

State Department spokesman John Kirby said Tuesday the U.S. has been nothing but candid and forthright with the Saudis about our concerns over civilian casualties and collateral damage and our concerns about lack of precision in the conduct of some of these strikes.

Photo Credit: AFP/Getty Images
Baghdad (AFP) - The Iraqi foreign ministry summoned the Turkish ambassador on Thursday to protest the continued presence of Turkish troops in northern Iraq without Baghdad's permission, a ministry spokesman said.

Turkish troops are deployed in the Bashiqa area near the jihadist-held city of Mosul, and Turkey's prime minister has said that they will stay despite Baghdad's demands that they be withdrawn.

The Turkish ambassador was given a "a strongly worded formal note of protest" regarding "the continued presence of Turkish forces near Bashiqa and recent abusive statements from their leadership," spokesman Ahmed Jamal told AFP.

Earlier this week, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi to "know your place," and said that he is "not on my level."

And Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said last week that the country's forces would stay "no matter what the Iraqi government in Baghdad says."

Abadi has repeatedly demanded that the Turkish troops be withdrawn and said that they will not take part in the impending operation to recapture Mosul from the Islamic State jihadist group.

The US State Department issued a statement earlier this week that implicitly backed Iraq's position, saying that: "We believe all international forces in Iraq should be there with the approval of and in coordination with the government of Iraq."

Iraqi forces are preparing for the operation to retake Mosul from IS, which is expected to be the toughest and most complex battle of the country's more than two-year war against the jihadists.

More than 7,000 military personnel from a US-led coalition are deployed in Iraq to support Baghdad's forces, but the coalition has repeatedly stated that the Turkish deployment is not part of its operations.
Nobel Prize-winning playwright and actor Dario Fo died Thursday after suffering from lung problems. He was 90.

Fo won the Nobel Prize in literature in 1997 and had been a mainstay of Italian culture throughout his career. Fo wrote more than 80 plays, which have been translated into 30 languages. His wife Franca Rame served as his muse and chief actor until her death in 2013.

"In Dario Fo, Italy has lost one of the great protagonists of the theater, of culture, of the civic life of our country," Prime Minister Matteo Renzi said. "His satire, research, his work on set design and his versatile artistic activities are the legacy of one of the world's great Italians."

A fiercely leftist activist throughout his life, Fo's work attacked institutions of organized crime, racism, corruption, religious theology and war.

When accepting the Nobel Prize, he encouraged local productions to adapt his plays to local issues. "A theater, a literature, an artistic expression that does not speak for its own time has no relevance," Fo said at the time.

His career came to prominence in the 1950s when he started performing on a radio variety show and founded a theater company. He lived in Rome briefly, next door to Roberto Rossellini and Ingrid Bergman, writing and acting in several productions, including Carlo Lizzani's The Screwball.

In the 1960s, Fo took over the popular RAI variety show Canzonissima, infusing the previously light show with social commentary. Pieces involving workers rights were censored. After airing a sketch about a journalist killed by the Mafia, he and his wife received death threats. Fo eventually left the network over issues of censorship.

His 1974 solo piece Mistero Buffo (Can't Pay? Won't Pay!), a political farce about consumer backlash against high prices, was performed in 35 countries over 30 years and is considered one of the most controversial works of post-war Europe. The Vatican called it "the most blasphemous show in the history of television."

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Read more: Bob Dylan Wins Nobel Prize for Literature

The play Mother's Marijuana Is the Best confronted Italy's growing drug problem. "Rich people consume and use drugs, while poor people are used and consumed by drugs," he famously said at the time.

In the 1980s, Fo became celebrated abroad. But because of his ties to the Communist Party, the U.S. blocked the infamous writer from entering the country multiple times. In May 1980, Martin Scorsese, Arthur Miller and Richard Foreman attended a theatrical event called "An Evening Without Dario Fo and Franca Rame" in protest.

The author is best known for his play The Accidental Death of an Anarchist, based on the real-life story of a Milanese railway worker who was arrested for terrorism and "fell" to his death from police headquarters. President Ronald Reagan at the time granted Fo and Rame a brief waiver to attend the opening in New York at the Belasco Theater in 1984.

His plays were often adapted into TV movies in countries including Italy, Sweden, Finland, the former Yugoslavia, Germany, Spain, Portugal and many more.

Throughout the 1990s and 2000s, he was one of the most vocal critics of Silvio Berlusconi and his Forza Italia party.

Recently, Fo had identified with Beppe Grillo's anti-established Five Star Movement. He spoke in Milan's Piazza Duomo in 2013 urging supporters to "go do it for yourselves!" Grillo's supporters took to calling Fo "the Master."

Fo is survived by his son Jacopo, also a prolific writer and activist.

The Rome Film Fest has announced a special screening of The Screwball this week to commemorate the artist. And Sky Italia has dedicated special programming dedicated to the author across its Sky Arts HD and Sky 3D channels Thursday and Friday. In Story of an Event, Fo describes his love of Pope Francis and how he broke with tradition to speak in the words of the Saint Francis of Assisi. In Dario Fo Paints Maria Callas, he tells the life of the opera queen through his art.
It appears the Twitter account of John Podesta  Hillary Clinton's campaign chair  was hacked on Wednesday. A message posted to the account declared that he "switched teams" and now supports Donald Trump.

See a screenshot of John Podesta's hacked tweet below:

John Podesta

"I've switched teams. Vote Trump 2016," the tweet reads.

The hacking comes after Wikileaks released a trove of Podesta's emails on Monday that included his Twitter account password.

The Democratic Party has suffered a number of cybersecurity attacks in recent months. The US this week formally accused Russia of being responsible for the attacks.

NOW WATCH: Trump had a great response when he was asked to name one thing he liked about Clinton





More From Business Insider


The Guardian statesthat Zeinab Sekaanvand could be hanged as soon as 13th October this year after what Amnesty International called a grossly unfair trial.

Philip Luther, research and advocacy director for the Middle East and North Africa at Amnesty International said that Sekaanvands case is extremely disturbing. Firstly, she was under the age of 18 at the time the crime was allegedly committed. Secondly, she was denied access to a lawyer. Furthermore, Sekaanvand says that she was tortured by male police officers after her arrest and was beaten all over her body.

This case is similar to that of Fatemeh Salbehi who was executed last year in Iran. Human rights groups condemned her execution which came after she drugged and suffocated her husband when she was 17. Salbehi, like Sekaanvand, underwent abuse from her husband.

Over the past ten years more than 73 juvenile offenders have been executed in the country, as stated in the Amnesty report from earlier this year. Iranian law determines adulthood based on puberty which legally classes a boy aged 15 and a girl aged nine as adults.
ABIDJAN (Reuters) - Ivory Coast's government adopted a set of power sector decrees on Wednesday meant to open it up to competition and address shortfalls in the electricity supply to Francophone West Africa's biggest economy, its spokesman said. For most of its history since independence from France in 1960s, Ivory Coast, the world's leading cocoa producer, has been spared the power cuts that routinely blight other West African nations. But economic growth averaging 9 percent in the past four years has pushed power capacity to the limit. President Alassane Ouattara in May pledged to break up the country's long-standing electricity and water monopolies and introduce competition to reduce prices and spur investment. "The council of ministers adopted six decrees aimed at liberalising the electricity sector, from production to supply, activities that today are the remit of the Ivorian Electricity Company (CIE)," government spokesman Bruno Kone told reporters after a cabinet meeting. The six measures are: repealing an earlier electricity decree, setting conditions for independent producers to be able to sell to the grid, dissolving the current regulator and replacing it with a new one, a review of current power prices and laying down guidelines on power marketing and distribution. Demand for electricity is rising by some 10 percent a year, and the energy minister said last year that $20 billion of investment is needed in the industry over the next 15 years. CIE, majority owned by Africa-focused public utilities manager Eranove Group, has supplied electricity to Ivory Coast since 1990. (Reporting by Loucoumane Coulibaly; Editing by Tim Cocks and Dominic Evans)
J.D. Power has announced the launching of the J.D. Power Dealer of Excellence ProgramSM to recognize car dealerships that provide an exceptional customer experience. This exclusive program reflects the commitment and dedication of select retailers to providing their customers with a purchase experience that lives up to, or exceeds, todays consumer expectations. It also gives certified dealers an extra marketing tool with which to position themselves as reputable, reliable companies.



The Dealer of Excellence Program will assist car buyers who are looking for an exceptional dealership where they can confidently buy a vehicle, said Chris Sutton, vice president of automotive retail for J.D. Power. Certified dealers will also benefit by leveraging the J.D. Power brand and promoting their dealerships commitment to an outstanding customer purchase experiencewith the intent of increasing showroom traffic and selling more cars.





J.D. Power Dealer of Excellence photo

To qualify for a Dealer of Excellence certification, it will help if the dealer sells a top-performing brand of vehicle. J.D. Power limits the percentage of eligible dealerships by nameplate, based on each brands performance in the most recent J.D. Power U.S. Sales Satisfaction Index (SSI) Study.SM Thus, proportionally more dealerships from top-performing brands can become J.D. Power Dealers of Excellence.



Regardless of brand, vehicle dealers who qualify for the Dealer of Excellence certification must rank among their brands top performers in key customer satisfaction areas consistent with measurements found in the SSI Study. They must also pass an in-dealership sales process verification and show they meet or exceed J.D. Power sales best practices. Those best practices include:

Listing vehicle inventory and pricing on the dealership website

Negotiating in an efficient and transparent manner

Offering a fair trade-in value

Presenting a clear and easy-to-understand F&I product menu



A certified Dealer of Excellence dealership is permitted to market its achievement for 12 months, with marketing tools such as a J.D. Power Dealer of Excellence trophy, online marketing collateral, and in-store merchandise displays. Certified dealerships also will be listed on www.jdpower.com, so consumers can find the most highly regarded dealers of a specific brand, in their market.



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J.D. Power has announced the launching of the J.D. Power Dealer of Excellence Program to recognize car dealerships that provide an exceptional customer experience.

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Johnson & Johnson JNJ, the bellwether of healthcare companies, is scheduled to report third-quarter 2016 results on Oct 18, before the opening bell. Last quarter, the company reported a positive earnings surprise of 4.19%.

J&J has consistently surpassed earnings expectations. The companys earnings beat expectations in each of the last four quarters, with an average positive surprise of 2.88%. Will J&J be able to beat estimates this time as well?

Let's see how things are shaping up for this announcement.

Why a Likely Positive Surprise?



For the third quarter of 2016, our proven model shows that J&J is again likely to beat earnings estimates because it has the right combination of two key ingredients.



Positive Zacks ESP: Earnings ESP, which represents the difference between the Most Accurate estimate and the Zacks Consensus Estimate, is +4.88%. This is a meaningful and leading indicator of a likely positive earnings surprise for the shares.



Zacks Rank #3 (Hold): Note that stocks with Zacks Ranks #1 (Strong Buy), #2 (Buy) and #3 have a significantly higher chance of beating earnings.



However, 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.



The combination of J&Js Zacks Rank #3 and +4.88% ESP makes us reasonably confident of an earnings beat this season.

JOHNSON & JOHNS Price and EPS Surprise

JOHNSON & JOHNS Price and EPS Surprise | JOHNSON & JOHNS Quote

Will the Pharma Segment Continue to Drive Results?

J&Js Pharmaceutical segment has been performing well and should continue the same this quarter as well on the back of strong sales of new products as well as core growth products. Robust market growth and increased share should boost sales of Simponi and Stelara. Imbruvica should benefit from increased patient uptake. New cancer treatment, Darzalex, has been off to an encouraging start in the U.S. It gained EU approval in May 2016, which should further add to the drugs sales.

Story continues

Xarelto and Invokana/Invokamet should keep up their performance thanks to growth in prescription share. Invega Sustenna should also benefit due to strong sales.

However, Olysio sales will keep declining due to increased competition while Invega continues to face a decline in sales due to generic competition.



J&J continues to assume no biosimilar competition for Procrit or Remicade in the U.S. even though the FDA approved a Remicade biosimilar (Inflectra) earlier this April. The company also does not expect generic competition for Zytiga, Risperdal Consta, and Invega Sustenna this year.

The Medical Device business will continue to be affected by soft global market conditions and pricing challenges. The company is working on driving growth in this segment through new product launches and by transforming its commercial models.

Meanwhile, the Consumer business is slowly recovering from the impact of the manufacturing issues that had affected this segment.

The company has been quite active on the deal making front. In Sep 2016, J&J announced its intention to acquire Abbott Laboratories ABT Abbott Medical Optics for $4.325 billion in cash. With this proposed acquisition, J&J is looking to strengthen its eye care segment. The acquisition is slated to close in the first quarter of 2017.

In Jul 2016, J&J acquired privately held company Vogue International in a deal worth $3.3 billion in cash. The acquisition is expected to strengthen its position in hair care and contribute to the profitability of the companys Consumer business.

J&Js share buyback program (worth up to $10 billion) should boost the bottom line. Currency movement and operations in Venezuela will remain headwinds.

Stocks That Warrant a Look

J&J is not the only company looking up this earnings season. Here are a couple of health care stocks that you may want to consider as our model shows that they too have the right combination of elements to post an earnings beat this quarter.

Amgen Inc. AMGN is expected to report third-quarter results on Oct 26. It has an Earnings ESP of +1.79% and a Zacks Rank #3. You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Bristol-Myers Squibb Company BMY has an Earnings ESP of +7.81% and a Zacks Rank #3. It is scheduled to report third-quarter results on Oct 27.

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From Wong Kar Wai to Ingmar Bergman, film history is littered with brilliant international auteurs who somehow came unstuck when shooting in English for the first time, but not Pablo Larrain.

The 40-year-old Chilean  already seven features into a career that has netted him a surfeit of global honors, an Oscar nomination for 2012s searing political satire No, and who is Varietys International Director of the Year  delivered the biggest shockwave of this years fall festival season with Jackie, an emotionally piercing, strikingly fractured biographical portrait of Americas iconic first lady, Jacqueline Kennedy, in the wake of her husbands assassination.

Spurred by rave reviews and immediate awards chatter at Venice, a keen bidding contest ensued, with Fox Searchlight sealing the deal and setting it for a prestige December release. Thats not bad for a debut English-lingo project that Larrain, best known for his dark, often visceral investigations of Pinochet-shadowed Chile, admits was an unlikely fit for him.

When Jackie producer Darren Aronofsky  previously slated to direct the project himself  reached out to Larrain, the outsider says he asked, Why are you calling a Chilean? Who told you that was a good idea?

Im not a big fan of biopics, to be honest, and I dont have any particular attachment to that history. But then I kind of connected with Jackie herself. Id only worked with male main characters before, so this was the first time I could approach a womans perspective. And the more I learned about her, how she was able to shape all these very complicated ideas of JFKs legacy, I wanted to explore that. Because it had all the elements that you need for a movie: rage, curiosity, and love.

Jackie alone would make 2016 a mighty year for Larrain; that it unspooled less than four months after the singular Cannes sensation of Neruda, however, is positively startling. Selected as the official Chilean entry in the foreign-language film Oscar race, Neruda may find Larrain working in his native Spanish, but its far from familiar territory for him: riffing with dazzling invention on the life and literature of Chilean poet and Nobel laureate Pablo Neruda, its an even less conventional take on big-screen biography than Jackie.

Story continues

Larrain himself describes it as anti-biopic: We wanted to build from the genre, mixing others into it: there are elements of noir, black comedy, a road movie, too. Its sort of a movie about movies. And more a Nerudian movie than a movie about Neruda. When we submitted the movie to Cannes and we had to list the genre, I said, Lets just leave it blank.

The shoots of Neruda and Jackie could hardly have been more disparate experiences. While the former reunited him with previous collaborators, including No star Gael Garcia Bernal and longstanding DP Sergio Armstrong, the heavily French-funded Jackie saw him working with an entirely new crew.

They were all French and the movie was in English and we brought a lot of American actors and then I was in the middle. I was like, what is this ice cream flavor? he laughs. But then we just all connected with the movie we wanted to make. At the beginning, I felt I needed my crew. But I had my brother, Juan, as a producer. We pushed it together.

Larrain is an accomplished producer: he has acted in that capacity for Abel Ferrara and Sebastian Silva. Its a sideline that he regards as key to his own creative development.

Directors never get to see others direct, but its such a pleasure to watch someone you admire work, and to help make it possible, to help them make the movie they want to make.

He credits Aronofsky, meanwhile, with giving him artistic free rein on Jackie, including Larrains early insistence that Natalie Portman play the role once earmarked for Rachel Weisz.

I said to him, politely but very clearly, that I would only make the movie with Natalie. There are other actresses who could do a great job. But she has the air of mystery that Jackie had. Jackie was in circumstances so real and powerful and violent and awkward at the same time. How was she able to deal with all those elements? Theres a lot of information about her, but nobody really knew who she was.

Looking at Natalie, you also dont know. Its like, Where are you? And when you have those questions, thats where things get cinematic and crispy and dangerous. I need that in my work.

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Natalie Portman Mesmerizes as Jacqueline Kennedy in 'Jackie' First Trailer

Denver Film Festival: 'La La Land' Scheduled to Open, 'Jackie' to Close
Sitting down with French fashion magazine Numero, Jaden Smith gave an interesting answer to explain his fashion motivations: he used to be a vampire.

"During a period of my life, I was Gothic," Smith said. "I was only wearing black and I was hiding from the sun because I was a vampire."

Of course, known for his left-field way of thinking, context was needed for the quote. Was he being metaphorical or did he believe he used to be an actual vampire? Knowingly, interviewer Olivier Joyard asked, "How are you, a vampire? What do you mean?"



"I was a vampire, for real," Smith clarified. "I could not expose myself to the sun and I was only wearing black trench coats."

Fortunately, the 18-year-old rapper/actor was able to outgrow this phase.

"Now I'm not a vampire, I'm out of this phase," he explained. "I open myself up to wear more colorful things, to go out in daylight. I share much more mixed energy."

Recently making appearances in sunlit music videos and posing for a colorful photo shoot to accompany the Numero article, it appears Smith is, in fact, no longer a vampire. The full interview is available here, in which he also explains his life mission: "All I want to do is help the world and make it better. I want to leave a mark before leaving, I would like people to say: 'The world was like that when he arrived, and like that when he's gone. He is not here, but thank you.'"

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The Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency, JAXA (a.k.a Japans NASA), recently released all of the data from its Kayuga spacecraftnamed after a lunar princesswhich orbited the moon from 2007 to 2008 and eventually impacted on the moons surface in 2009.

Kaguya was equipped with a camera that captured the first high-definition video of the lunar surface along with multiple still images. The goal of the mission was to perform a globe-wide survey in order to learn more about the moons origins and evolution. Its not clear why it took JAXA so long to release the Kayuga images, though it is believed that the lens flare that is visible in many of them may have been the reason.

Still, even a flawed hi-def image of the moon can be striking and, as the above picture makes clear, a flawless one can be extraordinary. All of the images and videos produced by Kaguya can be seen on the Kaguya HDTV Data Publication System website.
TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan has protested to China over signs it is pressing ahead with maritime gas exploration in the East China Sea despite Tokyo's repeated requests to stop, Japan's top government spokesman said on Wednesday. The exploration platforms are on the Chinese side of the median line between the two countries, but Japan accuses China of ignoring a 2008 agreement to maintain cooperation on resources development in an area where no official border has been drawn. China said in July it had every right to drill in the East China Sea close to waters disputed with Japan, adding that it did not recognize the "unilateral" Japanese median line setting a boundary between the two. Ties between China and Japan, the world's second- and third-largest economies, have already been strained by their conflicting claims over a group of tiny East China Sea islets and the legacy of Japan's wartime aggression. "Earlier this month, flares were newly witnessed at two of the gas exploration platforms China had installed in the East China Sea," Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told reporters. "It is extremely regrettable that China, despite our multiple representations, is carrying on with unilateral development in an area where no maritime border has been set. We protested to China through diplomatic channels right away." Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said on Thursday Chinese gas exploration was carried out in waters "indisputably under Chinese jurisdiction". "It is a matter completely within China's rights and jurisdiction," he told a daily news briefing in Beijing. Japan is also at odds with China's South China Sea claims. China claims most of the South China Sea, through which more than $5 trillion of trade moves annually. Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam have rival claims. Japan has no territorial claims over the waters, but much of the trade is to and from Japanese ports. (Reporting by Kiyoshi Takenaka; Additional reporting by Michael Martina in Beijing; Editing by Nick Macfie)
A group of Japanese fishermen have broken their silence over a controversial annual dolphin kill that was the focus of the Oscar-winning documentary "The Cove".

"In the film we are portrayed like a town of criminals," said Yoshiharu Kai, head of the Taiji Fishermen's Union. "It's an interesting film but it's not a truthful film."

This week marked the first time representatives of the southwestern Japanese fishing village of Taiji have spoken to international media about the impact felt in their community after the release of "The Cove".

The Louie Psihoyos-directed documentary caused an international uproar following its release in 2009.

The film takes an unflinching look at a practice that dates back 400 years, with close-up scenes of slaughter after dolphins are driven close in to shore, and of disputes between the fishermen and environmental protesters.

Highly publicised and widespread social and international condemnation of the kill followed the release of the film. Concerns were also raised over the methods used by the filmmakers to capture footage used, and about the films general depiction of Japanese people.

Taiji fishermen are responsible for the annual killing of a maximum of 2,000 dolphins out of the 20,000 allowed each year under Japanese law. At the time "The Cove" was being shot they had refused to speak to the filmmakers, with Kai saying Wednesday they had been unsure of their motives at the time.

The fishermen were then dismayed by the way they had been portrayed as "sadistic".

"We have lived side by side with these animals for hundreds of years," said Kai.

Kai is part of a delegation at the 21st Busan International Film festival that includes the mayor of Taiji, Kazutaka Sangen, as well as filmmaker Megumi Sasaki. Her documentary "A Whale of a Tale" has made its world premiere at BIFF and revisits both events surrounding the making of the Oscar-winning film, and what has followed.

Story continues

Sangen believes international reaction to "The Cove" was fuelled by the "drive in" method the fishermen use to trap the dolphins, a method that brings the creatures close to the shore and is easily captured on film.

"Other town hunt them out to sea," said Sangen. "It seems that if people cant see when animals are killed then there is no controversy. In our town children grow up dreaming of becoming a whaler.

"But the world has changed. We know seeing the slaughter of any animal is not a good thing. We understand these sensitivities now."

The New York-based Sasaki's film takes a measured approach to the major players on both sides of the controversy and was aimed, the director said, to both place the practice of the annual kill into historical and cultural context while encouraging dialogue between the opposing sides on the modern issues being raised.

"I've lived in the States for almost 30 years and what struck me the most is that there is no counter argument about this," said Sasaki. "There is no voice heard from Japan. It is such a touchy, very sensitive subject but I thought why aren't the Japanese saying something?"

Sasaki told AFP she knew she would be courting controversy by making her documentary but that said she felt it was important to present "both sides of the argument".

"'The Cove' was really well made but there are many misconceptions about whaling and the town and the people," she said.

"It is such a powerful film and as a Japanese filmmaker living in the United States I understand the other view and I know where it is coming from. But I think the world should know there is another voice, which we have never heard, in the [western] world. I'm not trying to say what's right or wrong. I want the audience to think and feel and decide."

"A Whale of a Tale" is in the running for the top prize for documentaries at BIFF, with award winners announced when the festival draws to a close on Saturday.
By Linda Sieg TOKYO (Reuters) - When Prince Hisahito was born in 2006, ending a 41-year drought in imperial male heirs, Japan's government gladly dropped proposals that women might head the world's oldest monarchy, but a decade later the little prince remains the last hope for an unreformed Chrysanthemum Throne. The issue is back in focus after Emperor Akihito, 82, hinted two months ago at abdication, with only five heirs in the line of succession, including Hisahito, his sole grandson. The four older heirs are Akihito's centenarian uncle, an 80-year-old brother, and two middle-aged sons whose wives are in their early 50s. In a rare televised address, Akihito said in August he worried age might make it hard to fulfill his duties. The remarks were interpreted as a desire to abdicate, a step unprecedented in modern Japan and not possible under current law. The succession quandary has long weighed on Akihito's mind, Japanese media and royal watchers say. "As the head of the imperial family, the emperor has a great sense of crisis that the royals will disappear," said a veteran Japanese journalist and long-time royal watcher, who declined to be identified because of the sensitivity of the issue. In a country where the population is rapidly aging and projected to shrink about 30 percent by 2060, the dwindling royal family exemplifies a much larger trend that is also hitting succession planning at Japanese family firms. Next week a panel appointed by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will start considering the topic of abdication. Domestic media and academics say the government appears to be leaning towards one-off legislation that would let Akihito step down in favor of eldest son Crown Prince Naruhito, Hisahito's uncle. Hidehiko Kasahara, an expert in imperial law at Keio University, does not expect Abe's panel to broach the topic of male-only succession, which conservatives see as central to an imperial tradition stretching back 2,600 years. "The government's stance is to avoid tackling issues like female succession that divide the public," he said. Though surveys have shown a majority of Japanese favor letting women take the throne and pass it on to their children, conservatives are key to Abe's political support. Historically, Japan's imperial line was preserved by a combination of concubines and cadet royal families called "miyake", who could supply a male heir in a pinch. Very occasionally, female place-holders might rule until a male heir was found, but such empresses were either widows or unmarried and did not pass the throne to any children. But times have changed; Emperor Meiji, who died in 1912, was the last to have concubines, and cadet families were stripped of royal status by the Allied Occupation after Japan's World War Two defeat. A 1947 law limits succession to male descendants of an emperor. "MAJOR SURGERY" In 2005, as hopes faded that Naruhito or his younger brother Prince Akishino and their wives would produce a boy, then-prime minister Junichiro Koizumi prepared to challenge that tradition. A panel of experts recommended the first-born child of an emperor or empress should succeed regardless of gender, and Koizumi promised to submit legislation. Hisahito's birth to Akishino and Princess Kiko torpedoed the plan, but the problem has just been kicked down the road. With Hisahito's two sisters in their twenties and Naruhito's daughter and only child Aiko turning 15 this year, the young prince may end up not only the last imperial heir but also the only member of the royal family, as its women become commoners upon marriage under current law. "At some point, major surgery will be needed," said Kanto Gakuin University professor Naotaka Kimizuka. "We have reached the point where this cannot be fixed with a band-aid." Conservatives favor restoring miyake families to royal status as a solution. "We consider the tradition handed down by our ancestors to have great weight," said Akira Momochi, a professor at Nihon University, referring to the male-only succession practice. But restoring miyake could prove a hard sell for Abe, who has otherwise made a policy of promoting female participation in society. His No. 2 in the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, Toshihiro Nikai, has also suggested the imperial succession rules look dated. "In an age of female empowerment, it is strange the emperor is an exception," Nikai said in August. Nikai's counterpart in the main opposition Democratic Party, former prime minister Yoshihiko Noda, also told the Nikkei business daily recently that parliament should discuss the problem of the shrinking number of royals as well as abdication. "Abe is a realist," the veteran journalist said. "It is clear if nothing is done, the imperial family will die out, so it's hard to think he will do nothing." (Reporting by Linda Sieg; Editing by Will Waterman)
In the first place, the post recalled attention to the case of Reyhaneh Jabbari, who was hanged in October 2014 even though international outcry over her case had caused multiple delays in the scheduling of the execution. Jabbari was accused of murdering a former Iranian intelligence agent, but she insisted that she had stabbed him, without intent to kill, while he was attempting to rape her. Forensic evidence reportedly supported this defense, but her death sentence was ultimately upheld nonetheless, leading to widespread accusations of gender discrimination and corruption among the Intelligence Ministry and the courts.

The other reports highlighted by Death Penalty News help to support the discrimination argument by indicating that Jabbaris case was not an isolated incident. The NCRI and the Daily Mail both reported that a 22 year old woman named Zeinab Sekanvan is in imminent danger of execution following her delivery of a stillborn child while imprisoned in Urmia Central Prison.

Iran allows girls as young as 13 to legally marry, and many such marriages are arranged by families in exchange for money. The NCRI reports that the poverty of Sekanvans family resulted in her being forced into marriage at the age of 15, to a man who turned out to be physically abusive. However, when Sekanvan was accused of murdering her husband, her account of the abuse was dismissed by the court.

The fact that she was only 17 years old at the time makes her case not only a possible example of the widely-recognized sexism of the Iranian courts, but also the latest potential example of Irans disregard for international standards opposing the execution of convicts who were juveniles at the time of their crimes. This practice is outlawed by two human rights documents to which Iran is a signatory, but Iranian courts have repeatedly reaffirmed and carried out executions of persons who were convicted as teenagers.

And as Iran News Update pointed out last week, Iranian hardliners have also very recently reaffirmed their de facto rejection of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, in large part because of the ongoing practice of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps recruiting children into its civilian militia.

It appears that these sorts of hardliners are steadily issuing public disavowals of internationally agreed-upon human rights standards. This was suggested, for instance, by a report in Global Voices upon the recent wave of arrests and convictions persons who hold citizenship or have other connections to Western countries.

The report focused particularly upon the case of Nizar Zakka, a Lebanese information technology expert with permanent US citizenship who was formally invited to a Iranian government-sponsored conference but was then arrested on accusations of having deep ties to the US intelligence and military establishment.

But Global Voices points out that others have been convicted of spying or infiltration on the basis of extremely loose associations. As such, the depth of Zakkas ties are in dispute, as is the sincerity of this one-note explanation for his arrest. The report points to Irans hardline Kayhan News as the only public account of the case against Zakka, and it quotes that account as decrying Zakka as a possible promoter of Internet freedom, and not a participant in any sort of espionage or the planning of an overthrow.

In this way, the Kayhan report, in light of the papers close connections to the supreme leaders office, highlights the Iranian governments outright rejection of international principles of free speech and free access to information. This, of course, is no surprise to anyone who is aware of Irans bans on Facebook and Twitter or its promotion of an insulated, halal internet. But its connection to actual arrests helps to highlight the Islamic Republics ongoing project of attacking and isolating any potential advocates for free speech, gender equality, or other supposedly Western principles.

Nevertheless, there are various indicators that Iranian civil society is moving in the opposite direction, with many Iranian citizens risking arrest alongside people like Zakka, by continuing their activism in favor of progressive causes. Although it has been reported that death penalty reform is unlikely to pass the Islamic authorities charged with vetting all Iranian legislation, there is growing outcry against executions, and not only those of possibly innocent persons like Reyhaneh Jabbari.

In fact, the NCRIs latest reference to Jabbaris case came in the context of a report on her mother, who recently wrote a letter to Iranian news networks declaring that her hatred of the death penalty itself has only grown in the two years since her daughters death. The movement for reform of Irans capital punishment laws has reportedly gained some traction in parliament, but last month the hardline judiciary reaffirmed its resistance to such activism when it upheld the 16-year prison sentence for renowned lawyer and human rights activist Narges Mohammadi, over her role as a founder of the organization Step by Step to Stop the Death Penalty.
JetBlue Airways Corporation JBLU recently posted its traffic update for September, which reflects a significant increase in the metric. Revenue passenger miles (RPMs)  a measure of traffic  climbed 10.8% on a year-over-year basis to 3.43 billion. Average seat miles (ASMs)  a measure of capacity  rose 7.9% to 4.13 billion in Sep 2016.

Load factor (percentage of seats filled by passengers) expanded 210 basis points to 83.2% in the month as traffic growth outpaced capacity expansion.

The number of departures during Sep 2016 grew 6.4%. The low-cost carrier registered a completion factor of 99.5%, with 78.7% of its flights on schedule. JetBlues preliminary revenue per available seat mile (RASM) dropped roughly 2% year over year in September. For the first nine months of 2016, JetBlue witnessed a 10.5% increase in RPMs to 34.43 billion and a 10.3% rise in ASMs to 40.42 billion, both on a year-over-year basis. Load factor improved 10 basis points to 85.2% in the period.

The company reiterated its third-quarter guidance and continues to expect RASM for the quarter to decline 34% year over year.

New Routes

JetBlue also entered into some important strategic agreements in September. These include the code share agreement with Cape Air and a remarkable renewable jet fuel purchase agreement with SG Preston. The company also announced new non-stop flight services between Orlando and Los Angeles.

However, this Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) carrier continues to face tough competition from peers like SkyWest Inc. SKYW, Alaska Air Group, Inc. ALK and Southwest Airlines Co. LUV. We wait to see how JetBlue performs when it releases third-quarter earnings results on Oct 25, 2016. You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

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Vice President Joe Biden and his wife Dr. Jill Biden paid a visit to NBC's Late Night With Seth Meyers on Wednesday and, as expected, most of the conversation revolved around Donald Trump.

But, before diving into the unending scandal of the moment, Meyers reminded Biden about his past stints on TV by showing a clip of the much-younger former senator making an appearance on the wildly popular children's show, Where in the World is Carmen Santiago?

Biden remarked on how Trump would have benefited from being a frequent viewer. "I have one regret: I wish Donald Trump had watched the show, he would've had a better sense of geography."

Meyers asked Obama's right-hand man if he was itching to debate the embattled presidential candidate, to which Biden responded: "I think it would be too easy. I want someone like Sarah Palin."

Read more: People Magazine Writer Goes Public With Donald Trump Attack Story: "I Was Stunned"

The Late Night host queried Biden about his take on the debates and asked what he thought about Trump's latest declaration that he was "a blue-collar worker."

Biden responded with a hearty laugh and added, "You watch it and think it can't be happening. It's a bunch of malarkey, he hasn't the slightest notion of what it means to be a blue-collar worker."

Things took a heavier turn when the subject switched to Trump's sexual assault allegations.

Biden didn't hold back in describing Trump's "outrageous behavior" and sharply criticized the "locker room" language by defining it as the "language of sexual assault."

Biden also went further by explaining the seriousness of Trump's acts, "The cardinal sin of all is a man raising his hand and taking advantage of women."

"I can't understand how anyone can justify the abuse of power."

Read more: Biden Slams Donald Trump for PTSD Remarks: "His Ignorance Is So Profound"

Story continues

Once Biden's wife, Dr. Jill Biden, joined her husband, the tone shifted to a more pleasant one as she quipped that she prefers to be called "Captain of the Vice Squad" instead of her official title, second lady.

Meyers also gave the college professor the opportunity to discuss her two initiatives: Cancer Moonshot, a program for funding cancer research that she and her husband founded in memory of Beau Biden, the son they lost to cancer; and Joining Forces, a partnership between Dr. Biden and the first lady, Michelle Obama.

She told Meyers, "When I first arrived at the White House, Michelle asked me what I wanted to do, and I said I wanted to help military families."

Read more: Joe Biden Talks Donald Trump on 'The Tonight Show,' Predicts Hillary Clinton Will Win the Election: "We'll Be in Good Hands"

Meyers couldn't let the Bidens leave without a parting gift, which included thanking them for their eight years of service and showing them a photo of Joe Biden seated with the president, grinning from ear to ear at the State of the Union.

Meyers noted, "Nobody will ever have more fun than you did. You set the gold standard."

Read more: 'Law & Order: SVU' Plans Donald Trump-Inspired Episode
On Wednesday's The Late Show with Seth Meyers, Vice President Joe Biden addressed Donald Trump's leaked taped from a 2005 Access Hollywood appearance in which he made lewd comments and mentioned that he had groped women without their consent. The New York Post reported on October 12 that contestants from Miss Teen USA alleged Donald Trump walked in on the teenage contestants changing. Mr. Biden said, "I mean, this is absolutely outrageous behavior." As for the Access Hollywood tape, Mr. Biden said, "What I found astounding is that he would so publicly acknowledge that he engaged in the textbook definition of sexual assault." As a senator, Vice President Biden introduced the Violence Against Women Act in efforts to curb abuse towards women. He explained that the comments and allegations are a symptom of a much larger problem. He said, "I've spent most of my career trying to figure out how to begin to change the culture in this country so that we treat women with respect and with dignity."
jon hamm

Jon Hamm hasn't had the easiest couple years, but he's getting refreshingly frank about the experience.

The 45-year-old "Mad Men" actor has talked to fashion site Mr. Porter's The Journal about when he went to rehab for alcohol addiction in 2015.

Hamm is pushing against the stigmas that can often be attached to rehab.

"It has all these connotations, but it's just an extended period of talking about yourself," Hamm said. "People go for all sorts of reasons, not all of which are chemically related. But there's something to be said for pulling yourself out of the grind for a period of time and concentrating on recalibrating the system. And it works. It's great."

He's also a proponent of therapy, something he said he's done since the '90s.

"I find it very helpful," Hamm said. He started therapy after the death of his father. "So what do you do? Go and see a professional. I preach it from the mountaintops. I know it's a luxury and it's not something everyone can afford. But if you can, do it. It's like a mental gym."

Hamm was a little-known actor in Hollywood for years before "Mad Man" launched him to stardom. While his career has slowed down since the ending of the AMC drama series, he has a number of projects on the way. His espionage comedy with Isla Fisher and Zach Galifianakis, "Keeping Up with the Joneses," is out in theaters October 21.

NOW WATCH: Here's everything we know about 'Westworld'  HBO's mysterious new sci-fi series





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From ELLE

Last night, the Duchess of Cambridge wrapped up her first solo trip to the Netherlands. She left the way any normal, non-royal would: on a commercial flight bound for the U.K. Passengers on the 7:15 P.M. British Airways flight to London from Rotterdam promptly lost it the moment Kate Middleton stepped onto the plane, the Daily Mail reports.

Bodyguards escorted her onto the plane for the 50-minute flight, where she sat in the front row. People on the plane grabbed their phones and snapped pics of her. As one source put it to the outlet, "[I've] never seen so many iPhones pop up at once." Well, obviously:

But Middleton received one perk no other passenger got: to be escorted off the plane first, once it landed, "a couple minutes" before the other passengers. A car was reportedly waiting on the tarmac at London City Airport to take her home.

The Duchess has flown commercial before while on royal duty, but it's not a common occurrence. She and Prince William famously flew on a regular plane back to England from Los Angeles in 2011-but in first class.

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King Bhumibol Adulyadej of Thailand died at Siriraj Hospital in Bangkok on Thursday, October 13, according to the Royal Household Bureau. He was 88. The monarch died at 3:52 pm, local time, surrounded members by of the Thai royal family. The ninth King of the Chakri Dynasty, Bhumibol was the worlds longest-reigning monarch, after ascended to the throne in June of 1946.

Thousands of people gathered outside in the hospital in recent days, where the King had remained in an unstable condition since Sunday. Thais nationwide wore pink to express their best wishes, praying and singing the countrys national anthem in his honor. Credit: Instagram/Nicolai Zellmani
Wells Fargo CEO John Stumpf testifies before a Senate Banking Committee hearing on the firm's sales practices on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., September 20, 2016. REUTERS/Gary Cameron

Welcome to Finance Insider, Business Insider's summary of the top stories of the past 24 hours.

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Wells Fargo CEO John Stumpf retired on Wednesday in the face of a massive scandal that has dragged the bank down for over a month. Here are the headlines:

Elsewhere in bank news, Goldman Sachs on Thursday officially launched its consumer loan platform, Marcus, and Deutsche Bank has reportedly implemented a hiring freeze.

In macro news, Korea's central bank is worried about Samsung, and there has been a big shift inside the Federal Reserve.

China's trade data has delivered some unwanted news, with metals and mining stocks getting hammered in the aftermath. In related news, everything Donald Trump thinks about China and trade is wrong, according to Business Insider's Linette Lopez.

In company new, Delta posted an earnings beat, and four media companies including Thrillist and NowThis have merged  and Discovery just poured $100 million into it.

Lastly, BMW has a wild vision of what vehicles will look like 100 years from now.

Here are the top Wall Street headlines at midday

Here's a super-quick Q&A with one Wall Street's top stock market strategists  Adam Parker is Morgan Stanley's chief US equity strategist.

UBS: Gold is setting up for a big comeback  Gold is set for a comeback six to 12 months from now, according to UBS.

MINNESOTA GOVERNOR: 'The Affordable Care Act is no longer affordable'  Democratic Governor of Minnesota Mark Dayton on Wednesday made an admission that the Affordable Care Act, better known as Obamacare, is getting too expensive for people in his state.

Story continues

Thailand's King Bhumibol  world's longest-reigning monarch  has died at age 88  Thailand's Royal Palace says King Bhumibol, the world's longest-reigning monarch, has died at age 88.

France's finance minister eyes a US bank exodus from London  It is inevitable that big US banks will move activities from London in the coming years following Britain's decision to leave the European Union, French Finance Minister Michel Sapin said on Thursday.

Initial jobless claims haven't been this low since the 1970s  Initial jobless claims were unchanged at 246,000 last week, according to the Department of Labor.

The lawyer who just wrote a letter to the NYT for Trump has a fascinating history on Wall Street  On Wednesday the New York Times published the accounts of two women who claim to have been sexually assaulted by GOP Presidential candidate, Donald Trump.





More From Business Insider


Kristin Cavallari opened up about her brother Michaels death during a Facebook Live chat with Us Weekly on Thursday, October 13. Watch the video above to see what the Hills alum had to say!

For Cavallari, 29, nothing comes before family. The mother of three faced an unspeakable tragedy last December when her older brother Michael died of hypothermia at the age of 30 following a car crash in Grand County, Utah.

PHOTOS: Celebrity Siblings

But after allowing herself time to mourn, she tells Us, the reality star knew it was time to soldier on.



I did at the time, and I still do find a lot of strength in my children, because of the timing of everything, she said, in a nod to her daughter Saylors birth in November, just one month before Michaels death. You cant just stay in bed and feel sorry for yourself. You gotta get up. You have other lives you have to take care of. You have to put food on the table and get them dressed and off to school and everything. So yeah, you cant just feel sorry for yourself.

PHOTOS: Most Shocking Celebrity Deaths of All Time

Michael was found dead in the Salt Wash region of Grand County, Utah, on December 10. Authorities told Us that he was discovered in a steep and very rocky area after crashing his car. His death was ruled an accident in February.



Cavallaris family held a small ceremony in his honor this past June, in time for what would have been his birthday, she tells Us.

My brothers birthday was June 11, and so my family  my mom, my stepdad, my dad, Jay [Cutler] and I  all went out to Utah where he was found, she said. And we put a little plaque in the rock where he was found and had our own sort of service for him.  It was more of a celebration.



PHOTOS: Hollywood's Hottest Married Couples

Cavallari and husband Cutler, 33, are parents of three children  Camden, 4, Jaxon, 2, and Saylor, 10 months.



Watch the Us Weekly video above to hear more about what the Balancing in Heels author had to say.

Story continues





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This news comes about a week after it was reported that OPEC had arrived at a long-sought framework agreement for the reduction of collective oil supplies, in the interest of stabilizing prices. That agreement in turn came after the failure of a meeting in April that would have established an output freeze, had Iran not refused to participate. The Iranian Oil Ministry has continued to maintain that Iranian production should not be constrained in any way until it reaches levels of at least four million barrels per day. Although the figure is disputed among international analysts, Iran generally maintains that this represents the countrys pre-sanctions output. Recent comments from some Iranian officials have gone so far as to identify Irans actual goal as an output of 5.7 million barrels per day by 2020.

The recent agreement did not settle the dispute over Irans market share, but rather pushed it to the side, with Saudi Arabia conceding to let Iran sit out the output freeze, along with Libya and Nigeria, while the other OPEC states aim to reduce output by up to 700,000 barrels per day. This weeks meeting in Istanbul will seek to include Iranian ally Russia in the agreement, as well, after it participated in the April meeting and subsequently advocated for Irans position on non-participation.

Some commentaries on the new situation interpret it as a victory for Iran, while others simply see it as a shift in focus for Saudi Arabia. But virtually all such analysis seems to regard the persistent lack of compromise as another in a long list of indicators of worsening relations between the Shiite Islamic Republic of Iran and the Sunni Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Economic discord aside, the sectarian divisions between the two Middle Easter powers contributes to their involvement in a series of proxy wars in the region, chiefly in Yemen, where a rebellion by the Iran-backed Houthi militia has ousted the government of President Abed Rabu Mansour Hadi and touched of a now 19 month long civil war.

The threat of growing Iranian influence on the Arabian Peninsula helped to motivate a coalition of Arab nations to become involved on behalf of the elected and Western-backed Hadi government. And since then, the war has increasingly threatened to expand further into the peninsula and the surrounding waters. This trend was highlighted by the Washington Post on Monday when it reported that two missiles had apparently been fired at a US Navy destroyer in the Red Sea, by the Iran-backed militants.

Although the Post admits that it is not known that the incident was a deliberate attempt to attack or threaten US forces, it notes that the evidence points toward that conclusion. The two launches reportedly occurred an hour apart, yet nearly struck the same vessel, in an area not near fighting between the two factions of the civil war. And similarly notable is the fact that it comes in the wake of a wide variety of provocations directed against the US Navy by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, including close-proximity test-firing or rockets and high-speed approaches of US warships by IRGC patrol boats.

The Post also points out that the Houthi missile launches on Sunday closely coincided with a ballistic missile launch that originated from Yemen and struck a Saudi air base near Mecca. The report described it as the deepest strike yet into the kingdom by Shiite rebels and their allies. The two incidents were arguably related, as the Shiite faction seeks to lash out more powerfully against not only the head of the Arab coalition, but also its traditional allies, chiefly the United States.

Both incidents also came approximately a day after a Saudi-led airstrike in the Yemeni capital of Sanaa, which killed more than 150 people and wounded more than 500. As well as possibly motivating the military response, the strike certainly generated a public relations response from Tehran, with Foreign Ministry spokesperson Bahram Qasemi accusing the international community of silence in the face of the killing of innocents.

Qasemi also used the response to describe the Arab coalition as belligerent aggressors and to call for dialogue aimed at ending the conflict, according to New Kerala. With the blessing of the US, Iran has already been a participant in such international dialogue over the Syrian Civil War, but has been condemned for intransigence in its position regarding the future of the Bashar al-Assad regime. Meanwhile, Qasemis commentary on the crisis in Yemen seem to disregard the various accusations that Iran instigated the Houthi rebellion and then continued to provide weapons and material support to those rebels while also condemning an attempted revolution in Syria.
Looking for a stock that might be in a good position to beat earnings at its next report? Consider L-3 Communications Holdings Inc. LLL, a firm in the Electronic-Military industry, which could be a great candidate for another beat.

This company has seen a nice streak of beating earnings estimates, especially when looking at the previous two reports. In fact, in these reports, LLL has beaten estimates by at least 10% in both cases, suggesting it has a nice short-term history of crushing expectations.

Earnings in Focus

Two quarters ago, LLL expected to post earnings of $1.57 per share, while it actually produced earnings of $2.08, a beat of 32.5%. Meanwhile, for the most recent quarter, the company looked to deliver earnings of $1.68 per share, when it actually saw earnings of $1.88 per share instead, representing 11.9% positive surprise.

L-3 COMM HLDGS Price and EPS Surprise

L-3 COMM HLDGS Price and EPS Surprise | L-3 COMM HLDGS Quote

Thanks in part to this history, recent estimates have been moving higher for Calavo Growers. In fact, the Earnings ESP for LLL is positive, which is a great sign of a coming beat.

After all, the Zacks Earnings ESP compares the most accurate estimate to the broad consensus, looking to find stocks that have seen big revisions as of late, suggesting that analysts have recently become more bullish on the companys earnings prospects. This is the case for LLL, as the firm currently has a Zacks Earnings ESP of 2.75%, so another beat could be around the corner.

This is particularly true when you consider that LLL has a great Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) which can be a harbinger of outperformance and a signal for a strong earnings profile. You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here .

When you add this solid Zacks Rank to a positive Earnings ESP, a positive earnings surprise happens nearly 70% of the time, so it seems pretty likely that LLL could see another beat at its next report, especially if recent trends are any guide.

Story continues

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Talks of media bias against Donald Trump have resurfaced after allegations of sexual assault made by two women were published in a New York Times story on Wednesday.

Trump denied the accusations, calling the story a total fabrication in a tweet sent out Thursday morning.

LifeZette Editor-in-Chief Laura Ingraham joined the FOX Business Network to discuss the claims of bias against Trump in the media.

Weve officially entered the realm of the absurd, she said. The same New York Times that lionized Ted Kennedy, that endorsed Bill Clinton twice, is now going to try to shape public opinion on the issue of these types of interactions between Trump and various women over three decades I guess.

But, Ingraham said the media should focus on the bigger issuethat there is a divided America.

Theres a divide about what the Constitution provides, what the role of government is, how to turn this economy around, what it means to have an entire group of Americans distrust the police. And whether people get rid of Donald Trump, whether they defeat him or not, all those problems are going to be there on November 9. Theyre still going to be there. And as far as I can tell, The New York Times and the Washington Post and most of the major networks are not interested in actually having a real debate on these issuesthe actual issues that affect our children, thatll affect our grandchildren, thatll affect our security, our safety, our economy.

She added: Those issues are generally swept to the side as the press runs to whatever victim will share a story from years back. And I think the country is being poorly served by a media that is distrusted and the country has to decideare they going to allow the elite, liberal media to decide this election, or are they going to decide the election on the issues and the records of both individualsboth in business and in politics. And I certainly hope its the latter.

Ingraham also commented on which candidate has the best grasp on what she thinks is the biggest topic of concern today.

Story continues

Its kind of obvious who has a better approach to growth and prosperity, which is the number-one problem facing our country today, and its Trump. There's no doubt about that."

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Need to catch up? Check out last weeks Law & Order: SVU recap here.

Anyone else think Ryan Lochte watched this weeks Law & Order: SVU and thought, See? It could be so much worse?

The procedurals latest installment takes us into the life of an elite athlete who makes catastrophically poor choices, is sexually assaulted  and then things start to get really bad.

Meanwhile, Rollins bad penny sister returns, and something vague yet ominous is going on between Benson and Tucker. Read on for the highlights of Heightened Emotions.

RELATEDTrue Bloods Sam Trammell Joins Cast of NBCs This Is Us as Blues Frontman

LEAP AND THE NET WONT APPEAR | We meet a woman running aggressively on her treadmill at home as her young son and husband watch; later that night, the same woman is drunk and all dolled up at a Manhattan hotel bar. A bearded guy letches over and flirts with her. Cut to the woman, her dress ripped, taking a running jump from the roof of one building to the roof of another. When the police find her, shes sprinting around (the Meatpacking District, maybe?) barefoot, screaming, I won!

The womans injuries and overall bloody nature seem to indicate that the woman, whose name is Jenna Miller, was raped. But she doesnt say so until her concerned husband shows up. Very long story short: Benson and Rollins show up at Jennas house, where she admits that she acts like an escort from time to time as a way of blowing off steam. But shes not worried about solicitation charges: Shes worried that her hopes of making it to the 2020 Olympics are about to die.

RELATEDNBC Orders Little Big Shots Spinoff, This Time With Senior Citizens

I WANNA SEE YOU BE BRAVE | Jenna is a world-class pole vaulter who only missed making the Rio games because of a technicality, and she doesnt want to go public with her rape because shes worried shell lose everything. But after the squad finds out that Jennas attacker has done the same thing to a dozen other women in the past  and after Jennas agent drops her for having values that dont match the firms and after Jennas husband thwarts an attempt to get Jennas rapist confessing on tape  Benson gives her the comforting/convincing power eyebrow and she figures shes got nothing to lose.

Story continues

Side note: Kudos to Theo Stockman, who plays Michael Wheeler, aka Jennas attacker: He is eminently punchable throughout the episode, and its tough to convey that much menacing ugh-ness in only a few scenes. Anyway, when the two parties confront each other in court, Michaels lawyer is even more hateable than he is, and he goads Jenna by implying that she only cried rape after his client said he didnt like her body.

This causes Jenna to tear her blouse off in court, in order to show everyone how wrong the lawyer is about her body. Of course, this is not cool  and as Barba whips off his jacket and attempts to cover his witness, he asks for a recess.

RELATEDNicole Richie Joins NBCs Great News Midseason Comedy in Recasting

VINDICATION | Carisi and Rollins later find Jenna and her husband going through an intense workout at a local track. You all think Im crazy, Jenna says. Carisi, who apparently went to medical school during the commercial break, replies, No, you have a mental illness.

And, as it turns out, she does. Jenna is diagnosed as bipolar, something to which a psychiatrist testifies in court, and now that shes medicated and a much more credible witness, Michaels lawyer wants the athlete nowhere near the stand. They cop to Assault II, which wont put the waste of space on the sex offenders list, but will allow Jenna and her husband to put the incident behind them and move forward with their lives  which are now focused on helping Jenna mange her issues instead of qualifying for the Tokyo games.

RELATEDTony Bennetts Star-Studded 90th Birthday Special Set at NBC

Law and Order SVU Recap Season 18 Episode 4

SISTER WRONG

| Rollins terrible and life-blowing-up sister, Kim, has found religion and made parole, and shes asking to move in with her sibling to avoid having to live in a shelter. I know it sounds crazy. I should say no, Amanda tells Olivia, who is thisclose to putting one hand on each of Rollins petite shoulders and SHAKING HER UNTIL SOME SENSE FINDS ITS WAY INTO THAT BLONDE NOGGIN. Instead, Benson merely states the obvious: If you cover for her again, I will take your shield.

Throughout the episode, Amanda is tough on her sister  which I get, but its hard to watch. Thankfully, Kim actually seems to have made a turn for the better: When Rollins catches her taking medicine at the end of the hour, she freaks out and demands to know what shes on. But, as it turns out, its merely medicine prescribed for the bipolar disorder  what a coincidence!  with which shed been diagnosed in jail. Ive been on meds for a year, she says. You didnt tell me, Amanda says, already feeling a little mean about the whole thing. You didnt ask me, Kim responds.

Now its your turn. What did you think of the episode? Sound off in the comments!

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By Crispin Dembassa-Kete KAGA BANDORO, Central African Republic (Reuters) - Thirty people were killed and 57 others wounded during an attack on refugees by largely Muslim Seleka militia in the north of Central African Republic on Wednesday, U.N. peacekeepers said on Thursday. Avenging what they said was the recent murder of four young Muslims in the remote town of dirt roads and thatched mud huts, armed Seleka stabbed and hacked to death refugees who had fled previous violence in the region and set fire to buildings. Central African Republic's U.N. peacekeeping mission MINUSCA, which has a base in the town, repelled the Seleka, killing 12, it said in a statement on Thursday. The other 18 killed were civilians. "MINUSCA expresses its strong indignation and strong condemnation of the resurgence," the U.N. mission said, calling the Seleka response "disproportionate". Central African Republic has been in chaos since early 2013 when the Seleka, which draws mostly from the country's minority Muslim population, toppled then-President Francois Bozize. Militias representing the interests of the Christian majority responded by attacking Muslims and a fifth of the population fled their homes to escape the violence, leaving the isolated nation deeply divided along ethnic and religious lines. The U.N. mission said that the Seleka targeted civilians, local authorities and non profit organizations in the town and had taken control of a school. Three school teachers in training under a UNICEF program were killed in the attack, UNICEF said in a statement, condemning what it said was "unacceptable violence against civilians". A U.N. investigation into the attack is underway. MINUSCA, which has sought to keep the rival factions from fighting, called for "calm and restraint" on Thursday, though signs of tension remained. Refugees camped outside the U.N. base were chased away by Seleka who destroyed their temporary homes on Thursday, a Reuters witness said. (Reporting By Crispin Dembassa-Kette, writing by Edward McAllister; editing by Nellie Peyton and Ralph Boulton)




By Juan Wilson on 13 October 2016 for Island Breath -

http://www.shtfplan.com/headline-news/nuclear-war-is-on-the-horizon-this-is-not-just-talk-action-has-been-taken_10102016)





Image above: American and Russian flags in flames. From www.shtfplan.com.



The United States seems to be unable to handle its any of its substantial problems or even identify them. Looking at the presidential race it would seem the most important issue is who-grabbed-who-where. It comes down to deciding who is dirtier between Trumps or Clinton.



No debate about finding peaceful solutions in the Middle East, Eastern Europe or South China Sea. No back-and-forth on ways to avoid the climate catastrophe we face. No proposals for getting off dirty fossil fuel dependence. No plans for mitigating the damage from the nearing economic bubble collapse.



Both Trump and Clinton have their bogeymen. For Trump its China, for Clinton its Russia. Both these candidates seemed poised to take a punch at their nemesis.



Both Clinton and Trump agree on vilifying Iran. They see Iran's proxy Hezbollah as the source of many evils in the Middle East beginning in the 1980s with the Lebanese Civil War to today with "tentacles" in Yemen and Syria. But it gets complicated.



It seems Iran is the nexus between Russia and China. Both Russia and China are Iran's neighbors. Russia and Iran share borders on the Caspian Sea and China and Iran share borders with Pakistan and Afghanistan.



Iran is also a longtime ally of Syria and its current ruling Assad family. And, since the United States dumped Saddam Hussein and the Sunni leaders in Iraq, Iran has had an opening to the Shia leadership in Iraq. And the only thing that separates Syria from Iran is Iraq.



So China and Russia and Iran all have more close vital interests in the area than the United States.



American resentment for Iran links us to continuing confrontation with both Chinese and Russian activities in the region.



We've been at war there for a very long time. It should be noted how very far away from the United States this part of the world is and how it has proved to create for us quagmires in Iraq, Afghanistan and now Syria.



Our potential "enemies" have been building up their capabilities as we have spilled blood and treasure in the sand. The sounds of our saber rattling will not strike them as so terrifying the next time it comes down to a fight.





US joins Saudis in Yemen conflict



SUBHEAD: US actively joins Yemen conflict with cruise missile strikes on anti-Saudi targets.



By Tyler Durden on 13 October 2016 for Zero Hedge -

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-10-13/us-joins-yemen-conflict-cruise-missile-strikes-anti-saudi-targets)





Image above: USS Mason (DDG-87) fires an SM-2 missile during a March 2016 exercise. Photo by US Navy. From ( https://news.usni.org/2016/10/11/uss-mason-fired-3-missiles-to-defend-from-yemen-cruise-missiles-attack ).



We can now put away any speculation whether the US will limit its support and arming of Saudi Arabia in its ongoing campaign over Yemen over "war crime" concerns.



Overnight, the U.S. military not only did not rebuke the Saudis for a military campaign that has claimed nearly 10,000 innocent civilian lives, but became the latest entrant in the Yemen offensive, when it launched cruise missile strikes on Thursday to knock out three coastal radar sites in areas of Yemen controlled by Iran-aligned Houthi forces, in what was supposedly a retaliation after failed missile attacks this week on a U.S. Navy destroyer, U.S. officials said.



Cited by



As we reported previously, U.S. officials said there growing indications - if no official proof - that Houthi fighters, or forces aligned with them, were responsible for Sunday's attempted strikes, in which two coastal cruise missiles designed to target ships failed to reach the destroyer.



And like on all previous occasions when the US got involved in a nation's sovereign affairs, the Pentagon stressed the limited nature of the strikes, aimed at radar that enabled the launch of at least three missiles against the U.S. Navy ship USS Mason on Sunday and Wednesday.



What it did, however, was make Saudi incursions into Yemen even easier, providing the Saudi airforce a corridor deep into the country which making sure Yemen was unable to retaliate against its invaders.



Of course, the official line is different. "These limited self-defense strikes were conducted to protect our personnel, our ships and our freedom of navigation," Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook adding that "these radars were active during previous attacks and attempted attacks on ships in the Red Sea," including the USS Mason, one of the officials said, adding the targeted radar sites were in remote areas where the risk of civilian casualties was low.



In retrospect one now wonders if the "cruise missiles" that fell close to the US ships were merely the latest false flag providing the US cover to launch another foreign intervention.To be sure, the Houthis, who are battling the internationally-recognized government of Yemen President Abd Rabbu Mansour al-Hadi, denied any involvement in Sunday's attempt to strike the USS Mason.



On Thursday, the Houthis reiterated a denial that they carried out the strikes and said they did not come from areas under their control, a news agency controlled by the group reported a military source as saying. The allegations were false pretexts to "escalate aggression and cover up crimes committed against the Yemeni people", the source said.



it wouldn't be the first time that the US has done just that to launch an offensive war (without Congressional approval). Sure enough, the US from immediately launching a strategic attack.

According to Reuters, the US military official identified the areas in Yemen where the US strikes took place as near Ras Isa, north of Mukha and near Khoka.



There may have been another reason for the strikes: shipping sources told Reuters sites were hit in the Dhubab district of Taiz province. As the map shows, the area impacted by US air strikes overlooks the Bab al-Mandab Straight known for fishing and smuggling; also known for being one of the world's busiest transit spots.



The missile incidents, along with an Oct. 1 strike on a vessel from the United Arab Emirates, add to questions about safety of passage for military ships around the Bab al-Mandab Strait, one of the world's busiest shipping routes.



This latest US attack appears to be just the beginning: Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook warned against any future attacks, adding that "The United States will respond to any further threat to our ships and commercial traffic, as appropriate."



Others chimed in:

The United Arab Emirates (UAE), a leading member of a Saudi-led Arab coalition fighting to end Houthi control, denounced the attacks on the Mason as an attempt to target the freedom of navigation and to inflame the regional situation.



Although Thursday's strikes against the radar aim to undercut the ability to track and target U.S. ships, the Houthis are still believed to possess missiles that could pose a threat.



Reuters has reported that the coastal defense cruise missiles used against the USS Mason had considerable range, fuelling concern about the kind of weaponry the Houthis appear willing to employ and some of which, U.S. officials believe, is supplied by Iran. One of the missiles fired on Sunday traveled more than two dozen nautical miles before splashing into the Red Sea off Yemen's southern coast, one U.S. official said. And suggesting that Yemen is about to become the next major geopolitical hotzone, earlier today Iran's semi-official Tasnim news agency reported that Iran sent two warships to the Gulf of Aden on Thursday, establishing a military presence in waters off Yemen where the U.S. military launched cruise missile strikes on areas controlled by Iran-backed Houthi forces.



"Iran's Alvand and Bushehr warships have been dispatched to the Gulf of Aden to protect trade vessels," Tasnim reported.

As a result, we expect many more "false flag" events in the coming days.





British has Green Light in Syria

SUBHEAD: Royal Air Force pilots can shoot down Russian jets over Syria if they feel threatened.



By Tyler Durden on 13 October 2016 for Zero Hedge -



(http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-10-13/royal-air-force-pilots-ordered-shoot-down-hostile-russian-jets-over-syria)





Image above: A British Tornado is one of a family of twin-engine, variable-sweep wing multi-role combat aircraft manufactured by Panavia for Britain, Italy and Germany. From ( SUBHEAD: Around the world the USA military is challenging Russia, Iran and China as the pot boils.The United States seems to be unable to handle its any of its substantial problems or even identify them. Looking at the presidential race it would seem the most important issue is who-grabbed-who-where. It comes down to deciding who is dirtier between Trumps or Clinton.No debate about finding peaceful solutions in the Middle East, Eastern Europe or South China Sea. No back-and-forth on ways to avoid the climate catastrophe we face. No proposals for getting off dirty fossil fuel dependence. No plans for mitigating the damage from the nearing economic bubble collapse.Both Trump and Clinton have their bogeymen. For Trump its China, for Clinton its Russia. Both these candidates seemed poised to take a punch at their nemesis.Both Clinton and Trump agree on vilifying Iran. They see Iran's proxy Hezbollah as the source of many evils in the Middle East beginning in the 1980s with the Lebanese Civil War to today with "tentacles" in Yemen and Syria. But it gets complicated.It seems Iran is the nexus between Russia and China. Both Russia and China are Iran's neighbors. Russia and Iran share borders on the Caspian Sea and China and Iran share borders with Pakistan and Afghanistan.Iran is also a longtime ally of Syria and its current ruling Assad family. And, since the United States dumped Saddam Hussein and the Sunni leaders in Iraq, Iran has had an opening to the Shia leadership in Iraq. And the only thing that separates Syria from Iran is Iraq.So China and Russia and Iran all have more close vital interests in the area than the United States.American resentment for Iran links us to continuing confrontation with both Chinese and Russian activities in the region.We've been at war there for a very long time. It should be noted how very far away from the United States this part of the world is and how it has proved to create for us quagmires in Iraq, Afghanistan and now Syria.Our potential "enemies" have been building up their capabilities as we have spilled blood and treasure in the sand. The sounds of our saber rattling will not strike them as so terrifying the next time it comes down to a fight.SUBHEAD: US actively joins Yemen conflict with cruise missile strikes on anti-Saudi targets.We can now put away any speculation whether the US will limit its support and arming of Saudi Arabia in its ongoing campaign over Yemen over "war crime" concerns.Overnight, the U.S. military not only did not rebuke the Saudis for a military campaign that has claimed nearly 10,000 innocent civilian lives, but became the latest entrant in the Yemen offensive, when it launched cruise missile strikes on Thursday to knock out three coastal radar sites in areas of Yemen controlled by Iran-aligned Houthi forces, in what was supposedly a retaliation after failed missile attacks this week on a U.S. Navy destroyer, U.S. officials said.Cited by Reuters , U.S. officials speaking on condition of anonymity, said U.S. Navy destroyer USS Nitze launched the Tomahawk cruise missiles around 4 a.m. (0100 GMT). The strikes, authorized by President Barack Obama, represent Washington's first direct military action against suspected Houthi-controlled targets in Yemen's conflict.As we reported previously, U.S. officials said there growing indications - if no official proof - that Houthi fighters, or forces aligned with them, were responsible for Sunday's attempted strikes, in which two coastal cruise missiles designed to target ships failed to reach the destroyer.And like on all previous occasions when the US got involved in a nation's sovereign affairs, the Pentagon stressed the limited nature of the strikes, aimed at radar that enabled the launch of at least three missiles against the U.S. Navy ship USS Mason on Sunday and Wednesday.What it did, however, was make Saudi incursions into Yemen even easier, providing the Saudi airforce a corridor deep into the country which making sure Yemen was unable to retaliate against its invaders.Of course, the official line is different. "These limited self-defense strikes were conducted to protect our personnel, our ships and our freedom of navigation," Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook adding that "these radars were active during previous attacks and attempted attacks on ships in the Red Sea," including the USS Mason, one of the officials said, adding the targeted radar sites were in remote areas where the risk of civilian casualties was low.In retrospect one now wonders if the "cruise missiles" that fell close to the US ships were merely the latest false flag providing the US cover to launch another foreign intervention.To be sure, the Houthis, who are battling the internationally-recognized government of Yemen President Abd Rabbu Mansour al-Hadi, denied any involvement in Sunday's attempt to strike the USS Mason.On Thursday, the Houthis reiterated a denial that they carried out the strikes and said they did not come from areas under their control, a news agency controlled by the group reported a military source as saying. The allegations were false pretexts to "escalate aggression and cover up crimes committed against the Yemeni people",the source said.it wouldn't be the first time that the US has done just that to launch an offensive war (without Congressional approval). Sure enough, the US from immediately launching a strategic attack.According to Reuters, the US military official identified the areas in Yemen where the US strikes took place as near Ras Isa, north of Mukha and near Khoka.There may have been another reason for the strikes: shipping sources told Reuters sites were hit in the Dhubab district of Taiz province. As the map shows, the area impacted by US air strikes overlooks the Bab al-Mandab Straight known for fishing and smuggling; also known for being one of the world's busiest transit spots.The missile incidents, along with an Oct. 1 strike on a vessel from the United Arab Emirates, add to questions about safety of passage for military ships around the Bab al-Mandab Strait, one of the world's busiest shipping routes.This latest US attack appears to be just the beginning: Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook warned against any future attacks, adding that "The United States will respond to any further threat to our ships and commercial traffic, as appropriate."Others chimed in:And suggesting that Yemen is about to become the next major geopolitical hotzone, earlier today Iran's semi-official Tasnim news agency reported that Iran sent two warships to the Gulf of Aden on Thursday, establishing a military presence in waters off Yemen where the U.S. military launched cruise missile strikes on areas controlled by Iran-backed Houthi forces."Iran's Alvand and Bushehr warships have been dispatched to the Gulf of Aden to protect trade vessels," Tasnim reported.As a result, we expect many more "false flag" events in the coming days.SUBHEAD: Royal Air Force pilots can shoot down Russian jets over Syria if they feel threatened.From ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panavia_Tornado ).

if a pilot is fired on or believes he is about to be fired on, he can defend himself

Where things get tricky is the qualifier "if he believes he is about to be fired on" - since this makes open engagement a function of threat evaluation in real time during stressed conditions, the likelihood of an escalation that could result in two warplanes shooting at each other, just jumped significantly.

.

As the US officially enters the Yemen military campaign, the UK appears ready and willing to precipitate a catalytic event from which there is no going back.With relations between Russia and the West at post-Cold War lows and deteriorating fast, Royal Air Force (RAF) pilots have been given the go-ahead to shoot down Russian military jets when flying missions over Syria and Iraq, if they are endangered by them.The development comes with warnings that the UK and Russia are now "one step closer" to being at war, according to the Sunday Times. While the RAF's Tornado pilots have been instructed to avoid contact with Russian aircraft while engaged in missions for Operation Shader, the codename for the RAF's anti-Isis work in Iraq and Syria, their aircraft have been armed with air-to-air missiles and the pilots have been given the green light to defend themselves if they are threatened by Russian pilots."The first thing a British pilot will do is to try to avoid a situation where an air-to-air attack is likely to occur  you avoid an area if there is Russian activity," an unidentified source from the UK's Permanent Joint Headquarters (PJHQ) told the Sunday Times."ButWe now have a situation where a single pilot, irrespective of nationality, can have a strategic impact on future events."The RAF Tornados aircraft will be armed with heat-seeking Advanced Short Range Air-to-Air Missiles (Asraams, also called AIM-132 missiles), the IBT adds . These weapons, which cost 200,000 each, have a longer range than other air-to-air missiles, allowing RAF pilots to shoot down enemy aircraft without being targeted themselves.Providing cover to the largely underreported, if substantial escalation, according to the Sunday Times report an appraisal carried out by UK defence officials said: "It took six days for Russia to strike any Isis targets at all. Their air strikes have included moderate opposition groups who have been fighting to defend their areas from Isis.Among the targets hit were three field hospitals." In the past 24 hours Russia's Defence Ministry said that it has continued its air strikes on IS positions in Hama, Idlib, Latakia and Raqqa. It reported that the attacks resulted in the "complete destruction" of "53 fortified areas and strong points with armament and military hardware", seven ammunition depots, four field camps of "terrorists", one command centre, and artillery and mortar batteries.Russia has countered that US airstrikes have failed to make much of an impact on ISIS targets, and as reported last month, a "mistaken" strike by the US coalition forces killed over 60 Syrian soldiers in a move Russia accused of being a provocation to war.The Sunday Times' report quoted a defence source as saying: "Up till now RAF Tornados have been equipped with 500lb satellite-guided bombs  there has been no or little air-to-air threat. But in the last week the situation has changed. We need to respond accordingly."But another source of the original story summarized the severity of the situation best when he said that "we need to protect our pilots but at the same time we're taking a step closer to war.See also: Ea O Ka Aina: Russia warns of shooting down US jets 10/6/16
By Michael Holden LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's vote in a June referendum to leave the European Union had no constitutional substance, according to lawyers leading a bid to force the government to seek parliamentary approval before formally starting the Brexit process. "It was an advisory referendum, no more than that," David Pannick told the High Court on Thursday. Prime Minister Theresa May has said she will trigger Article 50 of the EU Lisbon Treaty, the mechanism by which Britain begins a two-year process to leave the bloc, by the end of March next year and there will be no parliamentary vote beforehand. But she is facing a legal challenge over whether the government can use a historical power known as royal prerogative to decide when, how and whether to make this decision. Several ministers have called this week's legal challenge an attempt to subvert the democratic process. Pannick, representing the lead claimant, investment manager Gina Miller, denied the case was "merely camouflage" by those who wanted to stay in the EU and said it raised questions of fundamental constitutional importance. He said the government should not use an ancient power to strip away rights such as freedom of movement for people, trade and services that were granted by the 1972 act of parliament that sealed Britain's entry into the bloc. "Rights that have been created by parliament cannot be taken away by a minister," Pannick told the court. "The court is not concerned with the political outcome of withdrawing this country from the European Union. Our legal claim is in support of parliamentary sovereignty." DEATH THREATS The case has aroused passions beyond the courtroom, with Britain's population still profoundly polarized over Brexit. Lead claimant Miller said she had had death threats since the case started. "It's been horrendous," she told Reuters. The government's top lawyer, Attorney General Jeremy Wright, will respond to Pannick's arguments later in the hearing, but a final decision is not expected for some weeks as whichever side loses is likely to appeal to the Supreme Court. Sterling has fallen to 31-year lows since May announced the date she intended to trigger Article 50, and the court case is being closely watched by market players who believe that if there is a vote in parliament, the greater the chance there is of a "soft Brexit" or delays to the process. May has accused those behind the action, some of whom openly admit they did not want Britain to leave the EU, of trying to subvert the referendum result. The claimants reject this, saying they do not want to hinder or hijack the process but merely bring legal certainty and proper democratic scrutiny. "I don't see how a court case can block Brexit," Miller, told Reuters last week. "I am saying we have parliament, scrutiny and then a vote rather than an antiquated power which is secretive and bypasses parliament." (Editing by Estelle Shirbon)
TAMPA, Fla. (Reuters) - Police have given the all clear at the Legoland amusement park and hotel in Winter Haven, Florida, after it was evacuated on Thursday due to an anonymous bomb threat that park officials later said they considered a hoax.

The written threat was received shortly before noon, and all guests were evacuated in less than an hour, the Winter Haven Police Department said. Police gave the all clear to park officials around 5 p.m. local time (2100 GMT), saying no explosives were found.

"At this time, we believe this is a hoax, but we take all threats seriously," said Adrian Jones, general manager of Legoland Florida Resort, in a statement. He said the decision to evacuate "was made in an abundance of caution at the advice of law enforcement."

The theme park owned by Merlin Entertainments remained closed for the day as police investigated. The park will reopen at its regularly scheduled time on Friday morning and visitors staying at the hotel have been allowed to return, officials said.

Winter Haven Police used police dogs to clear every inch of the park, police spokeswoman Jamie Brown said by phone. A statement from the department said bomb hoaxes are not "a joke," adding they will continue to investigate the case and bring charges.

Located between Tampa and Orlando in central Florida, the Legoland resort includes a 150-acre theme park with rides, restaurants, a water park and hotel. The park opened in October 2011 and the 152-room hotel opened in May last year.

Park officials said the campus was evacuated within 20 minutes. Officials declined to say how many people were in the park or staying at the hotel at the time of the evacuation.

(Reporting by Letitia Stein in Tampa, Fla.; Additional reporting by Curtis Skinner in San Francisco, Writing by Laila Kearney; Editing by Chris Reese)
Leonard Roberts (American Crime Story: The People Vs O.J. Simpson) has booked a recurring role on the upcoming second season of Syfys The Magicians. Based on the bestselling novels from Lev Grossman, The Magicians centers on Quentin (Jason Ralph), a brilliant grad student chosen to attend Brakebills College for Magical Pedagogy, a secret upstate New York university specializing in magic. Roberts will play King Idri of Loria, a skilled swordfighter who is confident in his leadership and places great value upon his kingly duty. The Magicians is set to return in winter 2017. Roberts most recently appeared in Emmy-winning American Crime Story: The People vs. O.J. Simpson as reporter Dennis Schatzman. Hes repped by Greene & Associates Talent Agency.

Work It alumna Beth Lacke is set for a recurring role on the CWs new drama series Frequency, a remagining of the 2000 New Line Cinema film. It centers on a female police detective, who in 2016 discovers she is able to speak via ham radio with her estranged father (also a detective) who died in 1996. They forge a new relationship while working together on an unsolved murder case, but unintended consequences of the butterfly effect wreak havoc in the present day. Lacke will play Meghan, a troubled woman whose dark past may provide answers in Raimys hunt for the serial killer who took her mothers life. Lacke most recently appeared in a guest spot on Black-ish and will be seen later this year in comedic drama Hope Springs Eternal. Shes repped by Innovative Artists and Sanders.Armstrong.Caserta Management.

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Praying, wailing and collapsing to their knees, devastated Thais poured out their grief on Thursday as they struggled to process the death of King Bhumibol Adulyadej, the only monarch most had ever known.

"What will the country be like without the Father? Father!" bellowed a distraught Patcharapol Piamsaad, one of hundreds of Thais who had held hopeful vigils for days outside his Bangkok hospital.

The revered Bhumibol, the world's longest-reigning monarch, died Thursday at the age of 88 -- depriving the perennially divided nation of a towering, unifying father figure.

The king had been in increasingly poor ill health for years but his inevitable demise was too much for many to take.

Well-wishers had stood quietly below the Thai king's hospital room praying, as they had for days, when news of his passing suddenly rippled across the crowd, turning quiet prayers into agonised wailing.

Stunned Thais clasped their hands in redoubled prayer, with some throwing themselves to the ground.

Others stood to sing his personal royal anthem, wiping away tears.

Many in the surrounding area flocked to the riverside hospital, clutching portraits of Bhumibol and crying, while other parts of the capital appeared in an eerie calm.

- Waiting for a miracle -

After the news filtered in, crowds of Thais packed into the courtyard beneath his hospital window continued to chant "Long live the king!".

"I want the king to hear us in case he will come back to life," said Sukit Tanaboonsombat, 46, one of those leading the chants and never taking his eyes off the hospital windows.

Sukit said he raced over to the hospital after hearing the news of the king's death, which he refused to believe.

"I'm waiting for a miracle to bring the king back to life because he said he wanted to live until 120 years old."

Across the board, Thai television turned its programming over to glorifying the revered king, broadcasting images of him at his 1946 coronation, patrolling in military fatigues, and overseeing programmes aiding the poor.

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His worsening health has raised concerns over the country's political future.

Most Thais have known no other monarch and though the king officially took no part in politics, he has been portrayed as a guiding light through decades of turmoil, coups and violent unrest.

"We are waiting for a miracle but it's likely impossible," said Panaree Thanawirachotikul.

"We're shouting to heaven and angels to tell the king that Thais will always have very strong loyalty toward him.

"The king passed away but he will always be in all the Thai people's hearts."

Out of respect, Bangkok's notorious red-light districts also quickly shut up on Thursday evening, with images posted on social media showing usually buzzing bars completely empty.
President Barack Obama has reaffirmed his vision to send humans to Mars. In an editorial posted on CNN.com today (Oct. 11), the president wrote of his goal of "sending humans to Mars by the 2030s and returning them safely to Earth, with the ultimate ambition to one day remain there for an extended time."

NASA Administrator Charles Bolden echoed the president's enthusiasm, describing in a blog post today co-written with John Holdren, a senior adviser to the president, how NASA plans to "utilize public-private partnerships to enable humans to live and work in space in a sustainable way."

Key to the ambitious endeavor, however, is ensuring the astronauts' safety, which may be difficult, according to a NASA-funded study published yesterday (Oct. 10) in the journal Scientific Reports.

The new study, in rodents, shows that astronauts could suffer from a phenomenon called "space brain" during the long trip to Mars, as cosmic radiation bombards their bodies and damages their brain cells.

Researchers exposed the laboratory-bound rodents to a level of radiation similar to that expected on a six-month one-way trip to Mars. They found that the radiation caused significant long-term brain damage, including cognitive impairments and dementia, a result of brain inflammation and damage to the rodents' neurons. [10 Things You Didn't Know About the Brain]

The researchers said the new study revealed a far greater extent of brain damage than what was hinted at in their shorter, six-week study, conducted last year.

"This is not positive news for astronauts deployed on a two- to three-year round-trip to Mars," said Charles Limoli, a professor of radiation oncology at the University of California, Irvine School of Medicine, who led the study.

NASA told Live Science that the agency is funding such studies to better understand the risks posed to its astronauts, although the agency was not aware that Limoli's study was published and could not comment on the details.

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Radiation hazards

Astronauts in space face two kinds of radiation hazards. One is the solar radiation from the sun, including ultraviolet rays, X-rays, protons and electrons. The other is cosmic radiation, which emanates from all directions in deep space and comprises atomic particles far more energetic (and thus more damaging) than solar radiation.

Limoli's research was aimed at assessing the possible human health problems that could be caused by cosmic radiation on a prolonged space journey. There are almost no studies so far that have looked at this, Limoli said. Humans have lived on the International Space Station (ISS) for months at a time. Russian cosmonaut Valeri Polyakov (born Valeri Ivanovich Korshunov but later changed his name) holds the record for the longest, continuous time in orbit  almost 438 days aboard the Mir space station.

However, because Mir (which is no longer in use) and the ISS are relatively close to Earth, Earth's magnetosphere  a natural magnetic field that deflects charged atomic particles from the sun and deeper space  mostly protects astronauts on board the orbiting labs from dangerous radiation exposure. Tests have shown that Polyakov and other astronauts have no serious brain damage as a result of their time in orbit. [5 Mars Myths and Misconceptions]

Astronauts who visited the moon ventured beyond this protective magnetosphere, but their entire round-trip lasted only about two weeks, so their radiation exposure was kept to a minimum. One previous study, done in 2013 in mice, suggested that radiation may hasten the development of Alzheimer's.

To simulate the cosmic radiation exposure humans would face during a long Mars trip, Limoli's group exposed rodents to charged particles at the NASA Space Radiation Laboratory at the Brookhaven National Laboratory in Upton, New York.

The researchers found that although the bombardment of the radiation was painless, it caused significant brain damage in the rodents. Imaging revealed that the animals' brain cells had a sharp reduction in features of the cells called the dendrites and spines, which would disrupt the transmission of signals among neurons, they said.

Limoli told Live Science that loss of dendrites and spines were "like a tree losing its leaves and branches," compromising the health of the tree. These physical losses explained the deficiencies the rodents showed in behavioral tasks designed to test learning and memory, Limoli said. In humans, this loss could lead astronauts to make poor decisions that could affect the safety of the crew, he added.

The researchers also discovered that the radiation affected the part of the brain that normally suppresses prior unpleasant and stressful associations, as part of a process called "fear extinction." This loss of fear extinction could make the astronauts prone to anxiety, Limoli said. [Infographic: How Radiation Affects the Human Body]

Yet Limoli remains optimistic that NASA can still send astronauts safely to Mars. "This is not a deal breaker," he told Live Science. "This [cosmic radiation] is simply something we have to deal with."

A 30-month trip

NASA estimates that a 30-month trip to Mars  six months of travel each way, plus 18 months living on the Red Planet  would expose astronauts to a total of 1 sievert (Sv) of radiation. For comparison, Limoli said people who undergo certain kinds of radiation treatment for brain cancer may need to endure a dose at least 10 times higher than that through the course of that treatment. He said that these cancer patients, although they may be cured of cancer, have notable declines in their cognitive function.

Astronauts could be protected from cosmic radiation in two ways, a NASA press officer told Live Science. One would be to a passive method of installing thick metal shields or layers with water, either around the entire spacecraft or around sleeping chambers to block the radiation. Cosmic radiation is very penetrating, however, and shields that would be thick enough to block the rays would add considerable weight (and thus, expense) to the Mars mission.

Another way is an active method of installing an electromagnetic field to deflect the radiation, analogous to the magnetosphere itself. Limoli said his group and others are working on another strategy, medicines that could repair the damage caused by radiation, or protect or even restore neurons.

It will certainly be a memorable trip to Mars, and NASA hopes the astronauts will stay healthy enough to remember it.

Follow Christopher Wanjek @wanjek for daily tweets on health and science with a humorous edge. Wanjek is the author of "Food at Work" and "Bad Medicine." His column, Bad Medicine, appears regularly on Live Science.

Editor's Recommendations
MORRISTOWN, NJ / ACCESSWIRE / October 13, 2016 / Louis Berger has been selected for the third consecutive 5-year indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity (IDIQ) contract to support the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Institute for Water Research (IWR) - the USACE "think tank." The $47 million IDIQ contract will be active through March 2021.

"IWR leads USACE's response in finding and applying innovative solutions to confront the challenges facing the nation's water resources and infrastructure," said Raed EL-Farhan, senior vice president and global water market sector lead. "Our team is privileged to work alongside IWR and USACE leaders to solve the most challenging water infrastructure problems and to meet the nation's growing need for water resources."

Louis Berger's research, analysis, future-casting and technical capabilities have been put to use by IWR through two consecutive 5-year IDIQ awards for water resources professional services. Tasks under these contracts tackle almost every aspect of the USACE Civil Works missions. Louis Berger has worked closely with IWR to study, strategize, analyze, plan, communicate and consider policy related to aquatic ecosystem restoration, flood risk management, recreation, water supply, navigation and regulatory issues.

The firm's work with IWR includes research studies and strategy development related to alternative funding sources. As part of this work, Louis Berger has developed a white paper for USACE that addresses innovative mechanisms to enable public private partnerships.

"As USACE returns to building and expanding the nation's water infrastructure, we will be there to help provide USACE and our nation with the most innovative and sustainable, engineering and financial solutions," said EL-Farhan.

In addition, Louis Berger worked collaboratively with the IWR senior economists to develop the Civil Works Regional Economic System (RECONS). The award-winning tool allows USACE to provide estimates of regional economic impacts associated with USACE spending.

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The five year contract extends Louis Berger's working relationship with USACE IWR to more than 15 years.

About Louis Berger

Louis Berger is a $1 billion global professional services corporation that helps infrastructure and development clients solve their most complex challenges. We are a trusted partner to national, state and local government agencies; multilateral institutions; and commercial industry clients worldwide. By focusing on client needs to deliver quality, safe, financially-successful projects with integrity, we are committed to deliver on our promise to provide Solutions for a better world.

Louis Berger operates on every habitable continent. We have a long-standing presence in more than 50 nations, represented by the multidisciplinary expertise of 6,000 engineers, economists, scientists, managers and planners.

WATCH: Louis Berger helped USACE IWR develop the video above.

SOURCE: Louis Berger
Quentin Tarantino for the past four years has been delving deep into the year 1970 in the movies, as hes been telling audiences at the Lumiere Festival in Lyon, run by Cannes general delegate Thierry Fremaux. At the fest Tarantino is presenting a 15-feature retrospective titled 1970, that includes Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Love Story, Russ Meyers Beyond the Valley of the Dolls and Zabriskie Point.

Here are eight things Tarantino said about that year to Fremaux when they took the stage in front of some 2,000 cheering French fans.

 How his passion for 1970 started

It started because I read the book Mark Harris wrote Pictures at a Revolution that takes place in 1967. Thats the year that chronicles the real emergence of New Hollywood. The point that he makes in the book is that by the end of 1967 New Hollywood had won, only they didnt know it yet. And Old Hollywood was over, even though they didnt know it yet. By 1970 New Hollywood had won: New Hollywood was The Hollywood, and anything that even smacked of Old Hollywood was dead on arrival.

 Why New Hollywood Did Not Survive

The more I started going to the library and looking up what was coming out that year, I realised that -yeah  the New Hollywood had won the revolution, but whether it would survive was not clear, because cinema had changed so drastically that it had alienated a lot of the audience that Hollywood had counted on for years, and years, and years. Particularly the family audience, the audience that made My Fair Lady or The Sound of Music play for five years in movie theatres. That was the audience that Hollywood had always been trying to get; well, they abolished that audience.

-Why 1970 was crucial to keep New Hollywood going for a few years

What we think of as New Hollywood cinema that existed until at least 1976 was more fragile that I thought it was. That experiment could have died in 1970. It could have not worked. But ultimately it did because enough New Hollywood influence did happen, in particular M.A.S.H. and Five Easy Pieces, to keep the experiment going. But if M.A.S.H and Five Easy Pieces hadnt worked in 1970, its very doubtful that there would have been an The Exorcist. There never would have been a The Godfather.

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-What is Tarantino going to do with this project

What am I going to do with this project? Am I going to write book about it? Maybe. Am I going to do it as a six-part podcast? Maybe. Will I do a documentary about it? Maybe. I dont know, Im figuring it out. But my first stop in dealing with it is coming to Lyon.

-On the freedom Hollywood directors had in 1970

In spending four years constantly looking at that year  and seeing what came before and what came afterwards  you start seeing patterns emerge. And one of the things that happened was there were a lot of promises made in cinema; of possibilities, of a new cinema. It was almost like an immigrant time, it was like Hollywood had never had this kind of freedom before. Could the public handle that kind of freedom that seemed almost limitless at that time? Directors could shoot any book they ever wanted. They could write any screenplay. They could deal with any subject matter. Nothing had to be diced, nothing had to be watered-down. That was a first for Hollywood.

-On new black cinema not emerging after 1970

But there were promises that were not fulfilled. There was a promise in 1970 that a new genuine black cinema would emerge. You had one of the best movies of that year The Landlord, Hal Ashbys directorial debut. That was written by black playwright and screenwriter Bill Gunn. You had Ossie Davis making his directorial debut with Cotton Comes to Harlem. You had Melvin Van Peebles doing Watermelon Man.So then there was a thought that a new black voice, that new black directors would emerge, that would be a part of cinema. That ended up not happening. Blaxploitation ended up taking its place. Im known as a fan of blaxploitation, but now Im seeing that blaxploitation did derail a true black voice [from] rising in cinema as much as I appreciate it.

-Erotic cinema also did not manage to free itself after that year

The same thing happened for a lot of cinema. There was the promise in 1970 that eroticism in cinema would be taken out of the raincoat crowd, out of the pornography circuit and would actually achieve mainstream success. They [the movies] would play in nice theatres and it would be a cinema for couples to and appreciate, and we had some wonderful artists dealing in eroticism at that time, one was Russ MeyersThat promise seemed to live for a little while. In 1971 you had Last Tango in Paris, you had carnal knowledgeHowever this promise was not fulfilledEroticism went back to porno and sexploitation again.

-How 1970 symbolises the end of the 60s

Nobody in the 60s could see how the 60s would end in the 70s. And considering that at least half of the movies that came out in 1970 were made in 1969 that generated a big dilemma. For example one of the big things that was in the news then was the campus radicalism that existed then. In 1970 five movies came out dealing with campus radicalism, including Zabriskie Point, Getting Straight, and The Strawberry Statement. Pretty much they all died when they came out because by the time they came out the audience, the consciousness, had moved on. Only six months later they actually seemed dated.

The one film that dealt one hundred percent with the sixites in a huge way that was a smash in 1970, was Woodstock. Woodstock proved to be the last word on the subject cinematically.

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For all of his mental and physical scars, this little gray pit bull could have been as mean as a junk yard dog.

But Hudson, as his adopted dad would later call him, was a guileless puppy  a little damaged, but mostly full of goodness.

Read: Search on for Owner of Injured Dog Rescued From Missouri River in 'Bad Shape'

Which was somewhat of a miracle given he and his two siblings had been nailed to railroad ties as 3-week-olds and abandoned in Albany, N.Y.

The tiny dogs were found by train workers and became instant celebrities as stories appeared asking how anyone could be so cruel to helpless puppies.

One of the pups didnt make it. Another lost its toes. Hudson lost a foot and came to be adopted by youth counselor Richard Nash, who turned the handsome dog into a therapy dog now known around the country.

But first, Hudson had to go to a finishing school of sorts  attending obedience and good manners training  which stressed learning the commands of sit and stay and to leave alone things on the floor.

If someone drops a pill on the floor in a hospital and he eats, it could kill him, Nash told InsideEdition.com Wednesday, citing a hazard of the dog therapy occupation.

Hudson goes to hospitals, nursing homes, assisted living centers, adult day care, and schools for all ages. With the abuse that happened to him, you would think that he wouldnt like people, but he just loves everybody. He just loved everbody he met, said Nash, 43, who has two other dogs and eight cats that he parents with his wife.

Last year, Nash and Hudson walked the red carpet in Los Angeles, with Nash in a tux and Hudson on a leash.

The 65-pound dog was honored by the American Humane Association at its annual Hero Dog Awards.

Thanks to a plastic prosthetic leg that allows him to walk and run with barely a hitch, Hudson was able to strut his canine stuff with dignity and flair. Footage from Plastics Make it Possible show just how much the new limb changed his life.

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His life with Nash was hard-earned. After he was rescued from the railroad tracks, hundreds of people deluged the local animal shelter wanting to adopt him and his surviving sibling.

Read: Meet Lego, the Service Dog Chases Away Nightmares for a 3-Year-Old Boy With Autism

The shelter decided the best way to choose their new parents was to hold an essay contest.

Nash wrote a letter saying he already had a pit bull mix, that he and his wife could give Hudson a good and loving life and that theyd take him to canine surgeons and medical appointments.

Eventually, Hudson came to live with the Nashes.

It was slow going at first. He would have nightmares. He would be whimpering, shaking. I would have to wake him up and let him know he was safe, Nash said.

It was such terrible abuse he went through.

Watch: Abused Dog Stares at Wall for Days After Being Rescued

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KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Human Rights Watch on Thursday expressed concern over planned amendments to a Malaysian media law that would give broader powers to the authorities to stifle online dissent, amid a wider crackdown on free speech and assembly. The U.S.-based rights group's report comes as Prime Minister Najib Razak battles criticism over his handling of a multi-billion dollar financial scandal at state fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB). "What Malaysia is trying to do is put the internet genie back in the bottle, back to a time when the government had greater control over information received by its citizens," HRW Asia deputy director Phil Robertson told reporters. Amendments to the Communications and Multimedia Act have not been publicly disclosed. Media reports have said they could require news portals and political blogs to register with the government, increase penalties for offences under the act and broaden powers for the authorities to take down online content. Neither the prime minister's office nor the communications and multimedia minister, Salleh Said Keruak, responded to requests for comment. Salleh was previously quoted by the New Straits Times newspaper that the proposed amendments were designed to safeguard against online abuses such as pornography, extremism and gambling. The HRW report said a rising number of Malaysians were investigated over the past year for criticising the government. It follows an earlier HRW release last year on the increasing use of criminal laws to stifle dissent. "We found that there were few countries in Southeast Asia worse than Malaysia when it came to the rapid deterioration of human rights... it's like a bad movie sequel," Robertson said. Despite a longstanding government pledge not to censor the internet, authorities have blocked several websites and news portals carrying reports critical of 1MDB and Prime Minister Najib. Authorities have also cracked down on anti-government rally organisers, opposition leaders and activists. Among them was artist Fahmi Reza, who faces charges under the act for a caricature of Najib with a clown face. 1MDB is the subject of money-laundering investigations in at least six countries. The U.S. Department of Justice filed lawsuits in July to seize dozens of assets from 1MDB, saying $3.5 billion was misappropriated from the fund. Najib has denied any wrongdoing and said Malaysia will cooperate in the international investigations. (Reporting by Rozanna Latiff; Editing by Nick Macfie)
The Trump supporter arrested last month for allegedly torching a Florida mosque attended by the Orlando nightclub shooter is being charged with a hate crime.

Joseph Schreiber, 32, was arrested September 14 after cops say surveillance footage shows him approach the Islamic Center of Fort Pierce then run away just prior to a flash of light.

Read: Ohio Woman Protests Outside Mosque, Gets Welcomed with Smiles and Hugs

The mosque was once attended by Omar Mateen, who killed 49 people in the June massacre, as well as Moner Mohammad Abu Salha, an American who killed several Syrian government soldiers in a 2014 suicide bombing in Jabal al-Arbaeen after joining the Taliban.

Much of the mosque was gutted by the September 11 fire. Authorities noted the conspicuous timing of the blaze.

"We all know the implications of the date and the time of year this is, the 9/11 anniversary. Is that related? Certainly that is in the back of our minds," Major David Thompson of the Port St. Lucie Sheriff's Office said.

Congregants have since held prayer services in a part of the mosque that wasn't destroyed by fire as the imam says the public has donated about $80,000 to help rebuild the facility, the Orlando Sentinel reported.

Prosecutors announced the enhanced charge this week. Now, if convicted, Schreiber's potential sentence doubles to 30 years.

Watch: Orlando Gunman Omar Mateen Was Caught On Hidden Camera in 2012 Documentary

In a statement released last month, the St. Lucie County Sheriff's Office said, "Schreiber is known to law enforcement and as such qualifies as a prison release re-offender that would impose a 30-year minimum mandatory sentence. He also qualifies as a habitual felony offender and could ultimately be sentenced to life in prison."

A Facebook page that appears to belong to the 32-year-old features multiple conservative fringe news posts that are critical of Islam and supportive of Donald Trump's candidacy for president.

Story continues

Watch: Orlando Gunman Omar Mateen's Father Seen Smiling Behind Hillary Clinton at Rally

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Another Batman  not Michael Keaton!  is scaring away clowns in England (Photo: Everett)

By Ryan Parker, The Hollywood Reporter

Seems the scary clown craze is not only in America.

There is an issue with people dressing up and frightening people in England, but they pissed off the wrong person: Batman.

Someone in Cumbria, located in North West England, has been chasing off those dressed as clowns in the hopes of making children feel safe, according to The Telegraph.

Related: 100 Greatest Superhero Comics

A photo of Batman in action and a video surfaced of the British Caped Crusader telling kids its safe.

A group calling itself Cumbria Superheroes is behind the effort. According to The Telegraph, the group didnt form to act as vigilantes so much as to reassure children there is nothing to be scared of concerning the clowns.

As for you clowns, if you want to scare someone, why dont you try and scare me, the man dressed as Batman says in a video posted to Facebook.

There has been numerous issues with the sudden clown craze in America, which has resulted in multiple arrests and clown costumes being banned from some schools for Halloween.

@dapperlaughs we now have batman in my town chasing the clowns #unbelievable ???? pic.twitter.com/0LJeK24QrB  Laura cufc (@laurabarr38) October 11, 2016
Seems the scary clown craze is not only in America.

There is an issue with people dressing up and frightening people in England, but they pissed off the wrong person: Batman.

Someone in Cumbria, in North West England, has been chasing off those dressed as clowns in the hopes of making children feel safe, The Telegraph reported.

A photo of Batman in action and a video surfaced of the British Caped Crusader telling kids it's safe.

A group calling itself Cumbria Superheroes is behind the effort. According to The Telegraph, the group didn't form to act as vigilantes so much as to reassure children there is nothing to be scared of concerning the clowns.

"As for you clowns, if you want to scare someone, why don't you try and scare me," the man dressed as Batman says in a video posted to Facebook.

There have been numerous issues with the clown craze in America, which has resulted in multiple arrests and clown costumes being banned from some schools for Halloween.

@dapperlaughs we now have batman in my town chasing the clowns #unbelievable pic.twitter.com/0LJeK24QrB

- Laura cufc (@laurabarr38) October 11, 2016

Clowns beware! Batman is patrolling the streets of Cumbria helping children who have been scared by the 'clown craze'. pic.twitter.com/0DYjw9c5SF

- North West Tonight (@BBCNWT) October 12, 2016
Oregon became the third state to fully legalize marijuana Tuesday, while Washington, D.C., residents will soon be allowed to grow and possess pot without fear of legal repercussions. Despite a loss in Florida for medical marijuana, the twin victories prompted pot boosters to celebrate.

Its always an uphill battle to win a marijuana legalization initiative in a year like this when young people are so much less likely to vote, which makes todays victory all the sweeter, Ethan Nadelmann, executive director of the Drug Policy Alliance, said. Pro-marijuana lobby groups significantly outspent opponents in Oregon, helping them win over voters who rejected a similar proposal in 2012.

The pro-pot lobby even celebrated a victory in the unlikely tropical locale of Guam, a U.S. territory that voted to allow medical marijuana on Tuesday. And a legalization measure in Alaska similar to Oregon's looked likely to pass as of Wednesday morning.

Oregon joins Washington and Colorado in permitting the sale and use of marijuana, an experiment thats just 2 years old. The federal government still classifies pot as an illegal drug, but so far has largely allowed the states to experiment with legalization, which has brought in millions of dollars in taxed revenues. Pot shops crowd the streets of Denver, where budtenders legally sell marijuana-laced cookies and other treats.

In left-leaning Oregon, people will be allowed to grow and possess marijuana starting in July, giving the state eight months to devise regulations for the sale of it. In the nations capital, possession or cultivation of a small amount of pot will become legal in July, unless Congress tries to block the measure. The sale of pot would still remain illegal, however. The District of Columbia has had one of the highest levels of arrest rates for marijuana crimes.

"We won tonight because of the hard work of Oregon voters," Oregon pot organizer Anthony Johnson said in a victory speech. "It's a policy whose time has come."

Story continues

Advocates hope California, Massachusetts, Maine, Nevada and Arizona will join Oregon by 2016. A majority of the U.S. public now supports legalization, but older voters remain more skeptical.

The White House officially opposes decriminalizing marijuana, but President Barack Obama told The New Yorker that he thinks legalization efforts should go forward because "its important for society not to have a situation in which a large portion of people have at one time or another broken the law and only a select few get punished."

Obama was referencing data that shows black men are much more likely to be prosecuted for marijuana possession than white men. Obama also told the magazine that he doesnt believe marijuana is more dangerous than alcohol.
Reality TV titan Mark Burnett has issued a blistering statement denouncing the presidential campaign of his former partner on The Apprentice, Donald Trump.

Given all of the false media reports, I feel compelled to clarify a few points, Burnett wrote in a statement issued Tuesday.

I am not now and have never been a supporter of Donald Trumps candidacy. I am NOT Pro-Trump,' he said. Further, my wife and I reject the hatred, division and misogyny that has [sic] been a very unfortunate part of his campaign.

Also Read: Mark Burnett 'Does Not Have the Ability' to Release Donald Trump Footage, Producer Says

Burnett is married to actress and producer Roma Downey.

The U.K.-born producers political sympathies have become a source of speculation in recent days. Last week, Trumps campaign was upended after a 2005 tape leaked featuring the GOP candidate engaged in lewd talk with Access Hollywood co-host Billy Bush.

Former Apprentice staffers subsequently said much worse outtakes existed of the unedited Trump on the reality show, where his Youre fired! became a national catchphrase.

But such unseen material could not be released, one of these former workers said, on threat of a $5 million penalty from violating a Burnett contract. Burnetts close working relationship with Trump was extrapolated by some to indicate that the producer was on Trumps side politically, too.

Also Read: More Trump Tapes: 'Apprentice' Producer Warns Staff Not to Leak Material (Report)

Meanwhile, an MGM lawyer reiterated that the studio  which owns The Apprentice  has no intention of releasing any campaign-altering outtakes from years of recording Trump on camera.

MGM, not Mark Burnett, owns The Apprentice,' Marvin S. Putnam wrote in a statement added to Burnetts. MGM has agreements with artists across a wide spectrum of creative properties, including The Apprentice. These agreements typically contain provisions related to confidentiality and artists rights. MGM has every intention of complying with its agreements with artists and honoring their rights, including with respect to The Apprentice.'

Story continues

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The Apprentice creator Mark Burnett has issued an unequivocal statement disavowing the hatred, division and misogyny that has become associated with the presidential campaign of his former Apprentice star Donald Trump.

The declaration comes amid calls in media and political circles for Burnett to release any damaging video or audio recordings of Trump, the Republican nominee for president, during his 11 years as frontman for the NBC reality show. The clamor for Apprentice material was stirred up following Fridays explosive revelation of a vulgar conversation between Trump and Access Hollywood anchor Billy Bush back in 2005 in which Trump bragged of forcing himself on women, among other remarks widely deemed offensive.

As the creator and exec producer of Apprentice, Burnett played a huge part in Trumps rise to prominence on a national scale as a reality TV star, who fronted 14 cycles of Apprentice and Celebrity Apprentice from 2004-2015. But Burnett has stayed silent on Trumps political career since he launched his bid for the White House in June 2015.

A native of Britain, Burnett has been a strong supporter of Democrats in recent years, particularly of President Obamas White House campaigns. The reality TV mogul and his wife, actress-producer Roma Downey, have been rattled by the storm of media attention directed at Burnett as journalists hunt for more damning evidence of sexist and otherwise disturbing behavior demonstrated during Trumps TV career.

A report during the weekend, amid the extraordinary political fallout from Trumps 2005 conversation, that Burnett was a Trump-backer was the final straw for the producer, who is now president of MGM Television and Digital Group.

Given all of the false media reports, I feel compelled to clarify a few points. I am not now and have never been a supporter of Donald Trumps candidacy. I am NOT Pro-Trump, Burnett said in a statement emailed by his personal PR rep. Further, my wife and I reject the hatred, division and misogyny that has been a very unfortunate part of his campaign.

Story continues

MGM, which now owns the Apprentice archive after buying out Burnetts company in 2015, maintains that it does not have the legal right to release footage from the show at will. MGM separately issued statement from its outside counsel, Marvin S. Putnam of Latham & Watkins.

MGM, not Mark Burnett, owns The Apprentice. MGM has agreements with artists across a wide spectrum of creative properties, including The Apprentice. These agreements typically contain provisions related to confidentiality and artists rights, Putnam said. MGM has every intention of complying with its agreements with artists and honoring their rights, including with respect to The Apprentice. 

The legal thicket around the use of Apprentice material is further complicated by the fact that Trump also has an ownership interest in the show. Moreover, the archive likely includes thousands of hours of footage from 14 seasons, making it prohibitive for MGM to divulge all of it in one fell swoop, even if the studio had the legal authority to do so.

MGM is constrained from releasing any Apprentice material beyond finished episodes because it does not have so-called name and likeness rights for the people featured in that footage, Trump included. That means that even if Trump himself wanted certain footage released, hed have to engage in negotiations with others who were on camera, or blur out their likenesses.

In setting a deal for a TV show, the principle players grant the studio rights to use their name and likeness in material assembled for finished episodes and limited additional uses for marketing and publicity materials. The standard contracts do not cover unfettered rights to outtakes  which is why it can be challenging for producers to create a blooper or outtake reel for a TV special or DVD release. All of those rights have to be negotiated separately.

Sources close to the situation noted that the voluminous Apprentice archive would be hard to search because it is not cataloged to track incendiary or controversial statements from Trump. Because the show is more than a decade old, the archives are not digitally searchable. Contemporary shows often marry the footage library with digital transcripts of all dialogue captured by the cameras  but that was not standard operating procedure in 2004 when Apprentice began.

Burnett is the latest to be caught up in the maelstrom created by Fridays release by the Washington Post of the recording of Trump and Bush bantering in crude terms about women. Trump has apologized but also has tried to downplay the severity of his remarks, calling them locker-room talk. During the weekend, Republican leaders in droves abandoned their support for Trumps candidacy. Even Trumps vice presidential pick, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, has distanced himself from the candidate, leading to speculation Pence may bolt the ticket entirely.

The revelation has caused an abrupt reversal of fortune for Bush at NBC, where is in the midst of being let go (albeit with a contract settlement) barely two months after he left Access Hollywood for the high-profile perch as a member of the 9 a.m. anchor team on Today.

Just five days ago, NBC was grooming Bush for bigger and better things down the road. But the tidal wave of outrage stirred by Bushs jokey affirmation of Trumps remarks made it impossible for him to return to work on Today. Of all the frat-boy comments made during the roughly two and a half minute Access Hollywood outtake, nothing has sparked more fury and disdain than Trumps braggy assertion that women are so bowled over by his stardom that hes able to grab them by the pussy.

Burnett had hoped to stay out of the political fray of Trumps polarizing campaign, but the accusations that he was somehow protecting Trump by not disclosing Apprentice footage became too much for him to bear. The producer is known to have rejected a lucrative offer from the Republican National Committee to produce its nominating convention for Trump that was held in July in Cleveland.

Burnett and Downey are prominent in Hollywood philanthropy circles, and both are deeply committed to their Christian faith. The two have been among the industrys most vocal champions of fundraising to aid Christians facing increasing threats of harm from ISIS and other terrorist orgs in the Middle East.

The furor around Trump appears to be only increasing as the New York Times on Wednesday evening spoke to two women who assert that they were touched inappropriately by the candidate, a challenge to his statement in Sundays presidential debate that he has never groped women despite his 2005 trash-talk session with Bush.

(Pictured: Donald Trump and Mark Burnett in the early years of The Apprentice)

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Two Women Claim Donald Trump Touched Them Inappropriately
[October 12, 2016] Fitch Rates Pocono Health System's (PA) Series 2016 Revs 'A-'; Rating Watch Evolving

Fitch Ratings has assigned a long-term rating of 'A-' to the approximately $59.5 million of series 2016 hospital revenues bonds issued by the Monroe County Hospital Authority on behalf of Pocono Health System (PHS). The rating has been placed on Rating Watch Evolving. In addition, Fitch downgrades its rating on approximately $91 million of bonds issued by the authority on behalf of PHS to 'A-' from 'A'. The series 2016 bonds are expected to be issued as fixed-rate. Proceeds will be used to current-refund PHS's series 2007 and series 2012B bonds, finance the termination of a swap associated with the 2012B bonds, and pay for costs of issuance. Pro forma maximum annual debt service (MADS) is expected to decrease to $7.5 million from $8.9 million primarily due to the extended amortization of the refunding bonds. SECURITY Bond payments are secured by a pledge of gross revenues of the obligated group and by a first-lien mortgage on Pocono Medical Center. There will not be a debt service reserve fund associated with the series 2016 bonds. KEY RATING DRIVERS DECREASED PROFITABILITY: The downgrade reflects PHS's lower operating profitability, with operating margin decreasing to 0.6% in fiscal 2016 from 3.1% in fiscal 2015. The decrease primarily reflects PHS's loss of its sole-community provider (SCP) status in 2015 and the related decrease in incremental operating revenues in fiscal 2016. AFFILIATION WITH LEHIGH VALLEY: The Rating Watch Evolving reflects the pending merger between PHS and Lehigh Valley Health Network (LVHN). Fitch does not rate LVHN and therefore cannot currently assess the rating impact of the pending merger. ADEQUATE DEBT SERVICE COVERAGE: PHS's debt burden is moderate with pro forma MADS equal to 2.4% of fiscal 2016 revenues. However, pro forma MADS coverage decreased to 3.4x in fiscal 2016 from 4.4x in fiscal 2015 due to the compressed profitability, comparing unfavorably to Fitch's 'A' category median of 4.5x. SOLID LIQUIDITY: PHS's liquidity metrics remain solid for the category with 200.9 days cash on hand (DCOH), 21.5x pro forma cushion ratio and 144.2% cash-to-pro forma debt (net of premium), compared to Fitch's 'A' category medians of 215.5 days, 19.4x and 148.6%, respectively. Liquidity declined slightly from 2015 levels due to increased capital spending, unrealized losses, and one-time affiliation expenses. RATING SENSITIVITIES STABILIZED OPERATING PROFITABILITY: Fitch expects Pocono Health System's operating profitability to stabilize at levels similar to fiscal 2016 performance over the medium- to longer-term. Large negative deviations from current performance could lead to negative rating action. SUCCESSFUL COMPLETION OF MERGER: Fitch expects Pocono Health System to successfully complete its proposed merger with LVHN in 2017. The full impact of the merger will be assessed upon completion. CREDIT PROFILE PHS operates a 239 licensed-bed acute care community hospital located in East Stroudsburg, PA, approximately 85 miles from Philadelphia and 75 miles from New York City. Additional operations include a cancer center, a community health center, and four immediate care centers. Total revenues equaled $310.9 million in fiscal 2016. DECREASED PROFITABILITY The downgrade to 'A-' is driven primarily by a decline in PHS's operating performance in fiscal 2016. Operating margin decreased to 0.6% in fiscal 2016 from 3.1% in fiscal 2015 and is light compared to Fitch's 'A' median of 3.8%. The thin operating performance is attributed to PHS's loss of its SCP status in 2015 which resulted in approximately $13 million decrease in operating revenue. The loss of revenue was partially mitigated by PHS's reclassification into a different MSA with a higher Medicare wage index, which resulted in a net negative impact on operating revenue of approximately $8 million. PHS's fiscal 2017 budget anticipates a negative 2.6% operating margin, driven mostly by expected drops in volume associated with the opening of an 72-bed St. Luke's facility about six miles away from PHS's main campus. However, management reports that PHS's volumes improved significantly in the second half of fiscal 2016, after the budget was established. In addition, according to management, St. Luke's is facing bigger than initially anticipated challenges in recruiting physicians, and was not able to attain a Trauma designation in its emergency departments, which should mitigate some of the declining volume assumptions in the budget. The budget does not incorporate any incremental benefits from the LVHN affiliation. PHS had approximately $4.8 million in one-time non-operating expenses in fiscal 2016, including a $2.7 million pension settlement and $2.1 million in affiliation expenses. Fitch's calculations have been adjusted to exclude the one-time expenses. PHS's defined benefit pension plan has been frozen since 2014 and with the pension settlement the plan is currently 98% funded, which Fitch views favorably. AFFILIATION WITH LEHIGH VALLEY PHS and LVHN entered into a definitive agreement on Dec. 11, 2015 to merge and the full merger is expected to be completed in the near term. It is expected that PHS will join the LVHN obligated group upon completion of the affiliation and PHS's outstanding bonds are expected to be refunded, defeased, or have their security substituted under the LVHN master trust indenture (MTI (News - Alert)). In addition, the affiliation agreement calls for capital improvements at the PHS facilities over a 10-year period, with at least half being funded by LVHN. LVHN is a large-scale provider with a significant physician group, which should benefit PHS in achieving operating efficiencies and strengthening its physician recruitment efforts. However, Fitch does not rate LVHN and therefore cannot assess the full impact of the merger at this time. SOLID LIQUIDITY PHS's $1613 million in unrestricted liquidity at June 30, 2016 equated to a solid 200.9 DCOH, 21.5x pro forma cushion ratio and 144.2% cash-to-pro forma debt (net of premium), compared to Fitch's 'A' category medians of 215.5 days, 19.4x and 148.6%, respectively. Fitch notes that unrestricted liquidity declined from $175.6 million at June 30, 2015, due largely to increased capital spending, unrealized losses, and one-time affiliation expenses. PHS is budgeting for a further decline in liquidity in fiscal 2017, due to the budgeted operating loss for the year.



ADEQUATE DEBT SERVICE COVERAGE Despite a moderate pro forma debt burden, with pro forma MADS decreasing to 2.4% of fiscal 2016 revenue from approximately 2.9%, MADS coverage was only adequate in fiscal 2016. MADS coverage decreased to 3.4x in fiscal 2016 from 4.4x in fiscal 2015, comparing unfavorably to Fitch's 'A' category median of 4.5x. Based upon PHS's MTI covenant calculation, the system produced 1.9x coverage on an obligated group basis, in fiscal 2016, based on the $8.9 million MADS figure and including the one-time expenses.

DEBT PROFILE Post-issuance, PHS will have approximately $112 million of total debt outstanding (net of premium) and one fixed-payor swap. PHS's pro forma debt composition will consist of 81% fixed-rate, 13% synthetically fixed-rate, and 6% floating-rate debt. The swap has no collateral posting requirements. DISCLOSURE PHS covenants to provide annual and quarterly disclosure. Disclosure is provided on the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board's EMMA System. Additional information is available at 'www.fitchratings.com'. Applicable Criteria Revenue-Supported Rating Criteria (pub. 16 Jun 2014) https://www.fitchratings.com/site/re/750012 U.S. Nonprofit Hospitals and Health Systems Rating Criteria (pub. 09 Jun 2015) https://www.fitchratings.com/site/re/866807 Additional Disclosures Dodd-Frank Rating Information Disclosure Form https://www.fitchratings.com/creditdesk/press_releases/content/ridf_frame.cfm?pr_id=1013031 Solicitation Status https://www.fitchratings.com/gws/en/disclosure/solicitation?pr_id=1013031 Endorsement Policy https://www.fitchratings.com/regulatory ALL FITCH CREDIT RATINGS ARE SUBJECT TO CERTAIN LIMITATIONS AND DISCLAIMERS. PLEASE READ THESE LIMITATIONS AND DISCLAIMERS BY FOLLOWING THIS LINK: HTTPS://WWW.FITCHRATINGS.COM/UNDERSTANDINGCREDITRATINGS. IN ADDITION, RATING DEFINITIONS AND THE TERMS OF USE OF SUCH RATINGS ARE AVAILABLE ON (News - Alert) THE AGENCY'S PUBLIC WEB SITE AT WWW.FITCHRATINGS.COM. 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Mark Burnett clarified his stance on the current election Wednesday as pressure mounts for the Apprentice producer to produce old tapes featuring Donald Trump that may echo his comments on the recently released Access Hollywood recordings.

"Given all of themedia reports, I feel compelled to clarify a few points," Burnett's statement reads. "I am not now and have never been a supporter of Donald Trump's candidacy. I am NOT 'Pro-Trump.' Further, my wife and I reject the hatred, division and misogyny that has been a very unfortunate part of his campaign."

After an Associated Press report about Trump's sexually demeaning behavior on The Apprentice and a producer's tweet about the existence of "far worse" tapes than the Access Hollywood footage, Apprentice outtakes have become a hot commodity. MGM lawyers went on to explain that they are not able to release any Apprentice tapes because Burnett himself doesn't own them.

MGM's longtime counsel, Marvin S. Putnam of Latham & Watkins, added: "MGM, not Mark Burnett, owns The Apprentice. MGM has agreements with artists across a wide spectrum of creative properties, including 'The Apprentice.' These agreements typically contain provisions related to confidentiality and artist's rights. MGM has every intention of complying with its agreements with artists and honoring their rights, including with respect to The Apprentice."

Read more: Tapes or No Tapes, 'The Apprentice' Alums Recall Donald Trump's Sexist and Racist Behavior

The Hollywood Reporter recently spoke with nearly a dozen men and women who worked with Trump on The Apprentice as well as his pageants. A picture emerged from those interviews of a dominating presence who routinely made sexist and racist comments.

"I did hear what would be in a workplace considered sexist language or inappropriate language, but that was pretty normal, actually, and almost expected," says season four Apprentice contestant Marshawn Evans.

"It was more a creepy feeling you felt when he was around on set," says an Apprentice camera operator. "The way he looked at you or would be dismissive to all the female producers and only deal with Mark Burnett - he was just an overall asshole who thought of himself as very important."

Read more: Procuring Leaked 'Apprentice' Footage Raises Tricky Legal Questions for Media Outlets
The executive producer of The Apprentice basically told former host Donald Trump youre fired today. Given all of the false media reports, I feel compelled to clarify a few points, Mark Burnett said Wednesday in an illuminating statement.  I am not now and have never been a supporter of Donald Trumps candidacy. I am NOT Pro-Trump,' the president of MGM Television and Digital Group added. Further, my wife and I reject the hatred, division and misogyny that has been a very unfortunate part of his campaign.

The remarks from Burnett come amidst a growing chorus seeking the release of tapes and footage from the more than a decade that Trump was on The Apprentice. The expectation is that such tapes could contain lewd remarks and behavior demeaning to women and others similar those revealed last week in the damning Access Hollywood material from 2005 with now suspended Today co-host Billy Bush.

Revelations that arent coming says MGMs long time lawyer.

MGM, not Mark Burnett, owns The Apprentice, noted Marvin S. Putnam of Latham & Watkins today in a statement accompanying Burnetts. MGM has agreements with artists across a wide spectrum of creative properties, including The Apprentice, Putman asserted. These agreements typically contain provisions related to confidentiality and artists rights. MGM has every intention of complying with its agreements with artists and honoring their rights, including with respect to The Apprentice.

This is the second time is as many days that MGM has said nothing will be released from the reality show that made Trump a TV staple, despite the calls from the likes of attorney Gloria Allred and others for some sunlight on the situation.

Late last year, MGM acquired the 45% stake it didnt own in its United Artists Media Group joint venture with Burnett, Downey and Hearst. The Emmy wining reality producer and The Bible EP was in charge of the MGM Television and Digital Group soon after.

Story continues

After hosting The Apprentice from its debut in 2004 on the Comcast-owned net, Trump was officially dumped in June 2015 after the social and political backlash from his then just launched controversial Presidential bid proved too hot for NBC. Arnold Schwarzenegger was announced in September of last year as the new host of the show. On October 8, this year, the Terminator and former Governor of California said he would not be voting for Trump on November 8.

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Ever since the 1971 release of William Friedkins The French Connection, which filmed many scenes in Marseille, the Mediterranean city has been vaguely associated with drugs, crime, and urban decay.

But that is ending. The Marseille of today  Europes second-largest port and Frances second-largest metropolis  is a bustling, energetic crossroads of people and cultures.

And the city council is coordinating a digital strategy, under the banner of the Aix-Marseille French Tech initiative, to rebrand itself as a smart city.

Over the last 10 years Marseille has transformed its image, and digital media has played a key in this process, says Didier Parakian, deputy to the mayor in charge of economic development. Events such as European Capital of Culture in 2013, and the European Capital of Sports, set for 2017, have also helped.

The local digital value chain generated 8 billion ($9 billion) in 2015, and Parakian forecasts that this turnover will double over the next five years.

A huge Marseille sign, erected by Netflix, graces the hills overlooking the Mediterranean, conjuring up visual parallels with Los Angeles, an idea echoed by various industry professionals.

Marseille is really inspiring. Its chaotic, very cosmopolitan, outward looking and has a fascinating ethnic mix, says Jean-Laurent Csinidis, manager of Films de Force Majeure.

Given its geo-strategic position, Marseille is also one of Europes biggest data gateways, with ultra-fast undersea cables to Africa and Asia. It now hosts eight international data centers.

Marseille Memo The city in the South of France is joining the ranks of world-class media hubs. $9b Total value of digital activity generated in the Marseille region in 2015 30% Film tax rebate as of 2016, hiked from 20% in 2015, encouraging more shoots 229 Feature film shooting days in 2015, up from 127 in 2014 826 TV series shooting days in 2015, up from 422 in 2014

The city is the cornerstone of the new Aix-Marseille-Provence Metropolis, an administrative unit formed in January, and is developing synergies that aim to position the zone as a new Silicon Valley.

Story continues

Film production in Marseille and in the surrounding Provence-Alpes-Cote dAzur region  Frances second-biggest filming location after the Paris region  has been steadily growing. It was further powered in 2016 by the tax rebate rate hike from 20% to 30%.

In the Marseille region alone, the number of shooting days for films and TV series nearly doubled between 2014 and 2015, increasing from 127 to 229 days for features and from 422 to 826 days for series.

Major international productions recently lensing in the municipality include Antonio Negrets French action thriller Overdrive, starring Scott Eastwood, and Chinese TV series Family on the Go.

Marseilles Mission Cinema, launched in 2009, assists in location scouting and film permits, and coordinates municipal investments in local production facilities, including the Belle de Mai Media Park.

We dont wait, we prospect. Were pro-active, says Serena Zouaghi, the councilor in charge of the Mission Cinema. The Provence-Alpes-Cote dAzur region is committed to building a regional digital cluster, pioneered by Primi, a hub of business and professional orgs set up in 2011 and headed by Ilan Ulloz. Local producers are generating projects that will further consolidate the citys position as a source of creative content.

Until the digital revolution, Marseille was never seen as a serious alternative to Paris, says Lionel Payet, CEO of Planete Rouge. Digital is offering new models. A company can be a viable alternative here and attract international clients.

Our strategy is to coordinate all the projects in the region on a complementary rather than a competitive basis, says Ulloz. Were advancing quickly and transforming the region into a creative cluster that can welcome projects from around the world.

A Powerful Film Hub Emerges

Marseille has significantly reinforced its studio offerings over the past two years, with ambitious plans for the near future.

We have all the ingredients to host major international productions, says Primi director Ilan Ulloz. But many film professionals are still unaware of our strengths in terms of studio facilities, exterior locations, and crew depth.

Studio space has been expanding to meet rising demand, including four soundstages and a new visual effects studio in the Belle de Mai Media Park; and Provence Studios, near Marseille, with a 280,000-sq.-ft.-covered area, and 54 acres of backlot. Nice-based Studios Riviera has a further 10 soundstages.

Studio Post & Prods new vfx motion capture shop, managed by Marianne Carpentier, is developing two ambitious series with Dark Euphoria.

According to deputy mayor Didier Parakian, the council also plans to build a backlot near the Belle de Mai Media Park, expected for 2017, and plans to build an additional two studios in Marseille.

Olivier Marchetti, owner of Provence Studios, also has major expansion plans. This month, a 29,000-sq.-ft. soundstage will be completed that will host an undisclosed major French movie, and an additional 20,000-sq.-ft. soundstage will be available in 2017. The 52-acre backlot is being remodeled, and in the medium term Provence Studios plans to build large-scale water tanks next to the Mediterranean.

Were convinced that theres tremendous potential for reinforcing film and TV shoots in the South of France, Marchetti says. We can offer everything, in terms of studio facilities, technicians, auxiliary services, spectacular locations, plentiful sunshine, luxury hotels, and the overall allure of the Mediterranean.

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The Key Digital Players in the Growing Media Hub of Marseille
Thomas Mykal Ford, who starred on five seasons of Martin Lawrence's Martin sitcom, died late Wednesday afternoon, his agent, Joy Pervis, told the The Hollywood Reporter. He was 54.

Ford's family released a statement: "It is with great sadness that we announce the untimely passing of our beloved son, father, brother, husband, and friend Tommy Mykhal Ford. On behalf of the family, we would like to thank everyone for their love, support and prayers. Funeral arrangements will be forthcoming. Please respect the privacy of the Ford family during our time of grief."

To all family and friends of Tommy Ford. We would like to inform everyone that our brother passed away today October 12, 2016 surrounded by his loving family. Please keep his family in your prayers as they go through this challenging time. He was so dearly loved by so many and for that lets all be grateful for a life well served.

A photo posted by Thomas Mikal Ford (@bigtommyford) on Oct 12, 2016 at 3:24pm PDT

The actor, best known as Tommy Ford, joined the Fox sitcom in 1992, playing sidekick Tommy Strawn in the comedy for more than 100 episodes. Following the series, he nabbed a role in Fox's drama series New York Undercover as Lt. Malcolm Barker and on UPN's The Parkers as Mel Parker.

Prior to his career-making turn in the Lawrence series, Ford appeared in MacGyver, Living Single, The Flash, Law & Order and the TV version of Uncle Buck.

Ford's career in film, television and theater spanned more than two decades. His film appearances through the years include Harlem Nights with Eddie Murphy and Richard Pryor, Night and the City with Robert De Niro and Class Act with Kid 'n Play.

Recently, he branched out as a motivational speaker.

Word of his death spread quickly, flooding social media with tributes from fans and celebrities, which led to his name trending worldwide on Twitter.

Read more: Hollywood's Notable Deaths of 2016

This is terrible news, man. #RIP https://t.co/5LMMU2UpPB

Story continues

- Steve Harvey (@IAmSteveHarvey) October 12, 2016

This is really sad. Way too young. RIP Tommy. https://t.co/VtFm6WtPAo

- Larry Wilmore (@larrywilmore) October 12, 2016

Today I received some sad news that I have lost my brother and cast member #tommyford We bonded https://t.co/BxCjqzH1T6

- BILL BELLAMY (@BILLBELLAMY) October 12, 2016

So sad to hear the news that we lost a great one. Sleep in peace brother #MikalFord AKA #Tommy https://t.co/MNLZNRFB6F

- Salt N Pepa (@TheSaltNPepa) October 12, 2016

damn tommy. next to coming to america, i can't think of another single pop culture franchise i've referenced more in my life. thank you bro https://t.co/WORljUqi6A

- Questlove Gomez (@questlove) October 12, 2016

My condolences to the family of Thomas Mikel Ford. "Tommy" was an extremely funny & talented man. May he rest in power.

- Jackee Harry (@JackeeHarry) October 12, 2016

RIP Tommy Ford. Always had a smile on his face.

- Gary Owen (@garyowencomedy) October 12, 2016

Noooooooooo.....! Not Tommy. https://t.co/rbEYSZfI0B

- Joy Reid (@JoyAnnReid) October 12, 2016

Tommy Ford has transitioned to an ancestor #RestinPower https://t.co/NX4aCVjmB0

- Tariq Nasheed (@tariqnasheed) October 12, 2016

4:30 p.m.: Corrected Ford's middle name, Mykal.
Thomas Mykal Ford, best known for his role as Tommy in the '90s hit show Martin died on Wednesday in Atlanta, Georgia. He was 52 years old.

"It is with great sadness that we announce the untimely passing of our beloved son, father, brother, husband, and friend Tommy Mykal Ford," Ford's rep said in a statement to ET. "On behalf of the family, we would like to thank everyone for their love, support and prayers. Funeral arrangements will be forthcoming. Please respect the privacy of the Ford family during our time of grief."

Ford's family also addressed his death on the actor's official Instagram account.

"To all family and friends of Tommy Ford. We would like to inform everyone that our brother passed away today October 12, 2016 surrounded by his loving family," the caption read. "Please keep his family in your prayers as they go through this challenging time. He was so dearly loved by so many and for that let's all be grateful for a life well served."

To all family and friends of Tommy Ford. We would like to inform everyone that our brother passed away today October 12, 2016 surrounded by his loving family. Please keep his family in your prayers as they go through this challenging time. He was so dearly loved by so many and for that lets all be grateful for a life well served. A photo posted by Thomas Mikal Ford (@bigtommyford) on Oct 12, 2016 at 3:24pm PDT

Martin Lawrence, who worked with Ford on all five seasons of Martin from 1992 to 1997, was the first to express his condolences on social media.

"Prayers up for my brother @BigTommyFord and his family," he wrote, alongside a photo of the two embracing.

Prayers up for my brother @BigTommyFord and his family. pic.twitter.com/yuh0nJvO1f  Martin Lawrence (@realmartymar) October 12, 2016

We were friends way b4 the Martin show & showed tru friendship on-screen. You brought a lot of love 2 the world & you'll be greatly missed. pic.twitter.com/lBpmPFVWOE  Martin Lawrence (@realmartymar) October 13, 2016

"I ask that you take a moment to send a positive thought, prayer or word up for my Friend and his family," Tisha Campbell-Martin, who played Gina on Martin, wrote on Instagram. "I Love you @tichinaarnold@thecarlpayne @martinlawrence."

Story continues

I ask that you take a moment to send a positive thought , prayer or word up for my Friend and his family. I Love you @tichinaarnold @thecarlpayne @martinlawrence A photo posted by Tisha Martin (@tishacampbellmartin) on Oct 12, 2016 at 10:50am PDT

Tichina Arnold, who also worked alongside Ford, Lawrence and Martin on the show, shared the following on Instagram: "Prayers are always needed for so many life circumstances. Prayers do change things."

Prayers are always needed for so many life circumstances. Prayers do change things. Thank you.. TICHINA A photo posted by TICHINA ARNOLD (@tichinaarnold) on Oct 12, 2016 at 3:16am PDT

Ford's other on-screen credits include Harlem Nights, Across the Tracks, The Parkers and Love Ain't Suppose to Hurt: The Wedding. He is survived by his wife, Gina Sasso.

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The Crown Prince of Thailand is no more. Now that his father, Bhumibol Adulyadej, has died, Maha Vajiralongkorn is about to be king.

Thailand Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha announced Thursday that Vajiralongkorn will take over for the late Bhumibol as head monarch, the Associated Press reported. The decision is sure to divide Thais, who will likely be not only mourning the loss of their beloved king but also warily eyeing his controversial successor.

"In a society that attaches celestial importance to the throne and largely views the monarchy as a force preserving Thai culture and values, the prince is thus seen as exceedingly unfit for kingship," Strategic Forecasting, Inc. wrote in a 2015 analysis of the political situation.

FindTheData | Graphiq

International media outlets frequently refer to Vajiralongkorn, 64, as a playboy with a penchant for partying. The pilot has been married at least three times, and his previous relationships have been dramatic. For example: During his first marriage, Vajiralongkorn had five kids with a mistress  who would later become his second wife and, after the breakup, leave the country with the couple's daughter. Vajiralongkorn abducted the princess and took her back, according to the Daily Beast.

His most recent divorce was in 2014, and he reportedly has plans to marry a former Thai Airways flight attendant, according to the Guardian. She's rumored to live in Munich, where Vajiralongkorn was photographed earlier this year wearing jeans, a tank top and temporary tattoos.

Vajiralongkorn's political history is storied. The only son of Bhumibol and his wife, Vajiralongkorn went to school in England and Australia before serving in the Royal Thai Armed Forces, according to his bio on the Royal Thai Embassy in Singapore. He created a chain of hospitals and has long worked with Thai farmers to improve agriculture.

But he also has ties to former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, a billionaire living in exile amid allegations of corruption. Some fear that Vajiralongkorn's relationship with Thaksin could mean the new king would adopt some of the tycoon's stances, the Diplomat reported.

Story continues

Residents and pundits have long speculated about Bhumibol's succession plan but were not able to fully discuss it due to lese-majeste laws that threaten critics of the royal family. Long story short: One way or another, Vajiralongkorn will likely be a shakeup for Thailand.

"Unlike the revered King Bhumibol, Vajiralongkorn is widely disliked by the general public  and hated by those who know him," expert Jonathan Manthorpe wrote in an iPolitics column earlier this year. "The palace and its loyalists among Thailands class-conscious elite fear that if Vajiralongkorn comes to the throne, he will usher in a period of revolutionary upheaval that could destroy the structure of Thai society."

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[October 12, 2016] Fitch Expects to Rate Sprint Spectrum Securitization Series 2016-1 Class A Notes; Issues Presale

Link to Fitch Ratings' Report: Sprint Spectrum (News - Alert) Securitization https://www.fitchratings.com/site/re/888857 Fitch Ratings expects to rate the up to $3.5 billion series 2016-1 class A notes to be issued by Sprint (News - Alert) Spectrum Co LLC (the Master Issuer), Sprint Spectrum Co II LLC (Co-Issuer II) and Sprint Spectrum Co III LLC (Co-Issuer III) 'BBB', Outlook Stable. A full list of rating actions follows at the end of this release. The issuance, which is the first out of a $7 billion program, will be backed by hell-or-high water lease payment obligations from Sprint Communications Inc. (SCI) which in turn are guaranteed by Sprint Corporation and all of SCI's subsidiaries that guarantee the Existing Credit Agreements. Additionally, as part of the financing structure, the wireless spectrum licenses that give right to the lease payments will be contributed to wholly owned subsidiaries of the issuing entity (true sale). The financing will also be collateralized by a pledge of the equity of the license holding entities and certain transaction accounts. Notes will be rated to timely payment of interest and ultimate payment of principal by the legal maturity date. Legal final maturity is 18 months after the expected maturity of the A-3 notes. The rating reflects; SCI's Issuer Default Rating (IDR) of 'B+'; its Going Concern Assessment (GCA) score (GC 2); an Affirmation Factor of 'High' indicating the likelihood of the company's affirmation of the related lease obligations following a bankruptcy filing; an 18 month liquidity facility and recovery prospects. The rating is capped at the 'BBB' level given the lack of significant precedent, limited data related to valuations and uncertainties as to the timing of foreclosure and recoveries. KEY RATING DRIVERS Credit Quality of the Lessee: Cash flows backing the transaction will come from hell-or-high water lease payment obligations from SCI. The IDR of the Lessee acts as the starting point for the analysis. SCI, a wholly owned subsidiary, of Sprint Corporation, is rated 'B+', Outlook Stable. Performance Risk and Going Concern Assessment Score: Timely payment on the bonds may depend on the ongoing performance of Sprint as the Lessee. SCI's GC score of 2 acts, which acts as a cap for the assessment of Sprint continuing to operate, could allow for a 4 notch differential between the Sprint IDR and the issuance PD rating. Strategic Nature of the Assets: Fitch considers the Affirmation Factor (i.e. the likelihood that Sprint would view this obligation as strategic and would affirm the lease in the event of a bankruptcy) as high. The strategic importance of the assets to Lessee's operations coupled with the structural incentives in place support this assessment. The assessment of high allows the transaction to obtain the maximum four notch uplift from the company's IDR which is commensurate with the GC 2 score. Liquidity Facility in Place: The transaction benefits from an 18 month liquidity facility. This facility can be used if there is any disruption in lease payments during a Sprint bankruptcy or reorganization process. Additionally, the liquidity will be used in the case of lease rejection by Sprint in order to meet timely interest payments during the foreclosure, re-marketing, and sales process. Recovery Potential: While sales proceeds are expected to be sufficient to repay all outstanding debt, even significantly stressed recovery levels would generate a high level of recovery on the notes. Fitch ran several stressed assumptions on the valuation with recoveries deemed Outstanding (greater than 90%) in the majority of all scenarios. This recovery benefit would allow the transaction to obtain a two notch benefit from the 'BBB-' PD rating. However, the rating was capped at 'BBB' for the reasons described below. Transaction Rating Capped: Although the IDR of the corporate entity, the GCA score, the affirmation factor, and the potential recovery proceeds allow for a rating of 'BBB+', the lack of significant precedent, the limited data related to valuations and uncertainties related to the timing of foreclosure and recoveries, Fitch elected to cap the transaction rating at 'BBB'. Back-up Manager Role: In Fitch's view, the role of Midland, a division of PNC (News - Alert) Bank, N.A. ('A+'/Outlook Stable), as back up servicer and control party provides additional protections and safeguards related to the collateral. Given Sprint's role as the manager of the collateral, the backup manager protects investors from misaligned incentives. In addition to day to day oversight, the backup manager plays a key role related to the foreclosure process as in an event of a manager replacement event it will direct sale of the business and/or liquidation of collateral, with approval of Controlling Class Representative. Asset Isolation and Legal Structure: Notes define default as occurring when an interest payment is missed (after the expiration of the liquidity facility) or in the event that full principal is not repaid at legal final maturity. However, the proposed structure contemplates events, such as lease payment default and manager termination events, in which the investors can dispose of the collateral before an event of default is declared. The trust structure used allows creditors to gain access to the collateral in the case of a collateral disposition event. These elements not only may increase overall recovery, but they increase the willingness of the Lessee to meet the monthly lease payments on a timely basis. RATING SENSITIVITIES Although the rating is sensitive to changes in the credit quality of SCI, the capped 'BBB' rating would be able to ithstand a one notch downgrade of Sprint's IDR. However, a significant downgrade of SCI's IDR could lead to a downgrade of the notes. In addition, a change in Fitch's adjusted valuation of the collateral that would result in a reduction of the recovery prospect estimations may lead to a downgrade.



DUE DILIGENCE USAGE No third-party due diligence was provided or reviewed in relation to this rating action.

Fitch expects to assign the following ratings: --Series 2016-1 5 year class A-1 notes 'BBB'; Outlook Stable; --Series 2016-1 7 year class A-2 notes 'BBB'; Outlook Stable; --Series 2016-1 10 year class A-3 notes 'BBB'; Outlook Stable. Additional information is available at www.fitchratings.com. Applicable Criteria Counterparty Criteria for Structured Finance and Covered Bonds (pub. 01 Sep 2016) https://www.fitchratings.com/site/re/886006 Criteria for Rating Caps and Limitations in Global Structured Finance Transactions (pub. 16 Jun 2016) https://www.fitchratings.com/site/re/882401 Future Flow Securitization Rating Criteria (pub. 14 Sep 2016) https://www.fitchratings.com/site/re/887175 Global Structured Finance Rating Criteria (pub. 27 Jun 2016) https://www.fitchratings.com/site/re/883130 Additional Disclosures Dodd-Frank Rating Information Disclosure Form https://www.fitchratings.com/creditdesk/press_releases/content/ridf_frame.cfm?pr_id=1013035 Solicitation Status https://www.fitchratings.com/gws/en/disclosure/solicitation?pr_id=1013035 Endorsement Policy https://www.fitchratings.com/regulatory ALL FITCH CREDIT RATINGS ARE SUBJECT TO CERTAIN LIMITATIONS AND DISCLAIMERS. 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The story behind their new single `The Great Indian Freak Show.

26th May, 2014 heralded, what I like to think is, Indias menopause. Like habituated members of a family we were quite used to the nations PMSish ups and downs, but the sudden and outright way the country began going berserk was something us plebeians were not quite ready for. A government came into power in the aftermath of a vociferous anti-corruption movement. It promised to look into these issues, once sworn in. Then, suddenly, the Man got more vigilant about cows than financial misappropriation, and talking more about chowmein and skirt lengths than bureaucratic corruption. What the hell was going on? The nation wants to know!

More From 101 India: Heres Why I Cant Wait For Coldplay To Come To Mumbai

So the nation asked, through Tweets, and on Quora, in long essay-type FB status rants and their posts. Everybody started liking and sharing The Logical Indian and Unofficial: Subramaniam Swamy memes and poked fun, and mocked and complained. Dissenting became cool instead of purposeful, and all this trend-catching-meeting-political-activism bombarded social media, while very few worked on sending out a message. Recently The Ganesh Talkies (Kolkata based pop/rock band with Suyasha Sen on Vocals, Ronodeep Bose on guitars, Sambit Chatterjee on the drums and Roheet Mukherjee on the bass) tried to do just that, independently on Indias 70th Independence year with the release of their new video The Great Indian Freak Show directed by Sourya Sen and shot by Naman Saraiya.

The Ganesh Talkies at Tram Depot



Since the bands inception in 2011, it has had a penchant for making a statement whether through their loud pop-art like clothes, or the weird concoction of a range of genres that gives them their distinctive sound, or their catchy song names, or sometimes simply through their hair colour. They are very regular next door people, middle-class musicians who built their brand through hard work and a whole lot of passion. It comes out on stage. Ganesh Talkies is a self-made band that caught my attention the moment they went live for the first time. The thing is, however, that while the country was experiencing a not so subtle shifting of paradigms, the band also decided to make their statements not so subtle any more. I was keen on probing this as my political heart throbbed with excitement.

Story continues

Ganesh talkies at work in their jam pad



This is what I did  I landed up at Suyasha Sens house, a few days ago and let her treat me to some home-made honey lemon tea first, which later became Old Monk, while we had a great long chat about everything from Feminism to JNU to our redundant education system, and of course, the story behind The Great Indian Freak Show.

More From 101 India: Connected & Disconnected: Donn Bhat Is Never Signing Out

Ganesh Talkies behind the scenes



As someone who does not understand the intricacies of music and is a musically challenged (and even ignorant) listener, I was often confused about their sound and could not ever really deduce the logic behind their Hinglish lyrics, music and essence. Suyasha explained the theory behind their quirky music quite simply. She said, Growing up in the 90s in India meant our lives were extremely influenced by Bollywood, so we use it as a common vehicle to connect with millennials. Well, that sounded legit because I could not remember a day from my childhood that wasnt spent without mulling over which movie was going to be out next Friday! Yeah, life before INOX and IMAX.

Great Indian Freak show video



We jumped to the video, which struck a reverberating chord the moment I watched it. While I had danced to all their songs at all their gigs (in Calcutta and Delhi) in a drunken swirl and with my Macha (Bengali colloquialism for obnoxious) swag on, this was perhaps my favorite because it wasnt just designed to make you dance but also came with a powerful and poignant message. Even their earlier songs like Item Song conspicuously mocked eve-teasing and the objectifying of women in new Bollywood item numbers, but the music itself was of such a frolicking nature that, to most of the audience, the point was often lost after a few drinks. This also made me think of how different TGIFS sounded compared to all their other songs such as Dancing Dancing, Dendrite and Item Song. I was itching to find out why!

The Ganesh Talkies for The Great Indian Freak Show



Its a lot of growing up. Rock is the genre of angry people. You HAVE to scream when you are saying The Great Indian Freak Show. We realized we were becoming cynical about everything that was going on. We are still very much a pop band but I started listening to music with bands like Nirvana, so the emotion still remains same. Item Song was a sarcastic jibe which is why it was more fun, but with TGIFS we are trying to be blatant, said Suyasha, explaining their metamorphosis.

Suyasha was a History student before she left academics to pursue music full-time and continues to be a geek at heart. As such, its not surprising that much of their lyrics have a political/social context. However, the TGIFS video seems to be attacking certain specificities of the Indian social fabric and overtures by the incumbent government that have caused insult and injury, akin to our democratic principles recently. Whether it is the teacher educating a class about sexist joke appreciation or a student writing I will not eat beef again in a classic junior school punishment style (intrinsic only to Indian schools), the attack on issues such as lynching, vigilantism, saffronization of educational text books, the banality of TV reality shows, absurdity of Indian media and what makes headlines, is quite obviously depicted. At the outset, what may look like just a dig at majoritarian right-wing politics or the autocracy with which Ms. Manusmriti was handling education is actually trying to shed light upon things that go much deeper, and really, its just the tip of the ice berg.

Ganesh Talkies live in Kolkata



What GT is trying to do is, to ask important questions. Questions like (as Suyasha pointed out)

What happened to Abhijeet Sawant from Indian Idol?- are reality shows made to hunt out and provide a platform to new talent or merely for TRPs?

Or Why at a Masters level are we still being taught from Wikipedia in supposedly great institutions like Jadavpur University?

Why is education in India being imparted in a way that stifles the thinking of a student instead of expanding their intellectual capacities?

More From 101 India: How Akshay Rajpurohit Shunned Thermoplastic Engineering For Futuristic Dance Music

Why are politicians talking about noodles, skirts and alcohol instead of carrying out engaging and pro-active discussions about rape culture?

Why are leading media journalists getting away with talking utter inconsequential crap instead of doing their job, which is objective, critical and perspicacious reporting?

To sum all of this up Suyasha said, I still wake up every morning and read the newspapers back to front. Right now Indian society is a little bit of a Circus, hence this, The Great Indian Freak Show.

Dancing Dancing with the Ganesh Talkies



A few days ago, they played TGIFS live for the first time in front of the Calcutta crowd and, needless to say, I was thrilled before, during, and after with the rest of the people going pretty bonkers. They are also playing in other cities such as Pune and Hyderabad soon, so heads up for that because political as their music have may become, they still have a whole lot of Dancing Dancing left in them.

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 Suman Quazi

Photographs by Suman Quazi and Naman Saraiya

For More Visit www.101india.com


LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A Mexican director's intense thriller of immigrants pursued by a xenophobic gunman as they try to cross the border into the United States is opening just as the subject of immigration plays a leading role in the U.S. presidential election. "Desierto," written and directed by Jonas Cuaron and out in U.S. theaters on Friday, follows the high-stakes journey that a group of Mexicans embark on to cross the border into the United States illegally. Some are hoping to start a new life while others, such as Gael Garcia Bernal's Moises, are hoping to reunite with family. As they traverse the stark and unbearably hot desert wasteland dividing the two countries, a ruthless American vigilante, played by Jeffrey Dean Morgan, whittles down the group with the help of a long-range rifle and a ferocious dog. "I wanted to tell a story that I felt very close to myself, which is the story both about migration, but also a parable of where we're going to arrive as a society if we keep promoting so much hatred towards migrants, towards foreigners," Cuaron told Reuters. "Desierto" is Mexico's official Oscar entry this year. Cuaron, the son of Oscar-winning "Gravity" filmmaker Alfonso Cuaron, said it was "wonderful that this film could be part of the discussion in the United States at that level." Debuting less than a month before the Nov. 8 U.S. presidential election, "Desierto" has tapped into the heated debate and opposing stances on immigration between the two presidential candidates, Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican Donald Trump. Clinton has promised to propose broad legislation to overhaul the immigration system and establish a process for undocumented workers to become citizens. In contrast, Trump launched his presidential campaign with a vow to build a wall on the U.S.-Mexican border and has said he would insist that the United States' southern neighbor pay for it. He would also require people seeking legal status to leave and reapply. Morgan, whose vigilante character in the film is motivated to kill by his unabashed hatred towards immigrants, said "everything that Trump said in his speech about immigration was dead wrong." Garcia Bernal added: "It is very unfortunate that this high level of hate discourse has been going on." "Migration is as natural and as real as we're both speaking right now, you know, we have to regulate it in a very comprehensive, benign and a very nurturing way," he said. (Reporting by Reuters TV; Writing by Piya Sinha-Roy; Editing by Bill Rigby)
EXCLUSIVE: MGM prevailed in an auction for the rights to Were The Only Plane In The Sky, a lengthy Politico Magazine story by Garrett M. Graff that tells the real-time story of how the U.S. government handled the evacuation of President George W. Bush from a classroom of children in Sarasota, FL after learning that terrorists had flown planes into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on September 11, 2001. The article, covering one of the most harrowing days a sitting U.S. president has ever experienced, is presented in oral history form as the presidents staff, military men and bodyguards  and the journalists covering him, 65 in total  spent eight hours alone in U.S. airspace, not knowing if the presidents plane might be next to be attacked, or how it might happen.

It presents the possibility for a non-political movie that could play out like Apollo 13, a thriller that builds tension even though the outcome is part of history, by showing the obstacles facing decision makers, and how they were overcome in real time.

What is surprising in this age of sophisticated communication and iPhones, is how unsophisticated the communications technology was in 2001. While the president pushed to be flown right back to the White House, his team and the Secret Service felt it was too dangerous. It was decided that the president was safest flying covertly, 40,000 feet in the air, particularly after the World Trade Center attack was followed by a passenger jet flying into the Pentagon. Another plane, United 93, had crash-landed in a field in Pennsylvania. While the nation was glued to TV sets and getting real-time updates on the attacks, Air Force One was essentially flying blind. Initially, the presidents advisors were unable to gather much intelligence at all: the plane relied on communications using the same frequencies that were oversubscribed by the air traffic controllers who were desperately trying to account for and land all of the passenger planes in the air at that moment, unsure which might be under the control of terrorists. The president, like everybody else on the plane, was unable to contact his family. While the president and his advisors suspected Osama bin Laden was behind the sinister plot, the president and his staff had to make decisions and take action with limited communications with Bushs closest advisors, and with world leaders.

The article ends with President George W. Bush assessing the burning shell of the Pentagon and saying, The mightiest building in the world is on fire. This is the face of war in the 21st century. Then, there is a description of President Barack Obama, making the very first call after confirming the information that Osama bin Laden had been killed by Navy SEALs. That call was to his predecessor, Bush.

MGM exec veep Adam Rosenberg brought in the article and president Jon Glickman pursued it aggressively as the studio continues to stress development of original content in hopes of another Me Before You, the adaptation of the Jojo Moyes bestseller that grossed more than $200 million worldwide.

Graff is the former editor of Politico and before that Washingtonian Magazine, and was the first blogger invited to cover a White House press briefing. His books include The First Campaign: Globalization, The Web, And The Race For The White House, and The Threat Matrix: The FBI At War In The Age Of Global Terror. UTA reps him and made the deal.

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Hollywood Pays Tribute To Israel's Nobel Peace Prize Winner Shimon Peres
Still learning! Million Dollar Listing New Yorks Ryan Serhant and his wife, Emilia Bechrakis, stopped by Us Weeklys New York City headquarters to play the Newlywed Game.

PHOTOS: Celebrity Couples and How They First Met: Love Story Beginnings

In the video above, the lovebirds  whose July 7 wedding has been documented on Bravos MDLNY spinoff Ryans Wedding  answer a fun set of questions about each other. While they may not know each other inside and out just yet, the couple have a great time comparing answers.



The first query: When and where did they first kiss? Luckily, Serhant, 32, and Bechrakis, 31, both agree that their first smooch took place at a wine bar on Stone Street in downtown Manhattan.

PHOTOS: Stars Who Got Their Start on Reality TV

It was a great day, Serhant gushes, while Bechrakis affectionately notes, I remember you looked so cute!



Unfortunately, the real estate agent didnt fare so well when the pair were asked to write down their respective mother-in-laws birthdays. Bechrakis nails it, but Serhant can't even remember if his wifes moms big day is in the spring or fall.



Thats terrible! Bechrakis says. May 9! Put it in your calendar!

PHOTOS: Simple Celebrity Weddings: Stars Who Had No-Fuss Nuptials

Aside from playing with Us, the couple also opened up about the planning of their summer nuptials in Greece. Serhant  who met Bechrakis in 2011  told Us Christina Garibaldi that putting together the details for their destination I do's was pretty stressful.



All of [the planning process was overwhelming] and [so was] finding the time. We had to keep telling everybody, like, Just FYI, weve never done this before, he explained before joking: Please, like, this is our first marriage and most likely our last. Please walk us through this like little kids!

PHOTOS: Stars  They're Just Like Us!

To see if Serhant or Bechrakis wins the Newlywed Game, watch the video above. The finale for Million Dollar Listing New York: Ryans Wedding airs on Bravo Thursday, Oct. 13, at 10 p.m. ET.



Story continues





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[October 12, 2016] Former Chairman of the NVCA and Two Kauffman Fellows Join Forces to Launch Impact Venture Capital and Announce Venture Summit in California

Dixon Doll (News - Alert), Eric Ball, and Jack Crawford announced today that they are launching a new venture capital firm named Impact Venture Capital with California investment offices in Burlingame and Sacramento. Impact Venture Capital will also host a large-scale global venture summit event this year in California at the new Golden 1 Center, widely recognized as the most high-tech arena in the world. The firm will make investments alongside corporate venture groups in early stage information technology startups, with a focus on software and data analytics, and a commitment to serving one of four "global challenges": security and government; energy and transportation; agriculture and health; and education and media. To highlight this new investment thesis, Impact will host the "Impact Global Venture Summit", an annual event scheduled for November 14th in Sacramento. Alongside event partners AT&T (News - Alert) and the Entrepreneurs Organization, Impact Venture Capital's event will provide a platform for dozens of high caliber tech companies to showcase their products and services in a venue designed to highlight their capabilities to an audience of angel investors, venture capital firms, and corporate venture groups. Doll, Ball, and Crawford have a long work history of co-investing and corporate portfolio management and share a strong global professional network in the startup and venture capital industries. Doll has spent nearly four decades in venture capital, having previously started the industry's first fund focused on telecommunications technology at Accel. He later founded Doll Capital Management (DCM (News - Alert)) and helped grow it to $3 billion of capital under management. DCM is widely recognized as the first Silicon Valley venture firm to enter China successfully. Doll's firm has had extraordinary investing success, including investments in more than 20 startups that have attained valuations in excess of $1 billion. A regular on the "Midas List" which recognizes top performing VCs in the industry, Doll also served as Chairman of the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA) and was on the Board of DirecTV for five years through its acquisition by AT&T for $49 billion. "After attempting to retire a few times, I'm excited to get back in the game and build a new firm that has the potential to impact the lives of billions of peope," said Doll. "When you have the opportunity to work with two energetic and smart investors like Eric and Jack, why would you ever want to sit on the sidelines?"



Ball previously served as the Treasurer for Oracle (News - Alert) Corporation, helping to manage $50 billion in assets. In his role as Treasurer, Ball was named one of the top 100 influencers in the US financial markets. He later served as CFO at C3 IoT and was the founder of Targhee Ventures where he invested in 18 startup companies. Crawford previously managed Velocity Venture Capital and co-invested alongside of both Doll and Ball in a number of promising startups. Operating primarily inside California's technology triangle (bounded by San Francisco, San Jose, and Sacramento), Velocity Venture Capital has a long history of investing in early stage companies including the first round investment in Soft Machines, recently acquired by Intel (News - Alert) for $270 million. For the last seven years, Velocity has been running innovation programs for startups, graduate students, and corporate venture groups from across the U.S.

Both Ball and Crawford are graduates of the Kauffman Fellows program, an elite venture capital executive education program that provides two years of professional development to 40 selected Fellows each year. "I'm thrilled to see two alum in Eric and Jack partner with a VC legend like Dixon Doll," said Phil Wickham, Executive Chairman of the Kauffman Fellows program. "These two were peer-selected leaders of their cohort, and I'm confident that their team will have great success as they work with Kauffman's global network of venture capitalists and corporate venture groups." "Access to the knowledge, professional networks and financial capital of venture investors is the lifeblood of the entrepreneurial ecosystem. Without it, most startup founders lack the resources they need to scale and grow their ideas into the next generation of great American companies," said Bobby Franklin, President and CEO of NVCA. "We congratulate the team at Impact Venture Capital on a successful launch and wish them luck as they start this journey." About Impact Venture Capital Impact Venture Capital is an investment firm focused on early stage information technology startups, with a focus on software and data analytics, and a commitment to serving one of four "global challenges": security and government; energy and transportation; agriculture and health; and education and media. The firm has California investment offices in Burlingame and Sacramento. Dixon Doll (founder of DCM Partners and former chair of the NVCA), Eric Ball (former Treasurer of Oracle Corporation), and Jack Crawford (serial entrepreneur and founding partner of Velocity Venture Capital) serve as the firm's General Partners. For more information, please visit: impactvc.com About Impact Global Venture Summit Impact Venture Capital, in partnership with AT&T and the Entrepreneurs Organization, will host the Impact Global Venture Summit on November 14, 2016 at the new Golden 1 Center in Sacramento. The event will feature three modules: "Ignite", "Accelerate", and "Capitalize", with each focused on different phases in the evolution of a startup. "Ignite" will serve as a trade show and job fair for startups, executives, and students to demonstrate technologies and network. "Accelerate" will feature 20 selected companies providing rapid-fire elevator pitches on a 360-degree stage in the center of the arena. "Capitalize" will showcase entrepreneurs who have successfully taken their company from idea to product to an exit event via acquisition by a Fortune 500 company. The program details and speakers can be found at impactvc.com/vc-events View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20161012006347/en/

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president obama dark sad

Democratic Gov. Mark Dayton of Minnesota on Wednesday said the Affordable Care Act, the healthcare law better known as Obamacare, was getting too expensive for people in his state.

"Ultimately I'm not trying to pass the buck here, but the reality is the Affordable Care Act is no longer affordable," Dayton said, according to CBS Minnesota.

The law's public exchanges, available to people who do not receive employer-based health-insurance coverage, have lost several large insurers in the past year, and premium costs have soared.

Mike Rothman, Minnesota's commerce commissioner, said on October 3 that the exchanges were "on the verge of collapse" after some premiums were hiked by 67% for 2017.

Dayton echoed those same sentiments on Wednesday night.

"The Affordable Care Act has many good features to it  it has achieved great success in terms of insuring more people, 20 million people across the country, and providing access for people who have preexisting conditions alike  but it's got some serious blemishes right now and serious deficiencies," Dayton said, according to CBS.

The exchanges in Minnesota are relatively small: Only 250,000 people in the state receive their health insurance through the Obamacare exchanges, but the state's struggles underscore some national trends.

Insurers have been pulling back from the exchanges as the pool of people signing up has been older and sicker than expected. With too few younger people signing up to offset that cost, some insurers have lost money and either shrank their coverage through the exchanges or raised premiums.

Insurers that have pulled some of their Obamacare coverage include giants like Aetna, Humana, and UnitedHealthcare as well as startups like Oscar and Harken Health.

The Obama administration hopes to offset these losses through a push to sign up more millennials and young adults during this year's open-enrollment season, which runs from November 1 through the end of January.

Story continues

The law has become an issue on the campaign trail, with both major-party presidential nominees suggesting changes to one of President Barack Obama's signature legislative achievements.

Whether those changes can save the exchanges in Minnesota remains to be seen.

NOW WATCH: LIZ ANN SONDERS: The most unsettling outcome for the markets would be a surprise Trump win





More From Business Insider


By Phil Stewart WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. military launched cruise missiles on Thursday against three coastal radar sites in areas of Yemen controlled by Iran-aligned Houthi forces, after failed missile attacks this week on a U.S. Navy destroyer, U.S. officials said. Yemen's Houthi movement condemned the strikes and Iran announced it had sent two warships to the Gulf of Aden, according to the semi-official Tasnim news agency, establishing a military presence in waters off Yemen. The U.S. missile strikes, authorized by President Barack Obama, represent Washington's first direct military action against suspected Houthi-controlled targets in Yemen's conflict and raised questions about the potential for further escalation. The Pentagon, however, stressed the limited nature of the strikes, aimed at radar that enabled the launch of at least three missiles against the U.S. Navy ship USS Mason on Sunday and Wednesday. "These limited self-defense strikes were conducted to protect our personnel, our ships and our freedom of navigation," Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook said. In a news conference later, Cook said the strikes were not connected to the broader civil war in Yemen, which has unleashed famine and killed more than 10,000 people since March 2015 in the Arab world's poorest country. The U.S. military said U.S. Navy destroyer USS Nitze launched the Tomahawk cruise missiles around 4 a.m. (0100 GMT) at radar sites located in remote areas where the risk of civilian casualties was low. One U.S. official identified the areas in Yemen where the radar were located as near Ras Isa, north of Mukha and near Khoka. The Houthi movement, which has denied being responsible for the missile attacks on the Mason, warned that it too would defend itself. "The direct American attack targeting Yemeni soil this morning is not acceptable," Brigadier General Sharaf Luqman, a spokesman for Yemeni forces fighting alongside the Houthis, was quoted as saying by the Houthi-controlled Saba news agency. Iran, which supports the Houthi group, said it had deployed two warships to the Gulf of Aden, to protect ship lanes from piracy. An Iranian official told Reuters the vessels were deployed a few days ago, but declined to say when they will arrive. BACKLASH OVER SUSPECTED SAUDI STRIKE The failed missile attacks on the USS Mason appeared to be part of the reaction to a suspected Saudi-led strike on mourners gathered in Yemen's Houthi-held capital Sanaa last week. The Houthis, who are battling the internationally-recognized government of Yemen President Abd Rabbu Mansour al-Hadi, denied the missiles were fired from areas under their control, a news agency controlled by the group quoted a military source as saying. The allegations were false pretexts to "escalate aggression and cover up crimes committed against the Yemeni people," the source said. U.S. officials have told Reuters there were growing indications that Houthi fighters, or forces aligned with them, were responsible for the attempted strikes, in which coastal cruise missiles designed to target ships failed to reach the destroyer. Senator John McCain, the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said the missiles fired at the USS Mason were likely provided by Iran. The missile incidents, along with an Oct. 1 strike on a vessel from the United Arab Emirates, add to questions about safety of passage for military ships around the Bab al-Mandab Strait, one of the world's busiest shipping routes. The Houthis, who are allied to Hadi's predecessor Ali Abdullah Saleh, have the support of many army units and control most of the north, including the capital Sanaa. The Pentagon warned against any future attacks. "The United States will respond to any further threat to our ships and commercial traffic, as appropriate," Cook said. The United Arab Emirates (UAE), a leading member of a Saudi-led Arab coalition fighting to end Houthi control, denounced the attacks on the Mason as an attempt to target the freedom of navigation and to inflame the regional situation. Michael Knights, an expert on Yemen's conflict at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, suggested the Houthis, fighters from a Shi'ite sect, could be becoming more militarily aligned with groups such as Lebanon's Shi'ite militant group Hezbollah. "Targeting U.S. warships is a sign that the Houthis have decided to join the axis of resistance that currently includes Lebanese Hezbollah, Hamas and Iran," Knight said. (Additional reporting by Mohammed Ghobari in Sanaa, Katie Paul in Riyadh and Parisa Hafezi in Istanbul, Editing by William Maclean, Ralph Boulton and Chris Reese)
MMA Fighter Marcus Kowal and wife Mishel Eder tragically lost their 15-month-old son Liam after he was hit by an accused drunk driver. They join The Doctors to share their heartbreaking story.

What began as a normal day for the family, took an unthinkable turn when an alleged drunk driver struck Liams stroller after plowing through a crosswalk. The toddlers aunt had taken him for a walk while his mom studied and Marcus rested after a day of training.

A team of doctors worked on Liam to save his life, but they discovered he was brain dead.

Watch: Drunk Driving after One Drink?!

I loved being a father every single day for 15 months. No father should have to put their own child into the ground. There cant be a greater pain, the MMA fighter says. We decided to donate his organs so another set to parents wouldnt have to go through what were going through.

Mishel adds, We wanted Liam to live on and give the gift of life to someone else.

The MMA fighter and his wife also share how they feel about the woman accused of hitting their son.

I dont feel any hatred. I dont feel any aggression towards her. I want her to feel our pain. I want her to know what were going through and I want the state, the police, law enforcement to judge her for what shes done, Marcus says.

Watch: Drunk Couple Lets 9-Year-Old Child Drive Them Home?

In an effort to turn their tragedy into something positive, the MMA fighter and his wife have created the non-profit Liams Life, which is dedicated to the education and prevention of alcohol-related tragedies and the education of organ donation. For more information on the Liams Life and find out how you can help support this worthy cause visit the foundation's website. Our friends at The Krazy Coupon Lady website have already donated $5,000 to this amazing cause.

For more information on how you can prevent drunk driving, contact MADD.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will look to reinvigorate the BRICS group of emerging nations at a summit this weekend with India seen as a bright spot in a bloc whose clout has been undermined by economic woes.

BRICS -- a club made up of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa -- was formed in 2011 with the aim of using its growing economic and political influence to challenge Western hegemony.

The nations, with a joint estimated GDP of $16 trillion, set up their own bank in parallel to the Washington-based International Monetary Fund and World Bank and hold summits rivalling the G7 forum.

But the countries, accounting for 53 percent of world population, have been hit by falling global demand and lower commodity prices, while several have also been mired in corruption scandals.

Russia and Brazil have fallen into recession recently, South Africa only just managed to avoid the same fate last month while China's economy -- the recent engine of world growth -- has slowed sharply.

India by contrast is now the world's fastest-growing major economy in an otherwise gloomy environment and its GDP is expected to grow 7.6 percent in 2016-17.

Indian foreign ministry official Amar Sinha said the leaders would debate "global growth prospects, the role of BRICS in leading this global growth and our contributions to it".

He also confirmed regional security and climate change were on the agenda while Russia is expecting talks on Syria.

President Vladimir Putin's office said in a statement that "international terrorism and the Syria peace process" would be discussed as Moscow faces international anger over its airstrikes in support of the Assad regime.

China's Vice Foreign Minister Li Baodong meanwhile said the leaders would "exchange in-depth views on BRICS cooperation and other global and regional issues", according to state news agency Xinhua.

Some of the more substantive talks are expected at bilaterals on the sidelines of the summit in the tourist state of Goa, with Modi expected to separately meet China's President Xi Jinping and Putin.

Story continues

Brazil's new President Michel Temer, who replaced impeached Dilma Rousseff, will look to such meetings to boost trade ties and help drag his country out of its worst recession in half a century.

The summit comes amid some scepticism about the future of BRICS, especially given India's efforts to reach out to the US and Europe since Modi -- a one-time pariah of the West -- came to power in 2014.

- 'Reduced potency' -

Eswar Prasad, professor of trade and economics at Cornell University in the United States, said BRICS had been weakened by its collective burdens.

"The economic troubles faced by many members of the BRICS group have reduced its potency and influence in the world economy," he told AFP.

Prasad said BRICS needed to focus on a global issue such as pushing back against mounting anti-globalisation rhetoric to stay relevant.

"Given its sheer size and continued significant contribution to global growth, this group could have some clout if it acted in concert in dealing with issues of global governance and the international monetary system."

Geethanjali Nataraj, currently at the Brookings Institute India, agreed the summit needed to focus on areas of common concern, warning India against pursuing contentious issues with regional rival China.

"India needs to tread with caution and avoid all controversial issues that would lead to friction," Nataraj wrote in the Financial Express.

India will also be looking for BRICS to condemn recent cross-border attacks blamed on militants in Pakistan that have spiked tensions between the neighbours, according to local media.

Analysts however are sceptical of India's chances of securing a joint condemnation given China's strong diplomatic support for Pakistan and Russia's efforts to forge closer defence ties with Islamabad.

Taking place at the same time in Goa is a meeting of heads of a seven-nation grouping called BIMSTEC loosely based around the Bay of Bengal.

Myanmar's Aung Sang Suu Kyi, Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina as well as the leaders of Thailand, Sri Lanka, Bhutan and Nepal are set to attend for talks focused on trade.
Moneygram International Inc. MGI has partnered with Farm Fresh Food and Pharmacy, the grocery retail chain of SUPERVALU to grant $40,000 to Virginia-based non-profit organization, An Achievable Dream. Notably, this non-profit organization is the first recipient of the SUPERVALU Foundation grant in the Newport News area.

By joining forces with Moneygram, Farm Fresh will channelize interactive STEM learning to 900 students of all grade levels at An Achievable Dream through its educational technology.

The support given to the organization will be mainly directed toward technological advancement of the educational framework. Outdated desktop computers will be replaced and a new interactive software, along with updated lesson plans, will be provided to classroom instructors. These changes are expected to help teachers develop better ways to enhance student involvement.

The grant will also support the transformation of the existing educational model at An Achievable Dream through innovative strategies. The initiative would open opportunities to the students and increase their exposure during the course of learning. SUPERVALU offers program-specific and general operating support for organizations in the Minneapolis and St. Paul area as well as in communities where the company conducts grocery food chain operations.

Apart from delivering a consistently strong performance, Moneygram has been engaged in Corporate Social Responsibilities (CSR) as well. These CSR activities have positioned the company beneficially. The recent move is one such initiative aimed at extending effective education to children of all levels of the society.

MONEYGRAM INTL Price

MONEYGRAM INTL Price | MONEYGRAM INTL Quote

Zacks Rank & Key Picks

Moneygram presently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Some better-ranked stocks from the Finance sector include Everest Re Group Ltd. RE, NMIH Holdings, Inc. NMIH and Health Insurance Innovations, Inc. HIIQ. Each of these stocks holds a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Story continues

Everest Re delivered a positive earnings surprise in three of the last four quarters, with an average beat of 16.54%.

NMIH Holdings posted a positive earnings surprise in all of the last four quarters, with an average beat of 60.42%.

Health Insurance Innovations recorded a positive earnings surprise in all of the last four quarters, with an average beat of 262.50%.

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By Aleksandar Vasovic PODGORICA (Reuters) - Russia is pouring money into Montenegro's election campaign in an attempt to derail the country's progress towards joining NATO, the country's Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic said on Thursday, three days ahead of an election. Djukanovic, who has led the tiny Balkan country as president or prime minister for more than 25 years, is facing his toughest ever electoral challenge from opposition parties that accuse him of cronyism and of treating Montenegro as a personal fiefdom. In an interview with Reuters, he said opposition parties were being financed by Moscow, which saw Sunday's parliamentary vote as a final opportunity to stop the Balkan region's rush to integrate with the European Union and the Atlantic alliance. "Russia has engaged a serious financial potential, which is I assume, made possible through its oligarchs and funneled through secret channels through Serbia and Republika Srpska," Djukanovic said, referring to the Serbian part of Bosnia, Montenegro's northern neighbor. "Traditional opposition, pro-Serb parties are now proponents of Russian interests in the Balkans," he added. "These elections are the last chance for opponents of Montenegro and the Balkans adopting European values," he said. Russia and opposition parties have denied allegations that Moscow has intervened in the election campaign, though Russia's foreign minister has dubbed as "irresponsible" NATO's planned admission of Montenegro. Sunday's vote pits Djukanovic's Democratic Party of Socialists against two major opposition alliances, containing a mixture of pro-Serb and pro-Western parties. They accuse Djukanovic of using scare tactics to stay in power. "He labels every opponent a danger to Montenegro and its state interests," Nebojsa Medojevic, a senior figure in the opposition Democratic Front alliance, said on Thursday. He also accused Djukanovic of being the one most closely aligned with Moscow's interests. "Russian interests and influence entered Montenegro during Djukanovic's (rule). In 2005, Djukanovic communicated closely with Russian official politics, informal centers of power, the Russian mafia and intelligence structures," Medojevic said. He pledged to hold Djukanovic to account for alleged corruption if he took power. The Adriatic republic of 620,000 people has strong economic and traditional ties with Russia, another predominantly Orthodox Christian country. But Djukanovic said Montenegro had to look westwards. "The stability of the Western Balkans and (European) integration go hand in hand," he said. The European Union and the US see closer integration with Europe's political and economic alliances as the best way of maintaining peace in a region, which was wracked by war in the 1990s when Yugoslavia broke up into seven successor states. Croatia and Slovenia have already joined NATO and the EU, while Serbia and Bosnia are both pursuing EU membership. NATO membership is a sensitive issue in Montenegro, which was bombed by NATO in 1999 when it and Serbia were all that remained of Yugoslavia. Nonetheless, it is nearing the end of the accession process. Ten countries have already ratified its accession treaty. (Reporting by Aleksandar Vasovic; Editing by Thomas Escritt and Hugh Lawson)
Aleppo (Syria) (AFP) - Russia said Thursday it was prepared to secure safe passage for rebels to quit Syria's Aleppo but kept up air strikes on the battleground city as world powers readied new truce talks.

In a development demonstrating the perils of journeying in the war-wracked country, at least 17 people -- most of them rebels -- died in a car bomb blast at an opposition checkpoint in northern Aleppo province on Thursday, a monitor said.

The blast hit near the town of Azaz close to the border with Turkey, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, adding that 14 of the dead were rebel fighters. It said the toll could rise.

The Islamic State group has regularly targeted rebel factions with bomb attacks, including an October 6 attack at a border crossing in neighbouring Idlib province that killed 29 rebels.

Syria has been plunged into some of the worst violence of its five-year war since the collapse last month of a truce brokered by Washington and Moscow.

The ensuing surge in fighting has accompanied a large-scale government offensive, backed by Russian air power, to capture the opposition-held half of battered Aleppo.

Russia said Thursday it was willing to give rebels safe passage out of Aleppo, where over 250,000 people are under government siege.

"We are ready to ensure the safe withdrawal of armed rebels, the unimpeded passage of civilians to and from eastern Aleppo, as well as the delivery of humanitarian aid there," Russian Lieutenant General Sergei Rudskoy said in a televised briefing.

Early morning raids in east Aleppo killed at least seven civilians, the Observatory said, and regime forces captured high ground overlooking opposition areas on the northeastern outskirts of the city.

The Observatory also said five children were killed by rebel rocket fire on western regime-held neighbourhoods, with state television saying a school had been hit.

Residents in the west said they had been forced to pull over in their cars to take shelter in buildings because of the barrage of rebel fire.

Story continues

- Fresh truce talks -

Moscow has come under mounting international pressure over the rising civilian death toll from President Bashar al-Assad's Russian-backed campaign to take east Aleppo, including Western accusations of possible war crimes.

Analysts said Thursday's offer was simply a gambit to relieve the pressure by appearing to present diplomatic alternatives.

"There is no change in the Russian strategy: the goal remains the destruction of rebel presence in Aleppo," said Syria expert Thomas Pierret.

"Blowing hot and cold allows them to reduce the pressure and empower those who want a strictly diplomatic approach to the Syrian question," he told AFP.

Since the army's assault began in late September, Russian and government bombardment has killed more than 370 people, including 68 children, according to an Observatory toll.

Shelling by rebel and jihadist groups, meanwhile, has killed 68 people in government-held areas.

Several major international efforts have failed to secure a political solution to Syria's brutal war, which has cost more than 300,000 lives.

As key powers geared up for a new round of talks, newly-appointed UN chief Antonio Guterres said Thursday it was time to overcome divisions over ending the war.

"Whatever divisions might exist, now it's more important to unite," Guterres said. "It is the moral obligation of us all to stop the suffering of the Syrian people."

US Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov are expected to be joined at talks in the Swiss city of Lausanne on Saturday by their counterparts from Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar -- all backers of Syrian opposition forces.

Lavrov told CNN television in an interview Wednesday that he hoped the discussions in Switzerland could help "launch a serious dialogue" based on the now-defunct US-Russian pact.

- 'Fanning hysteria' -

Washington and Moscow had worked closely in recent months and reached a deal in mid-September that was billed as the "best chance" to end Syria's bloodshed.

But the truce fell apart after a week, and peace efforts have since struggled to get off the ground.

Despite differences over Syria, Russia and Turkey have been pursuing closer ties and Assad welcomed the rapprochement in an interview with Russia's Komsomolskaya Pravda tabloid.

"The only hope that we have as Syria is that Russia can make some changes in the Turkish policy," he said.

Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir, whose country like Turkey supports the opposition and has long called for Assad's ouster, also welcomed the Ankara-Moscow rapprochement.

"We see the reduction in tension between Turkey and Russia as perhaps an opportunity" that could help a solution in Syria, said Jubeir.
By Carl O'Donnell

Oct 13 (Reuters) - Credit Suisse Group AG has hired Jason Wortendyke from rival Citigroup Inc as co-head of its global diversified industrials, aerospace and defense investment banking group, according to an internal memo on Thursday reviewed by Reuters.

Based in Chicago, Wortendyke was previously head of diversified industrials for Europe, the Middle East and Africa for Citigroup. His co-head will be Bill Young, who has been with Credit Suisse since 2005 and is based in New York, the memo said.

Wortendyke started his career at Credit Suisse as an analyst in its Chicago office where he worked for six years. He held multiple leadership roles at UBS Group AG before joining Citigroup in 2011.

(Reporting by Carl O'Donnell in New York; Editing by Richard Chang)
(In first paragraph of Oct 12 item, corrects Novak's title to director from managing director)

By Lauren Hirsch and Michael Flaherty

Oct 12 (Reuters) - UBS Group AG has hired Darren Novak, a director at Houlihan Lokey Inc, in its New York office to advise companies on how to defend themselves against activist investors, a spokeswoman for UBS said on Wednesday.

UBS's hiring of Novak comes as the Swiss bank scales back its traditional reliance on its balance sheet for investment banking and focuses on fostering strong relationships with companies and occasionally using lending to support deals.

This strategy has gradually been paying off, as UBS jumped from twelfth to eighth in the global M&A league tables through the first three quarters of the year, according to Thomson Reuters data.

Novak's new role represents a tactical switch after he worked with activist investors at Houlihan, offering them advice on pressuring companies. At UBS, he will focus on defending companies from activist attacks.

Before joining Houlihan in 2011, Novak worked as an M&A partner at Canadian law firm Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg LLP. Before that, he worked at two other law firms, Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP and White & Case LLP.

Among the situations he worked on, Novak advised P. Schoenfeld Asset Management on its campaign against T-Mobile US Inc's merger with MetroPCS Communications Inc, which resulted in the terms of the deal being sweetened.

Novak is the second activist banker to have left Houlihan Lokey this year. In June, his former colleague Geoffrey Sorbello moved to Elliott Management Corp, a $27 billion activist hedge fund.

(Reporting by Lauren Hirsch and Michael Flaherty in New York; Editing by Andrew Hay)
SHANGHAI (Reuters) - Fourth seed Rafa Nadal was stunned by Serb Viktor Troicki in an upset-filled Shanghai Masters second round on Wednesday while Andy Murray breezed past American Steve Johnson and Nick Kyrgios slumped to a listless defeat. Troicki, ranked 31st in the world, overcame Nadal 6-3 7-6(3) in an hour and 34 minutes to secure his first ever victory in five previous attempts against the 14-time grand slam winner. The unseeded Serb broke twice to seal the opening set before Nadal came back strongly in the second. The Spaniard saved a match point at 5-4 down but was defeated in the tiebreak. "I played really well," Troicki said. "I was aggressive, I served well, I hit the ball nice. It was a great feeling on the court playing like this... against Rafa Nadal, who is a great champion." Twice Shanghai Masters champion Murray, who claimed the China Open title last week, had no such trouble as he won 6-3 6-2 as he won 70 percent of second-serve return points. The second-seeded Briton, who scraped through a testing encounter with Johnson at the Rio Olympics in August, also saved the one break point he faced in the first set. He will play Frenchman Lucas Pouille in the third round. "I felt like I was creating a lot of chances on his serve. I thought I moved well for the first match in new conditions," Murray told reporters. "I was timing the ball well. I felt like I was controlling a lot of the rallies. Yeah, for a first match after playing pretty different conditions a few days ago, it was good." Australia's Nick Kyrgios lost to Germany's Mischa Zverev 6-3 6-1 with another controversial display in which he appeared uninterested throughout, landing a series of half-hearted serves and barely moving to meet his opponent's returns. The 21-year-old also clashed with spectators before being booed off the court after a match that lasted just 48 minutes. Kyrgios, later apologised on his Twitter account, saying his performance was "not good enough". [L4N1CI3OH] Seventh seed Tomas Berdych lost to Marcel Granollers of Spain 7-6(4) 7-6(1), while third seed Stan Wawrinka, the U.S. Open Champion, beat Britain's Kyle Edmund 6-3 6-4 and Canada's Vasek Pospisil battled past Grigor Dimitrov 7-5 7-6(2). (Reporting by Ian Rodricks in Bengaluru; Editing by Ken Ferris)
It originally was called The Morgue, the place where the everyday detritus of work life at Disney Animation - sketches, storyboards, cels, abandoned projects - was packed away when no longer needed. But after Walt Disney's 1966 death, it was transformed into the Disney Animation library, a vast repository of the collective knowledge of Walt and his original core team of animators, the famous "Nine Old Men." The 65 million-item collection - the world's largest animation archive - became the high temple of Disney, closed to the public and visited only by authorized personnel (such as the animators behind 1989's The Little Mermaid, who were inspired by storyboards from an unproduced 1930s version of the tale). But now, thanks to art book publisher Taschen, the library's secrets are set to be revealed in a five-volume series of lush, oversize coffee-table tomes. Says company founder Benedikt Taschen, about this passion project that grew out of a dinner he had with Disney boss Bob Iger, "I fell in love with the ducks" in Carl Barks' Donald Duck comics growing up in post-World War II Germany. That love led him to open a comic book store and eventually his publishing company. "My life might have gone in an entirely different direction without" Disney.

Courtesy of Disney Enterprises

First up in October is The Walt Disney Film Archives: The Animated Movies, 1921-1968 ($200), which includes black-and-white preliminary sketches, full-color concept paintings, watercolors and production cels from such classic Disney films as Cinderella, Snow White, The Jungle Book and Fantasia. (Vol. 2 will focus on Walt Disney.) The book also offers behind-the-scenes photographs, production notes, musical scores and - best of all - transcripts from Walt's famous story conferences. Readers can eavesdrop as the Disney founder debates Fantasia's music with composer Igor Stravinsky, hear him urge animators not to make Sleeping Beauty "too slapsticky" and puzzle out how to make Pinocchio's whale sequence more dramatic.

Read more: Disney's Live-Action 'Aladdin' Enlists Guy Ritchie to Direct

The most ancient items come from Laugh-O-Gram, Disney's original Kansas City, Mo., animation studio, where Walt drew his first shorts, including those featuring Mickey Mouse forerunner Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. Some of the most intriguing discoveries, though, are found on the pages devoted to Disney projects that never got off the ground - such as a failed attempt in 1946 to coax celebrated painter Thomas Hart Benton into making an American folk-opera cartoon based on Davy Crockett, or a 1940s feature-length animated adventure about Hiawatha based on Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's poem (40 years later the scrapped storyboards inspired Pocahontas). "There were things that I was familiar with from rumors," says Daniel Kothenschulte, the book's editor, "but I had doubts that they actually remained in the collection because I'd never seen pictures or anything. You have to understand, if you're a scholar of Disney, it's like going to the Louvre and going through the Leonardo collection. It's mind-blowing for a fan."

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This story first appeared in the Oct. 21 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. To receive the magazine, click here to subscribe.
The final trailer for Rogue One contains the big reveal of Galen Erso (Mads Mikkelsen), architect of the Death Star and father of heroine Jyn Erso (Felicity Jones). Or rather, it would be a big reveal if Mikkelsen hadnt accidentally spoiled his role way back in April. During an interview with the U.K.s Sky News, the actor declared that he could say absolutely nothing about the new Star Wars film, but then proceeded to say that he plays Jyn Ersos father. (See the video below.)

Of course, this is the most basic of character information, and for any other movie, an actor saying he plays the protagonists father would be no big thing. But were talking about the Star Wars universe, where spoilers are locked up tighter than a smuggler in carbonite. Nobody had any idea who Mikkelsen was playing, and we didnt even see his face or get an explanation of his relationship with Jyn until the trailer that just dropped (though Lucasfilms Kiri Hart did talk about it in Entertainment Weekly in June). He was definitely not supposed to say anything to Sky News.

And yet, theres something satisfying about seeing an actor blithely and obliviously drop a major spoiler. Were so used to seeing Star Wars actors clam up whenever theyre asked about the films; Adam Driver recently refused to even say whether the Episode VIII script blew him away, for fear his words would be taken out of context.

This is a new problem for actors, and one that barely existed before viral media. For example, Darth Vader actor David Prowse seems to have revealed the big Empire Strikes Back twist to a newspaper in 1978, two years before the film was released. But because it was a local paper, the story didnt spread. Likewise, Michael Keaton dropped a giant Batman spoiler on Late Night with David Letterman in June 1989, the night before the film was released  and if moviegoers werent watching Letterman that night, they were none the wiser.

Related: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story Final Trailer: A Tale of Rebels and Fathers
United Nations (United States) (AFP) - Newly-appointed UN chief Antonio Guterres on Thursday said it was time to overcome divisions over ending the war in Syria as key powers geared up for a new round of talks on the crisis.

"Whatever divisions might exist, now it's more important to unite," Guterres said. "It's high time to fight for peace."

Speaking to reporters after his formal appointment by the General Assembly, Guterres said that "to see the Syrian people suffer so much is something that absolutely breaks my heart."

The former prime minister of Portugal who also served as UN refugee chief for a decade will replace Ban Ki-moon who steps down on December 31 after ten years as UN chief.

The United States and Russia are to host a meeting of the countries involved in the Syrian peace process in the Swiss city of Lausanne on Saturday to try again to agree on a ceasefire.

On Sunday, US Secretary of State John Kerry will head to London for more talks with his European counterparts.

"The countries that are key stakeholders will be meeting again to try to walk ahead with the peace process," Guterres said.

"I can only wish that they will be successful because it is the moral obligation of us all to stop the suffering of the Syrian people."

During his address to the General Assembly, Guterres said it was time to stand up both to terrorists and populists, arguing that they "reinforce each other" in their extremism.

"We must make sure that we are able to break these alliances between all those terrorist groups or violent extremists on one side, and the expression of populism and xenophobia on the other side," he said.

"The two reinforce each other and we must be able to fight both of them with determination."

Guterres' appointment comes at a time of global anxiety over the ongoing war in Syria, the refugee crisis and raging conflicts in South Sudan and Yemen.

The Security Council is deadlocked over Syria after two draft resolutions were defeated in separate votes over the weekend, one of which was vetoed by Damascus ally Russia.
[October 12, 2016] Lumigon Launches T3, a Premium Smartphone With Unique Features in Scandinavian Design

COPENHAGEN, Oct. 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Now Available in the Netherlands, Russia, Dubai and at Airports Around the World Lumigon announces the launch of the T3 smartphone, integrating minimalistic Scandinavian design with durable steel exterior and innovative features such as a night vision camera and the innovative BackTouch technology, so far never seen before in mobile phones. To view the Multimedia News Release, please click: http://www.multivu.com/players/uk/7852551-lumigon-launches-T3-smartphone/ "We wanted to create a new smartphone that reflects our design philosophy," says Lumigon CEO Lars Gravesen. "The glass and steel used in the T3 are extremely durable, but that doesn't mean sacrificing the look and feel of the phone. In fact, it provides a great balance between design, premium materials, innovation and technology." In addition to the classic versions, the T3 is also available in a gold edition with four different models, to fulfil the needs of customers who like it a little more extraordinary. Innovative design, inside and out The exterior of T3 is crafted from molybdenum 316 stainless steel, whose strength and high resistance is known from the boat industry. This durability is further enhanced with scratch and damage resistant glass. Both the front and back of the phone are of Corning Gorilla Glass to help ensure the 4.8" HD Super AMOLED Diamond display is not spoiled by screen cracks. These robust materials were carefully selected and precisely crafted to create a dust and water-resistant phone that can withstand daily use, while retaining the sleek design of an exclusive product. These details extend to the interior, which is powered by an ultra-fast 2.2 GHz 64 bit 8-core processor with 3 GB RAM running Android 6.0, making this smartphone run smooth and fast. Lars Gravesen continues, "In a world with such huge demands for data, w wanted to give our customers enough capacity that will make users hardly run out of space, thus we decided to launch the T3 with 128 GB internal memory as standard."



Being a truly versatile device, the T3 also features a 4G Dual Nano SIM slot allowing the use of two SIM cards simultaneously. These can be hot-swapped without shutting down the phone, allowing for exceptional agility on the go. Perfect picture - day and night

The T3 comes with three cameras and provides high quality photography regardless of time of day or lighting conditions. The 4K HD camera takes ultra-sharp photos while the advanced Phase Detection Autofocus find its focus point instantly. The 2K HD front camera with innovative FrontFlash allows for perfect selfies even in dark environments. The mirror in combination with the FrontFlash turns this phone to a gadget that the ladies will find very handy when fixing their makeup on the go. The T3 is the first smartphone in the world to have a 2K HD Night Vision camera that can capture photos and videos even in total darkness. BackTouch The innovative BackTouch technology enables to scroll content on the display from the back of the phone and is very convenient when taking selfies as the user just needs to tap on the BackTouch. This brand new feature introduces easy one-handed navigation and improved swiping and scrolling capabilities. Secured T3 has cutting-edge security and interface features. The 360 ceramic fingerprint reader provides added security along with Lumigon's unique Vault feature that lets the user store private and confidential information on the phone. The data within the Vault is secure and encrypted with AES 256-bit algorithm. Make it Your Way T3 is provided in three classic colours, black, white and orange as well as the exclusive series, like the elegant 24-karat gold in four different models. Users can then show their individual looks, while those who want to experience the next level of luxury can leave their mark with a personal engraving. Mr Gravesen says, "The T3 was created for users who want something different and want to stand out from the crowd." "To me," he continues, "Danish design reflects craftsmanship, simplicity and real-life functionality, taking high-quality materials and combining them with innovative features to create a clean premium product. That was the design mindset that brought us to the creation of the T3 smartphone." Availability The T3 is available for purchase at the Lumigon web shop and at selected dealers worldwide at a price starting from EUR 645/DKK 4799 for the stainless steel versions with 128 GB internal memory. The sales box also includes a stainless steel designer headset created from quality materials and with precision in every detail. About Lumigon Lumigon designs, develops and produces high-end smartphones and accessories. Based in Copenhagen, the company's products are designed to reflect their Danish origin, taking inspiration from Scandinavian design traditions characterised by simplicity, minimalism and solidness. Lumigon is a private company with extensive experience within consumer electronics, mobile software and distribution. Discover more about the T3 at http://www.lumigon.com For product images in high resolution, visit the press section http://lumigon.com/press.html Press contact: [email protected] (Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161011/427151 )

Video: http://www.multivu.com/players/uk/7852551-lumigon-launches-T3-smartphone/



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(Reuters) - Nicole Kidman said her own experience of adopting children led her to her latest role, playing an Australian mother who adopts an Indian child in "Lion," which made its London Film Festival premiere on Wednesday. "Lion," which opens in U.S. theaters on Nov. 25, follows the true story of Saroo Brierley, played by British actor Dev Patel, who was separated from his family in central India aged 5 when he accidentally boarded a train to Calcutta. As a lost child unable to remember where his home is, Saroo is put up for adoption and taken in by an Australian couple. Years later as a grown man living a successful life in Australia, Saroo tries to find his family using satellite images from Google Earth and confronts new challenges as his past life collides with his present. Australian actress Kidman, 49, who adopted two children with her ex-husband, actor Tom Cruise, said that was the reason she was drawn to play Sue Brierley, Saroo's adopted mother. "I was drawn to her and she wanted me to play her, which I loved," Kidman said. "I still wanted every moment that was on screen to be full of her story and her truth ... and that's almost harder than being the lead because it's trying to put all of those complicated emotions and ideas into small scenes," she added. Patel praised Kidman's performance, saying "her performances come from a very authentic place and to share the screen with her really was a blessing." The 26-year-old London actor said he spent eight months preparing for the role and learning the Australian accent. "I started off a bit Crocodile Dundee I think and then I had to be reined in," he quipped. (This version of the story corrects spelling of 'reined' in final paragraph.) (Reporting by Reuters TV in London; Writing by Piya Sinha-Roy; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)
Lagos (AFP) - Here is a snapshot of key events since the abduction of more than 200 schoolgirls by Boko Haram jihadists from the remote town of Chibok in northeastern Nigeria more than two years ago.

Nigeria confirmed Thursday that 21 girls had been released following a prisoner exchange deal struck with Boko Haram.

- Snatched from school -

On April 14, 2014, gunmen from the Islamist group Boko Haram seize 276 girls from the Government Girls Secondary School in Chibok, Borno state.

The girls are forced from their dormitories onto trucks and driven into the bush. Fifty-seven girls manage to flee.

An international media campaign is launched, backed by personalities including US First Lady Michelle Obama and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Malala Yousafzai.

The hashtag #BringBackOurGirls fires a social media storm that ultimately achieves little.

Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau claims responsibility for the mass abduction in a video released on May 5, and vows to sell the girls as slave brides.

One week later, a second video shows about 100 of the missing girls. Boko Haram says they have converted to Islam and will not be released unless militant fighters held in custody are freed.

- Global response -

On May 17, Benin, Cameroon, Chad, Niger and Nigeria vow to fight Boko Haram together, in what Cameroon President Paul Biya terms a "declaration of war".

The UN Security Council says the kidnappings "may amount to crimes against humanity," as Britain, China, France, Israel and the US offer help.

US military specialists deploy to neighbouring Chad but later move elsewhere after Nigeria stops requesting their services.

On May 26, Nigeria's Chief of Defence Staff Alex Badeh says the girls have been located but warns a rescue operation would put their lives at risk.

- 'Married off' -

On October 31, Shekau quashes rumours of a deal with Nigerian authorities and says the girls have converted to Islam and been "married off".

Story continues

- One year on -

On April 14, 2015, Nigeria's president-elect Muhammadu Buhari warns he "cannot promise that we can find" the girls, as vigils are held in many countries to mark their first year in captivity.

Amnesty International believes the girls have been separated into three or four groups and are being held in camps, some of which might be in Cameroon or Chad.

Buhari says in late December he is willing to negotiate with any "credible" Boko Haram leadership, a week after claiming the country has "technically" won the war against Boko Haram.

- Others freed -

Throughout 2015, the Nigerian military announces the rescue of hundreds of people, most of them women and children, who have been kidnapped by Boko Haram.

But the missing schoolgirls are not among them, despite several unconfirmed sightings.

Suicide attacks using women and young girls increase against "soft" civilian targets such as mosques, markets and bus stations, fuelling fears that Boko Haram might be using its captives.

In March 2016, it emerges that Boko Haram also seized 500 women and children from the north east town of Damasak in Borno state just months after the Chibok abduction. The kidnapping was denied at the time.

- 'Proof of life' -

On April 13, 2016, US news channel CNN reports that Boko Haram has sent a "proof of life" video which shows 15 of the girls, the first concrete indication that at least some are still alive.

On May 18, 2016 the Nigerian army confirms the first of the schoolgirls has been found. The 19-year-old, who later met President Buhari, was discovered with a four-month-old baby and a man she described as her husband near Boko Haram's Sambisa Forest enclave.

- Prisoner exchange -

On October 13, 2016, Nigerian officials announce the release of 21 of the girls following talks between the government and Boko Haram brokered by Switzerland and the International Red Cross. Local sources say four jihadist prisoners were released as part of the deal to secure the girls' release.

The Nigerian government has raised the prospect that more releases could follow, with a senior official in the president's office saying that "the negotiations will continue".
By Keith Coffman DENVER (Reuters) - No criminal charges will be filed against a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency employee over a 3-million gallon spill of toxic waste from a defunct Colorado gold mine that fouled waterways across three states, federal authorities said on Wednesday. The EPAs Office of Inspector General said it presented "facts" to the U.S. Attorneys Office in Denver that the employee may have violated the federal Clean Water Act, and provided false statements to investigators over the discharge from the 2015 disaster. On October 6, 2016, the (U.S. Attorneys Office) declined to prosecute the EPA employee, the Inspector Generals statement said. Instead, the inspector generals office said, it will submit its findings to EPAs senior management for their review. The agency is required to report back on any administrative action it may take against the employee. The August 2015 blowout at the Gold King Mine above the town of Silverton was triggered when an EPA contractor hired to slow seepage at the century-old stake breached a tunnel wall, unleashing a torrent of wastewater that had built up behind the mountainside. The discharge sent some 3 million gallons of water containing nearly 900,000 pounds of heavy metals such arsenic, cadmium, lead and mercury into a creek that feeds the Animas River in southwestern Colorado. The orange-colored sludge then poured downstream into the San Juan River in New Mexico, traversed across Native American land, and ultimately emptied into Lake Powell in Utah days later. The inspector general conducted the year-long probe at the urging of several members of Congress. It is unclear from the inspector general's statement if the unnamed EPA employee was on site, or made decisions that led to the spill. Jeff Dorschner, spokesman for acting U.S. Attorney Robert Troyer, said the office does not publicly comment on cases that it declines to prosecute. A review of the accident conducted last fall by engineers with the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation concluded that the spill was preventable and was caused by a combination of factors spanning several decades." Among them was a failure by the EPA to take into account nearby mining operations that led to changing groundwater conditions the agency failed to anticipate when it opened a portal at the site in recent years. The state of New Mexico and Navajo Nation have sued the EPA in federal court over the spill, and the agency has put the area on its Superfund site clean-up list. (Reporting by Keith Coffman in Denver; Editing by Dan Whitcomb, Bernard Orr)
Brussels (AFP) - France will receive no further leeway on meeting the European Union's rules on public spending, EU Economics Affairs Commissioner Pierre Moscovici warned on Thursday.

"There will be no new delay, there will be no exception," Moscovici, a former French finance minister, told AFP, hours ahead of a high-stakes televised debate of conservative candidates for the French presidential election.

France has previously won two delays on meeting the EU's strict limit on running high deficits, set at three percent of gross domestic product, and several main candidates have called for France to again flout the rules.

"I strongly encourage any serious candidates to the presidential election not play with the three-percent (rule)," Moscovici told AFP.

Seven candidates, including France's ex-president Nicolas Sarkozy and former prime minister Alain Juppe, will face off in a televised debate ahead of a primary widely seen as the main battle for the presidency.

Breaking the rules would "be bad for France's image and loss of credibility", the EU commissioner said.
Italian playwright and actor Dario Fo, who won the Nobel prize for literature in 1997, has died at the age of 90, Prime Minister Matteo Renzi announced Thursday.

Left-winger Fo, one of the leading figures in 20th century farce and political theatre, was best known for his works "Accidental Death of an Anarchist" and "Can't Pay, Won't Pay".

His opposition to conformism and commitment to political and social causes involved him in numerous court cases and controversies with the Italian state, police, censors, television and even the Vatican.

"With Dario Fo's death, Italy has lost one of the great characters of its theatre, culture and civilian life. His satirical work, research, stage work and multi-faceted artistic activity are the legacy of a great Italian to the world," Renzi said in comments carried by the Agi news agency.

The Nobel jury honoured him for his work which they said emulated "the jesters of the Middle Ages in scourging authority and upholding the dignity of the downtrodden".

Fo stirred controversy with his 1969 work "Mistero buffo" ("Comical Mystery"), a retelling of the Christian gospels in an improvised format, condemned by the pope at the time as "desecrating Italian religious feelings".

His 2003 play "The Two-Headed Anomaly", which took aim at Italy's then-prime minister Silvio Berlusconi sold out in the theatre but was censored on television after a complaint by one of the billionaire politician's aides.

A committed follower of the political hard left, Fo was refused a visa to the United States in 1980 because of his membership in "Soccorso Rosso," an organisation supporting prison inmates.

- 'Blend of laughter, gravity' -

The Vatican reacted in horror at Fo's Nobel, with its newspaper L'Osservatore Romano saying that bestowing the award on "the author of questionable works is beyond all imagination".

Story continues

But the Swedish Academy hailed the Italian as an "extremely serious satirist with a multifaceted oeuvre".

"With a blend of laughter and gravity he opens our eyes to abuses and injustices in society and also the wider historical perspective in which they can be placed," the jury said.

"His independence and clear-sightedness have led him to take great risks, whose consequences he has been made to feel while at the same time experiencing enormous response from widely differing quarters."

Fo's work was characterised by absurdist language, which mingled local dialects, Latin phrases and literary quotations and mixed up laughter with seriousness.

Born in Lombardy, northern Italy in 1926, Fo married the actress and activist Franca Rame in 1954. She died in 2013, aged 83.
Where there is pig, there is poop. In North Carolina, the countrys second biggest pork-producing state, feces from industrial pig farms lie in open-pit lagoons. On a normal day, the lagoons stink and emit toxic fumes. On days like today, as floodwaters from Hurricane Matthew continue to rise, the lagoons pose an even bigger danger: If the flood breaches the lagoons, all the feces would come gushing out.

Its happened before. In 1999, Hurricane Floyd dumped 19 inches of rain on North Carolina. The lagoons overflowed. Feces and urine soaked the terrain and flowed into rivers from the overburdened waste pits, wrote the New York Times back in 1999. The storm killed more than two million turkeys, chickens and livestock in the region, and waste from the farms is expected to keep leaching into the water supply until next spring. The same thing happened in 1998 (Hurricane Bonnie) and 1996 (Hurricane Fran).

Pigs struggling to survive in Trenton, North

Carolina after Hurricane Floyd. (Reuters)

Matthew could do just as much damage; the worst is still to come. Flooding after a hurricane can be a slow-moving, if predictable, affair. Rainwater collects into streams that feed into tributaries that feed into rivers, and several days later, all the rainfall over hundreds of square miles is flowing down one swollen river. Post-Matthew, rivers in North Carolina are not expected to crest until as late as Friday or Saturday.

Thousands of chicken and pigs have already drowned in their barns in North Carolina. So far, Travis Graves of Sound Rivers, an environmental nonprofit in North Carolina, says he has seen a couple lagoons breached on aerial flights near the Neuse River. After Hurricane Floyd, the state bought out some farms in flood-prone placesto close their lagoons and prevent fecal floods in the event of future hurricanesbut plenty of lagoons remain in the area. Weve literally got hundreds of lagoons on the eastern coastal plan, says Graves. The southeastern corner of North Carolina, where pig farms are concentrated, is unfortunately also the area hit hardest in the latest hurricane.

Story continues

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Big industrial pig farms use the lagoon system to save money. Its the cheapest method of so-called treating the waste, says Michael Mallin, an ecologist at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington. After solids settle out of the manure slurry and bacteria decompose the organic matter, farmers spray the remaining liquid onto fields as fertilizer. The stuff is rich in nitrogen and phosphorouswhich works for fertilizerbut that also makes it disastrous when it gets into rivers after a flood.

Thats because the extra nutrients cause blooms of bacteria such as algae. The natural bacteria multiply like crazy in the water, and theyre sucking out dissolved oxygen in the water, says Mallin. Without oxygen, fish die. After Hurricane Fran, Mallin recalls, You could go out to one of the boat landings and stand there. Literally it was just covered with dead and dying fish on the surface of the river.

The lagoons, full of fecal pig bacteria, arent so great for humans either. One study found increased hospital visits due to gastrointestinal illnesses in the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Floyd.

In 2007, North Carolina passed a law banning waste lagoons on new pig farms. Few new farms have opened in the state since then. The reality is cost, says Mike Williams, a biologist at North Carolina State University, who has considered alternative methods for dealing pig waste. A more environmentally friendly alternative could be anaerobic digesters, in which bacteria turn the poop into natural gas. But its still too expensive for most farmers compared to keeping a lagoon.

The lagoon system is, very slowly, on its way out. But for now, as Hurricane Matthew's floodwaters rise, North Carolina bears the health and environmental cost of cheap pork.

Read more from The Atlantic:

This article was originally published on The Atlantic.
Elizabeth (United States) (AFP) - The Afghan-born American wanted for bomb attacks that rattled New York and New Jersey last month pleaded not guilty from his hospital bed on Thursday to charges of attempted murder.

Ahmad Khan Rahimi's public defender entered a plea of not guilty on state charges that his client attempted to murder five police officers and unlawfully possessed weapons while on the run in New Jersey.

Bail was set at $5.2 million. Rahimi was shown lying in bed in hospital, where he is being treated after being critically wounded in a shootout with police on September 19 that led to his capture.

"Yes ma'am," the defendant said weakly in response to questions from Judge Regina Caulfield during the seven-minute court hearing convened in his hometown of Elizabeth, New Jersey.

Looking pale, with a thick black beard and black hair, he had a hospital sheet pulled up almost to his neck.

His lawyer, Peter Liguori, stood over him wearing a hospital gown over his shirt and tie, and blue rubber gloves on his hands.

Two other people also stood next to his bed, similarly dressed.

Liguori told the court he wished to correct the spelling of his 28-year-old client's last name to Rahimi -- not Rahami as previously listed by US authorities.

In addition to the New Jersey charges, Rahimi has been indicted on terrorism charges, including use of weapons of mass destruction, by federal prosecutors in Manhattan. He has yet to appear on those counts.

He is accused of detonating two bombs on September 17.

An attack in New York's upscale neighborhood of Chelsea wounded 31 people and a second bomb forced the cancellation of a US Marine Corps run in the New Jersey town of Seaside Park.

He is accused of planting another bomb in Chelsea, and five pipe bombs in Elizabeth, all of which were defused by authorities.

If convicted, the suspect, who worked in his family's fried chicken restaurant, could spend the rest of his life behind bars.

Although the FBI believes that he acted alone, he was captured while carrying a handwritten journal that lauded Osama bin Laden and US-born Al-Qaeda recruiter Anwar al-Awlaki, prosecutors said.

US officials say he traveled extensively to Afghanistan and spent a year in Pakistan, where he married and his wife became pregnant.
After an initial phase of shell-shocked damage control, President Barack Obamas efforts to save his signature health care law  and with it his second term and his place in U.S. history  are taking on an aggressive tone.

Lets face it, a lot of us didnt realize that passing the law was the easy part, Obama told scores of supporters late Monday at a posh Washington hotel.

The new approach  emphasizing Affordable Care Act benefits that are already in effect and dont require navigating a botched website, promoting the laws success stories, blaming Republicans and the news media in equal measure for the bad news  also comes with a renewed focus on issues that helped unite the winning coalition of his 2012 re-election campaign.

The president has stepped up calls for Congress to pass, by years end, legislation overhauling Americas immigration policy. On Tuesday, hell meet with top executives to make the argument that doing so would help the economy.

And the Democratic-held Senate voted 61-30 late Monday to advance a bill to outlaw workplace discrimination based on sexual orientation, with seven Republicans breaking ranks to side with the majority. Common sense, Obama told activists backing his Organizing for Action group at the St. Regis Hotel.

Amid headlines screaming out Obamacares setbacks, White House press secretary Jay Carney told reporters Monday that the presidents No. 1 priority has and will be economic progress.

That's two issues that rally pivotal segments of the public behind the Democratic position, while dividing Republicans, and one that remains atop the list of voter concerns. Is the president in campaign mode one year after his re-election and one year before the 2014 midterms?

I just promise that in November of 2013 I haven't had a single conversation about 2014, Carney insisted Monday.

Riiiiiiight. The White House has said that the president will travel to Dallas on Wednesday for an event with health care volunteers  and then fundraising for the Democratic Senate campaign fund. On Friday, after a stop in New Orleans to discuss export growth, Obama will head to Miami for more Democratic fundraisers.

Story continues

And somehow neither the president nor Vice President Joe Biden mentioned the Affordable Care Act directly when they headlined separate rallies for Virginia gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe on Sunday and Monday. His GOP opponent, Ken Cuccinelli, has bet his chances for an upset win on opposition to the health care law.

But for the first time in its brief history, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Acts fate isnt up to congressional arm-twisters, or White House negotiators or even the voters. Its up to a phalanx of experts (affectionately dubbed the nerds by some in the West Wing) doing surprisingly literal damage control, trying to fix HealthCare.gov

Democrats and Republicans alike say that repairing the site by the administrations self-imposed early December deadline could dramatically reshape the Obamacare battlefield.

It comes down to the website, which has really been a manifestation of peoples fears. It validates peoples concerns about the law, a top aide to a Democratic senator up for re-election in 2014 told Yahoo News.

The best thing that could happen for us is for the fix to be good enough, the enrollment drive good enough, that it makes what happened in the last two months seem like it never happened, said the aide, speaking anonymously to discuss the situation candidly. We need this law to work.

After that, Democrats say, the law could benefit from steadily growing numbers of Americans getting benefits.

But this fix, the website, the enrollment drive that comes next, it has got to dwarf what came before, make it look like a campaign for elementary school class treasurer, the Democratic aide said.

I wont say that fixing the website two months after it launched is a huge victory, but the website was an obvious, easily understood failure we had nothing to do with, one Republican congressional aide told Yahoo News. Well still push on the job losses and the if you like your plan, you can keep it.

Republicans have seized on Obamas refrain as evidence of dishonesty. Major news outlets have highlighted the many thousands of people losing their existing health care coverage because it does not meet the laws more generous requirements.

On Monday, Obama himself tried to retroactively add a little fine print. What we said was, you could keep it if it hasnt changed since the law was passed, he told supporters.

That was in the legislation  plans that existed before it became law (and remained unchanged) were grandfathered in. New plans or those that underwent modifications had to adhere to the ACAs tougher standards.



The White House points out that plans disappeared all the time before the Affordable Care Act  and that many of those vanishing now offer precious little actual coverage. Obama aides also underline that the higher cost of options provided under the new law reflect more generous benefits, while emphasizing that many Americans will qualify for subsidies to make it easier to buy health insurance.

But those qualifiers werent in Obamas public campaigning.

Nobody is changing what youve got if youre happy with it, the president said the day he signed the measure into law. If you like your doctor you will be able to keep your doctor.

The White House also has deployed more standard weapons  an array of what it calls fact checks, positive anecdotes to counter the (frequently dubious) horror stories, and links to positive coverage.

Outreach to worried congressional Democrats has been uneven. After the problem-plagued Oct. 1 rollout, it wasnt until Oct. 30 that all Senate Democratic offices received their first White House-drafted talking points  a delay one Democratic leadership aide blamed on the two-week government shutdown.

(UPDATE: Another Senate Democratic leadership aide wrote in to dispute that account, saying that all Senate Democratic offices were provided with message guidance and talking points consistently, both from the White House and HHS [Department of Health and Human Services], throughout October.)

At the same time, the administration has held at least 20 briefings this year for lawmakers of both parties, and 10 more for staff.

These briefings, were both offered proactively to and done at the request of lawmakers from both sides of the aisle, and are in addition to regular, constant outreach conducted at the staff level between White House staffers and Hill staffers on a daily basis, said White House spokesman Eric Schultz. They also are in addition to four meetings the president himself had in early October with House Democrats, House Republicans, Senate Democrats and Senate Republicans. 

Obama aides have taken the presidents lead and adopted a freshly combative tone  but that may be in part because they know things will get worse before they get better.

In mid-November, the administration is due to release the number of Americans who have successfully enrolled in health insurance plans under the Affordable Care Act.

Even with day-by-day improvements to HealthCare.gov, administration officials expect that number to be low, touching off a fresh round of criticisms.

We're only one month into a six-month open enrollment period, Obama said Monday. Its not as if this is a one-day sale or something. So we've just got to keep on working.
Pittsburgh (AFP) - US President Barack Obama extended condolences to Thailand over the death of King Bhumibol Adulyadej, calling him a "close friend" and partner of the United States.

Obama paid tribute to the king, whose death at age 88 was announced Thursday, as a "tireless champion" for Thailand's development, praising his "unflagging devotion" to improving the lives of his subjects.

Obama's warm words for the monarch belie difficult recent relations with Thailand.

Two military coups in quick succession have damaged relations with Bangkok, a treaty ally and regional powerhouse whose ties with Washington date back more than 180 years.

The US has not been able to prod the generals into restoring elections or easing controls on dissent.

But the much-loved king is a rare point of commonality in Thailand's deeply divided society.

"His Majesty the King was a close friend of the United States and a valued partner of many US presidents," Obama said.

"I had the honor of calling on His Majesty the King during my visit to Thailand in 2012, and recall his grace and warmth, as well as his deep affection and compassion for the Thai people.

"With a creative spirit and a drive for innovation, he pioneered new technologies that have rightfully received worldwide acclaim," Obama said.

"His Majesty leaves a legacy of care for the Thai people that will be cherished by future generations."

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton also extended "heartfelt condolences" together with her husband, former president Bill Clinton.

Bhumibol "was a true servant leader, acting with wisdom, strength, humility, and genuine care for the welfare of all people," they wrote in a statement. "Our world needs more leaders like him today."

The White House said it was still unclear whether Obama, who is now in his last 100 days in office, will attend the funeral.

"I don't believe that they have released any details about a service yet, so once they do we will be in a better position to respond with our plans," spokesman Eric Schultz said.

Some within Obama's administration have argued for deeper engagement with Thailand, which is at the strategic heart of Southeast Asia, but has recently tilted toward a deeper alliance with China.
Its official: President Barack Obama wants American astronauts to land on Mars by 2030.

DONT MISS: The end of Samsungs Galaxy Note 7 saga is really only the beginning

We have set a clear goal vital to the next chapter of Americas story in space, Obama wrote in a piece for CNN. This might be one the presidents last major initiatives launched while in office. Obama wants astronauts to safely return to Earth after visiting Mars in a first phase of the program, with the ultimate ambition to one day remain there for an extended time.

Obviously, NASA is the agency that will handle the mission, but the space agency will not be alone in this endeavor. Unlike other space exploration missions, the government is looking to cooperate with private companies as well  and there are quite a few private entities out there looking to go to space, Elon Musk's SpaceX included.

Just five years ago, US companies were shut out of the global commercial launch market, Obama said. Today, thanks to groundwork laid by the men and women of NASA, they own more than a third of it. Two such partnerships are already in the works, the president said. NASA will work with Boeing and SpaceX in the coming years to send astronauts to the International Space Station.

Im excited to announce that we are working with our commercial partners to build new habitats that can sustain and transport astronauts on long-duration missions in deep space, the president wrote.

The overall goal of continued space exploration is improving life back home.

If we make our leadership in space even stronger in this century than it was in the last, we wont just benefit from related advances in energy, medicine, agriculture and artificial intelligence, well benefit from a better understanding of our environment and ourselves, Obama wrote.

The president said he hopes to be alive when it happens and hoist my own grandchildren onto my shoulders as they witness the event.

Story continues

This isnt the first time the president expressed his hope that man will reach Mars in his lifetime. By the mid-2030s, I believe we can send humans to orbit Mars and return them safely to Earth, he said in April 2010 during a visit to the Kennedy Space Center. A landing on Mars will follow. And I expect to be around to see it.

Trending right now:

See the original version of this article on BGR.com
BEIRUT (Reuters) - At least four children were killed in a government-held area of western Aleppo on Thursday when shells landed near a school, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported. Syrian state news agency SANA said the school in the al-Suleimaniya area had been targeted in what it described as a terrorist attack. Aleppo has been divided between government and rebel control for years. (Story corrects to clarify that shells landed near the school, not in it.) (Reporting by Ellen Francis; Editing by Tom Perry and Alison Williams)
[October 13, 2016] WatchGuard Delivers Enhanced Cloud Security with ManagedMethods CASB Integration

SEATTLE and BOULDER, Colo., Oct. 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- WatchGuard Technologies, a leader in advanced network security solutions, and ManagedMethods, a leading provider in the cloud access security broker (CASB) space, have developed the industry's most complete network and cloud security solution for detecting, investigating, and blocking network and cloud application threats faced by small and midsize organizations and distributed enterprises. Sensitive data can move freely between the enterprise and the cloud, and IT security teams struggle to maintain control, prevent data loss, and reduce risk. The ManagedMethods Cloud Access Monitor integrates with WatchGuard Dimension to deliver enhanced visibility and control into shadow IT, cloud application usage, compliance, and reporting. WatchGuard Dimension is a cloud-ready visibility and management platform used to analyze event logs from WatchGuard Firebox appliances. This data is integrated into Cloud Access Monitor to extend visibility and reporting to the cloud, as well as to mobile devices outside of the corporate network, by utilizing APIs of popular cloud applications. Key integration features: Extend visibility, reporting, and malware scanning beyond the network to cloud applications, including: Office 365, Google Apps, Dropbox, and Box.

beyond the network to cloud applications, including: Office 365, Google Apps, Dropbox, and Box. Enforce security policies by identifying and blocking high-risk cloud application usage on the network with a risk database of more than 4,500 applications.

by identifying and blocking high-risk cloud application usage on the network with a risk database of more than 4,500 applications. Data loss prevention with 24/7 monitoring and alerts of risky behavior and sensitive data activity.

with 24/7 monitoring and alerts of risky behavior and sensitive data activity. Gain visibility into shadow IT, including unsanctioned cloud application usage.

into shadow IT, including unsanctioned cloud application usage. Compliance monitoring and reporting for PII, PCI HIPAA, and other regulations. Supporting Quotes:

"Organizations of all sizes are challenged with safely leveraging cloud applications in a rapidly evolving threat landcape," said Corey Nachreiner, WatchGuard CTO. "WatchGuard delivers a powerful, layered approach to network security, and now together with ManagedMethods, customers can take advantage of enhanced cloud application security that extends beyond the perimeter of the network."



"We are excited to provide this integrated cloud security solution to WatchGuard's customers," said Charlie Sander, CEO of ManagedMethods. "With today's intensified risk of data leaks, malware attacks and even unintentional insecure employee behaviors, having a single point of visibility and control is a game-changer." "WatchGuard has been delivering industry-leading and easy-to-use network security technologies to my customers for over 10 years, and they continue to develop and integrate with advanced technologies that help us keep our customers on top of the latest security threats," said John Gawf, CTO of Saje Network Systems. "The WatchGuard-ManagedMethods integrated solution gives my customers the power they need to quickly identify and prevent cloud application threats."

WatchGuard at ITxpo, Orlando, Florida, October 16-19: The WatchGuard-ManagedMethods integration will be on display at the Gartner ITxpo in Orlando, Florida from October 17-18 .

from . Stop by booth #1212 to view a live demo and learn more about this integration as well as all of WatchGuard's latest network security solutions.

Join Corey Nachreiner on October 18 during the ITxpo Solution Provider Session (SPS) as he discusses cloud application risks and new breeds of network security threats that organizations face today. Learn more about this integration and all of WatchGuard's technology integrations by viewing the WatchGuardONE Technology Partner Page. About WatchGuard Technologies, Inc.

WatchGuard Technologies, Inc. is a global leader in network security, providing best-in-class Unified Threat Management, Next Generation Firewall, secure Wi-Fi, and network intelligence products and services to more than 75,000 customers worldwide. The company's mission is to make enterprise-grade security accessible to companies of all types and sizes through simplicity, making WatchGuard an ideal solution for Distributed Enterprises and SMBs. WatchGuard is headquartered in Seattle, Washington, with offices throughout North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and Latin America. To learn more, visit WatchGuard.com. For additional information, promotions and updates, follow WatchGuard on Twitter, @WatchGuard on Facebook, or on the LinkedIn Company page. Also, visit our InfoSec blog, Secplicity, for real-time information about the latest threats and how to cope with them at www.secplicity.org. About ManagedMethods

ManagedMethods develops Cloud Access Security (CASB) solutions that provide organizations visibility and control over Shadow IT and the growing use of cloud applications. Privately held and based in Boulder, Colorado, ManagedMethods solutions are available today through managedmethods.com or your trusted value-added reseller. Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20140224/SF69246LOGO To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/watchguard-delivers-enhanced-cloud-security-with-managedmethods-casb-integration-300343964.html SOURCE WatchGuard Technologies, Inc.

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OMG! Theres a new Rogue One: A Star Wars Story trailer and were truly feeling the force

There seems to be no end to the Rogue One: A Star Wars Story teasing and were certainly not complaining.

Just yesterday, Disney x Lucasfilm revealed a brand new poster for the film that was giving us serious #throwback vibes. Not only that, but it was confirmed that wed also be getting a brand new trailer for the upcoming Star Wars anthology movie.

Well, now that time has come as the trailer is FINALLY here!

Released today (October 13th), the new trailer shows us an insight into the films protagonist, Jyn Erso, and her murky past, including her relationship with her father, who appears to have helped the Empire develop a super weapon, the Death Star.

Okay, doesnt this film just look EPIC?! We know that Disney have been careful to play down their expectations surrounding the film, especially considering The Force Awakens is, like, one of the most successful films of all time. However, we dont doubt that Rogue One looks amazing!

It seems that Jyn is going to be a prisoner of the Empire, who escapes and joins the Rebel forces in a bid to destroy the Death Star. We also get an extended look at Orson Krennic, the films bad guy. Also, dont all the shots just look stunning?

Basically, we think that Rogue One looks like its going to be heaps of fun to watch, and we cant wait to get an wider inside into the Star Wars universe.

Star Wars Rogue One Poster

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story hits theatres on December 16th.

The post OMG! Theres a new Rogue One: A Star Wars Story trailer and were truly feeling the force appeared first on HelloGiggles.
From Esquire

I thought I was doing pretty well with the mohnflessrl.

Mohnflessrl are the milk-white, pretzel-like, poppyseed-flecked rolls that come to your table when you dine at Batard, the downtown Manhattan spot that won a James Beard medal in 2015 - an award crowning it the best new restaurant in America. The chef at Batard, Markus Glocker, grew up in Austria. Mohnflessrl were part of his childhood. He wanted me to make some.

This made sense because I was Batard's "guest chef" for the day. This made no sense because I am not a chef. As a food writer I have spent countless hours watching people hard at work in restaurant kitchens, and I can roast a decent chicken at home, but really my culinary training runs no deeper than Gary Johnson's mastery of global geography.

I figured I'd be roughly as useful in the kitchen at Batard as I'd be as the jackman on a NASCAR pit crew. Nevertheless, as my shift started I felt pretty confident. I was killing it with those mohnflessrl. I twisted up the dough. The result was not a sticky mess. I got an approving nod from Chef Glocker. I dunked the top of my doughy knot into the poppyseed salt. Another approving nod from Chef Glocker. "We can actually use that," he told me. "It is actually right. I can't believe that." Ha. See? If the guys at Batard had thought that inviting a hapless magazine writer into the kitchen was going to be the source of comedy gold, they were sorely mistaken. Five minutes in the kitchen and already I was a mohnflessrl god.

That's when Rolando showed up. Rolando Felix Fermin is the chief dishwasher at the restaurant. "He secretly runs Batard" is what I was later told by John Winterman, who supposedly runs Batard. Rolando stood across from me, began contributing to the making of mohnflessrl, and smiled gallantly as he murmured something in Spanish. I remembered enough high-school Spanish to know what he'd said. He'd said, "I'm sorry."

Story continues

Photo credit: Weston Wells

In the time it took me to twist and dunk a single roll, Rolando was cranking out five mohnflessrl, or maybe ten, or maybe 100 - I lost track. He did this effortlessly, balletically, lining them up on his wrist like birds on a wire and coating them in poppyseed salt with the deftest of flicks. He finished tray after tray of mohnflessrl while I flailed like a kindergartener on the verge of a Play-Doh meltdown.

This wound up being my chief takeaway as the inaugural guinea pig in Batard's new "guest chef" program. Inspired by something that the late chef Charlie Trotter used to do at his restaurant in Chicago, Winterman and Glocker (who both worked for Trotter at different times) have decided to start bringing spirited novices into the kitchen at Batard to "cook" alongside the pros. (Eventually, they hope to use this arrangement as a way to raise money for charities.)

What I realized, while there, is that a James Beard award-winning kitchen is a lot like a NASCAR pit crew. It's all about speed. As an amateur, you may be technically capable of undertaking some of the tasks that are integral to the delivery of a safe and delicious dinner at Batard - scrubbing mussels, pinching the pin bones out of a black bass filet with tweezers, guiding sheets of pasta into a roller, searing fatty frozen slabs of foie gras in a blazing hot pan, whatever - but you probably can't do it fast enough. In fact, if you're anything like me, you'd do it all at the sort of careful, patient pace that generally leads to asteroid-hurling-toward-Earth cataclysms in a professional kitchen.

"Restaurants are always operating on the ragged edge of disaster," Winterman told me. The dish at Batard that I wound up liking the most during dinner that night - a marvel of pasta mastery (and a wink a la Bugs Bunny) in which connected pouches of pasta are stuffed with rabbit and carrot - was also staggeringly easy to mess up in the kitchen. When I tried to roll out a few servings of it, my movements were borderline glacial.

Photo credit: Weston Wells

"The clock is ticking," Chef Glocker told me, his jaw tight. He never raised his voice, but he did make a point of letting me know that he had spent nine years working for Gordon Ramsay. Probably the most impressive thing about a kitchen like Batard is that somehow, in spite of a pace that seems engineered to leave everyone slower than Usain Bolt in the dust, food of complexity and depth manages to make it across the pass day after day.

At a certain point late in the evening, as Glocker prepared for the starting-gun flurry of orders, a cluster of plates was placed in front of him. Each plate contained a spoonful of one of the richly flavored sauces that would be served that night at Batard. Glocker raised each plate directly to his lips, testing each sauce by pouring it into his mouth from the porcelain. "Then the air comes in," he told me. "It's like tasting a wine."

He asked me to taste every sauce, too. That's when everything finally slowed down.

Photo credit: Weston Wells

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drinking orange juice

Americans are turning away from orange juice.

The drink was considered a breakfast staple for decades, and has long been featured prominently in nearly every cereal ad as part of a "complete breakfast."

But Americans' consumption of orange juice has been plunging in recent years, as awareness grows over the scant nutritional value of the drink.

Nutritionally, orange juice isn't much better for you than a glass of soda or any other sweetened beverage, as Business Insider's Erin Brodwin wrote earlier this month in a post calling it the "biggest con of your life."

A 12-ounce glass of orange juice contains 153 calories, 34 grams of carbohydrates, 27 grams of sugar, and 2.4 grams of protein. That's the same amount of carbohydrates and almost as much sugar as a bag of M&M's, as Brodwin points out.

That's why nutrition experts and health bloggers have been railing against orange juice in recent years. When you Google "orange juice good for you," the top results include posts titled "Why orange juice is slowly killing you," and "The #1 reason to avoid orange juice."

Perhaps that's why sales of the juice are down 13% in the past four years, according to data from Nielsen.

orange juice

Frozen orange juice has experienced the biggest drop in sales, falling 39% to $98 million since 2012, compared to a 10% drop to $3.1 billion for refrigerated orange juice in the same period.

Florida, which is the top producer of oranges used for juice in the US, is on track for the fifth straight season of declines in orange output  representing the worst decline in more than a century, according to Bloomberg.

On top of falling demand, orange producers have also been battling a bacterial disease that has been wiping out their groves.

As growers leave the business, orange-processing plants have also been shutting down.

Florida once had more than four dozen processing plants but now has only seven, according to The Wall Street Journal.

"You're witnessing gut-wrenching decisions where multigenerational family citrus growers have reached a point where their risk tolerance isn't there to continue," Adam Putnam, the commissioner of the Florida Agriculture Department and Consumer Services, told The Journal.

Story continues

Sales of orange juice are declining at a time when Americans' breakfast consumption is actually on the rise.

Breakfast consumption is expected to grow faster than the US population over the next few years, and more and more Americans are choosing to eat breakfast away from home, according to NPD Group.

Thanks to the rise of the juicing trend, however, a wide array of juices and smoothies are available as alternatives to orange juice.

NOW WATCH: It'll cost you nearly nothing to open a Chick-fil-A  but there's a catch





More From Business Insider


Parfums Christian Dior has released a fresh campaign film for its star fragrance "J'Adore", featuring its long-time Hollywood ambassador, US actress Charlize Theron.

The 45-second clip, directed by iconic French photographer and filmmaker Jean-Baptiste Mondino and dubbed "The Absolute Femininity", opens to a twilight scene of sun-parched plains in lightning storm, with Theron bathing in the rain while her voiceover murmurs the words: "I touch the rain...".

As the rain stops and sun rises in the next shot, Theron continues: "I look at the sun... and it says run", mirroring her words with actions, setting off across the sun-soaked plains, dressed in a gold gown and drenched from the storm.

The ad ends with a silhouette of the perfume's bottle against a sunset, as Theron shares her last line: "I watch it all turn, the water, the earth, the sun and me. J'Adore. We are gold. J'Adore Dior."

Both Theron and Mondino have been loyal Dior collaborators for over a decade, with Theron having first signed with Dior as the face of its best-selling perfume in 2004, and Mondino who has lensed the J'Adore campaigns since 1999 (via WWD).

Watch Dior's "The Absolute Femininity" film here: https://youtu.be/OaJ-TE1xZVA
By Keith Coffman

(Reuters) - A transgender parolee who said she robbed a Wyoming bank last summer so she would be sent back to prison was sentenced to six years in a federal women's lockup on Wednesday, prosecutors said.

Linda Patricia Thompson, also known as Brian Thompson, faced a maximum of 20 years behind bars but was given a lower term under federal sentencing guidelines because she pleaded guilty and accepted responsibility for the crime, said her attorney, David Weiss.

Thompson, 59, pleaded guilty in August to a single count of bank robbery, said John Powell, spokesman for U.S. Attorney Christopher Crofts.

According to a Federal Bureau of Investigation arrest warrant affidavit filed in the case, Thompson entered the U.S Bank branch in Cheyenne on July 27 and handed the teller a note written on cardboard that read, "I have a gun. Give me all your money," the affidavit said.

The teller turned over $16,300 in currency to Thompson who took the money outside the bank, handed some of it to people on the street, threw more cash in the air, and then sat down on an overturned bucket and waited to be arrested, the FBI said.

A responding Cheyenne police officer told the FBI that Thompson admitted to the theft. "I just robbed the bank, I want to go back to prison," according to the affidavit. All of the stolen cash was recovered.

Thompson was released from an Oregon lockup in June and told a parole officer that she did not want to be freed, the FBI affidavit said.

She ultimately hopped a train in La Grande, Oregon and ended up in Cheyenne, the affidavit said, where she was assaulted and later denied a space at a local homeless shelter during her week there.

It was then Thompson decided to carry out the heist because she could not survive on the streets, she told investigators.

Thompson was featured in a 2006 documentary film about transgender inmates, Cruel & Unusual.

In a clip from that movie, Thompson said when she decided to live openly as a woman she could no longer find work, and stole scrap metal for a living.

(Reporting by Keith Coffman; Editing by Dan Whitcomb and Andrew Hay)
Washington (AFP) - The Pentagon was preparing for possible new strikes in Yemen on Thursday after US missiles hit Huthi rebel targets, but officials stressed America wants to avoid getting embroiled in yet another war.

The US Navy earlier launched five Tomahawk cruise missiles at three mobile radar sites in Huthi-controlled territory on Yemen's Red Sea coast, after the Iran-backed rebels blasted rockets at the USS Mason destroyer twice in four days.

The military insists these moves are taken out of self-defense.

Though the United States is providing logistical support to a Saudi-led coalition battling the rebels, Thursday's bombing marked the first time Washington has taken direct action against the Huthis.

Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook said this was not a prelude to a new campaign in the region, where America is to varying degrees waging wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya and Syria.

"We don't seek a wider role in the conflict," Cook said. "This is about protecting our people, period."

The White House also stressed the United States was not stepping up its military role.

"This is not any engagement in the sectarian situation on the ground in Yemen," White House spokesman Eric Schultz said.

The Huthi missiles were believed to have been a type of C-802 anti-ship weapon with "explosively formed penetrator warheads," a senior defense official told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The Huthis have denied conducting the attacks.

Republican Senator John McCain said the missiles "likely" came from the Iranian regime.

"Thanks to the successful strikes carried out in response by the USS Nitze," which launched the cruise missiles, "the United States Navy has delivered a strong message," he said in a statement.

But the US strikes did not take out Huthi missiles and, though the radar destruction makes it harder to aim the weapons, the official warned rebels could still use spotter boats or online ship-tracking websites to find new targets.

Story continues

"They do need to knock it off. We will not hesitate" to launch new retaliatory attacks, the official said.

Cook said the United states was "prepared to respond further."

"But we believe we've taken action that will reduce their ability to carry out these kinds of attacks," he added.

Another defense official, also speaking on condition of anonymity, warned of a continued threat to US and merchant vessels.

"Have we perhaps neutralized (the missile threat) for the time being by taking out their eyes? That's a possibility, but radar can be brought in pretty quickly. I don't think anyone here thinks the threat is gone," he said.

- Historic attack -

The rockets fired at the USS Mason on Sunday and again Wednesday were believed to be the first time since 1987 that a US warship has been targeted by an incoming missile.

In May that year, an Iraqi fighter plane shot two missiles at the USS Stark in the Persian Gulf, leading to the deaths of 37 US sailors.

The second defense official said the prospect of an incoming missile would likely have been terrifying for all on board the Mason.

A lucky hit or two could have sunk the ship, he said, and crews would have only had moments to react to the incoming threat.

"You are confident that your defensive measures are going to take care of it, but at the same time... you don't want to be on the receiving end."

The Navy was tight-lipped about the countermeasures it deployed.

The senior defense official said the Mason sent its own rockets out that blew up in the vicinity of the Huthi weapons.

These are designed to explode near an incoming missile, creating large amounts of debris that brings it down.

It wasn't clear if the measures destroyed the missiles, or if these would have crashed into the ocean anyway.

Yemen's conflict has killed more than 6,800 people, wounded more than 35,000 and displaced at least three million since the coalition launched military operations, according to the United Nations.

As well as supporting the coalition, Washington has for years carried out drone attacks against jihadists in Yemen, regularly killing members of the local branch of Al-Qaeda.
A writer has come forward to break her silence about the day she was physically attacked by Donald Trump while interviewing him at his Mar-A-Lago estate.

Read: Jill Harth Says Trump Told Her to Get Breast Implants, Treated Her 'Like Cattle'

In a story for People magazine, Natasha Stoynoff, who wrote about Trump a number of times while she worked for the magazine, reveals she was at the Florida home in 2005 to do a story about the first anniversary of his marriage to wife Melania.

She said that while a pregnant Melania went to change into a new outfit, Trump said he wanted to show her another room in the home.

Within seconds, he was forcing me against the wall and forcing his tongue down my throat, she said.

It takes a lot to push me. But Trump is much bigger  a looming figure  and he was fast, taking me by surprise and throwing me off balance. I was stunned. And I was grateful when Trumps longtime butler burst into the room a minute later, as I tried to unpin myself, she said. 

The butler informed us that Melania would be down momentarily, and it was time to resume the interview.

She said Trump acted as if nothing happened, and before Melania returned, he leaned in and reportedly said, "You know we're going to have an affair, don't you?"

He turned to doting-husband mode the minute Melania returned.

Stoynoff stopped reporting on the Trumps, and when she ran into Melania a few months later, she said Melania asked her, Natasha, why dont we see you anymore? giving her a hug.

Donald Trump is facing an avalanche of new accusations from other women who are coming forward to claim he kissed and fondled them.

Six women went public on Thursday with stories that echo what Trump himself said in that notorious hot mic video: I just start kissing them. It's like a magnet.

Businesswoman Jessica Leeds told The New York Times, He was like an octopus. It was like he had six arms! He was all over the place.

Story continues

She said that Trump groped her on a plane after she was bumped up to first class and found herself sitting next to him. The incident happened more than 30 years ago, when she was in her 30s.

Rachel Crooks told The New York Times she was a young receptionist straight out of college when she met Trump waiting for an elevator at Trump Tower.

Read: Profane Tape Emerges of Trump Talking About Women: 'Grab Her By The P****'

Suddenly, "he kissed me directly on the mouth. It was so inappropriate. I was so upset that he thought I was so insignificant that he could do that, she said.

Casandra Searles, who was Miss Washington in 2013, claims in a Facebook post that Trump propositioned her at the Miss USA Pageant.

She claims: "He continually grabbed my ass and invited me to his hotel room."

Another accuser, 36-year-old photographer's assistant, Mindy McGillivray, says Trump groped her at Mar-a-Lago.

"All of a sudden I felt a grab, a little nudge. I turn around and there's Donald. It was pretty close to the center of my butt. I was startled. I jumped,'' she told the Palm Beach Post.

Also coming forward is former Miss Utah, Temple Taggart, who told the Today show that Trump acted inappropriately during the Miss USA rehearsals in 1997.



He turned to me, embraced me, and gave me a kiss me on the lips. I remember being shocked, she said.

The Trump campaign is denying each of the allegations and is threatening to sue The New York Times.

"For The New York Times, to launch a completely false coordinated character assassination against Mr. Trump on a topic like this is dangerous. To reach back decades in an attempt to smear Mr. Trump trivializes sexual assault and sets a new low." a statement said.

At a press conference in West Palm Beach, Florida, on Thursday, Trump called the allegations from the women totally and absolutely falseTheyre fabricated. Theyre total lies.

"These events never, ever happened. And the people who said them know that. You study these people and youll understand that, he said.

Theyre horrible people, theyre horrible, horrible liars, he said.

Watch: Trump Accuser Jill Harth Reacts to His Groping Comments: 'How Can People Not Believe Me Now?

Related Articles:
[October 13, 2016] RegTech Firm ComplyAdvantage Raises $8.2 Million Series A

ComplyAdvantage, which uses artificial intelligence and machine learning to help firms manage compliance obligations and reduce costs, announced today an $8.2 million Series A funding round led by Balderton Capital. The funding will allow the RegTech firm to realise its ambitious growth strategy, and increase product penetration across Europe and North America, with the New York office officially opening this week. With financial crime becoming ever more sophisticated and endemic, the time is ripe for a smart disruptor to shake up the compliance market. ComplyAdvantage takes a unique approach in providing proprietary, dynamic risk data with more efficient screening and monitoring technology. It is already enjoying early success, with some 200 clients globally relying on ComplyAdvantage technology to reduce financial crime risk and take the pain out of regulatory compliance. The funding round was led by Balderton Capital (News - Alert), one of the largest Europe-focused venture funds. "In compliance, we see lots of entrants with a new workflow, or user-interface tool that is just repackaging the same data. ComplyAdvantage is doing something different, by developing its own proprietary global data set of individuals and companies that pose a threat", said Tim Bunting, General Partner, Balderton Capital. "We believe that this is one of the few remaining large industries that is still ripe for digital disruption. We are thrilled to be backing Charles and his team, they are well on their way to changing the way companies can understand and monitor risk around their clients. Their missio is truly exciting, and relevant to all businesses."



Considering the escalating volume of financial crime combined with the corresponding waves of regulation, it is clear that current anti-money laundering (AML) and counter-financing of terrorism (CFT) solutions must improve. London and other financial centres are frequently cited as money laundering hot spots, while according to recent reports authorities are only able to identify and stop a tiny fraction of illicit funds. "Compliance is painful, slow and expensive," said founder Charles Delingpole. "It is a huge overhead for firms and there is a massive opportunity to unlock this through technology. At one of my earlier businesses, I was the guy who would have gone to prison if we got compliance wrong, and I found it incredibly difficult to rapidly and safely assess the potential risk of my customers using the existing data and software on the market. To make matters worse, the tools generally generated a huge amount of manual work. So I decided to do something about it. This investment is testament to the incredible things the team has achieved so far and we look forward to taking our business to the next level with Balderton's support and expertise."

Using its dynamic proprietary database, which covers Sanctions and Watchlists, Politically Exposed Persons (PEPs), and global Adverse Media, the firm is able to create structured profiles of high risk individuals, companies and their associates based on the very latest data. Its innovative AI screening and monitoring technology not only ensures better accuracy but also helps in cutting through the noise and reducing 'false positives' (incorrect risk alerts). Chris Pilling, previously founder of Complinet, and former-SVP of Compliance and Regulatory Risk at Thomson (News - Alert) Reuters, is now a Strategic Board Advisor to, and investor in, ComplyAdvantage. He commented, "I am delighted to be involved with Charles and the team. At a time when the industry is struggling to cope with the increasing burden of regulatory compliance, there has never been a greater need for radical innovation. By adopting the very latest technologies this firm is capable of delivering a solution that is markedly superior to anything I have seen on the market today." ComplyAdvantage's solutions cover three main areas: a data feed of proprietary AML risk data, an on-boarding screening and monitoring platform for 'know your customer' (KYC) processes and a real-time transaction monitoring platform to detect suspicious customer behaviours. About ComplyAdvantage ComplyAdvantage helps firms make intelligent choices when complying with regulations relating to sanctions, money laundering (AML), terrorist financing (CFT), bribery and corruption. Its unique proprietary database of individuals, organisations and associated entities provides dynamic real-time insight into financial crime risks. ComplyAdvantage uses artificial intelligence, machine learning and big data analytics combined with a tailored risk-based approach to help firms not only to manage their compliance and risk obligations but to prevent the occurrence of financial crime. Founded in 2014 and headquartered in London and with offices in Cluj, Romania, and now in New York, USA, ComplyAdvantage works with some 200 clients in the financial markets and other regulated and high-risk sectors. ComplyAdvantage is a trading name of IVXS UK Ltd Website: https://complyadvantage.com/ View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20161013005280/en/

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
LONDON, Oct 13 (Reuters) - Pfizer suffered a setback in Britain on Thursday when the Court of Appeal in London ruled against it in a patent case over the use of its $5 billion-a-year drug Lyrica for pain relief.

Pfizer said it would seek a further appeal.

Lyrica, known generically as pregabalin, was originally developed for epilepsy. However, further research showed it could also help patients suffering from neuropathic pain and most prescriptions are now written for pain.

While the original patent on pregabalin has expired, Pfizer was awarded a secondary patent covering pain, valid until July 2017, and the U.S. drugmaker had been fighting to protect this lucrative section of the market.

(Reporting by Ben Hirschler; Editing by Tom Bergin)
(Adds further details on case)

LONDON, Oct 13 (Reuters) - Pfizer suffered a setback in Britain on Thursday when the Court of Appeal in London ruled against it in a patent case over the use of its $5 billion-a-year drug Lyrica for pain relief.

Pfizer said it was disappointed by the decision and would seek a further appeal.

Lyrica, known generically as pregabalin, was originally developed for epilepsy. However, further research showed it could also help patients suffering from neuropathic pain and most prescriptions are now written for pain.

While the original patent on pregabalin has expired, Pfizer was awarded a secondary patent covering pain, valid until July 2017, and the U.S. drugmaker had been fighting to protect this lucrative section of the market.

The expiry of the basic patent allowed generic drugmakers including Actavis, now renamed Allergan, to launch cut-price versions of the medicine, which carried a "skinny label" limiting their use to epilepsy and general anxiety disorder.

But Pfizer still sued, arguing it was inevitable that the copycat versions would be dispensed for pain as well as other conditions.

The court of appeal ruling endorsed an initial 2015 verdict that generic companies had not infringed Pfizer's secondary patent and its patent claims directed generally to pain and neuropathic pain were invalid.

(Reporting by Ben Hirschler; Editing by Tom Bergin/Ruth Pitchford)
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte pose for photo during the ASEAN Plus Three Summit in Vientiane, Laos September 7, 2016. REUTERS/Soe Zeya Tun/File Photo

The Chinese government said on Wednesday that Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte will visit China from October 18 to 21.

But even before the visit was confirmed, business leaders and executives in the Philippines were clamoring to take part in Duterte's trip to one of the world's biggest economies.

Who will be part of the delegation has not been announced, but on October 11 Reuters reported that business groups and government officials said registration for the trip had been "oversubscribed."

The number of Philippine entrepreneurs to travel with Duterte swelled from about two dozen to about 250, according to Trade Undersecretary Nora Terrado, as they look to discuss potential deals in the rail, construction, tourism, agribusiness, power, and manufacturing sectors.

"I understand there are 100 more wanting to go," Terrado told Reuters, adding that the size of the delegation was unusual because the two countries agreed on the visit only about a month ago.

The eagerness to do business with China comes amid an apparent thaw in previously frosty relations between Manila and Beijing, ties that had been strained over China's assertive territorial claims in the South China Sea, which the Philippines and several other neighboring countries have rebuffed.

China Philippines Russia Medvedev Li Keqiang Cambodia Rodrigo Duterte ASEAN Asia

Duterte has not capitalized on a July 12 international-court ruling that dismissed China's expansive claims. The current Philippine president said in April, prior to his election, that he would be willing to "shut up" about disputes in the sea if China provided aid.

Story continues

Since Duterte took office in June, he has kept his conciliatory stance toward China, particularly on economic and political matters  a position that appears to have been enabled by China's more measured approach to issues in the South China Sea.

More recently, business dealings between the two countries appear to be heating up.

On Saturday, Philippine Finance Minister Carlos Dominguez said that Duterte would seek billions of dollars in infrastructure investments from China over the coming months (which Chinese firms are open to providing). The following day, Philippine Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Pinol said China would lift a ban on fruit exports from 27 Philippine firms as a "gift" to Duterte.

Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte (C) clenches fist with members of the Philippine Army during his visit at the army headquarters in Taguig city, metro Manila, Philippines October 4, 2016. REUTERS/Romeo Ranoco

"We are neighbours ... this is actually what the president is thinking: instead of fighting, why don't we just become friends?" said Francis Chua, chairman emeritus of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry, according to Reuters.

"The clouds are fading away. The sun is rising over the horizon, and will shine beautifully on the new chapter of bilateral relations," Zhao Jianhua, the Chinese ambassador to the Philippines, said in September.

'One cannot replace the other'

Despite the apparent enthusiasm among Filipino executives about the potential to work with the Chinese, there are reasons to worry about the footing of the Philippine economy.

Since taking office, Duterte has egged on a anti-narcotics campaign that has driven up homicides in the country. Since June, nearly 4,000 people have been killed  the majority of them by unknown assailants it what are likely vigilante killings. He has also accused public figures of criminal activity with scant evidence, stirring fears among the business community.

Duterte has also railed against the US, raising concerns about the health of Manila and Washington's longstanding relationship.

"Many investors have been turned off by threatening remarks made by Duterte against the US and China, casting doubt on the future of Manilas foreign policies and his handling of the economy," CNBC reported at the end of September.

Benigno Aquino Rodrigo Duterte Philippines president government

"A lot of people are hesitant to put their money into the Philippines at this point," Guenter Taus, who heads the European Chamber of Commerce in the Philippines, told The Economist in September.

Duterte has remained broadly popular through the first three months of his term, but that behavior has put him at odds with much of the rest of the world.

And a trip to Beijing is unlikely to sooth the frayed nerves the Philippine business community.

"There is still significant concern among businesses about the potential of Dutertes policies, both domestic and international, to cause instability and upset the economic growth" of the Benigno Aquino administration, which ran from 2010 to 2016, said Gregory Poling, the director of the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

Given the size of the Chinese economy, expanded business dealings with Beijing only make sense for Philippine businesses, but deeper relationships with China's businesses can't take the place of Manila's extensive economic ties to the US and other countries.

"They are going on the trip with him because there is no reason to pass up potential opportunities in China," Poling told Business Insider, "but given that China lags well behind the US, Japan, and European nations on the list of investors in the Philippines, one cannot replace the other."

NOW WATCH: Philippines President Duterte: 'Mr. Obama, you can go to hell'





More From Business Insider


Manila (AFP) - Firebrand Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte heads to China next week seeking billions of dollars in investments and buckets of respect, as he pivots angrily away from traditional ally the United States.

Chinese President Xi Jinping is set to give the mercurial leader a warm welcome, after Duterte threatened to end a decades-long alliance with the United States and gave Beijing a timely boost in its quest for more control over the strategically vital South China Sea.

Duterte, 71, has said he is trying to wean the Philippines off an unhealthy reliance on its former colonial ruler, although he has signalled the shift is also due to his outrage at US criticism of his deadly war on crime.

Analysts believe Duterte's attraction to a rising China is typical of his ultra-pragmatic governing style, following repeated speeches from him highlighting what he believes is the United States' diminishing economic and military might.

"He is a results-oriented person, Machiavellian, too," University of the Philippines political science professor Clarita Carlos told AFP.

"The guy knows if he can find markets for our bananas, pineapples, and create employment, whether it's China, Russia or Mali, that's where we are going. Whatever works."

Duterte is bringing along a delegation of hundreds of businessmen, including many of the Philippines' most powerful tycoons, in a bid to capitalise on the warming of relations that have taken place due to his efforts to placate Beijing on the South China Sea row.

China claims nearly all of the strategically vital sea, even waters approaching the Philippines and other Southeast Asian nations, and has in recent years built artificial islands in the disputed areas that are capable of hosting military bases.

- Chinese anger -

Duterte's predecessor, Benigno Aquino, infuriated Beijing by challenging it on a range of fronts.

Aquino allowed American troops to be stationed in the Philippines, launched joint patrols in the sea, filed a legal case at a UN-backed tribunal, repeatedly raised the issue at regional summits and refused to hold direct negotiations with Beijing.

Story continues

In July, 12 days after Duterte took office, the international tribunal handed the Philippines a surprisingly resounding victory, ruling that China's claims to most of the sea had no legal basis and that its artificial island-building was illegal.

But, instead of using the verdict to pressure China as Aquino would have done, Duterte sought to mend ties with Beijing.

He also launched a sustained verbal assault on the United States, scrapping the joint patrols as well as a series of annual war games.

During the election campaign, Duterte said he was willing to "set aside" the South China Sea dispute in return for China building a railway through the impoverished southern Philippine region of Mindanao.

He also said it was not in the nation's interest to insist on its claim over Scarborough Shoal, a fishing ground within the Philippines' exclusive economic zone that China seized in 2012.

"Let's just not dwell on Scarborough because we cannot fight them," Duterte said this week.

- Respect -

Duterte has also signalled he wants to go to Beijing to enjoy some respect, following relentless criticism from the West about alleged extrajudicial killings in his war on crime.

More than 3,300 people have been killed in the crackdown, and US President Barack Obama has been among the many critics to express concern about an apparent breakdown in the rule of law.

"Eventually I might in my term, break up with America. I would rather go to Russia or to China. Even if we do not agree with their ideology, they have respect for the people. Respect is important," Duterte said this month.

He also said he hoped to visit Russia soon after China.

Maritime law expert Jay Batongbacal warned Duterte's approach was a big gamble for the Philippines, with China the only sure winner at this stage.

Duterte "is taking a huge risk, betting all on China's goodwill and beneficence without the insurance provided by the diversified, multilateral support of historical and traditional friends and allies", Batongbacal, a University of the Philippines law professor, wrote this week.

Still, it is too early for China to claim victory, according to Richard Javad Heydarian, a regional expert at De La Salle University in Manila.

"I won't be surprised if at some point Duterte will hedge his bets and pivot back to the US if he fails to get any satisfactory concession from China," Heydarian said.
Philippine President-elect Rodrigo Duterte speaks during a conference with businessmen in Davao city, southern Philippines June 21, 2016. REUTERS/Lean Daval Jr

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte will arrive in China for a state visit next week, a trip that has generated much enthusiasm among his country's business community.

For Duterte, too, the visit is an opportunity, coming after months of his efforts to improve relations with Beijing.

China's appeal is both economic and political. The Asian giant, the world's second-largest economy, offers a lucrative export market for Philippine goods, and Duterte has said he's interested in securing investment for infrastructure projects in his country from Chinese investors.

Diplomatically, Duterte's overtures to China have come alongside his rebukes of the US, the Philippines' longstanding ally. He has condemned the US for its colonial legacy in the Philippines and spoken of weaning his country off American influence, citing Washington's declining economic and military power.

Duterte's eastern ambitions may tax his political capital, however. While he has high approval ratings (inline with his predecessors at the same point in their terms), support for outreach to Beijing may be quite different.

On foreign policy, a June survey of Filipinos found China had a net trust rating of -24, classified as "poor." The US, on the other hand, is generally very popular, with a poll last summer finding 92% approval among Filipinos.

A demonstrator speaks during a protest over the South China Sea disputes outside the Chinese Consulate by members of the

"What is being asked by critics in the Philippines is why does an independent foreign policy mean distancing yourself from your traditional allies ..." Gregory Poling, director of the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said on the CSIS podcast. "Why is a prerequisite for a close relationship with China to spurn the US ..."

Story continues

It may be that Duterte is trying play China and the US off each other in order to secure the best deals and relations for the Philippines, but the way in which he has done that risks overplaying his hand, spoiling one relationship for another that may not be more beneficial.

During his presidential campaign, Duterte said he was willing to "set aside" his country's dispute with China over the latter's claims in the South China Sea in return for infrastructure investment. And, after a July 12 international-court ruling rejecting China's expansive claims, Duterte hasn't capitalized on the legal victory.

south china seas

He's also backed off of some of his own country's claims in the sea. "Let's just not dwell on Scarborough because we cannot fight them," Duterte said this week, referring to a fishing area seized by China in 2012.

In this context, Duterte's simultaneous spurning of the US and embrace of China is "doubly concerning from a more practical standpoint, because if ... he really expects to have fruitful negotiations with China on the thorny issues of the South China Sea and try to reach a deal, why is he giving up his only leverage, which is the US treaty commitment?" Poling asked.

"Dutertes bid to downgrade the U.S. alliance," Poling told Business Insider, will damage the Philippines' negotiating position when Duterte sits down to talk with China.

"The threat of U.S. intervention is what has prevented more overt Chinese aggression at Second Thomas Shoal or Scarborough Shoal," Poling added. "Now Duterte is throwing that leverage overboard before he has even gotten into a room with Xi Jinping."

'Popularity is especially fickle in the Philippines'

Two polls gauging Duterte's approval since he took office this summer have put his support on par with that of his predecessors at the same point in their terms, as noted by Prashanth Parameswaran at The Diplomat.

The +64 approval rating he garnered in poll of his first 100 days in office was only 4 percentage points higher than that of Benigno Aquino III, Duterte's predecessor, and of Joseph Estrada, president from 1998 to 2001, and 2 percentage points lower than Fidel Ramos, president from 1992 to 1998, at the same point in their terms.

Incoming President Rodrigo Duterte and outgoing President Benigno Aquino salute the honor guards before Aquino leaves the Malacanang Palace in Manila, Philippines June 30, 2016. REUTERS/Erik De Castro

Duterte's 91% approval rating in a July poll was only slightly higher than Aquino's when he came into office.

And, as Parameswaran noted, a close reading of survey results regarding Duterte's policies  the drug war in particular  reveals ambivalence on some points and dismay on others.

"Popularity is especially fickle in the Philippines and can change back and forth quite dramatically very quickly either because of or in spite of certain policies, and often interacting with elite opinion, sentiment within key institutions like the military and legislature, and, of course, events or crises," Parameswaran writes.

The fickleness of Philippine sentiment may again be evident after Duterte returns from Beijing.

"Well see how popular he is in the next round, when its made clear that he probably doesnt get a deal from China," Poling said, and "that he might very well drive a wedge between the Philippines and its only treaty ally."

NOW WATCH: Philippines president compares himself to Hitler  says hed be happy to 'slaughter' 3 million drug addicts





More From Business Insider


Donald Trump (Photo: Mike Pont/WireImage)

In December 2005, PEOPLE writer Natasha Stoynoff went to Mar-a-Lago to interview Donald and Melania Trump. What she says happened next left her badly shaken. Reached for comment, a spokeswoman for Trump said, This never happened. There is no merit or veracity to this fabricated story. What follows is Stoynoffs account.

Just for the record, Anderson Cooper asked Donald Trump, during the presidential debate last Sunday, are you saying  that you did not actually kiss women without (their) consent?

I have not, Trump insisted.

I remember it differently.

In the early 2000s, I was assigned the Trump beat for PEOPLE magazine. For years I reported on all things Donald.

I tracked his hit show The Apprentice, attended his wedding to Melania Knauss and roamed the halls of his lavish Trump Tower abode. Melania was kind and sweet during our many chats, and Donald was as bombastic and entertaining as you would expect. We had a very friendly, professional relationship.

Then, in December 2005, around the time Trump had his now infamous conversation with Billy Bush, I traveled to Mar-a-Lago to interview the couple for a first-wedding-anniversary feature story.

Our photo team shot the Trumps on the lush grounds of their Florida estate, and I interviewed them about how happy their first year of marriage had been. When we took a break for the then-very-pregnant Melania to go upstairs and change wardrobe for more photos, Donald wanted to show me around the mansion. There was one tremendous room in particular, he said, that I just had to see.

I just start kissing them, he said to Bush. Its like a magnet. Just kiss. I dont even wait. And when youre a star, they let you do it. You can do anything.

We walked into that room alone, and Trump shut the door behind us. I turned around, and within seconds he was pushing me against the wall and forcing his tongue down my throat.

Now, Im a tall, strapping girl who grew up wrestling two giant brothers. I even once sparred with Mike Tyson. It takes a lot to push me. But Trump is much bigger  a looming figure  and he was fast, taking me by surprise and throwing me off balance. I was stunned. And I was grateful when Trumps longtime butler burst into the room a minute later, as I tried to unpin myself.

Story continues

The butler informed us that Melania would be down momentarily, and it was time to resume the interview.

I was still in shock and remained speechless as we both followed him to an outdoor patio overlooking the grounds. In those few minutes alone with Trump, my self-esteem crashed to zero. How could the actions of one man make me feel so utterly violated? Id been interviewing A-list celebrities for over 20 years, but what hed done was a first. Did he think Id be flattered?

I tried to act normal. I had a job to do, and I was determined to do it. I sat in a chair that faced Trump, who waited for his wife on a loveseat. The butler left us, and I fumbled with my tape recorder. Trump smiled and leaned forward.

You know were going to have an affair, dont you? he declared, in the same confident tone he uses when he says hes going to make America great again. Have you ever been to Peter Lugers for steaks? Ill take you. Were going to have an affair, Im telling you. He also referenced the infamous cover of the New York Post during his affair with Marla Maples.

You remember, he said. Best Sex I Ever Had. 

Melania walked in just then, serene and glowing. Donald instantly reverted back to doting husband mode, as if nothing had happened, and we continued our interview about their wedded bliss. I nodded at his hollow words and smiled at his jokes, but I was nauseated. It didnt seem to register to him in the slightest that what hed done might have hurt or offended me, or his wife.

An hour later, I was back at my hotel. My shock began to wear off and was replaced by anger. I kept thinking, Why didnt I slug him? Why couldnt I say anything?

The next morning, anger became fear. Earlier in my trip, I had tried to arrange a session at Mar-a-Lagos spa for my chronic neck problem  the spa was part of a private resort separate from the Trump residence  but they were booked up. Trump had gotten wind of that before the interview and called himself, asking the top massage therapist if he would come in extra early to see me, as a favor to him.

Id been up all night worrying  had I done something to encourage his behavior? But I decided to keep the appointment. I was running late and rushed to the spa with my luggage in tow. I found my designated therapist in a panic.

Im so, so sorry, I apologized, Can we do 30 minutes and Ill pay you for the whole hour?

Never mind that. Mr. Trump was here waiting for you!

What? Where?

Here. In the massage room. Waiting for you. He waited 15 minutes, then had to leave for a meeting.

But why was he here? I asked. Is he coming back?

The therapist shrugged. I lay on the massage table, but my eyes were on the doorknob the entire time. Hes going to show up and this guys going to let him in with me half-naked on a table. I cut the session short, got dressed and left for the airport.

Back in my Manhattan office the next day, I went to a colleague and told her everything.

We need to go to the managing editor, she said, And we should kill this story, its a lie. Tell me what you want to do.

But, like many women, I was ashamed and blamed myself for his transgression. I minimized it (Its not like he raped me); I doubted my recollection and my reaction. I was afraid that a famous, powerful, wealthy man could and would discredit and destroy me, especially if I got his coveted PEOPLE feature killed.

I just want to forget it ever happened, I insisted. The happy anniversary story hit newsstands a week later and Donald left me a voicemail at work, thanking me.

I think youre terrific, he said, the article was great and youre great.

Yeah, I thought. Im great because I kept my mouth shut.

I asked to be taken off the Trump beat, and I never interviewed him again. A few months later, I saw Trump at the memorial service of a mutual friend, designer Oleg Cassini. We were both giving eulogies, but I avoided him. That winter, I actually bumped into Melania on Fifth Avenue, in front of Trump Tower as she walked into the building, carrying baby Baron.

Natasha, why dont we see you anymore? she asked, giving me a hug.

I was quiet and smiled, telling her Id missed her, and I squeezed little Barons foot. I couldnt discern what she knew. Did she really not guess why I hadnt been around?

Except for a few close friends and family, I didnt talk about the incident. In time, I chalked it up to one of the hazards of a roller coaster ride of celebrity journalism: Id danced barefoot in Cannes with John Travolta, sang with Paul McCartney, talked about Bogie with Bacall, quoted Shakespeare with Brando and Prince Andrew yelled at me until I cried. Oh, and Donald Trump forced himself on me. I tried to make myself believe it was no big deal.

Only, it was.

Now hes running for president of our country. The other day, I listened to him talk about how he treats women on the Access Hollywood tape. I felt a strong mix of emotions, but shock wasnt one of them.

I was relieved. I finally understood for sure that I was not to blame for his inappropriate behavior. I had not been singled out. As he explained to Billy Bush, it was his usual modus operandi with women. I felt deep regret for not speaking out at the time. What if he had done worse to other female reporters at the magazine since then because I hadnt warned them?

And lastly, I felt violated and muzzled all over again.

During the presidential debate, Donald Trump lied about kissing women without their consent. I should know. His actions made me feel bad for a very long time.

They still do.

Four years after the Trump incident, I left the magazine to write screenplays and books  a few are New York Times bestsellers.

Im not sure what locker room talk consists of these days. I only know that I wasnt in a locker room when he pushed me against a wall. I was in his home, as a professional, and his beautiful pregnant wife was just upstairs.

Talk is talk. But it wasnt just talk in my case, it was very much action.

And, just for the record, Mr. Trump, I did not consent.

Editors Note: Donald Trump tweeted a response to this story, saying: Why didnt the writer of the twelve year old article in People Magazine mention the incident in her story. Because it did not happen!
LONDON, Oct 13 (Reuters) - One of the world's biggest bond funds said on Thursday that a recent rise in UK government bond yields had probably run its course and that the fund had trimmed its holdings of gilts.

"It's possible we get a little bit of a further rise in yields but probably more of it is behind us than ahead of us," PIMCO's head of sterling portfolio, Mike Amey, told Reuters on the sidelines of its investment summit in London.

Amey said he had closed a "long" position in UK government bonds and any decision to increase holdings again would depend largely on the government's fiscal policy.

(Reporting by Jamie McGeever; Writing by John Geddie, editing by Anirban Nag)
Jacquelyn Martin / AP

Jacquelyn Martin / AP

This week, We the People continues its series on The Candidates and the Constitution, in which the statements and proposals of Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump are compared to the text and history of the Constitution. (Listen to previous episodes on Article II, Article III, and Article V.)

We turn now to the First Amendment, which states, Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

Clinton and Trump have offered thoughts and proposals on a range of First Amendment issues, from the publication of private tax returns in The New York Times and the future of Citizens United to the prosecution of terrorism-related speech and beyond.

Joining We the People to discuss the First Amendment and the 2016 presidential campaign are two leading constitutional scholars.

Erwin Chemerinsky is the founding Dean and Distinguished Professor of Law, and Raymond Pryke Professor of First Amendment Law, at the University of California, Irvine School of Law, with a joint appointment in Political Science.

Bradley Smith is the Josiah H. Blackmore II/Shirley M. Nault Professor of Law at Capital University Law School in Columbus, Ohio.

This show was engineered by David Stotz and produced by Nicandro Iannacci. Research was provided by Lana Ulrich and Tom Donnelly. The host of We the People is Jeffrey Rosen.

Get the latest constitutional news, and continue the conversation, on Facebook and Twitter.

We want to know what you think of the podcast! Email us at editor@constitutioncenter.org.

Please subscribe to We the People and Live at Americas Town Hall on iTunes, Stitcher, or your favorite podcast app.

We the People is a member of Slates Panoply network. Check out the full roster at Panoply.fm.

Despite our congressional charter, the National Constitution Center is a private nonprofit; we receive little government support, and we rely on the generosity of people around the country who are inspired by our nonpartisan mission of constitutional debate and education. Please consider becoming a member to support our work, including this podcast. Visit constitutioncenter.org to learn more.

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[October 13, 2016] Fitch Rates University of Texas System's Ser 2016I Rev Financing System Refunding Bonds 'AAA'

Fitch Ratings has assigned a 'AAA' rating to the $190 million Board of Regents of The University of Texas System (UTS) revenue financing system (RFS) refunding bonds, series 2016I (the bonds). The bonds are expected to sell via negotiation the week of Oct. 24. Bond proceeds will refund certain outstanding RFS bonds for savings and pay issuance expenses. The Rating Outlook is Stable. SECURITY RFS debt is secured by a lien on and pledge of all legally available revenues and fund balances of the UTS system. Specifically excluded from the pledge are state appropriations, the Available University Fund (related to Permanent University Fund [PUF] income), and the income or corpus of the Permanent Health Fund. KEY RATING DRIVERS STABLE CREDIT CHARACTERISTICS: The 'AAA' RFS rating is supported by the system's substantial resource base, positive operating history and coverage, revenue diversity, stable enrollment and program demand, and an experienced management team. MANAGEABLE CAPITAL PLANS: UTS maintains adequate capacity to issue additional debt associated with its substantial capital improvement plan. The plan entails approximately $2.6 billion of PUF and RFS debt over six years; immediate plans include about $352 million of additional state-supported tuition revenue bonds (TRBs) later in calendar 2016. The system's debt burden remains moderate at 4.5% of operating revenue. Fiscal 2015 operations provided ample coverage of pro forma maximum annual debt service (MADS) at about 2.7x. EXCEPTIONAL RESOURCE BASE: UTS benefits from substantial endowments, including a two-thirds share in the PUF. These endowments are not generally pledged to RFS bonds and are not included in balance sheet ratios. However, they provide significant university financial flexibility and balance sheet strength. Estimated market value of all UTS endowments at Aug. 31, 2016, including the PUF at $17.9 billion, was about $26.6 billion. RATING SENSITIVITIES MATERIAL CHANGE IN PERFORMANCE: Deterioration of The University of Texas System's operating performance, debt service coverage, or performance of its substantial healthcare operations, combined with a significantly weakened balance sheet, could pressure the RFS rating. Fitch views such changes as unlikely at this time. CREDIT PROFILE UT was established under the 1876 Texas Constitution. Its current eight academic institutions and six health care institutions are geographically dispersed throughout the state. The system enjoys strong and stable enrollment. System headcount is 228,539 in fall 2016 (preliminary) - about 3% more than the prior year. Most UTS growth occurs outside of the flagship Austin campus, which has been at capacity for many years. UTS' growing medical schools and healthcare operations represented a significant 31% of fiscal 2015 operating revenues. Additionally, UTS benefits from a two-thirds share of the state-constitution established PUF, as well as other endowments. The market value is significant compared to most public universities; market value of all UTS endowments was $26 billion as of Aug. 31, 2015. At Aug. 31, 2016, the unaudited value was $26.6 billion. SOLID OPERATING PERFORMANCE The system consistently produces positive operating results, a solid balance sheet and stable enrollment, factors that Fitch considers consistent with its 'AAA' rating. UTS' fiscal 2015 operating surplus, as adjusted by Fitch, was a positive $596 million, an operating margin of 3.5%. Excluding $625 million of non-cash other post-employment benefit (OPEB) accruals, the margin would increase to about 7.2%. UTS management reports that the system expects to continue pay-as-you-go OPEB payments. Financial statements for the fiscal year ended Aug. 31, 2016 are not yet available. The system benefits from broad revenue diversity. Fiscal 2015 operating revenues included healthcare (31.2%); grants and contracts (19.2%); net student revenues (12.5%); state appropriations (12.3%); and investment income (7.8%, as adjusted by Fitch). State operating appropriations increased in the 2014/2015 biennium, and increased another 11% for the current 2016/2017 biennium. State appropriations may pull back somewhat, as the state has directed its agencies to reduce their budget requests by 4% for the 2018/2019 biennium. Tuition increases have been modest system-wide for several years, including fall 2015, with a continued focus on student affordability. For fall 2016, the board approved modest increases that varied by system campus; UT-Austin's tuition increased by about 3%. UTS' research presence remained strong in fiscal 2015 with $2.08 billion of related expenses, similar to fiscal 2013 even with federal sequestration constraining growth in research awards. Additionally, the system's sizable healthcare operations, as a whole, generate positive cash flow. LOW DEBT BURDEN; SOLID COVERAGE MADS on UTS' combined RFS, PUF and various lease obligations is about $731 million (due in 2018), equal to a moderate 4.5% of fiscal 2015 operating revenues. The system's sizeable operating base contributes to a relatively low debt burden. Additionally, about 31.2% of RFS debt service is eligible for TRB debt service reimbursement from the state. Texas recently approved state capital funding in the form of TRB project authorizations, including a substantial $922 million for UTS. The unissued balance of $352 million TRBs are expected to be issued in calendar 2016. TRBs are issued as parity RFS debt, with related debt service reimbursed (but not pledged) by the state. Additionally, the system may issue various refunding bonds or permanently finance RFS commercial paper (CP). Management expects to continue issuing certain RFS debt to support its extensive capial improvement plan (including TRBs) in the form of CP and then permanently finance it as long-term debt. The UTS board reduced its RFS CP authorization to $1.25 billion from $1.75 billion in August 2016. The plan calls for $6.3 billion of capital projects between 2017 and 2022, of which 59% has or will be debt funded; of that amount, almost half will be supported by state TRB payments or separately secured PUF bonds. UTS' self-supporting healthcare operations also support a large component of RFS debt service.



UTS produces solid annual operating cash flow, resulting in strong institutional debt service coverage. Net income available from operations in fiscal 2015 was 2.7x MADS of $751 million. When adjusted for non-cash OPEB accruals, MADS coverage would increase to about 3.5x. BALANCE SHEET STRENGTH

Available funds (AF), defined by Fitch as cash and investments less certain restricted net assets, were $13.3 billion at Aug. 31, 2015. AF equaled 82% of operating expenses ($16.2 billion) and a stronger 122% of pro forma debt (about $10.9 billion). The liquidity-to-debt ratio is conservative, as it includes authorized but unissued CP. Fitch considers these ratios comparable to recent years, and consistent with the rating category. The AF calculation excludes significant restricted endowments, including the PUF, which had a combined market value of about $26.6 billion at Aug. 31, 2016. The system's strong balance sheet cushion and revenue diversity support the 'AAA' rating. Relevant Committee Date: Sept. 2, 2016 Additional information is available at 'www.fitchratings.com'. Applicable Criteria Rating U.S. Public Finance Short-Term Debt (pub. 17 Nov 2015)

https://www.fitchratings.com/site/re/873508 Revenue-Supported Rating Criteria (pub. 16 Jun 2014)

https://www.fitchratings.com/site/re/750012 U.S. College and University Rating Criteria (pub. 12 May 2014)

https://www.fitchratings.com/site/re/748013 Additional Disclosures Solicitation Status

https://www.fitchratings.com/gws/en/disclosure/solicitation?pr_id=1013075 Endorsement Policy

https://www.fitchratings.com/regulatory ALL FITCH CREDIT RATINGS ARE SUBJECT TO CERTAIN LIMITATIONS AND DISCLAIMERS. PLEASE READ THESE LIMITATIONS AND DISCLAIMERS BY FOLLOWING THIS LINK: HTTPS://WWW.FITCHRATINGS.COM/UNDERSTANDINGCREDITRATINGS. IN ADDITION, RATING DEFINITIONS AND THE TERMS OF USE OF SUCH RATINGS ARE AVAILABLE ON (News - Alert) THE AGENCY'S PUBLIC WEB SITE AT WWW.FITCHRATINGS.COM. PUBLISHED RATINGS, CRITERIA, AND METHODOLOGIES ARE AVAILABLE FROM THIS SITE AT ALL TIMES. FITCH'S CODE OF CONDUCT, CONFIDENTIALITY, CONFLICTS OF INTEREST, AFFILIATE FIREWALL, COMPLIANCE, AND OTHER RELEVANT POLICIES AND PROCEDURES ARE ALSO AVAILABLE FROM THE CODE OF CONDUCT SECTION OF THIS SITE. FITCH MAY HAVE PROVIDED ANOTHER PERMISSIBLE SERVICE TO THE RATED ENTITY OR ITS RELATED THIRD PARTIES. DETAILS OF THIS SERVICE FOR RATINGS FOR WHICH THE LEAD ANALYST IS BASED IN AN EU-REGISTERED ENTITY CAN BE FOUND ON THE ENTITY SUMMARY PAGE FOR THIS ISSUER ON THE FITCH WEBSITE. Copyright  2016 by Fitch Ratings, Inc., Fitch Ratings Ltd. and its subsidiaries. 33 Whitehall Street, NY, NY 10004. Telephone: 1-800-753-4824, (212) 908-0500. Fax: (212) 480-4435. Reproduction or retransmission in whole or in part is prohibited except by permission. All rights reserved. In issuing and maintaining its ratings and in making other reports (including forecast information), Fitch relies on factual information it receives from issuers and underwriters and from other sources Fitch believes to be credible. Fitch conducts a reasonable investigation of the factual information relied upon by it in accordance with its ratings methodology, and obtains reasonable verification of that information from independent sources, to the extent such sources are available for a given security or in a given jurisdiction. The manner of Fitch's factual investigation and the scope of the third-party verification it obtains will vary depending on the nature of the rated security and its issuer, the requirements and practices in the jurisdiction in which the rated security is offered and sold and/or the issuer is located, the availability and nature of relevant public information, access to the management of the issuer and its advisers, the availability of pre-existing third-party verifications such as audit reports, agreed-upon procedures letters, appraisals, actuarial reports, engineering reports, legal opinions and other reports provided by third parties, the availability of independent and competent third-party verification sources with respect to the particular security or in the particular jurisdiction of the issuer, and a variety of other factors. Users of Fitch's ratings and reports should understand that neither an enhanced factual investigation nor any third-party verification can ensure that all of the information Fitch relies on in connection with a rating or a report will be accurate and complete. Ultimately, the issuer and its advisers are responsible for the accuracy of the information they provide to Fitch and to the market in offering documents and other reports. In issuing its ratings and its reports, Fitch must rely on the work of experts, including independent auditors with respect to financial statements and attorneys with respect to legal and tax matters. Further, ratings and forecasts of financial and other information are inherently forward-looking and embody assumptions and predictions about future events that by their nature cannot be verified as facts. 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Fitch is not engaged in the offer or sale of any security. All Fitch reports have shared authorship. Individuals identified in a Fitch report were involved in, but are not solely responsible for, the opinions stated therein. The individuals are named for contact purposes only. A report providing a Fitch rating is neither a prospectus nor a substitute for the information assembled, verified and presented to investors by the issuer and its agents in connection with the sale of the securities. Ratings may be changed or withdrawn at any time for any reason in the sole discretion of Fitch. Fitch does not provide investment advice of any sort. Ratings are not a recommendation to buy, sell, or hold any security. Ratings do not comment on the adequacy of market price, the suitability of any security for a particular investor, or the tax-exempt nature or taxability of payments made in respect to any security. Fitch receives fees from issuers, insurers, guarantors, other obligors, and underwriters for rating securities. Such fees generally vary from US$1,000 to US$750,000 (or the applicable currency equivalent) per issue. In certain cases, Fitch will rate all or a number of issues issued by a particular issuer, or insured or guaranteed by a particular insurer or guarantor, for a single annual fee. Such fees are expected to vary from US$10,000 to US$1,500,000 (or the applicable currency equivalent). The assignment, publication, or dissemination of a rating by Fitch shall not constitute a consent by Fitch to use its name as an expert in connection with any registration statement filed under the United States securities laws, the Financial Services and Markets Act of 2000 of the United Kingdom, or the securities laws of any particular jurisdiction. Due to the relative efficiency of electronic publishing and distribution, Fitch research may be available to electronic subscribers up to three days earlier than to print subscribers. For Australia, New Zealand, Taiwan and South Korea only: Fitch Australia Pty Ltd holds an Australian financial services license (AFS license no. 337123) which authorizes it to provide credit ratings to wholesale clients only. Credit ratings information published by Fitch is not intended to be used by persons who are retail clients within the meaning of the Corporations Act 2001. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20161013006349/en/

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
(Adds comments on Toyota)

WARSAW, Oct 13 (Reuters) - Poland has attracted a major investment in its automotive industry from the United States and it is also in talks with Toyota on a potential new project in Poland, Deputy Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said on Thursday.

"We have a decision on another, big investment, American one, in the automotive sector," Morawiecki said without providing more details.

He was speaking at news conference on Daimler's plans to build a 500 million euro engine plant in south-west Poland, which was announced in May.

The plant will make engines for Mercedes-Benz passenger cars.

Markus Schaefer, board member for production for Mercedes-Benz Cars, who was also speaking at the news conference, said that the plant in Jawor, around 70 kilometres west of Wroclaw, would hire 500 people.

At a separate event on Thursday, Morawiecki was asked whether Toyota also had plans to invest in Poland. "Talks are being held," he said.

(Reporting by Agnieszka Barteczko and Marcin Goettig. Editing by Jane Merriman)
WARSAW, Oct 13 (Reuters) - Poland will offer France alternative investment projects after cancelling a multi-billion-dollar military helicopter deal with Airbus , PAP news agency quoted Polish Prime Minister as saying late on Wednesday.

Poland had agreed to buy 50 Airbus utility helicopters in April 2015 for 13.5 billion zlotys ($3.5 billion) as part of efforts to modernize its military forces at a time of tensions with neighbour Russia.

The country's previous, centrist government, which was beaten by the Law and Justice (PiS) party in elections last October, had agreed the provisional deal.

But on Oct. 4 the new administration said it was scrapping the contract altogether, straining relations between the two European Union member countries.

"The Polish government has acted in accordance with the interests of the Polish state. This is a normal business behaviour, nobody has been betrayed," PAP quoted Szydlo as telling private broadcaster Telewizja Trwam.

She said that the French foreign minister will be presented with "cooperation proposals, when it comes to investment of another type, or a purchase of other equipment" when they make a visit to Warsaw, which is planned for the near future.

(Reporting by Agnieszka Barteczko; Editing by Alexander Smith)
Photo credit: (EMMA DAJSKA)

From LennyLetter

The last time I saw Agnieszka Guzdek, we weren't quite teenagers. It was summertime in Michigan, and we were sitting on my carpeted bedroom floor, listening to Boyz II Men cassette tapes, eating gummy worms, and playing with the kittens my cat had just birthed. Aga was visiting from Krakow, Poland. I call her my cousin, even though we're not really blood-related. Our mothers were college roommates at Poland's prestigious Jagiellonian University (which is like the Harvard of Poland), and they have been close ever since.

In the 1970s, my mother emigrated from Krakow to the United States. She had her master's degree in physics but didn't speak a word of English, so she worked as a cleaning lady in Chicago before teaching herself the language by watching American soap operas. (Her English now is correspondingly dramatic.) Aga's mother went on to become dean of molecular biology at Jagiellonian and has since retired.

I currently live on a tiny island off the coast of Portland, Maine. Aga lives in Krakow, the second-largest city in Poland. We both have children - mine are under the age of four; Aga's son, Marek, is eighteen. Both Aga and I are working mothers, just like our mothers, and we are raising our children to be feminists, just as our mothers did. That's why when Aga told me that on October 3, she and Marek took to the streets to protest Poland's recently proposed anti-abortion ban, I wasn't surprised. Invigorated, yes. But not surprised. Because if I know anything about Polish women, it's that we are stalwart, we have large heads and big brains, we are peasant-shaped, and we do not take shit from anybody, especially when it comes to our freedom.

Some are calling it the "Coat Hanger Rebellion"; others are calling it "Poland's Black Protests" - Aga and Marek joined tens of thousands of black-clad women, men, and children in a massive show of defiance against Poland's conservative government and all-powerful Catholic Church after a bill was introduced to the parliament that would forbid abortion in almost all circumstances. Under the original proposed law, written by a pro-life group, women in the country of 38 million people who undergo an abortion could also face imprisonment, as could doctors and nurses involved. If this proposed law had passed, Poland - which already bans abortion except in cases of rape, incest, and severe fetal abnormalities, or when the mother's life is at risk - would have had among the most restrictive abortion laws in the European Union.

Story continues

But the protests have already had a dramatic impact. The ruling political party (PiS) that had championed the law has now voted the legislation down. On October 5, the Polish minister of science and higher education said the fervor and size of the protests "caused us to think and taught us humility."

Still: PiS shows no signs of liberalizing the currently draconian abortion laws and reportedly would still like to ban abortions for women whose fetuses have congenital abnormalities. According to the Guardian, activists say that protests will continue. And according to Aga, "I feel that women know that we have won for now, but this war is not over."

I spoke with Aga - who wants to make clear that she is speaking for herself, not for any organization - about these rallies in the motherland, and here's what went down. (And thank you, Aga, not only for your activism, but for staying up so late to talk to me in my time zone ...)

-Mira Ptacin

Mira Ptacin: Can you tell me about the situation regarding women's reproductive rights in Poland right now?

Agnieszka Guzdek: Women in Poland have been given the impression that we have reproductive rights, even though we have some of the most strict abortion laws in the European Union. These laws say that abortion is permissible in three cases: if the pregnancy is a threat to a woman's health or life, if the pregnancy is a result of a rape or incest, or if the fetus has lethal defects and will not survive outside the woman's body. This is the law, but reality looks different. All of us have heard stories about women who learned from prenatal testing that her fetus would not survive outside the woman's body, or its life would be short and painful. Still, those women have to fight for their rights, or change doctors, or find a special hospital to seek help. Sometimes it is too late, sometimes it is unbearable, sometimes it leaves women traumatized for life. I've heard of many stories like that.

You have to understand that our protest on October 3 was not in favor of abortion, as much of the pro-government Polish media tries to describe it. Never. None of us thought that. Our protest was for a choice, for life. We are fighting for fundamental human rights. Our protest was really a strike, modeled after the Iceland Women's Strike in 1975. The date was chosen, and most of us heard about it from Facebook and other social-media tools. We are going on strike!

In the beginning, all the groups had the keyword women in their description. But we realized that this is not only about women's lives. Everybody joined in. Everybody. For me, the most emotional, proud moment of this event was when my eighteen-year-old son came to my room on October 2 and told me that he was not going to school the next day, that he and his friends from school would go on strike too. He gave me four reasons why he would be joining me in the march: (1) No one can take away rights from women. (2) He can't imagine the horror of bearing a child and watching it die in the next minutes. (3) He can't imagine that someone could and would force a raped girl to bear a child. (4) (And this one was a shock even for me, because I did not think about it.) The Polish health and social system is not prepared for this. The waiting lists for the kinds of specialists a baby with severe birth defects needs can be a year long - anyone in this circumstance with money treats themselves outside the national health system. If you are not wealthy and have a struggling baby, the future is very, very grim. What my son said can sound cruel, but raising a very sick child with various birth defects is costly both in the emotional sense and the material sense. I somehow feel different because I am older and I have heard and seen more, but I understand his point of view that no women should be forced to raise a child that will suffer all its life.

A law introduced in 1993 made abortion legal in Poland only under those three exceptions I have mentioned. When the restrictions were passed, the law was billed as a compromise; anti-abortion groups with strong Catholic backing have been fighting to get rid of the limits ever since. The new "Stop Abortion" bill, which would criminalize abortion in any circumstance, was composed by the anti-abortion male activist Mariusz Dzierzawski, who says abortion-rights activists want to "kill the children."

MP: I read this quote in the BBC news: "Whoever causes the death of the unborn child is punishable by imprisonment up to three years. If I have a patient with pre-eclampsia, who is 32 weeks pregnant, I will have to let her and her child die."

AG: The first part of the sentence is a quote from a new law; the second could become a terrifying reality.

MP: How involved is the church in the Polish government?

AG: Poland is a Catholic country ruled by a right-wing party - PiS. People, doctors, nurses are afraid, especially in small towns. Catholic religion is everywhere: in schools, in hospitals; even our Polish president has his own chaplain.

I am a Christian, but I am not Catholic. I am against abortion on demand, but I am for a choice. I don't understand why 460 deputies to the lower chamber of Polish parliament want to tell me what should I do with my body. Here is what they are preparing for Polish women: no abortion under any circumstances. But there is an underlayer of the new law: anyone harming a fetus will be prosecuted and punished with up to three years. One of my concerns is that some prenatal tests are pretty invasive - will doctors still do them? Or will they be afraid?

MP: How does Poland compare to other European Union countries in terms of women's rights overall?

AG: Polish women received voting rights in 1918, and because that was such a long time ago, I have a feeling that many Polish women forgot what rights are, what feminism is. Also, during the Communist era, there was this very strange situation where women were encouraged to work but at the same time they were obliged to take care of the house. After the fall of the Berlin Wall, women gained access to Western culture, and nowadays, we still have one of the lowest pay gaps in the EU. Also, a lot of small businesses are run by women, and Polish women are famous for their entrepreneurship skills.

But we still have a big gap between the city and rural area, where the most important leader is the church, and their rules are out of date and stale. I live in a big city and work on a middle-management level, which probably somehow detaches me from problems of uneducated, underpaid women.

MP: Describe the protests in your hometown of Krakow. Who attended, and why were they protesting? How were they protesting? Are they still protesting?

AG: Before the protests, there was dancing and lots of drumming. It was a big, peaceful crowd. I felt safe, like wrapped up in a blanket. Then we walked in a crowd of 15,000 people on closed-for-traffic streets. Women, men, children, young, old, in groups, families, people with strollers, most dressed in black. The color black was a sign of mourning of Polish women's rights. The march ended on the Main Market Square, here in Krakow - the most beautiful place on earth. All of us there shouting, "We have rights, we have choice!" We do! No one can take it away from us.

Groups in more than 50 cities in Poland created their own events. In many cities there were also marches, and in Warsaw, the capital of Poland, 25,000 people marched. If there will be a need, we will do it again, and again, and again. I want the current law respected so that doctors can't hide behind a conscience clause. I had a female doctor who refused to prescribe an IUD for me because of her faith. Frankly I don't care what she believes in; she is a doctor! Come on! I want easy access to birth control, the morning-after pill, and prenatal testing. I want better sex education. I want access to in vitro fertilization for all - it is currently not covered by our national health care, and so it's only available to the wealthy. I want women who give birth to very sick children to have all of their expenses covered.

Poland is a country where the Catholic Church has such a powerful voice that even for me it is hard to imagine that there will be a pro-choice law in Poland. But I think now we have opened new doors, and women have started to speak with one voice. I strongly believe that this is not the end.

This interview has been condensed and edited.

Mira Ptacin is the author of the abortion memoir Poor Your Soul (Soho Press 2016), which comes out in paperback in December. She would like to dedicate this piece to her aunt, Mary Piergies. Find her on Twitter: @miraptacin.

Follow Agnieszka Guzdek on Instagram.
Republican U.S. presidential nominee Donald Trump and Democratic U.S. presidential nominee Hillary Clinton pause during their presidential town hall debate at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, U.S., October 9, 2016. REUTERS/Rick Wilking

Donald Trump saw his support evaporate in Wisconsin just days after a 2005 audio tape of him bragging about groping women was leaked.

A Marquette University poll plotted the rapid decline of Trump's poll numbers in the state before, during and after the tape was released.

On Thursday Trump led Clinton in the polls at 41% while Clinton garnered 40%.

But the tide began to turn following the controversy on Friday and Clinton's poll numbers rose to 44% while Trump's fell to 38%.

During the weekend, Clinton obtained a commanding lead over the the GOP nominee as her support climbed to 49% and Trump's fell to 30%.

Among likely voters in WI:

Thursday: Trump 41%, Clinton 40%

Friday: Clinton 44%, Trump 38%

Saturday and Sunday: Clinton 49%, Trump 30%  MULawPoll (@MULawPoll) October 12, 2016

Over the course of about four days, Trump suffered a devastating 11-point decline in favorability among likely voters.

After a parade of Republicans withdrew their support from Trump and condemned his inappropriate comments from the 2005 audio recording, the GOP nominee lashed out and said the loss of their endorsements had liberated him to continue his campaign on his own terms.

This week, Trump threw fire at House Speaker Paul Ryan who is from Wisconsin. Ryan canceled a scheduled appearance with Trump shortly after the 2005 recording was leaked.

The race between Clinton and Trump in Wisconsin has been tight since the summer, with the two repeatedly edging each other out in the polls there.

In August, the former secretary of state's lead over Trump in Wisconsin shrunk after being up by 13 points in a four-way presidential race that included Libertarian nominee Gary Johnson and Green Party nominee Jill Stein earlier in the month.

Story continues

Ted Cruz won the state in the GOP primary, beating Trump by 13 points, according to CNN exit polls taken at the time

The real-estate magnate's presidential campaign has been in a tailspin over the last few weeks, compounded in part by a disappointing performance at the second presidential debate on Sunday.

NOW WATCH: David Cay Johnston: 'There's no evidence Donald Trump is a billionaire'





More From Business Insider


By Piya Sinha-Roy

LOS ANGELES, Oct 13 (Reuters) - After a new book and play revived "Harry Potter" mania earlier this year, fans of the boy wizard will get their first look on Thursday at the Potter spinoff "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them," a new film penned by J.K. Rowling.

Potter-philes can attend coordinated events to see early footage from "Fantastic Beasts" at select IMAX theaters around the world in cities including Rome, Sao Paulo, Mexico City and New York. The free events are open to the public on a first-come, first-served basis.

The screening will include a question-and-answer session with the cast in London and Los Angeles that will be broadcast at the same time in all the theaters.

Not much is known about the plot of "Fantastic Beasts," which is set to open in theaters next month. The movie marks the screenplay debut of British author Rowling.

The Warner Bros film, which stars Oscar-winner Eddie Redmayne as "magizoologist" Newt Scamander, is a spinoff from the Potter stories with new characters and plot, set in New York City in 1926.

A trailer released at San Diego's Comic-Con gathering in July showed Scamander arriving in New York with a case of magical creatures that escape, wreak havoc and face threats from the nonmagical humans in the city.

"Fantastic Beasts" revives the Potter film franchise that officially concluded with "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2" in 2011. It cemented the end of Rowling's seven-book series which has sold more than 450 million copies worldwide.

Potter fans who had grown up with the book series tearfully said goodbye to the orphaned boy wizard and his magical universe. But earlier this year, a new London play, "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child," cast a spell all over again.

The sold-out play is both a critical and commercial hit, while a book version of the script has become a best-seller.

(Editing by Matthew Lewis)
Itongadol.-A senior United Nation engineer in the Gaza Strip was arraigned Thursday in Beersheba District Court on charges that he abused his post in order to aid Hamas, including using the construction of a port as a base of operations for its naval commandos.

After the court confirmed that 38-year-old Wahid Abdullah al-Bursh of Jabalya understood the charges, Burshs attorney, Lea Tsemel, said she would be filing several pretrial motions against the charges.

Tsemel, a well-known anti-Zionist Jewish attorney, also took the opportunity to allege that her client had collapsed in prison, possibly due to not being given all of his medications.

Bursh was indicted in September, though the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) had arrested him several months earlier, on July 16.

He is an employee of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), which undertakes such projects as rehabilitating Gaza Strip homes damaged in warfare. He has worked as a UNDP engineer since 2003 and was tasked with overseeing the demolition of homes and evacuating the resulting waste.

According to the Shin Bet, Bursh was approached shortly after the 2014 Gaza war by Husseini Suleiman, a messenger for senior Hamas commander Abu Anas al-Andor, who asked him to use his position to help the terrorist organization. In April and May 2015, he allegedly helped build the naval commando port in the northern Gaza Strip.

Bursh is said to have used his authority to transfer 300 tons of construction materials to the site. He also is alleged to have convinced his manager at UNDP to give preference to rehabilitation projects in areas where Hamas agents were operating.

The court ordered Tsemel to present a full answer to the charges by October 25, while recognizing that a possible plea deal was being discussed.

UNDP has alternately expressed condemnation of Burshs alleged actions while implying that the charges may be inaccurate.

News of Burshs indictment came just a few days after Israel made public the arrest of Mohammad El Halabi, the manager of operations in the Gaza Strip for World Vision. UN agencies such as the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) have provided support to World Vision in the past.
Oct 13 (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

* Only 1 percent of international students break the terms of their visa by refusing to leave after their course ends, a government study has found. The research threatens to undermine Prime Minister Theresa May's case for a crackdown on foreign student recruitment and calls into question past estimates that put the figure far higher. (http://bit.ly/2ddqCYU)

* British classics such as Colman's mustard, Hellmann's mayonnaise, PG Tips teabags and Marmite were withdrawn from Tesco Plc's website yesterday as the supermarket had a pricing dispute with the brands' owner, Unilever, which may be a sign of fallout from sterling's recent plunge in value. (http://bit.ly/2d8qoXY)

The Guardian

* A brief rally in the pound was quickly reversed on Wednesday after the government refused to make tariff-free access to the European Union's single market a red line in Brexit negotiations with Brussels. Investors sold the pound after Brexit minister David Davis told MPs it was "not black or white" whether the UK would stay in the single market. (http://bit.ly/2ddt4yO)

* Two coal power plants will be paid a combined 77 million pounds ($95.75 million) to be on standby this winter as part of National Grid's plan to minimise the risk of electricity blackouts. The size of the UK's capacity margin - the buffer zone between available power supply and predicted peak demand - will be revealed on Friday when National Grid publishes its winter outlook. (http://bit.ly/2e8QA0w)

The Telegraph

* British businesses should stop hiding and instead travel the world promoting "Brand Britain" as "cheerleaders of open markets", according to former Sainsbury's boss Justin King. (http://bit.ly/2d86Y5y)

Sky News

Britain will seek "maximum possible access" to the European market once it leaves the EU, Theresa May has said. But the Prime Minister stressed the June 23 vote also meant "we should control the movement of people from the EU into the UK". (http://bit.ly/2etnzki) ($1 = 0.8042 pounds) (Compiled by Shivam Srivastava in Bengaluru; Editing by Bill Rigby)
Oct 14 (Reuters) - The following are the top stories in the Financial Times. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.

Headlines

* Marmite goes back on sale at Tesco as Unilever stand-off ends. (http://on.ft.com/2dQLbRl)

* 'Hard Brexit' or no Brexit, Donald Tusk warns UK. (http://on.ft.com/2dQKB6m)

* HP to cut as many as 4,000 jobs. (http://on.ft.com/2dQLYBZ)

Overview

* Britain's biggest retailer, Tesco, settled a pricing row with Unilever after halting online sales of goods produced by the Anglo-Dutch giant in a dispute caused by a plunge in the pound since Britons voted to leave the EU.

* European Council President Donald Tusk raised the prospect on Thursday that Britain might ultimately not leave the European Union because it would discover that any form of divorce from the EU will mean a damaging "hard Brexit".

* HP Inc, the hardware business of former Hewlett-Packard Co, said it expects to cut about 3,000 to 4,000 jobs over the next three years, sending its shares down 1.3 percent in extended trading.

(Compiled by Parikshit Mishra in Bengaluru; Editing by Sandra Maler)
Oct 13 (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.

- Samsung Electronics Co cut its preliminary third-quarter earnings guidance figures on Wednesday, a day after announcing that it would permanently discontinue its troubled Galaxy Note 7 smartphone. http://on.wsj.com/2d8JcWT

- Tesco PLC, Britain's largest grocer, pulled products made by Unilever PLC from its online shopping site because of a dispute over pricing in the wake of the pound's sharp descent, according to a person familiar with the matter. http://on.wsj.com/2d8JkWn

- Toyota Motor Corp disclosed talks with Suzuki Motor Corp about an alliance to share the burden of developing self-driving cars and low-cost vehicles, a step the two auto makers said was needed to survive "unprecedented" change. http://on.wsj.com/2d8IIAa

- The South Korean bankruptcy court handling Hanjin Shipping Co's insolvency proceedings said Thursday it plans to dispose of the firm's sales and marketing network for its Asia-U.S. route, in an effort to raise funds and help rehabilitate the indebted company. http://on.wsj.com/2d8JDkl

- Ericsson AB, one of the world's largest makers of telecom equipment, capped a series of management-shakeup and job-cut announcements with a profit warning that sent its share price tumbling and laid bare how the rise of Asian rivals has wounded Western suppliers. http://on.wsj.com/2d8IAAP

- Wells Fargo & Co Chairman and Chief Executive John Stumpf, under fire for the bank's sales-tactics scandal and his own handling of its fallout, is stepping down from both roles, effective immediately, the bank said. http://on.wsj.com/2d8JHjI

- Amazon.com Inc said it plans to start a new music streaming service that - like at least half a dozen competitors - offers on-demand, unlimited access to tens of millions of songs for a monthly fee. http://on.wsj.com/2d8ISYo

- The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries increased its production last month, the group said in a report on Wednesday. But the data for how much production rose conflicts with information provided by individual member countries, underscoring the challenges ahead as OPEC tries to complete a deal to cut production. http://on.wsj.com/2d8KFNb (Compiled by Subrat Patnaik in Bengaluru)
Oct 13 (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.

- Snapchat's parent, recently renamed Snap Inc has hired investment banks Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs Group Inc for a potential initial public offering. http://nyti.ms/2e7fG5g

- Wells Fargo & Co's Chief Executive John Stumpf announced his departure from the company following the scandal surrounding its sales tactics. http://nyti.ms/2e7isrd

- Amazon.com Inc announced its streaming service- Amazon Music Unlimited - that will compete directly with Spotify and Apple Music. http://nyti.ms/2e7gR4E

- Lloyds Banking Group Plc said it would eliminate 1,340 jobs as part of its long-standing restructuring plan. http://nyti.ms/2e7i8Zp

- Toyota Motor Corp and Suzuki Motor Corp said on Wednesday that they were discussing a business partnership. http://nyti.ms/2e7i3VM (Compiled by Abinaya Vijayaraghavan in Bengaluru)
(Adds survey on falling confidence among British food makers)

By Martinne Geller

LONDON, Oct 13 (Reuters) - Price increases at Unilever , which have sparked a row with British supermarket Tesco, helped the maker of Ben & Jerry's ice cream and Dove soap report a smaller-than-expected slowdown in third-quarter sales on Thursday.

Unilever said it was on track to meet its full-year targets, but the results were overshadowed by the dispute with Tesco which has pulled dozens of the company's brands from its website, including popular products such as Marmite and PG Tips tea bags.

In Britain, one of the home markets for Anglo-Dutch Unilever, it is grappling with the fallout of the vote to quit the European Union, which caused a steep drop in the pound.

Unilever has been trying to raise the prices it charges Britain's big four supermarkets - Tesco, Sainsbury's, Asda and Morrisons - across a wide range of goods by about 10 percent, saying it needs to offset the higher cost of imported commodities, two people with knowledge of the situation told Reuters on Wednesday.

Chief Financial Officer Graeme Pitkethly told Reuters that devaluation-led price increases were normal, but declined to comment specifically on the row with Tesco.

A survey published on Wednesday said more than two-thirds of British food makers have become less confident about the business environment since the Brexit vote.

Three-quarters of British food manufacturers have seen an increase in the price of imported ingredients due to the fall in the value of the pound since the vote, and 63 percent reported a decrease in profit margin, according to the poll by Britain's Food and Drink Federation (FDF) between Sept. 16 and Oct. 7.

Unilever's Pitkethly was speaking after Unilever posted underlying sales growth of 3.2 percent for the latest three months. Analysts on average expected growth of 2.9 percent, according to a company-supplied consensus, a slowdown from 4.7 percent in the first half of the year.

Story continues

The company in July flagged a worsening of performance, due largely to tougher comparisons with an unusually strong third quarter last year and deterioration of economic conditions in markets such as Brazil and Argentina.

Devaluation of a range of currencies in Latin America has led Unilever to raise prices, which in turn, has curbed demand, while many mature European markets continued to see deflation, fuelled by intense price competition between retailers.

In the third quarter, sales volume, or the amount of goods sold, fell 0.4 percent, but pricing was up 3.6 percent.

Pitkethly said the company was on track to meet its full-year goals, which call for sales to grow 3-5 percent, with margins improving in the historical range of 0.3-0.4 percentage points.

Unilever shares were down 1.6 percent at the open in London.

(Editing by Alexander Smith)
Monterrey (Mexico) (AFP) - One inmate died and eight others were injured during a fight on Thursday at a prison in northern Mexico where 52 were killed in two other violent incidents earlier this year.

The situation at the Topo Chico prison in the industrial city of Monterrey was back under control after police entered the facility, authorities said.

"One person died in the fight," Josefat Quiroga, the prison's security commissioner, told reporters, adding that the brawl lasted about 10 minutes.

Seven of the eight injured inmates remain hospitalized.

In February, 49 inmates died in a massive brawl triggered by a power struggle between rival leaders of the Zetas drug cartel who fought over control of the penitentiary.

Three others, including the leader of a Zetas-linked group, died in June after a gang ordered a hit on a prison leader for failing to collect money and send it to the criminal group.

Mexico's prison system is notoriously overcrowded and violent, with cartels controling many penitentiaries.
Emmy-winning production designer Rene Lagler will receive the Art Directors Guild Lifetime Achievement Award at the ADG's 21st annual Excellence in Production Design Awards on Feb. 11 at the Ray Dolby Ballroom at Hollywood & Highland.

A recipient of five Emmys and 18 Emmy nominations, Lagler is best known for his contemporary and classic designs for awards shows and specials, sitcoms, talk shows, network news and game shows. He designed the 57th Academy Awards for which he won an Emmy; the Grammy Awards from 1983 to 1987; the Emmy Awards; and the Country Music Awards from 1991 to 2006.

Lagler was production designer for the opening and closing ceremonies for the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles and for seven events for David Wolper's Liberty Weekend in 1986 celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Statue of Liberty, for which he also won an Emmy.

In addition to designing venues for three popes that have come to America, Lagler designed TV specials and series for artists such as Barbara Streisand, Frank Sinatra, George Burns and Carol Burnett. He also worked on Hollywood Squares with his mentor, E. Jay Krause.

Lagler redesigned the main newsroom studio for CNN in Atlanta, as well as CNN studios in New York, Los Angeles and Washington. He also designed the Democratic National Convention in Atlanta in 1988, New York in 1992, Chicago in 1996 and Los Angeles in 2000, as well as both of President Bill Clinton's presidential inaugural galas in 1993 and 1997.

Read more: Art Directors Guild Announces Awards Timeline
Itongadol.-A 10-year-old Palestinian boy was killed along the Gazan border late Wednesday, with a Hamas official and an eyewitness accusing Israel, but the army said it had no knowledge of such an incident.

Ashraf al-Qudra, spokesman for the health ministry in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, said the boy died when Israeli troops fired across the border east of Khan Younis in eastern Gaza.

Abdullah al-Naseef, 10, was killed by (Israeli) occupation fire close to his house in the Qarara municipality, near Khan Younis, he said.

An eyewitness said the Israeli army opened fire from a military base near Kissufim along the border.

But an Israeli army spokeswoman said she had no information on any firing across the border.

We are not aware of any incident, she said.

On Tuesday night Palestinian officials said Israeli forces shot dead a 20-year-old Palestinian man in East Jerusalem. Israeli officials said they had shot at a man who was among a group who threw Molotov cocktails at them while greatly endangering the soldiers lives.

Tensions along the Gaza border have risen recently. Last week saw several projectile launched into Israel from the Hamas-run enclave. On Wednesday, a rocket hit the southern Israeli town of Sderot and exploded in the middle of a street, causing some damage to the road, cars and nearby homes. Three people were hospitalized after suffering anxiety attacks.

In response, the IDF struck Hamas targets, first with tank fire and then with a series of airstrikes in Gaza, targeting key Hamas strategic infrastructure, according to a military official.

On Thursday, an IDF tank hit a Hamas outpost in the southern Gaza Strip in response to a mortar shell fired at southern Israel earlier in the day. Reports within the Gaza Strip also indicated that Israeli forces struck a site in central Gaza, east of the Bureij refugee camp, though that was not immediately confirmed by the IDF.

Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman said Thursday that while Israel does not want to spark a war with Hamas, it will answer every attack from the Gaza Strip with a forceful response.

Though neither attack was believed to have been carried out by Hamas, Israel has said that Hamas ultimately bears responsibility for every terror incident emanating from the Gaza Strip.

After the Israeli strikes Hamas reportedly sent a message to Israel calling for calm and saying the terrorist group was not interested in a further escalation of tensions.
LONDON (Reuters) - Punishing Britain's financial sector during negotiations on the country's exit from the European Union would not make economic sense for the bloc, British foreign minister Boris Johnson said on Thursday. "Any attempt, as it were, to punish UK financial services, as the former governor of the Bank of England said ... it doesn't make economic sense for Europe," Johnson told a committee of lawmakers. He also said the term 'single market' was "increasingly useless" and that Britain hoped to negotiate a deal with the EU that would be of greater value than the current arrangement. (Reporting by Kylie macLellan, writing by William James; editing by Elizabeth Piper)
As per a report by research firm Strategy Analytics, Qualcomm Inc. QCOM has maintained its leadership position in the mobile chipset market. Although competition has intensified in the space with low-cost chip manufacturers like MediaTek and HiSilicon gaining traction in recent times, Qualcomm retained a 39% hold in the market in the first half of 2016. Notably, application processors power smartphone devices.

Competition Rife

Although Qualcomm has registered growth in shipments in the said period, its rivals are rapidly gaining traction. The most eminent threat comes from MediaTek, who has a worldwide share of 23% and is increasingly gaining popularity among smartphone manufacturers, courtesy of its low-cost and high-efficiency offerings. Moreover, strong sales of its iPhone products have lent Apple Inc. AAPL a 15% share of the application processor market. Meanwhile, Qualcomm faces challenges from Samsung LSI as well as NVIDIA Corporation NVDA and Intel Corporation INTC. Moreover, due to the halting of production and sales of Samsungs extremely popular Note 7, Qualcomms chipset shipments may take a hit in the remaining part of the year.

The Path Ahead

Though competition is intensifying, the prospects remain bright for Qualcomm. The companys recent decision to outsource its next gen high-end Snapdragon 830 chipset to Samsung Electronics is a major positive considering Samsungs brand value in the smartphone industry. Also, Qualcomm is actively involved in the production of chipsets for the 5G standard as well as various Internet of Things technologies which will propel growth in the future.

Qualcomm currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

QUALCOMM INC Price

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Sad Happy

A long list of women came forward Wednesday to accuse Donald Trump of sexual assault. Most or all of them, from the reports I've read, never told the police about it. I believe them.

Trump has denied the accusations. His campaign advisor AJ Delgado told MSNBC's Chris Hayes that "any reasonable woman" would have come forward immediately after being sexually assaulted by the billionaire.

Trump campaign advisor AJ Delgado: "Any reasonable woman" would have come forward immediately after being sexually harassed. @chrislhayes  Natasha Bertrand (@NatashaBertrand) October 13, 2016

Trump's lawyers repeated a version of that claim in a letter to the New York Times.

Trump campaign just released this letter from his lawyers demanding a full retraction/apology from the New York Times. pic.twitter.com/QobvFbCllb  McKay Coppins (@mckaycoppins) October 13, 2016

I was raped in college. Before writing that sentence, I've never discussed my rape publicly. My partner knows. So does a small circle of friends and family. But I've never publicly identified myself as a victim or survivor. And like most people who've lived through a sexual assault, I've never told a police officer.

I'm going to do my best to explain why, in the hope that it will help readers understand why other people who've been assaulted might wait years to come forward  or never do.

Here's what you should know first: Every person's experience of trauma is unique. I would never pretend to speak for anyone other than myself, or to understand what they've been through. I hope that I can help people who doubt survivors build some empathy for those who do come forward, but you shouldn't take my experience as a stand-in for anyone else's.

Story continues

And I imagine it's much easier for me to come forward in this way than it is for any of Trump's accusers: I'm a man, I'm not naming my rapist, and I don't have to worry about sexist slut-shaming or threats. (I actually have the opposite worry, that telling a story about a rape of a man by a woman will attract the unwanted support of men's rights wackos.)

But even further: My rapist is not a celebrity, or a billionaire. She doesn't have power over my career. I don't have to worry about her showing up at my door to beat me up.

And still, I've never reported her.

Assuming Delgado holds men to the same standard as she holds Trump's accusers, I guess that makes me an especially unreasonable person.

But let me try to explain why.

It took me months to process what had happened.

In the first few months after I was raped, my brain went numb. I wish I knew a less cliched way to say it, but that's the truth of how it felt. I didn't decide then not to report my rape, I just wasn't high-functioning enough to have the thought.

I don't have a lot of clear memories from that period. I spent a lot of time in bed, skipped most of my classes, and spent less time with my friends. When I did go out, my mood ranged from gloom to a kind of manic giddiness.

I don't think I knew why I was so miserable. Friends asked what was going on, and I remember answering that I was still pining over an old breakup, or had an argument with a family member, or was stressed about school and the cold winter weather. I don't remember telling any of them the truth, possibly because I hadn't acknowledged it to myself.

At one point, my rapist wrote me an apology email and I replied, "Just want you to know I got this. It can't have been easy to write. We will talk but now is hard."

Eventually, the fugue cracked. I was on the verge of flunking out of college. My younger sister, the most perceptive person I know, wormed the story out of me.

"She's a rapist," she told me in a series of Facebook messages while I defended my rapist, "and you need to see a counselor."

It was a kind of revelation.

Just finding treatment for trauma is a struggle. The idea of dealing with the cops in the middle of that is terrifying.

I visited one of the two full-time staff my school then employed to counsel victims of rape and sexual assault.

She patiently listened and took notes while I told her why I was in her office, asking a few questions along the way. Then she explained that because I'd previously used up the 10 free staff psychologist visits then allotted to undergraduates, I would have to pay for treatment. I couldn't afford to pay out of pocket, and didn't want my family to know what had happened, so I declined. She also offered me a spot in an all-female group-therapy session at the campus women's center. I didn't like the idea of being the one man to invade that space, so again I declined.

Then she asked if I wanted to report my rapist to the police. It was the first time the idea had occurred to me, and I have a clear memory of raw, physical panic as I sat in her office.

I imagined the fallout: Friends and acquaintances taking sides. Judgment. Becoming known as that person who got raped. I imagined tripping over my already muddy memories of that evening in a police interview, getting something wrong, the accusation of a false report. What if, I wondered, I'd blown the night all out of proportion?

Plus, my rapist and I had been close. I liked her, and thought of her as basically good person. I didn't want to see her in handcuffs. The idea seemed absurd. It still does.

I left the counselor's office that day with a brochure and a promise to keep in touch. A week or so later, she had left her job in the midst of an unrelated scandal around the college's handling of rape cases. No one ever followed up with me, and I never told another authority.

The more I put myself together after the original trauma, the less I want to dredge all that pain and confusion up again.

In the years since another person climbed on top of me and had sex with me after I said no, I've learned to deal with the symptoms of trauma.

And my life is good now. I managed to convince the right faculty to give me a chance to recover from the long list of Fs on my transcript  a chance I probably didn't deserve  and graduated in what I'm sure was the bottom 10% of my class. Luck, privilege, some perseverance, and the overwhelming kindness of other people have afforded me a career and a private life that make me happy.

The idea of spoiling all that with a drawn-out legal battle based on nothing but my word feels ridiculous.

People don't want to believe it.

As I've told a small number of close friends about what happened, the overwhelming majority of them have been supportive. They listen or share their own experiences of assault. (I'll never get over my shock at how many women and men live with sexual trauma.)

But the handful of times I've told people who are close with both me and my rapist, it's felt like a mistake. One laughed it off, and told me I shouldn't have put myself in a vulnerable position with my rapist in the first place. Another interrogated me, rooting around for inconsistencies in my memories of that night. She found them, and I spent weeks wrapped up in self-doubt and anger. I wondered if I was crazy, and what was wrong with me that I couldn't recall precise details of my rape anymore. I never told any more of our shared friends after that.

I understand why those people reacted that way. It's hard to imagine that a person you care about or admire has hurt another person, especially when you didn't see it happen. It's easier to minimize their story, or find a reason not to accept it.

But think about what that means. I shared a story of an assault in possibly the friendliest environment possible: on a liberal college campus, as a man, and talking to my closest friends. And people didn't believe me.

And that's in the end why I believe survivors. I can't imagine why a woman would publicly accuse a famous, powerful, rich man of assault, unless it were true.

Talking to people about your assault is difficult, painful, and exhausting. There's only the slim upside of a shot at whatever the court decides is justice, and a mountain of downside in the form of anger, disbelief, and recriminations.

Why would any reasonable person put themselves through that, unless they were telling the truth?

NOW WATCH: Multiple women claim Donald Trump made inappropriate sexual advances on them





More From Business Insider


North Carolina rapper Rapsody weighs in on Donald Trump's lewd comments about women, which recently came to light in a 2005 video posted by The Washington Post last week. In the clip, the Republican presidential nominee is seen talking to TV personality Billy Bush, bragging about being able to grope and kiss women because of his fame. "Grab them by the p---y," Trump says. "You can do anything." Trump has since apologized for the remarks, calling it "locker-room banter." Below, Rapsody reflects on voting for President Barack Obama and calls out Donald Trump supporters for rallying behind a presidential candidate that "goes against everything American." Trump is not directly mentioned by name, but referred to as "Mr. Not Obama."

At Bright Lady Studios in Raleigh, North Carolina, my team and I gather and talk everything from sports, music, life to politics. It is our safe haven, our barbershop, our "Huxtable living room." Last night's conversation grew around the comments of the Republican nominee's disrespect of women. I refuse to acknowledge him by name because he just doesn't deserve our energy, so for now I'll refer to him as "Mr. Not Obama."

Honestly, it was hard for me to even have a reaction to the statements on "p---y grabing" and "buying of women's respect" because of one's wallet size. After a year of disrespectful, hateful, racist, misogynistic comments and speeches, nothing surprises me anymore in regards to Mr. Not Obama.

What grabs my attention more is the people who support and rallied to put him in this position of the Republican Party's nominee for president. Some of these individuals are women. Others have wives, daughters, and sisters. ALL of the above have mothers and grandmothers.

This isn't so much as a "Mr. Not Obama" issue as it is an American issue.

These actions say a lot about what many in our society truly feel when it comes to women, race, and religion. These are the very individuals of whom I choose to address.

Story continues

Women, look yourself in the mirror. Parents, look at your daughters. Brothers, look at the woman you call your sister, your mother, or your grandmother. Tell them you are truly doing this for them. Give them the excuse of "Oh, it's just locker room guy talk" and in the words of some of his surrogates, "it's no worse than what those rappers say."

You love to attack hip-hop. That's easy though. I get that. The media paints hip-hop -- and most things dealing with black culture -- as the catalyst for all world problems. In reality, however, you hate hip-hop because it turns the mirror on America and shows her just how ugly she has been to many.

Misogyny isn't a hip-hop problem, it's an American problem.

Still, there aren't any rappers running for president. There aren't any rappers campaigning to be the leader of the Free World, and in fact, the representative for all Americans. So, in laymen terms, what the hell does that have to do with anything? That is an answer I surely will wait for.

You live in a country called the UNITED States and you get all up in arms about saluting a flag that is supposed to represent that unity. Instead, you rally behind an individual that goes against everything American. Who are you?

Moreover, how can an individual running to be leader of the free world, and discriminate against so many that are the heart and lungs of this nation, not be disqualified to run for such a position? Sigh.

I didn't exercise my right to vote until 2008. I never really paid attention to politics or had a want to vote because I simply didn't think my vote mattered nor did I have much trust in the process or establishment. President Obama changed that for me by giving me hope; hope that the power we possess as a unified people could overshadow the power of wealth by the few.

Fast-forward two terms and eight years, and we'll soon be sending our salutations to one of the best presidents we've ever had, in my book. The president is a person of the people, and their job is to be a representation for all regardless of gender, class, race, creed, religion, sexual orientation and the like. As a leader, they lead and make decisions for the greater good of many without bias or discrimination.

It has been a pleasure watching President Obama and the first lady lead our country with such grace, dignity, class and respect. President Obama spoke for the underprivileged, for women, our forgotten veterans, children and so many voices that go unheard. I was honored to be one of a handful of artists to sit and have a roundtable discussion on how we could help achieve greatness through the culture of hip-hop. Obama also utilized hip-hop to help him reach and inspire so many of those voices, which is the true and original intention of our culture. That is the definition of greatness. And with greatness comes a greater America.

Here we are in the year 2016. We are a few weeks away from the election that will decide who will be the 45th president of the United States. We have several choices to make on Nov. 8. We have a choice to exercise our right to vote or not. By exercising that right, we can choose to vote for someone who will represent U.S. and who we want to have power to make decisions not only for us, but our children, our sisters, our mothers, wives and grandmothers.

To exercise your right to vote on a man that you think will make America "great again," based on his celebrity and fortune, well I guess he indeed "grabbed your p---y." So, this to him is just a game, and you got played.
Fox is probably feeling pretty good about its decision to order those extra Lethal Weapon episodes.

The rookie drama enjoyed its first week-to-week gain last night, drawing 6.7 million viewers and a 1.9 demo rating (vs last Wednesdays 6.5/1.7). Empire also ticked up a tenth in the demo (to 3.3) while remaining steady among total viewers (9.3 mil).

RELATED2017 Renewal Scorecard: Whats Coming Back? Whats Getting Cancelled? Whats on the Bubble?

Paget Brewsters return to Criminal Minds boosted the procedural both in viewers (8.3 mil vs 7.7 mil) and in the demo (1.7 vs 1.4), while Code Black was unchanged (6 mil/1.1).

Meanwhile, the first hour of ABCs comedy block (The Goldbergs and the super-compatible Speechless) was flat, while the second hour (Modern Family and black-ish) was up, with the latter surging three tenths to a 1.8. Kiefer Sutherlands Designated Survivor (7 mil/1.6) was even. Over at The CW, Arrow was stable (1.9 mil/0.7) and Frequency was down in viewers (1.1 mil) and a tenth in the demo (0.3).

RELATEDDesignated Survivor, Speechless Snag Full-Season Pickups at ABC

At NBC, Blindspot continued to trend downward, dropping another two tenths in the demo (from 1.3 to 1.1.). Law & Order: SVU and Chicago P.D. both ticked up a tenth (to a 1.4).

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Reese Witherspoon is ready to share a few personal stories with her fans!

The Oscar-winning actress is teaming up with Touchstone for a lifestyle book based on her upbringing in Tennessee. The yet-to-be-titled book is scheduled to be released in 2018.

WATCH: Kim Kardashian Re-Releasing 'Selfish' Book With New Selfies -- See the Pics!

"I'm thrilled to be writing a book with Touchstone," Witherspoon said in a statement obtained by ET. "It's a unique opportunity for me to share funny anecdotes about my Southern upbringing and give people a glimpse into my idea of Southern living."

The book will feature photographs, personal essays and draw upon the South's "signature style, grace and charm."

"Few women today have achieved her command in so many different fields, from the big screen to the retail arena," Susan Moldow, Publisher of Touchstone said in a statement. "Her ability to marshal the resources of social and traditional media, while staying true to the most appealing aspects of her Southern upbringing, is inspiring."

The Wild actress isn't the first celebrity to get into the book business. Zayn Malik is set to release his first book, titled Zayn, on Nov. 1.

READ: J.K. Rowling to Release Three New 'Harry Potter' Books

Zayn is said to be a "photographic journey" featuring a collection of personal notes, thoughts, lyrics, drawings, and never-before-seen photos. "I'm going to show you as much as I can so that you can judge me on my own terms, not on what the press or anyone else says," Zayn said in a statement.

Meanwhile, Kim Kardashian West has some more selfies to add to her collection. The reality star's popular selfie book, Selfish, was re-released on Tuesday, featuring a new cover, as well as new intimate photos of the 35-year-old and her family.

For more on her updated Selfish photo book, watch the video below.

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Syrian regime forces launched airstrikes on Ghouta, the rebel-held eastern suburbs of Damascus, on Wednesday, October 12, pounding Saqba, Arbeen and Kfarbatna. At least 10 people were wounded in Saqba, according to Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reports.

The Local Coordination Committees, a group monitoring the Syrian civil war, said that one person was killed in the strike on Saqba.

Videos released by pro-opposition media and the Syrian Civil Defense, also known as the White Helmets, show rescue workers rushing to the scene of the attack in Saqba. Credit: Video 1: YouTube/SMO Syria; Video 2: YouTube/Syrian Civil Defense; Video 3: YouTube/SMART News Agency; Video 4: YouTube/Baladi News
BEIRUT (Reuters) - Renewed bombing of rebel-held eastern Aleppo has killed more than 150 people this week, rescue workers said on Thursday, as the Syrian government steps up its Russian-backed offensive to take the whole city. Air strikes against rebel-held areas of eastern Aleppo had tapered off over the weekend after the Syrian army announced it would reduce raids for what it described as humanitarian reasons. But the strikes have intensified since Tuesday. Air strikes killed 13 people on Thursday, when warplanes hit several rebel-held districts, including al-Kalaseh, Bustan al-Qasr and al-Sakhour, civil defense official Ibrahim Abu al-Laith told Reuters from Aleppo. "The bombing started at 2 a.m. and it's going on till now," he said. Aleppo has been divided between government- and rebel-controlled areas for years. More than 250,000 people are believed to be trapped in eastern Aleppo, the rebels' most important urban stronghold, facing shortages of food, fuel and medicine. The Civil Defence is a rescue service operating in rebel-held parts of Syria. Syrian military officials could not immediately be reached for comment on the latest situation in Aleppo. The Syrian and Russian governments say they only target militants. In a government-held area of western Aleppo, at least four children were killed and 10 wounded on Thursday when shells landed near a school, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported. Syrian state news agency SANA said the school in the al-Suleimaniya area had been targeted in what it described as a terrorist attack. The Observatory, a Britain-based war monitoring group, also said shelling on government-held parts of Aleppo had killed eight people on Wednesday. (Reporting by Ellen Francis; Editing by Janet Lawrence)
From Popular Mechanics

Beer and batteries aren't two things you'd consider in a symbiotic relationship. But new research from the University of Colorado in Boulder has developed a new bio-manufacturing process that can essentially turn a brewery's wastewater into a fungal pool for growing the "most efficient naturally-derived lithium-ion battery electrodes."

This is basically a win-win for breweries and battery makers. One the one hand, breweries don't have to deal with the costly process of filtering wastewater before disposing. Meanwhile, battery makers acquire the raw materials needed for making fuel cells.

The researchers have already partnered with Avery Brewing in Boulder for larger testing, and Tyler Huggins, a graduate student who worked on the project, says the method can scale easily because of everything it requires already exists.

Just when you thought beer couldn't get any better.

Source: Engadget via Science Daily

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NEWS BRIEF John Stumpf, the embattled CEO of Wells Fargo, is stepping down from his position immediately following a phony bank and credit-card account scandal thats rocked one of the largest banks in the U.S.

Several members of Congress have demanded Stumpfs resignation for the last month. While Stumpf forfeited $41 million in stock awards, he remained in charge of a company that for years set unrealistically high sales expectations, which regulators say created a culture that led to this scandal. Now, hes forfeiting his position, as The Wall Street Journal reports:

Mr. Stumpf will be replaced by President and Chief Operating Officer Timothy J. Sloan,who was widely expected to succeed Mr. Stumpf when he retired in the future.

In a statement, Sloan said that his immediate and highest priority is to restore trust in Wells Fargo.

Its unclear if Stumpf will receive any sort of severance package. When Carrie Tolstedt, the head of the Wells Fargo division where the phony account scheme took place, left the company earlier this month, she did not collect the $124 million she would normally have received in severance.

Read more from The Atlantic:

This article was originally published on The Atlantic.
The Accountant. (Warner Bros Singapore) The Accountant. (Warner Bros Singapore)

Secret ending? No.



Running time: 128 minutes (~2.25 hours)

The Accountant is an action film about a very unconventional accountant. When he comes across an inconsistency in a companys accounts, his dogged efforts unearths a lethal conspiracy. It stars Ben Affleck (Christian Wolff), Anna Kendrick (Dana Cummings), J.K. Simmons (Ray King), Jon Bernthal (Brax), Cynthia Addai-Robinson (Marybeth Medina), Jeffrey Tambor (Francis Silverberg), Seth Lee (young Christian Wolff), and John Lithgow (Lamar Black). It is rated NC-16.

Ah, Ben Affleck. If you didnt get enough of his scowling and brooding in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice then youll be overjoyed to see that he does more of that here, except that hes got a biological reason to do so. In fact, The Accountant virtually reproduces Ben Afflecks Batman, from the superb combat skills to the analytical skills to the array of secret gadgets at his disposal. Except this time, Ben Affleck isnt battling costumed criminals - hes battling evil corporate moguls. Christian Wolff (Ben Affleck) is a financial Batman with an even more constipated brooding face.

Highlights

Action scenes are fun

Its undoubtedly fun to see Christian Wolff mop up baddies with a straight face. Its almost as if he finds it a chore to take down the goons that he faces. There really isnt anyone whos a match for him (well there is, but lets just say that might not happen until the sequel), so he approaches fights with the same blase attitude we would approach household chores. Its quite refreshing to see the way the action scenes are executed.

Pays off seeming innocuous set-ups

Much of The Accountant seems to be random exposition stuck in to explain Christian Wolffs abilities. Yet it all comes back full circle by the end of the film as what seem to be throwaway bits of information turn out to be a critical part of the story. Theres also a gentle hint of a sequel. The only quibble is that it all seems awfully coincidental, although it makes perfect sense if you devote some time to think about it.

Story continues

Letdowns

No chemistry between Ben Affleck and Anna Kendrick

Dana Cummings (Anna Kendrick) seems to be this pest to Wolff, until he inexplicably shows some interest in her. It would have worked if there were some level of attraction between the two stars, but as it stands, theyre just reciting lines of dialogue. And they both happen to be accountants. Thats the extent of their relationship.

Ben Affleck equates constipation to intelligence

So Wolff has difficulty relating to normal people, since hes a super genius. Its a common trope, so there should be plenty of material and references to draw upon in shaping his portrayal of the lonely genius. What does Ben Affleck do? He looks constipated. When Dana speaks to him, he looks constipated. When his clients speak to him, its constipation again.

What makes it even worse is that young Christian Wolff (played by Seth Lee) does a much finer job of depicting a savant who has difficulty communicating with others. Young Christian Wolff outshines adult Christian Wolff in this respect, and its just embarrassing.

Marybeth and Rays subplot is pointless

Ray (J.K. Simmons) and Marybeth (Cynthia Addai-Robinson) are on the side of the law, and also after Christian Wolff. The problem is that their paths never quite intersect and they dont fulfil a critical purpose in the story. They function more as additional exposition fairies, there to dole out information about Christian Wolff that we couldnt get any other way.

Ben Affleck shows little variation in acting in The Accountant.

Should you watch this if its free? Yes.

Should you watch it at weekday movie ticket prices? No.

Score: 2.0/5

The Accountant opens in cinemas:

- 13 October 2016 (Singapore)

- 20 October 2016 (Malaysia)

- 2 November 2016 (Philippines)

Marcus Goh is a Singapore television scriptwriter. Hes also a Transformers enthusiast and avid pop culture scholar. He Tweets/Instagrams at Optimarcus and writes atmarcusgohmarcusgoh.com. The views expressed are his own.






Uniqlo U Uniqlo U Lambswool Cropped Crewneck Sweater, $59.90, uniqlo.com

It was way back in June that we first heard that everyones favorite source for neatly-stacked sweaters, Uniqlo, would be releasing a new collection under Christophe Lemaire. And on Friday, that collection finally drops in stores (excuse us while we do a little happy twirl).

Lemaire, the former designer for luxury house Hermes, was named artistic director for Uniqlos Paris R&D Center after creating two collaborations with the Japanese brand last year. Those collections were so successful, they quickly sold out ? and there were few people in the fashion world who didnt snap up at least a piece or two.

The new range, called Uniqlo U, is more of the same in the best possible way. Theres 50 items for women and 35 for men, many in Uniqlos signature rainbow of colors (well, Lemaires version of the rainbow, anyway, which features classy cobalt blues, camels, and a whole lotta black and white). Theres a heavy emphasis on knitwear, some slim-cut jeans and trousers, great athleisure pieces like quilted jogging pants, plus puffer coats, wool toppers, and other outerwear. Prices range from a downright cheap $14.90, to a still rather reasonable $179.90 for coats, and you can shop select items in stores, and find the full range at Uniqlo.com starting Friday, October 14.

Click on for some of our favorite pieces. Warning: we will fight you for that two-tone cashmere turtleneck
From Good Housekeeping

McDonald's says Ronald McDonald is keeping a low profile with reports of creepy clown sightings on the rise.

McDonald's Corp. said on Tuesday that it is being "thoughtful in respect to Ronald McDonald's participation in community events" as a result of the "current climate around clown sightings in communities." The company did not provide any other details about how often its red-haired mascot makes appearances, and how that will change.

The burger chain's decision comes after a rash of pranks around the country that have involved eerie clown sightings. According to a recent article from the Washington Post, some of these clowns have reportedly attempted to lure children into dark, wooded areas or suspicious vehicles, while others have sinisterly watched or waved at residents from afar. Some have even gone as far as creating social media accounts, via which they are sending threatening messages to schools.

In fact, one school district in Connecticut just banned clown costumes all together after a social media account with the handle @newhavenclown posted creepy images of bloodied clowns with a list of names as "targets."

Needless to say, this whole clown epidemic has reached new and more bizarre heights since the only clown America actually loves, Ronald, feels the need to lay low.

Cant believe this is real life: McDonald's is limiting Ronald McDonald's appearances until the clown craze dies down https://t.co/9nhQsxl77l - Aaron Torres (@Aaron_Torres) October 11, 2016

Welcome to 2016, folks!

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MOSCOW (Reuters) - The Russian embassy in Damascus was targeted in a mortar attack on Wednesday, the Russian Foreign Ministry said, condemning what it called "a terrorist attack" in the Syrian capital. One of the mortar shells, fired from a district controlled by rebels, exploded close to the guard post in front of the embassy, while another detonated near the entrance to the consular office, the ministry said in a statement. The embassy compound was strewn with shrapnel, but none of embassy staff were hurt, it said. It said material damage was being assessed. "We confirm that Russia's consistent policy of uncompromising fighting against terrorists in Syria will be continued," the ministry said. (Reporting by Maria Kiselyova and Andrew Osborn; Writing by Dmitry Solovyov; Editing by Andrew Osborn)
Russian President Vladimir Putin will seal a deal with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi during an upcoming visit to deliver Moscow's most advanced air defence system, the Kremlin said Thursday.

"An agreement on the delivery of S-400 'Triumph' anti-missile defence systems and other deals will be signed as a result of the talks," Russian news agencies quoted Putin aide Yuri Ushakov as saying, without specifying a timeframe.

Putin will meet Modi in the Indian state of Goa on Saturday on the sidelines of the BRICS Summit involving the leaders of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.

The Kremlin earlier this week said the talks with Modi would focus on "a wide range of matters of bilateral relations, especially trade and economic ties."

The S-400 is Russia's most modern air defence system and has been deployed to Syria, where Moscow is conducting a bombing campaign in support of long-time ally Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

The system can track some 300 targets and shoot down around three dozen simultaneously over a range of several hundred kilometres.

India has signed a series of key defence deals under Modi as part of a $100 billion upgrade of its Soviet-era military hardware, making it an attractive proposition for arms exporters.

In September, after nearly a decade of discussions and setbacks, India signed a deal to acquire 36 French Rafale fighter jets for 7.9 billion euros ($8.8 billion) to bolster its military against an increasingly assertive China.
By Nidhi Verma

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - A group led by Russian oil major Rosneft will acquire India's Essar Oil in a $12-$13 billion deal including debt, two sources privy to the deal said, giving the Kremlin access to the South Asian nation's growing fuel market.

Russia is keen to develop and deepen its Soviet-era economic ties with India at a time when its own economy is stagnant, hit by Western sanctions and low oil prices.

Rosneft will get 49 percent and the two investors -- European trader Trafigura and a Russian fund UCP -- will hold the remaining 49 percent in equal parts, they said, adding that the valuation included about $4.5 billion in assumed debt.

No immediate comment was available from the companies involved.

Essar Oil is part of a steel-to-ports conglomerate controlled by the billionaire Ruia brothers that has faced pressure from creditors to reduce borrowing that some analysts estimate at more than $14 billion.

One source said the deal will be funded by Russia's VTB Capital, part of state-controlled bank VTB. VTB Group is under Western sanctions over Russia's role in the Ukraine crisis that restrict its access to international capital.

The Indian firm is expected to announce the deal on Saturday in the coastal resort of Goa during a visit by President Vladimir Putin, who will meet Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi for a bilateral summit.

Essar Oil operates a 400,000 barrel-per-day oil refinery on India's west coast and sells fuels through its 2,470 filling stations in India.

The deal will also include the Vadinar port and a power plant associated with the refinery, said one of the sources.

Through this acquisition, Rosneft will not only get an additional outlet for its oil amid supply glut but will also get to market fuels in the world's fastest growing major economy.

The Russian company will be the third international player after Royal Dutch Shell and BP to enter the Indian fuel retailing market.

India is replacing China as the driver of global oil demand growth as its economy expands and a rising middle class buys motor vehicles. The International Energy Agency expects India to account for a quarter of global energy use by 2040.

Rosneft may supply Venezuelan oil to Essar's Vandinar refinery after a deal to buy a stake in the Indian company is finalised, the Indian company's managing director L. K. Gupta told Reuters in August.

(Reporting by Nidhi Verma; Editing by Douglas Busvine/Keith Weir and Alexandra Hudson)
Europe will soon have over 500,000 electric vehicles on its roads, according to a new report from non-governmental organization Transport & Environment (T&E).



According to the report, European sales of plug-in hybrid and electric vehicles (EVs) doubled in 2015, hitting 145,000, "the biggest sales increase for any year to date."

If Norway and other non-EU countries are included, Europe represents the world's second largest market for totally electric cars after China, T&E added.

"The electromobility revolution is underway and Europe is well placed to take a leading position," Julia Hildermeier, electromobility officer at T&E, said in a news release.

"To fully grab this chance, Europe needs four important boosts from regulators," Hildermeier added.

"Ambitious European CO2 limits for new cars in 2025 including a specific target for EV sales to stimulate competition amongst carmakers; to accelerate the roll-out of EV charging infrastructure across Europe; to ban dirty diesels from cities; and tax breaks for battery electric vehicles."

T&E stated that in 2016, year to date sales pointed to "significantly more than 200,000 plug-in vehicles" being sold. This would push the number of EVs on Europe's road to over 500,000.

The potential of electric and hybrid vehicles is significant in terms of both energy security and the environment. The U.S. Department of Energy has said that if hybrid or electric vehicles completely replaced light-duty conventional ones, U.S. dependence on foreign oil could fall by between 30-60 percent. Plus, carbon pollution from the transport sector could fall by up to 20 percent.




By Hyunjoo Jin

SEOUL, Oct 13 (Reuters) - Samsung Electronics on Thursday offered financial incentives for customers in South Korea who exchange Galaxy Note 7 smartphones for other Samsung models, as it scrambles to shore up its reputation in the wake of a damaging safety crisis.

The South Korean giant is in damage-control mode as rivals like Apple Inc and LG Electronics try to steal market share from the global smartphone leader after it was forced to scrap its latest flagship device.

Samsung is boosting its marketing and promotional efforts around other Galaxy-series smartphones to cushion the blow from the demise of the premium Note 7, which it finally abandoned this week after failing to resolve overheating problems which caused some of the phones to ignite.

"Industry experience, such as the decline of Nokia and BlackBerry, shows how successful manufacturers can lose market share particularly quickly in the handset business," Fitch ratings agency said in a report.

In the United States, Samsung began sending fireproof boxes and protective gloves to customers returning potentially explosive Note 7s, drawing humorous barbs from social media commentators.

In its home market it started to offer refunds or exchanges for other products. Customers who returned their Note 7s, priced at about $880, were offered a coupon worth 30,000 won ($26.91), while those who chose an exchange for another high-end Samsung phone were promised an additional 70,000 won mobile credit.

The incentives would compensate consumers for their "big inconvenience", Samsung said in a statement.

Samsung's shares had rebounded 2.4 percent by 0355 GMT in a flat broader market, following days of heavy losses.

On Wednesday the firm slashed its quarterly profit estimate by $2.3 billion to reflect the impact of the Note 7 withdrawal, giving some investors hope that the financial cost of the debacle had been largely accounted for.

"Samsung reflected most of the costs from the Note 7 in the Q3 earnings, reducing uncertainty about Q4 profit," analyst Jay Yoo at Korea Investment & Securities said.

Story continues

But many analysts say the real risk to Samsung lies in the reputational damage it suffers in a cut-throat industry, which was harder to determine than financial costs.

"Potential long-term brand damage ... is a greater threat to its credit profile than the direct financial impact, which will be buffered by ample liquidity and a strong balance sheet," Fitch said.

Customers will have plenty of choice in the weeks ahead, with South Korean mobile carriers including SK Telecom planning to take pre-orders for Apple's iPhone 7 starting Friday. LG Electronics also recently launched its V20 smartphone.

Meanwhile South Korea's central bank said the Note 7 failure could undermine economic growth, although it needed more time to assess the effects.

($1 = 1,114.7500 won)

(Reporting by Hyunjoo Jin; Editing by Stephen Coates)
* Samsung to recall a total of 1.9 mln Note 7s in U.S.

* Offers up to a $100 total bill credit to U.S. consumers who exchange a Note 7 for any Samsung model

* Analysts say reputational damage is bigger than financial cost

* Samsung says Europe recall far smaller, involves 50,000 users (Adds new recall plans for Europe)

By Hyunjoo Jin

SEOUL, Oct 13 (Reuters) - Samsung Electronics on Thursday offered refunds or financial incentives for U.S. and South Korea customers who exchange Note 7s for other products, as the tech giant scrambles to shore up its reputation after a damaging phone safety crisis.

The world's largest phone maker is also expanding a U.S. recall of the fire-prone model to a total 1.9 million Note 7 phones, which includes the 1 million Galaxy Note 7s it recalled on Sept. 15.

The South Korean giant is in damage-control mode as rivals like Apple Inc and LG Electronics try to steal market share from the global smartphone leader after it was forced to scrap its latest high-end device.

Samsung is boosting its marketing and promotional efforts around other Galaxy-series smartphones to cushion the blow from the demise of the premium Note 7, which it finally abandoned this week after failing to resolve overheating problems which caused some of the phones to ignite.

Samsung said on Thursday it is offering up to $100 in bill credit to consumers who exchange their Note 7s for any Samsung smartphone in the U.S.

U.S. customers who exchange their Note 7s for a refund or other branded smartphone will receive $25 in bill credit.

"We appreciate the patience of our consumers, carriers and retail partners for carrying the burden during these challenging times," said Tim Baxter, president and chief operating officer, Samsung Electronics America.

"We are committed to doing everything we can to make this right."

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission said on Thursday the Note 7's "battery can overheat and catch fire, posing serious fire and burn hazard to consumers."

Story continues

It added that Samsung has received 96 reports of batteries in Note 7 phones overheating in the U.S., including 23 new reports since the Sept. 15 recall announcement.

In the U.S., Samsung began sending fireproof boxes and protective gloves to customers returning potentially explosive Note 7s, drawing humorous barbs from social media commentators.

The company has commenced offering similar financial incentives in its home market of South Korea, which it says would compensate consumers for their "big inconvenience."

After days of heavy losses, Samsung's shares ended 1.4 percent higher on Thursday while the broader market fell 0.9 percent.

On Wednesday, the firm slashed its quarterly profit estimate by $2.3 billion to reflect the impact of the Note 7 withdrawal, giving some investors hope that the financial cost of the debacle had been largely accounted for.

"We are confident the 3Q 16 re-statement puts to bed the direct financial impact of the Note 7 recall and termination," UBS said in a report.

"In the near-term, we believe investors will re-focus on shareholders returns ahead of full 3Q results Oct 27th."

SAVING THE BRAND

In Europe, the company disclosed that only about 50,000 original Note 7 phones were ever delivered to customers. Ninety percent of those, or 45,000 devices, had been replaced before it halted returns once replacement phones were also found to be at risk.

Samsung said it will begin to exchange or offer refunds for all active Galaxy Note 7 devices in Europe on Monday, October 17. In the meantime, it is finalising the mechanics of a safe return process for customers through retailers and distributors.

Decisions about whether possibly to offer some form of compensation to customers for sticking with Samsung through the recall are being left up to local sales partners, a spokesman said.

Customers will have plenty of choice in the weeks ahead, with South Korean mobile carriers including SK Telecom planning to take pre-orders for Apple's iPhone 7 starting Friday. LG Electronics also recently launched its V20 smartphone.

Many analysts say the real risk to Samsung lies in the reputational damage it suffers in a cut-throat industry rather than financial costs.

"Industry experience, such as the decline of Nokia and BlackBerry, shows how successful manufacturers can lose market share particularly quickly in the handset business," Fitch ratings agency said in a report on Thursday.

Moody's also said in a report that day that the Note woes are "credit negative" and "threaten to have a more lasting negative effect on the Samsung brand and would require significant marketing expense to regain consumer confidence."

Meanwhile, South Korea's central bank said the Note 7 failure could undermine economic growth, although it needed more time to assess the effects.

($1 = 1,114.7500 won)

(Additional reporting by Eric Auchard in Frankfurt; Editing by Stephen Coates, Sam Holmes and Alexandra Hudson)
By Julia Love and Deborah M. Todd

REUTERS - Samsung Electronicss abandonment of the Galaxy Note 7 due to safety concerns will likely touch off a turf war among Android smartphone makers, analysts said, presenting them a rare opportunity to gain share but with less room for archrival Apple Inc.

Consumers tend to commit to their choice between Apple's iOS operating system for smartphones and Googles Android, leaving Samsungs fellow Android manufacturers such as LG Electronics and Alphabet Inc's Google in prime position to strike. Both have newly released phones.

A hardware problem is unlikely to change a customer's preference for software systems, said analyst Jan Dawson of Jackdaw Research.

"Samsung has the premium end of the smartphone market pretty much sewn up on the Android side," he said. This creates a slightly bigger opening.

Research firm TrendForce revised up Apple's 2016 smartphone shipment forecasts by 3 million to 208 million, while slashing Samsung's shipments estimates by 6 million. It also raised forecasts for China's Huawei Technologies, No.3 globally, by 4 million.

"A substantial portion of consumers demand will now go to the three major Chinese brands  Huawei, Vivo and OPPO," it said in a note.

Nevertheless, in San Francisco, prime Apple territory, some consumers were switching to the home team, and Apple stock has risen on expectations of a broader move.

"Some people might have already been thinking about making the switch and now here's their chance," said Robin Williams, a sales associate at a Sprint store on Van Ness St in San Francisco, describing some customers moving to Apple.

Bob ODonnell of TECHnalysis Research said Apple would benefit, "but I dont think they are going to get all of it because Apple has a single product."

Samsung on Tuesday scrapped the $882 flagship smartphone, in what could be one of the costliest product safety failures in tech history.

The news is a boon for Google, which last week announced a new line of Pixel smartphones, plunging the company into the hardware market that it has previously left to manufacturers such as Samsung. Samsungs retreat will prompt consumers to take a closer look at Googles phones.

Story continues

"Samsungs meltdown is a big opportunity for Google to do far better with Pixel than it has with its previous Nexus devices," said Richard Windsor, analyst at Edison Investment Research.

Despite the reputational damage, Samsung will remain competitive for premium smartphone sales, analysts said. LGs V20 smartphone will not arrive in the United States until the end of the month. Googles Pixel phones do not ship until Oct. 20, and will only be available in the United States at Verizon.

"Google needs to be present at retail and with operators in volume in time to meet this demand... it needs to accelerate the launch as much as it can," said Windsor.

ROOM TO SHINE

For consumers seeking immediate replacements for the Galaxy Note 7, it may be easiest to go with another Samsung phone, said ODonnell at TECHnalysis. You cant write off Samsung, he said.

Samsung is offering to exchange the Note 7s for its flagship Galaxy S7 models. A permanent end to Note 7 sales could cost it up to $17 billion, according to calculations based on analysts' projected shipments of the device.

And Apple may have room to shine, especially before new Android phones arrive.

At a T-Mobile store in San Francisco, salesperson Omar Arreola said some Samsung customers were so upset with the company that they switched to the iPhone 7. "They trust the brand," he said.

Brian Green, whose Note 7 caught fire on a Southwest Airlines flight last week, also said he replaced his device with an iPhone. He raced to purchase the Note 7 after its release, but he said he is unlikely to be an early adopter again.

Next time I think I'll wait and get it once it's been around the block a few times, he said.

(Additional reporting by Rory Carroll and Malathi Nayak; Additional reporting by Miyoung Kim in SINGAPORE; Editing by Lisa Shumaker, Sam Holmes and Muralikumar Anantharaman)
(Adds comments from carriers, shippers, Twitter user comments)

By Malathi Nayak and Deborah M. Todd

NEW YORK, Oct 12 (Reuters) - Samsung Electronics Co Ltd is sending fireproof boxes and protective gloves to customers returning potentially explosive Galaxy Note 7 phones, sparking a firestorm of humor on social media about the new twist in the recall scandal.

The company has permanently halted production of its Galaxy Note 7 smartphone less than two months after launch following reports that some batteries caught fire. Reports that some replacement models also went up in smoke were an additional blow to Samsung's brand and financial outlook.

"Samsung fireproof boxes? Have they been tested?" wrote Twitter user @powermax_news, a sales and service group that works on products from Samsung rival Apple Inc.

Samsung in a statement said it was sending the fireproof return kit to customers who bought the Galaxy Note 7 phone on its website.

A YouTube video by Android developer news site XDA Developers on Tuesday showed a "return kit," including a fireproof box with a "forbidden for transport by aircraft" warning and blue gloves to handle the device.

The thermally insulated outer box that has ceramic fiber paper lining has two smaller boxes within it and a static shielding bag, the video showed. The packaging also inspired mirth.

"The ultimate prank is when you open a box inside a box inside a box to find...a bag," Tweeted user @Nataddda.

U.S. wireless carriers described getting similar materials to return the phones.

Sprint Corp spokeswoman Laura Lisec said retail employees had been told to remove phones from packaging, power them down and secure them in the heat-proof boxes. Sprint phones nationwide are being consolidated at a warehouse in Illinois before being forwarded to Samsung.

Verizon Communications Inc spokeswoman Kelly Crummey said retail stores were keeping returned Note 7s separate from other merchandise but did not share details regarding shipping or packaging.

Story continues

She said returns were steady and that many customers were choosing other Samsung Android operating system phones, rather than switching to Apple and its iOS.

"The Samsung Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge are really popular with customers. From what we've seen with customers if they like Android they like Android and if they like iOS they like iOS," she said.

Shippers, meanwhile, are taking their own precautions. The U.S. Postal Service, FedEx and UPS said they would not ship the phones by air, consistent with U.S. regulation. But FedEx will only take phones returned to stores, not from individuals directly.

Royal Mail Plc, operator of Britain's main postal service, said on Wednesday it had banned the delivery Note 7 smartphones through its network for safety reasons, making it potentially difficult for many Britons to return the recalled devices.

(Reporting by Malathi Nayak, Deborah M. Todd; Editing by David Gregorio, Peter Henderson and Lisa Shumaker)
By Valerie Volcovici

WASHINGTON, Oct 13 (Reuters) - Former Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders and four other senators on Thursday called on President Barack Obama to order a comprehensive environmental review of a pipeline project that has stirred widespread opposition from Native Americans and environmental activists.

After a U.S. appeals court on Sunday night denied a request to halt construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline, the senators asked Obama to direct the Army Corps of Engineers to complete a full environmental impact statement for a contested part of the route that includes stronger tribal consultation.

"The project's current permits should be suspended and all construction stopped until a complete environmental and cultural review has been completed for the entire project," said the letter by Sanders and Democratic Senators Dianne Feinstein, Ed Markey, Patrick Leahy and Benjamin Cardin.

In recent weeks, protests against the Dakota Access pipeline led by the Standing Rock Sioux tribe in North Dakota drew international attention, prompting the U.S. government to temporarily block its construction on federal land.

Tribal leaders say the pipeline will desecrate land and pollute water, especially around the planned crossing through Lake Oahe, a sacred site. Opposition to the pipeline has drawn support from 200 Native American tribes.

On Tuesday, anti-pipeline activists in four states closed pipeline valves to halt the flow of crude through arteries transporting 15 percent of U.S. oil consumption..

When fully connected, the 1,100-mile (1,770 km) pipeline would be the first to carry crude directly to the U.S. Gulf from the Bakken shale, a vast oil formation in North Dakota, Montana and parts of Canada.

The $3.7 billion project is being built by the Dakota Access subsidiary of Dallas-based Energy Transfer Partners LP, which has vowed to complete construction.

"There must be a serious consideration of the full potential climate impacts of this pipeline prior to the Army Corps of Engineers approving any permits or easements for the Dakota Access pipeline," the senators said.

Story continues

Experts say that the full environmental review requested by the senators could take several months.

The U.S. appeal court's ruling was the second time the federal judiciary rejected the Standing Rock Sioux tribe's request to halt construction of the pipeline. On Sept. 9, a U.S. judge rejected a similar request.

(Reporting By Valerie Volcovici)
By Andrew Torchia

DUBAI (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia, seeking to develop its economy beyond oil exports, plans to create a global technology investment fund with Japan's SoftBank group (9984.T) that could grow as large as $100 billion, Saudi state media reported on Friday.

The plan is one of a series of dramatic business initiatives launched by Riyadh this year as Saudi Arabia, its economy hurt by low oil prices, deploys its huge financial reserves in an effort to move into non-oil industries.

SoftBank will invest about $25 billion in the fund over five years, Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who is leading the kingdom's economic reform drive, told state television.

The Public Investment Fund, Saudi Arabia's top sovereign wealth fund, may invest up to $45 billion in the fund over that period, state news agency SPA quoted a memorandum of understanding signed with SoftBank as saying.

Several other large investors are in talks on their possible participation and could bring the total size of the new fund up to $100 billion, SPA added without naming the other investors.

That could make the new fund the world's largest focussed exclusively on technology, giving it unprecedented clout to do deals in the sector.

"With the establishment of the SoftBank Vision Fund, we will be able to step up investments in technology companies globally. Over the next decade, the SoftBank Vision Fund will be the biggest investor in the technology sector," SPA quoted SoftBank chairman Masayoshi Son as saying.

The fund would be managed in Britain by a subsidiary of SoftBank.

(Reporting by Sami Aboudi in Jerusalem, Ali Abdelatti in Cairo and William Maclean in Dubai)
The Charles Schwab Corporation SCHW is scheduled to report its third-quarter 2016 results on Oct 17, before the market opens.

This San Francisco-based investment broker delivered in-line earnings in the last quarter. Revenue growth, primarily driven by an increase in equity market volatility, was offset by higher expenses.

Notably, shares of Schwab have gained more than 26% during the third quarter of 2016. Further, the company has a decent earnings surprise history, as evident from the chart below:

SCHWAB(CHAS) Price and EPS Surprise

SCHWAB(CHAS) Price and EPS Surprise | SCHWAB(CHAS) Quote

Will Schwab be able to surpass estimates this time around? Or will a challenging backdrop hurt its financials this earnings season? Lets see how things have shaped up for this announcement.



Factors to Influence Q3 Results

Diversified Revenue Streams: Schwab has emerged as a big player in the investment market with its wide variety of investment services and online trading system. Also, the companys expanding focus on exchange-traded funds and managements aggressive efforts to increase client base in advisory solutions will help it gain market share, thereby boosting top-line growth.



Trading Revenue: Equity market volatility during the quarter should drive Schwabs daily trading volumes. Also, the company opened 84,000 and 96,000 new brokerage accounts in July and August, respectively (based on monthly reports released by the company), which indicates that investors were interested in entering the market. Hence, trading revenue is likely to have trended upward in the quarter.



Asset Growth: Schwab witnessed an increase in its average interest-earning assets in July and August. Growth in these assets, along with an improvement in LIBOR rates and client margin loan balances should boost net interest income in the quarter. Hence, a modest improvement in net interest margin is also anticipated, on a sequential basis.

Story continues

Notably, Schwab continues to seek benefit from the Dec 2015 rate hike and will be subjected to limited impact from the pressure at the long end of the curve, as only a fraction of its interest-bearing assets are tied to longer rates.

Deposit Growth: Management expects around $3 billion of incremental deposit growth during the second half of 2016, as a result of the companys exit from money market funds as a cash sweep option.

Decline in Fee Waivers: Following the Feds rate hike in December, Schwab has been witnessing a decline in fee waivers. We believe the same trend to continue in the third quarter.

Rising Expenses: Operating expenses should increase year over year as Schwab continues to incur costs related to compensation and regulatory spending. Nonetheless, the company will continue to use its flexibility to manage expenses in the second half of the year, in order to adjust to the economic environment.



Earnings Whispers



Our proven model conclusively shows that chances of Schwab beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate in the third quarter is low. This is because a stock needs to have both a positive Earnings ESP and a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) or better for this to happen.

Unfortunately, this is not the case here, as elaborated below:



Zacks ESP: The Earnings ESP for Schwab is 0.00%. This is because the Most Accurate Estimate of 33 cents is on par with the Zacks Consensus Estimate.



Zacks Rank: Schwabs Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) increases the predictive power of ESP. However, we also need to have a positive ESP to be confident of a positive earnings surprise.

Notably, the Zacks Consensus Estimate remained stable at 33 cents per share in the past seven days.



Stocks That Warrant a Look



Here are a few finance stocks that you may want to consider, as they have the right combination of elements to post an earnings beat this quarter, according to our model.



Synovus Financial Corporation SNV has an Earnings ESP of +2.00% and carries a Zacks Rank #3. It is scheduled to report results on Oct 18.



BlackRock, Inc. BLK is slated to release results on Oct 18. Ithas an Earnings ESP of +0.40% and carries a Zacks Rank #2. You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Raymond James Financial, Inc. RJF has an Earnings ESP of +2.04% and carries a Zacks Rank #2. The company is slated to release results on Oct 26.

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To read this article on Zacks.com click here.
GLASGOW (Reuters) - Scotland will publish a fresh independence referendum Bill for consultation next week, part of a strategy to ensure that Scotland's voice is heard in the negotiations to take Britain out of the European Union, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon announced on Thursday. "There is no rational case for taking the UK out of the single market and there is no authority for it either," she told delegates at her Scottish National Party conference. She said it would be an act of "constitutional vandalism" to try to ignore Scotland's parliamentary voice on the issue. Scots rejected independence in 2014 by 45 to 55 percent. Scotland voted to keep its EU membership in June, but faces leaving the EU because the United Kingdom as a whole voted to leave. (Reporting by Elisabeth O'Leary; editing by Stephen Addison)
* Says May seeks "hard" exit from EU against Scot interests

* Accuses British PM of "constitutional vandalism"

* May to consult with Scots during Brexit process -official (Adds context, details)

By Elisabeth O'Leary

GLASGOW, Oct 13 (Reuters) - Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon raised the prospect of a second independence referendum by 2019, accusing the British government of ignoring Scotland's interests by pursuing a "hard" exit from the European Union.

Speaking at the start of her Scottish National Party's (SNP) bi-annual conference on Thursday, Sturgeon said her devolved government would publish a draft independence referendum bill as early as next week.

Questions about the future of the 309-year union between England, where a majority voted to leave the EU, and Scotland, where a majority voted to stay in it, have multiplied since the June 23 referendum put the entire United Kingdom on the path to an exit.

British Prime Minister Theresa May last week set out the exit timetable by promising to launch the two-year legal process by the end of March, and later triggered a fall in the value of the pound to a 31-year low by appearing to prioritise immigration controls over Britain's current preferential access to the EU single market, which could hurt trade and investment.

"If you think for one single second that I'm not serious about doing what it takes to protect Scotland's interests, then think again," Sturgeon said in a warning to May.

She accused May's Conservative government of "constitutional vandalism" by what she said was its disregard of Scotland's views on Brexit, arguing that it had no mandate to take Britain out of the EU single market for goods and services.

In response, a spokeswoman for May said the prime minister was "absolutely committed to engaging with the people of Scotland, with understanding their interests and making sure that as we go through the process of negotiating the UK exit we do what is in the interests of the United Kingdom".

Story continues

May said last week she would be "ambitious" in talks with the other 27 EU members to get what she called the best deal.

Sturgeon said she would seek to ensure that Scotland gets increased powers in any negotiation Britain undertakes to leave, challenging May on her stance that any Brexit deal must be negotiated by her government for the whole of Britain.

But Sturgeon also said she wanted a bill in place to give her the possibility of calling another referendum before Britain formally leaves the EU - now expected by the end of March 2019.

"I am determined that Scotland will have the ability to reconsider the question of independence - and to do so before the UK leaves the EU - if that is necessary to protect our country's interests," she added.

INDEPENDENCE APPETITE

Any binding second independence referendum would probably have to be agreed by the British government in London, which has said it considers the matter was settled at a 2014 vote.

May has also denounced "divisive nationalists" and said there would be no Brexit opt-out available for Scotland, Northern Ireland or Wales. A majority in Northern Ireland voted to stay in the EU, while the "Leave" camp won in Wales.

Sturgeon has often said that Scotland must continue to have independence as an option to safeguard its democratic voice.

Although the public mood in Scotland is one of widespread disenchantment regarding Brexit, opinion polls do not indicate that support for independence has increased since Scots rejected it by a 10 percentage point margin in 2014.

Sturgeon also said she was aware that she was treading a fine line between hardliners who want to split from the UK and those wary of rocking the boat further after the Brexit vote, which has already unsettled Britain's economy.

Her SNP is by far the dominant Scottish party, running the country's devolved government and holding 54 of the 59 designated seats for Scotland in the London parliament.

Sturgeon said her government planned to seek powers to give Scotland a more inclusive and internationalist path.

"We will seek to make this plan a key element of the UK's Article 50 negotiation. It will require substantial additional powers for the Scottish parliament: all the powers in our areas of responsibility that currently lie with the EU - and significant new powers too." (Additional reporting by William James; editing by Stephen Addison and Mark Heinrich)
By Patrick Rucker and Sarah N. Lynch

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission raised questions about Wells Fargo & Co's (WFC.N) aggressive cross-selling in late 2014, according to regulatory paperwork, almost two years before officials settled with the bank for opening phony accounts.

In December 2014, the SEC asked Wells Fargo to detail how it tallied the many accounts that one customer might open.

"Your cross-sell program is a key element that management believes will help Wells Fargo meet its strategic goals," reads the letter from Christian Windsor, an SEC attorney in the Division of Corporation Finance.

"Please provide us with an explanation of the methodology you use to calculate the products per household."

The same letter asks Wells Fargo to explain how it measured cross-selling success in the past.

Wells Fargo's Controller Richard Levy responded to the regulator on Jan. 12, 2015, saying that its methods to measure cross-selling "remained consistent" over the past five years.

The bank wanted savings accounts, individual retirement accounts or other products that "have the potential for revenue generation and long-term viability," the bank wrote.

Last month, federal banking regulators ordered Wells Fargo to pay $190 million to settle civil charges that it had opened personal accounts without customer say-so to satisfy managers' demand for new business.

The SEC letter makes no mention of how unauthorized accounts might affect cross-selling metrics.

By early 2015, Wells Fargo had fired several thousand employees for the opening of unauthorized accounts.

Federal prosecutors and other U.S. agencies are now probing the bank, sources have said.

It is unclear exactly what prompted the SEC's Corporation Finance Division, which reviews company filings, to ask questions about cross-selling and whether the SEC was satisfied with the response.

An SEC spokesman declined to comment.

Last month, several U.S. Senate Democrats called on the SEC to investigate whether Wells Fargo misled investors by failing to disclose what they called "widespread fraud."

Story continues

In a separate letter in October 2007, the SEC asked Wells Fargo about its formula for compensating executives. The bank said cross-selling success could mean higher pay.

"Wells Fargo has designed its management reporting system and goal-setting process to facilitate and reward these behaviors," the bank wrote the SEC in October 2007.

John Stumpf, Wells Fargo's chief executive officer, was copied on both letters. On Wednesday, Stumpf stepped down from the bank.

(Reporting By Patrick Rucker; Editing by Bernard Orr)
ROME (Reuters) - At least 17 migrants are missing after a night-time rescue of more than 100 others from a partially submerged rubber boat off the coast of Libya, the Migrant Offshore Aid Station (MOAS) said on Thursday. Italy's coastguard received a distress call from the vessel on Wednesday evening and alerted the privately funded MOAS ship Phoenix, which used remote-controlled drones to locate the boat, a statement said. The Phoenix crew pulled 113 to safety, but survivors said it had set out from Libya with 130 on board. Among those missing was a Nigerian toddler who was about to turn 3 years old, his mother told rescuers. "The sea was rough and the boat was taking on water. At one point some people started to panic. The next thing I knew I was pushed into the water and I lost my son in the chaos," the boy's mother told the Phoenix crew, MOAS said. A young man said five of his friends were missing, and another man said a 16-year-old girl also had disappeared. Photographs posted on the MOAS web site show that many migrants were in the water and clinging to the boat when rescuers arrived. A search for the bodies had to be abandoned due to rough seas, the statement said. Many of those rescued suffered burns caused by leaking fuel, and one woman was in shock with first-degree burns on a third of her body, MOAS said. A medical evacuation for her had been blocked by bad weather. Separately on Wednesday, two rescue vessels operated by MOAS and Save the Children rescued a total of 470 migrants, an Italian coastguard spokesman said. The central Mediterranean route between North Africa and Italy is the deadliest border in the world for migrants. More than 3,100 have gone missing or died this year while trying to use this route to reach Europe by boat, the International Organization for Migration estimates. (Reporting by Steve Scherer; Editing by Hugh Lawson)
* Tesco stops sale of Unilever goods online in prices row

* Pound has fallen since Britain voted to leave EU

* Cost of imported goods has risen for Unilever

By Helen Reid

BASILDON, England, Oct 13 (Reuters) - The mood among shoppers was resolute at the Tesco superstore in this town east of London on Thursday after Britain's biggest supermarket chain halted sales of top-selling Unilever brands online.

Outraged by Unilever's demands for Tesco to buy its goods at higher prices, some said they would be ready to switch to competitors' brands, including Tesco's.

In an area that voted for Britain to leave the European Union, there seems to be little sympathy for Unilever, whose costs have risen because the pound has plunged since the June vote on EU membership, making imported goods more expensive.

"Tesco should stick it out, and get the other supermarkets to do the same. Unilever shouldn't be able to tell them what to do," Jeaninne Richards, 69, a retired dressmaker who voted for Brexit, said in the detergents aisle.

"Unilever is being so greedy. They are using Brexit as an excuse ... If they take their products off the shelves, people are going to buy different products and then stick with it, so they are going to lose a lot of customers because of it."

The Daily Mail newspaper reported that some shoppers were preparing to boycott Unilever products.

A spokeswoman for Unilever said the company was not commenting on the opinions expressed by shoppers.

But the pound's fall has left suppliers and retailers struggling to maintain profits because of the increase in the cost of imported goods.

Unilever Chief Financial Officer Graeme Pitkethly said devaluation-led price increases were a normal part of doing business, but did not comment specifically on the dispute with Tesco.

WORRIES ABOUT MARMITE

One of the food items that has been pulled online by Tesco is Marmite, a salty, sticky yeast-extract spread which many Britons enjoy on toast.

Marmite was on sale at the Basildon superstore, but some shoppers were worried it could become hard to buy.

Story continues

"The kids love Marmite," Joe Green, a 32-year-old man who works in insurance, said as he shopped with his two-year-old son Charlie.

Green said calls by Unilever for what sources have said is a 10-percent price increase are "a bit of a rip-off considering it's made in the country."

"It's nothing to do with Brexit, I think it's people getting greedy," he said. "Brexit is an easy excuse for everyone to use at the moment."

Richard Walton, a 42-year-old carer with a trolley full of Tesco's own-brand products, said there would always be an alternative to Unilever products such as Marmite.

"There's so many alternatives to every single food and cleaning product," Walton said.

"I'm fed up with other countries telling us what we can and can't do ... Nothing has changed with Brexit. Brexit's got nothing to do with any of it." (Writing by Guy Faulconbridge, Editing by Timothy Heritage)
By Helen Reid

BASILDON, England (Reuters) - The mood among shoppers was resolute at the Tesco superstore in this town east of London on Thursday after Britain's biggest supermarket chain halted sales of top-selling Unilever brands online.

Outraged by Unilever's demands for Tesco to buy its goods at higher prices, some said they would be ready to switch to competitors' brands, including Tesco's.

In an area that voted for Britain to leave the European Union, there seems to be little sympathy for Unilever, whose costs have risen because the pound has plunged since the June vote on EU membership, making imported goods more expensive.

"Tesco should stick it out, and get the other supermarkets to do the same. Unilever shouldn't be able to tell them what to do," Jeaninne Richards, 69, a retired dressmaker who voted for Brexit, said in the detergents aisle.

"Unilever is being so greedy. They are using Brexit as an excuse ... If they take their products off the shelves, people are going to buy different products and then stick with it, so they are going to lose a lot of customers because of it."

The Daily Mail newspaper reported that some shoppers were preparing to boycott Unilever products.

A spokeswoman for Unilever said the company was not commenting on the opinions expressed by shoppers.

But the pound's fall has left suppliers and retailers struggling to maintain profits because of the increase in the cost of imported goods.

Unilever Chief Financial Officer Graeme Pitkethly said devaluation-led price increases were a normal part of doing business, but did not comment specifically on the dispute with Tesco.

WORRIES ABOUT MARMITE

One of the food items that has been pulled online by Tesco is Marmite, a salty, sticky yeast-extract spread which many Britons enjoy on toast.

Marmite was on sale at the Basildon superstore, but some shoppers were worried it could become hard to buy.

"The kids love Marmite," Joe Green, a 32-year-old man who works in insurance, said as he shopped with his two-year-old son Charlie.

Story continues

Green said calls by Unilever for what sources have said is a 10-percent price increase are "a bit of a rip-off considering it's made in the country."

"It's nothing to do with Brexit, I think it's people getting greedy," he said. "Brexit is an easy excuse for everyone to use at the moment."

Richard Walton, a 42-year-old carer with a trolley full of Tesco's own-brand products, said there would always be an alternative to Unilever products such as Marmite.

"There's so many alternatives to every single food and cleaning product," Walton said.

"I'm fed up with other countries telling us what we can and can't do ... Nothing has changed with Brexit. Brexit's got nothing to do with any of it."

(Writing by Guy Faulconbridge, Editing by Timothy Heritage)
Every year, The Atlantic sends a survey to dozens of influential Silicon Valley executives, start-up founders, and tech thinkers to take the pulse of the technology industry.

For this years View From the Valley, we asked people to tell us everything from who has the best job in Silicon ValleyTeslas Elon Musk and Facebooks Mark Zuckerberg were the favoritesto their voting plans in the upcoming presidential election. More than 85 percent of respondents indicated theyd vote for Clinton, none said Trump, and the rest were either undecided, voting for a third party, or not voting at all. (Id even take a poorly written PHP script over Trump, said David Cann, the CEO of Double Robotics, in his reply.)

One interesting layer to the political section of the survey was how responses broke down by gender. Women were near-unanimous in their support for Clinton, whereas men were slightly less likely to support the Democratic nomineea dynamic that reflects attitudes among voters across the country. And, not surprisingly, there were other key areas of the poll where responses from men and women were notably different.

Recommended: Tech Billionaires Want to Destroy the Universe

One striking example: Men were three times as likely as women to say Silicon Valley is a meritocracy.*

The vast majority of womensome 80 percent of themsaid success in the industry is not primarily based on competence, but men were split down the middle: Fifty percent said it was a meritocracy; 50 percent said it wasnt.

This data leaves plenty of room for questions. Our sample size was around 50 people, which isnt exactly robust. And we received nearly three times as many responses from men than women. Still, its telling that views on the question of meritocracy were split so cleanly on gender lines. What that suggests, for starters, is that many women and men have profoundly different experiences living and working in Silicon Valley.

Story continues

Some of you are probably thinking, Well, duhhh. Double standards for women are everywhere in Silicon Valley because theyre everywhere, period.

Evidence of the industrys bro culture is ubiquitous. In an interview with GQ in 2014, Travis Kalanick, the billionaire and Uber founder, referred to his desirability among women as though it were an on-demand service: Boob-er. Musk, of Tesla, recently bristled at the observation that he wasnt following any women on Twitter, writing,What's up with the phoney [sic] PC police axe-grinding? And just last month, John Greathouse, an investor and entrepreneur, wrote a column for The Wall Street Journal, suggesting that women in technology mask their genderon job applications and in funding pitchesas a way to better appeal to those who might discriminate against them. A gender-neutral persona allows women to access opportunities that might otherwise be closed to them, he wrote. Once they make an initial connection with a potential employer or investor, such women then have an opportunity to submit their work and experiences for an impartial review.

Recommended: The Trump Allegations: The Latest Updates

Predictably, the suggestion elicited a torrent of criticism. Less predictably, Greathouse responded by acknowledging the absurdity of his positionand seemed genuinely remorseful. I told women to endure the gender bias problem rather than acting to fix it, he wrote in a statement posted to Twitter. I hurt women and I utterly failed to help, which I wholly regret and I apologize for having done. Women have a tough enough time having their voices heard and my insensitive comments only made matters worse. I am truly sorry.

Theres some debate as to whether Greathouses apology was, in fact, sincere. But the whole episode certainly underscored the sexism that women are expected to endure. Many people will tell you that men and women live in two different versions of Silicon Valley (and, for that matter, the world). Ones a meritocracy. The other: Not so much. The bridge between the two, if there is to be one, surely begins with listening to one another.

* This article originally stated that men were nine times as likely as women to say Silicon Valley is a meritocracy. We regret the error.

Read more from The Atlantic:

This article was originally published on The Atlantic.
(Reuters) - Precious metals miner Hochschild Mining Plc raised its full-year production forecast for a second time this year on Thursday, citing better-than-expected performance at its Inmaculada and Arcata mines in Peru.

The company, which has mining operations in Peru, Chile and Argentina, said it expected full-year production to be 35 million silver equivalent ounces. It had earlier expected to produce 32 million ounces this year.

Hochschild shares rose as much as 8.2 percent, before paring some gains. It was the second top percentage gainer on London's FTSE 250 index on Thursday.

Hochschild also reported a 17.8 percent rise in its silver production at 5.9 million ounces in the third quarter ended Sept. 30, citing strong production at its flagship Inmaculada mine.

Silver was trading up 0.3 percent at $17.5 per ounce on Thursday. Silver and gold have jumped this year as investors have rushed to safe havens amid market turmoil in the wake of Britain's historic vote to leave the European Union.

A Reuters poll in July showed analysts expect silver to average $17.09 per ounce this year, compared with an average of $15.68 in 2015.

Hochschild said it expected all-in sustaining costs, the total cost of sustaining production and capital expenditure, to be in the range of $11-$11.5 per silver equivalent ounce in 2016.

The miner had earlier estimated sustaining costs for the full year to be between $12-12.5 per silver equivalent ounce.

The company's shares were up 2.9 percent at 259.4 pence by 0752 GMT.

(Reporting by Sanjeeban Sarkar in Bengaluru; Editing by Gopakumar Warrier and Sunil Nair)
66% of Singaporean parents prefer sending their children to Australia.

Todays announcement of an enhanced Singapore-Australia free trade agreement (SAFTA) represents a vital cogwheel in the economic growth engines of both countries, including enhance mobility for individuals, said HSBC.

The agreement was signed today by the trade ministers of Australia and Singapore in Canberra, the third iteration of the SAFTA, and will involve both countries adopting a package of measures to increase trade and investment flows.

According to HSBC, through SAFTA, Singapore and Australias commercial and people-to-people links will be significantly strengthened through the improved bi-lateral visa entry arrangements for Australian and Singaporean service suppliers seeking to enter and work temporarily in each countrys market. There will also be closer collaboration in recognising respective tertiary qualifications and scope for universities to set up campuses in each others country.

Commenting on the visa changes, Guy Harvey-Samuel, HSBC Singapore CEO: These changes recognise the strong people-to-people links that already exist between the two countries."

HSBC research finds that Singapore is the top destination for expats globally, including some 20,000 Australians who are here for career opportunities.

We expect the number to grow with reduced barriers to labour mobility, which will accelerate the commercial ties between the two countries, he said.

Tony Cripps, HSBC Australia CEO, added: The enhancements to SAFTA is a welcome opportunity for Australians looking to expand their international experience. Our HSBC research shows that 66% of Singaporean parents would choose to send their children to study in Australia, we can expect this to dramatically increase with more Australian university qualifications gaining recognition in Singapore."





More From Singapore Business Review


U.S. responds. On Thursday morning, the USS Nitze launched several Tomahawk missiles from the Red Sea at three radar sites in a Houthi rebel-controlled part of Yemen, sites the U.S. believes took part in the three missile attacks on U.S. ships this week.

The United States will respond to any further threat to our ships and commercial traffic, as appropriate, Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook said in a statement.

Cook called the action limited self-defense strikes, phrasing that the Pentagon has been using in Afghanistan and Somalia as of late in an attempt to underline that it is not taking offensive action in either country. But the American assault on the radar system would be the first time the U.S. has targeted Houthi forces in the country, a sharp escalation from the logistics support the Pentagon has provided Saudi and Emirati forces battling the Houthi rebels who overthrew the Yemeni government in 2014.

New normal? While its unclear who fired the missiles at the U.S. ships, they were launched from Houthi-held territory, making the Iranian-backed group the prime suspect. The Obama administration has for years launched drone strikes in Yemen aimed at al Qaeda targets, but has stayed away from engaging the Houthis. The attacks might also signal an opening salvo in what many analysts have long feared: non-state groups with state-like capabilities, going after U.S. assets.

Proliferation of comparatively inexpensive anti-ship weapons among shadowy armed groups, like those operating in war-torn Yemen, will pose significant challenges for U.S. military commanders, the Military Times notes. Not only are these weapons accurate, putting American lives at risk, but defending against them is very, very expensive.

Again, Syria, again. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will meet yet again in Switzerland on Saturday, despite the ceasefire deal in Syria having fallen apart and Kerry suggesting that Russia was carrying out war crimes by bombing civilians in Aleppo.

Story continues

Putin brushes it all off. But Russian President Vladimir Putin said in an interview with French television TF1 on Wednesday that accusations of Russian war crimes are simply political rhetoric that doesnt make a lot of sense and doesnt take account of the reality in Syria. He added, I am deeply convinced that its our Western partners, and especially the United States, that are responsible for the situation in the region in general and Syria in particular.

At an event in Moscow on Wednesday, Putin also insisted Russia wont give in to blackmail and pressure over its military offensive in Syria and accused the U.S. and its allies of whipping up anti-Russian hysteria.

Cyber front. The FBI believes that the hacking and leaking of Hillary Clinton campaign chairman John Podestas emails was carried out by Russian intelligence, anonymous officials tell the Wall Street Journal. The emails have been leaked to outlets such as the Intercept and WikiLeaks and show political deliberations of the Clinton campaign as well as transcripts of Clintons private speeches. The Department of Homeland Security is also helping states look for evidence of breaches and harden their networks following break-ins at a number of state electoral databases, similarly attributed to Russia.

The whole hysteria is aimed at making the American forget about the manipulation of public opinion, Putin added Wednesday. No one is talking about that, everyone wants to know who did that, what is important is what is inside and what that information is about.

Trumps guy and Assanges guy. One of Republican nominee Donald Trumps longtime advisors on Wednesday rejected charges he had advance warning of the Wikileaks release of Podestas emails. Roger Stone, not a formal part of the Trump campaign, admitted to NBC News that he and WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange have a mutual friend, and that he has a back-channel communications with WikiLeaks. But, he added, they certainly dont clear or tell me in advance what theyre going to do.

Live with Lavrov. Say what you will about Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, but the guy can deliver a one-liner. Lavrov, who FPs Siobhan OGrady writes has a reputation for drinking like he misses Boris Yeltsin, chain-smoking, and fighting tooth and nail to defy the United States, was asked by CNN correspondent Christiane Amanpour if he saw a leaked tape released last week  where Trump brags about sexually assaulting women, saying he grabs their pussies without asking permission because they just let you when youre a celebrity. Lavrov said he didnt want to risk not sounding decent in what is not his first language, but then jumped in anyway: There are so many pussies around the presidential campaign on both sides that I prefer not to comment, he said.

China warns South Korea. China said Wednesday that South Korea needs to stay reasonable and cool-headed even after Chinese fishermen rammed and sank a South Korean coast guard speedboat in the Yellow Sea. The scrap started last Friday, when  according to officials in Seoul  a 100-ton Chinese fishing boat slammed into a 4.5 ton South Korean speedboat that was trying to expel the Chinese fishermen from waters off the western coast of the Korean peninsula. FPs Dan De Luce writes that the spat between South Korea and China comes after Beijing has riled up most of its maritime neighbors  and the United States  with its expansive claims and aggressive behavior. China has built artificial islands in the South China Sea, provoking U.S. naval patrols in order to defend the right to free navigation, and sparking a tougher posture from Vietnam, Indonesia and others. In the East China Sea, China and Japan are at loggerheads over Chinese natural gas platforms that Tokyo says are both encroaching on disputed territory and potential military sites.

Good morning and as always, if you have any thoughts, announcements, tips, or national security-related events to share, please pass them along to SitRep HQ. Best way is to send them to: paul.mcleary@foreignpolicy.com or on Twitter: @paulmcleary or @arawnsley

China

China is once again considering the creation of an air defense identification zone (ADIZ) over disputed territory, this time in the South China Sea. The Financial Times reports that the idea was floated by National Institute for South China Sea Studies Wu Shicun, who said that China could announce the ADIZ once its second aircraft carrier  the first to be built indigenously  is finished construction. Chinas South China Sea would likely overlap with the territorial claims of its neighbors, just like it did when China declared an ADIZ over the East China Sea in 2013.

Russia

More nuclear saber-rattling from Russia as the countrys military tested three ballistic missiles on Wednesday. According to the Barents Observer, two of those tests were submarine-launched ballistic missiles, the first launched from the Svyatoy Georgiy Pobedonosets in the Pacific and the second launched from the Novomoskovsk in the Barents Sea. Separately, Russia also test-launched a Topol-M intercontinental ballistic missile from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome. American intelligence appeared to have a heads up on the launches, as plane spotters noticed unusual movements of U.S. Air Force RC-135S Cobra Ball aircraft, which can collect measurement and signature intelligence on ballistic missiles in flight.

Islamic State

As the Islamic States caliphate collapses in northern Syria, American-backed rebels now have a detention problem on their hands. The BBC reports that the Free Syrian Armys Jaish al-Tahrir has set up a secret prison camp in order to house the growing number of detainees from the Islamic State, many of them European. From the limited access the BBC has to the facility, prisoners have said that so far the conditions are humane and Jaish al Tahrir commander Mohammad al-Ghabi says hes allowed foreign fighters to phone up their home embassies in order to arrange their return.

Yemen

Saudi-backed Yemeni forces might be looking to claim more territory in the north of the country. Reuters reports that Yemeni troops loyal to President Abd-Rabu Mansour Hadi claim to have captured a crossing near the border with Saudi Arabia. Houthi officials deny the claims, calling them an illusion.

Drones

Creech Air Force Base in Nevada, home to the pilots who fly American Predator and Reaper drones, suffered a network problem thats still ongoing, Buzzfeed reports. The September outage affected SIPRnet, which the Defense Department uses to communicate information classified as Secret, and a subsequent posting to the federal governments contracting website indicates that, at least of October 7, the network has still only been somewhat restored. Buzzfeed suggests that the outage may have had something to do with recent targeting mishaps in Somalia and Afghanistan, in which American drone strikes killed civilians, as well as airstrikes by American, Australian, and British aircraft in Syria which mistakenly targeted military personnel fighting for the Assad regime. Air Force officials, however, say problems with SIPRnet would not affect the drones.

Lt. Gen. Ben Hodges, commander of U.S. Army Europe, wants him some drone killers. Defense Tech reports that Hodges isnt particular about how a system gets the job done, with the general open to using shoulder-fired surface-to-air missiles mounted on Humvees, cannons or unspecified systems currently under development which would use electronic warfare capabilities. Regardless of the method, Hodges says I need a counter-UAV capability and is hoping that the newly announced Army Rapid Capabilities Office may be able to deliver it quickly.

Photo Credit: U.S. Navy via Getty Images
Shareholders of European pay TV giant Sky on Thursday voted in favor of all board members standing for re-election, including 21st Century Fox CEO James Murdoch, who serves as chairman, but Murdoch only got 71.55 percent of the shareholder vote in his support.

That includes support from largest shareholder Fox, which controls a stake of more than 39 percent in Sky, which operates in the U.K., Ireland, Germany, Austria and Italy.

Murdoch's shareholder support dropped sharply from recent years with 28.45 percent of the shareholder vote cast against his re-election on Thursday. At Sky's 2015 annual shareholder meeting, only 1.5 percent had opposed Murdoch's re-election when he was a regular board member, down from 4.35 percent in 2014. According to one expert, the Thursday results meant that 50.6 percent of independent Sky shareholders didn't support Murdoch in Thursday's vote.

Deputy chairman Martin Gilbert got the second-lowest percentage in terms of shareholder support on Thursday with 93.4 percent. All other Sky directors, including CEO Jeremy Darroch, got more than 95 percent of the shareholder vote in their favor. Fox executive vice chairman Chase Carey and CFO John Nallen also were among those board members re-elected on Thursday, each with 98.2 percent of the shareholder vote in their favor.

Early this year, Sky's board tapped Murdoch to become its chairman in the spring and said he had unanimous board support. He had previously been CEO of Sky's U.K.-only predecessor BSkyB between 2003 and 2007 and then chairman until April 2012 before becoming a non-executive director on the board. In late 2014, after BSkyB acquired Fox's Sky Italia and Sky Deutschland, the bigger company changed its name to Sky.

But the chairman appointment was criticized by some institutional shareholders that said it could pose a conflict of interest, given Murdoch is CEO of Sky's largest shareholder. One of them, Royal London Asset Management, which owns a 0.35 percent stake in Sky, on Thursday renewed its call for an independent chairman.

Story continues

"Should Fox make a bid for [full control of] Sky, investors need a strong independent chairman to protect the interests of minority shareholders and negotiate the best possible deal," Reuters quoted Piers Hillier, chief investment officer of Royal London, as saying.

Some analysts have wondered if Fox could look to buy full control as Sky's stock has declined this year, and the Brexit vote has led to a weaker pound, making acquisitions by U.S. companies in Britain cheaper in dollar terms. But Fox management has repeatedly signaled that it wasn't planning to change its holding in Sky over the near-term.

"The board notes the significant vote against ... the re-election of James Murdoch as a non-executive director and is aware that some proxy advisory services recommended that shareholders vote against his election on the basis that he is not independent," Sky said in a statement. "The board decision to re-appoint James as chairman was unanimous and recognized that he is a highly experienced executive with extensive knowledge of the international media industry and has been a strong contributor to Sky since he joined the board in 2003."

It added: "The board is confident that with the appointment of Martin Gilbert as deputy chairman and Andrew Sukawaty as senior independent director, there are strong governance processes in place to protect the interests of independent shareholders. Nevertheless, we will engage with those shareholders who voted against the resolution."

Read more: James Murdoch to Become Sky Chairman; European Pay TV Giant Reports Subscriber Gains
ilir mypizza slice

Ilir Sela's friends and family learned to get used to his ring tone. When it went off, they knew they had to quiet down and turn off the music so Sela could take care of business.

That business was turning an online pizza order into a real-life delivery to someone's home. Sela was doing it manually: He'd get an email with an order and call it in himself.

"I remember going to switch from Verizon to AT&T, because AT&T allowed you to browse the internet and take phone calls at the same time," Sela told Business Insider. "At the time, I was getting orders once every few hours. I didnt have a staff to transmit the order, I didnt even have the technology to transmit the order."

That was in 2011, and even a year ago, the business consisted only of Sela and his laptop. But in less than a year, Sela has added more than 100 employees without any recruiting. He's turned that business into a venture-backed startup that counts more physical pizzerias as partners than there are Domino's locations in the US and aims to capture a slice  so to speak  of a $40 billion industry.

A family business

Sela is Albanian by birth, which is part of the reason he got into the pizza business. Most of Sela's friends and family own and operate pizzerias in the greater New York City area and his grandparents owned a pizzeria in Manhattan in the 70s. Sela himself grew up on Staten Island.

After graduating college with a computer science degree and starting his own IT company, he quickly became the go-to tech support for his friends and family's pizza shops.

Slice app home screen

"Around 2009 or 2010, I noticed a trend," he said. "They'd come to me and said, Hey Ilir, can you build me a website but can you also do online ordering?"

Sela began looking into the pizza industry and found out something surprising: It was a billion-dollar industry dominated by independent pizzerias  60% of the pizza places were mom-and-pop shops  but 90% of online orders were being placed through what Sela calls "Big Pizza": Domino's, Papa John's, and Pizza Hut.

Story continues

Sela wanted to level that playing field, so he launched what was then called MyPizza: a website that partnered with independent pizzerias to handle the delivery aspect of their business. Much like Seamless, users could log on to MyPizza and place an order at their local pizza place rather than calling it in.

Now, MyPizza is becoming something new: Slice.

Competing with 'Big Pizza'

Sela is hesitant to call Slice a rebrand  he says it's much more than that and encourages throwing out anything you think you knew about MyPizza. The company took the technology behind MyPizza and made a new app and website, which launch Thursday.

Slice works with 6,000 pizzerias in more than 1,500 US cities and takes a flat fee from the pizzerias it partners with. The company boasts alumni from SinglePlatform among its current employees and the entire founding team of Seamless on its advisory board. The company moved into a new office in Chelsea about two months ago to accommodate its expansion, and closed on a $3 million Series A led by Primary Venture Partners in July.

Over time, Sela said he hopes the company can help spur more pizza consumption  something the Slice team does at a group pizza party at least once a week.

So what is the pizza connoisseur's favorite pie?

"Classic cheese, everyone knows that," he says. "Some people make fun of me, but I think a classic cheese pizza made well is better than anything else you can put on a pizza."

NOW WATCH: 5 'healthy' fast food meals that are worse for you than pizza





More From Business Insider


By Marja Novak and Tatiana CHADENAT NOVA GORICA, Slovenia/SAINT-DENIS, France, (Reuters) - The most celebrated resident of Nova Gorica in Slovenia is long-dead French King Charles X, but now townsfolk worry they may lose him to a movement for the repatriation of his remains. Last month, a French historical lobby group called for the remains to be taken from Nova Gorica's monastery back to France. The monarch, who died in exile in 1836, is the only French king not buried in his homeland. Slovenia has not reacted officially, but the mayor and locals insist Charles X must remain at Kostanjevica, a Franciscan monastery perched atop a picturesque hill on the outskirts of the town, where he chose to be interred. "The king has been buried here for 180 years and is a part of our heritage," Mayor Matej Arcon told Reuters. But the French Association for the Return of Charles X strongly disagrees, and wants the exiled monarch to rejoin his family slumbering in the Bourbon crypt of the Saint-Denis basilica near Paris. "We want to gather the family in this Bourbon crypt where Louis XVI, Marie-Antoinette, Louis XVIII already are. There has been a place waiting for Charles X for two centuries," said Philippe Delorme, the association's honorary president. Charles X was king for six years until a revolution ended his rule in 1830 and drove him into exile. Thereafter he lived from city to city across Europe before moving in 1836 to Gorizia, then part of the Habsburg dynasty's Austrian Empire and now in Italy, fleeing a cholera epidemic raging in Prague at the time. But Charles was too late. He fell ill within days and became the region's only cholera victim that year. From his deathbed he gazed up at the hilltop monastery and asked to be buried there. "If it was his wish to be buried here it should be respected. Our town is proud of his tomb," said Ema Otrin, a retired teacher from Nova Gorica, which was built next to Gorizia on the Slovenian side of the border after World War Two. Charles's heart was cut out and sent to France, in line with Habsburg tradition, but the then-revolutionary government refused it. It now lies in the coffin next to his other remains. He shares the crypt at the end of a narrow white-painted corridor below the monastery church with his son, two grandchildren and some of their wives. The six coffins, five carved from the grey marble of a regional quarry, are tended by the Franciscans without financial help from France. They attract about 10,000 visitors a year, from Slovenia and abroad. Father Jernej, abbot at the monastery, said he expected media interest would bring more visitors. "We welcome them." (Reporting by Marja Novak and Tatiana Chadenat; editing by Thomas Escritt and Mark Heinrich)
(Adds details about pits holding hog waste, background)

CHICAGO, Oct 13 (Reuters) - Smithfield Foods said it resumed partial operations on Thursday at the world's largest hog processing facility in North Carolina, after shutting it due to Hurricane Matthew.

The company also said it had a report of flood waters rising into a pit holding hog waste at one of the farms contracted to sell it livestock. It has not received reports "to date" that any of the in-ground pits have fallen apart due to flooding from the storm, according to a statement.

Farmers and food companies in North Carolina are working to assess damage from Matthew, the most powerful Atlantic storm since 2007, and get back to work as parts of the state remain under water.

Environmental regulators and activists have been concerned about flood waters inundating pits holding hog waste after Hurricane Floyd overwhelmed them in 1999. The waste, mixing with water, can make its way into rivers, streams and the Atlantic Ocean.

On Wednesday, North Carolina's Department of Environmental Quality said that some pits holding hog waste had been inundated but posed a minimal threat to the environment.

Smithfield employees are working "around the clock to determine the impact of the extraordinarily high levels of rain in North Carolina on the company's farms and processing facilities," the company said.

They are monitoring reports on pits from on the ground and air, it said.

Smithfield's Tar Heel, North Carolina, hog plant, the biggest in the world, had been closed since Saturday as Matthew made it difficult for people to get to work and for producers to deliver livestock. It has an estimated daily slaughter capacity of 32,500 hogs.

The company's plant in Clinton, North Carolina, also was operating at a reduced rate on Thursday, according to the statement. A plant in Gwaltney, Virginia, was back to full capacity.

Both facilities were recently idled by the storm. They have a daily estimated slaughter capacity of roughly 10,000 head, according to National Hog Farmer magazine.

"None of our processing plants in North Carolina or Virginia suffered substantive damage, but flooding is making the movement of hogs and employees difficult," Smithfield said.

(Reporting By Theopolis Waters, Jim Brumm and Tom Polansek; editing by Chizu Nomiyama, Bernard Orr)
SYDNEY, Oct 13 (Reuters) - SolGold Plc on Thursday approved a financing proposal by Australia's Newcrest Mining to help it develop a giant copper mine in Ecuador, after the board rejected an alternative package offered by BHP Billiton .

SoldGold said a shareholders meeting in Australia voted in favour of the board's preferred deal with Newcrest and also with private investment firm Maxit over BHP's offer, which would have diluted SolGold's ownership in the Cascabel project near the border with Colombia.

Based on early exploration work, SolGold believes it may have made a major new high-grade copper and gold find to rival some of the largest existing mines, such as Grasberg in Indonesia, controlled by Freeport McMoran Inc, and Oyu Tolgoi in Mongolia, controlled by Rio Tinto (RIO.AX,).

The deals call for Newcrest to spend $22.86 million acquiring new shares equivalent to 10 per cent of SolGold, while Maxit gets 4.43 percent of the company for a $10.1 million investment, according to SolGold.

BHP had offered $30 million, or 22 cents per share, for a 10 percent stake in SolGold.

BHP's offer included an additional $275 million proposal, linked with acquiring a much larger stake in the unit managing the Cascabel project, Exploraciones Novomining (ENSA).

Under its popular two-term president, Rafael Correa, Ecuador is raising its profile as a country to open to foreign mining - a stark reversal from the start of his presidency in 2007, when a moratorium on new mining projects was declared.

But the recent crash in oil prices is curbing the government's tax revenues and leading to a rethink on mining in the country, according to SolGold Chief Executive Nick Mather.

Canada's Lundin Gold Inc owns the Fruta del Norte gold project located in southeast Ecuador, which it has said is one of the largest undeveloped gold projects in the world.

In the next few years, Ecuador expects to attract more than $2.5 billion in new mining projects, according to Dundee Capital Markets.

(Reporting by James Regan; Editing by Christian Schmollinger)
MATTOON -- A joint city project between Mattoon and Charleston has been awarded funds by the Illinois Department of Transportation.

In spring, the two cities sought grant funding from the state agency to help in a joint project to extend the Lincoln Prairie Grass Trail to key points in each city as well as have the gravel sections of the trail paved.

The cities will receive the approximately $800,000 in funding from the Illinois Transportation Enhancements Program grant for the project. Each city promised to also provide $100,000 in matching funds to complete the project.

According to an IDOT press release, the total state grant money, approximately $30.7 million of it, focused on projects that would expand travel options and enhance the quality of life in communities throughout the state and were awarded to 33 across Illinois, including the one in Charleston and Mattoon.

For the latest funding cycle, IDOT received 241 applications for projects worth an estimated $261.3 million, the release stated.

The project is a joint effort from both cities, however, Mattoon crews will be taking the lead on the designing and engineering portion of the project.

Mattoon Public Works Director Dean Barber said the cities have not been given the grant agreement paperwork yet to get a definitive time frame on the project, however, he said they would hopefully be able to work on the designing portion of the project over winter.

Depending on the grant approvals process and other city work that needs to be done, Barber noted he hopes construction would start up next year, sometime possibly in June or July.

Barber said the project would likely have to be done by summer 2018, as directed by the grant agreement. The cities are waiting to receive the grant guidelines, though. He said he is not sure on when they would come in, but they are expected soon.

The project encapsulates the paving work on the existing trail as well as adding connections from the trail to the Cross County Mall, Sarah Bush Lincoln Health Center, the Coles County Council on Aging's LifeSpan Center, Mattoon's Amtrak station and the Mattoon Area Family YMCA.

In Charleston, the connections would be made to Eastern Illinois Universitys campus as well as the Coles County Courthouse and the Lincoln-Douglas Debate Museum at the Coles County Fairgrounds.

Signage, as well as pavement marking and striping to and from these various sites, will also be installed along the trail as part of the project.

When the project was announced, concerns for runners who use the now-gravel trail were brought up. Long distance runners prefer gravel trails as opposed to paved largely because gravel roads are better for the joints.

Barber said ideas are being thrown around to address the problem. He said an idea is in the works to add a graveled shoulder to next to the soon-to-be-paved trail.

Throughout the project, only sections currently being worked on will be closed, and only temporarily.
SYDNEY (Reuters) - SolGold Plc on Thursday approved a financing proposal by Australia's Newcrest Mining to help it develop a giant copper mine in Ecuador, after the board rejected an alternative package offered by BHP Billiton . SoldGold said a shareholders meeting in Australia voted in favor of the board's preferred deal with Newcrest and also with private investment firm Maxit over BHP's offer, which would have diluted SolGold's ownership in the Cascabel project near the border with Colombia. Based on early exploration work, SolGold believes it may have made a major new high-grade copper and gold find to rival some of the largest existing mines, such as Grasberg in Indonesia, controlled by Freeport McMoran Inc , and Oyu Tolgoi in Mongolia, controlled by Rio Tinto . The deals call for Newcrest to spend $22.86 million acquiring new shares equivalent to 10 per cent of SolGold, while Maxit gets 4.43 percent of the company for a $10.1 million investment, according to SolGold. BHP had offered $30 million, or 22 cents per share, for a 10 percent stake in SolGold. BHP's offer included an additional $275 million proposal, linked with acquiring a much larger stake in the unit managing the Cascabel project, Exploraciones Novomining (ENSA). Under its popular two-term president, Rafael Correa, Ecuador is raising its profile as a country to open to foreign mining - a stark reversal from the start of his presidency in 2007, when a moratorium on new mining projects was declared. But the recent crash in oil prices is curbing the government's tax revenues and leading to a rethink on mining in the country, according to SolGold Chief Executive Nick Mather. Canada's Lundin Gold Inc owns the Fruta del Norte gold project located in southeast Ecuador, which it has said is one of the largest undeveloped gold projects in the world. In the next few years, Ecuador expects to attract more than $2.5 billion in new mining projects, according to Dundee Capital Markets. (Reporting by James Regan; Editing by Christian Schmollinger)
By Tanisha Heiberg JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa has failed to protect residents affected by pollution from contaminated water and mine dumps over more than 130 years of gold mining near Johannesburg, an independent investigation by the Harvard Law School said. Its International Human Rights Clinic (IHRC) said successive governments including the current administration had not complied with international law, reacting too slowly and doing too little to reduce the harm from abandoned and active mines near the "City of Gold". The report said the government gave only limited warnings of the risks, did not perform enough scientific studies on the health effects, and rarely engaged with residents. The Department of Environmental Affairs could not immediately comment on the findings of the Harvard report. Pollution of ground and surface water from acid mine drainage and contaminated dust and soil from mine dumps have exposed residents living around the mines and on the waste dumps to high concentrations of heavy metals and radiation "that can contribute to immediate and long-term medical problems ranging from asthma and skin rashes to cancer and organ damage," the report said. It added: "The government's response to the crisis has been insufficient and unacceptably slow" and piecemeal, falling short of its duties under human rights law. The South African Chamber of Mines, which groups several mining companies in Africa's most industrialized country, said it could not comment because it had not read the report yet. "The Chamber was not approached to provide input by the authors prior to or post the publication of the document," said the Chamber of Mines. South Africa's government said it had set aside an estimated 1.2 billion rand ($87 million) in 2011 to clean up acidic water threatening to spill out from abandoned gold mines under Johannesburg. In May, South Africa gave the go-ahead for class action suits seeking damages from gold companies for up to half a million miners who contracted the fatal lung diseases silicosis and tuberculosis. Some local environmentalists supported the IHRC report. "There is often a systemic failure on their part to enforce the legislation," said CEO of the Federation for a Sustainable Environment, Mariette Liefferink, endorsing recommendations to minimize further risks and remedy current harm caused by contamination. (Editing by James Macharia/Ruth Pitchford)
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South African politician Julius Malema, who wants mines and land nationalised and whites' economic power curbed, was on Thursday served with a summons to appear in court on charges that he incited his supporters to invade land. Malema, leader of the ultra-left Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) party, has accused the ruling African National Congress of failing to redress the inequality between blacks and whites since the end of apartheid in 1994. He was ordered to appear in court on Nov. 7 and Nov. 14 to face two separate charges under the apartheid-era Riotous Assemblies Act of urging his supporters to trespass, although no actual incident was cited. "We want our land now and nothing will deter us from this noble cause, not even prison can silence us. We remain unshaken, we will take our land," Malema said on Twitter after being summonsed. His deputy, Floyd Shivambu told reporters the charges were meant to intimidate Malema, but added that the EFF leader would cooperate with the legal process. Legal experts said the charge carries a maximum jail term not exceeding two years or a fine. Malema was handed the summons moments after holding a press conference in which he called for public demonstrations on Nov. 2 in the capital Pretoria, to push for the resignation of President Jacob Zuma, his former patron and now arch-foe. "Every street in Pretoria must be occupied," Malema said. "We cannot guarantee the safety of businesses on that day and therefore we advise them to shut down." Malema has targeted Zuma's removal over his refusal to pay back some of the $16 million of state money spent on his personal home, as ordered by a constitutionally mandated anti-corruption watchdog in 2014. Zuma has since paid back some of the money following a court order that upheld the graft watchdog's recommendation. (Reporting by James Macharia; Editing by Catherine Evans)
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa's rand weakened in early trade on Thursday as uncertainty over fraud charges facing Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan soured sentiment towards local assets. * At 0645 GMT, the rand trades at 14.2900 per dollar, 0.44percent weaker from its New York close. * State prosecutor said on Wednesday Gordhan could ask for areview of a decision to charge him with fraud. * Analysts say lack of a clear direction on the case hurtingsentiment. * Yield for the benchmark government bond due in 2026 dips 2basis points to 8.91 percent. * Blue chip futures index down 0.88 percent, indicating JSEsecurities exchange opening lower at 0700 GMT. (Reporting by Olivia Kumwenda-Mtambo; Editing by Alison Williams)
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South African President Jacob Zuma has asked a court to stop the release of results of an anti-corruption investigation into alleged political interference by his wealthy friends, the presidency said on Thursday. Public Protector Thuli Madonsela was due on Friday to release her preliminary findings in a probe into the Guptas, an Indian-born family accused of using their close ties with Zuma to influence cabinet appointments. "I can confirm that the president has applied for a court interdict," Zuma's spokesman Bongani Ngqulunga told Reuters. Madonsela questioned Zuma for four hours last week as part of her final investigation before her seven-year term comes to an end on Saturday. Times Live, an online news website, quoted a source within the public protector's office as saying the report could not be released until a court had made a ruling on Zuma's request. Although Zuma and the Guptas deny wrongdoing, the allegations have damaged the president, who was separately forced to repay part of the cost of a lavish upgrade to his private residence as a result of an investigation by Madonsela. On Monday, Zuma asked Madonsela not to report her findings until he has had a chance to question other witnesses and reviewed any evidence that implicated him. But Madonsela said the president had been given all the evidence implicating him on Oct. 1, and urged Zuma to answer questions to aid the probe. The main opposition Democratic Alliance party said in a statement that Zuma was "worried about what is contained in this report, and desperate to stop it from being made public". Lawyer Gert van der Merwe, who represents Ajay Gupta, said his client would not seek to block the report. The row over the report adds to pressure on Zuma, whose government was rocked this week when prosecutors ordered Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan to appear in court on Nov. 2 to hear fraud charges against him, news that sent markets reeling. Analysts have said that Gordhan has been a target of political pressure from a faction allied to the president although he has denied any rift with the finance minister. Perceived divisions between Gordhan and Zuma have previously rattled markets in Africa's most industrialised economy, which is at risk of having its credit rating downgraded to "junk" later this year. The premier of South Africa's most economically important province said the fraud charges levelled against Gordhan were frivolous and undermined efforts to avoid a ratings cut. "It undermines every little effort that South Africa is making to move forward," David Makhura said at a Thomson Reuters conference in Cape Town, accusing Zuma's administration of "recklessness". (Reporting by Nqobile Dludla, James Macharia, Mfuneko Toyana in Johannesburg and Ed Cropley and Wendell Roelf in Cape Town; Writing by Joe Brock and James Macharia; Editing by Catherine Evans)
Donald Trump

Donald Trump's campaign released a statement Thursday afternoon saying the Republican presidential nominee never spoke to a Serbian magazine that claimed to have had an interview with him.

The Serbian outlet, Nedeljnik, falsely claimed in a story that Trump said in an interview with its reporter the bombing of Serbian troops in the 1990s was a "mistake."

"The bombing of Serbs, who were our allies in both world wars, was a big mistake," Nedeljnik quoted Trump as saying. Serbians are very good people. Unfortunately, the Clinton administration caused them a lot of harm, but also throughout the Balkans, which they made a mess out of."

It now appears these quotes were fabricated.

"Mr. Trump never gave an interview to the Serbian weekly magazine Nedeljnik as as falsely reported by the discredited Newsweek, nor was such an interview conducted through our Indiana State Director," Jason Miller, senior communications adviser for the Trump campaign, said in a statement Thursday.

Miller added: "This was a hoax and we look forward to receiving a formal retraction and apology from all involved."

Newsweek, among several other news outlets, wrote about the supposed Nedeljnik interview.

BuzzFeed later reported that the interview was set up through Vladimir Rajcic, a Serbian-American who supposedly has connections to some of Trump's campaign aides.

"We asked him if we could send over some questions and after a couple of weeks got answers from Suzanne Ryder Jaworowski in an email," Marko Prelevic, Nedeljniks managing editor, told BuzzFeed.

Jaworowski is the Indiana state director for the Trump campaign. She also issued a statement on Thursday denying that she set up the interview.

"Regarding the article about a media interview with a Serbian politician and Mr. Trump via my email, this is completely false," she said in the statement. "I have never served as a conduit to interview Mr. Trump for anyone."

Story continues

NOW WATCH: 'He never said that': New Clinton ad shows Trump contradicting Pence's VP debate denials





More From Business Insider


A production company has received a hefty fine connected to an on-set injury that sidelined Harrison Ford back in 2014.

Ford was injured in June of that year while shooting Star Wars: The Force Awakens at Pinewood Studios near London when the door of the Millennium Falcon fell on the actor's leg, forcing him to undergo surgery and putting production went on a two-week hiatus to await his recovery from an ankle injury.

Foodles Production (UK) Ltd., which is owned by Disney, was ordered to pay a $1.95 million fine, The Associated Press Reports. The production company acknowledged it had breached health and safety laws.

"If only they had included Mr. Ford in all the discussions, he might have at least been alert to the dangers that he had to avoid," Judge Francis Sheridan said.

Prosecutors argued the Han Solo actor could have been killed in the accident involving a hydraulic door.

Force Awakens went on to gross more than $2 billion when it was released last December.
A State Department official called for a strong U.S. response to Russian hacking of Democratic Party organizations on Thursday and urged the administration to name names and clearly convey that manipulating U.S. elections wont go unpunished.

There needs to be a thoughtful, principled, strong response, said Kathleen Kavalec, the State Departments deputy assistant secretary for European and Eurasian Affairs, speaking at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. She said the U.S. response must send a clear message and assign responsibility, in addition to making clear that we wont tolerate future intrusions.

Until last week, the Obama administration had avoided directly accusing the Russian government of a wave of cyber attacks against the Democratic National Committee and Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee ahead of the Nov. 8 presidential election.

But on October 7, the Director of National Intelligence and the head of the Department of Homeland Security said Russias hacking and disclosure of Democratic party information was intended to interfere with the U.S. election process.

We believe, based on the scope and sensitivity of these efforts, that only Russias senior-most officials could have authorized these activities, read the U.S. statement.

Outside analysts have outlined a range of possible U.S. cyber responses while maintaining that it should be proportional  that is, not destroying the Russian electricity grid. On Wednesday, Jim Stavridis, the former NATO supreme allied commander and an FP contributor, called for the U.S. to expose the names of high-level officials who had a role in the attacks, similarly to Kavalecs suggestion.

Stavridis also said the U.S. should consider undermining Moscows reliance on a wide variety of cyber-tools to censor the web within its own country by exposing them to the public. Beyond that, he floated the idea of using U.S. cyber capabilities to expose the overseas banking accounts and financial resources of high-level Russian government officials, including Vladimir Putin.

Story continues

The Kremlin has called the U.S. allegations about hacking nonsense, and on Saturday, the Russian Foreign Ministry accused the United States of fanning unprecedented anti-Russian hysteria.

The hacks have raised concerns about the integrity of the U.S. voting process, but U.S. intelligence officials said there is no evidence that Moscow has manipulated Americas voting recording systems.

Still, former U.S. officials have said a strong punitive response to Moscow now is important as it could serve as a deterrent against future Russian meddling both in the United States and in Europe.

Its important to recognize that just like in the U.S. electoral process, Russia will be looking at European elections that are just over the horizon, Jeffrey Rathke, a former State Department official and senior fellow at CSIS, told Foreign Policy.

He pointed to a number of particularly significant upcoming elections, including Dutch elections in March, the French presidential elections in April and May, and German Bundestag elections in October or November.

Its important for the United States and other countries that could be subjected to the same activity to stand together now and to make clear that they will not leave these kinds of attempts at subversion unanswered, he said.
Samsung (Korea Stock Exchange: 593'A-KR) finally pulled the plug on the short-lived Galaxy Note 7 on Tuesday, following a massive (and disastrous) recall effort to arrest fire hazard issues found in the device.

If you currently own an original, or a replacement, Note 7 device in Asia Pacific, here's what you can do:

First, due to safety risks, Samsung has asked users to stop using their phones and turn them off immediately. The company said it was still investigating the causes behind the overheating of the devices.

Samsung said on its website it was talking to telco operators and retailers globally to work out a refund or exchange program for existing Note 7 users.



For users who bought their device from Samsung's website, reports late on Wednesday said the company was sending fireproof packaging and gloves to customers so they could safely return the devices.

Singapore

In the interim, users in Singapore needing a courtesy device on loan can visit Samsung's customer service center at Westgate, #03-01, from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily. Samsung told CNBC in an emailed comment that these devices would be loaned out without requiring any payment and that the current available model is the Galaxy J1 Ace.

Local telco Singtel (Singapore Exchange: STEL-SG) said on its Facebook page that users would be able to exchange their Note 7 for another device, with the company refunding the price difference between the handsets. Alternatively, consumers could opt for a refund.

Starhub (Singapore Exchange: STAR-SG) did not provide any further details on its website and instead directed users to Samsung's service center.



Australia



Australian network operator Telstra (ASX: TLS-AU) said in a blog its users can switch to alternative handsets and all early termination costs would be waived. Device repayment charges paid on Note 7 handsets would also be refunded.

Telstra also said if users chose to enter into a contract with another Samsung device, they would receive a 100 Australian dollar (Exchange: USDAUD=) ($75.87) "goodwill credit."

Story continues

Optus, which is a subsidiary of Singtel, Virgin Mobile and Vodafone (London Stock Exchange: VOD-GB) Australia all announced that Note 7 users could either replace their handsets with a Galaxy S7 or S7 Edge or switch to a different smartphone maker.

Vodafone customers picking another Samsung device would receive a A$250 credit.

New Zealand

New Zealand telco Spark said on its website existing users are entitled to a full refund of the amount they paid for their Note 7. They could also swap their existing device for an alternative Samsung model, with the price difference refunded as an account credit.

2degrees, another New Zealand telco, similarly advised users to swap their Note 7 with any model of the Samsung Galaxy S7 family or opt for a refund.

South Korea

The Korea Herald reported on Tuesday South Korea's three network carriers, SK Telecom (Korea Stock Exchange: 1767-KR), Korea Telecom (: ) and LG Uplus have stopped selling the Note 7 and have plans to announce refunds and exchanges to different models.

In a separate report, the newspaper reported that users can also exchange their Note 7 with other models or receive cash refunds from Samsung stores in the country.



Thailand



As the Note 7 did not go on sale in Thailand, Samsung said users who pre-ordered the device will have a full refund of their deposit and can either buy the S7, S7 Edge or Note 5 at 10,000 baht (Exchange: THB=) ($280.29) and receive a Samsung Level Active headphone as a gift or cancel their pre-booking altogether and receive a 2,000-baht cash voucher.

The program will run from October 21 to November 30, 2016.



Malaysia



Once users have returned their Note 7, they can either get a full refund for the device or exchange to the S7.

The problems with the handsets began just days after its August launch, with reports of some of them catching fire and causing both personnel and property damage. In early September, Samsung issued a recall of 2.5 million Note 7 handsets in 10 markets according to Reuters, citing possible battery issues in some of the devices.

Once the replacement devices began rolling out, some of them also caught fire, with one reportedly leading to the evacuation of an U.S. flight in Kentucky minutes before departure.



On Tuesday morning, Samsung announced it was asking carriers and retailers globally to stop sales and exchanges of the Note 7 before announcing in the afternoon that the model was going to be permanently discontinued.

Samsung's share prices have taken a massive hit, falling some 10 percent between Friday and Wednesday, and analysts estimated the company may forgo revenues of up to $9.5 billion on Note 7 shipments lost due to the recall.



On Wednesday, Samsung slashed its third-quarter operating profit guidance to 5.2 trillion South Korean won ($4.66 billion) from 7.8 trillion earlier, to reflect the end of Note 7 production.



The company's next flagship model, Galaxy S8, is likely due in the first quarter of 2017, which means with the Note 7 off the shelves, Samsung could miss out on a key chunk of the upcoming holiday retail market .



 Follow CNBC International on Twitter and Facebook.





More From CNBC


Saying "this election is stressful" is arguably the understatement of the year. But an early preview of the American Psychological Association's annual Stress in America survey reveals that 52 percent of American adults indeed view the 2016 presidential election as a "very" or "somewhat significant" stress source.

Social media is evidently a major culprit of election stress, with 38 percent of adults indicating that both political and cultural discourse on social media channels creates stress. The APA survey, conducted by Harris Poll online in August, included 3,511 U.S. adults ages 18 and older. The full survey will come out early next year.

Fifty-four percent of adults who use social media cite the 2016 election as a very or somewhat significant stress source, compared to 45 percent of those who don't use social media. More specifically, 56 percent of millennials and 59 percent of "matures" (ages 71 and up) call the election a very or somewhat significant stress source, compared to 45 percent of those in Generation X.

To combat election stress, the APA echoes suggestions outlined in a U.S. News article released earlier this week. Tactics include:

-- Taking a step back from social media consumption

-- Staying away from potentially heated election conversations

-- Voting, in order to feel proactive

An additional strategy? Engaging in the practice of mindfulness to promote relaxation and tamp down stress when it threatens to boil over.

"Tune your attention to something in your sensory environment, like the sound of a fan or the running of water; pair the sound of the above with a deep, diaphragmatic breath," says Dana Lipsky, an Arlington-Virginia-based psychologist, in a recent interview with U.S. News. "Allow yourself to focus just on the sound you hear and your breath, while acknowledging your thoughts and letting them calmly drift away by redirecting your attention back to the sound of the water. Mindfulness fosters relaxation, decreased feelings of anxiety, greater focus and overall well-being."

Story continues

8 Morning and Nighttime Rituals Health Pros Swear By

Apps to Mind Your Mental Health

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.
Here are 5 stocks added to the Zacks Rank #5 (Strong Sell) List today:

 CSG Systems International Inc. CSGS provides business support solutions primarily to the communications industry. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for its current year earnings has been revised 1.4% downward over the last 30 days.

 Dover Corporation DOV manufactures and sells a range of equipment and components, specialty systems, and support services in the United States and internationally. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for its current year earnings has declined 10.9% over the last 30 days.

 Endurance Specialty Holdings Ltd. ENH underwrites specialty lines of personal and commercial property and casualty insurance and reinsurance worldwide. It has seen the Zacks Consensus Estimate for its current year earnings being revised 10.5% downward over the last 30 days.

 Gener8 Maritime Inc. GNRT provides international seaborne crude oil transportation services. The Zacks Consensus Estimate revision for its current year earnings was a negative of 14.1% over the last 30 days.

 Haverty Furniture Companies Inc. HVT operates as a specialty retailer of residential furniture and accessories in the United States. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for its current year earnings has moved 5.5% lower over the last 30 days.

View the entire Zacks Rank #5 List



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Zacks Investment Research
There are accidental benefits to showing up to a party 30 minutes before the scheduled start time. That's a lesson Bradley Cooper learned on Oct. 6 when he was the first guest to arrive to Brian Grazer's Santa Monica residence along with his agent, CAA's Dave Bugliari, for a fundraiser for Ghetto Film School, a bicoastal nonprofit that provides an education on all things film to underserved high school students.

Cooper was so early, in fact, that catering staff had yet to take their positions around the spacious lawn. "He got here very early so I showed him the whole pad," Grazer explained to THR of giving Cooper a private tour of his new home. He was joined by wife Veronica Grazer on the gravel driveway leading up to the home, the exact spot where they were married nearly eight months ago, added friend Rachel Roy.

Alex Berliner

"He brought Bradley Cooper into my dressing room!" Veronica Grazer laughed.

Brian Grazer also made sure to show the actor his office, which has no doors. "I was afraid to be alone there and I didn't want to shut myself out," he said. For his part, Cooper politely didn't shut out a pair of students who, presumably, did their best to keep the party chatter light.

Alex Berliner

"How old are you?" asked one woman, who identified herself as 20 years old. When Cooper answered with 41, she replied, "That's Dad age. When you were born I wasn't alive yet."

Other guests, of parental age, who attended the event included longtime GFS supporters and board members James Murdoch (one of two honorees of the night, along with Heart of Los Angeles' Tony Brown) and David O. Russell, along with Lachlan Murdoch, J.J. Abrams, Fox's Stacey Snider, Elizabeth Gabler and Emma Watts, Brett Ratner, Fox's Gary Newman, Gail Berman, Academy president Cheryl Boone Isaacs, Adam Shankman, Sterling K. Brown, Terry Crews, Alyssa Milano, Universal's Teri Everett, Frank Frattaroli, Hannah Simone and Evan Shapiro.

Story continues

Alex Berliner

Not everyone got a private tour of the Grazer's home, but they did get an education on GFS, just like Veronica Grazer in the months leading up to the event. "We honestly didn't know a ton about the Ghetto Film School and when we found out more, we were blown away," she said. "This is the next generation of storytellers."

Brian Grazer admitted that he first learned of the organization through Russell and Murdoch, both "cause-oriented people," he said. "This is a great organization that helps kids understand the vocabulary and the tools available to express a message that, in the end, could have lots of very positive effects," he added.

Boone Isaacs keyed up one of those benefits. "It's important for inclusion," she told THR. "It's important for young folks to learn about our business and all of its opportunities. Also, it's a great organization and [founder] Joe Hall is fabulous."

Several of the directors in attendance were not only showing support for Russell and Murdoch, but there on behalf of their own work with the youngsters. Ratner said he visited some of GFS' classes, which he described as "incredible," because it offers valuable experience for students who might not be able to afford an education in the film department at institutions like NYU, USC or UCLA.

Shankman said he has taught classes for GFS. "I spent a lot of my time trying to give back with information that you don't really learn in the classroom  about what it's really like out there," said Shankman, who learns something new about himself in the process. "I'm revitalized when I'm with them, and I have a renewed sense of energy and a renewed sense of my place in this crazy business. I see myself and all my dreams in them."

It's fitting to end a night - one that started with a very early Bradley Cooper - with his close friend and frequent collaborator Russell. The filmmaker, who remains one of the biggest champions of GFS, remembers its more humble beginnings, which stand in stark contrast to surroundings on this Thursday night. "I remember 14 years ago, it was me and Ben Stiller and the Beastie Boys. We were in some restaurant in Chelsea and we gave out like two $5,000 checks," he recalled. "It's a very big journey now, and they've had hundreds of graduates from a freestanding structure in the Bronx. And now they have a new program here that James Murdoch helped bring over because he saw a good thing."

Alex Berliner

Just exactly what is that good thing?

"We start out in the community like an afterschool program," he said. "Diversity is going to come, and it's starting from the bottom. Imagination and storytelling has no color and no sexual preference. Art lives in the eyes of people who see it."

Alex Berliner

Stosh Mintek, executive director of Ghetto Film School Los Angeles, no doubt agrees with the filmmaker. "Thursday's benefit was a great success for GFS, and a testament to the important role our students and program have to play in the future of L.A.'s film, television and media industries. We're thrilled to have the support of our hosts Brian and Veronica Grazer, as well as our event co-chairs Cheryl Boone Isaacs, Peter Chernin, David O. Russell, and all the top filmmakers, industry leaders, parents and alumni who came out to support and celebrate our organization's mission and work."

A version of this story first appeared in the Oct. 21 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. To receive the magazine, click here to subscribe.

Read more: Vice President Joe Biden, Bradley Cooper, Katie Couric Attend Star-Studded 'Stand Up to Cancer' Telethon
Everlane to Sell at Opening Ceremony's Los Angeles and New York Flagships [The Cut]

For its first-ever retail collaboration, Everlane has partnered with Opening Ceremony on two limited-edition cashmere pieces ($225 and $325), which will be sold exclusively at the New York and Los Angeles flagship stores. Opening Ceremony also will carry 10 pieces from Everlane's evergreen cashmere basics collection. The duo also will release a special holiday capsule collection on Nov. 15. Mansur Gavriel also has a temporary shop-in-shop display at Opening Ceremony's L.A. outpost, making it the perfect destination for all your minimalist luxury needs.

True Religion Hires Lawyers to Assist with Debt Restructuring [Reuters]

True Religion, the uber-popular Los Angeles-based denim retailer of the early 2000s, is reportedly looking for its saving grace. Reuters reports that the company has hired Kirkland & Ellis LLP to explore various debt restructuring options (including filing for bankruptcy) following a years-long drop-off in sales. With celeb fans like Paris Hilton and Jessica Simpson, True Religion was to denim what Juicy Couture was to velour tracksuits; given Juicy's recent comeback thanks to a collab with Vetements, perhaps True Religion will be the next brand to be resurrected?

Uniqlo Aims to Be No. 1 "Information-Powered" Retailer [Fashionista]

In its new full-year earnings report, Uniqlo stated that it wished to be the No. 1 "information-powered" retailer in the world - in other words, it wants to compete with fast-fashion retailers like Zara and H&M by being able to quickly turn customer feedback into real change. In order to execute this goal and to be able to adapt to the rapid pace of the digital era, the Japanese company plans to continue opening flagship stores across the globe, lower its prices and update its distribution system to accommodate more e-commerce orders.

Stella Maxwell Lands First Beauty Contract [Instagram]

Model Stella Maxwell has landed her first major beauty gig as the face of Max Factor cosmetics. The 25-year-old Victoria's Secret Angel, who has walked for Chanel, Versace and pal Jeremy Scott, will make her debut in the brand's 2017 campaigns.

A photo posted by Stella! (@stellamaxwell) on Oct 12, 2016 at 6:58am PDT
The passing of Thailand's 88-year-old King Bhumibol Adulyadej, the world's longest-reigning monarch, has thrust the nation into a moment of immense uncertainty.

Although the king's health has been deteriorating for years, the palace has never made public plans for how a royal succession will unfold.

As a result little is known about how the country will cope as it faces its first change of crown in 70 years.

Complicating the matter is a draconian royal defamation law that bars criticism of the monarchy and makes it fraught, if not criminal, to publicly discuss a future without him.

Here is what is known about the watershed moment in Thailand's history.

Who is the heir?

The crown prince is his only son, 64-year-old Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn.

Shortly after his father's death was announced, Prime Minister Prayut went on all Thai television stations to say that parliament would be informed later in the evening that Bhumibol had appointed Vajiralongkorn to succeed him.

Bhumibol was also named king in 1946 on the same day that his older brother was found dead in mysterious circumstances with a single gunshot to head.

But in Thailand there is often a gap, sometimes of many years, between assuming the throne and being crowned.

Vajiralongkorn does not enjoy his father's level of popularity and analysts say it is difficult to predict what kind of king he will be.

The heir has spent significant periods of his adult life in Europe, though he has taken on more royal duties at home in the twilight of his father's reign.

How would succession effect ordinary Thais?

An outpouring of grief is expected to be profound.

"With the passing of this monarch, psychologically Thailand will be absolutely transformed," David Streckfuss, an expert on the Thai monarchy, told AFP.

Many Thais worship the king with a near-religious fervour and can be brought to tears when asked to describe their devotion.

His portrait hangs inside many homes and on streets across the nation. Cinemagoers stand for the royal anthem before every screening.

Story continues

The lese majeste law has shielded the monarch from overt criticism while a well-oiled palace publicity machine extolled him as a semi-divine moral leader and champion of the poor.

Some credit the king with binding the polarised country together across seven decades of political upheaval.

"People have anxieties and apprehensions about the near future because the king's role in the past has been so indispensable and instrumental in seeing Thailand climb from being a backwater village to a modern nation," said Thitinan Pongsudhirak, a politics expert at Chulalongkorn University.

Is unrest likely?

Probably not given the military is still in firm control of the kingdom since its 2014 coup.

The generals have clamped down on dissent and ramped up lese majeste prosecutions, with people behind bars for even tangential criticism of the king.

Paul Chambers, an expert on the Thai military, predicted an "intensified military clampdown and a possible delay to the return to democracy".

The junta has promised elections in late 2017, but its timeline keeps slipping.

Thailand's military has long cast itself as a defender of the monarchy and lese majeste prosecutions have surged under junta rule.

"Most signs point to a stable royal succession," risk consultancy firm Eurasia Group said in a note to clients this week.

What about business?

Given the sensitivity of the issue, government and palace officials did not release any information on plans for the king's passing and the recent health scare caused market jitters.

In his television address, Prayut said Thai government officials and state enterprise employees would hold a one-year mourning period and invited all Thais to do the same.

Schools and businesses are likely to shut down for the coming days.

But the Thai government is aware that any prolonged closure of businesses and government ministries could hit the already struggling economy, especially as peak tourist season begins in December.

It is tradition to keep the bodies of royal family members and Buddhist leaders for months before their eventual cremation.

In the past, royal funerals have involved lavish, large-scale processions of monks and soldiers with thousands of black-cad Thais thronging the streets.
(credit: Kenny Cole)

(credit: Kenny Cole)

Race and politics will once again intersect at the Supreme Court when the Justices hear McCrory v. Harris and Bethune Hill v. Virginia State Board of Elections. Both cases deal with the issue of gerrymandering, and whether certain congressional districts were purposely doctored in a way that is discriminatory toward minorities or makes their vote irrelevant.

Gerrymandering is the process of manipulating the boundaries of an electoral constituency so as to favor one political party or demographic group. Every 10 years, after the census is taken, state legislatures get to redraw the congressional map of their state based on the new population data; some states may have to get rid of a district altogether. This process is called redistricting. Gerrymandering occurs when the state legislatures new map seems to pack a particular group into a certain district where their voices will only be heard there, or to spread them out so much that they do not have much of a say at all.

This practice has long dominated American politics, starting with the first Congress. Virginia Governor Patrick Henry had the state legislature gerrymander the 5th District so he could pit his enemy James Madison against James Monroe in that House race. Madison ultimately beat Monroe, but it was much closer than if the district had not been touched.

The term itself comes from the Boston Gazette, which published a story on the redistricting plan Massachusetts Governor Elbridge Gerry signed into law in 1812. The reporter noted that one district resembled the shape of a salamander, and thus gerrymander was born.

The 14th Amendment, as well as the Voting Rights Act of 1965, help to combat racial bias in gerrymandering. Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act even has a clause that requires some states to have their redistricting plans approved by the Department of Justice before being implemented in an attempt to ensure there is no voter discrimination. This formula in Section 4 that identifies those states, however, was found to be unconstitutional in 2013 in Shelby County v. Holder. This opened the door for states like North Carolina and Virginia to enact election laws without approval by the federal government.

Story continues

McCrory v. Harris deals with North Carolina congressional districts 1 and 12. These districts are Democratic, but some constituents claim that they are packed with minorities and therefore racially gerrymandered. North Carolina officials, claiming that they were simply following the Voting Rights Act, made majority-minority districts with a 50% minimum of African-American residents. But since African Americans were already being elected to office and given a fair shot at picking the representatives they wanted, it could be seen as minority packingwhich is exactly how the North Carolina Supreme Court saw it.

Bethune Hill v. Virginia is centered on 12 of Virginias state legislative districts. These districts, 12 in total, required a 55% minority population in their districts; like North Carolina, the state justified the requirement as necessary for compliance with the Voting Rights Act. The lower court in this case decided in favor of the statemeaning that, as of now, those districts are still legal.

What both affected parties are really pointing to in these cases is the decision in Shaw v. Reno in 1993. There, the Supreme Court said that, yes, race needs to be considered when redistricting, but that race cannot be the predominant factor.

Both of these cases must also tackle the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which says that minorities should be given a fair chance to elect representatives of their choice, but not to be packed into a district in order to limit their broader influence.

For North Carolina, McCrory v. Harris is just the latest gerrymandering case to reach the nations highest court. In 1996, the Supreme Court said in Shaw v. Hunt that North Carolina had made a majority-minority district for race reasons, not party reasons, and the Court ruled it unconstitutional. In 2001, however, the Court ruled in Hunt v. Cromartie that the redrawn district was drawn based on party, not race, and therefore was allowed to remain intact. In many cases, the Court has drawn a fine line: gerrymandering based primarily on party is acceptable, but gerrymandering based primarily on race is not.

With the Court deadlocked right now with only eight Justices, there is a good chance that both of these cases will be 4-4 decisions, although Justice Anthony Kennedy has swung to the left on this issue before. Tackling the question of race or party has never been an easy one for the courts, and these two cases are no different.

Chris Calabrese is an intern at the National Constitution Center. He is also a recent graduate of St. Josephs University.

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Madrid (AFP) - One of the main defendants in a major Spanish graft trial involving the Popular Party (PP) admitted Thursday he gave "gifts" to ex-officials of the ruling conservative grouping, calling it a "usual practice."

Businessman Francisco Correa is accused of having showered PP lawmakers and councillors with bribes between 1999 and 2005, including former party treasurer Luis Barcenas.

In exchange, his companies, or those of his friends, were allegedly given contracts for public works or for organising events, such as the 2006 visit of Pope Benedict XVI in the eastern city of Valencia.

"I'm used to giving gifts to big companies that do business with me, (so) why wouldn't I give gifts to a man who is giving me a lot of business?," he asked at the National Court just outside Madrid.

"It's a usual practice."

"The first time that I heard the words 'bribery' and 'malfeasance' was when they detained me," he added.

"I was involved in my business, I'm not a lawyer."

Correa is among 37 defendants on trial, including two former party treasurers, notably Barcenas, who is accused of stashing tens of millions of euros (dollars) in Switzerland.

The PP itself has been called to the stand for allegedly benefiting from funds obtained illegally by lawmakers.

But unlike the defendants, the party as a whole faces no criminal charges.

Correa said that he was the middle-man in public tenders.

"If we were successful, (the company) handed over a commission. I kept part of it and Barcenas kept the other part," he said.

The case claimed a high-profile victim early on, forcing the resignation of then health minister Ana Mato in 2014.

Mato's ex-husband Jesus Sepulveda is in the dock for embezzlement of public funds and influence-peddling when he was mayor of Pozuelo de Alarcon, a town near Madrid, from 2003 to 2009.

- Sent in the clowns -

Correa said he had given Sepulveda several "gifts", including a car.

Story continues

"It didn't cost us anything to send a clown to his children's birthday parties. It wasn't a bribe, it was a gift," he said.

Correa said his relationship with the PP started in the 1990s through Barcenas, who has also been accused of running a slush fund financed by corporate donors.

The fund was allegedly used to hand secret cash payments to high-ranking PP members during the 1990s and 2000s.

Barcenas told a court in 2013 that these included current acting Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy -- who has always denied receiving money illegally.
United Nations (United States) (AFP) - Syria on Wednesday accepted the accreditation of Jordanian national Ali al-Zaatari as the new UN envoy tasked with overseeing the struggling humanitarian effort in the war-torn country.

Zaatari arrived in Damascus at the weekend and formally began work on Tuesday as the UN's new humanitarian relief coordinator in Syria, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.

The former UN deputy envoy for Libya and for Sudan has also worked in Syria as the UN Development Programme's resident representative from 2004 to 2007.

Zaatari will replace Yacoub el Hillo of Sudan, who was the aid coordinator since 2013 and who was recently appointed to be UN deputy envoy to Liberia.

At least 13.5 million Syrians are in need of humanitarian aid including six million children, according to UN estimates.

The huge UN aid effort has been struggling to reach 5.5 million people living in hard-to-reach areas, including nearly 600,000 Syrians living under siege in the war, now in its sixth year.
By Stephanie Nebehay GENEVA (Reuters) - The Syrian government has partially approved a United Nations aid plan for October but not its request to deliver urgently needed supplies to the rebel-held part of Aleppo, diplomats and a U.N. official said on Thursday. Damascus has given a green light for convoys to 25 of 29 besieged and hard-to-reach areas across Syria, they said, but not to eastern Aleppo and three parts of the Rural Damascus province. Ramzy Ezzeldin Ramzy, deputy U.N. Special Envoy for Syria, confirmed receipt of the approvals after a weekly meeting of the humanitarian task force, composed of major and regional powers. He gave no details. "Of course, the approval of the plan is not sufficient, you know there are other steps that need to be taken so that deliveries can be made," Ramzy told reporters. "And we call upon all parties to help in ensuring that these steps are taken as soon as possible so the U.N. will be able to deliver on its October plan as soon as possible." The situation for 275,000 people trapped in eastern Aleppo, encircled by government and allied forces, remains "dire", he said. He noted, however, that the water supply had been partially restored. The U.N. has tried for weeks to evacuate the wounded and chronically sick from eastern Aleppo, but a ceasefire is required to do so, Ramzy said. "Capacity to treat emergency cases is minimal, and that is why we are working on a plan for medical evacuations," he said. "I think more than 200 are in a critical situation but I also heard the figure of 400 children that need to be evacuated." Ramzy's boss, U.N. Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura, will join foreign ministers - including U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Russia's Sergei Lavrov - meeting to discuss Syria in Lausanne on Saturday, Ramzy said. He declined to give details on what their focus would be. The U.N. had requested access for convoys carrying food and medical supplies in September, expecting approval by Sept. 30 for the month of October. (Additional reporting by Tom Miles; Editing by Louise Ireland)
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Taking the city of Aleppo from rebel forces will be a springboard for Syria's army to push the "terrorists" back to Turkey, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad told a Russian newspaper on Friday. "You have to keep cleaning this area and to push the terrorists to Turkey to go back to where they come from, or to kill them. There's no other option," Assad said in an interview with Russian tabloid Komsomolskaya Pravda. "Aleppo is going to be a very important springboard to do this move." Assad also said Turkey's actions in Syria constituted an invasion which was against international law and the country's civil war was now a conflict between Russia and the West. (Reporting by Jack Stubbs and Denis Dyomkin, editing by G Crosse)
Billionaire tech investors are throwing their weight behind a controversial ballot measure in San Francisco that, according to critics, addresses the city's homelessness problem in a half-baked way. Proposition Q, one of two dozen measures on the November ballot, seeks to reduce the amount of sidewalk tent camps around town by giving residents 24 hours to leave and move to a shelter -- or out of town.

The pro-Q camp has $270,000 in the bank, and TechCrunch reports that more than half of that came from Silicon Valley angel investor Ron Conway, Sequoia Capital partner Michael Moritz and hedge fund manager William Oberndorf, each of whom contributed $50,000 to the measure. According to The Guardian, Zachary Bogue, husband of Yahoo's Marissa Mayer, chipped in an additional $2,500 to the cause.

[Keep in mind, $50,000 is couch-cushion change for VCs like Moritz and Conway -- the latter personally invested $50 million into Reddit in 2014.]

Prop Q's author, city supervisor Mark Farrell, said the measure is meant to "get the homeless into housing, not tents." The law would ban sidewalk tent camps and require the city to either provide a shelter bed or a bus ticket out of town before getting the go-ahead to confiscate a person's belongings.

But opponents point out that the measure does not include the funding needed to expand already overcrowded shelters, where there are currently 800 people on waiting lists. Jennifer Friedenbach of the Coalition on Homelessness wrote in the San Francisco Chronicle that, if passed, Prop Q will "continue the status quo of moving homeless people from block to block because it is unlikely that these individuals will have the required biometric imaging, registration and [tuberculosis] clearance within 24 hours to qualify for emergency shelter."

Stuart Schuffman writes in the San Francisco Examiner, "The absurd idea behind this ridiculous measure is that if you take people's tents away and give them a bed in a shelter for a night, things will be all gravy after that. The problem that it doesn't seem to take into account is that there are already more than 700 people on the list each day to get into shelters - there are no lonely beds thinking, "Oh, why won't somebody just sleep in me tonight?"

Reached by Techcrunch, a Prop Q spokesman defended Moritz and Conway's donations, saying they've joined "all walks of life who support Prop Q because they urgently want to see an end to the human suffering on our streets."
Two teenagers with reported links to Islamic state were arrested carrying bayonet blades in Sydneys west on October 12, the day before they were due to sit their HSC exams. The Sydney Morning Herald reported the two boys, aged 16, were arrested by counter-terrorist units as they walked towards a prayer hall in Bankstown.

During an October 13 media conference, NSW Police Deputy Commissioner Catherine Burn said the boys had been under police surveillance before the incident, and that they had bought the blades at a gun store hours before they were arrested. The NSW Police said they feared an attack was imminent, but refuted reports that the two boys were about to attack a police station or behead an innocent person.

A number of terrorism-related charges were laid out against the boys including the planning and preparation of a terrorist act, which carries a possible life sentence. Credit: Anonymous
On Oct 12, we issued an updated research report on leading Canadian telecom service provider TELUS Corporation TU. The company is actively pursuing new deals and alliances and aims to consolidate its foothold in the Internet of Things (IoT) market.

Growth Prospects

TELUS continues to benefit from the increased adoption of smartphones, higher average revenue per unit, accelerating wireless data services and growing wireline fiber optic networks. The company anticipates balanced growth for its wireless and wireline businesses owing to investments in high-speed broadband technology and services along with its Customer First strategy. Also, with the IoT platform paving its way into Canada, TELUS aims to consolidate its foothold in the space. It has also introduced the TELUS Global IoT Connectivity platform to deliver seamless connectivity and simplified billing across 200 networks globally.

The company is also focusing on its PureFibre network business. The company aims to provide a glimpse into the future which will see homes connected to a state-of-the art fibre optic network. TELUS has also collaborated with technology leaders such as Samsung, Nokia Corporation NOK and International Business Machines Corporation IBM to achieve the same.

Recent Developments

Recently, TELUS entered into an alliance with Digi International, a maker of machine-to-machine (M2M) and IoT solutions for providing Canadian businesses with an automated food-temperature monitoring solution  Digi Honeycomb

TELUS and the Telecommunications Workers Union also signed a collective deal wherein almost 10,800 TELUS employees will be covered nationally.

In Aug 2016, the board of directors at TELUS announced plans to reward shareholders with a quarterly dividend of C$0.46 per share on the issued and outstanding common shares, at the closure of business as on Sep 9, 2016. The dividend will be paid on Oct 3, 2016.

Segmental Risks

TELUS faces fierce competition both in the wireless and wireline segments.

Story continues

At the wireless segment, the company competes against the likes of Rogers Communications Inc. RCI and BCE Inc.s BCE subsidiary Bell Canada and small regional carriers like MTS in Manitoba and SaskTel in Saskatchewan. Such intense competitive pressure has resulted in reduced subscriber addition. In the second quarter of 2016, postpaid customer net addition was 61,000, down 19.7% year over year whereas prepaid customer net loss was 21,000, up 61.5% year over year. Moreover, Shaw Communications decision to venture into the Canadian wireless market with the WIND Mobile acquisition raises competition for TELUS.

The wireline segment also faces threat from cable TV operators such as Shaw Communications Inc. SJR and requires regular capital investments in the broadband infrastructure to lure business and residential customers.

TELUS CORP Price

TELUS CORP Price | TELUS CORP Quote

TELUS currently has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

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Tens of thousands of indigenous people gathered in Caracas on Wednesday, October 12, to commemorate the Day of Indigenous Resistance. Among the attendants was Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, who can be seen in this video waving a two-sided flag: The red, yellow and blue being the Venezuelan flag, while the other side shows red, yellow and green for Bolivia.

Some Latin American countries celebrate the Day of Indigenous Resistance to remember their ancestors fights against the Spanish conquest of America, according to Telesur.

Speaking at the event, Maduro urged the crowd to condemn Speaker of the National Assembly, Henry Ramos Allup, saying the coward should be brought to court before running for president in 2018. Maduro said Allup is a misogynist who preaches hatred against women, according to El Nacional. Credit: Twitter/DPresidencia
By David Brunnstrom WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The death of Thailand's King Bhumibol Adulyadej on Thursday adds a new layer of uncertainty to U.S. President Barack Obama's faltering "pivot" to Asia less than a month before the Nov. 8 U.S. presidential elections. The king was important in cementing the long-standing alliance between the United States and Thailand after World War Two, in a reign that spanned the Vietnam War and development of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), which Washington still considers vital to maintaining its influence in the region. King Bhumibol's death coincides with faltering momentum in Obama's signature policy of rebalancing the U.S. diplomatic and security focus to the Asia-Pacific region in the face of China's rapid rise. The main economic pillar of the rebalance, the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal, is languishing in the U.S. Congress with no guarantee that Obama will be able to push it through before leaving the presidency to Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump, both of whom say they oppose the deal. Clinton, as secretary of state under fellow-Democrat Obama from 2009-13, was one of the architects of the policy but Republican Trump has questioned the extent to which he would maintain the U.S. security commitment to East Asia. Obama's efforts to boost security ties with Southeast Asia have come in response to China's pursuit of territorial claims in the South China Sea, a vital strategic waterway. However, a torrent of anti-American rhetoric from new Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte has cast doubt on the U.S. military relationship with Manila just months after Washington reached an agreement on rotating access to bases in the country. Other Southeast Asian countries, such as Indonesia and Malaysia, are focused on internal political issues and are avoiding playing any leadership role in ASEAN, while even traditionally reliable regional ally Australia is treading carefully to avoid jeopardizing its economic ties with Beijing. Thailand was already occupying a back seat in regional affairs following a 2014 military coup seen as a means to maintain stability during the king's long illness. Thailand is expected to turn further inward during a prolonged mourning period and potentially politically fragile royal succession. King Bhumibol's son, Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn, who is expected to become Thailand's new king, lacks the strong connection to the United States of his father, who was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Obama offered condolences to the Thai people and the King's family, calling King Bhumibol "a tireless champion of his country's development." Obama's former top Asia adviser, Evan Medeiros, now at the Eurasia Group, said the mourning process would likely slow a return to democratic government and Prince Vajiralongkorn was a source of "profound uncertainty." "Hes such an unknown, unpredictable figure," he said. U.S. State Department spokesman Mark Toner said the United States and Thailand had been close friends for two centuries. "Our friendship and our partnership have weathered many challenges  we expect it to continue to grow stronger," Toner told a regular news briefing. While the United States backed a return to democracy, Toner said it would be "premature... to lay our expectations for the near term" as Thailand mourned. MUCH HAS CHANGED While Washington condemned the 2014 coup, it has kept security ties with Bangkok, particularly through annual military exercises called Cobra Gold. "The fact that we have been able to remain closely tethered and stayed largely on track with Cobra Gold and other cooperative efforts, notwithstanding the military takeover ... is testament to the strong roots we have put down and the work that were doing, the senior U.S. diplomat for Asia, Assistant Secretary of State Daniel Russel, said on Wednesday. Murray Hiebert of Washington's Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank, said much had changed since Obama announced his pivot policy in 2011. "The king's death adds to uncertainty in Southeast Asia, a region in considerable flux already. This makes the U.S. rebalance to Asia more difficult because the situation in so many countries is that of 'wait and see.' "When the pivot started, you had Thailand engaged, a new leader in Malaysia who wanted to engage, you had Aquino coming in the Philippines and very forward-leaning internationally and very open to the U.S.; you had an internationalist president in Indonesia. It was a rather different dynamic." King Bhumibol's death means Washington finds itself having to rely even more on former foe Vietnam for any kind of strategic ballast in the region. "The Vietnamese are providing the dynamism when it comes to strategic thinking," U.S. Ambassador to Vietnam Ted Osius said in Washington on Tuesday. "Indonesia is very internally focused right now ... Thailand is very internally focused, and Malaysia has a rolling political crisis," he continued. "I dont know exactly what direction the Philippines is headed; Singapore has a lot of strategic thinkers but its a city state; I dont think you can really count on Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar to provide the strategic engine for ASEAN." There appears little prospect for now, however, that Vietnam would be willing to open its doors further to the U.S. military should the deal with the Philippines run into problems, given past animosities and concerns about China. I do not expect the Vietnamese calculation to be, Oh, the Philippines is doing whatever its doing, lets race full steam ahead with the United States. No, thats not about to happen," Osius said. "The Vietnamese have been very measured in the pace at which they have expanded the security relationship." Hiebert said Asian countries remain keen on the U.S. pivot, given their worries about China, but the pace was likely to flag further, presenting a tougher task to revive the initiative once Obama leaves power. "I wouldn't declare the pivot dead ... I think there's still quite a bit of interest in the U.S., but some of the sort of dynamism that we saw earlier about building the region is a little bit diminished right now," he said. (Reporting by David Brunnstrom; additional reporting by Matt Spetalnick; Editing by John Walcott, James Dalgleish and Grant McCool)
The Thai junta's rubber stamp parliament will hold a "special" meeting Thursday evening, its spokesman said Thursday, as anxiety over the health of the country's beloved but ailing King Bhumibol Adulyadej has soared.

"I have been informed that the National Legislative Assembly will hold a special meeting at 9pm (1400 GMT) tonight," Jeth Sirathranont, spokesman of the assembly told AFP, without elaborating on what prompted the unusual night time meeting.
Thailands King Bhumibol Adulyadej was the superlative monarch. He was the worlds longest-reigning, the worlds richest and, among his own subjects at least, the worlds most adored. Throughout his 70 years on the throne, Bhumibol has been credited with staving off numerous catastrophes through intelligence, fortitude and his love of country. Yet in the decade approaching his death on Thursday at the age of 88, his kingdom, Thailand, has been increasingly wracked by bitter political schisms.

Bhumibols body will rest in Bangkoks spired Grand Palace in a golden urn, draped in silk, gold and diamonds, for an official grieving period of one year, as Brahmin priests and Buddhist monks, wreathed in incense smoke, chant incantations.

The palace announced that the King died peacefully at 3:53 p.m. local time. Even though the board of doctors has closely monitored and treated him to the best of its abilities, the Kings condition never improved but deteriorated until Thursday, the palace said.

Junta leader Prayuth Chan-ocha announced that Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn would be the new monarch in accordance with the constitution, the Associated Press reports. He was a King that was loved and adored by all. The reign of the king has ended and his kindness cannot be found anywhere else, Prayuth said.

Bhumibols impending death was a source of deep anxiety in Thailand. Very few Thais are old enough to have known another King, presenting a challenge for his only son and named heir, Vajiralongkorn. A former military air-force pilot trained in the U.S., U.K and Australia, the 63-year-old has struggled to win the same respect as his father, primarily the result of stories of a lavish and eccentric lifestyle. Many wondered whether one of the three princesses would ascend the throne instead.

Wrangling over the sensitive subject of succession, and thus control of the royal fortune, is what many observers attribute the nations latest military coup detat of May 22, 2014. The instability wrought by the coup and martial law has had a dire effect: the Thai economy is flatlining and Bangkok has been shaken by terrorist attacks and elections have been repeatedly pushed back by the ruling junta.

Story continues

This also presents a challenge for U.S. foreign policy, especially the Obama Administrations rebalancing to Asia. Without strong regional partners  Thailand is Americas oldest ally in Asia  maintaining support for regional strategic goals will be tough, throwing into doubt the broader geopolitical objective of being a counterweight to China. Faced with international censure for human-rights abuses, the junta has been moving closer to Beijing, repatriating persons of interest to China without little regard to international condemnation. With the issue of succession resolved, Washington will hope that democracy can be restored and a crucial relationship repaired.

The late King himself had a strong personal connection to the U.S. The muggy monsoonal heat of Bangkok where Bhumibol passed was a world apart from his birth on a frosty morning at Mount Auburn Hospital in Cambridge, Mass. The only monarch ever born on American soil arrived on Dec. 5, 1927, during a turbulent period in the Kingdom of Siam, as Thailand was then known, where myriad parties were plotting to end the absolute rule of the crown. Whether this would take the form of a constitutional monarchy, as eventually came to the fore in Britain, or an outright republic, as bloodily forged in Russia and France, was anyones guess. And so Bhumibol and his elder brother Ananda, who was heir to the throne of their uncle, King Prajadhipok, were first ensconced in the U.S. and later to the safety of Lausanne, a city perched on the shores of Lake Geneva in the Swiss Alps. There they grew up under the care of their formidable commoner mother, Srinagarindra nee Sangwal Talapat, following the premature death of their father, Prince Mahidol Adulyadej, who was a pioneering doctor as well as Prajadhipoks brother.

Ananda and Bhumibols formative years were spent speaking French and attending Champ Soleil boarding school, and later the progressive Ecole Nouvelle de la Suisse Romande. Bhumibol was a diligent student, according to Sangwal, who wrote that the young prince understands the importance of studies. This Western-style upbringing, joshing with friends and surrounded by a smattering of servants, who did not prostrate themselves, was utterly alien from their celestial heritage, and thus a source of consternation back in Bangkok. There was neither a Buddhist temple nor a single saffron-robed monk in Lausanne, and aside from a few amulets and statues at home, the princes grew up immersed in the trapping of continental Christianity. They hiked in the mountains and skied the snow-covered peaks while most Thai kids frolicked in steamy rice paddies with water buffaloes, writes journalist Paul Handley in The King Never Smiles, his controversial 2006 biography of Bhumibol that remains banned in Thailand. By the end of World War II, adds Handley, both were better suited for the life of well-heeled bon vivants in Europe than golden-robed, sacral princes in an impoverished tropical Asian state.

Unencumbered by kingly burden, Bhumibol was by all accounts a joyful and healthy child, though the same was not true of his brother, the crown prince. Following his uncles abdication in March 1935, Ananda was proclaimed monarch, but was so sickly that he would not set foot in his realm until 1938 at the age of 13. The crowns last vestiges of real power had been stripped away following a coup detat in 1932, but the feuding elite factions that controlled Thailand were content to have a weak king on the throne to provide the facade of legitimacy.

However, on June 9, 1946, just days before the familys scheduled return to Europe, Ananda was found dead in his bed in Boromphiman Throne Hall at Bangkoks Grand Place. Age 20, he had been shot through the head with a Colt 45, a gift from a former U.S. Army officer, which he kept by his bedside. Bhumibol was proclaimed King Rama IX of Siams Chakri dynasty that same day, though he would not be crowned until 1950, after the official name change to Thailand, meaning, Land of the Free. He spent the interim period back in Switzerland, ostensibly to finish his studies (he never did graduate), but by some accounts hopelessly disconsolate. Speaking to BBC reporter David Lomax in 1980, casually lounging on the floor of his study, Bhumibol looked pained as he recalled his brothers demise: When I arrived he was already dead. Many people wanted to advance, not theories but facts, to clear up the affair. They were suppressed and they were suppressed by influential people in this country or international politics.

A trio of palace courtiers were sentenced to death for regicide, even though few believed them responsible, and many suspected that Ananda had died by suicide or through an accident. Notwithstanding his professed suspicions of subterfuge, Bhumibol failed to stop the executions of the three supposed King slayers, despite being the only figure capable of issuing a pardon.

The crown Bhumibol inherited was essentially the same vessel Ananda had worn, though several factors conspired to allow the young King to build arguably the most politically active constitutional monarchy of the 20th century. First, arch royalist General Sarit Thanarat seized power in a September 1957 coup, to which Bhumibol gave his blessing. A notorious womanizer and lush, Sarit in return cemented the link between the military and the monarchy, placing Bhumibol at societys zenith. From that point on hes been the preeminent figure in Thailand, says Charles Keyes, professor emeritus of anthropology and international studies at the University of Washington.

Read More: See Portraits of Thailands King Bhumibol Adulyadej Displayed All Over Bangkok

Domestic efforts dovetailed with external factors  chiefly the Vietnam War and strong support from Washington for this U.S.-born, Western-educated, statesman-like, modern monarch. The young King played saxophone with jazz legends like Duke Ellington, won prizes for sailing, was a keen amateur photographer and painted expressionist oils. Frequenting cocktail parties with his beautiful and enchanting Queen Sirikit Kitiyakara, the gangly, bespectacled Bhumibol appeared to the American chattering classes as a righteous ally and regional bulwark amid the existential struggle with communism.

This seismic shift in U.S. attitudes is demonstrated by contrasting two TIME covers. In 1950, when Bhumibol returned from Europe for his official coronation, the April 3 edition sported a caricature of the young King in full royal pomp with the headline: In a Never-Never Land, Never Mind. Sixteen years later, with Washington mired in the Vietnam War, TIME portrayed a steely Bhumibol in full military uniform with the caption: A Monarchy Fights for Freedom.

According to Paul Good, who worked for the U.S. Information Service in Thailand from 1963 to 68, inculcating antipathy to communism was expressly achieved through imparting reverence for the monarchy. The theory was that if the people were supportive of the King, says Good, that he would be the binding force, the focal point for all attention, and there wouldnt be any susceptibility to the communist influence, which was coming in on the Laotian and Cambodian sides from Vietnam.

Huge posters of Bhumibol, paid for by the U.S., were distributed across northern Thailand, where disenfranchised villagers were most vulnerable to communist ideals and infiltration. Archaic traditions of reverence, like prostration before the monarch, were reintroduced, and Buddhist temples and festivals were infused with royal imagery. The Thai media followed royal movements avidly, especially after the arrival of Princess Ubol Ratana in 1951 and Crown Prince Vajiralongkorn a year later. Princesses Sirindhorn and Chulabhorn were born in 1955 and 1957 respectively.

By 1958, Sarit had abrogated the constitution, halted elections and imposed even stricter limitations on free speech. But as he remained friendly with the U.S., and staunchly anticommunist, Washington was delighted to hitch its warhorse to his wagon, and Bhumibols exultation gathered pace.

Read More: Thais Are Praying for the Recovery of Ailing King Bhumibol Adulyadej

The royal familys public-relations campaign had begun in earnest before Bhumibols return, as senior princes began distributing money and funding social-welfare projects, and Sarit allowed the palace room to swell its influence. Bhumibol and Sirikit spent much of their time touring villages and meeting pastoral Thais, typically illiterate with lips stained red from chewing betel, most of whom had had little contact with officialdom. The royal couple traveled with a small army of doctors and the ill or suffering would be brought out for treatment. Those who couldnt be cured locally were transported to hospitals in the capital Bangkok.

In this way, Bhumibol fostered an image of royalty as distinct from government. Where politicians and bureaucrats failed in their duty, the King would strive to plug the gaps through his own munificence. In speeches, he would frequently chide politicians. And with his background in engineering, which he had studied at university, he busied himself with overseeing the construction of small dams and irrigation projects  water conservation was traditionally the purview of Thai monarchs  so saving the countrysides poor from the extra hardships wrought by droughts. There have been well over 4,000 such development projects, and the sight of Bhumibol, armed with a notebook, two-way radio and camera, earnestly studying a map of some far-flung hamlet, became very much part of royal folklore. Some projects were more successful than others, and a few were disastrous, but there was no doubting the Kings sincerity nor diligence.

Following Sarits death in 1963, Thailand began to open politically as the government of Field Marshall Thanom Kittikachorn, another fiercely anticommunist strongman, rolled back restrictions on free speech. Student discussion groups began springing up at major universities that encouraged critical evaluation, often with a leftish slant. By 1973, this had developed into a cohesive political movement.

In early October of that year, demonstrations convulsed Bangkok in response to the arrest of prominent student activists. The crowd swelled to around 400,000, including many members of the public, owing to the militarys heavy-handed response that resulted in at least 100 civilian deaths. Bhumibol intervened, ordering the doors of Chitrlada Palace opened to provide the students refuge, and persuaded Thanom and his cohorts to go into temporary exile.

In September 1976, Bhumibol allowed Thanom to return to Thailand, even visiting him with Sirikit in Wat Bovornives  the Chakri dynastys personal temple  where he had ordained as a monk. Thousands of furious students gathered inside Thammasat University to oppose Thanoms return. On Oct. 5, spurred on by radio broadcasts accusing the students of threatening the crown prince and communism, thousands of royalist paramilitaries massed outside the campus.

The killing began the following dawn. First, a rocket-propelled bomb was fired into the throng of students, reportedly killing four and injuring dozens. Military weapons wreaked a heavy toll until around 9 a.m., and at least two students were dragged out, tortured and lynched. Three others were seen dumped on tires, drenched in petrol and burned alive. A junta headed by the Defense Minister, Admiral Sa-ngad Chaloryu, seized power immediately after the massacre. Another flirtation with democracy had been crushed.

Away from politics, Bhumibol busied himself touring Thailands impoverished north, where a jumble of tribes lived in the Himalayan foothills straddling the arcane Golden Triangle. These communities traditionally farmed opium, and Bhumibol set about weaning them of growing poppies and suggesting alternatives, such as berries, vegetables and flowers, with varying success. There are some things which are really positive beyond the media hype surrounding the monarchy, says Keyes. Tradition textile production in the north was fostered by the Queen and probably wouldnt exist today without her support.

The royal family was also becoming fabulously wealthy. Through the tax-exempt Crown Property Bureau (CPB), an opaque quasi-government agency responsible for managing royal business interests, valuable crown lands  some 16,400 acres (6,700 hectares), a fifth of which are prime holdings in central Bangkok  are leased out through 40,000 separate rental contracts. In addition, the CPB owned shares of companies such as Siam Cement, the dominant player for key construction materials, and Siam Commercial Bank, one of Thailands biggest banks.

These holdings are extremely profitable. According to the semiofficial 2011 biography King Bhumibol Adulyadej: A Lifes Work, crown income in 2010, during the throes of a significant economic slump, came to around $300 million. In 2011, despite the family being almost broke at Bhumibols coronation, Forbes estimated his personal wealth at $30 billion, making him the worlds richest monarch, beating the Sultan of Brunei into second place. Some analysts believe this figure could have doubled in the years since, though this is difficult to substantiate, as the CPB is not obliged to publish accounts publicly.

Bhumibols riches are fantastically out of step with the typical Thai citizen; GDP per capita stands at around $5,000, meaning Thailands King is some 5 million times wealthier than his average subject. No other nation in the top 10 richest royal families comes close to such disparity. (The next would be the Sultan of Oman, No. 10 on the royal rich list, whose subjects have a GDP per capita of $21,000.)

Bhumibols wealth has risen alongside his popularity, the latter owing much to the events of May 20, 1992. An extraordinary television broadcast showed Bhumibol, attired in a cream suit, admonishing two prostrate men. One was Suchinda Kraprayoon, the de facto leader of a military junta that had seized power the previous year; the other was Chamlong Srimuang, the blue pajama-clad leader of an ascetic Buddhist sect who had been leading street demonstrations. For three days soldiers had been firing on unarmed protesters, killing dozens and wounding hundreds, and the violence threatened to spiral further. Bhumibols fatherly intervention was beamed around the world and instantly halted the slaughter. Western people ask me whether it is a paradox that I am King but support democracy, he said. I have to tell them that in Thailand the King is the guarantor of democracy.

Royal supporters have ensured the clip is replayed on television and cinema screens until the present day. The overwhelming impression for the 50 million television viewers, and those blinking at the grainy images for two decades thereafter, was that their monarch had saved the nation from immediate disintegration. Four years later, when boxer Somluck Khamsing won Thailands first-ever Olympic gold medal at the Atlanta games, few were surprised when the boxer celebrated by holding aloft a portrait of the King rather than the national flag. To many Thais, Bhumibol was a bodhisattva, the last incarnation of the future Buddha.

Read More: Heres What You Need to Know About Thailands New Constitution

This belief has roots in the Theravada Buddhist ideal of the Dhammaraja, the near-deific guarantor of justice and mediator of government and politics, who rules as monarch in accordance with dharma, or natural law according to the Buddhas teachings. Bhumibols outwardly austere persona and strict adherence to religious ritual bolsters this perception. That the King is almost never seen smiling, a profound curiosity in the self-styled Land of Smiles, lends to his image as above worldly emotions in an almost ethereal way. Thai children are taught from birth as to the Kings godlike infallibility and his portrait still adorns all schools, institutions, businesses and practically every private household as the highest picture in the room. It is also propagated by television news, textbooks, government websites, official histories, newspapers and movies. The concept of King as grand patriarch is enshrined: in Thailand, Bhumibols birthday is Fathers Day; Queen Sirikits birthday is Mothers Day. Thais cant help but love their King.

Describing Bhumibol as a steadfast defender of democracy is problematic, though. Since the end of absolute monarchy in 1932, Thailand has had a fitful experience with popular representation, largely owing to its weak institutions of government. Every intervention has, at least ostensibly, received royal consent  protection of the monarchy is the stock justification  and, conversely, there have been several instances when the palace has thwarted a putsch. Thai historian Thak Chaloemtiarana famously dubbed the relationship between the military and monarchy despotic paternalism.

This historic narrative gained newfound credence following the election of a Sino-Thai businessman named Thaksin Shinawatra as Prime Minister in 2001. His government won massive support in rural areas, especially the populous, agrarian northeast, through programs to reduce poverty by improving infrastructure, providing microfinance loans and introducing 30 baht ($1) universal health care.

The Thai establishment baulked at Thaksins autocratic, CEO-style leadership and burgeoning cult of personality. Some even accused him of overshadowing the palace, and he reportedly irked Bhumibol personally by chumming up to Crown Prince Vajiralongkorn, showering the royal heir with expensive gifts, just as the King was attempting to rein in his sons exorbitant lifestyle. To quote a confidential 2005 diplomatic cable from the American ambassador to Thailand published by WikiLeaks, Thaksin had long ago invested in crown-prince futures.

In 2006, a mass protest movement spurred by a political rival resulted in Thaksin being deposed by a coup detat. The protesters were known as the Yellow Shirts, a hue they adopted in honor of Bhumibol, as that is his birthday color owing to having been born on a Monday. Thaksin remains in self-imposed exile following an in absentia conviction for abuse of power, but the political awakening he sparked has refused to die. Proxies have won every election since his toppling  most recently led by his sister, Yingluck Shinawatra, who was removed as Prime Minister in the May 2014 coup, which once again followed mass Yellow Shirt protests.

Thailands cleaving into color-coded rancor  Thaksins supporters, conversely known as Red Shirts, employ similar tactics of mass mobilization and civil disobedience  is the intractable challenge to Bhumibols legacy. I used to wear a long yellow coat on Monday to honor the King, confessed one taxi driver from the northeast, speaking to TIME during last years Bangkok Shutdown protests that catalyzed the latest coup. But after Thaksin was forced out, I folded this away and stored it in a chest under my bed.

Thailands erstwhile political leaders were notorious for their venality, and did very little for the nations rural poor, and so few felt aggrieved when they were deposed. (Certainly, Bhumibol was perceived as doing more good that the politicians ever did.) However, the Kings visibility faded along with his health since the mid-1990s, curtailed by back and heart problems. While Thaksins reforms were far from all positive, they drastically improved the lives of millions, who finally realized that a politician could make the difference, even if many suspected, as was historically characteristic of Thai leaders, he was feathering his own nest at the time. (Thaksin insists his conviction was politically motivated and strongly denies any impropriety.)

Thaksins policy of alleviating the plight of Thailands rural poor had echoes of Bhumibols earlier efforts. But, crucially, the societal structure of Thailand has radically shifted. When Bhumibol first ascended the throne, some 80% of Thailands 17 million people were uneducated rural peasantry, eking out substance livings from farms and forests, with life revolving around the local temple. By the new millennium, almost half of Thailands 60 million people had shifted to urban centers. Even those that remained in the northeast became cosmopolitan villagers, says Keyes, owning smartphones, surfing the Internet and milling around shiny new shopping malls boasting Starbucks and ice rinks.

Thaksin-backed governments have repeatedly been ousted, twice by the military and thrice by the courts. Given his frail health, it is unlikely the King was aware of the countrys recent political intrigues. Thailands royal-defamation laws restrict wide discussion of the King and his place in Thai society. Known as lese majeste, or Article 112, they are considered the worlds harshest with penalties of up to 15 years in jail. Rather than being brought by a department of public prosecutions, like regular criminal charges, lese majeste can be brought by any Thai citizen  no matter in what country they reside  at any time, against any other individual, Thai or foreign. They are often deployed as a political tool or to settle personal vendettas.

Cases of lese majeste have flourished ostensibly against Bhumibols wishes. During his birthday speech in 2005, he said, Actually, I must also be criticized. I am not afraid if the criticism concerns what I do wrong, because then I know. Because if you say the King cannot be criticized, it means that the King is not human. If the King can do no wrong, it is akin to looking down upon him because the King is not being treated as a human being. But the King can do wrong.

Prosecutions have skyrocketed nonetheless. The U.N. notes at least 40 individuals have either been convicted or remain in pretrial detention for lese majeste since last years coup. In August, Phongsak Sribunpeng, 48, was sentenced to 30 years in jail for six posts on Facebook, the harshest recorded punishment since 2006.

Bhumibols health problems may have precluded him from fighting this trend. Since 2009, he had been in and out of hospital for a variety of ailments, most recently for a chest infection and hydrocephalus (or water on the brain). In between admissions, he and Sirikit, who suffered a serious stroke in 2012, spent their time in the seaside resort of Hua Hin at Klaikangwon Palace, a name that translates as Far From Worries.

Bhumibol is now certainly that, though anxiety still wracks his erstwhile subjects. Fresh elections remain a distant prospect, human-rights abuses are rife and junta control is entrenched. A new constitution that allows for a nonelected Prime Minister and Upper House appointed by the military was controversially passed in a referendum in August. This is, however, a somewhat fitting end to a reign that has seen 15 attempted military coups, 10 of them successful  more than any other nation over the same period. One last superlative to rule them all.
100 years ago, Oct. 13, 1916

MATTOON -- Rain, which began to fall shortly after 8 o'clock Thursday evening, sent some of the large crowds home from the homecoming and fall festival. Rain interfered with the ceremonies of the Knights of Columbus and Red Men, which were held on the lawn of the Mattoon Public Library in commemoration of the landing of Columbus in 1492 on American soil at San Salvador. The two lodges paraded from 21st Street. A number of Red Men members were attired in Indian costume and as they marched in the parade they moved Indian fashion, single file and zig-zagging. Knights of Columbus members wore paper hats. Frank Maher of the Knights of Columbus assumed the character of Christopher Columbus and rode on the Santa Maria float. A.H. Sutherland, as the big chief of the Indians, with a number of followers, offered Columbus a hand of welcome, smoking with him a pipe of peace... MATTOON -- Former residents who registered their names Thursday as homecoming attendees came from several states. Visitors came from Cincinnati and Dayton, Ohio; from Chattanooga, Tenn.; Lincoln, Neb.; Indianapolis, Ind.; Norfolk, Va.; Minneapolis, Minn.; from Kentucky; as well as from Chicago and St. Louis.

50 years ago, 1966

MATTOON -- Illinois State Police seized six obscene films that were alleged to have been shown at the Mattoon American Legion Post on Sept. 22. The six obscene films were taken from a Decatur man shortly after midnight on Sept. 23 by State Police detectives. The films taken from the Decatur man have been ruled obscene by Macon County Magistrate Lester Brinkoetter and are being held by the Macon County Circuit Clerk pending further action... MATTOON -- Pint-sized goblins, dressed in all manner of weird attire, will roam the streets of the city on two nights knocking on doors with their familiar cry of "Trick or Treat." Police Chief Robert Plummer has asked that youngsters confine their "haunting" activities to Friday, Oct. 28, and Saturday, Oct. 29, between the hours of 6:30 and 9 p.m. On Halloween night, Monday, Oct. 31, the Mattoon Moose Lodge will sponsors its annual Youth Honor Day from 7 to 9 p.m.

25 years ago, 1991

Sunday. No paper.

100 years ago, Oct. 14, 1916

MATTOON -- The much-talked-of Dokey street parade, the last big feature of the homecoming and fall festival celebration, on Friday night passed through Broadway and Western avenues,. The crowd, which lined the two thoroughfares, was the largest night gathering of the week's festivities. The parade moved in five divisions with George O. Cobb Sr., W.A. Flowers, Harley E. Presnell, Thomas McNutt and Col. S.D. Geary serving as marshals. Mahedi's escorts were in full dress, there being about 40 nobles in the company. The second division included Mokhanna and his band of brigands, all in costumes. E.H. Slover appeared in the parade in the character of Pancho Villa. He was led by Herb Pennington as a policeman and by Park N. Kelly as a soldier... MATTOON -- Horn blowing and the use of toy whips will not be tolerated at tonight's activities, according to an order of Mayor Bell as the homecoming and fall festival celebration concludes. The mayor's order is due, it is said, to the fact that a number of people on Friday night, after the passing of the Dokey parade, abused the privilege of blowing horns and using whips.

50 years ago, 1966

MATTOON -- Birch Bayh, the junior U.S. senator from Indiana, told a Coles County Democratic political rally Thursday night that the country needs the type of leadership provided by Paul H. Douglas, the senior senator from Illinois. Bayh was the featured speaker at the rally attended by about 400 people at the National Guard Armory. Other speakers included Mrs. Adlai Stevenson III, whose husband is the Democratic candidate for state treasurer; Joe Connelly of Charleston, candidate for state senator; John Sheeks of Mattoon, candidate for county treasurer; Tom Morgan of Charleston, candidate for sheriff; and James Leming of Mattoon, candidate for county superintendent of schools... MATTOON -- David Lawson, 13, son of Mr. and Mrs. Grant Lawson of Mattoon, was awarded the William B. Hamel Memorial trophy Thursday as the "Most Outstanding Carrier of the Journal Gazette for 1966."David, a top student at St. Joseph's School, received the award at the annual news carriers awards banquet as part of the JG's observance of National Newspaper Week. James Dooley of rural Mattoon was named runnerup for the award. Stephen Anderson of Greenup was third, Ronald Wilcoxen of Allenville was fourth and Robert Mattox of Mattoon was fifth among all carriers.

25 years ago, 1991

OAKLAND -- Nearly 100 people gathered Sunday afternoon outside the historic Mail Pouch tobacco barn to see the structure dedicated in honor of Thurman Jug Campbell. He was part of a group that was instrumental in bringing the barn to Oakland in 1976. The building was located near Kansas and faced demolition until an Oakland group acquired it to help celebrate the countrys bicentennial. Campbell donated part of the land where the barn now sits and supplied some of the antique farm equipment on display inside. The barn is next to Oaklands historic Rutherford House CHARLESTON  Barbara Hill, dean of the College of Applied Sciences at Eastern Illinois University since 1984, has been named acting provost and vice president of academic affairs, effective Oct. 21. Hill received her bachelors, masters and a specialist degree in education from EIU. Her doctorate was earned at Southern Illinois University. She came to EIU in 1969. She served as dean of the School of Home Economics from 1981 to 1984 WASHINGTON  The Senate Judiciary Committee ended an extraordinary hearing early Monday morning after hearing more than 14 hours of sharply conflicting testimony about the nomination of Clarence Thomas as a Supreme Court justice. University of Oklahoma law professor Anita Hill and four friends testified that Thomas made unwanted sexual advances toward her. But former associates of Thomas vouched for him. Offstage, a polygraph expert said Hill had passed a lie detector test. The committee is scheduled to vote on Thomass appointment tomorrow.
All Thai television channels -- including international satellite networks -- were replaced with black and white palace broadcasts late Thursday following the death of King Bhumibol Adulyadej.

TV networks were ordered to replace their programmes with a pre-prepared rolling state media programme for the next month, junta spokesman Lieutenant General Sansern Kaewkamnerd told reporters.

All broadcasters must "link to a signal from television pool for 30 days," he said.

As soon as the king's death was announced, domestic stations switched to rolling footage showing monochrome pictures and video of the king throughout his 70-year reign.

Satellite channels -- including international news networks like the BBC, CNN and Al Jazeera -- were replaced later in the day with the same programming.

Two different satellite boxes in AFP's Bangkok bureau only had channels showing the state footage.

Others reported similar scenes in hotels and at home.

The move means most Thais are currently unable to access independent news through their televisions at a time when the country undergoes a watershed moment and the first succession in 70 years.

Thai newspaper websites were still publishing their own material late Thursday but they too had ditched colour.

The Bangkok Post's usual blue masthead was a dull grey with a large monochrome picture of Bhumibol above it. Even advertisements has been leached of colour.

The Nation, another English language newspaper, had replaced its homepage with a picture of the king under the headline "Kingdom Grieves", all of it black and white.

Major Thai language newspapers like Thairath, Matichon had done the same. Even Pantip, a wildly popular Thai language chat forum, had gone entirely black and white.
Behind the shocking revelations of incompetence and unprofessionalism that rocked the Secret Service this week is a longtime reporter who has been diligently uncovering the agency's secrets for years.

Carol Leonnig, a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist who has worked at The Washington Post for nearly 15 years, has broken almost every single story on the agency, a series of shocking reports that on Wednesday resulted in the abrupt resignation of Secret Service Director Julia Pierson. (Pierson called the resignation painful.)

In less than a week, Leonnig uncovered three scandals that pushed the agencys first female leader out the door. First, she reported that Secret Service agents failed to respond for days when a gunman shot the White House residence seven times with a semi-automatic rifle in 2011, smashing a window while Sasha Obama was home. (At first the agency thought the noise was from a car backfiring; then they believed the bullets were from a gang fight they theorized must have occurred on the White House lawn.)

Leonnig also reported that a knife-wielding man who jumped the White House fence weeks ago made it all the way to the door of the Green Room before an off-duty officer tackled him. The man made it much farther into the building than the agency initially admitted.

Lawmakers pummeled Pierson on Tuesday with Leonnigs reporting at a House Oversight Committee hearing on the agencys security failures. After the hearing, Leonnig reported that President Obama recently rode an elevator with an armed felon who was acting strange. (The Washington Examiner broke the story.) Its unclear if the president was immediately informed of the security breach. Pierson announced her resignation the next day. (UPDATE: The Washington Post acknowledged that the man who rode in the elevator with the president did not have felony or misdemeanor convictions.)

Leonnigs domination of the story has been so total that the editorial board of The New York Times, The Washington Posts competitor, cited her stories three times in its editorial calling for an overhaul of the agency.

Story continues

In an interview with MSNBC this week, Leonnig said Secret Service sources were motivated to talk to her because they know how great the Service has been in their lifetime and they know what a sacred duty it is to protect the president. The agents wanted the nation to hear their concerns about how the agency has been sliding down in quality. She added that she believes more Secret Service details and scandals will come out. Who knows what we will discover as the days go by, Leonnig said.

The longtime reporter has been on the beleaguered agencys tail for years: She reported in 2012 that a dozen agents solicited prostitutes while traveling with the president. She also broke the story with colleague David Nakamura in 2013 that a Secret Service agent left a bullet from his service weapon in the hotel room of a woman he had picked up at a bar.

She was part of a team of reporters who won a Pulitzer this year for their work on the National Security Agencys surveillance program, and she also won a Polk Award for her coverage of former Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell accepting luxury gifts while in office, which led to a criminal indictment. On her Facebook page, Leonnig thanked her colleagues who werent included in the Pulitzer earlier this year but who helped the team win. Another day that I feel so grateful for the kind of razor-sharp colleagues I get to work with, she wrote.

This story has been updated to reflect the fact that the Washington Post incorrectly reported that the man who rode in the elevator with Obama was a felon.

Related Video:
Gunnar Hansen in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. (Photo: Everett)

Theres nothing more Texas than The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, director Tobe Hoopers seminal 1974 horror classic about a group of hippie kids who find themselves at the mercy of a clan of power tool-wielding cannibals. And now, visitors to the Lone Star State can truly live out their Leatherface nightmares, courtesy of a new venue sure to satisfy anyones appetite for the gory and gruesome.

The new We Slaughter restaurant. (Photo: Facebook/gasstation304)

A few years ago, Hooper himself told Yahoo Movies that he concocted Massacres serial-killing story after a frustrating shopping trip through a crowded hardware section of a big store led him to daydream about fighting his way out of the joint with a chainsaw. (Read the full interview here.)

While the killers weapon of choice is well known, fans of Hoopers legendary film will also immediately remember the Last Chance Gas Station (see movie clip below), which was run by Jim Siedows chili-cooking Drayton Sawyer (head of a family of murderous flesh-eaters) and frequented by Marilyn Burns Sally and her friends on their fateful trip through rural Texas. Once known in real life as Hills Prairie Grocery Store and Bilbos Texas Landmark, the Bastrop County pit stop used in the low-budget film was purchased in 2015 by Ohio entrepreneur Roy Rose. (In a nice bit of horror synergy, Rose brought in, as an investor, Ari Lehman, who played a young Jason Voorhees in the original Friday the 13th.) Now, after making extensive renovations, Rose has transformed the dilapidated filling outpost into the Gas Station, a bed-and-barbecue tourist attraction where customers can get a plate of smoked meat (We Slaughter Barbecue reads its roof sign) and stay in one of a handful of overnight cabins, which come equipped with TVs and stockpiles of famous horror movies.

As TMZ reports, the grand opening of the Gas Station took place on Oct. 8, and hundreds lined up to taste its ghoulish offerings, while also getting to meet actors Edwin Neal (the Hitchhiker) and Ed Guinn (the Cattle Truck Driver), both of whom, according to the establishments official website, will return for another guest appearance, alongside The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2s Caroline Williams, on Oct. 30 and 31. At the opening last week, Rose showed Texas Chainsaw 3D on a big screen for patrons  which is somewhat perplexing, given the lameness of that 2013 sequel, although attendees were undoubtedly still happy both to pick up some grisly memorabilia from the Gas Station gift store and to get a photo op with some costumed fans.

Some fans at the Gas Stations opening. (Photo: Facebook/gasstation304)

The Gas Stations official website is currently live, and it also has a regularly updated Twitter account. It probably goes without saying that those interested in booking a room or enjoying a meaty meal for Halloween will want to make plans soon, before  ahem  the buzz about the place becomes deafening.
Derrick Rose

USA TODAY Sports

A verdict will be reached in the Derrick Rose case soon enough after all. One day after the defense motioned for a mistrial on the basis that the accusers representation failed to provide them with pertinent text messages, Judge Michael W. Fitzgerald ruled that the ongoing proceedings would continue as planned.

Though the judge denied the defenses motion, he made abundantly clear that the plaintiffs failure to produce the text messages is both negligent and supportive of Roses realization shortly after the incident in question that Jane Doe was after his money.

Heres Julia Marsh of the New York Post:

Plaintiff failed in her legal obligation to respond fully to the lawful discovery demands, Judge Michael Fitzgerald said in court Wednesday morning. These texts could be viewed by the jury as being helpful to the defense, Judge Fitzgerald said. They are at a minimum consistent with the defenses theory of this action, the judge added, referring to Roses claims that his accuser made up the sexual assault claim in a bid to get rich. The judge said he will tell the jury that the accuser had an obligation to hand over a complete set of texts, but failed to do so. He will also allow Roses attorney to recall the accuser to the witness stand to grill her about the texts.

Hours before she was allegedly raped by Rose, Randall Hampton, and Ryan Allen, the accuser sent the New York Knicks star a text message in which she called him babe and asked why he didnt have sex with a friend who accompanied her to his rented Beverly Hills Mansion. One of Roses lawyers, Mark Baute, argued that Does text  which was one of the several not shared with the defense  is indicative of her plans to map out a false rape charge because she wants and needs money.



Hamptons testimony on Wednesday was similarly tawdry.

Hampton on sex w/ Doe at her apt: "she placed her cheek on m cheek and then laid back and opened her legs."  Julia Marsh (@juliakmarsh) October 12, 2016

Hampton on alleged sex with Doe at Rose's home before alleged rape: "I enjuyed it it seemed to me she enjoyed it she moaned"  Julia Marsh (@juliakmarsh) October 12, 2016

Hampton "At some point I saw Derrickshe began to give him oral sex like she didn't hesitate at allI was having missionary sex w her"  Julia Marsh (@juliakmarsh) October 12, 2016

Well continue keeping you updated with pertinent details of this trial as it resumes.

(New York Post)
On Oct 13, 2016, we issued an updated research report on Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. TMO, a scientific instrument maker and world leader in serving science.

Thermo Fisher recently closed the acquisition of FEI Company, Inc., a prominent player in the field of high-performance electron microscopy. This colossal $4.2 billion takeover remains part of Thermo Fishers strategy of expansion through acquisitions. This buyout will enable the company to access FEIs industry-leading high-performance electron microscopy platform used for protein study, which in turn facilitates life-science research. Following the deal closure, Thermo Fisher plans to integrate the FEI business within its Analytical Instruments segment.

We also await the integration and expected synergy from Affimetrix, the recently completed mega acquisition by Thermo Fisher. This buyout is expected to boost the company's offering in the fast-growing flow cytometry market through an advanced antibody portfolio.

In genetic analysis, Affymetrix's technologies should perfectly complement Thermo Fisher's products in the targeted clinical and applied markets. The company expects this acquisition to generate attractive financial returns, including an accretion of 10 cents to its adjusted EPS in the first full year of the deal. Total synergy value is pegged at $70 million by the third year post completion of the deal, which comprises cost synergy of $55 million and adjusted operating income benefit of $15 million.

Additionally, the Life Technologies integration is progressing well and Thermo Fisher is on track to deliver revenue and cost synergy targets from the same. By year-end 2015, the company realized $130 million of incremental cost synergies, in line with its full-year target. Revenue synergies at the end of 2015 were $90 million, much faster than anticipated. This puts Thermo Fisher in a comfortable position to achieve its full-year 2016 targeted synergy to deliver $150 million in revenue.

Story continues

Thermo Fisher has carried out multiple acquisitions in the past that have added complementary technologies, expanded its presence in high-growth markets, and generated cost and revenue synergies, thereby creating shareholder value. Apart from boosting revenue accretion, these deals have historically benefited the company's operating margin while also resulting in tax synergies.

Thermo Fisher boasts strong international operations and has witnessed consistent growth in the Asia-Pacific and emerging markets. The company plans to continue strengthening its foothold in emerging markets, such as China and India, and translate this success to other high-priority opportunities in regions such as South Korea, Russia and Brazil. In the last reported second-quarter 2016, standout contributors were China, South Korea, India and Southeast Asia.

However, economic uncertainties and currency headwinds continue to act as major dampeners. Thermo Fisher currently estimates unfavorable foreign exchange to have a negative impact on its top- and bottom-line performance even in 2016, although to a lesser degree compared to 2015.

The stock currently carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

Key Picks

Some favorably ranked medical stocks are Boston Scientific Corporation BSX, The Cooper Companies Inc. COO and Laboratory Corp. of America Holdings LH. All the three stocks carry a Zacks Rank #2. You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Boston Scientific has gained 25.7% year to date, much better than the S&P 500s 4.7% over the same period. Over the past three months, the companys earnings estimates for the current year have inched up 0.9% to $1.10 per share.

Cooper has seen eight estimates move higher for the current fiscal over the past 60 days, compared to no downward movement. Accordingly, earnings estimates for the year have moved up by 1.2% to $8.42 per share. The stock recorded a gain of 33.6% year to date.

LabCorp has an impressive earnings growth rate of 11.3% for the current fiscal, ahead of the industry growth expectation of 7.6%. Year to date, the stock has performed better than the S&P 500, with a gain of 10.4%.

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In the wake of public and political outrage concerning the sales scam, Wells Fargo & Companys WFC Chief Executive Officer John Stumpf has decided to step down, effective immediately. Tim Sloan, the companys President and Chief Operating Officer will be succeeding Stumpf.



In a statement released on Wednesday, the companys Lead Director, Stephen Sanger said that Stumpf believes new leadership at this time is appropriate to guide Wells Fargo through its current challenges and take the Company forward.



Stumpf, who joined Wells Fargo in 1982, became CEO of the San Francisco-based banking giant in Jun 2007 and chairman in Jan 2010. Under his leadership, the company earned admiration for steering well through the onslaughts of the 2008 financial meltdown. However, Stumpf has been facing harsh criticism following the banks $190-million settlement for illegally opening millions of unauthorized accounts.



Stumpf mentioned that he is very optimistic about the future of Wells Fargo, adding, While I have been deeply committed and focused on managing the Company through this period, I have decided it is best for the Company that I step aside.



Stumpf, who has already agreed to forfeit all of his outstanding unvested stock awards valued at around $41 million, would not receive any severance package. According to a Mar 2016 filing by the company, Stumpf is eligible for a $24 million supplemental cash balance plan. However, the proceeds from this benefit are usually paid six months post retirement.



Meanwhile, Stumpf had testified before the U.S. Senate Banking Committee last month. He apologized for the unethical sales practices and mentioned that there was no orchestrated effort or scheme by the bank to promote such fraudulent practices. However, Stumpf was thoroughly grilled at the hearing, where committee members, including Democrat Elizabeth Warren, demanded his resignation. Stumpf also appeared at the U.S. House Financial Services Committee hearing.



Sloan, a 29-year veteran at Wells Fargo who had taken up the position of president and COO in Nov 2015, undoubtedly inherits the task of reinforcing the once largest bank of the nation.



Sloan stated, Its a great privilege to have the opportunity to lead one of Americas most storied companies at a critical juncture in its history. My immediate and highest priority is to restore trust in Wells Fargo. 



Since the announcement of the settlement on Sep 8, shares of Wells Fargo, whose troubles continue to deepen with probes and lawsuits, lost over 9%. Nevertheless, following the latest announcement, shares gained nearly 2% in the after-hours trading.



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WELLS FARGO-NEW Price | WELLS FARGO-NEW Quote

Notably, Wells Fargo, JPMorgan Chase & Co. JPM, Citigroup Inc. C and The PNC Financial Services Group, Inc. PNC kick-start the Q3 earnings season on Oct 14.

Wells Fargo currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

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Tom Cruise went back to Shanghai on Wednesday to promote Jack Reacher: Never Go Back, and he let fans know what makes the role so fulfilling for him to reprise.

"He's someone who sticks up for people who can't stick up for themselves," Cruise told the crowd during a Q&A session at No. 5 Studio in Shanghai. "You have the kind of physicality and the kind of humor and wit that's very unique."

WATCH: Tom Cruise on Reprising His 'Badass' Character in 'Jack Reacher: Never Go Back'

The second Jack Reacher film has the titular hero returning to action to help Susan Tuner (Cobie Smulders), the woman who took over the elite unit he once commanded.

The film definitely required more training than Smulders' role as Robin on the CBS sitcom How I Met Your Mother, but she was able to draw from unlikely life experience to help boost her performance.

"Raising children takes a certain amount of energy and patience, and I think I used a lot of that patience playing Susan Turner when dealing with Jack Reacher," Smulders revealed.

WATCH: Cobie Smulders Talks Working With Tom Cruise on 'Jack Reacher 2'

Of course, Cruise is no stranger to big-screen action sequences, but even he admitted to ratcheting up his normal routine for the film.

"For Jack Reacher, the fighting style is very different, so there's always a lot of training," he said.

Jack Reacher: Never Go Back opens Oct. 21.

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Tom Hanks has been enjoying a whirlwind tour in Italy. After the world premiere of his new film, Inferno, last week in Florence, he's now in the Eternal City to accept the Rome Film Festival's lifetime achievement award. The fest is also screening a retrospective of the actor's many films, and he will hold a public forum with festivalgoers on Thursday evening.

Speaking to press before the event, the conversation quickly turned to politics.

Imitating an Italian journalist at a junket, he said he frequently gets the question "Why the Trump?" His response: "You're Italian. Why the Berlusconi?"

Hanks, who previously spoke out against Donald Trump's vulgar Access Hollywood comments and lack of experience, continued to share his unrestrained opinion of the election. "It strikes me as 'Crapfest 2016,'" he said. "Every four years, the circus comes to town in the United States. Every four years, we decide who's going to be the leader. Sometimes we're in an era when it seems that the country is at a crossroads - it's always at some form of crossroads. Oftentimes there is a fever pitch of fear and anxiety. Sometimes it's warranted, and other times it's manufactured."

But the two-time Academy Award winning actor doesn't think this is anything new. "I think without a doubt the world is going through something quite profound in which the future is shaky, in which the future is mysterious, in which great parts of the world are dealing with problems that seem as though they have no solution," he continued. "When America has faced those circumstances and times, we have never turned to a simplistic, self-involved gasbag of a candidate."

Read more: Tom Hanks to Get Rome Film Fest Honor

For Hanks, an avid reader of history, he believes the Trump persona is one that frequently infiltrates American politics. "They are out there. They have been there. There has always been a Huey Long. There has always been a Wendell Willkie. There's always been a Herbert Hoover," he said of the 31st president.

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"There's always been a Sen. Joseph McCarthy. There's always been some version of the current nominee of the Republican party that holds sway," said Hanks. "But we never invest our future with them. We have never done it, and we will not do it now."

For Hanks, he believes the solution to the "Crapfest 2016" is returning to truth. "There's an awful lot of ignorance that is promoted in any sort of campaign," he said.

But he acknowledged that this is a global problem, not one singular to the current election. "Ignorance is a commodity that can be sold and bought. There are people who maintain the status quo because they promote a brand of ignorance. There are people who maintain their power in the zeitgeist by promoting a brand of ignorance," he said. "When ignorance has prevailed, bad things have happened to the course of humankind."

But the conversation was not all political. Being in Rome, Hanks was of course asked which Italian director he would like to work with. "I think Roberto [Benigni] and I would be magnificent together," he replied. "I think it would be fantastic."

Read more: Tom Hanks: "Ignorance Is One of Our Greatest Threats"
Rome (AFP) - Movie star Tom Hanks took a shot at US presidential candidate Donald Trump Thursday, branding him "a simplistic, self-involved gasbag of a candidate".

Hanks, in Rome to receive a lifetime achievement award at the eternal city's film festival, joked with the press ahead of the ceremony about similarities between Trump and Italy's ex-prime minister Silvio Berlusconi.

"Why the Trump?" he said, imitating one of the many Italian journalists who had asked him the same question, before quipping: "You're Italian. Why the Berlusconi?"

The star attended the world premiere of his new film "Inferno" last week in Florence.

"Every four years, the circus comes to town in the United States. Every four years, we decide who's going to be the leader," he added.

"It's always at some form of crossroads. Often there is a fever pitch of fear and anxiety. Sometimes it's warranted, and other times it's manufactured."

The two-time Academy Award winning actor said "without a doubt the world is going through something quite profound in which the future is shaky, in which the future is mysterious, in which great parts of the world are dealing with problems that seem as though they have no solution".

However, "when America has faced those circumstances and times, we have never turned to a simplistic, self-involved gasbag of a candidate," he said.
Jerusalem (AFP) - A top diplomat and longtime adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has resigned from his post for personal reasons, the foreign ministry announced on Thursday.

Dore Gold has served as director general of Israel's foreign ministry since June 2015 and has been a close adviser to Netanyahu for more than two decades.

The ministry statement did not provide further details of why he was resigning.

"I would like to thank Prime Minister Netanyahu for his confidence in me," the statement quoted Gold as saying.

"As in the past, I will make myself available to the prime minister's needs in any capacity he sees fit."

Netanyahu, who also holds the post of foreign minister, praised the "important contribution" made by Gold to reinforce relations between Israel and the international community, including in Africa.

"Dore has been at my side for 25 years and I am sure he will remain available for any (future) mission," he said in a statement.

Netanyahu's office later announced that the prime minister had chosen career diplomat Youval Rotem to replace Gold.

Rotem is a former ambassador to Australia and the ex-head of the cabinet of the foreign minister.

Gold's resignation comes at a crucial time for Israeli diplomacy.

Israeli leaders are concerned US President Barack Obama will seek to lay out parameters for a resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict before he leaves office in January.

There have also been suggestions the US president could support or at least refrain from vetoing a UN Security Council resolution on the conflict that Israel opposes.
By Jeffrey Dastin

(Reuters) - An escalating fare war over the Atlantic is forcing big airlines to consider chopping prices, redesigning cabins and adding restrictions to win back budget-conscious vacationers drawn to upstart, low-fare rivals.

Delta Air Lines Inc (DAL.N) is reviewing cabin layouts, fares and the rules that come with them for international flights, its President Glen Hauenstein said on a call with media on Thursday.

"The exercise we're going through is to see what do people really want to buy and what are they paying for it," Hauenstein said. "It includes all kinds of fare products; it includes cabins we don't have today."

The airline's marketing partner, Air France KLM SA (AIRF.PA), said last month that it was looking at every option to fend off low-cost entrants.

And U.S. rivals American Airlines Group Inc (AAL.O) and United Continental Holdings Inc (UAL.N) plan to roll out stripped-down fares for domestic travel, though a spokesman for American declined to comment on whether this would be extended to Europe, and United representatives did not immediately comment.

The moves by the big carriers follow a summer in which budget long-haul airlines, notably Norwegian Air Shuttle ASA (NWC.OL), shook up the trans-Atlantic travel market by offering ticket prices as little as half what rivals charge.

Norwegian has said it can do this profitably because its labor costs are low and it flies some of the most fuel-efficient aircraft available.

Low-cost Icelandic carrier Wow Air also has taken market share from legacy airlines.

Those advantages will take time for legacy carriers to match, but Norwegian also has more economy seats on planes and charges for meals, seat selection and other amenities. Those tactics are easier for Delta and others to replicate.

The unbundling of amenities that come with a ticket is a move Delta deployed to compete with budget upstart Spirit Airlines Inc (SAVE.O) at home. In July, Delta said it plans to have the so-called "basic economy" product in all international markets in 2018, and a spokeswoman said Thursday that it already is on offer for some international destinations such as London and Glasgow.

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FALLING REVENUE

Delta, the No.2 airline globally by passenger traffic, said Thursday that trans-Atlantic revenue fell 8 percent in the third quarter from a year ago. It attributed this in part to flights on low-cost airlines and luxury Gulf carriers like Emirates [EMIRA.UL] exceeding demand.

According to air travel intelligence company OAG, one-way flights on Norwegian across the Atlantic grew 44 percent to 2,916 this year, after increasing 34 percent in 2015. This includes new service between New York and Paris, a hub for Air France.

Norwegian's schedule is dwarfed by Delta's more than 22,000 trans-Atlantic flights, but the added service is undermining efforts by Delta and other legacy carriers to shrink trans-Atlantic capacity and firm up prices that have been falling.

The data reflects schedules as of Sept. 9.

The biggest U.S. airlines and unions have turned to regulators to ease the pressure.

For more than two years, the U.S. Transportation Department has yet to finalize approval of flights that Norwegian has petitioned to start under an Irish subsidiary, in part because many in the U.S. industry say it would undermine wages and working standards. Norwegian has disputed the claims. The European Commission is now seeking arbitration because of the delay.

Norwegian's Chief Commercial Officer Thomas Ramdahl has estimated that about 20 percent of the airline's long-haul passengers are snatched from rivals. The majority are choosing their European destinations in the first place because of Norwegian's low fares, he told Reuters in an interview last month.

(Reporting by Jeffrey Dastin in New York; Additional Reporting by Victoria Bryan in Berlin; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)
* Parvus says tie-up has "limited strategic logic"

* William Hill says has duty to assess it

* Parvus says wants all other options considered (Adds detail from letter, bullet points, background)

By Simon Jessop

LONDON, Oct 13 (Reuters) - A leading investor in British betting company William Hill, Parvus Asset Management, said it would oppose any reverse takeover of Canadian firm Amaya , given its "limited strategic logic".

Parvus said a deal would also "destroy shareholder value" in an open letter to the board on Thursday, and it wanted the firm to consider all alternative options for maximising shareholder value, including a sale of the company.

The firms had announced talks on a tie-up on Oct. 7, just two months after William Hill rejected a revised takeover approach from online rival 888 and casinos and bingo halls operator Rank Group.

William Hill said it was still assessing a tie-up.

"It shouldn't take more than five minutes of the board's time to realise this deal doesn't pass the smell test," Mads Eg Gensmann, co-founder of 4.3 billion euro Parvus told Reuters.

Gensmann said he had no preferred strategic option, but he wanted the board to evaluate each on its merits, adding that their judgment in pursuing Amaya had been "clearly lacking".

In response, a spokesman for William Hill said given the strategic fit, diversification and potential synergies of an Amaya deal, it had a responsibility to fully assess it.

"However it is premature for us to draw conclusions whilst this work is ongoing. The Board would not come forward with a transaction unless it was satisfied that it was in the interests of all shareholders."

Parvus said it was the largest investor in William Hill, with a 370 million pound ($460.10 million) economic interest covering 14.3 percent of its outstanding shares using a derivatives called contracts-for-difference, which it would convert to shares if an Amaya deal was put to a vote.

After first buying into the firm in March 2014, the letter said Parvus had been supportive of the owners "despite the many operational missteps and weak share price performance", which Gensmann said included the implementation of its Trafalgar platform, which had left it a "market share loser online".

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On the proposed deal with Amaya, Parvus said the Canadian firm's core business of online poker was the least-attractive segment within online gambling and a tie-up would weaken William Hill's strategic position in the long run.

Parvus also said the potential deal's financial structure favoured Amaya shareholders at the expense of William Hill's, despite the latter's far superior cash-flow generation.

"Effectively, you're buying an overvalued asset using an undervalued currency," he said, citing moves in the value of the Canadian dollar and sterling since the start of the year.

Gensmann said the arguments used against starting talks with Rank and 888, which included the complexity of any potential tie-up, and those used for a deal with Amaya - a complex, cross-border "transformational deal" - displayed "blatant double standards".

"We strongly encourage that the board and management stops wasting valuable time and shareholder resources pursuing this value-destroying deal," Parvus wrote. ($1 = 0.8042 pounds) (Reporting by Simon Jessop; editing by Pamela Barbaglia and Alexandra Hudson)
Paris (AFP) - Toulon and the Top 14 will be aiming to re-establish their superiority when the three-time winners host champions Saracens on the opening weekend of the European Champions Cup.

The French giants had almost made the competition their own by winning the previous three editions until Racing 92 knocked them out in last year's quarter-finals.

But the Parisians could not match the might of English champions Saracens in the final and England had their first winners since Wasps beat Leicester in an all-Premiership title-decider in 2007.

Since then the Irish imposed their dominance with four titles in five years before the French took over -- six of the last eight finalists have been from the Top 14, with only Sarries breaking the trend.

And the champions will likely be the team to beat this season after demonstrating their power already in their domestic league, returning to the top of the Premiership with a bonus-point victory over previously unbeaten Wasps on Sunday.

Sarries will also likely welcome back England fly-half Owen Farrell, perhaps even to the starting line-up, on Saturday.

"If everything goes to plan, he (Farrell) could go straight into the team for this weekend -- he's an influential member of the squad and it's good to have him around the team," said Saracens director of rugby Mark McCall.

Farrell has been suffering from a back injury but warmed up with Saracens ahead of the Wasps match, although he didn't play.

England hooker Jamie George scored a brace of tries in that 30-14 victory and feels it has set the champions up well for what will likely be their toughest group stage test.

"This is a huge game to start the Champions Cup pool stage, but we are in a great position going to Toulon. We have created really good momentum with our win over Wasps," he told the Evening Standard.

Toulon, for their part, have been a mixed bag all season and drew 17-17 at La Rochelle last weekend, needing a late penalty just to snatch that result.

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They are fourth in the Top 14 having already lost three times this season, including at home to minnows Brive.

- Racing disarray -

But the French as a whole will certainly prove tough challengers for final honours.

Racing have made no secret this season that Europe is their priority having won the Top 14 back in June but lost to Sarries the month before in the Champions Cup final.

They are in some disarray, though, after revelations about three of their players, including All Black great Dan Carter, having tested positive for a corticosteroid following the Top 14 final victory over Toulon -- the other two were New Zealander Joe Rokocoko and Juan Imhoff of Argentina.

They've not been accused of any wrong-doing but Racing have struggled in the league this season and are down in eighth having lost all four away games so far.

Fortunately, though, they begin at home to two-time champions Munster.

The Irish province will be looking to lead a fightback from the Emerald Isle after none of the Celtic League representatives managed to get out of last year's pool stages.

But their pool is incredibly tough with Glasgow and Leicester, who get things underway on Friday night.

Ulster have perhaps the best chance in Pool 5 alongside Clermont, Exeter and Bordeaux-Begles, but Leinster will have their work cut out to get through from Pool 4.

They start at home to Castres but also face Northampton and Montpellier.

Only the five group winners guarantee qualification for the quarter-finals, alongside the best three runners-up.

Pool 2 should provide one of those as it includes hapless Italians Zebre, who start their campaign away to Wasps and come into the match on the back of five straight defeats to start their Celtic League campaign.

Celtic League champions Connacht are also in that group, alongside record four-time European champions Toulouse.
Discoverys second season of Treasure Quest: Snake Island is set to premiere on Friday, November 4, at 10 p.m. ET, TheWrap has learned exclusively  but thats not all weve got. Check out our exclusive sneak peak above, in which the guys actually find a piece of treasure.

After a death-defying expedition on Brazils deadly Snake Island, several real-life treasure hunters continue their quest for the Treasure of the Trinity, a legendary hoard of Inca gold worth nearly $400 million. At the end of last season, team leaders Jeremy Whalen and Cork Graham solved a critical clue on Snake Island that indicated the treasure was hidden in the depths of the treacherous Paraguayan jungle.

This time around, confident that theyve honed in on the exact location, the explorers go all out in pursuit of the ultimate fortune.

Also Read: Discovery Invests $100 Million in New Digital Company, Group Nine Media

Below is the group of treasure hunters, with descriptions all in Discoverys own words.

Whalen: Jeremys vast experience, deep knowledge of South American history and natural audacity have propelled him to the leadership role for this grueling expedition. Jeremy is a veteran treasure hunter but tracking down the legendary Treasure of the Trinity has become the most challenging mission of his life.

Graham: Cork has dedicated his life to searching for lost treasure. At the age of 18, he participated in a covert search for Captain Kidds treasure off the coast of Vietnam but was captured and accused of being a spy. He is now focused on the Treasure of the Trinity and determined that it will not escape his grasp.

Also Read: Cable News Is Killing Us, Discovery Boss Admits

Mehgan Heaney-Grier, Expedition Dive Master: Mehgan is an accomplished athlete, stunt diver, marine conservationist, and certified Divemaster. She has spent her lifetime perfecting the art of working well under pressure and has the experience, confidence and know how to tackle any challenge that comes her way. For her, the monetary value of the Treasure of the Trinity pales in comparison to its historical and archeological significance.

Story continues

Keith Cappy Plaskett, Boat Captain: Cappy has had a long, illustrious career in the armed forces, having served in many wars, including Vietnam and Iraq. Besides his military background, Cappy also has a great deal of experience with underwater excavations and archeology. It is his ability to handle extremely treacherous conditions and his passion for locating and preserving lost antiques that convinced him to sign up for this dangerous treasure hunt.

Brett Tutor, Survival Expert: The newest member of the team, Brett Tutor has led adventure missions all around the globe, from African deserts to Amazonian jungles. Though Brett had no treasure-hunting experience prior to this mission, he has officially caught the gold bug. Tracking down the Treasure of the Trinity is one of the most adrenalized and dangerous expeditions he has ever been on.

Also Read: Idris Elba Will Train to Become a (Real) Pro Kickboxer on Discovery's 'Fighter'

Emilio White, Naturalist: Emilio is an Argentinian naturalist and environmental educator. He believes the hunt for the Treasure of the Trinity to be a transformative experience, sending him places he never knew existed and teaching him more about his countrys history than ever before.

Treasure Quest: Snake Island is produced for Discovery Channel by MAK Pictures. Executive producers there are Mark Kadin, Will Ehbrecht and Anuj Majumdar. For Discovery Channel, the executive producer is Joseph Boyle; associate producer is Greg Wolf.

Watch the video above.

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World leaders paid tribute to Thailand's King Bhumibol Adulyadej as a champion of his people during a momentous seven-decade reign, as observers warned his death could plunge the country into renewed turmoil.

Bhumibol, whose reign witnessed regular bouts of political turmoil, coups and violent unrest, was revered as a serene and caring father of the nation, and a bulwark in troubled times.

His death Thursday at the age of 88, with Thailand under a military dictatorship, could cause fresh political tensions and economic hardship, analysts warned as his people come to terms with losing the only monarch most have ever known.

UN chief Ban Ki-moon hailed the king's "long dedication to his country and his legacy as a unifying national leader... respected internationally".

"The Secretary-General expresses his hope that Thailand will continue to honour King Bhumibol's legacy of commitment to universal values and respect for human rights," his spokesman said in a statement.

President Barack Obama praised the monarch as a "close friend" and partner of the United States.

He paid tribute to the king as a "tireless champion" for Thailand's development, praising his "unflagging devotion" to improving the lives of his subjects.

"I had the honor of calling on His Majesty the King during my visit to Thailand in 2012, and recall his grace and warmth, as well as his deep affection and compassion for the Thai people," he said.

Backed by an intense palace-driven personality cult, Bhumibol was revered as semi-divine by many in Thailand, and a towering leader above the din of the kingdom's fractious political scene.

In his heydey he built a reputation as a people's monarch, criss-crossing the nation to visit the rural poor and sometimes intervening to quell political violence -- although he approved most of the army's many coups during his reign.

- 'Greatly missed' -

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Neighbouring Singapore and Malaysia both expressed their sorrow at his passing, with the island city-state describing the king as "an outstanding and deeply revered monarch... (who) worked tirelessly for the betterment of the Thai people".

President Vladimir Putin sent a telegram of condolence, saying that "during the decades of his reign he won the sincere love of his subjects and high prestige abroad".

British Prime Minister Theresa May said Bhumibol "guided the Kingdom of Thailand with dignity, dedication and vision throughout his life. He will be greatly missed".

Chinese President Xi Jinping hailed Bhumibol's contribution to Thailand's development, adding that the "good relationship" between Bangkok and Beijing were due in no small part to "personal efforts made by King Bhumibol himself".

Bhumibol's "rural development projects improved the lives of millions of people in Thailand" and will be remembered for generations to come, said EU President Donald Tusk and European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted: "People of India and I join the people of Thailand in grieving the loss of one of the tallest leaders of our times, King Bhumibol Adulyadej".

As concern mounted over the Bhumibol's health in the days prior to his death, the stock market and baht currency tumbled. And analysts predict further jitters ahead.

"The death of Thailands highly revered king will plunge the country into a state of mourning, and also deep political uncertainty," forecasters Capital Economics said in a note.

"The period of (relative) political calm since the 2014 coup has helped the economy recover... But renewed political instability could quickly derail this recovery."

"Although the King has been unwell for a number of years and has had little or no influence on day-today policymaking for some time, he has continued to act as a unifying force in the country."

Advisory group Bower Group Asia said all eyes would now be on the succession. The junta leader said Thursday that the named heir, Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn, has asked for time before being officially proclaimed the next monarch.

"During the mourning and transition period, the military will retain a firm grip over the country to ensure that the royal succession proceeds smoothly and does not become politicised," it said.
In tweets Thursday morning, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump dismissed allegations of sexual assault made against him by several women who came forward in published stories Wednesday.

Four women accused Donald Trump of making unwanted sexual advances on them in reports published Wednesday. The accusations came days after a salacious leaked tape showed Trump bragging in 2005 about groping women under his celebrity status.

The allegations, made by Jessica Leeds and Rachel Crooks in The New York Times, Natasha Stoynoff in People, and Mindy McGillivray in The Palm Beach Post, came after Trump denied ever making unwanted advances when asked during Sunday night's presidential debate.

"The phoney story in the failing @nytimes is a TOTAL FABRICATION," Trump said in one tweet. "Written by same people as last discredited story on woman. WATCH!"

Trump is likely referring to a May story in The New York Times about how he has interacted with women in private. That story was written by the same two reporters who wrote the Wednesday story with the new allegations. Early Thursday morning, a lawyer representing Trump sent a letter to the Times demanding a retraction and threatening the newspaper with a lawsuit.

Trump also attacked the women who wrote a first-hand account in People magazine about Trump allegedly making unwanted advances on her in 2005 when she interviewed him for a story.

"Why didn't the writer of the twelve year old article in People Magazine mention the 'incident' in her story," Trump tweeted. "Because it did not happen!"

None of the four women had previously come forward with their stories. They said they did so after Trump said in Sunday night's presidential debate that his bragging about groping women and kissing them without consent in the 2005 leaked tape was "just words" and "locker room talk."

In the tape, in which Trump was talking to NBC's Billy Bush aboard an "Access Hollywood" tour bus, Trump bragged about being able to "grab" women "by the p---y" because "when you're a star they let you do it."

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Trump denied the latest allegations to the Times.

"None of this ever took place," he told the Times, threatening to sue the newspaper.

"You are a disgusting human being," he added to the reporter.

Allan Smith contributed to this report.

NOW WATCH: David Cay Johnston: 'There's no evidence Donald Trump is a billionaire'





More From Business Insider
MOSCOW (Reuters) - A foreign policy adviser to U.S. Republican candidate Donald Trump has accused Washington of contributing to an atmosphere of mutual contempt with Moscow by disregarding Russia's interests. Carter Page, a former investment banker whose views on Russia have caused controversy in the past, made the comments in an opinion piece for Russia's state-controlled Sputnik news agency that was published on Thursday. "From Syria to Ukraine to world energy policy, Russia remains an essential piece in the puzzle for solving many of Washington's most pressing geostrategic challenges," Page wrote in the article. The U.S. government had shown a "complete disregard for Russia's interests", Page said, saying this had fueled a sharp deterioration in bilateral relations. Trump, the Republican nominee for next month's U.S. election, named Page as being among five foreign policy advisers in March. Both Trump and Page are known for their more conciliatory stance toward Russia, in contrast to the views of many prominent Republicans. In a speech in Moscow in July, Page criticized Western countries for what he said was their "hypocritical focus on democratization" in the post-Soviet world. (Reporting by Alexander Winning; Editing by Andrew Osborn)
Editors Note: A previous version of this story, citing other published accounts, said GOP nominee Donald Trump had apologized for the 1990s U.S. bombing campaign in the Balkans. The Trump campaign has denied the reports, although the Serbian news magazine that initially published the interview has not corrected its story. Foreign Policy has updated its own report to reflect the conflicting accounts.

In a normal election year, the story would quickly have been dismissed as too bizarre to be true: An American presidential nominee apologizing to Serbia for a decades-old, U.S.-led bombing campaign to stop genocide.

But in the topsy-turvy 2016 race, with Republican candidate Donald Trump looking to deflect allegations of sexual assault, Thursdays report by the Serbian magazine Nedeljnik seemed plausible enough to multiple American media outlets. It quoted Trump calling the Serbian bombings a big mistake and blaming the administration of then-President Bill Clinton, a Democrat, for making a mess of the Balkans.

Nedeljnik, widely considered a legitimate journal, was still running its explosive Trump story as of Thursday afternoon. But Trumps camp said the real estate magnate was never interviewed by Nedeljniks reporters or editors, and has not apologized for the 1990s air campaign that helped stave off potential civilian slaughter in Bosnia and Kosovo.

This was a hoax and we look forward to receiving a formal retraction and apology from all involved, said Jason Miller, Trumps senior communications advisor.

Nedeljniks managing editor, Marko Prelevic, told BuzzFeed that the magazine coordinated the interview through a Serbian-American actor, Vladimir Rajcic, who claims close ties to Trumps running mate, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence. Prelevic said Nedeljnik received emailed responses from Trump advisor Suzanne Ryder Jaworowski, the campaigns Indiana state director.

By late Thursday afternoon, the magazines editorial board issued an explanation of how the interview was obtained and admitted it should have vetted its sourcing more rigorously, according to an English translation. However, it still did not correct its reporting. Nedeljnik confirmed to FP it had taken down its interview for the time being, and until we get to the end of this in order to investigate its internal reporting, noting Rajcic continues to maintain the interviews authenticity.

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Rajcic is currently running for president of Serbia in the 2017 election there, according to this site. On his Facebook page, he brags about Pences recent vice presidential debate performance. Jaworowski told Politico she met a man of Serbian descent at a fundraiser who said he was running for president of Serbia, and expressed interest in supporting the campaign.

In the Trump campaign denial, Jaworowski said, Regarding the article about a media interview with a Serbian politician and Mr. Trump via my email, this is completely false. I have never served as a conduit to interview Mr. Trump for anyone.

During the Clinton-era conflict, Serbian militias engaged in ethnic cleansing against predominantly Muslim communities as Yugoslavia violently collapsed. The U.S. air strikes resulted in hundreds of civilian casualties, but NATO credited them with stopping a potential genocide. Clintons decision to intervene greatly influenced the thinking of Trumps current rival, Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, on the use of American military force abroad.

The Nedeljnik report was explosive not just because it seemed to backtrack on established U.S. policy. It also came as Trump is desperate to deflect criticism from the growing list of women accusing the Republican presidential nominee of sexual assault. And that appeared to draw an uncomfortable parallel with Bill Clinton, who was accused of his own Wag the Dog military campaign against a terror network linked to Osama bin Laden as the White House reeled from the Monica Lewinsky sex scandal in 1998.

For his part, Trump has advocated an America First foreign policy in response to what he describes as disastrous nation-building military misadventures by Hillary Clinton and the Washington establishment. The U.S. should instead be pulling back from international commitments and such interventions, he has argued  with two notable exceptions.

As recently as the second presidential debate last Sunday, in response to a question about the tape scandal, Trump pledged again to knock the hell out of ISIS, and recommended a military alliance with Russia.

Trumps alleged comments to Nedeljnik  if they are true  would also represent a turnabout toward Serbia, given a October 2015 interview with British newspaper The Guardian. If theres a problem going on in the world, and you can solve the problem, the United States may decide to intervene, Trump said then.

Given the example of Bill Clintons decision to intervene in Kosovo to prevent ethnic cleansing, he said, Its OK, sure.

Photo credit: Joe Raedle / Staff
Are you ready to USE your TALENTS to make the world a better place for Children?





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For 70 years, UNICEF has been working on the ground in 190 countries and territories to promote childrens survival, protection and development. The worlds largest provider of vaccines for developing countries, UNICEF supports child health and nutrition, good water and sanitation, quality basic education for all boys and girls, and the protection of children from violence, exploitation, and AIDS. UNICEF is funded entirely by the voluntary contributions of individuals,
On July 22, 2016, a collection of more than 19,000 emails from the Democratic National Committee were made public via WikiLeaks. The document dump was the successful result of a cyber-breach completed by a hacker (or hackers) known as Guccifer 2.0. Russian intelligence groups are rumored to be behind the hack, a point that both Russia and WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange have denied.

Almost every week a new cybersecurity related incident surfaces, and no industry is safe from these attacks. As a result, the presidential candidates positions on cybersecurity are becoming increasingly more important, according to new research from Raytheon (NYSE:RTN).

In its annual cybersecurity survey of millennials, Raytheon found that 53% of young adults say that a candidates position on cybersecurity will influence their vote. Sixty percent of young men compared to forty-seven percent of young women are taking a comprehensive look at the candidates cybersecurity platforms. Currently, half of millennials dont think cybersecurity has been given enough attention this election cycle.

Given recent events highlighting cyber vulnerabilities, it is not surprising that a majority of young adults say that a candidates position on cybersecurity impacts their decision to support the candidate, Jack Harrington, Vice President of Raytheon Intelligence, Information and Services tells FOXBusiness.com.

According to Harrington, millennials take cybersecurity much more seriously than other generations because they have grown up with more exposure to technology than any other generation.

Whether they are paying friends on Venmo or taking an Uber, todays young adult rely on the security of their mobile devices and applications to keep their personal information safe, says Harrington.

Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton has said she would treat cyberattacks like any other attack, but has not released a comprehensive plan dedicated to cybersecurity. Republican nominee Donald Trump also has no official policy on cybersecurity, but says that he would make cybersecurity an immediate and top priority if elected.

Related Articles
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump denied multiple women's claims that he sexually assaulted them as "totally and absolutely false." "The claims are preposterous, ludicrous and defy truth, common sense and logic," Trump said at a campaign rally in Florida. "We already have substantial evidence to dispute these lies, and it will be made public in an appropriate way and at an appropriate time, very soon." (Reporting by Steve Holland and Doina Chiacu)
Amanda Rivkin/AFP/Getty Images

Whether you adore or despise him, Donald Trump displays a rare talent for inflaming political passions on both sides. But as he barrels his way to the Nov. 8 presidential election, his considerable luxury real estate holdings have seen a drop-off in sales.

Could his scorched-earth campaign and its many controversies be the culprit?

There was a 13.8% fall in the number of sales nationally in the roughly two dozen U.S. properties listed on the Trump Organizations website in the first six months of 2015 compared with the first half of 2016, according to a realtor.com analysis. (The mogul licenses his name to many more developments, which werent included.)

When it comes to dollars and cents, the number is less bleak: The median sale price of his residential properties dipped nearly 4.2%.

In Trumps home state of New York, a Democratic stronghold, the number of sales in his buildings (he has about a dozen) fell by nearly 17.1%. But sale prices were up 39.59%.

The primary reason for that New York bump was the single blockbuster sale of a $14.8 million condo on the 86th floor of the Trump World Tower in Manhattan. The Voyage Investment Group bought it earlier this year.

Growth in sales in Trump buildings [in New York] has been boosted by big investment groups more than individual buyers, says Javier Vivas, realtor.coms manager of economic research. Many of these multimillion-dollar sales come from foreign buyers. They dont typically care about American politics.

These sales numbers were tallied before a 2005 Access Hollywood video clip of Trump lewdly boasting was made public, and before several women came forward to say that he had groped them. (Trump denied doing so.)

Trump Tower on 5th Avenue in New York City 100pk/iStock

Is the challenge heated rhetoric, or changes in the luxury market?

Ultimately, it might not be the candidates verbal scuffles with everyone from House Speaker Paul Ryan to the Muslim parents of a slain U.S. soldier that present the greatest risk to Trumps housing portfolio, according to luxury real estate experts.

Story continues

A bigger factor might be the properties themselves. Luxury real estate agents in Manhattan say that the older Trump properties have lost some of their cachet.

The Trump buildings seem dated next to New Yorks new crop of amenity-laden luxury towers, say luxury agents. The most recent of the buildings listed on his organizations website, the Trump SoHo in Manhattan, was completed in 2010.

Theyre considered generic, upper-middle-class properties, says a real estate expert who spoke on the condition of anonymity. The expert noted that Trump buildings have similar lobbies and featureslike a chain. Its like a formula and it works, but  times have changed.

These days, luxury buyers want to live in even more spacious units in taller buildings. And they want more outdoor spacebe it on a roof or terrace, or below the building.

The upper end of whats being built now is not comparable, the source says of the newer, more modern finishes and amenities offered in todays luxury buildings.

Overall, the U.S. luxury market has been softening, with fewer sales and falling prices. There are fewer foreign buyers as of late due to a stronger dollar, weaker international currencies, rising U.S. home prices, and restrictions by countries like China that are making it harder for citizens to invest abroad.

This drop in luxury demand was evidenced by the 6.4% bump in the number of $1 million-and-up homes sitting on the market from June 2015 to June 2016, according to the National Association of Realtors. During the same period, the number of available homes priced between $100,000 and $250,000 dropped 12.5%.

Ribbon cutting ceremony for Trump SoHo New York Michael Loccisano/Getty Images for Trump SoHo

The fine print on Trump-branded real estate

Its difficult to determine the full extent of Trumps real estate holdings, because he doesnt actually own many of the buildings that bear his name. Instead, he often licenses his name for a fee to the developers of those projects.

The largest number of the two dozen or so U.S. residential buildings listed as real estate portfolio on the Trump Organizations website are in New York, but there are also a handful of buildings in Florida as well as one each in Chicago; Las Vegas; Honolulu; Stamford, CT; and Jersey City, NJ. Some of these are combined hotel and condo projects. The analysis did not include his California properties or Virginia vineyard.

But its not immediately clear if Trump owns, or partly owns, all of these buildings, including the Trump International Hotel and Tower, Trump SoHo, and the Trump World Tower.

The Trump Organization declined to comment.

Dozens of additional buildings across the globe license the billionaires name as do products ranging from menswear to energy drinks.

Trumps real estate licensing deals, brand, and branded developments were worth more than $3.32 billion in 2014, according to a financial summary he issued last year. In comparison, Trump only owned about $334.55 million worth of residential real estate in 2014, according to the one-page financial summary he issued when he launched his campaign.

Some buyers are turned off

While the long-term impact of Trumps campaign on his real estate business is unknown, there have been some high-profile defections from his buildings since he kicked off his White House run in 2015.

Former MSNBC host Keith Olbermann made headlines in March after he declared he was moving out of his three-bedroom condo in Manhattans Trump Palace because of the degree to which the very name Trump has degraded the public discourse and the nation itself, he wrote in an op-ed that ran in the Washington Post.

He sold the apartment in July, and the new owner has already put it back on the market.

We had a few people say, I dont feel comfortable buying in a building with Trumps name on it,' says Daniel Neiditch, president of New Yorkbased River 2 River Realty, a luxury real estate brokerage, landlord, and developer.

About half of Neiditchs clients are foreign, and the Trump refusers have included a Mexican billionaire and a South American buyer who were offended by some of the candidates comments.

To date, most owners and potential buyers of Trump properties havent been dissuaded by the mans public persona, say real estate agents across the U.S.

His name still carries weight even though some people are offended by some things hes said, Neiditch says.

Trump International Tower in Las Vegas, a luxury hotel, condominium, and timeshare building. George Rose/Getty Images

If Trump becomes president, what will happen to his real estate?

It Trump does indeed manage to snag the presidency next month, prices on his properties could go up, some agents believe. They could become status homes for foreign buyers, predicts luxury real estate agent Chris Fry of Elegran Real Estate in New York.

Running for president has given Trump, and his real estate, broad exposure. After all, he announced his candidacy in the lobby of his flagship property, the Trump Tower. And just last month, when he conceded that President Barack Obama was, in fact, born in the U.S., he did so in the newly opened Trump International Hotel in Washington, DC.

That sort of exposure can be good for Trumps brandand whatever his brand is selling, says Karen Post, president of Brain Tattoo Branding, an international branding consulting firm based in Tampa, FL. But until the election, its hard to tell what the majority of Americans think about Trump.

The jury is definitely still out on what will happen to his brand, Post says

The post The Trump Effect: Is His Presidential Bid Hurting His Real Estate? appeared first on Real Estate News and Advice - realtor.com.
Washington (AFP) - Even before women started coming forward to accuse Donald Trump of sexual assault, the Republican candidate with a record of misogynistic talk was no hero with female voters.

Now, the gender gap in US presidential politics is set to be its widest yet as women swarm in support of Hillary Clinton and her bid to become the first female US president.

First Lady Michelle Obama issued a rallying cry Thursday for women to fight Trump at the ballot box, calling his sexually aggressive comments about women "disgraceful" and "intolerable."

"While our mother and grandmothers were often powerless to change their circumstances, today we as women have all the power we need to determine the outcome of this election," Obama told a rally to cheers.

"We have knowledge. We have a choice. We have a vote."

But even before this week's explosive allegations of impropriety, polls suggest that Trump had lost the women's vote by a wide margin.

A projection out this week illustrated the fault line in stark fashion: if only women voted on November 8, the blue associated with Clinton's Democratic Party would cover more than 40 of the 50 US states.

Clinton would capture 450 of the 538 votes in the electoral college, which decides who becomes president, according to the projection by pollster Nate Silver of the news website FiveThirtyEight.com.

Conversely, if only men were to cast ballots, the bright red of Trump's Republicans would spill far enough to earn him 350 electoral votes.

Part of the explanation, said Susan Carroll, professor of political science and women's and gender studies at Rutgers University in New Jersey, is that Trump never really tried to appeal to women voters.

His efforts, she said, essentially amounted to "a couple of little token things on child care" and inviting his daughter Ivanka to speak at the Republican convention.

"That's been pretty much it," said Carroll, who is also a scholar at the Center for American Women and Politics.

Story continues

Instead, Carroll said, Trump has largely reached out to men, particularly white, middle-class males without a college degree -- the kind likely to have suffered in a changing global economy that draws manufacturing jobs from the US, and who are particularly apt to embrace Trump's platform promising more work and denouncing free trade deals.

- Male 'comfort' in Trump -

With Trump's campaign stumbling from one disaster to the next and the man himself practically at war with leaders of the Republican Party that nominated him, Clinton is comfortably ahead.

The latest Real Clear Politics polling average puts the margin at six points across the country, and the latest polls show her ahead in a slew of must-win states for Trump.

But the gender gap is startling.

Among women voters Clinton looks unbeatable. Early October polls consistently give her a double-digit lead over Trump and in some cases a margin of 20-plus points.

But the trash-talking New York real estate developer holds a strong lead among men. Here, too, the difference is huge: as many as 12 points in a Quinniapac University survey, for instance.

One factor that helps explain Trump's popularity among men is this: many seem to like his aura of male dominance and monetary success.

A poll out this week found that 45 percent of Trump supporters agree with this statement: "These days society seems to punish men just for acting like men." Among Clinton backers the proportion was 34 percent.

Silver, in an article accompanying the all-men and all-women electorate projection, acknowledged it was an intellectual experiment.

"But it seems fair to say that, if Trump loses the election, it will be because women voted against him," he said.

Historically, since the 1980s American women have tended to vote Democrat anyway and men identify more as Republican.

And as far back as her failed 2008 presidential bid, Clinton has built up a strong base among women, and the gender gap would have grown this year and perhaps set a record no matter who her opponent was, Carroll said.

"This might have been likely even it had not been Trump," she added. Trump has just made it easier.
By Alison Frankel and Dan Levine (Reuters) - Donald Trump hasn't sued a newspaper for libel in three decades, despite the Republican presidential nominee repeatedly threatening to do so over the course of his business career, according to databases of state and federal court records. A lawyer for the New York real estate developer demanded on Wednesday the New York Times retract a story in which two women accused Trump of inappropriately touching them. If the newspaper did not comply, Trump, who says the allegations are fabricated, would "pursue all available actions and remedies," the lawyer, Marc Kasowitz, said in a letter. Trump said at a rally on Thursday he was preparing a lawsuit. An attorney for the Times, David McCraw, said the story was of national importance and the paper would "welcome the opportunity" to defend it in court. Over the years, media outlets including the Wall Street Journal, the Village Voice, the New York Post and Fortune Magazine have reported receiving similar threats from Trump or his representatives in advance of unflattering articles. However, Trump rarely makes good on those threats, according to a Reuters review of court dockets in the database of online legal research service Westlaw, a unit of Thomson Reuters. The last time he sued a news organization for libel was apparently in 1984. Trump filed the case after the Chicago Tribunes architecture critic called his proposed 150-story Manhattan skyscraper an "atrocious, ugly monstrosity." In 1985, a federal judge in Manhattan dismissed the suit, ruling the critic had a First Amendment right to express his opinion. The skyscraper was never built. In the 32 years since Trump brought that suit, he has not taken similar action against another news organization, although he or his companies have sued at least three individuals and a book publisher. He was successful in one of those cases. Book author and former New York Times reporter Timothy O'Brien defeated a Trump libel lawsuit in 2011, after Trump underwent a grueling deposition by O'Brien's lawyers. Trump's suit against O'Brien, which also named OBriens publisher, Time Warner Book Group, alleged the author deliberately underestimated the businessman's net worth. A New Jersey state judge found in 2009 that Trump had not established OBriens actual malice. "OPENING UP OUR LIBEL LAWS" Former Miss Universe contestant Sheena Monnin was hit with a $5 million default judgment after she failed to appear for arbitration in a case in which Trump claimed she falsely denigrated the pageant as rigged. The arbitration judgment was upheld by a federal judge in Manhattan in 2013. The court record indicates the judgment was paid in 2014. The same year, a San Diego federal judge ruled Tarla Makaeff, who was lead plaintiff in a class action against Trump University, did not act with malice when she said in letters to her bank and the Better Business Bureau that Trump University engaged in fraudulent business practices. The judge, Gonzalo Curiel, dismissed Trump's defamation claim. Trump's attorneys, as well as a spokeswoman for his campaign, did not respond to requests for comment on his libel litigation record, including requests for information on any suits the Reuters docket search may have missed. U.S. courts have routinely deemed Trump a public figure in libel lawsuits. That means he has to show not only that the story is false, but also that the media outlet knew that it was false and published it in "reckless disregard" for the truth. If Trump were a private person, he would have to show the paper was negligent in failing to learn the allegations were false, which is a lower standard of proof. The New York Times attorney, David McCraw, wrote that the paper carefully vetted the allegations in the story. CHANGING LAWS NOT EASY Any Trump claim will be difficult because Trump's accusers were on the record, said Jane Kirtley, a media law expert at University of Minnesota Law School. That would bolster the newspapers argument that it didnt act recklessly in publishing their accounts. Trump has vowed to "open up our libel laws," if he wins the presidency on Nov. 8., to make it easier to sue news organizations. In reality, he would not be able to unilaterally change the laws because they are generally governed by individual states and court precedents. Court records show that Trump or his businesses have themselves been sued several times for libel or defamation. Most of those suits, including a complaint by a former tenant of a Trump condominium and another by a former dealer at a Trump casino in Indiana, were dismissed. One defamation suit against Trump survived dismissal, however. Stock analyst Marvin Roffman sued Trump for $2 million in federal court in Philadelphia in 1990, claiming he was fired from his job after publicly predicting the failure of the Taj Mahal casino in Atlantic City. Roffman alleged Trump defamed him in critical statements to numerous newspapers and magazines. After a federal judge refused to toss the case, the Trump Organization settled in 1991. An attorney for Roffman declined to comment. (Reporting by Alison Frankel in New York and Dan Levine in San Francisco; Editing by Amy Stevens and Ross Colvin)
Washington (AFP) - The election of Donald Trump as president would represent "a threat to press freedom" in the United States, with damaging consequences for journalists worldwide, a media rights groups said Thursday.

The Committee to Protect Journalists said its board passed a resolution "declaring Trump an unprecedented threat to the rights of journalists and to CPJ's ability to advocate for press freedom around the world."

The announcement comes as Trump's war with the news media escalates, as the Republican nominee rejected reports of sexual misconduct as "outright lies."

CPJ board chairman Sandra Mims Rowe said in a statement that Trump, "through his words and actions as a candidate for president of the United States, has consistently betrayed First Amendment values," referencing the Constitution's guarantee of a free press.

"Since the beginning of his candidacy, Trump has insulted and vilified the press and has made his opposition to the media a centerpiece of his campaign. Trump has routinely labeled the press as 'dishonest' and 'scum' and singled out individual news organizations and journalists," Rowe said.

"Through his words and actions, Trump has consistently demonstrated a contempt for the role of the press beyond offering publicity to him and advancing his interests."

Rowe said that any weakening of press freedom in the United States would have "far more serious" consequences for journalists elsewhere.

"Any failure of the United States to uphold its own standards emboldens dictators and despots to restrict the media in their own countries," she said.

"This appears to be of no concern to Trump, who indicated that he has no inclination to challenge governments on press freedom and the treatment of journalists."

Trump's skirmishes with the media have intensified amid revelations over his apparent failure to pay taxes, and more recently, accounts claiming he sexually assaulted several women.

Some media outlets, toughening their stand, have called out Trump for "lies" and many traditionally conservative news organizations have either endorsed Democrat Hillary Clinton or called him "unfit" to be president.
Donald Trump is "a revolting slug unfit for public office", lawmakers in Australia's most populous state said in a unanimous parliamentary motion on Thursday.

New South Wales Greens MP Jeremy Buckingham introduced the motion condemning "misogynistic, hateful" comments made by the US Republican presidential candidate against women and minorities, including his lewd and sexist remarks in a 2005 video.

It also asked the state's upper house to agree on the "divisive, destructive impact that hate speech from political candidates and members of elected office has on our community".

"It's great that all sides of Australian politics, from conservatives to liberals to greens, agree that Donald Trump is a 'revolting slug' and completely unfit for public office," said Buckingham.

"It's clear that all reasonable and decent people find Donald Trump's behaviour obnoxious and that the world is hoping American voters reject his politics of hate."

The explosive Trump is facing intense outside opposition and a wave of anger from fellow Republicans over the remarks he made about women in the 2005 video, which was made public last Friday.

With less than four weeks before election day, his support is teetering with rival Hillary Clinton maintaining her edge in national polls.
Donald Trump said during Sundays presidential debate that his bragging about kissing and touching women without their consent  caught on a hot mic in an explosive 2005 video  was locker-room talk and that he never actually groped anyone.

No, I have not, Trump told Anderson Cooper, the debates co-moderator.

But four women have come forward in news articles published Wednesday night, alleging they were inappropriately touched by the Republican nominee in separate incidents.

Here are the four women and a summary of their allegations. Trump has denied all four of the accusations and claimed the womens stories were fabricated.

Jessica Leeds

Leeds told the New York Times that in the early 1980s she was seated next to Trump on a flight to New York City.

About 45 minutes after takeoff, Leeds said, Trump lifted the armrest and began to touch her, grabbing her breasts and attempting to put his hand up her skirt.

He was like an octopus, Leeds said. His hands were everywhere.

Leeds fled to the back of the plane.

It was an assault, she said.

He was like an octopus, said a woman who sat next to Trump on a plane. His hands were everywhere. https://t.co/FrF5IlaGZj  The New York Times (@nytimes) October 13, 2016

Rachel Crooks

Crooks told the Times that in 2005 Trump kissed her on the mouth at Trump Tower in New York City without her consent.

Crooks, then a 22-year-old receptionist at a real estate investment and development company located inside Trumps Manhattan high-rise, said she encountered Trump outside an elevator and introduced herself:

They shook hands, but Mr. Trump would not let go, she said. Instead, he began kissing her cheeks. Then, she said, he kissed me directly on the mouth.

It didnt feel like an accident, she said. It felt like a violation.

It was so inappropriate, Ms. Crooks recalled in an interview. I was so upset that he thought I was so insignificant that he could do that.

Story continues

Shaken, Ms. Crooks returned to her desk and immediately called her sister, Brianne Webb, in the small town in Ohio where they grew up, and told her what had happened.

She was very worked up about it, said Ms. Webb, who recalled pressing her sister for details. Being from a town of 1,600 people, being naive, I was like Are you sure he didnt just miss trying to kiss you on the cheek? She said, No, he kissed me on the mouth. I was like, That is not normal.

Trumps response

A lawyer for the Republican nominee issued a letter accusing the Times of libel and demanding a retraction from the paper. The candidate himself responded on Twitter, calling the story phony and a total fabrication.

The phony story in the failing @nytimes is a TOTAL FABRICATION. Written by same people as last discredited story on women. WATCH!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 13, 2016

Reached for comment, the Times said it would not back down in the face of Trumps legal threat. We stand by the story, which falls clearly into the realm of public service journalism, a Times rep told Yahoo News.

Natasha Stoynoff

Stoynoff, a People magazine writer, says that Trump forced himself on her in 2005 at his Mar-a-Lago Club in Florida, where she was conducting a joint interview with the real estate mogul and his wife, Melania.

In December 2005, around the time Trump had his now infamous conversation with Billy Bush, I traveled to Mar-a-Lago to interview the couple for a first-wedding-anniversary feature story, Stoynoff recalled in an essay for People on Wednesday. Our photo team shot the Trumps on the lush grounds of their Florida estate, and I interviewed them about how happy their first year of marriage had been. When we took a break for the then-very-pregnant Melania to go upstairs and change wardrobe for more photos, Donald wanted to show me around the mansion. There was one tremendous room in particular, he said, that I just had to see.

We walked into that room alone, and Trump shut the door behind us. I turned around, and within seconds he was pushing me against the wall and forcing his tongue down my throat.

Now, Im a tall, strapping girl who grew up wrestling two giant brothers. I even once sparred with Mike Tyson. It takes a lot to push me. But Trump is much bigger  a looming figure  and he was fast, taking me by surprise and throwing me off balance. I was stunned. And I was grateful when Trumps longtime butler burst into the room a minute later, as I tried to unpin myself.

The butler informed us that Melania would be down momentarily, and it was time to resume the interview.

I was still in shock and remained speechless as we both followed him to an outdoor patio overlooking the grounds.  The butler left us, and I fumbled with my tape recorder. Trump smiled and leaned forward.

You know were going to have an affair, dont you? he declared, in the same confident tone he uses when he says hes going to make America great again. Have you ever been to Peter Lugers for steaks? Ill take you. Were going to have an affair, Im telling you.

Trumps response

The candidate tweeted that the alleged incident never happened.

Why didnt the writer of the twelve year old article in People Magazine mention the incident in her story. Because it did not happen!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 13, 2016

Mindy McGillivray

McGillivray told the Palm Beach Post that she was groped by Trump at Mar-a-Lago in 2003.

McGillivray, who was 23 at the time, said she never reported it to authorities. But she told photographer Ken Davidoff, who was taking photos at a Ray Charles concert hosted by the club, that Donald just grabbed my ass!

Ray already performed. Hes ready to leave. Hes saying his goodbyes to everyone, McGillivray recalled. All of a sudden I felt a grab, a little nudge. I think its Kens camera bag, that was my first instinct. I turn around and theres Donald. He sort of looked away quickly. I quickly turned back, facing Ray Charles, and Im stunned.

EXCLUSIVE: Woman says Trump groped her in Palm Beachhttps://t.co/coBG54w1bb pic.twitter.com/KCSmfVXnEe  The Palm Beach Post (@pbpost) October 12, 2016

Trumps response

There is no truth to this whatsoever, Trump spokeswoman Hope Hicks told Yahoo News.

Temple Taggart

Taggart, a former Miss Utah, told NBC News that Trump embraced me and gave me a kiss on the lips in 1997, when she was a 21-year-old Miss USA pageant contestant.

Taggart said Trump, who owned the Miss Universe pageant at the time, later offered to help her get contracts with elite modeling agencies:

And during a visit to Trump Tower in Manhattan at Trumps invitation, he again embraced and kissed her on the lips, this time in front of two pageant chaperones and a receptionist.

The New York encounter made one of the chaperones so uncomfortable that she advised McDowell not to go into any rooms with Trump alone, McDowell said. The other chaperone accompanied her into Trumps office, she said.

Taggart had previously spoken out about the incident, but offered more details Wednesday in light of lewd comments Trump made in the 2005 video.

Miss USA contestant details unwanted encounters with Trump https://t.co/2fZfk2RT4Z pic.twitter.com/2wpJBJEJXg  NBC News (@NBCNews) October 13, 2016

Trumps response

I dont even know who she is, Trump told NBC News. She claims this took place in a public area. I never kissed her. I emphatically deny this ridiculous claim.

A campaign on the brink

In the videotape released Friday by the Washington Post, Trump was heard boasting to then Access Hollywood host Billy Bush that he could do anything he wanted to with women because of his celebrity status  including groping them.

I just kiss. I dont even wait, Trump said. And when youre a star, they let you do it. You can do anything. Grab them by the p****. You can do anything.

The vulgar tape was fiercely denounced by a cascade of Republican leaders, some of whom withdrew their endorsements or called for him to exit the race. With less than 30 days to go before Election Day, Trump has been fighting back against those GOP critics while escalating his attacks against Democrat Hillary Clinton.

For her part, the Clinton campaign issued a Wednesday night statement blasting Trump over the latest allegations.

This disturbing story sadly fits everything we know about the way Donald Trump has treated women, Jennifer Palmieri, the campaigns communications director, said in the statement. These reports suggest that he lied on the debate stage and that the disgusting behavior he bragged about in the tape are more than just words.
Istanbul (AFP) - Israel and Turkey on Thursday agreed to open discussions on building a gas pipeline to pump Israeli gas to Europe, as the Israeli energy minister made the first ministerial visit since a crisis in ties.

Israeli Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz met his Turkish counterpart Berat Albayrak in Istanbul, the highest level official meeting since the two countries normalised ties in June after a 2010 crisis triggered by Israel's deadly storming of a Gaza-bound aid ship.

Until the 2010 crisis, NATO member Turkey had been Israel's key ally in the Muslim world, and the process to normalise relations was strongly backed by the United States.

Hailing his visit as the start of economic benefits of normalisation, Steinitz said they agreed to start examining the feasibility of building an undersea gas pipeline to pump Israeli gas to Turkish consumers and on to Europe.

"What we decided is to establish immediately a dialogue between our two governments... in order to examine the possibility and the feasibility of such a project," he said.

He said that while Israel was also building regional energy cooperation links with Jordan, Egypt, Cyprus and Greece "the Turkish option is very important".

He added that Israel "will also be glad to see Turkish companies involved in Israeli energy sector" including in the exploration of gas fields.

A fluent English speaker, Albayrak is President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's son-in-law and seen as one of the rising stars of the Turkish government.

The Turkish energy ministry said in a statement meanwhile that the two ministers had agreed "to establish dialogue on exporting natural gas."

- 'Sweetener in relations' -

There remains huge potential for tension between the two sides, with Erdogan seeing himself as a champion of the Palestinian cause and being a strong backer of Hamas.

Israel meanwhile is unlikely to forget Erdogan's past verbal assaults on the Israeli leadership that extended to accusations of "keeping Hitler's spirit alive".

Story continues

But Turkey, which is hugely dependent on Russia for its energy imports, is keen to diversify supplies and has a close eye on Israel's own developing resources.

Israel is searching for energy partners to develop its Leviathan natural gas field in a bid to make it economically feasible.

"I believe energy is a sweetener in normalising Turkish-Israeli relations," energy expert Necdet Pamir of Bilkent University in Ankara told AFP.

"From Israel's perspective, shipping its gas to Europe through Turkey is the most profitable way," Pamir said. "Turkey is the most rational market for Israel."

Steinitz said Israel has discovered so far approximately 900 billion cubic meters (bcm) of natural gas but further exploration could raise the estimated reserves to around 3,000 bcm.

"This is a lot of gas -- much more than a little country like Israel can consume."

The talks on the proposed Israel-Turkey pipeline come just three days after Russia and Turkey signed an agreement on the construction of the TurkStream pipeline to pump Russian gas to Turkey and Europe.

- 'Token of normalisation' -

The relationship between the two countries plunged to an all time low after the Israeli commando raid on a Gaza-bound ship that killed 10 Turks, prompting Ankara to expel the Israeli ambassador and freeze all defence ties.

The two sides finally agreed in June to end the bitter six-year rift after long-running secret talks in third countries with Israel offering $20 million in compensation, an apology over the raid and permission for Turkish aid to reach Gaza.

Israel and Turkey are now set to return their ambassadors to their posts, with the Israeli foreign ministry due to appoint an envoy to Ankara on October 27.

The deal appeared to be part of a general recalibration of Turkish foreign policy under Prime Minister Binali Yildirim, who took over in May, to limit regional disputes that had multiplied under his predecessor Ahmet Davutoglu including with Russia.

Steinitz described his visit as "a token of this normalisation process that has just started."

The minister said he had also discussed the involvement of Turkish companies in improving the lives of Palestinians in Gaza, insisting this was not against Israel's interests so long as its security was preserved.
ANKARA (Reuters) - The Turkish Armed Forces sacked 109 military judges on Thursday, the defence ministry said, further extending a crackdown which has targeted tens of thousands of state employees as authorities investigate an attempted coup in July. Judicial authorities also suspended another 184 judges and prosecutors, adding to a stream of dismissals and arrests which Ankara says are aimed at rooting out supporters of U.S.-based cleric Fethullah Gulen, who Ankara says masterminded the putsch. State-run Anadolu news agency said the 184 were suspended for using a messaging app called ByLock. Turkey's intelligence agency has identified some 56,000 users of ByLock which Gulen's followers began using in 2014, officials have said. Gulen denies any involvement in the failed coup. The radical crackdown by Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan has drawn human rights concerns from Western governments who need Turkey's cooperation as they struggle to respond to Syria's civil war and the related refugee crisis. In a further wave of suspensions late on Thursday, the education ministry removed 2,400 teachers from their posts as part of the probe, Anadolu reported. In total, some 32,000 people have been jailed pending trial and 100,000 members of the security and civil services, teachers and others have been fired or suspended from work. The defence ministry move brought the number of sacked military judges to 209 out of a total of 468 before the coup, according to the privately-owned Dogan news agency. Among those dismissed were the former legal advisers to the chief of general staff and the air force. Concerns have been voiced about the crackdown's impact on state institutions, and the coastguard command on Thursday carried on its website a notice seeking 760 new soldiers. On Wednesday, Turkish authorities issued arrest warrants for 215 more police officers, and the defence ministry said the armed forces had dismissed more than 200 personnel. The purges within the armed forces, NATO's second largest, have resulted in thousands of soldiers being discharged, and around 40 percent of generals. Erdogan vowed to restructure the military after the coup. The coastguard command was brought under interior ministry control and its head was dismissed. In its notice, the coastguard command said it would hire 50 officers, 105 sergeants, and 605 privates under contracts, and announced applicants must have no links to any "terrorist organisation or its legal and illegal extensions". (Writing by Tuvan Gumrukcu and Daren Butler; Editing by Mark Trevelyan)
By Tulay Karadeniz ANKARA (Reuters) - Any mistake in a planned U.S.-backed operation to drive Islamic State from the Iraqi city of Mosul could result in hundreds of thousands of refugees, Turkish presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin said on Thursday. Turkey is locked in an escalating row with Iraq over who should take part in the Mosul assault and Kalin voiced concern that Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants, viewed by Ankara and Western allies as terrorists, could be involved. "Reports that the PKK may take part in the Mosul operation greatly worry us," he told a news conference, saying Turkey had no "secret agenda" in Iraq and favoured solving problems with Baghdad through dialogue. The PKK has fought a 32-year insurgency in Turkey, in which more than 40,000 people have been killed, and its leadership is based in the mountains of northern Iraq. Mosul, home to up to 1.5 million people, has been at the heart of Islamic State's self-declared caliphate in Iraq since 2014. The battle for the city is seen beginning this month. "A mistake made there could result in hundreds of thousands of people becoming refugees," Kalin said. "A mistake in the Mosul operation will not be limited to Iraq, it will impact the whole region." REGIONAL CONFLICT Turkish soldiers have been training Sunni Muslim and allied Kurdish Peshmerga units at Iraq's Bashiqa camp, near Mosul, and want them involved in the assault. But Baghdad's Shi'ite-led government objects to the Turkish military presence and wants its own forces at the forefront. Turkey fears the use of Shi'ite militias, which Iraqi army units have relied on in the past, will stoke sectarian unrest. "It is better for Iraq if the national army liberates Mosul and distances sectarian militias from the battle," Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir told reporters in Riyadh after a meeting with his Turkish and Gulf counterparts. A joint statement after the meeting between Turkey and the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) raised concern about "plans to involve militia forces which perpetrated revenge attacks, mass killings, torture and clear human rights abuses against local populations" in the Mosul operation. The Baghdad government has condemned the continued Turkish military presence at the Bashiqa camp and Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has warned Turkey risked triggering a regional war. Turkey, part of the U.S.-led coalition against Islamic State, says its troops are there as part of an international mission to train Iraqi forces to fight jihadists. The United States has said any foreign forces in Iraq should have the approval of the Baghdad government. (Additional reporting by Tuvan Gumrukcu in Ankara, Nael Shyoukhi in Riyadh; Writing by Ece Toksabay and Daren Butler; Editing by Nick Tattersall and Ralph Boulton)
Miranda Sings signature look is clown-red lipstick and eyebrows tweezed to pained, trying-too-hard cartoon arcs. Her hair is parted down the middle and held back with bobby pins, and she dresses like a third-grader from 1995. The effect is atrocious, which is the point. Miranda Sings, a socially maladjusted, abrasive teen with delusions about her own talent, is the alter ego of YouTube whiz Colleen Ballinger, who created Miranda eight years ago and, along the way, hit a nerve. Ballinger has 7 million YouTube subscribers and views of her videos number in the billions; she is the first YouTube personality to jump from internet fame to scripted television.

Unfortunately, Haters Back Off! doesnt have the same organic appeal as Ballingers bizarre, pastiche-y videos. The short format and context-less medium of YouTube serves Mirandas larger-than-life personality well; in an ocean of amateur, self-absorbed content, Ballingers Miranda schtick has welcome teeth. But in half-hour scripted episodes, Miranda chews and chews and chews the scenery, making it difficult to either believe in or laugh at a story about her.

With its staunchly middle-America aesthetics and bludgeoning awful personalities, the Netflix comedy feels like a pale imitation of 2004s Napoleon Dynamite. The difference is that Miranda, unlike Napoleon, hasnt found anything that doesnt make her immediately think exclusively about herself. As a result, Haters Back Off! starts out almost unwatchably awkward. Mirandas an egomaniac who cant sing  who dabbles in casual racism and steamrolls over her long-suffering family members  but by the end of the first episode, the audience is supposed to feel for her, albeit just a tiny bit.

Its hard to make an unlikeable character compulsively watchable, and in Haters Back Off!, Miranda lacks some of the innocent naivete that makes her character work on YouTube. In the context of a scripted series where at least a few people in the cast are relatively normal, Miranda is by contrast not just another self-obsessed YouTube star but apparently mentally ill. The soothing care with which her sister Emily (Francesca Reale) and mother (Angela Kinsey) handle her tantrums suggest that Miranda has had to be managed for a very long time.

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There is something interesting to be said, in Mirandas world, about desperate longing for Internet fame in a blip of a town where wieners on toothpicks are the height of sophistication. YouTube is a fascinating medium because of how intimate it can be; the viewer is brought right into the stars bedroom to share in flights of fancy or upfront confessional. Haters Back Off! offers traces of that fascinating landscape, including moments where Mirandas kooky, sullen frustration is completely understandable. But the show is too caught up in the foreground of attempting to be brutally funny with material that was fresh 12 years ago.

But who knows? Mirandas not for everyone, but has a devoted following all the same, and that could be the case for Haters Back Off!, too. For a certain demographic, Mirandas behavior during a church choir rehearsal could be raucously hilarious, an example of theater-geek self-obsession run amok. For me, anyway, Mirandas obsessions and absorptions, which come at the expense of her sisters happiness, her mothers peace of mind, her uncles financial stability, and the lives of several goldfish, prove to be more tragic than hilarious.

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Twenty One Pilots are back atop the Billboard Artist 100 chart (dated Oct. 22), crowning the ranking for the second time in three weeks as they rise 2-1. The Artist 100 measures artist activity across Billboard's most influential charts, including the Billboard Hot 100, Top Album Sales and the Social 50. The Artist 100 blends data measuring album and track sales, radio airplay, streaming and social media fan interaction to provide a weekly multi-dimensional ranking of artist popularity.

The duo's return to No. 1 comes two weeks after the pair set the record for longest climb to No. 1 (75 weeks), a feat that was then eclipsed by Shawn Mendes, who reigned for the first time in his 86th week on the chart the following week. (The chart began on July 19, 2014.)

Of Twenty One Pilots' Artist 100 chart points, the largest percentage is from album sales (45 percent), followed by radio airplay (27 percent), as their current single "Heathens" pushes 5-2 on Radio Songs with 12 million in audience, up 12 percent, according to Nielsen Music.

Rounding out the Artist 100's top five, The Chainsmokers leap 4-2, the duo's highest peak yet as its hit "Closer," featuring Halsey, continues to reign on the Billboard Hot 100; Drake holds at No. 3; The Weeknd rises 6-4; and Bon Iver debuts at No. 5, as the folk-rock act's third studio album, 22, A Million, debuts on the Billboard 200 at No. 2 with 71,000 equivalent album units, 58,000 of which are pure album sales (which contribute 89 percent of Bon Iver's Artist 100 chart points).

Just beyond the Artist 100's top five, Mendes, the previous No. 1, falls to No, 6, while Solange, whose new album A Seat at the Table debuts at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, marking her first chart-topper, debuts on the Artist 100 at No. 8. Like Bon Iver, the vast majority of her chart points (84 percent) stem from album sales.

Check out this week's entire Artist 100 here.
Australian police charged two 16-year-old boys Thursday with planning to commit a terrorist attack inspired by the Islamic State, authorities in Sydney said.

The teenagers were arrested the day before outside a prayer hall in western Sydney and were allegedly in possession of hunting knives and a note pledging allegiance to ISIS, the Australian Associated Press (AAP) reports.

Had we not been in the right place at the right time  certainly somebody, potentially today  or another day imminently, would be without their life, Australian Federal Police deputy commissioner Michael Phelan told reporters.

The charges include planning an act of terrorism, which carries a maximum sentence of life imprisonment, and belonging to a terrorist organization, which carries a penalty of 10 years behind bars.

Both teenagers were already known to Australian counterterrorism police. One of the boys is reportedly the son of a convicted terrorist, AAP reports.

Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said last month that the threat of terrorist attacks in the country was real, and Australians should be very alert after ISIS propaganda called for lone-wolf attacks.

[AAP]
(Reuters) - Two Boston policemen were in critical condition early on Thursday after they were shot in a gunfight with a man who was shot dead by other police officers, police said.

Other officers responding to the incident on the city's East Side shot and killed the man who was armed with an assault rifle and wearing a ballistic vest, Police Department Commissioner William Evans told a news conference.

"Domestic calls are probably the most volatile. You never really know what you are walking into," he said.

The shooting took place inside a house in the Orient Heights neighborhood at about 11 p.m. local time, the Boston Police Department tweeted.

One of the officers was shot several times and the other officer was shot once or twice. Both were in "extremely critical" condition at a local hospital, Evans said.

Nine other officers, who had dragged their wounded colleagues out of the house, were being treated for minor injuries and trauma at another hospital, he said.

Police did not identify the gunman or the wounded officers, one of whom had been with the police department for about 28 years and the other for about 12 years, police said.

(Reporting by Brendan O'Brien in Milwaukee; Editing by Louise Ireland)
By Garba Muhammad KADUNA, Nigeria (Reuters) - At least two people were killed on Wednesday in the northern Nigerian city of Kaduna during clashes at processions by minority Shi'ite Muslims, witnesses said. A police spokesman did not respond to text messages or phone calls seeking confirmation of fatalities, or to respond to claims from residents that officers helped instigate the violence. The clashes occurred during marches to commemorate the Shi'ite mourning day of Ashura. They also came just five days after the Islamic Movement in Nigeria, a Shi'ite sect, was declared illegal by authorities. Witnesses said properties had been set on fire and clashes had broken out between people taking part in the processions and a group of unknown youths. "It is the police that ordered the youths to attack us and to destroy our buildings," said a local Shi'ite leader who asked to remain anonymous and said three people had been killed. A Reuters photographer at the site saw two dead bodies and a school being vandalized by around 10 youths. The Islamic Movement in Nigeria was founded in the 1980s after the revolution in mainly Shi'ite Iran, which inspired the sect's founders. Nigeria's Muslim population is overwhelmingly from the Sunni school of Islam. In December, the army killed 348 of the movement's members during several days of violence in Zaria, a city north of Kaduna, a judicial inquiry said. On Friday the Kaduna state government said anyone convicted of being a member of the sect could be imprisoned for seven years, fined or both. The size of the fine was not specified. The Shi'ite sect's leader, Sheikh Ibrahim Zakzaky, has been held without charge since December following the clashes. Nigeria is also home to an insurgency by Boko Haram militants, a Sunni militant group allied to Islamic State, which wants to set up an Islamic state in the northeast. (Additional reporting by Afolabi Sotunde and Ardo Abdullahi; Writing by Alexis Akwagyiram; Editing by Ulf Laessing and Dominic Evans)
It was, as military operations go, one of those pinprick strikes armchair generals like to denounce as akin to putting a Band-Aid on a sucking chest wound. The U.S. Navy launched multiple Tomahawk cruise missiles against three radar sites in Yemen early Thursday after those installations allegedly helped steer Iranian-supported rebel missiles towards U.S. warships in the Red Sea.

The United States will respond to any further threat to our ships and commercial traffic, Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook said of the strikes, which President Obama had approved. The Navy launched the Tomahawks, tipped with half-ton warheads, from the destroyer USS Nitze in predawn darkness. They appeared to have destroyed the three radar installations, located in desolate areas along the Red Seas coast, manned by Houthi rebels supported by Iran.

While the U.S. strikes appear to be defensive, they also mark the first time the U.S. has taken military action in Yemens civil war. Saudi Arabia is leading the fight against Houthi rebels who have ousted the government of President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, backed by Riyadh and Washington, from Yemens capital. Washington has supported Saudi Arabias air campaign against the rebels, but has increasingly criticized the civilian casualties it has caused.

Like the unrest roiling Iraq, the Yemen war splits along Muslim sectarian lines, pitting Shiite rebels against the Sunni government, which is backed by Saudi Arabia. Its another sign of the challenge ahead. So long as the U.S. military wants to maintain a robust presence in the regioneven if in international watersit risks being drawn into the ancient enmity between Islams two major branches.

The strikes followed the launching of small coastal cruise missiles against the USS Mason and Ponce from Yemen on Sunday and Wednesday, and the apparently successful Oct. 1 attack against a United Arab Emirates vessel. U.S. Navy officials said the U.S. warships took defensive measures to protect themselves from the missiles, which splashed into the sea short of their targets.

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It was nearly 15 years ago5,371 days, to be precisethat President George W. Bush branded Iran, Iraq and North Korea as an axis of evil. Whats amazing is how little has changed since Bush denounced the three nations, despite waging wars that have cost U.S. taxpayers an estimated $3 trillion and American families nearly 7,000 of their sons and daughters.

In his axis of evil speech, Bush was most critical of Iraq. Indeed, the U.S. would invade the country 14 months later and topple its leader, Saddam Hussein. Iraq continues to flaunt its hostility toward America and to support terror, Bush told the nation in his State of the Union address following the 9/11 attacks. The Iraqi regime has plotted to develop anthrax and nerve gas and nuclear weapons for over a decade.

But unknown to U.S. intelligence, Saddam had shelved those efforts. The sectarian violence that has plagued Iraq since the 2003 invasion has provided fertile ground for the rise of the Islamic State, a Sunni terrorist organization whose violence has sown more fear around the world than Saddam ever did.

Bush also said that North Korea was a regime arming with missiles and weapons of mass destruction, while starving its citizens. That transpired under Kim Jong-il, son of Kim Il-sung, the founder of the Hermit Kingdom. But following Jong-ils death in 2011, his sonKim Jong-unhas accelerated Pyongyangs push to build nuclear weapons small enough to sit atop an ocean-spanning missile capable of hitting the U.S. While North Korea is not there yet, it has made great strides toward achieving that goal in the five years of Jong-uns reign.

As for Iran, Bush said nearly 15 years ago that it aggressively pursues these weapons [of mass destruction] and exports terror, while an unelected few repress the Iranian peoples hope for freedom. With the notable exception of the 2015 international accord that has imposed a decade-long brake on Irans nuclear ambitions, Iran continues its push to export terror and repress its people. The U.S. has helped Saudi Arabia in its fight inside Yemen against the rebels, in part to win Saudi backing of that nuclear deal.
By Tom Hals WILMINGTON, Del. (Reuters) - The U.S. government's pension insurer said on Thursday it opposed a deal to divvy up $7.3 billion left from the liquidation of Nortel Networks, potentially complicating efforts to end a seven-year battle over the cash. The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp, an independent federal agency, said it did not support an agreement reached Wednesday because it would not receive the entire $708 million it says it is owed. James Bromley, an attorney for Nortel, said he was disappointed in the agency's opposition. "They know full well this is an appropriate and reasonable settlement." Nortel stumbled from ranking among the world's most valuable companies during the 1990s Internet bubble to bankruptcy in 2009 and liquidation. The sale of Nortel's businesses raised billions of dollars, and Wednesday's agreement divided that cash among former Nortel businesses in Canada, the United States and Europe, ending years of cross-border court fights. The PBGC was not a party to the settlement, which is subject to court approval in the United States, Canada and other countries. The agency's claim stems from the termination of Nortel's underfunded pension plan in 2009, which at the time had 22,000 participants. The PBGC said it did not expect the settlement or its opposition to the deal to impact benefits for participants in the terminated Nortel pension plan. The agency said if its claim is not fairly resolved, however, companies that pay a premium to the PBGC to fund the agency will have to "shoulder a greater burden in the coming years." Wednesday's settlement will distribute cash that has been tied up for years in court fights, but not everyone was happy. An adviser to a group of about 60 Nortel long-term disabled employees in Canada said her group also opposed the settlement, which would pay them about 40 percent of what they are owed while bondholders are likely to collect 90 percent. "Bringing a mess to an end is a mess that never should have occurred," said Diane Urquhart, an independent financial analyst who has been working with the long-term disabled former Nortel employees in Canada. Still, Urquhart doubted the small group would be able to derail the settlement, which also distributes cash to more than 20,000 Nortel retirees in Canada. An official representative of the larger group of about 350 long-term disabled former employees in Canada signed onto the settlement agreement. (Reporting by Tom Hals in Wilmington, Delaware; editing by Grant McCool)
(Adds details, comments from CDC and company)

By Bill Berkrot

Oct 13 (Reuters) - The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Thursday issued a warning over the risk of serious bacterial infection to patients who have undergone open-heart surgery due to possible contamination of a device made by LivaNova Plc commonly used in the procedures.

The agency said the LivaNova Stockert 3T heater-cooler device used to keep a patient's circulating blood and organs at a specific temperature may have been contaminated during manufacturing, putting patients at risk of life-threatening infection.

Patients who have had open-heart surgery should seek medical care if they are experiencing symptoms such as night sweats, muscle aches, weight loss, fatigue or unexplained fever, CDC said.

About 60 percent of more than 250,000 heart bypass procedures in the United States each year use the LivaNova devices, CDC said.

"Hospitals should check to see which type of heater-coolers are in use, ensure that they're maintained according to the latest manufacturer instructions, and alert affected patients and the clinicians who care for them," Michael Bell, deputy director of CDC's Healthcare Quality Promotion division, said in a statement.

While some patients in this investigation have died, it is unclear how many were infected and whether infection was a direct cause of death, the agency said.

Further confounding the problem is the fact that patients exposed to the bacteria during surgery can develop nonspecific symptoms that can take months to develop. As a result, diagnosis of the infections can be missed or delayed, making them more difficult to treat, CDC said.

"We are working with regulators to develop a solution that addresses their concerns and ensures continued clinician access to this important device, which enables lifesaving cardiac surgery," London-based LivaNova said in a statement.

The CDC and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration initially published information about the potentially contaminated devices in 2015. Evidence suggests the bacteria, Mycobacterium chimaera, contaminated devices during manufacturing in Germany, CDC said.

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CDC said it will continue to work with the FDA and clinical community to further evaluate and reduce risk associated with these devices, as well as increase provider and patient awareness.

While any recall decision would come from the FDA, CDC said such a move was not feasible, given how often the devices are used.

"Taking them all out of service at one time wouldn't really be an option to be able to continue to do those really critical and life-saving surgeries," a CDC spokeswoman told Reuters.

(Additional reporting by Dipika Jain in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak Dasguptat and Cynthia Osterman)
By Clement Uwiringiyimana KIGALI (Reuters) - The world will not forgive leaders gathered in Rwanda this week if they fail to back a proposed agreement to cut greenhouse gases, a top U.N. official said on Thursday, calling the deal an easy one to achieve. Representatives from about 150 nations heard the appeal as they opened negotiations on a deal to reduce the use of factory-made hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) gases, which are used in refrigerators, air conditioners and aerosols. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry landed in Rwanda on Thursday evening and will join the talks. U.S. officials said they were optimistic an agreement could be reached at the meeting, which ends on Friday. "No one, frankly, will forgive you if you cannot find a compromise at this conference," said Erik Solheim, executive director of United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP). "This is one of the cheapest, one of the easiest, one of the lowest-hanging fruits in the entire arsenal of climate mediation," he told the opening session in the Rwandan capital Kigali. Scientists say a quick reduction of HFCs could dramatically slow climate change, avoiding perhaps 0.5 degree Celsius (0.9 Fahrenheit) of a projected rise in average temperatures by 2100. Solheim said failure to act would contribute to more extreme droughts and stronger storms of the type that hit Haiti last week, killing about 1,000 people. "Expect more of this extreme weather if we dont fight against climate change," he said. Among developing nations, India has been under the greatest pressure to sign a deal. India wants poor nations to be allowed to peak their HFC emissions between the years of 2024 to 2026, in order to avoid hurting growth, said Anil Dave, minister of the environment, forest and climate change. Other countries, such as the United States, want the peak to come earlier, at 2020 to 2022, Dave told a press conference. He said India had already reduced its time frame in return for promises from developed countries to help pay for new technologies using cleaner gases. "This is a very calibrated and a very positioned response based on our national interests," he said. The Kigali talks are part of the 1987 Montreal Protocol, which helped protect the ozone layer by cutting the use of chlorofluorocarbons. The ozone layer shields the planet from ultraviolet rays that can cause skin cancer. That deal prevented 2 million cases of skin cancer, Solheim said, adding he had been diagnosed with the disease himself. (Writing by Katharine Houreld; Editing by Edmund Blair and Tom Heneghan)
Three radar sites on the Yemeni coast were destroyed by the U.S. military early Wednesday morning local time, in retaliation for missile launches against an American destroyer.

According to a statement by Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook, the sites were in Houthi-controlled territory on Yemens Red Sea coast. Initial assessments show the sites were destroyed, he said.

The strikes  authorized by President Obama at the recommendation of Secretary of Defense Ash Carter and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs General Joseph Dunford  targeted radar sites involved in the recent missile launches threatening USS Mason and other vessels operating in international waters in the Red Sea and the Bab al-Mandeb.

The USS Mason was targeted by a missile on Wednesday and by two missiles on Oct. 9. No injuries or damage to the vessel have been reported.

The United States will respond to any further threat to our ships and commercial traffic, as appropriate, Cook stated, and will continue to maintain our freedom of navigation in the Red Sea.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. military strikes against coastal radar sites in Yemen were defensive in nature and not a signal of a deepening U.S. role in Yemen's conflict, the Pentagon said on Thursday. "These strikes are not connected to the broader conflict in Yemen. The United States continues to encourage all parties in the Yemen conflict to commit to a cessation of hostilities and to seek a political solution to that conflict," Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook told a news conference. "Our actions overnight were a response to hostile action, the launch of multiple missiles that presented a threat to U.S. Navy vessels, to other ships in the area and to commerce in a strategic international waterway." (Reporting by Phil Stewart and Idrees Ali; Editing by Leslie Adler)
LONDON (Reuters) - British foreign minister Boris Johnson said on Thursday it was not "entirely right" to talk about a new Cold War with Russia because Moscow did not pose as much of a threat to global stability as the former Soviet Union had. "It is doing many, many terrible things ... but I don't think Russia today can be compared with the Soviet Union that I remember as a child. I don't think it is as much of a threat to the stability of the world as the former Soviet Union," he told a parliamentary committee. "I don't think it's entirely right ... to talk about a new Cold War." (Reporting by Kylie MacLellan and William James, writing by Elizabeth Piper; editing by Stephen Addison)
United Nations (United States) (AFP) - The UN General Assembly on Thursday appointed Antonio Guterres as the new secretary-general of the United Nations, in a shift towards a more high-profile leadership of the world body.

The former prime minister of Portugal pledged to work as a "bridge-builder" and "honest broker" after the 193 member-states unanimously named him to be the world's diplomat-in-chief beginning January 1.

The socialist politician, who also served as UN refugee chief for a decade, is expected to play a more prominent role at the helm than Ban Ki-moon, the South Korean who will step down after two five-year terms.

Guterres was greeted by loud applause as he entered the packed hall following the vote and told the assembly he was "fully aware of the challenges the UN faces and the limitations of the secretary-general."

"The dramatic problems of today's complex world can only inspire a humble approach," he said, adding that the UN chief "alone neither has all the answers, nor seeks to impose his views."

US President Barack Obama congratulated Guterres, saying in a statement that "he had the character, vision and skills needed to lead the United Nations at this critical moment."

Russian President Vladimir Putin telephoned Guterres from the Kremlin and wished him success "in this important and demanding position."

French President Francois Hollande said "the world more than ever needs a strong United Nations" and praised Guterres for his demonstrated ability to "set a course of action, show leadership and enact reforms."

- End divisions over Syria -

The appointment of the 67-year-old polyglot comes at a time of global anxiety over the ongoing war in Syria, the refugee crisis and raging conflicts in South Sudan and Yemen.

On Syria, the most pressing crisis on the UN agenda, Guterres said it was time for world powers to overcome divisions about ending the war, just as key players were gearing up for a new round of talks at the weekend.

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"Whatever divisions might exist, now it's more important to unite," Guterres told reporters after the vote. "It's high time to fight for peace."

The United States and Russia will be joined by regional heavyweights for talks in Lausanne on Saturday, and Washington will then meet with its European partners on Sunday.

The Security Council is deadlocked over Syria after two draft resolutions were defeated in separate votes -- one of them vetoed by Damascus ally Russia.

- Fighting terror groups and populists -

Guterres, the first former head of government to become UN chief, called for determined action to confront terror groups and populists who "reinforce each other" in their extremism.

"We must make sure that we are able to break these alliances between all those terrorist groups or violent extremists on one side, and the expression of populism and xenophobia on the other side," he said.

The remarks were apparently directed at European far-right politicians and also US presidential contender Donald Trump, whose anti-immigrant rhetoric has caused global concern.

Citing Guterres' political and UN experience, US Ambassador Samantha Power said he brings "both head and heart" to what has been described as the most impossible job in the world.

"We have selected a candidate who is prepared to cut past the jargon and the acronyms, and the sterile briefings, and get real," she said.

"He knows the only measure of our work here is whether we are or are not helping and supporting real people."

Guterres last week won the unanimous backing from the Security Council to take the helm of the United Nations, capping a campaign that saw 13 candidates run for the top post including, for the first time, seven women.

The incoming UN chief has pledged to make gender parity a priority of his reforms during his five-year term at the world body.

Women currently only make up 25 percent of senior leadership posts at the United Nations and there had been calls during the campaign for the first woman to be elected secretary-general, after eight men in the job.
United Nations (United States) (AFP) - UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will travel to Haiti on Saturday to visit areas devastated by Hurricane Matthew as a UN funding appeal for the Caribbean nation drew few donors.

Ban will visit Les Cayes on Haiti's southern coast -- one of the cities hardest-hit by Matthew -- and meet with Haitian leaders, his office said.

The United Nations has launched a flash appeal for $120 million to help Haiti cope with its worst humanitarian crisis since the 2010 earthquake.

Only $6.1 million has been raised so far, equal to five percent of the total appeal, said UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric.

At least 473 people were killed when Matthew crashed ashore on October 4 as a monster Category 4 storm, packing winds of 145 miles (230 kilometers) per hour.

Ban said Monday that a "massive response" was needed to cope with the destruction, with 1.4 million people in need of urgent assistance after towns and villages were almost wiped off the map.

Anger has been mounting among some residents in remote areas of Haiti where several humanitarian convoys have been blocked by barricades, and in some instances looted, on their journey across the southern peninsula.

The director of the UN's World Food Program denounced those attacks, saying that they "will delay our effort to bring food to the public."

"Unfortunately, there are people trying to take advantage of humanitarian efforts and we have lost food to theft," Carlos Veloso, the WFP country director in Haiti, told AFP.

The US Agency for International Development announced Thursday more than $12 million in assistance to communities hit by the hurricane, bringing the US government's total immediate relief in Haiti, Jamaica and the Bahamas to nearly $14 million.

Along with the US Department of Defense, USAID on Wednesday flew 13 missions to Haiti's Grand Anse and Sud departments. To date, USAID has delivered some 159 metric tons of emergency supplies.

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Separately, the UN Security Council decided to extend the mandate of the MINUSTAH peacekeeping mission in Haiti for another six months, until April 2017.

UN mission chief Sandra Honore told the council this week that the extension would help Haiti deal with the humanitarian crisis and ensure political stability after elections were postponed.

Ban will also travel to Ecuador to attend the Habitat III conference on housing and sustainable urban development.
United Nations (United States) (AFP) - The UN Security Council on Thursday decided to dispatch a UN envoy to Burundi after the government in Bujumbura broke off ties with UN rights monitors and kept up resistance to the deployment of a UN police force.

UN envoy Jamal Benomar will travel to Bujumbura next week for the crisis talks.

"What we need is a renewed engagement with the government," Benomar told reporters following a closed-door meeting of the council.

During the talks, the envoy said he would "clarify the objective of resolution 2303" authorizing the deployment of 228 UN police to monitor security and "see whether we can find a way forward."

Burundi has said it will accept only a few dozen UN police on its territory, defying the resolution adopted in July.

The visit comes at a time of mounting tensions between the United Nations and Burundi, which this week decided to suspend cooperation with UN rights monitors and pull out of the International Criminal Court.

President Pierre Nkurunziza's government reacted angrily to a report by UN rights experts that blamed state police and security forces for the violence that has torn apart the country since April 2015.

More than 500 people have been killed and at least 300,000 have fled the country since the crisis began over Nkurunziza's bid to run for a third term in office, which he went on to win.

French Ambassador Francois Delattre said the council will show its "clear support to Benomar before he goes to Bujumbura."

The envoy, however, declined to say whether he will raise the possibility of sanctions or other measures against the government if it continues to obstruct the United Nations.

The resolution adopted by the council in July provides for "targeted measures against all actors, inside and outside Burundi, who threaten peace and security."

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Wednesday urged Burundi to reverse its decision to break ties with the UN rights office and said the decision to pull out of the ICC was "regrettable."
Paris (AFP) - UNESCO's decision-making body will next week consider two new resolutions on "Occupied Palestine", six months after a similar text angered Israel.

The two resolutions, put forward by several Arab countries including Egypt, Lebanon and Algeria, were adopted Thursday at committee stage by the Paris-based organisation.

Participants said 24 votes were cast in favour and six against with 26 abstentions and two absentees.

In general, the 58 member states of the UN cultural, scientific and educational body's Executive Board vote in line with the decisions taken by committees.

The resolutions refer to "Occupied Palestine" and aim to "safeguard the Palestinian cultural heritage and the distinctive character of East Jerusalem", according to a text seen by AFP.

Israel is referred to throughout as the "occupying power".

The terms are the same as those used in a resolution mid-April by UNESCO's Executive Board.

On that occasion, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu slammed the resolution as "yet another absurd UN decision".

He said it "ignores the unique historic connection of Judaism to the Temple Mount" by referring to the site by its Arabic name, the Al-Aqsa mosque compound.

However, a Palestinian diplomatic source said the new resolutions submitted refer to the "importance of Jerusalem's Old City and its walls for the three monotheistic religions".

France, which was strongly criticised by Israel for supporting the controversial resolution in April, abstained on Thursday.

The Temple Mount, or Al-Aqsa compound, in east Jerusalem, which was taken by Israel in the 1967 Six-Day War and later annexed in a move not recognised internationally, has long been a flashpoint in the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians.
By Martinne Geller

LONDON (Reuters) - Price increases at Unilever, which have sparked a row with British supermarket Tesco, helped the maker of Ben & Jerry's ice cream and Dove soap report a smaller-than-expected slowdown in third-quarter sales on Thursday.

Unilever said it was on track to meet its full-year targets, but the results were overshadowed by the dispute with Tesco which has pulled dozens of the company's brands from its website, including popular products such as Marmite and PG Tips tea bags.

In Britain, one of the home markets for Anglo-Dutch Unilever, it is grappling with the fallout of the vote to quit the European Union, which caused a steep drop in the pound.

Unilever has been trying to raise the prices it charges Britain's big four supermarkets - Tesco, Sainsbury's, Asda and Morrisons - across a wide range of goods by about 10 percent, saying it needs to offset the higher cost of imported commodities, two people with knowledge of the situation told Reuters on Wednesday.

Chief Financial Officer Graeme Pitkethly told Reuters that devaluation-led price increases were normal, but declined to comment specifically on the row with Tesco.

A survey published on Wednesday said more than two-thirds of British food makers have become less confident about the business environment since the Brexit vote.

Three-quarters of British food manufacturers have seen an increase in the price of imported ingredients due to the fall in the value of the pound since the vote, and 63 percent reported a decrease in profit margin, according to the poll by Britain's Food and Drink Federation (FDF) between Sept. 16 and Oct. 7.

Unilever's Pitkethly was speaking after Unilever posted underlying sales growth of 3.2 percent for the latest three months. Analysts on average expected growth of 2.9 percent, according to a company-supplied consensus, a slowdown from 4.7 percent in the first half of the year.

The company in July flagged a worsening of performance, due largely to tougher comparisons with an unusually strong third quarter last year and deterioration of economic conditions in markets such as Brazil and Argentina.

Story continues

Devaluation of a range of currencies in Latin America has led Unilever to raise prices, which in turn, has curbed demand, while many mature European markets continued to see deflation, fuelled by intense price competition between retailers.

In the third quarter, sales volume, or the amount of goods sold, fell 0.4 percent, but pricing was up 3.6 percent.

Pitkethly said the company was on track to meet its full-year goals, which call for sales to grow 3-5 percent, with margins improving in the historical range of 0.3-0.4 percentage points.

Unilever shares were down 1.6 percent at the open in London.

(Editing by Alexander Smith)
It will also house the city's third law school.

SIM University (UniSIM) has been earmarked to become the city's sixth autonomous university (AU) as the government beefs up efforts to increase the number of publicly funded universities here.

The announcement was made by Acting Education Minister (Higher Education and Skills) Ong Ye Kung during the university's convocation ceremony yesterday.

According to Ong, UniSIM will be a unique Singapore university, focusing on applied learning, in the domain of social sciences.

As an AU, UniSIM will focus on applied education, targeted at both students and adult learners.

Just as SIT will focus on applied programmes in Science, Technology and Engineering, UniSIM will focus on social sciences, and preparing students for socially-related careers. This will include social work, human resource, psychology, early childhood education, and also law, focusing on family and criminal law, he said.

Ong added that the university will retain limited offering in other areas such as accountancy, business and engineering.

According to Ong the government has worked with UniSIM over the years UniSIM to expand its offerings, including part-time programmes, new full-time applied degree programmes, and more recently, the hosting of Singapores third law school, which will see its first intake in January next year.





More From Singapore Business Review


By Michelle Nichols UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The 193-member United Nations General Assembly unanimously appointed former Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Guterres on Thursday as the ninth secretary-general of the world body for five years beginning Jan. 1, 2017. Guterres, 67, will replace Ban Ki-moon, 72, of South Korea. Ban will step down at the end of 2016 after serving two five terms. Guterres was Portugal's prime minister from 1995 to 2002 and U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees from 2005 to 2015. Guterres pledged on Thursday to act as an "honest broker" and said he would take a humble approach in trying to deal with global issues, with human dignity at the core of his work. "Diversity can bring us together, not drive us apart," Guterres told the General Assembly. "We must make sure that we are able to break this alliance between all those terrorist groups or violent extremists on one side and the expressions of populism and xenophobia on the other side," he said. "These two reinforce each other, and we must be able to fight both of them with determination." The 15-member U.N. Security Council last week unanimously recommended that the General Assembly appoint Guterres. He beat out 12 other candidates, seven of whom were women, amid a push for the first woman to be elected. Guterres told the General Assembly that protection and empowerment of women and girls was a priority commitment. He has pledged to work toward gender parity within the United Nations. "We have selected a candidate who is prepared to cut past the jargon and the acronyms and the sterile briefings and get real," U.S. Ambassador Samantha Power told the General Assembly. "He knows the only measure of our work here is whether we are or are not helping and supporting real people." Diplomats were now watching to see who Guterres appoints to senior U.N. positions amid speculation by diplomats and U.N. officials that China would like one of its nationals to head peacekeeping and that Russia is keen to lead political affairs. Currently, a French man runs peacekeeping, an American man leads political affairs and a British man is in charge of humanitarian affairs. A senior U.N. Security Council diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity, said several people had insisted that Guterres did not do any deals to win Russia and China's votes. "(Guterres is) the sort of person who will pick a strong team around him, appointment on merit," said the diplomat, adding that, while he had not heard it directly from any Chinese diplomats "it is clear (China is) making a significant challenge for the Department of Peacekeeping." When asked earlier this month if Russia had an interest in one of the senior U.N. positions, Russia's U.N. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin told reporters: "We do believe that Russia should be properly represented in the Secretariat." He did not specify which post, but added: "We are not the only ones who are expressing the interest in various positions." (Reporting by Michelle Nichols; editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Jonathan Oatis)
From Cosmopolitan

Photo credit: John Alexis Guerra Gomez/Flickr

After the director of the University of Marylands Title IX office said she simply doesnt have the budget or resources to operate efficiently and effectively, the universitys Student Government Association approved a new $34 mandatory Title IX fee that all students would pay in order to ensure the office is fully funded.

According to a report from Buzzfeed News, Title IX director Catherine Carroll said she needed more money for her office to hire more staff members. Like many other schools, the Title IX office at University of Maryland is experiencing rapidly increasing sexual assault report numbers, and her office is struggling to keep up with its current resources. While her Title IX budget has grown from $643,000 in the first operating year to its current budget of just over $1 million, Carroll told Buzzfeed that she still needs more money to expand her staff and better hand the growing number of sexual misconduct reports.

My people are burned out, Carroll said.



Under a directive from the Obama administration, universities are supposed to fully investigate sexual misconduct charges within 60 days. But, as Carroll told Buzzfeed, the University of Marylands Title IX office is so swamped that each investigation takes an average of 140 days. In all honesty, I hesitate to put that out there that this is where you come if youre experiencing discrimination and want to file a complaint, because we have a limited capacity to respond, she said.

A.J. Pruitt, the Student Government Associations vice president of student affairs and the sponsor of the $34 Title IX fee, told Buzzfeed that he felt he had no choice but to propose the fee. "The university has failed in their responsibility to fully fund this office," Pruitt said. "Its not something Im excited about, but it gets us to fully funding the office in a short amount of time."

The approved mandatory fee is expected to bring an annual addition of $900,000 to the Title IX office, which would bring its budget up to just about $2 million. According to Carroll, that expanded budget would allow her to hire a deputy director, two more investigators, and launch more rape prevention efforts on campus.

Story continues

Follow Hannah on Twitter.

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Washington (AFP) - US authorities will resume sending undocumented Haitian migrants back to their country when deportation flights can land again in the hurricane-ravaged country, the US government said Wednesday.

US Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson had suggested during a visit to Mexico on Tuesday that he was temporarily suspending deportations of Haitians in the wake of Hurricane Matthew.

But Johnson clarified in a statement on Wednesday that the deportations were temporarily suspended due to the cancellations of flights after hundreds of people were killed by the hurricane last week.

"Working with the government of Haiti, DHS (Department of Homeland Security) intends to resume those flights as soon as possible," he said.

The United States stopped deporting Haitians to their country as a humanitarian measure following the 2010 earthquake that killed 220,000 in the Caribbean nation.

But after thousands began to arrive at the US-Mexico border in recent months, Johnson announced on September 22 that Haitians would again be treated like other migrants who entered the United States illegally.

"This should be clear: the policy change I announced on September 22 remains in effect, for now and in the future," Johnson said.
Paris (AFP) - French Finance Minister Michel Sapin said Thursday that US banks had confirmed to him they would move some activities out of Brexit Britain to other European countries.

Sapin said that until now US banks had adopted a wait-and-see approach towards their British investments.

"For them, until now, the question was 'will Brexit take place? Will it really be implemented? You talk about two years but maybe it will last three or four years?'.

"That's over now, there's no more of that," the minister, who visited Washington last week, told a news conference in Paris.

"It's no longer 'will there be' or 'if' there's a Brexit. It's 'there will be a Brexit in two years and after two years we will have to take decisions'."

According to Sapin, some banks had already decided "activities will be transferred to the Continent".

"Those are their words, not mine," he said, adding calling it an "inevitable outcome, whatever the result of the Brexit negotiations" between London and Brussels.

Paris is among several cities hoping to woo London-based financial institutions if banks do decide to base themselves elsewhere in Europe to safeguard their euro business.

Sapin said France was working on a plan to promote Paris as a future financial capital.
The USS Mason (DDG 87), a guided missile destroyer, arrives at Port Canaveral, Florida, April 4, 2003. REUTERS/Karl Ronstrom/File photo

At about 6 p.m. local time on Wednesday in the Bab-al-Mandab Strait between Yemen and Eritrea, the USS Mason, a guided missile destroyer, detected an incoming missile.

The ship's Aegis Combat System, an advanced radar and fire control system spotted the thread as it zoomed towards the ship.

You have about 90 seconds from saying yes, thats a missile to launching an interceptor missile, one US official told Stars and Stripes.

And that's exactly what the commanding officer of the Mason did.

We actually saw an explosion, an official involved with the operation told Stars and Stripes.

For decades now Aegis radar and fire control systems have protected US ships and citizens by keeping a close eye on the skies.

uss mason

However, the sight of massive US Navy destroyers equipped with the powerful radar has always been enough to deter such attacks in the past. The SM-2 interceptor missile fired by the Mason on Wednesday was likely the first combat use seen by the US Navy ever.

That night, the US responded to the missile fire from Houthi-controlled Yemen, and fired a salvo of Tomahawk cruise missiles that obliterated the radar sites that had been active during the attempt on the USS Mason.

The incident, while highly dangerous and destabilizing, proves that the Navy can trust their systems, equipment, and commanders to make the right choice.

NOW WATCH: The US struck radar sites in Yemen after rebels tried to attack a Navy ship with missiles





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On 3-5 October 2017 Kyiv is going to host the Space and Future Forum to network international experts and youth, many of whom will also participate at the first CosmoHack in the world. Joinfo provides media coverage of the Forum, and some of its topics were already discussed ...
USS Mason

The US officially entered the conflict in Yemen with a salvo of cruise-missile strikes on three coastal radar sites in areas of Yemen controlled by Houthi rebels, retaliating after failed missile attacks this week on a US Navy destroyer, US officials said late Wednesday.

There was no immediate word of any casualties in Yemen.

US officials told Reuters that the Arleigh Burke-class USS Nitze launched the Tomahawk cruise missiles at about 4 a.m. local time on Thursday.

"These radars were active during previous attacks and attempted attacks on ships in the Red Sea," US officials told USNI News' Sam LaGrone, adding that the radar sites were in remote areas with a low risk of civilian casualties.

"Targeting US warships is a sign that the Houthis have decided to join the axis of resistance that currently includes Lebanese Hezbollah, Hamas, and Iran," Michael Knights, an expert on Yemen's conflict at The Washington Institute for Near East Policy, told Reuters.

The strikes authorized by President Barack Obama represent Washington's first direct military action against Houthi-controlled targets in Yemen's conflict. The Pentagon said initial US assessments indicated the radar sites were destroyed.

"These limited self-defense strikes were conducted to protect our personnel, our ships, and our freedom of navigation in this important maritime passageway," Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook said. "The United States will respond to any further threat to our ships and commercial traffic, as appropriate."

Yemen map

Two times in the past four days the USS Mason, a guided-missile destroyer, fired interceptor missiles in self-defense after detecting incoming missiles launched from the territory held by Iranian-backed Houthi militants. The incidents occurred in the Bab al-Mandab Strait between Yemen and Eritrea with no damage or injuries to the US Navy.

Story continues

The Houthis, a militant uprising against the internationally recognized government of Yemeni President Abd Rabbu Mansour al-Hadi, denied previous attempts on the USS Mason, but had taken credit for a similar missile strike that savaged a former US Navy ship operated by the United Arab Emirates.

The direct strike against the Houthis makes the US a participant in the conflict in Yemen, where Saudi Arabia has led a brutal air campaign linked to high civilian deaths and potentially war crimes.

Reuters previously reported that the US had worried that direct involvement in the conflict on Saudi Arabia's behalf could make it liable to be tried for possible war crimes committed during the 18-month conflict.

Yemen

Simultaneously, the US has been trying to manage a fragile relationship with Iran after the adoption of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action to curb Iran's nuclear program.

Iran backs the Houthi militants, has provided them with arms, and previously has openly provoked the US Navy in international waters.

NOW WATCH: The US struck radar sites in Yemen after rebels tried to attack a Navy ship with missiles





More From Business Insider


Washington D.C. [US], Oct. 13 (ANI): Backing India's right to self-defence in the aftermath of the Uri terror attack which it dubbed a clear case of cross-border terrorism, the United States has slammed Pakistan and dismissed its recent attempt to link peace in war-torn Afghanistan with resolution of the Kashmir issue. Peter Lavoy, the White House's point person for South Asia, has said that India-US ties are the most dynamic relationship for the country as he listed the Obama administration's achievements in strengthening the relationship between the two largest democracies of the world. The White House has backed India's right to defend itself as with any other country, in view of the recent surgical strike but advised caution given the heavy militarisation between the two neighbours. It also said that that the US is making every effort to ensure that India become a member of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) by the end of this year. 19 Indian Army soldiers were martyred during the terror attack on the army base camp in Uri region of Jammu and Kashmir following which Indian Army conducted surgical strikes across the Line of Control (LoC) on September 29. (ANI)
U.S. government debt prices rose on Thursday as investors digested the release of several pieces of data and a bond sale.

The Treasury Department auctioned $12 billion in 30-year bonds at a high yield of 2.47 percent on Thursday. The bid-to-cover ratio, an indicator of demand, was 2.44.



Indirect bidders, which include major central banks, were awarded 65.4 percent. Direct bidders, which include domestic money managers, bought 6.1 percent, below a recent average of 10 percent.



Prior to the auction, the yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note (U.S.:US10Y), which moves inversely to its price, sat lower at 1.74 percent, while the yield on the 30-year Treasury bond (U.S.:US30Y) was also lower at 2.48 percent.

The Treasury's 30-year bonds sale was the third sale this week. On Wednesday, the department sold $20 billion in 10-year notes and $24 billion in three-year notes. Both sales saw around-average demand.





On the data front, jobless claims held at a 43-year low last week , while U.S. import prices rose less than expected. Export prices, meanwhile, rose 0.3 percent.

Thursday will also see Philadelphia Fed President Patrick Harker speak on the economic outlook at the World Affairs Council of Philadelphia.

In oil markets, Brent crude traded at $51.99 a barrel on Thursday, up slightly, while U.S. crude was around $50.34 a barrel, slightly higher, after breaking below the key $50 mark.







More From CNBC


A U.S. Navy guided missile destroyer launched a Tomahawk missile strike against three radar facilities under Houthi rebel control on Yemens Red Sea coast on Thursday. The strike launched from the USS Nitze comes after the USS Mason was targeted in two missile attacks launched from inside Houthi-controlled territory. NPR, citing a Pentagon official, reported that the radar sites were destroyed in the strikes.

These limited self-defense strikes were conducted to protect our personnel, our ships, and our freedom of navigation in this important maritime passageway, said Pentagon Press Secretary Peter Cook in a statement. The United States will respond to any further threat to our ships and commercial traffic, as appropriate, and will continue to maintain our freedom of navigation in the Red Sea, the Bab al-Mandeb, and elsewhere around the world.

The USS Mason was targeted in two separate attacks in the previous four days while on operations in the Bab al-Mandeb Strait, which runs between Djibouti and Yemen. Reuters reported that Houthi officials had denied responsibility for the attacks on the US warship. Houthi forces had previously claimed responsibility for a rocket attack on a United Arab Emirates military vessel in the same area on October 1.

Houthi rebels have been locked in conflict with forces loyal to ousted President Abd Rabbu Mansour al-Hadi and a coalition of Gulf states led by Saudi Arabia since March 2015. Houthi forces launched ballistic missiles into Saudi Arabia earlier this week in response to a deadly airstrike on a funeral in the Yemeni capital of Sanaa on October 8 that killed 140 people. Credit: YouTube/US Navy
(Adds comments about central bank president)

By Alexandra Ulmer and Corina Pons

CARACAS, Oct 13 (Reuters) - Venezuelan state oil producer PDVSA's bond prices dropped on Thursday after the company again extended a deadline for its $5.3 billion debt swap offer, suggesting investors may be hesitant to partake.

PDVSA on Wednesday night moved the date for both the early deadline and the expiration to Oct. 17, from Oct. 12 and Oct. 14, respectively.

The swap requires more than 50 percent participation to go through.

"It's illogical that PDVSA extends again the deadline without improving the terms and will eventually have to make a decision to go ahead with less than 50 percent participation or suspend the transaction," said Siobhan Morden with Nomura Securities International.

If low participation scuttles the swap, investors may lose their recently gained optimism that PDVSA can avoid defaulting on its heavy bond obligations. The company is struggling with low oil prices, slumping production and an extreme cash flow deficit that has left it unable to pay contractors on time.

President Nicolas Maduro has insisted Venezuela and PDVSA will make all debt payments and dismissed default talk as part of a politically motivated campaign against his socialist government.

Sources said central bank president Nelson Merentes reiterated Venezuela's willingness to pay in a rare private meeting with two dozen investors on the sidelines of the IMF/World Bank meetings in Washington last week.

"He said plan A, B and C is to pay, even if the exchange doesn't go through," an investor who attended the meeting told IFR. "He didn't seem concerned."

But Venezuelan officials evaded more pressing questions on PDVSA's bond swap and the availability and reliability of macroeconomic data, according to the attendees.

The company's 2017 bond maturing in April fell 0.1 points to a bid price of 81.550 in afternoon trade, while the 2017N bond dropped 1.350 points to a bid price of 86.750. The two bonds are part of the swap operation.

Story continues

"They are probably not yet at the tender threshold," said one investor, who is planning to participate in the swap, of the extension.

The swap allows investors to exchange bonds maturing in 2017 for a new bond maturing in 2020 that is backed by shares in U.S. subsidiary Citgo Holdings Inc.

It was meant to ease significant payments including a $2 billion amortization in November and $5 billion in amortizations due in 2017.

But if participation in the swap is low, bond prices will likely fall further, according to market analysts, and PDVSA will not get as big a financial breather.

"Honestly, I don't know whether to be scared (that participation won't be met) or think that they're doing this to get the maximum participation," said another investor about the deadline extension.

(Additional reporting by Paul Kilby and Davide Scigliuzzo; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)
By Malathi Nayak

(Reuters) - Verizon Communications Inc (VZ.N) said on Thursday it plans to close call centers in five states, including its home state of New York, as the No. 1 wireless company trims head count and reorganizes operations in a saturated wireless market.

The move, which will affect 3,200 workers is a part of Verizon's effort to consolidate customer service operations across the United States.

The company, which has a workforce of about 162,700, recently agreed to buy Yahoo Inc (YHOO.O) for $4.8 billion as it looks to tap new revenue in areas such as digital media and advertising.

"We are realigning our real estate portfolio and relocating these centers into other centers where we have extra capacity," Verizon spokeswoman Kim Ancin said.

Verizon is offering affected employees jobs in call centers in other states, she said.

The consolidation involves Verizon call centers near Rochester and Orangeburg, New York; Bangor, Maine; Lincoln, Nebraska; Wallingford and Meriden, Connecticut; and Rancho Cordoba, California, the company said.

The proposed call center closures, which will impact 850 jobs in New York, drew a testy response from the office of New York's governor, Andrew Cuomo.

"This is an egregious example of corporate abuse  among the worst we have witnessed during the six years of this administration," Rich Azzopardi, a spokesman for the governor, said in a statement. Verizon's call center closures will result in job losses for "hard-working" New Yorkers, he added.

Employees who choose to move to other call centers, which handle sales and billing and help customers with technical problems, will be given relocation packages starting at $10,000, Ancin said. Those who leave the company will be given a severance package, outplacement resources and other support.

In April, nearly 40,000 employees of the wireline business, which includes FiOS Internet, telephone and TV services, represented by unions, went on strike after reaching an impasse in talks over a new labor contract. Sticking points included the relocation of employees and offshoring of call center jobs.

Story continues

The strike, which was one of the largest in recent years in the United States, drew support from Democratic U.S. Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. A new deal was reached in May and striking wireline employees got back to work in June.

The Verizon wireless call center closures in five states involve employees who are not represented by unions, Ancin said.

(Reporting by Malathi Nayak in New York and Aishwarya Venugopal in Bengaluru; Editing by Martina D'Couto, Bill Trott and David Gregorio)
Verizon Communications top lawyer said the Yahoo disclosure last month that info on more than 500 million email accounts was stolen by hackers represents a material event and that the breach could lead to the telco abandoning its proposed $4.8 billion takeover of the flagging internet companys core businesses.

I think we have a reasonable basis to believe right now that the impact is material and were looking to Yahoo to demonstrate to us the full impact, Craig Silliman, Verizons general counsel and executive VP of public policy, told reporters Thursday in Washington, D.C., according to Reuters. If they believe that its not, then theyll need to show us that.

Asked to comment, a Yahoo rep said, We are confident in Yahoos value and we continue to work towards integration with Verizon.

After Yahoo announced the user-info breach on Sept. 22, Verizon said that it had only been informed of the scope of the breach two days prior. In a Sept. 27 letter to Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer, six U.S. senators demanded answers about the hack and why the company failed to report the incident until two years after it occurred.

In the wake of the disclosure, Verizon has been seeking to trim $1 billion off the price tag of its proposed deal for Yahoo, the New York Post reported last week. Silliman declined to discuss whether Verizon was negotiating a lower price.

Yahoo reached a deal in July to sell its core web businesses to Verizon for $4.8 billion, plus an estimated $1.1 billion in payments for restricted stock at closing. The telco sees synergies in combining Yahoo with AOL (which it bought for $4.4 billion last year) to achieve greater audience and advertising scale.

Then, two months later, Yahoo said a state-sponsored actor broke in its network in late 2014 and stole usernames, hashed passwords, and other personal info for at least 500 million accounts worldwide.

The disclosure of the massive two-year-old security breach has raised questions about when Yahoo knew about the hack and the nature of its severity. In a Sept. 9 proxy statement, Yahoo said it was not aware of any security breaches. That was after Yahoo had acknowledged in early August that it was investigating a report that a Russian cybercriminal was advertising the sale of 200 million Yahoo user accounts in a black-market online forum, as first reported by Vices Motherboard.

Story continues

Meanwhile, Yahoos reputation took another hit after a Reuters report that the internet company had set up a system to secretly scan hundreds of millions of Yahoo email accounts at the request of either the NSA or FBI. Yahoo denied that such an email-scanning system exists and said, We narrowly interpret every government request for user data to minimize disclosure.

Yahoo has advised users to change their passwords if they havent done so since 2014, but many users are choosing to delete their accounts. However, the companys email service disabled automatic email forwarding at the beginning of October, making it difficult for users to switch to another service, as first reported by the Associated Press. Yahoo says it is working to restore the feature.

Verizons deal for Yahoo has been approved by the Federal Trade Commission, according to Silliman, but the transaction is awaiting approval from the European Commission and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Previously, the companies had said they expect the deal to close in the first quarter of 2017.

Yahoo has enlisted New York-based communications firm Joel Frank, which specializes in crisis PR, in dealing with the aftermath of the hack coming to light. The breach is the single biggest exposure of user data to date, and Yahoos costs associated with the incident could run into the tens of millions of dollars, according to security experts.

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Lowell McAdam Verizon 8282

Verizon's lawyers say the data breach that affected about 500 million Yahoo users could have "material" impact on Verizon's purchase of Yahoo, according to Reuters.

"I think we have a reasonable basis to believe right now that the impact is material and we're looking to Yahoo to demonstrate to us the full impact," Verizon's lawyer Craig Silliman said in a statement to reporters. "If they believe that it's not then they'll need to show us that."

Verizon offered to buy Yahoo for $4.8 billion in July, but the deal hasn't closed yet.

Yahoo confirmed in September that 500 million user accounts were compromised in what could be the largest data breach in history. The hack happened in 2014 and Yahoo blamed a "state-sponsored actor."

After Yahoo disclosed the breach, some questioned whether or not the company gave Verizon enough notice, which could affect the deal between the two companies.

Silliman's statement seems to place the burden on Yahoo to prove the hack won't be material to the acquisition.

"We are confident in Yahoos value and we continue to work towards integration with Verizon," a Yahoo spokesperson said in a statement to Business Insider.

On Monday, Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam was asked about a New York Post report that said Verizon was looking for a $1 billion discount on the Yahoo acquisition because of the hack. McAdam called that report "total speculation."

NOW WATCH: Here's why the time is always 9:41 in Apple product photos





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In a video shared by MoveOn.org on October 12, US Navy veteran Nate Tirani hit out at Arizona Senator John McCain for failing to condemn a comment on post-traumatic stress disorder made by Donald Trump on October 3, saying McCain had let down fellow veterans.

Donald Trump made a comment about PTSD during an address to veterans on October 3 in Herndon, Virginia, that some interpreted as saying people who cant handle PTSD are not strong.

When you talk about the mental health problems, when people come back from war and combat  and they see things that maybe a lot of the folks in this room have seen many times over and youre strong and you can handle it, but a lot of people cant handle it, Trump said in reference to the disorder, which, during World War I and II was called shell-shock.

In the video, Tirani says he had expected McCain to criticize Trump, but had instead doubled down on the comments. Donald Trumps comments were so immensely hurtful to so many veterans and so many military and veteran families, and that was a time where we really needed Senator John McCain to step up and go to bat for us, Tirani said.

Tirani, who lives in Arizona and is a Muslim, has previously protested what he called hate speech against Muslims at a Trump rally. Credit: Facebook/MoveOn.org
Heat map of candidates related tweets during the second democratic primary debate. (Yahoo News/Siemond Chan)

Presidential candidates took part in the second primary debate on Saturday night at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa. Former secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Vermont senator Bernie Sanders, and former Maryland governor Martin OMalley debated on issues ranging from terrorism to taxes.

To give you an idea of where and what people around the country were tweeting about while watching the debate, Yahoo News put together these interactive maps. Click on markers on the maps to pull up an candidate-related tweet from the area. Tweets were collected in the period of time between 9pm - 11pm EST.

We have also compiled a series of visualizations of debate related metrics, you can check it out here.
With the end of Teen Wolf in sight, MTV is looking to work with the show's creators for another reboot. Jeff Davis and writer Andrew Cochran will adapt H.G. Wells' War of the Worlds, The Hollywood Reporter has learned.

First published in 1897, Wells' tale is one of the earliest stories to explore a conflict between man and extraterrestrials. It has been adapted multiple times via radio, features, TV and more. Most recently, Tom Cruise starred in the 2005 feature film take.

The project hails from The Firm's Jeff Kwatinetz and Josh Barry, the latter of whose grandfather, Gene Barry, starred in the first film adaptation - 1953's Paramount movie directed by Byron Haskin.

War of the Worlds reteams The Firm with Davis and Cochran, who helped put the Viacom-owned cable network on the map with Teen Wolf. The series will end with its sixth and final season in 2017.

Should War of the Worlds go to series, it would join a roster of dramas that include adaptations of Scream and The Shannara Chronicles.

Reboots continue to remain in high demand as broadcast, cable and streaming outlets look for proven IP in a bid to cut through a cluttered scripted landscape that is quickly approaching 500 original series. Key to the remakes is having the original producers involved in some capacity as more studios look to monetize their existing film libraries.

Already in the works this season are reboots of Dynasty (The CW), Magnum P.I. (ABC), The Lost Boys (The CW), Varsity Blues (CMT), The Departed (Amazon) and L.A. Law, though the latter does not yet have a network attached.

For Davis' part, he's also readying a TV reboot of Swedish vampire novel Let the Right One In, which is set up as a pilot at TNT.

The news comes as ABC is poised to debut Time After Time, a drama from Kevin Williamson that follows the adventures of a young H.G. Wells.
Beirut (AFP) - Russian and Syrian warplanes pounded Aleppo again on Thursday after two days of heavy bombardment that killed more than 70 civilians, as world powers prepared for last-ditch weekend talks on a ceasefire.

Syria has been plunged into some of the worst violence of its five-year war after the collapse of a hard-won truce brokered by Washington and Moscow.

The ensuing surge in fighting saw government forces declare a large-scale offensive, backed by Russian and Syrian air power, to capture the opposition-held half of battered Aleppo.

More than 20 air strikes hit the rebel-controlled east at dawn on Thursday, killing seven civilians, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said.

On the northeastern outskirts of the city, advancing regime troops captured several hilltops overlooking opposition-held areas.

Syrian state television said four children were killed by rebel rocket fire on a school in a western regime-held neighbourhood.

Moscow has come under mounting international pressure over the rising civilian death toll from Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's Russian-backed campaign to take east Aleppo, including Western accusations of possible war crimes.

Seven children were among 71 civilians killed in strikes and regime artillery fire on eastern districts on Tuesday and Wednesday, Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman said.

- Fresh weekend diplomacy -

Opposition shelling on government-held districts of the city, meanwhile, killed at least eight civilians over those two days, according to the British-based monitor, which relies on a network of sources on the ground.

Since the army announced its assault on the city on September 22, Russian and government bombardment on the eastern districts has killed more than 370 people, including 68 children, according to an Observatory toll.

Shelling and rocket fire by myriad rebel and jihadist groups, meanwhile, has killed 68 people in government-held areas.

Several major international efforts have failed to secure a political solution to the war, which has killed more than 300,000 people.

Story continues

A new diplomatic push will take place this weekend. US Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov are expected to be joined in Lausanne on Saturday by counterparts from Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar -- all backers of Syrian opposition forces.

Neither side has confirmed an invitation to Iran, a key player in the conflict and an ally of Assad.

- 'Political rhetoric' -

Then in London on Sunday, Kerry will likely meet up with his European counterparts from Britain, France and Germany.

The United Nations said Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura had been invited to take part in the talks but it was unclear if he would attend.

Lavrov told CNN in an interview Wednesday that he hoped the discussions in Switzerland could help "launch a serious dialogue" based on the now-defunct US-Russian pact.

The two world powers had worked closely in recent months and reached a deal in mid-September that was billed as the "best chance" to end Syria's bloodshed.

That agreement envisioned a halt to hostilities, increased humanitarian aid to hundreds of thousands of besieged civilians across Syria, and unprecedented coordination between Moscow and Washington against jihadists.

But the truce fell apart after a week, and peace efforts have since struggled to get off the ground.

A French-drafted resolution was shot down by Russia in a stormy UN session last weekend.

Russian President Vladimir Putin hit out at Paris for the vetoed proposal, accusing it of deliberately putting forward a motion "fanning hysteria around Russia."

Putin dismissed accusations of possible war crimes as "political rhetoric" and warned Western countries against imposing sanctions on Russia.

New Zealand on Wednesday presented another draft resolution demanding an end to air strikes on Aleppo.
elizabeth warren

John Stumpf has retired as CEO and chairman of Wells Fargo.

Senator Elizabeth Warren said that it isn't enough.

Warren, the long-time Wall Street critic who called for the resignation of Stumpf during a Senate hearing in September, reiterated her call for Stumpf to return all of his compensation and face a criminal investigation.

Warren told Business Insider following the Senate hearing that Stumpf should face charges for not disclosing the opening of 2 million fake accounts under the names of customers without their knowledge to investors in financial statements. Warren said this was a violation of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and said the Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission should look into the violations.

Here's the full statement from Warren:

"As I said at the hearing last month, Mr. Stumpf should resign, return every nickel he made while this scam was going on, and face an investigation by the Justice Department and SEC. So far, he's one for three. If Mr. Stumpf is leaving with all of his ill-gotten millions that's still not real accountability. A bank teller would face criminal charges and a prison sentence for stealing a handful of 20s from the cash drawer. A bank CEO should not be able to oversee a massive fraud and simply walk away to enjoy his millions in retirement."

NOW WATCH: LIZ ANN SONDERS: The most unsettling outcome for the markets would be a surprise Trump win





More From Business Insider


Verizon Wireless on Wednesday announced plans to close its Lincoln call center, as well as four others in the U.S.

Wednesday's announcement affects 3,200 Verizon employees nationwide, including 320 in Lincoln.

"We have made a very difficult but necessary business decision to close our call center in Lincoln and relocate those jobs to other Verizon customer service call centers," Meagan Dorsch, a Verizon Wireless spokeswoman, said in an email.

Dorsch said the company has extra capacity at other locations, and "we are in effect putting more positions in each call center." The other call centers closing are Bangor, Maine, Rancho Cordova, California, Rochester, New York, and Wallingford, Connecticut.

The Lincoln call center at 4600 Innovation Drive, which is near Interstate 80 in northwest Lincoln, will remain open until March 24, and Dorsch said Lincoln employees will be given the opportunity to transfer to other locations. The company is offering a $500 travel stipend to employees who want to visit other centers and $10,000 in relocation assistance for those who transfer.

She also said those who choose not to relocate will be offered assistance in finding a new job as well as a severance package.

Lincoln Chamber of Commerce President Wendy Birdsall said she was "very disappointed" about the closure but added she was optimistic about the job prospects for those affected.

"We've got 4,000 open jobs and a 3 percent unemployment rate," Birdsall said. "I feel prospects are good."

In a statement, Gov. Pete Ricketts offered the state's support to workers who will be out of a job.

Losing a job is very stressful on a family," he said. "The Department of Labor and Economic Development are ready to assist Verizons impacted team members to make this transition as smooth as possible.

Lincoln Mayor Chris Beutler was out of town Wednesday and unavailable for comment.

This marks the third time in four years that Verizon Wireless has closed call centers. In 2014, it closed five centers and consolidated seven others, cutting 5,200 jobs nationwide. In 2012, it closed three call centers and consolidated two others, cutting more than 3,000 jobs.

Verizon also announced last week that it was cutting jobs at its retail stores as growth in its wireless business slows.

The Lincoln call center opened in October 2007 with about 200 employees. Employment locally eventually grew to 600 people, but it never approached the target of 800 set by the company when it announced plans to come to Lincoln in December 2006.

At the time, local officials said they believed it was the largest-ever project in terms of jobs in the city's history.

Employees who contacted the Journal Star on Wednesday said company officials cited the inability to fill the Lincoln center with qualified applicants as a reason for shutting it down.

The call center handled both customer service and tech support.

Before coming to Lincoln, Verizon applied for state tax incentives, which at the time were estimated to be worth $8 to $12 million if the company met all requirements.

It's unknown how much it actually received, however. According to the Nebraska Department of Revenue, there are no tax incentive agreements currently in effect for Verizon Wireless.

Nebraska Tax Commissioner Tony Fulton said that could mean the company met all requirements and received all its tax credits, or it could mean the company never followed through with the agreement.
uss nitze

WASHINGTON, D.C.  The USS Nitze launched Tomahawk cruise missiles in a retaliatory strike after two incidents in which US ships were unsuccessfully targeted by anti-ship missiles while operating in international waters.

The Navy released the following video of USS Nitze's strike against three coastal radar sites in Houthi-controlled territory on Yemen's Red Sea coast.

The Houthis, an Iran-backed militant uprising against the internationally recognized government of Yemeni President Abd Rabbu Mansour al-Hadi, denied firing on the USS Mason. However, the group took credit for a similar missile strike that savaged a former US Navy ship operated by the United Arab Emirates.

The Pentagon stated that the radar sites had been active during the attempts on US ships, and that they were in remote locations where civilian casualties were unlikely.

"Initial assessments show the sites were destroyed," a Pentagon statement read.





More From Business Insider


donald trump mask from china

Donald Trump has said it a million times. China is a currency manipulator, winning a trade war with the United States by artificially lowering its currency, the yuan, to flood our country with exports.

It sounds like something a nationalist, protectionist, and isolationist would say. And that's fine if you're into that kind of thing.

But it's completely and totally wrong, and the data we've seen come out of China confirms that.

The Chinese economy of 2016 is far more complex than the picture Trump paints. It's an economy facing difficult, sometimes contradictory choices with no easy solutions.

Lets get to the data and Trump's charges and compare them so you see what I'm talking about.

Donald says China is a currency manipulator

According to Trump, China is artificially suppressing the value of its currency, the yuan.

And it's true that the yuan is hitting six-year lows this week. But it's not because the government is trying to keep the currency cheap, it's because it's stopped supporting it.

The Chinese economy is trying to get through a really crucial transition from an economy dependent on exports and investment, to one based on consumer consumption. Without this transition, it will never be a self-sufficient economy (like the US), but to do this, its people need purchasing power. They need a strong yuan to buy goods.

And China's yuan was just added to the Special Drawing Rights (SDR) basket. This is an elite group of global reserve currencies that basically show your country has a stable, working economy. It's a sign that China has joined the big boys, which is something country's leaders desperately want.

But money is flowing out of China as the economy slows during this difficult transition. Goldman Sachs actually thinks that more money is flowing out than the country is willing to admit. That in itself is depressing the yuan.

Story continues

I had a great Twitter conversation with Patrick Chovanec, a Managing Director and Chief Strategist at Silvercrest Asset Management and former professor at Tsinghua University in Beijing about this earlier this week. The whole thing is worth a read, but in a nutshell, Chonavec said that China needs a strong currency to maintain quality of life right now.

In fact, it's unclear why the Chinese aren't still propping the currency up because:

12. But it might lead people to think more depreciation is coming, encouraging more capital outflows and making the downward pressure worse.  Patrick Chovanec (@prchovanec) October 11, 2016

A weak currency also hurts China's already debt laden banks too.

Plus (again, because this is worth repeating):

11. A small, gradual depreciation (like we've seen this year and last) probably won't be enough to revive China's export-led growth.  Patrick Chovanec (@prchovanec) October 11, 2016

So suppressing the currency isn't really worth it to China right now. We know that last tweet is accurate because of more trade data that came out on Thursday.

Donald says China is winning a trade war against the US

In September Chinese exports came in low  the lowest in 7 months, and down 10% from this time last year  despite its weakening currency.

"... the numbers cut against the view that stronger competitiveness from a weaker yuan and more demand as U.S. households strengthen will return overseas sales to a growth path," said Bloomberg economist Tom Orlik in a note published after the print. "The yuan has weakened 0.8% so far in October. Shrinking exports will add to fears it has further to fall... The [trade] surplus in dollar terms was $42 billion, down from $52.1 billion. The narrower trade surplus helps explain the larger-than-expected $18.8 billion decline in Chinas foreign reserves in September."

In other words, that is not a country that is winning a trade war with anyone. It's a country struggling to fight a battle with itself.

And that's the thing with modern Chinese economics. It's no longer sufficient to look at the country in contrast with the United States because it's not just about us anymore. The Chinese economy is big, important and delicate enough that its needs and issues have to be looked at in isolation  China first, then the world.

You can imagine why this would be a difficult concept for the Donald to grasp.

NOW WATCH: STIGLITZ: There are so many ways that Trump is wrong about the economy





More From Business Insider


By Dan Freed and Elizabeth Dilts

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Wells Fargo & Co's (WFC.N) veteran chairman and chief executive officer, John Stumpf, abruptly departed on Wednesday bowing to pressure over its sales tactics that has damaged the bank's reputation and put Wall Street under renewed scrutiny.

San Francisco-based Wells Fargo said Stumpf, 63, was retiring and would be replaced as chief executive by President and Chief Operating Officer Tim Sloan, 56.

The bank is splitting the role of chairman and CEO with Stephen Sanger, its lead director, becoming chairman.

Stumpf's exit leaves Sloan with a steep challenge in rebuilding its reputation and overhauling its hard-charging sales culture without gutting profits. The new CEO will also contend with ongoing regulatory investigations and private litigation.

The departure is a stunning reversal of fortune for Stumpf, who successfully navigated Wells through the financial crisis and built it into the world's most valuable bank with a focus on Main Street-style lending that was the envy of Wall Street.

"I have decided it is best for the company that I step aside," he said in a statement.

The bank's shares, which have slumped in the wake of the scandal, rose 2 percent in after-hours trading after the bank announced Stumpf's exit.

Sloan said his immediate priority was to restore trust in the bank.

Long considered Stumpf's successor, Sloan has spent most of his career at Wells working with corporations and institutional investors not the retail division, where the fraudulent accounts were opened.

But as the former CFO, and president and COO of the company since November, he has been responsible for the entire company, including the retail bank at the heart of the scandal.

Carrie Tolstedt, the woman who ran the retail division when the misconduct occurred, reported to Sloan from November of last year. She left the bank last month.

They had three goals in replacing Stumpf: speed, integrity, and competence. If you want to move very fast and find someone intimately familiar with the business, youve got to hire an insider," said Peter Conti-Brown, a business ethics and law professor at University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business.

Story continues

"If you want to hire someone with unimpeachable integrity, that's going to take time to find," Conti-Brown said.

Sloan will preside over the bank's third-quarter earnings on Friday.

FALL FROM GRACE

Stumpf's fall from grace started with a $185 million (151.9 million pounds) regulatory settlement between the bank, regulatory authorities and a Los Angeles prosecutor over its staff opening as many as 2 million accounts without customers' knowledge.

The misconduct, carried out by low-level branch staff to meet internal sales targets, shattered the bank's folksy image and a raft of federal and state investigations followed.

Stumpf was summoned before the U.S. Senate and faced calls for his resignation after repeatedly deferring responsibility to low level workers and decision-making authority to his board of directors. Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren called him a "gutless leader" who "should be criminally investigated."

A week after that hearing, he agreed to forgo $41 million in unvested stock awards.

However, that was not enough and at a second hearing, some lawmakers called for the bank to be broken up.

California State Treasurer John Chiang, who announced a year-long ban on state business with Wells Fargo, released a statement praising Stumpf's resignation.

"Based on his duck, dodge, and deny performance in the wake of admissions that his bank had fleeced legions of its own customers, he was not  and would never be  the change agent leader Wells Fargo so desperately needs," Chiang said in the statement.

John Thielen, who grew up with Stumpf in Piers, Minnesota where he was a year behind the future CEO in school, said he felt sorry for Stumpf.

"He's in hot water, but I think he put himself there," Thielen told Reuters in a recent interview that preceded Stumpf's resignation.

(Additional reporting by Sarah N. Lynch)
Wells Fargos C-Suite shake-up is doing little to calm uneasy investors. Although new CEO Tim Sloan, who has logged 29 years at the bank, most recently as president and Chief Operating Officer, is well respected, hes not a miracle worker.

The CEO change will not end any of the additional investigations that are ongoing, according to Keefe Bruyette & Woods. The U.S. Department of Justice is investigating the bank, as are several U.S. attorneys offices after it paid a record $185 million fine for ripping off customers by opening phony accounts without their knowledge.

Analyst Brian Kleinhanzl estimates legal costs could near $1 billion, telling FOXBusiness.com, Anytime you see a bank with deep pockets you see a lot of sharks in the water.

Wells Fargo (NYSE:WFC) shares are lower today and have lost over 16% this year with the bulk of the selling taking place after the fine was revealed.

U.S. regulators have no mercy when it comes to doling out steep penalty fines for improper behavior. Earlier this week Deutsche Bank (NYSE:DB) was fined $9.5 million by the Securities and Exchange Commission for lapses in its equity research department. And CEO John Cryan is negotiating with the DOJ over a fine that could be as high as $14 billion tied to shotty mortgage practices dating back to the financial crisis of 2008. Last month he issued a company-wide note to address ongoing speculation.

Stumpfs resignation on Wednesday, [effective immediately] comes about one month after the banks disclosure, wasnt a surprise to many. After several bruising appearances on Capitol Hill and lack of public support from Warren Buffett, the banks largest shareholder, the writing was on the wall. The board, which announced the management changes late Wednesday, may also have been feeling some pressure of their own.

We as a regulator, what we care about is that companies, organizations, banks have the proper risk management, the proper audit capability and that their board is fully engaged. In this case they made that decision and I believe that decision was right for them said Philadelphia Fed President Patrick Harker during an interview with FOX Business Networks Peter Barnes.

Story continues

Things will get more interesting for investors on Friday. Wells Fargo will report quarterly earnings along with two of its major rivals, JPMorgan (NYSE:JPM) and Citigroup (NYSE:C). Investors will be listening closely for any indication of rising legal costs related to the scandal and if the banks reputational damage is negatively impacting the consumer side of the business.

The one thing investors can take comfort in is that Sloan, because of his tenure at Wells Fargo, will oversee what is expected to be a smooth management transition, as noted by KBW, as the bank moves to reestablish itself as one of the nations top financial institutions.

Suzanne OHalloran is Managing Editor of FOXBusiness.com and a graduate of Boston College. Follow her on @suzohalloran.

Related Articles
By Dan Freed

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The Tim Sloan era has begun at Wells Fargo <WFC.N> but the old problems remain.

The newly installed chief executive faces a plethora of challenges following a sales practices scandal that felled his predecessor John Stumpf.

He needs to restore the bank's reputation after revelations that staff opened as many as two million accounts without customers' knowledge to meet internal sales goals and he has to navigate a litany of federal and state investigations arising from those revelations.

Wall Street will be his first port of call when he presents third-quarter results on Friday.

Investors are seeking reassurance that a suddenly chastened Wells Fargo can rebuild its reputation and retain profits while overhauling the hard-charging sales culture at the heart of the scandal over unauthorized accounts.

Sloan's nearly 30 years with Wells, largely spent on the corporate and institutional side of the bank, and his moderate temperament make him an experienced pair of hands.

But as chief operating officer of the bank since November 2015, he had oversight over Wells' retail division where the unauthorized accounts were created, some of them during his tenure as COO.

Such proximity will make it difficult to silence critics in Washington who are also investigating the scandal and have said it proves that some large banks should be broken up.

"I remain concerned that incoming CEO Tim Sloan is also culpable in the recent scandal, serving in a central role in the chain of command that ought to have stopped this misconduct from happening," said Maxine Waters, the top Democrat of the House Financial Services Committee, in a statement.

Wells' shares gave back the gains accrued on Wednesday in after-hours trading when Stumpf's departure was announced and were last down nearly two percent to $44.47. The stock is nearly 11 percent below the level it was trading at before the scandal broke.

Story continues

CALCULATING THE TAB

Wall Street is trying to get a handle on what a long list of probes and lawsuits regarding the bank's opening of unauthorized customer accounts will ultimately cost.

So far the tab has been relatively small: Wells agreed to a $190 million settlement last month, representing less than 1 percent of its annual earnings. But that deal itself led to a range of other inquiries the San Francisco-based bank is now contending with.

Wells Fargo is expected to say how much money it has set aside for legal costs it can reasonably predict when management discusses results on Friday. At least nine separate regulators, prosecutors, enforcement agencies and congressional committees appear to be looking into the bank's actions, according to a Sept. 26 Bernstein Research report. That comes in addition to private lawsuits from shareholders, customers and former workers.

Wells' settlement on Sept. 8 with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and a Los Angeles prosecutor revealed that the bank fired 5,300 employees for improper practices and is now working to retool risk-management protocol as well as pay incentives and training for workers.

Former employees have described a pressure-cooker sales culture inside the bank where managers had browbeat staff into hitting aggressive daily sales quotas, which in turn led some workers to create unauthorized accounts.

As government authorities examine Wells Fargo, it is likely they will find abuses in other parts of the bank beyond retail customers, said Harvey Pitt, founder of consulting firm Kalorama Partners and a former chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

"The damage to customers could be much more significant," said Pitt.

Earlier this month, Reuters reported a probe by U.S. Senator David Vitter has found 10,000 small business customers were also victims of improper practices.

A Wells Fargo spokesman did not respond to requests for comment.

CUTTING FORECASTS

It is difficult to estimate the total cost of the probes and litigation Wells will face over the unauthorized accounts, analysts said. Some matters could drag on for years before being resolved, and there are a range of possible outcomes.

Even so, most analysts have cut profit forecasts for Wells Fargo, citing fallout from the scandal. The average estimate for Wells Fargo's 2017 net income is now $20.8 billion, down $300 million since Sept. 7, according to Thomson Reuters data.

State and local municipalities including Illinois, California, Seattle and Chicago have publicly cut ties with Wells. While some analysts expect other government entities to make similar moves, the impact on Wells Fargos revenues appears immaterial at this point.

Less than 1 percent of Wells Fargo revenue comes from working with local governments, non-profit hospitals and universities, according to a presentation the bank made to investors earlier this year.

The bank has also lost some retail customers, though Wells is still opening more accounts than it is closing, senior executives said on an internal call on Monday that was reported by the Wall Street Journal.

(Additional reporting by Elizabeth Dilts.; Editing by Lauren Tara LaCapra, Meredith Mazzilli and Bernard Orr)
London (AFP) - Arsene Wenger is adamant he will have no direct role in selecting the next manager of Arsenal when his time at the Premier League side finally comes to an end.

The veteran French manager, who is set to celebrate his 67th birthday next week, marked his 20th anniversary in charge of north London club Arsenal earlier this month.

Wenger's contract expires at the end of the current season and there has been speculation he could become the next full-time manager of England -- a role that he has said would appeal "if I am free one day".

But Wenger has also been intensely loyal to Arsenal and he could yet sign a new deal with the Gunners.

Wenger, however, insisted Thursday that whatever else happened he had no interest in picking his eventual replacement, although he would give the Arsenal board an opinion if requested.

"I think it is very important in the club that everybody does what he is paid for," Wenger told beIN Sports.

"My job is to be the manager of the club and to be responsible for the style of play and the technical policy of the club. The board's responsibility will be to choose the next manager so that is not my job.

"If they ask my opinion, I will give it in an honest way, but it will not be me to choose the next manager. I'm not in their position, I am in my position.

"The love story I have with the club is linked as well with the fact the board has always shown faith in me and I'm very grateful for that.

"No matter what happens, I will have to make my decision, the board will have to make a decision and I will respect the decision of the board anyway, even if I wish to stay on I will respect always the decision of the board -- they have the responsibility to do that."

Wenger's position has been called into question in recent seasons given Arsenal last won the Premier League back in 2003/04 -- when the 'Invincibles' were crowned champions without losing a match.

Story continues

But Wenger's own enthusiasm for the job has remained undimmed and Arsenal head into Saturday's home game against Swansea at the Emirates Stadium looking for a sixth straight win in all competitions.

"I think I'm moving the club forward, and the way it is managed forward, I'm quite confident on that," he said.

"The only thing that drives me on is that I want tomorrow to be a better manager than today. As long as I have that I don't want to stop my career, even if I don't think I will manage somewhere else maybe."
Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta talks to reporters on Oct. 5. (Photo: Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images)

In 1972, a group of burglars working for the Republican Party broke into Democratic headquarters in the dead of night, searching for documents that might influence that years presidential election. Reporters from the Washington Post spent years unraveling the scandal, until at last it brought down the president who had concealed it.

Forty-four years later, a group of criminals, quite possibly working in concert with operatives from the Russian government, broke into the correspondence of Democratic campaign aides and began releasing troves of personal emails, in hopes of influencing this years presidential election.

This time, the Post and other news sites, including the New York Times and Politico, have gleefully begun to publish them, with some new gossipy detail every day.

In any normal election year, when we werent transfixed by the serial implosions of a beauty pageant magnate whos talked about women as if theyre livestock, the decision to post these emails would lead to some very hard questions.

What are we doing here, exactly? And have we really thought through where it leads?

Heres what we know. The U.S. government has said  and this is a pretty extraordinary statement  that a series of cyber-intrusions into various campaign arms of the Democratic Party this year appear to have been carried out by Russian hackers. The emails pilfered in these hacks have shown up on several sites, including WikiLeaks.

Heres what else we know. At least two operatives whove worked for Donald Trump have connections inside the Russian government. And Roger Stone, a shadowy Republican operative whos long been close to Trump, sent out ominous tweets this summer warning that John Podesta, Hillary Clintons campaign chairman, was about to become embroiled in scandal.

And now this: Stolen email from Podestas Gmail account began showing up last week on WikiLeaks and other hacker sites. Because some readers seem to be confusing this stuff with the infamous State Department emails or with those taken from party committees, it is worth pointing out that these emails have nothing to do with official government business; they belong to a campaign strategist and come from his personal account.

Story continues

Is there really some unholy alliance here between the Russians, the hackers and the Trump campaign? Probably, yeah, but lets leave that aside for the moment.

The fact that these emails are stolen  even if by agents of a foreign government  doesnt by itself mean they shouldnt be published. Any reporter who tells you he or she hasnt trafficked in ill-gotten information either is lying or isnt a very good reporter.

I couldnt count the number of times in my own career Ive worked with confidential memos, mail or sealed grand jury testimony. Most whistleblowers, the most notable case being Edward Snowden, are breaking the law by stealing proprietary information, and without them theres a lot we should know that we wouldnt.

But the question you apply in these cases is pretty straightforward. Is there an overriding public interest that compels you to abet potential criminals and violate privacy?

Take, for instance, the recent disclosure of Trumps partial tax return, which the Times (along with at least one other news outlet) received anonymously. That may very well have been stolen, too, and yet I would argue that theres a clear imperative to publishing information that voters have a right to know and that every other nominee in modern history has voluntarily disclosed.

So whats the compelling public interest here that justifies violating Podestas privacy and serving the purposes of foreign hackers?

Well, lets see. So far weve learned that Clinton was nervously eyeing Elizabeth Warren. And that New York Mayor Bill de Blasio was a minor irritant to the campaign. And that Neera Tanden, another Clinton adviser, once got mad at David Axelrod. And that Bill Clinton throws tantrums. And so on.

The big headline is: Campaign strategists often participate in discussions about campaign strategy, and sometimes they bicker like children. Also, courtesy of the New York Post, weve learned that a top aide at the Clinton Foundation may have been depressed, because everyone needed to know that.

Then theres the stuff we might like to think we learned, but didnt. Right-wing websites, for instance, have been crowing about an email in which Podesta writes that Clinton hates everyday Americans. Whats clear from the context, however, is that she hates the phrase everyday Americans  as we all should, really.

(In full disclosure, it appears Ive popped up a few times in these emails too  once on the invitation list to a media gathering I chose not to attend, and again for a column that caught the campaigns attention. Its nice to be thought of.)

Im not saying none of this is interesting to readers  or to me, for that matter. But you know, so are celebrity divorces and reality shows about storage bins. As Gary Hart put it in a prescient 1987 speech that Ive written about before, In public life, some things may be interesting, but that doesnt necessarily mean theyre important.

Im also not saying there wasnt anything of real value in the emails. The excerpts from Clintons long-sought Goldman Sachs speeches, compiled internally by the campaign, were relevant to the larger debate. And as my colleagues Liz Goodwin and Michael Isikoff reported this week, an email from Clinton herself shows her accusing Saudi Arabia and Qatar of funding the Islamic State  a newsworthy admission from a former secretary of state.

But these leaks could easily have been reported in isolation, without dumping reams of unedited (and, not incidentally, unauthenticated) emails into the public square, and without writing breathless stories about who was slagging whom.

So why have we all rushed to outdo each other when it comes to publicly airing Podestas pilfered emails? (A lot of media did the same thing, just a few weeks ago, when it was Colin Powells embarrassing emails, so clearly it doesnt have much to do with presidential politics.) My guess is there are a couple of reasons.

First, theres just something about the Internet, even now, that makes us feel like everything belongs in the public domain, in the same way that Napster once succeeded because people felt like taking free music from a website wasnt the same thing as stealing an album from a record store. It was, and it is.

If I stole Podestas utility bills from his mailbox  we used to live a block apart, so I could have  and brought them to my old editors at the Times, theyd have fired me. But somehow stolen email strikes everyone as a blow for transparency.

Second, its the competitive pressure of knowing that even if you dont publish the material, someone else will. Other outlets will get all the credit and all the traffic, and no ones going to stand up and congratulate you for holding the line on privacy. Its a losing proposition.

Maybe in an editors chair, embroiled in complex and fast-moving events, Id have made the same decisions. But in a few months, when this Jackass movie masquerading as a presidential campaign has finally come to an end, wed do well, as an industry, to think more deeply about where to draw that line between pressing news and prurience in the age of hackers  if not for the public interest, then at least for our own.

Because sooner or later, you can be sure, itll be our private email, our candid notes to colleagues and friends and children, that end up plastered on digital billboards by some nefarious hacker with an agenda. I wonder how enthusiastically well report it then.
A man inspects a damaged site in what activists say was a U.S. strike, in Kfredrian, Idlib province September 23, 2014. (REUTERS/Abdalghne Karoof)

The White House has acknowledged for the first time that strict standards President Obama imposed last year to prevent civilian deaths from U.S. drone strikes will not apply to U.S. military operations in Syria and Iraq.

A White House statement to Yahoo News confirming the looser policy came in response to questions about reports that as many as a dozen civilians, including women and young children, were killed when a Tomahawk missile struck the village of Kafr Daryan in Syria's Idlib province on the morning of Sept. 23.

The village has been described by Syrian rebel commanders as a reported stronghold of the al-Qaida-linked Nusra Front where U.S officials believed members of the so-called Khorasan group were plotting attacks against international aircraft.

But at a briefing for members and staffers of the House Foreign Affairs Committee late last week, Syrian rebel commanders described women and children being hauled from the rubble after an errant cruise missile destroyed a home for displaced civilians. Images of badly injured children also appeared on YouTube, helping to fuel anti-U.S. protests in a number of Syrian villages last week.

They were carrying bodies out of the rubble.  I saw seven or eight ambulances coming out of there, said Abu Abdo Salabman, a political member of one of the Free Syria Army factions, who attended the briefing for Foreign Affairs Committee members and staff. We believe this was a big mistake.

Asked about the strike at Kafr Daryan, a U.S. Central Command spokesman said Tuesday that U.S. military did target a Khorasan group compound near this location. However, we have seen no evidence at this time to corroborate claims of civilian casualties. But Caitlin Hayden, a spokesperson for the National Security Council, told Yahoo News that Pentagon officials take all credible allegations seriously and will investigate the reports.

At the same time, however, Hayden said that a much-publicized White House policy that President Obama announced last year barring U.S. drone strikes unless there is a near certainty there will be no civilian casualties  "the highest standard we can meet," he said at the time  does not cover the current U.S. airstrikes in Syria and Iraq.

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The near certainty standard was intended to apply only when we take direct action outside areas of active hostilities, as we noted at the time, Hayden said in an email. That description  outside areas of active hostilities  simply does not fit what we are seeing on the ground in Iraq and Syria right now.



Hayden added that U.S. military operations against the Islamic State (also known as ISIS or ISIL) in Syria, "like all U.S. military operations, are being conducted consistently with the laws of armed conflict, proportionality and distinction."

The laws of armed conflict prohibit the deliberate targeting of civilian areas and require armed forces to take precautions to prevent inadvertent civilian deaths as much as possible.

But one former Obama administration official said the new White House statement raises questions about how the U.S. intends to proceed in the conflict in Syria and Iraq, and under what legal authorities.

CLICK IMAGE for slideshow: Residents inspect damaged buildings in what activists say was a U.S. strike, in Kfredrian, Idlib province September 23, 2014. (REUTERS/Abdalghne Karoof)

They seem to be creating this grey zone for the conflict, said Harold Koh, who served as the State Departments top lawyer during President Obamas first term. If were not applying the strict rules [to prevent civilian casualties] to Syria and Iraq, then they are of relatively limited value."

Questions about civilian deaths from U.S. counterterrorism operations have confronted the Obama administration from the outset, after the president sharply ramped up drone strikes in Pakistan and Yemen, resulting in sometimes heated internal policy debates.

Addressing the subject last year in a speech at the National Defense University, Obama acknowledged for the first time that U.S. strikes have resulted in civilian casualties, adding: For me and those in my chain of command, those deaths will haunt us as long as we live.

Sources familiar with the new near certainty standard Obama announced at the time said that, as a practical matter, it meant that every drone strike had to be signed off on by the White House  first by Lisa Monaco, Obamas chief homeland security adviser, and ultimately by the president himself. The policy, one source said, caused some Pentagon officials to chafe at the new restrictions  and led to a noticeable reduction in such strikes by the military and the CIA.

While the White House has said little about the standards it is using for strikes in Syria and Iraq, one former official who has been briefed on the matter said the looser policy gives more discretion to theater commanders at the U.S. Central Command to select targets without the same level of White House oversight.

The issue arose during last weeks briefing for two House Foreign Affairs Committee members and two staffers when rebel leaders associated with factions of the Free Syria Army, including Abu Abdo Salabman, complained about the civilian deaths  and the fact that the targets were in territory controlled by the Nusra Front, a sometimes ally of the U.S.-backed rebels in its war with the Islamic State and the Syrian regime.

But at least one of the House members present, Rep. Adam Kinzinger, an Illinois Republican who supports stronger U.S. action in Syria, said he was not overly concerned. I did hear them say there were civilian casualties, but I didnt get details, Kinzinger said in an interview with Yahoo News. But nothing is perfect, and whatever civilian deaths resulted from the U.S. strikes are much less than the brutality of the Assad regime.
Why now? If all these women were violated by Donald Trump years ago, why are they just speaking up now?

Thats what Joe Scarborough asked this morning on MSNBC, questioning whether there was a coordinated scheme behind the fact that a number of women came forward within 24 hours to describe sexually inappropriate acts by the Republican nominee. If I had been sexually harassed by this man, the Megyn Kelly story would have given me an opportunity, Scarborough said.

Trump surrogate A.J. Delgado had already suggested the same on All In With Chris Hayes the night before, saying These allegations are decades old. If somebody actually did that, Chris, any reasonable woman would have come forward and said something at the time.

And Donald Trump himself questioned the time lag in a tweet shortly after Scarborough went off the air:

Why didnt the writer of the twelve year old article in People Magazine mention the incident in her story. Because it did not happen!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 13, 2016

To summarize: In an article published by the New York Times at 6:45 p.m. Wednesday evening, two women accused Trump of unwanted sexual contact. Jessica Leeds described a plane ride in the 1980s during which the now Republican-nominee raised the armrest between their seats, grabbed her breasts and tried to put his hand up her skirt. Rachel Crooks described a brief meeting in 2005, while waiting for an elevator at Trump Tower, when Trump kissed her on the mouth.

Then, almost simultaneously, the Palm Beach Post published the story of Mindy McGillivray, who says Trump groped her buttocks in 2005 while she was working as a photographer at his Mar-a-Lago Club. A few hours later, People magazine posted an account by its own reporter, Natasha Stoynoff, who wrote of being pushed against a wall and forcefully tongue-kissed by Trump while she was reporting a story about the first anniversary of his marriage to Melania.

Story continues

And finally, that same day, Tasha Dixon, a former contestant in the Trump-owned Miss Teen USA pageant, told the CBS affiliate in Los Angeles that Trump had come strolling right in to the dressing room while contestants changed into bikinis. There was no second to put a robe on or any sort of clothing or anything, she said. Some girls were topless. Other girls were naked.

So, to return to Scarboroughs question this morning  why now?

Donald Trump delivers a speech Thursday in Columbus, Ohio. (Photo: Evan Vucci/AP)

Rather than see it as a coordinated campaign of piling on, as Trump, Scarborough and Delgado say they do, it can be seen as no longer being able to keep quiet. Its not a reflection of eagerness to join the fray, but of reluctance to do so until you somehow feel you must.

There are, after all, so many reasons to keep quiet  the same reasons that nearly 70 percent of sexual assault victims never report such assaults at all, and that those who do often take days, weeks, months, or even years, and many never disclose it to anyone, including their closest friends, the National Law Enforcement Policy Center has found. Theres fear of not being believed (a reason given by many of the 57 women who eventually accused Bill Cosby); and fear of taking on a powerful man who can retaliate (see Roger Ailes); or fear of being publicly pilloried (check Twitter this morning and see what the recent Trump accusers are going through). Usually it is more than one of the above.

Add to that the fact that once allegations are brought, vindication is rare. Plaintiffs win 40 percent of sexual harassment cases, and the average jury award is $217,000. Far more cases are settled, for an average of $30,000. Similarly, only 18 percent of prosecuted rape cases end in conviction. These cases are, by definition, almost always a He said, she said proposition, and it can be intimidating to be the she standing up to an abusive he.

What, then, spurs women to act? For some it is because the context has changed, and perhaps now they will be believed. Or their lens has changed, and something they accepted as the way men are, or somehow as my fault, looks far different as society redefines its terms. Or because the stakes have been raised  perhaps their abuser is now running for president. Or the instinct to keep quiet is overtaken by the anger of having kept quiet for too long.

I know that push. It was why I spoke out in May in a story titled When Trump made a pass at me. And why it matters. My story is not one of physical boundaries breached, and there was no criminal behavior on Trumps part. But my tale of how he unmistakably turned an interview with a journalist into a lecherous encounter 30 years ago did speak to a pattern of behavior with women. I kept it to myself for all the above reasons and more: It was a deeply uncomfortable moment personally and professionally; I had no desire to become part of the story; it was just one data point; back at the time, my 20-something self hadnt really understood that a man was not entitled to treat me that way.

But then, in May, the New York Times ran a front-page article about how Trump was regularly inappropriate with women. The stories sounded more than a little familiar, and when Trump took to Twitter and called them a fraud, I took to my keyboard to testify that they were not.

It sounds like Tasha Dixon had a similar moment. She has said nothing since she competed in 2001 at the age of 18. And she would not have spoken up yesterday, she says, if not for the release of a tape of a 2005 Howard Stern show in which Trump brags of doing exactly what Dixon, then Miss Arizona, saw. Ill go backstage before a show and everyones getting dressed, he said. No men are anywhere. And Im allowed to go in because Im the owner of the pageant. And therefore, Im inspecting it.  You know, theyre standing there with no clothes. Is everybody OK? And you see these incredible-looking women. And so I sort of get away with things like that.

Those words, Dixon says, were her tipping point. Who do you complain to? she said, explaining why she didnt do so in real time. He owns the pageant. Theres no one to complain to. Everyone there works for him.

For Jessica Leeds, in turn, her tipping point came while she was home watching the second presidential debate on Sunday night. Anderson Cooper was pressing Trump about whether he actually did the things  kissing women and grabbing at women without consent  that he had bragged about to Access Hollywood host Billy Bush.

When Trump said, No, I have not, Leeds felt like I wanted to punch the screen, she told the Times.

Instead, she decided to go public, and allow the world to question her veracity, her motivation and her timing.
From Cosmopolitan

Millennials wield significant political power in America. Just over 30 percent of Americans are between the ages of 18 and 35, making them the second-largest group of potential voters after Baby Boomers. But millennials in 2016 are less likely to vote than young people in previous generations, and many are so frustrated by both candidates that they are leaning toward independents Gary Johnson and Jill Stein. At the Clinton campaign headquarters in Brooklyn, New York, six interns spoke about their experiences working on Clintons campaign and what motivated them to get involved.

Photo credit: RUBEN CHAMORRO

Nicolas Penfold-Perez, 20, University of Vermont

Hometown: Caracas, Venezuela

Team: Latino Vote



Coming from Venezuela and being a first-generation immigrant, hearing the kind of hateful rhetoric thats coming from Donald Trump and his campaign is something that honestly scares me. I live with a lot of people who have come to this country seeking refuge from places where economic opportunity wasnt the same or social opportunity wasnt the same and for us to be kind of setting those people aside and telling them theyre not welcome here is, I think, un-American. And if those laws had been in place before I became in immigrant here, I wouldnt have gotten the chance to grow up in this country.

Photo credit: RUBEN CHAMORRO

Kevin Chen, 25, Masters candidate at Columbia Universitys School of International and Public Affairs

Hometown: Los Angeles, California

Team: Asian-American & Pacific Islander Outreach

We had a rally in Flushing, [Queens] with Bill Clinton, and at this rally, a Chinese-American mother approached me with a photo. We mostly spoke in Mandarin and then she explained that 20 years ago when she came to the U.S., she had very limited English, she had no connections, and she didnt have health insurance. She was also pregnant at the time and her choices were basically either she aborts the child or she would have to give birth at home. But then, the state childrens health insurance plan passed, the one that Hillary [helped] push through Congress. And because of that, she was able to get health insurance and then she had her daughter at a hospital via C-section. The photo that she showed me was of her daughters high school graduation. She brought it because she wanted Michelle Kwan to sign it because she was the one who was hosting the rally. Stories like that really hit home to me. What were doing now is so important, not just for the next four years but for decades to come.

Story continues

Photo credit: RUBEN CHAMORRO

Ashlee Kuan, 20, New York University

Hometown: Herrin, IL

Team: Operations/Talent

My parents are immigrants - theyve been in this country for over 30 years, but they still cant vote. They are die-hard into politics and they love Hillary and they would love to vote for her, but thats an opportunity that they dont have because they dont have citizenship. Its just really important that everyone understands that if you are a citizen, your right to vote is something you really need to take advantage of. I had the intention of pursuing law school, perhaps going into corporate law, and since joining the campaign Ive kind of changed my direction in thinking that I would love to work in politics.



Photo credit: RUBEN CHAMORRO

Francesca Agege, 21, Tulane University

Hometown: Potomac, Maryland

Team: Correspondence & Briefings

As a millennial, I was leaning a little bit towards Bernie but I had not really made up my mind, and I think as we got closer, as a political science major, Im inclined to do my research and I saw that I aligned more with her. A lot of people would rather keep up with the Kardashians than keep up with what is going on in this country. And I think that apathy also comes from (1) a lack of empathy and (2) you dont have the desire to look into the policies. The hatred that people have for Secretary Clinton, in my opinion, is unwarranted. It really just comes from the fact that shes been in the public eye for over 30 years, and theres so much mud-slinging. If anyone could just take even 5, 10 minutes and do that research, look at her resume, you would understand why you dont have a reason to be apathetic, you dont have a reason to be viewing this candidate so negatively. This is my senior year, so I was very, very conflicted. Who wants to miss their senior year? But this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. This is history. And I will be able to tell my children in the future, my grandchildren, this is what I did to help get the first woman president elected.

Photo credit: RUBEN CHAMORRO

Rose Khan, 19, NYU

Hometown: Queens, New York

Team: Womens Vote

I come from a Muslim family and my parents are immigrants, so it really hurt to hear someone saying that people dont belong in this country on the premise of their religion. Being someone that commutes from Long Island, I face a lot of conservative voters on the train. Sometimes people will just be like, Oh, I cant wait to make America great again, which has become such an insult and just kind of a loaded phrase to me. Sometimes it happens on train platforms, which is a little scary, and sometimes its when Im with my older brother, because hes got a little bit of facial hair and he looks more Middle Eastern than I do. All these Islamophobic acts and all this anti-Muslim rhetoric going on - people actually care and its an issue that people want to remedy. In March I went to my first rally as a part of the campaign and met Huma Abedin, whos been an inspiration to me since Ive been 16 because she was the first example of Muslim, South Asian women representation in politics for me. She was just so graceful and nice and intelligent, and it was just so amazing to get to speak to her. I dont think thats something Ill ever forget.

Photo credit: RUBEN CHAMORRO

Jehanne McCullough, 20, Gallaudet University

Hometown: North Bethesda, Maryland

Team: Millennial Vote

No presidential candidate has ever cared as much about Americans with disabilities, the LGBTQ community, women, minorities, and other groups as much as Hillary. As a deaf individual and daughter of lesbian moms, this is especially important and personal to me. I am the only deaf intern here, but this is such an inclusive campaign that I truly feel welcome. This is the first time working full-time in a hearing environment - where nobody else is fluent in American Sign Language - which can be tough. However, people here have been very nice and accommodating. Some even downloaded the ASL App to learn some signs! For that, Im grateful. One thing I have noticed is that many younger people forget or do not realize how much sexism women go through, especially in the past. So, electing a woman may be less important to many younger people. I think the best thing to do is discuss Hillarys experience and educate millennials about who she actually is and what she has gone through. After graduating, I plan to go to law school. Thanks to my experience with this campaign, I know for sure that I want to get into politics and work with politicians like Hillary as much as possible.

Photo credit: RUBEN CHAMORRO

Election Day is Nov. 8. If you havent registered to vote yet, you can do so here.

Follow Prachi on Twitter.

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Congratulations to Bob Dylan, surprise winner of the 2016 Nobel Prize for Literature. This is easily the most controversial award since they gave it to the guy who wrote Lord of the Flies, which was controversial only because it came next after the immensely popular 1982 prize for Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Nobody can read the minds of the Nobel committee  it's not that kind of award. You can't argue that Dylan jumped the line in front of more deserving candidates, because there's no internal logic to the process. Like most literary Nobels, except much more so, it comes out of the blue, giving Dylan fans a whole new glorious enigma to battle over. So settle in. This argument will take us years. If you're looking to get silly, you better go back to from where you came.

According to the Swedish Academy, Dylan won "for having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition." Of course it's not poetry, not even sung poetry. It's songwriting, it's storytelling, it's electric noise, it's a bard exploiting the new-media inventions of his time (amplifiers, microphones, recording studios, radio) for literary performance the way playwrights or screenwriters once did. It's love, it's theft, it's the fire he built on Main Street and shot full of holes. He didn't win for Chronicles, the finest rock & roll memoir ever. He didn't win for Tarantula, his famously indecipherable blown-off novel. He didn't win for his lyric sheets, which remain full of errors he's never bothered to fix. (No, it's not "don't try No-Doz." It's "don't tie no bows.") He didn't win for making it through all of F. Scott Fitzgerald's books or inventing the word "if'n." Or his liner notes ("if you do not know where the Insanity Factory is located, you should hereby take two steps to the right, paint your teeth & go to sleep") or his jokes ("I ordered some suzette, I said could you please make that crepe"). He won for inventing ways to make songs do what they hadn't done before.



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The best argument for Dylan's Nobel Prize comes from Ralph Waldo Emerson, even though he died a century before Shot of Love. His 1850 essay "Shakespeare; or the Poet," from the book Representative Men, works as a cheat sheet to Dylan. For Emerson, Shakespeare's greatness was to exploit the freedoms of a disreputable format, the theater: "Shakespeare, in common with his comrades, esteemed the mass of old plays, waste stock, in which any experiment could be freely tried. Had the prestige which hedges about a modern tragedy existed, nothing could have been done. The rude warm blood of the living England circulated in the play, as in street-ballads."

This is a key point  Shakespeare was a writer/actor/manager hustling in the commercial theater racket for live crowds. He didn't publish his plays  didn't even keep written copies. Once it was onstage, he was on to the next one. (After his death, his friends had to cobble the First Folio together, mostly from working scripts, hence the deplorable state of his texts.) Low prestige meant constant forward motion. The theater was becoming a national passion, "but not a whit less considerable, because it was cheap." He aimed his poetry at the groundlings: "It must even go into the world's history, that the best poet led an obscure and profane life, using his genius for the public amusement."

Dylan didn't write many books either  his songs came out of that same "rude warm blood." He makes sure you can't reduce his songs to their verbal content, whether he's choosing to go incomprehensible or comical. He likes to change his mind about the lyrics as he goes along, sometimes in mid-word. As he explained in 2004, "I'll take a song I know and simply start playing it in my head. That's the way I meditate. A lot of people will look at a crack on the wall and meditate, or count sheep or angels or money or something, and it's a proven fact that it'll help them relax. I don't meditate on any of that stuff. I meditate on a song." The musical performance is what generates the lyric. "I'll be playing Bob Nolan's 'Tumbling Tumbleweeds,' for instance, in my head constantly  while I'm driving a car or talking to a person or sitting around or whatever. People will think they are talking to me and I'm talking back, but I'm not. I'm listening to the song in my head. At a certain point, some of the words will change and I'll start writing a song."



The Nobel committee got this right  Dylan's ongoing achievement in American song is a literary feat to celebrate in this gaudiest of ways. The fact that he's won this award  yet another scandalous international incident to add to his resume  is something to celebrate as well. "These songs didn't come out of thin air," Dylan said last year in his instant-classic MusiCares speech, explaining his roots in the folk, blues and country tradition. "All these songs are connected. Don't be fooled. I just opened up a different door in a different kind of way." It's a door we've all been walking through ever since. So here's to everything Dylan's built over the past 60 years. And here's to his next 60 years.





Related Content:
https://foreignpolicymag.files.wordpress.com/2016/10/160914_thebackstory_mixdown-11.mp3

In this episode of The Backstory, FP senior reporter Molly OToole moderates a conversation between former FP fellow Megan Alpert and FP staff writer Siobhan OGrady, who reported from Colombia and South Sudan, respectively, through grants from the International Womens Media Foundation.

As part of their reporting, both Alpert and OGrady examined the conflicts that have long plagued each country and the reasons why their peace processes have hit such large roadblocks. In Colombia, Alpert explored narratives from the politicians who opposed the proposed peace deal and eventually got their way. In South Sudan, OGrady tracked down rebel leader Riek Machar at his armed camp and met with civilians who survived atrocities at the hands of government soldiers and are still seeking refuge in the countrys sprawling swamplands.



For decades, Sudanese rebels in the south fought against their northern neighbors in an effort to liberate themselves from the oppressive government in Khartoum. The conflict claimed more than 2 million lives and displaced millions more. But in a moment of hope for peace in the tumultuous region, South Sudan  with the help of the United States and other members of the international community  declared its independence from Sudan in 2011. By late 2013, the newly independent nation had descended into another civil war.

In Colombia in the mid-1960s, the Marxist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) launched an armed rebellion against the government, mostly over issues of inequality and land reform. They later turned to drug trafficking and extortion, targeting the Colombian population. The right-wing paramilitary groups that formed to fight the FARC have also been accused of carrying out massacres. For decades, the conflict has terrorized the country.

Over the course of the past two years, both countries have entered internationally backed talks to put an end to their bloody conflicts. And for a time, it seemed like the peace processes might actually work: In August 2015, South Sudanese rivals Riek Machar and Salva Kiir signed a peace agreement designed to end their civil war. And this month, Colombian voters took to the polls to vote in a referendum that would have ended the conflict with the FARC.

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The South Sudanese deal has since unraveled, with some of the conflicts worst violence taking place in the months after it was signed. And Colombian voters shot down the proposed peace deal, leaving Latin America reeling and the government of Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos  who won the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts in the process  questioning what would come next.

About the participants:

Molly OToole is a senior reporter at FP, covering the 2016 election and national security. Previously, she was the lone politics reporter for Defense One, where she reported from Congress, the White House, the Pentagon, the State Department, and the campaign trail in South Carolina, Iowa, and New Hampshire. She has also worked for Reuters, the Nation, The Associated Press, and Newsweek International, among others, from Washington, New York, Mexico City, and London. Follow her on Twitter at: @mollymotoole.

Megan Alpert was a 2015-2016 fellow at FP. Her other bylines have included Atlantic.com, Guardian, Guernica Daily, and Earth Island Journal. She has reported from Ecuador, Colombia, and Washington, DC on issues ranging from the reintegration of female FARC combatants to oil development in the Amazon rainforest. While at FP, she received an Adelante reporting fellowship from the International Womens Media Foundation. Follow her on Twitter at: @megan_alpert.

Siobhan OGrady is a staff writer at FP, where she runs the websites Passport blog and writes on U.S.-Africa relations. A two-time grant recipient from the International Womens Media Foundation, Siobhan has reported from South Sudan, eastern Congo, and Senegal and has lived in Morocco and Cameroon. She previously reported on border security, drug cartels, prison reform, and all things Ted Cruz for the Houston Chronicles Washington, D.C., bureau. Follow her on Twitter at: @siobhan_ogrady.

Subscribe to FPs Global Thinkers and The E.R. podcasts on iTunes.
tomahawk missile raytheon explosion

In the early-morning hours of October 12, the USS Nitze fired a salvo of Tomahawk cruise missiles at radar sites in Houthi-controlled Yemen and thereby marked the US's official entry into the conflict in Yemen that has raged for 18 months.

The US fired in retaliation to previous incidents where missiles fired from Iranian-backed Houthi territory had threatened US Navy ships: the destroyers USS Mason and USS Nitze, and the amphibious transport dock USS Ponce.

After more than two decades of peaceful service, this was likely the first time the US fired these defensive missiles in combat.

"These strikes are not connected to the broader conflict in Yemen," Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook said. "Our actions overnight were a response to hostile action."

But instead of responding to the attack with the full force of two Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyers, the Navy's response was measured, limited, and in self-defense.

Jonathan Schanzer, an expert on Yemen and Iran at the Foundation for Defending Democracies, said the US's response fell "far short of what an appropriate response would be."

"Basically, the US took out part of the system that would allow for targeting, protecting themselves but not going after those who fired upon them," Schanzer told Business Insider.

Even the limited strike places the US in a tricky situation internationally and legally. The Obama administration has desperately tried to preserve relations with Iran since negotiating and implementing the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action to ensure Iran doesn't become a nuclear state.

But the pivot toward Iran, a Shia power, has ruffled feathers in Saudi Arabia, a longtime US ally and the premier Sunni power in the Middle East.

The USS Nitze, a Guided Missile Destroyer is greeted by the spray of a fireboat to kick off Fleet Week in New York Harbor, May 24, 2006. Fleet Week will run through May 30, featuring extensive naval and military display for the public. REUTERS/Peter Foley

By taking direct military action against the Houthi rebels, a Shia group battling the internationally recognized government of Yemeni President Abd Rabbu Mansour al-Hadi, the US has entered into  even in a limited capacity  another war in the Middle East with no end in sight.

Story continues

Iran and the Houthis

Shahab-3 missile Iran

Phillip Smyth of the Washington Institute on Near East Policy told Business Insider that Iran views Shia groups in the Middle East as "integral elements to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC)."

Smyth confirmed to Business Insider the strong bond between Iran and the Houthi uprising working to overthrow the government in Yemen.

According to Smyth, in many cases Houthi leaders go to Iran for ideological and religious education, and Iranian and Hezbollah leaders have been spotted on the ground advising the Houthi troops.

These Iranian advisers are likely responsible for training the Houthis to use the type of sophisticated guided missiles fired at the US Navy.

For Iran, supporting the revolt in Yemen is "a good way to bleed the Saudis," Iran's regional and ideological rival. Essentially, Iran is backing the Houthis to fight against a Saudi-led coalition of Gulf States fighting to maintain government control of Yemen.

An armed man loyal to the Houthi movement holds his weapon as he gathers to protest against the Saudi-backed exiled government deciding to cut off the Yemeni central bank from the outside world, in the capital Sanaa, Yemen August 25, 2016. REUTERS/Mohamed al-Sayaghi

"The Iranians are looking at this from a very, very strategic angle, not just bleeding Saudis and other Gulf States, but how can they expand their ideological and military influence," Smyth said.

Yemen presents an extremely attractive goal for enterprising Iran. Yemen's situation on the Bab-al-Mandab Strait means that control of that waterway  which they may have been trying to establish with the missile strikes  would give them control over the Red Sea, a massive waterway and choke point for commerce.

The risk of picking a side

Yemen map

The US officially became a combatant in Yemen on Wednesday night. In doing so, it has tacitly aligned with the Saudi-led coalition that has been tied to a brutal air blockade.

The Saudis stand accused of war crimes in connection with bombing schools, hospitals, markets, and even a packed funeral hall.

Internal communications show the US has been very concerned about entering into the conflict for fear that it may be considered "co-belligerents" and thereby liable for prosecution for war crimes, Reuters reported.

Lawrence Brennan, an adjunct professor at Fordham Law School and a US Navy veteran, told Business Insider the "limited context in which these strikes occurred was to protect freedom of navigation and neutral ships" and likely doesn't "rise to the legal state of belligerence."

Yet Russian and Shia sources are quick to lump the US and Saudi Arabia together, Smyth added. Just as the US and international community look to hold Russia and Syria accountable for the bombing of a humanitarian aid convoy in Syria, the indiscriminate Saudi air campaign in Yemen makes it "very easy to offer a response" to the cries of war crimes against them, he said.

Men drive a motorcycle near a damaged aid truck after an airstrike on the rebel held Urm al-Kubra town, western Aleppo city, Syria September 20, 2016. REUTERS/Ammar Abdullah

Indeed, now Russian propagandists can offer up a narrative that suggests a dangerous quid pro quo narrative, suggesting that the US and Russia are trading war crimes in the region, and to "throw out chaff" and muddy the waters should the international community looks to prosecute Russia and Syria, Smyth added.

Gone too far  or not far enough?

So, while the US has now entered the murky waters of the conflict in Yemen  where 14 million people lack food and thousands of civilians have been murdered  Schanzer says the US may not have done enough.

The Navy "didnt hit the people who struck them," Schanzer said. "They're not looking for caches of missiles, not looking for youth hideouts, not looking to engage directly."

For Schanzer, this half measure "seems like its not even mowing the lawn."

Houthi RPG

But with the US already involved in bombing campaigns in six countries, it is "loathe" to get mired in another Middle Eastern conflict and equally concerned about fighting against Iran's proxies, whom it sees as extensions of Iran's own IRGC.

For now, the Pentagon remains committed to the idea that the strike on Houthi infrastructure was a "limited" strike, and that it's strictly acting in self-defense, which Schanzer said is "not really the way to achieve victory."

But with just three months left in President Obama's second term, there is good reason to question if the US's objective is to help the people of Yemen and end the war, or to simply sit out the festering conflict as it balances delicate regional alliances.

NOW WATCH: The US struck radar sites in Yemen after rebels tried to attack a Navy ship with missiles





More From Business Insider


I always thought John Stumpf, the now former CEO of Wells Fargo, would eventually step down amid revelations that bank employees opened millions of credit-card accounts customers hadnt approved in order to hit profit targets. Let me be clear: I didnt think hed resign because the behavior under his watch was egregious  that hasnt stopped any number of other financial executives from staying in their posts. But rather, I thought he would fall because the fraud in this case was just so easy for average people to understand. Spliced and diced derivatives contracts sold across borders to gullible counterparties? Huh? But straight up fraud  taking customers personal information and using it without their knowledge or consent  thats something everybody can understand. And be justifiably outraged by.

Wells easily grasped misdeeds, and the fallout, come at a pivotal time for the reform-minded. Im hopeful this scandal, which doesnt require the cleverness of Margot Robbie in the tub to explain, represents an opportunity to reconstruct and refresh the narrative around our financial system. Particularly what still needs to be done to make it safer. Officials did a great job saving the financial system post 2008, but a terrible job reregulating it and putting it back in service to the real economy.

The Wells case is a perfect example. Why was the malfeasance at Wells in the credit-card division? One reason is that Dodd-Frank put certain restrictions on the ability of banks to make money via riskier trading. But absent deeper changes in the business model of finance, banks didnt take this as an opportunity to channel capital to more productive uses (like, for example, the sort of business lending that made up the majority of their revenue stream 40 years ago). Rather they looked for another place to make a quick buck  this time in consumer debt.

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All this is, of course, encouraged by policymakers who are all too eager for constituents to have access to debt to paper over the fact that the recovery is still sluggish, and wage growth has been slow. Wells is only one of any number of banks that have moved into the consumer retail business as a way to try to keep profit margins high. Given the pressure to make the quarterly numbers, but no real culture or mission change, its no wonder things turned sour.

Whats the solution? While I think that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and other watchdogs are doing Gods work, I also think its nearly impossible to try to catch and prosecute, post-facto, all the bad things that banks might be doing. Smart regulation is important, but I think we need to go deeper and flip the current paradigm on its head. Instead of waiting to see what new trick an industry that takes a quarter of all corporate profits but creates only 4% of all American jobs will do, lets ask the financial industry, a sector that has nothing but metrics at hand, to produce some numbers on what parts of its business model have clear, measurable social value.

Smart lending to worthy businesses (particularly the small and midsize businesses that cant raise capital on the public markets) would rank high. Issuance of fake credit cards? Not so much. London Whale type trading? Definitely not. The financial sector is supposed to serve business and the public  not the other way around.

The Wells saga is a shockingly simple example that were not there yet.
Wonder Woman may be 75 years old  in comic book years, that is  but shes getting a modern makeover for her epic, self-titled action-adventure debut, scheduled for release June 2, 1017, by Warner Bros. Gal Gadot, who also played the character in the recent Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, is the canvas on which costume designer Lindy Hemming (The Dark Knight trilogy) painted. But first, production designer Aline Bonetto (Amelie) had to fashion an original-looking world in which to place the iconic character.

Bonetto says an immediate challenge was to create the imaginary island of Themyscira, where Diana and her sister Amazonians live in perfect harmony

with nature.

For its architectural elements, Bonetto drew inspiration from Assyrian buildings and designs from 800 B.C., considering them pure and beautiful in a modern sort of way.

We combined that [look] with a lot of open spaces, and caves that arent totally enclosed, she says.

Exteriors were shot in southern Italy. Interiors were filmed on stages at Warner Bros. Leavesden studios in the U.K.

The second big challenge was in recreating the period look of World War I in London and Belgium, for the portions of the movie in which Wonder Woman is transported to the more modern world.

For that, says Bonetto, we built many sets  maybe 30 or 40  on the Leavesden backlot, including an entire Belgian village, complete with a church, shops, cafes, bars, and streets.

Bonetto worked over 14 months and employed a team of 250 artists, model builders, set builders, carpenters, and painters, among others. Its the biggest thing Ive ever done, she says.

Taking center stage in this newly imagined environment is Wonder Woman, of course, bedecked in the iconic costume that fans will find familiar  yet updated for todays audiences by Hemming, who elaborated on the work done by Michael Wilkinson, who created the Wonder Woman costumes for Batman v Superman.

When I was asked to design a new look for her in Batman v Superman, the main challenge was finding the right balance between two qualities  her strength and grace, says Wilkinson. On that film, director Zack Snyder wanted a fierce, very intimidating warrior, a legitimate fighter standing her own ground in this universe of male superheroes and villains. But she also had to possess a sense of true majesty, which the others dont have. Theres discipline in her fighting style, an elegance and sense of Amazon royalty.

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Aesthetics aside, it was in battle that the costumes faced their greatest test. Gadot wore a metal suit that had to look 5,000 years old, but at the same time [she had to] work in it for hours, move easily, and do the fight choreography, Wilkinson says.

Wilkinson ultimately made four costumes, incorporating the characters legacy into the new look.

We did a lot of research, he says. It was important to include all the old elements but ground them in a reality so they all feel authentic  the eagle across the chest, the WW motifs, the headdress with the star. We created our own design language that permeates architecture, environments, soldiers uniforms, and civilian wear.

The designer adds that it was important that the costume didnt seem purely decorative.

She looks that way for a reason; theres a brain behind the tiara, Wilkinson explains. The weapons and strapping are part of her look, with her sword, shield, lasso, the hand-wraps, the damage and battle scars from over the centuries.

One of the hardest tasks, says Hemming, was creating almost all of the costumes from scratch.

We had to make all their clothing and armor for an army of hundreds of Amazons, Hemming says.

It was the responsibility of Hemming and Wilkinson to make sure there was absolute visual continuity in the look of the Amazons.

When the story moved to the early 20th century, a whole new look had to be created for costumes of a different period. For this, Hemming worked for 16 months with a team of more than 50 artisans that included assistant designers, fabric painters, costume-makers, leather-workers, and even knitters.

More than any other film Ive done, she says, this included all the crafts on a huge scale.

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Thailands Royal Palace announced on Thursday that King Bhumibol Adulyadej died at Bangkoks Siriraj Hospital, and people around the world responded with an outpouring of grief.

Hundreds of Thais had gathered by the hospital since Sunday to chant prayers and offer flowers after news spread of the monarchs deteriorating health. By Wednesday, the palace announced that the 88-year-old leaders kidneys and liver were not working properly, and his health had overall not yet stabilized.

The kingwho was the worlds longest reining monarch, having been on the throne for seven decadesis widely revered in Thailand. He will be succeeded by his son and male heir Crown Prince Vajiralongkorn, says the countrys Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha, who has led the country since a 2014 coup. He says Thailand will hold a yearlong grieving period.

Here is how world leaders reacted to the death:

U.S. President Barack Obama sent his condolences and recalled the kings  grace and warmth, as well as his deep affection and compassion for the Thai people, according to a White House statement.

He also said the late monarch was a tireless champion of his countrys development and demonstrated unflagging devotion to improving the standard of living of the Thai people.With a creative spirit and a drive for innovation, he pioneered new technologies that have rightfully received worldwide acclaim. His Majesty leaves a legacy of care for the Thai people that will be cherished by future generations.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi called the king one of the tallest leaders of all time who was widely revered by his people.

People of India and I join the people of Thailand in grieving the loss of one of the tallest leaders of our times, King Bhumibol Adulyadej.  Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) October 13, 2016

King Bhumibol Adulyadej or Rama 9, was widely revered by his people. My thoughts are with his countless well-wishers & family.  Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) October 13, 2016

The Republic of Irelands President Michael D Higgins said the world lost both its longest reigning head of state and a statesman deeply committed to peace and peaceful co-existence. He extended his condolences to the people of Thailand, saying: I wish to express my deepest sympathies to his wife, Queen Sirikit, and his children, in particular to his daughter Maha Chakri Sirindhorn whose visit to Aras an Uachtarain I recall with fondness, as well as to his wider family and to the people of Thailand.

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Statement by President Michael D Higgins on the death of King Bhumibol Adulyadej of #Thailand: https://t.co/SWeMwj4Un6 pic.twitter.com/x1TPITXSya  President of Ireland (@PresidentIRL) October 13, 2016

Singapores Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement saying the Southeast Asian country is deeply saddened to learn of the passing of the King. His Majesty King Bhumibol will long be remembered and respected both in the Kingdom of Thailand and around the world for his devotion to his people, read the statement.

Singapore conveys our deepest condolences to #Thailand on the passing of His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej https://t.co/tUftTyWJi1 pic.twitter.com/0nV6KaW0wc  MFAsg (@MFAsg) October 13, 2016

Najib Razak, the prime minister of Malaysia, tweeted his condolences:

My heartfelt condolences to the Royal Family and people of Thailand on the passing of His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej.  Mohd Najib Tun Razak (@NajibRazak) October 13, 2016

As did the President of Kosovo:

Deepest condolences to people of #Thailand for late King Bhumibol Adulyadej. #Thailand is such a great ally. We feel sorry for the loss.  Hashim Thaci (@HashimThaciRKS) October 13, 2016

The Belgian royal family sent their condolences as well:
Kigali (AFP) - Rwanda's President Paul Kagame urged world leaders to rid the world of potent greenhouse gases used in refrigerators and air conditioners, as he opened a high-level meeting in Kigali Thursday.

Envoys from nearly 200 nations are in the Rwandan capital to thrash out an agreement to phase out hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), which were introduced in the 1990s to save the ozone layer -- but turned out to be catastrophic for global warming.

Halting the use of HFCs -- also found in aerosols and foam insulation -- is crucial to meeting the goals to curb the rise of global temperatures agreed in a historic accord drafted in Paris last year.

"We should not allow ourselves to be satisfied with making a little bit of good progress when it is within our power to actually solve the problem," Kagame told the meeting, attended by representatives of 197 countries.

US Secretary of State John Kerry is among the 40 ministers expected.

Kagame, whose small east African nation has put the environment at the heart of its development strategy, said that eradicating HFCs "will make our world safer and more prosperous".

Maxime Beaugrand of the Institute for Governance and Sustainable Development was positive that there would be an agreement Friday to phase out HFCs.

"Negotiations are moving in the right direction. I think we can expect an amendment tomorrow in Kigali and I think it will be sufficiently ambitious," she told AFP.

HFCs predecessors, chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), were discontinued under the ozone-protecting Montreal Protocol when scientists realised the compounds were responsible for the growing hole in the ozone layer, which protects Earth from the Sun's dangerous ultraviolet rays.

However it emerged that HFCs -- while safe for the now-healing ozone -- are thousands of times worse for trapping heat in the atmosphere than carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas.

"(HFCs) are increasing at a rate of 10-15 percent a year," Greenpeace global strategist Paula Carbajal told AFP. "That makes them the fastest-growing greenhouse gas."

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According to a study by the Berkeley National Laboratory, residential air conditioning is the cause of the largest growth in HFCs -- and the world is likely to have another 700 million air conditioners by 2030.

"The world room air conditioner market is growing fast with increasing urbanisation, electrification, rising incomes and falling air conditioner prices in many developing economies."

Beaugrand said alternatives to HFCs existed in all refrigeration sectors.

These alternatives "either have less of a warming potential than HFCs or they are natural like ammonia".

Other alternatives are water and gases called hydrofluoroolefins (HFOs) which are a form of HFCs, however some, like Greenpeace, believe these are still too dangerous.

- A gradual phase-down -

Carbajal said HFCs could add as much as 0.1 degrees celsius (0.18 Fahrenheit) to average global temperatures by mid-century, and 0.5 degrees celsius (0.9 F) by 2100.

The Paris climate agreement aims to keep global warming below two degrees celsius, compared with pre-industrial levels, and continued use of HFCs could prove a serious stumbling block to attaining the goal.

"If HFC growth is not stopped, it becomes virtually impossible to meet the Paris goals," said David Doniger of the Natural Resources Defense Council, an environmental advocacy group.

HFCs -- though they are greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide -- are not dealt with under the Paris Agreement but under the Montreal Protocol, adopted in 1987.

Negotiators are weighing various proposals for amending the protocol to freeze HFC production and use, with possible dates for such moves ranging from almost immediately to as late as 2031.

India -- which is a major HFC producer along with China -- backs the later date, while countries in very hot parts of the world where HFC-using air conditioners are in high demand, want temporary exemptions.

Last month, a group of developed countries and companies offered $80 million (72 million euros) to help developing countries make the switch away from HFCs.

"No one, frankly, will forgive you nor me if we cannot find a compromise at this conference because this is one of the cheapest, one of the easiest, one of the lowest hanging fruits in the entire household of climate mitigation," Erik Solheim, head of the UN Environment Programme, told delegates.
Highly publicized police shootings of young black men continue to fuel a national conversation on race. Groups such as Black Lives Matter have sought to highlight systemic racial inequality in the United States. Despite the achievements of the Civil Rights Movement over 50 years ago, many systemic inequalities persist -- and some have worsened.

An examination of educational attainment, wages, unemployment, incarceration rates, and other measures among black and white populations across U.S. cities reveals consistently worse outcomes among blacks. The wider the gaps, the more severe the level of inequality. 24/7 Wall St. reviewed 10 cities with the greatest inequality between whites and blacks.

ALSO READ: America's Richest (and Poorest) States

(Click image to enlarge)

Valerie Wilson, director of the Program on Race, Ethnicity, and the Economy at the left-leaning think tank Economic Policy Institute, revealed an alarming trend. In a recent publication, Wilson found that even when age, regional factors, experience, and education levels are controlled for, the wage gap between black and white U.S. workers has widened over the past several decades.

Eight of the 10 worst cities for black Americans are old industrial towns. In an interview with 24/7 Wall St. Wilson explained that the worsening racial wage gap across the nation and in these cities is related to broad macroeconomic trends such as the decline in manufacturing jobs. Partially because these occupations and others were once the kinds of jobs that would have been available to people with less than a college degree, in 1979 the smallest racial wage gap was in the Midwest. Today, racial disparities in Midwest cities remain the same or are worse than anywhere else in the country.

Today, the unemployment rate among black U.S. workers is 11.3%, twice the 5.3% rate among white workers. The two-to-one unemployment disparity, which is even larger in some areas, gives a snapshot of the vastly different means white and black Americans have of providing basic material needs. This one economic disparity is driven by and helps perpetuate other racial inequalities -- from the proliferation of crime to disparate health outcomes to wage and wealth gaps.

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The racial wealth gap is especially wide. In the 2015 study, Exploring the Racial Wealth Gap Using the Survey of Consumer Finances, researchers at the Federal Reserve Board found that the median net worth of white families in the United States is $134,000. The median net worth of black families, at $11,000, is a fraction of that amount.

Homes are by far the largest investment most Americans make, and the substantial disparity in homeownership rates between racial groups helps explain this wealth gap. Nationally, 68.5% of white individuals and families live in homes they own compared to a black homeownership rate of 40.9%. In the majority of the metro areas on this list, white homeownership is greater than 70%, while the black homeownership rate is less than 35%.

The 13th amendment officially abolished slavery in the United States. While progress has been made over the years, in one area -- incarceration and imprisonment -- it seems inequality has worsened. As Wilson explained, the tough-on-crime era over the course of the ongoing war on drugs has disproportionately affected young black men. White and black incarceration rates have always been very different, but during that time the imprisonment of black individuals increased dramatically, and it continues today.

ALSO READ: The Most Dangerous Cars in America

For every 100,000 white people, there are 275 in U.S. prisons. By contrast, the incarceration rate among black Americans is 1,408 per 100,000 African Americans. In most of the cities on this list, the white incarceration rates are lower than the national rate, while the black incarceration rates are higher than the respective national rate.

Certain policies have also contributed to the lopsided racial incarceration rates. For example, under the broad set of policies known as the war on drugs, offenses related to crack cocaine, a drug more common among black drug users, require harsher sentences than offenses related to powdered cocaine, a drug more common among white drug users. The separately classified drugs, however, are essentially the same substance.

These are the worst cities for black americans.

10. Muskegon, MI

> Black population: 13.9%

> Black median income: 40.0% of white income

> White unemployment: 5.0%

> Black unemployment: 23.8%

Muskegon is one of the worst cities for black Americans because of the large gap between the areas white and black residents in a number of socioeconomic measures.

Muskegons annual white unemployment rate of 5.0% is only slightly below the national 2015 unemployment rate of 5.3%. However, 23.8% of the citys black workforce was unemployed. This 18.8 percentage point difference between the white and black jobless rates is among the greatest of any major metropolitan area.

9. Rochester, NY

> Black population: 11.9%

> Black median income: 51.4% of white income

> White unemployment: 4.9%

> Black unemployment: 17.2%

Black Rochester residents are more than three times as likely to live in poverty as white residents, and a typical black city household earns about half as much as the typical white city household. Nationwide, 31.9% of white adults have a college education compared to 20.2% of black adults. In Rochester, 35.1% of white adults in the city have earned a postsecondary degree, while just 12.7% of black adults have.

Like many metropolitan areas with high inequality, Rochester was once a booming industrial center. Manufacturing jobs have historically provided an opportunity for black Americans to work and earn a decent wage without a college education. For this reason, the citys manufacturing industry downturn may have disproportionately hurt the areas African American families.

ALSO READ: The Richest Town in Every State

8. Racine, WI

> Black population: 11.5%

> Black median income: 36.0% of white income

> White unemployment: 4.7%

> Black unemployment: 14.0%

Some of the starkest inequalities in the United States can be found in the criminal justice system. Black Americans nationwide are roughly five times more likely to be imprisoned. In Racine, these issues are an even more pronounced. For every 100,000 black metro area residents, 2,542 are imprisoned -- 11.5 times the white incarceration rate.

For those who leave prison, becoming gainfully employed and otherwise adjusting to normal life can be challenging. Whether or not the high incarceration rate has meaningfully affected black earnings, the typical black metropolitan household earns about one-third that of the typical white household. The black homeownership rate in Racine of 29.4% is less than half the white homeownership rate of 75.5%.

7. Kankakee, IL

> Black population: 15.8%

> Black median income: 46.2% of white income

> White unemployment: 6.2%

> Black unemployment: 16.5%

Only half a dozen U.S. cities have a greater socioeconomic gap between white and black residents than Kankakee, Illinois. Fewer than three-quarters of the city's black adults have completed high school compared to nearly 90% of white adults. The share of white city adults who have earned a bachelors degree is more than double the corresponding rate among black adults.

Gaps in educational attainment in Kankakee likely contributed to even greater discrepancies in economic outcomes. Nearly 43% of black Kankakee residents live in poverty, one of the highest shares of any U.S. metro areas. Conversely, fewer than one in 10 white area residents live below the poverty line.

6. Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI H

> Black population: 8.0%

> Black median income: 42.0% of white income

> White unemployment: 3.5%

> Black unemployment: 9.1%

Homeownership, while not included in income measures, can greatly increase an individuals net worth. In the Minneapolis metro area, white residents are far more likely to own a home than black residents. The white homeownership rate in the metro area of 74.5% is more than triple the 22.6% black homeownership rate.

ALSO READ: The Most Dangerous Cities in America

As the city is part of the rust belt, Minneapoliss black workers once benefitted from the availability of relatively high-paying manufacturing jobs, which did not require an education. While these jobs were present, they contributed to greater income equality. Today, income disparity in the Twin Cities metro area is a clear issue. The typical white city household earns $75,707 a year, more than double the income the typical black household earns annually.

5. Naples-Immokalee-Marco Island, FL

> Black population: 7.0%

> Black median income: 64.2% of white income

> White unemployment: 3.5%

> Black unemployment: 14.5%

The direct value of owning a home in the United States is not as clear-cut as it used to be, as evidenced by the subprime housing crisis. That being said, homeownership is still generally a sign of prosperity and financial stability. In the Naples metro area, 32.3% of black families and individuals live in homes they own, while the white homeownership rate is 73.8%.

Educational attainment is similarly divided along racial lines in Naples. While 36.6% of the areas white adults graduated from college, just 8% of the areas black adults have.

4. Toledo, OH

> Black population: 14.0%

> Black median income: 44.4% of white income

> White unemployment: 4.9%

> Black unemployment: 21.0%

Black Americans are more than twice as likely to live in poverty as white Americans. In Toledo, the disparity is even greater. While 11.2% of the metro areas whites live below the poverty line, an estimated 41.8% of the areas black residents do.

Like many of the cities on this list, Toledo was once one of the nations manufacturing strongholds. As long-term decline in manufacturing severely impaired Toledos economy, a loss of those jobs may have disproportionately hurt the metropolitan areas black residents. Manufacturing jobs have historically been a source of decent pay for African Americans, at least in part because the work often did not require a college degree.

3. Des Moines-West Des Moines, IA

> Black population: 5.0%

> Black median income: 45.3% of white income

> White unemployment: 4.1%

> Black unemployment: 17.0%

Educational attainment gaps between white and black adults in the Des Moines metro area are not especially stark. What is striking, however, are the gaps in certain social and economic outcomes.

ALSO READ: 29 Best Jobs for Work-Life Balance

The annual unemployment rate among the black population in Des Moines of 17.0% is more than quadruple the 4.1% white unemployment rate. Similarly alarming is the disparity between white and black incarceration rates. Black Des Moines residents are 11 times more likely to be incarcerated than white residents. In comparison, across the country as a whole, black Americans are five times more likely to be incarcerated than white Americans.

2. Milwaukee-Waukesha-West Allis, WI

> Black population: 16.5%

> Black median income: 45.2% of white income

> White unemployment: 2.9%

> Black unemployment: 13.7%

More than 2,500 of every 100,000 black Milwaukeeans are incarcerated, one of the highest imprisonment rates of any major metropolitan area. In contrast, just 221 of every 100,000 white residents are incarcerated.

Other forms of social and economic inequality, including poverty and unemployment, correlate with higher incarceration rates. This can at least partially be explained by the fact that former inmates often struggle to assimilate back into the community. In Milwaukee, while just 2.9% of the white workforce is unemployed, the black unemployment rate is 13.7%. Also, nearly one in three black Milwaukee residents live in poverty compared to just 8.7% of the areas white population.

1. Peoria, IL

> Black population: 9.3%

> Black median income: 46.5% of white income

> White unemployment: 5.4%

> Black unemployment: 15.3%

The poverty rate among black residents in Peoria is more than four times the white poverty rate of 8.2%. Multiple social and economic factors contribute to the significant discrepancy.

Black members of the workforce are far more likely to face difficulty in finding a job than their white counterparts. The black unemployment rate in the metro area is 15.3% compared to a 5.4% white unemployment rate. High incarceration rates also play a considerable role in contributing to regional inequality. Black Peoria residents are nearly nine times more likely to be incarcerated than white residents.

Methodology

To determine the 10 worst cities for black Americans, 24/7 Wall St. created an index of eight measures to assess race-based gaps in access to resources and opportunities in each of the nation's metropolitan areas. Creating the index in this way ensured that cities were ranked on the differences between black and white Americans, and not on absolute levels of socioeconomic development. For each measure, we constructed an index from the gaps between black and white Americans. The index was standardized using interdecile normalization so outliers in the data did not skew results. We excluded metro areas where black residents comprised less than 5% of the population or where data limitations made comparisons between racial groups impossible.

ALSO READ: 25 Cities Where Health Insurance Coverage Is Soaring

Within the index, we considered 2015 data from the U.S. Census Bureau's American Community Survey on median household income, poverty, high school and bachelors educational attainment rates, homeownership rates, and unemployment rates. Data on incarceration rates came from The Sentencing Project and are for the most recent available year. Because states, rather than metro areas, are responsible for the prison population, incarceration rates are for the state where the metro area is located. If a metro area spanned more than one state, we used the state in which the metro areas principal city is located. From the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, we used age-adjusted mortality rates by race for each county in the U.S. from 2009-2013 to calculate mortality rates at the metro level using a variation on the indirect standardization method. Incarceration and mortality rates are per 100,000 total residents.

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Wu-Tang Clan leader RZA has signed with WME in all areas, The Hollywood Reporter and Billboard have exclusively learned. He was previously at CAA.

WME will also represent the Wu-Tang brand, which RZA solely owns and whose apparel collection is a top seller worldwide for Live Nation Merchandise. RZA produced the Wu-Tang Clan's seven studio albums, of which more than 40 million copies have been sold worldwide. This includes the 1993 debut Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers), considered one of the greatest hip hop albums of all time, its 1997 quadruple-platinum follow-up Wu-Tang Forever and 2015's Once Upon a Time in Shaolin, of which only one copy was pressed and sold.

RZA made his directorial debut with 2012's The Man With the Iron Fists, in which he starred as the title character and penned the script alongside producer Eli Roth. He is in post-production on his directorial follow-up, the Lionsgate rap and poetry drama Coco, starring Azealia Banks, Common, Jill Scott and Lorraine Toussaint.

RZA's acting credits include Paul Walker's final film Brick Mansions, Fox's Gang Related (as a series regular) and Ridley Scott's American Gangster, for which he shared a SAG nomination with the rest of the cast.

As a composer, RZA, who received a BAFTA nomination for Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill: Vol. 1, was invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' music branch this year. He has contributed original music to several films, television shows and video games, and is partnering with Atari to record an album inspired by iconic sounds from the video game publisher's library.

RZA has partnered with Interpol frontman Paul Banks to form musical duo Banks & Steelz, which released their debut collaborative album Anything But Words in August. And finally, as an author RZA penned 2005's The Wu-Tang Manual, the definitive compendium of all things related to the legendary hip hop group, as well as 2009's The Tao of Wu, which focuses on his personal journey.

RZA continues to be represented by attorney Joe Carlone at King Holmes.
Dubai (AFP) - An air strike on a Yemeni funeral ceremony which killed at least 140 people "is an apparent war crime," Human Rights Watch said on Thursday.

The Saturday strike which Yemen's Huthi rebels blamed on a Saudi-led military coalition was one of the deadliest in the coalition's air campaign against the rebels and their allies.

The coalition has faced mounting international criticism over civilian casualties from its bombing.

"While military personnel and civilian officials involved in the war effort were attending the ceremony, the clear presence of several hundred civilians strongly suggests that the attack was unlawfully disproportionate," Human Rights Watch said in a statement.

"The funeral strike underscores the urgent need for credible international investigations into alleged laws-of-war violations in Yemen."

The watchdog called on foreign governments including the United States and Britain to immediately suspend arms sales to Saudi Arabia.

"After unlawfully attacking schools, markets, hospitals, weddings and homes over the last 19 months, the Saudi-led coalition has now added a funeral to its ever-increasing list of abuses," said HRW's Middle East and North Africa director Sarah Leah Whitson.

"An independent international investigation of this atrocity is needed as the coalition has shown its unwillingness to uphold its legal obligations to credibly investigate."

Leading rebel officers were among those killed in the strike, the rebel-controlled Saba news agency reported.

Saudi Arabia announced an easing of its blockade of rebel-held areas to allow the evacuation of hundreds of wounded for treatment abroad.

The coalition initially denied responsibility but after condemnation from Western governments, it promised an investigation of the "regrettable and painful" event.

A letter sent to the UN Security Council on Sunday "expressed the kingdom's deep regret" over the "attack", state media reported the following day.

"It also renewed its full respect for and commitment to international humanitarian law and international human rights law, and the emphasis on continuing to ensure the taking of all possible measures to protect civilians and civilian sites in Yemen."
SANAA (Reuters) - Yemen's dominant Houthi group denied any role in missile strikes on U.S. warships in the Bab al-Mandab Strait, and offered to help investigate attacks on international shipping in the area, the news agency controlled by the group reported on Thursday. The U.S. military on Thursday launched cruise missiles on three coastal radar sites in areas of Yemen controlled by Iran-aligned Houthis, retaliating after failed missile attacks this week on a U.S. Navy destroyer, U.S. officials said. U.S. officials have told Reuters there were growing indications that Houthi fighters, or forces aligned with them, were responsible for Sunday's attempted strikes, in which two coastal cruise missiles designed to target ships failed to reach the destroyer. The Houthi group, however, said the attacks on the destroyer Mason did not come from areas under its control, and said it was concerned to protect international shipping in the area, according to Saba news agency, citing what it called a military source. "These allegations are unfounded and the people's committees have nothing to do with this action," the agency, referring to the Houthi administration, reported the source as saying. "The spokesman expressed readiness to work with any United Nations or international (body) to investigate these allegations and to punish those behind this, regardless who they may be." The head of the Houthi group, Abdel-Malek al-Houthi, in a speech broadcast by local media, condemned the missile strikes, saying the United States was "preparing for an aggression against (the country's main port city of) Hodeidah." The party of former Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh, an ally of the Houthi group, said in a statement that al Qaeda was behind the attacks on U.S. war ships, accusing a Saudi-led Arab alliance of using the militants to try to obstruct international navigation and draw the United States into the conflict. Saudi Arabia says it is the target of Islamist militants, and accuses the former Yemeni president of using militants in his campaign against the internationally-recognized President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi. (Reporting by Mohammed Ghobari, Katie Paul, Writing by William Maclean)
DOHA (Reuters) - Yemen's Houthi movement warned the United States against hitting Yemeni territory again after U.S. cruise missiles targeted coastal radar sites on Thursday in retaliation for failed missile attacks on a Navy destroyer. "The direct American attack targeting Yemeni soil this morning is not acceptable," Brigadier General Sharaf Luqman, a spokesman for Yemeni forces fighting alongside the Houthis, was quoted as saying by the Houthi-controlled Saba news agency. "Yemen has the right to defend itself and we would deal with any development with the right steps." He reiterated a denial that Iran-aligned Houthi forces had carried out missile attacks on the U.S. warship. (Reporting by Tom Finn; Editing by Robin Pomeroy)
(ELIZABETH, N.J.) A man accused of setting off bombs in New Jersey and New York, injuring more than 30 people, pleaded not guilty on Thursday to charges he tried to kill police officers before they captured him.

An attorney for Ahmad Khan Rahimi entered the pleas as Rahimi appeared from his hospital bed in Newark in his first public appearance since last months bombings and police chase.

Rahimi, an Afghan-born U.S. citizen, has been hospitalized with gunshot wounds since a police shootout that led to his capture on Sept. 19 outside a bar in Linden. His head was propped up on pillows, while his public defender stood by his side wearing a disposable hospital gown and plastic gloves.

Rahimi, 28, is charged with five counts of attempted murder of a police officer and weapons offenses. He was read his rights by Judge Regina Caulfield and answered yes to a series of questions she asked him.

He is accused of detonating a pipe bomb along the route of a Marine Corps charity race in the New Jersey shore town of Seaside Park and a pressure cooker bomb in New York City on Sept. 17. No one was injured in the New Jersey blast, and 31 people were hurt in the New York blast. A second pressure cooker bomb did not explode.

Rahimi also faces federal charges in both states.

Officer Angel Padilla, who prosecutors say was shot by Rahimi, was in court along with fellow Linden officers.
The biggest and best Lincoln Calling yet took place last weekend. Over the three nights, I hit all six venues, saw 18 bands and solo artists and attended two workshops.

Best thing I saw

A Giant Dog was beyond great at the Bourbon Theatre -- the best band Ive seen in months -- providing 45 minutes of stunning evidence that rock n roll isnt close to dead.

The Austin, Texas, outfit, which released Pile on Merge Records earlier this year, is the total package, delivering a thundering guitar-bass-drums assault that draws on rock touchstones past from vintage 50s rock n roll to 90s hammering punk with lots and lots and lots of 70s influences and no stinking guitar solos, thank you.

Its fronted by Sabrina Ellis, a riveting, cant-take-your-eyes-off-her performer, whos got a little Iggy Pop in her, strutting around stage in leotard and tights, campily embracing her physicality and sexuality while singing about -- and this is absolutely serious -- sex, drugs and rock n roll.

An 'SXSW moment'

A South By Southwest moment was what we used to call performances that only could have occurred at the festival. Lincoln Calling delivered one of those at The Bay when Domestica, after raging through about 20 minutes of its set, gave up the stage.

Heidi Ore handed her bass to Bernie McGinn, Jon Taylor stepped out of the way to let Rich Higgins plug in his guitar and Pawl Tisdale remained at the drum kit as his old bandmates got ready to play.

Sideshow was reunited, playing three songs before it ran out of time. It was a joyous blast that took many of us 20 years back in time to when the punk trio and Mercy Rule, the precursor of Domestica rocked the Lincoln music scene.

The moment came because McGinn had been invited to come back to Lincoln to do a presentation on Caulfield Records, the record label he ran in the 1990s and early 2000s. He, Higgins and Tisdale have rarely played together since the late 90s.

We didnt really breakup, McGinn said during the talk. "We just stopped calling each other to play.

Original song of the festival

Midway through his entertaining, story-filled set at The Bay, Brendan Kelly of the long-running Chicago punk rock band The Lawrence Arms decided to play a song hed just written -- The Ballad of Buffalo Bill.

He wasnt, however, singing about William F. Cody of the Wild West Show fame. The song is a twisted little darkly funny number sung from the point-of-view of Buffalo Bill, the serial killer from The Silence of the Lambs, to the girl he had trapped in the well-like dungeon in his house.

Cover song of the festival

At Duffys Tavern Saturday, The Kickbacks Billy Yost asked the audience whether their parents had seen Jersey Boys, an odd question before announcing that the band was going to do a Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons song.

Then came a brilliant version of Walk Like a Man, complete with the falsetto vocals and harmonies but giving a rock n roll kick by the road-tight band.

'A new low for stupid'

More Kickback. Saturdays show was the 100th of 2016 for the South Dakota-gone-to-Chicago band and its agent sent a cake to Duffys to commemorate the event. Presented to Yost onstage, the cake wasnt destined for a good end.

Near the end of the bands final song -- in which Yost shouted an improv lyric" about his divorce -- he made a move straight outta The Replacements playbook -- picking up the cake, pulling it to his chest, dropping to the floor and rolling around with the cake and his guitar. To say he and the guitar were a mess afterward is an understatement.

I set a new low for the stupidest thing Ive ever done on stage, Yost said afterward before departing backstage to try to clean the cake from his guitar -- which might well have been an impossibility.

Wrapping up

Lincoln Calling drew about 2,000 people. Thats the number provided by Hear Nebraskas Andrew Norman, who pointed out that many of those people attended the festival on more than one night.

The festival, operated by Hear Nebraska for the first time in its 13 years, went very smoothly in Normans words. Id concur with that. And, he said, Hear Nebraska will bring Lincoln Calling back in 2017.

Absolutely, Norman said. Were already thinking about ways we can improve things and bands wed like to have next year.
Donald Trumps threat to sue The New York Times after the paper published a story about two women who claimed he groped them has generated a quick response from a Times attorney.

The message: So sue us.

The Times signaled that it would fight any lawsuit on a number of fronts, including the idea that the story played a role in damaging his reputation.

The essence of a libel claim, of course, is the protection of ones reputation, the papers legal counsel David McCraw wrote to one of Trumps attorneys in a letter on Thursday. Mr. Trump has bragged about his non-consensual touching of women. He has bragged about intruding on beauty pageant contestants in their dressing rooms. He acquiesced to a radio hosts request to discuss Mr. Trumps own daughter as a piece of ass. Multiple women not mentioned in our article have publicly come forward to report on Mr. Trumps unwanted advances. Nothing in our article has had the slightest effect on the reputation that Mr. Trump, through his own words and actions, has already created for himself.

Trump is a public figure, and to succeed in a libel case, he would have to prove that the Times knew the story was false, but published it anyway, or that they had reckless disregard for the truth. Its a high standard for celebrities and public officials to clear before they can prevail in a libel suit, but its one that has governed defamation law for more than 50 years.

McCraw also defended the decision to publish the story, noting that Trump himself talked about the issue of sexual harassment and sexual assault at Sundays presidential debate. He also wrote that the reporters diligently worked to confirm the womens accounts, and included Trumps forceful denial.'

We did what the law allows: We published newsworthy information about a subject of deep public concern, he wrote. If Mr. Trump disagrees, if he believes that American citizens had no right to hear what these women had to say and that the law of this country forces us and those who would dare to criticize him to stand silent or be punished, we welcome the opportunity to have a court set him straight.

Story continues

One of Trumps attorneys, Marc Kasowitz, sent a letter late Wednesday to New York Times Editor-in-Chief Dean Baquet, threatening litigation if the story is not retracted.

On the campaign trail, Trump called the Times story and others that have surfaced false smears. he suggested that the campaign would present evidence at some point to counter the claims. He also said that the pile-on was part of a collusion between the media, major corporations and the Clinton campaign.

The phony story in the failing @nytimes is a TOTAL FABRICATION. Written by same people as last discredited story on women. WATCH! he wrote on Twitter.

The phony story in the failing @nytimes is a TOTAL FABRICATION. Written by same people as last discredited story on women. WATCH!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 13, 2016

Trump also took aim at a story that a People writer published on Wednesday, claiming that he forced himself on her as she was reporting a piece in 2005 at his Palm Beach estate.

Why didnt the writer of the 12-year-old article in People Magazine mention the incident in her story. Because it did not happen! he wrote on Twitter.

Trump has previously threatened to sue the Times over a story published in May that examined his history toward women.

Itd be unusual for a presidential candidate to file a lawsuit over their press coverage, but it is not unprecedented.

After his 1964 campaign ended, Barry Goldwater filed a libel suit against Fact magazine over a story it published, in which the editors polled 12,356 psychiatrists to support a thesis that Goldwater was mentally ill. Goldwater won his suit  and the Supreme Court refused to take the case on appeal.

Some legal experts were doubtful that Trump would get very far in a case against the Times. Ted Boutrous, First Amendment lawyer at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, tweeted that such a lawsuit would be frivolous, sanctionable, and flatly contrary to the rule of law and our democratic system.

An @nytimes suit by @realDonaldTrump would be quickly dismissed, sanctionable, utterly frivolous, a flat violation of the First Amendment. https://t.co/mAY0DbWrYq  Ted Boutrous (@BoutrousTed) October 13, 2016

This is a stunt meant to chill aggressive reporting  precisely the sort of behavior that led the Supreme Court to erect strong constitutional protections against libel claims, like the actual malice standard, he told Law.com.

The Committee to Protect Journalists on Thursday issued a statement condemning Trump not just for the libel threats, but other instances where it says he has tried to restrict press access. They called Trump a threat to press freedom in the United States, but the consequences for the rights of journalists around the world could be far more serious.

Update: People Editor in Chief Jess Cagle issued a response to Trump.

The writer, Natasha Stoynoff, is a remarkable, ethical, honest and patriotic woman, and she has shared her story of being physically attacked by Donald Trump in 2005 because she felt it was her duty to make the public aware, Cagle wrote.

To assign any other motive is a disgusting, pathetic attempt to victimize her again. We stand steadfastly by her, and are proud to publish her clear, credible account of what happened.

Related stories

Hillary Clinton Feted By Elton John, Hollywood Figures at Final L.A. Pre-Election Fundraiser

Melania Trump Demands Apology, Retraction Over People Writer's Claim

Michelle Obama: Donald Trump's Lewd Comments Have 'Shaken Me to My Core'
Zika is locally spreading in a new small area in Miami-Dade County, Fla. officials announced on Thursday. The new area is small  about one square mile.

Florida has over 1,000 cases of Zika in the state. Some are travel-associated, and 155 can not be linked to travel. So far there are 106 pregnant women with the virus.

Todays announcement of a new area in Miami of ongoing local transmission of the Zika virus underscores the urgent need for federal funding to combat the Zika virus, said Florida Governor Rick Scott in a statement about the new area. It has been two weeks since federal funding to fight Zika was approved by Congress and signed by President Obama. However, Florida has not yet received a dime. We dont need bureaucratic timelines  we need funding now.

There are two new non-travel related cases of Zika in the state, according to a statement from the Florida Department of Health. One case is linked to the new transmission area and another case is still being investigated by officials to determine where the person was exposed.

You can see a map of where Zika is spreading in Florida here. The street boundaries are NW 79th St. to the North, NW 63rd St. to the South, NW 10th Ave. to the West and N. Miami Ave. to the East.


Credit: Gina Nemirofsky

If you watch just one program this week, make sure it's We Will Rise: Michelle Obama's Mission to Educate Girls Around the World. Produced by CNN Films, it premieres on CNN International today, the fourth annual International Day of the Girl, a day dedicated to promoting gender equality around the globe.

In our October cover story, First Lady Michelle Obama talked about the education initiative Let Girls Learn, which she and President Barack Obama launched last year to help educate and empower girls worldwide. We Will Rise chronicles her visit to Liberia and Morocco to see firsthand how the program is working.

Joined by actresses Freida Pinto and Meryl Streep as well as journalist and girls-education advocate Isha Sesay, Mrs. Obama meets some of the schoolgirls succeeding due in part to the community-based programs funded by Let Girls Learn but also due to the strength, character, and perseverance of the young women themselves. Yet, to fully understand what's so remarkable about their stories, it's important to know the obstacles schoolchildren in developing countries are facing.

In many parts of the world, school is not free, and when families are living on the equivalent of just a few dollars a day, parents must choose between eating and sending their kids to school. Add to that the physical challenges of reaching the nearest schools, limited electricity and clean water, and epidemics like the Ebola crisis, and it's clear that educating children is not always a family's No. 1 priority.



Credit: AMANDA LUCIDON

RELATED: 5 Things to Know About Michelle Obama's Let Girls Learn

Girls, however, are confronted with an additional set of obstacles. For five days every month, many are unable to leave their homes because they don't have access to sanitary pads during their periods. Then there are the cultural challenges: In many countries, a girl's education is simply not important. Girls are expected to do the majority of day-to-day chores like gathering water and taking care of younger siblings, and many are married off at a young age so families have one less mouth to feed.

Story continues

According to UNICEF, more than 700 million women worldwide were married before they turned 18. Some 250 million of them were married before age 15--to put that in perspective, that's roughly equal to three-quarters of the entire U.S. population. And even then, if girls are lucky enough to be able to stay with their families and go to school, they are often exposed to sexual harassment and sexual assault at school, not just from boys but from teachers, some of whom ask for sexual favors in exchange for better grades.



Credit: TONY GERBER

These statistics are bleak, but that's why We Will Rise is a must-watch film. We spoke to CNN's Isha Sesay, who grew up in neighboring Sierra Leone, about the young women she traveled to meet in Liberia, and asked her why it's so important to challenge the cultural stereotypes that keep girls from reaching their full potential not only in developing countries but also in the Western world.

"When everyone is empowered and everyone is working, it's great economically," she explains, "but it's also the kind of society we want to live in."

A role model for girls in her own right, Sesay, who graduated from Trinity College, Cambridge, with honors, credits her mom, pro-democracy advocate Kadi Sesay, with instilling in her the confidence to pursue her dreams, and she hopes that everyone will make an effort to affect positive change by empowering girls right here at home.

RELATED: Michelle Obama Teams Up with Broadway Stars to Support Girls' Education

"Whether you decide to help people in your immediate circle or your community, or you want to go further afield and help people on the other side of the world, you should do something," says Sesay. "I think we all have a responsibility in whatever way big or small to try and make a difference. Just a small amount of effort can result in such amazing change."

She continues: "If you can help girls around you to lift them up, then you'll be doing something that will not just impact those girls but impact everyone."

So, in honor of the International Day of the Girl, set your DVR for the U.S. premiere Wednesday, Oct. 12, at 9 p.m. ET on CNN to hear these incredible stories and more. Watch an excerpt of the film here:

Check your local listings for encore presentations on HLN and CNN en Espa?ol.


Credit: Samir Hussein/WireImage

The Duchess of Cambridge had quite the whirlwind day in the Netherlands.

After arriving in the country this morning for her first official visit and solo trip, Kate Middleton was welcomed by crowds of admirers and promptly greeted by Dutch King Willem-Alexander. For the occasion, the mother of two wowed in an elegant periwinkle blue coat and matching pencil skirt by Catherine Walker & Co. that she paired with complementary neutral pumps. She added pearl earrings to complete her ensemble, and pulled her brunette strands into a chic low bun.

The royal beauty then paid a visit to the Mauritshuis gallery, where she viewed Johannes Vermeer's famed painting Girl with a Pearl Earring and received a private tour of the museum's permanent collection.



Credit: ROBIN VAN LONKHUIJSEN/AFP/Getty

Princess Catherine later took part in a discussion on addiction and mental health (of which she is a longtime champion) with experts from the Trimbos Institute along with representatives from Action on Addiction and the Anna Freud National Centre for Children and Families. The panel was hosted by British Ambassador Sir Geoffrey Adams at the residence in The Hague.

She subsequently headed to meet children at Bouwkeet, a creative workshop in Rotterdam where children and teenagers can learn craft and design skills. During the visit, Middleton happily tried her hand at knitting a colorful hat, heard from women making chairs in the wood work room, and attended a robotics class.



Credit: Chris Jackson - Pool/Getty



Credit: Chris Jackson - Pool/Getty



Credit: Chris Jackson - Pool /Getty



Credit: Chris Jackson - Pool /Getty

RELATED: Kate Middleton Is Pretty in Periwinkle on Her First Solo Trip Abroad as a Duchess

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VIDEO: The Royal Family Visits Canada

Is there anything the Duchess can't do?
Kymeta in Monaco

Kymeta Corp., the flat-panel antenna company thats backed by Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, has demonstrated the capabilities of its satellite broadband data transmission technology in front of a tough crowd: the rich and famous at the Monaco Yacht Show.

This is really about us showing our first product in action, said Nathan Kundtz, president and CEO of the venture headquartered in Redmond, Wash.

Kymeta makes stop-sign-sized antennas that take advantage of metamaterials to receive satellite signals without having to turn and focus on the spacecraft flying overhead.

During the week surrounding the show in Monaco show, which ran from Sept. 28 to Oct. 1, Kymeta set up two of its antennas on the roof of the stylish Restaurant Virage to provide Wi-Fi access for the Superyacht Owners VIP Lounge.

Kymetas system took advantage of Panasonics satellite network to serve up data at the rate of 65 megabits per second for downlinks, and 6 Mbps for uplinks. That compares favorably with the typical in-home rate of 20 Mbps down and 2 to 3 Mbps up.

Kundtz said the system served as many as 80 simultaneous users, some of whom were watching Ultra HD Netflix or doing live video on Skype. The purpose of the exercise was to demonstrate how well Kymetas mTenna technology could deliver broadband to mega-yachts, cruise ships and commercial vessels.

Story continues

Several of the worlds most iconic yachts have now signed up for the Kymeta mTenna technology as a direct result of the successful demonstration in Monaco, with many other commitments from superyacht owners and designers expected to take place over the next few months, Hakan Olsson, Kymetas vice president of maritime, said today in a news release.

For maritime applications, Kymetas antennas promise to deliver data hundreds of times faster than the typical L-band service.

Kundtz said the current going rate for marine broadband data service is about $10 per megabyte, but Kymeta aims to provide a better deal. Its better than 100 times better than that, he said. What were talking about is a sea change.

The company was spun out from Intellectual Ventures in 2012, and since then its received more than $120 million in equity investment from Gates as well as Lux Capital, the Kresge Foundation, Liberty Global and Osage University Partners.

In addition to its work with Panasonic, Kymeta is partnering with Intelsat and working with Toyota on flat-panel antennas for connected cars.

One of the advantages of Kymetas technology is that multiple antennas can be linked up to increase bandwidth. For example, Kundtz noted with pride that the combination of two antennas for the Monaco demonstration provided an additional gain of 2.9 dB.

Kymetas game plan calls for starting pilot production of the antennas and conducting further product testing in December, building up to commercial availability by mid-2017. Pricing information has not yet been announced.

More from GeekWire:
A new Star Wars movie will hit theaters this December and while it isnt part of any of the three main sagas, itll still be a film that Star Wars fans won't want to miss. Rogue One is the first standalone Star Wars story from Disney, and it tells the story of how rebels stole the plans for the Death Star that Luke and his friends blew up in the first Star Wars movie (now Episode IV).

Disney just released a brand new trailer for Rogue One, and it's packed full of previously unseen footage.

DONT MISS: The battery in a Samsung phone burst in our office, and it wasnt a Note 7

We learn why the movie is called Rogue One. Apparently, thats the ship's callsign the rebels come up with when asked for one. Also, we learn that Jyn Ersos father had to help the Empire build the colossal weapon, and it went against his wishes.

Yes, Darth Vader is also there, and the trailer hints that we can expect plenty of action from the new Disney picture.

There might not be any Jedi knights in this one, and we might never see the Rogue One crew ever again after this dangerous mission, but the upcoming Star Wars movie definitely looks like it's going to be a thriller. After all, who doesnt want to know how the Empire lost the plans for the Death Star, a mishap that eventually helped the rebellion destroy it.

Rogue One will be released on December 16th, which means were going to be bombarded with plenty of trailers and teasers in the months to come. Check out the second trailer below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sC9abcLLQpI

Trending right now:

See the original version of this article on BGR.com
Per a recent filing with the Federal Communication Commission, Facebook Inc. FB has sought permission to fly drones over its Menlo Park headquarters to test potential new communications applications and equipment in a controlled, low-altitude airborne environment."

The social media giant has asked for permission to fly drones at a maximum altitude of 400 feet within a 5km radius from its headquarters between Oct 2016 and Apr 2017.

Facebook is making efforts to develop airborne/wireless technology that will help it deliver Internet services in the remotest parts of the world. Aquila, a solar powered aircraft with a wingspan greater than a Boeing 737 to beam Internet from the sky, is Facebooks most ambitious project. In June this year, Aquila completed a successful flight in Yuma, AZ. Aquila was in flight for 96 minutes, way ahead of its target of 30 minutes. Analysts observe that Facebooks current test involving drones is somewhat related to Aquila.

Apart from Aquila, at the F8 conference, Facebook said that it was working on ARIES (Antenna Radio Integration for Efficiency in Spectrum) and Terragraph, two of its ambitious Internet connectivity projects. With ARIES, Facebook is testing to bring speedier connectivity in rural areas by using antennas to provide faster Internet coverage on 2G spectrum while Terragraph will boost connectivity in congested urban areas by employing WiGig antennas.

Facebook is trying to boost its user base in the highly populated South East Asian region and the sub Saharan region. However, these regions are marred by lack of physical infrastructure, which limits Internet access. But with the rapid increase in mobile phone usage in the region, the use of mobile Internet has also picked up pace. This is in tune with Facebooks growth strategy.

FACEBOOK INC-A Price

FACEBOOK INC-A Price | FACEBOOK INC-A Quote

Facebook had earlier collaborated with France-based Eutelsat Communications to launch a satellite that would beam Internet in sub-Saharan African regions. Facebook however suffered a major setback when a SpaceX rocket exploded at its launch last month, destroying the AMOS-6 satellite. AMOS-6 would have been the first satellite of Facebook and Eutelsat to bring Internet access to Africa, the Middle East, and Europe.

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Facebook is also testing Express Wi-Fi and developing laser technology to move loads of data at superfast speed. We believe these initiatives will significantly drive Facebooks user base in these regions in the long run.

At present, Facebook carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Some better-ranked stocks in the broader tech space include NetEase, Inc. NTES, Intel Corporation INTC and Jabil Circuit Inc. JBL. All sport a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for NetEase surged 3.1% over the past 30 days for the current fiscal. Intel has seen estimates for the full year rise 4% over the past 30 days. For Jabil Circuit, estimates rose 4.9% in the last 60 days.

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One of the things Samsung has often said during the unprecedented Galaxy Note 7 recall is that the security of its customers is of utmost importance. But is that really so?

The Galaxy Note 7 may be the worst recall Samsung had to face, but its certainly not the only one. In recent years, Samsung was forced to recall other products in certain markets, and not all affected customers were satisfied with the way Samsung handled things.

DONT MISS: The battery in a Samsung phone burst in our office, and it wasnt a Note 7

Because Samsung phones are sold all over the world, the Galaxy Note 7 recall received plenty of attention from the press and authorities. The fact that a Galaxy Note 7 could blow up at any time is a serious matter given that we take smartphones everywhere with us. All of a sudden, having a Galaxy Note 7 on a plane could spell trouble for everyone on board.

But, as The New York Times points out, Samsung had to recall plenty of products in recent years, suggesting that profits are ultimately all that matters for the giant corporation.

Here are some of Samsungs recalls:

2003: 184,000 microwave ovens in the US

2007: 20,000 washing machines because of a fire risk

2009: 210,000 refrigerators in South Korea

2009: 43,000 microwave ovens in the US because of a shock hazard

Additionally, Samsung may also be preparing to recall top-loading washing machines in the US made between 2011 and this year, which pose a risk of causing property damage and personal injury. The company recalled such machines in Australia three years ago because of an internal electrical defect that leads to fires. The recall process isn't completed yet.

Samsung isnt the only company in the world having to face product recalls. And sure, Samsung Mobile isnt responsible for the microwaves, fridges, and washing machines that a different division makes. But is Samsung ignoring proper product testing that would prevent some manufacturing issue?

In the Australian recall, a Facebook group of 4,000 owners crowdfunded money so a forensic expert could inspect the fix and issue a verdict. The reports revealed that the plastic bag fitted over some connectors to prevent the washing machines from catching fires wouldnt work as intended. The plastic bag was found to be ineffective because it didnt prevent moisture penetration of the connectors.

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Samsung refused to issue refunds to the group for the faulty washing machines until the Australian government got involved.

The Times also details the case of a Boston resident who had his induction range replaced three times over four years. The fourth one exploded in 2013, and he only got his money back in 2015 when Samsung was defeated in small-claims court. I thought, why doesnt this happen to Apple or G.E.? Ed ORourke, the affected customer, said. And is Samsung playing it a little too cute in pushing things to limits that other companies arent pushing in terms of engineering-safety ratio?

As for the Galaxy Note 7 recall, Samsung is yet to explain why it happen and is accused of failing to address the matter appropriately. Samsung has not been communicative with consumers, regulators or the media as clearly as it should have during this recall, especially for a hazard as dangerous as this one where your phone can catch on fire, damage your property and harm your family, Consumers Union policy analyst William Wallace said.

Samsung may indeed have a lot of cleanup to do after its Galaxy Note 7 mess to fix its image.

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Shanghai (AFP) - Andy Murray told camera crews to stop snooping in his bag on Thursday after his private match notes were exposed on TV during last week's China Open final.

Murray was annoyed that TV cameras zoomed into his bag to reveal handwritten tactical pointers during Sunday's 6-4, 7-6 (7/2) win over Bulgaria's Grigor Dimitrov.

"The camera crews were going right inside my bag to see what was on (the notes)," the British world number two said at the Shanghai Masters.

"I just asked this week... that I don't mind the camera being on me at the change of ends but just to not be right inside my bag, if possible.

"Hopefully they respect that and it's not a problem."

The Wimbledon and Olympic champion was speaking after he beat France's Lucas Pouille 6-1, 6-3 to reach the Shanghai quarter-finals.
Casey Moyer and Amie Jackson waited all morning and until nearly 5 p.m. Wednesday to talk to senators on the Corrections investigative committee about mental health treatment in the prisons.

Restrictive housing, or segregation, and mental health care were the topics for the Department of Correctional Services Special Investigative Committee's third committee hearing. Senators heard from Director Scott Frakes, the Ombudsman's office, and behavioral health and medical administrators on the difficulty of serving mental health needs of inmates because of staffing shortages and increasing numbers of mentally ill inmates.

Jackson and Moyer said the culture within the prisons also contributes to the problem.

Jackson, a certified peer support and wellness specialist for the Mental Health Association of Nebraska, has had personal experience with mental health care and segregation in the prisons.

"Prison is traumatizing," she told the committee. "People living and working in that community are experiencing trauma on a regular basis."

The Mental Health Association contracts with the department to provide peer support and re-entry services. Moyer, the executive director, said Frakes, the administrators, wardens and social workers at the prisons have worked well with the organization.

But they have seen some corrections officers and frontline workers who exacerbate inmates' problems by provoking them, she said.

"When you separate yourself so much from the population you are trying to serve, it's really hard to help them move forward and gain the skills that they need," Moyer said. "It's a very 'us and them' mentality."

She suggested offering corrections officers training on de-escalation and conflict resolution.

"I don't see them de-escalating problems. I see them escalating things," she said. "And then the (inmate) ends up in restrictive housing when it could have much of the time could have probably been prevented."

Frakes talked to the committee about the changes to restrictive housing since July 1. At the time, the department stopped disciplinary segregation. But inmates whose presence in the general population could create a significant risk to staff, themselves or other inmates can still be segregated.

That criteria can be subjective, said the committee's appointed attorney, Steve Lathrop.

In fiscal year 2016, a total of 2,215 inmates spent time in restrictive housing. The largest percentage was white males ages 22-36.

Jerall Moreland, with the Ombudsman's office, said segregation reform in Nebraska prisons has not reduced the numbers of inmates in segregation. In fact, it may have increased them.

Moreland said efforts to reform the prison's mental health system are building, but some crucial roadblocks -- crowding and continued staffing vacancies -- still need to be addressed.

In fiscal year 2016, more than 90 percent of the 2,215 inmates who spent time in segregation had at least one mental health diagnosis. Twenty-eight percent had a serious mental illness, including psychosis, schizophrenia, bipolar condition and major depression.

"The numbers are pretty staggering," Lathrop said. "It's like you're running a mental health clinic or a regional center over there."

In addition to many shortages of mental health staff, the department lost two key medical positions this month: Dr. Martin Wetzel, the department's chief psychiatrist, and Dr. Randy Kohl, the medical director.

Wetzel became the chief psychiatrist about a year ago and will leave at the end of October. Frakes said Wetzel is leaving for a new job in Omaha.

"Dr. Wetzel is a great loss," said Kohl, the department's medical director who has worked for the department for 15 years, and retired about a week ago. "He'll be sorely missed."

The hearings are aimed at trying to determine what the department's needs are and how the Legislature can help with legislation or funding.

Medical and mental health care positions have been hard to fill and hard to retain.

Kohl told the committee the department could do a better job with medical care if it had additional staff to see patients more rapidly.

Turnover of medical and mental health staff has been more difficulty recently, he said. The prisons are competing with the private sector, which pays better, he said. Also, there is a nationwide nursing shortage.

And people who might otherwise choose to work in corrections see the problems that are happening now and wonder how safe it is, he said.
Pinterest is a virtual bulletin board platform, with users decorating their boards with pictures showcasing interests in a variety of areas, including food, fashion and travel (AFP Photo/LIONEL BONAVENTURE) (AFP/File)

San Francisco (AFP) - Pinterest on Thursday announced that the number of monthly users soared in the past year to top 150 million, with most of that growth coming from outside the United States.

Pinterest grew 50 percent from a year ago, with 80 million of its "active Pinners" not from the US.

Co-founder and chief executive Ben Silbermann said in a blog post that he thought the growth particularly impressive given that Pinterest doesn't consider itself a social network.

"Pinterest is more of a personal tool than a social one. People don't come to see what their friends are doing," Silbermann said.

"Instead, they come to Pinterest to find ideas to try, figure out which ones they love, and learn a little bit about themselves in the process."

People go to Pinterest for inspiration and ideas, and with each new user, software at the service gets more data with which to personalize recommendations, according to the San Francisco-based company.

Pinterest said it serves up more than 10 billion recommendations daily, double the amount delivered a year ago.

The company also boasted being an online venue for more than a million businesses, along with tens of thousands of advertisers.

Pinterest is a virtual bulletin board platform, with users decorating their boards with pictures showcasing interests in a variety of areas, including food, fashion and travel.

Pinterest sees itself as being positioned at the crossroads of social networking and online search, with users consulting it when seeking out products or services.

Instead of coming to Pinterest to see photos of friends, people come with "commercial intent" that puts the site in an ideal position to display native -- or disguised -- advertising for trips, clothing or other offerings, according to company president Tim Kendall.

Pinterest recently introduced video ads as it moved to cash in on a growing appetite for videos at the popular online bulletin board.

Story continues

In June, the company unveiled new features to facilitate shopping on the site, as the platform pushes to become an e-commerce hub.

The offerings included a virtual shopping bag that users can fill as they cruise bulletin boards.

Pinterest last year dove into e-commerce with "pins" in mobile applications that let people buy items they see on bulletin boards.
Samsungs Galaxy Note 7 problems are just getting started. The Korean giant will lose plenty of money following the disastrous Galaxy Note 7 launch, but thats the least of its worries right now. Regaining the trust of consumer is top priority for the company, and Samsung might completely kill the Galaxy Note series in an effort to put this disaster behind it.

DONT MISS: This video might be our first look at a new Apple device no one even knew was in development

After a report from earlier this week suggested that Samsung may not launch a Galaxy Note phone next year, news from Russia adds more weight to the notion that a Galaxy Note 8 might not be in the works for 2017.

An anonymous source from Samsung said that Samsung is considering eliminating the use of the Note brand in future smartphone models, according to Russian media cited by Hi-tech.mail.ru. The Galaxy Note 7 destroyed consumer trust in the brand, which is something weve heard before, and thats enough for Samsung to ditch it.

The Note is one of the most successful smartphone lines launched by Samsung. The company was the first to launch a big-screen smartphone people actually wanted to use. Even if theres not going to be a Galaxy Note 8 next year, die-hard Samsung fans who used earlier Note models will probably expect new hardware that comes with all the signature features of the Galaxy Note phones, including S Pen stylus support.

Samsung is already rumored to be working on two distinct versions of the Galaxy S8 next quarter, including a regular model and a Plus phablet. The larger device may come with a dual rear camera just like the iPhone 7 Plus and a 4K display. TechTastic speculates that the model could also house an S Pen stylus. If that's the case, a 5.5-inch Galaxy S8 Plus could effectively replace the Galaxy Note 8 that wouldve been released next August.

Nothing is confirmed at this time, and itll be a while before we know what Samsung plans to do with the struggling Note brand.

Story continues

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(Story corrects headline and lead to remove maintenance of exports target) By Mai Nguyen and My Pham HANOI (Reuters) - Samsung Vietnam will maintain its current staff numbers, the firm said on Wednesday, despite the parent company scrapping its flagship Galaxy Note 7 phone following a series of battery fires. Samsung Electronics, which employs around 110,000 people in Vietnam, finally pulled the plug on the new Note 7 phone on Tuesday, less than two months after its launch, dealing a huge blow to the business as a result of unresolved safety concerns. But Samsung Vietnam said it has no plan to lay off employees in 2016 as a result of the parent company's crisis and predicted the value of its exports would grow further from last year's $32.7 billion. "The Note 7 incident may not bring about any significant impact on our exports in 2016; in fact this year's exports turnover is expected to increase," Samsung Vietnam said in a statement. Samsung is a major investor in Vietnam, a low-cost manufacturing center for products that include its signature SMART televisions. Electronics has become a vital part of Vietnam's economy and a factory base for other brands like Microsoft, Intel, Canon Inc, LG and Sony Corp. Le Dang Doanh, a renowned economist and former government advisor, said the Note 7 crisis would serve as a warning to the government to diversify its economy and to become less reliant on foreign investment, which accounts for around 70 percent of Vietnam's exports. "This incident will affect negatively on Vietnam's labor, exports and state budget," he said. "There is a lesson here that we should not rely too much on a single market and exports should not depend on a single product." CRUCIAL SECTOR Phones exports are significant to Vietnam's exports, with the value of 2015 shipments up by 27.8 percent at $30.17 billion, or 19 percent of the country's total exports, customs data show. Its phone shipments in the first nine months of this year increased by an estimated 8.6 percent on the same period last year to $24.96 billion. Samsung Electronics slashed its quarterly profit estimate by a third on Wednesday after taking a $2.3 billion hit from ditching the Note 7, which is made in Vietnam, South Korea and China. But losses could spread to Vietnam where Samsung Electronics has several phone factories in the north with combined investments of about $7.5 billion. Any fall in phone output would put further pressure on what is one of Asia's most resilient economies, as weakness in the mining and agriculture sectors hindered growth in the third quarter. Many economists and the government have predicted that Vietnam will miss its 6.7 percent growth target this year. Analysts say a permanent end to Note 7 sales could cost Samsung up to $17 billion and tarnish the brand for other phones in the minds of consumers and carriers, while Samsung Electronics' market value has lost by around $20 billion. The value of exports from Samsung's factories in Thai Nguyen and Bac Ninh could rise to $34.7 billion this year, or about a fifth of Vietnam's total exports, said Nguyen Mai, president of Vietnam's Association of Foreign Invested Enterprises. Recalling the Note 7 could reduce Vietnam's exports by an estimated 0.5 percent to 1 percent this year, which will pose more challenges for the Southeast Asian nation to achieve its 10 percent exports growth target, Mai said. But the recall may not hurt Vietnam's economic growth in the long-term, he added. "Samsung is a large firm having reputable technology. They can rebuild the trust of customers, so this will not affect much on the future of Samsung," he said. "Samsung is still making many other products in Vietnam." (Reporting by Mai Nguyen and My Pham; Editing by Martin Petty, Greg Mahlich)
By Julia Love and Deborah M. Todd REUTERS - Samsung Electronicss abandonment of the Galaxy Note 7 due to safety concerns will likely touch off a turf war among Android smartphone makers, analysts said, presenting them a rare opportunity to gain share but with less room for archrival Apple Inc. Consumers tend to commit to their choice between Apple's iOS operating system for smartphones and Googles Android, leaving Samsungs fellow Android manufacturers such as LG Electronics and Alphabet Inc's Google in prime position to strike. Both have newly released phones. A hardware problem is unlikely to change a customer's preference for software systems, said analyst Jan Dawson of Jackdaw Research. "Samsung has the premium end of the smartphone market pretty much sewn up on the Android side," he said. This creates a slightly bigger opening. Research firm TrendForce revised up Apple's 2016 smartphone shipment forecasts by 3 million to 208 million, while slashing Samsung's shipments estimates by 6 million. It also raised forecasts for China's Huawei Technologies, No.3 globally, by 4 million. "A substantial portion of consumers demand will now go to the three major Chinese brands  Huawei, Vivo and OPPO," it said in a note. Nevertheless, in San Francisco, prime Apple territory, some consumers were switching to the home team, and Apple stock has risen on expectations of a broader move. "Some people might have already been thinking about making the switch and now here's their chance," said Robin Williams, a sales associate at a Sprint store on Van Ness St in San Francisco, describing some customers moving to Apple. Bob ODonnell of TECHnalysis Research said Apple would benefit, "but I dont think they are going to get all of it because Apple has a single product." Samsung on Tuesday scrapped the $882 flagship smartphone, in what could be one of the costliest product safety failures in tech history. The news is a boon for Google, which last week announced a new line of Pixel smartphones, plunging the company into the hardware market that it has previously left to manufacturers such as Samsung. Samsungs retreat will prompt consumers to take a closer look at Googles phones. "Samsungs meltdown is a big opportunity for Google to do far better with Pixel than it has with its previous Nexus devices," said Richard Windsor, analyst at Edison Investment Research. Despite the reputational damage, Samsung will remain competitive for premium smartphone sales, analysts said. LGs V20 smartphone will not arrive in the United States until the end of the month. Googles Pixel phones do not ship until Oct. 20, and will only be available in the United States at Verizon. "Google needs to be present at retail and with operators in volume in time to meet this demand... it needs to accelerate the launch as much as it can," said Windsor. ROOM TO SHINE For consumers seeking immediate replacements for the Galaxy Note 7, it may be easiest to go with another Samsung phone, said ODonnell at TECHnalysis. You cant write off Samsung, he said. Samsung is offering to exchange the Note 7s for its flagship Galaxy S7 models. A permanent end to Note 7 sales could cost it up to $17 billion, according to calculations based on analysts' projected shipments of the device. And Apple may have room to shine, especially before new Android phones arrive. At a T-Mobile store in San Francisco, salesperson Omar Arreola said some Samsung customers were so upset with the company that they switched to the iPhone 7. "They trust the brand," he said. Brian Green, whose Note 7 caught fire on a Southwest Airlines flight last week, also said he replaced his device with an iPhone. He raced to purchase the Note 7 after its release, but he said he is unlikely to be an early adopter again. Next time I think I'll wait and get it once it's been around the block a few times, he said. (Additional reporting by Rory Carroll and Malathi Nayak; Additional reporting by Miyoung Kim in SINGAPORE; Editing by Lisa Shumaker, Sam Holmes and Muralikumar Anantharaman)
By Malathi Nayak and Deborah M. Todd NEW YORK (Reuters) - Samsung Electronics Co Ltd <005930.KS> is sending fireproof boxes and protective gloves to customers returning potentially explosive Galaxy Note 7 phones, sparking a firestorm of humour on social media about the new twist in the recall scandal. The company has permanently halted production of its Galaxy Note 7 smartphone less than two months after launch following reports that some batteries caught fire. Reports that some replacement models also went up in smoke were an additional blow to Samsung's brand and financial outlook. "Samsung fireproof boxes? Have they been tested?" wrote Twitter user @powermax_news, a sales and service group that works on products from Samsung rival Apple Inc . Samsung in a statement said it was sending the fireproof return kit to customers who bought the Galaxy Note 7 phone on its website. A YouTube video by Android developer news site XDA Developers on Tuesday showed a "return kit," including a fireproof box with a "forbidden for transport by aircraft" warning and blue gloves to handle the device. The thermally insulated outer box that has ceramic fibre paper lining has two smaller boxes within it and a static shielding bag, the video showed. The packaging also inspired mirth. "The ultimate prank is when you open a box inside a box inside a box to find...a bag," Tweeted user @Nataddda. U.S. wireless carriers described getting similar materials to return the phones. Sprint Corp spokeswoman Laura Lisec said retail employees had been told to remove phones from packaging, power them down and secure them in the heat-proof boxes. Sprint phones nationwide are being consolidated at a warehouse in Illinois before being forwarded to Samsung. Verizon Communications Inc spokeswoman Kelly Crummey said retail stores were keeping returned Note 7s separate from other merchandise but did not share details regarding shipping or packaging. She said returns were steady and that many customers were choosing other Samsung Android operating system phones, rather than switching to Apple and its iOS. "The Samsung Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge are really popular with customers. From what we've seen with customers if they like Android they like Android and if they like iOS they like iOS," she said. Shippers, meanwhile, are taking their own precautions. The U.S. Postal Service, FedEx and UPS said they would not ship the phones by air, consistent with U.S. regulation. But FedEx will only take phones returned to stores, not from individuals directly. Royal Mail Plc , operator of Britain's main postal service, said on Wednesday it had banned the delivery Note 7 smartphones through its network for safety reasons, making it potentially difficult for many Britons to return the recalled devices. (Reporting by Malathi Nayak, Deborah M. Todd; Editing by David Gregorio, Peter Henderson and Lisa Shumaker)
By Jeremy Wagstaff SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Lithium-based batteries have been powering our portable devices for 25 years. But consumer demand for smaller, longer lasting devices is forcing manufacturers to push the technology, battery experts say, testing the limits of how much energy they can safely pack into smaller spaces. "A battery is really a bomb that releases its energy in a controlled way," says Qichao Hu, a former researcher at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and founder of SolidEnergy Systems, a battery startup. "There are fundamental safety issues to all batteries, and as you get to higher energy density and faster charge, the barrier to explosion is less and less." On Tuesday, Samsung Electronics scrapped its flagship Note 7 smartphone and told customers return their devices after weeks of bruising reports of phones igniting and images of scorched handsets. In early September, the world's largest smartphone maker blamed "a very rare manufacturing process error" for the problems. It has said it is still investigating reports of fires in a second, supposedly safe, batch of phones. Exactly what caused the problems will be the subject of detailed studies by regulators, the company and its suppliers. Experts are baffled by what could be causing the overheating in the replacement phones, if not the batteries. Samsung says it would be "premature to speculate" on the outcome of its investigations. "We are reviewing every step of our engineering, manufacturing and quality control processes," Samsung said in an emailed response to Reuters. An official at the Korean Agency for Technology and Standards, which is also investigating, said the fault in the replacement devices might not be the same as the problem in the original product. Both Samsung SDI and Amperex Technology Ltd (ATL), which supply batteries to Samsung Electronics, declined to comment. Samsung's Note 7 crisis may be its biggest, but the problems with lithium-ion are not new. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission has issued recalls for battery packs, snow blowers, hoverboards, flashlights and power recliners in the past year, all because of fires caused by lithium-ion batteries. In 2013, Boeing was forced to ground its entire fleet of advanced 787 jetliners after some lithium-ion batteries caught fire. The fleet was allowed to resume flights after changes were made to the battery and charger, and to better contain battery fires. "We remain confident in the comprehensive improvements made to the 787 battery system following this event, and in the overall performance of the battery system and the safety of the airplane," Boeing said in 2014 after an investigation into one incident. Link to Reuters TV segment: http://www.reuters.tv/v/2P2/2016/10/13/note-7-highlights-the-explosive-risks-of-lithium LIGHT-WEIGHT, HIGH ENERGY Lithium is the lightest of all metals, and can pack a lot of energy into a small volume - making it perfect for batteries. The market has grown from a few hundred million cells in 2000 to 8 billion last year, according to Albemarle, a U.S. chemical company. But for the same reason, lithium-ion batteries need safety mechanisms built in, adding to production costs. And with prices falling 14 percent per year for the past 15 years, according to Albemarle, smaller scale players have scrimped on safety, says Lewis Larsen, CEO of Lattice Energy, a consultancy. There is no evidence Samsung or its battery suppliers cut corners with the Note 7, and Tony Olson, CEO of consultancy D2 Worldwide, said the problem was not limited to cheaper products. He ran tests on batteries in laptops a decade ago, highlighting the dangers of them catching fire. Some 9.6 million Sony Corp laptop batteries were subsequently recalled. But when Olsen repeated the tests on other laptop batteries seven years later he found that "very little had changed in battery safety design, despite being under tremendous scrutiny." Sony, HP Inc, Toshiba Corp and Panasonic Corp have all recalled laptop battery packs this year over fire hazards, according to the Consumer Product Safety Commission. Panasonic, which supplied the batteries, said the problem was caused by manufacturing issues which it had now resolved. Asked about Samsung's woes last week, Panasonic CEO Kazuhiro Tsuga told reporters lithium ion batteries could become prone to fires when density was raised and fast charging was applied. "Its a trade-off between that (risk) and benefits. We place the biggest priority on safety," Tsuga said. "With current technologies, its extremely difficult to make it zero chance of such incidents." GREATER DEMANDS Before the era of smartphones, users didn't require much of their device - a few phone calls, a few SMS messages. The phone of today, however, needs to do a lot more, and is in constant use. According to eMarketer, an advertising consultancy, Chinese mobile users, for example, spend nearly twice as long on their smartphone as they did four years ago. This in turn has pushed manufacturers into making their screens bigger and their devices more powerful, packing more energy into smaller spaces. And however sophisticated the materials, "they're not 100 percent safe and they never will be," said Larsen, the consultant. "What we're seeing from the standpoint of lithium-ion technology is they're beginning to reach the safe energy density limits of that technology." But experts are divided on that point. Brandon Ng, whose Hong Kong startup QFE plans to sell refrigerator-sized batteries to replace diesel generators, said there is still room for improvements. "There is still a lot of developmental headroom with lithium-ion batteries in terms of increasing the energy they can store." Long-promised new technologies to make batteries safer are around the corner. Tim Grejtak, an analyst at Lux Research, said there are dozens of startups working on the issue, but the scientific problems were hard to solve and would take time. Among the most promising candidates, according to Grejtak, is California-based Blue Current, which is working on a high density, low flammable battery using gel electrolytes. Massachusetts-based SolidEnergy Systems is working on a lithium metal battery which founder Hu says takes up half the space of existing batteries. It will be used first in high altitude drones, he says, and in consumer devices, including smartphones, by 2018. (Additional reporting by Se Young Lee in SEOUL, Makiko Yamazaki in TOKYO and Sijia Jiang in HONG KONG; Editing by Lincoln Feast)
The Galaxy Note 7 was once widely regarded as Samsung's best smartphone ever. Now, it appears as though Samsung stands to lose a substantial amount of future business thanks to the company's current Note 7 debacle.

A recent survey, which was conducted just after reports of flaming phones forced Samsung to issue a global recall for the Galaxy Note 7, found that one-third of respondents said they would not purchase another Samsung phone. It was immediately clear that the Note 7 ordeal would have an impact on Samsung's image and sales, but now it looks like things are going to get worse before they get better. Following news from earlier this week that the Note 7 has been completely cancelled, a similar survey found that an even higher percentage of current Samsung customer say they'll never buy another smartphone from the company.

DON'T MISS: New report suggests the mysterious new Apple product we told you about is the real deal

The phone was first released in August, but a defect caused some units to explode and the phone had to be recalled. New "safe" units were issued to customers who turned in their potentially faulty phones, but they too began to spontaneously catch fire. After temporarily halting sales for a brief period in order to launch an investigation, Samsung decided instead to issue a second recall and completely cancel the phone.

Customers with first-run units or with newer replacement phones have been instructed to power them down at once and return them to whichever retailer sold them. You can find detailed instructions on how to get a refund in this post.

ECommerce solutions provider Branding Brand just conducted a new survey between October 11th and October 12th following the official discontinuation of Samsung's problematic Galaxy Note 7. The firm surveyed 1,020 US-based consumers who all owned Samsung phones, and it sought to determine how the company's Note 7 fiasco impacted their future purchasing plans.

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40% of current Samsung phone owners said that they would not buy another Samsung phone in the future. That figure is up from the 34% who made a similar claim in the company's first survey. Branding Brand said that 46% of respondents had become Samsung smartphone users within the past two years, while more than half  54%  had been loyal Samsung phone owners for three years or more.

Of those who said that they would not be purchasing another Samsung phone moving forward, 8% said they now plan to purchase one of Google's new Pixel phones and 70% said that whatever new phone they purchase will still be an Android phone. Meanwhile, 30% said they plan to leave Android altogether and buy an iPhone.

"Samsung consumers say battery life is a key to their loyalty with the brand; however its the same reason for the drop in confidence," said Branding Brand CEO Chris Mason. The results of the survey are certainly grim for Samsung, but it remains to be seen how big the impact of this ordeal will really be down the road.

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"It would be highly understandable if you feel like taking several times in a row," TomTom said of Norway's Atlantic Ocean Road

Navigation expert TomTom has put together a collection of coastal routes, woodland and forest drives, mountain passes, epic road trips and historical journeys -- cumulatively, it says, Europe's best driving routes.

Each route can be downloaded to a compatible satellite navigation device using TomTom's MyDrive feature.

The trips run from 5.1 miles (the eleven-bridge, island hopping Atlantic Ocean Road in Norway) to 15 days (the Icelandic ring road for which TomTom recommends a 5 to 15 day journey time, depending on driver preference.)

An overview of the 25 routes is available from TomTom's website.
By David Shepardson WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Verizon Communications Inc said on Thursday it has a "reasonable basis" to believe Yahoo Inc's massive data breach of email accounts represents a material impact that could allow Verizon to withdraw from its $4.83 billion deal to buy the technology company. Verizon's general counsel Craig Silliman told reporters at a roundtable in Washington the data breach could trigger a clause in the deal that would allow the U.S. wireless company not to complete it. "I think we have a reasonable basis to believe right now that the impact is material and we're looking to Yahoo to demonstrate to us the full impact. If they believe that it's not then they'll need to show us that," he said, declining to comment on whether talks are under way to renegotiate the purchase price. Asked for comment, a Yahoo spokesman said: "We are confident in Yahoos value and we continue to work towards integration with Verizon." The deal has a clause that says Verizon can withdraw if a new event "reasonably can be expected to have a material adverse effect on the business, assets, properties, results of operation or financial condition of the business. Silliman said the U.S. Federal Trade Commission has approved Verizon's planned acquisition of Yahoo, but it still needs approval from the European Commission and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is reviewing the proxy. Verizon has had preliminary briefings from Yahoo but it still needs "significant information" from the company before it makes a final decision on the materiality of the hacking of at least 500 million email accounts, Silliman said. He said Verizon is "absolutely evaluating (the breach) and will make determinations about whether and how to move forward with the deal based on our evaluation of the materiality." Yahoo shares ended 1.75 percent lower at $41.62, while Verizon was largely unchanged, closing at $50.29, down 0.02 percent. Yahoo in September disclosed that it had fallen victim to a data breach in 2014 that compromised users names, email addresses, telephone numbers, dates of birth and encrypted passwords. The company has said the cyber attack was carried out by a state-sponsored actor, but some private security experts have challenged that assertion. Several Democratic senators have pressed Yahoo to reveal more information about the hack and why it took so long to discover. The internet firm said it learned of the breach this summer while investigating claims of a separate intrusion, but it has not provided a specific timeline of events. Some analysts suggested Verizon may be trying to get a better price. Roger Entner, an analyst at Recon Analytics, said "Verizon is rightfully upset about Yahoo not properly disclosing the breach." He said Yahoo would most likely have to consider renegotiating the price with Verizon, if it came to that. "I don't think it has much of a choice. Who else would want to buy them?" Entner said. Experts said bidders who try to extract themselves from mergers using the material adverse clause face an uphill battle. No U.S. company has ever invoked the clause successfully in court to get out of a deal. In 2013, Cooper Tire & Rubber company got cold feet about a $2.5 billion sale to Apollo Tyres and argued in the Delaware Court of Chancery that Apollo had seen a material adverse change related to union issues at a subsidiary of the company. The court rejected Cooper Tires claims and the deal fell apart. A Delaware court ruled in 2001 that poultry producer Tyson Foods Inc could not terminate its merger with beef producer IBP Inc over accounting irregularities. The court said the shortfall was not due to a long-term problem. (Reporting by David Shepardson, additional reporting by Dustin Volz in Washington, Malathi Nayak in New York and Liana Baker in San Francisco; editing by Leslie Adler, Andrew Hay and Bernard Orr)
A 22-year-old Omaha man will spend at least 30 years in prison for an armed robbery spree in Lincoln a year ago.

In Lancaster County District Court on Thursday, Judge John Colborn said he couldn't ignore the serious nature of Montel Wood's offenses, and he made the 50-to-75-year sentence consecutive to a 2-year federal prison sentence Wood got last week for being a felon in possession of a firearm when Omaha police picked him up Nov. 20, 2015, on a warrant in the Lincoln cases.

Two months earlier, Wood got away after a robbery at the Fast Mart, 3293 A St., was thwarted by an off-duty security guard who had stopped to get gas and saw two masked people inside with guns.

In court records, police said the thieves ran, but the guard was able to catch Lekeyata Wood, Montel Wood's 24-year-old sister, when she tripped and held her at gunpoint until police arrived. The sister has been sentenced to eight to 13 years in prison.

In an affidavit for Montel Wood's arrest, police said an informant pointed the finger at him, and cellphone records put him within three blocks of the Fast Mart just before the robbery.

By then, Lincoln police already were looking for him on suspicion of Sept. 22, 2015, armed robberies at the Super C at 3275 Sheridan Blvd., the Kwik Shop at 5900 Fremont St., and a home invasion of an apartment in the 2700 block of E Street four days later.

Wood was charged later with the Aug. 10, 2015, armed robbery of T's Stop and Shop at 28th and O streets, where the clerk had a gun held to her back.

In a deal with prosecutors, he pleaded no contest to two robbery charges and use of a firearm to commit a felony, and the state dismissed 11 other felonies.

In court Thursday, defense attorney Sandy Pollack said Wood had family issues growing up and ultimately fell in with the wrong crowd and made bad decisions.

Deputy Lancaster County Attorney Jeff Mathers said Wood has committed multiple armed robberies with multiple people -- and the common denominator is him.

For whatever reason, he said, "Mr. Wood just doesn't get it."

Mathers said Wood's letter to the judge included one line that said he was sorry, and the rest was about him wanting to stay out of prison.

"Next to homicide, these are the most serious crimes we have in Lincoln," he said.

Mathers described Wood's victims as women working hard to support themselves and families. Two quit their jobs because of this, he said.

Between the state and federal time, Wood will have to serve 30 years before he's eligible for parole.
To avoid a brand meltdown and recover quickly from its botched recall of the Galaxy Note 7, Samsung should emulate two companies: Toyota and Apple.

Samsung Electronics shuffled its leadership team last November, naming D. J. Koh as the new head of mobile communications in an effort to reignite its flagging smartphone business. It looks as if Koh may have taken that goal a bit too literally.

The Korean conglomerate is reeling from a botched global recall of 2.5 million Galaxy Note 7 smartphones over a mysterious malfunction that caused some phones to overheat and catch fire.

After supposedly localizing the problem to a single battery maker and issuing replacement phones with new batteries, they too exhibited the same issue. Thats when Samsung made the unusual decision to permanently pull the plug on the product.

Analysts and pundits are wondering how quickly the companys reputation can recover from whats widely viewed as incompetent crisis management?

The real question is, is this a one-off snafu  albeit an enormous one  or the first sign of systemic issues with more to come. That sort of thing has happened before, and on a very large scale, even by Samsungs standards. Case in point, Toyota.

Soon after Akio Toyoda became chief executive of Japans biggest automaker in 2009, he faced the most trying crisis in the companys 72-year history: a global recall of millions of vehicles over a reported accelerator pedal issue and a Prius brake problem.

Tests would show that the sudden acceleration problem was vastly overhyped and mostly the result of drivers mistakenly hitting the accelerator pedal instead of the brakes. Nevertheless, Toyoda conducted a top-down review of the companys vaunted manufacturing operation and uncovered serious issues, which he then resolved.

Even though Toyota was initially slow to respond to the crisis, its new CEOs actions nipped what could have been a far worse problem in the bud and avoided the kind of brand meltdown that roiled Audi back in the 80s. Ironically, that was the result of a real sudden acceleration problem linked to several deaths and hundreds of accidents.

Story continues

It may be time for Samsung to conduct a similar review of its organization, processes and product strategy and consider taking some extraordinary steps that, like Toyota, may help its brand recover more quickly and, more important, prevent a long-term disaster. One company it may consider emulating: archrival Apple.

Samsung replaced former mobile head J.K. Shin for two reasons. While Shin was responsible for the companys meteoric rise to the top of the smartphone market, he also presided over a couple of challenging years that saw Apple regain significant market share, mostly on the strength of the iPhone 6.

In addition, Koh recently oversaw the development of Samsungs proprietary Tizen operating system and the launch of Samsung Pay. The Galaxy line had long outpaced Apple in terms of hardware features, so Koh was chosen to champion a new effort to challenge the Silicon Valley companys strength in software and services.

That, in hindsight, may not have been the wisest decision. Koh spent his entire career in R&D. This is pure speculation on my part, but manufacturing operations, supply-chain management and quality do not appear to be his strong suits.

Apple CEO Tim Cook was responsible for managing and scaling Apples sprawling supply chain under Steve Jobs. Thats his strength and one of the reasons for the companys nearly flawless operational execution, in spite of its enormous size. I dont know who Samsungs Tim Cook is, but it doesnt appear to be Koh.

Another key difference between the two companies is also a legacy of the culture Jobs fostered: Apple focuses only on doing what it does best. It makes very few products, which makes it a whole lot easier to manage every aspect, from top to bottom. Today, Apple makes just five distinct iPhone models: SE, 6s, 6s Plus, 7 and 7 Plus.

Samsung, on the other hand, offers a dizzying array of countless phones. If it wants to compete with Apple in the high-end, I would start by dramatically pairing that down.

Ive heard some analysts suggest that Koh may have rushed the Galaxy Note 7 out the door ahead of the long-rumored mega-upgrade of Apples tenth anniversary iPhone, expected out next year. Perhaps he cut some corners on what should have been rigorous quality and reliability testing.

Again, Apple operates on its own timetable and doesnt react  or overreact  to what competitors are doing. If theres one myth the consumer electronics giant has clearly dispelled, its the popular notion of a first mover advantage. Apple is never first to market. Its goal, however, is to be the best. That formula appears to be working.

Lastly, perhaps its time for Samsung to abandon its annual tradition of shuffling its management team. I believe the practice dates back to Andy Groves days at the helm of Intel, where keeping organizations nimble and fluid was a key aspect of the chip giants culture. Im just not sure its effective in todays market where execution is critical and missteps costly.

If Samsung wants to recover quickly and avoid a long-term brand meltdown, its leaders should take a long look in the mirror  and at Toyota and Apple.

Related Articles
A Lancaster County jury on Wednesday convicted a prominent Nebraska City businessman and former president of Omaha Exposition and Racing of solicitation of a prostitute in Lincoln.

Robert Moser Jr. was one of 13 people arrested in Lincoln during a prostitution sting that was part of a crackdown by a national coalition of law enforcement agencies from Jan. 17 to Feb. 7.

The 42-year-old Nebraska City resident pleaded not guilty in February and stood trial on the misdemeanor charge Wednesday.

Moser faces $250 to $1,000 in fines and up to a year in jail at his Dec. 9 sentencing, but state prosecutors said they are not seeking jail time.

A long-time racehorse owner and breeder, Moser resigned as president of the board for Omaha Exposition and Racing, which operates both Horsemens Park in Omaha and the Lincoln Race Course.

Moser also is a pharmacist and owner of Mosers U-Save Pharmacy in Nebraska City.
More than two years after Lucero Portillo got into a fight with her mom and left, police found her and took her home.

Portillo, now 17, was among thousands of runaways reported to Lincoln police over recent years, but she remained missing much longer than most.

Last month, she was featured in a Lincoln Journal Star series on missing people, and, as is the case with the majority of young people who are reported missing, police had no reason to suspect foul play.

Unlike the majority of runaways, however, authorities had been unable to find the young woman whose mother reported her missing on Aug. 14, 2014, when she was 15.

By the time Portillo was found, she'd been gone longer than all but one of the missing juveniles being investigated by police.

In the end, police found her in the place they initially suspected she might be: her boyfriends mother's home.

Police watched the house after she disappeared but failed to catch sight of Portillo or her boyfriend coming or going.

Then, on Oct. 4, the Metro Area Fugitive Task Force and the Lincoln Police Departments gang unit went to the home at 3119 Q St. to serve a warrant.

They didnt find the person they were looking for, but they did find Portillo, her 17-year-old boyfriend and a 16-year-old boy. Juvenile Court had issued detainers -- similar to warrants in adult court -- on the two boys, and they were taken into custody.

Portillo was returned to her mother.

The home in which she was found had so much trash piled up that the residents had to crawl through a window to get inside, said Officer Katie Flood. Inside, the toilet didnt work and trash and dog feces littered the floor.

Officers also found three bags of marijuana and a stolen gun.

While authorities were there, Mackeshaw Escamilla, 38, the mother of Portillo's boyfriend, came home.

She was belligerent and uncooperative and police cited her for resisting arrest and failing to comply with an order. On Oct. 11, she was jailed on suspicion of child neglect and contributing to the delinquency of a minor.

Police had interviewed her on numerous occasions while trying to find Portillo and she had not been cooperative.

During the time Portillo was missing, her mother told police her daughter had contacted relatives in Mexico via social media but police could never get in touch with them. And her mom was convinced she saw her in a car in a fast-food restaurant parking lot on a summer night in 2015.

Family members thought Portillo might have moved to Denver with her boyfriend, or possibly gone to be with family in Mexico.

It's unclear exactly what she's been doing the past two years, though she has not been in school. Her mother told police she now suspects Portillo has been with the boyfriend and his mother the entire time.

Lincoln Public Schools officials said she's now back in school.

The living conditions where she was found illustrate the danger young people put themselves in when they run away and have no means to support themselves, Flood said.

This is a situation no parent wants for their child.
Cindy Lange-Kubick Columnist Cindy Lange-Kubick has loved writing columns about life in her hometown since 1994. She had hoped to become a people person by now, nonetheless she would love to hear your tales of fascinating neighbors and interesting places. Follow Cindy Lange-Kubick 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. Save Manage followed notifications Close Followed notifications Please log in to use this feature Log In Don't have an account? Sign Up Today

I turned off my phone Sunday night and fell into a rabbit hole, far away from a town hall debate and a firestorm of tweets, free from spin and spittle and talking heads.

The lights went down at the Rococo and out came Emmylou Harris, an angel with a silver halo under the stage lights.

Out came Steve Earle with his hillbilly hair, and Buddy Miller with his fedora, and a duo in skinny pants who called themselves the Milk Carton Kids.

And it was beautiful. Soul-soothing. Guitars and harmonicas and songs about love and loss and dying dogs and Graceland, all in the name of raising money for refugees. Imagine that.

I turned on my phone when the lights went up and discovered that despite the message echoing in my head -- I am just a pilgrim on this road, we all are pilgrims on this road -- really, we arent.

My phone told me I missed the Nastiest Debate in History, filled with bitterness, pillorying, sparring and an occasional answer to a question. (At which point, I imagine most people got bored with Policy Statement Reality TV and quit listening.)

Id also missed Ken Bone in his Big Red sweater (Americas next Joe the Plumber) and Donald Trump lurking behind Hillary Clinton (Americas newest clown meme).

It had been less than 72 hours since the Washington Post published an 11-year-old recording of the Republican nominee detailing his approach to attractive women.

Lets just call it The Art of the Grope.

The tape was nauseating and its sycophantic soundtrack featuring NBCs Billy Bush was equally revolting.

The court of public opinion was harsh, too, with legions of party loyalists disavowing Trumps language and a non-apology apology from the candidate that included a you-think-Im-vulgar!? swipe at Bill Clinton.

So I came back to work and dug up an old column from the dark days of Bill Clintons presidency -- back when a young White House intern gave him the nickname, Big Creep.

I liked Bill Clinton pretty well as a president, Id written. But I'm not sure I'd like to pass too close to the guy in a crowded hallway.

I probably wasnt his type, I added. Young, buxom and perky I'm not, so I'd probably be safe.

Nearly two decades later, Im likely not Donald Trumps type, either. Thank God.

Where do we find these men, My Fellow Americans?

Its a dark day when your pitch for insight from the experts goes like this: I want to talk to someone about the Trump comments in the larger context of presidents being pigs.

Was George Washington a womanizer? (I don't know for sure, but he was believed to have had an affair.) Was Thomas Jefferson a rapist? (Sally Henning was a slave, so yes.)

John F. Kennedy, a sex addict? (Pretty sure.)

The list goes on, but the entitlement problem -- powerful men manipulating women as objects -- cant be explained away by political power.

After the Trump tape was released Friday, author Kelly Oxford asked women to tweet their own sexual assaults to her. She expected a handful of stories. By Monday, shed gotten 27 million replies.

The result has been a kind of collective, nationwide purge of painful, often long-buried memories, the New York Times wrote. Facebook pages and Twitter feeds filled with comments and multiplying threads from women who recalled being groped by doctors, by piano teachers, by photography instructors, by perfect strangers.

Raise your hand if you could have been one of them.

Nearly every woman has a list of unwanted sexual overtures. (Cook at summer camp, creepy dad in the neighborhood, guy at the bowling alley, stranger with his pants down at the drive-thru. Im not done, but Ill stop now.)

Do we report them? For the most part, no. We endure them, ignore them, minimize them, internalize them.

We avoid the creeps if we know them, wriggle away, laugh it off, occasionally tell them off. But shouldnt such boorish behavior in the 21st century be so socially unacceptable that only the most desperate deviants would dare to act?

The answer, sadly, is no.

Check out the women responding to Oxfords call at the rate of 50 a minute, if you need more proof.

Or take a look at our nations first presidential election featuring a woman candidate.

The eyes of adolescent boys wearing Trump that Bitch T-shirts at rallies, the cheers of Lock her up! The man in North Carolina at a rally last week, accompanied by his wife and three children, posing in a shirt that read: Clinton is a C---t.

America at its most misogynist, encouraged by a billionaire who rates us on a scale of 1 to 10, calls us pigs and dogs, and talks of grabbing us by our genitals.

Its a sad standard by a candidate running for the highest office.

But, really its nothing new.

The good news is this: Women vote.

And Bill Clinton isnt running for president.
Business and labor leaders on Thursday offered their support for a $369 million bond issue proposed by Southeast Community College to renovate and build new facilities.

At a news conference in the Haymarket, they said modernizing campuses in Lincoln, Beatrice and Milford will lead to more skilled employees to fill worker shortages throughout Southeast Nebraska.

Brad Korell of Olsson Associates said recent growth in Lincoln has been the source of excitement and momentum greater than any he has seen in the past 40 years.

But that growth brings challenges, said Korell, who is also a member of Friends of Southeast Community College. Right now, were having struggles finding people, and thats the human resources and human capital to sustain this growth to continue that momentum.

SCC is the best engine to drive workforce development and fill those jobs, he said.

Most of the students who graduate from Southeast Community College get jobs right here in Lincoln and Southeast Nebraska and they stay, Korell said. Many go on to start their own companies and to fill positions that are needed by businesses that are growing.

John Markey, business manager for the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 225, said a successful bond issue would mean more than new buildings for SCC.

If we want to draw companies into Lincoln  we need a trained workforce to meet their needs, he said. That will bring a lot more work to Lincoln for the building trades than just the building of these particular buildings.

The presidents of two construction and building trades councils -- Steve Simpson and Jim Waugh -- said the construction industry is closely aligned with community colleges.

Its a program we believe in, Simpson said.

Waugh said SCC graduates fill key positions in the trades and represent future growth in those industries.

We see a lot of the people who come through the community colleges as the next generation of construction workers, Waugh said. Were looking hard right now for people, and theyre not out there."

The Lincoln Chamber of Commerce has previously announced its support of the bond issue.

Matthew Wegener, founder of ISoft Data Systems and co-founder of Turbine Flats, a Lincoln startup company with more than 100 employees, said SCCs growth is critical for technology and entrepreneurial growth in the area.

With the growth of many technology companies in Lincoln and the growth of the startup and entrepreneurial community downtown, were definitely competing for employees right now, he said. Its a dog-eat-dog world just trying to find qualified applicants to fill positions so we can continue to grow.

And Todd Duncan, chairman of Duncan Aviation, which employs 1,250 people in Nebraska, called the investment in the community college program imperative.

We have dozens of employees who have graduated from the Milford and Lincoln programs, and even some through Beatrice, said Duncan, who took his first aviation ground school class at SCC. We need highly trained and readied individuals for our workforce, and the quality we see out of SCCs graduates is second to none.

Community colleges can levy up to 11.5 cents per $100 of valuation under state law. Of that, 2.5 cents can be used for construction and renovation projects.

SCC has always operated conservatively, using on average about 57 percent of its allowed levy, Korell said.

Thats in contrast to other community colleges in Nebraska who have used almost their entire allocation of both operating and capital expenditures, Korell said. As taxpayers in the 15-county area, weve all benefited from that.

SCC facilities have grown obsolete, he said, and many buildings built for other purposes were given to the college over the years.

Lincoln Sen. Patty Pansing Brooks said the project represents a boon for both Lincoln and the state.

We know we need people to be employed for the trades and all sorts of different professions, she said.

If voters approve the plan on Nov. 8, SCC would add 3.9 cents to its current levy to pay for new construction and renovation in Lincoln, Beatrice and Milford.

As much as $127 million of the money raised would go to build a new campus in downtown Lincolns Telegraph District.

Last week, a coalition of business and ag groups, as well as several current and former politicians, announced their opposition to the bond issue.

Led by the Lincoln Independent Business Association, the coalition of the Nebraska Farm Bureau, Nebraska Cattlemen and Nebraska Soybean Association, as well as state Sens. Laura Ebke and Jerry Johnson and former Gov. Dave Heineman, said the $369 million proposal was Too Much. Too Long. Too Risky.

The bond issue will appear on the ballot in 15 counties in Southeast Nebraska.
Let me conduct an informal poll here, one of those theoretical what-if election questions:

If you could choose to be placed in a safe, painless, medically induced coma between now and Election Day, would you do so?

At the risk of violating pollster neutrality by volunteering a personal response: yes, hell yes, and where do I sign?

The part of this interminable presidential campaign  the unhinged part we keep charitably heralding as unprecedented and historic  has begun to pall. Even train wrecks, car crashes and mass decapitations have a dulling effect if they go on too long.

A point is reached  I believe they have conducted experiments on rats to prove this  at which the nervous system is too exhausted to absorb fresh shocks. The initial titillating adrenaline rush of exposure to destabilizing stimuli is lost; only the dull aftermath of disorientation and depression remains.

Some of us may have finally reached this post-traumatic state last week. That was when the resurrection of GOP presidential nominee (I will never get used to saying that) Donald Trumps grotesque 2005 bus tape preening about the joy of being rich and powerful enough to grope even the least willing women hit the news cycle like a hurtling asteroid.

Others may have held out until Sunday, when the once stiff, formal ritual of presidential debate deteriorated into what was excitedly anticipated as a vulgar cage-match showdown over Trump, Bill Clinton and male horndoggery in general. It delivered as promised and was followed by a juvenile insult-a-thon that should have been at least entertaining, but wasnt.

The fact that the pious pundit-choir chorus has ruled that Trump rallied his base in the second debate underscores the disconcerting extent to which we are grading this lunacy on the bell curve. We keep covering Donald Trump as if he were an ordinary candidate, and Hillary Clinton, by default, as if she were an ordinary, analog opponent.

In our defense, we dont really have a template on what else to do.

On Sunday night, the ever-blustering Trump called Clinton devil, liar, a criminal, an enabler of rapists and terrorists, a stooge of the Iranians, a craven shill for rich donors, Not Abraham Lincoln, the original racist Birther Crank, and  simultaneously!  an ineffectual do-nothing who was somehow the single most influential proponent of the Iraq War.

For the sake of historical context, Ill point out that in the presidential election of 1876, heretofore the ugliest in U.S. history, supporters of Rutherford B. Hayes called opponent Samuel Tilden a syphilitic drunk. Hayes did not say it to Tildens face in a public forum, as far as the record tells us.

Clintons counter-punches  that hes unfit, abuses women, doesnt pay taxes like the rest of us and so forth  seemed awfully colorless by comparison. Insult-wise, it just seemed like a mismatch.

There was a moment when I wanted her to let him have it in kind, to point out  oh, so reasonably  that Donald, you are so alarmingly ill-informed about world affairs that you would get us blown into nuclear smithereens inside of a month, or Donald, you are the living embodiment of the tenet that vermin thrive on chaos and filth, or Donald, Vladimir Putin could turn you into a squeaking little hamster and carry you around is his pants pocket.

If she had done so, the campaign really would have gone into that dark new place that everybody keeps talking about. But  flawed candidate though she is  she understands what debates are for, how campaigns are traditionally conducted, how democracy functions, what presidents do and how theyre supposed to behave. So she cant.

Meanwhile, the Craziest Major Party Candidate in U.S. History blusters and capers and sputters disjointed sentence fragments about how our nation is a post-apocalyptic Third World hellscape where every institution, icon and achievement is a disaster. He gets away with it because theres really not a mechanism in our political system to address lunatic invective on such a breathtaking scale.

So we get another month of this, four more torturous weeks of disorienting electric shocks, of weary disbelief, of wondering how, for the love of Pete, did it come to this?

Yall, Im tired of this funhouse ride. I really do wish I could sleep through the rest of it.
The term public theology sounds like an oxymoron to many people. Faith is a private thing, they say, not something to be shared in the public square. After all, they add, the Constitution provides for a separation of church and state.

But nothing could be further from the truth. Its a serious misreading of our history and the intents of the Founding Fathers.

The wall of separation between church and state is a metaphor based on bad history, Supreme Court Chief Justice William Rehnquist wrote in a court opinion in 1985.  It should be frankly and explicitly abandoned.

The term never appears in the Constitution or Bill of Rights. The first sentence of the First Amendment simply says, Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, nor prohibiting the free exercise thereof.

The phrase wall of separation between Church & State didnt appear until 1801  10 years after the states ratified the Bill of Rights  when President Thomas Jefferson used it in a letter to the Danbury Baptist Association of Connecticut. Even then, he explained that its purpose was to preserve rights of conscience, not to strip God from government.

The men who gave us the First Amendment intended to prevent the establishment of a national church, not impose a radical separation of church and state. In fact, the day after Congress adopted the First Amendment, it sent a message to President George Washington, asking him to declare a day of thanksgiving to show Americas appreciation to God for the opportunity to create its new government in peace and tranquility. The nation observed the holiday on Nov. 26, 1789.

A careful reading of the First Amendment shows us that the concern that motivated our Founding Fathers was to protect the conscience from governmental encroachments. Twenty iterations of the language for the First Amendment ensued in the congressional debate before the final version was sent to the House on Sept. 24, 1789. Not once in any of those 20 attempts to write the First Amendment did the phrase separation of church and state appear. The word conscience, although it does not appear in the final form, occurs in 12 of these iterations.

Clearly, the drafters of the First Amendment wanted to protect conscience from government, not protect government from religion. This is where public theology comes in, calling for the application of religious principles to every area of life, including politics.

Washington called religion and morality indispensable pillars of Americas political happiness. In his farewell address, he noted, experience has taught us that morality is impossible for a people unless it is brought to us through religious teaching.

John Adams, our second president, noted in 1798, We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Avarice, ambition, revenge, or gallantry, would break the strongest cords of our Constitution as a whale goes through a net. Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.

Many of the Founding Fathers saw our form of government as a fragile gift that could easily be lost. At the end of the Constitutional Convention in 1787, a woman asked Benjamin Franklin, What kind of government have you given us? He famously replied, A republic, if you can keep it.

Far from wanting a separation of church and state if that meant the separation of God and government, Founding Fathers like Washington and Adams believed that Judeo-Christian principles provided an essential framework for preserving our liberties.
Festivities on Sunday to celebrate the renovation of Centennial Mall marked the successful conclusion of a remarkable fundraising campaign that involved people from one end of the state to the other.

There are too many to thank by name. Suffice it to say that whether one is in Norfolk, Scottsbluff, McCook or Nebraska City, no one has to travel far to find someone who helped make the project possible.

At the heart of the long-running project were organizers Susan Larson Rodenburg, Patty Pansing Brooks (now a state senator) and Lynn Johnson, director of Lincoln Parks and Recreation.

The $9.6 million project would not have been possible without big contributions from a few sources.

But the project was made special by the broad involvement of so many Nebraskans. In the end, about 56 percent of the money came from private donors.

Helping to give the fundraising effort early credibility as a statewide effort was a $25,000 donation from Hod Kosman of Platte Valley Bank in Scottsbluff, Rodenburg said.

One of the most heartwarming stories from the six-plus years of volunteer fundraising was the $1,000 turned in by Zoe Maurer as part of a project for Rainbow Girls, a Masonic youth organization that meets at the Scottish Rite Temple on the mall.

Maurer is an adult now, but the words she spoke as a 15-year-old in 2010 still ring true: The mall is the front yard of our beautiful capitol. It has visitors from Lincoln, from Nebraska and from around the world -- and people like me who just come to enjoy that place.

About a million people visit the Capitol every year, including thousands of grade-school students making the traditional trek to see the beautiful and historic seat of state government.

The mall was created as part of the states centennial in 1967. Gradually, it deteriorated, its big pools with fountains filled in with dirt and its sidewalks and steps crumbled.

The hundreds of people who turned out on a beautiful autumn Sunday for ceremonies celebrating renovation of the seven-block mall saw a much prettier vista, with three fountains, plaza areas, new landscaping and a Spirit of Nebraska Pathway with granite and bronze tiles, including Quick Response codes people can scan with smartphones to learn more.

Dwarfing all other private contributions was a $2 million gift from Glenn Korff, who grew up in Hebron, attended the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and made his fortune working for financial institutions in New York City. Another $3 million came in the form of keno proceeds and tax increment financing from City Hall. State government chipped in $800,000. Importantly, the fundraising included a $1.5 million endowment to maintain the mall.

The Journal Star editorial board congratulates all those who contributed time, expertise and money to the project. We are sure we speak for people all across the state when we say thank you.
With early voting starting, I want to provide some firsthand knowledge about a candidate for the Nebraska Legislature. I have known Jim Gordon for years, as have many in this community. Jim is certainly recognizable with his big mustache and ever-present cane, which, by the way, is the result of a war injury.

Jim has been giving back to his community since he returned from his military service in Vietnam. He has been an active volunteer and leader in many charitable and civic endeavors. He served as national president of the Make-A-Wish Foundation, chairman of the board of the Lincoln Childrens Zoo, The Mediation Center, Legal Aid and Leadership Lincoln, to name just a few.

Ive served on the Holocaust Memorial Board with Jim and I acquired respect and admiration for his intelligence, abilities and dedication. Jims candidacy for Legislature is an ideal extension of the work he has been doing in our community for 40-plus years. He would bring a great deal of knowledge and important skills to the Legislature. Jim Gordon would be an excellent state senator.

Paul W. Smith, Lincoln
Over and over and over again, we see columnists (" Clinton condemns not the state of our laws, but our souls ," Oct. 2) commenting in regard to "African-Americans marching in the streets" who "feel so helpless after seven years of Obama's presidency".

That's precisely the twisting of facts that we don't need. For five of those years, Barack Obama's presidency has been stymied by an obstinate Republican Congress determined to prevent any Obama ideas. That's caused a stalemate that has prevented anything positive, from improvements to the health care law to expanded work on the nation's infrastructure that is sorely needed to improve our economy to consideration of the nomination of a moderate judge for the Supreme Court. Obama has only to suggest something to find that idea opposed in Congress.
The third annual Colors of Hope: Cancer Research Fundraiser, held Aug. 25 at Chez Hay, raised more than $20,000 for cancer research, benefiting the Nebraska Cancer Research Center (NCRC), a program of Lincoln Medical Education Partnership. NCRC partners with both Lincoln oncology clinics and hospital systems to provide patients with local access to cutting edge National Cancer Institute-sponsored clinical trials.

Over 150 guests were entertained by a Lions Dance, performed by the Jing Mo Tong dance troupe. The evening included dinner by Chez Hay, a silent auction of desserts and other items generously donated by local businesses. A live auction included a trip to Dublin, Ireland, donated by Executive Travel, and a Royal Carnival Cruise.

The highlight of the evening was a video featuring clinical trial participant, Aaron Brix, and his wife, Corrie, telling their story and how NCRC has made a difference in their lives by providing access to cutting edge cancer research in their community.

We are very grateful for the outpouring of support from the community, from those attending to those businesses who donated, said Kelly Madcharo, director of the Nebraska Cancer Research Center. Being able to help cancer patients access and participate in cutting edge cancer research locally benefits not only the patient, who can have their support system intact during treatment, but also the medical community as a whole.

NCRC has 35-40 clinical trials available for cancer patients at any one time for all types of cancer. Over the past 32 years, more than 2,000 cancer patients have selflessly enrolled in a clinical trial to advance cancer treatment.

Sponsors for the event included title sponsor Southeast Nebraska Cancer Center as well as Nebraska Hematology Oncology PC, Bryan Health, Southeast Nebraska Oncology Nursing Society and Lincoln Radiology Group.

For more information on NCRC or to view the video, visit necancerresearch.org or call 402-483-2827.
Residents of Grand Lodge at the Preserve, 80th & Pioneers Blvd., raised $7,000 this year for a program to fund college scholarships for part-time team members at the retirement community.

The scholarship program is part of the Foundation at Lifespace Communities, a not-for-profit parent organization of Grand Lodge. The mission of the Lifespace Foundation is to support the health and welfare of residents they serve.

Grand Lodge residents began giving to the foundation scholarship program several years ago as a way to give back and help foster a culture of excellence and achievement in the Lincoln area and at the retirement community.

The 2016 scholarship winners and their colleges of choice:

University of Nebraska-Lincoln: Sydney Graff, Jackson Ruth, Nathan Sheets, Jamie Titus

University of Wyoming: Kyle Sager

Southeast Community College: Micah Pelton

Wayne State College: Kaylee Prenosil
CALEDONIA  A registered sex offender has been issued a citation for violating a Caledonia ordinance regarding where designated offenders are allowed to live, police reported Wednesday.

Donald Knebel, 60, was convicted of two counts of possession of child pornography in April 2002 in Winnebago County, according to a Caledonia Police Department press release.

Knebel was initially investigated by Caledonia police in March, when it was discovered he was allegedly violating a village ordinance by living in the 2700 block of Six Mile Road. Knebel moved out of the village by mid-April to comply with the ordinance, the release said.

But, according to police, Knebel was discovered to again be residing at the Six Mile Road residence on Wednesday. He reportedly had been residing there since July, police said.

In addition, Knebel also failed to notify the Caledonia Police Department 28 days prior to establishing a permanent residence within the village, the release said.

Knebel and the homeowner, Janet Reiter, were both issued four citations for $457.90. Police said they will continue to receive citations daily until compliance is achieved.
WATERFORD  Amid opposition from a citizens group and the Village of Waterford, the state Department of Natural Resources has denied a permit to draw down the Fox River.

The Racine County Drainage District had requested to open the gates of Rochester Dam for a full drawdown of the Fox River from October to March. The village and Fox River Citizens Group have argued drawdowns hurt fishing and recreation on the river.

RCDD is in the third year of a five-year permit to dredge the Wind Lake/Goose Lake Branch drainage canal. That permit to dredge is still valid.

According to a release from the village, the Fox River was drawn down for six months in each of the past two years, although the district didnt dredge due to mild winters.

Waterford Village President Tom Roanhouse said the drawdowns devastated the fishery and residents ability to access the river for recreational opportunities. He noted the village recently opened new kayak and canoe launches, which he said could not be used during those periods.

We had a Class A fishery and six public access points, and to take that away was just a tragedy, he said.

Roanhouse called the DNRs decision a win win for everybody.

I applaud the citizens group that went out and did their homework, Roanhouse said. Everything was fact-based ... there isnt a need to draw down the river to go forward with the dredging project.

A representative of the drainage district could not be reached for comment Thursday afternoon.

More than 60 Waterford and Rochester residents heard updates on efforts to stop the repeated drawdowns at a public information meeting in August that included state Rep. Dave Craig, R-Big Bend, state Sen. Van Wanggaard, R-Racine, and Racine County Executive Jonathan Delagrave.

Officials encouraged attendees to write their representatives with concerns about the fishery, lower property values and loss of recreational use of the river, noting efforts to develop the Fox River Water Trail and the overall health of the river and its wildlife.

In its decision, the DNR noted that since 2007, the applicant (the drainage district) has requested and received approval for temporary winter drawdown a total of seven times. According to the village and citizens group, cumulatively, these drawdowns have impacted local recreation and fisheries on the Fox River in the Rochester Dam impoundment.

Further, DNR fish and wildlife biologists cited a significant reduction in gamefish and panfish, a negative impact on duck hunting and the effect on bank instability and erosion by repeatedly raising and lowering the river.

To see the full DNR response the drawdown permit request, visit the Village of Waterford website www.waterfordwi.org/FoxRiverDrawdowns.
RACINE  The Walking Dead star Danai Gurira stopped by Racine Wednesday afternoon to campaign on behalf of Hillary Clinton.

Gurira is traveling throughout the country to offer support for Clinton. She also made appearances in Milwaukee and Madison on Wednesday.

My father is a professor at UW-Platteville, Gurira said. I am really happy to be here. This is a very important part of the nation for me personally and for every election. I just want to let everyone know I am here because Im trying to do all I can.

At her stop at the Democratic Party of Racine County office, 606 Sixth St., Gurira, an Iowa native, spoke to about 20 people on hand for the event in support of Clinton.

Were in a society where equal pay for equal work still doesnt quite happen yet. Were in a society where very deeply offensive things can be said that can perpetuate a rape culture as it has been called and people dont even know how to apologize for it.

Gurira is best-known for her role as Michonne on AMC smash hit The Walking Dead, and is a Tony award-nominated playwright for the Broadway show Eclipsed.

During her speech, Gurira mainly touched on the issue of gender inequality in the nation and throughout the world. She said that voting for Clinton will help tear down those walls.

Gurira also touched on Donald Trumps most recent controvery regarding the recording of him talking with TV host Billy Bush in a lewd manner about women.

The actress said that his behavior was an example of how language and words do affect things.

Theres no locker-room talk, Gurira said. Theres no alpha-male excuses. Alpha males understand that is not an area you go to, not verbally and not in any other way. So to me it is a very important moment. Its a very important moment where we as America must decide who we are, and we must decide who we are going to be moving forward.

Civic responsibility

Gurira finsihed her speech reiterating her support for the Democratic candidate and imploring that everyone should go out to vote.

It is very important to me this election, and every election really, because I consider it my civic responsibility to contribute to what happens in this country, Gurira said. I just want to make sure we get out there and practice that civic responsibility. The world is watching us and I know we can get there. I know we can. We are stronger together.
As the State of Florida was buffeted by the blasts of Hurricane Matthew last weekend, potential Florida voters got another blast of ill wind when Republican Gov. Rick Scott declined to extend voter registration deadlines despite the dislocation of thousands of state residents.

Look, this is, this is politics, Scott said, after saying earlier that everybody has had a lot of time to register.

Were sure that was high on the to-do list of fleeing Floridians; right after buying a couple of cases of water and food supplies, boarding up the windows on their homes, filling up the gas tank and finding a motel in a safe spot hours away.

Perhaps its politics in Florida, but its dirty politics and at its heart it is a calculated attempt at voter suppression. Scott probably knows that.

Scott probably knows, too, that Republican standard-bearer Donald Trump doesnt have much of a chance to win the presidency unless he wins Florida, a swing state which, of course, determined the results of the presidency in the Gore-Bush race in 2000.

He probably knows, as well, that with less than a month before the election, polls were showing that Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton was ahead by a scant two percent just as Hurricane Matthew was knocking on the Florida coast and sending state residents packing for higher ground.

And Scott probably knows that in 2012 more than 156,000 Floridians registered in the final days of October. And while he may or may not have known it, he probably wouldnt have been surprised by a University of Florida voter roll study that showed only about a fifth of those registrants were Republicans.

What better chance to boost his partys chances at winning the presidency than by closing the door on 100,000 votes or so? To give his decision context, Nikki Haley, the Republican governor of South Carolina, which was also hit hard by Hurricane Matthew, had no problem extending mail-in voter registration in her state  granting an extension of six days.

Fortunately for Floridians who have not registered, Scotts extension denial landed before a federal judge who called the governors claim that it was just politics poppycock.

Thats a legal term for horse manure.

U.S. District Judge Mark Walker, who is an Obama appointee, initially ordered a 24-hour extension of voter registration deadlines and on Wednesday followed up with a one-week reprieve that allows voters to register until next Tuesday.

These voters have already had their lives (and quite possibly their homes) turned upside down by Hurricane Matthew, Judge Walker wrote, They deserve a break, especially one that is mandated by the United States Constitution. Ensuring that they can exercise their constitutional right to vote thus promotes the public interest.

This case is about the right of aspiring eligible voters to register and to have their votes counted. Nothing could be more fundamental to our democracy, Walker added.

Perhaps now the choice of Florida voters will be decided in the voting booth, where it should be, and not in the governors mansion.
Yes, you can transfer your domain to any registrar or hosting company once you have purchased it. Since domain transfers are a manual process, it can take up to 5 days to transfer the domain.

Domains purchased with payment plans are not eligible to transfer until all payments have been made. Please remember that our 30-day money back guarantee is void once a domain has been transferred.

For transfer instructions to GoDaddy, please click here.
Ailing India chief minister gives up powers

The ailing chief minister of India's southern Tamil Nadu state has handed over all her responsibilities to her deputy, the state governor has said.
APF Inspector killed in road accident

An APF Inspector Dhurba Thapa was killed when two motorcycles collided head-on in Baireni, Dhading along the Prithvi Highway on Wednesday.
APFs Inspector dies in motorcycle collision

An Armed Police Force (APF) Inspector died when two motorcycles collided at Baireni along the Prithivi Highway on Wednesday.
China to assist in modernisation of NAs military hardware

China has committed to provide necessary assistance for modernisation of Nepal Armys military hardware and for disaster management.
Indonesia passes chemical castration law for paedophiles

Indonesia's parliament has passed controversial laws authorising chemical castration, minimum sentences and execution for convicted paedophiles.
Inebriated man drowns in gutter

A drunken man was killed after falling into an open water-filled gutter last night in Birgunj.
Luintel presents Letter of Credence to Monaco Prince

Nepali Ambassador to France Ambika Devi Luintel, who is also a non-resident Ambassador of Nepal to Monaco, presented her Letter of Credence to Monaco's Prince Albert II at Monaco Palace on Monday.
Motorcyclist dies in Bhaktapur road accident

A motorcyclist died in a road accident at Lokanthali along the six-lane road in Bhatkapur district on Thursday morning.
Thailand's King Bhumibol Adulyadej dies at 88

Thailand's King Bhumibol Adulyadej, the world's longest-reigning monarch, has died after 70 years on the throne, the palace says.
US launches strikes on rebel-held Yemen

The US military has attacked radar sites in Yemen after a US warship in the Red Sea came under missile attack for the second time within days.
Workshop mechanic killed while test driving bike

A 26  year  old youth was killed in a motorbike accident at Mulghat of Dhankuta on Wednesday evening.
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Uganda still produces 83,000 new HIV/Aids infections annually, 227 new infections daily.

This is according to the new Unaids Country Director, Amakobe Sande.

Presenting her credentials to the Foreign Affairs Minister she has warned of a looming crisis unless Uganda controls the new HIV infections daily, especially among the youth.

Sande says government and other agencies involved in HIV/Aids control programme should work harder and reverse the new trend of infections among the youth.

She said failure to curb the scourge would negate the gains so far achieved.

She urged government to enforce the new science and evidence around managing HIV testing which suggests that anyone who tests positive should be put on treatment immediately instead of waiting for their CD4 count to drop.
Political analysts have warned Burundi of the likely negative consequences following its withdrawal from the International Criminal Court (ICC).

Yesterday, lawmakers voted to withdraw from the ICC, endorsing a decision taken by the cabinet last week to cut ties with the Hague-based court.

Speaking to KFM, Ambassador Harold Achema, a political scientist and consultant says Burundis withdrawal will not save the president because it will not stop prosecutors from investigating the alleged violence that has left hundreds killed and forced thousands to flee their country.

Ambassador Achema explains that this will only serve to implicate President Pierre Nkurunziza.

He says the process of leaving the Rome Statute is complicated, but it doesnt absolve any state from its legal or financial obligations to the Court.

Why should they withdraw if they are not guilty of something. It shows that president Nkurunziza made a false step by he insisting on the tinrd. Its not too late though, he should resign, says Amb Achema.

The vote comes six months after the courts prosecutor Fatou Bensouda said she would investigate violence that erupted in Burundi over the President Pierre Nkurunzizas third term bid in April last year.

Burundi becomes the fourth African country to make an attempt at withdrawing from the Hague-based court.

In September 2013, Kenya came close to the possibility of withdrawing from the ICC after its parliamentary vote supported the governments motion to pull out.

The country however remains a State Party to the Rome Statute. Several countries have also announced their intention to pull out of the Court. They include South Africa, whose decision was prompted by the failure to arrest Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir during an African Union summit in Johannesburg.

Uganda follows closely in the line of countries wielding the threat of ICC pullout after President Yoweri Museveni announced in December, 2014 his intention to mobilise African leaders to quit the ICC.

The process of withdrawal from the ICC is clearly laid out in Article 127 of the Rome Statute which states that;

A State Party may, by written notification addressed to the Secretary General of the United Nations, withdraw from this Statute. The withdrawal shall take effect one year after the date of receipt of the notification, unless the notification specifies a later date.

A State shall not be discharged, by reason of its withdrawal, from the obligations arising from this Statute while it was a Party to the Statute, including any financial obligations which may have accrued. Its withdrawal shall not affect any cooperation with the Court in connection with criminal investigations and proceedings in relation to which the withdrawing State had a duty to cooperate and which were commenced prior to the date on which the withdrawal became effective, nor shall it prejudice in any way the continued consideration of any matter which was already under consideration by the Court prior to the date on which the withdrawal became effective.

The Rome Statute Guide to withdrawing from the ICC also explains who can, how and when a withdrawal can be done emphasizing that only a state can withdraw from the court not parliament or a political party, write to the Secretary General of the United Nations.

Story By Samuel Ssebuliba
Four of the five Chinese companies involved in flawed road contracts have refunded the Sh 26 billion shillings meant for compensation of people affected by road works.

Abdul Katuntu the Chairperson of Parliaments committee on Statutory Authorities and State Enterprises has confirmed that

China Railway 18th Group, Zhongmei Engineering, China Railway No.5 Group and Chongqing International Construction Company made the payment last evening.

China Railways No. 3 Group is yet to pay back over Sh9 billion and has been given up to close of business today.

The committee early this week learnt that the money meant for compensation under several UNRA projects had been diverted by the contractors and ordered them to remit it together with their accumulated interests lest they face tough sanctions.


:    9         

         2013 .         9          .    .
Lawyers representing Sandra Nakungu, a cousin to the widow of deceased city businessman Eriya Bugembe Ssebunya also known as Kasiwukira, are set to appeal against yesterdays High Court verdict that saw her handed a 20-year jail term.

Nakungu and Ashraf Jaden, a police officer were yesterday convicted by High Court Judge Masalu Musene for conspiring to murder Kasiwukira, while Sarah Nabikolo the widow was acquitted.

Nabikolo was acquitted by High Court Judge Masalu Musene yesterday on grounds that she was not involved in the murder of her husband.

However, Nakungus lawyer Ladislus Rwakafuzi tells KFM that they are not satisfied with the judgment, arguing that his client did not have any motive to participate in Kasiwukiras murder.

Meanwhile, women rights activists have welcomed the acquittal of Sarah Nabikolo.

The Executive Director Uganda Womens Network Rita Aciro says they respect the judges decision and everyone should.

I want to trust our judge and if the court to acquitted her there must be justifiable reasons. Ofcourse our courts allow if someone is disatisfied to proceed with an appeal, Ms Aciro told KFM in a telephone interview on Wednesday.

Former ethics and integrity minister Hon.Miria Matembe has also welcomed the court ruling.

You know the case of murder must be proved beyond reasonable doubt so if the evidence adduced before the court does not prove that she took part in the murder then she had to be acquitted, Hon Matembe tells KFM.

Kasiwukira was hit by a car, which sped off after the incident on the morning of October 17, 2014 as he was jogging in the neighborhood of Muyenga, a Kampala suburb.

At the time, the police referred to it as an intentional run over, but two months later, the three main convicts, Nabikolo, Nakungu and Jaden were charged with murder.

Kasiwukira is remembered for his critical role in the development of the local music industry.

Story By Ruth Anderah
President Yoweri Museveni is today set to meet student of Makerere University who claims to have made tear gas from local materials.

23 year old Samuel Mugarura, a third year student of Bachelor of Sciences came to the limelight last month when he blasted what he called a homemade teargas canister in a demonstration to a group of journalists at an open field in Kajjansi, outside Kampala.

He says he is a self-taught teargas and smoke-bomb maker, having researched about the explosives for the last two years.

Mugarura who spoke to KFM a short while ago said he was already on his way to State House Entebbe for a meeting with the president.

He says he wants to make his project professional and sustainable so that it can take Uganda to the much desired Middle Income Status.

Mugaruras innovation however did not come without cost. He was disowned by his lecturers after police said they would arrest him.

He claimed in an earlier interview that each detonation round consumes materials was worth Shs 400, 000 and that he had spent Shs3.4m over the last two years to locally buy the ingredients.

Story By Damali Mukhaye
Kendallville, IN (46755)

Today

Cloudy with periods of light rain. High 61F. Winds SW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 70%..

Tonight

Showers early, then cloudy overnight. Low 48F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 60%.
ANGOLA  Ventra Angola, a parts manufacturer for the automotive industry, announced plans Thursday to expand its operations in northeast Indiana, making an $8.1 million investment and creating up to 88 new jobs by 2019.

Indiana businesses have added more than 156,000 new jobs since 2013, providing increased quality employment opportunities for Hoosiers across the state, said Gov. Mike Pence. Indiana offers a low-cost, low-tax business climate that supports growth, allowing job creators to invest in their business and their employees. The states manufacturing industry supports one in five Hoosier jobs, and we look forward to continued growth thanks to the commitment and determination of businesses like Ventra Angola.

The company, which is part of Urbana, Illinois-based Flex-N-Gate, will invest $8.1 million to increase manufacturing capacity at its 128,000-square-foot facility at 3000 Woodhull Drive in Angola. Ventra Angola will purchase new equipment, including roll mills, and reconfigure its operations in order to accommodate the growth. The company, which has been operating in Indiana since 1993, plans to increase its production of parts by 70 percent to support a new contract with General Motors.

Flex-N-Gate Corporation is the 10th-largest original equipment supplier in North America and the 38th-largest supplier in the world, according to Automotive News. The company employs more than 18,750 people at 55 manufacturing facilities and nine product development and engineering facilities throughout Canada, the United States, Mexico, Argentina, Brazil and Spain. In addition to its Angola facility, Flex-N-Gate also operates Indiana facilities in Covington and Veedersburg.

Angola Plan Director Vivian Likes said the city and Steuben County benefits from the Ventra investment.

Thats the first time in a long time weve had that kind of investment (in Angola), Likes said. Weve been working really very hard and its been a team effort with the state, mayor and I.

The key is retention. Theyre here, theyre growing, theyre spending dollars to train.

Bill Beistline, Flex-N-Gate vice president of procurement, said partnerships are the key.

Todays news wouldnt be possible if not for the commitment and talent of our workforce in Angola, a workforce that has been directly responsible for years of success and now an extremely promising future for our Ventra operation, Beistline said. We are also grateful to Mayor (Dick) Hickman and the Indiana Economic Development Corporation, because it takes a special kind of partnership to create jobs and make expansion plans of this magnitude a reality. Our company is proud to operate three plants in Indiana, all of them thriving, and there is no question the best days for our Ventra operation in Angola are just ahead.

Ventra Angola plans to start installing new equipment in the first quarter of 2017 and ramping up production in October 2017. The company, which currently employs 25 full-time Hoosiers at its Steuben County plant, will begin hiring for various positions this month. New positions are expected to offer average salaries 40 percent higher than the Steuben County average wage. Interested applicants may apply online.

Flex-N-Gates major product lines include complete bumper assemblies, mechanical assemblies, exterior plastic trim, aluminum and steel modular stamped body-in-white and chassis assemblies and complex welded structural assemblies for the light vehicle market.

The city of Angola is excited that Ventra Angola is expanding in our city. This is exactly the type of jobs and investment we have been working toward through economic development planning, said Angola Mayor Dick Hickman. Ventra Angolas $8.1 million dollar investment shows great faith in our community and the skills of our local workforce. These are quality jobs with the kinds of wages and benefits that will help draw more people to our community. We appreciate the hard work that the IEDC has put in to bring this expansion to Angola, and we are grateful that Ventra Angola is choosing to invest in our city.

The Indiana Economic Development Corporation offered Ventra Angola up to $650,000 in conditional tax credits and up to $25,000 in training grants based on the companys job creation plans. These incentives are performance-based, meaning until Hoosiers are hired, the company is not eligible to claim incentives.

The Angola Common Council will consider two additional 10-year tax abatements for Ventra at Mondays meeting. One will be for personal property and the other will be for real estate.

The former Meridian Automotive site located on Woodhull Drive near Wendell Jacob Avenue was acquired by Ventra in 2009 and returned to profitability by roll forming tubes, bars, and other products for Ford and GM. In partnership with the IEDC, Ventra invested $800,000 following the acquisition to keep the facility operating in order to retain jobs in Indiana.
Effigy mounds in Vernon County will be featured in a program at Lawton Memorial Library, La Farge, Tuesday, Oct. 25, at 6:30 p.m. Robert Ernie Boszhardt is an archaeologist who has worked in the Upper Mississippi Valley Area for nearly four decades. His work has touched upon nearly every aspect of Native American archaeology in the Driftless Area.

Boszhardt will offer a two-part program featuring ancient mounds and rock art. The first half is devoted to ongoing research on animal-shaped effigy mounds in the Bad Axe Valley, including the use of laser air photography (lidar), which has enabled relocation of some mounds that were first mapped in the 1880s and discoveries of many effigies that were never before known.

The second portion of the evening will cover regional rock art sites that are included in the new book Hidden Thunder: Rock Art of the Upper Midwest, that he co-authored with watercolor artist Geri Schrab. Boszhardt and Schrab teamed up to interpret the hidden history and heritage painted in American Indian rock art that is found in the Upper Midwest.

In addition to publicly accessible sites such as Wisconsins Roche-ACri State Park, the book covers petroglyphs and pictographs at several inaccessible sites in the Upper Midwest. The dual perspectives of science and art, through words, photographs, and watercolor renditions, present a unique telling and interpretation of the ancient stories. Copies of the book will be available for purchase.

The program is free and open to the public.
An article about unsafe levels of the known carcinogen chromium-6 in La Crosse and Onalaska drinking water was quite troubling to me (Oct. 7 Courier-Life).

Only California currently regulates this toxic chemical in its drinking water, the result of the heroic work of consumer advocate Erin Brockovich of movie fame.

The 2000 film "Erin Brockovich" showed one example after another of people developing cancer after exposure to this poisonous chemical in their drinking water. I would say our area citizens should demand something be done to minimize this threat to public health.

Mark Johnson, La Crosse water utility director, suggested that one possible remedy would be to add a chemical to react with the chromium so that it could be filtered out. He suggested that this would likely involve treatment facilities at all of the city's 13 wells.

What was left unsaid was whether anyone is actually calling for this to be done and at what cost to city taxpayers. This is one alarming investigative report that should not be ignored.

I would call upon Mayor Tim Kabat and the La Crosse City Council to look into this matter immediately and offer possible solutions to rid us of this potentially deadly threat to public health.

If you want to know just how dangerous chromium-6 can be, just watch or re-watch the movie about Brockovich's fight to rid Hinkley, Calif., of this menacing chemical. Let's do something about this. The safety of our water supply is nothing to trifle with.
The sounds of loud exhaust and car doors slamming woke Dave Gibbons in his residence above his business early Monday.

Surveillance cameras he installed after two break-ins last year caught an intruder inside the business office at Gibbons Auto Service, N7735 Amsterdam Prairie Road in the town of Holland.

Gibbons grabbed his gun, told his wife to call 911 and walked downstairs about 1:30 a.m.

A burglar disguised with a ski mask and hood was rummaging through desk drawers. Gibbons said he called out to remove the mask.

The intruder didnt respond and moved toward Gibbons, who backpedaled. Then, he fired once.

She said, Are you going to shoot me now? Gibbons recalled. And I told her, I think I just did.

The intruder  identified by authorities as serial burglar Amy Zielke and by Gibbons as a former customer  removed her mask as Gibbons called to his wife to bring a towel to stop the bleeding from her leg.

Zielke, 37, of Onalaska was treated for the gunshot wound at Gundersen Health Care and booked into the La Crosse County Jail, where she is being held without bond on a burglary charge. She makes her first appearance Tuesday in La Crosse County Circuit Court.

Prosecutors early this year charged Zielke with trying to break into Kratt Lumber on Nov. 24 and burglarizing a Holmen car wash of cash and electronics on Dec. 18 for drug money while on bond for burglary in Trempealeau County.

She was charged in another case with breaking into Fiesta Mexicana, 5200 Mormon Coulee Road, on April 12 and fleeing police while on bond.

La Crosse County Circuit Judge Elliott Levine on June 22 placed Zielke on concurrent terms of five years on probation and ordered her to complete drug court after she pleaded guilty to two burglary charges. She also was sentenced in March to four years on probation in Trempealeau County for burglary.
Between 1870 and 1890, millions of board feet of lumber were floated down the Black River to sawmills in Onalaska and La Crosse, playing a key role in the establishment of both cities. Because this occurred at the dawn of the photographic era, there are only scant still photographs of this event in existence.

However, logging and log driving using 19th century methods were still being practiced in 1929 on Maine's Machias River, when Alfred Ames captured an entire log drive on 16mm motion picture film. The Machias River is a reasonable facsimile in size and character to Wisconsin's Black River. The film captures the fast-paced motion, incredible skill, and tools used by the men in driving logs downriver to sawmills. Nothing else in existence captures what the late 19th century log drives on the Black River were like.

This 30-minute film, narrated in the words of photographer Ames, will be shown at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 18, at the monthly meeting of the Onalaska Historical Society at the Onalaska Public Library.
New artwork in the Evergreen Elementary School library media center is encouraging students to read, as well as adding more color to the space.

With the blessing of the schools administration, Evergreens LMC director Stacie Eskildsen commissioned Kevin Baird of Holmen to paint pictures of topics students can read about. The pictures of sports, animals, geography, arts and science are interspersed with the names of some of the more notable authors of youth literature.

Stacie thought there should be more color in the LMC, Baird said. Overall, the response has been positive. It gives Stacy the color she wants and stimulates the kids reading.

Baird credits his granddaughter, Josye Olson, with getting the commission for the project. As a fifth-grader at Evergreen last year, Olson recommended her grandfather to her art teacher, Jennifer Grass, as a speaker for the schools artist-in-residence program.

In accepting the invitation to be an artist-in-residence, Baird talked about his work to the schools art classes last spring. Eskildsen heard Bairds talk and she thought his talent could be used to brighten the schools LMC.

I asked Kevin to come down to the LMC to take a look and make some suggestions on how we could spruce up the space, Eskildsen said. We talked about including popular authors names and images of topics students enjoy reading. Kevin drew up some plans, which I loved, and we got them approved.

Eskildsen said the staff at Evergreen had talked about adding some color into the LMC for some time to make it more inviting to students.

I listened to him speak about all the different pieces of artwork he has done, in particular within the Holmen School District and Summit Elementary in La Crosse, Eskildsen said.

By trade, Baird teaches second grade at Summit Environmental School in La Crosse. As he was earning his degree in education, Baird also minored in art.

The project at Evergreen Elementary wasnt the most ambitious projects hes done for the School District of Holmen. When he was a maintenance employee for the district, he painted the Viking logo in the high school gymnasium and did other art projects.

Baird got started on the project at Evergreen this past summer, but he wasnt able to complete the project before the start of the new school year.

I started in July, he said. I got a lot further than I expected. Im 80 percent finished, but whats left is more detailed.

Baird has learned the overall response to his project has been positive.

We are very appreciative of the work Kevin has done for us, Eskildsen said. I absolutely love the artwork. It really does add a splash of color and interest in the LMC. Students have really enjoyed looking at the artwork and making comments about the different pictures. They are eager for him to finish the pencil drawings that are still on the pillars. Teachers have also commented on how nice the artwork looks and the added value it has for our school.

Because of his granddaughters interest in art, Baird invited her to help him with the project. Olson put the second coat on drawings where her grandfather had applied the initial coat.

Although the current project has yet to be finished, Baird is already drawing up designs for another project. He would like to paint pictures of the four seasons on the four sides of the skylight well in the LMC.

Once your mind starts spinning, it keeps spinning, Baird said.

As an educator, Baird hopes his artwork will support Evergreens mission of having its students engage in learning to read and reading to learn.
Sen. Tammy Baldwin has asked federal transportation officials for emergency funding to help repair western Wisconsin roads and bridges damaged in late summer floods.

In July the U.S. Department of Transportation released $4.15 million to fund repairs caused by flooding in northern Wisconsin. Baldwin is asking for similar aid for counties hit by torrential rains in August and September.

State and federal officials have so far identified about 80 projects that could be eligible for emergency funding, according to Baldwins office.

A series of storms Sept. 20-22 dumped 3 to 7 inches of rain on parts of the state, causing more than $21 million in damages in 12 counties.

The worst damage reported so far was in Vernon County, which incurred $5.2 million in damage to roads and bridges, in addition to 44 destroyed and hundreds of damaged homes and businesses. Two Vernon County residents died in flood-related incidents.

The town of Wheatland saw two bridges washed out and didnt get all its roads reopened until Monday.

Town chairman Bob Streeter said he doesnt know how the town will pay for the $432,000 in repairs, which is about the equivalent of the entire annual budget.

Were scared to death, he said.

Wheatland wont get help from the emergency transportation funds, which can only be used for state and county highways. The town could benefit from other federal disaster assistance.

Earlier this week, Gov. Scott Walker sent a letter to President Barack Obama requesting a federal disaster declaration after teams of officials surveyed the damage to roads, bridges and other public infrastructure.

Under the Public Assistance program, the federal government pays 75 percent of the cost to clean up and repair infrastructure, with the balance split between state and local government.

Walker said he is exploring other federal programs to help businesses and private citizens.
As of midweek, La Crosse County still hadnt heard from the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources about officials concerns about lack of water pollution enforcement  more than three months after requesting action through a county board-approved resolution.

But the county has heard from the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources: La Crosse County is on the receiving end of $20,000 to $30,000 enforcement bill.

The county didnt do anything wrong, other than having the misfortune of having two rare species of mussels living on the west side of Hintgen Island. The island, owned by La Crosse County but technically in Minnesotas Houston County, is home to the Harold E. Craig Fleeting Site, a facility that accounts for 23 percent of the barge mooring capacity in the port of La Crosse.

A major project to stabilize the western side of the island along Broken Arrow Slough got started this summer. If we dont beef it up on that back side  we eventually get a breakthrough and the island gets split in half, said Karl Green, UW Extension natural resource and economic development agent for La Crosse County.

As part of the $604,550 project, the contractor hired by the county had to perform an environmental review before proceeding. In August, the Minnesota DNR notified the county that the environmental review had turned up 113 live mussels representing 15 species, two of them designated as threatened by the state of Minnesota: the monkeyface mussel and the fawnsfoot mussel. Two species of special concern also were found: the black sandshell mussel and the round pigtoe mussel.

Obviously, were not thrilled about having to remove even marginal mussel habitat, Green said, but the fleeting site is a key part of having a smooth barge operation on the Mississippi River, with room to tie up 15 barges.

Green said the Minnesota DNR gave the county two choices: pay to move the mussels or pay a mitigation fee that would cover the cost of introducing the threatened species in a more friendly location.

Initial estimates to move the mussels came in at $60,000, Green said, so it made more sense to pay the mitigation fee, which is based on the amount of acreage involved. The Minnesota DNR has not given the county a final bill yet, but it is expected to be between $20,000 and $30,000.

At Wednesdays La Crosse County Board Executive Committee meeting, La Crosse County Administrator Steve OMalley noted that his proposed budget includes $25,000 for the mitigation fee. While the county has a Harbor Assistance grant from the Wisconsin Department of Transportation that is paying for 80 percent of the fleeting site project, the mitigation fee isnt eligible to be covered by the grant, so the county is on the hook.

OMalley got in a dig at Wisconsins DNR after explaining the entry in his budget: Minnesota apparently has a DNR that actually enforces things.
I suppose the critics who insist that I am a Democratic operative (wrong), or that Im a Hillary Clinton backer (wrong) or that I am not fair-and-balanced (fairly wrong) expect this column to attack Clintons rival for president over his lewd hot-mic moments on a bus (wrong).

Perhaps I have a lucrative contract as an Ice Breakers spokesman (that makes me smart) that bars me from even mentioning breath-mint competitors, such as the brand Hillarys opponent seems to favor.

Even though I feel shackled, you can bet your sweet bippy I wont violate a nondisclosure agreement just to scorch a snollygoster.

Besides, the greasy orange smudge that Hillarys gynophobic foe is face-planting on history is negligible in comparison with the real burning issue of the day.

Propelling the issue to the forefront of my mind was the realization that I work with what I call a basket of deplorables. The problem blindsided me one day as I was trying to con a new, young reporter as she completed her first day at the newspaper office.

Hey, Mandy (not her real name, because I dont want to violate a rookies privacy), I hollered as she left the office. Did Ryan (his real name, because he can fend for himself) tell you about the tradition that anybody who survives one day here treats everybody to bear claws on the second day?

Mandy looked at me blankly, her eyes reflecting a feeling of being ambushed, before stammering, Uh, I dont know what that is.

You dont know what a bear claw is? I demanded, as I groped to maintain calm at the same time I mentally tossed her into my basket of deplorables.

I hollered to Ryan: Howcum you didnt tell Mandy about the bear claw rule?

Ryans vacant stare confirmed that this 30-something didnt know what a bear claw is, either.

Its some kind of a pastry, isnt it? he said lamely.

Into the basket of deplorables I lobbed him, from downtown, for three quick points.

Reeling in disbelief, I turned to another young woman  one who has a stellar reputation throughout the building for her baking prowess.

Surely, Shirley, (not her real name, because I want to stay on her good side to get cake and cupcakes) you must know what a bear claw is, I said.

Its a doughnut, she said, with an air of confidence far beyond her years.

Hell, no, its not a doughnut, I screamed. A bear claw doesnt have a hole.

It doesnt have to, Shirley said surely. Its like a longjohn. (I presume she meant the pastry and not the long underwear.)

A long john isnt a doughnut, either, I countered, sending her into the basket with a long jumper.

My head was close to exploding, unable to cope with the idea that so many young folks never had heard of the favored bakery item of my youthful days.

Bear claws  so named because they look kinda-sorta like a bear claw  were and are to die for, oozing almond filling, slathered in icing and covered with almond slices.

Despite the facts that bear claws are rare and even more expensive these days than the quarter they cost when I was a lad, I found some, bought four and brought them to work to expose the despicable deplorables to the decadent delights.

I planned to give one each to Mandy, Ryan and Shirley, and wolf one down myself. Shirley passed because shes a vegan  concerned more about the ingredients than eating Smokey the Bear.

In an effort to expand my survey sample to enhance its statistical credibility, I called someone in food service, figuring she could fill in the pastry black hole.

I was stunned when Nire (still another pseudonym) didnt have a clue, so I took one to her workplace so she could shove a taste into her maw.

Alas, shes one of those glutton-free people  uh, I mean, gluten-free  so I told her to take the claw home to feed her kids so they could at least experience the culture she lacked.

Nires kids liked them, judging by the pictures she took of the historic moment and her chronicle of their praises  even though they were talking with their mouths full (not surprising with the other training gaps in the household).

About this time, my boss apparently thought I was ranting too much, so he gave me the biggest wedgie a pair of Duluth Trading Co. Buck Nakeds ever has endured as he frog-walked me to the pressroom for a private scolding.

Tighe, I just dont think bear claws were that big of a deal around here, like where you grew up. Will. You. Just. Drop. It?

Ah, I realized  must be one of those regional things. I grew up drinking pop in Nebraska, only to have a roommate from St. Louis in college who called it soda. Brownies were a dessert in the Cornhusker State, so I didnt know when I first moved to Minnesota that the Gopher Staters label of bars lumps brownies and all sorts of other goodies into the same tray as lemon bars. (Plus, Minnesotans call virtually every casserole a hot dish.)

I embarked on a research mission  i.e., I Googled bear claws  and discovered that they may have been invented in California in the 1920s.

(Wikipedia suggests that bear claws are like pastries and/or doughnuts, providing further evidence that Wikipedia is about as reliable as a dam made from screen doors.)

Almost all of the deplorable were teachable enough to climb out of the basket, except Nire. She got snarky and sniped that the bear claw I took to her had seven toes, while real bears have only five. I dug up a picture of a California claw from JoePastry.com that looked a little more legit  a point she conceded, reluctantly.

Ill never consult Nire on a food issue again because  despite her lifelong involvement in the culinary industry  she appears to have eclair filling for brains.

Why, she didnt even know what they call Chinese food in China.

Everybody knows that, dont you?
Workforce development was the focus Thursday at the 60th La Crosse Area Development Corp. Economic Forum.

Local and regional experts spoke about the issue at the gathering in the Radisson Hotel Ballroom, sharing the stories of the Upper Mississippi Manufacturing Alliance, the 7 Rivers Alliances workforce development planning effort, and efforts in Michigan to help people in poverty build successful careers.

The forums were started to help address issues facing the La Crosse economy, LADCO executive director Jim Hill said, and employers have been struggling to find talented workers to fill job openings.

With this forum, we are continuing a dialog on the high strategic need of workforce development, he said. There is not a silver bullet for this problem. It will take a number of approaches.

Kurt Baer, chairman of TUMMAs board of directors, spoke about the organizations promotion of careers in manufacturing by partnering with K-12 and technical schools such as Western Technical College. With 16.4 percent employment in manufacturing, Wisconsin is the second-largest manufacturing state after Indiana, he said, and each manufacturing job creates the need for several other jobs in the economy.

We need to have manufacturing for a viable community, he said, for people to make this their home.

Michael Richards, the president of the 7 Rivers Alliance board, and the organizations CEO, Lisa Herr, spoke about the alliance development of a 10-year workforce development plan by 2017. There are 246,000 job openings in the alliances 14-county area, and, as the workforce continues to age, the need for skilled workers will increase.

The WISE plan, through funding from the Wisconsin Economic Development Corp. and the Federal Economic Development Administration, will address three areas: the current need and pipeline for skilled workers, resources and gaps for workforce development, and public policy proposals to help local communities address their workforce development needs.

There will also be three work groups, Herr said, focusing on affordable housing, regional transportation and access to childcare, which she said were all critical issues in the region. Meetings will start in November, and consultants will be brought in to share their expertise on the issues.

It is going to take all of us working together to solve this, she said.

The third presentation came from Michael Finney, the CEO of Community Ventures Resources, a consulting group looking to expand the Community Ventures program started in Michigan in 2012. The state funded the program with $10 million to help support and place 1,000 at-risk residents in full-time jobs in four poverty-stricken communities.

The program worked with people who were on public assistance, have a criminal record, are disabled or are veterans, all of whom have struggled with getting and keeping good-paying, full-time work. The program provided up to two years of support to individuals and assisted with things such as childcare or transportation.

During the last four years, Finney said, the program helped 5,000 people find full-time work with a 67 percent retention rate and average wages of $12.54 per hour. Using a forensic audit, the program was found to have paid back the states investment in 20 months.

Finney said he hopes to expand the program in the state, helping 10,000 residents by 2020. He gave a presentation on the program at the annual Governors Conference on Economic Development earlier this year in Madison, and several attendees stayed to talk about the program and the possibility of bringing something similar to La Crosse.

Were willing to share this knowledge with anybody, Finney said. Were helping people without a chance. I think this program is really incredible.
When I was canvassing for Democratic candidates not long ago, one gentleman on whose door I knocked said, Im a Republican: free markets! I admired his succinctness, because free markets are indeed what Republican leadership is all about. It is the bedrock article of the Republican Party. But how do free markets really work, unhindered by government interference?

In the recent Associated Press article by Tom Murphy Insider Q&A: The drug pricing battle, Dr. Steve Miller spoke for a business organization that handles insurers and employers covering about 85 million people (Oct. 2 Tribune). He answered a question about which medications may have soaring prices. Consider how devastating Alzheimers is he said, anyone who comes to the market with a treatment would have unlimited pricing power. How much would you be willing to pay for your spouse who is suffering with Alzheimers? Anything.

Legalized extortion? No wonder, compared to other industrialized nations, Americans get so little for their health-care buck, we obligingly let the market take such advantage of us. Meanwhile, Trumps claim that paying no taxes makes him smart should make us smart (as in sting). We have to cover for him and all the other 1-percenters who pay little or nothing. Its a way of life many Republicans are dedicated to protecting: free markets, paid for by you and me. Ive said before, a working person who supports the Republicans is like a slave who supports the Confederacy.

Don Foy,

La Farge
After a 36-year military career highlighted by a historic first, Marcia Anderson has returned full-time to the Madison area intent on relaying the lessons she learned to the next generation of young women.

Id like to do some public speaking about leadership, especially to young people, focusing on young women, said Anderson, who capped her military career with two years in the Pentagon as deputy chief of the Army Reserve.

The military and the legal professions are still pretty male-dominated, Anderson, 58, said in an interview Thursday. Id like to tell them about handling themselves effectively in an organization, while at the same time making a contribution.

From 2010 to 2012, she was deputy commanding general for the Army human resources command at Fort Knox, Kentucky, followed by her stint as the Pentagons No. 2 Army Reserve officer.

Across the board she was just so remarkably gifted and poised, said William D. Razz Waff, a retired reserve major general who worked alongside her in both assignments. When she walked in the room, folks paid attention.

At the Pentagon, she was often called upon to represent the reserve in meetings with the secretary and the chief of staff of the Army, and she served on a policy board that advised the secretary of defense.

Anderson needed to overcome the bias of regular army officers who dont accept reserve and national guard personnel as their equals, Waff said.

She was masterful at overcoming that, he said. Folks would often say say Well, you are just a reservist; what do you know about the topic? And then she would start talking, and when she was finished she had pretty well silenced the person who had asked the question.

After her two-year active-duty stint at the Pentagon ended in 2014, Anderson moved from her Alexandria, Virginia, apartment back to her home in Verona, where she lives with her husband, Amos Anderson, a retired Madison school district administrator.

She retired from the military in April but has continued to work in her job as clerk of courts for U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Western District of Wisconsin in Madison.

At noon on Friday she is scheduled to be honored in the federal courthouse at a ceremony hosted by Maj. Gen. Patrick J. Reinert, commanding general of the 88th Regional Support command at Fort McCoy.

Andersons father, Rudy Mahan, a retired Beloit Corp. sandblaster, served in the Army Air Force during the Korean War but narrow options available to black soldiers kept him driving trucks despite his desire to fly bombers, she said.

She said she learned a crucial lesson as a girl in the 1960s watching her mother and grandmother being ignored in a car dealership. They insisted on seeing the manager, then showed him a bank financing letter, and were able to buy a car.

That showed me the importance of being prepared and strategic, and just putting people in a position where they have to pay attention to you, Anderson said.

She graduated from Creighton University and Rutgers University School of Law. In 1998, she was hired by the federal court in Madison.

Anderson was in the public eye in Wisconsin after former Gov. Jim Doyle appointed her to the board that hired the secretary of the state Department of Veterans Affairs.

The board fired the secretary, John Scocos, and some veterans groups criticized her, saying she wasnt qualified.

After Gov. Scott Walker took office in 2011, the boards hiring and firing power was removed, Scocos was rehired, and the state paid him $325,000 to settle lawsuits he had filed.

Anderson said she wants to be a force for positive change, but wont run for office because election rhetoric has so little to do with policy.

She said she appreciated the militarys reliance on objective criteria in personnel decisions.

There are certain qualifications and requirements needed to even be considered for promotion to the next level, so you know what you have to do, Anderson said. In other fields its sometimes a mystery.

Anderson said she worries that good people are driven away by what they see as unfair behavior in organizations. She urges young people to get involved and make change by building relationships with others, working hard and thinking strategically.

Its not necessary to take your shoe off and pound the table, she said. Talk to other people before the meeting. The worse thing you can do in a meeting is jump in and not have anyone there to back you up.
Michael Uncle Mike R. Marten, 64 of Tomah passed away Monday, Oct. 10, 2016, at his home.

He was born Aug. 4, 1952, to Verlyn Bert H. and Mary J. (Roh) Marten at Tomah Memorial Hospital. He was baptized Jan. 27, 1964, and confirmed June 6, 1969, into the Christian faith. Mike was a member of the Tomah High School graduating class of 1971.

Mike has been an owner/operator for Martens Floor Covering for most his life. When he wasnt working, Mike could almost always be found casting out a line. Fishing was his favorite pastime; he especially enjoyed spring trout fishing in the Kickapoo and traveling to Canada and Northern Wisconsin. He loved putting on fish fries and morel cookouts, playing cards and the Monday night, monthly poker games. He was a loving son, brother, uncle and friend, who will forever be remembered for his great love of fishing, his carefree and laid back demeanor and his love for his family and friends.

He is survived by his mother, Mary of Tomah; a sister, Sheryl Killen of River Rock, Texas; two brothers, Curtis and Todd (Patricia) both of Tomah; nephew and godson, Adam (Erica) Marten of Stoughton, Wis., nephew, Alex (fiancee, Courtney) of Tomah; niece, Amanda (special friend, Jeff) Marten of Fitchburg; a special aunt and godmother, Lois Christiano. He is further survived by many cousins, other relatives and many close friends.

He was preceded in death by his grandma and grandpa Marten; his father, Bert; a brother, David; a brother-in-law, Larry Killen.

A memorial service will be held 11 a.m. Friday, Oct. 14, at St. Paul Ev. Lutheran Church, 525 Superior Ave., Tomah. Pastor Curt S. Backhaus will officiate. Burial will be at a later date. Relatives and friends are invited for a time of visitation from 4 p.m. until 8 p.m. Thursday, at the Sonnenburg Family Funeral Home, 801 E. Monowau St., and from 10 a.m. until the time of the service Friday at the church.

Online condolences can be given at www.sonnenburgfamilyfh.com. Memorials may be given to St. Paul Tuition Assistance Program in Mikes memory.
Clean water was the topic of discussion at a Tomah Middle School assembly Tuesday.

To share the message about the need for clean water in Africa were Jenny Parker of Remembering Jesse Parker charity and Mike Thompson, news anchor for WKBT-TV in La Crosse.

The presentation goes along with the middle schools project for the year  fundraising to assist with the construction of a well in Uganda.

TMS Principal Steve Buss said the project will kick off with the presentation of the the middle school musical The Lion King Junior.

The idea of combining awareness of the need for clean water and the musical came from director Lisa McCormick, Buss said.

She has not only a fantastic idea of having that for our musical but also to make it bigger  not just the musical, but to make our awareness of clean water bigger because of an earlier project that was done with the same musical, he said.

Clean water, Buss told the students, is not an issue in Tomah and the United States, but it is in other parts of the world.

(Water) is something that you guys could pick up anywhere you want to  whether its at Walmart or somewhere else or at home. In the hallways we can take our water bottles and refill them very easily and enjoy clean water every day, he said. In many parts of the world, such as Africa, thats not the case.

Water is the key to life.

Water is really what drives everything  the basic piece of life is you have to have, is water, he said.

Parker is thrilled with the schools decision to help build a well.

I think its inspiring; I think most important is to get the kids aware of global issues and get them connected with kids in Uganda, she said. Just the thought that they are connecting and seeing those needs and wanting to be part of it I find completely inspiring.

Parker and Thompson got involved with clean water awareness and the building of wells in memory of Parkers eldest son, Jesse, who died in a 2009 traffic crash. His dream was to build clean water wells in Africa, so to commemorate his memory, his friends, family and classmates began the Jesse Parker Run to raise money to build a well.

Since then multiple wells have been drilled due to the Remembering Jesse Parker charity, area organizations and individuals.

The lack of clean water, Parker said, is something that can be fixed.

It just requires effort, she said.

Thompson said the middle schools efforts are commendable.

I think it can be hard to get through to middle school kids sometimes, but if you can let them realize that they are making a difference and there is that connection between them and a community thousands of miles away, I think that they can find that connection, he said. Theyre going to be raising money and funds for the communities over in Uganda to help them. So I think that thats another way they can find that connection.

The goal, Thompson said, is obtainable.

Its costs about $10,000 to build a well  so its not cheap, but its definitely obtainable for a community to come together and fund something like that, he said.

Buss said the project will go on for about a year, but the bigger picture is not to build a well but to teach the students and the community about the needs of others.

Any funds that we raise through small fundraisers ... is fantastic, but the bigger piece is in Tomah we have things very, very good  we do have many individuals who have their own concerns, but we dont have the same concerns as they have in Africa  clean water, he said. So raising awareness that its not this way everywhere in the world ... is just a great (thing) to do so.
Donald Trumps crude prescription for hitting on women became an issue during a legislative health forum in La Crosse Monday, with the three candidates for the 32nd District State Senate seat sparring over the Republican presidential nominees lewd comments.

I would never display a lawn sign supporting a man who brags about sexual assault, Senate Minority Leader Jennifer Shilling said during the forum at Viterbo University, adding that her Republican opponent, Republican Dan Kapanke, proudly displays one in his yard.

There is no place in our society to elevate somebody who brags about sexual assault, said Shilling, a La Crosse Democrat.

Shilling was referring to a videotape that surfaced Friday in which Trump described, in lurid detail, how he kisses women at will, that he tried desperately to seduce TV hostess Nancy ODell when she was married, and that women would let him grab them by their genitalia because of his star status.

The leaked tape created a political firestorm during the weekend, and many Republicans denounced Trump, some withdrew their support for him and a few insisted that he withdraw as the GOP nominee.

Trump issued an apology in a 90-second videotaped statement posted on Facebook around midnight Friday in which he pivoted quickly to dismiss the incident as a distraction from serious issues.

In a hint at one of the tacks he would take during a town hall-style debate Sunday night between him and Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, Trump then said in his mea culpa, Ive said some foolish things, but theres a big difference between the words and actions of other people. (Former President) Bill Clinton has actually abused women and Hillary has bullied, attacked, shamed and intimidated his victims.

On Saturday, the Trump campaign issued a statement with wife Melanias name attached saying her husbands comments were unacceptable and offensive but said they dont reflect the man she knows. She expressed hope people would accept his apology.

In reaction to Shillings comments Monday, Kapanke said he was appalled at Trumps ribald remarks but reminded the audience of about 100 people, including several Viterbo nursing students, that the video was from 11 years ago.

I would not say what he said, and I would not do what he said, Kapanke said. I would get down on my knees and ask for forgiveness. I can forgive because others have forgiven me.

Noting that Trumps observations were words on tape, Kapanke said, We have a former president who actually did things.

Chip DeNure, independent candidate for the Senate seat, condemned Trumps remarks but said, Donald Trump is Gods own angel compared to Bill Clinton.

Hillary Clinton defended her husband amid allegations of sexual assault and harassment of women, DeNure pointed out.

During an interview after the forum, Shilling also criticized Trumps behavior during the debate at Washington University in St. Louis.

Throughout the 90-minute town hall, Trump rarely stood at his podium, instead pacing about the stage and grimacing  sometimes planting himself directly behind the former secretary of state  in what appeared tantamount to bullying and one network debate commentator described as an angry man stomping around. Several times, he leveled accusations at her, pointed a scolding finger at her and insisting that she should be ashamed.

Although Clinton returned some of the acrimony, she remained low-key and measured in her responses to Trump.

Donald Trumps body language  he seemed to be lurking around, hovering over Secretary Clinton  says a lot, Shilling said.

Women pick up on those nonverbal actions and see them as threatening and demeaning, she said.

Also Monday, Shilling issued a statement saying, in part, Despite our political differences, Democrats and Republicans should be united in our opposition to sexual assault and gender inequality. Instead, we continue to see Republican politicians turn a blind eye to Donald Trumps dangerous and offensive comments condoning sexual assault, workplace harassment and the objectification of women.

Trumps behavior has demonstrated that he is unfit to serve as president of the United States, Shillings statement said. I call on my Senate Republican colleagues and candidates to immediately denounce Trumps inexcusable actions and rescind their support for his candidacy.

The 32nd District includes the towns of Angelo, Adrian, Tomah, Leon, Wells, Ridgeville, Wilton, Portland, Jefferson, Sheldon and Wellington and villages of Norwalk, Wilton, Melvina and Cashton in Monroe County. The general election is Tuesday, Nov. 8.
I am paying for private schools with my taxes? the woman from Pepin asked following my presentation at a recent town hall meeting.

Yes, you are, I told her.

Residents were surprised at the sharp increase in state spending on private schools  nearly a doubling in seven years. At the same time, the Pepin School District lost nearly half of its state support. With less state money, property taxes made up a larger share of school support.

Wisconsin has funded private schools in Milwaukee by taking money from local public schools for a long time.

With passage of the last state budget, private and independent charter schools in southeast Wisconsin cost state tax coffers $645 million.

As I explained at the town hall meeting, this is only the beginning of putting a price tag on private school spending buried in the state budget. Much of the cost of private school students borne by public schools is not transparent.

For example, public schools must pay to transport private school students. One Pepin resident asked why her neighbor was paid by the state to take her child to a private school. The cost, borne by the Pepin School District, was less expensive than sending a school bus to transport the child.

Public school districts pick up other private school costs. The cost of special education services come out of the local public school budgets for some private school students.

Over the past few years, payments for private schools directly from local public school districts rose as the statewide voucher or private school subsidies grew.

The most recent state budget removed limits on how many students from a school district can go to a private school at the expense of the public school district  and local taxpayers.

Consequently, some districts  like Eau Claire  experienced a quadrupling of students leaving public school and going to private school on the taxpayers dime.

State law sets the amount of money coming from a public school district at about $7,800 for high school students and about $7,200 for elementary students. Some public school districts may receive much less aid per public student from the state. For example, the Eau Claire school district received about $5,100 per student in state aid but paid out about $7,800 per private high school student leaving local property taxpayers to pick up the difference between those amounts.

Wisconsin property taxpayers already pick up 41 cents of every school dollar spent compared to Minnesota property taxpayers 25 cents of every school dollar. These numbers are from a recent United States Census Bureau report using data from the 2014 school year.

Costs of private school subsidies will continue to grow even if more students do not opt for a private school education at the publics expense. Buried in details of the most recent state budget is an automatic increase in the amount sent to private schools for each student regardless of whether or not the public school receives any increase in state support.

One of the Pepin town hall attendees reminded me that I made no mention of the tax credit for private school tuition also passed in a recent budget. The nonpartisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau pegs the cost of this credit at $11.5 million in tax year 2014.

Recent news from Madison described another new scheme for private schools  a type of tax-free private school savings account. Rep. Dale Kooyenga, R-Brookfield, described the proposal as an account that could be used to pay for private school tuition and other costs. Parents either could use a debit card to access the money or be reimbursed for their expenses.

Wisconsin does not need any more plans to siphon public school money away from local schools. In a recent press release, statewide education leader and Eau Claire school teacher, Ron Martin said it best: Education savings accounts literally take money out of our neighborhood public schools and hand it over to subsidize private tuition, with zero accountability.

Democrat Kathleen Vinehout, Alma, represents the 31st state Senate District.
Motorists traveling through the city of Westby on Saturday, Oct. 8 were intrigued when they passed a horse, a ship, and a train of tractors traveling down Main Street at 9 a.m. Most werent expecting a parade, but when youre traveling through Westby anything can happen, even a Leif Erikson Day celebration.

In the lead though was Vernon County Sheriffs Department mounted patrolman Jay Vosseteig on his horse Leon. Next in line was Leif Erikson (portrayed this year by Larry Homstad) arrived aboard a Viking ship that sailed down Main Street as Erikson and his crew headed for Central Express for a hearty Viking breakfast. The ship was followed by 20-plus tractors all heading for a ride down Co. P and Lovaas Ridge, courtesy of the Westby Music parents. The tractor riding was heading out the same time as the Viking ship so they joined in the parade fun. Westby Police Chief David Jefson brought up the tail end of the parade line-up.

Before breakfast, Westby Mayor Dan Helgerson welcomed Erikson to the city and proclaimed Oct. 8, 2016, Westbys Leif Erikson Day in honor of the man who actually discovered America, long before Christopher Columbus.

Eriksons discovery marked the beginning of a meaningful relationship between Norway and the United States. Erikson (aka Homstad) said he was pleased to be selected for the honor in 2016.

President Calvin Coolidge, along with Westby native Ludvig Hektoen started a movement to celebrate Leif Erikson Day nationally. Westby is a strong Scandinavian community and it is great to share that heritage, Eklov (aka Erikson) said wearing his fur vest/boots and toting an ax and shield.

Food, fellowship and kubb highlighted the special day, from several special menu items at Central Express, rommergot served at the Westby VFW and lefse polse served by the city ball field where an eight-team kubb tournament was being held.

Kubb, a Viking chess game, was a hit with visitors and families attending the festivities, with people traveling from across the state to participate in the fast growing sport.

Owen Christianson also returned to Westby this year for a speaking engagement educating people on Norwegian history, along with a variety of booths set up at the VFW for visitors to enjoy.

The committee was pleased with the turnout and are already making plans for 2017. The committee is hoping for more volunteers next year, but are grateful beyond words to everyone who helped with this years festival, including a group of Luther College students who cant wait to return to Westby next October.
Continued from last week

The Rev. Saugstads wife, Randine, died April 28, 1877. This left Rev. Saugstad with seven children to raise on his own while he tended to all the congregations under his care. We pick up his story in Holmes City, Douglas County, Minn., a year after Randines death.

After his first wifes death, Christian married Marie Gunhild Myhr on May 1, 1878, in Trysil. Marie, the daughter of Ole Myhr and Julia Engebrigtson, was born on May 18, 1858, in Stordolen, Norway. This marriage added six children to the family: Geraldine Randina, Gunner Osmund, Tollef Peder, Alf Gotfried, Camilla and Randolph.

In 1880, Christian moved his family to Sand Hill Church in Neby, Polk County, Minn. They lived on a farm that belonged to the congregation. Christian was assigned to pastor the northern part of the valley, having churches at Neby, Satterdalen, Crookston, Seons Church, Trinity Church, Grand Forks, Turtle River and Park River. Eventually this proved too great a burden for one pastor and the area was divided.

The family moved to Crookston in 1886, where Christian was in charge of the Norwegian Lutheran Church and three other congregations. During this time, he was vice president of the North Dakota Conference (18861890) and president of the Free Church (18931894). He also made time to author the book Augsburgs Historie in 1893.

Christian had read an article describing a valley in Bella Coola, British Columbia, Canada, that had been surveyed for future settlement. He was unhappy with prairie farming and especially the divide over church doctrine. After traveling to see the valley first hand, he and his friend, Jim Hill, returned and encouraged fellow Norwegians to join him and settle there. The group traveled across the Canadian prairies and Rocky Mountains, then by chartered steamship along the coast of British Columbia, and finally up the 120-mile-long Burke Channel to Bella Coola. On Oct. 31, 1894, they arrived in Bella Coola. Those who decided to settle had to give evidence of good moral character and working ability.

Again, as pioneers they began clearing the land for farming and roads for their wagons. In addition, they needed to build their homes and a church. By 1896 there were 158 people living in Bella Coola. They built a salmon cannery, dairies, and a much needed sawmill. Today, descendants of these hardy pioneers continue to live in the valley.

In a letter from his granddaughter, Idella Bangen Morken, When they moved to Bella Coola Valley in British Co.Canadamy father, mother (Martha) & us seven children went also, but we came back to the states after grandfather passed away. We had a brother born after we returnedin all 6 girls & 2 boys. Grandfathers grave was the 2nd one there. It was a beautiful country, but not a very large piece of land. My mother was the only one of Randines children who went out there. I was 5 years old when we left here. We were there only 2 years. I know we lived on a great deal of fish and beans. The men went out fishing for the big fish companies of course. The climate was wonderful but the only way to get in or out of there was by boats or stay put. My mother was so home sick for Red River Valley after grandfather died and my Dad would rather farm where there was land for farming so we came back.

Christian died on March 18, 1897, at the age of 58 years 9 months 5 days. Marie died on Oct. 20, 1937. They are interred at Augsburg Cemetery in Bella Coola. The mountain that rises 10,000 feet from the base of the colony has been named Mount Saugstad in his memory.

Anyone with more information on the Saugstad family or photos, please contact us. Call Westby Area Historical Society at 608-634-4478 to leave a message or send an email to westbywihistory@gmail.com
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17 (2) Aug 16 (2) Aug 15 (5) Aug 14 (3) Aug 13 (5) Aug 12 (10) Aug 11 (5) Aug 10 (4) Aug 09 (5) Aug 08 (3) Aug 07 (4) Aug 06 (6) Aug 05 (5) Aug 04 (5) Aug 03 (3) Aug 02 (5) Aug 01 (7) Jul 31 (5) Jul 30 (4) Jul 29 (4) Jul 28 (3) Jul 27 (3) Jul 26 (5) Jul 25 (4) Jul 24 (5) Jul 23 (5) Jul 22 (7) Jul 21 (5) Jul 20 (4) Jul 19 (5) Jul 18 (6) Jul 17 (5) Jul 16 (5) Jul 15 (6) Jul 14 (4) Jul 13 (3) Jul 12 (2) Jul 11 (2) Jul 10 (2) Jul 09 (2) Jul 08 (2) Jul 07 (3) Jul 06 (2) Jul 05 (2) Jul 04 (4) Jul 03 (3) Jul 02 (2) Jul 01 (8) Jun 30 (6) Jun 29 (4) Jun 28 (6) Jun 27 (6) Jun 26 (6) Jun 25 (6) Jun 24 (6) Jun 23 (4) Jun 22 (4) Jun 21 (5) Jun 20 (4) Jun 19 (5) Jun 18 (8) Jun 17 (6) Jun 16 (5) Jun 15 (5) Jun 14 (5) Jun 13 (4) Jun 12 (4) Jun 11 (6) Jun 10 (4) Jun 09 (3) Jun 08 (5) Jun 07 (4) Jun 06 (3) Jun 05 (3) Jun 04 (3) Jun 03 (3) Jun 02 (3) Jun 01 (4) May 31 (2) May 30 (2) May 29 (2) May 28 (2) May 27 (4) May 26 (4) May 25 (3) May 24 (2) May 23 (2) May 22 (3) May 21 (5) May 20 (4) May 19 (2) 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(2) Nov 17 (2) Nov 16 (5) Nov 15 (5) Nov 14 (4) Nov 13 (2) Nov 12 (2) Nov 11 (2) Nov 10 (2) Nov 09 (2) Nov 08 (2) Nov 07 (3) Nov 06 (6) Nov 05 (4) Nov 04 (5) Nov 03 (5) Nov 02 (3) Nov 01 (5) Oct 31 (7) Oct 30 (5) Oct 29 (4) Oct 28 (3) Oct 27 (2) Oct 26 (4) Oct 25 (4) Oct 24 (4) Oct 23 (4) Oct 22 (3) Oct 21 (2) Oct 20 (3) Oct 19 (2) Oct 18 (2) Oct 17 (3) Oct 16 (5) Oct 15 (4) Oct 14 (2) Oct 13 (2) Oct 12 (4) Oct 11 (5) Oct 10 (4) Oct 09 (3) Oct 08 (3) Oct 07 (3) Oct 06 (2) Oct 05 (5) Oct 04 (5) Oct 03 (4) Oct 02 (4) Oct 01 (5) Sep 30 (2) Sep 29 (2) Sep 28 (3) Sep 27 (6) Sep 26 (2) Sep 25 (3) Sep 24 (3) Sep 23 (2) Sep 22 (2) Sep 21 (2) Sep 20 (2) Sep 19 (3) Sep 18 (3) Sep 17 (3) Sep 16 (2) Sep 15 (4) Sep 14 (3) Sep 13 (5) Sep 12 (4) Sep 11 (6) Sep 10 (2) Sep 09 (5) Sep 08 (5) Sep 07 (5) Sep 06 (4) Sep 05 (4) Sep 04 (3) Sep 03 (2) Sep 02 (3) Sep 01 (3) Aug 31 (2) Aug 30 (2) Aug 29 (3) Aug 28 (6) Aug 27 (3) Aug 26 (2) Aug 25 (2) Aug 24 (3) Aug 23 (2) Aug 22 (3) Aug 21 (5) Aug 20 (4) Aug 19 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(1)


Member states of the United Nations have elected Portugals former prime minister Antonio Guterres, the organizations next secretary-general.

Assembly president Peter Thompson introduced the resolution. It was accepted by all 193 U.N. member states.

With the approval, diplomats broke into applause.

The U.N. Security Council nominated Guterres by acclamation last week after six unofficial votes.

He was elected from among 13 candidates. Seven women and six men campaigned for the secretary-general position.

His election disappointed many who had campaigned for the first woman or the first Eastern European to lead the U.N.

Guterres spoke to VOA during the campaign. He said he was seeking to lead the U.N. because he wanted to create the conditions for solutions to global challenges.

Gutterres served as prime minister of Portugal from 1995 to 2002.

More recently, he led the U.N. refugee agency from 2005 until the end of 2015.

U.N. members widely praised the nomination.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban ki-Moon of South Korea called Guterres a superb choice. Ban has led the U.N. since 2006. His term ends December 31.

Russias U.N. Ambassador, Vitaly Churkin also praised Guterres. Churkin said, Hes a high level politician. Hes been prime minister of his country. He is a person who talks to everybody, listens to everybody, speaks his mind, very outgoing, I think, open person.

Guterres will be the ninth person to hold the position in the organizations 71-year history.

As chief of the U.N., the secretary-general oversees about 44,000 employees and more than 100,000 peacekeepers. The position involves dealing with issues like human rights, refugees and climate change, as well as fund-raising for the U.N.s many campaigns.

Im Mario Ritter.

Joshua Fatzick reported this story for VOA News. Mario Ritter adapted it for VOA Learning English with additional material from AP, AFP and Reuters. Ashley Thompson was the editor.

What do you think of the choice of Antonio Guterres as the next secretary-general of the United Nations? Let us know in the comment section.

_________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

applause  n. a show of approval or appreciation at a play, speech, sporting event, etc., in which people strike their hands together over and over

acclamation  n. a vote on something by cheers or clapping

disappointment  n. the state or feeling of being made unhappy by something or someone

superb  adj. extremely good : excellent or brilliant in a very noticeable way

outgoing  adj. used to describe someone who is friendly and likes being with and talking to other people

challenges  n. difficulties, problems to be overcome

fund-raising  n. activity done to collect money for a political party, charity, school, etc.
Last week we told you about Googles new phone, the Pixel. This week we talk about the companys other new products. Google has expanded its focus from services, such as Maps, Gmail and Chrome, to devices that include them.

Google's announcements of new products include a smart speaker, Wi-Fi router, video streaming device and virtual reality viewer.

A new voice assistant, Google Assistant, will be included in many of these devices to obey spoken commands, translate phrases and perform tasks.

Google Home

Google announced a smart speaker called Google Home that uses Google Assistant to respond to users commands.

Home also works as a speaker to play music from Google Music, YouTube, Spotify, Pandora and TuneIn. You can set your favorite music service so that you do not have to tell Home each time which one to use.

Google Assistant can help users figure out which song they want to hear, so you can ask for "the Sia song from Zootopia" instead of saying the title.

This video shows how Home works:

Home has a feature called My Day that can give you a preview of your day ahead. Google Assistant can describe the expected weather where you are. It can provide traffic reports. It can tell you about your calendar appointments and upcoming travel plans.

You can use Home to send notes and reminders to your Pixel phone and send videos to your TV using Chromecast.

Home can also help users control their smart homes with voice commands to the Nest thermostat, smart lights and other smart home devices.

Home has bases in different colors, in metal and fabric.

Google Wifi

Google is launching a new router, Google Wifi, that helps users connect to Wi-Fi throughout the house. Multiple units link to each other to bring a Wi-Fi signal to dead spots in remote rooms.

The Google Wifi app works with the router and can be used to control Internet connections for the device. Users of the app can see who is connected to the Internet and turn connections off.

A YouTube video shows Google Wifi in action.

Google Wifi is available for preorder in November with shipping in December.

Chromecast Ultra

Chromecast, Google's video streaming device, has been upgraded to Chromecast Ultra. This new unit has 1.8 times faster playback than the older models and can stream videos in 4K, Ultra HD, and HDR.

Chromecast Ultra is shown in this video:

Chromecast Ultra will go on sale next month.

Daydream View

Daydream View is is Google's new virtual reality viewer (VR) that works with the Pixel phone to show VR videos and games. The device is covered in cloth and holds a phone. You wear the device on your head and see the VR display on the phone through the viewer.

Google said it worked with clothing designers to make the headset comfortable to wear. Three colors are available: snow, slate and crimson.

A Google video introduces Daydream View:

Included with Daydream View is a remote control for scrolling through menus or playing games. The remote connects wirelessly to the headset and senses your movements so you can interact with what is being shown on the screen. The headset includes a space to store the remote.

Users can play games and watch Hulu, VR YouTube videos, VR videos from Google Maps Streetview, New York Time VR videos, Google Photos, Google Play movies and, in the future, Netflix and HBO videos.

Google says that Daydream View is compatible with 50 apps with hundreds more due to launch by the end of 2016.

Daydream View is designed to work with Pixel phones and other future Android partner phones that have not yet been named by Google.

Daydream View will be available in November.

Im Dorothy Gundy. And Im Bryan Lynn.

Carolyn Nicander Mohr wrote this report for VOA Learning English. Caty Weaver was the editor.

Are you interested in these Google products? Would you like try Google Assistant?

Share your thoughts in the Comments Section below or on our Facebook page.

_____________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

focus  n. a main purpose or interest

translate  v. to change words from one language into another language

calendar  n. a document, chart, etc., that shows the days, weeks, and months of a year

virtual reality  n. an artificial world of images and sounds created by a computer that is affected by the actions of a person who is experiencing it

comfortable  adj. not causing any physically unpleasant feelings

scroll  v. to move text or images of a Web page, document, etc., up, down, or to the side on a computer screen

interact  v. to act together
Two professors at American universities have won the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences. They were honored for their work on business agreements that affect billions of people worldwide: contracts.

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has decided to award the Sveriges Richsbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel for 2016 to Oliver Hart and Bengt Holmstrom for their contributions to contract theory.

Goran Hansson, the Secretary General of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences announced the prize Monday.

Oliver Hart is a professor at Harvard University. Bengt Holmstrom is at the nearby Massachusetts Institute of Technology, or M.I.T.

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said the prize was awarded for work on the theory of contracts. These agreements affect almost every part of modern life.

Contracts are everywhere

Insurance, loans, buying agreements, employment, property rights, political constitutions and marriage are all kinds of contracts.

Hart and Holmstrom developed a theory for understanding how contracts work. Their research has been used to design contracts. It relates to contracts in private markets and in public policy.

Contracts are agreements between a principal and an agent. One example of this relationship is the one between an employer and an employee.

The leader of a company and its shareholders also have a contractual agreement.

Hart and Holmstroms work raised questions about tying the pay of high-level officials to a companys current profits. They found that performance-based pay might not be the best policy in some cases. Doing so, may give a business leader an incentive to make decisions that increase profits for a short period of time. Those same decisions may harm the company over the long term.

The two also studied insurance contracts. They argued that people may become careless if insurance companies fully replaced things that are damaged in an accident, such as cars. So, insurance companies often have contract holders pay a deductible toward repair. Insurers also limit what they are willing pay for or replace in many cases.

Holmstrom worked with others to describe how contracts meant to improve one kind of performance can hurt overall job performance. For example, if teacher pay is tied to student test scores then many other parts of a teachers job could be negatively affected.

Hart and Holmstrom worked together to show that contracts cannot describe every part of a job. Contracts are in some ways always incomplete.

The two said contracts cannot predict every need and requirement in the future. Holmstrom researched the subject for many years. He advised that contracts should make clear what needs to be done to deal with future disagreements between parties rather than center on specific requirements.

The new Nobel prize winners also examined whether some jobs are better done by government or private industry.

In 1997, Hart worked with others in a study that showed the incentive to reduce costs is usually stronger among private contractors. The research called into question the policy of some privately run public services, like prisons.

The Nobel committee praised Hart and Holmstrom for providing the tools to think about and design better contracts in many different fields.

Oliver Hart was born in London. He spent much of his professional life at American universities. Co-winner Bengt Holmstrom was born in Helsinki, Finland. He also spent most of his career in the United States.

The two have been friends for years. The Nobel Prize committees twitter account Tweeted Harts reaction:



The two will share the economics prize worth $924,000. It is the only Nobel prize not established by Alfred Nobel. Swedens central bank established the prize in his honor.

The Nobel prize for literature will be announced Thursday.

Im Mario Ritter.

Richard Green reported this story for VOA News. Mario Ritter adapted it for Learning English. Caty Weaver was the editor.

_____________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

principal  n. a person or group who has responsibility as a guarantor of something such as payment

contribution  n. something that is done to cause something to happen

agent  n. someone acting on behalf of someone else

incentive  n. a reason to do something

deductible  n. an amount of a claim not paid by an insurance company

negatively  adv. badly; poorly

specific  adj. special or particular
Kuala Lumpur (12thOctober 2016)  In conjunction with the global PUMA launch of the DO YOU Campaign, PUMA South East Asia announces the regional line up of representatives of the brand. This campaign aims to inspire confidence and identity in women, and to bolster the essence of the global campaign to young women on a more personal level.The PUMA Ambassador is one who is dauntless in the face of adversities and unapologetic for being who they are. These are attributes and characteristics exemplified by influential women who stay true to themselves, make their own rules, and never take no for an answer, like Rihanna and Cara Delevingne, whom are all PUMA Female Ambassadors.PUMA South East Asia has put together six women  Siti Saleha and Vanessa Tevi from Malaysia, Kelly Tandiono and Rani Ramadhany from Indonesia, and Dawn Yeoh and Sheila Sim from Singapore  who will be part of PUMAs Official Female Ambassadors.Representing Malaysia, Siti Saleha is a model, actress, host and speaker who has a long list of award achievements under her belt. She has an even longer list of works ranging from movies to television dramas, commercials to theater, spokesperson to ambassador, charity and volunteer events to being an emcee or host, and has even graced magazine covers.Being a new PUMA Female Ambassador, Siti hopes to reach out to more people to be confident and to not be afraid of self-expression. She also aims to share the importance of leading a healthy lifestyle to feel good and comfortable with your own self while embracing ones own femininity. To DO YOU means to understand who you truly are, because everything starts from within. It is important to embrace all of you; the good and the bad. You need to understand it and use that as a motivation to strive for a better tomorrow, but always remember to DO YOU first as everything starts with you! said Siti about the essence of the global campaign.Former Miss Universe Malaysia 2015, Vanessa Tevi, is another perfect embodiment of what DO YOU advocates for. Vanessa was crowned Miss Universe Malaysia in 2015 and went on to represent Malaysia at the Miss Universe pageant in Las Vegas.There is no doubt about Vanessas fearlessness as her aptitude to never take no for an answer. Vanessa has bungee jumped, skydived, white water rafted, and has conquered various mountains around the region. She draws an immense sense of satisfaction from reaching the peak and develops an unbreakable self-confidence through testing her personal limits. Believe in your goals, hold on to them with your head high and never let anything or anyone deter you from scoring what you believeyou can achieve. Know yourself and know that there shouldn't be anyone else's skin that you are able to stand most comfortable in BUT yourself she says in her message to fellow women out there.There is a growing focus on the Womens category, spanning across fashion, lifestyle, running and training. In this new era of fitness-leisure, we hope that women will not just follow trends and be part of the athleisure bandwagon, but instead, we want to inspire women to embrace the lifestyle so that they can look good and feel good with PUMA from the gym to the streets. In the form of this campaign, we will be able to motivate young women in SEA to embrace fitness as part of their lifestyle and to simply be comfortable in their own skin, and that will pave the way to a stronger and more beautiful you, says Gabriel Yap, Head of Marketing PUMA South East Asia.The regional campaign kicks off this October.
For the whole of India, Irrfan Khan's role in the upcoming film Inferno has created unprecedented excitement.

The actor, who was last seen as the voice of 'Baloo The Bear' in the dubbed version of The Jungle Book, is one of the reasons why the film will be releasing a week prior in India (on 14 October 2016) than its US release date.

Tom Hanks will be reprising his role as Robert Langdon for the third time in Dan Brown's Inferno. The audience are expected to experience the same faced-paced thriller that the previous two films are known for.

The plot of Inferno is as follows: Set in Florence, Italy, Langdon wakes up in a hospital room implanted with a device that gives him visions of Dante's 'Inferno'. The film adaptation of Brown's sixth novel also has Felicity Jones star alongside Hanks, and Irrfan Khan plays a pivotal character simply known as 'The Provost'.

The actor talked to Firstpost about his role in the film, working with Tom Hanks, how he feels about Trump and the presidential debate in an one-on-one interview. Excerpts:

On Inferno and working with Ron Howard:

The actor tells us how it was filming in Florence, Venice, Istanbul and Budapest:

"Working on the film was outstanding. (Ron) Howard is one of those directors that has a lot of input for the actors. He actually collaborates with them. Also the kind of speed he carries with him is amazing. He shot the film in less than two months. It was a rollercoaster ride, an energetic ride, something I was glad to be on. This film is going to be a roller coaster ride for the audience and it was a rollercoaster ride for us  the cast and crew. And even though I was working with everyone for the first time, it was a very warm environment"

How he feels about Tom Hanks

Khan was all praise for the actor:

"Tom Hanks is a special man, a very warm man. Ive never seen that much warmth in an actor. The way he carries his lines, the way he treats his surroundings, the way he respects his profession, the way he is excited about being an actor it is very inspiring."

On Dan Brown and the book:

The actor has always been a fan of Dan Brown. He elaborates:

"I have always been a fan of his novels and I had loved reading The Da Vinci Code. I did of course read the book to prepare for the character. It's a compulsory thing for me. The book gives me a lot of inputs and gives me a lot of material."

On playing a character with shades of grey:

He talks about playing Harry Simms, 'The Provost':

"The job that my character does in the film is very unique. That was something that was very difficult for me to research, so other than reading the book, I tried getting different points from different sources."

On Hollywood incorporating Indian talent

Khan elaborated the changing world of cinema:

"Hollywood has understood the possibility of the market here. This is not for the first time, but they have always been incorporative of talent from other countries. Different countries they have always been open, of incorporating talent from say China, Japan, Korea or even Mexico and Spain. Now that they realise the possibility of the market here, they have been more open. This also helps them keep their storytelling fresh and engaging."

On Oscars:

Does he think now that visibility of India has increased in the World cinema scene, there is a more possibility of Indians winning the Oscars?

"Well no, I think there's always been a possibility. It depends on the director and the scirpt. It could have happened in 1920 and it could happen next year. Its the talent that matters."

Does the actor entertain Oscar dreams? Khan, who is one of the most well-known Indian actors in the world, says:

"I dont think or dream for an Oscar. It's more about my work. As an actor I am here to tell a story, a story that can be remembered."

On the changing facets of Bollywood:

The actor feels Bollywood has undergone quite a transformation.

"Definitely, times are changing in Bollywood. There are a section of films which are reflecting life, which are trying to deal with and certain issues in society; trying to engage in important dialouges. Like Shoojit Sircars Pink. I think the film finally says what needs to be said: 'no means no.' I really thought the way it was done was very beautiful. So yes, Bollywood is incorporating subtle but important changes."

His future plans:

Khan reveals he has no qualms about returning to the small screen.

"Well you know you never know about the future. I'm not interested in thinking what's going to happen in the future, I just do my job. I take it as it comes. We will see. I take on the role after I see the story. What is exciting to me in the story, my character, what are the things my character will like to explore."

About the US Presidential elections:

Khan spent some time in the USA when the first presidential debate aired. He said:

"I really feel Hillary Clinton killed it in the first debate. But this course of the presidential elections is like a circus. It's a drama for the whole world to watch, and everyone is watching it. USA is a powerful country, yet this circus is happening."
Zurich: Global power equipment and automation major ABB is keen on funding startups in India and may even look at buying out companies that fits in its product offerings in the country, global CEO Ulrich Spiesshofer has said.

"It is exciting times in India now with startups focussing on software, artificial intelligence and the fields that we are interested in," he told a visiting team of Indian reporters in Zurich last week.

The company's venture capital investment subsidiary ABB Technology Ventures, set up in 2009, has invested $150 million in technology and energy companies world wide, according to information on its website. Spiesshofer said the fund is keen on becoming active in India again.

On possible mergers and acquisitions, Spiesshofer said the company is consistently looking at attractive opportunities to deploy its capital. "India is one such area," he said, adding "There are tremendous software capabilities in India not only in the engineering side but also on application software. So we are active out there."

As far as investment climate in the country is concerned he said the company is not nervous about it.

"Some of the segments are very nicely prospering and going in the right direction but there are others that are subdued. But we have been in India for long and are not getting nervous about it," he said.

He believes ABB is ideally positioned to work with prime minister Narendra Modi's Make in India programme to improve the India's competitiveness.

"India has always been a very successful pillar of our power grid business. We have fully localised out offerings in India in this segment. We are not only catering to India, we are also exporting to South Asia. So India is more and more becoming a very important export hub in this area," he said.

The company has been operating in India for a century now and has presence in power and automation technologies.

According to the company, about 50 percent of solar power generated in India passes through its equipment and about 70 percent of oil production in the country is monitored and controlled by solutions provided by it.

Also about 30 percent of Rajdhanis and Shatabdis are run on ABB traction transformers.

The company is also executing a multi-terminal UHVDC transmission link between North-East and Agra with 8,000 MW converter capacity. The 1,728 km link, which it claims is the first of its kind in the world, will transmit hydel power from the northeast region to Agra.

(The author was in Zurich at the invitation of ABB)
As things were getting clearer in recent times that the US-based taxi-hailing aggregator Uber would go for a major expansion drive to capture the Indian market, the home-grown arch rival Ola also didn't lag behind.

The Bengaluru-headquartered may soon start a fresh round of fund-raising exercise, and could raise around $500 million from its existing investor SoftBank, a Times of India report said. Besides the Japanese company, Ola may also hold discussions with other investors for its possible fund-raising exercise.

Both Ola's co-founder and CEO Bhavish Aggarwal and SoftBank refrained from commenting on the likely fund raising talks, the ToI report added.

Ola also recently held talks with automobile major General Motors for a likely fund raising, but to no avail, the ToI report said.

Compared to a $69 billion valuation commanded by Uber, Ola's valuation currently stands at just $5 billion when it last raised $500 million from Singapore's sovereign wealth fund GIC, Didi Chuxing and Scottish investment fund Baillie Gifford.

The decision to raise funds by Ola comes at a time when the US rival is flush with capital following its exit from China where it sold its business to its competitor Didi Chuxing.

In China, Uber couldn't stand up to the growing onslaught from the deep-pocketed Didi, prompting the former to eventually merge its business in the Dragon nation. With Uber exiting China, the company has got enough room now to focus on India.

A recent Bloomberg report quoting a Uber official said, "India will be crucial in terms of both demonstrating success in large international markets and long-term growth potential".

Backed by venture capitalist, Ola has a war-chest of $1.2 billion, while Uber will divert a big portion of $10 billion it raised from Didi into the Indian market.

However, Ola recently said it has over 70 percent market share of the country's taxi app market with an average of 1 million rides per day.

Uber, too, claims that it has been fast expanding in India having presence in 28 cities and handled 5.5 million rides per week in August, the Bloomberg report added.

It is indeed interesting times ahead in the Indian taxi-hailing market.
Ahmedabad: Gujarat Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI) has urged its members as well as the general public to boycott Chinese products, saying the neighbouring country is working "against our national interest".

In a circular issued to its around 200 members, the industry lobby said using products manufactured by Chinese companies goes against our national interest. "The GCCI will also pass a resolution to boycott Chinese products during its upcoming executive committee meeting on October 22. We have asked our member industrialists and businessmen to do the same. The decision comes as actions of China are against the our national interest," GCCI Senior Vice-President Shailesh Patwari said here.

Patwari said China has already invested as well as pledged to invest hundreds of crores in Gujarat, which is adversely affecting the local industry, especially in electronics and textile sectors. "China is also dumping ceramics, plastics, and fireworks, which should not be encouraged," he said.

GCCI called for boycott of Chinese products, saying that China is "siding with Pakistan against us, whether it is about harbouring terrorist Masood Azhar, or using its veto to stall our bid for the Nuclear Suppliers Group membership. China has been acting against our national interest by constructing dam over the Brahamaputra and repeatedly trying to harm us from across the borders. We therefore appeal to you to boycott Chinese products such as ceramic products, tiles, clothes, chemical and pharma products, electronic items, mobiles, lighting products, crackers," Patwari said.

He said the call has received support from Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani, and the chamber will also approach national industry bodies with an appeal to adopt similar resolutions. "We are also writing to the Prime Minister seeking his support on the issue," he said.
Shotpitch, a discover and pitching mobile platform for startups and investors around the world, has pulled down the shutters. In a blog, founder Prashant Sharma only mentions the obvious  that the startup has shut down and offers no reasons for the same.

"From trending on Product Hunt to having startups and investors from 90+ different countries to being couple of weeks away from money in the bank for our angel round(everything was done!), it was a dream come true kind of affair," he says in the post.

Interestingly, answering the question why shutdown, Sharma says, "Trust me when we say this but it was for a reason that was beyond our control and shutting down seemed the best way to get out of it. Niether do we want to get into the details of what transpired, neither does it matter for our close circles."

The words are trite and sounds too familiar because many who shut shop have these standard lines.

It definitely had many reasons to stay alive, though. In an article on LinkedIn, Sharma has listed out the reasons for the startups birth: to help entrepreneurs find the right investor, end the tyranny of being in fundraising mode for a long time, etc. And these are indeed valid still.

Shotpitch was trying to carve a path for itself with helping both investors and startups on a tap  the former could discover curated startups and the latter could pitch their to investors.

Sharma insists in the blog that the company did not shut down for the usual reasons of failing to raise money or the product not having a market fit, stagnating growth or a tussle between him and his co-founder, Nagesh Bansal.

He, for sure, makes the right noises all through except address the main issue - why did it shut down?

Had he been a bit more forthright on the reasons for shutting the operations, it could have been indeed helpful for many others who are on the brink of starting up. Especially so, at a time when the Indian startups are going through a rough patch after the recent funding boom.

Nonetheless, all the best for your next venture Prashant. Let the spirit of entrepreneurship live on.
Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), the country's largest software exporter, on Thursday reported a 4.3 percent on quarter growth in net profit to Rs 6,586 crore boosted by an improvement in margins but said uncertainties in environment had resulted in holdbacks in discretionary spend by customers.

The company's revenue stood at Rs 29,284 crore, almost the same as the previous quarter.

A CNBC-TV18 poll of analysts had estimated the technology major's net profit to fall 0.9 percent to Rs 6,260 crore.

In the year-ago period, the company had posted a net profit of about Rs 6,073 crore and a revenue of Rs 27,165 crore.

Despite the higher-than-estimated net profit, the company's dollar revenue disappointed with just a marginal 0.3 percent increase to $4,374 million. In constant currency terms, revenue rose just 1 percent.

The CNBC-TV18 poll had estimated a 1.8 percent rise in dollar revenue to $4,440 million. In rupee terms, it was seen up 1.5 percent at Rs 29,738 crore on quarter. Constant currency terms, the analysts had expected a 2.5 percent increase in revenue.

However, the company's operating margins came in at a healthy 26 percent as against the expectation of 25.3 percent. In the quarter ago, the margin stood at 25.1 percent and in the year-ago at 27.1 percent.

CEO and MD N Chandrasekaran termed the quarter an unusual Q2. (Traditionally, July-September is a strong quarter for software companies.)

"Growing uncertainties in the environment is creating caution among customers and resulted in holdbacks in discretionary spending this quarter. In addition, volatility in markets like India and Latin America also muted revenue growth, he said in a press release.

He said the quarter was "good" from a profitability perspective "where despite multiple headwinds, our disciplined approach and focus on operations have helped us deliver a strong margin performance".

"With technology increasingly at the forefront of business, we are confident that this is temporary... Over 180,000 TCSers are now trained with significant expertise in new digital technologies," he said.

During the second quarter, growth was led by life sciences and healthcare, which grew 4.7 percent sequentially in constant currency, followed by energy and utilities (up 3.6 percent).

Europe saw strong growth at 3.7 percent and Asia-Pacific at 3.5 percent sequentially in constant currency while North America grew 1.4 percent sequentially and the UK was flat.

India declined by 7.6 percent sequentially while Latin America also continued to show volatility, TCS said.

The company's attrition rate declined to 12.9 percent from 13.6 percent a quarter ago and 16.2 percent a year ago. It added 22,665 employees on a gross basis and 9,440 net employees, taking its total headcount to 3.71 lakh as of 30 September 2016.

During the quarter, shares of TCS had witnessed a 4.8 percent decline on the BSE while the BSE IT index fell 8.7 percent and the Sensex rose 3.2 percent. The stock today declined 2.2 percent from the previous close to Rs 2,328.50.

Data inputs from Kishor Kadam

With PTI
By Sharanya Dutta

There are simply not enough women on the boards of companies. The CS Gender 3000: The Reward for Change, a new report by Credit Suisse that came out in September 2016, mapped 27,000 senior managers at about 3,000 large companies globally.

According to the reports findings in India, the percentage of women on boards has increased by merely one percentage point from 2014-2015, and the management diversity has actually dropped from 7.8 percent to 7.2 percent from 2014 to 2016. Reportage on this, however, in articles such as this one, or this one, are celebrating the fact that it has doubled (5.5 percent to 11.2 percent) in the last six years, which is a strangely optimistic way to present this data.

In September, Veerappa Moily, former Corporate Affairs minister, said to the Hindustan Times, There is [a] shortage of professional women directors qualified for the job. But is this really the case? He also said, The Ministry of Corporate Affairs should take positive measures, including preparing a list of qualified women professionals who could be appointed on board[s].

The thing is, these lists do exist.

FICCI Ladies Organisation (FLO) has a list of about 150 women since they began compiling it in 2014-2015, but the idea isnt to place them: the onus lies with the women to promote themselves fairly aggressively. FLO conducts several sessions and workshops, some of which are to train women who are already on boards.

Biz Divas Foundation, which helps promote gender inclusivity in the recruitment process of organisations, has a Women on Boards network. It is a directory of qualified women either already on boards or aspiring to be on them, all with over 20 years of work experience at top levels, who want to be part of board rooms.

Biz Divas has been compiling this pool for five months now, and it currently has about 150 women on this growing list, which they intend to circulate among companies in the near future. Only around 10 percent of the women on this list are on boards already.

The 2013 Companies Act by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) mandated that all listed companies have at least one woman director on their Board of Directors by 31 March 2015. So why is it that even after nearly two years and a deadline extension of six months and the threat of a hefty fine  of Rs 1,42,000 for non-compliance after the deadline of 1 October 2015, and a daily fine of Rs 5,000 per day of non-compliance thereafter  the number of companies without a woman director is still at 61?

We know that there are unfair assumptions about women in senior positions of management (take the myth of the catty woman), but new data based on studies conducted on companies in the US disprove some of these. For instance, there is the assumption that even if women do get on boards, they will bare claws and get territorial as hell. A mid-year report by 2020 Women on Boards, also in the US, demolished the myth of Queen Bee syndrome and found that companies with women in leadership positions like CEOs or Board Chairs were likely to include more women. A Credit Suisse report published in September 2014 found that companies with women on their boards showed better financial performance.

Ranjana Deopa, Co-Founder at Altavis & Biz Divas Foundation, says that recruitment of women to corporations in India lacks a proper structure  Women are recruited by word of mouth, they dont even have headhunters. Their own list is compiled through women they meet at Biz Divas events and their networks. From these, the women who are already on boards mentor the others in various programmes that they coordinate.

In a survey of around 200 women, Biz Divas came out with a Women on Boards Refresher Report 2016, in which 90 percent said they aspired to be on boards. Many of these women said they would rather serve on boards of not-for-profit organisations or start-ups before entering the corporate world, and the report suggests this might be because traditional industries are more difficult to enter because of dated norms and stereotypes.

Deopa says that many companies she has spoken to have not wanted to add more women to their boards after they met the one-woman mandate. Several companies have taken to appointing family members to fill the requirement of having at least one woman on a board. Ranjana Agarwal, who was the president of FLO in 2010 and is on six boards (only one of which has another woman), believes that this is acceptable, as long as they are trained afterwards. She says, It is a progressive move, because now they consider women in the family as legitimate candidates.

Gagan Singh, the only woman on the boards of Timex and Future Retail, says, If the woman is qualified, like Nita Ambani, for instance, it is a legitimate appointment. The important question to consider is, Do they have a voice? Appointing a woman just for compliance is utterly unproductive.

The problem, Agarwal says, is that while women are competent, they dont network like men do, and remain invisible. So even if you put them on a list, unless promoters meet and interact with them, theyll never be considered for boards, she explains.

The Biz Divas report also identifies the problem of talent sourcing, and offers solutions such as sponsorship by existing board members, creating separate lists of qualified women by neutral bodies, quota allocation, methods to retain women employees, and special training on developing networking skills. While these are pertinent methods for building a larger pool of visible women for the task, the question is why, when there are obviously women who are qualified for these positions at the moment, they must jump through the impossible hoops to get on a board, while men dont.

We can dispel all the myths about incompetent women in an environment where youre damned if you do and damned if you dont, and wave list after list of competent candidates in companies' faces. And if they're still refusing to hire more women (or even the one woman that is mandatory) on boards, theyre fast running out of excuses.

(The Ladies Finger (TLF) is a leading online womens magazine delivering fresh and witty perspectives on politics, culture, health, sex, work and everything in between.)
By Asad Hashim

| ISLAMABAD

ISLAMABAD The Pakistani government on Thursday defended its decision to place a travel ban on a prominent journalist over an article he wrote about an alleged rift between the the country's powerful military and its government.Interior Minister Nisar Ali Khan told reporters that Cyril Almeida would not be allowed to leave the country until the completion of a government committee's inquiry into the story, which authorities have repeatedly denied.The committee would decide if anyone was to be prosecuted in relation to the story.Almeida, a leading columnist and assistant editor at one of Pakistan's most respected English-language dailies, filed a story on Oct 6. that gave an account of a tense, high-level security meeting between civilian and government officials.Quoting anonymous sources, the story said civilian government officials called for the military not to interfere if law enforcement authorities tried to arrest members of anti-India militant groups such as Jaish-e-Mohammed and Lashkar-e-Taiba.The government has issued three denials of the story, and on Thursday Khan reiterated them. Almeida's newspaper Dawn stands by the story, saying it was verified with multiple sources.

The government placed a travel ban on Almeida late on Monday under the Exit from Pakistan (Control) Ordinance 1981. Khan said the step was taken to prevent Almeida from leaving the country while the inquiry was ongoing.Calling the committee "informal", Khan said it was gathering evidence and would complete this task in about four days."If this committee feels that there is enough evidence to prosecute, then a formal (law enforcement) committee will be made."

Khan said Almeida's name could be removed from the Exit Control List once the inquiry committee had presented unspecified "evidence" to him to respond to."We do not want to pressure him - if he says he does not want to share his source, then should we extract it from him with a stick? No," said Khan."But we want to share some evidence with him, whether he owns or disowns it."

Khan said the travel ban was placed on Almeida because he was due to fly to Dubai on Oct. 11, suggesting that he was fleeing the country.Almeida told Reuters his travel plans to Dubai had been made a month in advance, and were for a family vacation.Pakistan ranks 147th of 179 countries on Reporters Without Borders' World Press Freedom Index. At least 59 journalists have been killed in targeted attacks since 1992, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists. (Writing by Asad Hashim; Editing by Mike Collett-White)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
An article titled 'India has nothing to fear from closer relationship between China and Bangladesh' published in Chinese newspaper Global Times on Wednesday said that India need not feel "jealous" about close relations between China and Bangladesh in the wake of President Xi Jinping's impending Dhaka visit.

"Xi's upcoming visit to Bangladesh is likely to raise bilateral relations to new heights and result in a large amount of investment and loans to improve local infrastructure in the South Asian country," the article said.

"India need not be jealous of an increasingly close relationship between Beijing and Dhaka, because the improvement of local infrastructure and the overall economic ecology in Bangladesh will create favourable external conditions for connecting with markets in India, China and Southeast Asia," said the article.

The article, however, stated that it would not necessarily be a bad thing if an increasingly close relationship between China and Bangladesh puts "some pressure on New Delhi" to rethink its strategy in this region and encourages it to put more effort into improving relations with China during the upcoming meeting between Xi and Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the Brics Summit in Goa.

Clearly, Bangladesh has become an important of the international diplomatic policies of both India and China.

Xi is scheduled to visit Dhaka later this week during which he was expected to announce some big ticket Chinese investments in Bangladesh.

According to reports from Dhaka, investments could amount to $40 billion.

"There have been misconceptions in India that China may feel unhappy if South Asian countries such as Bangladesh forge close ties with India and that China feels the need to build closer ties with Bangladesh," the article said.

Xi's visit is seen by some in India as a "trip to snatch the South Asian country from the embrace of New Delhi. The groundbreaking visit to Bangladesh is likely to help consolidate bilateral ties and boost economic cooperation between the two countries," it said.

The article said there is a popular view that China is trying to carve out for itself a pre-eminent role in South Asian affairs and that it intends to contain India's rise by seeking closer cooperation with countries like Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Myanmar.

"In this regard, some people believe China's One Belt and One Road initiative has been used as a political tool to achieve Beijing's goals," the article said.

"But such views are too simplistic. Some Indian people may mistakenly flatter themselves when they think China's Belt and Road initiative is aimed at balancing India's influence," it said.

Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina had also recently described China as a "trusted partner" and had said that Xi's visit this week would elevate the bilateral ties to newer heights as the country seeks enhanced cooperation in trade and investment.

On the other hand, India's ties with Bangladesh have only improved till now. After the historic Land Boundary Agreement was signed in June 2015, India's ties with Bangladesh further improved.

Moreover, Bangladesh is keen to have India as a "stakeholder" in the proposed $4 billion Ganges barrage project and a team from India's water resources ministry will soon visit Dhaka to hold talks in this regard, a senior minister has said.

State Minister for Water Resources Nazrul Islam said two Chinese firms were keen to wholly finance the project and even Japan was willing to fund at least USD 2 billion.

"But because the Ganges flows into Bangladesh from India, we take a long term view of the project and our prime minister is keen to get India into it," he told bdnews24 online. He said a team from India's water resources ministry will soon visit Dhaka to hold discussions on the barrage project.

"The issue was raised during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Dhaka last year. He showed much interest and Indian officials later asked for the project details which we have provided," Islam said.

According to this article in The Diplomat, China, Japan and India are all competing to build Dhaka's first deep sea port. "Too many powerful players are pushing for too many contending plans. This has left Bangladesh geopolitically stalemated, making and breaking deals, going with one project and then changing position and going with another. Ultimately, this plethora of options has pitted China, Japan, and India in direct competition with each other to build Bangladeshs first deep sea port," said the article.

Perhaps this could explain some of the focus India and China have on Bangladesh.

With inputs from PTI
Chennai: The expert team of All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), along with a UK-based specialist, who had earlier examined Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa, on Thursday visited Apollo Hospital again.

Hospital sources said international specialist and consultant from Guy's and St Thomas' Hospital, London, Dr Richard Beale, and the AIIMS team, comprising Dr G Khilnani, Professor of Department of Pulmonology Medicine, Dr Anjan Trikha, Professor of Anaesthesiology and Critical Care, and Dr Nitish Nayak, Professor of Department of Cardiology, visited the hospital in the afternoon.

The expert panel, during its earlier visit to the hospital on 6 October, had drawn up a detailed medical management plan to treat the 68-year-old AIADMK supremo. During its last visit, the team had held detailed deliberations on the treatment protocol provided to Jayalalithaa.

On 9 and 10 October, Khilnani had visited the hospital and examined the chief minister. An earlier press release from the hospital had said, he had discussions with the hospital's expert panel and had "concurred with the present line of treatment" being given to the chief minister.

Jayalalithaa continues to be under treatment and "is being constantly monitored by the intensivists and other consultants

in the expert panel", it had said. Necessary respiratory support, antibiotics, nutrition, supportive therapy and passive physiotherapy were being given to her, it had added.

Jayalalithaa was admitted to the hospital on 22 September after she complained of fever and dehydration.
Another university campus, touted to be a bastion of "liberal education" that lets its students "think critically about issues from multiple perspective", is making news for reportedly stifling free speech.

According to a report in The Indian Express, Ashoka University in Sonepat has allegedly prompted resignation of two of its staff members, who had signed on a petition asking for plebiscite and demilitarization in Kashmir. Following the massive protests that raked the Valley ever since Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani was killed by the Indian Army, 88 members of the university signed a petition addressed to the state and central government, pleading demilitarization of the state.

A report in a Kashmiri newspaper, the Kashmir Reader  which incidentally has also been banned by the state government raking up a fresh debate around press freedom  quotes from the open letter written by students and staff of the varsity. "Kashmir is the worlds most densely militarized colony with over 700000 military, paramilitary and militarized police. We demand that Army is withdrawn from civilian areas in the Valley and not to use the Army for maintaining regular law and order. We also appeal to the Indian State to confine the job of the army to just the borders," the letter reads.

The petition further adds, "We believe that the self-determination right of the Kashmiris is an inalienable right. We demand the Indian state to retreat from Kashmir, and let the Kashmiris decide their future and sovereignty.

Another Kashmiri magazine, Kashmir Life, also reproduced the letter and mentions the name of all the signatories. Amid the 88 students, it includes the names of two employees, Saurav Goswami, deputy manager of academic affairs, and Adil Mushtaq Shah, programme manager of academic affairs, of the Young India Fellowship.

According to The Indian Express report, on 7 October both these employees sent out farewell emails citing personal reasons behind their decision to quit. That they were the only two employees on the list of signatories (apart from a professor, who is also reportedly being pressured to quit) is what has sent the students in a tizzy. A student on the condition of anonymity told The Indian Express that until two weeks ago both the employees were actively participating in planning and execution of college programs and gave no indications that they were planning to quit. The fact that both the signatories decided to quit suddenly and so close behind each other, is hard to dismiss as a mere coincidence.

Meanwhile, Rajendra Narayan, the assistant professor who also signed the petition, has been reportedly asked to resign while his department has been informally informed to look for his replacement, The Indian Express report claims.

Officially, the university had at the time condemned the act of "using the good name of the Ashoka University to represent personal views and ideas." Shortly afterwards the university revised its email policy so as all emails being exchanged between students, staff and alumni will go through a moderator, which became the flash point of the freedom of speech debate and prompted the students to submit a pettition to the varsity chancellor. The university however denied that the decision was taken in the backdrop of this issue. It claimed that the policy shift is reflective of the "best practices" in leading world universities and was meant to deal spam mails, The Indian Express report states.

As the issue made news, twitterati expressed outrage and disappointment over the alleged infringement of free speech in the college campus.

@HartoshSinghBal@IndianExpress very disappointed with Ashoka University - their liberalism is only a facade  arshics (@arshics1) October 13, 2016

Ashoka University: Beware, dissenters and liberals not allowed. https://t.co/UD9lQw6Ziu  Raghav Ohri (@raghavohri0) October 13, 2016

Et tu Ashoka University? This kind of handy test separates the universities from the business ventures. @AshokaUnivhttps://t.co/nP2DWvESAy  Mitali Saran (@mitalisaran) October 13, 2016

ashoka univ has problems with a petition? 'liberal' indeed, with the fee they charge https://t.co/5PbkqirewB  Hartosh Singh Bal (@HartoshSinghBal) October 13, 2016

J & K seems to be the limit of critical thinking at Ashoka University. https://t.co/CftNa56qJO  IndiaExplained (@IndiaExplained) October 13, 2016

However, some people expressed a different opinion.

I want to misuse my employers name & be able to use 'free speech' excuse to get away with it https://t.co/rijKX2nst3 via @IndianExpress  Amar Govindarajan (@amargov) October 13, 2016

Ashoka University mess. If I've got this right, Uni wouldn't have had an issue if petition hadn't mentioned its name https://t.co/cWfn40cClw  Nikhil Mehra (@TweetinderKaul) October 13, 2016

This, however, is not the first time a university is accused of muzzling free speech. The sedition debate that ensued in Jawaharlal Nehru University, after student leaders Kanhaiya Kumar and Umar Khalid among others were charged with sedition, also made headlines. In this case however, not only the varsity but the state and judiciary were also roiled in the controversy giving rise to the debate whether, restricting freedom of expression on charges of "anti-national behaviour" was even rationally valid. The university, a premiere liberal arts institute in India, cracked down heavily on its students as it slapped fines and rusticated students embroiled in the controversy.

More recently, JNU was again in news on Thursday as a section of students chose the visages of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP chief Amit Shah to represent Ravana effigies burnt on Dussehra. Last week too, some students burnt effigies of the Gujarat government and gau-rakshak (cow vigilantes) groups. The university has served a show cause notice and ordered a proctorial enquiry in the last week's case and it has launched an enquiry into the Dussehra incident.
Moscow: Brics reflects the member-countries' commitment to uphold international law when some Western countries are trying to promote unilateral approaches, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday.

And cooperation within Brics  which clubs Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa  was already yielding practical results, Putin told IANS and Sputnik news agencies in an interview ahead of his visit to Goa to attend the Brics Summit.

Putin described Brics as one of the key elements of the emerging multipolar world.

"The five (member) countries have consistently reaffirmed their commitment to the fundamental principles of international law and promote the central role of the UN," he said in response to questions from IANS.

"Our countries reject the policy of coercive pressure and infringement upon the sovereignty of other states. We take similar stances on urgent international issues, including the Syrian crisis and the Middle East settlement."

The Russian leader said the Brics summits' final declarations reaffirm "our shared commitment to the fundamental principles of inter-state communication, particularly, to the observance of international law with the central coordinating role of the UN.

"With some Western countries attempting to promote their unilateral approaches, this position becomes even more relevant," Putin said, adding that the Goa Summit would be no exception to this rule.

Traditionally, the declarations of Brics leaders outline fundamental consensus-based stances on a wide range of issues and identify short-term development goals for the five nations, he said.

This, he added, would serve as a target for follow-up steps aimed at strengthening strategic partnerships among the five countries in various spheres.

"As for rendering practical interaction among the five countries more substantive, I would like to stress that today, there exist more than 30 formats for inter-agency cooperation in the political, economic, humanitarian, security and law enforcement areas."

Putin said the establishment of the New Development Bank (NDB) and the Brics Contingent Reserve Arrangement with a total capital of $200 billion was one concrete example of this cooperation.

"I am convinced that, as the bank gets stronger, its output will only increase, including by means of projects that promote integration among the Brics countries.

"The NDB started its work in 2016, having approved the first projects in all five countries.

"The priority at the current stage is renewable energy. In Russia, this implies the construction of small 50 MW hydropower plants in Karelia worth $100 million."

Putin said the Brics countries actively cooperated within the Group of 20 and sought to systematically converge their stand at the WTO to improve the rules and spur multilateral negotiations within the organisation.

"This is why I think the cooperation within Brics has already begun to yield practical results. It is essential to continue work on consolidating these results and on identifying areas of common interest.

The Russian leader said the participants in the Brics Summit in Goa would look at the initial results of implementing the Strategy for Brics Economic Partnership adopted in Ufa and finalise the draft of Brics Roadmap for Trade, Economic and Investment Cooperation until 2020.

"We intend to establish new formats and mechanisms to cooperate with our partners, in which concerted measures aimed at developing our ties in various fields will be elaborated.

"At the same time we intend to focus on addressing issues related to strengthening international security and stability, enhancing the competitiveness of our economies and the promotion of international development."

Putin said Russia supported the initiatives put forward by the Indian chairmanship in such fields as Brics collaboration in agriculture, railway transport, sports, tourism and building people-to-people contacts.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian president Vladimir Putin are expected to sign the crucial agreement for the production of 200 Kamov 226T helicopters domestically on the sidelines of the Brics summit from 13 to 16 October in Goa.

Kamov 226T will replace the aging Cheetah and Chetak choppers. "The complex agreement to set up a joint production facility of Ka-226T helicopters is expected to be signed at the Brics forum," said a statement by Rostec State Corporation, an umbrella organisation of about 700 Russian firms founded in 2007 to promote the development, production, and export of high-tech industrial products for civil and military purposes.

This agreement conforms to Modi's 'Make in India' vision because it will promote indigenous defence manufacturing, according to a report in The Financial Express. The report also quotes Russian Helicopters, which makes Kamov, as saying that "the light multipurpose helicopter is designed for work in difficult conditions of high mountains, hot climate and on marine areas. It allows for reconnaissance, targeting and monitoring of transportation (up to 1500 kg)".

The chopper can carry about seven paratroopers and has a maximum take-off weight of 3,600 kg. The agreement was signed by India and Russia during Modi's visit to Moscow in December. The preliminary contract was signed by the head of Rostec Sergei Chemezov, CEO and Modi in December last year.

"The agreement on manufacture of Kamov 226 helicopter in India is the first project for a major defence platform under the 'Make In India' mission," MEA spokesperson Vikas Swarup quoted Modi as saying, according to a report in The Economic Times. The report also quotes sources as saying that Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) will be a primary partner for the choppers. Viktor Kladov, Head International Cooperation of Rostec told The Hindu that the first 40 helicopters will be assembled in Russia for faster deliveries and the rest will be done in India.

The Ka-226T underwent testing in India as part of the Reconnaissance and Surveillance Helicopter (RSH) acquisition programme, which was cancelled by the Indian authorities in 2014. The helicopter out-performed its Western counterparts during flights in India's hot conditions and mountainous areas, according to airforce-technology.com.

The heads of the state corporations will conduct a series of negotiations on development in the area of Russian helicopter export and after-sales servicing. Chemezov will head Rostec's delegation to the 2016 Brics Summit.

"The contract for export and joint production of 200 Ka-226T helicopters is one of the key projects in the framework of trade and industrial relations between Russia and India. We plan to expand them in both military-technical and civilian areas," Chemezov said.

Rostec is currently in negotiations with the Defence Ministry here for a long-term contract for after-sales servicing of Russian-made helicopters, which are widely used in India.

"We are expecting to set up an after-sales service in a profoundly new format. There is an array of other projects, where we see perspectives for mutually beneficial cooperation, which we plan to discuss at the Brics Summit," Chemezov said.

Ka-226T specifications

The Ka-226T is a light, twin-engine multi-role helicopter for military and civilian purposes. The military version helps in hard-to-reach conditions, according to Russian Helicopters.

The Ka-226T copters are fitted with high-visibility nose and a new rotor system. Its rotors are made from composite materials. The low height of the rotor makes it necessary for the passengers to approach the chopper from the rear, when the rotors are turning.

The multi-role helicopter also boasts of incredibly precise hovering ability, excellent maneuverability and high safety standards.

An unusual feature of this helicopter is that it has an interchangeable mission module, attached to its bubble-shaped cockpit, instead of conventional cabin, according to military-today.com.

Fuselage of the Ka-226T has a length of 8.6 m, while its width is 3.2 m and it has a height of 4.1 m. The diameter of its main rotor is 13.2 m.

The cabin measures 2.35 metre long, 1.34 metre wide and 1.4 metre high. It offers a volume of 5.4 metrecube and is fitted with mooring equipment for securing cargo and folding seats for accommodating troops.

With inputs from PTI
As of Wednesday night, the Tamil Nadu Police had registered 52 cases for spreading rumours on the health of Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa who has been in the CCU of Chennai's Apollo Hospital since the night of 22 September for medical ailments that till this moment remain an intriguing matter of conjecture.

The slew of cases, not surprisingly, triggered a pointed jab through one of those ubiquitous WhatsApp forwards. The point of that Tamil meme was: The first cases on spreading rumours on the chief ministers health should be slapped on, ahem, the state government and Apollo Hospital.

Tragically, that meme had articulated an inconvenient truth that much of mainstream media in Tamil Nadu cannot.

Right from the quiet night when Jayalalithaa  reportedly in an unconscious state with multiple organ issues  was rushed in an ambulance to the Apollo Hospital, the main casualty has been truth.

The day after Jaya was admitted to hospital, some newspersons in Chennai were fed (by their sources) alarming details on the chief ministers health and how cardio and pulmonary specialists had worked overtime to fit an emergency pacemaker in her. There were sundry other medical specifics too and the gist of them all was: The chief ministers health was critical.

But guess what the press release from Apollo said? Well, the operative part of it was fever and dehydration. This is when multiple experts had reportedly battled all night to resuscitate the chief minister. From then on, Apollo press releases have only gotten worse.

If the intention was to keep the anxiety level of a decidedly emotional state (Tamil Nadu) in check, it was understandable. But the execution of it, all through since then, through half-truths and also plain lies is totally wrong and unacceptable.

And when the official machinery is not reliable, it is only natural that unofficial ones spring up with racy rumours and fancy theories. It is tragic when information quoting imagined sources and spoofy memes become news. That dystopian reality is a fact in Tamil Nadu today, said R Kathiravan, a political analyst.

Now, the problem for Tamil Nadu is that its mainstream media is not the most rigorous even in the best of times in asking difficult questions of the establishment. Many events and scandals that would have been the grist for headlines for weeks without end elsewhere, have been known to be quietly ignored in Tamil Nadu.

The entire official machinery in the state has been outrageously opaque, especially under Jayalalithaas AIADMK regime. The ministers are totally unreachable. At any rate, they dont have a voice. The CMO is far worse. It is a one-way street, parting only with info it wants at a time convenient to it. The set-up is such that it precludes any kind of (news) story, negative or otherwise, on the government and its minders, concurred Kathiravan. To put things in perspective, a Siddaramaiah or a Devendra Fadnavis cannot get away with this kind of extreme secrecy in operations, added KK Aparna, a media head at an MNC.

Many individual journalists  as elsewhere, are hard working and honest here too. But most media houses (they are employed in) are extremely committed to their political ideology or in a situation of being at the mercy of government advertisements. The leading English and Tamil dailies in the state (leading in terms of officially given circulation figures) have a history of being pro-establishment and this sets the tone for the entire market.

At any rate, the anti-government voice belongs to the Opposition parties-run outlets and hence, is seen to lack credibility. The vernacular press, which is generally pretty vibrant in states like the neighbouring Kerala, has been wishy-washy in Tamil Nadu and has never been known for rigour in news reporting. Illuminatingly, the number of scandal rags in Tamil Nadu, the ones that dish out lurid gossip on government and politicians, must be one of the highest in the country.

But in this age of Twitter and WhatsApp, the government is unable to control rumours and insinuated details. This is where the rub lies, pointed out Aparna. She added the situation has reached the stage where the people need to be told the full truth. We have long crossed that threshold of the need for privacy to an individual on matters of health. It has been trumped by the right to know by the people on issues of governance, she said.

Meanwhile, even as the police is slapping cases on individual voices on social media, the echoes from political platforms are only getting more strident. Despite almost comical visits by people from across political parties, nobody is any surer of the chief minister's health. Also  most importantly  no one has actually seen Jayalalithaa. And this includes the governor too, who made an official visit to the hospital. I saw people who claim to have seen the chief minister, CPI leader D Pandian deadpanned after his visit to Apollo Hospital.

And since no one (on record) has seen the chief minister since her admission to the hospital, and the popular consensus is that she is bed-ridden and unable to carry out any of her regular activities, it begs important questions concerning the state: Who wrote the speech that was delivered under her name at the Cauvery meeting in New Delhi? Who authorised the Deepavali bonus for state PSU employees? The assigning of her portfolios to O Panneerselvam, who okayed it? The press release from the governors office said that it was done based on the advice of the chief minister. But no one is ready to believe that bit.

The Churchillian phrase of an iron curtain has descended rings icily true in Tamil Nadu today

But, heck, who is running the state? Her phlegmatic confidante Sasikala and the members of seemingly never-ending family? The former chief secretary of the state, and now the advisor who enjoyed all access to and the confidence of Jaya: Sheela Balakrishnan? Well, there are no clear-cut and honest answers. As ever, we have to make do with speculation. But whoever is running the show is making a poor job of it.

Meanwhile, news circles in Chennai is agog with yet another rumour that the Apollo Hospitals is unhappy with its hands being forced to issue press releases (on the Chief Ministers health status) that it wouldnt want to.

Apollo, it is being speculated, is feeling enough is enough. It has seen its business dwindle by more than 60 percent (again, a ball-park figure) since the arrival of the chief minister in its CCU. Outside the hospital on Chennais Greams Road, the strange gaggle of AIADMK supporters are hopeful of the chief ministers return and yet totally angry with Apollo. This has become a game that Apollo will have difficulty getting out unscathed, said BP Rajesh, an independent medical analyst.

A chief ministers state of health in secrecy.

A state run by unseen people with unknown motives.

A media that doesnt know much about what it is reporting.

The Churchillian phrase of an iron curtain has descended rings icily true in Tamil Nadu today.
Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) chief and Pathankot terror attack mastermind Masood Azhar has asked the Pakistani government "to open the path" for terrorism and jihadist groups so that they can escalate their operations against India.

The Indian Express reported that in an appeal published in the current issue of al-Qalam, the Jaish weekly magazine, Azhar had said that "a lack of decisive decision-making" could rob Pakistan of a "historic opportunity" to take control over Kashmir.

"If nothing else, the government simply has to open the path for the mujahideen. Then, god willing, all the bitter memories of 1971 will be dissolved into the triumphant emotions of 2016," the report quoted Azhar as saying.

Consider India before and after the jihad in Kashmir...You will see a dramatic difference. In the course of this journey, which I have been an eyewitness to, I have seen India reduced from a serpent to an earthworm, Azhar further said in the appeal.

Azhar's anti-India remarks come after a leading Pakistani daily on Wednesday asked the civilian and military establishment why action against Azhar and JuD's Hafiz Saeed was "danger" to the country's national security.

The strong editorial in The Nation, considered close to the government and military establishment, came as a prominent journalist, Cyril Almeida, of Dawn was banned from leaving Pakistan because of his front-page report on a rift between the military and the civilian government over the military's covert support to militant groups like the Haqqani network, Taliban and the LeT.

The editorial titled 'How to Lose Friends And Alienate People' said the government and the military instead of taking actions against Azhar and Saeed was lecturing the press.

Azhar and Saeed, the mastermind of the 2008 Mumbai attacks, roam freely in Pakistan and are belived to have the protection of the military.

The daily said in its editorial that it was a "disturbing day when civilian and military top leadership meet to lecture the media on how to do their job."

"Apparently, a barrage of online abuse, and three official denials were not enough to assuage tempers riled after Mr Almeida's exclusive story in Dawn, detailing an unusual exchange between the very same civilian and military top brass that yesterday issued forth a statement on the violation of 'universally acknowledged principles of reporting on national security issues'," the editorial said.

"The report by Mr Almeida has been called 'fabricated', and 'speculative reporting'. But the government and military top brass in yesterday's meeting delivered no explanation for why government MNA's are protesting the visible presence of banned outfits in Pakistan. Or why possible action against Masood Azhar, or Hafiz Saeed is a danger to 'national security'. Or why Pakistan faces increasing isolation? We're all ears."

"Instead, how dare the government and military top brass lecture the press on how to do their job. How dare they treat a feted reporter like a criminal. And how dare they imply that they have either the right or the ability or the monopoly to declare what Pakistan's 'national interest' is," it said.

"And for Mr Almeida, nothing but solidarity. More power to you, and to your pen. The press stands with you," it added.

With inputs from PTI
When asked to bend they crawled

This remark described the spinelessness of the Indian media during the Emergency years in the mid-1970s. Forty years on, the media, at least a major section of it, appears to have turned crawling into a fine art. Theres no Emergency around, no visible pressure from the government to toe the line and no low-ranking official vetting content, yet many news outfits are on sycophantic overdrive. The impression that the media is the publicity arm of the ruling establishment is getting so strong that someday the government might actually intervene and ask them to develop a spine and stand up because it is getting too embarrassing.

Former Union minister P Chidambarams assessment of the media in his interview to The Indian Express doesnt come without a context. I want to raise a more fundamental question. Why are people falling in line? You are looking at it as a criticism of the governments action. I am asking a different question, I am asking the media: why are you guys falling like nine pins to unjustified demands, if any, from the powers that be? I dont know, if the powers that be made any demand. But why are you guys falling like nine pins? Its sad. If the media, which fiercely protests, or used to fiercely protest any suggestion that the media should be restrained  why is it capitulating? he told the paper.

Theres a backdrop to his remark.

Speaking to NDTV he sought proof of Indian militarys surgical strike on terrorist camps in PoK. The interview was never aired by the channel. The apparent reason: National security. When asked about this by website The Wire, NDTV responded thus: ...Like all decisions we take at NDTV, we are driven by editorial and journalistic integrity and the belief that the political mud slinging regarding the surgical strikes without a shred of evidence was actually damaging to our national security. We do not believe that we are obliged to carry every shred of drivel that has now come to pass as public discourse. Id also like to stress that this is part of our normal editorial policy not to provide a platform to outrageous and wild accusations that thrive only on publicity...

In his interview to The Indian Express, the former finance minister sought answers from the channel on three questions: One, which part of it constituted a threat to national security; two, which part is drivel, and three, which part of it was bizarre political bickering. He said he was still waiting for a response. If the development is indeed true, then it is one more case of a respectable channel losing its moral-ethical compass.

News organisations ensure that the content they produce pass through several filters, for reasons both quality and credibility, but consideration of national security  an expression that could be politically-loaded  was never one of those. Its a new new in Indian journalism. And it raises some troubling questions.

If BJP president Amit Shahs views on the surgical strikes could be aired then why not Chidambarams?

How do you define national security? Is it an arbitrary call, suitably elastic in its moral aspect depending on the needs of those making newsroom decisions? In times when the government-media nexus can create and perpetuate artificial reality through the official narrative sanctified by the expression national security, shouldnt there be scope for the counter-narrative? What if the same statement was made by a few former generals and not a political leader; would it still be against national interest? Where does all that leave journalists who are supposed to dig the truth out by asking questions? When the editors have the right to decide what is in national interest then why question the right of the government to do the same?

Its curious that a respectable news outfit would seek to dismiss as drivel doubts expressed by someone who has been in the thick of India security matters for long years. This would be acceptable if the other view, which again comes without any shred of evidence was treated with equal disdain as well. If proof is expected of one side, then it is only fair that the other is asked to do the same too. If BJP president Amit Shahs views on the surgical strikes could be aired then why not Chidambarams? Again, as editors how do you draw the line in such cases?

There is nothing on record so far to show that this has been done at the behest of the government. But even if it is a purely editorial decision, it still raises troubling questions. Editors can and do excise stuff for reasons of quality, clarity and journalistic standards. But that rarely involves blocking out one part of a narrative. That would be less about editing and more about censoring.

That's why NDTV's decision to put 'national security above politics'  whether voluntary or forced  is hard to digest.
An Indian Army soldier who "inadvertently crossed over" to the other side of the Line of Control (LoC), a day after the surgical strikes, is in Pakistan's custody, confirmed Islamabads DGMO.

ANI reported that the neighboring country's DGMO accepted that Chandu Babulal Chauhan is in their custody. This is the first reaction by Pakistan on the incident.

Pakistan DGMO acknowledges it has Army Jawan Chandu Chavan in custody: Army sources  ANI (@ANI_news) October 13, 2016

Islamabad was informed about the soldiers movement on the hotline by India's Director General Military Operations Lt Gen Ranbir Singh, according to an Army release issued by the Defence Ministry.

Chauhan belong to 37 Rashtriya Rifles and crossed the LoC with a weapon. The release also said that such incidents were not rare and soldiers who cross over are returned through existing mechanisms.

Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh has assured that the release of the Indian soldier was being taken up with Islamabad and all efforts are being made to ensure his early release.

Chauhan had allegedly been captured by Pakistani troops at Jhandroot, west of Mankote, and was now being kept at the military headquarters in Nikayal.

India has repeatedly written to Pakistan, seeking his return but has not got a positive response yet. Sources said that while Indias message was received by the other side, they have not responded yet.

Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar had said on Sunday that the mechanism through the DGMO has been activated seeking return of the soldier.

Chauhan's grandmother had passed away after hearing the news of his crossing over to Pakistan.

Article 4 of the Third Geneva Convention protects captured military personnel, some guerrilla fighters, and certain civilians. It applies from the moment a prisoner is captured until he or she is released/repatriated. One of the main provisions of the convention makes it illegal to torture prisoners and states that a prisoner can only be required to give their name, date of birth, rank and service number if applicable.

With inputs from agencies
Washington: The "real threat" to Pakistan's nuclear weapons is from rogue elements inside its military rather than from the terrorist outfits, India's former national security advisor Shivshankar Menon has said.

Noting that terrorists have easier and cheaper ways of wreaking havoc, Menon said the nuclear weapons are complex devises that are difficult to manage, use and deliver and require very high level of skills.

"To my mind, the real threat (to Pakistani nukes) is from insiders, from a Pakistani pilot or a brigadier who decides to wage nuclear jihad, with or without orders," Menon writes in his book titled Choices: Inside the making of India's Foreign Policy.

"The risk increases as Pakistan builds tactical nuclear weapons for battlefield use, control of which will necessarily be delegated down the command chain," he said.

Menon says Pakistan is the only nuclear weapon programme in the world that is exclusively under military control.

"There are good reasons why no other country chose to go down this path," he said.

Menon writes that India has nuclear weapons for the contribution that make to its national security in an uncertain and anarchic world by preventing others from attempting nuclear blackmail and coercion against India.

"Unlike in certain NWS, India's nuclear weapons are not meant to redress a military balance, or to compensate for some perceived inferiority in conventional military terms, or to serve some tactical or operational military need on the battlefield," he notes.

While India has a declared policy of no-first use of nuclear weapons, Menon in his book warns that if Pakistan were to use tactical nuclear weapons against India "even against Indian forces in Pakistan," it would effectively be opening the door to a massive Indian-first strike, having crossed India's declared red line.

"Pakistani tactical nuclear weapons use would effectively free India to undertake a comprehensive first strike against Pakistan," he said.

"There are several responses short of war available to a state like India," he writes.
The Supreme Court, on 12 October, 2016, ruled that a sex worker cannot file a case alleging rape if her customers refused to pay her. A bench of judges, consisting of Pinaki Chandra Ghose and Amitava Roy, stated that while evidence submitted by a women alleging sexual assault should be given significance, it cannot be regarded as the "gospel truth".

The judgment of the highest court in India acquitted three people of rape charges in a case that is close to 20 years old. The three accused had moved the apex court in an appeal, after the Karnataka High Court had convicted them of raping the victim, who used to work as a maid; the victims roommate had revealed that she works as a sex-worker at night. The victim had charged the accused of sexual assault and rape in a garage in Bengaluru after an alleged kidnapping. However, the accused were able to challenge this conviction at the Supreme Court, that observed, quite shockingly, that the womans "conduct during the alleged ordeal is unlike a victim of rape and betrays somewhat submissive and consensual disposition".

"The evidence of prosecutrix must be examined as that of an injured witness whose presence at the spot is probable but it can never be presumed that her statement should always, without exception, be taken as gospel truth," the Bench declared. The ruling is appalling to say the least, especially when it is founded on the good woman/bad woman dichotomy, and finds no footing on legal reasoning.

The representation and voice of sex workers is practically absent within the Indian rape law paradigm. In 2013, when the Justice JS Verma Committee came up with a set of recommendations for the protection of women and girls from gender-based violence, the report addressed a plethora of issues, including issues of police reform, sexual violence against women and the LGBTQI community. The report briefly touched upon the horrors of prostitution, but it did not advocate the rights of sex-workers from violence, beyond the definition of trafficking within the Immoral Trafficking Prevention Act, 1956. The Committee, emboldened by the horrifying Delhi rape case of 2012, brought up  only to be ignored  the subject of marital rape: it stated that the Indian Penal Code must be amended to remove the exception of marital rape. In doing this, the Committee tried to marry the public and private spaces  stating, and rightly so, that rape and sexual assault are not mere crimes of passion, but an expression of power. Moreover, no relation, including marriage, supplements an irrevocable consent to sexual activity. The Committees recommendations, however, remained mute on the issue of consent when it comes to sex workers, thus, leaving no legal recourse for protection against sexual violence from various perpetrators.

Sex workers remain in the twilight area of legal policies and legislation in India, wherein the silence of the law on the identities of sex workers has resulted in more violence in both public spaces, by law enforcement officials, and private spaces, by clients, pimps and partners. In addition to this, societal standards that forcefully fit women into a binary system, in which women are either idolised or demonised pervade through all structures and institutions; even the judiciary writes them off as "women of loose morals". Unfortunately, this thinking also leaves sex workers no representation over a criminal law against rape that should apply to them, in spite of what they do for a living.

In 1972, in Tukaram v. State of Maharashtra (1979) or the Mathura rape case, Mathura, a 16-year-old Tribal girl, had been raped in a police station. The Supreme Court, however, stated that that no rape had taken place since Mathuras body bore no outward signs of rape; therefore, there was no resistance to the act, and it was a "peaceful affair". The ruling, however, sparked a wildfire of protests by womens rights advocates, which led to the criminal law amendment in 1983 that dealt with rape. The amendment of 1983 also brought about a change in the Indian Evidence Act, 1872: Section 114-A was added onto the Evidence Act that dealt with prosecution of rape cases under clauses (a), (b), (c), (d), (e) or (g) of S. 376(2) of the Indian Penal Code, where sexual intercourse by the accused is proved, and the question before the Court is whether such intercourse was with or without the womans consent. In such cases, if the woman, in her evidence, states before the Court that she did not consent, the Court must presume that she did not so consent.

The ruling is appalling to say the least, especially when it is founded on the good woman/bad woman dichotomy, and finds no footing on legal reasoning

Ironically, in the present case at the Supreme Court on appeal from three accused from Bengaluru, this aforementioned "presumption as to absence of consent in certain prosecutions of rape" is neither considered, nor debated upon. The Bench seems to have removed the issue of presumption of consent from this gang rape because the women was of "questionable character".

In Budhadev Karmaskar v. State of West Bengal (2011), the apex court, in its division bench, headed by Justice Katju, stated that sex workers have a right to live with dignity under Article 21 of the Constitution of India "since they are also human beings and their problems also needed to be addressed". However, despite this commendable judgment, we often see the courts unable to break out of the patriarchal mould when giving judgments that involve sex workers. Often, even when the judgment is sound, the language is crass and reeks of prejudice; for instance, in the State of Maharashtra v. Madhukar N Mardikar (1990), stated that, "the unchastity of a woman does not make her open to any and every person to violate her person as and when he wishes. She is entitled to protect her person if there is an attempt to violate her person against her wish. She is equally entitled to the protection of law. Therefore merely because she is of easy virtue, her evidence cannot be thrown overboard."

When an institution itself is dictated by morality instead of sound legal reasoning, it should not shock and horrify when the Bench, in October, 2016, declares  "Her vengeful attitude in the facts and circumstances, as disclosed by her, if true, demonstrably evinces a conduct manifested by a feeling of frustration stoked by an intense feeling of deprivation of something expected, desired or promised."
While Pakistans Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, 26/11 mastermind Hafeez Saeed and heads of several other militant organisations were the faces of Ravana effigies burnt on Dussehra across the country, a section of JNU students chose the visages of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP chief Amit Shah to represent the demon king and burnt his effigy.

Members of the Congress-affiliated National Students Union of India (NSUI) celebrated Dussehra on Tuesday night by burning the effigy of Modi as Ravan, claiming that it was a protest against the Centres failure in honouring its promises and the continuous attacks on various educational institutions across the country.

On Wednesday, the university said it was "investigating the matter", reported The Indian Express. The university administration had last week ordered a proctorial inquiry into the effigy-burning of the Gujarat government and gau-rakshak (cow vigilantes) and issued show-cause notices to the students concerned.

Besides Modi and Shah, the effigy had faces of Yoga guru Ramdev, Sadhvi Pragya, Nathuram Godse, Asaram Bapu and JNU vice-chancellor Jagadesh Kumar. The students also carried placards with the slogan, Truth shall prevail over evil.

The effigy-burning was to symbolise our dissatisfaction with the current government. The idea is to root out the evil from governance and bring about a system that is pro-student and pro-people, said Sunny Diman, an NSUI activist and the outfits candidate in the recently-concluded JNUSU polls.

Look at what this government has done to our country. The promises it made are still on paper and are repeated only in speeches. Whenever students want to raise their voice, they are attacked by the administration, certainly on instructions from the government. This Dussehra, we wanted to put an end to these rubbish activities, he added.

The effigy was burnt at the famous Saraswati Dhaba on the JNU campus. University officials, when contacted, were tight-lipped about whether the students had sought a permission for the event or not.

With inputs from PTI
Beijing: Superior infrastructure in Tibet will provide China an "upper hand" over India by being a "gateway" to Nepal and Bangladesh for greater trade and investments, Chinese media said on Thursday.

"The competition of China and India over building railways in Nepal will influence the future development of Nepal and Bangladesh. It will also bring more challenges to Tibet," an article in the state-run Global Times said on Thursday.

"In the next decade, if India continues on its high growth track and speeds up the development of infrastructure and manufacturing, this will impose multi-dimensional pressure on China, of which Tibet will bear the brunt," it said.

Fortunately, as the central government has attached great importance and offered considerable support to the region.

"Tibet has gained the upper hand over India in terms of infrastructure development and has established sound economic cooperation relations with neighbouring provinces and cities, it said.

How to further open up Tibet exploit its advantages over India to deal with challenges and exercise an influence over the region while maintaining Tibet's stability needs policy support, it said.

"It also requires coordination among all western provinces, cities and autonomous regions," it said.

India and Nepal are linked by comparatively good roads.

For years, India has occupied 60 to 70 per cent of Nepal's total trade while China has only 10 per cent.

During his visit to India, Nepal's new Prime Minister Prachanda revealed that the two countries would discuss the possibility of India helping build a railway connecting Mechi and Mahakali, it said.

"If this comes true, a network not only connecting India, but also Tibet and Bangladesh will be formed," it said.

The article said Tibet is emerging as an important part of the China-initiated "One Belt and One Road" (Silk Road)

initiative.

"Geographically, as a hub of critical value in connecting China and South Asia, the autonomous region is playing an increasingly important role in regional networks with the acceleration of India's development and the boosting of Sino-Indian economic relations," it said.

"Over 200 kms northeast of Bhairawa, a Nepali city close to the border with India, is Nepal's capital Kathmandu. 100 kilometers northward from Kathmandu is Kodari, a border crossing from Nepal into China. The three cities make up one of the most important passageways connecting China and the Indian Subcontinent," it said.

The other side of the border from Kodari is Zhangmu, a Chinese customs town and port of entry in Tibet.

The town accounts for around 82 per cent of bilateral trade between China and Nepal and 90 per cent of that between Tibet and Nepal, it said.
Milan (Italy): The Roberto Cavalli fashion house announced Wednesday it is cutting 200 out of 672 jobs globally, closing some stores and its Milan offices and relocating to a manufacturing district near Florence.

"The fashion industry is going through hard times due to a significant contraction of consumption in various key markets," said chief executive Giacomo Ferraris, who was appointed last July.

"Only iconic brands with a coherent business model and efficient organisation can survive."

The firm unveiled its plans after announcing creative director Peter Dundas was leaving after three seasons.

Norwegian-born Dundas faced a tough challenge: reviving a brand considered past its prime while preserving its iconic features after founder Roberto Cavalli sold a majority stake to private equity fund Clessidra in April last year.

"The brand's stylistic team will continue designing collections during this time of transition and transformation," said Ferraris.

"We will name a new creative director in due time," he added.

Cavalli, 75, still holds a 10 percent stake in the company and remains a consultant.
Within a day of the death of the BJP worker which spurred state-wide protests and bandh, another political slaying was reported from Kerala's Kannur district, Manorama online reported. Farooq, 45, a Social Democratic Party of India activist was hacked to death in Kannur at around 11 am on Thursday. Farooq was rushed to the hospital where he was declared brought dead.

The SDPI has alleged that its core rival, Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), is behind the killing and the police have apprehended a local in connection with the murder. This was the third such murder in the city in the past 4 days.

Earlier on Monday, a 52-year-old CPM grassroot leader, K Mohanan, was hacked to death by suspected RSS activists on at Pathiriyad in Kannur district. Following this, on Wednesday, Remith, 25, a Bharatiya Janata Party worker was hacked to death in front of a petrol pump in Pinarayi village, which is also the native place of the state's chief minister.

While on one hand, CPM has alleged that BJP workers were behind the murder of its leader and called for a hartal on Tuesday in Kannur, the BJP on the other hand, accused the CPM-led government of "unleashing a reign of terror over political opponents." Last week, two scheduled caste BJP workers were killed in Kannur district of Kerala.

Following the killings, which are suspected to be politically motivated, BJP chief Amit Shah sought a CBI probe and urged political leaders to condemn the killing. "Kannur has been the centre of Marxist violence in Kerala. The continuous violence against people in the native village of the state's Chief Minister underlines the government's ideology. We demand that the Kerala government hand over the probe into the murder to the CBI," Shah said in a statement. The BJP-led central government has also asked for a report from the Kerala government on the brutal killing of the 25-year-old BJP activist. The Home Ministry has asked the Kerala government to inform it about the steps taken for the security of political workers in the state, official sources said.

According to sources, Remith's father was also murdered some years ago. TK Devasia in a Firstpost article argues that the killing of CPM leader Mohanan cannot be seen in isolation. It must be viewed in the backdrop of Remith's father's murder, who was stabbed to death. What is instructive to note here is that Remith's death too comes close on the heels of CPM's accusation that BJP-RSS activists. Clearly, the traditional BJP-Left rivalry remains vitiated and the Kannur region is extremely politically volatile. Amid this comes a fresh killing of Farooq, the SDPI activist.

The murder of Farooq is the eighth political murder in Kannur after the LDF came to power. Even on the day the votes were being counted (19 May), a 47-year-old CPM activist Raveendran died in a bomb attack on the CPM victory rally. Since then five lives  three CPM and two BJP men  have been lost to the political bloodbath in the region. In addition to this, a BJP worker was killed in an explosion while handling bombs kept in his house near Kadirur in Kannur district.

With inputs from agencies
Thiruvananthapuram: Buses and autorickshaws were off the roads as the 12-hour state-wide hartal called by the BJP in Kerala to protest against the brutal killing of a 25-year-old party activist in Pinarayi in Kannur began on Thursday morning.

Early reports said no untoward incident was reported in any part of the state, including the politically sensitive northern district of Kannur, where there is heavy police patrolling.

BJP activist Remith was hacked to death in the home town of Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Wednesday within 48 hours of the murder of a CPI(M) activist and toddy shop worker Mohanan (40) by a six-member gang at Pathiriyad in Kannur district.

Remith's body will be brought from Kozhikode Medical College Hospital after postmortem to Kannur on Thursday morning and kept at Thalassery new bus stand for public to pay homage at around 10.30 am before cremation.

This is the second hartal in Kannur district within 3 days as the CPI(M) had observed a hartal in protest against the murder of their worker.

IGP Northern Range, Dinendra Kashyap said over 2000 police personnel have been mobilised in Kannur. Those who have gone on leave have been asked to report for duty, he told PTI.

There is simmering tension and more police personnel have been deployed at places where the body will be kept for public homage, he said.

Meanwhile, police have registered cases against 10 CPI(M) workers in connection with the attack on Remith. A special squad under DYSP (Administration) TP Renjith has been formed to investigate the case.

Police have made special arrangements to take patients, who had come by trains from various parts of the state for treatment at the Regional Cancer Centre Hospital in the state capital.

BJP activists will be taking out a march to the Secretariat at 11 am.

Examinations which were to be conducted today by Kerala, Kannur, Calicut and Cochin Universities have been postponed due to the hartal.

Reacting to the killing, BJP National President Amit Shah had tweeted, "Attacks on BJP karyakartas in CM Pinarayi Vijayan's home constituency is a matter of grave concern and smacks of political vendetta".

"Chavassery Uttaman, Remith's father was similarly killed in 2002, his mother suffered serious injures when his house was attacked recently", Shah tweeted.

CPI(M) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury had said the violence in Kerala has been started by the RSS-BJP combine itself and blaming the state's ruling party for the same is "total fabrication" of facts.

Vijayan had yesterday hit out at the RSS for the growing violence in the state which he alleged was with the support of BJP government at the Centre.

Vijayan, while speaking at a function in Alapuzha, attacked RSS and BJP over the attack on a Marxist worker in Kannur two days ago and accused RSS of spreading violence in the state.
Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala Government on Thursday decided to bring a law to prevent nepotism in appointments in key positions in public sector units, a decision which comes in wake of a controversy over certain appointments in the PSUs in the Industrial Department.

The decision in this regard was taken at a cabinet meeting here this morning chaired by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan.

The cabinet also entrusted Chief Secretary SM Vijayanand to examine the various complaints with regard to the appointments which have become controversial. "This is to prevent nepotism in appointments," a statement quoting the Chief Minister said.

The cabinet also decided that henceforth vigilance clearance would be mandatory for appointment of posts like Managing Director and General Manager in state PSUs

Besides this, a committee of national level experts will be henceforth make appointments in senior posts in PSUs in the state, he said.

The LDF government is facing flak after Industries Minister EP Jayarajan appointed some of his close relatives in key posts in some state PSUs.

Jayarajan had appointed PK Sudheer, his nephew and son of CPI(M)Kannur MP P K Sreemathi, as Managing Director of Kerala State Industrial Enterprises Ltd.

The minister had also appointed his brother's daughter-in-law Dipthi Nishad as General Manager of Kerala Clay and Ceramics Products Ltd at Kannur.

Following the heat generated over the issue after Congress-led UDF and BJP launched agitation, Sudheer's posting was quashed by the government and Dipthi, who had taken charge, resigned.
Barun Kashyap, a 24-year-old executive who was arrested last week for allegedly registering a false complaint of harassment at the hands of an auto rickshaw driver and two unidentified gau rakshaks for carrying a leather bag, and creating religious disharmony, concocted the entire episode to create a nationwide rift between Hindus and Muslims, a Mumbai newspaper said on Thursday.

The new revelation, Mumbai Mirror said, came during interrogation in police custody. In a confessional statement, Kashyap, according to the newspaper, stated that his "hatred for Hindus" prompted him to concoct the entire plan.

Kashyap also accepted of lying about the incident. I accept that I lied about the entire incident. No such incident ever took place. My Facebook post was a lie, the Mumbai-based tabloid said, quoting part of Kashyaps statement.

To questions by cops about the reason for such a bluff, the 24-year-old said, 'I lied because have hatred towards Hindus., it added.

Interestingly, this is the second statement wherein Kashyap has confessed of concocting the incident. The first, according to reports was given on 30 September at the Amboli Police station. The ad executive, however, had later alleged that the police forced him to give a statement accepting that the incident never happened. It was then that he approached Preeti Sharma Menon of the Aam Aadmi Party for legal assistance in the case.

The police are now investigating a political motive behind the incident, and if Menon, a member of AAP, helped him concoct the entire episode.

According to reports, the police had said that Kashyap stayed in Menons house for two days when he was declared wanted in the case. Menon had denied the allegations in a statement released on Twitter, and alleged of police mishandling in the case. She had also accused a policeman named Daya Nayak of interfering in the case and threatening Kashyap to accept his wrongdoing. In fact, Nayak reportedly arrested Kashyap from Masjid Bunder, even though it was not his case. The police called it a co-incidence, and labelled Kashyap's allegations as just ramblings of an accused.

According to Menon, Nayak was also present during the first interrogation of Kashyap when he first accepted of concocting the incident.

It is unclear, as of now, what exactly happened during the various interrogations. More details are expected to surface once the case goes on trial, but there has been few inconsistencies in the reports that have appeared so far. Firstly, different media reports have stated different time at which Kashyap left his home and reached his office, even after seeing CCTV footages. The inconsistency of time in the CCTV footages and that which Kashyap mentioned in his initial complaint, was one of the first indications that led police to question the veracity of the incident.

There's weight in the police argument, no doubt, and according to CCTV footages and his call records, the story doesn't match up, but the alleged involvement of Nayak, make one wonder if all is black and white as the police claim.

But that's not the only question that we should be asking in this case.

Kashyap has been arrested under section 153 (A) and 182 (B) of the Indian Penal Code, and if convicted he faces a five-year sentence.

If the latest confession is true, apart from punishing him, we must ask ourselves who should be held responsible for generating such hatred in a 24-year-old towards his own community.

But at the same time, all of this may just simply be a case of peer pressure. As the police suspected initially, Kashyap may have lied to the boss to escape coming late to work, and concocted the whole incident. One lie led to another, and soon it was out of his hand  remember it was Kashyap's boss who had persuaded him to file the complain.

Whether it's a lie or not, what may have given him the confidence that he could use an incident like this to manipulate public opinion? And, what made everyone stand up with him in his fight against the gau rakshaks without thinking twice? Is it our solidarity to stand against gau rakshaks and the extremist thoughts they represent? Or, is it a political stunt? Are we too susceptible to manipulation?

At this moment, there are too many questions that need answers.
Mumbai: In the backdrop of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Dussehra rally in Lucknow, Shiv Sena on Thursday said the celebration of the festival in Uttar Pradesh was an attempt by BJP to consolidate votes in the name of Ram temple for the forthcoming Assembly elections.

At the same time, the ruling alliance partner sought to know what prevents BJP from making use of its absolute majority in the Lok Sabha to start contruction of the temple in Ayodhya instead of just engaging in sloganeering on the issue.

"The Prime Minister twice said the slogan of 'Jai Shree Ram' while speaking in Lucknow and thereby sounded the poll bugle for the state. What impact this sloganeering is going to have will be seen in the near future. But, the fact is that the UP polls are a matter of life and death for BJP," an editorial in Sena mouthpiece 'Saamana' said.

It said Modi's act of performing 'Ganga aarti' (in Varanasi) soon after becoming the PM led to enthusiasm among party workers and believers of Hindutva. It was also significant that he was the first PM to do so.

"The whole idea behind celebrating Dussehra in Lucknow and raising the slogan of 'Jai Shree Ram' was to garner votes in the name of constructing a Ram temple in the upcoming UP polls," it said.

"It (BJP) hopes that even if the temple is not constructed, the lotus would at least bloom," the Sena said, adding, the BJP should once and for all announce how much more politics it wants to play over the issue of Ram temple.

"You have 280 seats in the Lok Sabha and along with other parties like Sena, you have 300 plus seats. If a Ram temple is not constructed now, when will it be?" it asked.

"Don't just engage in sloganeering but start construction of the temple and the Shiv Sena will help you, because it was the Sena which had brought down the dome of the Babri Masjid," it said
At the end of the larger-than-life, high-voltage campaign of the 2012 Uttar Pradesh Assembly Election, all that Rahul Gandhi could manage was to secure a paltry 28 seats, a phenomenal six-seat increase from Congress' previous election tally. The fact that journalists were writing fawning prose about his sister Priyanka Gandhis slim figure and flawless European skin tone didn't help either.

After four years, today, the Congress is all but surviving as a national party. Yet to its credit, its not given up hope on Uttar Pradesh, which is a good thing: It shows a fair bit of fighting spirit. But then again, as a hallowed Congress tradition would have it, the party has still not given up hope on Rahul Gandhi  with or without the European skin tone  as the leader who would at last, pull off a miracle, come 2017.

Or at least that seemed to be the thinking behind the partys decision to hire Prashant Kishor, once widely dubbed as the master strategist behind Narendra Modis extraordinary victory in 2014, followed by helping the Nitish-Lalu combine secure another big win in the 2015 Bihar polls.

With this, professional life seems to have come to a full circle for Kishore, who, in 2007, had refused Rahul Gandhis proposal to build a super specialty hospital in Amethi.

In many ways, the Uttar Pradesh (and Punjab) elections are as much vital to the Congress party as it is to Kishor who fell badly out of favour with the BJP post the 2014 poll victory. The July 2016 cover story of Open magazine captures the reason behind Kishors exit from the BJP in these words:

Kishor, who had by then acquired a halo and began carping that things were "not going as planned", perhaps felt shortchanged... while he had indeed worked hard for the victory, RSS workers at the grassroots had operated like a well-oiled machine, too. But he spoke as if he had a special claim to the credit; Modi, he began telling colleagues and journalists, wasnt living up to his expectations.

Given this, one could argue that after the Bihar victory against the BJP helping Rahul Gandhi is Kishors way of getting back at Modi, yet again. Of course, its equally probable that Kishor being the professional that he is, is merely executing another grand project.

But things get clearer when we scratch the surface of the Bihar victory. Its doubtless that Kishor ran a competent campaign for Nitish Kumar but the very fact that he didnt have the guts to go alone, and had to eat a humble pie by tying up with his sworn enemy Lalu Prasad Yadav is revealing. As are the results: At 71, the JD(U) had lost 44 seats compared to the 2010 polls while the RJD gained massively, adding 58 seats from its previous showing of 22. It overtook the JD(U).

In other words, Kishors strategy indirectly ensured a resounding comeback for the RJD whose long history of corruption and criminality is only too well-known. Even as recent as September, Nitish is learning the hard way that hes no match for the wily Lalu.

Bud Kishor didn't emerge unscathed either. While he holds a cabinet rank position in Nitishs government, he seems to have lost interest in Bihar, as this report says, because:

...Kishor has hurdles in Bihar to leap over as well, where he holds a cabinet rank. The multi-crore campaign he had suggested in the state to shore up the image of the new government led by Nitish didnt have any takers... No wonder that Kishor has not been to Patna in the past two months. According to people in the new state dispensation, he seems to be losing his interest in Bihar as its bureaucracy is not very welcoming of 'outsiders'. "This has been a recent development. From having great ties with two top leaders (Lalu and Nitish) and from exercising influence over ministerial portfolio allocation, he is now showing much less interest in the state. It is not yet a Gandhinagar kind of situation for him here," says a Patna-based senior JD-U leader.

Arguably, Kishor is a brilliant marketing professional: from strategy to implementation to delivery. But then a marketing professional can not ensure the sale of a pitiable product.

The Congress partys UP campaign which began in August symbolically at Varanasi  PM Modis constituency  soon fizzled out. Despite some much-publicised grassroots efforts by Kishors team IPAC, the campaign seems going nowhere. Indeed, alarm bells should have rung when Sheila Dixit  who has run the full course of her political life  was declared the Congress' CM face in UP. This decision, according to a news report, came in the wake of Sonia Gandhi giving a "dressing down" to Kishor for "projecting Priyanka Gandhi as the chief campaigner for the UP polls".

Clearly, Kishor either underestimated or ill-understood the Congress "style" of functioning. Even as he demanded and got direct reporting only to Rahul Gandhi, the Congress ecosystem began getting the better of him. He was overruled when the party High Command appointed Raj Babbar of the twelve-rupees-a-meal fame, as the UP unit President.

Rasheed Kidwai, a Congress insider, writes how Raj Babbar dubbed Kishor as a "sound recordist... (Prashant Kishor) is not my leader... My leader is Rahul Gandhi". Babbar wasnt reprimanded. This incident throws further light on Rahul Gandhis inept leadership something that former Congress leader Hemanta Biswas Sarma alluded to, in merciless language.

Kidwai further writes how the Congress purse-controllers are hacking at Kishor's campaign budget: "When Kishor reportedly tried to get some of I-PAC bills cleared from AICC treasurer Motilal Vora, the octogenarian leader did some maths and cut the expenses figure to half. There was another drastic reduction and the payment was reportedly promised in installments." Because, well, because "the Congress coffers are empty". And with Karnataka as its only significant state  it faces the real prospect of losing badly in the next polls here as well  it appears that the Congress cup of woes is brimming.

On the other side, Kishor faces the uphill task of managing Brand Rahul Gandhi. One day he's full of praise for Modi becoming a "real" Prime Minister at last. And then inexplicably, he abuses Modi for indulging in "khoon ki dalali" for the same act of carrying out surgical strikes against Pakistan. As Sanjay Singh of Firstpost correctly observes, this Javed Akhtaresque dialogue seems to be Rahul Gandhis own "maut ka saudagar" moment, and that "no matter how hard rajguru Kishor, other party strategists or the spin doctors may try to re-launch Rahul Gandhi and portray him as a secular kisan neta (farmer leader) this isn't an easy task for them."

Even worse, Rahul Gandhis Khoon ki dalali goof-up comes at a time when Samajwadi Party sycophants are claiming that Prime Minister Narendra Modi ordered the surgical strike only after consulting with SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav". In other words, leaders seem to be vying for the credit of obtaining glory for the nation.

But theres even worse. Madhya Pradesh Congress leader Shailesh Choubey, in a viral video, appealed to Sonia Gandhi to sack her own son for his mindless remark.

Simple commonsense wouldve told Rahul Gandhi and his advisers that Narendra Modi is not contesting the UP polls, nor is Rahul himself, on a Congress ticket.

This brand is what master strategist Kishor faces on a daily basis. In the case of Narendra Modi and Nitish Kumar, he already had brands who would sell  he only needed to craft and amplify the message. With Modi, it was chai pe charcha, the holograms and the rest. With Nitish, it was parche pe charcha, and the Nitish-branded bicycles. But in Rahul Gandhis case, he simply cannot teach a new trick to a pony that stubbornly refuses to learn. Either that or Rahul Gandhi simply cannot shed the generations-long attire of doles, freebies and talking down to the electorate. So, what is the exact message that Prashant Kishor has in mind for Rahul Gandhi? And why was Sonia Gandhi silent throughout the month-long Congress campaign in UP?

Rasheed Kidwai seems to hint that Kishor might part ways with the Congress midway given what it might do to his reputation as the man whose strategy has always delivered victory.

However that might pan out, the answer to the Congress partys thinking about UP might lie in the selection of Sheila Dikshit as its CM candidate: That the Congress has given up long before the actual election.
When the Left returned to power in Kerala five months ago, there was a scare that the murderous politics of the RSS-BJP and the CPI(M) would enter a new, macabre phase. That fear has come true in good measure.

And the killing of a BJP worker in Kerala on Wednesday, in retaliation to the murder of a CPI(M) man two days ago, offers a fresh confirmation of that.

There have been six murders  three of RSS-BJP workers and three of CPI(M)s in Kannur since the May 2016 Kerala Assembly Election. Worse, Kannur is the home district of CPI(M)s Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, who also holds the home portfolio.

Predictably, each killing is followed by a bundh called by the party whose worker is the latest victim. On Wednesday, it was the BJPs turn to call a bundh that shut down the state.

At some point in the past, somebody called northern Kerala district of Kannur, where most of these killings take place, the Sicily of India. The name stuck. The irony is that Sicily became almost peaceful after two brave judicial officers  Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino  cracked down on the gangs and 342 mafiosi were convicted in 1987. Sicilys mafia went by the name of Cosa Nostra, which means our thing.

But Keralas Sicily is still struggling. The workers of RSS-BJP and the CPI(M) continue their thing: killing each other with chilling regularity.

The root of this violence is the scarcely concealed craze of both the RSS-BJP and the CPI(M) to curb each others growth in Kerala. While in Sicily, gangs had relative peace for some periods of time because they sorted out territories in which each should commit their perfidie, in Kerala, each side wants to usurp the others turf (also voters) even if it takes lives.

The misery that the warring groups inflict on the families of the dead is immense. BJP worker KV Ramith, 26, who was killed on Wednesday, was a truck driver. His father C Uthaman, a bus driver who also worked for the party, was hacked to death in 2002. Now, Ramiths sister and mother are left to fend for themselves. Families of most victims on both sides have tragic stories to tell even though respective parties help them with some money.

And most murders are gruesome: Ramith was stabbed repeatedly in the neck. His death was avenged with the killing of toddy shop worker and CPI(M) member K Mohanan, who was hacked to death by a gang of six masked men. Both were killed in broad daylight.

After each murder, you dont hear too much talk about anybody investigating the crime and catching the killers. What you hear instead is the leaders of the Left and the BJP blaming each other in words nearly as brutal as the deaths.

On Wednesday, Vijayan said that the BJP and the RSS were not only unleashing violence with the encouragement of their central leaders but also telling lies. The CPI(M)s state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan has discovered a conspiracy hatched by no other than Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP president Amit Shah to target Keralas Marxists. BJPs Kerala President Kummanam Rajasekharan and party spokesman GVL Narasimha Rao claim that their partymen are being killed with Vijayans knowledge and connivance.

It is likely that the CPI(M) was the first culprit in 1968, when it decimated an RSS functionary to curb the growing influence of the organisation. Since then it has been tit for tat or jaw for tooth for both. But it has gone on for so long that it no longer matters who started it all.

What should concern one, though, is that the gory, competitive murders are continuing. Particularly appalling is the fact that the latest murder on Wednesday was committed hardly half a kilometre from Vijayans home in Pinarayi village.

Despite several hiccups in administration and a nepotism charge against him, Vijayan is regarded as a leader of substance who is intent on improving Keralas messy economy. His government no doubt shines after the lackadaisical, corruption-ridden administration of the Congress that ruled the state for five years before him. But Vijayan is not particularly covering himself with glory by not stopping the bloodshed.

Its nobodys case that the CPI(M) and Vijayan alone are guilty. Its clear that the RSS-BJP combination can no longer blame the Left alone for the murderous saga. In the eyes of Keralas people, who are peace-loving to the extent of being lethargic, both sides must share the shame for this old Sicilian-type vendetta.

In private conversations, the Left gives the murders a bogus veneer of ideology, calling it a fight against the enemies of the working class and communalism. It's the same excuse that communist leaders across the globe, including those in West Bengal during Jyoti Basus rule, used to validate mindless massacres. In fact, for the Left in Kerala, its just a question of stopping the BJP from getting more support than it already has.

The BJP has been steadily increasing its vote share from 4.75 percent in the 2006 assembly elections to 10.6 percent votes in this years poll. This year, it also opened its account in the assembly with a single seat. Now determined on improving its performance in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP is ready to take down what it calls communist terrorism. It has no qualms whatsoever to resort to eye-for-eye politics to achieve that goal.

For now, the ball is firmly in the court of Vijayan because he is the chief minister. He cuts a sorry figure when he blames others for the killings and calls for action. He is the one who should act.

As far as the violence is concerned, he may think of turning into Italys dictator Mussolini, who was the first to clamp down on the Sicilian mafia, though it was the famous Falcone-Borsellino duo who brought the gangsters to their knees.

Author tweets @sprasadindia
By Steve Holland

| WEST PALM BEACH, Fla.

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. Donald Trump on Thursday angrily denied several accusations of groping in a growing controversy over inappropriate behaviour with women that is damaging the Republican presidential candidate's chances of winning the Nov. 8 U.S. election.Democratic rival Hillary Clinton, the New York Times and other media were engaged in a concerted, "vicious" attempt to stop him, Trump told a rally in West Palm Beach, Florida. "These claims are all fabricated. They're pure fiction and they're outright lies. These events never, ever happened," Trump said, adding he would make public at some point evidence to dispute the claims."These vicious claims about me of inappropriate conduct with women are totally and absolutely false. And the Clintons know it and they know well."Trump spoke after the New York Times reported on Wednesday evening that two women had endured sexual aggression from Trump, and several other women made similar allegations in other media outlets, putting more pressure on Trump as he lags Clinton in national opinion polls. Trump's campaign was already struggling to contain a crisis after a video surfaced last week showing him bragging in 2005 about groping women and making unwanted sexual advances.One woman, Jessica Leeds, appeared on camera on The New York Times' website to recount how Trump grabbed her breasts and tried to put his hand up her skirt on a flight from the Midwest to New York in or around 1980. (nyti.ms/2dx8k5R)The second woman, Rachel Crooks, described how Trump "kissed me directly on the mouth" in an unwanted advance in 2005 outside the elevator in Trump Tower in Manhattan, where she was a receptionist at a real estate firm.On Wednesday night, Trump's campaign made public a letter to the newspaper from a lawyer representing Trump, demanding it retract the story, calling it libelous, and threatening legal action if it did not comply."This entire article is fiction, and for the New York Times to launch a completely false, coordinated character assassination against Mr. Trump on a topic like this is dangerous," the Trump campaign's senior communications adviser, Jason Miller, said in a statement.Reuters could not independently verify the incidents. Leeds and Crooks did not respond to requests for comment from Reuters.The New York Times said on Thursday it stood by its story and rejected claims the article was libelous."Nothing in our article has had the slightest effect on the reputation that Mr. Trump, through his own words and actions, has already created for himself," said David McCraw, vice president and assistant general counsel for the newspaper, in a letter to Trump's lawyer.If Trump disagrees that the story was libelous, "we welcome the opportunity to have a court set him straight," McCraw said.

The Times report came just two days after a Reuters/Ipsos opinion poll showed one in five Republicans thought Trump's comments about groping women disqualified him from the presidency. The poll also showed him 8 points behind Clinton among likely voters. Trump, a New York businessman and former reality TV star, has never previously run for political office. Controversy has stalked his White House campaign since the day in June 2015 when he announced he was running for president, describing Mexican immigrants as rapists and criminals in a speech.Establishment Republicans have struggled to get behind Trump, alarmed by both his style and some of his policy proposals.MORE ACCOUNTS SURFACE

Within hours of The New York Times report, several other media outlets published similar reports. People magazine published a detailed first-person account from one of its reporters, Natasha Stoynoff. (bit.ly/2dTm90D)Stoynoff said Trump pinned her against a wall at his Florida estate in 2005 and kissed her as she struggled to get away.

"I turned around, and within seconds, he was pushing me against the wall, and forcing his tongue down my throat," Stoynoff said. Trump, 70, denied the People story in a Twitter message and in his speech in Florida on Thursday, and mocked the writer."I ask her a simple question. Why wasn't it part of the story that appeared 12 years ago. Why didn't they make it part of the story ...if she had added that it would have been the headline.""Look at her and look at her words," he said. "You tell me what you think. I don't think so."The Palm Beach Post reported a claim by Mindy McGillivray, 36, a woman in South Florida, that Trump had grabbed her bottom 13 years ago while she was working at his Mar-a-Lago estate as a photographer's assistant."There is no truth to this whatsoever," Trump's spokeswoman Hope Hicks told the Post. McGillivray could not be reached for comment.

CLOUD OVER REPUBLICAN HOPES

In the 2005 video, Trump bragged about groping women, kissing them without permission, and trying to seduce a married woman. He said during a presidential debate on Sunday that he had not actually done the things he had boasted about, and apologised for his remarks, which he called private "locker room talk."The video has thrown a cloud over Republican hopes of retaining control of the U.S. Congress and deeply split the party as a slew of elected officials have abandoned support for the candidate.U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan said on Monday he was no longer going to campaign for or defend Trump. Trump has veered since between pronouncing himself free to campaign as he likes, and expressing fury at Ryan and other "disloyal" Republicans.First lady Michelle Obama condemned Trump in scathing terms during a campaign speech for Clinton in New Hampshire. "This is not normal. This is not politics as usual. This is disgraceful. It is intolerable. It doesn't matter what party you belong to - Democrat, Republican, independent. No woman deserves to be treated this way," she said.A spokeswoman for Clinton, 68, said Wednesday's report in the New York Times was "disturbing.""These reports suggest that he lied on the debate stage and that the disgusting behaviour he bragged about in the tape is more than just words," said spokeswoman Jennifer Palmieri.The Washington Post endorsed Clinton on Thursday. "In the gloom and ugliness of this political season, one encouraging truth is often overlooked: There is a well-qualified, well-prepared candidate on the ballot ... we endorse her without hesitation," it said. One of Trump's highest-profile Republican supporters, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, received a blow on Thursday when a judge allowed a citizen's criminal complaint against him over the "Bridgegate" scandal to move forward. Christie allies were accused of deliberately causing a massive traffic jam in 2013 by closing access lanes to a bridge in order to punish a mayor.Christie heads Trump's transition team, which would work on the handover from President Barack Obama if Trump won the election. (Additional reporting by Roberta Rampton, Emily Flitter, Jonathan Allen, Emily Stephenson, Susan Cornwell, David Morgan, Michelle Conlin, Eric Beech, Eric Walsh, Doina Chiacu; Writing by Alistair Bell; Editing by Frances Kerry)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
ALGIERS Algerian soldiers have killed two Islamist militants including one who security sources said was a senior commander with an Islamic State-allied group that kidnapped and beheaded a French tourist two years ago.Troops killed the two suspects, known by the names of Abu Doujana and Abderrahmane, in an ambush in Oued Zehour in Skikda region east of the capital on Thursday, the defence ministry said in a statement published by APS state news agency.A security source said Abu Doujana was a leader of Jund al Khalifa, a splinter al Qaeda group that had allied itself with Islamic State. It was blamed for beheading Frenchman Herve Gourdel in a remote mountain area in September 2014.

Bombings and attacks are rarer in Algeria since it ended its decade-long 1990s war with armed Islamists. But al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb is still active and a small group tied to Islamic State also operated east of the capital.

Since Gourdel's death, Algerian forces have carried out operations in the east to flush out the remains of the Jund al-Khalifa, or Soldiers of the Caliphate. Most of its commanders have been killed and its structure dismantled since then.

(Reporting by Lamine Chikhi; Writing by Patrick Markey; Editing by Hugh Lawson)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
Lagos: Jihadist group Boko Haram released 21 kidnapped Chibok schoolgirls to the Nigerian government following a prisoner swap, an official in the president's office said Thursday.

The Chibok girls were released as part of a prisoner swap deal struck between Boko Haram, the International Committee of the Red Cross and the Nigerian and Swiss governments, said official and local sources.

"It is confirmed that 21 of the missing Chibok girls have been released and are in the custody of the department of state services," presidential spokesman Garba Shehu said in a statement.

"The release of the girls... is an outcome of negotiations between the administration and the Boko Haram brokered by the International Red Cross and the Swiss government," Shehu said. "The negotiations will continue."

The girls were exchanged for four Boko Haram prisoners in Banki, northeast Nigeria, said local sources.

"The girls were brought to Kumshe, which is 15 kilometres (nine miles) from Banki where a military base is stationed, in ICRC (International Committee of the Red Cross) vehicles," said a source.

"The four Boko Haram militants were brought to Banki from Maiduguri in a military helicopter from where they were driven to Kumshe in ICRC vehicles."

From Kumshe, the Chibok girls were taken by helicopter to Maiduguri, the capital of northeast Borno state.

"The 21 (Chibok) girls arrived (in) Banki around 3:00 am (0200 GMT) where they found a military helicopter waiting. They were immediately ushered into the helicopter and flown to Maiduguri," said another source.

The identity of the girls has yet to be confirmed, said Bring Back Our Girls campaigner Aisha Yesufu.

"We cannot confirm anything yet," Yesufu said.

Over 200 girls were captured from the northeast Nigeria town of Chibok in April 2014 by Boko Haram militants as part of their fight to establish a fundamentalist Islamic state in the region, drawing global attention to the jihadist insurgency.
Rebecca Wanosik, a young mother in Missouri in the United States recently faced flak from Facebook users after she posted a picture where she is seen breastfeeding two babies  her own and a friend's.

While some responses from Facebook users were positive, calling the picture 'beautiful', others made some hurtful comments. The social media platform too suspended Wanosik's account but later reinstated it. When contacted by The Independent, a Facebook spokesperson described their action as an 'error'.

This is not the first time social media platforms have taken action against women showing their biological parts. Earlier, Instagram had also taken down a picture where a woman had shown her menstrual blood.

According to Wanosik's account, a friend who had undergone surgery had asked Wanosik to breastfeed her newborn infant. The baby in question was also refusing to use a bottle.

"So last Friday night while I was carving and building a cake, I received a random text from one of my friends asking if I could feed a strangers baby. Was there ever a question? Wanosik said on her Facebook post.

Wanosik was moved by the babies holding hands as they were being breastfed in tandem, and she immediately snapped a picture and posted it on Facebook.

Soon after she posted the photo, she received degrading comments like 'Oh, can you feed me next?' and hateful comments which called her a pedophile. One person also said that the breastfeeding could be dangerous and potentially pass on illnesses.

Three days after posting the photo when she tried to log into her account, she found it had been disabled.

So my wife's account got disabled because of the unselfish act she did my posting about breastfeeding someone else's baby in need. Come on Facebook it was for a good cause, wrote her husband.

When contacted by The Independent, Facebook said that they had suspended the account after they received reports that the post violated the Community Standards set out on the website. However, on review, they reactivated the account.

A Facebook spokesperson told The Independent, Breastfeeding photos are allowed on Facebook. We agree that breastfeeding is natural and we know that it's important for mothers to share their experiences with others on Facebook.

"We apologise for this and for any inconvenience caused.
In the new mood of nationalism that is sweeping through the country, India is angry with old ally Russia for holding its first ever military exercises with Pakistan, a country Delhi blames for the recent Uri attack which killed 19 Indian soldiers.

Russia, which had over the years kept its distance from Pakistan and had earlier never sold military hardware to Islamabad, has abandoned its old policy. Will this change the overall India-Russia ties is a question many ask. That seems unlikely as Indias ties with Russia are all encompassing, though it has taken a downturn in recent years because of other preoccupations in both capitals.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Vladimir Putin will hold their bilaterals during the Brics summit in Goa this weekend, are likely to have a frank discussion to clear each other's misgivings. There is surely some concern in Russia about Indias growing closeness with the US.

The Modi government is unhappy about the exercises which took place soon after the Uri attack. Initially, two sets of exercises were planned and one was to be held in Gilgit-Baltistan, an area Moscows foreign office knows Delhi claims as its own region. This was later dropped. Delhis point is when it is trying to isolate Pakistan as a sponsor of terrorism, how can an old friend like Russia let it down? "It is like one side being unfaithful in a relationship," says Nandan Unnikrishnan of the Observer Research Foundation, an expert on Russian affairs.

India has not kept quiet about its displeasure at Moscows action. "We have conveyed our views to the Russian side that military cooperation with Pakistan, which is a state that sponsors and practices terrorism, as a matter of state policy is a wrong approach. It will only create further problems,"Pankaj Saran, Indias ambassador to Moscow had said in a recent interview.

At the same time, Ambassador Saran made it clear that he does not believe this would affect ties between the two traditional allies. The Prime Minister himself is very much conscious of the fact, that in the past when the US and the West stood by Pakistan during any stand-off with India, it was Russia that had solidly stood behind India. Modi is not about to jeorpardise this relationship, though many regard his foreign policy to be tilting towards the US.

"We see no changes here. On the contrary, this has only strengthened in all areas, including in the field of military and technical cooperation. This partnership is an anchor of peace and stability in the region and the world," Saran added. So it is not that relations will plummet because of this.

Russia and India have maintained a close partnership in military and technical cooperation for decades. India remains the largest importer of Russian weapons and accounts for nearly 70 percent of the defense force arsenal. Though this is changing. Russia remains important, doing business worth around two billion annually on supply of spare parts alone. Putin himself has mentioned that the construction of the BrahMos supersonic cruise missile and the development of a new, fifth generation fighter aircraft are among the successful joint projects, which the two sides have undertaken.

Despite the ground-breaking India-US civil nuclear agreement and subsequent deals India signed with France, Russia is the only country which is setting up nuclear power plants in the country. In fact, Moscow has been helping India even when the country was denied access to nuclear material. The only nuclear submarine India has is one which is leased from Russia. Indias indigenous nuclear-powered submarine Arihant is afloat today because of Russian help. Their engineers gave valuable suggestions to their Indian counterparts.

"India-Russia relations are drifting in international waters, with neither side paying close attention at the moment, admits Nandan Unnikrishnan, yet he quickly adds, "The depth and breadth of relations that India has with Russia cannot be replicated with any other country."

Both India and Russia are focusing on different regions of the world at the moment. ForModi it is cross-border terror and Pakistan, while Vladimir Putins Russia is heavily involved in Syria. Deteriorating ties with the US over Syria, Nato expansion in its backyard and Ukraine is of concern to Russia. But when Modi and Putin meet, both sides to put fix the loopholes, the core relations between the two countries are intact. India and Russia will not fall apart because of Russia's exercises with Pakistan, but Delhi believes it is tactical to drive the point home. Whereas, Moscow wont take kindly to India holding joint exercises with Ukraine. It is the same thing in Delhi.

One reason Russia is engaging with Pakistan is also due to its concern about the situation in Afghanistan. Russia sees Afghanistan through the prism of Central Asia. An unstable Afghanistan leads to instability across Central Asia which borders Russia. Moscow, like Washington, realises that Pakistan has to be involved in firming up a final political settlement in Afghanistan. Engagement with Pakistan will help Russia keep an eye on Afghan developments and perhaps give it some leverage in times to come.
AMMAN At least 20 people, mostly Syrian rebel fighters, were killed after a car bomb exploded on Thursday near a checkpoint close to the Bab al Salam crossing on the Turkish-Syrian border in northern Syria, two witnesses said.They said the blast took place near a checkpoint manned by a group of Free Syrian Army's (FSA) Jabhat al Shamiya close to a car depot nearly two km (one mile )away from the border crossing, a major conduit for traffic between northern Syria into Turkey.

The Bab al Salam crossing is close to the city of Azaz, a major stronghold of Turkish-backed moderate Syrian rebel fighters involved in a major operation to the east against Islamic State militants' remaining presence along the border.

(Reporting by Suleiman Al-Khalidi; Editing by James Dalgleish)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
BEIJING China hopes that Australia acts and speaks with caution on the South China Sea and that its words and actions on the matter match each other, a senior Chinese officer told the visiting head of the Australian Defence Force.Australia, a staunch U.S. ally, has previously drawn criticism from China for running surveillance flights over disputed islands in the South China Sea and supporting U.S. freedom of navigation exercises there.However, Australia has not conducted a unilateral freedom of navigation voyage of its own.Meeting in Beijing, Vice Chairman of China's Central Military Commission Fan Changlong told Australia's Air Chief Marshal Mark Binskin that China hopes to push forward the healthy and stable development of bilateral military ties, China's Defence Ministry said late on Wednesday.China "hopes that on the South China Sea issue the Australian side can speak and act cautiously, and that its words and deeds match", the ministry paraphrased Fan as saying.

He did not elaborate.China claims almost the entire South China Sea where about $5 trillion sea-borne trade passes annually. Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam also have claims on parts of the sea, which is believed to have rich deposits of oil and gas.China has been angered by U.S. freedom of navigation patrols in the South China Sea, while China's building of artificial islands there including new airstrips has rattled nerves around the region.

China says much of the building and reclamation work it has been doing in the South China Sea is to benefit the international community, including for civilian maritime navigation.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.Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull discussed the South China Sea with Chinese President Xi Jinping last month, stressing the importance of complying with international law. (Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Michael Perry)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
Phnom Penh: Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday began a two-day state visit to strong ally Cambodia, during which he will strengthen the already firm relationship and witness the signing of nearly 30 agreements.

It is Xi's first trip to the impoverished Southeast Asian nation since he became head of state. He is due to meet with King Norodom Sihamoni and Prime Minister Hun Sen.

Hun Sen said that at least 28 cooperative agreements, mainly covering the economy, investments, agriculture and infrastructure, are set to be signed during Xi's visit.

China is Cambodia's key ally and economic partner, providing millions of dollars in aid and investment over the past decade. China has granted Cambodia tariff-free status on hundreds of trade items and written off its debt. In July, Beijing gave nearly $600 million in aid to support the country's election infrastructure, education and health.

In return, Cambodia supports China in international forums, including in Beijing's ongoing dispute with other Southeast Asian countries in the South China Sea.

Security was tight for Xi's arrival at Phnom Penh International Airport, where several hundred students stood at both sides of the road to greet the president and his delegation by waving Xi's portraits and the two nations' flags. Several thousand security personnel also have been deployed along the streets in the capital.

Xi signed an article in the largest Cambodian daily Rasmei Kampuchea in which he said that the two countries "enjoy deep political trust and win-win economic cooperation."

"China and Cambodia are devoted friends. On issues concerning each other's core interests and major concerns, our two countries have stood together and supported each other," he wrote.
Bogota: Everything was ready: once approved, Colombia's peace deal would trigger a financial windfall, boost the economy and encourage investment.

Then the "no" vote won.

After Colombians went to the polls and shot down a potentially historic accord that would have ended 52 years of armed conflict between the government and FARC guerillas, the country was left in limbo.

President Juan Manuel Santos had promised that the peace deal represented "the best investment" possible for the country, and the international community agreed.

The World Bank announced in January that it had granted Colombia  Latin America's fourth largest economy  $1.4 billion to finance its peace efforts.

The European Union was on board too  about to send nearly 600 million euros ($661 million) to support implementation of the peace agreement. And the United States had set aside some $400 million towards a post-conflict Colombia.

But then everything crumbled. Voters narrowly rejected the peace deal in an 2 October referendum, saying "no" to an agreement reached between Santos's government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) after four years of negotiations in Havana.

Critics of the accord complained among other things that it went too easy on the rebels.

Now "there is considerable uncertainty. All this will remain frozen until the horizon clears. Everything will depend on what the three parties are willing to give up  the government, FARC and the 'no' camp," economist Cesar Ferrari, a professor at Javeriana University, told AFP.

While Colombia has seen average 3.9 percent growth in the last decade, falling oil prices have weakened this trend. Growth forecasts for 2016 have been revised downwards, from three to 2.5 percent.

The government in Bogota, which had placed its bets on the peace deal's passage, had already calculated the post-conflict benefits: under the deal, the country would see additional annual growth of 1.1 to 1.9 percent, thanks to better security and increased investment in tourism, mining and agriculture.

Santos, who won the Nobel Peace Prize last week, is now racing to negotiate a new deal acceptable to both the FARC and the opposition.

The government has also announced that separate peace talks with a smaller rebel group, the National Liberation Army (ELN), will open on 27 October.

According to the IMF's director for the Western Hemisphere, Alejandro Werner, whose organization renewed an $11.5 billion line of credit to Colombia in June, positive effects "will not materialize" before the conflict's end.

Reintegration of FARC guerillas in civilian life, as specified under the peace agreement which was signed on 24 August, is a costly task.

According to the Senate, this and other provisions from the agreement would cost around $31.4 billion over the course of 10 years, a sum that represents a third of the country's 2017 budget.

Meanwhile, markets have reacted well to the news of Colombia's jilted peace push, with only slight hiccups.

"The end of the peace process will take a little more time... but the Colombian economy will continue to be exactly the same," Finance Minister Mauricio Cardenas told AFP.

That is, at least for the short-term. Analysts warn that the impact could be much greater in the medium- to long-term if political uncertainty continues, and could delay the adoption of tax reforms, itself a controversial issue.

In the event of a severe delay, ratings agencies, which consider the tax overhaul necessary to revive the economy, could lower Colombia's sovereign debt rating.

"The outcome of the Colombian referendum is negative for its credit history. The peace accord's narrow defeat underlines a polarized political landscape that will undermine the government's ability to push through further reforms," warned Samar Maziad of Moody's.
Washington: Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has said he will cancel the historic Paris climate deal if voted to power as the agreement would cost the US economy USD 5.3 trillion and "skyrocket" electricity prices.

Speaking at an election rally in Florida, Trump said he will create jobs all across America and provide cheaper energy to people, especially farmers.

"I believe so much in the environment. Believe it or not, people are shocked  I've won many environmental awards. Many. But the Paris deal, supported by Hillary, will cost our country another USD 5.3 trillion over a period of time and skyrocket electricity prices," Trump, 70, said.

"We will cancel this deal so that our companies can compete. We want clean beautiful air. We want crystal clear water. That's what we want. We want to be able to do business throughout the world, not so that we can't compete because of these crazy deals that our president is making," he said.

He said he will unlock USD 50 trillion in energy reserves, meaning many new jobs all across America. That also means cheaper energy for farmers and everybody.

"We are going to take care of our steelworkers who are under siege from China, and we're going to take care of our miners who are practically being put out of business," he said.

"The Obama-Clinton crew spent USD 50 billion on climate programmes when they should have used that money to help Florida farmers fight diseases that threaten your crops. And that's happening all over," he said.

Trump said TPP was great for other countries but bad for the US.

"We'll do it nice and simple. We like a country? Boom, we do a trading deal. Another one, we do a trading deal. Another one."

"And if they don't behave, and if they don't live up to the deal, we send them what's called a notice of termination, 30 days," he said.

"We will be free traders, but we will free trade with our friends. We will be smart. We will bring back jobs, and we'll begin making product again. We'll begin making things," he said.

Trump said one of his many his dreams was to have Apple and companies like it to start making their iPhones and other products in the US and not in China and Vietnam or in other countries where they are making them.

"Hillary Clinton is an insider. She fights for herself. I'm an outsider - used to be an insider, to be honest with you. I know the inside and I know the outside. That's why I'm the only one that can fix this mess, folks," he told his supporters.
New York: Donald Trump is in the eye of a fresh storm after at least five women accused him of sexual assault and harassment, threatening the controversial Republican presidential nominee's already fragile campaign, less than a month before the election day.

The latest accusations against 70-year-old Trump come just days after a 2005 video surfaced of him in which he is talking in lewd and sexually explicit terms about women and bragging about groping them and getting away with it because he was a "star".

The New York Times reported two women's detailed accounts of Trump groping them. There was a similar account from another woman in the Palm Beach Post. Former Apprentice contestant Jennifer Murphy and People magazine writer Natasha Stoynoff also levelled similar allegations against him.

Jessica Leeds, 74, said Trump had groped her when the two were seated next to each other on a flight more than three decades ago.

Rachel Crooks, who worked for a firm based in Trump Tower in 2005, found herself in a lift with Trump and tried to introduce herself by shaking his hand. The Apprentice star kissed Crooks, then 22, "directly on the mouth", she told the New York Times.

Mindy McGillivray, 36, told the Palm Beach Post that she was groped by Trump during a party at his Florida property Mar-a-Lago 13 years ago, while Murphy told Grazia that Trump had kissed her on the lips at the end of a 2005 job interview.

In a lengthy account published late last night, Stoynoff recalled travelling to Mar-a-Lago to interview Trump and his wife Melania, in 2005. Trump, she claimed, had cornered her in private and "within seconds, he was pushing me against the wall, and forcing his tongue down my throat".

The women came forward to tell their stories after Sunday's presidential debate in which Trump denied having ever sexually assaulted women.

The Trump campaign condemned Stoynoff's story as "fabricated" and the New York Times piece as "fiction" and "a completely false, coordinated character assassination".

Trump's lawyers threatened to sue the New York Times.

The Trump campaign distributed a letter sent to The Times' executive editor, Dean Baquet, demanding a retraction and saying the article is "reckless, defamatory and libel per se."

Trump's attorney said failure to retract the piece and remove it from the newspaper's website would leave him "no option but to pursue all available actions and remedies".

When asked to comment on the accusations, Trump told a Times reporter that she was a "disgusting human being".

Jennifer Palmieri, communications director for Democrat Hillary Clinton's campaign, said, "This disturbing story sadly fits everything we know about the way Donald Trump has treated women. These reports suggest that he lied on the debate stage and that the disgusting behaviour he bragged about in the tape is more than just words."

Earlier, BuzzFeed News reported that four contestants in the 1997 Miss Teen USA beauty pageant said Trump walked into the dressing room while the participants, some as young as 15, were changing.

The new controversy comes just a day after Trump's campaign said it was planning to ramp up its attacks on Bill Clinton as a way to attack Hillary.

The Trump campaign is facing a lot of pressure after a stream of Republican leaders withdrew their support from the party's nominee following the emergence of the 2005 tape.

Trump has since gone on the offensive against senior Republican figures including House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senator John McCain.
The long and bloody Syrian civil war is one of the most complicated conflicts in recent history. There is no doubt that it is one of the most important issues in our world today. Despite the severe human rights violations and other issues that face the ravaged cities of this war-torn country, many of the stories of the plight of the citizens go untold. Which is why Madaya Mom, a comic that is inspired by real-life accounts by a mother battling starvation and sniper fire, is a story that needs to be told.

We worked with @ABC to tell the true story of "Madaya Mom" in a special digital comic: https://t.co/ZuADCpvuU1pic.twitter.com/lnEmcckxTh  Marvel Entertainment (@Marvel) October 3, 2016

The Syrian government forces and their allies have besieged Madaya with laws that hinder citizens from leaving the predominantly Sunni Muslim city. The government claims Madaya is home to rebel fighters opposed to Syrian president Bashar al-Assads rule.

The plot of the comic documents a mother and her family who have been trapped inside this Syrian town for over 15 months. The story covers the unsanitary living conditions, lack of food and violence that she and her children face on a daily basis as they are caught between warring factions in the countrys civil war.

As reported by ABC News, the Marvel comic is based on the revelations from an anonymous mother published on the news outlet since January from the blog posts Syria Starving: A Family's Fight for Survival. The Madaya Mom will correspond with ABC's journalists via text messages and update them about her and her family's situation.

The comic manages to give the world a glimpse of the unimaginable suffering that the Syrians has to face. A BBC report states that over 250,000 Syrians have lost their lives in four-and-a-half years of the armed conflict, and the conditions of the living arent any better. As countries continue to debate whether displaced Syrian migrants should be given refugee status, this comic could help the public realise the violence, fear and loss that compels the people to leave their homeland.

Read the Madaya Mom comic here
Islamabad: Pakistan Army chief General Raheel Sharif on Thursday confirmed death sentence handed down to 10 terrorists by military courts for their involvement in killing civilians, polio workers and armed forces personnel. The 10 condemned terrorists, belonging to the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) rebel outfit, were convicted by speedy trial in military courts.

"These terrorists were involved in heinous offences related to terrorism, including killing of innocent civilians, polio workers, NGO employees, police officials and armed forces personnel," army said. Fire-arms and explosives were also recovered from their possession.

The military courts were set up in Pakistan to expedite the trial process for terror-related offences following the December 2014 Talibans massacre at an army-run school in Peshawar in which over 150 people, mostly school children, were killed.

Following the attack, the government had lifted the moratorium on the death penalty and the Parliament passed the 21st amendment which established military courts which was challenged in the Supreme Court. The apex court ruled in favour of setting up of the courts in August last year.

It is not known where the trial was held and when the verdict of conviction announced, as the military courts work in secrecy due to fear of backlash by militants.
Anger and resentment against Indian immigrant labourers bubbled over during the 1907 Bellingham riots, when a mob of white workers in Washington state dragged mostly Punjabi Sikh workers onto the streets and beat them viciously, venting the steam of fear and anxiety they felt that their jobs were being taken. Racialised fear is not new in America. A legal framework for justifying and appeasing this fear is also not new.

The 1923 court case, United States vs. Bhagat Singh Thind, was brought by an Indian man, born of high caste in Amritsar, who petitioned the US courts to paint him white.

Bhagat Singh Thind immigrated to California in 1913. He worked in a lumber yard to support himself, while he attended UC Berkeley. When the nation went to war, he enlisted. When he was discharged after World War I, it was honourably so. He aspired to be an attorney and so applied to become a citizen.

At this point, its worth considering some of the rights Thind was denied because he was not a citizen. In many states, it was illegal to own or lease property if you were not naturalised. Non-citizens were eligible for fewer and less varied jobs. This is what had prompted Bhagat Singh Thind to petition the courts in the first place. And of course, non-citizens cannot vote. The tangible benefits of citizenship do not paint the full picture. A person wouldnt be considered American, even if he had fought for the country, even if he had lived here all his life, even if his children went to the local school, even if he spent significant time investing in his community, even if his taxes contributed to public works. Denial of citizenship amounted to social ostracisation in early 20th century America.

Akhay Kumar Mozumdar was the first "Hindu" person to be granted citizenship in the United States. He was part of a trickle of early Indian migration that would one day become a steady stream. Like Mazumdar, Bhagat Singh successfully petitioned the government for citizenship on the basis that he was a Caucasian man, ethnographically speaking. The Bureau of Naturalisation contested the lower court ruling, contending that being ethnographically Caucasian does not mean that a person is white in the colloquial sense. The case went to the Supreme Court.

It is pretty easy to debunk the "all are welcome" tagline that has beckoned many an immigrant. The fact is that a prerequisite for acceptance into American society  codified into law and wedged into language, evidenced by the shackles of the enslaved and the decimation of the native populations  has been whiteness. Whiteness, a nebulous concept, has changed in definition as America has changed. It originally meant northern and western European, eventually widening to admit the Irish, Mediterranean, Eastern European, and Near Eastern populations that made their way to America and fought to make space for themselves in American society.

The Immigration Act of 1917, sometimes referred to as the Asiatic Barred Zone Act, was yet another institutional reinforcement of racial exclusion. Included were a list of undesirable types (some gems: "idiots", "epileptics", "illiterates") and a list of nations from which people were forbidden to enter the US. The early 20th century was also the height of "yellow peril", which culminated in the passage of the Chinese Exclusion Act.

Fear-mongering can be found in many local papers, which claimed that Indians had poor work ethic and were "unassimilable". This emphasis on racial difference is found in Associate Justice George Sutherlands majority opinion in United States v. Bhagat Singh Thind.

Denial of citizenship amounted to social ostracisation in early 20th century America

"The children of English, French, German, Italian, Scandinavian, and other European parentage, quickly merge into the mass of our population and lose the distinctive hallmarks of their European origin. On the other hand, it cannot be doubted that the children born in this country of Hindu parents would retain indefinitely the clear evidence of their ancestry," Sutherland wrote.

This "not worse, just different" basis for racial separation and disenfranchisement was the excuse for the Jim Crow laws that brutalised black populations. It was later struck down, because as everyone had always known, separate was not equal. When "different" is used to justify the denial of access to all aforementioned benefits of citizenship, "different" is surely worse. What is Justice Sutherland really saying? That Indians are just slightly too different to be equal.

The explicitly racial restrictions on naturalisation were done away with when President Harry Truman signed the Luce-Cellar Act of 1946. Still, under this act, only 100 Indians were allowed to immigrate to the US per year, until 1965, when the quotas were broadened.

Race is not static. It is an arbitrary and ever-shifting means of categorising. The sad truth is that the government and private entities arbitrate race and leverage it. We have not come so far from this truth. Though it is true that race cannot explicitly be the reason why an immigrant is not granted citizenship, it might be the reason why certain districts arent allowed access to early voting. It might be the reason why there are mandatory minimum sentences for nonviolent drug crimes. It might be the reason why the person with the funny name doesnt get the job.
By Emma Batha

LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Medical clinics in Singapore are carrying out female genital cutting on babies, according to people with first-hand experience of the procedure, despite growing global condemnation of the practice which world leaders have pledged to eradicate.The ancient ritual - more commonly associated with rural communities in a swathe of African countries - is observed by most Muslim Malays in Singapore where it is legal but largely hidden, said Filzah Sumartono of women's rights group AWARE.Worldwide, more than 200 million girls and women are believed to have undergone female genital cutting or mutilation (FGM), according to United Nations figures.But its existence in Singapore, a wealthy island state which prides itself on being a modern, cosmopolitan city with high levels of education, shows the challenge of tackling a practice rooted in culture, tradition and a desire to belong. Sumartono said it was too early to press for a ban in Singapore although many countries have outlawed FGM. She said they first needed to create more awareness and debate around the practice and galvanise public support for ending it. "In my own circle of friends who are Malay and Muslim, 100 percent have been cut," said Sumartono, who was cut herself at one month old."But it is very hidden. Whenever I bring up the subject with non-Malay they're shocked and can't believe it happens in Singapore."The health ministry did not comment despite several requests.Sumartono said the practice - known locally as sunat perempuan - was usually done before the age of two and may involve cutting the tip of the clitoris or making a small nick."Even within the community we don't discuss this much," she told the Thomson Reuters Foundation by phone from Singapore. "If a male baby gets circumcised there is this big celebration and prayer ritual, but if it is a female baby it's quite quiet. It's usually only the mother or grandmother making the decision. Sometimes the father doesn't even know."She said cutting was usually done by medical professionals."We know five or six clinics offer the procedure - at around 20-35 Singapore dollars ($15-$26)," she added. "There's no legislation. It's done openly. You can just call up to make an appointment."

RELIGION AND CULTURE

FGM takes many forms and in some communities in Africa all the external genitalia are removed and the opening sewn closed.Sumartono said although the type practised in Singapore was milder it was still a violation of a woman's rights and underpinned the view that female sexuality must be controlled."What I get from talking to my community is, 'Oh, it's just a small cut so why are you complaining?'"But at its foundation, it is really an act of violence against women. At infancy already, the child is taught that your body is not your own."

Singapore, home to more than 525,000 Malays making up over 13 percent of the population, is not included in the latest U.N. global report on FGM and there are no studies on its prevalence. Although FGM is not mentioned in the Koran and predates Islam, some Muslims believe the ritual was endorsed by the prophet."Female circumcision, if done in the proper manner as prescribed by our Prophet Mohammad, ought to be continued," one Malay woman from Singapore, who has recently had her granddaughter cut, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.The retired civil servant, who asked not to be named, said this improved hygiene and had no adverse affect on a woman's sex life.She said the amount removed was "very tiny" and should not be classed as FGM because it was different to the more extreme types of cutting which can cause serious health problems.The World Health Organization, however, says FGM includes any injury to the female genitals.

GLOBAL ACTION

Sumartono said even if women did not want to cut their daughters they often came under family pressure to do so."My mum didn't want to do it - it was my grandmother who really pressured her. My grandmother said it's our culture. Community pressure is really quite strong," added Sumartono, who only started speaking out this year.She said the Islamic Religious Council of Singapore had advocated the practice on its website but this had been removed.The council did not respond to a request for clarification.In 2012 the United Nations called for a global ban on FGM, increasing pressure on countries to take action. Last year world leaders agreed a target of eliminating FGM by 2030.A U.N. report this year lists 30 countries where cutting is practised, almost all in Africa. Indonesia is the only Asian country cited.However, the Orchid Project, a charity which campaigns against FGM, says it believes cutting occurs in at least 45 countries and is more widespread in Asia and the Middle East than commonly perceived.Research suggests sunat perempuan is common among Muslim Malays in Malaysia, which neighbours Singapore, and is also practised in Brunei and part of southern Thailand."Often we think about it being a very rural practice linked to lack of education so it's surprising when we find it in countries like Singapore and it shows there is still a lot more we have to understand about why this is being held in place," said Orchid CEO Julia Lalla-Maharajh. (Editing by Katie Nguyen and Belinda Goldsmith; Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, which covers humanitarian news, women's rights, trafficking, corruption and climate change. Visit news.trust.org to see more stories.)

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By Suleiman Al-Khalidi

| AMMAN

AMMAN Hundreds of insurgents and their families have left two rebel-held towns on the northern outskirts of Damascus, residents and fighters said, under a deal with the government which is pushing its opponents to rebel areas further from the Syrian capital.The evacuation happened after the army gave community leaders in Qudsiya and Al-Hama - that had enjoyed relative calm under local truces - an ultimatum to get several hundred fighters out of their towns or face a widescale assault.The government says such amnesties are a "workable model to bring security and peace" after five years of civil war, but its opponents say forcing Sunni Muslim fighters and their families from their home towns could create new demographic frontiers and worsen sectarian tensions.Fourteen buses left the towns carrying around 400 fighters and their families in a total evacuation of over 2,000 people in two days to rebel-held areas in northern Syria, a resident said."They gave us little option: leave or all hell breaks loose," said Yousef al Hasnawi, a resident on the local rebel council. The deal follows August's surrender of Daraya, which had been one of the longest standing bastions of the uprising against President Bashar al Assad and a only a few kilometres (miles) southwest of the capital.Daraya's fall put pressure on other besieged rebel strongholds, boosting government hopes of subduing western and eastern suburbs of Damascus.

Shortly after the fall of Daraya, in Western Ghouta, hundreds of rebels in nearby Mouadamiya which had also agreed a local truce with the government in late 2013, were forced out."FORCED DISPLACEMENTS"

The army has in recent days escalated bombing of Eastern Ghouta, an area of farms and towns stretching northeast from Damascus that has been in rebel hands since the uprising began in 2011. It has also been relentlessly bombing for the last two months the besieged Khan al Sheeh, a Palestinian refugee camp in Western Ghouta from which the military seeks to evict rebels.The evacuation deals have been criticized by the United Nations which says they set an alarming precedent for the forced resettlement of civilians of besieged areas where starvation has been used as a weapon to force rebels to surrender.Syrian National Reconciliation Minister Ali Haider said the government wanted the United Nations to oversee the evacuation of Qudsiya to see how local truces were pacifying hotspots around the capital.

"The U.N. did not want to participate and we did not exclude them ... we wanted their presence at least as a witness to see how we are working on a workable model to bring security and peace," Haider said.Opponents of the evacuations say majority Sunnis areas are being replaced by members from Assad's minority Alawite sect and families of Iranian-backed Shi'ites who are fighting alongside the army."These are forced displacements that seek to change the population's makeup with full support of the Iranian and Russian occupiers," the Turkish-based Syrian opposition National Coalition said.Qudsiya and Al-Hama lie along a strategic route to the Lebanese border where, the opposition says, the Syrian army's ally, the Lebanese Shi'ite Hezbollah, is consolidating its presence to secure an arms and troops supply route to Damascus. (Additional reporting by Kinda Makieh in Damascus; Editing by Robin Pomeroy)

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By Megan Rowling

BARCELONA (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Ending extreme poverty is essential to save lives and limit damage from disasters, U.N. chief Ban Ki-Moon said, as figures revealed poorer nations bear the brunt of deaths from earthquakes, tsunamis, floods, storms and heat waves.An analysis of more than 7,000 disasters over the past two decades, in which 1.35 million people died, showed 90 percent of those deaths occurred in low and middle-income countries. Ban called it "a damning indictment of inequality". The impoverished Caribbean nation of Haiti, which suffered a devastating earthquake in 2010, lost more lives than any other country between 1996 and 2015, said the study issued by the U.N. Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR) on Thursday. Last week Haiti was struck again when Hurricane Matthew killed at least 1,000 people and left around 1.4 million in urgent need of aid. "High-income countries suffer huge economic losses in disasters, but people in low-income countries pay with their lives," said Ban in a message for the annual International Day for Disaster Reduction. Earthquakes and tsunamis were the biggest killers overall in the past 20 years, followed closely by climate-related disasters, which are increasing in number as the planet warms, according to the report.Ban warned "hundreds of millions of people" are at risk of rising seas, earthquakes, and climate and weather extremes.

"They live on marginal lands, beneath unstable hillsides or on storm-exposed coastlines," he said. "This is why eradicating extreme poverty ... is essential to reducing disaster risk." Last September, world leaders agreed to end poverty by 2030 as part of a new set of global development goals. The number of people living in extreme poverty fell by more than 100 million to 767 million in 2013, the World Bank said earlier this month. On average the death toll per disaster in low-income countries was five times more than in high-income countries which have more effective early warning systems and better preparedness, according to the Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters, which collects the data.The UNISDR praised examples in developing countries where efforts to protect people have paid off.

They include Fiji, where early warning and action by the authorities helped limit the death toll to 44 earlier this year from Cyclone Winston, the most powerful storm to hit the Pacific island nation.In India and Nepal, the NGO SEEDS has provided housing that can resist earthquake and cyclones in poor communities. And Nigeria's health ministry was recognised for stopping Ebola from taking hold when the pandemic was at its height in West Africa.

CLIMATE CHANGE

UNISDR head Robert Glasser highlighted the role of climate change in increasing the risks of disasters around the world.The report said the number of weather and climate-related disasters had more than doubled in the last two decades compared with the preceding two. All nations are being affected, including richer countries that have suffered tens of thousands of deaths linked to heat waves in particular.But the poorest are still far more likely to die. Glasser compared Cyclone Nargis, which hit Myanmar's coast in 2008 resulting in 138,000 deaths, to the zero casualties in Australia when top-strength Cyclone Yasi slammed into Queensland in 2010. "The irony is that those countries that have contributed least to climate change, to this crisis we face, are the ones that are being hit the hardest in terms of loss of life from these events," Glasser told reporters in Geneva. (Reporting by Megan Rowling @meganrowling; additional reporting by Stephanie Nebehay in Geneva; editing by Katie Nguyen. Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, women's rights, trafficking, property rights and climate change. Visit news.trust.org)

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WASHINGTON Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump denied multiple women's claims that he sexually assaulted them as "totally and absolutely false." "The claims are preposterous, ludicrous and defy truth, common sense and logic," Trump said at a campaign rally in Florida. "We already have substantial evidence to dispute these lies, and it will be made public in an appropriate way and at an appropriate time, very soon."

(Reporting by Steve Holland and Doina Chiacu)

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Canberra: Two 16-year-old Australian boys arrested in Sydney after each bought a knife were charged on with planning a terrorist attack on behalf of the extremist Islamic State group, police said.

The two were arrested by the federal-state Joint Counter-Terrorism Team in the western suburb of Bankstown on Wednesday, New South Wales state Deputy Police Commissioner Catherine Burn said, as Australia marked the 14th anniversary of extremist bombings in Indonesia that killed 202, including 88 Australians.

Burn said police had been concerned about the pair for some time and that the boys had potentially been radicalized by peers.

The pair had bought "two bayonet-type knives" from a Bankstown gun shop then caught a bus to the street near a Muslim prayer hall where they were arrested, Burn said. Police did not know their intended target, but an attack was imminent, she said.

The boys were questioned by police overnight and were charged early Thursday with preparing to commit a terrorist act and with membership of a terrorist organization, namely the Islamic State group.

They faced a potential life sentence if convicted of the planning charge and 10 years for being an Islamic State group member.

The pair were denied bail when they appeared in the Parramatta Children's Court. They did not enter pleas and will remain in custody until their next court appearance on 7 December.

State police headquarters in western Sydney was renamed the Curtis Cheng Center two weeks ago in honor of a civilian employee who was fatally shot as he left the building a year ago by a 15-year-old extremist.

"The events of yesterday are extremely sobering for us, particularly given the age of these individuals," Australian Federal Police Deputy Commissioner Michael Phelan told reporters.

"The threat is real, it's enduring, it's still happening and the age of these two individuals is extremely concerning to us," he added.
Yemen: The United States on Thursday bombed three radar sites controlled by Huthi rebels in Yemen, the first direct US strike against the group following attacks against American warships last week, the Pentagon said.

President Barack Obama authorized the Tomahawk cruise missile strikes, which were launched at 4:00 am local time by the destroyer USS Nitze against Huthi-controlled territory on Yemen's Red Sea coast, a US official said.

"Initial assessments show the sites were destroyed," Pentagon Press Secretary Peter Cook said in a statement.

The strikes "targeted radar sites involved in the recent missile launches threatening USS Mason and other vessels operating in international waters in the Red Sea and the Bab al-Mandeb," it added.

"These limited self-defense strikes were conducted to protect our personnel, our ships, and our freedom of navigation in this important maritime passageway."

The USS Mason, a destroyer, was targeted on Wednesday. The missile fired from rebel-held territory crashed into the ocean before reaching its target.

The Mason and the USS Ponce, an amphibious staging base, were previously targeted on Sunday by two missiles that also fell short.

"The United States will respond to any further threat to our ships and commercial traffic, as appropriate, and will continue to maintain our freedom of navigation in the Red Sea, the Bab al-Mandeb, and elsewhere around the world," Cook said.

Immediate review

The United States is backing a Saudi-led coalition fighting the Iran-backed rebels and the forces of former Yemeni president Ali Abdallah Saleh.

The US military provides intelligence and refueling for Arab coalition aircraft conducting air strikes against the rebels. It also supplies advanced munitions and logistics support to the Saudi-led war effort, and is the kingdom's biggest arms supplier.

But US air forces are not directly involved in strikes in Yemen, which are increasingly criticised by the international community for their devastating impact on civilians.

After Saturday's deadly air strike by the Saudi-led coalition on a funeral in Yemen that killed more than 140 people, the US administration announced an "immediate review" of its cooperation.

The Riyadh-led coalition fighting the Huthis has accused rebels of firing a ballistic missile on Sunday toward a Saudi air base in the southwestern city of Taif, hundreds of kilometers (miles) from the Yemeni border.

The incidents come after the United Arab Emirates, a key member of the Saudi-led coalition, said last week that Yemeni rebels had struck a "civilian" vessel in the strategic Bab al-Mandeb waterway, wounding crewmen.

That attack was claimed by the Shiite rebels.

Coalition warships have imposed a naval blockade on rebel-held ports along Yemen's Red Sea coast allowing in only UN-approved aid shipments.

Supported by Iran, the Huthis swept into the Yemeni capital Sanaa in September 2014 and advanced across much of the country, forcing the government of President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi to flee.

The conflict has killed more than 6,700 people  almost two-thirds of them civilians  and displaced at least three million since the coalition launched military operations, according to the United Nations.
Dubai: The US military directly targeted Yemen's Huthi rebels for the first time on Thursday, hitting radar sites controlled by the insurgents after US warships came under missile attacks twice in four days.

The Iran-backed rebels have denied carrying out the attacks, which saw missiles fired at US warships in the Red Sea on Sunday and Wednesday but falling short of their targets.

The United States is providing logistical support to a Saudi-led coalition that has been battling the rebels since last year, but Thursday's strikes marked the first time Washington has taken direct action against the Huthis.

The Pentagon said the cruise missile strikes  authorised by President Barack Obama  were launched at 4.00 am local time (0100 GMT) by the destroyer USS Nitze against territory on Yemen's Red Sea coast controlled by the Huthis.

"Initial assessments show the sites were destroyed," Pentagon Press Secretary Peter Cook said in a statement.

The strikes "targeted radar sites involved in the recent missile launches threatening USS Mason and other vessels operating in international waters in the Red Sea and the Bab al-Mandeb (Strait)," it added.

"These limited self-defence strikes were conducted to protect our personnel, our ships, and our freedom of navigation in this important maritime passageway."

The USS Mason, a destroyer, was targeted on Wednesday by a missile fired from rebel-held territory which crashed into the ocean before reaching its target.

The Mason and the USS Ponce, an amphibious staging base, were previously targeted on Sunday by two missiles that also fell short.

"The United States will respond to any further threat to our ships and commercial traffic, as appropriate, and will continue to maintain our freedom of navigation in the Red Sea, the Bab al-Mandeb, and elsewhere around the world," Cook said.

A Yemeni military source said the US missiles hit radar sites near Al-Makha and Al-Khukha in southwestern Yemen and Ras Isa, further north along the coast.

Attack claims 'baseless': rebels

The Huthis said the accusations they had fired on US warships were "baseless".

"Such claims aim to create false justifications to step up attacks and to cover up for the continuous crimes committed by the aggression against the Yemeni people," the rebel-controlled Saba news agency quoted a military official allied with the rebels as saying on Thursday.

The Saudi-led coalition launched its campaign in March last year, after the rebels seized control of large parts of Yemen including the capital Sanaa, forcing the government of President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi to flee.

The coalition has since carried out hundreds of air strikes and provided ground troops to support Hadi's forces, but it has failed to dislodge the rebels  who are allied with forces loyal to ex-president Ali Abdallah Saleh  from key areas.

The US military provides intelligence and refuelling for coalition aircraft. It also supplies advanced munitions and logistics support to the effort, and is Saudi Arabia's biggest arms supplier.

The campaign has faced increasing international criticism over civilians deaths, with critics calling on Washington to end its support for the coalition.

After a coalition air strike on a funeral in Sanaa on Saturday killed more than 140 people, the US administration announced an "immediate review" of its cooperation.

'Unlawful' funeral strike

Human Rights Watch, which has regularly criticised the Saudi intervention, on Thursday said the funeral strike needed to be investigated as "an apparent war crime".

"While military personnel and civilian officials involved in the war effort were attending the ceremony, the clear presence of several hundred civilians strongly suggests that the attack was unlawfully disproportionate," it said in a statement.

Francois Heisbourg, an analyst at the Paris-based Foundation for Strategic Research, said the rebels were probably looking to send a message to Washington after the funeral strike.

"The most logical explanation is that the Huthis... wanted to show the Americans that there is a price to pay" for continuing to support the Saudis, he said.

But Heisbourg said it was unlikely that Thursday's strikes were a sign of Washington stepping up its participation in the coalition.

"They reacted in a limited manner and it should stop there," he said.

Yemen's conflict has killed more than 6,800 people, wounded more than 35,000 and displaced at least three million since the coalition launched military operations, according to the United Nations.

As well as supporting the coalition, Washington has for years carried out drone attacks against jihadists in Yemen, regularly killing members of the local branch of Al-Qaeda.
For the past month, the Taliban have held control over most of Afghanistans Helmand province, where the majority of the worlds opium is grown  and as insurgent attacks intensify around the provincial capital, residents are blaming rampant government corruption for the rising militant threat.

At an international aid conference last week, Afghanistans leaders raised USD15 billion from their international backers and pledged to clamp down on graft. But corrupt officials have hollowed out the national security forces, selling weapons and even government buildings to the Taliban, and alienated local populations. One Afghan official said that Helmand residents were so angry at corruption that they were turning to the Taliban, despite memories of the extremist groups harsh rule.

Afghanistan is consistently rated by the corruption watchdog Transparency International as one of the worlds most corrupt countries, along with Somalia and North Korea. It is estimated that an eighth of all the money that goes to Afghanistan is lost to corruption, it said in a report released ahead of the aid conference.

The U.S. special inspector general for Afghanistan reconstruction, John Sopko, who is charged with tracing billions of dollars of American aid, estimates that while the United States pays salaries for 320,000 Afghan soldiers and police nationwide, the actual number of troops is just 120,000. The remainder are so-called ghost soldiers. Corrupt commanders claim salaries and benefits for soldiers and police who either dont exist, have agreed to hand over part of their pay in exchange for not going to work, or who have been killed in battle.

Of the 26,000 security force personnel officially assigned to Helmand, up to half are ghost soldiers, according to Sopkos most recent report.

Helmand is particularly afflicted by corruption, thanks in large part to its opium fields. The majority of the worlds heroin originates in this southern province bordering Pakistan. The U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime last year valued the crop $3 billion a year, equivalent to around 20 percent of Afghanistans gross domestic product. It helps fund the Taliban insurgency, and local officials and military leaders profit from the industry too. They receive bribes to turn a blind eye, and sell their military equipment to cash-rich militants.

Local officials and residents say that corruption occurs at every level in the province and everything is for sale, from government jobs, to ammunition and weapons and state-owned buildings.

Across Helmand, soldiers and police regularly change sides and give up their vehicles and weapons rather than defend themselves against attack, said Attaullah, a member of the provincial council.

Some sell their weapons, their ammunition, even in some cases their buildings, to the insurgents, said Attaullah, who like many Afghans has only one name. Sometimes they sell the soldiers, too, along with their equipment.

A year ago, the government controlled 80 percent of the province. Now, for at least the past month, more than 85 percent of Helmand territory is basically under the control of the Taliban and other terrorist groups, said Abdul Ahad Massomi, a former governor of Gereshk district, which has shifted between Taliban and government control for years.

The insurgents and other drug-trafficking groups have joined forces to push the government out of the opium trade, said a former central government official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the issue.

The Taliban have full control of five of Helmands 14 districts and are in effective control of eight others, where just small pockets of territory are still government-held.

The militants are now closing in on the provincial capital of Lashkar Gah, with a spate of assaults and suicide attacks having killed dozens of people in recent weeks. The Taliban have been on the offensive in Helmand since the start of the fighting season in April, and the latest attacks on Lashkar Gah suggest a final push before the gunmen retreat for the winter.

The Taliban dont want to take over the city, but they do want the government and the people to know that they have the ability to take over, the former central government official said. Its about drugs, money and power.

Razia Bloch, a member of the provincial council, says each morning she fears the Taliban will take over Lashkar Gah and declare the province fully under their control. She said that the militants are so close that from the district governors building the white Taliban flag can be seen flying, just a few kilometers away.

The fall of Helmand province would deal a heavy blow to U.S. and Afghan officials, who consistently issue assurances that it will never fall. It would also bring the militants closer to their real prize, neighboring Kandahar province, the base of their 1996-2001 government.

But not everyone in Lashkar Gah dreads the insurgents presence. The people are so disgusted with the government that now they are more inclined to support the Taliban, said the former governor Massomi. According to him, despite the Talibans hard-line interpretation of Islamic law many people feel they are not nearly as bad as the government. Karim Sharifi & Lynne ODonnell, Kabul, AP
China is protesting the attendance of the U.N. human rights chief at a ceremony honoring an imprisoned Chinese scholar and rights activist.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said yesterday that Zeid Raad al-Hussein had confused right and wrong and blatantly supported terrorists.

That reflects Chinas contention that Ilham Tohti had been part of a criminal gang that sought to split the western region of Xinjiang from China.

Tohti was sentenced in 2014 to life in prison on separatism charges.

A member of the Turkic Muslim Uighur ethnic group, he was a critic of the governments ethnic policies in the far western region of Xinjiang.

On Tuesday, he was given the Martin Ennals Award bestowed by 10 rights groups including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch at a ceremony in Geneva. AP
CTM yesterday announced its exchange procedure for the Samsung Galaxy Note 7. From now until December 31, consumers who purchased the phone from CTM can approach any of the telecommunications providers branches to apply for a handset exchange.

If the replacement handset is more expensive, the customer will need to pay the balance. For cheaper handsets, the customer will be given a refund of the difference.

CTM said that consumers would only have to present the handset, its original accessories and the receipt upon exchanging.

The operating hours of CTM branches will be temporarily adjusted to facilitate the exchange. Until tomorrow, six CTM outlets will be open until 9 p.m.

For safety reasons, CTM strongly recommends that consumers exchange their handsets as soon as possible.

CTM has sold around a thousand Samsung Galaxy Note 7 handsets. It remains in close communication with Samsung HK to make any appropriate arrangements.

toyota recalls 340,000 prius hybrid cars for faulty brakes

Toyota Motor Corporation issued a global recall of 340,000 gas-electric hybrid Prius cars yesterday (212,000 in Japan and 94,000 in North America) due to defective parking brakes.

Toyota acknowledged the fault after receiving reports of crashes, injuries and deaths. The Japanese automaker refused to provide details, saying it was still looking into the reports.

Toyota said the hybrid cars parking brake cable can disengage unexpectedly, causing the brakes to stop functioning. A car left in any gear other than park could roll down a slope, potentially causing a crash.

Toyota said 17,000 Prius vehicles had been recalled in Europe, and the rest in Australia and other regions. The faulty models were manufactured between August 2015 and October 2016.

The company said all the vehicles were manufactured at its Tsutsumi plant in Toyota City, Japan, the companys headquarters and one of a handful of plants worldwide that make the Prius.
A swearing-in ceremony to kick off Hong Kongs legislative session descended into farce yesterday as newly elected pro-democracy lawmakers intentionally mangled their oaths in a show of defiance against Beijing.

The new crop of lawmakers, elected last month amid swelling anti-China sentiment, object to the oaths requirement to pledge allegiance to the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the Peoples Republic of China and its Basic Law constitution.

So they came up with creative ways to get around it.

Sixtus Leung, 30, of the radical Youngspiration party draped a blue flag with the words Hong Kong is not China over his shoulders. His colleague Yau Wai-ching laid the same flag out in front of her.

They both vowed to defend the Hong Kong nation before reciting the oath in English but mispronouncing China as Shina , an old-fashioned derogatory Japanese term for the country.

Leung clutched a Bible in his right hand but also crossed his fingers. Yau, 25, combined republic with a curse word.

They were among three lawmakers whose oaths were not accepted by the legislative clerk.

The provocative actions foreshadow whats expected to be a chaotic term in the semi-democratic Legislative Council after Septembers elections added to the oppositions numbers in the semiautonomous Chinese city.

The freshman lawmakers represent a new wave of grassroots groups that emerged from the wake of 2014 massive pro-democracy street protests, which failed to win concessions from Beijing but sparked a rising independence movement and a political awakening among the citys young.

Lau Siu-lai, who founded her own party, Democracy Groundwork, took a slow-motion approach. She took about 10 minutes to repeat the declaration, which has less than 100 words, by pausing for several seconds after each one.

Nathan Law, who helped spearhead the 2014 protests and is Hong Kongs youngest ever legislator at age 23, prefaced his oath by quoting Indian independence icon Mahatma Gandhi vowing never to bend to authorities.

You can chain me. You can torture me. You can even destroy this body but you will never imprison my mind, said Law, of the Demosisto party.

As he recited the oath, he raised his tone slightly when he mentioned the Peoples Republic of China, in what some saw as a subtle way of turning the statement into a question about whether to bear allegiance.

Not everyone rebelled.

Ann Chiang, one of 40 pro-Beijing representatives in the 70-seat council, raised eyebrows by making her declaration in Mandarin, the language of mainland China, rather than the Cantonese spoken in Hong Kong. Kelvin Chan, Hong Kong, AP
Hacked emails show that Hillary Clintons campaign was slow to grasp the seriousness of the controversy over her use of a homebrew email server and believed it might blow over after one weekend.

Two days after The Associated Press was first to report in March 2015 that Clinton had been running a private server in her home in New York to send and receive messages when she was secretary of state, her advisers were shaping their strategy to respond to the revelation.

WikiLeaks began releasing on Friday what it said were years of messages from accounts used by Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta. He said yesterday that the FBI told him it was looking into the breach as part of its ongoing investigation into the hacking of Democratic organizations by Russian intelligence.

Among the emails made public yesterday by WikiLeaks was one from Clinton campaign spokesman Nick Merrill, who optimistically suggested that the issue might quickly blow over.

Goal would be to cauterize this just enough so it plays out over the weekend and dies in the short term, Merrill wrote on March 6, 2015.

It did not, and became the leading example of Clintons penchant for secrecy, which has persisted as a theme among her campaign critics and rivals throughout her election season. Clinton did not publicly confirm or discuss her use of the email server until March 10 in a speech at the United Nations, nearly one week after AP revealed the servers existence.

Months after Merrills message, the campaign was still preoccupied with emails. In May 2015, Clinton spokesman Brian Fallon alerted other staffers that the Justice Department was proposing to publish Clintons work-related emails by January in response to requests by news organizations. Fallon, a former Justice Department spokesman, wrote that unspecified DOJ folks told him there was a court hearing planned soon in the case. The name and email address of the person who shared the information with Fallon had been deleted.

Donald Trump called Fallons email unbelievable, and his supporters said it showed collusion between the Obama administration and Clintons campaign.

The dates of court hearings would have been publicly posted in advance on the courts docket. Fallon did not respond to a request for comment from AP. The Justice Department declined to discuss Fallons email.

It wasnt immediately clear who hacked Podestas emails, though U.S. intelligence officials last week blamed the Russian government for a series of breaches intended to influence the presidential election. Podesta has acknowledged his emails were hacked. He has warned that messages may have been altered or edited to inflict political damage but has not pointed to any specific case of this.

Podesta said that Russia may prefer Trumps policy positions, but he also suggested the motive could be Mr. Trumps deep engagement and ties with Russian interests in his business affairs.

Russian Ambassador to the U.S. Sergey Kislyak dismissed the accusations as untrue.

We are watching very carefully the election campaign in this country, Kislyak said at a discussion of bilateral affairs at Johns Hopkins Universitys campus in Washington. We dont interfere (in) the internal affairs of the United States, neither by my statements nor by electronic or other means.

The messages stolen from Podestas account describe how Clintons closest advisers considered responding to key events during the campaign, including the discovery of her email server and her congressional testimony over the deadly 2012 attacks on a U.S. diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya.

In emails from March 2015, Merrill suggested a strategy  ultimately nixed by Clinton herself  of having comedian Larry Wilmore and Bill Clinton joke during an event for the Clinton Global Initiative charity in Coral Gables, Florida, before having Clinton join them on stage.

Merrill laid out the scenario in emails to Podesta and other aides: Wilmore could sit down with WJC and Chelsea and say something like Thanks for having me here, its a pleasure. And I should tell you, I just emailed HRC (I hear shes a big emailer), and asked if shed join as well. (Laughter). He added that Hillary Clinton could then walk out to applause.

It would be just light-hearted enough while giving her the opportunity to address this seriously, be a little conciliatory as discussed, and then get back to a discussion about CGI etc., Merrill wrote in the email.

In the end, Hillary Clintons team drafted talking points Clinton used at the news conference at the United Nations.

Clinton said she fully complied with every rule that I was governed by and that there is no classified material among her work-related emails.

Both of those statements were later proved false.

The State Departments internal watchdog concluded in an audit released that Clinton ignored clear written guidance that her email setup broke federal record-keeping rules and could leave sensitive material vulnerable to hackers. The FBIs recently closed investigation concluded that more than 100 emails exchanged through Clintons private server contained information that was later determined to be classified.

As the email controversy escalated in the summer of 2015, Clinton herself seemed slow to grasp the continuing political damage. Communications director Jennifer Palmieri in August expressed concerns that Clinton wasnt in the same place on the issue as some on her campaign staff.

At the time, the political aides were working out details of revealing that Clinton had directed her staff to hand over her server and a thumb drive with copies of her emails to the Justice Department. Palmieri was writing other campaign aides to arrange for a Univision reporter to ask a few questions on emails during an interview that would otherwise focus on college affordability.

As you all know, I had hoped that we could use the server moment as an opportunity for her to be viewed as having take a big step to deal with the email problem that would best position us for what is ahead, Palmieri wrote. It is clear that she is not in same place.

Clintons email practices were not the only controversy her campaigns brain trust was addressing.

On October 2015, speechwriter Dan Schwerin circulated among top Clinton advisers a draft of her opening statement to the House Select Committee on Benghazi, to be delivered the following week.

The draft itself wasnt attached in the emails published Tuesday, but other messages showed how it was shaped, including a section referring to Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens, who was killed in the Sept. 11, 2012, attack.

We might consider softening the Chris did not believe retreat was an option  and neither do I line, wrote Katherine Turner, a law partner of Clintons personal attorney David Kendall. I dont think we want to suggest that there was a commitment to be there at any and all costs.

Following Clintons tense Oct. 22 testimony, Podesta proposed in an email that she could publicly joke, I used to be obsessed with Donald Trumps hair, that was until I got to spend 11 hours staring at the top of Trey Gowdys head, a reference to the slicked-back white coif of the South Carolina Republican who chairs the committee.

Other Clinton aides shot down the idea.

I love the joke too but I think HRC should stay above the committee, adviser Jake Sullivan replied, and especially above personal insults about it. Shes got every inch of the high ground right now.

Palmieri replied: Wow. You people are a bunch of ninnies. Michael Biesecker, Julie Bykowicz, & Chad Day, Washington, AP
The Premier of China has said that the central government is confident that the outlook for Macau will continue to be bright.

Before leaving Macau, Li Keqiang said yesterday that Macau would play an ever more important role in connecting China and the Portuguese-speaking countries. This would also assist with the diversification of the local economy, he added.

I am full of hope towards Macaus development and its situation. Li Keqiang told the media before boarding his flight. During his three-day visit to Macau, he felt Macau residents love of the country and of the SAR itself. He stated that the central government will continue to support Macau in playing a special role in Chinas reform and in opening up to the world, remarking that Macau has a wider development space.

The central government will continue its full support of the Chief Executive and of the SAR government in performing official duties within the law, and in promoting the cooperation between mainland China and Macau. I believe that Macaus future, placed in an open environment, will have a wider space. Macaus future will be better.

Li added that he had visited an average Macau family, and visited Macaus downtown and streets, and visited some enterprises, and the daily life of Macau residents.

I had meaningful conversations with many Macau residents, businessmen. I deeply felt Macau fellow citizens attachment to the motherland and to the mainland, he said.

The Premier said that Macau, in the face of the worlds slow recovery from the economic crisis, and also from its own industrial structural challenges, still manages to keep fiscal surplus, high employment rates, better livelihood and a peaceful society. He then remarked on the fact that the One Country, Two Systems policy is being successfully implemented in the SAR.

In Lis words, Macaus diversified culture plays an important role as a pillar for the cooperation between China and the Portuguese-speaking countries.

He told the media he has been to Hong Kong twice and hopes to visit again, and that the One Country, Two Systems policy will continue to be promoted there.

Li arrived in Macau on Monday for a three-day inspection tour. While in Macau, the Premier attended the opening ceremony of the Fifth Ministerial Conference of the Forum for Economic and Trade Co-operation between China and Portuguese-speaking countries and delivered the keynote speech at the event. JZ

remarks on hong kong

In the last moments before boarding his flight to mainland China, Li Keqiang was asked whether he intended to visit Hong Kong, to which he responded, I hope to visit Hong Kong again. Li told the media he had visited Hong Kong twice previously, and said that Hong Kong will continue to push forward the implementation of the One Country, Two Systems policy.
The Fund for Development Cooperation between China and the Portuguese-speaking Countries  officially set up in 2013 with USD1 billion in funding  will move its headquarters from Beijing to Macau.

This change was highlighted by the Secretary for Economy and Finance, Lionel Leong, during yesterdays press conference to evaluate the results of the Fifth Ministerial Conference of the Forum for the Economic and Trade Cooperation between China and the Portuguese-speaking Countries.

Although Leong did not disclose details such as a concrete date for the change of headquarters, he said the new building was a gift that the central government gave to us.

He added that with the relocation of the headquarters, the central government will expect Macau to provide improved services to facilitate trade between China and the Portuguese-speaking countries.

We are still negotiating, but the talks have been underway for some time now, added Leong, when questioned by the media on a possible timeline for relocation.

The secretary noted that the relocation means that Macau has been entrusted with a very important role in connecting entrepreneurs with the fund. This contact is currently dependent on a mediator provided by the Macao Trade and Investment Promotion Institute (IPIM).

I think this change carries a lot of advantages for Macau and can better reveal the role of Macau as a finance center, said Leong, adding that this can help us to process all the operations and procedures between China and the Portuguese-speaking countries, allowing us to provide better service to the entrepreneurs [who can learn] about all the formalities and bureaucracies in order to get support from the fund.

Since the establishment of the fund, it has supported only two projects, a situation that Leong thinks will change when the headquarters is brought into closer proximity with potential users.

The secretary also noted that the Macau platform will have a new role in the financial services sector. The platform will facilitate the conversion and clearance of RMB currency exchanges, and the transactions will be assigned to the Bank of China.

Leong foreshadowed that this might not be the only role in the territory related to the Chinese currency, and that it represented a new path leading to the addition of other financial services and products in RMB.

According to the MSARs head of Finance, Macaus new role as a finance center will also open up the possibilities of economic diversification and local employment, promoting the emergence of other sectors.

With the Finance Center, we can have new emerging sectors of activity like the accounting sector, and finance lease among others connected to the financial sector, he said.

In response to questions about whether the territory could provide sufficiently qualified labor to face a possible increase in demand within the finance sector, Secretary Leong remarked that the transition would rely on the successful initiation of the next generation.

We need to have qualified labor, and we must bet on the education and training of youngsters so they have enough knowledge to engage in a career in the finance sector. [This way], we have more qualified labor to work on this financial services platform. Thats the way we can reach the final goal and make this sector prosper.

He also stated that training would be implemented in order to accelerate operational processes in the finance sector, which the MSAR government would promote through the Macau Productivity and Technology Transfer Centre (CPPTM).
The final event of yesterdays Fifth Ministerial Conference of the Forum for the Economic and Trade Cooperation between China and Portuguese-speaking countries was an entrepreneur conference focused on financial transactions between China and the Portuguese-speaking countries.

In the keynote speech during the morning session at the Macau Tower Convention Centre, President of the Macao Trade and Investment Promotion Institute (IPIM) Jackson Chang highlighted the new role Macau has to play as a well-known platform.

In the future, cooperation in financial matters will be an important component of the relationship between China and the Portuguese-speaking countries, Chang said.

The IPIM president also recalled that in the past decade, the territory has developed several services related to transactions in the Chinese Yuan (RMB).

This history led him to remark that Macau can assume the role of the clearing house for transactions made in RMB between China and the Portuguese-speaking countries, an idea put forth during the first day of the Forum.

According to Chang, RMB transactions yielded turnover of RMB7.6 billion in 2015, which represented year-on-year growth of 15 percent.

These new financial services enable companies from the Portuguese-speaking countries to invest in Chinese territory, including Macau, through a Cooperation Fund. In addition, trade is expected to improve due to the creation of the Three Centers that will support small- and medium-sized enterprises, food product distribution, and the Exhibition and Convention sector.

Speaking about the agreement that officially launched the China-Portuguese-Speaking Countries Federation of Entrepreneurs  the signing of which also took place during the morning session  Chang said, I trust that this initiative will further reinforce the mutual cooperation and exchanges, and bring new business opportunities.

The regions unique status was eloquently expressed in the speech of the Minister of Industry, Trade and Services of Brazil, Marcos Pereira. He highlighted the ease of access to legal consultancy services in both Portuguese and Chinese languages, remarking on the regions capabilities as a meeting point.

I have no knowledge of another place in the world where we can petition to the judiciary authorities in Portuguese or Chinese, like here in Macau, said Pereira adding that this city represents the intersection between west and east being characterized like a synthesis of values and ideals.

The Brazilian official also remarked that with this new path drawn by the Forum, the previous situation of misrepresentation [of Brazil] in the international commerce would be replaced by the current clear signs that we will actively and decisively search for new markets.

He explained that this change would be accomplished by promoting a significant decrease in regulations and bureaucracy, which are requirements of Brazilian international commerce.

During the session, the Minister of Economy from Portugal, Manuel Caldeira Cabral, recalled the success of several measures implemented by the Portuguese government in the last few years, namely the gold visas that grant non-European Union residents a point of access to the country via investment.

He also mentioned the partnerships between the Portuguese electric company (EDP) and the Chinese company China Three Gorges Corporation, adding that the country will focus on the tourism sector going forward. In June 2017, a new direct air route between Beijing and Lisbon will open, linking Shanghai and Portugal in a development that is expected to influence international commerce.

The Portuguese government reaffirmed its interest in the field of startups and new technologies, with Cabral highlighting the Web Summit that will take place at Lisbon this November and in the coming three years.

The minister added that the global scale event will count approximately 5,000 participants from across the world.

The President of the Portugals Global Trade Investment Agency (AICEP), Miguel Frasquilho, also highlighted Macaus ability to train quality talent in its well-known Portuguese universities.

In his speech, Frasquilho focused on the need to establish partnerships at different levels, and announced that the new Portuguese Consulate in Guangzhou will have an office from AICEP (like Macau) to provide proximity support to entrepreneurs and potential investors.

Another major moment in the extensive session was the signing of several agreements, specifically the unveiling of a plaque to commemorate the official establishment of the China-Portuguese-Speaking Countries Federation of Entrepreneurs.
Portugal is welcoming non-military Chinese engagement in the Azores to help develop the logistical and research potential of the mid-Atlantic island chain.

The growing Chinese influence on the archipelago is worrying Washington as the U.S. reduces its military presence at the Lajes Field air base on the island of Terceira. A series of senior Chinese officials  including President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang  have used the island as a stop-over on trips to Latin America, as China seeks to expand its footprint overseas and safeguard economic interests.

In a Bloomberg Television interview in Macau this week, Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Costa said that while his nation  a NATO member  would continue to honor its defense pact with the U.S., he also wants to see better use of the Azores. The islands are very important both logistically in the Atlantic Ocean but also in terms of technology and research, in the field of climate change and deep water research, he said.

The military use of the American base at this moment is not on the table, what is on the table is for EU institutes, American institutes and Chinese institutes to reuse infrastructure for scientific research purposes, said Costa, 55. Itd be a huge waste not to use that infrastructure. We need to reuse that infrastructure, and if you are not going to use it for the military purpose, why not scientific research?

Lajes Field  located 2,290 miles (3,690 kilometers) east of New York and about 1,000 miles west of Lisbon  had served as a key link between the U.S. and its allies in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and the Middle East. During the Cold War, the base played a crucial role in tracking Soviet guided missiles and ballistic missile submarines in the region. It also supported U.S. airlift missions to Israel in the 1970s.

The U.S. planned to cut its military presence at Lajes to under 170 active duty personnel after the global economic crisis, in a move that is hurting the local economy. The down-scaling is also seen by Pentagon hawks as strategically precarious.

In a Sept. 20 letter to U.S. Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter, Devin Nunes, the Republican chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, sounded a warning on Chinas ambitions in the mid-Atlantic.

China has spread its influence through similar infrastructure investments in Djibouti, Sri Lanka, and elsewhere around the globe, Nunes wrote. It is now using the same tactics to establish a foothold in the Azores which, if successful, will be used for a logistics and intelligence hub that could ultimately be expanded for other military purposes, adjacent to critical U.S. military facilities.

China has dramatically expanded its global reach in recent years as it seeks energy supplies and raw materials to fuel economic growth. Chinese businesses eager to diversify their export markets have also fanned out looking for new customers in places like Africa, Latin American and the Middle East.

Terceira, the island that hosts the Lajes base, appears to be part of that strategy. Premier Li made a two-day technical stop there on his return from Cuba two weeks ago, and President Xi stopped there in July 2014 on the way back from a trip to South America. In June, Chinas top maritime official, State Oceanic Administration chief Wang Hong, visited the Azores.

Neither Beijing nor Lisbon has elaborated on the apparent Chinese interest in the island.

After meeting Barack Obama during a NATO Summit in Warsaw in July, Costa said he handed the U.S. president a summary of work done toward turning the Azores into a research platform. The Portuguese government is also working to establish an international science research center on the island chain.

In the interview, Costa said of the Azores: Were open to cooperation with all partners, including China, to work in deep-water technology and research, especially in the fields of paleontology and volcanology.

While U.S. influence there dwindles, China has invested heavily in Portugal. The Western European nation has become Chinas fifth-biggest investment destination in Europe, and, according to official figures, total Chinese investment reached more than $7 billion by the end of last year.

Costa said that his country feels very comfortable with the positive Chinese investment, and would like to strengthen the partnership.

Portugal has opportunities and China has the investment capacity, together they can do more than they can do separately, both in Europe and in the Portuguese-speaking world, Costa said. China knows us, and has known us for many centuries, and they know were a loyal and trustworthy partner. Bloomberg
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte will make a state visit to China next week in the latest instance of reaching out to Beijing despite an ongoing territorial dispute, while questioning his countrys traditional ties with the United States.

The Oct. 18-21 visit will include talks with President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang touching on ways to improve bilateral relations and deepen cooperation, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said yesterday at a regular news briefing.

China anticipates that President Dutertes visit can help with enhancing political trust  dealing with disputes properly through dialogue and bringing the bilateral strategic cooperative relationship for peace and development back to the track of sound and steady development, Geng said.

Without mentioning the dispute over waters and islands in the South China Sea, Geng said the Philippines was a traditionally amicable neighbor of China.

Duterte, who labels himself a socialist, has turned toward China amid a string of anti-U.S. pronouncements and a falling out with President Barack Obama, whom he has lambasted for criticizing his deadly anti-drug crackdown.

On Tuesday, he said he wouldnt abrogate a defense treaty with the United States but questioned its importance and that of joint combat exercises, which China opposes. He also wants U.S. counterterrorism forces to leave his countrys south, saying their presence was inflaming restiveness among minority Muslims.

On Monday, he said that when visiting China he wouldnt discuss sovereignty over Scarborough Shoal, a fishing ground China seized in 2012 that is the crux of the China-Philippines territorial dispute.

That action prompted the government of Dutertes predecessor to file a case against Beijing with an arbitration panel in The Hague, which in July ruled overwhelmingly in Manilas favor. That enraged China, which had refused to take part in the proceedings or honor the outcome.

However, Duterte said he would ask China to allow Filipino fishermen to again operate in the area.

I will just say, Just let my brother Filipino fishermen go back there to fish, then we can talk, he said in a speech.

In an earlier speech, he also said that when he meets with Xi, he will offer to open all areas of trade and commerce, along with land leases of up to 120 years for Chinese companies AP


Thailands stock market and currency tumbled and the prime minister canceled an overseas trip yesterday amid concerns about long-ailing King Bhumibol Adulyadejs health.

His son, the crown prince, returned home from Germany, as Thais in pink shirts  a color associated with the king  gathered outside Siriraj hospital in Bangkok, which has been his home for much of the last decade.

The Stock Exchange of Thailands benchmark fell nearly 7 percent in afternoon trading before recovering somewhat for a 4.1 percent loss for the day. Thai stocks have slid daily since Sunday, when the royal palace announced that the 88-year-old Bhumibols condition was unstable, the first time it has used that phrase regarding the kings health.

Also yesterday, the Thai baht fell 1.1 percent to end at 35.76 to a dollar.

The highly revered Bhumibol, the worlds longest-reigning monarch, has suffered from a variety of ailments related to old age, including kidney and lung problems.

Dozens of Thais holding incense sticks and images of the king chanted prayers outside the hospital for his recovery.

The king is the heart of our country. So, without a heart, we cannot survive. So we pray for our heart, for the heart of our land, said Donnapha Kladbupha, a 42-year-old English tutor. I want to see him come and say hello to the Thai people again.

Last week, doctors performed a hemodialysis to purify his blood. They also replaced a tube that drains excess cerebrospinal fluid.

Because Bhumibol has been king since 1946, there is great concern about the eventual succession. Crown Prince Vajiralongkorn has not earned the same respect as his father.

Vajiralongkorn lives mostly in Germany, and flew back to Bangkok. The governments top bureaucrat, Secretary-General Wilas Aroonsri, said Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha went to the airport to receive him. Prayuth was supposed to fly to Laos on an official visit but canceled it in the morning.

The royal palace has not issued any statements on the kings condition.

Bhumibol, a constitutional monarch with no formal political role, is widely regarded as Thailands unifying figure. However, as his health has deteriorated, his participation in public affairs has sharply declined in recent years.

Concern about succession has been entwined with Thailands political turmoil in the past decade, as royalists have sought to ensure that they control the process instead of certain politicians whose fealty to the monarchy they doubt. King Bhumibol Adulyadej, AP
The United States and the European Union have called on the Vietnamese government to release a popular blogger arrested earlier this week for alleged anti-state writing.

Nguyen Ngoc Nhu Quynh, who blogs as Me Nam, was arrested this week in the south central province of Khanh Hoa for what authorities say were her Facebook and blog posts that distorted truth and instigated the public to oppose the communist government.

The ambassadors from the United States and European Union to Vietnam said in separate statements that the arrest goes against Vietnams international obligations and domestic laws on human rights and called for her release.
TWIN FALLS  A disagreement between Idaho Power Co. and the developer of an 80-megawatt solar farm in southern Twin Falls County has come before the Idaho Public Utilities Commission.

The dispute involves payments Jackpot Solar wont receive for nearly eight years. The company wants Idaho Power Co. to lock in the rates for those capacity payments in its initial two-year contract. Jackpot Solar plans to develop four 20-megawatt solar projects near the Nevada border.

Idaho Power Co., however, asked state regulators to weigh in on the dispute. The utility says that according to PUC orders in 2015, it shouldnt have to set that rate until after it becomes energy deficient in 2024.

Idaho Power is of the view that our orders were very clear, PUC spokesman Gene Fadness said.

The utility wants the PUC to issue a declaratory order in favor of its interpretation of commission orders.

Last year, the PUC shortened contract lengths for projects such as Jackpot Solar to two years, down from 20 years, Fadness said. This allows contract prices to be updated every two years  to be more accurately based on the cost the utility avoids by not generating power itself, or buying from another source, he said.

Generation project developers can receive two types of payments: energy payments and capacity payments. Energy payments are paid when energy is produced. Capacity payments, however, arent paid until a projects output is during a time the utility is capacity deficient  in Idaho Powers case, 2024.

Its the latter type of payment, and when the rates are determined, which companies are in disagreement about.

In our interpretation, Idaho Power should provide those rates even though they dont kick in until 2024, developer Robert Paul said. Its vital for us to calculate whether this project is viable.

He agreed that getting regulators clarification is a good idea. Either way, Jackpot Solar wouldnt get capacity payments until 2024, Fadness said.

Utilities can comment on the case by Oct. 18, and other interested parties can comment by Nov. 8. Idaho Power has until Nov. 22 to file reply comments. Comments can be made at puc.idaho.gov using case number IPC-E-16-21 or mailed to the commission at P.O. Box 83720, Boise ID 83720-0074.
Mobility challenges shouldnt keep anyone from enjoying fall fishing, changing colors and Idahos amazingly varied terrain.

Here are five of south-central Idahos best handicapped-accessible outdoor destinations:

Phyllis Lake trail

The Sawtooth National Recreation Area boasts something unusual: a fully accessible trail to a high-alpine lake destination.

The hike to Phyllis Lake is about half a mile on a surface of hard-packed dirt thats not too steep, rocky or narrow for wheelchairs. Most of the trail follows a stream, passing in and out of forested areas and rocky terrain.

The trail was constructed in 2010 with funding from Congress; in 2015 the SNRA built the final piece, connecting the trail to the lake.

Now when wheelchair users reach the lake they can access the shoreline for fishing, swimming and some lovely high-alpine views, said Susan James, the SNRAs recreation program manager. Forest Service employees report spotting mountain goats, elk, deer and the occasional bear.

Need to know: Getting to Phyllis Lake Trailhead involves roughly 10 miles on dirt roads. On Dec. 1, the Forest Service closes the road for the winter; even before then, the trip is weather dependent. Dont attempt it if there has been a lot of recent rain or snow.

Getting there: From Twin Falls, head north on Idaho 75 and cross Galena Summit into the Sawtooth Valley. Pass Smiley Creek Lodge and the turnoffs to Alturas and Pettit lakes before turning right (east) onto Forest Road 209, also known as Fourth of July Creek Road.

Its a rough dirt road and climbs a lot, James said. Its a long, slow drive.

Where Forest Road 209 reaches the Fourth of July Trailhead, continue southeast on the high-clearance Forest Road 53. At the end of 53 is Phyllis Lake Trailhead.

Information: 208-727-5000 or 800-260-5970.

Dog Creek Reservoir

At Dog Creek Reservoir north of Gooding, the fishing pier has bumpers and handrails so wheelchairs wont roll off, and the parking and vault toilet are accessible, too.

Dont expect stunning scenery.

The attraction there is the fishery itself, not necessarily the vista, said Doug Megargle, regional fishery manager for the Idaho Department of Fish and Game.

But the fishing is enough.

Its a mixed warm- and cold-water fishery stocked liberally with rainbow trout, and anglers have an opportunity to catch bass, bluegill, pumpkinseed, channel catfish and the occasional tiger muskie.

Summer, when water temperatures are higher, is the time to go for bass, bluegill and pumpkinseed. But this month, Fish and Game will stock about 3,100 catchable-size rainbow trout in Dog Creek Reservoir.

And thats very popular at that time for catching trout, Megargle said.

Need to know: Dont head out for a day of fishing without checking the states fishing regulations: https://idfg.idaho.gov/fish/rules

Getting there: From Idaho 46 north of Gooding, turn west onto 1300 South, then north onto 1800 East. After 0.9 miles on 1800 East, turn west onto the dirt access road for Dog Creek Reservoir.

The dirt road gets rutted at some times of year. But it still doesnt require a high-clearance vehicle, Megargle said; people get into it with your average sedan.

Information: 208-324-4359.

Want more? Fish and Games guide to accessible fishing, hunting and wildlife viewing locations is at https://fishandgame.idaho.gov/public/wildlife/ada/

Cottonwood Park

On the Bruneau arm of C.J. Strike Reservoir, Idaho Power Co. operates a 12-acre campground and marina thats particularly friendly to wheelchair access.

At Cottonwood Park, the campground is flat, not hilly. The 40-foot wide boat ramp is adjacent to a large loading platform, so its easy for anyone to get into boats. And wheelchair users will find everything in the park approachable: interpretive information, covered picnic shelter, marina, vault toilets and fishing piers.

Its really user friendly for people who have any kind of disability and small children, Idaho Power recreation program technician Cindy Sorensen said. Every time shes there, she said, she sees elderly anglers in their lawn chairs fishing.

Tents and RVs can all use the 28 universal campsites, and Cottonwood Park has three group campsites. A new pathway runs between the shore and the campsites so everyone has access to the reservoir.

Fishing is great there all year long  each month presents something different, Sorensen said. Crappie and bass provide excitement for children fishing from the marinas piers.

And any angler might like this tip: Idaho Power stocks 50,000 rainbow trout averaging 10 inches at the Bruneau Pools Cottonwood access every March  and another 52,250 in October.

Need to know: Camping fees are $8 per night from April 1 to Oct. 31, and $4 per night from Nov. 1 to March 31; people 60 or older get $2 off during summer and $1 off during winter. For any service-disabled veteran, camping is half-price all year long. Potable water, but no electrical hookups. No reservations. No fee for day use.

Getting there: From Bruneau, take Idaho 78 west; after 4.5 miles, turn north onto an unnamed road that heads toward the Bruneau arm of C.J. Strike Reservoir. Youll reach Cottonwood Campground after 1.2 miles on that gravel road.

Information: 208-388-6691 or 208-388-2231.

Lake Walcott State Park

If you relish solitude, fall is a good time for a nature experience at Lake Walcott State Park northeast of Rupert.

Were starting to get lots of really good color in the trees, park ranger Travis Taylor said. The grass is still green, and deer are starting to move back into the park. Really, its very quiet out here this time of year.

The reservoir used to drop by about half before Minidoka Dams spillway was rebuilt in 2014, he said, but now water is high year-round and you can fish from shore all year. Boating closed for the winter Sept. 30, so you can expect a quiet setting for fishing or birding; theres not going to be a bunch of powerboats on the lake.

Here the Idaho Department of Parks and Recreation is in partnership with the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, so park improvements follow the stricter federal guidelines for accessibility, Taylor said. About two miles of paved trails  plowed in winter  wind through the park, passing several handicapped-accessible campsites for tents and RVs and a playground with accessible climbing wall, slides, teeter-totter and tunnels.

Behind the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service office, a 200-yard paved trail leads to an accessible fishing dock and bird observation platform. Deer are common along that path, Taylor said, and from the platform youre likely to see gulls, waterfowl and western grebes. A nice perk: Fish and Wildlife last year installed a permanently mounted spotting scope that accommodates wheelchairs.

You get a really good view of the lake from that platform, he said.

Need to know: Like other state parks, Lake Walcott charges a $5 motor vehicle entry fee year-round  unless you have the $10 annual Idaho State Parks Passport available through the Department of Motor Vehicles.

For details on camping fees, visit https://parksandrecreation.idaho.gov/parks/lake-walcott

Getting there: From Interstate 84, take Exit 211 at Heyburn. Drive northeast on Idaho 24, continuing 5.8 miles past Rupert; turn east onto 400 North (Minidoka Dam Road).

Information: 208-436-1258.

Smoky Mountain Campground

Its newer than many of its counterparts in the state park system, so Smoky Mountain Campground near Almo is also more accessible.

Built in 2006-07 and opened in 2007, the campground at Castle Rocks State Park has two fully accessible campsites with concrete paths to the shower house and restrooms  which, of course, are also handicapped-accessible. Campfire rings are twice as tall as usual so the cooking racks are more reachable for a camper in a wheelchair, and picnic tables are designed for wheelchairs to roll right up.

And instead of being stuck at the end of the bench, wheelchairs users join the middle of the table.

Theyre specially designed to integrate someone whos mobility challenged right in with the rest of the family, park manager Wallace Keck said.

And theres plenty to do once youre at Smoky Mountain Campground.

The visitor center that serves both Castle Rocks State Park and nearby City of Rocks National Reserve is accessible  as are its picnic area and the restrooms inside and outside of the center. There you can enjoy a film and interpretive exhibits, shop for books and maps and take pictures by an old wagon.

Throughout both parks are handicapped parking spaces as close as possible to various features, but wheelchair users may find they cant get much farther than the restrooms and picnic areas because trails become rugged after those points.

But an automobile tour through City of Rocks is rewarding, and accessible wayside exhibits and viewpoints explain the areas geology, history and prehistory.

Need to know: A daily $5 motor vehicle entry fee is required year-round at Castle Rocks  unless you have the $10 annual Idaho State Parks Passport.

Water is available in Smoky Mountain Campground from May 1 to Sept. 30  or slightly later, depending on weather. For Idaho residents, campsites are $25.44 per night, including tax, when water is available, and showers are $3. After the water is turned off sometime in October, campsites are $21.20.

Getting there: From Interstate 84, take Exit 216 at Declo. Go south on Idaho 77 to the Conner Creek Junction stop sign, then turn west onto Idaho 77 Spur to Almo. The visitor center for Castle Rocks and City of Rocks is south of Almos post office and businesses, and the Smoky Mountain Campground entrance is a short distance beyond the visitor center.

Information: 208-824-5901.
TWIN FALLS  On Thursday, Sept. 29, Dutch Bros Twin Falls partnered with their community on Buck for Kids Day to raise $5,306 for the Boys & Girls Club of Magic Valley.

Im a kid at heart and love supporting the great opportunities for children to play, grow and receive care through Buck for Kids Day, said Dutch Bros, Co-founder Travis Boersma. We are grateful for the work these organizations do every day to support our children and communities.

Buck for Kids Day is an annual event, which typically fell on the first Friday of every December. For 2016, Dutch Bros wanted to take the opportunity to use National Coffee Day to not only celebrate their customers, but also to support local organizations that continually work to better the lives of youth through mentorship, support and positivity.

On Thursday, Sept. 29, $1 from every drink sold, company-wide, is donated to local organizations that strive to positively impact children in our communities. Dutch Bros Twin Falls donated proceeds from the day to the Boys & Girls Club as they continue to provide a safe and positive growing space for children. Also, to encourage community involvement, as well to thank customers for their continued support, Dutch Bros Twin Falls offered customers a 9-stamp loyalty card with every large drink purchased.

It was so fun to use National Coffee Day to thank our customers for being so amazing, continued Boersma. More importantly it is inspiring how much our customers will rally to help support our communities.
Volunteers  Encompass Hospice is looking for volunteers in Burley, Rupert, Eden, Twin Falls, Kimberly and Jerome. Encompass needs your kind heart and willingness to help members of our communities. Information: Cindy Keithley, 208-733-8600 or ckeithley@ehhi.com.

Volunteers  Interlink Volunteer Caregivers (IVC) provides volunteers to help elderly, disabled and chronically ill people to live safely and independently at home. Volunteers are needed in the Mini Cassia area and Magic Valley to help build wheelchair ramps and install grab bars. Volunteers are also needed to help with light housekeeping. Volunteers are reimbursed for mileage and covered with excess auto liability insurance. Commitment is flexible with no minimum hours required. Information: Edie, 208-733-6333 or ivcofmv@gmail.com

Drivers  The Twin Falls Senior Center needs drivers to deliver meals to homebound seniors in Twin Falls Monday through Friday, and the routes take an hour or less to complete. Commitment is based on your availability. Volunteers must be 18 years of age with their own car, and have proof of liability insurance and a background check. Drivers receive 54 cents a mile fuel reimbursement. Information: 208-734-5084.

Drivers  The American Cancer Society is looking for volunteer drivers for its Road to Recovery program in Twin Falls. Volunteers will drive patients to and from medical treatments. Commitment is flexible. Information: 1-800-227-2345.

Volunteers  The Senior Companion Program at the CSI Office on Aging needs volunteers, age 55 and older, to assist homebound seniors by providing friendly visits, transportation or other assistance as needed. Senior Companions make positive impacts by helping to improve the mental and emotional status of their clients. Senior Companions receive a stipend per hour of service (to income eligible seniors) and can work between 15 to 40 hours a week. They receive reimbursement for mileage, and training on age-related problems. Information: Dandre, 208-736-2122, or toll free, 800-574-8656.

Volunteers  The Fifth Judicial District CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates) Program is seeking community volunteers to become advocates for abused children. Advocates receive training and support to investigate, report, monitor and advocate for children involved in the child protection system. Advocates are needed in all eight counties of the district, and the program needs volunteers in the Mini Cassia area. Information: Tahna, 208-735-1177.

Volunteers  Hospice Visions Inc. is looking for volunteers to visit with patients and their families, do minor home modifications such as grab bars, and also volunteer Light Touch Massage therapists, hair dressers, meal assist volunteers, and to play music and games with hospice patients. Volunteers are needed with licensed certified therapy animals to love our hospice patients in their own homes or assisted living centers. Hospice Visions is looking for volunteers interested in doing art projects with patients or filming and creating a Life Legacy Video, or to take someone to the store, run an errand or out for a drive. Veterans can become a Vet-to-Vet Volunteer and visit with other veterans. Volunteers are also needed to assist with fundraising events and provide office assistance. Information: Nora at 208-735-0121 or nwells@hospicevisions.org.

Volunteers  St. Lukes Home Health and Hospice is looking for new volunteers to join its team to share compassion and care and increase the quality of life for patients and their families. The program is designed to offer companionship and socialization to patients as well as respite and support for the caregivers. Information: Marie Sharp, 208-814-7603 or sharpm@slhs.org.

Volunteers  The Twin Falls Senior Center has a ladies group (The Crazy Quilters), who are looking for individuals to put finishing touches on quilts as a group while socializing. The group meets from 9 a.m. to noon every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. All quilt project proceeds are given to the Twin Falls Senior Center. Information: 208-734-5084.
TWIN FALLS  The College of Southern Idaho will have two career information days in November.

The college plans to hold an event Nov. 9 for high schoolers to learn about local food processing and automation careers.

The free event starts at 9 a.m. with registration at CSIs Applied Technology and Innovation Center in Twin Falls.

Students will participate in two classes, visit a local food processing company and eat lunch. The event wraps up at 1:45 p.m.

Its open to the first 150 students who pre-register at http://agriculture.csi.edu/food-processing/food-processing-automation-day/registration.asp.

For more information, contact Janna Hamlett at 208-732-6376 or jhamlett@csi.edu.

Radiology tech career day

Students interested in CSIs radiologic technology program can also sign up for a career day.

The event  organized by CSIs Rad Tech Club  is 9 a.m.-noon Nov. 4 at the colleges Health Sciences & Human Services building in Twin Falls.

For information, contact Gary Lauer at 208-732-6719 or Tamara Janak at 208-732-6716.
TWIN FALLS  When you build a school in a fast-growing area, it sometimes takes a while for infrastructure to catch up.

Thats happening around Rock Creek Elementary School, one of two new elementary schools in Twin Falls that opened in August.

During a Walk to School Day event last week, a few parents who live in the Hometowne Place subdivision raised safety concerns about the lack of sidewalks in some sections of Grandview Drive North.

The Twin Falls School District changed the school bus route earlier this fall to encourage more students to use that form of transportation instead of walking to school. But beyond that, theres not much school officials can do until developers build new subdivisions and infrastructure in the area.

When you have these fast-growing areas of subdivisions, they become the logical places to build schools, said Brady Dickinson, director of operations for the school district. Its just some growing pains as it expands.

Some parents want their children to be able to walk to school, he said. I understand the concerns of the parents. I sympathize with them.

But soon, areas surrounding the school  at Federation Road in northwest Twin Falls  will be developed, Dickinson said.

He likened it to when Twin Falls High School opened in the 1950s and community members considered its Filer Avenue East location the outskirts of town.

North of Rock Creek Elementary, theres a sidewalk in front of the Hometowne Place subdivision, but a section of Grandview on the way to school is lacking a sidewalk.

Ultimately, thats the responsibility of the developers, Dickinson said. They will be required to put in that infrastructure.

The more than $100,000 price tag is too expensive for the school district to pay, he said. Plus, there are a couple of older homes on Grandview where there isnt a right-of-way.

Earlier this school year, district officials learned the school bus ride took 30 minutes for children from the Hometowne Place subdivision. But its only a five-minute walk.

The district changed the bus route so it goes immediately to the subdivision and its the first drop-off point.

Safety around Rock Creek Elementary was a topic of discussion for the citys traffic safety commission when the project was going through the zoning process and the school was under construction, city spokesman Joshua Palmer said.

But the city hasnt received any complaints or concerns since then, he said.

The city lowered the speed limit on Grandview near the school from 35 to 25 miles per hour.

Another change: the northbound lane near the school was widened. And a lane was added for parking and turnoff traffic.

When city police officers are available, they also monitor school zones for speeding and to see if there are any safety issues, Palmer said.

In order to gain a special use permit, the school district was required to put in a sidewalk on Federation Road near the school. It cost about $175,000.

But the developer of the adjacent property will be required to pay back the school district once the land is developed.

Across town in northeast Twin Falls, there have been more community concerns about safety near Pillar Falls Elementary School, Palmer said.

One of the main areas of concern is the intersection of Falls Avenue and Hankins Road.

We didnt anticipate so many kids would want to go across Falls Avenue to school, Dickinson said. We have attempted to engage the families and think about solutions.

The city and highway district are still considering what to do, he said. Options could include a four-way stop at the intersection or eventually, putting in a traffic light.

Before Pillar Falls Elementary opened, the school district was required to install a traffic light at the intersection of Stadium Boulevard and Hankins Road.

Dickinson said the school district is using lessons learned from the two new elementary schools.

School officials are already thinking about walkability to South Hills Middle School before it opens in fall 2017.
TWIN FALLS  Friday is the last day for Idahoans to pre-register to vote before the Nov. 8 election.

Even if you miss the deadline, you can probably still vote.

Voters in Idaho can register at the polls either when voting early in person  which starts on Monday in Twin Falls, Jerome, Gooding, Minidoka, Blaine, and many other counties in Idaho and goes until Nov. 4  or on Election Day itself.

We have the cutoff just because we have to start printing poll books for Election Day, Twin Falls County Clerk Kristina Glascock said.

Those who register at the polls need a current photo ID that includes a current address. An ID with an old address and an official document like a utility bill or pay stub showing a current address can also be used.

We need those verifications because youre actually being allowed to vote right then, she said.

Voters in Idaho are required to show photo ID at the polls, but can also sign an affidavit and vote.

Early voting has already started in Lincoln County and will start on Oct. 24 in Cassia County. Camas County does not offer in-person early voting, but residents can request to vote absentee before Election Day.

The deadline to request an absentee ballot by mail is Oct. 28 statewide.

A higher-than-usual number of people registering to vote is normal at this point during an election year, but Glascock said, this election year has been busier than others. From. Oct 5. until Tuesday  a period that includes a weekend and the Columbus Day holiday, on which county offices were closed  181 people registered in Twin Falls County, Glascock said.

Glascock said her office has been busy processing registrations since the beginning of August. She attributes it to interest in the presidential race.

It tells you people are interested and they want to vote, she said. Some people who never voted and decided this is the election theyre going to vote in.
Check out detailed maps of remote, mountainous land in Idaho and youll likely find a Rock Creek, a Dry Creek and a Willow Creek anywhere you look.

Many geographic features are self-explanatory. In the South Hills, also known as the Cassia Mountains, youll find Bald Mountain, Rattlesnake Creek, Indian Camp Spring, Trout Creek, Lone Cedar Creek and South Tit.

But such remote areas contain unique and somewhat mysterious names too and the South Hills is full of them: Toolbox Creek, Electric Springs Creek, Doodlelink Creek, Dads Hump, Secret Creek, Wooden Shoe Creek, Pot Hole Basin and Japanese Spring. Each has a story of its own, many of which have been lost through the ages.

Other sites were named for real people.

Terrells Corral Creek was named for an early cattleman who ran his herd in the South Hills and homesteaded south of present-day Murtaugh Lake. Williams Reservoir and Rice Creek were also named for homesteaders who ran cattle in the hills.

Jack Creek and Diamond Creek were named for notorious gunman Diamondfield Jack Davis, accused of shooting two Oakley sheepherders in 1896 in a grazing dispute near Shoshone Basin.

But several dozen early settlers whose identities have faded from memory also are immortalized in those mountains.

Who was Swanty of Swanty Springs fame? Or Billy, for whom Billys Hole is named?

Carlson Creek, Hannahs Fork, Elison Hole Creek, Pike Mountain, Humphrey Creek, Jones Creek, Palmer Creek, Langford Flat Creek, Martindale Fork, Ecklund Creek, Harrington Peak, McMullen Creek, Gollaher Mountain, Donahue Creek and Medley Creek were all named for folks who are long gone, but whose names linger like ghosts among the aspen.
Photo provided by the Zuellig Pharma Corp. shows laboratory specialists inspecting the dengue vaccine during the launching and press conference at the company laboratories in Paranaque, February 2016. EDD GUMBAN





Probe of dengue vaccine purchase set





By: Christine O. Avendano, Inquirer





Sen. Richard Gordon said on Tuesday he would seek an investigation into what he said was the undue haste in providing a dengue vaccine worth P3.5 BILLION (corrected, the Inquirer story erroneously stated "P3.5 million" - Blogger), to almost half-a-million children during the administration of former President Benigno Aquino III.





Gordon said he and Sen. Nancy Binay were filing a resolution to investigate the immediate provision of the dengue vaccine, despite some questions regarding the safety of the new drug.





During a hearing on the budget of the Department of Health (DOH) Health Secretary Paulyn Jean Ubial assured Gordon that the newly registered vaccine was safe for use.Gordon, however, appeared unconvinced. There has been an awful lot of questions about this sudden, undue haste in providing the dengue vaccine, he told reporters after the DOH budget hearing.





The vaccine is the first ever approved for use to prevent dengue, a mosquito-borne disease endemic in the Philippines.





Gordon expressed concern that children here were being used as guinea pigs since the country was the first in Asia to implement the vaccination.





The government purchased the dengue vaccine in March this year and was delivered in the same month. The vaccine was just registered by the Food and Drug Authority on Dec. 22, 2015.




Tunisian President Beji Caid Essebsi has rejected claims by western countries and media that the democratic wind which swept away in 2011 several Arab leaders, including his predecessor Ben Ali, was an Arab Spring.

For Essebsi there has never been such a spring but rather a Tunisian call for change of regime and system.

In an interview with London-based Pan-Arab media al Quds al Arabi the Tunisian President argued that the so-called Arab Spring was a western invention.

I was invited to the G8 in 2014 () I was told there was an Arab Spring. Where is that Arab Spring? It was a western invention () I therefore told there was no Arab Spring but simply the beginning of Tunisian Spring () Essebsi said.

The 2011 movement which birthed in the North African country snowballed to Egypt, Libya taking along the leaders of these countries. Other Arab leaders survived the wind after adopting democratic reforms or quickly putting off the sparks.

Commenting on the current situation in his country, Essebsi argued that despite the numerous challenges shaking Tunisia, the country has been able to establish new principles that just require time to soak up.

For the Tunisian President, the North African country has been able to overcome the turbulence thanks to its history and the strength of its women.
Russia will help Mali face the terrorist scourge. This was confirmed by Russian Deputy Foreign Minister and Special Envoy of the Russian President for the Middle East and North Africa, Mikhail Bogdanov, who said his country is willing to help Mali face the security threats posed by extremists in the north.

Bogdanov made the statement during a visit to Bamako which reflects a Russian quest to regain its Soviet-era economic influence.

The Russian Envoy said his country will provide arms to Mali to help it counter terrorist groups, adding that Russia will also assist with training and reinforcing Malis military capabilities,

Russia closely follows the situation in Mali and its neighbourhood and as a member of the Security Council Russia thinks that Africas issues should be resolved by Africans, said Bogdanov.

Russia is also interested in investing in Africa and launching economic cooperation projects, he said.
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.
Ethiopian Prime Minister, Desalegn Hailemariam, said the number of people killed in the anti-government protests in the country could exceed 500.

He made the statement during a joint press conference in Addis Ababa Monday with the German Chancellor Angela Merkel who was on an official visit in the Horn of Africa nation.

Hailemariam reiterated the commitment of the government to probe any excesses on the part of security forces while dealing with protesters.

This government will do everything in its disposal to investigate any un-proportional and excessive use of force by our security operators.

The East African nation, one of Africas best-performing economies, declared its first state of emergency in a quarter-century Sunday, after months of protests demanding wider freedoms.

After meeting with Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn, Merkel said Germany has offered to train Ethiopias police to deal with the sometimes deadly demonstrations in the country.

We are already working in Oromia to de-escalate the situation there by offering mediation between groups, she said, referring to the region where protests have simmered for nearly a year.

I would always argue for allowing people of a different political opinion  to engage with them and allow them to express their views because, after all, a democratic experience shows that out of these discussions good solutions usually come, Merkel said.

Merkel also visited Mali and Niger during her African tour.
The trial of Ivorian former first lady Simone Gbagbo resumed this week after a two-month break.

The wife of ex-president Laurent Gbagbo has already been handed a 20-year jail sentence for attacking state authority over her role in post-election violence in 2010 that left more than 3,000 people dead in the West African nation.

A witness accused Gbagbo of having distributed arms following her husbands 2010 election defeat.

Her lawyer dismissed the testimony of Mondays witness as fabrication, stressing that there were no concrete evidence against her.

The prosecutors have witnesses that are not credible. Theyre able to testify what they have seen but cannot prove any links towards Mrs Gbagbo. Otherwise we will have a whole day of witnesses telling stories, but you will clearly see that there is no link with Mrs Gbagbo, said Rodrigue Dadje, the principal attorney in Gbagbos case.

Accused of involvement in rights abuses against supporters of her husbands rival Alassane Ouattara to keep Gbagbo in the presidency, Simone faces charges of crimes against prisoners of war, crimes against the civilian population and crimes against humanity.

Human Rights Watch previously said the trial could be a pivotal moment for justice in Cote dIvoire, a country yearning for stability following several years of civil war from 2002 that split the mainly Christian south and the largely Muslim north.
The Nigerian government on Tuesday handed over two helicopters from the presidential fleet to the Nigerian Air Force (NAF), a week after the government advertised the sale of two aircrafts in the presidential fleet.

The move is part of the presidents decision to cut down the fleet and to reduce waste, local media reported.

The helicopters, Augusta AW 101s from the VVIP range of the fleet, were handed over to the NAF by the national security chief, Babagana Monguno in the presence of the Minister of Defence, Mansur Dan-Ali.

The fleet of Nigerias presidency has been a subject of debate in Africas most populous nation.

Nigeria, Africas second largest economy, officially entered a state of economic recession for the first time in over 20 years. This came after current figures revealed that the economy contracted for a second consecutive quarter.
Credit: Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers

Too often overlooked is the risk of depression in caregivers of patients with dementia, and a new study focuses on how depressive symptoms may differ depending on the familial relationship between caregiver and patient. The study shows how patients' behavioral symptoms are predictive of depression to different extents when the caregiver is the patient's daughter versus daughter-in-law, as reported in Journal of Women's Health.

In Asian societies, a daughter-in-law often takes on the caretaker role, rather than a spouse or child, note Juwon Lee, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Bo Kyung Sohn, MD, Sujeong Seong, MD, and Jun-Young Lee, MD, PhD, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Hyunjoo Lee, Daegu University, Gyeongsan, and Soowon Park, PhD, Seoul National University, Republic of Korea, coauthors of the article "Impact of Behavioral Symptoms in Dementia Patients on Depression in Daughter and Daughter-in-Law Caregivers." In both groups of caregivers, depressive symptoms increased as the frequency and severity of a patient's behavioral symptoms rose. But the level of depression was more strongly affected among one group of caregivers than the other, which the authors attribute to the relationship between patient and caregiver.

"This novel look at how factors such as relationship to the patient can affect caregiver depression offers valuable insights to help guide future studies and interventions aimed at understanding and safeguarding caregiver health," says Susan G. Kornstein, MD, Editor-in-Chief of Journal of Women's Health, Executive Director of the Virginia Commonwealth University Institute for Women's Health, Richmond, VA, and President of the Academy of Women's Health.

Explore further Caregiver well-being linked to quality of cancer patient care

More information: Juwon Lee et al, Impact of Behavioral Symptoms in Dementia Patients on Depression in Daughter and Daughter-in-Law Caregivers, Journal of Women's Health (2016). Journal information: Journal of Women's Health Juwon Lee et al, Impact of Behavioral Symptoms in Dementia Patients on Depression in Daughter and Daughter-in-Law Caregivers,(2016). DOI: 10.1089/jwh.2016.5831
The program Mental Health Matters is in place in 35 Santa Barbara-area classrooms Credit: Mental Wellness Center

Ann Lippincott knew nothing about mental illness when her daughter, just out of college, was diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder. Lippincott educated herself quickly, however, and has since devoted her time and energy to teaching others about mental illness, with the hope of reducing the stigma too often associated with it.

Lippincott, an emeritus professor of education at UC Santa Barbara's Gevirtz Graduate School of Education, worked on behalf of the Mental Wellness Center in Santa Barbara to develop Mental Health Matters, an innovative, interactive curriculum for sixth-graders that was introduced to Santa Barbara-area schools nine years ago. The series of five, one-hour lessons is integrated into the sixth-grade Language Arts curriculum.

Today, Mental Health Matters, a program of the Mental Wellness Center, is in place in 35 classrooms in schools in Goleta, Santa Barbara, Montecito and Buellton, helping 11- and 12-year-old children learn to recognize the signs and symptoms of six major mental illnesses: attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, anxiety and stress disorders, major depression, bipolar disorders, eating disorders and schizophrenia.

The goal is to increase the students' understanding of mental illness, reduce the associated stigma and share wellness practices.

But, does program actually work?

Until now, mental health advocates and teachers at the local schools thoughtand hopedit was making a difference, but they had only anecdotal evidence to that effect. Enter Hannah Weisman, a doctoral student in the Department of Counseling, Clinical and School Psychology at UCSB, and part of the Mental Health Matters teaching team. Weisman and her graduate advisor, Maryam Kia-Keating, an associate professor in the Department of Counseling, Clinical and School Psychology, designed a study to find out. The findings, which appear in the October issue of the Journal of School Health, suggest the program is reaching its goals.

"We would like to believe that by educating young people before stigma has reared its ugly headknowing that stigma is the number one reason people do not get the help they need and deserveour efforts are making the difference we were hoping they would make," said Lippincott.

According to Kia-Keating, the researchers saw an increase in the students' knowledge of mental illness and a decrease in the stigma associated with it. In open-ended questions, for example, students wrote comments such as, "I used to think that people with mental health disorders are the ones to blame for their disorder; now I know that it is not the person's fault and they have not done anything wrong," and, "I used to think mental health disorders are contagious; now I know they are not."

"I'm definitely a fan," Kia-Keating said of the Mental Health Matters program. "We were very excited to find such an innovative program that was embedded in the school curriculum and was addressing mental health issues, in particular how we reduce stigma, and how we start early."

According to the researchers, approximately 22 percent of children will develop a mental health disorder with severe impairment by the time they reach 18, and it's likely most adolescents will encounter a peer with a mental health disorder. "Mental health issues are part of life," Kia-Keating continued. "I think the more that we're able to talk about mental health in an open way, have kids be able to have their questions answered, and not have it be a topic that's hidden from them, is essential."

"The Mental Wellness Center is proud to partner with UCSB to evaluate the efficacy of our Mental Health Matters program," said Annmarie Cameron, the center's chief executive officer. "This study begins to support our belief that educating youth with mental health facts and anti-stigma messaging will improve their attitudes regarding self-care and peer acceptance, and overall wellness messaging increases self-regulation strategies."

The Mental Wellness Center is a Santa Barbara nonprofit organization dedicated to meeting the needs of individuals and families affected by mental illness, through support, education and direct services.

Explore further YouTube as peer support for severe mental illness

More information: Hannah L. Weisman et al. Mental Health Stigma Prevention: Pilot Testing a Novel, Language Arts Curriculum-Based Approach for Youth, Journal of School Health (2016). Hannah L. Weisman et al. Mental Health Stigma Prevention: Pilot Testing a Novel, Language Arts Curriculum-Based Approach for Youth,(2016). DOI: 10.1111/josh.12427
When the researchers activated certain brain neurons, shown in red, the effects were different in male and female mice: males became less anxious, while females became more social. Credit: Rockefeller University

The nerves we feel before a stressful eventlike speaking in public, for exampleare normally kept in check by a complex system of circuits in our brain. Now, scientists at Rockefeller University have identified a key molecule within this circuitry that is responsible for relieving anxiety. Intriguingly, it doesn't appear to reduce anxiety in female mice, only in males.

"This is unusual, because the particular cell type involved here is the same in the male and female brainsame in number, same in appearance," says Nathaniel Heintz, head of the Laboratory of Molecular Biology and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator. "It's a rare case where a single cell type is activated by the same stimulus but yields two different behaviors in each gender."

Heintz and colleagues demonstrated that a protein called corticotropin releasing hormone binding protein (CRHBP) reduces anxiety in male mice by halting the activity of a stress-inducing hormone. Published in Cell, the results may provide insights into new therapies for anxiety-related conditions.

Divergent effects

It's a well-known fact that our social and emotional behaviorsand disorders associated with these behaviors vary between men and women. For example, autism is more prevalent among men, while anxiety-related disorders tend to be more common in females. Differences in hormone levels and brain circuitry are thought to contribute to this variation, but the specific mechanisms responsible are not well understood.

Previous work in the Heintz lab, however, has provided one possible explanation. The researchers characterized a novel population of neurons that are activated by oxytocin, a hormone that promotes social behaviors like bonding between mother and baby or teamwork. They found that these neurons fire more rapidly in response to oxytocin in female mice, and are important for promoting certain social behaviors in which females interact with males, but had little affect on male social behavior.

In this study, the researchers asked what this particular cell type does in a male brain, suspecting from previous research on oxytocin that the stress response may be affected. Using optogenetics, a technique in which these neurons were engineered to fire in response to light, they examined the mice performing several tasks to test their anxiety levels.

"If mice are anxious, they won't go out into unprotected areas," says Heintz. "We found that if you activate these cells in males, they will leave the protected area more often, meaning they are less anxious. But in females, activating these cells made no difference in anxiety."

These findings suggest that different behaviors are affected in male and female mice when these neurons are activated by oxytocin: anxiety is reduced in males, while social behavior is increased in females.

Same circuit, different sensitivities

Heintz and colleagues next sought to identify the molecular mechanisms at play in these varied responses. Using a technique known as TRAPpreviously developed by the Heintz lab and Paul Greengard's Laboratory of Molecular and Cellular Neuroscience at Rockefellerthey looked for proteins produced by the oxytocin-sensing neurons. The CRHBP protein was among the most abundantly produced in these cells.

"Our findings led us to propose a signaling pathway in these neurons in which oxytocin stimulates production of CRHBP," says Heintz. "CRHBP then binds to a hormone called corticotropin-releasing hormone, preventing it from performing its normal job to increase stress."

The question then became, why is the anxiety-reducing effect of CRHBP dominant in males, but doesn't seem to work in females? Further experiments revealed that corticotropin-releasing hormone levels are much higher in females to begin with. One possibility, Heintz says, is that CRHBP can't lower corticotropin-releasing hormone levels enough in females to make a difference. In males, however, it lowers the level of the stress hormone below a threshold that matters behaviorally, and effectively decreases stress and anxiety.

These results may explain how oxytocin can both promote social behaviors in females and alleviate stress and anxiety in males. And they suggest that while the brain circuits that control male and female behaviors may look exactly the same, they still function differently because they don't respond the same way to certain hormones.

"But even though our findings may provide some insight into gender differences, they are even more important for understanding what may be different between individuals," Heintz says. "Emotional and social behaviors are complicated, so finding any clues to why some people are more vulnerable to anxiety than others, or why some are social while others aren't, matters. These are fundamental questions of human behavior that we don't yet understand fully."

More information: Kun Li et al. A Cortical Circuit for Sexually Dimorphic Oxytocin-Dependent Anxiety Behaviors, Cell (2016). Journal information: Cell Kun Li et al. A Cortical Circuit for Sexually Dimorphic Oxytocin-Dependent Anxiety Behaviors,(2016). DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2016.08.067
Credit: Georgia State University

Federal school lunch guidelines enacted in 2012 are doing what they were designed to do: improving nutrition for school-age children and reducing childhood obesity, according to a study recently published in the American Journal of Agricultural Economics.

Researchers combined lunch sales data collected at the register with data on student absences to show how the nutritional content of National School Lunch Program (NSLP) entrees chosen by students varied across different socioeconomic and demographic groups and how the choices affected their health. Economists Tom Mroz at Georgia State University, Jaclyn Kropp at the University of Florida, Janet Peckham at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, and sociologist Ellen Granberg and nutritionist Vivian Haley-Zitlin at Clemson University worked with a county school food services director on the project.

"The students more likely to participate in free and reduced-price lunch programs are among the same populations most likely to suffer from obesity and related health risks," said lead author Peckham. "Our goal was to identify any systematic differences in their lunch choices versus those paying the full price to see how well the school lunch program was meeting its goals of providing food assistance to undernourished children and combating the rising rates of childhood obesity."

Nearly 32 million students are served more than five billion lunches in a school day. More than two-thirds of these lunches are free- and reduced-price lunches that follow school lunch program guidelines. Federal school lunch program nutrition standards require greater availability of fruits, vegetables, whole grains and fat-free or low-fat milk as well as a reduction in saturated fats and sodium.

Under the new guidelines, the total calories of the students' lunch choices decreased 4 percent. Calories from fat decreased 18 percent and those from sodium decreased 8 percent.

The research also showed responses to the mandated changes in the nutritional content of school lunch offerings varied by socio-economic and demographic groups, said Mroz, a professor in the Andrew Young School of Policy Studies at Georgia State. Students who received free and reduced-price lunches were more likely to choose entrees with a higher fat content and less likely to select entrees with higher sodium content. Students paying full price were more likely to reject entrees high in fat and choose those higher in sodium. They were also more responsive to increases in protein and more frequently replaced their cafeteria choices with lunches from home.

The research has policy implications, according to Mroz. Although the students receiving free and reduced-price lunches preferred less healthy options, the calories in those options have been reduced. These students are expected to continue to participate in school lunch programs, making the NSLP guidelines effective at improving childhood nutrition and reducing childhood obesity.

Explore further School lunches offer better average nutrition than packed lunches
Through the worry, Linda Jacobs welcomed the sense of relief she felt when doctors diagnosed her husband, Ray, with frontotemporal dementia (FTD). She finally had an answer for many of the questions she had regarding Ray's ongoing behaviour.

"The two qualities they say you need as a caregiver in dealing with someone with FTD are thick skin and a good sense of humour. I believe it  I'm just not entirely sure I always have them," Jacobs said. "Some days I have them; others I don't have enough to get through the day. (Ray) has a lot of frustration and I can't help him with that as much as I'd care to. All I can do is really love him and be there for him. At the end of each day, his biggest concern is asking me, 'We're still okay, right?'"

Patients with FTD develop deficits in fundamental components of social and emotional behaviour, including emotional blunting, apathy, inappropriate language and a loss of empathy for even their closest family members. The disease can go undiagnosed initially because of the subtle changes it brings to personality, decision-making and judgement.

Like most, Jacobs was unfamiliar with FTD and its symptoms. Looking back, she said there were clues she didn't pick up early on.

"It was like his personality was changing and he was trying to drive me crazy  and he was doing a great job. I was feeling like I was going to lose it," said Jacobs, who was also a caregiver to her father, who suffered from Alzheimer's, as well as her mother as she got old. "What makes it different and more challenging from other conditions is the lack of insight they have. As my mom got older she had heart disease and arthritis, but I could reason with her. With FTD, Ray had no insight whatsoever."

While there is no cure for FTD, one Western researcher is looking to mitigate symptoms of the disease for patients like Ray and, in turn, lessen the heavy burden faced by caregivers like Linda.

Clinical Neurological Sciences professor Elizabeth Finger is studying the treatment possibilities of oxytocin, a hormone and neuropeptide in the brain that plays an important role in social behaviour and empathy.

The second most common dementia behind Alzheimer's, FTD boasts different symptoms. The disease affects personality rather than memory and presents itself in patients in their 50s or 60s, at least a decade earlier than most Alzheimer's patients.

"They can have perfectly normal functioning skills but start to be disinhibited and make comments that are rude, inappropriate, racist or sexist, which can come on gradually," said Finger, a Parkwood Institute neurologist and Lawson Health Research Institute scientist. "They can even lose empathy for other people, even their own children and spouse. As the disease progresses, it becomes more and more prevalent and frequent."

The average frontotemporal dementia patient goes about five years with symptoms before diagnosis because the disease can overlap with others issues, including depression. If there is no family history of FTD, it can be hard to diagnose early.

"It doesn't impact treatment. There currently aren't treatments to slow the disease or stop it," she said. "There are treatments in clinical trials at the moment looking to slow or prevent the disease, so soon that diagnostic uncertainly is going to be problematic."

Finger, recently received a Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) 2016 Project Grant to look at the use of intranasal oxytocin as as a treatment for these deficits of social apathy, empathy and related social behaviours in FTD patients. The funding is worth $1.4 million over four years. Finger is the lead investigator of the 15-site study, which includes five locations in Canada and 10 in the United States. Her work is also supported by a separate grant from the Canada-based Weston Brain Foundation (Weston Brain Institute).

The body normally produces oxytocin but doesn't reach its intended target in FTD patients, said Finger. So its transmission is inefficient. By increasing the levels oxytocin in the patient's body, in a sense flooding the area, Finger hopes to increase its effectiveness.

Earlier studies found caregivers rated the behaviours of their patients better on the day of a dosage, as well as the patient's ability to recognize facial expressions.

If proven effective, oxytocin would be the first symptomatic treatment for patients.

"They (patients) often have no idea of the changes (after treatment) since they don't have insight into the problem," Finger said. "If you ask them how their social skills are, they think they're great. From a caregiver perspective, even a small difference would be great."

In the study, Finger wants to see how much improved the patient's empathy and social interactions are, as well as also look at caregiver distress and how it has improved.

Jacobs, who had been married to Ray for 44 years, said her husband realizes he is unable to do things like before. They don't go out in public much anymore; she is anxious about having the grandchildren over in fear of what inappropriate things her husband might say.

"I think he feels vulnerable. What an awful way for a man of 67 to feel  not being able to work or drive. He was an accountant and now his wife is giving him an allowance every day. Why would he be happy with that?" she said. "His emotions are so unpredictable. When I get home from work, I never quite know what I'm going to walk into."

Jacobs hopes she will be able to participate in Finger's ongoing study, if not to help her husband, but to help other families whose loved ones have yet to be diagnosed.

"We all know it's a downward journey we're on. But if you can get days where life can be a little more comfortable for him and for us, that would be wonderful," Jacobs said. "If there can be anything positive that comes out of this difficult journey that can benefit someone else in the long term, be it medication or treatment that will make their quality of life better, it helps me feel there is value in what we're going through."
In a world first, new Australian research has revealed that genetic profiling can help predict whether an individual will break a bone through osteoporosis. The findings, which arise from Australia's globally-recognised Dubbo Osteoporosis Epidemiology Study, are likely to contribute to clinical decision-making in future, bringing us one step closer to personalised medicine for bone disease.

Osteoporosis - brittle, weakened bones - affects 1.2 million Australians and causes more than 150,000 fractures per year in Australia. Osteoporosis and associated fractures represent a major national public health problem, costing the health system billions of dollars per year (total cost estimated at $33.6 billion for 2012-2022) - and with the demographic tsunami of aging upon us, the scale of Australia's osteoporosis problem will continue to rise.

Osteoporosis is dubbed 'the silent thief', because bone loss occurs without obvious symptoms until a bone is broken. Because of the silent nature of osteoporosis, it is very difficult to predict who will or will not fracture. For this reason, one key goal of osteoporosis research is to identify those who have a high risk of breaking a bone - with the ultimate aim of preventing avoidable fractures.

Professor Tuan Nguyen (Garvan Institute of Medical Research and University of Technology Sydney) led the new research. He explains, "Our study shows, for the first time, that we can classify an individual's risk of breaking a bone much more reliably when we take genetic factors into account alongside clinical factors.

"This is a major step towards personalised medicine for osteoporosis.

Prof Nguyen says the findings overturn long-held skepticism in the bone health field about the role of genetics in the clinical management of osteoporosis.

"We have known for many years that a number of genetic variants are linked to low bone density and to fracture - but until now, we have struggled to transform that knowledge into clinical benefit to patients," Prof Nguyen says.

"It has previously been difficult to see how genetic variation might become clinically important, because the effect of each individual genetic variant on fracture risk is very subtle.

"To overcome this issue, we looked at 62 different genetic variants in tandem across over 1400 individuals in the Dubbo study - and we found that, together, those variants become a powerful predictive tool.

"Once we have validated our findings in other populations, we will be looking to develop a cost-effective gene profiling test that will be available for clinicians to use. The test will determine a 'genetic risk score' on the basis of a blood sample, which contains ample DNA for profiling."

The new findings arise from Garvan's leading Dubbo Osteoporosis Epidemiology Study, the world's largest and longest running population-based study of osteoporosis in men and women. The Dubbo Study has been gathering broad-ranging health data, including bone health and genomic information, from thousands of residents of Dubbo, NSW for 27 years.

Among other major contributions to our understanding of osteoporosis, the Dubbo Study has enabled the development of the Garvan Fracture Risk Calculator (GFRC), one of two major algorithms worldwide that is used clinically to determine an individual's risk of osteoporotic fracture. The GFRC uses clinical risk factors (age, sex, history of falls and fractures, and bone density) to assess an individual's fracture risk.

Importantly, the new findings now show that genetic profiling further improves the accuracy of the GFRC.

Each of the genetic variants studied by the researchers is a single-nucleotide polymorphism, or SNP - a site at which the DNA code is altered by a single 'letter' or nucleotide in some individuals, and where one 'letter' is more commonly found in individuals with higher fracture risk. The researchers used each study participant's SNP profile to generate a personalised 'genetic risk score'.

For each of the 1400+ individuals studied, the researchers looked at whether a bone had been broken over a 10-year period. They then assessed whether the GFRC had correctly predicted the risk of fracture - and whether the use of the 'genetic risk score' could improve the accuracy of the GFRC's prediction.

The result? A more accurate prediction of fracture risk. The researchers found that, when the 'genetic risk score' was used with the GFRC, the correct classification of individuals as high or low fracture risk was increased by 12% over and above that of the traditional clinical risk factors, which together correctly classify up to 80% of the studied individuals into high and low risk categories.

Professor John Eisman (Garvan), who heads the Dubbo study, says the findings, and their clinical relevance, are heartening.

"Each time we improve our understanding of the risk of bone fracture in osteoporosis, we are taking a step towards easier and more straightforward clinical decision-making for Australian GPs and Australian people - and in turn towards better outcomes for the 1.2 million Australians living with osteoporosis."

Professor John Mattick, Executive Director of Garvan, adds, "Once individual genome sequences become a routine part of medical records, this genetic risk information will be readily available and be used to optimise the management of health in older people."

The research has recently been accepted for publication in the Journal of Bone and Mineral Research, the premier journal in bone biology internationally.

Explore further Fat and obesity gene also affects hip fracture

More information: Thao P. Ho-Le et al, Prediction of Bone Mineral Density and Fragility Fracture by Genetic Profiling, Journal of Bone and Mineral Research (2016). Journal information: Journal of Bone and Mineral Research Thao P. Ho-Le et al, Prediction of Bone Mineral Density and Fragility Fracture by Genetic Profiling,(2016). DOI: 10.1002/jbmr.2998
9 month data: Georgia exports 32m bottles of wine, earns $74m

People all over the world are enjoying the sweet taste of Georgia-made alcoholic beverages thanks to increased exports to all parts of the globe.So far this year Georgia generated $126 million by selling wine, brandy, Chacha and other alcoholic beverages abroad.Latest figures showed Georgian wine was becoming a sought after drink.More than 32 million bottles of Georgian wine were exported to 50 countries in the first nine months of 2016, bringing $74.6 million back into the economy, said the National Wine Agency of Georgia.Between January-September 2016, Georgia exported 35 percent more wine year-on-year (y/y), and generated 12 percent more revenue by selling 32,421,418 bottles of wine abroad.The top five countries that imported Georgian wine in January-September 2016 were:1. Russia  17,056,936 bottles2. China 3,852,245 bottles3. Ukraine  3,457,028 bottles4. Kazakhstan  2,535,163 bottles5. Poland  1,633,514 bottlesThe National Wine Agency said wine exports increased to the European Union (EU), China and Georgias more traditional export markets.Year-on-year exports of Georgian wine increased to: China  154 percent (3,852,245 bottles) Ukraine  61 percent (3,457,028 bottles) United Kingdom  60 percent (67,522 bottles) Belarus  51 percent (789,876 bottles) Poland  47 percent (1,633,514 bottles) Estonia  43 percent (485,688 bottles) Kirgizstan  39 percent (163,966 bottles) Russia  36 percent (17,056,936 bottles) Germany  18 percent (223,862 bottles) Japan  20 percent (134,808 bottles) United States  5 percent (191,086 bottles) Latvia  1 percent (841,098 bottles)Meanwhile, the export of Georgia-made brandy also increased to over six million bottles. Figures showed a 34 percent y/y between January and September 2016.In this time Georgia exported 6,016,653 bottles of brandy to 16 countries, worth $13.6 million (12 percent more y/y).
What to expect from OPECs next unofficial meeting?

An unofficial OPEC meeting could thrash out some of the details of the proposed new quota system, according to the analysts of the UK Capital Economics consulting company.But we are sceptical that anything of substance will emerge, analysts said in a report obtained by Trend.Earlier, Algerian Energy Minister Nouredine Bouterfa said that OPEC and non-OPEC oil producers plan an informal meeting in Istanbul Oct. 8-13 to discuss how to implement a production deal OPEC members reached in Algiers last month.In September, OPEC producers agreed during the informal meeting to cut down the oil output to 32.5 million barrels per day (bpd) from current production of 33.24 million bpd.How much each country will produce is to be decided at the next formal meeting of OPEC inNovember.
The News in Brief

Another Georgian soldier killed in Ukraine



Davit Gamsakhurdia, a Georgian soldier of Ukraines armed forces, has been killed in Ukraine.



The 26-year-old soldier died in combat near Donetsk.



A total of 173 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed this year according to Ukraines Ministry of Defense.

(ipn)







UNM Rallies Outside CEC, Vows to Defend Votes



Claiming that the authorities are trying to steal the elections, the UNM opposition party called on supporters to rally outside the Central Election Commission.



UNM leaders and supporters started gathering at the CEC at about 3am on Sunday, about seven hours after the polling stations were closed in the October 8 parliamentary elections.



With returns from more than third of precincts, early official results show ruling GDDG party in the lead with more than 51% of votes, followed by UNM with over 25%. The Patriot Alliance falls short of the 5% threshold required for a party to win seats in the Parliament under the proportional party-list system.



Votes have been stolen from us and now they [authorities] are telling us that Ivanishvili has more than 50 percent of support we will defend our votes to the end, Nika Melia, the UNMs chief of campaign and MP candidate, told protesters outside the CEC, which was cordoned off by police shortly after the opposition party announced plans to rally outside the election administration.



Claiming that the UNM has won this election, Melia also said that struggle goes into a decisive phase.



UNM MP Giorgi Baramidze said that our struggle will be uncompromising.



The UNM has accused the ruling GDDG party of trying to thwart the vote count process in those polling stations where the opposition party claims it is winning.



Two polling stations in the village of Jikhashkari of Zugdidi municipality in Samegrelo region were raided late on Saturday night after the vote count started.



UNM MP Sergo Ratiani has alleged that the CEC is releasing vote tally protocols selectively from those polling stations where the GDDG is leading in order to create a false impression that the ruling party is winning in the overall vote count.



UNM leaders demanded a meeting with CEC chairperson Tamar Zhvania, who agreed and met UNMs Giga Bokeria, Davit Bakradze and Nika Melia in the early hours of Sunday.



There is no sense in speaking with them, Bokeria said after the meeting. We are now going to hold consultations within the party on our further protest steps.



77 seats in the 150-member parliament are up for grabs under the proportional system.



A total of 73 majoritarian MP seats are contested in 73 single-mandate constituencies.

(civil.ge)







Suspect identified after Tuesdays car bomb in Tbilisi



A suspect has been identified in the case of a car bomb on Tuesday targeting the car of a member of parliament of the United National Movement party.



The Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) said o Friday evening that law enforcement bodies searched several houses and found guns and explosive devices and the materials needed to make them.



We have identified a person affiliated with this crime, the ministry wrote in a statement, which also says the persons whereabouts are unknown.



The MIA did not share more details, citing concern for protecting the investigation.



A car belonging to MP Givi Targamadze blew up in the evening of October 4, a day before the United National Movement held its big election rally and three days before the election itself. He was in the front passenger seat next to his driver.



Law enforcement bodies are now searching apartments of people affiliated with the identified suspect, the MIA said.

(df watch)




The News in Brief

Georgian Dream receives 39,6%, National Movement 33,8% at polling stations abroad



The Central Election Commission of Georgia has released the preliminary data of the polling stations that functioned abroad.



According to 57 stations data, Georgian Dream has received 39.6% of the total votes while National Movement follows it with 33.8%.



Other parties have received the following: Irakli Alasania  Free Democrats - 10,42%; Usupashvili- Republicans - 3,76%; Shalva Natelashvili- Labor Party  1,91%; The Alliance of Patriots of Georgia  1.87%, Nino Burjanadze- Democratic Movement  1,27%.



The remaining parties received less than 1% of the votes.

(IPN)







ISFED Parallel Vote Tabulation Results



The results of parallel vote tabulation (PVT) of the proportional, party-list vote in the October 8 parliamentary elections, conducted by a monitoring group, largely coincide with the early official results.



PVT, during which observers from election monitoring group count votes at the polling stations simultaneously with precinct election officials, was conducted by International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy (ISFED), Georgias largest election monitoring non-governmental organization. PVT is one of the tools to verify the accuracy of the official election results.



According to its PVT results, the GDDG ruling party is garnering 49.1% of votes while the UNM opposition party has won 26.8%.



PVTs margin of error in case of these two parties is plus/minus 0.9%.



ISFED was not able to conclusively define whether the election bloc, led by the Alliance of Patriots, is clearing or not 5% threshold required for winning seats in the Parliament under the nationwide proportional, party-list vote.



According to PVT, Athe lliance of Patriots is garnering 4.9% of votes, but its margin of error is plus, minus 0.3%.



With returns from over 66% of precincts, early official results give the GDDG ruling party 49.75% of votes, the UNM 26.72%, and the Alliance of Patriots 4.91%.



ISFED also said that during the vote tabulation process, there were significant violations, including violent ones, at several polling stations.



However these were isolated cases, ISFED said, which cannot have any substantial impact on the results of the proportional, party-list vote.

(Civil.ge)







GYLA condemns vandalism at Jikhashkari



During the vote count and result summarisation, unknown individuals broke into polling station #108 of the Zugdidi district, specifically in the village of Jikhashkari). They threw stones and broke the windows of the polling station, then entered the building by force, scattered the ballots, and damaged the electoral inventory. One policeman was present at the polling station who naturally was not able to respond adequately to the violent situation; additional police officers forces arrived only later.



According to the GYLA's observer, two observers of the Norwegian Helsinki Union observation organisation who were trying to record the violent incident on a cameraphone were beaten up and have physical injuries. The danger was posed to the GYLA observer as well who left the polling station through the window.



The GYLA calls on the government to ensure that the electoral process is carried out in a safe environment and to safeguard the safety of all those involved in the process.

(Gyla.ge)







The United National Movement must believe they will never gain another victory  Eka Beselia



The United National Movement must believe that they will never gain another victory over the people they constantly pressured for years, one of the leaders of Georgian Dream party, Eka Beselia, has told reporters.



According to her, the protest rallies announced by National Movement should be within the frames of the freedom of speech, and this right is protected in the country.



However, the language of blackmail and ultimatum is absolutely unacceptable, Eka Beselia added.

(IPN)




THE TRUE COST OF ALL THAT 'CHEAP' LAOR THAT DESTROYED AMERICA THE BIG SECRET DEMOCRATS DO NOT WANT YOU TO KNOW: Heather Mac Donald of the Manhattan Institute has testified before a Congressional committee that in 2004, 95% of all outstanding warrants for murder in Los Angeles were for illegal aliens; in 2000, 23% of all Los Angeles County jail inmates were illegal aliens and that in 1995, 60% of Los Angeless largest street gang, the 18th Street gang, were illegal aliens.
, the blog of the Law Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., reported earlier this week on two recent comparative law reports published by the institution The first, Government Access to Encrypted Communications , "describes the law of 12 nations and the European Union on whether the government, pursuant to a court order or other government process, can require companies to decrypt encrypted communications or provide the government with the means to do so".The other one is an updated version of an earlier report entitled Foreign Intelligence Gathering Laws that examines the legislation regulating the collection of intelligence in the European Union (EU) and Belgium, France, Germany, Netherlands, Portugal, Romania, Sweden, and the United Kingdom..The Law Library of Congress is the worlds largest law library, with a collection of over 2.65 million volumes from all ages of history and virtually every jurisdiction in the world.

Labels: comparative and foreign law, privacy, secrecy, telecommunications
"Torrey Pines," a stop-motion animated film by Clyde Petersen, a Seattle artist and musician and filmmaker, is on a road trip with live accompaniment.

Petersen's website describes it as "a queer punk coming-of-age tale" set in the Southern California in the 1990s.

"Raised by a schizophrenic single mother, Petersen's life story unfolds in a series of baffling and hallucinated events. With a mother fueled by hallucinations of political conspiracy and family dysfunction, 12-year-old Petersen is taken on a cross-country adventure that will forever alter the family as they know it," according to the plot description.

The Missoula screening will be accompanied by a live soundtrack by Petersen, who has a band called Your Heart Breaks, plus Jacob Jaffe of iji and Zach Burba of Dozer. The original soundtrack was produced by Chris Walla of Death Cab for Cutie.

There will also be a set by Dorothy, a multi-media synth-pop project by local filmmaker and musician Marshall Granger.

The screening is Wednesday, Oct. 19, at 7 p.m. at Free Cycles, located at 732 S. First St. W. Suggested donation is $5.
Montanas premier cave advocacy group, the Northern Rocky Mountain Grotto, will host the regions first Cave Camp on Friday through Sunday. Cave Camp 2016 is a multi-day event held at Camp Rotary in Monarch, near Great Falls, and will offer attendees the chance to learn basic to advanced caving techniques. Attendees can learn how to rappel, how to survey and map caves, and even participate in a hands-on course on cave rescue!
Montanas prisons and jails are over capacity. What changes in statute and/or funding at the state level  if any  do you think are necessary? If no changes, why not?

Despite having just 5 percent of the worlds population, the United States has 25 percent of the worlds prison population. In Montana, our state Department of Corrections has a budget of nearly $200 million a year, a figure that grew by 39 percent between 2006 and 2014. Over a similar time period, Montanas prison population grew by 15 percent. The number of prison intakes for revocations of probation or parole now sits at 85 percent. We need to seek cost-effective alternatives to achieving a sober, responsible and accountable community, particularly by addressing nonviolent offenders through programs like treatment courts, crisis intervention, and addiction services.

Has the Montana Fish and Wildlife Commission adequately guided the states hunting and fishing concerns, or does the Legislature need to give the Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks more specific direction regarding topics such as land acquisition, wildlife management, predator control, and bison?

Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks and its five-member commission are tasked with the enormous responsibility of stewarding our states abundant fish, wildlife, parks and recreational resources. As a sixth-generation Montanan, hunter, fisherman and avid outdoorsman, I enjoy the opportunities provided by our recreational resources and public lands, and Im committed to the long-term viability of those resources. While I believe FWP is doing its job well, Ill always be on the lookout for opportunities to help improve wildlife management, expand public access, and maintain good relationships with landowners for generations to come.

Many Montanans depend on the extraction of fossil fuels for jobs, yet there is a strong demand for clean and renewable energy in the region, especially since prices for the latter are falling. How do you propose to help workers in the coal, oil and natural gas industries find jobs in this new economic landscape?

As Montanas natural resource economy struggles, our workers, families and tax revenues are suffering. I believe that American energy independence is achievable through an all-of-the-above energy policy that includes fossil fuels and renewables. Colstrip is on its way to being mothballed, for reasons mostly out of Montanas control. Well need to make the right economic investments and work with our two-year colleges to ensure workers are ready for the changing economy. And since much of the destruction in our natural resource economy can be attributed to federal overreach and out-ofstate special interests, how about we stick them with the bill?

According to Montana University System records, as recently as 1992, the stated funded 76 percent of the university system. Now, though, state support has fallen to 40 percent, which means tuition funds 60 percent of the system  putting higher education out of reach for some Montana families. Do you as a legislator have a responsibility to help and if so, how? If not, why not?

Article X, Section 9, of Montanas Constitution vests oversight of the Montana University System in the governor-appointed Board of Regents. The Legislature appropriates funding to the university system, but the Board of Regents ultimately decides how and where those funds are spent. In recent years, the Legislature has appropriated funding aimed at tuition freezes, which I support, but the Board of Regents has done a poor job of keeping expenses under control and holding university leadership accountable. Affordability and post-graduation employment opportunities are among my top priorities for our higher education system.

What do you regard as the most urgent problem facing Montana, and how do you propose dealing with it?

Jobs, jobs, jobs! Montana ranks 49th in the nation in wages. A recent University of Montana BBER study found that when the EPAs Clean Power Plan is fully implemented, Montana could lose up to 7,000 jobs and $516 million a year in personal income, not to mention the significant negative impacts on state and local tax revenues. As a small business owner, I know what it takes to create jobs. As your legislator, Ill work to remove barriers to investment and employment, reform our tax code and pass legislation that will attract, retain, and create high wage jobs in Montana.
Montanas prisons and jails are over capacity. What changes in statute and/or funding at the state level  if any  do you think are necessary? If no changes, why not?

This crisis is driven by three categories of re-offenders. 1) Those addicted to drugs need evidenc- based treatment programs and diversion programs. A person who has abandoned their family, friends, and life itself in pursuit of the next high is not deterred by the threat of prison. 2) For those with mental illness, keep up Rep. Ehlis efforts to expand community-based care. 3) For the persistently antisocial, take steps to make prison more of a deterrent. For example, Arizona law requires that all able-bodied inmates work. Also, ministries that help open hardened hearts to God are essential.

Has the Montana Fish and Wildlife Commission adequately guided the states hunting and fishing concerns, or does the Legislature need to give the Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks more specific direction regarding topics such as land acquisition, wildlife management, predator control, and bison?

The Legislature can follow a tenet of leadership I learned when deployed to Iraq: Give clear guidance, then get out of the way. Biologists can get 'er done if we set the right priorities. The big generational fight were facing in Montana is all about public access. The Legislature should focus on 1) protecting our incredible stream access laws from lobbyists representing Californians, 2) allowing hunters to cross from one piece of public land to another at the corner posts, 3) investing further in block management programs and access easements across private land to build corridors to public land.

Many Montanans depend on the extraction of fossil fuels for jobs, yet there is a strong demand for clean and renewable energy in the region, especially since prices for the latter are falling. How do you propose to help workers in the coal, oil and natural gas industries find jobs in this new economic landscape?

Just like any investment portfolio, a well diversified economy is essential. Growth in Missoula county has outpaced Montana at large in recent years driven in part by healthcare and tech. Politicians are bad at predicting economic trends. Avoid picking winners and losers and focus on the fundamentals: excellent public education, first rate (including tech) infrastructure, a pro-growth job climate and support for working parents. The Montana Chamber of Commerce cites workforce development as a top policy priority. I agree. Cut taxes for employers implementing apprenticeship programs. Eliminate corporate tax giveaways that leave workers in the dust when commodity prices plummet.

According to Montana University System records, as recently as 1992, the stated funded 76 percent of the university system. Now, though, state support has fallen to 40 percent, which means tuition funds 60 percent of the system  putting higher education out of reach for some Montana families. Do you as a legislator have a responsibility to help and if so, how? If not, why not?

Something is fundamentally wrong when the cost of higher education keeps rising in the wake of a transformative information revolution. Montana's 1972 Constitution vests complete control of the University System in the Board of Regents, but the Legislature retains a responsibility to ensure a high-quality, affordable higher education is available to every Montanan. Appropriating more money is not always the answer. Push for innovation that leverages online learning and collaboration. Make it easy for students to ditch the four-year model and try three-year baccalaureate degrees, or years of community college followed by a transfer, and advanced apprenticeship programs.

What do you regard as the most urgent problem facing Montana, and how do you propose dealing with it?

A great challenge of our time is how to deliver basic good governance at a time of profound political division. Divided government can work. Compromises last session delivered uniquely Montana solutions, delivering health care to thousands of working Montanans and exposing dark money groups seeking to influence our elections. But with bad leadership, divided government can cripple our state. A small faction of legislators seeking a political win, including Rep. Greg Hertz, blocked an infrastructure bill that had the support of the vast majority of the Legislature. We cannot let the Montana Legislature become as dysfunctional as the U.S. Congress.
A California man arrested with four pounds of marijuana at a Missoula motel in February has been sentenced to 15 years at the Montana State Prison, with seven of those years suspended.

District Court Judge Leslie Halligan handed down the sentence on 46-year-old Rory Lee Osburn on Wednesday.

Osburn was arrested Feb. 18 at the Motel 6 on East Broadway, and charged with two felonies for drug possession.

He was taken into custody when agents from the U.S. Marshals Service served an arrest warrant on a woman he was traveling with.

A 17-year-old from Sacramento, California, who told officers he met Osburn online was also present in the room. The teen allegedly lied to his father about where he was, saying he was vacationing with a family friend.

According to a court affidavit, after obtaining a search warrant officers found small amounts of methamphetamine as well as four pounds of marijuana in the room.

As part of a plea agreement with prosecutors, a felony charge of endangering the welfare of a child was amended to a misdemeanor. Osburn pleaded guilty to the charges, as well as another misdemeanor for possession of drug paraphernalia, in August.

On Wednesday, McCubbin said Osburn, a registered sex offender, has eight prior felony convictions in the state of California, and asked Halligan to only suspend five years of the 15 year prison sentence.

It appears the only time he is not committing crimes is when he is in custody, he said, reading from a report prepared by a probation officer.

Osburns attorney, Katy Stack, asked the judge to suspend 10 years, adding that Osburn wished to return to California to spend time with his mother and go back to work during his parole. Stack said the time in prison would allow Osburn to get treatment for his meth addiction. She said he had never been offered such treatment during previous periods of incarceration.

Osburn himself said he had come to Montana while giving a friend a ride, and thought his medical marijuana license from California allowed him to possess and sell the drug in this state. He said if he had not been using methamphetamine at the time, he would have researched the law more.

Methamphetamine has ruined my life, he said, adding he had been using since the age of 13. Im tired of being a slave to meth."

Halligan said she chose to suspend seven years of the prison sentence to ensure Osburn has adequate time to address his addiction, and gave him credit for the 273 days he had already been in custody.
With a host of projects planned to begin in the next five years, almost every one of Missoulas major arteries will look different by the early 2020s, thanks to $56 million in state and federal funding.

The projects begin with improvements to Madison and Russell streets in the first half of 2017, and extend to a rebuilt Higgins Street Bridge, to begin in summer 2020, if designs are approved by then, according to Shane Stack, Montana Department of Transportation engineer with the Missoula Division.

Ward 3 representative Emily Bentley encouraged Missoulians to be patient with the ongoing projects. Though they may seem endless, the city will be better for it, she said.

I know its frustrating, but its important we dont let these construction projects get the better of us, she said. Overall, they are definitely an improvement.

Russell Street will widen to five lanes from Third Street South to Broadway, with the middle lane acting in different areas as a turn lane, right-of-way or landscaped median. New sidewalks, trails and bus pullouts will run along either side.

Its hard to imagine five lanes there, or even six lanes up at Third Street, and its kind of scary, Bentley said.

The intersection of Wyoming and Russell streets will have four-way signals and the Milwaukee Trail will go underneath the road, as it does on Orange Street.

The Russell Street Bridge will be wider than its present width, to accommodate five auto lanes, as well as bike lanes and sidewalks.

The Madison Street Bridge will start seeing construction to shore up the underside of the roadway in November or December 2016, while work on northbound lanes will begin in January 2017; through any snow or cold that may come.

The contractor believes they can do it regardless of weather, he said.

The underbridge will be closed from January to the end of construction, slated for August 2017.

On both the Madison and Higgins bridges, the median will be removed, to add more room for bicycles and a wider sidewalk on each side. Right now, Stack said, the bike and walk lanes are far smaller than standard widths.

Stack said the state believes the space along the north side of Madison, next to the DoubleTree hotel, actually is public land, not owned by Hilton. MDT is going to survey the area to make sure.

That would give bicyclists and pedestrians going that way from the underbridge a little peace of mind, no longer feeling as though theyre trespassing, Bentley said.

I believe the DoubleTree appreciates the fact that theres some free public parking here, Stack said, pointing at the spaces right next to where the Madison Street Bridge connects on the north shore of the Clark Fork.

This was the Number One priority, as far as making this connection.

The Van Buren exit will look completely different as well, with two roundabouts, one on each side of the interstate, feeding traffic through, and sound barriers set up on either side of Van Buren.

Vine Street residents will no longer look at a chainlink fence blocking off grass on the side of I-90, but rather, a tall noise-dampening wall, set farther back from the street, giving them access to the grassy area.

Though early design sketches just show the wall as a sort of patterned gray slab, Stack said MDT is considering giving them a more appealing look, using a new technology that allows images to be cut into the stone walls.

I hope this doesnt become difficult, because everybody has an opinion, Stack sighed. Its an opportunity to provide something very unique and very cool for the community.

The images could show the history of Missoula Valley, Stack said, even as far back as Glacial Lake Missoula, in several separate murals, adding MDT will involve the community in their decision.

The Higgins Street Bridge, Stack said, would not be wide enough for an expanded sidewalk and bike lane, even after getting rid of the median.

The current plan involves extending the sidewalk on each side of the bridge, so that pedestrians coming from the Wilma would walk straight onto the bridge, instead of winding their way on as they do now.

That will be done by using a lightweight, fiber-reinforced polymer to widen the bridge over empty air on the west side of the bridge, Stack said.

Theres a pretty large cost associated with that, Stack said. What we end up with is a 13-foot-wide sidewalk and bike facility.

Signal changes, some in progress, will bring modern updates to Missoula, in meeting Americans with Disabilities Act and other federal requirements.

New Accessible Pedestrian Signals (APS), will not only offer visual and audio cues, like the buttons at the intersection of South Sixth and Arthur streets, but also will vibrate in certain patterns, letting those with sight and hearing impairments cross safely.

The old pedestrian signals, Stack said, were so out of date Missoula could only replace them when other towns replaced their signals and passed on the used parts.

Meeting a new federal requirement, drivers turning left will now see a blinking yellow arrow after a green arrow at left turns in Missoula.

Stack said the old method, of following a green arrow with a regular green light, was changed 'cause some folks were getting confused.

The intersection of West Broadway and Higgins Avenue will now have a short green arrow for those driving north on Higgins, Stack said.
Prosecutors will tell you that sexual assault cases can be some of the most difficult to prosecute. Survivors will testify to the lasting physical and emotional scars from their assault. Thats why we at the Montana Department of Justice have worked to improve laws, ensure survivors are treated appropriately, bring perpetrators to justice and help Montanans prevent such horrible crimes from happening.

Not long ago, I announced that Montana received nearly $3 million in federal grants that will allow local law enforcement agencies to submit old sexual assault evidence kits for testing. This came after I formed a task force to examine the issue and conduct a statewide census of unsubmitted kits. It was the first time in Montanas history that the Attorney Generals Office had ever done this. We learned that there are approximately 1,400 kits stored in local law enforcement evidence lockers around the state, some dating back to 1995.

While there can be legitimate reasons why a kit wouldnt be submitted for testing, we began with the goal of ensuring all kits that need testing are submitted. Not only will the grants allow law enforcement agencies to test all past kits, but also create a tracking system so agencies and survivors can follow the process. The grants will fund a cold case investigator and a statewide victim coordinator, as well as facilitate the development of formal procedures to ensure kits in need of testing are never again shelved.

Thats just one example of what my office has been doing to improve how Montana handles sexual assault cases.

In August I was delighted to announce that the Missoula County Attorneys Office is in full compliance with our landmark 2014 agreement on improving prosecutions of sexual assault. I negotiated that agreement after intervening in the legal standoff between the U.S. Department of Justice and Missoula County Attorneys Office.

Through the agreement, my office worked closely with the Missoula County Attorney to rethink and retool how cases are prosecuted and how survivors are treated. The result is a new framework that all prosecutors in Montana can utilize.

Sexual assault is a particularly heinous crime, and so it deserves a focused prosecutorial expertise. Thats why our agreement called for the Missoula County Attorneys Office to create a special victims unit, and why I created the first-ever sexual assault prosecution unit in the Attorney Generals Office.

Recently, with my offices assistance, a legislative committee advanced proposals bringing needed changes to how the state defines terms such as consent and incapacitation. This was the result of our work with Sen. Diane Sands during the 2015 session calling for a top-to-bottom review of Montanas sexual assault laws.

Weve also taken steps to prevent sexual assault crimes, particularly in enhancing the states Sexual or Violent Offender Registry as a tool for citizens to stay informed.

When I took office, 83 percent of registered sex offenders lacked a tier-level designation, depriving law enforcement agencies of important tools for keeping track of offenders whereabouts. Through our legislative efforts and just plain hard work, weve brought that number down to 50 percent and it continues to fall.

To help local law enforcement agencies keep track of offenders in their communities, in 2013 I launched multi-agency compliance check operations. My agents partner with local, state, and federal officers and go into specific regions to track down non-compliant offenders. These operations have resulted in numerous arrests and offenders being brought into compliance with state registration laws.

Working with county attorneys, local law enforcement officials, our federal law enforcement partners, state legislators and others, we have improved Montanas response to sexual assault crimes and strengthened tools for prevention. Our vigilance must never end, and so our efforts will go on. As your attorney general, I look forward to continuing this important work building a safer Montana.
The Missoula County commissioners made the right choice in selecting and appointing Landee Holloway to be the interim Justice of the Peace.

Like so many other members of this community, I too support Landee Holloway for Justice of the Peace for these reasons.

Landee has over 20 years as a Montana probation and parole officer. I have worked with her on many investigations involving aggravated felonies, sexual assaults, child pornography and abuse, and sexual assaults. Because of her leadership and assistance, her role in these cases involving offenders under supervision brought these types of cased to successful conclusion and prosecution.

Many county detention centers across the state are filled to capacity. Solutions need to be sought out. Those who commit serious crimes need to be held responsible for their actions and incarcerated and supervised; others committing lesser crimes, first time offenders, may receive lesser sentences and no incarceration, but supervision.

Holloway co-chairs a committee Partners for Reintegration and served on the Missoula Jail Diversion Master Plans steering committee. This is very important; heres why.

Justice of the Peace represents the peoples court, where most first time offenders make their initial appearance in the justice system to face charges brought against them. It is Holloway's prior experience and expertise that will allow her to make the determination to incarcerate or find an alternative to incarceration while at the same time making the party responsible for their actions.

It is through her experience and dedication that Landee Holloway will represent a fair and equal justice system for the victim, the accused and for Missoula County.

Captain Greg Hintz, retired,

Missoula County Sheriffs Office,

Missoula
BILLINGS  A man accused of raping two women between 2004 and 2013, as well as harassing at least four other women during that time, was taken back into custody for using Facebook to harass a woman in Flathead County.

Leslie Dean Ernst was arrested Oct. 6 on contempt of court charges. He was free on a $50,000 bond after putting his house at 2648 Cody Drive as collateral.

A hearing on whether to revoke Ernst's release will be held Nov. 7.

On May 25, a young woman reported she was being harassed by an "elderly man" who she identified as Ernst, according to the petition to revoke Ernst's release. After she blocked Ernst's Facebook page, she was sent vulgar and obscene messages from eight different Facebook accounts. Two of these eight accounts were linked to Ernst's I.P. address.

Ernst was charged in September 2013 with sexual intercourse without consent, stalking and privacy in communications, all felonies. More victims came forward after seeing stories about Ernst's arrest, and another charge of sexual intercourse and three additional counts of privacy and communications were added to his charges.

Ernst was awaiting trial on these charges, which was set for Nov. 29 before Yellowstone County Judge Russell Fagg.

Appearing Tuesday in Yellowstone County District Court, Judge Michael Moses held Ernst in place of an additional $25,000 bond.

The following information is provided by court documents charging Ernst with the multiple counts in this case. Ernst has pleaded not guilty to all the charges and claims innocent of other allegations.

A woman first reported being raped by Ernst to the Billings Police Department in 2004. Ernst had contacted the 18-year-old girl over Yahoo messenger pretending to be a 27-year-old man named Dean.

On Nov. 6, 2004, the girl went to Ernst's house on Cody Drive, after Ernst sent her a message that said she wouldn't like the consequences if she didn't meet him.

The girl claimed Ernst raped her.

On Nov. 9, 2004, the girl reported the rape to the Billings Police Department after receiving harassing phone calls from Ernst. Police traced the calls to the Cody Drive home.

Billings Police Detective Dale Brewington listened to the threatening messages left by Ernst.

No charges were filed against Ernst at that time.

In February 2008, the woman made a report about harassing phone calls to the Yellowstone County Sheriff Office. The woman had received the calls over the three and a half years since she reported Ernst had raped her.

In November 2008, staff at a home healthcare agency discontinued care to Ernst's father after several female staff members reported Ernst had rubbed up against them while they were caring for his bed-ridden father.

Billings Police Detective Denise Baum investigated Ernst further and found multiple complaints against Ernst for inappropriate behavior with minors and young females dating back to 1984.

In 2013, a woman Ernst was convicted of harassing in 1995 began getting obscene messages from someone she believed was Ernst.

Another woman came forward and said that Ernst had raped her in 2012.

The woman said she knew Ernst because he had molested her when she was 8 years old.

Using a Facebook profile with a fake picture and name, Ernst told the woman she should have sex with him and claim he raped her. The woman did not like the idea. Ernst, still pretending to be someone else, said he would report her attempt to blackmail him if she didn't have sex with him.
BILLINGS - A woman admitted assault charges on Wednesday after federal prosecutors said she was driving drunk when she ran over a boy who was playing outside and broke his leg.

Jacqueline Three Fingers, 19, of Muddy Cluster, which is west of Lame Deer, pleaded guilty to assault resulting in serious bodily injury during a hearing in U.S. District Court in Billings. There was no plea agreement.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Zeno Baucus said the assault happened on Oct. 18, 2015, after Three Fingers and several of her friends spent the day drinking alcohol and driving around Ashland and Lame Deer.

Three Fingers dropped off her friends and continued drinking and driving around Lame Deer. She stopped at a convenience store for gas and cigarettes and then drove toward Sweet Medicine Road outside of Lame Deer, he said.

The day was getting dark and the victim, identified as V.S., a 7-year-old boy, was outside playing with friends. Baucus said the boys were under a street light hitting plastic bottles with a stick.

V.S. was sitting on a curb with his feet outstretched when Three Fingers drove down the street, swerved up onto the curb and struck V.S., sending him rolling down the street, he said. Three Fingers continued driving.

V.S. was taken to a hospital, where he was diagnosed with a compound fracture of his left tibia and bruising to his left foot, Baucus said. The boy underwent surgery and had a metal plate and screws installed in his leg.

Witnesses at the gas station before the incident told officials they saw Three Fingers slurring her words when talking to the clerk and that she appeared drunk. The witnesses also saw Three Fingers car again near Sweet Medicine Road and followed her into the residential neighborhood where they saw her speeding, swerving and then run over V.S., the prosecutor said.

In an interview, Three Fingers admitted to drinking alcohol, had a pretty high intoxication level and that she was pretty buzzed at the time she was driving on Sweet Medicine Road, Baucus said.

Three Fingers also said she didnt remember much but recalled that she got hot while driving and reached down to turn off the heat. When she looked up, she saw some children, swerved and hit someone, she said.

Three Fingers faces a maximum 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

U.S. Magistrate Carolyn Ostby said she would recommend that U.S. District Judge Susan Watters accept the guilty plea. Watters will set a sentencing date. Ostby continued Three Fingers release.
HAMILTON  Libby was famous for awhile.

There she was on the internet happily scampering away from anyone who attempted to capture her on top of Lost Trail Pass.

Jennifer Reighard of the Bitter Root Humane Association first got word that Libby had been abandoned or lost in that remote corner of the world in the middle of August.

With her background in animal control in Deer Lodge, she was deemed the perfect person to round up the freedom-loving hound that so many had already taken such a liking to.

And so Reighard carted an extra-large dog trap up to the top of the pass to the caretakers house.

You know those live traps you use to capture cats or skunks? Its like that, only human-sized, she said. Its huge.

She spent an entire day trying to entice Libby to walk in and enjoy a snack.

I talked with some hunters who said they had spent a week trying to get her close enough to catch her, Reighard said. They didnt have any luck.

And neither did she.

Libby did poke her nose into the trap far enough to trigger the spring, but she was slippery enough to squeeze her way right back out.

Her back legs were outside the trap when it triggered, Reighard said. She somehow managed to get out.

But Reighard didnt quit.

One Saturday, the caretaker called her with some good and bad news.

He said Libby had finally wandered far enough into the trap to be captured. That was the good news.

The bad news was an RV filled with ladies outraged to see a dog standing there in a live trap had decided they needed to take matters into their own hands.

They let Libby free.

I was so glad it was him that talked with them, Reighard said. Im really happy it wasnt me.

And so she reset the trap and worried the dog was now on to her.

I didnt think there was any way that she would go back in there now, she said.

A few days later she got another call from the caretaker. He said she needed to get up there as soon as possible.

When Reighard arrived, there was Libby, standing in the trap.

And right there, too, was a beaming Canadian named Lucille who told Reighard that she was going to want to give her a hug.

Lucille told Reighard that she had spent a good part of her day coaxing Libby closer with treats. And finally, when she had just about hit the bottom of the box, Lucille gave that dog a choice.

She said she told Libby that she was going to have to take this last one out of her hand, Reighard said. And when Libby did that, she was finally captured. I told her it must have been her essence. She was the only one Libby would let get that close.

When Libby finally had the chance to snuggle down into a dog bed, Reighard said she went like, Oh. That feels so good. It wasnt my effort alone that caught her. It took everyone to make this work.

There were so many people who really cared about this dog, she said.

It took almost a month to capture the hound.

And, as it turned out, it was in the nick of time.

Libby had seven puppies this past weekend at the Bitter Root Humane Associations shelter.

Shes enjoying a new maternity ward right now, said the shelters manager, Eve Burnside. Libby is so sweet. She has those great big doe eyes. I think shes happy to be some place warm, safe and dry.

Burnside said shes had a few calls from people who say they are Libbys owners.

I dont think so, she said. It sounded to me like they just wanted the dog and her puppies. Well be looking for a new home for her. We wont adopt the puppies out until they are at least eight weeks old.

When that time comes, Reighard thinks she will be first in line.

She has already picked out a little black female that she believes would fit right in with her pack of five.

I think Im going to name her Huckleberry, she said. I think we might name the rest of them after all the ski trails at Lost Trail. Im just happy that they are here safe and sound.
CHARLO  A pheasant hunter from Missoula was injured by a grizzly bear with two cubs Tuesday afternoon near Ninepipe Reservoir on the Flathead Indian Reservation.

Germaine White, education and information specialist with the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, described the incident as a surprise encounter that took place in dense cover off Olsen Road, south of the reservoir.

The mans condition is not known. White said he was taken to a hospital, but she did not know if it was a local one, or one in Missoula.

Initial reports said it was unclear whether a grizzly or black bear had attacked the hunter, but Sgt. Dan McClure of Tribal Fish and Game said Wednesday that his ongoing investigation had concluded it was a grizzly.

Bears are currently in the stage of hyperphagia, a period when they consume as many as 20,000 calories a day as they prepare for hibernation.

McClure said game wardens with Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks were taking a statement in Missoula from the victim, who was hunting with friends who were elsewhere when the encounter occurred. He had not yet received the statement, McClure said, but understood the man had reported the incident to authorities himself, and had not called his nearby friends to keep them from trying to locate him in the area where the grizzly and her cubs might still be.

Authorities were notified at approximately 2:15 p.m. Tuesday.

White encouraged hunters to use extreme caution at a time bears are very active can often be found in cornfields, and foraging for food in thickets and dense cover.

When youre out, you need to make noise, and travel in a group of three or more people, she said. If you surprise a bear, the outcome is never good. Were in that time where bears are consuming as many calories as they can.

The entire Mission Valley is bear habitat, CSKT bear biologist Stacy Courville said, and is home to both grizzly and black bears.
KALISPELL  For outdoor enthusiasts traversing the southern section of the Alpine 7 Trail atop the Swan Mountain Range, even a smoky day opens up sweeping views of the Swan Valley and the jagged, snow-studded peaks rising from the Bob Marshall Wilderness.

And in the thickly forested mountains and valleys between the two lies a historic battleground for the multitude of Flathead National Forest stakeholders, reported the Daily Inter Lake.

As forest officials continue their years-long effort to draft a revised management plan for the 2.4 million acres overseen by the federal agency, an old conflict has reignited over the future of the Bunker Creek Drainage and the surrounding Swan Range.

Bordered by the mountains' ridge to the west, the Spotted Bear River to the east and the Bob Marshall Wilderness boundary to the south, the drainage is ripe for inclusion in the National Wilderness Preservation System, according to Amy Robinson with the Montana Wilderness Association.

"It has a history of citizen science, of biologist and agency support for inclusion," Robinson said. "It has incredible wildlife habitat for mountain goats, grizzly bears, and exceptional bull trout and westslope cutthroat trout habitat in its streams."

She added that Bunker Creek has historically been an important site for research biologists and backcountry outfitters, and sportsmen and conservation groups have fought to protect the area from logging since the 1950s.

"It's about values, and looking 50, 100 years into the future, I think and others believe as well that there's going to be more strain on human populations and wildlife populations," Robinson said. "We're going to need more protection for wildlife to roam, and for humans as well, for our solitude and well-being."

Her view isn't shared uniformly, however, and some of the forest's myriad stakeholders worry that the "recommended wilderness" designations conservationists are pushing in the forest plan revision goes too far.

Just north of 1 million acres, or 45 percent, of the Flathead National Forest falls within designated wilderness. Because new wilderness areas require an act of Congress, that number will remain the same regardless of the direction chosen for the final forest plan revision.

However, each of the four alternatives identified in the draft plan's environmental impact statement includes a different amount of recommended wilderness, a land designation used for roadless, wild forestlands that meet wilderness characteristics.

Within those lands, forest officials are required to retain wilderness characteristics for future inclusion in the wilderness system  meaning no timber harvest, forest thinning or fuels reduction, and no increases to historical mechanized recreational use.

The forest's current plan, as amended since its adoption in 1986, recommended wilderness spans 98,388 acres, or 4 percent of the forest's overall area.

That includes the southern half of the Bunker Creek drainage and a nearly 45,000-acre swath along the western front of the Swans overlooking the valley. Only one of the scenarios currently proposed for the forest plan revision  Alternative C  includes any significant expansions of that designation.

A group of residents in the Swan Valley has vocally opposed any recommended wilderness west of the ridge line, citing the potential for passive forest management leading to wildfires that could threaten communities in the valley.

"When the wilderness is an unmanaged area next to your fire district, it's just hard to put out wildfires," Allen Branine, chief of the Swan Lake Volunteer Fire Department, said.

Citing the current recommended wilderness boundary's proximity to the wildland-urban interface along the eastern edge of the valley, Branine said he would prefer the area be designated as a targeted recreation area. Some thinning and other management activity can occur under that land use, which he believes would reduce the threat posed by major wildfires like the Crazy Horse Fire in 2003 and the Holland Peak Fire in 2006.

The Flathead Forest's planning team leader Joe Krueger noted, however, that even designated wilderness is not completely devoid of human manipulation. He said about half of the wildfires that started in the Flathead's wilderness areas this past season were actively suppressed, contrary to claims that forest managers allow wilderness fires to burn without interruption.

Paul McKenzie, land resource manager for F.H. Stoltze Land and Lumber Co., said recommended wilderness areas can create an unnecessary barrier to future land management, but noted he has focused his energy on other aspects of the plan. He said he hopes the final forest plan revision will prioritize land designations that allow for more latitude in timber harvest and other management activities.

"When you start looking at adding some more fringes (to existing wilderness), that's where I get kind of nervous," McKenzie said. "If you have a wilderness boundary right next to a general-forest boundary, there's going to be a potential for folks to say, even in those general forest areas you shouldn't be managing that area, because it's right next to the wilderness boundary."

Noah Bodman is a board member of Flathead Fat Tires, a nonprofit that advocates for mountain biking in the region. While he said most of the group's members would consider themselves conservationists, they object to the designation being pushed by wilderness advocates for Bunker Creek that would prohibit all mechanized uses on trails connecting the popular ridge trail to the Hungry Horse Reservoir area.

"You're obviously not seeing the kind of traffic that you're seeing on the Whitefish Trail or something like that," Bodman said. "But there's no scientific evidence that mountain bikers have more significant impact than any other non-motorized group."

In the four alternatives offered in the current forest plan proposal, the amount of recommended wilderness varies from one-fifth of the overall landscape to zero.

Under Alternative A, the forest would retain its current plan and maintain the current 98,388 acres of recommended wilderness.

Included in that acreage are existing areas in Bunker Creek and along the Swan range, as well as an area south of the Spotted Bear River and north of the current Bob Marshall Wilderness boundary, along with an area along the northern boundary of the Great Bear Wilderness and south of Marias Pass and Square Mountain.

The current plan also designates the 15,000-acre Jewel Basin Hiking Area as a "special area," a separate land use applied to just a handful of locations in the forest. Alternatives B and C would change the Jewel Basin to a recommended wilderness. Alternative D would eliminate all recommended wilderness areas, while retaining the Jewel's "special area" designation.

At the current stage in the plan revision, the forest has not identified a preferred alternative. Alternative B most closely resembles the initial proposal unveiled by forest officials last year, however, mixing elements of the more conservation-focused Alternative C and the more intensive management proposed in Alternative D.

A significant recommended wilderness addition under this alternative lies within a large portion of the northern Whitefish Range extending to the Canadian border. That area was adopted, in large part, from a set of recommendations presented by the Whitefish Face Working Group, a group of stakeholders from across the spectrum that focused on the Whitefish Range to create a blend of recommended wilderness, backcountry recreation and timber production land.

Under Alternative C, 21 percent of the forest would be classified as recommended wilderness, extending the designation further south throughout much of the Whitefish Mountains and spanning nearly the entirety of the Swan Range.

More than a year of continued revision lies ahead for the forest plan, however, and few, if any, stakeholders had expressed satisfaction with any single alternative.

McKenzie, who was involved in the Whitefish Face Working Group's deliberations, expressed frustration that none of the current proposals adopt all of its recommendations.

"They really haven't given us the compromise alternative," he said. "They gave us the standard maximum, the minimum and then (the alternative) in the middle. We're hopeful that we can get to a more balanced alternative through this next step."

Both he and Robinson believe there is still the potential for further compromises to be found outside the Whitefish Range.

"This isn't really a wilderness-versus-timber fight," he added. "That's really not what this is about, and that's really driven home to me when I work in these collaborative groups."

***

Information from: Daily Inter Lake, http://www.dailyinterlake.com
Mondays six-hour internet outage, which impacted Charter Communications customers in Anaconda, Butte, Dillon, and Deer Lodge, was the result of a damaged fiber-optic cable, a Charter spokesperson said Thursday.

Bret Picciolo, Denver, northwest regional director for Charter, said the damage was caused by non-charter construction workers. He wouldn't say in what city or area the cable was damaged.

A recorded message on Charter's customer service line on Monday said the cable was cut. Attempts to contact a Charter spokesperson were unsuccessful Monday. A customer-service representative provided an email address but no contact number for the media.

The outage began at approximately 11:30 a.m.

(Charter) crews worked to repair the damage and restore service as quickly as possible, Picciolo said in an email. Service was restored at approximately 5:30 p.m.

When asked how customers can contact Charter during widespread outages, Picciolo, in a phone interview, did not directly answer the question. He said:

If theres an outage, we are aware of it and are working to resolve it.

Meanwhile, he said customers experiencing individual outages can call 1-888-438-2427 or visit the companys website at charter.com.
Police reports

FICTITIOUS LICENSE PLATES

Police arrested Jazmen Whaley, 34, of Butte at 10 a.m. Wednesday after pulling her over on the 700 block of Second Street because her license plates were assigned to another vehicle. Whaley was driving with a suspended license and no insurance, and two arrest warrants had been issued for her out of Butte City Court for contempt of court.

NO DOCUMENTATION, TWO WARRANTS

Rico Rinaldi, 27, was arrested during a traffic stop on Montana and Gold at 1:45 p.m. Wednesday for two Montana Highway Patrol warrants. Police also booked Rinaldi for driving without insurance, no valid license and registration, and criminal contempt.

MAN SOUGHT FOR QUESTIONING ARRESTED

Police arrested Marc Olsen, 38, a Great Falls man wanted for questioning on another matter at Silver Bow and Hayes just after 4 p.m. Wednesday after realizing a warrant for him has been issued out of Jefferson County. He was booked at the jail.
The first of two Butte-Silver Bow County chief executive candidate forums hosted by The Montana Standard starts at 7 p.m. Friday in the Montana Tech auditorium.

Chief Executive Matt Vincent and his challenger, Commissioner Dave Palmer, will discuss infrastructure, taxes, and budget issues.

At the next forum at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 18, also at Tech, they will talk about Superfund and economic development issues.

Other candidate forums also are upcoming:

A sheriffs forum, also sponsored by The Standard, starts at 7 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 27, in the Tech auditorium. Candidates are Sheriff Ed Lester and Sgt. Russ Robertson.

Readers are invited to submit questions for the Standard-sponsored forums. Submit by email only to editor@mtstandard.com with questions for candidates in the subject line.

Gov. Steve Bullock and Greg Gianforte will participate in a Gubernatorial Candidate Forum at a luncheon from 11:30 to 1 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 25, at Fairmont Hot Springs Resort. The forum is in conjunction with the Montana Lodging and Hospitality Association Fall Tourism Conference and Trade Show. The cost for lunch is $20. Details: 406-449-8408.
Highlands College students pretty much covered the political spectrum in a straw poll election just as the semester shifted into gear in September.

About 300 students elected Donald Trump, Denise Juneau, Steve Bullock and Matt Vincent in key presidential, congressional, gubernatorial and local races of importance to Montanans  in advance of the Nov. 8 national, state and local elections in the real world.

The straw poll is intended to be a fun exercise in civic engagement, said Dean John Garic.

A straw poll is an unofficial vote taken to indicate a general trend; in this case, Highlands students voted prior to the debates on all levels  and before perennial Montana Libertarian candidate Mike Fellows died in a two-car accident on Sept. 13.

It was a very valid thing to do just to gauge where students thoughts were, said Highlands student Jessica Elliott of Butte.

There were some third-party presidential candidates that I hadnt heard of, but I was very interested in them personally because the majority of people are just conflicted about our choices.

In the U.S. Presidential race, Highlands students gave Republican Donald Trump 30 percent of their votes. Democrat Hillary Clinton received 25 percent, Libertarian Gary Johnson got 18 percent and Jill Stein received zero votes. Write-in candidates received 11 percent of all votes.

Democrat Denise Juneau, challenger to Republican Ryan Zinke for the Montana U.S. House race, received 49 percent of students votes. Zinke had 40 percent and Fellows had 11 percent.

Students gave current Gov. Steve Bullock 56 percent of their votes, followed by challenger Greg Gianforte with 30 percent, Ted Dunlap with 13 percent and write-in candidates with 2 percent.

Bullock is a Democrat, Gianforte is a Republican and Dunlap is a Libertarian.

Capturing the Butte-Silver Bow chief executive seat was incumbent Vincent, with 52 percent of student votes, followed by challenger Dave Palmer with 44 percent. Various write-in candidates received 2 percent.

Elliott, 34, and a nontraditional student studying for an associates degree in science, plans to become a teacher.

A 2001 Butte High School graduate, mother and restaurant worker, she hails from a strong union background and learns about candidates and issues through social interactions and researching topics online on search engines like Google.

The local and national economies, poverty and education are her pet issues. She voted for Clinton, Juneau, Bullock and Vincent in the straw poll.

I feel that everyone in Montana is for Trump and I am not, said Elliott. At least the people  men and women  I talk to. So I choose to go online. Ive been paying a lot of attention to the presidential debates and the vice presidential one to see if there are contradictions.

Garic initiated the straw poll as part of National Study of Learning, Voting and Engagement at Tufts University in Medford, Mass.

During the day of the straw vote, Julie Brandon of the Butte-Silver Bow Clerk and Recorders office registered students to vote in the actual Nov. 8 election.

Montana Tech is a member of the American Democracy Project, an initiative of more than 230 colleges and universities.

Voting is a fundamental right in our country, added Garic. Our hope with this straw poll is that it will raise awareness among our students of the value and importance of voting.
Ghosts of Bannack back to haunt

DILLON  Montana State Parks will host Ghost Walks at Bannack State Park on Friday and Saturday, Oct. 21 and 22.

Presented by the Bannack Association, the ghosts of Bannack come alive for two performances at 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. Meet the ghosts of Henry Plummer, Dutch John Wagner, Cyrus Skinner, Chief Snag, Doctor Glick, Nellie Paget, and many more rogues from Bannacks colorful past.

Participants should dress appropriately for the weather, bring a flashlight, and prepare to meet the ghosts of Bannack. Admission is $10 for adults and $5 for children 12 years old and under and must be purchased in advance, no refunds. The shows are not recommended for children under 6 years old, and pets are not allowed. Tours are limited to 100 people each to afford adequate protection against spirits, sprites, and things that go bump in the night.

Details and reservations: 406-834-3413.

Mens AOH has new members

The Men's Ancient Order of Hibernians of Butte recently conducted a swearing-in ceremony in which Kevin Fabatz, Pat Maloney, Jack O'Brien, Dan Steele, and John Whelan were inducted into the Irish Fraternal Order.

The AOH is also looking for an AOH ceremonial sword to use in its initiation ceremonies. If you can help, contact Joe Lee at 406-490-3754.

Governor candidates square off Oct. 25

Gov. Steve Bullock and Greg Gianforte will participate in a Gubernatorial Candidate Forum at a luncheon from 11:30 to 1 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 25, at Fairmont Hot Springs Resort.

The forum is in conjunction with the Montana Lodging and Hospitality Association Fall Tourism Conference and Trade Show.

The cost for lunch is $20. Details: 406-449-8408.

Watershed committee plans meeting

The Big Hole Watershed Committee will meet at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 19, at the Divide Grange.

Todd Wagenknecht and Zachary Collins will talk about Pre-Disaster Mitigation in Beaverhead County and the Big Hole River Watershed.

The Divide Grange, a one-story cement building, is located on Highway 43 in Divide.

Monthly car seat clinic planned

A childrens car seat clinic will be from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 19, at the Uptown Fire Station, Montana and Galena.

Car seats will be checked for correct installation, making sure the seat matches your childs weight and age, recall information, and more.

Details: Mary Jo Stosich at the Butte-Silver Bow Health Department, 406-497-5087.
Superfund rep available Thursday

People with questions about Superfund cleanup in Butte are invited to talk face-to-face with a project manager Thursday, Oct. 13.

Nikia Greene, the Environmental Protection Agency's Remedial Project Manager for Butte Superfund sites, will be at 27 W. Park St., Uptown Butte, from noon to 2 p.m. That is the office of the Citizens Technical Environmental Committee.

Details: Call the Butte CTEC office at 406-723-6247 or visit buttectec.org or Facebook CTECBUTTE.

Tech professors paper accepted

John W. Ray of Montana Techs Liberal Studies Department has had a paper titled Private Reasons versus Public Reasons: Religion and Politics accepted for presentation next spring at the Seventh International Conference on Religion and Spirituality in Society to be held at the Imperial College London.

Ray teaches classes at Tech in political science and political theory.

Legion schedules dinner, meeting

American Legion Post and Auxiliary will have a dinner social and meeting Wednesday, Oct. 19, at 1750 Motor Vue Road.

A ham dinner with salads and desserts will be served at 6:30 p.m., with a short meeting at 8. All veterans are welcome. You do not have to be a member; we welcome active duty, reservist and your family.

Montana Western prof receives grant

DILLON  University of Montana Western professor of geology Rob Thomas has been awarded a $50,000 grant to work with environmental sciences students on ecological site descriptions for the Bureau of Land Management.

ESDs are land use reports that provide detailed information about a distinctive ecological area. The money, distributed from BLM's western regional office in Denver, will support four paid student interns to work with BLM soil scientists, two each summer for two years.

The interns will collect field data from roughly 40 sites throughout western Montana and the data will go into the Natural Resource Conservation Services database for use in managing the current and future health of public lands.

Medicare enrollment assistance offered

TWIN BRIDGES  Medicare open enrollment assistance is available Friday, Oct. 21, at the Twin Bridges Senior and Community Center.

Southwest Montana Aging and Disability Services counselors will be available to help beneficiaries review Medicaid prescription and health programs.

An appointment is needed to reserve a counseling time. Call 800-551-3191 or 406-782-5555.

Uptown Toasters announce winners

This weeks competition winners for the Uptown Toasters, Toastmaster Club 9765 include Nikole Evankovich, best speaker; Jeff Amerman, best evaluator; and Brandon DeShaw, best table topic respondent. The next meeting is noon Tuesday, Oct. 18, at the Butte Archives. Details: 406-782-3280.
I am not one who will accept the ill-conceived notion that politicians and government agencies have done much for public land access in Montana. The facts prove otherwise. Any access provided was accomplished in spite of these agencies and politicians who were forced into action through legal action or public pressure.

The first battle to access state lands was started in 1982 by three upland bird hunters who were harassed and illegally chased off a state school section next to Bureau of Land Management public lands, north of Malta. Thirteen years of research, data collection and persistence proved the Department of Natural Resources and Conservation, then called the Department of State Lands, was wrong. It showed School Trust Lands are public under the Montana Constitution 1972, Article X, Section 11 and Montana statutes. On April 21, 1991, Gov. Stan Stephens signed House Bill 778, which allowed public access on 5.2 million acres for recreational use at a $5 charge only to the trust for 12 months. DNRC and politicians fought us all the way all the time!

Even today DNRC and the Montana State Land Board will not admit state lands are public lands. Today the same politicians we are supposed to trust -- which I dont -- sold nearly 70,000 acres of our state lands. They were sold illegally since not a single acre was inventoried for public access, wildlife habitat, antiquities under the Montana Antiquities Act, historic values and other public resources BEFORE being sold.

Even worse, the State Land Board uses a rigged appraisal system to place dollar values ONLY on livestock unit months and timber values. The values mentioned above are not worth a dime to the land board; its a cronyism system and they want it that way. The buyer wants our surface land cheap for just the values mentioned. The system is misleading and fraudulent under Montana Statute 77-401 and the Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice 1973. Our 70,000 aces of public lands were sold dirt cheap and money needed for the school trust is fraud; we lost more than we got in return. Subsurface and dollar values wont be mentioned by the Land Board, why?

The new public land access road near the Big Hole River north of the Hogback took two years of effort by one individual to force the BLM to reconstruct the new road under a court order by a federal judge. BLM fought the road from day one. If that road had not been reconstructed, the public would have lost access to thousands of acres of wildlife habitat and hunting opportunity. Not one politician, agency, anyone  except a few ranchers  supported the road, and not a dime was collected from anyone.

We have example after example where politicians are all talk no action. Federal agencies have a block public land access for a radical environmental agenda and opposition to hunting opportunity.

Will the myth ever end that federal lands will be transferred to the Montana Land Board to sell?

Federal Public Land Laws prevent the transfer and sale of public lands, including the subsurface. The laws can only be changed by the U.S. Congress  and it will never happen. Its a political dupe! BLM and Forest Service lands are public under the laws to be held forever in public ownership.

Remember the Sagebrush Rebellion? Do you know what killed it? It was the subsurface mineral estate. Subsurface mineral estate cannot be transferred, case closed.

I know that U.S. Rep. Ryan Zinke, R-Mont., supports retention of all public lands. He is a sportsman, A+ by NRA, Montanan and very honest, but his opponent voted 11 times with the Land Board, which includes Gov. Bullock, on selling of our public state lands dirt cheap  70,000 acres now and that tells all.

Montanans must take very seriously what politicians and federal agencies are doing to deprive us of our hunting heritage. Dont forget that on Nov. 8.
HELENA  Montana's Secretary of State has released information about the voting records of two candidates running to fill her office.

Linda McCulloch, a Democrat who is term-limited and not running for any public office, said in a letter to the editor sent to the Helena Independent Record on Thursday that Republican Corey Stapleton "has failed to vote in a number of elections in recent years."

"In fact, he has failed to vote in three elections since 2013 and six elections the six years before that," she wrote.

A background report on Stapleton's voting record, released by him after a request to Montana GOP officials who use the i-360 proprietary voter database, shows him as having voted in every primary, general, special, and municipal election back through 2006.

"I've voted twice a year like clockwork since I left the service," said Stapleton, a former U.S. Navy officer, upon first learning of the letter Thursday morning. "If I missed an election, I would be surprised. What I am surprised about is, what is this sitting Secretary of State doing? I would remind her she needs to remain impartial in an ongoing election."

Lee Newspapers requested the voting record files going back to 2007 for all candidates running for statewide office. The file on Stapleton conflicts with both the account by McCulloch and the GOP report.

Since June 1998, Stapleton was registered to vote on 28 municipal, school, state, or federal ballots. He missed six votes-by-mail in that period, all city or school ballots.

McCulloch also wrote that "Monica Lindeen, Mr. Stapleton's opponent has never missed voting in an election going back as far as records can be found. That's the kind of person you want in the Secretary of State's office."

The records released on Lindeen's voting history only go back to 2004 but list no missed votes.

The letter from McCulloch, whose face is on the voter information pamphlet released to voters statewide, comes a day after early voting started in Montana.

The Independent Record confirmed that McCulloch sent the letter.

In Montana and several other states, information on whether people voted  but not who they voted for  are public record.

Stapleton has spent eight years in the state Senate and has unsuccessfully run for U.S. Senate and House seats as well as governor. His opponent, Monica Lindeen, has served as state auditor for the last eight years.

Reached Thursday morning, McCulloch said Stapleton's voting record concerns her. "When you've missed roughly nine elections, that's a lot of elections to miss," she said, explaining that Montanans can vote at the polls or have absentee ballots sent to them.

McCulloch said she didn't know if a secretary of state has released the voting records of someone running for the office before. "I could have put out a press release, but I didn't think that was right. I personally wrote a letter to the editor," she said.

After the voting files were released, McCulloch did not clarify the discrepancies between her letter and what the records showed. She stood by her assertion that it is important to have been a consistent voter if you are seeking to become Secretary of State.

After the records were read to Stapleton between campaign events, the Republican said he would "not make excuses" and could not remember what happened with those particular school and city ballots. He noted that not voting on bond initiatives could sometimes be a form of "no" vote on taxation increases. Under state law, some school bonds can fail even though they received majority approval because not enough ballots were cast. He said he was proud not to have missed a primary or general election in decades and condemned McCulloch's letter.

"This is exactly why we need new leadership," he said, calling the letter "slimy" and saying especially so since McCulloch is "the person who is supposed to uphold fair elections."

"She can't get her election data straight," Stapleton said. "She came out the day before ballots are mailed to make an attack. She releases voter information as a wrongful and reckless political attack."
The Muscatine County Board of Supervisors met in regular session at 9:00 A.M. with Howard, Sorensen, Sauer and Bonebrake present. Kelly was absent. Chairperson Sorensen presiding.

On a motion by Howard, second by Sauer, the agenda was approved as presented. Ayes: All.

A Public Hearing was called to order by Chairperson Sorensen at 9:02 A.M. on a request from Kirk and Kim K. Latta, Record Owners, to rezone approximately 75 acres of property located in Moscow Township from A-1 Agricultural District to R-1 Residential District. Planning and Zoning Administrator Eric Furnas stated the Zoning Commission recommended the zoning on a 3-2 vote. Kirk Latta stated he does not intend to fully develop the parcel as he is only planning to build a home for his daughter on the north parcel. Bonebrake has seen developments crop up next to a confinement facility that then complain about the smell. Furnas stated there is another layer of approval through the subdivision process. Sorensen stated he could support the rezoning, but would not support a large development. Sauer stated he does not have an issue with rezoning the north parcel, but does not agree with rezoning the south parcel. Bonebrake agreed with Sauer. Bonebrake stated he would like to see a specific site rezoned, but would not support rezoning the entire 75 acres. Howard stated he does not see an issue with the rezoning. On a motion by Howard, second by Sauer, the public hearing was closed at 9:20 A.M. Roll call vote: Ayes: All.

A motion was made by Howard, seconded by Sorensen, to approve an ordinance rezoning approximately 75 acres of property located in Moscow Township from A-1 Agricultural District to R-1 Residential District on the first of three readings. Roll call vote: Ayes: Howard and Sorensen. Nays: Sauer and Bonebrake. Motion failed.

On a motion by Howard, second by Sauer, the Board approved Resolution #10-03-16-01 Approval of a Combined Preliminary and Final Plat of Pheasant Crossing, Lot 1, containing approximately 5.76 acres located in Seventy-Six Township. Roll call vote: Ayes: All.

Discussion was held with JJ Koehler of FSS, Inc. regarding a proposal for additional cameras in the Muscatine County Administration Building. Information Services Director Bill Riley stated the additional cameras would be installed in the Muscatine County Administration Building offices and parking lot. Riley stated the security footage will be stored on the new courthouse camera system for a minimum of 30 days for the offices and 2 weeks for the parking lots. Administrative Services Director Nancy Schreiber stated this was not included in the current budget, but there is carryover to accommodate the project if the Board approves to proceed. On a motion by Bonebrake, second by Sauer, the Board approved a proposal for a security camera system in the Muscatine County Administration Building in the amount of $37,251.00 from FSS Inc. Ayes: All.

On a motion by Bonebrake, second by Sauer, the letting date was set for November 7, 2016 at 9:00 A.M. for L-(FEMA2013C)-73-70, two pipe culvert replacements on 215th Street due to the flood of 2014 and for L-(CUL17)-73-70 pipe culvert replacements on 181st Street and Bayfield Road. Ayes: All.

County Engineer Keith White updated the Board on current flooding and Secondary Road Projects. White stated flooding has closed the quarry and an asphalt plant which will slow down the project by Fruitland. Sauer reported an issue with a CenturyLink contractor plowing through an asphalt driveway. White will contact CenturyLink regarding the issue. Sauer asked White about flooding on Iron City Avenue. White stated the water went over the top of the berm in several areas. Sauer stated it needs to be determined who owns the material placed near Hwy 22 50 or so years ago. White stated the levee to the north is two to three feet higher and the area to the south looks like material just pushed up with no real thickness or height. Sauer stated he received calls from several residents about who owns the berm. White stated the County performs no maintenance in that area and his opinion is the deedholder is the owner. White stated in 2008 with FEMA funds the openings were filled in and turned into drive overs to get to the cabins but the County does not maintain that area.

On a motion by Howard, second by Sauer, minutes of the September 26, 2016 regular meeting were approved as written. Ayes: All.

Correspondence:

The Board received a notice from the City of Muscatine proposing amending an urban renewal plan for the Consolidated Muscatine Urban Renewal Area with a meeting to discuss the proposed amendment on October 3rd at 2:00 P.M. and a public hearing scheduled for October 20th at 7:00 P.M.

Sauer reported several calls regarding flooding issues.

Sauer reported a call regarding a fence issue.

Committee Reports:

Sorensen attended a Bi-State Regional meeting September 28th.

Information Services Director Bill Riley stated it was just brought to his attention that there is no security camera for the parking area behind the red brick building and proposed adding one for $1,050. On a motion by Howard, second by Sauer, the Board approved amending the earlier motion for security cameras to add a security camera behind the red brick building for an additional $1,050. Ayes: All.

On a motion by Bonebrake, second by Sauer, the Board authorized the Chair to sign a disaster declaration for Muscatine County and surrounding areas. Ayes: All.

On a motion by Howard, second by Sauer, the Board approved placing Beatrice Strong in the Financial Services Support II position (Grade 8, Step 14) and eliminated the Case Management Case Aide position. Ayes: All.

On a motion by Sauer, second by Bonebrake, the Board accepted the September 2016 payroll claims. Ayes: All.

Sauer informed the audience that October is breast cancer awareness month.

Howard informed the audience that Veteran Affairs is still looking for volunteer drivers.

The meeting was adjourned at 10:24 A.M.

ATTEST:

Leslie A. Soule, County Auditor Jeff Sorensen, Chairperson

Board of Supervisors
MUSCATINE, Iowa  Governor Terry Branstad and Lt. Governor Kim Reynolds visited Muscatine on Wednesday to urge Republicans to vote for their candidates.

Lt. Gov. Reynolds introduced Gov. Branstad and said although they are not on the ballot this year, they will be traveling around Iowa to encourage fellow Republicans to vote at the local, state, and federal level. Reynolds said she hopes voters will keep Republicans in office, as well as elect more.

"We have an obligation to say, 'Enough is enough,'" Reynolds said.

Branstad, who gathered with local Republican candidates and residents at Elly's Tea and Coffee House, highlighted Iowa's agricultural successes, as well as many candidates, including state Rep. Gary Carlson (R), running for House District 91, and U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley (R), who will also be on the ballot in November.

"This year, we have the best group of candidates I think I have ever seen for the legislature," Branstad said.

Branstad said he hopes the increasing turnout for early voting among Republicans in Iowa will lead to more members of the party voting in the state.

"We are very optimistic that Trump and Pence can win the state of Iowa," he said.

Although many Republicans have distanced themselves Donald Trump in the past week, including Melissa Gesing, who resigned from her post as president of the Iowa Federation of Republican Women this week, Branstad said he is more concerned about what would happen if Hillary Clinton were elected.

"So much is at stake in this country, and I think we have to look at the dangers that we're facing in this country, and I think this administration and Hillary Clinton have underestimated the threat to America, I think that is number one," he said.

He said he is also concerned about "bringing good jobs back," and feels he and other Republicans need Trump in office.

"We need an administration that's gonna work with us and not against us, and I believe with Trump and Pence, we will have people that will listen and work with us," Branstad said.

In response to a question from the crowd, Branstad said having Trump in office should be good for trade as well.

"I think we have a better chance with Trump and Pence than we have with the Democrats on future trade agreements," he said.

This year's election cycle has been frustrating for many people, Branstad said, and while some Republicans may feel uncertain about their party's candidate, he will continue to support Trump. Branstad said he feels reassured that Trump chooses people like Mike Pence, his running mate, to be with him.

"When you're the chief executive, you cannot do it by yourself, it's the team you put together," he said.

Branstad said he hopes people will vote Republican in November, and said he hopes Hillary Clinton will not win.

"It scares me, and I don't think we can afford to continue in this direction," he said.
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 []
Despite new regulations that came into effect last month, Vodacom is still charging for calls made to toll-free numbers.

Thats according to Gregory Massel, the director of Switch Telecom.

He said their tests also show that Telkom was no longer connecting calls from Telkom Mobile to non-Telkom toll-free numbers.

Vodacom and Telkom were asked to comment on the claims, but neither company responded by the time of publication.

Disputes at ICASA

New numbering plan regulations for South Africa came into effect on 24 September, which stated that all calls made to 0800 numbers must be free  including those made from cellphones.

However, a lack of action from telecommunications service providers has set the stage for a showdown.

A point of contention is the tariffs Vodacom, MTN, and Cell C want to charge to connect their clients to toll-free numbers.

The regulations stipulate that although a network may not charge its clients for making a call to a 0800 number, they may reverse bill the call.

The operator of the toll-free number effectively pays for all calls and the price of the calls are meant to be set through commercial agreements.

Switch Telecom contends that Cell C, MTN, and Vodacom have not negotiated agreements, and simply set new toll-free tariffs.

Vodacom and MTN decided to charge operators of toll-free numbers R1 per minute, while Cell C has set its tariff at R1.32 (excl. VAT).

Switch Telecom subsequently lodged a complaint with ICASA.

On the eve of the implementation date of the toll-free regulations, ICASA received disputes from one licensee (Switch Telecom) against 3 other licensees (MTN, Vodacom, and Cell C), said ICASA.

Vodacom has also lodged a dispute against Telkom, said ICASA.

It is understood that Telkoms decision to stop routing calls from Telkom Mobile to non-Telkom 0800 numbers is the reason Vodacom decided not to implement the regulations.

We are attending to the disputes and any non-compliance will be dealt with in terms of the regulations, said ICASA.

The regulator said it is not aware of any operator that has not implemented the regulations.

Even those that have lodged disputes with the Authority are expected to comply fully with the regulations.

Vodacom, MTN, and Cell C destroy the toll-free market

Switch Telecom contends that Cell C, MTN, and Vodacom had no intention of implementing the new toll-free regulations.

By dragging their feet and charging their new rates for toll-free calls, they are effectively killing the toll-free market, said Massel.

Rather than using a toll-free number, Massel predicted that company call centres, and organisations such as ChildLine, would switch to a callback system.

These systems disconnect incoming callers and phone them back at lower tariffs than toll-free providers will be able to offer.

Massel told MyBroadband that Switch Telecom will consider taking the matter to the competition commission.

Its not something we would do on our own, but if there is interest from other parties we could look at it.

Now read: Telephone and cellphone number codes in South Africa
Higher education is not in a great place in South Africa at the moment.

While there are thousands of people who want to pursue a career in gaming-focused fields in South Africa, finding the right course or degree can be daunting.

We sat down with Wits lecturer Stephen Cloete and discussed the best route to take:

Wits University is currently the only University in the country that offers degrees focused on gaming.

There are actually currently two degrees, one focused on the more technical aspects (BengSc) and the second on the more artistic side (BA PVA), said Cloete. And the demand is huge.

Weve seen a downtrend due to the recent protests, but its still very clear that this is something that people are interested in.

To give you an idea of the numbers Cloete is talking about, in 2014 they had 450 applications for the arts degree and 900 for the engineering.

Wits can only accommodate thirty places, fifteen from each discipline.

Cloete believes this number will only grow in the future.

Gaming is a very current thing, she said. Like music and movies, this generation expresses itself through game design.

The demand is not purely academic either.

Going 10 or so years back, there were only 4-5 indie game developers in the whole of South Africa and the majority of them were based either in Johannesburg or Cape Town.

Today, that numbers increased to between 40 and 50 studios spread out across the country and there is a greater international demand for higher accreditation.

Why choose a degree at Wits though, specifically over a more specialised institution?

Its the only place in South Africa that actually offers a degree in a gaming field, said Cloete. UCT offers a course in game design, but the degree is non-specific.

Likewise colleges are also an option to look at but none of them have the weight of a degree behind them.

And its not all just design and coding that are on offer.

Game theory is a hugely expanding field and we have many ties in many other faculties including Archeology, Humanities and Psychology.

We look at the gamification of every day life and how games impact us.

This really is the best place to study if youre at all interested in gaming in South Africa.

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Candidates for the Calistoga Joint Unified School Districts Board of Trustees were asked by The Weekly Calistogan to respond to the same questions. Each candidate received the same 10 questions and the hope was to present all five candidates answers at the same time.

The candidates are incumbents Julie Elkeshen and Marty Hunt, and challengers Brian Fennen, Mark Galindo, and Matt Reid, who are all first-time candidates.

Coincidentally, the three challengers for the three open seats returned their answers in time for the publication of this weeks Oct. 13 print edition newspaper. The incumbents answers to the same questions will be published in the Oct. 20 newspaper, and online at WeeklyCalistogan.com as soon as possible.

It should be noted that the initial deadline given to the candidates was set to meet deadlines for the newspapers Oct. 27 edition. But because Calistoga is a vote-by-mail district that late date could mean that some voters would have cast their votes without the benefit of getting to know all the candidates through this question and answer exchange.

Because the incumbents will have the advantage of seeing their challengers answers before they turn in their own, The Weekly Calistogan will allow the challengers to clarify their answers should that be necessary.

Candidates were instructed to keep their answers clear and succinct. They were limited to a total of 3,000 words, which they could divide up among the answers how they thought best. The idea behind that was to allow them to focus more words on topics they see as most important, and that would provide a window to voters on each candidates priorities.

The candidates were asked to provide a brief bio, which was not included in the 3,000-word count, to tell us who they are, what they do for a living, if they have children attending Calistoga schools, what grades are they in, and include anything else they felt was pertinent.

The Board of Trustees will select the school districts next superintendent who will take over when current Superintendent Esmeralda Mondragon retires at the end of this school year, in June 2017.

Trustees run for four-year terms and oversee and adopt the school districts policies, curriculum and budget. They also oversee facilities issues and collective bargaining agreements. They are expected to be leaders and champions of their local schools.
Napa County has its first permanent facility for rehabilitating injured wild birds thanks to Shafer Vineyards, which donated 5 acres of land near the Napa River to The Wildlife Rescue Center of Napa County (WRCNC).

On the secluded, heavily wooded site just off Silverado Trail, dubbed Shafer Sanctuary, WRCNC has erected a rehabilitation facility that will allow ravens and crows, along with hawks, owls, and other large wild birds, to recover from injury and be reintroduced into the wild.

The land from the Shafer family and the pre-release aviary  we now call it the Raviary  has been a huge addition to our operation, said WRCNC Vice President John Comisky. We have long needed a space where large birds can build their flight strength before being released, and the pristine surroundings facilitate their settling into the wild while being protected in this final phase of their care.

Shafer Vineyards President Doug Shafer said the vineyard was pleased the rescue center was able to use the land.

We feel a real connection to this, said Shafer. Since the 1980s, here at Shafer, weve been practicing sustainable farming, part of which includes partnering with Red-Shouldered Hawks, American Kestrels, and Barn Owls to control the gopher population in our vineyards.

Beginning in the late 1980s, the winery erected hawk hunting perches and owl nesting boxes to attract birds of prey to their vineyards. These raptors act as a natural means of controlling gopher populations in the vineyards.

The Wildlife Rescue Center of Napa County is a nonprofit organization that has been in operation for 25 years. It is the only organization permitted by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife to rescue, rehabilitate, and release wildlife in Napa County.

The organization helps Napa wildlife ranging from songbirds to birds of prey, and mammals, from squirrels to foxes. When they are orphaned, we raise them. When they are injured, we work to heal them  all with the goal of returning them back to their wild lives, said Comisky.

WRCNC uses mobile units on land lent to it by Napa County and operates out of satellite sites at the homes of species-specific rehabilitation experts. The Silverado Veterinary Hospital has partnered with WRCNC for several years to take wildlife in before it is transferred to appropriate care sites.

The rescue center helped nearly 1,200 birds and animals in 2015, Comisky said, adding that WRCNC is on track to reach a similar number this year.

For more information about The Wildlife Rescue Center of Napa County, visit NapaWildlifeRescue.org.
For the first time, scientists have helped a paralyzed man experience the sense of touch through the use of a mind-controlled robotic arm.

The groundbreaking experiment, a collaboration between the University of Pittsburgh and the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, involves electrodes smaller than a grain of sand implanted in the sensory cortex of the young mans brain. Researchers then stimulated this region, which is associated with sensation in the right hand, and effectively bypassed his damaged spinal cord. Because the paralyzed man was already connected to a robotic arm, when a researcher pressed the fingers of the prosthesis, the subject felt the pressure in the right fingers of his paralyzed hand.

The results of the experiment, which have been repeated over several months with the subject, offer a critical breakthrough in the recreation and restoration of function in people with paralyzed limbs: the ability not just to move those limbs, but something much more difficultto feel them.

The research was featured Thursday afternoon when President Obama visited Pittsburgh for a White House Frontiers Conference on advances in science, medicine and technology.

Nathan Copeland was 18 years old when his car spun out of control on a rainy winter night in 2004. The western Pennsylvania man was diagnosed with tetraplegia, paralysis of all four limbs. Five years ago, he volunteered for a cutting edge experiment at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.

A team of researchers, including surgeons, biomedical engineers and doctors of rehabilitative medicine, were toiling with the technology that would enable paralyzed individuals not simply to move their limbs again, but to restore sensation to them.

Copeland, who had been studying nanotechnology before his accident, was the perfect subject. Last spring, surgeons implanted four tiny electrodes into his sensory cortex, specifically the region of the brain that controls the sense of touch in the right hand and fingers. By electrically stimulating this region, the researchers were able to bypass Copelands damaged spinal cord. Already connected to a mind-controlled robotic arm, Copeland was ready for the experiment to begin. He was blindfolded so that he couldnt see what researchers were doing, but one by one they touched each of the fingers on the robots right hand, and each time Copeland correctly identified the location of the sensation.

I can feel just about every finger, Copeland said. Sometimes it feels electrical, and sometimes its pressure, but for the most part, I can tell most of the fingers with definite precision. It feels like my fingers are getting touched or pushed.

The research team was quietly ecstatic.

I was awfully relieved,  said biomedical engineer Robert Gaunt. Nathan was pretty happy, these were places on the hand that he hasnt felt in 10 years.

Prior to this experiment, no robotic limb had allowed a paralyzed person to experience the natural sense of touch, a kind of Holy Grail in rehabilitative medicine. For a prosthetic limb to truly mimic the full functionality of a human one, it needed to be endowed with somatosensory feedback from the paralyzed persons brain.

The electrical stimulation of peripheral nerves in amputees offers enough sensation to allow for improvements in the control of artificial limbs, but not true sensation. Without a functioning peripheral nerve system, paralyzed people have had no ability to experience any tactile sensations. Mind-controlled robotic arms got them only half way. Able to move and manipulate objects was an advancement, but without the sensation of touch, these prosthetic limb movements were slower and clumsier.

With Nathan, he can control a prosthetic arm, do a handshake, fist bump, move objects around, Gaunt said. And in this [experiment] he can experience sensations from his own hand. Now we want to put those two things together so that when he reaches out to grasp an object he can he feel it. . . He can he pick something up thats soft and not squash it, or drop it.

To even get to this point involved massive collaboration with multiple institutions and researchers, said Gaunt. The microelectrode package and control system were developed by Blackrock Microsystems, and the robotic arm by the Applied Physics Lab at Johns Hopkins University. The experiment, which is published Thursday in the journal Science Translational Medicine, lists 10 authors and 10 departments and institutions.

Four years earlier Jennifer Collinger, another member of the team, was involved in the experiment that served as a kind of stepping-stone. Jan Scheurmann, a 36-year-old mother of two, was the volunteer. Scheurmann had been diagnosed with spinocerebellar degeneration, a disease that destroys the connections between the brain and muscles. The Pittsburgh researchers enabled the woman to consistently perform many natural and difficult motions with her arms and hands using a mind-controlled, human-like robot arm. Her goal: to eat a piece of chocolate on her own. She did.

Weve been working since 2010 to get to this point, doing the background research, doing the regulatory work, and the pre-surgical involvement, Collinger said. For Nathan, he did this with the greater good in mind. He was willing to be the pioneer, and hes excited to be the very person to feel sensation. And now hes excited to see how far we can take it.
During election season, local voters read and hear all kinds of opinions about Napa Valley College. Some of the opinions are based on fact, the way movies are often based on a true story, or based on a book.

Sometimes, campaign opinions have little or no basis in fact.

For example, promoting the notion that NVC is in danger of losing its accreditation is not only far-fetched, it is dangerous to the welfare of the college. Thats because students who are deciding where to attend college might shy away from NVC if they believe accreditation is in jeopardy.

The college needs more students  not fewer  to increase full-time enrollments, to raise funding for things like classrooms, labs and to hire more teachers for needed programs like math and chemistry.

In fact, because of its exemplary, unblemished accreditation record, NVC was chosen to be the pilot for the states new standards. And, the college is following the new program as it should  as a leader among California community colleges.

Ranked the top community college in the state by Bestcolleges.com, NVC continues to excel with stellar programs and a faculty that promotes students on to jobs, four-year universities and success in life.

Thanks to that outstanding faculty, wine program students get jobs in the wine industry; psychiatric technician graduates get job offers the minute they earn their certificates; welding students and nursing program graduates have employers waiting in line to hire them.

Every semester, hundreds of NVC graduates are sought, accepted and enrolled by four-year colleges and universities throughout the state and nation. During their two years at NVC, graduates save thousands of dollars in tuition that can be put to use at the university level, leading to advanced degrees.

In search of more ways to help the residents of Napa Valley excel in life, the college has been inviting the public to get more involved in the campus.

For example, the college is eager to help various sectors of the Napa Valley community whose leaders have asked us to consider how to help with the growing traffic and housing crisis that keeps many good workers away from our valley and forces some of our best and brightest to seek more affordable spots away from home.

Private and nonprofit sectors, including the decades of good will and alumni support through the Napa Valley College Foundation, have also joined forces to assist the college to raise funds for college programs and facilities, to attract more students, and finance more educational improvements.

With the communitys help, the college will be able to continue to lift residents to better jobs, four-year universities, solid careers and lifelong improvements, as envisioned by Harry McPherson when he founded the college in 1942.

The college is also a good steward of financial resources. As a state- and community-supported institution, our record of balancing revenues and spending has been exemplary  even in times of severe cutbacks. This College Board has never adopted a deficit budget, and just approved a new balanced budget, with a healthy reserve.

Candidates for office sometimes complain about a supposed lack of communication from the college administration to the public and the staff. We have heard that criticism, and as a result, since January, the college has been the subject of more than 100 news articles, most of which have been generated by the College Office of Public Information.

More than that, we have hosted community forums on topics ranging from elder care, teen suicide to sex trafficking. We have hosted a naturalization ceremony welcoming new Americans to our community. We have won gold medals for wine produced by our viticulture and winery program  the largest in the nation  and been awarded NASA grants for our outstanding science technology engineering and mathematics (STEM) programs.

I support our dedicated faculty and staff every step of the way as they work constantly for student success. We are determined to continue on this path, so we are committed to doing more  our best  to improve communication with the community. I hope this kind of direct communication, thanks to the Napa Valley Register, will encourage more residents to get involved in this almost 75-year institution of higher learning, to help us nurture students, win more gold medals and become a destination for learners throughout the Napa Valley and the world.

The Napa Valley community can help us do that by separating fact from fiction before casting their votes. If I can help clarify issues in any way, please call me at 256-7161 to arrange a tour of the campus. I would love the opportunity to show the facts as they are today.
Proud to be native Swiss, Margrit Biever Mondavi nevertheless was quick to point out she was also American by choice.

She came to America as a young bride, and half a century ago settled in the Napa Valley to raise a family. She did a lot more than that.

Margrit set the bar for Napa Valleys hospitality industry and championed all manner of fine and performing arts.

As the wife of vintner Robert Mondavi, she brought people from all over the world to a table set with exceptional food and wine, and then introduced and entertained them with diverse fine and performing arts. One who had a kind word or a helping hand for anyone in need, later in life she set a fine example of philanthropy.

Last Monday, family, friends, associates and fans gathered to celebrate Margrits life at the Robert Mondavi Winery, the Oakville winery where she spent nearly five decades as an ambassador for wine, food and the arts. Margrit left us at age 91 in early September.

Daughter Annie Roberts said her mother lived a fairy-tale life at the winery for 50 years. She thanked all at the celebration for sharing your lives with her and making her life happy.

Daughter Phoebe Holbrook reminded everyone of one of her mothers bons mots: Why drink water if you can drink wine?

And in a keepsake given to all who attended, another: There is so much beauty in the world, if we look for it; so much.

Memories were shared by many who knew Margrit best  Glenn Workman, general manager of the Mondavi winery; Rep. Mike Thompson; Julius Anderegg, former Swiss consul general; Genevieve Janssens, director of winemaking at the Mondavi winery; Jeff Mosher, Mondavi winery chef; Thomas Keller, chef/owner of The French Laundry; Gail Bien, art teacher and friend; Stephen Thomas, founding director of the Oxbow School; Don Roth, executive director of the Robert and Margrit Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts, UC Davis; Clay Gregory, president, Visit Napa Valley. Margrits grandson, Quinn Roberts and his daughter, Maeve, performed one of Margrits favorite songs, Over the Rainbow, as dozens of white doves were released into the dusky sky.

Margrits tenacity and special spirit changed the Napa landscape  bringing together food, wine and culture in special celebration, said Richard Sands, chairman of the board, Constellation Brands (owner of the Mondavi winery and brand).

There could be no better ambassador for this special place and its wines, Sands told the assembly.

She experienced the wines fully, and knew how to express her absolute love for them through her smile, her boundless enthusiasm, her deep feelings for Robert, and through her passion for the arts.

The hand that so delicately held the wine stem aloft also caressed a painters brush; cradled her children, grandchildren; created inspired recipes; clasped the hands of dignitaries, friends and strangers alike; and welcomed endless people to this winery.

She provided us a true feast for the senses, and today we are left forlorn at this banquet table. Yet, upon reflection, this feast she set before us remains. We feel her inspiration  in the perfect combination of fine wines, great food, close friends and the timeless arts.

We will feel this inspiration forever. While Robert Mondavi was the driving force behind our wines, through this lasting inspiration, Margrit was  and will forever be  our muse.

This journalist and longtime friend of Margrit was asked to speak at her celebration last Monday afternoon, with special attention to the summer music festival. My remarks follow:

Hello Pierce  this is Margrit. The first time I heard that greeting was nearly half a century ago.

Margrit Biever was calling to ask for a little help to let area residents know something of interest was on tap at the Robert Mondavi Winery.

It could have been one of the hundreds of art exhibitions she curated over the years, showcasing the talents of area and internationally acclaimed artists.

I received many of those calls throughout the 70s, 80s, 90s and well into the new millennium. For there was always something of interest going on at the Robert Mondavi Winery  in addition to the outstanding wines produced by vintner Mondavi, his family, vineyard and cellar crews.

Napa Valleys first film festival took place in the Vineyard Room; Margrit launched the world-renowned Great Chefs program and established a Winter Classical Music series here, among other endeavors.

Perhaps the most enduring of all is the Robert Mondavi Summer Music Festival, which wrapped up its 47th season a few months ago.

It began with a performance on the lawn by the Napa Valley Symphony Orchestra in 1969, and continued as not only a program to entertain but also help underwrite orchestral programs and educational opportunities for youth. The festival continues to provide funds for music programs in Napa schools.

Long before we buried our noses in iPhones or connected on the Internet, Napans actually enjoyed one anothers company at weekend picnics and performances here.

Margrit talked to me often as she was putting together festival programs  even asking for thoughts on artist popularity and ability to attract audiences. I didnt always have the best advice  like the time she wondered if she should book Harry Belafonte. As he hadnt had recent hits or been on my radar, I wasnt sure Belafonte was a good idea. Margrit, on the other hand, believed booking Belafonte was a risk worth taking. The tickets to his first appearance here sold out in a matter of days  this was tickets by mail and by phone  no Internet then.

There are lots of great festival stories and anecdotes  like the one year a tropical storm dumped rain on the second half of a Preservation Hall Jazz Band concert, and a streaker  if you remember those  sailed his naked butt across a wet lawn and slid into the plate glass of the then retail room, glass bowing, not breaking.

Della Reese lost her voice; Hampton Hawes performed on drugs; Benny Goodman drank a little too much wine; Herbie Manns sidemen were arrested for drug possession the night before the show and performed under the watchful eyes of sheriffs deputies.

Lena Horne said she didnt do outdoor concerts  but she did for Margrit.

Margrit convinced stars with international luster to come to the Napa Valley  Antonio Carlos Jobim, Buena Vista Social Club, Cesaria Evora  and superstars like Tony Bennett, Julio Iglesias and Johnny Mathis.

Then there was Ella. In the early days, Margrit did everything, including driving Ella Fitzgerald back to San Franciscos Fairmont Hotel. On the way, Ella spotted a full moon overhead and began singing  first How High the Moon  then all the moon songs she knew all the way into the city.

Margrits ear for talent also led to strong friendships with such greats as Dave Brubeck, Boz Scaggs, Dave Koz, John Pizzarelli and Chris Botti.

Margrit Biever Mondavi enriched the valleys cultural scene with the summer festival and much more.

Five for Fighting and O.A.R. may not have been on Margrits playlist but she was always open to providing a stage for music of all manner.

Ill miss Margrits calls, but I  all of us  know her legacy lives on here where the spirit of Bob Mondavi, as she often pointed out, is in every glass of wine.

Long live the first lady of the Napa Valley.
I warmly welcome the election of Antonio Guterres as Secretary-General of the United Nations. I am confident that under his leadership, the UN will continue to fulfil its vital role in tackling the global challenges of the 21st century.

Based on a shared commitment to international peace and security, NATO-UN cooperation contributes to addressing those challenges. The relations between our two organisations have grown steadily over the past years. Today, our dialogue and cooperation encompasses a broad range of issues: from Women, Peace and Security and the Protection of Civilians, to Alliance support for enhancing UN peacekeeping efforts.

I look forward to working with Secretary General Guterres to further advance and deepen the relationship between NATO and the United Nations.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg led the North Atlantic Council and the NATO Military Committee in celebrating the 65th anniversary of the NATO Defense College (NDC) on Thursday (13 October 2016). During a commemorative ceremony in Rome, the Secretary General highlighted the NDCs role as a leading centre for forward-looking education.

This College has been essential to NATOs ability to deal with evolving challenges and to prepare for an uncertain future, said Mr. Stoltenberg. He noted that the NDC holds a well-deserved reputation for excellence in scholarship and cutting-edge research which extends beyond the Alliance. The Secretary General also thanked Italy for hosting the NDCs campus for the past five decades.

In Rome, the Secretary General also met with Italian President Sergio Mattarella and Defence Minister Roberta Pinotti. They discussed NATOs efforts to strengthen its deterrence and defence posture, and to counter challenges emanating from the South. Earlier at the Vatican, Mr. Stoltenberg was received by His Holiness Pope Francis. Tomorrow, Mr. Stoltenberg will participate in a conference at the NDC on NATO cooperation with partners in the Mediterranean and the Middle East. He will also meet with Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni.
(As delivered)

Mr. President, Excellencies, Ladies and gentlemen,

It is a great honour and a great pleasure to join you in celebrating the NATO Defense Colleges first 50 years  half a century  here in Rome.

And the Colleges total of 65 years since it was founded in 1951.This is impressive efficiency: celebrating two NDC anniversaries on the same day! I welcome everything that promotes efficiency within the Alliance.

I want to begin by thanking President Mattarella for being with us today to mark these important milestones. The President and I will meet later today and I look forward to conveying a message of gratitude to Italy. It participates in so many ways in our Alliance and our collective defence. And I want to thank you for that.

I also want to thank the nation and people of Italy  one of the Alliances twelve original members  for their steadfast support for NATO. And for hosting NDCs campus over the past five decades. NDC is NATOs leading centre for pragmatic and forward-looking education. With a well-deserved reputation for excellence in scholarship and cutting-edge research that extends well beyond the countries of the Alliance.

This institution boasts a proud history. It has made a lasting contribution not only to NATOs ability to keep up with changing threats and challenges. But also to help us to stay ahead of the curve. To help NATO adapt as early as possible to changing circumstances. This has been  and will continue to be  key to keeping the peace and protecting our freedoms. Today and for decades to come.

As we celebrate NDCs role in keeping our nearly one billion citizens safe, we should give credit where its due.

NDC was, of course, the brain-child of General Dwight D. Eisenhower.

In a statement to the North Atlantic Council  dated 25 April, 1951  General Eisenhower wrote:

 It is highly desirable to establish in the near future a NATO Defense College for the training of individuals who will be needed to serve in key capacities in NATO.

A couple of things are noteworthy about this message.

First, when he wrote this message, General Eisenhower was serving concurrently as NATOs first Supreme Allied Commander and as President of Columbia University in New York. Another expression of efficiency!

It illustrates that his vision of a NATO Defense College clearly combined his illustrious military experience with his love of education.

Secondly, I would call your attention to one more detail.

His statement proposing an NDC was dated 25 April 1951. The College was founded a mere two months later, on 25 June 1951. Now thats fast! And I think we have something to learn from this efficiency in implementing NATO decisions. So thats for our inspiration.

General Eisenhower  and NATO  moved very quickly. For a reason. They knew this facility was urgently needed  that it had an indispensable role to play.

A relevant Chinese proverb goes like this:

If youre planning for one year, sow rice.

If youre planning for a decade, plant trees.

If youre planning for a lifetime, educate people.

NDC was created to meet the long-term educational needs of the Alliance. Not only for one lifetime. But for many generations. Throughout its celebrated history, NDC has trained wave-after-wave, generation-upon-generation of officers and civilian leaders. Leaders who have served with honour and distinction at the highest levels in the Alliance. Leaders who have helped to shape NATOs strategies and capabilities, contributing directly to our success over the past 65 years.

Like NATO, NDC began in the early years of the Cold War. Like NATO, NDC has evolved over time. And just like NATO, NDC has remained true to our fundamental principles. The twelve founding members of NATO were determined to safeguard the freedom, common heritage and civilisation of their peoples, founded on the principles of democracy, individual liberty and the rule of law.

NATO Allies  now 28 in number  continue to be united behind those enduring values. As NATO expanded, NDC has grown. And the curriculum has adapted. The course offerings increased to include new areas of interest. Including the Middle East, the Far East, the former Soviet Republics, and various NATO partners.

In keeping with General Eisenhowers vision, the College is dedicated to providing first-class training for the Alliances future leaders. This was true in November 1951, when 47 men from ten nations joined NDCs very first Senior Course. And its just as true this year.

Senior Course graduates in 2016  the 129th group to complete the prestigious study programme  face a very different world than the class of 1951. The Alliance today confronts a host of new, complex and very different challenges. Including the rise of terrorist groups like ISIL, threats to our energy security, hybrid warfare, and cyber-attacks.

Were also responding to the destabilising behaviour of Russia, especially in Ukraine.

And addressing the arc of instability and turmoil in the Middle East and North Africa.

To continue to strengthen our collective defence, to continue to enhance stability in our neighbourhood and to address a host of emerging threats and challenges, NATO needs a vibrant, inquisitive, world-class NDC.

Now more than ever. NATO needs what NDC has always provided: graduates who know how to think creatively and pragmatically. Graduates who can imagine the challenges of tomorrow.

But who are also able to apply what they have learned to help us tackle real-world problems today. This College has been essential to NATOs ability to deal with evolving challenges and to prepare for an uncertain future.

I am proud of this institution. And I believe General Eisenhower would have been too.

On behalf of all Allies, and all partner nations, I thank NDC for its dedication to excellence. For all NDC has done for NATO over the past 50 years here in Rome and for 65 years in total, I congratulate you.

And I wish you continued success and many happy returns as the College helps to guide NATO over the next half century and beyond.
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Central Bank of Armenia: U.S. financial authorities complicate U.S. dollar turnover worldwide

Kyiv: 12 vessels with grain leave Ukrainian ports

France is working on a land route for grain export from Ukraine

Amount of Armenia financial assistance to Karabakh to not change in 2023

International Rescue Committee: Blockade of Ukrainian grain may lead to disaster

Erdogan: Turkey will continue to solve the food issue despite Russia's hesitation

Armenia's budget deficit in 2023 will be 3.1% of GDP

PACE MPs initiate resolution on political prisoners cases increase in Azerbaijan

EU studying issue of recognizing Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as terrorist organization

Finance minister: Armenia tax revenues projected to be about 3.7% of GDP in 2023

Armenia opposition MP: No final document will be signed in Russias Sochi

Opposition MP: When Armenia PM says he is in Russian proposals favor, has no value unless he says he rejects US option

Employee of Karabakh permanent representation in Armenia is charged with high treason

Kyiv mayor claims damage to energy facility that supplies power to 350,000 apartments

Blinken has phone talks with China's FM

Artsakh strategic issues discussed at We Are Our Mountains agency first meeting

Death toll in Indian bridge collapse rises to 141

Armenia 2023 state budget draft: Capital expenditure to increase significantly

Armenia national debt against GDP is planned to be reduced

Iranian Foreign Ministry: Presence of foreign forces doesn't contribute to peace in Caucasus

Alen Simonyan, Garo Paylan discuss prospects for reopening of Armenia-Turkey border

Aliyev arrives in Sochi

Iran detains second suicide bomber in Shiraz mausoleum

Iranian and Azerbaijani FMs discuss situation in region

2023 expenses of Armenian defense sector will make AMD 506bln, a growth of 35%

Armenias Pashinyan arrives in Russias Sochi (PHOTOS)

UN agrees with Turkey and Ukraine on transportation of Ukrainian grain

Armenia parliament standing committees kick off joint session, debating on 2023 state budget draft

Lula da Silva wins Brazil presidential election

Oil prices go down

Gold prices show weak growth

Armenia renowned stage director, ex-MP Vahe Shahverdyan dead at 77

Turkey plans to open 100 oil, natural gas wells on land in 2023

Copper falls in price

USAID delegation arriving in Armenia

Japan to establish new unified command to manage operations of land, sea and air forces

French Foreign Minister calls on Russia to reconsider its decision on grain deal

Ferrari unveils 499P hypercar with all-wheel drive

Russian Foreign Ministry hopes that Putin, Pashinyan and Aliyev meeting will help conclude peace treaty

Pashinyan to meet with Putin in Sochi, followed by trilateral meeting of Armenian, Russian and Azerbaijani leaders

Reuters: Border Agency building set on fire in Britain

US recognized as most powerful country in world for seventh time

Iran accuses Israel of organizing terrorist attack in Shiraz

Reuters: NATO urged Russia to urgently resume grain deal

Guterres intends to achieve resumption of Russia's participation in grain deal

Resistance Movement calls rally on November 5

La Stampa: Italian farmers fear rising cereal prices due to disruption of grain deal

Beglaryan: About 33% of the entire population of Artsakh gathered at the Renaissance Square in Stepanakert

Sweden's new government is ready to supply Kiev with heavier weapons

Babayan: Any proposal in which Artsakh will be considered part of Azerbaijan will be rejected

Dozens of female students protest in Afghanistan
YEREVAN. - The agreement on the exchange of information regarding the nuclear energy with the CIS countries helps to better apply the post-Fukushima criterion for the security of Armenian Nuclear Power Plant (NPP).

Deputy Minister of Energy Infrastructures and Natural Resources of Armenia, Areg Galstyan, told the aforementioned to journalists on Wednesday at the session of the CIS Commission on Peaceful Uses of Atomic Energy.

''Together we discuss the new requirements of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on the normative and technical basis for nuclear power plants. They have become much stricter after Fukushima,'' the Deputy Minister said.

The cooperation also includes preparation of specialists. Russia remains the main center of experience and knowledge of nuclear energy in CIS, although a number of other countries support their own projects or launch new ones. For instance, Belarus is constructing its own NPP, while Kazakhstan has its own tokamak for tests with thermonuclear fusion.

Armenia has also got good research specialists at Armatom Institute. The institute is small but it is known abroad and even fulfils foreign orders, Galstyan noted.

''But overall, we mainly strive for the level of Rosatom. It very much helps all of us in CIS. Rosatom's basic university  Moscow Engineering Physics Institute (MEPhI) - helps us prepare specialists. It has high-level specialists and a wonderful basis for preparing new ones. We don't have such a basis. This year we sent four specialists there. Of course, this isn't a big number, but we orientate on the demands of our sectorial organizations,'' Galstyan stressed.

Apart from this, Regional Nuclear Security Training Center operates in the National Polytechnic University of Armenia with the U.S. support. The students there have an opportunity to follow online the research carried out by the partner university in US, the Deputy Minister said.
STEPANAKERT.  The adversary violated the ceasefire along the line of contact between the Karabakh and Azerbaijani opposing forces more than 55 times, from late Wednesday night to early Thursday morning.

During this time the Azerbaijani armed forces fired around 1,000 shots toward the Armenian position-holders, and by way of various caliber weapons, the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR/Artsakh) Defense Army informed Armenian News-NEWS.am.

In addition, the adversary made use of sniper rifles in southerly and easterly directions of the line of contact.

But the NKR Defense Army vanguard units are in full control over the frontline, and they continue confidently carrying out their military service.
PACE has adopted two resolution on the situation in Ukraine.

The delegates said that Russia must guarantee the human rights of all inhabitants of Crimea and of the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk, territories where it exercises de facto control.

In a resolution on legal remedies for human rights violations on Ukrainian territories outside Ukraines control, based on a report by Marieluise Beck (Germany, ALDE), PACE urged Russia to restore, in particular, the historical rights of the Crimean Tatar people and enable the re-establishment of the rule of law in the whole of eastern Ukraine.

The Assembly also called on the Ukrainian authorities to make easier the daily life of the inhabitants of territories outside their control and displaced persons, by reducing administrative burdens and adequately equipping courts.

PACE also welcomed the activities of the Joint Investigation Team into the downing of flight MH17 in Donbas, and took note of its preliminary findings.

The resolution based on a report by Kristyna Zelienkova (Czech Republic, ALDE), called on Russia to reverse the illegal annexation of Crimea and allow Ukraine to regain control of the peninsula, to withdraw its troops from the territory of Ukraine and stop military supplies to separatists.

The Assembly warned of the development of a frozen or semi-frozen conflict, prolonging instability and insecurity in Ukraine and the whole of Europe. Russias actions had also undermined progress towards a strategic partnership with the Russian Federation over the last decades, it said.

At the same time, the parliamentarians called on Ukraine to speed up implementation of promised reforms. Only a democratic Ukraine with stable, efficient and accountable institutions, a pluralistic political environment and free media, following through at last on the promises of the Euromaidan to reform a corrupt and oligarchic system, will be a strong and prosperous Ukraine, capable of stopping external aggression and restoring peace, they said.
By Aida Hovhannisyan from Strasbourg

STRASBOURG.  The situation in Turkey after a failed coup attempt was discussed at PACE's autumn plenary session on Thursday.

The EU deputies emphasized that Turkey cannot be a democratic country unless the country works on democracy. The delegates urged to adhere to the rule of law and democratic principles.

French delegate Jean-Claude Mignon was very glad that they, including Turkish colleagues, have gathered to discuss the situation in Turkey after the July 16 failed coup attempt. He said that as politicians, they should exclude repressions.

The speakers also expressed concern in relations to the fact that some hours later after coup attempt in Turkey detentions of citizens began because of suspicions of their commitment to the ideology of Gulen. The politicians were surprised to see how Turkish authorities determined who was responsible for the event during such a short period of time.

Michael Jensen said that it was unacceptable that media outlets were being closed, judges were arrested, innocent citizens were detained because of their opposition to the government. Some days ago Cavusoglu spoke about the death penalty, but this should not be allowed, he said.

Representative of the Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party Hisyar Ozsoy gave more details on lack of democracy in Turkey. He noted that after July 16 Turkish authorities closed Kurdish TV companies, including children's and music programs, and all this was made without any explanations. He emphasized that Turkish authorities were terrorizing people under the pretext of masterminding a coup attempt.

It should be added that a coup attempt occurred in Turkey on July 16, 2016, as a result of which 246 people were killed. After that over 40,000 citizens were detained, 20,000 were arrested and 79,000 were fired. Turkish authorities accuse Fethullah Gulen of organizing a coup attempt.

According to many experts, a coup attempt has been initiated by Turkish President Erdogan to unleash mass repression in the country.
YEREVAN.  The Karabakh conflict can be resolved solely through the mediation of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Minsk Group, Russian Ambassador to Armenia Ivan Volinkin told reporters, on Thursday.

He stated this when he was asked about Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglus statements at the ongoing autumn session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE).

The problem can be resolved only through the mediation of the Minsk Group, stressed the ambassador. No irrelevant country can have an impact, participation.

The Russian diplomat recalled that the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs will visit the region toward the end of the current month. They plan to be in Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh), as well.
News coming from Turkey reminds me of the horror and nightmare of the Stalin era.

Samvel Farmanyan, a member of the National Assembly of Armenia delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), noted the aforesaid in his statement in Strasbourg, France, during Wednesdays PACE discussion on the situation in Turkey.

Turkish democracy has been challenged again on July 15. The military coup detat was failed this time and much has been said about that bloody night in Turkey. Overthrowing of a democratically elected government through military coup is a devil for any democracy and Turkish people saved the germs of democracy decisively.

However, what happened in Turkey afterwards is a clear drawback from its democratic track and can be coined as counter-coup: widespread arrests, illegal punishments, extended detentions and mistreatment of thousands of suspects including journalists and intellectuals, crackdown of media and civil society, witch-hunt in all state institutions across the country, prolonged state of emergency regime etc. The voices claiming reintroduction of death penalty in Turkey is another strong signal to Strasbourg and Brussels.

It could even be argued that there is not much difference what the perpetrators of the military coup did in 1980 and what Erdogan has carried out recently. News coming from Turkey reminds me of horror and nightmare of Stalin era: Millions of people living even in remote villages of Soviet Union were officially accused to be agents of western imperialism and were jailed or killed. Today President Erdogan is trying to emulate Stalin putting Gulen movement instead of western imperialism. Thousands of people are accused to be followers of the so called Gulen movement while no one frames it clearly what this movement is about and how hundreds of thousands of people became engaged in this movement in a country where almost everything is controlled by state institutions.

Whatever Foreign Minister Chavushoglu said here yesterday, the situation behind the curtains in Turkey is quite obvious: Erdogan is trying to consolidate more power in his hands building an unprecedented autocratic regime and the voiced changes to the Constitution is another prove of that intention. Moreover, increasing engagement in Syria, manipulation over the fight against terrorist organizations within and outside of Turkey, challenging Lausanne Treaty, unwillingness to de-blockade illegally closed border with Armenia and powerful support to Azerbaijan in Nagorno Karabakh peace process are clear signs of his increasing neo-ottoman ambitions putting millions of Syrian refugees in parallel to be political hostages in the hands of Erdogan to blackmail Europe.

Colleagues, discussion of Turkish democracy today means discussion of security in tomorrows Europe and in its neighborhood. We are a political body and our response should be political. What else should Erdogan do to push us to put Turkey back on a monitoring track? Farmanyan said in his statement at PACE.
Children who live in Aknashen like to run to the outskirts of the village. Driven by curiosity, they often climb the hill, where archaeological excavations of the ancient monument, dating to the Neolithic era, are being conducted. Explaining to them that the excavation area is a bad place for games can sometimes be very difficult, says Ruben Badalyan, the head of the expedition, the head of the earliest archeology department in the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography under the National Academy of Sciences of Armenia (photos).

According to him, studies of this unique settlement began in 1998; later the process has been suspended and resumed as early as 2004. Although the hill is small, says Badalyan, the height of the cultural layer, formed as a result of successive settlements, is more than 5 meters.

There was revealed a huge amount of information during excavations, which certify that the territory of Ararat valley was occupied by a lake. It was formed after a volcanic eruption, as a result of which the watercourse of Araks River got covered with lava sediments.

Later, the water level of the lake gradually lowered, and in the first half of the 6 th century BC, the first Neolithic settlement, known in the territory of Ararat valley, was founded on this territory. "Everything known prior to this period mainly relates to cave shelters and temporary stays. But, here we deal with a sedentary settlement, which made the first attempts of construction and ceramic production, " says Badalyan.

As for who settled in this area in the early 6th century BC, it is too early to say, since there are no written sources that would allow to find out the language they spoke. However, it is already clear that it was a period, when continuous colonization began.

"Thus, we deal with a beginning of a very long period, which ultimately led to the creation of our society," adds Badalyan.

According to him, among the finds in the main place made primarily tools made of bone and obsidian, which had been extracted from the ridge of Gegham mountain. The excavated jewelries, such as barrettes, fragments of chains, and bone spoons, are worth of attention as well.

"We can conclude that humans populated in that territory had a feeling of aesthetic beauty. They adorned themselves, their clothes, and tools. We even have an evidence that they used make-ups, says Badalyan.

The most valuable finds, adds Badalyan, are perhaps those, that inhabitants of Aknashen contacted with people, who carried Middle Eastern cultures. "We have examples of painted pottery, which obviously came from Syria, Mesopotamia. There are findings of sea shells, which point to the contacts - even though transit contacts - with the population of the Red Sea and the Mediterranean coasts. In other words, we can say that in the 6th century BC there were developing cultural and economic ties, " he stressed.

The settlement was abandoned in the middle of the 6th millennium BC. It is difficult to provide certain reasons, says Badalyan, but people could move due to social or political circumstances. Excavations in Aknashen will continue for about 10 years: to be exact, unless archaeologists get to the level at which the settlement was established.
Moscow has no grounds for particular optimism toward the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict in the near future, but it will continue the work with Yerevan and Baku, said Russian presidential aide Yury Ushakov, reported RIA Novosti news agency of Russia.

Ushakov, however, did not reveal the inner workings of the respective negotiations, and only said that a lot of options and proposals are being considered.

But I repeat: there are no grounds yet for particular optimism, he added.

And in response to the query on the reasons for the supply of Russian weapons to Armenia, Ushakov noted that Russia is Armenias ally, and therefore it has the right to supply the weapons on which it has come to an agreement with its partners.

There is nothing unexpected here for anyone; in my view, also for the Azerbaijani partners, added the Russian presidential aide. As you know, we [i.e. Russia] supply arms to Azerbaijan, as well.
The monitoring process over Turkey should be immediately restored.

Head of the Armenian delegation to PACE Hermine Naghdalyan, who is also the Deputy Speaker of the Armenian National Assembly (NA), made the aforementioned statement during the PACE discussion on the situation in Turkey.

She handed to the PACE Secretariat her speech, in which she responded to the statement made by Turkish FM Mevlut Cavusoglu yesterday, specifically noting that Cavusoglus vision on the Nagorno-Karabakh negotiation process and concession of five regions is the result of the imaginary perception of reality. Whereas in reality, the Karabakh issue resolution is aimed at determining the final status of Nagorno-Karabakh, in accordance with the expression of the will of its people, which has a binding legal force, the Armenian representative said.

According to Naghdalyan, Cavusoglus statement on Armenian-Turkish relations was another attempt to delude. If Turkey was indeed going to normalize its ties with Armenia, it would have ratified and implemented the Zurich Protocols signed in 2009 and opened the only closed border of Europe, the head of the Armenian delegation said.

Touching on the situation in Turkey after the attempted coup, Naghdalyan strongly criticized the anti-democratic processes in the country. Todays discussion is the best evidence of the fact the situation in Turkey still continues to remain in the center of the international communitys attention. We all realize that the unstable situation in this country can be volatile not only for the region, but also in a wider sense, she noted.

In the Deputy Speakers words, it is apparent that the Turkish authorities use the attempted coup as a pretext for suppressing the protests in the country. As a result, thousands of people have been detained and sacked.

The recently announced extension of the state of emergency and discussion of the possibility to bring back capital punishment mean final withdrawal from human rights, Naghdalyan noted, recalling that the Turkish authorities have shut down several Turkish TV and radio companies, including childrens channel.

Only one conclusion can be made here: Turkey is becoming more and more authoritarian and unpredictable, she stressed.

Fully ignoring the rule of law, the Turkish authorities use the situation for struggling against political opponents and ethnic minorities,Naghdalyan concluded.
Deputy Speaker of Armenian National Assembly Hermine Naghdalyan, who is also the head of the Armenian delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), met with PACE President Pedro Agramunt on Thursday.

At the meeting the interlocutors discussed the current issues related to the Assemblys work, possible developments of political processes, the scope of cooperation and the initiatives circulated in PACE.

Pedro Agramunt expressed a wish to visit Armenia. He also noted that he is going to come up with an initiative to organize meetings between the Armenian and Azerbaijani delegations and discuss the opportunities of making the work carried out by PACE more constructive.

For her part, Hermine Naghdalyan noted that the processes and new initiatives carried out in PACE recently are very important and impact the Assemblys activity. In this context, the initiatives of the PACE President are especially significant, she noted. Naghdalyan also added that the Armenian side expects PACE President to come up with impartial, balanced and just stance, which will first of all contribute to the efficiency and improvement of atmosphere in the Assemblys work.

Apart from this, the sides agreed to touch on the raised issues in the January session of the coming year.
YEREVAN. - President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan met with the President of Tajikistan Emomali Rahmon on Thursday. The latter has arrived in Armenia to attend the session of the Collective Security Council of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) to be held in Yerevan Friday.

The Armenian President welcomed his counterpart, stressing that Armenia is interested in developing its friendly and brotherly ties with Tajikistan.

Sargsyan noted that although the current level of Armenian-Tajik relations corresponds neither to the high-level political relations between the states nor to the friendship between Armenian and Tajik peoples, there is dynamics for developing the interstate ties, which needs to be mutually and consistently deepened and strengthened. The Armenian President also stressed that Armenia is looking forward to the official visit of Emomali Rahmon, in the framework of which new and various arrangements on cooperation will be made.

President of Tajikistan thanked his Armenian counterpart for the warm welcome. Mr Rahmon noted that this has been his second visit to Armenia: he arrived in Armenia a day before the CSTO Collective Security session to have another opportunity to meet with his Armenian partner and friend, exchange views and discuss the prospects for all the directions of the Armenian-Tajik bilateral cooperation.

Emomali Rahmon also stressed that there is a lot to discuss both in terms of CSTO and development of bilateral cooperation.
YEREVAN. - President of Kyrgyzstan Almazbek Atambayev has arrived in Armenia with his wife. Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian welcomed them in Zvartnots airport.

The session of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) will be held in Yerevan on Friday.

The meeting will be chaired by Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan. Armenia has been presiding in the Organization for the period between the sessions of years 2015-2016, the press-service of the Armenian President reports.

The session will address the process of implementing the decisions adopted at the previous CSTO summits, as well as the priorities set by Armenia during the countrys chairmanship at the CSTO.

In the framework of over two dozen issues set on the agenda, the parties will discuss the international situation and current issues related to the collective security, drafts of the decisions on developing the CSTO collective security strategy for the period of up to 2025 and establishment of CSTO emergency response center, issues related to the improvement of the activity of the Collective Security Treaty Organization, as well implementation of the decision related to the fight against international terrorism.

A number of political statements are expected to be adopted. The heads of the CSTO member states are also expected to make a decision on the CSTO Secretary General.
Today, on October 13, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe has adopted a resolution on protection of minors without parental custody, reports the NEWS.am from Strasbourg.

The author of the report, the Italian deputy Manlio Di Stefano noted that in Europe, more than ever, children need protection and assistance. Based only of the data of January 2016, 10 thousand miners who moved to Europe without parental custody are missing.

"In 2015, 90 thousand children turned to the EU institutions to receive asylum. Already 30 thousand children have asked for asylum as of June this year. According to the official data, 10 thousand children are registered as missing. Their whereabouts is not known. It is a fact, that many children are subjected to sexual exploitation, slavery, or to various pressures and violence, "said the Italian MP.

The MPs who gave a speech after Manlio Di Stefano, expressed their support to his report. The Danish politician Nicolas Villumsen stressed, that millions of children are forced to leave their homes due to war. The Austrian politician underlined that the fate of missing children is very troublesome, since it is not clear where these children headed, when they had left the camps  if they are with their parents, or have been subjected to slavery.

43 MPs voted in favor of the report, whereas one abstained.
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Following the release of 21 Chibok girls by Jihadist group Boko Haram, the Federal Government of Nigeria in turn released four Boko Haram militants in Banki.



As stated by the Presidency, the girls were released after negotiations between Boko Haram, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the Nigerian and Swiss governments.



"It is confirmed that 21 of the missing Chibok girls have been released and are in the custody of the department of state services," presidential spokesman Garba Shehu said in the statement.



"The release of the girls... is an outcome of negotiations between the administration and the Boko Haram brokered by the International Red Cross and the Swiss government," Shehu said. "The negotiations will continue."



"The girls were brought to Kumshe, which is 15 kilometres (nine miles) from Banki where a military base is stationed, in ICRC vehicles," said a source.



"The four Boko Haram militants were brought to Banki from Maiduguri in a military helicopter from where they were driven to Kumshe in ICRC vehicles."



From Kumshe, the Chibok girls were taken by helicopter to Maiduguri, the capital of northeast Borno state.



"The 21 (Chibok) girls arrived (in) Banki around 3:00 am (0200 GMT) where they found a military helicopter waiting. They were immediately ushered into the helicopter and flown to Maiduguri.
As a part of the ongoing war against corruption, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has turned its gaze to the South-South geo-political zone, in a bid to unravel serious cases of graft and fraud in the area.



Former state governors from the South-South top the bill of public office holders from the zone who are coming under the investigations of the anti-graft agency.



Indeed, the EFCC has already recovered over N1.06 billion from corrupt politicians and other social and economic leaders in the South-South zone within the first 10 months of this year.



Of the amount, N550 million was recovered from politicians in the region, the anti-graft agency disclosed on Wednesday in Port Harcourt, Rivers State. The recovered funds include some amounts in US Dollars.



The commission said that it is extending its anti-graft campaign to the immediate past governors from the region to retrieve huge sums of money which they reportedly stole while they were in office.



These indications were given by the EFCC's Head in the South-South zone, Ishaq Salihu, who briefed journalists in Port Harcourt on the activities of the agency.



He was silent, however, on the former governors under investigation by the anti-graft agency.

Some of the former governors in the oil-rich Niger Delta region in the immediate past administration are Godswill Akpabio (Akwa Ibom),

Liyel Imoke (Cross River), Timipre Sylva (Bayelsa), Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi (Rivers), and Emmanuel Uduaghan (Delta).



Amaechi is the incumbent Minister of Transport in President Muhammadu Buhari's administration.



He added that besides the former governors, the EFCC has started investigating other Politically-Exposed Persons (PEP) in the South-South.



Salihu said: "A lot of Politically-Exposed Persons are under investigation as I speak to you. We are seriously investigating a whole lot of them right now. We have also made recoveries from some of them.



"Out of the over N1 billion we have recovered this year alone, about N550 million came from the politically exposed persons. But because of the ongoing investigation and in order not to jeopardise the process, I will not mention their names".



He stated that in the last 10 months, the South-South zone of the commission has recorded remarkable success in the fight against corruption, having secured 26 convictions as against the 18 recorded in 2015.



The EFCC zonal head added that, "in the last 10 months, we have upped our ante in the fight against graft in the South-South zone with remarkable success. In 2015, we secured 18 convictions and recovered N420.922 million.



"This year, we have already secured 26 convictions and recovered N1.06 billion and $91,650 for both the Federal Government and individuals. I want to assure you that we will not relent".
Irate youths in Tudun Wada community in Kaduna South Local Government Area and Anguwan Rogo in Jos North Local Government Area of Plateau State, on Wednesday attacked and killed four members of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN) also known as Shi'ites.



They burnt the residence of the sect's leader in Kaduna and the group's property in Plateau.



The mob also destroyed the Shiite's Islamic school in Kaduna.



Prior to the attack, the Kaduna State government had banned the sect, which forced security operatives to clampdown on the IMN members.



In a reaction to the development, some Shi'ites' leaders accused the police of masterminding the attacks by the youths. They confirmed that the youths destroyed their buildings in the two states.



The group's attempt to address a press conference at the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) Secretariat was allegedly frustrated by the police.



The angry youths allegedly stopped the Shi'ite members from entering their communities after they were dispersed by the police teargas.



A resident of the area, who sought anonymity, alleged that the mob broke into the Shi'ite leader's house, carted away valuables before setting it on fire.



According to him, the victims died from injuries inflicted on them by the mob.



Another source said that the Shi'ites had on Tuesday gathered to mark the Islamic month of Muharram that its significant in the sect calendar when soldiers swooped on them.



Only last December, hundreds of Shi'ites were killed during a clash with soldiers in Zaria. Their leader, Sheikh Ibrahim ZakZaky, who was injured during the incident, is still under police custody.



Agency reports quoted the police as confirming yesterday's burning of the Shi'ite leader, Mutari Sahabi's home in Kaduna, adding that they had gathered to commemorate the killing of Prophet Muhammad's grandson Hussein in 680 AD in modern day Iraq.



In the Wednesday's attack, which is seen as being fuelled by the soldiers' onslaught on the Shi'ites on Tuesday, about 100 members of the sect were allegedly rescued by the police.



Most Muslims in the affected area belong to the rival Sunni sect. The two groups sharply disagree over Hussein's death, often leading to clashes during the annual Shi'ite organised commemorations held on what is known in Islam as the Day of Ashura.



The spokesman of the Kaduna Police Command, Aliyu Usman, said security operatives have been stationed in the area and other flashpoints to ensure law and order.



When contacted, the spokesman of Operation Safe Haven (OPSH), Captain Ikedichi Iweha, said the attack was a mob action but stated that men of the taskforce were able to put out the fire.


NEW DELHI: Technology giant Google on Wednesday announced the roll-out of Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) for mobile search results in India that will load web pages at a lightning fast speed.

With this new update, when you search on your mobile device, you will see a label that indicates a page is AMP'd. This does not change search results but will show you which sites have pages that are ready to load lightning fast, the company said in a statement.

The AMP Project helps save data as AMP pages on Search use 10 times less data than the equivalent non-AMP page.

Over the last year, since the AMP project started, over 600 million AMP documents, in over 104 languages have been created worldwide.

In India, several publishers have embraced AMP. Globally, the Washington Post has seen a 23 pct increase in mobile search users who return within seven days and an 88 pct improvement in load time for AMP content versus traditional mobile web.

In addition to the wide adoption of AMP, people have also embraced Google's several enhancements for AMP over the last year.

Read Also: Flock Launches New App For Mailing List Functionality

Tata Communications, Skylab Join Hands To Take IoT Far And Wide
January symposium to focus on implicit bias

The University of Florida will host a symposium in January focusing on implicit bias and understanding the unconscious roots of thoughts and feelings.

Hosted by UFs Office of the Provost and the Bob Graham Center for Public Service, the 2017 Provost Symposium is scheduled for Jan. 26-27 at Emerson Alumni Hall.

Kate Ratliff, an assistant professor in UFs department of psychology and executive director of Harvard Universitys Project Implicit, will open the two-day conference with a presentation on hidden biases and will present data collected from an automatic associations assessment to be administered in advance of the symposium.

New York Times op-ed columnist Charles Blow will offer a keynote address on Day Two of the conference. Blows columns focus on politics, public opinion and social justice.

More information will be posted at: bobgrahamcenter.ufl.edu.
Xi was invited by Cambodian King Norodom Sihamoni and Bangladesh President Abdul Hamid to pay state visits to the two countries, Xinhua news agency reported.

The President will then attend the BRICS -- Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa -- summit, to be held in Goa, at the invitation of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Here, the leaders will exchange in-depth views on BRICS cooperation and other global and regional issues, according to Vice Foreign Minister Li Baodong earlier this week.

Xi's entourage includes Wang Huning, member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and director of the Policy Research Office of the CPC Central Committee; Li Zhanshu, member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, member of the Secretariat of the CPC Central Committee and director of the General Office of the CPC Central Committee; and State Councilor Yang Jiechi.

Xi will return to Beijing on October 17.

--IANS ksk

( 197 Words)

2016-10-13-08:16:09 (IANS)
New Delhi [India], Oct 13 (ANI-BusinessWireIndia): With a CAGR of 14 percent, Indian Pharmaceutical Industry will reach an annual turnover of USD 47.06 Billion by 2018. An industry predominantly focused on Generics is soon set to diversify its product portfolio to more than 500 APIs, 60,000 generics, CRAM and clinical services across the globe. The sector sees a continuous support from the government as well, with revised amendments in the patent act of 2002, increased expenditure in the healthcare sector as claimed by National Health Policy Draft 2015. Also, 100 percent FDI allowed in medical device industry through automatic route is encouraging the leading Indian Pharma companies to raise funds in order to acquire more entities in domestic as well as international markets. So much so, that the current advancements are towards Japan's lucrative USD 111 billion market. Though a tough nut to crack, this shouldn't be impermeable after an established record in the USA and Europe. After all the aim is high - to make this industry realize it's worth of USD 55 billion by the year 2020. So how does this affect your life? Are your organizational goals aligning towards increased production or improved security to safeguard the IP that took long to develop? Are you worried about your competitor who is perhaps exploring Industries 5.0 while you are still implementing and far from the benefits of Industries 4.0? Will your business know-how coupled with technology, disrupt the ever changing industry? Or will the industry continue to be giant only in the Generics market? These are the challenges and questions a business leader from this industry is busy pondering about and staying in silos will not take the industry forward. Keeping this in mind Exito Media Concepts is back with the fifth edition of the Pharma Innovation and Technology Summit. The premium conference that hosts only 80 key decision makers from the leading pharma corporate in India takes place on 8th December in Mumbai. The event gives the Information and technology heads a chance to network among their peers while gaining latest information, first hand from the industry leaders. The conference will be centered around key topics like Automation and integrating IOT, latest advances in clinical trial management system, laboratory information management system and SMAC (Social, Mobile, Analytics and Cloud). Key decision makers like VP and CIO from Wanbury, Group CEP of Batra's health care, VP regulatory affairs from Unimark ltd have been a part of this premium conference. The conference acts as a knowledge sharing platform where attendees get to learn through a series of informative keynotes and presentations and interactive panel discussions. Open only for the decision makers the conference will see an attendance of CIOs, CTOs, Head of Security, CEOs and Policy makers from the top companies in the pharma and life science industry. "We have come a long way from the first edition of this event. Our attendees have repeatedly recommended this conference because of the quality content and business opportunities we provide here. The unique format that gives ample networking opportunities is a hit among the delegates and solution providers alike," says Exito's MD Rishikesh Shetty. Join us in Mumbai for the year's last gathering of management suite in the pharma and life sciences sector. (ANI-BusinessWireIndia)
Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu and German Minister for Transport and Digital Infrastructure Alexander Dobrindt are expected to sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on railways and high-speed trains on Friday.

"Both ministers will be focusing on deepening collaboration and strengthening ties in field of railways and high-speed trains," the Ministry of Railways said.

"After the meeting, a MoU will be signed between Indian Railways and DB Engineering and Consulting GmbH," the statement added.

Dobrindt is on a four day follow-up' visit to India. Earlier, Prabhu had visited Germany in April this year.

--IANS aks-rv/bg

( 118 Words)

2016-10-13-21:20:08 (IANS)
Actor Ben Affleck says he does not believe in tactics to shape how a career should look like. Affleck was criticsed for his movie "Batman V Superman: Dawn Of Justice" earlier this year. He will now be back on the silver screen with "The Accountant", which will open in India on Friday. The 44-year-old, who is also busy with his directorial project "Live by Night", says he enjoys variation in his projects. "I'm not much of a tactician when it comes to what a career should look like. I'm not a big believer in that strategic, 36,000-foot-level planning. It's more about projects that interest me and move me, and part of that is variation," Affleck said in a statement. He added: "You would get bored doing the same thing over and over again, and I'm lucky I've had a chance to do these three movies, which are all completely different. It keeps me activated and engaged and hopefully doing my best work." Warner Bros' action-thriller "The Accountant" is directed by Gavin O'Connor. It tells the story of a genius with autism. On the personal front, Affleck is currently going through a rough patch with his estranged wife Jennifer Garner, with whom he shares daughters Violet, 10, Seraphina, seven, and four-year-old son Samuel. They announced the end of their 10-year marriage in June 2015, but have remained amicable and are yet to move forward with a legal divorce. --IANS sug/rb ( 250 Words) 2016-10-13-04:36:08 (IANS)
The highly anticipated chat show, aired by Star World India, highlights the healthy and varied relationships the 44-year-old shares with the celebrities in the film industry.

In the 32 seconds promo video, a warm spotlight moves about a close up shot of Karan's face. Meanwhile, words like buddy, mentor, confidant, 3 AM friend appear beside him.

A follow up from the first promo, personal relationships and personal questions appear again, essentially signifying something that vouch for the chat show's exclusivity.

The talk show airs on Star World and Star World HD starting 6 November 2016 at 9 p.m. (ANI)
Rebuking Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar's statement that "no surgical strikes were conducted in the past", the Congress Party on Wednesday said his remark is a 'direct insult to the sacrifices' made by the soldiers, who died in the line of duty. "The Defence Minister's saying that it is the first time in 29 years that a Prime Minister has made the Indian Army realise its prowess is a direct insult to the sacrifices of hundreds of martyrs of the Indian Armed Forces and equally demeaning and insulting to the supreme sacrifices of the Kargil heroes," senior Congress leader Anand Sharma told ANI. "I want to ask the Defence Minister what happened in Kargil, did Indian Army not realize its prowess. If he has not read history he should be taught that the Indian Army after independence has done so repeatedly," he said. Calling Parrikar's statements as 'irresponsible and immature', Sharma said, "He is party to a propaganda, which is actually building up a hysteria and jingoism in the country, which is a disservice to India." He added that the previous government out of its maturity and wisdom did not make the report of those surgical strikes public, but the present government has chosen otherwise. "The entire country spoke in one voice across the political spectrum, saluting our armed forces for their valour and courage for undertaking the strike. Nobody has doubted the statement of the DGMO Lt. Gen. Ranbir Singh, we supported the government for the decision, but it should not have been politicised," he added. He said, "The Prime Minister, his party president and his Defence Minister are speaking in forked tongues. The Prime Minister said there should not be any chest thumping, but that is exactly what is happening." (ANI)
The meeting will be hosted by Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and will be attended by her counterparts from Brazil, China, Russia and South Africa.

Over one thousand business delegates from the BRICS countries are likely to participate in the BRICS Business Forum.

During the day-long deliberation, the ministers will adopt the framework for co-operation dealing in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), services, intellectual property rights, trade promotion, non-tariff measures resolution and standardisation.

Intra-BRICS trade grew to 297 billion USD in 2014, from 281 billion USD in 2012. For the first time, India has organised a three day BRICS Trade fair, which started yesterday, to push trade among the BRICS nations.

The fair is providing a platform for respective BRICS countries to exhibit state-of-the-art technologies and advances made in industrial development. Business leaders from BIMSTEC countries Bangladesh, Myanmar, Sri Lanka and Thailand, Bhutan and Nepal will today attend meetings and discussions with the BRICS business leaders and the companies at the fair. (ANI)
A recent study has found that people, who regularly smoke large amounts of cannabis have reduced bone density and are more prone to fractures. The study also found that heavy cannabis users have a lower body weight and a reduced body mass index (BMI), which could contribute to thinning of their bones. Researchers say this could mean heavy users of the drug are at greater risk of osteoporosis in the later stages of their life. Scientists at the University of Edinburgh assessed 170 people, who smoke cannabis regularly for recreational purposes and 114 non-users. The team used a specialised x-ray technique called a DEXA scan to measure the bone density of study participants. They found that the bone density of heavy cannabis users was about five percent lower than cigarette smokers who did not use cannabis. Fractures were more common in heavy users compared to non-users, the study found. Moderate users, however, showed no difference from non-users. The researchers defined heavy users as those who reported smoking cannabis on 5,000 or more occasions in their lifetime. In this study, however, the average heavy cannabis user had taken the drug more than 47,000 times. Moderate users had, on average, taken the drug about 1,000 times. Smoking cannabis is often associated with increased appetite so the researchers were surprised to find that heavy cannabis users had a lower body weight and BMI than non-users. This could be because cannabis may reduce appetite when taken in large amounts over a long period of time, the team says. The study is the first to investigate bone health amongst cannabis users. Lead researcher Professor Stuart Ralston said: "We have known for a while that the components of cannabis can affect bone cell function but we had no idea up until now of what this might mean to people who use cannabis on a regular basis." "Our research has shown that heavy users of cannabis have quite a large reduction in bone density compared with non-users and there is a real concern that this may put them at increased risk of developing osteoporosis and fractures later in life," he added. The study was published in the American Journal of Medicine. (ANI)
The Communist Party of India (Marxist) on Thursday downplayed the ongoing controversy surrounding the September 29 surgical strikes across the Line of Control (LoC) and said it is extremely unfortunate that the valour of the armed forces are being used for political benefits. CPI (M) leader Hannan Mullah showered praise on the Indian Army for protecting the nation with all power and strength. "But we do not support the way the valour of the armed forces are being used for political benefits. All this is cheap politics, I prefer not to get involved in such debates," said Mullah. Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar yesterday said the Indian Army and 127 crore people of the nation should be applauded for the operation. Speaking at the 'Strengthening India's Defence Capabilities' event here, Parrikar said, "127 crore people of this country and the Indian armed forces deserve the credit for the surgical strikes. Now, it should be clear where the credit lies. I don't take it." There was a burden of helplessness amongst 127 crore people and 13.5 lakh army people of frustration that enemy is continuously bleeding us through 1,000 cuts. The enemy does not even bother that there is UN cry internationally. So, there was a joy all over the nation as the anger was vented out post surgical strike. This has changed mindset of our opponents, now they are worried that there is no predictability with India," he added. Parrikar further asserted that Indian borders are the safest under Prime Minister Narendra Modi led-NDA government. "With this government and the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi ji the nation's borders are much secure than they were in 2013," he said. Parrikar also said that the surgical strikes are the kind of operation which was never conducted before. "I have been Defence Minister for over two years and from whatever I've learnt, there was no surgical strike anytime earlier," he said. (ANI)
Police said that tension prevailed last evening, when the welcome arches of the Navrati festival were dmaged during the procession of Muharram, due to which riot erupted between both the communites over the pulling down of the arches.

Stone pelting incidents were also reported, police added.

Three people including two police officer received burn injuries when a two wheeler of a beat marshal was set on fire in front of the Gayatri Nagar police chowkie it was learnt.

The trio made an attempt to put out the fire but there was a blast in which they were injured the police said.

The injureds are PSI Sanjay Rathod, Police naik santosh Mali and photographer Amar Janwar.

They are being treated at the National Burns hospital at Airoli Navi Mumbai the police said.

Meanshile, the senior police officials including the Commissioner of Police Param Bir Singh and Joint Commissioner Asutosh Dhumre rushed to the town and held a peace committee meeting which was also attended by the local MP Kapil Patil and urged to restore peace.UNI XR NV AW SHS ADG NS1247

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Leader of opposition in Karnataka Assembly,Jagadish Shettar, today said the State BJP leaders impressed uponMaharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis the importance ofsolving the long pending Mahadayi river water sharing issue outsidethe courts. Union minister Anant Kumar, BJP MP Prahlad Joshi and Mr Shettarmet Mr Fadnavis in Mumbai yesterday and briefed him about the needto urgently solve the Mahadayi issue to provide drinking water toparched areas in Belagavi, Dharwad, Gadag and Bellary districts in Karnataka. Following the Mahadayi tribunal's suggestion to the threeriparian states including Goa, to hold talks to bring an earlysolution to the issue as legal process took long time, Mr Fadnavishad taken the first initiative to host the meeting of the threeChief Ministers in Mumbai on October 21. ''It was a cordial meeting and Mr Fadnavis who has assured tocooperate in this issue and we have thanked him for his good move. The BJP leaders speaking to Maharashtra Chief Minister on the issueis only to prepare the grounds for the talks and there is nopolitics involved in this,'' Mr Shettar said. The Kalasa-Banduri Nala project is undertaken by Karnataka toimprove drinking water supply in North Karnataka by diverting 7.56tmc of water Kalasa and Banduri, two tributaries of the Mahadayi tothe Malaprabha river. However, the pact has not been arrived at bythe riparian states even after three decades. Mr Shettar said Karnataka had the right to get its share inMahadayi but more importantly it should get the 7.56 tmc of waterthrough the diversion project as it was meant for drinking water asthe four districts had faced severe scarcity. ''Mr Fadnavis stressed the need to solve the river water rowsthrough talks and cited example of Polavaram project disputeTelangana and Maharashtra involving Godavari, Mahanadi and Krishnarivers and said the long pending project was achieved aftersuccessful talks between the two states to share the water in thethree rivers,'' Mr Shettar said. The BJP leader said the party will fully support the Congressgovernment in Karnataka in solving the Mahadayi and Cauvery waterissues and said he had big hopes of a positive outcome from theOctober 21 meeting of the three Chief Minsiters. He said the opposition Congress should cooperate with BJPgovernments in Goa and Maharashtra in solving the issue and it wasnot proper for the Congress leaders in Karnataka to blame the BJPled Union government for not intervening in the issue. ''The Union government is doing everything within its limits tosolve the issue. But the Congress party should make sure thatopposition in the two states also cooperate. However the Congressleaders in these two states are very defaint and demand that noMahadayi water should flow to Karnataka. This is not proper,'' MrShettar said.UNI RS CNR CS 1446 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0285-976087.Xml
The infiltrators were sent back to their home country by river route from Sutarkandi in southern Assam.

They were being detained at a camp at Silchar in Cachar district of southern Assam for more than two years.

Their credentials were sent to Bangladesh government for verification and on receiving confirmation of their Bangladesh origins, the infiltrators were today sent back to Bangladesh.

The infiltrators will be handed over to Bangladesh authorities by Indian officials who have accompanied them, the Cachar deputy commissioner said.

He added that verification process of more suspected Bangladeshi nationals detained in Assam was going on. UNI SG AD SW AS1617

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The Bombay High Court has refused to interfere with the decision of authorities tocompulsorily retire a junior telecom officer in Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd after a departmental inquiry held him guilty in a case of loss of telephone cables. No case has been made out by the petitioner to cause interference by this (High) court in exercise of its writ jurisdiction the petition is dismissed, Justices Naresh Patil and Prakash Naik said in a judgement delivered last week. Prakash Tyagi, who had moved the court, had joined services as Junior Telecom Officer in the erstwhile Mumbai Telephone in 1979. By an order dated February 4, 1988, he was placed under suspension, asa departmental inquiry was ordered on account of missing 600 metres of cable. The charges mentioned in the charge sheet issued in 1989 were related to loss of telephone cable and other related matters. An FIR was lodged with Juhu Police Station on February 9, 1988 in connectionwith the incident. The department alleged that the petitioner, while working as JTO, had not laid cables of about 600metres, but created record showing that he had executed the work. The un-utilised stock of cable thus remained unaccounted for, according to the department. Following this a departmental inquiry was conducted during which petitioner denied the charges levelled against him. After hearing the petitioner the Enquiry Officer found him guilty of missing cables and passed an order on August 17, 1995, compulsorily retiring the petitioner. The petitioner filed an appeal on October 18, 1995, before Appellate Authority against the penalty of compulsory retirement imposed on him but it was rejected in August 1997. He had argued that he wasacquitted by a Magistrate in March 1996 after a full trial. He then filed a review petition which too was rejected by the Competent Authority in 1998. The aggrieved petitioner moved the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) which rejected his plea. He then challenged the CAT order in the High Court. The High Court was of the view that all the authorities had concurrently held that the charges levelled against the petitioner were proved and held that the CAT in detail had scanned the material referred to in the charges, considered the pleadings of the parties, the stand taken by the petitioner and had upheld thefindings of the Enquiry Officer. Therefore, the bench refused to give relief to the petitioner and dismissed his petition.UNI AAA NV RSA SB 1640 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0169-976222.Xml
Uttar Pradesh Infrastructure and Industrial Development secretary Alaknanda Dayal highlighted the excellent investment and business opportunities across various sectors in the state at a special session on 'Investment Opportunities by States of India' at BRICS Trade Fair 2016. Making an impressive and detailed audio-visual presentation before the delegates from BRICS nations atthe trade fair, which commenced in New Delhi today, Ms Dayal informed the audience about the steps taken by the state government to improving business environment in the state, availability of abundant skilled human resources and high-end infrastructure taking shape in UP conducive to investment. " UP government has effected a complete transformation in governance with well-defined and transpartent procedures for private investment and participation. Concrete steps have been taken to usher in a new era of balanced infrastructure and industrial development", said Ms Dayal. In an address, UP State Industrial Development Corporation Managing Director Amit Kumar Ghosh invited investors to two smart cities namely Trans-Ganga and Saraswati hitech cities in Kanpur and Allahabad where land allotment was underway. He also informed that an integrated manufacturing city had been approved in Bhavpur near Kanpur on Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor, which presents an excellent opportunity to investors. A short movie outlining strong political will along with plans and growth execution strategy of the UP government in existing areas of interest and emerging opportunities was also screened. The film depicted state's demographic dividend, large economy, high agriculture production, improving business environment including fiscal and enabling incentives, various projects underway and in-offing, such as Agra-Lucknow Expressway, Samajwadi Purvanchal Expressway, Lucknow Metro rail, IT city Lucknow, Delhi-Mumbai & Amritsar-Kolkata Industrial Corridors, new initiatives in transport, civil aviation, education, healthcare and tourism etc. Among others, the session was attended by Mr Ghosh, Chief Executive Officer of Greater Noida Deepak Agarwal, CEO of NOIDA P K Agarwal along with other senior state government officials concerned. UNI MB SW SB AS1546 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0196-976059.Xml
Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati today cautioned the party cadre and supporters to be aware of the conspiracies of the BJP, SP and Congress who were allegedly bent upon damaging party's prospect in the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections by projecting false survey reports and other methods. " These political parties, have full support of the industrialists and capitalists who run these news channels and thus they are trying to influence the voters by their fake survey reports," she said. Ms Mayawati, who was addressing the senior party leaders and dedicated workers here at the state party office, asked the workers to be very careful about these conspiracies. The statement of Ms Mayawati comes in the wake of yesterday's survey report telecast by a private news channel predicting that BJP would be the largest party with around 183 seats but still short of majority while the BSP will come on the second spot with 124 seats. The BSP president, who reviewed the party's past and future programmes here, said," We have to get absolute majority in the elections with the support of Dalits, Muslims and sarva samaj after countering the conspiracy of the SP, BJP and the Congress."UNI MB RSA SB 1628 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0196-976189.Xml
The Plantation industry today sought theCentre to totally exempt the intermediate stage of coffee productionfrom the provisions of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Act andallow set off on input costs. Karnataka Planters Association (KPA) Chairman Baba P S Beditalking to newsmen here, said Coffee seeds could not be consumedtill they are roasted and ground and the entire process of coffeegrowing upto the stage of its curing be considered as intermediarystage and exempt from GST provisions. The GST should commence fromthe stage of value addition and if agriculturists were not allowedto avail input tax credit, then there should be an exemption fromGST on all inputs, including Fertilizers and chemicals used byagriculturists (plantation owners). Similarly tea should also be provide GST on a lower bracket, he pleaded. He also requested the Centre to implement the report of theInter Ministerial Committee which had recommended sharing of socialcosts of the sector with the management chipping in 50 per centfollowed by the Government of India 40 per cent and the Stategovernment 10 per cent. Currently plantation owners bear the socialcosts of the highly labour intensive coffee production and this madeplantation industry unsustainable. He said the important and immediate need of planters was toallow private participation of clonal propogation of coffeeplantlets and also outsourcing of research. As against substantialrequirement of cloned saplings, the avialability from the CentralCoffee Research Institute (CCRI) was only 10,000 and this could feed onlyaround 20 acres, he said adding that United Planters Association ofSouth India (UPASI) must be allowed to start a researach centre inKoppa in Karnataka. He lamented that nearly 25 per cent of the Arabica Plantationshad been uprooted over the last decade in Karnataka due to WhiteStem Borer menace for which the solution is yet to be found.UNI CNR MSP CS 1509 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0285-976144.Xml
Punjab Congress president Captain Amarinder Singh has welcomed all anti-Badal forces into the Congressfold for of the betterment of the state. "Not just Sidhu but all those who are committed to Punjab's governance, to whichever party they may belong, are welcome to join the Congress unconditionally," said Captain Singh, responding to questions from mediapersons on the possibility of the merger of Navjot Singh Sidhu's party with the Congress. "I have always maintained that anyone who has the interests of the people of Punjab at heart, and is ready to embrace the Congress values unconditionally can come to us and we will accept them with open arms," the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC) chief said. The coming together of all anti-Badal forces ahead of the forthcoming Assembly elections in the state would pave the way for the betterment of Punjab, which had been thrown into a state of total apathy and backwardness by the current Akali regime, Captain Singh said. He urged all such forces to come together on the Congress platform to save the state from the regression into which the SAD government had allegedly plunged it. ''I am happy to welcome into the Congress all those who are ready to work for the betterment of the state and in the interest of promoting positive governance," the PPCC president maintained, adding that "we're already seeing a strong pro-Congress wave in the state, which is drawing many people from different parties into the Congress fold." Disillusioned with their current political affiliations, many people from various parties are making a beeline to join the Congress, Captain Singh said, adding that "this is a positive development that will pave the way for more like-minded people to join the Congress in the coming days and weeks." The PPCC president said his party would carefully examine all such requests and applications against stringent benchmarks before allowing anyone into the party sphere. "Only those who identify with the Congress culture and are prepared to work within its disciplinary ambit will be allowed to join," he added. In response to a question on Arvind Kejriwal's Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) prospects in the forthcoming Punjab Assembly polls, Captain Singh dismissed AAP as a "party of crooks who want to use Punjab for their vested political interests." After playing their dirty games in Delhi, which is already suffering from AAP's misgovernance, they were now trying to do the same in Punjab, said the PPCC president, alleging that AAP's game-plan had already been exposed to the people of Punjab. ''The acts of sexual and other misconduct of the various AAP leaders are no secret, said Captain Singh, referring to reports that AAP leaders in Punjab were asking for sexual favours from women in exchange of tickets. "The people of Punjab are intelligent enough to distinguish good from bad and will give a befitting lesson during the polls to all those who have been working to the state's detriment," he added.UNI XC RSA AS1635 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0293-976172.Xml
Members of All Tribal Students' Union Manipur (ATSUM) took out a rally here today to denounce the reservation policy adopted at Manipur University which is a Central University. A large number of tribal students took party in the rally which began at Adimjati hostel.The ATSUM also submitted a memorandum to Dr Najma Heptulla, Governor of Manipur urging her to intervene in the reservation issue. The University became a Central University in 2005 and there has been problems related to reservation of seats.The Academic Council of the University has decided to stick to the central government policy which is opposed by the tribal students. University official informed that the Academic Council of MU met on Tuesday and the matter has been referred to the Visitor (President of India) for a final decision. Manipur University Tribal Students' Union, All Tribal Students Union of Manipur, tribal leaders have urged the University to adopt state reservation policy and have threatened series of stirs if their demand is not conceded. Due to the stir, all classes remained suspended. Admission process for various PG classes have also not yet started. State Education Minister Dr Kh Ratan Kumar has urged the Union Minister for Human Resource Development Prakash Javadekar to find an immediate solution to the present crisis in the Manipur University.Dr Kumar met the Union Minister in his office chamber at Shastri Bhavan last evening.Dr Kumar has also asked Mr Javadkar to appoint a regular Vice -Chancellor of Manipur University immediately. The Union Minister said that he would look into it within a week.Manipur Education Minister informed the Union Minister that the current situation due to a recent decision of the Academic Council of the Manipur University in PG admission was causing a serious concern of law and order in Manipur.Even though the MU was a Central University, the current situation in the University might affect the law and order situation in the State.He stated, "The overall situation is such that education of the young students has been compromised and classes are yet to start at the Manipur University.""Due to the recent decision of the MU, a tribal students' body has threatened to call blockade in the State if the resolution adopted by the Manipur University is not revoked within four days. Further, the Manipur University Tribal Students Union has asked the students not to write any assignments, test or class related activities until the University implements the Central Educational institutions Reservation in Admission Amendment Act, 2012," he submitted.Manipur University became a Central University in 2005 and there has been problems related to reservation of seats. When it was a state University the reservation for ST was 31 per cent, for SC, two per cent but when it was converted to Central University the reservation was changed to all India norm that is 15 per cent for SC and 7.5 per cent for ST. The tribal students are demanding that the Manipur government reservation policy be adopted. UNI NS RN RSA SB 1648 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0311-976198.Xml
The ten-day long 'Women of India Festival 2016' of organic products by women opening at Dilli Haat at INA tomorrow will be a draw for aficionado of natural and organic products. Women & Child Development Minister Maneka Sanjay Gandhi will inaugurate the festival which offers on sale the biggest selection of organic products ranging from food, fabrics and furniture to wellness, personal care and solar products. This year's festival will have 230 stalls and about 372 participants. The list includes producers from Delhi, NCR and 23 states/UTs. Organised and sponsored by the WCD ministry, the 'Women of India Festival 2016' celebrates women entrepreneurship. Participants from the remotest areas of the country travel to Delhi to display their unique wares at the festival. The initiative, which seeks to promote organic food and products, is an eye-opener on the countless women entrepreneurs associated with organic products. The festival is intended to highlight the health and environmental advantages of organic goods, provide a platform for women engaged in this economy and encourage the development of sustainable and easily accessible sales outlets for organic producers from remote areas. Explaining the significance of the unique festival, Ms Gandhi has highlighted the importance of making a shift to organic. "Organic foods have been proven to contain more vitamins, minerals and nutrients than similar foods produced with chemical fertilisers, pesticides and preservatives. Organic farming relies on techniques such as crop rotation, green manure, compost, and natural methods of pest control. Children are particularly vulnerable to the harmful effects of pesticide exposure. We will make a concerted effort to make this alternative a popularly used one." Organic plants and food crops have also been found to contain higher amounts of salicylic acid which fights bowel cancer; it helps to fight stress and disease. Last year's edition of 'Women of India Festival' selling organic produce saw thousands of people thronging Dilli Haat every day. For the first time in India, more than 500 women entrepreneurs from Leh to Kanyakumari and from Kohima to Kutch, came together with their organic products. This year will feature even more products including cereals, rice, pulses, spices, fabrics, dyes and dresses, cosmetics, household products, pickles, organic ice cream, preserves, oils, honey, tea, hair care, bath care, beauty care, aromatherapy products, kitchen composters, organic seeds and other bio products. Apart from producers of locally grown and manufactured products, the participants include Nourish Organic, the Altitude Store, Dew Drops, Organic World, Inhere Aajivika Utthan Samiti, Sonal White Cub, Aura Herbal Textiles, ASAL, Pro Nature Organics, Eco Green Unit and Avani, giving a glimpse into their vast lifestyle range at the Organic Extravaganza.UNI SD AE SB 1751 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0005-976523.Xml
Three students of Chellammal Women's college in the city were crushed to death and three others injured when a water tanker lorry mowed down them in front of their college at Guindy on the arterial Anna Salai this afternoon. Police sources said the students were waiting at the bus stop when theincident occurred. The deceased students were identified as Chitra, Gayathri and Asha. The lorry, driver, who was under the influence of alcohol, was climbingdown a road overbridge at full speed, when the brakes were said to have failed. The lorry first hit a two-wheeler, before ramming into an autorickshaw. After hitting the college students, the rogue lorry, then hit two bikes before crashing into a traffic median near Guindy. Both the driver and cleaner jumped out of the vehicle and escaped byrunning over either side of the road. Police gave a hot chase in a bid to nab the driver, but he managed toescape. All the three girls were killed on the spot and three others, who sustained injuries were admitted to Government Royapettah Hospital, where the bodies were sent for post mortem. Guindy traffic police have registered a case and are investigating. Through traffic on the stretch was affected for some time following the mishap. Meanwhile, college authorities said despite several pleas, there was no speed breaker installed in front of the college, as the vehicles were plying at top speed causing problems to road users and college students. The management wanted the authorities to allow the MTC women's special bus to enter the college premises to pick the students as they need not go out of the campus to board the bus.UNI GV 1730 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0275-976535.Xml
On the sidelines of the BRICS Business Forum in New Delhi, the United Innovation Corporation (UIC), a subsidiary of Rastom State Atomic Energy Corporation, and the Indian Agricultural Association Hindustan Agro Co-op Limited signed an agreement on cooperation in the development of a network of integrated infrastructure irradiation centers.On behalf of Russia, the document was signed by CEO of the United Innovation Corporation Denis Cherednichenko, and on behalf of India, by the chairman of Hindustan Agro Co-op Limited, Bharat Dhokane Pandurang. The project contemplates stepwise establishment and development of the network of integrated infrastructure irradiation centers in India managed by a Russian-Indian joint venture.On the occasion Denis Cherednichenko said, "Radiation treatment of food products is one of various applications of state-of-the-art radiation technologies offered by ROSATOM to its foreign partners. The use of this technology will make it possible to reduce the loss of onions in India, which currently go bad because of germination and inadequate storage, by 42,000 tons per year on average, as well as to reduce grain losses from 15 per cent to 3-5 per cent per year."According to him, radiation technologies are widespread throughout the world. "As of today, 22 countries, including the UK, France, Germany, Finland, Japan, China, the Republic of Korea and India, are using about 515 radiation plants based on Russian technologies," he emphasised. "Russia has a wide experience in this field; it has also been our reliable partner for a long time, and we hope that this project will not only make us closer to the solution of global problems in the sphere of sustainable development, but will also help India to become a center of radiation technologies in the Asian region," added Bharat Dhokane Pandurang.The first stage includes construction and commissioning of 7 radiation treatment centers in India. Within the framework of bilateral cooperation, it is considered acceptable to extend a network of integrated infrastructure irradiation centers in the UAE, the Republic of Mauritius and Malaysia. Iradiation doses are recommended by the IAEA and the final product is absolutely safe. Irradiation does not reduce the nutritional value of food products and does not change their organoleptic properties and appearance. UNI ADP AE SB 1718 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0429-976457.Xml
The Punjab Congress today condemned the murder of another youth by the liquor mafia, accusing the Badal government of spreading 'jungle raj' in the state. The party leaders alleged a complete breakdown of law and order machinery in the state under the Akali rule, and said the murder of a youth in Jalandhar, just a day after a similar killing in Mansa, was symbolic of the total anarchy prevailing in Punjab. In a joint statement by Jalandhar DCC (Urban) president Rajinder Berry, Jalandhar DCC (Rural) president Jagbir Brar, PPCC state vice-president and general secretary Avtar Henry and Tejinder Singh Bittu, said, "Just the day before yesterday, Dalit youth Sukhchain Singh was brutally murdered in Mansa. And now, another youth 28-year-old Manish Luthra has been done to death by a group of assailants from the liquor mafia in Jalandhar." The district Congress leaders came down heavily on the state government, particularly Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal, who holds the Home Affairs portfolio, alleging that the state mafia was enjoying the patronage of the ruling SAD leaders. Accusing the police of standing by as mute spectators, they said, "The way the police force is functioning, it would not be wrong to say that men in khaki have virtually turned into Akali workers, working under the SAD diktat." The PPCC leaders said the growing incidence of heinous crime in Punjab reflected the fact that criminals have no fear of the law and, in fact, have a free run of the state. Demanding immediate arrest of those involved in Luthra's murder, they pointed out that, like Sukhchain, he was also murdered for standing up against the liquor mafia, which was controlled by the Badals. Lambasting the police force for playing into the hands of Akali leaders, the Congress said no one in the state was safe under the Badal regime.UNI JS SW SB 1757 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0293-976460.Xml
During the visit, FICCI along with FTAPCCI is organising an interactive meeting with the Ambassador.

The interactive session will focus on the trade between the two countries and the potential business opportunities for Indian companies in Afghanistan, FTAPCCI said in a statement here today.

Devendra Surana, Chairman, FICCI Telangana State Council and Ravindra Modi, President, FTAPCCI would welcome the Ambassador and deliver the special address.UNI KNR SW SB 1840

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The All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) and a number of other prominent Muslim organisations on Thursday rejected the Law Commission's questionnaire on the Uniform Civil Code, calling it "misleading". Calling the questionnaire "misleading and divisive", AIMPLB General Secretary Maulana Wali Rahmani said Muslims will not respond to it. "We will boycott this questionnaire. No Muslim will respond to it because it is misleading and deceitful. The Uniform Civil Code is divisive and will lead to social unrest," he told the media here. "The uniform code is not suited for this nation. There are so many cultures in India and they have to be respected. A uniform code is against the spirit of the Constitution, which safeguards the right of citizens to practise their culture and religion," he said. Questioning the timing of the move, Rahmani said the Narendra Modi government had deliberately thrown up this issue now to "hide its failures in the last two-and-half years". The development comes days after the Union government told the Supreme Court that 'triple talaq', 'nikaah halaal' and polygamy were not integral to the practice of Islam or essential religious practices. Subsequently, the Law Commission on October 7 put up on its website a questionnaire, comprising of 16 questions, to seek public opinion on the civil code issue. Fielding a question on the issue of triple talaq, Rahmani pointed out that as per the 2011 Census data, the percentage of divorce cases among members of a particular community was much higher than the Muslims. Also, he added, the prevalence of polygamy was higher among these people than in the Muslims, as per the 2011 Census data. Other prominent Muslims who represented their respective organisations at the press conference here included Maulana Arshad Madani (Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind), Mohammad Jafar (Jamaat-e-Islami Hind), Maulana Asghar Imam Mehdi (Markazi Jamiat Ahle Hadith), Maulana Mahmood Madani (Jamiat Ulema Hind), M. Manzoor Alam (All India Milli Council), Naved Hamid (All India Majlis-e-Mushawarat) and Maulana Abul Qasim Naumani (Rector, Darul Uloom Deoband). Besides, Barelvi cleric Maulana Tauqeer Raza Khan of Ittehad-e-Millat Council and Shia cleric Maulana Mohsin Taqvi were scheduled to attend the presser but could not make it, AIMPLB member Kamal Farouqi said. Rahmani said they would launch a campaign to create awareness amongst Muslims, beginning with a gathering in Lucknow. Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind President Maulana Arshad Madani said: "The Muslim Personal Law is based on Quran and Hadith and we cannot alter it." "Modi ji (Prime Minister Narendra Modi) wants to impose dictatorship in the name of democracy," he added. Madani insisted that it is not just the Muslims who will be affected by a Uniform Civil Code but other communities such as the Sikhs and Christians and the tribals. He said these communities will also speak up (against the civil code) in due course. The speakers also accused the Law Commission of not acting as an independent body but as an "arm of the government" in pushing the government's agenda. --IANS mak/tsb/bg ( 509 Words) 2016-10-13-21:24:08 (IANS)
The campaign would be inaugurated by JPCC chief Sukhdeo Bhagat in which national general secretary of Rajiv Gandhi panchayati raj organisation Rajkumar Kiradu would also be participating.

JPCC spokesperson Lal Kishore Nath Shahdeo here today said, in the event to be held in Ranchi, the district unit presidents of Ranchi Grammen and Ranchi Nagar would also be present.

He said that to ensure the success of the programme, a five member coordination committee has also been appointed. UNI AK AKM CJ 2126

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All the State-level leaders of Sangh parivar organizations in Kerala will visit the trouble torn areas of Pinarayi, the village of State Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, tomorrow to console the families of BJP and RSS workers affected in CPM attack.As the police had failed to rehabilitate the BJP/RSS activists, who are facing miserable life due to the CPI(M) violence, the Parivar organisations have decided to visit Pinarayi even violating the prohibitory order of Kerala Police Act, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) State Saha Sanghchalak K K Balaram and Jilla Karyavah V Sasidharan said here today.RSS leaders including PN Harikrishnan, Sudarshanan, Gopalan Kutty Master and BJP leaders including PK Krishnadas and M Ganesh would visit Pinarayi tomorrow morning.Alleging that the district administration and police have failed to bring the law and order situation normal, KK Balaram said about 25 houses of BJP|RSS workers in Pinarayi have been fully destroyed by the CPM workers. These attacks were planned and executed on the same day of the murder of CPM leader K Mohanan, he added.Properties and vehicles worth lakhs of rupees were damaged on October 10 as part of planned attack against the houses of Sangh Parivar sympathisers.Many Sangh Parivar activists in Pinarayi became refugees after the CPM goons unleashed violence against them.He also alleged that the police had failed to take the statements from the affected people including women and children who are living in the strong holds of CPM.To a question over the prohibitory order by the police under Koothuparamba police limits, Sangh Parivar leaders said they are committed to console and rehabilitate their sympathisers. "As the police failed to protect our people, we are not bothered about the permission of police to visit that houses at Pinarayi, violating the prohibitory order," he said.Clarifying that any of their party workers has not been taken into custody from their district office in connection with the murder of CPI(M) local leader Mohanan, the RSS leader said media reports in this regard is baseless. But, Koothuparambu police unnecessary took four innocent RSS activists into custody two days back in connection with the case under the political influence of CPM, he alleged.UNI AK CJ 2324 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0440-977185.Xml
Goa Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar today said that the eighth summit of the grouping of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS) to be held in the state on October 15-16 will help boost tourism prospects of the state. Briefing media about the preparation for the two-day event at the state secretariat at Porvorim, he said, ''Organising the event was a challenge but it has been turned into opportunity. Roads have been widened and beautified. Heads of the states which account for 42 per cent of the world population will arrive in Goa to attend the programme. This will easily take Goa to the world.Goa's heritage, cuisine, hospitality will be known to the people. More importantly, the declarations and agreements signed at the end of the event would be known as Goa Declaration and reported world wide.'' The state government had spent around Rs 70-75 crore on maintenance and beautification work for the two-day event, he said, adding, the amount was sanctioned by the Centre following a demandput by the state in this regard.UNI AKM SS VS2214 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0171-977154.Xml
To protest against the changes in CNT/SPT act, violation of provisions mentioned in the land acquisition act and police firing in Gola and Barkagaon, the opposition parties in the state have decided to call a state wide bandh on October 24. A decision in this regard was taken today in the meeting of the Opposition parties held at the Bihar Club here. In the meeting it was decided that a 'Sankalp Rally' would be held in Barkagaon on October19 after which motorcycle rally would be taken out on October 22 and 'Masal Julus' would be staged across the state on October 23 prior to the bandh on October 24. Among those present in the meeting included former Jharkhand Chief Minister and JVM(P) supremo Babulal Marandi, former union minister and senior Congress leader Subodhkant Sahay, State president of JD(U) Jaleshwar Mahto and left parties were represented by Suvendu Sen, Gopikant Bakshi and K D Singh.UNI AK BM VS RK2226 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0214-976990.Xml
Saxony's state justice ministry said Jaber Albakr, a 22-year-old Syrian refugee was found dead on Wednesday.

He was taken into custody on Monday on suspicion he was planning an imminent terrorist attack, EFE news reported.

Der Spiegel magazine reported on that the prisoner had begun a hunger strike and was placed on suicide watch.

German intelligence had indications that Albakr might have been preparing to carry out an attack "this week", the head of the BfV domestic security agency, Hans-Georg Maassen said.

Authorities moved to arrest Albakr last week, but he managed to elude them and flee his residence in the city of Chemnitz.

Police found explosives and detonators in the residence.

Using an internet chat room, the suspect arranged temporary lodging for himself with other Syrian refugees in Leipzig, about an hour away from Chemnitz.

But when his hosts realized Albakr was being sought by police, they tied him up and handed him over to authorities early Monday morning.

Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere said on Wednesday that officials were still trying to determine when Albakr became radicalised.

He first arrived in Germany in February 2015 and was granted refugee status in June after a background check uncovered nothing that raised suspicions.

Albakr traveled twice to Turkey last year and made at least one visit to the Syrian city of Idlib.

--IANS ksk

( 259 Words)

2016-10-13-09:02:08 (IANS)
The teenagers were arrested by the state's Joint Counter-Terrorism Team at Bankstown in Sydney on Wednesday, in a lane behind a Muslim prayer hall, the ABC reported.

Police found two large bayonet-style knives and religious notes that allegedly pledged allegiance to IS from the boys.

According to officials, the pair did not appear in Parramatta Children's Court on Thursday morning and did not apply for bail.

In opposing bail, police said the pair posed an unacceptable risk to the community.

They are due to return to court in December.

Police documents tendered in court heard the teen talking to his mother on a lawfully intercepted conversation in October 2015.

During the conversation, he said "When they come, I am going to something to them that they have never seen before. I am going to do something bigger."

At a news conference, police said the boys were charged with terror-related offences.

The arrests comes one month after a 22-year-old man was charged with committing a terrorist act and attempted murder in Sydney.

--IANS ksk

( 214 Words)

2016-10-13-09:12:04 (IANS)
In clearest ever backing of India on cross LoC surgical strikes by the Army, the US today said the country had every right to self-defence. The US also rejected Pakistan's attempt to link peace in Afghanistan resolution of the Kashmir issue. Uri attack was ''a clear case of cross-border terrorism. We condemn this act of terrorism. It was a horrific attack. Every country has the right to self-defence,'' Peter Lavoy, a senior official of the National Security Council said. At the same time, Mr Lavoy also advised restraint to both India and Pakistan given the history of wars between them. ''We share with India, the concern for preventing any future attack. We empathise with the Indian position that it needs to respond militarily to cross-border threat of terrorism. But we also advise caution. The White House official also said the Obama administration was making all efforts to ensure that India joined the Nuclear Suppliers Group before the year end. Mr Lavoy also dismissed the Pakistan stance that the situation in Afghanistan was linked with developments in Kashmir. ''We certainly do not believe that the situation in Afghanistan is linked with Kashmir,'' he said. The context to his remark was his last week's meeting with Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's two special envoys, who had in their public meetings linked peace in Afghanistan to resolving the Kashmir issue. Mr Lavoy also said India and the US had significantly increased mutual interaction on Afghanistan. The White House official said his country welcomed India's enhanced role in the global arena, in areas ranging from climate change to maritime security. His remarks came in an interaction with the audience at the Centre of Strategic and Interaction Studies, which followed release of a report on the agenda for India-US relations for the next US President.UNI NAZ AE SB 1441 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0091-976045.Xml
Thai student Chokchai Thongnuakao almost died when he swam across a university campus pond on the orders of a senior. He was half way to other side when cramp stuck and he went under.Chokchai, 19, said he was unconscious for three days in hospital. His doctor, who declined to be identified, said the dirty pond water had caused an inflammation of the lung."As a freshman, I had to do what my seniors told me to," Chokchai told Reuters a month after his scare.The case has intensified a campaign to abolish the controversial and sometimes deadly initiation rituals, which take place over a two-month period from the beginning of the academic year in August.Examples of extreme hazing include seniors dripping candle wax over a freshman's arms, or forcing them to freefall face-first into water or mud, said Panuwat Songsawatchai, a member of a group campaigning against hazing.Thailand has reported five deaths from hazing in the past decade.In 2007, a freshman was burned alive after he was told to roll around on a bonfire. Five years later, a student died from injuries after being hit by seniors."How has the Education Ministry let this go on for so long?" said Panuwat, a member of the group ANTI-SOTUS, which has 77,000 followers on Facebook.SOTUS stands for Seniority, Order, Tradition, Unity and Spirit, a campus code that students say justifies hazing.A 2015 study by University of Wisconsin-Madison Professor Thongchai Winichakul suggested the rise of hazing in the name of SOTUS was part of a conservative trend in Thai society."In universities, rituals to promote a conservative understanding of 'Thainess' are proliferating," Thongchai wrote.The Education Ministry said in a 2012 policy statement that initiation ceremonies must be done with "respect for human rights and equality, no violence".However, the policy was not properly enforced on some campuses, said ministry spokesman Chaiyot Imsuwan."The policy is good and comprehensive but those responsible for implementing it don't care enough," he said.Thailand's criminal code says whoever causes death by negligence can face up to 10 years in jail. Causing fear is also punishable by a one-month jail sentence.Umporn Thongnuakao, Chokchai's father, has appealed to Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha to end dangerous hazing once and for all."I would like the prime minister to set down clearly which activities can be done and which activities must be banned," he said."We need strong medicine." REUTERS PS AS1501 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0421-976119.Xml
Two women accused Donald Trump of inappropriate touching in a story published on Wednesday by the New York Times, claims his spokesman called "fiction" but which may further damage the Republican presidential nominee's chances of winning the White House just four weeks before the November 8 election.The report was followed by a stream of similar allegations from other women, putting more pressure on the Trump campaign as it lags in national opinion polls and struggles to contain a crisis caused by the candidate's comments about groping women without their consent which surfaced tomorrow.One of the women, Jessica Leeds, appeared on camera on the New York Times' website to recount how Trump grabbed her breasts and tried to put his hand up her skirt on a flight to New York in or around 1980. The second woman, Rachel Crooks, described how Trump "kissed me directly on the mouth" in 2005 outside the elevator in Trump Tower in Manhattan, where she was a receptionist at a real estate firm.Trump's campaign denied there was any truth to the New York Times accounts. It made public a letter to the newspaper from Marc Kasowitz, a lawyer representing Trump, demanding it retract the story, calling it "libelous," and threatening legal action if it did not comply."This entire article is fiction, and for the New York Times to launch a completely false, coordinated character assassination against Mr. Trump on a topic like this is dangerous," the Trump campaign's senior communications adviser Jason Miller said in a statement.Reuters could not independently verify the incidents. Leeds and Crooks did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Reuters."We stand by the story, which falls clearly into the realm of public service journalism," a New York Times spokeswoman said.The report comes just two days after a Reuters/Ipsos opinion poll showed one in five Republicans thought Trump's comments about groping women disqualified him from the presidency, and put him 8 points behind Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton among likely voters.MORE ACCOUNTS SURFACEWithin hours, several other media outlets published similar reports. People magazine published a detailed first-person account from one of its reporters, Natasha Stoynoff.Stoynoff said Trump pinned her against a wall at his Florida estate in 2005 and kissed her as she struggled to get away."I turned around, and within seconds, he was pushing me against the wall, and forcing his tongue down my throat," Stoynoff said.The Trump campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the People story late on Wednesday. The article included a denial from a Trump spokeswoman who called the story a "politically motivated fictional pile-on."Around the same time, the Palm Beach Post reported a claim by Mindy McGillivray, 36, a woman in South Florida, that Trump had grabbed her bottom 13 years ago while she was working at his Mar a Lago estate as a photographer's assistant."There is no truth to this whatsoever," Trump's spokeswoman Hope Hicks told the Post. McGillivray could not be reached for comment.CHASTISED BY SOME REPUBLICANSThe reports come on the heels of a 2005 video that surfaced tomorrow that showed Trump bragging about groping women, kissing them without permission, and trying to seduce a married woman."I just start kissing them. It's like a magnet. Just kiss. I don't even wait," Trump is heard saying on the tape.Trump said during the second presidential debate on Sunday that he had not actually done the things he had boasted about, and apologized for his remarks, which he called private "locker room talk."The bombshell video has jeopardized Trump's chances of winning on Election Day, and put Republican control of the US Congress in danger.He was chastised by Republican leaders, and some called on him to drop out of the presidential race.Today, Trump escalated his attacks on US House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan after Ryan said he was no longer going to campaign for or defend Trump.Trump complained to thousands of supporters jammed into a livestock arena in Ocala, Florida, that Ryan and others had not congratulated him on his debate performance on Sunday, and the crowd booed in sympathy."There is a whole deal going on and we're going to figure it out. I always figure things out. But there's a whole sinister deal going on," Trump said.Trump has largely kept the support of conservative Christians, a key voting bloc he needs to win the election."I take him at his word. I think he's a good man," evangelical leader Jerry Falwell Jr. told CNN today.Former Republican House Speaker John Boehner said in an interview on Fox News Channel that he would vote for Trump in spite of being "disgusted" by his comments, because he wanted to see conservative justices named to the Supreme Court.The interview was taped before the New York Times story was published, but Boehner said he thought it was likely that more negative stories would emerge in the last month of the campaign."What more could be said in this election cycle than has already been said?" Boehner asked. "It couldn't be any worse, could it?"A spokeswoman for Clinton said Wednesday's report was "disturbing.""These reports suggest that he lied on the debate stage and that the disgusting behavior he bragged about in the tape is more than just words," said Jennifer Palmieri, a spokeswoman for the Clinton campaign.REUTERS PS NS1603 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0421-976267.Xml
Vietnam said today it would not allow other countries to set up military bases there, just days after Russia said it was considering reopening Soviet-era bases in Vietnam and Cuba.Russian news agencies last week quoted a Russian deputy defence minister as saying Russia was considering plans to restore the bases that had served as pivots for Soviet global military power during the Cold War."Vietnam's consistent policy is not to engage a military ally or engage with any country to oppose a third country," Foreign Ministry spokesman Le Hai Binh told a news briefing."We will also not allow any other countries to set up a military base in Vietnam."While pursuing a neutral foreign policy to befriend many countries and allowing port calls by foreign warships, Vietnam still bars any permanent presence by foreign military forces.Russia, which inherits a long relationship with Vietnam, withdrew from the deepwater Cam Ranh naval base in the early 2000s as part of its drawing down of military presence around the world after the demise of the Soviet Union.Cam Ranh is the jewel in the crown of Vietnam's military, with an air base once used by the US and Soviet forces and a deep water bay home to its modern, Russian-built submarines.Visits by foreign ships are rare and usually restricted to maintenance. US, Japanese and French warships have recently made port calls at Cam Ranh. REUTERS PS NS1602 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0421-976288.Xml
The world will not forgive leaders gathered in Rwanda this week if they fail to back a proposed agreement to cut greenhouse gases, a top UN official said on today, calling the deal an easy one to achieve.Representatives from about 150 nations heard the appeal as they opened negotiations on a deal to phase down the use of factory-made hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) gases, which are used in refrigerators, air conditioners and aerosols.US Secretary of State John Kerry was expected to join the conference later in the day. US officials said they were optimistic an agreement could be reached at the meeting ending on Friday."No one, frankly, will forgive you if you cannot find a compromise at this conference," said Erik Solheim, executive director of United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP)."This is one of the cheapest, one of the easiest, one of the lowest-hanging fruits in the entire arsenal of climate mediation," he told the opening session in the Rwandan capital Kigali.Scientists say a quick reduction of HFCs could dramatically slow climate change, avoiding perhaps 0.5 degree Celsius of a projected rise in average temperatures by 2100.Solheim said failure to act would contribute to more extreme droughts and stronger storms of the type that hit Haiti last week, killing about 1,000 people. "Expect more of this extreme weather if we don't fight against climate change," he said.Among developing nations, India has been under the greatest pressure to sign a deal. It wants poor nations to be allowed to peak their HFC emissions in 2031 to avoid hurting growing industries.The Kigali talks are part of the 1987 Montreal Protocol, which helped protect the ozone layer by cutting the use of chlorofluorocarbons. The ozone layer shields the planet from ultraviolet rays that can cause skin cancer.That deal prevented 2 million cases of skin cancer, Solheim said, adding he had been diagnosed with the disease himself.An accord would be the third big step to curb global warming after the 2015 Paris Agreement. REUTERS PS NS1630 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0421-976342.Xml
Gold, a right-wing, US-born academic, had been a long-term, off-and-on adviser to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu before being named director-general.

"As in the past, I will make myself available to the prime minister's needs in any capacity he sees fit," Gold said in a statement announcing his resignation, noting a 25-year-old professional relationship with Netanyahu.

Gold had been tasked by Netanyahu, who also holds the post of foreign minister, with improving relations with African countries. Last year, he officiated at the reopening of Israel's embassy in Cairo, based in its ambassador's residence.

Gold, a former Israeli ambassador to the United Nations, had also been at the forefront of Israel's efforts to engage more openly with Sunni Muslim states in the region, particularly when it came to shared opposition towards the US-led deal on Iran's nuclear programme.

"I thank Dr. Dore Gold for his great contribution towards strengthening Israel's diplomatic ties in the world, including in Africa and the Middle East," Netanyahu said in statement. No replacement was immediately announced. REUTERS PS BD1752

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To be co-chaired by Palestinian Foreign Affairs Minister Riad al-Maliki, the proposed JCM would cover a range of issues, including cooperation in economy, energy, tourism, agriculture, water and environment, education, health, information technology, sports, culture, media etc.

During External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj's visit to Palestine in January, it was agreed to set up the JCM to give further impetus to the bilateral relationship.

Akbar will also be visiting Jordanian capital Amman on November 10 for bilateral talks with his counterpart and other dignitaries.

--IANS and/nir/vt

( 131 Words)

2016-10-13-18:10:12 (IANS)
A foreign policy adviser to US Republican candidate Donald Trump has accused Washington of contributing to an atmosphere of mutual contempt with Moscow by disregarding Russia's interests.Carter Page, a former investment banker whose views on Russia have caused controversy in the past, made the comments in an opinion piece for Russia's state-controlled Sputnik news agency that was published today."From Syria to Ukraine to world energy policy, Russia remains an essential piece in the puzzle for solving many of Washington's most pressing geostrategic challenges," Page wrote in the article.The US government had shown a "complete disregard for Russia's interests", Page said, saying this had fuelled a sharp deterioration in bilateral relations.Trump, the Republican nominee for next month's US election, named Page as being among five foreign policy advisers in March. Both Trump and Page are known for their more conciliatory stance towards Russia, in contrast to the views of many prominent Republicans.In a speech in Moscow in July, Page criticised Western countries for what he said was their "hypocritical focus on democratisation" in the post-Soviet world. REUTERS PS RAI1902 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0421-976803.Xml
The Pakistani government today defended its decision to place a travel ban on a prominent journalist over an article he wrote about an alleged rift between the country's powerful military and its government.Interior Minister Nisar Ali Khan told reporters that Cyril Almeida would not be allowed to leave the country until the completion of a government committee's inquiry into the story, which authorities have repeatedly denied.The committee would decide if anyone was to be prosecuted in relation to the story.Almeida, a leading columnist and assistant editor at one of Pakistan's most respected English-language dailies, filed a story on October 6. that gave an account of a tense, high-level security meeting between civilian and military officials.Quoting anonymous sources, the story said civilian government officials called for the military not to interfere if law enforcement authorities tried to arrest members of anti-India militant groups such as Jaish-e-Mohammed and Lashkar-e-Taiba.The government has issued three denials of the story, and today Khan reiterated them. Almeida's newspaper Dawn stands by the story, saying it was verified with multiple sources.The government placed a travel ban on Almeida late on Monday under the Exit from Pakistan (Control) Ordinance 1981. Khan said the step was taken to prevent Almeida from leaving the country while the inquiry was ongoing.Calling the committee "informal", Khan said it was gathering evidence and would complete this task in about four days."If this committee feels that there is enough evidence to prosecute, then a formal (law enforcement) committee will be made."Khan said Almeida's name could be removed from the Exit Control List once the inquiry committee had presented unspecified "evidence" to him to respond to."We do not want to pressure him - if he says he does not want to share his source, then should we extract it from him with a stick? No," said Khan."But we want to share some evidence with him, whether he owns or disowns it."Khan said the travel ban was placed on Almeida because he was due to fly to Dubai on October 11, suggesting that he was fleeing the country.Almeida told Reuters his travel plans to Dubai had been made a month in advance, and were for a family vacation.Pakistan ranks 147th of 179 countries on Reporters Without Borders' World Press Freedom Index. At least 59 journalists have been killed in targeted attacks since 1992, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.REUTERS VS SS -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0440-977092.Xml
BEIJING, Oct. 12 (Xinhua) -- The relationship between China and Cambodia, two Asian countries with a long-standing friendship fostered by the previous generations of leaders, has withstood the test of time and grown ever stronger.

The following are basic facts about China-Cambodia relations.

Modern relations between the two countries date back to 1955 when then Cambodian King Norodom Sihanouk met former Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai in Indonesia during the Asian-African Conference, also known as the Bandung Conference.

China's Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence for handling national relations and recognition of the Cambodian people's struggle for independence won high appraisal from Sihanouk, resulting in the establishment of diplomatic ties in 1958 between the two countries.

On March 18, 1970, Sihanouk, on an official visit to the Soviet Union, was the victim of a Coup d'Etat in Phnom Penh. With China's support, Sihanouk became President of the Cambodian Resistance (FUNC- National United Front of Cambodia) a few days later in Beijing. In April, 1975, the People's National Liberation Army of the FUNC achieved a total victory in Cambodia.

At the end of 1978, the neighboring Vietnamese invaded Cambodia. Sihanouk was again forced to leave his motherland for China, where he led domestic forces to fight against the invaders for more than ten years. China, together with other peace-loving people in the world, unswervingly promoted the peace process in Cambodia until a final peace returned to the country.

After the Paris Peace Accord was signed in 1991 to end Cambodia's protracted civil war, China provided substantial assistance to the war-torn country to boost economic growth, such as building infrastructure.

The stretch of roads being built and to be built by Chinese corporations in Cambodia have amounted to 2600 km, occupying over 35 percent of the country's total. In addition, the Chinese side has built seven large-scale bridges, crossing the inland Tonle Sap River and the Mekong River which passes through several Asian countries before reaching the sea.

Enterprises from China have also set up six hydroelectric plants in Cambodia, representing about 50 percent of the total electricity available in the country. The 11 massive water conservancy facilities established by Chinese firms have provided irrigation to over 90,000 hectares of land in the south east Asian country.

On the Cambodian side, Sihanouk advocated for Beijing to have its seat restored at the United Nations in 1971. Today, Phnom Penh stands steadfastly with China in the disputed South China Sea issue.

Cambodia is "a good neighbor, like a brother" and "a good friend with sincerity," Chinese President Xi Jinping told visiting Cambodian King Norodom Sihamoni while they met in June in Beijing. They also pledged to consolidate their traditional friendship and further promote their comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership, an advanced level of bilateral relations.
Relatives take part in a funeral ceremony of a victim of a terrorist attack in Kabul, capital of Afghanistan, on Oct. 12, 2016. The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) has strongly condemned the fatal terrorist attack against Ashura mourners inside a mosque here in Kabul on Tuesday. (Xinhua/Rahmat Alizadah)

KABUL, Oct. 12 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) has strongly condemned the fatal terrorist attack against Ashura mourners inside a mosque here in Kabul on Tuesday.

"This attack deliberately targeting a large group of civilians exercising their right to freely manifest their religion in worship, observance and practice is an atrocity," a UNAMA statement said on Wednesday.

According to a statement of Interior Ministry, in the terrorist attack 16 worshippers including three women and two children had lost their lives and 54 others including 26 women sustained injuries.

An attacker wearing an Afghan security forces uniform entered the Shiite mosque as civilians congregated on the eve of the Muslim Shiite day of remembrance, Ashura and opened fire on the congregation and used a hand grenade, killing and maiming worshipers including women and children, said the UNAMA statement.

"International humanitarian law prohibits deliberate attacks against civilians and civilian property, including places of worship, and places a specific obligation on parties to enable religious personnel to carry out their work," the statement asserted.
PARIS, Oct. 12 (Xinhua) -- Leaders of France, Germany and Russia discussed ways to hold Normandy format talks as soon as possible to implement the Minsk peace deal, French presidency said on Wednesday.

During a phone conversation, the trio said they would aim to hold "constructive and useful" Normandy format talks needed to end the violent conflict in Ukraine.

French President Francois Hollande, his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin and German Chancellor Angela Merkel hoped to organize the meeting "very soon in Berlin," the Elysee added in a press release.

Hollande and Merkel will hold talks with Ukrainian leader Petro Poroshenko on Thursday, according to the statement.

The format of negotiations got the Normandy name after French and German leaders succeeded to convince Putin and Poroshenko to join a same table of negotiations for the first time during the celebration of the 70th anniversary of the landing of the Allied forces that made a decisive contribution to the liberation of Europe from fascism.

In February 2015, Kiev and Moscow agreed a peace deal including a comprehensive ceasefire, withdrawal of heavy weapons from the frontline of fighting, release of captives, amnesty to detained insurgents and restoration of the Ukrainian government control over the state border.

However, continued clashes in the zone have dashed hopes to fully implement the accord.
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang (R) meets with Chui Sai On, chief executive of the Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR), in Macao, south China, Oct. 10, 2016. (Xinhua/Li Tao)

MACAO, Oct. 12 (Xinhua)-- Premier Li Keqiang wrapped up his three-day inspection visit to Macao on Wednesday, announcing new measures to support Macao's development and enhance relations between China and Portuguese-speaking countries.

During the trip, Li lauded the achievements the Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) has made since its return to the motherland, describing it as a land that has seen the successful practice of the "one country, two systems" principle.

The central government fully recognizes the SAR government's work and hopes the SAR administration will overcome difficulties and continue to take initiative to realize good management, construction and development of the region while uniting Macao's people, said Li when meeting with Chui Sai On, chief executive of Macao SAR on Monday.

The premier said the central government will fully support the law-based governance by the chief executive and the SAR administration, and backs Macao's participation in national development strategies such as the Belt and Road Initiative.

In line with the new demands of Macao, the central government has formulated 19 measures to benefit the SAR, said the premier at a symposium attended by representatives from different walks of life on Wednesday morning.

The new moves include supporting the SAR government in hosting an annual global tourism economy forum, creating influential conventions and exhibitions, setting up a renminbi clearing center for Portuguese-speaking countries and establishing the headquarters for the cooperation and development fund between China and Portuguese-speaking countries.

The measures will help push diversified and sustainable development of Macao's economy.

With its unique history, culture and geographical advantages as well as rich tourism resources, Macao can attract more domestic and global tourists as long as it continues to improve its environment and service industry to become a world tourism and leisure center, said Li.

During the visit, the premier also attended the opening ceremony of the 5th Ministerial Conference of the Forum for Economic and Trade Cooperation between China and Portuguese-speaking countries in Macao.

Macao plans to build a service platform for cooperation between China and Portuguese-speaking countries.

In a keynote speech delivered at the conference, the premier announced China will adopt 18 new measures in the next three years to boost relations between China and Portuguese-speaking countries. Macao SAR will play an important role in providing the platform and supporting the implementation of these measures.

A complex for the cooperation service platform between China and Portuguese-speaking countries will be built in Macao to provide services in trade talks, trade shows and cultural exhibitions and exchanges. The facility is set to become a new landmark for bilateral cooperation.
ISTANBUL, Oct. 12 (Xinhua) -- The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), in efforts to finalize an output-cut deal, decided on Wednesday to host a high-level technical experts meeting in Vienna on Oct. 28-29 with Russia and other non-cartel members.

"We agreed to have a high-level technical experts meeting in Vienna this month to have a better understanding and set the best way to re-balance the market," Mohammed Bin Saleh Al-Sada, the OPEC president and Qatar's minister of energy and industry, told a press conference in Istanbul.

A planned meeting of OPEC and non-OPEC energy ministers on the sidelines of the ongoing 23rd World Energy Congress did not materialize on Wednesday, instead ministers from seven countries gathered together, namely Venezuela, Algeria, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Gabon -- all from the cartel -- and Russia and Mexico, two outsiders.

"In today's meeting we haven't discussed any specific figures," Russia's Energy Minister Alexander Novak said at the press conference.

"But we focused on the interaction mechanism and ways to be able to interact more practically in the future," the minister said, speaking of more specific talks in Vienna about the future action.

As the oil cartel is "actively" encouraging non-OPEC nations to join the process, Novak said he was expecting invitation to be extended to major actors including the United States, the third largest oil producer.

The small-scale meeting in Istanbul "was dominated by positive positions and understanding of the situation and about what could be the role of OPEC and non-OPEC countries in stabilizing the market," said Al-Sada.

"We have intention that non-OPEC countries are to be represented as much as possible at a widest spectrum," the president said.

Describing the Istanbul meeting as "excellent" and "very positive," Algerian Energy Minister Noureddine Bouterfa told reporters that "I hope next Vienna summit will be even more positive."

At a meeting late last month in Algiers, the Algerian capital, OPEC announced its intention to reduce its oil output to 32.5 million barrels per day in 2017 from the current level of some 33.24 million barrels per day, abandoning its previous policy of pumping oil without constrains.

Details are to be worked out when members meet again in Vienna in November.

The oil cartel has got support of Russian President Vladimir Putin, who told the Istanbul energy congress on Monday that freezing or cutting oil production is the cleverest way to deal with the crisis at hand.
Source: Xinhua| 2016-10-13 01:04:57|Editor: MJ

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by Xinhua writers Gan Chun, Pan Geping

BRUSSELS, Oct. 12 (Xinhua) -- Innovation is the new driving force for cooperation between China and Belgium, as the two countries are "highly complementary" to each other in developing a successful innovative economy, according to Chinese Ambassador to Belgium Qu Xing.

"The Chinese economy is now at a crucial stage where it is transforming from a manufacturing-based economy to an innovation-driven economy, and Belgium is a country with a small market but strong innovation capability. The two countries therefore have great potential for cooperation in terms of innovation," the ambassador told Xinhua in an exclusive interview on Tuesday.

"Belgium boasts a leading role in several fields of innovative research, such as microelectronics, chemical products and pharmaceuticals, while China has great market potential and capital," he said.

One of the latest attempts for such cooperation was the launch of the China-Belgium Technology Center in June in the university town of Louvain-la-Neuve, some 30 km southeast of Brussels. The project aims to build a 82,000-square-metre complex of incubators for high-tech and innovative businesses.

"The basic concept of this project is to bridge Chinese small and medium-sized enterprises and Belgian research institutions. They can cooperate to commercialize new technology, and turn it into products that meet the needs of both Chinese and Belgian consumers," Qu explained.

The year 2016 marks the 45th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between China and Belgium, with a series of ceremonies and events planned throughout the year.

Looking back on the 45 years of development of bilateral ties, Qu underlined that China and Belgium had developed a "comprehensive, friendly and cooperative partnership."

"In 1971, the trade volume between the two countries was only 20 million U.S. dollars. Last year, it amounted to 23.2 billion U.S. dollars, 1,150 times what it began with," he said. "That is to say, now the trade volume of every seven hours is equivalent to that of a whole year when they first established diplomatic ties."

"In 2014 and 2015, heads of state from both countries visited each other," he added. "Tourism, culture and education exchanges have also become more frequent and diverse."

Last year, over 110,000 passengers took the direct flight from Beijing to Brussels, and another 140,000 from four Chinese cities to the eastern Belgian city of Liege.

There are currently around 4,000 Chinese students studying at Belgian universities, while an increasing number of Belgian students are taking Chinese courses and even going to China for study, according to Qu. More than 50 Belgian educational institutions now offer Chinese classes, and the two countries have jointly established six Confucius Institutes to teach Chinese language and culture.

These numbers demonstrate a flourishing relationship between China and Belgium, said Qu, which contributes to the well-being of people from both countries.

"For the years to come, the two countries will not only deepen their political and economic ties, but also head towards the direction of innovative cooperation," the ambassador stressed.
UNITED NATIONS, Oct. 12 (Xinhua) -- UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Wednesday welcomed the announcement that the government of Colombia and the country's second largest rebel group, known as ELN, will begin peace talks.

On Monday, the Colombian government and the National Liberation Army (ELN) announced that they will begin formal negotiations on Oct. 27 in Quito, the capital of Ecuador.

The two sides have worked out an agenda, including the participation of society in the peace process, democratic reforms, and reparations for victims.

"This is a source of encouragement to the Colombian people and all those involved in supporting a peaceful and comprehensive end to conflict," said a statement released by Ban's spokesperson.

"The Secretary-General hopes the Government and the ELN will work with determination to reach a sustainable peace agreement as soon as possible," it added.

The announcement came on the heels of a peace deal between the Colombian government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), the country's largest rebel group.

The peace deal obviously has prompted the ELN to negotiations with the government although the peace deal with FARC was rejected in a referendum on Oct. 2.

Right after the referendum results were revealed, the ELN said that despite the outcome, it called on Colombians to continue to tirelessly fight for peace with change.
UNITED NATIONS, Oct. 12 (Xinhua) -- The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said they are appalled by the brutal upsurge in violence and relentless bombardment in eastern Aleppo in north Syria in recent weeks, a UN spokesman told reporters here Wednesday.

Some 275,000 civilians there remain trapped, including more than 100,000 children, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said at a daily news briefing here.

"Today, the Office has received reports of an attack on a food market in the Al-Ferdous area of eastern Aleppo, which has resulted in dozens of casualties and injuries," the spokesman said.

"The UN Office once again calls for an end to the fighting and for the parties to cease attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure in line with international legal obligations," he said.

The UN and its partners are ready to provide urgently needed assistance to the trapped population as soon as the situation allows, he said.

Also on Wednesday, the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) deplored the Tuesday attack on a primary school in the Syrian city of Daraa which killed five children between the ages of four and 16 and also injured 15 other children.

UNICEF said that the conflict in Syria has plummeted to such lows that children are now risking their lives just to attend school.
LAGOS, Oct. 12 (Xinhua) -- Proper procedure was being followed in the ongoing trial of some judges facing corruption charges in Nigeria, Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed said Wednesday.

Addressing reporters in Abuja, the nation's capital city, the minister advised against muddling facts about the ongoing trial of some judges facing corruption charges in the country.

He insisted that proper procedure was being followed in the trial of the affected judges.

Mohammed told reporters that there was nothing wrong with the method adopted by the Department of State Services (DSS) in carrying out their official assignment.

According to the minister, what government is concerned and passionate about is to fight corruption, and in the process of fighting corruption "it is not unusual that you step on some very sensitive toes.''

The Minister frowned at those attempting to rubbish the ongoing crusade against corruption in the judiciary.

Nigeria's secret police had a few days ago stormed the houses of some judges, arrested them and recovered huge sum of money in different denominations.

The affected judges were on Monday given bail on self recognition by the DSS.

Nigerian Bar Association, Nigeria Labor Congress and some human right associations have been expressing divergent views over the incident.
LAGOS, Oct. 12 (Xinhua) -- All Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camps in restive northeast Nigeria's Borno State will be shut in 2017, the governor said Wednesday.

The IDPs camps were fraught with lots of challenges, Kashim Shettima, said at a plenary on Mitigating the Impact of Crisis and Conflict at the 22nd Nigerian Economic Summit in Abuja.

"My target is May 29, 2017; I want to close down all the camps in Maiduguri in order to restore the dignity of our people," he said.

"We will not stampede or intimidate people to go back to terrains not well secured. The local government headquarters would put up security architecture that would secure those places," he added.

"The IDPs we have right now in Maiduguri, Biu and other places are full of challenges, issues of early child marriages, child prostitution, drug abuse and gangsterism," Shettima told his audience.

The governor reiterated the state government's determination to turn the crisis to opportunities to build a better state.
HARARE, Oct. 12 (Xinhua) -- The Zimbabwean government is working on measures to curb smuggling as various basic commodities that are subject to an import ban continue to be smuggled into the local market, Industry and Trade minister Mike Bimha said Wednesday.

Zimbabwe imposed an import ban on several basic goods, most of which come through via South Africa. In June this year, to protect the ailing manufacturing industry from cheap imports, some of the goods are prohibited from entering into the country include bottled water, furniture, building materials, steel products, cereals, potato crisps and dairy products.

The government argues that these products are adequately produced in the local market.

Addressing a press conference to announce a committee to monitor and evaluate the impact of the import ban effected through Statutory Instrument 64 of 2016, Minister Bimha admitted that there was rampant smuggling of the banned products, and blamed some customs officials for fueling the smuggling.

The minister accused some customs officials of fueling importation of the banned goods, and complained that the country's borders were porous hence the rampant smuggling of goods.

The government, the minister said, was therefore working on tightening border controls by adopting use of modern technology as a way to curb smuggling.

The controversial import ban has been questioned by neighboring countries such as South Africa and Zambia, and led scores of Zimbabweans and South Africans to launch a massive protest against it at Beitbridge Border Post in July.

Most unemployed Zimbabweans eke out a living through buying goods in South Africa for resale in Zimbabwe.

The Zimbabwe government has said the ban may last for three years.
JOHANNESBURG, Oct. 12 (Xinhua) -- The 8th BRICS Summit, to be held in India, will enable members to discuss various issues such as the economic challenges and cement relations, the BRICS Business Council-India Chapter said on Wednesday.

The chairperson of the council, Onkar Kanwar, told Xinhua in a recent interview in Johannesburg that BRICS has achieved a lot since it came into being and has a great potential to do more in shaping the global architecture.

Kanwar said the establishment of the BRICS New Development Bank (NDB) and the Contingent Reserve Arrangement (CRA), amongst other initiatives in the last seven years, are a great achievement.

He said the upcoming summit in mid-October will further strengthen the intra-BRICS economic cooperation and the collective efforts undertaken by the member countries to advance global economic stability and prosperity in the world.

"The BRICS leaders are highly upbeat about the forthcoming Summit in Goa, India," he said.

He said various meetings have been held in the running up to the summit for policy coordination. These included the meetings at the ministerial, official, technical, business levels on different issues.

Kanwar said the BRICS Trade Fair on the sidelines of the summit will further strengthen the business cooperation among the BRICS economies.

Companies from different BRICS countries will showcase their products with the aim to make trade deals with their counterparts. South Africa has sent 30 companies to the BRICS Trade Fair.

The BRICS Summit will take place against the background of weak economic growth globally, said Kanwar.

He said the BRICS countries, while aware of the current challenges, are expected to do what they can to inject an impetus into the global economic recovery.

"While some of the constituent members may be undergoing a phase of weak economic performance, the long term growth potential of the BRICS grouping remains intact," he said.

"Today, BRICS economies account for more than one-fifth of global economic activity. With a combined nominal GDP of 16 trillion U.S. dollars, which is equivalent to about 22 percent of the gross world product. These economies are well poised to provide the much needed growth momentum for the world," Kanwar said.

This is supplemented by the BRICS population of over three billion people, accounting for about 45 percent of world population, he added.

The BRICS cooperation has also boosted the South-South cooperation, Kanwar said.

He noted that BRICS have also taken a coordinated position in several international organizations like the IMF, G-20 and WTO.

Kanwar said, "Going forward, BRICS economies will continue to play a proactive role in shaping the global discourse on growth and development. The BRICS nations have evolved significantly over the years and are playing a far more effective role in the global economy today."
CAPE TOWN, Oct. 12 (Xinhua) -- Further discussions will be taking place between South Africa and Kenya on the issues of migration and non-tariff barriers to trade, President Jacob Zuma said on Wednesday.

The two countries also need to further discuss how they can remove obstacles that have hindered such activities, Zuma said upon his return from Kenya after a two-day state visit, the first by a South African Head of State since the end of apartheid in 1994.

"We have tasked our ministers to urgently work on the implementation of our agreements on these matters and we expect a progress report in our next meeting in the near future," the president said.

Zuma hailed the visit as a remarkable success, during which he held productive official talks with his Kenyan counterpart Uhuru Kenyatta.

"This historic state visit has been remarkably successful as we discussed and agreed on various important issues that will significantly heighten the bilateral and economic relations not only for our countries but also for the benefit of our respective regions," Zuma said.

South Africa and Kenya occupy important places in their respective regions as leading economies therefore the outcomes of the visit will have a great impact in integrating the two regions, said Zuma.

Amongst the issues that the two Heads of State discussed during the visit was the issue of migration which would ensure efficient movement of goods and people to increase the volume of economic activities between the two countries.

Zuma said there were various measures that needed to be considered to enable such movements, in particular security measures since Kenya had been targeted by terror groups who might exploit such opportunity for their own criminal or terrorist ends.

Zuma and Kenyatta further exchanged views on important regional, continental and global issues of mutual concern, particularly the issue of peace and security in the continent.

Zuma said South Africa was committed to continue contributing in peace and security missions in the continent including in Kenya and the East Africa region, which have been adversely affected by acts terrorism and extremism.

During the visit, South Africa and Kenya signed various agreements and Memoranda of Understanding including an Agreement on Visa Waiver for diplomatic and official passport holders; an Agreement on Military Training, Visits and Technical Assistance; Agreement on Mutual Assistance between Customs Administration, among others.

The signing of these instruments was a clear indication of the two countries' collective determination to take their relations to a higher level, Zuma said.

He said the two countries share common democratic principles and it was important that his visit will elevate bilateral and economic relations to lift the peoples of the two countries from clutches of poverty and underdevelopment and also ensure greater economic integration between the regions.
WASHINGTON, Oct. 12 (Xinhua) -- The Pentagon said on Wednesday the United States would respond "at the appropriate time and in the appropriate manner" to repeated missile attacks on a U.S. destroyer off the Yemeni coast.

According to Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook, USS Mason on Wednesday was fired on with at least one missile off the Red Sea coast of Yemen.

"The ship employed defensive countermeasures and the missile did not reach USS Mason," said Cook in a statement. "There was no damage to the ship or its crew."

It was the second time in four days that USS Mason was targeted around that areas, and in his brief statement on Wednesday, Cook said the missile detected by U.S. military on Wednesday "originated from Houthi-controlled territory near Al Hudaydah, Yemen."
Crew members of the International Space Station(ISS), (L to R) US NASA astronaut Jeffrey Williams, Russian cosmonauts Alexey Ovchinin and Oleg Skripochka, sit in the landing module of the spacecraft after landing some 150 kms to the east of the city of Dzhezkazgan in Kazakhstan on September 7, 2016. The ISS space laboratory has been orbiting Earth at about 28,000 kilometres per hour (17,400 miles per hour) since 1998. (AFP/File/Photo)

WASHINGTON, Oct. 12 (Xinhua) -- U.S. space agency NASA has opened its door to allow private companies to install their own modules on the International Space Station.

NASA will start the process for providing companies with the potential opportunity of adding "their own modules and other capabilities" to the space station this fall, John Holdren, director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, and Charles Bolden, head of the U.S. space agency, wrote in a blog this week.

According to the blog, NASA recently asked U.S. companies how they might use an available docking port on the space station, and those companies responded "enthusiastically", indicating "a strong desire" to attach a commercial module to the orbiting laboratory.

Holdren and Bolden said the agency is "also working to support and grow the community of scientists and entrepreneurs conducting research and growing businesses in space,"

"A vibrant user community will be key to ensuring the economic viability of future space stations," they noted.

The space station has been in orbit since 1998 and currently consists of 15 connected modules built by the U.S., Russia, Japan and Europe.

The space station was originally scheduled to come out of service in 2024 and then splash into the Pacific Ocean, but early this year, a NASA official pledged to hand it over to "either a commercial entity or some other commercial capability so that research can continue in low-Earth orbit."
BERLIN, Oct. 12 (Xinhua) -- Jaber al-Bakr, the Syrian refugee suspected of planning a bomb attack in Germany, has committed suicide at the prison in the German city of Leipzig, German media Spiegel Online reported on Wednesday night.

According to information from German justice department, the suspect who was on the hunger strike, has been under constant observation due to acute suicide risks.

The report said that the 22-year-old Syrian refugee has hanged himself in his cell.

German police found explosive materials on Saturday morning after raiding a residential area in the German city of Chemnitz which was believed to be the suspect's hiding place.

However, the suspect managed to escape on Saturday despite a warning shot fired by the police during the operation.

The suspect was arrested on Sunday night in an apartment in Leipzig.

According to German Federal Prosecutor's Office, "1.5 kilograms of extremely dangerous explosives as well as other materials, which are suitable for the production of an explosive vest" were found in the apartment in Chemnitz.

The suspect, who arrived in Germany last year, was thought to have planned and prepared for an explosive attack in a German airport, and has been under police surveillance for a long time.
SANTIAGO, Oct. 12 (Xinhua) -- The Economic Commission of Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) informed on Wednesday that it expects an average contraction of -0.9 percent in Latin America and the Caribbean during 2016.

The commission also indicated its statement that growth projections for economic activity could see an upturn in the economic dynamic in 2017, with an average increase of 1.5 percent.

ECLAC said it predicts 2017 to be more auspicious than in 2015 and 2016 because the prices of commodities will show improvements regarding average levels from 2016 and it is predicted that the growth in trade partners of this region will be greater.

ECLAC also indicated that, just like this year, during 2017, growth dynamics will show marked differences between countries and subregions.

South American economies, specialized in producing primary goods, particularly oil, minerals and food, will register an average growth in 2017 of 1.1 percent which contrasts with the predicted -2.2 percent in 2016.

In Central America, a growth rate of 4.0 percent is predicted for 2017, above the 3.7 percent predicted for 2016. If you take into account Central America and Mexico, the predictions are 2.5 percent for 2016 and 2.6 percent for 2017.

In the English and Dutch-speaking Caribbean, an average growth of 1.4 percent is estimated for 2017 and this figure positively contrasts with the -0.3 percent contraction predicted for 2016.

ECLAC assured that in order to sustain the largest expected growth in 2017, investment needs to be boosted and productivity needs to increase to keep track of the sustained growth. In this context, investment in infrastructure and technological innovation should play a primary role.

Countries in the region should ensure the sustainability of the region's public finances, with policies that take into account both the impact on the ability to grow in the long term as well as on the social conditions for the inhabitants of the region, according to ECLAC.

Faced with the current economic contraction, ECLAC highlights that the region needs a progressive structural change with a big environmental push, that promotes development based on environmental equality and sustainability, with public and private investment policies.

The ECLAC says these policies should be coordinated in different areas in order to re-define the energy, production and consumption patterns based on learning and innovation as this is how Latin America and the Caribbean will progress towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in the United Nations 2030 Agenda.
CHICAGO, Oct. 12 (Xinhua) -- Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) grains futures close lower Wednesday, as U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) again boosted their outlook for soybean and grains.

The most active corn contract for December delivery fell 8.5 cents, or 2.46 percent, to 3.37 dollars per bushel. December wheat delivery dropped 10.5 cents, or 2.58 percent, to 3.9675 dollars per bushel. November soybeans fell 8.75 cents, or 0.92 percent, to 9.455 dollars per bushel.

Corn production is also set for a record year and with plentiful domestic supplies of other crops such as wheat and rice, the U.S. has become more reliant on export markets to absorb the bumper harvests.

A relief rally in soybean futures after the latest monthly update was released Wednesday by USDA quickly evaporated, and corn and wheat prices both fell sharply.

U.S. farmers are expected to harvest a record 4.269 billion bushels of soybeans, just shy of analysts' expectations. The bump-up yield of 51.4 bushels an acre following August rains was in line with trade guesses, with some concerned yields could top 52 bushels.

Corn futures sagged after an early gain, even as the USDA trimmed its production forecast from September. The agency expects production to reach a record 15.057 billion bushels on yields of 173.4 bushels an acre this fall. That compares to analysts' estimates for 15.04 billion bushels.

Wheat prices initially advanced after the USDA projected slightly smaller-than-expected U.S. stockpiles, before losing ground.

The USDA said domestic wheat reserves at the end of the 2016-17 season in May would total 1.138 billion bushels, which is up from its September estimate of 1.1 billion bushels but lower than analysts' average guess of 1.151 billion bushels.

The USDA was bullish on export prospects, bumping up projected 2016-17 soybean shipments by 40 million bushels at the expense of Argentine sales. Wheat-export expectations were raised by 25 million bushels, reflecting sales success in North Africa that is taking share from European Union sellers, the USDA notes.
MEXICO CITY, Oct. 12 (Xinhua) -- The recapture of Mexican chief Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman has not impacted the operations of the Sinaloa Cartel in Colombia, from where it continues to ferry drugs, according to a Colombian police chief.

Speaking during a visit to the Mexican state of Morelos, Jorge Enrique Rodriguez, the director general of public security for Colombia's national police, said that the activity of the Sinaloa cartel has not dropped since El Chapo's recapture in January.

"It (the activity) has not dropped, it has diversified," said Rodriguez to the press, during the 6th International Congress for the Fight Against Kidnapping and Extortion in the town of Jojutla in Morelos.

For years, Colombian and Mexican authorities have flagged the Sinaloa cartel as being responsible for transporting cocaine from Colombia to Mexico, with most of it then being sold in the U.S..

Rodriguez explained that El Chapo's lieutenants have been running operations, along with other groups who have used his capture to enter the drug trafficking space.

Mexican army and naval operatives arrested the drug trafficker on January 8 in the city of Los Mochis, Sinaloa, six months after he made a dramatic escape from the Altiplano maximum security prison in the central State of Mexico.

Two federal courts in the American states of California and Texas have demanded his extradition but El Chapo filed an appeal against being sent to the U.S., which was temporarily granted in June.
WASHINGTON, Oct. 12 (Xinhua) -- A report by U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) said on Wednesday the San Francisco Police Department (SFPD) disproportionately targeted minorities, especially the African-American community.

"There are numerous indicators of implicit and institutionalized bias against minority groups," said the report, adding that the police department failed to adequately train its officers or investigate the use of force.

In the 400-plus-page report, the DOJ said African-American drivers were "disproportionately stopped compared to their representation in the driving population," and along with Hispanic drivers, they were also "disproportionately searched and arrested compared to white drivers."

Also, the report found that SFPD failed to adequately investigate officers' use of force, among which the majority of deadly use of force incidents by the police involved persons of color.

"These are timely conversations because police-community relations in the United States have reached a pivotal moment," the report said. "Trust is the key to the stability of our communities, the integrity of our criminal justice system, and the safe and effective delivery of policing services."
Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull (R) and his Singaporean counterpart Lee Hsien Loong attend a press conference in Canberra Oct. 13, 2016. Australia and Singapore on Thursday signed an update to their 2003 free trade agreement. (Xinhua/Zhao Bo)

CANBERRA, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) -- An update to the 2003 Singapore-Australia Free Trade Agreement (FTA) will be the "most comprehensive" free trade deal Australia ever signed, Trade Minister Steve Ciobo said on Thursday.

Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, who is in Canberra on a three-day visit to strengthen the ties with Australia, is set to sign the updated FTA on Thursday.

The update will include new agreements in fields such as military training, trade, business services, and scientific research, while the showpiece of the agreement is a 1.7-billion-U.S dollar deal which will result in more than 14,000 Singaporean troops taking up residence at training base in north Queensland.

Minister Ciobo told The Guardian that the government was excited to sign the updated agreement with Singapore as it was the next step in fully engaging Australia with "Asia's emerging middle class," which he said is expected to grow "from 600 million today to 3 billion by 2030."

"This is the most comprehensive update of an Australian free trade agreement and shows our FTAs are living agreements that can respond to evolving business needs," he said.

The amendments will also benefit financial, legal and education industries in both nations.

Thursday's agreement comes after Lee addressed the Australian Parliament, where the Singapore PM praised the strong relationship between the two nations and pledged to maintain a healthy link for future regional prosperity.
by Raimundo Urrechaga

HAVANA, Oct. 12 (Xinhua) -- The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) are willing to talk with different political sectors to enrich the final peace deal signed with president Juan Manuel Santos. However, they are not willing to renegotiate the agreement despite it being rejected by a small margin at the polls, explained the FARC's top leader, Rodrigo Londono, in an exclusive interview with Xinhua.

"We are optimistic but we are not talking about renegotiating the agreement. The No option won the plebiscite by a very small margin amid a reduced number of voters, as around 63 percent of the population did not vote. By no means do I believe the peace process is destined to fail due to this adverse result," said Rodrigo Londono, who is also known as Timoleon Jimenez.

Dressed in a typical white Cuban shirt and showing a strong sense of humor, Jimenez said the days after the plebiscite had served to "analyze" the results amid nationwide protests demanding that the deal be implemented to end over 50 years of armed conflict.

In his conversation with Xinhua on Tuesday, Jimenez stated the result had caused a whirlwind effect as the Colombian population are now curious to know precisely what was discussed and agreed in Havana over almost four years.

"We are full of optimism. I think those critical of the agreement can make positive contributions to add on to the deal and enrich it. However, renegotiating it would be an outrage, it would mean starting again from scratch," he said.

Jimenez said both sides should use "common sense" after many years of complex discussions to continue implementing the peace agreement.

The top FARC leader believes that numerous sectors of Colombian society, including those that campaigned for the No option, had the possibility to participate in the peace process over the last four years.

"Some of those sectors that led the No campaign had the opportunity to participate and did not. They had the opportunity to share their ideas. Many of them were invited at different times of the peace process and chose not to participate," he recalled.

"I feel satisfied for what we have achieved so far because it (the peace process) no longer belongs to the Colombian government or the FARC. It is in the hands of the Colombian people to interpret these agreements as a way of opening up a brighter future for...our country," he added.

However, Jimenez acknowledges that risks are always there, particularly with those that want to "harm" the peace deal and benefit from the war.

"Those sectors that, for one reason or another, oppose the peace agreement are now running out of oxygen. That is good for the peace of Colombia. The risks will always be there, but the support of the vast majority of the people and the international community will be definitive in the near future," said the top FARC leader.

Hours after the No won by 50.22 percent of the vote on Oct. 2, the rebels recognized the result and vowed to keep working to implement the peace deal signed in Cartagena on Sept. 26.

Ten days after the shocking outcome, both sides have been working to find common ground.

"We have been listening to different opinions, exchanging with many people of the Colombian society and political actors. Advisers on both sides are working non-stop to find a way out of this impasse as soon as possible," Jimenez revealed.

The top FARC commander believes the pact signed with Santos is the "best one" both sides could negotiate, although the rebels would have liked a "better one."

However, added the rebel leader, the agreement is a symbol that political contradictions in Colombia will not be resolved through violence and people will no longer be imprisoned or murdered for thinking differently.

"We are convinced this deal lays a solid primary foundation for building peace in Colombia. This is a society deeply affected by conflict, and there are very deep wounds that need to heal. To achieve reconciliation between Colombians, we must resolve our differences in the political arena, through democratic debate and not through violence," he said.

Jimenez also told Xinhua that the plebiscite result does not deny the peace deal as the agreement itself has legal foundations within international humanitarian law and is protected by the Colombian Constitution.

"We are not held back by what happened. The plebiscite had a political connotation but it does not affect the judicial aspects of implementing the peace deal," he said.

Timochenko said he is confident about a "quick and effective" solution to the political impasse that will allow for definitive peace in his country.

The conflict in Colombia has killed more than 220,000 people and displaced millions since 1960s.
SYDNEY, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) -- Australia's New South Wales (NSW) police charged two young males with terror related offences on Thursday after they were caught red-handed planning an Islamic State inspired attack the previous day.

The two 16-year-olds were caught with two knives from which authorities believed were purchased at a gun shop in Sydney's Bankstown on Wednesday afternoon before catching a bus to a nearby location, where they were arrested by police and taken into custody, the Australian Associated Press reports.

At the moment, authorities are unaware of any specific target but believe an attack was imminent.

"Had we not been in the right place at the right time ... certainly somebody, potentially today, would be, or another day imminently, would be without their life," Australian Federal Police Deputy Commissioner Michael Phelan told reporters on Thursday.

The teens have been charged with planning an act of terror, which carries a penalty of life behind bars, and being members of Islamic State, which carries a penalty of 10 years' prison.

The pair appeared before Parramatta Children's Court on Thursday morning after being charged about 05:00 local time (AEDT).

Neither of the boys had applied for bail, with their cases adjourned until December 7.

Police believe the pair had been radicalised, but would not say over how long or by whom.

"I think they had potential radicalisation from potentially radicalised peers," NSW Police Deputy Commissioner Cath Burn said.

Burn refused to confirm reports one boy was related to a man already in jail convicted of terror offences.

"We know that they have connections with people who are radicalised and who are of concern to us," she said.

She said counter-terror police were "well aware" of the 16-year-olds before the alleged terror plot and held concerns about them.

Four Western Sydney properties in Bankstown, Revesby, Parramatta and Lakemba that are connected with the teenagers, including a prayer hall and multiple homes, were raided after their arrests.

Items were seized for forensic examination and police have not ruled out making further arrests over the thwarted alleged terror plot.

Burn would not comment on reports of a note being found on one of the boys, as the matter is now before the courts.

"We do have evidence. That will come out in court," she said.

Authorities say this is the 11th imminent attack prevented by the Joint Counter Terrorism Teams in Australia.

Australia, a staunch ally in the U.S.- led fight against terror in Syria and Iraq has remained on heightened alert for home-grown terror attacks for over two years, arresting and jailing at least 45 suspects in connection to domestic terror plots.

Authorities, however, are increasingly concerned about the young age of those being radicalized after a 16-year-old boy murdered police accountant Curtis Cheng in a lone-wolf style terror attack in early October 2015.

In late February, the teenage bride of an Australian terrorism suspect was arrested by counter-terrorism authorities for allegedly possessing a knife, an Islamic State flag and documents relating to a terror attack.

Her husband is already in custody on terror related charges.
SYDNEY, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) -- Australia's Queensland state government is providing local researchers and entrepreneurs access to expertise and investment opportunities in China through a new initiative.

The partnership between the state government and China's Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) will see eight entrepreneurs and researchers being placed at China's leading science and technology incubators, Queensland state minister for Innovation, Science and the Digital Economy Leeanne Enoch said in a statement on Thursday.

All eight will be the first receipts of a partnership known as Queensland Government's Commercialisation Partnership Program (CPP) between China's start-ups.

"This is a fantastic foot-in-the-door opportunity for Queensland entrepreneurs, whether they are a technology startup, established science-related business, or a Queensland researcher looking to commercialise their research," Enoch said.

"Successful applicants will have the opportunity to prototype, test, attract investment and commercialise innovative ideas at one of China's leading science and technology incubators."

"They will have access to world-class facilities, mentors and local business links, and receive invaluable insight into the Chinese market as well as the potential to secure capital to refine their concept and get their business up and running," she said.

Applications for the program will close on November 30 with successful recipients to be recommended by the Queensland Department of Science, Information Technology and Innovation in consultation with MOST.
YANGON, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) -- Ten more armed attackers were killed in Maungtaw, Myanmar's western Rakhine state, Wednesday in fighting with government troops as the latter made a clearance operation in Kyetyoepin village, official report said Thursday.

After a violent exchange of fire, the armed attackers fled to the western part of the village, but fought back the government troops with guns, swords and sticks when they were being pursued.

In another incident on the same day, about five armed men attacked the staff quarter of No. 1 border post near Kyikanpyin village, Maungtaw township from a distant hideout and set fire to 25 houses in Warpaik village before withdrawing in a southeast direction, the report said.

Over the last two days, four soldiers were killed in fighting between Myanmar government troops and 300 violent armed men in Pyaungpit village, Maungtaw when the government troops were clearing the area. The body of one attacker was claimed.

In other two incidents, the government troops captured four armed attackers alive and seven bodies with weapons during area clearance operation in three other villages.

The four attackers are currently under interrogation.

The series of fightings originated from Oct. 9 violent attack on the three border posts with Bangladesh by the armed men, in which nine policemen were killed and five others injured with one missing.

Eight armed men were also killed with two being captured alive, according to local police.

A total of 51 assorted arms, 10,140 rounds of ammunition, one bayonet and 28 cartridges of bullets were taken by the armed men in the three attacks.

The three border posts are Kyikanpyi in Maungtaw, Kotankauk in Rathedaung and Ngakhuya Office.

A dusk-to-dawn curfew from 7 p.m. to 6 a.m. local time has been imposed in Maungtaw since Monday where the incidents occurred, prohibiting any assembly of five and more people.

A total of 390 schools in Buthee Taung and Maungtaw townships have also been closed since then.
WELLINGTON, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) -- New Zealand's manufacturing sector grew at its fastest rate since January last month, according to the latest performance of manufacturing index (PMI) out Thursday.

The BNZ-Business New Zealand PMI for September was 57.7 on a scale where above 50 indicates expansion and below 50 contraction.

The reading was 2.5 points up from August, and continued a run of solid expansion in almost all months since October 2012.

Business New Zealand executive director for manufacturing Catherine Beard said the lift in expansion was welcome after two consecutive months of slowing growth.

"The two key sub-indices of production (61.3) and new orders (60.9) returned to post-60 point values, while employment (50.3) moved back into slight expansion mode after showing contraction in August," Beard said in a statement.

BNZ senior economist Craig Ebert said the survey showed large firms were lacking the impetus shown by relatively smaller firms.

"While the PMI kicked back up, the details of the survey again highlighted some fraying at the edges," Ebert said in the statement.
WELLINGTON, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) -- New Zealand Foreign Minister Murray McCully will travel to Beijing this week to discuss a range of international issues.

McCully said Thursday in a statement that he would discuss issues including cooperation in the Pacific and matters currently before the United Nations Security Council.

"New Zealand attaches major importance to our relationship with China, as one of our largest export markets and as a partner in the Asia-Pacific region," McCully said in the statement.

"Two-way trade between New Zealand and China now stands at 22 billion NZ dollars (15.49 billion U.S. dollars) and this is underpinned by regular political dialogue at all levels."

New Zealand will finish a two-year stint as a temporary member of the UN Security Council at the end of this year.
SYDNEY, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) -- Staff at Australia's Brisbane Apple store have been fired after they were caught stealing and rating customers' pictures as part of a photo-sharing scandal.

News Corp reported on Thursday that dozens of photos were taken of female staff and customers while others were lifted from some Apple customers' phones, it has emerged.

The issue came to light after a staff member at the Carindale store noticed a technician looking through a customer's phone in the repair room.

One Apple staff member told News Corp that they were concerned that the "disgusting" practice was occurring at other stores.

As part of the scandal, photos of both customers and staff were taken without their knowledge and their bodies were ranked from one to 10.

In a statement, Apple confirmed the Carindale store was under investigation and that related staff had been fired.

"Apple believes in treating everyone equally and with respect, and we do not tolerate behaviour that goes against our values," the statement read.

"We are investigating a violation of Apple's business conduct policy at our store in Carindale, where several employees have already been terminated as a result of our findings."

A spokeswoman for Queensland Police told News Corp she was aware of media reports surrounding the store but an investigation has not yet been launched.
WELLINGTON, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) -- The New Zealand government's operating surplus for the financial year ending June was more than four times bigger than last year, the Treasury announced Thursday.

Treasury figures showed higher-than-expected tax revenue and below-forecast spending delivered a surplus of 1.8 billion NZ dollars (1.27 billion U.S. dollars) -- up from 414 million NZ dollars (292.07 million U.S. dollars) in the 2014-2015 financial year.

Finance Minister Bill English said expenses were under 30 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) for the first time since 2006 and net debt had stabilized at 24.6 percent of GDP.

"The outlook for the economy is positive, the government's books are in good shape and we are addressing our toughest social problems. However, we also need to bear in mind that there are a lot of risks globally and that is why it is important to get our debt levels down," English said in a statement.

However, the main opposition Labour Party said hard-working New Zealanders would be asking if the benefits of economic growth were being fairly shared.

"It is all well and good to be pleased about a surplus, but when there are children living in cars and garages, older New Zealanders in pain waiting for operations, and school funding going backwards, the government needs to take a long hard look at their priorities," Labour Party finance spokesman Grant Robertson said in a statement.
YANGON, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) -- Myanmar State Counselor and Foreign Minister Aung San Suu Kyi will pay an official visit to India soon to strengthen bilateral relations between the two countries, according to an official announcement Thursday.

Aung San Suu Kyi's three-day India visit at the invitation of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be preceded by her attendance of BRICS-BIMSTEC Outreach Summit to be held in Goa, India on Sunday, the announcement said.

Suu Kyi's first official trip to India since her National League for Democracy (NLD) took office on April 1 comes less than two months after Myanmar President U Htin Kyaw's state visit to the neighbor in August.

Suu Kyi will be accompanied by several key ministers and senior officials, the Indian External Affairs Ministry said in a statement Wednesday.
DHAKA, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping's upcoming visit to Bangladesh, the first by a Chinese head of state in 30 years, will lift bilateral ties to a new height, Bangladeshi Information Minister Hasanul Huq Inu has said.

"This upcoming visit marks the strong bondage between the two nations as well as paving the way for future growth of our ties," said Inu in an exclusive interview with Xinhua.

He said the relations and engagements between China and Bangladesh are enormous.

"Our two nations support each other on the principles of peace, stability, sovereignty and territorial integrity," said Inu, who is also president of the Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal, a partner of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's ruling coalition.

The two countries have also been upholding the principles of mutual trust and respect, mutual interests, and equitable sharing of mutual benefits, he added.

The minister spoke highly of Xi's Belt and Road Initiative.

"I see His Excellency President Xi Jinping's initiative of 'Belt and Road' as the creation of an economic land belt that includes countries on the original Silk Road through Central Asia, West Asia, the Middle East and Europe, as well as a maritime road that links China's port facilities with the African coast, pushing up through the Suez Canal into the Mediterranean."

He expressed confidence that the Belt and Road Initiative will improve trade and relations among the countries involved.

Inu showed great interest in the development of the Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar (BCIM) Economic Corridor.

"We work closely for developing a quadrilateral economic space between Bangladesh, China, India and Myanmar," he said.

"Definitely, coordinated efforts of Bangladesh and China on local and international development issues of mutual interest will result in great outcome."

The BCIM Economic Corridor, formally endorsed by the four nations in 2013, will connect an estimated 440 million people in China's Yunnan Province, Bangladesh, Myanmar and Bihar in northern India.

Over the past eight years, Bangladesh has made remarkable progress in economic growth, women's advancement and empowerment, education and health, and other areas of human development, the minister said.

To keep the development on track, Bangladesh looks forward to Chinese cooperation in such sectors as finance and investment, technology, management, defense, agriculture, industry and media, he said.

As information minister, Inu called for bilateral media cooperation.

"China, as a big country, has a very wide and modern media network. Media in Bangladesh has seen a landmark rise under the leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina."

Therefore, cooperation with China in the sector will be extremely significant, he said.

"Infrastructure building and ICT (information and communication technology) adoption are the two most prominent sectors where we seek Chinese cooperation in media," he noted.

With the help of China, five new television divisional headquarters are under construction in Bangladesh and new TV stations are to be built, Inu said.

Chinese President Xi Jinping will visit Cambodia and Bangladesh, and attend the 8th BRICS summit in India from Oct.13 to 17.
PHNOM PENH, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) -- While serving as a bridge of cultural and people-to-people exchanges between Cambodia and China, the Confucius Institute of the Royal Academy of Cambodia has also played a big role in promoting China's Belt and Road Initiative in the kingdom.

The Confucius Institute in Cambodia, established on Aug. 12, 2009, is jointly run by the Royal Academy of Cambodia and China's Jiujiang University in Jiangxi Province.

On Dec. 22, 2009, then Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping unveiled the Confucius Institute in Cambodia during his visit to the country.

Thanks to steady and healthy development of bilateral relations between the two countries and concerted efforts from the two governments, the Confucius Institute in Cambodia has enjoyed smooth growth in its size and mission, contributing significantly to the friendship and understanding between the two peoples, Director of the Confucius Institute of the Royal Academy of Cambodia Chea Munyrith told Xinhua in a recent interview.

China's Belt and Road Initiative, unveiled in 2013, is highly compatible with Cambodia's national development strategy. Seeking to be removed from a list of the least developed countries, to improve infrastructure including road, water, electricity, air and railway, which is lagging far behind its neighboring countries, is the key for the country to develop its economy.

When China proposed the Belt and Road Initiative in 2013, the Cambodian government welcomed the strategy and expressed its willingness to participate in the projects under the framework of the initiative as it presents significant opportunities for participating countries, Chea Munyrith said.

But Cambodians, including many government officials, had no idea about the details of the initiative such as how it would be pushed forward, in which way the country would join it and how the country would benefit from it, the director said.

To promote the initiative aimed at seeking common development and forging a community of common destiny, the Confucius Institute in Cambodia has devoted itself to raising the awareness of the Cambodian public.

"The institute, based on the materials collected from Internet and TV programs, produced a videotape to introduce the Belt and Road Initiative. We went to government departments in the capital and traveled to at least 15 provinces with the videotape," Chea Munyrith said.

The Belt and Road Initiative aims at five goals, namely policy coordination, facilities connectivity, unimpeded trade, financial integration and people-to-people bonds, the director said.

In terms of people-to-people bonds, efforts should be made to promote exchanges and dialogues between different cultures, strengthen friendly interactions between the peoples of various countries, and promote mutual understanding and traditional friendship, and this is what the Confucius Institute in Cambodia has been working for, he added.

"Chinese President Xi Jinping will pay his first state visit to Cambodia soon to further enhance bilateral relations between the two countries. The Confucius Institute is planning to host another forum on China's Belt and Road Initiative."

China is now the second largest economy in the world and its economy has witnessed rapid growth in the past years while the performance of world economy generally remains lackluster.

The director said his country has a lot to learn from China including governance and experiences in developing economy.

The book "Xi Jinping: The Governance of China" outlines the full political ideas of the top leadership of China and is of model significance, he said.

"To introduce the political ideas to Cambodians, I have translated it into Cambodian. I hope it will be published soon."

The Confucius Institute in Cambodia is one of the 14 model Confucius Institutes established in 12 countries.
LONDON, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) -- Future models for immigration control into Britain from the European Union (EU) risk restricting the flow of much-needed skilled workers, which could result in a negative impact on the economy, a leading economist said Wednesday.

"The idea that if we have a new system that in theory lets in skilled workers from the EU will not in practice deter skilled workers is pure fantasy," Dr. Jonathan Portes, a research fellow at the National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR), told a briefing on EU immigration for the think-tank The UK in a Changing Europe at King's College.

"We have seen this already; Martin Roth, director of the Victoria and Albert Museum, says he wants to pick up and go back to Germany because he doesn't like what's happening here," Portes said. He added there was a lot of evidence from high-value sectors that it is already becoming more difficult to recruit and retain high-skilled European nationals in Britain.

Portes said that immigration of EU nationals into Britain had peaked in 2015 with more than 600,000, according to figures for those registering for National Insurance numbers, a statutory form of health insurance.

The recent peak was boosted by the arrival of Bulgarian and Romanian workers, who under transitional arrangements had been unable to move freely into Britain until 2014, despite the fact that their nations had joined the EU in 2004.

This figure may now begin to fall sharply, said Portes. In addition, the impact of a sharp fall in the value of sterling against Eastern European currencies and a contraction in the labor market due to the Brexit may further reduce immigration figures.

"If this sharp fall does materialize, it has economic and political impacts. It will further exacerbate any negative impact of the Brexit on the UK economy, if there is a significant reduction in the UK labor supply," the economist said.

Once the Brexit has taken place, then visa controls or a points-based entry system will also deter skilled workers.

The issue of open immigration and uncontrolled access to Britain was one of the key drivers for the June 23 referendum decision when Britain voted by 52 percent to 48 percent to leave the EU. Britain intends to withdraw from the EU, a process commonly known as "Brexit."

However, Brussels has insisted that if Britain wants to arrange a single-market deal with the EU, borders must be kept open for all European nationals.

Ending free movement is not primarily about border controls, and free movement of Europeans will not stop, said Portes. These European citizens will be able to visit visa-free, but not legally able to take up jobs unless they already have a job offer.

This could increase the amount of illegal or irregular work, with criminals operating systems to bring cheap labor into Britain and exploiting those workers, who would be working outside the legal system once they arrive.

A new system will increase regulatory burdens on business and increase the bureaucracy of the state, both increasing costs for businesses, said Portes.

He added that Britain controls immigration for work purposes at the workplace, not the border. Unless there was a move to a visa system for work, the free movement of individuals would remain controlled in the workplace.

"You cannot centrally plan the labor market, there is a lot of randomness in human behavior. You cannot choose who comes here, you set the rules and they choose to come."
WELLINGTON, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) -- Scientists are slow on the uptake when it comes to communicating through social media, according to a New Zealand-U.S. study out Thursday.

The study by University of Otago and University of Miami researchers was the first to survey scientists on their attitudes towards social media -- specifically Twitter -- and show how they were using digital channels to communicate their research with the public and one another.

The survey of 587 scientists from a range of academic disciplines found that while scientists were yet to widely adopt social media, the ones that did saw many possible advantages to using it in the workplace.

"Most scientists saw the benefit in using Twitter they said it was a good way to access a large and diverse audience," University of Otago researcher Kimberley Collins said in a statement.

"They also appreciate the ease of communicating in snippets, how little time it takes, and how accessible it is."

The study also found that scientists mostly used Twitter to communicate with colleagues and share peer-reviewed literature within the scholarly community.

"Many scientists said they use Twitter to communicate specifically with other scientists. Some used it as a forum to share their research directly with the public and media, but most saw it as a tool to share research within their field and to stay updated with science outreach and communication," said Collins.

Despite the professional benefits associated with it, relatively few academic scientists currently used social media.

Misunderstandings of the disadvantages of social media use might have contributed to the relatively limited use, which could be corrected by professional development training workshops or clearer departmental social media usage policies, she said.
Top leader of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) Rodrigo Londono, also known as Timoleon Jimenez, speaks during an exclusive interview with Xinhua in Havana, Cuba, Oct. 11, 2016. FARC is willing to talk with different political sectors to enrich the peace agreement which he and Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos have signed, Rodrigo Londono said, refusing to renegotiate the agreement. (Xinhua/Joaquin Hernandez)

HAVANA, Oct. 12 (Xinhua) -- For the last four years, a stout, bearded Colombian man has been in the spotlight as the head of one of the last guerrilla movements in Latin America, who is Rodrigo Londono, the top leader of the leftist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).

"We are putting our guns and rifles aside but we remain a political organization with our actual membership. We are launching the idea with all sectors that want peace in Colombia to unite as a political movement and become a real alternative in our country," Rodrigo Londono, who is also known as Timoleon Jimenez, said in an exclusive interview with Xinhua.

Reaching a peace deal in the South American nation has been Jimenez's goal since he was appointed in November 2011 as top leader of the FARC.

His dream has now come true. A final peace deal has been signed between Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos' administration and the FARC in late September.

However, the agreement negotiated for almost four years was rejected by over 50 percent of Colombian voters, which has placed the commander in the center of controversy.

Jimenez said the adverse result in the recent plebiscite is now generating awareness among the Colombian people.

"The vast majority represents our hopes that change will occur but that is achieved only by raising awareness, generating political culture, and providing real education and not misinformation. Those will be our main goals as a political organization within the nation's democratic system," he added.

Many Colombians who oppose the agreement believe top FARC leaders will escape justice after so many years of violent confrontations. However, the rebel group insists they will be subjected to a special tribunal for justice as agreed with the government.

"The final peace deal looks to heal the wounds of the past. A commission will investigate the truth behind all violent events that have taken place. Its objective is to seek justice and offer reparations to victims of the conflict," the FARC commander said.

Jimenez said the most important thing to do in order to "shield" the peace deal is to start implementing it. Now, both Santos' administration and the FARC have agreed to adjust the deal so that it can come into effect as soon as possible.

"We are trying to create conditions to open up the doors of political participation to important sectors of our society like peasants, indigenous people and many others. We want to give a chance to those who never had a voice," he said.

The FARC leader also said the rebel group will become a political party in the near future within the national structure and with the goal of representing millions of Colombians.

For this new endeavor, Jimenez said the organization is counting on many of its actual members to participate in the political arena.

"Each FARC combatant is free to decide whether to continue or not in the political party. That will not be an obligation. We expect, from an ideological point of view, that the vast majority of our membership will continue in the party," said Jimenez.

However, many Colombians, including the FARC, remember the experience of the left-wing Patriotic Union in the 1980s when more than 3,500 militants, political leaders and social activists were killed by members of the security forces of the Colombian state, paramilitary groups and drug traffickers.

"That is one of the reasons we believe the agreement cannot be renegotiated. Reaching a final deal has not been easy and it will not be derailed because of the impulse of a few people. We sometimes wonder if what happened in the 1980s will also be our fate," he said.

Another step to finally end over 50 years of war has been the announcement by Santos' administration and the second-largest rebel group in Colombia, the National Liberation Army (ELN), that their peace talks will begin later this month.

"We believe the comrades of the ELN, who also have 52 years of struggle and experience, will contribute a lot ... to the peace process. It comes at a time when we must accelerate the construction of peace in Colombia and their participation is essential," he said.

He also congratulated Santos on his recent Nobel Peace Prize victory and his dedication of it to the victims of the armed conflict.

Jimenez said he remains committed to the same "dream" that made him join the guerrillas over 40 years ago: fighting for social justice in Colombia.

"We are starting to build peace in a country that has been filled with hate for over half a century. We must move beyond the bitterness, hate and revenge and respond with a positive outlook for peace in Colombia," he said.
(File Pic) A woman watches a list of job offers published on a pole in Sao Paulo, Brazil, on Aug. 25, 2015. The unemployment rate in Brazil in the second quarter of the year was 8.3, marking a 23.5 percent increase compared with the same period of last year and a 5.3 percent increase over the first quarter. (Xinhua/Rahel Patrasso)

SANTIAGO, Oct. 12 (Xinhua) -- The Economic Commission of Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) informed on Wednesday that it expects an average contraction of -0.9 percent in Latin America and the Caribbean during 2016.

The commission also indicated its statement that growth projections for economic activity could see an upturn in the economic dynamic in 2017, with an average increase of 1.5 percent.

ECLAC said it predicts 2017 to be more auspicious than in 2015 and 2016 because the prices of commodities will show improvements regarding average levels from 2016 and it is predicted that the growth in trade partners of this region will be greater.

ECLAC also indicated that, just like this year, during 2017, growth dynamics will show marked differences between countries and subregions.

South American economies, specialized in producing primary goods, particularly oil, minerals and food, will register an average growth in 2017 of 1.1 percent which contrasts with the predicted -2.2 percent in 2016.

In Central America, a growth rate of 4.0 percent is predicted for 2017, above the 3.7 percent predicted for 2016. If you take into account Central America and Mexico, the predictions are 2.5 percent for 2016 and 2.6 percent for 2017.

In the English and Dutch-speaking Caribbean, an average growth of 1.4 percent is estimated for 2017 and this figure positively contrasts with the -0.3 percent contraction predicted for 2016.

ECLAC assured that in order to sustain the largest expected growth in 2017, investment needs to be boosted and productivity needs to increase to keep track of the sustained growth. In this context, investment in infrastructure and technological innovation should play a primary role.

Countries in the region should ensure the sustainability of the region's public finances, with policies that take into account both the impact on the ability to grow in the long term as well as on the social conditions for the inhabitants of the region, according to ECLAC.

Faced with the current economic contraction, ECLAC highlights that the region needs a progressive structural change with a big environmental push, that promotes development based on environmental equality and sustainability, with public and private investment policies.

The ECLAC says these policies should be coordinated in different areas in order to re-define the energy, production and consumption patterns based on learning and innovation as this is how Latin America and the Caribbean will progress towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in the United Nations 2030 Agenda.
DHAKA, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping's upcoming visit to Bangladesh will provide a massive boost not only for the country, but also for the region, a senior academic has said.

AAMS Arefin Siddique, the vice-chancellor of Dhaka University (DU), which is the country's oldest and most prestigious university, made the comments here in a recent interview with Xinhua.

"With Chinese President Xi Jinping's visit, I'm sure that these two countries will move forward along with the entire Asian region," Siddique said, adding that China and Asia are inextricably linked in development.

The vice-chancellor stressed that Bangladesh-China relations in various sectors including academic, agriculture, business and trade, will be further cemented, developed and strengthened.

All of this underscores the overwhelming significance of the Chinese president's visit to Bangladesh, he said, adding that Dhaka University teachers and students are closely following the upcoming visit of the Chinese president.

Meanwhile, he mentioned that from this academic year, Dhaka University will start a four-year graduation course in Chinese language.

"We are going to build an academic bridge between Bangladesh and China and I strongly believe that through this summit visit of the Chinese president, bilateral relations between China and Bangladesh will be further strengthened."

"Such relations are indispensable for both sides," the vice-chancellor said, noting that traditional relationship and bonds between Bangladesh and China are historical ones.

"We still remember the ancient Silk Road between Bangladesh and China and this road passed through this region," said Siddique.

"Right from our independence we have received great support from our Chinese friends," he said, noting that the Chinese president's visit will pave the way for Bangladesh to have more Chinese support in the future.

"I have no doubt that this visit will bring Bangladesh and China closer to each other as nations and as friends," he stressed.
HANOI, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) -- Samsung Vietnam will maintain its current staff numbers and its exports target in 2016 despite the parent company scrapping its flagship Galaxy Note 7 phone following a series of battery fires.

Samsung Electronics finally pulled the plug on the new Note 7 phone on Tuesday, less than two months after its launch, dealing a huge blow to the business as a result of unresolved safety concerns, local media reported Thursday.

However, Samsung Vietnam, which employs around 110,000 people in Vietnam, said it has no plan to lay off employees in 2016 as a result of the parent company's crisis.

The company predicted the value of its exports would grow further compared to that of 32.7 billion U.S. dollars in 2015.

"The Note 7 incident may not bring about any significant impact on our exports in 2016. In fact, this year's exports turnover is expected to increase," Samsung Vietnam said in a statement.

Samsung is a major investor in Vietnam. Several Samsung phone factories in Vietnam have combined investments of about 7.5 billion U.S. dollars.

Phones exports are significant to Vietnam's exports, with the value of 2015 shipments up by 27.8 percent year-on-year at 30.17 billion U.S. dollars, accounting for 19 percent of the country's total exports, according to Vietnam Customs.

In the first nine months of this year, Vietnam's phone shipments increased by an estimated 8.6 percent on the same period last year to 24.96 billion U.S. dollars.

The value of exports from Samsung's factories in Vietnam's northern Thai Nguyen and Bac Ninh provinces could rise to 34.7 billion U.S. dollars this year, making up about one fifth of Vietnam's total exports, Nguyen Mai, president of Vietnam's Association of Foreign Invested Enterprises told Tuoi Tre (Youth) online newspaper on Thursday.
SYDNEY, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) -- Apple has not found any evidence of its former employees misappropriating customers' data after a photo-sharing scandal was exposed at its Australian Brisbane store on Thursday.

An Apple spokesperson had confirmed the matter to Xinhua through a short statement, though refusing to comment on the number of staff that were sacked due to the incident.

"Apple believes in treating everyone equally and with respect, and we do not tolerate behavior that goes against our values," the spokesperson said.

"We are investigating a violation of Apple's business conduct policy at our store in Carindale, where several employees have already been terminated as a result of our findings."

"Based on our investigation thus far, we have seen no evidence that customer data or photos were inappropriately transferred or that anyone was photographed by these former employees."

"We have met with our store team to let them know about the investigation and inform them about the steps Apple is taking to protect their privacy."

It was earlier reported that staff at the Brisbane's Apple store have been fired after they were caught stealing and rating customers' pictures as part of a photo-sharing scandal.

News Corp reported on Thursday that dozens of photos were taken of female staff and customers while others were lifted from some Apple customers' phones, it has emerged.

The issue came to light after a staff member at the Carindale store noticed a technician looking through a customer's phone in the repair room.

One Apple staff member told News Corp that they were concerned that the "disgusting" practice was occurring at other stores.

As part of the scandal, it was reported that photos of both customers and staff were taken without their knowledge and their bodies were ranked from one to 10.
By Zhang Xiaojun, Matt Burgess

SYDNEY, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) -- It is early May and 48-year-old Chinese doctor Zhang Jinsong can barely walk, leaning against the stair railing of his Papua New Guinean apartment. He is battling a high fever, body aches and swollen eyes.

But those ills are not stopping him from treating the local patients.

"We will risk our lives to help them," Zhang said.

Zhang is the leader of the latest two-year rotation of China's medical team providing assistance to Papua New Guinea's (PNG's) health system forged under a bilateral agreement signed in 2002. The move marked the first time China had sent a medical team of its kind to the Pacific, a sign of the strengthening ties between the two nations.

"One of our closest friends in the international community is the People's Republic of China," PNG Minister for National Events and APEC Justin Tkatchenko told an audience at the opening of the Chinese-built Port Moresby International Convention Center, marking 40 years of bilateral relations.

Infrastructure and building projects are a booming part of Chinese-PNG cooperation, but the development of the health sector continues to form the bedrock of the relationship.

PNG has one of the poorest and least equipped health systems in the world, with only one doctor per 17,068 people, making it highly susceptible to epidemics. Currently, PNG is battling HIV/AIDS, multi-drug resistant tuberculosis, typhoid, malaria and dengue, among other public health threats.

Early in the morning, the Port Moresby General Hospital (POM Gen) deploys its specially equipped wire-meshed van to pick up the Chinese medical team assisting local doctors, only to return in the evening for further duties, such as treating Chinese citizens in the community who are ill.

"I treat about 20 inpatients every month, and receive 60 outpatients every week (at POM Gen)," Zhang said.

However, across the spectrum, the workload for international medical practitioners is bound to increase in a nation ravaged by disease.

China and PNG recently expanded their medical cooperation to implement a new program to combat malaria in remote provinces, while searching for other international partners to bring more doctors with specific expertise into the country.

"Disease and illness do not observe borders, and we in Papua New Guinea must have an open policy to bring in expertise and skills where we can find them around the world," PNG Prime Minister Peter O'Neill said in a statement.

The new program drawing on China's expertise in combating malaria in Africa and parts of Asia seeks to reduce incidence rates by 95 percent in the rural and urban target areas.

Malaria is one of the most common diseases affecting the majority of PNG's rural and urban poor, significantly impacting the development of the Pacific leader by placing an undue burden on its fledgling healthcare system.

"The reality is that we can fight malaria and reduce the cost to our society," Tkatchenko said.

"No one should die from malaria, and the disease can be overcome through both prevention and treatment."

But treating mosquito-borne diseases does not come without risk.

Despite taking major precautions, Zhang and six other members of his 10-person team were still infected with dengue fever, an acute mosquito-transmitted condition described as one of the world's most serious health hazards. The disease is inseparable from their work.

"In the courtyard, we used dichlorvos insecticide to kill mosquitoes; in the room, we use electric mosquito coils and mosquito repellant," Zhang said. "But the prevention and treatment of such diseases require large-scale, anti-mosquito operations by the government. Otherwise, no place will be spared from the health threat."

Safety is another concern for the team. PNG, namely, its capital Port Moresby, consistently ranks high on the world's lists of dangerous places to live in, especially at night.

"For safety reasons, we basically stay within barbed-wire enclosures equipped with a security post during our days off," Zhang said.

When asked if he would attend to an emergency at night, Zhang said he would definitely perform his duty.

"It's tough if there is a life-threatening situation, (but) we must go," Zhang said.

"We are here on a mission assigned by our country and we must complete it."
GUANGZHOU, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese court on Thursday sentenced Tan Li, former vice governor of Hainan Province, to life imprisonment for taking bribes.

Tan was also deprived of his political rights for life and all his personal assets shall be confiscated, according to a statement from the Guangzhou City Intermediate People's Court.

The ill-gotten gains were turned over to the state, the court ruling said.

The court found that between 2001 and 2014, Tan took advantage of his various posts in Sichuan and Hainan provinces to seek benefits for others in respects of enterprise development, project construction and arbitration award implementation.

In return, he accepted money or gifts amounting 86.25 million yuan (around 12.8 million U.S. dollars) personally or through some "affiliated persons", the court said.

The court convicted Tan of crime of taking bribes. However, it added that the sentence of Tan has taken into account of the facts that Tan has "truthfully confessed" to his crimes, including many acts yet to be discovered by the investigators at the time, and that he showed repentance and was cooperative in surrendering his illegal gains.
PHNOM PENH, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived here Thursday for a state visit to Cambodia aimed at further solidifying the traditional friendship between the two countries and deepen their comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership.
Huang Songping, spokesperson with the General Administration of Customs (GAC) speaks at a press conference on China's import and export information of the first three quarters of the year 2016 held by the State Council Information Office (SCIO) in Beijing, on Oct.13, 2016. (Xinhua Photo)

BEIJING, Oct.13 (Xinhua)-- The depreciation of the Chinese yuan has limited impact on boosting China's trade, a senior customs official said Thursday.

Chinese yuan depreciation might benefit domestic exporters, but would also raise the import costs of production materials as processing trade still remained a major part of of China's trade pattern, said Huang Songping, spokesperson with the General Administration of Customs (GAC) at a press conference.

An economy's currency fluctuations could have a mixed impact on trade growth due to cross-border cooperation along the global industrial value chain, undermining the boosting effects for exports, Huang added.

China's exports in yuan-denominated terms fell 5.6 percent year on year in September, while imports increased 2.2 percent, customs data showed Thursday.

The Chinese yuan continued a weakening streak against the U.S.dollar after the renminbi was officially included in the SDR currency basket on Oct.1.

The entry would allow exporters to use the renminbi as a pricing currency during trade and cross-border investment and help reduce foreign exchange rate fluctuation risk and exchange costs, Huang said.

Related:

News Analysis: Yuan enters new float range with slim chance of sharp depreciation

BEIJING, Oct. 11 (Xinhua) -- The central parity rate of the Chinese yuan continued to weaken Tuesday after hitting a six-year low against the U.S. dollar Monday. Analysts say this indicates the yuan's exchange rate has entered a new float range and the currency will stay basically stable against other currencies.

The central parity rate of the renminbi, or the yuan, weakened 90 basis points to 6.7098 against the U.S. dollar Tuesday, according to the China Foreign Exchange Trading System. Full story

China's September exports down 5.6 pct, imports up 2.2 pct

BEIJING, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) -- China's exports in yuan-denominated terms fell 5.6 percent year on year in September, while imports increased 2.2 percent, customs data showed Thursday.
CARACAS, Oct. 12 (Xinhua) -- Both government supporters and opponents staged new protests in Venezuela on Wednesday, two weeks before the official collection of signatures with which the opposition seeks to activate a presidential recall referendum.

The opposition coalition Democratic Unity Roundtable (MUD), which insists that Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro step down through constitutional means, called upon crowds to gather at the 1,356 geographical points stipulated by the electoral authorities to collect signatures from 20 percent of the electorate (3,893,127 people) in order to trigger a referendum.

At the gatherings, the opposition developed a timetable that consisted of the swearing-in of volunteers that will participate in the signature-collecting on Oct. 26, 27 and 28.

Moreover, opposition leaders will travel across the South American country from Thursday on to raise awareness of the event, said President of the National Assembly Henry Ramos Allup.

Supporters of Maduro's socialist government, who insist that it is impossible for the referendum to be held in 2016, also took to the streets in the center of the capital Caracas, while the South American country was celebrating the Day of Indigenous Resistance, which commemorates the indigenous struggle against European invasion and colonization.

During his speech, Maduro, who proposed activating a "decolonization plan," reiterated that the opposition is implementing destabilizing plans, forcing his administration "to strengthen the Bolivarian government and the military and political high command."

Maduro called upon the public "to define the battlefields of the 21st century, saying: "It is not time for betrayals."

"There isn't anything that they (the opposition) wouldn't try against our country because Venezuela is a jewel in the crown of North American (United States) imperialism in South America," said the Venezuelan president.

Maduro also said that despite all the economic and social difficulties the Caribbean country is currently experiencing, his management team is still working to recover and develop the productive sectors alongside the Venezuelans.

According to information released by the electoral authorities a few days ago, the results of the signature collection will be announced between Nov. 28 and 29, along with a decision on whether the referendum will be held.
PHNOM PENH, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived here Thursday for a state visit to Cambodia aimed at further solidifying the traditional friendship between the two countries and deepen their comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership.

This is Xi's first trip to the Southeast Asian nation as president. In 2009, he paid an official visit to the kingdom as vice president.

Xi is scheduled to meet Cambodian King Norodom Sihamoni, visit Queen Mother Norodom Monineath Sihanouk and hold talks with Prime Minister Hun Sen.

The two countries will reach a series of cooperation deals during Xi's visit to align their development strategies and boost their practical cooperation.

China and Cambodia have enjoyed a traditional friendship that was forged and cultivated by Chinese leaders of the older generation and late Cambodian King Father Norodom Sihanouk.

In June this year, Xi and Sihamoni met in Beijing when the king paid a state visit to China, and pledged to press ahead with the bilateral comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership, which was established six years ago.

On the economic front, China is now Cambodia's largest trading partner and source of foreign investment, with bilateral collaboration expanding in such areas as trade, investment, connectivity, energy resources and infrastructure construction.

Two-way trade between China and Cambodia reached 4.43 billion U.S. dollars in 2015, indicating an annual growth of 17.95 percent, according to China's Commerce Ministry.

In a joint interview with Chinese media outlets in Cambodia ahead of the visit, Hun Sen said that Xi's trip will make the traditional friendship between the two countries closer and stronger and lift bilateral relations to a higher level.

After Cambodia, Xi will travel to Bangladesh and the western Indian state of Goa, where he will attend a summit of the emerging-market bloc of BRICS, which groups Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.
Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina (R) receives an interview with Xinhua in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Oct. 11, 2016. (Xinhua/Lin Hao)

by Liu Chuntao, Naim-Ul-Karim

DHAKA, Oct. 12 (Xinhua) -- Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has expressed confidence that the visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping would usher in "a new era of intensive cooperation" in trade, investment and other sectors between the two nations.

Hasina made the comments Tuesday ahead of President Xi's visit to the country. "We are very happy and feel honored that President Xi is coming to Bangladesh. I believe that President Xi's visit will also be more important for South Asia," she told Xinhua at her official Ganobhaban residence in the capital Dhaka.

Speaking highly of the Bangladesh-China ties, the prime minister pointed out that the relations between the two nations are underpinned by "the Five Principles of Peaceful Co-existance, Spirit of Good Neighborliness, Mutual Trust, Confidence and Non- Interference into each other's internal affairs."

Hasina reaffirmed that Bangladesh strongly adheres to one-China policy and supports China on issues related to its core national interests and efforts to safeguard its national sovereignty and territorial integrity.

The Chinese president's visit comes at a time in history whenBangladesh is about to break free from the clutches of low-level equilibrium trap and move into a brand-new frontier of investment, industrialization, ecological restoration and prosperity for all, according to Hasina.

"China has become our largest trading partner and we consider China as a trusted partner in realizing our dreams too. China is the leading generator of many our mega-projects in terms of finance, capitalization and technology," she said.

Noting that Bangladesh-China relations are now framed within a comprehensive partnership of cooperation that reaches into almost all possible sectors, she said, "We are planning to elevate the relationship to a newer height with the much-awaited visit of President Xi Jinping."

Hasina said cooperation between Bangladesh and China has gained maturity in past decades, but there are huge potentials for future expansion of the two countries' engagement in fields such as development of infrastructure and for that matter, investing in emerging sectors like ICT, ago-prosessing and electronics.

Hailing China-proposed Belt and Road initiative, the prime minister said her country is now working to connect growth centers of the country with the rest of the region in South Asia and create a single economic contiguity between South Asia and Southeast Asia.

And this "would be host to greater integration with East Asia and connect the three ecosystems to the rest of the world through our seaports in the south," she added.

The prime minister expressed her appreciation for China's support to Bangladesh's efforts in attaining sustainable development while welcoming Chinese companies investing in the country's emerging sectors like textiles, leather, petrochemicals, pharmaceuticals, shipbuilding and agro-processing, among others.

"We are on the verge of launching the exclusive Economic and Industrial Zone in Chittagong that would be a landmark event in our economic, investment and trade cooperation. We would like to encourage Chinese investors to invest in these economic zones as a developer or as an individual investor," she said.
JAKARTA, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) -- The Indonesian government has planned to issue a Peperpu (regulation in lieu of law) on underage marriages in a bid to reduce sexual offense cases against women and children, a minister said here on Wednesday.

Women Empowerment and Children Protection Minister Yohana Yembise said that the process to draft the amendment on Indonesia's 1974 marriage law that allows 16-year-old girls to wed, was underway at present. The minister said that rate of underage marriages was high in several parts of the country.

"The issuance of the Peperpu was urgent to support our efforts in preventing underage marriages and to protect young girls from violence," the minister said.

Citing an example, the minister said that results of a research conducted by British group Coram Children's Legal Centre (CCLC) in Indonesia's West Java city of Bogor showed that in 2015, 38 percent of women there were married before they turned 18.

Another data jointly issued by Indonesia's Central Statistics agency (BPS) and the UNESCO in 2015 showed that 23 percent of Indonesian girls under 18 years old have already married. The average number of underage marriage couples stood at 340,000 per year.

The minister added that planned issuance of the Peperpu was related to the recently-enacted law on castration and death penalty against child sex crime convicts.

According to the minister, underage marriage pose higher risk for the females as it may lead to damage on their reproduction organs, domestic violence, low education and psychological issue.

Indonesia ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of Child (CRC) that requires countries to abolish marriages of youngsters before 18 years old under health concerns.
DHAKA, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) -- Some 40 km southwest of the Bangladeshi capital of Dhaka, several cranes colored in bright red are operating on a vast river stretching to the horizon under the scorching sun.

In two years, a multipurpose road-rail bridge which local residents dub as "a dream come true" will span over the Padma River to link the northeast and southwest of Bangladesh. The 6.15-km-long complex, undertaken by a Chinese company, is the largest and most challenging infrastructure project in the country's history.

Cargo ships and ferries carrying Bangladeshi workers wearing green and blue helmets are crisscrossing the worksite, where several bridge pillars are standing in the vast water.

Ferries are the most common means of transportation in Bangladesh, which is slightly smaller than the U.S. state of Iowa but is home to 250 rivers. The low-lying South Asian country with underperforming infrastructure has an appalling record of ferry accidents, with casualties sometimes running into the hundreds.

The inland waterways, making transportation of both people and goods costly and time-consuming, have become a barrier to economic development of Bangladesh, which is listed by the United Nations as one of the least developed countries but has been striving to become a country of middle income.

That is why the Padma Bridge is as fabulous as a dream for the Bangladeshis, Ran Xiaolin, deputy project manager of the China Major Bridge Engineering Company, told Xinhua on Wednesday.

Ran's company began building the bridge at the end of 2015, several months after it won the contract. In testimony to its significance, Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina attended the launching ceremony.

The 3-billion-U.S.-dollar bridge, co-funded by Dhaka and Beijing, will shorten the travel time between the capital and the southern city of Khulna from the current 13 hours to only three hours and a half, Ran said.

"Transportation between the capital and the 21 districts in southern Bangladesh by ferry will become history," said Ran, a veteran engineer who is now over 50 years old and moved his whole family to Bangladesh 16 years ago.

The bridge is expected to promote trade and economy of Bangladesh, which, according to a World Bank report, has the potential to end extreme poverty by 2030.

"The project has already helped create jobs by employing thousands of Bangladeshis," Ran said.

Moreover, the project, as part of the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative and the Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar Economic Corridor, is expected to have a lasting impact beyond the country by increasing trade, tourism and investment.

Bangladesh is strategically located between China, India and Southeast Asia, making it well placed to become a trading and manufacturing hub, experts say. The Padma Bridge epitomizes China-Bangladesh infrastructure cooperation at both bilateral and multilateral levels.

China-Bangladesh cooperation is anticipated to be lifted to a higher level as Chinese President Xi Jinping travels to the South Asian country on Friday for a state visit, the first of its kind in 30 years.

Many local newspapers devoted their front pages to covering the event. The Dhaka Tribune, calling the visit a "milestone," said the Belt and Road Initiative helps boost trade and increase revenues, and urged Dhaka to make use of its geographical advantage to benefit from it.

Ran expects Xi's visit to give birth to more cooperation deals. "I'll have more bridges to build and I will probably work in Bangladesh until the day I retire," he said.
SYDNEY, Sept. 13 (Xinhua) -- Promoting 2017 being the year of China-Australia tourism began in earnest on Thursday after Shanghai's tourism body arrived in Sydney.

Australia has consistently been on Shanghai's top 10 destinations for visitors in recent years, and now 1 million Chinese tourists visit the land each year. However, Australian visitors to China still lag.

Kicking off in Sydney's World Square, the Shanghai Municipal Tourism Administration unveiled their "Our Shanghai" promotional video and new policies to encourage two-way tourism. Australians will be eligible for a 144-hour visa free entry for transit passengers and new tax refund policies.

"The tourism campaign in Australia is dedicated to levelling up tourism cooperation between Shanghai and Australia, and to promoting Shanghai to potential tourists in Australia," the delegation said in a statement to Xinhua on Thursday.

"This unprecedented promotional video provides better experience and sense of immersion, and therefore drives inspiration and urgency to visit Shanghai."

The promotional tour will end with a "Night for Shanghai" gala dinner at the New South Wales parliament house on Saturday, where guests will be introduced to Shanghai from an outsider's angle to arouse the cultural and emotional resonance.
RIYADH/CAIRO, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) -- An Egyptian delegation will arrive within the next hours here in Riyadh for discussions with Saudi officials on a "common stance" on Syria, local newspaper Okaz reported on Thursday.

The visit comes amid reports of tension between the two countries following Egypt's support of a Russia-sponsored draft resolution at the United Nations Security Council on Syria, a move the Saudi ambassador described as "painful."

Egypt also voted for another draft resolution on Syria, sponsored by France and Spain. Both resolutions failed to get approved at the UN Security Council.

Egypt's UN ambassador, Amr Aboul-Ata, said Cairo voted for both draft resolutions because it "supports all efforts seeking to halt the tragedy of the Syrian people."

"It voted for both resolutions based on their contents, not on political bids that have already become a barrier to the work of the council" Aboul-Ata said.
SANAA, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) -- Yemen's dominant Shiite Houthi rebels on Thursday denied targeting a U.S. warship off the Yemeni coasts from territories they control, Houthi-controlled state Saba news agency reported.

"These allegations were baseless and the army as well popular forces have nothing to do with targeting the U.S. ship," the Houthis said in a statement carried by the agency.

"The U.S. allegations just came in the context of creating false justifications to pave the way for the Saudi-led coalition to escalate their aggression attacks (against Houthis) and to cover crimes committed by the aggression coalition against the Yemeni people and the all-out blockade," the statement said.

The Houthis said that their army and popular forces are "in full readiness to confront any further aggression" under whatever justification.

The Houthi denial followed an announcement on Wednesday by the U.S. Department of Defense that the U.S. military struck three radar sites in Houthi-controlled territory on Yemen's Red Sea coast.

A Pentagon statement described the air raid as "limited self-defense strikes," saying the radars sites targetted were "involved in the recent missile launches threatening USS Mason and other vessels operating in international waters in the Red Sea and the Bab al-Mandeb."
By Shen Xiaobo & Wang Jiaquan

BEIJING, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) -- Beijingers boast that under each brick of the ancient capital's hutongs hides a story. They are not exaggerating.

In an ordinary house in a cramped hutong, or narrow alley, to the south of Tian'anmen Square, Wang Jinghu is penning a story about his great-grandfather Wang Fengqing, an eminent Peking Opera master.

Wang Jinghu, 62, a retired mechanical engineer, has no real connection to the performing art, but pride pervades his words when he talks about the achievements of his ancestors, such as an Imperial Yellow Jacket gifted to his great-grandfather by Empress Dowager Cixi of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911).

The Imperial Yellow Jacket, or "huangmagua," was the highest honor a Qing emperor or empress could extend to officials or ordinary people.

Today, few people might know of what happened in the courtyard about a century ago, but Wang says the stories not only belong to his family but also to history of Peking Opera, which is considered as the quintessence of Chinese culture.

Wang's great-grandfather Wang Fengqing made his name as "laosheng," the role of an old man. His unique sonorous tenor won him fame. He was often invited to perform in the Forbidden City for the royal family with his elder brother Wang Yaoqing, who played the "huadan," or young female role.

These two masters taught their pupils in the very courtyard where Wang now lives, including Mei Lanfang (1894-1961), one of the most famous Peking Opera artists in modern Chinese theater.

Wang Jinghu is writing for a biography project which collects stories related to Shitou Community, part of Dashilar, one of the last few historical streets with a complete layout of hutongs, just south of the Forbidden City.

So far, two collections of "Stories of Hutong" have been printed, 500 runs of each. Wang's writing is for the third episode.

BIOGRAPHY FOR THE ORDINARY

The biography project was initiated in the summer of 2015 as part of efforts for community revitalization, according to Li Xiaohui, Communist Party secretary of the neighborhood's residents' committee.

The idea occurred to Li during a community revitalization training program that year.

"I was impressed by the teacher's idea of a community cultural map. I was struck by how it was perfect for my community, as Dashilar is a place full of stories, but only a handful of people know about its history," Li says.

Li organized more than 10 meetings, to collect the memories of the community's elderly residents.

But who could write the stories? That was the problem, says Li. As most of the 3,000 residents have little more than a junior middle school education, so it was hard to find writers.

Some college students participated in this project but many left before it was complete. So, members of the residents' committee took up the baton. They attended oral history lessons and learned the ropes of interview and writing.

Most of the stories in the first two collections are about ordinary residents, including a craftsman and a retired school teacher.

Wang Jinghu volunteered to be the writer when he found out that his great grandfather, who died in 1959 when Wang was only five years old, would be included.

Wang has handwritten more than 20 pages. The mechanical engineer is not unfamiliar with pens and ink, but "unlike engineering drawings, writing is not an easy job," he says. "The pen didn't seem to be a good match for me in the beginning, but everyday I am getting better."

The job became even harder when Wang was faced with the lack of documents. He has used all that have been preserved in his home, but that is not enough to support the story.

So he has to find other alternatives, such as writings about or by other Peking Opera performers who were apprentices of his ancestors or kept close relations with them, just in search for any mention of his family.

Another source, however, is intangible and only exists in Wang's memory, where the man would find himself sitting on the chair in that courtyard, listening to the stories about his ancestors by the elders in the family.

TANGIBLE THREAT

Hutong communities began to take shape in Beijing in the 13th century. Statistics in 1949 showed that about 1,300 alleys in the capital were called hutong, but habitually, hutong may also refer to other alleys that unnecessarily bear the name, such as "xiang" (lane) and "jie" (street). As an old adage says, there are as many unnamed hutongs in Beijing as there are hairs on a bull.

The centuries old architectural legacies faced threat of disappearance when urban development of the ancient capital accelerated amid the roar of bulldozers in the 1990s. Fortunately, the Beijing municipal government decided to leave the last hutongs in situ, thanks to calls for protection efforts.

However, the problems facing hutong preservation today are less about demolition than intangible heritage protection, which has become more imminent since hutongs were saved.

Non-material culture of hutong is fading with the encroachment of modern civilization and the flux of young people, who have moved to other places to find more convenient living conditions, such as central heating and private toilet.

"Indeed the physical complex has remained, but hutongs are much more than buildings," says Li Xiaohui. "People and their lives are an integral part of hutong lives and history. That's why we want to record their stories."

REVITALIZATION

The biography project is supported by Wutong Community College, a non-profit organization focusing on community revitalization, which offers 5,000 yuan (about 700 U.S. dollars) for the first episode of the stories.

The group "wants to highlight the value of ordinary hutong residents in passing on Beijing's traditions and culture," says Li Jie, director and founder of Wutong.

"Their life stories, though perhaps uneventful, are reflections of the great changes ordinary Beijing residents have witnessed, and, thus, should not be ignored," the director says.

"For the future generations of hutong residents, I think they should first know where they are from, then they can be aware of where they are going," she says.

Xu Hua, a voluntary academic director of the biography project, says that it is very important to explore the stories behind hutongs, where both celebrities and common people once mixed, as "residents there are the epitome of Beijing's culture and traditions."

Xu sees the biography project as a very small step towards a more ambitious program -- the oral history of hutong communities.

Xu believes an oral history program may help cultivate a sense of community among residents. "We may begin with personal or family history by helping people record their own stories and trace their family trees."

Li Xiaohui, the community secretary, also wants to do more. She says that stories about hutongs, once the blood vessels of Beijing, are a valuable resource for the studies of Beijing's history and culture.

She hopes one day the stories of her neighborhood can be put onto stage for visitors to Dashilar.

"When visitors can sit down in our hutong and listen to or watch our stories, they can take a piece of Beijing away with them."
DHAKA, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) -- Bangladesh capital Dhaka is now almost ready to welcome Chinese President Xi Jinping, who is to kick off the first visit by a Chinese head of state to Bangladesh in 30 years.

The president is scheduled to arrive in Dhaka on Friday morning for a two-day visit, amid high hopes for a robust thrust towards taking the bilateral relations to a new height and exploring the full potential of economic and trade ties between the two countries.

Dhaka is all set to roll out a red carpet welcome to Xi on his visit, which will focus on connectivity and mega infrastructure development projects, along with signing of a number of instruments and bilateral deals.

Dhaka has already been decorated in honour of the visiting dignitary, with banners and placards welcoming the Chinese leader.

Posters with pictures of President Xi Jinping and his Bangladeshi counterpart Md Abdul Hamid, and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina are currently adorning all the major streets and junctions across the city.

Dhaka is also having a festive look with streets adorned with decorative lights and life-size cut-outs of President Xi Jinping, President Md. Abdul Hamid and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

Posters and banners have been planted on the side of the road, inscribed with wishes to boost bilateral ties between the countries.

"Heartiest welcome to his excellency Mr. Xi Jinping President of China," reads one poster.

Thousands of such posters also inscribed with "Long Live Bangladesh-China Friendship" have been put up along the around 14-km stretch from the Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport to the main city, along with Xi's.

Various localities of Dhaka have also been decorated to welcome Xi. Security across the city has been tightened as gun-totting personnel seen in all the prominent areas.

Hundreds of welcome arches with cut-outs of Mr. Xi, Hamid and Hasina added to the festival-like atmosphere.

"We are longing for an eternal Bangladesh-China Friendship," one arch read.

Another was dedicated to "You are cordially welcome to Bangladesh".

Another arch said, " Long live his excellency Mr. Xi Jinping, President of China".
ANKARA, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) -- One Turkish soldier was killed and four others soldiers and a village guard were injured Thursday in a roadside bombing in the southeastern province of Sirnak on Thursday, Dogan News Agency reported.

The blast, blamed on Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK) militants, occurred when a military vehicle was travelling through the Beytussebap district of Sirnak.

Over 600 members of Turkish security forces and thousands of PKK members have been killed in confrontations inside Turkey and in northern Iraq since July 2015.

More than 40,000 people have lost their lives in clashes with the PKK since 1984, when the group first started anti-government attacks.

The PKK is listed as a terrorist organization by the United States, the European Union and Turkey.
RIYADH/CAIRO, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) -- An Egyptian delegation will arrive within the next hours here in Riyadh for discussions with Saudi officials on a "common stance" on Syria, local newspaper Okaz reported on Thursday.

The visit comes amid reports of tension between the two countries following Egypt's support of a Russia-sponsored draft resolution at the United Nations Security Council on Syria, a move the Saudi ambassador described as "painful."

Egypt also voted for another draft resolution on Syria, sponsored by France and Spain. Both resolutions failed to get approved at the UN Security Council.

Egypt's UN ambassador, Amr Aboul-Ata, said Cairo voted for both draft resolutions because it "supports all efforts seeking to halt the tragedy of the Syrian people."

"It voted for both resolutions based on their contents, not on political bids that have already become a barrier to the work of the council" Aboul-Ata said.

Okaz, the Saudi newspaper, said that Saudi Ambassador to Cairo Ahmed Al Qattan has returned to Riyadh, ahead of the visit of the Egyptian delegation, wich includes government officials and parliamentarians.
Nigerian Returnees from Cameroon gather outside a transit camp in Adamawa State, northeastern Nigeria, Aug. 9, 2015. (Xinhua)

LAGOS, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) -- All Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camps in restive northeast Nigeria's Borno State will be shut in 2017, the governor said Wednesday.

The IDPs camps were fraught with lots of challenges, Kashim Shettima, said at a plenary on Mitigating the Impact of Crisis and Conflict at the 22nd Nigerian Economic Summit in Abuja.

"My target is May 29, 2017; I want to close down all the camps in Maiduguri in order to restore the dignity of our people," he said.

"We will not stampede or intimidate people to go back to terrains not well secured. The local government headquarters would put up security architecture that would secure those places," he added.

"The IDPs we have right now in Maiduguri, Biu and other places are full of challenges, issues of early child marriages, child prostitution, drug abuse and gangsterism," Shettima told his audience.

The governor reiterated the state government's determination to turn the crisis to opportunities to build a better state.
HANGZHOU, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) -- Apple CEO Tim Cook has praised the champions of a Chinese university app contest, calling their designs "impressive and innovative."

Through his Twitter-like Sina Weibo account, Cook said on Wednesday that "entrants submitted many impressive, innovative ideas" at the contest, organized by Apple and Tsinghua University.

The China Collegiate Computing Contest received 361 app designs and projects submitted by students from 161 universities and colleges over a period of six months.

Cook congratulated the Zhejiang University team for their app Tipix, which won the top prize in the university app category.

Tipix is a photo-editing app. Users can choose brush or move their fingers on smart phones to turn their photo into artwork and share it on social media.

The app was invented by five students from Zhejiang University in 2013. Team leader Zhang Lekai, a PHD of digital art, said he hoped the app would help inspire creativity.

Cook watched the live demonstration of the four finalists on Wednesday. The outstanding winner -- the Tipix app -- will now take part in Apple's annual Worldwide Developers Conference next year.
HANGZHOU, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) -- The National Astronomical Observation (NAO) on Thursday announced a partnership with Alibaba Group on astronomy research using big data.

The partnership, involving Alibaba's cloud computing unit Aliyun will result in the establishment of a big data research center, featuring an open online database of astronomical information that enables users to explore the cosmos via a virtual space observatory.

The center will also be able to support scientific research with cloud computing.

Yan Jun, head of NAO, said astronomy was one of the first disciplines to utilize data science. Big data opens up new opportunities for astronomical research but also features some challenges, in terms of data collection, transportation, storage, processing, analysis, and sharing, he said.

The volume of data collected through astronomical observation is expected to balloon to 250 trillion bytes a year. The NAO's partnership with Aliyun, whose strength lies in AI and big-scale computing, is expected to help upgrade China's capability in basic research regarding astronomy.

In a pilot project for the virtual space observatory, scientists will be able to upload and share data collected by the large sky area multi-object fibre spectroscopic telescope (LAMOST), also known as Guo Shoujing Telescope. LAMOST, a leading optical telescope project, went into operation in 2008 to collect high quality spectra, an important collection of data that helps astronomers concerned with celestial bodies' chemical composition, density, atmosphere and magnetism.
BANGKOK, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) -- Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn and all of his princess sisters rushed to visit a critically-ailing King Bhumibol Adulyadej at Siriraj hospital in the Thai capital on Thursday.

Alongside the crown prince who visited the ill monarch at the hospital where he has been admitted for several years, were the king's daughters, namely Princess Chakri Sirindhorn, Princess Chulabhorn and former Princess Ubolratana, as well as his first grandchild Princess Bajrakitiyabha.

The crown prince, Princess Chakri Sirindhorn and some other members of the royal family also visited the hospital yesterday.

Their visit to the 88-year-old monarch on the same day was apparently a rare event in the wake of statements recently issued by the Bureau of the Royal Household about the king remaining in critical condition.

People went to the hospital on the bank of Chao Phraya River to make well-wishing for the monarch with some staying on the ground floor of a hospital building and in nearby areas.

The king had acidotic blood, low blood pressure and quick pulse due to irregular blood flows through the heart, prompting doctors to give medicine to expand the blood vessels in the lungs.

He had undergone a long-term hemofiltration with continuous renal replacement therapy, had his spine fluid released and been given a ventilator to help with his breathing, according to the statement of the Bureau of the Royal Household.

He was diagnosed on Wednesday to have a malfunctioning liver and infection and remained under intensive care of the doctors with his pulse and blood pressure at controllable level, according to the bureau's statement.
Chinese President Xi Jinping is greeted by senior Cambodian government officials and members of the royal family upon his arrival at the airport in Phnom Penh, Capital of Cambodia for a state visit, Oct. 13, 2016. This is Xi's first trip to the Southeast Asian nation as president. (Xinhua/Xie Huanchi)

PHNOM PENH, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived here Thursday for a state visit to Cambodia aimed at further solidifying the traditional friendship between the two countries and deepening their comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership.

This is Xi's first trip to the Southeast Asian nation as president. In 2009, he paid an official visit to the kingdom as vice president.

The red carpet was rolled out at the airport in the capital Phnom Penh for Xi, who was greeted by senior Cambodian government officials and members of the royal family. Smiling Cambodian children presented the Chinese president with a jasmine bracelet, and local residents, holding portraits of Chinese and Cambodian leaders, waved national flags of the two countries.

In a written speech delivered at the airport, Xi hailed China and Cambodia as "good neighbors and true friends who treat each other with all sincerity."

The friendship has stood the test of international vicissitudes and grown even stronger since the two countries established diplomatic ties 58 years ago, Xi said.

"I believe that with the joint efforts of both sides, my visit will achieve the expected results, thus pushing our comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership to a higher level and bringing greater benefits to our two peoples," he said.

The president also received a flower basket from Cambodian King Norodom Sihamoni and Queen Mother Norodom Monineath Sihanouk upon arrival at the hotel, which was delivered by Royal Palace Minister Kong Sam Ol.

Xi is scheduled to meet Cambodian King Norodom Sihamoni, visit Queen Mother Norodom Monineath Sihanouk and hold talks with Prime Minister Hun Sen.

The two countries will sign a series of bilateral deals during Xi's visit to align their development strategies and boost practical cooperation.

China and Cambodia have enjoyed a traditional friendship that was forged and cultivated by Chinese leaders of previous generations and late Cambodian King Father Norodom Sihanouk.

In June this year, Xi and Sihamoni met in Beijing when the king paid a state visit to China, and pledged to forge ahead with the comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership, which was established six years ago between the two countries.

On the economic front, China is now Cambodia's largest trading partner and source of foreign investment, with bilateral collaboration expanding in such areas as trade, investment, connectivity, energy resources and infrastructure construction.

Two-way trade between China and Cambodia reached 4.43 billion U.S. dollars in 2015, an annual growth of 17.95 percent, according to China's Commerce Ministry.

In a joint interview with Chinese media outlets in Cambodia ahead of the visit, Hun Sen said that Xi's trip will make the traditional friendship between the two countries closer and stronger and lift bilateral relations to new heights.

After Cambodia, Xi will travel to Bangladesh and the western Indian state of Goa, where he will attend a summit of the emerging-market bloc of BRICS, which groups Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.
The 8th BRICS Summit will be held in Goa, India on Oct. 15-16, 2016. (Web Photo)

MOSCOW, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) -- The BRICS bloc has accomplished plenty since its inception and will continue to be a force in global affairs, Russian President Vladimir Putin has said.

In a recent joint interview with the Sputnik and the IANS news agencies in Moscow, Putin made the remarks ahead of the upcoming 8th summit of the bloc, which groups the world's five leading emerging economies -- Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.

"The establishment of the New Development Bank (NDB) and the BRICS Contingent Reserve Arrangement with a total capital of 200 billion U.S. dollars is a concrete example of our cooperation," the Russian president said. "Since starting its work in 2016, the NDB has approved its first series of projects in all five countries."

Speaking of the BRICS summit scheduled for the weekend in Goa, India, Putin expects the five nations to come up with new ways of expanding their cooperation, including a focus on international security and stability.

The BRICS nations may use the summit to discuss a number of global challenges including terrorism, drug trafficking and corruption, as well as settling conflicts and ensuring global information security, he added.

The Russian leader also emphasized the need to strengthen cooperation in e-commerce, including activating a web portal service for BRICS' small and medium-sized businesses.

Putin added that the The BRICS members also actively coordinate within the Group of 20(G20), including under China's current presidency. The Russian leader said such cooperation illustrates the group's firm commitment to international law and promoting the United Nations to play a core role in addressing global issues.

"With some Western countries attempting to promote their unilateral approaches, this position becomes even more important," he stressed.

Putin stressed the significance of integrating the establishment of the Russia-led Eurasian Economic Union with the China-proposed Silk Road Economic Belt to bolster growth at a time when the global economy is still reeling from the fallout of financial crisis from several years ago.

Different from countries that have been introducing protectionist measures and trying to engage in restricted non-transparent projects, such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership or the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, Putin said, this alignment could eventually provide a basis for the Big Eurasian Partnership that would involve a wide range of states of the Eurasian Economic Union, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
KIEV, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) -- The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has launched a project worth more than 20 million U.S. dollars to support small-scale farming in Ukraine, the Ukrainian Agriculture Ministry said on Wednesday.

"The new four-year technical assistance project -- the Agriculture and Rural Development Support, is aimed at supporting economic growth by increasing the competitiveness of agricultural producers," the ministry said in a statement.

The project will improve the competitiveness of Ukraine's small and medium-sized farms by supporting reforms in the agricultural sector, which are aimed at improving the business environment and attracting investment, the statement said.

As a part of the initiative, Ukrainian vegetable, fruit, milk and meat producers will receive technical assistance on international standards of quality and safety and entering export markets, it said.
SHENZHEN, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) -- BYD, China's leading new-energy vehicle manufacturer, unveiled its first light train Thursday, a low-cost overground metro system suitable for hundreds of medium and small cities.

The train system, "Yungui," which when translated means Cloud Rail, costs one-fifth of a regular metro line and cuts the construction time by two-thirds, according to BYD chairman Wang Chuanfu.

He said compared to metro lines in Beijing and Shanghai, Yungui has been tailor-made for smaller cities or the tourist and commercial zones of big cities where a full-developed metro system is not viable.

BYD is one of at least five Chinese companies capable of producing urban light trains, said Zhong Jianhua, deputy director of the experts committee for China Association of Metros. The other manufacturers include China Railway Engineering Corp. and CRRC Changchun Railway Vehicles Co. Ltd.

Zhong said the light train was essentially "made in China" as about 90 percent of the equipment was produced locally and is expected to become a new driver for growth of China's rail transport sector.

More than 20 Chinese cities have subscribed to building such light trains with a combined rail length of 3,000 kilometers, Zhong said, adding that demand would boost the country's rail transport sector.

He said the China-made light rail had been equally welcomed in the developing world, particularly in Southeast Asia. Exports may begin when the market is mature.
BEIJING, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) -- China's newly-initiated debt-for-equity swaps will substantially lower the debt levels of indebted companies, and no cap will be pre-set on the scale of the scheme, an official with China's top economic planner said Thursday.

The deleveraging effect of the program should be obvious, and model simulation results show that many companies' debt-to-asset ratios will decrease by about 10 to 20 percentage points, said Zhao Chenxin, a spokesman for the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC).

China's State Council on Monday released guidelines on the long-discussed debt-for-equity swaps, pledging that the scheme will be conducted in an orderly fashion as the country steps up efforts to tackle high corporate debt.

The program will help substantially ease companies' financial burdens, Zhao said at a press conference, adding that "the final outcome and effectiveness will hinge on negotiations between companies and creditors."

High corporate leverage in China has been a major threat to companies' profitability and to broader financial stability.

Debt-to-equity swaps are generally believed to benefit both banks and troubled companies. They can ease pressure on companies and beef up banks' balance sheets, releasing capital for investment.

This round of the debt-for-equity conversion program is "market-oriented," and there is no predetermined scale of the plan, Zhao stressed.
VIENTIANE, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Consul General in Laos' northern Luang Prabang Li Baoguang met with representatives of Chinese language schools on Wednesday to discuss further promotion of Chinese language education in northern Laos, the consulate official told Xinhua on Thursday.

At the meeting, Li spoke highly of the efforts made by the two schools, namely Liew Bei school in Laos' northern Oudomxay province and Liew kong school in Laos' northern Luang Namtha province, in promoting Chinese language education and thanked them for their work in enhancing mutual understanding and deepening friendship between the two countries.

During the 10 years of establishment, the two schools have trained a large number of students proficient in Chinese and Lao languages. The Consulate General will continue join hands with local communities to step up Chinese language education in northern Laos, said Li.

Representatives of the two schools, for their parts, said that under the support of the Lao government and local communities as well as the Chinese education sector, the two schools have been further developed.

In recent years, there has been an increasing demand in studying Chinese language in northern Laos, which is closely associated with the development of friendly relations between the two countries as well as the development of bilateral economic and trade cooperation, they said.

At the same time, education agencies and schools in China's Yunnan province have been maintaining close cooperation with the two Chinese language schools in Laos, creating strong impetus for the development of Chinese language in northern Laos.
BEIJING, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) -- China said Thursday that it will continue to support Colombia's peace process following the announcement that the government of Colombia and the country's second largest rebel group, known as ELN, will begin peace talks.

On Monday in Caracas, Venezuela, the Colombian government and the National Liberation Army (ELN) announced that they will begin formal negotiations on Oct. 27 in Quito, capital of Ecuador.

Calling the announcement a new step in the peace process, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang said China will continue to extend its firm support to the peace process.

China called on all concerned parties to support the realization of all-round peace, he said.

Geng added that China appreciated Venezuela and Ecuador's efforts.

The announcement came on the heels of a peace deal between the Colombian government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), the country's largest rebel group.

The peace deal obviously prompted the ELN to agree to negotiations with the government, although the peace deal with FARC was rejected by the FARC referendum on Oct. 2.

After the referendum results were revealed, the ELN said that despite the outcome, it called on all Colombians to continue to tirelessly fight for peace with change.
BEIJING, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) -- China is to create a fund to mobilize state-owned enterprises (SOEs) to help poverty-stricken areas develop industries, an official said Thursday.

The fund, with a initial funding of 10 billion yuan (1.48 billion U.S. dollars), will reach 100 billion yuan by 2020, said Huang Chengwei, vice director of the International Poverty Reduction Center in China, at a press conference.

Regulated by the state-owned assets watchdog, it is designed to operate by "market rules" and encourage major SOEs to join the fund, he told reporters.

The State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission will launch the fund on October 17, China's third poverty relief day, and release more details about its structure and operation, according to Huang.

Developing local industry is a major frontline in the battle against poverty, and China has supported poor regions' efforts to develop local specialty industries based on their resources, such as the photovoltaic industry, tourism and e-commerce.

To fight poverty, central and provincial governments have arranged a record 66.7 billion yuan and 40 billion yuan of special funds respectively, according to a statement from the press conference.

China has lifted more than 600 million people out of poverty in the past three decades, about 70 percent of the global poverty reduction figures.

China plans to lift all of its poor out of poverty by 2020.
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Oct. 12 (Xinhua) -- Haiti's capital Port-au-Prince, home to about one million residents, has resumed its bustling pace as the country strives to recover from the devastation of last week's Hurricane Matthew.

The category 4 hurricane claimed 473 lives, according to the latest official death toll, and left 150,000 people homeless, mainly in the southernmost part of the country.

Like the 2010 earthquake that leveled much of the capital, the hurricane has put a spotlight on Haiti's impoverished economy and fragile infrastructure.

Capital residents eke out a living selling what they can. Overpopulation and lack of potable water lead to the common sight of groups of people filling buckets or other containers with water from open-air basins, raising the risk of the spread of diseases such as cholera, which has already killed thousands in Haiti since an outbreak followed the quake.

Public transportation in Haiti has never been sufficient or efficient, so residents often cover lengthy distances on foot.

The number of people in the streets is clear evidence of the high rate of unemployment that affects Latin America's poorest country.

The expression on many faces reflects suffering, and the distracted look of those who have no work and are willing to accept errands or menial jobs for small compensation.

Haiti's gross domestic product is just barely more than 8.7 billion U.S. dollars, 25 to 30 percent of which is estimated to have been lost in Hurricane Matthew.
PHNOM PENH, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping's visit to Cambodia will strengthen the traditional friendship between the two countries and lift the Sino-Cambodian comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership to a higher level, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen said here Wednesday in a joint written interview with Chinese media.

Hun Sen said China and Cambodia have enjoyed a traditional friendship that was cultivated by late Cambodian King Father Norodom Sihanouk, Mao Zedong, Zhou Enlai and other Chinese leaders of previous generations.

Over the past 25 years, friendly relations between the two countries, based on the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence and mutual benefit, have witnessed remarkable progress and cooperation has been deepening in various areas.

In 2010, China and Cambodia established a comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership, an upgraded version of bilateral ties. In 2014, the two countries set up an intergovernmental coordinating committee and have successfully held three coordinating meetings resulting in important achievements. Now the two sides are actively preparing for the fourth meeting, which is scheduled for the end of 2016 or early 2017 in Cambodia, Hun said.

He noted that high-level leaders of China and Cambodia have maintained close contacts and exchanged visits in recent years, a reflection of their close relations, and that the two sides will continue to work together through a number of international bodies, including the United Nations, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, the Asia-Europe Meeting and the Lancang-Mekong Cooperation group.

Today the two countries face various challenges from the local to the international level, including economic development, regional security, terrorism, climate change and others, said Hun Sen, voicing hope that both countries work together to contribute to regional and international peace, stability and prosperity.

Hun Sen said he fully supports China's Belt and Road Initiative, which will witness the vast building of infrastructure and deepened trade and financial integration in Asia, Africa and Europe.

He said China's Silk Road Fund and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank could also benefit Cambodia'se economic and social development.

Hun Sen noted that during President Xi's visit to Cambodia, the two countries will sign a series of bilateral cooperative agreements to boost their comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership, something that would benefit the two peoples.

He believes that China has entered a stage of development featuring harmony, progress, and prosperity. And China has shared its development experience with countries around the world, and contributes greatly to the peace and stability of Asia and the world.

The prime minister said the visit will consolidate the traditional friendship between Cambodia and China, by which the two countries will continue to support each other on issues concerning each other's core interests and major concerns.

Hun Sen reaffirmed that Cambodia adheres to the one-China policy and opposes any form of "Taiwan independence." He said that Cambodia will continue to work with China in the fields of defense, law enforcement, trade, agriculture, science and technology, culture and tourism, among others.

He also expressed hope that China and Cambodia will continue to promote friendship and understanding between youths of the two countries so as to cultivate successors for their friendship. By doing so, Hun Sen said,Cambodia and China will become good neighbors, good friends, good brothers and good partners from generation to generation.
DAMASCUS, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) -- The Syrian forces have completely recaptured a town in the central province of Hama on Thursday, as part of a broad military showdown with the rebels, Syria's national TV said.

The town of Ma'an was fully taken by the Syrian army in the northern countryside of Hama, the latest in a series of victories the military force achieved there, the TV said.

It added that the military offensive there led to the killing of many rebels and the destructoin of their weaponry.

On Tuesday, the Syrian forces wrested control over the town of Kokab in northern Hama, after capturing some 15 villages and areas in that contested areas.

The subsequent successes of the Syrian army have taken advantage of the infighting between two major rebel groups in northern Hama, namely the Ahrar al-Sham and Jund al-Aqsa, which have recently pledged allegiance to the Jabhat Fateh al-Sham group, previously known as the al-Qaida-linked Nusra Front.

Tension between Jund al-Aqsa and Ahrar al-Sham has recently sparked after the Jund al-Aqsa militants kidnapped members of Ahrar al-Sham in the city of Saraqeb in the northwestern city of Idlib.

The Turkey-backed Ahrar al-Sham accused the Jund al-Aqsa of being a subordinate to the Islamic State (IS) group.

Jund al-Aqsa said it had joined force with Jabhat Fateh al-Sham, due to its high power level among other rebel groups.

It also urged the Fateh al-Sham to open a new front against the Syrian army in Hama to recapture all of the areas that have recently fallen to the army, as a result of the rebel infighting.

The northern countryside of Hama has returned under the spotlight after the rebels carried out repetitive attacks on government positions in that area.

The rebels carried out such attacks, as part of their effort to get the army busy with more than one front to reduce the pressure on rebels in other parts of northern Syria.

Recent reports said the rebels in the northern province of Aleppo are reeling under fresh pressure by the Syrian army, which has closed the routes to the besieged rebel-held areas in the eastern part of Aleppo city, and urged the rebels to surrender.
Free Syrian Army fighters launch a Grad rocket from Halfaya town in Hama province, towards forces loyal to Syria's President Bashar al-Assad stationed in Zein al-Abidin mountain, Syria September 4, 2016. (Reuters photo)

DAMASCUS, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) -- The Syrian forces have completely recaptured a town in the central province of Hama on Thursday, as part of a broad military showdown with the rebels, Syria's national TV said.

The town of Ma'an was fully taken by the Syrian army in the northern countryside of Hama, the latest in a series of victories the military force achieved there, the TV said.

It added that the military offensive there led to the killing of many rebels and the destructoin of their weaponry.

On Tuesday, the Syrian forces wrested control over the town of Kokab in northern Hama, after capturing some 15 villages and areas in that contested areas.

The subsequent successes of the Syrian army have taken advantage of the infighting between two major rebel groups in northern Hama, namely the Ahrar al-Sham and Jund al-Aqsa, which have recently pledged allegiance to the Jabhat Fateh al-Sham group, previously known as the al-Qaida-linked Nusra Front.

Tension between Jund al-Aqsa and Ahrar al-Sham has recently sparked after the Jund al-Aqsa militants kidnapped members of Ahrar al-Sham in the city of Saraqeb in the northwestern city of Idlib.

The Turkey-backed Ahrar al-Sham accused the Jund al-Aqsa of being a subordinate to the Islamic State (IS) group.

Jund al-Aqsa said it had joined force with Jabhat Fateh al-Sham, due to its high power level among other rebel groups.

It also urged the Fateh al-Sham to open a new front against the Syrian army in Hama to recapture all of the areas that have recently fallen to the army, as a result of the rebel infighting.

The northern countryside of Hama has returned under the spotlight after the rebels carried out repetitive attacks on government positions in that area.

The rebels carried out such attacks, as part of their effort to get the army busy with more than one front to reduce the pressure on rebels in other parts of northern Syria.

Recent reports said the rebels in the northern province of Aleppo are reeling under fresh pressure by the Syrian army, which has closed the routes to the besieged rebel-held areas in the eastern part of Aleppo city, and urged the rebels to surrender.
ABUJA, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) -- The Nigerian Presidency Thursday announced that 21 of more than 200 Chibok school girls abducted two years ago have been freed by terror group Boko Haram.

Presidential spokesperson Garba Shehu, who disclosed this in a statement reaching Xinhua said the girls are in the custody of the Department of State Services (DSS).

He said the secret police chief Lawal Daura has just briefed President Muhammadu Buhari on the matter.

The release of the girls, in a limited number, is the outcome of negotiations between the administration and Boko Haram, brokered by the International Red Cross and the Swiss government, he added.

The negotiations will continue, Shehu said.

A military helicopter picked up the girls early Thursday in a town in Nigeria's northeastern state of Borno, local media reported.

Bukola Shonibare, a member of the Bring Back Our Girls Group agitating for the release of the abducted school girls, told Xinhua the group was aware of the development.

"We (the Bring Back Our Girls Group) are aware of this development. It is true that 21 girls have been freed. The group will issue a press release soon," Shonibare told Xinhua via telephone.

A total of 276 girls were seized by armed men who stormed their dormitories on the night of April 14, 2014, at the Girls Secondary School in Chibok town of Borno State.

Two years on, while some 57 girls were brave enough to escape then, 219 of them still missing until these 21 were freed by their abductors.
THE HAGUE, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) -- People who feel their "life has been completed" should be given the legal right to assisted suicide, the Dutch government has told the parliament.

"People who believe that their life has been completed shall under strict and careful criteria be enabled to end their life in dignity. The government wants to consult with different care providers to develop a new law to shape this principle," said a brief of the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport on Wednesday.

This is about a system in addition to and alongside with the current euthanasia system, it added.

On Wednesday, Dutch Health Minister Edith Schippers and Justice Minister Ard van de Steur addressed a letter to the parliament in response to a report by an independent committee of experts made public last February.

The report concluded that people who might not be suffering from illness but feel their lives have been completed should not have the right to assisted suicide.

The report also said that the current euthanasia law is functioning well and that there is room within the euthanasia that is not used. But it considered undesirable to expand the existing legal possibilities for assisted suicide.

But, "the government believes that such a request for help from people who have unbearable and hopeless suffering without medical basis, can be a legitimate request," said the brief of the Dutch ministry.

The government will seek a solution to ensure that assisted suicide for "completed life" will be carefully checked and balanced without abuse, it added.

Under the current Dutch law, precisely the "Termination of Life on Request and Assisted Suicide Act" which took effect on April 1, 2002, euthanasia is only legal in cases of "hopeless and unbearable" suffering without prospect of improvement. In practice it is limited to those suffering from serious medical conditions, and it must be done by doctors who must follow strict procedures.

In the past decade, several civil organizations and liberal parties have been calling for expanding assisted suicide to people who no longer wish to live but are turned down for euthanasia.

In its February report, the independent committee argued that more should be done to make sure people are not "tired of living" by, for example, doing more to eradicate loneliness.
DUBAI, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) -- The United Arab Emirates (UAE) Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation in Abu Dhabi expressed on Thursday its "deepest condemnation and concern" over the repeated assaults on ships in international waters which it said were executed by the Shiite Houthi rebels, UAE state news agency WAM reported.

The ministry said the attacks by Houthi rebels were "an apparent attempt to target the freedom of navigation and to inflame the situation in the region, particularly in Yemen."

It said "targeting of the U.S. Navy destroyer USS Mason is a recurring escalation which began with the attack on the UAE civilian ship 'Swift'."

The Swift high-speed logistics vessel was hit off Yemen on Oct. 1st by an anti-ship missile fired by the Houthis, said the UAE.

The USS Navy ship Mason was attacked with missiles on Sunday and Wednesday. Yemen's dominant Shiite Houthi rebels on Thursday denied targeting the U.S. warship off the Yemeni coasts from territories they control, Houthi-controlled Saba news agency reported.

The UAE ministry, in its statement, described the response of the U.S. Navy on Thursday morning, in targeting the Houthi radar sites, as a "legitimate response to repeated and unprovoked attacks backed by rebel forces."

The UAE ministry said these serious developments threaten international navigation by targeting vessels crossing the Strait of Bab al-Mandeb.

The ministry also stressed the urgent need to push for a political solution backed by the United Nations, which, in turn, "will restore Yemen's security and stability."

The Saudi-led coalition has been fighting Shiite Houthi rebels in Yemen since March 2015, trying to restore the internationally recognized government of President Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi.

International efforts and talks between the war parties have been so far fruitless.
PHNOM PENH, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping's visit to Cambodia will surely open a new era in the fast-growing China-Cambodia comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership, a Chinese diplomat said here on Thursday.

Xi's visit will further bolster the partnership and strengthen ties in a number of fields, Chinese Ambassador to Cambodia Xiong Bo said in an interview with Xinhua.

Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived in Phnom Penh on Thursday for a state visit to Cambodia aimed at further solidifying the traditional friendship between the two countries.

This is Xi's first trip to the Southeast Asian nation as president, and also the fourth visit paid by a Chinese president to the country, Xiong said, calling Xi's visit a milestone in the history of diplomatic ties between China and Cambodia.

Xi's visit to Cambodia, a key member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), will also vigorously boost China's relations with the bloc while bearing far-reaching significance for peace and stability in the region, Xiong said.

China-Cambodia ties are defined by their long-term, traditional friendship, he said.

Cambodian King Norodom Sihamoni visited China in June, and Xi's visit to Cambodia will continue to write a new chapter in friendly relations between the two countries, Xiong said.

The Chinese ambassador described China and Cambodia as "good neighbors, good brothers, good friends and good partners."

Another feature in China-Cambodia ties is the fact that the two countries have always understood, respected and supported each other in international and regional affairs, he said.

Cambodia has always supported China as a responsible major country in maintaining world peace and stability, while China supports Cambodia's independent, neutral and non-aligned stance in international affairs and its influential role in international and regional affairs as an ASEAN member, Xiong said.

Looking forward to the future, Xiong said that the two countries will continue to maintain frequent high-level contacts and political communications to carry forward the their traditional friendship.

Cambodia is set to be a key country in the Belt and Road Initiative proposed by China and a key destination for cooperation in production capacity, the Chinese diplomat said.

China will play a bigger role in the development of infrastructure, agriculture and tourism in Cambodia, as well as the improvement of the Cambodian people's livelihood, he said.

China and Cambodia will continue to work together in international and Asian affairs, and jointly strive to boost China-ASEAN ties while maintaining peace and stability in the region, he added.
BEIJING, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) -- Foreign direct investment (FDI) into the Chinese mainland edged up 1.2 percent year on year to reach 9.21 billion U.S. dollars in September, official data showed Thursday.

That brings FDI growth in the first nine months to 4.2 percent, according to figures from the Ministry of Commerce.

The steady growth came as the Chinese government intensifies efforts to improve access for foreign companies, which experts believe will create an environment for fairer competition and bring more foreign investment.

The service industry continued to attract more foreign investment from January to September. FDI in the service sector, accounting for 70.7 percent of total investment, went up 9 percent year on year during the period.

In particular, FDI in high-tech services nearly doubled from a year earlier to reach 73.88 billion yuan (11 billion U.S. dollars).

In the first nine months, FDI from the United States surged 118.9 percent, while that from Germany and the UK soared 95.8 percent and 51.7 percent, respectively.

At a meeting earlier this month, the State Council, China's cabinet, stressed measures to improve the country's business environment, pledging more efforts to create a level playing field for both domestic and foreign companies.

Following China's revisions to four laws regulating inbound investment last month, it was decided at the meeting that some administrative approvals will no longer be necessary for foreign investors setting up businesses on the Chinese mainland.

These investors are now only required to report business plans to local regulators, as long as their business is not on the "negative list." The government estimates that more than 95 percent of procedures will be cut.
Students of the University of Witwatersrand (Wits) sing and dance outside of Hillbrow Magistrate Court as they wait for the detained students to be released in Johannesburg, South Africa, on Oct. 12, 2016.(Xinhua/Zhai Jianlan)

CAPE TOWN, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) -- Classes resumed on Wednesday in some of the universities hard hit by violent student protests over tuition fee rise across the country, although not all classes were up and running fully.

Some campuses, however, are still experiencing protests including intimidation and violence, Minister of Higher Education and Training, Blade Nzimande said.

He welcomed the resumption of classes and urged all stakeholders to work tirelessly to save this year's academic programme.

A new wave of student protests erupted last month after Nzimande gave the green light to universities to raise tuition fees, provided that it does not exceed eight percent.

Dozens of students have been arrested for suspected involvement in acts of violence, including the burning of public properties and looting.

In some universities, police fired rubber bullets and stun grenades to disperse protesting students.

In the Cape Town University of Technology, a building was torched after students locked two security guards inside the building. The guards were later rescued.

"This barbaric behavior and some we have witnessed in some campuses is unacceptable and should be rejected by society," Nzimande said.

In the Wits University in Johannesburg, protests extended to the city centre over the past few days. During the protests, a bus was torched and shops looted.

The horrific scenes "is a clear demonstration that criminality has infiltrated student's genuine demands", Nzimande said.

This kind of behaviour only serves to undermine the legitimate call by students for free education for the poor, he said.

The Department of Higher Education and Training has been working with a number of institutions and stakeholders to try to find innovative ways for the resumption of the 2016 academic programme.

These engagements have proven to be fruitful, although some campuses are still experiencing protests including intimidation and violence, according to Nzimande.

"We are grateful for all efforts by stakeholders who have been engaging in a number of campuses. As we have said before, access to higher education, especially for the poor, is a societal problem. The only way to salvage the situation is commitment to dialogue," he said.

The minister said the government remains committed to providing free education to the poor, however this must be subjected to a process, as led by the Presidential Commission chaired by Justice Jonathan Heher.

"Government would not like to see our students learning under conditions where a police officer is placed at the door of a classroom or police roaming around our campuses," he said.

Campuses are places of learning not for policing, similarly not for violence, intimidation and destruction of property, the minister added.

He defended the move to deploy police at universities hard hit by student protests, saying the police are there to protect the rights of protesting students and non-protesting students who want to go back to class and continue learning.

On Tuesday, President Jacob Zuma set up a ministerial task team to assist in efforts to address the challenges on campuses.

Nzimande pledged to work with the task team and all stakeholders to ensure that "we do everything in our power to save the 2016 academic programme".
BEIJING, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) -- As global trade and investment are still beset with difficulties, China and Portuguese-speaking countries (PSCs), with highly complementary economies, are exploring a "fast lane" for bilateral trade.

In a newly-signed action plan at a ministerial-level conference earlier this week, China and the PSCs pledged to expand cooperation from investment in trade to areas like finance, marine investment and environmental protection

The action plan demonstrates a clearer theme with cooperation extending to more emerging industries, said Chinese Commerce Minster Gao Hucheng at the conference.

The Fifth Ministerial Conference of the Forum for Economic and Trade Cooperation between China and the PSCs was held in Macao on Tuesday and Wednesday.

During the conference, deepening cooperation in industrial production capacity was another important aspect that China and the PSCs were eyeing.

Most Portuguese-speaking countries are at a critical stage of industrialization, endeavoring to improve infrastructure and upgrade their industrial structures. China, with a fairly complete industrial and manufacturing system and increasing overseas investment, can fully use its complementary advantages and create long-lasting and mutually beneficial cooperation with the PSCs.

A memorandum of understanding (MOU) to boost relevant cooperation was signed by the two sides at the conference. It is the first of its kind signed since the launch of the forum in 2003.

The MOU will help promote substantial bilateral cooperation in manufacturing, infrastructure and other relevant fields between China and the PSCs, said Gao.

China and the PSCs, namely Angola, Brazil, Cape Verde, Guinea Bissau, Mozambique, Portugal and Timor-Leste, account for 17 percent of the global economy and 22 percent of the world's population. Bilateral trade between the two sides exceeded 360 billion U.S. dollars between 2013-2015.

In the area of investment, various Chinese investments in the PSCs has so far reached nearly 50 billion U.S. dollars.

Till now, the PSCs have established almost 1,000 enterprises in China. The contract amount of Chinese enterprises in the PSCs has exceeded 90 billion U.S. dollars.

Bilateral cooperation in areas such as agriculture, environmental protection, transportation, telecommunication and finance have also yielded positive results.

Apart from enhanced trade exchange, complementary advantages are another feature between China and each Portuguese-speaking country.

As one of Brazil's largest trading partners, China's steady economic growth offers more export opportunities for Brazil's coal and agricultural goods, which are among the country's pillar economic products.

In Portugal, Chinese investment has increased largely in recent years,covering sectors as energy, electricity, communication, civil aviation, finance, insurance and health care.

Chinese and Portuguese enterprises also work together to explore international markets. China Three Gorges Corporation, through its company in Portugal, develops hydropower, wind power and new energy markets with Portugal in Latin America, Europe and the United States.

There is huge potential for the development of China-Portugal trade, said Chinese Ambassador to Portugal Cai Run on Wednesday in an interview with Xinhua.

Meanwhile, China's Belt and Road Initiative can also serve to strengthen economic ties with the PSCs, as both sides are located along major international shipping routes.

Financing platforms such as the Silk Road Fund and the China-PSCs Cooperation and Development Fund will be fully used to carry out cooperation projects between the two sides.

"Portugal is willing to participate in building the new Maritime Silk Road," said Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Costa while attending the forum, "and make the best use of its strategic position."
ABUJA, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) -- The Nigerian government on Thursday confirmed 21 of more than 200 Chibok school girls abducted two years ago in Nigeria have been freed by terror group Boko Haram.

In a statement, presidential spokesman Garba Shehu, said the freed girls are now in the custody of the Department of State Services (DSS).

"The release of the girls, in a limited number, is the outcome of negotiations between the administration and Boko Haram, brokered by the International Red Cross and the Swiss government," the spokesman said, adding "the negotiations will continue."

The spokesman said President Muhammadu Buhari, who, on Wednesday embarked on a state visit to Germany, has been briefed on the development by the secret police chief.

Xinhua learned that a military helicopter picked up the girls early Thursday in a town in Nigeria's northeastern state of Borno.

Bukola Shonibare, a member of the Bring Back Our Girls Group agitating for the release of the abducted school girls, told Xinhua the group was aware of the development.

"We (the Bring Back Our Girls Group) are aware of this development. It is true that 21 girls have been freed. The group will issue a press release soon," Shonibare told Xinhua via telephone.

A total of 276 girls were seized by armed men who stormed their dormitories on the night of April 14, 2014, at the Girls Secondary School in Chibok town of Borno State.

Two years on, while some 57 girls were brave enough to escape then, 219 of them still missing until these 21 were freed by their abductors.
SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) -- John Stumpf, chairman and chief executive officer of American banking giant Wells Fargo, has decided to step down in the wake of a sales scandal involving millions of fake bank accounts, according to a company statement.

Stumpf has told the company's Board of Directors that he is retiring from the company and the Board, and his departure is effective immediately, the bank said in the statement released on Wednesday.

"He believes new leadership at this time is appropriate to guide Wells Fargo through its current challenges and take the company forward," said the company's lead director Stephen Sanger, who will serve as the board's non-executive chairman.

Stumpf's move came as San Francisco, California-based Wells Fargo has been under intense scrutiny since early September, when regulators fined the bank 185 million U.S. dollars for the opening of over 2 million bank accounts and credit card accounts by its employees without customers' permission between May 2011 and July 2015.

The employees were allegedly doing so in order to meet sales goals.

Under pressure of national anger, Wells Fargo expressed regret and accepted "full responsibility for all unethical sales practices." It also announced ending the controversial sales goals program imposed on employees.

Being investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, federal prosecutors as well as Congress, the 164-year-old bank has been struggling to save its reputation. Stumpf, who has successfully led Wells Fargo through 2008 financial crisis, faced questions twice in front of Congress.

In addition, the government of California is punishing the bank by suspending business relationship with it for one year.

Tim Sloan, who is Wells Fargo's president and chief operating officer and will succeed Stumpf as CEO, said in a statement that "his immediate and highest priority is to restore trust" in Wells Fargo at a critical juncture in its history.

The company's officials told media that Stumpf, who has served Wells Fargo for 34 years, will not receive severance packages. The company said in late September that Stumpf had agreed to give up his unvested equity awards valued at 41 million dollars.
BEIJING, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) -- China on Thursday urged the British government to stop interfering in Hong Kong affairs.

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang made the remarks at a daily press briefing in response to a half-year report on Hong Kong released by the British government recently.

"Hong Kong is a special administrative region of China. Hong Kong affairs belong to China's domestic affairs and any foreign countries has no right to interfere," said Geng. "We demand that the British side be cautious in words and deeds, and stop interfering in Hong Kong affairs."

Geng said the policy of "one country, two systems" has scored remarkable achievements since Hong Kong's return to China in 1997.

The policies of "one country, two systems," "Hong Kong people governing Hong Kong," and a high degree of autonomy have been fully implemented, he said.

The central government has strictly followed the Constitution and the Basic Law of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR) of the People's Republic of China, and given full support to the chief executive and the SAR government in governance according to law, he said, adding that the Hong Kong people enjoy full rights and freedom in accordance with law.

China has strong confidence and unswerving will to continue implementing the "one country, two systems" policy, the spokesperson said.
LONDON, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) -- Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said Thursday that her government will publish next week for public consultation a bill of second referendum on Scotland's independence.

Sturgeon told the SNP conference in Glasgow that an Independence Referendum Bill would be published next week. A consultation exercise on the measure will start across Scotland within days.

In a message directed at the British government and British Prime Minister Theresa May, Sturgeon said in an opening speech: "If you think for one single second that I'm not serious about doing what it takes to protect Scotland's interests, then think again."

"If you can't -- or won't -- allow us to protect our interests within the UK, then Scotland will have the right to decide, afresh, if it wants to take a different path," she said.

On September 18, 2014, the people of Scotland voted to remain as part of Britain by a 55-45 percent margin.

It was said at the time that the question of Scottish independence had been settled for a generation or more, with no prospect of an early second public referendum. But within hours of the EU referendum vote being announced, Sturgeon said a second referendum for Scottish independence was highly likely.

In the June 23 referendum, people voted by 52 percent to 48 to leave the EU, but in Scotland the vote for remain was 62 percent, compared to the 38 percent wanting to leave.

The decision to leave the EU, reinforced by May's insistence that the "Brexit" result means all parts of Britain quitting Europe, has brought the Scottish independence question to the forefront of politics.

Sturgeon told delegates that Scotland had the right to seek something better if there were prospects of an unstable future as part of Britain.

Within minutes of the announcement, Sturgeon's plans were heavily criticised by the Labour Party in Scotland.

Scottish Labour leader Kezia Dugdale accused Sturgeon and the SNP of breaking promises that the 2014 independence referendum result would stand for a "generation" and was a "once in a lifetime opportunity."

Dugdale said Scottish Labour will vote against any proposal for another referendum on Scottish independence.
GUANGZHOU, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) -- Premier Li Keqiang has called for more efforts to foster a friendly environment for innovation and entrepreneurship in a fresh show of support for the country's start-ups.

In a visit to the southern cities of Shenzhen and Dongguan in Guangdong Province, Li attended National Mass Innovation and Entrepreneurship Week activities and the Global Entrepreneurial Leaders Forum, where he encouraged bold imagination and solid work from businesses to translate their ideas into concrete outcomes.

In the Internet age, innovation and entrepreneurship can help produce novel and diversified supplies, goods and services, entailing huge potential for China's development, Li said.

He said the government will further streamline administrative powers and improve services to ensure a fair business environment for market entities.
BEIJING, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) -- China vowed on Thursday to help with the Philippines' economic and social development ahead of the upcoming visit of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte.

Duterte will pay a state visit to China from Oct. 18 to 21 at the invitation of his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping.

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang said China supports Duterte's efforts to lead the Philippine people to develop their economy and is ready to participate in the country's economic and social development.

"We hope to cooperate with the Philippines in such areas as trade, capacity and infrastructure construction," Geng told a regular press briefing.

China believes the two countries should expand cooperation in various areas as their ties continue to improve, Geng said.

The nations should improve ties and carry out mutually beneficial cooperation for the common interests of both countries and peoples, he added.

Duterte and Xi will discuss improving bilateral ties, deepening cooperation and issues of common concern. Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and top legislator Zhang Dejiang will also meet Duterte..

The trip will be Duterte's first official visit to a foreign country outside ASEAN.
Swedish Academy's permanent secretary Sara Danius announces the laureate of the 2016 Nobel Prize in Literature in Stockholm, Sweden, on Oct. 13, 2016. Bob Dylan has won the 2016 Nobel Prize in Literature,"for having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition," the Swedish Academy announced in Stockholm on Thursday.(Xinhua/Shi Tiansheng)

STOCKHOLM, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) -- Bob Dylan has won the 2016 Nobel Prize in Literature, announced Sara Danius, Swedish Academy's permanent secretary, on Thursday in Stockholm.

The Nobel Prize in Literature for 2016 is awarded to Bob Dylan "for having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition," Danius said at the Swedish Academy.

"As an artist, he is strikingly versatile; he has been active as painter, actor and scriptwriter," said the official statement.

Besides his large production of albums, Dylan has published experimental work. He has written the autobiography Chronicles (2004), which depicts memories from the early years in New York and which provides glimpses of his life at the center of popular culture, it added.

Since the late 1980s, Bob Dylan has toured persistently, an undertaking called the "Never-Ending Tour". Dylan has the status of an icon. His influence on contemporary music is profound, and he is the object of a steady stream of secondary literature, the statement said.

Bob Dylan was born on May 24, 1941 in Duluth, Minnesota, in the United States.
ISTANBUL, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) -- Turkey and Israel on Thursday discussed the possibility of piping Israeli natural gas to Turkey and Europe, as the two countries move to restore ties damaged over the past six years.

"We decided to establish a dialogue between our governments and the two ministries to examine the possibility of such project," Israeli Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz said at a press conference following a meeting with his Turkish counterpart, Berat Albayrak, in Istanbul.

Steinitz said the project will enable Israel to bring natural gas to Turkey and further to Europe.

He said his country is also mulling exporting natural gas to Jordan, Egypt and building a pipeline that goes through Cyprus to Greece.

"But the Turkish option is very important," the minister added.

The meeting between the two ministers on the sidelines of the 23rd World Energy Congress marked the first at a ministerial level, as their countries are set to return ambassadors after a six-year hiatus sparked by an Israeli raid on a Turkish ship in 2010, in which 10 Turks were killed.

"I came here on behalf of the Israeli people, who are eager to see peace and stability in the region and good cooperation between Turkey and Israel," said Steinitz.

The Israeli and Turkish ministers discussed the pipeline project three days after Turkey and Russia signed a deal on delivering Russian gas to Turkey and possibly to Europe through the Black Sea during a visit by Russian President Vladimir Putin to Istanbul.

Israel boasts a capacity to export 350 billion cubic meters of gas and a potential to produce more, Steinitz said in late June.
JERUSALEM, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) -- Israel's Foreign Ministry Director-General Dore Gold unexpectedly announced on Thursday that he was resigning his position, citing "personal reasons," about a year and a half after his appointment.

Gold told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu -- who also serves as foreign minister -- that he wishes to end his term at the Ministry, according to a Foreign Ministry statement.

Gold, who stepped in the office in June 2015, thanked Netanyahu for the appointment.

"I will continue to put myself at his disposal for any task that he will assign me in the future," the statement quoted Gold as saying.

He said during his tenure, Israel "saw a blossoming of foreign relations" and that he felt "a sense of pride in being a part of that."

Gold, a U.S.-born academic known for his hawkish stance on foreign policy issues, has been associated with Netanyahu for 25 years. In the 1990s, during Netanyahu's first term as prime minister, Gold served as Israel's ambassador to the United Nations. He held various other posts under Netanyahu, including a foreign policy adviser.
HONG KONG, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) -- Foreign countries should not interfere in the internal affairs of China's Hong Kong, the Chinese diplomatic authorities and the Hong Kong government have said in responses to a report issued by Britain.

British Foreign and Commonwealth Office issued the Six-monthly Report on Hong Kong earlier.

In response to the report, a spokesman for the Office of the Commissioner of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) of China in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR) said on Thursday "I want to reiterate that Hong Kong is a special administrative region of China. Hong Kong affairs are purely internal affairs of China. Foreign governments have no rights to interfere in."

The spokesman said since its return to the motherland, the "one country, two systems" principle and the Basic Law have been successfully implemented in Hong Kong. Hong Kong has maintained prosperity and stability, and Hong Kong people have enjoyed full rights and freedom".

"The resolution of the central government to implement 'one country, two systems' principle is unshakable and will not change."

In response to media enquiries, a spokesman for the Hong Kong SAR government said Wednesday "Since Hong Kong's return to the motherland, its government has been exercising a high degree of autonomy and 'Hong Kong people administering Hong Kong' in accordance with the Basic Law. This demonstrates the successful implementation of the 'one country, two systems' principle, which is widely recognized by the international communities."

The Hong Kong government said "Foreign governments should not interfere in any form in the internal affairs of Hong Kong".

The MFA spokesman also said China opposes the improper judgment on Hong Kong affairs through the so called "Six-monthly Report on Hong Kong".

"We don't accept those groundless accusations in the report."
PHNOM PENH, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday met with Cambodian King Norodom Sihamoni at Cambodian Royal Palace, vowing to carry forward the traditional friendship between the two countries.

During their meeting, Xi spoke highly of the traditional friendship between China and Cambodia.

The comprehensive strategic partnership for cooperation of the two countries has seen strong development in recent years and has brought tangible benefits to the two peoples, Xi said.

China values its special friendship with the Cambodian royal family and attaches great importance to the development of its relations with the Southeast Asian nation, said the Chinese president.

China is willing to work with Cambodia to faithfully promote bilateral friendship and deepen all-round cooperation so as to achieve common development and prosperity, he said, adding that China will always be a good partner and friend.

For his part, King Sihamoni welcomed Xi's visit and appreciated the profound friendship of the Chinese government and people towards Cambodian royal family as well as their great support to the country's economic and social development.

The king said Cambodia is satisfied with the results of bilateral cooperation in such areas as politics, economy and people-to-people exchanges.

He believed that Xi's visit will further enhance bilateral ties and render their cooperation even more fruitful.

Cambodia is ready to work with China to carry forward the traditional friendship and ensure that the relationship will get better, said King Sihamoni.

Before their talks, Xi, accompanied by the King, attended a red-carpet ceremony and inspected the guards of honor.

After the meeting, Xi laid a wreath at the statue of King Father Norodom Sihanouk in the company of Queen Mother Norodom Monineath Sihanouk.

Xi arrived at Phnom Penh Thursday noon for a state visit to Cambodia. It is his first trip to the Southeast Asian nation as president. In 2009, he paid an official visit to the kingdom as vice president.
BEIJING, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday congratulated Kersti Kaljulaid on his election as Estonian president.

In his congratulatory message, Xi said Estonia is China's important cooperation partner in the Baltic region.

China-Estonia relations have made substantial progress since the two countries established diplomatic ties 25 years ago, he said.

"I attach great importance to the development of China-Estonia relations and is willing to work with you to continuously promote bilateral friendly cooperation so as to bring more benefits to the two countries and peoples," said the Chinese president.
by Naim-Ul-Karim

DHAKA, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) -- Bangladesh is all set to roll out red carpet for Chinese President Xi Jinping, who will arrive in Dhaka on Friday morning on his maiden trip to the country.

This will also be the first visit by a Chinese head of state to Bangladesh in 30 years.

Two Bangladeshi fighter jets will fly to act as escorts as soon as President Xi's special plane enters the country's air space. President Abdul Hamid will receive his counterpart at the airport, Foreign Minister AH Mahmud Ali told a press conference Thursday.

Xi will be given a full guard of honor at the airport, the highest tribute to a president. A 21-gun salute will be fired.

Xi's visit is expected to push bilateral relations to a new height and explore the full potential of economic and trade ties between the two countries.

In Dhaka, posters with pictures of President Xi and his Bangladeshi counterpart Md Abdul Hamid, and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, are currently adorning all the major streets and junctions across the city.

Dhaka is having a festive look with streets adorned with decorative lights and life-size cut-outs of President Xi, President Hamid and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

Posters and banners have been planted on sides of the road, inscribed with messages wishing a further boost of bilateral ties between the countries.

Thousands of posters inscribed with "Long Live Bangladesh-China Friendship" have been put up along the around 14-km stretch from the Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport to the main city.

"Heartiest welcome to his excellency Mr. Xi Jinping President of China," read many posters.

Various localities of the capital city have also been decorated to welcome Xi. Security across the city has been tightened as gun-totting personnel are seen in all the prominent areas.

Traffic on a portion of the Airport Road leading to the main city has already been limited as part of ensuring foolproof security.

Hundreds of welcome arches with cut-outs of Bangladeshi founding father and first President Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Xi, Hamid and Hasina added to a festival-like atmosphere in the city of over 15 million people.

"We are longing for an eternal Bangladesh-China Friendship," one arch reads.

Another reads, "You are cordially welcome to Bangladesh."

Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has expressed confidence that the visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping would usher in "a new era of intensive cooperation" in trade, investment and other sectors between the two nations.

"We are very happy and feel honored that President Xi is coming to Bangladesh. I believe that President Xi's visit will also be more important for South Asia," the prime minister told Xinhua at her official Ganobhaban residence in the capital Dhaka on Tuesday.

Speaking highly of the bilateral, the prime minister pointed out that the relations between the two nations are underpinned by "the Five Principles of Peaceful Co-existance, Spirit of Good Neighborliness, Mutual Trust, Confidence and Non- Interference into each other's internal affairs."

Hasina reaffirmed that Bangladesh strongly adheres to One China policy and supports China on issues related to its core national interests and efforts to safeguard its national sovereignty and territorial integrity.

The Chinese president's visit comes at a time when Bangladesh is about to break free from the clutches of low-level equilibrium trap and move into the frontier of investment, industrialization, ecological restoration and prosperity for all, according to Hasina.
Russian soldiers distribute aid sent from Moscow to Syrian people in the town of Hussainyeh, near Damascus, capital of Syria, on Oct. 8, 2016. Russia regularly sends relief aid to many Syrian areas. (Xinhua photo)

DAMASCUS, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) -- The Russian embassy was subject to intense mortar shelling that lasted for two hours on Wednesday, a well-informed security source told Xinhua on Thursday.

The shelling targeted the embassy in the Mazraa neighborhood in Damascus on Wednesday noon, it said, adding that the source of the shelling is from the rebel-held neighborhood of Jobar in the eastern countryside of Damascus.

None of the embassy staff members were injured or hurt, but the yard of the embassy compound is filled with debris, as work is now ongoing to assess the damages.

It wasn't the first time the embassy of Russia was hit. During the previous times, no injuries were reported.

The mortar shelling on the embassy is part of a broader mortar attacks the rebels in eastern Damascus countryside have recently unleashed.
GENEVA, Oct.13 (Xinhua) -- The UN deputy special envoy for Syria said Thursday that violence in the war-torn country must be abated as talks on Syria involving top U.S. and Russian officials as well as foreign ministers from key regional partners are to take place shortly in the Swiss city of Lausanne.

"On the humanitarian situation...I would like to emphasise one point: violence has to be reduced," Ramzy Ezzeldin Ramzy told press here.

"There has to be a stop to the bombardment, shelling, fighting especially indiscriminate attacks against civilian centers, medical facilities and heavily populated areas," he added.

The official warned that the situation in the northern city of Aleppo, especially in eastern rebel-held parts, is dire, and that the ability of medical personnel to treat emergency cases remains minimal.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov are both scheduled to participate in multilateral Syria meetings on Saturday.

Ramzy confirmed that UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura, who is seeking to broker an end to the five-year conflict which has killed hundreds of thousands of people and displaced millions more, will attend the meeting.

This latest round of diplomatic efforts comes after Washington suspended negotiations with Moscow over Syria.
NAIROBI, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) -- Majority of Somali refugees at the Dadaab camp in northeast Kenya are not willing to return home, a new report by international medical charity, Medicins Sans Frontieres (MSF) revealed on Thursday.

The charity said the current humanitarian situation in many parts of Somalia, with high levels of insecurity and a widespread lack of medical care, means that the necessary conditions for a safe and dignified return are simply not met today.

According to the report, 86 percent of surveyed refugees in Dadaab do not want to go back to Somalia. Fears around insecurity were acute with nearly all -- males and females -- stating that the risk of sexual violence is high. MSF is therefore questioning the "voluntary" nature of the returns that the UNHCR is helping facilitate.

"The fears that the refugees tell us about are real. It is crucial that any return is voluntary, and refugees must have all necessary information about the services and conditions which will meet them in Somalia," said Liesbeth Aelbrecht, Head of Mission for MSF in Kenya.

MSF reiterated that setting up Dadaab style camps across the border is shifting responsibility and abandoning the protection of refugees. It called on international community to share responsibility with Kenya.

It said other more durable solutions, such as smaller camps in Kenya, increased resettlement to third countries, or integration of refugees into Kenyan communities, should be urgently considered.

As the announced closure of the world's largest refugee camp draws closer, and thousands begin the return to war-ravaged Somalia, MSF called for other alternatives to be urgently considered by Kenya and the UNHCR, supported by donor countries.
FUZHOU, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) -- Police in east China's Fujian Province have busted a telecommunications fraud gang, with 52 scammers detained, police said Thursday.

In September, police in Anxi County found traces of the scammers operating in Nanning, capital of south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. A crackdown that followed helped nab the suspects in three separate locations in Nanning, police said.

The scammers used mobile phones and computers to lure victims to gamble on their websites. They swindled money from them by manipulating the gambling results.

Further investigation is under way.
Top leader of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) Rodrigo Londono, also known as Timoleon Jimenez, speaks during an exclusive interview with Xinhua in Havana, Cuba, Oct. 11, 2016. FARC is willing to talk with different political sectors to enrich the peace agreement which he and Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos have signed, Rodrigo Londono said, refusing to renegotiate the agreement. (Xinhua/Joaquin Hernandez)

by Raimundo Urrechaga

HAVANA, Oct. 12 (Xinhua) -- For the last four years, a stout, bearded Colombian man has been in the spotlight as the head of one of the last guerrilla movements in Latin America, who is Rodrigo Londono, the top leader of the leftist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).

"We are putting our guns and rifles aside but we remain a political organization with our actual membership. We are launching the idea with all sectors that want peace in Colombia to unite as a political movement and become a real alternative in our country," Rodrigo Londono, who is also known as Timoleon Jimenez, said in an exclusive interview with Xinhua.

Reaching a peace deal in the South American nation has been Jimenez's goal since he was appointed in November 2011 as top leader of the FARC.

His dream has now come true. A final peace deal has been signed between Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos' administration and the FARC in late September.

However, the agreement negotiated for almost four years was rejected by over 50 percent of Colombian voters, which has placed the commander in the center of controversy.

Jimenez said the adverse result in the recent plebiscite is now generating awareness among the Colombian people.

"The vast majority represents our hopes that change will occur but that is achieved only by raising awareness, generating political culture, and providing real education and not misinformation. Those will be our main goals as a political organization within the nation's democratic system," he added.

Many Colombians who oppose the agreement believe top FARC leaders will escape justice after so many years of violent confrontations. However, the rebel group insists they will be subjected to a special tribunal for justice as agreed with the government.

"The final peace deal looks to heal the wounds of the past. A commission will investigate the truth behind all violent events that have taken place. Its objective is to seek justice and offer reparations to victims of the conflict," the FARC commander said.

Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos and Commander in Chief of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) Timoleon Jimenez attend the signing ceremony of the final peace agreement between the Colombian government and the FARC, in Cartagena, Colombia, Sept. 26, 2016. Juan Manuel Santos and Timoleon Jimenez signed a historic peace deal Monday afternoon in Cartagena, ending a 52-year conflict. (Xinhua/Jhon Paz)

Jimenez said the most important thing to do in order to "shield" the peace deal is to start implementing it. Now, both Santos' administration and the FARC have agreed to adjust the deal so that it can come into effect as soon as possible.

"We are trying to create conditions to open up the doors of political participation to important sectors of our society like peasants, indigenous people and many others. We want to give a chance to those who never had a voice," he said.

The FARC leader also said the rebel group will become a political party in the near future within the national structure and with the goal of representing millions of Colombians.

For this new endeavor, Jimenez said the organization is counting on many of its actual members to participate in the political arena.

"Each FARC combatant is free to decide whether to continue or not in the political party. That will not be an obligation. We expect, from an ideological point of view, that the vast majority of our membership will continue in the party," said Jimenez.

However, many Colombians, including the FARC, remember the experience of the left-wing Patriotic Union in the 1980s when more than 3,500 militants, political leaders and social activists were killed by members of the security forces of the Colombian state, paramilitary groups and drug traffickers.

"That is one of the reasons we believe the agreement cannot be renegotiated. Reaching a final deal has not been easy and it will not be derailed because of the impulse of a few people. We sometimes wonder if what happened in the 1980s will also be our fate," he said.

Another step to finally end over 50 years of war has been the announcement by Santos' administration and the second-largest rebel group in Colombia, the National Liberation Army (ELN), that their peace talks will begin later this month.

"We believe the comrades of the ELN, who also have 52 years of struggle and experience, will contribute a lot ... to the peace process. It comes at a time when we must accelerate the construction of peace in Colombia and their participation is essential," he said.

He also congratulated Santos on his recent Nobel Peace Prize victory and his dedication of it to the victims of the armed conflict.

Jimenez said he remains committed to the same "dream" that made him join the guerrillas over 40 years ago: fighting for social justice in Colombia.

"We are starting to build peace in a country that has been filled with hate for over half a century. We must move beyond the bitterness, hate and revenge and respond with a positive outlook for peace in Colombia," he said.
Top leader of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) Rodrigo Londono, also known as Timoleon Jimenez, speaks during an exclusive interview with Xinhua in Havana, Cuba, Oct. 11, 2016. FARC is willing to talk with different political sectors to enrich the peace agreement which he and Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos have signed, Rodrigo Londono said, refusing to renegotiate the agreement. (Xinhua/Joaquin Hernandez)

by Raimundo Urrechaga

HAVANA, Oct. 12 (Xinhua) -- The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) are willing to talk with different political sectors to enrich the final peace deal signed with president Juan Manuel Santos. However, they are not willing to renegotiate the agreement despite it being rejected by a small margin at the polls, explained the FARC's top leader, Rodrigo Londono, in an exclusive interview with Xinhua.

"We are optimistic but we are not talking about renegotiating the agreement. The No option won the plebiscite by a very small margin amid a reduced number of voters, as around 63 percent of the population did not vote. By no means do I believe the peace process is destined to fail due to this adverse result," said Rodrigo Londono, who is also known as Timoleon Jimenez.

Dressed in a typical white Cuban shirt and showing a strong sense of humor, Jimenez said the days after the plebiscite had served to "analyze" the results amid nationwide protests demanding that the deal be implemented to end over 50 years of armed conflict.

In his conversation with Xinhua on Tuesday, Jimenez stated the result had caused a whirlwind effect as the Colombian population are now curious to know precisely what was discussed and agreed in Havana over almost four years.

"We are full of optimism. I think those critical of the agreement can make positive contributions to add on to the deal and enrich it. However, renegotiating it would be an outrage, it would mean starting again from scratch," he said.

Jimenez said both sides should use "common sense" after many years of complex discussions to continue implementing the peace agreement.

The top FARC leader believes that numerous sectors of Colombian society, including those that campaigned for the No option, had the possibility to participate in the peace process over the last four years.

"Some of those sectors that led the No campaign had the opportunity to participate and did not. They had the opportunity to share their ideas. Many of them were invited at different times of the peace process and chose not to participate," he recalled.

"I feel satisfied for what we have achieved so far because it (the peace process) no longer belongs to the Colombian government or the FARC. It is in the hands of the Colombian people to interpret these agreements as a way of opening up a brighter future for...our country," he added.

File photo taken on June 23, 2016 shows Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos (L) and Timoleon Jimenez (R), the top leader of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), exchange pacts while Cuban President Raul Castro witnesses in Havana, capital of Cuba. Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos has won the 2016 Nobel Peace Prize for his resolute efforts to bring his country's five-decade-long civil war to an end, the Norwegian Nobel Committee announced Friday. (Xinhua/Liu Bin)

However, Jimenez acknowledges that risks are always there, particularly with those that want to "harm" the peace deal and benefit from the war.

"Those sectors that, for one reason or another, oppose the peace agreement are now running out of oxygen. That is good for the peace of Colombia. The risks will always be there, but the support of the vast majority of the people and the international community will be definitive in the near future," said the top FARC leader.

Hours after the No won by 50.22 percent of the vote on Oct. 2, the rebels recognized the result and vowed to keep working to implement the peace deal signed in Cartagena on Sept. 26.

Ten days after the shocking outcome, both sides have been working to find common ground.

"We have been listening to different opinions, exchanging with many people of the Colombian society and political actors. Advisers on both sides are working non-stop to find a way out of this impasse as soon as possible," Jimenez revealed.

The top FARC commander believes the pact signed with Santos is the "best one" both sides could negotiate, although the rebels would have liked a "better one."

However, added the rebel leader, the agreement is a symbol that political contradictions in Colombia will not be resolved through violence and people will no longer be imprisoned or murdered for thinking differently.

"We are convinced this deal lays a solid primary foundation for building peace in Colombia. This is a society deeply affected by conflict, and there are very deep wounds that need to heal. To achieve reconciliation between Colombians, we must resolve our differences in the political arena, through democratic debate and not through violence," he said.

Jimenez also told Xinhua that the plebiscite result does not deny the peace deal as the agreement itself has legal foundations within international humanitarian law and is protected by the Colombian Constitution.

"We are not held back by what happened. The plebiscite had a political connotation but it does not affect the judicial aspects of implementing the peace deal," he said.

Timochenko said he is confident about a "quick and effective" solution to the political impasse that will allow for definitive peace in his country.

The conflict in Colombia has killed more than 220,000 people and displaced millions since 1960s.
BEIJING, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) -- Of a backlog of 74,000 petition cases reported in China, 92.3 percent were resolved as of September 30, the country's petition authority announced Thursday.

According to a statement released by the State Bureau for Letters and Calls, China has set up a monthly report mechanism and an online database for unsettled petitions to document, trace and evaluate backlog cases.

Meanwhile, local governments have adopted diverse methods to resolve tough problems, including public hearings, coordinated actions and targeted inspection.

Provincial regions such as Beijing, Liaoning, Jiangsu, and Tibet have organized targeted inspections to ensure that local governments or departments work in earnest to resolve backlog cases.
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang (C) poses for a photo with entrepreneurial team members at the main venue of the National Mass Innovation and Entrepreneurship Week in Shenzhen, south China's Guangdong Province, Oct. 12, 2016. In a visit to the southern cities of Shenzhen and Dongguan from Wednesday to Thursday, Li attended National Mass Innovation and Entrepreneurship Week activities and the Global Entrepreneurial Leaders Forum. (Xinhua/Li Tao)

BEIJING, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) -- Premier Li Keqiang has called for more efforts to foster a friendly environment for innovation and entrepreneurship in a fresh show of support for the country's start-ups.

In a visit to the southern cities of Shenzhen and Dongguan from Wednesday to Thursday, Li attended National Mass Innovation and Entrepreneurship Week activities and the Global Entrepreneurial Leaders Forum, where he encouraged bold imagination and solid work from businesses to translate their ideas into concrete outcomes.

During the tour, Li inspected a number of high-tech products such as monorail cars and precision moulds.

The premier also chaired the Global Entrepreneurial Leaders Forum, during which business leaders, including Apple CEO Tim Cook, Alibaba founder Jack Ma and Tencent CEO Pony Ma, shared their views on China's innovation.

Li hailed innovation and entrepreneurship as an important part of supply-side structural reform and a strong support for fostering new growth momentum.

In the Internet age, innovation and entrepreneurship can help produce novel and diversified supplies, entailing huge potential for China's development, Li said.

He said the government will further streamline administrative powers and improve services to ensure a fair business environment for market entities.

In a visit to Han's Laser Technology Industry Group, Li praised the company's efforts to upgrade equipment manufacturing and urged further breakthroughs to enhance the quality of Chinese manufacturing.

He called for further efforts to deliver China's "Made in China 2025" blueprint, which aims to shift the country away from low-end manufacturing to more value-added production.

"We need to accelerate the fostering of new growth drivers to gradually make them play a leading role in facilitating the transformation of traditional industries," Li said.

China has long been seen as the "world's factory," churning out vast quantities of low-quality goods. But with intensified government efforts, such as financial support and administrative assistance for start-ups, China is closing the innovation gap and is hoping it will invigorate the broader economy.
Photo taken on Nov. 22, 2009 shows the Little Mermaid statue in Copenhagen, capital of Denmark. (Xinhua/Zhao Changchun)

AARHUS, Denmark, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) -- Aarhus, Denmark's second largest city, unveiled on Wednesday an array of cultural programs that will be staged next year when the city will celebrate its title as the European Capital of Culture.

"Aarhus 2017 is going to be a creative tour de force with new works, special commissions, premieres, major events and festivals," said Aarhus 2017 CEO Rebecca Matthews at the launching ceremony.

"And it will encompass plenty of free as well as ticketed events," she added.

According to Matthews, about 400 cultural events, ranging from arts, architecture, design, film, music, literature as well as gastronomy, sport and history, will be staged in the city Aarhus and 18 local communities in the central Danish region for the entire year.

The program features artists from Denmark as well as from wider Scandinavian and European regions, bringing global culture to the region.

Under the banner of "Let's Rethink," Aarhus 2017 challenges the world to use arts and culture as a means of exploring the choices people must make for their future, said Matthews.

"We hope that the different perspectives and creative energy expressed by the outstanding artists assembling in Aarhus next year will be a catalyst and resource for managing those changes," she said.

Aarhus, located on the east coast of Denmark's Jutland peninsula with a population of 330,000, is named by Lonely Planet among the top European tourist destinations for the year 2016.

Aarhus Mayor Jacob Bundsgaard, also the chairman of the Aarhus 2017 Foundation, said the cultural events will boost tourism in the city as well as in surrounding areas, with about 5 million tourists being expected for the year 2017.

"The European Capital of Culture project is one of the most ambitious cultural projects Denmark has ever hosted -- and Aarhus and the rest of the central Jutland region are ready to make our entrance on the international stage," Bundsgaard said.

"I am in no doubt that 2017 will give a permanent boost to the whole area and increase our attractiveness both to new residents and to new business venture," the mayor added.

Initiated in 1985, the European Capital of Culture is an international cultural project that ranks among Europe's most ambitious ones. It embodies the richness and diversity of European culture and contributes to greater mutual understanding between the citizens of Europe.

Aarhus shares the 2017 title with Pafos in Cyprus.
File photo taken on Dec. 5, 2013, released by Thailand's Royal Household Bureau, shows Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej attending a ceremony to mark his 86th birthday at Klai Kangwon Palace in Prachuap Khiri Khan Province, Thailand. According to Thailand's Palace Statement, Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej passes away on Oct. 13, 2016. (Xinhua/Thailand's Royal Household Bureau)

BANGKOK, Oct 13 (Xinhua) -- Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej was pronounced dead on Thursday after years of grave illnesses, leaving the throne to Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn.

The Bureau of the Royal Household announced that the 88-year-old monarch died in quiet manner at 3:52 p.m. (0852 GMT) at Siriraj hospital where he had been diagnosed with critical ailments since the last several years.

King Bhumibol, or King Rama IX of the Chakri dynasty, who had been the world's longest-reigning monarch for the last 70 years, is survived by 63-year-old Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn, who is to be officially proclaimed King Rama X.

Prince Vajiralongkorn, King Bhumibol's only son, was named Crown Prince, the heir apparent to the throne in 1972 in accordance with the Palace Law.

Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha called on the Thai people to mourn the king's death for one full year and Thai flags will fly at half-mast for one month beginning on Friday.

"Today is one of the Thai people's greatest losses since the day King Rama VIII passed away," the premier said in a nationwide broadcast statement, referring to King Ananda Mahidol, King Bhumibol's elder brother, who died at the age of 21.

King Bhumibol, who rose to the throne in 1946, was son of Prince Mahidol Adulyadej and Princess Srinagarindra. He was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the United States in 1927.

The then-Prince Bhumibol grew up in Lausanne, Switzerland before he accompanied his elder brother, King Ananda Mahidol or King Rama VIII, to Thailand in 1928.

The then-Prince Bhumibol was pronounced monarch to succeed his brother on June 9, 1946

In 1950, King Bhumibol was married to Queen Sirikit Kitiyakara.

King Bhumibol is survived by his four children, namely Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn, former princess Ubolratana Rajakanya, Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn and Princess Chulabhorn Walailak.

The late monarch was dubbed King of Agriculture as he was widely known for his initiatives on the agricultural and irrigational sector, which were formulated into some 4,000 development projects throughout the country during the last several decades.

He was as well noted for initiating the so-called sufficiency economy, which was not only promoted in Thailand but also in other developing countries.

The late king's pictures and drawings were seen along the roads, in the government premises and the houses of many villagers throughout the country.

Many projects implemented by successive Thai governments, as well as by the private sector, had been implemented under guidelines and initiatives of the late king, particularly those involving agricultural and irrigational measures and rainmaking technology for drought-affected areas in the country.
YAOUNDE, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) -- New tension has risen in the Central African Republic after deadly violence in the north killed at least 23 people on Wednesday.

The violence that occurred Wednesday in the northern Kaga-Bandoro town brought panic to the local people.

Thirteen civilians and 10 attackers were killed and several others injured in the attack by a Muslim rebel group against refugees, who lived in a base of the UN mission known as MINUSCA, according to information revealed by sources close to this force.

The UN peacekeepers opened fire to protect civilians from the armed group, said the sources.

Contacted Thursday by Xinhua, Colonel Juma Narkoyo, spokesman of the People's Front for the Revival of CAR (FPRC)), one of the factions of former rebel Seleka coalition based in Bambari, a town in central CAR, gave a different version to the violence.

According to him, Central African Armed Forces (FACA) disguised as UN peacekeepers launched the attack against the former rebels.

Kaga-Bandoro is divided by former rebel Seleka, their rival anti-Balakas militias and other armed groups, who are fighting for control of natural resources, such as gold and diamond.

More than six months after taking office, President Faustin-Archange Touadera, who was elected in February's presidential election, and his government are struggling to mobilize all of these protagonists of CAR crisis for the disarmament of their combatants in order to realize normalization of situation and national reconciliation.
BEIJING, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) -- China will launch national safety inspections on school buses as traffic accidents are frequent in the winter, the Ministry of Education said Thursday.

The inspections will also target hidden safety risks in vans, roads and routes, as well as preventive and emergency plans for school bus safety incidents, according to the ministry.

The ministry also urged tougher punishments for violations, such as speeding, exceeding passenger capacity and illegal school buses.

School bus safety is a perennial public concern in China.

In late September, two young children were killed and 11 others injured after a school bus carrying a kindergarten class collided with a truck at an intersection in central China's Henan province. A local government statement said there were no traffic lights at the intersection.

In January, inspections jointly organized by the education and public security authorities disqualified 13,000 substandard school buses from service, and removed 32,000 unlicensed school bus drivers from their jobs.
JUBA, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) -- South Sudan on Thursday said the proposed sanctions by Kenyan lawmakers that include asset freeze on the war-torn country's leaders does not represent the official position of President Uhuru Kenyatta's administration, its spokesman said.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Mawien Makol Ariik told Xinhua in Juba that Kenya and regional countries were supporting South Sudan in implementing the now fragile peace agreement signed last August, in the wake of renewed July fighting between the warring parties.

"As government if there is anyone talking of sanctions I don't think this is the official position of the (Kenyan) government," Makol told Xinhua in an interview.

This came after Kenyan lawmakers from the Defence and Foreign Relations Committee on Wednesday threatened to impose sanctions against South Sudan leaders who are frustrating the signed peace deal.

The lawmakers said they have sponsored a motion in parliament aimed at freezing assets of South Sudanese leaders who are perpetuating conflict in Juba and stopping their families seek refuge in Kenya, where they have been accused of investing assets worth millions of U.S dollars.

"Why would you punish someone that is implementing peace? We are implementing peace with national spirit," the spokesman added.

Makol also said sanctions were uncalled for as the country seeks to salvage the peace deal after ousted First Vice President Riek Machar who leads the rebel force (SPLA-IO) was replaced by Taban Deng Gai in the transitional unity government formed mid-April in the aftermath of renewed fighting in July in the capital Juba between SPLA-IO and troops loyal to President Salva Kiir.

"I don't believe there is reason for anybody to question our ability to implement peace," Makol revealed.

South Sudan descended into deadly conflict in December 2013 after president Kiir accused his deputy Machar of plotting a coup, which the latter denied, leading to killing of tens of thousands and displacing more than 2 million from their homes.
BEIJING, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) -- China has pledged to help 100 million migrants gain urban household registration, or hukou, as part of an urbanization drive to have 45 percent of its registered population living in cities by 2020.

Over the next five years. the government will annually grant over 13 million migrants an urban hukou that will qualify them for social benefits of urban residents, according to a government plan released by the State Council on Tuesday.

It plans to relax household registration requirements in most cities for students from rural areas and migrant workers who have lived in a city for a long time, and will ensure the new hukou-holders have the same social benefits as their urban peers.

The announcement has inspired Wang Jun, 35, a construction worker in southwest China's metropolis of Chongqing.

"If I could get a hukou, my daughter would be able to further her studies here," said Wang, a native of Sichuan Province.

The new policy will accelerate urbanization and relieve social problems caused by children and elderly people left-behind in the countryside, said Kong Xiangzhi, deputy head of the school of agriculture and countryside development at Renmin University.

Meanwhile, the new city dwellers will be a driving force for domestic consumption and production, becoming an engine of China's growth amid the economic slowdown, Kong said.

Under the hukou regime, which dates back to the 1950s, migrants have limited access to health care, education and other social benefits outside their hometowns. Switching hukou can be extremely challenging.

The system has succeeded in preventing the emergence of shantytowns around China's cities but it comes at the cost of breaking up families and forcing migrants from the countryside to live humbly in urban areas.

The percentage of people living in cities and having local hukou stood at 39.9 percent at the end of 2015. The percentage of the entire population living in cities was 56.1 percent, taking into account of many migrants living in cities without the relevant local hukou.

Wang's nine-year-old daughter will have to return to her hometown after graduating from primary school in Chongqing, as hukou is a prerequisite for urban middle school education.

"The hukou system has long been blamed for the widening rural-urban gap and is deemed an injustice," said Dang Guoying, a researcher with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

"China is getting close to world norms with the introduction of the plan, which standardizes and simplifies procedures for urban household registration," Dang said.

Big cities, such as Beijing and Shanghai, are still advised to control their population using a points-based system to give priority to those with college degrees, steady jobs, higher tax payments and capabilities for innovation.

It is a daunting task for Zheng Qin, 27, an office clerk in Beijing, to get a Beijing hukou as he has to pay social insurances for at least seven years to get enough points to compete with others.

Beijing plans to cap its permanent population at 23 million by 2020, with the population in six core districts 15 percent less than 2014 levels.

In smaller cities it is a different scenario. Local governments encourage rural people to live in cities, with high incentives to push urbanization and cut housing inventories.

In Puyang City, central China's Henan Province, where the percentage of the population living in cities stands at 38.2, far lower than the national average, the government is wooing farmers with a 150 yuan (22.4 U.S. dollars) subsidy for every square meter of commercial apartments they buy in urban areas as well as preferential bank loans, a rare treatment for farmers in the past.

Farmers in Puyang can maintain their right to rural land use, even after they get an urban hukou, and are granted the same medical and educational benefits as their urban peers.

Wu Xiangqin, a local farmer who worked in a city as a construction worker for more than ten years, bought a three-bedroom apartment with a 300,000 yuan loan from a local bank and a 20,000 yuan refund from the government this year, realizing the family dream to become real city dwellers.

What worries Wu most is the sluggish construction industry as it is more difficult to find jobs now. Although housing prices in large Chinese cities witnessed a drastic hike in the past year, cutting inventory is still a tough job for smaller cities in central and western China.

Wu called for more government support in job creation and labor rights protection.
UNITED NATIONS, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) -- UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Thursday expressed "his deep condolences" to the Royal family, government and people of Thailand on the passing of King Bhumibol Adulyadej, acknowledging his long dedication to his country and his legacy as a unifying national leader.

"He was revered by the people of Thailand and highly respected internationally," Ban said in a statement issued here by his spokesman. "In recognition of his work, he received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the United Nations Development Program in 2006."

"The secretary-general expresses his hope that Thailand will continue to honor King Bhumibol's legacy of commitment to universal values and respect for human rights," the statement said.

King Bhumibol has died at the age of 88 after a long illness, the Thai Bureau of Royal Household said in a statement on Thursday.
NAIROBI, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) -- Nine Kenyan university students will on Saturday depart for China to participate in a two-week internship program sponsored by technology giant Huawei.

Speaking at a send-off ceremony for the interns, the Principal Secretary in the Ministry of ICT, Victor Kyalo hailed partnership with Huawei to facilitate skills transfer for the youth.

"Provision of ICT skills to the young generation is in line with Kenya's digital transformation agenda. We look forward to a robust partnership with Huawei to bridge skills gap in the ICT sector," Kyalo said.

The nine students who will participate in the 2016 Huawei Seeds for the Future Internship program are drawn from leading Kenyan universities.

Kyalo noted that since its launch in 2014, Huawei Seeds for the Future program has provided a platform for Kenyan youth to hone their skills in ICT.

"We require a critical pool of highly skilled youth to support implementation of a national ICT master-plan. Their input in the rolling out of broadband infrastructure in rural areas is critical," said Kyalo.

The two-week intensive training program for Kenyan students will be conducted at the global headquarters of Huawei in Shenzhen, Guangdong Province.

After completing the two-week study tour in China, the students will also benefit from a two-month internship at Huawei offices in Kenya.

The CEO of Huawei in Kenya, Dean Yu said provision of high end ICT skills to the youth will boost their career prospects.

"The two weeks spent in China is an opportunity for these top students to study and gain work experience as well as exposure required to fit in a globalized business environment," he said.

He added that Huawei aims to support training of 100 Kenyan youth in high end ICT courses by 2017.

Huawei has partnered with Kenya's ICT authority to implement its flagship Seeds for the Future Program that aims to develop local ICT talent through training, mentorship and technology transfer.
ISTANBUL, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) -- Professionals attending an international energy conference here on Thursday called for new and innovative methods in efforts to power the African continent.

Attention was drawn to the fact that despite being blessed with a vast and diverse wealth of energy resources, Africa is still the least electrified continent on the planet, as two out of three Africans lack the access to electricity.

Professionals agreed that new innovative methods are needed to tap Africa's vast oil and gas reserves as well as its potential for renewable energy sources, including solar and hydropower.

For Africans to have sustainable, reliable and affordable power, officials and experts participating in a panel on empowering Africa under the 23rd World Energy Congress in Istanbul called for "bottom-up" and "off-grid" solutions and projects by international institutions and African countries.

Small and big hydroelectric plants as well as solar, wind and geothermal energies would be important and beneficial to the realization of Africans' universal access to electricity by 2030, observed Simon D'ujanga, Uganda's energy minister.

In Uganda, only 20 percent of the population has access to power now, according to the minister.

"We have started micro-financing programs for which we provide resources and in return they provide resources for the villagers," he said. "So that a small household may easily borrow money from a bank to buy a small solar panel."

Elham Mahmood Ahmed Ibrahim, the commissioner for energy and infrastructure with the African Union, urged African states to adopt technological and innovative ways to finance regional projects.

She stressed that encouraging regional integration through interconnected projects must be part of the efforts to empower Africa, especially in supplying electricity to the remote parts of the continent.

The African Union started a new program in 2012 to encourage regional projects, under which 15 power plants have been built and most are already operational, according to Ibrahim.

Simon Bransfield-Garth, chief executive of Azuri Technologies, noted in his article that small-scale renewable home power systems are bringing power for the first time to millions of off-grid consumers in sub-Saharan Africa.

"The technological advances in LED lights, batteries and mobile payment created a clean energy revolution in rural electrification," wrote Bransfield-Garth.
CHENGDU, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) -- Police in southwest China's Sichuan Province have busted 10 relic-trafficking gangs, with 70 suspects detained, authorities said Thursday.

More than 1,000 cultural relics were retrieved after almost two years of investigations, police in Sichuan's Meishan City said. The items were sold for 300 million yuan (45 million U.S. dollars).

In early 2014, Meishan police found evidence that the suspects had been digging for relics at a river where treasures of an ancient Chinese army official were submerged.

The suspects obtained huge profits by trafficking the relics across more than 10 provinces and cities in China, according to initial investigations.

Sichuan police mobilized more than 3,000 police officers in a nationwide crackdown, with many of the relics retrieved, police said.
TIANJIN, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) -- Asia's biggest ice cream and frozen food industry exposition kicked off in north China's Tianjin Municipality on Thursday.

The three-day event features 1,400 booths in a total display area of 35,000 square meters. This year's exposition has attracted nearly 400 domestic and overseas manufacturers of ice cream, frozen food and related production and transportation facilities.

China previously hosted two ice cream industry expositions, with one in Shanghai and another in Tianjin. Organizers announced in June they would merge the two events to reduce excessive competition.

"Ice cream is a young industry in China," said Zhu Nianlin, deputy secretary general of China National Light Industry Council, adding that 3.06 million tonnes of ice cream was produced in China last year.

"We hope the new expo can build a bridge for exchanges between domestic and overseas firms and help domestic firms learn advanced international techniques," said Zhu.

Zhang Xiaohong, head of the organizing committee of Ice Cream China, said currently the world's biggest ice cream industry expo is in Italy.

"We hope that we can expand the expo space to 50,000 square meters in three to five years to make Ice Cream China the world's biggest," said Zhang.
Male nurses work at the ICU in No.4 People's Hospital in Shenyang, capital of northeast China's Liaoning Province, May 11, 2015. (Xinhua/Zhang Wenkui)

THE HAGUE, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) -- People who feel their "life has been completed" should be given the legal right to assisted suicide, the Dutch government has told the parliament.

"People who believe that their life has been completed shall under strict and careful criteria be enabled to end their life in dignity. The government wants to consult with different care providers to develop a new law to shape this principle," said a brief of the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport on Wednesday.

This is about a system in addition to and alongside with the current euthanasia system, it added.

On Wednesday, Dutch Health Minister Edith Schippers and Justice Minister Ard van de Steur addressed a letter to the parliament in response to a report by an independent committee of experts made public last February.

The report concluded that people who might not be suffering from illness but feel their lives have been completed should not have the right to assisted suicide.

The report also said that the current euthanasia law is functioning well and that there is room within the euthanasia that is not used. But it considered undesirable to expand the existing legal possibilities for assisted suicide.

But, "the government believes that such a request for help from people who have unbearable and hopeless suffering without medical basis, can be a legitimate request," said the brief of the Dutch ministry.

The government will seek a solution to ensure that assisted suicide for "completed life" will be carefully checked and balanced without abuse, it added.

Under the current Dutch law, precisely the "Termination of Life on Request and Assisted Suicide Act" which took effect on April 1, 2002, euthanasia is only legal in cases of "hopeless and unbearable" suffering without prospect of improvement. In practice it is limited to those suffering from serious medical conditions, and it must be done by doctors who must follow strict procedures.

In the past decade, several civil organizations and liberal parties have been calling for expanding assisted suicide to people who no longer wish to live but are turned down for euthanasia.

In its February report, the independent committee argued that more should be done to make sure people are not "tired of living" by, for example, doing more to eradicate loneliness.
GAZA, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) -- UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process Nickolay Mladenov warned on Thursday of a new round of violent conflict between Israel and militant groups in the Gaza Strip.

He made the remarks in a news briefing in Gaza, saying that "heat in the Gaza Strip is growing up" between Israel and the Palestinian military factions, mainly Hamas movement, which rules the Gaza Strip.

He warned those "who believe that it's possible to punish the Gaza Strip and keep it under blockade."

Mladenov arrived in Gaza earlier on Thursday in a two-day visit to the coastal enclave that has been under a tight Israeli blockade for 10 years.

He also denounced those "who are digging underground tunnels and make use and invest construction raw-material in the black market for keeping the conflict flaring," saying such behavior equally endangers Palestinians and Israelis lives.

He called on an end to the rockets attacks by militants from Gaza into Israel, saying that they are always followed by "harsher and more violent" retaliations from Israel.

The senior UN diplomat assured that the ceasefire agreement, reached in 2014, is still valid, adding that "to restore calm, we need to follow up many issues, mainly reconstruction."

"We are very much concerned over the slow process of reconstruction," said Mladenov, referring to the time period after the 50-day large-scale Israeli military offensive on the Gaza Strip in 2014.

He unveiled that the UN Security Council would hold a special session next week to discuss the situation in the Gaza Strip, including bringing Israelis and Palestinians to meet over the reconstruction issue.

Israel had repeatedly banned the shipment of cements and other construction materials to the Gaza Strip, claiming that it is used by militants to build up tunnels used for carrying out attacks into Israel.
CAIRO, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) -- Egypt's president Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi ruled out Thursday that the halt of Saudi Arabian fuel shipments to Egypt was an answer to his country's UN Security Council vote on Syria, state-run MENA news agency reported.

"Some thought that the halt of the fuel shipments to Egypt came in response to Egypt's stance in the Security Council but it is not true," Sisi said during an educational seminar organized by the Egyptian Armed Forces.

He said that the fuel halt is related to a deal signed in April, adding that Egypt has taken measures to secure its fuel needs.

"We do not have any problem in regarding the issue of securing fuel," he confirmed.

Media reports attributed the Saudi decision to cease deliveries of fuel supplies to Egypt after the North African country backed a Russian resolution on Syria in the UN Security Council.

Saudi Arabia is one of the strongest supporters of Sisi's administration and it led oil-rich Gulf States, excluding Qatar, to assist Sisi's government with billions of U.S. dollars and tons of oil supplies to maintain Egypt's stability following the military removal of former Islamist President Mohamed Morsi in early July 2013.

Meanwhile, Sisi stressed that Egypt's stance towards the Syrian issue is clear, which is reaching a political solution to the crises, disarming armed groups there and rebuilding the country.

"I see that our brothers in Gulf States do not oppose this," he said.

Sisi also said that Egypt's votes on the French and the Russian resolutions were meant to reach ceasefire and allow the entry of human assistances to the Syrians.

"This was our perspective when we voted," Sisi pointed out.
BEIJING, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) -- China on Thursday expressed deep condolences at the passing of Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej and extended sincere sympathies to the Thai government and people.

"King Bhumibol was revered by the people of Thailand and made remarkable contributions to the country's stability and development," said Foreign Ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang in a statement.

Over the past years, King Bhumibol made painstaking efforts in developing friendly ties between China and Thailand and chartered the direction of bilateral relations with Chinese leaders, Geng said.

King Bhumibol made an irreplaceable contribution to cementing the two people's friendship and expanding bilateral cooperation, said the spokesperson.

King Bhumibol died at the age of 88 after a long illness, the Thai Bureau of Royal Household said in a statement on Thursday.
TEHRAN, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) -- Iranian Foreign Ministry on Thursday urged an immediate halt of clashes in Syria, Press TV reported.

Iran anticipates an "immediate and lasting humanitarian ceasefire" in Syria to be observed by the sides involved, the Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said in a telephone conversation with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov.

Talks between Zarif and Lavrov over the catastrophic condition in Syria was the second over the past 48 hours, coming in the wake of a fresh international push to end the conflict.

Zarif earlier held phone talks with EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini, stressing Iran's "principled position on the all-out fight against terrorism and terrorist groups" and finding "an inclusive political solution" to the Syrian conflict, the report said.
HANOI, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) -- Eric Sidgwick, Asian Development Bank Country Director for Vietnam, has called on Vietnam to focus on its growth trend instead of only on figures.

"How much the growth rate is in a year is important, but the trend of growth rate is more important," Sidgwick said in a recent interview with Xinhua.

In discussions about how much the Vietnamese economy will expand this year and the fact that it remains a hot topic in the country, the official said that it is more important to define underlying factors that allow or encourage the growth trend as well as what factors prohibit the trend from being sustained.

Previously, the Vietnamese government had forecast the country's gross domestic product (GDP) to reach 6.7 percent in 2016. However, the yearly estimated growth was lowered to between 6.3-6.5 percent in early October.

According to the ADB official, the lowered goal is still "unlikely" to be realized.

"So far this year, the drought in Vietnam's Central Highlands and Mekong Delta region has reduced agricultural output. At the same time, the mining sector's output has reduced largely by a decrease in the production of coal."

"These two factors have been active in reducing Vietnam's economic growth rate," said Sidgwick, adding that "Now we expect the growth rate for Vietnam this year will be around 6 percent."

The World Bank, for its part, meanwhile, has just maintained its forecast for Vietnamese economic growth at six percent for 2016.

"Until the end of September, the growth was under 6 percent. So having the annual growth rate at 6.3-6.5 percent means the growth in the last quarter must be very high, at over 7 percent," the economist explained.

"So far, we don't have leading indicator yet," added Sidgwick.

Explaining that the underlying point is not the actual growth rate itself in 2016 or even in 2017, the expert said that the more important factor is how to ensure growth in a sustainable way every year and that growth is shared by more and more people who contribute to the rate.

"The critical issue for Vietnam is how to sustain a high rate of growth. The country has many things to do with the businesses of infrastructure, environment, human skills, capital and access for finance, among others," noted Sidgwick.

According to the ADB official, the Vietnamese economy is very open so it will be subject to changes in external markets for Vietnamese goods and services.

As the country cannot control such external changes but can control what types of goods and services it provides and the markets which it competes in, the expert suggested that Vietnam diversify its exported goods and services as well as export markets, in order to be more resilient to any particular economic shock.

He went on to explain that the free trade agreements (FTA) between Vietnam and the European Union, the Republic of Korea, and, possibly, the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), are all very good for Vietnam as it opens the market up for Vietnamese products and may contribute to increasing Vietnam's competition.

"While competing with other agricultural exporters and producers, Vietnam will have to drive reforms in its agriculture sector, so that it can become more competitive and raise the income of farmers and those who live in rural areas, which makes up a high proportion in Vietnam," Sidgwick elaborated.

Meanwhile, he proposed Vietnam focus more on increasing domestic consumption as the country has a large population of 91 million people.

"This is a large market and part of the market is getting richer, which means an increase in domestic demand for goods and services," Sidgwick told Xinhua.

Concerning risks that the Vietnamese economy is facing, the ADB official said there are two risks in its growth model and in the finance sector.

In Vietnam's growth model, despite affirming the critical role of the state-owned enterprises (SOEs), the economist urged the country to allow its domestic private sector to thrive more than now.

"(Potentially)...A lot of efficiency can be gained with the reduction of the state sector and the involvement of the private sector," said the expert.

As for the finance sector, which is heavily dominated by the banking industry, the expert advised Vietnam to solve its bad debts and reform the stock market to mitigate the risks and diversify its sources and modalities of financing.

In conclusion, the ADB chief said that learning lessons from other countries, carrying out reforms to SOEs, deepening the financial market, further improving infrastructure and connectivity, are key elements to continuing Vietnam's successful development path.
Palestinian fishermen ride their boats as they go fishing at the seaport of Gaza City on Oct. 10, 2016. (Xinhua photo)

GAZA, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) -- UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process Nickolay Mladenov warned on Thursday of a new round of violent conflict between Israel and militant groups in the Gaza Strip.

He made the remarks in a news briefing in Gaza, saying that "heat in the Gaza Strip is growing up" between Israel and the Palestinian military factions, mainly Hamas movement, which rules the Gaza Strip.

He warned those "who believe that it's possible to punish the Gaza Strip and keep it under blockade."

Mladenov arrived in Gaza earlier on Thursday in a two-day visit to the coastal enclave that has been under a tight Israeli blockade for 10 years.

He also denounced those "who are digging underground tunnels and make use and invest construction raw-material in the black market for keeping the conflict flaring," saying such behavior equally endangers Palestinians and Israelis lives.

He called on an end to the rockets attacks by militants from Gaza into Israel, saying that they are always followed by "harsher and more violent" retaliations from Israel.

The senior UN diplomat assured that the ceasefire agreement, reached in 2014, is still valid, adding that "to restore calm, we need to follow up many issues, mainly reconstruction."

"We are very much concerned over the slow process of reconstruction," said Mladenov, referring to the time period after the 50-day large-scale Israeli military offensive on the Gaza Strip in 2014.

He unveiled that the UN Security Council would hold a special session next week to discuss the situation in the Gaza Strip, including bringing Israelis and Palestinians to meet over the reconstruction issue.

Israel had repeatedly banned the shipment of cements and other construction materials to the Gaza Strip, claiming that it is used by militants to build up tunnels used for carrying out attacks into Israel.
ANKARA, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) -- Turkey and Iraq carried on negotiations about Turkish troops in a military camp in Mosul region, Turkish presidential spokesperson Ibrahim Kalin said on Thursday.

Ankara wants to resolve the problem through negotiations with Baghdad, Kalin told reporters at the presidential complex.

Turkey neither has an eye on Iraq's land nor has any secret agenda, and whoever thinks in contrary is acting maliciously or in deep delusion, he said.

The spokesperson tuned down war of words between Ankara and Baghdad that was erupted over Turkish troops in Bashiqa military camp in northern Iraq, local media reported.

Kalin warned of possibility of major migration from Mosul in case of mistakes in a planned military operation in the Iraqi province, according to private NTV.

"Any offensive towards Mosul is of particular concern to Ankara since any mistake can lead to thousands of people fleeing," he said.

Turkey's primary concern regarding an operation is to carry out the offensive in coordination in order to secure people of Mosul, the spokesperson stated.

Any mistake could harm struggle against the Islamic State (IS) and bring up new complications in Turkey's fight against the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), he said.

Kalin expressed Turkey's concerns about reports that the PKK fighters in Sinjar region might participate in Mosul operation.

"We have shared information and documents on this issue with relevant parties, with Iraqi officials being in the first place," he noted.

Turkish troops at the Bashiqa camp in northern Iraq were seen by Iraq as "hostile occupying forces." The Turkish parliament voted lately to extend its military mandate in Iraq and Syria, in a move that has further angered Iraqi officials.

The presence of Turkish troops in Iraq was recently criticized by Baghdad. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said Turkey's military presence at the Bashiqa Camp in northern Iraq would continue despite the parliament in Baghdad branding Turkish forces as "occupiers" earlier this week.

Last December, Turkey sent some 150 troops and about two dozen combat tanks to Bashiqa, located some 12 kilometers northeast of Mosul.
Antonio Guterres (front) gestures after he was appointed as the new UN Secretary-General at the UN headquarters in New York, Oct. 13, 2016. The United Nations General Assembly on Thursday appointed by acclamation Portuguese former Prime Minister Antonio Guterres as next UN secretary-general to succeed retiring Ban Ki-moon on Jan. 1, 2017. (Xinhua/Li Muzi)

UNITED NATIONS, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations General Assembly on Thursday appointed Portugal's former Prime Minister Antonio Guterres as next UN secretary-general to succeed retiring Ban Ki-moon whose term expires at the end of this year.

The 193-member General Assembly adopted a resolution on his appointment by acclamation after Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin, Security Council president for October, reported to the Assembly on the council's unanimous recommendation of Guterres.

The five-year term for the secretary-general designate will start on Jan. 1, 2017 and end on Dec. 31, 2021, according to the resolution.

Guterres, a 67-year-old politician, served as UN High Commissioner for Refugees from June 2005 to December 2015. Before joining the UN refugee agency, Guterres spent more than 20 years in government and public service. He was the prime minister of Portugal from 1995 to 2002.

On his appointment, Guterres said he felt gratitude and humility as well as a profound sense of responsibility, while adding that "he is fully aware of the challenges the UN faces and the limitations surrounding the secretary-general."

"The dramatic problems of today's complex world can only inspire a humble approach - one in which the Secretary-General alone neither has all the answers, nor seeks to impose his views," said Guterres.

"One in which the secretary-general makes his good offices available, working as a convener, a mediator, a bridge-builder and an honest broker to help find solutions that benefit everyone involved," he added.

Guterres expressed his gratefulness to the General Assembly and the Security Council for entrusting him with the position "in a remarkable demonstration of consensus and unity" and for the transparency and openness of the selection process.

The incumbent UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said to the Assembly that Guterres not only brings "deep and solid political experience" and has acted as a lifeline for millions upon millions of people forced from homes over the past decade.

"He is a wonderful choice to steer this Organization as we build on the progress of the past decade while addressing the insecurity and uncertainties of today's world," said Ban.

Representatives from five regional groups as well as the host country of the UN congratulated Guterres on his appointment and have pledged support for him to guide the UN in face of challenges ahead.

On last Thursday, the UN Security Council formally and unanimously recommended Guterres to head the world's largest international organization.

The UN Charter says "the secretary-general shall be appointed by the General Assembly upon recommendation of the Security Council." In practice, the Security Council will make the final choice and send a single candidate to the General Assembly for approval.

Traditionally, for a UN secretary-general, each term is five years with a maximum of two terms.

This year, for the first time in history of the United Nations, UN chief candidates were asked to submit resumes and answer questions from UN member states as well as the civil society during the selection process.

President of the General Assembly Peter Thomson said at the appointment that guided by principles of transparency and inclusivity, the process that has been undertaken to arrive at today's decision has been a "historic" one.

"I am confident that Mr. Guterres will serve the global community with dedication, as a moral authority, and be the voice of our collective conscience and humanity, throughout his term," he said.

According to Thomson, the ceremony at which Guterres takes the oath of office will be held later this year.

Related:

Profile of likely next UN chief Antonio Guterres

News Analysis: Clues seen to Guterres' top priority as new UN chief

UNITED NATIONS, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) -- The UN General Assembly on Thursday appointed by acclamation Antonio Guterres, the former Portuguese prime minister and former head of the UN refugee agency, as the secretary-general of the United Nations to replace Ban Ki-moon, who is to leave on Dec. 31 at the end of his two five-year terms.
PHNOM PENH, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) -- Cambodian Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen on Thursday expressed his condolences over the death of Thailand's most revered King Bhumibol Adulyadej.

"His decease is a great loss not only for Thailand and the Thai people, but also for all friends around the world," Hun Sen wrote in a condolence message sent to Thai Prime Minister Gen. Prayut Chan-o-cha.

He said Bhumibol Adulyadet had dedicated his entire life to the nation's unity and the prosperity and happiness of Thai people.

"His wise kingship and tireless devotion to his nation, with great personality, will be always remembered by all Thai people," the Cambodian leader said.

"In this moment of deepest sadness for you and your country, allow me, on behalf of the Royal Government and people of Cambodia, to extend my heartfelt sympathies and profound condolences to Her Majesty the Queen and all members of royal family, as well as the Government and the people of Thailand, for this great loss," Hun Sen said.

Bhumibol Adulyadet, the longest reigning monarch in the world, died on Thursday at the age of 88 after a long illness.
by Xinhua writer Gu Zhenqiu

UNITED NATIONS, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) -- The UN General Assembly on Thursday appointed by acclamation Antonio Guterres, the former Portuguese prime minister and former head of the UN refugee agency, as the secretary-general of the United Nations to replace Ban Ki-moon, who is to leave on Dec. 31 at the end of his two five-year terms.

The sustained standing ovation from the 193 member states showed their unity and consensus in supporting the 67-year-old Guterres, a unanimous choice by the 15-member UN Security Council, which recommended him for the role of the world's top diplomat.

The speech by the secretary-general-designate at the General Assembly hall revealed clues to his top priority when he assumes his office on Jan. 1, 2017.

Peace, justice, human dignity, tolerance and solidarity are among his top priorities as the next secretary-general, his speech revealed as he said "I am fully aware of the challenges of the UN faces and the limitations surrounding the secretary-general."

"Without peace, life is devoid of all its meaning," he said.

"Based on these values, I believe that diversity in all its forms is a tremendous asset, and not a threat; that in societies that are more and more multi-ethnic, multi-cultural and multi-religious, diversity can bring us together, not drive us apart," he said.

As he was speaking, the guns of war were still being heard in such countries as Syria, Yemen, Mali, South Sudan while women and girls remain marginalized in their societies. The unfair international political and economic order still prevails in today's world as the gap between rich and poor nations is widening.

Guterres said that he is looking forward to working with all UN member states as "the secretary-general alone neither has all the answers (to the dramatic problems of today's complex world), nor seeks to impose his views."

As secretary-general, Guterres said that he is ready to make his good offices available, "working as a convener, mediator, a bridge-builder and an honest broker to help find solutions that benefit everyone involved."

At the same time, gender equality is also expected to be among his top priorities. "I have long been aware of the hurdles women face in society, in the family and in the workplace just because of their gender," he said. "The protection and the empowerment of women and girls will continue to be a priority commitment for me."

Besides, he said, "I will do my utmost to honor" the legacy of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who has been tirelessly working to promote sustainable development and tackle climate change.

From now on until his assumption of his new post, Guterres, who also served as UN refugee chief for a decade until last December, is expected to have wide consultations with UN member states to fine tune his top priorities.

The UN Charter describes the secretary-general as "chief administrative officer" of the world body, who acts in that capacity and performs such other functions as are entrusted to him by the Security Council, General Assembly, the Economic and Social Council and other UN organs.

The Charter also empowers the secretary-general to bring to the attention of the Security Council, the most powerful UN body, any matter which might threaten the maintenance of international peace and security.

The new secretary-general would fail if he did not take careful account of the needs and concerns of individual member states, but he would also be remiss if he did not uphold the values and moral authority of the United Nations, and speak and act independently for peace -- even at the risk of challenging or disagreeing with those same member states.

At the moment, Guterres enjoys unanimous support from the Security Council and General Assembly. The Security Council nominated Guterres by acclamation last week after its sixth informal poll. He topped all the six straw polls, which included a total of 13 candidates -- seven women and six men.

Apart from wide endorsement, acclamation at the Security Council and then the General Assembly also mirrored high expectations from the international community.

"As secretary-general, having been chosen by all member states, I must be at the service of them all equally and with no agenda but the one enshrined in the UN Charter," he added.
Photo taken on Oct. 27, 2015 shows a corner of Antwerp Port in Antwerp, Belgium. (Xinhua/Ye Pingfan)

BRUSSELS, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) -- China's outbound foreign direct investment (FDI) should not be seen as a threat but an opportunity for Chinese and Belgian companies, said Bernard Dewit, chairman of the Belgian-Chinese Economic and Commercial Council (BCECC).

"China's FDI gives opportunities to Belgian companies to develop and increase their business in Europe as well as in China," Dewit told Xinhua in an exclusive interview on Thursday.

"More business delegations should be encouraged in both countries. Small and medium-sized companies should be helped by the authorities of respective countries to go abroad and gain a better knowledge of each other's market," added Dewit.

On the Belt and Road Initiative, Dewit said the project could provide many cooperation opportunities in the field of economy and culture.

"More and more small and medium-sized companies from both counties should get in touch through that initiative and new business initiatives should arrive from these contacts. Belgium and its regions are making efforts to attract more Chinese companies and investments to our country. This is made easier by the open character of our economy," said Dewit.

The year 2016 marks the 45th anniversary of the establishment of the diplomatic relations between China and Belgium. The two countries held a series of events to celebrate it this year.

The "Sino-Belgian relations are excellent," said Dewit, adding that as Belgium has played a key role in the EU institutions due to the fact that it is hosting important institutions such as the EU Commission, the country has always been paying much attention to the relations between Europe and China and pushing for smooth EU-China ties.

He added, "More and more Belgian citizens have a better knowledge about China due to the fact that more high schools are organizing Chinese language courses, due to the presence of several Confucius Institutes in the country."

In order to have better mutual trust between China and Belgium, "you need to know each other better. So initiatives to make Belgium better known in China and to make China better known in Belgium should be encouraged," stressed Dewit.

Dewit feel the changes in China over the last 20 years are "impressive." Cities are bustling and poverty has been dramatically reduced, he observed.

"What impressed me most was the constant goal of Chinese authorities to open more of their country and provinces to the outside world in trade, financial, economic and culture aspects. The improvement of the role of the law is noticeable and appreciated by many foreign investors," said Dewit.

He said he also appreciated the positive attitude of China at the Paris climate conference (COP21), when it acted to better protect environment.
SANAA, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) -- The United States' attack on the Yemeni territory is not acceptable, warning the power country against any future attack, a military spokesman of the Yemeni dominant Shiite Houthi group said Thursday in a statement carried by Houthi-run Saba news agency.

The pentagon said it carried out three strikes with cruise missiles targeting three radar sites on the Yemeni Red Sea coast under control of Houthi rebels.

"We reiterated our denial of targeting any U.S. warship in the Red Sea, confirming our complete control of our fighters, naval defense weapons and all territories, except the territories under control of al-Qaida or Saudi-led military coalition," said Brigadier General Sharaf Luqman, the spokesman for Yemeni forces fighting alongside the Houthis.

"The direct American attack against the Yemeni soil this morning is not acceptable, and we will respond with any future development in the appropriate time and with the appropriate manner," Luqman warned.

Luqman said his country is keen on the security of international navigation, warning the United States and the Saudi-led coalition of any further escalation that could turn the Red Sea and Bab al-Mandab Strait into an all-out war zone.

"We have the right to defend our country against terrorist groups and the aggression by Saudi Arabia and its allies in the military coalition," Luqman said.

The Houthi response came hours after the United States said it launched three cruise strikes this morning against Houthi radar sites on three Yemeni Red Sea coast cities of Ras Issa, Mucka and Khokha.

Houthis backed by forces loyal to former President Ali Abdullah Saleh seized control of much of northern Yemen, including the capital Sanaa, in September 2014, forcing Saudi-backed government of president Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi to flee into exile.

Saudi Arabia responded militarily with its military coalition in March 2015, launching large-scale airstrikes to roll back Houthi gains and restore its ally Yemeni president Hadi to power. The Saudi attempts have yet to achieve the goal.

The air campaign and ground battles have since killed over 10,000 Yemenis, mostly women and children, displacing around 3 million others.
PHNOM PENH, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping Thursday congratulated Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa after Portugal's former Prime Minister Antonio Guterres was appointed as next UN secretary-general.

"I believe Guterres will keep his commitment to the UN Charter and work with the international community to cope with global challenges, safeguard world peace, promote common development and contribute to world cooperation," Xi said.

In his message, Xi said China and Portugal enjoy a traditional friendship with enhanced political trust and strengthened cooperation in various areas.

China is ready to work with Portugal to push forward the friendly and cooperative relations between the two countries, Xi said.
Syrian pro-government soldiers hold a position as they advance in Aleppo's restive Bustan al-Basha neighbourhood on October 6, 2016. (AFP/Xinhua)

MOSCOW, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) -- Top Russian and U.S. diplomats will meet on Saturday in Lausanne, Switzerland, with their counterparts of some other countries to discuss the reinstatement of the ceasefire in Syria, the Russian Foreign Ministry said Thursday.

"On Oct. 15, a ministerial meeting on Syria will take place in Lausanne in so-called narrow format," the ministry's spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said at a briefing.

She said the meeting had been agreed between Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and U.S. State Secretary John Kerry, as well as representatives of some "influential powers of the region" including Turkey and Saudi Arabia. But she added the final list of participants had yet to be completed.

The main issue of the discussion will be the prospects of Syrian settlement with an emphasis on the necessity to renew the ceasefire regime on the basis of the agreements reached between Russia and the United States on Sept. 9 in Geneva, Zakharova said.

To that end, the separation of the moderate opposition from terrorists is necessary, primarily in the vicinity of the Syrian city of Aleppo, she added.

To guarantee the success of the Lausanne meeting, all the main players will also have to assume certain responsibilities and to carry out work with the opposing forces in order to guarantee strict observation of the truce conditions by all parties, said the spokesman.

In case of success, real conditions will be created for the restart of the political process of intra-Syrian settlement, Zakharova said.

The United States have earlier announced the suspension of negotiations over Syria amid continued air strikes in Aleppo that shattered the ceasefire agreement reached in September.

In response, Moscow accused Washington of consistently failing to fulfill its promise to separate the moderate opposition from terrorist groups.
Photo taken on Oct. 11, 2016 shows the Cave Church inside Convent of Virgin Mary which is believed to be the last stop of the Holy Family in Upper Egypt, in Dronka town of Assiut, Egypt. The Monastery of Virgin Mary at Al-Muharraq and the Convent of Virgin Mary on the Mountain of Assiut province in southern Egypt stand as historical eyewitnesses of the flee trip of the Holy Family of Jesus Christ, his mother Virgin Mary and St. Joseph to Upper Egypt over 2,000 years ago. (Xinhua/Meng Tao)

by Mahmoud Fouly, Wang Xue

ASSIUT, Egypt, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) -- The Monastery of Virgin Mary at Al-Muharraq and the Convent of Virgin Mary on the Mountain of Assiut province in southern Egypt stand as historical eyewitnesses of the flee trip of the Holy Family of Jesus Christ, his mother Virgin Mary and St. Joseph to Upper Egypt over 2,000 years ago.

Approaching Al-Muharraq Monastery at Al-Qusiya town in Assiut, some 400 km from Egypt's capital Cairo, the large external walls lead to the inner area of the monastery that includes Virgin Mary's Church, the most ancient part of the monastery that dates back to Jesus' childhood.

"This is the oldest church in Egypt and the only one consecrated by Jesus and his disciples," said Father Philoxenous, a monk at Al-Muharraq Monastery, while talking about the simple-built ancient church made of sun-dried bricks with unsymmetrical walls.

"Jesus stayed here for six months and five days, and this is the most important content in the sanctuary," the priest told Xinhua while pointing to the cubic-shaped altar inside the church with a semicircular edge and a marble slab on its surface where Greek inscription is engraved.

He explained that the place had been used first as a church for 400 years, and since the fourth century monks began to gather around the church and start the monastic life. "So, we're talking about a 2,000-year-old place."

At the altar sanctuary inside the church, several people have been doing their prayers including a group of old ladies who came from San Francisco in the United States just to visit the place.

"I feel here the scent of saints, Jesus Christ and his mother Virgin Mary. For me, this is one of the holiest places in the world. It is like Jerusalem to me. This is why I covered all the way from San Francisco to get its blessing," Amany Girgis, a lady in her 50s, told Xinhua near the altar inside the old church.

The ancient area of the monastery includes the old church that dates back to the first century, the taller fort that was used for monks' protection in the seventh century and nearby St. George Church that dates back 150 years.

Assiut officials said that they pay a lot of interest on providing sufficient services for the Coptic holy sites in the southern province and that they have recently added new attachments to the place as well as direction signs in the main desert roads to reach the monasteries.

"Assiut Tourism Authority is in constant communication with those in charge of the monasteries to develop their surroundings, prepare the roads leading to them, provide them with sufficient lighting, plants and other services," said Osman al-Husseini, chief of Assiut Tourism Activation Authority.

The official told Xinhua at his office in Assiut Governorate building that Coptic monasteries are among the most important touristic sites visited by both Christians and Muslims from all over the world, noting his authority is working hard to shed light on them as key spots on Egypt's touristic map.

"We included them in the CDs we made on Assiut sites with nine languages including Chinese, and we distributed them to all embassies and airports around Egypt," Husseini continued while opening the Chinese version of the CD.

Located on Assiut Mountain about 100 meters above ground level, the Convent of Virgin Mary in Dronka town, around 7 km of western Assiut, is believed to be the last stop of the Holy Family in Upper Egypt. It is frequented by hundreds of thousands every year as a place of pilgrimage.

"It is one of the oldest monasteries in the Coptic history, as it dates back to the fourth century as a monastery and to the end of the first century as a place of prayers represented in the Cave Church," said Father Luke, a monk in the convent.

Inside the 4,500 year-old cave, which dates back to 2500 BC, people gathered at the furthest left side of the Cave Church to say their prayers while examining the small room which is believed to be the Holy Family's refuge before leaving back home.

Besides the Cave Church, the convent includes several other churches as well as halls for spiritual and social activities and many rooms for reception and accommodation for visitors.

"We developed all places in the convent except for the cave. We can't develop it, because it is 4,500 years old," the monk told Xinhua inside the Cave Church, noting the convent is most crowded during the Coptic festival in August.

At one of the corners of the church, Shenouda Milad, a man in his late 30s, said that he has come from northern Egypt to visit the Convent of Virgin Mary.

"We come on a journey to visit all monasteries in Upper Egypt including Luxor, Sohag, Aswan, Menia and finally Assiut as they all were visited and inhabited by Virgin Mary and Jesus Christ," the man told Xinhua, noting that the Holy Family spent three months in the cave before returning home.
JERUSALEM, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) -- Israel slammed a resolution from the United Nations cultural body disregarding Jewish link to the al-Aqsa mosque compound in East Jerusalem, said government statements released Thursday.

The resolution of United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) was put forward by the Palestinians and Algeria, Egypt, Lebanon, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, and Sudan.

It "strongly condemns the Israeli escalating aggressions and illegal measures" against Muslims at the site, which is revered by Muslims as Haram al-Sharif (or "the Noble Sanctuary") and by Jews as the Temple Mount.

Israeli officials reacted with anger to the resolution, charging it made no reference to the Jewish history of the site, which Jews revere as the place of their historic temples.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned the decision as a "theater of the absurd," adding the Jews have been revering the compound as their "holiest site for over three thousand years."

"What's next? A UNESCO decision denying the connection between peanut butter and jelly? Batman and Robin? Rock and roll?" The prime minister wrote on his Facebook page, vowing that Israel "will continue to fight the lies, hatred and double standards at the UN."

Israel occupied East Jerusalem during the 1967 Mideast War and later annexed it, claiming it part of its "indivisible" capital, in an act not recognized by the international community.

The site has been at the center of a yearlong bloody violence wave, which claimed the lives of at least 230 Palestinians and 36 Israelis.

Israel has been saying that most Palestinians were killed while trying to carry out a knife, car-ramming, and shooting attacks, while the Palestinians and human rights organizations say that Israel is using excessive force to quell the unrest, and sometimes mistook innocent Palestinians for attackers.

Israeli leaders have accused the Palestinian National Authority of "inciting" the unrest.

Meanwhile, the Palestinians say the unrest 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, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Premier Li Keqiang on Thursday congratulated his Portuguese counterpart Antonio Costa after Portugal's former Prime Minister Antonio Guterres was appointed as the next UN secretary-general.

In his message of congratulations, Li said Guterres is very experienced in and familiar with world affairs and has outstanding capabilities of leadership.

Li said China believes that Guterres and the UN Secretariat will continue to play a major role in safeguarding world peace, promoting common development and pushing forward global cooperation.

Li stressed that China pays great attention to Sino-Portuguese relations and will work with Portugal in furthering the development of bilateral relations.

Guterres was also former UN High Commissioner for Refugees.
A tour bus runs on the Royal Miles street in Edinburgh, Scotland, on Sept. 19, 2014. (Xinhua/Han Yan)

LONDON, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) -- Within a matter of days a draft bill will be published by the Scottish Parliament paving the way for Scots to have a second vote on Scotland breaking its ties with Britain.

SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon, who is also First Minister at Holyrood, seat of the Scottish Parliament, let a political rabbit out of the hat at the start on her party's conference in Glasgow.

Just over two years ago the people of Scotland voted in a referendum by a margin of 10 percent to remain part of the United Kingdom.

Although the SNP never took its eye off the independence ball, it was clear that a re-run of the referendum was off the agenda for a generation.

Things changed on June 23 when the British voted by 52-48 to sever its ties with Brussels. In Scotland, though, the majority voted to stay in the EU, by a wide margin of 62 to 38.

So it was hardly surprising Sturgeon was given a rapturous standing ovation when she opened the SNP annual conference in Glasgow Thursday when she outlined her plans for a second independence referendum.

Another referendum could take place, she said, before the two-year Article 50 process for Britain leaving the EU is completed in 2019.

Sturgeon fired verbal broadsides at British Prime Minister Theresa May and her Conservative government.

She told delegates: "Last week, the Prime Minister told us that how important it was to respect the democratic mandate of the people. I agree. Which is why I say this to her today, it's high time you showed some respect for the 62 percent of people across Scotland who voted to Remain."

Sturgeon added: "There is no doubt that Brexit is a defining issue of our time -- for Scotland and for the UK."

She confirmed that SNP MPs at Westminster will next year vote against May's Great Bill, aimed at scrapping all EU legislation introduced in Britain over the past 40 years.

Sturgeon wants Scotland to remain part of Europe's single market, telling delegates: "The Prime Minister may have a mandate to take England and Wales out of the EU but she has no mandate whatsoever to remove any part of the UK from the Single Market."

In a message fired at May, Sturgeon said: "But hear this, if you think for one single second that I'm not serious about doing what it takes to protect Scotland's interests, then think again. If you can't, or won't, allow us to protect our interests within the UK, then Scotland will have the right to decide, afresh, if it wants to take a different path."

The 46-year-old leader added: "A hard Brexit will change the UK fundamentally. A UK out of the single market - isolated, inward looking, haemorrhaging jobs, investment and opportunities will not be the same country that Scotland voted to stay part of in 2014."

Sturgeon also confirmed Thursday that an Independence Referendum Bill will be published for consultation across Scotland next week.

The Scottish Greens welcomed Sturgeon's announcement of a consultation on a new referendum bill.

A spokesman for the party said: "Independence may be Scotland's best hope of remaining in the EU."

Scottish Secretary David Mundell said independence talk is "damaging the Scottish economy."

Mundell said: "The people of Scotland spoke loudly and clearly in the result of the legal, fair and decisive referendum of 2014 and that should be respected. As we prepare to leave the EU, the first minister should commit her government to working constructively with the UK government to seize the opportunities that will bring, not taking Scotland back to the divisive constitutional debates of the past."

Kezia Dugdale, the Scottish Labour leader, said: "Nicola Sturgeon's top priority is to divide our nation once again. But our country is already divided following the Tories' reckless Brexit gamble and we should not be seeking further divisions."

"Our economy is in trouble, and the last thing we need is the uncertainty of another independence referendum. It is little over two years since more than two million Scots voted to reject independence. Nicola Sturgeon promised us that she would respect that result and said the referendum would put the issue to bed for a 'generation'. She should keep that promise," said Dugdale.

Conservative leader in Scotland, Ruth Davidson said: "Nicola Sturgeon could today have set out a positive, constructive vision for how the country progresses together. Instead she has made it clear she wants to take Scotland back to yet more uncertainty, more division and more constitutional upheaval. Her comments show she has given up on speaking for Scotland and is now solely playing to the SNP gallery."

The big question for the 4 million people in Scotland entitled to vote could be whether they see their future as part of the UK or the EU.
Approaching Al-Muharraq Monastery at Al-Qusiya town in Assiut, some 400 km from Egypt's capital Cairo, the large external walls lead to the inner area of the monastery that includes Virgin Mary's Church, the most ancient part of the monastery that dates back to Jesus' childhood. (Xinhua/Meng Tao)

ASSIUT, Egypt, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) -- The Monastery of Virgin Mary at Al-Muharraq and the Convent of Virgin Mary on the Mountain of Assiut province in southern Egypt stand as historical eyewitnesses of the flee trip of the Holy Family of Jesus Christ, his mother Virgin Mary and St. Joseph to Upper Egypt over 2,000 years ago.

Approaching Al-Muharraq Monastery at Al-Qusiya town in Assiut, some 400 km from Egypt's capital Cairo, the large external walls lead to the inner area of the monastery that includes Virgin Mary's Church, the most ancient part of the monastery that dates back to Jesus' childhood.

"This is the oldest church in Egypt and the only one consecrated by Jesus and his disciples," said Father Philoxenous, a monk at Al-Muharraq Monastery, while talking about the simple-built ancient church made of sun-dried bricks with unsymmetrical walls.

"Jesus stayed here for six months and five days, and this is the most important content in the sanctuary," the priest told Xinhua while pointing to the cubic-shaped altar inside the church with a semicircular edge and a marble slab on its surface where Greek inscription is engraved.

He explained that the place had been used first as a church for 400 years, and since the fourth century monks began to gather around the church and start the monastic life. "So, we're talking about a 2,000-year-old place."

At the altar sanctuary inside the church, several people have been doing their prayers including a group of old ladies who came from San Francisco in the United States just to visit the place.

"I feel here the scent of saints, Jesus Christ and his mother Virgin Mary. For me, this is one of the holiest places in the world. It is like Jerusalem to me. This is why I covered all the way from San Francisco to get its blessing," Amany Girgis, a lady in her 50s, told Xinhua near the altar inside the old church.

The ancient area of the monastery includes the old church that dates back to the first century, the taller fort that was used for monks' protection in the seventh century and nearby St. George Church that dates back 150 years.

Assiut officials said that they pay a lot of interest on providing sufficient services for the Coptic holy sites in the southern province and that they have recently added new attachments to the place as well as direction signs in the main desert roads to reach the monasteries.

"Assiut Tourism Authority is in constant communication with those in charge of the monasteries to develop their surroundings, prepare the roads leading to them, provide them with sufficient lighting, plants and other services," said Osman al-Husseini, chief of Assiut Tourism Activation Authority.

The official told Xinhua at his office in Assiut Governorate building that Coptic monasteries are among the most important touristic sites visited by both Christians and Muslims from all over the world, noting his authority is working hard to shed light on them as key spots on Egypt's touristic map.

"We included them in the CDs we made on Assiut sites with nine languages including Chinese, and we distributed them to all embassies and airports around Egypt," Husseini continued while opening the Chinese version of the CD.

Located on Assiut Mountain about 100 meters above ground level, the Convent of Virgin Mary in Dronka town, around 7 km of western Assiut, is believed to be the last stop of the Holy Family in Upper Egypt. It is frequented by hundreds of thousands every year as a place of pilgrimage.

"It is one of the oldest monasteries in the Coptic history, as it dates back to the fourth century as a monastery and to the end of the first century as a place of prayers represented in the Cave Church," said Father Luke, a monk in the convent.

Inside the 4,500 year-old cave, which dates back to 2500 BC, people gathered at the furthest left side of the Cave Church to say their prayers while examining the small room which is believed to be the Holy Family's refuge before leaving back home.

Besides the Cave Church, the convent includes several other churches as well as halls for spiritual and social activities and many rooms for reception and accommodation for visitors.

"We developed all places in the convent except for the cave. We can't develop it, because it is 4,500 years old," the monk told Xinhua inside the Cave Church, noting the convent is most crowded during the Coptic festival in August.

At one of the corners of the church, Shenouda Milad, a man in his late 30s, said that he has come from northern Egypt to visit the Convent of Virgin Mary.

"We come on a journey to visit all monasteries in Upper Egypt including Luxor, Sohag, Aswan, Menia and finally Assiut as they all were visited and inhabited by Virgin Mary and Jesus Christ," the man told Xinhua, noting that the Holy Family spent three months in the cave before returning home.
by William M. Reilly

UNITED NATIONS, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) -- The UN General Assembly by acclamation on Thursday formally appointed Antonio Guterres, a former prime minister of Portugal and a former UN High Commissioner for refugees, the next secretary-general to begin his five-year term on Jan. 1, 2017.

"Having been chosen by all member states, I must be at the service of them all equally and with no agenda but the one enshrined in the UN Charter," he said in General Assembly Hall remarks.

Acknowledging limitations of the office, he promised to be "a convener, a mediator, a bridge-builder and an honest broker to help find solutions that benefit everyone involved."

The ninth secretary-general to-be said he greeted his appointment with humility for being entrusted with the position and gratitude for the transparency of the selection process, saying, "I believe this process means that the true winner today is the credibility of the United Nations."

Having witnessed "the suffering of the most vulnerable people on earth ... visited war zones and refugee camps" Guterres said, "one might legitimately ask: what has happened to the 'dignity and worth of the human person'? What has made us immune to the plight of those most socially and economically underprivileged?"

He wants to make "human dignity the core of my work."

"This also underscores the importance of gender equality. I have long been aware of the hurdles women face in society, in the family and in the workplace just because of their gender," the secretary-designate said.

He vowed to work for "peace, justice, human dignity, tolerance and solidarity. Based on these values, I believe that diversity in all its forms is a tremendous asset, and not a threat; that in societies that are more and more multi-ethnic, multi-cultural and multi-religious, diversity can bring us together, not drive us apart."

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Guterres "brings deep and solid political experience.

"His political instincts are those of the United Nations: cooperation for the common good, and shared responsibility for people and the planet," Ban said. "He recognizes the crucial importance of women's empowerment, from peace tables to the halls of this house."

"I have long valued his advice, and long admired his spirit of service," the secretary-general said of his designated successor.

"You have often shared your feeling of privilege to be part of the United Nations," Ban told Guterres. "Despite all the challenges, you said, 'this is still the best place in the world to work'."

"After 10 years, I could not agree more," Ban said.

The president of the General Assembly, Peter Thomson, lauded Guterres but also praised member states.

"For the first time in the history of the United Nations, the selection and appointment process for the secretary-general has been guided by principles of transparency and inclusivity," he said.

"It was a process that specifically sought out candidates who embody a firm commitment to the purposes and principles of the Charter; who exemplify the highest standards of efficiency, competence, and integrity; and who have proven leadership and managerial abilities, extensive experience in international relations, and strong diplomatic, communication and multilingual skills." Thomson said.

"And throughout it all, the process emphasized the need to secure the best possible candidate for the role," he added.

For the first time there were 13 publicly announced candidates, seven of them women and all were interviewed for two hours each by member states. The selection of Guterres by the Security Council last week came on the sixth round of an informal straw poll that was supposed to be secret but the results of the first five were quickly leaked and the finally round quickly announced. Guterres led all polls.

Throughout the acclamation session there was much praise for Ban, especially on 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the active support of Mrs. Ban.

Representatives of the major geopolitical groups in the United Nations spoke after the appointment of Guterres, praising him for his experience.

"The African group is particularly encouraged by the transparency and inclusivity which had guided the selection process and thus reinforced the legitimacy of the General Assembly, said Ambassador Abdallah Wafy of Niger, this month's chairman of the African Group.

Wafy also thanked Mogens Lykketoft, president of the previous, 70th, General Assembly for instituting the new more transparent process and to Thomson for "leading the process to its logical conclusion."

"Terrorism, violent extremism, xenophobia, racism, religious intolerance, and its ramifications has been a daunting concern worldwide and is one of the foremost issues that the Secretary-General-designate need to raise awareness in countering the threats it imposes through international cooperation," said Ambassador Mansour Al Otaibi of Kuwait, this month's chairman of the Asia-Pacific group.

"Under his leadership, it is with hope that we, as nations united, will build the bridges needed to pave the way to a peaceful, prosperous and just world," he said.

Ambassador Cristian Barros Melet of Chile, this month's president of the Group of Latin America and Caribbean states, said Guterres' tenure as high commissioner for refugees is "more relevant now than ever as we face large movements of refugees and migrants, one of our most pressing challenges."

Barros said the group was confident Guterres will instill "the highest standards of integrity into the United Nations system while promoting unity and understanding to find the best global solutions."

British Ambassador Matthew Rycroft, speaking for the Western European and Others Group, including Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United States, said, "We look to him to efficiently and effectively manage the Secretariat and advance much needed reforms to enhance the UN's ability to face the challenges of this century, and we express our utmost confidence in his experience, ability and skills to lead this Organization over the coming years."
LONDON, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) -- An exhibition celebrating the work of the Italian renaissance painter Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, who was hailed as the master of dark and light, opened on Thursday at the National Gallery in London.

The exhibition, titled "Beyond Caravaggio," consists of 49 paintings, exploring the work and influence of Caravaggio (1571-1610), who is regarded as one of the most revolutionary figures in Western art.

His original, emotionally charged paintings, with their intense naturalism, dramatic lighting and powerful storytelling, had a lasting impact on his successors.

Caravaggio did not have pupils or travel extensively, and he died at the relatively young age of 39, and yet his influence was widespread.

From 1600, artists from across Europe flocked to Rome to see his work, and many went on to imitate his naturalism and dramatic lighting effects. These included artists such as Orazio Gentileschi, Jusepe de Ribera and Gerrit van Honthorst.

Paintings by Caravaggio and his followers were sought after in the decades after his death, but fell out of favor by the middle of the 17th century.

Letitzia Treves, exhibition curator, told Xinhua: "Caravaggio breathed fresh life into familiar subjects and so was totally new. In his own day, his manner of painting was revolutionary. His novel aspect is his use of light, and his very particular use of light chiaroscuro."

"He used real models and painted real people. So, this combination of dramatizing scenes with strong lighting effects and painting real people in historical and biblical subjects made these pictures come alive," he added.

The exhibition runs at the Sainsbury Wing of the National Gallery in Trafalgar Square until Jan. 17 next year.
NAIROBI, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) -- Kenya's Special Economic Zones, currently being set up in Naivasha, a resort town 100 km outside Nairobi, have demonstrated the drive by the government to ease doing business, executives of an audit firm said Thursday.

Rodl and Partner, a European international tax advisory and audit firm, which opened a new office in Nairobi on Thursday to capture local and foreign firms in the market, welcomed the creation of the Special Economic Zones.

"The Economic Zones Act provides zero-rated taxes to suppliers of raw material to be used in the manufacture of goods. This will enable investors to access raw materials at low costs in exchange for increased taxes from exports," George Maina, head of tax at Rodl and Partner, told reporters.

Maina said the government also waived previous requirements for all foreign companies incorporated in Kenya to allocate 30 percent shareholding to local shareholders, which is also an incentive to foreign investors in Kenya.

Kenya government allocated 15 million U.S. dollars in 2015 for the construction of the industrial park, where the Special Economic Zones would be set in Olkaria, Naivasha, near the country's geothermal producing fields.

The government has approved the construction of the Standard Gauge Railway, a high speed railway funded by the Chinese government to reach the Economic Zones.

Christian Rodl, Global Head of Rodl and Partner, said the firm's entry into Kenya was driven by the East African nation's ability to attract foreign firms into the Information, Technology and Business Process Outsourcing service sectors as well as renewable energy projects.

"We know Kenya is a center for knowledge-based services. The Silicon Savannah is starting to attract large investors. We see a clear potential to attract investors," Rodl said.

Rodl and Partner is currently managing renewable energy portfolios jointly funded by Germany.
Chinese President Xi Jinping visits Queen Mother Norodom Monineath Sihanouk in Phnom Penh, capital of Cambodia, Oct. 13, 2016. (Xinhua/Yao Dawei)

PHNOM PENH, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping visited Cambodian Queen Mother Norodom Monineath Sihanouk here Thursday at the Royal Palace, vowing to carry forward the traditional friendship between the two countries.

Noting that the China-Cambodian friendship was deeply rooted between the two peoples, Xi likened the frequent meetings between Chinese and Cambodian leaders to the gatherings of old friends and relatives, which not only represented special amity, but also played an important role in promoting bilateral ties.

On the profound friendship between the Cambodian royal family and China, Xi told Queen Mother Norodom Monineath that King Father Norodom Sihanouk was a respected and good friend of the Chinese people, as well as a symbol of China-Cambodia friendship.

China welcomes Queen Mother and King Norodom Sihamoni to take frequent trips to China and continue to regard China as their second homeland, said the president.

China stands ready to work together with Cambodia to carry forward their friendship jointly forged by leaders of previous generations and always be each other's ironclad friend, he said.

For her part, Queen Mother Norodom Monineath told Xi that the Cambodian people have long looked forward to his visit and believed that it would further promote the Cambodia-China traditional friendship.

The Cambodia-China ties serve as a model for cooperation with mutual trust between big and small countries, the Queen Mother said, adding that the unbreakable bilateral friendship has taken roots deeply in Cambodians' heart.

The Cambodian side is willing to join hands with the Chinese side to deepen exchanges and cooperation in all fields while passing on the friendship between their peoples from generation to generation, she said.

Before the visit, Xi had met with King Norodom Sihamoni at the Royal Palace and laid a wreath at the statue of King Father Norodom Sihanouk.8 Xi arrived at Phnom Penh Thursday noon for a state visit to Cambodia. It is his first trip to the Southeast Asian nation as president. In 2009, he paid an official visit to the kingdom as vice president.
LUANDA, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) -- The just-concluded 5th Ministerial Conference of the Forum for Economic and Trade Cooperation Between China and Portuguese-speaking Countries in Macau is to boost economic growth in Angola and further promote trade and economic ties between China and the African country.

The Angolan government sent an all-powerful delegation headed by Economic Minister Abrahao Gourgel to the Macau conference, grouping nine cabinet ministers and dozens of Angolan entrepreneurs.

Gourgel signed a new technical and economic agreement with Chinese Minister of Commerce Gao Hucheng on the sidelines of the ministerial meeting.

Gourgel said the agreement would encourage more direct investments from the Chinese private sector alongside public companies into Angola.

The minister said in Macau that his government also hoped to sign an investment protection agreement with China following a Sino-Angolan investment forum scheduled for November in Luanda.

Angolan Ambassador to China Joao Garcia Bires said in an interview with Xinhua that cooperation with China is of vital importance.

Bires said the Forum serves as a platform to promote understanding and business ties between the two sides. It is also expected to promote trade and economic relations between China and Angola on bilateral basis.

The ambassador said Angola is China's second largest trade partner in Africa, and he is optimistic about trade and economic ties between the two countries despite the drop of bilateral trade volume as a result of falling international oil prices.

"Sino-Angolan trade volume would be restored to its original level and the crisis was only transitional as China continued to support the basic infrastructure construction in Angola, which was also taking measures to safeguard its political and social stabilities," the envoy said.

The forum was also attended by representatives of over 20 Chinese companies operating in Angola.

Attending the forum, Zheng Gang, Vice President of the Association of Chinese Private Enterprises in Africa, said the ministerial meeting announced 18 new measures to promote China's cooperation with Portuguese-speaking countries in manufacturing, personnel training and development programs.

These are expected to encourage more Chinese enterprises, particularly private companies, to move into Angola and other Portuguese-speaking countries, Zheng said.
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon(R) shakes hands with new UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres at the UN headquarters in New York, Oct. 13, 2016. (Xinhua/Li Muzi)

by Xinhua writer Gu Zhenqiu

UNITED NATIONS, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) -- The UN General Assembly on Thursday appointed by acclamation Antonio Guterres, the former Portuguese prime minister and former head of the UN refugee agency, as the secretary-general of the United Nations to replace Ban Ki-moon, who is to leave on Dec. 31 at the end of his two five-year terms.

The sustained standing ovation from the 193 member states showed their unity and consensus in supporting the 67-year-old Guterres, a unanimous choice by the 15-member UN Security Council, which recommended him for the role of the world's top diplomat.

The speech by the secretary-general-designate at the General Assembly hall revealed clues to his top priority when he assumes his office on Jan. 1, 2017.

Peace, justice, human dignity, tolerance and solidarity are among his top priorities as the next secretary-general, his speech revealed as he said "I am fully aware of the challenges of the UN faces and the limitations surrounding the secretary-general."

"Without peace, life is devoid of all its meaning," he said.

"Based on these values, I believe that diversity in all its forms is a tremendous asset, and not a threat; that in societies that are more and more multi-ethnic, multi-cultural and multi-religious, diversity can bring us together, not drive us apart," he said.

As he was speaking, the guns of war were still being heard in such countries as Syria, Yemen, Mali, South Sudan while women and girls remain marginalized in their societies. The unfair international political and economic order still prevails in today's world as the gap between rich and poor nations is widening.

Guterres said that he is looking forward to working with all UN member states as "the secretary-general alone neither has all the answers (to the dramatic problems of today's complex world), nor seeks to impose his views."

As secretary-general, Guterres said that he is ready to make his good offices available, "working as a convener, mediator, a bridge-builder and an honest broker to help find solutions that benefit everyone involved."

At the same time, gender equality is also expected to be among his top priorities. "I have long been aware of the hurdles women face in society, in the family and in the workplace just because of their gender," he said. "The protection and the empowerment of women and girls will continue to be a priority commitment for me."

Besides, he said, "I will do my utmost to honor" the legacy of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who has been tirelessly working to promote sustainable development and tackle climate change.

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon (2nd R) congratulates new UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres (3rd R) at the UN headquarters in New York, Oct. 13, 2016. The United Nations General Assembly on Thursday appointed by acclamation Portugal's former Prime Minister Antonio Guterres as next UN secretary-general to succeed retiring Ban Ki-moon on Jan. 1, 2017. (Xinhua/Li Muzi)

From now on until his assumption of his new post, Guterres, who also served as UN refugee chief for a decade until last December, is expected to have wide consultations with UN member states to fine tune his top priorities.

The UN Charter describes the secretary-general as "chief administrative officer" of the world body, who acts in that capacity and performs such other functions as are entrusted to him by the Security Council, General Assembly, the Economic and Social Council and other UN organs.

The Charter also empowers the secretary-general to bring to the attention of the Security Council, the most powerful UN body, any matter which might threaten the maintenance of international peace and security.

The new secretary-general would fail if he did not take careful account of the needs and concerns of individual member states, but he would also be remiss if he did not uphold the values and moral authority of the United Nations, and speak and act independently for peace -- even at the risk of challenging or disagreeing with those same member states.

At the moment, Guterres enjoys unanimous support from the Security Council and General Assembly. The Security Council nominated Guterres by acclamation last week after its sixth informal poll. He topped all the six straw polls, which included a total of 13 candidates -- seven women and six men.

Apart from wide endorsement, acclamation at the Security Council and then the General Assembly also mirrored high expectations from the international community.

"As secretary-general, having been chosen by all member states, I must be at the service of them all equally and with no agenda but the one enshrined in the UN Charter," he added.
Chinese President Xi Jinping(L) shakes hands with Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen in Phnom Penh, capital of Cambodia, Oct. 13, 2016. (Xinhua/Xie Huanchi)

PHNOM PENH, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) -- China and Cambodia pledged Thursday to advance their already close and strong relationship as Chinese President Xi Jinping paid his first state visit to the Southeast Asian nation.

In talks between Xi and Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, the two leaders agreed that the two countries should continue to be "highly trusted friends, loyal partners and a community of shared destiny in weal and woe."

They have also decided to cement the traditional friendship between the two countries and boost their comprehensive strategic cooperation.

Noting that the friendship that was forged and cultivated by Chinese and Cambodian leaders of previous generations has grown even stronger, President Xi said that the current bilateral relationship is showing a positive momentum of development, with continuously enhanced political mutual trust, fruitful economic cooperation and closer coordination in multilateral affairs.

"China has always valued the traditional friendship between the two countries, and stands ready to work with Cambodia to constantly enrich the meaning of their comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership, thus delivering more tangible benefits to both peoples," Xi said.

The president praised the political and social stability, rapid economic development and improvement of people's livelihood in Cambodia, as well as the elevation of the country's international status, saying that he believes the Cambodian government will lead its people to build a more prosperous country.

"China firmly supports Cambodia in pursuing a development path that suits its national conditions, and is willing to continue to provide assistance within its own capacity for Cambodia in national construction," Xi said.

For his part, Hun Sen said that the Cambodian side thanks China for its long-term assistance and always regards carrying forward the traditional friendship as an important mission.

Noting that Cambodia and China are good friends who enjoy a high level of mutual trust, Hun Sen said that the two sides have always understood and supported each other on issues involving their respective development and major concerns.

Cambodia is willing to join hands with China to take President Xi's visit as an opportunity to strengthen their friendship and deepen their comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership, he added.

During the talks, the two sides vowed to maintain high-level contacts, enhance government, parliament and political party cooperation, deepen exchanges on governance experience, and expand collaboration in diplomacy as well as law enforcement and security.

The two sides agreed to align their development strategies, and draw up and implement a cooperation outline on jointly promoting the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative.

The two countries will take measures to expand their two-way trade, and strengthen cooperation in industrial capacity, investment, agriculture, water conservancy, infrastructure construction, energy, telecommunications, industry and marine sector. The two leaders witnessed the signing of a number of bilateral cooperation agreements covering those fields Thursday.

The Sihanoukville Special Economic Zone and other projects of bilateral cooperation should be earnestly carried out, the two sides agreed.

Both sides also wanted to expand exchanges and cooperation in science and technology, education, culture, cultural relics, health, tourism and youth.

On international affairs, the two sides pledged to push cooperation between China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, and enhance communication and coordination within such multilateral frameworks as the United Nations, Asia-Europe Meeting, East Asia cooperation and Lancang-Mekong Cooperation group, thus safeguarding the shared interests of the two countries and the developing countries at large.

After the talks, Xi and Hun Sen attended an inauguration ceremony for a Chinese studies center in Phnom Penh. A joint declaration was issued.

Before the talks, President Xi laid a wreath at the Independence Monument in the center of the capital city.

Xi arrived here Thursday noon for a two-day state visit to the kingdom.

After Cambodia, Xi will travel to Bangladesh and the western Indian state of Goa, where he will attend a summit of the emerging-market bloc of BRICS, which groups Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.

Related:

China, Cambodia to forge ahead with cooperation, ties

PHNOM PENH, Oct. 14 (Xinhua) -- China and Cambodia signed a joint communique here Thursday during Chinese President Xi Jinping's ongoing visit to the Southeast Asian country, pledging to further strengthen bilateral cooperation and traditional friendship. Full story

Chinese president visits Cambodian Queen Mother on boosting traditional friendship
File photo: Chef Yin Chenghai makes a dish of ginseng in the kitchen of a restaurant in Fusong, a county well known for its ginseng production in northeast China's Jilin Province, March 16, 2016. Yin, 38, and his group could make over 100 kinds of ginseng dishes. Dubbed the "king of herbs," ginseng is considered to be nutritious and to have great medical value in traditional Chinese medicine. Cultivated ginseng is allowed to be used in food products across the nation. (Xinhua/Wang Haofei)

MEXICO CITY, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) -- For executive chef Luis A. Chiu, whose family started in the food business in Mexico City's Chinatown back in 1946, he is the only person in Mexico to take advantage of his culinary heritage to recreate Chinese tradition with an extensive variety of dishes from four of the Asian giant's gastronomic regions.

In 2011, Chiu set about figuring out how to present traditional Chinese cuisine and decided to open his own restaurant. Today, Asian Bay is located in the heart of the La Condesa neighborhood, a high point of Mexican cuisine and fashion.

Asian Bay, according to Chiu, offers food from all corners of China, northern cuisine from Beijing, southern style from Guangdong, eastern flavors from Shanghai and western recipes from Sichuan.

Chiu, who owns Asian Bay with his father, has a degree in gastronomy and a diploma in Chinese cuisine from Hong Kong. He first made his mark in Marriott hotels in Shanghai, with this wide experience allowing him to learn traditional Chinese cuisine and international food.

In an interview with Xinhua, Chiu says that what many around the world associate with Chinese food is only Cantonese cuisine when, in reality, "there are thousands of dishes from different provinces."

"La Condesa has always been a hot spot for good flavors. Therefore, we decided to set up here and open the restaurant where we started from scratch. It was still very difficult. People couldn't differentiate one style of cuisine from another. We had to make two menus, one with traditional food and another that was more commercial," Chiu told Xinhua.

A photographer takes pitctures of a dish at a banquet in Hangzhou, capital of east China's Zhejiang Province, Feb. 12, 2013. To celebrate the Spring Festival, or the Chinese Lunar New Year, some restaurants in Hangzhou offered free dishes to visitors for taste. (Xinhua/Shi Jianxue)

At first, the traditional menu catered to people born in China who might enjoy a taste of home. These customers formed much of the restaurant's early base, as they invited their local friends or business partners.

"What was surprising was that our countrymen invited their guests. Then, Mexican people and the same people returned the week after with their own families after having tried. They even recommended some of our Chinese dishes. It is incredible how word of mouth spreads," acknowledged Chiu.

Beijing duck, Sichuan-style spicy pig's ears, and century eggs with tofu, spicy soy sauce and garlic are some of those included among the wide variety of dishes offered at Asian Bay. The last dish mentioned is particularly difficult to replicate abroad, according to the young chef.

Chiu admits, however, that the restaurant has some of his own creations, such as Asian Bay Chicken, with a sweet salsa and jalapeno chile. The jalapeno was added to give a Mexican dish to a range of dishes.

"I believe that Mexico and China have many things in common which can unite us. The love of gastronomy and the love of eating well, wherever you may be," said Chiu.

The restaurant is also a reference point for showcasing age-old dishes from some Chinese cities and provinces, such as Nanjing.

"This came from the idea that we wanted to go a step beyond, making the best of China's food, tradition and culture," explained the chef. He added that China's culture is present across Asian Bay, from its decoration to its food.

In 2017, he hopes to hold a culinary demonstration in Mexico City with experts and products from Beijing and other Chinese cities to Mexico City.
HAVANA, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) -- China's ambassador to Cuba, Zhang Tuo, on Thursday received the Friendship Medal, the highest award granted by the Cuban government to a foreign diplomat.

The medal recognizes the efforts made by the ambassador to consolidate ties between the two countries.

Cuban Foreign Affairs Minister Bruno Rodriguez presented Zhang with the medal, congratulating him on his "successful" work at the Chinese embassy over the last four years and nine months.

Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister Abelardo Moreno said Zhang devoted his efforts to strengthening the long-running ties of friendship, cooperation and brotherhood between the two governments, communist parties and peoples.

During his tenure, the longest of the 17 Chinese ambassadors who have served in the Caribbean country, he helped to boost and expand bilateral ties in all fields and strengthen political dialogue between the top leaders of the two nations, said Moreno.

Zhang played a vital role in the successful visits to China of Cuban President Raul Castro in 2012, and First Vice President Miguel Diaz Canel in 2013 and 2015, as well as the visits to Cuba by China's President Xi Jinping in 2014, and Premier Li Keqiang last September, noted Moreno.

"The visits had a very positive outcome towards consolidating mutual trust and cooperation," he added.

Zhang thanked the Cuban government for the award, saying it was a great honor for him to mark the end of his 39-year diplomatic career with this medal.

"I deserve half of this medal because the other half must go to my colleagues at the embassy, the government and the Foreign Affairs Ministry of Cuba, because you have made great contributions so that I can have this merit and receive this recognition," he said.

Zhang added he had had the privilege to witness the "rapid development" of relations between China and Cuba.

"Cuba will have a faithful, loyal, committed and hardworking friend, willing to make bilateral relations last for generations," he said.
RIO DE JANEIRO, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) -- The Brazilian Defense Ministry announced on Thursday that it will send 10 tons of donations to Haiti, which has been devastated by Hurricane Matthew.

According to the ministry, the donations will be shipped on Monday, Oct. 17, by an Air Force plane which will provide logistical support to the Brazilian troops in Haiti. Brazil has had troops in Haiti since 2004, as part of the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH), and has been leading the mission for the majority of its existence.

The donations comprise food, personal hygiene products, clothes, school supplies and other necessities. The government began in April a campaign to gather donations to be sent to Haiti by the end of the year, but the delivery was brought forward given the extensive damage caused by Hurricane Matthew.

Haiti was the worst-hit by the passage of Hurricane Matthew, with hundreds of death.

In addition to the donations, Brazil has also sent 4,540 soldiers to the southern part of Haiti, which suffered the brunt of the damage.

Haiti has been battered repeatedly by natural disasters in recent years. Besides Matthew, the country faced a massive earthquake in 2010 which killed hundreds of thousands of people as well as prolonged periods of drought.
(Pic from habitat3.org)

QUITO, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) -- Ecuador will welcome 11 presidents who will participate in the Habitat III - United Nations Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development, which will take place in Quito from Oct. 17-20, announced Cesar Navas, Ecuador's Minister of Security on Wednesday.

In a press conference, Navas confirmed the presence of Venezuela's Nicolas Maduro, Chile's Michelle Bachelet, Bolivia's Evo Morales, Colombia's Juan Manuel Santos and Costa Rica's Luis Guillermo Solis, among others. Senior dignitaries will also include UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

Navas added that 45,000 people have registered to participate in the meeting, which will be held at the Ecuadorian House of Culture in Quito.

The Habitat meetings only happen once every 20 years, with the first having taken place in Vancouver, Canada in 1976 and the second in Istanbul, Turkey in 1996.

The UN General Assembly elected Quito to host the third instalment back in December 2014. The timeline between these landmark conferences is to follow, analyze, define and plan concrete actions for the development of urban centers around the world.

At the same press conference, Ecuador's Minister of Urban Development and Housing, Maria Duarte, who has led the conference's preparation committee, said everything was ready.

"Quito will be the seat of one of the most important events of recent times as the entire world has something to say about urbanism, cities, settlements, development and planning," she said.

According to Duarte, the Habitat III conference will also see the signing of the "Quito Declaration on Sustainable Cities and Human Settlements for All."

This document will cover the New Urban Agenda, which will "be a reference for the next 20 years". The New Urban Agenda, which will be adopted in Quito, has been built from a consensus between the 193 members of the UN after months of negotiations.

On Oct. 14, President Rafael Correa will visit the House of Culture to supervise preparations, as well as the El Arbolito Park and the National Assembly building, which will host the Habitat III exhibition.

On the margins of the Conference, around 400 activities are being planned, such as forums, assemblies, training events and dialogue sessions.

Authorities will deploy a security operation, involving 2,800 police officers, while classes have been suspended in 14 educational centers near where the Conference is being held.
WASHINGTON, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. state of Florida said Thursday it has identified a new local transmission area of the Zika virus in Miami.

Governor Rick Scott of Florida said in a statement five people, two women and three men, has been infected with Zika in the one-square-mile (2.6-square-kilometer) area of Miami-Dade County.

"Today's announcement of a new area in Miami of ongoing local transmission of the Zika virus underscores the urgent need for federal funding to combat the Zika virus," Scott said.

"It has been two weeks since federal funding to fight Zika was approved by Congress and signed by President (Barack) Obama. However, Florida has not yet received a dime. We don't need bureaucratic timelines -- we need funding now."

Currently, Miami-Dade County remained the only area in the U.S. with ongoing active transmissions of Zika.

Florida has allocated 61.2 million U.S. dollars in state funds to combat Zika, including 12.6 million dollars to Miami-Dade County, according to Scott.
Chinese President Xi Jinping meets with Cambodian King Norodom Sihamoni in Phnom Penh, capital of Cambodia, Oct. 13, 2016. (Xinhua/Xie Huanchi)

PHNOM PENH, Oct. 14 (Xinhua) -- China and Cambodia signed a joint communique here Thursday during Chinese President Xi Jinping's ongoing visit to the Southeast Asian country, pledging to further strengthen bilateral cooperation and traditional friendship.

During his visit, Xi met with Cambodian King Norodom Sihamoni and Prime Minister Hun Sen, respectively. The two sides conducted in-depth exchange of views on further deepening the bilateral comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership as well as international and regional issues of common concern, and reached broad consensus, said the document.

China and Cambodia agreed to accelerate the alignment of China's Belt and Road Initiative and the 13th Five-Year Plan with Cambodia's Rectangular Strategy and Industrial Development Policy 2015-2025, while working to raise bilateral trade volume to 5 billion U.S. dollars in 2017, the statement said.

A total of 31 cooperation documents were signed on a wide range of fields covering economy, technology, infrastructure, efforts to curb human trafficking, tax and maritime cooperation, among others, according to it. China pledged more investment and cooperation with Cambodia on such fields as energy, telecommunication, agriculture, industry and tourism.

The Cambodian side congratulated China on successfully hosting the Group of Twenty Summit in Hangzhou last month, and praised China's active contribution to global economic growth and sub-regional development.

The two countries also agreed to further consolidate coordination under multilateral frameworks including the United Nations, Asia-Europe Meeting, East Asia cooperation and Lancang-Mekong Cooperation group while maintaining close and effective communication on issues concerning each other's major interests, said the document.

The two sides believed that the South China Sea issue is not a problem between China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, which should be resolved peacefully through friendly consultations and negotiations by directly concerned sovereign states.

Meanwhile, China reaffirmed in the document its firm support to Cambodian's efforts on maintaining national sovereignty, independence and political stability.

Cambodia also renewed its adherence to the one-China policy. Recognizing the government of the People's Republic of China as the sole legal government representing the whole of China, the Cambodian side opposes "Taiwan independence" in all forms while holding that Taiwan is an inalienable part of the Chinese territory, said the document.

China and Cambodia should jointly safeguard and carry forward their traditional friendship forged and cultivated by Chinese and Cambodian leaders of previous generations, including Chairman Mao Zedong, Premier Zhou Enlai and Cambodian King Father Norodom Sihanouk, the statement said.

Under new international and regional situation, the two countries will enhance strategic communication, deepen mutually beneficial cooperation and constantly enrich their comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership, so as to better serve their peoples and contribute to peace, stability and prosperity of the region and the whole world at large, it said.

Xi arrived here Thursday noon for a state visit to Cambodia. It is his first trip to the Southeast Asian nation as president. In 2009, he paid an official visit to the kingdom as vice president.

Related:

China, Cambodia agree to advance close ties

PHNOM PENH, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) -- China and Cambodia pledged Thursday to advance their already close and strong relationship as Chinese President Xi Jinping paid his first state visit to the Southeast Asian nation. Full story

Chinese president visits Cambodian Queen Mother on boosting traditional friendship
Marlene warns about deficit Budgets

Contributing to the Budget debate in the Parliament, McDonald applauded Finance Minister Colm Imbert's presentation noting his thrust to bring revenue in line with expenditure by 2020.

We cannot spend what we do not have. we cannot get more from less, she said in an allusion to Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowleys take of the countrys current economic situation. Slamming the former Peoples Partnership government, which she said did not create any new revenue-generating measures, McDonald reasoned that continued deficit budgets will be tantamount to mortgaging away the future of the country.

The former housing minister said it will also fall to the backs of our children and grandchildren to rebuild the country. we have to become fiscally mature, she said. Insisting that the International Monetary Fund must not be an option, McDonald said the organisation will first focus on recurrent expenditure which does not result in the creation of fixed assets. she said managing the economy in the face of declining oil and gas prices was the salient issue confronting the country.

Adjustments have to be made, she said, urging the Government to communicate effectively about issues plaguing the country. saying that Imbert had laid the foundation for macro-economic stability, McDonald said the countrys survival was everybodys business. Tough times dont last but tough people do. we are a resilient people and Trinidad and Tobago will persevere to the end, she said. McDonald elicited chuckles from the House when she told Opposition members that they should atone for the sins you have committed against this country. she also complained about the lack of development in east Port-of-spain over the last five years.
Is $48 too high?

Speaking with Business Day, Enill said it must be remembered that Trinidad and Tobago was a gas based economy and not an oil based one. Further, he said movements on the global market were likely to small effect on us since the amount of global oil we produced was minimal. These are likely to affect us marginally because we produce under 100, 000 barrels per day, he said,

Part of the challenge we face is keeping our production where it is and getting levels back up. Price therefore cant be an issue. The issue has to be getting back into production. With production up, Enill explained, TT would be in a better position to close the gap between expenditure and revenue, than with simply just a high price. In circumstances where you are running deficits pricing is less of an issue, because you still have to find resources to meet the gap between your revenue and your expenditure. If the price is high, it means that your gap is going to be smaller.

If the price is low, it means that the gap is going to be larger. Enill also said the focus should be on improving taxation of the energy operators in TT. The income received from the companies, that is what should be important and not the price in my view. The issue should be what the companies are making and the taxes on that. If taxation is improved, the gap between income and expenditure is reduced. He said this is why he agreed with steps being taken by the government to increase tax revenues from the companies as well as moves to bring mature and secondary fields back on stream.

However, another former minister, Kevin Ramnarine believes that price remains the primary consideration and has said the estimate of $48 made for this years budget should have been more conservative. Russia, which is the worlds third largest producer of oil, has based their budget of the next three years on an oil price of $40. Nigeria, Africas largest economy, has based their budget on $38 per barrel. The world is oversupplied by 1,000,000 barrels per day. Even if supply and demand were suddenly balanced, there would still be an inventory of 500 days of oil. The market would have to unravel inventory which has built up over the last two years.

We are therefore in for a period of at least two years of soft oil prices. Trinidad and Tobago is being told to prepare for a harsh winter, but I believe we should be preparing for an ice age. The gas price on which the budget is based is even more important than the oil price because we are a gas economy. In my opinion, that too, at $2.25, is too high, said Ramnarine, I believe we should have used a gas price of around $2.00.

Ramnarine said he would have pegged the budget to an oil price of around $42.00 or $42.50. He also criticised the other provisions government made for the energy sector in Financial Year 2016/17. Nothing has happened. They have changed nothing. From September last year, to this year, nothing has been changed in the fiscal regime. What they have been doing is reviewing the gas master plan, they have been talking to the IMF. The IMF has given them some recommendations, they say they are going to review those recommendations and that is all that has been done. He said instead, things have been going from bad to worse, referring to the REPSOL decision to sell some of its assets in TT as reported by Newsday last Friday.

REPSOL was badly affected by the fall in oil price. There were measures that could have been taken to save REPSOL and to stop them from coming to the point where they had to sell. They could have reduced the royalty rates for REPSOL and other companies like it. They could have dropped the tax rate. But those things require parliamentary action and that hasnt been coming. And, if REPSOL is in that position, I can guarantee that there are other companies in that position too. REPOSL may be a signal of things to come. I am saying to the government the time for reviewing and diagnosing is long gone and it is time for action on the fiscal regime.

Economist, Indera Sagewan Alli has also suggested there may be a reason why the finance minister has set the price the way he has. The economist said according to conversations she has had with several industry stakeholders, the price the government has used is the most optimistic.

She said while the possibility exists that this price may come to pass, energy experts have told her in their own planning, they would have gone with a more conservative price. The optimism may have a reasoning however. If the price that he budgets comes in lower than the market price, he (the finance minister) will not be able to go into the Heritage and Stablisation Fund. He did send a signal that he intended to meet the fiscal gap in part by drawing down on the HSF and the only way he can do that is if he pegs his budgeted price in such a way that there is a possibility that the real price may come in at least ten per cent below the market price, because this is the legislative trigger for the government to access the HSF.

She also said TT should not hold out hope that the OPEC meeting in November could result in a large jump in oil prices. According to Sagewan Alli, when prices begin to rise because of the cut in production, what it may in fact do, it signals producers

to increase production to take advantage of increased revenues, eventually increasing supply again and leading to lowered prices again. She said a possible resurgence in the shale energy industry should also be considered. She called for government energy policy to reflect these realities.
Frankie Khan partially wins case

In a written ruling delivered yesterday, Justice David Harris ruled against Khans claim against former Assistant Commissioner of Police Glenroy Woodley- the police officer who charged him in 2005  as well as the Attorney General; but ruled in favour of the claim against former PNM councillor Dansam Dhansook, who made the allegations against the PNM chairman.

Dhansook, who never put in an appearance in court to defend Khans lawsuit against him, has been ordered to pay damages, which will be quantified by Master of the High Court. Khan will pay Woodleys and the AGs legal costs. Justice Harris disagreed with Khans contention that Woodley and the state ought to have known of the inevitable failure of the prosecution against him as it had in its possession several witness statements from persons which contradicted the allegations made by Dhansook.

He said the evidence placed before woodley at that time spoke sufficiently to the existence of corruption and that it was reasonable for the police officer to honestly believe the allegations made by Dhansook. He said it was reasonable for the police officer to believe that the circumstances described by Dhansook were true and

that those circumstances would have led any reasonably minded individual to believe the former councillor as well.

He held that it was not unusual for there to be contradictory evidence in a criminal prosecution, adding also that Khan failed to show a lack of reasonable and probable cause on the part of Woodley as well as the state for pursuing criminal charges against him. The evidence that the second defendant had before him spoke of an attempt to pervert the course of justice; that the claimant misconducted himself in office and was corrupt. It is the courts view that the second defendant conducted a fair and thorough investigation into the allegations made by the first defendant (Dhansook),

The judge said. six corruption charges were filed against Khan related to his alleged misbehaviour in public office between 2001 and 2003 in that he allegedly accepted $120,500 in bribes from Dhansook, in exchange for contracts. The proceedings against Khan were discontinued by Director of Public Prosecutions Roger Gaspard in 2010.
Body sighted in Petrotrin tank

However, a media release last evening from Petrotrin stated that a body - believed to be that of Pierre - was sighted in the tank which is still being emptied to effect retrieval of the corpse. It has been five days since Petrotrin personnel began their recovery efforts at Petrotrin Tank Farm, Trinmar Operations in Point Fortin.

The wash tank is said to contain just over 20,000 barrels of oil and up to yesterday it was still being emptied in search of Pierre who has not been seen since Saturday when he climbed the tank. The contents of the tank are oil water and sand. On Saturday morning, it was reported that Pierre who relatives said was mentally ill, breached Petrotrins security, climbing the 120 foot tank and threatened to jump.
Shooting victim refuses to give cops info

Within the last four years, two of the victims brothers were shot and killed. Cooper of Lengua Road, Indian walk, Princes Town remains warded in stable condition at the San Fernando General Hospital.

According to a police report, around 10.45 am Tuesday, Cooper was in a teak field along the Lengua Road, about 150 feet off the roadway, when several gunshots were heard. One of Coopers relative told police he went to check and found Cooper bleeding from gunshot wounds to his both legs. A blue Nissan Almera, registration number unknown was seen leaving the area which police have identified as a known drug block. A team led by Sgt Ramlogan visited the scene and made certain observations.

The shooter has been described as being 5  8 tall fair skinned and wearing a corn row hairstyle but police said the victim and other relatives have refused to give any further information. Last year November, Coopers brother Cyrus Cooper, 30, was shot and killed a short distance away from his home. He was driving his vehicle when gunmen alighted from another vehicle and opened fire on him causing him to veer off the road and crash.

Reports are that as he lay behind the steering wheel, they fired several more shots at him. Another brother, Marcus Cooper was also shot and killed on New Years Day, 2012. Marcus was found slumped behind his steering wheel of his car. Sgt Ramlogan is continuing investigations.
Man jailed for robbing women

Declan Besson, of Lions Gate, enterprise, appeared before Magistrate Joanne Connor in the Chaguanas First Magistrates Court to answer the charge of robbery with violence. He pleaded guilty to robbing the women of a quantity of cash and an iPhone valued $6,000.

The court heard that the women were returning to their vehicles in the malls car park when they were approached by Besson who announced a hold-up and demanded cash. The matter was reported to the Chaguanas Police station and Besson was arrested later. Attorney Shiva Boodoo, who represented Besson, in asking for leniency, said his client had cooperated with police officers on his arrest.

He said Besson is the father of a four-year-old boy. Police court prosecutor Sgt Ken Ali told the court that Besson was convicted in June for another robbery. The magistrate said that violent crimes with the use of firearms were too prevalent and as such a custodial sentence would be appropriate in the circumstances. Besson was then sentenced to 36 months on each charge. The sentences are to run concurrently.
Cruising a tourism goldmine for TT

Recognising that the cruising is the most exciting and fastest growing segment of the travel industry throughout the world today, TT participated in the highly prestigious Florida Caribbean Cruise Association Conference and Trade Show in Puerto Rico which took place from September 26 to 30, the Ministry of Tourism said. Permanent secretary Vidiah Ramkhelawan, led a small high-powered team to the Seatrade Conference that included Simone Medina, the Ministrys director of research and Planning (ag); Greer Assam, TDCs cruise sector specialist; Charles Carvalho, a leading port agent for several cruisers; and other representatives from the TT Port authority.

The team had several face-to-face meetings with cruise line executives, strengthened ties with other southern Caribbean destinations and learnt from other tourism destinations innovative bench marketing practices, said a media release from the ministry. Trinidad and Tobago experienced growth in the 2015/2016 cruise season and the ministry said it is intensifying the drive to grow the cruise tourism niche market by focusing on the following initiatives: Increasing and diversifying the variety of on-shore activities and tours available for cruise passengers; both in and beyond the city of Port-of-Spain.

Statistics show very positive results - 7,000 passengers participated in prebooked excursions, while another 3,000 enjoyed the free line tours for the 2015/2016 cruise season. upgrading and enhancing existing facilities to make the product more interesting and attractive. aggressively training workers throughout the tourism sector to ensure a quality product and services Maintaining and enhancing relationship with key tourism industry partners Wining more calls from Carnival Cruise Line, which first visited Tobago earlier this year as part of its longer Carnival Journeys programme.

The ministry said it would continue to communicate with cruise partners to make destination Trinidad and Tobago the most attractive in the region. We are increasingly seeking to deliver hassle-free and high value-for-money experiences to discerning customers, the release said. For the upcoming 2016/2017, the Ministry of tourism said that among other ship calls, it will welcome back MSC Cruises, an on-board ship educational experience with over 650 students, and from December to March, MSC Poesia, with a passenger capacity of 3,000 and a crew complement of 800, will call on seven-night cruises from Guadeloupe. In the 2017/18 season, AIDA Cruises is due to return after a three-year gap.
Moonilal to PM: Fire AG Al-Rawi

Such an incident violated the law and meant the AG was culpable, either by an action or an omission to act to keep his children away from guns, alleged Moonilal. Saying two Government Ministers in their Budget speeches had earlier confirmed the children were Al-Rawis, Moonilal said Al-Rawi now has no moral authority to pronounce on criminal matters, and should be fired. He named the duo as Minister in the AGs Office, Stuart Young, and Housing Minister, Randall Mitchell. Moonilal held an impromptu news briefing outside the parliamentary chamber where he gave reporters copies of a fourpage letter to Rowley calling for Al-Rawis head. Moonilal said Al-Rawi has not denied they are his children, and that their possession of guns violates several sections of the Firearms Act, all of which are offences of strict liability, that is, where a persons intent is irrelevant once a guilty act is committed.

Accusing Al-Rawi of a most serious dereliction of duty, Moonilal claimed Al-Rawi was unfit, incompetent and incapable to be AG, and in the public interest should be relieved of his position. Moonilal said Al-Rawis alleged knowledge of the childrens possession of firearms, and his acquiescence and/or negligence of such, would constitute misbehaviour in public office, especially if Al-Rawi used his office as AG and membership of the National Security Council to gain access to the weapons. Saying the episode undermines the fight against gun violence in TT, Moonilal said,

What kind of example is being sent to the public and more importantly the younger generation? Moonilals letter said the alleged incident violates the Firearms Act. It violates section six which outlaws the possession of a firearm without a Firearm Users Licence, said the letter. That law also bans the transfer of a firearm to a non-holder of such a licence, including a person below the age of 25. Replying to reporters queries, Moonilal said hed never ever heard of TTs security services training civilians to use guns to defend themselves, when they are instead the subjects of State security protection.

Moonilal said the TT Defence Force cannot on its own suspend the countrys firearms laws. He was glad the Defence Force had convened a fact-finding meeting on the matter, saying they too were culpable in the affair. Moonilal said the children were innocently caught up in an episode for which Al-Rawi was likely culpable. He rejected the AGs claim on Tuesday that he could not ascertain if his children had held guns at a threat assessment exercise at the army base because he was separated from them. I dont think a parent goes in a room, sends his underage children outside, and doesnt know what is happening.
Young: Its personally disgusting

Young, in his contribution to the Budget debate yesterday in Parliament, called Moonilals statement a, serious, disturbing, unparliamentary, immature, low level incident, which he found to be, personally disgusting. It is unacceptable for people to bring the children of any member who has made a decision to serve the people of Trinidad and Tobago in this manner and the manner that was exposed yesterday. I decry it, Young said.

He said the statements were a stain to the Parliament and to the memory of those who served, adding that all right thinking people should dismiss the statements. Those on the outside who saw heard and were exposed to it have already made up their minds independently of what has been said in this house of the threatening language and it continues to come from the member for Oropouche east. It is most unbecoming and I denounce it, Young said.

During his condemnation, Young was interrupted by Opposition Chief whip Ganga Singh, who invoked standing Order 48:8, saying that Young was himself using insulting language in the Parliament chamber. House speaker Bridgid Annisette-George dismissed Singhs argument saying she did not believe there was such language imputing such motive.

Moonilal had brandished two photographs on Tuesday during his contribution to the Budget debate, one featuring a boy and another a girl, alleging they were the children of a high-ranking Government Minister. He then called on Attorney General Al-Rawi to look at the photos and say if he knew the children. Al Rawi responded later, during a press conference, neither confirming nor denying that the children in the photos were his but saying that his family has participated in security training with the TT Regiment as part of threat assessment protocols.

He also suggested that the photographs had been photo-shopped. while AG Al-Rawi has not publicly said if the children in the photos are indeed his, Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley, in defending his AG and slamming the military for leaking the photos, stated that the AGs childrens safety have been compromised.
One in jail, one gets bail

Devon Edwards of Piarco was unsuccessful in his bail application when he reappeared before Chief Magistrate Marcia Ayers-Caesar in the Port-of-Spain Eighth Court, where he and Steven Douglas of St James, first appeared on Monday, on nine firearm and ammunition possession charges.

Douglas was granted bail in the sum of $750,000 with a surety to be approved by a Clerk of the Peace III and is to surrender his passport as well as report to the st James Police station every Monday and Thursday between the hours of 6 am to 6 pm. Both men are represented by senior Counsel Sophia Chote and attorney Trevor Clarke.

Edwards, 36, is jointly charged with Douglas for allegedly being in possession of four pistols and several rounds of assorted ammunition, on October 5, at Uriah Butler Highway. He served 14 years in the Defence Force, and has one pending matter in the Scarborough Magistrates Court for attempted murder and firearms and ammunition possession.

In her request that bail be denied, Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions Joan Honore-Paul said the states primary concern was that Edwards could commit another offence, as she reminded the Chief Magistrate that he had the three charges pending in the Tobago courts, which were relaid only in April, noting as well that the men were caught red handed last week by the police with the guns.

She produced station diary extracts to emphasise her submission on the strength of the evidence to be adduced by the prosecution, adding also that investigations into the recent arrest were still ongoing. No amount of (bail) conditions can prevent the accused from committing an offence while on bail, she said. Honore-Paul did not object to bail being granted to Douglas.
Emperor Valley Zoo welcomes 6 Llamas

It is the first time that the zoo has acquired llamas which are native to the south American Andean mountains. The six animals were born in captivity at the safari enterprise Nature Park in Boerne, Texas.

Lutchmedial said that the animals, between one to two years, are accustom to our type of weather so they should have no problem adjusting to the local climate. The animals were acquired at a cost of Us$20,000 inclusive of transportation costs, which included travelling by trailer overland from Texas to Miami, Florida and by air from Miami to Trinidad.

At present they are without names, but eventually, he said, they would be named, most likely, through a naming competition as has been done in the past. The sure-footed llamas are used as beasts of burden around mountainous terrain.

They manage to fetch loads in rough terrain very well, Lutchmedial said. There is no plan, he said, for anyone to ride them. However, in the same way that the giraffes are hand fed, people will be given an opportunity to feed them. They can be found at the upper end of the zoo.

The llamas are the south American relative of the camel, but unlike the camel they have no hump on the back. The llamas, he said, have two wild relatives - the guanacos and

the vicunas - all native to the Andean mountains. The llamas are the only domesticated of the three species.
2017 Budget passes

The committee will have five days to complete its examination of the heads of expenditure at the rate of eight heads per day. House Speaker Bridget Annissette-George announced that with the exception of today each session will begin at 10.30am and continue to 8.30 pm or as long as necessary to complete the eight heads of expenditure for each day.

In winding up the debate before it was sent to the standing Finance Committee, Finance Minister Colm Imbert lambasted the opposition for its criticism of the budget. He knocked Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar for criticising the Governments plan to divest twenty percent of the shareholding of First Citizens recalling the IPO scandal which took place under the watch of the Peoples Partnership when major irregularities were discovered in the initial public offering of shares in First Citizens.

He said executives of First Citizens profitted improperly to the tune of millions of dollars during the IPO by exploiting loopholes in the regulations and said the whole affair is now being investigated by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and he has been advised that the results of the SECs investigation will soon to be handed to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP).

He said it was outrageous for the Leader of the Opposition to criticise the Governments plan to divest shares in First Citizens and said she was obviously hoping that the country had forgotten the IPO scandal and that the PNM government had to fire the whole board of First Citizens. Imbert also said he was concerned about the Opposition Leaders speechwriter who he said had to be illiterate as well as suffering from some form of intellectual incapacity because he said her remarks were riddled with mistakes and clear indications of a misunderstanding of the budget he had presented.

He said the Opposition Leader had concocted a whole range of falsehoods surrounding former ANSAMcAL executive, Gerry Brooks, attempting to sully the name of a man with an unblemished record in the private sector. He said that the Opposition Leader had claimed that soon after last years election Brooks retired as Chief Operating Officer of one of the countrys major conglomerates and that at the time of his retirement he was a member of the board of the parent company of the conglomerate.

He charged that she had also said that within days Brooks had gone from being associated with five entities holding shares in Trinidad and Tobago National Gas Limited to being Chairman of the companys largest shareholder, the National Gas Company (NGC). Imbert said that in fact, Brooks had retired from ANsAMcAL in April 2015, a full five months before the election and at the same time had also retired from every ANSAMcAL subsidiary and associated company. He said her accusation was a complete fabrication and he was minded to file a complaint on a matter of privilege but he did not have the time or the inclination to do so. He also dismissed as nonsense her charge of interlocking directorships in First Citizens as well as accusations that he removed the Value Added tax from repairs to foreign yachts to benefit himself.
First Peoples parade in PoS

First Peoples from Australia, Canada, Belize, Dominica, Guyana, Suriname and Mexico have joined the Santa Rosa First Peoples Community and Jennifer Cassar, Carib Queen of Arima, for First Peoples Heritage week - exploring Restitution and Reparatory Justice for Native Genocide and enslavement.

Contingents arrived on the weekend for the events that began on Monday with a symposium on restitution and reparatory justice at the University of the West Indies, OMeara Campus. Emmanuel Daniel, who flew some 21 hours from Australia to get to Trinidad told Newsday, Its about indigenous peoples from all parts of the world coming together and discussing indigenous rights and having workshops for each other. Most of the indigenous peoples around the world are similar in nature and in similar situations in their own countries. we advise on things where we can achieve a better life for our people in our country.

His compatriot Dion Drummond said back home they do programmes in the schools teaching children about their song and dance so that they will have a better understanding about them. He said, without them knowing about us, we get a lot of ignorance and racism so its better to educate them to show them that we are all the same, just a different colour. Thats what we do at home when we are not travelling around the world. Its important that we educate everyone from a young age.

For this year, thus far Drummond has been to Brazil, Mexico, Trinidad, back to Australia then back to Trinidad. Next month he is off to China. Drummond said Tuesdays conference was just an exciting day since it gave him the opportunity to observe what everyone had to say.
NGC used as piggy bank, says Young

[The Opposition] emptied the coffers of NGC in a most undignified manner, Young said yesterday in his contribution to the Budget debate in Parliament. The NGC board, Young said, went backwards when declaring the State gas companys dividends from 2011 to 2015, claiming retroactive dividends from 2009 along with its 2011 dividend payment. so along with $550 million in dividends for 2011, the company claimed an additional $915 million from 2009.

In 2010, the company declared a dividend of $1.24 billion, again with $185 million from 2009. That was a very unusual way of declaring dividends  they were taking dividends and declaring them again.

Over time they took $10 billion of the NGCs retained earnings in cash, Young said. NGC, as a wholly owned state enterprise, contributes to the Government (its only shareholder) through dividends as determined by its profits. Last year, US investment firm Oppenheimer had called a $4.2 billion dividend from the NGC ad hoc, whose purpose was to reduce the countrys deficit. Then Finance Minister Larry Howai had dismissed that report as nonsensical.
Hinds happy to meet Tobago bus drivers

However, the release said that Hinds and members of the board of directors and management of PTSC will be happy to meet with the drivers and their union on another occasion. Drivers have complained that the buses in Tobago were old and need to be replaced. The release said that a greater amount of time would be required to properly treat with the issues to be raised by the drivers.

Based on the itinerary prepared by the Ministry and Division of Infrastructure of the Tobago House of Assembly, the release said Hinds went to Tobago solely to meet with the relatives of those affected by Monday mornings tragic accident involving a PTSC bus at LAnse Fourmi.

One person died in the accident when the bus went over a precipice. Hinds also visited those injured and hospitalised at the Scarborough General Hospital. The release noted that the debate on the national Budget was currently taking place in the Parliament and Hinds was required to be back in Trinidad for the exercise.
New therapy said to be the possible cure for HIV

A British man may be the first person in the world to actually be cured of HIV, thanks to a new treatment thats been developed overseas. Five universities from the United Kingdom have joined forces to create this new treatment, one that may some day be a cure.

The 44-year-old man is one of 50 patients to have participated in a trial for the wonder drug, which has been designed to target the disease even when it is in its dormant state. Scientists recently announced that the HIV virus is currently undetectable in the mans blood, though that could be the result of normal treatment. However, if the dormant cells have also been removed from his bloodstream, it would be an astounding finding. To have removed inactive HIV cells from someones system could indeed indicate that for the first time, the disease may be curable.

This new treatment is one of the very first attempts at totally curing HIV. Mark Samuels, managing director of the National Institute for Health Research Office for Clinical Research Infrastructure, said, We are exploring the real possibility of curing HIV. This is a huge challenge and its still early days but the progress has been remarkable.

Researchers from some of the UKs most prominent colleges, including Cambridge, Oxford, Imperial College London, University College London and Kings College London, have come together to develop this new treatment and study its potential. HIV has been an extremely difficult disease to treat because it targets the immune system. The virus attaches itself to the DNA of T cells  causing the protective cells to ignore the virus and actually replicate it.

Current therapies are only able to target active, infected T cells. T cells that are infected but otherwise dormant are left alone, and consequently, can continue to reproduce. The Telegraph explains, The new therapy works in two stages. Firstly, a vaccine helps the body recognise the HIV-infected cells so it can clear them out. Secondly, a new drug called Vorinostat activates the dormant T-cells so they can be spotted by the immune system.

According to CDC estimates, there are 1.2 million Americans living with HIV, and 1 out of every 8 people dont even know they have it.

The researchers hope to publish the findings of their trial sometime in 2018. While the results do seem promising, the potential for a cure still remains tentative at best.

Sources:

Telegraph.co.uk

CDC.gov

Science.NaturalNews.com

Submit a correction >>
'Surgical strikes showed India's firm resolve against terror'

Delhi,National,Politics,Terrorism,Crime/Disaster/Accident, Thu, 13 Oct 2016 IANS

New Delhi, Oct 13 (IANS) India showed the world its firm resolve against terrorism when it carried out the surgical strikes on September 29, Union Minister of State for Home Hansraj Gangaram Ahir said here on Thursday.

"India has shown its might. The world has seen what is the difference between those talking too much and those talking less on the intervening night of September 28 and 29," Ahir told reporters on the sidelines of a Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Ficci) event.

The minister was reacting to the rhetoric from Pakistan in the wake of the strikes across the Line of Control.

Addressing a seminar on 'Border Management and Illicit Trade' organised by Ficci, Ahir said that India has always tried to improve its ties with neighbouring countries, including Pakistan and China, but the reciprocal gestures have not always been good.

"We believe some tasks cannot be carried out through arms but through dialogue. But, Pakistan has created a lot of problem by indulging in drug-trafficking. This is a persistent challenge which needs to be tackled," he said.

Ahir also alleged that the "neighbouring country (Pakistan) does not want to see our youths flourish and progress".

Raising concern over Pakistan and China's strategy, Ahir also stressed the need to save the minerals and its utilisation.

"Apart from saving our borders, it is necessary to protect the minerals and utilise it properly. China and Pakistan would not easily allow us to take our minerals," Ahir said.

On the occasion, the minister also released Ficci CASCADE report "Need For Policy Reforms to Combat Illicit Markers".

Over trans-border smuggling, Ahir said: "Safe borders are critical to nation, hence collaborative and cooperative measures are required as an anti-smuggling initiative in the country."

He said that the existence and operation of illicit markets such as smuggling had been an enduring problem that had escalated in scope and magnitude, impacting industries, government, economies and, the health and safety of the consumers.

"Moreover, smuggling operations have close links to terror organisations and criminal networks. In fact, it is one of the biggest challenges faced by India and its industry today, tarnishing the country's image in the global arena," he said.

Ficci Secretary General Didar Singh said illicit trade and smuggling of products impact India's economy and industries as well as safety and security of consumers.

India faces a loss of nearly Rs 40,000 crore in taxes due to illegal trade of just seven products, Singh said.

The seminar was attended by over 150 Border Security Force (BSF) officers from across the country.

--IANS

rak/vgu/vt
Yale offers scholarship for high school students

Delhi,National,Education,Human Interest/Society, Thu, 13 Oct 2016 IANS

New Delhi, Oct 13 (IANS) The Yale Young Global Scholars Programme (YYGS) for the year 2017 is now open for school students of Class 10 and 11 and they can apply, the university said on Thursday.

YYGS is an academic enrichment and leadership development programme that brings together outstanding high school students from around the world for intensive two-week sessions on the Yale campus. In 2016, YYGS hosted over 1,300 students from over 100 different countries.

The programme is sponsored by Yale University and will commence next year in the months of June and July.

"YYGS exemplified how young men and women from around the world can bring the world together in empathy and cooperation," Leon Tsai, a 2016 YYGS Politics, Law, and Economics student, said in a statement.

"As the next generation of leaders, we can step up and make the world a better place," he said.

This year the programme will include two new sessions -- the Frontiers of Math & Science session (FMS), and Sustainable Development & Social Entrepreneurship (SDSE) -- in addition to its other four sessions.

The four usual sessions offered through the scholarship are Applied Science & Engineering (ASE); International Affairs & Security (IAS); Politics, Law, & Economics (PLE); and Biological & Biomedical Science (BBS).

In all six sessions, selected students will receive lectures from Yale faculty, and Yale under-graduate and graduate students. The deadline for applying to the scholarship is January 31, 2017.

--IANS

vn/sm/vt
Village Kheda Kalan residents & BJP leaders meet Governor

New Delhi, Thu, 13 Oct 2016 NI Wire

Kheda Kalan residents & BJP leaders meet the Lt. Governor on the Problem of Cracking Houses & Other problem of Delhi Villagers

New Delhi, 13th Oct: A delegation of Village Kheda Kalan residents & BJP leaders led by Delhi BJP President Satish Upadhyay today met the Lt. Governor of Delhi Shri Najeeb Jung to apprise him with regards to the problem of cracking & dilapidating of houses in Kheda Kalan and other civic, administrative & NDPL related problems being faced by people in Delhi's rural belt. Leader of the Opposition in Delhi Assembly Shri Vijendra Gupta was also present along with others.

The delegation included Kheda Kalan village residents Devendra Rana, Vijay Pal Rana, Sheela Rani, Umed Singh, Sanjay Mann along with former MLAs Neeldaman Khatri, Manoj Shaukeen, Gugan Singh, BJP leaders from Outer Delhi Mohan Bhardwaj, Master Azad Singh, Rekha Gupta, Kesh Rani, Parvesh Wahi, Jai Prakash, Vinod Sehrawat and Jayendra Dabas.

Kheda Kalan residents submitted a representation along with photographs & video clips of dangerous cracks developing in over 180 houses in their village to the Lt. Governor. They lodged protest against authorities forcibly trying to evict them from their houses without providing any alternate accommodation.

Upadhyay drew the Lt. Governor's attention towards the hardships being faced by farmers due to almost 3 fold rise made by NDPL in power tariff for tube well connections and due to thousands of pending claims of crop loss compensation not being settled by concerned authorities for last 2 years.

Vijendra Gupta requested the Lt. Governor to ensure development work in resettlement colonies like J.J. Colonies Sawada & Nangloi apart from Sultanpuri & Mangolpuri where residents are facing extreme sewerage hardship.

Municipal Councillors Rekha Gupta, Keshrani Khatri, Mohan Bhardwaj, Parvesh Wahi & Master Azad Singh requested the Lt. Governor to help establish in the rural belt of Delhi through D.D.A. a Vocational Education Centre for Girls.

The Lt. Governor assured the delegation that he would seek an immediate report on Kheda Kalan Village from the concerned Deputy Commissioner and will direct the administration to work with a humanitarian approach. Shri Najeeb Jung said that North DMC will be directed to extend full help to those who want to repair or re-strengthen their houses. He assured seeking report on NDPL Tariff Rise & crop loss claims.
India to eliminate emissions of super-greenhouse gases

Rwanda,Diplomacy,Business/Economy,Environment/Wildlife, Thu, 13 Oct 2016 IANS

Kigali (Rwanda), Oct 13 (IANS) In a major development in the ongoing negotiations in Kigali in Rwanda to phase down hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), Indian Minister for Environment Anil Dave on Thursday announced measures to control the emissions of trifluoromethane (HFC-23), a super greenhouse gas.

Declaring that India has taken the lead on climate issues, he told IANS: "We are going ahead for releasing the order for incinerating the HFC-23 by-products of HCFC-22 gas."

HFC-23 is released as a by-product during the manufacturing of a commonly used refrigerant gas, chlorodifluoromethane (HCFC-22). The global warming potential of HFC-23 is 14,800 times more than that of CO2, making it an extremely potent greenhouse gas.

The Minister said in a statement that the companies will have to internalise the cost of this environmental externality, take care of downtime and run the incinerators to ensure that HFC-23 is not released in the atmosphere.

"This is an excellent step for India, showing their commitment on climate change. They are taking a significant step on climate, in a cost-effective way. HFC-23 is a dangerous chemical by-product and we are looking to all countries, including India, to translate domestic leadership into strong and ambitious international action on reaching an agreement on phasing down HFCs too," Nehmat Kaur, India Consultant with Natural Resources Defence Council, said.

The decision requires five Indian companies which manufacture HCFC-22 to capture and then incinerate HFC-23 so that its release into the atmosphere is eliminated, an Indian official, who is part of the negotiations, said.

This will potentially avoid emissions of HFC-23 equivalent to 100 million tonnes of CO2 over the next 15 years, he said.

"With this, an order to control the emission of HFC-23, India is sending a strong signal to the world that it is serious about the climate change issue," said Chandra Bhushan, Deputy Director General of Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), in a statement.

"The announcement on destruction of harmful HFC-23 by-product is a very welcome announcement by the Indian government. It reflects India's commitment to phasing down use of these potent global warming gases and sets the stage for a strong amendment to Montreal Protocol, which is within reach this week," said Bhaskar Deol, India's representative with the Natural Resources Defence Council.

At the Kigali meeting, where final negotiations are taking place to reduce the use of HFCs, chemical industry lobbies have been trying hard to make developed countries pay for the incineration of HFC-23.

With this decision, however, India has announced to the world that it will control the emissions of HFC-23 on its own -- without any financial support from developed countries.

Five Indian companies, along with 19 other companies which are mainly in China, have received funds and set up incinerators under the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

During 2007-2013, they destroyed the gas and sold the carbon credits to developed countries under CDM. For every tonne of HFC-23 destroyed, they earned 14,800 carbon credits which translated into billions of dollars.

Once the CDM mechanism was discontinued, these companies had no incentives to destroy HFC-23.

Since the collapse of the CDM market, the levels of HFC-23 in the atmosphere have increased. This indicates that some of the HCFC-22 industries are releasing HFC-23.

Estimates show that if all the HCFC-22 manufacturing units in the world do not destroy HFC-23, then they will emit more than two billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent of HFC-23 into the atmosphere by 2020.

Most of this release will happen in China. However, the decision by India now ensures that the Indian companies will operate the incinerators and destroy HFC-23.

"Asking for money to destroy HFC-23, when these companies have made so much money from it in the past, is unfair. By enacting a law to make it mandatory for the companies to destroy HFCs, India has demonstrated leadership in dealing with HFC issue. Other developing countries should also follow suit," said Bhushan.

At present, the 28th meeting of the Parties to the 1989 Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer is underway in the Rwandan capital till October 14 to freeze an agreement as early as possible to eventually eliminate the use of HFCs.

Indian Union Minister for Environment Anil Dave is among the Ministers from nearly 40 countries, mainly the developing, to hold negotiations.

One group of countries, including China, seems to favour average HFC consumption during 2020-22 as the baseline.

Another group, that includes India, seems to opt for average HFC consumption during 2024-26 as the baseline, said an official.

In a landmark decision in November last, the 197 Parties of the Montreal Protocol agreed to the "Dubai Pathway on HFCs" which commits the 197 Parties to "work within the Montreal Protocol to an HFC amendment in 2016 by first resolving challenges by generating solutions in the contact group on the feasibility and ways of managing HFCs".

(Vishal Gulati is in Kigali in Rwanda to cover the 28th Meeting of the Parties to the Montreal Protocol. He can be contacted at vishal.g@ians.in)

--IANS

vg/lok/dg
Pakistan SC adjourns hearing of Christian woman's appeal

Pakistan,Immigration/Law/Rights,Indo-Pak/Pakistan,Religion, Thu, 13 Oct 2016 IANS

Islamabad, Oct 13 (IANS) The Pakistan Supreme Court on Thursday adjourned for an indefinite period the hearing of a Pakistani Christian woman on death row for blasphemy after a judge refused to hear the case.

Asia Bibi, accused of insulting Prophet Mohammed during an argument with a Muslim woman over a bowl of water, was convicted and sentenced to death in 2010 despite her advocates maintaining her innocence and insisting the accusers held grudges against her, Dawn online reported.

The hearing was adjourned after one judge on the three-member bench, Justice Iqbal Hamid-ur-Rehman, recused on the grounds that he also heard the Salman Taseer case.

Taseer was the governor of Punjab province. He was killed by his own bodyguard in Islamabad in 2011 after speaking out for Asia Bibi.

After the judge recused, a letter was sent the Chief Justice to appoint another judge to the bench.

It is unclear when the hearing will now resume.

Thousands have protested against Asia Bibi and said they would kill her if she were ever released. Among the protesters was the imam in her own village.

Her husband and four daughters live in hiding and say they have received many death threats.

Asia Bibi is the first woman to be sentenced to death under Pakistan's blasphemy laws and her case is one of the most controversial.

--IANS

ksk/vt
'Inferno': Not at all towering (IANS Review, Rating:*1/2)

Delhi,Cinema/Showbiz,Hollywood, Thu, 13 Oct 2016 IANS

Film: "Inferno"; Director: Ron Howard; Cast: Tom Hanks, Felicity Jones, Irrfan Khan, Omar Sy, Ben Foster, Sidse Babett Knudsen, Ana Ularu, Ida Darvish and Cesare Cremonini; Rating: *1/2

Not all novel adaptations are alluring as films, certainly not Dan Brown's novels.

"Inferno", Brown's fourth novel and the third to be adapted by Ron Howard after "The Da Vinci Code" and "Angels & Demons", is far from towering. In fact, it is an absurdly mounted mystery thriller that fails to impress.

This Robert Langdon series, featuring Tom Hanks as the Harvard University professor of symbology, begins with a shoddily gummed-up montage that forms the prologue. In one of the early scenes in the pre-credits, we see Ben Foster as the crazed billionaire geneticist Bertrand Zobrist falling to his death from the top of a bell tower in Florence and in one of his public address on the evils of over-population, we are informed that, "Humanity is the disease and Inferno is the cure".

After the initial credits, we are shown Professor Langdon waking up in a hospital in Florence, Italy with a scar on his head and no memory of what transpired over the last few days.

He, once again, finds himself the target of a major manhunt. Doctor Sienna Brooks, played by Felicity Jones, helps him escape from the hospital and together they travel across Europe, trying to solve the mystery and thereby avert the deadly virus Inferno, which Zobrist had invented, from destroying humanity.

How Langdon uses clues from Dante's epic poem Inferno and various works of art to track down the deadly virus, forms the crux of the tale.

While the poem tells of Dante's journey through Hell, guided by the ancient Roman poet Virgil, the poem is used in the film as an allegory of Langdon's expedition and hence fails to deliver the finer nuances of the poem.

Tom Hanks as Robert Langdon is brilliant, but his character is stumped due to the poorly written script. He is aptly supported by Irrfan Khan in a prominent role as the enigmatic Harry Sims; Sidse Babett Knudsen as doctor Elizabeth Sinskey; Omar Sy as her French consort Christoph; and Ida Darvish as Martha.

The script, written by David Koepp with its many tangles of double crosses is convoluted, predictable and lacklustre.

Devoid of tension and any semblance of character development, the film is stuck in cinematic limbo. The dialogues too, without any punchlines, are dull and boring. All the characters have a serious air about themselves and there is never a moment of spryness in the narrative.

Visually too, the first half, packed with snappy edits, is disconcerting to the eye.

Overall, when at the very end, you hear "If you loved humanity or this planet, you'd do anything to solve it", you feel let down with all the hype of the "Inferno".

--IANS

troy/rb/dg
Tutor-hunting made easy by start-up firm

Karnataka,National,Technology,Education, Thu, 13 Oct 2016 IANS

Bengaluru, Oct 13 (IANS) Now parents won't have to rely solely on their limited local contacts to find the right tutor for their children, as a new web-service which facilitates a meeting between the two was launched on Thursday by Vidyanext.

Vidyanext, a start-up venture, has launched a recommendation service, operable through their website, which enables parents to find the most suitable and available tutor for their ward around the area after feeding in a few details on their website -- location, subject to be studied, education board.

The tutors are also allowed to enrol themselves on the website, adding to the database of prospective tutors. To avail the service they are supposed to pay a licensing fee for each student who chooses to study under them. At present, 1,100 tutors are live on Vidyanext Tutor directory in Bengaluru alone.

Apart from Bengaluru, the service is live in Gurgaon as of now.

"Today, with our student-tutor matching service, we are simplifying the process of tuition-searching," Pradeep Singh, CEO Vidyanext, said at the launch.

"We have also developed a process called Smart Revisions, which uses the data we have about them (students), like submission history, to curate the massive amount of content a student needs to learn and tell each student where to focus every day.

"Our efforts will continue to transform the conventional rote learning method in India to a process which nurtures inquisitiveness, and empowers parents, students and tuition teachers with digital tools to facilitate their role in the learning cycle," he added.

A statement issued by Vidyanext revealed that close to 90 per cent parents decide on a tutor after meeting just two of them, while 99 per cent of them select one after meeting only five tutors.

--IANS

vn/sm/dg
Two Congress MPs flay agenda change for parliamentary panel meeting

Delhi,National,Politics,Defence/Security, Thu, 13 Oct 2016 IANS

New Delhi, Oct 13 (IANS) Two Congress MPs on Thursday said the last-minute change of agenda for the coming meeting of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Defence, including the September 29 surgical strikes across the Line of Control, is "highly unacceptable".

The Congress leaders demanded that the original agenda be followed for the October 14 meeting.

"The last-minute change of agenda is highly unacceptable. We are deeply disappointed over the change in agenda," Congress MPs Ambika Soni and Madhusudan Mistry, who are members of Parliament's Standing Committee on Defence, said in a statement here.

"The original agenda was that the army officials would brief the committee members on the recent surgical strikes and subsequently deliberate on the shortage of arms and ammunition for the defence forces. This has now been changed," it added.

The Congress demanded that the original agenda be maintained and also that the defence officials inform the committee about the number of surgical strikes carried out since 2004.

"We believe that the agenda must have been fixed after consultation with top officials of the Defence Ministry.

"We see no reason why this has to be changed, and that too at the last minute. This is not the first time that the agenda of such meetings is being changed. It has happened before also," read the statement.

The decision not to brief the committee over the surgical strikes under the garb of secrecy only amounts to "lack of confidence" in MPs who are on the parliamentary committee and who are bound by the oath of secrecy. This position is absolutely unacceptable to us, the Congress leaders added.

The statement said: "It is also unfortunate that we come to know about the shortage of arms and ammunition for the special forces, who carried out the surgical strikes. But the army officials are not ready to discuss or answer queries to be raised in the meeting."

--IANS

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AAP MLAs get time till October 17 to respond

Delhi,National,Immigration/Law/Rights,Politics, Thu, 13 Oct 2016 IANS

New Delhi, Oct 13 (IANS) The Election Commission of India (ECI) has given 21 Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) legislators in Delhi till October 17 to explain why they should not be disqualified from the assembly after their appointment as Parliamentary Secretaries.

In the notice issued on Monday, the ECI also told petitioner Prashant Patel to submit his rejoinder to the 21 AAP lawmakers' reply by October 21.

The AAP legislators had earlier written to the Election Commission requesting for more time to file their replies, following which the extension till October 17 has been given.

"It may be noted that if no reply is received by the aforesaid date, it will be presumed that you have nothing to say in this matter and the Commission will take appropriate action without any further reference to you," the EC notice said.

After coming to power in February 2015, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's government appointed 21 party lawmakers as the Parliamentary Secretaries, saying this would facilitate smooth functioning of the government but would not cause any burden on the exchequer.

The Delhi High Court in September quashed the appointment of 21 Parliamentary Secretaries. The AAP, however, refused to comment over the issue and maintained that it was an ongoing process.

After the notice, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Thursday reiterated its demand of "disqualification" of the 21 AAP legislators in "office of profit" matter.

"It is already proven that they (AAP MLAs) were holding office of profit so we are demanding that their membership must be cancelled," Delhi BJP chief Satish Upadhyay told IANS.

Congress legal affairs in-charge, Aman Panwar told IANS that the 21 AAP MLAs were illegally appointed as parliamentary secretaries in the Delhi government.

"Under the law, they must be disqualified," he demanded.

In June 2015, a major row was sparked off on the issue of 'Office of Profit' after President Pranab Mukherjee rejected the Delhi government's bill to exclude the post of Parliamentary Secretary from the 'Office of Profit' definition.

The Delhi government sought through the bill an amendment to the Delhi Members of Legislative Assembly (Removal of Disqualification) Act, 1997, so as to exclude the post of Parliamentary Secretary from the definition of 'Office of Profit'.

The AAP has maintained that none of the Parliamentary Secretaries was given "pecuniary benefits" and the appointment of the party legislators as Parliamentary Secretaries did not amount to creation of a "public office".

--IANS

am-aks/vgu/dg
Muslim board's stand on civil code insult to judiciary: VHP

Delhi,National,Politics,Religion,Immigration/Law/Rights, Thu, 13 Oct 2016 IANS

New Delhi, Oct 13 (IANS) The Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) on Thursday said All India Muslim Personal Law Board's (AIMPLB) stand on the Uniform Civil Code was an insult to the judiciary.

"The Muslim organisations are free to express their views. But they should be careful they don't insult the judiciary or harm national interest or those of their own community," VHP's Joint General Secretary Surendra Jain told IANS.

He said that by saying that the Narendra Modi government was imposing Hindu laws on all, the AIMPLB had insulted the judiciary and the judicial process.

"The matter is in court. The government is nowhere in the picture," he said.

"By saying that imposing a Uniform Civil Code would lead to social disintegration or social unrest, they (Muslim bodies) are blackmailing the country just like (Mohammed Ali) Jinnah did," he added.

Asked if Hindus were not against the uniform code, Jain said there were some reservations about certain traditions, but the Hindus have abandoned evil traditions like 'sati' and 'ghunghat' in the larger interest of society.

"It is time the Muslim women are given a chance to rid of the exploitation and have equal rights, which the Uniform Civil Code strives to achieve," the VHP leader said.

--IANS

mak/tsb/dg
India still remains Russia's major foreign trade partner: Putin

Russian Federation,Business/Economy, Thu, 13 Oct 2016 IANS

Moscow, Oct 13 (IANS) Though in 2015 trade between the two countries dropped by 7.8 percent, India still remains Russia's major foreign trade partner and the negative trend could be overcome soon, Russian President Vladimir Putin said in an exclusive interview.

"India has been and remains Russia's major foreign trade partner. Even though in 2015 trade between the countries dropped by 7.8 percent, together with our Indian partners, we are resolved to overcome the negative trend, which, in our opinion, is largely associated with volatility on the global markets and in exchange rates," Putin told IANS.

The Russian President made assertion in response to emailed questions sent jointly by IANS and the Russian Sputnik news agency, ahead of his visit to India for the five-nation BRICS Summit in Goa this weekend.

Putin said the commercial exchanges are mutually beneficial between the two countries and their structure shows the complementarity.

"Chemicals and engineering products account for a considerable share of Russia's exports and the exports from your country."

Putin said: "The energy sector plays an important role in trade and economic cooperation between Russia and India. Construction of the Kudankulam NPP is the largest long-term project. In August 2016, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and I took part in a ceremony dedicated to the handover of the first unit of the Kudankulam NPP to the Republic of India."

"The second unit will be put into operation in the near future. Operation of the first and second units at their rated capacity will significantly increase the energy supply in India and strengthen its energy security."

He said the two countries were also strengthening bilateral cooperation in the conventional energy sector.

During the St Petersburg International Economic Forum held in June 2016, Rosneft and an Indian consortium signed a contract for the sale of 23.9 per cent of shares in Vankorneft, which owns the Vankor field in the Krasnoyarsk region.

Besides, Rosneft sold a stake of shares in the Taas-Yuryakh Neftegazodobycha, a company developing a field in East Siberia, to Indian companies.

"Let me add that many of the Russian projects in India not only have commercial importance but also play a significant social and economic role for the economies of the two countries. They harmoniously fit in the new Indian industrialisation programme proposed by Modi," Putin said.

Talking about the level of investment cooperation between the countries during his visit, Putin said: "Naturally, during our visit to India we hope to give fresh momentum to the bilateral trade and economic ties, given that companies of both countries are interested in implementing new mutually beneficial projects."

"Russia's cumulative investments in India amount to about $4 billion, while Indian businesses have invested in the Russian economy twice as much - about $8 billion."

Putin said a Working Group on Priority Investment Projects has been established and is now successfully operating within the framework of the Intergovernmental Commission.

"Line agencies of the two countries, jointly with the India-Russia Forum on Trade and Investment, are engaged in a rigorous selection of promising business initiatives and work on identifying and removing barriers to the free flow of goods, capital and services."

"To date, 20 priority projects have been selected -- 10 Russian projects and 10 Indian ones -- in such spheres as transport engineering, chemical industry, aircraft industry and pharmaceuticals."

Talking about the establishment of the New Development Bank (NDB) and the BRICS Contingent Reserve Arrangement with the total capital of $200 billion, Putin said: "I am convinced that, as the bank gets stronger, its output will only increase, including by means of projects that promote integration among the BRICS countries."

Putin also said Russia supports enhanced cooperation in electronic commerce, in trade facilitation (with involvement of the Eurasian Economic Commission), supporting small and medium-sized businesses, and protection of intellectual property.

--IANS

ag/hs/vt
UCC will be difficult to implement in India: Congress

Delhi,National,Immigration/Law/Rights,Politics,Religion, Thu, 13 Oct 2016 IANS

New Delhi, Oct 13 (IANS) Former law minister and senior Congress leader Veerappa Moily on Thursday said that it would be difficult to implement the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) in a country as diverse as India.

"It will be difficult to implement UCC in a country like India where various communities and groups are governed by personal laws," said Moily.

"In a country of this nature, implementation of UCC is next to impossible. There are about 200-300 personal laws that exist in India covering various communities," he added.

Moily also said that this should not be made a "communal agenda" and not be considered a Hindu versus Muslim issue.

The All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) and a number of other prominent Muslim organisations on Thursday rejected the Law Commission's questionnaire on the Uniform Civil Code, calling it "misleading".

Calling the questionnaire "misleading and divisive", AIMPLB General Secretary Maulana Wali Rahmani said Muslims will not respond to it.

"We will boycott this questionnaire. No Muslim will respond to it because it is misleading and deceitful. The Uniform Civil Code is divisive and will lead to social unrest," he told media persons here.

--IANS

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India-Germany to collaborate on high-speed trains

Delhi,Business/Economy, Thu, 13 Oct 2016 IANS

New Delhi, Oct 13 (IANS) Indian Railways on Thursday said that it will collaborate with Germany on high-speed trains.

Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu and German Minister for Transport and Digital Infrastructure Alexander Dobrindt are expected to sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on railways and high-speed trains on Friday.

"Both ministers will be focusing on deepening collaboration and strengthening ties in field of railways and high-speed trains," the Ministry of Railways said.

"After the meeting, a MoU will be signed between Indian Railways and DB Engineering and Consulting GmbH," the statement added.

Dobrindt is on a four day 'follow-up' visit to India. Earlier, Prabhu had visited Germany in April this year.

--IANS

aks-rv/bg
AIMPLB, Muslim bodies reject move on Uniform Civil Code

Delhi,National,Politics,Religion,Immigration/Law/Rights, Thu, 13 Oct 2016 IANS

New Delhi, Oct 13 (IANS) The All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) and a number of other prominent Muslim organisations on Thursday rejected the Law Commission's questionnaire on the Uniform Civil Code, calling it "misleading".

Calling the questionnaire "misleading and divisive", AIMPLB General Secretary Maulana Wali Rahmani said Muslims will not respond to it.

"We will boycott this questionnaire. No Muslim will respond to it because it is misleading and deceitful. The Uniform Civil Code is divisive and will lead to social unrest," he told the media here.

"The uniform code is not suited for this nation. There are so many cultures in India and they have to be respected. A uniform code is against the spirit of the Constitution, which safeguards the right of citizens to practise their culture and religion," he said.

Questioning the timing of the move, Rahmani said the Narendra Modi government had deliberately thrown up this issue now to "hide its failures in the last two-and-half years".

The development comes days after the Union government told the Supreme Court that 'triple talaq', 'nikaah halaal' and polygamy were not integral to the practice of Islam or essential religious practices.

Subsequently, the Law Commission on October 7 put up on its website a questionnaire, comprising of 16 questions, to seek public opinion on the civil code issue.

Fielding a question on the issue of triple talaq, Rahmani pointed out that as per the 2011 Census data, the percentage of divorce cases among members of a particular community was much higher than the Muslims.

Also, he added, the prevalence of polygamy was higher among these people than in the Muslims, as per the 2011 Census data.

Other prominent Muslims who represented their respective organisations at the press conference here included Maulana Arshad Madani (Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind), Mohammad Jafar (Jamaat-e-Islami Hind), Maulana Asghar Imam Mehdi (Markazi Jamiat Ahle Hadith), Maulana Mahmood Madani (Jamiat Ulema Hind), M. Manzoor Alam (All India Milli Council), Naved Hamid (All India Majlis-e-Mushawarat) and Maulana Abul Qasim Naumani (Rector, Darul Uloom Deoband).

Besides, Barelvi cleric Maulana Tauqeer Raza Khan of Ittehad-e-Millat Council and Shia cleric Maulana Mohsin Taqvi were scheduled to attend the presser but could not make it, AIMPLB member Kamal Farouqi said.

Rahmani said they would launch a campaign to create awareness amongst Muslims, beginning with a gathering in Lucknow.

Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind President Maulana Arshad Madani said: "The Muslim Personal Law is based on Quran and Hadith and we cannot alter it."

"Modi ji (Prime Minister Narendra Modi) wants to impose dictatorship in the name of democracy," he added.

Madani insisted that it is not just the Muslims who will be affected by a Uniform Civil Code but other communities such as the Sikhs and Christians and the tribals.

He said these communities will also speak up (against the civil code) in due course.

The speakers also accused the Law Commission of not acting as an independent body but as an "arm of the government" in pushing the government's agenda.

--IANS

mak/tsb/bg
India, Russia discuss high-speed freight train corridor

Delhi,National,Politics,Business/Economy, Thu, 13 Oct 2016 IANS

New Delhi, Oct 13 (IANS) Minister of State for Railways Rajen Gohain on Thursday held discussions with the Russian Railways authorities for collaborating on a dedicated high-speed freight corridor, railway officials said.

A senior railway official told IANS that the minister held discussions with the Russian officials and also discussed issues like modernisation of existing rail corridors, train traffic and transportation, training and knowledge sharing and rolling stock modernisation.

--IANS

aks-rv/tsb/bg
US strikes Yemen in 'self defence', destroys radar sites

United States,Defence/Security, Thu, 13 Oct 2016 IANS

Washington, Oct 13 (IANS) In "self defence", three US warships on Thursday fired cruise missiles at a radar installations in Yemen that the Pentagon claimed was used by Yemeni insurgents to target another American warship earlier in.

The three sites -- in Houthi-controlled territory -- targeted by the US warships were located in remote areas, where there was little risk of civilian casualties or collateral damage, CNN quoted a US official as saying.

"These limited self-defence strikes were conducted to protect our personnel, our ships, and our freedom of navigation in this important maritime passageway," Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook said.

"The US will respond to any further threat to our ships and commercial traffic, as appropriate," Cook said.

According to the US officials, the attack was carried out using Tomahawk cruise missiles fired from the destroyer USS Nitze.

The initial assessments showed that three radar sites have been destroyed, the officials added.

They said the strikes were authorised by President Barack Obama.

The attack marks the first time when the US has fired at rebel targets since the start of the Yemen conflict in March 2015, BBC reported.

On Sunday, the USS Mason warship in the Red Sea was targeted by two missile attacks, CNN reported.

The missile, however, missed the warship and landed in water.

The USS Mason was fired on again on Wednesday while conducting routine operations in international waters, according to the Pentagon.

"The ship employed defensive countermeasures, and the missile did not reach USS Mason," Cook said about Wednesday's incident.

"There was no damage to the ship or its crew. USS Mason will continue its operations."

At the time, a Houthi spokesman told the Saba news agency that it had not targeted any warships.

A Saudi-led multinational coalition, supported by the US, is carrying out an air campaign against the Houthi movement.

However, the US support for the coalition has come under strain following an air strike on a funeral hall in the capital Sanaa earlier this month that killed at least 140 persons.

The Saudi government has not publicly acknowledged that its planes carried out the strike, but it has launched an inquiry.

It has also said it will facilitate the evacuation of Yemenis injured in the attack who need medical treatment abroad.

The UN said at least 4,125 civilians have been killed and 7,207 injured since the coalition intervened in the conflict between forces loyal to Yemen's internationally-recognised government and those allied to the Houthis in March 2015.

--IANS

ss/ksk/vt
DONALD TRUMP TROUNCED HILLARY CLINTON IN SECOND DEBATE, BUT...

By Chuck Baldwin

October 13, 2016

NewsWithViews.com

As debates go, it was a thrashing: Donald Trump totally dominated the second presidential debate, as Hillary Clinton was reeling on the ropes from the very beginning. Trump did very poorly in the first debate, as I noted in this column. But he was obviously much better prepared for this second debate, and it showed. Hillary was beaten so badly, a majority of the major news media actually STOPPED polling shortly after Hillarys embarrassing performance because respondents were giving Trump a landslide victory, and they didnt want to be forced to report it.

Trump finally brought up Benghazi and did a much better job of talking about Hillarys criminality in destroying emails after she had been subpoenaed by Congress to produce them. He also courageously made a commitment to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate Hillarys obvious criminal conduct if he is elected President. That was a bold move and must have sent shock waves throughout the political establishments of both major parties. I hope it also put a little bit of the fear of God in FBI Director James Comey, as he has become party to the Clinton cover-up with his refusal to press charges against her.

Trump boldly stated his support for the Second Amendment, which forced Hillary to publicly defend her support for more gun control. He reiterated his support for the right to life of unborn babies, which forced Hillary to defend her pro-abortion position. And for the first time, I heard Donald Trump actually make a statement in support of the U.S. Constitution. And, of course, he continued pushing his economic positions of reduced taxes and less government regulation. He also continued hammering the so-called free trade deals like NAFTA and TPP.

Donald also did a great job of pointing out that Russia, Syria, and Iran are the ones that are truly fighting ISIS and that we should acknowledge it and support them in it. I dont know that any other presidential candidate, Republican or Democrat, has or would ever admit that (except for Ron Paul and Pat Buchanan, of course). I give Trump big kudos for that one.

But the thing that sent Hillary reeling against the ropes was Trumps courageous statement regarding Bill Clintons long history of abuse against women (including several alleged rapes) and Hillarys culpability in providing cover for her husbands abuse. Along with pressing the criminal cover-up in her deleted emails--and her culpability in the deaths of American soldiers and the American ambassador in Benghazi--the subject of both Clintons long history of abuse of women knocked Hillary for a loop. She never recovered.

The thing I continue to dislike about Trump, however, is his emphatic and continual support for what, in essence, is a burgeoning Police State in this country. His stop and frisk proposals and his repeated calls for religious profiling and increased police intrusions into privacy are a direct violation of the Fourth Amendment and portends further police abuse under a Trump administration. Unfortunately, this plays WELL to most conservatives and Christians.

People on the right have a HUGE blind spot when it comes to Fourth Amendment issues and all things law and order. On this issue, the Republican nominee could have been ANY of the contenders (excepting Rand Paul), and it would not have changed a thing. Republicans are notoriously anemic on the Fourth Amendment. If Republicans understood the Fourth amendment like they do the Second Amendment, America wouldnt be staring a Police State in the face the way we are. And while the late Supreme Court justice, Antonin Scalia (the man Trump uses as the model for his future Supreme Court picks), was terrific on the Second Amendment and life issues, he was very inconsistent (sometimes even terrible) on Fourth Amendment issues.

Without a doubt, however, this was Donald Trumps finest public showing.

BUT

There is a much larger issue that I am compelled to address. And, unfortunately, it is an issue that hardly anyone else is willing to talk about. So, what I say from this point on is probably going to make me very unpopular in many circles. So be it. It MUST be said.

What Donald Trump was recorded as saying eleven years ago is disgustingly repulsive to anyone who has a moral compass. And there should be NO defending it. Yes, Trump was willing to publicly apologize for what he said; and I give him credit for that. None of us is perfect. Certainly not me, and not you either. Regardless, that does nothing to change the seriousness of the situation. (And, no, Im not overlooking the fact that the release of this recording was timed by the establishment to do optimum damage to Trumps campaign; and it is also a fact that the establishment has damaging evidence against a variety of politicians--including the Clintons--that it withholds from the public. The hypocrisy of the establishment class is massive.)

And the seriousness of the situation completely transcends this election and even what Trump was recorded saying. Sadly, the ONLY thing people can focus on or talk about is the election. What Donald Trumps behavior implies is never brought up--except by people who merely want to use it as a political ploy to help Hillary get elected.

Please bear with me, and let me explain.

Both sides of the political aisle are equally culpable in the destruction of our national character. Even Christians are caught up with political partisanship and are unwilling to address the underlying principles that are being sacrificed on the altar of an election.

I constantly hear conservative and Christian personalities excusing Donald Trumps immoral lifestyle with a flippant comparison to Bill and Hillary Clintons immoral lifestyles. To be sure, it would be difficult for anyone to get any lower in the moral sewer than the Clintons. But is that our standard?

Lets face the truth: Donald Trump has lived most of his adult life indulging in rampant narcissistic behavior. It is no wonder Donald has had so many marriages and divorces. In fact, if Trump is elected, he will be the first President in U.S. history who has had multiple failed marriages. The only other President to have had a divorce (one) was Ronald Reagan. Obviously, Trump would not be the only President to have bedded other women: including the obvious Bill Clinton, John F. Kennedy, Lyndon Baines Johnson, Woodrow Wilson, James Garfield, Grover Cleveland, Warren G. Harding, and Franklin D. Roosevelt.

But, to me, the current crisis is NOT Trumps admitted immoralities; it is the lack of a moral conscience by society itself--including and especially by our Christian society.

Ill say it straight out: our culture is in the toilet.

Granted, people are frail creatures: ALL OF US. We often come up short. The Bible itself is replete with examples of how even some of Gods finest men and women fell short. And pride, arrogance, and judgmentalism are things that surely sicken God. The Pharisees prided themselves in being moral puritans, but Jesus condemned them FAR WORSE than those who had been guilty of fleshly sins. So, God forbid that what I am saying here be taken in such a light.

That being said, the glaring problem uncovered by the serial adulteries of both Donald Trump and Bill Clinton is the way our culture has come to promote and accept the sexual objectification of women. Our society is eaten up with it.

Hugh Hefners playboy revolution of the sixties and forward has caused women to be seen as little more than sex objects. Everywhere one looks, women are treated as sex objects by our culture. Television commercials, television programs, billboards, sporting events, magazines, Hollywood movies, and even many churches are guilty of promoting such a culture. FOX News has turned news casting into the flaunting exploitation of women. I dare say that the modern feminist movement would never have come into existence without the flagrant and repeated sexual exploitation of women by narcissistic men. No, what Donald Trump did was not just talk. It was part of an entire culture dominated by the sexual exploitation of women.

What Donald Trump and Bill Clinton have done is bad enough. But what is worse is the way people make excuses for them. People on the left (including the media) completely ignore Bills exploitation of women, and people on the right (including Christians) completely ignore Donalds exploitation of women. (Yes, I understand the difference between forced sex and complicit sex, and in this regard, the sins of Bill Clinton are far greater.) The only thing either side is concerned about is winning an election. Neither side is the least bit concerned about what the sexual objectification of women has done to women and to our country as a whole.

Neither does either side seem to be concerned about what this continual sexual exploitation of women is doing to the young women and girls of our country. These young women and girls see the constant promotion of nudity or semi-nudity of women and grow up with the impression that the only way for them to be popular or liked is to join in. Other young women and girls wrongly compare themselves to what they see being flaunted before them, which causes them to develop deep inferiority complexes--all being predicated on a phony, manufactured and degraded cultural standard of what beauty should look like. The damage being caused our young women and girls by our cultures sexual objectification of women is incalculable.

And let me hasten to add: I see a BIG difference in the playboy lifestyle of a Trump or Clinton and the way others have had to endure separation for reasons known and understood only by God. No matter what the Pharisees among us say, not every divorce is created equal. Some people have a tendency to judgmentally lump every act of divorce into the same category; and that is very unfair. The Scriptures make a big distinction between those who fall into an act of immorality or those who must make decisions about love and marriage due to uncontrollable circumstances (I Corinthians 7) and those who are sexual predators. For example, there is a big difference in Holy Writ between the woman taken in adultery in Jesus time and the sexual predator sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, or the blessings of God upon Job with a second wife and family.

In reality, Donald Trump and the Clintons are mostly a reflection of what our society has become.

All of that said, however, if Donald Trump should be elected President (and at this point I think he will be unless the powers that be are able to somehow rig the elections, which is certainly possible), I pray that early on in his administration he will use the Bully Pulpit of his office to recall his past debauchery and use it as an example (and he has done this for other things such as the bankruptcy laws and tax laws that allow the wealthy to evade taxes) of how degraded our culture has become and then subsequently launch a national campaign to lead the men of America to stop the sexual exploitation of our women and give them back lives that are free of a societal condition that, in effect, has made them unwitting slaves to a double standard that no one should be forced to live under. If he would do that, he could possibly become the greatest President since Thomas Jefferson--providing he also casts off his seeming infatuation with a Police State, of course.

P.S. Sometime ago, I brought a message entitled The Biblical Standard For Government. And believe me, the Biblical standard for government is NOT what most Christians think it is. The principles contained in this message were commonly taught from the colonial pulpits at the time of our countrys founding. Sadly, they are seldom mentioned from Americas pulpits today.

In this message, I delve into the Biblical requirements for civil magistrates. I truly believe if these principles were being taught in Americas churches today, we would NOT be dealing with many of the problems currently confronting our country. Truly, the failure of America is a failure of Americas pulpits.

I believe this message would be beneficial to anyone who is concerned about good government--and how to obtain it.

Order the DVD message The Biblical Standard For Government.

[If you appreciate this column and want to help me distribute these editorial opinions to an ever-growing audience, donations may now be made by credit card, check, or Money Order. Use this link.] [I also have many books and DVDs available for purchase online. Go to Chuck Baldwin Live Store]

 2016 Chuck Baldwin - All Rights Reserved





Chuck Baldwin is a syndicated columnist, radio broadcaster, author, and pastor dedicated to preserving the historic principles upon which America was founded. He was the 2008 Presidential candidate for the Constitution Party. He and his wife, Connie, have 3 children and 9 grandchildren. Chuck and his family reside in the Flathead Valley of Montana. See Chuck's complete bio here.



E-mail: chuck@chuckbaldwinlive.com

Website: ChuckBaldwinLive.com
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The research is in and networks are being transformed in exciting ways to keep up with traffic and bandwidth demands. The cloud, the IoT, a plethora of content and subscription-based OTT services and customer demand are rapidly changing how networks operate and handle data. The impact has been wide-reaching, significantly affecting carriers, service providers, data centers and the enterprise  not to mention end users.





A new paper from ACG Research shows that the next generation of networks is intelligent, dynamic and agile, built using the principles of software defined networking (SDN) and network functions virtualization (NFV). Virtualization and the rise of the SD-WAN are bringing data center class networking deployments right to the customer premises, enabling SMBs and enterprises alike to level the playing field and compete in the new content and services-driven technology landscape.

According to ACG, service providers face a number of challenges as they adopt SDN and NFV technologies and offer commercial SD-WAN and Enterprise vCPE solutions to their customers. Trying to increase revenues while keeping operational costs under control is one of the most pressing issues for service providers migrating their networks. One of the ways to address this challenge is by expanding the total addressable market for services, which may mean expanding outside the traditional service area.

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As if these challenges werent a tall enough order, service providers must also offer real-time monitoring, management and analytics to meet SLAs and performance expectations. They must also offer integration with legacy OSS and BSS solutions to ensure all aspects of network operations run smoothly. And finally, migrating to SDN/NFV technologies will require skilled workers who will need to be careful not to step on the toes of traditional IT personnel and solutions within the enterprises they are serving.

Nokia (News - Alert) is one of the companies directly addressing these service provider challenges. The company offers a Dynamic Enterprise Services solution that handles the challenges of network migration while empowering service providers with opportunities for growth and revenue expansion. Features include management and orchestration, enterprise self-management through a simple portal, open source integration and an open source supplier ecosystem and third-party VNF support through Nokias CloudBand Ecosystem Partner program.

Its certainly an exciting time for next generation transformation, and service providers need not face the challenges of migration alone. By working with a solution like Nokias that is tailored toward the specific needs of enterprises, service providers can smoothly implement new technologies while also expanding their customer bases and increasing revenues.

Edited by Alicia Young
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The rise of 5G service gets a little closer every day, and brings with it a real potential to alter the Internet landscape as we know it. Not just on mobile devices, either, but potentially even in our own homes. This won't happen without a lot of planning and testing first, and recently, Nokia (News - Alert) and U.S. Cellular got together on some fixed wireless tests using 5G-ready equipment.





The testing allowed the duo to demonstrate 5G fixed wireless capability both indoors and outdoors, which are actually two distinct testing points when it comes to wireless network transmission and receiving. The tests called upon 28 GHz spectrum granted through an experimental license from the FCC (News - Alert), and put Nokia's 5G-ready AirScale radio system to work as the platform of choice. Since AirScale is commercially available, it can be more readily put to use, and so far, it's delivered in a big way.

Meanwhile, the tests themselves were no softball; Nokia used its connection to stream six 4K-resolution videos at the same time, and reports suggest that the testing went quite well, yielding speeds up to a hefty five gigabits per second. The team even went so far as to perform the tests under comparatively real-world conditions, using several common impediments to a wireless signal as found in the real world. Things like drywall, metal panels, even trees and foliage were introduced, and the tests still came out well.

Both companies plan further tests to help get the system ready for prime time in a few years, and U.S. Cellular (News - Alert)'s executive vice president and chief technology officer Michael S. Irizarry commented, We're excited with this successful 5G testing with Nokia conducted at 28GHz and have seen very promising results, including 5Gbps speed, ultra-low latency under 2 ms and multiple 4k video streams. We strive to provide our customers in the mid-sized and rural markets we serve with the latest technology that can enhance their lives or businesses. And we will continue to deliver a fast, high-quality network that works whenever and wherever our customers need it.

Given that Google (News - Alert) Fiber was topping out in the one Gbps range, and many common providers are still pushing for gigabit access, it's easy to see why U.S. Cellular is so excited about this. This is a technology that could potentially force a shakeup in the Internet service provider (ISP) market so thorough and pronounced that it might put some companies out of business. The nigh-monopoly enjoyed by some providers would be destroyed by a 5G wireless signal, especially if the bandwidth caps aren't particularly hefty or even there.

5G has sometimes been called fiber without the fiber, and if it becomes possible to use 5G as a base for home Internet, it may pretty much take out cable, DSL, and anything else that isn't ready to offer similar speeds without restriction. 5G represents a fundamental change in a fairly mature market.

Edited by Alicia Young
With so much going on in the world, it feels nearly impossible to keep up with the top stories and breaking headlines. But is it really worth the trouble? Some argue that it causes unnecessary stress, while others simply dont see it as a priority. However, such an attitude prevents people f
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Libyas internationally recognized parliament, the House of Representatives (HoR), opposed to UN-backed Government of National Accord (GNA) has found itself gripped by a corruption scandal for mismanagement of the institutions funds.

HoRs President Ageela Saleh is not spared by the accusations which follow a report by an auditor, reported the Libya Herald.

A number of lawmakers and staff, including the institutions chief of staff Abdullah Al-Masri and spokesperson Abdullah Bulaihak, have been implicated in the corruption scandal relayed by social media.

The HoR and Ageela based in the eastern city of Tobruk have been opposed to GNA, sponsored by the UN and world powers. The legislature has rejected two cabinets proposed by nominal Prime Minister Faiez Serraj.

Ageela, who is in Egypt in the framework of the ongoing Arab Parliament meeting, has reportedly received the report and was urged to elucidate it but has not so far responded to the request.

Bulaihak early this week tried to reject the claims which he said were fabricated.

Another source in the legislature, speaking under anonymity to the Libya Herald, belied Bulaihaks comment and said the report is genuine and serious.

The source added that the incriminated persons held secret meetings to discuss the charges and the potential repercussions.

A political analyst on his part said the accusations were plotted by some staff to harm Saleh and HoR members.

Other commentators have it that the real target of the scandal is the institutions chief of staff Abdullah Al-Masri, hunted down by some lawmakers.
Spanish and Moroccan security authorities Wednesday announced the arrest of four suspected Islamic State group militants in a joint security operation.

The joint operation underlines the close cooperation between the two counties in anti-terror struggle.

Two of the suspects were arrested in Spain by the countrys security forces, the interior ministry announced. The first suspect; a Spaniard of Moroccan origin, was arrested in the city of Gijon.

The second, a Moroccan citizen, was arrested at San Sebastian (Basque country). The two ISIS militants were very active in propaganda activities on social media, the interior ministry said in a statement.

The suspects indulged in promoting the groups military victories, social media progress and other deeds. Besides the promotion of the victories, the two men also promoted the groups videos acclaiming violent acts, reports further say.

The militant arrested in Gijon established a secured computer network that enabled him to evade police surveillance, the statement stressed. He used virtual telephones, some tools used by IS members to remain anonymous.

The individual arrested in the Basque country has been active in the recruitment of would-be jihadists. He actually recruited new members for the group because he was in contact with uneducated and underprivileged youths who are easy prey for the terrorist group.

The two men nabbed in Morocco were active in the Northern cities of Tetouan and Fnideq, said the Moroccan Interior Ministry in a statement.

They are accused of recruiting new fighters for the terrorist group. According to the Moroccan interior ministry, the two militants had close contact with IS fighters operating in Syria and Iraq.

This joint operation, which demonstrates the excellence of security cooperation between Morocco and Spain, is ongoing with the search for other suspects on both sides of the Mediterranean, the Spanish interior Ministry said.
Morocco, host country of COP22 in Marrakech November 7-18 and gate for investments in Africa, is busy working to encourage international financial institutions to support green banking markets in African continent.

BMCE Bank of Africa has teamed with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and organized on Wednesday a conference in Casablanca to discuss how to engage the financial sector in the climate challenge in Africa.

The EBRD/BMCE Bank of Africa conference reviewed the steps taken to implement the 2015 Paris global climate agreement that will come into effect in the coming weeks.

Participants discussed the practical steps that need to be taken to turn the Paris vision into reality, a theme that will be taken further at the COP 22 climate talks in Marrakesh in November, the follow-up to the COP 21 in Paris last year.

Addressing the conference, EBRDs Energy Efficiency and Climate Change Managing Director Josue Tanaka said: There is an urgent need for strong action now to achieve global climate goals.

He stressed the EBRDs strong conviction that commercial banks will play an ever more important role in the scaling up of green financing and in achieving significant environmental benefits based on their broad distribution capacity.

Othman Benjelloun, Chairman of BMCE Bank group of Africa said: In parallel with the great commercial success of the first 20 million financing facility dedicated to sustainable energy, MorSEFF has enabled Group BMCE-Bank of Africa to familiarize itself more closely with the renewable energy market, to improve its awareness and to support the development of resources devoted to the promotion of sustainable development, energy efficiency and renewable energy.

He also said that it is with enthusiasm and commitment that, within the context of the next COP 22, we are renewing our partnership with the EBRD, the AFD and the EIB for a new MorSEFF program designed to support businesses in their environmental approach and position ourselves as a benchmark bank in the field.

The Casablanca conference included sessions on the regulatory framework for innovative financial products in the green arena, and the role of commercial banks in promoting green economy transition and cooperation with development banks.
Just a couple of weeks after King Mohammed VI and German Chancellor Angela Merkel discussed over the phone migration-related issues and the repatriation of Moroccan illegal migrants, Moroccos Interior Minister Mohamed Hassad flew to Berlin to further talks with his German counterpart Thomas de Maiziere.

After their talks Wednesday, Hassad announced, at a joint press conference with de Maziere, the imminent signing of a bilateral agreement on all aspects of security cooperation, including money laundering, and the fight against organized crime, drugs trafficking and terrorism, reported the Moroccan official news agency MAP.

Hassad who described anti-terror cooperation with Germany very good said this cooperation will continue to be upgraded to reach levels similar to Moroccos cooperation with other countries such as Spain.

Touching on illegal immigration, Hassad renewed Moroccos commitment to facilitate the return of a maximum of illegal immigrants, particularly those who entered Germany in the context of the migration crisis consecutive to the situation in Syria.

He conceded that the operation is complex because the people concerned are often undocumented and claim to be of a particular nationality other than theirs.

A team of experts, accompanying the Moroccan Interior Minister, will work with German peers to address all aspects related to this issue. This is to avoid that the situation of Moroccan expatriates, legally established in Germany, is not affected by the behavior of some people who claim to be Moroccan, Hassad said.

Echoing him, the German Minister Thomas de Maiziere said thousands of Moroccans live in Germany legally and are perfectly integrated.

Their situation should not be influenced by the behavior of a minority of people living illegally, he said.

Following the involvement of some Moroccans in the attacks against women perpetrated in Cologne on New Year Eve, Morocco and Germany decided to repatriate Moroccan illegal migrants.
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Over the past few days, thousands of pages of private correspondence have made their way out of John Podestas inbox and onto the open internet. WikiLeakss deluge of email exchanges between Hillary Clintons campaign chairman, her aides, her family members, and her favorite donors have provided fodder for countless news stories. Some of these  like reports that the Clinton campaign colluded with the Department of Justice during the latters investigation of the candidates emails  have proven dubious. Others, simply dull. (The story behind the emails release, by contrast, has grown evermore intriguing  on Wednesday, the FBI announced that it suspects Russian involvement in the email hack, while Russias leaders stopped issuing blanket denials in response to such allegations.)

But here are six eye-popping revelations from the emails, which shed new light on the Democratic primary, the politics of ClintonLand, and Blink-182s concerns about UFOs.

1. It sure looks like the vice-chair of the DNC colluded with the Clinton campaign during the Democratic primary.

On March 12, DNC chair Donna Brazile (then vice-chair) wrote Clinton communications director Jennifer Palmieri an email titled From time to time, I get the questions in advance.

In the body of her email, Brazile wrote:

Heres one that worries me about HRC.



DEATH PENALTY

19 states and the District of Columbia have banned the death penalty. 31 states, including Ohio, still have the death penalty. According to the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, since 1973, 156 people have been on death row and later set free. Since 1976, 1,414 people have been executed in the U.S. Thats 11% of Americans who were sentenced to die, but later exonerated and freed. Should Ohio and the 30 other states join the current list and abolish the death penalty?

Palmieri replied, Hi. Yes, it is one she gets asked about. Not everyone likes her answer but can share it.

Clinton supports the death penalty in certain circumstances, while the Democratic Partys grassroots favors its abolition. Thus, Brazile was, ostensibly, giving Clinton a heads-up that she would need to defend her stance at an upcoming town-hall event featuring both Clinton and Bernie Sanders.

In a statement on Tuesday, Brazile denied that she had leaked debate questions to the Clinton campaign.

As a longtime political activist with deep ties to our party, I supported all of our candidates for president. I often shared my thoughts with each and every campaign, and any suggestions that indicate otherwise are simply untrue, Brazile said. As it pertains to the CNN Debates, I never had access to questions and would never have shared them with the candidates if I did.

The first part of Braziles statement has yet to be contradicted: As of this writing, Bernie Sanders and Martin OMalley have not released statements saying that they received no suggestions from Brazile during the primary process.

But the second part of her statement appears to be true only when one emphasizes the word debates.

On Wednesday, Politico obtained an email exchange between Roland Martin and CNN producers that seems to confirm that Brazile leaked a town-hall question:

Roland Martin, a host on the TV One cable network who was co-hosting the town hall with CNNs Jake Tapper, sent an email to CNN producers with three questions, the third of which dealt with the death penalty. POLITICO obtained that email, and heres the text of the third question:



DEATH PENALTY

19 states and the District of Columbia have banned the death penalty. 31 states, including Ohio, still have the death penalty. According to the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, since 1973, 156 people have been on death row and later set free. Since 1976, 1,414 people have been executed in the U.S. Thats 11% of Americans who were sentenced to die, but later exonerated and freed. Should Ohio and the 30 other states join the current list and abolish the death penalty?



The wording, spacing, capitalization are identical.

In a separate email, Brazile tipped off the Clinton campaign to a Twitterstorm Sanderss African-American outreach team was planning in January.

It isnt terribly surprising that the DNC favored an Establishment candidate with deep party ties over an insurgent whod only been a Democrat for a few months. And it should go without saying that Hillary Clinton did not win the Democratic primary because she had an unusually polished answer on the death penalty at a CNN town hall.

Nonetheless, the DNC was supposed to stay neutral through the primary race. And the last DNC chair lost her job amid accusations of undermining the Sanders campaign.

2. Things are probably tense right now between Chelsea Clinton and Doug Band.

In 2011, Clinton Foundation head Doug Band was collecting one salary from that charity, one from Bill Clintons taxpayer-subsidized personal office, and another from his brand-new consulting firm Teneo. Band was very happy with this state of affairs.

Chelsea Clinton was not. Per Politico:

In December 2011, Chelsea Clinton sent a sharply worded email to top family confidants saying that people in London had raised serious concerns about the way Teneo was using her fathers name to set up meetings for clients, according to private emails released by WikiLeaks. I will raise all of this and more with my father this evening, she wrote. Wanted to update you all in the meanwhile about my augmented concerns post London.



Band did not appreciate Chelseas meddling.

She is acting like a spoiled brat kid who has nothing else to do but create issues to justify what shes doing, Band wrote to Podesta in November 2011. Because she, as she has said, hasnt found her way and has a lack of focus in her life.

3. Hillary Clinton is less hawkish on Syria when shes speaking with Goldman Sachs.

At the second presidential debate, Hillary Clinton reiterated her support for a no-fly zone in Syria. That policy has concerned some war-weary progressives, for reasons that Clinton articulated well in a June 2013 speech to Goldman Sachs.

To have a no fly zone you have to take out all of the air defense, many of which are located in populated areas, Clinton said. So our missiles, even if they are standoff missiles so were not putting our pilots at risk  youre going to kill a lot of Syrians. So all of a sudden this intervention that people talk about so glibly becomes an American and NATO involvement where you take a lot of civilians.

These concerns are no less relevant today than they were when Clinton voiced them. And now, establishing a no-fly zone in Syria could very well mean instigating a conflict with another nuclear superpower.

One way you could interpret the discrepancy between Clintons public position and her Goldman Sachs speech is that she is privately against escalation in Syria but believes its in her political interest to say otherwise.



4. Before Clinton decided to run for Obamas third term, she flirted with running against the sitting Democratic president.

In June 2015, Clinton aide Huma Abedin wrote an email describing a rally the candidate had just held.

She smacked down POTUS on trade and kept kicking for a little bit, Abedin wrote. Worth looking at the transcript but this seemed to really work for this crowd.

During the same period, the New York Times reported that Clinton was seeking to rebrand herself as a populist alternative to Obama. By the end of the primary campaign, one of her central lines of criticism against Sanders would become the Vermont senators disloyalty to the first black president.

5. The veepstakes was as real as a WWE match.

Clinton seems to have settled on Tim Kaine as her running mate before the Democratic primary had even begun. Per ABC News:

In an email sent to John Podesta, Erick Mullen, a Democratic consultant and former top aide on Capitol Hill, purportedly wrote that another man, Bob Glennon, would not stop assuring senators at a dinner party that Clinton had personally told Tim Kaine hes the veep.



A little unseemly, Mullen wrote in July 2015.

6. Blink-182s Tom DeLonge may be the Clinton administrations senior adviser on extraterrestrials.

DeLonge sent multiple emails to Podesta  a fellow UFO enthusiast  alerting the Clinton campaign chairman to new evidence that the U.S. government had covered up the crash of an alien vessel in Roswell, New Mexico, in 1947.

In one of the emails, DeLonge offered to introduce Podesta to two high-level sources on this issue.

I think you will find them very interesting, as they were principal leadership relating to our sensitive topic. Both were in charge of most fragile divisions, as it relates to Classified Science and DOD topics, DeLonge wrote in 2015. Other words, these are A-Level officials. Worth our time, and as well the investment to bring all the way out to you.

In another, DeLonge claims to be working with a former military official.

He just has to say that out loud, but he is very, very aware  as he was in charge of all of the stuff. When Roswell crashed, they shipped it to the laboratory at Wright Patterson Air Force Base, the vocal talent behind All the Small Things wrote in 2016. General McCasland was in charge of that exact laboratory up to a couple years ago.

It is unclear whether Podesta responded to these messages. Perhaps, on a subject this important, he chose to respond via a more secure means of communication.


Photo: Joe Raedle/Getty Images

When Donald Trump mentioned in his presidential announcement speech last summer that Mexico was sending rapists, he made the prevention of sexual assault a central rationale for his candidacy. He brought up a spate of sexual assaults committed by Muslim immigrants at a New Years Eve festival in Germany. (Look at what happened in Germany, with the tremendous crime, with New Years Eve, and the rapes and all of the carnage that took place in Germany.) And, when pressed by CNNs Don Lemon at a debate last summer about his claims that Mexican immigrants were disproportionately committing rape, he insisted, Somebody is doing the raping, Don, I mean, you know  I mean, somebodys doing it. You think its women being raped, well, who is doing the raping? Who is doing the raping?

Trump is doing the raping  or, at least, systematic sexual violations of women. He has been for a long time. Donald Trump is not merely a man who has passively absorbed the standards of a sexist culture. A misogynistic belief in sexual entitlement is a, and probably the, foundational element of his self-conception. Fame and riches are the means, and a limitless ability to access the body of any woman he desires is the end.

Trumps serial abuse was a time bomb on his campaign that is now going off. Hillary Clintons campaign laid the foundation by using the first presidential debate to introduce his abuse of Alicia Machado, a former Miss Universe. He loves beauty contests, supporting them and hanging around them, said Clinton, dropping a well-supported innuendo about the motive undergirding Trumps fascination with this ritual. Then a recording surfaced in which Trump boasted of his habit of sexually assaulting women. At the next debate, Trump insisted he had never engaged in the behavior he had described on the tape. The denial set the stage for the wave of reporting now crashing over his campaign, in which a series of women describe Trump carrying out his method.

Trumps primary defense has rested on the metaphor of the locker room, a phrase the candidate and his surrogates have repeated so monotonously that some of them have actually come to believe Trumps comments were uttered in an actual locker room. (Representative Ted Yoho, yesterday: I do not make those excuses for somebody that said something 11 years ago in a locker room.) The locker-room defense is a two-step mental exercise. The first step is to imagine the locker room as a kind of ethereal plane in which men make statements that bear no relationship to their character or events in the actual world. Even the confession of an actual crime becomes meaningless if it can be confined to this realm. The locker room is like patients describing their dreams to a psychiatrist. The next step in the exercise is to extend the metaphorical locker room beyond the physical space of a locker room, to include any conversation between men, and ultimately all physical space.

Here is Dinesh DSouza justifying Trumps practice of barging in on his beauty-pageant contestants while they were naked:

I guess it is now fine for men to use women's bathrooms but not for the CEO of Miss Universe to walk into a woman's dressing room  Dinesh D'Souza (@DineshDSouza) October 13, 2016

The womens dressing room: also a locker room of sorts.

And here is Rush Limbaugh arguing that the real problem is that liberals have replaced traditional standards of sexual morality with a fixation on consent. Limbaughs analysis is astonishingly revealing, and worth quoting at length:

Standards, you stand up for moral standards, youre gonna be mocked and laughed out of the room. Theyre gonna call you a prude. Theyre gonna call you a Victorian. Theyre gonna call you an old fuddy-duddy, an old fogy, and theyre gonna claim you want to deny people having a good time. So a culture which rejects moral standards. In other words, anything goes. You know what the magic word is? The only thing that matters in American sexual mores today is one thing. You can do anything, the left will promote and understand and tolerate anything as long as there is one element. Do you know what it is?



Consent.



If there is consent on both or all three or all four, however many are involved in the sex act, its perfectly fine, whatever it is. But if the left ever senses and smells that theres no consent in part of the equation then here come the rape police. But consent is the magic key to the left. How ironic, then, that a culture which rejects moral standards has suddenly become so pure and pristine, sitting in judgment of someone they deem too immoral to become president because of something he said in private. As a logical person, I have to ask these paragons of newly found virtue where this standard by which theyve judged Trump is found.

By what standard are they judging Trump? asks Limbaugh. The answer is, by the very standard he has said: consent. Trump is harming women by touching them unwillingly. Limbaugh is unable to grasp that consent is literally a form of morality  that people should have control over their own sexual decisions, and violating their body against their will is, by this standard, immoral. This is an extremely simple notion of morality, if you think of women as human beings. Limbaugh keeps returning to the putative contradiction, which boggles his primitive brain:

Morality is what it is. Virtue is what it is. And you either are or you arent. And the left doesnt like that so theyve obscured the lines and the definitions. And the definition now is moral is whatever you can get somebody to do with you, consent. You can do anything. If you could get the dog to consent with you, if you can get the horse to consent, we got no problem with it. And they dont! So morality has been boiled down to consent, is my point, and its true.

Since sexual assault is a way of life for Trump, there is going to be no end to the reporting of them. There could be dozens more stories  journalistic resources being the only limiting factor. Eventually, flyspecking every individual account of Trumps assaults  what about the armrests?  will become impossible. Either Trumps supporters will have to argue that they are willing to accept his behavior because they care more about policy, or they will have to follow the path of DSouza and Limbaugh, extending the logic of the locker room and its limitless zone of male sexual entitlement through to its ultimate conclusion.

*A version of this article appears in the October 17, 2016, issue of New York Magazine.
Jerry Falwell Jr., drawing some backlash at his own university for having joined the Trump train. Photo: Jared Soares/Getty Images

Revelations regarding Donald Trumps unsavory and possibly illegal behavior toward women have been painful for a lot of Republicans who earlier swallowed their misgivings about the mogul and strapped on the party harness on his behalf. But theyve been especially difficult for conservative Evangelicals who had reason to view his leering and groping and boasting as a reflection of everything they viewed as sinful in secular society, and as illustrative of Trumps own heathenish and narcissist worldview.



As the flagship Evangelical publication Christianity Today put it in a remarkable editorial earlier this week:

[T]here is hardly any public person in America today who has more exemplified the earthly nature (flesh in the King James and the literal Greek) that Paul urges the Colossians to shed: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires, and greed, which is idolatry (3:5). This is an incredibly apt summary of Trumps life to date.

And so the vast majority of Christian-right leaders who have (like their flocks, according to the polls), with varying degrees of enthusiasm, made their peace with Trump are in something of a defensive crouch. And the most prominent among them, Liberty University president Jerry Falwell Jr., is facing a revolt from a sizable number of people at his own school.

A group calling itself Liberty United Against Trump has released a statement (signed by 250 Liberty students, faculty, and alumni) excoriating its president for associating the school with one of the worst presidential candidates in American history. Deploying the biblical parable of the beam and the mote, the group suggested that conservative Evangelicals like Falwell who justified support for Trump by pointing to Hillary Clintons flaws or ideological positions were betraying their primary responsibility to steer clear of a politician who is actively promoting the very things that we as Christians ought to oppose.

And heres the most stinging rebuke to Libertys president:

While he occasionally clarifies that supporting Trump is not the official position of Liberty University, he knows it is his title of president of the largest Christian university in the world that gives him political credentials.

The not-so-subtle implication is that Falwell has joined the Trump train in borrowed clothes: those of his school, which has indeed displaced older Evangelical bastions like Wheaton and Bob Jones as the Notre Dame of fundamentalist Protestantism, and of his late father, the Moral Majority founder who made Liberty the academic and cultural powerhouse it has now become.

Theres no question Liberty has become the symbol of conservative Evangelical involvement in politics, partly because of its Falwell leadership, and partly because its regular convocations provide a convenient megaphone for pols seeking to send a message to Evangelicals far beyond Lynchburg. Liberty is where Mitt Romney made his case in 2012 that he was a reliable ally of the Christian right both despite and because of his own LDS faith. Ted Cruz launched his 2016 campaign at Liberty. When Bernie Sanders wanted to demonstrate his willingness to reach out beyond his own fervent band of supporters, he spoke at Liberty. Gary Johnson is going to be there next week. And just yesterday, Trumps running mate, Mike Pence, spoke at Liberty defending the Boss, to a decidedly lukewarm reception. He was, of course, introduced by Falwell.

It is unclear whether theres a genuine conservative Evangelical revolt under way against Trump that extends beyond elites and such high-profile but not necessarily representative protests as the one at Liberty. But whether or not it is manifested in any serious loss of Republican votes, there is a new attitude among Evangelicals becoming evident that is a long-term threat to the Christian-right movement Jerry Falwell Sr. did so much to create. As the Liberty protesters put it: Associating any politician with Christianity is damaging to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. That statement would have been rank heresy in the days when conservative Evangelicals were lining up to back Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush. Thanks to Donald Trump, we are beginning to hear it a lot.
Chris Moore walks down Martin Luther King Boulevard on October 12, 2016, in Lumberton, North Carolina. Photo: Sean Rayford/Getty Images

At least 20 people have died in North Carolina in the wake of Hurricane Matthew, bringing the U.S. death toll from the storm up to at least 36. In towns like Greenville and Goldsboro and Rocky Mount, in the eastern part of North Carolina, rivers have crested, or are about to, spilling water into streets and under front doors. The deluge has submerged homes and businesses and entire blocks. According to CBS News, some estimates put the cost of the damage as high as $10 billion, though the scope of the damage cant be fully grasped until the floodwaters recede later this weekend, or even early next week.

Highway 117 is under several feet of water on October 12, 2016, in Goldsboro, North Carolina. Photo: Chuck Liddy/TNS via Getty Images

About 2,000 people have had to be rescued so far. More than 75,000 North Carolinians are still without power, though the sun has shone for days. In Goldsboro, the Fire Department rescued 130 people as the Neuse River rose to a record 30 feet  about ten feet higher than in 1999, during record flooding from Hurricane Floyd. Antoine Robinson, a local resident who took refuge in a Red Cross shelter with scores of others, told the Raleigh News & Observer, his home was wrecked: Water came in and didnt stop.

A member of the National Guard stands by a church inundated by floodwaters from the Lumber River on October 12, 2016, in Lumberton, North Carolina. Photo: Sean Rayford/Getty Images

Princeville sits along the Tar River, which reached major flood stage Wednesday and could stay there until Saturday. The small town was devastated by Hurricane Floyd in 1999, per the Los Angeles Times. Some of its residents will have to rebuild a second time  if they stay.

Two men rescue a dog from floodwaters on October 12, 2016, in Lumberton, North Carolina. Photo: Sean Rayford/Getty Images

Lumberton, a struggling town in southeastern North Carolina, was among the hardest hit. The floodwaters have started to recede, but not before rescue teams had to save at least 600 people earlier this week and teams were forced to evacuate critical-care patients from the area hospital on Wednesday. According to the News & Observer, residents lack potable drinking water after the inundation of the citys water-treatment plant.

A residence is inundated with floodwaters from the Lumber River on October 12, 2016, in Lumberton, North Carolina. Photo: Sean Rayford/Getty Images

The tension and stress played out on Monday in Lumberton when a 56-year-old man whom police identified as Dennis Hunt was involved in a fatal confrontation with state troopers. Officials allege that Hunt was trying to drive through floodwaters in a Humvee, when he became hostile towards the officers and brandished a gun. Officers fired on the man, who later died from the gunshots. Authorities are investigating the shooting and identified the highway patrol sergeant who reportedly shot Hunt as J. F. Hinson, a 13-year veteran. Hinson has been placed on administrative leave.

The Carolinas are also about to get some heavy surf and serious rip currents now that another hurricane is slamming Bermuda. Hurricane Nicole is a powerful category 3 storm, packing winds of up to 120 miles per hour. According to the Washington Posts Capital Weather Gang, Nicole has tied the record for the two strongest hurricanes to hit the island. Its also apparently pretty rare for a storm of this strength to make landfall on Bermuda:

So...the last time we saw a Cat. 3 #hurricane come this close to #Bermuda was during the Calvin Coolidge administration. #Nicole  Jonathan Erdman (@wxjerdman) October 13, 2016

Fierce winds and torrential rains began pounding the island Wednesday.

Last communication from my friend in #Bermuda. This is when he was going through #HurricaneNicole's northern eyewall. @msnbc pic.twitter.com/oiAH4ZWRT2  Bill Karins (@BillKarins) October 13, 2016

Between 11 a.m. and noon, the eye wall is passing over Bermuda, which means parts of the island are experiencing the literal calm before the part two of the storm.

When people say the eye of a storm is absolutely, completely still, they are NOT KIDDING!! #HurricaneNicole pic.twitter.com/2O4rMsxU6B  Ross Harris (@crhwx) October 13, 2016

Main damage around my way was downed trees. Hoping we will be as lucky on the back end. #HurricaneNicole #Bermuda pic.twitter.com/fy4GIBlNEV  Carly (@stfucarly) October 13, 2016

Storm surges of up to eight feet are expected, as are some isolated tornadoes. These hurricane siblings, Matthew and Nicole, are the first two major Atlantic hurricanes  reaching category 3 status or higher  that have formed in October. Matthew, which briefly reached a category 5 as it churned toward the Caribbean, has killed close to 1,000, mostly in Haiti. Nicole was downgraded from a category 4 Wednesday night, but remains dangerous, per the National Hurricane Center.

#Nicole is closing in on Bermuda. Core to pass near the island later this morning as a major hurricane. https://t.co/nqbceCL8VW pic.twitter.com/UqlE5k5AZy  National Hurricane Center (@NHC_Atlantic) October 13, 2016

#Viral #Weather Video of the Day: Heres what it looked like as the International Space Station passed over Hurricane Nicole yesterday! pic.twitter.com/ALrGx5gWSR  AccuWeather (@accuweather) October 13, 2016

This is a serious storm, and its living up to the weather predictions, Bermudas national security minister, Jeff Baron, warned. The worst is not over.
Photo: Alex Wong/Getty Images

In 2008 and 2012, the Republican National Committee spent millions on TV ads supporting its nominees or savaging their Democratic rivals.

In 2016, it has spent $0 on commercials boosting Donald Trump, according to a new analysis by Politico. The RNC did spend $321,000 on attacking Hillary Clinton  last fall, before Trump had emerged as the partys standard-bearer.

As one would imagine, this has produced no small amount of grumbling in Trump Tower. Since Trumps reflections on the art of groping married women became public, theres been a lot of chatter about the RNC shifting resources down ballot. But the fact that the committee never spent any money on ads for the nominee might lead a hypersensitive narcissist to feel he was abandoned from the very beginning.

But the RNC maintains that its decision to shift resources away from the airways had nothing to do with Trump. Per Politico:

RNC chief of staff Katie Walsh said that the committee is not going to spend any more money this cycle on television ad IEs, but that the decision is completely unrelated to Trump.



Rather, she said it stems from a strategic calculation made soon after the 2012 election that that is not an efficient use of party committee dollars to spend money on television. Pointing to a report that assessed the shortcomings of Republican efforts in the 2012 election, she said RNC leaders determined that the partys money was better invested in data-driven voter contact operations.



We put people on the ground for three years, invested in communities, doing data and voter registration, so that when we had a nominee, we would be able to link up with that nominee and work together to insure that the nominee had the best field program that the Republican nominee has ever had, said Walsh

The idea here was to leave the attack ads to the presidential campaign and its donors super-pacs. After all, presidential campaigns are legally entitled to lower ad rates than are outside groups. Plus, they are more likely to advance a clear, coherent message, since its illegal for the RNC to coordinate with the Trump campaign over ad strategies. Better, then, for the party committee to focus its attention on ground operations and boosting down-ballot candidates.

This is a reasonable division of labor. So reasonable, the Democratic National Committee also pursued it. The DNC has spent nothing in direct advertising for Clinton, allowing the Democratic nominee and her super-pacs to outspend Trump and friends over the airwaves $189 million to $50 million, according to NBC News.

The problem, then, lies not with the RNC but with the incompetence of the GOP nominee. The Trump campaign and its independent allies have struggled to raise enough money to launch a competitive air campaign. And they have contributed very little to the partys ground operations.

Politico notes that some Republican skeptics believe the RNCs abdication of the air war stems less from strategy than from financial desperation  the committee has raised $231 million in 2016, a long step down from the $356 million it raised four years ago.

But its hard not to think that this financial constraint stems from the fact that the Republican nominee is a misogynistic reality star whom the GOP donor class hates.


Photo: Steve Coleman/Getty Images

Dreams are strange, misunderstood things. This week, Science of Us will be exploring the latest research that helps explain what they are, what they might mean, and how they affect our waking lives.

Youre literally selling people their dreams, said Daniel Schoonover. He sounded glum.

Five years ago, Schoonover co-founded iWinks, a start-up that hopes to change the way people dream. Two years later, he dropped out of a cognitive-science Ph.D. program and raised a quarter of a million dollars on Kickstarter. This fall, the company is shipping the first batch of its Aurora Dreamband  an EEG-equipped, smartphone-sync-able headband that you wear while you sleep. The device, which costs $300, claims to make it easier for people to take control of their dreams.

Schoonover, though, has reason to sound glum: In the past few years, the market for lucid-dream hacks has heated up, and the Aurora Dreamband currently has competition all over the world. In Novosibirsk, on the steppes of western Siberia, a Ukrainian-run start-up purports to use low-powered electrical current to unlock higher levels of consciousness during sleep. A Dutch company is now accepting preorders for a very similar device. An LED-equipped sleep mask for lucid dreaming, developed by a Brooklyn-based company, pulled in $600,000 on Kickstarter in 2012. Meanwhile, in Utah, two brothers are selling a cocktail of over-the-counter psychoactives that they claim will help increase human consciousness through the medium of dreams.

For most people, lucid dreams  in which the dreamer becomes aware that shes dreaming  are rare, and they tend to be fleeting. These new tools aim to change that, enabled by self-tracking enthusiasm, cheaper components, and breakthroughs in lucid-dream research. Their claims probably wont all hold up. But the potential is real  and part of a larger shift in the way we may come to think about reality, both while awake and while asleep.

* * *

Whats going on inside your head during a lucid dream? Basically, it seems to be a hybrid between wakefulness and sleep. Lucidity must depend on achieving a state that is intermediate between normal sleep, where memory for dreams is practically nil, and being awake, explained Allan Hobson, a professor emeritus at Harvard Medical School who studies consciousness and the dreaming brain. During a normal, non-lucid, REM-state dream, most of your memory-formation and conscious-reflection faculties are dormant. In a lucid dream, on the other hand, you raise the activation of your frontal lobes, which control those abilities, almost to the point of waking, said Hobson.

Lets get this out of the way: Some people chase lucidity because they want to have fantasy dream sex. Many others want to fly. But seasoned practitioners talk about more ethereal experiences, too  lucid dreamers have claimed to explore phantasmagoric landscapes, reconstruct traumatic experiences, even conjure up the dead. Dreaming is a kind of meditation, you could say. Its a kind of self-observation, said Glenn Mullin, a self-described Tibetologist and meditation expert who teaches lucid dreaming around the world.

Lucid dreaming has been tangled up with meditative practices for a long time. More than a thousand years ago, tantric experts in South Asia started codifying esoteric techniques of dream control. Over the centuries, those techniques, known as dream yoga, have been passed down among a handful of Tibetan Buddhist and Bon practitioners. Students of dream yoga meditate on the illusory nature of waking reality and visualize certain potent images in the moments before sleep. In their dreams, they aim to experiment with the experience of reality, conjure up Buddhas, and travel to sacred lands.

One can project oneself on the rays of the sun or moon to a celestial realm, the 14th-century Tibetan teacher Tsongkhapa wrote in The Three Inspirations, a guide to dream yoga and other esoteric practices.When a dangerous situation arises, Tsongkhapa suggests, recognize the dream as a dream and ask yourself, How can dream water or dream fire possibly harm me? Make yourself jump or fall into the water or fire in the dream.

Lucid dreaming began to make its way into Western science in the 1970s, when Keith Hearne, a psychology Ph.D. student at the University of Liverpool, and Alan Worsley, an experienced lucid dreamer, began measuring Worsleys brain waves and eye movements in a sleep lab.

Hearne asked Worsley to make a distinctive zigzagging eye movement if he became lucid in a dream (the body is paralyzed during REM sleep, the stage of the sleep cycle when most dreaming occurs, but the eyeballs continue to move). Early one morning in 1975, Hearne was sitting in the lab, watching Worsley snooze, when his brain waves shifted. There was REM. And then suddenly, zigzag zigzag zigzag  the movements came out! By every normal measure, Worsley was fast asleep, but he was speaking to Hearne with his eyeballs. It was like getting signaled from another planet  another universe, even, Hearne says.

Hearne didnt publish his work in a scientific journal, but a few years later a graduate student at Stanford, Stephen LaBerge, performed a similar study, with similar results. LaBerge left academia and started writing lucid-dream books, teaching courses, and peddling an early head-mounted dream gadget. His work forms the basis for many of todays start-ups.

But the market received one of its biggest boosts a few years ago, when researchers hit on a potential way to induce lucidity in dreamers. During lucid dreams, brain activity produces an electrical signature in the 40-Hz range. A 2014 study by the German dream researcher Ursula Voss and colleagues (including Hobson) found that applying a 40-Hz current to a dreamers head could significantly raise the likelihood of the sleeper becoming lucid.

The commercial response was swift. Lucid Dreamer, the Dutch start-up, is raising money on Kickstarter for a device that claims to apply this golden frequency to your brain. The gadget consists of a small plastic box that sits on your forehead like a phylactery. Four wires snake from the box, each ending in a small electrode. You strap the thing to your head before bed, affixing the electrodes to your forehead and behind your ears. Luciding, Inc., the Novosibirsk-based company, claims to do the same thing with LucidCatcher, an electronics-loaded fabric sheath that you wrap around your head. Lucidings COO, Maryna Vermishian, said that they shipped the first 40 headbands earlier this year.

For customers who arent keen on bedroom transcranial stimulation, the dream market offers other options. Tools like the Aurora Dreamband sense when youre entering REM sleep, and then offer a cue (such as a flashing light or a chime) that, in theory, is strong enough to work its way into your dream, but gentle enough that it wont wake you up. Remee, the LED-equipped sleep mask designed in Brooklyn, uses the cuing principle. The iWinks device is a little fancier: It tracks your brain activity, your eye movement, your heart rate, and your muscle tension, using high fidelity full color spectrum eye LEDs to trigger your dreaming mind at the right moment. (A few early consumer dream machines operated on this principle, but they tended to be clunky and, by more than one report, ineffective.)

And then there are the drugs. Not so long ago, a man named Connor Southworth was selling real estate in Utah and messing with chemistry on the side. He and his brother Alex, both longtime lucid dreamers, had become interested in research on lucid-dream induction  especially the work of an amateur pharmacologist in Ohio named Thomas Yuschak, who claimed that certain chemicals could induce lucid dreaming. The Southworth brothers dont have any scientific training, but they started ordering compounds, mixing up supplements, and testing the cocktails on themselves and their friends. When they found a mixture they liked, they went online, found a supplement manufacturer in California, and started selling bottles of a Matrix-themed pill, Dream Leaf.

Connor wouldnt give me exact figures for their sales. Many thousands, he said. Within three years after founding Dream Leaf, overwhelmed by the demand, they sold part of the company to investors who could help them handle marketing and sales.

So does any of this stuff work? Theres strong evidence that just thinking about lucid dreaming can help induce lucid dreaming, even without all the bells and whistles  so how much of this is just an expensive placebo effect?

At this point, its hard for consumers to tell, as none of these start-ups has done rigorous research to test the effectiveness of their products. Schoonover, who has spent much of the past decade working in brain labs, said that iWinks is planning to run a blind test on some of their beta users, and that it will be gathering large amounts of sleep data and user feedback. Southworth admitted that he had no laboratory evidence that the supplement works (and, as with other over-the-counter supplements, Dream Leaf is subject to virtually no regulatory oversight). Vermishian, the Luciding COO, said that they had run a controlled experiment to test the device and gotten great results  but when I pressed her for details, it quickly became clear that their sample size was just a few people.

Vermishian spoke to me by Skype from a TechCrunch Disrupt conference in San Francisco, where she was hoping to raise half a million dollars in seed money. She explained that the companys ultimate goal is to allow people to visit each other in dreams, something she terms a group lucid dream, though she didnt offer any engineering details as to how these hangouts might happen. She allowed that theres no official evidence that people can meet up in dreams, but the community of lucid dreamers report a lot of such cases already.

Scientists are skeptical about many of these products. When I asked Voss about Lucidings attempt to adapt her research for the market, she wrote in an email: I see a big potential for misapplication. After all, we are electrically stimulating the brain! This should be done with greatest caution and it should be supervised by an MD. (Vermishian says that LucidCatcher is safe). One of Vosss collaborators, Romain Holzmann, cautioned in an email that the stimulator device was medical-grade and that all effects quoted in the publication are statistical averages over a large sample of subjects, meaning that some persons showed effects, some not.

Hobson, the Harvard professor, was more blunt. I think that people that are trying to huckster this technique are misguided, and I think theyre playing into a sort of ecstasy-seeking state that [is] not really easily achievable or particularly beneficial, he said. Buying a device is not going to help you, in my opinion, relative to just paying attention. Paying attention is the hardest thing for people to do. They want a quick fix. They want a solution, they want a drug, they want a device on lucid dreaming.

Instead, Hobson recommends keeping a dream diary and following the simple self-observation techniques outlined in a 1921 book, Studies in Dreams. Keeping a dream journal can help you remember your dreams, and dream recall is closely associated with lucidity. Waking up in the middle of the night and then falling back to sleep makes you likelier to become lucid. And auto-suggestion  i.e., telling yourself before bed to be mindful when youre dreaming  can be pretty effective for inducing lucid dreams, too.

Still, its easy to understand the appeal of gadgets. Sifting through the crowdfunding appeals and marketing videos, the whole genre of lucid-dreaming tools starts to feel like a dispatch from a sci-fi novel, capturing the simultaneous potential and dystopia of a world without limits.

You could use your time in dreams to do anything! Climb Everest. Battle a dragon. Or explore distant planets, says iWinkss Kickstarter appeal. Lucid Dreamer, the Dutch transcranial-stimulation start-up, claims that its product allows users to dive to the bottom of the ocean without even having to breathe or celebrate life with friends on a tropical island every night.

This is techno-utopianism at its finest: Take a messy human experience, offer a gadget to tame it, and promise mind-blowing results. In a consumer culture thats increasingly obsessed with tracking and optimizing the body (like Fitbit) and with technology-induced fantasies (like Oculus Rift), the pursuit of lucid dreams seems almost inevitable. Its like virtual reality in your head, said Vermishian.

In fact, the connection to VR may be more than just a metaphor. Jayne Gackenbach, a dream researcher at MacEwan University in Canada, has spent more than a decade exploring the link between video gaming and dream lucidity. Her latest work, involving the Oculus Rift, comes to a similar conclusion as her work with conventional gamers: Spending a lot of time in virtual space seems to make gamers better at taking control of their dreams.

More than other people, Gackenbach said, gamers are used to walking in and out of reality. A VR headset seems to only intensify that effect. Gackenbachs subjects become much more likely to call [a dream] lucid once theyve had this experience with the Rift, she said.

As [VR] becomes more and more pervasive, yeah, I think well have more lucid dreaming, Gackenbach added. Already, virtual-reality enthusiasts are talking about how it messes with their dreams. And already, digital experiences are starting to seem like lucid dreams  intense, immersive, and open to manipulation. With so many dream tools hitting the market just as VR and augmented reality are gaining popularity, it is possible that dreaming life will become more wakeful as waking life becomes more dreamlike.
Donald Trump. Photo: Jeff Swensen/Getty Images

Its only been a few days since news broke of the 2005 video showing Donald Trump boasting about groping women without their consent. That prompted Anderson Cooper to ask Trump during the town-hall debate if hes ever done such things. Trump denied it, but on Wednesday evening multiple news outlets published accounts from women who accuse Trump of groping and kissing them without their consent. Now, a writer at People magazine has written her own account of how Trump assaulted her and forcibly kissed her in 2005.



Natasha Stoynoff, a staff writer at People, had been assigned to cover Trump on numerous occasions for the magazine, and in 2005 she was assigned to interview Trump and his wife, Melania, on their one-year anniversary. She writes that she went to Mar-a-Lago for the interview and walked into a room alone with Trump after he told her he wanted to show her around the Florida mansion.

Then, she writes, this happened:



We walked into that room alone, and Trump shut the door behind us. I turned around, and within seconds, he was pushing me against the wall, and forcing his tongue down my throat.



Now, Im a tall, strapping girl who grew up wrestling two giant brothers. I even once sparred with Mike Tyson. It takes a lot to push me. But Trump is much bigger  a looming figure  and he was fast, taking me by surprise, and throwing me off balance. I was stunned. And I was grateful when Trumps longtime butler burst into the room a minute later, as I tried to unpin myself.

Trump reportedly acted cavalier about what had just happened and said that the two were going to have an affair. She writes, You know were going to have an affair, dont you? he declared, in the same confident tone he uses when he says hes going to make America great again.

When Melania entered the room, Trump proceeded with the interview. Afterward, Stoynoff says that she told a colleague, but decided not to go to management. Instead she minimized the incident, blaming herself for the episode or writing it off as part of the risks associated with the job. In time, I chalked it up to one of the hazards of a rollercoaster ride of celebrity journalism, she writes. She later asked to be taken off the Trump beat altogether.

Update: On Thursday morning, Trump responded to the allegations on Twitter, as he is known to do.
Trump has high standards for the women who accuse him of sexual assault. Photo: Joe Raedle/Getty Images

Donald Trump has high standards for a womans physical appearance, and judging by his comments at a rally in Palm Beach, Florida, on Thursday, apparently those standards extend to the women who have accused him of sexual assault. After at least six women alleged he touched or kissed them without consent, Trump refuted their claims by asking his audience to take a close look at his accusers.

These vicious claims about me of inappropriate conduct with women are totally and absolutely false, he said. Theyre pure fiction and theyre outright lies. These events never ever happened, and the people that said them meekly fully understand. You take a look at these people, you study these people, and youll understand also.

Then, he rhetorically asked the crowd why, if her story is true, it took People magazines Natasha Stoynoff more than a decade to come forward.

Take a look  you take a look, look at her, look at her words, you tell me what you think  I dont think so, he said. I dont think so.
Photo: Jeff Swensen/Getty Images

In the wake of the incendiary Access Hollywood tape in which Donald Trump boasted to host Billy Bush about groping women, two women spoke to the New York Times, alleging that the presidential candidate touched them inappropriately without their consent.

Jessica Leeds, now 74, met Trump in the first-class cabin of a flight to New York more than three decades ago, when she was 38. She claims that, after takeoff, Trump fondled her breasts and attempted to reach under her skirt. She described the event as an assault.

He was like an octopus, she recalled. His hands were everywhere.

In 2005, Rachel Crooks was 22 and working as a receptionist for a real-estate company located within Trump Tower. Crooks claims that she ran into Trump outside one of the buildings elevators. After they shook hands, Trump allegedly refused to let go, and began kissing her on the cheeks and then on the mouth.

It was so inappropriate, said Crooks, who spent the rest of her time at the organization attempting to avoid encounters with him. I was so upset that he thought I was so insignificant that he could do that.

Speaking to a Times reporter, Trump vehemently refuted the allegations and threatened to sue the paper. He claimed the Times was fabricating the stories and slammed the reporter as a disgusting human being.



Both women felt the need to come forward after Sundays debate, in which Trump denied he had ever participated in the behavior described on the Access Hollywood tape. It was, he said, simply locker room talk.

They disagree. People should know this behavior is pervasive and it is real, said Crooks.
laura dern looks so nice and there kstew is, looking like a rat as usual.



yikes tho, confirmed to be cheating again. when is she gonna chill

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I don't think I could ever date a known cheater

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me neither especially after helping people who have been cheated on, shit is no joke

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ikr. i could never love them, never trust them, and i would be so embarrassed to be seen with them.

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ugh i want a gf!! it's time!!!

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I feel you

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I feel you, sis.

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omg me too. so bad tbh. i've never felt like this before.

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fr

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same, but i live in a small conservative town, i'm fucked tbh, and not in the good way.

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sometimes i think i do, but i get tired of being around ppl so easily.



the trick is to date someone who travels a lot, i guess. distance makes the heart grow fonder and all that jazz.

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I like that

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this is literally me. Like... in theory I want a relationship but mostly I like being alone too much

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that's why I love my relationship with my boyfriend, he's a landscape photographer so he goes off for weeks at a time and shoots around the country. it gives me alone time and makes me appreciate him more when he's home.

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I've been single for 4 years :/

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lmao i always say this (except a boyfriend) then i finally started dating a guy but i broke it off after a week and a half.

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Me too and where I live there are so many lesbians but they're all in relationships wtf

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same



actually i don't even want a gf i just want someone to hook up and chill with. pathetic but w/e

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same...am so overdue for one

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same but i also can't because my life is changing too much to have space for one ;____; I JUST WANT TO GET A GF AND A CAT AND A JOB WITH BENEFITS. LIFE, GIVE ME THIS!

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ugh same. i've been hanging out with this girl too but i feel like that's gonna go nowhere.

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Idk who St Vincent is/what she does but what a downgrade from Cara.

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In Personal Shopper, she has a scene where she is topless and jacks off while texting a stranger-- possibly the ghost of her brother.



Excuse me

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ikr

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there is so much going on in that sentence

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lmao I'm like wtf

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I don't want to understand....

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oh.... oh no

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i object

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lmao i had to read that sentence 3 times and i still don't

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Is this gonna be ONTD's new fave movie?

I feel like it is.



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lmao

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D: so glad I dislike her enough to never watch her movies

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lmao. The fuuuuuuuck?

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fitting for a secrets post.

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Edited at 2016-10-13 02:58 am (UTC)

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Wait what? Wtf did I just read?

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I give it a month



Anyways, I'm hoping to see Certain Women this weekend. KStew may be annoying, but she's good at choosing quality films unfortunately

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She can be great in the right roles.

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qt couple

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kstew is fucking identical to one of my best friends

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yikes

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where is your icon from?

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a million years late, but it's from a movie called 'monster squad'

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I think Cara dodged a bullet tbh.

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same

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Totally. I thought they were cute but if Annie would cheat on her with a serial cheater who can barely string a thought together then she dodged a bullet.



/Here for Cara to date someone 10 times hotter soon.

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"barely string a thought together"



lmao the accuracy

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So the blame here is MOSTLY on the woman she cheated WITH, not the cheater herself? Bc Kristen is an idiot the problem is in Annie's choice in woman, not so much in Annie's actions? Cause that's what it sounds like you're saying but it could just be an issue of semantics.



I get that people don't like Kristen, but Cara's gf was the one who wronged Cara, not Kristen.

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I saw stories of her and Amber heard dating

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tbh i hope she took back that bowie guitar she gave her

lord knows my petty ass would

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i hope she dates ERW. they both have hot bodies.

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i mean a lot of people don't fully understand their sexuality until they experience different things, not everybody just *knows* what they're into. you gotta start somewhere, and many sexual experiences are just for fun and not serious even if you *do* know. nothing in the op's comment implied they were lying about what they wanted out of the experience... if you're upfront about it, who cares?

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....and sometimes sex is sex, even if you are well aware of your sexuality. seriously, chill out

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ignore 'em sis, not worth it

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nnnnn at people telling you to chill, sorry you even bothered <3

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hmmm

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i mean i get saying you're not a lesbian or something, but if you fucked a woman and had multiple orgasms and loved it and want to fuck more women... i think it's fair to say you're sexually attracted to women lol.

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two orgasms in less than an hour, men could never.



Any girl I've been with would disagree ...

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the replies to this omg

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she looks like she smells like cat piss

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You can't live a positive life with a negative mind

I've come to realize I'm a negative person. I even love to complain.

But I'm trying this thing out where I identify one positive thing about the day. Because it's so easy to talk about the negative and not the good unless it's like super good

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Yay! Good for you, sis! I got super depressed and negative after a really bad breakup and started to do one positive thing every day and it turned my life around! I hope it does wonders for u bb!

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Thanks! Mine is actually inspired by a break up as well. Today was my 2nd day trying the positivity thing, it's actually been really good! My best day in weeks.

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it seems like any time i head into a day feeling good, life loves to punch me square in the face, so thats been hard for me lately

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I have a to-do list of positive things to do each day, it's a nice reminder

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im a very negative person by nature as well, and its been YEARS of training myself to focus on positive things and develop coping skills to not assume the worst about situations/people off the bat. and even saying that, I still consider myself a negative person. I am not even close to being the person I want to be in terms of that yet. a good antidepressant helped as well.



it was a wake up call being friends with someone exactly like me - and I realized how draining they were to be around all the time. and I was like "jesus I need to start checking myself more". also I am no longer friends with them.

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I used to write down 5 positive things each day, no excuses. it really turned my negativity around. I still like to complain but I now realise there's a difference between complaining to chat and complaining to air grievances and even gain advice. keep on being positive! you'll find it really does affect your life and outlook in a good way.

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I am too, it's tough, but I'm trying.



Like there's one girl friend I have on Facebook that has irked me for years, but lately I've been going out of my way to make nice comments to her. Not saying I deserve a pat on the back for that or anything. But it makes me feel better when I try my best to be positive. If only my own self-hate had a switch tho :/

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Kristen is so hot to me. Why does she have to be so dumb tho

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I don't think she's hot currently, but I thought she was pretty c. Adventureland

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Nnnnnnnnnnnnnn. White girls really do get to walk around looking bland as hell and get called pretty and hot.

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No

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I thought she was hottest during the twilight/SWATH stuff imo

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I honestly don't see it

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I have a little bit of a crush on her but she's also so gross to me. Garbage actress and thinks herself to be an intellectual

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i think she's super hot but really it's her style and attitude not her face (or hair)

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these bleach blonde is such a tragic look for her

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It wouldn't even be half as bad if she'd tone that shit and use the right shampoo or like any shampoo why is she always so greasy?

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I feel bad for people who have to interview her, you know her funk lingers in the room even after she leaves.

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i feel like it gives her some oomph to her non-existent personality

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Yikes. Like... As a St. Vincent fan, now I kind of understand some of the emotional turmoil Hiddleston fans went through and I feel bad for laughing about Hiddleswift. 2016 just keeps claimin faves.

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Suki Waterhouse is such a babe.



And nice to see all Cara's friends being a good support system. No more creepy betrayal tattoos girl. Annie's not worth it.

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cara has been glued to taylor's side lately.

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Probaly because she and Annie Clark broke up? Plus Annie is with Kstew now...

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Move over Kaylor, meet Carlor (?)

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She's been hanging with all her friends a ton she's just flitting between hanging with Taylor, RiRi, Georgia, and Suki to keep herself busy it seems like.

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And I like it

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her and Suki dined at my restaurant sans Taylor on monday night.

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Her hair is getting longer!



I've been listening to Red and 1989 lately since they were released in the fall so it's that time of year again.

I want TS6!! Give it to me :(

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Same. Those albums are perfect right now.

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lol are u 13

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I didn't know I had to be 13 to enjoy some music!

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all of her albums were released in the fall

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Same tbh

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excuse you....demi has igloo!

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Demi has female friends sis! they're just not all famous and rich

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pics like this (moreso demi than her friend) make we want to wear falsies

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I wish i were rich so i had a 24 hour personal chef and personal trainer

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I want to ride business class everywhere, donate tons of money to causes I love/Kickstarter campaigns and make people's day, and yeah, basically eat whatever and go to spas and resorts all the time.

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I wanna be a layaway angel

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I would have a chef, a great trainer and a killer dermatologist.



Then travel.

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i'm here for dakota joining the squad. beige queens!

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When is Lorde gonna release her album?

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THIS. Like please stop enjoying life and just give me a follow up to Pure Heroine. I thought we'd have it by now but we're already reaching Q4.

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Her deer-in-the-headlights, "Oh, is a paparazzi taking a picture?" look is so fucking practiced.

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Ikr? Fuck that fake ass snake.

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Her hair is really cute.





We need hiddleswift to reunite and distract us from this messy election tbh.

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except she looks dreadful. I think a "Cousin It" hairdo would best suit her features tbh

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Are they all in mourning?

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LOl nah, they're all in ~New York~

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This hair is soooo much better than those ugly side swept bangs. I hope she's actually growing it out



Edited at 2016-10-13 03:28 am (UTC)

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is this the slow return of "Red" hair? 'cause that was the last time her hair looked good

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Taylor dined out in NYC tonight before the Kings of Leon show with Lorde, Cara, Suki, Martha and Lily Donaldson! pic.twitter.com/vGZDRjjE8Z  Taylor Swift News (@TSwiftNZ) October 13, 2016

Another set was just posted:

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RELEASE YOUR ALBUM LORDE. DO NOT PULL A FRANK OCEAN.





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LORDE is a goddess.. with actual musical ability!

I hope she is just using Traylor for her own personal gain.

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apart from his TV stuff, he interned in the Clinton White House, so he probably knows more than your average celeb.

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It's a zip lister only famous on tumblr. But hey, at least his heart is in the right Place! So go, Mika!

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excuse you, he was in Stonehenge Apocalypse

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LET'S JUST FUCKING VOTE ALREADY!!!





(stupid non-early voting state)

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My district doesn't give out stickers, either. No discounts or free shit for me. :(

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lol same.

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We have early voting in NC and I still get a sticker even if I early vote!

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This is a legit hard deacon for me lol



Also when I voted for state/local elections last year they ran out of stickers :(

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lmao same, I want the full voting experience this year

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AT LEAST YOU CAN VOTE



*is a legal alien who wants to cry*

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i'm no longer in the country so you'd all better vote for me

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I got my mail in ballot today! My vote doesn't count very much here in Cali though...

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I mailed in my absentee ballot for Hillary today (I live in Europe)! Before I mailed it, I made all my coworkers hold it in their hands and I made a dramatic speech about being a part of history lol - the first woman prez of the US!

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I just mailed in my absentee ballot today!

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DONE WEEKS AGO, perks of being an overseas voter

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Michelle's speech tho. yas mom!

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I need her to run for President.

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ready for President Obama+

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Seriously. I need this to happen.

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She said she wouldnt

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same she's amazing

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i fucking goddamn wish.

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I just heard a bit on the way home. Legit started to tear up. I love her so much.





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Love her

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the emotion in her speech was so raw and real, I really love her

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At this point the number of women queuing up to say he's sexually harassed or assaulted them at some point is going to dwarf the number of women actually queuing up to vote for him on election day.



Edited at 2016-10-13 07:28 pm (UTC)

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it will proabably be as bad as bill cosbys amount

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no way, it's easily in the thousands for Trump when you think about the fact that he does this upon meeting women for the first time, there is no pretense or time involved in his predatory behaviour, so just think how many people he meets over the course of a year given his business/tv endeavours and it's frightening how many women he must've assaulted or harassed. Thousands might even be low.

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I know, when I went to bed last night I think there were 5. First thing I saw on Twitter this afternoon is that it's now up to 14?! And Lou Dobbs released the name, address, and phone number of one of Trump's victims.

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B-but that was 20 years ago!!



And also why did we never hear about these women before? They're just trying to get their 15 minutes!!





this was sarcasm and also direct quotes from my aunt

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Breaking: Former teen mayor of Partridge, Minnesota seen campaigning for Hillary Clinton. pic.twitter.com/HBSCdFkyHP  Spookeifer Lirette (@KeiferLirette) 12. Oktober 2016



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lol <3

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ICE CLOWN

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omg. i had a sex dream about ben wyatt specifically last night so i'm feeling some kind of way seeing this picture rn.

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leslie would be so proud!

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omg ben

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He and Anna Kendrick aren't related right?

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how dare he show his face after he bankrupted the entire town

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This election is Joan Callamezzo's fever dream.

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when I was a field director a couple years ago and it would be slow I would creep on celebs' voter registration bc I'm a weirdo nerd (I live in CA) and he was one of a few celebs who legit votes every election (including local and special elections) and it made me love him even more <3



most celebs only vote during presidential elections if that but he and mandy moore (random) vote every time and i was like YAS

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YESSSSSSSSSS

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Goddamn he's hot

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I got mine weeks ago and sent it off today.

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He'll still have a stretch of being a lame duck, don't worry.

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I got mine yesterday!

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i think we've all forgotten obama is still president at this point

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I know, I have been checking my mail impatiently every day, like where is the damn ballot??!?!

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You cannot touch me here or there

You cannot touch me anywhere!

I do not like your tiny hands

I do not like them orange man!





I do not like your tiny hands

I do not like where all they land also lol @ #TrumpDrSeus trend rnYou cannot touch me here or thereYou cannot touch me anywhere!I do not like your tiny handsI do not like them orange man!I do not like your tiny handsI do not like where all they land

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amazing

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He wants to build a great big wall

To keep them out, not one but all

But his orange hands are just too small

Sniff, sniff



#TrumpDrSeuss



 He wants to build a great big wallTo keep them out, not one but allBut his orange hands are just too smallSniff, sniff

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crying

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omg

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Wish I had the patience for twitter, I could do limericks.

There once was a yam named Trump

Whose tiny hands touched a woman's rump

She smacked his ass down

And sent him town

To rot in the flaming dung dump

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"In the good ol' days..."



If this doesn't send chills down your spine I don't know what will... pic.twitter.com/9QoBGFJ15X  Adam (@adamcald11) October 11, 2016





this really sent chills down my spine

this really sent chills down my spine

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That documentary was amazing. That part especially sent chills down my spine. How can anyone think what this man spews is okay?

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I didn't know it was from a doc. I'm watching it now. Why the fuck does it only have 3 stars on Netflix. Oh, I know why.

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same i was like, "wait this sounds familiar", and then...good lord. ava duvernay is a genius.

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And all the white people crying on social media about how divisive and unnecessary this was 



Yeah you don't have to live knowing your ancestors have spent the last 500 years or so have their culture and identity literally beaten out of them by white supremacy but ok

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I keep seeing it on Netflix but I don't know if I have the emotional strength to watch it right now. Maybe after the election is over and I feel like I can breathe easier knowing Drumpf isn't in the White House.

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wow

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I don't hope he doesn't win. I hope he drops dead before the election.

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wow. i'm in tears at my desk. fuck this piece of shit and fuck anyone who supports him.

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jesus h christ FUCK YOU UGLY ORANGE MAN

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racists don't deserve to live

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This needs to be everywhere

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Damn, that was amazing. Hillary should be using that as one of her tv ads. Fuck him and his "good ol days," and all his garbage followers. We're not going back to that shit.



Edited at 2016-10-13 07:53 pm (UTC)

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this is so well-edited and powerful.

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omfg this is terrifyingly accurate

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This is in a documentary on Netflix? Is it the 13 one everyone keeps mentioning?

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This man is fucking dangerous and people need to realize this already and stop playing in this election.

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this upsets me in a visceral way. as infuriating it is to read about the bile he's spewing, it's a whole other thing to be confronted with hatred's ugly face directly in your daily life. it makes me really sad for the world

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This is terrifying. This man is a monster and I am not using hyperbole. Anyone who cannot see this is someone who's willfully doing so.

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This is chilling.

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god, this just made the tears come

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If he wins I will probably cry harder than I ever have in my life.

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I can't even watch this. I only made it half way. Absolutely devastating that people would behave like that, let alone think like that.

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this part made me cry tbh. it's eye opening to see how terrible the us treated and still treats it's own citizens

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My parents didn't believe trump ever raped anyone a few days ago, I wonder if they've changed their minds. They're not even trump supporters.

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He wasn't even "accused" of going in dressing rooms he admitted to it in the Howard stern interview, he's disgusting

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Why was arguing with someone on BF about this. He literally said he did this

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the willful denial and ignorance is off the charts, his core supporters will defend him no matter what

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Buzzfeed just did an article about how his core supporters will support him no matter what he does or says because "they hate Hillary that much."

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Yes, honestly. I think some women came out and said that he did so, either before or after the interview was spread out idk. And the things he said to Billy Bush, I read about a woman accusing him of doing that to her before the tape leaked. It's crazy, here we have a case where both victims AND perpetrator are saying he's sexually harassing women, but he still has the gall to deny it after the fact - and people believe he's 'innocent'!

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Accusations like this have gone on for years and the women are branded sore losers or attention whores looking for 15 minutes of fame. I've seen a current director who runs 2 states literally do this on pageant boards. Discrediting these women to defend Trump. Knowning she's a rape survivor and ruining these women's reputations in places they can't defend themselves is the lowest of the low. I finally called her out on it and she's trying to roll over and make me look like I'm attacking a victim. I wish I could get her fired.



Edited at 2016-10-13 11:01 pm (UTC)

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I filed for citizenship a while back and I legit want to rescind my application somehow



This election has taken years off my life & has killed off parts of my soul that I didn't know existed

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OMG i agree. I never been into politics but this one is killing me softly. After the debate i didnt sleep for two days. UGHHH MAKE IT STOP

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I live in Canada, but even in a different country, I feel that way. I'm just really displayed and heartbroken that this is the state of the world right now. That someone as vile as Trump could make it this far with his rhetoric. It's so disappointing. I felt sick within 20 minutes of the last debate.

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I'm Australian and even I feel exhausted. I'm just counting down the days until you guys can vote because FUCK this has been going on SO LONG.



Our elections last TWO MONTHS.

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i just found out my mom, who i have a really good relationship with and who i could have NEVER predicted this about, is undecided but leaning toward trump and dunno how to cope with it



meanwhile i always knew my dad would vote for him because he's a piece of shit but after getting confirmation of it i realized i had been hoping deep down he wasn't THAT bad

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My mum is abstaining from voting this year as she likes zero of the people that are running for president. My dad is going the classic Republican route - condemning Trump's rhetoric but voting for him because he doesn't want to get taxed out the ass. Which makes me laugh because my dad is semi-retired and he is not making $250K+ a year.



I burst out crying the other day because I asked him if he had ever been sexually harassed or assaulted by a rich, powerful white man (I have and it is NOT fun) and that it's hard for me to not take Trump's words to heart when I or any other woman in his presence for that matter would face some kind of harassment (be it emotional or physical).



But I guess our votes will cancel each other out. Unless he's totally disgusted with the whole thing and decides to not vote either.

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I feel you :/ A few weeks ago my mom said she'd rather vote for Trump then Clinton and my heart sank.



But the other day my dad said we're not voting for Clinton OR Trump so I have no idea how they're voting and I'm kinda scared to ask

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yep, i feel you on being too scared to ask. i'm actually getting all of my information from my sibling who still lives at home. idk if i could handle actually having that conversation

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Oh my entire family (minus my sister) is voting for Trump. It's incredibly disheartening.

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my step father hates Hilary keeps calling her the criminal but loves trump because he speaks his mind



I'm not close with him



however my mother a dark skinned Latin indigenous woman is voting trump and I knewshe would but I look at her with such disappointment, it really made me realize I can never be close to her cause her opinions are just horrible. homophobic, transphobic, racist, like she's my only family left but I'm ready to never see her again. this election really made me realize blood ain't shit.

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Dude, my dad is a black man yet sends me videos on how everything is a conspiracy and Trump is the answer. I can't even with him. This is not the man who raised me to be a rational, logical thinker.

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it wasn't until this election that i realized that i've been taking the political like-mindedness i have with my entire family my whole life for granted. i've been raised by staunch democrats and my aunts and uncles and grandparents are all democrats. i can't imagine how awful it would be to have those conflicts :(



Edited at 2016-10-13 07:54 pm (UTC)

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My dad is voting for Trump, last I heard. He's a good guy, but the past few years he really got sucked into conservative news stations, and it has changed him. I kind of brushed it off at first because I knew he would be voting for the Republican candidate no matter what, but then Trump got more misogynistic, racist, and narcissistic. Especially after Trump's latest comments about women I actually feel personally hurt as his daughter that he's still okay voting for Trump.

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I refuse to discuss politics with my mother or stepdad because they're both Republicans and I fear the worst.

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I'm from Louisiana so yes.

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Nope, my parents are firmly against him and pro-Clinton. But my mom was telling me she knows other aunties - Indian moms, that is - who are pro-Trump just because they're Republican, just because they want to keep their (high) income, who were dismissive of Trump's comments.

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i have a great relationship with my mom but she is republican/conservative TRASH. i had to unfollow her on facebook. she kept posting such bullshit like "i'm more bothered by what hillary has done that what trump has said"



like ?????????? who are you why are you like this how dare you



my dad has always been a republican but he's a lawyer and i haven't heard him say anything about trump. part of me thinks he might be against him, but i also know that the clintons and dems in general make him froth at the mouth. but he's also one to just not vote at all if he doesn't like either option. iirc, he hasn't voted in like the last 2-3 elections.

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My father is a big fan. We haven't discussed it in a few weeks so I was starting to think that he might be coming around. Then I visited him last night and noticed he had a thing of Tic Tacs on his desk, which I've never seen buy before. I am guessing some buddy of his gave it to him as a joke after the video came out and my heart dropped. I'm disgusted.

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My mom hates Trump so much and always votes D but watches Fox News...idek.

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My dad's side of the family is old white and racist so I'm assuming they're all voting Trump (I refuse to discuss politics with them so this isn't 100% confirmed but they're republicans so)



My mom loves Obama so I can't see her even considering voting for Trump



I feel bad for my friends tho b/c their mom is generally a republican but said early on that she didn't like Trump, and now she's defending him on fb AFTER all this terrible shit has come out and said he's the "only choice." idgi

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my mom has been a hardcore Republican since 9/11 and this is the first year shes not voting since she was 18. but shes being very unfair to hillary, moreso than trump. we argue everyday

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My dad listens to Viet propaganda and likes Trump, it's good that he doesn't know how to vote. My mom loves Obama, she's been Democrat since 2008. She said Hillary is cold and not likable but Trump is evil. They found a new topic to argue about every night, Trump.

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it's been a huge source of stress for me. like trump's evilness has gotten to the point that I truly feel like any trump supporter is analogous to ww2 era hitler supporters. I can't believe my mom is still planning on voting for him.

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I missed the 'supporters' part of your title and seriously thought for a second that your mom had revealed Trump was your birth father.

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Two weeks ago I would've needed a children of trump supporters support group but my parents aren't voting at all now so I'm filled with immense relief.

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ugh, my parents love trump. they've always voted republican though, so i wasn't surprised...hell, i was a republican until i was like 19 because i didn't know any better :(



i have such a great relationship with my parents though despite their shit political beliefs.

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i feel you, it's shocking and scary to realize you're so close to people who either honestly like his policies or are so clueless about politics that they're willing to give him their vote.



personally, i'm surprised my hardcore republican dad doesn't like him, but my mom hates clinton so much she's vying for trump i'm like ???

one does not get rid of a shit sandwich by replacing it with another shit sandwich

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I've lucked out a bit. My (step)dad was a Republican, but my mother pretty much told him he was switching parties and voting Hillary or there would be hell to pay. He's doing an absentee ballot so he can't sneak a vote past her, either. He probably agrees with Drumpf's ideas in general, though I don't think he's quite so keen since the tape came out.



It may have to do with the fact that he's a long haul truck driver and my mother's been out on the road with him for the last two weeks, reading him every piece of dirt on Drumpf she can find the entire time. It actually surprises me a little that she wasn't a Drumpf fan at first since she's the type of white person that thinks "Becky" is a racial slur and she should be allowed to use the N-word, but she's been against him since day one.



My dad's family of idiots are probably voting Drumpf, assuming they can be bothered to vote. On the other side, my non-bio uncle is a big Drumpf fan but he's too lazy to vote. His wife (my mother's sister) did agree with some of Drumpf's stuff, but that was a month ago so who knows now. She won't vote, either, though, so there's that at least. My aunt (my mother's other sister) and grandmother are 100% against him and we're like our own little bastian of sanity in Drumpf-lovin' Land.









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Oh fuck I've been dealing with this for months

I love my mother but goddamn is she being the worlds biggest idiot and I'm only now really connecting how racist she is deep down. She's so friendly and kind and then to realize that she has this darkness in her, it's so fucking messed up

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All my parents are Trump people. I'm the oddball out, really. I'm the only one out of the kids, all 7 (counting stepsiblings), that isn't voting for Trump. They're poor, uneducated, underpaid white Americans. Talk about not understanding self-interest.

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My aunt & uncle were in town last weekend when the leaked tape came out and they & my mom & stepdad were using the usual excuses "it was 11 years ago", "look what Bill did in the White House", etc. (I've still not figured out how Bill cheating on Hillary was her fault but that's beside the point). Idk how or if my dad & stepmom will vote.



It just really makes me angry and sad.

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My dad despises Trump but he doesn't agree with most of Hillary's politics so he's not voting for either. He said he was going to write my name in lol.

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Over Thanksgiving, I found out my dad thinks Trump is a 'great businessman' (I remember him reading his books in the 90's). He only begrudgingly 'agreed' (as in, didn't argue) with me that he would be a terrible President when I brought up how he lost a billion dollars, rampant sexism and misogyny and sexual harassment allegations. He didnt say the last 3 were abhorrent, either. :(



Both him and my brother think it was a 'smart strategy' on how he avoided his taxes. My brother thinks it's 'absurd' that people are worried about him having the codes, since 'he wouldn't be the only one making that choice'.



My mom remained silent about Drumpf. She didn't like how Hillary 'smirked' during the debate.



Thankfully, we're not American so it's all a moot point. But it really, really sucks that I feel like a political black sheep in my family.

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The other day I found out that my grandmother, who had always voted Democrat, was voting for Drumpf. She's a vulnerable, scared 80 year old woman who's been hearing nothing but the Republican threats of terrorism, invasions, Christian persecution, etc. and she's afraid. It pisses me off that the Republican party takes advantage of people like this.

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I was talking to my coworker about how I'm somewhat ambivalent about voting in general (my politics are weird, on a personal level no candidate ever really taps into the things that would help my life) but this year I'm excited to be voting for the first woman president. My coworker didn't understand why that would be a cool or important thing to do.

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Is your coworker a straight white man?

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She is a Hasidic woman.

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On Thursday, Jeremy Buckingham, an upper house Greens MP, tabled a motion condemning misogynistic, hateful comments the US Republican presidential candidate has made against women and minorities, including his remarks revealed at the weekend describing sexual assault.





Trump campaign rocked by new wave of sexual harassment allegations

Read more

The motion also called out what is described as the divisive, destructive impact of hate speech from political candidates and agreed with those describing Trump as a slug unfit for office.



Buckinghams motion was unanimously carried.



Its clear that all reasonable and decent people find Donald Trumps behaviour obnoxious and that the world is hoping American voters reject his politics of hate, Buckingham said.



source: And Australian MPs passed a motion calling Trump a "revolting slug":source: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/oct/13/nsw-parliament-passes-motion-saying-donald-trump-is-a-revolting-slug

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mte like when Australia is calling you hateful you need to examine your life and choices

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thx for the thoughts and prayers australia now go get your shit together

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yas  go my hopeless little country



we are preparing the drop bear army as we speak

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Good now can we make a similar motion about Pauline Hanson?



At least she's not up for the top job though...forever happy I don't live in the USA tbh like Australia is FUCKED UP but at least we have good coffee, free healthcare, and gun control.

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We don't have marriage equality but we can do this!

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http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/tony-abbott-says-donald-trumps-policies-are-reasonable-enough-and-his-voters-are-no-deplorables-20161013-gs1x6a.html



plus Pauline Hanson is basically Donald Trump lite. fine, she's nowhere near the top job but the fact that she's in the senate at all says a fuckin lot



Edited at 2016-10-14 09:24 am (UTC) yeah but we once elected a guy who thinks Trump is "reasonable" so we probably shouldn't pat ourselves on the back too hardplus Pauline Hanson is basically Donald Trump lite. fine, she's nowhere near the top job but the fact that she's in the senate at all says a fuckin lot

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VOTE VOTE FUCKIN VOTE!!!! #imwithher

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I'm so bummed. I have so much work to do this month I'm barely going to have time to watch any scary movies. Halloween is my fave holiday too, wahhh. :[

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My FAVE? That's hard. The first thing that comes to mind is the original Child's Play trilogy, but I also love the first Saw film a lot. And Scream.

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my favorite holiday, too! i haven't had much time to do much celebrating at all though, everyone in my house has been sick for 2 weeks now :(

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The horse scene in the Ring though... D:



Edited at 2016-10-13 09:29 pm (UTC)

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That's the part I stopped watching when I was 12 lol

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MTE I consider that movie kinda gory...not a lot of red blood but like watery flesh grosses me out

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lol yeah i came in here to say that...

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it got me when she started choking on that damn string that looked like a tampon omg

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It was ridiculous tbh

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the child abuse scene :O

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where the guy got electrocuted in the bath tub. NAWH. Scarred me for life when I was 13, that entire movie FUCKED ME UP. I will not rewatch it EVER!!

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The Ring traumatized me D-:

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The Ring is still one of the scariest movies I've ever seen since it traumatized me when I was younger. I was afraid of static on the TV and the phone ringing.

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i think i was in third grade when this movie came out. idek how i wasn't left scarred lmao

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actually laughed out loud

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I remember renting the VHS version (I saw it in theatres previously) and it starts with the video that's in the movie. I shut it right off and never watched it again.

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LOL, I was going to mention Poltergeist, but I guess the bathroom fantasy sequence kind of disqualifies it.

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The scene where the guy begins to rip his face off? I can never forget that scene for as long as I live D:

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Omg, I watched the new Godzilla and when the blood was spilling out I almost barfed

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that tv scene in the ring though



the others went over my head after watching it. after they showed what happened i was like HOLY SHIET I DIDN'T NOTICE THAT...



that last scene in the blair witch project was crazy



i like gore free horror. forces me to think sometimes (and over think lmao)

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I was so terrified of that scene when I was a kid that I made my parents take the tv out of my room and covered up the one in the lounge before bed for like a month. To this day one of the scariest things I've seen.

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same. not so much as covering the tvs...i just stopped watching TV for a good while. and since hubby was a scaredy cat (when it comes to horror movies), i watched before him to see if he can watch it. nope. i like my sleep thank you very much. yes i was able to sleep at some point after watching the movie but i wouldn't be able to sleep if my hubby saw it.





he was about to and i was like NOPE NOPE NOPE. you're not allowed. that imagery is so vivid i can see it playing back in my head no problem. and i hate that :|

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But, the blood is the life.

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BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD!

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Makes me think of an article with creepy things kids say and one was something about imagining "waves of blood rushing over me. "

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The Others and Sixth Sense are my faves. I'm not into gore at all, I don't even find it scary.

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This flawless taste, those are my faves as well. I still get chills from the old lady in the veil in The Others and all the kitchen cupboards opening in The Sixth Sense. This type of horror is far superior imo.

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You have great taste those are my faves as well!

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Even though I know the ending I can watch The Others over and over. It's always creepy.

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same! the part where she finds the photographs always gives me the chills

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Just gross.

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I saw the scene where Mischa Barton's ghost vomits all over the place when I was little and it gave me nightmares for months

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is there any lesser known good, recent horror movies? i'm struggling to find movies to watch this october :(

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My friend and I watched The Uninvited on Netflix the other night and I thought it was decent. It's from 2009, so it's not really ~recent, but I had never heard of it before.

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the one with elizabeth banks? seen that and the original :)

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i actually enjoyed that remake. the setting/scenery was so fitting.

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It's more thriller than horror, but I really liked The Gift from last year. Some great, genuine jump scares and tension featured.

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pontypool. it's on netflix.

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not so recent but

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Southbound if you're into anthology films. It's pretty gory though.

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i just saw La Casa Murda, which is the original Silent House. much better than the remake and a LOT more disturbing in the end



Edited at 2016-10-14 12:34 am (UTC)

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tales of halloween is a horror comedy anthology. i loved it.

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for me it's torture scenes I can't deal with.

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I've seen a couple of decent rape scenes where it's just awful enough but not over the top. I hate when it's a rape or torture scene and you know the director loved filming it. The ones that are meant to be horrible scenes are alright but obviously deserve major trigger warnings.

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I watched this film theory video re the Blair Witch Project and it made it too scary to watch.



SPOILER BELOW



Basically, the theory is that it's a couple of guys (her ex-boyfriend and his friend) gaslighting her, terrifying her, and ultimately murdering her. The evidence he presents is compelling and the film became horrifying for a different reason.

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You have my attention.

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whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat! amazing theory.





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hmm that's interesting, but who would have been outside the tent harassing them while they were all in it?

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i expect more gaslighting-type films in the future after girl on the train.

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I'm not a fan of gore but I love slasher movies bc I like the creepy malevolent stalker trope. Unfortunately gore seems to be a prerequisite for most slasher flicks.

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i think the ring was the last time a horror movie genuinely scared me

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Same. Not even The Exorcist fucked me up the way The Ring did. I also remember going into the movie knowing nothing about it other than Watts was watching some spooky shit on her VCR.

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I had nightmares for several weeks. (Not even kidding) I swore off horror movies there and then lol.

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Same. I was so scared I felt faint

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yep. the music, the location, and the bleak colors made it even worse.

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the ring is still one of my faves. i was obsessed with it as a kid and it never really scared me, so i was surprised to see some commenters saying it terrified them in one of the last horror posts lol. i've kept my vhs copy after all these years too!

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horror's been my fave genre since i was a kid so it scared me but even as a young'n i knew it was a great film lol

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lol okay tbh i lied a little, it did freak me out at times but after rewatching it a lot, i lived for the suspense!

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some of these are in fact the scariest horrors, the lack of blood, the lack of seeing the monster the 'it', it's scarier, it's in your imagination. these ones are fucking terrifying.

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mte. psychological horror scares me more than straight forward gore

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yup

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Agreed

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same

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I just saw Under the Shadow. Was pretty great up 'til the ending.

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Noooo, don't tell me that! I'm seeing it tomorrow night and I had such high hopes for it D:

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Despite OPECs best efforts, shale boomers are still alive and kickingat least some of them. More precisely, those that came first, chose the best acreage, and had the farsightedness needed to make it profitable in the long run, as well as some luck. At least thats the conclusion of IHS Markit in a new study.

The market researchers study focused on the Delaware Basin, which is a particularly prolific part of the Permian. The study found that the best performers were the companies that entered the play first and knew more than most about the local geology, and named EOG Resources as the most successful in that area, thanks to its long presence in the Delaware Basin and the extensive knowledge of the equally extensive plays it is operating, according to author Sven Del Pozzo.

Because of its early entrance and higher-risk appetite, EOG and others like it now remain profitable even with $50 crude, unlike droves of other sector players that have either gone under or are about to, because they simply cannot bring their production costs down enough to survive in the current price environment.

But these best performers have more than just themselves to thank, according to another IHS expert, associate director for Plays and Basins Reed Olmstead. Olmstead explained at a recent industry event that there were four factors that determine oil and gas company success in this area. The first indeed included tactics such as picking and choosing where to drill, which accounted for 35 percent of the overall cut of their breakeven price, but 40 percent of the reduction came from price cuts made by the oilfield service sector  a segment of the oil industry that is having its own problems after being forced to offer service prices at a solid discount plus much shorter contracts to stay afloat.

The other two factors contributing to the success of the oldest Permian players were operational improvements, which accounted for 20 percent; and infield learnings, which accounted for 6 percent.

Meanwhile, the Permian remains the most productive of all shale plays across the U.S.

Its apparent that luck had a bit to do with the success of those early entrants, but risk-taking was also a defining characteristic, according to Del Pozzo, who is IHS director of energy company and transaction research. In those early days of the shale revolution, these companies were the first to try horizontal drilling instead of the traditional, vertical kind.

Horizontal drilling is costlier than its vertical sibling, but it makes for better yields. Higher risk, but higher possible reward. The shale boom pioneers seem to be still reaping the benefits of these yields despite the price downturn.

In June of this year, energy expert Art Berman said that the breakeven in the Permian had gone down to $61 a barrel, making the play the lowest-cost deposits in the world. Still, crude oil prices at the time were notably lower than $61 (and still are).

Despite this discrepancy, the old dogs in the Permian survived. Today, the breakeven point in the Delaware Basin may be as little as $37, assuming the calculations of a Wood Mackenzie analyst, Ben Shattuck, are accurate.

In this light, local E&Ps are not just surviving, they are thriving. No wonder Del Pozzo titled his report IHS Herold Company Play Analysis: Delaware Basin: The Strong Get Smarter; Remarkable Profitability at Current Prices.

By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:
As Cheniere Energy shuts down its LNG terminal at Sabine Pass for a month of repairs, it seems like a good time to take stock of the global LNG situation. With pundits and politicians increasingly pointing to LNG as proof of a new golden age in American energy production, its necessary to measure how those predictions may pan out.

Since coming on-line in February, Chenieres facility at Sabine Pass has shipped 33 cargoes of LNG. In the first six months of 2016 total LNG exports totaled 63.5 billion cubic feet (bcf) against total U.S. imports of 53.1 bcf, according to Argus Media. An analysis found that those shipments ended up in diverse markets world-wide, with the conspicuous absence of East Asia, where the bulk of LNG demand is situated.

The U.S. wont easily find markets in Japan, China or South Korea (not to mention India, where LNG demand will grow faster than elsewhere), due primarily to strong competition. Australia has seven operating LNG developments and three more currently under construction. While the U.S. is expected to produce nearly 10 bcf per day by 2020, Australias new projects could increase its liquefaction capacity to 13 bcf per day by 2020. Its closer to potential markets and its producers have a head-start on American competition.

With competition from Australia, now the worlds leading LNG exporter, and Qatar driving down spot prices in Asian markets relative to the Henry Hub, Latin America and South America represent the most attractive market for the moment. Seventeen out of the thirty-three LNG shipments from Sabine Pass have arrived in South American ports, according to Bloomberg. Chile represents an attractive market now that the Panama Canal can accommodate LNG tankers, while Argentina spot prices remain high as the country tries to pivot towards renewable energy. The spot price for Argentina in August averaged $5.79, in Brazil $5.81. Prices in East Asia were comparable while Western European prices stayed depressed. Generally global LNG prices are seriously depressed from highs of $17 and $20 in 2013 and 2104.

Expectations from LNG producers are measured according to these market conditions. While South America represents a current market, long-term prospects there arent hugely attractive. While East Asia is currently the center of LNG demand, consumption in Japan and South Korea is expected to slow as gas continues to compete with coal and nuclear power, while that of China is uncertain and could potentially be fed by domestic production. India represents a bright spot, but one that Australia, along with traditional exporters like Qatar and Iran, seem much better placed to supply. Related: Dedicated Activists: The Next Big Threat For North-American Oil

The U.S. and Australia are not alone: LNG projects are being proposed in Canada, with Petronas recently approved to construct an LNG terminal in British Columbia, though while some two dozen such projects have been proposed, construction has not yet begun. Given current market conditions, Petronas has indicated that it is unsure about the project, which could cost in excess of $US27 billion.

Viewed from this angle, it would seem that LNG is facing a perfect storm of low prices, stagnant demand and global over-supply. Industry insiders dont necessarily see it that way, however, with some arguing that despite current low prices, future demand has been under-estimated. The projected demand from energy conversion (where power plants and engines are converted from coal/gasoline burning to LNG) would dramatically increase demand for LNG, which thanks to the increased liquefaction and transportation capacity currently under construction, would be well positioned to meet such demand.

A recent book from the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies predicts a great re-configuration, where the 180 billion cubic meters currently under development is absorbed through a variety of means and further pressure is placed on the pricing mechanism linking LNG to the Henry Hub price (plus costs). Currently LNG is sold under long-term contracts but that could change as prices continue to stay fluid.

One thing seems certain: prognosticators who predict a golden age for American LNG exports need to stay conscious of market conditions and the kinds of global competition American exporters would face.

By Gregory Brew for Oilprice.com

More Top Reads from Oilprice.com:
Russias biggest industry has been oil production historically, but the country appears to be trying to diversify that by putting more emphasis on agriculture. The former soviet state has been relying on the same tractors and silos for decades due to the apparent lack of opportunity for growth before 2013. With Russias increased production of wheat, farmers need to find alternative means of storage. As of this year, Russia has officially surpassed the United States in the exportation of wheat.

Even though Russia has pulled ahead of the United States for wheat exports, the countrys farms are still years behind in regard to equipment. Equipment providers will see an abundance of business from the Russians over the next several years. However, these products arent cheap. Andrey Burdin is a farm operator near the Black Sea and maintains over 4,200 acres. He hopes to invest in a plant sprayer from Deere & Co., which can fetch upwards of $311,000. The devaluation of the ruble along with government subsidies has proven beneficial to farmers and potentially made agriculture more attractive than crude.

Olam International Ltd is one of the largest exporters of grains from Russia. The firm is becoming increasingly interesting as they invest in more export terminals in the region, like their elevation facility at a port in Azov, on the Black Sea. These types of assets will be extremely useful to companies like Olam as Russia continues to export wheat. Investors should be on the watch for companies like this, heavily interested in the transportation of grains. AFK Sistema, a Russian conglomerate, acquired an agricultural complex in Yuzhny last year. This combined with their portfolio diversified across nearly every sector shows prospects for profit.

This is quite an accomplishment for Russia since they only reentered the wheat market in 2002, having quit in the late 90s after the collapse of collective farming. Putin restated last December that his goal for Russia is to be 100 percent self-sufficient on food by 2020. But with attention shifting to farming, what does this mean for big oil? Related: The U.S. Is Set To Dominate Global Natural Gas Markets

Unfortunately, oil is beginning its decline in Russia. The nation is being faced with the issue of how to maintain the current level of crude production, something impossible without upgrading equipment. The soviet-age oil fields have peaked and will soon be unable to produce effectively.

With the market being inundated by supply, OPEC is taking precautions to freeze output. This likely wont be an issue for Russia seeing as they havent found any new sources to replace their parched fields. Russia has such little upside potential it makes sense they came to the table with OPEC on this topic. Low oil prices make exploration difficult and exports provide less of an income. One option is the arctic but even big oil companies struggle with high operational costs. The country is losing faith in big oil. Putin and other top officials now believe farming is the way of the future. Soon the workers who have been on these rigs for years will shift over to the farming industry. Manufacturers of equipment for oil production are going to start looking for ways to help create the products used to grow and gather wheat.

If these firms are unable to find the methods to uphold output levels then companies may be in trouble. Rosneft, Russias state-owned oil company, is forecasted to lower output by the end of the year. Investors should also watch production statistics for Bashneft, Lukoil, and Gazprom, several other large producers in Russia.

By Michael McDonald of Oilprice.com

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:
Mining and energy trading giant Glencore will be seeking to take on more crude oil trading in Iraq, Iran, Libya and Russia in a bid to boost its trading division, which does not look as good as it did last year, Alex Beard, Glencore's global head of oil, has said at the Reuters Commodities Summit.

We are currently lifting products from (Iran's) NIOC and private firms and are looking to expand into crude, Beard said.



With the slump in commodity prices in the past two years, Glencore has been using its trading divisions as a cushion against losses in its mining business.

The group reported earlier this year robust energy trading performance for 2015, driven by successful execution within an attractive, opportunity rich oil market environment, partially offset by more challenging coal markets.

This year, however, at least its first half, saw Glencore posting a 47-percent decline in core earnings at its energy trading division, due to more modest oil marketing conditions and challenging coal-trading environment.

Last year was also the year in which the mining and trading giant secured a deal with Libyas National Oil Company to buy half of the countrys oil output.

Libyas crude production has been rising since it started reopening export port terminals last month. Oil production is now between 505,000 and 510,000 barrels per day, up from 200,000-300,000 bpd before the reopening of the ports. The National Oil Corporation aims to raise output to 900,000 barrels per day by the end of this year.

Speaking at the Reuters Commodities Summit, Glencores Beard said:

We're very happy with our relationship with NOC and we've been very pleased to support them through some difficult times in the last 12 months and we're open to do more business there.



By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:
Commercial-scale production at Kazakhstans giant Kashagan field in the Caspian Sea has started at a daily rate of 90,000 barrels, the countrys Energy Minister Qanat Bozumbaev said. The field is operated by a consortium including Exxon, Shell, Eni, Total, CNPC, and Japans Inpex, along with Kazakh state oil company Kazmunaygaz.

Kashagan, the biggest oil discovery in Kazakhstan in about four decades, holds an estimated 38 billion barrels of crude and a trillion cubic meters of natural gas. Of the oil reserves, 10 billion barrels are recoverable.

The field was first put into operation three years ago, but just a month later production was suspended because of a gas leak. An inspection revealed the whole 200-km stretch of pipelines set to transport oil and gas from Kashagan needed to be replaced because of micro-cracks, the result of high-sulfur associated gas running through them.

Kazakhstan is the largest oil producer in Central Asia and ranks 18th in the world, with annual production of 1.72 million barrels per day as of two years ago. This year, however, according to OPEC, production is set for a decline to 1.56 million bpd, from the 2015 daily average of 1.6 million barrels.

The revision comes after in August, Kazakhstan pumped around 1.27 million bpd, down 300,000 bpd from July on the back of scheduled maintenance at the TengizChevroil field, also in the Caspian.

Again according to OPEC, production at Kashagan should reach 370,000 bpd by June next year, and the countrys overall growth in oil production should average 220,000 bpd through the end of 2017.

Kazakhstan is not a member of OPEC, and as such is not taking part in the number-one news item in global energy these days: the freeze agreement that OPEC is discussing with Russia. Its not as big of a producer as Russia is, but if output at Kashagan rises as OPEC expects, this will be an increase in global production that trumps the 160,000-bpd OPEC rise in August that curbed the upward movement in international oil benchmarks caused by the news about the freeze.

By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:
Finally the global gold market is getting some good news from its top consuming nation  India.

Reports earlier this week suggest that something very unusual has just happened with Indias local gold prices: theyve jumped to a premium above worldwide bullion prices.

Thats big news because  so far this year  Indias prices have been lagging the rest of the world. With gold here selling at discounts of $50 or more per ounce below average global prices.

But that situation has now apparently reversed itself. With local media reporting that gold sellers in Mumbais Zaveri Bazar were quoting gold at $1 to $2 above benchmark pricing. Marking the first time this year that Indias prices have pulled back to parity.

And thats a critical observation for all participants in the global gold sector.

Heres why.

As Ive discussed in the past, Indias buyers tend to act as a floor for the gold market. When gold prices rise (usually driven by speculative trading in places like New York and London), Indias buyers tend to stay away from the market  waiting for a correction to offer a better buying opportunity.

Thats exactly what weve seen so far this year. With gold prices rising from near $1,000 to as high as $1,350 per ounce, Indias buying all but dried up. In fact, stats released this week show that Indias gold imports for January to September likely fell 59% to just 270 tonnes  down from 658 tonnes in the same period in 2015. Related: The Coming Oil Price Crash

That lack of buying caused gold prices across India to sag into discount, as buyers waited for better rates to prevail.

And this weeks news shows that Indians now feel that buying opportunity is at hand. With reports suggesting that bullions recent plunge to $1,250/oz has lured buyers back into the market.

Such a return of Indian buying is typically a sign that the market has reached bottom  with an influx of new purchases helping to set a floor under prices. Watch for gold to stabilize over the coming weeks, perhaps setting the stage for a renewed rally.

Heres to getting back in the market

By Dave Forest

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:
For the 10th straight year, October is Dining Month on OnMilwaukee, presented by the restaurants of Potawatomi Hotel & Casino. All month, we're stuffed with restaurant reviews, dining guides, delectable features, chef profiles and unique articles on everything food, as well as voting for your "Best of Dining 2016."

Cafe Lulu

2265 S. Howell Ave.

(414) 294-5858

lulubayview.com

Unlike seemingly everyone else in Milwaukee over the last decade, I havent yet jumped on the Bay View bandwagon (its actually a fixed-gear bike). But, just like seemingly everyone else in Milwaukee whos ever been to the funky cafe and bar at the intersections of Kinnickinnic, Lincoln and Howell Avenues in the neighborhood, I do love Lulu.

A three-time OnMilwaukee winner for best sandwiches, the expansive and eclectic menu has an excellent assortment of burgers, pitas, melts, baguettes and buns, all of which deliver a diversity of mouth-wateringly fresh ingredients to please everyone from the Bay View vegan to the Cudahy carnivore and all the suffix tarians and ambivalent eaters in between.

There are house-made pizza appetizers, exotically enticing salads  including a modernized Lulu Waldorf Chicken Salad  two-dozen types of sandwiches, a daily soup that deserves more prestige than just another du jour (on this night it was turkey gumbo with andouille sausage) and a hearty brunch menu, too.

Oh, and that Asian slaw. I just cant quit it. My story, a slaw story, is below.

Type of food: Eclectic American, featuring sandwiches and salads.

Prices: $7.95 to $10.95

Vegetarian friendly: Of course! There are lots of salads, hummus and vegetable pitas, fancy cheese melts, fish and portabella sandwiches and more.

Hours: Open from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., Monday through Thursday, 11 a.m. to 11 p.m., Friday and Saturday, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Sunday.

Parking: Even at such a crowded intersection on Bay Views main drag, street parking is available (and even attainable), plus a small next-door lot and plenty of places a couple blocks away.

Vibe/dress: Casual, laid back. Inside, its chill even when busy, with spacious table seating, an often-crowded bar and pleasant staff.

With two friends visiting from Washington, D.C. (home of the federal government and Ruth Badger Ginsburg!) and more hungry than happy to see me, I knew the pressure was on to give them not only a great meal, but also a taste of Brew Citys zesty culture. Repeatedly  relentlessly!  referring to things as "hip" and "trendy" (as in, "yeah, this areas pretty hip" and "that parking spot was really trendy, right?"), I was saved from potentially calling the Smokehouse Chicken Sandwich "hella dope" by our waitress, Sally, who was actually cool and also super helpful.

She counseled us on the best beer pitcher special  taking in our preferences, which ranged from price to type to alcohol content and then back to price  and gave perhaps the best, most direct suggestion to my friend on what to order. Usually, when you ask a server for a recommendation, he or she will make sure to tell you that all of the choices are good, which probably isnt true and definitely isnt helpful. Alternatively, Sally assuredly advised my waffling friend to get the Big Kahuna Tuna sandwich because the yellow fin tuna steak was very fresh, it was a unique ensemble  coming in a double layer of slaw with a spicy sesame oil-rice wine vinaigrette and wasabi mayo  and, most importantly, the chef always grilled it up to perfection.

Sally was right, the chef did and my friend, whod said she was already intrigued by the sandwich anyway because "Kahuna is one of my favorite words," was very happy with it.

I got the Smokehouse Chicken Sandwich, which was indeed hella dope, as it always is, with a massive but well-cooked chicken breast, seasoned and spiced, accompanied by sharp cheddar, crisp bacon, red onion, lettuce and tomato and a whole lot of satisfaction. My other friend ordered the East Indian Chicken Pita  a plump chicken breast marinated in spices and yogurt, grilled and topped with lime-cilantro marinated onions and served with a cucumber yogurt sauce  and it disappeared from the plate in minutes.

For our sides, we all got a little bit of both the house-made potato chips and the Asian slaw, and that is incontrovertibly the only way to do it. Oh man, that slaw.

After polishing off the rest of the pitcher of Two Brothers Atom Smasher Octoberfest, we declared ourselves contentedly full, which is the best kind of full  and thats the wonderful thing about Lulu; youre eating such well-prepared and combined ingredients that taste so good you dont even realize theyre actually light and healthy; this was a new conceptual experience for me  got a fun, friendly goodbye from Sally even though we were the last table to leave before closing time and then made our way back Downtown from Bay View.

Befitting its neighborhood, Cafe Lulu is cool. More importantly, it's very good. Also, did I mention the Asian slaw?
Everyone wants and needs to save money. But how do you make it easier to do so? There are countless traditional methods, but finance technology  FinTech, if you will  is red hot, and finding good traction with well designed, secure apps like Acorns and Digit leading the way. The savings and financial app world still has plenty of needs and room to grow, though.

Enter Milwaukee-based startup Milo, wanting to make change happen with its soon to be released app.

I caught up with one of the co-founders, Craig Sweeney, recently and asked several questions about Milo. Here's what we learned:

OnMilwaukee: Give me the genesis of Milo, please. How did you come up with the idea?

Craig Sweeney: Tom Wondra (one of Milos co-founders) and I both have dealt with the high cost of college education  both ourselves and as parents of college-age kids  and wanted to do something to help alleviate that burden. We initially just looked at that from the debt perspective  helping people pay back student loans  but then pivoted the idea to helping parents and teens save for school. I had seen various round-up promotions some banks have used and realized that the mechanics of the round-up are such an amazing way for people to save really easily for their goals  whether its for college or other life goals  and quite literally "Make Change Happen" (Milos tag line).

Whats your background, and what drew you to this opportunity?

My background is really at the intersection of technology and advertising/marketing, having led business development for a few software startups in the market research space and then as consultant for ad agencies and startups, focusing on growth strategy and tactics. Tom and I met while working together for a digital patient acquisition startup in the pharma space.

I really like the idea of being able to help families  many of them living paycheck to paycheck and not being able to regularly put aside money for important life goals  save "in the background" of their everyday lives. The round-ups add up quite a bit over time. The amounts of the round-ups may not seem like a lot on their own, but over time, with the power of compound interest, Milo can really make a positive impact on peoples lives.

Whats the timeframe for launch?

Milo is in private beta right now, which basically means that weve got a small number of users  founders, family, friends mainly  saving with Milo and testing all aspects of the application prior to our general release, which is coming in November of this year.

Financial tech is hot area, for sure, but one with great competition. How does Milo plan to stand out and grow downloads, use and community?

It certainly is a hot area. FinTech was really ripe for disruption. A big part of that is due to consumers distrust  and distaste  for the big banks, especially in light of what happened in 2008 and continues to happen today, with the recent news about Wells Fargo, for instance. A large majority of the startups in the space are really looking to engage with the millennial group exclusively.

While that makes sense, as thats a large group to be sure, Milos research has found that there are other demographic groups that span all life stages that have financial goals they need to put aside for: parents with young children, gen-xers needing to save for retirement, people saving for a wedding or even for a vacation theyve not been able to take.

Milos focus is on our users ability to save for their goals thru round-ups, but we really stand out as we are building Milos community via our engagement with school districts and our Milo Marketplace, a geo-fenced local community of merchants and retailers which will offer Milo users rewards for their patronage, such as matching their round-ups, special Milo deals, etc. Weve really received incredible feedback and support from school districts in Southeast Wisconsin as saving with Milo can really make an impact on the financial lives of the families within the districts.

Working with the districts here in Wisconsin  and then nationwide  to promote Milo to the families in their districts is one of two main ways we will be looking for user engagement we feel strongly about. We are also offering Milo as a platform to businesses as an employee benefit to their employee base. We were actually approached by a few employers during our research phase specifically asking for this as a way to bring a low-cost/high-impact benefit to their employee pool. Combined with employer-matched round-ups, Milo can be extremely impactful in comparison to other currently offered benefits. Were excited about our employer benefit platform going forward.



The Milo interface

Why Milo and not one of the other savings apps?

While the general mechanics of how we are saving  via rounding up purchases to the next highest dollar  arent exclusive to Milo, the ways in which we are engaging with the community, the merchants in our Milo Marketplace and employers offering Milo as an employee benefit allow users to optimize the value and financial return on their savings.

Whats been the biggest challenge so far?

The biggest challenge has been making sure that all the safeguards and security are in place and rock-solid so that our users have peace of mind that their hard-earned savings are safe with Milo. As we are handling consumer funds, weve needed to not only insure that our application is safe-guarded, but that all of our processes are compliant with financial regulations and that all the funds held with Milo are FDIC insured. We take this very seriously.

Are there unique challenges or opportunities to doing a startup in greater Milwaukee?

There has been a lot written about Wisconsin and Milwaukee not being "startup friendly." We havent run into any challenges or roadblocks as of yet. I really feel that if you build a business that offers significant value to your customer, where that business was started shouldnt be a show-stopper. Theres quite a bit of energy in the MKE/Madison startup community that we feel is important to fostering young companies like ours. Two members of our founding team (Justin Seidl and Rob Schwartz) are in Chicago, and we feel that Milo benefits from the vibrancy of that startup community as well. In terms of raising our initial round of funds, we are certainly hopeful that we are supported by the Wisconsin investment community, although we havent seen many FinTech investments in Wisconsin to this point.

What else do we need to know about Milo?

Well, for one, Im extremely proud of the team weve put together. Weve got extremely talented founders leading both the business and development and design of the Milo platform. As a founder, you can have the best idea since sliced bread, but without the team in place to execute the vision, you really have nothing.

Secondly, were launching Milo in November, just in time for the holidays, so wed love everyone here in Southeast Wisconsin to start saving with us and engage with us  and ask their employers to offer Milo, as well.

Define success.

Success to me will be building a large, engaged community of Milo users and marketplace and employer partners, making an impact on their lives and then using our success to give back to our community. We really are excited that we can truly help people with what we are doing and "Make Change Happen."

The founders of Milo Savings
From WSWS

Tensions within the Republican Party exploded into public recriminations Tuesday, with presidential candidate Donald Trump issuing a series of strident statements denouncing House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senator John McCain, two leading congressional Republicans, for their refusal to support his campaign.

In a particularly revealing Twitter comment, Trump gloated over his open break with the Republican congressional leadership, declaring, "It is so nice that the shackles have been taken off me and I can now fight for America the way I want to."

By "shackles" Trump is referring to the political norms of the US constitutional system, which he has defied with his threats, should he win the presidency, to prosecute and jail his Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton, as well as his encouragement of violence and his denunciation of the electoral process as "rigged."

At two campaign rallies Monday, Trump suggested that a Democratic victory in the presidential election would be illegitimate, the result of ballot-box fraud in key states such as Pennsylvania. He told his supporters to send poll watchers to "certain communities" -- alluding to African-American neighborhoods in Philadelphia -- to "make sure that this election is not stolen from us and is not taken away from us."

Trump's strident attacks on his own party as well as the Democrats make clear that his perspective is no longer to win the presidential election on November 8. His orientation is rather toward the building of an extra-parliamentary far-right movement for the period of social and political upheaval that will follow the elections.

Maine Governor Paul LePage, a fervent Trump supporter, said in a radio interview Tuesday that the United States needed someone like Trump to wield "authoritarian power" because "we're slipping into anarchy." LePage was only articulating in the crudest form the strongman politics that are the essence of the Trump campaign.

Trump has said that a collapse of the world financial system on an even greater scale than in 2008 is likely, and he is positioning himself to offer an ultra-right alternative to a Democratic administration that will become deeply unpopular as it imposes policies of economic austerity and imperialist war. Whether this approach costs the Republicans legislative seats on November 8 is irrelevant to Trump, because he anticipates that in the next period in American history, political issues are going to be decided in the streets, not in the halls of Congress.

This divergence underlies the conflict between the Republican presidential candidate and House Speaker Ryan, the top Republican in Congress, who announced Monday he would no longer defend Trump or campaign for him. Ryan informed the House Republican Caucus of his decision in a Monday conference call, during which all members of the House leadership declared their agreement while a minority of pro-Trump representatives loudly objected.

Effectively declaring the presidential race lost for the Republicans, Ryan said that while he would not withdraw his endorsement of Trump, his number one task was to defend the Republican majorities in the House and Senate, "making sure that Hillary Clinton does not get a blank check" when she becomes president next January.

The House Republican leaders were reacting to polling data showing that Clinton has opened up a double-digit lead over Trump nationally. Of particular concern to the Republicans were indications that Trump's unpopularity was having an effect on congressional races. While loss of the Republican majority in the Senate had been widely considered possible, the 60-seat Republican majority in the House of Representatives was seen as impregnable until last week.

Trump unloaded on Ryan in a series of tweets on Tuesday, calling him "weak" and suggesting that the congressional Republican leadership would be responsible if he lost the election to Clinton. He also denounced the 2008 Republican presidential candidate John McCain, one of ten Republican senators who announced Saturday they could no longer support his presidential campaign.

Clinton's response to these events has been a further shift to the right, redoubling her efforts to win support from leading figures in the Republican Party. Her campaign launched advertisements in at least four states that include testimonials from Republican voters who are supporting Clinton this year. Campaign spokesman Brian Fallon said, "She is reaching out to voters that may well have supported Mitt Romney in 2012 and in a normal year might also be inclined to support the Republican nominee, but are so troubled by Donald Trump they are open to supporting Hillary Clinton."

As part of this "outreach" effort, Clinton followed up a campaign rally at Wayne State University in Detroit Monday with a private meeting with Republican billionaire Dan Gilbert, the Quicken Loans mogul who has bought up most of downtown Detroit in order to make a killing from the city's bankruptcy.

For the Democratic Party and its supporters in the media, Trump's slide in the polls and the very public crisis of the Republican Party are cause for celebration and complacent sighs of relief. Typical is the column by Roger Cohen in the New York Times, which begins with a lengthy verbal lashing of Trump:

Next Page 1 | 2

(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
With less than a month before the November 8th election, the tone of the presidential race is so acrimonious that many voters are turned off. Nonetheless, everyone who is serious about US democracy should pay attention because there are daily revelations, mostly about Donald Trump.

On October 1st, the New York Times revealed that it had received the first few pages of Trump's 1995 tax returns. They revealed that Trump had taken a $916 million write off -- which likely allowed him to not pay taxes for twenty years. Then, on October 7th, the Washington Post revealed the existence of a 2005 "Access Hollywood" tape (https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-recorded-having-extremely-lewd-conversation-about-women-in-2005/2016/10/07/3b9ce776-8cb4-11e6-bf8a-3d26847eeed4_story.html? ) where Trump made lewd comments about women.

Meanwhile, also on October 7th, Wikileaks revealed thousands of emails hacked from the account of Hillary Clinton campaign chair, John Podesta.

Many observers believe that between now and election day there will be dueling revelations: details of Donald Trump's behavior with women -- Trump has the profile of a sexual predator -- and emails from Podesta and other Clinton campaign insiders. Nonetheless, the ultimate "October Surprise" is likely to be the details of Trump's relationship with Russia.

In August, I wrote a column predicting that before the election Trump's tax returns would be hacked: "They'll likely show zero taxes paid, no charitable contributions, and scary ties to Russian oligarchs." Today we know that Trump paid no taxes and has next to zero charitable contributions. But we still don't understand his ties to Russian oligarchs. That shoe is about to fall.

During the October 9th debate, Hillary Clinton twice made an unusually strong condemnation of Russia: "Our intelligence community just" said that the Kremlin, meaning Putin and the Russian government, are directing the attacks, the hacking on American accounts to influence our election. And WikiLeaks is part of that" we don't even know if it's accurate information, and then they put it out. We have never in the history of our country been in a situation where an adversary, a foreign power, is working so hard to influence the outcome of the election" They're doing it to try to influence the election for Donald Trump."

Trump responded: "Anytime anything wrong happens, they like to say the Russians are"--"[Hillary] doesn't know if it's the Russians doing the hacking. Maybe there is no hacking. But they always blame Russia. And the reason they blame Russia because they think they're trying to tarnish me with Russia" I know nothing about the inner workings of Russia. I don't deal there. I have no businesses there. I have no loans from Russia."

In a debate where Trump told 33 lies, few commented on Trump's remark, "Maybe there is no hacking." But, on October 10th, NBC News (http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/trump-was-told-russia-was-blame-hacks-long-debate-n663686 ) reported that Trump "was personally briefed on Russia's role in the hacks by U.S. officials."

We've gotten so used to Trump's lies that it's easy to dismiss this particular lie as, "Trump continuously lies because he can." But in a new book, "The Plot to Hack America," intelligence expert Malcolm Nance (http://www.newscenter1.tv/story/33267633/skyhorse-to-publish-timely-new-book-the-plot-to-hack-america-by-intelligence-expert-malcolm-nance ) suggests that Trump is a pawn in Vladimir Putin's own version of "Game of Thrones;" Putin wants to humiliate President Obama and Secretary Clinton and is using Trump, together with Russian spy agencies, to accomplish his objectives.

Nance speculates that Putin has enlisted Trump by appealing to Trump's vanity and greed. In return, Trump has taken the most pro-Russia stance of any political candidate in recent memory. In the second debate, Trump suggested that the US should abandon Aleppo because "it has fallen." He "explained": "Syria is Russia" and "Russia is killing Isis." (It appeared that Trump was saying that all of the occupants of Aleppo belong to Isis -- something that is far from true). Trump has called Vladimir Putin a more capable leader than President Obama. He's called for normalizing relations with Russia, "Wouldn't it be nice if we actually got along, as an example, with Russia?"

Trump claims he has no financial ties to Russia: "I know nothing about the inner workings of Russia. I don't deal there. I have no businesses there. I have no loans from Russia." Here's what the Washington Post (https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2016/10/10/heres-what-donald-trump-needs-to-know-about-the-inner-workings-of-russia/ ) says: "There is all kinds of evidence, including statements from his advisers and family members that Trump has done business with Russia. Donald Trump Jr. said in 2008 that 'Russians make up a pretty disproportionate cross-section of a lot of our assets.' Alan Garten, general counsel of the Trump Organization, told our colleagues in May: 'I have no doubt, as a company, I know we've looked at deals in Russia . And many of the former Russian republics.' "

Time Magazine(http://time.com/4433880/donald-trump-ties-to-russia/ ) reported: "As major banks in America stopped lending him money following his many bankruptcies, the Trump organization was forced to seek financing from non-traditional institutions. Several had direct ties to Russian financial interests in ways that have raised eyebrows. What's more, several of Trump's senior advisors have business ties to Russia or its satellite politicians."

Trump could prove he has no financial ties to Russia by releasing his tax returns, but he refuses to do this. Conservative columnist George Will observed, "Perhaps one more reason why we're not seeing [Trump's] tax returns is because he is deeply involved in dealing with Russian oligarchs and others."

The hacking and publication of Trump's complete tax returns will be the ultimate October surprise. Given that Obama/Clinton are very irritated with Putin, coupled with the capabilities of American cyber-security services, it's very likely that Trump's tax returns will be released before November 8th.
Contact Oyster Radio any time:





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Pakistan a partner or a target 13 October, 2016 By Asif Haroon Raja

Related News Pak Chief of the army staff is a key figure: USA State Department Pakistan lodges protest with US over Pentagon report Related Articles Imran Khan's visit to USA

By By Asif Haroon Raja USA's treacherous agenda against Pakistan

By By Asif Haroon Raja Related Speakout More on this View All Pak Chief of the army staff is a key figure: USA State Department

Pakistan lodges protest with US over Pentagon report

US helping Pakistan become prosperous, democratic: US envoy

Pakistan lodges protest with US over spying by NSA

US to continue working with Pakistan: Kerry

Nisar, acting US envoy discuss security situation

Relations with US improving: Sartaj Aziz Related News Poll Will President Obama`s policies on Pakistan be any different from President Bush? The US took Pakistan on board as a tactical partner after 9/11 to achieve its short term objectives but had listed it as one of its targets. It married up with Pakistan since it knew that without its intimate support and cooperation, the Afghan venture would become onerous and very expensive. It kept Pakistan on board to net Al-Qaeda operatives that had sneaked into FATA and Baluchistan after the invasion and occupation of Afghanistan. Resistance war put up by the Afghan Taliban and repeated failures of ISAF/ANSF on the battlefield prolonged the war and made it into longest war.



The reasons which impelled Washington to keep Pakistan attached were: It needed two supply land routes in Pakistan for ISAF troops, Shamsi airbase for drone attacks in FATA, establishment of CIA-FBI-Blackwater-RAW-MI-6 network in Pakistan to bolster insurgency in FATA, separatist movement in Baluchistan, urban terrorism in Karachi, steal the nukes, scuttle CPEC and to turn Pakistan into a vassal state of India. The US wanted to use Baluchistan as a base for changing the hardline regime in Iran. At a later stage, it wanted safe exit from Afghanistan and now wants a peace deal with Taliban. Driven by selfish needs and caught up in its self-made quagmires, the US has thus far not ditched Pakistan as it had done in 1990 but repeat of history is in the offing.



The dual faced USA has been outwardly claiming to be a friend and a coalition partner of Pakistan to fight the global war on terror which it had triggered to avenge 9/11. Many are convinced that it was a false flag operation undertaken to achieve strategic and geo-economic objectives. Since Pakistan was made a frontline state to fight terrorism it took the major brunt of the war and suffered the most in terms of human casualties, economic loss and social trauma. Although the US made Pakistan a non-NATO ally, in practical terms the US in collaboration with its real strategic partners (NATO, Israel, India, UK and US installed Afghan govt) has not left any stone unturned to destabilize and dismember Pakistan. The band has used covert and overt means to achieve their objectives.



Since 2006, the US not only started the drone war in FATA to supplement covert war and propaganda war, but also kept pushing Pakistan to do more against the terrorist groups, it had created and then wholly funded and equipped them to fight the security forces. CIA, MI-6, Mossad, RAW and NDS have been behind the clandestine operations and have used Afghan soil to train and launch the terrorists inside Pakistan. With one hand the US has been patting Pakistan and doling out some crumbs as reward money, and with the other it has been insulting and whipping Pakistan viciously.



India is the arch rival of Pakistan and it has never reconciled to its existence as an independent state. Kashmir which is the unfinished agenda of Partition and the bone of contention is the main reason for unabated antagonism between the two neighbors and nuclearisation of this region. The Kashmiris living in open prison in Indian Occupied Kashmir (IOK), kept suffering at the hands



of Indian occupying forces and patiently waited for the UN to fulfill its pledge of giving them their right of self-determination for well over four decades. Eventually, disappointed with the UNs disinterest and Pakistans lackadaisical approach, and fed up of Indias oppression and broken promises, the Kashmiris drew inspiration from Islamic revolution in Iran followed by defeat of Soviet forces at the hands of Afghan Mujahideen. They decided to pick up arms in 1989 to wage an armed freedom struggle to force India to either quit or hold a plebiscite in accordance with UN resolutions. India pumped in over 7 lacs security forces in IOK to quell the insurgency and since then is battling with handful of freedom fighters but have failed to cow them down.



India has been consistently building a narrative against Pakistan, projecting it as a terror abetting state from the time it cozied up with USA in 1991. Armed uprising in IOK was the handle to beat Pakistan with. It became easier for India to propagate its stance since Pakistan had fallen from the grace of USA in 1990 and had been put under sanctions and blamed for clandestinely building an Islamic bomb, which it might hand over to a radical Arab state like Libya. Israel had also joined the two in demonizing Pakistans nuclear program which Gen Ziaul Haq had persistently maintained that it was meant for peaceful purposes and was not weapon oriented. Indias state terrorism in IOK was hid behind the smokescreen of cross border terrorism of Jihadi groups from the operational base of Azad Jammu & Kashmir (AJK). The US lent ears to Indian complaints and at one stage put Pakistan on the watch-list of terror abetting state and also backed Indian claim that the UN resolutions on Kashmir had become outdated.



When India under Vajpayee led BJP regime on the quiet carried out five nuclear tests in early May 1998 as a follow up of its first nuclear test at Pokhran in August 1974, no hue and cry was made by USA and the West. It was not censured even when Indian hawks talked of forcibly annexing AJK and taunted Pakistan to bring out its bomb in the basement if it had any. Learning that Pakistan also intended to carry out a nuclear test, Nawaz Sharif (NS) was put under intense pressure by Bill Clinton and Tony Blair and was also offered $ 5 billion if it refrained from conducting a test. Despite the pressure, Pakistan did carryout 6 tests on 27-28 May 1998 and took the heat out of the jingoism of India. Pakistan was put under added sanctions by USA. From that time on, Pakistan became a target for Indo-US-Israel nexus and the trio started to hatch plans how to disable its nuclear program. Among several motives to invade and occupy Afghanistan in end 2001 was to denuclearize Pakistan through covert operations.



Pakistan was a peaceful country when 9/11 occurred. Terrorism was declared as the biggest threat to world peace and the US decided to fight global terrorism along with its coalition partners. Besides devising homeland security, new laws were framed for terrorism by USA to tackle this menace. UK, Israel and India gave their inputs in framing anti-Muslim laws. The new laws suited India and Israel the most since all freedom movements in the Muslim world came under the category of terrorism. Taking full advantage of this godsend opportunity, India engineered a false flag operation on December 13, 2001, in which 4-5 terrorists attacked Indian Parliament in Delhi. It was drummed up as another 9/11, and after blaming Pakistan without providing any proof, India carried out biggest troop, air and naval mobilization after 1971 and



deployed its entire military might all along Pakistans border. For next ten months, both sides were in eyeball to eyeball contact and war seemed imminent. India staged this drama and the US gleefully watched it from the sidelines at a time when Pakistan had put its security at stake by accepting all the 7 demands of USA and had deployed 70, 000 troops along the western border to net runaway Al-Qaeda operatives from Afghanistan. This coercive tactic enabled India to extract Kashmir related concessions from Pakistan which helped in defusing the liberation movement in IOK.



Having quietened Kashmir, India then undertook massive covert operations in FATA and Baluchistan from the Afghan soil, which was bolstered by cultural invasion, water terrorism and 4th generation war. India also started to develop Cold Start Doctrine (CSD) to offset Pakistan strategic minimum nuclear deterrence. Impetus was given to its narrative of projecting Pakistan as a terror abetting state and a nursey of terrorism. Indias efforts on multiple fronts were fully supported by the US, West and Israel.



Between 2001 and 2008, all the terror attacks which took place in India were put in the basket of Kashmir focused Jihadi groups Jaish-e-Muhammad (JeM) led by Maulana Azhar Masood and Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) led by Hafiz Saeed and the two were linked with ISI. These two outfits were projected as more dangerous than Al-Qaeda. Concerted efforts were made to get their leaders declared as terrorists. But for Chinas vetoes, India would have achieved its objective. It would then have become easier for India to build a case to declare ISI as a rogue outfit.



The accusation of Pak Army and ISI linkage with Taliban, Al-Qaeda and Jihadi groups has been persistently played up since 2006. From 2010 onward, Haqqani network (HN) was added to the list. Because of apologetic stance and defensive policy of Pakistan aimed at mollifying USA and India, Pakistan has become a convenient escape goat upon which all the failures of ISAF and ANSF in Afghanistan are heaped and then Pakistan is whipped for its uncommitted sins. Pakistan has been taking the insults and whips without a whimper because of sheer weakness of its leaders. They have been dancing to the tunes of USA in the hope of keeping the US and India pleased and appeased. This disreputable practice has been at the cost of dignity and honor of Pakistan. One-sided policy of appeasement has not satisfied USA and India since its hidden objectives have not been achieved due to Herculean efforts put in by Pak security forces and the ISI. Softness of our week-kneed leaders in the face of discriminatory and unjust attitude of the US and unabated hostility of India helped India to fortify its narrative of terrorism, and caused immense anguish and pain to the people of Pakistan who have suffered the most in the US imposed war on terror.



It is not understood as to why our diffident leaders were so apologetic when Pakistan acted as the frontline state to fight the US imposed war on terror, committed maximum troops, suffered the most and achieved far better results than any other country. After blaming LeT and Pakistan for the Mumbai attacks in 2008, India again blamed JeM and Pakistan for the terror attack on Pathankot airbase in early 2016 without furnishing proofs. It implies, that for 7 years no terror attack took place in India; but in this period hundreds of terror attacks occurred in Pakistan and thousands died. We knew that RAW and NDS were behind all the attacks and that has been



amply proved beyond any iota of doubt after the arrest of serving naval officer Kalbushan Yadav in March 2016 and NDS officers in Baluchistan. Yadav has given copious details of how he established RAW network in Baluchistan and Karachi while using Chahbahar as a base since 2003 to destabilize the two regions.



But Pakistan leadership for unexplained reasons remained mum. Why did we not build a narrative to counter Indian propaganda, particularly after Indian Home Minister and other Home Ministry senior officials of last Manmohan govt as well Maharashtra anti-terrorism chief Hemant Karkare and self-styled Hindu sage Aseemanand disclosed that all the attacks in India between 2001 and 2008 were conducted by Hindu extremist group (Abhinov Parishad) led by Lt Col Sharma Purohit? We never talked of over 100 Hindu terrorist groups in India, or of Samjhota Express tragedy in which 60 Pakistanis travelling from Delhi to Lahore were burnt to death by Abhinov terrorists in 2007.



Since we remained tightlipped, India exploited our moral failing and kept propagating Mumbai episode and coercing Pakistan to take action against Hafiz Saeed running Jamaat-ud Dawa (a purely charitable and educational institute at Muredke which is open to all). So much so, that in the meeting at Ufa in 2015, Modi convinced NS that terrorism will dwarf Kashmir dispute in future talks. Criminal inaction after gathering tons of concrete evidence of involvement of RAW-NDS in FATA, Baluchistan and Karachi is incomprehensible. NS presented Kashmir case in UNGA on September 21 effectively, but for unexplainable reasons he failed to highlight terrorism of India in Baluchistan and Karachi and to mention Yadav. He skipped this vital aspect despite categorical advice of Army chief and thus gave ammunition to his detractors at home to project him as a friend of Modi.



Performance of Pakistan military in comparison with the US led 35 military contingents of the world engaged in war on terror in Afghanistan since October 2001 has been far superior. It has not only decisively broken the back of all the militant groups operating under the umbrella of TTP but has also chucked out HN from North Waziristan (NW) which was the major concern of Washington. Operation Zarb-e-Azb has been across the board and none was spared. However, Washington and Kabul are still not satisfied and Pakistan is still blamed that it has not done enough. The reason is that dismantlement of HN from NW has brought no change in the security situation in Afghanistan. Rather it has worsened and Afghan Taliban are rapidly gaining ground in all parts of the country. Fierce battle is going in Kunduz and Helmand.



Failing to stem the tide of Taliban, Pakistan is again being blamed for their failings and is pressed to fight Afghan Taliban who in their jaundiced view are still using Pakistan soil for carrying out attacks. Pakistan is also arm twisted to force the Taliban to agree to the peace terms of the US and become part of the Afghan govt. Ironically, the Afghan unity govt and ANA have never been censured or asked to do more. Likewise, India has never been questioned what to talk of admonished or whipped on account of its spoiling role in Afghanistan, its terrorism in Pakistan and its grave human rights violations in IOK as well as in various parts of India against minorities. India has never been pressed by Washington to abide by the UN resolutions and grant



right of self-determination to the Kashmiris to avert a possible nuclear showdown. The ongoing spate of barbarities unleashed by the Indian security forces in IOK since July 8 has not raised any eyebrows in USA. All its crimes in FATA, KP, Baluchistan, Karachi and IOK are looked the other way despite Pakistan providing solid evidence of involvement of RAW in its troubled regions.



Oddly, the US is knowingly disturbing the military balance in South Asia by providing latest state-of-art weaponry, nuclear fissile material, intelligence, technology and expertise to become the unchallenged hegemonic power of the region. It has now signed three military oriented deals with India thereby making the two militaries strategic partners in any future war. India is fully supported in its proxy war in Pakistan to destabilize Pakistan, make Baluchistan independent and scuttle CPEC. Pakistan on the other hand is being denied its bare minimum defence needs and is pressed to roll back its tactical nuclear capability which has successfully blunted Indias dangerous Cold Start Doctrine and its blackmailing tactics.



As a consequence to unfair and twisted US policies, Pakistan which is the biggest victim of terrorism is dubbed as the epicenter of terrorism and India which is the biggest exporter of terrorism and biggest violator of human rights is projected as the victim.



Modi who is the adherent of infamous RSS, was a declared terrorist from 2002 till his election as PM in June 2014. The US and UK had refused him visa during that period since he as Governor had given a free hand to vagabonds and police to kill the Muslims in Gujarat in April 2002. Rather than apologizing for that massacre, he as PM claimed that if need be he will repeat it. In his view, Indias response to Mumbai attacks was timid. At Dhaka, he proudly claimed that India had played a key role in the creation of Bangladesh. On August 15, 2016, war mongering Modi in his exuberance admitted that India is involved in Baluchistan, AJK and Gilgit-Baltistan. His lieutenants have been saying that India uses terrorism as a tool to browbeat neighbors. Modi also claims that his exterior maneuver has isolated Pakistan. India is planning to grant asylum to Baloch separatist leader Brahamdagh Bugti who is in exile since 2006. It has now been proven that RAW is the biggest supplier of arms and explosives to ISIS operating in Iraq and Syria, and it arranged a marriage of convenience between ISIS and Jamaat-e-Ahrar under Khalid Khurasani at Nangarhar to use this outfit against Afghan Taliban and Pakistan. In his bid to make India a Hindu state, space for Indian Muslims and other minorities is being shrunk though acts of terror. And yet Modi is cajoled and honored by the duplicitous US and the West in total disregard to norms of morality.



While the US expressed its serious concern over the Uri attack on the night of Sept 28, which was again a false flag operation to divert the world attention from Indian atrocities in IOK, the US has ignored Indias purported surgical strike in AJK which was proudly owed by Indian military. Notwithstanding that it has now been proven to be phony to cover up its goof up in Uri in which 18 soldiers were burnt to death, what is astonishing is the US unconcern over this blatant violation of LoC, which in actuality was in the form of cross-fire on a military post resulting in martyrdom of two Pak soldiers and injury to 8. Pak militarys swift and precise counter action and public rising antipathy against India has forced India to climb down from the high horse and de-



escalate tension. Modis unwarranted xenophobia and barbarism in IOK has gelled the nation. The US also didnt utter a word when India indicated its intentions to revoke Indo-Pak Indus Basin Treaty signed in 1960 and next it sabotaged SAARC conference scheduled in Islamabad.



After its aggressive posturing, the latest pressure mounted on Pakistan by the US in the aftermath of Uri incident on the night of 28 Sept is that either Pakistan should act firmly against HN, LeT and JeM, or else face isolation and sanctions. This threat is similar to the one, Either you are with us or against us. NS govt which still consider Pakistan to be a partner of USA is inclined to buckle down to curry its favor, but in the face of odds attempted to pass the buck onto the military by building an impression as if the Army is not prepared to proceed against the LeT and JeM. It is widely believed that the story published in Dawn newspaper as a result of a leak of the closed door national security meeting of top civil-military brass was at the behest of the govt to lower the image of outgoing COAS and to put Army on the back foot. As part of damage control, the writer Cyril has been put on Exit Control List till the completion of inquiry, but the Army has given a rejoinder that it had only desired to know that who from inside had leaked the fabricated story to the print media.



This incident has once again given fodder to the band that has consistently been playing the tunes that civil-military relations are frayed. However, on October 10, the civil-military leaders have reaffirmed their resolve that military and intelligence agencies will continue to play a leading role in the fight against terrorism. Media has been cautioned to avoid speculative reporting on issues of national security.



The political temperature will start rising after Imran Khan starts executing his plan to close down Islamabad on October 30. Disassociation of PPP and other political parties as well as Tahirul Qadri from his unwise suicidal plunge is a setback for the PTI, but Imran is still determined and considers it as a last opportunity to oust NS. While PPP under Bilawal is gearing up to win 2018 elections, the MQM divided into three factions is in dire strait. Sindh Assembly has passed a unanimous bill to declare Altaf Hussain a traitor. What is however unpalatable is Bilawal calling Altaf as his uncle and saying he is not a traitor? NS is faced with uncertain political conditions upped by Imrans offensive, hawks within his party, media trial, Indian jingoism, Afghanistans hostility, threats to CPEC, looming isolation, and last but not least, Gen Raheels retirement due on November 29, whether to announce his replacement in this month, or grant extension to Gen Raheel in the wake of public demand. NS is playing cool as can be judged from his 3-day visit to Azerbaijan starting October 13. He is confident that he will tide over the coming challenges.



India, USA, politicians and segment of media keep Pakistan perpetually in a state of predicament.



The writer is retired Brig, war veteran, defence analyst, columnist, author of five books, Vice Chairman Pakistan Thinkers Forum, Director General Measac Research Centre, Member Executive Board PESS and TJP. Delivers talks and takes part in TV talk shows. asifharoonraja@gmail.com
So...brace yourselves...Wesley College in Delaware treated a male student accused of sexual something-or-other so unjustly...that the Department of Education OCR actually. How insanely Kafkaesque does your treatment of someone have to be forto happen? Well, for example, you apparently have to charge them even though the accusers tell you that he wasn't involved, fail to tell him of the charges, spring a surprise judicial hearing on him when he thinks he's merely going for a routine visit to re-education camp, refuse to show him the evidence against him, and give him no time to present a defense.what it takes.Of course none of this should be happening at all. Title IX has nothing to do with such things, there are no issues of "equity" in play...it's all utter madness. But here we are. People at the DoE have decided to push a liberal / PC agenda. They know what outcomes they want. And they're obviously misusing a law to get them. Neither the actual purpose of the law nor its letter make it suitable...but that isn't stopping them. To the extent that this is permitted, we can no longer say that we are a country of laws and not men. When the law is treated as if it were a poem to be interpreted however those charged with enforcing it prefer to interpret it, it might as well not exist at all. We might as well just give the enforcers the power to act by fiat.

Labels: OCR, Title IX
Academically talented girls in the United States surpass boys in language performance and are narrowing the gap with their male counterparts in math achievement, according to new research from the Duke University Talent Identification Program (TIP).

Among similarly talented youth in India, the gaps are wider, with boys holding an overwhelming advantage in math performance, while girls hold a similar advantage in language.

In both the U.S. and India, academically talented boys perform better than girls in science.

"In places where there are significant disparities in performance by males and females, we have to ask ourselves whether we are fully developing the talent of all our students," said Matthew Makel, Ph.D., director of research at Duke TIP and lead author of the study. "The U.S. has made great strides since the 1980s in preparing girls to perform at the highest levels in math, and there may be things that have been done in the U.S. that could help inform education practices in India."

The findings are among the results of a study of 320,554 gifted seventh graders in the U.S. and 7,119 gifted seventh standard students in India who participated in the Duke TIP talent search between 2011 and 2015. The talent search identifies academically talented 12- and 13-year-olds and offers them above-level testing, using a standardized test geared toward older students: the SAT or ACT in the U.S., and the ASSET test in India.

The study of gender differences, published this week in the journal Intelligence, focused on talent search participants scoring at the very highest levels on the above grade-level tests, putting them in the top 0.01 percent of students their age.

"We don't see differences between boys and girls in youth in terms of average performance, but large and meaningful differences between males and females in performance appear at the extreme high end," Makel said. "The differences between males and females are most striking among the top 1 in 10,000 youth who perform at the very highest levels on above grade-level tests."

In the U.S., girls accounted for 28 percent of top-level scores (SAT 700 and above before turning 13) on the math portion of the talent search test. This is a significant change from the early 1980s, when girls accounted for just 7 percent of scores at that level.

In India, girls accounted for only 11 percent of top-level scores (35 and above) on the math portion of the ASSET test.

On the language tests, U.S. girls have gradually surpassed boys as the leading performers. In the early 1980s, girls and boys were equally represented among top performers in language, however girls now account for 60 percent of top SAT language scores. In India, girls earned 62 percent of top scores on the language portion of the ASSET test despite the fact that fewer girls participated overall in India.

The researchers noted that girls were significantly underrepresented in the talent search pool in India, making up only 36 percent of participants in the Duke TIP talent search. "We don't know whether that is because they aren't performing as well as boys, or if there isn't sufficient support either in the school or at home for them to pursue enrichment opportunities," Makel said.

"One of our top concerns is that exceptionally talented young people are either not being identified, or are not having their talents nurtured in a way that will allow them to reach their full capacity," Makel said.

Boys in the U.S. and India make up 75 percent and 82 percent, respectively, of the top scoring students on the science portion of the ACT and ASSET tests.

"These young people are important because they have the best chances of going on to extraordinary achievement and solving the big problems that face the world such as poverty, cancer, and climate change," he said. "If we're not cultivating the talents of all of the world's top talent, then we're holding ourselves back as a society. In order to solve the world's biggest problems, we need to help these kids excel to their full potential."

More information: Matthew C. Makel et al, Sex differences in the right tail of cognitive abilities: An update and cross cultural extension, Intelligence (2016). DOI: 10.1016/j.intell.2016.09.003
A 5-mm diameter colony of cells with the triple reporter repressilator (LPT117) reveals tree-like ring patterns in fluorescent protein levels. The average YFP intensity is reported for the slice in the white rectangle. The decrease in RFP levels towards the edge of the colony is probably due to different response to stationary phase of its promoter. Credit: (c) Nature (2016). DOI: 10.1038/nature19841

(Phys.org)A team of researchers with Harvard University and the University of Cambridge has successfully improved the accuracy of a synthetic clock known as a repressilator. In their paper published in the journal Nature, the team describes the steps they took to reduce the amount of noise in the biological system and how well it worked. Xiaojing Gao and Michael Elowitz with the California Institute of Technology offer a News & Views piece on the work done by the team and explain how their results could improve understanding of natural gene circuits.

Scientists have noted the high precision that some living cells demonstrate in keeping track of time, such as those that are part of the circadian clock, and have tried to duplicate the process. Sixteen years ago, Michael Elowitz and Stanislas Leibler developed what is now known as the repressilatora synthetic oscillating genetic circuit. Their results demonstrated that it was possible for genetic circuits to be designed and built in the lab. The resulting circuit functioned, but was noisy, and therefore much less accurate than natural cell clocks. In this new effort, the researchers improved several of the design steps of the repressilator, each greatly reducing the amount of noise, and in so doing, increased the precision.

The repressilator was made using repressor proteins that would bind to DNA sequences that were adjacent to a gene to be targeted for inhibition. Three repressors were created such that each one represented the expression of the next cyclewhen the protein in one repressor increased, it caused a decrease in the expression of the second, which in turn caused an increase in expression of the third, and so on, resulting in oscillationsthe actions were monitored by reporters. Unfortunately, each was bothered by random fluctuations known as noise. To reduce the noise, the researchers integrated the reporters into the repressilator, engineered the repressor proteins to degrade in order to reduce the number of copies made, and increased the binding threshold between one of the repressors and the DNA sequence.

In testing their improvements, the researchers found they had reduced the standard deviation of the period length from 35 percent to just 14 percent, which Gao and Elowitz describe as extraordinary precisiongood enough to allow large numbers of cells to remain in sync.

More information: Laurent Potvin-Trottier et al. Synchronous long-term oscillations in a synthetic gene circuit, Nature (2016). DOI: 10.1038/nature19841 Abstract

Synthetically engineered genetic circuits can perform a wide variety of tasks but are generally less accurate than natural systems. Here we revisit the first synthetic genetic oscillator, the repressilator, and modify it using principles from stochastic chemistry in single cells. Specifically, we sought to reduce error propagation and information losses, not by adding control loops, but by simply removing existing features. We show that this modification created highly regular and robust oscillations. Furthermore, some streamlined circuits kept 14 generation periods over a range of growth conditions and kept phase for hundreds of generations in single cells, allowing cells in flasks and colonies to oscillate synchronously without any coupling between them. Our results suggest that even the simplest synthetic genetic networks can achieve a precision that rivals natural systems, and emphasize the importance of noise analyses for circuit design in synthetic biology. Journal information: Nature

 2016 Phys.org
Chapman University Survey of American Fears 2016. Credit: Chapman University

Chapman University recently completed its third annual Chapman University Survey of American Fears (2016). The survey asked respondents about 65 fears across a broad range of categories including fears about the government, crime, the environment, the future, technology, health, natural disasters, as well as fears of public speaking, spiders, heights, ghosts and many other personal anxieties.

In addition to the set of fears examined in previous waves, the survey team took a closer look at two fear related phenomena: Americans' beliefs in conspiracy theories and fear of Muslims, sometimes referred to as "Islamophobia."

In its third year, the annual Chapman University Survey of American Fears included more than 1,500 adult participants from across the nation and all walks of life. The 2016 survey data is organized into five basic categories: personal fears, conspiracy theories, terrorism, natural disasters, paranormal fears, and fear of Muslims.

The 2016 survey shows that the top 10 things Americans fear the most are:

Corruption of government officials (same top fear as 2015)

Terrorist attacks

Not having enough money for the future

Being a victim of terror

Government restrictions on firearms and ammunition (new)

People I love dying

Economic or financial collapse

Identity theft

People I love becoming seriously ill

The Affordable Health Care Act/"Obamacare"

"The 2016 survey data shows us the top fears have shifted from last year's, which were heavily based in economic and 'big brother' type issues to include more health and financial fears this year," said Christopher Bader, Ph.D., professor of sociology at Chapman University, who led the team effort. "People often fear what they cannot control," continued Dr. Bader, "and we find continued evidence of that in our top fears."

Chapman University Survey of American Fears 2016. Credit: Chapman University

What aren't they telling us? American Beliefs in Conspiracy

Beliefs in conspiracy theories were a new element to the 2016 survey and included questions asking about levels of belief in nine different popular conspiracies and conspiracy theories, such as the JFK assassination, Barack Obama's birth certificate, alien encounters, the moon landing, the 9/11 attacks, the AIDs virus and more.

What they learned is more than half of all Americans believe the government is concealing information about the 9/11 attacks; as well as the assassination of John F. Kennedy. Another 40 percent believe the government is hiding information about extra-terrestrials and global warming; and one-third believe there are conspiracies surrounding Obama's birth certificate and the origin of the AIDs virus. Nearly one-fourth of Americans also believe there is something suspicious about the death of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia.

"We found clear evidence that the United States is a strongly conspiratorial society," said Dr. Bader. "We see a degree of paranoia in the responses. Most indicative is nearly one-third of respondents believed the government is concealing information about 'the North Dakota crash,' a theory we asked about that - to our knowledge - we made up," Dr. Bader continued.

According to the demographics gathered in the survey, the most likely person to believe in a conspiracy theory is a Republican who is employed, but has a lower level of income and education. He or she is likely to be Catholic - or a Christian denomination - but attend religious services infrequently.

"Conspiracy theorists tend to be more pessimistic about the near future, fearful of government, less trusting of other people in their lives and more likely to engage in actions due to their fears, such as purchasing a gun," added Dr. Bader.

Chapman University Survey of American Fears 2016. Credit: Chapman University

Americans Fear Terrorism - and the Public's Role in Preventing Terrorism

Due to the increase in domestic terror attacks, such as in Orlando and San Bernardino, as well as abroad, the researchers added specific language to explore Americans' fears related to terrorism. In the top 10 fears cited in the survey overall, "terrorist attack" ranks second, with 41 percent of Americans being afraid of a terror attackand more than 60 percent believing the United States is likely to experience a large scale terrorist event (such as 9/11) in the near future.

"These attacks have added urgency to the need for the public to understand the precursors of terrorism," said Ann Gordon, Ph.D., associate dean of the Wilkinson College of Humanities and Social Sciences at Chapman University and one of the three researchers on the study. "Following the San Bernardino attacks, President Obama reminded Americans that if they 'see something, say something." The researchers found that most Americans want to be vigilant, but they are unaware of what kinds of behaviors constitute precursors to terrorism.

"For the See Something, Say Something Campaign to be successful, Americans need to know what they should reportand what not to report," said Dr. Gordon. "The campaign encourages people to report situations and behavior as possible terrorist or violent acts rather than beliefs, thoughts, ideas, expressions, associations or speech unrelated to criminal activity. More education is needed. Our survey indicates Americans are more likely to report a shoplifter than a terrorist."

Interestingly, there are clear partisan differences in views on the government's handling of terrorism with Democrats being more likely to believe government has done a good job compared with either Republicans or Independents.

Additionally, the survey asked respondents if they have rethought everyday activities due to fear of terrorism. Half of Americans fear traveling abroad; one-fifth reported they are less likely to attend a concert, sporting or other public event; and three-fourths are more willing to accept longer lines and security screenings at airports.

Credit: Chapman University

Motivating Disaster Preparedness

More than half of all Americans (63 percent) believe that "natural disasters in my area are capable of doing serious harm to me or my property." And, the vast majority (78 percent) believes an emergency kit would improve their chances of surviving a disaster. Nevertheless, 74 percent have made no effort to put together such a kit.

The survey identified four attitudes that are essential components for motivating preparedness:

This can happen to me

This is serious

I can actually do something to help myself

The recommended action would make a difference

"We found that each of these attitudes contributed significantly to the likelihood of preparing for disaster with an emergency kit and a plan," said Dr. Gordon. "When communicating with the public about the importance of disaster preparedness, it is vital that the message emphasize these four beliefs. Without these components, the message is likely to cause fear without action," Dr. Gordon continued.

Credit: Chapman University

Paranormal America 2016

The Chapman University 2016 Survey of American Fears included a series of items on paranormal beliefs ranging from Bigfoot and psychic powers to haunted houses and extraterrestrial visitation. Currently, the most common paranormal belief in the United States is the belief that places can be haunted by spirits with nearly half of Americans believing this.

"Overall, the survey showed two-thirds of Americans believe in something paranormal, which is an increase from last year where just half of Americans reported that," said Dr. Bader. "However, of all the items we asked about, Americans are most skeptical of Big Foot with only 13 percent expressing belief in its existence."

The survey also shed light on certain characteristics of people who believe in the paranormal. People with the highest levels of paranormal beliefs have the following traits:

1) Catholic2) Infrequent church attendance3) Protestant or just "Christian"4) Other (non-Christian) religions5) Lower income6) Lower education

Credit: Chapman University

Fear of Muslims in American Society

Roughly one percent of the U.S. adult population are Muslims. The 2016 Chapman University Survey of American Fears explored how Americans as a whole view this small subgroup. The results show that a large proportion of the adult American population distrusts Muslims and believes extra security should be employed against them. The survey further examined how Muslims are viewed relative to other segments of society based on trustonly "strangers" were more distrusted than Muslims.

When it comes to feelings about and treatment of Muslims, nearly half of Americans reported that they would not be comfortable with a Mosque being built in their neighborhood; one-third reported that Muslims are more likely to engage in terrorism, as well as agree that the U.S. should halt all immigration from Muslim nations.

"For a nation that touts its commitment to religious liberty, the prevalence of these beliefs should be disturbing," said Ed Day, Ph.D., chair of the department of sociology at Chapman University and one of the three researchers on this survey.

In examining beliefs about Muslims from different regions of the country there was a striking findingthe difference between people living in metropolitan areas and nonmetropolitan Americans. Urban residents are much less likely to distrust Muslims or support institutionalized discrimination. When it comes to gender, the survey showed that men are more likely than women to hold anti-Muslim opinions. And, when compared with the rest of the ethnic groups in the American population, whites showed significantly higher levels of Islamophobia than non-whites. Finally, there is a strong relationship between political party affiliation and anti-Muslim viewsRepublicans expressed the highest levels and Democrats the lowest, with independents in the middle.

"Results from the Chapman University Survey of American Fears 2016 show significant portions of the U.S. population distrust Muslims and believe the nation is justified in singling out one religious tradition for increased law enforcement scrutiny," said Dr. Day. "Those with Islamophobic views are more likely to be rural, male, white, older, and lacking a college education. However, the survey data do not allow us to dig deeply into the sources of anti-Muslim prejudice. Regardless of the sources, the prevalence of anti-Muslim sentiment is a concern."

Methodology

The survey was a random sample of 1,511 Americans who are English speaking and over the age of 18. The survey was administered by GFK (Knowledge Networks) a consumer research company with expertise in probability samples. Data were collected between May 5, 2016, and May 18, 2016. The survey took, on average, 20 to 25 minutes to complete. The sample of the Chapman University Survey of American Fears mirrors the demographic characteristics of the U.S. Census.

A comprehensive list of the all the fears from The Chapman Survey on American Fears 2016 can be found http://www.chapman.edu/fearsurvey. In addition to Bader, Day and Gordon, student involvement was key in helping throughout the process.
The Hangay Mountains of central Mongolia today serve as a large topographic barrier blocking moisture from reaching the Gobi Desert and interior Asia. Stanford doctoral candidate Jeremy Kesner Caves examined the uplift of the Hangay in the early Neogene, which may have helped to initiate aridification of interior Asia. Credit: Jeremy Caves

A new study chronicles how central Asia dried out over the last 23 million years into one of the most arid regions on the planet. The findings illustrate the dramatic climatic shifts wrought by the ponderous rise of new mountain ranges over geologic time.

Researchers have long cited the uplift of the Tibetan Plateau and the Himalayan Mountains around 50 million years ago for blocking rain clouds' entry into central Asia from the south, killing off much of the region's plant life.

The new study, published online in the journal Geology, paints a more nuanced picture of Central Asia's desertification. It suggests that the relatively recent rise of lesser-known mountain ranges, such as the Tian Shan and the Altai, further sealed off moisture from the west and north. As a result, great stretches of what we now consider western China, southwestern Mongolia and eastern Tajikistan became barren earth or laced by sand dunes.

"While Central Asia was probably never lush and verdant, it was certainly greener 23 million years ago and probably even greener in the more distant past," said Jeremy Kesner Caves, the lead author of the study and a doctoral student at Stanford's School of Earth, Energy & Environmental Sciences.

"One way to think about this change is that when viewed from space today, Central Asia appears very brown because of its expansive deserts," Caves said. "If viewed from space 23 million years ago, though, Central Asia would have looked somewhat darker, simply due to there being considerably more leaves and vegetation."

Reading carbon

Caves and his co-authors arrived at their conclusions after measuring the carbon isotope values in buried, ancient soil samples. A particular isotope, or version, of carbon found in the samples speaks to the dryness of conditions at the time of the soil's deposition. Wetter, rainier conditions allow for greater numbers of organisms, including plants and soil-dwelling bacteria, to thrive and pull carbon out of their surroundings to fuel their growth and metabolism, leaving telltale carbon isotopes in their environment.

Previously, scientists had relied on these sorts of soil sample measurements primarily to study plant types and atmospheric carbon dioxide levels. Caves and colleagues instead looked at samples over extensive geographic and temporal spans in order to draw a fuller portrait of the climatic changes influencing soil composition.

"Our paper is the first-ever attempt to present maps of carbon isotopes over a geologic time frame of more than a million years," Caves said.

He and several co-authors traveled to Mongolia, eastern Kazakhstan and northern China to collect the bulk of 171 new soil samples, while Russian co-authors collected samples near Lake Baikal. The new specimens were considered alongside more than 2,200 previously collected samples. Because most of those existing samples originated from the Tibetan Plateau, the research team plugged a gap in the geographical coverage by going to little-studied northern central Asia.

The samples themselves "are honestly pretty boring," Caves admitted. "Basically, they look and feel like dirt." But the rocky outcrops exposing the old, hardened soil chunks can dazzle. "The outcrops are striped deep purple, red and green, and they often erode in crazy patterns," Caves said. "Imagine Badlands National Park in South Dakota or the Painted Desert in Arizona."

Asia's de-greening

Overall, the samples were well-distributed from 23 million to 2.6 million years ago during a geological period known as the Neogene. The Earth's climate cooled off substantially as the Neogene wore on, setting the stage for an Ice Age when glaciers crept from polar regions into lower latitudes.

Upon analysis, the samples' carbon isotope values revealed an exceptionally arid region deep in Asia's interior going back 23 million years, initially ringed by areas of higher rainfall. Starting about five million years ago, however, that dry region expanded to the north and west, as new mountain ranges reached heights sufficient to block westerly winds from delivering moisture.

The findings will help researchers disentangle how much of Central Asia's de-greening occurred in response to localized geological changes versus global shifts happening during the Neogene.

Investigating North America

With this compelling demonstration of using ancient soil samples as proxies for regional climate in Asia, Caves now plans to extend his investigations elsewhere on the globe. "I hope to be able to apply this method to other continents, such as North America, where there are large datasets of carbon isotopes," Caves said.

Doing so could illuminate impacts on western North America's climate due to the uplift of the Sierra Nevada in eastern California, as well as the Rocky Mountains further east, which reached near their present elevations around 40 million and 50 million years ago, respectively.

"Only by making these continental-scale maps, like Jeremy has done for Central Asia, can you further understand how the uplift of mountain ranges controlled rainfall patterns against this backdrop of global cooling in the Neogene," said Page Chamberlain, co-author of the study and a professor of Earth system science at Stanford. "North America is really ripe for this kind of research."
Credit: Missouri University of Science and Technology

Researchers at Missouri University of Science and Technology are creating a new approach to reconstruct 3-D full-color holographic images by using just one layer of nanoscale metallic film. This work has a huge potential to change our daily lives by equipping our cell phones with 3-D floating displays and printing 3-D security marking onto credit cards.

Dr. Xiaodong Yang, an assistant professor in mechanical and aerospace engineering at Missouri S&T, and Dr. Jie Gao, an assistant professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at Missouri S&T, describe their ultrathin full-color holograms in "ACS Nano." And they illustrate their approach by reproducing several full-color holographic images with nanometer-scale aluminum thin films. A nanometer is one billionth of a meter, and some nanomaterials are only a few atoms in size.

The method described in the ACS Nano article "Full-Color Plasmonic Metasurface Holograms" involves the use of ultrathin nanometer-scale metallic films with metasurfaces that can manipulate the wavefront of light. The researchers' metasurface hologram is one 35-nanometer thick aluminum film punctured with tiny rectangular holes of 160 nanometers by 80 nanometers with different orientation angles created by a microfabrication process known as focused ion beam milling.

Experimenting with the interplay of red, green and blue laser light on metasurface structures, the researchers demonstrated "clean and vivid full-color holographic images with high resolution and low noise." The three primary colorsred, green and bluewere produced, and the secondary colors of cyan, magenta, yellow and white also were produced. To illustrate their reconstructed holographic images, they made "CMYW" letters, an apple and a Rubik' cube. They believe the metasurface hologram holds promise for future applications, such as credit card security marking, biomedical imaging, 3-D floating displays and big-data storage.

"By adjusting the orientation angle of the nanoscale slits, we are able to fully tune the phase delay through the slit for realizing the phase modulation within the entire visible color range," says Yang. "In addition, the amplitude modulation is achieved by simply including or not including the slit. Our holograms contain both amplitude and phase modulations at nanometer scale so that high resolution and low noise holographic images can be reconstructed."

The researchers created the metasurface hologram by drilling out tiny rectangular slits with various orientation angles through the aluminum thin layer. Under a scanning electron microscope, the hologram looks like a needlepoint pattern.

"Different from the currently existing metasurface holograms which are mostly designed for limited colors, our wavelength-multiplexed methodby encoding additional phase shifts into the holograms and introducing tilted incident angle illumination of laser lightresults in the successful reconstruction of almost all visible colors," says Gao, co-author of the paper.

More information: Weiwei Wan et al. Full-Color Plasmonic Metasurface Holograms, ACS Nano (2016). DOI: 10.1021/acsnano.6b05453 Journal information: ACS Nano
Ross Sea Iceberg. Credit: John B. Weller

Antarctica's surrounding waters are home to some of the healthiest marine ecosystems on Earth and support thriving populations of krill, seabirds, fish and whales. But efforts to establish a network of effective Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) in the Southern Ocean are being hobbled by political infighting and demands that prioritize fishing interests over conservation by members of the international consortium tasked with conserving the region, Stanford scientists say.

The findings, published Oct. 14 in Science, come as 24 countries and the European Union convene in Hobart, Australia, next week for the annual meeting of the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR), to resume negotiations of Southern Ocean MPAs.

"Our research shows that CCAMLR's positions for and against MPAs have become entrenched," said lead author Cassandra Brooks, a PhD candidate at Stanford School of Earth, Energy & Environmental Sciences. "Negotiations have become entangled with larger global geopolitics and we see an emerging scramble for marine resources in this remote frontier."

The authors argue that as a leader in international fisheries management, CCAMLR has the opportunity to set an example for ongoing negotiations at the United Nations level to develop a legal instrument for conserving biodiversity in international waters, also known as the high seas. But if CCAMLR continues to fall short in its duties, it could set a sorry example with ramifications for marine protection in other parts of the world, said study coauthor Kristina Gjerde, senior high seas advisor at the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and adjunct professor at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies in Monterey California.

"It would send the message that fishing interests trump conservation, despite the global interests at stake," Gjerde said. "It could raise doubts that nations will be able to set aside short-term national interests to confront global ocean challenges stemming from accelerating climate change. And finally, it is doubtful that these diminished sites would count toward global goals for MPAs as they would not meet the IUCN MPA criteria."

Reverse burden of proof

Despite more than a decade of international negotiations informed by robust scientific planning, CCAMLR has failed to meet its goal of adopting a system of MPAs in the Southern Ocean to conserve biodiversity in the face of threats from climate change and potential overfishing, the authors say.

A major obstacle is agreement about the concept of "rational use," which sets the terms under which CCAMLR's member nations are allowed to fish in the Southern Ocean. The region contains some of Earth's least exploited fish stocks, and its large populations of krill - small crustaceans that are food for the region's fish, seabirds and whales - and toothfish have made it an increasingly prized fishing spot. Krill is valuable as fishmeal and for making health supplements, and toothfish are sold as lucrative "Chilean sea bass" around the world.

As originally defined, rational use required that fishing not cause irreversible damage to the greater marine ecosystems of the Southern Ocean and for precautionary catch limits and scientific oversight to be set in place. But as the number of CCAMLR's fishing nations has grown, and as pressure increases to secure access to current and future resources in the Southern Ocean, some nations are pushing to equate rational use with the unfettered right to fish.

Antarctic penguin standing near icebreaker. Credit: John B. Weller

Countries such as China and Russia have argued against MPA proposals that in any way restrict fishing and demand sufficient evidence to show that fishing threatens ecosystems. "MPA opponents want to reverse the burden of proof," said co-author Larry Crowder, science director of the Center for Ocean Solutions in Monterey, California, and a fellow at the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment. "When rational use was first negotiated, the whole idea was that you needed data in order to fish. Now, it's being interpreted by some fishing nations as unequivocal fishing."

Sunset clauses

Sunset clauses on the MPAs are another source of fierce debate. MPAs are usually established in perpetuity, but some CCAMLR member nations are advocating that Southern Ocean MPAs have built-in expiration dates ranging from 20 to 30 years. "Twenty years is shorter than the lifespan of most Antarctic predators which the MPAs are proposing to protect," Brooks said. But not only are sunset clauses inconsistent with the stated goals of MPAs, they do not meet internationally established criteria for protected areas and may not qualify for global MPA targets, the authors warn.

Broader geopolitics have also infiltrated CCAMLR negotiations, the authors say. For example, poor international relations between nations - such as tensions between Russia and the United States over Crimea - seem to be spilling into the negotiating room. Nations opposing MPAs are being accused of not negotiating in good faith, while proponents of MPAs are accused of using MPAs a political tool.

"The result is a breakdown of trust between member nations, causing a stalemate over MPAs," Crowder said.

High seas implications

Two large MPAs are currently being negotiated at CCAMLR: one in the East Antarctic and one in the Ross Sea - a region that has been deemed "The Last Ocean" because it is perhaps the healthiest large marine ecosystem left on the planet.

"We've seen an East Antarctic and Ross Sea MPA come to CCAMLR's decision-making table five times now without being adopted. Next week will be the sixth," Brooks said. "Each year, during the course of negotiations, the proposed MPAs in these two regions have continued to be downsized, with ecologically critical areas removed and 'research fishing zones' added."

With CCAMLR meetings set to resume on Oct. 17, Brooks and her co-authors urge member nations to find a way forward in upholding their mandate and meeting their commitment toward MPAs. "The Southern Ocean is our best-case scenario," Brooks said. "If we can't figure out how to protect marine ecosystems there, it suggests it will be extremely difficult to protect them anywhere else."

More information: "Science-based management in decline in the Southern Ocean" Science, science.sciencemag.org/cgi/doi  1126/science.aah4119 Journal information: Science
Mark TuckerFor the first time in his career, Garth Brooks is headed for Hawaii. Hell play two shows there December 10 with Trisha Yearwood to mark the 75th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor.

I can speak for Miss Yearwood when I say it is a privilege to be a part of honoring our nations fighting men and women who have and continue to serve our great nation, the Country Music Hall of Famer says.

The concerts at Neal S. Blaisdell Arena will be stripped-down, acoustic shows, much like the ones he played earlier at the Wynn Las Vegas. All the proceeds from the night will go to Pacific Historic Parks, wholl use the money to preserve the legacy of Pearl Harbor.

Tickets go on sale Saturday, October 22 at 10 a.m.

Copyright  2016, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.
Dave Petronis has a lot of options for his gun shows, but he's not willing to give up on his longtime site in Saratoga Springs just yet.

Petronis and state Sen. Kathleen Marchione delivered a petition signed by more than 2,400 people who would like to keep Petronis' Northeast Arms Collectors Associates show at the Saratoga Springs City Center. It was given to the authority that runs the center, but the center took no action on the request Wednesday.

Here is some of our prior coverage on the issue.

The Times Union covered Wednesday's meeting, and its report can be found here.

Petronis is looking at relocating to Glens Falls Civic Center, and has also held shows in Lake George, Manchester, Vermont and numerous other venues around upstate New York. But Saratoga Springs was the first home for the show, and was his biggest and most well-known event.

The City Center administration has continued to stand by the laughable claim that there are no free dates for the show going forward.

-- Don Lehman
Democratic congressional candidate Mike Derrick is behind Planned Parenthood, supports a proposal from U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y. to shift prosecution of sexual assault crimes in the military from commanders to independent military lawyers, and supports equal pay for women, said Katherine Hull of Lake George.

Three really huge reasons to vote for him, said Hull, who was among four women and two men that attended a Women for Derrick rally and phone calling event Tuesday evening at Derricks Glens Falls campaign headquarters.

Derrick, a retired Army colonel from Peru, in Clinton County, is running in the 21st Congressional District against U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-Willsboro, and Green Party candidate Matt Funiciello, a bread company owner and political activist from Hudson Falls.

Women will be a significant factor in the November election, said Judith Tully of Queensbury.

I think since we (women) are more than 50 percent of the voting people in the country we will play a large role in sending Mike to Congress, she said.
GLENS FALLS  A Glens Falls man was jailed Wednesday for allegedly selling cocaine during a police investigation, authorities said.

Rhondel Jeremiah, 31, faces two felony counts each of criminal sale of a controlled substance and criminal possession of a controlled substance for allegedly selling the drug from his then-home on Maple Street earlier this year, police said.

Glens Falls Police picked him up Wednesday at Riker's Island in New York City, where he was being held on a warrant issued in Warren County Court.

He also has been charged with violating parole on 2006 convictions for burglary and criminal possession of a weapon in New York City, for which he was sentenced to 7 years in prison. He also has an attempted robbery conviction from 2003 in New York City.

Jeremiah was arraigned and sent to Warren County Jail for lack of bail.

State Police and the Washington County Sheriff's Office assisted Glens Falls Police with the investigation.
On Friday, the state Court of Appeals determined Judge Robert J. Putorti Jr. is immediately suspended from office as the Whitehall town and village courts justice while they review the appeal of his removal from office.
FORT EDWARD  Some Washington County managers would get big raises in the 2017 tentative budget, but whether the Board of Supervisors will approve those raises is still in doubt.

Supervisors met for more than four hours Thursday to look at raises and other changes in pay. They had started the day in good shape, budget-wise: the budget was balanced with a 2 percent tax increase and they were using less savings than they used this year.

Then they added $330,000 in raises, including three raises of $10,000 each.

Near the end of the salary debate, Salem Supervisor Seth Pitts predicted, This will never pass on the floor.

But it did pass in committee, barely. Committee votes are not weighted, unlike votes at the Board of Supervisors meetings.

Among the biggest raises in contention were $10,000 raises to three members of senior management, a new term that caused angst all by itself.

The senior management is the county attorney, county administrator, county treasurer, clerk of the board and director of personnel, said County Administrator Chris DeBolt.

But some supervisors said department heads would be offended to be left out.

I think doing something like this, we may be alienating some department heads, said Hampton Supervisor David OBrien. Its a whole change in philosophy.

DeBolt said some department heads already refer to the group of five as senior management.

Then supervisors considered the raises themselves.

Its tough to swallow, guys, Ill tell you, said Pitts.

The county attorney, who got a $4,600 raise in 2013, would get a $10,000 raise for a total salary of $94,250.

The clerk of the board, who got a $2,000 raise in 2014, would get an $11,000 raise to a total salary of $70,100.

The personnel director, who got a $2,000 raise in 2015, would get a $10,000 raise to a total salary of $70,000.

Others who would get big raises include the youth director, with a $7,000 raise to a salary of $63,000; and the director of public safety, with an $8,000 raise to a salary of $58,400.

Many department heads and other supervisors would also get longevity raises. Those step raises were included in the senior management raises.

The problem is that managers have not consistently received raises over the years, said Budget Officer and Hebron Supervisor Brian Campbell.

Now salaries are so low that the county has trouble replacing department heads, because no one wants the job for that pay, Campbell said.

If the county doesnt give across-the-board raises, he argued, supervisors will have to deal with it every year.

But then youre trying to pick the ones you know are the furthest behind, he said.

Supervisors acknowledged his point but many felt the raises were much too high. They asked for comparisons to other counties and questioned whether they could afford the increases.

As a rural county, we underpay pretty dramatically, said Chairman and Argyle Supervisor Bob Henke. Thats just how we are.

In the end, they agreed in a voice vote to put all of the raises in the tentative budget, but warned that they would likely take at least some of them out before the final budget is adopted.

Campbell will present the tentative 2017 budget on Oct. 31.

He plans to use savings to cover the $330,000 increase in pay, but that means the county will be relying on about $2.5 million in savings to balance its budget. Campbell wanted to slowly reduce that reliance each year until the county is eventually living within its means.

You can still do that, he said, but acknowledged that he probably wouldnt be able to reduce the reliance on savings this year.

Ill tell you this though, I dont want to spend any more than last year, he said.
My wife and I watched a debate Wednesday night on C-SPAN between Mike Lee and Misty Snow, who are running for the U.S. Senate from Utah, and it was like diving into a cold swimming pool on a 90-degree day after getting rolled around in a dung heap for an hour.

The dung heap is the current presidential campaign, in case anyone wasnt clear on that.

But back to Utah, where, it seems, candidates take seriously the notion that they can express their differences with respect and acknowledge that, as Americans, they hold values in common, like an abhorrence of discrimination based on religion.

Lee is a conservative Republican, elected in 2010 as part of the Tea Party. I disagree with him on many things, and so does Misty Snow.

But I smiled to watch him recoil when the debate moderator asked whether he supported Donald Trumps suggestions on limiting immigration by Muslims, or banning it altogether.

Lee talked about the historic persecution of Mormons before condemning Trumps contemporary call to persecute Muslims.

Lee, to his everlasting credit, has been one of the Republican leaders of the NeverTrump movement, opposing him before, during and after the partys convention. As Trumps candidacy gets flambeed in fires ignited by the candidate himself, people like Lee, who showed some spine and some principle, must be feeling better and better about the stand they took.

Somehow, someway, many Evangelical Christian leaders have stood by Trump. Perhaps that says something about the sincerity of their commitment to moral principles. But the Mormons are sterner (if you can live without coffee, what cant you do?), and in deeply conservative Utah, Trump is only managing a tie with Clinton, according to the latest polls.

The respect with which Lee and Snow addressed each other, the cordial way they disagreed, their inclination to answer the question that was asked and disinclination to stray into any sort of personal digression or off-the-subject attack felt not out of date but new and wonderful.

Lee addressed his political opponent as Miss Snow, a charming, old-fashioned salutation made poignant by Snows position as the first transgender person to run for the U.S. Senate.

That she is transgender was not mentioned in the debate. She did mention that she is in her early 30s, works as a cashier at a grocery store and will stand up for the working class in an organization, the U.S. Senate, that is a club for millionaires.

Snow was well-informed and well-prepared for the debate. Lee, a lawyer who clerked for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito and worked as general counsel to Utahs governor, was gracious as well as smart. Watching them was a restorative after taking in weeks on end of the junkyard brawl we are calling a presidential campaign.

We do have people in this country  we even have politicians in this country  who are not only clever but principled. The debate my wife and I happened onto Wednesday night restored a bit of the faith we had lost that, when the campaign from hell is over, things will get better.
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Inventory needs to be managed and managed well, or you are going to get in recurring trouble, and lose your credibility and hard-earned conversions, whether 

Read more
Obama staging last-minute invasion of USA with Syrian refugees  12,000+ to be deposited across America

Since the conflict in Syria began receiving national news coverage, President Barack Obama has been outspoken in his desire to allow thousands of refugees from the country to be relocated into America  because apparently protecting the rest of the world is the responsibility of the federal government in the United States. Forget the fact that many of these people need shelter because of drone strikes ordered by Obama; its now our responsibility to care for the people that he tried to kill. This is classic Regressive Left logic.

Earlier in the year, the Obama administration claimed that they would allow 10,000 Syrian refugees to be brought into the United States. With the fiscal year coming to a close, the number has greatly exceeded 10,000, with a reported 12,571 refugees having been brought into the country over the past year. Thats 2,571 more than they planned, which is a massive increase. Considering that our country is already massively overpopulated  not even getting into the potential risks that come with allowing refugees to cross the border  this is extremely frustrating news.

All over the world, we have seen that refugees are potentially very dangerous. Places like Sweden and Germany have seen the destruction that refugees can cause firsthand, but for some reason, the powers that be in America keep pretending like there is no problem and that there is absolutely nothing to worry about. Unfortunately for them, we have eyes and ears, and the vastness of the internet has made it clear that they are trying to lie to us in an attempt to push their agenda.

There is something to worry about. Regardless of how sympathetic you are to those who are in need of a safe country, it is of utmost importance that those who want to enter the United States are properly vetted in order to ensure the safety of our citizens. We cant just allow anyone to come here and expect it to turn out okay. When you have private security guards or Secret Service officials like President Obama, its easy to claim that your safety is guaranteed. For the rest of us, there is potential for devastating results.

If the Obama administration is going to continue to move forward with these kinds of ridiculous decisions, then it is up to us American citizens to make sure that we protect ourselves and each other from any potential dangers  because they are on the horizon and theres no denying it any longer.

Sources:

Breitbart.com

WashingtonPost.com

DailyCaller.com
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This will squash collaterals that have been a major constraint in the smallholders bid to access credit.

The US$100-million Ghana Incentive-Based Risk Sharing Agricultural Lending project will boost agriculture and food security in the country, as both commercial and small farmers can then expand their farms with a business focus.

READ ALSO:

Alhaji Limuna explained that under the initiative, if a farmer is unable to repay a loan as a result of natural disasters such as floods, drought and accidental fires that damage their yields, the commercial bank will send a team to investigate the circumstances.

Addressing outgrowers of Eden Tree, a nucleus farm at Dodoekope in the Dangme East District during his tour of the Accra Plains, Alhaji Limuna assured them of government interventions that will make farming attractive to the youth. He said the time has come for the nations youth to replace the elderly in farming, with a shift from the hoe and cutlass to mechanised agriculture that creates wealth for them.

He also addressed the managements of Golden Exotics Ltd (GEL), Abians Agro Enterprise, Farmer-based Organisations (FBOs) and BRLi, consultants doing designs for rehabilitating and modernising the Kpong Irrigation Scheme at the GEL training centre at Asutsuare.

The ministers two-day tour of the Accra Plains took him to VegPro Ghana Ltd and AnyakoFarms at Torgorme and GADCO at Sogakope all in the North Tongu District; Eden Tree at Dodoekope and Sugarland Ltd at Kortorko, both in the Dangme West District; and Abians Agro Enterprise and Golden Exotics Ltd both at Asutsuare in the Asuogyaman District.

Alhaji Limuna gave the same message to famers in the SADA Zone when he interacted with them in Bolgatanga and at Kukobila in the Savelugu-Nanton District.

He also interacted with the management of the Irrigation Company of the Upper Region, farmers and SMEC International, design consultants on the Tono and Vea Dams at the Tono Club House at Tono near Navrongo.

Alhaji Limuna met with outgrowers of the Farmers Training Centre and Wilphin Enterprise in Bolgatanga too. Other farms he visited included M-Gallant, Akandem,and the Integrated Water and Agricultural Development Ghana Ltd(IWAD).

The Project Co-ordinator of GCAP, Charles Nornoo, said GCAP aims at improving the investment climate for agri-business and developing private-public-partnerships and smallholder linkages so as to increase on-farm productivity and value addition in selected value-chains.

He said GCAP is working hard towards its objective of increasing access to water, secure land, finance, and input and output markets for smallholders from public-private partnerships in commercial agriculture in the Accra Plains and the SADA Zone.

The outgrowers expressed appreciation for GCAPs support to nucleus farms which has been immensely beneficial to them. They, however, said the delay in getting tractor services, seeds and fertilisers affect their production and appealed to the minister to help them overcome the difficulty.
According to him, the only sustainable way of addressing the challenge of high unemployment is by expanding the productive base of the Ghanaian economy and enhancing enterprise growth.

He made this known when he interacted with the Association of Ghana Industries (AGI) on Wednesday, October 12, 2016, at their offices located at the Trade Fair Centre.

He assured AGI members that the policy interventions to be introduced in the Trade and Industry sector. "Under an Akufo-Addo government will shift the focus of Ghana's economic policy away from taxation to production."

The greatest challenge facing the country, he added, was unemployment and gave an assurance that the only way that his government, when elected, was going to tackle that was industrialisation with the private sector playing a leading role.

"Also, since job creation, for us in the NPP, is essentially a private sector activity, the number one priority for the next NPP government will be to put in place the policy framework that will help businesses expand and create jobs, as well as promote the growth of entrepreneurship opportunities for young Ghanaians in particular," Nana Addo said.

He pointed out that "If really you are serious about the growth and development of the country, you are bound to listen to those out there and work with them to resolve the issues. If you turn your back on them, for me then it means you are not interested in the growth and development of the country."
According to Zionfelix.net, the child who was mostly called Nhyira died on Thursday dawn, October 13. The spokesperson for the family, Eugene Moratt who confirmed the news to Zionfelix.net early Thursday said she died of drug overdose.

Narrating the incident, Eugene Moratt said He called me on Sunday to tell me that the child is sick adding she was allergic to a drug. I told them to take her to Kufour Hospital because looking from how he was narrating it, the sickness was serious.

When I went there on Monday, she couldnt open her eyes but when I went there yesterday (Wednesday, October 12), they had put oxygen on her trying to wash an unwanted medicine they gave her from the body.

So I asked the doctor what happened and he replied that they are investigating into the matter because they were given wrong medicine for the childs sickness.

The dosage was also too much for the child. The six-month-old daughter was given 5ml instead of 2.5ml.

Wayoosi called me around 1am today (Thursday, October 13) crying.
According to a report released earlier this week, the WHO found that taxing sugary drinks can lower consumption and reduce obesity, type 2 diabetes and tooth decay."

"...Reduced consumption of sugary drinks means lower intake of free sugars and calories overall, improved nutrition and fewer people suffering from overweight, obesity, diabetes and tooth decay."

According to the Ghana Diabetes Association, 2.6 million Ghanaians are living with diabetes and the number is projected to grow in the coming years especially in urban areas. Obesity has doubled worldwide since 1980 and in 2014, 41 million children are considered obese or overweight according to the WHO.

The global health body also recommends that the revenue accrued from the tax should be used to subsidise the production of fruits and vegetables and social programmes that promote healthy lifestyles among citizens.

The sugar tax will also invariably reduce the amount of money spent on health care by governments, says Dr Douglas Bettcher, Director of WHOs Department for the prevention of noncommunicable diseases.

If governments tax products like sugary drinks, they can reduce suffering and save lives. They can also cut healthcare costs and increase revenues to invest in health services.

In 2013, a 10 percent tax on sugary drinks was introduced in Mexico, where many adults and children were obese. South Africa and the United Kingdom are also considering imposing a sugar tax.
The Public Affairs Director of the GAF, Col Aggrey Quarshie had earlier told Pulse.com.gh that the alleged soldier is being investigated because he was in a military uniform without authorisation.

We have seen a picture. And so we need to be sure if he is indeed a soldier or somebody who is impersonating. And then we will know the course of action. If he is a soldier, there are rules and regulations that govern the use of photographs and any other things that we use military accoutrements for.

Once you are in a military uniform, you cant display it to a third person without authorisation, he said.

READ ALSO:

He said the soldier, if found culpable would be sanctioned.

Many believed the said soldier will be sanctioned or dismissed for apparently trying to tow a political line with his action.

But speaking with Pulse.com.gh, Col Aggrey Quarshie said the case is closed.

He indicated that the said soldier is back to his normal duties. The issue is resolved, everything is finished. So there is no issue.

He, however, refused to give reasons why the soldier was set free, adding that This is an internal armed forces matter so we are dealing with it internally.

A picture of the NPPs Presidential nominee sipping Kalyppo fruit juice which was meant to possibly mock Nana Akuffo Addo has interestingly started a social media challenge.

The challenge which is named KalypoChallenge has caught on with a number of people believed to be pro-NPP.

People who are supporting the challenge take pictures of themselves while sipping Kalypo and post them on social media.
The Association added that JUSSAG has pursued this legitimate claim over the past two years, and are still waiting for definite words to the numerous assurances and the delayed implementation of claims.

READ ALSO: JUSSAG

JUSSAG said it made a number of recommendations including a written approval confirming implementation of the consolidated salaries of the Association, and so on to address their concerns.

Members of the Association argue that they shall be compelled to withdraw services if nothing is heard on or before Friday 21 October, 2016
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!
Ghanaian professor based in the United States of America (USA) has scolded the EC for disqualifying the twelve presidential aspirants itching to contest the 2016 December 7 polls.

COPS BLIND GIRL WITH PEPPER SPRAY

A 24-year-old girl in Abuakwa Abas in the Nwabiagya South District of the Ashanti Region, Sarah Hammond, has gone blind for the past 10 days after being sprayed with a substance suspected to be pepper into her eyes, Today reports.

Soldier draws GAF's wrath over Kalyppo picture

Man butchers grandmum over 'stolen glory'

Gov't sued

Pastor involved in recruitment scam

MORE TROUBLE FOR DISQUALIFIED ASPIRANTS AS EC REFERS CASES TO POLICE, A-Gs OFFICE

The EC has referred all the electoral and criminal offences identified during the vetting of the nomination forms filled by aspirants for the 2016 presidential election tot eh Ghana Police Service and the Attorney Generals Department for further action.

EC GETS OVER 60% CONFIDENCE RATING

BAWUMIA VRS MAHAMA: FIRE FOR FIRE OVER CEDI REDENOMINATION

President John Mahama appears to have invited more attacks onto himself following his demand for the cost of the 2007 cedi redenomination, a challenge he threw at the vice presidential candidate of the opposition NPP, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia.

SOLDIER IN TROUBLE OVER KALYPPO

A serving soldier with the Ghana Armed Forces who was seen in a selfie with Kalyppo appears to be in trouble as he was apprehended by the military for interrogation.
Mr Boateng who is the current MP for the area withdrew his nomination to contest a due to a pending court case against him in Ghana. The MP is alleged to have been convicted of fraud outside the country.

READ ALSO:

Following his withdrawal, the NDC Regional Secretary, Mr Mark Oliver Kevor, was supported by the party executive members to file his nomination.

According to Mr Boateng, another person, Mr Eric Osei Owusu, the Chief Executive Officer of the Buffer Stock Company, also went ahead to file his nomination on the ticket of the NDC in the constituency.

The situation, he argues, has created confusion and tension within the NDC in the area, as the party is unable to campaign for votes ahead of the polls.
Speaking to Pulse.com.gh, Mr Sarpong said he is not aware of the disqualification of the 24 MP aspirants.

Everything was sent to Accra and we have not received any information from Accra regarding the matter so I think the source of the story should check their facts and come clean, he said.

About 240 aspirants from 12 political parties have filed to contest the 47 parliamentary seats in the region. 19 aspirants out of the 240 are contesting as independent candidates.

READ ALSO: EC to begin balloting positions for qualified aspirants

Thirteen presidential hopefuls were disqualified from contesting in the race to the Flagstaff house on Monday, October 9 by the commission.

The EC Chair who made the announcement cited some irregularities on their forms which include fraudulent signatures, the absence of required number of signatures, the improper filing of nomination forms among others as the reasons for their disqualification.

The disqualified nominees include Hassan Ayariga of the All Peoples Congress (APC), Dr Papa Kwesi Nduom representing the Progressive Peoples Party (PPP), Dr. Edward Mahama of the People's National Convention (PNC), Nana Konadu Agyemang-Rawlings of the National Democratic Party (NDP), Dr Henry Herbert Lartey of the Great Consolidated Popular Party (GCPP) and host of others.

Meanwhile, nominations of President John Mahama of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Nana Akufo-Addo of the main opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP), Ivor Greenstreet of the Convention Peoples Party (CPP) and Jacob Osei Yeboah  an independent aspirant have been accepted by the EC.
Public Relations Officer of the EC Eric Dzakpasu who confirmed this to Pulse.com.gh said he could not tell what they discussed in the meeting.

READ ALSO: Dr Nduom the Ghanaian President who may never be

Dr Nduom is part of the twelve presidential aspirants from various political parties who have been disqualified from contesting in the upcoming December polls for anomalies in their nomination forms.

Subsequently, he demanded a five-minute meeting which Dr Nduom believes will help them iron out the reasons why he was disqualified.
Hassan Ayariga who was speaking on Accra-based Starr FM explained that the EC communicated their disqualification to them through letters and therefore a demand for redress must be done through similar means and not dialogue.

READ ALSO: Nduom meets with EC Chairperson

Ayariga said that he has formally written to the EC to rescind its decision. He threatened to file a legal suit if the EC did not comply with his request.

Hassan Ayariga and Dr Nduom were both disqualified from contesting in the presidential race in the December polls. Both of them have indicated that the EC is not justified to disqualify them hence their different approaches in seeking redress.
READ ALSO:Election 2016 NPP consoles disqualified aspirants

"They don't deserve security detail because they are no more presidential aspirants. The police have done what is right and proper," he told Accra-based Class FM.

"It's about saving money for the state.  Immediately they have been disqualified, they lose the privilege to have that security.  They were ordinary citizens before they became presidential aspirants," he added.

The Police Service earlier revealed it had initiated the process to withdraw the security personnel assigned to the 12 presidential aspirants who were disqualified by the EC from running the race to the flagstaff house.

Speaking on Accra-based Class FM, Superintendent Arthur said: We have commenced the process of withdrawing the security personnel assigned to the presidential aspirants. We are going to withdraw them as soon as possible.

READ MORE:Election 2016 Nduom meets with EC Chairperson

The Electoral Commission (EC) disqualified 12 presidential hopefuls from contesting the presidency citing anomalies like fraudulent signatures, the absence of a required number of signatures, improper filing of nomination forms, among others, as the reasons for their disqualification.
According to the EC, Nana Konadu can go to court to have her grievances addressed.

Lawyers for Mrs Rawlings, Bentsi-Enchill Letsa and Ankomah chambers, earlier said: Our clients disagree with you and state that you have no power to proceed in this manner. This is because although section 27 of the Representation of the People Act, 1992 (PNDCL 284) provides that a person who registers twice may be disqualified from voting, there must have been a conviction for the offence and then a term of imprisonment imposed before a disqualification can take effect.

Read more: Konadu threatens suit against EC over disqualification

But in a response to a letter from the NDP's lawyers, the EC's lawyers, Sory@Law said: "Our reading of the rules regulating the presidential elections confirms that the submission of nomination papers for the purpose of contesting the presidential elections confirms that the submission of the forms does not result in the automatic acceptance of such forms by our client."

"Having taken that decision as required by regulation 9(4) of C.I 94 which spells out the procedure for dealing with the matter, our client finds no legal basis to rescind its decision especially that the statutory provisions upon which your letter is grounded do not allow our client such discretion."

"We do not doubt your clients' resolve to pursue their cause to the ends afforded her by the law but we trust that your client will, as dutiful citizens of the Republic of Ghana, support our clients constitutional mandate and efforts to deliver free, fair and credible elections."

Read also: EC to refund filing fees to disqualified aspirants

With regards to Konadu Agyeman Rawlings, Chairperson of the EC, Charlotte Osei said: The Commission is unable to accept Mrs Rawlings nomination because the number of subscribers to her forms did not meet the requirements of Regulation 7 (2) (b) of CI 94. One subscriber on page 89 of her nomination forms is not a validly registered voter, and illegally registered twice, and, so, is on the Exclusion list of multiple voters. Details are Salifu Abdulai District: Nanumba South, Voter ID no: 6617004814 (28.3.2012), Voter ID no: 2126900022 (04.8.2014).
The 11-page response to a letter by lawyers of the NDP leader who threatened a court action against the Commission if their client is not reinstated, said: Our reading of the rules regulating the presidential elections confirms that the submission of nomination papers for the purpose of contesting the presidential elections confirms that the submission of the forms does not result in the automatic acceptance of such forms by our client.

"Having taken that decision as required by regulation 9(4) of C.I 94 which spells out the procedure for dealing with the matter, our client finds no legal basis to rescind its decision especially that the statutory provisions upon which your letter is grounded do not allow our client such discretion."We do not doubt your clients' resolve to pursue their cause to the ends afforded her by the law but we trust that your client will, as dutiful citizens of the Republic of Ghana, support our clients constitutional mandate and efforts to deliver free, fair and credible elections, the statement added.
Jibrin was recently dismissed from the Federal House of Representatives due to his alleged role in a budget padding scandal.

Reacting to the development, Olunloyo made a post via Twitter saying, "The SHADY House of reps just dismissed the USA sexual misconduct allegations against 3 hot penis reps while they SUSPENDED my crush Jibrin."

She has however clarified what she meant by her comments according to a statement she released, the Daily Post News reports.

I dont mess with married men. Ive never been married and if you come into my home, there will be fire for fire as Im never gonna be divorced in my lifetime.

I respect married couples. Yes, I have a crush on honest people and snitches. My popular name is Snitchlady because of my ability in helping Toronto Police solve gun violence cases by passing tips to them back in my Canadian days.

I hate our alleged corrupt reps members. Hon Jibrin is a totally handsome and honest to the core man.
According to Forbes, Jackson has generated so much revenue following his estate's decision to sell his half-share of the Beatles catalogue to Sony for $750 million. The star had purchased the rights to Beetle's music back in 1984 for $47.5 million and then sold 50 percent of it to Sony in 1995 for $115 million.
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! 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!
Punch reports that one of the parents of the four students said the victims were brought back by the kidnappers via the same channel they were abducted after six days in captivity.

The parent who did not want his name mentioned, continued that the that the kidnappers brought the abducted schoolboys, teacher, and the Vice Principal, to the area that they had passed through to invade the school in the morning of Thursday, October 6.

Some people who sighted the victims around 10.30pm on Tuesday, October 1, 2016, put calls across to their relations to announce their release.

The freed victims included four pupils, Emmanuel Okonkwo, Isaac Adebisi, Abu and Jeremiah, the English Language/Civic Education teacher, Lukman Oyerinde, and the Vice Principal, A.O. Oyesola.

It was learned that some families had paid the kidnappers the N1 million ransom for each victim before they were released.

It was also gathered that the victims were hidden in a creek in the Epe area, said to be about four hours sailing from the school.

The father of the student who was said to have fallen sick in the kidnappers' den said was reported to have paid N1 million for his child.

I went through hell to raise the money. The kidnappers, after playing pranks with us for two days, left them not far from the school.

I advise the state government to increase security in schools near waterways.

However, the State Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), SP Dolapo Badmos, said it was the pressure mounted on the kidnappers by the police that forced them to abandon their victims and flee, insisting no ransom was paid for their release.

The victims were rescued around 11pm and have been reunited with their families. No suspect has been arrested, but the police are on their trail, and there is no hiding place for criminals.

The police are not aware of the payment of any ransom. If the gunmen collected any money, it will be treated as robbery and they will be charged to court upon their arrest.
The officers, Sergeant Godiya Agula and Sergeant James Iliya, were killed at the Kagoro-Gidan Waya Highway, where they had been reports of regular attacks.

ALSO READ: Herdsman sentenced to 2 years in prison for illegal grazing

Another policeman, Sergeant Umar Magaji escaped with injuries and is being treated at the hospital.

According to the Daily Post News, the policemen concerned lost their rifles to the assailants, who have become a menace in most parts of Nigeria.
The judge, Justice D.U Okorowo, ordered that Adebayo, who demanded to kill National Drug Law Enforcement Agency state commandant and its prosecutor be remanded in Ado-Ekiti prison.

Okorowo adjourned the case till October 20, 2016 for hearing.

The NDLEA Prosecutor, Mr Charles Ugwuja, told the court that the accused on Oct.,11 came to agencys office with dangerous weapons and demanded to kill the state commander.

The charge against the accused reads: That you, Tope Adedayo on Oct.,11,2016 within the jurisdiction of this court without lawful authority came to NDLEA office at No 12 Akinsola Street, off Iworoko Road, Ado-Ekiti with dangerous weapons.

The weapons includes, Jackknife/Kitchen knife and a plier demanding to see the State Commander of NDLEA and prosecutor Ekiti Command, who have previously jailed him in two occasion to kill them.

Thus creating a serious security breach within the office premises and obstructing the officers on legitimate duty."

Ugwuja said the offence contravened Section 49(a) of NDLEA Act, Cap N30 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004.

NAN reports that the accused who was not represented by any counsel pleaded not guilty to the one count charge.
Buhari, a 50-year-old real estate agent, according to The Nation, was said to have raped the girl who is the daughter of his neighbour, at the Oja Oba Market in Lagos Island on October 5, 2016.

The police prosecutor, Sergeant Ajaga Agboko, told the court presided by Mrs. O. Ogunbowale, that a neighbour saw the girl sneaking into the accused room and alerted her mother who went to see what the girl was doing there, only to find Buhari having sexual intercourse with the minor.

The defendant, who hails from Mali, was arrested after a neighbour in the area saw the teenager entering the defendants room and alerted her mother.

When the mother of the girl and the neighbour got there, they saw the girl and the defendant entangled naked on the floor.

The girl later told them that the defendant started having carnal knowledge of her since July.

She said on that day, he sent her on an errand and when she got back, he shut the door and ordered her to pull her clothes and then raped her, Sergeant Agboko said.
According to the police prosecutor, Sergeant Lucky Ihiehie, the father of the victim reported the incident to the Ketu Police Station, explaining that Adeyemi had unlawful carnal knowledge of his daughter.

Ihiehie said the complainant told the police that his daughter revealed to him that the accused had sex with her twice in his house.

The first time he raped her was was on September 17, 2016, when she went to his house to borrow a phone charger and he dragged her into his room.

The second time was about two weeks ago when she was sent on an errand by her mother to their landlord, Ihiehie said.

The prosecutor added that offenses contravened Sections 137 and 260 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2011.

When the two count charges of defilement and rape were read to the accused, he, however, pleaded not guilty with his counsel, A.O. Olusegun, urging the court to be lenient and grant him bail.
The Chief Executive Officer of the institute, Dr Patrick Dakum, disclosed this in a statement made available to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Wednesday in Abuja.

The statement was signed by Mr Dennis Mordi, the Communication Manager of IHVN.

Dakum said that more people were being tested and placed on anti-retroviral treatment in nine priority local government areas in Benue, Nasarawa and the FCT Abuja.

According to him, more than 2.3 million people have been provided with HIV testing services out of which over 25,000 people tested positive to HIV.

The chief executive officer added that more than 23,000 people living with HIV have been placed on treatment.

Dakum said that the IHVN is currently working in eight local government areas to achieve epidemic control as part of the 90-90-90 strategy of reaching 90 per cent of people in communities with high burden of HIV with HIV testing services.

This includes giving quality treatment to 90 per cent of those identified as HIV positive and ensuring viral suppression in at least 90 per cent of those being treated.

The significance of achieving epidemic control is that new infections are not as high as people who are being placed on treatment, he said.

He pledged that IHVN would continue to support the maintenance of treatment for current patients in the other local government areas within its funding.

The IHVN chief executive also assured that quality treatment would be given to 90 per cent of those identified as HIV positive and ensuring viral suppression in at least 90 per cent of those being treated.

He said that epidemic control has resulted in the reduction of the burden of HIV in Obi Local Government Area of Nasarawa State.

600 people in Obi LGA living with HIV were newly placed on HIV treatment out of the 773 people that tested positive to HIV.

This was possible due to the collaboration with government, public and private partners and community-based organisations, Dakum said.

He said that 95 per cent epidemic control was attained in Buruku Local Government Area of Benue, thereby reducing new HIV infections in Karu, Nasarawa, Doma and Lafia local government areas of Nasarawa State.
Mrs Boade Akinola, the Director of Media and Public Relations in the Federal Ministry of Health, disclosed this in a statement on Thursday in Abuja.

She said that the Rotarys announcement was in response to the recent reports of two new cases of wild polio-virus detected in Nigeria

The two cases were detected in July and August after the last case was reported in July 2014.The ministry said that with these new cases, funding for polio eradication was particularly vital as rapid response plans were on stream in Nigeria.

The fund will also cover adjacent countries in the Lake Chad Basin which include Chad, Northern Cameroon, Southern Niger and Central African Republic to forestall possible outbreak and prevent its spread.

The Rotary and its partners in the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) are working together to immunise children in Nigeria.

The ministry acknowledged significant efforts of donor agencies in the fight against polio.It said that with the 26 cases of the polio reported globally in 2016, polio remained a threat in hard-to-reach and under-served areas and conflict zones.

The ministry quoted Michael McGovern, the Chairman Rotary International Polio-plus Committee as expressing disappointment with the recent news coming out of Nigeria.

This situation underscores the extreme importance of widespread immunisation campaigns and strong disease surveillance in all countries of the world until polio is fully eradicated, McGovern was quoted as saying.

He expressed optimism that the funding would help stem incidences of polio.

McGovern said that Rotary and its partners would leave no stone unturned to sustain the progress recorded in polio eradication and stop transmission in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Nigeria.

Experts said there is need for full funding and political commitment to prevent polio from returning to previously polio-free countries, putting children everywhere at risk.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that in August, The World Health Organisation (WHO) had expressed deep sympathy over the detection of new cases of wild polio virus in Nigeria after more than two years without wild polio virus.

Dr Matshidiso Moeti, the WHO Regional Director for Africa, while reacting to the development, said that the organisation was deeply saddened by the news that two Nigerian children were paralysed by polio.

"We are deeply saddened by the news that two Nigerian children have been paralyzed by polio.

"The Government has made significant strides to stop this paralysing disease in recent years.

"The overriding priority now is to rapidly immunise all children around the affected area and ensure that no other children succumb to this terrible disease," Moeti said.

NAN reports that the WHO requires three years with no confirmed cases before declaring a region polio-free.
According to Shehu, their release is the outcome of negotiations between the government and the sect, which was brokered by the International Red Cross and the Swiss government.

He said the negotiation is still ongoing - this is expected to lead to the release of more of the girls.

More than 200 of the girls were kidnapped by the sect in April 2014 and there has not been any major breakthrough in their rescue efforts since then.

In May 2016, one of the girls, Aminat Nkeki was found with a babyand a suspected Boko Haram member, Mohammed Hayatu,whoclaimed to be her husband.
Buhari departed on Thursday, October 13, via the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja.

He is expected to meet with German Chancellor, Angela Merkel for bilateral talks during his visit and also meet with members of the Nigerian community in Germany.

Buhari will return to Nigeria on Saturday, October 15.

Meanwhile, Buhari has welcomed the release of 21 abducted Chibok girls by Boko Haram.

The girls are among more than 200 who were abducted by the sect in April 2014.
According to BBC News reporter, Stephanie Hegarty, the 21 girls might have been released in exchange for the freedom of 4 Boko Haram prisoners.

21 Chibok girls may have been swapped for 4 Boko Haram detainees, Hegarty said citing a military source.

News of the girls released broke on Thursday, October 13, and has been confirmed by presidential spokesman, Garba Shehu.

It is confirmed that 21 of the missing Chibok Girls have been released and are in the custody of the Department of State Services, DSS, Shehu said via Twitter.

Boko Haram had, in August, demanded that the government free of some of its members in exchange for the girls release.
There were reports that the Federal Government had released four Boko Haram members in exchange for the 21 Chibok girls who were set free by the terrorist this morning.

Addressing a world press conference in Abuja on Thursday, October 13, 2016, the minister said the release was based on confidence building between the Boko Haram sect and the government.

Please note that this is not a swap, it is a release, the product of painstaking negotiations and trust on both sides, he said.

As soon as the necessary confidence was built on both sides, the parties agreed on the date and the location of the release of the 21 girls.

We can confirm that the DSS pursued the lead in collaboration with a friendly European country and a renowned international humanitarian organization. The DSS was supported by the military," he said.

Mohammed stated that the federal government has lined up a team of doctors, psychologists, social workers and trauma experts to "properly attend to the girls" given their long stay in captivity.

ALSO READ: Nigerians react to release of 21 Chibok Girls
Their captors dropped them off at the Banki area of Borno State. A military helicopter thereafter picked them up before transporting them to a hospital facility for routine medical checks.

Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu, said the release of a clutch of the schoolgirls whose abduction sparked global outrage and processions, was the result of months of negotiations.

It is confirmed that 21 of the missing Chibok Girls have been released and are in the custody of the Department of State Services, DSS, Shehu said in a statement made available to Pulse.

The Director-General, Malam Lawal Daura just finished briefing President Muhammadu Buhari.

The release of the girls, in a limited number is the outcome of negotiations between the administration and the Boko Haram brokered by the International Red Cross and the Swiss government. The negotiations will continue.

The President welcomes the release of the girls but cautioned Nigerians to be mindful of the fact that more than 30,000 fellow citizens were killed via terrorism.

Malam Lawal wants the girls to have some rest, with all of them very tired coming out of the process before he hands them over to the Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo. The President takes off shortly on a trip to Germany for a state visit.

The names of the released girls follows shortly.

The abduction of the girls gave birth to the Bring Back Our Girls (BBOG) campaign; an advocacy movement which took to marching around the nations capital of Abuja and well into the seat of power in Aso Villa, to demand that government quickens its pace towards the rescue of the girls.

The BBOG group has been led by outspoken former Nigerian Minister and former Vice President of the World Bank for Africa, Obiageli Ezekwesili.

I can only weep, right now, said Ms Ezekwesili. You know that kind of cry that is a mix of multiple emotions. Lord, some of our girls are back!!!
Bwarji made this known during a cross examination by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission Prosecutor, Rotimi Jacobs (SAN), on Thursday.

The witness was shown the former Plateau governors statement where Dariye claimed that PDP collected the sum of N66 million for 274 wards.

He said that partys National chairman had told the Plateau state party chairman during NEC meeting in Abuja that the money was disbursed to fund the party.

Bwarji said the money was distributed to the 17 local government chairmen to disburse to the various wards and that the money was received by the financial secretary and given to the treasurer of the party.

He denied knowledge of the source of Dariyes donation, adding: as far as I am concerned, if donation is made to the party by a member of the party, it is accepted.

He also said that as long as it is government money, its the party of the government.
The zonal office of the commission in Enugu said in a statement on Wednesday that the accused was brought before an Enugu High Court on a four-count charge of obtaining money by false pretences.

Onyia was accused of issuing a Fidelity Bank dud cheque number 17598860 dated April 8, 2015 of N3 million in favour of one Emeka Okonkwo.

The statement said the offence contravened the Dishonored Cheques Offences Act, Cap D11, Laws of the Federation, 2004.

It also alleged that the accused, formerly of EMEL Group of Companies in Lagos, had in January 2015 got a N3 million loan from Okonkwo to enable him to import baby diapers.

The deal, according to the EFCC, was an agreement to pay an interest of N1.5 million in return for the capital.

However, the accused was alleged to have at various times issued six post-dated cheques to the complainant after failing to pay the capital and interest.

When the charges were read, Onyia pleaded not guilty.

The prosecution counsel, Mr Muhammad Shehu, prayed the court to remand him in prison custody.

However, the defence counsel, Mr C. B. Onovo, applied for bail on the strength of a motion for bail dated Oct. 10 and filed on Oct. 11.

Meanwhile, the EFCC said that after a thorough investigation, it discovered that the company the accused fronted, Alteal Enterprises, was fictitious and without presence in the registered address.

The commission alleged that further investigations revealed that the accused fraudulently entered into the deal to use the loan to offset debts incurred from his former office which led to his dismissal.
The approval, which was given after the FEC meeting on Wednesday, October 12, is to complete the ongoing construction of federal secretariats in six states - Anambra, Bayelsa, Zamfara, Nassarawa, Gombe and Osun.

It was learnt that the completion of the secretariats has been stalled since 2012.

Speaking to newsmen, Minister of power, works and housing, Babatunde Fashola, said the projects are at various levels of completion.

He said there was a change in costs and the need for additional allocation to the change in designs.

"The approved cost variation has already been captured in the 2016 budget. With the approval of the variation, we can re-mobilise workers back to site," Fashola said.

The Minister disclosed that the council also approved the completion of the 10MW farm project in Katsina state.

He said the original contractor of the project, who was kidnapped, abandoned it and left the country after his rescue.

"Between then and now, some of the equipment have gone bad, Fashola said.
This is contained in a statement issued by Lt.-Cdr. Thomas Otuji, Spokesman of the military force Operation Delta Safe, and made available to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Thursday in Yenagoa.

According to the statement, the operations were carried out within the past seven days across the Niger Delta region.

In one of the operations, troops arrived the suspected militants hideouts following a tip off and engaged them in a gun battle.

One was killed and two suspects arrested.

Items recovered include one AK- 47 rifle and a magazine loaded with 20 rounds of 7.62 millimeter special ammunition.

In another development, troops of Operation Delta Safe deployed to Southern Akwa Ibom received distress calls from the public of illegalities along Quo Iboe Terminal Jetty waterside in Ibeno community.

According to Otuji, the troops cordoned the area up to Oron waterside and encountered suspected oil thieves engaged in illegal refining activities.

Some of the criminals absconded on sighting our troops, however, 13 oil thieves were apprehended.

He said that the suspects are in the custody of the Nigerian Navy Ship JUBILEE in Ikot Abasi for further investigation.

Items recovered from the suspected oil thieves include- three wooden Cotonou boats, 180 units of 200 litres capacity drums filled with illegally refined petroleum products and one locally made pistol.

Following a distress call received by troops in Bayelsa, indicating that sea pirates were terrorising innocent citizens at Ogubene Creeks, troops deployed to Kulama oil rig trailed the pirates to the location.

The pirates fled on sighting gunboats from a distance. The troops, however, rescued one Mr Dokubo Charles who said pirates absconded with his 25 Horse Power engine mounted on a wooden boat.

The pirates are being trailed for possible apprehension, Otuji said.

He said that the troops also discovered and seized two large metal barges at Adokiri around Okrika axis used by oil thieves.

The barges contained about 500,000 litres of petroleum products suspected to be crude oil.

Also while on surveillance patrol of Chevron pipeline at Sagbama Creek in Warri West Local Government, the troops discovered an illegal pipeline buried under ground by suspected vandals, Otuji added.

The pipes were neatly connected to wellheads with a recoiling wire. The pipes and recoiling wires were detached and destroyed.
This brings the number of judges arrested so far to nine in the recent clampdown on allegedly corrupt judicial personnel.

The seven judges arrested last weekend have however been released on bail but still being grilled by investigators.

The two judges, Justices Bashir Sukola and Ladan Manir of the Kaduna State High Court, were said to have been arrested in Kaduna and taken to the DSS Headquarters in Abuja at about 8.30pm.

Upon arrest, they were immediately taken in for interrogation, a source told The Nation.

It was gathered that six other judges are under probe.

Also, the DSS has reportedly frozen the accounts of some of the judges under investigation - "huge lodgments" were said to be discovered in the accounts.

Report said the affected judges might be arraigned in court next week - all of them are to face trial.

Under probe are two Supreme Court Justices  Sylvester Ngwuta and Inyang Okoro  the suspended Presiding Justice of the Court of Appeal, Ilorin Division, Justice Mohammed Ladan Tsamiya, who was picked up in Sokoto; Justice Adeniyi Ademola (Federal High Court); the Chief Judge of Enugu State, Justice I. A. Umezulike; Justice Kabiru Auta of Kano State High Court; and Justice Muazu Pindiga (Gombe State High Court).

"Some accounts have been frozen through orders of the court. This affects some of the judges. Not all of them", the source told the newspaper.

"We found some huge lodgements that are questionable in some accounts and in addition to that we also observed the inflow of their salaries over a long period without them making any withdrawal at all.

"What that means is that they dont live on their salaries at all. Those accounts have been frozen but as I said not all of the judges are affected."

On why the judges were yet to be charged to court, the source added: "We are waiting for the action of the NJC. We expect the NJC to suspend them, otherwise its like taking a sitting judge to court.

"In the Service, when anybody is being investigated for any serious crime, the first thing we do is to place such a person on suspension.

"After the investigation, such a person would face trial and get dismissed from service on conviction and later face prosecution in the law court."

When asked the likely implication if the NJC refuses to suspend the judges, the source said: "The NJC does not have the luxury not to suspend them.

"We wrote the NJC on Monday but we havent received any response."
Speaking to newsmen on Wednesday, October 12, Mohammed said the raid and arrest of the allegedly corrupt judges was carried out within the ambit of the law contrary to what is widely speculated.

He said that the Federal Government is not in any way trying to ridicule the judiciary, but rather making good of its commitment to fighting corruption at any level.

He said: "People have tried to muddle the facts about it. When do you search the persons house? The truth of the matter is that under the new criminal justice law, you can search anybody, anywhere, anytime.

"Again, they have tried to muddle issues by trying to say that the NJC is the only authority that can attend to complaints and indiscipline; the answer, once again, is no. One, do judges have immunity? The answer is no. Can judges be arrested? The answer is yes. Have judges that are serving been arrested in Nigeria? The answer is yes. Justice Okoli had been arrested and tried.

"Now, the next question to ask is, what is the proper procedure for arresting anybody, including judges? There must be properly executed search warrant. Was such presented? The answer, again, is yes.

"I think the federal government is being very careful with handling of this particular issue. I want to state clearly that this government believes very much in separation of powers; this government has a lot of respect for the judiciary and for obvious reasons, not just because the constitution says so but I think probably this is one cabinet that has the highest number of lawyers as ministers.

"As at the last count, about 11 or 12 council members are ministers and we have female lawyers also in cabinet. Until death robbed us of late Ocholi, we had five SANs in our cabinet and I think this is unique. Therefore, you can understand the kind of respect we have for the judiciary.

"And also, look at Mr. President himself. Three times he sought to be president; three times it was thwarted and all the three times he took his case to the judiciary."

The minister stressed that it would be a mistake to think the fight against corruption in the judiciary is a fight against the judiciary.

Mohammed spoke further: "What the government is concerned and passionate about is to fight corruption.

"In the process of fighting corruption its not unusual that you step on some very sensitive toes but the question to ask and I think these has been adequately answered by the Attorney General is that lets remove emotion from facts.

"When a judge is accused of professional misconduct, it is quite different from what is happening now. If you suspect anybody, including governors who have immunity, they are still subject to investigations.

"So I want to make it clear: this government has the highest respect for the judiciary. And two, we are not in any way trying to ridicule the judiciary. Three, we are not painting the whole of the judges with the same brush but we also have a duty to fight corruption at whatever level and in doing so, we will do so within the ambit of the law."

ALSO READ: Here are the search warrants DSS used in raiding homes of judges
The Department of State Services (DSS) had few days ago stormed the houses of some judges, arrested them and recovered huge sum of money in different denominations.

The affected judges were on Monday given bail on self recognition by the DSS.

Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and some human right associations have been expressing divergent views over the incident.

The Minister, who was fielding questions from State House correspondents in Abuja on Wednesday, however, said that proper procedure was being followed in the trial of the affected judges.

He said that there was nothing wrong with the method adopted by the DSS in carrying out their official assignment.

He maintained that, in the fight against corruption, the federal government would be stepping on toes of personalities including judges, ministers among others.

One, do judges have immunity? The answer is no. Can judges be arrested? The answer is yes.

Have judges that are serving been arrested in Nigeria? The answer is yes. Justice Okoli had been arrested and tried.

Now, the next question to ask is: what is the proper procedure for arresting anybody including judge? There must be proper executing search warrant. Was such presented? The answer again is yes.

People have tried to muddle the facts about when do you search the persons house, the truth of the matter is that under the new criminal justice law, you can search anybody, anywhere, anytime.

According to the minister, what government is concerned and passionate about is to fight corruption, and in the process of fighting corruption it is not unusual that you step on some very sensitive toes..

The Minister frowned at those attempting to rubbish the ongoing crusade against corruption in the judiciary.

Some people are saying oh, the reason why they went to some particular judges house is because the President wants somebody from one part of the country to be Chief Justice of Nigeria. I think that is preposterous.

I want to assure you that this government has no intention to humiliate the judiciary and for those who are talking about separation of power, I think you are stretching it too far.

I and members of the Executive, I can be invited by any arm of the government and I will go. So I think we should situate this thing in the right perspective.

Mohammed narrated how 22 out of 32 judges in Ghana, who were caught on tape by an investigative journalist, asking for bribe, were dismissed in 2015.

He, therefore, stated that there was nothing wrong in stepping on judges toes in the fight against corruption.

He added: Yes, it is true that what is happening today has probably never happened at this level before, but, frankly speaking and with all due respect we do not intend to humiliate any judge.

We have no intention to humiliate the judiciary but believe me what we have done we have done within the ambits of the law.

I think the Federal Government is being very careful with handling of this particular issue, I want to state clearly that this government believes very much in separation of powers.
ABC News(NEW YORK) -- There is a little less than a month left of the tumultuous 2016 presidential race, and Donald Trump, facing a scandal about allegedly inappropriately touching women, a deficit in the polls and abandonment from party officials, has gone on the offensive, talking in apocalyptic terms about the survival of the country should Hillary Clinton be elected.



His scorched-earth campaign has included not only going after his Democratic opponent as a criminal who should be locked up for her email scandal, but her husband, former President Bill Clinton, as an abuser of women and much of the Republican leadership as weak-kneed hacks who wither at the first sense of trouble.



He has also launched an all-out war against the "rigged" media, which he says is just an extension of the Clinton political machine, threatening to sue the New York Times for printing a story about claims from two women that Trump touched them inappropriately.



Trump has blasted the allegations as false and said that he has "substantial" evidence that they are so.



"Current trends and events suggest that the tone of the campaign between now and Election Day will be harshly negative. I believe that's the case in part because Mr. Trump knows his chances of expanding his support at this point are virtually nil so his only real shot at victory are to tear down his opponent," said Bill Galston, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution.



"Every time I say it can't get worse it gets worse, so I've stopped saying it can't get worse," he said.



And ABC News political commentator Cokie Roberts predicts "it could be an awful three-and-a-half weeks ahead for the American people and for us to watch what's likely to come forward,"



Trump's Plan



Trump famously says that he doesn't like to telegraph his strategy -- he lambasted the current administration for publicly announcing when it intended to pull out of Iraq -- but he has dropped hints about his plans in the closing days of the election.



After a video surfaced of Trump bragging more than a decade ago about his ability to grope women as "a star," he faced a backlash not only from women and Democrats, but from Republicans as well.



Trump apologized for the remarks, which he also dismissed as "locker room banter," but went on the offensive against former President Bill Clinton and his history with women.



Amid suggestions that more tapes existed with Trump making controversial remarks, the real estate magnate said that he would keep talking about the Clintons.



"If they want to release more tapes saying inappropriate things, we'll continue to talk about Bill and Hillary Clinton doing inappropriate things," said Trump said in Pennsylvania.



And Trump campaign CEO Steve Bannon reportedly said: "We're going to turn him into Bill Cosby," referring to Bill Clinton.



Trump was reportedly slated to be interviewed by Fox News' Sean Hannity on his show tonight, and four women who have accused Bill Clinton of sexual misconduct were also scheduled to appear during the show. Trump has since reportedly backed out of the interview but no changes to the scheduled appearance of the women has been announced.



The four women who are going to appear on Hannity's show -- Paula Jones, Juanita Broaddrick, Kathleen Willey and Kathy Shelton -- have previously spoken on behalf of Trump.



Broaddrick, Willey and Jones have all accused Bill Clinton of sexual assault or unwanted sexual advances decades ago. The former president has not been charged with a crime or admitted wrongdoing in Jones' civil case.



Trump held a press conference with the women ahead of the second presidential debate, then invited them as guests into the debate hall and referenced them while he was on stage.



It remains unknown who arranged the Hannity appearance.



Meanwhile, the campaign has been making fast changes in the past days and hours -- the most notable that is pulling its operations out of Virginia and putting them into other battleground states, according to two senior-level sources.



The move effectively concedes the contest there to Hillary Clinton and her running mate, Sen. Tim Kaine, who represents the state.



Trump has events scheduled events in North Carolina on Oct. 14, New Hampshire and Maine the next day and Wisconsin and Grand Junction the days after that, according to his website.



Casting the Election in Existential Terms



Trump has upped the rhetoric in the last several campaign appearances, saying in West Palm Beach on Oct. 13 that the "survival" of the country depends on the election.



"This is a struggle for the survival of our nation," he said. "Believe me."



He has also cast himself as somewhat of a martyr for his supporters.



"They knew they would throw every lie they could at me. And my family. And my loved ones," he told the crowd. "They knew they would stop at nothing to try to stop me. But I never knew, as bad as it would be, I never knew it would be this vile. That it would be this bad. That it would be this vicious.



"Nevertheless, I take all of these slings and arrows gladly for you."



Trump added: "our great civilization here in America and across the civilized world, has come upon a moment of reckoning."



Trump has been saying recently that the deck is stacked against him, from the "rigged" media, which is a "political special interest no different than any lobbyist or other financial entity with a total political agenda" to Republican leadership that has turned its back on him instead of giving him support at a crucial time.



"This is not simply another four-year election," he said in West Palm Beach. "This is a crossroads in the history of our civilization. That will determine whether or not we, the people, reclaim control over our government.



Trump has warned that forces will try to steal the election and encouraged supporters to be observers at polling stations in an attempt to stop the "rigged system."



He has warned of a "rigged" general election, despite little or no evidence of voting fraud in the past several years, and rigged Democratic and Republican primaries.



"This election will determine whether we're a free nation or whether we have only the illusion of democracy, But are, in fact, controlled by a small handful of global special interests rigging the system," he said in West Palm Beach. "And our system is rigged. This is reality. You know it. They know it. I know it. And pretty much the whole world knows it. The establishment and their media enablers wield control over this nation through means that are very well known.



Copyright  2016, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.
The monarch reportedly took to his Instagram handle on Thursday, October 13, 2016 to publicly declare his love for Christianity, while also stating his love for Jesus Christ.

Sanusi, reports say, posted a picture of an inscription that says: I am a Muslim and I love JESUS. Peace Be Upon Him.

The picture was reportedly captioned by words of the Emir which says: Many people are unaware of the fact that one cannot be a Muslim without loving Jesus (Peace be upon him) known in Arabic as (Alayhis Salam).
Hosted by Starta and Ingressive, The Summit is a culmination of the 2016 tech tour, which features leading players in the global tech ecosystem including Monique Woodard, Venture Partner at 500 Startups; James Lyle, Founder of FulmarAdvisor; YvonneWassenaar, CIO of NewRelic; as well as executives from GitHub and Google.

Over 250 pan-African entrepreneurs and 100 global investors are expected to attend the event. A key part of the summit is the elevator pitch competition where budding Nigerian entrepreneurs will compete for the chance to win one of four free tickets to private meetings with key investors at The Summit.

Speaking on the potential of the African market as a promising space for foreign investment, Maya Horgan-Famodu, Founder at Ingressive says, iROKO brought 30x ROI to their initial investors. Goldman Sachs and Mark Zuckerberg have made bullish Nigerian investments in the last year and we just hosted Michael Seibel and Qasar Younis of YC in September. The world is ready for African tech. The question now is which investors will win the market first. Its a standoff, and Ingressive is here to bring those ready to invest and advise into the ecosystem.

We fundamentally believe that billion dollar businesses will be built in Africa by Africans, said Dotun Olowoporoku, Managing Partner at Starta. We know that technology will enable Africans to build these faster and in more efficient ways than generations before us. Our goal is to help entrepreneurs who are serious and committed to building such businesses. The High Growth Africa Summit is one of the ways with which we seek to achieve that.
This is what people said:

"I gate-crashed someone's birthday party just to talk to my crush. He denied knowing me." - Martha

"There was this girl I liked in school, and to be honest, she wasn't much good for me except with the sex. My final exams were in two weeks and I swear I wasn't ready. But just so I could get sex, I took out my time to teach her. Every single day, she'd call me, I'd buy her food, teach her, and we'd have sex. Then a few days to exams, I started to think about my life and the school fees my parents paid, running into hundreds of thousands. That day she called me and I was like, "nah sis, it's time for me to read for myself".

I managed to pass. She failed." - Wale

"My friend was writing a carryover and I had helped her re-write. It could have gotten me expelled" - Juilet

"Gave a girl I didn't know my ATM card because she was left stranded by a guy she came to see. Meanwhile a night before that day she was forming for me. She left with the ATM and my pin and two months later I had to send someone who travelled to that state to collect my card from her" - Trinity

"I escorted a lady from Oshodi through Charlie Boy to Gbagada because there was no bus (almost 2-hour walk) and I live at Mushin. I had to walk back home alone because there was no bus! (Another 2 hours)" - Toni

"Okay, I didn't do crazy stuff for him. I did to him. I poured Super Glue into my brother's charging port because he flogged me." - Dami

"I escorted a chick to her house and took about an hour's walk back home in the rain" - David

A man attacked me and my sister. He actually tried to molest us and we were like teenagers. So we overpowered him and threw him down a well. We don't know what happen to him after. - Shola

"My friend lost all his receipts and he needed it not only for clearance, but to show his parents. So we forged all the receipts. It was like 98% perfect." - Demola
Panic erupted in Juba after the rumour emerged that the head of state had passed on, causing confusion in the city on Tuesday.

Government Spokesman, Michael Makuei, told newsmen that the reports of the presidents death were generated by anti-peace elements who wanted to cause havoc in the country.

This is a mere lie, there is nothing as such; Salva Kiir has never been sick, he was in the office and left his office at 4.30 p.m. (local time), and at present, he is at his house.

These are some of the problems by people who do not want peace and if you spread such wild lies they become a source of insecurity, Makuei added.

He said that government would take tough actions on the manufacturers of the rumours, further threatening to cut off social media sites in the country.

If this situation continues, do not be surprised if we disconnect you from the rest of the world because what we need is peace.

But once people begin to spread wild rumours, this will not be allowed to continue; some of these social media sites will not be allowed to work if people continue to work like that, he said.

South Sudan has seen a rise in ethnically based killings and online hate speech following the flare-up of violence in July.
Turning the ship before it hits the iceberg
This is the last of three articles profiling the brothel industrys legal crusader and lobbyist in Carson City, George Flint.

This is the last of three articles profiling the brothel industrys legal crusader and lobbyist in Carson City, George Flint.

Flints Principle of

Political Exploitation

In my interview, George Flint revealed what I believe is a fundamental principle of politics and a real weakness of democracy. I call it Flints Principle of Political Exploitation.

Flint said that the biggest problem when it comes to legal and humane prostitution is not found with the public or the voter. He said, The biggest problem is the political opposition.

If a politician shows strong support for prostitution, an opponent is likely to use that against him at election time, saying hes a pimp or hes soft on crime or he supports infidelity in marriage.

Flint said a few years previously, he went to a certain state legislator and asked, Would you support my bill for Clark County? The legislator looked at Flint and smiled. He said, Not if I want to get re-elected. Flint added, And he wasnt talking about the electorate. Hes talking about how in a campaign, the opposition uses that to beat you up, to damage an opponent.

This, interestingly enough, is what happened with Yucca Mountain. Most Nevadans werent that opposed to Yucca Mountain in the first years of the project. But, over time, clever politicians with loud voices used the issue to beat up on those who spoke in favor of Yucca Mountain, and in doing so gained political power.

Stories from George Flint

George Flint is one of the best storytellers I have ever met. Some of his stories relate to prostitution in Nevada. He told me about an assistant district attorney from a major city in the upper Midwest who was visiting Reno in connection with the National Judicial College. He was staying at the Nugget in Sparks.

One evening he called the bell captain and said, Listen, good buddy. Tell me how to get out to the Mustang Ranch. The bell captain replied, Why? Do you want a woman? The guest replied, Of course. I kind of would like that. The bell captain replied, You dont need to go out to it. Ill send one of our best up to your room. The guest asked, Thats okay? The bell captain said, Of course its okay.

About 15 minutes later, a gorgeous long-legged blonde showed up at his door.

Afterwards, he fell asleep. When he woke up, his Rolex and all his cash were missing. The man called John Ascuaga, the owner of the hotel, on the phone. He was probably in his mid-70s at the time. The man explained the theft and Ascuaga replied, Oh, you must be mistaken. We dont deal that way here. This is a family operation. The man replied, Well, it may have been, but not as far as the bell captain was concerned.

But the guest didnt let it drop. He went to the Sparks Police Department to file a complaint, at which time the police set him straight.

He was told, You know, she committed a crime, but so did you by having her in your room and paying her for sex. The man ended up being demoted from senior assistant district attorney.

Flint also tells numerous stories regarding his career in marrying couples. He said a fellow called him on the phone and said, Reverend, you married me a couple of years ago and I have a question for you. Flint replied, Go ahead; whats your question? He said, If you never constipated the marriage, is it still legal? Flint, not believing what he had heard, said, What did you say to me? The man repeated his question. He said, We never constipated the marriage.

Flint replied, What are you trying to tell me? The man said, We never had sex. George Flint said he did not correct the mans failure to use the intended word, consummate, and responded,

Whether you had sex or not doesnt affect whether its legal or not. He added, Theres lots of us that dont have sex.

Staying honest with lawmakers

George Flint is very proud of the fact that hes never lied to a legislator. He has never conned one. Ive never embarrassed him or her.

After saying that, he told the following story:

It seems that one of his favorite political leaders had been in the state assembly and was turned down in the primary so he decided to run for an open seat in the senate. An assemblywoman, it seems, was also turned out, and had decided to take the man on. Flint knew both of them but felt closer to the man.

One day during the election campaign, the woman called Flint and said, George? Flint replied, Yeah, Pat? [not her real name] She replied, Tell me something. How many times have you comped my opponent at the whorehouse?

Flint replied, Pat, ask me that again. I dont believe you said that.

She repeated her request: I want to know how many times you comped [the individual] to the brothel.

Flint replied, Well, you know, Im not going to tell you Ive ever comped him at all. But if I hadve I wouldnt tell you, any more than I would tell you I comped your husband.

The man beat the woman overwhelmingly in the election.

Bob McCracken has a doctorate in cultural anthropology and is the author of numerous books in the Nye County Town History Project, including a history of Pahrump.
Q. I am wondering if you know of any activity that is going on with the former Kone building? I have noticed when crossing the bridge at night, occasionally there have been lights on inside the top of the building. I believe at one time, I heard of a suggestion that they might open it up as an observation place for the public to use, or it would be an awesome place for a restaurant overlooking the Mississippi. I think either would be a great tourist attraction. -- Karen

A. We contacted Financial District Properties. Kim Brown, property manager for Financial District Properties, responded:

"Thank you for your inquiry. At this time there are no plans to convert the tower to a restaurant or observation deck, as we still have tenants in the building who lease the tower."

Q. When is the house that burned near the corner of Grand Avenue and Locust Street going to be removed?  Sharon, Bettendorf

A. We contacted the city of Davenport to find out. Jennifer Nahra, communications director for the city of Davenport, responded on Sept. 27:

"Nicole Gleason, assistant Davenport Public Works director, tells me that the demolition work is beginning immediately. Work is expected to be completed in the next week."

Q. When is the old Rhythm City Casino boat going away? It's an eyesore to the riverfront downtown. -- Adam

A. We contacted the Rhytmn City Casino to find out. Shylee Garrett, social media coordinator for the Rhythm City Casino Resort, responded:

"The old Rhythm City marine vessel was sold on Aug. 1. The new owner is waiting for the river levels to drop before taking it down to its final destination."

Q. Was there a Popeyes chicken on East Kimberly Road that closed several years ago? I believe it was located in the area of the old Incredible Pizza location. -- Frank

A. According to Davenport city directories and articles in the Quad-City Times, Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen was located at 2198 E. Kimberly Road, Davenport. Incredible Pizza was located at 2130 E. Kimberly Road, Davenport, according to Davenport city directories.
A Barstow, Illinois, man testified Wednesday that he closed his eyes and "curled up in a ball" as bullets tore into his friend's red 1993 Nissan 240SX around 10:35 a.m. on May 20, 2015.

Matt Merrill, 18, who was in the backseat, was not injured. The driver, Zachary M. Phillips, 18, was fatally wounded.

A third man, Erik Roberson, 21, who was in the front passenger seat was seriously injured but survived.

Although he said he does not remember how he got out of the vehicle, Merrill said he remembers locking eyes with the man he said pulled the trigger, Lamaree E. Wilson-Neuleib, 18, of Moline.

There was a lot going on in my head, Merrill said. I didnt really know what just happened. I was scared.

Merrill was one of nine witnesses to testify Wednesday on the first day of Wilson-Neuleibs murder trial at the Rock Island County Justice Center.

He is charged with first-degree murder and aggravated battery with a firearm. If convicted, he faces 45 years to life on the murder charge and six to 30 years in prison on the battery charge.

Merrill testified Wednesday that they hung out at the East Moline apartment of Roberson, a friend of his from high school. Later that day, the two had gone to a gas station near the 4600 block of 53rd Street in Moline to sell Wilson-Neuleib marijuana.

Merrill said he knew Wilson-Neuleibs face from elementary school.

Merrill said Wilson-Neuleib arrived alone but was later joined by another person.

Merrilll said he later spent the night with a friend who lives in the same apartment building as Roberson.

The next morning, Merrill said Roberson came by the friends apartment and said Wilson-Neuleib wanted to buy more marijuana.

Phillips, also a high school friend, agreed to take him and Roberson to the gas station, Merrill said.

Under questioning from defense attorney Dora Villarreal, Merrill said he did not smoke marijuana that morning and did not see Roberson or Phillips smoke, either.

Merrill said Phillips drove them toward the gas station, parked on the side of the road on 53rd Street and waited for Wilson-Neuleib to arrive.

He said he saw Wilson-Neuleib walk around the car to the drivers side and pull out a gun from his sweatshirt pocket.

Merrill said he did not know how many shots were fired, but Rock Island County States Attorney John McGehee told jurors in his opening statement that Wilson-Neuleib fired 11 shots into the car.

Merrill said Wilson-Neuleib then walked around to the passenger side of the car and was searching around" the passenger seat.

Merrill said Wilson-Neuleib looked "puzzled, stunned" when he saw him and was rifling through his pocket, possibly to get a another clip to reload the empty gun.

Merrill said he ran away from the car, looked back and saw Wilson-Neuleib running in the opposite direction. He then went back to the car to check on his friends.

Roberson was lying on the ground outside the passenger side of the car, while Phillips remained in the drivers seat. When McGehee asked Merrill about Phillips condition, he replies, not good.

Merrill then flagged down a motorist and asked him to call 911. He also used Robersons cellphone to call a friend, who went to the scene.

Under questioning from Villarreal, Merrill said he initially did not tell police that he and Roberson had sold marijuana to Wilson-Neuleib the day before. Merrill said he had been scared of "what just happened."

Police and EMS quickly arrived on scene and began treating Phillips and Roberson.

Erik Brown, a Moline Fire Department engineer and former firefighter-paramedic, said Roberson was screaming, It was Lamaree, over and over while medics worked on him.

Retired Moline Police Officer Todd Engstrom also testified he heard Roberson say that Wilson-Neuleib was the shooter.

Phillips was pronounced dead on arrival at Genesis Medical Center-Silvis. Roberson was later transported to University Hospitals, Iowa City. Both had multiple gunshot wounds.

Several witnesses reported that after the shooting, a man wearing all black clothes, red shoes with white soles and latex gloves fled the scene on foot.

Stephanie Tanner, 21, who worked nearby at Arc of the Quad-Cities Area, said she heard several gunshots and, when she looked out the window, saw a man looking inside the car.

He appeared to be speaking to somebody and then laughing and smiling, Tanner said.

The man then walked toward the window she was looking out of and then sprinted away, Tanner said.

The Moline Police Department's K9, Luna, led officers to a 9mm handgun that was thrown into bushes about two blocks from the scene. The gun, McGehee said in his opening statement, was registered to Wilson-Neuleibs father.

Within 20 minutes, police surrounded Neuleibs home located about four blocks from the scene of the shooting. Officers noticed smoke in the backyard and found clothing and one partially burned red shoe, McGehee said.

Wilson-Neuleib, who was the only person in the home, was arrested when he walked outside a short time later, McGehee said.

McGehee said officers also found latex gloves in Wilson-Neuleibs shorts pocket.

Defense attorney Nate Nieman told jurors during his opening statement to listen carefully to the witnesses, some of whom gave conflicting statements that do not match the physical evidence. He also said there is a lack of forensic evidence to tie Wilson-Neuleib to the shooting.

See if the (states) narrative actually comes true, he said. I dont think that it will, and I think that by the end of this trial, youre going to have more questions than answers. If you have more questions than answers, then the state hasnt done its job.

Testimony continues Thursday morning. The trial could last through Tuesday.

McGehee said in his opening statement that prosecutors expect to call nearly 30 witnesses.

Villarreal said during jury selection Tuesday that the defense will not know how many witnesses, if any, they will call until prosecutors rest their case.
Unlike some of her colleagues in the U.S. Senate, Joni Ernst has no plans to do anything other than vote for Republican Donald Trump for president.

"I'm a realist and we have 27 days to the election," she said, adding she won't write in vice presidential candidate Mike Pence, as some Republican leaders have announced they will do, or vote for anyone else.

Ernst spoke with members of the media on Wednesday at the Figge Art Museum, Davenport. In the Quad-Cities, the Senator also visited the Quad-Cities Chamber of Commerce and toured the Rock Island Arsenal.

Sitting with reporters in a meeting room at the museum, Ernst said both presidential candidates have personal failings, but she is more focused on policies, such as tax reform and economic development.

When asked about her interest in the topic of sexual assault in the U.S. military, compared to allegations made public last week about Trump, Ernst said she won't defend him and does not condone what he said on a 2005 tape.

"I am promoting our party, and I do not trust Hillary Clinton," she said.

Clinton officials fired back. "Iowa women got to see and hear Donald Trump's demeaning, degrading, and offensive behavior for ourselves last week," said Kate Waters, a spokeswoman for Clinton's campaign.

"Donald Trump is unfit to be president and early voting so far shows Iowans are rejecting Trumps hateful rhetoric and dangerous policies in droves, and supporting Hillary Clintons plans to build an economy that works for everyone, not just those at the top."

If Clinton is elected, Ernst has a plan.

"I do think I can work with all kinds of people," she said, pointing to legislation she has sponsored with Sen. Barbara Boxer, a Democrat from California, and Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a Democrat from Massachusetts.

The senator from Red Oak, Iowa, suggested voters focus less at the top of the GOP ticket and instead zero-in on candidates who are running for other seats, such as in the U.S. Senate and in local elections.

"We still have very strong candidates on the ticket," she said.

Talk about Trump, stemming from 2005 in a conversation the candidate had with former Access Hollywood host Billy Bush, "is hard to hear," she said. "No one wants to hear that kind of talk, from a man or a woman.

"I support the Republican Party, but not necessarily him," she said.

Ernst, who beat Democrat candidate Bruce Braley in 2014, is in the second year of her term.

"I'm glad I'm not on the ticket this year ... because of all the divisiveness," she said.
DES MOINES  Two days after its leader resigned because she said she could no longer support presidential candidate Donald Trump, the Iowa Federation of Republican Women on Thursday announced a new leader and stated its support for Trump.

Melissa Gesing, of Brooklyn, on Tuesday submitted her resignation as the groups president, saying she could no longer honor the groups mission to elect all Republicans on the ballot because she could no longer support Trump, who she said promotes racism, sexism and hate.

Trump has come under intense criticism, including from his own party, since last weeks reports of a 2005 video on which Trump can be heard making lewd comments about using his celebrity status to grope women.

On Thursday, the Iowa Federation of Republican Women announced Gwen Ecklund, of Denison, has been named its new president and that the organization is unified in its goal of electing all Republicans, including Trump and running mate Mike Pence.

While we find Donald Trumps comments recorded 11 years ago to be insulting and demeaning, we need to keep our hearts and minds focused on whats best for our country and not allow emotions to cloud the big picture, Ecklund said in a news release. We are fighting for what we believe in, fighting to preserve our conservative values of smaller government, religious freedom, marriage between a man and a woman, sanctity of human life and a strong national defense. The Republican ticket of Trump-Pence will push forward those principles. Hillary Clinton has vowed to destroy them.

The Iowa Federation of Republican Women is a tax-exempt political group with the goal of electing Republicans to all levels of government.

In a blog post published after she submitted her resignation letter, Gesing wrote that she agonized over her decision to disavow Trump, and that she had serious concerns with Trump from the beginning of his campaign more than a year ago.

I dont claim to have the moral high ground, and I dont claim that any of our candidates are perfect Gesing wrote. However, there is a clear line that has been stepped across when candidates fuel racism and sexism and the darkest parts of our minds  over, and over, and over again.

The Trump campaign said it has received support from women since the 2005 video was made public.

The Trump-Pence Iowa team is encouraged by the outpouring of support among Iowan women for Mr. Trumps candidacy, specifically over the past week, Eric Branstad, the state director for the Trump campaign in Iowa and Iowa Gov. Terry Branstads son, said in a statement. Our Iowa Women for Trump coalition has grown during that time as Iowan women continue to reject Hillary Clintons corruption, lies and hypocrisy and embrace Donald Trumps message of making America great again.
DAVENPORT  Aaron A. Kienzler, 24, of Davenport, died unexpectedly Tuesday, Oct. 11, 2016, at his home. Services and a Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at 10 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 15, 2016, at Our Lady of Victory Catholic Church, 4105 N. Division St., Davenport. Visitation is 4-7 p.m. Friday, Oct. 14, at Halligan-McCabe-DeVries Funeral Home, 614 Main St., downtown Davenport. Aaron is survived by his parents, Allen and Mona Lisa Kienzler. A complete obituary will be published in Fridays edition of the Quad-City Times.
If youre old enough, you might remember Patricia Tish White Barry, who just died at the mature age of 93. She was considered the most gorgeous girl in Davenport High School. (Now Central.) She graduated in 1940, and when she returned to Davenport 11 years ago for the schools 100 birthday, she still looked gorgeous.

Barry left Davenport to pursue an acting career. After winning a Rita Hayworth look-alike contest, she was contracted by Warner Bros. and made more than 100 appearances in television, movies and theater. She was best known for her roles on soap operas, appearing on "Days of Our Lives," ''Guiding Light" and "All My Children."

She was a few years ahead of me in high school, but I often heard tales of lunch time when she would do a tip-toe dance step to You are my sunshine on the schools Main Street steps. Her parents were Dr. Paul and Alma White. Her dad was a physician, and Tish grew up in an English cottage style home at 2023 Carey Ave. She drove a flashy LaSalle convertible to school in a time when most kids took the bus or their bikes. That made most students envious.

When voting came up for a spot on Central Highs Hall of Fame for notable graduates, a plaque was named for her. She came back home for the honor and visited classrooms at Central. At the time, she assured the faculty that she would be making a sizable donation to the schools drama department. The promise was largely illusory; the money was never received.

The amusement business knew her as Pat Barry. She wed the son of Philip Barry, the author of fame. Tishs husband, the late Philip Barry Jr., never visited his wifes hometown of Davenport.

I remember Tish as a flashy personality. A ham of sorts, she loved attention and publicity. During her many visits to Davenport after stage, screen and TV successes, she was always available for interviews. She never walked into a room, she swished. In 1985, she was in town with her tiny terrier that she carried around in her giant purse. She didnt know me from Adam, but none-the-less threw out her arms and in a deep, Lauren Bacall-like voice, said, Dah-h-hling, its so good to see you again. I mentioned that Ronald Reagan briefly lived in Davenport. She said, in cooing tones, Ronnie is my dearest friend.

The late Dr. Robert Getman, a Davenport dentist, always confessed a lifelong crush on Tish since their days at Tyler School. He told me repeatedly that they were engaged, and would spend time together at her home in Beverly Hills, California. She never denied the relationship.

Thats show business.
Genius? The cunning GOP presidential candidate, Donald Trump, has an exceptional capacity for corruption, making his money by preying on the most vulnerable. Saying, not paying his income taxes makes him smart, is far from brilliant, certainly not genius.

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, making certain to secure a cabinet position, offer repugnant praise for this candidate. All three men have shown they lack integrity and honor.

We all must pay our fair share of taxes. Our country depends on this support. Those who cannot afford to pay taxes depend on this support.

How are some Iowans deceived by the GOP subterfuge? We are smart people. Inept windbags should be ignored. Vote early. I voted for the Democrats.

Pat Jones

Davenport
PIERRE | Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump will have the Electoral College votes of all three Republican electors for South Dakota.

State Attorney General Marty Jackley confirmed Tuesday he would support Trump.

The unanimous backing for Trump from the South Dakota electors comes in spite of public statements from two of the electors Saturday calling for Trump to be replaced atop the GOP presidential ticket.

Gov. Dennis Daugaards spokesman confirmed Tuesday that Daugaard would cast his Electoral College vote for Trump after all.

Lt. Gov. Matt Michels separately confirmed Tuesday that he too would cast his Electoral College for Trump.

Daugaard and Michels used Twitter on Saturday morning to independently criticize Trump for his sexual comments in the 2005 videotape that came to national attention Friday.

Daugaard and Michels said in their Twitter comments that Trump shouldnt continue as the Republican nominee.

Daugaard and Michels are two of the South Dakota Republican Partys three electors who will cast the official Electoral College votes for South Dakota if Trump is the top vote winner in the state.

The Electoral College nationally determines the winner of the presidency. Each states electors from the winning party in that state get to cast the states electoral votes.

The third South Dakota Republican Party elector is Jackley. The Republican electors were chosen at the party's South Dakota convention last summer.

Jackley said Tuesday he would cast his Republican electoral vote for Trump if the reeling GOP candidate wins the Nov. 8 general election vote in South Dakota.

As with most South Dakotans, I clearly do not approve of Mr. Trumps highly inappropriate statements, Jackley said in an email Tuesday responding to a reporters questions.

I am voting for the Republican nominee because I fundamentally disagree with both President Obama and Secretary Hillary Clinton on most major issues including our economy, Supreme Court nominations, and the importance of our state and individual rights and freedoms, Jackley continued.

I am honored to be one of South Dakotas three electoral votes, and I intend to cast my vote for the Republican nominee as I was elected to do and consistent with our State law and the US Constitution.

The Electoral College question came into play Saturday because that would have been the only route available for South Dakota to choose someone other than Trump as the Republican for president.

Secretary of State Shantel Krebs and Jackley issued a joint news release Tuesday explaining it was too late under South Dakota laws to remove Trumps name from the general-election ballot. Absentee voting began Sept. 23 in South Dakota.

Thousands of absentee votes have already been cast, Jackley and Krebs said in their statement that was issued on Jackleys office letterhead.

To be removed from the general election ballot, the candidate would have had to notify the state by the first Tuesday in August, they said.

A replacement candidate, as determined by the withdrawing candidates political party, would then have to be submitted a week later, they said.

To date, no presidential candidates who appear on South Dakotas 2016 general election ballot have submitted a notice of withdrawal to the South Dakota Secretary of States Office.

South Dakota has four presidential candidates on the ballot. In addition to Trump and Clinton, there is Gary Johnson for the Libertarian Party and Darrell Castle for the Constitution Party.

South Dakotas congressional delegation split over the Trump tape. All are Republicans.

U.S. Sen. John Thune used Twitter on Saturday to criticize Trumps comments and urged that Trump be replaced as the Republican nominee.

The Thune statement on Twitter came minutes after Daugaards statement on Twitter. The Michels statement came shortly after them.

U.S. Rep. Kristi Noem expressed her disgust in a statement over Trumps comments but clarified Monday she would still vote for Trump, because of her dislike for Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.

U.S. Sen. Mike Rounds through a spokesperson disagreed with Trumps comments but didnt call for Trumps replacement.

Nothing legally binds a political partys electors to vote for the partys nominee if that person is the winner in the states general election.

Trump received 67 percent of the votes cast in South Dakotas Republican primary election in June, ahead of Ted Cruz at 17 percent and John Kasich at 16 percent.

Trump won every county in South Dakota outright with at least 50 percent in all of them and finished with less than 60 percent in only Brookings, Clay, Deuel, Jerauld and Todd counties.
A memorial service for Beverly Ozuna Ulrich is scheduled for 7 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 15, at the Belle Fourche United Church of Christ, according to Butte County Sheriff Fred Lamphere.

Ulrich has been missing since Oct. 17, 2003.

Despite follow-up investigations on a number of leads, the case of the missing Belle Fourche woman remains unsolved.

The Rev. Del Neumeister said Monday he considers the services Saturday "a healing service."

She was 42 when she was reported missing after being last seen in the Spearfish and Belle Fourche area Oct. 17. The mother of eight children today would be over age 50 - and a grandmother.

Searches around Belle Fourche at the time turned up no evidence after the disappearance. In 2008, a tip led to a search of a 20-acre site on the edge of Belle Fourche with specially trained dogs. Nothing was found.

At the time of her disappearance, she was described as standing 5 feet, 1 inch tall, weighing 130 pounds and having brown eyes, medium-length black hair, the tattoo "Steven" on her upper arm, and a pierced right eyebrow.

Ulrichs relatives notified police Oct. 27, 2003, that they hadnt heard from her for 10 days to two weeks.

Family members told reporters that Ulrich had taken unannounced trips before but had always notified her family as to her whereabouts.

A cash reward was offered in the spring of 2004 for information leading to her safe return. At a news conference announcing the reward, then Belle Fourche Police Chief Larry Roberdeau, who had known Ulrich for 20 years, ruled out mental illness as a cause of her disappearance.

Ulrich remains on the South Dakota Division of Criminal Investigation website list of missing persons.

Authorities say anyone with information about this woman should call the Butte County Sheriff's Office at 605-892-3324, Belle Fourche Police Department at 892-4354 or the state Department of Criminal Investigation at 773-3331.
The federal public defender assigned to Daniel Newman, the former Rapid City mail carrier charged with felony theft and embezzlement, says his clients right to a speedy trial has been violated and has asked a federal court to dismiss all charges.

According to the motion filed last Wednesday by Assistant Federal Public Defender Stephen D. Demik, prosecutors violated Newmans rights by exceeding the 70-day limit for trial after indictment imposed by the Speedy Trial Act of 1974.

As explained below, more than 70 days of credited speedy trial time have passed since Mr. Newman first appeared on the original indictment on June 19, 2015, Demik wrote in his motion to dismiss the charges. The charges were filed after a Rapid City woman had her mail containing gift cards stolen, and performed her own investigation into the matter, prompting law enforcement to get involved.

The U.S. Attorneys Office first charged Newman with a single-count indictment June 16, 2015, then filed a superceding indictment asserting the same offense, on Nov. 10, 2015, the latter of which actually charged the postal carrier with embezzlement and theft, Demik noted.

When the defense attorney challenged the single-count indictment charging two separate offenses, a federal court judge agreed and dismissed the indictment on Nov. 16, 2015.

Prosecutors re-indicted Newman on 11 counts of embezzlement and theft earlier this year, but Demik argued that the indictment was filed 71 days after dismissal of the original charges, in violation of the 70-day deadline provision contained in the Speedy Trial Act.

As this analysis shows, the speedy trial clock in Mr. Newmans case has expired, Demik, wrote. The indictment now pending against Mr. Newman should, therefore, be dismissed with prejudice as a violation of Mr. Newmans right to a speedy trial within 70 days.

Demik also questioned why federal prosecutors had requested, and a federal judge had ordered, that the record of the re-indictment on Jan. 26, be sealed and shielded from public view.

The exact reason is not known, Demik wrote. The United States claimed in its motion it was necessary to seal the indictment because further investigation was being conducted. However, the indictment had been filed. Just why the assertion of a continuing investigation required the Jan. 26, 2016, indictment to be sealed remains unclear.

Late Tuesday, a spokesperson for the U.S Attorney's Office said the office would have "no comment on pending motions."
BELLE FOURCHE | Thirteen years of agony, sadness and nagging mystery will be part of a memorial service for Beverly Ozuna Ulrich in Belle Fourche on Saturday.

Ulrich has been missing since Oct. 17, 2003, after she disappeared after last being seen in Belle Fourche and Spearfish. Her family and friends have never given up hope of finding her and have a Facebook page devoted to their missing relative.

Despite follow-up investigations on a number of leads, the case of the missing Belle Fourche woman remains unsolved.

She was 42 when she was reported missing after being last seen in the Spearfish and Belle Fourche area Oct. 17, 2003. If still alive, the mother of eight children would be over age 50, and a grandmother.

Searches around Belle Fourche at the time turned up no evidence after the disappearance. In 2008, a tip led to a search of a 20-acre site on the edge of Belle Fourche with specially trained dogs. Nothing was found.

At the time of her disappearance, she was described as standing 5 feet, 1 inch tall, weighing 130 pounds and having brown eyes, medium-length black hair, the tattoo "Steven" on her upper arm, and a pierced right eyebrow.

Ulrichs relatives notified police Oct. 27, 2003, that they hadnt heard from her for 10 days to two weeks.

Family members told reporters that Ulrich had taken unannounced trips before but had always notified her family as to her whereabouts.

A cash reward was offered in the spring of 2004 for information leading to her safe return. At a news conference announcing the reward, then Belle Fourche Police Chief Larry Roberdeau, who had known Ulrich for 20 years, ruled out mental illness as a cause of her disappearance.

Ulrich remains on the South Dakota Division of Criminal Investigation website list of missing persons.

The memorial service is scheduled for 5 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 15, at the Belle Fourche United Church of Christ, according to Butte County Sheriff Fred Lamphere. The Rev. Del Neumeister said Monday he considers the services Saturday "a healing service."

Authorities say anyone with information about this woman should call the Butte County Sheriff's Office at 605-892-3324, Belle Fourche Police Department at 892-4354 or the state Department of Criminal Investigation at 773-3331.
PIERRE | The new state board created in the wake of the EB-5 and GEAR UP scandals made progress Wednesday in trying to choose questionnaires for government agencies to use when gauging the trustworthiness of applicants for government grants and contracts.

The panels members seemed to settle on a general position that a state questionnaire for assessing risk should be used if the federal government doesn't require a specific one.

Some federal agencies provide their own risk assessment tools. By designating one or more state versions, there would be a higher degree of consistency in those instances where there isnt a specific federal version.

Keith Senger chairs the panel known as the state Board of Internal Control. He said a working group would assemble guidelines and propose a model state tool for state agencies to use.

State Auditor General Marty Guindon urged that federal assessments be modified to include state questions that aren't covered by the federal versions.

Guindon also said it is extremely important that assessment results be available for sharing throughout state government.

Monte Kramer, the vice president for finance and administration for the Board of Regents central office, suggested that agencies and vendors both complete the assessments. I think its important they understand how were looking at them, Kramer said.

Kari Williams, representing the state Department of Health, said she can use a standard state tool as long as the entity can provide answers when the department doesnt know them, and the department can add questions.

Senger called the Department of Health a leader in state government in conducting risk assessments the past few years.

Theyre the experts, and were trying to pull from their expertise and get something that works, Senger said.

Senger said he firmly believes in letting an agency make small modifications and tweaks. He asked that the agencies bring those changes back to the board to see whether the changes should have broader use.

The concept of the board came from Gov. Dennis Daugaard and Lt. Gov. Matt Michels as a response to the problems involving the federal GEAR UP grant.

GEAR UP was supposed to help Native American students and their families understand what was necessary for further education after high school graduation.

Several millions of dollars annually passed from the federal Department of Education to the state Department of Education. The state department contracted with Mid-Central Educational Cooperative at Platte as a sub-recipient.

Mid-Central in turn contracted with GEAR UP director Stacy Phelps, who paid employees and sent money to two nonprofits he had helped create.

State Education Secretary Melody Schopp initially defended Mid-Central and the GEAR UP program against the findings of the state auditor general. She reversed her position in September 2015 and didnt renew the Mid-Central contract.

Within 24 hours the Mid-Central business manager, Scott Westerhuis, and his wife, Nicole, who was an assistant business manager, along with their four children were found dead of shotgun wounds in the burnt remains of their home in a murder-suicide.

State Attorney General Marty Jackley determined that Scott Westerhuis shot the five others to death, lit the house on fire and then shot himself to death.

Jackley has felony charges pending in state court against Phelps and Mid-Central executive director Dan Guericke for allegedly falsifying documents as they faced document requests during the second round of the state audit last year.

Felony theft charges are filed against Stephanie Hubers, an assistant business manager, for allegedly accepting $55,000 in additional pay from one of the nonprofits. Jackley estimated that the Westerhuises might have illegally taken $2 million from GEAR UP.

So far there arent any criminal charges filed against state Department of Education officials or against Rick Melmer or Keith Moore, the two men Schopp agreed should be paid to oversee the Native American education program at Mid-Central.

Melmer is a former state secretary of education and Moore is a former state Native American education director. Schopp had worked with both of them while they were at the state department.

The Board of Regents now is the sub-recipient for the GEAR UP grant as the replacement for Mid-Central. The regents, who govern the state university system, have Black Hills State University in charge of GEAR UP. Mid-Central will eventually disband in 2017.

Beside Senger, Kramer and Williams the other Board of Internal Control members are Greg Sattizhan, state Unified Judicial System; Jason Dilges, state Bureau of Finance and Management; Steve Barnett, state auditor; Laura Schaeffer, state Department of Social Services; and Tami Darnall, state Department of Education.
The South Dakota Board of Regents really doesn't want to take away the driver's licenses or the hunting and fishing privileges of college students who haven't paid all their bills, but they may be forced to do just that.

A 2015 state law allows for revocation of the driver's license of any South Dakotan who owes an unpaid debt to any part of state government. The measure, which can also restrict a person's ability to get a hunting or fishing license or register a boat of vehicle or buy a state park permit, was seen as a way to pressure debtors who owe money to the state to pay up.

Some regents and staff say they don't want to enact such harsh measures on college students, and they sought a way to come to an agreement that would allow the universities to work around the law. They even tried to push the debt limit when sanctions could take place from $250 to $1,000 to cut students more slack, and may consider writing off bad debts rather than enact the sanctions.

The work-around deal to avoid enacting the sanctions was reached with state officials and the contractor running the states new Obligation Recovery Center.

But when Monte Kramer, vice president for finance and administration for the regents, explained the move to the full board last week, several panel members said "whoa."

Instead, Kramer agreed to bring the topic back to the Dec. 6-8 meeting of the regents, who govern the state univeristy system, set for the University of South Dakota in Vermillion.

Regents John Bastian of Belle Fourche and Kevin Schieffer of Sioux Falls put the brakes on the proposal that Kramer presented Thursday. Bastian is a retired circuit judge and Schieffer is a lawyer.

Both made clear their discomfort with what appeared to be an end-run around state law.

Kramer said that under the proposed agreement, the obligation center wouldnt withhold driver licenses or license plates for former students who still owed money to the universities. University administrators try to collect debts and then decide when to turn debts over to the obligation recovery center.

The original amount was $250 or more to trigger the centers involvement. The proposed deal would have raised that trigger to $1,000.

Kramer said the regents previously referred debts of $100 or more to collection agencies.

Bastian said he agreed with the proposed policies but questioned what authority the center and the state Bureau of Finance and Management have to enter into the side agreement with the regents.

Bastian cited state law on the center. It states no person that owes a debt that is referred to the center may renew, obtain, or maintain any of the following: vehicle or boat registration, driver's license, or hunting, fishing, and state park or camping permit.

Those penalties are lifted when the debt and cost recovery fee is either paid in full or the debtor has entered into a payment plan with the center and payment pursuant to the plan is current.

Bastian said he didnt see any room for exemptions.

Without a legislative fix, I dont know how they can make that fix without violating state law, he said.

Kramer said the regents agreement was to be with the contractor. Bastian didnt accept that explanation. That makes me wonder how many other side agreements they have that violate state law, Bastian said.

Kramer said he totally agreed with Bastian.

I think it takes a legislative fix, so I dont think Im in favor of the proposal, only because its contrary to state law and I dont know what theyre doing, Bastian said.

Schieffer joined Bastians position. Im in complete agreement. Us passing this resolution would be a knowing violation of state law, Schieffer said.

Kramer said the agreement was that the obligation center wouldnt refer the names to the state agencies responsible for vehicle registrations, driver licensing, hunting and fishing licenses and state campgrounds.

Kramer said the regents wouldnt be violating state law. Schieffer disagreed and said the regents would be entering an agreement to violate state law.

Kramer said the Daugaard administration doesnt want to go back to the Legislature and seek a change. He said the administration had a hard time passing the law in 2015.

Were kind of caught in this middle, Kramer said.

He noted the law doesnt require the regents to use the center, but the regents would need to convince the state Board of Finance to proceed in writing off debts without having taken the unrecoverable debts first to the center. The governors chief of staff, Tony Venhuizen, is chairman for the state Board of Finance.

So were just trying to make this work, Kramer said.

Schieffer said he couldnt agree with the regents participating in a deal that would be a knowing violation.

The regents' president, Randy Schaefer of Madison, said the board is looking for legal direction. We dont want to be a body that encourages violation of state law, Schaefer said.

The regents could continue with their old approach but forego writing off the debts, according to Kramer.

We can sit on the debt. We can go out and hire some third-party collections, Kramer said. I can make it work.

Bastian asked for the matter to be deferred until December meeting and allow the regents legal counsel to review the issue. Right now Im not comfortable with it, Bastian said.

Kramer revealed that one campus had started piloting the work-around arrangement and said he would stop it.

Regent Harvey Jewett of Aberdeen, a lawyer, agreed with the delay. Probably shouldnt practice law on the fly in the middle of a meeting, he said.

As to whether the regents could offer their own legislation, Kramer said if theres a change it needs to come through the executive branch.

I know they dont want us bringing a change to their legislation, Kramer said.
ST. PETERSBURG, October 13 (RAPSI, Mikhail Telekhov)  Russias Ministry of Justice has asked the Constitutional Court to study the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruling regarding 1.9 bln compensation to former Yukos shareholders, RAPSI learned from the Ministrys press-service on Wednesday.

The request for the Constitutional Court to review ECHRs July 31, 2014 ruling in Yukos vs Russia case was signed on October 12, the Ministrys press-service noted.

The inquiry was prepared based on Ministrys conclusion on the impossibility of following through with ECHRs ruling as well as reports of the Federal Bailiff Service and the Federal Tax Service.

The Ministry of Justice believes that obligations put on Russia by the ECHR are based on the Convention of Human Rights in interpretation conflicting with the ones of the Constitution of the Russian Federation.

In the summer of 2014 the ECHR ruled that Russia must pay 1.9 billion euros in compensation and legal expenses to former Yukos shareholders.

At the end of 2015 Russia's Constitutional Court was granted the right to recognize decisions of international courts, including Strasburg based ECHR, as non-executable. The legislation was developed taking into account the respective Constitutional Courts ruling establishing that each case of ECHR decision implementation should be reviewed individually and these decisions should be executed only on the principle of supremacy of the Russian Constitution.
Criminal case on murder of prominent Russian journalist reaches court

ST. PETERSBURG, October 13 (RAPSI, Mikhail Telekhov)  A criminal case against student Sergey Kosyrev, who stands charged with the murder of prominent Russian journalist Dmitry Tsilikin, has been forwarded to the Kalininsky District Court in St. Petersburg, the courts press office told RAPSI on Thursday.

According to investigators, Tsilikin met Kosyrev online on one of the social networks. On March 27, Kosyrev visited the journalist with whom he had befriended online. Investigators allege that the student killed Tsilikin during a quarrel, stole his laptop, mobile phone, money and fled the scene.

Kosyrev, 22, was arrested on April 7 after investigators had examined Tsilikins conversations on one of social networks.

The body of the 54-year old journalist was found in his apartment on the night of March 31. According to preliminary findings, he died from multiple knife wounds.

Dmitriy Tsilikin was an editor of Culture and society section in the Chas Pik (Peak Hour) newspaper. He was also an author and host of multiple TV- and radio-shows, his works were published in numerous newspapers and magazines.
Defendant in Culture Ministry embezzlement case to stay in detention

MOSCOW, October 13 (RAPSI, Lyudmila Klenko)  The Lefortovsky District Court of Moscow has extended detention of Director of the Culture Ministrys department of property management and investment policy Boris Mazo until December 15, RAPSI learned from the courts press-service on Thursday.

Mazo is a defendant in the criminal case over embezzlement of budgetary funds allocated for restoration of cultural heritage objects.

On Wednesday, the court extended detention of head of the Center of restoration Oleg Ivanov and head of BaltStroy Dmitry Sergeyev until December 15. Businessman Nikita Kolesnikov will remain in jail until February 16.

On August 25, Mazo has pleaded guilty to embezzling 100 million rubles ($1.5 million) allocated for restoration of cultural heritage objects.

According to his attorney Alexey Kupriyanov, Mazo made a plea deal with investigation. Such agreement involves giving evidence against accomplices, in accordance with the law.

Earlier, Deputy Minister of Culture Grigory Pirumov, director of the Ministrys department of property management and investment policy Boris Mazo, head of the Center of restoration Oleg Ivanov, head of BaltStroy Dmitry Sergeyev and the companys manager Alexander Kochenov, businessman Nikita Kolesnikov, head of a state-owned Directorate for construction, reconstruction and restoration Boris Tsagarayev and project manager of companies Stroykomplekt and Baltstroy Vladimir Svanbek have been arrested and put in detention in the so-called case of restorers. Kochenov was released from jail and put under house arrest in June.

Moreover, the court ordered seizure of assets belonging to Mazo and Pirumov.

The defendants stand charged with embezzlement of more than 100 million rubles (about $1.5 million). The investigation has presumably started basing on a report by the Auditing Chamber on restoration of the Izborsk Fortress in the Pskov region presented yet in 2013; however, it may also involve such cultural heritage sites as the State Hermitage in St. Petersburg and the Novodevichy Convent in Moscow, as well as works carried out at the Ivanovsky Convent in Moscow, and a theater in Pskov.
Final charges brought against Bolotnaya case defendant Buchenkov

Context Bolotnaya case defendant Buchenkov to remain in detention

MOSCOW, October 13 (RAPSI, Yevgeniya Sokolova)  Final charges have been brought against Dmitriy Buchenkov, who took part in the riots on Bolotnaya Square on May 6, 2012, his attorney Svetlana Sidorkina told RAPSI on Thursday.

According to the lawyer, Buchenkov stands accused of participating in mass riots and attacking persons in a position of authority. There are 6 charge counts and 7 victims in the case against him, Sidorkina said.

As reported earlier, Buchenkov pleaded not guilty.

Over 400 people were arrested and scores were injured in the authorized Bolotnaya Square protest that turned violent in May 2012. Dozens were later charged with inciting mass riots and battery against law enforcement officers.

Riot organizers Leonid Razvozzhayev and Sergei Udaltsov were sentenced to 4.5 years in prison each.

Other defendants in the case received prison terms ranging from suspended sentences to four years. Several defendants were pardoned; one is undergoing compulsory mental treatment.
Do you use a wood stove, have children younger than age 5, want to learn about air quality and receive compensation for participating in a study?

The University of Montana School of Public and Community Health Sciences is searching for 10 more families to participate in a KidsAIR study.

The goal of the research that begins Nov. 1 is for families to learn strategies for improving the quality of air children breathe and reduce the occurrence of child respiratory infections. Each participating household will receive up to $200 compensation ($100 each winter) as well as educational material, moisture meters and a filtration unit.

Emily Weiler, laboratory manager, travels to participating homes each month to do an air sample and take a 15-minute health assessment on the children.

Weiler said that last winter she drove 18,000 miles for the study.

We have had 56 homes so far and are adding 36 new ones this year for western Montana, she said. We have communities in rural Alaska and on the Navajo reservation down south as well.

For the Montana study, Weiler is looking for participants in homes within 100 miles of Missoula.

We are helping give kids healthier home environments, Weiler said.

To participate in the study, interested community members living in Ravalli County can complete a brief online survey to see if they are eligible. Contact the UM Center for Environmental Health Sciences at 406-243-4055 or KidsAIR@umontana.edu.
The Republican nominee for President, Donald Trump, is morally unfit for any position of public trust or influence.

A recently released video tape has exposed him as a sexual predator. He bragged about groping and assaulting many women over many years, even women he knew to be married, just because he was in a position of power over them and could get away with it. His words are too vulgar to repeat.

He and his main surrogates excuse his vile conduct by saying its just locker room talk, or its what men do, or he has changed in the last 10 years, between ages 60 and 70.

Mike Pence, Republican nominee for Vice-President says he, Pence, is an Evangelical Christian, a conservative, and a Republican in that order. Absolutely not true; because, as of three days after these lewd revelations, Pence said he still supports Trump for President.

Paul Ryan, Republican Speaker of the House, claims he, Ryan, is a devout Catholic. Absolutely not true, because, as of three days after those vile revelations, Ryan said he is not withdrawing his endorsement of Trump for President.

Only Congressman Chaffetz of Utah has had the courage to withdraw his support of Trump and denounce Trump on moral grounds. A few other Republicans have withdrawn their endorsements, but on the grounds Trump is not good for the Republican Party. Unacceptable!

Decent men should be deeply offended that they are so depicted. Every woman should be outraged. All of us should act to protect our children from such disgusting behaviors.

Trump has insulted Pope Francis, Gold Star families, immigrants of all kinds, specified religions, a Supreme Court Justice, racial minorities, handicapped persons, a tortured American POW, a four star Marine Corps General, a former Miss Universe, our allies, our military forces including all our Generals etc. A dangerous egomaniacal sexual predator is too small a concept to describe Trump.

Montanas Congressman, Republican Ryan Zinke, is on record as supporting Trump, making him just another Party over morality and country Republican.

Hillary Clinton may not be some peoples preference, but a vote for her is the only thing standing between Trump and the Oval Office. This is reality.
Thirteen years ago, Peter Karlovich and Steve Herforth moved into the house they had designed together at the top of Mount Washington.

Now they are saying goodbye to the roughly 10,000 square foot home at 207 Bailey Ave. It is listed at $2.25 million.

Karlovich and his husband used their technological background to design the house with numerous high-tech features, including panels to control the whole-house lighting and sound systems.

"My philosophy is that if you're standing somewhere, whatever you can see you should be able to control," he said. "You should never have to walk into a dark room."

Keypads are placed throughout the home for convenience. The entryway keypad controls downstairs, lighting under the stairs, in the hallway and outside.

Another high-tech feature is the blinds, which are programmed to rise and lower based on time of day. The computer also automatically shuts off fireplaces and lights at 2 a.m. unless put into party mode.

The couple had been working with an architect on the design for about a year and a half. They broke ground in early 2002 and completed the house at the end of 2003.

"Even before we had this property, we were looking in an urban environment and we wanted privacy," Karlovich said. "We didn't have this view at the time, but we were expecting to have something at the top of a hill, and we wanted to maximize on the view."

A horseshoe-shaped blueprint takes full advantage of the view from Mount Washington. The master suite deck is one of several on the property, offering a hilltop view that stretches from Heinz Field to downtown Pittsburgh and beyond.

The design also takes advantage of natural sunlight. Windows provide morning sun in the master suite shower, and blinds are raised and lowered by a computer based on time of day.

The house has three bedrooms in addition to the master suite, eight bathrooms, two kitchens, two laundry rooms, two offices, a wine cellar, gym, sauna, steam room and a party room complete with a dance floor and disc jockey booth.

Outside, the back yard contains an infinity pool, koi pond and hot tub with a fire sculpture.

The lot has transformed significantly in the past several decades. Karlovich and Herforth found it in 2000 as an empty lot that had been cleared for development but hadn't been built upon due to the developer's lack of funds. Before that, it was the upper station of one of the city's many incline railways.

"You know we have the two inclines [the Duquesne and Monongahela]. Pittsburgh used to have like 14 of them," Karlovich said. "This was the upper station of what was called the Castle Shannon incline."

At the end of 1963, the city announced it would close the incline. It was torn down the next year. During construction, the couple found rail spikes and other debris from the area's past. Herforth has a photo of the Castle Shannon incline in his office, placed by a window that provides at the same view shown in the vintage image.

International history can also be found in Herforth's office, which is designed around a Titanic theme. The walls are blue, the desk is shaped like the ship's hull, linoleum to look like steel plates, and drawer pulls resemble cleats. He also has a tile from the ship's smoking room framed on the wall.

"Since I was little, I remember being in like third grade when I got a book," he said about the origins of his interest. "It just fascinated me."

Every room is unique in its combination of flooring, paint and decor. Nearly all furnishings were sourced locally, with additional purchases from Chicago's Merchandise Mart to fill the house.

After 13 years in their hilltop home, the couple is looking for something smaller.

"When we approached the architect initially, it was to build a 5,000-square foot house," Karlovich said.

The design kept getting bigger, but they didn't want to remove any of the features they had settled on.

"It is a lot of house," he said.

To find out more about this property, visit the property's website.
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America must return to conservative principles of less government,reduced taxes, less spending and a balanced budget! Cut,cap and balance!
India and four other countries have pulled out of the 19th South Asia Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) summit to be held in Islamabad in November. Indias decision was taken in the wake of the Uri attack on 18 September 2016. Similar decisions by Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, and Sri Lanka have led to the cancellation of the summit and several commentators have opined that SAARC is dead.

The closing session of 18th SAARC summit in Kathmandu, 27 November, 2014. (Photo: Reuters/Niranjan Shrestha).

SAARCs inability to hold summits is not new. Roughly half of the scheduled SAARC summits have either been cancelled or postponed since the grouping was established in 1985. The main reason for this is ongoing conflict between nuclear powers India and Pakistan. But SAARC is resilient and eventually diplomacy will prevail and the summits will resume as in the past, if intermittently.

Boycotting the summit will only further weaken the institution. Instead members should work together to strengthen the SAARC mechanisms to address regional concerns. This includes the decision-making process. As in ASEAN, decisions in the SAARC are made by consensus. To reduce this inflexibility, ASEAN has the ASEAN minus x scheme under which members not ready to commit to an initiative can opt out so that progress is not held up. SAARC should adopt a similar SAARC minus x scheme.

South Asian countries should also go for schemes outside the SAARC framework such as bilateralism and sub-regionalism. Indian Prime Minister Modi supported this approach at the 18th summit held in Kathmandu in 2014, where he remarked that regional integration in South Asia should go ahead through SAARC or outside it, among all of us or some of us.

Bilateralism was a key pillar of Prime Minister Modis neighbourhood first policy. His first day in office in May 2014 was dedicated exclusively to bilateral meetings with leaders of SAARC countries. His first state visit was to Bhutan and then to Nepal. The outcomes of this grand vision have unfortunately been disappointing and limited to a number of connectivity projects with Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

South Asian countries should also enhance sub-regionalism efforts, as these are less sensitive. These include the Asian Development Banks (ADB) South Asia Sub-Regional Economic Cooperation (SASEC), made up of India, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, Nepal, and Sri Lanka. The ADB has approved 40 infrastructure and IT projects totaling US$7.7 billion through SASEC.

BangladeshIndiaBhutanNepal (BIBN) is another sub-regional grouping that shows promise. The BIBN Motor Vehicle Agreement was signed in June 2015. This enables vehicles to enter any of the four countries without the need for trans-shipment, reducing transport costs. Plans for energy cooperation are also being considered.

South Asian countries should also enhance their inter-regional linkages with ASEAN, their largest market. In the past, commercial and religious links between the two regions were strong and led to a prosperous and integrated Asia.

More recently, economic relations with ASEAN have surged again. But their full potential is yet to be realised. South Asian countries need to implement policies to link themselves to production networks in ASEAN and to develop domestic production networks. Such policies will lead to a win-win situation for all countries and help jumpstart economic integration in South Asia.

The Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) is another institutional framework that promotes inter-regional cooperation, connecting South Asian countries (except Pakistan and Afghanistan which are not members) with some East Asian countries (Myanmar and Thailand). In a survey of Asian leaders that we conducted, four out of five leaders expressed the view that BIMSTEC should play a more active role in promoting regional connectivity and integration in Asia.

India is slated to host the BIMSTEC summit in mid-October on the sidelines of the BRICS summit with discussion slated for issues related to transport, electricity and broadband connectivity.

Before the partition of India and Pakistan in 1947, South Asia was one of the most integrated regions of the world. At that time, over half of Pakistans imports and nearly two-thirds of its exports were from India. It is estimated that the volume of intra-regional trade in South Asia then stood at about 20 per cent of its total trade. This has fallen to a dismal 5 per cent. Political conflicts and mistrust have succeeded in transforming one of the most integrated regions in the world to the least integrated one.

Boycotting SAARC is not the answer. South Asian countries should adopt a multi-pronged approach to jumpstart economic integration in their region, comprising a SAARC minus x scheme together with bilateralism, sub-regionalism, and inter-regionalism outside the SAARC framework.

Pradumna B. Rana is Associate Professor and Coordinator of the International Political Economy Programme in the Centre for Multilateralism Studies at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.

This article first appeared here on RSIS Commentary.
GREENSBORO, Oct 13: Exposing the nation's sharp political divisions as Election Day nears, supporters of Republican Donald Trump repeatedly interrupted President Barack Obama on Tuesday as he urged North Carolina Democrats to take advantage of early voting and cast their presidential ballots for Democrat Hillary Clinton.

Obama also delivered a sharp indictment of Republicans who continue to support Trump's bid despite hearing him on a recently released video recording from 2005 talking in vulgar terms about making unwanted sexual advances toward women.

"The fact that now you've got people saying, 'Well, we strongly disapprove. We really disagree. We find those comments disgusting. But we're still endorsing him. We still think he should be president.' That doesn't make sense to me," Obama told several thousand people at a raucous outdoor rally.

"Now I hear then some people saying, 'Well, I'm a Christian so I'm all about forgiveness because nobody's perfect,'" Obama said. "Well, that is true. I am certainly not perfect ... and I, too, believe in forgiveness and redemption, but that doesn't mean I'm going to elect the person president." House Speaker Paul Ryan said he was "sickened" by Trump's comments on the recording, and he rescinded an invitation for Trump to join him at a weekend rally in his Wisconsin congressional district. But Ryan has not pulled his endorsement of Trump, as some other Republicans have. Still, he has told fellow House Republicans he would not defend Trump or campaign with him and would focus on protecting the House GOP majority.

Obama said some Republicans were trying to have it both ways. "You can't repeatedly denounce what is said by someone and then say, 'But I'm still going to endorse him to be the most powerful person on the planet' and put them in charge," he said.

Several minutes after Obama started speaking, a young man and a woman who appeared to be Trump supporters moved toward the stage and revealed T-shirts that said "Bill Clinton Rapist." They were quickly escorted out by security.

Immediately before Sunday's presidential debate in St. Louis, Trump appeared with three women who have accused former President Bill Clinton of committing sexual crimes against them. Clinton was never charged in those cases. The women later attended the debate.

Obama joked that the protesters were "auditioning for a reality show." Trump is the former host of the NBC reality show "The Apprentice."

After the president resumed speaking, someone could be heard shouting "Bill Clinton is a rapist." Minutes after that outburst, a man ripped up one of the blue "North Carolina Together" placards that attendees were given to wave during the rally."This is our democracy at work. This is great," Obama said, as the largely supportive crowd began to boo.

Obama contrasted Clinton's experience, qualifications and penchant for "sweating the details" with Trump, who Obama said doesn't have the temperament, judgment, knowledge or "basic honesty a president needs to have. And that was true even before we heard about his attitudes toward women."

Obama also criticized Trump for threatening during Sunday's debate to jail Clinton for using nongovernment email servers when she was secretary of state in Obama's first term, without the benefit of a trial or due process.

Obama said the U.S. has stood "in contrast and in opposition" to those kinds of ideas and, "I frankly never thought I'd see the day when we'd have a major party candidate who would be promoting those kinds of notions."He urged those in audience to vote, saying "you've got everything to lose" in the Nov. 8 election and that civility is on the ballot, as well as respect for women, tolerance and even democracy.

"If you want to send a message in this election, make it a resounding message: Turn back the forces of racism and misogyny," Obama said.

The stop in North Carolina, parts of which are experiencing record flooding in the aftermath of Hurricane Matthew, marked the first of three appearances the president has scheduled this week in battleground states in the White House race. The president canceled a Clinton campaign event last week in Miami because of the approaching storm.

Polls indicate the presidential race is extremely close in North Carolina.

On Thursday, Obama is scheduled to travel to Pittsburgh to address a White House event on the future of innovation in the U.S. and around the world. That evening, he is scheduled to address the Ohio Democratic Party's annual dinner in Columbus. He campaigns again for Clinton in Cleveland on Friday.Obama opened his remarks by reflecting on Hurricane Matthew's toll of death and destruction in North Carolina.

"Thoughts and prayer are with the folks who are still dealing with rivers that are overflown, homes that are being flooded," he said. He urged everyone to "look out for each other, no matter what."Obama spoke to Gov. Pat McCrory by telephone on Tuesday, the White House said. He also signed a federal disaster declaration for the state on Monday.
PUEBLO, Colo., Oct 13: Several women levied allegations of sexual assault against Donald Trump on Wednesday in a series of interviews, adding to the already damaging revelations about the Republican presidential nominee's aggressive sexual comments about women.

Trump's campaign dismissed the allegations as having no merit or veracity, and it attacked one of the media outlets that published the women's accounts as acting on a vendetta. In a letter from his attorneys, Trump demanded The New York Times retract what it called a "libelous article" and apologize.

"For The New York Times to launch a completely false, coordinated character assassination against Mr. Trump on a topic like this is dangerous," Jason Miller, Trump's campaign spokesman, said in a separate statement. "To reach back decades in an attempt to smear Mr. Trump trivializes sexual assault, and it sets a new low for where the media is willing to go in its efforts to determine this election."

A story published in The Times said Jessica Leeds, 74, of New York, told the newspaper she encountered Trump on an airline flight three decades ago. Leeds said Trump grabbed her breasts and tried to put his hand up her skirt. "He was like an octopus," she told the newspaper. "His hands were everywhere."

Rachel Crooks, of Ohio, said she met Trump at Trump Tower in 2005. Age 22 at the time, Crooks said Trump kissed her "directly on the mouth" against her will.

Trump denied the accusations, telling the Times, "None of this ever took place." The letter from his lawyers said unless the paper removed the article from its website and ceased further publication, it would pursue "all available actions and remedies."

Separately on Wednesday, The Palm Beach Post in Florida reported that Mindy McGillivray, 36, told the newspaper that Trump groped her at his Mar-a-Lago estate 13 years ago. People magazine reporter Natasha Stoynoff also posted a story about a 2005 incident at Mar-a-Lago where, she wrote,Trump "was pushing me against the wall, and forcing his tongue down my throat." The Trump campaign said there was no "merit or veracity" to either story.

Hillary Clinton's communication's director, Jennifer Palmieri, said in a statement the latest run of allegations "sadly fits everything we know about the way Donald Trump has treated women."

The interviews come just days after the publication of a recording from 2005, on which Trump made a series of vulgar and sexually predatory comments about women. While waiting to make a cameo appearance on a soap opera, he bragged to then-"Access Hollywood" host Billy Bush that his fame allowed him to force himself on women.

"And when you're a star, they let you do it," Trump said, adding later: "Grab them by the p----. You can do anything."

Trump has apologized for the comments on the recording, but also dismissed them as "locker room talk" and a distraction from the campaign. Asked during Sunday's presidential debate whether he ever engaged in the sort of conduct he described in 2005, he said: "No. I do not."

The reports about Trump's conduct came at the end of a day during which an increasingly confident Clinton made only brief reference to her opponent's treatment of women  she noted his dismissal of the conversation as "locker room talk"  and did not address the new allegations.

Trying to float above the fray, she warned voters in Colorado and Nevada not to be turned off by the "pure negativity" coming from her opponent.

Clinton's campaign had signaled earlier in the day she would go even harder on Republicans, but after news of the fresh allegations, Clinton demurred. She continued to make newly prominent and explicit pitches for Democratic congressional candidates in tight races, including Florida Rep. Patrick Murphy and Nevada Senate candidate Catherine Cortez Masto.

Even as she did so, two GOP senators and two House members who called for Trump to step aside over the weekend climbed back aboard. Their basic case: They're voting for a Republican next month, and if Trump isn't leaving then he's got to be the one.

John Thune of South Dakota, the third-ranking Republican in the Senate, told the Rapid City Journal he had "reservations about the way (Trump) has conducted his campaign and himself." However, he said, "I'm certainly not going to vote for Hillary Clinton."

Also back on board after calling on Trump to resign: Sen. Deb Fischer of Nebraska and Reps. Scott Garrett of New Jersey and Bradley Byrne of Alabama. There still are some three dozen GOP lawmakers who have withdrawn their support or are calling for Trump to step aside.

The focus on Republican congressional candidates is the latest sign the Clinton campaign is moving past a narrow focus on winning the White House, and now is aiming to win big  by delivering the Senate to Democrats, making deep cuts into the Republicans' majority in the House and, possibly, winning states long considered Republican territory.

"If you've got friends in Utah or Arizona, make sure they vote, too," Clinton told a raucous crowd in Pueblo.

"We are competing everywhere. ... I think Americans want to turn out in as big a number as possible" to reject Trump's message, Clinton said.

She had sympathetic words  serious or not  for Trump supporters who have begun to interrupt her events.

As security escorted one man out in Pueblo, Clinton said, "You have to feel a little sorry for them; they've had a really bad couple of weeks."

Clinton's new swagger and expanded ambitions came as Trump declared he feels unshackled to launch the sort of hard-edged, personal campaign his most ardent supporters love. Hours before news of the assault allegations broke, Trump kept up his unrelenting denunciations of Clinton at a rally in Florida. It's not enough for voters to elect him instead of her, he declared  "She has got to go to jail."

In Florida, he highlighted a new batch of hacked emails from Clinton campaign manager John Podesta's account, published by WikiLeaks, the anti-secrecy group. He asserted that the emails show ever more clearly that the former secretary of state and her family are corrupt.

"It never ends with these people," he said.

WikiLeaks, which U.S. officials have said has ties to Russian intelligence, released a fourth installment of private correspondence between top Clinton campaign officials on Wednesday. Clinton's campaign has not confirmed the accuracy of the emails, but Podesta said the FBI is investigating Russia's possible involvement, raising the extraordinary prospect of a link between Russia and the U.S. presidential election.

The FBI said anew that it is investigating possible Russian hacking involving U.S. politics but made no comment on Podesta.
Next week Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte, who took power in late June, will make his first state visit to China. Of course hes hoping for a bonanza of loans and trade deals. What hes not expecting or demanding: the return of Scarborough Shoal, which China seized from the Philippines in 2012, sparking demonstrations by Filipinos around the world.

"We cannot win that," he said during a speechthis week. "Even if we get angry, well just be putting on airs. We cant beat [China]."

A large coral atoll with a reef-rimmed lagoon, Scarborough Shoal lies about 120 nautical miles (222 km, 138 miles) from the Philippines coast. Filipino fishermen have relied on the atolls rich fishing grounds for generations. China has blocked their access to it since the takeover.

But China didnt seize Scarborough Shoal just for the fish. It took it for control of the South China Sea.

Beijing is close to creating a "strategic triangle" in the sea that would allow it to monitor and police the waterway for decades to come. In recent years its rapidly built large artificial islandswith bunkers, landing strips, and surveillance equipmentatop reefs and other features, including in the Spratly and Paracel archipelagos, in the south and west, respectively. All it needs now to complete the triangle is one more such islandat Scarborough Shoal in the northeast.

Warning signs

In the US, lawmaker Dan Sullivan warned the Senate Armed Services Committee about the triangle in April. On a map he showed a ring around each point of the triangle, showing the approximate range of Chinese fighter jets. The overlapping rings easily cover most of the sea (Woody Island below is part of the Paracels):

Within range. (Senator Dan Sullivan)

Earlier this year the US warned China that it would cross a red line if it built an island at Scarborough Shoal, suggesting the move could set off a conflict of some sort with US-Philippine forces. But that was when the Philippines was more on the US side. In recent months Duterte has become enraged with the USalong the EU, UN, and human rights groupsfor criticizing his dubious anti-drug war, which has encouraged vigilante and extrajudicial killings.

Duterte is prone to losing his temper and using coarse languagea Filipino actress described him as "a psychopath." Last week Duterte said the US could "go to hell," part of string of vulgar insults hes hurled at critics. He indicated he may eventually decide to "break up with America," and suggested hed be finewith the US (and EU) withdrawing aid because of human rights issues.

In mid-September Duterte said the Philippines would begin buying weapons from China and Russia (the US is the traditional main supplier), and that it would cease joint patrolsof the South China Sea with the US.

"It looked like Duterte was pivoting away from US towards the Chinese camp," said Richard J. Heydarian, a political scientist at De La Salle University in Manila. "This is where a lot of countries were caught off guard. Duterte could actually make a huge impact, not only on Philippines foreign policy but also on the broader regional geopolitical dynamics."

Befriending the bully

Under the previous administration of Benigno Aquino III, the Philippines defied Beijings bullying. Realizing it lacked the military strength to take back Scarborough Shoal, it turned to international law, specifically the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), to which both nations are signatories.

China justified its aggression with its "nine-dash line," which encompasses the part of the sea it considers its longtime territory. That area includes nearly the entire waterway, and it cuts well into the exclusive economic zone (EEZ) granted to coastal states by UNCLOS. In an EEZ, which extends out 200 nautical miles from the coast, a nation gets sole rights to natural resources within and under the sea.

A contested sea.

In 2013 the Philippines opened a case under UNCLOS against China. In a ruling handed down on July 12, a tribunal ruled in favor of the Philippines and rejected Chinas sweeping claims, invalidating the nine-dash line. Filipinos celebratedbut by that time Duterte was in power.

Were Aquinos anointed successor Mar Roxas currently president of the Philippines, its likely the nation would now be rallying international diplomatic pressure against China, said Heydarian. Instead Duterte, after years of the Philippines building its legal argument and winning, appears set to essentially reverse course and give China Scarborough Shoal after all. (The about-face plays right into the long-standing view in China that the Philippines is a weak country that should respect the regional superpower.)

Of course that wont necessarily mean China immediately building an artificial island there. "I think its possible the Chinese, in the short run, may suspend any construction activities in the Scarborough Shoal to facilitate a warming-up of relations with Duterte," said Heydarian.

But the writing is on the wall. China has expressed satisfaction with the Philippines changing stance under Duterte. The Chinese ambassador to Manila, Zhao Jianhua, said in late September:

"Ever since president Duterte took office, China and Philippines have been engaging in friendly interactions, which have yielded a series of positive results. The clouds are fading away. The sun is rising over the horizon, and will shine beautifully on the new chapter of bilateral relations."

It also bodes well for Chinese energy companies. Chinas bullying in the South China Sea has also included preventing the Philippines from exploring for oil off its own coast. Beijing has its eyes especially on oil or natural gas deposits that fall within both the nine-dash line and other nations EEZs. In those instances, it insists on bilaterally negotiated "joint development"getting a share of the profits, in other words, even though under UNCLOS the resources belong solely to the coastal state.

Who else will stop China?

Since the tribunal this summer, the US, Australia, Japan, and Singapore have maintained strong stands insisting China respect the tribunal ruling and international law. Otherwise, Singapore prime minister Lee Hsien Loong has warned, the "law of the jungle" would prevail in the South China Sea, with small nations falling under the control of big ones.

But many nations have taken a more neutral stance. "Some of the EU officials also told me Why should we take the hardline position when the very country that initiated the case is suddenly sounding completely different?'" said Heydarian.

He added:

There was definitely huge short-term shock to all those prepared for a "contstrainment" strategy against China. Constrainment, not a containment, because China is too important and too economically integrated to contain. You can constrain China by mobilizing diplomatic pressure, by conducting more and more multi-lateral exercises among like-minded countries. Duterte single-handedly essentially cleared the deck so the poker game had to start from scratch.

In siding more with China, the Philippines would take a position closer to Cambodias, a country that has backed Beijings South China Sea positions in international forums. After China took Scarborough Shoal in 2012, Cambodia blocked a joint statement on the matter from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. It did something similar this year after the tribunals ruling. In each instance, around the same time it also received significant aid or investment from China.

"Even if the West matched what China offers Cambodia in financial aid and investments, it would come with a demand that human rights and democracy be respected, neither of which China asks of Cambodia," Cambodian prime minister Hun Sen has noted.

Last week Indonesia staged a large military exercise around its Natuna Islands, watched by president Joko Widodo. The Natunas EEZ overlaps with Chinas nine-dash line. The move was a clear signal to China that Indonesia is prepared to defend its territory.

Duterte, like Hun Sen, has autocratic tendencies and has expressed satisfaction with China and Russia not for bringing up questions about human rights.

Some have called Beijings strategy in the South China Sea "salami slicing," or taking many small, incremental actions, none of which is on its own dramatic enough to provoke a response, but that over time lead to a strategic advantage. Scarborough Shoal was one of the larger slices its taken in recent years. Thanks to Duterte, it looks set to get away with itand to be rewarded for acting aggressively at sea.
When a local teenager says, 'there is nothing to do, tell them to go to the Abel Maldonado 
iStock/Thinkstock(MOSCOW) -- With diplomatic tensions between Moscow and Washington at their lowest point since the Cold War, one could be forgiven for being alarmed by recent Russian news broadcasts. For the past month, Russian media outlets have been punctuated with reports asking people whether they are ready for nuclear war.



If it should one day happen, everyone of you should know where the nearest bomb shelter is. Its best to find out now, according to one particularly fevered report on the Russian state-owned channel, NTV.



Russias main current affairs show, hosted by a presenter known by critics as the countrys propagandist-in-chief, recently spent two hours warning that Russia would defend itself with nuclear arms.



Weve had it with American scolding over Syria, the shows host Evgeny Kiselyov told his audience. "Impudent behavior, from the U.S. he said, can take on nuclear dimensions."



Anti-Americanism is not rare on Russian state news, nor is an inclination for the apocalyptic. Besides the intensity of the warnings, more notable has been how Russian government ministries have joined in the alarms in recent weeks.

Since September, Russia has conducted a nationwide civil defense drill, purportedly involving 40 million people, preparing them for catastrophes, among them nuclear fallout. Russias military announced who would run the country in the event of war and ran an exercise simulating that in the south. The governor of St. Petersburg clarified what bread rations people could expect should Russia come under attack (300 grams for 20 days).



Even more bluntly, Russia announced this week it was moving nuclear-capable ballistic missiles into Kaliningrad, the enclave in northern Europe that puts them within striking distance of Western capitals.



Such moves have raised the temperature further in a confrontation with the West, already exceptionally high with the U.S. directly accusing Moscow of trying to interfere in its presidential elections and Russia accusing the U.S. of supporting terrorists in Syria. Relations were already at a low since the Ukraine crisis broke out in 2014, but the renewed clash over Moscow's military campaign in Syria has sent them to fresh depths.



The blood-curdling statements and military posturing, however, do not herald imminent war, analysts said.



Its ridiculous, said Aleksander Baunov, an analyst at the Carnegie Moscow Center. "It's not preparation for war."



Baunov said the civil defense drills and the heated programming on television were directed more at the U.S., to deter it from interfering with Russia's military campaign in Syria or responding too strongly to suspected Russian efforts to interfere with the U.S. elections.



They want to touch bottom and then to try to go up," he said, adding that he feels Moscow was trying to set the tone for the incoming U.S. president. "Any responsible politicianif you are responsible and experienced it cannot start with further downgrading already bad relations if they are already at bottom.



The chances of a real military confrontation between Russia and the U.S. have risen dramatically since Washington indicated it was considering launching airstrikes against the forces of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad after a cease-fire brokered by Moscow and Washington was abandoned and Assad and Russian aircraft unleashed a devastating bombardment on the city of Aleppo. Russias defense ministry has bluntly warned the U.S. not to intervene, threatening to shoot down any aircraft targeting Assad regime forces.



But few analysts expect such an intervention from the U.S.



"The good news is no one really wants a war," Pavel Felgengauer, a Moscow-based military analyst said. "But it's going to be a good show."



Many ordinary Russians, though describing themselves as outraged by U.S. behavior in Syria, appear largely inured to the warnings of imminent nuclear doom. Photos appeared on social media from a suburban apartment block where pranksters or enterprising fraudsters had pinned flyers to a stairwell asking residents to begin donating cash for the construction of a local bomb shelter.



"Hurry, places are limited," the flyer said.



"In reality nothing has changed," Baunov said. "There is no peak in anti-American mood here among people."

Copyright  2016, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.
The last time Jim and Amanda (Mark Duplass and Sarah Paulson) saw each other, it was in the midst of a devastating breakup  the type you never really get over. That was twenty years ago, but you wouldn't necessarily know it from the mental real estate Amanda still takes up in Jims mind.

Your heart can only break for the first time once and for Jim, at 18, parting ways with his soulmate from a relationship that would set the bar unreasonably high for the rest of his life, was a traumatizing, perspective shifting period. Jim misses Amanda, but even more so, he misses the person he was when Amanda loved him. He misses seeing the world from the eyes of a young romantic.

Now, after years of both parties imagining what it would be like if the two ever saw one another again, it happens: Jim and Amanda bump into each other at a grocery store. They decide to play catch up like two old, and now adult, friends. They visit their old haunts, like Blue Jay, a shitty diner that isnt what it used to be (or maybe all thats changed are the circumstances).

From there the two embark on an epic night of what if wherein the two successfully sweep the demons of heartbreak under the rug and enjoy one another's company just like old times. But as Jim and Amanda playfully find themselves rehashing their ancient connection with uncomfortable ease, the happiness of their present grows more painful than the sadness of their past. Playing house hurts when one party has built an actual home to which they must return.

I first met Blue Jay writer and co-star, Mark Duplass, when we chatted about his foray into character-driven horror with Creep - a favourite film of mine. With two years gone and Duplass now gracing my hometown festival with his presence, I couldnt help plant seeds for Mark to bring his upcoming Creep 2 to TIFFs beloved Midnight Madness program. As fun for Toronto as that would be, I honestly couldnt care less what type of film Duplass wishes to bring to the world as long as it contains his ambition to honour reality in genre. And few love stories feel realer than Blue Jay.

This is because Blue Jay is real. Thanks to the truths offered by Paulson, Duplass, and DP/Director Alex Lehmann, its quite possible that this quaint weeklong production has resulted in Marks most meaningful work to date and thats more exciting than any thriller.



Blue Jay is now availbale on iTunes and On Demand. It continues its U.S. theatrical rollout on Friday, October 14 in Los Angeles, Portland, and Orlando.

ScreenAnarchy: Are you enjoying your TIFF?

Mark Duplass: I am. I had a really great time at my screening last night.

I did too.

was really fun, and nice and warm and sweet. I was happy, with- you know, sometimes you feel an audience lean into a movie or lean out of it, and I felt them leaning into it. I was just real happy about that.

Absolutely. I leaned way in. I guess, since I already brought up CREEP, for starters, one of the things I so love about your career is that the same person who penned CREEP, penned BLUE JAY.

Sure!

How do you account - not that you have to account - for your variety, aside from just feeling a bevy of genes or tones.

It's a good question. I can't really account for it, except to say I just love all kinds of movies. To me, the core of Creep is really less a horror movie, and more of like a truly in depth character study of someone who just happens to be strange. There is an argument to look at Blue Jay, which is a really, sensitive, sweet, loving film, and Creep which is kind of the opposite, and say, "They're actually part and parcel of the same thing. They're just digging deeply into people's psyches' in close ups and medium close ups." That's basically what I do. It's just a question of tonal disparity, really, between those two.

I think it's fair to say that you're somewhat compelled to vulnerable characters.

Mm-hmm

CREEP is no different really.

I would agree with that. You know, Creep was something we chased for a long time. The way that movie worked out was, we shot for like six days with a couple of us, then we were chasing the story, and that movie, that first movie we shot, represents maybe 30% to 40% of that footage that ended up in the actual film. We kept chasing it, and the movie kept begging us to go darker and darker and darker. I was sort of drawn into the darkness that Creep was. I didn't really plan on it. Everyone we were screening the movie for was just like, "This guy's really fun to watch, and he's really scary. Just go there." We were like, "We don't want to make a horror movie!" They're like, "Do it!" We're just like, "All right, fuck it, let's do it."

Nice. I mean, it's got to be somewhat cathartic?

It's totally cathartic. It's a blast. That's why we made the sequel. There's no more fun character, and freeing character, to play.

Am I making this up? Two years ago I swear I heard talk of a CREEP trilogy?

We initially talked about doing three. Then we made the first one. People honestly liked it a lot more than we thought they would. It became this sort of weird little cult gem. Then we got scared to make the sequel. We were like, "Let's not fuck it up. Sequels suck, what are we doing?" We had a couple of false starts, thinking, "Do we want to make a sequel? Nah, let's not make a sequel." Then finally, we came up with an idea where we felt like it was unique enough and worthwhile enough to do. I'm still not sure we're not going to fuck it up. We'll see.

I'm sure you won't. You tend to go back and back until you confidently feel like you haven't fucked it up.

Yes, I'm desperate enough to keep from screwing myself.

Theres got to be a safety feeling in that too? That your movies are on a small enough scale that you can return to them.

That's by design. Basically, I like to move fast, I like to have fun. Then I like to have room to kind of deal with our mistakes.

You've nurtured the talent of Patrick Brice, since MAURICE, now you're nurturing the talent of director/DP, Alex Lehmann - I caught ASPERGERS ARE US at SXSW (Duplass produced).

Oh great.

I love it. Is there a pattern with who you kind of let into the creative family and how that happens, and where you go from there?

It sounds like a mafia when you put it like that. who I let in. It's really people that I jam with, I guess. Patrick was a guy that was, I met him because he was my nanny's boyfriend. We shared a love of weird people and movies and it just kind of evolved. Alex, the director of Blue Jay, was one of the shooters on The League, a TV series I did for years. As we were in the land of fart and dick jokes together, we also discovered, oh we like these other kind of things too. He was like, "I have this documentary I'm making." I was like, "I don't want to fucking watch this guy's documentary." But I like him so I'll watch it. I watch it and I was like, "Holy shit, this is really special." Then I came on board to help him finish Aspergers

Then as I was building Blue Jay in my mind, it was very quick. I knew I wanted a cinematographer / director. I wanted that to be the same person. Who had the camera and was a creative force with me. As I was thinking about people, I was like "Man, this is going to require a particularly melancholic, sensitive person to get this kind of thing." You know? DPs are not often like that. A DP with a lot of ennui is like a weird combo and he just really had it.

Is he a DP first? Or a filmmaker first?

He started off as a shooter, then became a DP, then started directing docs. Now this is his first narrative thing that he's done. Wonderful.

It's just beautiful to me to collaborate with someone who is really excited, coming up, still learning. They don't fully have it down. They don't really even think that they fully have it down. When they have gaps they can lean on me, but then because I'm not directing we're getting all this cool shit out of the movie that I don't know how to do. Because it's them. I just love that level of collaboration.

What would you say BLUE JAY emerged out of? What were you thinking when lightning struck on that one?

I was not in my brain, I was just like in my gut. It was essentially that I'm a very melancholic person. I'm always fighting against that, creatively and instinctively. Because I don't want to drown people in it. I was like, "What if I just pull the floodgates on this and just let it spill out all over the movie?" That got really exciting to me - to not apologize for who I am. Then once I did that I was like, "Oh. The movie's still funny, and it's still all those things that I normally do." I just sort of gave myself the freedom to explore how ridiculously nostalgic I am. Once I did that, and sort of gathered my collaborators around me, I was like, "Oh, I think a lot of people feel this way."

I still see people from high school or college and when I look in their eyes, we're both looking at each other being like, "Oh, you're kind of different than you were." Than maybe how we thought we were going to be, and you're both feeling like a little ashamed and nervous about it. That level of awkwardness, it's so sweet to me. Because it's really based on like, "I hope you think I'm cool. I hope you think I did well. I hope I think I'm cool...

You're such a big part of each other.

Yes! I just love it. I had two very serious high school girlfriends, that I was overly serious about. There's a quote in the movie where Sarah's character reads from my journal. It's a direct quote from my journal when I was fifteen years old, that I'm simultaneously horrified and excited to share with audiences.

A lot of people are going to want to compare this movie to BEFORE SUNSETt and where I don't think that's fair is BEFORE SUNSET is sort of a realistic fairy tale, whereas your film is something, I think, most people can tap into. I think a lot of that has to do with the fact that one's first relationship, that's going to be the most dramatic you've ever been and the most you've ever felt to some extent.

I think so. I think the empirical feelings might get bigger as you get older, and more stakes in your relationships, but the subjective feelings of that time are irreplaceable. I think, the way I normally feel is, I cast it off 98% of the time. Like, "Oh you were a dramatic kid. You were so cute. You were so funny." But 2% of the time I look back, and I'm like, "Dude, I was on to something." That earnestness and that confidence. I've lost something, and I miss that guy. As fucking stupid as he was. I want a piece of him back, you know?

I think you sort of just answered this question, but you're unlike your protagonist, in that your life isn't a disappointment. That being said, you relate to that sense of looking back, so if you're not looking back because your life turned to shit, then what is it about those days that you long for?

I don't know. Sometimes it's just like you hear that song and it just puts you back in your body and how you felt. The only way I can describe it is ... I was a musician. It was my first career. As great as the moments were on stage, where you're performing and you're becoming a success, somehow nothing beat being like 13, learning your instrument in a sweaty garage, with your headphones on, listening to The Cars greatest hits and like trying to play along, you know? That moment of, that learning curve of when you were coming into yourself. That kind of only happens once. That's what Blue Jay is connecting to. This couple who was learning how to love each other back then. They were each other's first. It's irreplaceable. No matter how good or bad things become. You can't smudge that out.

Learning to love each other and learning to love period.

Yeah. It's really ... I don't know. I don't care how successful you are, thats inescapable somehow.

When I saw early on in the film that Blue Jay was their favorite diner, or whatever, I immediately thought of Golden Star, which is my equivalent diner, and I just started thinking about that place. It incites a whole mood or feeling and something that I considered dead. But memories, as you said, can trigger that and bring you back. Can you talk about choosing the relics of their past for this film?

Yeah. This town that we shot in is the first mountain town right outside of Los Angeles, and I love this town. I actually vacationed there with my family because, I think it's important that my kids see that not everything is as beautiful as LA is. Of course, the town is just kind of broken and left behind. A little bit of a metaphor for what's going on in their relationship. I grew up in New Orleans and there was a second run art house movie theater there called Moving Pitchers. P I T C H E R S. We would go there because they would sell us beer, at like 15. There I accidentally got this incredible art house film education. I was going for the beer, but I was staying for My Own Private Idaho, and Short Cuts and I was like, "Oh! What are these movies? This is fucking weird and awesome!"

That feeling that I have when I think about that and who I was in that place, is kind of what I was going for when I tried to pick these little elements for them: in the town liquor store where they used to buy beer together, the diner where they had coffee. I don't know, again, I'm a very nostalgic person, but when I sit in those booths that I sat in when I was 16, I'm just like walloped with a flood of everything. It's not all bad. It's just big.

When you sat down to write this thing and you have all these themes in mind, and all these things that you want to be in there, how do you do that? What do you tap into and whats the process of shaping it?

Very specifically, it was a blast over two or three days to create what I thought the plot of the movie would be in like a two to three page outline, just like a rough sketch. Then I bring that into the room with Alex, the director, Mel (Eslyn), Syd (Fleischmann), Xan (Aranda), the three producers, and Sarah, and we have a little, private creative session. What do we like about this? What's working? What's exciting? What's banal? Whatever. Then Sarah (Paulson) and I started talking about what's going to make us great in the movie.

This is something I really believe in, in the process. I just ask her, I'm like, "What's going on in your life. I'm not going to steal things directly from your life, but feelings and things that we can put in the movie. That, when the camera's on, when you're talking about this, we're all going to feel that this is a big thing." You know? So we talked about all those things. I borrowed some real things. I was like, "Oh, I know Sarah loves animals." When she starts talking about animals, something special happens, so I'm going to write something for her about animals. Little things like that. Then, over the course of maybe three or four of those creative sessions, I turned the outline into like the fifteen to twenty pages that represented the narrative of the movie. Then the night before we would shoot, I would usually write a version of that scene for us to follow; very specifically not something that either Sarah or I could memorize in time.

By design.

Yeah. By design. It was like loose, and we would chase the narrative around. You look for accidents. I'm all about going back to the music thing. I'm all about that really raw, interesting demo that happened when bands record the song while they're writing it; lo-fidelity, the musicianship is low, there are errors, but the energy in it is like, you'll never get that again. You kind of only get that once, if you set it up right. That's kind of what I'm going for in movies. I don't know how to do the well rehearsed thing - repeat it over and over again. I'd be the worst theater actor in the history of time. I'm all about, let's just get slightly prepared so it's kind of messy, and then get it up and hopefully when we shoot it, it will all come together. Sometimes you get lucky. Sometimes you don't, but that keeps it vital for me.

Emotionally you really went out on a limb on this one I would say.

Yeah.

How was that? What were some of the most rewarding moments?

There's a moment towards the end of the movie that was really scary for me to do, for a couple of reasons. One is it required a lot of me emotionally. I'm always scared as a performer that I'm going to fail the movie. I'm going to fail as an actor and not quote unquote bring it. It's not something that a lot of actors talk about, because we all want the directors to know that we're there and we're like, "Oh, I can get there." But we're all like, "Oh God, can I get there? I don't know if I can do it." It's terrifying.

Pressure's on.

Pressure's on dude. So that was scary for me. Also, I don't really make it a secret that I'm kind of like an anxious, depressive, person, who likes to keep his life on the rails. This movie was like, take it off the rails. So you do that stuff and it's against every instinct you have. You know? It was very cathartic for me. I really enjoyed it in the end.

Do you have an ex-girlfriend you do and/or don't want to see this film?

Honestly, I had two high school girlfriends and one college girlfriend that were like - so I'm a serial monogamist.I hope all of them see it, and all of them can laugh at some of the tones of like, how serious I was and see some of that stuff. At the end of the day, for me, I do want to poke fun at it. Because it was so ridiculously overly serious, but at the same time I honor it, because it's so fucking sweet. I don't know. I have some nieces and nephews who are around that age now. I'm starting to watch it and I'm just like, "It's so pure and so sweet." You can't get that back.
We have a trailer for the indie horror anthology Late Night Double Feature that is so new that not even the filmmakers themselves know it exists until they see it here. I was like the fourth guy, after some guy from Walmart corporate, to see it and now I can share it with you.

From a down and out TV studio where Hollywood dreams go to die, your host Dr. Nasty brings his audiences a late night double bill of the strange and terrifying. First up, is DINNER FOR MONSTERS where a chef is hired to cook a meal for clients with a unique appetite. Next up is SLIT, where a sadist for hire must survive a serial killer on the loose. Once the films end, backstage drama and bloody chaos ensues with the cast of Dr. Nastys Cavalcade of Horror as hearts are broken, dreams are smashed and arteries are sliced open!

The Canadian horror flick, a love letter to late night public broadcasting horror shows was picked up by boutique label Parade Deck Films and will be out on DVD and Blu-ray on November 21st, followed by VOD and Digital (DirectTV, DISHNetwork, AmazoninstantVideo, GooglePlay and iTunes) on December 6th.
Having learned a few tricks working on his fathers multi-award winning space thriller Gravity, Jonas Cuaron brings the action down to earth to craft a similarly intense tale of human survival.



The idea of putting up a wall between Mexico and the United States of America continues to surface, thanks in large part to one particularly notorious presidential-candidate. Beyond all the bluster and politics lies the very real issue of desperate people being forced to make a perilous journey into an unknown land. In Desierto, Jonas Cuaron gives voice to the men and women who risk that path, constructing a taught and brutal story of survival.



In Mexico, a rickety truck sputters across the desert before its engine inevitably gives out. Its occupants, immigrants being transported into the US, are forced to take an alternate and unknown route on foot. Crossing a border fence consisting of just three lines of barbed wire turns out to be the easiest part of their journey.

For one man (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) this is a crime that cant go unpunished. Armed with a high-powered rifle and his well-trained dog, this patriot is going to take out the Mexican menace with extreme prejudice. Gael Garcia Bernal and a rapidly diminishing group of companions must scrabble for survival against their deadly assailant while navigating an unforgiving desert environment. Welcome to America.



No one plays a whisky-swilling, gun-toting, patriot loon quite like Jeffrey Dean Morgan. This is what The Walking Deads Negan may have been before the zombie apocalypse. Its what The Comedian could have been on return from Vietnam if a government job in a cape wasnt waiting. But this is no comic book villain.

Morgan imbues his character with a level of barely concealed rage and pain that is only allowed to simmer to the surface in the brief moments of respite the film allows. Even so, its hard to care what his issues are once the bodies start dropping. Like his nemesis, Gael Garcia Bernals protagonist threatens two-dimensionality: hes handsome, heroic, waits around for the weaker members and carries a teddy bear for his son. Yet its the moments of panic, foolishness and rabbit-in-headlights fear that highlight his riveting performance and the minor exchanges that give his character weight.



Once the hunt begins, Desierto gets intense fast and never lets up. With a sniper's crosshair planted on their heads and a ferocious dog is on their trail the hunted few must scramble up cliff faces and down ravines, across jagged, rocky outcrops and through vicious spiked cactus patches with death hanging over them. Matching Gravity for pace and punctuated by moments of brutal violence Cuaron weaves a savage trail towards a truly heart-stopping finale.



While the director gives us a clear view of the killer and his motives, to the people fighting for the lives he remains at a faceless distance. Unknowable and seemingly unstoppable the man, and his monstrous dog, terrorise their powerless quarry. Tapping into basic human fears and ratcheting up the tension towards an agonising climax, Desierto delivers some of the most exciting cinema to be seen this year.

Review originally published during the Neuchatel film festival in July 2016. The film opens in select theaters in the U.S. on Friday, October 14.
Prolific animation house Production I.G. subtly captures the rhythms of mood of the art and publishing community in 19th century Edo, Japan. Miss Hokusai is simultaneously misleadingly quiet, and furiously idiosyncratic.

Famed artist Tetsuzo, a.k.a. Hokusai Katsushika, and his (eponymous) grown daughter O-Ei, live in poverty, neither cooking nor cleaning, but living and creating with Tetsuzo's would-be students and hangers on. She often finishes the detailing on her work while simultaneously venting her rage on a drunken ex-Samurai, Zenjiro, who hangs around with a bottle and a brush. One day on a vibrant and bustling bridge she has a kind of meet-cute (involving of all things, dog poop) with a talented artist on the rise, Kuninao Utagawa, who eventually also becomes one of Hokusai's pupils.

This den of ink and crumpled balled-up paper, left-over street food, and the kindest dog outside of an Oshii Mamoru film became a place to discuss art, and technique, and the ineffable qualities that distinguish mere drawings from great and lasting art. O-Ei is discovering her voice in this setting, although she is often left at the wayside as the three men, master and pupils, go off to the Geisha houses and other street shenanigans.

Instead O-Ei spends time with her mother and younger sister, the latter of whom is blind. It is these outings where the film eschews the verbal -- which is strange to say, considering O-Ei spends much time describing the drawings to her sibling -- in favour of embracing the feel of nature and sights and smells of nascent Tokyo; which is what Edo would become after the end of the Tokugawa shogunate.

Clumps of snow on a child's clothing after a tree sheds its frozen powdery bounty; the drip drip drip of raindrops from an umbrella into the fabric of a robe during a rainy walk; a smudge of ink on the face of a beautiful, strong woman; the sound of fire-bells and luminous drift of deadly fireflies as a brigade furiously fights a blaze on a crowded street.

These are many of the images that reconciles nature and human endeavour, both furiously beautiful, if only for their fragility. The urge to dangle my feet off a bridge, into cool moving water, with my own children at my side, in comfortable silence, with a hint of far-off birdsong, was palpable during these evocations. The animation has that kind of power.

When father and daughter are creating, or eating, or merely just sitting in their tiny cluttered space, you might, perhaps, begin to understand that immortality or any lasting legacy pales in comparison to the wonder of these perfect, transient moments.

Tetsuzo would go on to create some of the most iconic wood-cut prints that would inspire Western and Eastern artists alike for decades, now centuries, but none of that is featured here. This is about living life as the basis for future creative endeavours, to see the spirit in the loves, regrets, fears, erotic pleasures, regret, and ultimately loss.

While Hokusai's tiny but vibrant commune indulges in low-brow drink-ups and whore house sojourns - a character even proclaims that 'you have got to be dumb to have fun' - Miss Hokusai is nothing if not a rounded work of beauty and intellect. Yokai spirits, Buddha and dragons hiding in wind-storms heighten the periphery of how an artist might see the world. The spirit of chief animator and character designer Yoshimi Itazu (The Wind Rises) are integrated with the backgrounds of Ono Hiroshi (A Letter to Momo, Wolf Children) with the same collaborative brio as father and daughter who are the subjects of the film.

Blending the magical realism sensibility of Studio Ghibli with Ozu Yasujiro-like framing, and unfortunately an occasionally distracting rock 'n roll score, it is a film that you get so deeply lost in that it is difficult to discern beginning, middle or end. While there is a story of sorts, it is in the vein of something similar toor, insofar as any notion of a three-act-plot is rendered meaningless in the face of life and the living of it.
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As we count down the final 27 days until this other-worldly nightmare of an election is hopefully, sweet Jesus, over and done with and not hampered by some crazy recount or something more surreal and nausea-inducing, KQED has done us the solid of tracking all the California lawmakers, both in the U.S. Congress and in Sacramento, who are still backing Donald Trump.

In other words, these are the kinds of Republicans representing such staunchly conservative parts of the state that they don't care about Trump's catalogue of lies, abuses, incendiary statements, racist hate speech, sexism, lack of qualifications, insecurity, tiny hands, and all-around assholery, and would still despite everything rather support their party's candidate and light the Constitution on fire than see Hillary Clinton become president.

To all of them, I'm sure you have a few choice words to say, and even if you're not in their districts you can feel free to do so through their official websites or office phone lines.

Below, a partial list (KQED is still waiting on official comment from some of them, who may be on the fence at this point and looking to save their own skin by throwing Trump under the bus, like House Speaker Paul Ryan).

U.S. CONGRESS

CA-01 Rep. Doug LaMalfa - Over the weekend LaMalfa, who represents a swath of rural northeastern California including Redding, Chico, and Susanville, made comments to KHSL that Trumps comments in recently leaked, 2005 Billy Bush video, were unacceptable braggadocio language for any man to be using.

CA-04 Rep. Tom McClintock - McClintock, who's been in Congress since 2009 representing the eastern, Sierra Nevada-adjacent 4th congressional district, still supports Trump. From Monday: I cannot understand why so many hand-wringing Republican leaders cant bear to stand up.

CA-08 Rep. Paul Cook, a retired colonel whose district covers the Mojave desert and most of San Bernardino county, who is up for reelection, has been pretty quiet about the election since he won his own primary fight in June, but he did issue a statement earlier this year saying "While we don't agree on every subject, our country can't afford Hillary Clinton as president." He has not retracted that, but weirdly the page that KQED linked to for that statement no longer contains that sentence.

CA-10 Rep. Jeff Denham - Denham, whose Central Valley district includes Oakdale, Manteca, Modesto, Tracy, and Turlock, recently told the Modesto Bee that he was deeply disappointed to hear about Donald Trumps language toward women, but he's so far still refusing to drop his support.

CA-22 Rep. Devin Nunes - He supports Trump as his party's nominee, but has said, per the LA Times, that "as chairman of the House Intelligence Committee he stays neutral because he has to brief the nominees." He still has refused to comment on the recent video revelation.

CA-23 Rep. Kevin McCarthy - The House Majority Leader supports Trump, but he said following the release of the video that Trump needs to make a "full and unqualified apology."

CA-39 Rep. Ed Royce - At least as of May he was supporting Trump, and the LA Times quotes him as saying, "I have always voted for the Republican nominee and will do so again this year because a third term of the Obama-Clinton administration would be disastrous for Southern California families and our nation."



CA-42 Rep. Ken Calvert Calvert maintains his support for the candidate but posted a statement Monday saying, the comments from the 2005 recording were offensive, demeaning to women and beyond the pale.

CA-45 Rep. Mimi Walters - Walters called Trump's comments offensive, but remains a supporter.

CA-48 Rep. Dana Rohrabacher Rohrabacher went as far as telling the Orange County Register that Republicans who are backing away are gutless.

CA-49 Rep. Darrell Issa - Originally a Rubio supporter, Issa has said, "Hillary Clinton makes it clear she's running for Barack Obama's third term in the White House with nothing but a different name on the door." BUT, Issa tweeted on Friday that Trump's "behavior has no place in American politics."



STATE ASSEMBLY

AD-67 Asm. Melissa Melendez supports Trump. Per KQED, she said in a statement: Donald Trump has my vote. Hillarys actions speak louder than Trumps words.

AD-68 Steve Choi - Choi supports Trump and believes his weekend apology to be sincere.

AD-72 Asm. Travis Allen - At least previously supported Trump, but has made no new statement.

AD-74 Asm. Matthew Harper - At least previously supported Trump, but has made no new statement.

STATE SENATE

SD-08 Sen. Tom Berryhill - Earlier said that he is backing Donald Trump for sure.

SD-23 Sen. Mike Morrell - Earlier told the San Bernardino Sun, "With the passing of Justice (Antonin) Scalia, the next president has the opportunity to shape the court for generations. I believe that Trump will appoint an originalist who will defend the Constitution, limit governments power in our lives, and rank the citizen above the state."

SD-28 Sen. Jeff Stone - Earlier told the Press-Enterprise, "I have always voted for the Republican nominee for president and will do so again in November because the alternative is unacceptable."

SD-39 Sen. Joel Anderson - Did not respond to KQED for fresh comment, but he served as a Trump delegate at the RNC.



Previously: Video: Watch Bono Bash Donald Trump During Last Night's Dreamforce Concert
Where's the beef? Not in these burgers, which are made with a product from Impossible Foods, the creators of a synthetic meat made from plants. Unlike the typical veggie puck (or even the delightful veggie burger, of which SFist highlighted some of the local best) Impossible Food's "meat" aims for maximum, bloody juiciness thanks to the use of a molecule found in hemoglobin. The company appears to be starting its war on beef not in the supermarket but instead with local tastemakers:That means working with Traci Des Jardins, the Jardiniere chef-owner who is also a consulting chef at Impossible Foods. Tomorrow she begins regular service for her burger version of the company's meat substance, which she's previewed this summer according to Eater. The "burger" will be available in the bar and lounge after 7:30 p.m. for $16.

The burger speaks for itself, Eater quotes Des Jardins, who will not serve a real meat alternative to it. Probably 85 percent of the people who taste it wouldnt know the difference.

Perhaps more surprising on this front is the fact that noted carnivore Chris Cosentino, the chef/owner of Cockscomb, is also onboard. "This is the next step forward, Cosentino said to Eater. Weve seen adaptations of meatless burgers, but theres nothing else that you can cook from start to finish." His version is available for lunch on weekdays for $19 also starting tomorrow. (Please page Mr. Cosentino when meatless offal arrives.)

Impossible Foods' burger is available at a third California location, Crossroads in Los Angeles, and nowhere else. But until the Berkeley company Perfect Day, who hope to someday make a good synthetic cheese, fully executes their plan, vegans will have to wait for their "cheese" "burger." Alas.

Related:Google Chefs To Start Feeding Employees 'Shrimp' Made From Algae

Berkeley Synthetic Milk Startup Says They've Found The 'Whey' To Make Good Vegan Cheese
Since about 2011, Oakland's Frank H. Ogawa Plaza has been identified by activists and protesters from the Occupy and Black Lives Matter movements as Oscar Grant Plaza to commemorate the 22-year-old from Hayward killed by a BART police officer on January 1, 2009, the subject matter of the 2013 film Fruitvale Station. But in an East Bay Express opinion piece also from 2013, Oakland resident Kim Tran argued against the "unofficial" renaming of Ogawa Plaza, which officially remembers a second-generation Japanese-American sent to an internment camp in Utah during World War II who later returned to Oakland and despite being barred from an all-white neighborhood became a city councilman and political activist.

Instead, Tran wrote that "To honor the legacies of both Ogawa and Grant, it makes more sense to rename Fruitvale BART Station as Oscar Grant Station."

This is not a new proposition. Former Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums said he supported the name change in an interview with Youth Radio's Pendarvis Harshaw. Harshaw, Jamon Dru, and Young Gully also produced a hip-hop tribute album named The Grant Station Project, which advocated for changing the station's name. Doing so would be more fitting for Grant's legacy and would not be difficult.

Well, someone isn't waiting around any longer. See above.

Related: Black Lives Matter Now Accepting Donations, Grants Through Bay Area Nonprofit IDEX


Zakir Hussain is the picture boy for the tabla. Literally, he's one of the images on the Wikipedia page for this Indian percussion instrument. As music has gone global, so has he, performing everywhere and with everybody: Yo-Yo Ma, Van Morrison, the Grateful Dead's Mickey Hart, and the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington, DC. His music has crossed genres and boundaries, from Bollywood movies to Indian folk music to jazz clubs to the Kennedy Center. He will perform with drummer Mickey Hart and another Indian legend, sitar player Niladri Kumar at Zellerbach Hall on Wednesday October 26th, hosted by Cal Performances. Niladri and Zakir also join forces on September 30th at the Green Music Center at Weill Hall in Sonoma. We chatted with Zakir while he was on tour in Saint Louis last week.

Can you describe to the uninitiated what your concert of Indian classical music will sound like?

Zakir: Actually, this has been a little bit misunderstood. One aspect of the performance will be focusing on the classical music of India, it's an important part of the evening. That's what Niladri Kumar and I do, we play traditional classical music. But we both have considerable experience and privilege to have worked with musicians of varyings genres of music across the globe. That information plus our upbringing as musicians playing in the film industry in India, has allowed us to be able to develop a contemporary and folk elements of Indian music, and embed them into our repertoire. That aspect of the music, dealing with folk element and the lighter element of contemporary music of India will also be showcased.

The icing on the cake is Mickey Hart, the Grateful Dead drummer, but also drummologist, musicologist and published author. He's going to be on stage with us for a part of the concert where we will explore based on the material that we just started to record. Mickey Hart is doing a new album, I'm co-producing it, and Niladri just did some music tracks for it a couple days ago. We'll try to recreate what we did in the studio onto the stage and have a live performance of that with Micky playing drums and his beam, an instrument that he has created, and electronic gear and everything.

The first part of the concert will be a traditional Indian classical rendition of melodic scales known as raga and rhythms known as taala. That section will represent the music as it has existed for 3,000 years. Niladri Kumar play the melody part of it, and I play the rhythm part of it, and we interact together. Like jazz, this music also depends a lot on improvising. The melody and the rhythm are set, and in that structure you take turns improvising.

Then we conclude with folk melodies of a certain region of India that we haven't picked yet. It could be the mountain region of the Himalayas, or the Eastern regions of Assam, Bengal, or the desert of India, Rajastan, melodies of these parts of Indian. There will be a folk as well as contemporary renditions of these melodies. That's how the whole concert will proceed.

You are a master of the tabla, could you explain a bit more what this instrument is?

Zakir: Tabla is a North Indian classical percussion instrument. It represents the classical repertoire of North Indian music, which goes back 3,000 years. The instrument tabla is one of the recent innovations in that field, it's only about 300 years old. It's still developing and finding its place, even though it has become the premier percussion of choice for this repertoire. That's what I represent.

Tabla is a very versatile instrument. It's a very unique percussion instrument. It has two drums, the bass and the high drum. The high drum has a pitch that is tuned to the tonic of the song that you are accompanying. If it's in E major or D minor, it will be tuned accordingly. That pitch is always present. It gives a tonal contact with the song. Aside from that, the bass drum can play all the seven notes, and you manipulate that by applying pressure to the skin of the drums. The scales are the same everywhere in the word. We still look at piano C as the middle C as a a C, and C-D-E-F-G is for us Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Dha Ni, we have the same seven notes, we have the twelve notes scales that the Western world has, with the flats and sharps.

When the tabla is tuned to the tonic or whatever pitch the songs is in, that's the high drum. The bass drum can play the melodic notes of the song, harmonically acting as an upright bass, or just playing the dominant/subdominant notes of the scale to give harmonic support to the melody player. In that sense, this instrument is very unique, it can accompany by just keeping time, or by melodic input.

To give you a basic idea, Indian rhythm as a very refined science to it. Just as the Western world has 4/4, 6/8, a clave or things like that, in Indian music, we have 360 different rhythm cycles. The shortest is 4 beats long, and the longest is 108 beats long. We have 4, 5, 6, 7, onwards, so many different cycles all the way. In that sense, the development of rhythm repertoire is a very vast and very scientifically developed system. You find very complex rhythmic ideas even in the improvising that appear in Indian music constantly.

You have performed with everybody, with Yo-Yo Ma, symphony orchestras, jazz musicians, do they get these rhythmic subtleties?

Zakir: It's probably easier for the rhythms to interact with melodies from any parts of the world. Rhythm is universal, it's keeping the beat. Clave is everywhere. It's common to first connect with each other in the rhythm and tempo, with something you can tap your feet to.

Someone like Mickey Hart has actually studied Indian rhythms and drums. The reason I met him is that he came to study with my father [ed: the great tabla player Alla Rakha, who accompanied Ravi Shankar to Woodstock], who was my teacher, and that's how we met and we connected. He has studied that part of Indian music very well, and it's much easier for us to interact in that way.

When it comes to playing with Yo-Yo Ma or Van Morrison or Charles Lloyd or Chucho Valdez or various other people, India has been open to music from the world. Lots of the music from all over the world in the 30, 40s, 50s, from Hollywood, from Europe, came to India. We were aware of people like Armando Peraza, Francisco Aguabella, Tata Guines, Airto Moreira, Jobim, or Coltrane or Duke Ellington. we were already aware of their music in india. In fact, some of their music influenced a lot of the early Bollywood film music, and we all grew up playing as session players for this music, so we had an idea to interact with it.

When I arrived in this part of the world, and keeping in mind that rhythm is universal, it was much easier to communicate with Airto Moreiro or Giovanni Hidalgo or Jack DeJohnette.

You live now in the Bay Area, how did this happen?

Zakir: I came to the Bay Area in 1970, 46 years ago. I came here because I was asked to come and teach Indian music at a music college. Mickey Hart was living in the Bay Area, so was Armando Peraza, Carlos Santana, all of us were here. I ended up connecting with them, working with them, playing in jazz sessions and various other projects. That's how I started to interact and connect with non-Indian musicians. I've been with them ever since.



The SF Symphony recently celebrated Steve Reich's 80th birthday. Do you hear Indian rhythms in his music?

Zakir: Steve Reich has been influenced by Indian music. He interacted with our great sitar player, Ravi Shankar, and got some input from him. Therefore when he composes his music, he uses Indian music and rhythms regularly in his compositions. One of the great minimalist composers that he is, his contemporary, Terry Riley, Philip Glass, are all very familiar and influenced by Indian music. You will find that their symphonic music has some similarities to Indian scale and rhythms.

You also have composed for the symphonic orchestra...

Zakir: I have written three concertos. One for three soloists, with banjo player Bela Fleck, classical bassist Edgar Meyer, we wrote it together. Then I wrote another symphony, called Aas, which means hope in Indian music. It was a concerto for 4 soloists, with 3 vocalists and myself, it was performed by the National Symphony Orchestra at the Kennedy Center, and now I've recently written a concerto for tabla and full orchestra which was premiered in Switzerland last January and will be premiered in the US by the National Symphony at the Kennedy center next April. We are in negotiation with the SF Symphony to maybe present this tabla concerto.

Are you trying to bridge American and Indian folk music when you compose for banjo?

Zakir: Yes, but at the same time, if you look closely at a banjo, it's a rhythm instrument. It plays rhythm and gives melody to these rhythmic ideas. The three fingers that pick, they come up with very complex rhythm patterns, and the left hand hold these notes in place, so you listen to these notes in very rhythmic patterns. It's very easy for me to take Indian rhythm patterns and add melody tones to it, it's not that far away. The reason why the concerto with Bela Fleck and Edgar Meyer worked well was simply because bass and banjo are both melodic and rhythmic instruments, like the tabla. It was easy for us to find common ground to write music together.

One thing I have to say is that the music is now becoming very global. It's not as simple as saying Indian music or jazz or blues or gospel or Latin percussion or Afrocuban music, there are many elements of all these music that are coming closer together. Therefore we have global music or world music ideas. What I would like to say to the audience is to come to the concert with an open mind, knowing there are musicians from India and from America playing together, the music has a universal feel to it, it has a global idea behind it. Come with an open mind and you'll have a great time. If you come hoping to listening to just Indian music or to Mickey Hart's music, then you won't have as great a time, as much fun as you should have if you come with an open mind. And even though I'm listed as Zakir Hussain the band leader, I'm not the band leader. A musician like Niladri Kumar, I don't have to lead him or tell him what to do, it's an equal concert. I'm one of the guys on the stage. Niladri and Mickey and myself are all contributing equally to the concert, and should be treated as musicians equally as we are.
In the latest in a series of high-profile departures at the San Francisco Chronicle, longtime resident curmudgeon, SFist punching bag, and ostensible common-sense columnist C.W. Nevius has announced his departure from the paper effective December 2. Former Chron staffer Carla Marinucci* broke the news on Twitter, and Nevius has yet to make any public announcement himself, on Twitter or otherwise. The reason does not appear to be retirement, but just that Nevius says he is "ready for a change." He's been with the paper 36 years.

Wow: @SFChronicle columnist @cwnevius, who's written for paper 36 yrs., announces to staff "I'm ready for a change,'' leaving paper Dec. 2  Carla Marinucci (@cmarinucci) October 12, 2016

Nevius has for years taken on a mostly anti-progressive, pro-pragmatism, anti-NIMBY, pro-police, anti-bureaucracy, pro-sit/lie, anti-nudity, anti-fun, "let's stop being left-wing ninnies and get stuff done" sort of attitude that many of his Bay Area fans find refreshing, while angering a host of others because he dares not toe the politically correct, progressive party line that often dominates the local public debate. In the last year or so he's frequently taken on the spate of large homeless encampments, generally taking the side of the mayor and the Department of Public Works that they need to be cleared once and for all. And while in most cities he'd likely be seen as a liberal and mostly reasonable voice (he's written very sensitively several times about being father to two LGBTQ children, for instance, and in support of gay marriage for over a decade), he is considered a staunch conservative by most SF measures  a label that he's encouraged with incendiary comments about drinking in Dolores Park, his disdain for sex clubs, and various other things that many of us hold near and dear.

The news of Nevius's quitting has of course already elicited some "ding dong the witch is dead" glee on Twitter  including from those who still think he lives in Walnut Creek (he actually moved into SF in 2010).

Nevius's December departure is being billed as voluntary, but it follows on some other departures of longtime voices at the paper, including Marinucci, who may or may not have wanted to leave right away. There was the departure of theater critic Robert Hurwitt earlier this year, who'd been in local theater criticism for 40 years; and the apparent forced retirement last fall of columnist Jon Carroll, who had been at the paper 33 years. And if you're keeping track, there were also recently departures of three reporters who'd been in the newsroom over a decade or more: Amanda Gold, Jaxon Vanderbeken, and Henry Lee.

Here's Nevius's most recent column, about the abandoned plan to annex Brisbane for SF.

We await his official departure announcement, and perhaps news of what he's got planned next.

Update: Here it is... and of course he jokes, "Ill pause so my sometime adversary on issues of homelessness, Jennifer Friedenbach, can begin her happy dance." He says he has no new job lined up, but writes:

The entire experience, start to finish, has been a delight. The Chronicle sent me all over the world to cover eight Olympic Games, 10 Super Bowls and other major sports events. I rode John McCains Straight Talk Express, interviewed Yoko Ono, and I know several homeless individuals by first name. And they know me. Its hard to imagine a cooler job than writing for a big-city newspaper. Its a ticket behind the scenes, a chance to talk to movers and shakers and, sometimes, an opportunity to be influential. When people ask why I am leaving, my joke is, Monday morning. Thats when Id walk up to the entrance of 901 Mission at 8:30 a.m., knowing that in four hours Id have to come up with a column for the next days paper. Although Ive done it for years, Im not beyond having sweaty palms on those days.

... Its been a long time since Ive taken one of those life-changing leaps of faith. And frankly, at 66 years old, the opportunities are dwindling. I began to think about making a dramatic change a couple of months ago, and it became more appealing the more I considered it. I dont have another job waiting, but even if nothing comes up, well be OK. Ill miss the people in the newsroom. Newspaper reporters and editors are the best sort of company. They are witty, cynical, well-read, world-weary (in the best possible way) and tellers of stories. Theres a lot of laughing in our newsroom.

#Chronicle After 36 yrs have decided to leave Chronicle. Don't know what's next (suggestions welcome) but bet it won't be 3 columns a week.  C.W. Nevius (@cwnevius) October 12, 2016

All previous Nevius coverage on SFist.



*This post has been updated to show that Carla Marinucci is no longer a Chronicle staffer.
A US Department of Justice report requested by city officials including Mayor Lee that was approved in February and released yesterday describes, in nearly 400 pages with 94 findings and 272 recommendations, a police department in need of immediate change. The speed with and extent to which that change will be undertaken, however, remains unclear: Unlike the binding reforms mandated by the civil rights division of the DOJ, which investigated police departments in Baltimore, Ferguson, and Cleveland this past year, the US Department of Justice investigation into the San Francisco Police Department was conducted by its Office of Community Oriented Policing Services. COPS recommendations are non-binding, although the office will work with SFPD over the next 18 months to assist with their implementation, and they believe the court of public opinion will hold them to it.

Specifically, while the report praises the city and SFPD for opening itself up to their investigation, it criticizes the department's inconsistent policies and training surrounding officers' use of force, further calling out officers for failing to diligently and properly document use-of-force incidents.

Per an executive summary of the report, which is available online, "Although the COPS Office found a department that is committed to making changes and working with the community, it also found a department with outdated use-of-force policies that fail the officers and the community and inadequate data collection that prevents leadership from understanding officer activities and ensure organizational accountability."

In summarizing the findings of the report, the Associated Press writes that of 550 use-of-force incidents over the past three years, 37 percent involved African American people, 35 percent involved white people, and 18 percent involved Latino people  numbers far out of proportion to the ethnic and racial makeup of San Francisco, whose black population, for example, is just 6 percent. In the past three years, there have been 11 fatal incidents involving SFPD officers. Nine of the civilians killed in those incidents have been people of color. Further, black and Latino drivers in San Francisco were disproportionately searched and arrested by police, though they were in fact less likely to be found with contraband.

But despite the bias those numbers would outwardly suggest, and two scandals among officers who sent racist and homophobic texts to one another notwithstanding, the New York Times observes that the report shies away from suggesting that SFPD officers engaged in racist policing. "We are not saying this is a result of any racial animus," the Times quotes COPS director Ronald Davis as saying. Although the report claims that "community members race or ethnicity was not significantly associated with the severity of force used or injury arising from an officers use of force," that finding is undercut by another, which is that "the SFPD does not capture sufficient data on arrest and use of force incidents to support strong scientific analysis." Managing to address the texting scandal but sidestep allegations of racism, the report refers to the horrific texts as "behavior" that should be "addressed" at an institutional level. Given the nature of the officers open and flagrant behavior,"  i.e. the racist texting scandal  "the SFPD should have considered that this may be an institutionalized problem and taken steps to address the behavior from an organizational perspective."

With 2,100 officers, the San Francisco Police Department is among the nation's largest. It is made up of 52 percent white officers, 22 percent Asian officers, 16 percent Latino officers, 9 percent black officers, and 1 percent officers of other ethnicities. This past year has not been easy for any of us, not for this department or this country, says Acting Chief Toney Chaplin to the Times. Chaplin replaced Chief Greg Suhr when he resigned his position following the SFPD shooting of Jessica Williams, a black woman who was unarmed and suspected of stealing a car, and he's been said to be a front-runner in the selection process for a new permanent chief of the department.

The climate has overshadowed many of our accomplishments and achievements," Chaplin also said. "But this climate has also made it clear that its not enough to do the normal. Meanwhile, Chaplin is vying for the permanent job as chief, and an announcement on that front is expected as soon as today.

Mayor Lee signaled his wish to enforce the the COPS recommendations to a T, writing in a press release that "the San Francisco Police Department will accept and implement every, single recommendation. We must restore trust, and these measures are important steps forward." He also cited reforms recommended in the report that are already underway and touted the deployment of officer-worn body cameras, and even turned to the pages of the Chronicle, where he penned an op-ed. There, addressing the reports double-speak surrounding bias, the mayor writes that "This report details the divide between communities of color and the police , a national phenomenon thats happening right here at home. According to the DOJ, SFPD stops and searches blacks and Latinos at a higher rate than whites. This is unacceptable and needs to stop."

At the outset of the investigation six months ago, Oakland civil rights attorney John Burris expressed optimism despite the reports non-binding element. "[The review] can have teeth is the truth of the matter," he told SFist. "It depends on the political will of the police chief and the mayor, because there will be an assessment. I spoke to the head of the division, and he told me that, though it's true they don't have enforcement policy, what they've found is that if the city in question is committed to an inward look at itself, then it can be a very positive thing for a city. At the end of the day, the accountability is up to the political leaders of the town, and if they're really interested in changing the [police] culture."

Previously: [Update] SFPD Set To Get New Chief Thursday As Feds Release Damning Review Of Department


As she was in life, Rose Pak is controversial even in death. The local political power-broker passed away in September at the age of 68, and was quickly mourned and honored by the many in San Francisco whose lives she impacted. As a means to highlight her efforts to bring the Central Subway to Chinatown, following her death the Board of Supervisors passed a resolution urging the SFMTA to name the subway's Chinatown Station after Pak. The Ingleside-Excelsior Light reports that this hasn't gone over so well with everyone, and now a group of protesters has asked the SFMTA Citizens Advisory Council to not follow the Board's recommendation  and compared the late Pak to a Nazi propagandist in the process.

Ten people attended the October SFMTA meeting to protest a possible future naming of the station after Pak, one of whom called Pak the San Francisco version of Julius Streicher. Julius Streicher was the founder and publisher of Der Sturmer, a propaganda paper in Nazi Germany.

Their complaints stem from what they believe was Pak promoting the Chinese Communist Party's view of Falun Gong  which, depending on who you ask, is either a form of meditation, a religion, or a cult. The Chinese government has outlawed the practice and prosecuted its practitioners, and the individuals speaking at the October meeting say Pak worked to keep the Falun Gong out of the citys Chinese New Years Parade. This account is partially backed up by a 2006 report in the LA Times detailing her battle with then Supervisor Chris Daly over the matter.

Keka Robinson-Luqman, the SFMTA Citizens Advisory Council secretary, informed the protesters that SFMTA doesn't actually have a policy for naming stations after people. "There is no standard [for naming the station]," the Ingleside-Excelsior Light reports Robinson-Luqman as explaining. "Stations have traditionally been named after streets, so this will be the first time [a station is named after a person].

As with the Central Subway itself, whose construction has taken years, the protest against honoring Pak with a station name will likely continue for some time.

Previously: Supes Pass Resolution Urging SFMTA To Name Chinatown Central Subway Station After Rose Pak


After 83 days and the scorching of 132,127 acres of mostly remote, forested mountains, the Soberanes Fire is finally 100 percent contained. And after two and a half weeks and nearly 4,500 acres burned, along with a dozen homes, the Loma Fire in the Santa Cruz mountains also reached 100 percent containment today, much to the relief of residents there. Both fires punctuated what has been a busy and destructive fire season in Northern California, with Loma Fire burning much faster and evading containment longer than firefighters initially expected, after breaking out on September 26 near the summit of Loma Prieta Mountain  where officials are investigating a possible illegal pot grow as the source. The Soberanes Fire, meanwhile, after burning nearly three months across some vast and not easily accessed terrain, will go down as the costliest firefight in US history, possibly exceeding $235 million. (By comparison, the Rim Fire in 2013 in the Sierra Nevadas cost $127 million to fight.)

The Soberanes Fire, sparked by an illegal campfire in Garrapata State Park on July 22, burned many miles of woodland and chaparral to its south, with the containment line reaching a total circular distance of 246 miles, as the Chronicle reports. A total of 57 homes were destroyed, but the final southerly fire lines ended up sparing the communities of Jamesburg and Tassajara Hot Springs, with the Tassajara Zen Mountain Center announcing two weeks ago that they were welcoming back students for the winter practice session.

The Monterey County section of Los Padres National Forest remains closed, as do several popular state parks along Highway 1 in Big Sur. As KSBW reports, "The only recreation sites that remain open are Plaskett Creek and Kirk Creek Campgrounds, Pfeiffer Beach, Sand Dollar Beach and Willow Creek Day Use areas."

As for the Loma Fire, which threatened as many as 300 homes, the wildfire broke out in an area of the Santa Cruz mountains that has historically been prone to fire, including another fire dubbed Loma that burned 485 acres about a mile from this one in 2009. As the the Chron notes, many residents still remember the much more devastating Lexington Fire of 1985, which burned over 14,000 acres and destroyed 23 homes.

Let's cross our fingers that this is the end of this fire season in terms of significant blazes, now that big rain is headed our way tonight. A couple of small fires are still burning, however, including the Sacata Fire in Fresno County, and the Owens River Fire in Inyo County.

All previous coverage of the Soberanes Fire on SFist.
Following reports that Soylent Food Bars, the latest product from techno-utopian meal-replacement company Soylent, were causing extreme vomiting and diarrhea in some customers, the company yesterday announced that it would stop selling the bars  effective immediately. What's more, in a blog post, the company urged consumers to toss whatever bars they've already bought.

"It has recently come to our attention that a small number of our customers have experienced gastrointestinal issues after consuming Soylent Bars," the company statement euphemistically reads. "As a precautionary measure, we are halting all Soylent Bar purchases and shipments and are advising our customers to discard any remaining bars in their possession."

This is just the latest setback for a company named after a fictitious food-product that partially consisted of people, and not even the first one involving, shall we say, digestion issues. In 2014 the company reformatted its flagship product to try and cut back on all the flatulence. What's more, last year Soylent was forced to delay shipments of its 2.0 drink (yes, that's what they called it) after mold was discovered in some bottles.

That the company has suspended shipments and is offering a full refund for products already purchased suggests that this problem may be larger than just a few farts, however. Indeed, descriptions of symptoms experienced by some after eating the bars are possibly enough to scare one off any iteration of the product for good. "I am literally sitting on the throne right now shitting my brains out for the fourth time in a month after eating 1 bar each day I got sick," one such customer explained on Reddit. Fool you once, shame on Soylent. Fool you four times, though?

Soylent devotees, for the time being, will just have to go back to drinking all of their meals. Chewing takes too long anyway.

Related: 'Silicon Valley' Star Teams Up With Soylent In Mocking Promotional Stunt
STORM LAKE, Iowa | A Storm Lake, Iowa man faces felony charges for sexually abusing a juvenile, police say.

Miguel Saldana-Ortiz, 33, was charged with eight counts of third degree sexual abuse and one count of second degree sexual abuse, all felonies, as well as lascivious conduct with a minor, a misdemeanor.

A press release issued by the Storm Lake Police Department said a juvenile female alleged Saldana-Ortiz sexually assaulted her over a 10 year period.

The victim and her three siblings were placed in protective foster care.

Saldana-Ortiz was arrested Wednesday.

The release said many more incidents occurred than what is reflected in the charges.
SIOUX CITY | More than 2,400 6th graders, teachers, chaperones and parents are estimated to attend Music that Moves presented by the Sioux City Symphony at the Orpheum Theatre 9:30 a.m. Thursday.

To accommodate the parking of almost 50 buses from 30 different schools, Pierce Street in front of the theatre will be blocked off. Also, there will be closures of lanes around the intersection of Sixth and Pierce streets, a press release said.
STORM LAKE, Iowa | The race for Iowa House District 11 could be a key test of the growing influence of Latino voters in the state.

Republican Rep. Gary Worthan, a Storm Lake area farmer, is vying for his fifth, two-year term in the Republican-leaning district, which covers Buena Vista and Sac counties. Worthan is opposed by former Storm Lake City Councilwoman Sara Huddleston, a Democrat, who was the first Latina elected to public office in Iowa.

Republicans outnumber active Democrats 7,292 to 4,302 in the district, while 18,571 voters are registered as no party in the district. according to the most recent numbers from the Iowa Secretary of States Office.

Here is a look at the two candidates.

Name: Sara Huddleston

Party: Democrat

Age: 50

Residence: Storm Lake

Occupation: Research Project Contractor for Human Development and Families with Iowa State University Extension.

Electoral experience: Huddleston is a former Storm Lake City Council member who served three consecutive terms. She was the first Latina elected to public office in the state. During that time, she served as a member of the Lake Improvement Commission, and served as a member of the board of appeals for the city.

Then-Gov. Tom Vilsack appointed Huddleston to the Latino Affairs Commission. She also sat on the Iowa State Empowerment board and was a member of the Iowa State University Extension Board.

Two Main Issues for 2016:

1. Education: Huddleston said she would like to make K-12 schools the number one priority in Iowa, and she wants to try to keep higher education affordable and accessible to Iowans.

2. Economic Development: Land, Water & Clean Energy: Huddleston said she would like to encourage more production and use of renewable energy in the state. She said she would also like to expand Iowa's Nutrient Reduction Strategy to improve water quality. She also said she would like to focus state resources on small business, start-ups, and entrepreneurs-including those run by minorities and women, so they can grow and create jobs.

Why Vote For Me: "I have local government experience, integrity and commitment to do what is right. There are critical issues have been ignored at the State house," Huddleston said in an email. "We need to work together to get things done. Iowa is my home, and I believe there is a moral obligation to do what we can to help all Iowans. I can represent everyone regardless of color, gender or age."
SIOUX CITY | Police have arrested second man on tampering with a witness charges in connection to a Monday assault meant to keep another man from testifying in court.

Sioux City Police arrested Craig David Michtel, 28, of Sioux City, early Wednesday morning on charges of willful injury and tampering with a witness.

According to court documents, Michtel and two others had confronted a man in the 500 block of 14th Street around 11:20 p.m. Monday, demanding the man not to testify against Michtel's brother in a case regarding a previous assault.

Documents say Michtel and another one of the subjects intimidated the man, threatening him with a brick. When the man stood up to try and defend himself, documents say one of the other subjects threw a brick at him. The brick struck the man in the head, damaging his ear and ripping it in half, documents say.

Documents did not specify which aggressor through the brick.

Early Tuesday morning, police arrested Kegan Lee Morris, 27, also of Sioux City, on assault and tampering with a witness charges connected with the same incident. Michtel was arrested early Tuesday morning.

Lt. Pat McCann with the Sioux City Police Department said authorities are continuing to look for the third person involved.

Michtel is being held in the Woodbury County Jail on $5,000 bond. His next court appearance is 9 a.m. Oct. 21.
SIOUX CITY | Voters in Iowa's 4th District won't have the opportunity this fall to see the district's two congressional candidates air issues in side-by-side fashion.

Incumbent Rep. Steve King, R-Kiron, has nixed a public debate with his Democratic opponent, Democrat Kim Weaver of Sheldon.

In an interview with the Journal, King said he considered debating Weaver, but determined he had no compelling reason to take part, since people are already well versed in his issues on positions.

"There's no upside to it. There is nothing to be learned or gained," King told the Journal. "People know where I stand. I don't have people coming up to me, and saying, 'Where are you on Obamacare, where are you on national defense or border security?' "

Weaver, an ombudsman for a state office that oversees long-term care, is making her first run for elective office, while King is seeking his eighth, two-year term.

Weaver's team had sought up to three debates prior to the Nov. 8 election. Weaver's campaign manager David Kelso on Wednesday said King refusing to debate "is pretty gutless."

"He's the congressional equivalent of the municipal worker caught sleeping in his truck on the side of the road. He's exactly the kind of politician that term limits were made for. His refusal to stand up like a man and make his case for why he deserves an eighth term is pretty disgraceful," Kelso said in a statement to the Journal.

Weaver also took King to task for his no-debate stance.

"The political consultants, which his Tea Party followers hate, would say he has everything to lose and nothing to gain. Making this, politically speaking, a smart move for someone thinking only of himself. But a debate isn't for him, and it isn't for me, it's for the voters of the 4th District. That's why I find his refusal to debate incredibly disrespectful," Weaver said.

An Iowa Public Television official confirmed there was an attempt to host a 4th District debate this year, but it didn't pan out.

King said he's never met Weaver and declined to assess her candidacy.

"I've never really formed an opinion. She's free to run for Congress and free to get her message out," he said.

King, a seven-term incumbent, has eschewed public debates in past election cycles. In his 2004, 2006, 2008 and 2010 re-elections, he did not debate his Democratic opponents. The Republican shifted gears to debate former Iowa first lady Christie Vilsack in 2012, and also squared off in a 2014 debate with Democrat Jim Mowrer.

For the first time in his 14-year career in the House, King faced a Republican challenge this year from state Sen. Rick Bertrand of Sioux City. In a forum co-sponsored by the Journal at Morningside College, King and Bertrand took part in a televised debate four days before the June 7 primary, where King cruised to victory.

The 4th District covers 39 Northwest and North Central Iowa counties.
SIOUX CITY | With the Nov. 8 election less than a month away, election officials in Woodbury County this week started testing voting machines to make sure they accurately record voters' choices for president and a number of state and local offices.

The county has 52 ballot-counting machines and 46 auto-mark machines-- for the hearing and sight impaired, Auditor and Commissioner of Elections Pat Gill said. Each machine, purchased 10 years at $5,000 a piece, is normally stored in the basement of the courthouse.

Starting Monday, election officials, using sample ballots, have been filling out every possible combination of choices voters could make. After running the ballots through counting machines, they then verify the printed results.

"At a minimum, we run 75 ballots" through each machine, said Steve Hofmeyer, the county's deputy commissioner of elections.

Hofmeyer said when a machine reads a ballot, it then separates the ballots that have strictly votes for registered candidates on the left in the machine's holding cabinet, and puts ballots with write-ins on the right.

"We run them through face-up, face-down, head-first, foot-first, to make sure they sort properly," Hofmeyer said.

At each of the 44 precincts in the county, there is one ballot-counting machine and one auto-mark machine. There are eight backup ballot counters, and two spare auto-markers, Gill said.

Then, once the machine tests accurately, two staff members sign the results while still in the machine's result dispenser, and the paper is cut diagonally-- splitting the signatures. The signed paper is left in the dispenser until election day to verify the machine has not been tampered with since the testing. Hofmeyer said that in every election-- whether it's for school board, city council or a special election in the county-- the machines go through the same testing process.

BIG TURNOUT FORECAST

Hofmeyer said the auditor's office has been "bombed" with processing mailed absentee ballots, as well as ballots from early voting that is taking place in the courthouse rotunda. He said that those premature ballots will be counted the Monday before the election, and the results will be sealed in a sealed affidavit envelope until election day.

When the polls close at 9 p.m. on election day, the verification of the results is checked multiple times, before it is certified.

"At the end of (election) night, the results tape is printed out and then (election workers) call the unofficial results to us so we can get them...right away, but then there is an election card inside each machine and we have guys with the sheriff's department run out on routes and pick all of those up so I can download them into the computer," Hofmeyer said. "It's still considered unofficial, but I can download them and upload them to the Secretary of State's Office that night. It still remains unofficial until the Woodbury County Board of Supervisors does their canvas of the election a week later."

The budgeted cost for this year's election is $257,000, Gill said, for what he predicts will be one of the biggest voter turnouts in the county's history. And, after this year's election, he said the county will look into purchasing more updated equipment with the $500,000 that is budgeted. Gill said since there is a highly combative presidential election at hand, there will be a turnout of over the typical 45,000 people in a presidential election year.

"We have been looking at possibly thinking about getting (new voting equipment) this year before the general election," Hofmeyer said. "But when I talked with Pat he said maybe since it is possibly the biggest general election we've had, we probably shouldn't spring new equipment out."

Since results are collected by precinct and some districts overlap, there are 73 different ballot styles in the county, Gill said.

Hillary Clinton and every Democrat running for office will have their name listed first on ballots. That is because, under Iowa law, it is up to the auditor for each county to choose the order, and Gill, is a Democrat.

TOO LATE FOR CHANGES

Recently, some Republican leaders have called for their presidential nominee, Donald Trump, to step down from the candidacy after he made crude comments about women on a live microphone that was released on Friday. He has since denounced to step down, but, even if he does, his name will still be on the ballot.

"We are past the deadline for anybody to withdraw from the ballot," Hofmeyer said. "If for some reason he did withdraw, or the party talked him into stepping down, his name would still be on the ballot. There is no way we can go back and change it now. It would have to be a write-in. Likewise, we are passed the point to add anybody to the ballot."
We have shared criticisms in this space about the Department of Veterans Affairs since a national scandal erupted two years ago over waits at VA hospitals, including stories about veterans who died waiting to see a doctor.

In an Aug. 28 editorial, we revisited those criticisms of the national VA system in the wake of a New York Times story detailing how the VA reform bill signed into law by President Obama in 2014 - the Veterans Access, Choice and Accountability Act - is falling short of expectations in a variety of ways.

It's clear systemic problems persist and more work is necessary within the VA to raise the level of overall care for the men and women who served our country in uniform.

Today, though, we give credit where credit is due by praising a VA decision.

Last month, VA officials announced construction of a new clinic on West Anchor Drive in Dakota Dunes at a cost of several million dollars. The 25,000-square-foot clinic will be three times the size of the clinic it will replace at 1551 Indian Hills Drive.

Key advantages to the new clinic include an ability to serve more veterans; an expanded menu of services, including the addition of optometry and radiology; and proximity to other health care facilities.

"This is the biggest clinic we will have ever built in the Sioux Falls system," Darwin Goodspeed, director of the Sioux Falls VA Health Care System, said during a Sept. 20 town hall meeting with veterans. "And it is going to have more services than any other clinic we have."

The new clinic, which is expected to open within the next year, will serve veterans in Woodbury, Plymouth and Cherokee counties in Iowa; Dakota and Dixon counties in Nebraska; and Clay and Union counties in South Dakota.

We commend the VA for taking a step we view as a clear winner for Siouxland vets.
The response on both sides of the political aisle to a decade-old, privately recorded conversation of Donald Trump reveals a level of hypocrisy in our culture that is truly staggering. While the words and content of the conversation were neither appropriate nor supportable, their significance absolutely pale in comparison to the gross abuse of power by both Clintons while in office.

Donald Trump makes inappropriate jokes about sexual conquest (clearly trying to impress someone); Bill Clinton practices sexual conquest, with a junior intern, in a clear abuse of power. Trump has flaws like every one of us and has acknowledged that he indeed made a mistake; Bill Clinton had at least one actual inappropriate sexual relationship that he repeatedly lied about - ultimately perjuring himself - and Hillary Clinton chose to attack his victims. Where was the outrage and condemnation by the very same people calling for Trump to quit for words? Dont actions speak louder than words?

While Hillary Clinton was secretary of state, the Clinton Foundation took many millions of dollars from foreign entities, clearly a massive conflict of interest; there was her intentional use of an unsecured, private email server and handling of highly classified email; Hillarys (and President Obamas) policies and fraudulent, failed response in Benghazi led to the death of Americans; and the list goes on and on and on.

Her actions have all had real consequences for the nation, yet the press (and self-righteous elites) would have us believe that the past words of Donald Trump are the paramount issue. - Kevin Alons, Salix, Iowa
SIOUX CITY | Students at a pair of elementary schools in the Riverside area remained indoors late Thursday morning as local authorities searched for a man suspected of stealing a car from Council Bluffs.

Capt. Tony Wingert of the Woodbury County Sheriff's Office said a pursuit began around 11:30 a.m. Thursday along Interstate 29 when a deputy attempted to stop a car that had been reported stolen out of Council Bluffs.

Wingert said the deputy followed the car onto the Riverside exit, and the vehicle stopped at a Casey's where a female jumped out. The vehicle then continued traveling to Billy Boy Drive Thru, 2328 Riverside Blvd., where the driver jumped out and fled on foot.

The suspect was wearing a black hoodie and a camouflage cap and is in his mid-to-late 20s, Wingert said.

Woodbury deputies and Sioux City Police officers responded to the area and began searching with a K-9. Authorities discontinued the search after the K-9 lost the scent, Wingert said.

Sacred Heart Elementary, 5010 Military Road, went under "lockout" around 11:30 a.m. after school officials saw law enforcement vehicles in the vicinity, said principal Kate Connealy. Connealy said the students are not going outdoors for physical education classes or recess.

She said the Sheriff's Department told her the school was not believed to be under any threat from the suspect.

Students at Riverside Elementary, 2303 Riverside Blvd., were also initially brought indoors from recess when news of the pursuit reached school officials.

The Woodbury County Sheriff's Department this afternoon warned of a suspect on the loose in the area, advising people to lock their cars and report suspicious people in the area.

Wingert said the female passenger, who was located at the Riverside Casey's, was not arrested.
SIOUX CITY | With positive feedback from the addition of a Dallas-Fort Worth flight earlier this year, airport officials told the Sioux City Council they hope to add more flights as early as next year.

Adding more flights to Chicago and Dallas and a connection to third hub tops a list of yearlong goals shared with the council during a joint meeting with the Sioux Gateway Airport Board of Trustees Wednesday afternoon.

Assistant City Manager Mike Collett said the occupancy rate on American Airlines' new flights to Dallas-Fort Worth flights topped 80 percent during the first four months. American began flying a 50-seat regional jet to and from the Texas cities once daily in early May.

"That's pretty strong," he said of the Dallas flights. "I think it started out stronger than we thought it would for a new service."

Collett said the airport is eyeing a federal grant in late spring or early summer of 2017 that could provide some financial incentives to start a new route.

"We really think the demand is there," he said.

Airport board president Darrell Jesse added that the airport continues to actively seek out opportunities.

"We do twice a year go out and try to market," Jesse said. "We're out there looking, obviously, to Denver, Phoenix type of flights."

After the meeting Wednesday, Collett said a few moves up for discussion would include adding a second Dallas-Fort Worth flight or adding a flight to a western destination.

"We always want to go west," he said. "We're still missing that one piece of a direct connection."

During Wednesday's meeting, the board and council also discussed an anticipated $26 million reconstruction of Sioux Gateway Airport's secondary runway. The project, which would refurbish the aging runway, is slated to be designed this year and would take two more years to construct.

The asphalt on the current runway is about 20 years old, and the base is more than 50 years old, according to city documents.

The Federal Aviation Administration will cover 90 percent, or $23.4 million, of the price tag, with the city planning to build the remaining $2.6 million into its upcoming capital improvement program.

Collett said the grants and city funding will still require approval.
WASHINGTON -- Five U.S. senators sent a letter to President Barack Obama Thursday asking that his administration halt construction of the Dakota Access pipeline proposed in Iowa and three other states until affected tribes are consulted and a full environmental review is conducted.

The letter was signed by Sens. Bernie Sanders, a Vermont independent, and Democrats Patrick Leahy of Vermont, Dianne Feinstein of California, Ben Cardin of Maryland and Ed Markey of Massachusetts.

In light of the decision of the Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit to reject the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe's request for a temporary halt to construction, the projects current permits should be suspended and all construction stopped until a complete environmental and cultural review has been completed for the entire project, the senators wrote.

Over the past several weeks, hundreds of Native American tribes have mobilized to draw attention to the pipelines encroachment on sacred lands, bringing about a groundswell of opposition to the project.

Until there has been full and meaningful tribal consultation, all pipeline permits and easements should be revoked or denied, the senators added in their joint letter.

The federal Department of Justice, U.S. Department of the Interior and Army Corps of Engineers previously requested that the pipeline company, Energy Transfer Partners, halt construction while an environmental and cultural impact review was conducted. The pipeline company declined to stop the project, and a federal circuit court gave a partial emergency injunction to halt construction.

After hearing the full injunction argument, the court denied the Standing Rock Sioux tribes request to halt the project, a ruling that was affirmed Saturday by a federal appeals court.

The senators made their appeal Thursday for Obama to order the Army Corps to conduct a full review of the pipeline.

If there is one profound lesson that indigenous people have taught us, it is that all of us as human beings are part of nature, the senators wrote. We will not survive if we continue to destroy nature.

Iowas U.S. senators did not agree with their colleagues, however.

Asked if President Obama halt the pipelines construction, Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, said I think not. I consider pipelines more safe than travel by train because of all the accidents weve had.

Its probably OK for us to review the processes in the Department of Interior and whatever the agencies are, including the Army Corps of Engineers  but I dont know how you can retroactively go back once all this money was invested based on the government doing what it said. So No. 1, a federal judge has backed that up and secondly, based not on my judgment, but I have to have deference to the agencies of North Dakota, South Dakota and Illinois that said it ought to move ahead.

Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, noted the federal government does not have jurisdiction over the siting of domestic oil pipelines like the Dakota Access project, saying it was approved by the Iowa Utilities Board, which imposed certain terms and conditions to protect landowners.

In addition, she said, the Dakota Access project has followed all the appropriate guidelines as it relates to the Clean Water Act, Endangered Species Act, the National Historic Preservation Act, and the National Environmental Policy Act.

Two courts now have denied the injunction requested by the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, Ernst added. In light of these facts, it is time for the White House and Senate Democrats to put an end to their big government intervention in matters that states and courts have the authority to resolve.

Also Thursday, representatives of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe sent a separate letter to the president highlight 19 U.S. city governments that have passed resolutions or written letters opposing construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline.

To date, the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe has been joined by millions of supporters from across the nation and world, more than 300 tribes and several members of Congress in its fight to stop construction of the 1,134-mile pipeline which threatens the Tribes lands, waters and sacred places.

The pipeline threatens the lives of more than 17 million people who get their water from the Missouri River, said Dave Archambault II, chairman of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe in North Dakota. Millions stand with us in opposition to this destructive pipeline.

According to tribal officials, the Obama administration has several options, including denying all easements for the pipeline or declaring sacred lands along the pipeline route to be a cultural district eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places. At a minimum, Archambault said, the tribe urges the administration to analyze all potential impacts of the proposed project, as well as alternatives to the proposal, to prepare a full environmental impact statement.

Dakota Access, a Texas-based company, is in the process of building an underground pipeline slated to span 1,134 miles from the Bakken oil field in northwestern North Dakota, through South Dakota and Iowa, to a distribution hub in Illinois. Dozens of protesters have been arrested in Iowa along the 346 miles of pipeline crossing 18 counties from northwest to southeast.
DES MOINES | Steve King does not believe the international trade deal the Trans-Pacific Partnership will be approved by Congress when federal lawmakers finish their years work after the Nov. 8 election.

King, the Republican Congressman from western Iowa, said Thursday that Democratic President Barack Obama and Republican U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan want to approve the trade deal before a new president and Congress arrive in Washington in January.

But King said he does not think the men have the political clout to convince Congress to approve the trade deal. He said Obamas influence wanes as the end of his second term grows closer, and that Ryans influence has been weakened by his recent statement that he will not campaign for the partys presidential candidate Donald Trump.

King made the remarks Thursday during his appearance at the Greater Des Moines Partnerships federal candidate series.

I dont think Paul Ryan has the capital that he might have had because of this friction within the party thats clear, I think, to everybody today, and I think the presidents without a doubt losing political capital by the day, King said. So I dont think theyve got the juice to push it through Congress, and because of that I dont think it comes up (for a vote).

King, who is running for re-election against Democrat Kim Weaver, did not say whether he supports the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal, but said he supports trade in general terms, so long as it does not include mandates on immigration or climate change.

Weaver is not scheduled to speak at the Greater Des Moines Partnerships federal candidate series. The organization is a coalition of central Iowa economic and community development organizations.
SIOUX CITY | The first residents have moved into a new Sioux City apartment complex that's on schedule for completion next fall, according to company officials.

Representatives of the Lincoln, Nebraska-based Perry Reid Properties unveiled the first of eight buildings Wednesday at Summit at Sunnybrook, a planned 225-unit apartment development located along the northeast corner of Sunnybrook Drive and Christy Road.

City officials had the opportunity to tour one of the new apartments as part of a ribbon-cutting ceremony.

"They're very well-done," Mayor Bob Scott said. "It's really exciting to think that we're building apartments in Sioux City again, because we've gone so long without building any, especially market rate."

The complex will include eight buildings total: three with 25 units and five with 30 units. Planned amenities include individual parking garages, a clubhouse and a pool.

Residents moved into the first completed building in mid-September, according to a Perry Reid Apartments representative. Twenty-two of the 25 units in the first building are currently leased.

The second building is slated to be finished Nov. 1, with the third building expected to be complete in the first week of January. About 60 percent of the second building and 30 percent of the third have been leased.

All buildings are expected to be complete by this time next year.

Since the units' announcement in 2015, the addition of the 225 units has been applauded by city officials as a much-needed boost in rental housing.

Sioux City this year is on a near-record pace for housing, according to the number of building permits issued for housing units by the city.
We want to know what you think about the movies. You can Tweet us your reviews @scweekender or share them on Facebook, facebook.com/siouxcityweekender. We'll pick the best comments on Monday before the next Weekender. Here are this week's movies:

The Birth of a Nation

Starring: Nate Parker, Armie Hammer

Story: A slave named Nat Turner, who preaches in the antebellum South, organizes and leads a rebellion.

Rated: R for disturbing violent content, and some brief nudity

Verdict: Your movie review could go here. Tweet us @scweekender

The Girl on the Train

Starring: Emily Blunt, Luke Evans

Story: A woman, recently divorced, becomes entangled in an investigation involving a missing persons.

Rated: R for violence, sexual content, language and nudity

Verdict: Your movie review could go here. Tweet us @scweekender

Middle School: The Worst Years of My Life

Starring: No one you know

Story: A teen's imagination is stunted by middle school rules, so the comes up with a plan to break them all.

Rated: PG for rude humor throughout, language and thematic elements

Verdict: Your movie review could go here. Tweet us @scweekender

Masterminds

Starring: Zach Galifianakis, Kristin Wiig

Story: A gang of idiots try to pull off one of the biggest bank heists in history. The only problem is... they're idiots.

Rated: PG-13 for crude and sexual humor, some language and violence

Verdict: Your movie review could go here. Tweet us @scweekender

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children

Starring: Eva Green, Asa Butterfield

Story: A boy finds an orphanage full of residents with special powers, which may help him uncover a mystery.

Rated: PG-13 for intense sequences of fantasy action/violence and peril

Verdict: Your movie review could go here. Tweet us @scweekender

Deepwater Horizon

Starring: Markie Mark, Kate Hudson

Story: The true story of an offshore drilling rig that exploded in 2010 and caused the most devastating oil spill in U.S. history.

Rated: PG-13 for prolonged intense disaster sequences and related disturbing images, and brief strong language

Verdict: Your movie review could go here. Tweet us @scweekender

The Magnificent Seven

Starring: Denzel Washington, Chris Pratt

Story: Seven gunmen are hired by poor villagers in order to fight off a gang of murderous thieves.

Rated: PG-13 for extended and intense sequences of Western violence, historical smoking, some language and suggestive material

Verdict: MagnifSeven lies between popcorn film & more complex Western flicks. Dialect not true to 1870s. Still recommend, rousing. -@SCJBretH

Storks

Starring: Some birds, maybe a baby or two

Story: Storks have stopped delivering babies and decide to deliver packages, but the transition isn't quite that easy.

Rated: PG for mild action and some thematic elements

Verdict: Your movie review could go here. Tweet us @scweekender

Goat

Starring: Mostly humans, no goats

Story: A freshman pledges the same fraternity as his older brother, but the initiations and hazing are testing his willpower and sanity.

Rated: R for disturbing behavior involving hazing, strong sexual content and nudity, pervasive language, violence, alcohol abuse and some drug use

Verdict: Your movie review could go here. Tweet us @scweekender

Snowden

Starring: Joseph Gordon Levitt, Shailene Woodley

Story: The true and personal story of NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden, who leaked classified information, is revealed.

Rated: R for language and some sexuality/nudity

Verdict: Your movie review could go here. Tweet us @scweekender
QUOTES BY JEWS

In Russia there comes the hope of the world, not as that sometimes termed of the communistic, or Bolshevik, no; but freedom,freedom! That each man will live for his fellow man! The principle has been born. It will take years for it to be crystallized, but out of Russia comes again the hope of the world. ~ Edgar Cayce, 1944, No. 3976-29



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These pro-Israel people like pledges: they tried to force me to sign a pledge of loyalty to Israel. When I refused, it was trench warfare, hand to hand combat every day I was in the Congress, and the U.S. people never knew that I was fighting to remain independent for them. To make real peace and to find real justice. Here, they have the whole of the U.S. government making pledges to them!!! Unbelievable. ~ Cynthia McKinney, PhD

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The Talmud is to this day the circulating hearts blood of the Jewish religion. Whatever laws, customs or ceremonies we observe ~ whether we are Orthodox, Conservative, Reform or merely spasmodic sentimentalists ~ we follow the Talmud. It is our common law. ~ Herman Wouk

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Those who are incapable of attaining to supreme religious values include the black colored people and those who resemble them in their climates. Their nature is like the mute animals. Their level among existing things is below that of a man and above that of a monkey. ~ Maimonides

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All of the anxious sighing, longing and hoping of their hearts is directed to the time when some day they would like to deal with us heathen as they dealt with the heathen in Persia at the time of Esther. ~ Martin Luther

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WORDS AND WARNINGS OF WICKEDNESS



"If [Jews] are as wise as they claim to be, they will labour to make Jews American, instead of labouring to make America Jewish. The genius of the United States of America is Christian in the broadest sense, and its destiny is to remain Christian. This carries no sectarian meaning with it, but relates to a basic principle which differs from other principles in that it provides for liberty with morality, and pledges society to a code of relations based on fundamental Christian conceptions of human rights and duties." ~ Henry Ford



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It doesnt even enter their heads to build up a Jewish state in Palestine for the purpose of living there; all they want is a central organization for their international world swindle, endowed with its own sovereign rights and removed from the intervention of other states: a haven for convicted scoundrels and a university for budding crooks. ~ Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf, Chapter 11

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The real God of the Universe does not have Chosen in the first place because he is perfect as we understand and predilection is a human weakness. The Jews invented the OT to fool humanity as always. The real God of the Universe does not send any body to kill, destroy his own creation, to rape, to maim, to create misery and havoc on other people. Dont you get it? the God in the OT is a monster, is another one of the many Gods in the dessert, those sacrifices offered to God are Satanic as their name and the Jews keep offering sacrifices to their God. Last year they immolated thousands of human beings in Gaza to their God Baal, Moloch, Azazel, Satan, Lucifer. ~Isaas, TUT

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"I had been asked to sign a pledge for Israel when I first became a candidate for Congress and after refusing to do so my congressional career became trench warfare, hand to hand combat just to remain in the congress.



Ever since my refusal to sign that pledge for Israel the pro-Israel lobby let me know that my political net was in the hangman's noose it was the pro-Israel lobby they decided to tighten that noose." ~ Cynthia McKinney

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"Himself a Jew, Marx has around him, in London and France, but especially in Germany, a multitude of more or less clever, scheming, agile, speculating Jews ~ such as Jews are everywhere: commercial or banking agents, writers, politicians, reporters for newspapers of all shades, with one foot in the bank and the other in the socialist movement, and with their arses sitted upon the German daily press ~ they have taken possession of all the newspapers ~ and you can imagine what kind of sickening literature they produce. Now, this entire Jewish world, which glut a single profiteering sect, a nation of blooksuckers, a single gluttonous parasite closely and intimately interlinked not only across national borders, but across all differences of political opinion ~ this Jewish world today stands for the most part at the disposal of Marx and, at the same time, at the disposal of Rothschild.

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This may seem strange. What can there be in common between Communism and the largest banks? Ho-ho! The Communism of Marx seeks an enormous centralization of the state, and where such exists, there must inevitably be a central state bank, and where such a bank exists, the parasitic Jewish nation, which profiteers from the labour of others, will always find a way to prevail. In reality, for the proletariat, this would be a barrack regime, under which the working men and the working women, converted into a uniform mass, would rise, fall asleep, work, and live at the beat of the drum." ~ Bakunin (1814-1876)

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We entered the synagogue, which was packed with the greatest stinking bunch of humanity I have ever seen. When we got about halfway up, the head rabbi, who was dressed in a fur hat similar to that worn by Henry VIII of England and in a surplice heavily embroidered and very filthy, came down and met the General (Eisenhower)...The smell was so terrible that I almost fainted and actually about three hours later lost my lunch as the result remembering it." ~ General Patton in Germany, diary entry Sept 17, 1945

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The U.S. Congress officially recognized the Noahide Laws in legislation that was passed by both houses. Congress and the President of the U. S., George Bush, indicated in Public Law 102-14, 102nd Congress, that the United States of America was founded upon the Seven Universal Laws of Noah, and that these Laws have been the bedrock of society from the dawn of civilization. They also acknowledged that the Seven Laws of Noah are the foundation upon which civilization stands and that recent weakening of these principles threaten the fabric of civilized society, and that justified preoccupation in educating the Citizens of the U.S. of America and future generations is needed. For this purpose, this Public Law designated March 26, 1991 as Education Day.

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Marxism, to which all branches of Socialism necessarily adhere, was originated by Jew Karl Marx, himself of rabbinical descent and has been dominated by them from the beginning. Marx did not actually originate anything; he merely streamlined Talmudism for Gentile consumption. ~ Elizabeth Dilling

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Every time anyone says that Israel is our only friend in the Middle East, I cant help but think that before Israel, we had no enemies in the Middle East. ~ Fr. John Sheehan, S.J.

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The cruel canard anti-Semitic does not apply for many reasons, not the least of which is the simple fact that the slanderous word itself is derived from language games for purposes of propaganda and in real world context has no validity. ~ Tom Valentine

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Follow the path of the unsafe, independent thinker.

Expose your ideas to the dangers of controversy.

Speak your mind and fear less the label of 'crackpot'

than the stigma of conformity.

And on issues that seem important to you,

Stand up and be counted at any cost.

~ Thomas J Watson (1874-1956)

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'There is no such thing, at this date of the world's history, in America, as an independent press. You know it and I know it. The business of the Journalist is to destroy truth; to lie outright; to pervert; to vilify; to fawn at the feet of mammon, and to sell his country and his race for his daily bread. You know it and I know it and what folly is this toasting an independent press? We are the tools and vassals for rich men behind the scenes. We are the jumping jacks, they pull the strings and we dance. Our talents, our possibilities and our lives are all the property of other men. We are intellectual prostitutes.' ~ John Swinton, former Chief of Staff, The New York Times, 1953

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WHAT TALMUDICS THINK

Historically, Jews had always thrived in nations and empires with multicultural, pluralistic and tolerant environments, while they fared badly in strong ethnic or nationalistic societies. European Jews have always been the emblematic stranger or other. Therefore, by definition, a society where the stranger is welcome is good for the Jews, although they have not always appreciated this link. The future of European Jewry is dependent on our ability to shape a multicultural, pluralistic and diverse society. ~ Goran Rosenberg, Jewish author and journalist

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American Jews are committed to cultural tolerance because of their belief ~ one firmly rooted in history ~ that Jews are safe only in a society acceptant of a wide range of attitudes and behaviors, as well as a diversity of religious and ethnic groups. It is this belief, for example, not approval of homosexuality, that leads an overwhelming majority of U.S. Jews to endorse gay rights and to take a liberal stance on most other so-called social issues. ~ Charles Silberman, Jewish writer and journalist

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The Jew  Judaizes  he provokes religious indifference, but he also imposes on those whose faith he destroys, his own concept of the world, of morality, and of human life. The Jews detests the spirit of the nation in the midst of which they live. ~ Bernard Lazare

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We will legally define the Talmud as the basis of the Israeli legal system. ~ Benjamin Netanyahu

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"Anti-Communism is Antisemitism." ~ Jewish Voice, July ~ August 1941.

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We Jews, we, the destroyers, will remain the destroyers forever. Nothing that you will do will meet our needs and demands. We will forever destroy because we need a world of our own. ~ Maurice Samuels, You Gentiles. 1942.

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According to the Talmud...."...When the serpent came unto Eve, he infused filthy lust in her (but) when Israel stood on Sinai, that lust was eliminated" ~ Talmud, Abodah Zarah 22b

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As monstrous as it may seem, we are engaged in close combat between Israel and the Nations ~ and it can only be genocidal and total because it is about our and their identities. ~ Yitzhak Attia, Israel Magazine, April 2003

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"Some may call it Communism, but I call it what it is: Judaism." ~ Rabbi Stephen Weiss.

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It was hard for Satan alone to mislead the whole world, so he appointed prominent rabbis in different localities. ~ A Chasidic saying attributed to Nahman of Bratzlav, early 19th century

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It is our duty to force all mankind to accept the seven Noahide laws, and if not ~ they will be killed." ~ Rabbi Yitzhak Ginsburg

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"The Jews are called human beings, but the non-Jews are not humans. They are beasts." ~ Talmud: Baba mezia, 114b

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"The Akum (non-Jew) is like a dog. Yes, the scripture teaches to honor the the dog more than the non-Jew." ~ Ereget Raschi Erod. 22 30

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"Even though God created the non-Jew they are still animals in human form. It is not becoming for a Jew to be served by an animal. Therefore he will be served by animals in human form." ~ Midrasch Talpioth, p. 255, Warsaw 1855

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Dear World, "I understand that you are upset by us here in Israel. Indeed, it appears you are very upset, even angry. Soit is because we became so upset over upsetting you, dear world, that we decided to leave you ~ and establish a Jewish State. ~ Rabbi Meir Kahane, 1988

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"A pregnant non-Jew is no better than a pregnant animal." ~ Coschen hamischpat 405

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"The souls of non-Jews come from impure sprits and are called pigs." ~ Jalkut Rubeni gadol 12b

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"Although the non-Jew has the same body structure as the Jew, they compare with the Jew like a monkey to a human." ~ Schene luchoth haberith, p. 250 b

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"If you eat with a Gentile, it is the same as eating with a dog." ~ Tosapoth, Jebamoth 94b

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"If a Jew has a non-Jewish servant or maid who dies, one should not express sympathy to the Jew. You should tell the Jew: "God will replace 'your loss', just as if one of his oxen or asses had died." ~ Jore dea 377, 1

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"Sexual intercourse between Gentiles is like intercourse between animals." ~ Talmud Sanhedrin 74b

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"It is permitted to take the body and the life of a Gentile." ~ Sepher ikkarim III c 25

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"It is the law to kill anyone who denies the Torah. The Christians belong to the denying ones of the Torah." ~ Coschen hamischpat 425 Hagah 425. 5

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"A heretic Gentile you may kill outright with your own hands." ~ Talmud, Abodah Zara, 4b

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"Every Jew, who spills the blood of the godless (non-Jews), is doing the same as making a sacrifice to God." ~ Talmud: Bammidber raba c 21 & Jalkut 772

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Treason to whiteness is loyalty to humanity. The goal of abolishing the white race is on its face so desirable that some may find it hard to believe that it could incur any opposition other than from committed white supremacists. ~ Noel Ignatiev, Harvard Magazine, Sep-Oct 2002

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We intend to keep bashing the dead white males, and the live ones, and the females too, until the social construct known as the white race is destroyed, not deconstructed but destroyed.

Even if reason tells us, even shouts with all its force the very absurdity of this confrontation between the small and insignificant people of Israel [i.e., all Jewry worldwide, not just the State of Israel] and the rest of humanity as absurd, as incoherent and as monstrous as it may seem, we are engaged in close combat between Israel and the Nations ~ and it can only be genocidal and total because it is about our and their identities. ~ Yitzhak Attia, Israel Magazine, April 2003

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Any trial based on the assumption that Jews and goyim are equal is a total travesty of justice. ~ Rabbi Yitzhak Ginsburg, June 6, 1989:

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REVENGE OF THE JEWISH RABBIS OF SPAIN

In 1492 CE, Chemor, chief Rabbi of Spain, wrote to the Grand Sanhedrin, which had its seat in Constantinople, for advice, when a Spanish law threatened expulsion (after the fall of Muslim rule in spain).



This was the reply:



 Beloved brethren in Moses, we have received your letter in which you tell us of the anxieties and misfortunes which you are enduring. We are pierced by as great pain to hear it as yourselves. The advice of the Grand Satraps and Rabbis is the following:



1. As for what you say that the King of Spain obliges you to become Christians: do it, since you cannot do otherwise.

2. As for what you say about the command to despoil you of your property: make your sons merchants that they may despoil, little by little, the Christians of theirs.

3. As for what you say about making attempts on your lives: make your sons doctors and apothecaries, that they may take away Christians lives.

4. As for what you say of their destroying your synagogues: make your sons canons and clerics in order that they may destroy their churches. [Emphasis mine]

5. As for the many other vexations you complain of: arrange that your sons become advocates and lawyers, and see that they always mix in affairs of State, that by putting Christians under your yoke you may dominate the world and be avenged on them.

6. Do not swerve from this order that we give you, because you will find by experience that, humiliated as you are, you will reach the actuality of power.



(Signed) PRINCE OF THE JEWS OF CONSTANTINOPLE.

------------ --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ----

The reply is found in the sixteenth century Spanish book, La Silva Curiosa, by Julio-Iniguez de Medrano (Paris, Orry, 1608), on pages 156 and 157, with the following explanation: This letter following was found in the archives of Toledo by the Hermit of Salamanca, (while) searching the ancient records of the kingdoms of Spain; and, as it is expressive and remarkable, I wish to write it here. ~ vide, photostat facing page 80. ~ The above was quoted from Waters Flowing Eastward by Paquita de Shishmareff, pp. 73-74

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[1] When the Lord your God brings you into the land that you are about to enter and occupy, and he clears away many nations before you ~ the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations mightier and more numerous than you ~ [2] and when the Lord your God gives them over to you and you defeat them, then you must utterly destroy them. Make no covenant with them and show them no mercy (Deut 7:1-2).

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"Compassion towards the wicked is really wickedness. It is along these lines that Rabbi Levi opened his speech in honor of Purim: (Talmud, Megillah, 11a): "If you do not uproot the inhabitants of the Land, and allow them to remain - they will become thorns in your sides, and will cause trouble for you in the Land in which you dwell." (Bamidbar 33:55) The mitzvah, then of wiping out Amalek [Palestinians], actually stems from the value of compassion and kindness - compassion on all those whom Amalek threatens to exterminate. This mitzvah is an ongoing one, and valid even today. Today, too, there are those ~ driven by a deep-seeded anti-Semitism - who desperately wish to kill us. These are the people whom the Torah commanded us to obliterate, to leave no memory of them." ~ Rabbi Zalman Baruch Melamed

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Nachman Abramovic demonized Palestinian children stating: They may look young to you, but these people are terrorists at heart. Dont look at their deceptively innocent faces, try to think of the demons inside each of them. I am absolutely certain these people would grow to be evil terrorists if we allowed them to grow. Would you allow them to grow to kill your children or finish them off right now? Honest and moral people ought to differentiate between true humans and human animals. We do kill human animals and we do so unapologetically. Besides, who in the West is in a position to lecture us on killing human animals. After all, whose hands are clean?

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"Wars are the Jews harvest, for with them we wipe out the Christians and get control of their gold. We have already killed 100 million of them, and the end is not yet." ~ Chief Rabbi in France, in 1859, Rabbi Reichorn

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"The Communist soul is the soul of Judaism. Hence it follows that, just as in the Russian revolution the triumph of Communism was the triumph of Judaism, so also in the triumph of fascism will triumph Judaism." ~ Rabbi Harry Waton, A Program for the Jews and Humanity, p. 143-144

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If a Jew is tempted to do evil he should go to a city where he is not known and do the evil there. ~ Moed Kattan 17a

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The Jewish people as a whole will become its own Messiah. It will attain world domination by the dissolution of other races, by the abolition of frontiers, the annihilation of monarchy and by the establishment of a world republic in which the Jews will everywhere exercise the privilege of citizenship. In this New World Order, the children of Israel will furnish all the leaders without encountering opposition. The governments of the different peoples forming the world republic will fall without difficulty into the hands of the Jews. It will then be possible for the Jewish rulers to abolish private property and everywhere to make use of the resources of the state. Thus will the promise of the Talmud be fulfilled in which it is said that when the Messianic time is come, the Jews will have all the property of the whole world in their hands. ~ Baruch Levy in a letter to Karl Marx.

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"My opinion of Christian Zionists? They're scum, but don't tell them that. We need all the useful idiots we can get right now." ~ Bibi Netanyahu

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It was hard for Satan alone to mislead the whole world, so he appointed prominent rabbis in different localities. ~ A Chasidic saying attributed to Nahman of Bratzlav, early 19th century

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Gentiles exist only to serve Jews as slaves. Goyim were only born to serve us. Without that they have no place in the world. Only to serve the people of Israel. Why are gentiles needed? They are only here to work. They will work, they will plow. They will reap. We will sit like effendi and eat. That is why gentiles were created, Rabbi Yosef, Sha Party, Jerusalem Post, 2011

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"An example of the use of the Jewish code words Esau and Jacob is found in a sermon preached by Rabbi Leon Spitz during the Purim observances in 1946 (quoted here from the American Hebrew of March 1, 1946) : "Let Esau whine and wail and protest to the civilized world, and let Jacob raise his hand to fight the good fight. The anti-Semite . . . understands but one language, and he must be dealt with on his own level. The Purim Jews stood up for their lives. American Jews, too. must come to grips with our contemporary anti-Semites. We must fill our jails with anti-Semitic gangsters. We must fill our insane asylums with anti-Semitic lunatics. We must combat every alien. Jew-hater. We must Harass and prosecute our Jew-baiters to the extreme limits of the laws. We must humble and shame our anti-Semitic hoodlums to such an extent that none will wish or dare to become (their) 'fellow-travelers'.

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This is what Trotsky, a Jew, was preparing for the Russians for the implementation of Communism, which Marx based on the Babylonian Talmud for Gentiles:

"We should turn Her (Russia) into a desert populated with white Niggers. We will impose upon them such a tyranny that was never dreamt by the most hideous despots of the East. The peculiar trait of that tyranny is that it will be enacted from the left rather than the right and it will be red rather than white in color.

Its color will be red literally because we would spill such torrents of blood that they will pale all human losses of the capitalist wars and make the survivors shudder.

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Remember my children, that all the earth must belong to us Jews, and that the gentiles, being mere excrements of animals, must possess nothing. ~ Mayer Amschel Rothschild on his deathbed, 1812

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The largest overseas banks will cooperate with us most closely. If we win the Revolution and squash Russia, on the funeral pyres of its remains we will strengthen the power of Zionism and become a power the whole world would drop in the face of on its knees. We will show the world what real power means.

By way of terror and blood baths we will bring the Russian intelligentsia into a state of total stupor, to idiocy, to the animal state of being. So far our young men dressed in leather ~ the sons of watch repair men from Odessa and Orsha, Gomel and Vinnitza ~ oh, how beautifully, how brilliantly do they master hatred of everything Russian! With what a great delight do they physically destroy the Russian intelligentsia ~ officers, engineers, teachers, priests, generals, agronomists, academicians, writers!" ~ Secret Forces in History of Russia. U.K. Begunov 1995, p 148

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One of the finest things ever done by the mob was the Crucifixion of Christ. Intellectually it was a splendid gesture. But trust the mob to bungle the job. If Id had charge of executing Christ, Id have handled it differently. You see, what Id have done was had him shipped to Rome and fed him to the lions. They could never have made a saviour out of mincemeat!~ Rabbi Ben Hecht

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The only reason that Jews are in pornography is that we think that Christ sucks. Catholicism sucks.~ Al Goldstein (publisher of Screw Magazine).

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"The difference between a Jewish soul and souls of non-Jews ~ all of them in all different levels ~ is greater and deeper than the difference between a human soul and the souls of cattle." ~ Rabbi Kook, the Elder, father of the messianic tendency of Jewish fundamentalism, said

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"You have not begun to appreciate the depth of our guilt. We are intruders. We are subverters. We have taken your natural world, your ideals, your destiny, and played havoc with them. We have been at the bottom of not merely the latest Great War, but of every other major revolution in your history.



We have brought discord and confusion and frustration into your personal and public life. We are still doing it. No one can tell how long we shall go on doing it. Who knows what great and glorious destiny might have been yours if we had left you alone." ~ Marclis Eli Ravage, Century Magazine February, 1926.

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"The United Nations is nothing but a trap-door to the Red World's immense concentration camp. We pretty much control the U.N." ~ Harold Wallace Rosenthal, Zionist, The Hidden Tyranny

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Very soon, every American will be required to register their biological property (thats you and your children) in a national system designed to keep track of the people and that will operate under the ancient system of pledging. By such methodology, we can compel people to submit to our agenda, which will affect our security as a charge back for our fiat paper currency.

Every American will be forced to register or suffer being able to work and earn a living. They will be our chattels (property) and we will hold the security interest over them forever, by operation of the law merchant under the scheme of secured transactions. Americans, by unknowingly or unwittingly delivering the bills of lading (Birth Certificate) to us will be rendered bankrupt and insolvent, secured by their pledges.

They will be stripped of their rights and given a commercial value designed to make us a profit and they will be none the wiser, for not one man in a million could ever figure our plans and, if by accident one or two should figure it out, we have in our arsenal plausible deniability.

After all, this is the only logical way to fund government, by floating liens and debts to the registrants in the form of benefits and privileges. This will inevitably reap us huge profits beyond our wildest expectations and leave every American a contributor to this fraud, which we will call Social Insurance.

Without realizing it, every American will unknowingly be our servant, however begrudgingly. The people will become helpless and without any hope for their redemption and we will employ the high office (presidency) of our dummy corporation (USA) to foment this plot against America. ~ American traitor, the Jew Edward Mandell House giving a very detailed outline of the New World Order plans that were to be implemented gradually over time to enslave the American people ... A PLAN THAT HAS BEEN REPEATED IN CANADA, AUSTRALIA, BRITAIN AND ELSEWHERE.

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"You throw a little Jewish on top of that, you got trouble. You got a bunch of wild, crazy energy.



"Sorry that doesn't sound hippie. Sorry that doesn't sound like communal jubilant fun. Sorry I'm not a Pepper. Sorry I didn't pop out of a soda-pop ad, and life is just one big fucking cabaret, because a lot of what propelled Van Halen, what compels me and propels me is precisely this element. It's fury. If you approach me with anti-Semetic preconceptions, I'm not here to re-educate. I come from a whole different school of thought. If you don't get it on the first try, fuck you.



"I once heard somebody say to the Van Halens, "You guys play the music; the Jew sells it." Well, you're fucking right. And now that I'm gone, Van Halen stinks. Okay?



"Want to know why some of my contributions to Van Halen sound like they do? Didn't come from a smiling place in my soul. Not at all.



"Nobody ever said to Mick Jagger, "So, Mick, you're Episcopalian, aren't you?" Nobody ever took Jimi Hendrix aside and said, "So, Jimi, you're a Baptist, aren't you?" Much less start off the interview that way.



"Every step I took on that stage was smashing some Jew-hating, lousy punk ever deeper into the deck. Every step. I jumped higher 'cause I knew there was going to be more impact when I hit those boards. And if you were even vaguely anti-Semetic, you were under my wheels, motherfucker. That's where the lyrics came from, that's where the body language came from, that's where the humor came from, and where the fuck you came from. All equally as important. You want to know the ingredients? Don't ask if you don't want to know.



"What you get from repression and what you get from hatred is fury, and fury was one of the main trigger points for the great Van Halen. What you see now is a bunch of buffoons waddling around at the family barbecue, and their wives admonishing the children saying, "Don't worry, Daddy's just had a few too many Coors Lights and he's imitating what he used to do for a living when he played music, honey."



"What's missing is the testosterone. What's missing is the fury. What's missing is the passionate convicted commitment. And I got a lot of mine from my religious background. So y'all best stop imagining the way Dr. Zorba looked, or some defenseless Hasidic Jew with a little yarmulke on his head, 'cause that ain't here for you." ~ David Lee Roth

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Rabbi Isaac Wise, in The Israelite of America writes, Masonry is a Jewish institution whose history, degrees, charges, passwords, and explanations are Jewish from beginning to end

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We infiltrated the Roman Catholic Church right from the very beginning. Why do you think the Pope, the Cardinals and all the Bishops wear yarlmulkahs? (skullcaps) The white race never figures this out. A thousand years later the white race began to wake up ... we had to come up with a plan B ... so we formed the Jesuits. There was a nice boy, Ignatius Loyola. He started the Jesuits. (Loyola was Jewish. Research/read the Jesuit Extreme Oath) Regarding the Jesuits, quoting Rabbi Finkelstein

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Does worship of the Talmud pervade Judaism globally? Herman Wouk, Orthodox Jew and famed author of The Cain Mutiny, affirms, The Talmud is to this day the circulating hearts blood of the Jewish religion. Whatever laws, customs, ceremonies we observe ~ whether we are Orthodox, Reform,Conservative, or merely spasmodic sentimentalists ~ we follow the Talmud. It is our common law.

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From Jews Must Liveby Samuel Roth, pg. 22. The organ is diseased. This disease is a sort of moral gonorrhea known as Judaism, which, alas, seems to be incurable. If you have any doubts, look at any Jew ridden country in Europe. If you need to be further convinced, take a look at what is happening in the United States.

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Every synagogue we Jews build in a Christian country is a finger of scorn we point at our hosts; a sore finger we stick into their eyes, like the leering of a senile old woman who does all sorts of foul mischief before you, and feels safe in the knowledge that you will not lay hands on her for fear of contamination. ibid., pg.

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Sen. Al Franken: One of the widely disseminated stories was that no Jews died in the collapse of the Trade Towers because they had received calls telling them not to go to work that day.

To tell you the truth, I got the Jew call. I had an office in the Trade Center where I used to do most of my writing. The call came from former New York mayor Ed Koch. Al, he told me, dont go to work on the twenty-third day of Elul [September 11, 2001.].



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Tell me, do the evil men of this world have a bad time? They hunt and catch whatever they feel like eating. They dont suffer from indigestion and are not punished by Heaven. I want Israel to join that club. Maybe the world will then at last begin to fear usMaybe they will start to tremble, to fear our madness instead of admiring our nobility. Let them tremble, let them call us a mad state. Let them understand that we are a wild country, dangerous to our surroundings, not normal, that we might go crazy, that we might go wild and burn all the oil fields in the Middle East, or that we might start World War Three just like that. ~ Ariel Sharon
Over the past few years, STDs including syphilis, gonorrhea, and chlamydia, have been on the rise in both the U.S. and South Florida. And according to a recent report by the World Health Organization (WHO), these diseases are also becoming less treatable.

Antibiotics could typically take care of these three infections, but growing resistance to antibiotics and a lack of new drugs means doctors and patients could soon run out of treatment options.

Since 2013, the rate of syphilis infections reported in Miami-Dade and Broward counties has risen faster than the rest of the state and much of the nation. The two counties accounted for nearly 42 percent of the 5,340 syphilis cases reported in Florida from 2013-2015, according to the state health department. In Florida, syphilis infections continue to increase among gay and bisexual men. According to the state health department, more than 50 percent of these men are co-infected with HIV.

U.S. health officials also warned recently that like syphilis, gonorrhea appears to be developing resistance to the two antibiotics that constitute the last available treatment option for the sexually transmitted bacteria. Gonorrhea is a bacterial infection that spreads through unprotected vaginal, anal and oral sex. From 2013-2015, the number of gonorrhea cases in Miami-Dade and Broward counties accounted for about a quarter of the cases in Florida, according to the state health department.

The emerging resistance to azithromycin is an early indicator that time is running out before the last recommended treatment for gonorrhea is no longer effective, says Brian Katzowitz, Health Communication Specialist from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Its vitally important for doctors to treat gonorrhea with dual therapy (azithromycin combined with ceftriaxone) and that individuals take steps to protect themselves. STD prevention is the cornerstone for containing antibiotic resistant gonorrhea.

The WHO has released new guidelines on how to treat three sexually transmitted infections such as a single dose of benzathine penicillin to cure syphilis and continue to recommend doxycycline and azithromycin as the best choices to treat chlamydia. The WHO does not recommend quinolones (a class of antibiotic) for the treatment of gonorrhea due to widespread high levels of resistance. These new guidelines bring WHO in line with recommendations from the CDC that were issued in 2015.

Fort Lauderdales Dr. Gary Richmond treats patients with STDs. To date, I have not seen multidrug resistant gonorrhea in my patient population, he told SFGN. Per guidelines, we treat our patients with dual therapy because of the emerging risk of drug resistance. Syphilis has always been more problematic within the HIV co-infected patient. Patients with latent syphilis frequently need retreatment for the initial infection. Benzathine penicillin is frequently on backorder and not available to treat syphilis infections. Often we are forced to use 2nd line therapy with tetracycline due to the drug shortage.

The statistics for chlamydia are very similar to syphilis and gonorrhea. From 2013-2015, about 60,000 of the states nearly 255,000 cases were in Broward and Miami-Dade counties. While those numbers are huge, the spread of antibiotic-resistant STDs could have consequences that reach far beyond Florida. The WHO estimates that 131 million people in the world have chlamydia, 78 million have gonorrhea, and 5.6 million have syphilis. For women, these infections can increase the risk of miscarriage, ectopic pregnancy (when the fetus develops outside the womb), and pelvic inflammatory disease. For both men and women, they can contribute to infertility and increase susceptibility to HIV.

I feel there is an emerging complacency regarding sexual disease transmission, Dr. Richmond said. With the availability and more frequent use of PrEP and misconception that HIV cannot be transmitted when one is on Highly Active Anti-Retroviral Therapy (HAART), individuals have stepped up their unsafe sexual practices, abandoning condoms and barrier precautions.

Recently in Hawaii, seven gonorrhea patients had the first reported cases of gonorrhea in which the sexually transmitted infection showed reduced susceptibility to the single available effective treatment option, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said. The six men and one woman were all eventually cured by ceftriaxone and azithromycin, the two-drug regimen recommended for treating gonorrhea by the CDC. However, laboratory tests by the Hawaii State Department of Health showed that the patients' gonorrheal infections did not succumb as easily to the antibiotics as infections have in the past.

Someday, these antibiotics may no longer work to cure gonorrhea, which, over the years, has developed resistance to nearly every class of antibiotics used to treat it.

So far, no cases of drug resistant sexually transmitted infections in Florida. We are closely monitoring this situation and have been working with labs to ensure they are routinely testing specimens for drug susceptibility, said Sarah Revell of the Florida Department of Health.

The CDC will be bolstering state and local STD programs and introducing laboratory tools and services to more rapidly respond to outbreaks. When asked to describe what it would be like if syphilis, gonorrhea and chlamydia became completely resistant to antibiotics, Dr. Richmond had one word, disastrous.
Last December, seven LGBT people approached the cells that first housed inmates in 1889 at the Licking County Historic Jail in Newark, Ohio, about 40 miles east of Columbus. They hoped to find LGBT ghosts.

It had to happen at night  not for any creeping fear, but for the ghost hunters ability to tune their senses. There was no traffic and no light. They came prepared with dowsing rods to ask yes or no questions and recording equipment to capture electronic voice phenomena, called EVP, which are noted in paranormal circles as a way to hear spirits speech.

Scott Priddy had come across a flier for Queer Ghost Hunters around Halloween. He went to a meeting organized by Stonewall Columbus, the LGBT community center for central Ohio, and joined a small group that visited the jail.

They called me ghost bait, Priddy said. I seem to attract the ghosts.

In his first time ghost hunting, Priddy connected with a sheriff. He said he felt a strong tingling and buzzing. All the hair on his arms stood up. Others said the sheriff followed Priddy around and flirted with him.

We all really cut our teeth on Licking County Jail, said Lori Gum, the program and pride coordinator at Stonewall Columbus.

A series is born

From there, the team visited several other sites in Ohio, Kentucky and West Virginia.

Stu Maddux, the filmmaker behind LGBT documentaries like Gen Silent, followed the Queer Ghost Hunters for a web series of the same name. In time for the kickoff of LGBT History Month, the show debuted Oct. 1 with further episodes set for release every Friday on YouTube. The first season includes six episodes, each 8-10 minutes long. A Kickstarter campaign, at http://ow.ly/HmNe304Je6n, also launched this month to raise funds for a second season.

We work really hard to balance the fun of the series and the thrill of the ghost hunt with the history, Gum said. Thats sort of our magic potion.

Katy Detrow became the historian for the Queer Ghost Hunters, looking up records of LGBT people who lived and died in the places they investigate.

Gay people have been around forever in all walks of life, Priddy said. Im sure most people dont think of a gay sheriff in the 1930s. Does anybody think of lesbian nuns? Its a broad history.

Gum and Maddux had been discussing LGBT history when she picked him up for the LGBTFest film festival in Columbus last year. He was in town to host a Q&A for his latest film, The Reel in the Closet, which features home movies of LGBT people dating back to the 1930s.

Its not history so much as it is seeing ourselves in the past, Maddux said. It makes you feel like youre part of a people.

On the drive, Gum also rattled off a list of new programs at Stonewall Columbus, ending matter-of-factly with the Queer Ghost Hunters.

She and Shane McClelland, a former staffer from the LGBT center, had dabbled in ghost hunting for fun and found the presumed heterosexuality irritating. People would ask male spirits if they had a wife and children. Thats when Gum decided to bring Queer Ghost Hunters to Stonewall Columbus.

I stared at her for 10 seconds, Maddux said. I thought instantly this is going to be my next documentary.

In the last year, Maddux has traveled to Ohio a couple times a month. Hes based in San Francisco and works with his husband Joe Applebaum on producing the web series. Maddux said the Queer Ghost Hunters team keeps him motivated.

Theyre all very smart and funny people and really into it and skeptical as well, he said.

A team of history buffs

Many of the Queer Ghost Hunters described themselves as history buffs. Before a visit to the Ohio State Reformatory  where the movie Shawshank Redemption takes place  Gum and Detrow went to the Ohio Historical Society.

They found records for 67 people, many teenage boys, who were convicted of sodomy and sent to the reformatory. A separate wing of the prison was dedicated to these inmates, several of whom died there, according to the records. At the reformatory, the ghost hunters shared their own coming-out stories to encourage a connection with those inmates.

That is very attractive to me, to be digging up history from a new perspective, Gum said. Were coming in with a queer eye.

She said it also encourages young LGBT people to take an interest in their past.

So many of our Queer Ghost Hunters are young people, under 30, Gum said. It really bridges the generation gap in our LGBT community. Ive never seen a better way to connect these young people to the lives of their LGBT forbearers.

She added, Theres nothing that bonds you to someone quicker than having the bejesus scared out of you.

Kai Stone, one of the younger members of the team, had gone on a ghost hunt about a decade ago with people who considered themselves straight and cis-gender. It was before Stone transitioned.

With queer people, I thought Id feel comfortable, said Stone, whos had a longtime interest in the supernatural, but never thought about connecting with LGBT spirits.

One experience that stuck with Stone was a Valentines Day visit with the Queer Ghost Hunters to Prospect Place, a 19th-century mansion in Ohio.

A ghost named Sophie initially didnt trust us, Stone said. We told our stories and she started talking about her lover Ana. [You have] these people living in a mansion, upscale lives, and still having to hide [their sexuality].

In season two, Stone hopes to find a transgender or gender-nonconforming ghost. Stone said that might be possible by investigating sites connected to the Civil War, when some women presented as men to join the military.

I really hope we can turn ghost hunting into a fun experience where you can connect with others, Stone said. I hope more folks feel comfortable to find that history.

Paige Cooperstein has worked as a reporter for the past five years. She graduated from the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications with a masters degree in arts journalism.
A banana cream pie was a part of one of the most iconic moments in the gay liberation movement.

Anita Bryant, a chart-topping songstress who used her fame to fight homosexual militants, was speaking at a press conference in Des Moines, Iowa in 1977 when an activist, Tom Higgins, threw the pie in her face.

Well, at least its a fruit pie, she scoffed.

Her husband, Bob Green, then encouraged his wife to pray for Higgins. She prayed for him and his deviant lifestyle as she wiped away cream from her face, crying.

Lee Lawson, an Iowa native who was in Des Moines protesting Bryants visit that day, didnt witness the incident in person, but word spread quickly.

Some of us were excited and some of us were embarrassed, he said of the bold move, one some felt was too bold. One of the things you had to be aware of is there was a large anti-war movement and we were trying to keep ourselves separate from that. They were a lot bigger and a lot more active than we were. We were trying to do our own thing.

No matter the reason, Bryant was a huge roadblock in the fight for LGBT rights.

A former beauty queen, she had a healthy music career and eventually became the orange juice lady as a spokeswoman for the Florida Citrus Commission. She sang in commercials and delivered the tagline Breakfast without orange juice is like a day without sunshine.

She stepped onto the American main stage in 1977, however, when Miami-Dade County passed a local ordinance protecting gay people from workplace discrimination. A devout Christian, she was horrified by the thought of gay people teaching children and launched the Save Our Children campaign to repeal the ordinance.

In an ad in the Miami Herald, the group wrote, The other side of the homosexual coin is a hair-raising pattern of recruitment and outright seduction and molestation  a growing pattern that predictably will intensify if society approves law granting legitimacy of sexual perverts.

Her campaign, eventually renamed the Crusade for Morality, drew a large following and the ordinance was repealed with 69 percent support. As Bryant and her husband celebrated, he kissed his wife for the cameras.

This is what heterosexuals do, fellas! he joked to a laughing crowd.

However, they werent done  homosexuality wasnt just a Miami problem, it was widespread and needed to be fought. She would travel the country to spread the message of protecting children against homosexuals and worked to overturn, sometimes successfully, other protective ordinances.

Fliers were sent to homes across the country warning parents of the dangers of having gay teachers. In one, a donation could be sent back to the Crusade for Morality with a check box showing the person was against gays being allowed to teach or be ordained, in favor of prayers in public schools, and stricter control of sex and violence on television.

She was very strongly disliked by the liberal and gay community, Lawson said.

And they fought back. Lawson remembers people going into supermarkets and slicing open orange juice containers. The Florida Citrus Boycott Committee encouraged people to boycott Florida citrus products and instead purchase other fruit juices or orange products from other states. Celebrities also stood behind the equality movement.

It was in October 1977 that she made her infamous stop in Des Moines and was hit in the face by the banana cream pie. Two years later, the Florida Citrus Commission allowed her contract to lapse. Then, in 1980, Green and Bryant divorced, despite her religious convictions.

Even though her mission was over, the damage had already been done. The LGBT rights movement was weakened by Bryant, and the final blow was the HIV/AIDS crisis.

She slowed us down because she made a direct assault, Lawson said.

However, the silver lining in the health crisis was it brought the LGBT community together to provide support for those suffering from the disease and the formation of better-organized groups.

The movement may have been knocked down, but decades later marriage equality is the law of the land and more protections are trickling from state to state.

Little did Bryant know how lethal a little banana pie, or orange juice, could be.

Editor's Note: This story was originally published in 2016.

This is a part of our LGBT History Month special package. Check out sfgn.com/2017historymonth daily for new stories.
In New Orleans French Quarter, countless people walk the intersection of Iberville Street and Chartres Street, perhaps to grab a drink at The Jimani, a bite at the Backspace Bar & Kitchen, or breakfast at Daisy Dukes.

But look down, and a bronze plaque is embedded in the brick sidewalk, one with a flame and the names of 32 perished souls. Beneath a neon sign reading Dixie Divas, it sits at the feet of a burgundy door that houses the story of the UpStairs Lounge.

It was June 24, 1973 -- nearly four years to the day of the infamous raid at the Stonewall Inn in New York City, when a gathering of LGBT people and their allies were laughing over drinks. By the end of the night, 29 were dead and another three would later die from their injuries.

The next day, The Times-Picayune devoted its front page to the fire, headlined 29 KILLED IN QUARTER BLAZE and printed a photo of onlookers in front of the charred building, as well as a portrait of a man in horror as he took in the damage.

I was 11 years old and I saw the front page of the newspaper, remembers Johnny Townsend. There was that picture of Rusty Quinton on the front cover looking up in horror at the bar. The expression on his face really struck me deeply.

To this day, no one has been arrested for the fire, and until recently, the tragedy disappeared into history.

Townsend didnt know the UpStairs Lounge was a gay bar until he came out. He was curious to learn more, and found that the newspapers didnt print too much on the incident  even a lecture on New Orleans devastating fires left out the tragedy.

It killed more people than any other fire [in New Orleans], including the two that almost wiped out the city altogether, he said.

People recommended he speak to one person after another who was there that night, motivating him to write his book, Let the Faggots Burn. It took more than two decades before he found a publisher who thought it was a story worth telling.

Filmmaker Robert Camina learned about the fire after he completed his documentary on the Rainbow Room raid, an incident eerily similar to that at Stonewall. As he looked into the fire, he decided to make a film and released Upstairs Inferno in 2015.

It took three years of poring over records buried in archives, interviews, and multiple trips to New Orleans to complete the documentary.

It is as significant as Stonewall and Harvey Milk and other benchmark moments of LGBT history, yet no one talks about it, no one knows about it, he said. I felt that the story needed to be told.

The Upstairs Lounge was located on the second floor of a three-story building that still stands today. A gay bar and also the home of gay-friendly Metropolitan Community Church services, a gathering of LGBT people and their allies were laughing over drinks. Just before 8 p.m., a buzzer at the door alerted patrons that someones cab had arrived. When a man opened the door, a wall of fire exploded into the bar.

Patrons were trapped  some attempted to jump out of the windows, but they were blocked by steel bars while others were able to escape through a back door with the help of a bar employee. Outside, people looked on as the flames engulfed the building. The body of the Rev. Bob Larson hung out the front window in his attempt to escape, his hair and clothing burning. He would remain there for hours, no one bothering to cover him.

Thirty-two people in all were killed by smoke inhalation or burns and 15 were injured. Three of the deceased are still listed simply as unknown white male; they may have been in town visiting or their families may have refused to claim their bodies. It was the largest massacre of LGBT people until the Orlando nightclub shooting earlier this year. To this day, no one has been arrested for the arson  the general consensus is that Rodger Nunez, who was thrown out of the bar just before the fire, did it. He killed himself a year later.

There might have been some embarrassment and shame that the probable suspect was a member of the LGBT community, that it was possibly perpetrated by one of our own, Camina said.

The next day, newspapers published graphic details and photographs from the blaze, as was customary in journalism at the time. The photo of Larsons body in the window was published on the front page of The Times-Picayune and the writer described a man begging for help from someone to remove a nickel from his pocket to make a phone call, his fingers too badly injured to do it himself, the moans of victims in the hospital as nurses mopped up blood, and a doctor removing dead skin from a patient.

On the radio, DJs joked that the ashes of the dead could be stored in fruit jars. Passersby made comments like I hope it burned their dresses off. Neither the mayor of New Orleans or the governor of Louisiana acknowledged the tragedy.

The Rev. Troy Perry traveled to the city from Los Angeles to aid the victims. He told NPR that one man, a schoolteacher, was fired from his job as he lay in the burn ward  he died the next day. The reverend called multiple churches asking for them to host the funeral services. He received laughs or hang ups until finally a Methodist church agreed.

The main point of my book was that  I wanted to give a little capsule of what each person was like, I wanted people to know that these were real people. They may not have been the most interesting or wonderful, but they were real, Townsend said.

In terms of its impact on LGBT history, the plaque on the site of the fire proclaims that the tragedy gave rise to the equality movement in the Crescent City. Not everyone agrees with that sentiment  the LGBT community in the city just wasnt ready to stand up yet.

There wasnt a bright silver lining in the wake of the fire, like after Stonewall, Camina said of the motivation to fight after the iconic raid. There wasnt like this huge community emerging and digging their heels into the ground saying, Were not going to take this anymore. There wasnt just this big activist uprising.

Townsend agrees.

The fire itself didnt do it, he said. Gay people were still just too pressed down  I dont know that the great community noticed anything, and it was probably just a small thing in the gay community, but it was a certainly noticed.

Now, decades after the arson at the UpStairs Lounge, more and more people are becoming aware of what happened. In the world premiere of Upstairs Inferno, on the 42rd anniversary of the fire, Camina brought together survivors, witnesses, first responders, and the fire marshal for the screening. Many had not seen each other in decades.

The film has been accepted into its 35th film festival and has received rave reviews from both mainstream and LGBT festivals.

This story was hidden for so long and the question is often asked of me, why dont we know about it? Why was it hidden for so long? Camina said. Its important to preserve our history. Because if we dont tell our stories, who will?
Heart of the Milky Way ESO

Our Milky Way has a densely populated centre  a feature common to many galaxies, but unique in that it is close enough to study in depth.

A team led by Dante Minniti (Universidad Andres Bello, Santiago, Chile) and Rodrigo Contreras Ramos (Instituto Milenio de Astrofisica, Santiago, Chile) used observations from the VISTA infrared survey telescope, as part of the Variables in the Via Lactea (VVV) ESO public survey, to carefully search the central part of the Milky Way. By observing infrared light, which is less affected by cosmic dust than visible light, and exploiting the excellent conditions at ESOs Paranal Observatory, the team was able to get a clearer view of this region than ever before. They found a dozen ancient RR Lyrae stars at the heart of the Milky Way that were previously unknown.

Our Milky Way has a densely populated centre  a feature common to many galaxies, but unique in that it is close enough to study in depth. This discovery of RR Lyrae stars provides compelling evidence that helps astronomers decide between two main competing theories for how these bulges form.

RR Lyrae stars are typically found in dense globular clusters. They are variable stars, and the brightness of each RR Lyrae star fluctuates regularly. By observing the length of each cycle of brightening and dimming in an RR Lyrae, and also measuring the stars brightness, astronomers can calculate its distance [1].

Unfortunately, these excellent distance-indicator stars are frequently outshone by younger, brighter stars and in some regions they are hidden by dust. Therefore, locating RR Lyrae stars right in the extremely crowded heart of the Milky Way was not possible until the public VVV survey was carried out using infrared light. Even so, the team described the task of locating the RR Lyrae stars in amongst the crowded throng of brighter stars as daunting.

Their hard work was rewarded, however, with the identification of a dozen RR Lyrae stars. Their discovery indicate that remnants of ancient globular clusters are scattered within the centre of the Milky Ways bulge.

Rodrigo Contreras Ramos elaborates: This discovery of RR Lyrae Stars in the centre of the Milky Way has important implications for the formation of galactic nuclei. The evidence supports the scenario in which the bulge was originally made out of a few globular clusters that merged.

The theory that galactic bulges form through the merging of globular clusters is contested by the competing hypothesis that these bulges are actually due to the rapid accretion of gas. The unearthing of these RR Lyrae stars  almost always found in globular clusters  isvery strong evidence that the Milky Way bulge did in fact form through merging. By extension, all other similar galactic bulges may have formed the same way.

Not only are these stars powerful evidence for an important theory of galactic evolution, they are also likely to be over 10 billion years old  the dim, but dogged survivors of perhaps the oldest and most massive star cluster within the Milky Way.

Notes

[1] RR Lyrae stars, like some other regular variables such as Cepheids, show a simple relationship between how quickly they change in brightness and how luminous they are. Longer periods mean brighter stars. This period-luminosity relationship can be used to deduce the distance of a star from its period of variation and its apparent brightness.

More information

This research was presented in a paper to appear in The Astrophysical Journal Letters.

The team is composed of D. Minniti (Instituto Milenio de Astrofisica, Santiago, Chile; Departamento de Fisica, Universidad Andres Bello, Santiago, Chile; Vatican Observatory, Vatican City State, Italy; Centro de Astrofisica y Tecnologias Afines  CATA), R. Contreras Ramos (Instituto Milenio de Astrofisica, Santiago, Chile; Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile, Instituto de Astrofisica, Santiago, Chile), M. Zoccali (Instituto Milenio de Astrofisica, Santiago, Chile; Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile, Instituto de Astrofisica, Santiago, Chile), M. Rejkuba (European Southern Observatory, Garching bei Munchen, Germany; Excellence Cluster Universe, Garching, Germany), O.A. Gonzalez (UK Astronomy Technology Centre, Royal Observatory, Edinburgh, UK), E. Valenti (European Southern Observatory, Garching bei Munchen, Germany), F. Gran (Instituto Milenio de Astrofisica, Santiago, Chile; Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile, Instituto de Astrofisica, Santiago, Chile)

ESO is the foremost intergovernmental astronomy organisation in Europe and the worlds most productive ground-based astronomical observatory by far. It is supported by 16 countries: Austria, Belgium, Brazil, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Finland, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom, along with the host state of Chile. ESO carries out an ambitious programme focused on the design, construction and operation of powerful ground-based observing facilities enabling astronomers to make important scientific discoveries. ESO also plays a leading role in promoting and organising cooperation in astronomical research. ESO operates three unique world-class observing sites in Chile: La Silla, Paranal and Chajnantor. At Paranal, ESO operates the Very Large Telescope, the worlds most advanced visible-light astronomical observatory and two survey telescopes. VISTA works in the infrared and is the worlds largest survey telescope and the VLT Survey Telescope is the largest telescope designed to exclusively survey the skies in visible light. ESO is a major partner in ALMA, the largest astronomical project in existence. And on Cerro Armazones, close to Paranal, ESO is building the 39-metre European Extremely Large Telescope, the E-ELT, which will become the worlds biggest eye on the sky.

Larger image

* Research paper  http://www.eso.org/public/archives/releases/sciencepapers/eso1636/eso1636a.pdf

* Variables in the Via Lactea (VVV)  https://vvvsurvey.org/ ESO public survey
Wed, 26.10.22 - 12:09

Another blast of heat at the end of the month is likely to break the record in Spain With only a few days left in...
Algiers, October 3, 2016 (SPS) - The World Food Programme (WFP), the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) appealed to donors to continue to support food needs of Sahrawi refugees living in Algeria, said the three agencies in a joint statement in Algeria on Monday.

The UN agencies' joint appeal for funding to provide food, housing, health and education in the refugee camps was launched to donors in Algeria on 19 September and will be renewed during the donors' meeting in Geneva, scheduled for late October.

The UN agencies warned of the "insufficient funding," which resulted in "a cut in basic food rations."

Since 1975, Sahrawi refugees have been living in five camps near the city of Tindouf, where the conditions are extremely difficult and they have remained "strongly dependent on external humanitarian aid," said the joint statement.

The UN agencies said that any cut or halt in WFP food assistance would have a severe impact on the food security and nutritional status of the refugees, especially among children, pregnant or breast-feeding women, elderly and the sick.

UNHCR representative in Algeria Hamdi Bukhari said that in New York Declaration, the signatory states committed to providing funding and additional humanitarian assistance to refugees.

For his part, UNICEF representative to Algeria Marc Lucet said that "Sahrawi refugees living in Tindouf camps are very dependent on food aid," adding "there is great anxiety among the camp population about any further cuts in food aid." (SPS)

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Shaheed El Hafed, October 10, 2016 (SPS) The National Secretariat of the Polisario Front called on Spanish government to assume its historic, legal, political and moral responsibility for urgent decolonization of Western Sahara, the last colony in Africa.







In a statement sanctioning its third ordinary session, the National Secretariat called on Spain to assume its responsibility towards the Saharawi people, a responsibility that cannot be renounced, confirmed by Spanish Supreme Court in July 2014 and the Attorney General of the Court of justice of the European Union (CJEU) Melchior Wathelet last September.







It took this opportunity to welcome the European solidarity movement with the Saharawi people, particularly in Spain.

The National Secretariat considered that France, with its blatant bias, particularly at the Security Council, in favor of Morocco, it violates the provisions of international law and must therefore be held responsible for the tensions and threats to the security and stability of the region. (SPS)

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Centaur Gaming announced on Wednesday, Oct. 12 a collaboration between its two racing and gaming properties, Hoosier Park Racing & Casino in Anderson, Indiana and Indiana Grand Racing & Casino in Shelbyville, Indiana, to launch a weekend campaign in support of Hurricane Matthew relief efforts on Friday, Oct. 14 through Sunday, Oct. 16.

Guests visiting both Hoosier Park and Indiana Grand starting 6 a.m. on Friday, Oct. 14 through 11:59 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 16 are encouraged to donate a minimum of $10 in support of those affected by Hurricane Matthew. All donations will be sent to American Red Cross and directly benefit domestic Hurricane Matthew relief efforts. In return, both properties will give guests who make a donation $10 in free slot play as a thank you for their contribution.

Its our civic responsibility to step up and help the people who have been devastated by Hurricane Matthew, said Jim Brown, Centaur Gamings president and chief operating officer. Good things can happen when a community pulls together, and we would like to thank our Centaur Gaming guests in advance for contributing with us to fundraise for these much needed relief efforts.

In addition to the donate and get event at Hoosier Park and Indiana Grand, Centaur Gaming is also encouraging its 2,000 team members statewide to donate to disaster relief efforts through American Red Cross.

Our work continues and is possible, thanks to the support of Centaur Gaming  who understands that we all hold the power to support our neighbours in times of need, said an American Red Cross spokesperson. It is moments like this the community relies on the Red Cross, and the Red Cross is appreciative for this generous donation.

For more information about American Red Cross Disaster Relief, click here.

(Hoosier Park)
Longtime Standardbred industry participant Don Beisel of Princeton, Ont. passed away at Sakura House in Woodstock, Ont, on Friday, September 30, 2016, in his 71st year.

Don started his working life as a barber, working alongside his father, and joined him in their mutual love of standardbred horses, breeding, raising, training and racing for 45 years. He also worked at Holland Hitch where he retired after 38 years. He traded in his love of horses for his love of cottage life where he could be found every summer puttering around, up until his illness. Don was a long time member of both the Navy Club and the Moose Lodge in Woodstock.

Best friend and partner of Diane Huggins for 34 years. Survived by her family, Tammy (Jerry) Kotiuk, Sheri (Jamie) Kotiuk, and by the grandchildren Jerry (Christina), Justin (Emily), Ashly, Jordan, and Nick Kotiuk. Remembered by sister Carol (late Dave) Windross and her family. Predeceased by his parents Carl and Katie Beisel.

In keeping with Dons wishes, cremation has taken place, and a private service will be held at a later date. Memorial donations made to VON Sakura House are appreciated by his family.

Please join Standardbred Canada in offering condolences to the family and friends of Don Beisel.
Acclaimed Movie that 'Destroys Atheism' to Premiere in 200 Countries

Contact: Jen Thompson Living Waters , 800-437-1893; Press Room: www.atheistmovie.com/press LOS ANGELES, Oct. 13, 2016 / Christian Newswire / -- A new movie that purportedly "destroys atheism with one scientific question" will be televised live by Daystar from inside the life-size Noah's Ark at the Ark Encounter in Williamstown, Kentucky.Daystar, the largest Christian TV network in America, will broadcast the live event to 680 million households in over 200 countries on Saturday, October 22 at 7 p.m. (ET). Filmmaker Ray Comfort said, "We are delighted that both Answers in Genesis and Daystar have seen the importance of 'The Atheist Delusion.'"The film has been praised by top Christian leaders and filmmakers such as Alex Kendrick, Kevin Sorbo, and Kirk Cameron. Author and reality TV cohost Jason Benham said, "That was the best documentary I've ever seen!"Comfort is pleading with parents to watch "The Atheist Delusion" with their young children and teenagers. "Millions are being deceived by the foolishness of atheism. If there's no God then pornography, abortion, fornication, adultery, homosexuality, and blasphemy are okay, and this worldview will be reflected at the voting booth."The best-selling author warned, "Don't wait until your kids say that they are no longer going to church because there's no proof for God, and that atheism is intellectual and scientific. As this film shows, that kind of thinking couldn't be further from the truth."Matt Barber, cultural analyst with Fox News, MSNBC, and CNN, said, "This is, bar none, the most compelling and comprehensive piece of its kind. Somehow ['The Atheist Delusion'] managed, in less than an hour, to make the case for the Creator God."The live premiere, co-hosted by the Ark's founder Ken Ham, can be seen on the Daystar Channel on Saturday, October 22 at 7 p.m. (ET). To watch the trailer and learn more, visit www.AtheistMovie.com Press Room: www.atheistmovie.com/press For interviews with Ray Comfort, contact Jen Thompson: jthompson@livingwaters.com
Wang Jianlin, chairman and president of Dalian Wanda Group, attends the Hong Kong Asian Financial Forum (AFF) in Hong Kong, China, on Monday, Jan 18, 2016. [Photo/VCG]

Wang Jianlin, chairman of Dalian Wanda Group, has retained his crown again as the richest man in China, with a fortune of 215 billion yuan ($32 billion), according the Hurun Rich List 2016 released Thursday.

The billionaire Chinese property tycoon has taken the top spot three times, although this year his wealth fell 2 percent compared with a year ago.

Jack Ma, executive chairman of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd, saw his wealth rise 41 percent to 205 billion yuan, ranking second.

Tencent Holdings Ltd founder Pony Ma Huateng moved up one spot to No 3, with a fortune of 165 billion yuan, up 38 percent year on year, despite donating 13.9 billion yuan last year.

This year's dark horse, financial conglomerate Baoneng's chairman Yao Zhenhua's wealth saw a nine-fold increase to 115 billion yuan, moving up 200 places to No 4 in the ranking.

Four new names made it to the top 10 list for the first time: Baoneng's chairman Yao Zhenhua, online gaming and news portal NetEase's Ding Lei, Evergrande Real Estate's chairman Xu Jiayin and household appliances company Midea Group's founder He Xiangjian and his son He Jianfeng.

Lei Jun, founder and CEO of China's mobile company Xiaomi, dropped out of top 10 to 14th place.

"Despite a 20 percent drop in the domestic stock markets and a slowdown in the economy, the Hurun Rich List swelled by 179 to 2,056 individuals, double that of three years ago and up 10-fold from 10 years ago," said Rupert Hoogewerf, Hurun Report Chairman and Chief Researcher.

Hurun has released this ranking for the 18th consultative year since 1999, while the threshold was 2 billion yuan for the fourth straight year.
A blog published by Susan Eisen that has columns on all the latest jewelry fashions, news, and store information.
Play at the new site will be free and first come, first served through the year's end.
A Columbia County grand jury has indicted three suspects in the September murder of Apache Hightower.

Following an investigation that spanned three weeks and locations from a rural Columbia County roadway to the cities of St. Helens, Portland and Santa Barbara, Calif., investigators were able to secure indictments in the case, charging each suspect with aggravated murder and numerous other crimes, according to the Columbia County Sheriffs Office.

The indictments are:

Jesse Allen Lane, 28, of Medford, who is charged with four counts of aggravated murder, one count of murder, one count of felony murder, two counts of first-degree kidnapping, one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm, one count of strangulation; and two counts of hindering prosecution.

Charles William Vernon, 29, of St. Helens, who is charged with three counts of aggravated murder; one count of murder, one count of felony murder; two counts of first-degree kidnapping, one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm and one count of hindering prosecution.

Stephanie Toney, 20, of St. Helens, who is charged with two counts of aggravated murder; one count of murder, one count of felony murder; two counts of first-degree kidnapping and two counts of hindering prosecution.

All three were arraigned in the courtroom located in the Columbia County Jail at 11:30 a.m. Thursday. The investigation is still continuing.

Hightowers body was discovered in a rural Columbia County location on Sept 20. A subsequent autopsy indicated Hightower, a 24-year-old Portland resident, was the victim of homicidal violence.

This incident is so sad for the needless loss of life and the tremendous sorrow for Ms. Hightowers family, Sheriff Jeff Dickerson said in a prepared statement. But I am extremely proud of the way investigators doggedly stayed on top of this case to produce this relatively quick result.

He said the Columbia County Major Crimes Team spent hundreds of hours on the case and had assistance from multiple law enforcement agencies in Oregon and California.

We had a lot of help that was crucial to the success of this investigation, the sheriff said, and we had a small number of dedicated members of the Major Crimes Team working daily with the Columbia County District Attorneys Office to build this case.
BSNL  Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited, the state-owned telecom operator of India, is gearing up to pump up its existing network in the country. While the issues of call drop and network error are soaring up in India, making TRAI implementing several hard and fast regulations and rules for telcos of India, BSNL has put forward its investments to boost up its availability throughout the India.

Venturing up speculations on tasks that involve interior financing, state-owned BSNL is reported to invest around Rs 2,500 crore in the second part of the fiscal year 2017. The investment of whopping 2, 500 crores will be made for the further development of Wi-Fi hotspots, establishment of mobile towers and reinforce network system in India. As said by the authorities of BSNL, this investment is solely aimed at improving the current systems of the company, while making the network, Wi-Fi Hotspot, and mobile tower availability wider in India.

On this matter, Mr. Anupam Shrivastava, Chairman and Managing Director of Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) addressed to the media which reads  the investments planned by the company are divided into two parts, and both will be implemented in the next financial year. About Rs 4,000 crore is allocated for this esteemed project of BSNL and around Rs 3,000 crore is earmarked for government-funded ventures in the country.

Apart from this, he also said that for projects that are being endorsed by BSNL are quite large and will drive the company in a new root of growth and progress in coming years. In the first half of this exercise, the company has invested around Rs 1,500 crore and approximately Rs 2,500 crore will be pumped up between October and March which is slated for setting up of new and more advanced Wi-Fi hotspots, GSM growth and reinforcement of core network of BSNL, all through the country. He further added that BSNL is also working on the projects of expanding the number of mobile towers and installing new mobile towers in Left-Wing Extremist regions and the network of BharatNet and Defence for spectrum project. These projects are among the government-funded ventures that are slated to be executed by BSNL in next year.

Apart from this, Mr. Shrivastava also said that BSNL would install 20,000 BTS under the GSM expansion project in this fiscal year to perk up the quality of the services. As reported by the official sources, all the networks and GSM expansion will be held between this October to March of 2018, and soon the consumers and subscribers of BSNL will be able to enjoy faster and error-free network in India.

Presently, BSNL is operating 2700 Wi-Fi hotspot throughout the country, and with this whopping amount of investment, BSNL is planning to drag this number up to 40,000 Wi-Fi hotspots by the end of March 2018. If everything goes well, with the connection of hotspots with BSNL mobile networks, the users will be able to enjoy peerless data speed.
Scientists are planning to start a mission named Project Blue that will look for alien life in our interstellar neighbour called Alpha Centauri that has number of Earth-like planets. The project aims to lift up a lightweight telescope by 2019 that will peek into the stars of Alpha Centauri. In addition, the project is led by Mission Centaur, a new nonprofit devoted to searching for planets around Alpha Centauri in collaboration with the SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) Institute and the University of Massachusetts Lowell.

Scientists have selected Alpha Centauri because it has sun-like stars and a system very similar to Earths system. There are two stars located very close to each other and scientists can monitor them simultaneously with very lightweight and cheap telescope directly as they are very to close to each other.

Jon Morse, CEO of the BoldlyGo Institute, one of the projects leaders said that there is a very high need to go to space for making high precision measurements and look for life. He believes that we can find Earth 2.0 in the Alpha Centauri that will have the rocky surface and necessary ingredients to support life.

Morse further reminded us of the famous image taken by NASAs Voyager 1 spacecraft back in 1990 in which Earth appears as a blue-tinged pinprick from a far off distance. Earth-like planet in Alpha Centauri would also appear same when seen from Earth.

While further explaining about the project, Morse said that the Project Blue would contain two high-altitude balloons to test the equipment that will be sent in space. Later, the team will launch a refrigerators-sized telescope with the support of the US space agency NASA and the telescope will be in space for three years from 2019 to 2022 monitoring the planets and stars located in Alpha Centauri.

The approach here is not taking a very expensive project and removing things you dont need, like sculptures do, said Project Blue team member Supriya Chakrabarti, an astrophysicist at the University of Massachussetts Lowell and the director of the Lowell Center for Space Science and Technology at the university. Were trying to start with a fairly low-cost system that we have proven, and then try to see what we need to make this thing tailored for a very specific task as fast as we can and as low-cost as we can.

Astronomers have spotted over 3000 exoplanets since 1980s but have failed to capture detailed picture of any exoplanet. With Project Blue, astronomers will click detailed picture of planets to see whether it contains life or not. Moreover, the telescope will work like NASAs Kepler space telescope which is also searching for exoplanets located in goldilocks zone, a region which is neither too far from the sun nor too close to the sun, where water can exist in liquid state.

Scientists of Project Blue believes that it is just an initial step towards exploring our vast universe and a lot detailed investigation is still left to do.
For many of us, reading contents on the web is a moderate, awkward and baffling practice  however, it doesnt need to be that way. But now, with the revolutionary initiative  Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP), taken by Google, readers can experience instant, faster, and real-time information on the internet. The AMP Project is an open source movement backed by Google, which is composed of an open source program that will enable the publishers to make the page load faster on the mobile devices. On 24th February 2016, Google authoritatively incorporated the listing of AMP into its mobile search results. However, the official rollout was used to be in the pipeline and on Wednesday, Google officially announced rolling out of AMP for Mobile Search Results in India.

As declared by Google, the mobile search results which have the compatible with Accelerated Mobile Pages will be enriched with a lightning icon next to them, which will drive the searchers to web pages that take comparatively less time to load. As per the previous declaration, Google confirmed that the search results themselves wont be altered and that Accelerated Mobile Pages wont be prioritised.

Earlier this year, in February, Google launched AMP technology for the Top Stories carousel in mobile search results. However, the search engine giant kept its exclusive to news rather than dispatching it for all types of contents and search results. But on Wednesday, Alphabet owned Google removed the exclusive tag of News-only from the AMP and extended the application of AMP to all supported pages of the search results in mobiles until September. However, this non-news support for AMP results will be exclusive to India for now, as Google hasnt yet given any clue about the rollout of this in other countries.

Google with its ground-breaking project  Accelerated Mobile Pages for mobile search results promises its esteemed users to experience web pages loading and search results faster and at more lightning speeds. As per the official statistics, since last year, more than 600 million Accelerated Mobile Pages documents have created on Google worldwide, accompanying more than 104 languages. Google AMP for mobile search results in India embraces many news and non-news sites like Aaj Tak, NDTV, The Indian Express, and Zomato. AMP of Google is like a bare-bones version of a website which is designed to enable the page load much faster and speedier than the traditional web pages. As claimed by Google, AMP can speed up the loading time up to 10 times.

Since its launch in India, AMP of Google has been utilized by several publishers, creating a better and lighter platform of internet users to enjoy mobile search results. Internationally, the Washington Post has witnessed a 23% boost in the volume of mobile search users and an 88% progress in web page load time for AMP content in comparison to the traditional mobile web results. In addition to the wide embracing of AMP, internet users have also clinched Googles several enrichments for Accelerated Mobile Pages over the last year.
tech2 News Staff

Airtel has issued a statement saying that it will be offering V-Fiber technology based broadband services to 87 cities across India. Speeds will top 100Mbps.

The service will first be offered in Chennai and will be rolled out to other cities in the coming weeks. Airtel will also offer a 3-month free, unlimited trial to new customers. The company adds that modem charges will be fully refunded within the first month if users are not happy with the connection.

Airtel states that this technology will not require any additional digging up of roads for the laying of cables. Instead, the company will use vectorization to provide last-mile connectivity over existing copper lines.

What is vectorization?

Normally, the data for your wired internet connection comes over, well, a wire. This wire is made up of a number of copper strands that are multiplexed (multiple signals are transferred over the wire). You can increase the number of wires or the amount of multiplexing, but that would increase interference, this will degrade the signal quality and limit data transfer capabilities.

With vectorization, dedicated hardware is used to measure and cancel this interference.

The result? Minimal interference and higher bandwidth on tap.

Airtel is essentially upgrading all its exchanges to support V-fibre and the last-mile copper uses vectorization to ensure that Airtel can provide the full bandwidth youre paying for, at minimal cost.

All Airtel broadband subscribers will now also get free, unlimited voice calling to any network in the country. The company is also caching data at its data centres to improve performance for its users.

Airtel states that vectorization and V-fibre are part of Project Leap, Airtels network transformation program.
tech2 News Staff

Apple CEO Tim Cook has reached Japan on Wednesday as a part of his East Asia tour. He tweeted out "good morning" in Japanese confirming his presence in the country that merges technology with tradition.

https://twitter.com/tim_cook/status/786355310944481280

After tweeting out about the famous torii, Tim Cook continued his tour in Kyoto by visiting another company that was given importance at the Apple iPhone 7 launch event, Nintendo.

https://twitter.com/tim_cook/status/786379589832601600

Being the CEO of Apple has its perks and Cook got his hands on the highly anticipated Super Mario Run and even met Shigeru Miyamoto its creator.

Indeed, this is not a vacation. Cook is here to meet people and bring in some business, but the actual details of his itinerary are unknown.

Cook arrived in Japan from Shenzhen, China, where it was announced that Apple will be opening its second research and development center.

Apple's intent with opening up a R&D center came with a purpose. Apple setup a center in China with objective of giving its engineering team better access to its manufacturing partners.

"The Shenzhen center, along with the Beijing center, is also aimed at strengthening relationships with local partners and universities as we work to support talent development across the country," said Tim Cook according to a Reuters report.
hidden

Facebook is celebrating the fifth anniversary of its 'Bug Bounty' program. Bug Bounty program is one of the most important programs in the cyber security industry.

It was initially started by Netscape with the launch of Netscape Navigator 2.0 Beta. The program turned out to be a huge success with major companies like Facebook, Google and Microsoft adopting the idea.

Bug bounty program helped Facebook maintain high-quality standards for the portfolio of products launched by Facebook. The company added WhatsApp to its Bug Bounty program and included the option to pay using Bitcoin along with automated payment process. It further highlighted that most of the team members joined Facebook security team through the community of security researchers participating in the program.

According to the company, India leads the country chart regarding the number of payouts, followed by USA and Mexico. Also, the company received approximately 9,000 reports from January 2016 to June 2016. Based on their reports, it paid approximately $6,11,741 to 149 researchers in the same time frame. Ethical hackers such as Anand Prakash have made as much as Rs 1.3 crore by discovering vulnerabilities.

Facebook is working on making the process more informative while improving it to support the community in a better way. The researchers are also vigilant on controlling the information posted regarding the reports confirmed as legitimate system issues.
Aditya Madanapalle

Posting content on Facebook is a hit and miss affair. Content is taken down automatically by algorithms. Facebook enforces a content policy where blood and violence is acceptable, but nudity is not. Content and communities are taken down on the basis of Government requests. At times, Facebook blames missing content on bugs and glitches. For the end user, content disappears randomly, and there is no uniform enforcement of its content policy.

https://twitter.com/baalegibreel/status/752259098737979392

In Kashmir, activist Huma Dar's account was banned by Facebook. The ban came in the midst of a series of bans on Pro-Kashmir accounts and pages. Individual users who had set Burhan Wani as their profile pictures were also banned. It is possible that Facebook reacted to multiple reports against these profile pictures. Affected users can find out why their accounts were disabled, and attempt to recover it.

Tech2 had reached out to Facebook for a comment, and at that time, Facebook had said "Our Community Standards prohibit content that praises or supports terrorists, terrorist organisations or terrorism, and we remove it as soon as were made aware of it. We welcome discussion on these subjects but any terrorist content has to be clearly put in a context which condemns these organisations or their violent activities."

In Pakistan, at the request of Government authorities, the Facebook Page of the progressive rock group Laal (Red) was banned. "Taalibansarezalimans", an anti-Taliban forum, and Pakistani.meem, a secular community platform, were also banned. An official of the Pakistan Telecom Authority confirmed that the Government had made requests to take down these pages to Facebook. The leader of the band told the media that they were not informed of the decision.

Facebook has taken down over seventy percent of pro-Palastinian content, based on the request of the Israeli Government. The Israel government requested Facebook on the basis of a direct relationship it found between social media posts and on ground violence. According to Facebook, the deletions were in line with their content policy on terrorism.

In Falcon Heights, Minnesota, law enforcement officers pulled over a vehicle for having a broken tail light. Diamond Reynolds started live streaming the interaction on Facebook. The encounter escalated and resulted in the companion of Reynolds getting shot in the arm four times. The video was graphic, and showed police officers firing over a traffic violation. As the video went viral, Facebook took it down, and blamed the situation on a technical glitch, saying that there was a bug in the system.

In Chicago, a man was shot and killed while live streaming on Facebook. That video, however, remains on Facebook with a warning about its graphic nature. This shows a double standard when it comes to content with graphic content.

Facebook certainly has more tolerance for graphic content as against nudity. Videos and images showing blood and gore are allowed to stay. However, Facebook purges content related to sex and bodies of women. Breastfeeding women was a kind of image that Facebook controversially removes. Even hand drawn nudity is not allowed. However, the same standards are not applied to male bodies. Males can show off ass many protruding nipples as they want, and Facebook will not do anything about it.

Facebook banned a photo of a plus sized model in a bikini. The reason cited by Facebook was that its content policy does not allow undesirable photos of body parts. Soon after, Facebook admitted that it had made an error, and reinstated the picture. Facebook stressed that they did not want to carry ads that show either perfect humans or undesirable humans. Facebook intends to carry ads that are relevant to the event or activity being advertised, such as running or walking, instead of images that may make viewers feel bad about themselves.

Facebook also scrubbed the site of the image of a young Vietnamese girl escaping from a Napalm bombing. The image, known as "Napalm Girl" was removed from a number of accounts from around the world, including that of Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg. The image was removed on grounds of nudity, but was restored after Solberg accused Facebook of censorship and attempting to edit history.

Perhaps the most bizarre instance was Facebook banning the phrase "Everyone Will Know" from being posted on the site. Apparently, the ban was a result of a bug in the spam detection system. This system is constantly updated by Facebook engineers, and apparently the phrase erroneously slipped into the spam filters. The issue has been fixed.

Religious bigotry, offensive image macros, spammy game requests, off colour text porn are all types of content that Facebook does not ban. Content of this type continues to thrive on Facebook, and unless reported by many people, continue to persist on the web site.

After Facebook banned a page which advocated Sikh seperationism. A US court ruled that Facebook can ban any kind of content on the social media platform, without having to justify reasons for doing so. This allows Facebook the freedom to pick and choose what kind of content it wants to take down, without having to explain why to the people who were affected.
Anirudh Regidi

The Samsung Galaxy Note 7 fiasco has placed the global spotlight on Samsung. The company is under intense pressure and scrutiny to resolve the issue at the earliest, but their handling of the situation has been less than stellar.

To add to this mess, reports have started popping up that the company is unintentionally crippling the investigation into the cause of the disaster.

While Samsung does seem keen on getting to the bottom of the issue, Samsung is even more keen on saving its own hide. Reports from The Verge and The New York Times indicate that the company is forcing its investigators to avoid using email and other electronic means of communication in order to avoid a paper trail.

This is hampering investigators ability to communicate and slowing down a crucial investigation. Why? The company is afraid that it might be sued and they dont want any evidence laying around.

In 1993, Samsung burnt 150,000 defective phones and then used bulldozers to raze what was left. The company chairman, who ordered this destruction, was quoted as saying, If you continue to make poor-quality products like these, Ill come back and do the same thing.

In 2012, three weeks before the launch of the Samsung Galaxy SIII, someone discovered that the back panel on production units werent of the same quality as the one demoed earlier. The result? 100,000 panels in warehouses were scrapped. Over 100,000 phones waiting to be shipped were recalled to have their back panels replaced.

For a company thats made such a strong commitment to quality and safety, their response to the Note 7 fiasco is odd, to say the least.

Another report by The New York Times points out that the Note 7 was only one in a long line of defective products being built by the company. By The New York Times estimates, 144,000 Samsung washing machines have been recalled in Australia, 184,000 microwave ovens in the US, 210,000 refrigerators in South Korea and a handful of smaller recalls involving tens of thousands of defective units in various countries.

The report adds that Samsung customers are used to jumping through hoops to get through the recall process and that they dont find Samsungs handling of the Note 7 fiasco to be surprising.

Product recalls are nothing new, they happen all the time, but Samsungs handling of the situation is drawing more ire than the defective products themselves.

Samsung has not been communicative with consumers, regulators or the media as clearly as it should have during this recall, William Wallace, a policy analyst for Consumers Union, the advocacy arm of Consumer Reports told The New York Times.

More recently, we reported that certain models of Sasmungs top-loading washing machines were smashing through walls. If it wasnt for the US CPSC (Consumer Product Safety Commission) explaining the situation, consumers would have been clueless as to the best course of action.

Obviously, theres something seriously wrong at Samsung and everyone is pointing fingers at the companys corporate structure.

In 2013, Bloomberg was invited to meet with Samsung employees at Samsungs facilities in South Korea. The one quote that stood out from the subsequent report was, For all its global reach, the company remains opaque.

Chang Sea Jin, a professor at the National University of Singapore tells Bloomberg that, Samsung is like a militaristic organisation. The CEO decides the direction to move in, and theres no discussion  they carry out the order.

This militaristic approach and discipline has worked for Samsung in the past, their CEO did transform the company from a low-cost, Korean-centric device manufacturer to a global conglomerate with a finger in every pie that contributes to 17 percent of South Koreas entire GDP.

In 2016, that is not going to be enough. Transparency is the need of the hour and toying with peoples trust is not something that Samsung can afford to do right now.

A year from now, the company might live down the Note 7 disaster, but unless we see a fundamental change in the companys outlook, the Note 7 will not be the last Samsung device that goes up in flames.
tech2 News Staff

The Galaxy Note 7 has been a major blow for Samsung. After repeated replacements of the flagship device, the company had no choice but to kill it. Samsung Electronics Mobile Chief, Koh Dong-jin is in bit of a soup and probably the first time since he started heading the division in 2014.

Today he pledged that he would at any cost find the exact cause of the issue to restore consumer trust so that they can use Samsung products in the future without any safety issues. He also admitted that he was frustrated over the past weeks due to the Note 7 crisis. He apologized and expressed his gratitude to the Samsung team for their support in the tough times.

Some Samsung employees have said to put up a series of posts on Samsungs online message board to support the head, the company and to boost the morale of other employees.

Koh took over the position after his predecessor JK Shin stepped down. He is said to have played a vital role in when it comes to innovations like the S-Pen as well as Samsung Pay. There are also rumours that Samsung Group could remove him from his position following the fiasco. Thankfully Samsung Electronics shares rose 3 percent to 1,581,000 won in early morning trading on 13 October.
tech2 News Staff

After all that has happened we are now gradually starting to see signs of responsibility by Samsung over the Note 7 massacre. After sending out fire-proof packaging to owners to safely ship their phablets back to Samsung, the Korean smartphone maker is now taking things up a notch.

Samsung has announced that it is even ready to take back a second-hand Note 7 that had probably switched hands with the original buyer.

A company spokesperson told Android Authority that "Any customer who bought a Note 7 [used] should contact us directly at 1-844-365-6197 to exchange their device. We are working as quickly as possible to make the service experience for our customers as quick and smooth as possible and we are grateful to our Note 7 customers for their patience during this time."

This makes sense as the move would reduce Samsung's damages; as any Samsung Note 7 out there (whether new or second hand) poses a risk of catching fire. This would technically be an additional headache for Samsung as well, so in a way, Samsung is reducing its own risks in process.

This is indeed the first time that the smartphone maker has gone out there to ensure that none of its defected smartphones are left behind.

But there's more news. Business Insider has another statement from Samsung which states that the company would soon reveal the actual reason as to why the Note 7 catches fire. Earlier speculation centered around a problematic battery that was made by Samsung's own subdivision.

The statement reads:

"The replacement phones have batteries from a separate and different supplier than the original Note 7 devices. We're currently conducting a thorough investigation, and it would be premature to speculate on outcomes. We will share more information in the coming weeks."

So hopefully in a couple of weeks we should know the reason as to why Samsung's Note 7 caught fire and what was the design defect behind it.
Sony India today announced the new BRAVIA Z9D series. A next generation intelevision display, the beautifully crafted Z9Dcomeswith the best of 4K HDR technology. Delivering an advanced viewing experience, this flagship modelhas the ability to reproduce deeper blacks and brighter whites to showcase life-like colours & details.

The new Z signature designates a significant step forward and embodies aperfect accuracy in display technology. The Z9D series features a newly developed 4K image processor-the 4K HDR Processor X1 Extreme and a unique backlight technology-Backlight Master Drive, to attain extraordinary contrast and extremely accurate wide colour expression. It offers an even more impressive visual experience with more depth, texture and realism on the screen than ever before.

This unique feature adds precision in picture quality and takes forward Sonys current line-up of premium 4K HDR TVs, which also includes the much celebrated X9300D & X9350Dseries.

With the introduction of three new technologies; object-based HDR remaster, dual database processing, and Super Bit Mapping 4K HDR, the new 4K HDR ProcessorX1 Extreme provides the ultimate 4K HDR visual experience with 40 percent more real-time image processing as compared to the renowned 4K Processor X1. This technology up-scales the standard dynamic range HD content to near 4K HDR quality by analyzing images in each scene and correcting colour and contrast of each object individually for varied sources like Internet video services, HDMI and USB port.

The object-based HDR remaster can reproduce scenes with the detailed texture and the appearance of real life. On top of current up-scaling database, the 4K HDR Processor X1 Extreme has additional Sony-exclusive database for noise reduction. By searching through thousands of picture patterns, the dual database processing removes unwanted noise and up-scales every image to super clear 4K image.

Additionally, the Super Bit Mapping 4K HDR creates a smoother, natural picture. With 14-bit powerful signal processing, it breaks up the solid bands of colour of 8-bit (FHD) or 10-bit (4K) source, up-converting 14-bit equivalent gradation with 64 times more colour levels. It delivers graceful reproduction of faces, sunsets and other areas of subtle colour gradation.

With these three technologies, 4K HDR Processor X1 Extreme reproduce a wide variety of content with immersive 4K HDR picture quality.

The Backlight Master Drive is precision backlight boosting technology which allows it to expand brightness and contrast even further in order to truly tap the full potential of 4K HDR. The Backlight Master Drive combines a dense LED structure with a super accurate lighting algorithm and unique optical design.

In combination with the latest accurate lighting algorithm, discrete LED control of Backlight Master Drive is able to dim and boost each LED individually. This innovative algorithm delivers total precision for unparalleled contrast and realism whereas previously, local dimming was controlled in zone consisting of several LEDs.

Calibrated beam LED design, the unique optical structure gathers the emitted LED light in a spot and focuses the drive area more precisely to display higher contrast. This also reduces light diffusion and the flare effect that can be seen on other full-array LED TVs.

Backlight Master Drive delivers unprecedented dynamic range with incredibly deep blacks and dazzling lights for scenes that look more real than ever before, unleashing the full potential of 4K HDR content.

Supported with X-tended Dynamic Range PRO the technology enables in producing better contrast by precisely balancing the light output across the screen, dimming some areas and boosting others. It reveals a brightness range three times that of a conventional LED-backlight TV, and it enhances any source to near HDR quality with a wider range of brightness. Also featuring a TRILUMINOS Display it aids in translating vibrant and enhanced for colour accuracy.

The Z9D series draws inspiration from the Slice of Living design concept and comes with clever cable management keeping the wires out of view and mounts it close on the wall like a picture frame. It has a slate design that encapsulates the ultimate experience where viewing goes beyond the screen. From the front, the design exudes sophistication in the form of a simple black slate table top design, letting viewers immerse themselves in the stunning power of 4K HDR. From the back, the design keeps all the cables completely concealed, ensuring that the device strikes an elegant look from any angle.

The new Z9D seriesruns on the latest Android TV version 6.0(Marshmallow)with Sonys exclusive user interface. Sonys Android TV lets one explore a world of movies, music, photos, games, search, apps and more. This series comes with an expandable memory where users can use USB drive for extra app storage (In addition to the built in memory).

With Google Cast, consumers can easily send content from smartphone or tablet to the TV. Google Play offersa huge and ever-growing choice of apps which are customized for TVs.These features simply let users enjoy what they do on a smartphone or tablet, on their bigger TV screen.

From live TV broadcasting to Internet video services or Netflix, the new seamless user interface Content bar includes enhanced content navigation with genre filtering function. Instead of selecting a programme from a bunch of channels, users can easily choose one from their favourite genre such as sports, music, news, and so on.

The upgraded Voice search function enables customers to search their channel names/TV contents without manual typing or remembering the respective channels.This exciting feature allows users to find content, ask questions and control the TV.

Sonys Android TVs delivers features which makes the TV viewing via DTH/STB, an extremely user friendly experience. Furthermore, the inbuilt Program guide & one TV Remote controlling both DTH/STB & BRAVIA supports in delivering a much needed experience for the Indian Market where customers spend majority of their TV viewing time into DTH/STB contents than any other online contents/TV feature.

In addition, all the 4K HDR series are Netflix Recommended TVs, which means customers get the best experience for Netflix. This is attributed to the special features like direct Netflix button on the TV remote, quick app launch and easy navigation and switching between apps and inputs.

Pre-booking of KD-65Z9D will be available from 15th October to 31st October in all Sony Centers.

The new Z9D series will be available at select Sony Centers& electronic stores in India.

Model Screen Sizes Availability MRP BRAVIA KD-65Z9D 164 cm(65) October 20, 2016 Rs 504,900

@Technuter.com News Service
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CSCR management blamed for wrong new born baby dianosis

A Chittagong :



The report of the investigation committee formed to investigate the incident of declaring dead a new born baby at a private hospital in Chittagong, has blamed the hospital management for the incident.

The report was submitted on Monday and it was sent to the Director General of Health Department Dr Abul Kalam Azad, according to sources. Civil Surgeon of Chittagong Dr Azizur Rahman, however, declined to disclose any thing about the report. But, sources in the investigation committee said that the report blamed the authority and management of CSCR, a private hospital in Chittagong for the occurrence.

The report also blamed the physicians concerned including the gynecologist in this regard. Dr Azizur Rahman only said, "After talking to the Director General of Health Dr Abul Kalam Azad, I have sealed the report and sent it to him." It may be mentioned that CSCR declared a child dead immediate after delivery on October 3. As per directives of the DG of Health department , the Civil Surgeon of Chittagong took the initiative to investigate the incident. Office of Civil Surgeon formed a three-member committee led by child specialist Dr Shaha Alam to investigate the incident. The rest two members of the committee are Deputy Civil Surgeon of Chittagong Dr Ajoy Kumar Dey and Shahedul Islam. The committee was asked to submit the report in this regard within three days. However, the committee submitted the report and the civil surgeon sent it to the DG of Health Department.

The CSCR authority issued death certificate of the new born baby while the mother of the baby Dr Ridwana Kaosar confirmed that her child is alive. Later, the baby is proved alive at another hospital in the city. Sources said, the mother of the baby Dr Ridwana Kaosar was admitted to CSCR hospital under the treatment of Dr Shahana Akter.

After delivery, she heard that her child is alive. But, denying the directives of Dr Shahana Akter to provide the baby ICU treatment, the CSCR authority declared the baby dead and issued death certificate.
Climate change adaptation for reducing disaster risks emphasised

Staff Reporter, Kishoreganj :

Kishoreganj District Administration, CARE-International, Sad-Bangladesh, POPI, PSTC and BRAc jointly arranged a rally, discussion, mella, postering documentary film and fire service life saving rescue exhibition marking the International Day for Disaster Reduction-2016 on Thursday.

A discussion on 'Live to Tell' held at local art council hall on Thursday morning.

Deputy Commissioner Md. Azimuddin Biswas attended as Chief Guest while ADC (G) Tarafder Md. Akhter Jamil in the chair.

It was address among others by DRRO Md. Siddiqur Rahman, N.D.C Umma Fatema, District Press Club President Mostafa Kamal, Md. Sagir of Sad-Bangladesh, District Education Office Md Shahjahan and Md. Saiful Quddess of POPI.

A colourfull rally was brought out in the town marking the International Day for Disaster Reduction.

BSS from Rajshahi afdds: Speakers at a post-rally discussion meeting yesterday stressed the need for public awareness and modernised training to protect life, livelihood and resources of millions of vulnerable people across the country.

It will not only save vulnerable people exposed to natural disasters in various forms but also pave the way for sustainable development of the country.

They viewed the rate of disaster risks is gradually mounting due to various natural and man-made catastrophes. So, there is no alternative to collective efforts of all government and non-government organizations concerned.

District Administration and Department of Disaster Management jointly organized the discussion in conference hall of Deputy Commissioner in observance of the International Disaster Reduction Day. "Strategies should be exposed to reduce disasters risks" was the main theme of the day.

To mark the day, district administration brought out a colourful procession from Shaheed AHM Kamaruzzaman Central Park and Zoo premises that paraded the main streets of the city and concluded in front of DC office. A good number of government and non-government officials, political leaders, NGO personalities, civil society members, city elites, journalists and a large number of city dwellers took part in the procession with placards to create awareness among the people about how to reduce disaster risk.

In his address of welcome, District Relief and Rehabilitation Officer Md Alauddin gave an overview of the country's disaster situation and its mitigation activities. With Additional Deputy Commissioner (General) Ataul Gani in the chair, Additional Deputy Commissioner (Education and ICT) Parvej Raihan, Assistant Director of Fire Service and Civil Defense Ahsanul Kabir and Adviser of CCBVO Everest Hembrom also spoke.

They said that the vast Northern and its Barind area is one of the most disaster prone zones in the country where earthquake, thunderbolt, storm, drought, river erosion and water-logging are now common. Due to climate change the frequency and intensity of disasters are increasing,threaten lives and livelihoods.

The discussants also elaborated the adverse impacts of climate changes on the habitations,livelihoods, environment, irrigation, navigation, ecology, biodiversity, weather and ground water levels.

The speakers strongly believed that the active participation of school children and youths will make the nation stronger for combating disaster risk in all aspect of lives.

They urged the civil society, non-government agencies and the private sector to join hands in government's efforts for increasing national disaster resilience.

BSS from Rangpur reports: Comprehensive steps should be taken to adapt to climate change impacts along with early preparedness for reducing risks of natural disasters, losses of lives and properties during calamities.

The opinion came yesterday at a post-rally discussion organised by the district administration in association with different government and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in observance of the International Day for Disaster Reduction-2016.

Earlier, a colourful procession, participated by hundreds of people, including GO-NGO officials, students, teachers, public representatives, socio-cultural and political activists, community leaders, professionals and elite, was brought out in the city. Deputy Commissioner Rahat Anwar attended the discussion held at Banyan Tree premises on Zila School ground as the chief guest with Additional Deputy Commissioner (General) Dr ATM Mahbubul Karim in the chair.

In his inaugural speech, District Relief and Rehabilitation Officer Faridul Haque discussed about various types of natural disasters and statistics of damages and forwarded suggestions to reduce disaster risks everywhere, including urban areas.

Divisional Deputy Director of the Fire Service and Civil Defense Asaduzzaman Sheikh narrated the government efforts taken to reduce disaster risks through dissemination of information and warnings, training and emergency response management systems.

BSS from Bogra adds: The International Day for Disaster Reduction was observed here this morning under the initiatives of the district administration. To mark the day, the district administration brought out a colourful procession from the deputy commissioner's (DC) office. The procession paraded the main streets of the city before ending at the same venue.

The administration and Department of Disaster Management jointly organized a discussion on the occasion in the conference hall of DC. With Additional Deputy Commissioner (General) Sufiya Nazim in the chair, DC Ashraf Uddin was present in the meeting as the special guest.
The Karvi is flowering

Peeyush Sekhsaria :

I have a vague memory of climbing through Karvi flowers in bloom as a child, but hard as I try, I can't conjure up an image of a mountainside clothed with gentle violet Karvi flowers. Nor can I remember having picked up a fallen flower and carefully pressed it in my notebook. The sight of an entire mountainside in Karvi bloom could not have been a vague memory. It was time to correct the follies of childhood. I drove up to Panchgani, in the Western Ghats, to witness the first Karvi Festival in the region, held to celebrate the unique flowering phenomenon of the plant.

The Karvi, Strobilanthes callosa, is a specialised large shrub, a star in the large Strobilanthes genus. On steep basaltic slopes of the Western Ghats, with poor soil, where few other plants tread, Karvi thrives. Fresh leaves sprout with the arrival of the monsoon and grow to a large bristled green. With winter, the leaves fall, and, by summer, the plant appears dry. This growth cycle continues till the clock ticks past the seventh monsoon. Dense patches of Karvi set the slopes afire as it buds, and, then, bursts into beautiful violet flowers every eight years. Across its entire range, the buzzing of bees collecting nectar takes over, pollinating the flowers. The fruits take three-four months to mature, produce seeds, dry up, and, about January, the Karvi dies en masse.

Karvi displays a unique hygrochastic seed dispersal process. Botanist Aparna Watve explains that when the dried fruits are exposed to a prolonged wet spell, they split into two halves and the seeds held until now by an inbuilt recoil mechanism, pop out at high speed. They land up to five meters away from the mother plant and sprout with the monsoon. Another millennial cycle of the seven-year-itch starts. This phenomena is typical of the large Strobilanthes genus, of which India has about 56 species.

This year, another species, the Topli Karvi (Strobilanthes sessilis), called so due to its resemblance to an inverted basket, topli in Marathi, that grows on plateaus in the northern Western Ghats, has also bloomed. Topli Karvi does not share the same flowering cycle as the Karvi. Mahadev Bhise, a naturalist, explains that, locally, Topli Karvi is known as akra - 11 in Marathi - representing the local interpretation of its flowering cycle. It is also called bakra as the plants resemble sheep grazing with their heads in the grass.

If the simultaneous flowering of two species of Karvi wasn't enough, this year, the southern superstar of this genus, Nilakurunji (Strobilanthes kunthiana), known to have a 12-year flowering cycle, has also flowered in parts of the range spread over Tamil Nadu and Kerala. One story goes that the blue-violet flowers of Nilakurunji that takes over entire mountains has given Nilgiris its name.

The Karvi/Kurinji plant and the flowering phenomena is intertwined with the lives of indigenous communities. The Muthuvas of Munnar and the Todas of Nilgiris consider the flowering of Kurinji auspicious. Local customs decry the destruction of the plant until the seeds mature 10 months after the flowering. Muthuvans calculated their age as multiples of the Kurinji flowering cycle and consider the Kurinji to be the symbol of love and romance.

Even among animals, the Karvi is very popular. Namdeo, a trekking guide from Panchgani, says gaurs (Indian bison) walk through dense patches of Karvi to get themselves scratched by its bristled leaves and rough stems. Botanist Balkrishna Gawade, assistant professor at Kankavli College, says, gaur and deer love to eat its leaves and bears the fruit. Botanist Anita Varghese of Keystone Foundation, Kottagiri, says, "During flowering, the mountains buzz with overworked bees producing a once-in-12-years, premium, 100 per cent Kurinji honey."

Yet, conservation issues plague the future of this unique plant too. Karvi flowering tourism has taken off in Panchgani, Sanjay Gandhi National Park, Mumbai, Chorla Ghat, Goa, Amboli and Munnar. "Event organisers should not let this unique opportunity to engage with ecology and conservation issues get reduced to a photo opportunity," says Pune-based naturalist Saili Palande Datar.

In the Nilgiris, since the time of the British, Nilakurinji has been replaced by tea, pine, wattle and eucalyptus plantations, dams, construction and other markers of "development". The restricted distribution of the Karvi makes them more vulnerable. According to Samira Rathore, post-doctoral scholar at the National Centre for Biological Sciences, Bangalore, alien invasive plants like Ageratina adenophora have taken over Kurinji habitats in the BR Hills.

It is not that the state authorities are not doing anything. Sunil Limaye, CCF Wildlife, Pune division, says that they have discontinued the practice of taking up Karvi habitats for tree plantation. Varghese is concerned that there are other lesser-studied relationships of these flowering events to changes in climate. She has often heard the locals complain how the flowering has become patchy over the years.

Karvi mass flowering moves people deeply. Mandakini Mathur, organiser of the festival, says the idea came to her in part as a homage to a Panchgani veteran, late Vinayak Dixit, a keen naturalist, who had first showed her Karvi flowering 16 years ago. At the festival, a biology teacher from Sanjeewan School excitedly shared how she had discovered the flower thanks to the festival brochure and was surprised to find it flowering in her school campus. I did pick up a few fallen Karvi flowers to press in my notebook, but I dropped them back, colouring the moist brown earth with a gentle violet and booked my Karvi appointment for 2024 instead.

Peeyush Sekhsaria is an independent Delhi-based consultant and researcher. He is the co-author of Our Tigers Return - Children's Story Book - The Story of Panna Tiger

Reserve (2009-2015)
World powers to try again for Syria ceasefire

US Secretary of State John Kerry (L) and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov shake hands as they agreed a plan to impose a ceasefire in the Syrian civil war and lay the foundation of a peace process.

Reuters, Moscow :

US Secretary of State John Kerry will meet his Russian counterpart in Switzerland on Saturday to discuss Syria, officials said on Wednesday, as a devastating bombing campaign of the city of Aleppo intensified.

The Syrian government launched an assault to capture rebel-held areas of Aleppo last month with Russian air support and Iranian-backed militias, a week into a ceasefire agreed by Washington and Moscow.

Kerry broke off talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov last week over the offensive, which has included air strikes on hospitals that the United States and France said amounted to war crimes for which Syria and Russia were responsible. The Syrian and Russian governments blamed their foes for breaking the ceasefire and said they target only terrorists in the city, the last major urban stronghold of the Western-backed rebels, where more than 250,000 people are trapped under siege. The resumption of talks, despite the offensive, was a sign of the lack of options facing Western nations over the Syria conflict, where they worry scaled-up arms supplies for the rebels could end up in the hands of jihadist groups.

Russia's Foreign Ministry said Kerry and Lavrov would meet in the Swiss city of Lausanne to consider steps towards settling the conflict. The meeting will include foreign ministers from Turkey, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Iran. A senior State Department official confirmed Kerry would attend.

White House spokesman Josh Earnest said Washington remained committed to a "deep multilateral engagement" to reduce the violence in Syria which would "necessarily" involve Russia too.

"But it is no longer in the context of trying to broker this agreement that would ... hold out the prospect of US military cooperation with Russia. That's something that Russia has lost... the credibility to be able to try to agree to," he said.

On Wednesday, 25 people were killed by heavy air strikes on rebel-held areas of Aleppo, the Civil Defence, a rescue service working in rebel-held areas, said on Twitter, adding that 15 of them were killed at a market place in the Fardous district.

The Syrian army has denied targeting civilians.

A Syrian military source said warplanes had struck several locations to the south and southwest of Aleppo but Syrian and Russian officials could not immediately be reached to comment on the market place attack. It was the second day of heavy air strikes after a lull of several days which the Syrian army said was designed to allow civilians to leave.

Rebels said the intensity of the air strikes on Tuesday and Wednesday had returned to the level seen at the start of the Russian-backed campaign to capture Aleppo.

Moscow's intervention, which began just over a year ago, has tipped the scales back towards President Bashar al-Assad.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based organisation that reports on the war, said it had documented the deaths of 55 people killed in escalating bombardment of eastern Aleppo in the last 48 hours.
Vote Trump or face nuclear war, Putin ally tells Americans

Republican Party nominee Donald Trump speaking at a rally in Ocala, Florida on Wednesday.

Reuters, Moscow :

Americans should vote for Donald Trump as president next month or risk being dragged into a nuclear war, according to a Russian ultra-nationalist ally of President Vladimir Putin who likes to compare himself to the U.S. Republican candidate.

Vladimir Zhirinovsky, a flamboyant veteran lawmaker known for his fiery rhetoric, told Reuters in an interview that Trump was the only person able to de-escalate dangerous tensions between Moscow and Washington.

By contrast, Trump's Democratic rival Hillary Clinton could spark World War Three, said Zhirinovsky, who received a top state award from Putin after his pro-Kremlin Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR) came third in Russia's parliamentary election last month.

Many Russians regard Zhirinovsky as a clownish figure who makes outspoken statements to grab attention but he is also widely viewed as a faithful servant of Kremlin policy, sometimes used to float radical opinions to test public reaction.

"Relations between Russia and the United States can't get any worse. The only way they can get worse is if a war starts," said Zhirinovsky, speaking in his huge office on the 10th floor of Russia's State Duma, or lower house of parliament.

"Americans voting for a president on Nov. 8 must realize that they are voting for peace on Planet Earth if they vote for Trump. But if they vote for Hillary it's war. It will be a short movie. There will be Hiroshimas and Nagasakis everywhere."

Zhirinovsky's comments coincide with deep disagreements between Washington and Moscow over Syria and Ukraine and after the White House last week accused Russia of a campaign of cyber attacks against Democratic Party organizations.

Even as WikiLeaks released another trove of internal documents from Clinton's campaign on Wednesday, Putin insisted his country was not involved in an effort to influence the U.S. presidential election.

Zhirinovsky likes to shock liberal public opinion and he has frequently heaped scorn on the West, which he and other Russian nationalists regard as decadent, hypocritical and corrupted by political correctness.

His combative style, reminiscent of Trump's, ensures him plenty of television air time and millions of votes in Russian elections, often from the kind of blue-collar workers who are the bedrock of the U.S. Republican candidate's support.

Zhirinovsky once proposed blocking off mostly Muslim southern Russia with a barbed wire fence, echoing Trump's call for a wall along the U.S. border with Mexico.

Zhirinovsky, who said he met Trump in New York in 2002, revels in his similarities with the American businessman - they are the same age, favor coarse, sometimes misogynistic language and boast about putting their own country first. Zhirinovsky has even said he wants a DNA test to see if he is related to Trump.

But unlike Trump, a billionaire real estate developer who casts himself as the anti-establishment candidate in the U.S. presidential race with no past political experience, Zhirinovsky is a consummate political insider who has sat in the Duma for more than two decades.

Putin has also praised Trump as "very talented", while the Republican candidate has said the Kremlin boss is a better leader than U.S. President Barack Obama. Clinton has accused Trump of being too cozy with Putin and questioned his business interests in Russia.

In other comments that have delighted Moscow, Trump has questioned the value of NATO for Washington, has spoken ambiguously about Russia's 2014 annexation of Ukraine's Crimea and suggested that the United States under his leadership would adopt a more isolationist foreign policy.

"He (Trump) won't care about Syria, Libya and Iraq and why an earth should America interfere in these countries? And Ukraine. Who needs Ukraine?," said Zhirinovsky, who once counted himself a friend of Iraq's Saddam Hussein and Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi and whose deaths he still laments.

"Trump will have a brilliant chance to make relations more peaceful ... He's the only one who can do this," he said, adding that Trump could even win a Nobel peace prize.

In contrast, Zhirinovsky described Clinton as "an evil mother-in law" and said her record as secretary of state under Obama in 2009-2013 showed she was unfit to lead her country.

"She craves power. Her view is that Hillary is the most important person on the planet, that America is an exceptional country, as Barack Obama said," said Zhirinovsky. "That's dangerous. She could start a nuclear war."
Bangladesh-China Cultural Academy formed a welcome human chain in front of the Jatiya Press Club on Thursday on the occasion of Chinese President Xi Jinping\'s visit to Bangladesh.
Rizvi gets HC bail in violence case, no bar to release

UNB, Dhaka :

The High Court on Thursday granted bail to BNP senior joint secretary general Ruhul Kabir Rizvi for six months in a violence case filed in 2015.

An HC vocational bench comprising Justice Sheikh Hassan Arif and Justice Shahidul Karim passed the order after hearing on a

petition. Advocates Joynul Abedin and Johirul Islam Sumon led the hearing for the BNP leader.

Talking to reporters, Adv Johirul Islam said now there is no legal bar to his release from jail as he secured bail in all cases. On 28, January 2015, a case was filed against some BNP leaders, including Rizvi, with Ramna Police Station for torching a bus in the city's Matsya Bhaban area that killed a policeman. On August 18, a court sent Rizvi to jail when he surrendered before a court and prayed for his bail.
Joy, Boby made AL councillors

Women leaders' quota to be fulfilled

Sagar Biswas :

The ruling Awami League is taking massive preparations for its 20th National Council, scheduled on October 22 and 23, where a specific work plan would be projected in the party's declaration to turn Bangladesh into a developed country by 2040.

With a view to diversifying the organization, the AL is also likely to bring important changes in the mid-level of central body introducing a bunch of new faces in the national council, insiders said.

There is a little chance of bringing any change in the top posts, but a dozen of new faces may be included in the posts of joint secretaries, organizing secretaries, central committee members and fill-up 33 per cent women quota in line with party manifesto.

At present, the party has four women leaders in the 12-member presidium, seven female members among 131-member central executive committee and 2 women members in the advisory committee. It is only 7.34 per cent in the committees.

Some of the distinguished women leaders' names have been surfaced for the new posts. Of them, President of Mohila Sramik League president Rowshan Jahan Sathi, Sagufta Yasmin Emili, Meher Afroz Chumki, Tarana Halim, Nurjahan Begum Mukta, Washika Ayesha Khanom, Uma Chowdhury and Nazma Akter are mentionable.

"The upcoming party council will elect new central executive committee comprising old and new faces under the leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. AL will get new committee with old and new faces . . . The prime challenge for new leadership would be bringing the party in power with people's mandate in the 2019 general election," AL Presidium Member and Health and Family Welfare Minister Mohammad Nasim said.

The expansion of the central committee, from existing 73 to 81 members, is almost certain. Side by side, the committees from grassroots level to upazila and district level- would also be expanded in line with the new strategy, the insiders said.

As per existing organogram, there are seven posts of organizing secretaries in the party. There may be a proposal to increase the number of organizing secretaries from seven to ten in the upcoming council.

In this context, one of the three new organizing secretaries may come from Mymensigh division. Besides, two others may come from Comilla and Faridpur - while government is actively considering to introduce both the areas as divisions. These matters will be mentioned in the amended organogram for future decision, sources said.

"The main goal of the national council of the AL is to prevent communalism and militancy. The AL central committee will be constituted with the participation of fresh blood and experienced persons. Both young and aged leaders will be kept there for the wellbeing of organization," Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader recently said.

Obaidul Quader, who is AL Presidium Member and convener of office sub-committee of the national council preparatory committee, said: "The main commitment of the council is to establish a non-communal state defeating communalism and militancy under the leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina."

Sources close to the ruling party said, those who had sacrificed for the party during crucial moment after 2001 election may be included in the committee. Besides, some former Bangladesh Chhatra League leaders may get a room in the central committee.

There will be no voting to elect party President or General Secretary in the Council like the previous councils. There is no alternative of Sheikh Hasina, who is also incumbent President of the AL, is likely to be the party President again.

At the same time, Syed Ashraful Islam may get again party's second most important post of General Secretary as there is a little chance to get another candidate for the post. Senior party leaders said that it's totally under the jurisdiction of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to choose the general secretary.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, her younger sister Sheikh Rehena and daughter Saima Wazed Putul are going to attend the 20th national council as nominated councillors of Dhaka City South Unit of Awami League.

The list of councillors was submitted to the central committee on Wednesday," Shah Alam Murad, General Secretary of Dhaka City South Unit, said.

Earlier, PM's son Sajeeb Ahmed Wazed Joy and Sheikh Rehena's son Redwan Mujib Siddiq Bobby became councillors for the national council from Rangpur and Dhaka City North respectively. Joy's father late MA Wazed Miah hailed from Rangpur, while Redwan Mujib Siddiq Bobby lives under the jurisdictions of Dhaka City North.

The AL's last council was held in December 29, 2012, which re-elected PM Sheikh Hasina as President and Syed Ashraful Islam as General Secretary.


Holy Ashura observed

UNB, Dhaka :

The country's Muslims observed holy Ashura on Wednesday with due religious reverence expressing their remorse for the tragic incident at Karbala desert.

The day was observed as a sign of sacrifice and mourning commemorating the Karbala tragedy where Hazrat Imam Hussain (RA), a grandson of Prophet Hazrat Muhammad (PBUH), embraced martyrdom along his family members and followers on the 10th of Muharram in Hijri 61.

Different religious and socio-political organisations marked the day amid different programmes, including discussion, milad mahfil and rally.

Some Muslims also observed the day through various prayers, including fasting, Qurankhwani and reciting from holy Quran and offering Nafl prayers.

They day was a public holiday.

Shia community members brought out a huge procession, known as 'Tajia', from Imambara at Hussaini Dalan in old part of the capital in the morning.

The traditional procession with the participation of over 5000 people paraded different streets in the capital, including Nilkhet intersection and Pilkhana.

They were seen carrying flags and banners commemorating the Karbala tragedy. Apart from the main procession, Shia community people brought out several other Tajia processions in different parts of the city.

Meanwhile, a Class-VIII student, Nazir Uddin, was electrocuted during a Tajia procession at Hatirtan in Sadar upazila of Habiganj district in the morning.

Laskarpur union parishad chairman Amzad Ali said Nazir was electrocuted as a metal pike he was carrying came in touch with an overhead electric wire.
Price hike of soybean oil affecting households

THE price of soybean oil has increased by Tk 2 to Tk 4 per litre in the kitchen markets after a move by the refiners to raise their mill gate price. The enhanced price has affected both lose and bottle soybean oil forcing consumers to pay more. Millers are blaming a rise in soybeans and palm oil prices in international market while unilaterally raising the price without approval of such move from the government. It is illegal and also unacceptable, they can't raise price at their will. In our opinion the commerce ministry must take action against the millers. They can't hold the market hostage.



The New Nation reported on Wednesday that different brands of soybean oil sold at Tk 97 - Tk100 compared to Tk 94 to Tk 98 per litre few days earlier. Bigger containers sold at proportionately higher price. It appears that traders are routinely pushing the prices of kitchen market items round the year. They started with onions this year and then raised the prices of sugar and salt. Lentils come next and rice prices then soared by early this month. The government sources said they have no control over big rice millers who hold their stock and vary prices. The fact is that many ruling party MPs are also owners of big rice mills and they are free to manipulate the market price blaming supply shortage.



So also many edible oil millers and distributors are politically powerful people beyond the reach of law. In fact holding stocks and manipulating prices are the easiest business in the country using political shelter.



Market sources said prices of palm and soybean oil marked slight upward rise last week in global market. But millers were persistently bringing pressure on Bangladesh Tariff Commission (BTC) to recommend a hike in their marketing price at mill gate. The BTC is yet to give a decision, which must go to the Ministry of Commerce for approval. So the millers' decision to raise prices has no credible basis to collect higher price. The demand for edible oil is 1.9 million tonnes annually, of which Bangladesh produces only 0.25 million tonnes. So dependent on imported edible oil and monopoly of millers are making consumers hostage to market players.



Yet another point is that millers and retailers are cheating consumers routinely selling soybeans mixed with palm oil. But the manipulators are so powerful that the vigilance of Bangladesh Standard and Testing Institution (BSTI) and law enforcers remained quite ineffective to their power. We don't know how the helpless consumers can be saved unless the government comes forward to protect their interest. It is useless in our situation to demand punishment to those cheating the buyers.
Bob Dylan wins Nobel Prize in Literature

NBC News :

The 75-year-old music legend was cited for "having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition." He will receive a prize of $927,740.

Born Robert Allen Zimmerman on May 24, 1941, Dylan became prolific songwriter and penned some of the most influential songs of the 1960s. His hits include "Blowin' in the Wind" and "Subterranean Homesick Blues."The Associated Press reported that Dylan had been mentioned in the Nobel speculation for years, but few experts expected the academy to extend the prestigious award to a genre such as pop music.

The prize will be formally presented to Dylan and other winners on Dec. 10.

The 2015 winner was Svetlana Alexievich, a Belarusian writer is one of only 14 women to have been selected for the honor since 1901.
UP member shot dead in Jessore

Jessore Correspondent :

A member of union council was shot dead by a gang of unidentified assailants at a barbershop at Gadkhali Bazar in the district on Thursday morning.

The deceased was identified as Rahajjan Sardar, 38, was also the general secretary of Gadkhali Flower Traders Welfare Association under Jhikargachha

upazila in Jessore district. He was also an active member of ruling Awami League.

His elder brother Hasan Sardar was also shot dead by unidentified assailants on July 5, said Mizanur Rahman, younger brother of the deceased Rahajjan.

A gang of six unidentified miscreants riding two motorbikes shot Rahajjan to death at around 9:15am yesterday while he was being shaved at the barbershop, Mizanur said.

He was rushed to the Jhikargachha Upazila Health Complex from where he was shifted to Jessore General Hospital where the attending doctor declared him dead.

Masud Karim, officer in-charge, Jhikargachha police station said that the reason behind the murder could not be known immediately.


Trump is a danger to world if elected, says UN HR Chief

NEWSWeek :

Donald Trump's "deeply unsettling and disturbing" views make him a danger to the world, according to the United Nations human rights chief.

Speaking during a news briefing in Geneva on Wednesday, Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein, the U.N. high commissioner for human rights, said: "If Donald Trump is elected on the basis of what he has said already-and unless that changes-I think it is without any doubt that he would be dangerous from an international point of view."

Barely a day has passed in recent weeks without a controversial comment or statement emerging from the campaign of the Republican presidential nominee. Last week, a leaked audio tape from 2005 featured Trump making sexually predatory comments about women, and it resulted in a number of Republicans, including House Speaker Paul Ryan, backing away from supporting him in various ways. On Tuesday, Trump tweeted that he's now free from the "shackles" of establishment Republicans. On Wednesday, BuzzFeed News reported allegations by four former teenage beauty pageant contestants that Trump walked into dressing rooms while contestants were changing.

Hussein said on Wednesday that while he was "not keen or intent on interfering in any political campaign within any particular country," comments Trump has made about the use of torture and his views toward some "vulnerable communities" mean human rights could be at stake if he were to win.

Trump has said that "torture works" and that he doesn't think waterboarding, a now-banned U.S. interrogation method, is "tough enough." He said he would immediately re-instate the practice if he were elected president. Last year, Trump called for a ban on Muslims entering the U.S., and he has repeatedly called for a wall to be built along the U.S.-Mexico border. Trump has also been critical of the U.N., saying the body "is not a friend of democracy" or the U.S.

Hussein's comments came hours after President Barack Obama was critical of Trump during a campaign rally for Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, saying.

"The guy says stuff that nobody would find tolerable if they were applying for a job at 7-Eleven."

The U.N. chief's remarks also follow a gaffe made by Trump during a campaign stop in North Carolina: He stated the date of the general election as November 28. It is, in fact, on November 8.

It's not the first time Hussein has criticized Trump. He has accused the candidate of disseminating "humiliating racial and religious prejudice" and has also compared Trump to the Islamic State (ISIS) militant group; Nigel Farage, the leader of the United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP); and other divisive right-wing political figures.

"All seek in varying degrees to recover a past, halcyon and so pure in form, where sunlit fields are settled by peoples united by ethnicity or religion-living peacefully in isolation, pilots of their fate, free of crime, foreign influence and war," said Hussein. "A past that most certainly, in reality, did not exist anywhere, ever."
Restrictions on traffic on Airport Road during Xi`s visit

Traffic on Airport Road will be restricted for 24 hours due to Chinese President Xi Jinping`s Dhaka visit.

The DMP traffic department has said the outgoing west lane of the road from Khilkhet Crossing to Munmun Kabab or Padma Oil Crossing will be totally off limits from 10am on Friday to 10am on Saturday.

The east lane will be open for traffic. Dhaka-bound long-haul buses and trucks will not be allowed on Airport Road. These vehicles have been asked to use Berhibadh Mazar Road or Gabtoli Road from Abdullahpur or Dhaur. A police statement said on Thursday that the restriction on traffic movement was aimed at ensuring flawless security for the 'important guest of the state' and his entourage. Xi, the first Chinese head of state to visit Bangladesh in three decades, is arriving in Dhaka on Friday. His Bangladesh counterpart Md Abdul Hamid will welcome him at Shahjalal International Airport on his arrival at 11:40am. Besides President Hamid, President Xi will also meet Jatiya Sangsad Speaker Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury during the two-day visit. He will meet Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Friday afternoon.

The Chinese president will leave Dhaka for India after paying tributes to the Liberation War martyrs at National Martyrs` Memorial in Savar on Saturdayafternoon.Traffic on Airport Road will be restricted for 24 hours due to Chinese President Xi Jinping`s Dhaka visit. The DMP traffic department has said the outgoing west lane of the road from Khilkhet Crossing to Munmun Kabab or Padma Oil Crossing will be totally off limits from 10am on Friday to 10am on Saturday. The east lane will be open for traffic.

Dhaka-bound long-haul buses and trucks will not be allowed on Airport Road.

These vehicles have been asked to use Berhibadh Mazar Road or Gabtoli Road from Abdullahpur or Dhaur.

A police statement said on Thursday that the restriction on traffic movement was aimed at ensuring flawless security for the 'important guest of the state' and his entourage.

Xi, the first Chinese head of state to visit Bangladesh in three decades, is arriving in Dhaka on Friday.

His Bangladesh counterpart Md Abdul Hamid will welcome him at Shahjalal International Airport on his arrival at 11:40am.

Besides President Hamid, President Xi will also meet Jatiya Sangsad Speaker Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury during the two-day visit. He will meet Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Friday afternoon.

The Chinese president will leave Dhaka for India after paying tributes to the Liberation War martyrs at National Martyrs` Memorial in Savar on Saturday afternoon.
Anu Mohammad gets death threat



Member secretary of the National Committee to Protect Oil-Gas, Natural Resources and Power-Port Prof Anu Mohammad received a death threat through a mobile phone message.

According to his Facebook status, he received the death threat at 1:00 am Thursday from an unknown mobile phone number. Receiving the death threat, he wrote on his Facebook page, "I received a message from 01629967551 which said,"Death keeps no calendar, and Ansatullah knows no time!"

Ruhin Hossain Prince, a leader of the National Committee, said Prof Anu Mohammad will lodge a complaint with police soon in this regard. Anu Mohammad in his Facebook status further said, "Who has given the threat, the government can say better. They are supposed to say better." He said, "I think those who make barrier to create question, may have done this job".

Anu Mohammad, a professor of economics of Jahangirnagar University, said there is obstacle in the society in raising any question. A portion of the society doesn't like to see that anybody should raise question on different issues. "Those who don't like criticism of their works want to create a scary situation. They may have a link with this incident (threat)," he said.

Prof Anu Mohammad has been leading the National Committee on different issues, including open-cut coal mining, export of gas. But the committee's recent movement against setting up of Rampal power plant near the Sundarbans has received more focus in the national and international arena.
Xi`s visit won`t affect ties with others: FM

Staff Reporter :

Foreign Minister AH Mahmood Ali on Thursday said the visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping to Bangladesh will not affect relations with other countries, particularly neighbouring India.

Mentioning the foreign policy of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman 'friendship to all, malice towards none' he said, "We don't want enmity with anybody.The foreign minister made the remark during a press conference at his office in response to a query whether Xi's visit will affect ties with other countries like India.

The Chinese president is expected to arrive in Dhaka on a state visit this (Friday) morning.

The question came as a Chinese newspaper Global Times in an editorial wrote that closer ties between Beijing and Dhaka may put pressure on New Delhi to rethink its strategy in South Asia and encourage it to better its relations with Beijing.

According to the daily, India need not be "jealous" of increasing ties between Dhaka and Beijing and it was wrong to think that Xi's trip to Bangladesh was "to snatch the South Asian country from the embrace of New Delhi".

Addressing the press conference, the minister said over 25 Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on different development issues, including economic cooperation, fresh investment, power and energy, agriculture, water management and blue economy, are expected to be signed in presence of Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and Xi Jinping.

Terming Xi's visit as the unprecedented success of the Awami League-led government, he said it proves the confidence of world leaders in the current government.

The relations between the two countries will elevate to a newer height with the much-awaited visit of President Xi Jinping, he added.

During his visit, Xi is expected to meet with President Abdul Hamid, Parliament Speaker Shirin Sharmin Chowdhury, and hold talks with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

Meanwhile, Beijing termed the president's visit a "milestone" and said he would push forward cooperation within the framework of China's 'belt and road initiative'.

The 'One Belt, One Road' initiative that promotes regional and cross-continental connectivity between China and Eurasia is the centre piece of China's economic diplomacy.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in an interview with China's state-run news agency Xinhua expressed confidence that the visit would usher in "a new era of intensive cooperation" in trade, investment and other sectors between the two countries.
Muhith says fine will be paid

Staff Reporter :

Finance Minister AMA Muhith on Thursday said the fine imposed by the UK's Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) on UK Sonali Bank will have to be paid.

The FCA imposed a fine of 3.3 million (Tk 31 crore) on the bank recently for maintaining transactions in favour of politically exposed persons without doing due diligence and allowed suspicious money transfers from branches. The minister, however, said he has not seen any document on the issue and only came to know about it from media reports.

"If there is any fine, it has to be paid," Muhith told reporters at the secretariat, adding that it is solely a matter of Bangladesh whether it will take steps against the people responsible.

The government of Bangladesh owns 51 per cent of the company, while the remaining 49 per cent is held by Sonali Bank Ltd.

Admitting the matter, a senior finance ministry official, seeking anonymity, told The New Nation yesterday that the British financial watchdog has imposed the fine on UK's Sonali bank for failing to check its British clients from possible money laundering.

He said the Banking Division Secretary is aware of the matter as he had to preside the board meeting of the bank held in every two months. The official, however, declined to make further comment on the issue.

The FCA has also taken the unusual step of banning Sonali from accepting new banking customers for almost six months, saying that it gave "clear warnings" to the firm about its lax money laundering controls in 2010 and repeatedly afterwards.

Since 2014, when the FCA told the bank to tighten up its controls after an external review, Sonali's revenues have fallen by a third to 6.75m. The firm has said it will cut its branches down to two by the end of the year.

The FCA said it found "a working environment throughout [the bank] which failed to pay sufficient heed to the importance of complying with anti-money laundering requirements".

One customer had declared an income of 28,000, but managed to send 25,000 in remittances to Bangladesh in the space of 18 months. Sonali did not investigate further.

The bank carried out its own review of its trade finance customers in 2013, finding problems with more than eight in 10 applications, but did not do enough to tighten up its checks, the FCA said.

An expert sent into the firm to review its practices found a "worrying lack of knowledge and expertise in identifying suspicious transactions". "Fighting money laundering is an issue of extreme international importance and ensuring that AML controls are effective and viewed as important throughout the business are fundamental obligations of all regulated firms," said Mark Steward, director of enforcement and market oversight at the FCA.

The bank's former money laundering reporting officer (MLRO), Steven Smith, has also been fined 17,900 and has been prohibited from performing the MLRO or compliance oversight functions at FCA-regulated firms.

The FCA accepted that he was overstretched in his job, but has nevertheless penalised him for failing to alert his bosses about the bank's shortcomings in customer checks.
Mugging in new style

Joynal Abedin Khan :

People in the capital are increasingly falling prey to a new type of crime called 'hugging mugging'.

Rickshaw passengers are mostly vulnerable to this new crime.

In the latest type of this crime, the victims are greeted on the street by a seemingly friendly stranger who is a mugger and backed by some other mugger from distance. As soon as the rickshaw came to a halt, the mugger speedy braces the man and hugs him. In the meantime, he puts hands into the man's pockets and snatches everything before he could even grasp.

Abdur Rahim, a victim of the crime, narrated his misfortune to The New Nation yesterday saying, "I was passing the Malibagh rail crossing riding a rickshaw on Wednesday evening. All of a sudden, another rickshaw came beside me and the passenger greets me saying how you are brother? I was confused by the call and tried to recognize him. The stranger said you may not recognize me, I am your neighbour. By this time, he halted his rickshaw and asked my rickshaw puller to halt."

As both rickshaws halted side by side, the man got down. As I also got down from the rickshaw he hugged me like an old friend, he said.

As I was sensing something wrong, he whispered, don't shout, I have a gun. Give me your money bag and other valuables quickly. I responded and handed over my parse and mobile phone to him.

"Later, I requested the mugger to get back the mobile phone and he returned it. This was happened in a jiffy, leaving me at a fix what to do," said the victim. Many looked the incident, but nobody came to the scene. I had Tk 5,000 in the money bag.

Abdur Rahim, a Supreme Court lawyer, said that the incident took place in between Khilgaon rail crossing and Abul Hotel on the way to his Rampura residence at 7:15pm.

Even, the 'hugging mugging' is taking place in broad daylight making people helpless.

"I was caught by the daytime muggers who snatched Tk 40,000 adopting the 'hugging mugging' method. I withdrawn the cash from a private bank branch located at Dainik Bangla Intersection," an employee of a private organisation told The New Nation yesterday, preferring anonymity. According to him, the incident took place while I was crossing the road stretching from Dainik Bangla Intersection to Fakirapol water tank by a rickshaw. As I reached in front of Fakirapol water tank, two men riding another rickshaw intercepted my rickshaw after greeting that how are you elder brother.

"They asked me to stop saying that they had to talk with me. At one stage they came closer after getting down from their rickshaw. Later, they embraced me from both sides entering their hands into my pockets and took away the cash.

One of the muggers put one of my hands on his pocket and said here is a gun. Don't shout, many of our associates are following you. They ordered me to ride the rickshaw again saying don't look back. If do so, we will open fire," he narrated.

Later, I came to the Paltan Police Station and filed a written complaint in this regard. "Such street crime is on the rise in recent times but Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) is struggling to contain this," said the victim, adding that incidents of snatching have creased due mainly to inadequate police patrol.

Many said the new style mugging have been taking place every day. But police stations in the city have no actual record of such incidents, as most of the victims do not go to police fearing harassment.

It is believed that an organised gang is behind the crime wave which occurs mainly the hours between 7:00pm and 10:00pm at various spots in the capital. The spots are located at Kamalapur, Fakirapool, Khilgaon, Cantonment and airport rail stations, Gabtali, Mohakhali and Sayedabad bus terminals, Sadar Gaht, Dhaka University campus, Ramna Park, Dhanmondi, and Hatirjheel lakes, Chandrima Udayan, Shanir Akhara, Bijoy Sarani, Tejgaon, Moghbazar, Bongshal and Dholaipar. Admitting the new style mugging incidents, Masudur Rahman, Deputy Commissioner (Media) of DMP told The New Nation yesterday that they have already identified the crime spots and beefed up police petrol there. "Police also devised plan to tame the crime. Police arrested 36 snatchers from separate spots in the city after conducting raids in September," he added.

The DMP official, however, claimed that the number of mugging incidents has decreased in the city following the enhanced petrol.

But his claim could not be justified as DMP website has contained the reported mugging cases upto July this year. It is yet to compile the September's data of such crimes.


The 3rd Circuit Court of Appeal has upheld a former Lafayette Police Department lieutenants 15-day suspension meted out in 2013 for failing to obey orders.

Nolvey Stelly was disciplined in 2013, according to the appeals courts opinion released Wednesday, for failing to show up for a fitness-for-duty examination in Baton Rouge, to which he was ordered to be transported by fellow officers from police headquarters in Lafayette.

According to the 3rd Circuit, Stelly had been on extended sick leave with pay for a year due to job-related stress when he was informed of the scheduled FFDE. The appellate opinion notes that Stelly was served with a conditional administrative leave notice issued by former Chief Jim Craft and informed of the date, time and means of transportation for the FFDE. The notice also outlined consequences for failing to follow the directive.

Later that same day, on Aug. 19, 2013, Stellys attorney sent an email to the city attorney saying Stelly wouldnt be available for transport the next day because he was in Baton Rouge at the attorneys office. Instead, the attorney wrote, Stelly would walk to the FFDE.

Craft was having none of it, directing the city attorney to email Stellys attorney and let them know they expected Stelly to be at police headquarters at 6:30 a.m. the next morning for the drive to the FFDE in Baton Rouge. Stelly was a no-show.

Less than a week later, Stelly was notified that he was under investigation, which led to the determination that he had violated policy. He was suspended 15 days, which the Lafayette Municipal Fire & Police Civil Service Board upheld. A district court judge also upheld Stellys suspension, which led to his appeal to the 3rd Circuit.

Joy Rabalais, an attorney for LCG, confirmed Wednesday afternoon that Stelly is no longer with the department: He was terminated on December 30, 2013, and that matter is likewise up on appeal to the 15th JDC, Rabalais says in an email.

Stelly was one of nine officers who, the same year he was terminated from the LPD, filed a civil rights lawsuit against the department and former Chief Craft alleging widespread corruption and retribution against officers who spoke out. That so-called Serpico suit was later dismissed.
by The Associated Press

A federal appeals court has refused to reverse a judge's mysterious removal from the Justice Department's high-profile case against a south Louisiana sheriff.

Iberia Parish Sheriff Louis Ackal argued that U.S. District Judge Patricia Minaldi's removal from his case in March violated court rules and apparently was done without her consent.

But in a one-sentence order Thursday, a three-judge panel from the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals denied Ackal's requests to have the case transferred back to Minaldi and to move his trial from Shreveport to Lafayette.

Chief Judge Dee Drell, of the Western District of Louisiana, hasn't explained why he reassigned Ackal's case to U.S. District Judge Donald Walter.

Ackal has pleaded not guilty to civil rights violations over the alleged beatings of jail inmates.
IND L!VE offers highlights of the many live music events taking place around Acadiana this weekend.

DUSTIN SONNIER

Thursday, Oct. 13

The Grouse Room

Doors: 9:30 p.m.

Dustin Sonnier is destined to make it in the crazy world that is sometimes known as the music business. The Wanted as his band is known as The Wanted is comprised of some of South Louisianas finest musicians, and one from Texas.

LES FERRAILES + T MONDE

Thursday, Oct. 13

Artmosphere Bistro

Doors: 9 p.m.

If you missed the show last time, Artmosphere will be repeating the event. T'Monde will start around 9 p.m. Then Les Ferrailles will begin around 10:30 p.m.

RAY ABSHIRE AND FRIENDS

Thursday, Oct. 13

Blue Moon Saloon

Doors: 8 p.m.

Ray Abshire is one of Cajun Musics purest accordionists and vocalists and a living link to its very roots.

RHYTHMS ON THE RIVER: WILLIAM MICHAEL MORGAN

Thursday, Oct. 13

River Ranch Town Square

Doors: 5:30 p.m.

William Michael Morgan headlines Rhythms on the River. Ashton Dupre will open for this concert. Music! Food! Fun! This concert is free! No ice chests or pets, please. River Ranch Town Square - 5:30-8:30 PM.

STEVE RILEY & THE MAMOU PLAYBOYS + GENO DELAFOSE & FRENCH ROCKIN' BOOGIE

Thursday, Oct. 13

Warehouse 535

Doors: 9:30 p.m.

Join Warehouse 535 as they prepare for Festivals Acadiens et Creoles with special performances by Steve Riley & the Mamou Playboys and Geno Delafose & French Rockin' Boogie.

WAYNE SINGLETON WITH RUSTY METOYER AND ZYDECO CRUSH

Thursday, Oct. 13

Feed & Seed

Doors: 8 p.m.

Join us after the official kick-off of Festival Acadiens 'et Creole for Wayne Singleton & Same Ol 2-Step. Doors open at 8, show starts at 10.

BONSOIR CATIN + FEUFOLLET

Friday, Oct. 14

Artmosphere Bistro

Doors: 9 p.m.

Bonsoir, Catin will kick off the night followed by Feufollet.

HORACE TRAHAN & THE NEW OSSUN EXPRESS

Friday, Oct. 14

Feed & Seed

Doors: 9 p.m.

Horace Trahan, the maker of the hit single, That Butt Thing, is a world renowned Cajun and Zydeco artist, respected for his ability to pull the hell out of an accordion and belt out vocals that will give you chills.

ZYDECO RADIO AND LOST BAYOU RAMBLERS

Fridayday, Oct. 14

Blue Moon Saloon

Doors: 9:30 p.m.

The Lost Bayou Ramblers join Zydeco Radio at Blue Moon Saloon this Friday.

FESTIVALS ACADIENS AFTERPARTY: REVELERS + JESSE LEGE & BAYOU BREW

Saturday, Oct. 15

Artmosphere Bistro

Doors: 9 p.m.

The Revelers and Jesse Lege & Bayou Brew headline Saturday's Festival Acadiens et Creole Afterparty at Artmosphere.

JEFFERY BROUSSARD & CREOLE COWBOYS, & WAYNE & SAME OL' TWO STEP

Saturday, Oct. 15

Warehouse 535

Doors: 9:30 p.m.

Join Warehouse 535 after Festivals Acadiens et Creoles to enjoy the rest of the evening with special performances by Jeffery Broussard & The Creole Cowboys and Wayne & Same Ol' Two Step.

PACIFICO

Saturday, Oct. 15

Feed & Seed

Doors: 10 p.m.

Despite first impressions, Pacifico is not a band. At its most tangible, Pacifico exists in the world as an audible collage; a musical patchwork slowly pieced together by a revolving door of both established and roaming musicians, each adding a unique, artistic inch to the project at hand. But if you didn't know any of that, you might label it as the surprisingly well-rounded solo project of one musician: a guy named Matthew Schwartz.

PINE LEAF BOYS AND CEDRYL BALLOU & THE ZYDECO TRENDSETTERS

Saturday, Oct. 15

Blue Moon Saloon

Doors: 9:30 p.m.

Louisiana'a finest, four-time Grammy-Nominated Pine Leaf Boys take the stage at the Blue Moon Saloon along with Cedryl Ballou & The Zydeco Trendsetters this Saturday after Festival Acadiens et Creoles.

ZYDECO RADIO

Saturday, Oct. 15

Grouse Room

Doors: 10 p.m.

Join the Grouse Room the 3rd Saturday of every month for its Zydeco Night featuring Zydeco Radio.

KEVIN NAQUIN AND THE OSSUN PLAYBOYS, TRAVIS MATTE & THE KINGPINS

Sunday, Oct. 16

Warehouse 535

Doors: 8 p.m.

Kevin Naquin & The Ossun Playboys join Travis Matte and the Kingpins at Warehouse 535 this Sunday.

CHAS JUSTUS AND THE JURY

Sunday, Oct. 16

Artmosphere Bistro

Doors: 6 p.m.

Chas Justus and The Jury make a special Sunday night performance at Artmosphere.

LAFAYETTE RHYTHM DEVILS

Sunday, Oct. 16

Feed & Seed

Doors: 7 p.m.

The Lafayette Rhythm Devils like playing in dance halls. They are, in fact, proud of their dance hall sound. They play Cajun music the way it sounded at the beginning of the twentieth century: fast, spontaneous and personal. This isn't music to sit in your chair and listen to. This is music that plays as you press your cheek against someone while passing across a dance floor. This is music made by a band that works hard on stage to make music for people who work hard during the week.

RODDIE ROMERO AND THE HUB CITY ALL STARS

Sunday, Oct. 16

Blue Moon Saloon

Doors: 8 p.m.

Roddie Romero & the Hub City All Stars (OFFICIAL) are a GRAMMY nominated band featuring "Louisiana Roots" music. They have been performing worldwide at the most prestigious festival and venues for over 20 years. They are a premier Louisiana band who is celebrated not only for their authenticity when performing or recording traditional Cajun and Creole music indigenous to South Louisiana, but also for their original roots songwriting which stays true to Louisiana inspirations. They have recently garnered a GRAMMY nomination for their double record, The La Louisianne Sessions. They are notorious house-rockers who put on an energetic show bound to make everyone get up and dance!
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.
Property tycoon Wang Jianlin topped the ranking of China's richest people for a third consecutive year, defending his spot against those with experience, like Jack Ma, founder of e-commerce giant Alibaba Group, and newcomers such as Yao Zhenhua, chairman of the financial conglomerate Baoneng Group.

The 62-year-old Wang, chairman of Dalian Wanda Group, and his family collected wealth totaling 215 billion yuan ($32 billion), followed by Ma, 52, whose family wealth surged by 41 percent from a year earlier to 205 billion yuan, according to the annual Hurun Rich List.

Several dark horses made the list in spite of little change at the top. Among them, the most impressive was the 46-year-old Yao, whose fortune increased to 115 billion yuannine times the amount of the previous year. Yao made headlines this year with a hostile takeover battle for leading real estate developer China Vanke Co.

Hurun Chairman Rupert Hoogewerf said Yao's financial investment model represents a new wave of "wealth creation" in China, according to media reports.

"The first money made in China 20 years ago came from trading, followed by manufacturing, real estate and IT," he said. "Today it is about using the capital markets for financial investments."

A growing number of young entrepreneurs joined the list this year. Among the total of 2,056 richest people, 68 were born in the 1980s or later, rising from 56 last year. Of the young rich, 21 are self-made and mainly from the information technology industry.

Last year, one new Asian entrepreneur joined the billionaire ranks every three days, thanks to China's accelerated economic evolution, which is creating ideal conditions for young entrepreneurs to get rich quickly, according to another report on Thursday.

The report, jointly released by UBS AG and PricewaterhouseCoopers, said that 113 Asian entrepreneurs, 54 percent of the global total, attained billionaire status last year. Eighty of them are from China, and the average age is 53.

China's billionaire population surged in the past two years, up from 35 percent of Asian's new billionaires in 2009 to 69 percent in 2014 and 71 percent last year.

Almost half of these came from three sectors: technology (19 percent), consumer and retail (15 percent) and real estate (15 percent). Additionally, e-commerce businesses are rising, the report said.

Jiang Xueqing and Wang Zhuoqiong contributed to this story.
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.
MURPHYSBORO  Marsha Griffin and one of her aides have just backtracked on the brick-laid streets in one of Murphysboro's oldest neighborhoods where they are walking, knocking on doors that her aide  referencing a sheet of paper  tells her to approach.

They are preparing to leave that area, heading to another part of the city and other parts of the 115th state House District, where Griffin plans to canvass and knock on doors until probably 8 that night.

As she and her aide are leaving, a man, who was mowing a yard when they first walked by the house, shouts out to her:

"Hey, Marsha, I know you probably don't remember me  " he begins, turning off the mower as he approaches her. He tells her that he just retired the day before and might not be at that Thursday evening's news conference outside the now-shuttered Illinois Youth Center in Murphysboro, where she will announce an endorsement from the AFSCME Council 31.

Griffin is a fourth-grade schoolteacher-turning-politician, spurred into the public spotlight by what she feels is inaction and lack of representation on the part of her incumbent legislator  Terri Bryant. Griffin, who is also president of the teachers' union, took a one-year leave of absence to pursue political office.

A few years ago, the Jonesboro native created My Brother's Keeper to support corrections officers and their families; Griffin says it now has more than 3,400 members statewide. Her husband, Rich, is a corrections officer, and they have a 24-year-old son.

Before becoming a teacher, she sold advertising for local newspapers, including The Southern Illinoisan; she still teaches Sunday school at her church.

Griffin says she's concerned about equitable and secure education funding, support for teachers, and better protection for those who work in the state's prisons. In a video Griffin made that she posted to YouTube, she takes Bryant to task for refraining from voting 80 times on various issues.

"As an educator, I looked around, and I saw all the cuts that were occurring to education, and I saw the gridlock that was occurring in Springfield and the fact that it took legislators over two years to come up with a six-month stop-gap budget, I went from being an educator to someone who wanted to be actively involved in decision-making, so I could try and make a difference in my city," she said.

Welcome to the world of politics

The Republican party fired a shot, claiming Griffin taught for five months with a lapsed license, something they say jeopardized state and federal funding to her employer, the Jonesboro School District. Griffin said when she became aware of the lapse, she corrected it within two days.

Griffin called the claims "a fallacy."

Meanwhile, she's continuing her introduction to the world of politics, spending 50 hours a week canvassing neighborhoods throughout the district, introducing herself and getting to know people's concerns.

She says most days she starts her canvassing and knocking on doors as early as 11 a.m., often not winding up her political day till 8 p.m. She started campaigning in September 2015 and for all that walking, she's 30 pounds lighter, she noted.

She's also a lot more aware of what some of the concerns are that 115th district residents have, she said.

"I walk more than 50 hours every week, and without exception, people are angry," she told The Southern's Editorial Board a few weeks ago. "They are so upset about the amount of gridlock. They are tired of politics as usual  and I've never ran for public office, and I'm teacher, not a politician  and I think that people are wanting something different."

"They want help and they also are so upset  about the lack of voting that is occurring in Southern Illinois. We have very serious issues, and our children in our state, they deserve a better legacy than what we're giving them currently."

She says these are some of the major concerns she's heard expressed:

 Concern about lack of a budget;

 Concern from some seniors that a lack of social services could have detrimental impact on their future health care needs;

 Education and education funding and lack of resources that teachers have in the classroom.

Education funding is a top issue

The education funding and disparity are a major component of her platform, she said.

She said she's heard similar stories about school funding throughout the district, from teachers in Jefferson County who say they don't have enough textbooks for high school students to take home, to educators in Du Quoin who are photocopying science curriculum to bring into class; to herself, who taught social studies from a book that was 17 years old.

"That's no fault of the districts, they're doing the best that they possibly can," she said. "But our funding system is broken and flawed, and we definitely need to try to revamp and address that.

"There's a real disparity. I want to try and address that, because our students in Southern Illinois are no less worthy than those born in more affluent areas in northern Ilinois, but yet, right now  there is a great inequity and disparity  and that's something that I want to address."

She favors term limits, though she didn't have a number of years in mind, and the Independent Maps Amendment coaliton's ballot initiative, which the state Supreme Court disallowed on the November ballot.

She is also an advocate of bipartanship, saying that's the kind of legislator she'd be  she noted that she reached out to her local representatives in both parties when she advocated against the Tamms prison closing.

"(I"m) really frustrated by the amount of gridlock and inaction that's occurring in Springfield," she said. "I love Southern Illinois and want to try make a difference in my state."

This story was updated to add biographical information, including Griffin's founding of My Brother's Keeper, and her previous work experience at The Southern.
Calling local student dancers! Auditions for the Paducah performance of Moscow Ballets "Great Russian Nutcracker" will take place at 12:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 22 at The Rhythm Factory School of Performing Arts, 2928 Park Avenue, Suite A.

Student dancers, boys and girls, ages 7 to 17 who have at least one year of ballet training may audition for ancillary roles such as Party Children, Mice, Snowflakes, Angels and more. The auditions are free, though there may be a casting fee.

Selected children will perform in the "Great Russian Nutcracker" on Tuesday, Dec. 13 at the Carson Center. Those who wish to audition may sign up at www.nutcracker.com/youth-auditions.

Moscow Ballet  2016 is the companys 24th consecutive year touring North America. In addition to the popular Great Russian Nutcracker, company repertory includes classic ballets "Swan Lake," "Sleeping Beauty," "Romeo and Juliet," "Cinderella" and more. For tickets, visit www.nutcracker.com.

"Great Russian Nutcracker" will also be performed at 7 p.m. Monday, Dec. 5 at Marion Cultural and Civic Center, 800 Tower Square Plaza, and at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 8 at Bedell Performance Art Center, 518 North Fountain St. in Cape Girardeau.

 The Southern
Songwriters have been trying to conjure up the mythical spirit of Hank Williams in virtual honky-tonk seances since the prolific hit maker died in 1953.

Writer Gary Gentry admits to being intoxicated and alone in an empty room at 4 a.m. when he started talking aloud about Williams, his fame and untimely death at the age of 29. In the middle of his drunken rant, he swears a shirtless Hank Williams appeared on his couch and helped him to write the ghostly narrative of The Ride, a 1983 hit for David Allan Coe.

When the song was first performed on the Grand Ole Opry, the lights in the building eerily went out for 15 seconds, then inexplicably came back on.

Josh Turner had his own Hank Williams encounter.

It happened in the music library at Belmont University, where he was a student and had just recovered from a lesion on his right vocal cord that required total rest for a year. He was there to listen to the new box set of rare demos and unearthed live recordings of country music's biggest legend.

Pulling on the headphones that night was a life-changing experience.

It just really made me feel like I was in the same room with him, he said.

Walking back to his dorm on the other side of campus, he had a vision that inspired him to write and eventually record career-breaking single Long Black Train. He pictured a vast empty plain and a long shiny train suddenly appearing out of nowhere. He used the train as a physical metaphor for temptation  people are conflicted whether or not to get on.

Turner will undoubtedly cover his signature tune when he performs at the Luther F. Carson Four Rivers Center in Paducah at 7:30 p.m. on Oct. 21. Tickets range in price from $57 to $139 for premium main floor position. First balcony seats are $44 and second balcony seats are $33. Tickets may be purchased on line at www.thecarsoncenter.org, or call the Carson Center at 217-450-444 for more information.

With a trademark honey-soaked baritone voice, the 38-year-old Turner has stockpiled an impressive list of hits, including chart-topping singles: Your Man, Would You Go With Me, All Over Me and the infectious rhythm of Why Don't We Just Dance. He reached the No. 2 chart position with both Firecracker And Time Is Love.

He will be a true road warrior the weekend of his Carson Center performance. The day before the show he is playing in Oxford, Alabama. He will climb of the bus for a 371-mile ride to Paducah, then travel 543 miles overnight for a concert the next day in Wheeling, West Virginia.

Luckily, Turner is immune to the marital issues caused by lengthy road trips. His wife plays keyboard in his band. He met Jennifer Ford at Belmont and they were married in 2003. They have four children, all boys.

A devout Christian, Turner grew up singing in the same church where his grandmother was choir director for over 30 years and his mother was frequently called on for solo performances. As a teenager, he formed the gospel quartet Thankful Hearts and sang bass in the group.

Proudly claiming his country heritage, Turner is a true-blood South Carolinian. He was born in Florence and raised 27 miles to the south, in Hannah. A fan of Johnny Cash, he naturally gravitated toward the country format because of the colorful stories told by the songs.

You can sing about love, relationships, where you work and just everyday life things. You know, real things that speak to the common man, Turner said, during a Country Music Television interview. Country music is very accepting of faith-based songs. I found out really quickly that country music, unlike a lot of other genres, allows you to sing about a lot of different things.

Like Williams and Lovesick Blues in 1949, when Turner debuted at the Grand Ole Opy in 2001, the crowd gave him a standing ovation halfway through Long Black Train and called him back for an encore of the tune.

Turner signed with MCA Nashville Records in 2003 and has released six studio albums, including Your Man in 2006, which went platinum.

More than a decade since taking the industry by storm, Turner has been nominated for multiple Grammy, Country Music Association and Academy of Country Music Awards. He has won six Inspirational Country Music Awards, including a pair of Song of the Year trophies for Long Black Train and Me And God.
Editor's note: A photo attached to this story shows injury to a dog, which some readers may find disturbing.

CARBONDALE  When Jackson County Animal Control Officer Lloyd Nelson picked up a black hound puppy in early September, the puppy wasnt doing well.

When I picked the dog up, it had an ingrown collar, Nelson said.

The puppy was dropped off at an elderly persons home, and that person tried to take care of the puppy. The person did not notice the problem with the collar.

Nelson knew the puppy would need to be treated by a veterinarian, so he called Creekside Veterinary Clinic. They agreed to take the dog.

Lora Jackson, Humane Society of Southern Illinois shelter manager, said the puppy, now named Drake, arrived at Creekside on Sept. 7. He had surgery on the laceration from his ingrown collar and was treated for an infection. A staff member at Creekside was able to foster Drake until he was well. His stitches were removed Sept. 20.

After his recuperation, he was brought to Humane Society of Southern Illinois and is looking for a family and a home.

He was actually just neutered yesterday, Jackson said on Friday. So he should be ready to go soon.

Both Nelson and Jackson praised the staff at Creekside Veterinary Clinic for their care. They took a puppy with an unsure future and turned him into a healthy, adoptable pet.

Hes a happy boy. You couldnt tell that anything was wrong, Jackson said.

Today, Drake is a healthy, active puppy who likes to chase toys. He is working on potty training and learning simple commands. Jackson said living in a shelter is stressful for puppies and makes training harder. She hopes someone who can spend time on training adopts him soon. Ideally, Jackson thinks an active home would be great.

Black animals take longer to find a home, and he needs to grow up in a loving environment, Jackson said.

Its a great dog with a great disposition. His story has a pretty happy ending at this point, Nelson said.

The first step in adopting a dog from HSSI is to fill out an application. Adoption fees are $200 and include all his medical care, neutering and vaccinations. For more information, call 618-457-2362
MARION  As the "Hub of the Universe" continues to expand, city officials in Marion have launched a new feature to assist with keeping communication between residents and the city coherent.

The two-month-old feature, known as Browesaloud, works to break language barriers and improve the way that residents and members from city departments communicate.

With the rapid growth of new citizens to the region, Marion IT Director Terence Henry said the new feature assists the city with making new residents feel more comfortable.

"The city of Marion is rapidly growing," he said. "And with the growth of new citizens, and everything else moving into the city, we are also slowly but surely having an increase of a diverse population of people, and some of those people may speak a broken English (so) we wanted to make sure that we are able to communicate."

Residents can access the feature on any city-owned webpage by clicking the orange circle and selecting from the options presented in the Browsealoud toolbar.

Once the toolbar is accessed, residents can select the "text" option, which will read the website to them or click on the globe to have the webpage translated into their a specific language.

Documents can also be saved as an MP3 file under the feature, Henry said.

"There will either be a globe (to translate) or, if it is a document like our minutes or something of that nature, they can click on it and can save that (as an MP3) which will read that document to them later," he said.

In addition to the Browesaloud program, the city has teamed with Voiance, a language servicing company based in Arizona, to incorporate live video interpreters for a quick response to those who use sign language or lists English as their second language.

The collaboration with the company is a free service to residents in which the city pays no associated fees, Henry said.

"Voiance basically enhances our interpreters, so for each one of our departments, whether it is the library or the police department or City Hall, if one was to call that department (and there is a language barrier) we can transfer them over to speak with a live interpreter and that interpreter will gather their information and dictate that information over to us," he said.

Browesaloud is active via any city related website. Live interpreters will be incorporated by the end of October, Henry said.

He said these programs are in place because the city doesn't want residents to feel like "there is a barrier between us and them."

"So if there are questions or if there is anything that they need to ask then we should be able to address all of those needs in a timely manner."
Three men have been sentenced to prison for their roles in a large stolen property ring conducted in the Metro East and other locations, according to a news release from Donald S. Boyce, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Illinois.

Shannan M. Flora, 42, of OFallon, Missouri, and Rigoberto Gutierrez, 28, of Compton, California, were both sentenced to 15 months in prison on Oct. 4. Russell J. Witt, 34, of Mount Clemens, Michigan, was sentenced to 12 months in prison on Wednesday.

The charges arose from an indictment that was returned by a federal grand jury in East St. Louis in October 2015. The indictment alleges that the suspected leader of the fraud ring, Jason J. Parmeley, 42, formerly of OFallon, Missouri, conducted the fraud scheme from Mexico. Parmeley allegedly used the internet to obtain credit account numbers that individuals and businesses had with retail stores, such as Home Depot, Lowe's, Menards, and rental stores, such as SunBelt rentals.

Parmeley placed orders with the stores under the credit accounts of those individuals and businesses to buy items like appliances, computers, expensive tools and construction equipment, the indictment alleges. He would then dispatch drivers in several states to pick up the items from the stores and sell them at low prices; the profits were wired to Parmeley in Mexico.

At this weeks sentencing, the court found that Flora performed a number of jobs in the scheme over a three-year period, such as purchasing several loads of the stolen property, storing other loads of stolen property, brokering deals for the sale of stolen merchandise, recruiting drivers to transport the stolen goods, threatening drivers who stole money or merchandise from the conspiracy and wire transferring funds to Parmeley in Mexico, according to the release.

Gutierrez admitted to performing various tasks for the conspiracy during his plea hearing. He said he received shipments of stolen goods in California, stored those goods, helped to sell them and wired the profits to Parmeley.

Witt worked as a driver for the scheme for a year.

Parmeley was deported from Mexico in August. He is currently in federal custody and is awaiting trial.
Franklin County authorities have located a Benton man who was wanted for vehicle theft and other crimes.

Keith E. Redmon, 20, was taken into custody at approximately 5:45 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 12, after a manhunt and foot chase in a wooded area on the west side of West Frankfort just east on Interstate 57, according to a news release from Franklin County Sheriff Don Jones.

Redmond was arrested by West Frankfort Police officers and Franklin County Sheriff's deputies. He is being held in the Franklin County Jail on several theft charges pending review by the State's Attorney's Office.

It was reported in an earlier news release from the Sheriff's Office that Redmond had been considered armed and dangerous, after allegedly stealing a blue-over-silver 1996 Ford 150 pickup truck that was recovered Wednesday by Franklin County authorities.

 The Southern
After Hurricane Matthew left thousands in the dark, linemen from nearby states came to lend helping hands and restore power to Orangeburg residents.

Department of Public Utilities spokesman Randy Etters said 41 linemen have traveled to the Orangeburg area from other states.

He said there are 23 from Florida, seven from Alabama and 11 from North Carolina. Groups have also come from Rock Hill, Union and Sumter in South Carolina.

Surrounding electric crews were notified of the need for assistance by the South Carolina Association of Municipal Power Systems.

They are part of our mutual aid agreement through our SCAMPS organization, Etters said. They coordinate available staff members to cities that are in great need.

The additional linemen were needed to reduce outage times after Hurricane Matthew left thousands without power.

Will Lemmard, an 8-year-lineman from Lakeland, Florida, left his home at 3 a.m. Saturday to make the 11-hour drive to Orangeburg.

People are out of power, they need help. Of course were going to help them, you know? Lemmard said.

Lakeland is located inland, so it thankfully didnt see much damage from Hurricane Matthew.

We still have guys down there in case anything happens, he said.

Since Saturday evening, the linemen have been steadily working 16-hour days to restore power to Orangeburg residents. They work from 5 a.m. until 9 p.m.

A lot of them have families, especially with little kids, Lemmard said. It feels good when they all come outside and say Thank you with a big ol smile on their face.

Lemmard isnt sure how much longer hell be in town, but says it is always good to take it a day at a time.

About 45 minutes from Lakeland is the Kissimmee Utility Authority, which also has employees in Orangeburg.

We got here Sunday about midnight, Superintendent Aaron Haderle said. We got a little bit of a nap and got back up at 5.

Their area only saw small effects from Hurricane Matthew.

We only had a couple small things, Haderle said. No major events, just some tree stuff that we had to take care of.

After Hurricane Matthew passed our area and we found out that we were clear, we went ahead and got with our mutual aid group and let them know that we had crews available to come up, he said. I know they get ice storms and things up here, but theyre not used to hurricanes like we are.

Eleven workers make up the two full KUA line crews that traveled to the area.

Whether were at home or somewhere else, our number one goal is to safely restore power to the customers, Haderle said.

He said it can be tough leaving his wife at home to take care of their children, but theyre able to keep in touch over the phone and through social media.

Families of linemen are used to it. They know we could go at any moment. Haderle said, adding that they are on standby even for afternoon thunderstorms.

Coming out here and getting the power on  its awesome, he said.

We had people today in the woods, we turned the power on and you could hear them screaming out there, Thank you! Haderle said.

The crews work has not gone unnoticed.

The Kuckery restaurant on Canon Bridge Road serves the Orangeburg DPU linemen and traveling linemen after they get off work.

We served them Saturday night and since Sunday weve been doing breakfast and supper, owner Jennifer Weeks said.

We did it for them back in the ice storm, she said. Were always on call for them.

The restaurant serves around 300 workers each meal and though Weeks said they would love to do it for free, they still use it as an opportunity to show their appreciation.

We only lost power for a small amount, and they got us back up and running, she said. We just appreciate everything they do and every night before they leave out of here, we tell them thank you and be safe.

Lemmard said it is a good feeling to have a restaurant open its doors for them.

We came up here to give to the community and the community, theyre giving back to us, he said. Its stuff like that that makes you want to come up next time.

Its good to get a hot meal, Haderle added.

You dont want to be thinking about where youre going to sleep, where youre going to eat, what your amenities are while youre out there doing all this stuff, he said.
Utility crews continue to work 16-hour days throughout The T&D Region to restore electricity. Even so, thousands were still without power Wednesday in the wake of Hurricane Matthews attack.

The Orangeburg Department of Public Utilities reported about 724 customers were without power late Wednesday afternoon. At the peak of the storm, there were about 20,000 customers without power. The utility serves about 24,000 customers.

"We are probably going to have everyone that does not have structural damage to their home on by Friday," DPU spokesman Randy Etters said. "We are finishing up the harder streets now. We are moving to individual homes now."

Etters said if a person's meter or masthead was torn off their house during the storm, an electrician will have to be contacted before power can be restored.

The majority of remaining outages were in the Elloree Road area.

South Carolina Electric and Gas reported about 1,298 customers were without power in Orangeburg County through Wednesday afternoon. The utility expects all customers to have power restored by noon Friday.

There were about 231 SCE&G customers without power in Calhoun County and 52 customers without power in Bamberg County. The utility expects power to be restored to both counties by noon Thursday.

At the peak of the storm, SCE&G had 17,725 without power in The T&D Region. The utility serves about 706,000 customers in 24 counties.

Tri-County Electric Cooperative reported 326 customers without power in Orangeburg County and 677 without power in Calhoun County.

Tri-County spokesman Bert Walling said more than 14,000 customers throughout the entire system had their power restored by Wednesday afternoon.

"We currently have worked day and night since late Friday with the help from neighboring cooperatives as well as out-of-state electric cooperatives," Walling said. He thanked them for their help.

Walling said power to all customers should be restored by the end of Thursday.

"We have main lines back on but it takes much longer to get these small taps that run for miles in the woods that feed one house," Walling said.

Edisto Electric Cooperative reported 929 customers without power in Orangeburg County and 942 without power in Bamberg County late Wednesday afternoon. The utility serves about 19,800 customers. At the storm's height, there were 5,157 customers without power.

Edisto Electric spokesman Brian Hefner said the utility was in Orangeburg and Bamberg counties Wednesday

"We are shooting for a goal of Friday to have a majority of them on," Hefner said. "There may be some unique situations that may take longer, unfortunately. We are working as hard as we can ... to get power restored to all our members and will not stop until we do."
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Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej reads a statement convening Parliament in front of 391 newly elected members of parliament at Ananta Samakhom throne in Bangkok in this July 10, 1995 file photo. [Photo/Agencies]

China expresses deep remorse at the death of the Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej and extends sincere condolences to Thai government and people, said Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang on Thursday.

The Bureau of Royal Household announced on Thursday that King Bhumibol Adulyadej has died at the age of 88.

"The King showed great enthusiasm to the development of China-Thailand friendship," the spokesman said in a written reply issued on the ministry's website on Thursday evening.

Working together with Chinese leaders, the king jointly defined the direction for the development of the bilateral relationship, and made irreplaceable, important contribution to exploring the bilateral pragmatic cooperation, Geng added.

The king was greatly loved by Thai people and had made outstanding contributions to boosting the stability and development of his country, the spokesman said.
By Trend





Azerbaijans President Ilham Aliyev signed a decree on October12 on the preparation of relevant draft legal acts in connection with the entry into force of the Referendum Act On Amendments to the Constitution of Azerbaijan, adopted as a result of the September 26 referendum.

Within six months, the countrys Cabinet of Ministers should:

- prepare the relevant draft legal acts arising from the changes made in connection with the sections 1-29 of the Referendum Act "On Amendments to the Constitution of Azerbaijan, adopted as a result of the Sept. 26 referendum, and present them to the Azerbaijani president;

- ensure adjustment of the normative legal acts of the Cabinet of Ministers to the Referendum Act and inform the Azerbaijani president;

- control adjustment of the normative legal acts of central executive bodies to the Referendum Act and inform the Azerbaijani president on their implementation.

The countrys Ministry of Justice was instructed to ensure the adjustment of normative legal acts and normative acts of central executive bodies to the Referendum Act "On Amendments to the Constitution of Azerbaijan and to inform the Cabinet of Ministers.
By Azernews





Pakistans Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif arrived in Azerbaijan for an official visit on October 13.

A guard of honor was lined up for the Pakistani prime minister at the Heydar Aliyev International Airport, decorated with the national flags of Azerbaijan and Pakistan.

The Pakistani PM was welcomed by Azerbaijani Deputy Prime Minister Ali Ahmadov and other officials at the airport.

Pakistan became the second country after Turkey which recognized the independence of Azerbaijan in 1991. The diplomatic relations between two countries were established on June 9, 1992.

Pakistan supported Azerbaijan during and after the Nagorno-Karabakh War and it is the only country that does not recognize Armenia. Pakistan also adopted a resolution strongly condemning the genocide against the civilian population of Khojaly, which was committed by Armenian armed forces.

Although the countries enjoy very close and friendly relations at a diplomatic level, these close ties have not been translated into significant commercial gains.

The trade turnover between Azerbaijan and Pakistan amounted to $1.8 million in the first quarter of 2016, according to the State Customs Committee of Azerbaijan.
By Azernews





By Gunay Hasanova

Turkey and Russia seek to strengthen their ties through expanding interaction in tourism sphere.

Turkish tourism sector expects to receive about five million Russian tourists next year, RIA Novosti reported with reference to President of Turkish Travel Agencies Union Basharan Ulusoy.

"We are very pleased that relations between the two countries have been improved, number of charter flights rose again", Ulusoy said.

We hope next year the number of Russian tourists wont only be fully restored to its previous level but also will increase and in 2017 we will welcome more than 5 million tourists from Russia.

Ulusoy believes that the abolition of visas for Turkish citizens will increase the tourist flow from Turkey to Russia.

"Tourism should be mutual, but to increase the number of tourists from Turkey to Russia, it is necessary, first of all, to abolish visas and then the number of Turkish tourists will increase in two or three times, added Ulusoy.

The number of Russian tourists visiting Turkey was 3.65 million people in 2015 falling by 18.6 percent compared to 2014.

Earlier, Co-chair of Russian-Turkish intergovernmental commission Alexander Novak said that Russia is interested in attracting tourists from Turkey.

I would like to mention that Russia is also interested in attracting tourists from Turkey, said Novak, adding that there is unused potential in this field between Turkey and Russia.

Tourism sphere is one of the main cooperation areas between the two countries, he said, mentioning that the tourist flow from Russia to Turkey and charter flights between the two countries have already been fully restored.

Charter air service between Russia and Turkey were suspended for nine months due to the crisis in relations between the two countries after Turkish fighter jet shot down the Russian Su-24 bomber in Syria in November 2015.

As a result, the tourists flow from Russia to Turkey decreased by 90 percent in the first months of 2016.

The two sides began to restore ties after President of Turkey Tayyip Erdogan sent a letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin apologizing for downed aircraft. Later, Putin signed a decree repealing the ban on charter flights to Turkey on June 30. In turn, Russian government adopted the corresponding resolution on August 28.

Hence, the first charter took off on September 2.
Please note that the poems and essays on this site are copyright and may not be reproduced without the author's permission.






EY Mena has announced the launch of EY Growth Solutions, a new business model of innovative on-demand solutions, offering companies access to subscription services with inbuilt flexibility, standardization and competitive pricing.



Gerard Gallagher, Mena advisory leader, EY, says: Companies in the region are impacted by new taxes like VAT, digital innovations and changing customer demand. There is now a strong need especially among mid-sized organisations for quick and specific solutions to issues that depend on technology enabled platforms, analytics and mining of empirical data. Our global insights and the experience weve gained supporting the growth journeys of many organisations around the world means we are uniquely placed to help these businesses to super charge their growth plans.



Speaking on some of the offerings, Saed Gossous, EY Mena Growth Solutions leader, says: Organisations in the GCC are concerned about the ability to cope with the implementation of VAT. EY Growth Solutions can help them assess their readiness using predefined metrics, offer prescriptive advice and help with their growth journey. Our solutions also include social media intelligence. Companies are very interested in understanding consumer behaviour on social media platforms. Our analytics tools use EYs global IP can offer insights and solutions on what it takes to make them brand ambassadors and not just end-users.



Digital-led platform

EY Growth Solutions are available on a digital platform where companies can directly select the solutions depending on their business needs. The on-demand solutions leverage EYs global IP, alliances, and digital know-how based on extensive research which examined the growth journeys of hundreds of companies around the globe, ranging from start-ups to leading businesses, as well as in-depth conversations with business leaders.



We have been recognised for being the GCCs leader for delivering business transformation. Our legacy of more than 90 years has given us an inside view of the many disruptive changes in the region. The objective was not only to help companies transform but also innovate in the way services are packaged and delivered because the needs of the market have changed dramatically. The EY Growth Solutions platform is ideal for organisations that have business needs that are ongoing, regular and are almost similar in nature but need data based insights to address them, said Gossous. - TradeArabia News Service
The Emirates Capital Limited (TECL), a boutique corporate finance firm with offices located in the DIFC, Dubai, has been retained to assist with sourcing capital funding of more than $21 million by a Norwegian based company (client), a statement said.



The client owns technology with potential to disrupt the monopolistic world of cross-border payments within the banking system, it said. The statement did not reveal the name of the client.



The client`s system is designed to save banks money but also allows banks to make instantaneous transfers with 100 per cent accounting accuracy.



"At $20 per wire transaction, bank costs for wire transfers are approximately $260 million on a daily basis. The disruptive technology owned by the client firm could save bank costs more than $130 million a day. The company is currently negotiating with three partner banks that have a combined presence in over 50 countries around the world and additional 5-7 banks may follow, bringing the represented presence up to 100+ countries," the statement said.



"This client system is fully licensed and believes it enjoys at least a two-year advantage over any new competitor," it said.



The company utilises the latest in IT communication and IT security standards, and has built in new and advanced functionality to enhance the experience and options available to banks. The company's goal is to swiftly become the preferred solution for cross-border payments, said the TECL statement.



The Emirates Capital Limited will focus its fund raising activities on European institutional investors who have demonstrated know-how in the fintech industry.



Erik Essiger, chairman and chief executive officer of TECL said: "The Emirates Capital Limited has seen numerous start up companies in the payment systems space across the last two years. However, many of them were focusing on a B-to-C solutions providing just a different interface to the client with very little innovative solutions of payment processes. Additionally, a lot of them were, by and large, unregulated. The client, on the other hand, has a completely developed and fully five-year-tested payment system in the cross boarder inter-bank payment arena and is negotiating with various partner banks that will give it global reach within a short period of time.



"The client is regulated by the Norwegian Financial Services Authority. We have been impressed by their highly experienced and talented management team and we are delighted to have been retained to introduce this investment opportunity to qualified institutional investors. We are confident that we will succeed in bringing this round of investment to a successful conclusion in the near future. We look forward to working with the client's management team during this initial capital raise and also the possibility of assisting the client with an IPO on a public stock exchange at a later date," he said. - TradeArabia News Service


Gulf International Bank (GIB), the first Arabian Gulf bank to establish operations in the US, hosted a high-profile reception during the International Monetary Fund and World Bank Group meetings in Washington DC as part of its 40th anniversary celebrations this year.

The VIP reception was hosted by GIBs chief executive officer Abdulaziz A. Al-Helaissi at the Four Seasons Hotel, Washington D C.

The event was attended by distinguished guests including governors from central banks, ministers of finance, policy makers and private sector executives.

GIB provides client-focused, innovative financial products and services to a wide customer base in the region. This includes corporate banking, asset management, debt and equity capital market services, financial advisory services, mergers and acquisitions, Shariah-compliant banking, and retail banking services.

Founded in Bahrain in 1975, the bank commenced operations in 1976. In 1980, GIB opened its offices in New York. GIB is also one of the founding members of Arab Bankers Association of North America (ABANA), a leading US organisation for finance professionals and institutions with interest in the Middle East and North Africa.  TradeArabia News Service
Saudi Economic and Development Company (Sedco) said its chief legal officer Nicholas Polley was named the chairperson of the Legal Risk and Compliance Conference held recently in Riyadh.



Analysing and mitigating business risk in a fluctuating regulatory environment through systematic compliance methodologies to attain high rewards in a volatile economy has been on major organizations agendas in Saudi Arabia.



This is the case for the Sedco Holding Group, a leading Shariah-compliant wealth management group that invests in real estate and other thriving, highly rewarding sectors, whose legal team was named by Legal500 as one of the best 100 in-house legal teams in the Middle East.



In addition to chairing the conference, held at the Riyadh Marriott Hotel, Polley moderated various panel discussions including the spotlight panel discussions on pro-active approaches to be adopted by organisations for implementing pending changes in legislation, and the optimal approaches for organisations in dispute resolution management.



These sessions utilised panels of experts to discuss framework considerations for organisations to make the right decisions, said the statement from Sedco.



Particularly in arbritation strategies, to avoid expensive litigation, on exploring better options to resolve disputes than litigation, on tailoring dispute clauses to suit a given organisations needs, and, if and when it becomes unavoidable, making the most out of arbitration and mediation, it stated.



"Just as the Sedco Holding Group takes pride in its status as a major player in the kingdoms journey towards Vision 2030, I am proud and honored to be chairing this vital conference in an ever evolving regulatory landscape," remarked Polley.



The Group looks forward to being at the forefront of the national efforts to ensure that the Kingdoms legal landscape is in full readiness for the Saudi Vision 2030 and it sustains a true culture of compliance.



Having joined Sedco in 2013, Polley enjoys 18 years of professional experience in international finance, and dispute resolution. At the Saudi firm, he manages and advises on all types of transactions, and supervises local and international legal matters.



He holds a BSc in Developmental Economics and International Politics with honors (including law) from the University of Bristol, UK.



He has been a qualified solicitor since 2000, and is a member of the Chartered Institute of Arbitration (CIArb). In 2015, he was ranked as one of the top 100 legal counsels in the Middle East by The Legal 500.-TradeArabia News Service
The Abraaj Group, a leading investor operating in global growth markets, today announced that it has acquired a minority stake in Indorama Fertilizers, the largest urea fertilizer manufacturer in Sub-Saharan Africa, through its funds.



The stake was purchased from Indorama Holdings BV Netherlands, a wholly owned subsidiary of Indorama Corporation, one of the worlds fastest growing petrochemical companies with operations in Asia, Africa, Europe and North America.



Indorama Fertilizers operates a world-class, 1.4 million tonnes per annum urea manufacturing facility based in Port Harcourt, Nigeria.



The plant has been developed to global environmental, social and construction standards. It plays a key role in supporting the agricultural sector in Nigeria by providing a reliable supply of fertilizers for local farmers, thereby enabling import substitution and supporting the diversification needs of the Nigerian economy. Indorama Fertilizers is also advantageously located to serve neighbouring West African countries and key Western hemisphere markets, including North America, South America and Europe.



The fertilizer industry is expected to experience long-term demand growth as increases in populations and incomes drive demand for food. Urea is the most widely used fertilizer globally and continues to grow in market share due to its high nutrient content and ease of handling and storage.



Indorama Fertilizers is uniquely positioned to become a global fertilizer leader, given its execution capabilities, competitive production costs, and the strength of its management team. Indorama Fertilizers will establish Nigerias reputation as a key producer and exporter of fertilizer, channeling foreign exchange into the country, while also enabling Nigeria to meet the significant requirements of the domestic fertilizer market, a statement said.



Abraaj, which has been investing in Africa for the past two decades, will use its expertise and networks to support Indorama Fertilizers market penetration and future expansion plans, as well as help ensure best-in-class corporate governance.



Arif Naqvi, founder and group chief executive, The Abraaj Group, said: This is a landmark transaction for Abraaj in Sub-Saharan Africa. We are privileged to be partnering with Indorama Corporation to create a global fertilizer leader in Africa. Since establishment, Indorama Fertilizers has led the local market in an industry characterised by high levels of demand and insufficient supply of quality fertilizer in the region. Having successfully invested in the fertilizer business in North Africa, we look forward to leveraging that know-how and working with the management team in developing the companys route-to-market infrastructure, build its network and support its capacity expansion and product diversification plans in the region.



Prakash Lohia, founder and group chairman, Indorama Corporation, said: We are pleased to welcome The Abraaj Group as an investor in our fertilizer business as we endeavour to create a world-class manufacturing and distribution network for fertilizers in the African continent, to meet the needs of underserved farmers and help propel the growth of the agricultural sector even further.



The Abraaj Group has been present in Africa for two decades and deployed around $3 billion on the continent to date in a range of sectors including healthcare, financial services, logistics, consumer goods, and food and beverage. In 2015, Abraaj raised $1.3 billion for its Africa focused-funds, the statement said. -TradeArabia News Service
The UN General Assembly has appointed Antonio Guterres, former Prime Minister of Portugal, as the next Secretary-General of the United Nations.



Guterres, aged 67, was Prime Minister of Portugal from 1995 to 2002, and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees from June 2005 to December 2015.



The 193 member states of the General Assembly adopted a resolution by acclamation, appointing Guterres as the ninth UN Secretary-General to take over from Ban Ki-moon, whose tenure will end on December 31, 2016.



Ban from South Korea was appointed in 2006.



The new Secretary-General will assume the role in January 2017 and will serve a five-year term, which can be renewed by member states for an additional five years.



Ban said Guterres is an excellent choice," noting that the two had worked closely during Guterres long and outstanding tenure as the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.



Guterres had emerged as the frontrunner in all the six informal polls conducted in the Security Council to select the secretary-general amid a heightened call by several UN member states and civil society organisations to elect a woman chief for the world body, which has had a man at its helm for all the 71 years of its existence.
UAEs Nedaa, a government corporation specializing in wireless communications technologies, will showcase advanced solutions for transforming Dubai into the worlds safest and smartest city at Gitex Technology Week.



The leading ICT show runs from October 16 to 20 at the Dubai World Trade Centre.



At the core of the showcase is the developmental role of the Long Term Evolution (LTE) network provided by Nokia to deliver smart city services and apply Internet of Things (IoT) technologies for various areas and support mixed data, voice, video and messaging traffic.



Nedaa pop up network Nedaa will demonstrate how LTE connectivity will help to make the smart city safe and is vital to moving voice services from the past to the present and supporting the highest levels of public safety. Among the highlights are Push-to-Talk two-way communications over LTE; advanced Push-to-Video which enhances existing voice services with video applications; remote applications management; geographic information system integration; and how to turn ordinary mobile devices into dispatch-controlled CCTV endpoints, among others.



Device to cloud security  Nedaa will also put on display advanced solutions for protecting the cyberspace of tomorrows smart cities. It will reveal the capabilities of its Netguard Security Management from Nokia solution for securing physical, virtual and hybrid mobile networks. Visitors can select from any of five demos on Security Management, Cloud Security, Network Security, Network Access Management, and Endpoint Security. Nedaa will also hold a hybrid demo using virtual reality to show how predictive security can avoid or manage threats such as brute-force attacks using its Security Management Center SW solution. To make the experience more immersive, guest users will view the demonstration through a virtual reality headset.



Watch, Analyze, Act for The Aware Smart City  The power of video analytics to maximize situational awareness and provide early notification of possible public safety issues will also be demonstrated by Nedaa. The use of existing cameras as sensors and IMPACT from Nokia video feed insights will underscore the outstanding public safety potentials of LTE.



Transportation: Connect And Control in the Smart City  Nedaa will unveil a series of video demonstrations on how LTE can connect vehicles to other vehicles as well as to transport infrastructure to vastly improve the supply chain, public safety, and convenience, among other key areas, bringing the promise of IOT into life.



The Ultra Compact Pop-up network for public safety consists of a ~5Kg Nokia Flexi Zone Small Cell with embedded LTE core network for Evolved Packet Core functions in a backpack, capable of serving up to 400 active users across a cell range of 75 km, which provide instant connectivity to first-aid respondents in case of remote emergency situations.



Saeed bin Abid, chief executive officer, Nedaa, said: LTE technology underpins the advanced communications framework that will enable Dubai to emerge as the worlds safest and smartest city.



Throughout this years Gitex Technology Week we will emphasize how our solutions capitalize on LTEs numerous strengths to provide unparalleled levels of security, connectivity and productivity across various dimensions, from public safety and situational awareness to transport optimization.



With the support of Esharah Etisalat Security Solutions and Nokia, Nedaa is on the fast-track to tap into all the potentials of the next wave of communication technologies to best support the ambitious growth agenda of Dubai and the entire country, he added.  TradeArabia News Service
Over 100 exhibitors from 15 countries are expected to attend the award-winning Muslim Lifestyle Expo 2016 (MLE2016) taking place in Manchester, UK, later this month.



Asda, Turkish Airlines, the RAF and Al Rayan Bank are just some names that will be present in the UKs biggest showcase of the trillion-pound Muslim consumer industry. The show, on October 29 and 30, is expected to attract record numbers of visitors.



Exhibitors are expected from the US, Australia, Germany, Austria, Germany, Malaysia, Indonesia, India and UAE. They will also showcase their products and services over the two-day weekend to over 10,000 attendees.



MLE2016 has been designed to provide a unique marketing platform for brands and businesses to engage with the Muslim consumer by bringing together a number of sectors under one platform, said a statement.



The event will also feature a live catwalk show with leading modest fashion brands, a live food demo theatre featuring Ali Imdad from the Great British Bake Off, comedy from BBC Threes Guz Khan, a health zone, business seminars and a kids zone.



The Muslim consumer market is now one of the biggest in the world growing at nearly double the rate of the global economy.



According to a report by Thomson Reuters, the Muslim consumer spending on food and lifestyle products and services expenditure was $1.8 trillion in 2014 and is projected to reach $2.6 trillion in 2020.



Tahir Mirza, founder of the expo, said: MLE2016 is becoming a firm fixture in the calendar for consumers, brands and businesses.



We are delighted to bring the event to Manchester this year to tap into the thriving Muslim business and consumer base.



Weve had a tremendous response already and its going to be a record-breaking year with attendees and businesses who are attending from all over the world," Mirza said.



This years showcase has moved to EventCity in Manchester near Trafford Centre and will feature exhibitors from sectors including fashion, food and drink, travel, media, Islamic finance, and health and beauty. Manchester Art Gallery will also take part by providing workshops on Islamic arts and showcase Islamic artefacts over the weekend.



Thought leaders will highlight the growth of the Muslim lifestyle markets and share business insights at the MLE Connect seminars.



Rauf Mirza, director of the Muslim Lifestyle Expo, said: The exhibition is aimed at being a family-friendly and culturally diverse event to promote the positive and vibrant aspects of British Muslims.



Our aim is to showcase the value of the global Muslim lifestyle movement in a contemporary, dynamic, fun and enjoyable way. MLE is an inclusive event for all and welcomes people from all faiths and backgrounds.



MLE2016 has attracted Turkish Airlines as the main sponsor and Human Appeal International as the chosen Charity Partner. MLE will also partner with brands such as MyLahore, AHDB and global organisations such as the Islamic Fashion & Design Council. -TradeArabia News Service


This years Sharjah International Book Fair (SIBF) - third largest book fair in the world - will see the participation of 1,420 publishing houses from 60 countries, displaying more than 1.5 million books throughout its 11 days.



SIBF is organised by the Sharjah Book Authority, the regions foremost literary event taking place from November 2-12 in Sharjah and held under the theme Read More, and covering 25,000 sq ft at Sharjah Expo Centre.



The UAE participates this year with 205 publishing houses, followed by Egypt with 163, Lebanon and India with 110 each, the UK with 79, Syria with 66, the US with 63 and Saudi Arabia with 61.



SIBF has announced the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) as the Guest of Honour for 2016, being selected in view of its work in promoting culture and heritage across the world since its establishment in 1945.



A total of 228 international and Arab world luminaries will participate at SIBF 2016, including novelist Cassandra Clare, journalist and writer Claudia Gray, and Graeme Simsion novelist and screenwriter from Australia, Kailash Satyarthi, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2014 and renowned actress Shilpa.



Egyptian star Ezzat Al Alaili; Sheikha Maysoon Al Qasimi, poet, novelist and conceptual artist and Sheikh Majed Al Sabah, an influential social media personality among others will join the event from the Arab world.



SIBF 2016 will also host the Professional Program Business Meetings, a precursor event that takes place from October 30November 1. Its three days will feature a training course for Arab publishers held in collaboration with the Center for Publishing at the New York University, as well as discussion panels and business meetings.



Also taking place from November 8-10 is the third edition of the annual joint conference between SIBF and the American Library Association (ALA) - the only ALA conference to be held outside of the US.  TradeArabia News Service
One of UAEs leading luxury service providers, Delhaye Gregory Group (DGG), has announced its official partnership with the family-run Italian yacht company, Overmarine Group for the GCC region.



Under the partnership, introduced during the recently held Cannes Yachting Festival, DGG becomes the sole dealer for the Italian yacht brand in the GCC region.



The Overmarine Group is recognised throughout the world for its maxi open yachts bearing the well-known Mangusta brand, a leader in the 30m to 50m fast yachts segment.



DGG has consistently been expanding into new niche sectors with topnotch services catering to various occasions and interests. Under its umbrella are: Platinum Events, Platinum Lifestyle, Platinum Weddings, Furniture Rental, Maison Des Fleurs, Vintage and Prestige Motors, Platinum Auction, Atelier 971 Photography, DG Investments, and now Overmarine Group.



Gregory Delhaye, founder and chairman of DGG, said the company continuously seeks opportunities to increase its strong and steadily growing portfolio.



We are extremely pleased to partner with Overmarine Group and support its plans for future development here; Mangusta is a brand of excellence and together we are certain to redefine new opportunities for its Middle Eastern segment, he commented.



The Gulf has always been a strong reference market for Overmarine| Mangusta with many Mangusta mega yachts being delivered to clients in the region, both for cruising in home waters and itinerant between the Gulf and the Mediterranean Sea.



Were extremely satisfied about our working relationship with the Delhaye Gregory Group, stated Maurizio Balducci, Overmarine Group managing director. Its capillary network of connections and its entrepreneurial competence, combined with an in-depth knowledge of luxury and how best to approach Clients mean our products are here represented in the very best way possible.



The DGG team consistently delivers on its reputation for excellence, offering the best in terms of innovation, technology and top quality services. Some of their prestigious and loyal clientele the Richemont Group, Rolls-Royce, Chanel, Dior, LVMH, Ferrari, Al Naboodah, Aston Martin, Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank, ADCB, as well as several Abu Dhabi and Dubai Government entities.



All DGG ventures are either fully owned or co-shared with majority or minority shares. Outside the UAE, DGG also holds physical offices in Monaco and Saudi Arabia. -TradeArabia News Service


Petroleum Development Oman (PDO) has awarded three contracts valued at $330 million to Omani firms, a report said.



Earthworks will be carried out by Local Community Contractor (LCC) Najed Al Ahliya at PDO fields at Fahud, Lekhwair and Yibal and by Sarooj Construction Company at Qarn Alam and Saih Rawl. Additionally, Rukun Al Yaqeen (RAY) International will conduct electrical work across the entire north of the PDO concession area, added the Oman Observer report.



The contracts will run for four years with options to extend into the future, according to the report.
Epson will demonstrate a range of business products developed to help businesses improve integration and efficiency, including the worlds first 25,000lm 3LCD laser projector, at the Gitex Technology Week in Dubai.



In the document print area, Epson will highlight its industry-leading print technologies, including the ITS (Ink Tank Solution) range, which delivers ultra-low-cost printing and eliminates the need for cartridges.



It will also showcase the WorkForce Pro range of business printers, offering a cost-effective and ecological alternative to laser printers, which consume up to 80 per cent less power than comparable laser products. When used with Epsons RIPS (replaceable ink pack solution) technology, WorkForce Pro RIPS printers can print up to 75,000 pages without the need for replacement ink, reducing product downtime and maintenance requirements, the company said.



Epson will also showcase its market-leading projectors, which feature equally high white and colour light output (CLO) for bright, vivid images. Featured on stand will be the EB-L25000U, Epsons newly-launched high-end 25,000lm installation laser projector, and its ultra-short-throw (UST) interactive projectors, ideal for business and education.



To complete the line-up, Epson will demonstrate its large-format printer capability, which offers versatile media support for CAD, GIS and POS applications, as well as its mobile POS receipt printing solutions. A wide range of sheet-fed, flatbed, A4 and A3 scanners will be on display, as well as business labelling solutions and a variety of other products that show off Epsons cutting-edge technologies and innovation.



On Epsons strong presence at Gitex this year, Khalil El-Dalu, regional sales manager for Epson Middle East, says: Were excited to be taking part in this years globally renowned Gitex show, and really bring our products to the attention of businesses in the MEA region. Our focus this year is showcasing our integrated business solutions that help enhance productivity and efficiency in a cost-effective and environmentally-friendly way.



Epson is exhibiting at stand E 4-10 in Hall 4 of the Dubai World Trade Centre from October 16 to 20. - TradeArabia News Service


Nehme Imad Darwiche, president of Darwiche Worldwide Legacy and chief executive officer of Jannah Hotels & Resorts was ranked 26th in the prestigious Top 50 Global Leaders of the Islamic Economy 2017.



Darwiche was bestowed with the prestigious accolade of Leadership Award 2017 by the Islamic Economy, for his outstanding achievements in the tourism and hospitality industry, in a gala held at Hilton Dubai last night, witnessed by 500 of the top Islamic economy leaders and various top-tier media supporting the event.



Darwiche said: It is a tremendous honour to be recognised in such a spectacular way. This award has validated my vision of improving lives when I first set up the company three years ago in addition to providing a Shariah-compliant environment in which employees can thrive in.



The spectacular working ethic of the Jannah team ensures consistent success of Jannah Hotels and Resorts. I would like to express my gratitude to our staff who is behind the excellence displayed by our collection of luxury hotels. The Bedouin hospitality inspired group will continue to provide world-class facilities and services to guests, added Darwiche.



Under the leadership of the chief executive officer, Jannah Hotels and Resorts has thrived since its inception three years ago, expanding into the cities of Dubai, Ras Al Khaimah and Abu Dhabi. For Darwiche, integrating the four pillars - Al Safir (the Talents), Al Mizan (balance), Al Ihsan (kindness), and Al Daif (selflessness) into the brands philosophy was vital and credits its culture for the success. - TradeArabia News Service
The business aviation sector in Middle East is predicted to reach a volume $1.2 billion by 2020, with a fleet comprising 1,200 private aircrafts registered in Mena region, according to MEBAA airshow site.



The strong demand is explained globally by the globalisation of trade, the appearance of new markets, the introduction of new aircraft programs and the international expansion of operators in the charter and fractional market.



Regionally, this booming sector replies to specific need of a busy lifestyle for local and visiting decisions makers who seek comfort, efficiency and flawless time management.



This reflects well in the fact that only five months after the opening in the UAE, Rakjet, a leading private jet management company, has registered noticeable results with a developing customers portfolio from both officials and executives.



With a 60 years experience, our company has been launched in the UAE to address a specific need of comprehensive private aviation solutions, the UAE holding the second biggest fleet of business aircraft in the GCC countries, said Hugh Courtenay, founder of Rakjet.



Indeed, the decision to fly using a private jet is made for several reasons including the comfort, privacy, safety and practicality of flying to smaller airports closer to meeting points, agreed Zaher Deir, managing director, Rakjet.



Rakjet offers Full Aircraft management contracts and distinctive following up of customers during the whole process from acquiring to operation the jet. Unlike internal flight departments with limited expertise, Rakjet offers a wide range of bespoke services; from assisting the owners with initial price negotiations, dealing with aircraft completion centres, regulatory authorities and the latest safety directives, to crew recruitments, licensing and training, setting up credit facilities, fuel suppliers, maintenance suppliers and handling agents, added Deir.



More and more private jet owners in the region are getting conscious of the necessity of hiring an independent aircraft management company with skilled engineers and experts instead of counting on companies with local capabilities. They are paying the price to purchase their private asset, and would want to keep their investment in good hands, he said.



Budget wise, Rakjet proposes significant savings on aircraft insurance, fuel costs, maintenance supervision and repairs, crew accommodation, flight planning and over flight permits cost, crew accommodations, handling fees and parking locations.



In Rakjet, our management contract is tailor made to fit owners with single and multiple private jets, Deir said.



The UAE plays crucial role as a regional hub to Mena. It is expected to see even growing business aviation traffic which will impact positively the related service market, most specifically the private aircrafts management, he concluded.  TradeArabia News Service
InterContinental Cairo Citystars recently held a celebration for winning the Quarter 2 Front Runner Award 2016.



Front Runner Award is an InterContinental Hotels Group regional award which hotels receive based on achieving high revenue, hotel room nights sales, food and beverages sales.



The Front Runner Award recognises hotels that achieve or exceed a level of excellence on the Hotel Wining Metrics categories and is awarded to qualifying hotels quarterly. IHG distributes this respected award every quarter to the property that achieves the highest guest satisfaction results and overall performance.



Simon Stamper, director of operations, Africa and area general manager InterContinental Hotels Group Cairo Citystars attended the celebration along with hotel department heads and the winning staff.



Stamper said: The success we have achieved came through your hard work and motivation it came through because you have stood strong in challenging times and I consider it as a recognition that we are successful in building a winning culture within the team, and truly "work better together".



The trophy was achieved by Winning 10/10 in the Winning Metrics in Q2 - 2016, he said. - TradeArabia News Service
Meet award-winning artisans and buy their products at Kerala Arts and Crafts Village
Caspers Historic Preservation Commission will ask Wells Fargo not to tear down its distinctive downtown tower, chairwoman Connie Thompson told the Star-Tribune.

Wed hate to see it go because its an icon, Thompson said. I will be contacting someone at the bank to try and see if it will definitely have to come down.

The commission met on Monday, and Thompson said the members wanted to explore options for keeping the tower up, including finding grants that could be used to repair the structure.

The bank said last week that it had become a public safety hazard and would be removed in the spring. The Wells Fargo sign, said to be the most unstable part of the tower, was removed last Thursday.

While the egg beater tower has its critics, Thompson said it is a distinctive part of Caspers cityscape.

It has always probably been an eyesore, Thompson said with a laugh. But it was put up in 1968, so (at that time) we were stepping into the modern world.

She said older residents recall it as a sign of avant garde design coming to a rough-and-tumble oil town.

The newer, younger people probably think, Yeah, its an eyesore, Thompson said. But... its an icon, and it should be preserved.

The tower was designed by Casper architect Harold Engstrom and was the worlds tallest pylon-type time-temperature display.

It went up when the bank was a Wyoming National branch and the spherical bank building adjacent to the tower was designed by Charles Deaton (He was one of these dreamer architects out of Denver, one man who worked on the building told the Star-Tribune in 2011).

The tower has undergone changes over the years. In 1992, Norwest bank removed the clock and temperature display, citing difficulty maintaining it.

But Wells Fargos sudden announcement that it will tear down the tower entirely in spring  it came just months after the city had approved its plans to install a new sign on the tower  caught city staff off-guard.

For city planner Craig Collins, its also a reminder that Casper does not have the historical preservation ordinances that some other cities use to protect landmark buildings and structures.

Thompson said that the preservation commission was close to getting a section of downtown, including the Wells Fargo branch, listed on the National Historic Register. But even being listed on the register does not prevent private property owners from tearing down or altering a building or structure. Those protections generally apply only if the owner has received federal funding to preserve a historic building.

(I) had that misconception that if theres something on the historic register you cant do anything with and its heavily regulated  and its really not, Collins said.

Collins said the lack of preservation rules was especially glaring during the 1970s, when the downtown blocks west of city hall saw their classic brick buildings demolished in favor of contemporary designs like the former Sandbar Lounge building.

They did some old-school fire-up-the-bulldozer type urban renewal in that area, Collins said. Weve lost a lot of the history in that area.

While the Wells Fargo tower doesnt fit into the same mold of classic Old West architecture, Collins said it is still a unique part of Casper.

Its in every picture of the city, he noted.

Not only is it in photos of the Casper skyline, but its in the Wyocity logo featured on the citys website and its municipal cars. It even hangs prominently behind the city council dais.

Oh, were well aware of that, assistant city manager Liz Becher said of the signs role in the new logo, part of an $80,000 rebranding project undertaken by the city last year.

Thompson, of the historical preservation commission, said that for now she was going to try persuasion to keep the tower up  hoping that if the commission can help secure funding to restore the structure it may not need to come down.

But she said that whether or not Casper adopts official rules about historic preservation, it would be nice to have some regulations protecting the citys history.

Like Collins, Thompson lamented the loss of many of Caspers older buildings over the years.

Individuals thought, Oh, lets tear down the old and bring in the new, Thompson said. So now parts of our history are gone.
City officials remain mum on whether the fire chief faced discipline for writing an email in which he asked one of his inspectors to delete the bad parts of video of the Cole Creek Fire.

City manager V.H. McDonald declined to comment Tuesday about the email fire chief Kenneth King sent as firefighters continued to battle the flames. When asked if he had anything to say to those who want King fired, McDonald also declined to comment and said he couldnt discuss personnel issues. As city manager, McDonald oversees the fire department and all other city departments.

The Cole Creek Fire ignited in a wood-chip pile in the city landfill almost exactly one year ago. It burned for six days, destroyed 14 homes and charred about 10,000 acres in rural Evansville. On the fourth day of the fire, King emailed a fire inspector charged with collecting evidence and asked him to cut out the bad parts of a video shot at the landfill and make sure that no copies were made and that only the Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation had access to it. King later said the email was a joke.

Councilman Wayne Heili said he was concerned about the chiefs email and reached out to McDonald about the issue after reading the Star-Tribunes story.

The story raises concerns, and those concerns need to be addressed by the city, Heili said. Whether youre a councilmember or another person in the city, you would have concerns.

Heili declined to comment further but said he believes the city will handle the incident fairly.

I believe it will or has been handled properly, he said. I have faith in V.H. as a city manager.

Councilman Shawn Johnson said Tuesday he had seen the headline of the story published in the Star-Tribune on Sunday but had not read the article. He said he was sure the council would discuss the emails with McDonald but couldnt say much more without reading the story.

Im sure its not going to be ignored, he said.

Other city council members also declined to comment or did not return phone calls. During a council work session Tuesday evening, the council briefly discussed how to answer reporters asking about the fire chief and his email. They said they could not comment because it was a personnel issue.

But some of those who lost their homes in the fire had much to say.

Curtis Fortin lost more than $1 million in the fire, including his home. Hes since been living in various rental properties while he collects insurance money and rebuilds his familys life.

For Fortin, the chiefs email and the lack of review by the fire department are just more evidence that the city will never be honest about what happened last October, he said. The city should have already fired King for not containing the fire, Fortin said. If not for that reason, the chief should be fired for the email, he said, even if he was just joking.

In my opinion, thats fraud, Fortin said. He should be released from his duties and charged with a crime.

Even if King were indeed joking, its inappropriate to make a flippant joke while homes are burning down, he said.

It goes so much deeper than disrespect, he said. It goes into total not caring whatsoever about anybody in this town.

Tammy Clark, who lost her home and beloved animals in the fire, said the email didnt surprise her. It was just another example of the city not caring about the people who live along Cole Creek Road, she said.How can you joke over something like that? You couldnt walk around and joke about what happened out here. Not with any conscience, she said. There was nothing funny about this mess.

Even more worrisome, she said, was the lack of review of how the fire was fought. Fire department officials said they did not perform an after-action review of how the fire was handled after a city attorney advised against it. Daniel Griswold, division chief of operations for the fire department, said legal reasons kept him from saying whether the fire department had learned anything from the blaze.

If it happened again today, we dont know that wed have any better protection than we had before, Clark said. When the wind blows, Im scared to leave this place.
A jury on Thursday found a Casper man guilty of burning down his estranged wifes house three years ago.

Mark Garrison, 55, was found guilty in Natrona County District Court of first-degree arson and a further charge of being a habitual criminal, which means he could face up to 50 years in prison. He was previously found guilty of interference with a police officer and escaping from a detention facility.

The mobile home on Yucca Circle where Garrison previously lived with his wife, Kathe Hendricks, burned down the night of Dec. 20, 2013. Hendricks told police that Garrison had repeatedly threatened to kill her and burn down the home, according to court documents.

Surveillance video from a neighbors camera showed a a truck similar to the one Garrison drove approach the home at 8:30 p.m.  45 minutes before the fire began. Twenty minutes later, a photo shows a figure walking toward the home. At 9:14 p.m. a figure is seen running away from the direction of the home, and a minute later the glow of a fire can be seen on the side of an adjacent trailer home.

Hendricks had been awarded custody of the home two months before the fire after she filed for an order of protection against Garrison alleging physical and mental abuse, the prosecutor said in court this week. Garrison was forced to leave the home but repeatedly broke the no-contact order by calling Hendricks, the documents show.

Garrison will be sentenced later.
When the University of Wyoming at Casper began in 1976, it offered four majors and taught about 170 students. Today, it boasts 18 bachelors degrees, 13 masters, six doctorates and some 650 students.

The UW-Casper program will celebrate its 40th anniversary Friday with featured guests including Dr. Pete Simpson, the schools first director, and UW President Laurie Nichols.

It was one of the great investments that both the state and the university made was to bring that opportunity to Casper, Simpson said. Im very pleased to have been a part of it.

Simpson said in the beginning there were only two administrative staff and about six full-time faculty. Classes were held in whatever rooms were available at Casper College for a semester, along with an off-campus site in what was the former Childrens Home.

It was a perfectly collaborative effort, Simpson said of the programs relationship with Casper College.

The UW-Casper program is now centered in the $32 million Casper College Student Union/University of Wyoming at Casper building completed at the college in 2014.

Its spectacular. I was there at the dedication about two years ago, and it was impressive to see what had happened, Simpson said.

There are currently 13 staff and 20 full-time faculty, and UW-Casper Director Jeff Edgens noted the new building gives the program an opportunity to grow, with enrollment increasing by 13 percent since last year.

Its definitely been able to allow us to expand more. Weve got a lot more classroom space, and of course the technology itself, said Edgens.

Advances in digital learning increase the usefulness of the new facility even more, Edgens explained.

Weve got capacity to handle additional academic programs here for at least the next five to 10 years or so, and with the technology thats available online, theres less of an emphasis needed sometimes on the infrastructural aspects of what were doing, Edgens said.

UW-Casper was the first program established beyond the universitys main campus in Laramie. It has become the hub for five other UW programs offered at community colleges throughout the state.

UW-Casper is larger in about every aspect because weve been here longer, and we have had the community support to grow, Edgens said.

The future will cross paths with the past at the anniversary event as Simpson and his first assistant Renee Woodward, who retired in February as the UW-Caspers program manager, will be honored.

About 3,500 people have graduated from the UW-Casper program since its inception, and four of them will be recognized at the event: Kelly Keenan (class of 2008), Rob Hill (class of 2010), Carrie R. Blase (class of 2015) and Mance Hurley (class of 2010 and 2016).

To mark the anniversary, UW-Casper is also creating a new scholarship that will be announced at the event.

We will have a name for it actually Friday night. We are keeping that in secret for right now, Edgens said.

The anniversary event, at the Parkway Plaza, is open to alumni and the community. Proceeds will go toward the new scholarship.

The event runs from 5:30 to 7 p.m. Friday at the Parkway Plaza. Tickets are $25 at the door, which includes a reception and two drink samples provided by Backwards Distilling Company.
GILLETTE  Investigators are still trying to determine when two men were killed in Gillette after their dismembered bodies were found in plastic tote containers and a cartop carrier.

Campbell County police say 33-year-old Phillip Brewer and 38-year-old Jody Fortuna were last seen in early September in Gillette. Their bodies were found last Saturday.

Campbell County Sheriff Scott Mathen said Thursday that investigators are still gathering evidence on when the killings occurred and working to find a motive.

Thirty-seven-year-old Michael Paul Montano has been charged with two counts of second-degree murder and two counts of mutilation of dead human bodies.

Montano's girlfriend, 22-year-old Kylee Collins, also has been charged with accessory after the fact and two counts of conspiracy to mutilate a dead human body.
LARAMIE  A 30-year-old Laramie man has pleaded guilty to strangling a household member in an agreement that calls for the state to recommend he spend no more than a year in jail.

Jacob Borzea entered his guilty plea Wednesday in Albany County District Court. Judge Jeffrey Donnell said he would consider the plea deal, but there were no guarantees as to his sentence.

The woman reported the choking in June. Court records say Borzea acknowledged he put the woman in choke holds to calm her down.

Borzea was released from jail in July but was re-arrested for breaking into the woman's house the same day he was released. He has been jailed since then. Judge Donnell declined a request that Borzea be released from jail pending sentencing.
LARAMIE  Having already eliminated more than 100 staff and faculty positions this year, the University of Wyoming is proposing further reductions in staff and faculty next year as it grapples with some $41 million in budget cuts.

UW President Laurie Nichols this week outlined a plan that includes eliminating more vacant positions and offering another financial incentive for longtime faculty members to leave their jobs early. The plan would result in about $10 million in permanent reductions.

The new budget cuts are for fiscal year 2018 and come after the university has already identified about $19 million in cuts in the current 2017 fiscal year. The cuts made this year also included eliminating about 100 vacant positions and offering early-retirement incentives.

The plan represents our best effort to meet the necessary reductions in the state block grant while adhering to the universitys core mission of quality education for our students, and research and service to benefit the state, Nichols said in a statement. Reductions of this magnitude are never easy, but this plan will maintain UWs status as an outstanding academic institution dedicated to the education and success of our students.

Public comment on the proposed cuts for fiscal year 2018 is being accepted through Oct. 28. Nichols is scheduled to give her final recommendations to the UW Board of Trustees on Nov. 8. The board will consider the proposal at its regular meeting on Nov. 16.

Besides the budget cuts, Nichols also is looking to increase revenue by about $10 million through higher student academic fees, increased enrollment and already scheduled tuition increases.

We are committed to growing our student enrollment, and we will have the infrastructure to accept more students, even with the reductions we must make during this biennium, Nichols said.

The budget reductions are a result of a drop in funding from the state because of a steep downturn in Wyomings energy economy. In addition, the university is undertaking an expensive overhaul of its financial accounting system that it is helping to pay for by reallocating existing funding.

The fiscal year 2018 budget reductions would include additional cuts across the campus, amounting to about $6 million.

Academic Affairs, which includes the Arts and Sciences, Business and Agriculture and Natural Resources colleges, would see the largest cut at $2.05 million, followed by the Division of Administration at $1.31 million and the Department of Athletics at $1 million.

A separate proposal to eliminate 16 UW academic degree programs is expected to generate some savings, but that amount has not been determined and is not part of the 2018 budget reduction plan.
Vector Space Systems plans to open a Tucson headquarters and manufacturing plant to make rockets for launching small satellites into space.

The Tucson-based company is expected to create 200 jobs locally within three years of beginning operations, at an average annual salary of $70,000. It could employ as many as 500 people within five years as production ramps up, said its co-founder and CEO, Jim Cantrell.

Vector plans to invest roughly $19 million during the first three years, and possibly as much as $50 million over the next 15 years, according to Pima County officials. The total direct economic impact of the facility could be $290 million over five years, says an analysis by Phoenix-based Applied Economics completed for Sun Corridor Inc., the local economic-development agency.

The company plans to build 36,000 square feet of office space and another 40,000 square feet for manufacturing south of Tucson International Airport.

The business of getting small satellites, some as small as loaves of bread, into space is one set for significant growth in coming years, Cantrell said.

About 175 such satellites were launched last year, a number that is projected to rise 800 by 2020, and getting them to space is projected to become a multibillion-dollar business. Cantrell thinks Vector can grab a good chunk of that.

His company plans to build about 100 rockets annually at first and to increase from there. Eventually the company intends to manufacture its own satellites as well, he added. Launches will take place in California, Alaska and Florida, not locally.

Citing several examples of their application, Cantrell said micro-satellites have been used by Google to take images of the Earths surface and by researchers and forecasters to study the atmosphere.

Until now there hasnt been infrastructure to support that, yet that is where innovation is occurring, Cantrell said of micro-satellites.

Vector started in 2015, secured $1 million of capital from angel investors earlier this year and is currently closing on up to an additional $1.5 million, which will be used to fund operations and prototype development during the last quarter of 2016 and into 2017, says a letter the company sent to County Administrator Chuck Huckelberry on Oct. 6.

The company has $2.5 million in contracts and revenue so far in 2016 and has signed contracts worth around $160 million for launches once the plant starts producing rockets, according to Cantrell and the letter.

The manufacturing plant and headquarters would be located in the countys Aerospace, Defense and Technology Business and Research Park, which is also the home of World View, a company that makes balloons for space tourism and research. The 15-acre site is near the intersection of Old Nogales Highway and Old Vail Road and was part of land originally purchased to provide a buffer for nearby Raytheon Missile Systems.

The plant is expected to be operational by 2018.

Unlike the World View deal, the county does not currently intend to build any facilities on behalf of the company and recoup the costs over the course of a lease arrangement, Huckelberry said. Rather, Vector is interested in a market rate ground lease of the county-owned land, he said, a point echoed by Cantrell. Such a lease would need the approval of the Board of Supervisors.

Huckelberry did say the county will explore the possibility of building on behalf of the company, but added that theyre not even asking for that for now. Additionally, if such a deal were struck, the company would pay back the countys development costs through straight-line amortization instead of the steadily increasing payments that are a part of the World View deal, he said.

Training and workforce development will be the principal incentives the county offers Vector, Huckelberry said. The company is also eligible to apply for state income-tax credits for qualified facilities and for workforce development grants, said an Arizona Commerce Authority spokeswoman.

County Supervisor Ally Miller, who has been a vocal critic of the World View deal and county use of incentives for economic development, did not return calls seeking comment Wednesday.

Supervisor Ramon Valadez, whose district includes the proposed site, said, Its great that this one came to fruition, and Im very excited for the future of our community, adding that there are other projects in the pipe.
UA takes hands-on approach to musical

Some of us will do just about anything to catch a break.

Including enter a contest requiring us to stand for days keeping at least one hand on a car. The last one standing wins the car.

One of those contests is what Hands On A Hard Body is all about. The University of Arizonas Arizona Repertory Company opens the musical in previews Sunday, Oct. 16.

It is based on a 1997 documentary about one such contest in Texas.

Ten contestants are gathered around a Nissan pickup, standing and touching. Each is determined to spend however many days he or she has to holding on until he or she declared the winner. The play gives us glimpses into their lives.

Theres conflict  one character who has won the contest before tries to intimidate others. Theres humor  how could there not be? And theres music  from rock to country to gospel.

Hands on a Hardbody opened in 2012 at the La Jolla Playhouse and found its way to Broadway by 2013. Though it received a few Tony nominations, it was short lived on the Great White Way. But it has found life in regional productions around the country.

And it has found some good reviews, too:

 Theres a refreshing emotional simplicity to this story thats been genially adapted to the stage, said the Los Angeles Times.

The New York Times was a tad lukewarm about it, but allowed that it was a scrappy, sincere new musical (which) brings a fresh handmade feeling to Broadway.

What this production has that others havent is the talented Danny Gurwin in the directors chair. And a cast made up of UA students, many of whom are clearly on their way to careers on stages around the country.

The play previews at 1:30 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 16, and 7:30 p.m. Monday, Oct. 17. Opening is 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 19. It continues through Nov. 6.

Performances are at the Tornabene Theatre in the UA Fine Arts complex, near the North Park Avenue and East Speedway.

Previews are $19, regular performances, $31, with discounts available, at 621-1162 or theatre.arizona.edu.

Barrio story becomes shadow puppet show

Patricia Preciado Martin is kind of revered around here. The Tucson natives books and oral histories about our part of the country have fascinated and informed.

One of those books, El Milagro and Other Stories, has been adapted for the stage by Borderlands Theaters Milta Ortiz.

Called Shadowlands, you can find it Friday, Oct. 14, at Armory Park Bandshell, 220 S. Fifth Ave., and Saturday, Oct. 15, at Oury Recreation Center, 600 W. St. Marys Road. The shadow puppet show begins at 6 p.m. each day.

This is another of Borderlands Barrio Stories Project, which transformed the Tucson Convention Center earlier this year with stories on the people who once lived in the barrio where the center now sits. It was heartfelt and heartbreaking and a exciting theatrical event. No reason to expect otherwise with this.

Shadow plays have been around for a long, long time. They use shadow puppets  flat, cutout figures  and lighting to create movement and change. Explaining it does not do the form justice.

Marc David Pinate is directing the production and artist Cristina Cardenas is the art director.

Its a pay-what-you-can event, and if you cant pay anything, you wont be turned away.

Call 882-7406 for more information.

Harvey bellies up

to Arizona

Rose stage

Mary Chases charming Harvey opens this weekend at Zuzi Theater in the Historic Y, 738 N. 5th Ave. The 1944 play snagged the Pulitizer Prize for the drama laced with comedy.

Its all about a sweet, gentle man, Elwood P. Dowd, whose best friend is a rabbit visible to only him. Naturally, everyone assumes he has lost his marbles and he is sent off to a sanitarium.

Cynthia Howell directs the Arizona Rose Theatre Company production and the cast includes Leah Kari, Scott Berg, Devyn Garret, Michael Howell, Michael Candela, Ron Kari, Eric Everts, Leah Rosthenhausler, Bobbi Whitson, Michael Cook, Stephanie Howell and Mari Caldwell.
The Arizona Department of Transportation will install dust sensors, warning signs and variable-speed-limit signs along a deadly stretch of Interstate 10.

The warnings will be installed by early 2019 from milepost 209 near Eloy to milepost 219 near Picacho Peak. The interstate there is flanked with degraded desert and fallow farmland where localized dust channel storms have caused numerous fatal crashes over the years.

If you look west from I-10, there is 100 miles of desert and all those fallow fields  a lot of space open to high winds, and they can be unexpected, said ADOT spokesman Tom Herrmann.

We cant stop the dust, but we can put in a warning system, Herrmann said.

The sensors will detect the dust when it is more a mile away, Hermann said. The department is to begin design work on the system this month. It hasnt yet selected the sensors and is looking worldwide for the latest, most dependable technology, he said.

When the sensors give an early warning, ADOT traffic engineers will be able to confirm the detection with cameras and can activate message boards and variable-speed-limit signs installed along the stretch, Hermann said.

The spaced speed-limit signs will gradually reduce speeds to 35 mph. In extreme conditions, the signs can announce closures, he said.

The $12.8 million project will be partly funded by a $54 million federal grant that also helps pay for widening two stretches of the interstate between Tucson and Phoenix that have only two lanes.

Sen. Steve Farley, D-Tucson, said hed like to see more attention paid to the sources of dust along the interstate.

Hes been working with a group of state and local officials to see if digging furrows and planting desert vegetation on land flanking the interstate would reduce the dust.

Its good and bad news, Farley said. Im happy theyre doing something.

But Farley said the problem that this sensor system targets could be solved with rehabilitation of the abandoned farmland alongside the interstate.

Id like to see a cost-benefit analysis, he said.

Obviously this has a great benefit, but what if we can stop the problem from happening?

The system, if successful, will eventually be deployed in other problem areas of the state, Hermann said.

Were putting them in this section because this is the area of most immediate need with heavy dust and heavy traffic between Tucson and Phoenix, he said.

Future deployment could occur along parts of the eastern stretch of I-10 and in the west near the California state line.
The public is invited to attend free legal information sessions presented by attorneys at Court Night.

Topics include divorce, child support, probate and landlord/tenant issues.

The first session of the Oct. 18 event begins at 4 p.m. at Flowing Wells Community Center, 1660 W. Ruthrauff Road. The second session starts at 5:45 p.m.

Both sessions are hosted by Pima County Superior Court and the Pima County Bar Association.

Attorneys Michael Aaron, Angela Hurtado, Lisa McNorton and Juan Perez-Medrano will present sessions on divorce, child support, paternity and custody, according to a news release.

The topics of probate, guardianship and conservatorship will be presented by attorneys Thomas Curti and Carrie Rednour.

Sessions about debtor and creditor, and landlord and tenant will be offered by attorneys Beverly Parker and Steve Cox.

After each session, the attorneys will take questions from the audience, but they cannot give legal advice or discuss specific cases.

Representatives from the Arizona Attorney Generals Office, Division of Child Support Services, National Alliance on Mental Illness of Southern Arizona, and Casa de los Ninos will also be available to answer questions and provide information, according to organizers.

Spanish-speaking interpreters will be available during the event.
Authorities have identified the two adults killed in a Wednesday night rollover crash near Sasabe.

Gerald Calip, 50, and Carolyn Conner, 47, were both from Hayward, California. They were traveling with an infant boy who was injured in the crash, said Quentin Mehr, an Arizona Department of Public Safety spokesman.

At about 7:40 p.m., DPS troopers responded to reports of a commercial vehicle that had crashed on State Route 286.

The semi-truck was hauling a load of coal, and driving northbound when it approached a curve, and Calip, who was driving, lost control of the vehicle, Mehr said.

The truck and trailer rolled onto the passenger side and went off the road. Calip and Conner were not wearing seatbelts, and were ejected from the truck. The infant, who was not restrained in a child seat, was also thrown from the vehicle, Mehr said.
A two-vehicle head-on crash, causing one vehicle to roll has blocked a portion of East Valencia Road Wednesday evening.

The drivers of each vehicle were cut out of the wreckage, which occurred about 5 p.m., said Deputy Cody Gress of the Pima County Sheriff's Department.

Both were transported to a hospital and their conditions were unknown, Gress said.

Eastbound Valencia is blocked between South Swan Road and South Alvernon Way. One of the vehicles crossed over a median, said Gress.

Traffic detectives are at the scene.

No further information is immediately available.
In their lone debate, rivals Martha McSally and Matt Heinz vowed to fight to bring new missions to Davis-Monthan Air Force Base and Fort Huachuca, to fix the Affordable Care Act and to secure the border.

But the two often split on their solutions to the problems in Wednesday nights Congressional District 2 debate in Sierra Vista.

Incumbent U.S. Rep. McSally, a Republican, told the audience it is obvious the Affordable Care Act has failed in Arizona, as residents in rural counties have few choices in terms of the health care marketplace.

It doesnt take a doctor to diagnose that Obamacare is not working, she said, in a pointed reference to Democrat Heinz, who is an emergency-room physician as well as a former state representative.

McSally conceded the system in place before Obamacare was flawed, but said the decision to replace it with a radically different, mandatory system was not the answer.

The candidates argued about who is to blame for the problems with the Affordable Care Act.

McSally said it was fault of the Obama administration, while Heinz said that big pharma and health care insurance providers wrote the legislation.

Heinz said the ACA has done a lot of good across the country, which hes seen first-hand as a physician, but admitted some changes are needed.

McSally said the entire system needs to be replaced.

In terms of border security, McSally called for a better strategy when it comes to national security.

She said the federal government has done a poor job of tracking immigrants who have overstayed their visas, and has also placed Border Patrol agents too far away from the physical border. But she praised a decision to replace seven miles of physical border wall in Southern Arizona.

Heinz said the underlying issues cant be ignored while the U.S. focuses on physical solutions like walls, and that a comprehensive solution is needed to address how to handle the millions of undocumented people living in the United States.

We cant just fix the heart and ignore the lungs and the kidneys, he said.

Asked about the Environmental Protection Agencys Clean Power Plan, McSally railed against unelected bureaucrats who could force closure of the Apache Generating Station, a coal-fired plant in Cochise County.

Thankfully, the courts have stopped it, she said; the plan is on hold while states including Arizona challenge it.

She said she voted with Congress to send a disapproval resolution to President Obama about the energy plan, but he vetoed it.

Heinz countered that McSally was part of what he called the least productive congressional session in the nations history, forcing federal agencies to act when Congress should.

Environmental policy should be balanced, he said, warning that a lack of environmental monitoring led to poisoned water in Flint, Michigan.

The congressional district, which covers a portion of Pima County and most of Cochise County, is considered very competitive. McSally defeated then-Congressman Ron Barber in 2014 by a 161-vote margin.

In August, the Secretary of States Office reported that Republicans and Democrats each have about 132,000 voters registered, the Republican Party had a razor-thin lead with just 13 more registered voters than the Democratic Party had.

Independents are coveted in the district, making up nearly one-third of its total registered voters.

The debate in Sierra Vista is the only planned public meeting between the two candidates. Both campaigns have indicated they would be open to another debate in the Tucson area but none is planned.
A southern Arizona lawmaker wants Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich to determine if Tucson is breaking state law by destroying guns rather than selling them.

Republican Rep. Mark Finchem filed the complaint Wednesday. It asks Brnovich to investigate whether Tucson is violating a 2013 law requiring sales of otherwise legal guns.

Finchem says he has proof that Tucson is breaking the law, noting the obtained city documents outlining the destruction of guns - including a collectable gun worth more than $10,000 - through a public records request.

"The city of Tucson flagrantly violated state statutes and deprived the taxpayers of the opportunity to obtain fair-market value of a public asset," he said in a prepared release, noting the guns should have been auctioned off to the highest bidder.

A law signed by Gov. Doug Ducey this year that says local governments that violate state laws lose their state shared revenue if they don't stop. Tucson received $172 million last year, Finchem says.

City Attorney Mike Rankin says Tucson provided records of sales and destruction of guns to Finchem and will respond to any attorney general inquiry.

Councilman Steve Kozachik said the complaint is designed simply to punish political opponents.

"It is clearly unconstitutional, you can't strip the city's funding without due process," Kozachik said. "Guys like Finchem have never gotten over my gun buyback program."

State Senator Steve Farley agreed, saying Finchem represents only his political constituency and wants to use the state legislature to force Democrat-controlled counties, cities and towns to bend to his political will.

The been no decision about investigating the complaint, says Brnovich spokeswoman Mia Garcia.
I woke up New Years Day to a phone message from my dad.

My 83-year-old mom had fallen and broken her pelvis.

When I called her at Northwest Hospital, she was upbeat and optimistic. She didnt need surgery and she would probably be released the following day, about the time my family was flying home from California.

Make sure they know how healthy you are, I told her. Tell them you walk eight miles a day in Tucson Mall.

We chatted. We laughed.

I was not a bit worried.

When I called later that day and again that evening, she didnt answer. The following morning, before we boarded the plane to come home, she didnt answer. Late that night, after our Phoenix-Tucson flight was canceled and we rented a car to get home, she finally answered.

She didnt know where she was or why she was there. She said the nurses were trying to kill her.

Thats when I started to worry.

When I got to the hospital the following morning, I hardly recognized the woman in the hospital bed. She was confused and agitated and looked so tiny. When a nurse asked for her birth date, she couldnt come up with it. She struggled to name the year  she finally tossed out 2010  and she mixed up the name of our president, whom she cant stand, with the name of our family doctor, whom she adores.

She does not have dementia, I kept insisting to the nurses. This woman is sharp as a tack.

And then my moms excellent health started spiraling downward. She has a contagious infection we cant quite identify, one doctor told me. We have discovered a heart problem, another told me.

With each new problem, the date of her release slid further away. And so did my mom. Although I never voiced it at the time, I started to fear that she might not make it out of the hospital. My dad later told me that he felt the same way.

Desperate, I started Googling words like sudden dementia and found a few mentions of something I hadnt heard of but immediately suspected was the problem: hospital delirium.

My mom has macular degeneration, so being in a dark hospital room, she lost sense of what time of day it was  and even what day it was. That can contribute to hospital delirium. She had suffered an extremely painful injury, which can be a contributing factor. And she doesnt handle strong medications well, so the narcotic painkillers she was on may have been to blame.

From what I read, the best cure for hospital delirium is to get the patient out of the hospital, so that became our goal. My sister-in-law, whose own mother was hospitalized that week, worked tirelessly to get my mom out of bed and off the catheter. We asked the doctors to find an alternative to the narcotic pain medications. We pushed hard to get her moved to in-patient rehab.

Finally, after eight days, she moved to HealthSouth Rehabilitation Institute of Tucson. The admitting nurse got my mom to say her name, but she couldnt get any other information out of her  even the reason she was hospitalized.

I was scared she wouldnt be able to stay since patients there must be able to participate in their own treatment.

I went home shaking. But the next morning, the fog started to lift. At lunch, we had something that approached a normal conversation. By that night, just 24 hours after leaving the hospital, she was back.

She started riding a stationary bike, walking in the swimming pool and doing occupational therapy. She was discharged 10 days later and ditched the wheelchair, then the walker, and now is back to walking in the mall.

Had I known then what I know now, I would have insisted that a friend or family member stay with her constantly in the hospital to remind her again and again of where she was and why she was there.

I would have immediately sought alternatives to narcotic pain medications. I would have brought in a bright, adjustable light to simulate the time of day.

Or better yet, I would have tried to bring her home and arrange for care there. She didnt need surgery. She didnt have an open wound. Looking back, Im not convinced that admitting her was the best choice.

Almost no one I know has heard of delirium, but it affects an estimated 7 million hospital patients each year.

I hope that by sharing our stories we can raise awareness and help people avoid something that is truly terrifying and far easier to prevent than to treat.
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP)  A remote village on Alaska's northwest coast has begun a reverse tourism campaign. Residents want visitors to stay away.

Pacific walrus by the thousands in recent years have come ashore in early fall near the Inupiat village of Point Lay, including about 6,000 last week, and people have dropped in, hoping to see a marine mammal phenomenon brought on by climate change and disappearing summer sea ice in the Chukchi Sea.

However, Point Lay, population 270, has no hotel or restaurants. And walrus to residents are a major food source, not a curiosity. Disturbances by boats or airplanes can spook walrus into stampedes that crush the smallest animals.

So Point Lay is working with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on an information campaign: Thanks for the interest, but please don't stop by.

"They've had people come and had no place to accommodate them and they ended up having to tell the person to get back on the plane and head out," said Andrea Medeiros, spokeswoman for the agency in Anchorage. "I would imagine it's a very awkward situation for them."

The walrus can't even be seen from the village.

"You have to travel across a cove to get to where the animals are," Medeiros said. Visitors would need a ride from a resident and the trip can be hazardous.

"They're actually on a barrier island," she said.

Walrus started coming ashore on the northwest Alaska coast in 2007. In September last year, 35,000 packed a rocky beach near Point Lay. The carcasses of more than 130 mostly young walruses were counted after a stampede in September 2009 at Icy Cape.

Walrus prefer spreading out on sea ice, where they can monitor the approach of predators such as polar bears.

Many adult male walrus stay south of the Bering Strait year-round. However, females with calves stay on the edge of pack ice, where the young can rest as mothers dive for clams.

As the sea ice melts, the edge moves north, providing a moving platform over the shallow Bering and Chukchi seas.

In recent years, as Arctic temperatures have warmed, the edge of the sea ice has receded far to the north over water too deep for walrus to dive and reach the ocean bottom. Walrus have the choice of resting on ice over deep water or moving to shore, joined by thousands of other animals.

Remnant ice floating in the Chukchi gave walrus a safe platform this year until Friday, when about 6,000 of them came ashore near Point Lay. They appear to have since moved on, likely to Russia, Joel Garlich-Miller, a walrus biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, said in a Tuesday statement.

Leo Ferreira, Point Lay Tribal Council president, in an interview with Sitka radio station KCAW last year urged the media to keep its distance and reacted angrily when a photographer flew near the walrus. He issued a statement Friday reiterating a "no media" policy while walrus are on shore.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service works with the Federal Aviation Administration to discourage airplanes from flying near walrus.

The agency also has received a two-year, $140,000 grant from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation to help Point Lay.

The grant will pay to train Point Lay young people in photography, videography and film production that could be used on a website about walrus coming ashore. The goal is to keep people informed while warning them of the hazards and discouraging them from visiting.

The grant also will pay for villagers to monitor walrus coming ashore over about 50 miles of ocean beach, and to collect data including the age, sex and cause of any walrus deaths.

Walrus herds are just one change brought to Point Lay by climate change. The frozen ground on which the village is built is melting. Over the summer, soil weakened ground between a river and the lake where Point Lay drew water. A canal developed and drained the lake. The community has water in storage tanks that should last about a year, giving residents time to find a new water source.

Point Lay residents are trying to adapt.

"It's challenging," Medeiros said.
The other day my friend Sean texted me a link to a bright green website with creepy silver cartoons that looked like props from a haunted house movie. All he said was, "Maybe this interests you ..."

The website didn't have much information, except for this ominous message:

"TASTE is perception, preference and discernment.

TASTE is a social experiment.

TASTE is the 3rd in a series of 5 episodes.

TASTE is 21 mouth amusements.

TASTE is an opportunity for fun."

Of course I immediately signed up. The next evening, myself and my two friends Alexa and Nick were directed to meet on the patio of the historic Dunbar School, 325 W. Second St. The hundred-year-old building was Tucson's segregated school for black students before it closed in 1978.

Before we entered, we were asked to sign a "taste waiver": "I acknowledge that this activity may involve a test of a person's physical and mental limits and carries with it the possibility for death, serious injury, and property loss," it read.

The scene inside was actually rather whimsical. The patio had been decorated with small hanging lamps, illuminating two long tables that were strewn with olive branches and uprooted agave plants that weaved their spines in between the empty wine glasses. We were greeted by a dapper waiter named Cody, who offered us both a white and a red (which you can also get at R Bar, he told us).

People milled in slowly for what seemed like forever, until finally the host, artist Darren Clark, gave his intro. He said the event was part of an ongoing art project called 4 Senses that highlights the connections we have with others who lack a sense. (Apparently, a previous event was a blindfolded cocktail party.)

Then he invited us to take gray bands from our napkins and tie them around our heads. What transpired was, well, interesting ...

First course: ice

Suddenly there were servers all around us, asking us to hold out our hands. A woman gave me a snow-cone object that dripped cold liquid all over my hand. I was wearing black, but I was still scared it would stain my dress. I tasted it: shaved ice, no syrup.

Second course: chunky vegetable cube

A couple minutes later the servers handed us a second cone that contained a small cube of something that felt like a potato. But it was firmer and less gristly, and tasted faintly sweet. Perhaps it was a turnip? A carrot? We couldn't really tell, but we all agreed that the clean taste suggested the object was white.

Third course: wood

The disembodied voice of Cody informed us that this next course was, "a non-digestible plant-based dish." We picked it up, we held it and put it in our mouths. "It's legit, wood," Alexa remarked. I thought it tasted like an unfinished Jenga piece. It was fresh and kinda wet.

Fourth course: egg

Then they gave us a plump little thing that bent and bounced in our fingers. It was half a hard-boiled egg without the yolk. "It needs some salt or pepper, but oh well," Nick said.

Fifth course: boba balls

I was hoping it was caviar. But in my mouth, the orbs tasted sweet like almonds or something. I don't really like boba. I think it tastes weird and artificial, except I do like that straw. I wished there was a straw, and liquid.

Sixth course: cheese

I knew this was cheese immediately. From the taste, I surmised it must have been a mild supermarket Cheddar that the prep cook had cubed about three hours ago. It was sweating and the edges were hard and crusty from exposure to the air. Alexa really liked it.

Seventh course: more ice

At this point, they allowed us to take off our blindfolds and enjoy a few courses normally. As you'll see, the next few dishes were a basic repetition of the original six, but each with something a little extra. In this case, they had taken the shaved ice and added some fresh herbs, probably thyme. It was actually very nice, like a savory snow-cone.

Eighth course: chips

We all liked these thin and salty chips. But we weren't sure they were actually made from potato, because they had a slight but pleasing bitterness. (Alexa thought there might be cinnamon in there too.) Whatever they were, it was probably the same root vegetable that was in the cone for course #2.

Ninth course: wood again

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Then they gave us another Jenga-like piece of wood. Except this time, it tasted sweet and boozy like it had been soaked in Baileys Irish Cream liqueur. "It's like drinking Baileys from a shoe," I said in the style of Old Gregg.

10th course: tea egg

It was a little ball that was all smooth and brown on the outside. I thought it was a chocolate almond, but then I felt it ... It was soft and bitter and when I bit into it, it tasted like an egg. Probably a quail egg, one of those Chinese snacks that they soak in the black tea. Definitely an improvement on the yolkless chicken egg of yesteryear.

11th course: spicy chocolate milk

At this point, Nick began to ruminate on the thematic implications of the blindfolded dinner. His greatest takeaway so far, was that the void created by our loss of vision had been in fact filled with Cody, our dapper waiter who was "like a beacon of light when we couldn't see." I felt grateful for his friendship, for human kindness. And then we slurped down this vial of spicy chocolate milk with more of those icky boba balls.

12th course: bug cheese wafer

The cube of Cheddar cheese from before had come out of its cocoon and emerged as a salty fried slab of cheese cracker. I liked this manifestation much better, but there were startling elements to it. Like the crispy little bug carcasses on top. And the blades of green stuff that we all agreed, were most likely grass.

13th course: vial of broth

This one smelled like corn and tasted like chicken broth from a bowl of matzah ball soup. It was peppery. Comforting.

14th course: fish on leaf

Around this time, our servers brought us all nose plugs and invited us to begin each course with them on. We could take them off halfway through if we wanted, and compare the difference. Then they gave us what was clearly a leaf that had been foraged from someone's yard, with a soft chunk of white fish and a viscous brown sauce that tasted like molasses. Nick ate the leaf and said, "Damn, that was gnarly."

15th course: Asian mushroom thing

This was by far the most pleasing dish to eat, because it was basically sauteed mushrooms and greens. Since we couldn't smell, we all thought that green sauce was wasabi, but it was actually very creamy with no bite. We also thought the white thing might be garlic, but it didn't taste like it. Later Cody told us it was a ginkgo nut.

16th course: Cheesy bug cracker

Alexa got into this one immediately. "I like this chip. It looks like something I'd buy at Trader Joe's," she said. I was hoping the chunky white stuff was blue cheese, but it wasn't sharp and savory, just mushy. Later Darren told me it was actually beetle larvae. (!!!)

17th course: gyro meat?

Looked like a slab of lamb with some yogurt sauce and bitter greens on top. I don't think it was actually lamb though. Tasted plantlike and spongy.

18th course: cucumber on leaf

Around this time things started to unravel for me. One of the servers was carrying around a bunch of those alcohol soaked Jenga pieces stacked on top of a random cell phone. I'm quite not sure how it happened, but the waitress gave Alexa and I each a piece of wood, and then I put mine in my mouth. The waitress started to freak, and yelled that it was someone else's leftover wood from course #9. (Oops!) Then we ate this cucumber on a leaf and we ate the lemon too, rind and all.

19th course: brownie

I think this was just a warm chocolate brownie with some chocolate sauce on top. Hopefully there weren't any bugs hidden in there. Alexa remarked that it tasted "more intense" without the nose plugs.

20th course: vial of fruity juice

I've never seen one of these in a classy setting, just in trashy nightclubs sold by people wearing sexy nurse costumes. It tasted like watermelon. What was it???

21st course: flavor tripping

Then they broke the news: We'd just consumed flavor tripping berries. (If you don't know, they're a trendy plant product from West Africa that temporarily changes your palate so that bitter and sour flavors taste sweet.) I'd had the berries at a food show in San Francisco once, but this was the first time I'd done them at a party. Woohoo, how fun! I could eat lemons without wincing. I'm not sure I noticed a difference with the papaya and pickled radishes, but they were delicious anyhow. After a long evening of "mouth amusements," it felt real good to eat some food!
Help India!

By Afroz Alam Sahil, TwoCircles.net

New Delhi: Shireen Rahmani, a student of Grade XI, Al Majid International School, Dammam, KSA, recently attended the prestigious educational Global Young Leaders Conference (GYLC) in the USA. Joining other outstanding high school students from around the world, Shireen Rahmani took part in the extraordinary leadership development experience representing the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. An Indian expatriate, Shireen has spent all her life in the Middle-East (Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Jeddah and Dammam). Originally she belongs to village Raksia, with a base in Muzaffarpur, Bihar.

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The 10-day conference, based in Washington DC and New York, was an initiative to promote todays youth to realize their full potential. The Global Young Leaders Conference provides a historical view of leadership and encourages 16-19 year old students to develop their own leadership skills and strategies for success in the 21st century.

At the conference, 215 teenagers were divided into eight groups nominally representing eight of the worlds leading nations: the United States of America, the United Kingdom, the Russian Federation, Turkey, Republic of China, South Africa, France and India. The scholars took part in two simulations, voicing their representative countrys stance on the issue at hand. The first was the United Nations- Security Council, which discussed the ongoing situation border divide in the country Cyprus. Each country had to draft a resolution that would attempt to peacefully resolve the rift in the country, keeping in mind the interests of their own country. It was here that Shireen joined the leadership committee, playing the role of Recorder and chaired the council along with the Chair and Vice Chair.

The second simulation, namely the Global Summit, was on a much larger scale and took place in the headquarters of the United Nations, New York. Various commissions were set up including Free Trade, Science and Technology, Health, Food and Hunger and Economic Divide. Each commission had to draft a resolution while forming coalitions, in order to better the situation pertaining to their area on a global scale.

Shireen was nominated for GYLC in Grade 11 at Al Waha International School, Jeddah, by her teachers based on her stellar academic achievements, achieving A*s in all eight subjects in her IGCSEs Top in Country award: First Language English and overall band of 8.5 in IELTS.

She recently received 3 As in Physics, Chemistry and Biology in A/S Level Exams. On the basis of her IGCSE result, predicted AS Level result and extra-curricular activities, she secured an offer of admission with a scholarship of $140,000 over 4 years (Appx. 1 crore Indian Rupees) from four US universities for admission in undergraduate course: Denison University, Ohio; St. Lawrence University, New York; DePauw University, Indiana and Ohio Wesleyan University, Ohio. She was also waitlisted on the prestigious University of Chicago and Washington and Lee University. She will be joining one of them after completing her A levels in 2017.

With regards to her future, Shireen states, I think it would be wonderful to go to university in a new country and experience a diverse culture. Studying in the United States would be an amazing opportunity, so that later I can come back to serve the community that helped me reach there. She is interested in pursuing a career in the medical field, to come back and practice in Bihar.
Help India!

By Amit Kumar and Afroz Alam Sahil, Twocircles.net

On July 11, four Dalits were publicly stripped and beaten up by Gau Rakshaks in Una in an event that shocked the nation and brought Gujarat to a standstill.

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Three months later, even as Dalits in Gujarat continue with their demands, the same four people were presented in front of the press at the Gujarat Bhawan by veteran BJP leader Satyanarayan Jatiya and Sanghpriya Rahul, the national president of Bharatiya Bauddha Sangh-the RSS affiliate organisation.

In what can be considered as a major achievement for the RSS family, the four were presented as a symbol for Dalit Chetna Yatra that starts from October 14 in Delhi. The Yatra, which in its first stage will visit all 75 districts of UP, will also visit Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal etc before culminating in June 2017 in Gujarat.

We condemn the attacks on Dalits in the strongest terms possible. Even after 70 years of Independence, the condition of the Dalits in this country remains pretty bad, and this Yatra will seek to unite Dalits across the nation. We are ready to fight the long and hard battle for Dalits in this nation, Rahul announced in front of the media.

Although the duo of Jatiya and Rahul insisted that this had nothing to do with the BJP or the RSS, it is also pretty clear that this is a last-ditch attempt by the BJP to appease Dalits in the region. Interestingly, the state they chose to begin with was UP even though the incident occurred in Gujarat, which is understandable given that a little over a quarter of UPs population consists of Dalits, and like Gujarat, it too will see elections in 2017.

More importantly, apart from Jatiya and Rahul, the other important faces of the Yatra consist of Indresh Kumar, national executive member of the RSS, Ramvilas Paswan, Republican Party of India member of Minister for Social justice Ramdas Athawale among others. When asked how this was not a political move given the people participating in it, Rahul said, We have made an appeal to everyone, and these people lent their support. They may be members of the BJP, but they are citizens of India first and they care about the plight of Dalits in this country.

This press conference was also a way to counter the ongoing agitations in Gujarat, led by Una Dalit Atyachar Ladak Samiti and its leader Jignesh Mewani. The duo of Rahul and Jatiya went to great lengths to show that the correct and desired action had been taken by Narendra Modi and the BJP government, with Jatiya even saying that Una attack was the reason for the dismissal of Anandiben Patel as the Chief Minister of the state.

He said that the PMs statement If you have to shoot, shoot me, but not my Dalit brothers had instilled confidence among the Dalits of the country. When asked how this was the case when attacks on Dalits had increased in the country in recent times, he refused to substantiate his claim.

Rahul also said that the demand of the UDALS-five acres of land to each Dalit household and a vow to never touch dead cattle again-was not the right thing to do. If they stop doing this (picking dead cattle) how will they earn money? Then, the work will be done on the basis of tender and even if they get work, they will earn lesser, he said. The question of five acres of land is also not feasiblehow will the land be distributed? What will be the basis of such a distribution? It is a nice idea, but the reality is different, he said.

Interestingly, both Jatiya and Rahul maintained that they had no issues with Gau Rakshaks, at least the good ones. When asked how they defined the good Gau Rakshaks, Rahul said, The ones who take care of the cows in the Gaushala. Also, the moment this correspondent asked if they would also seek to address Muslims, who have suffered the most because of Gau Rakshaks, Rahul said, we are deviating from the core issue here. Let us stick to Dalits.

What happens over the next few days with regards to the Dalit Chetna Yatra remains to be seen; but it is clear that the BJP has turned the tables on the Gujarat agitation by bringing in its fold the same people who became symbols of protest against it.


Secretary-General-designate Antonio Guterres of Portugal, addresses the U.N. General Assembly at U.N. headquarters in New York, U.S., October 13, 2016. [Photo/Agencies]

UNITED NATIONS -- The United Nations General Assembly on Thursday appointed Portugal's former Prime Minister Antonio Guterres as next UN secretary-general to succeed retiring Ban Ki-moon whose term expires at the end of this year.

The 193-member General Assembly adopted a resolution on his appointment by acclamation after Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin, Security Council president for October, reported to the Assembly on the council's unanimous recommendation of Guterres.

The five-year term for the secretary-general designate will start on Jan. 1, 2017 and end on Dec. 31, 2021, according to the resolution.

Guterres, a 67-year-old politician, served as UN High Commissioner for Refugees from June 2005 to December 2015. Before joining the UN refugee agency, Guterres spent more than 20 years in government and public service. He was the prime minister of Portugal from 1995 to 2002.

On his appointment, Guterres said he felt gratitude and humility as well as a profound sense of responsibility, while adding that "he is fully aware of the challenges the UN faces and the limitations surrounding the secretary-general."

"The dramatic problems of today's complex world can only inspire a humble approach - one in which the Secretary-General alone neither has all the answers, nor seeks to impose his views," said Guterres.

"One in which the secretary-general makes his good offices available, working as a convener, a mediator, a bridge-builder and an honest broker to help find solutions that benefit everyone involved," he added.

Guterres expressed his gratefulness to the General Assembly and the Security Council for entrusting him with the position "in a remarkable demonstration of consensus and unity" and for the transparency and openness of the selection process.

The incumbent UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said to the Assembly that Guterres not only brings "deep and solid political experience" and has acted as a lifeline for millions upon millions of people forced from homes over the past decade.

"He is a wonderful choice to steer this Organization as we build on the progress of the past decade while addressing the insecurity and uncertainties of today's world," said Ban.

Representatives from five regional groups as well as the host country of the UN congratulated Guterres on his appointment and have pledged support for him to guide the UN in face of challenges ahead.

On last Thursday, the UN Security Council formally and unanimously recommended Guterres to head the world's largest international organization.

The UN Charter says "the secretary-general shall be appointed by the General Assembly upon recommendation of the Security Council." In practice, the Security Council will make the final choice and send a single candidate to the General Assembly for approval.

Traditionally, for a UN secretary-general, each term is five years with a maximum of two terms.

This year, for the first time in history of the United Nations, UN chief candidates were asked to submit resumes and answer questions from UN member states as well as the civil society during the selection process.

President of the General Assembly Peter Thomson said at the appointment that guided by principles of transparency and inclusivity, the process that has been undertaken to arrive at today's decision has been a "historic" one.

"I am confident that Mr. Guterres will serve the global community with dedication, as a moral authority, and be the voice of our collective conscience and humanity, throughout his term," he said.

According to Thomson, the ceremony at which Guterres takes the oath of office will be held later this year.
Boston Police officers have been shot in Gladstone Street, Orient Heights, Massachusetts, and reports are that at least two officers went down. At this time it is not known for certain the extent of their injuries but one is apparently in critical condition. The officers were apparently attending to a report of an armed person in the area.

News crews rushed to the scene to find out more after the Boston Police Departmenttweeted an alert that the incident had taken place. The tweet confirmed that the incident took place at 136 Gladstone Street. A city-wide alert was issued as officers rushed to aid their colleagues.

#BPDCommunityAlert: #BPD confirming 2 Boston Police officers shot in the area of 136 Gladstone Street in East Boston.  Boston Police Dept. (@bostonpolice) October 13, 2016

Policeadvised residents in the area to stay indoors while they launch their hunt for the shooter.

Boston Police shooting updates via scanner Website

According to notifications on the Broadcastify Police Radio Scanner Website, the incident played out as follows:

(BOSTON - 460.450) ACTIVE SHOOTER, OFFICER DOWN, MULTIPLE UNITS ENROUTE, PUSH ON EMERGENCY MEDICAL SERVICES [MAS198]

(BOSTON - 460.450) UPDATE: CITYWIDE EDT TEAMS AND SWAT ACTIVATED, 2 OFFICERS DOWN, SUSPECT HOLED UP IN THE HOUSE [MAS198]

(BOSTON - 460.450) UPDATE: COMMAND POST AT SELMA & GLADSTONE, SUSPECT NEUTRALIZED IN THE BASEMENT [MAS198]

(BOSTON - 460.450) UPDATE: ONE OFFICER WITH A LEG WOUND, EMERGENCY MEDICAL SERVICES TO MGH, POSSIBLE 2ND SUSPECT IN AREA, NO DESCRIPTION [MAS198]

(BOSTON - 460.450) UPDATE: 2ND OFFICER SHOT 4 TIMES, CRITICAL, EMERGENCY MEDICAL SERVICES TO MGH, COMMAND POST MOVING TO BENNINGTON & WALLEY [MAS198]

Media still await official confirmation of facts

There has been no official press release regarding the updates reported above, but it seems that there might be one suspect "neutralized" and another suspect on the loose that Police are trying to find.

It also appears that one of the officers was shot four times and is in a critical condition.The second officer is reported at this time to have suffered a gunshot wound to his leg.

When the officers were first shot, Emergency Medical Services responded and multiple Police units converged on the scene. SWAT was activated and the suspect was tracked down to a house where he was neutralized in a basement.

More than 3000 people tuned into theBoston Police, Fire, and EMS - Live Audio Feed to listen to events as they unfolded. Most recently it was heard on the radio that the suspects vehicle had been towed away and ballistics officers are on the way to the scene.

The Boston Police Department have tweeted that one one officer is badly wounded.

Commissioner Evans: "One of my officers is being treated for life threatening injures while the other's injuries appear to be non-life."  Boston Police Dept. (@bostonpolice) October 13, 2016

In another tweet, the department assured the public that the situation is under control.
When Donald Trump announced his candidacy for president last summer, he referred to illegal immigrants from Mexico as "rapists" and "murderers." Since that time, Trump has found himself in a constant state of controversy, with some of his issues having legal ramifications.

Trump trial

Over the last week, headline news has been dominated by the recently released audio tape which exposed Trump's private sexual thoughts about sleeping with a married woman, as well as aggressively grabbing female private parts at will due to his celebrity status. In the days that have followed, questions have been raised about how Trump has treated women in the past, leading many to accuse him of possible sexual assault.

As reported by Raw Story via The Independent on October 12, the trouble surrounding Trump in regards to sexual abuse claims will go all the way to a possible trial.

Trump to head to court in December for allegedly tying up and raping a 13-year-old girl: report https://t.co/jWc63lOUf5 pic.twitter.com/i14MbydmGH  Raw Story (@RawStory) October 12, 2016

A lawsuit was filed earlier this year by a woman known only as "Jane Doe," who claims that Trump, along with billionaire and registered sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, tied her up and raped her during the summer of 1994. The complaint filed lists several anonymous witnesses, including one known as "Tiffany Doe," who say they saw the attack themselves, with the victim being listed as just 13-years-old at the time.

Epstein was also accused of hiring women to find young teenage girls and bring them back to his house parties on a routine basis. Trump and his legal team have denied any wrongdoing.

Federal Judge Orders Hearing in Donald Trump Rape Lawsuit https://t.co/FfKUktP2pm pic.twitter.com/sdhn3mUWx3  LawNewz (@law_newz) October 7, 2016

The status hearing date is now scheduled for December 16, less than a month after Election Day.

To add a new twist into the rape allegations is who will be representing "Jane Doe" in the lawsuit. Cheney Mason has been hired to defend the plaintiff, who is best known for defending Florida mother Casey Anthony in 2011, which helped lead to her acquittal in one of the highest-profiled court cases in recent American history.

Election impact

While the former host of "The Apprentice" was able to ride his campaign style through the Republican primary, he's had a difficult time duplicating that success in the general election. Outside of the white conservative male demographic, Trump is struggling with nearly all other voting blocs. Unless a major shift occurs in the next 27 days, the consensus is that Hillary Clinton will become the next president of the United States.
Mother Michelle Martens had sex with the rapist killer of her ten-year-old daughter Victoria after her murder. Horrific findings by New Mexico Police have revealed that Victoria Martens was allegedly raped and dismembered by Michelle's boyfriend and his girl cousin. Martens, who changed her story several times during police investigations says that she enjoyed watching her child getting raped and sexually assaulted, so much so, that she allegedly recruited men to have sex with her daughter via the dating site,Plenty of Fish.

On the tragic night that little Victoria Martens was killed - August 23rd, she was justone day older than ten.

Her birthday celebration ended up being the last day of her life under the most shockingly brutal circumstances.

Martens liked watching the rape

In a report released by the police, Martens admitted that her boyfriend, Fabian Gonzales and his girl cousin Jessica Kelleyhad raped, sexually assaulted and killed Victoria while she watched them do it. Martens did nothing to stop the murder, even when they dismembered the body and stuffed it in a bag. The Daily Mail reported that Martens 'liked watching Victoria being raped' by her partner and Kelley' ... even though her daughter beggedfor her life.

The forensic report

Forensic reports revealed that the pretty little girl had been "dosed with meth, raped, strangled, stabbed and dismembered." In over 100 pages of interview transcripts, the police finally got Martens to changed her original story, which was that the child had died after taking some meth.

She also blamed the death on Kelley, saying that she and Gonzales were not even there when Victoria died. She later said that she had not reported it immediately to the police as she had been threatened by Gonzales and Kelley.

Trial set for October next year

The full story emerged after police told Martens that Gonzales had confessed the full story to them.

According to a report by CNN, Kelley, who had been living at the Martens home in the Arroyo Villas apartments has now been charged and the three of them are set to stand trial Oct. 2, 2017.

News coverage on KOATs YouTube Channel has more information including taped 911 calls.
Mainland opposes foreign intervention in Taiwan's participation in Interpol activities Updated: 2016-10-12 17:03 (Xinhua)

BEIJING -- The Chinese mainland strongly opposes foreign intervention regarding Taiwan's participation in the activities of international organizations, said a mainland spokesman on Wednesday.

An Fengshan, spokesman for the State Council Taiwan Affairs Office, made the comments when responding a question regarding Taiwan reportedly applying for participation in the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) General Assembly this year.

The Taiwan issue is China's domestic affair, and China has always handled issues relating to Taiwan's participation in the activities of international organizations in line with the one-China principle, An said.

An also said that Taiwan's participation in the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meetings should be in line with the relevant memorandum of understanding.

The Chinese mainland has been "quite clear about the issue," An said.
Li vows anew to ease market access Updated: 2016-10-12 13:13 By HU YONGQI(China Daily)

Premier Li Keqiang vowed on Wednesday to further lower the threshold to market access for business startups and innovative companies in a bid to create more jobs.

Premier Li Keqiang listens as Tencent founder and CEO Pony Ma (left) talks about his company at the Tencent booth during the launch of the second National Mass Entrepreneurship and Innovation Week on Wednesday in Shenzhen. WU ZHIYI / CHINA DAILY

More than 15,000 companies are registered every day around the nation, but only 70 percent of them are actively operating, Li said while meeting with managers of high-tech companies at the Global Entrepreneurial Leaders Forum in Shenzhen, an industrial hub in Guangdong province.

The government will streamline administrative procedures and further open the market for enterprises, including foreign companies, he added.

Li said more than 9 million jobs were created in urban areas during the first nine months of the year, while more than 12 million graduates from colleges and vocational schools were expected to enter the job market this year.

The achievement can be attributed to entrepreneurship and innovation, he added.

Promoting entrepreneurship and innovation will offer college graduates opportunities for fair competition no matter where in the country they come from, Li said.

In May, the premier made a similar pledge on market access while meeting with foreign companies' CEOs during the China Big Data Industry Summit in Guiyang, capital of Guizhou province.

The Shenzhen forum was part of the second National Mass Entrepreneurship and Innovation Week, which kicked off on Wednesday.

During the first such event in Beijing last year, Li said grassroots entrepreneurship and innovation can create more job opportunities and become a new engine for China's development.

Huang Qunhui, director of the Institute of Industrial Economics at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said: "Small and medium-sized companies, including business startups, provide the largest number of employment opportunities. That's why the central government has attached such great importance to entrepreneurship and innovation."

Among forum participants were celebrities from the internet and manufacturing sectors, including Apple CEO Tim Cook, who also emphasized the significance of innovation and its role in supporting new jobs.

Innovation is crucial to unlocking the growth potential of the Chinese economy as well as the global economy, Cook said, adding that the spirit of entrepreneurship in China is distinctive and strong.

"It's amazing to think that a small company or even an individual in China can create an innovative app  and offer their products to over 1 billion iPhone and iPad users around the world," Cook said.

The country has become an app development powerhouse that supports 1.8 million jobs, including 350,000 new ones in the past 12 months alone, he said, adding that the sector increased 25 percent year-on-year.

More than 400,000 mobile apps at Apple's App Store were created by Chinese developers for customers around the world, Cook said.

p1-1.jpg

Premier Li Keqiang listens as Tencent founder and CEO Pony Ma (left) talks about his company at the Tencent booth during the launch of the second National Mass Entrepreneurship and Innovation Week on Wednesday in Shenzhen. Wu Zhiyi / China Daily
Hopes rise as visit by Duterte set Updated: 2016-10-12 13:52 By ZHANG YUNBI and WANG QINGYUN(China Daily)

Philippine president's trip to China next week hailed as milestone in bilateral ties

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte will make a four-day state visit to China next week, bringing along a 250-member business delegation, and a number of deals are expected to be signed. Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte

The visit, which will be Duterte's first outside Southeast Asia since he became president in June, was announced by China's Foreign Ministry on Wednesday. It will also be the first state visit by a top Philippine leader in the past five years, during which time maritime disputes soured bilateral ties under Duterte's predecessor.

Philippine Trade Undersecretary Nora Terrado, who told Reuters that initially only about two dozen Philippine entrepreneurs were to accompany Duterte to China, said the number had ballooned to about 250.

Experts said the visit, scheduled for Oct 18 to 21, will be a milestone that might open a new chapter in Beijing-Manila relations as well as the South China Sea issue if Manila maintains its sincerity.

Ties between Beijing and Manila had been chilly over the past few years under former president Benigno Aquino III, who played up the maritime dispute on the international stage and refused to hold direct talks with China.

Duterte, unlike his predecessor, has said he wants stronger ties with China to gain funding for development projects and has kept a cool head on the South China Sea dispute, said Wu Shicun, a South China Sea expert.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang confirmed that Duterte will talk with President Xi Jinping as well as meet with Premier Li Keqiang and China's top legislator, Zhang Dejiang.

Although neither side released details of the visit or possible outcomes, Geng said the two sides "are maintaining close contacts about detailed arrangements for the visit and the outcome documents".

It is hoped that the visit will put the bilateral ties "back on the track of being healthy and stable", Geng said, adding that the Philippines is a "traditionally amicable neighbor of China".

Zhou Fangyin, a professor of Chinese foreign policy at the Guangdong Institute for International Strategies, said the preparations for Duterte's visit mirror great sincerity  particularly from the Duterte administration  for thawing ties and for Beijing's vision for long-term investment in bilateral ties.

As to deals that might be signed during the visit, Zhou said potential highlights might be increased trade of agricultural produce with China as well as infrastructure construction, which the Philippines needs.

The visit will be an important opportunity that "both sides should grasp", and "Duterte possibly has his eyes on cooperation with China in the long run" in addition to this visit, Zhou said.

The South China Sea issue is unlikely to be resolved overnight, and neither country should give up working on the fragile ties, Zhou added.

Wu Shicun said "the times have changed" for China-Philippine ties, and he believes "the visit will navigate the relationship out of the record low and move on steadfastly".
Xi: China backs stability and growth in Cambodia Updated: 2016-10-13 07:09 By AN BAIJIE(China Daily)

Countries sign $62 million in trade deals before president makes his first state visit

China is prepared to expand its imports from Cambodia and enlarge trade, President Xi Jinping said on Wednesday, ahead of his state visit to the Southeast Asian country.

The president's remarks came as companies from the two countries signed eight trade deals valued at $62 million on Tuesday in Phnom Penh, Cambodia's capital. The Chinese companies, led by the Ministry of Commerce, agreed to buy such Cambodian products as cassava starch and granite materials.

Xi authored an article in Cambodia's largest daily newspaper, Rasmei Kampuchea, or Light of Cambodia, calling the country a devoted friend and brotherlike neighbor.

"I am full of expectation on my first visit to Cambodia as China's president," Xi wrote.

China will firmly support Cambodia in maintaining domestic stability and speeding up economic development, Xi said.

According to the Foreign Ministry, Xi will make state visits to Cambodia and Bangladesh on Thursday and Friday, and will then fly to Goa, India, to attend the Eighth BRICS Summit over the weekend. BRICS stands for emerging powerhouses Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.

Xi's Cambodia trip reciprocates the visit to Beijing by King Norodom Sihamoni in June, during which they agreed to further the comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership between their countries.

During his stay, Xi is scheduled to meet with the king, have talks with Prime Minister Hun Sen and witness the signing of deals to boost cooperation in areas such as trade, investment and tourism.

China has been the biggest trade partner and investment source for Cambodia for three consecutive years, and bilateral trade reached $4.4 billion last year.

Jiang Jingkui, director of the Center of South Asian Studies at Peking University, said that the economies of China and Cambodia are highly complementary, and there is great potential for developing bilateral trade.

China is adjusting its economic structure, with some Chinese companies moving their factories to lower-cost Cambodia and Bangladesh, which could tighten economic links, he said.

Xiong Bo, China's ambassador to Cambodia, said that as an important hub of transport in Southeast Asia, Cambodia held a key position on the ancient maritime Silk Road connecting East and West.

The two countries will sign agreements implementing the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative during Xi's visit, he said. The initiative, comprising the Silk Road Economic Belt and 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, was put forward by Xi in 2013 with a focus on infrastructure.

China and Cambodia are building the Sihanoukville special economic zone in southwestern Cambodia as an example of collaboration under the initiative.

Cambodia also voiced support for China's stance on the South China Sea issue in July after the ruling in an arbitration case unilaterally launched by former Philippine president Benigno Aquino III.




China bans controversial full-body X-ray scanners Updated: 2016-10-13 09:53 (Xinhua)

China's Ministry of Environmental Protection (MEP) has urged the removal of full-body X-ray scanners at airports and railway stations due to radiation risks.

In an urgent document sent to the Department of Environmental Protection of Sichuan Province (DEPSP) on Monday and published on Wednesday, the MEP urged DEPSP to strengthen law enforcement and stop producing, selling and using full-body X-ray scanners without authorization to ensure the safety of the people.

The document came after some travelers complained about radiation hazards and the use of full-body security scanners at airports and railways stations in Sichuan's capital city Chengdu and other areas.

After receiving the MEP document, the DEPSP said on Wednesday that the Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport is suspected of violating environmental protection regulations by using the devices.

The DEPSP has ordered the airport to remove the full-body X-ray scanners and asked Chengdu city to investigate the issue.

The MEP found that the radiation dose that each person receives from the scanner has just a small effect on the human body, but as China has a large population and heavy travel volume, wide use of full-body X-ray scanners at airports, railways stations and ports is not appropriate.

The MEP said that ionizing radiation devices should not be used to screen humans on a large scale.
For one New Jersey company, the road to the Silk Road and the riches of China goes through the former Soviet republic of Georgia.

On Oct 3, Conti International of Edison, New Jersey, signed a deal with Georgian financial firm TBC Holding to build and run a $2.5 billion port and free industrial zone in Anaklia, Georgia, designed to serve as a Black Sea hub for China to Europe.

"We're delighted to be breaking ground," Conti CEO Kurt Conti was quoted on Forbes.com. He said Anaklia will be a path "from China to Europe and (will) expand trade and investment for all of China".

The Belt and Road Initiative, or the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road initiatives, consists of transportation infrastructure projects linking Asia and Europe; it was launched by President Xi Jinping in 2013.

Conti partnered with Georgian financial firm TBC Holding to form the Anaklia Development Consortium. The project is expected to be completed in 2020, and the government of Georgia has said it will invest $100 million in the project.

Anaklia Deep Sea Port will be constructed on nearly 1,000 acres; the depth and infrastructure of the port will provide access to Panamax and Post-Panamax (larger vessels that could be accommodated by the expansion of the Panama Canal in June) ships that cannot be served by any other port in Georgia.

After completion of the first phase, the port will feature two container terminals that will be able to receive containers from 700,000 to 800,000 TEUs (20-foot equivalent units).

ADC is the byproduct of a 20-year friendship between the companies' presidents, Conti's Kurt Conti and Mamuka Khazaradze, ADC co-founder and TBC Holding chairman.

A Harvard University reunion dinner hosted in Georgia in 2013 set the stage for the endeavor; Conti was impressed with the Caucasus nation and was looking for ways to work on a project there, according to Littlegate Publishing, a corporate executive news website. Khazaradze suggested the port, and that's how the Anaklia Development Consortium was born.

The port facility not only will provide space for logistics companies, financial and training services and light manufacturing, it also will feature a free industrial zone with restaurants and tourist attractions.

"Without the free industrial zone, the port would just be a place to exchange cargo," said Paul Force, Conti International vice-president of purchasing and contracts. "The zone should be a catalyst for economic growth in the surrounding area, creating regional development and increasing employment."

By 2020, the Georgian government also plans to complete its east-west highway, one of the largest sources of foreign direct investment into the country.

"We see tremendous opportunity for US firms in Georgia," Conti told Forbes. "The market is growing quickly, and government-led reforms are making this growth sustainable."

ADC also said it will monitor the environmental impact of the development.

"Georgia is already a very green country," said Levan Akhvlediani, ADC and TBC Holding CEO. "TBC Holding always go above and beyond existing regulations when we make our impact assessments. ADC is doing the same."

Former Georgian prime minister Irakli Garibashvili told China Daily in September 2015 that after the new port is built, it will take only 17 days for Chinese goods to be delivered to Europe, compared with the current route, which takes about a month.

"This will be one of the most efficient routes in the Silk Road project," he said.

And China and Georgia moved one step closer to their own free trade agreement (FTA) on Oct 5 when Minister of Commerce Gao Hucheng met with Georgian Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili to sign a memorandum of understanding for a preliminary FTA.

As a result, Chinese enterprises and consumers will have better access to high-quality products like wine and fruits from Georgia, while Georgians will benefit from less-costly industrial products, Gao said.

Dimitry Kumsishvili, Georgian minister of economy and sustainable development, said that "the substantial ending of the FTA talks will provide a better opportunity for the Georgian products ... to enter the vast Chinese market with competitive prices, which will greatly promote the export of our country and benefit the economic development of Georgia".

Contact the writer at williamhennelly@chinadailyusa.com
Hangzhou baozi chain warmly welcomed in Boston Updated: 2016-10-13 11:38 By Hezi Jiang in Cambridge, Massachusetts(China Daily USA)

The cook slowly lifted the lid off a huge bamboo steamer. The delicate aroma of fermented flour came billowing out, like a magic cloud.

As the air cleared, 16 white buns came into view. The only way to find out what was wrapped inside was to take a bite and let the juicy pork fill your mouth or the lobster awaken your taste buds.

On a recent Tuesday afternoon, people stood in line to get their lunch from Hangzhou-based Gan Qi Shi restaurant chain's first overseas baozi shop in Harvard Square in Cambridge. The US chain adopted the English name of Tom's BaoBao.

"I used to grab burgers and Korean tofu soup when I needed a quick bite," said Wang Na, a Chinese graduate student at Harvard. "Now I get two baozi. They are healthier, and taste like home."

A fist-size baozi (pronounced bao-tz) costs about $3, with the exception of the $6 lobster bun, a variation created for New Englanders.

Ed Berger, a business consultant, stopped by the store after reading about Tom's BaoBao in the newspaper. He enjoyed both the juicy pork bun - the most ordered item at the store - and the sweet potato bun. "I'll definitely come back," he said.

Tom Tong, founder of the chain that now has more than 200 restaurants in China, first eyed Boston in 2014. "I was lured by its history and culture, especially the food culture," said Tong.

He sees Bostonians as serious eaters, and he wanted to do it right. It took him 20 months to open the shop.

The bamboo steamers were made of the finest bamboo from the Yangtze River Delta region. Tons of specialty flour were shipped from China because Tong couldn't find the right kind in the US.

"The fermentation has to be perfect. No more, no less," said Tong, who also sent six chefs back to China to learn how to make the perfect baozi.

To combat the harsh winters in Boston, Tong said, he invested heavily in steaming systems so the buns would stay warm.

The Harvard shop, which opened in July, has been a great success, and a second location in downtown Providence, Rhode Island, is scheduled for a soft opening on Friday.

"Like Cambridge, Providence is also a college town with foodies," Tong said.

He is planning on expanding the chain across the nation, "even to the West Coast," he said, "and we may franchise."

hezijiang@chinadailyusa.com
GM takes stake in China car-sharing Updated: 2016-10-13 11:38 By Paul Welitzkin in New York(China Daily)

One of Detroit's Big Three making bid to access China market with local partner

General Motors' motivation for investing in a Chinese car-sharing app developer goes beyond just acquiring technology, according to one expert.

GM on Wednesday declined to reveal the size of its investment in Yi Wei Xing (Beijing) Technology Co Ltd, which developed Feezu, a car-rental and car-sharing app that merges hardware and software and enables users to rent vehicles by the minute, hour or day.

"GM would have no reason to invest in Yi Wei Xing for access to technology or talent," Eric Dennis of the Center for Automotive Research in Ann Arbor, Michigan, said in an email. He said the technology supporting car-sharing and ride-sharing services is rather simple.

"Most likely, this investment is for access to China's car-sharing market. Entering the market without an established local partner would be very difficult," he said.

"GM already sells a fair amount of vehicles in China (and) getting a toehold in the mobility sector is probably a smart move," Dennis said. "(It's) likely GM is looking to find a revenue stream from mobility services in China, as well as a partner who will have a large demand for fleet vehicle sales."

"It is GM's first investment in a startup in China related to urban mobility," a company spokeswoman told Reuters. "This cooperation is very important to our company to explore the ride-sharing market in China."

"Every market has its unique requirements for car-sharing services," Julia Steyn, GM vice-president of urban mobility programs, said in a statement. "Yi Wei Xing has solid technologies and innovations that will help us explore more efficient and personalized mobility solutions for consumers in China."

As ride-hailing services like Uber in the US and Didi Chuxing in China have grown, GM and other major automakers have been quick to partner with companies and participate in this fast-growing segment of what is referred to as the "sharing economy".

Earlier this year, GM invested $500 million in the ride-hailing company Lyft and also launched Maven, which provides short-term car rentals.

"This is an important step for GM to explore and engage with new mobility markets in China, in particular with a company who already has a presence in that market," Jeremy Carlson, principal automotive analyst for IHS Markit, said in an email.

"GM has been aggressively building up the Maven brand, and the investment in Yi Wei Xing may be a signal that the automaker is likely looking to bring its Maven brand to China, a very important market both for new mobility solutions and for the company overall," he said.

"Only time will tell if this move is significant, but it shows that GM is paying close attention to the Chinese market," Dennis said.

paulwelitzkin@chinadailyusa.com
A man dressed as Spiderman jokes with patient Lucas, and his mother, through the window at Hospital Infantil Sabara in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Oct 10, 2016. Men dressed as superheroes cleaned the glass facade of the children's hospital and met with patients ahead of Brazil's Children's Day which falls on Oct 12. [Photo/Agencies]
White House denounces terror attacks in Afghanistan Updated: 2016-10-13 09:03 (Xinhua)

An injured woman and her child receive medical treatment at a hospital in Kabul, capital of Afghanistan, Oct 12, 2016. [Photo/Agencies]

WASHINGTON -- The United States strongly condemns the terrorist attacks at two mosques in Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan and the attack in the country's Balkh Province, the White House said Wednesday.

The attacks, which came as Afghans were observing Ashura rituals during holy Muslim's month of Muharram, killed at least 32 people and wounded more than 80.

"These cowardly attacks... targeted Shia civilians preparing for the Ashura holy day of mourning and were clearly designed to stoke sectarian tension in Afghanistan," Ned Price, spokesperson for White House's National Security Council, said in a statement.

The US commended the Afghan police and other security forces who bravely responded to these attacks and fully support efforts to bring the perpetrators to justice, Price said.

The US stands with the people and Government of Afghanistan as we work together to build a more secure, stable, and prosperous Afghanistan, the spokesperson added.
Trump accused of inappropriate touching by two women Updated: 2016-10-13 09:27 (Agencies)

Republican US presidential nominee Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally in Panama City, Florida, US, October 11, 2016. [Photo/Agencies]

WASHINGTON - Two women accused Donald Trump of inappropriate touching in a story posted on the New York Times website on Wednesday, accusations his spokesman called "fiction" but which may further roil the Republican presidential nominee's campaign with only four weeks to go until the Nov. 8 election.

One of the women, Jessica Leeds, appeared on camera to recount how Trump grabbed her breast and tried to put his hand up her skirt in the first class cabin on a flight to New York in the early 1980s. The second woman, Rachel Crooks, described how Trump "kissed me directly on the mouth" in 2005 outside the elevator in Trump Tower in Manhattan, where she was a receptionist at a real estate firm.

Reuters could not independently verify the incidents described in the New York Times story. The New York Times, Leeds and Crooks did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Reuters.

"This entire article is fiction, and for the New York Times to launch a completely false, coordinated character assassination against Mr. Trump on a topic like this is dangerous," Trump campaign senior communications adviser Jason Miller said in a statement.

The report comes on the heels of a 2005 video that surfaced on Friday that showed Trump bragging about groping women, kissing them without permission, and trying to seduce a married woman.
Funding to help those affected by HS2 Updated: 2016-10-13 17:30 By CHRIS PETERSON(China Daily UK)

A electronic billboard in Birmingham promotes the city and the HS2 high-speed railway project. [TOBY MELVILLE/REUTERS]

UK Transport Secretary Chris Grayling says funds will be set aside to help local governments and communities affected by construction along the route of the HS2 high-speed rail project.

Grayling said the government is committed to building the new route, linking London and the north of England.

Analysts say China's CRRC Corp is keen to bid for a role in the new link, building on the expertise the company gained in creating China's high-speed rail services, which link major cities.

"We need HS2 for the capacity it will bring on routes between London, the West Midlands, Crewe, Leeds and Manchester," Grayling told reporters. "We need it for the boost it will give to our regional and national economies."

He said 70 million pounds would be set aside by the government to enhance community facilities along the HS2 route, improve access to the countryside, conserve the natural environment, and support local businesses disrupted by the construction.

He said a decision on a second phase of HS2, which would link Leeds and Manchester, would be taken later this year.
Chinese carriers to expand as UK agrees new air deal Updated: 2016-10-13 17:36 By CHRIS PETERSON/CECILY LIU(China Daily UK)

Chinese airlines have welcomed a new agreement on routes between China and the UK and plan to add new flights and destinations.

Britain's Department of Transport announced the deal on Wednesday. It allows each country to authorize up to 100 flights a week, compared with 40 previously. Restrictions on destinations have also been lifted.

"This deal is a big moment for the UK. Strong connections with emerging markets like China are vital for us if we are to continue competing on the global economic stage," said UK Transport Secretary Chris Grayling. "Hundreds of thousands of Chinese people visit the UK every year, spending hundreds of millions of pounds."

Chinese carriers already operating routes to the UK welcomed the news.

Gao Leqi, general manager of Hainan Airlines Manchester branch, told China Daily the carrier will look at increasing the frequency of its Manchester to Beijing flights.

It will also look at new routes to second-tier cities.

Robert Chen, chief representative of Tianjin Airlines UK, welcomed the deal. Tianjin Airlines launched a twice-a-week flight in June between Tianjin and London Gatwick.

British Airways operates flights from London to Chengdu, Shanghai, Beijing and Hong Kong. A spokeswoman for the UK flag carrier, who requested anonymity, said,"We constantly review our network to meet customers' demand, though we have no immediate plans to increase capacity to China."

Virgin Atlantic, which offers services to Shanghai and has an agreement with Air China to share the Chinese flag carrier's network of destinations in China, made no immediate comment.

Chinese airlines operate 38 flights a week between the two countries. British carriers have 29 flights.

Contact the reporters at chris@mail.chinadailyuk.com
Looking ahead - Oct 13 Updated: 2016-10-13 18:34 (China Daily UK)

Events and stories coming up in the next few days

Yang Chi among Peking opera cast

The China National Peking Opera Company's return to the Peacock Theatre in London's West End will feature Yang Chiarguably China's most famous "painted face" actoramong the cast. Yang will appear on the double bill of productions from Thursday to SaturdayThe General and the Prime Minister and The Legend of the White Snake. Yang will appear alongside Peking opera stars Yu Kuizhi and Li Shengsu, who both performed in London last year in The Warrior Women of Yang and Farewell My Concubine. The latest performances are part of the Out of Asia 2 season presented by Sadler's Wells Theatre.

New events for English, Chinese speakers

The London Confucius Institute and the Chinese Department at the University of London's School of Oriental and African Studies have jointly organized a new series of language exchange events. These are aimed at pairing English and Chinese speakers, so each can learn the other's language. The first Find a Language Partner event is set for Friday in Room 4426 at the university in Russell Square.

Expo to educate students about Irish schools

An event on Saturday aims to enable prospective Chinese students and their families who are considering language schools and learning institutions in Ireland to find out more about what is on offer. The 2016 Irish Education Expo for Chinese Students will be held at the Radisson Blu Royal Hotel on Golden Lane, Dublin.

Meanings of decorative motifs explored

A creative workshop about the hidden or symbolic meanings of Chinese decorative motifs will be held on Sunday at Rouge on Stoke Newington High Street, London. Organizers will provide information and materials, including ink, origami paper and pencils.
The gates of this awesome day are closing.

For twenty-four hours we have gathered together in song, in prayer, in contemplation. We have knocked on our hearts, imploring them to open. We have admitted to ourselves and to God where we habitually fall short. We have tried with all our might to forgive ourselves our mis-steps, our missed marks.

And now the gates are closing.

If there is something for which you still don't feel forgiven; if there is a hurt, whether one you inflicted or one you received, still heavy on your heart; the penance I prescribe is this: work it off with the labors of your heart and hands.

As Yom Kippur ends, the first thing we do is light a candle.

Then we feed each other at the break-the-fast.

And then we put the first nail in the sukkah, connecting Yom Kippur with Sukkot which will begin in four short days.

Light. Sustenance. Shelter. These are our calling in the year to come.

Bring more light to the world: combat ignorance, homophobia and transphobia, fear and mistrust of Muslims and of immigrants, small-mindedness of every kind.

Bring more sustenance to the world: feed the hungry in our community and everywhere.

Bring shelter to those in need: welcome Syrian and Iraqi refugees to Berkshire county. CBI's tikkun olam committee will be working with me in the new year to discern how we can best extend ourselves to support refugees. I hope that everyone in our community will take part.

The verse most oft-repeated in Torah is "love the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt." And in more recent memory than the Exodus, many of us have parents or grandparents who fled war or persecution. It's incumbent on us to act to care for those in need.

This morning we heard the searing words of Isaiah:

"Do you think that this is this the kind of fast that I want? A day for people to starve their bodies? Do I want you to bow your heads like the reeds, to mortify your bodies with coarse cloth and ashes? You call that a fast, a day when Adonai will look upon you with favor?" "No! This is the fast I want: unlock the chains of wickedness, untie the knots of servitude. Let the oppressed go free, their bonds broken. Share your bread with the hungry, and welcome the homeless into your home."

This is the work to which Yom Kippur calls us.

The gates are closing. This is the moment when we make the turn -- teshuvah, turning our lives around, re/turning to our highest selves and to our Source -- to build a world redeemed.

More light. More sustenance. More shelter.

For those in need. For refugees. For everyone.

[Image source.] Also posted to my congregational blog.
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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 []
Samsung Viet Nam announced to recall Galaxy Note7 to ensure customers' benefits and safety.  Photo thegioididong.com

HA NOI  Samsung Viet Nam yesterday officially announced it was recalling its Galaxy Note7 smartphone after reports of the device catching fire while charging.

The decision to withdraw the product from the market confirmed Samsungs commitment to accord customers benefits and safety top priority, the company said. Samsung also recommended smartphone users turn off and stop using the device.

Accordingly, Samsung will recall the product and pay VN18.99 milion (US$844) to each Galaxy Note7 buyer from October 18 to November 18.

Galaxy Note7 owners should bring their products and their identification card or passport to any Samsung guarantee centre nationwide or call the free hotline 1800 588 889 to get their money back.

In addition, Samsung is also offering a VN1.5 million voucher to each customer to buy new Samsung products. Customers can borrow another Samsung smartphone for temporary use if they have not bought another phone yet.

The dramatic warning came in the form of a written statement issued a little over a month after the worlds largest smartphone maker announced a global recall of 2.5 million Note7s in 10 markets following complaints that its lithium-ion battery exploded while charging.

Exports to fall

As one of the Samsungs biggest production centres, Viet Nam is expected to be affected by the massive recall as the country has supplied around 35 per cent of the producers mobile phones around the world.

Viet Nams export turnover would be directly affected by the recall.

Baodautu.vn cited figures from the General Statistics Office (GSO) showing that the countrys export turnover in August surged 5.9 per cent, equivalent to $896 million, while in September it was reduced by 6.8 per cent, equivalent to $1.1 billion. One of the reasons was due to export of Samsung Galaxy Note7 models.

The GSO said the launch of the product in August had led to a hike in export turnover. In September, the halt of Samsung Galaxy Note7 affected the export turnover. Exports of mobile phones and accessories were reduced by $506 million last month.

Former Minister of Planning and Investment, Professor Nguyen Mai, told the newspaper that the affect would not be too dramatic as the Samsung Galaxy Note7 is only one of several products from the huge manufacturer. However, it was also slated as Samsungs key product.

The decrease in export turnover would contribute to making the years target of 10 per cent growth more difficult to achieve, especially as the countrys growth rate in the first nine months was 6.7 per cent.

Viet Nams export growth has been dependent on Samsung since its operations began in the country in 2009. Samsung contributes up to 20 per cent of the countrys total export turnover. Last year, Samsung Viet Nam shipped $32.78 billion. The figure this year is expected to be $34.4 billion.

Maij said Samsung Viet Nam had no plan to cut the jobs in Viet Nam. He said the firm not only produced smartphones and tablets in Thai Nguyen and Bac Ninh provinces but also refrigerators and washing machines in HCM City. Big firms like Samsung would have solutions to regain customers trust, he added.  VNS
Representatives meet with authorities to get their businesses registered in Ha Noi.  VNA/VNS Photo Danh Lam

HA NOI  Local enterprises face barriers in doing business, and they expect the State to improve the domestic business environment in order to encourage the development of enterprises.

Experts said this a dialogue on abolishing barriers in doing business on the occasion of Business Day  October 13 held by BizLIVE online magazine on October 11.

At the dialogue, oan Duy Khuong, deputy chairman of the Viet Nam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI), said over the last few years, Viet Nam has achieved a high growth rate in gross domestic product (GDP) across the region and the world, but now, growth had began trending downwards.

VCCI has combined with the ASEAN Business Council and Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy to rank the competitiveness of countries in the region. The result was not optimistic for Viet Nam, Khuong said, as the financial environment and infrastructure in Viet Nam was weaker than in many other ASEAN countries.

Vo Tri Thanh, former deputy director of the Central Institute for Economic Management (CIEM), said Viet Nams economy has had many achievements and even more challenges.

In recent years, Viet Nam has undertaken administrative reform, especially in regard to enterprises, to become more transparent and friendly, he said. However, the high transaction cost was one of the reasons that local enterprises could not become larger, because the cost involved would affect the revenue of the enterprises.

Lawyer Truong Thanh uc, chairman of the Basico Law Company, said there were three factors causing difficulties for local enterprises. They included barriers in doing business, technical standards and administrative procedures. For instance, the Ministry of Industry and Trade should be an agency to actively support the businesses, but the regulations of the ministry have created a lot of barriers, such as those on gas and land. These regulations have prevented small-sized enterprises from entering the market, uc said.

Huong Vu, Deputy General Director of Ernst & Young Viet Nam, said that existing policies were not consistent with reality. Viet Nam has been undergoing a process of international integration, and many multinational companies have come to Viet Nam, but accounting books must still be printed on paper. For a company that performs 20,000-30,000 internal transactions a day, it is impossible for them to store all transactions for a year.

The company has proposed sending soft copies of accounting books to the tax office but the office has not accepted this change, she said.

Meanwhile, Pham Thanh Hung, deputy chairman of Cengroup, said enterprises have often been worried about violating existing regulations and circulars due to their complexity. Therefore, Phi Ngoc Trinh, deputy general director of Ho Guom Garment Joint Stock Company, said local enterprises expected Resolution 35 to solve these difficulties and create a more favourable business environment.

Huong Vu said the Government should reform tax collection activities, if not Resolution 35 would be difficult to implement.

Khuong said the States relevant offices and the local business community have been compiling the Law on Small and Medium Sized Enterprises to reduce barriers on production and business activities, and give more support to small and medium sized enterprises in their future development.  VNS
The Ministry of Finance has transferred VN3 trillion (US$134 million) to four coastal central provinces of Ha Tinh, Quang Binh, Quang Tri and Thua Thien Hue) where fish died en mass due to environmental pollution in April.  Photo zing.vn

HA NOI  The Ministry of Finance has transferred VN3 trillion (US$134 million) to four coastal central provinces of Ha Tinh, Quang Binh, Quang Tri and Thua Thien Hue) where fish died en mass due to environmental pollution in April.

The money, part of the US$500-million compensation paid by Taiwanese Hung Nghiep Formosa Ha Tinh Steel Corporation  the company responsible for the mass fish deaths, will be used to compensate thousands of fishermen whose lives were affected by the incident.

The news was released by Deputy Minister of Finance Nguyen Huu Chi at a Tuesday press conference in Ha Noi.

Chi said the money allocated to Quang Binh was VN1.1 trillion ($49.3 million), Ha Tinh VN1 trillion ($44.8 million), Quang Tri VN500 billion ($22.4 million) and Thua Thien Hue VN400 billion ($17.9 million).

To ensure transparency in the compensation process, the ministry asked the four localities to open one banking account each to receive the money from the ministry, said ao Xuan Te, deputy head of the ministrys State Budget Department.

The ministry also issued detailed instructions on how to compensate people in each locality, he said.

According to the ministry, compensation for the affected people would be paid in cash or transferred by bank payments. Each provincial administration was ordered to make a list of people receiving compensation with their signatures to report to the ministry.

The ministry directed all Peoples Committee at commune level to publish the list of recipients and how much they would get at least three days before the compensation process is underway.

In late September, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc approved a decision to list seven groups of victims working in affected sectors in the four provinces. The sectors include seafood harvesting, aquatic breeding, salt production, coastal seafood business activities, fishing logistics, coastal tourism services and seafood stockpiling and purchase.

Compensation ranges from VN3.69 million ($165) and VN37.48 million ($1,680) per person each month depending on damage.

In another development, a team from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development lead by Nguyen Ngoc Oai  deputy head of the Directorate of Fisheries went to Ha Tinh on Tuesday to check on how the locality has helped locals in resuming production and stabilising their lives.  VNS
HCM CITY  Zumba Saigon and Saigon Outcast will host an event called Party in Pink on October 22 to raise funds for breast cancer in Viet Nam.

Participants will join the two-hour dance events with nine local and expatriate instructors including Nichola Vickers and Huyen Nguyen.

All proceeds from the event will go to the Breast Cancer Network Vietnam.

Tickets are VN150,000. Private donations will be accepted at the door.

The event will be held at 7pm at Saigon Outcast at 188/1 Nguyen Van Huong Street in District 2.  VNS
A NANG  The Korean-Vietnamese Peace Foundation donated 52 items  including documents, photos, books, visual dics, postcards and the Viet Nam Pieta statueto the central citys museum during a visit on Tuesday.

According to the museum managing board, the statue was released to commemorate 41 years of the end of Viet Nam war by the Korean-Vietnamese Peace Foundation.

The work was created to call on the South Korean government to take responsibility for massacres of Vietnamese civil residents by South Korean troops during the American War in Viet Nam.

It was the foundations first donation to the museum, a response to a call for donation of exhibits from domestic and foreign collectors.

The museum covers 3,000sq.m and displays 2,500 objects, photos and document related to culture of a Nang and neighbouring central provinces.  VNS
by Bach Lien

Wiping the sweat off her face, Dorothy Hood grabbed some water bottles and invited the group working on a new house to drink.

The scorching 36 degree sunshine in Phu Tho province last week tired the 76 year old woman from New Zealand. But she and her husband 79-year-old Colin Hood kept smiling and eagerly talked about the home that they and their Habitat for Humaity team are building for a disadvantaged family in Phu Thos Tam Nong district.

I am always glad experience another culture, to meet and talk with local people. Im very interested in knowing about the real life of Vietnamese people, Dorothy Hood said.

The couple was among 210 international volunteers who flew to Viet Nam from different countries in the world, including New Zealand, Australia, Japan, the US, Singapore and Hong Kong. They spent a week building 20 houses for poor communties in two coummunes: Huong Nha and Xuan Quang, both in the provinces Tam Nong district.

The project is called the Vietnam Big Build, and it is Habitat for Humanitys (HFH) biggest event of the year .

Its a hard job, but I enjoy it very much, Colin Hood said, smiling while mixing the mortar.

International volunteers

Each of the 20 new houses takes up 60 sq.m and gets the support of VN45 millions (US$2,000) from Habitat for Humanity. The houses were not totally finished; each family must spend more time plastering and polishing their new homes.

The international volunteer teams for the HFH Vietnam Big Build 2016 came from all walks of life and corners of the world, consisting of grandmothers, students, professionals, retirees, war veterans, honeymooners and life-long volunteers. They worked alongside the future homeowners to help HFH Vietnam reach its goal of building 20 houses in under a week.

"I feel peaceful and excited building here and helping people. The war was bad but now wewho were then enemieshave become friends," says American Tom Chap.

Tom, a Vietnam Big Build volunteer, was a soldier in the 1970s in Central Viet Nam, and he joined a Veterans build in Quang Nam province in September.

Im so glad weve succeeded in all our planned activities. It has been a joint effort of many stakeholders, from home-partners and the local government partners to the volunteers, donors and Habitat for Humanity Vietnam staff, said Kelly Koch, HFH Vietnams country director.

Now look at our fruitful result! 20 beautiful houses, a decent place for 20 families to live and thrive! This is a great demonstration of Habitats mission in bringing people together to build strength, stability and self-reliance, she adds.

New Zealand Ambassador Haike Manning also met and joined the team of New Zealand volunteers at the last day of the project (last Friday).

I spent a little bit of time at the building site this morning, but only a few minutes, because it was very tiring, said the Ambassador,

Our NZ volunteers were all tired, hot, but they were very happy. The real pleasure comes from seeing the total joy on the face of families who will live in those new houses, he adds.

The volunteers can be proud of what they did, because with their efforts they have contributed to improve many local peoples lives, he said.

24-year-old Luu Thanh Hien, now a proud homeowner in Huong Nha commune, said that she feels that her life has changed.

My son suffers from cerebral palsy, and I thought that I would be suffering for most of my life. But now I hope a new, better life will come to us in our new house, she said.VNS

About Habitat for Humanity Vietnam: Habitat for Humanity Vietnam, a branch office of Habitat for Humanity International, began operation in 2001 in a Nang. Habitat Vietnam works with low-income families in new house construction, home repairs, clean water access, safe sanitation, technical assistance as well as them to obtain secure tenure. Currently, Habitat Vietnam is present in Hoa Binh, Thai Nguyen, Phu Tho, Thai Binh provinces in the north; Quang Nam province in the central region; and ong Thap, Long An, Tien Giang, Ba Ria-Vung Tau provinces in the south. Habitat Vietnam has also launched disaster response projects in Phu Tho, ong Thap and Quang Nam provinces.

With their support, Habitat has enabled more than 12,800 low-income Vietnamese families to improve their living conditions through decent homes, clean water and safe sanitation. HFH Vietnam has also provided training in areas such as disaster preparedness, financial education, and hygiene practices to more than 62,700 individuals.
HA NOI  Algerian-French artist Mustapha Boutadjine presented his portrait of late President Ho Chi Minh to the Vietnam Embassy in France on October 11.

The 1m x 0.8m painting is made from small pieces of paper cut from colour magazines.

The painting of Ho Chi Minh in his khaki shirt depicts his high forehead, bright eyes and thoughtful face.

Speaking at the ceremony to give away the painting, artist Mustapha Boutadjine expressed his respect and admiration for the late president.

The artist said he also felt close to the Vietnamese people as Algeria and Viet Nam shared a common cause fighting against French colonialism in the 1950s.

The painting is among a collection of paintings depicting leading presidents of the world revolution movement.

Vietnamese Ambassador to France Nguyen Ngoc Son expressed his pleasure upon receiving the painting.

This is a meaningful event expressing the affection of the Algerian and French people towards Ho Chi Minh, who is considered the Great Father of Viet Nam, the ambassador said.

In February, the family of late physics professor Pierre Biquard also presented a wool hat that President Ho Chi Minh gave the professor during his visit to Viet Nam in 1969 while he was leading Frances Peace Movement.

The wool hat and other mementoes were then handed over to the Ho Chi Minh Museum in Ha Noi.  VNS
Poland wants stronger ties between Viet Nam and the European Union, Polish Deputy Foreign Minister Joanna Wronecka (first left) said yesterday.  VNA/VNS Photo Pham Kien

HA NOI  Poland wants stronger ties between Viet Nam and the European Union, Polish Deputy Foreign Minister Joanna Wronecka said yesterday.

Speaking at the annual political consultations held by deputy foreign ministers of Viet Nam and Poland in Ha Noi, Wronecka also affirmed that the Polish government would push for the early signing of the Viet Nam-EU Free Trade Agreement.

The agreement would boost multi-faceted co-operation between Poland and Viet Nam, she said.

Wronecka and her Vietnamese counterpart Bui Thanh Son agreed that bilateral ties have developed fruitfully in recent years and that there was great potential for the two nations to enhance links in politics and diplomacy, security and defence, science and technology, education and training, and infrastructure development.

The two sides pledged to continue exchange visits at all levels, particularly towards making thorough preparations for the Viet Nam visit by the Polish President next year.

The also agreed to strengthen co-ordination at international forums, especially the UN, UNESCO, and the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM), as also under the auspices of ASEAN-EU relations.

Wronecka said she shared and supported Viet Nams stance on settling disputes, including disputes in the East Sea (South China Sea), by peaceful measures and in line with international law, especially the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), to ensure security, safety and freedom of navigation and aviation on the East Sea.  VNS
Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc (R) receives Mayor of Daegu City, Kwon Young-jin in Ha Noi yesterday.  VNA/VNS Photo Thong Nhat

HA NOI  Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc said yesterday that Viet Nam attaches great importance to expanding exchanges and co-operation between localities of Viet Nam and the Republic of Korea (RoK).

This is an important factor in strengthening ties between the two countries, he said at reception held in Ha Noi for the Mayor of Daegu City, Kwon Young-jin.

Phuc expressed his pleasure at the cooperation forged between Daegu and Vietnamese cities of a Nang and HCM City.

He urged Kwon Young-jin to encourage the citys firms to invest in Viet Nam and to boost bilateral trade.

The Prime Minister pledged that Viet Nam will continue to improve its investment environment and create favourable conditions for foreign investors, including those from the RoK in general and Daegu city in particular.

On his part, Mayor Kwon Young-jin requested the PM to offer more assistance to South Korean enterprises. He said he would try his best to boost his countrys investment in Viet Nam.

Daegu will devise more programmes to support Vietnamese who live in the city, like teaching them Korean, the mayor said.

He recommended that the Vietnamese Government creates favourable conditions for Daegu Bank to open a representative office in HCM City.  VNS
HA NOI  The upcoming pilot programme for Public-Private Partnership (PPP), which was recently approved by the Prime Minister, will focus on strengthening the countrys science and technology progress.

The projects selected for the programme will relate to key scientific and technological issues essential to competitiveness in certain production sectors and the whole economy.

The PPP mechanism agrees to distribute capital and human resources between the public and private partners working on science and technology projects.

The partners will publicise the results of projects based on their shares.

The public partners include ministries, government agencies, cities and provinces peoples committees and State budget run-financial institutions. The private partners will be enterprises and other profitable institutions. The share of private partners receiving support will be over 40 per cent of the total capital.

The Ministry of Science and Technology will select projects and partners based on the programmes criteria.

The partners will then sign agreements to carry out the projects based on scales of their capital and purposes of projects.

The programmes management board will make public lists of projects.

The Government encouraged both domestic and foreign organisations to contribute money, property and services to the programme.

Contribution to the programme will be counted as an investment into sciences and technological development, so the investments will be granted priorities as per regulations.

Businesses, entities or individuals who carry out any projects of the programme will be also given top priorities for using State-owned facilities, including laboratories.  VNS
HCM CITY  The HCM City Department of Agriculture and Rural Development has advised dairy farmers having cows with low milk yields to switch to higher-yield cows or oxen for their meat.

The city, which has the largest number of dairy cows in the country, has begun a programme to support farmers make the switch.

Farmers who decide to breed oxen will get subsidies for artificially inseminating their cows to produce hybrid oxen that yield large quantities meat.

The hybrids can reach weights of 380-400 kilo with 18 months.

As of last July the city had more than 95,000 milch cows -- with Cu Chi, Hoc Mon and Binh Chanh districts accounting for the largest numbers -- down 2 per cent year-on-year, according to the department.

The decline has been attributed to dairy companies in the city reducing their purchase of fresh milk.

Vinamilk, for instance, has this year increased quality standards for the milk it buys.

The company has informed farmers that next year it will only sign contracts to buy milk from those who have more than five cows, and that number will rise to more than eight in 2018.

Last year the city had more than 2,700 households with less than five cows.

Le Van Tam, a farmer in Cu Chi Districts Thong Tay Hoi Commune, said: Now farmers only increase their dairy cow herd if they have signed a contract with a dairy processing company.

In Cu Chi, around 1,200 farmers have switched from dairy cows to oxen, according to the Cu Chi District Farmers Association.

Le Thi Thanh Huyen, who has two oxen farms with more than 400 head in Cu Chis An Nhon Tay and Nhuan uc communes, said her family has been breeding hybrid oxen with high meat yields since 2007.

But the price of beef has reduced to around VN64,000 a kilogramme because of the large import of oxen for meat, resulting in lower profits from raising oxen, she said.

Oxen breeding has been widespread in Cu Chi for many years, but farmers have not benefited from a city programme to provide soft loans for raising economically viable livestock, which does not cover oxen.

District authorities have petitioned the city that farmers switching to oxen should be provided the loans.

Planning

The city plans to have around 100,000 head of dairy cattle by 2020, with each animal yielding an average of 7,700kg of milk a year (or 21kg a day), up 33 per cent from 2010, according to the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development.

There will be 30,000 oxen supplying 10,000 tonnes of meat.

It also expects the cows to calve 25,000  30,000 cows and 7,000 oxen a year.

The city will apply Vietnamese good agricultural practices (VietGAP) in breeding dairy cows.  VNS
Gia Loc

HCM CITY  Tran Thi Ngoc, 81, of Thu uc Districts Binh Chieu Ward, no longer goes to the district hospital for treating her joint and heart diseases as the latter recently opened a satellite clinic at the ward health centre.

She says: I used to go to the hospital at 4am and wait for four or five hours before being examined. The satellite clinic provides the same service as the hospital.

My chronic diseases caused by age do not need to go to the hospital for treatment. It is good to get treated at the ward-level clinic.

The clinic has modern paediatric, obstetric, ophthalmologic and other equipment to treat patients.

Moreover, the clinic helps screen to detect diseases early. Severe cases are transferred to the hospital.

The Thu uc District Hospitals quality management division did a survey of patientssatisfaction with the services at the clinic, and found that more than 95 per cent were satisfied about the quality of examination, treatment, medicines, and tests there.

According to the citys Department of Health, the number of patients visiting the health centre increased 10-fold last month over July.

Every day seven or eight patients get dialysis done at the clinic, reducing crowding at the Thu uc District Hospital.

According to Dr Nguyen Minh Quan, head of the hospital, the reason for opening a satellite clinic is that Binh Chieu Ward has a population of 65,000 and many industrial parks and is far from the hospital.

It is important to improve the capacity of doctors at the health centre. The hospital sends its doctors to train those at the centre.

The hospital plans to set up two more satellite clinics at health centres in Hiep Binh Chanh and Linh Trung.

Dr Tang Chi Thuong, deputy head of the citys Department of Health, said the Thu uc District Hospital needed to speed up procedures to help patients covered by health insurance.

"The satellite clinic at the ward level is the countrys first," he said.

"They can be found only at district- and province-level hospitals run by the Ministry of Health," he said.

Other district-level hospitals in the city should adopt the Thu uc model in wards and communes with a large population and far from hospitals, he said.

inh Thi Lieu, head of the departments finance and accounting department, said that the department was set to allocate more than VN200 billion (US$8.8 million) from the health insurance fund to health centres situated in places with large populations to buy more equipment, he said.

Satellite clinics would help the city achieve its target of sending more and more patients to grassroots health facilities for treatment of relatively minor ailments, he said.

Central-and city-level hospitals continue to be flooded by patients whose ailments could be treated by doctors at grassroots-level facilities, he added.

In other countries, when people become sick they first go to grassroots-level health centres, he said, adding that in Viet Nam, especially HCM City, it is different.

The departments statistics show that 52 per cent of patients go to central-or city-level hospitals for minor ailments while only 4-6 per cent go to grassroots-level health centres.

The larger hospitals should focus on treating severe diseases, Thuong said. VNS
HCM CITY  Demolition work on the Sai Gon Tax Trade Centre, built by the French 135 years ago, began yesterday in HCM City to make way for a 40-storey office and hotel tower and the first metro subway route.

Construction on the new building, the Sai Gon Tax Plaza, will begin early next year.

The building will be linked to the citys first metro line which runs between Ben Thanh market in District 1 to Suoi Tien Park in Thu uc District, slated to be completed by 2020.

oan Hoai Minh, deputy director of Sai Gon Trading Company (Satra), investor of the project, said the multi-functional building, which has six basements and a helipad, will provide shopping, office and hotel services.

In late 2014, the city approved a proposal from the citys Architecture Department to preserve the main lobby, the grand staircase and its bronze railings, according to Minh.

These parts have been removed over the past three months.

Minh said the existing mosaic tiles in the lobby would be removed and used for the new staircase.

According to city authorities, the new building will preserve the general image of the old building in order to be in harmony with nearby historic buildings, including the HCM Citys Peoples Committee, the Rex Hotel and the Opera House.

The Sai Gon Tax Trade Centre was built in 1880 and has been renovated many times.

Some of the buildings interior elements, including the main lobby, mosaic tiled floor and the main staircase, have been well maintained since the 19th century.

Originally known as the Les Grands Magasins Charner, the 9,200-sq metre building opened in 1924 and became the place to shop in Sai Gon, Tim Doling, a historian based in HCM City, said on his blog Historic Viet Nam.

Last renovated in 2003, the building retains many of its original interior features, notably its beautiful stairway and its decorative wrought iron railings, Doling said.

In 2010 the city approved a project to replace the building, with demolition planned for 2014.

But the plan has been postponed due to strong protest from the public. More than 300 architects, researchers and students signed a petition calling on the city to preserve parts of the iconic building.

Founded in 1880, Les Grands Magasins Charnier is one of many historic structures built during the French-colonial period, including Ben Thanh Market, Notre Dame Cathedral, Sai Gon Central Post Office and HCM City City Hall.  VNS
CAN THO  Medical waste is threatening the Mekong Delta city of Can Tho due to difficulties in treating this hazardous solid waste at local healthcare facilities.

Deputy Director of the provincial Health Department Cao Minh Chu said an estimated 6,800kg of medical waste was discharged each day from 129 healthcare facilities in the city.

However, the city faced many difficulties in treating the waste, Chu said at a meeting with the Health Ministry this week.

All hospitals collected and classified medical waste as regulated, but most of them did not have solid waste treatment facilities, he said, adding that they had to enter into contract with some enterprises to transport and treat medical waste, which was difficult to supervise.

He noted that construction of solid waste treatment facilities required huge investment, making it hard for health facilities to afford it since the provincial budget was limited.

Vice Chairman of the citys Peoples Committee Le Van Tam said handling medical waste was one of the urgent tasks for the city. The city had worked with an enterprise to treat solid medical waste in O Mon District, but it wasnt effective enough, he said. Meanwhile, the waste dumping station in Co o District was overloaded.

The treatment of medical waste water in the city also faced challenges since waste treatment facilities had deteriorated. More than 1,500cu.m. of medical waste water was released each day, but these facilities could only handle some 1,300cu.m., according to the health department.

The department is investing in building medical waste water treatment systems at large hospitals with ODA-loan support from the health ministry.

The department plans to ask the citys Peoples Committee to use the provincial budget to build waste treatment facilities for some hospitals.

Deputy Minister Nguyen Thanh Long said the city should tighten management of solid medical waste treatment and stamp out substandard incinerators at private health clinics to prevent environmental pollution.  VNS
Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh receives Michaelle Jean, OIF Secretary-General in Ha Noi yesterday.  Photo VGP

HA NOI  Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh stressed that Viet Nam backs the International Organisation of La Francophonie (OIF)s efforts to enhance economic co-operation as well as work in traditional sectors.

At talks with Michaelle Jean, OIF Secretary-General in Ha Noi yesterday, the Deputy PM said such co-operation would strengthen the Francophone community.

Minh affirmed that the OIF is an important partner of Viet Nam, and suggested measures to lift Viet Nam-OIF ties, particularly in trade with African countries, supporting startups, promoting the teaching of French, and joining the UN peacekeeping mission.

He discussed with the guest priority activities for the Francophone community in the time ahead and preparations for Viet Nams delegation headed by President Tran ai Quang to attend the 16th Francophone Summit in Madagascar this November.

Michaelle Jean said the OIF is willing to support Viet Nams economic integration and assist the country in encouraging startups and connecting with African businesses.

Taking note of contributions of the country to the Francophone community, she said Viet Nam is an important partner of many OIF members in Africa.

She praised Viet Nams mutually beneficial and sustainable approach when carrying out joint projects in Francophone countries.

She affirmed that the OIF will strengthen co-operation with Viet Nam in teaching French as well as back the participation of Viet Nam in UN peacekeeping mission.

Concerning the East Sea, she urged sides involved to settle disputes by peaceful measures in line with international law and the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.

After their talks, Deputy PM Minh and the OIF Secretary General witnessed the signing of an agreement between the OIF and the Diplomatic Academy of Viet Nam, which aims to improve French competency of Vietnamese diplomats and public servants.

Beautiful articles

During the first ever visit of an OIF Secretary General to the Le Courrier du Vietnam - a French language weekly newspaper in Viet Nam yesterday, Michaelle Jean praised the newspaper for carrying beautiful articles with a professional layout.

During her visit, Jean held talks with Nguyen uc Loi, General Director of the Vietnam News Agency, which publishes the French newspaper.

Loi highlighted the important support given by OIF to Le Courrier du Viet Nam for many years, particularly in training its reporters. He called for the support to continue and increase.

Le Courrier du Vietnam is the countrys only French language newspaper.

The OIF Secretary General said that she appreciated many articles written in the newspaper that she read during her 12-hour flight from Paris to Ha Noi.

I read many beautiful articles on different sectors. The layout is very professional, she said.

Jean and Loi discussed several challenges facing the newspaper, including the rising prominence of English, sharp falls in advertising revenue, and a decrease in the number of Francophone readers.

Later, Jean spoke with Vietnamese journalists and foreign editors working for the paper. She also gave an exclusive interview to the newspaper on the role of Viet Nam in the Francophone community and the policy of granting scholarships for Vietnamese students to study in Francophone countries.

Earlier yesterday, Jean met with teachers and students of the University of Languages and International Studies in Ha Noi, and asked them to promote world peace and cultural diversity.

Viet Nam has played in important role in La Francophonie since its foundation in 1970.

OIF, which represents one of the biggest linguistic zones in the world, aims to embody the active solidarity between its 80 member states and governments (57 members and 23 observers).

Together, the community represents over one-third of the United Nations member states and accounts for a population of over 890 million people, including 220 million French speakers. -- VNS
HA NOI  The Transport Ministry has proposed Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc put on hold investment in building the Tuyen Quang-Phu Tho expressway until 2020.

In a report sent to the prime minister recently, the transport ministry said there was no immediate need to build the expressway before 2020 because the current two-lane National Highway No. 2 is capable of meeting transport demand until 2020, based on a preliminary estimate on the number of vehicles travelling on this highway.

The Peoples Committee of the northern province of Tuyen Quang earlier asked the ministry to invest in building the 40km expressway with estimated investment capital of more than VN4.4 trillion (US$197 million) through a public-private-partnership model.

The project will be divided into two phases and the state is projected to support nearly 30 per cent of the capital, equivalent to some VN1.32 trillion ($59 million).

The ministry said the plan to invest in building the expressway was reasonable, creating conditions for the socio-economic development of mountainous localities in the northwestern region.

However, amid the current context of the lack of resources, it was not feasible to use the states capital support for the project.

The ministry noted that it had already submitted a project to develop the east of the North-South expressway system until 2020, in line with Deputy Prime Minister Trinh inh Dung guidelines, to authorised agencies for consideration and approval.

Since State capital would be used to invest in the North-South expressway system before 2020, investment in the Tuyen Quang-Phu Tho expressway should be considered after 2020, it said.

Ha Noi elevated roads

Deputy Prime Minister Trinh inh Dung has just asked the Peoples Committee of Ha Noi to work on a feasibility study for a project to build an elevated road along Ring Road 2, from Vinh Tuy Bridge to Nga Tu So.

Ring Road No 2 was planned by the citys Transport Department and includes a 5 km flyer over connecting Vinh Tuy Bridge with Mo Market and Vong Intersection. It is expected to cost VND5 trillion ($227 million).

According to city authorities, the construction of the elevated road in order to complete this ring road would facilitate economic development in the region and reduce traffic jams.- VNS
HA NOI  Two people were killed and four others seriously injured when the scaffolding collapsed early on Thursday at a construction site in Ha Nois Hoang Mai District.

Initial reports from local authority said the two victims were construction workers working at a private housing and trading complex, the Eco Green Tower, on Giap Nhi Street of Thinh Liet Commune. One of the victims was a 53-year-old man from Ha Nois Thanh Oai District. The other was a woman, 28, from northern Ha Nam Province.

The incident occurred at about 5am when workers were transferring concrete for the floor of the sixth storey of the building.

The Hoang Mai district police said they had sent a team to the area, adding that investigation had begun into the case.

Tran Van Vinh, head of the Hoang Mai District Inspectorate, said the district administration had ordered the construction site to be closed for investigation.

Earlier in August, a scaffolding collapse killed one person and injured seven others in Binh inh Provinces Quy Nhon City.

The accident also occurred at the construction site of a private house.

Vietnamese people prefer building or remodeling homes near the end of the year, but lack of knowledge about labour safety and no protective equipment have resulted in deaths and disabilities of construction workers who fall from the scaffolding, experts have said.

The victims are generally farmers from rural Viet Nam who come to urban areas to work in their idle time. These seasonal construction workers gather in groups to sign labour contracts with building contractors. They work, therefore, only under a seasonal labour contract; the primary goal being to earn quick money, with minimum awareness of labour safety.

Even experienced construction workers, under pressure to work quickly and in the cold or rainy weather, are more likely to fall victim to scaffolding accidents in this season.  VNS
HA NOI  Doctors have warned residents living or working in high air pollution areas of HCM City and Ha Noi about the serious health risks coming from the stench emitted from polluted lakes, landfills and by road dust.

The Ear, Nose and Throat Clinic of the HCM City University Medical Hospital has recently received numerous people for respiratory diseases. A clinic doctor said that all declared they were living or regularly working in areas with high air pollution.

Nguyen C.T., a 43-year-old woman living in District 2, said one week ago she started having headaches, sniffing and developed phlegm in her throat. At the clinic, she was diagnosed with congestive mucosa in the nasal cavity and treated with drugs. The doctor warned her to avoid dust and smog, otherwise her disease could occur again periodically.

The women said her house was located on a road where many lorries passed by around the clock, so she couldnt avoid being in contact with dust, smog and noise regularly. As of last month, the road has been under construction, so the dust pollution has become even worse.

An elderly woman in Binh Chanh Districts a Phuoc Commune said she took medicine frequently because the bad smells from a nearby landfill gave her headaches.

Her house is located 150m from the landfill, so the four-member family has had to suffer the bad smell for a long time. Not only during the day, we must also wear masks in bed, she said.

Residents surrounding West Lake in Ha Noi were recently stressed by the stench of a mass fish death. Passers-by and people living near the area had to wear masks to help deal with the fishy smell.

Nguyen Huy Thao, a resident of Trich Sai Street, said the mass fish die-off left the lakes surface covered with a layer of floating dead fish, causing a strong fishy stench.

Bad smells surely affect the health of residents here. My four-year-old daughter must be treated for respiratory disease at hospital, Thao said.

Ear, nose and throat specialists said people affected by the bad smells of landfills suffered from lack of sleep, stress and a number of other diseases.

Dr Phan Quoc Bao said people inhaling the stink commonly first experienced symptoms of dizziness. Worse than the bad smell, people were exposed to viruses, bacteria and other microorganisms and pathogens that were diffused into the air, causing diseases.

Possible bacterial infections and forms of poisoning depended on the source of the odour. The doctor said the biggest impact of the odours was probably a negative psychological influence.

According to Associate Professor Nguyen Duy Thinh, organic substances in the process of decomposing create toxic gases that stink and could potentially cause an adverse effect on residents health.

People inhaling toxic gases can be poisoned, with common symptoms being dizziness, headaches, nausea and shortness of breath. The foul smells are also having adverse impacts on peoples nervous and respiratory systems.

The ability of many people to smell has been paralysed, with them no longer being able to detect the stench they are living with. This is very serious, as some disease-suffering people dont know they are becoming sick from the fumes they breath.

Prof. Dr Pham Kien Huu, head of the Ear, Nose and Throat Department at the HCM City University Medical Hospital, said people living near or in contact with pollutants would be affected directly via their lungs.

Air pollution can cause immediate conditions like respiratory, skin or eye diseases, and have long-term effects such as lung cancer, heart disease, and damage to the nervous system and internal organs.

The elderly and those suffering from asthma, heart disease and lung disease were worst affected by air pollution, doctor Huu said. The level of damage depended on the duration and concentration of pollutants people came into contact with.

He suggested some measures to limit the harm of air pollution included wearing an activated charcoal mask, large glasses to avoid dust, restricting the time spent on roads during peak times, washing and changing clothing as soon as arriving home, and using nose- and eye-cleaning solutions.

People living in high air pollution areas should limit the opening of windows and doors, clean the house regularly, and dont smoke or start motorbike engines inside house. Kitchens needed to have suitable ventilation in place.  VNS
Many people check out health care information and ask for advice on medical problems on Google.  VNS Photo

M was not in good health.

She suffered from body pain, swollen joints and gastric haemorrhage. One day, she started vomiting blood and was rushed to the HCM City Medicine and Pharmacy University from An Giang Province in the Mekong Delta.

The 42-year-old woman was treated at the hospital and sent home with medicines, prescriptions and an appointment for follow-up.

However, after taking the first batch of the prescribed medicines, she did not return to the hospital for the scheduled check up.

Based on advice from a neighbour and information that she found on the Internet, she chose a different drug made, ostensibly in Cambodia. It eased her pains in the beginning but after three months of regular use, she was back in the hospital, her symptoms worse.

Dr Cao Thanh Ngoc, who treated M, said she was suffering from Cushings syndrome, a side effect of treatment with corticosteroids.

Self-medication and reliance on pharmacists instead of doctors have been practiced in Viet Nam for a long time, but this habit has got a fillip because of the Internet, where information and misinformation on all subjects abound.

B, another arthritis patient, decided to supplement his doctors prescription with other drugs and treatment, including using a poultice of forest leaves on his painful joints. He found information on alternative treatments on the Internet.

His hope for greater relief and/or cure has landed the 45-year-old man from the southern province of Tay Ninh in serious trouble.

Doctors at the HCM City-based Hospital for Traumatology & Orthopaedics have informed B that because of major caseation (necrosis with conversion of damaged tissue into a soft cheesy substance), they are going to have to amputate his foot.

M and B are just two examples of increasing numbers of people checking out healthcare and medical information on the Internet, asking for advice on medical problems, and getting it, both from doctors and patients.

With so much information just a mouse-click away, many people are tempted to find better, faster cures for their ailments, from common colds and flu to lift-threatening diseases like cancer.

Other motivating factors are the overloading of hospitals in the country and a mistrust of the local healthcare system.

Whatever the reason, the practice of virtual treatments can lead to very serious consequences, doctors warn

Dr Ngoc of the University of Medicine and Pharmacy said complications arising from patients not strictly following their doctors advice and instructions can lead to or aggravate other conditions like high blood pressure, diabetes, and osteoporosis.

Dr Tran Van Khanh, director of HCM Citys District 2 Hospital, told the Hai Quan (Customs) newspaper recently that his hospital has been receiving many patients whose conditions had worsened after Internet-based self-treatment at home.

Self-diagnosis at home can become a hazardous practice, he said.

There are many diseases that have same or similar symptoms. And symptoms of a disease can differ from person to person. Without thorough examinations and consultations with doctors, a wrong diagnosis is very likely.

While there are several websites where helpful health advice is offered by famous doctors, there are many others offering unverified and unreliable information.

Sometimes quacks set up websites to sell a certain drug or treatment.

A female patient at HCM Citys Hospital of Dermatology said she had bought a facial cream following the advice of many women on the Internet.

After a few months of use, the VN200,000 (US$9) cream left her face itchy and full of pimples.

My doctor says Ive got a fungal infection which has spread widely  a side-effect of a chemical in the cream, she said.

Dr Khanh said doctors have consider many factors including the physical condition of a patient, the seriousness of the diseases and the possibility of contracting other diseases before applying their experience and expertise to prescribe an appropriate remedy.

Internet information can help patients understand more about their diseases, but it should only be used for reference, and treatment should be left to qualified doctors, he said.

Nguyen Trong Khoa, deputy director of the Administration of Medical Services, Ministry of Health, said seeking treatment advice on the Internet is a common practice not only in Viet Nam but also in many other countries.

But this habit should be changed to avoid serious consequences, he said.

Patients should not blame the overloading of hospitals, because this situation mostly happens in central-level hospitals.

For normal diseases, people can go to district-level hospitals, private hospitals and clinics where there are professional medical practitioners.

Just dont wait until it is too late.  VNS
KIGALI -- Envoys from nearly 200 nations meet in Kigali on Thursday to discuss ridding the world of HFCs, gases introduced to save the ozone layer only to unwittingly assail Earths climate.

Representatives of 197 countries - among them 40 ministers including US Secretary of State John Kerry - are attending the summit.

Delegates are hopeful that after years of talks, countries are now poised to commit to phasing out hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), introduced in the 1990s to replace chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) in refrigerators, aerosols, air conditioners and foam insulation.

CFCs were discontinued under the ozone-protecting Montreal Protocol when scientists realised they were responsible for the growing hole in the ozone layer, which protects Earth from the Suns dangerous ultraviolet rays.

But it turned out that HFCs - while safe for the now-healing ozone - are thousands of times more potent at trapping heat in the atmosphere than carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas.

"We are meeting here in Kigali with unity of purpose: to pass an ambitious amendment to the Protocol that would phase out the use of hydrofluorocarbons," said Rwandas natural resources minister Vincent Biruta.

"We have a unique opportunity to harness the goodwill and commitment to protect our climate and secure the bright future our citizens deserve," he said.

Fastest-growing greenhouse gas

HFCs "are increasing at a rate of 10 to 15 per cent a year", said Greenpeace global strategist Paula Carbajal, making them "the fastest-growing greenhouse gas".

Ms Carbajal said HFCs could add as much as 0.1 degree Celcius to average global temperatures by mid-century, and 0.5 degree Celcius by 2100.

The higher figure represents more than a quarter of the "well under" 2 degree Celcius ceiling that 195 nations agreed in the French capital in December for warming over pre-industrial levels.

The goal was enshrined in the so-called Paris Agreement on curbing dangerous climate change.

"If HFC growth is not stopped, it becomes virtually impossible to meet the Paris goals," said David Doniger of the Natural Resources Defense Council, an environmental advocacy group.

Wael Hmaidan, international director of Climate Action Network, a coalition of NGOs, called for "an ambitious deal" to be signed in Kigali.

HFCs - though a greenhouse gas like carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide - are not dealt with under the Paris Agreement but under the Montreal Protocol, adopted in 1987.

The protocol also provided for the phase-out of interim replacement gases called HCFCs (hydrochlorofluorocarbons) - by 2040 for developing countries, and 2030 for rich ones.

This weeks meeting, which kicked off on Monday, is the 28th of the treatys 197 country parties.

Time to act

Negotiators are weighing various proposals for amending the protocol to freeze HFC production and use-by dates ranging from right away to 2031.

India, which is a major HFC producer along with China, backs the later date, while countries in very hot parts of the world where HFC-using air conditioners are in high demand want temporary exemptions.

Last month, a group of developed countries and companies offered US$80 million to help developing countries make the switch away from HFCs.

This weeks meeting follows hot on the heels of an aviation industry agreement to cap CO2 emissions at 2020 levels by 2035, and the Paris Agreement obtaining the required signatures to enter into legal force from November 4.

The climate threat posed by HFCs was recognised by a UN sustainable development summit in 2012, when countries said they "support a gradual phase-down".

When that should happen, and how fast, has been the subject of negotiations ever since.

Bureaucrats have been meeting in Kigali since Monday with senior officials arriving to try to thrash out a final agreement on Thursday and Friday.

"Its critical that nations seize this opportunity to reach the most ambitious HFC phase-down agreement possible," said Rachel Cleetus, climate policy manager at the Union of Concerned Scientists, a US-based think tank.

"Our time to act to limit the worst consequences of climate change is rapidly dwindling."  AFP
MEXICO CITY - Mexico and Canada launched a task force on Wednesday to improve conditions for Canadian-owned mines in the Latin American nation, where security problems and protests have affected operations.

Goldcorp temporarily suspended production at Mexicos biggest gold mine in the northern state of Zacatecas last week after a transport company blocked access to the site.

The blockade, which was removed last week, occurred as the Canadian firm plans to diversity its local transportation supply chain.

Last year, Goldcorp voiced concerns about violence in communities surrounding another gold mine in the southern state of Guerrero, where drug cartels buried victims in clandestine graves and taxed mine workers.

Mexican Foreign Minister Claudia Ruiz Massieu and Canadian counterpart Stephane Dion announced the task force following talks in Mexico City, but they did not directly mention the problems that have affected Goldcorp and other miners.

"We have also discussed the way we may improve the ability for Canadian businesses and investors to succeed in Mexico," Dion said.

"The (minister) and I agreed to established a high level task force to resolve challenges faced by Canadians firms in the extractive sector," he told a news conference.

He noted that Canadian companies represent 70 per cent of direct foreign investment in Mexicos mining sector and "well do anything to improve it through this task force."

At another mine owned by Canadas McEwen Mining company in the northern state of Sinaloa, armed robbers made off with 7,000 ounces of gold worth US$8.5 million in April 2015.

Rob McEwen, the companys chief, caused a stir when he told the Business News Network that while drug cartels are active in the region, "generally we have a good relationship with them."

McEwen later issued a statement denying that his company had regular contact with criminals, saying that his remarks were related to contacting "property owners or impacted community members" in areas the firm wishes to explore.  AFP
The Virginia Tech Corps of Cadets Veterans Day remembrance ceremony on Nov. 11 will honor the service of our nations soldiers.

The ceremony will begin at 10:30 a.m. in the War Memorial Chapel at 601 Drillfield Drive. Professor of military science Col. Kevin Milton, who oversees Virginia Techs Army ROTC program, will speak.

At 11 a.m., Virginia Tech President Tim Sands and Laura Sands will join Milton and Maj. Gen. Randal Fullhart, commandant of cadets, to place the memorial wreath in front of the cenotaph on War Memorial Court. The Gregory Guard, the corps precision rifle drill team, will fire a rifle salute. The color guard will present the colors, and a bugler will play Taps.

Eleven oclock is symbolic on Veteran's Day. The day, formerly known as Armistice Day, celebrates the signing of the Armistice at the end of World War I. The Armistice took effect at 11 a.m. on the 11th day of the 11th month in the year 1918.

Beginning at 2 p.m. at the Pylons, volunteers from the student organization Veterans @ VT will take turns reading the names of those killed while supporting Operation Enduring Freedom, Operation Iraqi Freedom, and Operation New Dawn. The reading will start with an opening speech and a moment of silence.

It is expected to take more than five hours to read the names of the more than 6,800 men and women who lost their lives in the conflicts. The community is welcome to volunteer to help read the names.



At 4:45 p.m., the corps will hold a formal retreat ceremony at the flagpole behind Lane Hall at 280 Alumni Mall. The Color Guard will lower the flag; Skipper, the Corps of Cadets cannon, will fire; and the Highty-Tighties, the regimental band, will play.



Two vigil services also will honor veterans.



The Robert Femoyer Service Squadron will hold a 24-hour vigil at the Rock  a memorial to Virginia Tech alumni lost in World War I  by the Upper Quad flagpole starting at midnight Nov. 11. Two cadets will be posted as guards and will change every half-hour. Volunteers from the entire Corps of Cadets will participate.



The Corps of Cadets Echo Company will hold a 48-hour vigil from midnight Nov. 10 to midnight Nov. 12 at War Memorial Court. Two cadets will be posted as guards at the cenotaph and will change every hour. Cadets and many alumni from Echo Company will participate.



At 10 a.m. Nov. 13, cadets will host the Veterans 5K run on the Virginia Tech cross country course. Funds raised will go to The Mission Continues, Eric Greitens nonprofit agency. His book, The Heart and the Fist, is Virginia Techs 2016-17 Common Book.



The Mission Continues challenges veterans to find new missions after leaving the military by focusing their talents and energy to tackle challenges facing us at home.



Register for the Veterans 5K run online.



Free parking is available in Perry Street Lots and the Perry Street Parking Garage near Prices Fork Road with a visitors pass, available from the Visitor Center at 925 Prices Fork Road, next to the Inn at Virginia Tech and Skelton Conference Center.



Find more parking information online.

If you are an individual with a disability and desire an accommodation, please contact Nicole Ward at 540-231-6413 or email corpsofcadets@vt.edu during regular business hours at least 10 business days prior to the event.
Albanese pressed over lack of appearances with Andrews ahead of election campaign Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has deflected questions about why he has not appeared alongside Premier Daniel Andrews ahead of the official Victorian election campaign while in Melbourne.

Liberals call for school mobile phone ban after shock NAPLAN results The Coalition has repeated calls for a "back to basics" focus on education and a nation-wide ban of mobile phones in schools following the shock results from NAPLAN.

Whos suggesting Im not?: Andrews grilled over Peoples Forum appearance Daniel Andrews has faced questions over whether he will appear at the Sky News/Herald Sun People's Forum ahead of the Victoria state election after Matthew Guy agreed to take part in the debate.

Sydney woman identified as Australian killed in Halloween stampede A 23-year-old production assistant from Sydney has been revealed as the Australian woman who died after being crushed at a Halloween party in South Korea.
CEDAR RAPIDS -- An Iowa farmer who pledged assets as collateral for a USDA farm loan but later sold the assets and defaulted on the loan was sentenced Wednesday to six months in federal prison.

Leroy Jones, 59, of Floyd, received the sentence after pleading guilty to one count of felony conversion of property pledged to a farm credit agency.

Jones admitted he pledged more than 100,000 bushels of corn worth more than $300,000 to the USDA as security on two Farm Services Agency loans worth nearly $200,000.

He also admitted that over the course of the next year he sold all the grain he had pledged with the intent to defraud the agency.

Court records show Jones sold more than 10,000 bushels of corn before he pledged the corn as collateral.

U.S. District Court Judge Leonard T. Strand ordered Jones to make $137,682 in restitution to the Farm Service Agency. A special assessment of $100 was also imposed.

Jones must also serve a two-year term of supervised release after his prison term. Because he was convicted of a felony, he can no longer legally possess firearms or ammunition.
WATERLOO  A Waterloo man has been sentenced to prison on weapons charges after he allegedly shot at a neighbors apartment in January.

Judge Leonard Strand sentenced Ricky Ernest Peeples, 54, to eight years and three months in prison on Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Cedar Rapids. Peeples had pleaded to a single count of felon in possession of a firearm.

Peeples will have to serve three years of supervised release following his prison time and was ordered to pay a $100 special assessment.

In writing to the court seeking leniency, Peepless fiance, Tommie Fuller, Peeples had made a bad judgment following loud noise and verbal abuse from the neighbors. Fuller said Peeples can be a positive and productive member of society with the help of a psychiatrist.

According to court records, Peepless neighbors at the Randolph Street apartment building called police around 1 a.m. on Jan. 2 to report gunfire following an argument.

Officers found bullet holes in the wall of the neighbors bedroom. They found Peeples intoxicated in his upstairs apartment with a .22-caliber round next to his feet and two more rounds on his bed.

After a search, police uncovered a .22-caliber H&R revolver hidden under a bathroom sink with eight spent casings in the cylinder, court records state. They also found a number of bullet holes his bedroom wall and hallway doors.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Ravi Narayan argued for a stiff sentence based on Peeples criminal history, which included two prior prison terms.

The takeaway from the defendants criminal history is that he repeatedly sustains criminal convictions for a particular type of conduct, and then decides that he will continue to engage in the same conduct, Narayan wrote in a sentencing brief.

Peeples has prior convictions for burglary and drugs, and in 1991 he was convicted of attempted murder for allegedly shooting at a Waterloo store employee a day after he had been detained in connection with a fight at the shop.

He discharged parole in the attempted murder case in 2004, and that same year he was indicted on weapons charges after police found him with .32-caliber ammunition. He was sent to prison and was released in 2010.
OSAGE  Nicholas Lenz told a Mitchell County deputy during a recorded interview he repeated hit and kicked a woman in early March and briefly restrained her using packing tape or zip ties several times.

I beat the fout of her for two days straight, he said in the audio recording played for jurors Thursday afternoon during his trial on charges of first-degree kidnapping and willful injury.

Lenz also admitted during the interview he used packing tape to restrain the woman while they were in her house in Mitchell and later used zip ties to bind her ankles in a camper on his grandparents property near Otranto.

On Wednesday the woman testified Lenz left her zip-tied in the trailer for four hours.

I wasnt trying to keep her hostage, Lenz said.

Lenz, 23, also from Mitchell, was in a romantic relationship with the woman.

He claimed they went to the Waterloo-Cedar Falls area twice and bought and smoked crack cocaine there.

He said the second time they drove back to Mitchell from Waterloo, they were in her car but he drove because she was drunk.

Lenz said when the woman, who The Courier is not naming, is coming down from a crack high, she becomes a totally different person.

She started putting me down, he said.

Lenz said they got back to Mitchell on the morning of March 6, drove around for a while and then went to sleep.

When Mitchell County Deputy Jeff Huftalin, who was the conducting the March 8 interview, told Lenz he expected him to be honest, Lenz began to cry.

I couldnt take the putdowns anymore, he said.

Lenz said when they were in the car she told him she wanted him to pack up his stuff that was in her house.

I punched her like 10 times, Lenz said.

When they were back at the womans house, he said he kicked her and punched her in the face.

Lenz said he was beginning to feel paranoid as he came down from a crack high and was beginning to mistake the trees in the yard for people.

Thats when he decided to go to his grandparents place, taking the woman with him.

He said he repeatedly hit her in her jaw and ribs while they were in the car. Lenz said when they arrived they sat in the camper for a bit and he told her he was going back to Mitchell to pack up their things and bring them back to the camper.

Lenz said when he was driving he went into a ditch. He then took a Chevy Trailblazer from a residence as well as other items such as a laptop, a Wii and some guns and ammunition.

He said he went back to the camper without returning to Mitchell first. He then took the woman, who had been in the camper, along in the Trailblazer.

Lenz said he drove to St. Ansgar, broke into Sportsmans Bar and Grill and stole some cash.

He said he tried to take a safe from Gerbs Bar in Stacyville, but couldnt lift it into the Trailblazer because it was too heavy.

Lenz has been charged for the burglaries, but is not being tried for them at this time.

He said when he and the woman returned to her house they brought everything inside and she went to bed while he passed out on the couch.

During the interview Huftalin told Lenz officers had been to the camper and seen the zip ties.

Lenz said after he had returned to the trailer following the home burglary, he was afraid she would try to grab one of the stolen guns and kill him, so I did zip tie her some.

He said he only had her restrained her for a little while as he loaded all the stolen items into the Trailblazer. Then while she was in the vehicle he moved the guns back into the camper and they left for Austin, Minn., before heading to St. Ansgar and Stacyville.

Lenz said the woman did not participate in the burglaries and was not zip-tied while in the Trailblazer.

He said he threatened to kill her but didnt really mean it. He denied every pointing a gun to her head.

Lenz repeatedly asked during the interview how the woman was doing. He also asked Huftalin to tell her, I still love her. Sorry for what I did.

The trial resumes at 8:30 a.m. today.
OSAGE  The woman Nicholas Lenz of Mitchell is accused of confining and beating for more than two days in March testified Wednesday she feared for her life.

He had threatened to kill me, said the woman.

She said Lenz, whom she was dating at the time, hit and kicked her in the face, breaking her jaw and cheek. At one point, he put a gun to her temple and then pressed it hard under her chin.

She said she felt that I was going to die any second.

Lenz, 23, is being tried in Mitchell County District Court in Osage on felony charges of first-degree kidnapping and willful injury. If convicted on the kidnapping charge, he faces life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Defense attorney Parker Thirnbeck said in his opening statement Tuesday that although Lenz committed assault, his client was not guilty of either kidnapping or willful injury.

The woman spent much of Wednesday afternoon testifying. She will be back on the stand when the trial resumes today.

She said she met Lenz during a July 4 cookout in 2015, and they eventually became romantically involved.

The woman described her relationship with Lenz in late February and early March as not good.

She said he left a ring in her mailbox, but she did not tell him she would marry him.

He seemed a little more obsessed with me than anything, she said.

The woman said the two of them went in her car from Mitchell to a casino in Waterloo on March 5.

Lenz drove the vehicle, a Nissan Maxima, on the way back.

He was very angry, the woman said.

She testified he started hitting her in the face.

I was knocked out for a little bit, she said.

The woman said when they arrived at her house in Osage, he dragged her out of the vehicle by her hair and covered her mouth so she couldnt scream.

She said Lenz continued to hit her when they were in the house and she went in and out of consciousness.

The woman said at one point he put his hands around her throat and she couldnt breathe. She said he let go just as she was about to pass out.

The woman said the next day she ran out of the house and tried to get the attention of a neighbor, but Lenz caught up with her, threw her face-down in the snow and mud and kicked her in the head and the ribs.

She said he took her to an abandoned camper near Otranto, tied her ankles with zip ties to a pipe inside and left her there. She said she was barefoot and there was no heat in the camper.

I lost feeling in my feet, she said.

The woman said Lenz left her there for four hours or more. She said when he came back he was driving a Chevy Trailblazer.

She said he took her along in the Trailblazer and they made several stops. She said she saw a safe during one of the stops and Lenz threatened to kill her if she didnt help him lift it. The woman testified she was too weak to be any help.

She said after Lenz took her back to her house, he let her sleep in her own bed.

The next morning, March 7, law enforcement arrived. The woman was first taken to the Mitchell County Regional Health Center in Osage and later taken by helicopter to St. Marys Hospital/Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn.

During cross examination, defense attorney Letitia Turner pointed out inconsistencies between the womans testimony on the stand and her earlier statements to law enforcement and her deposition.

Jurors Wednesday morning were shown photos of the inside of the womans house after she was taken to the hospital.

Items were strewn all over the living room, including a set of kitchen knives, packing tape, cigarette butts and a bandanna that Chris Calloway, a special agent with the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation, said appeared to have been knotted and then unknotted.

A pair of jeans found on the living room floor appeared to have dirt and blood stains on them, according to Calloway. He pointed out what he called a blood stain on a pillow in the bedroom.

A photo of the woman, taken at the hospital after she was found, was shown to the jury. Calloway said a bruise under her chin was consistent with the barrel of a gun being pressed there.

When Turner asked Calloway if the horseshoe-shaped bruise under the womans chin could have been caused by being kicked by a miniature horse, he replied, Show me a miniature horse and we can do tests.

Calloway said Lenz admitted on March 8 hitting and kicking the victim in the face and tying her up.
WATERLOO -- Former President Bill Clinton spent nearly an hour Wednesday night laying out Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clintons plans for America if she's elected.

He described a vision of the United States that celebrates differences and welcomes people into the country, contrasting it with the Make America Great Again message touted by his wifes opponent, Republican nominee Donald Trump.

I have heard now for a year and a half how terrible America is, how were going to hell in a handbasket, how were being by overrun by people from somewhere else, and its us against them, Clinton told a crowd of more than 500 gathered at National Cattle Congress Ag Building.

He continued, So, here we are in Waterloo, youve got an African-American mayor. I met in the line people associated with every religion, from at least five different European countries  and at least two Muslims. Thats America.

Clintons speech was twice interrupted by protesters, but they were quickly quieted. After a handful of people chanted Youre a rapist, the crowd cheered over the protesters.

Thats whats wrong with American politics, Clinton said to cheers, adding, I dont want you to treat them the way they treat you.

Throughout his speech, Clinton offered both the condensed version of Hillary Clintons plans on issues and her vision for an inclusive country. More often than not, the two intertwined.

She believes that the youth and diversity of our workforce is our greatest asset in the 21st century, Clinton said after discussing his wifes proposals for small businesses and for immigration reform.

Clinton said the election is a choice between division and cooperation, destruction and concentration and between demonizing people and creating opportunities for all of us to rise together.

Its a pretty straight-forward choice, he said.

Polls in Iowa show Trump with a slight lead; the Real Clear Politics average of polls shows Trump with a 3.7 percent lead over Hillary Clinton in the state, though he lags nationally. But the most recent polls of the state were taken before a 2005 "Access Hollywood" tape leaked of Trump bragging about groping women.

Bill Clinton didnt mention the tape or Trumps treatment of women, even as new stories were breaking just as Clinton took the stage.

While he encouraged people to vote, Clinton also didnt talk much about early voting even though the event was billed as one that would focus on a push to get out voters. Before the event, about a third of the audience cheered when asked by one of the speakers if the had voted early.

Even those who hadnt voted yet didnt necessarily have to be convinced of the importance of going to the polls.

I think this election is a really important election. I think this is where we kind of draw our line in the sand in terms of a nation of where were going and what we going to do, said Will Frost of Cedar Falls.

Frost said he didnt have any opinion about Trump before he entered the race, but as he keeps talking he cant support the man.

I feel like he represents the id in us; he says whatever he wants and disregards the consequences, Frost said. I think Trump has an unfair competitive advantage, because no one expects him to be good.  But she has to be good; she has to be respectable; she has to be honest; she has to be et cetera, et cetera, et cetera; she has to be great.

While Frost considers himself an independent, he said hes supporting Hillary Clinton.

Harry Carson of Waterloo, is equally unimpressed with Trump.

I never thought that I would live to see somebody like Trump.  To me, hes too stupid to even run for president, Carson said, adding that he supports Hillary Clinton because of her years of experience in the political realm. She knows what shes doing.

He added, She's going to win.
DES MOINES  Two days after its leader resigned because she said she could no longer support presidential candidate Donald Trump, the Iowa Federation of Republican Women on Thursday announced a new leader and stated its support for Trump.

Melissa Gesing, of Brooklyn, on Tuesday submitted her resignation as the groups president, saying she could no longer honor the groups mission to elect all Republicans on the ballot because she could no longer support Trump, who she said promotes racism, sexism and hate.

Trump has come under intense criticism, including from his own party, since last weeks reports of a 2005 video on which Trump can be heard making lewd comments about using his celebrity status to grope women.

On Thursday, the Iowa Federation of Republican Women announced Gwen Ecklund, of Denison, has been named its new president and the organization is unified in its goal of electing all Republicans, including Trump and running mate Mike Pence.

While we find Donald Trumps comments recorded 11 years ago to be insulting and demeaning, we need to keep our hearts and minds focused on whats best for our country and not allow emotions to cloud the big picture, Ecklund said in a news release. We are fighting for what we believe in, fighting to preserve our conservative values of smaller government, religious freedom, marriage between a man and a woman, sanctity of human life and a strong national defense.
Samsung Electronics opens fourth Smart School in Nigeria

Samsung Electronics West Africa opened a Smart School for Teachers in Nigeria at Model Primary School, Elekahia in Rivers State. The project, an initiative between Samsung and Rivers State Government was the fourth of five facilities already launched in Nigeria, with one more launch planned in Delta State.

The launch comes after the company established a Samsung Smart School in Imo State early last month where the Executive Governor of Imo State, Mr. Owelle Rochas Anayo Okorocha, represented by the Secretary to the State Government, Hon. George Eche and other dignitaries were in attendance.

In line with the UNs Sustainable Development Goal to improve education, we believe it is essential to equip teachers with basic computer literacy, as well as provide them with the tools they need to use ICTs for curriculum development and more impactful teaching. The Smart School for Teachers launched in Abuja, Ogun, Imo and now Rivers States is an important step in achieving this, explains Chang Wook Lee, Managing Director of Samsung Electronics West Africa.

To date, 135 teachers have been trained on the use of the Samsung Smart School solution. Training for the Rivers State Smart School kicked off immediately after the launch with 50 teachers participating in the programme. Each participant was trained on how to access digital content, monitor student progress and conduct assessments using the digital facilities amongst other things.

The operational training is aimed at equipping the teachers with the skills needed to use the Samsung Smart School solution in their teaching and learning activities with the incorporation of digital content that makes learning fun and interesting for the learners, as well as build the capacity and confidence of the teachers to use technology in enhancing their teaching, adds Mr. Lee.

Samsungs Smart School for Teachers initiative seeks to complement the Federal Governments bid to revamp the countrys education sector after President Buhari announced the recruitment this year of 500,000 graduates as teachers.

The Smart School is one of Samsungs many corporate citizenship initiatives around education in Africa. We believe that digital technology can completely transform the learning process, as well as the nature of teaching and learning, to create inclusive environments for everyone. Our education solutions deliver on this vision and improve the quality of learning, enhance teaching effectiveness and allow administrators to run institutions more effectively, concludes Abosede George-Ogan, Corporate Citizenship Manager, Samsung Electronics West Africa.

www.itnewsafrica.com
DES MOINES --- Actions, not words, are what motivated two former military leaders from Iowa to support Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, the two men said Thursday.

Maj. Gen. Evan "Curly" Hultman, U.S. Army, of Waterloo, and Col. Harold Johnson, U.S. Air Force, expressed their support for Trump at a news conference at the state Republican Party office on Thursday as the Trump campaign announced the support of more than 150 Iowa veterans.

Hultman and Johnson said they think Trump will defeat the Middle East terrorist group the Islamic State and enhance what they described as a stripped-down U.S. military.

Hultman and Johnson said they think Trump as commander-in-chief will restore peace in the world through American military strength just as President Ronald Reagan did in the 1980s, they said.

Trump comes at a time when we need exceptional action in response to the ISIS threat, in response to our immigration policy, Johnson said during the news conference. So I trust that he will show the action of leadership to take care of these problems.

Trumps opponents and critics have said his temperament is not befitting a person who will be in charge of the worlds most powerful military and nuclear arsenal, and point to a campaign event when Trump said, I know more about ISIS than the generals do, believe me.

Hultman said those things do not bother him because he is moved by actions, not words.

Accomplishment comes not by words, but by deeds, Hultman said. Thats why I referred and compared Trump with two generals that I had the pleasure of serving at a great distance (Gens. Douglas MacArthur and George Patton). They werent successful by just thinking or (speaking), they did the action.

The reason why I personally have joined the Trump forces is because he is a man not just of his words but of action. And thats what we need: peace, yes, but through strength, and that means action.

Hultman said he thinks Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton put the nations security at risk while she served as U.S. Secretary of State.

Jamie Johnson, the Iowa coalitions director for the Trump campaign, said the coalition includes veterans from all four Congressional districts and includes seven generals, two captains and 21 colonels.

The Iowa campaign for Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton announced its veterans coalition in September, with more than 50 Iowa veterans.

As someone who knows what it means to serve my country, I have never felt more strongly about someone like Hillary being ready on day one to serve as our commander-in-chief, Marc Wallace, a U.S. Army Intelligence Corps and Iowa National Guard veteran, said in a news release. Trump is erratic, vindictive and thin-skinned. He praises dictators, trash talks America and threatens to abandon our allies. His dangerous rhetoric and dangerous policy proposals play into the hands of terrorists. Its not a choice between a Democrat and a Republican, but between a responsible leader like Hillary Clinton who will keep us safe, and a volatile man like Donald Trump who threatens our security.
WATERLOO  Business leaders in the health care community had a common theme in talking to Democratic congressional candidate Monica Vernon.

They want to prevent waste, fraud and abuse in the federal Medicare and Medicaid programs. But the red tape has  in some particular cases  become so onerous they have or are considering reducing certain services.

Vernon, who was a business owner herself, said it was helpful to get specific examples of where the government can have a role in making it easier for businesses to thrive.

If we value health care for everybody and access to all a pharmacy can help you with, then we owe it to people to make sure that these things are figured out, Vernon said.

Vernon made two stops at Greenwood Pharmacy and Compounding Center and at Clark And Associates: Prosthetics and Orthotics, and heard from VGM Groups Tom Powers,who is a Waterloo councilman.

Vernon, a former Cedar Rapids councilwoman, is running to represent the 20 counties in Iowas 1st District. Shes running against first-term incumbent U.S. Rep. Rod Blum, R-1st District.

Dennis Clark of Clark and Associates explained the highest medical costs for people with amputations is they fall and face an injury or sometimes hospitalization.

Yet, he said the paperwork delays to get new equipment approved by Medicare has taken long enough that a client of theirs fell twice and was hospitalized both times before the paperwork was approved, even though their need for the prosthetic was not in question.

Clark also said that its sometimes difficult to get a particular higher-cost knee replacement approved, even though it prevents falls.

The cost savings by having that technology far outweighs the initial cost, Clark said. What we need to get people to understand is the value of what we do, not just the cost.

He said hes had to double the size of his administrative staff because of regulatory changes, but that didnt come with higher reimbursement rates.

Bob Greenwood said, as one example, his pharmacy faces an accreditation from Medicaid for the services it provides every five years; but then, they also have to go through one with Medicare, even though theyre both part of the same federal government.

That cost and that time could mean the difference between keeping the doors open and not, Vernon said, acknowledging the burden he faces.

Vernon said eliminating those bureaucratic hurdles seems like common sense, but noted it takes work to change the federal policy.

Its nice to know about the examples because you find hard-working people all around Iowa, Vernon said. What kinds of red tape can we get rid of? What kinds of things can be streamlined? What kind of stuff is just common sense once people understand a certain industry?

She said those burdens are worsened when they impact a patient, when people end up being punished by the regulatory burdens that are imposed on health care providers.
WATERLOO  Two members of the citys fire department are being honored for their service.

T.J. Schaffer was named Waterloo Fire Rescues Firefighter of the Year, and Sam Hess was named the departments Paramedic of the Year.

The two were honored by the Noon Exchange Club during a luncheon on Monday.

Schaffer, 44, is an Urbandale native who worked on that citys fire department before joining Waterloo Fire Rescue in 2004. He said he has been interested in the fire service since he was a child.

Im living out my dream job, he said.

Schaffer has served as a paramedic and was promoted to engineer in 2008. He now runs Engine No. 301, the busiest rig on the department with the most advanced equipment, said Fire Chief Pat Treloar.

He does a fantastic job with each and every call, Treloar said. He said Schaffer has a fantastic attitude about his assignments.

Schaffer is married and has three daughters. He enjoys exercise during his time off and works a second job at Dicks Sporting Goods.

Hess, 36, has been with Waterloo Fire Rescue since 2008 and is assigned to Ambulance 332 based on La Porte Road.

Hes a real thinker, and he shows great initiative and takes upon himself to learn new procedures, new equipment, Treloar said.

A Texas native who served in the U.S. Army, Hess shows compassion that goes beyond his job, according to Treloar. He said Hess often checks on people he treated after the ambulance call is over.

Hess, who is married and has three daughters, was named Firefighter of the Year in 2013.
Last week there was talk among Waterloo City Council members and other city officials regarding the possible extension of a program that gives property tax breaks to anyone building a new home in the city.

A proposal from the citys planning staff, which was endorsed by the Planning, Programming and Zoning Commission, would allow the City Limits Urban Revitalization Area, or CLURA, to continue indefinitely until the City Council votes to repeal it.

CLURA was originally approved in 2011 as a three-year strategy to encourage more people to build homes in Waterloo, which was seeing residential development move to neighboring Cedar Falls and bedroom communities.

The program was extended in January 2014.

CLURA gives three years of property tax abatement for new single-family or twin homes. A person buying a new $200,000 home will save a projected $12,700 in property taxes over three years.

Thats a significant incentive. It was a strategy we stood behind. We still do. An indefinite extension is another matter.

Initially, the program got off to a rather slow start, but has gained momentum over the years.

The program seems to be working very well, said planner Tim Andera. Since the adoption in 2011, housing numbers have greatly improved.

In the five years before CLURA was adopted, Waterloo was averaging 37 houses built each year. That has nearly doubled to 73 homes per year with CLURA incentives in place.

Community Planning and Development Director Noel Anderson said the proposal to remove the expiration date now instead of next year was designed to remove uncertainly for developers and housing investors.

Were already starting to get calls now from  potential homeowners and developers getting nervous about doing another 12-lot subdivision and not knowing whether the CLURA is going to be there the whole time, he said.

With consideration to development, we dont mind seeing that expiration lifted and another timeline set. We support CLURA as a responsible strategy, for now.

We would prefer to see a definite limit, even if the council needs to extend it at the end of that limit. That course at least assures the issue will come up for discussion and/or debate on a regular basis.

I think its working, but Id be more interested in maybe going from three to five years, said Councilman Steve Schmitt, who was instrumental in the committee that initially worked to set up the CLURA. I would rather not take it off the radar.

Just like with tax incentives for big box stores and other larger development projects, these programs temporarily take away some tax revenue that would be going to public institutions such as school districts. On the other hand, Waterloo needs to broaden the tax base, and luring development, both residential and commercial, remains crucial.

Its an interesting issue, one we believe deserves regular discussion that is open to other city taxpayers and residents.

We would agree with Schmitt. We support this program, but lets not take it completely off the radar.
Vote for Blum

CRAIG FAIRBANKS

CEDAR FALLS -- While Monica Vernon attacks our congressman and plays partisan politics with issues like Social Security, our congressman, Rod Blum, represents the bipartisan nature of Iowa. As our representative, Rod Blum joined the bipartisan fight to eliminate government corruption and excess. In June he passed a bipartisan bill through the house protecting government whistleblowers. And only two weeks ago he worked with Democratic Congressman Dave Loebsack to add an amendment prioritizing flood protection for Cedar Rapids to the Water Resources Development Act.

While Monica Vernon toes the partisan party line, Rods first vote as our representative was against Republican Party leadership. Major problems like Social Security cannot be fixed by one political party; they require bipartisan effort and bipartisan solutions. Congressman Blum is better qualified and more willing to work across the aisle. He represents congressional teamwork, and he represents us. We can count on Rod do be above politics and do what's right for the people and always conduct himself with integrity.

Support Blum

KITTY REHBERG

ROWLEY -- There is one issue that rises above all others, that transcends whether you are a Republican or a Democrat  the Constitution of the United States. This election cycle -- and every election cycle -- it is imperative we look to, and vote for, candidates that will respect and protect this document and what it stands for.

We all came at issues from different points of views, but one thing almost every America should agree on is the need to defend our liberties and preserve our personal freedoms. All the other issues we discuss ultimately flow from our Constitutionand its not a coincidence that all members of Congress and the President swear to uphold it when sworn in.

Congressman Rod Blum has stepped up to the plate in his first term and has proven he will uphold the Constitution and fight back against an over-intrusive government.

It is not just Republicans who care about personal freedom, a large majority of Americans do  including an increasing number of young people. To be sure, there is no hope for our country without Constitutional principles and personal freedom.
Pet cemetery

KATHY TAYLOR

CEDAR FALLS  Im writing in hopes of finding some answers. Maybe someone knows what transpired with the Platts Pet Haven Cemetery years ago when it was sold to Merrill Oster. A week ago a crew was in the cemetery taking down trees. I stopped to ask what was going on and they didnt know and were only hired to remove trees. I then noticed all the headstones are gone except for four, which the crew had flagged.

I contacted Lockard who hired the crew, and was told nothing was going on there except to clear the trees for easier maintenance. He said no one was given permission to take headstones, and was surprised to hear hundreds are missing. That would include mine as I buried a dog there in 1978.

In talking later with a neighbor by the cemetery, he said a farmer already was planting in the back part of the cemetery. What? I thought I paid for my part of that land? What about the caskets there? I need a plot map. Lockard does not have one. Help!

Problem solver

PRISCILLA BROWN

CEDAR FALLS -- I see Hillary Clinton is now being criticized for her husbands infidelity. I do not understand why Donald Trumps infidelity is perfectly all right, but I do agree: This crisis was a time of great stress in Hillary Clintons life. She kept a calm demeanor, took the high road, forgave him and moved on. When asked in an interview why she stayed with Bill, she replied unashamedly, Because he knows me better than anyone else and he can always make me laugh.

She knew, even then, how to find the positive elements of a difficult situation, acknowledge them and act accordingly, one sure sign of a skilled problem-solver. This is exactly what we need in our oval office. Good point! Thanks for bringing that up, Mr. Trump.

Trump's revenge

WILLIAM TEAFORD

CEDAR FALLS -- If he wins the election, he will stop at nothing until Hillary Clinton is in prison. As president, he seems prepared to arrest or retain her with or without due legal process.

Supported by millions of heavily armed citizens, and with millions of dollars, Donald Trump never seems to be satisfied until Hillary Clinton is destroyed.

Either outcome will be a catastrophe for our Constitutional, democratic republic, 240 years of struggling to establish a more perfect union. The States of North America will become a third world dictatorship, just as the Republican Party has been seeking since 1932.

Unacceptable choices

CHARLES TRASK

WATERLOO -- This election cycle has to be the biggest joke I have seen in my 77-plus years.

Every day we receive anywhere from one to five letters asking for charitable donations for wounded veterans, impoverished children and to help feed America. Meanwhile, political candidates are out raising and spending millions of dollars on advertising that most of us are extremely tired of hearing. This is totally unacceptable.

After watching the first and second debates, are these candidates the best that America has to offer? I will not be voting for either a liar or a bully. Would it not have been better to also have a third-party candidate included on the presidential debate stage? Since Gary Johnson is now on the ballot in all 50 states, I believe America deserves to hear his platform.

America deserves better than this, as do our veterans and our children.

The candidates

RICK JOHNSON

WAVERLY -- I want to look at the 2016 campaign through some metaphors that have been used in other years.

The newer one is this: Who would you rather have a beer with? Hilary would be a little boring. She'd probably spend the night nursing one beer and talking mostly about work. Donald would be entertaining. Of course, the next morning you'd have a hang-over and realize he stuck you with the tab.

The older question: Who would you buy a used car from?

Hilary would sell you a brown or gray sedan or minivan. It might cost you a little more in the beginning, but it will last for years, require only the regular maintenance and get great gas mileage. Donald would sell you the flashiest car on the lot, but gas, maintenance and insurance will probably be more than the payments for the first year (assuming it's still running at the end of the year).

The election

SAM SNEED

GREENE -- I would like to suggest that Mr. Trump answer his opposition to his candidacy, by simply saying, "Not one woman has come forward and said I groped her or anything close to a grope."

By that same example, any person with anywhere normal hearing, has heard Hillary R. Clinton tell lies, and last night, when confronted with what we all know as a lie, she grinned and changed the subject. If Donald Trump's alleged "locker room" groping carries more weight than the 33,000 erased emails and her untold number of known lies, we are not looking at the entire picture with opened eyes.
By WestKyStar & WKCTC Staff Oct. 13, 2016 | 08:10 AM | PADUCAH, KY

I feel very blessed because this is my last semester here and its like a reward for all of my hard work," said the 21-year-old Blanco-Mireles, a native of San Luis Potosi, Mexico, and a 2013 graduate of Graves County High School. Being a student worker for the Office of Admissions is also important to me because I am helping other people begin with the process of taking a big step in their lives, she added.



Virginia is an all-around great student and person who is a respectable, trustworthy and mature young woman I can trust with anything, said Sarita Faulkner, WKCTC admissions advisor. I have never hesitated to put work in her hands, and never questioned her ability to complete it.

As a first-generation college student, Blanco-Mireles said that she is motivated to always try her hardest at everything to make her parents proud and to motivate her siblings as well. I feel like I can inspire them to expand themselves and go for opportunities available to them.



Set to graduate from WKCTC with an Associate in Art degree in December, Blanco-Mireles future plans include transferring to Murray State University, and upon graduation, making her life and career in a big city.



Asked what she would tell others about WKCTC, Blanco-Mireles said, choosing this college means choosing a great school where students have amazing teachers who are always willing to help. And I would tell them not to be afraid to join clubs or organizations because they may open other doors for them and their career.



The Student of the Month program is designed to recognize the accomplishments of students on campus. Individuals selected must be currently enrolled at WKCTC and have maintained a cumulative grade point average of 2.0 or higher and are nominated on the basis of exceptional performance, personal attributes, academic excellence and active participation in various student organizational activities.



Student of the Month recipients receive $100, a certificate of excellence, recognition on the WKCTC Facebook page, campus announcements and Web site. Recipients are also recognized by Pepsi MidAmerica and receive one free month's supply of their favorite Pepsi product.

Virginia Blanco-Mireles, a student at West Kentucky Community and Technical College, may still be deciding her future, but one thing is for sure - she knew WKCTC was where she wanted to start.Blanco-Mireles has excelled in her time at the college including a high grade point average, being member of Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society, serving as secretary of the Hispanic Culture Club, and being a student worker in the Office of Admissions. Her dedication and passion recently earned her the title of WKCTCs September Student of the Month.
Advertisement

By West Kentucky Star Staff

Oct. 12, 2016 | PADUCAH, KY

By West Kentucky Star Staff Oct. 12, 2016 | 01:40 PM | PADUCAH, KY

A Paducah man was arrested on drug and wanton endangerment charges, after police say he tried to drive off with an officer leaning in his car window.



The Paducah Police Department says an officer stopped 20-year-old Jamey Donelson for speeding, then saw him run a stop sign to try to get away. An officer said he could smell marijuana when he was talking with Donelson. After finding nothing during a search of the vehicle, the officer issued citations for speeding and running a stop sign and released Donelson.



Police said Donelson pulled into a driveway of a home in the 2500 block of Trimble Street and then backed out of the driveway. They reportedly later found a plastic bag containing suspected marijuana in the front yard, which they suspected he put there prior to being pulled over. They set up surveillance and said a few minutes later, Donelson returned, stopped his car in the road, got out and picked up the bag of marijuana and ran back toward his car. As an officer leaned in through the passenger side window to try to stop him from fleeing, Donelson reportedly took off. The officer's body camera came off during the incident and fell into Donelson's car.



Officers caught up with Donelson and took him into custody. They seized about 50 grams of marijuana and $316 cash found in Donelsons car.



Donelson was charged with trafficking in less than eight ounces of marijuana, tampering with physical evidence, first-degree wanton endangerment, first-degree fleeing or evading police, speeding (23 mph over limit) and disregarding a stop sign. He was booked into McCracken County Regional Jail.
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Boza says thank you to someone who gave money for Boza!

Boza now can get a six month supply of eye medicine and see all his favorite girl friends

The money I had to spend and did not want to spend (thanks Russia  Not,) traveling Europe was a deficit on a tight budget. Bozas eye medicine is expensive and we got an answer for that. A donation for Boza! Everyone loves Boza and Boza has a, Make Love Not War! attitude about life 

The money is spent on what you ask for it to be spent on.Just like we are looking for a 44 truck and the money donated for the truck sits patiently waiting to be used

* * * * * * * * * *

Something interesting

I have searched for ten years in Russia and cannot find peppermint candy. None in any form and I love peppermint candy canes. Never found them and never seen them

Hmm

Really do not need them, but once again, the holidays are coming and peppermint canes are synonymous with Christmas. Well to me they are and I miss those canes. My grandma use to cover her tree with them and it was easy to find me as a little one, running around like an idiot, with a candy cane in his mouth. Not sure how I never fell and drove it through my brain? I survived my stupidity though and still surviving my stupidity

I talked about maple syrup many years ago and now someone is getting rich selling maple syrup in Russia. I talked about peanut butter and now it is available all over. I guess now I will talk about Candy Canes and hope that in the next few years someone sells them in Russia

It is not that I need it, but you know! When you cannot get something and keep thinking about it, it becomes an obsession. Like Taco Bell! Taco Bell sucks, but all the time I think about that damn Burrito Supreme, with all that sour cream oozing out of them, as you bite into it

Kinda like that

* * * * * * * * * *

Why is it that things not good for us are the things we want?

* * * * * * * * * *

I have to say something

I am afraid that Russia is and has reached its limit with America. America has expressed bellicosity and almost passed the point of no return. Russia and the Russian are not afraid of America. Russians could be the best friends in the world and truly want to be, or they can, if pushed hard enough, be the worst adversary that we could imagine

A few more stupid-ass expressions of pugnaciousness by America and America will cross the Rubicon with the Russians.All the while that the Russians want to be friends.I just do not get it and wonder why we have become so truculent and obstreperous?

Got me! (and) You should care!

WtR
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What Is Woah Vicky Famous For and Who Are Her Family Members? Like most social media celebrities in this digital era, Woah Vicky is one of those stars that have utilized the internet as a powerful tool to propel themselves to instant fame. The social media space, such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, etc., offers lots of people the right opportunities and potentials to become superstars overnight. Not everyone achieves ...

Where Is Michael Strahan Since His Retirement From The NFL and Who Is His Partner? Michael Strahan is a retired American football player turned media personality. He played the defensive lineman position and holds the record for most sacks in a single NFL season. He also only played for the New York Giants throughout the entire 15-year professional career that saw him win a Super Bowl ring. In February 2014, ...

How Wendy Williams Went From Being a College DJ to Having Her Own Talk Show and More About Her Divorce Wendy Williams is a former radio personality, now talk show host, who is known for her outspokenness and brash no-nonsense attitude. She gained fame and notoriety for her on-air clashes with celebrities before moving on to host her own talk show. Since 2008, Williams has hosted the nationally syndicated television talk show, The Wendy Williams Show. ...

Who is Sunny Hostin? Her Husband, Family & Net Worth Sunny Hostin is no ordinary Latina  American lawyer but also a successful columnist, multi-platform journalist, and social commentator. A happily married woman and mother of two, Hostin is the Senior Legal Correspondent and Analyst for ABC News and co-host of ABCs popular morning talk show, The View. She is a legal expert popularly known as a former ...

Who Is Robert Costa and Is He Married, Who Is His Wife? Robert Costa is a political analyst for NBC News and MSNBC who is regarded as being part of Americas next generation of journalists. The University of Notre Dame graduate, who is of Italian/Portuguese descent, has been lauded for his fresh political perspectives in an industry full of old heads. In addition to his work listed above, Costa ...

Team Valor Pokemon Go  7 Key Facts You Need To Know Team Valor Pokemon Go  The craze of the new game Pokemon Go is one that took the gaming world by storm sending teenagers and adults alike into a frenzy and one of its teams Team Valor, has proven to be instrumental in making it so. Before the game was created, Pokemon was a cartoon ...

Sheryl Underwood  Husband, Family & Net Worth She is known for her trademark smile which can be described as the brightest and broadest smile ever seen on planet earth. She is none other than Sheryl Underwood the comedian, actress, and TV host whose funny wits has left America in great awe. Although Sheryl has risen to become an important personality in the industry, ...

Team Mystic Pokemon Go: 7 Facts You Need To Know And Signs You Are One Team Mystic of the break out game Pokemon Go is a team that is full of sass and chivalry. With an enchanting monicker, Team Mystic stands out from the rest of its counterparts and deserves to take the crown as champion in the Pokemon gaming-verse. To be a member of this exceptional team of Pokemon battle ...

Exploring Guy Beahms Dr Disrespect Persona, Wife and Why He was Banned Permanently From Twitch Guy Beahm who is popularly known by his online alias  Dr DisRespect, is an award-winning Twitch.tv streamer. He has leveraged on the Twitch platform to become an internet personality that is quite widely known. His online success is just more proof that anyone who is good at what they do can attain celebrity status ...

Critical Facts About Lee Ann McAdoo  The Infowars Anchor Lee Ann Mcadoo is a conservative journalist and television host whose interests in conspiracies and astrology has established her as a famous American reporter. Often referred to as Wonder Woman, McAdoo is a reporter who works for InfoWars.com, a controversial right-wing website run by radio show host, Alex Jones. Who Is Lee Ann McAdoo? Lee Ann McAdoo was born on 7 ...

Millie Weaver  Age, Husband & Infowars Career Millie Weaver is an American model, journalist, political activist, and social commentator. The young and beautiful journalist rose to fame working as a reporter for a controversial right-wing website InfoWars.com. Also known as Millennial Millie, Weaver is a social media influencer with over 100,000 subscribers on her YouTube channel and over 35,000 followers on Twitter. Who Is Millie Weaver and What Is ...

Is Jessica Tarlov Married? What Are Her Height & Weight? Jessica Tarlov is an American political consultant, strategist, and analyst whose influential and regular TV presence has made a popular figure. A good example of beauty with brains, Tarlov has appeared on various TV networks, mostly the FOX News Network where she is known for her liberal views on political analysis and insights. She is also the senior director ...

Who Is Kelly Rebecca Nichols  Alex Jones Ex-Wife? Kelly Rebecca Nichols is the ex-wife of controversial American radio show host, Alex Jones. She got nationwide attention following her divorce and subsequent custody battle with her estranged husband. Nichols, who worked with PETAs public relations department, was herself no stranger to controversies as she was involved in several publicity stunts of the non-profit animal rights ...

Who Is Bree Morgan  Cole Sprouse Ex-Girlfriend And What Is She Up To Now? Although Bree Morgan became famous through the Instagram, she also sapped some dose of popularity from Disneys sweetheart, Cole Sprouse of the Sprouse brothers. She is not only an Instagram star but also a YouTube vlogger whose popularity has long exceeded the ordinary level. Bree is conspicuously prominent on the internet and has her digital savviness ...

Does Vanna White Have Husband or Children, What Is Her Net Worth / Salary? For over three decades, Vanna White has been a household name, famous as the co-host and letter turner of the iconic NBC game show Wheel of Fortune. The talented and beautiful television personality is also an actress with several TV series and films to her credit. Since making her Wheel of Fortune debut in 1982, she has become one ...

Liz Wheeler  Biography, Husband & Net Worth Liz Wheeler is the kind of girl who sets the room on fire whenever she comes around. In this situation, however, she sets our screens on fire each time she appears as the host of One America News Tipping Point. She is, therefore, a presenter, publisher, consultant and a member of the Board of Zoning ...

Betty White  Net Worth, Children & Husband The entertainment industry will remain indebted to personalities like Betty White who brought something extra to the table and kept the world entertained for donkey years. The comedienne, actress, and writer graced the big screens in the early 50s as a show host and has been a delight since then. She is the queen of ...

Is Bill Nye (The Science Guy) Dead or Alive, What Are His Net Worth & Education? Everyone will always remember Bill Nye as the Science Guy. Besides his TV show Bill Nye the Science Guy, he is well-known for his Netflix show Bill Nye Saves the World which started airing in 2017 as well as his appearances in many famous media projects as a science educator. The star studied mechanical engineering ...

Is Cesar Millan Dead, Who Is The Wife & What Is His Net Worth? Cesar Millan is the famous dog whisperer who often stirs up mixed emotions. The Mexican-American is precisely speaking, a dog behaviorist; he has been in the game for over 25 years. His Emmy-nominated television series, Dog Whisperer with Cesar Millan further pushed his method and tactics into the limelight. The series was produced from 2004 ...

Is Thomas Sanders Gay and Does He Have A Boyfriend? By the time Vine was shut down in January 2017, Thomas Sanders was already popular within and beyond the internet community for his heavy involvements on the online video hosting platform. After the tragic shutdown of Vine impacted on the growing career of the multi-talented personality, he immediately switched over to YouTube where he continued to upload ...

Is Shepard Smith Gay, Who Is The Boyfriend & What Is His Net Worth? There are only a few media personalities who are as bold and confident as Shepard Smith. Apart from his impressive stint at Fox News Channel which includes but not limited to his classic news delivery, upfront stance on virtually every issue and much more; he loves his job as much as he loves his personality. Smith ...

Is Milo Yiannopoulos Gay? His Husband and Net Worth Milo Yiannopoulos is a popular writer, journalist, polemicist, public speaker, and political commentator who is also known as the founder of The Kernel, an online blog. He has been said to be among the list of 100 weird and influential people in the United Kingdom. He appeared on this list as a result of personal beliefs and ...

Does Ryan Seacrest Have A Wife Or Girlfriend, What Is His Net Worth? From radio to television, Ryan Seacrest is a household name and a force to be reckoned with in showbiz. The radio personality, television host, and producer is best recognized as the host of the popular TV talent search contest American Idol. Heres how the media personality who always knew what his lifes ambition was and diligently pursued ...

Is Anderson Cooper Gay, Who is The Boyfriend or Husband? For many, the thought of becoming a millionaire by writing and talking about other people appears unachievable but this is the reality of the prominent American journalist Anderson Cooper who gathered millions of dollars for conducting accurate political analysis and other vital reports on TV. He is the main anchor of the CNN news show Anderson ...

Is David Muir Gay or Does He Have A Wife, What Is His Salary? David Muir is an Emmy Award-winning journalist who works for the ABC broadcast-television network and anchors the ABC World News Tonight with David Muir program while also co-anchoring the magazine program 20/20. The Ithaca College graduate, whose show has become the most-watched newscast in America, has covered stories from all across America and the world; reporting ...

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? Her Husband, Children & Net Worth Shannon Bream who hosts the iconic primetime program started her journalism career in the late 1990s debuting as the evening and late-night news reporter for the CBS affiliate, WBTV. The beauty from America currently works for the Fox News Channel and she is best known for anchoring the primetime program. She also hosts Americas News ...

Is Troye Sivan Gay, Who Is His Boyfriend and What Is His Net Worth? Troye Sivan is an Australian singer and songwriter best known for songs like Happy Little Pill, Youth, Heaven (with Betty Who) and The Boyfriend Tag (with Tyler Oakley) which have all garnered him different awards and ranked on the Billboard Charts. Sivan, who was born in South Africa but now resides in the United States, is ...

Did iDubbbz Have Cancer, Is He Gay and Who Is His Girlfriend Now? iDubbbz is one YouTuber who has made a career out of courting controversy. Renowned for his absurdist channels and comedy video series, the Los Angeles based personality is the owner of two channels, iDubbzTV, and iDubbzTV2, as well as the brains behind comedy video series such as Content Cop, Kickstarter Crap, Gaming News Crap, and ...

Inside Greg Gutfelds Love Story With Wife Elena Moussa and Why Fans Thought He Was Gay Greg Gutfeld is a seasoned American television producer whose career in the media industry has spanned over a decade. He is a man of many talents who makes extra income through comedy, journalism, and editorial works. Gutfeld regularly appears on Fox News Channel as a panellist and co-host of the political talk show The Five ...

Works That Made Bo Burnham A Household Name and How Much He Is Worth Now One of YouTubes first viral stars and the worlds most exciting young comedian, Bo Burnham, has always amazed critics and comedy aficionados alike. Often regarded as the Justin Bieber of comedy, thanks to his fresh looks, floppy blond hair and hoodies, he has a multi-faceted career bigger than many comedians twice his age. It wouldnt ...

Is Louie Anderson Gay And What Is His Net Worth? Louie Anderson has one of the most abstract faces in the industry and equally knows how to use it to his advantage. He is not only a stand-up comedian but also an actor and television host who is known for his distinctive comic wits. Some of his notable projects include Family Feud, where he was ...

Is Don Lemon of CNN Gay, Who is His Partner and What Is His Salary? Don Lemon has risen to become one of the most recognizable faces on CNN over the past few years. The fiery journalist, who anchors CNN Tonight with Don Lemon, is liked and somewhat disliked for his strong and candid opinions on a variety of matters that do not just include politics but also race, significantly, matters that ...

Is Rachel Maddow Gay, Who is the Wife and How Much Does She Earn in Salary? Rachel Maddow is an award-winning American journalist, political commentator, and television news anchor. She is best known for hosting the popular nightly TV show The Rachel Maddow Show on MSNBC. Prior to this, she hosted a talk radio program on Air America Radio from 2005 to 2010. As of now, the TV sensation co-anchors MSNBCs ...

Demystifying Pokimane  Her Real Name, Ethnicity & Boyfriend Like most social media celebrities in this digital era, Pokimane Thicc is one of those stars who took advantage of the internet to make a name for herself. Given the unlimited potentials which the social media space offers, many people have been instantly propelled to fame just by posting creative online contents. Not only has ...

A Breakdown of Kris Jenners Net Worth, Sources Of Income and Relationships Over The Years Standing outside and looking in, Kris Jenner looks like the oil that greases the wheels of the entire Kardashian/Jenner machine. She has been dubbed a momager and rightfully so because she seems to have had a part to play in the trajectory of each and every one of her daughters individually and the Kardashian brand ...

Pursuits That Brought Liza Koshys Fame To its Zenith and Her Love Life Since David Dobrik Liza Koshy is an American actress who has leveraged YouTube as a platform to promote her comedy while also serving as a television host on occasions. She is talented and funny and has gathered a lot of fans from around the world. Koshy started on Vine in high school and was able to get millions of ...

Alex Aiono Biography  Inside The Life Of The American Singer Not everyone who started from the streets has attained the heights where Alex Aiono is currently. His story could be referred to as the perfect definition of rising from Grass to Grace. He came into the limelight after he started out as a YouTuber, singer, and producer. One fascinating thing about the young YouTuber is ...

Virginia Vallejo Biography And Her Love Story With Pablo Escobar Virginia Vallejo can be referred to as one of the oldest whistleblowers in history after her involvement with Pablo Escobar which made her famous. Over the years, many questions have been raised about her relationship with the drug lord and why she endangered her life to be with him despite his notorious acts. The death ...

Princess Love Bio  Ethnicity, Real Name & Parents For many people, Princess Love is simply Ray Js wife but there is so much more to this feisty lady than meets the eye. She is a star in her own right and has many feathers on her cap. Princess Love is a reality TV star, a model, video vixen, and fashion designer. She and her ...

Who is Papa Franku Also Known As Filthy Frank or Joji, Where is He Now? The social media as we all know today has given people the opportunity to be creative and innovative and at the same time, make something of themselves. YouTube is one of the known social platforms we have today that makes it possible for people to express their God-given talents and post videos they created to ...

Who Is Molly Qerim, How Did She Become a Famous Sports Anchor and Who Is Her Husband? Molly Qerim is an American sports anchor popularly known for moderating First Take, a highly rated sports talk show, on ESPN. Prior to joining ESPN, Qerim hosted Fantasy Live and NFL AM on NFL Network. It is quite obvious that the widely acclaimed television personality is in a class of her own when it comes ...

Safiya Nygaard  Height, Parents & Net Worth Safiya Nygaard is an American YouTuber, writer, content producer, and director who is popular for posting makeup, beauty and fashion videos on YouTube. Her videos regularly top at least one million views, thanks to her lively character as well as her willingness to experiment with outrageous outfits and different beauty products. Here are the things to ...

The Rigors of Sunlen Serfatys Career Journey Until CNN and Fun Facts About Her Personal Life CNN correspondent, Sunlen Serfaty is an Emmy Award-winning journalist known for covering a broad range of breaking news stories, national news, and Washington politics. She has been able to garner widespread recognition for herself which even goes beyond the sphere of her work. Her profile also increased with the extensive work she did in covering ...

Demystifying Jazz Jennings Real Name, Boyfriend & Family Of One The Youngest Transgenders Jazz Jennings is an unusual personality who became famous as a transgender activist and was recorded as the youngest documented public figure to be seen as transgender. She is also a YouTube personality and spokesmodel for brands, her fans, and other transgenders. She fought for acceptance in her high school with her super supportive family for over ...

Inside Fred Armisens Life  Ethnicity, Romantic Relationships and Gay Rumors Fred Armisen is an award-winning American comedian, he is also a writer, an actor as well as a musician. He was a cast member of the legendary comedy show, Saturday Night Live for 13 years and also one of the brains behind the successful satirical show Portlandia. Find out more about this incredibly talented guy ...

Ed and Lorraine Warren Biography: Cases, Kids, and Family Life Have you ever woken up with fear you could not explain, or felt a strange presence that made the hair at your nape rise or even experienced strange occurrences around you? Well, these were some of the promptings that made the well-known paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren delve into trying to explain the ideas ...

Truth About Tony Romos Wife, Kids and Life Since His NFL Retirement Tony Romo grew from the field as a quarterback to the screens as an American Football Analyst. He was a quarterback for the Dallas Cowboys in the richest football league in the world (NFL) before retiring. As a junior, he was honored as an All-Ohio Conference Member, an Ohio Valley Conference Player of the Year and ...

Who is Brittany Venti, The Controversial Game Streamer and YouTuber? In recent times, many people live stream themselves playing video games. This has become a popular pastime on the internet and many highly skilled gamers have become internet celebrities through this means. However, some of them rather than becoming renowned for their gaming skills and great commentary, have become controversial and infamous. A good example ...

Rob Dyrdeks Family: His Kids And Relationship With Wife Bryiana Noelle Flores A multi-talented star and an elite pro skateboarder, Rob Dyrdeks success story began at a remarkably young age. Yet another proof that schooling doesnt always correlate with success, Rob has established himself not just as a phenomenal sportsman but also as a successful entrepreneur. Besides perfecting his skill as a natural talent on the board, ...

xChocobars  Biography and Everything You Should Know About Her Having distinguished herself and recorded massive successes in an industry notably dominated by men, it is very safe to say that Xchocobars deserves all the attention and cash she makes from her career. A household name on Twitch (a smart live streaming video platform), the online-gamer is popularly known for streaming classic games such as Stardew ...

Everything To Know About Mary Padian, Her Boyfriend and Net Worth Mary Padian is a famous American television reality personality best known for her involvements on the Reality show Storage Wars. She also has her own shop called Mary finds where she displays her antique collections. Since her childhood, Padian has been a creative learner. At the time, she used to create new items out of reusable ones and ...

Betsy Woodruffs Family Life: Is She Married or Related To Bob Woodruff? An old name in the world of journalism, Betsy Woodruff has warmed her way into the hearts of many with her impressive talents. Through hard work, Woodruff has carved a niche for herself in a very competitive field. Betsy has strong family and work values and is also an advocate for equal opportunities for everyone ...

Matpat (Matthew Patrick)  Wife, Height & Net Worth As far as internet business is concerned, Matpat remains one of the most dynamic and seasoned figures. He boasts a wealth of experience that has helped him in growing his business from one level of greatness to another. Like most successful people, MatPat started out small but today, he makes millions of dollars from his ...

Facts About Ricegum  His Girlfriend, Real Name & Net Worth Ricegum is an online gamer and YouTube sensation who ditched college; took advantage of the digital era, and made a name for himself on the internet. Though he began as a gaming YouTuber, Ricegum soon gained recognition as a controversial internet star following his many diss tracks. Here is everything you need to know about the youngster ...

Joy Taylor Once Married MLBs Richard Giannotti  Inside Look At Her Love Life and Family The erosion of the sexist idea that women have no business in sports broadcasting created a host of women celebrities who attained fame outside of modeling and acting. One of them, Joy Taylor, a radio personality and TV host for Fox Sports 1, has been in the industry since 2009, becoming one of the most ...

What To Know About Conan OBriens Wife, Kids & Family Today The name Conan OBrien is one that jumps right at you almost immediately you start talking about the most popular television hosts in the USA and this is no surprise because the man behind that name has risen to become one of the most admired men in the business. Known for hosting the late-night talk ...

David Letterman  Net Worth, Wife & Son In all of American, one man whose face has been seen frequently by late night TV talk show lovers is none but David Letterman. The comedian and TV show veteran has been hosting late night talk shows for more than three decades. His Late Night with David Letterman show began on February 1st, 1982 aired ...

Demystifying Sssniperwolfs Family Background And The Boyfriends Shes Had Since she launched her eponymously named channel in 2013, Sssniperwolf has been on the rise when it comes to video game influencers. She is one of the biggest names in the online gaming subgenre of YouTube videos. Real name Lia Shelesh, she started with Call of Duty: Black Ops II but has diversified with other ...

Lester Holt  Wife, Family & Net Worth Lester Holt is a multiple award-winning journalist, newscaster, reporter, and actor who has worked for notable media houses like WCBS TV, CBS, MSNBC and among others. His remarkable feat in journalism has endeared him to the hearts of many and earned him some awards and recognitions. Read on to get acquainted with his biography, ethnicity, ...

What Is Louis C.K. Doing Now, Where Are His Family And How Much Is His Net Worth? It is not easy to make it in comedy. It takes more than a funny bone and the ability to elicit a few giggles from a listening audience. For all the complexities that go into making a successful career in comedy, Louis C.K, the Washington D.C-born comedian, did it. For years, he was at the ...

The Progression of Hoda Kotbs Career, Her Ancestry and Family Life Hoda Kotb gained fame as a television host and news anchor for NBC. She anchors the shows signature show Today, and it has been an excellent vehicle for her skills in front of a camera. Kotb has won several awards, including Daytime Emmys and Peabody Awards. Simply put, she is one of the most successful ...

Jerry Seinfelds Family: All About The Amazing Comedians Wife and Kids Apparently one of the highly important entertainers in America, Jerry Seinfeld is a man of many talents. A very funny man, he is considered to be one of the most successful comedians in the USA who has been in the business as a professional rib-cracker for more than 40 years. As an actor, he has ...

The Rigors Of Sarah Silvermans Rise To Prominence And Rundown Of The Men She Has Dated A comedian, writer, and actress, Sarah Silvermans art and craft is as unique as you would ever find. Her poignant use of comedy to discuss social issues such as race, sexism, politics, and religion has gained her an impressive following. As unorthodox as her style is, so is her life experiences. She previously suffered from epiglottitis ...

Who Is Hannibal Buress, Does He Have A Wife or Girlfriend & Why Was He Arrested? Making people laugh when they are tense or not in the mood is a tough order and to ply the trade, it must indeed take some guts and expertise, this is what the humor maker, Hannibal Buress has been able to achieve and sustain after his inital teething process. The African-American is a screen writer, stand-up ...

The Success of John Mulaneys Career Efforts Since His Work On Saturday Night Live and Facts About His Wife John Mulaney had been working as a professional comedian for years before Saturday Night Live changed his status for life and like many who are now his fans, you probably did not know of him then. However, that changed when he joined the sketch comedy show in 2008. Since then, he has been one of ...

Jeff Dunham  Wife, Children and Net Worth Ventriloquism is a very subtle method of making an inanimate object (like a puppet, doll or dummy) appear to be saying words which are actually coming from the person (holding the inanimate object). In effect, the individual throws his/her voice to the puppet and can even appear to be having a conversation with it. Not ...

Ellen DeGeneres  Net Worth, Wife  Portia de Rossi & Parents Ellen DeGeneres is an American female standup comedian who has proven that whatever a man can do, a woman can also do. Since her journey as a standup comedian started in 1981, she has held swirl as one of the finest comedians America and the world at large has seen. She is often referred to ...

Revisiting Joan Rivers Death  The Daughter, Husband & Net Worth She Left Behind Joan Rivers was a renowned American comedian, TV host, writer, and actress. Her brand of comedy consisted of scathing one-liners and no individual or topic is spared. She hosted her own talk shows in the 80s and 90s and was a pioneer for women in stand up comedy. She was the first woman to host a late night ...

The Struggles of Margaret Chos Childhood, How It Influenced Her Career Growth and Love Life Margaret Cho is best described as a comic star who knows how to maneuver everything related to life into a rib-cracking joke. She is also known to criticize every social and political problem, especially those involving race and sexuality. Apart from her talents as a comic actress, she does amazingly well as a singer and ...

Where Is Eric Bolling Today? Who Is His Son & What Is His Net Worth? Eric Bolling who was once a notable figure on Fox News, is an American TV personality, an author, and versatile Journalist. As a political and financial analyst/commentator, he anchored discussions bothering on finance for Fox Business Channel. Here is everything there is to know about his career, family, and allegations that led to his exit ...

Who Is Chelsea Handler and Does She Have A Husband or Boyfriend? Chelsea Handler is one of Americas top female comedians. She is also an actress, writer, television host, producer, and activist. She is known to be very outspoken even with things that are very personal. In separate interviews with The New York Times, Handler revealed that she had an abortion twice when she was 16. She has authored five books ...

How Did Laura Lee Achieve Fame, How Much is She Worth and Who is Her Husband? Laura Lee is a popular American YouTuber, make-up artist and beauty blogger. From posting videos of her makeup routines on Instagram, Lee has transformed into a beauty influencer and a YouTube sensation. Today, her YouTube Channel has over 630 million views and 4.5 million subscribers. Asides having millions of followers across all social media platforms, ...

Madison Gesiotto Bio  Ethnicity, Parents & Measurements Madison Gesiotto is no ordinary woman; although she excelled in quite a number of pageants and competitions while she was in school, it is her views on politics and issues in America that has made her name known to most people. She possesses beauty and intelligence in a seemingly equal measure and has been able ...

Who Is Lil Tay? Parents, Brother, Sister, Age, Net Worth, Ethnicity Child stardom is nothing new in the entertainment world. With the advent of social media, we have seen more stars made from the internet than ever before, and Lil Tay is one of them. Her uploaded rap videos trademark is cursing, swearing, cash-throwing, and use of obscene languages. Her fame went wild after she dropped ...

What To Know About Tig Notaros Wife, Kids and Family Today Tig Notaro is an American stand-up comic star, writer, actress, and radio analyst. Since she started her career in 2001, she has become one of Americas best comedians, particularly when it comes to observational comedy. One prominent aspect of her routine involves her family, which includes a wife and two children. Interestingly, Tig Notaro is part ...

Who Is Chantel Jeffries? What To Know About Her Age, Ethnicity & Net Worth Chantel Jeffries is a lady of many talents. Beyond being celebrated as a DJ, she has fared well as a model, an actress, musician, and as an artist. She first rose to fame on Instagram where she has a large following. However, in recent times, she has hit the spotlight for her rumored relationships with some ...

Is Ellen DeGeneres Married, Who Is The Brother  Vance DeGeneres and Family Members? Ellen DeGeneres is one of a kind celebrity in todays world as she has used her wealth for the greater good for many people. She has served a host of famous awards shows like the Grammy, Primetime Emmy and Academy Awards. Moreso, she is probably one of the most decorated entertainment personalities around the world and ...

Carli Bybel Bio  Height, Boyfriend & Net Worth Video blogging is now on the rise and YouTube is the place where most of it happens. If you are a lady who cares about her looks or a guy who likes to help his woman out with her looks, then one person whose name rings a bell when it comes to giving beauty tips ...

Who Is Lexy Panterra? What To Know About Her Ethnicity, Boyfriend & Net Worth Lexy Panterra is one of the YouTube personalities whose breakout came through the Twerk dance videos she posted on her social media handles and YouTube which has so far generated over 13 million views for her. From there on, she created her LexTwerkOut workout program in 2014. She is sure very talented as she as moved ...

Who Is AnneMunition? What Is Her Ethnicity & Does She Have A Girlfriend or Boyfriend? AnneMunition is a professional gamer and content creator of American origin. She is one of the most sought-after streamers on Twitch  a popular online platform for watching and streaming videos, especially video games. AnneMunition has almost half a million followers on Twitch and her channel has accumulated at least 13 million views. Her favorite games ...

Norm MacDonald  Former Wife, Son & Net Worth Recently, 59-year-old former Saturday Night Live stand-up comic Norm MacDonald caused a not-so-funny stir when he expressed his personal opinion about the #MeToo movement speaking in defense of Louis CK and Roseanne Barr. Following the backlash of his actions, he is diligently doing damage control for his questionable opinion by posting a public apology on ...

Inside Iliza Shlesingers Life With Husband and How Much She is Worth Now Witty, spontaneous, and truly humorous, Iliza Shlesinger is an American comedian who is clearly proving that the stereotypical claim that women are not really funny is not only incredibly wrong but completely outrageous. Having been in the game for more than 10 years, Shlesinger has grown bigger with each step, stunning fans with her incredible ...

Who Is Nessa Diab? Details of her Parents, Ethnicity & Relationship With Colin Kaepernick Nessa Diab has gained more fame as the girlfriend of different footballers than in her career. She is currently with the popular National Football League (NFL) player, Colin Kaepernick, and has stood by his side during his most trying times. Also known for her mononym, Nessa, she recently engaged in a tweet battle with the ...

Samantha Bee  Inside the Life of Full Frontal Comedian and Presenter We have over the decades seen various brands of humor and personalities who have walked the ropes. One of the formidable forces in the world of comedy is no other than the iconic Samantha Bee of the Daily Show who now runs her own television show on TBS channel. She is a Canadian-American political commentator, ...

What Happened To Jessica Williamss Boyfriend And Which Are Her Best Works? Jessica Williams is a woman who has a lot of feathers in her cap  and keeps acquiring more. The former senior political correspondent of the comic Daily Show, who is also a comedian and actress whose recent movie appearance include starring as a playwright just recovering from a recent split with her boyfriend, Damon, and ...

Who is Nicole Byer? Here are 5 Facts You Need To Know About The Comedian Nicole Byer, an American comedian, actress, and writer, made a name for herself after she played supporting roles on MTVs prank show Ladylike and the reality show Girl Code. The latter was a series that featured comedians who analyzed in minute details, all the issues that young women deal with daily, from period to dating, to weird friendship dynamics and questions about sex. Currently, ...

A Closer Look At Bart Kwans Ethnicity, Height & Personal Life Bart Kwan is one of few Asians who is known for being successful in the comic industry at an international level. His fame broke out after the YouTube channel which he created with his close pal Joe Jo garnered up massive followings. The talented duo has been running the channel since 2007 and their success ...

Heres How VanossGaming Achieved Fame Online, His Worth and Other Facts About The Gamer For many years, the decision to drop out of college to pursue an online career was considered to be foolish and self-destructive by conventional wisdom. It was no different when Evan Fong, popularly known as VanossGaming, dropped out of college to pursue a YouTube career. However, that radical move paid off, and he stands shoulder to ...

Desi Perkins  Ethnicity, Net Worth & Husband YouTube is littered with videos of makeup tutorials by different people but if you are interested in learning how to do your makeup like a pro, there is just one person on that platform who you must follow. She is none other than Desi Perkins! She is a popular make-up artist, Instagram star, and vlogger. Desi, ...

The Phases of Casey Neistats Pursuits and His Love Story With Candice Pool YouTuber, vlogger, filmmaker, and creator extraordinaire; these are just a few hats that Casey Neistat wears and the story of how he got here is incredible. A native of Connecticut, Neistat started out by making refreshingly-authentic short films and videos that featured content that was based on everyday life and called attention to serious issues. He ...

Connor Franta  Inside The Life of American YouTuber YouTube has produced a lot of young celebrities in modern times and Connor Franta happens to be one of them. Apart from being a YouTuber, the young American is also an entrepreneur, entertainer, and writer. His journey to fame began almost a decade ago when he started a self-named YouTube channel where he uploads content ranging ...

Rhett and Link  Bio, Who are Their Wives, Net Worth and Family Facts Rhett and Link refer to an American comedy duo who are very popular on YouTube. They are known for their comic songs, viral commercials, skits and the daily show, Good Mythical Morning. Good Mythical Morning is the most watched daily show online, averaging 100 million views in a month. The show has featured guests such ...

A Walk Through The Maze of Ryan Higas Career Pursuits And Relationship With Arden Cho Ryan Higa is not only celebrated as a YouTube star, but he is also famed for appearing on television screens as an actor and comedian. Nigahiga, his Youtube channel, has gathered over 20 million subscribers and billions of views with his different comic acts, short films, and music videos uploads. With the rise in his career, ...

What to Know About The Shows That Made Craig Ferguson a Star and His Family Ties Rising to the top of your profession can sometimes be a hard and difficult process. It requires days and nights of working consistently hard to be better than what you were yesterday. It requires not giving up when all of your experiences seem to be pushing you to quit. It is because of these challenges ...

David Dobrik Married Liza Koshy for One Month  Inside His Family and Relationships David Dobrik is a YouTube sensation who has garnered fame not just for his vlogs but his love life too. Given his career as a YouTuber, his channel is one place where he shares his romantic escapades. With a cute boyish look like his, this Slovakian young man is definitely a good catch, and not ...

Merrell Twins Bio  Ethnicity, Parents & Boyfriend One of the beautiful things about modern life is social media. As rudimentary as it might seem, it could turn out to be the greatest thing that would be invented in the next 50 years because of its impact on human life. Very few tools have revolutionized human behavior and culture as much as social ...

Who Is Bunny Meyer, Is She Married & What Is Her Net Worth? Bunny Meyer is a YouTube celebrity who has amassed over 8.8 million subscribers with 1.5 million viewers on her channel. She is popularly known as Grav3yardgirl and is one of the highest-paid YouTubers in the world. She initially started out as a fashion designer and later chose the path of a YouTuber. Grav3yardgirl has used her knowledge on fashion, makeup, ...

Ninja  Inside The Life of The American YouTuber and Internet Personality Ninja is a talented video game player known for his mastery of Fortnite and other seemingly difficult games he plays with ease. The video gamer made a career out of what is ordinarily the hobby of many people and has since then amassed a huge online following. Find out about him here, including the controversies that ...

What Is Eva Gutowskis True Sexuality and How Did She Rise So Fast As an Influencer? Ever since Eva Gutowski joined YouTube in 2011, it has been an interesting journey for her, moving from one milestone to the other. Backed by an army of young women and teenage girl fans known as Evanators, she has risen to become one of the most-talked-about personalities in the digital stratosphere. She has also leveraged ...

Emma Chamberlain Biography  Age, Height & Net Worth Before now, people in the entertainment industry could only achieve popularity after many years of dedication and hard work but since social media came into the scene, massive success and overnight popularity became possible. That is the story of Emma Chamberlain who encountered fame as a fifteen-year-old. Emma is one of the many young people who became ...

Anna Akana  Ethnicity, Boyfriend & Net Worth There is a new crop of YouTubers known by their different contents with a very strong uniqueness that stands every one of them out, some upload video games, some fashion while some others have comedy video contents to showcase on their channels. Anna Akana has used her platform to showcase her comedy contents to the ...

Revealing Truths About Lilly Singhs Ethnic Background, Family and Her Relationship With Yousef Erakat Lilly Singh is an Indian-Canadian YouTube personality, actress, and comedian also known as Superwoman. She kicked off her YouTube career in 2010 with the launch of her channel IISuperwomanII and followed it up with a vlog channel in 2011. This paved the way for her fame and success which led to a world tour. The ...

Who Is Andrea Constand, Is She Married and What Is Her Connection With Bill Cosby? Many people got sexually molested but could not voice out due to the stigma victims suffer and what will become of them thereafter. Very few of the victims danm every consequence to seek justice and bring the perpetrator to the book, like Andrea Constand. She never got any media buzz, not until her friend cum molester; ...

Who Is Lazarbeam (Lannan Eacott)? Here Are Facts You Need To Know Lannan Eacott became a person of interest after his YouTube channel, LazarBeam pulled him to the limelight. Initially, he started with uploads of Madden Challenge videos before deciding to build his own channel in January 2015. Within the space of three years, his YouTube channel had gathered over 7 million loyal subscribers. Today, he has not ...

Puzzling Facts About Wengies YouTube Success and More About Her Fiance Among the many YouTubers who have succeeded in winning the hearts of millions of people is Wengie. She is a Chinese-Australian YouTube personality, vlogger, singer, and voice actress. Wengie is famous for a lot of things, from her simple life hacks, DIYs, craft ideas to fun experiments, tricks and pranks. Her content portfolio also includes hair tutorials, diet & fitness tips, lookbooks, ...

Is Jeffree Star A Billionaire and How Much Does He Make On YouTube? If looks can be deceptive then theres no other person who proves this maxim better than Jeffree Star. A quick look at Stars pictures would likely leave you wondering whether or not to tag him a male or female. But who says being controversial has to be a curse? For Star, his looks have caught ...

The Place of Rosanna Pansinos Career Hats In Her Rise To Fame and Facts About Her Personal Life There are a few phrases that could summarize Rosanna Pansinos rise to fame. None of them can do it better than the famous axiom, no knowledge is lost. Her popularity YouTube comes out of her foray into other professions, specifically acting. Although acting now occupies one of the major professional hats in Rosannas resume, it was ...

Muselk (Elliott Watkins) Biography  Age, Girlfriend and Net Worth The new and best in-thing in terms of career is video gaming and we have over time seen young men and women make massive income from an activity that was purportedly designed to serve as a hobby or a relaxation activity. One of such individuals is the Australian-born YouTube Celebrity and Twitch streamer, Muselk, whose ...

PopularMMOs Biography: 5 Interesting Facts You Need To Know We have over the years seen social media millionaires, especially on the YouTube social platform. These celebrities cum millionaires have made names for themselves after carving out niches on the internet, and a typical example of one of such exciting media personality on the YouTube is American Minecraft gamer and YouTube star, PopularMMOs whose channel ...

Jason Nash Once Married Marney Hochman  What To Know About His Ex-Wife and Kids The now-defunct video-sharing app Vine was the path that led Jason Nash to fame. With it, he built an audience of over two million followers, which he parlayed into a significant YouTube career. That move has seen him become one of the most popular personalities on the internet, with the cash income to go with ...

Where Does Dantdm Live? What Do We Know About His Net Worth, Wife and Brother? Most parents buy video games for their kids to occupy their time leisure, while other parents frown at their kids when they play video games. Despite the disparity, every parent would be proud of their child if he/she eventually turns a celebrity or millionaire through playing video games like Dantdm. Biography of Dantdm Dantdm was born Daniel ...

LaurDIY  Biography: 5 Facts You Need To Know About The YouTuber LaurDIY is the YouTube channel of Lauren Riihimaki which she created on December 1, 2011, when she was still a college undergrad with the sole aim of giving Do It Yourself (DIY) as well as practical fashion and beauty tips to her followers. She has used the channel to establish herself as a YouTube personality ...

Lachlan Ross Power  Bio And Family Life Of Australian The YouTube Star It is amazing the varied sources of income that the internet has made possible in this day and age. Internet fame can get its holder a whole lot of monetary and social benefits, but it must be noted that it does not come easy or cheap. For those who desire fame, content is the sacrifice ...

Alfie Deyes  Bio and Net Worth: Everything You Need To Know Alfie Deyes is one internet personality you definitely would like to know about. He boasts of over 10 million subscribers on three of his YouTube channels and has three bestseller books to his name. He is probably the most renowned young personality on YouTube today and his vlogging empire continues to grow by the day. ...

Colleen Ballingers Love Story With Husband Erik Stocklin and How Much She Is Worth Now Colleen Ballinger is an American comedian and YouTuber who is a very funny, adventurous, and highly talented woman. She is also an actress, singer, and writer. Collen is widely known for her work on YouTube where she posts content on her channel, Miranda Sings. The comedian has gained many subscribers over the years and has ...

Who Are The Dude Perfect Members and How Much Are They Worth? Entertainment in the 21st century can be digested in many forms and with platforms like YouTube, the creators and purveyors of entertainment have been democratized. Today, one of the most popular platforms to exhibit ones creative talents is YouTube, even though there are other platforms like Twitter, Facebook, who suffer in comparison to YouTube because ...

Who Is Rudy Mancuso, What Is His Earning Power and What Do We Know About His Girlfriend? Rudy Mancuso started his internet journey on Vine. He would later transition to YouTube where he solidified his place among the internets most beloved comedic creators. He is now regarded as one of the renowned internet personalities in the world, with a presence in mainstream TV and film projects like Comedy Centrals Drunk History and ...

Vsauce (Michael Stevens) Biography and Net Worth: All You Need To Know The advent of YouTube and the internet as a whole revolutionized how human beings consume information. With each passing year, the percentage of learning that is done in a traditional classroom decrease as a seismic shift to internet-based learning happens in our education industry. From open courses online to YouTube classes and videos, there are ...

How did Jake Paul Make His YouTube Big Break and Who is His Wife? One of the most interesting Social Media personalities of the 21st century is the young and popular Jake Paul whose elder brother is the famed Vine star, Logan Paul. Jake has utilized the power of the internet to bring himself to the limelight with a channel named JakePaulProductions that has amassed up to six billion ...

5 Facts You Need To Know About Reaction Time (Tal Fishman)  The American YouTuber Before 2015, the leading meaning of reaction time was the amount of time it takes to respond to a stimulus, until Tal Fishman started his channel, Reaction Time on YouTube and the dominant meaning changed. Today, a google search of Reaction Time would deliver Tal Fishmans videos and YouTube channel link with a few physics ...

Grace Helbig  Net Worth, Boyfriend and Family Life of The YouTuber Grace Helbig is an American internet personality, comedian, actress, and writer. She became popular due to her daily vlog series, DailyGrace, which ran on My Damn Channel from 2008 to 2013. Helbig is also popular for her own indie series on YouTube, ItsGrace, which she launched in 2014. Her vlogs which feature random stuff such as ...

Mark Wiens Bio  Ethnicity, Wife and Parents Food is a great way to connect with people. We all love to eat, if not for the pleasure of food, the satisfaction of quenching hunger, and the very process of providing and sharing that food is part of the strongest bonds that bind humanity together. Maybe it is our historical connection to food, where ...

Is Filthy Frank Dead, What Happened To Him and How Much Is He Worth? As George Kusunoki Miller, he was a nobody. However, as Filthy Frank, George was one of the most famous internet personalities on the planet. The Filthy Frank Show, a sketch series on his YouTube channel, TVFilthyFrank, was one of the platforms most influential creations. He is the reason a crazy dance song, Harlem Shake, made it ...

CaptainSparklez Bio  Net Worth, House and Cars of The Famous YouTuber Sometimes, what society wants from its citizens is quite different from what the citizens want for themselves. This is evident in the life and career of video blogger and American YouTube personality, Jordan Maron famous for his YouTube channel CaptainSparklez. He dropped out of school after discovering his talent in playing an online game called Minecraft. ...

Who is Simply Nailogical (Cristine Rotenberg)? Here are Facts You Must Know Canadian Youtube personality, Simply Nailogical (Cristine Rotenberg) originally started out polishing and designing nails even before it became a trendy culture in the social media. Simply Nailogica started out her showbiz career in her early days as a child actress, acting in commercials for game and toy companies. Aside from acting, she is blogger, vlogger, specializing ...

5 Interesting Facts You Need To Know About Huda Beauty In the world of entrepreneurship, it is interesting when an individual has a mentor who he/she looks up to, this yield more productivity on the part of the individual. The iconic and rich American beautician and makeup artist Huda Kattan nicknamed Heida is the founder of the Huda Beauty blog which is number one Instagram beauty blog ...

Is Dino MasterChef Gay? Details About His Ethnicity, Girlfriend, Where He Is Now Food, for the better part of the early years of human life, was nothing more than what we needed for survival. There was no artistry or curation to the method of cooking. The scarcity of food left no room for artistic expression until we figured out agriculture and we could make as much as we ...

Who Is Gabbie Hanna And How Did She Become Famous? As the world shifts to digital media and depends more and more on streaming services for its news and entertainment content, YouTubers have become one of the leading creators in the new media world. Their understanding of the online audience: how to create, maintain, and increase followers, are all handy skills that have primed them ...

Jacksepticeye  Height, Girlfriend & Net Worth Jacksepticeye is a YouTuber and actor who gained popularity with a series of gaming videos he uploads on his channel to the delight of millions of his subscribers. He is Known primarily for his comic video game series titled Lets Play and his vlogs. His channel was formerly ranked 46th in the list of most subscribed ...

Chris Heria Personal Details: About His Wife, Height & Ethnicity Background In this generation, keeping fit has become one of the major criteria for being hale and hearty. In fact, most occupations these days are majorly concerned with ones body mass, weight and looks. Unlike the past where most people have to register in a gym to keep fit, social media has made it quite easy ...

Everything You Need To Know About Game Grumps Gaming is becoming incredibly popular on YouTube these days with game vloggers make millions of dollars out of them yearly. One of the most popular up-coming gaming YouTube channels is Game Grumps. The Lets Play series was created in 2012 and celebrated its fifth anniversary on July 18th, 2017. In six years of its existence, the ...

Daithi De Nogla Biography, Girlfriend and Net Worth YouTube has created an avenue for many to make wealth and become famous from the comfort of their homes while having fun. Many have built a career out of the platform, uploading numerous videos that have earned them the admiration of viewers across the globe. For Daithi De Nogla, he is loved for his humorous commentary on ...

Does Phoebe Robinson Have A Boyfriend or Husband and What Do We Know About Her Family? Phoebe Robinson is a New York-based comedian, writer, and actress. She is best known as the co-creator and co-host of the WNYC Studios podcast 2 Dope Queens. Just like some other female comedians, she never had any original plans of becoming a stand-up comedian even though, according to her, she took a class on a whim at Carolines on Broadway. After ...

Who Are Lex and Alana from Listed Sisters? What Is Their Ethnicity & Is the Show Cancelled? America is a country built on diversity. Everywhere you look all over the country, a countless number of immigrants or children of immigrants have become an integral part of the fabric of the country. From entertainment to business, immigrants are creating a niche for themselves and climbing to the summit of their respective professions. One ...

Riveting Facts About Danielle Lombard And What She Is Best Known For The American entertainment industry is one that provides many avenues for aspiring hopefuls to express their talents and become famous. From films to television shows and game shows, there is no shortage of ways for men and women who desire fame to pursue and earn it in the United States of America. Another tested medium ...

Unearthing New Details About The YouTube Success And Personal Life of Alex Burriss of Wassabi Productions Wildly hilarious and truly audacious, Alex Wassabi is an American YouTuber who has become a very popular face on the video-sharing platform after having garnered millions of subscribers over the years by keeping people glued to his channel with his witty parody video releases. If you have always loved parody videos, there is every chance ...

Everything You Need To Know About H2O Delirious H2O Delirious whose full birth name is reported to be Jonathan Gormon Dennis has successfully kept himself mystified by hiding his face behind the masks leaving his loyal fans speculating who he really is for many years. The American YouTube star is easily identified by the Jason Mask Style with make-up which he wears on his ...

Who Is HolaSoyGerman and What Happened To Him? German Garmendia has certainly seen it all when it comes to internet success. His channels, HolaSoyGerman and JuegaGerman are in the top twenty most subscribed channel on YouTube. The Chilean YouTuber found a way to tap into one of the worlds greatest inventions and make a living from it. He has been able to build ...

Who Are Glenn Becks Family, What Is His Net Worth And What Happened To Him? The American political commentary space is filled with different personalities. A few of them, through their rhetoric, charisma, and resources have been able to build a large following of men and women who listen to them for insight and direction for various political and social issues in the United States. For Conservatives, the story is ...

Following Charissa Thompsons Rise Through The Ranks Of Sports Casting and All About Her Boyfriend Superstar TV host and sportscaster, Charissa Thompson, has been hailed as one of the highest-profile women journalists in America, and the reason is there for all to see. She has worked for popular establishments such as Versus, Yahoo! Sports, ESPN, GSN, and Big Ten Network. She currently hosts the popular pre-game show, Fox NFL Kickoff, ...

Is Chris Kattan Gay or Does He Have A Wife? What Is His Net Worth? Chris Kattan is a popular American comedian and actor. He has appeared in several comic movies and TV series such as The Middle, A Night at the Roxbury and Bunnicula. Kattan is, however, most popular for his six-year stint as a cast member of Saturday Night Live. During his time on the legendary show, he ...

Everything You Should Know About the Rise of Insta Star Claire Abbott and Why She Gave It All Up A lot of young Americans have shot into the limelight for uploading different kinds of videos on YouTube. Some of these young stars include Connor Franta, Desi Perkins, Emma Chamberlain, the Dolan Twins (Ethan and Grayson), and Claire Abbott. The latter became a social media celebrity for uploading sexy bikini pictures of herself on social media. Apart from ...

5 Facts You Need To Know About The YouTube Channel  h3h3Productions H3h3Productions is a YouTube channel that specializes on Comic responses or reactions of other contents or trendy stories. The celebrity couple that created the channel has over time racked up sizable views for their commentaries and contents. Even though they had their own fair share of copyright cases, thankfully they scored an unprecedented victory in all ...

Lilypichu Bio  Height, Brother and Love Story With Albert SleightlyMusical Chang Like most popular internet celebrities, Lilypichu is one of those Twitch streamers who spend their lives on camera. From daydreaming about the possibility of becoming a full-time professional streamer, she grew to live out her dreams on the popular live streaming platform where people play games, make crafts, and showcase their day-to-day activities. Given the rise of ...

KSI  What To Know About His Girlfriend, Brother  Deji Olatunji & Net Worth Assuredly, when Internet inventors Vint Cerf and Bob Khan created the technological masterpiece, they probably did not know how massive the creation will be harnessed by many for different purposes including as a platform for earning money through content creation. One of such person who smiles to the bank regularly today for spending time creating ...

The Interesting Progression and Highlights of Carrie Keagans Career as a Host and Actress Carrie Keagan has garnered huge fame through her various stints on television. She is not just your regular TV host but one with a difference. Keagan has hosted several high profile events and TV shows, including VH1s Big Morning Buzz Live and Fox News Channels Red Eye with Greg Gutfeld. However, not many know she ...

The Gist On Elise Jordans Marriages And Her Rise To Prominence Political commentaries tend to be boring when it is handled by someone who does not have a knack for it. However, when you see the likes of Elise Jordan run the same commentary, you will have a lot of reasons to look forward to watching her again as the journalist is well-versed in the field ...

What Is Timmy Thick Best Known For and How Successful Is The Star? Thanks to the internet, many people whose talents would have ordinarily gone unnoticed have become famous. A very good example of this modern-day internet celebrity is Timmy Thick, an American social media star. He became popular on Instagram due to his penchant for posting raunchy pictures of himself. He also often posted videos of himself ...

What Does Heather Storm Do For a Living and Who Is She Dating? Reality Television is a great way to make a name for oneself as well as amass a fortune. Heather Storm can attest to this as she is one of those who have made a name and earned a lot from reality TV. She made her name appearing on shows like Car Fanatics, Awesome Autos, and, ...

Matt Carriker Biography  Net Worth, Wife & Height Unlike your regular veterinary doctor next door, Matt Carriker chose to spice up his noble profession with the unusual. Though he is known to many as a medical practitioner, Carriker is better renowned as a YouTube star and an animal lover. Having recorded huge successes on his various YouTube channels, the vet doctors name and ...

Jillian Mele of Fox News Career Achievements, Husband & Measurements There are quite a good number of presenters on radio and television who listeners and viewers may never wish to miss any of their shows because of their sensational golden voice, beauty or the special way or artistry they anchor their shows. Jillian Mele is one of such. She has been at the top of ...

Who is Gillian Turner of Fox News? Her Fiance or Husband and Net Worth Gillian Turner is well-known as a news correspondent for Fox News Channel but before she became a TV personality, she built an intimidating resume working for different institutions, including the American government. She served in different capacities at the White House National Security Council during the administration of former US Presidents  George W. Bush and Barack Obama. ...

Gloria Govan Bio  Age, Ethnicity & Height Even as Gloria Govan is famous as an American actress, author, a TV host, and reality television star, shes more popular as the wife of the former NBA player, Matt Barnes. She became known after appearing on the Florida version of the reality television series, Basketball Wives and later, Basketball Wives: LA  after Matt was traded to the Los Angeles Lakers. Sadly, ...

Michael Fishmans Interesting Start as an Actor and Why He Divorced His Wife of Many Years When one door closes, another one opens. As silly as that axiom may seem, it is the story of the resurgence of Michael Fishman, who plays D.J Conner on the popular show, Roseanne. Having played the character for several years as a child actor into his teenage years; when the show originally ended, Michael did ...

Who Is October Gonzalez  Tony Gonzalezs Wife? All You Need To Know October Gonzalez is a popular American TV host and media personality. Additionally, she is also a model. Gonzalez has hosted several TV shows such as Beat Shazam, Entertainment Tonight, and Rachel Ray. She has also featured in several reality TV shows. Gonzalezs fame is not just due to her profession but also because of her ...

Who Is Tony Berlin  Harris Faulkners Husband: His Children and Family Facts Tony Berlin is a popular American media guru. He has variously worked as a reporter, anchor, and producer for some of the biggest TV networks in America. They include CNN, CBS, NBC, and ABC (where he hosted the popular Good Morning America). Berlin has now diversified into public relations and owns his own PR firm. ...

The Progression of Gianna Tobonis Journalism Career and Details About Her Marriage to Kyle Buckley Gianna Toboni may not be your ideal newscaster but her unusual reporting is what made her a household name. The American journalist is renowned for her hard-hitting and authentic reportage. A motivator and activist for total press freedom, Gianna loves to explore pervasive cultural issues. Not only does this unique and ambitious journalist call for all ...

Dog The Bounty Hunters Family Including Details of His Late Wife and Kids Popularly known as Dog, a name which he got from the television series, Dog The Bounty Hunter, Duane Chapman, an American bounty hunter, and one-time bail bondsman, went from being convicted for a felony to being a reality TV star. He was brought to the limelight following the capture of the convicted criminal, Andrew Luster in 2003 and this eventually made ...

Vicky Karayiannis, Chris Cornells Wifes Bio, Children and Family The world of showbiz is made up of different people who serve different roles, and function in a variety of capacities, and one of the most important people are those in the background. Publicists are undoubtedly one of these background people yet they are vital to the life and fame of most of our favorite ...

Joe Rogan Has A Step-Daughter and 2 Other Kids With Wife Jessica Ditzel  Meet His Family Joe Rogan is a popular American stand-up comedian and TV host. His journey to stardom began in the late 80s and has seen him host several shows, the most popular is the game show titled Fear Factor. The exciting show dares contestants to face some of their greatest fears and embark on challenging stunts. The ...

Josh Gates and Wife Hallie Gnatovich Have 2 Kids But Who Has the Higher Net Worth? Best known for his explorations and adventures, Josh Gates, is a television presenter with a voracious appetite for seeing the world and the beauties in it. Some of that beauty, however, is in his home, in the form of two children he shares with his wife, Hallie Gnatovich. Not excluded is their marriage which has lasted ...

Holly Sonders Wiki, Plastic Surgery & Why She Divorced Her Husband  Erik Kuselias After trying everything within her capacity to have a low key wedding, Holly Sonders was drawn to the public because of her husbands controversy at his workplace. Well, the two are rumored to be divorced but the article below will give more light on how true these rumors are. Meanwhile, Holly Sonders is yet to ...

Nadeska Alexis Bio  Age, Boyfriend & Net Worth Journalism is one diverse profession that allows the practitioners to choose their area of specialty, build a career on it by reporting the truth and facts which in the long run will distinguish them as deserving commendation and recognition among their peers. Some choose to specialize in political journalism, while to others it is sports ...

Media Platforms Charlamagne Tha God Has Explored and All The Controversies He Has Courted Charlamagne Tha God is an American on-air personality, radio presenter, and more recently, author. He is popularly known as a co-host on New York radios nationally syndicated show, The Breakfast Club, a program he has been hosting alongside DJ Envy and Angela Yee since 2010. However, his early years had no connection to his current career ...

A Look At Jimmy Fallons Net Worth and Family Including His Wife & Kids Sometimes, a childs passion for something is a pointer to what he/she would become in the future. As a child, Jimmy Fallon was literally obsessed with watching the late-night comedy program, Saturday Night Live (SNL). Then, his parents would tape the clean parts for him to watch and later, he and his sister would re-enact sketches from the ...

Kay Adams Biography  Does The Sportscaster Have A Husband or Boyfriend? When you hear the phrase sports enthusiast, women are hardly the first group that comes to mind. Well, thats changing pretty fast. Especially with the rise of female sports analysts and broadcasters like Kay Adams who is famed for knowing more about sports than most men do. And why not, shes paid handsomely for it ...

Ben Shapiros Family  Meet His Wife, Kids and Sister Who is Popular for the Wrong Reasons A multi-talented man, Ben Shapiro is a man of controversial nature, an attribute that has made him an unusual public figure. An intellectual whose career path was clearly defined even before he became a man, the Jewish conservative commentator has always had his way with words. He became popular by sharing his critical and often ...

QVC Shawn Killinger Bio  Husband, Net Worth & Facts To Know Shawn Killinger is a prominent TV personality who has worked her way to the top. Though not initially a journalist by training, she defied the odds and today has established herself as a household name, as well as, worked alongside some industry legends. More than just being a reporter, newscaster, and anchor, heres all you ...

Liv Lo  Dissecting the Ethnicity, Parents and Personal Life of Henry Goldings Wife While many are aware that Liv Lo is the better half to Crazy Rich Asians star Henry Golding, only a few understand why his beautiful wife appears increasingly endearing to fans. A former model turned TV personality, and fitness star, Liv has an impressive resume which when combined with that of her statuesque spouse is considered a perfect ...

Stpeach Age, Husband and Other Facts About The Twitch Streamer Lisa Vannatta, famously known by her online alias, STPeach is a Canadian video game streamer cum vlogger who has garnered fame through her appearances on different video-sharing/social networking platforms such as Youtube, Instagram, Twitch, Reddit, and Twitter. The beautiful lady got her career to a start in August 2015 when she joined the live streaming video platform, Twitch. She rose to ...

Insights into Seth Meyers Wife, Family and What His Net Worth Is Celebrities are mostly remembered and known for the work they do. For Seth Meyers, his career as a comedian, writer, actor, TV host, and producer is his biggest identifier. He was on Saturday Night Live SNL show as a head writer and cast member for more than ten years during which he built a reputation ...

Who Is Jessica Gadsden  Age, Net Worth & All About Charlamagne tha Gods Wife Jessica Gadsden is an American fitness coach as well as a personal trainer. She is better known as the spouse of popular American media personality, Charlamagne Tha God. Charlamange Tha God is a well-known TV and radio personality in the U.S. He has featured in several shows (both on the radio and TV) and is ...

Who Is Collins Tuohy  Michael Ohers sister ? Her Wedding, Husband & Net Worth Collins Tuohy is an American entrepreneur, philanthropist, blogger, and social media personality. She is also better known as the adoptive sister of NFL player, Michael Oher, whose life story inspired the Hollywood blockbuster The Blind Side. The Blind Side tells the true life story of Oher who grew up in an impoverished background consisting of a ...

Eye-Popping Facts About The Personal Life And Career Success Of Sportscaster Heidi Watney Heidi Watney is a media personality who has created a niche for herself as a sportscaster. Starting out as a radio presenter, the brilliant young lady has gone on to work for several prominent sports networks, and currently, she is with the MLB. The sportscaster is also known to have been an avid sports lady right ...

Marty Lagina Bio  Siblings (Martina and Rick Lagina), Net Worth and Wife Marty Lagina is an American engineer and businessman who has risen to fame as a reality TV star. This is thanks to his involvement in the adventure TV series, The Curse of Oak Island. The Curse of Oak Island is a long-running TV series which airs on the history channel. The show aims to solve ...

Is Jordan Schlansky Just A Character or a Real Life Person and What Does He Do? The world of late-night television is an interesting one. Shows during that time are geared towards giving viewers comedic relief from a long day at work through interviews and comedy sketches. The often charismatic host of this show requires the balancing talent of a producer whose primary job is to deliver great episodes. It is ...

Heres How Wealthy Jimmy Kimmel Is From All The Phases of His Career, Marriages and Sons Health Jimmy Kimmel is a renowned late-night talk show host known for his charm, wit, and the A-list guests he features on his show. As the host of Jimmy Kimmel Live! On ABC, Jimmy has been serving comedy to television viewers for years which played a pivotal role in launching him into mainstream fame and enabled ...

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This release addresses the issues of many of our existing clients working in a Citrix environment, who are currently getting ready for upgrading to Windows Server 2016.

MALMO, SWEDEN, October 13, 2016 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Always striving to improve by following client demands and signals from the market, the latest edition of the business project viewing solution, Seavus Project Viewer 14, comes with full support for Windows Server 2016 and SharePoint Server 2016. These new features enable project teams to work in a server environment of their choosing, as well as independence of the preferred Microsoft Project version being able to open project plans from all versions of MS Project.



Seavus Project Viewer 14 users working in Citrix environments can include the software in their planning process for the upcoming upgrade to Windows Server's latest version. Upgrading on its previous release, where support for Windows 10 was included, the team behind Seavus Project Viewer has enabled support for the newest server variant of the Windows operating system as well.



Moreover, users can work seamlessly with Microsoft's most widely used platform for file sharing and collaboration - SharePoint Server 2016, being able to store mpp project plans for quick team delivery. With the new version of SharePoint Server 2016, project managers can organize their project environment for better archiving project milestones and all project files that are uploaded to SharePoint Server 2016 can be successfully opened by Seavus Project Viewer 14. Seavus Project Viewer 14 also comes with a series of improvements connected to the import of Microsoft Excel XML files as well as several graphical user interface improvements.



"This release addresses the issues of many of our existing clients working in a Citrix environment, who are currently getting ready for upgrading to Windows Server 2016. Our surveys have shown that many of our clients are using SharePoint Server as a document management and collaboration tool, and thus we have included this feature to optimize their project plan sharing process, as soon as they adopt the latest version." - Ljubisha Mladenovski, Product Analyst working on Seavus Project Viewer.



To learn more about Seavus Project Viewer 14 and try the free trial, visit: https://www.seavusprojectviewer.com/



About the company:

Seavus is a software development and consulting company with a proven track-record in providing successful enterprise-wide business solutions. The company has over 650+ IT experts worldwide and offers a variety of products and service options, successfully covering the European and US market from several offices in the world. Their expanding portfolio covers: BSS/OSS, CRM, CEM, Business Intelligence solutions, ALM, embedded programming, business and consumer products, mobile and gaming solutions, managed services, as well as custom development, consultancy and resourcing. The Seavus portfolio includes over 3,500 customers, including leading worldwide telecoms and handset manufacturers, organizations from the banking and finance industry, consumer electronics, technology, education, government, and health, to name but a few. Seavus is a globally authorized master distributor for the software product family Seavus Project Viewer.



# # #
Oct 13, 2016 | By Alec

In hindsight it was inevitable, but we are still amazed by the fact that desktop 3D printers have already reached the sub $250 range  seriously bringing 3D printing within reach of every single consumer. Even children have become serious commercial targets, as XYZprinting is underlining with their da Vinci miniMaker, which is now available. Intended for classrooms, it gives STEM-minded teachers, parents and students an affordable beginner option that can teach kids of all ages about the basics of 3D printing.

Chinese company XYZprinting (owned by the Kinpo Group) is especially known for their basic 3D printers in the sub $500 range, but they have been branching out in both directions this year  unveiling even cheaper and more expensive and more capable machines, including da Vinci Mini 3D printer at CES at the beginning of the year. But one thing seems clear: the largest player in the desktop 3D printing industry, with an HQ in California, is keeping its eye firmly fixed on classrooms, home users and small businesses.

This was already underlined by last months release of the $290 da Vinci Mini, while this even cheaper $259 da Vinci miniMaker is completely focused on the classroom. Fully geared towards STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts and math) projects, it is now available in the online store of XYZprinting and on Amazon.com.

However, the differences between the miniMaker and the da Vinci Mini are small. When stacked side-by-side, youll see that they have the same 15.8 x 13.2 x 14.3-inch chassis (30 percent smaller than the da Vinci Jr. 1.0) and the same 5.9-cubic inch build volume. Both also feature an open print bed that quickly disperses heat, and both are geared towards PLA. The only significant hardware differences are that the miniMaker has a USB connection, while the da Vinci Mini relies on hassle-free Wi-Fi.

The real difference can be seen on the software front, as the miniMaker is completely focused on STEM-related projects and is auto-calibrated to make classroom use as appealing as possible  kids can just jump right into 3D printing. Teachers, parents and students are always looking for new and unique ways to make teaching and learning core skills fun for everyone, said CEO Simon Shen. Our new da Vinci miniMaker is not only affordably priced to fit school and household budgets, but it will help encourage, expand, and shape the cognitive skills and abilities of the next generation of engineers, designers, and creators.

At the same time, its developers have incorporated a few more educational features that spur creativity and increasing difficulty levels. For a purchase also provides access to XYZprintings Educational Ecosystem, which includes a free 3D printing curricula exchange platform for all grades K12; the XYZmaker CAD program for very young users, and a 3D gallery including more than 4,500 different (educational) 3D printable objects.

Whats more, the 3D printers 5.9" x 5.9" x 5.9" build volume should be perfect for classrooms, while only the non-toxic PLA filament can be 3D printed on the miniMaker 3D printer. The 3D printer is supported both by Windows 7 and above (for PC) and Mac OSX 10.8 and above (for Mac)  giving teachers plenty of flexibility. With these resources, educators can incorporate 3D printing into their existing curriculum, said Ian Snyder, a physical and life science teacher from Pennsylvania high school who has been using 3D printers extensively. Make sure to incorporate creativity into your class. Students have trouble returning to their roots of exploring how things work, he advises.

At the same time, XYZprinting is releasing a companion product with the XYZprinting 3D Scanner Pro. Capable of capturing full-sized scans of large objects, including people, and fully compatible with XYZprintings editing software, it could be a fantastic tool for making educational 3D printing more interactive and fun. The new 3D scanner will be released at the end of next week, on October 21 ($249 as well). One thing seems clear: students of all ages are prime XYZprinting targets.

Posted in 3D Printer

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George Soros in the New York Review of Books:

The world is witnessing a humanitarian catastrophe of historic proportions. It is happening in Syria. It is being perpetrated by the president of Russia, Vladimir Putin, in support of his protege, Bashar al-Assad. Russian planes are bombing the civilian population of Aleppo, the countrys second-largest city, to assist Syrian government forces that are attempting to take control of rebel-held areas of the city.

The combined assault has, among other things, killed hundreds of people and wounded over a thousand, put the citys remaining hospitals out of commission, and deprived the population of drinking water.

President Putin is moving aggressively to exploit the three months between now and the January 20 US presidential inauguration, based on a callous political calculation.

As The New York Times puts it:

Mr. Putin calculates that the departing President Obama will be unlikely to intervene in the escalating Syrian conflict and a new American president who might consider a tougher policy will not yet be in office. Putin is in a hurry before the American elections, said Nikolai V. Petrov, a political scientist in Moscow. The next American president will face a new reality and will be forced to accept it.

Other articles in The New York Times and elsewhere have vividly depicted the suffering of the people of Aleppo and the heroic efforts of the doctors and civilians like White Helmets who are risking their lives to help them. When the facts are fully established, Putins bombing of Aleppo will be viewed as among the modern worlds most egregious war crimes.

More here.
Hermione Hoby at Vice:

When I met Emily Witt six years ago, I felt that touch of vertigo that comes when you realize you're in the presence of a highly sophisticated and committed mind. Witt is an alumnus of Brown, the Columbia School of Journalism, and Cambridge. So she did not strike me as the sort of person who would get high and have sex in the orgy dome of Burning Man with a person she'd just met. I'd made this assumption because I am, like most people, susceptible to normative narratives of what a hyper-educated, somewhat reserved young woman does and does not do. Nowhere are those narratives more fraught than in the realm of sex and dating.

In Future Sex, published this month by Farrar, Strauss and Giroux, Witt interrogates both our cultural myths around feminine sexuality and the vanguards of sexual experimentation seeking to dismantle them. Her serious, radical book places her in a lineage that started with writers like the late feminist critic Ellen Willis, and, yes, Joan Didion herself. Didion didn't do acid in Haight-Ashbury, but Witt, who, for example, details attending the live filming of a hardcore pornography series, is participant as well as observer. Her progressiveness is not just of politics, but of practice. The result is this wise, honest, and necessary book. We met for coffee last week in Brooklyn to talk about Future Sex and how to approach writing about female sexuality.

More here.
Jared Keller in Smithsonian:

Friday, October 7, may have been among the strangest, most tumultuous days in American political history. No fewer than three events occurred that in any other campaign would have shocked the nation. Most infamously, The Washington Post released a devastating 2005 video showing Trump bragging about sexually assaulting women: When you're a star they let you do it. Moments later, Wikileaks released the transcripts of some of the Wall Street speeches delivered by Hillary Clinton, which had been a contentious point during the Democratic primary. This was all just hours after Trump had claimed that the Central Park Five were guilty, even though the suspects in the 1989 case were exonerated through DNA evidence and the true perprator has confessed. It was a day of October Surprises after the previous week had already had a few of them, including revelations from The New York Times that the Republican may have avoided paying federal taxes for some 18 years. The term October Surprise was coined by a 1980s political operative but has ever since been appropriated by the media to describe unexpected political disasters in the twilight hours of the campaign. Sometimes they are intentionally positioned by political opponents to impact voters, often days before they head to the polls. They arent always successful, but theyve become a staple of modern politics. Though the term was coined by Reagan campaign manager and future CIA director William Casey during the 1980 campaign, the October surprise enjoyed a long, unusual history even before it entered American political vernacular:

2012: The Storm Before the Storm

Last elections October surprise wasnt the result of political scheming or well-timed investigative reporting, but a freak of nature. Hurricane Sandy, which devastated communities up and down the East Coast in the closing days of October, had two important effects: It took swing states New Hampshire and Virginia off the campaign trail for a week or two and gave President Obama the opportunity to appear presidential while responding to a national emergency. The image of then-popular Republican New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie warmly greeting Obama in the aftermath of the storm didnt help either, according to political analysts at the time. While Obama was already on the rebound in the national polls after a mixed performance during the presidential debates, Hurricane Sandy gave him an additional edge days before the election. The rest, as they say, is history.

More here.
At the end of what has been a scandal-ridden, thoroughly exhausting, and emotionally overwhelming presidential campaign, it's hard to believe there's less than a month left until election day. But that doesn't mean the fight is over. Musicians are joining forces to put out one last anti-Trump rallying cry.





As reported by NPR, the San Francisco-based 30 Days, 30 Songsproject is releasing one new, original anti-Trump song each morning at 9am until Election Day. Created by Noise Pop co-founder Jordan Kurland and McSweeney's founder Dave Eggers, the project feature both established and up-and-coming musicians, and each song is accompanied by a statement from the artist and a YouTube video.





Since the project began on October 10th, they've released a new Death Cab for Cutie song called "Million Dollar Loan," a song written from Trump's point of view by Aimee Mann called "Can't You Tell?," and a lyric-driven ode with a dope beat by Bhi Bahman, aptly titled "With Love from Russia."









"Trump is like a horrible car crash with a bad comb-over," says Bhi Bihman in his artist statement. "When he can't be bothered to keep up that bird's nest on his head, he wears a stupid hat that was most definitely made in China. He loves the sound of his own voice, but his breath smells like dog shit. He wants to bring all the glamour of professional wrestling to Washington. But most importantly, and seriously, Trump might be a Manchurian Candidate for Russia. A real comrade to the Kremlin."









"As artists, we are united in our desire to speak out against the ignorant, divisive, and hateful campaign of Donald Trump," the project announced on its website. "We will not be duped by Mr. Trump's rhetorical contortions, by his pandering and lies and false promises. He has shown the content of his character time and time again, and the very fact of his candidacy is a blight on the nation. His words incite hatred and celebrate inequity."







Before the first week is out, project organizers promise new songs from hip-hop trio clipping. (featuring Hamilton star and Oakland native Daveed Diggs), local favorite Thao Nguyen, and a live track from documented Trump haters R.E.M.











You can stream the entire playlist here, and don't forget to vote on November 8th! //30days30songs.com
Where to eat, drink, shop and dance this weekend.





Shop at the Fall Vintage Fashion Faire

WHAT: With over 60 dealers showcasing a variety of women's and men's clothing, jewelry, accessories, textiles, fine linens and more, this vintage fashion faire is a shopaholic's dream. The event features fashion across multiple decades, from the classy Victorian and Art Deco eras to the stylish 40s all the way up through the rockin' 80s. Friday night also includes music, a cocktail bar, and a costume contest, so be sure to show up decked out in your best vintage attireit's a good place to try out your Halloween costume!

WHEN: Friday, Oct. 14, 6-10pm ($10); Saturday, Oct 15, 10am-5pm ($5)

WHERE: 2701 Monarch St. (Alameda), alamedapointantiquesfaire.com





(Courtesy of Uno Dos Tacos)

Enjoy a Free Breakfast Burrito on International Egg Day

WHAT: For one day only Uno Dos Tacos is giving away their house-made breakfast burrito for free to celebrate International Egg Day. Made with fresh eggs, potatoes, cheese, and house-made salsa fresca, there's no better way to celebrate than with this FiDi favorite.

WHEN: Friday, Oct. 14, 8-10am

WHERE: 595 Market Street (Financial District), unodostacos.com





A Sandcastle Building Contest for a Good Cause



WHAT: SF-based nonprofit Leap is hosting its 34th annual Sandcastle Classic to support arts programs in local schools. The family-friendly beach day event includes not only the sandcastle building competition, but also live musical performances, raffles, food trucks, and more. All proceeds will support Leap.

WHEN: Saturday, Oct. 15, 11am-4pm

WHERE: Ocean Beach at Balboa, leapsandcastleclassic.org





Treasure Island Music Festival Celebrates its 10th Anniversary

WHAT: Treasure Island Music Festival is back for its tenth and final year on the island with an eclectic lineup featuring Sigur Ros, Ice Cube, James Blake, Purity Ring, and many, many more. If you wish you'd gotten tickets, it's not too late! Tickets are still available for individual days and the entire weekend. Plus, all tickets include complimentary shuttles back and forth from SF and Oakland, so commuting will be convenient no matter which side of the bay you're coming from.

WHEN: Saturday, Oct. 15 through Sunday, Oct. 16, 11am to midnight; 2-day passes $180, 1-day pass $105

WHERE: Treasure Island, treasureislandfestival.com





Oyster Block Party Takes Over Jack London Square

WHAT: Seafood and beer lovers, rev your engines!On Saturday the Oakland waterfront will be filled with fresh oysters, craft beers and ciders, and local artisans. Local restaurants Lungomare, Chop Bar, Bocanova and Jack's Oyster Bar & Fish House will provide a variety of free oyster dishes along with a raw bar and participating craft breweries include Bison Beer, Magnolia Brewing, Mermitage Brewing, Cleophus Quealy Beer, Mendocino Brewing, Ale Industries, Crooked City Cider and Speakeasy Ales and Lagers.

WHEN: Saturday, Oct. 15, 12-6pm

WHERE: Jack London Square (Oakland), wheretoeat.in





(Courtesy of verucasalt.com)

Veruca Salt's Nina Gordon and Louise Post Perform after a Decade-Long Breakup

WHAT: After a decade apart, indie-rock legends Nina Gordon and Louise Post reunited last year to release a new album, Ghost Notes. Now they're bringing their specific brand of grungy pop to the stage of the JCCSF for a night of 90s nostalgia mixed with some new favorites.

WHEN: Saturday, Oct. 15, 8pm, $28

WHERE: JCCSF: 3200 California St. (Presidio Heights), jccsf.org





LitCrawl Hits the Mission

WHAT: At San Francisco's 12th annual LitCrawl you can enjoy Shakespeare in a park, comedians at a police station, and much more. Download the sched app to navigate the crawl, that way you won't miss anything. For local literary buffs, 7x7 is hosting a pub quiz on Saturday night where you can test your knowledge of Bay Area authors, literary landmarks, and classic novels, hosted by quizmaster Carl Gibbs.

WHEN: Saturday, Oct. 15, 6-9:30pm

WHERE: Mission District, litquake.org





Book Signing and Tasting with Mark Bittman

WHAT: ICYMI, Mark Bittman is a renowned food writer, whose new book, How to Bake Everything, contains more than 2,000 baking recipes and variations to promote experimentation in the kitchen. At Sunday's event you'll have the opportunity to meet Bittman and have your book signed, followed by a tasting of recipes from How to Bake Everything. Try something you love? Purchase some of the yummy treats at Market Hall Bakery to take home.

WHEN: Sunday, Oct. 16, 2-3pm

WHERE: Rockridge Market Hall: 5655 College Ave. (Oakland), rockridgemarkethall.com/events
A local marijuana reporter opens his notebook and shares all the latest gossip and happenings from the San Francisco Bay Area's budding cannabis social scene. Here's what's happening this month.

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Upper Market's posh dispensary, The Apothecariumonce recognizable by the chic black awning and the line out the doorhas moved down the street. On Tuesday morning, the team cut the ribbon on its swanky new digs (well located next door to Whole Foods) with a local political who's who in tow: Supervisor Scott Weiner, former Oakland mayor Jean Quan, and Castro Merchants director Daniel Bergerac were all in attendance.

Inside the Apothecarium's New Market Street Space Previous Next Once just a little gem of a dispensary, the Apothecarium is spreading its legs with comfy furnishings in a bigger, posher new space next door to Whole Foods on Market Street. (Photo: David Downs) Inside the Apothecarium's New Market Street Space Previous Next Please take a seat on one of the plush leather chairs and the budtenders will be right with you. (Photo: David Downs) Inside the Apothecarium's New Market Street Space Previous Next Mark's Corner (Photo: David Downs) Inside the Apothecarium's New Market Street Space Previous Next A sparkly chandelier and seasonal decorative gourds (mofos!) warm up the place. (Photo: David Downs) Inside the Apothecarium's New Market Street Space Previous Next Showing off the merch. (Photo: David Downs)

In an age when the humble dispensary of yore is joining the world of polished retail, the Apothecarium's new space is proof positive that the multimillion-dollar medical pot shop intends to be a tastemaker among the crowd. Having outgrown its five-year-old location a couple blocks up, the dispensary has doubled its size to about 5,000 square-feet. The new address has ample room for a plush and stylish waiting area, a new merchandise island, and even an art gallery, and the whole space gleams from slick details including white marble-tiled countertops and luminescent chandeliers.





"We wanted to create a place where first-time patients can feel comfortable. Oftentimes they're coming to us during one of the hardest times in their lives," said Ryan Hudson, the Apothecarium's cofounder, in short remarks Tuesday.





California's landmark medical marijuana law, Proposition 215, was written just blocks away from the sleek new store, noted Bergerac in his opening day remarksthe audience held back tears as he described how marijuana, obtained through Dolores Park dealers, had helped his partner, Mark, before he finally lost his life to AIDS back in 1991. It was, in fact, San Francisco AIDS patients, suffering the ravages of the disease in the early '90s, who were the first champions of medical marijuana in modern times.





"Cannabis gave him more relief than any of the pills his doctors gave him," Bergerac recalled, his hands shaking. "As I stand in this new store, I am assured that I will never be shamed, I will never be stigmatized, into buying medicine in risky public parks again."







The Apothecarium's small art space is named Mark's Corner in his memory.





The dispensary has long been the terminus on the medical marijuana underground railroad, whereby leading physicians at leading medical centers have clandestinely referred patients to the club for high quality medicinal cannabis. The Apothecarium will formalize that arrangement this month with a new series of physician orientation tours, beginning October 20.





"Get ready for another revolution," said Dr. Floyd Huen, an Apothecarium medical team member and Mayor Quan's husband, who promised to unlock the vast untapped patient base of senior Asian Americans in the region. He said medical cannabis will be used to battle the nation's opioid crisis, and he told the story of an aunt who passed away from complications related to taking too much Motrin for pain.





"She would be alive today," he said, if she had been on medical cannabis for arthritis. Many Asian seniors are homebound and carry a stigma against cannabis, he continued. "Getting this out to our community is a civil rights issue."

Hudson accepts a commendation from Board of Equalization member Fiona Ma. (David Downs)

The club now serves more than 40,000 patients and recently won approvals to open shops in the Marina District and Berkeley, Hudson told us. After surviving bruising permit hearings, the Apothecarium will come to Lombard and Scott Streets in SF and to Shattuck Avenue and Parker Street in Berkeley early next year.





"We're looking forward to opening and dispelling the myths that came with that fight," Ryan said.





Supervisor Weiner called the club "an unbelievably good neighbor," acknowledging the club's donations of hundreds of thousands of dollars to local causes. The Apothecarium also received a commendation from Board of Equalization member Fiona Ma Tuesday.





Over at the sales counter, the Jack Herer flowers looked immaculate. So did the hot, chic, new Pax Bloom pods.





Contact Cannabis Insider with event announcements, tips, notes, and rumors at highsociety@7x7.com. Bay Area cannabis reporter David Downs, is the author of The Medical Marijuana Guidebook (2016) contributing author of Beyond Buds (2014).


Kate Schatz isn't one to wait around. When faced with a messy presidential election, the Alameda-based writer started a local women's political action group. And when she couldn't find any children's books that mirrored the feminist beliefs she wanted to share with her daughter, she wrote them herself. Rad, right?





In an effort to create a book that would appeal to both kids and adults, Schatz teamed up with Berkeley illustrator Miriam Klein Stahl for what would become the first-ever children's title from San Francisco's City Lights Publishers: Rad American Women A-Z. The book, which quickly made the New York Times best sellers list in 2015, shares 26 stories through punchy, one-page biographies and papercut illustrations that pop against bold colors. Now, the newly released Rad Women Worldwide (from Emeryville-based Ten Speed Press) tells 40 new stories of women from 31 countries around the world.





Standouts for the author include the Madres de la Plaza de Mayo of Argentina and Sophie Scholl, a German student who publicly spoke out against the Nazi regime and was executed for treason in 1943 at age 21, but she doesn't play favorites. "Right now I love the ones whose stories, even when they're from a long time ago, are just so relevant with everything that's going on today," Schatz says.





And as rad as she is, you won't find the likes of Amelia Earhart in the pages of either book. "Kids all know a few women," explains Schatz, a former teacher. "The way history is taught, we tend to learn one person who kind of represents an entire movement or time period and then we don't go beyond that." Bucking that trend, Rad Women Worldwide features a few recognizable names such as Frida Kahlo and Malala Yousafzai alongside lesser-known visionaries such as Burmese leader Aung San Suu Kyi and Colombian street artist Bastardilla. From rock stars to polar explorers, the book closes with 250 additional names of the women Schatz couldn't bear to leave out.





The writer's activist efforts have also given rise to Suffragette Sundays, the local group she started in January with her neighbor Leslie Van Every. "We wanted to create a space where people, specifically women who don't have activist backgrounds, can feel like they're actually making a difference beyond just sharing a petition on Facebook," she says. Members meet up for monthly house parties to learn about various progressive issues, hear from guest speakers, and do some phone banking. "You come and you make phone calls, send emails, drink champagne, and eat snacks," Schatz says. "And you make your voice heard."





Cover of Rad Women Worldwide. (Reprinted with permission from Rad Women Worldwide, written by Kate Schatz and illustrated by Miriam Klein Stahl, copyright (c) 2016. Published by Ten Speed Press, a division of Penguin Random House, Inc.)

We sat down with Schatz to learn a few of her favorite people, places, and things in the Bay Area.





Weekend getaway

Healdsburg. I don't ever actually do all the bougie wine stuff but my best friend lives there, so I go to hang out at her house, go down to the river, and drink beers in the backyard. That's my fave.





Date night go-tos

My husband and I are big fans of Forge or Boot and Shoe Service, so we tend to go to Oakland. Sometimes we take the ferry over to the city and have drinks at The Slanted Door, then we walk to Chinatown and eat noodles and take the ferry home. The ferry is a great date.





Favorite bookstore

I gotta say Books Inc. Alameda. It's my local spot.





Bay Area living

As the parent of two small children, my life here is a consistent kind of fun, semi-controlled chaos. Whether we're hanging out with our friends, neighbors, or family who live in the Bay Area, it's social, it's engaging, and we try to be outside a lot. I'm a total Northern California lover.





Island life

I was one of those Oaklanders who did not understand Alameda at all until I moved here and then I was like, 'Oh god, I get it now.' Alameda is like secretly cool. I mean, I think it's getting to be less of a secret, but there's just so much just fun, weird, interesting stuff happening.





What it means to be rad

Being rad is being awesome and believing in yourself but also believing in what you can do for other people around you. Constantly connecting your immediate circumstances to a larger circumstance is incredibly essential. And to me, being rad is being willing to maybe be wrong but still take chances and take risks in anything you're doing.





What's next?

We have already finished the third in the Rad Women set, which is very different from the first two books and due out next summer. It's an illustrated journal called How to Be Rad, so instead of telling stories about rad women, it's more about the reader getting to write about and explore how they're rad. It has way more illustrations by Miriam, really awesome inspirational quotes from a lot of badass women, and prompts and questions throughout the book.
Business roundup: Dunn Bros. to open in November, E Glass's big pitch

In business news, an Aberdeen entrepreneur is making a nationwide pitch, car wash coverts to Tunnel of Terror, Dunn Brothers to open in November.


CTP Investor Briefings

Brisbane, Oct 13, 2016 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Central Petroleum Limited ( ASX:CTP ) ( CPTLF:OTCMKTS ) ("Company" or "Central") advises that the Managing Director, Mr Richard Cottee, will be holding open shareholder briefings in the following cities on the dates below.



Melbourne - 5:00pm, Monday 24 October 2016



William Buck, Level 20, 181 William Street, Melbourne. Vic.



Sydney - 5:00pm, Thursday 27 October 2016



Paterson Securities - Level 48, Australia Square, 264 George Street, Sydney. NSW.



Perth - 5:00pm, Monday 31 October 2016



William Buck - Level 3, 15 Labouchere Road, South Perth. WA.



Presentations will run from 5:00pm to 6:30pm with refreshments provided on conclusion.



Numbers are limited so please register by close of business Friday, 21 October 2016 with Jasmine Fowler on +61 8 6436 2888 or via email to jasmine.fowler@williambuck.com.



Mr Cottee will respond to questions and written questions in advance are encouraged. Please email your questions before 21 October 2016 to either Jasmine Fowler (jasmine.fowler@williambuck.com).



Mr Cottee looks forward to meeting with Shareholders and discussing the Company's current position and future outlook.



About Central Petroleum Limited





Central Petroleum Limited ( ASX:CTP) is a well-established, and emerging ASX-listed Australian oil and gas producer. In our short history, Central has grown to become the largest onshore gas producer in the Northern Territory (NT), supplying industrial customers and senior gas distributors in NT and the wider Australian east coast market.

Central is positioned to become a significant domestic energy supplier, with exploration and development plans across 180,000 km2 of tenements in Queensland and the Northern Territory, including some of Australia's largest known onshore conventional gas prospects. Central has also completed an MoU with Australian Gas Infrastructure Group (AGIG) to progress the proposed Amadeus to Moomba Gas Pipeline to a Final Investment Decision.

We are also seeking to develop the Range gas project, a new gas field located among proven CSG fields in the Surat Basin, Queensland with 135 PJ (net to Central) of development-pending 2C contingent resource.
ACAs library of educational tools help members improve their business practices. ACA also holds the most popular industry conferences and offers credentialing for collectors, attorneys, and more. ACAs Training Zone subscription gives agencies access to almost all of our education for one low cost.
When the best of theatre schools from different corners of the world meet, the confederation that happens is nothing but grand. The lights are on, the stage is set and the curtain rises on the National School of Drama, which is hosting the 9th Asia Pacific Bureau (APB) meet of Drama Schools. Fourteen schools including National School of Drama (NSD) New Delhi, of which thirteen schools from ten countries including Bangladesh, China, Indonesia, Iran, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, will gather at NSD premise for the annual meet of theatre schools of the Asia-Pacific Region. Overall the festival will see the representation from twenty countries in form of observers, faculty and students

There is palpable excitement in the air at NSD, as the premier drama school prepares to play host to yet another cross cultural theatre extravaganza. Preparations are on full swing at NSD to ensure a smooth event to be held from October 19 to 25. The theme of this edition of APB meet is The strength of Asia in Contemporary Performance Culture. The confluence will examine contemporary performance culture in Asia, the elements of traditionalism, modernization and other factors that have contributed to it in terms of content, form and style.

The APB meet is one of the most interesting international level theatre festivals that provide a platform to theatre schools of the Asia Pacific Region. The participating schools will dive into and explore the nuances of different cultures in theatre performances and the technical aspects of it; for theatre is all about adapting and becoming a new. The festival will be a rare treat for students and faculty alike.

This edition of the festival has an elaborate learning program for the participating schools. It will consist of festival performances, directors meet, interactions and workshops. Each school will conduct a workshop for all other participants providing a glimpse into the schools training methodologies through a series of exercises for the participants. There will also be a practical session, where a studio space will be provided to each school to perform. Participating schools will perform a 45-minute student presentation, which will be held in the Flexible Performance Space at NSD.

Prof. Waman Kendre, Director, National School of Drama, says, This is yet another occasion where all Asia Pacific Bureau school will show their strength and exchange it to each other. This is also a platform for NSD to show rich Indian performance heritage and showcase contemporary and traditional theatre variety to the world

The idea that the Asia Pacific region has a diverse culture different from the western theatre needs to be explored and exchanged among theatre artists, playwrights, and also the audiences, led to the establishment ofthe Asia Pacific Bureau of Theatre Schools. Every year, the APB meet creates opportunities for theatre students and teachers to interact with each other in multiple ways  by way of sharing their philosophies in a workshop environment, in pedagogy outlined in a presentation by the faculty members, and in practice, in a show that each school prepares to showcase in the week-long festival.

Tripurari Sharma, Professor, NSD, who is heading this edition of the APB meet, says, Cross culture mixing and matching themes, stories and performative concepts are enriching for the art of theatre. 

The spirit of the APB meet is one of coming together, sharing, interacting, and learning something that is very essential and valuable to the teaching and practice of theatre. Hosting the APB meet is an honour that has been rightly entrusted to the National School of Drama for the second time (last time being in 2011).

National School of drama which was established in 1958 has over a period of time become one of the best theatre schools in the world, through the merit of its students, efforts of its skilled faculty and the guidance of its esteemed directors. The School has two performing wings  the Repertory Company and Theatre-in-Education Company. In addition to these two wings, the School also has an active Extension Programme, a publication section and a literary forum named Shruti.National School of Drama has taken some great initiatives to contribute to the growth and development of theatre & other arts forms across the country. Some of these includes; Bharat Rang Mahotsav, Bal Sangam, Jashn-e-bachpan, Sunday Club Festival, Poorvottar Natya Samaroh and National North East Theatre Festival. Prof. Waman Kendre, since his appointment has worked for bringing some positive changes including academics, infrastructure improvement, beautification of the campus, etc. He has been elected as the Vice President  Asian Affairs, for the year 2016-17 by GATS General Conference in Lima, Peru, which is yet another feather in the cap for the institution.
Google today announced the roll-out of AMP for mobile search results in India. With this new update, when you search on your mobile device, youll see a label that indicates a page is AMPd. This doesnt change Search results but will show you which sites have pages that are ready to load lightning fast.

The AMP Project is an open source initiative that addresses the issue of slow site loading on the internet and AMP are designed to load near instantaneously. AMP also helps save data as AMP pages on Search use 10 times less data than the equivalent non-AMP page. Today, the median time it takes for an AMP page to load from Google Search is less than one second.

Over the last year, since the AMP project started, over 600 million AMP documents, in over 104 languages have been created worldwide. In India, several publishers have embraced AMP. These include Zomato, News 18, NDTV and Aaj Tak. Zomato specifically has seen great early results since AMPing their pages, with page load times decreasing from 3.8 seconds to well under a second.

Globally, the Washington Post has seen a 23% increase in mobile search users who return within 7 days, and an 88% improvement in load time for AMP content versus traditional mobile web. eBay, Pinterest, Wordpress, and Reddit, are among many other publishers worldwide who have adopted AMP and are benefitting from web pages that load much faster.

Slow loading sites are arguably one of the most frustrating things about the mobile web. Recent Google researchshows that 53% of people will leave a site that fails to load in three seconds or less. In addition to the wide adoption of AMP, over the last year Google has also launched several enhancements for AMP including the Top Stories sectionof Google Search, delivering news in a fast and reliable way.
Cuberoot Technologies, an Audience Management Platform, has recently received funding of $ 0.5 million. With the fresh capital, the company plans to have a presence in Mumbai and Bengaluru so as to cater to the FMCG and e-commerce sectors. The company has tied up with publishers and advertisers, and will soon be launching the product in the Indian market.

The company also plans to expand its footprint in the APAC region, including Singapore and Dubai in the next 12-18 months. They plan to capture a substantial chunk of the market by the end of fiscal year 2016-17, accelerating their growth up to 300 per cent.

Cuberoot Technologies client roster includes Samsung, Paytm, Cisco, and Emirates, among others.

In conversation with Adgully, Atul Soni, Co-founder, Cuberoot Technologies, speaks about the companys growth plans, fresh infusion of funds, data management services and more. Excerpts:

What is Cuberoot Technology all about?

Cuberoot is an audience management platform that helps organisations, including brands, advertisers, agencies, publishers, and so on, to leverage the power of data to grow their organisation at an accelerated pace. An indigenous Data Management Platform (DMP), having a reach of 10 million audience in the region, it segments the audience, enabling advertisers to reach targeted base.

How exactly have the clients been utilising this particular platform, how does it work for them?

We help advertisers and publishers understand their audience better so that they can make optimal business decisions about their marketing spends and reach out to ideal customers/ advertisers in the best possible manner. Every company has access to a lot of data from different sources, including CRM, Sales calls, Online leads, online and offline campaigns, etc. Cuberoots state-of-the-art platform lets them compile all of this data in one place, overlaying it with exhaustive Cuberoot data (second party data), and analyse this with advanced algorithms so that the right message/ content/ offer, which can be sent to the opted customer across every channel possible.

How has Cuberoot Technologies fared in its first year of operations in terms of revenue, work, clients, etc.?

We are moving steadily in the initial formative months and fine tuning our product by working on pilot campaigns with certain key clients. All we can say is that we have started seeing some encouraging results on what targeted advertising can bring on table for a client and add more value to his business.

We would like to refrain from commenting on our revenues right now, but all we can say is that the future looks bright for us.

Recently, Cuberoot Technologies got a funding of $0.5 million, how and where do you plan to invest it in?

The funds will assist the organisation in expanding its business across the country and shall be utilised in boosting growth parameters such as expansion of technology team, enhancing product technology, investing in better infrastructure and strategic acquisitions.

What are your expansion plans?

We shall establish ourselves firmly in the Indian market in the upcoming months. Also, the company will be incorporating bases in the Asia-Pacific market over the next 12-18 months.

Cuberoot Technologies is planning to capture a substantial chunk of the market by the end of fiscal year 2016-17, accelerating their growth up to 300 per cent. How are you planning to achieve this growth and which markets/ areas are you targeting to boost growth?

We are already getting recognition by popular exchanges and DSPs in the market, this will give marketers direct access to Cuberoots audience and filtered segments. We are in the process of getting our DMP integrated with the regions leading agency trading desks as well. We intend to enter in Asia pacific markets by end of this fiscal.

Apart from audience management, what other areas you are planning to enter?

We plan to restrict ourselves to our core, that is, audience management for this year and improvise on the differentiated product offering. However, we may plan to offer our data management services to sectors beyond advertising, say healthcare, FMCG, etc., where data is critical. We intend to go into marketing automation space in the near future.

How huge is this market in terms of valuation?

The valuation is a speculative thing, but the digital ads market size is projected at approximately Rs 7,000 crore for India for 2016. Marketing is gradually shifting from placement to audience buying. A potent mix of technology and data stacks is being extensively used and not mere programmatic RTBs. Oracles acquisition of Bluekai (one of the best data management platforms in the world) for nearly $400 million in 2014 is also a good indicator of how high valuations can go in this segment.

Please tell us about your major client achievements in the last two months.

We recently helped an e-commerce based start-up deliver an incremental 13 per cent yield in terms of sales conversions by effectively using our products services. A leading MNC was able to reduce its YouTube cost per view by 40 per cent by targeting the campaign directly to movie song lovers and Bollywood movie affinity segments, which has now given us a yearly contract. We have also helped our data sources partners and publishers to increase their overall monthly yield by 15-30 per cent.
Tata Salt, a pioneer in the Indian branded salt market, today kicked off celebrations for Dusshera-2016, in Delhi. A festival that is celebrated to mark the victory of good over evil, Dussehra is celebrated with the reenactment of the famous Ram-Leela play based on Ramayan, in Delhis Ramleela maidan. Crowds gather in thousands to watch the play that pans over four evenings which starts with a costumed parade by all the performers. Keeping with the brand promise of Desh ki Sehat, Desh ka Namak, Tata Salt launched an innovative campaign called Sehat ki Goonj in order to spread awareness among women about anemia, which is highly prevalent among Indian women and children.

A Shankh or conch holds high regard in Hindu religion and culture. The sound of the sea shell is believed to eradicate all negative energies and usher in wellbeing before the start of something new or auspicious. Women are ardent believers of this and during Durga pooja, they blow the conch to ward off negativity. Keeping with the brand promise, Tata Salt Plus Sehat ki Goonj campaign will set up a large conch as an installation at the Ramleela Maidan. Women will be invited to blow the conch and decibel units produced by them while blowing a conch for over fifteen to twenty seconds will be recorded. Since blowing a conch requires strength and stamina, the decibels produced by each women will give an insight into the health of women at large. Through this activation, Tata Salt Plus aims to showcase that iron plays an important role in making a person healthier and stronger.

Speaking on the innovation, Mr. Sagar Boke, Head Marketing, Consumer Products Business, Tata Chemicals stated,Indian mythology and religion are beautifully painted with the most colourful tale of our Lord Rama and his wife Goddess Sita. Lord Rama fought with great valor to get back his wife who was abducted by the evil king Ravana. We at Tata Salt, view anemia as an evil that has afflicted our country, where 55% of women and 73% of children in India are iron deficient. People across Delhi flock to Ramleela This provided Tata Salt Plus the perfect opportunity to reach out to more than 11 lakh people in Delhi and educate them regarding the seriousness of being an anemic nation.

Ramleela was started over one hundred and eighty years ago by the Mughal king Bahadur Shah Zafar for his army and people and it is one of the oldest traditions that the capital city can boast of. Tata Salt Plus will also be carrying out the Sehat ki Goonj campaign at the FD Block Salt Lake City pandal in Kolkata.
I don't know how many young women come to this blog or how many are parents of teenage or young adult women, but here are some safety tips from Kelsey's Army:

T

I

P

S

1. Trust your instincts - If something feels wrong then something probably is wrong.2. Know your surroundings - know who and what is around you.3. Always have a plan for where you would go and what you would do if a situation arises.4. Be willing to make a scene in order to be noticed.5. Let someone know where you are going and when you will be back.Remember the acronym TIPS:ake Chargenform others of your whereaboutsrepare for any situationurvival Mentality (role play situations so you will respond should they happen)For more information, go to Kelsey's Army
A.M. Best has affirmed the Financial Strength Rating of A- (Excellent) and the Long-Term Issuer Credit Rating of a- of Casiopea Re S.A. (Casiopea Re) (Luxembourg). The outlook of these Credit Ratings (ratings) remains stable.

The ratings reflect Casiopea Res excellent risk-adjusted capitalisation, which is supported by a substantial equalisation reserve providing the company with a significant capital cushion. The captives regulator, Commisariat aux Assurances of Luxembourg, has full authority in relation to any release of capital from this equalisation reserve. In addition, the captives low risk retention is supported by a comprehensive reinsurance programme, with a panel of financially strong reinsurers that mitigates the risk of large property and liability losses depleting capital. Casiopea Re is a captive of Telefonica S.A. (Telefonica), a leading provider of telecommunication services across Europe and Latin America. As the main reinsurer of group risks, Casiopea Res risk management is closely integrated with that of Telefonica.

The company has a track record of good, albeit volatile, operating performance, and has reported an average combined ratio of 91% over the past five years. In 2015, Casiopea Re reported a net profit of EUR 4.1 million, which equated to an adjusted return on capital and surplus of 1.3%. The result was driven mainly by an adequate investment profit, partly offset by a modest technical loss.

A.M. Best remains the leading rating agency of alternative risk transfer entities, with more than 200 such vehicles rated throughout the world. For current Bests Credit Ratings and independent data on the captive and alternative risk transfer insurance market, please visit www.ambest.com/captive.

This press release relates to Credit Ratings that have been published on A.M. Bests website. For all rating information relating to the release and pertinent disclosures, including details of the office responsible for issuing each of the individual ratings referenced in this release, please see A.M. Bests Recent Rating Activity web page. For additional information regarding the use and limitations of Credit Rating opinions, please view Understanding Bests Credit Ratings.

A.M. Best is the worlds oldest and most authoritative insurance rating and information source. For more information, visit www.ambest.com.

Copyright  2016 by A.M. Best Rating Services, Inc. and/or its subsidiaries. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20161013006212/en/

A.M. Best

Pablo Vasquez, +44 20 7397 0311

Financial Analyst

pablo.vasquez@ambest.com

or

Catherine Thomas, +44 20 7397 0281

Senior Director, Analytics

catherine.thomas@ambest.com

or

Christopher Sharkey, +1 908 439 2200, ext. 5159

Manager, Public Relations

christopher.sharkey@ambest.com

or

Jim Peavy, +1 908 439 2200, ext. 5644

Director, Public Relations

james.peavy@ambest.com
Today, the Council for Citizens Against Government Waste Political Action Committee (CCAGW PAC) announced its endorsement of Rep. Raul Labrador (R-Idaho) for re-election to the U.S. House of Representatives. With a lifetime CCAGW Rating of 93 percent, Rep. Labrador has earned the title of Taxpayer Hero.

CCAGW PAC bases its endorsements on a candidates lifetime score as listed in CCAGWs 2015 Congressional Ratings.

During his tenure, Rep. Labrador has served the citizens of Idaho with great distinction, said CCAGW PAC Chairman Tom Schatz. On top of his impressive voting record, he has worked to restrain the growth of federal spending and has helped make government more accountable and transparent to taxpayers.

Rep. Labradors abiding commitment to fiscal conservatism is one of the many reasons that I urge voters in Idahos 1st Congressional District to vote for him on November 8, so that he can return to Washington, D.C. and continue to protect the interests of both his constituents and all Americans, concluded Schatz.

CCAGW PAC is affiliated with the Council for Citizens Against Government Waste, a 501(c)(4) organization. CCAGW PACs mission is to support political candidates who will fight to eliminate waste, fraud, and abuse in government and represent the best interests of taxpayers.

Paid for by the Council for Citizens Against Government Waste Political Action Committee. Not authorized by any candidate or candidates committee.

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20161013006414/en/

CCAGW PAC

Curtis Kalin 202-467-5318
Secretariat Ackum, the alumni association of NCKU in Malaysia, hosted the ACKU Charity Run 2016, which highlighted the value of ethnicity-friendly, at the University of Malaya (UM) on the morning of July 30.

ACKU Charity Run 2016 is a fundraising event for cancer research in the UM Special Center helping deprived patients with better access to cancer treatment.

Over 2,500 runners came in support the event, raising a total of US$25,000 for breast cancer patients.

For NCKU, the bond between alumni and their alma mater is closer than ever before. With a growing community of 140,000+ grads around the world, NCKU is developing its alumni networks to amplify the impacts and create social engagement.

NCKU President Huey-Jen Jenny Su flied from Taiwan to join the run which is the biggest event for NCKU alumni in Asia.

President Sus visit to Malaysia marked an important milestone in the development of the relations between Taiwan and Malaysia.

In the past ten years, NCKU and the UM have fostered close partnership and this beautiful friendship between the two universities will continue to grow and thrive, according to Su.

She noted, the success of last years event made holding another charity run for helping more people in need. The fund raised last year was to support orphans and this year we have commitment to the patients who suffered from breast cancer.

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20161012006407/en/

National Cheng Kung University

Sonia Chuang, +886-6-275-7575 Ext. 50042

News Center

Fax: +886-6-238-9919

E-Mail: sonia20@mail.ncku.edu.tw

NCKU news: http://news-en.secr.ncku.edu.tw/bin/home.php
Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James will host a spouse and family forum from 9 a.m. to 1:15 p.m. Oct. 19 in the Smart Center Auditorium on Joint Base Andrews, Maryland.The event will broadcast live on AF.mil The forum is an avenue for Air Force families to relay questions, concerns and suggestions directly to senior leaders and their spouses.The agenda includes three panels that will cover spouse employment, child care access, referral care processes, potential issues on treatments for autism spectrum disorder, assignments for dual military couples and relocation services.James announced the event during the Air Force Associations Air, Space and Cyber Conference in September, and said she is taking a several-fold approach in the way the Air Force is currently supporting Airmen and their families.View the full agenda and submit questions on the Secretary of the Air Force Spouse & Family Forum Facebook event page
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 12, ARMENPRESS. Police Chief of Armenia Vladimir Gasparyan signed a decree on appointing Aram Zakaryan Head of the General Department of State Protection, press service of the Police told Armenpress.

According to the Police Chiefs another decree, Aram Zakaryan was dismissed from the post of the Head of Police Headquarters.

V. Gasparyan signed another decree on dismissing Vardan Minasyan from the post of the Head of General Department of State Protection and sending to the Police personnel reserve.
[dropcap]O[/dropcap]n Dussehra, the students of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), burned the effigy of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in their campus. BJP took this event as an opportunity for publicity advantage as usual without realising the fact that this has been happening since ages against every government by different groups. Moreover, we Indians burn effigies of demon king Ravana and immerse idols of goddess Durga. This is not new thing for JNU, earlier also students from ABVP students, an affiliated student wing of BJP, set on fire the effigy of then PM Manmohan Singh in the same campus. Burning putla is a sign of protest or expressing the anger. The students of JNU were always against Modi government and especially after the Kanhaiya episode. This year, they expressed their anger by burning all those faces which they are finding as demons.

Protest and effigy burning are not new trends in India. India is a democratic country and people have their way of expressing anger. Some governments are really corrupt that they hardly allow people to succeed. However, even with high corruption, some people achieve success. Some people have messed up lives and as a result they want to blame others for their mistake. After all, passing the buck towards government is easy instead of showing their own incompetency. There are two types of revolutionaries, one who joins the revolution when it is initiated and make it successful with their contributions whereas there are people who wait for the final result and then open up. University officials did not grant permission for the event, the organisers claimed that effigy burning was a routine thing on the campus and it does not require any approval from the administration. This practice is followed every year, whichever issue has gone against students they become the burning demon for them. This year, BJP took it as an EGO issue because they are always against the JNU.

Besides Modi and Shah, the effigy had faces of Yoga guru Baba Ramdev, Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur, Nathuram Godse, Asaram Bapu and the Vice-Chancellor. The students also carried placards with the slogan, Truth shall prevail over evil. Sources say the ministry has asked the police to submit a detailed report on the effigy-burning by a section of students on Dussehra, which is celebrated with the symbolic burning of the demon king Ravana to depict his defeat by Lord Ram and the victory of good over evil. The protest was allegedly organized by members of the Congresss student wing NSUI. The effigy-burning was to symbolise their dissatisfaction with the current government. The idea is to root out the evil from governance and bring about a system that is pro-student and pro-people.

The central government and students at the prestigious university clashed earlier this year over another controversial event, to mark the hanging of terrorist Afzal Guru. Former student leader Kanhaiya Kumar and a few others were charged with sedition over the on-campus event in which anti-national slogans were raised. Last week, the university had ordered another inquiry into a similar effigy burning exercise by some students targeting the Gujarat government and gau-rakshaks or cow vigilantes.

An effigy is a representation of a specific person in the form of sculpture or some other three-dimensional medium. It is common to burn an effigy of a person as an act of protest. Government should ignore such events rather than act on it seriously with such vehemence. All right winged political leaders, including PM, must expect criticism as this is a democratic country and have freedom of expression as fundamental rights. However, this government doesnt want to leave any stone unturned to take JNU students protests. They are not above criticism. BJP should remember that ABVP also had done the same with Manmohan Singhs effigy but then Congress government knows that it was their right. It is High Court order that burning an effigy cant be treated as an offence.

Ravan was a learned scholar, king and a good ruler with lots of wisdom. Abducting Sita was in revenge to his sister Shurpankhas humiliation caused by Laxman. Though, the Ramayana says Ravan never looked at Sita above her feet and he respected her always like a Mother goddess. His only anger was to teach lesson to those people who had mocked and disfigured his sister. Still, not that I advocate this act, but in the broad frame if we see, what Laxman did to Shurpankha was very wrong of which Sita always warned Rama for repercussions. Anyway, these are mythological stories and Hindu beliefs for teaching us certain values.

Nevertheless, it does not mean that, in a democratic country like ours, we smother every means of expression. BJP is not realising that how overboard they are going in terms of their reactions.

(Any suggestions, comments or dispute with regards to this article send us on feedback@afternoonvoice.com)
The Bombay High Court asked the Maharashtra government to file a reply to a petition seeking CBI probe into alleged assault on two members of a Dalit family in Nashik.

The incident took place after a Dalit youth was arrested in a nearby village for trying to rape a five-year-old girl belonging to an upper caste community, the petition said.

Petitioner Babybai Shinde alleged that a group of armed youths from an upper caste community attacked her two sons outside their house at village Sanjegaon on October 11.

Following the alleged rape attempt at Talegaon village near Nashik last week, there were incidents of stone-pelting targeting the Dalit community, the petition said.

In some places, Dalits were ostracised, it alleged.

Apart from CBI probe, it demanded medical treatment and compensation for the victims and a direction to the local police to have the social boycott on Dalits lifted.

A bench headed by Justice Naresh Patil gave the government a week to file its reply and adjourned the hearing to October 20.
Actress Deepika Padukone, who will join superstar Salman Khan on the first episode of Bigg Boss season 10, says she would like the entire cast of her upcoming Hollywood debut xXx: Return Of Xander Cage to be in the Bigg Boss house.

The 30-year-old actress will star alongside Hollywood star Vin Diesel, Ruby Rose, Samuel L Jackson, Donnie Yen and Tony Jaa in the action thriller, which will hit theatres next year in January.

In a promotional video posted on the official page of Colors channel, when Deepika was asked who would be that Hollywood celebrity she would like to see in BB10, the actress said, I would like the entire cast of xXx to be in Bigg Boss because we had so much fun while making this movie. Four months in Toronto, we had an amazing time.

I wish that all of us could go into the house and relive that entire experience.

The channels long-running reality show will first time have a combination of celebrity contestants and the common people, who will live together in the spotlight.

Giving her advise to the people, who are first time entering the house, Deepika said, Sometimes there are extremely challenging situations. Its important to stay focus and most importantly be friends and enjoy the experience.

Deepika feels the new concept of getting unknown faces in the house will change the entire dynamics of the show but at the same time make it more exciting and interesting.
Donald Trump is in the eye of a fresh storm after at least five women accused him of sexual assault and harassment, threatening the controversial Republican presidential nominees already fragile campaign, less than a month before the election day.

The latest accusations against Mr. Trump (70) come just days after a 2005 video surfaced of him in which he is talking in lewd and sexually explicit terms about women and bragging about groping them and getting away with it because he was a star.

The New York Times reported two womens detailed accounts of Mr. Trump groping them. There was a similar account from another woman in the Palm Beach Post. Former Apprentice contestant Jennifer Murphy and People magazine writer Natasha Stoynoff also levelled similar allegations against him.

Jessica Leeds (74) said Mr. Trump had groped her when the two were seated next to each other on a flight more than three decades ago.

Rachel Crooks, who worked for a firm based in Trump Tower in 2005, found herself in a lift with Trump and tried to introduce herself by shaking his hand. The Apprentice star kissed Ms. Crooks, then 22, directly on the mouth, she told the New York Times.

Mindy McGillivray, 36, told the Palm Beach Post that she was groped by Mr. Trump during a party at his Florida property Mar-a-Lago 13 years ago, while Ms. Murphy told Grazia that Mr. Trump had kissed her on the lips at the end of a 2005 job interview.

In a lengthy account published late on Wednesday night, Ms. Stoynoff recalled travelling to Mar-a-Lago to interview Mr. Trump and his wife Melania, in 2005. Mr. Trump, she claimed, had cornered her in private and within seconds, he was pushing me against the wall, and forcing his tongue down my throat.

The women came forward to tell their stories after Sundays presidential debate in which Mr. Trump denied having ever sexually assaulted women.

The Trump campaign condemned Ms. Stoynoffs story as fabricated and the New York Times piece as fiction and a completely false, coordinated character assassination.

Mr. Trumps lawyers threatened to sue the New York Times.

The Trump campaign distributed a letter sent to the Times executive editor, Dean Baquet, demanding a retraction and saying the article is reckless, defamatory and libel per se.

Mr. Trumps attorney said failure to retract the piece and remove it from the newspapers website would leave him no option but to pursue all available actions and remedies.

When asked to comment on the accusations, Mr. Trump told a Times reporter that she was a disgusting human being.
Chinese smartphone-maker Huawei under its Honor brand on Wednesday launched its latest flagship Honor 8 along with two other smartphones, Honor 8 Smart and its first Make in India phone Holly 3.

While the Honor 8 smartphone is priced at Rs 29,999, Honor 8 Smart costs Rs 19,999 and Holly 3 is priced at Rs 9,999.

The Honor 8 will be exclusively available on Flipkart and Amazon along with the Honor stores where they were available from 3.00 p.m. onwards, while the other two devices will land soon in the market.

With this launch, we continue our India journey and promise to introduce even more high-quality, disruptive products in the market, said George Zhao, President, Honor, in a statement.

The Honor 8 features 5.2-inch full-HD display, Kirin 950 processor paired up with 4GB of RAM and has external memory support up to 128GB.

The device features 12MP dual lens camera along with a 8MP front camera, runs on Huaweis Emotion UI 4.1 on top of Android 6.0 Marshmallow operating system and houses 3,000mAh battery.

The Honor 8 Smart features 5.2-inch display, Kirin 650 chipset, 13MP rear camera, 8MP front camera and houses 3,000mAh battery.

The Holly 3 is companys first Make in India smartphone featuring a 5.5-inch display, 13MP rear camera, 8MP front camera and packs 3,100mAh battery.
MUMBAI: BJP MP Kirit Somaiya today alleged that Shiv Sainiks tried to kill him, and wrote to Mumbai Police Commissioner asking him to unravel the plot.

Shiv Sena workers tried to kill me, Mr Somaiya alleged, referring to the attack on him on Tuesday in suburban Mulund.

Police have so far arrested 13 people in connection with the assault, in which some BJP workers were injured.

The assault took place in suburban Mulund after Sena workers allegedly disrupted a programme organised by Mr Somaiya wherein an effigy of corruption mafia in MCGM was to be burnt to mark the festival of Dussehra.

The Sena activists objected to the effigy burning as they are in power in Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM) and tried to stop the programme.

However, police had intervened and brought the situation under control.

MCGM is ruled by the Sena-BJP alliance for the last 20 years and civic polls are scheduled early next year.

Mr Somaiya, the former Mumbai BJP chief, has aggressively targeted Sena and repeatedly alleged that the civic body was riddled with mafia-raj and corruption.

The MP, who represents the Northeast Mumbai constituency, had earlier said that he will continue his fight against the mafia-raj and corruption in MCGM.
Supporting Indias right to self-defence in the aftermath of the Uri attack which it dubbed a clear case of cross-border terrorism, the US dismissed the recent attempt by Pakistan to link peace in war-torn Afghanistan with resolution of theKashmir issue.

The White House backed Indias right to defend itself as with any other country, in view of the recent surgical strike but advised caution given the heavy militarisation between the two neighbours.

It also said that that the US is making every effort to ensure that India become a member of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) by the end of this year.

Making a rare appearance before a Washington audience, Peter Lavoy, the White Houses point person for South Asia, said that India-US ties are the most dynamic relationship for the US as he listed the Obama administrations achievements in strengthening the relationship between the two largest democracies of the world.

It (Uri) was a clear case of cross-border terrorism. We condemned this act of terrorism. It was a horrific attack. Every country has a right to self defence. But in a heavily militarised relationship that has also experienced three wars, there is indeed a need for caution and restraint, he said responding to a question on the Uri attack.

We share with India, the concern for preventing any future attack. We empathise with the Indian position that it needs to respond militarily to cross-border threat of terrorism. But we also advise caution, Lavoy said.

India and Pakistan have a friction-filled relationship and they have not found a way to overcome that, he said.

Last week, Lavoy met the two special envoys of Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Kashmir.

The two Pakistani envoys in their public meetings had linked peace in Afghanistan to resolving the Kashmir issue.

We certainly do not believe that the situation in Afghanistan is linked with Kashmir, the top White House official said.

Lavoy said the US is making every effort to ensure that India becomes a member of the Nuclear Suppliers Group by the end of this year.
The building collapse incident occurred at Behrampada as its height exceeded more than 14 feet and violated norms.

The collapse of five-storey structure in Behrampada area of Bandra East which claimed the lives of six persons have raised questions about safety of residents staying in such buildings. Since Mumbai is facing spacing crunch due to rising population 60 per cent of the citys residents stay in slums as they are unable to purchase expensive houses. To accommodate more people slums started growing vertically with four to five floors. However, such buildings are prone to collapse due to weak foundation. According to sources, the alleged nexus between slum lords, BMC, politicians and police is responsible for rising number of slums in the city.

We had to pay lakhs of rupees to slum lords for constructing our slum. Often police too try to harass us as we have to pay hefty bribes to them. Politicians only visit our areas when election is round the corner. They make promises about offering better amenities to us but they fail to deliver them, said Rashid Ansari a resident of Behrampada.

Many times the BMC officials visit our place and issue demolition orders. Some buildings were razed thereby causing inconvenience to residents. However, many other illegal buildings are being constructed in the area. Politicians often demand about increasing the height of shanties but it poses risk to the lives of residents, said Zaki Hussain a business man from Behrampada.

With an eye on the upcoming Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) election Congress had demanded that the civic body must regularise slums as high as 20 feet. Opposition leader in BMC Pravin Chheda had urged the civic body to grant permission for vertical growth of slums.

Even Rais Shaikh, group leader of the Samajwadi Party in the BMC had put forward a proposal for increasing the height of slums to 18 feet. According to him already several structures exist in the city which is more than 18 to 20 feet. Even Gyanmurti Sharma, BJP corporator endorsed the views of Rais Shaikh and said that height of slums must rise to accommodate more people in lesser area. He added that Mumbai can only grow vertically due to space crunch hence height of slums too must be increased.

Meanwhile rescue and rehabilitation operations are in full swing at Behrampada. Fire brigade vehicles and ambulances were rushed to the spot. The building is located at Anant Kanekar Marg, Behrampada, near National School, Bandra East. Two girls are reportedly trapped according to eye-witnesses present at the spot, says a fire officer. Behrampada area of Bandra East is a slum area, with thousands of people residing in sometimes precarious buildings, increasing the risk of collapse.

There were reports in media about the height of some structures in this area which have already reached 25 feet. People residing in these buildings are risking their lives as the structure might collapse anytime. In March, this year, one person was killed and five others were injured, after a double-storey building near Bhumiya Mandir of Kherwadi, Bandra collapsed.








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Interesting times ahead for entrepreneurs, as the growth of online shopping portals and e commerce websites have really stirred up the market. Forget all the conventional outdated marketing strategies; the virtual world requires a new and better marketing plan. Listed below are some essential features that every ecommerce website builder must have:

Cross platform functionality

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The Top 10 Ecommerce Site Builders For Discerning Entrepreneurs

These ecommerce store builders, with their easy operability and responsive design offer exciting opportunities for businessmen who want to switch over to the virtual platform. Discussed below are some of the best site builders that would help you create your own website in a jiffy! Also you're welcome to check other Top 10 Best eCommerce Website Builders containing a collection of ecommerce website builders different from listed below.

Shopify

True to its name, Shopify is the dream destination for businessmen who want to create an online shop and market their product in the virtual platform. The comprehensive package offers a site builder, blogging platform and web hosting services all in one place! Also its user friendly drag and drop interface is quite easy to work with. You can choose from the extensive archives of templates and customisable designs and integrate your e-store with popular social networks. And the email marketing and SEO improvement tools help you expand the scope and reach of your business far and wide.

WordPress

WordPress started out as a blogging platform but offers pretty good web hosting and e commerce solutions to budding entrepreneurs who want to make it big in the market. With many tools and powerful plugins available here, you can transform any ordinary into a top notch online store. From boosting visibility with the SEO tools, to content correction and management options and email marketing you can do it all here! Also plugins such as WooCommerce WP e Commerce and Ecwid allow more control and integration.

LCN

This UK based domain name and web hosting company is ideally suited for businessmen who lack technical expertise and coding knowledge. LCN services are a hybrid of sorts. It offers a simple one-click installation as well as easy web designing solutions. You can check out the comprehensive list of e commerce tools such as reviews, emails, and social media marketing etc. to build a stronger audience base. Other than offering lucrative incentives to clients, LCN even helps entrepreneurs manage the company accounts and keep track of the expenses. It even offers technical assistance such as an open sourced CMS, SEO enhancement and other promotional tools.

Wix

Wix is a cloud based website designing and development platform that doesnt require any technical expertise on coding or web design. The click based drag and drop interface is extremely easy to operate on. The Store Manger tab helps you manage all the sales and maintain a client list. Also Wix offers easy and fast monetary transactions (via PayPal, credit cards or online banking). The basic version of Wix is free of charge and the updates versions are available at pretty affordable rates.

Weebly

Very similar to Wix, even Weebly offers users an extensive range of competent and reliable tools to work with. The drag and drop interface can be operated by almost anyone, you dont need to be an expert about coding. Also you get some really cool e marketing tools such as a fully integrated shopping cart, mobile support, inventory management, SEO improvement, Digital products, coupon builder etc. that boosts the credibility and functionality of your business. And the smart and instant monetary transactions network only add on to its popularity.

Squarespace



At Squarespace entrepreneurs can create pretty, attractive and practical websites easily, all you have to do is follow a simple step by step process and youre done! Here the focus is mainly on the improving the look and feel of the website, you can experiment with the various integrated layouts and templates. You also get complete control over the product variants such as colour, shape, size and other specific. Also this site builder has no limit on the number of products you want to upload and is ideally suited for promoting bloggers, musicians, businessmen, and restaurants.

Website Builder

Among the top website builders available, Website Builder is recommended by most entrepreneurs. The interactive interface, versatility and easy operation simplify your work tenfold. Other than offering users marketing tools such as inventory management and customisable client list, Website Builder also offers free custom domain name and web hosting services to amateur businessmen. And the e commerce solutions, SEO tools and CMS services make it a smart option for small and medium scale enterprises that want to venture out in the global market.

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Very similar to Shopify, Bigcommerce is also a three in one platform offering a competent and reliable web designing solutions for entrepreneurs who want to enhance their online ranking and maximise profits. It is a website builder, blogging platform and offers web hosting services as well saving a lot of your time and money. Thanks to Bigcommerce you can now open your own e commerce store. From SEO improvement tools, CRM management, inventory maintenance and other e marketing solutions for widening the reach, you can do it all here.

LemonStand

Known for its dependable framework, compatible interface and flexible approach, LemonStand is best for large scale enterprises and established businessmen who want to expand their customer base and venture out into the international market. From the robust design to the competent e marketing solution such as sales tracking, landing pages and domain name offered by it, everything contributes to the success of your website. With LemonStand you can get accurate analytics and extensive e commerce platforms to market your product. There are even other services offered such as inventory management and web hosting that add on to its charm.

GoDaddy

Thanks to the extensive advertising and top quality services, GoDaddy is among the best know and popular website builders in the market. This website builder like LCN offers custom domain name, web hosting services, email marketing, customisable web designing tips and other promotional activities. And the intelligent user friendly one click interface is pretty similar to WordPress. Best suited for budding entrepreneurs of small and medium scale businesses that want to expand their customer base, GoDaddy offers easy and reliable web development at very nominal prices (the basic starting pack from only $1 per month).

The bottom line:

Gone are the days when website development and designing would be a matter exclusive to professionals and software engineers. Today any one can create their own website with these website builders saving a lot on time, cost and effort.
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 12, ARMENPRESS. Deputy Foreign Minister of Armenia Shavarsh Kocharyan answered a question of Public TVs Fist Informational about Turkish Foreign Ministers statement at the PACE on Nagorno Karabakh conflict settlement.

Question: Mr. Kocharyan, how would you comment on the statement of Mevlut Cavusoglu, the Foreign Minister of Turkey, made in PACE on the settlement of Nagorno-Karabakh issue.

Answer: First and foremost, the settlement of Nagorno-Karabakh issue is aimed at the determination of the final status of Nagorno-Karabakh through the legally binding expression of will of the people of Nagorno-Karabakh.

Another attempt of the Foreign Minister of Turkey to distort the Nagorno-Karabakh negotiation process proves once again what we have been emphasized on numerous occasions that Turkey should be kept away from the settlement process as far as possible.

Regarding the Turkish Foreign Ministers statement on the normalization of the Armenian-Turkish relations, then if Ankara really wants to normalize relations with Armenia, it would have then ratified and implemented the Armenian-Turkish protocols signed back in 2009 in Zurich.
WASHINGTON, Oct. 13, 2016 - USDA today announced the launch of a new private investment fund with the potential to inject $100 million into growth-oriented, small businesses across rural America.

The McLarty Capital Partners (MCP) Rural Business Investment Company (RBIC) will be the fifth RBIC that USDA has helped to initiate since 2014. The initiative is part of USDA's ongoing efforts to attract private sector capital to investment opportunities in rural America to help drive more economic growth in rural communities.

"Innovative small businesses throughout rural America need the same access to capital as their urban business counterparts," Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said in a release. "McLarty Capital Partners is an important ally in USDA's efforts to reenergize the rural economy, help small businesses grow and strengthen local communities."

McLarty Capital Partners, founded in 2012 by co-presidents Franklin McLarty and Christopher Smith, provides flexible financing solutions to small and medium-sized enterprises in the U.S.

"We are pleased to partner with USDA in this innovative public-private partnership to propel and sustain small business growth in rural America," Franklin McLarty said in the USDA release. "With roots in America's heartland, Franklin McLarty Capital Partners is committed to ensuring that small and medium-sized enterprises have the means necessary to achieve their business goals, and this endeavor only furthers that mission."

The new fund was formed under USDA's Rural Business Investment Program (RBIP). USDA is using RBIP to license funds that invest in enterprises creating growth and job opportunities in rural areas, with an emphasis on smaller enterprises.

Keep up with ag and rural policy news as it happens. Sign up for a four-week free trial of Agri-Pulse.





In 2014, Advantage Capital was granted a license for their $154 million Advantage Capital AgriBusiness Partners fund. The fund is making private equity investments in innovative agriculture-related businesses that support USDA's strategy for economic growth, including bio-manufacturing, local and regional food systems, advanced farming technologies and other cutting-edge fields. Since its inception in 2014, the fund has made 11 investments totaling $39 million.

Vilsack has also announced the conditional approval of other RBICs: Innova Ag Innovation and Meritus Kirchner Ventures in April 2015; and in April 2016, the Open Prairie Rural Opportunities Fund. Additional funds which are currently under review.

These efforts are part of the Made in Rural America initiative, which was created by President Obama to help rural businesses and leaders take advantage of new investment opportunities and access new markets abroad.

#30

For more news, go to: www.Agri-Pulse.com
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 13, ARMENPRESS. Azerbaijani forces violated the ceasefire regime over 55 times overnight in the Nagorno Karabakh-Azerbaijan line of contact, the NKR Defense Ministry told ARMENPRESS.

The ministrys announcement reads: Overnight October 12-13 Azerbaijani forces violated the ceasefire regime more than 55 times in the Nagorno Karabakh-Azerbaijan line of contact. Azerbaijani forces fired around 1000 shots at Armenian positions using various caliber small arms. In the southern and eastern directions the Azerbaijani forces also used SVD and ISTIGLAL sniper rifles.

The Defense Army of Nagorno Karabakh maintains full control along the frontline and confidently continue their service.
This article originally appeared here



Alaska's untamed wilderness is surrounded by the treacherous Bering Sea, the Arctic Ocean, and the North Pacific, paired with incredibly strong winds and ice floes that slam the coastline; this dark and stormy environment makes for one of the most dangerous bodies of water 
I work extremely intuitively. I wander, I respond, says photographer Alex Webb in an interview at Magnum Photoss new website. Webb recently released the book La Calle: Photographs from Mexico, a collection of work he began shooting in 1975. His early black-and-white images later gave way to color inspired 
Assyrian Confederation of Europe Elects President

Ms Attiya Gamri, a former member of a Dutch provincial parliament, has been elected president of the Assyrian Confederation of Europe for a three year term. Gothenburg, Sweden (AINA) -- Assyrians in Europe concluded the first Assyrian European Convention, held on October 8 and 9 in Gothenburg, Sweden. The convention saw the election of the first ever president for the Assyrian Confederation of Europe (ACE), an umbrella organization for Assyrian national federations in the different European countries.

Ms Attiya Gamri from the Netherlands was elected president for a three year term. Ms. Gamri is a former member of a Dutch provincial parliament.

The convention gathered Assyrians from France, United Kingdom, Germany, Netherlands, Belgium and Sweden. Bodil Valero, member of the European parliament from Sweden addressed the convention and spoke of the importance for Assyrians in Europe to be vocal and well organized.

The Assyrian Confederation of Europe was officially inaugurated in April this year during a ceremony in the European Parliament in Brussels.

Assyrians in Europe number nearly half a million and constitute one of the biggest diaspora communities from the Middle East in the European Union.
Christians Of Syria And Iraq Face 'Cataclysmic Crisis'

Assyrian woman in a camp for the internally displaced, near Dohuk, northern Iraq. ( Open Doors UK) The Christian communities of Syria and Iraq are in the middle of a "cataclysmic crisis", a report warns today. Their very existence is in peril as the world stands witness to one of the greatest threats to the Christian Church in the Middle East since its birth over 2,000 years ago. Christians are facing targeted persecution and leaving Syria and Iraq at an increasing rate, the report says. If this rate of emigration continues, within a few years the Christian communities in these countries will be utterly devastated. It is both unthinkable and unacceptable for a fellow human being, particularly a fellow-Christian, to walk by on the other side, says the charity Open Doors in its report, Hope For The Middle East: The impact and significance of the Christian presence in Syria and Iraq -- past, present and future. The report, written by Open Doors working with Middle East Concern and the University of East London, warns that war in Syria and Iraq has "unleashed a tidal wave of violent persecution". This has targeted the highly vulnerable Christian population and has dramatically accelerated the flight of Christians from Iraq and Syria. Before 2011, Syrian Christians numbered about eight per cent of the population of 22 million. Today about half are believed to have left the country. Before 2003, there were around 1.5 million Christians in Iraq -- less than five per cent of the population. Today, estimates hover between 200,000 and 250,000. As many as eight in 10 Christians are now thought to have left, many with no hope or expectation of return. Many are classed as internally displaced and have sought refuge in other parts of Iraq or Syria. Other have fled to countries such as Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey and beyond, their homes, properties and businesses confiscated or destroyed. Despite the crisis the Christians are facing, Christian Today reported last week that just 51 Christians from Syria have relocated to the UK under the Government's vulnerable persons resettlement scheme. However, Christians make up a disproportionate number of Iraqi refugees. There were more than a quarter of a million registered Iraqi refugees in Syria during 2004-2010. Of these, 44 per cent were Christian. Many of those who do remain want to play their part in rebuilding their shattered societies, the report says. The report says that Middle Eastern Christians are suffering disproportionately and are targeted because they are Christians. Their sufferings include being taken hostage, church leaders assassinated, Christian homes, businesses and churches commandeered or destroyed, women and girls raped and forced into sexual slavery, those living in ISIS territory forced to pay the Jizya tax to survive, and mass forced displacement. Some political bodies have already described this as genocide. "Clearly, Christians are not the only victims. But a previous report from Open Doors demonstrated that Christians were being specifically targeted and were especially vulnerable to persecution," says Open Doors. It is also clear that Islamic State is not the only source of persecution and violence directed towards Christians. Christians face increased harassment and violence from government forces and a range of Islamist groups. Open Doors is calling for current and future legal frameworks in Syria and Iraq to promote and protect the equal rights of all their citizens, for the improvement of living conditions for all citizens and for religious leaders and faith-based organisations to be equipped to play a constructive and central role in rebuilding in Syria and Iraq.
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 13, ARMENPRESS. The development of domestic tourism in Armenia should begin from schools, Robert Minasyan  Rector of the Tourism Institute told ARMENPRESS.

According to him there are serious opportunities for the development of domestic tourism, however these opportunities are not used sufficiently.

We have wonderful locations in our country, historical monuments, resorts, huge heritage, which are not used sufficiently in the tourism field. If we dont develop domestic tourism, we wont be able to develop inbound tourism. It is necessary to make all settlements ready to receive tourists. By the way, domestic tourism comprises 40% of the total tourism income of numerous countries, Minasyan said.

In his words, there are few places in the world like Stepanavan, Dilijan, where one can go sightseeing, breath fresh air, taste dishes made from ecologically clean products.

This culture must be present in us. During Soviet times there were no families who hadnt been to sightseeing locations in Armenia. This must be realized in an organized manner. We dont need tours for the stomach. We need people to go and see the sites. If we ask the kids today, what kinds of trees grow in their areas, what monuments are present, they dont know. Thats why we need to start from schools. We need to organize visits of students to cities, so they can learn, and recognize the culture, he said.
Assyrians Join the Battle for Mosul to Win New Province in Northern Iraq

When Islamic State (IS) militants swept through northern Iraq in 2014, some 200,000 Christians -- unarmed, thus defenseless -- fled. They had relied for protection on Kurdish Peshmerga forces that disappeared as ISIS advanced through the Nineveh Plain--a Biblical region, home to Assyrian and Chaldean faithful centuries before Prophet Mohammed was born. Over the last two years, Iraqi Christians have raised small, but fierce, fighting forces of their own, now poised to do battle against IS for the region's largest city, Mosul--and a chance to claim a safe haven in the country's north. The Babylon Brigade is the largest formation, capable of mobilizing over 1,500 soldiers. It's "the poster boy of Christian units" according to Dr. Abbas Kadhim, Senior Foreign Policy Fellow at the Foreign Policy Institute, SAIS-Johns Hopkins University. "They aren't just a symbolic presence," said Kadhim. "They have done a great job fighting to retake Anbar and Fallujah, so I assume in Nineveh they will be even more present." When the Iraqi military retook Fallujah from IS in June, the Babylon Brigade tweeted: "We are not just a #Christian group. We are for all #Iraqi against #ISIS" The Babylon Brigade is fighting as part of the Hashd, or Popular Mobilization Units, a network of smaller, fighting forces, considered more enthusiastic--and successful--than many Iraqi army companies. Most Hashd soldiers are Shia Muslims; October is the first month of the Islamic calendar and part of a sacred Shia practice, the Mourning of Muharram. So the battle for Mosul coincides with Islamic holy days, especially practiced by Shia Muslims. "You want to talk about martyrdom for a great cause? This would be it," said Kadhim, explaining that Muharram includes the Day of Ashura, [NOTE: October 10 this year] which marks the murder of Husayn ibn Ali, Mohammed's grandson who "died for a principle." Kadhim estimates approximately 1,500 Christian fighters will participate in Operation Fatah (conquest) against IS in Mosul, which he calls "a significant number." "They are sacrificing for patria, homeland, not just privileges," Abbas said. "After all this is over, Iraq should recognize the Christians, especially. They have experienced a double 'cleansing' by IS -- religious and ethnic." Another newly commissioned fighting force is the Nineveh Plain Protection Units (NPU). NPU was founded in late 2014 to protect the land of indigenous Christians divided between three main churches: Assyrian Church of the East, Chaldean Catholic Church of Babylon, and Syriac Orthodox Church of Antioch. So far, over 500 soldiers are registered as NPU with others volunteering or waiting for training. The Iraqi government formally recognized it as part of the military command last March. In Our Last Stand, a 2016 film portraying the journey of an Assyrian-American teacher through Iraq to Syria, NPU fighters are shown at a training camp. One leader, Athra Kado, says, "Our main goal is gathering men to be the force that protects our people. I will never flee or withdraw because my family is behind me." He continues, "Decade after decade. It started in Turkey [Armenian genocide, 1915-1923], in Iran, than Simele [1933 slaughter of Assyrians in Iraq.] Genocide after genocide. We can't handle it. This is our last chance." This year, the U.S. military and coalition forces began training the NPU according to "Military Times" and Dr. Elmer Abbo, president of the U.S.-based Nineveh Plain Defense Fund. "For many years, I went to DC asking for help and they kept ignoring us; I'm done doing that," Dr Abbo, a Christian Assyrian-American, told the Washington Examiner. "The American government will only help us to the extent that we are part of their larger strategic interests, so the reason the U.S. military is helping train our people is because we are helping to liberate Ninevah." He continued, "When we bring something to the table, that's when they help us." Dr. Abbo is direct about what Assyrian fighters hope to gain: "NPU's goal is to establish a Nineveh Plains province, independent of the [neighboring] Kurdish Regional Government." The Iraqi Council of Ministers endorsed a plan for three new provinces, including one on the Nineveh Plain, in April 2014. So does the Republican Party's convention platform, which calls for "the creation of a safe haven in northern Iraq to protect those ethnic and religious minorities continuing to face genocide at the hands of ISIS." Asked about Christian persecution in the Middle East, Trump campaign adviser, Marjorie Dannenfelser observed, "It should be an everyday question, speaking as a Catholic and as a founder of the pro-life coalition, it should be an everyday question on all of our minds." In Defense of Christians (IDC) successfully persuaded the House of Representatives to designate Islamic militant attacks on Christians and other religious minorities in the Middle East genocide by unanimous vote last March. IDC president Toufic Baaklini observed, "We are advised by displaced Christians living in camps in Erbil [Kurdistan], who want to stay in Iraq, they want to fight, and their force is getting larger and larger." Baaklini continued, "They want an area where they can live in peace, live in their own homes, be free. We want to help them remain. For Christianity, this is where it all began." Last month, Reps Jeff Fortenberry (R-NE) and Anna Eshoo (D-CA)--the only Assyrian-American in Congress--introduced a resolution supporting a semi-autonomous multi-ethnic province in northern Iraq. But Robert Nicholson, executive director of the Philos Project, which promotes positive Christian engagement in the Middle East worries about the aftermath of Mosul's liberation: "Christian units are fighting as part of the coalition against ISIS so they are there, [but] in terms of Christians being involved in a post-IS reorganization of Iraq, it's insufficient and inadequate and they have not been brought into discussions in any serious way." He added, "Not only Christians--the Yazidis and other religious minorities who have been victims of genocide, need to be asked, 'What do you want exactly, and how can we help you get what you want, so your people can come back and resettle and rebuild.'"
Kurdish Court Rules Against Assyrian Man in Squatting Case

(AINA) -- A Kurdish court in North Iraq has ruled in favor of a Kurdish man who illegally occupied the property of an Assyrian in the Nahla region. The Assyrian man has ten days to appeal the decision.

A Kurd named Ibrahim Hajji Yasin moved into Nahla in the beginning of 2016 and began seizing land in the village of Zoly and moving livestock into it. He brought more than 200 cows into the land. He also began constructing 3 homes. According to Assyrian sources, Mr. Yasin is employed by Retha Zebari, a close relative of Massoud Barzani, the president of the Kurdistan Regional Government.

Nahla has eight Assyrian villages, Upper and Lower Hezani, Belmand, Khalilane, Zoly, Kashkawa, Meroke and Rabatke. The land of Nahla on parcels 89 and 90 includes Upper and Lower Hezani, Zoly and Khalilane, and all the deeds in these villages are held by 117 Assyrians in a co-op. The deeds, most of which were granted before 1970, have been recognized by the Iraqi Department of Agriculture and Iraqi courts.

On July 25 the Kurdish Regional Government ordered the homes Mr. Yasin had built to be demolished and the land vacated. He appealed the decision in court and won on October 6.

ON April 13 Kurdish security forces (Asayish) imposed a blockade on four Assyrian villages in Nahla to prevent Assyrians from going to Arbel to participate in a demonstration against Mr. Yasin (AINA 2016-04-14).

On May 25 U.S. Senator John McCain sent a letter to Kurdish President Massoud Barzani regarding Assyrians in the Kurdish region in north Iraq, addressing the issue of land expropriation (AINA 2016-05-28). On June 26 Bodil Valero, a member of the European Parliament, sent a letter to the Kurdistan Regional Government in north Iraq regarding Kurdish land grabs in Assyrian areas (AINA 2016-06-23). On May 29 a Dutch Delegation visited North Iraq and raised concerns about Kurdish encroachment on Assyrian lands (AINA 2016-05-09).
Airbus Helicopters sells first H125 to Latvia, with delivery scheduled for spring 2017, and delivers first H130 to Estonia.





Today, Airbus Helicopters made a lasting footprint in the Baltic region by introducing the first H125 to Latvia and the H130 to Estonia. An undisclosed operator in Latvia has placed an order for a H125 light helicopter with delivery scheduled for spring of 2017. Additionally, the first H130 light helicopter has recently been delivered to OG Elektra, a retail company located in Estonia that intends to use the H130 for business and private aviation.We are pleased that these operators have put their confidence and support in Airbus Helicopters as the first in Latvia and Estonia to acquire these rotorcrafts, stated Olivier Michalon, Senior Vice President and Head of Europe Region. The Ecureuil family has proven its performance capabilities time and time again. Its yet another example of our commitment to provide quality products to our customers and we look forward to further cooperation opportunities in these countries.The H125 will be the first aircraft of its kind to operate in Latvia and the Baltic States region, making it an important milestone for the H125 programme.The H125 and H130 are members of Airbus Helicopters' renowned and proven Ecureuil family. More than 5,000 single-engine Ecureuils have been delivered in over 100 countries to approximately 2,000 operators. Together, these rotorcrafts have accumulated more than 30 million flight hours in a variety of missions around the world, thanks to their unrivalled multi-mission capabilities.
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 13, ARMENPRESS. Several European countries are considering whether to push for EU sanctions against senior Russian officials over the bombardment of Aleppo, the besieged Syrian city at the center of a deepening diplomatic rift between Moscow and the west, The Financial Times reports.

A senior EU diplomat said Britain, France and Germany were among EU states exploring the possibility of targeting up to 12 Russians before a summit next week.

Tensions between Russia and the west over Syria have escalated dramatically since the collapse of ceasefire agreement last month, which was brokered by Washington and Moscow.

After the deal fell apart, the Syrian regime and Russian war planes launched an intense bombardment of the rebel-held east of Aleppo, causing US and European officials to accuse Moscow of being an accomplice to war crimes.

It remains unclear whether any EU sanctions  which would require approval from all 28 member states  would be directed exclusively at people within the Russian military or officials within President Vladimir Putins wider administration.

Even as talk of new sanctions intensified, the US and Russia said on Wednesday that they would resume talks at the weekend over the Syrian conflict. The US had cancelled bilateral negotiations with Moscow over a new ceasefire two weeks ago amid the intense bombing of eastern Aleppo by Russia and the Syrian regime.

The state department said the talks in Lausanne on Saturday would be multilateral and would involve other countries in the region involved in the Syrian conflict as well as Russia and the US. John Kerry, the US secretary of state, will then fly to London on Sunday to discuss Syria with European and Middle Eastern allies.

European foreign ministers are due to discuss the Syrian conflict at talks on Monday, three days before the EU discusses its broader relationship with Russia at a summit in Brussels. A senior EU diplomat said Britain, France and Germany were also pushing to impose sanctions on up to 20 officials in President Bashar al-Assads regime at the ministers meeting.
April 14, 2014

MARDIN, Turkey  A 25-year-old student has burst onto the political scene in Turkey as the first Christian woman to govern a metropolitan city in this predominantly Muslim republic.

Put forward as a candidate by the Peace and Democracy Party (BDP), Turkeys main Kurdish party, in municipal elections on March 30, Februniye Akyol was elected co-mayor of the southeastern city of Mardin together with Ahmet Turk, 71, a widely respected veteran Kurdish leader. The BDP splits all top posts between a man and a woman to boost female participation in politics.

The Kurdish party has enabled me to fight for my people and its rights, and this is what I am going to do, Akyol told Al-Monitor in an interview in Mardin this week. Im not here as an ornament.

Akyol, the daughter of a silversmith, is a member of the Syriac community, an ancient branch of the Christian faith whose followers still speak a version of Aramaic, the language of Jesus Christ. The region of Tur Abdin near Mardin, a plateau dotted with monasteries that go back to the fourth century, is the Syriacs historical heartland.

Turkey has had Christian mayors of smaller towns before, and in 2011 the Syriac politician Erol Dora, also running on a BDP ticket, became the first Christian member of parliament in Ankara since the 1960s. But Akyol is the first Christian to govern one of Turkeys 30 metropolitan municipalities.

The Syriac community, which numbered around 200,000 people in Tur Abdin a century ago, was decimated by the massacres of Anatolian Christians during World War I, when Syriacs shared the fate of the Armenians. In the decades that followed, many survivors and their descendants fled poverty, persecution and the war between the Turkish state and Kurdish rebels in the region to settle in Europe. Today, a total of 150,000 Syriacs live in Germany, Sweden and Switzerland. Some 15,000 are in Istanbul, but less than 5,000 remain in Tur Abdin.

Although Turkey began issuing appeals for Syriacs to return to their homeland in the early 2000s and strengthened social and religious rights under the countrys EU membership application, Akyol said her community did not yet enjoy full democratic privileges. Syriacs here are still not free, they cant live in peace, Akyol said.

The newly elected mayors own name is a case in point. Born and christened Fabronia Benno, she had to run for office under her official Turkish name, Februniye Akyol, because of long-standing restrictions on the cultures and languages of ethnic and religious minorities in Turkey. Since the Syriacs are not officially recognized as a religious minority by the Turkish state, they are not allowed their own schools to teach their ancient language to their children. Many Syriac villages were destroyed in the war between the Turkish military and the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), a rebel group fighting for Kurdish self-rule since 1984.

It was jailed PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan who launched Akyol into her political career. Shortly before the March elections, Ocalan, still considered the top leader of Turkeys estimated 12 million Kurds, despite serving a life sentence on the prison island of Imrali near Istanbul since 1999, decreed that the BDP should field a female Syriac candidate for co-mayor in Mardin.

Following Ocalans order, BDP officials asked Akyol, a student for a master's degree in the Aramaic language at Mardins Artuklu University, to run with only two months to go before election day. This is how I came to office, Akyol said.

Contemplating a partnership with her Kurdish running mate was difficult at first, she admitted. Kurds played a major part in the massacres against Syriacs and Armenians in southeastern Anatolia between 1915 and 1917. Yes, Kurds persecuted us Christians, and the trauma is deep-rooted, Akyol said. I used to have prejudices [against Kurds] myself.

But Ahmet Turk, chief of an influential Kurdish clan in the Mardin area, helped Akyol to overcome her doubts. He became the first Kurdish leader in Turkey to officially apologize to the Armenian, Syriac and Yezidi communities for the killings of 1915. Our forefathers mistreated these peoples, and we apologize as their grandsons, Turk said.

As a political pair, Turk, an old hand in Turkish politics with 40 years of experience, and the political novice Akyol jointly faced their first challenge even before taking office in Mardin. They said the outgoing municipal administration engaged in foul play by handing over municipal assets to other state institutions before vacating office, leaving Turk, Akyol and their new city administration without desks, computers, vehicles or even the town hall itself.

Turk called the maneuver an act of sabotage by the Justice and Development Party (AKP) of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, which was defeated by the BDP candidates in Mardin on March 30. After officially taking office on April 8, the new mayors vowed to fight back and litigate. We will spoil that game together, Turk said. But for now, Februniye Akyol is using her private car to get around town.
October 11, 2016

RAMALLAH, West Bank  Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas attendance at the funeral of Israeli President Shimon Peres Sept. 30, heading a Palestinian delegation, raised popular anger. This anger escalated after Palestinian security members in civilian clothes, who were participating in a Fatah march in support of Abbas, attacked a youth march (according to the participants)  which was called for on Facebook  in Ramallah's city center on Oct. 4 to express opposition to Abbas' attendance, injuring a number of participants, most notably Muhanad Karaja, a lawyer with human rights organization Al-Dameer.

Karaja told Al-Monitor that a group of youths who wanted to organize a march in Ramallah invited him in his capacity as lawyer of Al-Dameer to document any attacks by security forces.

He said that before he was beaten, he had documented two cases where security forces in civilian clothes who participated in Fatahs march and whom he personally knows attacked participants in the march. When security forces noticed my presence, they said, 'This is their lawyer.' More than 10 members then started beating me up with their hands and tearing my clothes off before I was taken to the hospital, he said.

Also, the military intelligence department arrested Osama Mansour, the director of public relations at the military liaison office, and suspended him from work on Oct. 1 over a Facebook post a day earlier, where he called on Abbas not to attend Peres' funeral. His detention was extended for 15 days on charges of failing to obey military orders requiring that men in uniform do not express a political opinion. Moreover, people took to the streets in the Gaza Strip on Sept. 30 to condemn Abbas taking part in the funeral.

On Oct. 12, the Ramallah military court sentenced Mansour to one year in prison and ordered his dismissal. Hours later, Abbas issued a decree whereby he pardoned Mansour and ordered him to retire.

Voices were raised within Fatah to object Abbas' attendance. Fatah Central Committee member Tawfiq Tirawi said Oct. 1 that he was against Abbas participation in the funeral and that Fatahs Central Committee was not consulted in this regard. The leadership of Fatah's student wing, the Shabiba movement, affirmed Sept. 30 its rejection of such participation.

Yet, the movements official position came to support Abbas. On Oct. 4, Fatah issued a strongly worded statement warning that an iron fist will be used against anyone who thinks of causing prejudice to Fatah and its leaders, and that strive seekers and cowards will not be tolerated."

Khader Adnan, a leader of Islamic Jihad and a member of the public freedoms committee that was established following the reconciliation agreement among Palestinian factions, told Al-Monitor, Marches are repeatedly being suppressed, which shows that the Palestinian Authority is threatening whoever disagrees with the Palestinian leadership. It is a serious escalation that requires a firm stance by the factions and human rights organizations.

Adnan said, The language of threats and violence used against those opposing [Abbas'] attendance provides a cover for the use of violence against factions and members opposing the PA. He stressed, "Resorting to security forces in civilian clothes is a dangerous precedent in our society and nation.

For her part, Khalida Jarrar, a member of the political bureau of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), told Al-Monitor, The attack of a peaceful march proves that the PA and security services are taking a serious trajectory in attacking demonstrators who took to the streets to express their opinion. It is part of an attempt to muzzle and terrorize the people and prevent peaceful protests. Security services are resorting to the use of force.

Jarrar confirmed that the attack against a peaceful march indicates that the PA and its security services failed to understand that tension and resentment prevail over the people that reject the presidents participation in Peres' funeral. She said that this requires the forces and factions to hold an immediate meeting to take measures that preserve civil peace, and the security services to halt these practices immediately and be held accountable, because what happened expresses a dangerous trajectory toward muzzling the people by beating them up.

Local media reported Sept. 30 that Abbas participation in the funeral came after he was invited by Peres family to attend the funeral as a family guest. Muwaffaq Matar, a Fatah Revolutionary Council member and chief executive of Fatah's Information and Culture Commission, confirmed this to Al-Monitor.

Political author and analyst Khalil Shaheen told Al-Monitor that Abbas attendance at the funeral did more harm than good. This participation caused an internal crisis that came to light when the security forces attacked the participants of the popular march, which is an opinion that is in line with Palestinian factions condemnation and citizens rejection on social media.

Shaheen said, The Palestinian position opposing Abbas participation emanates from the fact that Peres is a war criminal, and despite that, Abbas attended his funeral. This is while the PA claims that it wants Israeli war criminals to be prosecuted by the International Criminal Court. It makes the PA discourse unconvincing for the Palestinian public opinion.

He added, The attack on those opposing Abbas attendance confirms that the PA is intolerant of any opposition to the official position and that the freedom of opinion and expression is restricted. He said that this expresses a tendency toward a monopoly in decision-making and restricted freedoms of those who are opposed. This will cause prejudice to the structure of the political regime and turn it into a regime that excludes all those who have a different opinion.

For his part, Matar stressed, Diversity of opinion and stances is sacred for us. Yet the accusation of treason in political issues is unacceptable for us and we will never accept that Abbas is accused of treason. His political and national positions are unchangeable. This was in reference to several Facebook posts and condemnations by the Palestinian factions such as Hamas and Islamic Jihad that accused Abbas of great treason.

Matar continued, The president's attendance at the funeral was unfairly handled. One must not forget that the president has the right to view things differently. He is a diplomat and maker of Palestinian politics, particularly since political and diplomatic action differs from the popular action; Abbas answered the call of Peres' family. His participation was an opportunity to dispel the Israeli propaganda that there is no partner for peace.

For his part, Adnan al-Damiri, the PA security services spokesman, spoke to Al-Monitor about the march that took place in central Ramallah, saying, What happened was exaggerated by some, but we dealt with it and investigated whether or not the security services were at fault. However, some have depicted the incidents as if the Palestinian security [services] were the aggressor, while overlooking [the fact] that these were mere disputes between political parties.

He said, We are not responsible for what happened or for breaking the clashes, referring to the fact that what happened was a fight between the Fatah movement and the PFLP.

Damiri further noted, We are not a party to the fight that erupted between [the participants] of the two marches. It has been ascertained that the security [services] did not have anything to do with the fight. Anyone of the participants who felt attacked can file a complaint to the military public prosecution if he has the name of the officer who attacked him. But it is unacceptable to make accusations without proof or to claim that those who attacked [the participants] were security men in civilian clothes.

The public resentment caused by Abbas attendance at the funeral and the way the PA has dealt with those opposing his participation raise fear that the PA pursues a policy to repress its opponents, which would affect the national internal ties.
October 12, 2016

CAIRO  As talks commenced between Washington and Khartoum to lift American economic sanctions on Sudan, imposed in 1997 after Sudan was listed as a state sponsor of terrorism, Sudanese Foreign Minister Ibrahim Ghandour told Al-Monitor that channels of dialogue and communication between Sudan and the United States would continue on all levels to reform ties.

However, he did not confirm any tangible results that could be announced yet, despite the positive indicators circulating among Sudanese politicians ever since Washington announced the partial lifting of economic sanctions on Sudan by allowing Khartoum to import communication devices, software and technologies in February 2015.

Al-Monitor interviewed Ghandour on Oct. 6 after the Supreme Egyptian-Sudanese Committee ended its session. Sudan is keen on being transparent with the international and regional community concerning the situation in Darfur, Ghandour told Al-Monitor. He denied that the United Nations requested the launching of an investigation on the use of chemical weapons in Darfur, and he condemned Frances request to begin an investigation into this issue. No one will come to Sudan without being invited, Ghandour said.

He also said negotiations on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam have "included political pledges that Ethiopia will not enjoy the benefits of the dam if Egypt or Sudan are subject to any harm."

The full text of the interview follows:

Al-Monitor: Sudanese politicians talk about a solution to restoring American-Sudanese relations and lifting of economic sanctions on Sudan, especially after several Sudanese officials visited the United States last year. Where are you on this issue, and do you have any indicators of a real change in the American position vis-a-vis Sudan?

Ghandour: We look for normal relationships between Sudan and the United States. So far, talks are ongoing and we are still communicating on different political levels. Sudan is ready to open all doors until satisfying results are achieved.

Al-Monitor: Despite the momentum that followed the US decision to ease economic sanctions in February 2015, the Sudanese government seems to have reservations about discussing this issue. Does this mean complicating the matter once more?

Ghandour: We do not have any reservations. However, details of the results of the talks with the US administration into this issue will be announced at the right time. All we can confirm now is that Sudan is keen on making the dialogue successful and changing the US position vis-a-vis Sudan, especially after the efforts exerted by the Sudanese government to establish peace in Darfur, South Kurdufan and the Blue Nile.

Al-Monitor: In an Amnesty International report, the Sudanese government was accused of using chemical weapons in Darfur. What is your position on the requests by the Security Council and the European Parliament to launch an international investigation carried out by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons into this file?

Ghandour: Negotiations at the Security Council did not address demands to launch investigations into that matter. However, an official from United Nations Peacekeeping stated that the United Nations-African Union Mission in Darfur did not spot any use of chemical weapons. Moreover, any alleged evidence of chemical uses [is] weak. Most commentary in the Security Council session, especially those made by permanent members, confirmed that the evidence of incidents was weak, too.

Al-Monitor: But France requested that an investigation be launched and said it was ready to take part once an international committee is formed. What do you think of that?

Ghandour: France has nothing to do with this. Who invited it to participate? This is about Sudan and no one, not even those who want to, will come uninvited.

Al-Monitor: Sudans foreign policy has lately shifted toward [an emphasis on] supporting relations with China and Russia. Will this policy make up for the weak relations with the West?

Ghandour: Foreign policies are moved by interests. We will stand with whoever supports our interests as long as they do not interfere in our internal affairs. The Sudanese government is open to all political circles in the region and the whole world, and our relations with a country are not dependent on our relations with another.

Al-Monitor: What is your perspective on the growing Russian role involving issues in the Arab world, especially in terms of Syria and Libya?

Ghandour: It is not only the role Russia plays, but also the international interest in the Arab region. This influence is growing as a result of a weak Arab existence. What we look for is strengthening the Arab role. Negotiations by Arab foreign ministers in the last Arab League meeting referred to that matter, and Mr. Ahmed Aboul Gheit, the secretary-general, started the first session on Syria and the file under discussion now is Libya.

Al-Monitor: Sudan and Egypt are both participating in the Libya Neighbors Mechanism despite their different positions on the Libyan issue. Which Libyan factions does Sudan deal with now?

Ghandour: The Sudan government has a very clear position, which is to support the legitimate government in Tripoli under President Fayez al-Sarraj. The government came as a result of the Skhirat Agreement and it is the internationally acknowledged government.

Al-Monitor: How about the Libyan army under command of Khalifa Hifter, which defines itself as the official military institution and is supported by Cairo?

Ghandour: Hifter supports forces of the dissident Justice and Equality Movement, as they fight on his side in Libya. Therefore, our position is to support the legitimate government in Libya.

Al-Monitor: How do you view the impact of the Supreme Egyptian-Sudanese Committee on the presidential level under presidents [Abdel Fattah al-] Sisi and [Omar] al-Bashir on the coordination and understanding between the two countries?

Ghandour: Holding meetings headed by the two presidents represents a shift and turning over a new leaf in the relations between the two countries. The meetings resulted in signing 13 agreements in 31 different fields, as well as intensive meetings between ministers, experts and professionals in a positive atmosphere.

Al-Monitor: Were there any agreements on the dispute between you and Cairo on implementing the Four Freedoms Agreement?

Ghandour: It has been agreed to form a technical committee that convenes in November to look into that matter in Cairo. There are also clear political directives to solve this issue.

Al-Monitor: How will you approach Egypts intransigence concerning its refusal to open dialogue and negotiate the issue of [the disputed border region of] Halayeb and Shalateen?

Ghandour: Halayeb has always been a potential topic on any Egyptian-Sudanese table. No one could imagine solving this issue through a fait accompli policy. We imagine that the possible solution would either be a dialogue to reach a common understanding or resorting to international institutions that could adjudicate between us. We need honesty so that this issue does not remain on the table whenever there is a conflict between Egypt and Sudan, as we cannot imagine that the relations between the two countries could be depending on this issue.

Al-Monitor: There are reports of Cairo seeking coordination with Sudan to open a new political path to negotiate directly with Ethiopia about its storing water behind the [Renaissance] Dam before waiting for the results of the technical studies that are expected to be completed after a year to determine the dangers of the dam. To what extent are these reports correct?

Ghandour: The strategic agreement signed by presidents Bashir and Sisi at the end of the meetings of the Supreme Committee recommended strengthening the cooperation between the two countries. The dialogue between the two presidents addressed the importance of coordinating with other Nile Basin countries, especially Ethiopia. However, there are pledges that Egypts and Sudans shares of Nile water are where we draw a line in the sand.

Al-Monitor: The slow pace of the Egyptian-Sudanese negotiations on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam [GERD] reflects Cairos disappointment toward reaching real guarantees to protect Egyptian and Sudanese water security. Is Sudan still confident about the continuing construction at the GERD site before waiting for the results of the technical committee to determine mechanisms of avoiding negative impacts?

Ghandour: We are confident about the safety of the dam. We cannot gamble the safety of Sudan to support Ethiopia's building a dam that could destroy Egypt or us. We made sure that the dam is being built in a safe way so that Sudan is not harmed. I reassure that the negotiations that followed the three presidents signing the preliminary agreement on the GERD included political pledges that Ethiopia will not enjoy the benefits of the dam if Egypt or Sudan are subject to any harm. Sudan also made political pledges that Egypts water security cannot be jeopardized.
October 11, 2016

The Ministry of Interior and National Security in Gaza announced in late September what it called an administrative reshuffle in its security institutions, a move that affected a number of senior officers in prestigious positions.

On Oct. 5, Col. Mohammed Ashour was appointed director of the Department of Interpol; Lt. Col. Hamadoun al-Qudra director of the Department to Combat Drugs; Col. Asaad al-Harthani deputy director of management and administration; and Col. Bassam Koka deputy director of the police force charged with intervention and maintaining order. On Sept. 30, Maj. Gen. Sami Nofal was appointed assistant to the director general of the National Security Forces; Mohammed Debabeche head of the General Intelligence Service; and Brig. Gen. Mohammed Khalaf director of the maritime police.

These positions are particularly crucial, considering the resumes of the officers appointed and the importance of the positions. The National Security Forces were established after Hamas takeover of Gaza in 2007 and guard Gaza's borders against security breaches by Israeli forces. Hamas formed the General Intelligence Service in August 2015. While it is not clear whether this service operates outside of Gaza, Hamas has dedicated its most skilled officers to it.

Among the newly appointed officers, Nofal was a security consultant for Hamas' former Interior Minister Said Siam, then served as comptroller at the Interior Ministry. Israel bombed his house during the war in the summer of 2014.

Debabeche was a senior Hamas security official who presided over military intelligence for al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas military wing. He worked as a lecturer at the Islamic University in Gaza and was arrested and detained by Egypt for two weeks in late 2010 during a period of tension with Hamas.

Khalaf worked as director general of the Department of Central Operations at the Interior Ministry and coordinated the various security services in Gaza.

Spokesman for the Interior Ministry in Gaza Iyad Bezm told Al-Monitor, The reshuffle that recently took place falls within normal changes made by the Ministry of Interior to serve, improve and promote the security sector. The reshuffle is part of a policy pursued for years by the ministry to inject new blood into the security sector in the Gaza Strip, which has a stable and quiet security situation that is marred only by Israeli threats.

He added, The internal Palestinian security conditions in Gaza are under control, and the ministry is seeking to make strenuous efforts to keep the atmosphere calm and under control within the Strip. These appointments have nothing to do with rumors about a possible reshuffle of the Palestinian government in Ramallah, because we have [our own] plan and we will not be influenced by external factors.

This security shakeup within the Interior Ministry is indicative of the interest and care Hamas shows the security situation in Gaza, which is relatively devoid of organized crime, lawlessness and armed clashes, and this is a point that Hamas has been focusing on since the Palestinian division and its takeover of Gaza in mid-2007.

Remarkably, while calm has prevailed in Gaza, where Hamas is in control, chaos has recently been prevalent in the West Bank, where the Palestinian Authority rules, as armed clashes continue between security forces and militants in several cities such as Nablus and Jenin.

Retired Maj. Gen. Wasef Erekat told Al-Monitor, The simultaneous reshuffle of these security positions indicates that a decision has been made at the highest levels within the leadership of Hamas, which controls Gaza. Had the decision been limited to an officer or two at low security levels, it would have been possible to talk about a purely administrative change, but the decision involves several senior officers. This does not mean that Hamas does not trust the officers who have been replaced, but it probably prefers the officers who were hired, and the decision is linked to political, military and security developments with Israel in light of its threats against Gaza.

The wars launched by Israel against Palestinians between 2008 and 2014 focused on security services in Gaza. When the security situation in Gaza spins out of control, Israel seeks to create chaos among Palestinians in a bid to confuse Hamas security and military calculations and prevent the movement from completing its military plans. In 2008, Israeli aircraft bombed the central Palestinian police headquarters, killing more than 180 soldiers and officers. Therefore, following every Israeli escalation against Gaza, Hamas traditionally vacates its security headquarters.

Islam Shahwan, a professor of security studies at Al-Awda University College in Gaza, told Al-Monitor, The Interior Ministry security reshuffle may have come to prevent any weakness in sensitive security positions in Gaza, given the Ramallah government's failure to commit to providing the necessary financial, administrative and functional resources to the ministry. I have information about changes coming within the ministry, ones that will affect major security posts, make room for new energy, ease the burden on other security officials and face any potential Israeli threat against Gaza.

Al-Monitor tried to contact the official spokesman for the security services in the West Bank, Maj. Gen. Adnan al-Damiri, to no avail. However, a Palestinian security official in Ramallah told Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity, The changes carried out by Hamas in Gaza within the security services are illegal, as they are not approved by the prime minister and Interior Minister Rami Hamdallah. These decisions are an extension of the coup carried out by Hamas in Gaza in mid-2007. Those new appointments by Hamas are illegal.

The changes in the Gaza Interior Ministry coincide with its announcement that it will recruit 500 soldiers for its security forces in Gaza. A 2011 study by Yezid Sayigh, a senior associate with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Beirut, showed that Hamas security sector is more integrated, has a clearer chain of command and has developed more professional training and planning capabilities than the West Bank's. Despite its scarce resources, Hamas has managed to rebuild its security sector in Gaza without outside help.
October 10, 2016

BAGHDAD, Iraq  The Baghdad Provincial Council issued a warning Sept. 15 about street beggars being used by gangs to commit crimes and armed groups to carry out terrorist operations. The problem is not limited to Baghdad, and the council in Karbala announced Oct. 7 that it is coordinating with security agencies to get beggars off the holy citys streets.

Begging has spread in the streets of Baghdad and the southern cities, particularly among teenagers of both genders. The phenomenon was first brought about by the wave of displacement that started when the Islamic State took control of Iraqi territories in June 2014, and worsened by the harsh economic situation in the country.

Security officials have warned about beggars being exploited for criminal objectives, including being used as a means of communication in certain areas, to plant explosives and to secure locations for terrorist operations.

Saad al-Matlabi, a member of the security committee in the Baghdad Provincial Council, told Al-Monitor about the serious security consequences of the growing problem of young beggars, saying, "They are the easiest age group to be attracted by extremist groups and turned into ticking time bombs."

He stressed the need to develop effective solutions to protect children and teenagers from an uncertain future, pointing out that silence around the issue of young beggars and a lack of attention and appropriate government solutions will lead to heavier security and societal burdens.

Matlabi spoke about several cases of beggars being recruited by armed groups. "Several have already been arrested. They were involved in planting roadside bombs and performed other terrorist acts," he said.

On April 24, an Iraqi court's investigative arm in Karada announced the trial of groups working in Baghdad malls; group members allegedly were begging as a cover to perform acts of terrorism.

An independent human rights commission in Iraq has confirmed that street children have become vulnerable to exploitation by terrorist groups, reporting in February 2015, IS enlisted about 77 child beggars and used them as suicide bombers.

Interior Ministry spokesman Saad Maan told Al-Monitor that during the past few months, many beggars have been arrested near security sites. He said, "The investigation has shown that some of them were involved in armed networks to gather information. The police and security forces are constantly conducting raids on hotels where beggars  including children, teenagers and women  are located in al-Bataween in central Baghdad, an area known for the sex trade and a heavy presence by beggars."

Maan said that the beggars are working in an organized fashion and that they are being guided, overseen and protected from the security services in various ways. He added that teenagers have been arrested and that the security agencies monitor the beggars on the streets and intersections and warn them against approaching security barriers.

Illiteracy, ignorance, poverty and the absence of deterrence measures and government solutions are contributing to the spread of this group, which is getting more visibly involved in violent crime, including bombings, according to security investigations. Some beggars have been shown to be involved with armed groups and to have provided them with security information. The Ministry of Human Rights and the parliamentary Committee on Human Rights have been criticized for doing nothing to rescue the boys and girls from a life of crime despite being aware of the spread of begging and of that population's being dragged in dangerous directions.

Shirin Rida, a member of the parliamentary Committee on Human Rights, told Al-Monitor, "The committee has not held one meeting in this regard and has submitted no proposals to the government to address the matter. She blamed the parliament's Security and Defense Committee for the problem and claimed to have sufficient information to be certain of its responsibility.

Hassan al-Bassam, a researcher in sociology for the youth department of the Ministry of Employment and Social Affairs, told Al-Monitor, The spread of begging and its involvement in terrorism and organized crime is a product of desperation. [Teenagers] are the most prone to be adventurous and are less fearful than others about the consequences of their actions because of their impressionable minds and recklessness at this age. They are more influenced by ideas. Because their life experiences are incomplete and because they do not have the maturity to evaluate ideas, they are being exploited by extremist groups. In their hearts they blame society for the mistakes and the crimes they may commit."

The current state of lawlessness, corruption and a tragically common absence of family and educational ties have alienated young people, including girls, increasing the burden not only on religious institutions and civil society organizations, but also on the government that many hold responsible for the problem.
October 11, 2016

ADEN, Yemen  Oman considers itself a friend to all, a dubious claim as some believe the sultanate is facilitating weapons smuggling to rebel Houthis in Yemen.

Oman distanced itself from the Saudi-led military intervention launched in March 2015 to support the legitimacy of Yemeni President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi against Iran-backed Houthi rebels. Oman is the only Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) country that has not declared its participation in the Arab coalition.

Instead, the sultanate adopted the role of mediator between the disputing parties and as a result became a cause for concern, rather than a solid backer, for both Yemen and Saudi Arabia. Meanwhile, reports have been circulating that Oman has deviated from its policy of impartial diplomacy.

The official but undeclared stance of Yemeni authorities is that Oman is harboring the rebels and has become an important facilitator of communication with Iran and its related branches in the region such as Hezbollah and the Iraqi government, which is openly affiliated with Tehran.

A source close to the Houthis told Al-Monitor that they and their ally, former Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh, very much appreciate Omans stance. A Houthi-affiliated negotiation convoy and Saleh were warmly welcomed in Omans capital of Muscat earlier this year. Omanis are also offering humanitarian and medical support to treat the wounded, and welcome them in their hospitals.

But the question remains: Has Oman really been impartial in the Yemeni conflict?

Based on these details, Oman does not seem impartial. It is brokering the conflict that Gulf states are fueling. Saudi Arabia did not stand in Omans way in that role, perhaps because Oman was not participating in the war and because the Saudis felt Muscat could be an effective broker because of its strong ties with Tehran. While the GCC states compete with each other in certain respects and have diverging stances on various issues, they are unified when it comes to the importance of Gulf security.

But coalition states, especially Saudi Arabia, say Oman seems to be siding with Iran on the issue, and the Yemeni conflict has gone on too long. Oman, which shares a border with the Mahra sultanate in the extreme east of Yemen, seems to be involved now, they say.

On Sept. 18, Sultan al-Arada, governor of oil-rich Marib province in northeast Yemen, told the Saudi-owned daily Al-Hayat that in August, Hadis Yemeni government forces had seized a shipment of weapons being smuggled on three vehicles with Omani license plates. Arada said the vehicles were on their way to Houthi militants in Sanaa.

The Yemeni officials statement in another newspaper the next day could suggest that relations between Saudi Arabia and Oman are shaky. London-based Al-Arab published an analysis piece Sept. 19 on the thwarting of the Houthis' weapons smuggling. It said the fact that a Yemeni official made a statement to a Saudi-owned newspaper that implicitly accused Oman of playing a role in smuggling was a notice from Riyadh, without raising the alarm for escalation.

The weapons were seized in August but the news wasnt announced until September, perhaps indicating that Saudi Arabia was considering the impact the revelation might have on its relations with Oman, and that it didnt want to implicate Oman with evidence.

Qoraish news cited an Aug. 31 Intelligence Online story as saying Saudi Arabia is increasingly worried about Iranians in Oman helping to smuggle weapons to Houthis in Yemen through land and water routes. The article read that Saudi officers close to Saudi Minister of Defense Mohammed bin Salman publicly voiced their criticism, saying, There is an Iranian smuggling lobby in Muscat.

The account went on to say that Omani Gen. Sultan bin Mohammed al-Naamani, the minister of the palace office, a security post, is officially overseeing Omani internal intelligence. According to the newspaper, Omani intelligence has long invested in relations with Yemeni components under the cover of monitoring the borders between the two countries.

Based on the Intelligence Online information, Muscat is overlooking the Houthis support in Dhofar, an Omani province on the border with Yemen. There is similar speculation that the airport in Salalah  the main city in Dhofar  and the small islands in the area are being used to store Iranian military weapons that supply Houthi rebels. Muscat does not completely control this area, which has shown reluctance to being governed by the central authority.

The editor-in-chief of Bahrains Al-Wasat weekly newspaper, Jamal Amer (who is close to Salehs party), said Oman is practicing positive impartiality, but isnt trying to evade responsibility for finding solutions. Rather, Oman is refusing to become enmeshed with one party against another.

Amer told Al-Monitor, Muscat has been the only gateway for Houthis and their ally Saleh to the outside world, whether for official convoys affiliated with them or through welcoming many of the wounded in its hospitals. It has also offered humanitarian aid following the maritime and air blockade imposed by the Arab coalition.

Omans policy regarding Yemens conflict is not anti-Saudi Arabia, Amer continued. Oman is preserving its ability to act as a window of communication between Saudi-backed Hadi and the Houthis.

Amer added that Hadis complaints about Oman reflect a similar Saudi stance, as Omani authorities have forbidden a tight political, economic and humanitarian grip on the Houthis and Salehs party. Amer ruled out the idea of Oman sending weapon shipments to the Houthis, given the delicacy of such an act.

Gulf affairs and Iranian policy researcher Adnan Hashem with the SAS Center for Political Studies said the vagueness of Omans foreign policy has helped it maintain impartiality, as it is trying to recognize two legitimacies in Yemen those of Hadi and the Houthi coup against him.

Hashem told Al-Monitor that Omans strategy is dictated by the desires of the Iranian lobby, which can implement Irans vision at the expense of the Gulfs vision without jeopardizing Omans security and domestic policy.

Omans government might not have a say in the smuggling activity its accused of overlooking, Hashem added. Some parts of the sultanate are not under sufficient supervision by the authorities, and the gaps have allowed Iran to wield its own influence and build wider ties with local and tribal authorities in Dhofar, a province that did not become part of the sultanate until 1975.
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 13, ARMENPRESS. ArmHiTec-2016" International Exhibition of Arms and Defense Technology has been kicked off in Yerevan on October 13, reports Armenpress.

Companies operating in military-industrial sector from Armenia, Russia, Kazakhstan, China, Italy and Poland are taking part in the exhibition.

Defense Minister Vigen Sargsyan, CSTO Secretary General Nikolay Bordyuzha, Minister of Education and Science Levon Mkrtchyan, Minister of Economic Development and Investments Suren Karayan, other high-ranking officials attended the opening ceremony of the exhibition.

In his speech Defense Minister Vigen Sargsyan congratulated the participants and guests on the opening of the exhibition which is dedicated to national defense and security issues.

This exhibition is being held in Armenia for the first time. It aims at using Armenias modern scientific-technical developments in the defense sector, promoting investments and expanding the international ties. As a result the Armenian leadership, the military-industrial enterprises, as well as the public at large put a special attention to this event, he said.

The Minister said currently the innovative developments acquire a special place in the defense sector which enable to solve the issues faced by the armed forces in an innovative way, to change the forms of military operations, to raise the security of the servicemen.

Vigen Sargsyan stated that ArmHiTec-2016 has all opportunities to become an attractive platform for discussing the innovative ideas for the development of armed forces, as well as promoting the development of such industrial sectors.

The exhibition has put a special emphasis on high technology solutions. Armenia traditionally acquired leading positions in electronics, optics, laser technology, cybernetics and radio physics. Today we also have sufficient potential on using innovative developments in the defense sector and ensuring favorable conditions for investment, Vigen Sargsyan said and expressed hope the exhibition will contribute to expanding the international military-technical cooperation and developing the military potential of countries participating the exhibition.

The Minister called the local producers, representatives of scientific sectors, students of leading Armenian and international universities to make efforts to outline the scope of their involvement in the nation-army domain.
October 11, 2016

The statement published by the Carter Centers Tunis office calling for improvements in electoral legislation has triggered controversy and condemnation from local civic organizations in Tunisia. The center issued a statement Sept. 28 urging the Tunisian parliament to make improvements to the electoral law giving the right to vote to the army and security forces. Local organizations considered this call interference in Tunisian affairs.

The Carter Center opened its office in Tunis in June 2011 with the aim of monitoring the elections, the constitutional drafting process and the establishment of institutional and legal frameworks for elections. In 2014, the center was in charge of election observation of the presidential and legislative elections, and issued a report on them.

The controversy over the centers latest statement triggered a debate about the role of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), their relationship with the state and the limits of that relationship.

In its statement, the Carter Center called on Tunisian authorities to amend the electoral law, saying there is a glaring lack of attention to the organization of regional elections, which would further encourage development and help meet citizens concerns in Tunisia.

The organization 23_10, which supports the democratic transition process, said in a Sept. 30 statement that the centers call aims to impose legislative options that have no defined international standards and that may harm Tunisias interests, stability and sovereign decision-making.

Sami Ben Salama, the organizations general coordinator, told Al-Monitor, The statement is contrary to the most basic rules on dealing with sovereign states because it intervenes in the work of the constitutional institutions.

In the same context, in a statement published Oct. 4, the Tunisian Institute for International Relations condemned the statement issued by the Carter Center, considering it interference in the sovereign decision of Tunisia.

Regarding the points in the centers statement that stirred up the controversy, Ben Salama said, The first point is the centers request to grant the right to vote to the army and security services. Our country  despite its flaws  has a long tradition of neutralizing those forces from politics, and our constitution requires them to be completely disciplined and impartial. The [centers call] is a form of inciting the armed forces to disobedience and giving them the right to vote, which we consider more of a duty than a right, because the duty of the [army] is to protect the homeland as long as it is armed and to completely stay away from politics.

He added, Regarding the second point, the center is pressuring for the imposition of regional elections that no one is asking for. Although we support local democracy, we caution against conducting municipal elections without completing regionalization, as we believe we are in a transitional situation that is fragile and that any distraction to the authorities and to the resources could weaken the center and reduce the material resources available, which are already weak. This may cause strife between certain groups and may end up partitioning the country.

In response, the director of the Carter Centers Tunis office, Fida Nasrallah, told Al-Monitor via email, The request to grant the right to vote to the military and internal security forces stems from our centers position that voting is both a duty and a national right, not a political act. Depriving them of their right runs contrary to the international obligations of the Republic of Tunisia under the international covenant of the United Nations on civil and political rights. In addition, it is contrary to Article 21 and Article 34 of the Tunisian Constitution.

Nasrallah added, The fear that the army will not remain neutral and that the vote may be manipulated is an obsession shared by many countries. But these concerns can be reduced by adopting certain measures, not by categorically denying the rights of the armed forces. Regarding the regional elections, the statement did not recommend any special measures on the regional elections, but simply expressed concern about the total absence of a reference to the regional elections despite the fact that the Tunisian Constitution provides for the election under Section 7.

Although the Carter Centers statement was about the electoral law, the debate expanded to include the role of foreign NGOs in the country. The head of the Tunisian Institute for International Relations, Ahmed Mannai, told Al-Monitor, Foreign NGOs have had a growing role in Tunisia after 2011, when the regime of Zine El Abidine Ben Ali fell. NGOs reached a position of strength and now act freely in various areas of public affairs. They employ thousands of young people and are financially supported by the United States and Europe. The NGOs are part of their funders foreign policy and a tool to influence internal politics and national decision-making.

In this context, Ben Salama said, We absolutely do not reject the existence of these organizations. We welcome them. But we want them to respect the constitution, the laws and the dignity of the Tunisians. They must know that they are simply organizations that are dealing with a fully sovereign state. They play useful roles in funding important projects and in providing experience and training. But they must be monitored so that their work does not deviate from its purpose. Tunisia agrees to cooperate with them to achieve this purpose, which is in the interest of our country. However, we do not agree to their practicing politics in Tunisia and turning into a political party that is even stronger than our parties or interfering with our choices. Otherwise, let them allow us to interfere in the affairs in their governing institutions, in their funding and their internal elections.

He added, With all due respect to some organizations, we welcome them on our terms, but we do not trust some of them based on our monitoring of their activities and practices  although we would have accepted their positions if they showed a minimum of professional standards and objectivity all the time. But unfortunately, we noticed that their positions have been determined by the interests of their countries since they entered Tunisia during the 2011 elections. For example, the Carter Center, despite its professionalism previously, its superficial and boilerplate positive assessment of the failed 2014 elections was completely different from our assessment as [organization] 23_10.

The debate about the role of foreign NGOs in Tunisia remains open. Some consider them mere tools in the hands of the states that fund them and part of those states foreign policy, which is aimed at influencing local decision-making and threatening the independence of the national decision-making. Others consider them as contributing to the development of public affairs, to the employment, supervision and training of young people, and to the success of the democratic transition phase experienced by the country since 2011.
October 12, 2016

Last year, Turkey attracted its largest amount of foreign direct investment (FDI), $16.8 billion, in the past seven years. In 2016, however, the tables have turned, with Turkey now on track to experience its lowest FDI in seven years.

According to Economy Ministry data, FDI in Turkey for the first half of 2016 plunged 54% compared to the same period last year, dropping to $4.8 billion from $10.5 billion. Of the $4.8 billion, $2 billion was in the form of real estate purchases by foreigners, a significant increase for that sector for the half year.

The lowest annual FDI in the past seven years, $9 billion, occurred in 2010. This year, with first-half FDI at $4.8 billion despite the significant boost from real estate purchases, the fear is that FDI might not reach its 2010 level.

The decline may yet worsen, because the effects of the July 15 coup attempt are not reflected in the half-year figures. In September, Moodys followed Standard & Poor's and downgraded Turkeys credit rating to junk  below speculative/non-investment grade  sending a warning of major risk to foreign investors. In an apparent attempt to soothe public concerns over the downgrade, Prime Minister Binali Yildirim responded, Our credit rating is not decided by [a few] rating agencies, but shopkeepers.

Of course, government officials are aware of the risks although not admitting to them publicly. The government hastily introduced new economic packages, such as increasing incentives to attract domestic investment and forgiving some taxpayer debt, and encouraged consumers to buy on credit to keep the economy going. Ankara is now worried, however, that Fitch Ratings might also lower Turkey's creditworthiness. Economy Minister Nihat Zeybekci said the Moodys downgrade could put pressure on Fitch, which has been maintaining Turkey at the investible level.

Faik Oztrak, former undersecretary of the treasury and foreign trade and current member of parliament for the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP), thinks the government's declaration of a state of emergency after the July coup attempt has scared off foreign investors.

When they declared the state of emergency, we were told that we could revert to regular legal order before the three months of emergency expired. Forget about ending it early, [the government] extended it for three more months. Some are now saying that even one year might not be enough, he told Al-Monitor.

Foreign investors  observing negative developments in the country and the extended state of emergency  get the impression that Turkey is rapidly moving toward an authoritarian regime, Oztrak stated. Who would want to invest in such an atmosphere? In an atmosphere where tension and uncertainty reign and the state of law is eroding, not only foreign investors but even our local investors have no appetite for investments.

Oztrak also drew attention to a particularly important figure, noting, In 2011 our private sector invested $140 billion. Now, looking at the first half of 2016, we see that amount down to $114 billion. With Moodys decision to lower our rating, Turkey has lost country that can be invested in ratings by two out of the three major rating agencies. This will discourage some foreign funds, especially retirement funds, from investing in Turkey."

Umut Oran, former CHP deputy chair, has worked for 30 years as a business manager and an employer. He responded at length when Al-Monitor asked him what investors look for before committing:

"There are two forms of foreign investments. One  hot money  is attracted by high interest and unearned income [rent]. They dont contribute with investments and employment to your economy. The other form is foreign direct investments. These provide employment. But people who manage that type of investment are fidgety. They run away quickly and wont come back as quickly. For them, the most important factor influencing their decision is the legal environment. They seek a just, independent, neutral and quick legal system. They look for democracy, human rights, free media and equality of opportunity. If there is no separation of powers, if the parliamentary system doesnt work well, that country cannot be counted on. If there is no security of life and property, if the country becomes a hotbed of terror, if there is an authoritarian regime and state of emergency, if there are no secularists, if there is no merit system in the public sector, then forget about new foreign capital coming in. You cant even keep the ones already here," Oran said.

Oran said bad government policies have created problems with all of Turkeys neighbors, notably to the extent of the country becoming involved in direct combat in Syria and Iraq. Turkey's distancing itself from democracy has basically wiped out the atmosphere conducive for investment.

So what comes next?

Al-Monitor asked Yaman Toruner, a former governor of the central bank and former minister of state considered to be a leading expert on money markets. He is concerned about the current situation, but remains hopeful about the future.

The institutional structure in Turkey has suffered. There is no confidence in the judicial system. The media is under pressure. That is why foreign investments regressed. Because of the coup and lowering of our credit rating, we will continue to lose investments for a while, but they will return, Toruner said.

The US and Europe have a lot of money in the market with no place to go. They will have to come to us, he assessed. At the moment, India is the country most likely to get that money. Then there will be some European Union countries in line, and finally Turkey. As Brazil and Argentina are not doing well economically, hot money wont go there. It wont go to Russia, either. Therefore, we stand a good chance.

Oran, however, is not so optimistic, stating, Deterioration in foreign investments will only worsen because of the coup attempt and the lowering of our rating. He also noted that if the Turkish lira loses value against foreign currencies, Turkish companies doing business with foreign money will be in trouble.

[Companies] may have to cut back and even begin laying off personnel, he further stated. Foreign currency is used as the basis for decisions in both optimistic and pessimistic scenarios. We may have to watch the movements in foreign currency markets more closely from now on.
October 13, 2016

A prison warden who lost his job was found hanging from the stairwell of his apartment building in Turkeys mainly Kurdish southeastern city of Adiyaman. Enver Senturks apparent suicide on Oct. 12 was the third self-inflicted death in as many days over alleged links to Fethullah Gulen, the Pennsylvania-based Turkish cleric whom the government blames for the July 15 coup attempt.

On Oct. 11, Hasan Tastan, an imam, hanged himself after his son, a schoolteacher, was arrested on charges of membership in the Gulen movement, or what the Turkish government calls the Fethullah Gulen Terrorist Organization. A day earlier, a noncommissioned officer detained on the same offense locked himself in the toilet, swallowed detergent and collapsed on the floor and died. On Oct. 6, a police officer, one among the estimated 13,000 police personnel sacked over alleged links to Gulen, shot himself in the head. At least two other Gulen-linked suicides were reported last month. The independent online news portal T24 estimates that there have been at least 17 Gulen-linked suicides thus far. The deaths have elicited little attention or sympathy. There may be several reasons for this.

One is fear. Someone airing worries about somebody possibly connected to the Gulenist movement can result in their being labeled a Gulenist as well, with all the attendant consequences. The pro-government outlets in covering the suicides appear to have concluded that the Gulenists most likely orchestrated the deaths themselves.

There is also a strong whiff of schadenfreude. Many Turks believe that the Gulenists are getting their just desserts for having wrecked so many peoples lives with the infamous Ergenekon and Sledgehammer trials, in which hundreds of pro-secular generals and their allies were indicted and jailed on thinly supported coup-plotting charges. Ali Tatar, who killed himself after being falsely accused of plotting to murder his navy superiors, became a poster boy for their persecution. The government, which egged on the prosecutions, now concurs that most of the evidence was either sexed up or outright fabricated by Gulenist elements in the security services and the judiciary.

The Gulenists should no longer pose a threat. At last count, at least 101,000 people had been suspended or removed for alleged connections to Gulen. Some 32,000 of them have been formally charged and arrested. These include around 22,000 police and 4,500 judges according a recent tabulation by Reuters.

Amid all the doom and gloom, there is some positive news. Veteran Turkish reporters Lale Kemal and Nuriye Akman were released from detention on Oct.11, pending trial on terror charges. They were among the more than 100 journalists jailed after the attempted coup. Their sole offense was to have worked for Gulens flagship newspaper, Zaman, which was shut down along with the rest of his media empire.

Also, the American freelance journalist Lindsey Snell was released from a Turkish prison, where she had been held since Aug. 7 on espionage charges. Snell, who called the charges absurd, said after her release, But then many Americans also accused me of being CIA.
October 13, 2016

The war in Yemen is escalating and becoming more dangerous. The Yemeni people are facing a humanitarian catastrophe. Unlike in Syria, the United States has significant leverage to halt the war and the suffering. Unfortunately, the frivolous override by Congress of President Barack Obama's veto of the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act has made using American leverage harder at this critical juncture. But Obama needs to act.

The Saudi-led coalition bombing of a funeral in Sanaa last weekend that killed over 140 mourners and wounded hundreds more has set off a wave of retaliation by the Yemeni rebels who control most of northern Yemen. The rebel alliance of Zaydi Shiite Houthis and followers of former President Ali Abdullah Saleh fired missiles at an American destroyer in the Red Sea. The rebels have long argued that American military, logistical and intelligence support for the Saudi coalition makes Washington a co-belligerent. The Oct. 13 cruise missile strikes against rebel radar sites  absolutely necessary to protect our ships in the strategic waters  will only add to the anti-American narrative.

The rebels have also fired at least one surface-to-surface missile at Taif, a Saudi city near Mecca. They have fired dozens of other missiles and rockets at Saudi border towns and at coalition garrisons in southern and eastern Yemen. They appear to have an unlimited supply of munitions and missiles. Sooner or later, one missile will cause a disaster.

The big beneficiary of the war is Iran. It provides the rebels diplomatic support and limited military assistance. In return, it bogs down the Saudis, Emiratis and its other Gulf enemies in a quagmire in Yemen that is expensive in lives and treasure, when oil prices are depressing their economies at home. Tehran is all too happy to fight to the last Yemeni.

The New York Times this week rightly suggested that Obama use American diplomacy to secure an immediate cease-fire. The United States and the United Kingdom are the Saudis' major arms providers. On Obama's watch, over $111 billion in US arms have been sold to the kingdom. American and British maintenance is crucial to keeping the coalition aircraft in the air. That also makes the countries culpable in war crimes.

The Times editorial reflects growing unease in Washington with Riyadh's war. Although the American media is preoccupied with the drama of our election, the mood on the Hill is increasingly skeptical about arms sales to the Gulf. Despite enormous lobbying efforts, the Saudis face increasing hostility.

The override of the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act passed the Senate 97-1, a massive bipartisan message to the kingdom. Despite an expensive public relations effort, the kingdom was all but declared guilty of conspiracy with al-Qaeda in the worst terrorist attack in American history by both chambers of the Congress.

As I wrote here in May, Congress has tasked two bipartisan independent investigations to ascertain who was responsible for 9/11. In 2004 and 2015, the studies absolved the government of Saudi Arabia and its officials of any role in the plot and its execution. The kingdom is a vital ally against al-Qaeda and the Islamic State. But both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump backed the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act. Few, if any, on the Hill read the reports they commissioned.

Saudi Arabia and its Gulf allies have rightly responded with astonishment at this frivolous act. Despite many calls for retaliation, so far they have kept their powder dry. When legal proceedings begin, as they will, the Gulf states will be hard pressed to show restraint. Whether Clinton or Trump wins the US presidency in November, she or he will inherit a damaged relationship in January.

The damage of the override will also impact Yemeni diplomacy, unfortunately, because it poisons the atmosphere. Nonetheless, Washington needs to use all its leverage now before the conflict escalates further. The Iranians would be delighted to see America get even more bogged down in another war in the Middle East.

The international community is rightly concerned with the horrific tragedy in Aleppo. But it needs to be equally gripped by the tragedy unfolding in Sanaa, Taiz and Saada. The poorest Arabs are being blockaded by air and sea by the richest with our help. The coalition should unilaterally impose a open-ended cease-fire, allow an international investigation of the funeral bombing and lift the blockade. The United States should insist on no less.
Samsung has scrapped the Galaxy Note 7 after reports replacement phones are also catching fire. The Korean electronics giant stands to lose $17 billion from the fallout. It's a major disappointment for fans of the Galaxy smartphone line, but could much worse for Samsung as it struggles to repair its brand. Can it make a comeback? Read and vote below!

PERSPECTIVES

The Note 7 was warmly received as one of the best phones on the market. That quickly changed with news of phones blowing up, and then the bungled recall. Android Central thinks the only way Samsung can get through this is through a major effort at making things right.

Samsung is a big company, with a lot of moving parts, and it's difficult to speak as a single entity. But now is the time it needs to unify under a single conceit: We made a bunch of mistakes, and we're learning from them. If you want your money back, you can get it. If you want another phone, you can have one. But we're not going to rest until every Note 7 customer is happy.

The Note 7 played a large role in Samsung's ambitions for virtual reality. Scrapping the Note 7 affects more than just the Galaxy Note brand. The mess reflects badly on Samsung, especially in the cutthroat smartphone market.

Wow, samsung has screwed something up big time. That is going to impact them and GearVR.  Virtual (@VirtualFox) October 11, 2016

Samsung really shot itself in the foot with this one.

However some pundits think Samsung will be perfectly fine. Samsung is a massive corporation. It'll take more than a bungled phone to derail its long-term plans. While not ideal, this isn't the end of the world.

apparently i'm in the minority on this, but Samsung will be just fine.  TheShoeGawd  (@theshoegawd) October 11, 2016

Samsung isn't the first international corporation hit by fiascos. Volkswagen is doing relatively well despite their massive scandal. Samsung will be fine, too. The nice thing about being a massive corporation is that you have a diversity of income. In this case, Samsung's chip and display divisions are keeping the company in the black.

Like Volkswagen "dieselgate" financial effect, Samsung expect profits to rise in Q3 despite #GalaxyNote7 recall https://t.co/insBCaEnun  Massimiliano Di Marco (@MsmDimarco) October 7, 2016

I wanted to commend Samsung on putting people ahead of profits! No gimmicks like Apples Antennae gate. Thank You @SamsungMobileUS  Merrill Nuttall (@merrillnuttall) October 11, 2016

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A nonprofit that helps disabled individuals obtain employment and vocational services has expanded its facility in Huntsville.

Phoenix, which moved to its current home in the mid-1980s, recently completed a total redesign of its aging Johnson Road building with help from Joe Still Building Company and M2 Architects. The renovation includes a smaller office footprint with modern furniture, eight additional offices, technology upgrades and two large meeting rooms.

The organization has also lowered its energy consumption by moving to LED lighting, installing a more energy-efficient HVAC system and transitioning to a paperless operation to eliminate waste and provide additional support for vocational rehabilitation programs and AbilityOne contracts.

"Our emphasis is to be ready to serve the North Alabama community another 30 years, so we are real excited that we've got this renovation done and have professional office space so we can continue to serve," said CEO Bryan Dodson.

The Phoenix board approved the $2.5 million renovation plan and budget in 2015. Phoenix, also known as the Huntsville Rehabilitation Foundation, currently has a revenue of $38 million and more than 600 employees in four states.

Phoenix, which started on the project last fall, temporarily moved its office staff to Drake Avenue, but maintained its manufacturing operations on-site during the renovation. The facility is home to about 100 employees.

"(This project) provides a great work environment," Dodson said. "We want to keep our great employees and this helps us do that."

Phoenix makes burial flags for military families, parachute harnesses for the U.S. Army, carrying straps and equipment bags for the tube-launched, optically-tracked, wireless-guided (TOW) missile, and embroidered products for businesses, churches and other organizations. The contractor also provides administrative support and groundskeeping and janitorial services at Redstone Arsenal.

Click here to learn about job opportunities.
Verizon Wireless is shutting down a segment of its Huntsville call center.

The telecommunications provider confirmed it has made the "very difficult but necessary" decision to transition its Government Customer Operations (GCO) division in Huntsville starting early next year.

"We've got extra capacity in our Hanover, Md., GCO center and we're doing this to make the best possible use of our existing real estate," Verizon spokeswoman Kate Jay said in a statement. "We remain committed to Huntsville."

More than 1,000 employees will remain at the company's 475 Quality Circle facility, which is Verizon's state headquarters. The relocation will affect approximately 175 GCO workers in Huntsville.

Jay said she is unaware if any local employees will move to Maryland to continue working for the company.

"There is a position for every eligible employee who chooses to relocate," she said.

Employees who do move will receive a $10,000 relocation assistance package, a $500 lump sum, and two paid days off to assist with travel expenses, visit the Maryland call center and explore the area. Jay said Verizon will also offer outplacement assistance and individualized severance packages for those who do not wish to move or find another position with the company.

"We value these employees," Jay said. "They are highly trained, highly skilled and experienced and we will encourage them to stay with the company."

In July, Verizon held a job fair to fill over 60 full-time customer service positions at the campus in Thornton Research Park.

Reuters reports Verizon is closing call centers in five states, including New York, Maine, Nebraska, Connecticut and California. The consolidation will affect 3,200 workers.

This story will be updated as details are available.
The Bankheads.jpg

"The Bankheads" is a documentary produced by the University of Alabama Center for Public Television to be aired on Alabama Public Television. (University of Alabama Center for Public Television)

One family from north Alabama's improbable run to national prominence will be traced in the

documentary

"The Bankheads,"

which airs tonight.

"The Bankheads" was produced by Robert Briscoe and Adam Morrow of the Center for Public Television and Radio. Along with associate producers Mary Dixon Recio and Catherine May, the small team took the project from research through finished film with the help of the Bankhead House and Heritage Center in Jasper, and the Alabama Department of Archives and History in Montgomery, along with countless others.

The documentary will air statewide on Alabama Public Television tonight at 8 p.m., and again on Sunday at 5:30 p.m.

"With exploits that began on the eve of the Civil War and went through the Civil Rights movement, the Bankheads left a legacy that continues to quietly occupy a special place in American history," a UACPT release says.

The film focuses on the successes of the family including Patriarch John Bankhead, Sr., who spent years in the U.S. House of Representatives and finished his career in the Senate, where he became known as the Father of the Good Roads Movement.

It focuses on the first southern transcontinental highway completed by the federal government, named the Bankhead National Highway, which ran from Washington D.C. to San Diego and was named in his honor.

The film also looks at William, a U.S. Senator who continued to serve in Congress, where he rose to become Speaker of the House in 1936, as his leadership in guiding Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal policies through the legislative process was instrumental during the crisis of the Great Depression. He was later joined in Washington by his brother, John Jr., who was elected to the Senate in 1930. He became a champion for American agriculture, helping to author legislation that pulled farmers through the Depression.

While the brothers served in the nation's capital, their sister Marie Bankhead Owen became the second director of the Alabama Department of Archives and History in Montgomery, a post she held for 35 years of growth and development.

Even more prominent was William's second daughter, Tallulah, who would rise to fame in New York City and London during the 1920s, thanks to her "fiery, uninhibited performances endearing her to legions of devoted fans."

The film looks to portray her "outsized persona that often overshadowed her work in theatre and film, her legacy remains a complex picture of a hardworking actress, free spirited socialite, and devoted political activist, a role that often put her at odds with her family's native Alabama."

Watch the film on APT tonight at 8 p.m. Watch the trailer below:

The Bankheads - Trailer from The Center for Public Television on Vimeo.
A new national poll out this week shows that support for legalized marijuana is up to 57 percent, a sign of a dramatic shift in public attitudes over the past decade.

In the Pew Research Center survey, conducted Aug. 23-Sept. 2 among 1,201 U.S. adults, said 57 percent of say the use of marijuana should be made legal, while 37 percent say it should be illegal.

That's flipped from a decade ago, when opinion on legalizing marijuana was nearly the reverse - just 32 percent favored legalization, while 60 percent were opposed.

Younger adults are driving the change. About 71 percent of millennials, age 18 to 35, support legalization of marijuana, compared to only 34 percent in 2006, the poll shows.

"I think that's true and that's why we're working hard to try to educate people," said the Rev. Joe Godfrey, former president of the Alabama Baptist Convention and now executive director of the Baptist-affiliated Alabama Citizens Action Program, which lobbies against alcohol, drugs and gambling.

"It is changing," Godfrey said. "A lot of it is education. They're hearing the propaganda from the pro-marijuana groups. We've got to get the information out there that it's not what it's cracked up to be."

Southern Baptists, the largest religious group in Alabama with more than a million members, have traditionally opposed the legalization of marijuana.

ALCAP Executive Director Joe Godfrey says polls showing increased support of legalized marijuana demonstrate the need for the opposition to organize and educate.

The pro-marijuana cultural shift accompanies a change in laws in some states that have legalized marijuana use, with nine more states having initiatives on the ballot in the Nov. 8 election.

Arizona, California, Maine and Massachusetts, Maine and Nevada will vote on whether to fully legalize and regulate marijuana. Alaska, Colorado and Washington have already voted to approve marijuana for recreational purposes.

Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley earlier this year signed into law a bill to allow people with debilitating medical conditions to use cannabidiol, made from the same plant as marijuana.

The bill, known as Leni's Law, expanded on a bill passed two years ago, known as Carly's Law, that authorized a UAB study on using cannabidiol to treat people with severe seizure disorders.

Arkansas, Florida, Montana and North Dakota will vote on approving medical use of marijuana. They'd join a list of 25 states, plus the District of Columbia, that have approved medical uses of marijuana.

By more than two-to-one, Democrats favor legalizing marijuana: 66 percent favor it, while 30 percent oppose, according to Pew.

Republicans lean against legalization, 55 percent to 41 percent. Moderate and liberal Republicans favor legalizing the use of marijuana by 63 percent to 35 percent. Conservative Republicans oppose legalizing marijuana use, 62 percent to 33 percent.

Although the Baptists formally oppose marijuana legalization, there's at least one church on the record supporting it.

An Alabama church founded last year with a mix of Christian and Native American beliefs has a legal exemption for its members to smoke marijuana. The Oklevueha Native American Church of Inner Light in Warrior has been licensed as a federally registered branch of the Oklevueha Lakota Sioux Nation Native American Church, says Christopher Rushing, who is listed as chief executive officer of the Alabama branch.

All 120 members in the Alabama branch of the church carry photo identification, similar to a driver's license, that identifies them as members of a church that has a federal religious exemption to use natural drugs that otherwise are prohibited by law, Rushing says.

Rushing believes all natural plants should be legal for medicinal use, including marijuana. "These plants are in no way toxic or deadly," Rushing said. "They have been used for thousands of years for medicinal purposes, long before pharmaceutical companies began making synthetic versions of them."
Cherokee County officials say 10 people were arrested Tuesday on multiple charges during a county-wide warrant roundup, while one man is still being sought.

Sheriff Jeff Shaver said authorities are still looking for Jeremy Justice, 33, of Fort Payne, who is wanted on charges in Cherokee, DeKalb and Jackson counties.

Justice managed to get away during an afternoon vehicle and foot chase. Authorities tried to stop a vehicle near McCord's Crossroads, when the driver turned onto County Road 571 near the Spring Creek Fire Department and wrecked. Then the three inside the vehicle fled on foot.

Investigators apprehended two of the men after a brief foot chase, Shaver said. Bobby J. Townson, 34, and Whittney C. Davis, 26, both of Fort Payne, were arrested and charged with attempting to elude. Townson will be transferred to the DeKalb County Jail to face existing warrants for drug charges there.

Cherokee County deputies, Centre Police officers, a tracking dog from Georgia and a helicopter from the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency searched for Justice.

During the larger warrant roundup, authorities looked for people wanted on grand jury indictments and non-payment of child support.

Among those arrested were Barry T. Bishop, 57, and John B. Doss, 54, both of Cedar Bluff, and Pamela A. Warren, 49, of Centre for non-payment of child support.

John D. Hinton, 53, of Piedmont, was arrested on a grand jury indictment for trafficking marijuana.

Michael T. Bentley, 31, of Centre, on an indictment for first-degree sexual abuse.

Stacy L. Roach, 30, of Centre, on an indictment for sexual abuse of a child less than 12 years of age.

Clinton E. Hunt, 46, of Piedmont, on an indictment for two counts of first degree rape.

Pamela M. Gossett, 54, of Centre was also arrested for hindering prosecution.

Anyone with information about Jeremy Justice is asked to call the Sheriff's Office anonymous tip line at (256) 927-9999.
YEREVAN, OCOBER 13, ARMENPRESS. Another group of Armenians will arrive on October 17 in Armenia, Deputy Minister of Diaspora Serzh Srapionyan told a press conference. Srapionyan says 21 Syrian-Armenians will arrive according to preliminary information.

As in the previous case of arrivals, this time also our staff will be at the airport. They will be met, accommodated in a temporary residence, and then we will solve all issues step by step. The ministry of Diaspora is working hourly. Our groups are on duty at the airport, Srapionyan said.

He reminded that recently four Syrian-Armenians arrived in Armenia from Aleppo.

According to information provided by national agencies of Aleppo, 8-10 thousand Armenians reside in the city.

Srapionyan said Minister Hranush Hakobyan is in contact with the community. The most recent contact was late in the evening of October 12  making contact with Syrian Member of Parliament Zhirayr Reisyan.

I will convey Zhirayr Reisyans words literally. He said, that currently it is peaceful in the Armenian districts, there are no bombings, no firefights, he is drinking coffee with his friends. Lets hope that this situation will continue, and our countrymen will be far from trouble, Serzh Srapionyan said.
burglary suspects.PNG

Calhoun County investigators say this image was taken during a burglary on Oct. 11, 2016.

(Calhoun County Sheriff)

Calhoun County investigators have released an image in a burglary investigation.

Sheriff Matthew Wade said the burglary occurred at 11 p.m. at the Chevron Station on Alabama 204 and U.S. 431 on Oct. 11. Tobacco products were taken.

The image comes from a security camera and shows two men.

Anyone with information is asked to contact Crimestoppers at (256) 238-1414. Information leading to an arrest could result in a $1,000 reward.
Suspended Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore has been asked to turn over his keys and clean out his office.

Acting chief justice Lyn Stuart sent two letters to Moore's Etowah County home in Gallant on Monday.

In one letter Stuart states that since Moore was recently found guilty of the ethics charges he must contact the court's marshal "to arrange the removal of your personal effects from your office and to return your keys (both brass and card) to the Judicial Building on or before October 18, 2016."

In the other letter Stuart told Moore that "in an effort to keep the judiciary running smoothly and efficiently, any letters addressed to the Chief Justice that appear to contain official information will be opened by my staff."

"Letters that appear to be personal will not be opened," Stuart wrote. "Any unopened mail or opened mail that is personal will be held and made available for you to pick up from the Marshals."

Moore was suspended without pay Sept. 30 by the Alabama Court of Judiciary, which found Moore had violated canons of judicial ethics for a Jan. 6 administrative order he issued to the state's probate judges. The COJ found that Moore's order tried to get the probate judges to refuse to issue same-sex marriage licenses in defiance of the U.S. Supreme Court and other federal orders declaring gay marriage legal.

Instead of removing him from office, the COJ suspended Moore from office for the remainder of his term, which effectively ends his judicial career. Moore is 69 and Alabama law prohibits candidates 70 and older from running for election or re-election to a judicial seat.

"The Court of the Judiciary lacked the unanimous 9-0 votes to remove the Chief, but the punishment that the Court created is de facto removal," Moore's attorney, Mat Staver, Founder and Chairman of Liberty Counsel stated in a press release.

"Removing the Chief Justice's name from the official Supreme Court letterhead and demanding he remove all his personal items sure looks like removal to any objective observer," Staver stated.

Moore was automatically suspended with pay after the Judicial Inquiry Commission in May filed the ethics charges. He has not been allowed on the third floor of the state judicial building, where the Alabama Supreme Court is located, since then.

"This recent action by Acting Chief Justice Stuart is premature because the appeal is pending along with a motion to recuse certain members of the Alabama Supreme Court. This prejudgment of the appeal seriously raises doubt that Chief Justice Moore can get a fair hearing. No one should prejudge this case. Chief Justice Moore deserves a fair hearing that is transparent and open to public scrutiny," said Staver.

Moore has appealed the COJ's ruling to the Alabama Supreme Court. He's also asking that at least four of his former colleagues recuse themselves from reviewing his appeal.

It's the second time Moore has been removed from the chief justice job for defiance of federal courts - the first time in 2003 for refusing to remove a Ten Commandments monument from the state judicial building.
Evans Lewis Butler, left, and Alfonzo Minter, right.jpg

Evans Lewis Butler, left, and Alfonzo Minter

An inmate at the William E. Donaldson Correctional Facility was sentenced Thursday to life without parole for the 2014 stabbing death of another prisoner.

Jefferson County Bessemer Cutoff Judge David Hobdy sentenced Evans Lewis Butler, 41, to spend the rest of his life in prison for Butler's capital murder conviction in August. The judge followed the jury, which had voted 11-1 to recommend a life without parole sentence.

Butler, however, could have been sentenced to death if Hobdy had overridden the jury's recommendation.

Butler was charged in the July 25, 2014 stabbing death of 48-year-old Alfonzo Minter with a sharp object.

Assistant Bessemer Cutoff District Attorneys Lane Tolbert and Bill North prosecuted the case.

"The family was happy that justice was served and I and Mr. North are happy that they are happy," Tolbert said.

Tolbert said that Minter's father, locally known folk artist Joe Minter, said at the hearing that he was sorry everyone had to go through this and that his family forgives the defendant.

Efforts to reach Joe Minter were unsuccessful after the hearing.

Minter, of Birmingham, was serving life without parole under the state's Habitual Offender law after he was convicted of stealing a car from a downtown Birmingham dealership company in 1988.

According to prison and court records, Minter also had two convictions for theft of property, one for rape, three for escape and one for promoting prison contraband.

The murder charge against Butler was made capital because Butler was serving a life sentence at the time of Minter's death.

Butler has five prior convictions for: first degree robbery, two for third-degree robbery, first-degree assault, and second-degree assault, Tolbert said.

Butler was represented by attorneys Ed Tumlin and Ed Reynolds.
Counterfeit.jpg

Holley Michelle Morris, left, and Corey G. Sappington, right.

(Jefferson County Jail)

A Mississippi fugitive arrested in Homewood Wednesday had one request of deputies: She wanted her Bible.

It wasn't immediately clear whether she was seeking wisdom from the word of God, but authorities did find counterfeit money stashed in the good book.

Holley Michelle Morris, 41, was taken into custody by Jefferson County sheriff's deputies along with her cousin, 39-year-old Corey G. Sappington. Chief Deputy Randy Christian said the sheriff's office about 1 p.m. received information from the Pontotoc County Sheriff's Office in Mississippi that a pair wanted for passing $100 counterfeit bills in their county were staying at a hotel in the 100 block of Vulcan Road in Homewood.

Deputies were given a description of the car and, a short time later, spotted it pulling into a nearby fast food restaurant. Morris was driving the car, Christian said, and was found to have an outstanding arrest warrant for drug possession. She was arrested as a Mississippi fugitive from justice.

She told deputies her cousin was back in the hotel room, and then asked deputies to get her Bible from the car. Deputies checked the Bible and found a counterfeit $100 bill similar to those that had been passed in Mississippi.

Deputies then went to the hotel room and found Sappington, who was just finishing completing a forgery of a Mississippi driver's license, Christian said. Inside the room was a printer and tablet that authorities believe were being used to manufacture forged and counterfeit documents and money.

"What a novel idea. Honey we don't need to work as long as we have ink and a printer,'' Christian said. " I guess that didn't work out after all."

Sappington also had 10 outstanding arrest warrants for theft, escape, fraudulent use of a credit card, and drug possession. He, too, was arrested as a fugitive from justice from Mississippi.

Christian said both suspects are being held without bond in the Jefferson County Jail, awaiting extradition to Mississippi to face charges there.
Justin Ross Harris Trial.PNG

(Fox 5 Atlanta)

A police officer testified Wednesday that he smelled "the odor of death" emanating from the SUV where 22-month-old Cooper Harris died in the heat.

Testimony resumed Wednesday in the trial of Justin Ross Harris, after court proceedings in the coastal Georgia city of Brunswick were delayed because of Hurricane Matthew.

Prosecutors contend that Harris intended to kill his son, and he faces a murder charge in the boy's death. Defense lawyers say it was an accident.

Police have said they believe Harris would have noticed the smell immediately as he drove home from work with his dead son in a back seat, but kept driving for several blocks before pulling over.

"Normally, I'd associate (the smell) with death," Carey Grimstead, a former crime scene investigator, told jurors, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.

The inside of the car "smelled like the odor of death," Cobb County police Capt. James Ferrell testified.

Prosecutors say Harris left his son for hours inside the vehicle as it was parked outside his workplace in Cobb County, just northwest of Atlanta.

Harris faces life in prison if convicted of murder.

Pretrial publicity prompted the trial's move to Brunswick, 275 miles from the Atlanta suburbs.

Harris moved from Tuscaloosa to Georgia in 2012 to take a job with The Home Depot's corporate offices in Cobb County.
Note: This story has been revised to correct a transposed name

A former Alabama Social Security Administration judge had a "technical question" for his attorneys and federal prosecutors after a hearing where he pleaded guilty to multiple charges Wednesday.

Paul Stribling Conger, Jr.'s question was when he would be considered a convicted felon.

One of the prosecutors told 73-year-old Conger he wouldn't be legally considered a convicted felon until after his sentencing, which is set for Feb. 1.

Conger replied, "So, I can still vote for Trump?"

Conger made the comment to his attorneys and prosecutors after the hearing had ended. After a few seconds of laughing, the prosecutor said he would be able to vote.

Conger pleaded guilty Wednesday to theft, obstruction, and accepting gratuity charges related to a 2013 incident involving sex with a woman claimant at a federal courthouse.

The woman told authorities she met Conger in his chambers at the courthouse in Tuscaloosa several months after the judge had already ruled on her case. The two then engaged in a sex act and other sexual contact, according to court documents.

Mark White, one of Conger's attorneys, said, "His entire lifetime stands in stark contrast to a mistake made on one day."
Cook Arrest.PNG

Joseph Cook Jr., who turned 18 several weeks ago, was taken into custody by the Birmingham Police Department's Crime Reduction Team on Wednesday, Oct. 12, 2016, in the shooting death of 64-year-old Calvin Gunn.

(Birmingham Police)

Joseph Cook

A teen has been arrested in the weekend slaying of a 64-year-old Army veteran and City of Birmingham retiree.

Birmingham police today announced a capital murder warrant against 18-year-old Joseph Cook Jr. He is charged in the Saturday night death of Calvin Gunn, 64.

Cook was taken into custody Wednesday, not long after police distributed surveillance photos of a person of interest.

Birmingham police spokesman Lt. Sean Edwards said Gunn had a good surveillance camera system on his home and that system captured images of Cook and the crime. Detectives then canvassed the neighborhood and beyond and also found images of Cook at a nearby service station. Those are the photos that were distributed to the media.

Almost immediately after the images were distributed, police began receiving tips from the public about the suspect's identity. He was taken into custody by the department's Crime Reduction Team, and held in the Birmingham City Jail until the capital murder warrant was obtained today.

"The detectives did an awesome, amazing job,'' Edwards said. "These homicide detectives are some of the best of the best. When a homicide like this happens - a veteran, a family man, an upstanding citizen - it really gets everybody motivated to solve the case. It all came together."

Gunn was shot to death Saturday, Oct. 8, in the driveway of his Ensley home in the 1000 block of 41st Street.

West Precinct officers responded to the home on a report of a person shot. Once on the scene, they found a wounded Gunn on the ground near his driveway. He was rushed to UAB Hospital by Birmingham Fire and Rescue Service, but later pronounced dead shortly before midnight.

Gunn's wife, Merle, had gone out of town overnight Friday and her husband of 35 years had picked her up and brought her back home. While they were in their driveway, a black male approached them.

Merle Gunn said she didn't want to give too much detail about what happened next, but she and Birmingham police said Calvin Gunn was shot during a robbery and died protecting her. "I was there,'' a grieving Merle Gunn said Monday at her home. "I encountered them first. He was shot multiple times."

Gunn retired from the City of Birmingham in May 2014 and was recognized for his 25 years of public service for his work on a brush truck.

"I'm fighting for him, because I know he did it for me,'' said Merle Gunn. "We had a saying: 'Team work makes the dream work.' Whatever we went through, we went through together.'''

She said she's trying to hold herself together because there's work to be done. "I'm up and I'm going to stay up until we get this taken care of because I can't afford to be down,'' she said. "If I don't do it for nobody else, I've got to do it for him. I'm going to fight and we're going to do what we have to do, even if it takes me down too."

The family is pleased with the arrest, as are police. "This young guy is just a dangerous young fella,'' Edwards said. "We're happy to have him off the street."

Edwards said citizen tips and technology were key in quickly making an arrest in the case. Between home and store security camera systems, as well as cell phones, a criminal's chance of being caught on tape is better than ever.

"If you're committing a crime, you're being watched so you might as well smile because you're on candid camera,'' Edwards said. "It's just a matter of time before we catch up to you."
Family and friends are rallying around a Southside bartender who was shot early Wednesday morning when he tried to get an underage patron to leave the bar.

Zakk Earle, 23, remains in stable condition at UAB Hospital. His father said he was shot almost at point-blank range and suffered damage to his liver and abdomen. He underwent surgery and is expected to recover.

"We're just thanking God he's alive,'' said Roger Earle. "She shot him from about two feet away."

The shooting happened about 1:30 a.m. at the Upside Down Plaza on Magnolia Avenue. Zakk Earle told police a couple came into the bar and the female was not old enough to drink or even be there. The 23-year-old bartender was trying to get her to leave when the girl's boyfriend handed her something - believed to be the gun - and jumped the victim.

Roger Earle said his son had the suspect on the ground and yelled for someone to call 911. That's when the girl - believed to be in her late teens - shot him. Zakk Earle was rushed to UAB Hospital where he underwent surgery not long after his arrival. "He remembered it all and the cops said it matched what the witnesses said and the video showed,'' he said.

The couple fled the scene and a lookout bulletin was issued to surrounding law enforcement agencies. The suspects crashed their vehicle on a downtown Birmingham bridge near Sloss Furnace and were captured after a short foot chase.

The victim's father said he received the call about the shooting at 1:47 a.m. and was at the hospital by 2:10 a.m. "It's definitely a call you don't want to get,'' he said.

Zakk Earle has had a steady stream of visitors all day, and his friends have set up a GoFundMe account to help with his medical expenses since he doesn't have medical insurance. "All of the younger Birmingham community loves Zakk,'' friend Amie Mejia told AL.com. "He bartends at the Plaza, but more people know him through his job at Good Neighbor Tattoo where he apprentices as a piercer."

"All of his brothers at the shop are heavily standing with him through this time,'' Mejia said, "and we hope to reach the $15K mark through the GoFundMe campaign to help him financially while he is out of work."

Birmingham police investigators are working to obtain formal warrants against the suspects.
Raymond_Watkins.jpg

Raymond Watkins

When Limestone County Jail staff searched a Rogersville man who was being booked on marijuana charges, they found cocaine was hidden inside his body cavity, authorities said.

Raymond Dunnell Watkins, 32, was arrested outside the jail after a sheriff's deputy smelled marijuana coming from the suspect's vehicle in the parking lot on Wednesday, according to a police report.

After a second deputy also said he smelled the marijuana and the vehicle was searched, about 31 grams of marijuana were seized, Deputy Terry Johnson wrote in the report.

After Watkins was taken into the jail, Johnson was approached by a jail staff member who said cocaine and marijuana were found during a strip search of Watkins, the report states.

The jailer "was holding a white bag containing marijuana and a clear plastic bag containing a white substance," according to Johnson's report. "...the bundles were hidden inside Watkins' anus."

The white substance later tested positive for cocaine, sheriff's spokesman Stephen Young said.

Young said the marijuana found during the jail search weighed about 19.5 grams, bringing the total seized to about 50 grams. That's about half the weight of a deck of cards.

The cocaine weighed 6.5 grams, which is about the same as 13 standard paper clips.

Johnson said he initially spotted Watkins in the parking lot when the suspect pulled up with a woman and two children in the vehicle.

The woman got out and asked for directions to the dispatch office. After she went inside, she returned to the vehicle and they left.

A few minutes later, the car pulled back in the parking lot, but the woman wasn't inside, Johnson said. The windows were partially rolled down when the deputy smelled the marijuana, according to the report.

Watkins, who is charged with possession of a controlled substance, first-degree possession of marijuana and second-degree promoting prison contraband, has been released from the jail on $12,500 bail.

If convicted, he faces up to 10 years in prison and an additional 10 years on probation.
Sex abuse_edited.jpg

Pedro Salgado

A north Alabama man is accused of sexually abusing a child younger than 12 years old.

Pedro Serafin Salgado, 21 of Collinsville, was being held in the DeKalb County Jail with bail set at $20,000 following his arrest on the Class C felony charge.

Salgado was arrested as a result of a report the Sheriff's Office received last week about the alleged abuse, according to the Sheriff's Office.

The Department of Human Resources and Child Advocacy Center assisted with the investigation.

Further details of the incident weren't immediately available.

"This is an awful incident that has happened to a child," Sheriff Jimmy Harris said in a statement. "We are thankful that we have the help of the CAC and DHR to help this child."

If convicted, Salgado faces up to 10 years in prison and would be required to register as a sex offender.
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 13, ARMENPRESS. Workers of the Nairit Plant organized a demonstration of October 13 outside the Economic Development and Investments Ministry, with a demand of re-launching the plant.

Armen Yeganyan, a ministry official told ARMENPRESS the demonstration war quite crowded.

The minister received the demonstrators and an agreement was reached to discuss the issue in case of a specific program on re-launching the plant.

Yeganyan associated the activeness of the demonstrators with the recent announcement of investors from Slovakia, who expressed willingness to invest in Nairit.
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 13, ARMENPRESS. On October 13, at PACE Plenary Session within the framework of debate of the topic Situation in Turkey in the Light of the Attempted Coup the Vice President of the Armenian National Assembly and PACE, the Head of the Armenian Delegation Hermine Naghdalyan handed over her report to PACE Secretariat, where she sharply criticized the anti-democratic processes in Turkey after coup detat, at the same time opposing the statements voiced from PACE tribune by the Foreign Minister of Turkey Cavusoglu the day before.

Hermine Naghdalyans report text is given below:

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Todays discussion is the best evidence that the situation in Turkey remains one of the hot spots of the international community attention. We all realize that the volatile situation in the country can be explosive not only for the region, but in a larger sense.

I am from Armenia, a country directly bordering Turkey, a country that feels negative consequences right immediately.

What is the situation today  after the coup detat attempt...?

The scope and depth of President Erdogans reaction is devastating, leaving no hope to country for any democratic processes to take place. The Turkish authorities started to use the coup attempt as an excuse for the crackdown in the country. Thousands of military officers, judges, educators and civil servants have been abruptly arrested or fired. The recently prolonged state of emergency means the suspension of basic human rights, while the death penalty is being discussed to be re-imposed.

The authorities closed several Kurdish TV and radio channels, including one for kids. Can you imagine - Turkey sees a source of threat in a cartoon channel?

The conclusion is inescapable, Dear Colleagues - Turkey is becoming more autocratic and unpredictable, which results in separation of the society.

Just very recently, we were discussing the state of play with regards to functioning of democratic institutions in Turkey. As you remember various standpoints have been expressed during our debates; we were much concerned with the misdevelopments in the country and supported the idea to re-open the monitoring process. Today this issue is more crucial because of the U-turn that Turkey made in its democratization path.

The Turkish authorities totally disregarding the rule of law are using the situation to fight their political opponents and national minorities in the country.

So, Minister Cavusoglu would better concentrate on these serious problems rather than sharing with the Assembly his personal stories.

Another reference to Ministers yesterdays misleading remarks - his vision on Nagorno-Karabakh negotiation process lies in a parallel reality with illusive withdrawal from five regions. Whereas in reality the settlement of Nagorno-Karabakh issue is aimed at the determination of the final status of Nagorno-Karabakh through the legally binding expression of will of its people.

One more attempt of misleading: the Minister also touched upon the Armenian-Turkish relations. If Turkey intended to normalize the relations with Armenia it would have then ratified and started to implement Zurich Protocols signed in 2009: the only closed border of Europe will be open.

Thank you. 
We can't continue to treat this as a very temporary situation

We must prepare for the future of Syria right here

After 4 years and 5,000 babies  some of whom have never left the Zaatari refugee camp in Jordan  theres an air of permanence to the temporary infrastructure that is now home to 80,000 Syrians (still only a tiny percentage of the estimated 4.8 million who have left their birthplace).Filmmakers Steph Ching and Ellen Martinez have put together a 101 minute documentarythat looks at the largest camp for Syrian refugees. While organised and run by the UNHCR, the camp has a life of its own. If measured by population, it would be the fourth largest city in Jordan, yet it is incredibly dense and only covers two square miles of desert to the east of Mafraq.Refugees adapt their existing skills and occupations for the new situation, running 3,000 shops along the main street (dubbed the Champs-Elysees) and roads that criss-cross the camp.Like life on the camp, the film sets its own pace, with lingering shots and moments of silence.follows families moving into and out of Zaatari, assessing their mood and motivation. A caseworker evaluates the needs of new families. Its rigidly process driven case work, with no help offered until the registration paperwork is in place and no automatic right to a caravan (static home), even if you have a quadriplegic child who's shivering. They have their rules.The retiring camp manager Kilian Kleinschmidt reflects on the achievement of getting the camp up and running, yet. He cant hold back tears as children at the Taekwondo academy set up with UNHCRs blessing and his assistance present him with a black belt and thank him. The kids are keeping fit, learning to be disciplined, socialising away from their tents and caravans, and learning life skills to prepare them for an uncertain future.After Spring isnt the first film to come out of the dust desert camp, and wont be the last. The European Commission-fundedlooked at daily life in the camp through the life of Maamun and his mobile phone repair shop.Zaatari is reckoned to be the refugee camp that is most visited by the media and has developed sophisticated external and internal facing communications. (The @ZaatariCamp Twitter camp is defended as not being propaganda but instead offering truthful insight into the highs and lows of life on camp.)The presence and management of UNHCR doesnt equate to UN central funding for all activity. Voluntary fundraising along with pledges of development aid by individual nations and all contribute to the running of the camp. Over the years, external support has diminished in light of competing crises. The World Food Programme itself has lived hand to mouth with funding and supplies close to running out before being replenished at the very last minute.Despite the harsh realities and inequalities of life on camp, there is some hope. The new Zataari camp manager Hovig Etyemezian was himself once a refugee, fleeing Lebanon during the war to live in Aleppo. He describes refugee status as a title that you have next to your name that you want to disappear at some point. Hes now working to help people who have stepped into his old shoes.The lighting of the Arab Spring touch paper has had unpredictable results. The situation in Syria is still uncertain. Much analysis and many media column inches concentrate on the perilous journeys with smugglers, people traffickers and unsafe modes of transport.rests with the displaced people who have arrived at a destination. For some its a temporary home, for others it has proven to be a medium term habitat. But for all it has the potential to offer hope and security.is currently being screened at film festivals . You can catch it in the Queens Film Theatre as part of Belfast International Arts Festival s World in Motion strand on Friday 14 October at 6.30pm
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 13, ARMENPRESS. Russian Armocom company offers modern bulletproof vests for the Armenian army. The representatives of the company participate in ArmHitec-2016 international arms expo in Yerevan.

Artyom Konechkov, a representative of the company, told Armenpress that they are engaged in production of bulletproof vests. We not only produce, but also design our production. We participate in this expo to introduce Armenia our products and in case of necessity deliver bulletproof vests for the Armenian army, he said.

According to him, the Armenian side might be interested in their products that ensure maximal safety and are very convenient for moving. We produce modern bulletproof vests, which I can say are among the best not only in Russia, but throughout the world, Artyom Konechkov said.

He stated that the company successfully cooperates with numerous other countries.
Florida is a swing state that could determine the outcome of the US election, where Hispanic voters play a key role.

Miami, Florida  In the Little Havana neighbourhood of Miami, Trump campaigners have set their sights on an unlikely group of Americans: Hispanic voters. Their efforts were on display at the Versailles Cafe, which has been a hub for Hispanic, particularly Cuban, Americans for nearly half a century. A constant stream of people gather at the open window to gossip over a late night cafe con leche and Cuban pastries that most order in Spanish.

A Trump-Pence sign appeared propped up against a wall this evening, which someone took down within an hour. But even without the sign, displays of support for the Republican presidential nominee, Donald Trump, continued into the evening.

Trumps rise has relied strongly on anti-immigrant and anti-Hispanic rhetoric targeted at mainly white, working-class voters. He has repeatedly pledged to build a wall on the border with Mexico, and to make Mexico pay for it.

Yet despite his anti-Hispanic discourse, Trump has supporters even among the very people who are often at the receiving end of his rhetoric.

George Tomkinson, an Argentinean American who has lived in Miami for 20 years and wore a Trump badge, is a staunch conservative. He sees Democratic presidential nominee, Hillary Clinton as a dangerous radical and believes that both Clinton and current President Barack Obama are involved in a conspiracy to destroy America.

When Trump visited Miami in mid-September, he held a Town Hall event in Little Haiti, a neighbourhood with a strong Haitian American community. At the event, Trump promised to bring jobs to the community and, when presented with a Haitian flag pin, he attached it to his suit.

I am running to be a president for all Americans, Trump had had said that same evening in a speech. Our support comes from all regions, all backgrounds and all walks of life. You are cops and soldiers, carpenters and welders, accountants and lawyers, young and old, rich and poor, black, white and Hispanic. But above all else, you are American, he continued.

READ MORE: Immigrants and Donald Trump  Its a complicated story

If Trump is to win the presidency, most analysts agree that he must win the swing state of Florida. Winning over the Hispanic population is especially critical with the group comprising 24 percent of the states population at around 4.8 million people. Nearly 1.8 million of these Hispanics were already registered voters in Florida as of February 2016, according to figures from Floridas Division of Elections.

Vincent Harris, a conservative strategist and communications expert, worked with the Trump campaign earlier in the year, as well as for Trumps competitors in the Republican primaries. He says it was wedge issues such as the wall and his statements on Muslims that won him the nomination.

I think [Trump] is very shrewd in knowing which issues are popular with the Republican base. He went to the right of Ted Cruz, Harris said.

While Hispanics are not a homogenous voting group, in Florida Trump risks paying the price as his strategies threaten to alienate many Hispanics who would usually vote Republican.

Communities at odds

Many first-generation Cuban Americans have long favoured Republicans. At 1.3 million in Florida alone, they are less likely to care about Trumps anti-immigrant rhetoric than other minorities, according to Hispanic voters who spoke with Al Jazeera. The Cuban Adjustment Act has long fast-tracked migration for them, and some of those who have been citizens for decades even support taking a harsher stance against newer migrants.

Alex Mujica, a Cuban American who has been living in Miami since the 1970s, says he has been a Republican since coming to the United States as a teenager. Mujica says a large part of his motivation for supporting Trump is his strong dislike of Hillary Clinton.

I think Trump is independent, Mujica said. The 60-year-old likes the fact that Trump is a businessman rather than a career politician and believes that the Republican candidate is less restrained by Washington norms.

Of Trumps threat to cancel Obamas historic move to end the isolation of Cuba, Mujica says with a laugh: Good. His view reflects that of many older members of this community who have for decades lobbied for a hardline stance against the Cuban government.

His friend, 54-year-old Cuban American Rodriguez Heriberto, is no fan of the Obama administrations Cuba policy, which he describes as being too soft, but that is not enough to make him support Trump.

The Republican Party scares me a lot, Heriberto says. They like war too much and want to cut social programmes.

He supports the Obama administrations expansion of healthcare and backs public spending on housing and public education. However, he fears that Trumps threats to toughen policies towards immigrants could have a very real impact on his family. Although he came to the US as a child, his wife is a recent migrant from the Dominican Republic. They married only recently, and she is not yet a citizen.

Still, Heriberto is aware of Obamas performance on immigration. To tell you the truth, Obama has deported more people than anyone else, he said. The Obama administration has overseen more deportations than any other previous presidency, beating Republican President George W Bushs 2008 record.

A must-win state

Florida infamously determined the 2000 election, after a month of legal wrangling. Bush won that election, and the state went to him again in 2004. But Obama won Florida in both 2008 and 2012.

Analysts say Obamas success with Hispanic voters in Florida in 2008 was due partly to his promise to deliver comprehensive immigration reform  a promise that he has failed to keep and a factor that may weaken similar enthusiasm for Clinton. While many older Cuban Americans remained Republican because of their focus on policy towards Cuba, polling shows that their children are more likely to be focused on domestic policies such as healthcare.

One lesson the Republican Party hierarchy says it learned from Mitt Romneys unsuccessful 2012 bid against Obama was that it needed to dramatically expand its network of on-the-ground volunteers, according to Ninio Fetalvo, the communications director for the Republican National Committee in Florida.

The push to do this in Florida began in 2013, well before Trump was selected as the partys candidate. The Republican Party now has more than 1,000 staff and trained organisers across the state, compared with 84 in 2012, added Fetalvo.

Our permanent presence in the field aided the victories of Governor [Rick} Scott in 2014 and Mayor Lenny Curry in 2015, Fetalvo noted. These same efforts and resources that have already proven to be effective will pay dividends as we work to elect the entire Republican ticket this November.

READ MORE: Will Donald Trumps minority outreach work?

However, the latest polls show that Trump has fallen slightly in must-win Florida, where he was tied with Clinton only weeks ago.

He is now behind Clinton in Florida by three points, with 42 percent to her 45 percent, according to a poll by NBC and The Wall Street Journal that was released early October.

Trumps support base is predominately from white voters. Though, ever since Richard Nixon, Republicans have played up white fears of demographic changes as an election strategy, most commentators agree that Trump has gone further than any of his recent mainstream predecessors. Some 54 percent of whites in Florida prefer Trump, while only 30 percent say they will vote for Clinton.

The Democratic nominees overall lead is attributed to Hispanic voters, 54 percent of whom are backing her. Only 30 percent of Florida Hispanics will vote for Trump, according to a poll of 600 Hispanic voters released this week by the Republican-leaning business group, Associated Industries Florida. That is less than Mitt Romney had in 2012 at 39 percent.

Professor Alan Abramowitz, a political scientist at Emory University, said that Florida is becoming an ever-more important battleground in US politics, as many of the other states have become more firmly red or blue states. Florida is one of the few states that could sway in either direction, and its immigrant-fuelled population boom means its importance is growing.

In 2010, Florida gained a further two electoral college votes, bringing its number of votes to 29, tying it with New York as the third most important state to win.





Since the early 2000s, according to Abramowitz, major demographic changes within the Hispanic community have meant that with every passing year, the state is becoming more likely to go to the Democrats.

In particular, there has been an influx of Puerto Ricans to Florida over the past two decades, pushed by a deep debt-fuelled crisis in the US territory. As US citizens, Puerto Ricans must relocate to the mainland to obtain the right to vote in that state. Overwhelmingly, Puerto Ricans tend to lean towards the Democrats.

Clinton visited Puerto Rico in August, and her campaign has invested heavily in a drive to register the new arrivals in Florida. There are now more than a million Puerto Ricans living in the Sunshine State.

Some 76 percent of Puerto Rican voters had an unfavourable view of Trump, according to a survey released in April by the pro-immigration reform group Americas Voice and the polling firm Latino Decisions, while only 38 percent had an unfavourable view of Clinton, the same poll found.

Abramowitz adds that Clintons lead may be even stronger than the polls suggest, since polls often tend to under-represent Hispanic voters.

I dont think [Trump] can do enough to offset the devastation hes causing among non-whites, says Abramowitz. I think youre going to see a larger level of defections among Hispanic Republicans.

Splitting the ballots

Fernand Amandi, a Democratic strategist in Miami and a public opinion researcher, says that another sign that Trump has alienated the Hispanic vote is that many Hispanic Republicans in Florida will be splitting their ballots on election day: There is a trend to vote for Clinton for president, but for Republican Marco Rubio in the Senate race.

Indeed, the polls reveal strong support among Floridians for Rubios re-election to the Senate, even as Trump lags behind him.

Amandi cautions Clinton supporters against taking the numbers for granted, however, as many Trump supporters are true believers in their candidate, likely to turn out on polling day in force. Some Hispanics are yet to be as convinced by Clinton, in contrast.

Clintons campaign is focusing its appeal to Hispanic voters almost exclusively on immigration, Amandi warns, even though evidence from his decades of time researching and lobbying Hispanic voters in Florida suggests 80 percent of Hispanic voters are more worried about issues such as unemployment and healthcare than they are about immigration, he says.

At the Spanish-language television station Univision, which is broadcast from Doral, Florida, there is a similar feeling that Clinton is not doing enough to reach Hispanic and Latino voters.

Hillary needs to talk directly to Latinos and listen to their concerns, and to rely less on emails and text messages, said Enrique Acevedo, a prominent Mexican American anchor with the network.

The network has taken an advocacy role, confronting Trump over his rhetoric, but Acevedo said that disappointment and a feeling of broken trust with the Obama administration mean that it is hard for his viewers to be as excited about Clintons candidacy as they were about Obamas. This is due, above all, to the current administrations failure to prioritise immigration reform, as well as the record numbers of deportations during his presidency.

President Obama has, in a way, tarnished the Democrats reputation with Hispanics, he said. A Clinton administration would have the same policies as Obama.

Either way, Florida is, more than ever before, the state to watch on election day.

Imagine that, after everything thats been said about Latinos, Acevedo said, they might end up being the ones that take Hillary to the White House.
UAE-based commentator says artists are key in absence of civil society, free media and political parties in Arab world.

Doha, Qatar  To Be Continued, a 2009 video installation by the Palestinian artist Sharif Waked, features a young, handsome fighter sitting at a table with an assault rifle and a book. Behind him, a flag adorned in Quranic text and images of two guns is pinned to the wall.

The scene is reminiscent of dozens of videos to emerge in recent years of fighters who recite their will or deliver a political message before an attack. But listen carefully. He is reading a familiar tale, not declarations of war. Played by the Palestinian actor Saleh Bakri, the fighter reads an excerpt from One Thousand and One Nights.

As the story goes, queen Scheherazade spent each night recounting the folk tales to her husband, who planned to execute her the following morning. To prolong her life, she broke off the story each night before it ends. By depicting the living martyr as Scheherazade, Waked jolts the viewer into questioning the dominant narrative of the moment of sacrifice.

The artwork, acquired last year by the Guggenheim Museum, was one of around 60 pieces discussed by Sultan al-Qassemi at Virginia Commonwealth University in Qatars capital on Thursday.

This character, far from wanting to die, wants to live another day, Qassemi, an Emirati cultural commentator, art collector and founder of the Sharjah-based Barjeel Art Foundation, said of Wakeds piece.

The work shows that a lot of people judge the [Middle East] region, but they dont give the region a chance to explain.

For nearly an hour, Qassemi took an audience of artists, academics and students on an encyclopedic journey through Politics in modern Arab art, briefing them on works from 1948 to the present day, including paintings, sculpture, mixed media and video.

Following his talk, Qassemi also touched on the role of art, censorship and how the regions art scene is changing.

Here are some excerpts from that question-and-answer session:

Do Middle East artists simply reflect what the region is going through, or do they effect change?

Sultan al-Qassemi: Artists are more connected to the people. They experience the pulse of the street, more than governments. Government officials generally dont mix with the people, the common man, the common woman. Artists are always there, so they hear things.

How else would the government know what the people think if it wasn't for art, since the media is basically censored? by Sultan al-Qassemi

There are a lot of artworks that depicted, for example, anger and frustration in Egypt pre-2011. There are a lot of artworks that called for freedom in the Arab world before the uprisings. There are a lot of artists that depict anger and Israeli crimes against Palestinians, whereas Arab governments just issue statements. You can see the anger in Arab artworks.

In some cases, Arab artists are reflecting society, but in some cases they were almost predicting what was going to happen  they know that anger is building up. They also reflect the aspirations, the positive demands, the things that Arabs want to see  they want to see a better tomorrow.

Theyre a very important bridge, especially in the absence of civil society in the Arab world, the absence of free press, the absence of political parties. Artists are [some of the] only conduits in the Arab world between the government and the people. Think about it. How else would the government know what the people think if it wasnt for art, since the media is basically censored?

What do you think about young Arab artists using social media to promote alternative perspectives?

Qassemi: Their presence is very important. Unfortunately, social media has been dominated by negative news.

We need these young people, whether they are Arab or Middle Eastern or Iranian or Pakistani  anybody from the region where they are stereotyped, where they are not represented in international museums enough.

We have to push our narrative into the global social media world. This is something that needs to be amplified I think, its very important  this is how we push back negative stereotypes.

Why are Arab artists missing on the international stage?

Qassemi: We are generally missing from a lot of conversations around the world because we have been so busy with ourselves.

But I dont agree that weve been missing completely  theres a lot of Arab art that goes on to be [featured in] international museums.

Even in places like Palestine and Syria, which have seen a lot of sadness, great culture is being produced. by Sultan al-Qassemi

When the Tate Museum bought [the Iraqi visual artist] Dia Azzawis work years ago, the Sabra and Shatila Massacre painting  that was a giant statement that Arab art really belongs alongside art from all over the world. I think that was a record for a piece acquired by a western museum. [Emirati artist] Hassan Sharifs work has [also] been bought by the Guggenheim. A lot of artists have been acquired by museums around the world.

But our text and publications were really only in Arabic. Its important to publish in Arabic, but we also have to make them available in English and French and hopefully Chinese and other languages.

Were also now graduating a lot of people who become curators, there are a lot of young artists, a lot of people today who are active, a lot of Arabs working at museums around the world. I think things are changing. We are on the cusp of this change  the change started two or three decades ago, but I think now it is gaining momentum.

What can we do? Keep pushing the story of Arab art online, on Facebook. Instead of sharing something that would depress [people] about the region, maybe share something thats positive. Lets say for every 10 negative shares, [post] one positive at least, maybe something about art, about culture instead of everything bad thats happening in the region. Even in places like Palestine and Syria, which have seen a lot of sadness, great culture is being produced. We also need to be balanced ourselves.

Have artists failed the Arab world?

Qassemi: Artists dont have machineguns, they dont have political parties. What they have is a brush, they have the tools that they can use to reflect peoples aspirations.

Unfortunately, that being said, there was a number of times when artists assumed positions of responsibility. In Egypt, for example, for 21 years an artist was the minister of culture. He was very close to the government, and we all know what happened in 2011. Rather than being the bridge between people and the government, he was part of the government. He lost touch with the people.

In many instances, I think artists take a political position.

READ MORE: When we spoke to Leila Alaoui on tackling taboos in art

George Bahgoury in Egypt, for example, had to go into exile in Paris from the late 70s to the early 80s because he was very critical of [President] Anwar Sadat, and he only came back to Egypt after Sadat was assasinated. He was critical of Sadat himself, and then he was even more critical of the Camp David treaty.

A lot of artists have paid dearly. [Artist] Ahmed Basyouni was one of the first people killed in the Egyptian revolution  his work was showcased in the 2011 Venice biennale. A lot of artists have paid dearly with their lives, in going into exile, having governments shun them, not being given exhibitions, not being allowed to sell their works. I have a lot of respect for artists, we need to acknowledge them.

Follow Anealla Safdar on Twitter: @anealla
Athens, Greece  Children from five refugee camps across Greece attended local schools this autumn. On Monday, October 10, students of all ages queued up behind the camp gates and waited for the chartered buses scheduled to transport them to nearby schools to arrive at 2pm.

The Greek Ministry of Education did not make a public announcement of the list of participating schools because some parents associations had mounted protests against the government plans.

But, at 2nd Tavros Elementary School in Athens, neighbours waited outside for more than an hour to greet the children when they got off the bus at 3pm, meeting them with warm applause and cheers. The Greek students welcomed the refugee children with songs and drawings.

On their first day refugee students stayed at school for only two hours, but their daily schedule will run from 2pm to 6pm. The children will have special classes to include Greek language courses, in addition to English, maths and arts, until they are sufficiently fluent in Greek to be able to join the main school programme.

The government aims to make schooling available for all refugee children in Greece.

MORE: The desperate journeys of refugees
Last week, Britains prime minister announced plans to take the UK military out of parts of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). Speaking at her Conservative Partys annual conference, Theresa May explained that this opting out would be to protect British troops against an industry of vexatious claims against them.

This is the term the Conservative Party has used to describe claims of abuse brought against British service personnel relating to UK attacks and subsequent occupations in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The ground for this announcement, over exempting UK troops from the ECHR, has been prepared for some time, as sections of the British press have carried articles about how British troops, having served their country in the Middle East, are now being relentlessly harangued by unscrupulous, greedy lawyers.





The suggestion is that this process is costly, spurious and taking too long  thereby subjecting soldiers to years of damaging scrutiny. It looks like one omission  a significant one  in one case of alleged abuse is being used to suggest that all cases are similarly tainted.

Last month, an editorial in the right-leaning Daily Telegraph described prosecutions related to the Iraq conflict as an insult to the bravery of our soldiers.

Allegations of torture

The Daily Mail, which has been rallying against the ECHR in general, as well as its application in the context of British troops more specifically, hailed the governments announcement as a victory  and wondered why it took so long.

OPINION: Chilcot: The verdict from the UKs media

To put this all in context, many of the cases against British troops have come up as a consequence of the Iraq Historic Allegations Team, set up by a Labour government in 2010.

The current British government, citing the waste of millions of pounds of taxpayers' money, and in any case cynical about European courts, seems now to be suggesting that its soldiers shouldn't be held to high standards. by

It was initiated following a number of allegations of torture, abuse and killings of civilians by British troops in Iraq between 2003 and 2009, and is currently investigating some 1,500 claims.

A separate inquiry is looking into some 500 cases of abuse in Afghanistan, dating back to 2005. In its acknowledgment that such claims must be heard, and also that no military can properly investigate itself  not something that all countries grasp  the Iraq Historic Allegations Team should be viewed as an important step.

But the current British government, citing the waste of millions of pounds of taxpayers money, and in any case cynical about European courts, seems now to be suggesting that its soldiers shouldnt be held to high standards. Which seems a bit insulting to British soldiers, as well as the Iraqis and their families whose claims are being examined.

If you wanted to argue that the process is taking too long, thereby causing distress to possibly innocent soldiers, then say that  but to then use this concern to justify bowing out of human rights law is some stretch.

Meanwhile, campaigners such as the human rights group Liberty have pointed out that such a move would also remove protections for British forces serving overseas.

As well as requiring soldiers to respect the human rights of others, the ECHR is also a safeguard against soldiers themselves facing abuse  from the army, or the defence ministry.

Accountability

But all of this is circling the key issue here, which is accountability. Because there were terrible abuses in Iraq during the US-UK invasion and subsequent occupation of that country. There was the case of Baha Mousa, the 26-year-old hotel receptionist who was beaten and tortured to death in 2003 at a British detention centre.

Or Ahmed Jabbar Kareem Ali, the 15-year-old Iraqi boy who was forced into a canal by British troops and drowned.

OPINION: Tony Blair is rubbing salt into Iraq\s wounds

This isnt about soldiers having to make terrible choices in the heat of the battlefield  which is the narrative suggested by those seeking an ECHR exemption. The Iraq war and its bloody aftermath was a devastating and avoidable venture  as the Chilcot inquiry, which concluded in July, made clear  and with that, inevitably, are questions surrounding the conduct of the British military.

The claims being examined concern allegations of war crimes, including torture: they cant be dismissed as vexatious and they certainly cannot be ignored without further investigation.

That should stand alone as a self-evident statement. But what inevitably follows from that is a consideration of the message the UK is sending out to the world if it tries to derogate from the European Convention on Human Rights. How can a country that opts out of bits of human rights law it doesnt like then claim to champion those same rights around the world? It would be a classic case of do as we say, not as we do.

This isnt something that any self-respecting British government, one that seeks to uphold universal human rights and the rule of law, should want for itself, or for its military.

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.
In a UK wracked by Brexit uncertainty, the Scottish National Party must decide if the time is right for independence.

Scottish nationalists should be celebrating this week. Some 3,000 delegates from across the country will attend the annual Scottish National Party (SNP) conference, which begins in Glasgow on Thursday. The SNP is firmly established as the party of government in devolved Scottish parliament. In June, Scottish voters  like their First Minister Nicola Sturgeon  strongly backed remaining in the European Union.

And yet the nationalist dream of Scottish independence remains elusive. In 2014, 55 per cent of voters opted to stay in the United Kingdom. Despite Brexit  and the emergence of a more hard-line British Prime Minister in former Home Secretary Theresa May  most Scots still support the union.





This is the conundrum that faces Sturgeon as she prepares for arguably the most important conference speech of her political career. To hold a second referendum before the UK formally leaves the EU, or to wait?

Scotlands interests

Back in June, another vote on Scottish independence looked inevitable. In the wake of the UKs decision to leave the EU  which 62 per cent of Scots opposed  Sturgeon declared that a referendum was highly likely to protect Scotlands interests in Europe.

Since then, the Scottish National Party  in power in the devolved parliament in Edinburgh for almost a decade  has kept up a steady drumbeat for independence.

OPINION: Brexit  The UKs rage against dying of colonial light

In September, the nationalists unveiled a new conversation to build support for leaving the UK, including a plan for the partys 125,000 members to approach two million Scots to assuage their fears about leaving the UK.

Public confidence betrays private concerns about the prospects of winning a second referendum, at least in the short term. by

A growth commission will be established to answer the economic questions  most notably on currency  that dogged the yes campaign in 2014.

In a UK wracked by uncertainty over Brexit, the SNP has positioned itself as the party with a plan.

We want to build, if we can, a consensus on the way forward, Sturgeon said of independence recently.

But such public confidence betrays private concerns about the prospects of winning a second referendum, at least in the short term.

Economically, Scotland is in a far weaker position than in 2014. Oil revenues have collapsed amid a global price war: Tax receipts from the North Sea have fallen from over 11bn in 2011-12 to just 60m last year.

Scottish public mood

Scotlands deficit  the difference between what the government raises in tax and what it spends  has spiraled to 9.5 per cent of GDP. The overall figure for the UK is 4 percent.

The financial fundamentals are not the only problem. Brexit potentially raises more questions than it answers for nationalists.

Customs posts along the 96-mile Anglo-Irish border are unlikely, but with Scotland doing more than 60 percent of its trade with England any disruption to business could have huge economic impact. What currency an independent Scotland would use remains a mystery.

The Scottish public mood has shifted, too. When Nicola Sturgeon declared we do not want to leave the European Union on the morning of the Brexit vote her strident tone captured the dominant attitude.

Among those most aggrieved at the unexpected prospect of exiting the EU were the middle-class, cosmopolitan elite who backed the union last time out.

OPINION: A Caledonian utopia or a nation divided?

Anger about being dragged out of the European Union has not completely dissipated, but it has subsided. Many Scots are suffering political fatigue after more than half a dozen major elections in the past five years.

The SNP leadership still hopes for a third way between Brexit and another referendum which, if lost, could decimate their hopes of independence.

Sturgeon has said she wants to be part of Brexit negotiations, and has identified freedom of movement and access to the single market as redline issues.

But prospects of any acquiescence to Scottish nationalist demands seem somewhere between slim and non-existent. Last week at the Conservative party conference Prime Minister May said that there would be no opt-out from Brexit.

Unlike her modernising predecessor David Cameron, May has sided strongly with the right of the Tory party. Her message is bluntly British nationalist: last week she told Conservative activists that she would never allow divisive nationalists to undermine the precious union.

Such language goes down well in England, but will win few hearts and minds in Scotland where the government holds just one of the 59 Westminster seats. With the SNP still polling around 50 percent, their dominance of Scottish politics seems assured, at least for the next electoral cycle.

But while Scottish resentment with the London government looks set to grow even further, fears about the costs of leaving are likely to keep the UK intact, for now.

Far from the unified kingdom that Theresa May speaks of, the UK increasingly resembles a zombie union bound together by economic necessity. Such a loveless, listless marriage has little long-term future, but could still endure for many years yet.

Peter Geoghegan is an Irish writer and broadcaster based in Glasgow. His most recent book is The Peoples Referendum: Why Scotland Will Never Be the Same Again.

The views expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeeras editorial policy.
Yasmine Ryan

Yasmine was an independent bilingual, award-winning print, television and multimedia journalist with more than a decade of experience with top interna... more tional news organisations. She passed away on November 30, 2017, at the age of 34. She was a 2016 fellow at the World Press Institute, and spent much of 2016 following the US presidential campaign. In 2015, she covered North Africa for The Independent. Yasmine was a member of Al Jazeera English's online team from September 2010 until October 2013, where she was at the forefront of the web team's coverage of the Tunisian uprising and the political turmoil that followed. Her article, Tunisia's Bitter Cyberwar, was the first feature on what was to become the Arab Spring to appear in any English-language media outlet. She was one of the main field reporters for Al Jazeera English's online team in 2011 when it won the Columbia School Of Journalism's Alfred I duPont award for excellence in broadcast and digital journalism and the Online News Association's Online Journalism Award - Breaking News, and General Excellence in Online Journalism. During her time with AJE, she also covered France's 2012 presidential elections, the 2013 the French intervention in Mali and the September 2012 attack on the US diplomatic post in Benghazi. Yasmine previously worked as an online producer and video journalist for the International Herald Tribune and The New York Times. She won an International Award for Excellence in Journalism in 2010 for an article on Algerian boat migrants. She has a Masters degree from the Institut d'etudes politiques d'Aix-en-Provence, and a BA (Honours) in Political Science and French from the University of Auckland. Her first experience in journalism was with New Zealands Scoop Independent News.
Only weeks before Iraqi troops and their local and international partners start their push to retake the city of Mosul from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS), the leaders of Turkey and Iraq have been caught in a war of words that could derail the Mosul liberation efforts.

You are not my interlocutor. You are not at my level. You are not my equivalent. You are not of the same quality as me, said Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday, in response to a demand from Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi that Turkey withdraw its troops from Iraq.

Your screaming and shouting in Iraq is of no importance to us, he said in a speech to Muslim religious leaders from the Balkans and Central Asia in Istanbul. You should know that we will go our own way.

Mosul, home to up to 1.5 million people, has been the headquarters of ISILs self-declared caliphate in northern Iraq since 2014. The battle for the city, expected later this month, is likely to shape the post-ISIL Iraq.

READ MORE: Messages from ISIL territory ask forgiveness for murder

Mosul is a historically Sunni city and any attempt to change its demographic composition would be a direct threat to Turkey's security. by Ali Faik Demir, Istanbul's Galatasaray University

Erdogan also said that Turkey is determined to participate in the operation to retake Mosul from ISIL, with or without Baghdads approval. Turkish media later reported that Turkey is planning to participate in the Mosul operation with an invitation from the president of the Kurdistan Regional Government, Masoud Barzani.

Turkeys parliament voted two weeks ago to extend the deployment of an estimated 2,000 troops across northern Iraq by a year to combat terrorist organisations. Around 500 of these troops are stationed in the Bashiqa camp in northern Iraq, training local fighters who will join the battle to recapture Mosul.

Iraq condemned what it called a Turkish incursion, and Abadi warned that Turkey risked triggering a regional war.

Abadis government requested an emergency United Nations Security Council meeting to discuss the issue, and both countries summoned each others ambassadors in a mounting diplomatic standoff. It is hard to take Baghdads threats seriously, Ali Faik Demir, an expert on Turkish foreign policy from Istanbuls Galatasaray University, told Al Jazeera.

A country that cannot protect its territorial integrity and eliminate terrorist elements within itself cannot threaten a neighbour for protecting its own interests. Especially when that neighbour was invited in to the country by Mosuls former governor to train Sunni militias who are preparing to fight ISIL.

According to analysts the legitimacy of the government in Baghdad is slowly eroding amid sectarian tensions, foreign interventions and the ISIL occupation. Abadi, say analysts, is trying to use Turkeys presence in Northern Iraq to fuel a new brand of Iraqi nationalism to keep at least certain parts of the country intact in the post-ISIL era.

Baghdad knows that it cannot stand up to Iran or the US, Metin Gurcan, a security analyst and former adviser to the Turkish military, told Al Jazeera. But it feels that it can use Turkey as a new other, against which it can build a new, primarily Shia national identity and band at least 60 percent of the countrys population together.

Turkey is concerned that once ISIL fighters are pushed out of Mosul, the government in Baghdad will make it difficult for Sunni residents of the city to live there. Erdogan previously said that Mosul, which was seized by ISIL two years ago, belongs to its Sunni residents.

After Mosul is recaptured, Erdogan added, only Sunni Arabs, Turkmen and Sunni Kurds should remain there. His comments prompted the government-backed Shia militias, known as the Hashd al-Shaabi (Popular Mobilisation Forces), to issue a statement condemning Erdogans racist proposal to change Mosuls demographics.

But analysts believe that Turkeys concerns about the future of Mosul should not be interpreted as an attempt to reshape a sovereign countrys demographic make-up. We have to remember Iraqs current borders were drawn in the Sykes-Picot agreement, Demir said.

Those borders are nothing more than arbitrary lines drawn in the sand by the British. So the situation can only be analysed realistically from a city-centric perspective. Mosul is a historically Sunni city and any attempt to change its demographic composition would be a direct threat to Turkeys security, he said.

According to Iraqi analysts, Turkish military presence in Bashiqa represents a clear violation of national sovereignty. Baghdad views the Turkish forces as an occupation force because the troops were sent to Bashiqa with no prior coordination  or agreement  with the Iraqi government, said Wathiq al-Hashimi, head of the Baghdad-based Iraqi group for strategic studies, an Iraqi think-tank. Al-Hashimi added that Turkey wanted to control Mosul in order to create a buffer zone that will allow it to target PKK fighters.





Analysts emphasised that Turkeys uneasiness about the prospect of having sectarian militias help Iraqi army in the Mosul liberation operation should not be dismissed simply as a desire to protect fellow Sunnis in the region. If [these forces] push into Mosul, where will the Sunni residents of the city go? asked Demir. Of course they cannot go to Syria, so they will move north, into Turkey. 

Turkey is already hosting 2.7 million refugees, he said. Turkey simply cannot absorb another wave of refugees, so the Turkish government and military need to take necessary precautions to make sure residents of Mosul can stay in Mosul after ISIL is ousted from their city.

READ MORE: Meet the fighters preparing to retake Mosul from ISIL

The US recently told Turkey to respect the Iraqi governments wishes regarding its military presence in the country. All of Iraqs neighbours need to respect Iraqs sovereignty and territorial integrity, State Department spokesman John Kirby said on Tuesday. We call on both governments to focus on their common enemy, our common enemy, which is Daesh, Kirby said, referring to ISIL by an Arabic acronym.





But analysts believe that US position on this issue is nothing more than a piece of rhetoric. All actors in the region, including the US, are currently trying to reposition themselves for the post-ISIL setting, Gurcan said.

They may talk about the importance of Iraqs sovereignty and territorial integrity, but none of the actors are keen to go back to the status quo before the emergence of ISIL. They know that this is not possible in practice.

The US believes that Turkey is trying to create a Sunni power-house around Mosul and it is not necessarily against this idea, said Demir.

A Sunni entity in northern Iraq may reduce Irans influence in this region, and the US would appreciate that, he said. But Ankara has been trying to exclude Washington from this game. It has been trying to act as an independent actor by aligning itself with sub-state actors, and that is the source of the US frustration with Turkey, Gurcan explained.

There is no right and wrong in northern Iraq at the moment and what happens to Mosul may start a domino reaction that can change all regional maps. All we can do is to wait and see.

Al-Hashimi said that the Iraqi government should keep self-restraint and not get involved in any military activity against the Turkish troops in Bashiqa. The Bashiqa military camp is situated in a crossfire once the battle [for Mosul] starts. And here, the Iraqi government has to inform Ankara, and the whole world, that Baghdad cant be held responsible for any possible targeting of the Turkish troops.
Thousands of people march in Bogota and elsewhere calling on the government and FARC rebels to save a peace deal.

Thousands of people have marched in cities across Colombia to demand a peace deal between the government and leftist rebels not be scuttled.

Wednesdays demonstrations marked the second time in a week that Colombians took to the streets to support the accord signed last month with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and now hanging by a thread after a shock referendum defeat for the deal.

OPINION: Colombia  A Nobel Prize to save peace

We have seen hundreds of representatives of indigenous groups, Afro-Colombians and other groups of minorities who walked through Bogota demanding peace, Al Jazeeras Alessandro Rampietti, reporting from the capital Bogota, said.





They were marching together with students, victims of the conflict and just regular families.

In Bogota, victims of the decades-long conflict carrying photos of dead loved ones were greeted by well-wishers handing white flowers symbolising peace.

We victims are in a state of limbo, we need the accord now, Diana Gomez, a 38-year-old activist whose father was killed a decade ago, told The Associated Press news agency.

She said her fathers murder remains unsolved  one of many unresolved cases during a 52-year-old conflict that claimed the lives of 220,000 people and left almost eight million displaced.

Deal adjustments

President Juan Manuel Santos, winner of this years Nobel Peace Prize, is in talks with the opposition and FARC to make adjustments to the accord following its narrow rejection in a referendum six days after it was signed in front of world leaders.

READ MORE: Colombians divided after voters reject FARC peace deal

But it is not clear he can save the deal as opponents push for stiffer penalties for rebel leaders and fighters.

Under the terms of the accord signed on September 26, FARC leaders would be able to serve in Congress, with a guarantee of 10 seats, while fighters who confessed their crimes would be spared time in jail and instead ordered to carry out community development work in areas hard hit by the conflict.





This isnt a question of cosmetic changes, former President Alvaro Uribe, who led the campaign against the peace deal, said on Wednesday after delivering to government officials a list of proposals that he said would strengthen and provide broader support for the accord.

In a country of institutions like Colombia, transitional justice cant consist of failing to punish those responsible for atrocious crimes.

The FARC leader Timoleon Jimenez, known by his nom de guerre Timochenko, tried to put on a brave face on Wednesday, saying that the group is open to making adjustments even if it is not willing to start negotiations again from scratch.

IN PICTURES: The last days of the FARC

Personally I think it may have been good that this happened, said Timochenko, referring to the referendum loss, in a rare, hour-long interview with Caracol Radio.

It allows us to clear up many doubts and especially commit the important segment of the Colombian society that didnt vote, more than 63 percent, to take an interest in this history-making event.





Wednesdays march on the Plaza Bolivar, adjacent to the congress and presidential palace, appeared to be larger than last weeks rally, a potential sign of how politically apathetic Colombians have been jolted into action by the fading prospects for peace.

In recent days, the Plaza has been overtaken by dozens of tents set up by peace activists and on Tuesday was blanketed with a giant, white shroud containing the names of almost 2,000 victims of the conflict stenciled in ash.

Santos has applauded the outburst of activism, and on Wednesday reiterated the need to seek a quick solution to the impasse so that a ceasefire in place does not unravel.

The great majority of people have asked me to find a solution soon because uncertainty is the enemy, he said in televised address.
When I witnessed the battle against the Shaitat tribe I was shaken. How can you say its Islam when you kill a child? How can you say its Islam when I kill a woman? How can you say its Islam when I take women as slaves who are themselves Muslim? Thats not Islam. I saw all of this with my own eyes.

Abu Osama al-Shami, a 32-year-old Syrian from Raqqa, is a former member of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS).

He is one of four ISIL deserters who reveals, in a new Witness documentary airing on Al Jazeera in its English language premiere, why he joined the armed group and ultimately decided to escape.

ISIL Deserters Speak Out, by Thomas Dandois and Francois-Xavier Tregan, was filmed over five months until early this year in Sanliurfa, a southeastern province of Turkey, which lies about 60km from the Syrian border.

Former ISIL members al-Shami, 32, Abu Hozaifa, 28, and Abu Maria, 22, who are all from Raqqa, and Abu Ali, 38, a Jordanian and the only non-Syrian among the documentarys subjects, joined the armed group for similar reasons: a conviction that theyd be serving their religion and that ISIL would stamp out corruption. All four of them speak under a nom de guerre.

Dont go there, youll regret it

While they first welcomed their salaries and ISILs civic organisation, the four men grew disillusioned as they witnessed a culture of brutality and hypocrisy first-hand.

ISIL Deserters Speak Out is a rare look at the groups inner workings and hierarchical military structure, as well as at the differences between Syrian and foreign fighters.

We also hear from three members of the Thuwar al-Raqqa  whose fighters are affiliated with the Free Syrian Army  which has a special cell that helps people to leave ISIL. In one year, they say, they helped to exfiltrate nearly 100 deserters and brought them to Turkey. They say many more fighters want to leave.

READ MORE: In Raqqa, support ISIL or die

ISIL is afraid that these deserters will reveal it for what it is, says Mahmoud Oqba, 33, a Thuwar al-Raqqa military commander.

Theyre trying hard to hide the truth and the bitter reality. ISIL has nothing to do with Jihad and Islam like they pretend. ISIL is an enemy of Islam. If deserters reveal to the outside world what they saw, it would be a disaster.



The Witness documentary features rare mobile phone footage from deserters phones and collected by Thuwar al-Raqqa informants showing life under ISIL and within the armed group.

The testimonies reveal an entrenched culture of unchecked violence and cruelty: on-the-spot executions of people by security personnel at checkpoints for not carrying ID; a preference for using blunt weapons to execute; a mass grave called the hole  a deep pit in the desert where bodies are thrown; teenagers sent to the frontlines with just three days of training.

The deserters provide personal accounts of how they became disillusioned with ISIL.

I thought people were going to like me, respect me, come to me. But I found that people were scared of me and didnt like me, Ali says.

I found myself in a place where youre under surveillance. Theyre all intelligence agents. They all spy on one another. Its just like the repressive regimes in the Arab world.

But it was what happened to two 13- or 14-year-old girls who were offered to a governor in Fallujah as sex slaves that made him want to desert.

The governor rejected them and fighters started arguing over the girls. The children were executed. When Ali asked why, he was told it was because the girls were causing strife between the brothers.

Its insane. Does that mean we have to kill every woman out in the street? Its strange, its madness, he says. This is what led me to regret my decision. At the camp I told myself, I shouldve never come here.

Thuwar al-Raqqa says that when it reaches out to different countries about their nationals who want to desert, they are often told: Leave him there.

If nations wont cooperate, Oqba foresees more deserters relying on smugglers to return home, making it easier for ISIL to carry out attacks abroad.

I advise all brothers, if youre looking for an Islamic state, this is not the one youre looking for, Ali says. It is neither a state nor is it Islamic. Theyre criminals. Dont go there, youll regret it.

From the Witness documentary ISIL Deserters Speak Out. Watch the full film here.
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 13, ARMENPRESS. Russian presidential aide Yury Ushakov has announced that Moscow is not very optimistic in soon settlement of Nagorno Karabakh conflict, Armenpress reports Ria Novosti informs.

I wouldnt say we are very optimistic in soon settlement of the conflict. But we will continue our intractable works with Baku and Yerevan, Ushakov told the reporters.

He refused to reveal details of the talks, mentioning that there are numerous options and offers under discussions. But for now, I reiterate, there are no grounds for special optimism, he added.

Touching upon the arms delivery by Russia to Armenia, Ushakov told that Russia is an ally for Armenia and has all the rights to deliver the weaponry it has agreed with its Armenian partners. I think there is nothing strange here for anyone, including for our Azerbaijani partners. As you may know, we deliver weapons to Azerbaijan as well, Ushakov said.
UN peacekeepers repelled the attack in Kaga-Bandoro that targeted civilians, killing at least 12 assailants.

Fighters with the former Seleka rebel group attacked a northern town in Central African Republic and clashes left at least 30 dead and 57 wounded as United Nations peacekeepers confronted them.

Peacekeepers repelled the attackers, killing at least 12 of them, the UN said. The attack in Kaga-Bandoro was likely retaliation for the death on Tuesday of a suspected former Seleka member, the UN mission said in a statement.



Fresh abuse allegations against UN peacekeepers in CAR

Central African Republic descended into conflict in 2013 when the mostly Muslim Seleka rebels overthrew the Christian president Francois Bozize.

That ushered in a brutal reign with many atrocities committed. When the rebel leader left power, a backlash by the Christian anti-Balaka militia against Muslim civilians followed.

There is, today, no legitimate reason for any armed group to use weapons, said the UN missions chief Parfait Onanga-Anyanga. The people have suffered enough and are tired of this war that has lasted too long.

The UN condemned the violence overnight on Wednesday that saw rebels attack civilians, target authorities, and loot aid organisations.

Armed men attacked a secondary school during teacher training, witnesses told the UN childrens agency, saying among those killed were three teachers, the director of an educational centre, and the vice president of the parents association.

We are deeply shocked by these developments and saddened that teachers have been targeted, said Mohamed Malick Fall, UNICEFs representative in the country.

READ MORE: Dozens killed in Central African Republic massacre

A local priest said two humanitarian workers were also among the dead. He spoke on condition of anonymity out of fear for his safety.

More than 5,000 people already displaced by years of violence have taken refuge next to the UN base, their informal settlements burned, the UN Office for Humanitarian Affairs said.

Hundreds of former Seleka fighters have regrouped in Kaga-Bandoro, along with Muslim civilians, after fleeing the capital, Bangui, two years ago.
The UN General Assembly on Thursday formally appointed Antonio Guterres as the new secretary-general of the United Nations, replacing Ban Ki-moon.

The 193 member states adopted by acclamation a resolution appointing the former prime minister of Portugal for a five-year term beginning January 1, 2017.

The socialist politician, who also served as UN refugee chief for a decade, is expected to play a more prominent role as the worlds diplomat-in-chief than Ban, the South Korean former foreign minister who will step down after two five-year terms.

In his opening speech at the UN headquarters on Thursday, he vowed to fight terrorism and populism and to help overcome divisions over ending the war in Syria.

We must make sure that we are able to break these alliances between all those terrorist groups or violence extremists on one side and the expression of populism and xenophobia on the other side. We must be able to fight both of them with determination, Guterres said.





He also highlighted the importance of gender equality in his speech, calling it a priority commitment of the UN to protect and empower women.

I have long been aware of the hurdles women face in society, in the family and in the workplace, just because of their gender. I have witnessed the violence they are subject to during conflict or while fleeing, just because they are women and I have tried to address this to every public office.

The protection and empowerment of women in the organisation are and will continue to be a priority commitment to me.

Guterres won unanimous support from the UN Security Council during a vote last week that capped the most transparent campaign ever held at the United Nations for the top post.

The 67-year-old polyglot campaigned on a pledge to promote human rights and enact reforms within the UN system, seen as clunky and too slow to respond to unfolding disasters.

His appointment comes at a time of global anxiety over the ongoing war in Syria, the refugee crisis and raging conflicts in South Sudan and Yemen.

Syria is of course issue number one. He knows its issue number one  Its a subject he knows extremely well because he was previously for ten years the High Commissioner for Refugees, Al Jazeeras James Bays said, reporting from UN headquarters in New York.

The number one issue there, of course, with the crises in the Middle East and the almost five million refugees whove left Syria for neighbouring countries or further afield for Europe. So he knows many of the top issues.

The Security Council is deadlocked over Syria after two draft resolutions were defeated in separate votes over the weekend, one of which was vetoed by Damascus ally Russia.
Authorities say Syrian man suspected of planning German airport bombing attack committed suicide using his shirt.

German authorities are under pressure to explain how a detained Syrian man suspected of planning an airport bombing attack was able to take his own life, with politicians demanding answers and calling the death in custody a fiasco and a tragedy.

Sebastian Gemkow, Saxonys justice minister, said in a press conference in Dresden that Jaber al-Bakr, 22, strangled himself on Wednesday evening by tying his shirt to the bars of his jail cell.





This should not have happened even though we did everything we could to prevent it, Gemkow said on Thursday.

Earlier on Thursday, Bakrs defence lawyer Alexander Huebner said that he had been informed his client was under constant surveillance.

How could this happen? asked Huebner. Im unbelievably shocked and absolutely speechless that something like this could have happened.

Rolf Jacob, the head of the prison where Bakr was held, told reporters that a trainee guard checked on the prisoner at 730pm on Wednesday, and that when he returned for another check 15 minutes later he found him dead.

Jacob said authorities who assessed him when he entered the prison had noted there was a suicide risk but did not consider it acute. He said the suspect was checked on every quarter of an hour and given pants without a belt as a precaution.

Bakr was arrested earlier this week after a two-day manhunt following the discovery of explosives and other bomb-making equipment at his flat in the nearby city of Chemnitz.

German authorities have said that they believe he had links to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) group and was thought to be planning to attack a Berlin airport, possibly as soon as this week.

Thomas de Maiziere, Germanys interior minister, said on Thursday that Bakrs death would make the investigation into whether he had accomplices in the thwarted plot far more difficult.

What happened last night demands a very quick and comprehensive explanation, he told ZDF public television.

Wolfgang Bosbach, a senior member of Chancellor Angela Merkels Christian Democrats, called the suspects death a tragedy, adding that an important source of information had been lost.

In comments to Deutschlandfunk, Green politician Konstantin von Notz called the suicide a fiasco of the justice system in the eastern state of Saxony.
French presidents remarks in a new book draw criticism as he also says too many immigrants are arriving.

President Francois Hollande told the authors of a book just published that France has a problem with Islam and there are too many immigrants arriving in the country who shouldnt be here.

Hollande made the controversial remarks to the authors of A President Shouldnt Say That in December 2015, a month after gunmen attacked Paris, killing 130 people. Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) claimed responsibility for the deadly assault.

Its true that theres a problem with Islam. No one doubts it, Hollande is quoted as saying in the book published this week.

Its not that Islam poses a problem in the sense that it is a dangerous religion, but in as far as it wants to affirm itself as a religion of the Republic.

READ MORE: Why Western attempts to moderate Islam are dangerous

Hollande also told the Le Monde journalists Gerard David and Fabrice Lhomme: I think there are too many arrivals of immigration that shouldnt be there.

Immigration and national identity are key themes in campaigning for next years presidential election.

A string of attacks in France in the past two years, coupled with the Europe-wide migrant crisis, have stoked anti-immigration sentiment.

A heated debate about Muslim integration in staunchly secular France came to a head over the summer when about 30 towns banned the body-concealing burkini swimsuit. Frances highest administrative court later ruled that such a ban was a serious violation of basic freedoms.

The deeply unpopular Hollande has not yet declared whether he intends to stand for re-election.





But his arch-rival Nicolas Sarkozy, bidding for the centre-right nomination, is campaigning heavily on populist anti-immigration themes.

Politicians from across the spectrum have almost a free rein to criticise/demonise Islam and Muslims and use it as a scare tactic whenever a particular leader or political party is in a critical situation facing the public opinion  knowing that the French Muslim citizens have no real organised lobby with the capacity to exercise any influence on the parties or politicians, French sociologist and media critic Ali Saad told Al Jazeera.

This reality is even clearer in the case of the present government, since all the Socialist Partys tenors  such as [Prime Minister] Valls, [former finance minister] Macron, [and womens rights Minister Laurence] Rossignol  are on the same wavelength as the president, he added.

The French governments policies  particularly in the wake of the 2015 Paris attacks and the subsequent declaration of a state of emergency  have come under harsh criticism from rights groups for the targeting of Muslims through detainment and harassment.

In the long term, such a stigma endured by Muslim citizens would force them into seclusion, which could entail grave consequences for Frances social cohesion because isolation helps religious extremism to take roots and develop, said Saad.

Asked about Hollandes comments, government spokesman Stephane Le Foll reiterated the presidents remarks.

Theres a problem with Islam today because Islam is politicised by some. There is a problem  and at the same time we need to be able to overcome this problem.
US navy bombs three radar sites controlled by Houthis after it says its warship came under missile attacks.

The US military has launched cruise missile strikes to knock out three coastal radar sites in areas of Yemen controlled by Houthi rebel forces, in retaliation for missile attacks at its Navy ship.

Thursdays strikes, authorised by President Barack Obama, represent Washingtons first direct military action against Houthi-controlled targets in Yemens conflict.

The Pentagon said the strikes were aimed at radars that enabled the launch of at least three missiles against the US Navy destroyer USS Mason since Sunday.

US officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said US Navy destroyer USS Nitze launched the Tomahawk cruise missiles around 4am local time (01:00 GMT), according to Reuters news agency.

These radars were active during previous attacks and attempted attacks on ships in the Red Sea, including the USS Mason, one of the officials said, adding the sites were in remote areas where the risk of civilian casualties was low.

The US official identified the areas in Yemen where the radars were targeted as near Ras Isa, north of Mukha and near Khoka.

Just hours after news broke of the strikes, Iran announced that it had deployed two warships to the Bab el-Mandeb strait and the Gulf of Aden.

The semi-official Tasnim news agency said on Thursday that the destroyers had been dispatched on October 5 and were part of a regular anti-piracy patrol off Yemen and East Africa.

Rebels denial

The missile attacks on the USS Mason  the latest of which took place earlier on Wednesday  appeared to be the Houthis response to a suspected Arab coalition strike on mourners gathered in Yemens Houthi-held capital Sanaa.

But Houthi rebel fighters and allies on Thursday denied the accusations that they had targeted the USS Mason, according to AFP news agency.

Those claims are baseless, the Saba news agency quoted a military official allied with the rebels as saying. The [rebel-allied] army and the Popular Committees [armed group] have nothing to do with this action.

The missile incidents, along with an October 1 strike on a vessel from the United Arab Emirates, add to questions about the safety of passage for military ships around the Bab al-Mandeb Strait, one of the worlds busiest shipping routes.

The Pentagon warned against any future attacks.

The United States will respond to any further threat to our ships and commercial traffic, as appropriate, Cook said.

The conflict between Yemens government and Houthi rebels escalated last year with the intervention of an Arab coalition in support of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi.

The UN says more than 6,700 people have been killed and more than three million displaced by fighting in Yemen since March 2015, when the coalition launched its campaign.
Presidential spokesman says 21 of the more than 200 girls abducted by the armed group in April 2014 have been freed.

Twenty-one of the more than 200 Nigerian girls kidnapped from a school in Chibok by Boko Haram fighters in 2014 have been released, according to Nigerias presidency.

The release followed negotiations between Nigerias government and Boko Haram brokered by Red Cross and Swiss government officials, a spokesman for the countrys president said on Thursday.

It is confirmed that 21 of the missing Chibok Girls have been released and are in the custody of the Department of State Services, DSS.  Garba Shehu (@GarShehu) October 13, 2016

It is confirmed that 21 of the missing Chibok girls have been released and are in the custody of the Department of State Services, presidential spokesman Garba Shehu said in a statement.

The release of the girls  is an outcome of negotiations between the administration and the Boko Haram brokered by the International Red Cross and the Swiss government, Shehu said.

The negotiations will continue.

Lai Mohammed, Nigerias information minister, said the released girls would arrive in Abuja later on Thursday.

READ MORE: Nigeria- The defeat of deadly Boko Haram?

The girls were exchanged for four Boko Haram prisoners in Banki in northeast Nigeria, the AFP news agency said quoting a local source.

Later the information minister denied that any Boko Haram prisoners were for the release of the girls.

For some time now there has been some negotiations between the Nigerian government and Boko Haram, said Al Jazeeras Ahmed Idris, reporting from the Nigerian city of Kano.

Remember a few months ago, the leader of the Boko Haram faction that seems to be holding the girls said that they can only release these girls if the Nigerian government releases some of its commanders being held in prison across Nigeria.

The identity of the girls has yet to be confirmed, said Aisha Yesufu, a Bring Back Our Girls campaigner.

We cannot confirm anything yet, Yesufu said.

OPINION: Note to Boko Haram  western education is NOT a sin

Boko Haram seized 276 pupils from the Government Girls Secondary School in Chibok on the night of April 14, 2014. Fifty-seven managed to escape in the immediate aftermath of the abduction.

The kidnapping has become a hot political issue in Nigeria, with the government and military criticised for their handling of the incident and their failure to rescue any of the girls.

About 2,000 girls and boys have been abducted by Boko Haram since 2014, with many used as sex slaves, fighters and even suicide bombers, according to Amnesty International, the London-based human rights organisation.

READ MORE: The women who love Boko Haram

Nigeria freed more than 500 women and children from the Sambisa forest, considered a bastion of armed group Boko Haram, in April this year.

Two abducted Chibok girls, Amina Ali Darsha and Serah Luka were rescued in May from the same forest in Borno state.

In recent months, Boko Haram has increasingly used suicide and bomb attacks as the Nigerian military pushes the group out of territories they once controlled.

But President Muhammadu Buhari has declared Boko Haram technically defeated, and said success in the campaign would be measured on the return of the Chibok girls and other abductees.
Top court adjourns final appeal in case of Asia Bibi, on death row since 2010, after a judge recuses from bench.

Pakistans Supreme Court has delayed an appeal into the countrys most notorious blasphemy case against a Christian mother on death row since 2010, after one of the judges stepped down.

Thousands of security troops had been deployed in the capital, Islamabad, as the court prepared to hear a final appeal in the case of Asia Bibi on Thursday.

The court did not immediately set a new date for the appeal.

READ MORE: Campaigning to reform Pakistans deadly blasphemy law

But the threat of violence was largely abated when one of the three-judge bench, Justice Iqbal Hameed ur Rehman, told the court he had to recuse himself from the case.

I was a part of the bench that was hearing the case of Salmaan Taseer, and this case is related to that, he told the court.





Taseer, a liberal provincial governor, was shot dead in Islamabad in 2011 after speaking out for Bibi.

His assassin, Mumtaz Qadri, was hanged earlier in 2016 in a step welcomed by liberals in the country, but which brought hardliners into the streets calling for Bibis death.

A senior police official said that up to 3,000 forces were deployed in the capital on Thursday.

Security is very tight in Islamabad all around today. Additional troops have been deployed on checkpoints and city junctions in general. There is also deployment of paramilitary force Rangers and FC [Frontier Corps] on some additional points, a police source told AFP news agency.

READ MORE: Imam arrested after blasphemer teen cuts off hand

Up to 100 officers, many in riot gear, were stationed outside the Supreme Court as Bibis lawyer and husband arrived for the hearing, with more throughout the city.

I have made my preparation, we are very hopeful, Bibis lawyer Saif-ul-Malook told AFP earlier.

Blasphemy is a hugely sensitive issue in Pakistan.

Rights groups complain that the controversial legislation is often abused to carry out personal vendettas, mainly against minority Christians.

Bibi was convicted and sentenced to hang in 2010 after an argument with a Muslim woman over a bowl of water. Her supporters maintain her innocence and insist it was a personal dispute.

But successive appeals have been rejected, and if the Supreme Court bench upholds Bibis conviction, her only recourse will be a direct appeal to the president for clemency.

She would become the first person in Pakistan to be executed for blasphemy.

The repercussions for minorities, human rights and the blasphemy laws will be tremendous if that happens, said Shahzad Akbar, a human rights lawyer.

Observers have warned of possible violence if the conviction is overturned, with some calling the case a battle for Pakistans soul as the state walks a line between upholding human rights and appeasing hardliners.
Philippine leader suggests, however, investigation may not lead to criminal charges saying this is the law of my land.

Philippine leader Rodrigo Duterte has promised in an exclusive interview with Al Jazeera to investigate extra-judicial killings as part of his war on drugs.

However, Duterte said in the interview broadcast on Thursday that his controversial campaign would go on against alleged criminals and drug-dealers. It is estimated to have led to the deaths of more than 3,000 people since June.

You destroy my country  Ill kill you. And its a legitimate thing, he said. If you destroy our young children, I will kill you. That is a very correct statement. There is nothing wrong in trying to preserve the interests of the next generation.

READ MORE: Duterte tells Obama to go to hell

But he said it was bad that children and innocent people have also been killed in the bloody crackdown.

Asked if he could promise there would be investigations into those cases, he replied: Yes, of course, of course.

But he also suggested investigations might not lead to criminal liability.

This is the law of my land. Here is a policeman, here is a gangster. Hes armed with an M-16 [assault rifle], the gangster only with a pistol. But when they meet they exchange fire. With the policeman with his M-16 theres one burst and he hits 1,000 people there and they die. Theres no criminal liability, said Duterte, nicknamed the Punisher.

READ MORE: Duterte slams stupid UN criticism of his war on drugs

He took his oath as president on June 30 and has vowed to keep his campaign promise of solving the countrys illegal drug problem, saying, I dont care about human rights, believe me.

The extrajudicial killings have been widely condemned by other world leaders and rights groups.

The chief prosecutor for the International Criminal Court said on Thursday she was deeply concerned over reports about extrajudicial killings of suspected drug dealers and that statements by high officials in the Philippines seem to condone such killings.

Any person in the Philippines who incites or engages in acts of mass violence within the jurisdiction of the ICC is potentially liable to prosecution before the Court, said Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda.

Duterte has been fighting off the criticism by using crude language towards them. He called the United Nations stupid and told US President Barack Obama to go to hell.
Residents say Russian and Syrian government air raids have destroyed vast areas of rebel-held half of the city.

At least 99 Syrians have been killed across the eastern half of the city Aleppo over the past two days, in what activists and residents believe was Russian and Syrian air bombardment of their rebel-held neighbourhoods.

According to rescue groups, Russian raids killed at least 13 civilians and wounded 25 on Thursday morning across several areas including Bustan al-Qasr and Sakhour. Unconfirmed reports also emerged on Thursday that 12 civilians, including four children, were killed in strikes by rebel groups on the government-held western half of the city. The Syrian opposition has not yet responded to the reports.

Aleppo has been a constant battlefield in the Syrian civil war, now in its sixth year. The city has been divided between opposition control in the east and government control in the west since 2012.

The citys east has been a particularly troubling scene in the conflict, enduring continuous shelling and destruction from Russian and Syrian government efforts to pressure the rebels. Civilians have borne the brunt of the conflict.

READ MORE: Syrias Civil War Explained

Thursdays deaths are the latest in the ongoing raids over civilian areas, according to local activists and rescue groups. The Russian shelling will not stop for a second, Ibrahim al-Hajj, head of media for the all-volunteer civil defence teams in eastern Aleppo, told Al Jazeera.

You rarely see any standing buildings. If you walk through the streets you will cry. The sight of the rubble will make you cry by Marwa Taleb, resident of Bustan al-Qasr in East Aleppo

Russian warplanes have been dropping vacuum missiles since 2am yesterday night. There were more than six raids on our neighbourhoods.

A resident of Bustan al-Qasr, a neighbourhood that has frequently come under fire, says the situation has become horrific.

People in Bustan al-Qasr are not sleeping. They sleep during the day and stay awake at night because of the night raids, Marwa Taleb told Al Jazeera. There is complete destruction. You rarely see any standing buildings. If you walk through the streets you will cry. The sight of the rubble will make you cry.





Taleb says the best people can do to keep themselves safe is to take shelter in an inner room of the house. You cannot keep yourself safe with the types of weapons theyre using  such as the bunker busters. Those who are plunged into the ground cannot come up again. There have been so many incidents where people were driven into the ground and until now, no one was able to get them out, she said.





On Wednesday, at least 86 Syrians were killed in Aleppo in attacks on markets and residential neighbourhoods according to the Local Coordination Committees (LCC), a grassroots group of activists recording details of attacks.

The shelling is very violent. They are hitting us with bunker busters and cluster bombs. There is a lot of destruction, Moataz Hamouda, an activist with the LCC in Aleppo, told Al Jazeera. They are targeting the residential areas mostly. There have been horrific massacres.

Rescue efforts have been going on since yesterdays attacks, local journalist Zouhir al-Shimale told Al Jazeera.The civil defence teams have not stopped the search for those under the rubble from yesterday and for the families that were buried in their own homes in the middle of the night.

The heavy bombardment comes despite a Russian announcement of a meeting expected this weekend with the United States to negotiate a new ceasefire deal.

A previously brokered ceasefire collapsed last month after several days of calm and the city has been under continuous fire since then.
ISIL deserters and the men who helped them escape from Syria reveal testimonies of life and death under the armed group.

Editors note: This film is no longer available online.

In southeast Turkey, a few dozen kilometres from war-torn Syria, a secret network, at great risk to themselves, is rescuing fighters who have decided to leave ISIL.

For the first time, these deserters have agreed to give a detailed account of the roles they played and what life was like under ISIL. Most of them have lived in Raqqa, ISILs political and military stronghold in Syria.

Personal accounts of this sort are extremely rare because, in general, ISIL deserters go into hiding and keep quiet. If they give themselves up to authorities, they are immediately imprisoned and can no longer have any contact with their lawyers or families.

The smuggling network, made up of long-term fighters of the Free Syrian Army, agreed to reveal a few of its working methods. By helping the deserters to flee and by collecting their testimonies, they want to denounce ISILs lies, its false promises, its cult of violence and its widespread corruption. The members of the network are convinced that, in doing so, they will discourage future candidates and block recruitment channels.
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 13, ARMENPRESS. In the sidelines of the ArmHitec-2016 international arms expo Armenian Defense Minister Vigen Sargsyan met with Deputy Director General of Rostec Russian State Corporation Dmitry Shugayev on October 13.

As Armenpress was informed from the press service of the Defense Ministry of Armenia, the prospects of creating industrial cooperation and joint ventures were the subject of the discussion.

The Defense Minister of Armenia wished success to the guest and productive cooperation in the sidelines of the ArmHitec-2016 international arms expo and emphasized the necessity of continuous development of cooperation for the security and stability of the two countries.
On Monday, a UF student was arrested after a man stole about $1,600 in merchandise from the UF Bookstore, University Police said.

Daniel Alejandro Fonseca, a 21-year-old UF history junior, was arrested on a charge of theft. Authorities took him to the Alachua County Jail where he was released Tuesday on his own recognizance.

At about 5:40 p.m. on Sept. 7, a bookstore employee saw a man carry several textbooks to an area out of plain sight between store aisles, according to a police report filed Monday. The man then put the textbooks  worth $1,660  in his backpack and walked past the registers without paying, which triggered the bookstores anti-theft alarm, according to the report.

Surveillance footage showed the man entering the store with a seemingly empty backpack, walking through the store with two books in hand and then leaving with a significantly fuller bag, according to the report.

Dennis Barry, the UF Bookstore assistant director, reviewed inventory and said he believed the man stole five textbooks, according to the report.

Fonseca declined to comment on the arrest.

In March, he was found guilty on a charge of criminal mischief after police said he caused $400 in damages to a metal barrier at The Rowdy Reptile bar, according to a police report and Alachua County Court records.
A Gainesville man was arrested Tuesday after putting a womans right foot in his mouth, Gainesville Police said.

At about 10:20 p.m., Hasmukhbhai Patel, 52, approached the unsuspecting woman as she smoked a cigarette outside her apartment, located in the 300 block of Southwest 16th Avenue, according to a police report.

Patel told the woman he wanted to pray for her  but soon began to rub her feet, according to the report. He then placed the five toes on her right foot inside his mouth.

The woman told police she tried to stand up and push Patel away, but he put both of his hands on her thighs to stop her, according to the report. She was eventually able to run away, head inside her apartment and lock the door.

Explaining the incident to police, she was hysterically crying, according to the report.

When Patel spoke to police, his story constantly changed, according to the report. At first, he told officers he only prayed for the woman. Then he said he may have touched her feet.

After that, he said he did touch the womans feet, but only after receiving her permission, according to the report. Eventually, he admitted to sucking on the womans toes  but only because she wanted him to.

Patel was charged with simple battery and taken to the Alachua County Jail, where he was released Wednesday on his own recognizance. As of press time, he could not be reached for comment.
With no protesters in sight, thousands of eager voters snaked their way through a parking lot before packing into a raucous Ocala stadium Wednesday to hear Donald Trump speak.

At a political rally held at noon at the Southeastern Livestock Pavilion, about 15,000 of the Republican presidential candidates supporters cheered and clapped as Trump took the stage, the patriotic anthem Proud to be an American leading him there.

In his hour-long speech, Trump touched on education, trade and energy reform while criticizing President Barack Obama and Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, whom he called a liar and the most corrupt person to ever seek the presidency.

He told the attendees, many dressed in red Trump memorabilia, that he was embarrassed with the current state of the country and that this would be the last time voters could change the rigged U.S. political system.

Whether I win, lose or draw, Im ashamed of whats happened to our country  and so are you, Trump said.

Rudy Giuliani, the former mayor of New York, introduced Trump. Giuliani told the crowd the movement Trump started a year ago has grown into something special.

Giuliani, too, took aim at Clinton, claiming he didnt remember seeing the then-New York senator in New York City following the 9/11 terror attacks  despite them being photographed together.

At about 10:30 p.m. Tuesday, nearly 14 hours before the rally began, Kandy Christiansen waited outside the venue for a chance to let her children, 13 and 15, see who she hopes will be president.

What really motivated me to come is my children, the 53-year-old said, wearing a pink shirt that read Ladies for Trump.

As she stood in line, Ana Barber said she was reminded of the time she met Trump 10 years ago in Mar-a-Lago, Florida.

He is a sweetheart, she said. He is not what they portray him to be.

Barber said that meeting is the reason why she wasnt upset by the recently leaked audio of lewd comments Trump made 11 years ago on an Access Hollywood bus. The tapes were released Friday by The Washington Post.

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In the video, Trump is heard telling the then-host of the show that his star status enabled him to make sexual advances on women without their consent, including kissing them and grabbing them by the p----.

Any man that says hes never said that before is a liar, Barber said.

Self-proclaimed Trump Twins Nora Kuehn and Kora Frontin, both 69, said the outrage over the Access Hollywood tape was much ado about nothing.

Frontin called the people offended goody-two-shoes on their high horse. Her sister agreed.

Women have a tendency to throw themselves at these men, Kuehn said.

Diverting attention from the leaked comments, Trump spent much of his time discussing WikiLeaks recent release of thousands of Democratic Party emails, which he said show that Clinton may have received an unfair advantage prior to their televised town-hall debate.

He said one of her staff members participated in sensitive conversations with the Department of Justice about the release of Clintons emails, which were sent using a private server.

Trump also leveled blows at his own party, criticizing House Speaker Paul Ryan, a fellow Republican, for not supporting his candidacy. At one point, he went as far as to theorize the existence of sinister plots to undermine his campaign  plots he vowed to unearth.

Regarding the threat of terrorism, primarily from ISIS, Trump said the terrorist group hopes Clinton becomes president, adding that she intends to increase the amount of Syrian refugees the U.S. admits by 550 percent.

This will finally be the year the American people say, Enough is enough, Trump said.
An employee at the Wendys on Archer Road called police after protesters entered the restaurant in an attempt to deliver a letter.

About 15 people stood outside of the restaurant Wednesday afternoon in protest of Wendys refusal to sign onto the Fair Food Program, which works to create partnerships between farmers, farm workers and retail food companies to ensure rights are protected.

The protest was organized by the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, an activist group for farm workers that visited the Reitz Union Wendys earlier Wednesday.

Weve marched, protested, called, sent letters and Wendys has continued to refuse to listen to farm workers within its food chain, Silvia Perez, a 41-year-old farm worker and member of the coalition, said in Spanish through a translator.

The protesters held tomato-shaped signs reading Justice and Respecto and chanted as they handed out fliers to people who pulled over to talk to them.

When protesters entered the restaurant to drop off a letter to management, one employee demanded they leave while another employee called police. They filtered out and continued to protest from the sidewalk.

Employees at the fast-food chain declined to comment. Wendys suppliers meet all local, state and federal laws, but the coalition also wants Wendys to pay an additional fee to the tomato harvesters, Heidi Schauer, a Wendys spokeswoman, wrote in an email.

These individuals are not Wendys employees, and we have not thought it appropriate to pay another companys workers, she said.
Fifteen years ago, a little girl was in Washington, D.C. She was sitting in the corner of a conference room playing with Polly Pockets while her dad was in an important round table meeting with the Heritage Foundation discussing water treatment systems. She was promised that if she was as quiet as a mouse during the meeting, her dad would take her sightseeing. Oh, how she was dying to see the Lincoln Memorial.

That little girl was me.

When the meeting adjourned, a swarm of people got up from the table. I stuffed my Polly Pockets into my backpack and went to meet up with my dad. He extended his hand for me to take it when a woman approached us aghast.

My goodness, she said, Has that child been here this whole time?

My dad looked at me, smiled and said, Savannah, I would like you to meet Christine Todd Whitman, the current administrator of the EPA.

I didnt know what an EPA was or why it was important, but Whitman extended her hand for me to shake and introduced herself. My dad explained that, yes, I had been in the conference room the entire time and had promised me that if I behaved then I could go sightseeing.

Whitman told him he better be ready to follow through with his end of the bargain because I was one of the most well-behaved children she had ever seen and that she hadn't even known I had been there.

Fast forward 15 years, and I know a lot more than five-year-old me knew in 2001. For example, I know that EPA stands for Environmental Protection Agency and that Christie Whitman was the administrator during George W. Bushs presidency. I also know that I was standing in the presence of a former governor of New Jersey.

Yesterday I had the honor of interviewing Whitman about her thoughts regarding the current election and how environmental policy has gotten little to no coverage at all.

Im actually kind of glad it hasnt received much attention, Whitman said.

It is her view that candidates tend to politicize issues of environmental policy, but when they get into office, unforeseen circumstances occur, and those issues take the back burner to everything else. Between the candidates, however, Whitman stated that Hillary Clinton has a stronger environmental platform than Donald Trump.

The former Republican governor mentioned in her op-ed Why Clinton is the Only Choice for President that she would be backing the Democrat this time around instead of the Republican candidate. Whitman has also been active in the #NeverTrump movement.

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Hillary is much more balanced in the area, Whitman said. This administration does not have a good enough relationship with Congress right now.

Whitman said the Obama administration puts too much focus on the regulatory process and is weak when it comes to issues of environmental policy. The EPA, she said, was started with the intent to give people cleaner and healthier air.

In recent press conferences, both President Barack Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry have mentioned that global warming and climate change are bigger threats to the U.S. than terrorism.

Whitman said while global warming, or climate change, is on another level, it is still an issue of national security  just a very different one.

One of the major sources of pollution is combustion of hydrocarbons for transportation, agriculture and manufacturing, said Jon Anderson, a 69-year-old UF family, youth and community sciences graduate student. While ISIS poses a threat to the U.S., it is hard to conceive of scenarios involving ISIS that overshadow these facts.

Back in March, Donald Trump mentioned he would eliminate the Department of Education and the EPA in order to balance the national budget. Whitman said Trump cannot eliminate the EPA, as it was created by the people in order to obtain healthy, clean air.

Remember, Whitman said, Mother Nature doesnt care about geo-political boundaries  The EPA can be reformed, but not eliminated.

Savannah Edgens is a UF journalism junior. This column originally appeared on her website and is reprinted with her permission.
Do you remember, dear reader, sitting in a Drug Abuse Resistance Education class in elementary school, taking that solemn and sacred vow to never touch drugs? We do. Statistically, most of you have broken that oath. Its no secret that a sizable portion of the college demographic has experimented with cannabis in one of its many forms.

With more and more evidence coming out each day about the plants medicinal effects, many states have decriminalized it, legalized it for medical purposes or flat-out legalized it for consumption by individuals over the age of 21. While the drug is becoming more and more common, it still remains illegal on the federal level and is classified in the same category as drugs like heroin and opium.

While, like most things in life, cannabis consumption has its highs and lows, there is not a single shred of validated scientific evidence that says marijuana ought to be classified in the same sphere as heavy drugs that kill people.

Regardless, an article published in The Washington Post this Wednesday claimed those arrested for marijuana possession outnumber those arrested for all violent crimes combined. According to the article, at least 137,000 people get arrested for drug possession charges each day. This is absolutely absurd.

The war on drugs was an absolute failure. Our legal system already has enough clutter as it is, and it should not be wasting its time on usually victimless crimes. Drug offenses ought to be considered a matter of public health rather than a question of criminal behavior. But while it is a reality in some countries, which have all found immense success in terms of reducing drug use, overdoses and illegal purchases, the American justice system lags behind. Why?

Pursuing drug-related crimes, while bogging down our legal system, also funds the system immensely. Private prisons would see a sharp decline in population. Lawyers would have reduced caseloads. This editorial, however, is not about drugs as a whole. Just simple marijuana decriminalization would be sufficient to see some of these impacts. Allegedly.

But it doesnt have to be this way. Its possible that taxes could be taken from the purchases of marijuana and put back into the economy. Colorado has built entire schools and roads to those schools solely off the revenue received in taxable marijuana. The U.S. was a nation founded on the cash crops of tobacco and cotton. For us to reject marijuana as the next step simply because outdated propaganda tried to combat it against industries like wood is simply foolish.

Regardless of the finances, the fact that young, bright lives are ruined because theyre found with plants in their glove compartments is beyond unacceptable. Its an embarrassment for our great country. Statistically, American prisoners make up a little more than 4 percent of the global population, and nearly a quarter  22 percent, to be exact  of the global population of prisoners. Are we to be proud of the fact that when it comes to incarcerating our constituents, were the best?

Because of outdated drug laws, we take away the futures of so many of our talented neighbors. Do you remember the rhetoric surrounding marijuana in our D.A.R.E. classes? Thats where it starts. Law reflects the opinions of those who create it, and we as Americans ought to reconsider the education we provide for our youth so that we can hope they have futures in universities, not in for-profit prisons.

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English News Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen calls for closer strategic cooperation with China

Alwihda Info | Par peoplesdaily - 13 Octobre 2016



This year marks the 3rd anniversary of the Belt and Road initiative. Over the past three years, China and Cambodia have reaped fruitful outcomes in advancing Belt and Road construction and dovetailing their development strategies.

By Ding Zi and Yu Yichun from the Peoples Daily Chinese President Xi Jinpings state visit to Cambodia will further consolidate the two countries bilateral relations and elevate their comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership to a new high, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen said on the eve of Xis trip.



In a written interview with Chinese media in Phnom Penh, Hun noted that the traditional friendship between China and Cambodia was carefully forged and nurtured by older generations of Cambodian and Chinese leaders, such as King Norodom Sihanouk, Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai.



On the basis of the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence and in accordance with the concept of a win-win relationship, friendly Sino-Cambodian relations and cooperation have developed remarkably, Hun pointed out.



After both countries established a comprehensive strategic cooperative relationship in 2010, the two set up the Cambodia-China Intergovernmental Coordination Committee in 2014, Hun noted, listing some of the results of bilateral cooperation.



He added that three successful committee meetings have yielded abundant fruit and that both sides are currently preparing for a fourth meeting in Cambodia around late 2016 or early 2017.



Hun said that the two countries close and frequent high-level exchanges is proof of their sound bilateral ties in recent years. Both countries will continue to maintain this momentum and cement cooperation under multilateral frameworks such as the UN, ASEAN, the Asia-Europe Meeting and the Lancang-Mekong cooperation, he noted.



In light of multiple global and regional challenges in areas such as economic development, regional security, terrorism and climate change, Hun stated that he believes that Cambodia and China should increase cooperation and address issues of common concern to achieve results that are mutually beneficial, and also contribute to regional and world peace, stability and prosperity.



This year marks the 3rd anniversary of the Belt and Road initiative. Over the past three years, China and Cambodia have reaped fruitful outcomes in advancing Belt and Road construction and dovetailing their development strategies.



Hun pledged the full support of his country to the initiative, which aims to reinforce connectivity among states, increase infrastructure construction of en-route countries, deepen integration in trade, finance and other sectors and promote the common prosperity of different cultures and civilizations.



China not only came up with the initiative, but funded the Silk Road Fund and led the establishment of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, which Cambodia believes will also benefit its social and economic development, Hun said.



He added that during Xis visit, President Xi and himself are expected to sign a series of cooperation agreements that will further deepen bilateral cooperation on all fronts, while enhancing comprehensive bilateral strategic cooperation and benefit the people of both countries.

Hun pointed out that China is currently entering a harmonious, progressive and prosperous stage of development. It has also been sharing its development experience with the world while making significant contributions to safeguarding the peace and stability of the region and the world.



Xis visit this time will bring the traditional friendship between China and Cambodia closer together, and both countries will continue to support each other on issues concerning their respective core interests and major concerns, he said.



Hun reiterated Cambodias adherence to the one-China policy and opposition to any form of Taiwan independence.



The country stands ready to strengthen exchanges with China in areas of diplomacy, national defense, law enforcement and security, bolster cooperation in economic and trade programs and expand contact in such areas as agriculture, the marine sector, science, education, culture, health and tourism, the prime minister said.



I hope our two countries can further enhance the friendship and understanding between younger generations in order to groom successors for the continuation of Sino-Cambodian friendship. In this way, the two countries can be good neighbors, friends, brothers and partners for generations, Hun said.



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)
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 13, ARMENPRESS. President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan met with the President of Tajikistan Emomali Rahmon on October 13 who has arrived in Armenia to participate in the CSTO Collective Security Council session.

As Armenpress was informed from the press service of the Armenian Presidents Office, the President of Armenia greeted the guest and said that Armenia is interested in developing the friendly and fraternal relations with Tajikistan. Noting that the current level of Armenian-Tajik relations fits nether the high level of political relations between the two states, nor the friendship between the peoples of Armenia and Tajikistan, Serzh Sargsyan mentioned that anyway the trend of developing inter-state relations is visible that needs to be bilaterally deepened and reinforced. The Armenian President stated that Armenians looked forward to the state visit of Emomali Rahmon, which will be a starting point for cooperation and numerous agreements.

The President of Tajikistan thanked the President of Armenia for cordially hosting his delegation. Emomali Rahmon noted that this is his third visit to Armenia and he deliberately arrived a day before the CSTO Collective Security Council session so as to have another opportunity to meet with his Armenian counterpart and friend, exchange ideas with him and discuss all the prospects for developing Armenian-Tajik bilateral cooperation. The Tajik President stated that there is much to be discussed regarding both the CSTO activities and development of bilateral cooperation.

President Rahmon also mentioned that his country watchfully follows the developments in the world, and naturally both current international issues and issues of regional security will be touched upon at the Yerevan session of the CSTO Collective Security Council.

The Armenian and Tajik Presidents discussed in detail a broad scope of issues of developing bilateral inter-state relations.










English News China could offer valuable assistance in boosting Cambodias labor productivity

Alwihda Info | Par peoplesdaily - 13 Octobre 2016



With a population of more than 15 million, Cambodia's labor pool is large and flexible enough to offer low-cost labor resources to support the country's industrialization.

By Hu Weijia Source: People's Daily and Global Times Chinese President Xi Jinping's upcoming state visit to Cambodia has once again drawn people's attention to the close friendship between the two Asian countries. It seems that Cambodia has become one of China's staunchest supporters within the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). One can't help but ask: Will the upcoming trip further consolidate the cooperation between the two governments, allowing Beijing to gain greater influence in the geopolitical landscape of the Asia-Pacific region?



Although bilateral ties between China and Cambodia have already reached a high level, there is still room for improvement. In recent years, China has made a lot of efforts to promote cooperation with Cambodia in trade, infrastructure, tourism and agriculture, but less attention has been paid to helping the Southeast Asian country improve its labor productivity.



With a population of more than 15 million, Cambodia's labor pool is large and flexible enough to offer low-cost labor resources to support the country's industrialization.



However, the process is being hampered because the country lacks an effective education system and also lacks the technical training needed to raise its productivity. A standstill in labor productivity - the amount of output per hour of work - kept the nation's GDP per capita at a low level of $1,158.7 in 2015 and is causing the country to lag behind some other Southeast Asian countries like Vietnam in the race to build new manufacturing hubs.



Since the early 1990s, the International Labor Organization (ILO) has been an active partner in Cambodia's economic recovery, playing a role in helping generate sustainable employment. In recent years, China has offered help to some of the ILO projects in a bid to provide aid to local Cambodian workers, but now Beijing may need to consider providing more direct assistance to Cambodia amid its efforts to seek closer ties with the Southeast Asian country.



For the Chinese government, it is worth considering setting up a special fund to help Cambodia train more skilled young people to meet the needs of the country's industrialization.



There is no doubt Cambodia will benefit tremendously if China can help the country improve its economy's efficiency and productivity, and we believe such efforts will also contribute to the already strong friendship between the two nations.



Hopefully China can put more focus on helping Cambodia tap the potential of its economy, but this does not mean China should reduce its assistance to the Southeast Asian country in other areas.



According to media reports, a total of 28 documents will be signed during Xi's upcoming visit to promote bilateral cooperation in areas such as trade and investment. It is clear the trip will consolidate the traditional friendship between the two countries.



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)
The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu, confirmed this in a statement on Thursday.



Shehu stated that the Director-General, Malam Lawal Daura just finished briefing the President Muhammadu Buhari on the development this morning.



According to Shehu, "The release of the girls, in a limited number is the outcome of negotiations between the administration and the the Boko Haram brokered by the International Red Cross and the Swiss government."



The presidential aide said the negotiations would continue.



He said Buhari welcomed the release of the girls but cautioned Nigerians to be mindful of the fact that more than 30,000 fellow citizens were killed via terrorism.



He said the DSS boss wanted the girls to have some rest, "with all of them very tired coming out of the process before he hands them over to the Vice President,Professor Yemi Osinbajo."



Shehu also stated: "The President takes off shortly on a trip to Germany for a state visit.



"The names of the released girls follows shortly ."

Read more at http://www.dailytrust.com.ng/news/general/how-buhari-swiss-govt-red-cross-negotiated-release-of-chibok-girls-presidency/166594.html#rRCBFaxbe3b47XOg.99










English News With Kashmir unrest (likely Indo-Pak war after another strike by Pak) India will blunder if resists Pak remedy of Extended SAARC

Alwihda Info | Par Hem Raj Jain - 13 Octobre 2016



Bengaluru, India

---- China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is the cause of much of present tension between nuclear India & Pakistan but fortunately it can also provide solution to most of the problems of Extended SAARC region in which China, Iran and some land-locked Central Asian countries can be members. A parliamentary delegation from Pakistan, which was in New York, pitched this idea of Extended SAARC (ExtSAARC). Though in India there is a tendency to discard ExtSAARC as an attempt by Pakistan to eliminate its isolation inflicted by many SAARC countries which led to an indefinite postponement of the SAARC summit which was to be held in Pakistan in November, 2016. But it will be foolish on the part of India to take this so-called isolation of Pakistan seriously especially in view of some music being played by USA to the gullible ears of India by giving false assurance by US about its support to India against Pakistan especially in matters of terrorism emanation from Pakistan.



India should be wary of US attempts to neglect Kashmir problem. The USA is not trying to understand that this years attacks on 2/1 at Pathankot, 25/5 at Pampore, 18/9 at Uri, 3/10 at Baramula, 6/10 at Handwara etc were not on civilians hence not terrorist acts but on military & para-military base / camps / forces hence is a war and can maximum be termed as punishment to defense establishment of so-called secular Hindu majority India (which during last 69 years has not sent military in Indias territory of Muslim PoJK to retrieve it) which has caused gory and chronic Kashmir problem. The USA is expert in always remaining in wrong side about human rights issues in Indo-Pak region. USA sided with Pakistan in 1971 though Pakistan was grossly violating the human rights of Bangladeshis. Now USA is over-looking the human rights violation of Kashmiris and unnecessarily instigating India to neglect Kashmir issue.



Entire India knows that the way jingoism is being promoted by PM Modi and his party BJP & wider Sangh Parivar, one major attack by Pakistan (which is highly likely whether it will be attack by Jihadis on Indian security forces and their installations or terrorist attack by Jihadis on civilians in J&K or in rest of India) will trigger Indo-Pak war. With China on the side of Pakistan due to CPEC (and USA nowadays allergic to putting its boots-on-ground) India will face humiliating defeat in Indo-Pak war for the simple reason that about half million Indian military is in J&K and Pakistan can easily trap it from three sides and by disrupting road access from fourth side (even with little support from China and major support form Muslims of J&K especially from separatists of Kashmir valley). What an humiliating defeat Indian military will face [due to most of Indian military in J&K (doing law and order civilian job under protection of AFSPA, SPA etc) unable to provide reinforcement at various locations of border and LOC with Pakistan and China] is any bodys guess. Add to this the worst scenario, where the families of security forces in J&K will face hostile Muslims of J&K who will insist on revenge against what is popularly perceived the gross human rights violation by Indian security forces against families of mainly Kashmiri Muslims.



Therefore with China, Iran etc Extended SAARC is in Indias interest. India should understand that present USA is not the USA of yore which believed in Americanism of its founding fathers. Nowadays both friendship and animosity (due to its immense military power) of USA are dangerous. India should also realize that the mischief of Christian world (USA & Allies and Russia as has been done in Ukraine and NAME region especially in Syria) can be countered effectively by Chinese, Hindus and substantial part of Muslim world in ExtSAARC which will constrain UN to remodel it as per the requirement of the contemporary human rights friendly world.



India should also understand that Leaderless SAARC failed because martial deficient India did not solve Kashmir problem by retrieving PoJK hence Pak did not allow SAARC to function, whereas presently assertive and powerful China can easily provide leadership to ExtSAARC. Also with China in ExtSAARC Hindu Muslim tension in Indo-Pak region will come to an end. The jarring note of some member countries of SAARC by raising objection in joining ExtSAARC is not of much importance because presently China is quite capable of roping in SAARC members in ExtSAARC. For ExtSAARC to succeed it should have unitary economic-monetary-military systems with porous borders between ExtSAARC countries (even entire J&K including PoJK can be a member State of ExtSAARC). Even name of ExtSAARC can suitably be changed if felt proper.



India need not be worried about its status in ExtSAARC. Gradually within few years India can be a dominant power in ExtSAARC if adopts (which it can easily do than Chinese and Muslim world of ExtSAARC) the human rights friendly genuinely democratic-secular-Federal-Socialist policies and if recovers (in contrast to ~ $ 4 trillion reserves with China which has made China world power) $ ~ 15 trillion income tax money (out of illegally shown agricultural income), as explained below:-



[(1)- As far human rights friendly policies, India is yet to give the crucial institutions of health-care and education under the control of the people. Though in first stage it can easily be done regarding health-care institutions by modifying ESI [Where representatives of the contributors (employees and employers of all the sectors) should be there in management in addition to representatives of the government].

(2)- Regarding federalism only martial matters of defense, foreign affairs, national transport (including national railways), communication should be with Union and all civilian matters including natural resources should be with State (State railways should also be with States).

(3)- For democracy two things are to be done:-

(A)- Because democracy requires higher moral of people than of State hence reservation should not be given in the name of Dalits (oppressed, backward etc). Rather reservation only in government services (and not in education, elections etc) can be given to any identifiable group of Indians who think that they will otherwise will not get proportionate representation in government services.

(B)- Election Commission of India should be made legally responsible for ensuring periodic organizational elections of political parties and regular annual return of their audited financial accounts.

(4)- For protecting secularism following writ petitions should be filed in Supreme Court of India (SCI) if GOI does not do it:-

(A)- Legally expected restoration of Status-quo-ante of Babri Masjid which was demolished in 1992 in the presence of Observer of SCI (B)- Delhi 1984 & Gujarat 2002 riots about section 130 & 131 Cr.P.C.

(5)- For protecting socialism which is nothing but joint-capitalism where State-capital should also have sanctity and should be deployed (like private capital) profitably especially in the interest of eliminating unemployment (for example by constructing residential and commercial building which can be given on rent to be decided by statutory Rent Commission). But in India (like in USSR which got dismantled as it too squandered State-capital) most of the Public Undertakings have been allowed to run in loss. The worst part of it is that State-capital (out of Tax) to the tune of ~ $ 15 Trillion is not being recovered by GOI. Hence two writ petitions should be filed in SCI about (A)- Constitutional obligation about Public debt under Article 292 & 293 and not under unconstitutional FRBM (B)- Recovery of Rs ~ 1,000 Trillion tax out of black money (declared illegally as agricultural income to avoid tax) which, if recovered, can solve most of the problems being faced by India especially arising due to economic hardship].



Therefore India in cooperation especially with China (after referring Indo-China border dispute to settlement through judicial commission because Indias dispute with China is legal in contrast to Indo-Pak dispute which is political) should enthusiastically and actively work for the realization of ExtSAARC.



Regards

Hem Raj Jain

(Author of Betrayal of Americanism)

Bengaluru, India



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In the last few weeks, the top leadership at Wells Fargo has justifiably come under furious criticism over the bank's fraudulent sales practices. Some of that furor should also be directed toward federal regulators.

The scale of the fraud at Wells Fargo's retail division was mind-boggling. Wells is accused of having created up to 2 million fake bank accounts or the equivalent of one fabricated account for every 121 adults in the United States. The bank clearly knew about the problem. Over 5,300 employees, or approximately 2% of Wells Fargo's entire workforce, were terminated for engaging in these activities. The Los Angeles Times uncovered the bank's malfeasance in an investigative story published in December 2013.

Still, no federal regulator ever stepped up to the plate to initiate a punitive investigation against the bank. In fact, the only reason why the Wells Fargo story is now in the news is because local law enforcement, the Los Angeles City Attorney, spearheaded an investigation that was later joined by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.

In recent congressional testimony, Comptroller of the Currency Thomas J. Curry and CFPB Director Richard Cordray acknowledged that their agencies knew about Wells Fargo's shady sales practices before the L.A. Times story broke, yet they failed to initiate any enforcement action on their own. Ultimately, the OCC fined Wells Fargo $35 million and the CFPB imposed its own penalty of $100 million. But it remains unclear whether the agencies would have ever imposed these penalties absent the investigative diligence of Los Angeles prosecutors. Something is clearly amiss when city prosecutors do a better job than federal regulators of policing nationwide banking fraud.

Admittedly, federal financial regulators face a daunting and unenviable task. Regulatory agencies suffer from constrained budgets and high levels of employee attrition to the private sector. The Dodd-Frank Act has imposed a heavy workload on the agencies, and the financial products that the agencies oversee have grown more complex and sophisticated every year. Federal regulators can understandably find themselves a step behind the financial industry's creation of the latest newfangled derivative or esoteric trading instrument.

But there is nothing especially complex about the creation of millions of fake retail banking accounts. Technology aside, Wells Fargo's creation of fake accounts would not have looked much different had it occurred 150 years ago during the Wild West period, when the bank helped fund the gold rush. This is a simple case of plain-vanilla banking fraud occurring on a monumental scale, and the federal regulatory response has been uninspired to say the least.

Congressional opponents of financial reform have excoriated the CFPB for its handling of the Wells Fargo scandal. These mostly Republican legislators are using this opportunity to push through "reforms" that would dilute the CFPB's effectiveness by turning it into a bipartisan commission and subjecting its funding to the congressional appropriations process.

But these attacks on the CFPB have nothing to do with the agency's structure. After all, the OCC, like the CFPB, is also headed by a single director and is not subject to congressional appropriations. Yet the congressional opponents of the CFPB rarely launch similar attacks on the OCC. Why not? The answer is politics: the CFPB has an excellent overall record of effective regulation, whereas the bank-coddling OCC has a poor one. The CFPB has been on the conservative chopping block since its very formation, and the Wells Fargo episode is now being used as a pretext to neuter the agency and thereby impede its ability to protect consumers.

Admittedly, the CFPB seems to have dropped the ball by failing to investigate Wells Fargo in a timely manner. But there are several mitigating factors in its favor. First, CFPB officials learned of the improper sales practices at Wells Fargo only in mid-2013. In contrast, the OCC was apprised of those practices as early as March 2012. Further, some of the fake accounts were created even before the CFPB was established or fully operational. And recent analysis shows that the CFPB did not receive disproportionately high numbers of complaints from Wells Fargo customers. From Jan. 1, 2015. to Sept. 20, 2016, the CFPB actually received more complaints from customers of Bank of America and Citigroup.

To be fair, Dodd-Frank aimed to put the CFPB, not the OCC, in the primary driver's seat for enforcing consumer protection at large institutions such as Wells Fargo. Yet as Wells Fargo CEO John G. Stumpf said during pointed questioning by members of Congress, the OCC has approximately 80 examiners embedded within the bank. And the agency has targeted risk management issues pertaining to consumer compliance. Clearly, the OCC was in position to act on concerns about the bank's sales practices sooner, even if it was simply to inform the CFPB.

How did Wells Fargo evade punishment, year after year, for two million instances of fraud, despite the presence of so many in-house OCC examiners?

The fact is that the CFPB has proven to be a consistent champion for consumers. In its mere five years of existence the agency has recovered $11.7 billion for more than 27 million disaffected consumers. Irate members of Congress would better focus their righteous indignation on the OCC, which has an unfortunate history of feeble bank supervision. The Wells Fargo debacle does little to change that history.

Curry's testimony during a recent Senate hearing is revelatory. His written testimony states that while OCC examiners were aware of Wells Fargo's shoddy sales practices for several years, the agency took no punitive steps and instead resigned itself to "continu[ing] dialogue with Bank management to supervise and monitor" Wells Fargo's compliance with the law. This overly passive approach is emblematic of the OCC's reputation as a soft regulator. Time and again, the OCC has proved to be more adept at "continuing dialogue" with regulated entities than at vigorously enforcing the nation's laws.

Perhaps the most troubling aspect of Curry's written testimony was his assessment of what additional actions are needed to prevent similar market abuses in the future. Instead of owning up to the OCC's glaring failure to regulate Wells Fargo, Curry attempted to create a smokescreen by claiming that upcoming regulations on incentive-based compensation under Section 956 of Dodd-Frank are the answer. But Section 956 was crafted to protect banks from excessive risk-taking by bonus-seeking managers and traders. It will do little to protect customers from dishonest retail banking practices like those perpetrated at Wells Fargo, especially where those practices do not rise to the level of threatening the overall fiscal health of the offending bank.

While the OCC is a prudential regulator charged with protecting national banks' shareholders, a vital component of its statutory mandate includes the public-oriented goal of ensuring "fair and equal access to financial services for all Americans." The Wells Fargo scandal demonstrates a stark failure by the OCC to live up to that mandate.

Akshat Tewary is an attorney practicing in New Jersey, a Financial Industry Regulatory Authority arbitrator and president of Occupy the SEC, a nonprofit advocating for financial reform. His Twitter handle is @akshattewary.
As banks look for places to save time and effort by deploying artificial intelligence software, one logical place is cybercrime and fraud investigations.

One reason for this is that the amount of cybersecurity threat information keeps growing as the availability of cybersecurity skills in this country shrinks. According to the Ponemon Institute, organizations receive on average nearly 17,000 malware alerts a week, and the time spent responding to these alerts as well as to inaccurate and erroneous intelligence in general costs $1.27 million annually. The group's research has also found that 19% of all security alerts are considered reliable, but only 4% are investigated.

According to IBM, 10,000 security research papers are published every year and over 60,000 security blogs are posted each month, adding to the challenge for small security teams to keep up.

Meanwhile, Cisco estimates there are more than 1 million unfilled security jobs worldwide.

Another motivator for using AI to assist human cybersecurity analysts is that cybercrime evolves constantly, and it can take humans some time to identify new strains of cyberattacks. Software can identify new patterns in seconds.

"Using AI may help maintain the rapid response required to detect and react to the landscape of ever evolving cyber threats," the White House stated in a report on AI published Thursday. "There are many opportunities for AI and specifically machine learning systems to help cope with the sheer complexity of cyberspace and support effective human decision making in response to cyberattacks."

IBM announced in May that it had started a yearlong program to train Watson, its "Jeopardy!"-winning AI software, on the language of cybersecurity, with plans to begin beta deployments later in the year. A spokesperson confirmed the company remains on schedule for the beta programs.

Big Blue says Watson for Cyber Security will find connections between data, emerging threats and remediation strategies. Watson will be fed the contents of IBM's X-Force research library, which includes details on 8 million spam and phishing attacks and 100,000 documented vulnerabilities. Students at eight universities will provide additional information, such as academic papers on security, for Watson to ingest. Blogs, articles, videos, reports and alerts will also be included. Watson will use natural-language processing to understand the vague and imprecise language in these files. Then it will generate information about emerging threats and recommendations on how to stop them. (Separately, IBM is buying Promontory Financial Group, with plans to have the consulting firm's regulatory experts teach Watson all about compliance.)

MIT's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory and the machine-learning startup PatternEx have built an artificial intelligence platform called AI2 that they say predicts cyberattacks better than existing systems by continuously incorporating input from human experts.

The software detects suspicious activity by clustering data into patterns using unsupervised machine-learning. It then presents this activity to human analysts who confirm which events are actual attacks, and incorporates that feedback into its models for the next set of data.

Finding Crime on the Blockchain

The most difficult place to catch cybercrime might be blockchains, the public ledgers used for cryptocurrency payments. Bitcoin and the systems that compete with it are designed for anonymity, making it ideal for cybercriminals carrying out attacks like ransomware threats. Attribution is extremely difficult, investigators say, and few perpetrators have been caught.

"It's very easy to set up a cryptocurrency transaction, and it's easy for people to send hundreds or thousands of transactions back and forth to try to obfuscate where the funds are coming from or where they're going," said Fabio Federici, CEO and founder of a startup called Skry. "That requires new types of tools to allow you to investigate that and try to identify the flow of funds."

His firm has built artificial intelligence software for detecting suspicious behavior in blockchains. The use of artificial intelligence means the software doesn't have to be told what to look for. It can watch transactions on a blockchain and start to identify odd patterns by itself.

Law enforcement agencies use the software to spot patterns of bad behavior, then to connect the digital footprint of the anonymous cryptocurrency users with real-life people or entities. Bitcoin exchanges use it to find weird or anomalous behavior that they might need to keep an eye on. Banks could use it for the same thing, especially financial institutions that have cryptocurrency exchange or bitcoin wallet provider customers.

One thing the software can do is follow the flow of money to its source.

"Startups that accept bitcoin, like exchanges or wallet providers, or financial institutions that have those types of companies as clients, might want to do due diligence on the source of the funds," Federici said.

The software can monitor an entity that has exhibited suspicious activity that might have to be reported to regulators or law enforcement agencies. For clients like bitcoin exchanges, Skry doesn't try to identify a crime, per se. It finds behavior patterns that are not normal and might be worth a close look.

To help law enforcement, the software goes a little further. It looks first for unusual patterns in blockchain transactions. When needed, it pulls in data from a partner like Terbium Labs, which specializes in crawling the dark web. Then Skry might find illicit activity  say, the purchase of stolen credit card information on an online black market. The goal is typically to come up with an address  IP, email or physical  that law enforcement could use to issue a subpoena or a court order, or pass the information along to a counterpart in another country.

This type of snooping inevitably raises privacy concerns.

"It's a double-edged sword," Federici said. "Our goal is not to uncover the average Joe buying his coffee at the corner store. For us, it's about making cryptocurrencies like bitcoin safer and more legitimate and making companies feel comfortable interacting with this type of technology without having to be afraid of getting involved in illicit activity that could cost them their banking license or lead to some type of lawsuits, which is still a real fear." And Skry doesn't try to identify people or companies until after criminal behavior has been spotted.

Catching Card Fraud

They may not realize it, but most banks already using artificial intelligence to help detect credit card fraud, according to Scott Zoldi, chief analytics officer at FICO. The company's Falcon software uses deep learning and neural network technologies to analyze transactions. It's used by more than 90% of banks in the U.S. and the U.K. More than 50% of all credit card transactions worldwide run through this model, he said.

"It's become one of the key technologies banks use to make decisions around fraud," Zoldi claimed. "When you swipe your credit card, that authorization message that says, 'Can I buy this coffee at Starbucks?' comes from the acquirer, goes to the issuing bank, the issuing bank runs it through a model like Falcon, which calls up a card profile that shows the history of transactions on this card."

The neural network produces a score between 1 and 999  999 being the very riskiest. The bank then uses that score in its decision to allow authorization or decline. Banks usually have a rules-based strategy for this, Zoldi said. They might automatically decline all transactions with scores between 970 and 999 because they're so high-risk. They might allow small transactions scored between 900 and 969, but watch them closely.

"They don't want to interrupt your transactions, but then they'll call you after the fact," Zoldi said. "They just use it as a very strong predictive indicator of what transactions are likely fraudulent for consumers, based on the technology that deeply understands your transaction behavior, tuned to you as an individual." At lower score ranges, an analyst at the bank might call the customer or send a text notification to her phone, asking her to confirm the transaction.

Some large banks, like Citi and JPMorgan Chase, have stables of scientists working on their own artificial intelligence software that examines the highest-scoring cases in Falcon and look more closely at those customers to fine-tune the rules strategy for fraud decisions, Zoldi said.

These are just a few examples. The uses for AI in cybercrime are almost endless and the volume of suspicious behavior worth analyzing is unlikely to ever let up.

Editor at Large Penny Crosman welcomes feedback at penny.crosman@sourcemedia.com.
Running a bank with less than $250 million of assets and just four branches, executives at West Town Bancorp in North Riverside, Ill., figured they needed to go beyond conventional community banking to produce a meaningful return.

For small banks, it's all about how they decide to compete, said A. Riddick Skinner, West Town's senior vice president for government-guaranteed lending. "We can't go out on the corner and offer everyone a cooler for opening a checking account. You have to come up with a different business model."

Part of the solution at West Town, the parent of West Town Bank & Trust, has involved building a national Small Business Administration lending platform.

The practice is by no means original. Skinner acknowledged his team is not "doing anything 150 other banks aren't doing." Still, there's no denying West Town punches way above its weight where SBA lending is concerned.

Consider that during the agency's 2016 fiscal year, which ended Sept. 30, West Side originated 83 7(a) loans totaling $116 million. By way of comparison, West Town's 7(a) volume eclipsed that of the $71.3 billion-asset Comerica ($104 million), the $145.2 billion-asset Citizens Financial Group ($95 million)  even the $2.2 trillion-asset Bank of America ($100 million).

Moreover, West Town's fiscal 2016 7(a) production was nearly three times the $40.5 million it originated two years earlier.

The growth has proved timely.

West Town's other significant noninterest income business line, mortgage banking, has struggled with sharp declines in originations and revenue. SBA lending generated income of $2.7 million through June 30, and it has helped the company maintain profitability.

West Town, which operates branches in Illinois and North Carolina, reported net income of $1.5 million through June 30, down 25% from the same period in 2015 as the mortgage banking drop-off and a number of one-time charges took their toll. Even with the decline, return on average assets remained a respectable 1.33%

Nationally, the 7(a) program is continuing to ride an upswing that mirrors West Town's. According to SBA, the agency guaranteed loans totaling $24.1 billion in fiscal 2016, up a robust 26% from 2014. The program's growing volume appears to be attracting lenders. SBA said Thursday that 263 of them were added in fiscal 2016  even as the number of banks and credit unions continues to shrink.

SBA has yet to comment officially on the fiscal 2016 results, but spokesman Terrance Sutherland wrote in an email that the agency was "pleased with the uptick."

John A. Howard, president of Raleigh, N.C.-based Equity Research Services, a firm that provides research and financial advisory services to small-cap companies, said banks that rely heavily on noninterest income often produce uneven profits, but he added the strategy "can be very lucrative if done well."

West Town "has established a reputation as a very good SBA lender," Howard said.

President and Chief Executive Eric Bergevin said in a recent press release that SBA and U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) lending would serve as the "primary driver of our business model going forward."

One of the keys to West Town's SBA success is rapid decision-making, which Skinner said is simplified by the bank's small size. "We're not a big bank with a lot of bureaucracy," he said.

Strict underwriting is the other key, Skinner added.

Skinner said his father, Stephen, who currently serves as a West Town senior vice president, is a longtime banker who talked frequently about debt service, coverage ratios and equity at the family dinner table.

"The apple doesn't fall far from the tree," Riddick Skinner said.

West Town applies the same conservative underwriting standards to the 7(a) loans it originates for sale that it uses to originate the loans it holds in its portfolio, Skinner said.

According to Howard, the average loan-to-value for SBA credits falls in the 50% to 55% range.

"We do not originate subprime loans and try to toss the risk off on the government," Skinner said. "We want [borrowers] to have skin in the game. We like loans to be secured by real estate, and we like people to have good credit."
WASHINGTON  Rep. Scott Garrett, R-N.J., is demanding answers from the Federal Reserve Board on whether one of its board member's political ties to the presidential campaign of Hillary Clinton compromises the central bank's independence.

Garrett, who chairs the House subcommittee on capital markets and government-sponsored enterprises, noted in a letter to Fed Chair Janet Yellen that Lael Brainard has given $2,700 to Hillary for America. He argued that Brainard might be reluctant to raise interest rates at an upcoming November Federal Open Market Committee meeting because she may be worried about how it would affect the presidential campaign. Brainard has also been rumored as a possible Treasury secretary pick should Clinton win the White House.

"The importance of voting members  particularly those who could have a personal stake in a Clinton victory  entering that meeting with an unbiased mind cannot be overstated," Garrett said in the letter. "The most serious question is whether the Federal Reserve's vaunted independence is compromised in the eyes of the public when a sitting governor openly engages in political activity, and could personally benefit from the outcome of the November elections."

Garrett first raised the issue of Brainard's independence during a House Financial Services Committee hearing on Sept. 28. During the hearing, Yellen responded that Brainard had acted in accordance with the law and had not appeared to act in a political fashion.

GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump has recently questioned the Fed's independence, arguing that the central bank is keeping rates low to benefit Clinton.
First Republic Bank in San Francisco said Thursday that its third-quarter profit climbed 27.4% from the same period last year, to $171.8 million, thanks to double-digit gains in both interest and fee income.

Earnings per share climbed 22% year over year to $1, a penny above consensus Wall Street forecasts.

The $68 billion-asset First Republic attributed the results to strong loan activity in the quarter and continued expansion of its wealth management business.

First Republic originated $6.5 billion of loans in the quarter, second most in its history for any three-month period. At Sept. 30, it had total loans of $49.7 billion, up 17.6% over last year's third quarter. Net interest income increased 18.4% year over year, to nearly $461 million, due primarily to the growth in earning assets.

Noninterest income climbed 22% year over year, to $97.3 million, primarily due to growth in wealth management revenues. Wealth assets under management have increased 14.6% year to date, to $80.2 billion, as the bank continues to attract assets from new and existing clients.

Expenses also increased 22%, to nearly $338 million. "The increase was primarily due to increased salaries and benefits from the continued investments in the expansion of the franchise and regulatory compliance activities," the bank said in a news release.
The Wells Fargo phony-accounts scandal is barely five weeks old, but it felt like John Stumpf had been hanging on for five years.

The ax finally fell Wednesday, when the company put out a news release after the markets had closed saying that Stumpf had retired as chairman and chief executive effective immediately.

His exit marks the rare case of a major U.S. bank CEO stepping aside amid accusations of company misconduct. It also caps a remarkable change in fortune for a bank that, following the financial crisis, was regarded as a marquee brand.

Perhaps there had been worse scandals in recent memory, or ones costlier to the bottom line like JPMorgan's London Whale controversy, but few were as understandable to the general public as the Wells fiasco. The fact that it had occurred in the homestretch of a highly polarized presidential election made Stumpf even more of a target.

In the end he had to step aside amid mounting anger from investors and policymakers over the creation of fraudulent customer accounts.

Stumpf, 63, has left his post after nearly a decade as CEO. He will be succeeded by Tim Sloan, 56, who currently serves as president and chief operating officer. Sloan keeps the title of president and has joined the board of directors, too.

The new chairman is Stephen Sanger, who had been lead director. Independent director Elizabeth Duke, a former Federal Reserve Board governor, has been elevated to serve as vice chair.

Sloan's tough challenge will be to try to repair the tattered image of Wells Fargo.

"It's a great privilege to have the opportunity to lead one of America's most storied companies at a critical juncture in its history," Sloan was quoted as saying in the release. "My immediate and highest priority is to restore trust in Wells Fargo. It's a tremendous responsibility, one which I look forward to taking on."

Calls for Stumpf's resignation had escalated in recent weeks after the San Francisco company said on Sept. 8 it would pay nearly $190 million to settle charges that employees created roughly 2 million fake accounts to meet sales goals and collect bonuses.

More than 5,300 employees across the country were fired between 2011 and 2014 for creating the unlawful accounts.

Shortly after the settlement was disclosed, Wells Fargo said it would eliminate incentive packages that reward branch employees for cross-selling and hitting sales targets.

Still, Wells has struggled to contain the fallout from the cross-selling scandal  and, in the meantime, the company's once-sterling reputation has taken a significant hit.

Adding to the furor was a disastrous appearance by Stumpf in front of the Senate Banking Committee on Sept. 20. During his testimony, Stumpf fumbled basic questions such as when exactly the company uncovered the pervasive fraud.

Stumpf also provided confusing answers about whether senior executives have been held responsible for the scandal  and if they would be subject to clawbacks in pay. Eventually, Wells clawed back $41 million of Stumpf's pay and $19 million of unvested stock awards from former retail banking head Carrie Tolstedt.

But those punishments weren't enough to satisfy the bank's many critics.

"While I have been deeply committed and focused on managing the company through this period, I have decided it is best for the company that I step aside," Stumpf was quoted as saying in the release.

Stumpf was named CEO of Wells Fargo in June 2007, succeeding longtime executive Richard Kovacevich. Stumpf added the title of chairman nearly three years later, in January 2010.

In his first few months on the job, Stumpf oversaw one of the biggest deals in banking history, when Wells Fargo agreed in late 2008 to buy the $510 billion-asset Wachovia, which was on the brink of collapse.

Stumpf spent more than three decades at Wells Fargo and its predecessor companies. He joined Minneapolis-based Norwest Corp. in 1982 and quickly worked his way up the ranks. When Wells Fargo merged with Norwest in 1998, Stumpf took over as head of banking operations in the Southwest.

In 2002, Stumpf was named executive vice president and head of community banking. He was promoted to the roles of president and chief operating officer three years later.

In the lead-up to the announcement Wednesday, Sloan was widely viewed as the heir apparent. Still, some analysts had called on Wells to consider external candidates, arguing that an outsider was necessary to change company culture.

Sloan has been with Wells Fargo for 29 years. He was named president and chief operating officer in November 2015.

"The board of directors has great confidence in Tim Sloan," the new chairman, Sanger, said in the release. "He is a proven leader who knows Wells Fargo's operations deeply, holds the respect of its stakeholders, and is ready to lead the company into the future."
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 13, ARMENPRESS. Armenian Defense Minister Vigen Sargsyan met with Director of the Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation (FSMTC) of the Russian Federation Alexander Fomin on October 13. Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Russian Federation to Armenia Ivan Volinkin took part in the meeting.

Current issues and perspectives for the development of military-technical cooperation were the subject of the discussion.

As Armenpress was informed from the press service of the Defense Ministry of Armenia, Alexander Fomin particularly noted the broad opportunities to carry out joint ventures in the sphere and expressed readiness to bring them into life and in this context highlighted holding the ArmHitec-2016 international arms expo in Yerevan.

Defense Minister of Armenia Vigen Sargsyan emphasized the significant scientific-educational potential and the lucrative solutions of Armenia which can be used not only for defense purposes, but also for entering international markets.

The sides also discussed the agreements reached in the sidelines of military-technical cooperation and expressed satisfaction over their implementation process.

At the end of the meeting First Deputy Defense Minister of Armenia Davit Tonoyan and Deputy Director of the Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation of the Russian Federation Vladimir Drozhzhov signed an Additional Protocol regulating the military-technical cooperation.

Armenian Defense Minister Vigen Sargsyan and FSMTC Director Alexander Fomin signed an agreement on the implementation procedure of the agreement for the development of military-technical cooperation between the Republic of Armenia and the Russian Federation.
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 13, ARMENPRESS. President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan sent a congratulatory message on October 13 to Antonio Guterres on his election as Secretary General of the United Nations.

As Armenpress was informed from the press service of the Armenian Presidents Office, the message runs as follows,

It is gratifying and inspiring that the responsible mission of leading the global Organization is assumed by a professional statesman in the face of You who has a decades-long experience in the national as well as international areas. Your wisdom, knowledge and abilities are in great demand particularly now when the international peace, security, and development are going through a turbulent period of time. I have no doubt that your skillful leadership will strengthen the structure of the United Nation and move forward its agenda items. I wish you every success in this difficult and important mission.

I would like to express Armenias and my own support to you with the anticipation that we will have many opportunities for cooperation. Armenia will undoubtedly continue to bring her input to the implementation of the goals and aspirations of the United Nations.
So let me understand this

Bill Clinton sexually frolicked with Gennifer Flowers, apparently sexually abused Paula Corbin (paying her an $850,000 litigation settlement) and Kathleen Willey. Leveraged his workplace supervisory position over Monica Lewinsky to convert the Oval Office into a sexually hostile workplace environment, even as he gazed into her gullible eyes, inter alia, and promised that he would divorce Hillary and would marry Lewinsky after his presidency. If we are to believe the accuser -- as Hillary tells us we must -- he raped Juanita Broaddrick. Ultimately, the state bar of Arkansas disbarred Bill Clinton for perjury.

Bill Clinton is the modern-day hero of the Democrat Party. He appears as the star of the Democrat convention every four years. His words inspire Democrats. He is legend. The mainstream media cannot praise and glorify him enough. Hillary Clinton sends him on the campaign trail to stump for her, to speak for her. His word, his endorsement, is sacrosanct.

And yet he has been a serial sexual abuser for decades -- because [he] could. Alongside him, always defending him and thereby assuring her own continued access to power, to serve her own voracious ambitions, Hillary Clinton actively helped destroy women victims who spoke out.

Suddenly now the same mainstream media, who have found no one more suited in character and temperament for the presidency than Bill Clinton, instruct us that Donald Trump contrarily is disqualified for the presidency because a hot mic eleven years ago caught him ogling and boasting disgustingly about sexual exploits?

It is impossible not to be disgusted with all of these characters. We are mired in a kakistocracy of epic proportions. Trump with his bizarre ego, the insults and calumny and falsifications and exaggerations that have allowed others to puncture the urgently important and pure message that he repeatedly has compromised as its leading messenger. Even more, Hillary Clinton with her congenital lying, to the point of lying about why she was named Hillary. She inspires no trust in its most absolute vacuum. Travelgate. Rose Law Firm billing records. Cattle Futures. Lincoln Bedroom. Missing White House furniture. Leaving the White House broke and emerging a Top One Percenter, worth hundreds of millions without building a thing but instead selling access and influence to government contracts and regulations, while delivering 15-minute backroom speeches at $225,000 a pop to Wall Street insiders.

So now I suddenly am supposed to care that Trump was caught on a microphone eleven years ago saying disgusting things? We already knew he is a serial womanizer, just as we know that Clinton has been a sex abuser for decades. Clinton may have avoided microphones, but the dress was stained. Frankly, I expect more Trump tapes and videos. I was wondering why they had not yet been leaked. The leakers were waiting for October. If I were voting for schoolteacher I would care. If I were voting for rabbi, pastor, priest, or imam I would care. But I am voting for something else -- the Federal Judiciary and the America our Founding Fathers envisioned.

Here is what I care about. I care about the economy and that we have not had a proper recovery from the Great Recession of eight years ago. I care that the Clinton reset with Putin has led to Russia seizing the Crimea, threatening the Ukraine, reestablishing Russian dominance in the Middle East, and staring down the American president and his useless secretary of state. I care about the safety and security of Israel and the insanity of the Iran Deal that has given the worlds leading state sponsor of terrorism $150 billion to finance murder of Americans and terror against the West, all while positioning Iran to threaten the entire world with nuclear weapons soon enough. I care about police in our cities being attacked and killed, and about African Americans being denied what I have: a life of hope for personal economic opportunity, safe streets, children getting fabulously educated for the new era, and an equality that the Democrats repeatedly have promised people of color but repeatedly have failed to deliver. I care about bringing back jobs and repatriating the trillions of dollars now reposing overseas because of our broken tax system. I care about securing our nations borders in an era where terrorists have disrupted life in democracies throughout Europe and controlling those borders to keep out crime and illicit drugs that are scourging our nation. And I care about the federal judiciary.

The United States Supreme Court is on the line. The United States Courts of Appeal, in federal appellate circuit after circuit, are on the line. The federal district judges -- the trial judges who hear federal cases in the first instance -- are on the line. As we have been losing the judiciary like crazy, we get rulings that increasingly challenge our countrys core values. Legitimate efforts to assure honest voting, honest voter registration, get overturned. The shame of very late term partial-birth abortion becomes legally possible. Our nations immigration laws are at jeopardy. Defiant sanctuary cities become multiplied. Even Americas most core values, including First Amendment assurances that government not interfere with religion and Second Amendment protections, are at risk.

So I do not care what Trump said eleven years ago. I do not care a whit about his 1995 taxes of eleven years ago. If he lost a ton of money then, it helps explain how he grew to be so successful -- he learned from those mistakes that there are limits to risk-taking. I like that. I do not care if he never pays income taxes again. Almost half the country does not pay taxes. If he is cheating, he will be caught and punished; by contrast, if he is not paying because the law allows him to use deductions, then he is no different from every other responsible taxpayer. It is proper to use every legal tax deduction available. That is why there are investment advisors, financial planners, and tax attorneys -- to help their fabulously wealthy clients avoid paying taxes. Liberals do it. Hollywood, Broadway, Wall Street, the Clintons, and Harry Reid do it. So why cant Trump?

So I do not care about Trumps filthy mouth and taxes of eleven years ago. In voting for Trump, I actually am not voting for Trump at all. Rather, I am voting for the federal judiciary, whose lifetime-appointed judges will direct the course of this countrys trajectory and values for the next quarter century. ObamaCare proved that a Democrat Congress, and even a Republican majority Congress, will not control a Democrat president. After thirty years, we know exactly the mess that Hillary Clinton will bring. By contrast, the Republicans have proven they will stand up to Trump if he exceeds bounds. He wont. I am casting my vote for the federal judiciary and for the America that our Founding Fathers envisioned. The ballot I cast will say Trump.
It would bring me no sorrow to awaken tomorrow and find that Donald Trump had withdrawn as the GOP's candidate in the race for President of the United States, replaced by Ted Cruz or Marco Rubio or Scott Walker or Bobby Jindal  even Mitt Romney  or nearly any other lukewarm body who has, in the last two decades, been at least as conservative as Keith Olbermann. (It seems Hillary's team feared such a list.)

I never was the least bit surprised to hear a decade-old recording of a biblically illiterate, adulterous, strip club-owning presidential candidate do his best imitation of someone corrupted by liberalism. (One of the first things I said to my wife after hearing Trump's vulgar comments: "He sounds like a liberal!") However, unlike many conservatives  especially Christian conservatives  I never declared myself "NeverTrump." And (like the highly regarded Dr. Michael Brown) I'm still not. However, I've also not committed to voting for Trump.

Nevertheless, I'm as certain as any human being can be that the next president of the United States is going to be Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton. If that is still the case when it comes time to cast my ballot, I almost certainly will vote for Mr. Trump.

As Franklin Graham said after the Trump video was released:

The only hope for the United States is God. Our nation's many sins have permeated our society, leading us to where we are today. But as Christians we can't back down from our responsibility to remain engaged in the politics of our nation. On November 8th we will all have a choice to make. The two candidates have very different visions for the future of America. The most important issue of this election is the Supreme Court. That impacts everything. There's no question, Trump and Clinton scandals might be news for the moment, but who they appoint to the Supreme Court will remake the fabric of our society for our children and our grandchildren, for generations to come.

One of the few things Mr. Trump has impressed me with is the two lists of potential Supreme Court nominees he's released. How much Mr. Trump can be trusted actually to nominate a candidate from these lists is a matter worth weighing.

Another matter worth weighing: the platform of the Republican Party vs. that of the Democratic Party. Again, I'm not sure how much Donald Trump can be trusted to govern according to the soundly conservative platform of his (current) party  as another recently concluded, it's likely Trump is merely renting out the Republican Party in pursuit of his ambitions. However, I know I can trust Hillary to govern according the radically liberal platform of her party.

When it comes to which candidate to choose come election time, a considerable amount of attention should be paid to the platform of the political party the candidate represents. I long ago (in my twenties) abandoned the silly notion of "voting for the person" and not for the party.

The party matters because the platform of the party matters. Many a modern "Blue Dog Democrat" has capitulated (remember Bart Stupak and Obamacare?) to the extreme liberalism of their party leaders (who determine the party platform). (Tellingly, Stupak voted with his party 96 percent of the time.) Older history provides a great lesson here.

As The Miracle and Magnificence of America reveals, in the middle of the nineteenth century, the anti-slavery platform of the newly formed Republican Party played no small role in the formation of the Confederate States of America. Every party platform since the creation of the Republican Party had forcefully denounced slavery. After the infamous Dred Scott ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1857, the subsequent Republican platform strongly condemned the ruling and reaffirmed the right of Congress to ban slavery in the territories. The corresponding Democrat platform praised the Dred Scott ruling and condemned all efforts to end slavery in the U.S.

Throughout its secession document, South Carolina, the first state to secede from the U.S., repeatedly declared that it was leaving the U.S. in order to preserve the institution of slavery.

[A]n increasing hostility on the part of the non-slaveholding [i.e., northern] states to the institution of slavery has led to a disregard of their obligations. ... [T]hey have denounced as sinful the institution of slavery. ... They have encouraged and assisted thousands of our slaves to leave their homes [through the Underground Railroad]. ... A geographical line has been drawn across the Union, and all the states north of that line have united in the election of a man to the high office of President of the United States [Abraham Lincoln] whose opinions and purposes are hostile to slavery.

"They" in the secession document refers to the Republican Party. The first GOP platform did not use the word "sin," but instead declared polygamy and slavery "those twin relics of barbarism." (Imagine that! An implied reference to marriage as the union of one man and one woman in the very first Republican platform!)

Like every other state to secede, my home state of Georgia (the fifth state to leave the U.S.) also cited the election of Lincoln and the Republican Party:

A brief history of the rise, progress, and policy of anti-slavery and the political organization into whose hands the administration of the federal government has been committed [the republicans] will fully justify the pronounced verdict of the people of Georgia [who voted to secede]. The party of Lincoln, called the Republican Party under its present name and organization, is of recent origin. It is admitted to be an anti-slavery party[.]

In 1816, George Bourne, a renowned minister and abolitionist, published The Book and Slavery Irreconcilable, which "dealt at length with individual texts of Scripture, even as it leaned even harder on what Bourne obviously considered the humanitarian agreement of biblical and republican principles." Bourne (rightly) considered slavery a sin and questioned whether those who owned slaves should be considered Christians.

Bourne wrote:

Every man who holds Slaves and who pretends to be a Christian or a Republican, is either an incurable Idiot who cannot distinguish good from evil, or an obdurate sinner who resolutely defies every social, moral, and divine requisition. ... Every ramification of the doctrine, that one rational creature can become the property of another, is totally repugnant to the rule of equity, the rights of nature, and the existence of civil society.

The same argument that Bourne made regarding slavery can easily be made regarding abortion, homosexuality, and a perverse redefinition of marriage. For example, substitute "holds Slaves" with "supports abortion," and then substitute "that one rational creature can become the property of another" with "that a child in the womb is a mere 'choice.'" And like slavery, abortion, homosexuality, promiscuity, and a perverse redefinition of marriage are "totally repugnant to the rule of equity, the rights of nature, and the existence of civil society."

The 2016 Republican Party Platform has been hailed as "the most pro-life, pro-family ever." On the contrary, as was the case with slavery, for decades now the platform of the modern Democratic Party has been dedicated to preserving the "right" to kill children in the womb. Add to that the commitment modern Democrats have to undermining what God has revealed on sex, marriage, and the family, and it should be clear to any truth-loving American that the modern Democratic Party must be opposed at every turn. This will certainly be true come November 8.

Trevor Grant Thomas: At the Intersection of Politics, Science, Faith, and Reason.

www.trevorgrantthomas.com

Trevor is the author of brand new book: The Miracle and Magnificence of America.

tthomas@trevorgrantthomas.com
A Jordanian Muslim named Feras M. Freitekh, originally in the U.S. on a student visa, enrolled in a U.S. flight school and then crashed his airplane in Connecticut after arguing with his flight instructor. The FBI is investigating whether this was an act of terrorism. Sources say the crash was intentional, and that Freitekh lives with three other "foreign nationals," also attending U.S. flight school.

A Middle Eastern Muslim man originally on a student visa, in a U.S. flight school? Have we learned nothing since 9/11? Apparently not. Middle Eastern Muslims are still attending U.S. flight schools in large numbers. Here are some anecdotes from recent years.

Just this past March, a Muslim student was expelled from a U.S. flight school for threatening to kill Donald Trump:

An Egyptian student in California has agreed to return to Cairo after he wrote a threatening comment on Facebook about Donald J. Trump that drew the attention of the Secret Service and led to the cancellation of his student visa, according to law enforcement officials and his lawyer. Emadeldin Elsayed, 23, posted an article on Facebook last month about Mr. Trumps proposal to bar Muslims from entering the United States. I literally dont mind taking a lifetime sentence in jail for killing this guy, I would actually be doing the whole world a favor, he wrote, according to his lawyer, Hani Bushra. After the Secret Service investigated his comments, Mr. Elsayed was expelled from flight school[.]

From a 2012 GAO report:

... a new US Government Accountability Office (GAO) investigation that concludes that not all foreign nationals who are training to fly airplanes inside the United States are being properly vetted. It is completely unacceptable that a decade after 9/11, GAO has uncovered weaknesses in our security controls that were supposed to be fixed a decade ago, Rep. Mike Rogers (R) of Alabama, chairman of the House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Transportation Security[.] ... ... a woman was arrested for bringing foreign students from Egypt, Sri Lanka, and Taiwan to train at her southern California flight school with fraudulent visas. At a Boston-area flight school in 2010, theDepartment of Homeland Securitys ICE division discovered 25 illegal immigrants who were enrolled and taking flight lessons. Thats not the worst of it, Representative Rogers notes. The owner of the flight school was also here illegally. The aspiring student pilots had nonetheless been approved by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) to take the lessons, despite their illegal immigration status[.] Indeed, a recent TSA analysis found that more than 25,000 foreign nationals in a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) database were not in the TSAs database, meaning that they had received an FAA airman certificate but had not been successfully vetted or received permission from the TSA to begin flight training, according to Stephen Lord, Director of Homeland Security and Justice Issues at the GAO. In a perfect world, the two databases should match.

If you asked Hillary Clinton about this, she would no doubt nod vigorously and say we need "more intense vetting!" But we cannot vet what is in someone's mind, and cannot be certain some Muslims from Middle Eastern countries will notuse this training to commit mass murder, as Feras M. Freitekh just tried to do in Connecticut. After all those people died on 9/11, political correctness is leaving us open to the exact same kind of attack again from the exact same kind of foe.

Ed Straker is the senior writer at NewsMachete.com.
House Speaker Paul Ryan announced that he is no longer going to enthusiastically support Donald Trump as his Partys presidential candidate. This is in reaction to the audio recording of Donald Trump making lewd comments about women.

Apparently, Speaker Ryan has made the decision that because Donald Trumps comments about women were so offensive, that Trump is now more likely to lose the election. Ryan feels that it is now critically important that he work to keep GOP majorities in the House and Senate, that if the Republicans cant win the White House, they can at least retain control of Congress.

There are several aspects of this position that prompt a rational what is he thinking? response. For one thing, it is strange that Speaker Ryan feels that Trumps language toward women disqualifies him from the White House when Trumps opponent, Hillary Clinton, aggressively acted to protect a far more abusive politician, her husband Bill Clinton, from criticism by his victims. Hillary Clinton intimidated, bullied, and harassed victims of her husbands sexually harassing behavior so her husband could get reelected. How Speaker Ryan has one set of standards for Donald Trump and another for Hillary and Bill Clinton is something he has not yet explained, and given his position in the Republican Party, needs to explain. Why he would willfully choose to leave a person with bad behavior to enable one far worse to win the election is baffling.

The more important issue is what Speaker Ryan hopes to achieve by throwing Donald Trump under the bus in favor of keeping majorities in the House and Senate. The fact is, Speaker Ryans Republican Party has had majority control of the House and Senate for years, and accomplished nothing. President Obama refused to negotiate with Speaker Ryan or Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell for years. Obama would not even discuss budget priorities. Instead, Obama printed QE money and used a combination of czars and executive orders to take over Congresss power to legislate. Speaker Ryans leadership of the House has been ineffective, at best.

Having failed to pass any meaningful legislation with the Democrat President Obama, Speaker Ryan now feels it is more important to maintain the Houses status as a eunuch than do whatever he can to ensure that the White House is occupied by a Republican. This is the situation Speaker Ryan faces: he was unable to work with President Obama even though his Party had majorities in the House and Senate. Now he feels its more important to retain his do-nothing majority with a Democrat President, than have a Republican President to work with.

Why Speaker Ryan chooses to preside over a neutered House with Hillary Clinton as President, than work with Trump as the GOP President, baffles political analysis. If Hillary is elected President, Speaker Ryan could no more achieve any important legislative progress with her than he has been able to achieve with Obama. He should know that. But apparently that does enter into his analysis. Ryan needs to explain why he would make more progress with Hillary as president than he and McConnell were able to achieve with Obama.

In reality Hillary will be more petulant than Obama. She already refuses to cooperate with Congresss investigations of her emails. She ordered her IT specialist to refuse to show up at a Congressional Hearing on the email scandal and she refuses to answer any meaningful questions at press conferences. She will continue to control the Department of Justice by controlling Attorney General Lynch and FBI Director Comey. Her presidency will be characterized by an endless parade of investigations into her corrupt behavior. She shows all the signs of withdrawing from public scrutiny, the press and Congress. She will rule more as an autocrat than President Obama, working very hard to remove any impact Congress has on discretionary spending. She will likely start another QE program and raise taxes, further driving the nation into economic recession.

How Paul Ryan sees this degradation of the separation of powers as desirable is difficult to understand. The only possible answer is that Ryan enjoys his personal status as House Speaker with its perks of office and has more concern with preserving his status than helping the GOP pass any legislation.

Speaker Ryan has not thoroughly addressed these issues. But his refusal to enthusiastically support his partys presidential nominee is very unusual, if not unprecedented. He is adding to the chaos in Washington, not working to reestablish the proper rule of order in national government. What is particularly troubling is that what he is doing is destructive of his own Party, at a time when Republicans need to unify and work for the American people. He has shown very poor judgment and should be held responsible if Trump loses and a chaotic, highly corrupt Hillary Clinton administration further degrades the separation of powers and the well-being of the American people.
Consider the plight of Christians in Iraq

As documented by the U.S. State Department, Christians have been threatened with violence if they do not leave their homes, accosted on the streets and even assassinated, and their churches have been bombed or destroyed. Some Iraqi Christian leaders go so far as to describe the plight of Christians in Iraq as ethnic cleansing.

But the same is true for other religious minorities;

Reports indicate that their situation is equally bad or even worse for other religious minorities. One thing the Christian community has going for it is that it is connected to international communities that can advocate for it, as the pope has done. But that is not the case with some of the other groups, such as the Yazidis, who are considered heretical by many Muslims because they have a syncretistic blend of Islam and other religions. There is neither an international Yazidi community Another targeted group, the Sabian Mandaeans, have been in Iraq for many, many centuries. The Mandaean religion is independent of Islam, Christianity and Judaism, but it follows the teachings of John the Baptist, with baptism being a central ritual. Sabian Mandaeans in Iraq numbered about 60,000 in 2003; today there may only be about 5,000 left in Iraq, meaning that more than 90 percent have left the country or been killed.

And it is the same story to a greater or lesser extent all over the Ummah.

Majority Muslim nations almost uniformly persecute. The only question is how virulent the repression. Believers are mistreated everywhere, but Christians most suffer in the birthplace of Christianity. The Iraq invasion and Arab Spring have loosed a campaign of religious cleansing across the Middle East.

And even Obamas favorite, Turkish president Recip Tayyip Erdogan, is getting into the act by banning Orthodox Christian Liturgy.

And this does not even touch on the terrorist assaults on Western culture from Fort Hood to Charlie Hebdo to 9/11.

Nor does it cover the assault on women for exercising their free will by punishments ranging from wife beating, to being burned by battery acid to honor killing.

Islam is like no other religion on earth today.

It is the most vicious, monomaniacal, male-centered, intolerant, supremacist two-faced plague facing mankind today.

Moreover, despite its shut up clout, Islamophobia is a highly inaccurate epithet for Islams critics who are not reacting out of fear but disgust, contempt, and hostility.

The question asked of politicians, even Donald Trump, as to what they are going to do about Islamophobia, is completely back-assward. The question is what are Islamists and even innocent followers of some imagined peaceful version of Islam, going to do about the hostility they encounter because of the actions of their fellow religionists.
While the attention of America has been fixed on the presidential election, relations between Russia and the US have deteriorated to the point that foreign policy experts are now talking about open conflict between the two countries. Vladimir Putin has made several startlingly bellicose moves in recent weeks and President Obama is promising retaliation for Russian hacks of our democracy and threatening a war crimes tribunal for the Russian slaughter of civilians in Aleppo.

"This is a conflict, there should be no doubt," said Matthew Rojansky, director of the Kennan Institute at the Wilson Center, on the US-Russia confrontation. The problem is, normal channels of communication that would ordinarily serve to resolve conflict have been frozen. Such a state of affairs has not been seen since the fall of the Berlin Wall.

Consider:

1. Russian jets have been buzzing US warships off the coast of Ukraine and intercepting US spy planes.

2. Putin has withdrawn from a nuclear security pact on plutonium.

3. Russia has moved nuclear missiles to the Polish border

4. Putin has ratcheted up war rhetoric against Eastern Europe.

5. American intelligence has fingered Russia being behind the hacking of political organizations, presumably to influence the election.

6. Russia has warned the US not to interfere in the Syrian civil war or consequences to our "national security" will ensue

And now, perhaps most ominously, Putin is ordering the families of Russian diplomats home.

Inquisitr:

As threats of a global war rise, Russia is apparently ordering all its officials to bring their family members living abroad back home. According to local media in Russia, Several high-ranking officials and politicians have received a warning message from Vladimir Putin, urging them to bring their family members back to the Fatherland. This news comes after Putin cancelled his previously planned visit to France following disagreements over Russias involvement in Syria. And according to local media, all high ranking officials are now being told that it would be wise to bring their family members living abroad back home. The recommendation has been imposed upon officials of every level, including administration staff, regional administrators, lawmakers and even employees of public corporations. It has also been said that those that ignore this recommendation may lose their chance of being promoted in the public sector. This decision has met with mixed reactions. Political scientist Vitaly Ivanov believes that this is a long overdue decision targeting those officials who on one hand speak of patriotism but on the other hand send their own children abroad to study. Others such as political analyst Stanislav Belkovsky believe that decisions such as these will result in more officials leaving the country rather than producing the desired result. He says that the decision could eventually backfire against Putin.

When removed from the current context of US-Russia relations, the explanation that this is a move by Putin to consolidate his domestic position makes sense. But placed next to other moves by Putin, the explanation becomes more sinister.

How this plays out in the US election is unclear. Foreign policy discussions by either candidate have been almost non existent, and we can only guess how the candidates would handle Putin and Russia. It would be simplistic to claim that Trump would enable Putin in his quest for world leadership while Hillary would try to block him. More to the point, which candidate could manage the relationship without going to war?

For 8 years, the Russian president has pushed the US around like we were a 98 lb weakling. Now that Obama has bestirred himself to push back, Putin has become enraged. It may be that Putin has determined that the "correlation of forces" will never be more favorable to Russia and that there is a narrow window opening up where attacking the west has a good chance of succeeding.

At the very least, we should pay more attention to what's happening as experts believe some kind of showdown is possible.
October 31, 2022 14:54

Armenias 2023 state budget envisages 35% increase in defense spending

According to the 2023 state budget of Armenia, the defense spending will comprise 506 billion drams which is 35% more than that of 2022, Minister of Finance Tigran Khachatryan said during the session of the parliamentary standing committees dedicated to the debate of the 2023 state budget draft.
Infowars Alex Jones has gotten under Barack Obama's skin. Literally. Jones, the wildly controversial provocateur, had Obama sniffing his own hand during a North Carolina stump speech for Hillary Clinton. Even by the left's standards, that's a creepy thing to do.

It all started on Mondays broadcast of the Alex Jones Show. The host claimed people in protective detail around Clinton and Obama told him the two high-profile politicians smelled like sulfur. The anonymous sources also used the word "demons" to describe the pair.

Jones' rant prompted a public mockery from Obama during a Greensboro, North Carolina rally the next evening which turned the demon and sulfur references into national headlines. Obama had Hillary supporters laughing with him as he smelled his hand.

Obama mocking his opponents is serious business. Alinsky wrote that it was the radical's most "potent weapon." In this case, however, Obama ended up giving free publicity to a man who has been called every name in the leftist repertoire from "the most prolific conspiracy theorist in contemporary America" to bats**t crazy. Why bother with the outrageous Jones?

Apparently, Donald Trump has Obama so riled up Jones' comments provided the opportunity to remind rally goers the Republican candidate was interviewed by Jones on his show. Following that remark, Obama morphed into his street cadence and said something a little more sinister:

"Come on, people...democracy does not work if you say stuff like that and apparently there are people who believe that stuff...you can't have leaders who are promoting that because we get so divided."

Whats Obamas beef with the demon-sulfur reference?

Obama's now deceased pal Venezuelan socialist president Hugo Chavez believed "stuff like that." Promoting Noam Chomsky's book to the United Nations General Assembly in 2006, Chavez, referring to George W Bush's speech from the day before, said the podium where he was "now standing smelled like sulfur."

Chavez then announced to the assembly:

The devil came here yesterday, yesterday the devil came here right here, right here and it smells like sulfur still today, yesterday from this roster, the President of the United States, the gentleman who I refer to as the devil.

Its doubtful then Senator Obama, a man with a communist mentor in Frank Marshall Davis and who wrote in his autobiography he attended socialist meetings while in college, was not aware of Chavezs devil speech to the UN. So how come Hugo Chavez's divisive devil talk did not stop Obama from warming up to the socialist Venezuelan president in 2009 at the Summit of the Americas? He and Chavez looked all chummy as the president accepted an anti-American, Marxist-Leninist book from the leader.

Of course, Obama has no problem with a corrupt, ruthless, socialist dictator calling a Republican U.S. President a sulfur-reeking devil. But how dare a right-wing radio guy hijack Chavezs imagery and aim it at Clinton and Obama. As a result, Obama couldnt resist the impulse to speak about this on the national stage. Unfortunately, Obamas macabre grinning, stuttering, laughter and snarling gave Jones assertions about him a smidgeon of credibility.

Jones may be too out there for some people, but in this weirdest of election seasons he deserves an honorable mention for messing with Obamas head.
Despite the prevailing wisdom that it is virtually impossible for a public figure to win a libel action against the media, unnamed sources in the Trump campaign tell the Washington Examiners Gabby Morrongiello that a defamation lawsuit against the New York Times is being drafted.

Within hours of threatening to take legal action against the major publication for launching a "completely false, coordinated character assassination against" him, Trump had requested that his attorneys draft a major lawsuit against the Times. "This is war," said one campaign insider with knowledge of the situation. The same source accused the Times and other mainstream media outlets of "working hand in hand" with Hillary Clinton's campaign to sabotage Trump in the final month before the election. "We're coming at them strong and everybody better have a good lawyer," the source said.

Compelling the financially challenged New York Times Company to spend a lot of money on lawyers inherently punishes them. This is the truth of libel law. Even a publication that is vindicated ends up with expensive legal bills. Trumps foes will see this as a clear-cut case of bullying, and will clutch their pearls over the threat to a free press when a potential president intimidates the media for publishing news he doesnt like. Of course, there is no need for Hillary Clinton to go in this direction, because a Times reporter of high standing actually gave her staff the right to approve which quotes he would use in an article.

Perhaps Trump and his staff are looking forward to discovery proceedings, where they get to inspect the Times emails and files. We already know via Wikileaks that the Times is in bed with the Hillary campaign. Evidence of a commitment to defeat Trump could provide the actual malice standard the law requires from public figures.

I am no lawyer so I cant go into any depth on this. But the New York Times loses no matter what verdict, if any, is reached. The possibility of exposing further evidence of a conspirtacy between the Times and the Hillary campaign is intriguing.
Azerbaijans armed forces committed 55 ceasefire violations along the Line of Contact overnight, releasing fire 1,000 times from weapons of different calibers.

October 13, 2016, 09:17 Nagorno-Karabakh reports 55 Azerbaijani ceasefire violations

STEPANAKERT, OCTOBER 13, ARTSAKHPRESS: According to a press release by the Nagorno-Karabakh Defense Ministry, the adversary also used Dragunov and Instigal snipers to shoot bullets.

The advance military units of the Defense Army maintain full control over the situation on the frontline, confidently continuing their military vigil.
So far, 2016 has been a very interesting year for Google, with many changes taking place in the companys various areas of activity, including the smartphone business. New Google applications have rolled out, new Google mobile hardware is now hitting the shelves, and of course, older products are being phased out as a result. Here is a quick look at a list of Google products that have been canned  or will be  by the end of the year.

Starting off with Google hardware, the most obvious change of 2016 comes in the form of a new Google smartphone lineup dubbed Pixel. The Pixel smartphones are Googles first handsets to have been designed by the Mountain View giant from the ground up, but the Pixels arrival also marks the end of the Nexus smartphone lineup which has been around since 2010. Next in line is Project Ara which was unfortunately discontinued last month. Project Ara was supposed to bring the concept of modularity to smartphone users, and while Google has worked on this idea for a few years  with several prototypes being showcased during this time  Project Ara was officially put aside by Google last month. Still, while we might not see a true modular smartphone coming from Google anytime soon, the company could continue and expand on the idea of modular hardware components in the IoT (Internet of Things) segment.

As far as Googles services are concerned, the year 2016 represents the demise of several Google software products including Google Hangouts on Air which has been merged with YouTube Live as of September 12th. In fact, the entirety of Hangouts has been retargeted on the enterprise audience, with applications including Google Allo and Duo meant to take its place. Additionally, Picasa  which was acquired by Google from Lifescape in 2004  was killed earlier this year due to Google Photos becoming the companys main priority. It wouldnt make much sense for Google to support two separate media storage and sharing apps, and needless to say, Photos has come out on top as the main and only option. Yet another application that became obsolete was My Tracks, released in the year 2009 as a GPS tracking application. However, Google Fit stole the spotlight in recent years and My Tracks has been retired as of April 30, 2016.

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Google has also shut down a few web-based services, including Google Compare as of March 23, 2016. Compare was a web service launched last year in the U.S., offering users comparison tools for mortgages, insurance, and credit card rates. The service wasnt as successful as Google may have hoped, and was effectively shut down in the first quarter of the year. Another service which is still around, but not for long, is Panoramio: a location-based photo sharing tool which will be shut down on November 4, 2016. With Panoramios demise, Google will continue to support location-based photo sharing services directly through Google Maps. Lastly, the search engine giant is planning on simplifying the Chrome web browser experience in the coming years and intends to remove Chrome applications from the Windows, Mac, and Linux platforms by early 2018. This is a slow and ongoing process but should give developers some time to transition their applications away from the platform.
A few months ago, many were touting the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 as potentially the best Android smartphone of 2016, and rightfully so. Samsungs flagship seemingly has everything: a great display, powerful internals, two great cameras, the extremely useful S-Pen, and a waterproof body. The phablet was supposed to conclude the Holy Trinity of Samsungs 2016 Galaxy lineup which started with the release of the Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 Edge earlier this year. Unfortunately, it just wasnt meant to be. Someone or someones messed something up. The official version of the full story is still non-existent as Samsung seemingly hasnt yet concluded its investigation into the matter but the current facts are pretty clear. The Galaxy Note 7 debuted in late August and first reports of the device catching fire and exploding followed soon after. Samsung issued a worldwide recall of the phone by September, spent a few weeks looking into the matter, announced that battery defects have been removed, impliedbut never confirmedthat Samsung SDI was manufacturing faulty batteries, issued replacements, and accomplished  not much, frankly.

As the Galaxy Note 7 replacement units proved to be just as much of a fire hazards as their predecessors, Samsung was forced to issue an unprecedented second recall and discontinue the device which everyone was expecting to be a huge commercial success. If you were ever doubting the validity of this decision for whatever reasonafter all, a few phones always catch fire here and there due to a bad batchSamsung has now officially confirmed the gravity of the situation. Namely, the South Korean tech giant has just announced that it has managed to verify exactly 23 reports of Galaxy Note 7 units catching fire due to internal reasons after the initial recall in the US alone. Granted, most of these cases involved original units but thats still an alarming number for a device which has only been officially retailed for a couple of weeks. Also, this is just the US, and its not like Galaxy Note 7 wasnt making problems anywhere else in the world.

Unfortunately, Samsung didnt use this opportunity to release an update regarding the Galaxy Note 7 recall process. At the moment, its widely believed that up to 1 million units are still out in the wild. Until discontinuing the phablet earlier this week, Samsung shipped approximately 1.9 million devices.
The ArmHiTec 2016 international exhibition of arms and defense technologies kicked off Thursday in Yerevan, the capital city of Armenia, NEWS.am reports.

October 13, 2016, 11:16 Yerevan hosts international exhibition of arms, defense technologies

STEPANAKERT, OCTOBER 13, ARTSAKHPRESS: The event opened with a performance by special units.

The official opening of ArmHiTec 2016 brought together representatives of foreign embassies accredited in Armenia.

Defense Minister of Armenia Vigen Sargsyan, and Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) Secretary General Nikolay Bordyuzha cut red ribbon of this event.

More than fifty companies from nine countries are participating in this exhibition.

The ArmHiTec 2016 theme includes virtually the entire spectrum of weapons and military equipment.
The Chinese Internet company Baidu is perhaps best described as the Asian equivalent of Google. Originally founded as a search engine firm, Baidu has grown tremendously over the years and is currently investing in pretty much every branch of the tech industry. Of course, the fact that Google and all of its service are banned in China also helped Baidu to consolidate itself as the top Internet company in the country but thats more of a happy coincidence. Regardless, the Beijing-based firm has been doing a lot of good giving back to the economy and is trying to drive growth in pretty much every aspect of the industry. Like any other gigantic company, Baidu is well-aware of the fact that sitting on top of a huge pile of cash reserves usually isnt the smartest thing to do when you can use those liquid assets to potentially make even more money.

Today, that line of thinking manifested itself in the form of an announcement of Baidu Capital, a 20 billion yuan investment fund for developed startups in the IT industry. That number approximately amounts to $3 billion dollars and will be distributed among 30 to 60 Internet companies in China, Baidu revealed. This is the second investment fund that the Beijing-based tech giant announced in just over a month. This September, the company also introduced a $200 million fund for artificial intelligence, augmented reality, and virtual reality startups in China called Baidu Venture. Its worth noting that a lot of industry experts are claiming that AI, AR, and VR are currently the easiest means of increasing revenue and driving growth in the Chinese tech industry as mobile, advertising, and Internet search markets are becoming saturated. While Baidu Venture is specifically designated for those three branches of the industry, the $3 billion fund that the company just announced will seemingly also invest in these technologies, provided theyre being developed by maturing startups which have practically hit the ceiling of what they can do without raising additional funding.

Funds distributed by Baidu Capital wont be originating solely from the Chinese tech giant as the company has managed to win some major insurance and securities funds to its cause. All in all, this is yet another step in Baidus plan to diversify its portfolio and increase its revenue which is still pretty reliant on its advertising business.
A larger display could bring a better user experience especially when watching movies, playing games, and viewing pictures. With the increasing demand for a better visual experience, this year numerous smartphone manufacturers have released their smartphones with a larger-size screen. Chinese smartphone manufacturer, Bluboo Mobile just launched their 6.0-inch Maya Max, and now their upcoming smartphone, the Bluboo Mini has just shown all in a new set of pictures.

The new Bluboo Mini comes with 4.5-inch IPS display. From this set pictures, we can see that the device is really small, exquisite and would fit perfectly in your hand. Bluboo declared that the new Bluboo Mini would not compromise on visual performance with a smaller display, and would produce vivid and colorful images.

Other specs of the Bluboo Mini include a quad-core processor clocked at 1.3GHz, with 1GB of RAM and 8GB of storage, 5-megapixel front and 8-megapixel rear cameras, with Android 6.0 Marshmallow on board. The leaked pictures also show the unique geometric texture of the back cover with white, black, red and blue for color options. The specs for the Bluboo Mini seems quite decent and could satisfy the essential needs of users. Bluboo did not announce the price yet, but they did mention that it would be more affordable than ever.

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Bluboo is likely to launch the Bluboo Mini in global markets in October. Stayed tuned for further news about the Bluboo Mini.
The Samsung Galaxy Note 7 nightmare continues as Samsung tries to collect all of the Galaxy Note 7s  original and new models  from around the world. Fortunately, Samsung has just given the word that Galaxy Note 7 users in Canada can bring their devices into an authorized seller for an exchange for a Galaxy S7 or Galaxy S7 Edge device or receive a refund for the Galaxy Note 7 and its accessories. If you purchased your Galaxy Note 7 at Samsung.com, a full refund would be given upon receipt of your device. Samsung Canada will send out an email today to online customers with complete instructions. If you have any questions about the returns, Canadian customers should call 1-855-747-6520.

One thing that is not clear in Samsungs announcement is refunding the difference between the price of a Galaxy Note 7 and the Galaxy S7 or Galaxy S7 Edge they are allowing the customers to exchange for the Galaxy Note 7. It is also odd that except for the first line of the press release, Samsung refers to a Samsung Note 7 or simply Note 7, possibly disengaging the Note 7 from the Galaxy moniker.

The Samsung Galaxy Note 7 announcement was pushed up to beat the new iPhone to market. Pre-orders and sales were brisk for this elongated Galaxy S7 Edge with an S-Pen. Samsung was thrilled, the Galaxy Note 7 enamored users, and reviews were great. Then one caught on fire  no big deal must be a defected battery. Then another and another occurred, and Samsung was forced to halt shipments. Next Samsung issued a massive recall of all devices until they could produce new devices that were safe. Three weeks later Samsung began shipping out new Galaxy Note 7s, and a major disaster seemed diverted until some of the new Note 7s also caught fire. This caused Samsung to scrub completely the Galaxy Note 7 for this year. Samsung will recycle the devices, both old and new, models and there is talk that the name Note or the device will be discontinued.

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Samsung has worked closely with Health Canada in an effort to resolve this unprecedented matter in Canada. Samsung claims they are working with all the carriers, and even thanked them for their cooperation. Canadian customers should stop using their Galaxy Note 7s immediately, power them down, and follow Samsungs return policy for their own safety.
It seems every four years, when theres a new president being decided in the US, the big topic is getting everyone registered to vote and actually getting everyone out there to vote. Its been no different this year as Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton race to the White House. Google had a small pop-up on their home page yesterday, urging users to register to vote, as the deadline to register is this week in many States. Facebook also did something similar, posting a reminder at the top of their news feed, so that everyone that logged in would see the reminder to either register or update their voter registration.

Having this reminder on Facebooks news feed obviously was a big deal for the company, and urged a lot of users to register to vote, or update their registration. In face, many States saw near-record numbers for those signing up. Which is important, especially for a presidential election. The first day that the reminder was on their site, the State of California saw 123,279 people register or update their voter registration. That was the fourth-highest daily total in the history of their voter registration website. It wasnt just California either, as Minnesota, Maryland, Oregon, Pennsylvania and Washington all saw some pretty big surges in the number of users registering to vote.

If you havent registered to vote yet, its likely too late, but Florida has extended the deadline due to Hurricane Matthew. Its important to register to vote and then to be sure to hit the polls on November 8th, as this election could shape up the future of the country for the next 4, 8, 10 even 20 years. If youre undecided about who to vote for, theres still one more debate left on October 19th, which should help make up your mind. But theres also just under a month before polls open, and both the Clinton and Trump campaign will be doing everything in their power to persuade you to vote for them. Its a pretty big decision, and opting not to vote shouldnt be an option, as one of these two will be in charge of the US come January.
As if Samsung already has enough problems, they can add a couple more to those. Now that Samsung has halted production of the Galaxy Note 7 due to fires and now wants them all returned, it seems as though there is a problem on how to send them back. FedEx Express and UK Royal Mail are refusing to handle shipments because of their possible volatility. FedEx Ground is still offering to ship new units to customers as long as those units come from retail stores. UPS says it will only ship ground in their special packing. The United States Postal Service has not yet gotten back with their policies. You cannot blame FedEx or UPS that fly almost every package. If a Note 7 would explode or catch fire in the planes cargo bay, it could be disastrous. Samsung may have to pay to have them dropped off, specially wrapped, and driven by truck to a ship that is willing to take them to Korea.

It seems like it was just yesterday when Samsung proudly announced its new Galaxy Note 7. It was highly praised by the reviewers, pre-orders were piling up, and when the official day came, they started flying off the shelves. Then one caught fire  no big deal, probably a defective battery. Then another and another and all of a sudden Samsung starts to investigate, determines it is a battery issue from one supplier and ends up doing a complete recall. By this time, all stores have suspended sales. Most turned their Note 7s in at a company store and exchanged them for something temporary or permanent. Two to three weeks past and Samsung was ready to ship out a new and improved batch. Many went in and picked up a new Galaxy Note 7 only to later find out some of the new devices caught fire as well. Samsung decided on the only option they had really left  they pulled all of the Galaxy Note 7s and are no longer producing them. Retail partners are also no longer selling them.

We may never know the real reason of what caused the fires in the Note 7s and Samsung may decide to get rid of the Note moniker altogether. Before Samsung does anything, they need to figure out how to get them sent back to Korea, and it doesnt look like it will be via FedEx or UPS.
Theres no doubt that the Galaxy Note 7 ordeal did a lot of damage to Samsungs Note lineup but the Galaxy brand as a whole may not be as heavily affected as one might think. Namely, Samsung Galaxy is still the most valuable brand in South Korea and the tech giant actually did the only sensible thing it could after discontinuing the Galaxy Note 7  it ramped up production of the Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 Edge in hopes that its quarterly wont take a big hit. Namely, the Note 7 fiasco didnt just cost Samsung millions of flagships sales in August, September, and October. The holiday season is traditionally one of the most lucrative periods for smartphone makers and with its latest phablet out of the race, Samsung had to make sure retailers are at least stocked with its premium devices released earlier in the year.

As it turns out, that strategy has a good chance of paying off. Namely, retail chains in Taiwan are reporting that most Note 7 customers are opting to replace their devices with the Galaxy S7 Edge. Industry analysts are suspecting that similar sentiments are also present in the West so the Galaxy brand as a whole may still end this year on a high note. In other words, Samsung will likely prove that its phone brand is simply too big to suffer long-term consequence due to a single misstep such as the one made with the Galaxy Note 7. Sure, the launch of this smartphone was pretty much a disaster regardless of how you look at it but the Galaxy Note 7 is still just a single phone and Samsung has already earned enough goodwill from consumers to survive this.

Of course, given how both the Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 Edge are cheaper than the companys explosive flagship, all consumers are still eligible for a partial refund after replacing their faulty phone. In addition to Samsungs Galaxy S7 smartphones, customers are reportedly also interested in replacing the Galaxy Note 7 with its predecessor, the Samsung Galaxy Note 5. No firm sales numbers have been revealed at the moment, but we should know more in a few weeks after market research firms publish their latest findings.
With the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus being water resistant, mobile phone manufacturers and users are increasingly paying attention to the protection of phone. Recently, a brand-new budget phone  Nomu S30, which has splendid performance and protection was released.

Nomu S30 is shock proof which gives the body an extremely substantial feel in the hands and is able to withstand drops from a height of up to 1.2 meters. Featuring IP68 certification, it is waterproof and can survive depths of 5 meters for 2 hours and is fully dust protected which easily handles the harshest environment.

Aside from the excellent protection, Nomu S30 uses the latest quick charge technology  PumpExpress 3.0 which delivers a 45% boost in charging speeds comparing to traditional charging. 5 minutes of charging gives you up to 4 hours of talk-time. Regarding the specifications, Nomu S30 features the MediaTek MT6755 octa-core chipset along with 4GB of RAM, 64GB of storage, 4G LTE support and a remarkable battery capacity of 5000mAh. It also has a 13-megapixel rear-facing camera and a 8-megapixel front-facing shooter, as well as sporting a 5.5-inch 1080p display with Android 6.0 Marshmallow on board. Its a fairly large smartphone, with dimensions of 162 x 83 x 13.35 mm.

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S30 is an addition to the Nomu Series and is a strong contender in the market for those consumers that require a phone with a high protection level. Given the specifications and the protection features, it is safe to say Nomu S30 is worth checking out.

Nomu is powered by Shenzhen Xin KingBrand Enterprises which is a professional manufacturer of rugged mobile phones in China and is the only mobile phone manufacturer that is able to complete in the electronic design, metal part / plastic part production and mobile phone assembly in China. Nomu has been made by this company to be the most professional rugged phone brand in China and all over the world.

More details of the Nomu S30 will be available soon, stay tuned.
What started off as promising in early August for Samsung Electronics has turned into the single biggest public relations nightmare the company has had to address in a long time. Its now-discontinued phablet, the Galaxy Note 7, has been at the center of a seemingly never-ending saga that now threatens to jeopardize the companys status as the worlds largest smartphone maker ahead of Apple Inc. The company, as has been reported widely in the mainstream media over the past couple of days, has permanently stopped sales and production of the ill-fated smartphone after the replacement units also started bursting into flames, following the initial recall that was announced last month after the first rumblings about the Galaxy Note 7 fires started popping up on social media and online message boards from around the world.

Unsure about the viability of the Note brand in the future, many analysts and media commentators have been urging Samsung to bring the curtains down on what has, until now, been one of the most successful smartphone lines in the world. While Samsung is yet to make any announcement on this issue officially, rumors coming out of Russia earlier today are apparently claiming that the South Korean electronics giant is all set to do just that. With some recent polls showing that a majority of consumers are starting to associate negative connotations with the Note brand, it wouldnt be a total surprise if the company indeed pulls the plug on the Note brand going forward. However, Samsung is yet to confirm the report officially, nor has it been corroborated by any credible source. That being the case, well just have to take this rumor with a generous pinch of salt. For now, at least.

Samsung had originally launched the Galaxy Note 7 back in August to glowing reviews in the international media. Initial sales figures looked promising as well, but that was before things went sideways with reports of the device catching on fire starting to pour in from around the globe. After an internal investigation, the South Korean company issued a global recall of the Galaxy Note 7, blaming the batteries manufactured by Samsung SDI, for the fiasco. However, with several cases of the supposedly-fixed replacement units also reportedly bursting into flames over the past few days, Samsung had very few options but to discontinue the device that had initially promised to establish the companys position as the preeminent smartphone manufacturer in the world.
President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko will pay a working visit to Armenia on Friday.

October 13, 2016, 17:20 Belarus president heading to Armenia

STEPANAKERT, OCTOBER 13, ARTSAKHPRESS: The leader of Belarus is expected to participate in the CSTO session. President will present priority directions of Belarus presidency in the organization, his press office said in a statement.

International issues and collective security issues, as well as additional measures to fight against terrorism.
In view of the recent debacle involving the Samsung Galaxy Note 7, the mobile chief of Samsung Electronics, Koh Dong-jin, or better known simply as DJ Koh, has been under immense pressure. With the whole fracas caused by the Galaxy Note 7, many people have lost their trust in the South Korean company, and now DJ Koh has pledged that he would at any cost, find the exact cause behind the Galaxy Note 7 fires. DJ Koh then went on to say that he is doing this to restore trust of consumers in the Samsung brand, so that they may use its electronics in the future, without any safety concerns. This comes after the Galaxy Note 7 was pulled from the production line, and sale of the device permanently halted due to multiple replacement units catching on fire.

DJ Koh has also admitted that he has been frustrated over the past few weeks due to the crisis which plagued the company. He apologized and expressed his gratitude towards Samsung employees for their support during the tough times. It has been reported that some employees have put up a series of posts on the firms online message board in support of DJ Koh, and the entire company. It was also done in a bid to boost the morale of the Samsung workforce. DJ Koh became the mobile chief back in 2014, when his predecessor, Shin Jong-kyun stepped down from the position. The former chief now heads the information technology and mobile communications wing of the company, which has the mobile business unit under its arm.

DJ Koh has been an essential part of Samsung, having embraced innovations such as the large sized smartphone which is now their Galaxy Note lineup, the S Pen, a widely known feature of the lineup, and Samsung Pay, which is a mobile payment solution which is fast expanding all over the globe. The mobile chief has been with Samsung since 1984 and has led development units at Samsungs mobile division since 2007. There has also been reports that Samsung Group could be dropped from his position, and hold him responsible for the Galaxy Note 7 fiasco.
Earlier this week, Samsung announced that it would be permanently halting the production of its flagship phablet, the Galaxy Note 7, which was released only a couple of months ago. This comes after reports regarding replacement Galaxy Note 7 units catching on fire started to emerge last week, sparking safety concerns among Galaxy Note 7 users. Before this incident, Samsung had issued a worldwide recall of the Galaxy Note 7, after numerous reports of units exploding while being charged were highlighted in the media. Samsung carried out an internal investigation which concluded that the blame was to be put on the battery encased within the device. However, it has been reported that in actual fact, Samsung engineers were unsure of what caused the fires and quickly came to a conclusion so that the device could be put back on sale. This incident has placed safety concerns regarding lithium-ion batteries back into the limelight.

The lithium-ion battery used to power the Galaxy Note 7, has actually been around for 25 years and has been powering portable devices since then. According to Qichao Hu, a former researcher at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and founder of SolidEnergy Systems, a battery is essentially a bomb which releases its energy in a controlled manner. But as consumer demand has increased for batteries which are smaller and longer lasting, is forcing manufacturers to push the technology. At the moment, there are safety issues with all batteries, and as you pack a higher energy density into a battery, as well as enable it to charge faster, the likelihood of an explosion is increased.

According to a US chemical company, Albemarle, prices of lithium-ion batteries have been falling 14% every year for the past 15 years. All batteries need safety mechanisms built in, which of course increases the production costs, but with the price of batteries falling, smaller manufacturers have ignored safety. However, it is unknown whether Samsung or its battery suppliers scrimped on safety when it came to the battery of the Galaxy Note 7. Tony Olson, the CEO of D2 Worldwide, has highlighted that the problem does not only lie with cheaper products as he had run tests on batteries in laptops a while back, highlighting the dangers of them catching fire. Olsen repeated the tests on other laptop batteries seven years later and he discovered that very little has changed in terms of battery safety design.
Two decades ago, Google was an Internet search engine company. Today, the Mountain View-based firm is one of the tech industrys biggest leaders with initiatives ranging from operating systems, apps, cloud services, and communications solutions to self-driving vehicles, artificial intelligence, virtual reality, wearables, and smartphones. To say that Google has diversified its portfolio would be a huge understatement. Furthermore, that strategy is seemingly paying off. The Alphabet-owned company currently has the second most valuable brand in the world and is a leading innovator in most branches of the tech industry. Last Tuesday, Google continued its expansion and diversification strategy by announcing the Google Pixel and Pixel XL. While the two devices can technically be seen as Nexus successors, these are the first two phones ever which were completely designed by Google and are solely featuring the companys branding.

The Pixel phones, Google Home connected speaker, Google Glass 2, Google OnHub router, and a variety of other existing and upcoming consumer electronics designed or made by the Mountain View tech giant are all a part of the companys long-term hardware bet. And while consumers are seemingly rather pleased with Googles hardware-related endeavors, enterprises are still not buying the idea of the advertising giant producing quality solutions for big businesses. In a recent poll conducted by the TechRepublics so-called CIO Jury which encompasses most of the leading decision-makers in the western tech industry, almost two-thirds of interviewees stated that theyre extremely skeptical about the usefulness of products like Google Pixel and Google Wi-Fi in the context of enterprises.

Among other things, the polled industry professionals stated that theyre worried about Googles openness towards third-parties which they cant see disappearing anytime soon given how selling information is the companys core business. In addition to that, some chief information officers and other decision-makers also expressed worries about Googles track record of being fickle with their products. Even the interviewees who answered theyd trust Googles hardware in an enterprise environment specifically pointed out that theyd only do so after reviewing the companys terms and conditions about gathering their data and seeing whether theyre acceptable. On the other hand, most individuals who stated they dont trust the existing Google hardware havent completely ruled out the possibility of cooperating with the tech giant in the future. Nonetheless, its obvious Google still has a long way to go before making a solid foothold in the business of servicing enterprises.
Looking back at early 2016, who would have thought back then that Google is going to ditch the Nexus line and take a more hands-on approach with smartphones while Samsungs Galaxy brand is taking a huge hit? Samsung was posting great profits and getting ready to release the Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 Edge while Google wasnt showing any signs of being a major player in the smartphone hardware market anytime soon. Yes, we all love our Nexus devices but its not like they were ever hugely popular among the general public. In fact, selling crazy amounts of units was never the main goal of the Nexus program as Google was mostly trying to highlight what was possible with the Android system, not seriously compete with OEMs.

Well, times change and Google changes with them. The tech giant is currently in the midst of placing a huge, long-term bet on hardware and the upcoming Google Pixel and Pixel XL flagships are an important part of that endeavor. Soon enough, the smartphone market will be that much more diverse and offer even more options to consumers than it already does. While Google already stated that it has no intention to stop assisting Android OEMs, the Mountain View-based company also doesnt shy away from healthy competition. The Google Pixel and Pixel XL are launching in a week, theyre heavily marketed, relatively rich with features, and are definitely expected to win some market share. The only question is  win it from whom?

If the e-commerce company Branding Brand is to be believed, the answer is  Samsung. The said firm just conducted a survey and concluded that about 8% of all owners of Samsung phones in the US are planning to buy one of the two upcoming Pixel devices due to the Galaxy Note 7 fiasco. While that percentage isnt huge, it also isnt insignificant considering Samsungs sizable market share in the US. Branding Brand categorically asserts that the said change of heart was primarily prompted by the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 ordeal which heavily damaged the Galaxy brand in the US. While these findings are certainly good news for Google, its worth noting that the research firms representative sample of consumers encompassed only 1000 American owners of Samsung phones. Naturally, thats still way too little to serve as a basis for any definitive conclusions.
Over the past few months, Verizon appears to have gone on a bit of a spending splurge with the acquisition of a number of companies, among them the huge $4.8 billion deal to acquire Yahoo. In contrast to this, though, the company is actually increasing its cost-cutting efforts in order to reduce spending and today is no different.

The largest carrier has confirmed plans to shut down a total of seven call centers situated across seven states, a decision that affects nearly 3,200 jobs, not all will be cut, though, with a significant amount being offered a relocated position. As part of the closures, Verizon has decided to close down both their Rochester and New York City centers in New York, as well as their Wallingford and Meridan centers in Connecticut, their centers in both Bangor and Lincoln which are situated in Maine and Nebraska respectively, as well as the Racho Cordoba center in California. Regarding which jobs will stay and which will go, Californias workers will be offered jobs elsewhere, with travel costs of up to $500 being offered in order to visit their future offices, along with a $10,000 relocation package if they choose to accept the offer. If the employees decide on not making the move they will be offered severance packages. Moving on to the New York positions, around 800 jobs will be lost along with a further 550 in Connecticut, 320 in Nebraska and 200 in Maine. The majority of other jobs will be relocated and employees will be offered similar packages to those in California.

Verizon says the reason for the closures is so that they can maximize the output from their current office spaces. All of these cost-cutting efforts are due to the fact that competition from rival carriers is constantly increasing, so the pressure is constantly on to maintain high profits. This is also the reason the carrier is pushing its online media services, which have been backed up by the acquisitions of both AOL and Yahoo in order to help the carrier become a prominent online media provider and help broaden their services into areas that are still experiencing relatively speedy growth.
Every once in a while, a new technological advance hits the market and completely upends the traditional lifestyle. We are in the midst of watching one of those advances develop and shape itself, and the United States government knows it. This is why President Barack Obama is headed to Pittsburgh soon to attend the first ever White House Frontiers Conference. 5G is already proving to be incredibly significant in its promise, and many are saying that it could be one of the most important technological advances in decades, simply by virtue of how many other life-changing technological advances it will enable.

US carriers are already waist-deep in 5G testing, with tests consistently breaking the gigabit barrier. Some carriers plan to use large amounts of nodes with low-band spectrum, while others plan to reform their existing higher-band spectrum. Both approaches will result in a robust, faster-than-ever connection that customers wont often find themselves out of the range of. The ubiquity of LTE in most markets that it can be found in is already driving a more connected lifestyle, but 5G promises to be even more reliable, fast, and hard to overload. This means that even more uses, with even more data intensity, are possible, from the internet of things to virtual reality, always-on crowdsourced AI to connected wearables, and everything in between. For the average consumer, this means, quite frankly, that life is about to change drastically.

Self-driving cars are one of the first big revolutions that come to mind. Interconnected and sharing AI computing duty over 5G, self-driving cars, given time, promise to all but eliminate traffic jams, vehicular fatalities, and the like. Connected wearables on 5G can be brought far beyond the realm of smartwatches. Augmented reality and virtual reality are some of the easiest examples to point to, and both could be delivered on a constant, massive basis with 5G connections. This, in turn, will change connected life. Video calls become VR affairs, AR overlays show you reviews of shops and restaurants youre looking at, and massive, open-world multiplayer gaming that makes Pokemon GO look like childs play is available to all, and thats just the beginning on that front. This revolution comes just as AI, VR, and a large number of other technologies are finally finding their footing. Most projections put commercial 5G connections at 2020, and developers and creators will likely have a lot of things ready to show it off when it finally hits.
Xiaomi is, without a doubt, one of the largest smartphone manufacturers in China, even though the company is no longer in the top 3 smartphone companies in their homeland, at least not in terms of sheer sales, a number of companies managed to outsell Xiaomi in the first half of this year, including Huawei, OPPO and Vivo. That being said, Xiaomi is expected to announce the Mi Note 2 flagship phablet in October or November, and as were waiting for that to happen, something really, really interesting leaked in China, read on.

If you take a look at the two images in the gallery down below, youll get to see Xiaomis concept flexible display for smartphones, or at least it looks like it. Now, these two images leaked on Baidu, and they seems to show off a flexible display which belongs on a smartphone, even though the source claims this is a concept smartphone, which seems quite unlikely considering we see only a displays here, as there are no bezels or buttons here, and this flexible layer is extremely thin. Now, chances are that this is a prototype unit, or perhaps a non-functioning, digitally enhanced representation of whats to come. In any case, it seems like this display is bendable in pretty much every direction, and it does remind us of Lenovos technology which was demoed at IFA 2016 back in September.

Now, weve seen such flexible displays demoed in the past, and the aforementioned Lenovo tech is a good example. Needless to say, Samsung had already submitted a number of patents for flexible smartphones, and we do expect such devices to become a reality at some point in the future, but such smartphones might not become a reality as soon as we expect them to. Such technology is still quite expensive, and the flexible displays are not the only problem here, if the display is bending, then the whole phone needs to bend, which means that the internals have to bend as well, or at least be positioned properly to allow the phone to bend to a certain degree. It will be interesting to see who will be first to cross the finish line and actually release such a device to the market.
Verizon's decision to close two call centers in New York isn't sitting well with Gov. Andrew Cuomo's office.

Rich Azzopardi, a spokesman for the governor, ripped Verizon for the closures and the timing of the announcement. He said the company gave the governor's office 20 minutes notice of the announcement, which was delivered on Yom Kippur, a Jewish holy day.

"This is an egregious example of corporate abuse  among the worst we have witnessed during the six years of this administration," Azzopardi said. "Verizon's negligence is astounding and as a result, hard-working New Yorkers will lose their jobs."

Verizon will close its call centers in Henrietta, a Rochester suburb, and Rockland County. More than 600 employees work at the Henrietta call center. The downstate call center has 261 employees.

The company plans to offer affected employees positions at other call centers throughout the country.

Chris Shelton, president of the Communications Workers of America, questioned why Verizon would close call centers when it's in the process of acquiring Yahoo's internet business for $4.83 billion and its stock price, in July, hit its highest level in 16 years.

"It's corporate greed at its worst," Shelton said. "Does this mean more jobs and more customer service problems will be shipped to Verizon overseas operations in the Philippines and other countries?"

According to the Democratic and Chronicle, the Rochester-area call center will close in January. Azzopardi said the state Department of Labor will send its rapid response team to help employees affected by the closure.

Azzopardi called Verizon's decision "reckless."

"In this state, we will continue to stand up to those who put profit ahead of people," he said.
AUBURN  Two sisters with a history of possessing and selling drugs in Cayuga County were sentenced to prison Thursday, but only one will serve her time at a drug treatment center.

On Oct. 13, Cheryl and Shaunna Oliver both appeared in Cayuga County criminal court before Judge Thomas Leone.

First, Shaunna, of 19 Frederick St. in Auburn, was sentenced to four years in prison and two years post-release supervision for third-degree criminal sale of a controlled substance.

The 26-year-old had initially been charged with four felonies and two misdemeanors for selling cocaine in September 2015. However, Cayuga County District Attorney Jon Budelmann let Shaunna plead guilty to one felony count in August to satisfy all charges.

"It's my hope that (Shaunna) can address whatever demons keep bringing her here," Budelmann said at sentencing, noting that she has an extensive criminal history dating back to 2006. "I hope she takes advantage of the programs that are available to her in prison."

"She knows that these addictions are going to kill her," Shaunna's attorney Norman Chirco added. "But as we've seen in so many cases here, these drugs just have a grip on her."

Through tears, Shaunna asked to address the court, telling Leone she was "not a drug dealer."

"I was doing bad things to support my habit," she said. "But throwing me in prison is not helping. I need help."

In response, Leone told Shaunna to look at her family who sat crying behind her.

"I've said this before in similar cases, at least your family will know where you are and that you are safe," he said. "And if you don't get a handle on this, you're not going to be on this earth much longer."

Next, after Shaunna was lead away in handcuffs, her older sister was brought in on a separate case.

Cheryl, of 3595 State School Road, Albion, pleaded guilty Sept. 19 to third-degree criminal sale of a controlled substance. However, Budelmann amended the charge Thursday to third-degree attempted criminal sale of a controlled substance so she could serve her time at Willard Drug Treatment Center, a specialized state prison in Seneca County that treats convicts who struggle with drug addiction.

"As a second felony offender, a Class B felony would make (Cheryl) ineligible for Willard," Budelmann said. "We will allow her to withdraw her plea and plead guilty to attempted criminal sale instead."

The 31-year-old admitted that she attempted to sell cocaine to another person in September 2015 and, in exchange for her plea, Leone sentenced Cheryl to two years in prison and two years post-release supervision. But, he said, she would be given the opportunity to serve part of that sentence at Willard.

According to the district attorney, Cheryl will serve three months at Willard before spending the next six months in a halfway house. Then, if successful with her treatment, she will be placed on parole.

"This is a sad day for your family," Leone said. "Your younger sister is going to prison for four years ... and the outlook is not good for your children. If not for yourself, you need to do this for them."

Cheryl agreed.

"I'm tired," she said, crying. "I don't want to live like this anymore."

Also in court:

 An Auburn man will spend the next several years in prison for selling and possessing drugs last year in Cayuga County.

Saleem Spencer, 33, of 2 Mundt Ave. Apt. B, pleaded guilty in August to third-degree criminal sale of a controlled substance and third-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance, both felonies.

At the time, the second felony offender told the court he sold a quantity of heroin in July 2015 and possessed more than 10 grams of cocaine in October 2015, which he intended to sell.

Spencer faced a maximum of 12 years in prison, but Leone adhered to an agreed-upon sentence of 5 1/2 years in prison plus three years post-release supervision on each count. Both sentences will run concurrently to one another.

 A Weedsport man has admitted to assaulting two paramedics while he was highly intoxicated last year.

William Smith, of 133 Oakleaf Dr., entered an Alford plea Thursday in which he pleaded guilty to second-degree attempted assault despite his inability to recall his actions at the time of the crime.

According to Budelmann, the 42-year-old was highly intoxicated on Dec. 6, 2015, when he became violent with two paramedics in the town of Brutus. He was initially charged with felony second-degree assault, obstructing emergency medical personnel and second-degree harassment.

Still, the District Attorney's Office allowed Smith to plead to a lesser count of attempted assault in full satisfaction of the indictment.

"I was intoxicated, your honor, and I don't recall exactly what happened, but I do believe (the district attorney's) statements are correct," Smith said in court.

Leone remanded the defendant to jail until Jan. 12 when he will likely sentence Smith to two to four years in prison.

That sentence will be served concurrently to a sentence in Onondaga County where Smith has been charged with felony driving while intoxicated, Budelmann said. Smith is expected to plead guilty to that charge as well in exchange for two to six years in prison.
A state appeals court has upheld the 2014 conviction and life sentence of a Fulton man who sexually abused a 5-year-old girl in Sterling.

Cayuga County District Attorney Jon Budelmann said in a press release on Wednesday that the Appellate Division, Fourth Department in Rochester, affirmed the conviction and life sentence of Levi Warren Maynard.

The appellate division rejected Maynards claims about the evidence that supported two of the charges and that his lawyer ineffectively represented him.

The court affirmed the Class A felony conviction of predatory sexual assault against a child and found that Maynards confession alone was insufficient to support a less serious Class D felony charge of sexual abuse.

The court also affirmed Maynards conviction of endangering the welfare of a child.

Cayuga County Assistant District Attorney Brian Leeds handled the appeal, while Chief ADA Christopher Valdina and ADA Heather M. DeStefano handled the trial for the DAs office.

Due to the excellent work investigating, trying and defending this conviction, the defendant will serve a life sentence," Budelmann said in the release. "Every day this defendant is behind bars is a day that he does not have the opportunity to victimize another child. This is a good outcome for our children, and our entire community.

Maynard was found guilty by a Cayuga County jury on June 11, 2014 of the crimes from October 2012. On July 17, 2014, the court sentenced Maynard to 20 years to life in prison.
A Skaneateles man is facing felony charges after being arrested by the New York State Police.

David R. Kerr III, 33, of 10 W. Genesee St., Skaneateles, was arrested Wednesday. He has been charged with second-degree forgery and fourth-degree grand larceny.

Authorities said Kerr stole credit cards and used them for transactions at multiple businesses in Skaneateles.

Kerr was arraigned in Skaneateles Town Court and granted pre-trial release.

His next court date is scheduled for 7 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 9.
A Staten Island man wanted for allegedly committing a New York City bank robbery was found under a Chapel House Homeless Shelter bed Wednesday afternoon where he threatened to shoot responding police officers, according to the Auburn Police Department.

Officers arrived at 290 Grant Ave. around 1 p.m. after staff reported a male was staying with a female resident and was not authorized to be there, according to a release. Anthony Thomas Barlotta, 56, was found hiding underneath a bed. He threatened to shoot the responding officers and began to reach into his pocket, police said.

The police department said Barlotta was holding an object in his hand. Officers drew their weapons and took cover, negotiating with Barlotta for approximately 10 minutes. Barlotta eventually complied and came out from underneath the bed. There were no reported injuries.

Barlotta was charged with third-degree menacing, a misdemeanor. Upon further investigation, Auburn police found out that Barlotta was wanted for bank robbery, and they notified New York City Police. New York City Police detectives came to the Auburn Police Department, taking custody of Barlotta and transporting him back to the city to answer the robbery charges.
(ANSA) - Rome, October 13 - A cooperation agreement was signed Thursday by ANSA, Italy's top news agency, and Anadolu Agency, the leading agency in Turkey.

The agreement is part of ANSA's international strategy, featuring continual strengthening of the already broad network of Italian journalists and stringers around the world, in particular in the Mediterranean basin, which ANSA follows with its ANSAMed service. As of today, 57 agreements are operational with international agencies and distributors, including 18 in the Mediterranean area alone. "This agreement has been signed in the wake of the historic friendship between Italy and Turkey and it is another important part in the construction of our news network," commented ANSA CEO Giuseppe Cerbone. "Agreements like this are part of the way in which we can help our countries to know more about each other.

"It is fundamentally important that there are information exchanges to overcome moments of global crisis like the one we are going through". Anadolu Executive Board member Muhammet Salih Demirkan also expressed satisfaction.

"This agreement is very important, both for the current state of cooperation between our two countries, which has a historic, centuries-old past, and in order to lift even higher the existing cooperation," he said.

"Anadolu has won an important partner on the global news network, especially in Europe and the Mediterranean, with this agreement and it will be able to transmit news from Italy to the rest of the world in 11 languages".


(ANSA) - Bari, October 13 - A fraud and embezzlement trial opened Thursday against three former officials of the centrist anti-corruption Italy of Values (IdV) party in the southern Puglia region, including two of its treasurers.

The three defendants are accused of misappropriating a total of 100,000 euros from party coffers in 2009-2013, and spending them on meals, flowers, hotels, phone credit, gas, and cigarettes. Former MP Augusto Di Stanislao, who served as IdV regional commissioner for Puglia in 2011-2013, is accused of falsely claiming reimbursement of 8,000 euros for gas and hotel stays.

Regional IdV treasurer Gianni Di Turi (who served through 2010) is accused of using 5,000 euros of party money to pay for flowers, restaurants, phone credit and traffic fines and Loredana Antini (treasurer in 2010-2012) allegedly spent 40,000 euros on scratch cards, hotel stays, meals, and hotel stays.

Antini is also charged with defrauding her party out of 55,000 euros by declaring them as her salary, and out of a further 10,000 euros in reimbursements using doctored gas station receipts.


ROME - The first of the 99 names Muslims call Allah is ''The Merciful'' (Ar-Rahman) and many of the other names recall the same concept, such as ''The Compassionate'' (Ar-Rahim) and ''The Forgiving''.



And 'Rahma. Muslim and Christian Studies in Mercy' is also the name of an international conference organized by the Pontifical Institute for Arabic and Islamic Studies (PISAI) that will open in the Italian capital on Thursday afternoon.



The three-day conference 'Rahma. Muslim and Christian Studies in Mercy', will be discussing the theme of 'mercy' - to which the Holy Year nearing its end was dedicated - from the Christian and Muslim points of view. Opening remarks will be by Cardinal Walter Kasper and Professor Mouhanad Khorchide from the Zentrum fur Islamische Theologie, Westfalische Wilhelms-Universitat Munster. The event will continue until October 15 with a series of workshops that Christian and Muslim professors and experts from US and European universities will be taking part in. They will be addressing the issue from theological and social ethics standpoints. Monsignor Michael Louis Fitzgerald, previously head of the Pontifical Council for Inter-religious Dialogue and former nuncio in Cairo, will be one of those taking part. The conference is to be held at the Pontifical Urban University and only accredited university students and teachers will be able to attend.



A concert by the Beyond Borders Ensemble under Mehdi Elias Baba-Ameur will be held tonight, with Ottoman, Arab-Andalusian, Sephardic and Armenian music. (ANSAmed).
France urges Italy to ID all migrants at hotspots Not doing so poses a security risk says Cazeneuve

(ANSAmed) - LUXEMBOURG, OCTOBER 13 - French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said Thursday Italy must identify all migrants and asylum seekers that reach its soil as a matter of collective security.



All migrants who arrive on Italian soil must be properly registered through the appropriate EU hotspots set up for the purpose, said Cazeneuve on the sidelines of the EU Justice and Home Affairs Council meeting Thursday.



"It's unthinkable to imagine that some migrants arrive on Italian soil without having passed through the hotspots - this poses security risks," Cazeneuve said.



"If we want to offer dignified reception to those who need protection, we have to carry out what was decided, that is, identification of migrants upon their arrival at the hotspots, everywhere, especially in Italy and Greece," he said.



Italy and Greece are the first European landfall for asylum seekers leaving from Africa and the Middle East. (ANSAmed).




Christians and Muslims scholars meet to discuss 'mercy' 3-day conference organized by PISAI in Rome

(ANSAmed) - ROME, OCTOBER 13 - The first of the 99 names Muslims call Allah is ''The Merciful'' (Ar-Rahman) and many of the other names recall the same concept, such as ''The Compassionate'' (Ar-Rahim) and ''The Forgiving''.



And 'Rahma. Muslim and Christian Studies in Mercy' is also the name of an international conference organized by the Pontifical Institute for Arabic and Islamic Studies (PISAI) that will open in the Italian capital on Thursday afternoon.



The three-day conference 'Rahma. Muslim and Christian Studies in Mercy', will be discussing the theme of 'mercy' - to which the Holy Year nearing its end was dedicated - from the Christian and Muslim points of view. Opening remarks will be by Cardinal Walter Kasper and Professor Mouhanad Khorchide from the Zentrum fur Islamische Theologie, Westfalische Wilhelms-Universitat Munster. The event will continue until October 15 with a series of workshops that Christian and Muslim professors and experts from US and European universities will be taking part in. They will be addressing the issue from theological and social ethics standpoints. Monsignor Michael Louis Fitzgerald, previously head of the Pontifical Council for Inter-religious Dialogue and former nuncio in Cairo, will be one of those taking part. The conference is to be held at the Pontifical Urban University and only accredited university students and teachers will be able to attend.



A concert by the Beyond Borders Ensemble under Mehdi Elias Baba-Ameur will be held tonight, with Ottoman, Arab-Andalusian, Sephardic and Armenian music. (ANSAmed).




ROME - Nobel prize-winning Italian playwright and actor Dario Fo died Thursday morning in Milan, a groundbreaking leftist political satirist who won a Nobel Prize and wrote against power until the very end.

One of his last works was a book-length interview with Giuseppina Manin that was released on March 24 this year in honor of his 90th birthday entitled 'Dario e Dio' ('Dario and God', published by Guanda), in which he quoted Voltaire in saying that "God is the greatest invention in history. And, what is most important is that he did it entirely alone. He invented himself."Jesus had long fascinated Fo, who put him at the center of his most important, irreverent work: 'Mistero Buffo' ('Comical Mystery'), which was performed across Europe, Canada and Latin America from 1969 to 1999. The work was inspired by apocryphal gospels and also features the Three Wise Men and Pope Boniface VIII in the form of Bible stories as seen by the powerless. Fo's dreamy, allusive language runs through the entire performance. The Vatican denounced the work as "blasphemous". An ability to improvise born of a childhood following his amateur actor father who worked on the railways always enhanced Fo's work, and he learned much from the Italian Commedia dell'Arte tradition, a form of theatre characterized by masked "types" which began in the 16th century and was based on improvised performances. It was with 'Mistero Buffo' that Fo and his theater company - in which his wife Franca Rame played a major part, helping Fo to write many of his works - broke off ties with traditional theater and sought out different locations to meet with the public. His wide-ranging criticism of political parties led to his moving closer to organizations outside parliament, of which he and Rame became figureheads. In 1973, a group of fascists took Rame hostage and raped her. The following year, Milan's Palazzina Liberty was occupied and then legally entrusted to the two actors by the municipality. It was there that the couple held performances of political theater through years of attacks, deaths, and hostage-taking. Fo marked Italy indelibly between the 1960s and the 1990s with his work as against-the-grain author, actor, director and political agitator. One of his most important works, The Accidental Death of an Anarchist, was based on the scandalous - for the then Italian left - 1969 death of anarchist Giuseppe 'Pino' Pinelli, who fell - or was allegedly thrown - to his death from a Milan police station window. It quickly became a modern classic after its first performance in December 1970. Throughout his career, Fo used and adopted a distinctive type of theatrical slang called Grammelot, adapted from the Commedia dell'Arte's traditionally exaggerated, bawdy and allusive idioms.

Born in 1926 in San Giano (Varese) to a railway worker and a peasant, Fo studied painting in Brera and architecture in Milan. He was called up to the army of Fascist dictator Benito Mussolini during his years at university, but hid in an attic for the last few months of the war before Italy was liberated.



After WWII ended, he began improvised performances and began to achieve notoriety in the 1960s.



When he received the 1997 Nobel Prize in Literature, the Swedish Academy praised Fo as a writer "who emulates the jesters of the Middle Ages in scourging authority and upholding the dignity of the downtrodden". The prize was not uncontroversial in his homeland, where conservatives and right wingers had always seen him as a dangerous agitator rather than universal artist.



They protested loudly that the Swedish academy had made another, mistaken, political decision.



In his later years Fo painted, continued to go on stage and made headlines with his outspoken support for the anti-establishment Five Star Movement (M5S) party.
TUNIS - The International Festival of Oases will be held this year October 14-18 in Tozeur, southwestern Tunisia, and will focus on the sustainable development of oases and the strengthening of civil society. The website for the event is www.forum-oasiens.org.

The event aims to bring together the public, private and academic sectors to improve sustainability of oases.

The oases in North Africa have in recent years had to deal with large-scale economic, social, cultural and climate changes.

The forum is the result of a partnership between numerous national and international organizations including Oxfam. Donors including the European Union have provided funding for the initiative. On the sidelines of the forum, the project ''For Better Regional Cohesion of Civil Society in North Africa for Sustainable and Inclusive Rural Development'' funded by the European Union and implemented by Oxfam will organize its closing seminar. The event, Oxfam's Stefano Linguanotto said, will focus on best practices as part of the strengthening of skills and insertion into networks of the associations. An open event will be held on the afternoon of October 15 in which the associations that are part of the Remss and Remadel networks, Oxfam's partners in the project, will be presenting their collective advocacy initiatives.
Boat sinking in Strait of Sicily, 3-year-old missing MOAS-Red Cross, 113 rescued from sailing boat

(ANSAmed) - ROME, OCTOBER 13 - A three-year-old Nigerian boy is among 17 asylum seekers who went missing in the Strait of Sicily, survivors told Italian Red Cross and Malta-based Migrant Offshore Aid Station (MOAS) rescuers on Thursday. The two humanitarian organizations rescued 113 people off an unseaworthy inflatable amid rough seas last night.



Among them was the little boy's distraught mother, who said the child slipped out of her graps when they both fell off the overcrowded dinghy in heavy seas.



She said he was wearing a life vest and is hoping he will be found alive.



A young man told Red Cross rescuers five of his friends are missing. Another man said he witnessed a 16-year-old girl drown before rescuers arrived.



The rescue operation began following a call received at 19:00 on Wednesday. At 21:20, search drones aboard the Phoenix located the struggling boat, and in collaboration with other search and rescue NGOs in the area, immediately launched rescue operations.



Thanks to cooperation with the teams of Proactiva Open Arms, Jugend Rettet and Boat Refugee Foundation, the MOAS team brought the survivors aboard. Survivor search operations were interrupted shortly after, due to poor weather conditions. The number of missing is still unknown.



The boat had left the Libyan coast near Sabratha at 2pm on Wednesday, so at the time of rescue those aboard had already been at sea for hours. Many of the survivors aboard the Phoenix had burns caused by the friction from wet skin against saltwater with clothes that were damp from fuel that had leaked from the engine. Women were particularly affected by these burns, since they didn't remove fuel-soaked clothing from their bodies due to modesty. One of these women had first-degree burns over 36% of her body.



"Even though various search and rescue operations in the Mediterranean, the deaths don't stop. As it's been said numerous times, volunteers can't substitute institutions: we want a response on the European level to stop this shameful unending massacre," said Italian Red Cross President Francesco Rocca.



"The International Organisation for Migration estimates that in 2016 alone more than 3,500 people have died in the Mediterranean, but that's just the number of registered deaths.



It's time to find sustainable alternatives to these voyages of death," said MOAS Director Pete Sweetnam.



While the Phoenix makes its way north, the second MOAS boat, Responder, also part of the MOAS-Red Cross joint mission, is heading to Messina with 175 people rescued during the night between Tuesday and Wednesday. The arrival is expected at 7:00 Friday.(ANSAmed).




WASHINGTON - The US has hit three radar sites in Yemen with Tomahawk missiles after one of its warships in the Red Sea came under missile attack for the second time in days.



The sites targeted were under the control of Shia Houthi rebels and the attack was in ''self-defense'', according to the Pentagon. Previously, the US had only provided logistical assistance to the Saudi-led coalition fighting against the Houthi rebels and their allies, including supporters of the former Yemeni president Ali Abdullah Saleh.



The Saudi-led coalition has meanwhile been accused by Human Rights Watch (HRW) of war crimes for the bombing of a funeral in Sanaa that killed over 150 people including many civilians.


ANSA and Turkey's Anadolu sign cooperation agreement Two news agencies seal strategic partnership in Rome

(ANSAmed) - ROME, OCTOBER 13 - A cooperation agreement was signed Thursday by ANSA, Italy's top news agency, and Anadolu Agency, the leading agency in Turkey.



The agreement is part of ANSA's international strategy, featuring continual strengthening of the already broad network of Italian journalists and stringers around the world, in particular in the Mediterranean basin, which ANSA follows with its ANSAMed service. As of today, 57 agreements are operational with international agencies and distributors, including 18 in the Mediterranean area alone. "This agreement has been signed in the wake of the historic friendship between Italy and Turkey and it is another important part in the construction of our news network," commented ANSA CEO Giuseppe Cerbone. "Agreements like this are part of the way in which we can help our countries to know more about each other.



"It is fundamentally important that there are information exchanges to overcome moments of global crisis like the one we are going through". Anadolu Executive Board member Muhammet Salih Demirkan also expressed satisfaction.



"This agreement is very important, both for the current state of cooperation between our two countries, which has a historic, centuries-old past, and in order to lift even higher the existing cooperation," he said.



"Anadolu has won an important partner on the global news network, especially in Europe and the Mediterranean, with this agreement and it will be able to transmit news from Italy to the rest of the world in 11 languages". (ANSAmed).




Pope calls for lasting solutions for migrant children Unaccompanied migrants 'three times defenceless'

(ANSAmed) - VATICAN CITY, OCTOBER 13 - Pope Francis has called on the international community to find lasting solutions to the plight of migrant children and resolve the root of the issue.



"To all I address a heartfelt appeal that long-term solutions be sought and adopted," read the pope's message for the 2017 World Day of Migrants and Refugees, which the Vatican released on Thursday. "Since this is a complex phenomenon, the question of child migrants must be tackled at its source. "Wars, human rights violations, corruption, poverty, environmental imbalance and disasters, are all causes of this problem. "Children are the first to suffer, at times suffering torture and other physical violence, in addition to moral and psychological aggression, which almost always leave indelible scars. It is absolutely necessary, therefore, to deal with the causes which trigger migrations in the countries of origin.



"This requires, as a first step, the commitment of the whole international community to eliminate the conflicts and violence that force people to flee. "Furthermore, far-sighted perspectives are called for, capable of offering adequate programmes for areas struck by the worst injustice and instability, in order that access to authentic development can be guaranteed for all. "This development should promote the good of boys and girls, who are humanity's hope". Francis focused especially on the plight of unaccompanied migrant children.



"I feel compelled to draw attention to the reality of child migrants, especially the ones who are alone," the message read. "In doing so I ask everyone to take care of the young, who in a threefold way are defenceless: they are children, they are foreigners, and they have no means to protect themselves. "I ask everyone to help those who, for various reasons, are forced to live far from their homeland and are separated from their families". (ANSAmed).




Syria: Italian FM against sanctions on Russia 'EU cannot be a tap to turn on and off for sanctions'

(ANSAmed) - ROME, OCTOBER 13 - Italian foreign minister Paolo Gentiloni told Radio Anch'io on Thursday that he would support neither a military solution in Syria and nor that of fresh sanctions against Russia. Tensions between Russia and the West over Syria have escalated a ceasefire agreement collapsed last month and Syrian regime and Russian warplanes launched an intense bombardment of the rebel-held east of Aleppo.



US and European officials have accused Moscow of being complicit in war crimes.



EU sanctions would require approval from all 28 member states.



''We still hope that a minimum of diplomatic channels can be reopened,'' Gentiloni said. ''We must not indulge in the idea that the EU is a tap to turn on and off for sanctions, or that sanctions resolve all problems.'' He went on to say that ''I do not believe that Europe will ever agree on sanctions on the Syrian issue. It would only be a way to introduce divisive elements into the EU.'' ''The message to Russia,'' he added, ''must be clear. We Italians have always said that Russia could play a positive role.'' ''In these days we down to the final verification. Either it plays this role,'' he said, ''in these hours and days to stop what is underway in eastern Aleppo, or if it continues its bombing of hospitals, markets and civilians, it will be very difficult to later rebuild a diplomatic climate of collaboration.'' (ANSAmed).




TUNIS - President Beji Caid Essebsi has said that Tunisia owed its democratic experience to its historic legacy and women's emancipation.



The comments came during an interview with Al Quds Al Arabi, a pan-Arab daily published in London.

''The Tunisian experience has not been easy,'' Essebsi, who will turn 90 on November 29, continued, ''without its history and without its women, Tunisia could never have done it.'' ''For 60 years we had the cult of a single party and today we are celebrating plurality.''

Essebsi went on to discuss the situation in Tunisia, noting that its greatest challenges are terrorism and unemployment. On the alliance between the secular modernist party Nidaa Tounes and the Islamic Ennahdha, the head of state said that it was ''a need dictated by the political scenario and not a choice''.

He underscored that he had always been against political Islam but that the results of the 2014 parliamentary elections and the current political context had made the alliance necessary. The new government under Youssef Chahed includes 8 positions for Nidaa Tounes and 6 for Ennahdha.

The president praised Ennahdha leader Rached Ghannouchi's decision to separate politics and religion. ''Some people say that the sheikh (Ghannouchi) influenced me to the point of my becoming an Islamist,'' Essebsi noted with irony in response to a question about his relationship with the Ennahdha leader. The president called the internal crisis in the Nidaa Tounes (which he founded in 2012 as a sort of counterweight to Islamic-oriented parties), ''a leadership problem'' and added that he was certain it would be able to overcome all divisions.
You didn't respect migrant deals, Alfano tells EU Addresses EU counterparts

(ANSAmed) - LUXEMBOURG, OCTOBER 13 - Interior Minister Angelino Alfano told his EU counterparts Thursday that "we are here to denounce that the (migrant) pacts struck in these authoritative fora have not been respected". Italy has repeatedly urged the EU for more help in coping with the influx of migrants and refugees from North Africa. (ANSAmed).






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As the 2016 general election approaches, it's time for voters to start doing their homework on the choices they'll have to make.

I'm not talking about the race that will be on the top left of the ballot. Most are probably feeling they've had their fill of watching, hearing and reading about the presidential campaign.

But with all of the energy that race is consuming, it's easy for voters to have overlooked the other races they'll be considering. And this year, that includes elections for state Legislature and U.S. Congress seats.

For The Citizen and auburnpub.com, Robert Harding's been following the local campaigns for state and federal office for months, and a quick way to get caught up on what's been happening is to visit his Eye on NY blog at auburnpub.com/blogs or the general election page at auburnpub.com/news/local/elections.

There's also much more coverage to come prior to Election Day on Nov. 8.

October means it's debate season, and there's plenty of those coming for these Albany and Washington races. In the race for the 24th Congressional District, which includes Cayuga and Onondaga counties, U.S. Rep. John Katko, R-Camillus, and Colleen Deacon, D-Syracuse, will be debating at several locations throughout the region. Robert Harding will be covering them and reporting on what's said to our readers.

Locally, Cayuga Community College's television/radio department has lined up two debates involving state Legislature candidates. As as happened in past years, I'll be asking questions at those events, and I'm eager to take any question suggestions you may have.

The first debate is Oct. 20, when incumbent state Sen. James Seward, R-Milford, will take part in a forum with Democratic challenger Jermaine Bagnall-Graham of Sherburne in the race for the 41st Senate District.

Another is planned for Nov. 1, when state Assemblyman Gary Finch, R-Springport, has a rematch with Diane Dwire, D-Camillus, in the battle for the 126th Assembly District.

Both of those debates will appear on Time Warner and Verizon cable channels in the local area. Times and dates will be announced soon. We also will have them posted for viewing anytime at auburnpub.com.

In the 54th state Senate District, Republican candidate Pam Helming and Democratic candidate Kenan Baldridge are scheduled to appear at the Oct. 19 Wednesday Morning Roundtable in Auburn, which we'll cover through a news story and video.

CCC was unable to secure debates in the 54th state Senate District or the 24th Congressional District for the Cayuga County TV forums, which is unfortunate because it's helpful to be able to have candidates side-by-side talking about issues that may be unique to the local area, such as the issues involving Owasco Lake.

Nevertheless, we're still going to be bringing much more information to our readers on all of these races.

In addition to his day-to-day campaign coverage, Robert Harding is working on a series of candidate profiles that will be published in the week leading up to the election.

At the same time, we'll be publishing our editorial board endorsement columns on the opinion pages, something we do after meeting personally with all of the candidates.
Scherer succeeds Patrick de Castelbajac, who will become Company Secretary and Chief of Staff as well as member of the executive committee of Airbus. The transition will become effective on November 1, 2016.



ATRs shareholders confirmed that Christian Scherer will run the company for a four-year term in order to ensure stability and continuity as the company continues its growth. Giovanni Tramparulo, current CFO of ATR, has also been renewed for four years.



Christian Scherer is currently executive vice-president and head of Airbus Group International. Prior to this, he was the Head of Marketing & Sales at Airbus Defence and Space. He also served as a Member of the Airbus Defence and Space Executive Committee and as Managing Director of Airbus Defence and Space GmbH. He started his career at Airbus in 1984 and ultimately held several senior positions including Deputy Head of Sales and Head of Strategy and Future Programs.



Tom Enders, chief executive officer of Airbus Group, said: Christian Scherer demonstrates a tremendous amount of commercial expertise, strategic vision and management skills. He is the perfect choice to succeed Patrick de Castelbajac, whom Id like to thank for a job well done at the helm of ATR. Christians appointment for four years underscores the commitment of Airbus Group to the success of our joint venture with Leonardo.



Mauro Moretti, chief executive officer and general manager of Leonardo-Finmeccanica, stated: We warmly welcome Christian Scherer, who brings a proven track record in commercial aviation. With his nomination, we wish to continue strengthening ATRs market-leading position.

Christian Scherer said: Im thrilled to be appointed CEO of the top brand in regional aviation. I value the exceptional family spirit and the proximity with ATR customers. I grew up within a similar culture and hope to perpetuate it at ATR to benefit customers, employees and shareholders.
There has never been a better time to build a career in the aviation industry. Airlines are growing, with more aircraft, more flights, more routes and more passengers than ever before. Nowhere is this truer than in the Middle East and Asia, where the growth of the middle-class is generating considerable industry growth.

But if this progress is to be maintained, the sector must address the one area where growth is stalling: pilot numbers.

Currently, there are approximately 130,000 commercial pilots flying worldwide. Boeing has estimated that, by 2034, 558,000 more commercial pilots will be needed to meet the growth of the industry. Yet currently just 3% of commercial pilots are female. If the demand for more pilots is to be met, this statistic has to change.

The reasons for a lack of female pilots are varied. In some markets, certain cultural and attitudinal barriers still exist, with piloting still very much seen as a male profession. Similarly, there exists a misconception that all pilots are forced on to long-haul trans-continental flights, pulling you away from home for weeks on end  and, therefore, making it impractical to both fly and raise a family.

But piloting a plane shouldnt be about gender. It is about hard work, ability and desire. In my case, I knew being a pilot was right for me. I told myself I was able enough to do the job and now, as a first officer for Air Arabia, Ive never looked back.

I have been lucky in that, in the UAE, the country is supportive of women like me who are looking to break down barriers and balance family life with a career. The importance of this encouragement for young women looking to become pilots cannot be emphasised enough  whether it be from family, government or wider society.

Overall, mind-sets are starting to shift. Many people are surprised that, coming from a conservative background in the Middle East, I have been able to fulfil my career aspirations in the aviation sector. But more and more young women are realising that it is possible; recently a Royal Brunei Airlines plane piloted by an all-female crew landed in Saudi Arabia, a landmark moment in the history of aviation.

Thats not to say that becoming a pilot is easy. I undertook the multi-crew pilots licence (MPL), which develops the abilities needed to fly in a multi-crew airline environment and takes more advantage of flight simulators than a traditional commercial pilot licence. The MPL seemed the right choice, as it is increasingly becoming the preferred training method for many global airlines.

Again, I was grateful for and encouraged by the support of the academy where I learnt to fly. Alpha Aviation UAE, based in Sharjah, is aware of both the growing shortage of pilots and the lack of female pilots. As a result, some of the Alpha Aviation Group courses have been up to 20% female intake.

The first three months were gruelling and the instructors were firm. They will identify your weak points as a cadet and specifically improve you in those areas. I graduated as the first Emirati holder of the MPL, and I hope I can serve as an example and inspiration to many other budding aviatrixes.

The barriers that might once have prevented women from flying a plane are disappearing and, most importantly, the aviation sector now needs female pilots. Pilot supply is falling short of demand and will continue to do so unless a solution is found.

Of course, some women will never start pilot training: they might not be able to afford the course and, sadly, some families might still not accept that it is a job for women. But governments and airlines now have a duty to educate people on the possibilities of women becoming commercial airline pilots, and women have a duty to pursue their dreams. If you want this job enough, then you simply have to go for it. Dont listen to anyone who tells you that you cant.

This is a crossroads for the aviation sector. We can either be pro-active in bringing a whole new demographic into the cockpit to solve the impending pilot shortage crisis, or we can watch some of the most talented women of our generation move into other fields.

I am proud to serve my country in this job every day and my country shows its pride by supporting me. It is time for more countries and more women to follow suit.


Andrew W.K.

When it's time to party, we will party hard. As a Burqueno, these words really resonate. The man behind those words, Andrew W.K.a musician, producer, advice columnist, and most recently a motivational speakerhas been touring the nation to bring his message of peace- through- partying to the United States. He took time out of his mission to chat it up with the Alibi.

Alibi: For those who don't know, you've been labeled the Party Guru and the Philosopher of Partying. Let's start off by talking about your general party philosophy. What is it?

W.K.: I'm a human being who has struggled to see the glass as half full  [for] as long as I can remember. About 20 years ago, I began focusing on making my life's work [as] seeing the glass as half full ... and to make promoting that belief my sole purpose in life; to make celebrating the belief that life is inherently good the foundation of my faith and all my physical efforts. And that's the spirit of partying.

That's very admirable. But sometimes it's difficult to do that. How do you balance supreme positivity with genuine negative feelings in a way that doesn't belittle either?

Well, the beautiful thing about positivity is that true positivity ... actually contains negativitymeaning that it's actually not seeing the glass as half full or half empty. The positivity is being able to consider  [just] having a glass to look at. [It's] a sort of positive transcendental truth that life contains the dark and the light, the good and the bad, the shadow and the illumination and that both those things are dependent on one another and they're both part of an overall positivity. It's the truth. And the truth, fortunately, has everything in it, for better or worse, and a lot that we can't know or even consider  Truth can be overwhelmingly oppressive and terrifying, or it can be this transcendent beauty.  Now that doesn't mean it's not painful. It doesn't mean it's not challenging. It doesn't mean that it's not extremely intense. But there's this kind of goodness to just having had the chance to come into being that you could begin to rely on as the foundation of all things.

Do you believe in karma?

Well, yeah. I think it's a way to interpret and potentially understand very confounding, and at the same time, very natural aspects of life. Cause and effectthat's as easy to believe in and understand as anything. I think karma is some kind of cause and effect on a very large, cosmic scale.

Well, the beautiful thing about positivity is that true positivity ... actually contains negativitymeaning that it's actually not seeing the glass as half full or half empty. The positivity is being able to consider  [just] having a glass to look at.

With one of the most intense election seasons coming upon us, you've tried to give the people another option, or a different way of thinking about issues in this country by setting aside the factioned mindset of red or blue and just coming together as humans. For those who haven't heard of it, what is the Party Party?

You said it very well. I guess I thought, How can I summon up the party spirit in the realm of politics?' and the first step was to set aside the governmental political issues and focus on the partying. Focus on a platform of more partying together. There's so many thousands of very valid and worthy reasons to disagree with one another and I wanted to focus on the very few, if not even the singular reason, to agree, the one reason to get alongthats just the fact that we all exist. That's the solution and the problem. Which is the strange thing. But it's the solution when it brings out our best abilities and our best impulses and our highest modes of thought and behavior, and it's the problem when it encourages our worst potentials and our worst appetites and our worst reactions. This is just my very humble attempt to direct some attention and energy towards that underlying phenomenon that, even though we can think differently and believe different things, we do have to figure out a way to get along.

This is your first tour stopping in all 50 states. Anywhere you're super excited to go?

I'm definitely excited to go to Santa Fe. I can say that [with] certainty because this venue [Meow Wolf] is so unique. I was very fortunate that the promoters specifically put it there. We had asked when booking this tour if we could find unusual venues or special venues, and I think this venue shatters the very idea of unique.  It seems like this place is a once-in-a-lifetime experiencejust to step foot inside of it, let alone getting to do this lecture there, is definitely a highlight of the tour for me.

Have you traveled through ABQ or Santa Fe before?

Yes! I've been there many times actuallymore than most places in the country because [I've] had family there since I was a young child. I've spent a lot of time being enchanted in the Land of Enchantment, even as recently as just a few weeks ago. I just have very many early memories of life there and there's really no other place quite like it  The whole look of everything, the smell of everything, the feeling in the air. People have often talked about this mystical quality that this place has, and I've been able to appreciate it and miss it more and more because I've visited it more and seen the rest of the world in contrast. It's not just completely tumbleweed wasteland, there's a reason Georgia O'Keeffe was able to do her work looking out at that landscape.

Do you have any party tips specifically for the 505?

I've talked to people that have come from certain parts of the country, certain cities, certain locations, who, growing up there, would really despise it and I can understand that and relate to it in a way. When you're in one place for so long you build up a resentment that if maybe nothing else, it's kind of a natural, compulsive desire to seek other experiences in life and other locations, but often times the places that a lot of people have found very depressing, I've found really stimulating in some strange way.  Sometimes, with enough effort and creative perspective, you can see something entirely new that you've seen over and over again, and almost look at it as though it's this abstract thing  and just be blown away. That's my party tip, whatever that means.

Andrew W.K. will be at Meow Wolf in Santa Fe on Wednesday, Oct. 19, at 8pm on his Power of Partying speaking tour. Tickets are available online for $25.
The Wall Street Journal (Amsterdam) - Dutch car maker Spyker Cars NV said Friday its funding situation is tight as its Saab Automobile unit continues to burn cash faster than expected, and warned the Swedish auto maker's future will be in doubt if it can't secure additional financing.



In its annual report published Friday, Spyker reiterated it was in talks to improve its financing and said it was confident it would happen. But how and from whom Spyker intends to get the required cash remains unclear.



Chief Executive Victor Muller may get Russian investor and former Spyker shareholder Vladimir Antonov back on board to provide fresh funds. Mr. Antonov's involvement with the Dutch car maker was terminated last year at the insistence of General Motors Co. as a condition of its sale of Saab to Spyker.



Spyker said that it was in need of additional cash because the problems at Saab were bigger than expected. It cautioned that the issues would lead to a negative cash flow in 2011 and that "the continuity of the group will become uncertain" if the financial situation didn't improve.



Saab missed its sales targets last year because restructuring took longer than expected. Many of Saab's facilities were shut down when Spyker bought the company, complicating efforts to restart production, sales and distribution.



The problems last year resulted in a cash outflow of 123 million from Spyker's balance sheet, and the group had negative equity of 206.5 million, the annual report showed. Its current asset position is 544.9 million, comprising 290 million in inventory and 117.4 million in trade and receivables. The company had a reserve cash pile of 67.4 million and cash equivalents of 70.1 million.



Spyker said it was closely monitoring its cash position and that "to strengthen working capital in the short term, management is raising liquidity from current shareholders and other available sources." The Dutch car maker, which a week ago announced a 13.6 million capital increase, added that it was in advanced talks on possible financing deals.



Spyker said its interest on borrowings last year was 40 million. "Management is ... confident that it will be able to generate the necessary additional funding and expects to be able to come with further announcements soon," Spyker said.



Mr. Muller said Thursday that he was in talks with a number of banks on a 500 million loan. However, he said this money would be used mainly to repay the debt Spyker owes the European Investment Bank, which provided the cash to fund Saab's business plan.



Mr. Antonov has voiced interest in providing financial support and said earlier this week that he had applied to become an owner of Saab. The Swedish government still has to decide whether it will allow Mr. Antonov's Converse Group to become a shareholder. A decision is expected within a few weeks.



The Swedish government's decision will be based on recommendations from the debt office, which unlike GM, hasn't expressed any objections to Mr. Antonov as an owner.



Mr. Antonov was investigated along with other Spyker shareholders before the Swedish government agreed to provide the credit guarantees to Saab, and the investigation, performed by risk consultancy Kroll, is a public record available at the debt office.



After his involvement in Spyker was terminated at the insistence of GM, Mr. Antonov ordered his own investigation into his past in order to clear himself from allegations of criminal activity. The investigation was made available to the debt office, where it now also is a public record.



Saab's difficulties escalated this week after several suppliers said they halted deliveries because of disputes over payments. As a result, the car maker was hit by production stoppages for periods Tuesday and Wednesday.



The Swedish government Thursday provided short-term relief by enabling Spyker to draw down fresh funding for Saab, although Mr. Muller said he didn't need approval to draw further funds from the EIB's 400 million facility. Sweden agreed to provide loan guarantees as part of a deal to help Spyker to buy Saab last year.



On Friday, one supplier said it would restart deliveries. "We just got confirmation that the money Saab owed us has been paid. The money showed up on our account ... and we will resume deliveries immediately," said Marcus Nyman, the chief executive of car parts supplier International Automotive Components.



A Saab spokesman said that negotiations with suppliers were continuing and warned of further halts in production.


YEREVAN, OCTOBER 13, ARMENPRESS. The announcement on 600 Syrian-Armenians willing to exit Aleppo but have no means is a disinformation, Deputy Minister of Diaspora Serzh Srapionyan told a press conference.

According to Srapionyan, philanthropists have responded to this announcement made by Aleppo Compatriotic Union, however those 600 people dont exist to be transported.

After this announcement we addressed the Aleppo Compatriotic Union, so they provide us with specific names, however its already been 7 days that they dont provide us a list. If indeed there are such people, then why are they hiding it? Actually there is no fact that a list of 600 Syrian-Armenians exists, he said.

According to him, national entities and the Consulate work pretty coordinated in Aleppo. If there happen to be Armenians who are willing to leave but have no means, they address national agencies, and their transportation is being organized.

There is this stir, as if the entire Aleppo-Armenians want to leave but have no choice or chance. This is very far from reality. First of all, there is no mass flow, second of all, there is not a single person to have addressed for leaving Syria to Armenia and not to have received corresponding assistance. Those who pay from their own pockets dont even request, and those who dont have means, address and receive assistance, we are able to get both tickets and means to transport them, he said.
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 13, ARMENPRESS. According to the Governments decision Hydro Corporation CJSC will use the privilege on exempting the import duties of technological devices, their components, raw materials and substances, Armenpress reported.

Deputy Minister of Economic Development and Investments Emil Tarasyan said the privilege will significantly boost the implementation of new investment projects and will contribute to creating new jobs, involving investments, promoting local production and export.

Prime Minister Karen Karapetyan recalled Emil Tarasyan that the Ministry must have examined how the companies, which received tax privileges, are fulfilling their obligations. Please summarize how they are carrying out their duties, what control mechanisms you have. Is there any progress in that field?, the PM asked.

Tarasyan said after the PMs instruction they are working with the State Revenue Committee and the Ministry of Finance, they have draft decisions which are at the discussion stage, and when they are completed, they will present them.

To the PMs question whether the Government has to adopt a separate decision on setting control mechanisms, Tarasyan said they have proposed two options of the solution of the issue: according to the first option, one Ministry must deal with control powers, and the second one proposes that the applications must be submitted via Government. The PM contradicted and said not everything needs Governments decision.

Minister of Natural Protection Artsvik Minasyan intervened and said after receiving tax privilege a company presents through a letter the works carried out so far which is being controlled by the State Revenue Committee.
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 13, ARMENPRESS. The Nagorno Karabakh conflict can be settled only on the sidelines of the Minsk Group Co-Chairmanship, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Russia to Armenia Ivan Volynkin said commenting on Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglus statement at PACE who said Russia suggests to give 5 regions nearby the NKR to the Azerbaijani side as an option of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict settlement.

I havent heard that statement, but, except from the Minsk Group Co-Chairing countries, no other organization or state can intervene in the Nagorno Karabakh conflict settlement, Volynkin said.

He once again emphasized that the issue can be solved only within the Minsk Group Co-Chairmanship and said the Co-Chairs are planning to visit the region at the end of October, they will visit NKR, Baku and Yerevan.

The Russian Ambassador said he doesnt have information that the Russian side is going to supply cruise missiles to Azerbaijan. To the view that this information has been spread by the Azerbaijani media after Armenia showed Iskander missile system at the military parade, the Ambassador said: The Azerbaijani side maybe knows something, thats way they are announcing it, but we dont have such information. Moreover, cruise missiles are quite another thing, Iskander is another, and I dont know what is the connection.
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 13, ARMENPRESS. The Government of Armenia will review the Tax Code and the worrying provisions existing in it, Deputy Minister of Economic Development and Investments Emil Tarasyan told the reporters after the Cabinet meeting.

We have receives some concerns and we work in that direction. Currently our ministry is involved in making analysis of the Tax Code to detect the points that can somehow create obstacles for economic development, Armenpress reports Emil Tarasyan saying. He added that before the Tax Code enters into force, it will be thoroughly reviewed and the points that can impede economic development will be amended.

To the question if the Tax Code will be once again amended, the Deputy Minister said that he cannot say at the moment, since the initiator is the Ministry of Finance.

To another question regarding the point that worries the Deputy Minister most, Emil Tarasyan answered that there is an alarm among IT representatives that the new benchmark of income tax for employees with high salaries can lead to that the specialists may just leave the country.

Those concerns are currently under discussion. We have to count the number of the subjects that fall under that law. If it is really a large-scale issue, may be some changes will occur, the Deputy Minister said.
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 13, ARMENPRESS. President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko will pay a working visit to Armenia on 14 October, the Presidents Press Service reported.

The head of state will take part in the session of the Collective Security Council of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO).

According to the Press Service of the Presidents Office, Alexander Lukashenko will voice Belarus' position on the priorities of work during the presidency of Belarus in the CSTO. The session will also focus on the international situation and topical issues of collective security, additional measures of the CSTO member states to counteract terrorism and other issues. After the session the sides are expected to sign more than 20 documents.




YEREVAN, OCTOBER 13, ARMENPRESS. OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, Germany's Federal Minister for Foreign Affairs Frank-Walter Steinmeier delivered a speech at the plenary session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE). Armenpress reports Steinmeier touched upon the issue of human rights in the area of CoE.

We should have an access to the Crimea to assess the situation on-site. We should have such an opportunity for South Ossetia, Abkhazia, Transnistria and Nagorno Karabakh. There must be no gray zones in our European Continent in terms of respect for human rights, Frank-Walter Steinmeier said.
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 13, ARMENPRESS. Leta Kivlivzian of Armenian ethnicity has been injured due to bombing of Aleppos Nor Gyugh district, Armenpress reports Aleppo-based Gandzasar newspaper informs.

At the same time the newspaper notes that positive trends are visible in some parts of the city. Particularly, water supplies and internet access have been restored.

In addition of Nor Gyugh district, a number of other districts have been bombed today.
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 13, ARMENPRESS. ODIHR's Director Michael Georg Link delivered a speech on October 13 about the activities of the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) at a regular session of the OSCE Permanent Council. Head of the Permanent Delegation of Armenia to the OSCE, Ambassador Arman Kirakosyan focused on Azerbaijani media reports about the visit of ODIHR Director Link to Baku and the announcements and assessments made by him there.

As Armenpress was informed from the press service of MFA Armenia, Ambassador Kirakosyan noted that among those assessments Azerbaijan was presented as an excellent example of inter-religious relations, as well as a positive position on the constitutional referendum in Azerbaijan was expressed. In this regard Ambassador Kirakosyan expressed concern that ODIHR Director Michael Georg Link has become a tool for Azerbaijani propaganda.

The Head of the Permanent Delegation of Armenia to the OSCE stated that organizing an event in Baku on tolerance and non-discrimination under the auspices of the ODIHR and glorification of positive phenomena not existing in Azerbaijan will negatively impact the reputation of the ODIHR as an institution fostering the protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms. In this context Arman Kirakosyan stated that Azerbaijan commits hate crimes and leads a policy of intolerance on an official level.
Nissan Motor Co. takes the veil off the first car in its resurrected Datsun brand in New Delhi on Monday -- a sub-400,000-rupee ($6,700) hatchback that is part of a foray by the Japanese auto maker into cheap cars for emerging markets.

With the Datsun hatchback and other Datsun models to follow over the next three years -- one of which could be priced as low as $4,000 (240,000 rupees) if Nissan can meet its aggressive manufacturing cost objectives -- Nissan is treading ever so closer to the ultra-low-cost car market.

That market in India is now famously occupied by the Tata Nano, a barebones car that retails for between 150,000 and 220,000 rupees.

"We try to keep the price positioning for Datsun competitive, so that products are appealing" to the lower half of the auto market in India where Nissan has few products competing today, Nissan's program director for Datsun, Ashwani Gupta, told Reuters in an interview.

It is a move that has been generally resisted so far by other global auto giants, such as Toyota Motor Corp., out of concern a scruffy, ultra-cheap car model could tarnish their high-value brands.

Top Toyota executives, including current chairman Takeshi Uchiyamada, rejected a chief engineer's design for a low-cost emerging market car several years ago, saying it was too cheap to be called a Toyota, an engineering executive said.

The car has since undergone some design iterations and was finally launched in India in 2010 as the Toyota Etios sedan, which starts at 545,000 rupees. A hatchback version of the car, launched in 2011, starts at about 450,000 rupees.

Since Nissan plans to market Datsun cars in India through its existing Nissan-branded dealerships, Datsun could expose the Japanese auto maker to similar risks, though executives downplay the possibility.

They say use of a separate brand name should effectively shield Nissan's brand image. Datsun, which Nissan once used for its cars outside Japan, has a history dating back to the 1930s.

"We're serving different customers" with Datsun, said Tatjana Natarova, a Datsun spokeswoman. "That's why we came up with a different brand."

To make Datsun cars affordable, Nissan has been aiming to reduce manufacturing costs to $3,000 to $5,000 per vehicle. The first car is due for a launch in India early next year and Gupta said the company has partially achieved the cost goals.

Still, as price-competitive as that may be, it will face formidable competition from Maruti Suzuki and Hyundai Motor Co, which together control two-thirds of India's passenger car market, excluding SUVs and vans.

Maruti has about 1,200 retail stores in India, while Hyundai operates a network of more than 350 stores. Nissan, by contrast, has only about 100 dealers, though it says it plans to triple the number of its stores to 300 by March 2017.

Nissan said last year it would revive the Datsun name as a marquee for emerging markets, starting with India, Russia and Indonesia. Eventually, it wants to expand into Southeast Asia, Latin America, the Middle East and Africa.

More products

To make the new name stick, Nissan does not plan to stop with a sub-400,000-rupee car. It plans to expand the Datsun brand's appeal by following its first car with a second model by the end of next year and a third vehicle by 2016.

Nissan is still trying to meet the goal of producing a Datsun car for as little as $3,000 per vehicle, said an executive speaking on condition of anonymity.

"If we met that, there would be a good possibility we could offer the car for $4,000 on the retail market," the executive said.

That is not as cheap as the Nano, but Nissan is not aiming to compete head-on with the Nano any way, the executive said.

By the year ending March 2017, Nissan wants to capture 10 percent of India's overall passenger vehicle market that includes sedans, SUVs and vans. Nissan had a market share of less than 1 percent as of May, data from the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers shows.

By then, Datsun aims to generate one third to a half of overall sales in India, which bought 2.7 million passenger vehicles in the year ended March 2013, Gupta said.

Local supply chain

To achieve low manufacturing costs, the Datsun product team designed and engineered cars so that "nearly all" the components needed to build them could be procured within India, Gupta said.

India has a relatively limited auto parts supply base so procuring almost all the necessary components locally poses a challenge. Gupta said though that Nissan aims to pull off the feat not only in India, but in Indonesia and Russia as well.

Gupta said Datsun cars would be stripped of features and functions that do not offer "value" to customers in markets they target to make cars affordable.

Nissan thus will likely avoid developing new technology.

Instead, it will use tried technology, in particular vehicle underpinnings, engines and transmissions, which are costly to develop. It is also likely to pare down expensive features such as power-windows, navigation systems, and extra safety airbags.
The paradox of this bias against creativity lies in the fact that creativity  along with its close cousin innovation  is frequently celebrated in business as a most desired organizational trait. Reports of management excellence from McKinsey to KPMG state that creativity among the workforce is a basic requirement for long-term business success. Why then does the organizational immune system kick into high gear whenever exposed to the very thing it needs to survive?
China Daily - Japanese carmaker Toyota and its dealers are quietly maneuvring to allay risks from eruptions of anti-Japan sentiment in China, even as recent sales data suggests a slow but steady recovery for Japanese automakers since the latest flare-up last year.

China sales for Toyota Motor Corp and other Japanese car makers tumbled after an ongoing territorial dispute between China and Japan sparked an outbreak of anti-Japanese protests in September last year.

The result has led some executives at Toyota's China unit to consider the merit of focusing its sales effort, at least in the shorter term, on southern China, where anti-Japanese sentiment is believed weaker.

In the south, sales of Japanese cars have all but recovered to pre-September levels "as if nothing happened," a senior Toyota executive in Beijing said.

"Our feeling is why spend money to overcome the strong sentiment against Japanese products in northern China?" the executive said.

"We could get more bang out of that same money by focusing on southern China where we already have a (relatively) good will toward Toyota and Lexus."

Asked about such a move, a Toyota spokesman said it was focusing on the quality of it products.

"The bottom line: the best thing for us as an automaker to do in China, and in any market for that matter, is to keep making efforts to come up as quickly as possible with the kind of cars consumers deem desirable and want to embrace," Toyota's Beijing-based spokesman, Takanori Yokoi, said.

Looking to Europe

Meanwhile, Zhongsheng Group Holdings Ltd, one of China's biggest retail-distributors of Toyota and Lexus brand cars, has been trying to cut its reliance on Japanese brands by focusing more on European brands such as Mercedes-Benz and Audi.

The Dalian-based dealer group's strategy is to up the pace of expansion of dealerships selling European cars, while pausing on Japanese brand store openings.

Since last September it has opened two Jaguar Land Rover outlets, and the Group's Chairman, Huang Yi, said this week that two more Jaguar Land Rover stores were under construction and it was applying for rights to open "a few more."

Since last year, Hong Kong-listed Zhongsheng has also opened two new Audi outlets and another two dealers selling Volvo cars.

The moves are aimed in part at addressing the concerns of some investors about "over-exposure" to Japanese brands, which have caused the company's share price to trade on a weaker note since last year.

"We're not de-emphasising Japanese brands; we will continue to stick with them because in the longer-term we believe Japanese brands like Toyota and Lexus give us good profitable business," chairman Huang told Reuters in an interview.

Zhongsheng operates a total of 162 stores and is one of China's biggest retail auto distributors. It currently has 48 Toyota and 12 Lexus stores across China and runs Nissan and Honda stores, among other Japanese brands.

Roughly half of its profit comes from selling cars from Toyota and Lexus, where it was expanding until 2011, with the bulk of the rest coming from Mercedes-Benz and other European brands.

"What we're doing, instead, is we're opening more stores selling European brands, like Jaguar Land Rover and Audi to increase the Euro share in our portfolio of brands," Huang said.

Slow recovery

Sales in China by Japan's big-three automakers last month were mixed, reflecting a slow but steady recovery of sales since late last year when volume fell nearly 50 percent year-on-year in some months for some brands.

For Japanese automakers, the best defense might be to reduce their exposure to China and expand business in other fast-growing markets such as Indonesia, India and Brazil.

And that is precisely what Toyota appears to be doing, slowing the pace of investment in China while accelerating it elsewhere.

Toyota and its group companies pledged late last year to spend an additional $1.2 billion in manufacturing capacity and other capital investments in Indonesia. The firm also said on Monday it plans to beef up its presence in Myanmar, Cambodia and Kenya as part of its broader effort to generate about half of global sales from emerging markets.

Within China, the senior Toyota executive said a focus on the south made sense because the company has a major production base in the southern province of Guangdong and sales of its cars have always been strong in the region.

Moreover, consumers in southern China tend to take cues in consumption from Hong Kong, which has long shown a preference for Japanese brands and products, the executive said. Toyota is still weighing its strategic options, however, and has not made any definitive moves yet.

Toyota had, in fact, been planning a marketing push last year to overcome a bias against Japanese products in the eastern province of Shandong, one of China's biggest auto-purchasing provinces.

The Toyota executive, who declined to be named because of the sensitivity of the subject, said the company never implemented the marketing campaign because of anti-Japan demonstrations that happened in Shandong and elsewhere.

Yale Zhang, head of Shanghai-based consulting firm Automotive Foresight, said a possible shift by Toyota and other Japanese brands to focus their sales and marketing resources in southern China was a "natural strategy" given their manufacturing presence in Guangdong.

"(But) longer term they still have to be a player in northern markets, as provinces such as Shandong and Sichuan are poised to displace Guangdong as China's biggest auto-purchasing provinces," he said.
The sisters made their solemn profession on 7 October. Their congregation was founded in 1889 by Blessed Maria Schinina Arezzo, a nun of aristocratic origins from Ragusa. They are the first nuns to take their vows in the Asian country.

Bhubaneshwar (AsiaNews)  Four sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus made their solemn profession of religious vows in Odisha. Sister Leena Bilung, Sister Cordula Bilung, Sister Usha Tete and Sister Rajkishori Soreng were welcomed by the congregation as the first in the history of their order to take perpetual vows in India. "Let us pray and thank God for this gift, they told AsiaNews.

The ceremony took place on 7 October, the feast day of Our Lady of the Rosary, in St Arnold parish church in Cox Colony, Jharsuguda District (Odisha). Mgr John Barwa, Archbishop of Cuttack-Bhubaneshwar, celebrated the Mass along with three other bishops, Mgr Niranjan Sual Singh, Mgr Lucas Kerketta and Mgr Alphonse Bilung.

For one of the sisters, "The presence of Archbishop Barwa made the celebration even more solemn ". Another noted that "This day is a milestone in the history of our institution in India because it is the first time that [local] sisters make their vows."

The religious order of the Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus was founded in 1889 by the Blessed Maria Schinina Arezzo. The foundress was born in an aristocratic family in Ragusa. After the death of her parents, she decided to change radically her life. Leaving behind receptions and high society, she gave up her wealth and dedicated herself to help the needy, the poor, lepers and unwed mothers.

The Blessed met Christ among the poorest of the poor, the sisters said. She gave up her wealth and gave it to them. She spent all her life to serve the last and the abandoned. Since then, our impetus to love and console the heart of Jesus through the fulfillment of corporal and spiritual works of mercy has spread to eight countries around the world."

Driven by the foundresss charity, "which flows from the heart of Jesus, our Congregation came to India with a desire to serve better the poor and the needy." (NC)
by Nirmala Carvalho

The biggest awareness campaign in the world is the brainchild of an Indian priest who in 2013 set up The Project Vision. In India 15 million people live with poor vision. Annually, 140,000 transplants are needed, but only 53,000 donors were found in 2015. Pope Francis sent a message to express his closeness.

Mumbai (AsiaNews)  Today is World Sight Day, and the largest awareness campaign for cornea donation is underway in 55 Indian cities across the country led by a Bangalore-based Christian group.

Titled World Blind Walk, the initiative by The Project Vision has participants marching down the streets blindfolded to increase awareness among as well as the number of potential donors in a country like India where demand is high, but only a third of all patients can get a cornea transplant.

Pope Francis expressed his support for the campaign in a message signed by Card Pietro Parolin.

In 2013, Fr George Kannanthanam, a Catholic priest, launched the project after working for 12 years with people who lost their sight to diseases like leprosy or HIV or with visual impairments from birth.

Speaking to AsiaNews, the clergyman said the idea came from Pope Franciss call to go towards the outskirts of existence where the blind are waiting to see. For Fr George, the pontiffs "powerful and prophetic voice has not come in vain."

Worldwide, some 39 million people have eye problems, 15 million of them in India. Their conditions are really "sad because of the physical, social, psychological and economic challenges" caused by their condition. Most disabled people cannot survive on their own.

Although demand is high, eye donations are not common in the country, which has 750 "eye banks". Every year, 140,000 people need a cornea transplant, but last year, there were only 53,000 donors.

A little less than 90,000 patients are on waiting lists, but the "good news is that 20 per cent of those who receive a transplant can see again.

Union Minister for Social Justice and Development Thawar Chand Gehlot, and the Health Ministers of Arunachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Telangana took part in the event.

Church leaders were also present at various locations along the march route. Various dioceses, parishes, religious congregations, social services and bishops confirmed their presence.

Fr George Kannanthanam is no stranger to this type of initiative. Last year, he convinced some 60 nuns to act as vision ambassadors. "Our goal is to do more to bridge the gap between supply and demand."
Francis message for the next World Day of Migrants is titled "Child migrants, vulnerable and voiceless". The phenomenon of migration "is not divorced from the history of salvation, in fact, is part of it." Children "who in a threefold way are defenceless: they are children, they are foreigners, and they have no means to protect themselves.".

Vatican City (AsiaNews) - Reception, protection, integration and lasting solutions are the measures to be taken in front of the plight of migrants who are minors, " who in a threefold way are defenceless: they are children, they are foreigners, and they have no means to protect themselves", writes Pope Francis in 103rd message for the World Day of Migrants and Refugees, which - at the ecclesial level - will be celebrated Sunday, January 15, 2017, and for which he chose the theme: " Child migrants, vulnerable and voiceless."



The document, released today, notes that if violence or hunger are almost always the causes that push people to leave their native countries, the situation of the child who migrates from is particularly difficult, because their weakness puts them at risk exploitation. Moreover they require the protection of their rights in order to grow in a healthy environment, to study, to play.



While reception by host countries is absolutely necessary" the international community must also be committed to eliminating the causes of the emigration, first by stopping conflicts, but also providing genuine development programs for areas affected by instability.



The papal message begins by describing the migration phenomenon "as a sign of the times, a sign that speaks providential work of God in history and in the human community in view of the universal communion" and therefore "is not divorced from the history of salvation indeed, it is part of it".

Migration today is not a phenomenon limited to some areas of the planet. It affects all continents and is growing into a tragic situation of global proportions. Not only does this concern those looking for dignified work or better living conditions, but also men and women, the elderly and children, who are forced to leave their homes in the hope of finding safety, peace and security. Children are the first among those to pay the heavy toll of emigration, almost always caused by violence, poverty, environmental conditions, as well as the negative aspects of globalization. The unrestrained competition for quick and easy profit brings with it the cultivation of perverse scourges such as child trafficking, the exploitation and abuse of minors and, generally, the depriving of rights intrinsic to childhood as sanctioned by the International Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Childhood, given its fragile nature, has unique and inalienable needs. Above all else, there is the right to a healthy and secure family environment, where a child can grow under the guidance and example of a father and a mother; then there is the right and duty to receive adequate education, primarily in the family and also in the school, where children can grow as persons and agents of their own future and the future of their respective countries. Indeed, in many areas of the world, reading, writing and the most basic arithmetic is still the privilege of only a few. All children, furthermore, have the right to recreation; in a word, they have the right to be children.

And yet among migrants, children constitute the most vulnerable group, because as they face the life ahead of them, they are invisible and voiceless: their precarious situation deprives them of documentation, hiding them from the worlds eyes; the absence of adults to accompany them prevents their voices from being raised and heard. In this way, migrant children easily end up at the lowest levels of human degradation, where illegality and violence destroy the future of too many innocents, while the network of child abuse is difficult to break up.

How should we respond to this reality? Firstly, we need to become aware that the phenomenon of migration is not unrelated to salvation history, but rather a part of that history. One of Gods commandments is connected to it: You shall not wrong a stranger or oppress him, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt (Ex 22:21); Love the sojourner therefore; for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt (Deut 10:19). This phenomenon constitutes a sign of the times, a sign which speaks of the providential work of God in history and in the human community, with a view to universal communion. While appreciating the issues, and often the suffering and tragedy of migration, as too the difficulties connected with the demands of offering a dignified welcome to these persons, the Church nevertheless encourages us to recognize Gods plan. She invites us to do this precisely amidst this phenomenon, with the certainty that no one is a stranger in the Christian community, which embraces every nation, tribe, people and tongue (Rev 7:9). Each person is precious; persons are more important than things, and the worth of an institution is measured by the way it treats the life and dignity of human beings, particularly when they are vulnerable, as in the case of child migrants.

Furthermore, we need to work towards protection, integration and long-term solutions. We are primarily concerned with adopting every possible measure to guarantee the protection and safety of child migrants, because these boys and girls often end up on the street abandoned to themselves and prey to unscrupulous exploiters who often transform them into the object of physical, moral and sexual violence (Benedict XVI, Message for the World Day of Migrants and Refugees, 2008).

Moreover, the dividing line between migration and trafficking can at times be very subtle. There are many factors which contribute to making migrants vulnerable, especially if they are children: poverty and the lack of means to survive  to which are added unrealistic expectations generated by the media; the low level of literacy; ignorance of the law, of the culture and frequently of the language of host countries. All of this renders children physically and psychologically dependent. But the most powerful force driving the exploitation and abuse of children is demand. If more rigorous and effective action is not taken against those who profit from such abuse, we will not be able to stop the multiple forms of slavery where children are the victims.

It is necessary, therefore, for immigrants to cooperate ever more closely with the communities that welcome them, for the good of their own children. We are deeply grateful to organizations and institutions, both ecclesial and civil, that commit time and resources to protect minors from various forms of abuse. It is important that evermore effective and incisive cooperation be implemented, based not only on the exchange of information, but also on the reinforcement of networks capable of assuring timely and specific intervention; and this, without underestimating the strength that ecclesial communities reveal especially when they are united in prayer and fraternal communion.

Secondly, we need to work for the integration of children and youngsters who are migrants. They depend totally on the adult community. Very often the scarcity of financial resources prevents the adoption of adequate policies aimed at assistance and inclusion. As a result, instead of favouring the social integration of child migrants, or programmes for safe and assisted repatriation, there is simply an attempt to curb the entrance of migrants, which in turn fosters illegal networks; or else immigrants are repatriated to their country of origin without any concern for their best interests.

The condition of child migrants is worsened when their status is not regularized or when they are recruited by criminal organizations. In such cases they are usually sent to detention centres. It is not unusual for them to be arrested, and because they have no money to pay the fine or for the return journey, they can be incarcerated for long periods, exposed to various kinds of abuse and violence. In these instances, the right of states to control migratory movement and to protect the common good of the nation must be seen in conjunction with the duty to resolve and regularize the situation of child migrants, fully respecting their dignity and seeking to meet their needs when they are alone, but also the needs of their parents, for the good of the entire family. Of fundamental importance is the adoption of adequate national procedures and mutually agreed plans of cooperation between countries of origin and of destination, with the intention of eliminating the causes of the forced emigration of minors.

Thirdly, to all I address a heartfelt appeal that long-term solutions be sought and adopted. Since this is a complex phenomenon, the question of child migrants must be tackled at its source. Wars, human rights violations, corruption, poverty, environmental imbalance and disasters, are all causes of this problem. Children are the first to suffer, at times suffering torture and other physical violence, in addition to moral and psychological aggression, which almost always leave indelible scars.

It is absolutely necessary, therefore, to deal with the causes which trigger migrations in the countries of origin. This requires, as a first step, the commitment of the whole international community to eliminate the conflicts and violence that force people to flee. Furthermore, far-sighted perspectives are called for, capable of offering adequate programmes for areas struck by the worst injustice and instability, in order that access to authentic development can be guaranteed for all. This development should promote the good of boys and girls, who are humanitys hope.

Lastly, I wish to address a word to you, who walk alongside migrant children and young people: they need your precious help. The Church too needs you and supports you in the generous service you offer. Do not tire of courageously living the Gospel, which calls you to recognize and welcome the Lord Jesus among the smallest and most vulnerable. I entrust all child migrants, their families, their communities, and you who are close to them, to the protection of the Holy Family of Nazareth; may they watch over and accompany each one on their journey.
The attack is a response to the launch of missiles against a US destroyer. The rockets fired from rebel held territory. Pentagon spokesman: "defensive" actions to protect American shipping interests. Houthi leader counters: There was no attack on warships.

Sana'a (AsiaNews / Agencies) - The US military has hit radar sites in Yemen, after an American warship in the Red Sea was targeted - for the second time in a few days - by a missile attack.

According to the Pentagon, three radar sites involved in the recent missile launches were destroyed; the stations were located in areas controlled by the Shiite Houthi rebels and President Barack Obama authorized the operation.

A Houthi spokesman told Saba news agency said that there was no attack on warships.

Official US Navy sources explain that the US attack was launched from the USS Nitze destroyer and Tomahawk cruise missiles were used.

Pentagon spokesman, Peter Cook, spoke of "a defensive attack" launched with the sole purpose of "protecting our personnel, our ships and our freedom of navigation in this important maritime hub". "The United States - he added - will respond appropriately to any new future threat to our ships and maritime commerce."

October 9 last two missiles in the direction of the USS Mason from the port of Al-Hudaydah on the Red Sea, controlled by Shiite rebels linked to Tehran. The rockets fell in the water before hitting the target and caused no damage or injuries. A similar attack also occurred yesterday and triggered the US Navy reaction.

Since January 2015, Yemen has been the scene of a bloody internal conflict pitting the countrys Sunni leaders, backed by Riyadh, against Shia Houthi rebels, close to Iran.

In March 2015, a Saudi-led coalition began air strikes against the rebels in an attempt to free the capital Sana'a and bring back then exiled President Abdu Rabu Mansour Hadi. So far the air campaign  criticised by the UN - has killed at least 6,600 people, mostly civilians and many children. At least 2.5 million people have been displaced from their homes.

The Saudi coalition - the center of an independent international investigation into claims "a third" of their air strikes hit civilian targets  benefits from US logistical and intelligence support. However, in recent times the relationship has cooled (at least according to official channels) precisely because of the high number of civilian casualties.

The last case concerns an air raid on the wake of the father of a senior Houthi; in the attack - also strongly condemned by the United Nations - over 140 people were killed. Riyadh has not officially claimed direct responsibility in the affair, into which an internal investigation has been opened, however it has offered to provide medical assistance to the wounded.
Mgr Georges Abou Khazen describes a hell that touches everyone. Responding to the pope's appeal, he calls for a ceasefire to bring some aid and comfort. World powers have to be responsible and give precedence to "the logic of peace". Kerry and Lavrov are set to meet this weekend in Lausanne.

Aleppo (AsiaNews)  This morning some "rockets launched from the eastern sector" of Aleppo landed in "the predominantly Christian district of Sulaymaniyah" in the west and "hit a school, killing at least four children, said Mgr Georges Abou Khazen, vicar apostolic to Aleppo of the Latins, who spoke with AsiaNews, evidence of the spiral of violence and terror that is engulfing northern Syrias metropolis.

"We do not want all these deaths, this destruction, the prelate said, yet the tragedy continues and involves both sides of the city . . . Everyone here is suffering. Families in both east and west continue to count and mourn their dead."

For weeks, Syrias old economic capital has been split between a government-controlled western section with more than a million people, and a rebel-held eastern section with 250,000 residents that is the main battleground of the Syrian conflict. Yet, the media continue to talk about and denounce only the violence in east Aleppo.

Yesterday during his general audience, Francis renewed his appeal for peace in all of Syria, which he had called a "beloved and troubled" land in his statement announcing the appointment of Apostolic Nuncio Mgr Mario Zenari to the post of cardinal.

In asking for an urgent ceasefire to alleviate the suffering of the citys residents, the pontiff underlined and reiterated his closeness to all the victims of the inhuman conflict in Syria.

The pope called for a truce in the fighting, at least for the time necessary to evacuate the civilians, especially children, who are still trapped by the cruel bombings. Yet, less than 24 hours after the popes appeal, Aleppo weeps again for new victims among children.

"It's always the same old story, Mgr Abou Khazen said, with regional and international powers not working for peace. The popes words are very important because they make us feel his closeness but unfortunately these appeals fall on deaf ears.

The players are not interested in what is happening to people even though now more than ever a truce is needed to alleviate the suffering and bring some aid and comfort."

For the apostolic vicar, a truce would be a "first step" towards gradual progression "on the path of peace to relieve suffering and fears."

"Aleppo is now a living hell, the prelate added. It is a hell that touches everyone, east and west, full of death and destruction, refugees and lack of electricity and water, families who touch pain with their hands on a daily basis".

Such suffering "cannot be described with words," but it has not led to the loss of "hope for a solution to the conflict, because in the end, some agreement will be reached, even though selfishness now prevails."

The alternative to peace, warns the apostolic vicar, is a war that from the local level "will expand to the regional and global level."

In addition to bombs, rumours are all over the place, with some saying that the United States and Saudi Arabia "are negotiating to facilitate the safe escape of Islamic State jihadists from Mosul to Syrian territory".

When the Americans threatened to bomb on their own, "we feared the worst . . . This would be a terrifying prospect for everyone."

Drawing a parallel with the Cuban missile crisis of 1962, this could trigger a nuclear conflict on a global scale. "Our hope is that today, like then, the logic of peace will prevail, the vicar said. We reached the highest point of the crisis; now we hope in the sense of responsibility of all the players involved."

Meanwhile, there are other flashpoints. "The situation in Homs is calmer," but fighting continues "around Hama, in some suburbs of Damascus and other parts of the country."

Even though "many rebel groups, mainly Syrian, are willing to put down their weapons and sign an agreement", interventions by larger groups, above all extremists and jihadists, "nips in the bud such attempts".

Since a fragile truce was broken after just one week in September, the conflict has escalated. In five years, more than 300,000 people (430,000 according to some sources) have died and millions have become refugees. According to some, the last few hours saw the most intense bombardments in a while.

Last week Russia vetoed a UN Security Council draft resolution proposed by France, calling for a stop in the air raids in Aleppo. This decision sparked a diplomatic row between Moscow and Paris, ending with the decision of Russian President Vladimir Putin to "postpone" his visit to his French counterpart Francois Hollande.

Tensions have also mounted between Moscow and London after British Foreign Minister Boris Johnson called for demonstrations in front of the Russian Embassy in the United Kingdom against the bombing in Aleppo. Moscow reacted by describing Johnsons remarks as "shameful" and Russophobic hysteria".

However, Washington and Moscow are even more at odds as the two superpowers are on opposing sides in the Syrian war. The White House is close to the (so-called) moderate opposition  but also to extremist groups  whilst the Kremlin is the main backer of the Damascus government.

To avert further escalation in the Syrian conflict, Moscow  which has been accused of "war crimes" in Syria  and Washington are set to meet again on 15 October in Lausanne, Switzerland, in a multilateral meeting.

US Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov are expected to attend.

The two spoke by telephone in recent days, and are expected to be joined in Lausanne by counterparts from Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar.

Neither side has confirmed an invitation to Iran, a key player in the conflict and an ally of Syrian President Bashar Assad.

The United Nations said that Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura has been invited to the talks but a spokesman said he did not know if he would attend. (DS)
There are many analysts in the Chinese auto market who doubt the long-staying power of small-size SUVs, pointing to concerns that they lack both the stable handling and large interior space of their bigger brethren. However despite those assertions, sales of small SUVs remain very impressive. According to statistics compiled by Gasgoo.com (Chinese), small SUV sales in July totaled 148,171 units, accounting for 24.98% of all SUV models sold in the country over the course of the month. Three of the top ten best selling SUV models for the month were small SUV models.

Small SUVs were born as a result of fierce competition on the compact SUV segment. Joint ventures tried their hand at slightly adjusting the sizes of their models while also decreasing prices, leading to the creation of this new segment. Small SUVs resonated with a market that is becoming increasingly more diverse, appealing specifically to younger buyers.

The Chinese auto market is greeting the arrival of a new generation of younger buyers. These buyers tend to prefer trendy, sportier designs. Unlike the generation before them, which preferred utilitarian vehicles like hatchbacks, this new generation has turned its focus towards SUVs.

Small SUVs are a segment tailored specifically towards the unique demands of the Chinese market, which dont pose the same restrictions on long wheelbases as some foreign markets do. Manufacturers have also made a special effort to create fashionable, dynamic exterior designs that are specifically appealing to younger buyers.

Another important trait of younger buyers is the fact that they have been exposed to automobiles from a younger age than their parents, so they tend to already have a better understanding of what they want and are less likely to be convinced to purchase overpriced vehicles. Therefore, for these intelligible buyers who are just starting to raise families of their own and are on a budget, small SUVs appear to be an excellent choice for their competitive price point, perceived safety, high driver vantage point and sporty design.

The small SUV is the perfect solution for buyers who cant afford compact SUVs from joint ventures but still dont feel secure buying domestic brand SUVs.

Small SUVs also benefit from the fact that many third- and fourth-tier cities in the country still have a large amount of roads that are undergoing construction and are not fully paved yet. One only needs to visit the inner regions of Gansu or Inner Mongolia to witness this phenomenon first-hand. Small SUVs are seen as the perfectly safe yet affordable answer for new households needing a vehicle to transport their families.

Small SUVs are also seen as the perfect transition vehicle. Many younger buyers purchase these vehicles as a first car to be used for a few years before moving on to buying more expensive vehicles. As a result, small SUVs are performing especially strongly on the second-hand market, where they have been retaining their value quite well.



Having been made specifically for the Chinese market, small SUVs take advantage of their smaller size, which is ideal for the congested roads of China, while offering the driver a high vantage point from which to navigate traffic and seek out hard-to-find parking spaces. Also, compared with sedans, small SUVs still possess slightly roomier interiors, which make them better suited for long drive times that are the result of high congestion rates in Chinese cities.

Another strength is the perceived enhanced safety that small SUVs offer in the case of a collision. This is a common belief that many Chinese consumers have despite the increased rollover risk of SUVs compared to sedans. Also, in order to sell these vehicles at a competitive price, many manufacturers have excluded electronic safety systems such as ESP and VSC.

As a transitional vehicle small SUVs seem to have a promising future. However, they are still a far ways off from replacing other model types to become the countrys best-selling kind of SUV. That said manufacturers have been doing an especially good job of catering to the unique demands of Chinese consumers. If they are able to continue to keep track of what Chinese buyers desire and deliver new revisions that meet their requirements, small SUVs may very well be here to stay for the long term. Chinese consumers, for their part, also seemed to be pleased with the vehicles classification as an entry-level automobile.
Legal outsourcing and offshoring will only improve, putting further pressure to keep costs low as the market comes to better accept it, Katherine Sampson, Melbourne managing director for Mahlab predicts.



There will always be businesses and in house lawyers that will not accept legal outsourcing service providers, she told Australasian Lawyer.



But outsourcing and offshoring were generally considered to be cost effective at a Mahlab roundtable earlier this month. However, as cost pressure continues to mount, lawyers uncomfortable with outsourcing will inevitably find ways to move legal work to smaller firms where fees are lower and quality is not compromised, Sampson said.



Over the years we have seen the move from outsourcing of back office functions such a payroll and typing to outsourcing more of the tasks that lawyers actually handle, she said.



This spans legal research, due diligence, document review, litigation support and projects and now, IT and hiring of contract lawyers.



The key is guidance: investing time, training and supervision throughout the process will result in a more sophisticated outcome.



Those considering outsourcing need to first invest time and money to understand their core business well and what they want to be doing and what can be can better by a provider more cost effectively and faster, Sampson said.



After the initial setup process, Sampson said it doesnt stop there.



You need to invest time and money for due diligence, getting to know the providers and understanding them and their business.



Additional flow on costs are involved around detailing agreements and expectations, setting up processes and management of providers.


Young refugees who arrive in Australia are being helped by a mentoring scheme so that they can get the most of out of education and employment as they make a new life for themselves in the country.The Youth Work programme, funded by the Australian Government, is being run by Settlement Services International, a not for profit humanitarian organisation that connects young workers from a refugee or migrant background with mentors who can help them reach their goals. One young person currently being helped is Bpi who is originally from Burma and currently working in a restaurant while he finishes high school, but his ultimate goal is to be a teacher but this is something he thought could be difficult to achieve.He is regarded as hardworking, community minded and, on paper, the ideal candidate for a teaching role, but his English is not as good as it could be as he had little opportunity to study having fled Burma and then living in a refugee camp in Thailand. He also wants to improve his math knowledge.'We have very low levels of English in my country. I hope that one day I have good English and can go back to where I came from and teach children. I want to help other people as much as I can,' he said.'I also want to have a really good future here. I'm going to be compared to other people, so I need more support, for English especially,' he added.Bpi's mentor, Diana, is an experienced teaching professional who is able to answer his questions, offer career advice and generally support him in his quest to become a teacher.'Diana has taught international students for decades. She told me about teachers' aides, which I hadn't heard of. So I might try to be a teacher's aide first and then get fully qualified to become a teacher,' Bpi explained.In addition to helping Bpi reach his long term goals, Diana is also assisting with his more immediate needs, including homework support and helping him to improve his English language skills.Diana will be working with Bpi for up to six months to ensure he has the tools to retain his current job and work towards his career goals.'Being mentored means I'm getting help to overcome my employment challenges and to reach my future career goals. I think it's invaluable to receive support from an experienced person,' he added.
I lived in Australia from 2008 to 2014 on student visa. Unfortunately I couldn't provide new CoE on time for an extension so it was refused and I got a 3 years ban in Oct 2014. A officer suggested me to write a waiver when I was back to Vietnam. Which I did on Sep 2015 along with new student visa application and the evidences to support. And it got refused again.

So I met my husband in Vietnam on his travel August 2015. We did travel together a bit before he left to Australia. We kept in touch and were in a long distance relationship for 9 months. Because my visa was refused he had to move to Vietnam to be with me on May 2016. We got married in Sep and Im 22 weeks pregnant with his baby.

We don't have a joint account and we have been living on our savings since. Everything we pay by cash so there's no record of us sharing the bills but before he moved here he did send me fair a bit of his money for support.

We are planning to apply the visa 309. Should us mention the baby and the visa refusal in the application? Please any advice would be so much appreciated!!
Big Bob said: I was hired to come here on a 457. It was a great opportunity but the job wasn't working out. I bought my wife and son a return ticket out of Australia last month. I then resigned from work a couple of weeks later. Work will pay for me air fair home, should they also compensate me for the other tickets? Click to expand...

The sponsor will have to pay reasonable and necessary costs for primary sponsored persons and secondary sponsored persons to leave Australia if:1) a request is made in writing in accordance with regulation 2.802) the sponsor has not already paid costs in accordance with regulation 2.80 and3) the costs are reasonable and necessary.To my knowledge, the sponsor will need to pay secondary sponsored persons, even if they have left already, unless the visa they were sponsored has also ceased.It may still not too late to made a request, in writing.
Background

My wife is from Thailand and we have 2 kids here with me in Australia. We have been married for almost two years. We submitted her 309 Partner Visa application early September 2015 and are still waiting without response.



In 2015 there were 2 refusals for past tourist visa applications due to a bogus document provided by a family member. We were unaware of this and sued that family member for both stealing 15k of my money and knowingly providing us a false document to disrupt her Visa.



I've been to Thailand 10 times to be with my wife in last 2 years. My wife has been here in Australia to visit 3 times in the last 18 months... the most recent 600 visa was after the refusal... and sucessfully overcame PIC 4020 due to compassionate reasons.



Current Situation

We have been waiting over 13 months for this Partner Visa and is a great stress to say the least. The anxiety from the PIC4020 has sunken me into a bad depression... i find it hard to do anything let alone take care of the kids properly. I have to take care of 2 children (one of whom is in grade 1 and the other 3 year old needs fulltime attention) and work and manage a household all while I'm in this depression and constant anxiety. I'm a grown man yet i find myself crying over the smallest thing. I used to be a bright happy and sucessful person, 90k BMW and georgous 850k home... both these have been sold because of huge expenses and financial loss over visa (cost, travel, accom, agents, legal fees, etc) and my incapacity to work right now.



I'm scared to email immigration in fear it will jeopardise the application. I just wish i could know it will be okay. I just want my family back. Even my mum moved up from Tasmania to live close to me and my wife and kids.. and now i cannot guarantee she can be with me. God it breaks me down just thinking the possibility they refuse.



Would they really refuse a partner visa and break a family because of a past problem that we have already got compassinate exception in a tourist visa for? Its been 5 months since they asked for Comment on the PIC4020 and 13 months since application. Silence now. Is silence for 5 months a good thing? Having the past refusals which were then overcome, does it add much time to the process? Im just scared like hell to lose her and to live like this... sorry for the heart pouring.



Dec 2014 - First met in person

Apr 2015 - Married

Apr 2015 - Granted 600 Visa for 1 month

Jun 2015 - Granted 600 Visa for 3 months

Sep 2015 - Applied 309 Partner Visa

Oct 2015 - Refused 600 Tourist Visa

Nov 2015 - Refused 600 Tourist Visa

Nov 2015 - Granted 600 Visa on Compassionate Grounds for 3 months

May 2016 - Invitation to comment Natural Justice s57 (309 app)

May 2016 - Submitted response. Same compassionate reason as previous + 3 other Australians effected.

July 2016 - I emailed them asking if they needed anything else... They said they have everything they need and it has been Submitted for Final Decision. They said we can expect an outcome by Sept as per the normal processing time.
The Musso featured in the adjacent gallery has little to do with its forerunner. It is, in fact, merely a facelift for the Korando Sports . The change in nameplate is meant to homogenize SsangYongs passenger and commercial vehicle lineups. Now that the naming scheme has been addressed, let's press on.I admit Im a sucker for bargains and yes, the 2017 SsangYong Musso is a bit of a steal considering how much it costs. Before adding the value added tax, prices start from 15,995. This little dribble of money buys you the sheet metal before your eyes, a 2.2-liter turbo diesel engine, and standard equipment such as alloy wheels, leather on the steering wheel and gear knob, MP3 compatibility and Bluetooth for your phone, and air conditioning.Musso - which means rhinoceros in Korean - is a tough, robust proposition for any trade, and with a specification, price and warranty no others can compete with, explains Paul Williams, chief executive office of SsangYong Motor UK. Hes right, you know, especially when you consider that this pickup truck 's 5-year warranty isnt restricted by mileage. Thats a hell of a promise from a vehicle thats usually bought by professionals who abuse it on a daily basis. And yes, even the suspension joints and bushes, shock absorbers, and the wheel bearings are covered by the 5-year/limitless mileage warranty.The chassis, matched with a manual transmission and a force-fed diesel with 178 PS (176 bhp) and 400 Nm (295 lb-ft) on tap, enable a towing capacity of 3 tonnes (6,613 pounds). The load bed, on the other hand, displaces 2.04 square meters (102.9 cubic feet), which is enough room for a Euro pallet.An automatic transmission is also available, but only on the range-topping Musso EX. Priced from 18,995 excluding VAT, the highest configuration of SsangYong s workhorse also boasts leather-wrapped and heated seats, a power operated drivers seat, automatic headlights, LED daytime running lights, and a 7-inch touchscreen infotainment system.
Enterprise Holdings announced that Enterprise Rent-A-Car has begun operating in Argentina, Paraguay, and Curacao in October 2016.

Enterprise Holdings owns Enterprise Rent-A-Car as well as the National Car Rental and Alamo Rent A Car brands. The company said the Enterprise Rent-A-Car brand will be offered to customers at main airports in Bariloche, Buenos Aires, and Mendoza, Argentina; Asuncion, Paraguay; and Willemstad, Curacao.

The brand's first city-center location also opened in Asuncion in September, and additional locations are planned for the three countries, according to Enterprise.

National Car Rental also recently expanded its service offerings  including the brand's Emerald Club loyalty program  at locations throughout Argentina and Paraguay.
Logo courtesy of Europcar

Europcar New Zealand has appointed Melissa Carter to the role of New Zealand travel sales manager.

Carter joins Europcar with experience in New Zealands tourism and hospitality industries, specializing in relationship management, direct sales, and contract negotiations.

With its outstanding products and services, Europcar is a brand I am very proud to represent, said Carter. I am looking forward to offering our clients the benefits of a world-leading car rental company from a local perspective.

As Europcar continues to experience exceptional growth, we are thrilled to have someone with Melissas credentials managing this key segment, said Stephen Jones, general manager of Europcar New Zealand. We value our relationship with the travel sector, understanding the importance of providing clients with expertise and knowledge to keep them ahead of their competitors.  

Europcar New Zealand offers a range of rental vehicles, including economy, large family vehicles, and luxury cars at its several locations throughout New Zealand.
Logo courtesy of Sixt

Sixt Rent a Car has launched operations in Ecuador by opening its first franchised location at the Jose Joaquin de Olmedo International Airport in Guayaquil.

The Sixt Ecuador franchisee is a family-owned car rental business that has served the Ecuadorian market for over 15 years, according to the company.

In addition to the opening in Guayaquil, Sixt recently added new locations in Peru, Paraguay, and Uruguay in South America.

The addition of Ecuador to the Sixt network represents an important milestone for the brand development in the region, said Ruediger Proske, Sixt senior vice president of global franchise operations. We are enthusiastic to offer a quality alternative in mobility for tourism and business customers in this great city of Guayaquil. We are equally optimistic to implement additional locations in Quito and other cities in Ecuador soon.

Sixts new location in Guayaquil offers a variety of vehicles, including economy, intermediate, full-size sedans, and SUVs.
The video's prelude included a text reference towards massive drawings created by ancient civilizations. These are collectively known and famously referred to as the 'Nazca Lines.' The 2017 Honda NSX Acura recreates these images, alongside engineering support. The chosen venue was the desert-like place in El Mirage, California.

The Honda NSX Acura driver was assisted by a team of able engineers and technicians. They are seen monitoring by the sidelines on the video. The driver was not identified. However, he was described as an 'extremely talented test driver.' The task was not easy. It was a one-time attempt over 963 meters long of the area. This was 10 times bigger than the ninety-three original image.



There were other Nazca line drawings. It was not disclosed why Honda has chosen the 'hummingbird.'
Boeing said this week its behind schedule on development of its manned spacecraft, which could give competitor SpaceX the edge on being the first U.S. company to launch people into orbit since the retirement of NASAs space shuttle several years ago. Boeing has now postponed a first unmanned flight of the CST-100 Starliner for the second time this year, with a launch now slated for 2018 instead of 2017, The Wall Street Journal reported. Boeing is developing the Starliner under a $4.2 billion NASA contract, while SpaceX is working on its Dragon spacecraft under a $2.6 billion contract.

Engineering issues for the Starliner lie in the emergency launch-pad abort tests. Still, a Boeing official said the company is on a very aggressive schedule and pedaling as quickly as we can while ensuring that the spacecraft will be safe to fly, the Journal reported. When the contracts were announced in 2014,the abort tests were originally slated to take place this year. The capsule-shaped Starliner, designed to carry up to seven people into orbit and dock at the International Space Station, would be equipped with parachutes and airbags to allow for landings on the ground, making it reusable up to 10 times. NASA is requiring that the manned vehicles are capable of launching aboard their own rockets and docking with the ISS for multiple missions.
13 October 2016 11:13 (UTC+04:00)

The Armenian armed units shattered ceasefire with Azerbaijan a total of 28 times throughout the day, Azerbaijan`s Defense Ministry reported on October 13.

Armenian armed forces, stationed in Armenia`s Paravakar village in Ijevan region and nameless hills of Krasnoselsk region subjected to fire the positions of the Azerbaijani Armed Forces located in Kohnegishlag village in Agstafa region and nameless hills in Gadabay region.

The ceasefire was also violated near the Goyarkh and Chilaburt villages in Tartar region, Bash Garvand village in Agdam region , Horadiz and Ashagi Seyidahmadli villages in Fuzuli region , Kuropatkino village in Khojavand region, as well as nameless hills in Goronboy, Jabrayil and Fuzuli regions.

Since a war in the early 1990s, Armenian armed forces have occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan's territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding regions. More than 20,000 Azerbaijanis were killed and over 1 million were displaced as a result of the large-scale hostilities.

Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and surrounding districts.

Despite a ceasefire agreement achieved between the sides, Armenia regularly shells the Azerbaijani positions in an effort to tense the situation. Ignoring the calls of Azerbaijani side, as well as the international community to follow the armistice, Armenia continues its destructive actions hereby showing its disrespect to the peace process.

---

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13 October 2016 10:54 (UTC+04:00)

By Nigar Abbasova

Azerbaijan's state oil fund SOFAZ, which accumulates and manages the energy-rich country's oil and gas revenues, has managed to derive profit and raise its revenues by benefiting from the currency exchange rate differences.

Year to date, the Fund gained some 2.5 billion manats ($ 1.56 billion) [non-budget gains], due to differences in the currency rates.

Fund's CEO Shahmar Movsumov, speaking at a press conference on October 12, said that SOFAZ assets increased by 6.7 percent compared to early 2016, and amounted to $35.82 billion, mentioning that profit and expenditures of the Fund stood at 6.62 billion manats ($ 4.13 billion) and 3.82 billion manats ($ 2.38 billion), respectively.

Profit from the realization of oil and gas contracts hit 5.88 billion manats ($ 3.67 billion).

Movsumov also said that profit of SOFAZ from the management of its own resources amounted to 734.8 billion manats ($ 459.65 billion) in the reported period.

Assets of the Fund as of October 1 stood at $35.82 billion, with some $33.95 billion accounting for the investment portfolio and 1.87 billion falling to a share of manat account. The Fund plans to increase its assets by $1 billion in 2017.

Movsumov further said that the existence of manat [national currency] in the assets is a temporary phenomenon, which is mainly connected with conversion operations that are needed to generate transfers to the budget.

He clarified that the reason of appearance of manat reserves is the low need for manat reserves in the state budget, adding that the financial means will be transferred to the budget till late 2016.

The volume of transfers of the Fund to the budget amounted to 3.26 billion manats ($ 2.03 billion).

SOFAZs transfers to the 2016 budget are forecasted to stand at 7.6 billion manats ($4.6 billion), while the index for 2017 is forecasted at 6.1 billion manat ($3.7 billion).

A balanced budget, with oil prices standing at $40 per barrel taken as a basis, will also be effective in 2017.

Moreover, dividends of SOFAZ, from Russias VTB Bank amounted to $25 million. The Fund is a shareholder in the Bank with a share of 2.95 percent.

Commenting on the influence of sanctions on the value of VTB shares, Movsumov said that despite the fact that sanctions led to a decline in revenues, experts predict that the shares will rise in price by 25 percent after the sanctions are lifted, adding that SOFAZ is a long-term investor, therefore it is not intended to sell its stake in VTB.

Movsumov also spoke about deposit volume in International Bank of Azerbaijan, saying that the Fund does not plan to increase deposit volume in IBA or to place deposits in other banks.

SOFAZ can place up to 5 percent of total amount of assets in domestic market. The fund has placed a deposit of $1 billion in the IBA, which means that the fund is able to place up to $500 million more.

--

Nigar Abbasova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @nigyar_abbasova

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13 October 2016 12:26 (UTC+04:00)

By Nigar Abbasova

Azerbaijan, which places a huge emphasis on the development of agriculture in the country, expands its international cooperation in the sphere.

The recently-established Azerbaijan Fruit and Vegetable Producers and Exporters Association and Azerbaijani-Dutch Business Center signed a memorandum of understanding, which envisages strengthening of cooperation in agrarian sector, as well as implementation of joint projects and programs by the sides.

Newly-appointed Dutch Ambassador to Baku, Onno Kervers said the memorandum is a good model for successful relations, mentioning that the document would positively contribute to boosting business environment between the two countries.

Kervers also highlighted the upcoming visit of Agriculture Minister Heydar Asadov to Netherlands scheduled for October 26-29.

Head of the Association Bashir Guliyev, in turn, spoke about the successful agrarian policy carried out in the country underlining institutional reforms carried out in the sector.

Enjoying advantageous geographic location, Azerbaijan has every opportunity to increase export of high quality agro products, which are in great demand. The country seeks to further develop its agriculture and food industry both for import substitution and export.

The Netherlands, which is considered to be one of the leading agribusiness countries in Europe, ranks fourth in terms of the volume of investments made in Azerbaijan. The country invested some $340 million in Azerbaijan over the last three years.

The country earlier showed interest in cooperation, exchanging and sharing experiences with Azerbaijan in agriculture, in particular water industry, lake water purification, irrigation, breeding, and floriculture.

The trade turnover between the Netherlands and Azerbaijan amounted to $44.71 million in the first quarter of 2016, $21.65 million of which fell on exports to this country, according to the Azerbaijani State Customs Committee.

--

Nigar Abbasova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @nigyar_abbasova

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13 October 2016 16:56 (UTC+04:00)

By Nigar Abbasova

Energy-rich Azerbaijan, which plays an important role in ensuring energy security both at regional and international scale, continues to attract interest of the leading energy companies.

Italys Tenaris Global Services, a leading supplier of tubes and related services for the worlds energy industry, expressed its interest in the energy sector of Azerbaijan.

CEO of the company Paolo Rocca, during his meeting with Azerbaijans Energy Minister Natig Aliyev, said that the company is ready to render its services in Azerbaijan and benefit from opportunities stipulated by the energy cooperation and joint projects being implemented by Italy and Azerbaijan.

Aliyev, in turn, said despite the decline in oil prices the Southern Gas Corridor (SGC) project is being implemented without delays and gas will be delivered to Europe via the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) in 2020.

He underlined that the TAP project is supported by the Italian government while timely implementation of the project is equally important for all parties.

TAP, which is a part of the Southern Gas Corridor, one of the priority energy projects for the EU, envisages transportation of gas from the Stage 2 of development of Azerbaijan's Shah Deniz gas and condensate field to the EU countries.

The 870-kilometer pipeline will be connected to the Trans Anatolian Pipeline (TANAP) on the Turkish-Greek border, run through Greece, Albania and the Adriatic Sea, before coming ashore in Italy's south. Once built, TAP will offer a direct and cost-effective transportation route. Moreover, TAP's initial capacity of 10 bcm of gas per year is equivalent to the energy consumption of approximately seven million households in Europe, the fact is considered to be an indication of the future increase in energy security of a whole Europe, including Italy.

Aliyev also spoke about the reforms and measures conducted for the development of the non-oil sector in Azerbaijan. The minister highlighted that favorable conditions for investments were created in the country.

Azerbaijan and Italy enjoy broad ties in the business sphere, while the southern European country ranked first in the list of Azerbaijan's foreign trade partners in the first quarter of 2016, with trade turnover of $462.44 million.

--

Nigar Abbasova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @nigyar_abbasova

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13 October 2016 17:49 (UTC+04:00)

By Rashid Shirinov

Up to 20 agricultural parks are planned to be built in Azerbaijan with a view to increase exports of agriculture products and entering new markets.

Economy Minister Shahin Mustafayev emphasized that creation of agricultural parks is important for strengthening food security, import substitution and increase of Azerbaijans export potential.

The minister, addressing the meeting on October 13, stated that for this end, the ministry will determine places to construct agro-parks and needed infrastructure.

Currently, the establishment of agro-parks nears completion in Shamkir and Yalama, which will allow to expand domestic supply and support the exports.

Mustafayev noted that the first stage of creation of the Yalama Agro Park has already completed. The park will extend on an area of 523 hectares. The second stage stipulates construction of a milk processing plant with a capacity of 100 tons per day. The goods of the plant, including butter, dry milk and cheese, will be produced both for domestic and export.

As for the Shamkir Agro Park, the work on the first phase of its construction is in progress. In particular, logistics centre with a capacity of 26,000 tons and large farms are being created there.

Azerbaijan's agricultural sector plays an important role in providing the 9.6-million population's food security in a best way and increasing the country's export potential.

The country, with its advantageous climatic conditions and good opportunities to develop agrarian sector, has defined the establishment of agro-parks among its priorities to boost the agriculture development.

Industry

Furthermore, Shahin Mustafayev announced that new industrial zones may be established in Ganja and Agstafa cities of Azerbaijan.

Work on the feasibility study of the possible industrial zones in these cities will be completed within three months, he mentioned.

Industrial parks have been so far created several regions of the country. The country also provides favorable conditions for other countries to participate in the industrial parks

. The government has made certain changes to the legislature in order to ensure further development of the concept of industrial parks and districts. Import of goods by the industrial park residents is exempt of customs duties for a term of five years, while foreign residents of industrial parks are exempt from payments for compulsory social insurance as well as the equipment and technologies used in industrial parks is also exempt from value added tax.

The minister also informed about the already functioning industrial parks, mentioning that construction of internal roads, vocational training centre, laying of power lines and installation of electric substation is underway at the Sumgayit chemical-industrial park. Moreover, the work is underway to attract new residents to the park.

Mustafayev said that enterprises at the Balakhani industrial park will start operating until the end of the year, while work on the organization of the Mingachevir industrial park, specializing in light industry, is underway.

As for the Pirallahi industrial park, he stated that preparatory works for its establishment are currently underwear.

The park is planned to produce more than 100 kinds of pharmaceutical products in future.

Meanwhile, the Neftchala industrial district is already provided with all needed infrastructure, and currently, work on creation of the Azerbaijani-Iranian automobile factory is implemented there.

---

Rashid Shirinov is AzerNews staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @RashidShirinov

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13 October 2016 12:51 (UTC+04:00)

By Laman Ismayilova

Alberta Azerbaijani Culture Center has organized an event on Azerbaijan Culture Day, Azertac reported.

The event was co-organized by the country`s Embassy in Canada and Alberta province Ministry of Culture and Tourism.

Minister Ricardo Miranda, addressing the event, thanked members of the Center for organizing such event.

The celebration displayed Azerbaijan`s national cuisine and featured a magnificent performance of Azerbaijani artist Tahmina Rafaela.

Canada recognized the independence of the Azerbaijan Republic on December 25, 1991 and diplomatic relations between the two countries were established on August 10, 1992.

Cultural ties between countries have been growing day by day. There have been numerous events in the past several years, including concerts, theatre performances, and a recent film festival held in Montreal based around Azerbaijani life and culture.

Canada and Azerbaijans common membership in multilateral institutions, including the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) and the United Nations (UN) and its agencies, facilitates cooperation on issues of mutual concern.

---

Laman Ismayilova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Lam_Ismayilova

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13 October 2016 12:05 (UTC+04:00)

By Rashid Shirinov

Council of Europe's (CoE) Secretary General Thorbjorn Jagland in his appeal to the PACE session on October 10 voiced his concerns about the human rights situation in the Armenian occupied Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan. He emphasized the need of sending monitoring missions to the conflict zones.

The Council of Europe has no access to study the situation with the human rights in those areas, which is unacceptable, he said.

Armenia keeps under occupation 20 percent of internationally recognized territory of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region, which it seized laying groundless territorial claims on a neighboring country. Now the vast area is under control of a separatist regime supervised by Armenia.

Indeed, no human rights can be observed in occupied areas as long as Armenian occupation troops stay there and the territory is out of legal control of Azerbaijani authorities. Local people of Karabakh are deprived of both civil and human rights, while the separatist regime ignores every call of the international community to fulfill the commitments of the international law.

The Council of Europe's monitoring mechanism cant give any desired result without elimination of the occupation, which is the fundamental basis of the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Hikmat Hajiyev, the spokesman for Azerbaijans Foreign Ministry, believes.

Firstly, the occupation and aggression fact, which is an obstacle to solving the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, must be removed and the Armenian troops must be withdrawn from the occupied Azerbaijani territories, said Hajiyev.

He also reminded that according to the 221st PACE recommendation, Armenia within the framework of its Council of Europe membership, undertook responsibility in connection with the conflicts solution.

The Council of Europe should demand from Armenia to execute these obligations and respect the norms and principles of international law in order to contribute to the conflicts settlement, he added.

The so-called Nagorno-Karabakh Republic is not recognized by any country, and even by belligerent Armenia itself. Armenian occupant troops try by any means to seize the outflow of population from the area. Many residents are simply obliged to adopt Armenian citizenship to leave the territory.

This call by Jagland was warmly met among the separatists in Nagorno-Karabakh, who seem to admit shortage with universal human rights in the uncontrolled area.

Furthermore, the violated rights of over one million Azerbaijanis displaced as a result of the large-scale hostilities caused by Armenia should be restored as well. These people continue leaving a refugee life in their own territory for over 20 years, waiting for the justice to win at least.

Restoring the rights of citizens in Nagorno-Karabakh is possible only through enforcing peaceful solution to the long-lasing conflict. The more Karabakh remains under occupation, the more people here will suffer from the doleful situation triggered by Armenia.
13 October 2016 10:41 (UTC+04:00)

A commemorative postage stamp dedicated to the 25th anniversary of the restoration of Azerbaijans independence has been issued in Los Angeles.

The issuance of the postage stamp has been made possible with the support of Azerbaijans Consulate General in Los Angeles.

The United States Postal Service-approved postage stamps, which are usable and valid on the territory of the entire U.S., contain the following text: AZERBAIJAN: 25 Years of Independence (1991-2016). The stamps reflect the national flag of the Republic of Azerbaijan and a view of the skyline of Baku, capital city of Azerbaijan.

The Consulate General plans to widely distribute the postage stamp in the United States.

Azerbaijanis celebrate October 18 as a glorious day in their history, their Independence Day. 25 years ago, the people of Azerbaijan raised the banner of independence for the second time and this became a brilliant victory in the political history of the nation in the 20th century.

--

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13 October 2016 15:16 (UTC+04:00)

By Amina Nazarli

Foreigners and persons without citizenship, carrying out ceremonies and rites pertaining to Islam, will be fined in Azerbaijan.

This is reflected in the changes proposed to the Criminal Code of Azerbaijan, discussed at today's meeting of the parliamentary committee on legal policy and state building and public associations and religious organizations.

Any violation of the law is punished through imposing a fine in the amount of from 2,000 to 5,000 manats ($1,240-$3.100) or imprisonment of up to one year.

The current law envisages punishment in the form of fines and imprisonment only for the citizens of Azerbaijan, who received religious education abroad.

Moreover, it is proposed to fine persons forcing third parties to adhere to any religion (religious movement) on the grounds of religious hatred, radicalism and fanaticism, including forcing them to perform religious rites and ceremonies, to participate in religious rites and ceremonies, and religious education.

People accused of committing such violations will be fined in the amount of from 7,000 to 9,000 manats ($4,350-$5,590) or imprisoned from 2 to 5 years.

Another proposal to the Criminal Code envisions punishment for the religious hatred committed on the soil of religious radicalism and religious fanaticism actions to seize power and to violate territorial integrity.

It was proposed to introduce a penalty of imprisonment for a term of 15 to 20 years or life imprisonment for such deeds.

The changes were recommended for consideration at the next plenary meeting of the autumn session of the parliament on October 14.

In Azerbaijan, which is a home for representatives of different nations, there is no place for anti-Semitism or religious intolerance.

Azerbaijan is regarded as a vivid pattern and an example of how public policy of tolerance and dialogue multicultural could create a fertile ground for interreligious peace.

The country always was a land, where different nations, languages and cultural traditions met and interacted.

Azerbaijan played an important role in the interaction of different religious groups of the region, although the secular state Azerbaijan has an overwhelming majority of Muslim population (96 percent).

Worshipers of other religions enjoy freedom in Azerbaijan, while Jewish synagogues and Orthodox and Christian churches and other religious centers are functioning freely here.

--

Amina Nazarli is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @amina_nazarli

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13 October 2016 14:38 (UTC+04:00)

Pakistans Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif arrived in Azerbaijan for an official visit on October 13.

A guard of honor was lined up for the Pakistani prime minister at the Heydar Aliyev International Airport, decorated with the national flags of Azerbaijan and Pakistan.

The Pakistani PM was welcomed by Azerbaijani Deputy Prime Minister Ali Ahmadov and other officials at the airport.

Pakistan became the second country after Turkey which recognized the independence of Azerbaijan in 1991. The diplomatic relations between two countries were established on June 9, 1992.

Pakistan supported Azerbaijan during and after the Nagorno-Karabakh War and it is the only country that does not recognize Armenia. Pakistan also adopted a resolution strongly condemning the genocide against the civilian population of Khojaly, which was committed by Armenian armed forces.

Although the countries enjoy very close and friendly relations at a diplomatic level, these close ties have not been translated into significant commercial gains.

The trade turnover between Azerbaijan and Pakistan amounted to $1.8 million in the first quarter of 2016, according to the State Customs Committee of Azerbaijan.

--

Amina Nazarli is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @amina_nazarli

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13 October 2016 14:44 (UTC+04:00)

By Trend

President of Croatia Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic will visit Azerbaijan on October 24, a diplomatic source told Trend on October 13.

During her visit, the Croatian president will have bilateral meetings with the countrys leadership and discuss the prospects of cooperation in political, economic and humanitarian spheres.

Grabar-Kitarovic will be accompanied by a business delegation during her visit.

Baku will also host a business forum with participation of the two countries business circles.

The trade turnover between Azerbaijan and Croatia was $191.87 million in January-August 2016, according to Azerbaijans State Customs Committee.

---

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13 October 2016 15:09 (UTC+04:00)

The 30th volume of "Ilham Aliyev. Development is our goal" multivolume book has been published in Baku.

The book begins with the excerpts from President Ilham Aliyev`s speech at a reception for Swiss President Pascal Couchepin on May 12, 2008.

The material included in this volume covers the period from April to June of 2008.

The book features President Aliyev`s official visits to Ukraine and Finland, as well as his participation in the Energy Security Summit.

It also highlights the head of state`s meetings with Moldovan, Jordanian, Swiss and Turkmen counterparts, as well as Russian, US, Turkish, Norwegian, Slovak, Iranian, Israeli, British and other countries` officials.

The volume includes the President`s messages to the Jewish and Orthodox Christian communities in Azerbaijan.

Azerbaijan State News Agency contributed to the publication of the 30th volume of the book.

---

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13 October 2016 18:18 (UTC+04:00)

By Amina Nazarli

Azerbaijan can become a bridge not only between Europe and Asia, but also between the European Union and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation.

Dragana Filipovic, Head of the Council of Europes Office in Baku, made the statement at the presentation of the mid-term report on the projects envisaged for the countries of the Eastern Partnership, in particular for Azerbaijan.

EU Ambassador to Azerbaijan Malena Mard, in turn, highlighted a good level of partnership between the EU and Azerbaijan.

The diplomat said the sides will share their experiences as part of the project. Cost of the projects, funded by the Council of Europe and the EU, is $4.7 million.

It is important that all parties work together to achieve better results, she added.

After the speech, Mard informed journalists about the three sessions of subcommittees on trade and economy issues held between Azerbaijan and the EU, so far, and said the next one will be held on October 14.



These meetings provide an opportunity to exchange experience with Azerbaijani colleagues, according to the EU ambassador. The diplomat stressed the importance of the fact that the parties have resume dialogue within the subcommittees.



I am confident that we will achieve concrete results in the various fields. We hope that a meeting of the Subcommittee on Energy will be before the end of the year, she said.



Regarding the new legal framework of negotiations between the EU and Azerbaijan on strategic cooperation, Mard said a decision of all the EU member countries is expected for that, and then negotiations will begin in the near future.

However, negotiations on this issue are continuing in Brussels, the diplomat added.

The EU and Azerbaijan are maintaining relations under the Partnership and Cooperation Agreement, which was signed in 1996 and came into force in 1999.

Since then the PCA has provided the legal framework for EU-Azerbaijan bilateral relations in the areas of political dialogue, trade, investment, economic, legislative and cultural cooperation.

Azerbaijan is also included in the EU program on "Eastern Partnership" adopted on the initiative of Poland and Sweden and approved at the EU summit in Brussels in 2008.

--

Amina Nazarli is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @amina_nazarli



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13 October 2016 13:55 (UTC+04:00)

By Nigar Abbasova

World oil prices retreated on October 13 responding predictably to OPEC production data that revealed a rise up to the highest level in at least eight years and reports of an increase in U.S. crude stockpiles.

Brent crude futures traded at $51.46 per barrel, 0.68 percent down from the previous close, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude stood at $49.76 per barrel, recording a decrease of 0.84 percent. The price of a barrel of Azeri Light crude oil decreased $0.67 to stand at $52.21 on the world markets.

The prices were hit and came under pressure after Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) reported a rise in output whilst the cartel aims to cut production in a bid to oust rein of supply glut that dominated in the market.

The cartel also raised its forecast for 2017 non-OPEC supply growth, pointing to a larger surplus next year.

OPEC continued to boost supply, increasing output by 160,000 barrels per day and reaching a record high of 33.64 million barrels per day due to Iraqi pumping and Libya's reopening of its oil terminals.

The indices were assessed by traders as an additional sign underlining OPEC's challenge in seeking to restrain supplies for the first time since 2008. The strong production by OPEC amid an outcry to cut output brings in the spotlight the eagerness of member states to protect their market shares.

Meanwhile, the Energy Information Administration is due to publish official storage inventory data in the short run. Expectations are gloomy for the market, as API (American Petroleum Institute) forecasted that U.S. crude inventories rose by 2.7 million barrels up to 470.9 million barrels.

The growth is expected to become the first rise in oil stocks following five straight weeks of declines. Softer gasoline consumption and the return of refineries from maintenance are considered to be main reasons of expected growth.

Along with negative factors, the market also received some support from China, which hit oil imports record last month leaving the U.S. behind and taking the position of world's top buyer of foreign oil for the third time in a year. China's September crude imports increased by 18 percent, as compared to a year earlier, reaching 8.04 million bpd on daily basis, while the U.S. four-week average stood at 7.98 million bpd.

The focus is now on the upcoming OPECs Vienna meeting where the cartel will discuss the implementation of preliminary Algeria deal aimed at speeding up a rebalancing of the market.

The group hopes to finalize details, deciding on how much each of its 14 members can pump, and convince oil producers outside the group to join the deal. Prices initially responded positively to the preliminary consent, the market, however, is still in doubts about whether the cartel will eventually carry out the cuts.

Doubts about how much the deal would reduce a crude glut, raise additional concerns. Moreover, the fact that some countries demand to be treated as an exception is an additional concern for the market.

--

Nigar Abbasova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @nigyar_abbasova

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
13 October 2016 15:32 (UTC+04:00)

By Nigar Abbasova

Iran, which suffered a lot due to the economic sanctions imposed by the West, continues to take steps aimed at restoring its energy sphere and gaining back its market share.

The country, which has recently re-entered the world energy market, is now engaged in strengthening its cooperation with other countries.

Iran delivered the first batch of its oil to Indian Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd (MRPL), which will keep it as a reserve in its underground strategic storage. The first batch with 260,000 tons of Iranian crude was received in a very large crude carrier (VLCC), which is considered to be one of the largest operating cargo vessels in the world.

Indian Oil Corporation, the biggest Indian oil company, earlier contracted to take some 5 million tons of crude oil from Iran in 2016-2017. The purchase of crude by one of the world's leading crude importers is expected to boost Iran's oil shipments.

India is building emergency storages in vast underground caverns at three locations located in southern India (Visakhapatnam, Mangalore, Padur) to hold a total of 36.87 million barrels of crude (which is considered to be enough to cover almost two weeks of demand), while main objective is to be secured against energy security risks, as the country imports about 80 percent of its oil needs. The country was earlier in talks with the United Arab Emirates' national oil company but negotiations stalled due to commercial terms.

The Visakhapatnam storage with its capacity of 1.33 million tons was commissioned in June 2015, while the Mangalore storage with its capacity of 1.5 tonns launched reception of oil on October 12. The facility in Padur will be ready by late 2016.

India has been raising oil imports from Iran since January, while Iran's daily crude exports to India surged to the highest level in 15 years in August.

India's oil imports rose by 4.4 percent in September, as compared to the previous month, up to a record high of 4.47 million bpd, as the country expanded its refining capacity to meet growing fuel demand in the scope of expanding economy. The country, which is currently the third-largest consumer behind the U.S. and China, recorded an increase of 17.7 percent in the level of consumption, as compared to the indices of 2015.

Oil market, meanwhile, continues to keep an eye on Iranian export volumes, as pre-sanction levels is a precondition of the country for discussing cuts in production to boost crude prices and oust the problem of oversupply.

Iran has repeatedly stated that it plans to increase oil output up to 4 mbd by March 2017, while Iranian oil exports have nearly doubled since sanctions were lifted in January 2016.

China, India, Japan and South Korea are among big Asian oil consumers that have sharply boosted their imports of Iranian crude this year. Asian markets account for roughly 75% of Irans crude oil exports.

The country has the fourth largest oil reserves and largest natural gas reserves in the world, while the country is also the third largest exporter of oil in the world. Crude oil production in the country reached 3.66 million barrels per day in September, according to OPEC.

--

Nigar Abbasova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @nigyar_abbasova

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
13 October 2016 11:07 (UTC+04:00)

By Gunay Hasanova

Irans crude oil production reached 3.665 million barrels per day (mb/d) in September, OPEC said in a monthly report published on October 12.

Irans August oil output stood at 3.634 mb/d, said the report.

OPEC crude oil production averaged 33.39 mb/d in September, increasing by 0.22 mb/d over the previous month, according to secondary sources.

Crude oil output increased mostly from Iraq, Nigeria and Libya, while production in Saudi Arabia showed the largest drop.

Iran has repeatedly stated that it plans to increase oil output to 4 mb/d by March 2017.

Iran has the fourth largest oil reserves and the largest natural gas reserves in the world, while the country is also the third largest exporter of oil in the world.

Iranian oil sales have nearly doubled since sanctions were lifted on its oil exports in January 2016. In fact, Iran is recovering market share faster than many experts had expected.

China and India are looking to further lock down Iranian supply, with a large planned investment in Irans oil and gas infrastructure. Iran is seeking $130 billion worth of investment to bring its energy sector up to date after years of sanctions.

Previously, Reuters reported that Irans June 2016 sales to its four major Asian oil customersChina, Japan, India and South Koreawere 47.1% higher than a year ago.

--

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
13 October 2016 11:32 (UTC+04:00)

By Gunay Hasanova

Turkey and Russia seek to strengthen their ties through expanding interaction in tourism sphere.

Turkish tourism sector expects to receive about five million Russian tourists next year, RIA Novosti reported with reference to President of Turkish Travel Agencies Union Basharan Ulusoy.

"We are very pleased that relations between the two countries have been improved, number of charter flights rose again", Ulusoy said.

We hope next year the number of Russian tourists wont only be fully restored to its previous level but also will increase and in 2017 we will welcome more than 5 million tourists from Russia.

Ulusoy believes that the abolition of visas for Turkish citizens will increase the tourist flow from Turkey to Russia.

"Tourism should be mutual, but to increase the number of tourists from Turkey to Russia, it is necessary, first of all, to abolish visas and then the number of Turkish tourists will increase in two or three times, added Ulusoy.

The number of Russian tourists visiting Turkey was 3.65 million people in 2015 falling by 18.6 percent compared to 2014.

Earlier, Co-chair of Russian-Turkish intergovernmental commission Alexander Novak said that Russia is interested in attracting tourists from Turkey.

I would like to mention that Russia is also interested in attracting tourists from Turkey, said Novak, adding that there is unused potential in this field between Turkey and Russia.

Tourism sphere is one of the main cooperation areas between the two countries, he said, mentioning that the tourist flow from Russia to Turkey and charter flights between the two countries have already been fully restored.

Charter air service between Russia and Turkey were suspended for nine months due to the crisis in relations between the two countries after Turkish fighter jet shot down the Russian Su-24 bomber in Syria in November 2015.

As a result, the tourists flow from Russia to Turkey decreased by 90 percent in the first months of 2016.

The two sides began to restore ties after President of Turkey Tayyip Erdogan sent a letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin apologizing for downed aircraft. Later, Putin signed a decree repealing the ban on charter flights to Turkey on June 30. In turn, Russian government adopted the corresponding resolution on August 28.

Hence, the first charter took off on September 2.

---

Gunay Hasanova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @gunhasanova

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
13 October 2016 12:37 (UTC+04:00)

By Gunay Hasanova

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry will meet Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Switzerland on October 15 to discuss Syria, Reuters reported.

The Syrian government launched an assault to capture rebel-held areas of Aleppo last month with Russian air support and Iranian-backed militias, a week into a ceasefire agreed by Washington and Moscow.

The situation in Aleppo has extremely deteriorated lately as heavy battles are going on in the city and its outskirts.

The U.S. accused the Syrian authorities and the Russian Federation of bombing peaceful civilians and armed opposition. Damascus and Moscow insist that strike blows only at the terrorists and accuses Washington of failing to pressure on the troops of "moderate opposition" so that they separate themselves from the terrorists.

Recently, Russia using the veto blocked the UN Security Council resolution proposed by France for the introduction of the ceasefire in Syrian Aleppo. The Russian draft resolution was not accepted, as well.

---

Gunay Hasanova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @gunhasanova

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
13 October 2016 15:43 (UTC+04:00)

By Gunay Hasanova

The governments of Turkmenistan and Tatarstan [Russian Federation] have agreed on a program of cooperation in trade-economic and scientific-technical spheres for 2017-2019 years.

The document was undersigned following the results of the joint business forum in Ashgabat. Tatarstans delegation for the forum included representatives of government agencies, ministries, the Investment Promotion Agency, the Chamber of Commerce, Business Support Fund and major companies.

The Turkmen delegation brought together representatives of key ministries and departments, public corporations, unions, committees, banks, Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs and Academy of Sciences.

The implementation of the signed documents will give a serious impetus to boosting the cooperation between the ministries, enterprises, and organizations, increasing mutual trade turnover between Tatarstan and Turkmenistan, said President of Tatarstan Rustam Minnikhanov.

The president stressed the need for increasing the bilateral trade, involving huge potential for partnership in areas such as oil exploration and production, gas transportation, automotive, aviation, shipbuilding, energy, supply of chemical products, pharmaceuticals and medicine, agriculture and other industries.

The Turkmen-Tatar business was held in Ashgabat on October 11. The agenda of the forum included a wide range of issues aimed at accelerating the fruitful contacts.

An impressive capacity for trade and economic cooperation and increase bilateral trade turnover was noted at the meeting in Ashgabat Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov and President of Tatarstan of Russian Federation Rustam Minnikhanov, who was on a working visit to Ashgabat on October 11.

The fuel and energy sector, where there is scope for cooperation in the field of refining and petrochemicals, was named one of the priority areas of bilateral partnership.

Turkmenistan and Tatarstan has gained considerable experience of partnership and joint projects. As an example, long - term cooperation with the plant KAMAZ, TATNEFT, Kazan helicopter plant and others can be named.

---

Gunay Hasanova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @gunhasanova

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
13 October 2016 16:14 (UTC+04:00)

By Trend

Turkey has dismissed 109 military judges as part of the fight against the movement of Fethullah Gulen, who is accused of being involved in the July 15 coup attempt, the Turkish newspaper Haber 7 reported on October 13.

So far 259 military judges have been dismissed in the country as part of the fight against the Gulen movement.

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.

Turkeys President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had said the death toll as a result of the military coup attempt stood at 246 people, excluding the coup plotters, and over 2,000 people were wounded.

---

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
13 October 2016 16:46 (UTC+04:00)

By Trend

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has called for a prompt ceasefire in Syria.



During his recent talks with Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov as well as High Representative of EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini, Zarif urged for finding a political solution to crisis in Syria, IRNA news agency reported.



Zarif and Lavrov held two telephone conversations over the past 48 hours to discuss latest developments in Syria.



In the meantime, Mogherini has discussed the latest regional and Syrian developments with Zarif through phone.



During the talks, Zarif has stressed Irans stances towards fight against terrorism, establishing prompt truce in Syria and finding a political solution to the crisis, the report added.

---

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
13 October 2016 17:25 (UTC+04:00)

By Gunay Hasanova

The Iran Islamic Republic has offered Turkey to invest in its LNG projects.

Majid Bujarzadeh, the spokesman for National Iranian Gas Company, said that currently Iran exports 30 million cubic meters per day of gas to Turkey, and Tehran is ready to increase this volume, Daily Sabah reported.

Bujarzadeh said that Iran expands its infrastructure to be able to boost gas export to Turkey, while any rise in the volume depends on Turkey.

If Ankara wants more gas, we are ready, he said, mentioning that his country can evaluate the possibility of gas transit through Turkey to Europe.

Iran has a 10.4-million ton capacity LNG plant, construction of which is completed by 50 percent. The country had invested $2.5 billion in Iran LNG project during the last decade, but the project was suspended due to the international sanctions.

The sanctions on Iran were eliminated in January 2016. Iran had announced the final needed investment for the project would be around $5 billion last decade, but Tehran hasnt revealed any concrete estimation about the current cost of Iran LNG plant.

Irans gas is supplied to Turkey via the Tabriz-Ankara pipeline, which has a capacity of 14 billion cubic meters per year.

In 2015, Iran reduced gas supply to Turkey by 12.3 percent to 7.83 billion cubic meters.

In January-May 2016, Iran exported 3.35 billion cubic meters of gas to Turkey, that is, 7 percent more than in the same period of 2015, according to Turkeys Energy Market Regulatory Authority (EPDK).

Irans share of Turkeys total gas import was 16.79 percent in January-May 2016. The growth in exports was possible due to the increased natural gas production at the South Pars field.

The trade turnover between Turkey and Iran amounted to $2.9 billion in 2016. The two countries trade turnover was $9.76 billion in 2015.

---

Gunay Hasanova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @gunhasanova

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
13 October 2016 14:22 (UTC+04:00)

By Laman Ismayilova

Portuguese Charge D'affaires in Azerbaijan, Maria Joao Lopes Cardoso has expressed her country`s interest in establishing ties with Nakhchivan in the field of tourism.

I would like to emphasize the relations in tourism sector because Portugal has rich experience in the field of tourism, Cardoso told Azertag as she visited the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic.

The official noted that her country, despite having a population of 10 million, received 17 million tourists in 2015.

Nakhchivan also has rich tourism potential. So I believe there are good prospects for the development of tourism relations between regions of Portugal and Nakhchivan, she said, voicing that she loved Nakhchivan and local hospitality very much.

I hope to come here again with Portuguese guests. After this trip I would recommend any government official, artist or businessmen on business trip to Baku to visit Nakhchivan. I am sure that they will find reliable partners here, she added.

Nakhchivan, the central city of Azerbaijan's Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic, remains to be an attractive destination for social scientists, architects, historians and those who are interested in world culture and archeology.



The region is closely linked with ancient Eastern civilizations like the other regions of Azerbaijan, and has left a deep trace on the course of historical development.

Archeological research conducted in the territory has revealed samples of material culture dating back to the 2nd and 1st millennia B.C.E.

The region abounds with historical monuments, including ancient Gamigaya, Farhad house, Ajhabi-Kahf, Yusuf ibn Kuseyr tomb, Momina Khatun tomb, Tomb of the Gulistan, Khanagah tomb, Qazanchi bridge, Nakhchivan Juma Mosque, and Qesariyya monument.

Momina Khatun Tomb is one of the most popular places, representing a grand monument of the national architecture of Azerbaijan and a pearl of Oriental architecture, which was built in 1186.

Nakhchivan Juma Mosque, an architectural monument of the Middle Ages, is another significant architectural site.

---

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
Bakersfield, CA (93308)

Today

A mix of clouds and sun during the morning will give way to cloudy skies this afternoon. High 77F. Winds light and variable..

Tonight

Cloudy skies early, followed by partial clearing. Low 54F. Winds light and variable.
Courtesy of the author

Exactly 20 years ago I was living in Nepal. Mostly I lived Kathmandu, in a hilly neighborhood called Baluwater, but by the end of October 1996, Id be back in Burque for good.

There are embassies in that part of the capital of Nepal and government residences too. A long and broad boulevard lined with palm trees marked the western boundary of mi vecino. The palm trees were filled with dates and big fruit bats that had faces like little brown dogs.

The Chinese Embassy and the Mexican Consulate were just a few doors up the street, and the vast estate housing the Prime Minister and his family took up most of the lower end of the area where I lived.

Across from my apartment there was a beer shop that offered ice-cold liters of San Miguel Beer and packets of Triple 5 cigarettes. A huge marijuana plant took up a quarter of my front yard, which was otherwise filled with marigolds and crab grass. I shared the place with a British friend of mine who worked for the Nepali government.

On October 1, 1996, after little preparation and training, we took a flight on Trident Airlines to Pokhara, a small city on the edge of the Himalayan Mountains. Theres a trail there that follows the Kali Ghandaki River up a steep valley to a mountain outpost named Jomsom. After spending the night at the Shamrock Hotel in Pokhara, we decided to fly to Jomsom in an old Soviet Helicopter that had metal buckets for seats.

From Jomsom there was a trail up into the mountains. At about 9400 feet in elevation, hikers could choose to bear west into the Kingdom of Mustang on the edge of the Tibet or head east, away from the river toward the Thorung La pass at about 17,000 feet.

It was cold and windy in Jomsom (elevation 9000 feet) when we arrived in the late afternoon. Somehow the environs seemed barren yet fertile at the same time. The terraced hillsides on either side of the valley were cultivated with apples, buckwheat, lentils and marijuana.

The valley was surrounded by unimaginably huge mountains; years later I have difficulty comprehending how big and looming they really were. There was an army outpost at the edge of town and down by the river was a bank and the travelers lodge where Jimi Hendrix supposedly stayed in the late 1960s.

Yaks as big as cars and donkeys decorated with bells roamed through the cobblestone streets, shaking their heads. They were pulling loads of beer, flour, cheese and bottled water up the trail and toward Lo Manthang or Lhasa. Twenty years ago, there was little motorized transport and no paved roads in the area; merchants and pilgrims had traversed the trail following the Kali Gandaki into Tibet on foot or by hoof for centuries though.

After wandering around the place for about an hour, my friend and I took rooms at an inn called the Moonlight Guesthouse because there was a sign out front saying they served the best burritos and apple pie on the Annapurna Circuit.

My room was spartan with whitewashed walls and a small bed, table and oil lamp in the corner. To this day, I like to keep my room at home like the one I had in Jomsom; plain with no decorations and comforting in its simple attestation to the need for rest.

That night I dined on a burrito of yak cheese and lentils that had been folded into a tortilla made from a sort of buckwheat fry bread. It was decent fare all right, but the cooks at the moonlight lodge didnt have any chile. When I asked after some sort of piquant salsa, one of them told me there was a can of tomato sauce somewhere in the kitchen; they had given up on spaghetti night a few years back because travelers didnt fancy the buckwheat noodles on offer.

So the slice of apple pie that followed the highlight of my meal and I couldve eaten the whole pastry, but I didnt want to give my American identity away. Afterwards a band of Tibetan immigrants came around and played music while we smoked hashish out of a long pipe made from a water buffalo horn.

We stayed in Jomsom two days because it was so damn inviting there; there was a small museum housing a photographic history of the region as well as ammonite fossilsbelieved by many Hindus to be divine objectsfound along parts of the nearby river bed. An enclave of German agriculture experts living on a hillside south of town could talk for hours about the apples, buckwheat and cannabis they were studying while working to introduce methods that would enhance traditional practices and increase crop yields. Jomsom was a bright, windy placea point of transition and intersection located at the very edge of the world.

On the third day I checked the maps, flashlights and shoes, calibrated my lensatic compass and carefully loaded my pack and sleeping bag. On the way out an older, tanned Swiss man approached and asked if we needed a porter or guide, wondering if we had the proper permits to continue. I produced two government issued cards. My friend told him we were going to go it alone. He looked over his glasses at me and shook his head. And we walked away from Jomsom headed for the mountains.

Next Time: Kagbeni and Muktinath




Coconino County Community Development is hosting an open house on the draft permitting process for tiny houses on Tuesday, Oct. 18. The event is open to the public to learn about the draft policy and to provide feedback before it is finalized later this month.
Duke Energy restored power to all of its Florida customers earlier this week after Hurricane Matthew roared up the state's east coast.

Duke Energy crews sending linemen to Jacksonville to assist with power outages

Crews left New Port Richey Thursday morning

More than 500,000 customers lost power during Hurricane Matthew

Now, Duke crews are heading to Jacksonville to lend assistance to residents there who are still without power.

Crews loaded trucks with gear early Thursday and rolled out of a Duke center in New Port Richey. About 25 linemen from Duke are heading to north Florida.

Damage cleanup from Matthew is still ongoing in north Florida as the Jacksonville area had the most damage in the state from the hurricane last week.

Duke crews will be supporting JEA, Jacksonville's power utility company. Crews will rotate 16-hour shifts repairing power lines and transformers that were knocked down and shorted out during the storm.

Since last week, Duke has sent in crews from its other locations in Texas, Arkansas, Illinois and Maryland.

More than half a million people lost power during the hurricane.
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Call 281-422-8302 or email sunnews@baytownsun.com to wish someone a happy birthday. We will print your birthday wish on Page 2 of The Sun.

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Hundreds of panoramic pictures by legendary San Antonio commercial photographer E.O. Goldbeck and some of his contemporaries were recently put online by the University of Texas at Austins Harry Ransom Center.

Taken between the mid-1910s and 1930, the images offer a glimpse of life in San Antonio during the World War I-era. About a third of them are of military subjects. They show military efforts and camp life in and around San Antonio, bases and training fields including Camp Travis, Brooks Field and Kelly Field and soldiers lives off-base.
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When fishing in Northeast Texas, these folks have one common goal: beat a more than 50-year-old world record.

Bubba Bedre's Garzilla Gar Guide Service takes anglers out on the Trinity River hunting for alligator gar and monster turtles. And they have the photos to prove it.

Click through the photos to see what the company has caught on its many trips so far this year.

RELATED: Texas Fishing: Matagorda Bay alligator gar is a real monster

Currently, the world record for alligator gar is a massive 279-pound animal caught in 1951 on the Rio Grande River in Texas, according to International Game Fish Association's online records. The world record also doubles as a Texas record for an alligator gar caught with a rod and reel in freshwater, according to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department's website.

On the Garzilla Guide's Facebook page, they detail 180-200 pound catches their clients have caught. On the company's website, they write they only offer trophy gar fishing with a rod and reel.

The company did not immediately respond for comment.

RELATED: 12 facts about Texas' river monster  the alligator gar

"We guide strictly for pleasure of enjoying the sport with you," their website reads. "If you are wanting to go after (an) exotic fish but don't want to travel halfway around the world, then look no more. We can take you on (an) adventure you will never forget (right) here on the Trinity River where wild boar, alligator, deer and game run the banks!"

Alligator gars, which live in large rivers, reservoirs, coastal bays and backwater,s can grow up to eight feet long and weigh more than 300 pounds, according to the parks department. They live off of mostly fish but are known to eat birds and mammals, according to the department.

RELATED: Crazy photos of Texas longnose gar stuck in fences that will haunt your dreams

The oldest known alligator gar was at least 95-years-old when it was caught in 2011 in Mississippi, according to the department.

Texan anglers are limited to bagging one alligator gar per day, according to the department.

kbradshaw@express-news.net

Twitter: @kbrad5
A Texas Highway Patrol trooper in Orange received a Purple Heart Thursday from the Texas Public Safety Commission and Texas Department of Public Safety, DPS announced.

Kimberly Ousman suffered "multiple injuries" on July 23, 2014, when she was struck while conducting a crash investigation along Interstate 10 in Orange County, according to Texas DPS.

A Lake Charles man, Will Houston, then 71, was charged with failure to control speed, according to previous Enterprise reporting. Houston's vehicle struck Ousman's patrol car, and the force of the impact pushed Ousman's car into the previously crashed vehicle, which then struck Ousman according to Texas DPS.

Two other DPS employees received Lifesaving Awards. Sgt. Brad Gibson, of Austin, received an award for helping revive a driver who had stopped breathing. Troopers Robert Bowden and Matthew Ferguson, of Shamrock, who assisted a man severely injured in a rollover crash, according to Texas DPS.
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Hardin-Jefferson ISD wants to avoid several state regulations governing teacher certification, amount of instructional time and large class sizes by becoming a "District of Innovation," a designation from the Texas Education Agency intended to increase local control and autonomy.

The plan was developed by a District of Innovation committee, which approved it at a public meeting Tuesday. It now goes to the board of trustees for a vote next week.

A law passed by the Legislature in June 2015 outlines which requirements schools are able to opt out of by becoming Districts of Innovation. Hardin-Jefferson is the first district in Southeast Texas to seek the designation, which 35 other districts in the state already have.

>> See which other Texas school districts have received the "District of Innovation" designation in the slideshow above.

If trustees vote to approve the plan, it will be sent to Education Commissioner Mike Morath, though he does not have the authority to approve or reject the plan. Any district with a state rating of "met standard" is eligible to become an Innovation District without state approval as long as it follows the process required by the law.

The district plans to be exempt from Texas Education Code policies on school start and end date, instructional minutes, class size reporting requirements, teacher certifications, probationary contracts and professional development, according to the plan, which covers a five-year term.

Only two community members attended the public meeting, and both requested that the committee add requirements to notify parents of the district's actions.

Several of the exemptions seek to address paperwork submitted to the state that superintendent Shannon Holmes said was inefficient and ineffective.

Currently, districts must request a waiver from the Texas Education Agency if an elementary class has more than 22 students, which the plan called "a bureaucratic step with no purpose," because "these waivers are never rejected by the TEA."

Under the plan, which trustees will consider on Monday, the superintendent will notify the board when classes exceed 22 students. Karen Kiesling, one of the two non-committee members at the meeting, requested that the district continue to notify parents in that case, which the committee agreed to add to the plan.

Districts also are required to request emergency certification from TEA when hiring or assigning teachers to courses for which they are not certified. The district plans to opt out of that to fill vacancies when needed or offer additional electives taught by industry professionals.

The innovation plan calls for the district to "have the flexibility to hire individuals who are knowledgeable in the area" if finding an appropriately certified teacher is "not reasonably possible." This could include hiring a retired accountant to teach an accounting course or a history teacher teaching a section of an elective course if he or she has experience in that subject, Holmes said.

Principals will be required to request local certification from the superintendent instead of the state.

Although the plan originally called for not informing parents if their students are in one of those teachers' classes, Kiesling and Misty Cruse both requested that be changed.

"The lack of parent notification is a big concern," Cruse said. "I want to know who's teaching my kids."

Kiesling also argued for restricting the levels and subjects uncertified teachers would be able to teach; however, committee member and district trustee Gary Hidalgo said that would limit the flexibility the district is seeking with the plan.

Other changes include opting out of state requirements for school start and end dates and numbers of instructional minutes to develop a calendar and schedule of non-instructional and early release days "to provide for student and district needs," and increasing the length of probationary contracts for experienced teachers who are new to the district.

Hardin-Jefferson also plans to be exempt from current state eligibility requirements for teachers to mentor and be mentored. Instead, "the district will exercise local discretion" in assigning mentors and mentees, according to the plan.

Although she was successful in adding parent notification requirements to the plan, Kiesling said that she was disappointed in its lack of details. "There are no criteria or comprehensive details" in the plan, she said, such as whether instructional time lost on early release days would be made up.

Holmes said during the meeting that the plan lacks specific details to ensure the most flexibility for the board of trustees and administration. "The legislation is designed to give local control, and this plan is as detailed as the rules require," he said.

Holmes said he expects that most eligible districts in the state will.

"It's always a good thing when locally elected folks are making the decisions that impact the district," he said.

LTeitz@BeaumontEnterprise.com Twitter.com/LizTeitz
Attorney and former DOJ prosecutor Gejaa Gobena has tried numerous people throughout his career, serving as head of the Department of Justice's healthcare fraud unit from April 2013 to June 2016. Mr. Gobena told Medscape Medical News that Medicare is particularly vulnerable to fraud due to its many beneficiaries. He noted, "It's really difficult to police a public health insurance system which has as many beneficiaries as it does while also trying to maintain its goal of paying physicians and other providers as quickly as possible."

Mr. Gobena details what characterizes a fraudulent physician and factors driving providers to commit crimes.

Here are six things to know:

1. The primary factor Mr. Gobena believes that drives providers to commit fraud is financial difficulties coupled with age. If a physician is nearing the end of his/her career, fraudulent schemes may serve as a 'quick fix' to make a fair amount of money. Such financial difficulties may include personal bankruptcy or a divorce leading to alimony and child support.

2. Throughout his career, Mr. Gobena did not prosecute many specialists. Rather, many internists would bill for tests and services that did not add up. He told Medscape, "You'd see a primary care physician suddenly billing for an unusually high percentage of, let's say, nerve conduction tests. Very expensive, and usually done by neurologists."

3. Some physicians work for a clinic owned by non-physicians. Owners may sometimes get physicians in predicaments that cross legal territory. Mr. Gobena explains, while it is hard for physicians to get out of these situations, many do volunteer to be part of the scheme initially.

4. As a prosecutor, he would often try patient recruiters, who criminal practices hire to offer patients some incentive to visit an office and receive services. Many physicians would sign off on tests that were not medically necessary. Mr. Gobena told Medscape, "The doctors would sign off even though it didn't make sense to have that high of a percentage coming to a general practice having these exact same symptoms. They often would prescribe opioids in addition."

Many patient recruiters already have a criminal background and look for Medicare and Medicaid patients to go to clinics for services.

5. When physicians go to trial, the core of their defense is whether they rendered the service and whether it was medically necessary. If a patient did not receive services, the physicians would often say that because they prescribed the services, they expected them to be rendered and they should not be held responsible if a home health aide or nurse did not perform the prescribed services.

In terms of medical necessity, physicians would argue it was their medical opinion and they cannot be prosecuted if someone has a different medical opinion. If convicted, many physicians try to minimize their role, saying "I made a mistake and it was an awful mistake," Mr. Gobena told Medscape. Many physicians claim although they acted knowingly, they had no intention of breaking the law.

6. Mr. Gobena said he believes most physicians are good people doing "wonderful work" and only a small minority partakes in fraudulent schemes. However, those who do commit these crimes need to remember their role as providers. He said, "It's important for all practitioners to keep in mind what their practices are. It's about doctors taking that gatekeeping role very seriously, helping preserve the integrity of the system.

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Q Investments LP has sent a letter to the board of Quorum Health, asking the board to conduct an independent investigation into potentially unlawful financial projections related to Quorum's spin-off from Franklin, Tenn.-based Community Health Systems.

Here are seven things to know about the claims the Fort Worth, Texas-based hedge fund made against CHS and Quorum.

1. The letter focused on the initial guidance used to market Quorum to investors. Q Investments believes CHS knew the guidance was wrong. "The conduct of Quorum's management team also raises questions whether they were complicit in the possible fraud," the letter states.

2. According to the letter, CHS provided inflated EBITDA guidance to potential Quorum investors in late March and used the guidance to attract equity investors and market Quorum's more than $1.2 billion of primary debt financings.

3. In early August, Quorum released its earnings for the second quarter and cut its 2016 guidance by more than 30 percent to a midpoint of $187.5 million of EBITDA. This caused Quorum's stock price to drop 50 percent the day after it announced its earnings.

4. Q Investments acknowledged it is not uncommon for companies to miss guidance due to unexpected issues that are out of management's control. However, the hedge fund says that isn't what happened in Quorum's case.

"Quorum's terrible quarter was caused, in part, by higher standalone costs, which costs were very likely known by Community Health's management team since they allocated these costs to Quorum," the letter states.

5. In the letter, Q Investments blames CHS for Quorum's downturn. "We believe Community Health was desperate to raise cash, and they saw an easy path to do so by stuffing new investors in Quorum with inflated guidance and concealing costs within what they knew was a disintegrating business."

6. In a statement to the Wall Street Journal, Tomi Galin, a CHS spokesman, said, "We categorically reject the allegations by Q Investments that Community Health Systems committed fraud or any other wrongdoing in connection with the Quorum spin-off. Community Health Systems conducted itself appropriately and made all necessary disclosures throughout the process."

7. Q Investments, which is one of Quorum's top-10 investors with 1.3 million shares, asked Quorum to "take appropriate legal action" against CHS.

More articles on healthcare finance:

OIG tags Nebraska hospital for incorrect billing

20 must-reads for hospital CFOs

CFOs make leap from for-profit to nonprofit companies
The image of an itemized hospital bill on Reddit showing a $39.95 charge for "skin-to-skin after C-sec" has sparked both scorn and validation from healthcare professionals across North America.

Utah father Ryan Grassley posted a photo of a bill he received from UtahValleyHospital in Provo for the delivery of his child via caesarean section on Sept. 4. Mr. Grassley jokingly characterized the $39.95 charge as a fee "to hold my baby after he was born."

UtahValleyHospital issued a statement in response to the post, explaining the skin-to-skin contact in the operating room following a C-section requires the presence of an additional nurse for supervision to ensure both mother and child safety.

Canadian doula Meaghan Grant, a committee member of Toronto-based SunnybrookHospital, concurred with the hospital's statement in a Facebook post.

"Nurses are the LARGEST budget item [at a hospital]. They don't appear out of nowhere ... their time and presence are valuable," Ms. Grant wrote. Instead of "screaming about the big bad hospital system," Ms. Grant urged people to celebrate the hospital for allowing skin-to-skin contact to mothers in the OR at all.

But a number of healthcare organizations have disagreed with the charge.

Various New Jersey-based hospital systems and health plans told NJ.com the itemized charge was foreign to their billing practices. The 11 hospitals within West Orange-based RWJBarnabas Health and five hospitals in Morristown-based Atlantic Health System said they do not assign a separate charge for skin-to-skin time in the operating room post C-section, according to the article.

Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey spokesperson Tom Vincz told NJ.com he thought the charge was suspicious because it lacked a correlating current procedural terminology code.

Medical bills typically contain CPT codes to uniformly designate and bill for services. The system is maintained by the American Medical Association.
Here are six recent news updates on key health IT companies.

1. Cerner and Boston Children's Hospital are launching a strategic initiative focused on interoperability in pediatric care.

2. Hays (Kan.) Medical Center strengthened its partnership with MEDITECH by upgrading to the company's Web Electronic Health Record.

3. Al Jalila Children's Specialty Hospital, a pediatric hospital in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, has partnered with Cerner to implement its Millennium EHR.

4. Vicennes, Ind.-based Good Samaritan Hospital released a report following the hospital's recent implementation of Epic's $17 million EHR system. The new EHR system reportedly improves the hospital's partnership with Evansville, Ind.-based Deaconess Hospital, according to hospital officials, as the two institutions are now able to share patient information with each other.

5. IBM has partnered with Best Doctors, a medical information services company connecting individuals facing medical treatment decisions with physicians, to offer U.S.-based employees access to IBM Watson's oncology services for insights on cancer treatment options.

6. 3M Health Information Systems, a business of 3M, and Verily Life Sciences, an Alphabet company, entered into a strategic agreement to develop new population health measurement technology.
The following 12 hospital and health system CNO and CMO moves occurred or were announced in the last three weeks, starting with the most recent.

1. The Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute in Detroit named Kathleen Carolin, BSN, RN, as CNO.

2. Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital in Valencia, Calif., chose Kingman Ho, MD, as its vice president of professional services and CMO.

3. Alden Roberts, MD, CMO of PeaceHealth Southwest Medical Center in Vancouver, Wash., will leave the hospital Oct. 31.

4. Andalusia (Ala.) Health named Pamela Aud as assistant CNO.

5. Sharon Dillard was chosen as CNO of Poinciana Medical Center in Kissimmee, Fla.

6. Grand Rapids, Mich.-based Spectrum Health named Darryl Elmouchi, MD, as CMO, effective Oct. 10.

7. Amy Guilfoil-Dumont was named CNO of Concord (N.H.) Hospital.

8. CHI Franciscan Health in Tacoma, Wash., appointed Michael H. Anderson, MD, as CMO. He had been the system's interim CMO since February.

9. Sarasota (Fla.) Memorial Health Care System named Connie Andersen, BSN, as its CNO.

10. Frank Biondolillo, DO, is now CMO of two hospitals in St. Petersburg, Fla.: Palms of Pasadena Hospital and St. Petersburg General Hospital. Both hospitals are part of Tampa, Fla.-based Hospital Corporation of America West Florida.

11. Lakeland (Fla.) Regional Health appointed Timothy Regan, MD, as president of LRH Medical Center and CMO of all of the system's enterprises.

12. Shirley Johnson, RN, will become senior vice president of nursing and patient care services and CNO of Buffalo, N.Y.-based Roswell Park Cancer Institute.
John Chessare, MD, knew from a young age that he wanted to spend his career doing something that would improve others' lives. After deciding to become a physician, he was drawn to quality improvement, and after 37 years in healthcare, he has not veered from this path.

Dr. Chessare became president and CEO of Greater Baltimore Medical Center HealthCare System in June 2010. There, he oversees GBMC, a 270-bed acute care nonprofit hospital; Greater Baltimore Medical Associates, a group comprised of more than 40 multi-specialty physician practices; Greater Baltimore Health Alliance, a coalition of GBMC-employed and private practicing physician partners; Gilchrist Hospice; and the GBMC Foundation.

A pediatrician by training, Dr. Chessare joined GBMC after serving in a number of executive leadership positions. He served as interim president of the Caritas Christi Healthcare System in Boston and was the president Caritas Norwood Hospital, as well as senior vice president for quality and patient safety of the entire Caritas System. He's also held executive leadership positions at Boston Medical College/Boston University School of Medicine and Albany (N.Y.) Medical Center/Albany Medical College.

Under Dr. Chessare's leadership, GBMC was honored in September with the inaugural American Society for Healthcare Risk Management Patient Safety Award for its organization-wide efforts to improve patient safety. The award recognizes GBMC's use of lean and lean daily management to improve health outcomes for patients and reduce preventable harm.

Here, Dr. Chessare took the time to answer Becker's Hospital Review's seven questions.

Note: Responses have been lightly edited for length and clarity.

What's one thing that really piqued your interest in healthcare?

I was your typical 18-year-old in 1970  I wanted to save the world. I had initially been thinking about a career in foreign service, but the summer before I went to Boston College as a freshman I decided I wanted to help people by becoming a physician. I thought it would be a great way to spend my life.

What do you enjoy most about Baltimore?

Baltimore is a very diverse city. It's kind of sad that the press tends to highlight the negative or outrageous events that occur. Although we have our share of problems  income inequality is a huge issue  there are plenty of wonderful things. It's a great cultural city. There are great restaurants. Chesapeake Bay is a thing of tremendous natural beauty and it's an economic engine  a big, robust port city. Baltimore is just a wonderful place.

If you could eliminate one of the healthcare industries problems overnight, which would it be?

It would definitely be the patient safety issue. Many hospitals still rely on hard work and good intentions alone. These are absolutely necessary, but they're dramatically insufficient for assuring safe and effective care. Other high-risk industries like nuclear power and commercial aviation have designed for safety. They assume humans will make human errors, so they've built systems around the humans to keep people safe. We are getting better about this in healthcare, but we still have some work to do.

We are designing systems to help us get the patient outcomes we want, and we're taking advantage of the tremendous energy, hard work and intelligence of the doctors, nurses and others to get there. That's why we are so proud of GBMC for receiving ASHRM's Patient Safety Award.

What do you consider your greatest talent or skill outside of the C-suite?

I'm a people person. I've also been a clinician, which I think is very helpful because I can talk to other doctors from a place of shared experience. I have phenomenal non-clinical colleagues as well, but doctors appreciate it when a leader has the deep process knowledge of the work they do. I know what it's like to take care of a sick child in the middle of the night and not having everything I need to do it.

How do you revitalize yourself?

I'm very lucky to have a wonderful family. I love spending time with them. I also love jazz music  I'm completely infatuated with the jazz musicians that come to town here. I had the pleasure of seeing the vibraphonist Warren Wolf perform. He's a 35-year-old musician from Baltimore. He's extremely talented. I just sat and listened to him in amazement. Music brings so much joy to people, and I find that very rejuvenating.

What's one piece of advice you remember most clearly?

There are two. One of the best pieces of professional advice I've ever received was to practice lean daily management. I used to think if I could only teach quality improvement a little bit better, improvement would catch fire and outcomes would be so much higher. Now I know how silly that was. Instead, the technique of lean daily management puts people in a position to be required to improve their work every day.

Another valuable piece of advice came to me a few decades ago: Keep your passion in check. I was about 35 years old at a hospital committee meeting in Toledo. I was so passionate about what we were discussing, but I thought everyone was moving too slowly to improve. When the meeting was over, the medical director took me aside and said I would have gotten much further in the meeting if I had toned it down a bit and started from the same place as everyone else at the table. They all wanted the same thing as me  to find a way to improve quality  they just didn't know how to get there. He reminded me I needed to thank them for all they have already done. Sometimes coming on really strong and passionately doesn't work. There is a place for passion, but there is also a place for calmness and reflection.

What do you consider your greatest achievement at Greater Baltimore Medical Center HealthCare System so far?

It is clearly our movement to transform our company from being hospital-centric to patient-centric. Our team has done a phenomenal thing since I joined the organization six years ago. We now have 12 patient-centered medical homes throughout the county.

Our organization's vision is to provide the highest quality of care to every patient, every time. We want to provide every patient with the same quality of care that we would want for our own loved ones. Our people are doing a fantastic job of moving from volume- to value-based healthcare.
Avera Marshall (Minn.) Regional Medical Center went on lockdown for roughly two hours Wednesday after a dispute between a patient and a visitor, according to the Marshall Independent.

The lockdown occurred out of concern for the safety of the patient and others at the hospital. It was unclear for a period of time if the potentially dangerous visitor had left the hospital's campus.

"It was a matter of trying to confirm that he was not on the campus," Marshall Public Safety Director Rob Yant told the Marshall Independent.

Police searched the hospital and the surrounding area for about two hours until they found the subject at a nearby hotel and took him into custody, according to the report.

"We would like to extend our great appreciation to the Marshall Police Department for their swift action and thoroughness during this incident," Mary Maertens, Avera Marshall's president and CEO, told the Marshall Independent. "I would also like to commend our staff for following all protocols. We prepare for these scenarios regularly and the staff did a terrific job of putting those skills into action today."
After a slow down period, the mumps outbreak in Northwest Arkansas has resumed its rapid spread with cases now tipping over 500. Health officials expressed concern on Wednesday regarding the breadth of the outbreak.

More than 30 schools across four school districts in northwest Arkansas have reported at least one case of the mumps in association with the outbreak that began in August. In response to the outbreak, ADH issued requirements for students with vaccination exemptions at schools where a student or teacher has become infected with the mumps to remain home from school for 26 days after the potential date of exposure. State health officials encouraged residents in affected areas to practice good hand hygiene to prevent infection and make sure their loved ones are up to date on MMR (mumps, measles and rubella) vaccinations.

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"We are very concerned about this outbreak," said Dirk Haselow, MD, PhD, state epidemiologist and outbreak response medical director for ADH, in a release. "Mumps can have serious complications. We are seeing transmission from child to child in school settings, and we continue to see a high number of new cases."

At the time of the release on Wednesday, the case count was at 492. By 9:17 p.m. that evening, the count increased to 518.

More articles on infection control:

Unvaccinated US adults account for more than $7B in healthcare costs

Specific type of heater-cooler linked to life-threatening infections, CDC warns: 9 things to know

FDA, CDC confirm link between PharmaTech product and 60 bacterial infections
The CDC issued a warning Thursday that one type of heater-cooler device  used in about 60 percent of bypass procedures in the U.S. each year  could be spreading a serious bacterial infection and urged hospitals to take immediate action.

Here are nine things to know about the devices, the infections and CDC's suggested action plan.

1. In 2015, news broke of open-heart surgery patients in the U.S. and Switzerland coming down with nontuberculous mycobacterium, or NTM, infections. Investigations linked the infections to heater-cooler devices used during the surgeries, and thousands of patients were notified of infection risk. In response to the infections, the CDC and the Food and Drug Administration issued separate guidance on the heater-cooler machines in 2015.

2. After an investigation, the CDC said Thursday the infections are linked to a specific brand of heater-coolers  the Stockert 3T heater-cooler devices, made by LivaNova (formerly Sorin Group Deutschland).

3. Officials believe the devices were contaminated with Mycobacterium chimaera, a species of NTM bacteria, during manufacturing, since the bacteria were found at the manufacturing site in Germany.

4. Mycobacterium chimaera are often found in soil and water, and when in the environment, rarely make people ill. However, when contracted during an open-heart procedure, the bacteria can cause difficult-to-diagnose infections, as they are slow growing. The infections can be life-threatening.

5. It is believed the bacteria are aerosolized from the device, which then can result in a serious infection.

6. Stockert 3T heater-cooler devices are used in roughly 60 percent of open-heart bypass procedures in the U.S., according to the CDC. Since more than 250,000 heart bypass procedures use heater-coolers annually in the U.S., hundreds of thousands of patients could be at risk of an NTM infection from the Stockert 3T heater-coolers. The CDC estimates the risk of a patient getting an infection is between 1 in 100 and 1 in 1,000.

7. Michael Bell, MD, director of the CDC's Division of Healthcare Quality Promotion, urged hospitals to take action based on this news. "Hospitals should check to see which type of heater-coolers are in use, ensure that they're maintained according to the latest manufacturer instructions, and alert affected patients and the clinicians who care for them," he said.

8. The FDA issued a safety communication this week on the devices, recommending hospitals "strictly adhere" to manufacturer instructions, establish regular cleaning for the devices and direct the heater-cooler's vent away from the patient "to mitigate the risk of aerosolizing heater-cooler tank water into the sterile field and exposing the patient." Read the full safety communication here.

9. The CDC also issued a Health Advisory on its Health Alert Network regarding the devices. According to that alert, hospitals should tell patients who are experiencing NTM infection symptoms to seek medical care and put a plan in place to communicate risks to potentially exposed patients. To see the CDC's full list of recommendations, click here.
Here five spine surgeons weigh in on best practices when incorporating a new technique into your practice.

Ask Spine Surgeons is a weekly series of questions posed to spine surgeons around the country about clinical, business and policy issues affecting spine care. We invite all spine surgeon and specialist responses.

Next week's question: What activities help you relax during the winter season?





Please send responses to Anuja Vaidya at avaidya@beckershealthcare.com by Wednesday, Oct. 19, at 5 p.m. CST.

Question: What advice do you have for physicians dealing with the learning curve when learning new techniques?

J. Brian Gill, MD, MBA, Nebraska Spine Hospital, Omaha: The most important advice is be patient. It is easy to get frustrated and revert back to the "old and comfortable" way of doing something. Also, give it time as you will not perfect the technique after two attempts or even five attempts, but you will get to the point where it becomes easier. Every year I strive to learn a new technique. Over a career that's a lot of "new" techniques and development, professionally. I think it is fun to learn something new and then look back a few years to what you used to do and see how much better you are now as compared to then.





Brian R. Gantwerker, MD, The Craniospinal Center of Los Angeles: Most new techniques should be attempted in the simplest of cases. In my career, usually that is not possible. A patient presents with a more complicated case and the new technique becomes essential to treat the patient. In that kind of situation, the curve is potentially vertical. Reaching out to colleagues, if possible, or collecting as much information on technique and one-on-one interaction with an experienced representative is critical. That being said, don't be a hammer looking for a nail. The natural inclination of many clinicians is to learn a new technique and then use it on cases where something simpler is preferable and ideal.

Vladimir Sinkov, MD, New Hampshire Orthopaedic Center, Nashua: Continued learning, including learning new procedures, is a necessary part of any surgeon's career. Just because something is new, however, it does not necessarily mean it is better. I have gone through this learning curve several times in the past several years, mostly learning new MIS techniques. Just like with any other new treatment, the surgeon should first do his/her due diligence and decide if the new technique offers benefits to the patient beyond those offered by the established procedure. Then, the surgeon should learn the technique from current experts on the subject matter. This includes attending conferences, going to cadaver labs and observing live surgeries. If possible, observing a surgeon and then repeating the procedure the same day on a cadaver offers the best learning in my opinion.

Once the surgeon is proficient with the technique on the cadaver and has learned the "tips and tricks" from the expert, he or she can apply it in clinical practice. I would start with simple, straightforward cases on healthy patients and expect the first 10 to 15 cases to be the learning curve. I would schedule double the time it usually takes to do such procedure in the beginning. It is critical to also have the "plan B" during those cases and be able to switch back to a well-known technique if things are not working out as planned, for example, having the open lumbar fusion instruments and implants available during first several MIS TLIF cases.

Plas T. James, MD, Atlanta Spine Institute: I think the first piece of advice is based on the old-fashioned "see one, do one, teach one" philosophy. First of all, you need to see procedures and techniques many times and actually go to a hands-on course, not a webinar, where they have a cadaver. There is no substitute for hands-on training and live observation. Second, I think it's important to be able to watch a couple of surgeries with surgeons who do the procedure or have done it in the past. Either observe on the sidelines, or if possible, scrub in on the case. Then, try to line up more than one case at a time, so you can do several surgeries back-to-back as opposed to doing one here and there. You want to line it up so you can do two or three in a row and get proficient with new technology. Basically, you want to get to a point where you can teach it yourself, and teach it to somebody else. But you've got to do it more than once  you've got to do some volume more than anything. It's always good to have hands-on experience.

Srdjdan Mirkovic, MD, NorthShore Orthopaedic Institute, Evanston, Ill.: Physicians first need to evaluate the risks and benefits regarding the potential complications that could come with learning a new technique. In doing so, study the basic science behind the new technique. One's decisions should be based on science rather than competition and their marketing that the latest is the greatest. Sometimes it's not.

Also, note if the new technique prioritizes the length of surgery. We always strive for a quicker surgery, but not to the detriment of basic science and a better surgical outcome. Be cautious when hearing pronouncements by so-called "experts" at industry-generated meetings who claim no complications in a case study in which they present. Some claims defy scientific knowledge and common sense.

Look closely at patient outcomes and if the diagnosis and patient fit the new treatment. Despite the popularity of minimally invasive and laser surgeries in spine care, a certain diagnosis for a certain patient might mean more invasive surgery is most appropriate.

Then ask yourself: Would I perform this new technique on a close family member or friend. If you think it's good enough for them, then it will be effective for patients.

Finally, above all, know yourself. What is your comfort level in taking on a new technique? There's always an investment in time and resources, so take on only what you think you can handle.
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The judges also rejected submissions that more than one conviction can show propensity or a recklessness towards the criminal law.

A mandatory requirement for job applicants to disclose multiple convictions to employers is indiscriminate and disproportionate, the Court of Appeal has ruled.

Senior judges in Belfast held that the State has "overstepped any acceptable margin of appreciation" in enforcement of the statutory scheme.

Lord Justice Gillen said: "In short, this is yet another instance of a blanket, automatic, inflexible approach to disclosure where there has been more than one offence."

The assessment came as they upheld a High Court verdict that the regime unlawfully breaches rights to privacy protected by European law.

The Department of Justice was appealing the outcome of a legal challenge brought by a woman fined for seatbelt-related offences dating back to incidents in 1996 and 1998.

Lorraine Gallagher was required to disclose details in a self-declaration form as part of her application for a position as a care assistant at a centre in Limavady in 2014.

Months later the Western Health and Social Care Trust withdrew its job offer because she had not provided full details.

Earlier this year the High Court ruled that the requirement to reveal details in an Enhanced Disclosure Certificate (EDC) when there has been more than one conviction, irrespective of age or subject matter, was unlawful and breached human rights.

Appealing that decision, counsel for the Department argued the scheme has sufficient safeguards to ensure proportionality of interference with rights to privacy.

But Lord Justice Gillen, sitting with Lord Justices Weatherup and Weir, said the provisions mean that "everything in the kitchen sink" has to be declared where there is more than one offence.

They held that no attempt has been made to:

Consider the species of individual offences or circumstances in which they were committed.

Ascertain the age of the perpetrator's age at the time.

Consider the type of sentence imposed or period since conviction.

Separate out spent convictions.

The judges also rejected submissions that more than one conviction can show propensity or a recklessness towards the criminal law.

Lord Justice Gillen concluded: "It cannot be appropriate that two minor offences, as opposed to only one minor conviction, from many years before, which the individual may well have put behind him/her in all other aspects of their lives, should suddenly appear on a criminal record relating to work with vulnerable adults or children without any assessment whatsoever.

"It is the lack of consideration that makes this scheme indiscriminate and therefore disproportionate".
Insurers have urged the Government to press ahead with reforms to compensation for minor whiplash injuries

Insurers have urged the Government to press ahead with reforms to compensation for minor whiplash injuries - saying delays to the promised crackdown are costing honest motorists nearly 3 million a day collectively.

The Association of British Insurers (ABI) highlighted then chancellor George Osborne's promise in last year's Autumn Statement that the Government would consult on how to implement proposals to crack down on the fraud and claims culture in motor insurance.

It said a consultation paper setting out how to implement the reforms has still not been published nearly six months after it was finalised.

The ABI said motor premiums have already increased by 10% over the last year, with the rising cost of personal injury claims helping drive up the costs, as well as big increases in insurance premium tax (IPT) - which is gone up from 6% to 10% in less than a year.

James Dalton, director of general insurance policy at the ABI, said: "The Ministry of Justice seems to be rowing back from much needed reform to the civil justice system that will save motorists up to 50 a year on average.

"The UK has one of the most abused systems in Europe and the reforms would tackle the excesses of the compensation culture.

"Without action, claims management companies will continue to nuisance call and text honest motorists encouraging them to make fraudulent and exaggerated claims through claimant law firms.

"Every day of delay costs honest motorists across the UK nearly 3 million."

The ABI said previous reforms introduced in 2013 saw 1 billion in reduced costs passed onto customers, but cold callers have found new ways around the rules and the costs of personal injury claims are on the rise again.

It said the Government's proposals would cut out incentives for those "who want to rip off the system".

Among the plans, injured people would still be compensated for their losses, such as the cost of medical treatment and loss of earnings, but "general damages" - cash payments on top of these losses, for pain and suffering - would be limited for minor injuries.

A Ministry of Justice spokesman said: "The number and cost of whiplash claims remains too high, increasing premiums for ordinary motorists.

"We remain committed to tackling this issue, and will set out our plans in due course."

Michael Lloyd, director of AA Insurance, said it is "deeply disappointing" that the reforms have not yet come into place .

Last year the AA conducted a survey of more than 20,000 AA members and found 63% of drivers had been cold-called by firms trying to persuade them to make an injury claim even if they had not been injured. A third (36%) said that they had been called more than 10 times in a year.

Rob Townend, UK claims director at Aviva, said: "The lack of action on reforms is basically a charter for more nuisance calls, the 'do nothing' option is an invitation to crash-for-cash gangs to 'carry on frauding'."
Prominent Leave campaigner Lord Simon Wolfson has warned that the British economy is 'finished' if the Government pursues an isolationist Brexit course

The chief executive of Next and prominent Leave campaigner Lord Simon Wolfson has warned that the British economy is "finished" if the Government pursues an isolationist Brexit course.

The Tory peer told the Press Association that the referendum vote was about UK independence, not isolation - adding that Britain is setting itself up for economic failure if it closes itself off from the rest of the world.

"I think the hard, soft Brexit language is unhelpful, and what we should be talking about is whether we have an 'open' or 'closed' Brexit," he said on the sidelines of a press conference on Thursday.

"Britain voted for independence, it didn't vote for isolation and so we have a choice: are we going to choose to build an open, global-facing economy, or one that's closed and isolated?

"If we choose the latter, then our economy is finished. If we choose the former, we stand a chance of flourishing greatly."

It comes after Theresa May's Government indicated it would embark on a so-called "hard Brexit" by introducing migration curbs and stopping the free movement of EU citizens into Britain.

EU leaders have stressed that free movement is a condition for accessing the bloc's Single Market.

Lord Wolfson made the comments shortly after announcing that the 250,000 Wolfson Economics Prize would be awarded to the best solution for funding and overhauling the UK's road network.

The Tory peer - who was a prominent supporter of the "Leave" campaign - stressed that infrastructure investments will be essential for keeping the economy growing over the next five to 10 years.

"Things like roads, housing....these are the things that could stimulate growth and make up for some of the economic shock that will inevitably be involved in Brexit," he said.

Sir John Kingman, who is the chairman-elect of Legal & General and a panel judge for the Wolfson prize, suggested that Britain's infrastructure is decades behind.

"This problem...has preoccupied British governments certainly for as long as I worked in them, and I think before that," the Treasury's former permanent secretary told the Press Association.

"The fundamental problem is that the roads system is incredibly important for the economy, but the investment in it has to compete will all the other calls on public expenditure."

But Sir John gave a nod to Theresa May's Government, saying the Prime Minister as well as Chancellor Philip Hammond have "made clear that they understand the importance of infrastructure".

Speeches made at the Conservative Party conference earlier this month pointed to investment plans for housing and transport.

But Lord Wolfson has warned the Government against embarking on "glory" projects that benefit a select few.

Looking ahead to the Chancellor's Autumn Statement, Lord Wolfson said: "The thing I'm hoping for most is that we don't go for...very expensive glory projects that benefit a relatively small number of people, and that the Government comes up with a better way of assessing the investments that they make."

He added: "If the Government invests in bad infrastructure - infrastructure that doesn't pay for itself - then that will destroy wealth, it won't create it."
Business Secretary Greg Clark said that Britain's businesses are the heroes of the economic revival

The Government has hailed new figures showing that the UK has a record 5.5 million businesses.

The figure has grown by 23% since 2010.

Business Secretary Greg Clark said: "Britain's businesses are the heroes of our economic revival and it is great to see the number of businesses rise by over a million since 2010.

"Our job creators don't always get the praise and respect they deserve, but we should be proud of our entrepreneurs, business leaders and innovators.

"The Government is committed to ensuring Britain builds on its success and is the best place to start and grow a business."
Greenpeace argues that promoting LEDs could allay fears about the lights going out by reducing demand for lighting

The squeeze on electricity supplies is less severe than expected this winter due to more coal power on the system, a report from National Grid shows.

The company's winter outlook report said the gap between total electricity generating capacity and peak demand could fall to 1.1% at the height of a cold spell, but action to ensure supplies would mean the margin was at 6.6%.

The situation is better than predicted in July, when the margin looked set to fall to 0.1% without action, and to 5.5% with measures such as keeping power stations in reserve that would otherwise be closed or mothballed.

A final report on the winter outlook said the improved margin was down to Eggborough coal fired power plant, which will run one of its unit in the wholesale electricity market, keeping an extra 430 megawatts (MW) of capacity online.

In addition an outage in an "interconnector" - cables which supply electricity between the UK and other countries - to Ireland means less power will be exported to Ireland this winter.

As a result, the electricity margin will be "tight but manageable" this winter.

The measures National Grid is taking to ensure supplies only involve paying to ensure extra power is available and do not include payments to reduce demand, for example by getting large users to turn down consumption at times.

The figures come after environmental campaigners called for a major drive to switch to highly efficient LED lighting in homes, street lights and offices, which they said would reduce peak winter demand and curb fears about blackouts.

Research by energy analyst Chris Goodall and backed by Greenpeace suggested that a total switch-over to LED light bulbs in homes could reduce peak demand by 5%, or 2.7GW.

Changing street lights over to the new technology would save a further 0.5GW, while offices and other commercial buildings moving to LEDs could save a further 4.5GW, the research suggests.

Power margins in winter have tightened in recent years, as coal fired power stations close, and the Government has pledged to phase out all polluting coal plants by 2025, as long as new gas power can be built to fill the gap.

Over the last six months, solar power has outperformed coal, but cannot be relied on to help meet demand in the depths of winter. Wind turbines tend to generate more power in winter but can be intermittent.

Greenpeace UK chief scientist Dr Doug Parr said: "It's reassuring to hear that Britain's power system will enjoy more comfortable safety margins this winter.

"But if the Government is serious about boosting our country's energy security, we need to move away from relying on clapped-out old coal plants and highly polluting diesel farms to keep the lights on.

"Our latest research has shown that even a simple switch to highly efficient LED light bulbs can dramatically reduce the risk of winter blackouts as well as bringing down energy bills.

"And this is just a small example of the potential technological innovation has to create a more robust and cheaper energy system for everyone."
Lady Gaga is not Deb Fischer's biggest fan.

On Wednesday, the international pop superstar tweeted at Nebraska's senior U.S. senator, accusing her of "supporting misogyny" by continuing to support Donald Trump's presidential bid.

.@SenatorFischer you are a female senator supporting misogyny. Putting our daughters in danger. Has your young courage faded?

 JOANNE (@ladygaga) October 12, 2016

The full tweet said this: "@SenatorFischer you are a female senator supporting misogyny. Putting our daughters in danger. Has your young courage faded?"

Last weekend, Fischer called on Trump to drop out of the presidential race after video emerged of him making lewd comments about women on a hot mic in 2005.

On Tuesday, the senator from western Nebraska told KLIN-AM's Drive Time Lincoln she still plans to support Trump as the Republican nominee.

"I never said I wasnt voting for our Republican ticket," Fischer said.

She called Trump's comments "disgraceful" and "unacceptable," but said she aligns with him on issues including regulation of businesses, taxes and gun rights.

"For me its not a tough choice because I know where the Republican ticket is on these issues," Fischer said.

Lady Gaga supports Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton.

More than 2,000 people retweeted her criticism of Fischer within five hours after she posted it Wednesday morning.

As of late afternoon, Fischer hadn't replied.

Fischer isn't the only Republican member of Congress to renew support for Trump after calling on him to step aside. Rep. Jeff Fortenberry of Lincoln and Sen. John Thune of South Dakota have done the same.

Lady Gaga has some ties to the Cornhusker State: She dated a native Nebraskan and filmed a music video here in 2011, and University of Nebraska-Lincoln bullying expert Susan Swearer is a board member at her Born This Way Foundation.
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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.
An MP wants Richard Gere to be part of the festivities

Richard Gere should be the star guest at an historic festival in Nottinghamshire, according to MPs.

The Hollywood actor was name checked in the Commons as the most famous descendant of the Pilgrim Fathers, who first set sail for America.

Three of the first four signatories to the Mayflower Compact came from Bassetlaw and the neighbouring county of South Yorkshire.

The region is now preparing to mark 400 years since the Mayflower set sail to America in 1620.

Speaking during questions to the church commissioners, Bassetlaw MP John Mann invited Tory Dame Caroline Spelman to his local church in Scrooby, which will play a key part in the anniversary.

The Labour MP said: "She will be very welcome to re-tread the streets of Scrooby.

"And if she does, she might care to bring one of the many descendants of the Pilgrims with her, if she with her good contacts could arrange it.

"The most popular would probably be Mr Richard Gere."

Dame Caroline, the Church of England's representative in the Commons, responded: "Mr Speaker, if only."

She continued: "I know specifically what (Mr Mann) is looking for from the church commissioners is some assistance with the improvements to the facilities.

"The church hall does have facilities to make sure the event is a success, but perhaps if he encourages the church wardens to contact me or the church house, we can make sure the event is a great success - with or without a celebrity attendance."
JK Rowling made the announcement to fans from across the globe who came together for a special event celebrating next month's release of Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them.

Harry Potter author JK Rowling has revealed she has planned scripts for at least four further Fantastic Beasts films.

She made the announcement to thousands of delighted fans from across the globe who came together for a special event celebrating next month's release of Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them.

Speaking at the event in London's Leicester Square, alongside actor Eddie Redmayne and director David Yates, she said: "We always knew it was going to be more than one movie, and we said a trilogy as a place holder.

"But I've done the plotting properly and I'm pretty sure it's going to be five movies."

Yates added that the next film will see Redmayne's character, the animal-loving Newt Scamander, visit another of the world's major capital cities.

The Fantastic Beasts film, due to hit screens on November 18, is set in New York, and tells the story of a fictional author mentioned in the Harry Potter stories.

Rowling, 51, added: "This is where I was interested in going. This is what I wanted to do."

The London event, at Cineworld's Empire IMAX cinema, included a Q&A with cast members Dan Fogler and Katherine Waterston and producer David Heyman, who also brought together all the Harry Potter films.

Actors Jon Voight and Colin Farrell also tuned into the discussion from Los Angeles by video link, which connected to similar events in cities around the world.

Redmayne, 34, revealed he was a huge Harry Potter film fan before he was given the role.

He told the Press Association: "We all grew up with them. They were always like a safe place you could go to every one or two years. Whatever was happening in the world you could go and hang out with Ron and Hermione and the world would be a better place."

Describing the opportunity to be a part of the Harry Potter legacy as "incredibly exciting and a little bit intimidating", he added that it would be a while before his four-month-old daughter Iris May would be allowed to watch Fantastic Beasts.

The London-born actor, who won an Oscar and reached international stardom with his portrayal of physicist Stephen Hawking in The Theory Of Everything, revealed that he had a number of things in common with his character Newt, including Hogwarts school houses.

After "sorting" himself on the franchise fan site Pottermore, he said: "Because I'm very methodical, my house is Hufflepuff.

"My Patronus is a Basset Hound. I did it with the guys from Pottermore and they made me do it again and I still got a Basset Hound. They said that was physically impossible."

When casting the role of socially awkward Newt, Yates said he chose Redmayne for his "unique physicality" and "wonderful shape".

He told Press Association: "He is spindly in a beautiful way and he just felt really soulful. I couldn't imagine anyone else once I had sat down with him."

Commenting on working with Rowling, he said: "She has the most extraordinary imagination of our generation and she has created something entirely different. That world is spilling out of her head in a unique way."
A man charged with the "predatory" rape of a teenage boy in Belfast was banned from entering that part of the city.

The exclusion zone was imposed on 39-year-old Gerard Scannel as he was granted bail at the High Court on Thursday.

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The painter and decorator is also to be restricted from unsupervised contact with anyone under the age of 18.

Scannell, from Ballymurphy Road in Belfast, allegedly attacked the 16-year-old boy at Falls Park in the early hours of July 16.

He denies three counts of rape and a further offence of sexual assault.

In court on Thursday, it was confirmed that intimate samples taken from both the defendant and alleged victim have established no DNA evidence.

At a previous hearing prosecutors said the boy claims he was attacked after leaving friends to walk home.

He told police that he passed a man wearing dungarees and a T-shirt who asked his name and shouted "Yo" in a bid to attract his attention.

The man then followed him into the park before grabbing him by the neck and repeatedly raping him, it was claimed.

A judge was told how he described the pain of the alleged ordeal and his screams for help.

The teenager claimed his attacker took his top off, revealing a tattoo on his chest.

Scannel was said to have a tattoo on his body matching the description provided.

Police were alerted shortly after the youth returned to his mother's home.

A T-shirt found close to the scene of the alleged rape belonged to the accused, the court heard.

The prosecution also claimed Scannel shaved off his beard before later handing himself in to police.

During interviews he said he had been drinking heavily at two different bars on the night of the alleged attack.

He claimed to have taken the T-shirt off because he had spilled a pint over it and was going to see his mother.

Defence lawyers have challenged the strength of the evidence against him, including the reliability and independence of an identification procedure.

They rejected the prosecution depiction of the case as an "unprovoked predatory rape".

In court on Thursday Scannel's barrister, Mark Farrell, further alleged that a toxicology report on the teenager referred to traces of cocaine.

Bail was granted for the accused to live at an address outside west Belfast under nighttime curfew.

Mr Justice Maguire ordered that location was not to be reported after being told Scannel is under threat from people in his community.

Banning the defendant from entering the west of the city, the judge also directed: "He is to be prohibited from having any unsupervised access to anyone under 18 without prior approval from social services."
Belfast City Council has voted to end free car parking for shoppers in the run up to Christmas after a plea from Translink.

Last year the council offered some 1,500 free parking spaces at its sites after 6pm through the week and over weekends.

However, after an intervention by Translink - which claimed the scheme caused congestion and recommended that the initiative should end - the council voted to end the free spaces at the council's Growth and Regeneration Committee last night.

The decision will now need to be ratified by the full council at a meeting next month.

DUP councillor Tom Haire was in favour of keeping the scheme and said it was helping to encourage people into the city centre. "I know there are people in country areas who would normally come into Belfast and they wouldn't know where to go now. They are confused with the bus lanes to start with and people are staying away from it," he told the BBC.

"We want to encourage them in and I would support the free car parking coming up to Christmas."

However, PUP councillor John Kyle admitted he wanted to see an end to the scheme and said that the decision was a good thing.

He said: "I think it will result in more customers coming into the city centre.

"It will make public transport easier to use and I think it will increase the footfall without creating the congestion and frustration in the city centre."

Earlier this week Northern Ireland's bus and rail operator Translink said the incentive was having a "significant impact" on its services.

Instead it asked the council to work with it on providing offers for people to use its park and ride facilities.

In a letter to the council, Translink chief executive Chris Conway said free parking spaces were taken up quickly during the festive period last year.

This had resulted in long queues of cars waiting on spaces to be freed up or motorists circling the city in hope of a space. It also added to rush hour delays, he said.

He outlined how 2,000 journeys were recorded as not operating last December due to service disruption. Punctuality was at 84% and complaints about the service rose by 28%, he said.

The operator estimates costs incurred because of the disruption to be around 250,000.

Mr Conway said: "We want to make Belfast an attractive, vibrant city for shopping and socialising not only all year round, but particularly at Christmas.

"Christmas is such an important financial catalyst for the heart of the city and we know that congestion not only impacts our services but can also affect local businesses and retailers as people can be put off by delays and disruption and find alternative locations to visit."

He went on to suggest that Translink and the council could agree on a set of offers for people using the park and ride facilities around the city.

A Translink spokeswoman earlier this week said: "Planning for Christmas parking and traffic are part of the discussions we have each year with Belfast City Council and other partners to help keep Belfast moving during this extremely busy period."
Back in 1992 the only recently united Germany experienced the worst mob attacks against migrants since World War II. The infamous events took place in the impoverished Lichtenhagen district of Rostock, Germany. While an estimated 3,000 bystanders looked on and cheered, a mob of right-wing vandals attacked and set fire to a residential building housing more than 120 Vietnamese men, women and children. Miraculously no one was killed, but it certainly encapsulated Germanys past, present and future. That violent incident is the inspiration for Afghan-German filmmaker Burhan Qurbanis stark, unsentimental drama We Are Young. We Are Strong.

The title refersironically, one assumesto both the films young protagonists and to the freshly reunified country in which they live. Qurbanis fictional narrative concentrates largely on three main characters, each with a very different connection to the events that are about to transpire. Set in the 24 hours before the riots, the film begins by introducing us to Stefan (Jonas Nay), an unemployed teenager knocking around the streets with little to occupy his time. He and his punk friends have no direction in life. The economy of Germany, burdened by the introduction of 16 million or so former communists from East Germany, is in the tank. Poverty has led to anger, and anger has led to xenophobia. On the streets, most people are placing the blame for the countrys woes on recent immigrants particularly those in the Romany minority. Having been kicked around Europe for centuries, the Roma people remain easy targets for ethnic hatred. Keeping their mouths shut as these dirty gypsies are herded onto buses and shipped out of the city are the neighboring Vietnamese immigrants.

Our representative from the Vietnamese community is Lien (Trang Le Hong). Lien works hard at a local laundry facility. While her family seriously discusses returning to Vietnam, Lien does her best to assimilatelearning German, dyeing her hair and working on establishing her residency. The Vietnamese have largely been left alone by the local neo-Nazi gangs. But they know that as soon as the Romani are gone, anger will shift to them. Lien figures if she just keeps her head down, no one will bother her. But as she wanders the streets, children and teenagers scream the word Chink! at her. Its not even the correct ethnic slur, pointing out that no one here is very picky about who and what they hate, so long as they get to direct their anger at someone else.

The final point in our triad of main characters is Martin (longtime character actor Devid Striesow from This is Love and Downfall). Martin is a low-level schlub of a city politician, who just happens to be Stefans father. Sensing the danger brewing on the sidewalks, the liberal Martin does his best to help while navigating the maze of local politicianseach of whom has their own agenda-driven solution to the problem.

Given the tensions involved and the historical outcome of this particular day, its a bit unusual that Qurbani decides to set his pot at such a low boil. The film proceeds through the day at a slow, methodical pace.

Given the tensions involved and the historical outcome of this particular day, its a bit unusual that Qurbani decides to set his pot at such a low boil. The film proceeds through the day at a slow, methodical pace. But Qurbani, having grown up as an immigrant in Germany himself, knows the things he wants to concentrate on. For him, its about this particular group of characters and whats going through their minds.

For Stefan its a fog of teenage confusion. He just wants to hang out with his friends, have a couple of bucks in his pocket for beers and maybe get laid. But as the economic situation in Germany gets worse, a lot of his pals are leaning closer to neo-Nazi ideals. Skinhead Oi! music blares from car stereos and Nazi flags are pinned up in bedrooms where pops stars once dominated. If you know anything about teenagers, you know that its easy for them to just go along with the crowdeven if that crowd is starting to pick up bricks and Molotov cocktails.

For Lien its a frustrating question of cultural identity. Shes young enough to have little loyalty to Vietnam; but no matter how much she assimilates, shes always going to be marked as an outsider beyond her homeland. When she dyes her hair, her brother questions the camouflage. Does she really think a change in hair color will make her blend in? At work Lien befriends a young woman who is dating one of Stefans most virulently racist chums. The young womans daughter hurls racial insults at Lien, who treats it like a silly game. She knows that the little girl doesnt even understand what shes sayingtheyre just words shes heard at home. But the psychic toll of trying to shake off her own ethnicity starts to wear on Lien.

And Martin? Clearly hes a good man. But hes got next to no power. How can he help his country when he cant even steer his own apathetic son along the right path? Cruelest of all is the fact that Martin is smart enough to know very little of this has anything concrete to do with race. The problems Germany is facing are far deeper and more lasting. Racism, jingoism and xenophobia always crop up in difficult timeswhich is what makes We Are Young. We Are Strong. such a timely piece of filmmaking. Strengthening borders and throwing out foreigners? Hmm, where have we heard that kind of talk recently?

Qurbanis film, driven mostly by dialogue and character, works best in the small moments. At one point, an older politician advises Martin of the circular path of politics. His father was a fascist, so he became a communist. Martin is a democrat. What is his son going to become in order to rebel? In another chilling exchange one of Stefans teenage friends discusses the lack of employment in Germany. Work sets you free, says the teen. I wouldnt use those words, replies Martin as diplomatically as he can. Both people in the conversation know perfectly well that those words were the motto of the Nazi concentration camps, emblazoned on the gates above Auschwitz, Dachau and others.

We Are Young. We Are Strong. is shot in a tight, documentary-like, black-and-white frame, which breaks into widescreen color when the inevitable riot finally flames to life. There are no last-minute redemptions herejust ugly, inescapable truths. The film does miss a few opportunities. The narrative could have been tighter and more tense. In contrast to his more lively friends, Stefan comes across as a bit too affectless to function as a main protagonist. But Qurbanis bright, flaming metaphor of misplaced hatred at the heart of it all remains a powerful one.
DEWITT - Tri County Public School has a special guest this week as abstract sculptor and painter Edwina Bracken comes to the school all the way from Glasgow, Scotland.

Over the summer, a Tri County high school English teacher and a group of students embarked on a trip to Ireland where they met Bracken, an Ireland native who served as their tour guide during the week-long trip. Now, several months later, the roles have been reversed and Bracken has been invited to the United States to learn more about the culture and teach the students.

Each grade level is spending one hour with Bracken this week, helping to to make an art project that every Tri County student's hands have parts in creating.

With core curriculum standards stressed so heavily in the state of Nebraska, we dont get to expose students to as much art as wed like so this is a great opportunity and should be very unique for students in Nebraska, said Tri County Principal Jesse Gronemeyer. Students are having a blast.

Beginning on Tuesday, students from different grade levels will be painting pizza boxes a variety of colors and they will eventually be used for a huge mural that will go up at the school. Each grade is assigned a few colors with Bracken stressing the importance of variations of the colors and textures to the students.

Hopefully we will see a change in abilities, styles and of course colors from one end of the project to the other, said Tri County art teacher Robert Jacobson. The pizza boxes will be stocked on top of one another to make it 3-D in the end.

Mr. Jacobson said that it was important to figure out what project the students could do in the short time frame with Bracken that matches what she does an artist. The school has never done a project like this before.

While this is Brackens first trip to Nebraska she sees a lot of stark differences between the schools she volunteers at and Tri County and the experience gives her a new perspective on art and schools. The scale of the schools is much different than what she is use to and there is greater focus on extracurricular activities at Tri County.

Bracken is looking forward to see how the high school art project looks at the end of the week, which will see students use the local environment to put a twist on household furniture.

The high school project will be a bit more evolved and conceptually much different, Bracken said. The students have started working on their chairs already and the furniture will be used to illustrate philosophical choices and make a comment on the human condition.

Bracken works with furniture a lot in her own artwork so the project perfectly encapsulates her framework and some of the work she has done in the past.

Each high school student will be creating different designs on traditional chairs and at the end of the week they will put them in various locations throughout DeWitt to juxtapose them to the natural landscape.

Im making a flower chair which I hope to put in downtown DeWitt or possibly near a corn field, said sophomore Savannah Derlach. The inside will be painted with darker colors and the surrounding pellets will almost appear to be eating the person sitting inside. The pellets will be much brighter will autumn and summery colors.
Up to 800 Orangemen from lodges across Northern Ireland, England and Scotland took part in the procession

A prominent Orangeman, described as the heartbeat of the protestant loyal order, will be remembered as a kind-hearted man of principle, mourners at his funeral have been told.

Hundreds of people including leading politicians and public figures turned out to pay their last respects to Drew Nelson, the institution's grand secretary, who died on Monday after a short battle with cancer.

In a five minute personal tribute, Northern Ireland's First Minister Arlene Foster appeared to choke back tears as she told those inside and outside the rural Co Down church, the 60-year-old solicitor was much more than the public face of Orangeism.

She said: "There have been many eloquent and heartfelt tributes paid to Drew since his passing on Monday morning.

"Leader, ambassador, visionary, champion, an innovator, articulate and a strategist.

"He was all of these things and much, much more.

"He carried all of these accolades so humbly and certainly did not search out glory. That was the mark of Drew.

"He just wanted to get the job done in a respectful and dignified way."

Mrs Foster's voiced cracked on several occasions as she recalled how the pair had first met while she was a law student at Queen's University Belfast during the turbulent years of the Troubles.

Their last encounter came while he was in hospital just two weeks before his death.

Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Previous Next Close The funeral of Orange Order Grand Secretary Drew Nelson wends its way to St Johns Church, Upper Kilwarlin, Hillsborough UUP Leader Mike Nesbitt The DUP's Brenda Hale Minister for Communities Paul Givan Tom Elliott First Minister Arlene Foster and Nigel Dodds of the DUP SDLPs Alex Attwood Drew Nelson The coffin of high profile Orangeman Drew Nelson makes its way to St John's Church, Hillsborough Co Down, during his funeral. PA PA Northern Ireland First Minister Arlene Foster (second right) during the funeral for high profile Orangeman Drew Nelson at St John's Church, Hillsborough Co Down. PA PA Press Eye Belfast - Northern Ireland 13th October Funeral of the Orange Order's Grand Secretary Drew Nelson at St John's Parish Church, Kilwarlin, outside Hillsborough. Picture by Jonathan Porter/Press Eye Press Eye Belfast - Northern Ireland 13th October Funeral of the Orange Order's Grand Secretary Drew Nelson at St John's Parish Church, Kilwarlin, outside Hillsborough. Picture by Jonathan Porter/Press Eye Press Eye Belfast - Northern Ireland 13th October Funeral of the Orange Order's Grand Secretary Drew Nelson at St John's Parish Church, Kilwarlin, outside Hillsborough. Picture by Jonathan Porter/Press Eye Press Eye Belfast - Northern Ireland 13th October Funeral of the Orange Order's Grand Secretary Drew Nelson at St John's Parish Church, Kilwarlin, outside Hillsborough. Picture by Jonathan Porter/Press Eye Press Eye Belfast - Northern Ireland 13th October Funeral of the Orange Order's Grand Secretary Drew Nelson at St John's Parish Church, Kilwarlin, outside Hillsborough. Picture by Jonathan Porter/Press Eye Press Eye Belfast - Northern Ireland 13th October Funeral of the Orange Order's Grand Secretary Drew Nelson at St John's Parish Church, Kilwarlin, outside Hillsborough. Picture by Jonathan Porter/Press Eye Pacemaker Press 13/10/2016 The Funeral of Orange Order Grand Secretary Drew Nelson, takes place in St JohnOs Church, Upper Kilwarlin, off the Ballygowan Road, Hillsborough, Co Down, on Thursday. Hundreds of Orange men took part in procession on Ballyknock Road near his home. Pic Colm Lenaghan/Pacemaker Pacemaker Press 13/10/2016 The Funeral of Orange Order Grand Secretary Drew Nelson, takes place in St JohnOs Church, Upper Kilwarlin, off the Ballygowan Road, Hillsborough, Co Down, on Thursday. Hundreds of Orange men took part in procession on Ballyknock Road near his home. Pic Colm Lenaghan/Pacemaker Drew Nelson in his local Orange hall at Listullycurran near Hillsborough Pacemaker Press 13/10/2016 The Funeral of Orange Order Grand Secretary Drew Nelson, takes place in St JohnOs Church, Upper Kilwarlin, off the Ballygowan Road, Hillsborough, Co Down, on Thursday. Hundreds of Orange men took part in procession on Ballyknock Road near his home. Pic Colm Lenaghan/Pacemaker Pacemaker Press 13/10/2016 The Funeral of Orange Order Grand Secretary Drew Nelson, takes place in St JohnOs Church, Upper Kilwarlin, off the Ballygowan Road, Hillsborough, Co Down, on Thursday. Hundreds of Orange men took part in procession on Ballyknock Road near his home. Pic Colm Lenaghan/Pacemaker Orange Order Grand Secretary Drew Nelson Pacemaker Press 13/10/2016 The Funeral of Orange Order Grand Secretary Drew Nelson, takes place in St JohnOs Church, Upper Kilwarlin, off the Ballygowan Road, Hillsborough, Co Down, on Thursday. Hundreds of Orange men took part in procession on Ballyknock Road near his home. Pic Colm Lenaghan/Pacemaker Pacemaker Press 13/10/2016 The Funeral of Orange Order Grand Secretary Drew Nelson, takes place in St JohnOs Church, Upper Kilwarlin, off the Ballygowan Road, Hillsborough, Co Down, on Thursday. Hundreds of Orange men took part in procession on Ballyknock Road near his home. Pic Colm Lenaghan/Pacemaker Drew Nelson attending a Twelfth parade / Facebook

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Whatsapp The funeral of Orange Order Grand Secretary Drew Nelson wends its way to St Johns Church, Upper Kilwarlin, Hillsborough

"I counted it as a tremendous privilege to have known Drew and I am so glad that our paths crossed many years ago," the DUP MLA added.

As a high profile spokesman and advocate for the Orange Order, Mr Nelson led numerous delegations in political talks with leaders on both sides of the border.

He was also involved in outreach initiatives that led to meetings with the Irish President, the head of the Catholic Church in Ireland and saw him address the Irish Senate.

Praising his efforts during the "difficult years" Mrs Foster said he "epitomised what an Orangeman should be".

She said: " He was a committed unionist who always looked beyond the narrow interests to the greater goal of working, strengthening the union he so cherished.

"Drew was a thinker and when those of who were privileged enough to count his advice he always responded with balanced and considered advice.

"Drew was never given to trite, glib statements. Wise counsel from him was always the order of the day and it was always appreciated."

Ahead of the service, up to 800 Orangemen from lodges across Northern Ireland, England and Scotland took part in a silent, sombre procession through the hinterland towards St John's Church, Upper Kilwarlin near Hillsborough.

The half mile march of men in dark suits and vibrant Orange sashes, some carrying bowler hats and almost all with dark umbrellas, was led by members of Mr Nelson's local lodge, Listullycurran.

It had been organised by a meticulous Mr Nelson who requested a unified body of brethren escort his remains to his final resting place.

Among those who took part were Orange Order Grand Master Edward Stevenson and the institution's high profile chaplain Mervyn Gibson, both of whom helped carry the coffin, adorned with an orange and purple wreath.

Ulster Unionist MP Tom Elliott and a raft of Stormont MLAs including Communities Minister Paul Givan, Education Minister Peter Weir, Edwin Poots, and Danny Kennedy also joined the gathering.

As the procession snaked its way through the narrow country road towards the church, where the Union flag was flown at half mast, the Orangemen removed their collarettes and folded them over their arms.

Such was the turnout, proceedings were relayed through a loud speaker to hundreds of people who had filled a large marquee erected in a nearby field.

Among those at the service were SDLP MLA Alex Attwood and PSNI Assistant Chief Constable Stephen Martin, who oversees the policing of parades as well as Ulster Unionist leader Mike Nesbitt.

Rector David Pierce, his friend of 17 years, said: "He was one of Northern Ireland's greatest leaders, not just through the Orange Institution but also in civic and community life.

"He was a leader of men, but also a humble man.

"He didn't seek the limelight but he was the greatest of men."

Mr Nelson served as grand secretary of the Grand Orange Lodge of Ireland for 12 years, first elected to the position in December 2004.

He was also a member of the Royal Black Institution.

A former part-time officer with the Ulster Defence Regiment, Mr Nelson previously completed an Army commission course at Sandhurst.

He served as an Ulster Unionist councillor in Banbridge in the mid-1990s, leaving the party in 2004.

"Drew was a principled man who never shirked responsibility," Reverend Pierce said.

But mourners were also given a glimpse of the man behind the headlines - the devoted family man who telephoned his elderly mother every day and adored his two-year-old grand-niece.

Reverend Pierce said: "Yes he was a big and strong Orangeman but he had a tender heart."
A solicitor has appeared in court charged with 61 offences of false accounting linked to legal aid claims.

Damien McDaid is alleged to have committed the offences between July 2010 and January 2012.

The 42-year-old, from Templegrove in the Buncrana Road area of Londonderry, appeared at a preliminary inquiry at the city's magistrates' court yesterday.

Each of the charges alleges the defendant submitted falsified legal aid documents to the Northern Ireland Legal Services Commission.

A public prosecutor told District Judge Barney McElholm that she believed the defendant had a prima facie case to answer. Defence barrister Ivor McAteer said he was making no contrary submission.

When asked if he had anything to say in answer to the 61 charges, the defendant replied, "No".

McDaid was released on his own bail of 500 and ordered to continue to reside at the address on the charge sheet before the court.

He will appear before the city's Crown Court for his arraignment on November 16.
Louise and James Campbell leave the inquest into the death of their daughter Frances

The devastated parents of a young mother who took her own life in Hydebank prison have said their daughter "lives on in our memories and will always be sadly missed by us".

Yesterday, the eighth and final day of the inquest into the death of 23-year-old mother-of-two Frances McKeown, a jury found she committed suicide by hanging on May 4, 2011.

Her mental health, a change in medication and family breakdown were listed as factors that contributed to her death.

The jury also found that any defects in care from the Prison Service or the South Eastern Health Trust had not contributed to the tragedy.

Three main causes were found to have led to her suicide:

l An emotionally unstable personality disorder - a condition that made her prone to impulsive behaviour.

l The use of an unprescribed anti-depressant drug Trazodone in combination with two prescribed drugs, the anti-depressant Fluoxetine and the anti-psychotic Risperidone;

l External factors such as the stress caused by her children being taken into care, marital problems and grief and anxiety caused by her prison sentence.

Following her findings, Coroner Suzanne Anderson addressed Mrs McKeown's parents, Louise and James Campbell.

"Mr and Mrs Campbell, you've shown quiet dignity through the inquest process, and I'd just like to extend you my deepest sympathy on the death of your daughter, Frances," she said.

A statement from Mr and Mrs Campbell was issued afterwards.

It read: "Sometimes in life, events occur that fracture the very foundation on which we stand. Our life, as we have known it, has changed for ever.

"Frances was a victim of suicide. She was not a perfect person, but she was our daughter, and she was a very precious, very vulnerable young woman. She struggled with her mental health difficulties, as we her family struggled for support and good mental health care for our daughter."

The parents said that during her life Frances made a number of inappropriate choices and decisions. "While some people tried to exploit her, others did their best to help her," they added.

"As a parent, it is horrific to watch your child battle with any difficulties and it is your role to fight hard on their behalf for help. We took on that role.

"However, when they become an adult, you as a parent are left struggling against systems and institutions that disregard you.

"It would be easy to become obsessed with taking on these bodies, but this is not going to bring Frances back. We believe very strongly that no monetary value could or should be placed on Frances' life. No amount of compensation is going to bring our daughter back."

Mr and Mrs Campbell also told how they wanted Frances to be remembered for more than just the manner and the place of her death.

"Her death took away a very young mother, our daughter, a sister, grand-daughter, god-daughter, niece, cousin and friend," they said.

"Frances was greatly loved. She lives on in our memories and she will always be sadly missed by us."

Before the ruling, the Coroner highlighted the key evidence. Frances was sent to prison in October 2010 following a charge of hijacking of a taxi. She was said to have been intent on killing her husband Brian McKeown, who she accused of the 2010 murder of her ex-boyfriend Kevin Fletcher.

Mr Fletcher's father, also named Kevin, was cleared of the murder in 2012.

On committal to Hydebank prison, Frances waited more than six months to be seen by a psychiatrist, despite her self-harming at the time and having a history of suicide attempts.

While the wait for psychological assessment was described as inappropriate, it could not be concluded that earlier treatment would have prevented her death.

It was also noted she had been engaging in other mental health services in prison such as SPAR (supporting prisoners at risk). A psychiatrist described her suicide to the court as "impulsive", noting that she had made plans for a visit from her parents earlier that day.

In February 2011, her anti-depressant medication was stopped by her GP for 19 days as she was found not to be in possession of her prescribed medication, which is an offence for inmates. It has since been admitted this should not have happened and she should have been placed on a supervised swallow regime.

At the time of her death, Frances was found to have the unprescribed anti-depressant Trazodone in her system. It was noted that - along with her two prescribed medications - the "disastrous" combination could have led to suicidal thoughts.

Brian McKeown, her husband, told the court he could not understand why his wife had committed suicide and denied being abusive towards her or having a negative influence on her mental health.
The Queen unveiling the plaque at Bellarena railway halt in June

A plaque at a rural train station marking a visit by the Queen is set to be reinstated next week, it can be revealed.

It was removed from the platform at Bellarena, Co Londonderry, just hours after it had been unveiled by the Queen and her husband Prince Philip during a visit in June this year.

They officially opened two new railway platforms at Bellarena, as part of a 46m upgrade on the Coleraine to Londonderry railway line.

The royal couple also took in the Giant's Causeway and a train journey along the north coast - famously extolled as one of the most scenic rail journeys in the world - during the two day visit.

The Belfast Telegraph revealed last month that Translink officials had told the Department of Infrastructure that they removed the plaque because of fears that it would be vandalised.

Local politicians, including East Londonderry MP Gregory Campbell and Ulster Unionist councillor Aaron Callan, poured scorn on the claim, pointing out the quiet nature of the village and the rapturous welcome the Queen received during her visit.

Mr Campbell said he would be "very surprised if the plaque were to be vandalised".

"Even at that, they can put the plaque in a place where it would be very hard to vandalise," he added. "It can be covered in special spray to protect it."

In September, DUP MLA Gary Middleton added that he was concerned that three months since its unveiling, the plaque had not been reinstated.

However, the plaque will now return within a matter of days.

A Translink spokeswoman told the Belfast Telegraph: "The plaque will be reinstated by early next week".

The story emerged following an Assembly question asked by People Before Profit MLA Eamonn McCann.

A Department of Infrastructure spokesman said in his response to Mr McCann: "Translink has advised that, because the halt at Bellarena is unmanned, it was concerned about the safety of the plaque and the possibility that it could be vandalised.

"Translink is currently looking at its options to minimise this risk."

However, in a statement to the Belfast Telegraph at the time, the department said its officials were "currently considering the best way to mount the plaque at Bellarena Station within the context of the simple layout of the halt and its dramatic setting".
Sex crime in Northern Ireland has risen by more than 60% in the last six years.

The number of reported rapes has reached an all-time high, including cases of stranger rapes which have doubled in the space of 12 months.

Police have seen a year-on-year increase in sexual offending, Chief Constable George Hamilton said.

He also revealed officers had recently dealt with a case of a 16-year-old boy who attacked his partner after watching extreme pornography. The PSNI chief disclosed details of the shocking rise in cases after being questioned by members of the Northern Ireland Policing Board.

Mr Hamilton revealed:

The number of offences investigated by the Rape Crime Unit topped 600 in 2014/15 - up 24% on the previous year;

More than 4,700 child abuse referrals were made - up 23%;

And child sex crime, including peer-on-peer offending, is also on the rise.

Jim Gamble, former head of the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (Ceop), said: "It should be a concern.

"The statistics across the UK show there has been an increased level of reporting (of crimes)."

In a written question from the Policing Board, Mr Hamilton was asked to explain the rise in violent sexual offending linked to pornography.

He revealed how police were now swamped by cases.

Mr Hamilton said: "Overall sex offending has increased by 61% over the last six years, with a year-on-year increase.

"The number of stranger rapes is also increasing year-on-year; currently we are seeing a 50% increase on the same period last year.

"The number of Rape Crime Unit offences has increased steadily in the last five years, reaching 611 cases in 2014/15, which is the highest recorded and compares to 492 in 2013/14.

"Up until August 31, 2016, the number of recorded offences amounted to 255 compared to 207 in the previous year to date."

Mr Hamilton said the number of child abuse referrals received in 2015/16 was 4,723 - up 23% on last year. "This demand is continuing to grow, with an increase rate of 38% in 2016 compared with the last financial year to date," he added.

"This includes child sex offences, including peer-on-peer offending."

Mr Hamilton goes on to explore some of the reasons for the increase.

"Advances in global technology mean that the use and popularity of social media and internet sites has risen at an unprecedented rate over the last 10 years," he adds.

"It is difficult to determine what causes sexual violence. A number of recent studies are looking at the possibility of whether interest in extreme pornography might be a factor.

"As an illustration, the PSNI have recently dealt with a case where a 16-year-old male claimed to have watched extreme pornography online and believed this to be normal and acceptable behaviour and went on to offend against his partner."

Mr Gamble is now chief executive of Ineqe Group, which focuses on child protection.

He said publicity surrounding high-profile cases such as former BBC presenter Jimmy Savile had encouraged more people to speak out.

"Post-Savile, the benefit has been people feel more comfortable coming forward," he added.

"I know the Public Protection Unit in the PSNI has been working hard with its partners ... that survivors are treated credibly.

"That's the positive side of it. The fact remains that there is a lot of work to be done. We want to see more people coming before the courts."

Mr Gamble wants those committing offences to be put in prison "for a significant period" to act as a "deterrent".

"The fact remains we are seeing an increase across the board, which is deeply concerning," he added.

He said there needs to be "better levels of training and victim engagement".

In May legislation in Northern Ireland was brought into line with England and Wales to extend the definition of "extreme pornography". The same legislation, the Justice Act (Northern Ireland) 2016, also included provision for revenge pornography.
Tempers flared during a debate on funding for groups linked to paramilitary groups on the Stephen Nolan BBC One show.

The late night BBC one debate show posed the question if it was right for public money to go indirectly toward to those who have been involved in paramilitary activity.

It comes after 1.7million of government money was awarded to Charter NI. It's chief executive is convicted UDA gunman Dee Stitt.

Launching the programme, First Minister Arlene Foster stated that it would improve employability in east Belfast.

It is bringing about social change in parts of Northern Ireland that are suffering from real disadvantage," she said.

Read More

Tracey Coulter - who has in the past been a victim of the UDA - was a guest on the Nolan show panel.

She said paramilitaries were being "rewarded" and they were "untouchable".

"It is proven they are still involved in crime, it is proven they are thugs," she said.

"Is giving them money going to make them stop?

"There is no sugar-coating this. They don't deserve anymore money. They have had enough - they have had millions."

One woman in the audience argued it was not just loyalists but those in the republican community that struggled to move on from their past.

Read More

She said: "Loyalist communities have been left behind and when any money goes into it, you get this.

"There are those in the loyalist community working really hard, really hard, and you get all this.

"You have to remember what's going into the nationalist community and they have been getting it for years.

"And the first time a load of money goes into a loyalist area you get yap, yap, yap or they are doing this or they are doing that.

"Catch yourself on.

"They haven't moved away."

When Mrs Coulter asked if the woman had ever been a victim of loyalist violence, the women responded: "Loyalists deserve to have a life.

Responding Mrs Coulter said: "Loyalists deserve to have a life," the woman said.

"So do my kids," said Tracey, "They [paramilitaries] should stop torturing people.

"They don't deserved to be paid and rewarded for it."

The two ended up shouting over each other and at one stage Stephen Nolan himself struggled to speak over the women and calm them down.
A secret report on Nama's Northern Ireland 1.2 billion property loan portfolio would have been very valuable to potential bidders, an ex-adviser to the Republic's bad bank has said.

Brian Rowntree said the "highly sensitive" report was shown to himself, fellow adviser and prominent Belfast businessman Frank Cushnahan and other Nama board members in March 2013.

Carried out by the University of Ulster, it was ordered by the toxic assets agency and a number of banks involved at a cost of 20,000.

It matched confidential details about properties in the so-called Project Eagle portfolio against emerging housing and development trends in Northern Ireland, including future values.

"If I was conducting due diligence on behalf of a buyer and I had that document I would be smiling," he told a parliamentary committee in Dublin investigating the sale.

The high-ranking public servant has called for a separate independent investigation into whether corporate governance or confidentiality around the controversial Project Eagle deal was breached.

Mr Rowntree said he is "still surprised to this day" that Nama decided to sell off all the property loans several months after they were shown the report.

Up until then, the entire focus had been on the "betterment of Northern Ireland" by getting value from the properties and "working against a fire sale", he told Dublin's Public Accounts Committee.

The University of Ulster report was commissioned to help them map out a plan. Asked what happened to it, he replied: "I have no idea."

In October that year, Mr Cushnahan resigned as a fellow adviser on Nama's Northern Ireland advisory board.

Mr Rowntree said he was told the resignation was for "personal reasons" and there was no discussion about him being replaced.

He said he was never told about a US investment firm pulling out of a bid for the portfolio a few months later after discovering alleged "success fees" or fixer payments of 15-16 million for three parties behind the scenes.

Pimco said the money was to be shared equally by Mr Cushnahan, Brown Rudnick, a US law firm, and a managing partner of Tughans, a Belfast law firm subcontracted to assist in the deal, a report by the Republic's Comptroller and Auditor General has found.

Mr Cushnahan, who also declared links with six major debtors in the property loans portfolio, has denied any wrongdoing.

Mr Rowntree told the parliamentary committee hearing he would not have stood on the Nama advisory committee if he had links with debtors.

"I would have seen myself as conflicted," he added.

The first he learnt about the property portfolio being eventually sold to US investment fund Cerberus in March 2014 was in a phone call from Nama chairman Frank Daly the day before it was publicly announced, he said.

Cerberus had also appointed Brown Rudnick and Tughans to work on its bid.

"We got our P45 and told we were no longer required," said Mr Rowntree.

"It was frustrating more than disappointing, there was potential to provide a dividend to society."

Mr Rowntree told the committee he was furious, shocked and surprised when he read about allegations surrounding the sale of the portfolio.

The Project Eagle deal with Cerberus has been dogged by scandal for more than a year, including 7 million linked to it being found in an Isle of Man bank account.

Former managing partner of Tughans, Ian Coulter, resigned after it was unearthed.
A lone man answered Foreign Secretary Boris Johnsons call for the public to protest outside the Russian Embassy against airstrikes in Syria.

Dan Harper, 43, stood outside the building in Kensington, west London, for two hours on Wednesday, before leaving to have a cup of tea and return to his home in north London.

Mr Johnson said in an emergency Commons debate on Tuesday he would like to see demonstrations outside the diplomatic mission, while simultaneously dismissing calls to implement no-fly zones over the besieged city of Aleppo and other parts of the region.

Mr Johnson's comments angered the Kremlin, who denied Vladimir Putin's forces had bombed the Syrian city and accused him of "Russophobic hysteria". The remarks also provoked criticism from some political pundits in the UK who said he had transgressed "diplomatic convention".

Mr Harper told the Telegraph that while he was protesting some passers-by asked what's the point, but others applauded him as he held up a placard calling for bombing in Syria to stop.

Mr Harper described himself as a pacifist and a Buddhist, and said he often goes on anti-war protests. He told the newspaper he had heard Mr Johnson on the radio and felt he needed to "make my point".

I particularly dislike heavy bombardment of residential areas, he said, adding he believed Mr Johnson was right to call on the public to demonstrate, and, in fact, he was considering going back to protest again.

.@BorisJohnson's call-up: a single person turned up at the Russian Embassy today pic.twitter.com/XRVxWbjkOI  Russian Embassy, UK (@RussianEmbassy) October 12, 2016

It is highly unusual for an incumbent foreign secretary to encourage demonstrations, particularly targeting another country's embassy, not least because it could have repercussions for British diplomats in that country.

Mr Johnson called for the public to protest at the same time as refusing to commit to no-fly zones in the region, despite emotive calls to action.

We cannot commit to a no-fly zone unless we are prepared to confront and perhaps shoot down planes or helicopters that violate that zone. We need to think very carefully about the consequences, Mr Johnson said during the Commons debate.

Downing Street later told journalists at a briefing the notion that we would somehow be engaged in enforcing a no-fly zone with Russian aircrafts in the same airspace is clearly a potentially very difficult and challenging situation.

It is one which would need to be very carefully looked at and the risks attached to it very carefully analysed before we would head down that path."

In his speech, Mr Johnson also criticised the Stop the War Coalition, asking: Where is the Stop the War coalition at the moment? Where are they?

Very unusual call from the Foreign Secretary to hold demonstrations in front of the Russian embassy. New form of British diplomacy? pic.twitter.com/rzxUkGyyrQ  Russian Embassy, UK (@RussianEmbassy) October 11, 2016

Chris Nineham, vice chair of the group, responded on the BBC Today programme, arguing the movement was set up to protest against British military action, because the group was based in Britain and so this was where they could exert pressure.

A protest outside the Russian embassy in London would not make a blind bit of difference he said.
The gorilla is thought to have escaped from its enclosure at the central London zoo

Visitors to London Zoo were "never in any danger" after a large silverback gorilla escaped from his enclosure.

Armed police were called to the central London attraction and visitors were evacuated as keepers desperately tried to recapture the loose animal.

But Malcolm Fitzpatrick, curator of mammals at the zoo, described the escape of Kumbuka as a "minor incident" in which the male gorilla got into a secure keeper area that was not open to the public.

Mr Fitzpatrick said the western lowland had been tranquillised before being returned to the Gorilla Kingdom, where he was "up and grumbling and interacting with the rest of his gorilla family".

He added: "It was a safe, secure keeper area, so at no time did he actually get out into the zoo."

The incident is now under investigation, he said.

Mr Fitzpatrick told reporters Kumbuka was in the keepers' area for more than an hour until vets were able to tranquillise him.

He said: "At 5.15pm this afternoon our male gorilla got out of his back dens into a secure keeper area.

"Our staff were able to respond quickly and Kumbuka was tranquillised and returned to his dens, where I am happy to report he is up and grumbling and interacting with the rest of his gorilla family in Gorilla Kingdom."

Mr Fitzpatrick would not confirm if there were keepers in the area at the time and said the public gorilla viewing zone had only a "handful" of people there then.

He added: "At no time were any of our visitors in any danger. The gorilla did not get out of the safe space, there were only about 100 visitors, it was the end of the day and I would like to thank all of those visitors for co-operating and moving in to buildings."

Mr Fitzpatrick said keepers would be staying on into the evening to check up on Kumbuka and giving him his "favourite treats".

A statement from ZSL London Zoo said the 18-year-old gorilla was contained within the exhibit's off-show area, and that an investigation would be carried out in to how he escaped.

A spokeswoman said: "The exhibit is secure and we are grateful to all of our staff and visitors for their co-operation, enabling us to resolve the situation quickly and efficiently. ZSL London Zoo will be open tomorrow."

The zoo was immediately put on lock-down after Kumbuka escaped, with visitors being ordered to shelter inside any buildings they could.

Visitors to the gorilla attraction said they saw the "lead male" apparently agitated and charging at the enclosure's glass walls moments before the escape.

Neuropsychologist Dr Jonathan Mall was at the Weird and Wonderful World of Field market research conference when the incident happened.

Dr Mall, one of the speakers at the conference, had gone for a walk during a break in the programme and was next to the gorilla enclosure when a siren went off at around 5.20pm, and a call over the speakers asked for staff to urgently go to the site.

The 33-year-old, from Hamburg in Germany, who was representing his company Neuro Flash, told the Press Association he saw two members of staff "frantically running around" in the enclosure, and when he jokingly asked one if a gorilla was loose they said: "I don't know, please go outside the area."

He added: "Another distressed staff member said 'Please move quickly and go inside a building', and she told us to leave, I saw other people running for buildings."

Dr Mall and other visitors were forced to hide inside a bird attraction, stranded for around half an hour while staff brought Kumbuka under control.

He said: "I was kind of scared to be honest because we were in a really closed space where everything is green and beautiful but there could be a gorilla hiding behind every bush.

"Any sound I heard scared the shit out of me."

Eventually staff went from building to building to rescue visitors and evacuate them from the zoo.

Dr Mall said he saw at least 20 people carrying large guns and that the police helicopter arrived within five minutes.

He also said another speaker at the conference had seen one of the gorillas acting "really agitated" in its enclosure around 15 minutes before the escape, saying it had repeatedly run towards the glass walls and hit it as people took pictures of it.

Jonny Briers, 22, told the Evening Standard: "We were at the gorilla enclosure and the gorilla charged at the glass. It didn't break it, we saw it do it earlier in the day as well.

"And then we started to leave and we heard the siren go off. Then we saw zookeepers running and they told us to go inside. We went into the aquarium and they locked the doors."

According to the zoo's website Kumbuka is one of at least seven gorillas living in its Gorilla Kingdom.

The 5 million Gorilla Kingdom was opened by the Duke of Edinburgh in 2007, then the largest investment at the zoo for 40 years.

The same year there were warnings that animals could escape unless security was improved.

A report said that although it had no concerns about animal enclosures, in the circumstances of a dangerous animal escaping it was "unlikely" the existing perimeter fence would be sufficient to contain dangerous animals.

It warned that if they escaped there would be nothing to stop them roaming free, and said marksmen with tranquilliser darts would have little time to react.

The year before, 12 squirrel monkeys managed to escape their enclosure.

In May a gorilla was shot dead by keepers after it grabbed a four-year-old boy who fell into a moat at a US zoo.

Harambe, a 17-year-old, 400-pound-plus male western lowland, was killed after he dragged the youngster around for 10 minutes after he fell 12 feet into the exhibit at Cincinnati Zoo.

Zoo officials made the decision because they felt the boy was in a "life-threatening situation".
Nicola Sturgeon will set out her party's response to Brexit, and contrast it with the 'deeply ugly' vision of the Westminster Tory Government

The Scottish Government will publish draft legislation on holding a second independence referendum next week, Nicola Sturgeon has said.

The Scottish First Minister made the announcement at SNP conference in Glasgow where she was greeted with a standing ovation from delegates.

The SNP leader said her party would lead the fight against the Conservatives plans for hard Brexit, attacking the right wing government in Westminster.

Nicola Sturgeon opened her partys annual conference in Glasgow on Thursday by warning that the right wing of the Tory Party is now in the ascendancy and that it wanted to hijack the referendum result.

She also started by warmly congratulating MP Angus Robertson on his election as her depute leader, which was announced minutes before.

Ms Sturgeon had previously said that Britain leaving the EU could be one of the triggers for holding a second referendum.

Scotland voted to remain in the EU by a large margin, but Britain is now due to leave because the overall result was in favour of Brexit.

Nicola Sturgeon tells the SNP conference they will publish referendum bill next week. https://t.co/cn88GjnwPz https://t.co/tQyBSwRHyX  STV News (@STVNews) October 13, 2016

The UK Government says it is engaging the devolved administrations, including Scotland, in its plans for Brexit.

"If you think for one single second that I'm not serious about doing what it takes to protect Scotland's interests, then think again," she said, speaking rhetorically to Theresa May.

"If you can't - or won't - allow us to protect our interests within the UK, then Scotland will have the right to decide, afresh, if it wants to take a different path."

The party leaders comments come after she attacked the Government for plans to force businesses to list foreigners, which have since been dropped.

Last week, we heard an intolerance towards those from other countries that has no place in a modern, multicultural, civilised society, she told party delegates.

It was a disgrace. It shames the Tory Party and all who speak for it.

But make no mistake - the right wing of the Tory Party is now in the ascendancy and it is seeking to hijack the referendum result. Brexit has become Tory Brexit.

They are using it as licence for the xenophobia that has long lain under the surface - but which is now in full view.

They are holding it up as cover for a hard Brexit that they have no mandate for - but which they are determined to impose, regardless of the ruinous consequences.

I suspect that many of those who voted to Leave now look at the actions and rhetoric of the Tories and think 'that's not what I voted for'.

They may have voted to take back control - but I don't imagine many of them are happy to have handed that control to Boris Johnson, David Davis and Liam Fox.

They certainly didn't vote to throw economic rationality out of the window. They didn't vote to lower their own living standards or to sacrifice jobs and investment. They didn't vote for our businesses to face tariffs or for holiday-makers to need visas. They didn't vote for the scapegoating of foreigners.

She pledged that SNP MPs in Westminster would vote against the Governments so-called Great Repeal Bill because Scotland voted to Remain.

Opposition parties said Ms Sturgeon should use her conference to abandon talk of a second Scottish independence referendum.

Conservative Scottish Secretary David Mundell admonished the Scottish Government for creating divisive constitutional debates.

Constant talk of another independence referendum is creating uncertainty and damaging the Scottish economy at a time when our growth is lagging behind the UK as a whole.

The people of Scotland spoke loudly and clearly in the result of the legal, fair and decisive referendum of 2014 and that should be respected, as the UK and Scottish Governments both committed to do in the Edinburgh Agreement.

As we prepare to leave the EU, the First Minister should commit her Government to working constructively with the UK Government to seize the opportunities that will bring, not taking Scotland back to the divisive constitutional debates of the past.

All recent polls show the SNP maintaining its dominance of Scottish politics, despite losing its majority in the Scottish Parliament at elections earlier this year.
Third and fourth graders from Gage County cheered, gasped and reacted in delight as a tire, shoe, kite string, hot dog and pole caught fire due to electrical currents inflicted by employees from Norris Public Power District.

It was the most dramatic of many educational demonstrations and lessons at the 2016 Progressive Agriculture Safety Day at the Gage County Fairgrounds on Thursday.

About 156 students from area schools learned safety lessons including the dangers and power of electricity, how to safely handle animals, what to do if they find a gun, how to prevent fires and how to safely operating machinery such as lawn mowers.

"Gage County used to have a Rural Safety Day in the 1980s, but it got dropped and there was a void here," said David Barnard, agriculture instructor at Lewiston Consolidated Schools. "I moved back to this community seven years ago and had a passion for it. I was teaching it in Superior, Nebraska. I made the right connections and we were able to start it up again."

The event rekindled three years ago and alternates between Gage and Pawnee Counties. Barnard coordinates the event with co-coordinator Jane Esau, an extension assistant specializing in 4-H youth development for Nebraska Extension in Gage County.

"Safety is something we always have to keep working on," Barnard said. "We tell these kids they need to be advocates when they go home to mom and dad and their siblings and cousins."

Statistically, most of the students in the group do not live on a farm, Barnard pointed out.

"Our hope is that when they go to visit Grandma and Grandpa or someone on a farm, they show a respect for animals and a respect for big equipment," he said. "If we instill that in them at a young age, we hope they carry that with them through adulthood."

Barnard said he's had a passion for teaching safety especially in rural settings ever since his youth when a boy in his neighborhood died in a grain bin accident.

"As agriculture changes, so does the safety concerns," he said. "It keeps changing, and we have to keep working at it."

The event began with guest speaker Greg Fanders, an employee of Koch Nitrogen Company who lost three fingers in an accident as a child.

From there, students rotated through 10 different 20-minute sessions led by various presenters.

In the morning, the students learned about fire prevention from the Nebraska State Fire Marshal, gun safety from Nebraska Game and Parks, beginning CPR training from Beatrice Community Hospital, animal safety from Southeast Community College agriculture students and lawn mower safety from Gage County Extension educator Paul Hay. Lewiston Consolidated Schools FFA members were assistant presenters.

"We taught them about safe ways to handle cows or any animal for that matter," SCC agriculture student Ashlin Bussell said.

Bussell and her peers stood in front of the children with two cows, telling them things such as, "Never approach the animals from behind."

"And we give them quite a bit of time for questions," Madison Marin said. The safety day "gives kids who don't grow up on a farm the chance to learn safe handling of animals and how they eat and things like that."

Norris Public Power District employee Chris Burnett led the action-packed electrical safety lesson. He said people live their whole lives around electricity and power lines and take them for granted and that teaching the dangers of those things is important.

"It was fun," he said of the presentation. "I have three kids around the same age, so I educated these kids like I would my own. I hope they can take back some of what they learned today to their older or younger siblings."

Topics of other sessions were train safety, hearing safety, chemical look-a-likes, grain handling safety and fitness and fun.

Students attended from Lewiston, Southern School District, Diller-Odell Public Schools, Tri County Public School and St. Joseph Catholic School.

Local sponsors of the event include Landmark Implement, Farmers Cooperative, Agrium, and the Gage County Fair Board, which supplied the buildings free of rent.
US-launched cruise missiles have destroyed three coastal radar sites in Houthi-controlled territory on Yemen's Red Sea coast, officials said.

The strike was a retaliatory action after two incidents this week in which missiles were fired at US Navy ships.

The strikes marked the first shots fired by the US in anger against the Houthis in Yemen's long-running civil war.

The US previously only provided logistical support and refuelling to the Saudi-led coalition battling Yemen's Shiite rebels known as Houthis and their allies, including supporters of Yemen's former president, Ali Abdullah Saleh.

While the US military has been focused on al Qaida in Yemen, the Houthis had not been a primary target of American forces until the missile launches from Houthi-controlled territory this week.

No information on casualties from the US Tomahawk missiles was provided by American officials.

The three radar sites were in remote areas where there was little risk of civilian casualties or collateral damage, said a military source.

The destroyer USS Nitze launched the cruise missiles, the official said.

President Barack Obama authorised the strikes at the recommendation of defence secretary Ash Carter and the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, General Joseph Dunford, Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook said in a statement.

"These limited self-defence strikes were conducted to protect our personnel, our ships and our freedom of navigation in this important maritime passageway," Mr Cook said.

"The United States will respond to any further threat to our ships and commercial traffic, as appropriate, and will continue to maintain our freedom of navigation in the Red Sea, the Bab al-Mandeb and elsewhere around the world."

Early on Wednesday, two missiles were fired at the USS Mason, a guided missile destroyer conducting routine operations in the region with the USS Ponce, an amphibious warship. Neither missile got near the ship, said a US military official.

The missiles were fired from the Yemen coast, near the location used on Sunday when two missiles were launched at the same two ships, said the official.

A second official said it was not clear whether the ship's counter-measures caused the missiles to hit the water or if they would have landed there anyway.

The missiles fired on Sunday were variants of the so-called Silkworm missile, and both also fell harmlessly into the water. The Silkworm is a type of coastal defense cruise missile Iran has been known to use.

Sunday was the first time that US ships had been targeted by a missile launch from Yemen. Last week, an Emirati-leased Swift boat came under rocket fire near the same area and sustained serious damage.

The United Arab Emirates described the vessel as carrying humanitarian aid and having a crew of civilians, while the Houthis called the boat a warship.

AP
Benjamin Watson, a tight end for the Baltimore Ravens said  Obama cant save us. Mrs. Clinton cant save us. Mr.Trump cant save us. The only one who can change the heart of a man is the Lord.

I am working on a book right now and last night I read about Solomon in the bible. As some of you know Solomon had it all. Power, wealth, influence, intelligence, and most importantly Gods favor. Scripture actually says that Solomon had more wisdom than ALL men, not some men but all men. However, Solomon compromised Gods morals and exchanged it for lust, pride, idolatry and so on. Something was happening on the inside of Solomon that was rearing its ugly head on the outside. Solomon had a fractured soul and got too big for his own britches. Solomon thought he was the exception but Gods favor was lifted. Solomon slowly started to lose his mind.

This sure does seem to be the case for our presidential candidates too. I have watched both debates and actually paused my television more than once because I was so uncomfortable. It sadden me that the first question of the night was The last presidential debate couldve been rated as MA ( mature audiences) per TV parental guidelines. Knowing that educators are tying the presidential debates to student homework, do you feel you are modeling appropriate and positive behavior for todays youth?

Both candidates talked about how they were going to make America great again. Their so called goals about the economy, Obamacare, and terrorism but not one of them answered the actual question. The moderator, Anderson Cooper even said the question was are you both modeling positive and appropriate behavior for todays youth? Then, he went on to say how they received a lot of questions about the explicit Trump tape that was released last week. Anderson said you called it locker room banter.He went on to say that you have bragged about sexually assaulting women. Do you understand that?

Trump went on to say that he did not say that at all. Then Anderson challenged him again and asked so you did not say that? Trump said and I quote I have great respect for women. Nobody has more respect for women than I do. Ive said things that frankly, you hear these things I said.And I was embarrassed by it. But I have tremendous respect for women.

Cooper: Have you ever done those things?

Trump: And women have respect for me: No, I have not. And I will tell you that I am going to make our country safe again. Were going to have borders in our country, which we dont have now. People are pouring into our country, and theyre coming in from the Middle East and other places.  Were going to make America safe again. Were going to make American great again, but were going to make America safe again.  And were going to make America wealthy again, because if you dont do that, it just- it sounds harsh to say, but we have to build up the wealth in our nation.

Here comes Hillary.

Cooper: Secretary Clinton, do you want to respond?

Clinton:Ive spent a lot of time thinking over the last 48 hrs about what we heard and saw. You know, with prior Republican nominees for president, I disagreed with them on politics, policies, principles, but I never questioned their fitness to serve. Donald Trump is different. I said back in June that he was not fit to be commander in chief. And many Republicans and independents have said the same thing. What we all saw and heard on Friday was Donald talking about women, what he says about women, and what he does to women. And he said that the video doesnt represent who he is.

Donald responded with the terrible job she has done for African Americans. She wants their vote and then does nothing.

Now back to the tape again.

Raddatz: This tape is generating intense interest. Jeff from Ohio asks, Trump says the campaign has changed him. When did that happen? So, Mr Trump, let me add to that. When you walked off that bus at age 59, were you a different man or did that behavior continue until just recently?

Trump: It was locker room talk, as I told you. That was locker room talk. I am not proud of it. I am a person who has great respect for people, for my family, for the people of the country. And certainly not proud of it. But that was something that happened. If you look at Bill Clinton, far worse. Mine are words, and his are actions. Theres never been anybody in the history of politics in this nation thats been so abusive to women.

The entire debate was just bashing each other. It was absolutely crazy. He said she should be in jail for her 33,000 deleted emails. She said he has no respect for women. Then of course he bashed Bill Clinton who is not even running. Then they brought the Obamas in to their nonsense. Then when moderators wanted to move on, Trump thought Hillary had more time than him.

However, there were a few times when they tried to really address issues that are important to the American people but each time got side railed with attacks. This debate was so painful and embarrassing to watch but ultimately God is in control. He knew this was coming and isnt surprised by it in the least. We can really fall far when we think we are on top. Both candidates clearly are not honest. What do we do with that? How can we see through the rhetoric to know?

Since, I am a women I am disgusted by Donald Trumps comments. Violence, including sexual against women and girls is a global issue with 1 and 3 across the world experiencing. Worldwide women are paid less than men earning 60-75% of mens wages. Women spend at least twice as much time as men on domestic work, and when all work- paid or unpaid is considered, women work longer hours. International evidence shows that increasing the share of household income controlled by women changes spending in ways that benefit children. Women are more likely than men to work in informal employment. Bringing womens wages in line with with mens would add 28 Trillion to global GDP. Ironically, when women and men work along side each other in a respectful and equal manner productivity is up and conflict is lower.

We are all suppose to matter but in this crazy election it seems little of us really do. We all want a growing economy but greed has played a part. Over 60% of single mothers are impoverished. African Americans are still being racially profiled and some living in poverty too. Kids are still going hungry. Homelessness is increasing rapidly and this includes our youth. 1 out of 5 children live in poverty. Wages are down but the cost of living is up. Climate change is real. 99% of the worlds scientists are saying we are destroying the world. This is not for the planets sake but for our sake. By 2050 most of Manhattan will be under water, not tidal but gone. Literally parts of the world that will be nonexistent. We have flawed humans trying to do the job that was Gods in the first place. We were supposed to listen to his leading. He gave us the earth and each other to take care of, not destroy.

God is so clear about his commands but it seems so many just dont care anymore. We cant make this country better until hearts change. Hearts change when God is at the forefront.

A persons ways seem pure to them, but motives are weighed by the Lord.

There is a way that appears to be right, but in the end it leads to death.

Quartz

NCFES
In The Big Smoke, Ben Schrader asks many new questions of early urban life. What did cities look like and how did they change? Why were women especially drawn to live in cities? In what ways did Maori experience and shape cities? How far was the street a living room and stage for city life? And why did New Zealand so quickly become a nation of townspeople?
Student activists hold signs and march toward Independence Square during an anti-government demonstration in Kuala Lumpur, Aug. 27, 2016.

Updated at 11:30 a.m. ET on 2016-10-13

Malaysias government is escalating a crackdown on peaceful speech to shield Prime Minister Najib Razak from criticism such as public discontent over a looming corruption scandal, Human Rights Watch says in a new report.

The government is resorting to laws to criminalize dissent as Najibs government comes under international scrutiny over the scandal around state fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), among other controversies, HRW says.

As Prime Minister Najibs political fortunes fall, Malaysias intolerance of critical speech seems to rise, Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director for Human Rights Watch (HRW), said in a statement issued with the report. Malaysias future as a rights-respecting nation shouldnt become hostage to defending the Najib governments reputation.

Malaysian government officials dismissed the report following its release at a news conference in Kuala Lumpur on Thursday.

Paul Low, a minister in the Prime Ministers Department, told BenarNews he didnt believe that there was a rise in the number of cases filed under the Sedition Act  one of the laws cited in the HRW report.

It has been used less and less during the last year, the minister said but without giving any figures to back up his assertion.

According to HRW, Najibs government has been using the Sedition Act, the Official Secrets Act, and the Communications and Multimedia Act (CMA) to target people who have criticized Najib, including those who have called on the prime to resign over the 1MDB affair and other scandals.

Rather than treating such statements as normal give-and-take in a democratic society, the Malaysian authorities have treated such speech as criminal, investigating those involved for sedition, according to a copy of the report seen by BenarNews.

Since July 2015, Najib has been under pressure to step aside amid allegations that nearly U.S. $700 million in funds linked to 1MDB wound up in his private banks accounts. Najib has refused to resign and has denied allegations of wrong doing, saying the money was a donation.

In July 2016, the U. S. Department of Justice filed court papers seeking to recover more than $1 billion in assets and properties that were paid for with money allegedly stolen from 1MDB.

The report calls on Malaysia to repeal the Sedition Act in its entirety and amend the CMA and the Official Secrets Act.

No limits to state secrets?

HRW says the government has used the Official Secrets Act to quell leaks about a report that the government issued in January on its investigation into the 1MDB scandal.

The watchdogs report cites the case of the arrest of opposition MP Rafizi Ramli, who was investigating the governments alleged failure to make pension payments to retired veterans and who challenged it to confirm that the army funds investments in 1MDB did not affect its ability to make payments.

Rafizi claimed he had received a document from the auditor-generals report that supports his concern that 1MDB owed money to the fund, HRW says.

Rafizi displayed the document at a news conference on March 28, but did not provide copies to reporters. A week later, police arrested Ramli and charged him with two counts of violating the Official Secrets Act and one count of criminal defamation. He faces a trial on the charges.

According to the HRW report, the Communications and Multimedia Act has become the governments weapon of choice against those criticizing or satirizing the government or Malaysias rulers.

Salleh Said Keruak, the minister of Communication and Multimedia, took issue with this point. He told BenarNews that the laws provisions were applicable to all people and broad range of issues, and not just for malicious and harmful content on the prime minister.

The government has used the act to block websites, despite pledges by Najib in 1996 and 2011 to not censor the Internet, according to HRW.

HRW specifically names four websites  Sarawak Report, Medium, Malaysia Chronicle and Asia Sentinel  that have been shut down over critical reporting of the 1MDB scandal and other political issues.

But of course if you are talking about websites  if you tell the truth, it shouldnt be a problem. There is some news put up by some portals that is not true, Low told BenarNews.

Melati A. Jalil in Kuala Lumpur contributed to this report.
In grades 3 through 8, student grade-level proficiency or above in reading was essentially flat, edging up to 56.9, from 56.3 in the 2014-15 school year

Overall proficiency in math for the same grade levels increased to 54.7 percent, up from 52.2 percent the previous year

45 percent of students are at grade level-proficiency or better in both math and reading, up from 42.6 percent

5 percent of schools "Exceeded Expected Growth," approximately the same as last year; 46.1 "Met Expected Growth," up from 44.7 percent the previous year; and 26.4 percent of schools "Did Not Meet Expected Growth," down slightly from last year (27.7 percent)

4 percent of students in grades 3 through 8 met Level 4 College and Career Readiness benchmark

9 percent of grade 11 students met the UNC System minimum admission requirements of a composite score of 17

It's back-to-school time and parents everywhere want not only to encourage their children academically, but also want to know how their child's school is performing.Beginning with the 2013-14 school year, North Carolina has been required to publish school report cards. This year's report cards were released in early September. Report cards are divided into five areas: school/district profile, school performance, school indicators, school environment and personnel. Other helpful information on school report cards can be found here and here By far the category drawing the most interest is school performance. Legislation authorizing the report cards called for the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction to ascribe an A-F letter grade to all public schools. Grades are based on an analysis of growth and performance on state end-of-grade and end-of-course test results, results that are aligned to North Carolina Standard Course of Study in English Language Arts/Reading and Mathematics for all public schools and public charter schools.This past year marks the third year schools have received letter grades. According to state Senate President Pro Tem Phil Berger, the primary goal of legislation attaching letter grades to schools is to provide additional information to parents about how local schools are performing. Supporters say the additional information is welcome. Critics say grades correlate to income and don't provide additional information.Table I provides school report card data for public schools and charter schools in North Carolina.A+NG - for schools that earn an "A" designation but also do not have significant achievement and or graduation gaps.Table is from 2015-16 Performance and Growth of North Carolina Public Schools, Sept, 1, 2016. Available at: http://www.ncpublicschools.org/docs/accountability/reporting/exsumm16.pdf In my view, school report cards are a helpful - albeit imperfect - tool for parents who wish to evaluate educational options for their children. To that end, the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction (NC DPI) has made available online an overwhelming amount of information on school report cards. It's very easy for parents to get lost in the numbers.Here are a few useful hints when reviewing school performance data:This year's report card only includes schools that were open during the 2014-15 school year. New schools will be included when the next report card is issued, in fall 2016. In addition, in order to be included, schools must meet participation requirements. What does that mean? Schools must have assessed at least 95 percent of their eligible students in the following groups: all students; American Indian; Asian; black; Hispanic; two or more races; white; economically disadvantaged; limited English proficiency; students with disabilities; and academically or intellectually gifted. About 13 percent of North Carolina schools failed to meet participation requirements.School grades are calculated by a composite of achievement scores and growth. Grades are based primarily on overall proficiency levels on the state's standardized end-of-grade tests and end-of-course tests. Eighty percent of the grade is for the percentage of tests earning a score considered grade-level proficient; 20 percent is for growth, measured by a statistical model that compares each student's predicted test score, based on past performance, against his or her actual result.Critics say the methodology tracks with income and puts schools with high percentages of low-achieving students at a disadvantage. Even if schools do a good job of "growing" students, because of the weighting factor the growth will not likely be reflected fairly in the overall grades.Are the objections valid? For starters, let's remember no methodology is perfect. Any methodology does what it is supposed to do - but usually with side effects. The current 80/20 composite is weighted overwhelmingly toward proficiency and less so toward growth. The methodology does what it was supposed to do: largely assess proficiency, with a lesser emphasis on growth.Its true bills were introduced in the most recent legislative session to change the percentages, but none of the bills reached the floor for a vote. If the legislature decides to change the percentages and place a greater emphasis on growth, proponents of proficiency testing might argue that the revamped measure fails to measure what students are actually learning.Progressives claim that grades merely reflect income, provide no new information, punish the poor, and only make a strong argument for more funding. Such thinking is misguided. North Carolina already employs various funding formulas and academic programs intended to assist low-performing schools and disadvantaged populations. To look only at income is to ignore other factors that significantly influence school performance, such as family well-being (See: ) and the health of our culture.North Carolina schools use a 15-point grading scale (A: 100-85; B: 84-70, etc.) to determine school performance. The scale was first used in 2013-14. Beginning in 2014-15, school grades were supposed to shift to a 10-point scale (A-100-90; B-89-80; etc.).Fear among educators and policymakers that the grading scale would result in too many schools being labelled as failures caused the legislature to delay implementation until schools could adjust to the different scale. No matter the reason cited, it's hard to get around the fact that grades have been readjusted - lowered - to improve overall results.You hear no one discussing the decision by the State Board several years ago that students who scored at Level 3 proficiency were determined to meet grade level proficiency. The change in the "no gaps" scale lowers the floor for failure from below 70 to below 40. This is tantamount to moving the goalposts closer for many students, students who otherwise wouldn't have been deemed proficient. It is hard to look at this as anything other than a massive dumbing-down of the curriculum. Weren't we told Common Core Standards - which have been taught in the public schools since 2012 - would result in higher test scores and deep learning? The decision to adopt the new 10-point grading scale facilitates the entire process but only masks far deeper problems.A highlighting 2016 North Carolina School grades also notes that North Carolina four-year graduation rate reached an all-time high (85.8). That means that 85.8 percent of students who enter high school as freshman graduated four years later. Anyone familiar with North Carolina graduation rates knows these numbers represent a significant improvement in the state's four-year graduation rate. In 2006-07, North Carolina's four-year graduation rate was 69.5 percent. These improvements should be applauded but also closely reviewed. Are graduates learning? Do they possess the requisite training and skills to enter the work force or pursue higher education?Recent data regarding community college remediation rates is troubling. A 2016 report by the NC Community College System revealed that 68 percent of community college students require at least one remediation class.[1] In October of 2015, Terry Stoops of the John Locke Foundation reported that 42 percent of recent high school graduates enrolled in one or more remedial or "developmental" math and/or English courses at a North Carolina community college[2]. Yes, the figures appear to be declining. However, whichever figure we focus on, they seem to indicate while more students are graduating, too many students are still unprepared for the world of work or higher education.The State Report Card provides an imperfect snapshot of public and charter schools in North Carolina. You can mine more specific data here. Some major highlights of this year's report:Two points are worth noting. First, these numbers represent slight improvements over last year. Still, it's good to compare North Carolina results with results from other national tests such as the National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP), ACT or the SAT. If North Carolina students are performing well on state tests, those results should be validated by favorable results on national tests like.How have North Carolina students performed? Briefly, North Carolina's 4th grade NAEP Math and reading scores are slightly above the national average. However those advantages dissipate in eighth grade where North Carolina math scores have fallen five points since 2013 and are now the same as the national average.The same downward trend has impacted reading scores which dropped four points since 2013 and are now 3 points below the national average. With regard to SAT scores, the combined average math, reading and writing SAT score for all North Carolina students during the 2014-15 school year was 1,478 - a drop of five points from the previous year. When looking just at North Carolina's public schools, the average math and reading scores have dropped a combined 16 points in the past 10 years.North Carolina scores on the national standardized curriculum achievement test called the ACT are below national averages and largely unchanged from last year. The ACT tests English, reading, math and science. The highest score on each test section is 36.In 2014-15 the average state score in English was 17.6, the average in math 19.5, the reading average was 19.2. The state composite score was 19.Nationally, the English average was 20.4, the math average was 20.8, the reading average was 21.4, with a composite score of 21.Among the states where all students take the ACT, North Carolina scores were among the lowest.While some state measures are showing slight improvement, overall the scores remain disappointing, and on the national tests North Carolina's performance shows troubling signs.Second, it's hard to ignore the performance of North Carolina charter schools. Almost 11 percent (10.9 percent) of charters had an A or A +NG designation. This compares to 6.6 percent of public schools with the same designations. Nearly 40 percent (39.9 percent) of charter schools received grades of B or better, compared to 32.2 percent of public schools. Regarding C schools, 44.9 percent of all public schools were designated as such, along with 32.3 percent of charter schools. However, while it appears charter schools have more "A" schools, they also have more "D" and "F" schools. Over one quarter of charter schools (27.7 percent) are categorized as such, compared to only 22.9 percent of public schools. Why that is, is an important question, but also beyond the scope of this article.NC Report Cards are an important - albeit imperfect - tool for parents to evaluate the quality of their child's local school. To fully understand the information NC DPI provides, parents need to understand what data is used, how grades are derived and how they can be compared with results. While it's true that a number of districts dislike the process of grading schools, these schools have also taken to providing parents with additional information on school performance and their district. Parents and those who support public education should be encouraged by such developments. Only when parents truly understand all that lies behind school performance grades will the true ends of its enabling legislation - aiding parents and increasing transparency - be considered accomplished. Let's work to make that a reality.[1] North Carolina Unveils Innovative Approach to Remediation Stephanie Keaveny; Pope Center for Higher Education Policy. Available at: http://www.popecenter.org/2016/03/north-carolina-unveils-innovative-approach-to-remediation/[2] NC Community College remediation rate is 42 percent, Terry Stoops Education Research Letter, October 2015, Available online at: https://www.johnlocke.org/update/nc-community-college-remediation-rate-is-42/
Thailands King Bhumibol and Queen Sirikit greet well-wishers from a balcony at Ananta Samakom Throne Hall in Bangkok, on the occasion of his Diamond Jubilee celebration, June 9, 2006.

The death of Thailands King Bhumibol Adulyadej after a 70-year reign and years of declining health has left the kingdom grappling with the reality that this bedrock figure of Thai society is finally gone.

The worlds longest-reigning monarch passed away on Thursday of health-related complications at Siriraj Hospital, a facility overlooking the Chao Praya River where he had been treated on and off for years, palace officials said. He was 88.

Very, very few Thais can remember a time without Bhumibol as king, Paul Handley, author of The King Never Smiles: A Biography of Thailands Bhumibol Adulyadej, told BenarNews.

For many people he has been the one constant in a society that has changed very much, gone through some terrible convulsions, frequent coups by the military, rapid economic development and major setbacks.

Because of failing health the king seldom appeared in public in recent years. Yet he seemed to be omnipresent. Images of the bespectacled monarch could be seen everywhere.

The King wholeheartedly dedicated his life to improving the livelihood and qualities of all classes of people, Kitti Tantivejjanond, a 63-year-old citizen, told BenarNews.

I only wish that the next one acceding to the throne shall follow in his footsteps to take care of people and the nation in the same way that the King did, Kitti said before the kings death was announced.

Sudden ascension to the throne

The sudden, unexplained death of his older brother thrust Bhumibol onto the throne on June 9, 1946, at the age of 18.

He became Rama IX, the ninth ruler of the Chakri dynasty, the same day King Ananda Mahidol was found dead in his bed of a gunshot wound at the palace in Bangkok.

Until his own death, Bhumibol was the longest-living monarch, ahead of Queen Elizabeth II.

On many occasions during his reign, Bhumibol acted as a unifying figure who intervened to rescue Thailands fragile constitutional democracy from political crises.

Our nation belongs to all  not one or two, the king said in May 1992, when a post-coup power-play between two rival generals resulted in protests that turned deadly.

If Bangkok is ruined, so is the entire nation, he added. There is no use to be proud as a victor on top of the ruins of a nation.

Baby Songkhla

The youngest of three children, Bhumibol Adulyadej was born in Cambridge, Mass., on Dec. 5, 1927.

His father was Prince Mahidol of Songkhla.

Because his parents had yet to name him and were waiting for his uncle, Prajadhipok (Rama VII) to send them a name, Bhumibols birth certificate identified the newborn as Baby Songkhla.

Rama VII later sent them a telegram with the name Bhumibala Aduladeja, which was later changed to Bhumibol Adulyadej. Derived from Sanskrit, the name means The Strength of the Land, Incomparable Power.

Bhumipol was the grandson of King Chulalongkorn (Rama V), considered one of Thailands greatest kings for reforms that he instituted, including the abolition of slavery. Rama V made it his mission to modernize Thailand (Siam) and align it with Western standards.

Bhumipols family lived in a modest apartment in the Boston area, while his father studied public health at Harvard University.

After graduating from Harvard in 1928, Prince Mahidol returned to Thailand with his family.

The prince became known back home as the Father of Medical Science for his efforts to improve Thailands medical services. But Mahidol died of kidney failure in September 1929.

Bhumibols mother, Princess Sangwan Mahidol, later moved the family to Switzerland. In 1933, she and the children settled in a small apartment in Lausanne.

The princess, in fact, was a commoner who wanted to raise her children under normal conditions.

Bhumibol would stay in Switzerland for the rest of his childhood and education.

Coronation

In 1932, a revolt by the Peoples Assembly in Thailand led by members of the elite and military ended absolute monarchy and brought about a constitutional democracy.

The kingdom did not become a republic, and although King Prajadhipok abdicated from the throne two years later, the monarchy was kept intact.

After his abdication, the Thai parliament agreed to invite Prince Ananda, Prince Bhumibols older brother, to the throne following the Law of Succession.

Prince Ananda became king (Rama VIII) at age 9, but stayed with his family in Switzerland. In his absence, royal regents were appointed to run the kingdom until he matured.

The young king returned to Thailand in December 1945.

On June 9, 1946, King Ananda, 20, was found dead at Boromphiman Pavilion with a gunshot wound to the head. The circumstances around his death still are a mystery today. It is unknown whether the young king took his own life, or was assassinated or shot by accident, according to reports.

Prince Bhumibol acceded to the throne but returned to Switzerland two months later to study political science and law at Lausanne University in preparation for his new role as king.

It was in Switzerland where he met his future queen, Sirikit Kitiyakara, the daughter of Prince Chandaburi Suranath, the Royal Siamese ambassador to France.

They were engaged on July 19, 1949, and wed on April 28, 1950. They would have four children: Princess Ubol Ratana; Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn; Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn; and Princess Chulabhorn.

One week after their wedding, the king was crowned officially in Bangkok on May 5, 1950.

Leadership amid turmoil

But since constitutional democracy came about in 1932, at least 19 separate coups have shaken Thailand, according to a report in The Atlantic magazine.

Bhumibol was seen as a stabilizing influence that held the kingdom together through many coups and 17 different constitutions, according to BBC News.

The king intervened at least three times when the country was plunged in political chaos  in 1973, 1981 and 1992.

The first time was when soldiers fired on pro-democracy demonstrators in 73. Eight years later, he stood up to a group of army officers who had staged a coup against the prime minister, BBC News reported.

He, however, did not intervene during a crisis in 2006 that led to the ouster of Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. The king was asked to step in but said it would be inappropriate to do so, according to the BBC.

The king, nonetheless, was praised for holding the country together while communist insurgencies swept across Indochina and threatened to take root in Thailand in the 1970s.

The king and the queen then visited points north to south, trekking or camping out as they gave moral support to soldiers and other people.

Rain-maker

In his lifetime the king accumulated immense wealth (in 2011, Forbes magazine estimated Bhumibols fortune to be upward of U.S. $30 billion), but he was a monarch who did much to help his people. He started more than 4,000 development projects nationwide.

Those projects cut across agricultural sectors and promoted irrigation, and drought and flood alleviation. They also boosted public health, opportunities for distance learning and jobs. These helped improve the livelihoods of Thais and hill tribes in the country.

The king was even a rain-maker. He was behind a successful scheme to bring artificial rain to help farmers with their crops in drier parts of the country.

The method developed by the king  by which airplanes seeded clouds with rain-inducing chemicals  became patented.

He began experimenting with the method in 1969, based on tests conducted decades earlier by General Electric. The proven technique helped parts of Thailand recover from severe drought in 1999.

Leaders of arid countries came to him to inquire about his recipe for rain.

Jazzman

In public, the king may have cut a dour figure, with his subjects having to crawl or kneel before Bhumibol as they approached him. But there was a lighter side to him.

The king was an avid photographer and lover of music. A jazz aficionado, he was a noted saxophone player and composer.

Bhumibol jammed with the likes of Benny Goodman, Stan Getz and other legends. And, late into his 70s, he held regular jam sessions with his own band at his palace.

He composed dozens of his own pieces.

One of them was called Falling Rain.

He was inspired to compose it while listening to the radio one day, Bhumibol said in a 1981 speech, according to the Associated Press.

I felt the music in my head sounded better, so I turned off the radio and scribbled it down on a piece of paper, he said.

People liked that song. They said it was beautiful. I felt overjoyed.
Supporters of Thailands King Bhumibol Adulyadej react as they pray for him at Siriraj Hospital in Bangkok, Oct. 13, 2016.

Updated at 4:25 p.m. ET on 2016-10-13

Thailand on Thursday announced the death of its beloved King Bhumibol Adulyadej after a 70-year-reign, and the legislature said it would invite Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn to take his throne.

Moments after official news of the monarchs death broke, Prime Minister and junta leader Prayuth Chan-o-cha told the nation that the crown prince was expected to become Thailands new king. Flags would fly at half-staff for 30 days and the country would observe a year-long period of mourning, he said.

The government will inform the National Legislative Assembly that the King appointed the heir in accordance with the royal succession by-law on Dec. 28, 1972. The legislature will proceed accordingly, Prayuth told the nation in a televised broadcast late Thursday, referring to the day when Maha Vajiralongkorn, now 64, officially became crown prince.

The National Assembly convened for a special session at 9 p.m., during which members observed nine minutes of silence in memory of Bhumibol, 88, the worlds longest-reigning monarch.

The National Legislative Assembly, performing its duty in accordance with the interim Thai constitution, has acknowledged the death of the King with sadness, and the president of the legislative assembly in his capacity as house speaker will invite Crown Prince Vajiralongkorn to the throne, Assembly President Pornpet Wichitcholchai said in a statement issued by the Thai legislature after the extraordinary meeting, attended by 216 members of the 250-seat body.

After the lawmakers met, Prayuth told reporters at Government House that the royal succession might not take place immediately.

The Crown Prince said he acknowledges that he is heir to the throne, but he wants to have a solemn moment to share his grief with all Thais.  [T]he accession can be pushed off until an appropriate time, the prime minister said.

News of the kings death caused an outpouring of grief in Thailand. TV channels in the country, including international satellite networks  were ordered by the government to replace their regular programming with black-and-white monochrome footage featuring scenes from the kings life, Agence France-Presse reported.

Messages of sympathy poured in from abroad, with leaders from many countries paying tribute to the late Bhumibol. The United Nations General Assembly held a moment of silence in his memory.

[H]is Majesty was a tireless champion of his countrys development and demonstrated unflagging devotion to improving the standard of living of the Thai people, U.S. President Barack Obama said in leading the tributes, adding, Bhumibol leaves a legacy of care for the Thai people that will be cherished by future generations.

Peaceful death

The king died of health-related complications at a hospital in Bangkok on Thursday afternoon, according to a statement from palace officials that was aired on national television at around 7 p.m.

King Bhumibol has been admitted at Siriraj Hospital since Oct. 3, 2014, as the Royal Household Bureau has updated periodically, Thai TV Channel 5 announced in reading out a statement from the bureau that manages palace affairs, referring to a series of hospitalizations of the elderly king during the past two years.

Regardless of the medical teams efforts, the sickness did not recede until at 15:52 hours on Oct. 13, 2016. The King has died peacefully at Siriraj Hospital, the statement said.

The king, who would have turned 89 on Dec. 5, had been in frail health and had not been seen in public for nearly a year. But his health deteriorated sharply in recent days. He was listed in unstable condition due to complications from a medical procedure undertaken on Saturday, the palace announced Sunday.

The kings medical team had initiated hemodialysis and changed a tube that drains excess cerebrospinal fluid, according to a statement the following day from the Royal Household Bureau. Hemodialysis is a treatment for kidney failure.

During the past few days Thais had been bracing for the worst following news of the latest bad turn in Bhumibols health.

In June, Thais marked the 70th anniversary of Bhumibols accession to the throne.

On Wednesday, the end appeared to be near. The crown prince flew home from Germany and met with Prayuth. The prince and the kings other three children  princesses Sirindhorn, Chulabhorn and Ubolratana  also visited their father at the hospital, staff at Siriraj Hospital told BenarNews.

After palace officials announced the news on Thursday night that the king had died, thousands of his supporters joined a large crowd outside the hospital that had been praying throughout the day for his recovery. Prayers and messages of support had also inundated social media channels in Thailand, according to news reports.

Outside the hospital many clutched portraits of the king. People burst out into sobs when the news they dreaded was finally announced.

I came here to Siriraj to pray for his recovery but, as soon as I heard the announcement that he passed away, I felt as if I was struck. I dont know what to say, Saowanee Wetyungkul, a 41-year-old resident of Bangkok, told BenarNews.
The U.N. General Assembly pauses for a moment of silence to mark the death of Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej, Oct. 13, 2016.

Messages of grief and sympathy poured in from world leaders and ordinary people following Thursdays announcement in Thailand that King Bhumibol Adulyadej had died of complications with his health after seven decades on the throne.

The United States, a longtime ally of Thailand, was among the first to react after palace officials in Bangkok broke the news.

American President Barack Obama called the Thai monarch a valued partner and expressed heartfelt condolences to Her Majesty Queen Sirikit, her children and grandchildren, and the people of Thailand.

As the revered leader and only monarch that most Thais have ever known, His Majesty was a tireless champion of his countrys development and demonstrated unflagging devotion to improving the standard of living of the Thai people, the president said in a statement issued by the White House.

His Majesty leaves a legacy of care for the Thai people that will be cherished by future generations, said Obama who called his 2012 visit with King Bhumibol an honor.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry issued a statement noting the late kings ties to the city in the Boston area where the monarch was born.

His Majesty the King was one of Americas most valued and trusted friends, and was the only monarch in history ever born in our country. The Bhumibol Adulyadej Square in the city of Cambridge, in my home state of Massachusetts, marks his birthplace and will remain an enduring memorial to the special bond he created between our peoples, Kerry said.

In New York, the U.N. General Assembly paused to observe a moment of silence in the kings memory.

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon praised Bhumibol for his long dedication to his country and his legacy as a unifying national leader.

He was revered by the people of Thailand and highly respected internationally, the U.N. chief said.

Close to the people

Leaders from countries in South and Southeast Asia conveyed their sympathy to the people of Thailand as well.

On behalf of the government and people of Indonesia I express my deep condolences over the death of King Bhumibol Adulyadej, Indonesian President Joko Jokowi Widodo said.

The world has lost a leader who was close to the people, a carrier of peace, unity and prosperity for the people of Thailand. The simplicity of King Bhumibol Adulyadej and his concern for the people should become a model for us, Jokowi said in a statement.

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak praised King Bhumibol for his contribution to Southeast Asia.

King Bhumibol was a towering presence whose contribution to Thailand, and the rest of the region, is beyond words. We join the Thai people in mourning his loss, Najib said in a statement.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi posted two tweets about the monarch.

[The] people of India and I join the people of Thailand in grieving the loss of one of the tallest leaders of our times, King Bhumibol Adulyadej, Modi wrote. King Bhumibol Adulyadej or Rama 9, was widely revered by his people. My thoughts are with his countless well-wishers & family.

The leader of the Himalayan nation of Bhutan posted a tribute on Facebook.

His Majesty the Late King Bhumibol has been an exceptional leader, a comforting presence in the lives of every Thai citizen. His Majestys enduring service for the welfare and wellbeing of his people will be remembered with honor and respect, Bhutanese King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck wrote.

Thais mourn

In Bangkok, thousands of mourners converged on Siriraj Hospital, where the king died in the afternoon, upon hearing the news.

Many toted portraits of the king and wept as they poured out their grief over the passing of their beloved king.

I went to Siriraj today to learn of his condition more accurately because of many rumors. But he passed away, so I can only give the King my prayers, Bangkok resident Parichai Satasuk told BenarNews.

Razlan Rashid in Kuala Lumpur and Nurdin Hasan in Jakarta contributed to this report.
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Today's media is largely irrelevant to many of us. The playing field has been leveled by the presence of alternative media sources (like BCN) where the location of the hub does not have to be in New York or Los Angeles. Anyone with a smart phone, laptop computer and internet connection can offer their opinion. Sometime it falls flat without followers like one of Bobby Tony's political rants. Other times it may take wings and fly across the fruited plain (3rd cliche).



I have often thought about how it would be to have a morning news show originated in the living room or coffee shop of some flyover country (4th ringy dingy) where people just sit around a real non-studio coffee table and discuss the issues of the day.



The cost of putting that up would be minuscule compared to the large studio and expensive HD cameras and make required to have someone read a teleprompter and rehash points developed in the focus group and conference room in 30 Rockefeller Plaza, New York City (MSNBC HQ).



The news business today is based around ratings and advertising. It is now about the money. It was not always that way. In the early days of broadcasting, the news programs were loss leaders that were required by government mandate to keep your broadcast license. The newsreader was most likely the last guy hired and he was required to read the AP or UPI feeds just after or before the RCA test pattern. Eventually we added a deep voiced announcer with a non-specific accent and we were off to the races (Cha-chign)

Isn't it ironic that we had to establish a large bureaucracy to monitor free speech? ( (Federal Communication Commission) Their job is to monitor the free access of information to the public and be sure that no one is abusing their "free speech right." They currently employ 1720 people and have an annual budget of $388 million.



Like any government institution, they are more interested in diversity than actual work. Do not worry, like any good government agency there are a few unaccounted for employees. In this case it appears to be 32 not fitting the pie chart description.



https://www.fcc.gov/general/employee-profile-fcc





I would like to see a pie chart on the viewing habits of all 1720 employees. That would give me more information about their effectiveness than the mix of left and right handed people. How many are watching porn on the government TV's?



My proposal would cost little and would be a rotating venue that originates where people live and work instead of a studio. The local resturant, pub or neighbor's porch. We are fast approaching the time where the test of a representative government is determined by the density of population. Those states with the most people make the rules for the rest of us. Our founders envisioned that and properly instituted States Rights which eventually led to a war and the rule of the majority that we now seem to have.



I would replace the FCC with a coffee monitor. When someone gets off base (bingo 6th) the monitor would cut off their coffee supply and mute their lapel microphone. Of course they would still continue to record everyone's lapel microphone in case someone says something that could be considered news worthy. One other idea I had was that each lapel microphone come with a bar of soap and a note to remember that "BIG BOTHER IS WATCHING."



So do not pay too much attention to what you hear in various news media outlets and especially from so called Political commentators unless you have verified the facts for yourself. Now if I may have missed a cliche (or two) please make note of it to yourself. You see in my scenario, you are the final editor and authority.




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.

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According to The Vanguard, the move from analogue to digital has been in progress since April 2016 for Nigeria. The Federal Government launched the pilot phase in Jos, where the country's first TV station was launched many years ago.

Image by 123RF

The switchover from analogue to digital is as response to the International Broadcasting Union which mandated that all countries transform to avoid signal interference. The switch from analogue to digital will result in less energy consumption, an increased number of programmes, electronic programme guides and mobile TV as well as transmit images and sound in high- definition, HDTV, and Ultra-high definition, UHDTV. Close to 200 000 households will have access to free Set-Top-Boxes (STBs) for the Digital Switchover (DSO).

Nigeria has been in the process of switching from analogue to digital since 2006 when the International Telecommunications Union adopted its Resolution 1185 to transit from analogue to digital terrestrial broadcasting.

Vanguard further reports that the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, noted the remarkable transformation that comes with the set top boxes. Nigerias free TV DTT will be the largest in the world as against that of UK with 10 million, Australia with 13 million and New Zealand with 3 million, says Mohammed.

The Minister further stated that for Nigeria to embark on such a massive undertaking is a remarkable achievement. Mohammed said: What we have dreamt of, imagined, attempted and what even seemed impossible at a stage is now happening right before our very eyes. More importantly, we are democratising the right to know, the right to knowledge and the right to be informed.

The minister also urged that all licensed Set-Top-Boxes manufacturers have been mandated to establish manufacturing companies in Nigeria to produce the boxes locally, after importing the first set of boxes.

The Nigerian government has promised growth in employment and ensure the transfer of technology among the people of Nigeria. The government assured residents that the swichover will be completed by 2017.
The African Freedom of Expression Exchange (AFEX) and its member in Somalia, National Union Somali Journalists (NUSOJ) urge authorities in Somalia to investigate the murder of a journalist working with Radio Shabelle.

Abdiasis Mohamed Ali

According to NUSOJ, two men armed with pistols shot and killed a Radio Shabelle reporter in the Yaqhshid district of the Somali capital, Mogadishu, on September 27, 2016. The murdered journalist has been identified as Abdiasis Mohamed Ali  popularly known as Haji in Mogadishu. He was on his way to visit his uncle when the incident happened.

In a statement issued by NUSOJ on September 27, NUSOJ secretary general, Omar Faruk Osman said that the murder highlights once more the dreadful conditions under which journalists work in Somalia.

"This cold-blooded murder again shows the precarious security conditions that Somali journalists continue to face. This is another... colleague, a friend and a union member. The journalist community in Mogadishu is shocked by this latest attack and there is a widespread concern that many more journalists are at risk due to upcoming indirect national elections for politically motivated assassins to eliminate defenceless journalists to send a political message."

NUSOJ added that the deceased journalist had worked with Radio Shabelle for more than seven years and was arrested on several occasions by the police and the National Intelligence and Security Agency (NISA) in connection with his work as a journalist.

The reason behind the murder of Abdiasis Mohammed is not clear. Journalists in Somalia continue to work under dangerous conditions. This is the second journalist to be gunned down in Somalia this year. In June 2016, a female journalist working with Somali National Television station (SNTV), Sagal Salad Osman, was shot and killed in Hodan district of Somalia. No one has been held responsible four months after the barbaric killing of the journalist.

AFEX is deeply concerned about the prevalence of impunity for crimes against journalists, media professionals and activists in Somalia and on the continent: We join NUSOJ to condemn the callous murder of journalist Abdiasis Mohamed Ali and the murder of all other journalists in Somalia. We urge the Somali government to investigate into this unfortunate incident and ensure that the culprits are brought to justice.

AFEX also called on the UN to put pressure on the Somali government to adopt measures to ensure that journalists in Somalia work under safe environment in line with the UN Plan of Action on the Safety of Journalists and the Issue of Impunity.

This article was sourced from: africafex.org.


If Roy Cooper and North Carolina Democrats regain control of state government in Raleigh, where would they get the money to pay for all the spending promises they are making?If you were watching last night's televised debate between Cooper and the governor he wants to replace, Pat McCrory, it's a question that naturally arose as you saw the Democratic nominee propose higher expenditures in nearly every area of government. But it's a question to which Cooper never supplied a clear answer, even after McCrory and moderator Chuck Todd pressed him repeatedly for one.Why? Because if Cooper and other state Democrats actually regained power and implemented their promised budget expansions, they'd tax you to pay for it. Knowing that, you might not vote for them.The attorney general has certainly criticized the cuts in personal and corporate income taxes enacted by McCrory and the Republican legislature. He has also criticized expansions of North Carolina's sales-tax base to include retail services that were previously untaxed. But if he wins, Cooper won't be rolling back all those tax cuts or repealing the sales-tax expansions he complained about during the debate.I don't simply mean that he won't propose what a Republican legislature would surely refuse to do. Even if Democrats were somehow to gain enough legislative seats to have a major hand in writing next year's budget, they still wouldn't roll back all the income tax cuts, narrow the sales tax base, and then use the net proceeds to raise teacher pay and the like. If Cooper and his fellow Democrats want more revenue to spend, they'll get a good amount of it by raising sales-tax rates on what is now a broader tax base.I can say this with confidence because I have eyes and a memory that extends before 2010. I can see that right now, in the very community that houses the state capital, a Wake County Board of Commissioners entirely made up of Democrats has placed a massive sales-tax hike on the ballot to fund a massive increase in spending on mass transit.I can remember 2009, when then-Democratic Gov. Bev Perdue and the then-Democratic General Assembly relied mostly on a massive sales-tax increase to fund state programs in the midst of recession. I can also remember the entire decade of the 2000s, during which Democratic governors and Democratic legislatures repeatedly enacted higher sales taxes or authorized counties to enact them.I can even remember 1991, when Roy Cooper served in the legislature and voted for a Democratic plan to raise state taxes by the equivalent of nearly $1.1 billion in today's currency. The package he voted for consisted of a sales-tax hike of $760 million, a corporate-tax hike of $150 million, and increases in the personal-income tax of $108 million, plus an array of excise-tax hikes.In other words, while Cooper and his fellow Democrats did try to stick it to business owners, investors, and professionals, they quickly realized the practical limits of that strategy - just as the Democrats running Wake County today raised property taxes a bit but didn't think they could get away with raising them more to fund their transit plan. So both groups resorted to sales taxes to do their heavy lifting.Hikes in income and property taxes are perilous tools for politicians, because those taxes generate annual bills. Taxpayers can see how much they paid, and how much more they pay if the tax is raised. Because most income taxes are poorly designed - subjecting savings and investment to multiple layers of tax - they also tend to wreak the greatest damage on economic growth and job creation, thus motivating business associations, fiscal conservatives, and other groups to mobilize heavily against income-tax hikes.Politically, sales-tax increases are the path of least resistance. If you want government to be larger and more expensive, you end up hiking sales taxes. Roy Cooper and other North Carolina Democrats have done this many times in the past. They will do it again if they get the chance.
SAN FRANCISCO - Online retail giant Amazon plans to expand its grocery business with shops that let people quickly pick up milk, vegetables or other perishable foods, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday.

Amazon Music Unlimited will offer "tens of millions of songs" to subscribers, a step up from two million available on its existing Amazon Prime streaming service ( AFP Photo/Lionel Bonaventure

The Journal cited unnamed sources as saying Amazon will open real world shops to augment its Fresh subscription service that lets members order groceries for delivery.

An Amazon spokeswoman contacted regarding the report told AFP: "We don't comment on rumors or speculations."

Seattle-based Amazon intends to open small stores stocked with perishable items, and where shoppers can use smartphones or perhaps touchscreen stations to order longer lasting items such as canned goods for same-day delivery, according to the Journal.

Amazon will add drive-up locations where grocery orders will be brought to cars, and is working on technology to automatically read license plates to speed the process, the Journal reported.

The company tested its AmazonFresh service in its hometown of Seattle for nearly six years before expanding to other US cities and London in 2013.

Subscriptions are $15 monthly.

This would not be Amazon's first foray into brick-and-mortar stores.

Long a behemoth in internet book sales, Amazon opened a physical book shop in Seattle last year and plans to expand in the US.

However, selling dairy and other perishable products comes with logistical challenges, such as refrigerated storage.

By expanding its offerings of fresh produce and other groceries, Amazon would increase pressure on traditional retailers like Wal-Mart, a popular stop for food shopping.
MATHURA - Passengers on India's vast railway network have long complained of the terrible meals on offer to sustain them on long journeys, but a slew of new services bringing fast food to their seats is changing the way they dine.

From Kentucky Fried Chicken to Domino's pizza and a host of local delicacies, today's train passengers have access to a vast array of hot dishes, all at the click of a smartphone app.

For passenger Amit V, who has ordered a vegetarian curry dish to be delivered to his seat, the new services are a godsend after years of buying railway food that he says was often inedible.

"This food is 100 times better than the railways food," the mathematics teacher told AFP as he prepared to board a train for the 19-hour journey from Mathura, a major rail hub in northern India, to his home town in the west of the country.

It is all a far cry from what was on offer just a few years ago, when there were reports of cockroaches being found in dishes, and a leaked internal report said food was cooked in "dirty, smelly and waterlogged pantry cars".

In one case, the samosas -- a popular snack -- were kept in a basket with cleaning mops.

There is demand too for a greater variety of options, with customers craving international cuisine, fast food, as well as local fare.

The new services are part of the process of modernising India's state-owned railway network, which carries around 23 million passengers a day.

Asia's oldest rail network is a lifeline for India's 1.2 billion people, but is creaking from decades of neglect and chronic underinvestment.

Last year the government announced a $137-billion five-year modernisation plan that includes introducing free wifi in some stations in partnership with Google.

Google says the service will cover 100 stations by the end of this year, with an eventual target of 400 -- a further boost to online food delivery services.

Last year Indian Railways invited major chains such as KFC to sign up to its e-catering service, which allows passengers to pre-order online or by phone for delivery at major stations.

The next step will be to set up "base kitchens" in major stations to allow companies to prepare freshly cooked food for delivery on the trains, railway ministry spokesman Anil Kumar Saxena told AFP.

A host of private entrepreneurs are also trying to tap the market, among them Pushpinder Singh, who founded TravelKhana (Travel Food) with his wife in 2012.

The company signs up individual restaurants close to stations on busy routes, providing a delivery service for a fee.

"There are around 5,000 long distance trains with an average journey of around 770 kilometres (480 miles), but only six percent of them have a proper food service," Singh told AFP.

"This is the section we are targeting."

The key to success is speed -- delivery services have just a few minutes to track down their customers before the train leaves the station.

At Mathura station, deliveryman Aman Singh Badhorie takes it all in his stride.

Within two minutes he pushed his way through an overcrowded carriage to locate his customer's seat, delivered his order and taken payment, leaving him a full 60 seconds to disembark before the train pulls away.
Taste Holdings has released its interim results to August 2016, which show the South African-based management group has experienced significant gains in its licensed brand strategy, as the Domino's Pizza business settles down and Starbucks Coffee draws consumer interest.

Taste CEO, Carlo Gonzaga, says Dominos has experienced a 17% average weekly sales rise since March, while the three Starbucks stores have traded well ahead of the original investment cases and forecasts. In the four month of trading, the Rosebank and Mall of Africa stores falling into this period under review produced a combined revenue of R18m and are already producing positive four-wall earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA), despite the expected control challenges inherent in a new business. (Four-walls refers to the direct revenues and costs associated with an individual store.)

Taste opened a third store in Menlyn Maine, Pretoria in September 2016.

The recently opened Starbucks Menlyn Maine store in Pretoria also serves the Starbucks Reserve brand, meaning South Africa is among the less than 2% of Starbucks stores globally offering the micro-lot and exclusive coffees specifically roasted in Seattle.

Taste owns and licenses a portfolio of franchised and owned, category specialist and formula-driven quick service restaurants (QSR), coffee and luxury retail brands, housed within the food and luxury goods divisions. The group is strategically focused on licensing leading global brands; leveraging scale among its low-cost food brands; increasing ownership of corporate-owned stores across both divisions and supporting this growth through a vertically integrated platform.

The luxury goods division, the stewards of brands such as Rolex, Omega, Hublot, Breitling, Rado, TAG Heuer and Longines Swiss watches and, more recently, Cartier, IWC and Montblanc watches and writing instruments, achieved a same-store sales growth of 25%.

Gonzaga says investment into executive capacity in the past year has been the driving force behind managements ability to launch two globally leading food brands almost simultaneously.

The Starbucks launch has been lauded by Starbucks internationally and we can proudly say we have already set records within this globally admired brand. Yet, both Starbucks and Dominos combined are less than two years old in South Africa and are essentially start-up businesses, he says.

During the period under review, Taste opened two Starbucks outlets in April; finalised, bar two, the Dominos conversion from Scooters Pizza and St Elmos Pizza outlets; extended the scale of the food distribution business by including the Starbucks products; turned the locally owned business to positive same-store sales among the three brands and extended its luxury watch brand representation through an additional Rolex outlet in Mall of Africa and adding Cartier, IWC and Montblanc to the existing stable.

Group system-wide sales rose 7.4% to R858m, translating into a 15% core revenue increase to R519m. There was an additional R18m core gross margin compared to the corresponding period, a 10% hike.

Gonzaga says typical to start-up businesses, the exceptional earnings in the jewellery division was counterbalanced by the food division investments  most obviously reflected in the higher operating costs.

Taste recorded a R10m loss (2015: R17.5m profit) for the period, translating into a 6.1c (0.1c profit) headline loss per share.

Food portfolio appeals across income levels

The diversified brand portfolio within the food division appeals to middle and upper-income consumers in Starbucks, Dominos and Maxis and lower-income consumers via Zebros Chicken and The Fish & Chip Co.

Same-store sales in Maxis rose 3% following a similar increase in the preceding six months.

Same-store sales in The Fish & Chip Co. business pleasingly remained positive every month to end 5% higher than the corresponding period. Zebros Chicken continued performing positively, albeit more slowly, and ended 1.5% higher than the prior period, but lower than the 9,5% increase achieved for the same period a year ago.

Dominos ended the period with 85 outlets against the 74 held at year-end in February and since the half-year, has opened another two outlets. Currently Taste owns 31 outlets with the balanced being franchised.

The shift in focus from conversions to driving the existing business is bearing fruit with sales in Dominos increasing steadily since March and currently 17% above that level, Gonzaga says.

He says management has applied the lessons learnt in bedding down Dominos, to Starbucks and those stores are already showing gross profit at store level despite the expected inefficiencies on launch.

South Africa serves Starbucks Reserve brand

The Menlyn Maine, Pretoria store also serves the Starbucks Reserve brand meaning South Africa is among the less than 2% of Starbucks stores globally offering the micro-lot and exclusive coffees specifically roasted in Seattle. Management is still estimating opening 12 to 15 Starbucks stores in the first two years.

Same-store sales in the luxury goods division rose 25%, which, combined with new store growth, resulted in a system-wide sales hike of 29% to R316 million.

Gonzaga says these growths followed a 12-month same-store sales increase of 15%, presenting an enormous challenge to anniversary these increases in coming periods. However, the luxury goods division historically produces 70-75% of its full-year profits in the second half-year.

He says while Taste was still on track to achieve breakeven on the Starbucks business by store five, management acknowledges the short-term earnings will remain under pressure as the group commits to the growth potential these leading brands have locally.

Consequently, management will continue focussing inward to unlock those potential opportunities as they currently also represent the best available return on capital in the market.

In line with company policy, Taste does not declare an interim dividend.
The future of mining holds great prospects for mineral development beyond the historical focus on gold and diamonds. And as developers look for opportunities in larger mining projects in Africa, they face increasing levels of complexity that place new hurdles in their path - the resolution of which cannot be rushed or ignored.

Where the end-product of a mining operation can be easily flown out from a mine site, this lends itself to a fairly small operational footprint, a reasonably controlled environment, and a manageable number of interactions with the stakeholders around the mine, says Andrew van Zyl partner and principal engineer at SRK Consulting.

Bulk commodities increase footprint

As you move towards bulk commodities, however, the scenarios complexity increases. With commodities like iron ore, mining operations start developing a substantial footprint  often becoming a strategically significant player in the host countrys economic landscape regarding energy and water provision.

As an example of a large initiative in a small economy, he mentioned the Sundance iron ore project, on which SRK served as technical advisors to the government of Cameroon.

More interactions on thorny issues

This was conceived as a $7bn project in a $25bn economy, so it immediately becomes strategically important to the host country, he says. The envisaged rail line, for instance, would be the first in several decades. A mining company taking on this scale of project must address myriad technical and contractual complexities that cant simply be contracted out; the relevant government agencies are going to want to interact with you directly on these matters, and you must have the insight and capacity to take on this responsibility.

This means more interaction with government and communities over detailed  and often thorny  issues ranging from compliance and infrastructure to resettlement, employment policies and social investment.

Legal framework

He says in many developing economies, there may be aspects of the legal framework which do not yet exist to accommodate the contractual minutiae that a large mineral project will entail.

This makes certain activities or arrangements neither legal nor illegal. The starting point is then to be part of creating the legal basis for establishing whether and how the details of the project can be implemented. An example might be the mines sharing of responsibility with state departments for a train line and load-out port.

Broader global trends

Furthermore, mining companies must understand broad global trends if they want to grasp the kind of local pressures they will increasingly face. If Africas population is still going to grow relatively rapidly, for instance, this will drive the demand for water, food and electricity. At the same time, communication technologies are getting faster, simpler, better and more effective.

We need to ask: How is this going to affect the mining industry in general and the project in particular? says Van Zyl.

Most of the worlds as-yet-uncultivated arable land is in Africa; a growing population across the continent will compete for this with outside countries wishing to secure their own long-term access to food. Africas low energy consumption per capita is another factor that will change dramatically as more capacity is installed, driving higher standards of living, better education and life expectations.

Laying a foundation

He says inelasticity of commodity supply in the current market suggested that prices would not move drastically in the short term, so it remained difficult for most mineral projects to raise finance to launch new schemes. However, this limitation offered the time for vital conversations to take place between mining companies and their stakeholders.

There is currently a valuable opportunity for companies to talk to governments, regulators, communities and other parties about projects and their implications, he says.

At a very affordable cost relative to the capex of the projects themselves, this process can lay the foundation of understanding who needs to be engaged, what the legal framework looks like, what kind of contracts need to be in place, and what level of capacity-building must be done.

He cautions companies not to underestimate how long these processes take, as unexpected delays frequently undermined a new projects sustainability if it could not take advantage of positive commodity price movements.
"You cannot teach a hungry child. Until we can solve the problem of hunger, our people will never be free." says retired schoolteacher Norah Mlondobozi. "Every day African children attend schools across our nation having eaten nothing. Their educators expect them to perform to a specific level, but they leave knowing little more than when they arrived."

Eddie Oosthuizen via Wikimedia Commons - Limpopo

Mlondobozi is currently a smallholder farmer based in the impoverished Mopani district of Limpopo and one of seven such farmers who has recently received training on agroecological principles with the intention of uplifting the broader community as trainers.

Governments the world over are beginning to appreciate the role that small farms can play in modern economies. In fact, most of the developing worlds agricultural land is in the hands of subsistence, smallholder or family farmers. These farmers are well-positioned to contribute to eradicating hunger, reducing rural poverty and improving global food security  but such a contribution can only be optimised if such farmers are assisted to overcome the production and marketing constraints that often prevent them from accessing high-value markets in the agribusiness value chain.

A creative response to the problem of huger

The Southern Africa Food Lab (SAFL) exists to promote creative responses to the problem of hunger. In a nation in which less than half the households have food security, the organisation, based at the University of Stellenbosch, facilitates collaboration and dialogue between stakeholder groups to raise awareness and foster innovations and experimental action towards a thriving, just, and sustainable food system. Key to such a system in this country is the role of smallholder farmers.

Selecting the Mopani district of Limpopo as a starting point, SAFL engaged the Mopani Farmers Association. The smallholder farmer members of MFA expressed a strong desire to be upskilled in more sustainable agricultural principles and it was this desire that resulted in SAFL partnering with 17 Shaft Conference and Education Centre in the pilot of a three-month leadership in agroecology programme with appropriately paired skills.

Through our years of work with smallholder farmers, we have learned that the most sustainable development projects came from listening, amplifying, and then responding to smallholder farmer voices, explains Dr Anri Manderson, project manager at SAFL.

Smallhoders key to sustainable food systems

We believe that the smallholder sector is a key point of entry to bring about more sustainable food systems in South Africa, both because these farmers support the most vulnerable populations through informal markets, and because they have farming operations most suitable for the development of sustainable, agroecological, and local food systems. It is pivotal to respond to the needs of these farmers instead of imposing inflexible and decontextualised changes to their food systems, which are unlikely to endure and/or adapt to future system shocks.

An agroecological approach involves seeking to promote the balance between agronomy and its relationship with the environment. Put another way, agroecology embraces practices that will serve both people and the environment over the long term. These include natural fertilisers, rotations, compost and mulching amongst others. According to Alan Rosenberg, the agroecology lecturer at 17 Shaft, agroecology encourages farmers to shift their focus from farming crops to farming and conserving the soil for future generations.

According to Manderson, agroecology provides solutions to a number of key issues experienced by the communities in this district including, amongst other things, a new community extension model (through the training of trainers and Participatory Guarantee System or PGS structures), agricultural practices that build resilience against climate change, more resilient and local food systems in general, women empowerment, job opportunities, increased food security, and improved health.

Knowledge transfer

Seven smallholder farmers from Mopani, including Mlondobozi, completed the programme in August 2016. The onus is now on them to transfer what theyve learned back into the context of the community. In early September, the group hosted a two-day workshop, skillfully introducing their communities to agroecology through theory on the first day and practical demonstrations on the second, accommodating people with various levels of education in more than four languages.

I have already learnt so much. It is possible to farm without chemicals and it is possible for us to succeed and to feed our children through hard work and sound principles, says Mlondobozi.

The SAFL, in collaboration with 17 Shaft and WWF, the conservation organisation, are now working on phase II of the project through which another 45 trainers will be equipped in 2017.
In the late afternoon, Angelina Mwangangi, 52, is digging on her farm on a slope overlooking Iveti hill in Machakos County, southeast of Nairobi. To prevent erosion when the rains come, she has carved out terraces.

2DU Kenya 84 via Wikimedia Commons

Since the harvest in August, farmers here in Mathitu village have been preparing their land for planting in time for the short rainy season in mid-October. But unlike in the past, when low rainfall resulted in poor or no harvests, Mwangangi is confident of a bumper crop this season. Since 2014, she has been planting drought-resistant seeds that can thrive even with the minimal amount of rain this area typically receives.

Mwangangi plants just enough cowpeas and beans for her family's subsistence needs, as she has only three-quarters of an acre of land (0.3 hectares).

After harvesting her first drought-resistant crops, she prepared a meal traditionally eaten by the Kamba people called muthokoi, a mixture of maize, cowpeas, and beans. "The whole family liked it - they realised it was different from the muthokoi made from Nduma maize which we used to plant before," said the mother of four. Since then, she has switched entirely to drought-resistant varieties of maize, cowpea, and beans.

Despite poor rainfall, Mwangangi harvested 16 bags of maize last year from half an acre (0.2 hectares), twice as much as before. Mwangangi sells part of her maize harvest to a local secondary school, which pays a decent price and uses the proceeds to cover school fees for her children, among other expenses. "I just sold ten bags to the school at 3,000 shillings ($29.65) a bag and made a good amount of money," she said.

Mwangangi was introduced to the drought-resistant seeds by Domitila Nduku, a farmers' network coordinator for Farm Input Promotions Africa, a Kenyan non-profit organisation. Nduku works with village advisors all over Masii sub-county to provide farmers with access to high-quality seeds and fertiliser, and to develop their skills in planting, harvesting and marketing their crops.

In neighbouring Kalie village, Nduku works with Mary Kalondu, a village advisor who helps her reach local farmers. Two hundred farmers in Kalie and the surrounding villages now plant the drought-resistant variety of maize Nduku introduced them to. She organises regular field days to teach farmers about good practices and the best inputs for better yields.

Good for business

Seed manufacturers and other farm input businesses use Nduku's networks to sell their products to farmers. Nduku stocks seeds from Dryland Seed Limited (DSL), which is based in Machakos and focuses on "climate-smart" varieties. Apart from their higher yield, the company's seeds also cost less than other varieties.

"Many farmers have called me, and others have come here asking when we will have the seeds," said Kalondu in Kalie village. "They are asking for mainly maize and beans." Nduku said she was waiting for a consignment from DSL, which would be delivered to the village advisors who then distribute the seeds to farmers. The advisors sell seeds from their homes, making it easier for farmers who used to have to travel to towns like Masii or Machakos to buy their farm inputs.

DSL managing director Ngila Kimotho said when the company started around 10 years ago, it focused on drought-resistant varieties of staple crops, including maize, beans, and cowpea. "We then widened the range of products and brought in pigeon pea, green gram, sorghum and then last year we went into vegetables," he said.

Demand for drought-resistant varieties has increased, due to the erratic timing and low levels of rainfall in the country's eastern region, made up of arid and semi-arid land. In 2006, DSL sold just 5 tonnes of seed, but it expects to sell 1,000 tonnes in 2016, Kimotho said. The company supplies most parts of Kenya's eastern and western regions, as well as the Rift Valley. Kimotho is confident that, with increased awareness, most farmers will adopt drought-resistant seeds.

In Mathitu village, Mwangangi awaits both the rains and the seeds in order to plant this month. She has leased an additional quarter of an acre and will have to buy more seeds this time round. "It is because I had a good yield that I decided to expand the farm," she said.

Reporting by Anthony Langat; editing by James Baer and Megan Rowling
Those that do have livestock are faced with the challenges of infectious disease and ill-conceived breeding programmes. This means that they rarely achieve optimum production to meet their household's economic and nutritional needs. Households that keep livestock earn higher incomes, accumulate more wealth and consume more animal-sourced foods. They are also more able to pay for health care than households without animals.

Cattle-funded education

I grew up on a small farm in rural Kenya. Although my parents earned government salaries working as civil servants, my education was largely paid for by my father's livestock herd. My story is not unique. Many families in Sub-Saharan Africa sell off chickens to pay for minor health care costs and larger livestock, such as cattle, to meet major financial demands such as schooling for their children. My cattle-funded education allowed me to become a research veterinarian and study the economic and health benefits of livestock ownership.

Our studies show that children who regularly eat eggs grow on average 5% taller than those who do not. Children who consume milk regularly show a 10% higher monthly height gain compared with children without access. One-third of children in Sub-Saharan Africa are stunted and 5% under five years old suffer from acute malnutrition.

Considering all these factors, there is a clear need for good policies that would allow households to own livestock. Yet less than 10% of most national budgets go to agriculture. And a tiny proportion of that meager investment is directed to the livestock sector.

With many African governments failing to take the issue seriously, donors end up directing policy through the projects they fund, with often ineffective and wasteful results. There are solutions to this problem. This includes policies that increase investments in veterinary services so they reach populations that cannot afford to pay for them. Or investments in breed improvement of livestock species adapted to local environments.

Bad policies

An example of a bad intervention was the Structural Adjustments Programs of the 1980-90's. These were imposed on governments in developing countries in exchange for funding from the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.

One impact they had on livestock was that veterinary services were moved from the public to the private sector. This meant farmers had to meet the full cost of these services. While this seemed to work in areas such as the highlands of East Africa, where the dairy industry and entrepreneurship were well established, small-scale farmers in other rural areas were hit hard.

Around the same period, major crossbreeding programmes were introduced by African governments with funding from partners. The programme mixed genes from temperate climate exotic breeds with indigenous animals. A classic example is the cross between the European Holstein-Friesian and the African Zebu cattle. The cross-bred animals produced more milk but were also more prone to falling sick from tropical diseases because they lacked natural resistance. These programmes performed better in settings where farmers could invest in disease control. But where this was not possible, they were a disaster.

Our previous studies suggested that, over time, breeding programmes in Western Kenya failed because of the pressure of disease. As soon as donor-funded programmes ended and disease control measures lapsed, natural selection kicked in. The animal populations reverted back to indigenous cattle as the exotic animals succumbed to disease.

Today, similar initiatives give rural families cows as gifts to start them off in livestock farming. But many of these donated animals are breeds originally from temperate regions with low immunity to local diseases. The programme's successes are often measured by the number of cows donated and immediate access to milk, which are great short-term measures. But they are rarely successful in the long-term. In the absence of sustained disease control, the end result is almost always the deaths of animals and continued poverty.

A more sustainable solution would be to use well-adapted African cattle to improve the indigenous gene pool. It would certainly help rural areas where progress towards poverty and hunger alleviation is slowest. But this would take much longer than quick fix cross-breeding or cow donations.

There's an example of this working well. The production of the Boran cattle found in Kenya, Ethiopia and Somalia was significantly improved after the best performers were selected and the genes propagated. To date, the improved Boran cattle is a favourite beef breed for ranchers in many countries in Eastern and Southern Africa. It is prized for its relatively high disease resistance, growth rates, and production.

There is no one-size-fits-all solution to addressing low-income levels, malnutrition, and disease that affect many communities in rural Africa. But for some at least, owning livestock with optimal production offers a pathway out of poverty.

Disclosure statement

Thumbi Mwangi does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond the academic appointment above.

Read the original article on The Conversation Africa.
WASHINGTON, USA: The G7 group of leading economies laid out a new framework for battling the hacking of financial institutions on Tuesday, 11 October 2016, as a new threat using the SWIFT interbank network emerged.

Reacting to a rise in hacking incidents that have robbed banks of everything from client databases to hundreds of millions of dollars, the G7 group issued a set of principles for banks to implement cybersecurity programs.

"The recent incident involving the SWIFT network and other cyberattacks really underscore the imperative for robust cyber security throughout the global financial sector," said US Treasury Deputy Secretary Sarah Bloom Raskin.

"These threats have not destabilized the financial sector but they threaten to destabilize it," she said.

Raskin is co-chair of the Cyber Expert Group of the G7 - the United States, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and the United Kingdom.

The two-page "Fundamental Elements of Cybersecurity" outlines the building blocks of an effective risk-based bank program to defend itself and the broader financial system from cyber threats.

The guidelines are aimed at public and private sector financial institution board members and top management to use for shaping and assessing their company's cyber strategy.

The stunning theft earlier this year of $81 million from Bangladesh's central bank drew attention to the vulnerabilities of financial sector institutions to cyber threats, especially those using the SWIFT worldwide network for interbank transfers.

After the Bangladesh heist, SWIFT said the incident was "not a single occurrence, but part of a wider and highly adaptive campaign targeting banks."

That has elevated the alarm levels in the world's leading finance ministers and central bank chiefs.

"The challenge with cyber security is that the threat vectors can be difficult to discern and are constantly morphing in search of financial sector vulnerabilities," said Raskin.

That issue was underscored Tuesday when computer security group Symantec issued a warning over a new malware threat to financial organisations called "Odinaff".

Odinaff has been deployed widely around the world since January 2016 in attacks that "appear to be extremely focused on organisations operating in the banking, securities, trading, and payroll sectors," it said.

Symantec said the Odinaff attackers make use of some of the infrastructure used by some earlier attacks tapping the SWIFT network known as Carbanak. Yet another group, known as Lazarus, is believed behind the Bangladesh threat.

"These attacks require a large amount of hands on involvement" with "a heavy investment in the coordination, development, deployment, and operation" of the tools used to break into the targets' systems, Symantec said.

Source: AFP
#TEDxCT speaker profile: Penelope Tainton

Penelope Tainton will be taking the stage at TEDxCapeTown on 15 October at Ratanga Junction to talk about her passion for bringing positive change to the South African education system. She leads the progress for two of the Western Cape Government's Game Changers - elearning and the After School Programme.

Give us some background about yourself and your career/initiative? Give us some background about yourself and your career/initiative?

Tainton: My passion is to contribute to making South Africa succeed. I believe in this country, and that, to paraphrase Clinton (Bill, that is), there is nothing wrong with South Africa that cant be fixed by whats right with South Africa.

Ive had a very varied career, starting out in IT in the early days of mainframes and punch-cards, moving from programming in now antiquated languages, into systems analysis. This gave me a fantastic foundation in building solutions. I then spent a number of years in business, before moving into the exciting field of politics. Im excited by new ideas, by innovation, and love it when my passions and my work come together, as they have in my role of driving two of the Premiers of the Western Capes Game Changers (eLearning and After School Programmes).

So, Im a bit of a Jack of All Trades. My driving motivators are a passion for this country, built on my belief in the power of the individual, and my firm conviction that, in our constrained environment, we have had to become leaders in innovation and solution-based systems thinking that the rest of the world should watch closely.

Is this your first TEDx presentation and how are you feeling about it? Is this your first TEDx presentation and how are you feeling about it?

Tainton: Yes this is my first TEDx presentation. Im feeling nervous but also excited. The reality of owning a whole stage in front of a large audience, with live streaming, and a video made for posterity, has hit home. The challenge of remembering a fairly lengthy speech with no notes and no prompting is quite daunting. I am overwhelmed by the awesome responsibility to clearly articulate this important idea of delivering equality to our children through a properly structured eLearning program delivered throughout the Province.

But I am also excited to be able to share this amazing work I get to experience every day with others.

What is your interpretation of the theme Here/Hear to Listen? What is your interpretation of the theme Here/Hear to Listen?

Tainton: Here/Hear to listen is a reflection on where we find ourselves in our society. We are bombarded with so much noise and busy-ness every day. What we actually listen to and absorb, is just a small percentage of the volume of stuff that gets thrown at us every day. TEDxCape Town is providing an opportunity for people to step out of that space and to spend some time consciously focusing on ideas that are worth thinking about

How will your presentation relate to the theme? How will your presentation relate to the theme?

Tainton: My presentation is all about delivering equality in our equality society through a change in the system of education, as well as a change in the way that government works.

It is critical that the voice of the learner, and particularly those in under-resourced schools who are in desperate need of support, informs what we do. My speech deals with the change that is possible when a government is prepared to listen, to actively seek solutions, to move out of typical government processes, and to deliver for impact.

What are you looking forward to the most about TEDxCapeTown this year? What are you looking forward to the most about TEDxCapeTown this year?

Tainton: It being over :-) This has been an interesting process of really interrogating what I do every day, and understanding why it is important to me and to others.

Mark Twain famously said If I had more time I would have written you a shorter letter. Ive been pushed to be my own biggest critic, editing the flood of ideas down to the core of what I believe is really important to share. So I am interested to see if that idea really gets through.

Ive been amazed at the generous support of people who have been prepared to help and share ideas and time. I am hoping that I can do their work and their confidence in me justice. Mostly I am honoured to have an opportunity to share this important idea with others.

TEDxCapeTown 2016: Tech-enabled to go green and enhance audience experience

For the first time since 2011, TEDxCapeTown is committed to a more tech-enabled team and delivery of the event. Audience members can expect to experience a web-enabled application, implemented by Accenture South Africa, allowing them to view the programme of the day, listed speakers and their bios and directly engage via the TEDxCapeTown social channels in-app.

For the second consecutive year, Accenture South Africa has decided to partner with the largest TEDx event on the African continent, to demonstrate and share contributions to innovation. Accenture strongly identifies with the ethos of TEDx which exists to discuss ideas worth spreading.

Accenture and TEDx believe passionately in the power of innovation to change attitudes, perceptions and behaviours. In South Africa, Accenture remains committed to playing a strategic role in supporting our clients and helping to drive sustainable economic growth, says Suren Govender, managing director of Accenture Analytics, part of Accenture Digital. Our focus at TEDx this year really is to listen to the ideas local TEDx folks have and assist by translating these ideas  from strategy to outcome  into meaningful and actionable results that could contribute to job creation and growing the economy.
SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA: Samsung's corporate car-crash over its exploding Note 7 smartphones has shone a spotlight on South Korea's " chaebol " business culture - the family-run empires whose rigid corporate structure and opaque governance style aren't always best suited to a crisis.

Giant conglomerates like Samsung and Hyundai were widely credited with driving the stellar growth that transformed South Korea from a war-ravaged backwater to Asia's fourth-largest economy in a matter of decades.

Their business style was a top-down corporate culture where orders from the founding family and senior managers were carried out without question.

Samsung has long been seen as a model of pragmatic efficiency, with a chairman and handful of elite managers dictating an overall business plan for all divisions to follow meticulously.

Under the now-ailing chairman and family patriarch, Lee Kun-Hee, the strategy proved extremely successful over the past 15-20 years, turning the once-obscure electronics maker into a global powerhouse.

But as the firm grew in size, and its business dealings became more complex and globalised, the highly centralised decision-making process has become, some analysts suggest, a liability as well as an asset.

Unchallenged authority

Kim Sang-Jo, head of the Seoul-based corporate governance monitoring group Solidarity for Economic Reform, said a coterie of top managers in the company's "future strategy office" wield nearly unchallenged authority over the group's strategic direction.

"Whatever decision the office makes, engineers and working-level managers should follow silently, although they might think it's not humanly possible or utterly unreasonable," Kim said.

Along with a number of other analysts, Kim believes a key factor behind the Note 7 debacle was management's insistence that it be launched ahead of schedule to secure a lengthy market lead over arch-rival Apple's new iPhone.

"There was no channel for engineers to tell the management that they needed more time to test the battery and later prepare a new battery for the recall... and this lack of feedback was the biggest culprit behind this disaster," Kim said.

When the new smartphones began catching fire, Samsung announced a recall of 2.5 million units. The company blamed a battery supplier, said the problem was fixed and offered to replace all the devices.

The real damage to the company's reputation came when replacement phones also started burning up, triggering criticism that the exchange programme had been rushed in much the same way as the original early launch.

In the end, Samsung was forced to kill off the Note 7, announcing Tuesday that it was permanently halting production.

Lesson to be learned

Park Yoo-Kyung, a Hong Kong-based director specialising in corporate governance at APG Asset Management, said she hoped Samsung had learned its lesson.

"I've seen so many family-controlled firms respond to crises so slowly... or entirely miss the chance to correct their mistakes because everything has to be dictated by top management," she said.

"I really hope that Samsung will not introduce another new smartphone too quickly in its effort to put the whole crisis behind it... and that its management will do some soul-searching on whether it has a corporate culture in line with its status as a world leading tech company," Park said.

Chaebols like Samsung are not used to dealing with public scrutiny, or indeed with uppity shareholders - as Samsung showed during a bitter dispute last year with the US hedge fund Elliott Management which tried to prevent a merger of two Samsung affiliates.

This is partly due to their dominant position in the South Korean economy - Samsung alone accounts for around 17% of the country's GDP - which tends to intimidate domestic regulators.

Transfer of leadership

The disaster with the Note 7 came as Samsung navigates a complex generational leadership transfer, with Lee Kun-Hee bedridden since suffering a heart attack in 2014.

In the aftermath there will be intense scrutiny of the performance of his son and heir apparent, J.Y. Lee, 48, who is vice chairman of Samsung Electronics and was nominated to the company board just days after the initial Note 7 recall.

"Depending on how he responds, Samsung will be remembered as a model case of using a crisis as an opportunity to reinvent itself... or go down in history like Nokia," said Kim Sang-Jo.

The Lee family controls the vast $242-billion Samsung Group through a complex web of cross shareholdings, although they only directly own about 5% of total stock.

The byzantine nature of the corporate structure was put into sharp relief during the showdown last year with Elliott Management, which is now challenging the Samsung leadership again.

Last week, the hedge fund unveiled a proposal for splitting Samsung Electronics in two in order to unlock billions of dollars in value for shareholders.

Source: AFP
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."
Sexpo, one of Africa's largest human sensuality and lifestyle expos, being held from 27-30 October 2016 at Nasrec, Johannesburg, has announced its partnership with the Cancer Association of South Africa (CANSA).

 Wittaya Puangkingkaew via 123RF

Sean Newman, MD of Sexpo, says, We are proud of our partnership with CANSA. This is our 10th anniversary and, with CANSA on board as our CSI partner, it shows how Sexpo has come of age and takes health seriously.

Elize Joubert, CANSA CEO, adds, We aim to offer visitors and exhibitors the opportunity to understand the different forms of cancer, specifically linked to sexual behaviour, by providing information and creating awareness regarding the two top female cancers as well as the Human Papilloma Virus (HPV). Its all about lowering the cancer risk through education and offering screening.

CANSAs Mobile Health Clinic will be on hand to provide health information and screening such as clinical breast and skin examinations as well as offering healthy lifestyle risk assessments to Sexpo visitors. CANSA will also be on hand to answer any health-related queries visitors may need answered.

Bookings may be made through Computicket and are restricted to strictly over 18 years. Ticket prices are Thursday R100 (Silver), R250 (Gold) and Friday-Sunday R150 (Silver) and R250 (Gold).
Founder of Sexpo, an educational and entertaining sex-related exhibition, David Ross, will attend the upcoming event to be held from Thursday 27 October to Sunday 30 October at Nasrec, Johannesburg. This year, Sexpo celebrates its 20th anniversary since starting in Australia and it's 10th anniversary since arriving in South Africa.

David Ross

Sexpo has transformed from 20 stands at its inaugural exhibition in a hotel conference room in 1996, to one which draws approximately 5,000 visitors globally.

Ross explains Sexpos origins. I was doing a story with a freelance journalist for a client, a chain of adult shops, Club X, he recalls, and we went to an adult product trade-day lunch. There was a woman standing at a lectern giving a really professional presentation to industry representatives about products and equipment. I looked around at the wine, the white tablecloths, and audience  largely women  and the products, which were laid out on the table for people to pick up and play with, and I thought, 'You know, this is what we have to do, showcase our products in a relaxed environment'.

My intention has always been, and remains, to bring all things sex-related out of adult stores and present them in a welcoming, comfortable, educational, entirely entertaining, safe and fun way and including health information has always been a big part of the plan, Ross reveals.

Read more about the upcoming event here.
Burson-Marsteller yesterday announced the continued expansion of its presence in Africa with the launch of Blast Burson-Marsteller in the Indian Ocean Islands (Mauritius, Reunion, Seychelles, Madagascar and Comores) and MO Burson-Marsteller in Angola.

Image by 123RF

The firm also extended its existing partnership with Icon Burson-Marsteller in Cameroon into two new territories  Congo-Brazzaville and Gabon. The Burson-Marsteller Africa network covers 53 of the 55 countries on the continent.

Todays announcement reinforces our commitment to ensuring we have a strong presence in every region where our clients need strategic counsel and cutting-edge integrated communications services, said Don Baer, worldwide chair and CEO, Burson-Marsteller. Africa is one of the worlds most important emerging markets and a vital region for our clients global growth strategies. With the most highly developed and expansive footprint on the continent, we have the reach and depth of resources to serve clients currently operating in Africa as well as those planning expansion into the region.

Our African network has been in operation for more than 20 years and has been recognised both locally and internationally as the preeminent network across the continent, said Jeremy Galbraith, CEO, Burson-Marsteller Europe, Middle East & Africa (EMEA) and Global Chief Strategy Officer.

Our approach to Africa involves building relationships over time with partners that progress from being non-exclusive affiliates to exclusive affiliates and then to branded partner agencies. Each step in the process brings the partner agencies closer to us and provides them and our clients with even greater benefits. With these new partner relationships, Burson-Marsteller is now well-positioned in the Indian Ocean Islands, Angola, Congo and Gabon.

Partnerships

For 27 years our commitment to growing partnerships has underpinned Burson-Marstellers activities across Africa, added Robyn de Villiers, Chair and CEO, Burson-Marsteller Africa. Todays announcement is evidence of our commitment to strengthening relationships with our existing partners in Africa. This approach allows our partner agencies  each of which is a respected business in its own market - to share more fully in the benefits of being part of a global network through greater access to expertise and training, among many other things. This addresses the requirement for skills transfer which is so important in Africa, and benefits both the staff in our network and our clients.

In 2014, Burson-Marsteller rebranded the network it acquired in 2011 to Burson-Marsteller Africa and simultaneously announced branded partner offices in 27 countries. Later that year, that number increased to 29 with the signing of two additional affiliate partnership contracts, both of which had been long-standing exclusive affiliates.

The Burson-Marsteller Africa network is headquartered in Johannesburg and continues to be run by Robyn de Villiers, who founded the network over 25 years ago.
Contact: Crystal Feldman

Crystal Feldman govpress@nc.gov

Raleigh, N.C. Governor Pat McCrory provided an update on the impact of Hurricane Matthew and discussed how the state is well prepared to respond to the storm's devastation.said Governor McCrory.The greatest threat remains inland flooding that will continue into this week in central and eastern North Carolina. The governor highlighted that the Tar River near Greenville will crest tomorrow and the Neuse River near Kinston will crest on Saturday. There is also major additional flooding predicted for towns and cities along the Lumber and Cape Fear rivers, along with many other rivers and creeks.Contrary to previous reports, the mandatory evacuation is still in effect in Moore County for residents near Woodlake Dam. Evacuations are also in place in several other counties.There have now been 18 confirmed weather-related fatalities and one person still reported as missing. Four additional fatalities were confirmed today, one in Columbus County, one in Wayne County and two more in Robeson County.Earlier today Governor McCrory activated the state's Hurricane Matthew Relief Fund to support long-term recovery efforts in partnership with the United Way of North Carolina. People and organizations that want to help ensure North Carolina recovers can visit ncdisasterrelief.org or text NCRecovers to 30306.Numerous major interstates and roads, as well as hundreds of secondary roads remain closed. However Governor McCrory announced that a 15-mile stretch of Interstate 95 in Harnett and Cumberland counties has reopened.This section of interstate had been closed since Sunday when water from the Black River covered the highway. A section of I-95 near Lumberton between exits 13 and 31 remains closed due to flooding from the Lumber River, yet a detour is in place to reroute traffic around the closure.The latest updates on road closures can be found at ReadyNC.org , the ReadyNC mobile app or by calling 5-1-1.Power outages across the state continue to fall. As of 5:00 p.m., power outages totaled approximately 198,000 statewide, down from more than 800,000 on Sunday.In response to the governor's call to extend the deadline for filing taxes, individuals or businesses in some of the most impacted counties that have a tax filing deadline on October 17th or 20th will not be penalized for filing or paying late.The governor warned of the continued environmental concerns related to the agriculture industry. The state Department of Environmental Quality has instructed all lined landfills that they can accept swine, poultry and other animals that have been impacted by Hurricane Matthew. The department has also waived boundary restrictions regarding landfills to mitigate the environmental impact.The federal assistance approved to date will help reimburse the state for recovery efforts. In most cases, the federal government will cover 75 percent of the costs and the state will cover the remaining 25 percent of costs of responding to the disaster.Under Governor McCrory's leadership, North Carolina has sufficient reserve funds, including more than $18 million in disaster relief funding. The State Budget Office and emergency management officials do not expect those funds to be exhausted before early 2017.The governor mentioned that if needed, the state's rainy day fund is at an all-time high of $1.6 billion. Governor McCrory does not anticipate needing to call back the General Assembly to address relief funding ahead of their regular long session in January.During Hurricane Floyd, North Carolina was impacted in mid-September of 1999 and a special session for hurricane recovery did not occur until mid-December 1999.Governor McCrory clarified that he requested federal assistance for individuals, state and local governments for 66 counties. Yesterday, 10 counties were approved for individual federal assistance and 31 counties were approved for public federal assistance. The governor said he is particularly concerned about securing help for those in Sampson, Harnett, Bertie, Johnston, Wilson and Wayne counties.For more information about responding to a hurricane and what to do before, during or after a storm, go to ReadyNC.org . You can also get real-time traffic and weather updates on the ReadyNC mobile app. Follow N.C. Emergency Management on Twitter and Facebook for the latest on Hurricane Matthew.
Dateline: England

A local government council is being criticized for using taxpayer money to publicize an adult education class teaching people how to wear scarves effectively. The three-hour course covers techniques involving knots, twists, loops and folds and costs 24.60 ($31) per person. Critics say Northamptonshire Country Council, which is currently slashing budgets by 128 million ($161.4 million) over the next five years, has wasted money promoting the class. Local taxpayers have every right to be angry that their money is being spent on these nonsensical courses, Harry Davis, a spokesperson for the Tax Payers Alliance, told the UKs Mirror. The course, titled Discover How to Wear Scarves Effectively is set to happen Nov. 3 at Abington Bowling Club, Northants, and will be taught by noted tie expert Leslie Clarke. According to the course catalogue, no prior knowledge is required, but participants are encouraged to bring a variety of your own scarves in shapes and colors. Northamptonshire County Council is not subsidizing the scarf-wearing course but has rented out the room at a cost of 37.50 ($47.30). Northamptonshire County Councils adult learning service is self-financed and not subsidized by the County Council, a spokesperson for the government agency said. Promotion for all courses is done collectively through our printed Adult Learning Courses brochure and also online. No word, yet, if the class has enough participants signed up to actually happen.

Dateline: Germany

After a vicious seven-year rampage, police in the Munnerstadt area of Bavaria believe they have finally captured the Paddling Pool Slasher. A 27-year-old man, suspected of terrorizing locals by damaging inflatable, aboveground pools with knives, was questioned following an extensive police investigation involving numerous eyewitness accounts. Law enforcement officials said the unnamed suspect, dubbed the Paddling Pool Slasher by local media, admitted to damaging between 20 and 30 plastic pools in the small town located in the district of Bad Kissingen. The man stated that he did not plan the attacks and that he acted spontaneously, police spokesperson Bjoern Schmitt told reporters. The man allegedly told investigators he did it just for fun. Police also confiscated several blow-up plastic mattresses, believed to have been stolen during the slashing spree, from the suspects house. We cannot rule out that the man has some kind of fetish, said Schmitt. Charges are pending.

Dateline: Kentucky

A homeowner told police he only fired his rifle near a dogwalker because he thought she was a clown. According to the Bardstown Police Department, a woman was walking her dog down Burlington Court while wearing a white afghan when a man yelled at her and fired an AR-15. The man, identified by The Kentucky Standard as Adam Tingle, told police his wife was outside their home when she thought she saw a clown. Naturally, Mr. Tingle ran outside and started yelling at the clown-like individual. When the woman did not move, Tingle fired a shot from his AR-15 rifle in an attempt to scare her off. Tingles wife then called 911. According to a police citation, Tingle said he was scared for his family because of recent news reports involving clowns. The woman with the dog, however, was not a clown, and Tingle was charged with one count of second-degree wanton endangerment. Officers confiscated his rifle at the time of the incident. The woman and her dog were uninjured. Tingle is due in court later this month.

Dateline: West Virginia

An alleged drug dealer thought she had come up with a perfect plan for not getting caught by policebut the sign on her front door warning snitches to stay away simply caught the attention of the officers who arrested her. The Fayette County Sheriffs Office said Cpl. C.M. Fitzwater and Deputies Rachel Stephens and M.A. Sifers responded to a report of joyriding in the small town of Oak Hill around 10:15am on Thursday, Oct. 6. The deputies wound up at a residence with a handwritten sign taped prominently to the front door. The sign read: Due to snitches, everyone entering my home is subject to being searched. All cellphones and drinks will be left outside!! (If youre not a snitch, it wont offend you if I search you!!) In a statement released to the public, the sheriffs office said, This, of course, led deputies to the conclusion that drugs were most likely being sold from this residence. Deputies questioned the homes residents and got permission to search the premises. They turned up significant amounts of heroin, methamphetamine and unidentified substances believed to be narcotics. Homeowner April Lynn Lavender, 38, was arrested and charged with a felony count of possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver. Kristie Weis, 22, was also arrested and charged with misdemeanor joyriding. While drug investigations often require a great deal of time and effort, sometimes the criminals make our job pretty easy, Sheriff Kessler told reporters. If someone posts a sign on their front door about searching snitches its a pretty safe bet that there are illegal drugs being sold out of that location.
Tom Campbell

Momma always said, "Don't wish your life away" whenever I, as a young boy, would declare I couldn't wait until Christmas or my birthday. But even momma would agree with me that I can't wait until November 9th when this election is over.I've been covering elections since 1964 and this is the most disgusting campaign, from top to bottom, in my lifetime. Even those of us political junkies who love public policy discussions are turned off by the lack of respect candidates pay each other but, more importantly, to voters.Last Sunday's second presidential debate and Tuesday night's gubernatorial debate were prime examples of how low and how deplorable elections have become. There is little attempt to tell us why we should vote for a candidate. Whenever asked their position on any issue the immediate response is to pivot and tell us how evil or wrong their opponent is, responses usually unrelated to the question or issue being raised. If any effort is made to speak to an issue we get are carefully rehearsed sound bytes and talking points like "I'm going to fix education," or "When I'm elected we're going to create more higher paying jobs," or "I'm going to rebuild the middle class." There is little attempt to provide any specificity as to how they intend to accomplish these positions.Our NC SPIN panelists appeared this week at a forum designed to provide civil discourse on the candidates and issues. At the beginning of the discussion I asked the audience how many had already made up their minds as to whom they would cast their ballots; more than 95 percent raised their hands. In a similar presentation prior to the 2014 elections there were more than 200 in attendance but this week the crowd size was slightly more than 100. To be sure many were still dealing with the aftermath of Hurricane Matthew but one attendee reflected that the crowd was much smaller because people are fed up, turned off and want nothing to do with the whole election process.It is understandable that so many are weary of the finger pointing, name calling and ugly tactics. Some would say this campaign is merely a reflection of our current culture, the new reality in politics, but most of us would like to think we are better than our candidates and deserve more civil and respectful treatment from them.This is an alarming condition. In North Carolina, as with the nation, we are at a turning point and these elections will not only elect our leaders for the next two or four years, but also will have a significant influence over future directions we take. This is a very important election.Typically, 65 percent of North Carolina's registered voters cast ballots in a presidential year election. There is a growing fear that large numbers will show their displeasure by just staying home November 8th. Their protests might be understandable but are also dangerous because those who don't vote are placing the outcomes in the hands of those who do vote.We can't wait until November 9th when this election is over, but we should also remember how important it is to exercise our hard-fought right and civic responsibility. Please vote.
Des work was impressive. He spent time inside US top secret nuclear and command centres, advising the CIA, the White House and the Pentagon, where he persuaded them that a limited nuclear war was impossible.

Former US President Jimmy Carter, in a recent book credited Des as the man who saved the world and said, Desmond Balls counsel and cautionary advice based on deep research made a great difference to our collective goal of avoiding nuclear war.

In recent years Des, despite battling cancer, never lost his love or focus for the ethnic people of Burma. For the last 20 years Des spent much of his time amongst Burmas ethnic people and armed groups. Des Ball was a harsh critic of the generals who used the Burmas military to trample on the peoples human rights. He used his acclaimed position as an accepted and acknowledged expert to speak out against the oppression of Burmas military dictators.

Major General Isaac Po of the Karen National Liberation Army acknowledged the help that Des had given the Karen and other ethnic groups over the years when he said in an interview with Karen News that Des Ball has been a good friend to the Karen for many years. Des shared his knowledge and skills with us and we appreciate what he did for us.

David Tharkabaw, a Karen National Union official said Desmond Ball supported our struggle, he stood with the oppressed people of Burma.

Des Ball is survived by his four children and wife.
Contact: Crystal Feldman

Crystal Feldman govpress@nc.gov

Lumberton, N.C. Governor Pat McCrory joined state and local officials today to visit areas in Robeson County affected by flooding from Hurricane Matthew. The governor offered continued support to first responders, disaster relief workers, neighbors and volunteers working to assist victims of the storm.said Governor McCrory.During the news conference, the governor confirmed an additional fatality in Lenoir County, bringing the total number of storm-related deaths statewide to 20.The governor continued to urge those impacted to stay out of the flooded waters, and announced that officials were working with local, state and federal partners to find solutions for those who are currently in temporary shelters. There are currently six shelters established in Robeson County alone.Governor McCrory said that the state has significantly increased the emergency personnel and resources to Robeson County.At least 135 members of the North Carolina National Guard and 110 addition law enforcement officers have been dispatched to the county to assist with the recovery efforts. More than 600 rescues have been performed in Robeson county, 50 of which occurred last night.Governor McCrory mentioned that the state has sent more than 12 truckloads of supplies to Robeson County, including food, water, children supplies, cots, blankets and medical supplies.The N.C. Department of Transportation is currently assessing the condition of both major and secondary roads in the area. Sections of I-95 from Lumberton to Fayetteville remain closed due to flooding.Robeson County is one of 32 counties approved for federal funding this week to help augment the costs of responding to the storm, and one of 14 where homeowners and renters can apply for federal assistance to repair or rebuild damaged homes.On Tuesday, the governor activated the state's Hurricane Matthew Relief Fund to support long-term recovery efforts in partnership with the United Way of North Carolina. People or organizations that want to help ensure North Carolina recovers can visit NCdisasterrelief.org or text NCRecovers to 30306.Monetary donations to recognized disaster relief organizations is also the fastest, most flexible, and most effective method of assisting. Organizations on the ground know what items and quantities are needed, often buy in bulk with discounts and, if possible, purchase through area businesses which supports economic recovery.For more information about responding to a hurricane and what to do before, during or after a storm, go to ReadyNC.org . You can also get real-time traffic and weather updates on the ReadyNC mobile app. Follow N.C. Emergency Management on Twitter and Facebook for the latest on Hurricane Matthew.
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CODY, Wyo.  The Wyoming State Loan and Investment Board voted last week to approve an $11 million low-interest loan for pharmaceutical ingredient manufacturer Cody Laboratories. The approval came despite an ongoing federal grand jury investigation of Cody Labs' parent company for possible antitrust violations.

That investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice, along with other unfavorable information about Philadelphia-based Lannett, Co., was not discovered or considered during a four-day review by the Wyoming Business Council of the company's $33.8 million loan application.

On the same day the State Loan and Investment Board approved the loan, new information was published by Forbes, detailing what it said was Lannett's 1,650 percent price hike for a generic anti-psychotic medication, as well as an ongoing dispute between Lannett CEO Arthur Bedrosian and the Internal Revenue Service, which claims Bedrosian owes more than $1 million in penalties and interest.

It's unclear what role, if any, the federal antitrust probe or other adverse news about Lannett and its management might play in the final approval of the Cody Labs loan.

State Treasurer Mark Gordon, whose office is working to further review and facilitate the loan, said no final decision has been made, and he will consider all information about any company seeking state funds.

"That's the sort of due diligence that this office is going to have to do," Gordon said.

The Cody Labs loan and two other loans approved last week by the board were the first under a new large economic development loan program managed by the State Treasurer's Office, which oversees approximately $20 billion in Wyoming investments.

Also approved were loans of $15 million each for a new fuel additives plant in Cheyenne and expansion of an activated carbon plant in Gillette. Due to limited funds, each of the three applicants received only partial funding of their full requests.

Proponents of the Cody Labs loan say it will help create dozens of new jobs and generate more than $4 million in state and local taxes over 11 years.

Funding priorities

Gordon said he would have preferred that the Wyoming Business Council had discovered and shared background details about Cody Labs such as the antitrust probe, Lannett's failure to meet employment targets for a Pennsylvania economic development grant and the company's earlier plans to expand without public funds. But board approval is not the end of due diligence in the process, and doesn't guarantee a loan will be paid out, Gordon said.

Gov. Matt Mead will make the ultimate decision after the Treasurer's Office crafts a final deal, which includes review by the Wyoming Attorney General's Office.

Gordon was the lone loan and investment board member to cast a dissenting vote on the Cody Labs request. Though all three applications were strong, Gordon said, he chose to back only the carbon plant proposal.

With total loan requests far surpassing the limited money available in the large loan program, backing only one project would have left money for future proposals, and help create a revolving loan fund that would more likely ensure a reliable, long-term funding structure, he said.

Lannett is working to reduce its own long-term debt structure after accumulating outstanding debt of nearly $1.2 billion during acquisitions last year that helped it double in size and achieve record sales.

Much of the company's profits came from a series of sharp price increases on generic prescription drugs, including some that have drawn fire from consumers and prompted congressional hearings as part of a growing federal focus on skyrocketing drug prices.

Rising prices

Lannett and other generic drugmakers have long maintained they help keep drug prices low by offering alternatives to name-brand medicines. But the company has become increasingly aggressive in raising prices. That includes what congressional documents describe as a 1,000 percent price hike for the generic heart medicine Digoxin, and a price increase of more than 700 percent for the generic gallstone medication Ursodiol.

But Lannett's sharpest price hike yet appears to be what Forbes reporter Nathan Vardi detailed last week. Using data from the prescription tracking firm IMS Health, Vardi found a three-month period this year when Lannett raised the price of fluphenazine by 1,650 percent. The drug, available since the 1960s, is used to treat schizophrenia and other chronic mental disorders.

Forbes also detailed an ongoing legal dispute between Bedrosian, Lannett's CEO, and the IRS, which is seeking more than $1 million in penalties and interest. In court documents filed by the IRS, the agency claims Bedrosian failed to properly report his holdings in a Swiss bank account.

Bedrosian is in Cody this week for a civil trial in District Court stemming from a lawsuit filed against him, Cody Labs and Lannett by Cody Labs founder Ric Asherman. Lannett acquired Cody Labs as a wholly owned subsidiary in 2007.

Bedrosian, 70, became president of Lannett in 2002 and was named CEO in 2006. During a break in court proceedings Monday, Bedrosian declined to answer questions, citing the ongoing trial. He referred questions to a company spokesman.

Lannett's spokesman did not respond to a request for comment. The company has defended its pricing strategies, and said an internal review found it to be in compliance with all laws. The company continues to cooperate with investigators.

Bedrosian denies wrongdoing in legal filings related to the IRS case. He said in a statement to Forbes that the IRS actions against him were "unlawful in that I had relied on the advice of a professional accountant in determining how to report certain income and that I had relied upon the advice of an IRS revenue agent in determining how to proceed regarding the IRSs inquiry."

He also told Forbes that several factors affect Lannett's drug prices, which "are managed by Lannetts sales and production departments, not by me."

Full disclosure

Because Bedrosian's IRS dispute is unrelated to Lannett or Cody Labs, it was not listed in connection with litigation disclosures as part of the Cody Labs loan application. But a federal database of civil court filings includes the IRS matter. Those documents would have been available to the Wyoming Business Council if the state agency had conducted a search during its four-day review, which included an assessment of the "character and capacity" of the applicant's management team.

In December 2015, just a few months before Lannett started sharply raising prices on fluphenazine, Bedrosian spoke with with Maria Bartiromo on a Fox Business segment about Lannett. Her last question focused on Martin Shkreli, the widely reviled former hedge fund manager who bought a drug company and immediately imposed a 5,000 percent price increase for a drug used by AIDS patients.

"Well, kind of ashamed of him as an industry because he doesn't represent the other 10,000 companies that don't do things like that, and it's unfortunate that we've been painted by that brush," Bedrosian said of Shkreli. "It's sad."

Public trust

Most state government programs rely on public and legislative support for continued success and ongoing funding. And many voters in fiscally conservative Wyoming view some economic development efforts as "corporate welfare" or "picking winners and losers in the marketplace." Which raises the question of whether giving public assistance to a company like Lannett is likely to erode public trust in a newly created loan program.

Gordon said that may be an issue for the Legislature to address. But he has the authority to attach certain conditions to any of the three newly approved loans, including requiring personal guarantees, limiting a borrower's ability to take on additional debt or limiting dividends paid to shareholders.

Such terms, might matter little to a small, closely held private company. But they could prove to be unacceptable to a large, fast-growing public company like Lannett.

Gordon said he couldn't comment on any pending legal matters facing any loan applicant.

"But if we're not satisfied or feel like it's an undue risk, it won't move forward. I've done it before, and it's never fun," he said. "But I have to make the best decision I can for the state."

Gordon said he was scheduled this week to visit the activated carbon plant in Gillette, and that he would continue working to review and facilitate all three loans in advance of a scheduled Dec. 30 deadline for reaching final terms. After that, if Mead approves, the loans should fund within six months.

Contact Ruffin Prevost at 307-213-9818 or ruffin@yellowstonegate.com.
A Montana law allows residents and nonresidents to donate their hunting license to a disabled military veteran or disabled active duty service member.

The disabled veteran or active armed forces member must be working with an organization that uses hunting as part of the rehabilitation process.

While one cannot choose the organization to receive a donated license, the disabled veteran or armed forces member who receives the license will be a Purple Heart recipient and have a 70 percent or greater disability rating.

Each license must be donated or surrendered before the beginning of the general hunting season. One cannot repurchase the same license again during the license year.

For more information on the program, visit FWP's website at fwp.mt.gov. Click Disabled Veterans Hunt License Donation.
HELENA  Montanas Secretary of State has released information about the voting records of two candidates running to fill her office.

Linda McCulloch, a Democrat who is term-limited and not running for office, said in a letter to the editor sent to the Helena Independent Record on Thursday that Republican Corey Stapleton has failed to vote in a number of elections in recent years."

"In fact, he has failed to vote in three elections since 2013 and six elections the six years before that," she wrote.

A background report on Stapletons voting record, released by him after a request to Montana GOP officials who use the i-360 proprietary voter database, shows him as having voted in every primary, general, special and municipal election back through 2006.

Ive voted twice a year like clockwork since I left the service, Stapleton said upon first learning of the letter Thursday morning. If I missed an election I would be surprised. What I am surprised about is, what is this sitting Secretary of State doing? I would remind her she needs to remain impartial in an ongoing election.

In Montana, and several other states, information on whether people voted, but not who they voted for, are public record.

The Gazette State Bureau requested the voting record files going back to 2007 for all candidates running for statewide office.

The file on Stapleton conflicts with the account by McCulloch and the GOP report.

Since June 1998, Stapleton was registered to vote on 28 municipal, school, state or federal ballots. He missed six mail-in ballots in that period, all city or school ballots.

McCulloch also wrote that "Monica Lindeen, Mr. Stapleton's opponent has never missed voting in an election going back as far as records can be found. That's the kind of person you want in the Secretary of State's office."

The records released on Lindeens voting history only goes back to 2004, but lists no missed votes.

The letter from McCulloch, whose face is on the voter information pamphlet released to voters statewide, comes a day after early voting began in Montana. The Independent Record confirmed that McCulloch sent the letter.

Stapleton has spent eight years in the state Senate and unsuccessfully has run for U.S. Senate and House seats, as well as governor. His opponent, Lindeen, has served as state auditor for the last eight years.

Reached Thursday, McCulloch said Stapletons voting record concerns her. When youve missed roughly nine elections, thats a lot of elections to miss, she said, explaining that Montanans can vote at the polls or have absentee ballots sent to them.

McCulloch said she didnt know if a secretary of state has released the voting records of someone running for the office before. I could have put out a press release, but I didnt think that was right. I personally wrote a letter to the editor, she said.

After the voting files were released, McCulloch did not clarify the discrepancies between her letter and what the records showed. She stood by her assertion that it is important to have been a consistent voter if you are seeking to become the office of secretary of state.

After the records were read to Stapleton between campaign events, the Republican said he would not make excuses and could not remember what happened with those particular school and city ballots. He noted that not voting on bond initiatives could sometimes be a form of no vote on taxation increases. Under state law, some school bonds can fail even though they received majority approval because not enough ballots were cast. He said he was proud not to have missed a primary or general election in decades and condemned McCullochs letter.

This is exactly why we need new leadership, he said, calling the letter slimy and especially so since McCulloch is the person who is supposed to uphold fair elections.

She cant get her election data straight, Stapleton said. She came out the day before ballots are mailed to make an attack. She releases voter information as a wrongful and reckless political attack.
Things are getting chippy among third party groups in Montanas Supreme Court race.

A complaint filed Tuesday with Montanas Commissioner of Political Practices accuses the group Montanans for Experienced Judges of not revealing its economic interest to voters.

The group, which supports judicial candidate Dirk Sandefur, draws nearly all of its money from attorneys, said Jake Eaton, a Republican political operative.

Eaton wants the attorneys fined for not disclosing who they are, particularly the groups treasurer, Billings attorney John Heenan.

These violations are especially troubling since Mr. Heenan is currently serving as legal counsel for the Commissioner of Political Practices in active court proceedings, Eaton said in his complaint.

Eaton is asking Heenan receive the maximum penalty of $500.

Heenan, who represents the commisisoner for free, said Wednesday he changed the groups name to show that it represented lawyers. But he also vowed to conscript new donors who aren't attorneys so that the original name could be restored.

The new title, Lawyers and Montanans for Experienced Judges, was used for a few hours Wednesday before 10 new, non-attorney donors made it possible to again use Montanans for Experienced Judges. The group has raised about $2,000 so far this year. Most of that money before Wednesday came from attorneys or lawyer groups.

Heenan told The Gazette that Eaton, who has done business with several third party advocacy groups and political action committees, or PACs, is the pot calling the kettle black.

The dark money PACS that Jake Eaton fronts have made over $400,000 in expenditures, and thats going to go up, Heenan said. All the money is from out-of-state special interests trying to buy our Supreme Court.

Eaton is co-owner of AlphaGraphics of Billings and The Political Company. Both businesses offer campaign services to conservative candidates and third parties.

Montana Supreme Court elections are nonpartisan.

The former executive director of the Montana Republican Party also is treasurer of Set Em Free Sandefur, a third party group that in ads accuses Sandefur, a Great Falls District Court judge, of being soft on criminals.

Heenan and Eaton arent strangers. Representing the Commissioner of Political Practices office, Heenan sued Montana Growth Network, a political group that dumped hundreds of thousands of dollars into the 2012 Montana Supreme Court race. MGN had paid Eatons company 47 Degrees North for political services that cycle.

Commissioner of Political Practices Johnathan Motl accused MGN of breaking state political law for attacking judicial candidate Ed Sheehy in 2012. MGN didnt disclose where it got the money for the attacks on Sheehy. The group argued that its campaign was issue-based, in which case its donors could remain anonymous. Motl charged that MGNs campaign was targeting a specific candidate and therefore voters had a right to know whose money was behind the attacks.
A wave of retirements and continued economic growth mean that Yellowstone County employers will have to fill around 32,000 job openings over the next decade.

About 23,000 of the the pending vacancies will happen thanks to baby boomers. Members of this population segment were born between 1946 and 1964 and are riding off into their retirement years. But projected population and economic growth in Yellowstone County will add even more job openings, attendees at Big Sky Economic Developments annual meeting learned Wednesday.

Steve Arveschoug, executive director of BSED, Yellowstone Countys economic development agency, urged attendees to think about how Billings compares to other cities within a 500-mile drive. Over the coming decades, Billings will continue to compete with other cities within 500 miles for well trained workers.

A video presentation highlighted numerous public and private projects that are already underway or are expected to be completed over the next four years. Commercial development is expanding at Shiloh Crossing and the nearby Montana Sapphire development. Improvements are on the drawing board for the downtown medical corridor, at Billings Logan International Airport, in Lockwood, downtown Billings and near MetraPark.

Also, Big Sky Economic Development Corp., the privately financed arm of the agency, has reached a new milestone: 150 private businesses are dues-paying members.

The theme of Wednesdays meeting was how technical innovation can improve health care delivery and drive economic development.

Dr. Neelum Aggarwal, a neurologist and associate professor at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, has been involved in an extensive study in which medical providers have been attempting to improve treatment of stroke patients.

Research showed that black and Hispanic workers were less likely to receive effective treatment for strokes compared to Caucasians.

When a person experiences a stroke, its essential to give them medication as quickly as possible. But numerous issues prevented members of minority communities from getting treatment in a timely manner.

Efforts to improve treatment in minority communities through regular means were largely ineffective. But progress was made with help from innovative start-up companies that put technology to work. Neelum said

Start-up companies involved with a business incubator known as MATTER used cellphone apps to improve outcomes for members of minority communities. As a result, the incubator continued to grow and attract even more start-up companies, she said.
Olivia Plath is a 14-month-old redhead from Shepherd whose doting family attends her physical therapy sessions at St. Vincent Healthcare dressed in matching T-shirts proclaiming, I love someone with dwarfism to the moon and back.

As a woman of childbearing years, I had no idea I could have a little person, said her mother Heather, a surgical nurse at St. Vincent who is 5 feet 4 inches tall and is married to a man whos almost 6 feet 7. You go through an adjustment, and theres a kind of grieving, but she is going to have a normal life. Shell just have to do things a little differently.

While Jakke Hall, a physical therapist at the hospitals Outpatient Rehabilitation Center, worked with Olivia  and Olivias 4-year-old brother, Jack, constructed a toy farm and ranch reminiscent of the real one operated by his father, Greg  Heather Plath discussed the joys and challenges of raising a child with achondroplasia, a form of dwarfism that occurs in about 1 in 30,000 births. About 80 percent are born to parents of average height.

In Olivias case, it was a random gene mutation, Heather said, although she and her husband initially worried that it might have been caused by in vitro fertilization efforts. It wasn't, a geneticist assured them.

Dwarfism affects bone growth  typically the childs long bones  and thats why physical therapy is an important contributor to Olivias mastery of gross motor skills, which in Olivia's case Hall placed at around a child of 9 months.

We work on head and trunk control, rolling, and weight-bearing with her arms and legs, she said. Youve got to be a little careful because their joint structure is a little funky, and sometimes theres a risk for neck issues.

Olivia spent most of the summer wearing a helmet, which reshaped her head. She now weighs 19 pounds, is 23 inches long, and is just beginning to stand, her mother said.

When she stands, that really drives home how short she is, she said with a grin. When people meet her, they realize something is different about her. You can see the wheels turning (in people's minds). I wish they would just ask, because Im not afraid to talk about it.

Olivia will receive physical therapy until shes walking, and Hall said her goal is to have her client ambulatory by her second birthday. She may require orthotics in her shoes because her ankles are a little wobbly and her knees are a little loosey-goosey, but that gets better with more strength," Hall said.

Once kids begin moving on their own, it becomes self-motivating, and they try hard to do what they want to do, Hall said. They can see what we (adults) do and they think were a different species. But if they see another child doing it  like her brother  they figure they should be able to do it.

She may need some occupational therapy for dressing and other skills, Hall added. But once shes up and walking, she wont need any more physical therapy.

Heather Plath said several resources and role models have been helpful, beginning with St. Vincent Healthcare and including Kelly Lee of Billings, president of the Montana chapter of Little People of America. Shes also grateful for support at Olivias daycare, Kid Corral Childcare and Learning Center in Shepherd, and thrilled to see little people like Terra Jole of "Dancing with the Stars" succeed.

It is reassuring to me to see a little person doing so many normal things, she said. In dancing, its all about those long lines, so its pretty incredible that shes doing as well as she is.

Lee's husband is Ernie Lee, a partner at Rimrock Auto Group, and the two appear in television commercials together with their children.

On Thursday, the Lees journeyed to Reed Point High School, where they heard an averaged-size seventh-grader report on a paper he'd done on his second-grade brother, a little person.

The Lees then spoke about the challenges of making their way as what Kelly Lee calls "short-statured people."

"I like to answer people's questions. I would rather answer questions than have people point or stare," she said. "People need to be educated."

Like most mothers, Heather Plath wants her daughter to enjoy as many of life's simple pleasures as she can.

I want to teach her to ride a horse and do all the things that Jack does on the farm, Heather said. She needs to learn to function in a world that is meant for average-height people.
Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 12/10/2016 (2210 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Following a series of random sexual assaults in downtown Brandon, organizers of Take Back the Night say this years march is of paramount importance.

I think particularly in Brandon right now  this is an empowering moment for people to  take back the night and take back the streets, said Allison McCulloch, associate professor of political science at Brandon University.

The annual event takes place Thursday, Oct. 20, at 6 p.m., starting with a rally at the BU courtyard, followed by a march through the downtown core.

File The annual Take Back the Night march will be held Thursday, Oct. 20. It starts with a rally at the Brandon University courtyard at 6 p.m.

The public is encouraged to attend. Prior to the march, participants will have a chance to make posters and listen to speakers from the community, including Carla Navid (Brandon University, sexual assault and prevention co-ordinator), Brandy Robertson (Womens Resource Centre), Greg Monias (Brandon University Students Union) and Michael Barkman (Canadian Federation of Students). An all-ages reception at SUDS will follow the march.

The purpose of the event both here and elsewhere is to raise awareness about the levels of sexual violence, sexual assault and harassment and street harassment that women and others also face, often on a daily basis, McCulloch said.

Last week, U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump dominated headlines once again, this time for a leaked tape from 2005 which recorded Trump saying lewd and vulgar comments about women.

Trump passed off the comments as locker-room talk.

What hes describing isnt locker-room talk, its ultimately sexual assault, McCulloch said. And if you look at what happened on Twitter as a result, one woman saying, Im going to tweet my story  so many women have responded. This is a major problem, and we need to end it, and we only do that by working in solidarity with each other.

Take Back the Night is held in communities around the world, to resist gender-based violence in all of its forms. The first Take Back the Night events date back to the 1970s, and are now held in more than 30 countries annually.

Last month, Brandon police issued a warning to the public as they believed four sexual assaults against women in downtown Brandon may be linked. The women were targeted while vulnerable  walking alone in isolated or dimly lit areas  and police advised citizens to take precautions when walking at night.

The assaults occurred April 9, July 3, Aug. 18 and Sept. 12. No arrests have been made. The suspects are described as one Caucasian and one aboriginal man, about 25 to 30 years old.

Anyone with information is asked to call the BPS at 204-729-2345. They can also call Brandon Crime Stoppers at 204-727-TIPS (8477) or 1-800-222-TIPS. Tips may also be submitted to Crime Stoppers online.

 jaustin@brandonsun.com

 Twitter: @jillianaustin
The two finalists vying to lead the combined city/county Planning and Community Services Department made the rounds among elected and appointed officials Wednesday, and Billings City Administrator Tina Volek said shell announce her choice for the job next week.

Wyeth Friday, the departments interim director and manager of its planning division, and Byron Hickox, the land development administrator in Waynesville, N.C., both seek to succeed Candi Millar, who retired in July. Both are 44.

The advertised annual salary range for the position is from $91,478.40 to $122,595.20, said Billings Finance Director Pat Weber.

Hickox, whos been on the job since 2005 in a community of about 10,000 in western North Carolina, said hell be an advocate for training and educational opportunities for staff and will work to hear whats being said on the street by residents.

I wouldnt necessarily be setting policy, he said. My job is to make the vision the community has a reality.

He called the citys newly adopted growth policy an ambitious document, and I wish more local governments would seriously consider putting one together and using it. Youve got to keep it open on your desk and fresh in your mind so you can use it to make decisions about where (the policy) is leading us.

Friday called funding and resource allocation within the department  which includes planning, community development, code enforcement and building  a significant challenge. Federal funding for community development services, including affordable housing and home-buying, is proving increasingly tricky to rely on consistently, he said.

He said he plans to implement an electronic review of residential building plans in the next few years. Also needed is an update to Billings zoning code, he said, a project thats in its infancy. The department can do a better job, he said, of using tools like social media to communicate with the countys approximately 157,000 residents.

The new director has to take a hard look at how to do that better, Friday said.

Acknowledging that Billings is more than 10 times the size of his current community, Hickox called it always an exciting challenge to move to a new community and get to know your fellow employees. Thats the rush of excitement I get. This is significantly larger, but with my depth and breadth of experience, I can use skills and knowledge in a way I havent gotten to use them yet.

Asked how theyd deal with contentious issues that come before planning and zoning boards as well as the Billings City Council, Friday said he tries to anticipate questions and think through some of that, in terms of some concrete examples and data they want to hear. He said its also helpful to have a colleague along who can give them the answers they need right at the moment.

Its not just Billings, Hickox responded. There are elected and appointed officials I deal with frequently. Ive spent time getting to know them and learn what their interest is in holding office, especially the issues that really get them excited about local government.

Its not my job to convince them, he said. My job is to present my knowledge and my skills. They are the ones who have to make the decision.

Looking ahead, Hickox said that the department will probably need to grow along with the population.

In addition to electronic plan reviews and a revised zoning code, Friday envisions using stakeholder engagement in the coming years to get a good cross section of the community to participate. We have new tools we are putting together to use social media to engage people that way. I see us being able to handle growth better" as a result.

From 2002-05, Hickox was planning director in Logan County, Colo. Before that he was planning director for Southeast Georgia Regional Development Center as well as a workforce development and community development block grant planner and regional planner.

He earned an undergraduate degree in political science from Georgia College and a masters degree in public administration from the University of Georgia.

Friday has been planning division manager in Billings and Yellowstone County since 2007 and was a planner for four years before that. Hes also been a planning consultant in Enfield, N.Y. and a reporter for the Sheridan (Wyo.) Press.

His undergraduate degree in environmental issues and writing is from Ithaca College in New York and his masters degree is in regional planning from Cornell University, also in Ithaca.

Volek will make her choice with recommendations from an advisory committee as well as city and county public and private officials.
Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 13/10/2016 (2209 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

If you thought being a clown was a good idea for a Halloween costume, you might want to think again. In fact, law enforcement across North America is on alert for random people traumatizing others by simply wearing a clown costume.

The problem has become so large and so widespread that on Tuesday we heard Ronald McDonald has gone into hiding.

While I wish I was kidding, one of the worlds largest fast-food chains does not want to contribute to the anxiety of children as this not so innocent Internet sensation sweeps the globe.

Fort Saskatchewan RCMP/Facebook Fort Saskatchewan clown.

In a statement from McDonalds USA, spokeswoman Terri Hickey said McDonalds and franchisees in the local markets are mindful of the current climate around clown sightings in communities and as such are being thoughtful in respect to Ronald McDonalds participation in community events for the time being.

While kids might like clowns, for many adults, fear of clowns is a real problem.

A Rasmussen poll from 2014 reported that 43 per cent of us dont like clowns, and, last year, a survey revealed clowns were a cause of significant anxiety for almost seven per cent of adults. The so-called creepy clown sightings have spread across more than 20 U.S. states and parts of Canada, which has led to arrests, school warnings and police investigations.

Those who work in the professional clown business say whats happening is heartbreaking. Because of the scary clown phenomenon, those in the business of being clowns are suffering a huge economic downturn, and some are just throwing in the red nose altogether.

Schools in Ottawa and the Greater Toronto Area sent warning letters home to parents after police investigated incidents involving teenagers dressed as clowns.

In Nova Scotia, police are investigating two clown-related threats to schools and individuals. And while no violence has been confirmed by police anywhere in Canada involving clowns, the bizarre sightings have created some real-life repercussions.

One Connecticut school district has banned clown costumes, while in Georgia, an 11-year-old girl was arrested. She was so scared of the clowns she actually took a knife to school to fend them off.

Here in Westman, very few if any sightings have been reported. But what we are hearing about is the fear. And that fear is real. This is very much terrifying your children and creating unnecessary anxiety.

So how about clown sightings here in Westman?

A check of social media and Internet message boards reveals unconfirmed reports of people wearing clown masks, but keep in mind, it is nearing Halloween. A check to Brandon Police Services website reveals no incidents or arrests involving clowns in Brandon. But that doesnt mean they are not there.

Jean-Francois Tanguay  Id be scared if someone dressed as a clown was chasing me with a machete.

Marsha Porter-Goodon  Its only a matter of time someone is going to get hurt or killed, people really need to get a life and quit clowning around!

Michael Mallette  They dont scare me, I find them creepy though.

Lauresa Mason  Honestly I think half of this is fake, just people doing it for the pictures or because they think its funny. If there were actually sightings of clowns, why have the police not put out warnings or anything like that?

Justin Oertel  This clown crap is already getting old and stupid

Braeden Michaelis  This prank is beyond stupid. These clowns, most likely gonna be teens cashing in on an internet trend are gonna get hurt and killed. If theyre carrying anything that can be called a weapon someone isnt gonna run and theyre gonna regret it.

Venessa Grassinger  Terrified.

Michelle Dawn Major  I think the clown costume should be banned for older kids. I have heard a lot of stories coming home from school about creepy clowns and the kids are scared.

Matthew Bauche  Brandon police need to worry about getting the drug dealers and guns off the street not a scary clown costume.

Sherallyn Robertson  Im more worried about the crime happening in Brandon not clowns seriously.

When asked if clown costumes should be banned in Brandon, over half of those who responded to the question on Star-FMs Facebook page said they dont like a ban, especially on small children, but most believed the ban might be needed for teens and adults wanting to be a clown this Halloween. As for calming nerves and talking to your kids about scary clowns, heres some tips:

Remind your children that clowns arent real

Its important to show kids a YouTube video about how clowns are created. Possibly even dress them as a clown themselves to see how fun it can be. Its also important to put the focus back on the fun of Halloween and how sometimes things that are a little scary are a little fun.

Social Media is dangerous. Clowns actually arent

Fear spreads and spreads fast on Facebook, Twitter, and any other form of digital communication. That communication is often opinion-based or simply made up. With clowns, the worst is just being scared. In fact, almost all of the reports of clowns in the last two months have been unverified, social media-based or have turned out to be pranksters.

Check your sources of information

Clown panic has meant the spread of a lot of dubious information. Some people looking for attention have gone so far as to create bogus Facebook messages that looked like they may be from the police. If you see messages on social media about clowns, or anything scary, or really anything at all that seems even remotely fishy, check directly with the source to verify. And if you cant, its best to call or email or text a trusted media outlet. Sometimes we dont have all the answers, and sometimes its not as fast as you might like, but at least it will be accurate 99.9 per cent of the time  as opposed to a roll of the dice.

JOKE THIS WEEK

A clown had just totalled his car in a horrific accident. Miraculously, he managed to pry himself from the wreckage without a scratch. When the RCMP arrived, the officer said, Your car looks like an accordion that was stomped on by an elephant. Are you OK?

Yes, officer, Im just fine, the clown said.

Well, how in the world did this happen? the officer asked as he surveyed the wrecked car.

Officer, it was the strangest thing, the clown began, I was driving along this road when from out of nowhere this tree pops up in front of me. So I swerved to the right, and there was another tree! I swerved to the left and there was another tree! I swerved to the right and there was another tree! I swerved to the left and there was.

Excuse me, Mr. Clown, the officer said. There isnt a tree on this road for 30 miles. That was your air freshener swinging back and forth.

BIRTHDAYS

Chris Saunders  Missie Kuipers-MacLean  Chauntelle Hudson  Chris Robinson  Cheyenne Constaant  Sarah Shannon  Leslie Jeske  Jacki Purkess  Arlene Shold  Shelly Dixon Brown  Matt DeVliegere Kristie Leroy  Eric Cliplef  Trisha McLeod-Patterson

 Tyler Glen is a radio DJ on Star-FM. He writes a weekly column for The Brandon Sun. Twitter: @Tyler_Glen
Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 13/10/2016 (2209 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Ultimately, they got it signed, they got barricades up. I dont know what more they could do for a temporary fix  ideally, theyd fix the bridge.

 Melita and Area Fire Department Chief Dave Lamb

More than two years after the flood of 2014 knocked out more than $80 million worth of infrastructure in southwestern Manitoba, much of that damage has since been repaired.

To be fair to the provincial government, considering the sheer number of washed-out roads and bridges resulting from that particular flood, and the demands upon provincial repair crews to not only design and build new infrastructure, but also to pay for it, Manitoba Infrastructure and Transportation (formerly the Manitoba Highways Department) has done an admirable job of attending to this reconstruction work.

However, that job is not yet completed. And unfortunately, the site of one still-washed-out bridge near Melita became the scene of a rollover that claimed the lives of two Irishmen last weekend.

The washed-out bridge  approximately a mile west of Provincial Trunk Highway 83 on PR 445  was one of dozens in the RM of Two Borders that were affected by flooding in 2014. The RMs head of council, Debbie McMechan, told the Sun this week that of 56 municipal crossings in her region that had been damaged, all but eight have been repaired. A handful were fixed temporarily and will need to be redone.

Irish news outlets identified the men as Raymond McCann, 42, and Cathal Murphy, 33, who were in Canada for work purposes. They were originally from County Cork, the southernmost county in Ireland. The two men were found in their vehicle that was overturned in Graham Creek in about five feet of water that had seeped into the cab.

As the bridge had not yet been repaired, a temporary detour designed to replace the bridge had been put in place, with appropriate signage at the top of the hill before the creek meant to warn motorists to slow down.

At this point, police are still investigating whether speed or alcohol played a part in this unfortunate accident. The results of an autopsy are expected sometime later.

But as McMechan said, no one wants to see this kind of incident occur, especially on temporary infrastructure.

Im sure the people of MIT (Manitoba Infrastructure and Transportation) are feeling just as sick about it, she said. I know its an uneasy feeling you have knowing that something is out.

We have no doubt residents in these washed-out regions are understanding when it comes to timelines for completing infrastructure repairs. Unfortunately, it seems they have had little choice  under the NDP most rural municipalities felt somewhat abandoned by their provincial government, or at least that was the overwhelming message we had in the wake of the 2014 flood. While that may or may not be true, certainly the NDP political base falls within larger urban centres such as Winnipeg and Brandon, not the rural communities of Melita, Souris and Pipestone.

Yet it would be too easy to lay this incident at the feet of the NDP or even the new Tory government  and quite possibly unfair. According to Manitoba Infrastructure, the road where the fatalities occurred is in good condition and has appropriate signage. At some point, the government has to trust that drivers will slow down according to road conditions, and be wary of areas they may not know very well. This is also true of areas with infrastructure that remains intact.

That said, we ask that the new Progressive Conservative government take a good hard look at the remaining projects in southwestern Manitoba and recommit to conducting infrastructure repairs on provincial roads in a timely manner. If there is any chance that future fatalities and accidents can be prevented by fixing these remaining bridges and roadways, this should be a government priority.
Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 13/10/2016 (2209 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Grateful for your help

On Thursday, Oct. 6, when my mother was attempting to cross the street to go to a store in the Corral Centre, she lost her balance and fell. There was a lady and two gentlemen who stopped to assist her. They drove her to the emergency department. I would like to express my gratitude for their thoughtfulness and kindness in helping my mom. Thank you very much for what you did. As in turned out, she had broken her hip and needed surgery that night. Again, my heartfelt thanks to three very special Good Samaritans.

Police just looking out for your safety

I just want to say that I appreciate the hard work that our professional police force did in catching the suspects after all the shooting incidents that took place in the last month. As for the cab driver being upset, if a police officer tells you to stay put, then thats exactly what you need to do. There was a gun in the car and the police had to be extremely careful for all around, and that includes the driver of the cab.

Warning! Warning!  the warning sirens dont work when we need them

I wonder why we spent thousands and thousands of our tax dollars to install these warning sirens that go off on specific Wednesdays, but dont go off when there are tornadoes just west of the city? Something is wrong somewhere in Brandon.

Put Trump on the waiting list

Further to the editorial cartoon on Oct. 11 referring to the Canadian health-care system fixing Donald Trumps sniffing problem, what it fails to mention is that hed have to be on the waiting list for at least eight months first, and then it would only be completed if it was determined to be immediately life-threatening.

Tuition hike putting strain on families

Regarding a possible post-secondary tuition hike. Are you kidding me? As a mother, I currently work three jobs and my daughter also works so we can pay for her apartment and tuition at the University of Manitoba. Does this mean I need to get a fourth job? I say NO to this hike. Too much strain on the family.

Still dark and dangerous

There are still five street lights out by Crocus Plains high school on a street with two pedestrian crosswalks  very dangerous!
Five years after the ExxonMobil Pipeline Co. spilled an estimated 63,000 gallons of oil into the Yellowstone River near Laurel, the Bonogofsky familys former hay field next to the stream is still basically weeds.

We couldnt get anything to grow the first year, said Alexis Bonogofsky, a writer, photographer and conservation activist. Now at least things are growing, but it will take another year to get it back to where it was.

Bonogofsky was one of about 30 people who attended a meeting in Billings on Wednesday night where the public could offer comments on how a $12 million damage settlement agreed to by ExxonMobil should be spent.

A draft restoration plan has already allocated percentages of the settlement to preferred restoration types, including: $3.56 million for terrestrial and riparian habitat; $2.09 million for large woody debris piles; $2.64 for aquatic habitat; $400,000 for American white pelicans; and $2.41 million for public recreation. The next step is identifying specific projects to fill those categories.

First of all, Im disappointed by the amount, Bonogofsky testified at the meeting. Exxon was making $5 million every hour in 2011.

It is a negotiation, like buying a car, explained Doug Martin, of the states Natural Resource Damage Program, which hosted the meeting.

Specialists were brought in to assess the damage and come up with an amount, he added. How the money can be spent is spelled out in documents like the Oil Pollution Act of 1990.

When we first came (to negotiations) with a number, ExxonMobil came back with zero, Martin said.

It is a fair number, I believe, he said of the $12 million.

A baseline survey documenting whats in the Yellowstone River  from frogs to fish and turtles  was one of the ideas that Bonogofsky said was worth funding. She pointed to this summers die-off of whitefish in Paradise Valley as an example of where such reference information would be valuable.

I think you are trying to do too much with too little. Id like to see some prioritization, she said.

Martin agreed, saying that $12 million seems like a lot when its all in one pile, but not when its broken up between several projects.

Steve Lehenbauer, who lives near the Yellowstone River where it meets the Clarks Fork of the Yellowstone River, said he would like to see the money concentrated on properties along the affected area. Analysis of the damage along the river estimated that 266 acres of shoreline suffered heavy to moderate damage from the oil spill.

Angler Eric Wolff, who fishes the Yellowstone River downstream from Billings, said more of the work should be concentrated in that section of the river, which he said is overlooked when it comes to work such as creating dam bypass for fish and boaters, as well as public access sites.

Wolff said he has a really hard time seeing proposals to spend money on the Laurel Pond or Lake Josephine fisheries, since those werent affected by the spill.

Some of the other people attending the meeting were there to advocate as partners for projects, from the Yellowstone River Parks Association to Our Montana.

Generally, we like the tone of the restoration plan, said Mike Penfold, of Our Montana, who suggested a portion of the settlement dollars go to help fund a cellphone app where recreationists could access the wealth of data Our Montana has collected about Yellowstone River access sites, history and recreation businesses.

Wendy Weaver, executive director of Montana Aquatic Research Services, said her groups program of paying property owners not to riprap their river frontage blends well with the goals of the restoration plan by keeping the river in a natural state.

Our partners are anybody who wants to work with us, said Martin, of the Natural Resource Damage Program.

But those partners will have to meet certain criteria and then survive a ranking of the most important projects to get off the ground.

The entire restoration process is meant to make the environment and public whole again, following injuries to natural resources and public use services. For the Bonogofsky family, though, that doesnt seem possible.

If I had to do it all over again, I wouldnt let them on our property, she said of the cleanup crews, claiming they did more damage than the oil spill.

They were one of seven landowners along the river who sued the multinational corporation for damages rather than take ExxonMobils proposed settlement. The lawsuit resulted in a $2 million payout with the lawyers taking about a third, Bonogofsky said.

The familys property, located across the Yellowstone River from Norms Island park, once provided grass for the familys herd of 250 goats.

We had to sell most of our goats, Bonogofsky said. Now we dont have enough goats to eat all of the weeds we have.

Still pending is a Clean Water Act violation that Exxon has yet to settle with the Environmental Protection Agency for the 2011 spill, which could involve additional penalties. An EPA spokesman said the agency does not comment on enforcement matters.

If this is supposed to be punitive, or hold them to account  $12 million is nothing to them  I dont see how this does that, Bonogofsky said.
The Central Bank has fined Capita Life and Pensions Services more than a million euro for breaching financial regulations.

They relate to the firm acting as an investment business firm without approval.
A step-in groom has been found for the boys from Roscommon who were looking for a young fella to travel to Poland with them after the original groom fell down a stairs and fractured his ribs and punctured his lungs.

Ouch!

via GIPHY

Unable to travel, the groomsman decided the party would go on in his honour and they advertised a free holiday on DoneDeal for anyone who wanted to join in their devilment.

The chosen 'stag' just has to pay the 100 to change the name on the ticket.

Sound!

via GIPHY

This morning the boys took to the airwaves to share their story with the groom coming on to The Anton Savage Show to tell the world about his Stag party that he couldn't go on.

Poor Brian 'Eamo' Larkin can't make his stag in Poland this wkend after fallin down the stairs. So his mates have got themselves a new stag!  Anton Savage (@AntonSavageShow) October 13, 2016

According to the Groom, Brian 'Eamo' Larkin, his 24 friends are off on the holiday with a fella called Eamon Melia from Portlaoise.

Brian explained that he thought he would be able to travel but was told at the last minute by the doctor that he would need another six weeks before he could get on a plane.

He said his friend Mike Leech decided to advertise for a step-in stag for a laugh and before they knew it they were inundated with calls from eager men looking for a fresh weekend of banter and beer.

And the lucky winner of the pot-luck prize was Eamon Melia who is meeting 24 lads at Dublin Airport in the morning and heading to Krakow with them before returning to Roscommon for a night out with the man of the unfortunate moment the Groom Brian 'Eamo' Larkin.

We wish him the very best of luck!

via GIPHY
Gardai are monitoring the activities of an Irish chapter of the notorious Bandidos motorcycle club, which formed last weekend in Limerick.

An initiation ceremony of a Full Patch Chapter took place at the Crossagalla Industrial Estate.

According to Gardai, the leaders of several Bandido chapters from across Europe attended the initiation ceremony last Saturday.

Some members of the gang were seen wearing t-shirts in support of an alleged Bandido member who is charged with shooting dead a fellow biker.

A garda source said: "They are a serious outfit. There are growing fears about them coming across from Europe as they are involved in criminality and violence."

"The head honchos of the Bandidos came to this event in Limerick from across Europe. Some serious criminal elements showed up. What may be coming down the road is unknown," they said.

A number of Belgium police were also present at the Limerick gathering to "liaise" with their garda counterparts.

"They were liaising with gardai as part of their policing operations. There has to be cross border cooperation on these type of gangs because they can suddenly spring up anywhere across the world," the source explained.

"Senior members of the Bandidos travelled to this event in Limerick, not the low level guys. It's sending out a signal that this was an important event in their calendar."

Around 200 bikers gathered in Limerick for the event with around 100 travelling from outside of the country and staying in a number of Limerick city hotels.

"If they decided they wanted to open a chapter in Italy, for example, then the President of the Irish branch would pick members of the club to go there and represent Ireland."

According to gardai, two senior members of the Irish chapter have been convicted of attempting to rob a bank in Munster.

"The gang is well known for criminality. I would watch this space. Many of the smaller Irish motorcycle clubs are afraid of the Bandidos. Their overall aim is to take over the rest of the club's and increase their own membership. The Bandidos see themselves as having status and power."

The Bandidos Motorcycle Club, also known as the Bandido Nation, was formed in the 1960s in Texas. It promotes itself as a "one-percenter" motorcycle club with members getting promoted through the the ranks and presented with badges. The "1%" patch is said to imply the gang's division from the 99% of all law abiding motorcyclists.

The Bandidos are said to have estimated 210 Chapters with approximately 5,000 members across 22 countries. The club's motto states: "We are the people your parents warned you about."
Independents4Change TD Clare Daly has dismissed the issuing of warrant for her arrest as a distraction saying she will deal with the matter in due course, write Daniel McConnell and Louise McCarthy for the Irish Examiner.

A bench warrant was issued this afternoon for the arrest of the Dublin Fingal TD who has been slammed by a Naas District Judge for showing "disrespect".

Speaking in Leinster House, Ms Daly said she was in court this morning but left to be in the Dail for the job she was elected to do.

My solicitor was there and I will have to go back in a couple of weeks and deal with this matter then, she told the Irish Examiner.

I couldn't stay there all day. I had to be back here at Leinster House to be at the Committee and my other work, she added.

On New Year's day this year, at Ballymany Newbridge, Co Kildare, Ms Daly, with an address at 2 Elmwood Drive, Swords, was caught driving at a speed of 59km/hr in a 50km/hr zone.

Inspector Mel Smyth outlined that Deputy Daly has no previous convictions.

Defence Solicitor, Cairbre Finan, told the court that Deputy Daly was not present, but had come into court to instruct him to plead guilty on her behalf.

When Judge Zaidan asked if she had given any reasons, Mr Finan said that she had not given any.

Judge Desmond Zaidan said:"She saw how busy we were. A member of the Oireachtas came in and left, what kind of respect is that?"

Defence argued that Deputy Daly did not mean any disrespect to the court. Mr Finan argued that because it was the first day of hearing, a week's adjournment could be requested.

Judge Zaidan refused an adjournment.

He said: "I have adjourned people who have been absent before and then they don't turn up and they are blaming everyone. I have stopped that to protect everyone, why should she be exempt?"

A bench-warrant was issued for her arrest.

Ms Daly has been an arch critic of Garda Commissioner Noirin O'Sullivan and her court appearance came just 24 hours after the two women squared off at the Oireachtas Justice Committee.
One of the country's leading disability rights campaigners has died.

Martin Naughton, 62, led a sleep-out at Government Buildings last year to demand changes to home care funding and was central to other demonstrations at the Dail in recent years for better services and funding.

President Michael D Higgins led tributes to the Galway native and founder of the Centre for Independent Living, describing him as an "indefatigable advocate for human rights".

"Martin Naughton gained widespread respect through his lifelong campaign for the inclusion of people living with disabilities and through his work with countless statutory and non-governmental organisations," the President said.

"Having experienced in his early years the once widespread practice of institutionalised living, he became a formidable and tireless campaigner for the right of people with disabilities to live in their own communities and homes."

Mr Naughton had spinal muscular atrophy and spent years of his childhood living in St Mary's Hospital in Baldoyle, Dublin.

We are greatly saddened to hear of the death of Martin Naughton. His life impacted so many others. His death is a huge loss.  LEAP Ireland (@LEAPLeapireland) October 13, 2016

In his adult years as an activist he worked with the Independent Living movement, the Disability Federation of Ireland, Aiseanna Tacaiochta, Disability Options and Vantastic.

He also led the People with Disabilities campaign, which personally challenged Taoiseach Enda Kenny to revise home care packages last year after the budget.

"As a political activist, Martin Naughton had the vision, skills and determination to build solidarity between all those who strive for equality, dignity and the fulfilment of human rights for all groups in society, making him a valuable ally for a multitude of social justice groups," Mr Higgins said.

RIP Martin Naughton Thank you for everything. We will miss you more than words can convey. https://t.co/c73G4CjDOL  ILMIreland (@ILMIreland) October 13, 2016

"His struggle for equality in Ireland and internationally has been an inspiration.

"Martin Naughton will be deeply missed not just by his sisters and family but also by his wide circle of friends and supporters."
It seems that Government Ministers will not be getting a pay rise out of the Budget after all.

They had been due to get a 12,000 boost over the next three years as part of a pay restoration deal.
Fianna Fail has said it will abstain from a vote on the new help-to-buy scheme which would offer a 20,000 tax rebate to first time buyers on newly- built homes.

The party is calling for changes to the scheme, under which first-time buyers can get a maximum of 20,000 (or 5% of a maximum house price of 400,000) back in tax relief that they can offset against their required deposit. To avail of the relief, the buyers will have to put down a 20% deposit.

The 5% will only apply to newly built houses (including self-built) priced up to 400,000. Buyers will still be eligible for a tax rebate on property purchases up to 600,000, but the rebate will be limited to 20,000. No rebate will be available on houses priced over 600,000

Fianna Fail housing spokesman Barry Cowen (pictured) said: "I'm really worried about the threshold at which this has been set (at 600,000). I think somebody considering buying a home at 590,000 doesn't necessarily need a 20,000 top-up from the State.

"Had it been capped at 400,000, that would have set a (better) target."

He added the scheme was unlikely to lead to an increase in housing supply, and could instead lead to an overheating of the market for first-time buyers.

I have serious concerns that the help-to-buy scheme will merely lead to increased house prices for first-time buyers.

"The grant is restrictive in that it is limited to new builds, so now we have a situation where tens of thousands of potential first-time buyers will be chasing fewer than 10,000 new builds which are expected to be delivered next year," he said.

There has been a spike in new-home searches on the housing website Daft.ie after the announcement in the Budget of the new first-time buyers' help-to-buy scheme.

The website's Martin Clancy said interest in new homes was greatest in the Dublin area and Dublin commuter counties, followed by Cork, Galway, Limerick and Waterford.

"There has been a huge spike since the announcement," he said. "Searches have increased by 130% compared to the average daily search rate for 2016."
A man accused of setting off bombs in New Jersey and New York, injuring more than 30 people, has pleaded not guilty to charges he tried to kill police officers before they captured him.

A lawyer for Ahmad Khan Rahimi entered the pleas as Rahimi appeared from his hospital bed in Newark in his first public appearance since last month's bombings and police chase.

Rahimi, an Afghan-born US citizen, has been in hospital with gunshot wounds since a police shootout that led to his capture on September 19 outside a bar in Linden.

His head was propped up on pillows, while his lawyer stood by his side wearing a disposable hospital gown and plastic gloves.

Rahimi, 28, is charged with five counts of attempted murder of a police officer and weapons offences.

He was read his rights by Judge Regina Caulfield and answered "yes" to a series of questions she asked him.

He is accused of detonating a pipe bomb along the route of a Marine Corps charity race in the New Jersey town of Seaside Park and a pressure cooker bomb in New York City on September 17.

No-one was injured in the New Jersey blast, and 31 people were hurt in the New York blast. A second pressure cooker bomb did not explode.

Rahimi also faces federal charges in both states.

Officer Angel Padilla, who prosecutors say was shot by Rahimi, was in court along with fellow Linden officers.
The Scottish Government will publish a Bill for a second independence referendum within days, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has announced.

She said the move is necessary so Scots can reconsider the issue in light of the vote for Brexit and "to do so before the UK leaves the EU".

She told delegates at the SNP conference in Glasgow that an Independence Referendum Bill is to be published for consultation by her Government next week.

She also used her opening speech to send a firm message to British Prime Minister Theresa May, telling her: "If you think for one single second that I'm not serious about doing what it takes to protect Scotland's interests, then think again.

"If you can't - or won't - allow us to protect our interests within the UK, then Scotland will have the right to decide, afresh, if it wants to take a different path."

Almost two-thirds (62%) of Scots voted to Remain part of the European Union, and Ms Sturgeon told the British Prime Minister: "Scotland didn't choose to be in this situation - your party put us here."

While Scots rejected independence in the referendum in September 2014, the SNP leader said in the run-up to that vote that Westminster leaders had insisted Scotland was "an equal partner in the UK".

But in the wake of the European referendum in June, she said the moment has now come to prove it.

Ms Sturgeon told the conference: "I am determined that Scotland will have the ability to reconsider the question of independence - and to do so before the UK leaves the EU - if that is necessary to protect our country's interests.

"So I can confirm today that the Independence Referendum Bill will be published for consultation next week."

The First Minister insisted a fresh vote on independence would not simply be a re-run of the arguments of 2014 - when voters backed staying in the UK by 55% to 45%.

She told SNP activists: "When Scotland does come to take this decision again - whenever that might be - we must not take for granted how anyone will vote.

"It will be a new debate, not a re-run of 2014. We must not assume that people's views - yes or no - are the same today as they were two years ago.

"Instead we must engage the arguments with a fresh eye and an open mind. The case for independence will have to be made and won."

But she said if the choice is between "an inward-looking, insular, Brexit Britain governed by a right-wing Tory party obsessed with borders and blue passports at the expense of economic strength and stability" and a "progressive, outward looking, internationalist Scotland", then it is a case that "we will win".

Ms Sturgeon insisted a "hard Brexit", which takes the UK out of the European single market, would "change the UK fundamentally", leaving the country "isolated, inward looking, haemorrhaging jobs, investment and opportunities".

Such a country "will not be the same country that Scotland voted to stay part of in 2014", she said.

"If that's the insecure, unstable prospect we face as part of the UK, then no-one will have the right to deny Scotland the chance to choose a better future."

The First Minister insisted there "is no rational case" for taking the UK out of the single market, and that the Tories have no mandate to do so.

First Minister of Scotland and the leader of the Scottish National Party Nicola Sturgeon on stage with the new Deputy Leader of the SNP Angus Robertson at the party's biggest-ever conference in Glasgow today.

If that does happen, she said the British Treasury has estimated the cost to the UK's economy could be as much as 66 billion, adding: "Here in Scotland 80,000 jobs could be lost. Wages would be hit by up to 2,000 and growth in the economy would slow."

She accused Mrs May of having displayed "disregard for Scotland's democratic voice that was reminiscent of Margaret Thatcher".

The SNP leader added: "High-handed pronouncements that dismiss Scottish opinion might delight the Tory party conference - but they are no longer acceptable to mainstream Scotland."

Ms Sturgeon told the conference that SNP MPs at Westminster will vote against the "Brexit Bill" when it comes before the House of Commons next year.

She said: "That Bill will repeal the legislation that enacted our EU membership. Scotland didn't vote for that and so neither will our MPs."

But she also said the SNP would "work to persuade others - Labour, Liberals and moderate Tories - to join us in a coalition against a hard Brexit".

And she said: "We will also assert the right of the Scottish Parliament to have its say."

Ms Sturgeon described Holyrood as being the "democratic heartbeat of our nation".

She added: "To deny it the right to give or withhold its consent on an issue of such magnitude would be an act of constitutional vandalism. It is not on."
Donald Trump has denied allegations of sexual assault, calling them a "co-ordinated, vicious attack" from the media and Hillary Clinton campaign.

Mr Trump said at a rally in Florida that he has evidence to disprove allegations of sexual assault and will release it at the "appropriate time".
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Often through no fault of their own, Montanans find themselves in court in times of crisis and need. They are crime victims, they are injured and cant work, they have a business dispute, they are in a fight with their siblings over their parents estate, they are children who are abused or neglected, or they are seniors who have been cheated or exploited. Each case is critically important to the people involved. At risk is their liberty, their property, their livelihood, and their children and grandchildren.

I have dedicated my career to serving my neighbors in this small community we call Montana. For 25 years I have faithfully served and protected Montanans as a police officer, prosecutor, and a state District Court judge within the law under our Montana and U.S. constitutions.

In contrast, extremists and out-of-state corporate dark money are back again with another inexperienced, ideology-driven candidate in yet another attempt to buy our court to shape and influence it for their own purposes. I am running to help maintain the integrity of our court as the place where all Montanans can get impartial justice on a fair and even playing field under the rule of law without regard for any political, social, or personal agenda or ideology.

I am the only candidate qualified by proven judicial or courtroom experience to serve all Montanans on our Supreme Court. The primary function of our Supreme Court is to decide cases that come from our District Courts. Unlike my opponent, I have actually been deciding these cases for the last 14 years as state district judge in one of Montanas busiest judicial districts. In contrast, my opponent has no judicial experience and, despite what she says, no significant experience handling cases in state or federal court. She has not practiced law full-time since 2000. Before that, she did not regularly represent Montanans in court. If politics were not involved and this was a straight-up job application process on the qualifications for the job, my opponent wouldnt even get an interview.

Even more troubling, my opponent has a documented history of being a crusading activist on divisive religious/social issues, advocating against Montanas public stream access laws which she has characterized as a monumental erosion of private property rights, and advocating that out-of-state corporations are over-taxed. Right or wrong, she cannot change her stripes and divorce herself from her vehement agenda biases.

Not too surprisingly, out-of-state corporations are dumping hundreds of thousands of dollars into Montana to support my opponent by spreading despicable half-truths and lies to smear my distinguished public service record. Why? Because they think she will do their bidding on our Court.

My proven judicial record shows that my only agenda has been and will be my sworn duty to faithfully support, protect, and defend our state and federal constitutions under the oath I have repeatedly taken over 25 years of public service as police officer, prosecutor, and state district judge. I am supported and endorsed by outgoing Justice Patricia Cotter and every single retired Montana Supreme Court justice. These are the people Montanans have trusted to serve us on our court over the past 20 years. They havent always agreed on everything, but agree that the integrity of our court is at risk and that I am the only qualified candidate to faithfully serve all Montanans in a fair, impartial, and highly competent manner. I am also supported by Montana prosecutors, law enforcement officers, judges, and others you trust in your communities and our state.

I need your vote to serve you on the Montana Supreme Court.
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Our Montana Supreme Court is the last stop for deciding the most important legal questions in Montana. Its important we get those right  not just for the parties involved in a particular case, but also for anyone else, present or future, who will be affected by the precedent that case sets.

Thats why its vital our Montana Supreme Court be made up of experts from a breadth of different legal fields. Justices with a variety of backgrounds.

Most of the justices currently serving on the Supreme Court come from government. And while its important to have government expertise on the court, we need to balance that with justices experienced in the legal issues affecting everyday Montanans. Thats the type of experience I want to bring to the Court.

Ive practiced law for 34 years, working with Montanas small business owners, farmers, and ranchers to resolve the wide variety of legal problems they regularly face. I brought that practical experience into the classroom as a professor at the University of Montana School of Law, teaching property, business, and agricultural law.

Im a fourth generation Montanan raised on my familys ranch near Conrad. I understand that Montanas economic engine is powered by agriculture, Main Street businesses, and natural resource production. We need a legal environment in which Montana businesses and families can thrive.

I am committed to legal stability and predictability. The court is not a legislative body; it should rarely announce new rules of law or depart from judicial precedent.

Yet our current court has a reputation for being inconsistent. It reversed itself over 100 times between 1990 and 2000 (Jeff Renz, Montana Law Review 2004) and another 73 times the following decade (Rob Natelson, Montana Policy Institute 2012). In 2012 it was reversed twice by the U.S. Supreme Court within a span of a few months.

That type of judicial inconsistency is a big part of the reason why Montana has been ranked in the bottom tier of states for our business legal environment.

The unpredictability in our legal environment has real consequences. It means its harder for an entrepreneur to start a business in Montana, more expensive to run one, and more difficult to create jobs.

I dont come with a political agenda. I am committed to fairly and impartially apply the laws as written and adopted by the Legislature. I have the broad support of Montanans from all walks of life and viewpoints. I am not beholden to the Montana Trial Lawyers Association, many of whom have contributed $30,000 to $60,000 each in an effort to achieve their political and legal objectives by electing their chosen candidate  Dirk Sandefur.

Its time for a change on the Montana Supreme Court. The court doesnt need another government attorney. Experience representing everyday Montanans matters, and Im ready to put mine to work.
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When Montanans are looking for a governor we think about words like trustworthiness, responsibility and leadership. These words aren't the words Montanans are using to describe Gov. Steve Bullock. It's easy to see why the electorate is upset and frustrated with what they view as the status quo: government gone awry with inaction and corruption.

Some people want to blow up the system and start from scratch, but I think we have to quit electing career politicians who spend their days roaming the bureaucratic halls of government bumping shoulders with the elite and the well-connected. Montana doesn't need another lawyer as governor for four more years.

When we elect Greg Gianforte, he will bring our fiscal house in order, stop the growth in government and work with all legislators to get an infrastructure bill passed to bring much needed help to our towns. We will see job creation instead of layoffs in our natural resource industries, such as coal and timber. Gianforte isn't a government insider. He is a business leader who has the experience we need to make Montana a better place to live and raise our families.

Charles B. Pass

Bozeman
The recital is to mark 40 years of friendship between Australia and Japan, the 40th anniversaries of the Basic Treaty between Japan and Australia and the establishment of the Australia Japan Foundation.

This is his first tour of Australia. In coming days he will be going on to the Sydney Opera House to play Beethoven's Third Piano Concerto with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra. But first on Friday in the Great Hall the 27-year-old will be giving a recital attended by prime minister Malcolm Turnbull and the Japanese Ambassador Sumio Kusaka.

Portrait of renowned Japanese classical pianist and composer, Nobuyuki Tsujii who will perform a special piano recital at Parliament House to mark the 40th anniversaries of the Basic Treaty between Japan and Australia Credit:Rohan Thomson

Used to the on-stage companionship of the very grandest of grand pianos, on Thursday he obliged The Canberra Times by posing with (but declining to play) the Hyatt Hotel's stubby little Yamaha baby grand.

However much delight Japanese piano virtuoso Nobuyuki Tsujii (known as Nobu) gives to his audience of dignitaries in the Great hall of Parliament House on Friday he won't be able to see that delight on their faces. Nobu, a delighter of audiences in many of the great auditoriums of the world, (including the Royal Albert Hall and Carnegie Hall), has been blind since birth.

Although he would be a dazzling performer even without his handicap his admirers, in their gushing reviews, marvel at how dashingly he is able to learn and play some fiendishly difficult scores necessarily by ear, without assistance of printed music.

On Thursday and through an interpreter, he explained that only a fraction of the world's treasure trove of music is available in braille form And so with teachers and friends he has come up with a unique-to-him system in which a team of pianists records pieces, in small sections. He thinks of these recordings as 'music sheets for ears' and he uses them, painstakingly, to learn pieces by ear, albeit never simply just imitating what he has heard.

Soloists performing with orchestras usually make crucial eye contacts with the conductor so as to be able to synchronise things. He can't do that but instead he explained on Thursday as well as using "sense" (there can be semi-mystical empathy between conductor and soloist) he may arrange for contact with conductors "by breaths", with little gasps.

On Thursday this reporter's unspoken prayers that the famous man would, after all, give us a short recital on the inferior baby piano remained unanswered. Appreciative people who have heard him play and who try to describe it rationally (and a famous wit has said that talking/writing about music is as superfluous as dancing about architecture) can sound as if they are describing a religious experience.

Authoritative Wikipedia reports eminent pianist and piano competition juror Menahem Pressler saying of Nobu "God has taken his eyes, but given him the ... mental endowment to encompass the greatest works of piano. For him to play the Chopin concerto with such sweetness, gentleness and sincerity - it's deeply touching. I had to keep from crying when I left the room."
There is probably no greater endorsement of a children's book than kids dressing up as one of its characters for Book Week.

This year for Book Week, two of Carlie Gibson's' children dressed up as characters from the charming new book, The Sisters Saint-Claire  made even more more special because she wrote it.

Canberra author Carlie Gibson has released her first children's book, The Sisters Saint-Claire, based on her growing up with four sisters.

Allen and Unwin has just published The Sisters Saint-Claire, the first book for Ms Gibson, a mum-of-three from Gilmore.

Beautifully illustrated by Tamsin Ainslie, the book was inspired by Ms Gibson's own childhood growing up as the oldest of five sisters in country NSW and also, later in life, travelling through France and soaking up its villages and country markets.
A new suburb in between the Tuggeranong town centre and the Murrumbidgee River is unlikely to go ahead, after a community panel could not make a strong enough case for it.

But it will be up to the incoming ACT government to ultimately decide the fate of the western Greenway site, which was likely to be called Thompson.

Matthew Frawley and daughter Ruby Tunk-Frawley, explore the banks of the Murrumbidgee River. Credit:Jay Cronan

Deputy-director general of Environment and Planning Gary Rake said after four meetings of the community panel, the panel is expected to produce a report saying no further studies should be conducted at west Greenway.

That report is yet to be finalised but it is understood the group will urge the next ACT government not to push ahead with urban development on the site.
North Melbourne has gone to the AFL for an explanation of the Daniel Wells compensation pick after the club was disappointed to be given just pick 33  for the two-time best and fairest winner.

North chief executive Carl Dilena said the club felt an end of first round pick was appropriate for a player of Wells' calibre and they were upset to have been given a pick tied to their second-round draft position.

North Melbourne are far from happy with the Daniel Wells outcome. Credit:Collingwood Media

Dilena said the AFL's compensation formula put too great an emphasis on a player's age rather than the size of their contract offer, their achievements as a player and their importance to their club.

"We were disappointed. We thought an end of first round pick was appropriate, so after Brisbane's priority pick that would make it pick 20. Instead, because of our finish on the ladder, it at this stage will be 14 places worse.
The consumer watchdog is worried that a tie-up of Link Group and Pillar Administration could push up prices for super fund members by removing ASX-listed Link's only real competitor in superannuation administration.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission on Thursday said if Link were to acquire Pillar, which is being privatised by the NSW government, super fund members could receive poorer service or higher fees.

ACCC chairman Rod Sims: "The ACCC is concerned that the possible acquisition is likely to substantially lessen competition in the supply of superannuation administration services by entrenching Link's dominant position." Credit:Bradley Kanaris

"The ACCC is concerned that the possible acquisition is likely to substantially lessen competition in the supply of superannuation administration services by entrenching Link's dominant position, resulting in lower service levels or higher prices, which will ultimately be passed on to fund members," ACCC chairman Rod Sims said in a statement.

"It would also remove the potential for an alternative owner to further invest in Pillar's offering and make it an even stronger competitor to Link in the future."
Shoppers camped out from 3am to get to the front of the queue for the launch of their favourite fashion brands on Thursday, as Chadstone finally unveiled the first stage of its $660-million redevelopment.

The biggest shopping centre in the southern hemisphere looked more like a rock concert, as screaming fans cheered the opening of Swedish apparel giant H&M's outlet as well as a Uniqlo shop and a store for home-grown beauty star Mecca.

Carrie Bickmore cut the ribbon on Chadstone's new precinct, which will host more than 60 new retailers, two new dining precincts, a food gallery and a cinema.

By the middle of 2017, Chadstone will have close to 600 retailers, including some of the world's best-known luxury brands as well as Australia's only Legoland discovery precinct.
A company with coal mines in Wyoming and Montana said Thursday that it's begun exporting fuel to Asia through a Canadian port  a rare bit of a positive news for an industry that's been in a prolonged tailspin.

Details on the announcement from Lighthouse Resources Inc. were obtained in advance by The Associated Press.

The Utah-based company had been seeking approval since 2011 for a coal export terminal in Oregon and since 2010 for a terminal in Washington. It's faced strong opposition from environmentalists, American Indian tribes and some state officials concerned over coal dust pollution and potential damage to fisheries on the Columbia River.

With the company's coal now going through British Columbia's Westshore Terminals, Lighthouse Chief Executive Officer Everett King said it was pulling out of the proposed coal terminal at Port of Morrow in Boardman, Ore., after that project stalled.

"Though we are disappointed for our Morrow Pacific Project supporters, we are very excited to commence delivery of products to our customers," King said.

The fuel was destined for coal-burning power plants in South Korea, the company said. It declined to give shipment volumes.

The Washington state project, known as Millenium Bulk Terminals and located near the town of Longview, continues to move forward. It received a favorable review in a preliminary environmental assessment last month by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Overseas exports of U.S. coal have been touted as a lifeline for an industry wracked by a wave of bankruptcies and declining domestic demand for the fuel.

However, shipments to foreign nations peaked in 2012 and have since fallen sharply, as China and other countries have reduced their imports of the fuel, according to the Energy Information Administration.

Lighthouse Resources operates the Decker Mine in Montana and the Black Butte Mine in Wyoming. Combined, the mines employ more than 300 people and extracted roughly 6 million tons of fuel last year, according to data submitted to the U.S. Labor Department.

Black Butte is co-owned with Anadarko Petroleum.

An organizer for a group that's fought against the Lighthouse proposals said she was not surprised the company was dropping its efforts at the Port of Morrow, after the Oregon Department of State Lands last year denied a permit for the project.

"I imagine Lighthouse doesn't see a future for coal exports on the Columbia," said Jasmine Zimmer-Stucky with Columbia Riverkeepers. "I see their attempt to export coal through Canada as a backdoor way to avoid the environmental standards that Oregon and Washington have put in place to review  and in Oregon's case deny  coal exports."

Port of Morrow General Manager Gary Neal said the shift by Lighthouse to Canada was disappointing. It will mean the loss of $200 million in potential capital investment in the port and 25 anticipated jobs, he said. The port will try to make up the difference by increasing shipments of grains, potash and other commodities.

The port will continue with its appeal of the state's permit denial in order to preserve future options at the facility, he said. A hearing before an administrative law judge is scheduled for November.
Frontline community workers and unions will urge NSW Premier Mike Baird to put domestic violence leave on the national agenda at the Council of Australian Governments meeting late this month.

The workers and union activists will rally outside NSW parliament in Sydney on Thursday as part of a campaign to reduce violence against women.

NSW Premier Mike Baird is being urged to put domestic violence leave on the national agenda at the Council of Australian Governments meeting late this month. Credit:Wolter Peeters

Unions NSW secretary Mark Morey said an average of 184 incidents of domestic violence were reported in NSW every day. However, there was no entitlement for workers to access additional leave if they were experiencing domestic violence.

"Maintaining your financial independence by being able to keep your job means women have more choices and options when leaving domestic violence situations. To do this we need to ensure their job is secure," Mr Morey said.
Plenty of people will care little about the decision made by Premier Mike Baird this week to cave in on his pledge to end greyhound racing in NSW.

For most of the state the dogs are a curiosity at best; the sport is hardly at the centre of the state or national psyche.

But even the disinterested should be paying close attention to what's going on.

Something significant occurred this week that may influence the short-term future of NSW.
The Syrian situation is becoming more complex by the day. A new set of regional alliances between opposite sides in the conflict is emerging in a rebuff to the United States and its allies in the region. Russia is set to gain wider influence in the Middle East than could have been anticipated a year ago.

President Vladimir Putin has made a calculated move by taking advantage of America's vulnerabilities in order to secure a strong Russian foothold in the Middle East that will enable it to play a significant role in shaping the post Pax-Americana regional political and strategic landscape. He has sought to achieve this objective by adopting several consequential policy measures. Three of these are worth stressing.

The first is to save the Assad regime at all costs, even if it means more destruction and killing in Syria, as has been witnessed in Russia's relentless air bombing of all Syrian opposition groups, not only in Aleppo but elsewhere in the country. Moscow has remained totally impervious to all international criticism and has blamed the US and Western allies for the Syrian tragedy. It has turned up its nose at Washington's decision to end all contact with Russia over Syria, which has essentially killed any chances of a political settlement of the Syrian crisis for the foreseeable future. To ensure its long-term interest in Syria and through it in the region, Moscow has also just announced that it will establish a permanent military base in Syria's Latakia  the heartland of the ruling Syrian Alawite minority.

The second is to deepen and widen its relations with the Islamic Republic of Iran, which has a strategic partnership with Syria, organic ties with the Lebanese Islamist Hezbollah, and influential relations with the Iraqi government and several powerful elements among Iraq's Shia majority. Moscow has made a common cause with Tehran in support of the Assad regime as Iran could not ensure the survival of the regime, at much financial and military cost, from early 2011 until Russia's escalation of its military involvement in Syria a year ago.
Turnbull government ministers have played down a "procedural mistake" in the Parliament that saw the government accidentally condemn itself, heaping praise on the "fixer" Christopher Pyne for undoing the bungle that left Coalition MPs embarrassed.

In its second procedural mishap in the House of Representatives, the Coalition on Wednesday voted for a Labor amendment calling on the government to "explain why it has failed" to close tax avoidance loopholes and increase transparency.

Financial Services Minister Kelly O'Dwyer, who had carriage of the bill, and Justice Minister Michael Keenan, who was also present in the chamber, were blamed for dropping the ball and creating a headache that dogged the government on Thursday.

Labor made hay of the stuff-up, again portraying the government as chaotic and devoid of a strong working majority. Coalition MPs were unimpressed, with one telling Fairfax Media it was "embarrassing" and would hurt the government's image.
Former treasurer Wayne Swan has doubled down on his allegations that BHP Billiton has been evading taxes for more than a decade and misleading the government about it.

Following up on comments first made using parliamentary privilege on Wednesday night, Mr Swan has gone after the mining giant in the public sphere, accusing it of profit shifting to avoid paying taxes to the Australian government.

The Labor MP's comments come as Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull warned that the tax system must encourage investment and not detract from the attractiveness of Australia as a place to do business, which has been interpreted as a criticism of the Western Australian Nationals' push for a levy of $5 on every tonne of iron ore mined in the state.

Mr Swan said in Parliament on Wednesday that BHP had been "gaming the system" by using aggressive transfer pricing  shifting profits out of Australia to a Singaporean marketing hub  denying the Australian government $5.7 billion in tax revenue. On Thursday morning he repeated the claim outside of Parliament.
Stephanie Scott was murdered just days before she was due to be married. Credit:Facebook The staff had even held a party for her on Thursday, April 2, 2015  three days before she was murdered. Two months before the murder, Stanford typed eight chilling search terms into his computer including, "bride rape", "bride kidnapping" and "bride raped with wedding dress". Stephanie Scott's mother Merrilyn addresses the media outside court, joined by family and friends, including Stephanie's father, Bob, and her fiance Aaron Leeson-Woolley (in the striped jersey). Credit:Peter Rae The court also heard how Stanford had stalked three females before the murder and had covertly followed and photographed a 12-year-old girl, taking 1805 pictures of her and writing notes about her movements in an exercise book.

He told police during his confession that had he abducted the girl, he probably would have killed her. Vincent Stanford showed no emotion during his police interviews. "There can be no question that the offender is a very disturbed individual," Justice Hulme said. On April 5 last year, Easter Sunday, Ms Scott decided she would go to the school to prepare lessons for a relief teacher who was to fill in for her during her two-week honeymoon. A memorial for Stephanie Scott has been made where police found her body in the Cocoparra National Park, north of Griffith. Credit:Peter Rae

Stanford was not rostered to work that day but he was at the school and saw Ms Scott working in the staffroom. According to an agreed set of facts, Stanford then went home to collect a "rape kit" complete with a knife and handcuffs. Vincent Stanford leaves Griffith Courthouse after his sentencing hearing on Tuesday. Credit:Peter Rae He told police that, when he saw Ms Scott, he felt, "Just that I had to kill her. I wasn't angry or anything. Basically emotionless. Just that I had to kill her." When he returned to the school he waited for Ms Scott to leave and, when she bumped into him in the corridor, she said, "'I'm going home now. Have a happy Easter."

Stephanie Scott's mother Merrilyn Scott and her fiance Aaron Leeson-Woolley outside a makeshift memorial at Leeton High School shortly after the murder. Credit:Kate Geraghty As she went to look for her keys in her handbag, Stanford grabbed her from behind and dragged her into an old dark room before throwing her on the ground. In his interview with police, Stanford said, "I think I went a little nuts" and confessed to beating her 30 to 40 times before stabbing her in the neck with a knife. "The offender's demeanour in the extract from the recordings that was played in Court clearly demonstrated a lack of emotion. There was not the slightest hint of remorse," Justice Hulme said. After the murder, Stanford returned home to have a cheese sandwich and a cup of coffee before returning to the dark room where he had left the body.

"The offender's conniving, callous and self-interested conduct continued in the immediate aftermath with his disposal of incriminating items, one of the most despicable acts being his despatch of Ms Scott's engagement and graduation rings and her driver's licence to his brother Marcus in South Australia," Justice Hulme said. Stanford later used a high pressure cleaner from the school to wash away Ms Scott's blood before placing her body in the boot of her red Mazda 3 sedan, which he then drove to his house. In the early hours of Monday, April 6, Stanford drove the body to Cocoparra National Park, near Griffith. He poured 20 litres of petrol over her body and set her alight. Stanford also returned to the national park where Ms Scott's body was and took photos of her burnt remains.

Police found the body in burnt scrub under a tree, a few metres from the side of a red dirt road on Friday, April 10  the night before she was due to marry. The next day, her friends and family gathered for a picnic memorial and all wore yellow  Ms Scott's favourite colour. Stanford's barrister Janet Manuell SC had argued her client should not be given a life sentence because he suffered from autism spectrum disorder, his young age and the fact that he had pleaded guilty. But Justice Hulme was not convinced Stanford's moral culpability should be reduced on account of his autism spectrum disorder. "I am satisfied beyond any doubt that the offender's culpability is so extreme that the community interest in retribution, punishment, community protection and deterrence can be met with only one response," he said.

Outside court on Thursday Merrilyn Scott spoke of the difficult and "harrowing" 18 months her family had endured. "So much has been taken away from us. Stephanie has had everything taken away from her," Mrs Scott said. "Losing her has shattered so many lives and we are all struggling with the consequences." Mrs Scott thanked the police and spoke of their professionalism and care. Loading
A former stripper is challenging her jail sentence for the murder of her ex-boyfriend, claiming she should spend less time behind bars as his dumped body had not been mutilated and 'extreme violence' was not involved in his death.

Robyn Lindholm pleaded guilty to murder after enlisting her lover Torsten Trabert and John Ryan to kill Hawthorn gym owner Wayne Amey on December 10, 2013, the day before he was due in court to address a property dispute he had had with Lindholm.

Trabert is also appealing his sentence, with his lawyer arguing that while Lindholm, 43, had a "primary motive" to kill Mr Amey, his client's motive was "put very simply, your honour, sex", the Court of Appeal was told on Thursday.

Supreme Court Justice Lex Lasry sentenced Lindholm to 25 years, Trabert to 28 years and Ryan to 31 years imprisonment for Mr Amey's murder last year. All three are appealing their prison terms.
Youth advocates have warned a plan by the state opposition to "name and shame" repeat youth offenders is similar to laws in the Northern Territory where a royal commission has been launched into the treatment of juveniles.

Raised as a response to violent youth gangs such as Apex, the proposal would see the names of youths who repeatedly commit serious crimes released to the public rather than being held as are currently are.

Vision of teenage boys being assaulted, stripped naked, shackled and tear-gassed at Darwin's Don Dale detention centre aired ABC's Four Corners prompted a royal commission into the Northern Territory's youth justice system. Credit:ABC News

There would also be a two-strike policy which would see youth offenders lose the right to request bail.

Commissioner for Children and Young People Liana Buchanan shot down the plan, pointing out that the only other jurisdiction in Australia that allowed the names of juveniles to be released was the Northern Territory.
BOZEMAN  Two former Bozeman radiologists have filed a federal whistleblower lawsuit alleging Bozeman Health Deaconess Hospital illegally conspired to maintain its monopoly on radiology services, some of which are billed to Medicare and Medicaid.

Frank Rembert and Michael Paradise allege the radiology group that had contracted with the Bozeman hospital was considering opening an outpatient imaging center, which would have competed with the hospital for patients and possibly offered services at a lower cost.

The lawsuit alleges the hospital created a joint venture with the radiology group and agreed to refer patients to the joint venture in exchange for millions of dollars in kickbacks.

The hospital denied the allegations and will defend itself against the lawsuit, which was filed in December but made public last week.
Police are hunting for an alleged groper who repeatedly grabbed a woman on the breast and bottom in a supermarket in Melbourne's north.

The victim, a 38-year-old Reservoir woman, told police that a man started following her at a shopping centre on Plenty Road in Preston at about midday on October 7.

The man grabbed her on the bottom when she quickened her stride to get away, police said.

After confronting the man, the woman then continued her shopping.
"I don't know any of them," she said. Justice Hall then dismissed the woman from the jury and advised her not to post anything further about the case online. Jurors, as part of their duties, must only consider the evidence presented during the trial, and not seek out additional information from other sources that could prejudice their decision. Perth lawyer and president of the Australian Lawyers Alliance, Tom Percy QC, said the "alarming" number of jurors accessing the internet to comment on or research a trial was becoming "all too regular" and was potentially denying defendants a fair trial. Nobody, I can assure you at the moment, is more angry in the entire state than me. Justice Michael Corboy

He has called for new laws to be introduced that would allow accused people to be able to choose between a trial by judge-alone, or a trial by jury. Current laws allow an accused person to apply to be trialled by a judge-alone, but this application can be knocked back by a judge. "The day of the jury may very well be nearly over," Mr Percy said. "It's too seductive for a [juror] to go home at night and go, 'geez what about this bloke, Bill Smith, I'll just go and Google him'. "They find out about him and what he does, they go on Facebook and look him up there and if they don't disclose that... they are armed with knowledge that's not in evidence at the trial that may well be considerable prejudice to the accused."

In 2014, the Perth trial of Ronald Pennington, 85, who was accused of killing a woman in 1992 and burying her in his backyard, was aborted after a jury member's girlfriend looked up details of the defendant's past trials and disclosed these to her partner. At the time, Justice Michael Corboy said "Nobody, I can assure you at the moment, is more angry in the entire state than me". In another example, WAtoday understands a jury member deciding on a drug-related trial in WA was recently questioned after revealing to other jury members he had researched methamphetamine production online. Despite the breaches, WA Attorney General Michael Mischin said the state government had no plans to change its justice laws. "Although the availability of sources of information is greater than in the past, and there is always the risk of aberrations, there is no reason to suppose that jurors take their responsibilities less seriously now than they have done in the past," he said.

But Mr Percy claimed the ability to secretly research a trial should give rise for a defendant to be able to forego their right to a trial by jury. "Lloyd Rayney got [a judge-only] trial because there was excess publicity [around his case]," he said. "It just made it unfair for him to be trialled by a jury, sometimes that sort of thing will incline a judge to do it, but there is no right to trial by judge alone, you have to convince a judge that is would be appropriate. "We want it to be an unrestricted right  the option of the person charged." Loading
Hamilton: The British territory of Bermuda is hunkering down with Hurricane Nicole rapidly strengthening into a major Category 4 storm, taking aim at the tiny island in the northern Atlantic Ocean.

The US National Hurricane Centre in Miami called Nicole an "extremely dangerous'' storm and urged islanders to rush preparations for its powerful rain and winds.

Five-day NOAA forecast for Hurricane Nicole. Credit:NOAA

It said Nicole should pass near or over Bermuda on Thursday. The storm was located about 290 kilometres south-southwest of Bermuda late on Wednesday night.
Bangkok: Thailand's prime minister has confirmed that his military government will recommend that Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn succeed his father as king of Thailand.

Prayuth Chan-ocha, who seized power in a 2014 coup, said in a televised statement on Thursday night that King Bhumibol Adulyadej appointed his son the Crown Prince and heir on December 28, 1972.

"The government will proceed with the succession," Mr Prayuth said.

Under the country's 2007 constitution, the president of the national assembly "shall invite such heir to ascend the throne and proclaim such heir as king". However since 1974, all full constitutions have included a clause affirming that "the name of a princess may be submitted".
WikiLeaks has embarrassed Hillary Clinton. Credit:AP They plot and scheme cynically, as political cells do - sometimes overrating a problem, sometimes underestimating. Obsessive about Clinton's media image, they use her connections and the power of who she is to bend institutional power to their agenda - from the White House to the Democratic National Committee. In The Atlantic, Russell Berman writes: "The most common thread  is they show a political candidate being political. Not much more, and not much less. Clinton is a mainstream Democrat who admires "moderates" and pragmatism. And yes, she did move to the left to defeat an insurgent liberal opponent." Donald Trump posing with women from several of the pageants he owned in 2006. Credit:AP Like everything else in this campaign, the Trump video and audio files and the Clinton speeches and emails are cast as killer narratives that make the "enemy" - that's how Trump refers to Clinton on the stump - as unfit to be president. And despite Trump's rants to the contrary, the mainstream media are covering the Clinton leaks.

But as a news story, they'll never be, excuse me, as sexy as the Trump stuff. And the drip-feed follow-up accounts by other women who say they were molested by Trump keep the story alive and pertinent. A man watches the debate at Seoul railway station in South Korea. Credit:AP These two narratives are the mainstays in a campaign that is fast narrowing to a decision about women - about how they are treated by men and about whether one of them is suitable to be president and commander in chief. Trump's advisers push the Clinton email story relentlessly in media briefings and on TV talk shows, putting their diabolical spin on the contents of the speeches and emails in an effort to suck media oxygen away from attention to Trump's treatment of women. Camp Clinton retaliates on two fronts - playing up Trump's treatment of women and playing up the means by which the speeches and emails were obtained - a Russian sponsored or executed hack, according to US national security agencies - as proof that Trump is a Moscow pawn.

Trump doesn't seem to get, or is in denial over, the visceral response to the video and audio, of likely women voters - who are angered, but not surprised, by what Trump dismisses as harmless "locker room banter". Within hours of The Washington Post's break on the video on Friday, Canadian author and super-blogger Kelly Oxford tweeted a 14-word account of the first assault she had experienced. She invited other women to do the same - by Monday afternoon, close to 27 million people had responded or visited her Twitter page. Then on Tuesday, a heart-stopping piece in The New York Times, in which rape victim Michelle Bowdler told a story that, for 30 years, had been a secret shared only with her spouse and her therapist. It's a harrowing account of a break-in at her apartment unrelated to Trump, but for a single word that leaps from the text like kryptonite: pussy.. Hearing the word used by her attacker used so carelessly by Trump in the video troubled her deeply. She writes: "It is dangerous for us to minimise what it means when someone uses a term that so quickly reduces a human being to an object - it's not just a word."

Trump has difficulty accepting that he is fast losing the support of women since the video became public. Here he is on Fox News on Tuesday - interviewed by Bill O'Reilly: O'Reilly: "You're behind [in the polls] with women." Trump: "I'm not sure I believe that." O'Reilly: "Whether you believe it or not, that's what the polling says." Trump: "Yeah."

O'Reilly: "Do you have any plan to speak to women directly?" In answering this question, Trump doesn't get it. In digressing to bread-and-butter policy, he feigns pretence that the video is even an issue - and, instead, he whacks Clinton. He claims that women want to feel safe, but he refuses to address the issue of their personal safety which, wittingly or not, he injected into the debate. Meanwhile there's a damaging drip-feed of stories that compound Trump's problem. On Wednesday, People magazine reporter Natasha Stoynoff wrote a first-person account of Trump going for a woman, as he likes to put it, "like a bitch". It was about the time of the recording of the "grab them by the pussy" video in 2005, and Stoynoff was at Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, to write a first-anniversary piece on Trump's marriage to his current wife Melania - who at the time was heavily pregnant.

Taking Stoynoff on a tour of the house while Melania left them "for a wardrobe change", Trump, she writes, said there was a particular room that she had to see. "We walked into that room alone, and Trump shut the door behind us. I turned around, and within seconds, he was pushing me against the wall, and forcing his tongue down my throat  I was stunned. I was grateful when Trump's longtime butler burst into the room a minute later, as I tried to unpin myself." The butler, she says, escorted them back to where they were to meet Melania, and Stoynoff writes of the minutes while they waited for her return. "I fumbled with my tape recorder. Trump smiled and leaned forward. 'You know we're going to have an affair, don't you?' he declared, in the same confident tone he uses when he says he's going to make America great again. 'Have you ever been to Peter Luger's for steaks? I'll take you. We're going to have an affair, I'm telling you.' " The New York Times has interviewed two women who say that Trump molested them - in incidents 30 years apart.

Infuriated by Trump's denial in Sunday's candidates' debate that he had ever touched another woman inappropriately, Jessica Leeds, now 74, said she had been upgraded to first class while on a commercial flight more than 30 years ago - to find she was seated next to Trump. About 45 minutes into the flight, Trump had lifted the armrest and proceeded to grab her breasts and attempted to push his hand up her skirt, after inquiring about her marital status and making small talk, she said. "He was like an octopus," she said. "His hands were everywhere." Rachel Crooks, now 33, told The New York Times of a more recent encounter with Trump - in 2005 - when she worked as a secretary for a firm with offices in Trump Tower in Manhattan. On riding in an elevator with Trump, the two introduced themselves. But she said that, on shaking hands, Trump had refused to let her hand go as he proceeded to kiss her on the face before he "kissed me directly on the mouth".

"It was so inappropriate," Crooks said. "I was so upset that he thought I was so insignificant that he could do that." In Florida, 36-year-old Mindy McGillivray told The Palm Beach Post of having her rear groped by Trump one evening as she worked as a photographer's assistant at Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate 13 years ago. And a disturbing, early 1990s video has surfaced of Trump making suggestive comments about a 10-year-old girl. As reported by The Hill, Trump had encountered a group of young girls at Trump Tower, during which he made small talk with one of the girls before turning to the camera and saying, "I am going to be dating her in 10 years. Can you believe it?" BuzzFeed reports: "Four women who competed in the 1997 Miss Teen USA beauty pageant said Donald Trump walked into the dressing room while contestants - some as young as 15 - were changing.

"Trump, who owned the Miss Universe, Miss USA, and Miss Teen USA pageants from 1996 until 2015, has publicly bragged about invading beauty queen dressing rooms, calling it one of his prerogatives of ownership." CBS2 in Los Angeles reports that Trump just came "waltzing in" while Miss USA contestants were nude or half-nude as they changed into bikinis. Trump's polling was already in the toilet. But the real damage from the reaction to the "grab them by the pussy" video, is just beginning to percolate, as revealed in a Marquette Poll in Wisconsin, for which likely women voters were contacted on two days either side of its release on Friday. On the Thursday, Clinton was ahead: 45-36. On Friday, Clinton took off: 60-33.

And through Saturday and Sunday, support for Clinton levelled off as Trump's went through the floor: 56-23. This dramatic shift by women is reflected nationally in a PRRI poll for The Atlantic, which reveals the enormity of an unfolding gender split - Clinton trails Trump by 11 points among male voters, but she is a staggering 33 points ahead among women. In an analysis headlined "Women are defeating Donald Trump", FiveThirtyEight's Nate Silver cites 12 recent polls, in which Clinton leads among women by an average 15 per cent; and Trump is ahead among men by an average of just 5 per cent. All of which means that Clinton is doing much better among women than Barack Obama did in 2012; and Trump is not doing as well among men as Mitt Romney did in 2012. And on the attributes for the presidency, women see Clinton as the better candidate to handle a series of hot-button issues in a separate poll for CNN:
A woman admitted assault charges on Wednesday after federal prosecutors said she was driving drunk when she ran over a boy who was playing outside and broke his leg.

Jacqueline Three Fingers, 19, of Muddy Cluster, which is west of Lame Deer, pleaded guilty to assault resulting in serious bodily injury during a hearing in U.S. District Court in Billings. There was no plea agreement.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Zeno Baucus said the assault happened on Oct. 18, 2015, after Three Fingers and several of her friends spent the day drinking alcohol and driving around Ashland and Lame Deer.

Three Fingers dropped off her friends and continued drinking and driving around Lame Deer. She stopped at a convenience store for gas and cigarettes and then drove toward Sweet Medicine Road outside of Lame Deer, he said.

The day was getting dark and the victim, identified as V.S., a 7-year-old boy, was outside playing with friends. Baucus said the boys were under a street light hitting plastic bottles with a stick.

V.S. was sitting on a curb with his feet outstretched when Three Fingers drove down the street, swerved up onto the curb and struck V.S., sending him rolling down the street, he said. Three Fingers continued driving.

V.S. was taken to a hospital, where he was diagnosed with a compound fracture of his left tibia and bruising to his left foot, Baucus said. The boy underwent surgery and had a metal plate and screws installed in his leg.

Witnesses at the gas station before the incident told officials they saw Three Fingers slurring her words when talking to the clerk and that she appeared drunk. The witnesses also saw Three Fingers car again near Sweet Medicine Road and followed her into the residential neighborhood where they saw her speeding, swerving and then run over V.S., the prosecutor said.

In an interview, Three Fingers admitted to drinking alcohol, had a pretty high intoxication level and that she was pretty buzzed at the time she was driving on Sweet Medicine Road, Baucus said.

Three Fingers also said she didnt remember much but recalled that she got hot while driving and reached down to turn off the heat. When she looked up, she saw some children, swerved and hit someone, she said.

Three Fingers faces a maximum 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

U.S. Magistrate Carolyn Ostby said she would recommend that U.S. District Judge Susan Watters accept the guilty plea. Watters will set a sentencing date. Ostby continued Three Fingers release.
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

In a candid interview with the Australian Financial Review column, Chanticleer, high-profile business guru and founder of financial firm Yellow Brick Road Mark Bouris has reportedly said he will fire himself this financial year if his company could not make a profit.He admitted his reputation was at stake if he could not build YBR into one of Australias largest independent financial firms, the AFR said.However, a company spokesperson told Australian Broker that this comment was intended as a direct reflection of Bouris commitment to do everything he could to deliver.He hasnt made a commitment to resign; he has indicated his commitment to work as hard as he possibly can to deliver to outcomes the market expects, they said.These statements come at a tumultuous time for YBR after the firm failed to bring in a profit for FY16.In an interview with Chanticleer, owner of accounting firm Kelly+Partners, Brett Kelly, criticised YBRs wealth management strategy, saying it will never work.However, in a response to this article, Bouris told Australian Broker that this was an over-simplification and that YBR was not reliant on home loans as a single entry point.The person talking here has never once sat down with me to talk about our wealth management strategy, Bouris said. He miscast the strategy and doesnt understand Australian consumers and their preferences when it comes to financial advice. Nor does he understand our value proposition.In reality, Yellow Brick Road is made up of representatives across the nation  several hundred of which are financial planners. Business is driven both through people seeking a mortgage and the ensuing opportunity to discuss holistic financial goals, and conversely through a customer requiring financial advice or a specific wealth management product. This multi-faceted approach allows the business to ensure relevance to a wide demographic of people at different stages of their financial journey.The company also responded to Kellys comments to Chanticleer that Australians with money for wealth management do not go to mortgage brokers.It may be true that traditional mortgage broking models dont lend themselves easily to wealth management integration, a spokesperson told Australian Broker. This is not the case for us. Yellow Brick Road was set up from the get-go as an integrated total wealth business where mortgages are part of a broader financial services offering.The companys corporate strategy was changed in an investor update released last week with new goals for 2017 and 2020. This included an improved focus on wealth management, increased levels of accountability and greater branch commerciality through a franchise model.Currently with a $38b loan book, YBR hopes to increase this to $100 billion by 2020. The firms distribution network presently consists of 300 branches and 1,000 broker groups.In 2017, the company hopes to drive out its wealth model by doubling the number of branches with specialist wealth advisors. Bouris also hopes to dramatically increase lending conversion by recruiting experienced brokers with business acumen.Our loan book is at $38b. For context, thats a $43b asset on our balance sheet and a 28% increase on the prior comparable period, a spokesperson said. We currently write more than 4% of all home loans in Australia and our market share continues to improve year on year.
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These chiefs hailed to each other!

Borough President Adams welcomed New York Universitys new president Andrew Hamilton to Kings County with a reception at Borough Hall on Oct. 7  signaling the start of what is sure to be a beautiful friendship, according to a rep for the Beep.

Borough President Adams and president Hamilton have built an early and strong rapport, said spokesman Stefan Ringel.

Hamilton moved to his new post as the head of the sprawling university  which houses its Tandon School of Engineering on Jay Street Downtown  from his position as the vice chancellor at Englands famed Oxford University, where he served from 2009.

Ant the Brit hasnt forgotten his roots  he used the welcome ceremony as an opportunity to gently rib locals about his home countrys decisive victory over the U.S. in the Battle of Brooklyn, although the Continental Army ultimately won the Revolutionary War.

He jokingly talked about Britains victory over America in the Battle of Brooklyn, but he said We may have won the battle but you won the war,  said Ringel.

Borough Hall already has a strong relationship with the universitys Downtown engineering school and regularly helps with its projects, such as the Urban Future Lab, a hub for researching smart grids and clean energy, according to Ringel.

And at least one team from the school has entered the Beeps contest to create a better smart gun, where colleges can score a $1 million prize if they come up with the most innovative design, he said.

Reach reporter Lauren Gill at lgill @cngl ocal.com or by calling (718) 2602511. Follow her on Twitter @laurenk_gill
Video: See what it's like to virtually ski in Bucks
The first episode of Arrow season 5 was all about (besides Oliver killing a bunch of people) Oliver accepting the realization that he needed a new team. In The Recruits, as the name would suggest, it is all about Oliver (and nearly everyone else) finding that new team. While it is very smart of Arrow to smart fresh in season 5, things go terrible for Oliver (and nearly everyone else) in this episode.

Arrow: How Oliver Queen and Tobias Church Rally Their Forces in the Season 5 Premiere >>>





On the Line (of Abuse)

Oliver is training his three new recruits, Evelyn Sharp, Curtis Holt and Wild Dog for his vigilante team in the most terrifying way possible. Oliver has his (green) team stand on a (green) line in the (green) Arrow Cave. Oliver in full Green Arrow regalia (to protect his identity) stands in front of a bell and tells the team to get past him and ring the bell.

We learn in the flashbacks that Oliver did this with the Bratva and the point is to work together to ring the bell. Oliver doesnt really tell his newbies that fact and just kind of beats them up in the most brutal ways. In the Bratva, they kill the ones who dont ring the bell, so by comparison, Oliver is positively cuddly, but he is still pretty horrifying.

Things come to head when a new villain starts hitting Star Citys streets. Another metahuman with radioactive rags (who has the very creative name of Ragman) is attacking members of a disgraced company. Oliver, as mayor, is working with the company. Oliver, as the Green Arrow, tries to protect the CEO from Ragmans next attack at a public event with his new team. Infuriatingly Wild Dog messes things up and Ragman escapes.

If Oliver was scary before, he becomes a nightmare now. Following Wild Dogs mistake, Oliver rips into them all including Curtis. Oliver tells that they are worthless losers and pathetic. They dont deserve a spot on his team and the recruits prove him right. They all quit, but Curtis sticks around just long enough to tell Oliver he is a terrible leader and emotional abuser. Oddly, my favorite moments of Arrow, even as late as season 5, are still the ones where the show points out how awful the main character is to other people.





Thea Does  Whatever it is Thea Does

Anyway, Thea, whose official job title remains suspect, is basically running Olivers entire mayoral office single-handedly. Trying to get more of a staff, Thea hires Quentin as deputy mayor. The reasoning is pretty weak. Now that Laurel is dead, Quentin is basically the only person Thea knows that who is not dead, presumed dead, in the military, a vigilantes assistant or evil. (Thea really needs widen her social circle.)

Quentin is kind of disaster at the job because he is barely holding on to his sobriety, by which I mean he is totally drunk most of time. Thea though gives Quentin a second chance and a pep talk. Thea tells Quentin that he needs this job to stay busy, off the bottle and to honor Laurel. It doesnt make a perfect amount of sense, but it is a nice sentiment so thats what matters, I guess. At the very least, I didnt instantly dislike Quentin the moment he was on-screen, so its a step in the right direction.





Flashback Diggle Break

Normally, we would go into the flashback story here, but while the Bratva story is present and still interesting, there is not much of it discuss. Instead, we get to see what Diggle is up to in the military outside of a single Skype call with Oliver. In the army, Diggle befriends a young soldier who is CW handsome and of indeterminate age. He could be anywhere from 18-35, but who really cares? Hes not going to live long.

Diggles plan to reconnect with honorable roots in the military goes horribly awry because it turns out his commanding officer is a garbage person. On a mission to secure WMDs, the commanding officer tries to steal the weapon for personal gain. When Diggle discovers the plot, the general (or whatever higher rank he fills) kills Diggles new friend and blames the whole thing on Dig. Presumably, this is the way that Arrow will get Dig back to Star City and on Team Arrow but for now it is a total head-scratcher on how the show will get Dig out of high treason without executing him.





From Rags to Rag-Tag

Back in Star City, Oliver is smarting over Curtis and his accurate assessment of Olivers character. Felicity finally steps in and tells Oliver that the original team didnt work because Thea, Laurel and Dig trusted and loved the Green Arrow. The Green Arrow is a total violent maniac. They loved and trusted Oliver Queen. If Oliver wants his recruits to follow him, he needs to open up and maybe not treat them like they are a part of the Russian mafia.





Arrow Season 5 Premiere Recap: Oliver Gets His Groove and Murder Streak Back >>>

Oliver puts a pin in that discussion and goes off to find Ragman. Though Ragman looks like a Lovecraftian nightmare, hes not actually that bad of a guy. He is after the company because they are responsible for the nuclear missiles that destroyed his town, Monument Point. (Little does he know that Felicity actually directed those missiles to Monument Point at the end of season 4 trying to save Star City from Damien Darhks attack.) The company is also secretly working with Tobias Church.

When Oliver finds Ragman he doesnt so much fight him, but works with him. The CEO and Church escape, but Oliver finds a new friend in Ragman. Ragman takes off his rags to reveal a pale skinny kid underneath named Rory Reagan. Rory Regan was saved from the nuclear destruction because his father put these ancient magical Jewish rags on him. (That might be the best and most ridiculous sentence I have ever written.) Bonding over the dead fathers who saved their lives, Oliver offers Ragman a spot on the team and he accepts.

From here, Oliver goes back to the original team and apologizes. Oliver then unmasks in front of them and tells them they have to trust each other if this is going to work. The recruits agree and the new Team Arrow is formed  until Thea, Dig and everyone else comes back because we all know that is happening at some point.

But what do you think? Do you like the new team? Do you hope they stick around? Do you still enjoy when Oliver is taken down a peg?

Arrow season 5 airs Wednesdays at 8/7c on The CW. Want more news? Like our Arrow Facebook page.





(Image courtesy of The CW)
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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 ...
Episode four of Designated Survivor shows President Kirkman (Kiefer Sutherland) learning who the real enemy is behind the attack on the Capitol that killed all the cabinet members except one. Potentially dealing with the prospect of war, The Enemy is leading to a brewing conflict and domestic issues with those in local power who continue to protest Kirkmans quick ascension to the role of president. However, President Kirkman continues to prove he is more than capable of holding the highest position of authority in the United States.

Designated Survivor Recap: President Kirkman Fights for His Right for The Presidency >>>

Kirkman Takes on the Governor of Michigan

Michigan Governor Royce is using Kirkmans poor track record with the American people to reinstate his aborted political acts against Muslims in Michigan, feeling Kirkman is unfit to be president. Emily volunteers to go to the state under siege to represent the White House. She is not greeted with a warm welcome by Governor Royce upon her arrival in Michigan. The governor tells her that President Kirkman and his staff are not welcome in the state. Royce speaks on television, slamming Kirkman to the American people.

Congressman Macleash, the sole survivor of the capitol attack, is seen returning home, as Hannah Wells (Maggie Q) continues to question as to why he was not in his seat when the Capitol building blew up. She wonders if he has more to do with the bombing than he lets on.

Macleash reveals that the reason he was not in his seat is because his wife had texted him at that very moment saying that their toddler daughter had gone missing. Luckily, the child is found unharmed. Macleash is answering his wifes call, which is why he is not in his seat at the time of the blast. Maggie finds new information that will potentially implicate Macleash.

Kirkman Shows his True Colors

The president can federalize the National Guard to Michigan for assistance, therefore overthrowing the governors orders by declaring a state of emergency in the state. Kirkman is worried that if he allows the governor to declare a police state, other states will do so as well. He employs the National Guard to head to Michigan to enforce his power as the commander-in-chief and to assist Muslims under attack in the state.

Designated Survivor and Speechless Picked Up for Full Seasons >>>

Presidential speechwriter Seth Wright (Kal Penn) helps the new White House Press secretary as he faces the press corps for the first time. Failing miserably, the young press secretary flees the podium, allowing Seth to pick up the slack in front of a room of anxious press. Seth is offered the job of Press Secretary after a stellar performance behind the podium. At first he rescinds the offer, but later accepts it.

Al Zakkar is confirmed to be behind the attack on the capitol. The chief suspect behind the criminal attack, Nassar, is being hidden according to General Cochorane (Kevin McNally).

The National Guard shows up in Michigan under the presidents orders. Emily calls the president and hands over the phone to the head of the guard, whose commander refuses his orders to federalize. Emily has a plan to get the governor to come to Washington to speak with the president.

Protestors arrive at the airport and face off against the governor. Emily asks the governor if he will allow a face-off between peaceful protestors and the National Guard to be seen on live television or will he agree to a sit-down with the president?

Kirkman meets with Governor Royce in Washington and the president places him under arrest for treason against the United States for his actions in Michigan. Emily is shocked, believing the two could have had a reasonable discussion regarding the situation in his state.

President Kirkmans wife Alex (Natascha McElhone) needs help for a delicate situation with an immigration case and asks Hookstraten for her assistance and guidance. Hookstraten reveals she wants something in return for the favor. She befriends Aaron behind the presidents back to manipulate him to suit her own agenda.

In the last moments of the episode, the president is seen declaring war.

Designated Survivor airs Wednesdays at 10/9c on ABC. Want more news? Like our Facebook page.

(Images courtesy of ABC)
On this episode of Frequency, Signal and Noise, Frank returns home a hero but realizes his life and career remain in jeopardy, Raimy warns Frank about Julies fate and father and daughter hone in on a suspect in the Nightingale killings.

Raimy is adjusting to her new life which includes learning the details surrounding her mothers death 20 years ago. Shes on the Nightingale Task Force which will give her all the information shell need to know to lead Frank in the right direction.

Frank Returns Home

Raimy breaks the news to Frank about Julie that when they saved his life, they set in motion a chain reaction that resulted in Julies death. In the world where Frank died, the Nightingale Killer stopped, but in her reality, hes killed at least 20 more. Julie is taken January 10, 1997, so that gives them 11 weeks to find the killer and stop him. Raimy wants Frank to warn Julie that shes going to die, by telling her how and when.

Frank leaves the hospital a hero for dismantling a notorious drug gang. He receives a big hug from young Raimy and Julie and returns home to Queens. Even though theres a party going on in his honor, Frank doesnt feel much like celebrating. He tells Satch he wants to become a member of the Nightingale Task Force.

Frequency Series Premiere Recap: A Father and Daughter Change the Course of History >>>

Later, Frank finds young Raimy in the garage playing with the radio. She wants to know if Franks return means that her parents are going to live together again. Frank may be back, but a lot has happened in two years.

Franks tries to talk to Julie, apologizing for all of the pain hes caused her and Raimy. But the fact that theres protection detail sitting outside the house has Julie on edge. Frank assures her they will only be there until the people who shot him are caught. He tells her that with the Nightingale Killer on the loose, their home is the safest place she can be right now. This doesnt bring Julie much comfort. He wants to be sure shes taking the threat seriously. Julie assures him she is, but she cant do cop talk all the time.





Raimy Finds a Possible Suspect

Elsewhere, the killer strikes again. A woman leaves a bar and begins to feel woozy. She collapses and is approached by a man asking if shes okay. Hes dressed in black and his face isnt visible. He offers to help her, picks her up and puts her in the back of a van.

Raimy has been doing some digging and uncovers some information about their marsh where her mothers remains were found. She tells Satch there was a sexual assault case in the same marsh in 1994  two years before her mother was abducted. Raimy believes theres a link. The marsh is out of the way, so someone would have to know its there, making two separate unrelated incidences so close together an unlikely scenario. Satch hypothesizes that maybe the assailant liked the spot so much, he decided to use it as his dumping ground. There is no file on the assault case because the charges were dropped and the case expunged. Raimy found out about it from a newspaper article in the archives.

The accused was a man named Thomas Goff, a college student in his early twenties. Goff is now an investment banker who has two kids and lives in Jersey. Satch is dubious that this is the guy, but Raimy reveals the woman he attacked was a nursing student.

Frank and Raimy talk, and he still cant wrap his head around why Stan Moreno would sell him out. Raimy points out it isnt the first time a narcotics cop went over to the dark side, suggesting Moreno was in bed with the drug dealer Frank was trying to take down, Little Jay.

Frank isnt sure what hes supposed to do, but he isnt eager to rat out Stan. Raimy says he has to quash it because they have bigger things to deal with.





Frank is Forced to Cooperate

Frank is set to go before the Internal Affairs Bureau (IAB). He asks Moreno where they are with Little Jay and Moreno is non-committal. Theyre looking, but the guy is slippery. Frank offers to help out. He did spend two years with Little Jay and has some ideas of where the drug dealer might be holed up. Moreno reassures Frank hes got the situation under control.

Frank answers questions regarding the shootout with four men from the suspected criminal gang. Hes sticking to his story that this was a criminal sting gone bad. The officer decides to talk to Frank off the record. Shes already spoken to Stan Moreno as well as the other men under his command, and they all testified there was no sting that night nor was Frank led to believe there was. There are no records and nothing in the log books. So, its Franks word against that of three decorated cops. A representative from the Fraternal Order of Police (FOB) tells Frank he can capitalize on his current popularity, and if the investigation goes right, he can have his pick of posts, including the Nightingale Task Force.

Just a Youthful Indiscretion

Raimy heads to Jersey to speak to Goff who writes the whole thing off as a youthful indiscretion. Goff suggests that if Raimy thinks there was more to the incident she can go talk to Lisa Boyle, the woman who filed the charges. Goff reminds Raimy that Boyle also dropped the charges. They were friends, they were drunk, and it was a stupid night.

Raimy questions why Goff took Boyle to that marsh, but Goff responds that Boyle took him. She said the marsh was a nice place to take a walk, and hell regret what followed for the rest of his life.

Unfinished Business

Raimy is frustrated and takes it out on Frank. He hasnt done anything on his end, including telling Julie. He tries to explain that things are complicated with Julie, and he cant go telling her the truth unless shes ready to listen. All Frank wanted was one night, one dinner, one bedtime. He isnt eager to blow up his life by sounding like a crazy person.

Raimy accuses Frank of doing whatever he wanted for two years because thats what Frank does, and he still cant do the right thing by his wife. While hes worried about blowing up bedtime, Raimys entire world has been blown to hell, and Frank still cant stop being selfish. Frank believes he is doing whats best for his family, but Raimy demands he do it better, starting by finding Goff.

Frank assures Raimy they will save Julie, but he cant do anything as long as Stan Moreno wants him dead. Frank has to find Little Jay, the man whose criminal empire he just spent the last two years taking down. Hes the only person who can corroborate Franks story and prove that Moreno is dirty. He has to talk to Little Jay and make him understand that either they work together against Moreno, or they both go down.

Frank tracks down Little Jay with minimal effort. He warns the man that half the NYPD is looking for him, including the men he thinks are his friends. If Little Jay keeps running, Frank tells him hes going to die. Like it or not, Frank is all hes got. If he goes in with Frank, at least Little Jay has got a shot.





Quiz: Which Special Agent TV Hunk Should You Date?>>>

Raimy Follows a Hunch; Frank Pays Goff a Visit

Raimy is haunted by flashbacks of her mother. The only personal item recovered from Julies body was a locket containing a picture of her and Raimy as a little girl. Julie never took it off.

The memories Raimy is grappling with involve Daniel, and her mothers matchmaking attempts. In spite of Raimys lack of interest in meeting a former patient of her mothers, Julie pushed and invited Daniel over for dinner. But mother knows best, and Daniel and Raimy hit it off.

Raimy doesnt have time to mourn her relationship with Daniel when her mothers killer is still on the loose, so she questions Lisa Boyle. She is hesitant to corroborate Goffs account of what happened that night other than to say it wasnt just a youthful indiscretion. Raimy questions if Boyle was paid for her silence, but Boyle still doesnt crack.

Raimy asks Boyle what she would think if she knew there were more women. Boyle tells Raimy to ask her anything she wants.

Frank recruits Satch to help him investigate Goff. Satch doesnt understand how Frank even knows about the sexual assault charge since it was wiped, so while Satch is all about gut instinct, he needs Frank to break it down for him and explain what the hell theyre doing in New Jersey.

Frank reveals the victim was a nursing student, and since the case was quashed, nobody talked to Goff because nobody thought to. Goffs mother runs interference with her son. Frank asks for just a few minutes, but she offers to give them the number to her lawyer instead who would explain to them why that would be the worst career mistake of Franks life.

After having the door slammed in their face, they hear the sound of metal grinding from a nearby shed. Inside is Goff, and the woman kidnapped earlier from outside the bar is bound and gagged in a small cellar. Frank and Satch consider checking it out but are intercepted by Goffs mother.

In the present, Raimy is making some progress. She tells Satch about a college student named Maya Gowen who went missing in 96. She lived in the same Jersey town and went to the same Jersey college as Goff. She also happens to be the woman hes holding prisoner just yards from where Satch and Frank are standing.

Events unfold back and forth simultaneously. As Raimy is piecing together what may have happened to Maya. The woman was never found. Satch tells Raimy that he and her father looked at Goff. Raimy points out that in 1996, police thought the Nightingale Killer only abducted women from New York, so a missing woman from Jersey wouldnt have made it into the file. Satch wonders why Raimy is still pursuing him. It seems Boyles finally admitted that Goff raped her, and Raimy believes her. Suddenly, Satchs revelation that he and Frank spoke to Goff registers. Satch tells her that when they spoke to Goff, there was nothing there.

Raimy suspects Gowan may have been at Goffs first before he settled on an MO. He operated close to home, liked how it felt and then moved to the big city. She decides to take another trip to Jersey.

Goff emerges from the shed and is more than willing to talk to Frank and Satch, but his mother is insistent that her son keep his mouth shut. Frank and Satch have no choice but to get in their car and leave.

Goff returns to the shed and is attacked by Maya who managed to break free. She knocks him out just long enough to escape into the nearby woods, and a bleeding, crying Goff falls to his knees. Standing nearby is his mother who wants to know what her son has done. Goff asks his mother to help him.

The Harder They Try, the Worse Things Get

Raimy arrives at the Goff home but is told by the occupant that nobody by the name of Goff lives there. He does recall that a family by the name of Goff lived there up until the mid 90s but havent lived there in almost 20 years.

Raimy hurries home to communicate with Frank and is caught in the act by Gordo. Raimy tells Gordo he has to leave but he refuses. Raimys mothers remains were just found 20 years after her abduction, and hes her best friend. Julie was also like a mother to him, and Gordo doesnt think Raimy should have to deal with any of this alone. Gordo doesnt understand all the secrecy since Raimy has always told him everything in the past. Raimy assures him her life is more complicated than he could possibly understand. Gordo continues to reach out, but Raimy unceremoniously throws him out.

Frank receives a call from one of Little Jays guys informing him the drug dealer is coming in and hangs up. Moreno makes an appearance, wondering what Franks doing at work so late. He asks Frank if he wants to grab a drink, but Frank passes. Moreno questions how things went with Internal Affairs, and Frank tells him theyre all on the same page. Moreno is glad to hear it. Frank does want to know what the story was going to be if he hadnt cooperated; that he was some corrupt undercover cop who went off the reservation and gets himself shot?

Moreno responds that if Little Jay had taken Frank out, what difference would any story make to him. Frank wants answers. He put himself on the line for Moreno for two years, and now the guy cant tell him why he got shot. Moreno says that more questions mean more answers about both him and Frank and questions if Frank really wants to go there. He tells Frank to go home, hug his wife, and they all live to fight another day.

Who Tipped Off the Cops?

Somebody tipped the cops off because just as Little Jay is getting ready to turn himself in, he gets shot.

Frank arrives home and decides its time to warn Jules that her life is in danger. They have to start taking precautions. He cant protect her if she doesnt believe him. Jules does believe him, but shes going to figure it out like she always has, on her own. Frank swears hes not leaving her, but Jules points out that Frank already did. He chose his job over his family. He argues he got shot to get back to them. He was trying to do something good for her and Raimy to make them proud. Theres a reason for everything hes missed, but Jules says he never bothered to share those reasons with her before.

Frank figures the only way to get Julie to believe him is to show her the radio. He tries to get through but has no luck. He begs Julie to say something, hoping Raimy will respond, and even though shes sitting there, Raimy refuses to acknowledge Julie.

Later, Raimy makes it clear to Frank that the reason she hung him out to dry is because everything they do, messes up something else. If they tell Julie, maybe they will save her but she dies tomorrow. Goff is the answer.

Frank admits that he and Raimy dont know each other very well yet, but hes going to do everything in his power to save Julie. After that, he doesnt care what happens to him. Raimy tells him she does.

While laying in bed, Raimy has a revelation. She remembers that when she questioned Goff, there was a shed on the property, but when she returned, it was gone. Raimy goes back to Jersey, searches the nearby woods and discovers the remains of the cellar where Maya was held.

Should Raimy have talked to her mom? Has Goffs mom been covering for her son all these years? What do you think happened to Maya?

Frequency airs Wednesdays at 9/8c on The CW. Want more news? Follow our Frequency page on Facebook.

(Image Courtesy of The CW)
Give a Christmas project seeks donors and applications to aid the needy

The Burlington County Times and NJ 211 partner for the 54th year of Give a Christmas. Donors wanted to aid families in need.
BISMARCK  Special education teachers who travel to a school near the Dakota Access Pipeline protests are scared to drive in the area after getting harassed, the Burleigh County Special Education Unit wrote in a letter to state officials.

Delays while staff attempt to travel to and from the Little Heart School in St. Anthony are causing students to miss federally mandated special education services, said Barry Chathams, director of the unit, in a letter to Superintendent of Schools Kirsten Baesler.

A speech pathologist, learning disability teacher and special education assistant have been stopped several times while traveling to and from the school, which has been on lockdown when protesters attempted to block pipeline construction in the area of Morton County.

Our staff, as well as contracted physical and occupational therapy professionals, are scared to travel to St. Anthony, Chathams wrote.

He cited examples including a staff member who thought a pickup was going to drive into her car. Chathams said the unit is asking employees to return to the office if they are harassed and asked the Department of Public Instruction to provide clarification.

Cody Hall, a spokesman for the Red Warrior Camp, said there may be detours at times caused by the self-described water protectors but they are not seeking to stop people from traveling through the area.

We know that people have to go from point A to point B and were not blocking roads and were not preventing people from going to their homes or their jobs, Hall said.

Meanwhile, the North Dakota Department of Agriculture has opened a hotline for farmers and ranchers affected by Dakota Access protests.

Agriculture Commissioner Doug Goehring said farmers and ranchers near the protest area who

urgently need help finishing seasonal work before winter should call the Farm/Ranch Emergency Assistance Hotline at (701) 425-8454. Department of Agriculture employees will answer the free hotline from 8 to 5 p.m. weekdays, and callers can leave messages on evenings or weekends.

Morton County Sheriff Kyle Kirchmeier said last week that deputies have been assigned

to stay in regular contact with farmers and ranchers, citing reports of threats, intimidation and trespassing by protesters.

Hall disputed the reports and said many farmers and ranchers have thanked members of the protest camp for standing up to the oil industry.

Weve had a huge, huge support from farmers and ranchers around that area, Hall said. To say that were unruly of some sort is not true.

Corps of Engineers responds

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers filed an answer this week to the Standing Rock Sioux Tribes lawsuit filed in July, denying that it violated any federal laws when it issued permits for a four-state pipeline that crosses the Missouri River less than a mile north of the reservation.

In the court filing, the Corps denied the tribes claims that the agency violated the National Historic Preservation Act, the Clean Water Act and the National Environmental Policy Act.

The Corps also said the agency followed procedures for consulting with the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe. In addition, the agency said the tribe did not identify any cultural resources within the permit area of any water crossing that is under Corps jurisdiction.

The tribe filed the lawsuit in federal court in Washington, D.C., after the Corps issued a permit for crossing Lake Oahe, a dammed section of the Missouri River. The $3.8 billion, 1,172-mile pipeline will carry 450,000 barrels of crude oil from the Bakken to Illinois.

In a Sept. 9 statement, the Corps said it will not authorize pipeline construction bordering or under Lake Oahe until the agency can determine whether it will need to reconsider any of its previous decisions under the National Environmental Policy Act or other federal laws.

The Corps also asked Dakota Access to voluntarily pause construction within 20 miles east and west of Lake Oahe.

Dakota Access said in a statement this week the company looks forward to resuming pipeline construction on private land near Lake Oahe.

Standing Rock Sioux Tribe Chairman Dave Archambault II said in a statement Wednesday hes not surprised that Dakota Access plans to ignore the federal agencies request to halt construction in that area and called on President Obama to take action.

President Obama has the power to change the fate of the water users who stand to lose clean water, Archambault said. Our lives are at risk and the places we hold sacred are at risk. Millions have stood with us in opposition to this pipeline and he must heed their call.

Dallas Goldtooth, an organizer with the Indigenous Environmental Network, estimated Wednesday there continue to be about 1,500 people camping in protest of the pipeline.

Given Dakota Access Pipelines aggressive moves lately to really push through with construction, the numbers might rise again depending on what happens, Goldtooth said.
The contentious issue of India's ownership and control is back in the spotlight with the Civil Aviation Ministry claiming it was unaware regarding the nature of relationship between India and its parent.
German automotive major is looking to expand its footprint in the country through the introduction of new maize and forage harvesters both of which are in their design stages and would be customized to suit Indian needs.
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Compared to Suzuki, Toyota has been cautious on its investments in India, leading to a weak pace of product rollout in tune with changing consumer preference



More than half of Suzuki Motor Corporation's profits and sales last year were driven by its India subsidiary, Maruti Suzuki, which controls nearly 50 per cent of the local car market.
The Federation of Medical Representatives association of India has filed a dispute against the for terminating employees as per the company's restructuring plan. The FMRI has filed the dispute with the state labour commissioner, Karnataka that suitable prosecution of the management for termination of around 50 employees. Business Standard has reviewed the petition.The labour commission is yet to give the company and the employees a date to meet for reconciliation.The company, in an e-mail stated, " is not aware of any dispute being filed by FMRI. We are therefore not in a position to comment on it." Bombay Stock Exchange-listed Pharma served pink slips to about 50 sales representatives in the month of September in a move that may see the company's strength of 1,200 employees being brought down significantly. AstraZeneca wrote an e-mail to about 50 employees inviting them for a discussion in Bengaluru."As a part of the global initiative, in India, we are restructuring our business. We therefore request you to come to Bangalore for a discussion on this matter," the company had told these employees who were called on for a meeting in Bangalore in end of September. During the meeting at its India headquarters in Bengaluru the employees were served the pink slips. In the past two months, 100 employees have been sacked bythe company.

The decision to lay off sales employees comes after the UK-headquartered multi-national company sold its antibiotics business to Pfizer in August. It now wants to focus on three main therapy areas: cardiovascular and metabolicdiseases, respiratory and autoimmunity and oncology.
From selling hing and churan to suits from Kenneth Cole, watches by Nixon and shoes by Jessica Simpson, aspires to be the everything store. Just days after the first round of festival sales on the platform, the American online major has announced the launch of Amazon Global in India, the only country, besides Mexico and China, to have it. Amit Agarwal, vice-president & country head, spoke to Karan Choudhury on the new offering and more. Excerpts:



What is Amazon Global all about?



Our global store brings a host of international products to Indian buyers. Customers will get to see the fully landed price of a product in Indian currency. After adding import duties and taxes, it would be sold and shipped to the buyer. Customers in India will now have direct access to international brands and a starting selection of over four million global products in 12 categories. Currently, a host of products available in Amazon US would be made available in India. We will later add more categories and countries from where products would be available.
While its television, air-conditioner, washing machines and mobile manufacturing units are closing in on 100 per cent 'Make in India', has now begun a feasibility study to bring its refrigerator manufacturing process to the country.
Piramal Enterprises aims to be among the top three players in four years in the $2.2-billion over-the-counter (OTC) pharmaceutical products business, climbing from seventh slot at present.
Russian oil major Rosneft, Singapore-based trading firm Trafigura and Russia-based financial investor UCP are all set to acquire a combined 97.4 per cent stake in Ruia-owned Essar Oil at a valuation of around $12 billion, including debt. The Ruias and a few other minority shareholders will be left with 2.6 per cent stake in the firm.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has planned a series of public rallies of its top leaders like Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar across the country, but particularly in poll-bound Uttar Pradesh (UP).
Congress leader Digvijaya Singh on Thursday attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi by calling him a "warmonger" for pushing India to a war like situation with Pakistan.

"Warmonger Modi is slowly getting India in a war-like situation with Pakistan. He sees this as the only option to win the next election," Singh tweeted.

In another tweet, the Congress General Secretary said: "But by doing this he is only strengthening ISI (Inter-Services Intelligence) and Pakistan Army clique and weakening the political leadership in Pakistan."

"Can two nations, armed with nuclear weapons, afford a war?" he asked.

Singh's remarks come in the wake of a political war waged after the September 29 surgical strikes carried out by Indian forces across the Line of Control (LoC) in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK).

The surgical strikes, in turn, were allegedly India's response to the September 18 terror attack on an army camp in Uri town of Jammu and Kashmir in which 19 soldiers were killed.

Singh also urged the government to begin diplomatic talks with Pakistan.

"Please for God's sake and for the sake of our children's future, Pakistan and India should stop playing war games and come to the negotiating table," he said.

He also said that "shouldn't India and Pakistan be fighting against hunger and malnutrition together rather than fighting each other?"
Jaish-e-Muhammad (JeM) head has called on the Pakistani government to "shows a little courage" and allow jihadist organisations a free hand in escalating their attacks in India, in order to "resolve" the Kashmir dispute, the Indian Express reported on Thursday.
While Pakistan's Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, 26/11 mastermind Hafeez Saeed and heads of several other militant organisations were the faces of Ravana effigies burnt on Dussehra across the country, a section of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) students chose the visages of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Bharatiya Janata Party chief Amit Shah to represent the demon king and burnt their effigies.

The act might backfire on them considering the university administration's decision last week to order a proctorial enquiry into the effigy-burning of the Gujarat government and 'gau-rakshaks' (cow vigilantes) and to issue show-cause notices to the students concerned.

Members of the Congress-affiliated Students' Union of India (NSUI) celebrated Dussehra on Tuesday night by burning the effigy of Modi as Ravan, claiming that it was a protest against the Centre's "failure" in honouring its promises and the continuous attacks on various educational institutions across the country.

Besides Modi and Shah, the effigy had faces of Yoga guru Ramdev, Sadhvi Pragya, Nathuram Godse, Asaram Bapu and Vice-Chancellor Jagadesh Kumar. The students also carried placards with the slogan, "Truth shall prevail over evil".

"The effigy-burning was to symbolise our dissatisfaction with the current government. The idea is to root out the evil from governance and bring about a system that is pro-student and pro-people," said Sunny Diman, an NSUI activist and the outfit's candidate in the recently-concluded Jawaharlal Nehru University Students' Union polls.

"Look at what this government has done to our country. The promises it made are still on paper and are repeated only in speeches. Whenever students want to raise their voice, they are attacked by the administration, certainly on instructions from the government. This Dussehra, we wanted to put an end to these rubbish activities," he added.

The effigy was burnt at the famous Saraswati Dhaba on the campus. University officials, when contacted, were tight-lipped about whether the students had sought a permission for the event or not.
Defence Minister recently said this was the first time surgical strikes were carried out. But the United Progressive Alliance has said such strikes had happened earlier, too. Former defence minister A K Antony tells Amit Agnihotri that Parrikars statement is an insult not only to Indian Army but also the previous government led by Atal Bihari Vajpayee: Edited excerpts:



Defence Minister said no surgical strikes had happened against terrorists across the LoC when the was in power. How would you like to react to the remarks?



Well, I can say that I feel sorry and sad over the statement. The defence minister is playing politics over surgical strikes. This is an insult to the Indian Army. This is dangerous for the country.
It seems that the surgical strikes across the LoC on terror launch-pads in PoK have re-energised defence minister . The minister has been firing like a machine gun ever since.
Reliance Foundation founder and chairperson Nita Ambani on Thursday visited Apollo Hospitals in Chennai, where Tamil Nadu Chief Minister has been admitted. She is the first member from a major business house in the country to visit the Chief Minister in the hospital, according to sources.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will hold bilateral talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping on October 15 ahead of the BRICS Summit on in Goa.

China on Monday said it was 'ready' for talks with India on the latter's entry into the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG).

However, it has defended its stand on extending a hold on New Delhi's bid for a United Nations ban on Jaish-e-Mohammed Chief Masood Azhar.

Responding to a question whether any progress can be expected on the issue of India's admission into the NSG in the meeting between President Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Modi on the sidelines of the BRICS Summit, Vice Foreign Minister Li Baodong said the NSG rules stipulate consensus among the members to admit new ones.

Stating that China and India have maintained good communication on the issue, he said that Beijing was ready to continue consultations with New Delhi to build consensus.

Beijing is opposed to anyone making political gains in the name of counter-terrorism, he said while answering to a question on criticism about China's move to halt India's bid for a ban on Azhar.

The BRICS Summit is scheduled to begin from October 17.

Earlier in June, Prime Minister Modi had urged the Chinese Premier to consider India's NSG case favourably, but China rebuffed India's request at the NSG plenary in Seoul.
The road to the erstwhile site of Tata Motors Nano factory in Singur, Hooghly district, is now clear of the thick foliage that had grown over it in the past eight years, paving the way for dumper trucks to keep coming and going day and night.
The Gujarat Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) has apprehended two persons, suspecting them of spying for Pakistan's intelligence agency, from Gujarat's Kutch district on October 12.

Police officials are currently conducting a probe to get more information about the duo's activities in Indian soil.

The two suspects have confirmed sharing sensitive data with the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency of Pakistan.

"We got information about two men passing on sensitive details of the Indian army to handlers in Pakistan. After interrogation, it is confirmed that they did share sensitive details. The probe is underway. We have also recovered mobiles from them," B.S. Chavda, Gujarat ATS DSP told ANI.

The ATS was keeping a close watch on the movement of two residents of Khavda village since the past one year.
FARGO  In mid-August, Cass County Sheriff Paul Laney headed for southeastern Morton County, the scene of protests against the Dakota Access Pipeline.

Except for a few breaks, hes been there ever since.

Serving as the elected sheriff of whats by far the states largest county while consumed by policing the ongoing tribal protests of the oil pipeline has been a daily act of priority-balancing, Laney said.

Im very blessed to have a command team that I believe is second to none, he said. They can hold the fort with most things, but there are certainly things that need my attention.

Laney, who is halfway through a third term after first taking office in January 2007, said he feels its important for him to do everything he can to help Morton County in its time of need because Cass County got help during the floods of 2009, 2010 and 2011. In the worst of those floods, in 2009, hundreds of law enforcement officers from around the state and country went to Cass County for more than 40 days, he said.

The fact that we've had to go out of state to bring in assistance, he said, how do we in-state not help first?

Hundreds of law enforcement officials from all over the state and other parts of the country have been helping police the protests at the request of Morton County Sheriff Kyle Kirchmeier, whose force is stretched thin. Laney has been the operations chief for the law enforcement presence at the protests.

Last week, a representative from the Western States Sheriffs Association and the National Sheriffs Association said members of both groups have pledged to help Morton County. Laney is a board member for the national group.

Cass County Commission Chairwoman Mary Scherling agreed with Laneys sentiment that pitching in is worth the heavy strain on the sheriffs time.

When weve had floods, for example, we've relied on many many outside agencies to help us with all of our sandbagging and dike patrols and search and rescue and so on and so forth, she said. The counties don't live in a bubble. We have to help each other, and were glad to be able to do that.

Scherling said she knows Laney is in constant communication with his subordinates in Fargo. Laney said hes been able to take care of business back in Cass County by phone, by email or via scanned documents.

Cass County Chief Deputy Col. Rick Majerus is in charge while Laney is away. The sheriff said he does return to Cass County when hes absolutely needed.

Marty Johnson, Scherlings challenger in Novembers County Commission election, didnt return a phone message Wednesday.

The pipeline construction site targeted by protesters is near the Missouri River just north of the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation. Protesters, many of whom are American Indians, say construction of the $3.8 billion oil pipeline would desecrate burial grounds and other sites sacred to Indians. They also say a rupture would threaten water quality in the Missouri River, which the pipeline must go under as it continues on its way to Illinois.

Laney estimated that there have been 7,000 to 8,000 protesters, though more recently the numbers have dropped to 2,500 to 3,000 who are in it for the long haul. The majority are peaceful, but 300 to 400 are extremely confrontational, he said, accusing them of trying to disrupt construction and intimidating farm workers.

As of Tuesday, the protests had led to 123 arrests.

State officials and lawmakers have criticized the lack of financial and law enforcement support from the federal government, given that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers surprisingly withdrew its required approval of the pipelines Missouri River crossing for further review -- an announcement made Sept. 9, just minutes after a federal court ruled in favor of the pipelines construction.

The number of law enforcement officials on the scene has fluctuated based on need, though Laney said he couldnt say how many because of security concerns. Several of his deputies have rotated into and out of Morton County over the last few months, he said, but its hard for him to stay away because hes one of three top commanders on the scene.

Cass County taxpayers wont bear the cost of deploying Laney and his deputies to the protest, and patrols in Cass County and jail security havent been affected, a department spokesman said previously. The state Emergency Commission voted last month to borrow up to $6 million from the state-owned Bank of North Dakota to cover overtime and other protest-related costs.

Laney said the days are long there, leaving only enough time outside work for him to grab a bite and sleep. Deputies who volunteer to rotate in work seven days a week with no time off until they rotate out again, he said.

Im not going to lie: Were all tired, he said, but law enforcement officers expect that they may have to make sacrifices.

Asked how long he thinks hell be needed in Morton County, Laney said that depends on the protesters.

The company building the pipeline, which was 87 percent complete in North Dakota as of the end of September, said Tuesday that it intends to resume construction promptly after the Standing Rock Sioux Tribes request to stop work in some areas was denied Sunday.

Protesters have said they dont plan to leave anytime soon.

This currently is a situation that theres no way one agency alone could handle this, Laney said.
The Union government has decided to launch the second phase of its scheme to monitor power supply in about 600,000 villages in real time. Earlier, the governments focus was limited to the un-electrified villages. It has now decided to keep tabs on power supply to each household.
Business leaders from the five nations on Thursday agreed that utilising their individual economic strengths and specialisations would be crucial to furthering economic integration in the bloc.
The eighth Summit, to be held in Goa over the weekend, faces a challenge in increasing trade among member-states, with nearly all the members experiencing a slowdown in economic growth.



The meeting will see efforts to reach a consensus on issues such as the situation in Syria and a resolve to combat terrorism, but the primarily economic grouping is struggling to reach a consensus on the proposed free-trade agreement (FTA). Fears of Chinese goods flooding the markets has meant that a consensus has eluded the group on Beijings suggestion for a FTA.



On Thursday, the Chinese state-run Global Times ran an article that called upon BRICS member countries to agree to making the bloc a free-trade area. Given the reservations expressed by other members, particularly South Africa, the Chinese are unlikely to push for their informal suggestion.



The BRICS  originally comprising Brazil, Russia, India and China, with South Africa joining the grouping in 2010  held its first formal summit in 2009. Its objectives were reforms of the Bretton Woods institutions, and prioritising of development goals, like infrastructure development and poverty eradication. BRICS countries account for 40 per cent of the worlds population, and a fourth of its economy, with a combined gross domestic product of nearly $17 trillion.



One of the key achievements of the grouping was to set up a BRICS Bank in 2014 as an alternative to the International Monetary Fund.
Trade ministers from the five nations agreed to enhance cooperation in the areas of intellectual property rights (IPRs) and e-commerce, while also committing to remove non-tariff barriers to trade.
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) on Thursday cleared a proposal to come up with a new mechanism for revision of for supply to public sector oil marketing companies (OMCs) to carry out the Ethanol Blended Petrol (EBP) programme. Through this, the price of ethanol for blending will be cut to Rs 39 per litre, excluding taxes, from December 1. The current level of prices, inclusive of taxes, is Rs 48.50-49.50 per litre.
China on Thursday assured India that it will act on the concerns expressed by India on giving greater market access to domestic products to bridge the widening trade deficit.

The issue, among others, was discussed during the meeting held in New Delhi between Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Wang Shouwen, Vice Minister for Ministry of Finance and Commerce, China.

The Chinese minister is in New Delhi to attend the 6th BRICS Trade Ministers' meeting.

"The Chinese Vice Minister assured that China would act on the concerns expressed by India regarding market access for Indian goods in the Chinese markets," the commerce ministry said in a statement.

During the meeting, Sitharaman raised concerns over the widening trade deficit between the two countries.

Both the leaders exchanged notes on trade and commerce and agreed that the "mounting bilateral trade deficit has been a cause for concern for India" which seeks greater market access for its goods for a long-term sustainable trade relationship, it said.

Sitharaman requested expeditious clearances for import of Indian rice besides a 'Green Channel' for import of Indian pharmaceutical products to China - especially those which already have USFDA and EUFDA accreditation, it added.

She also requested the Chinese Vice Minister to consider demonstration of IT/ITeS projects for Indian companies - which have acquired global acclaim.

"She expressed concerns at the long drawn procedures for clearances which tend to frustrate the Indian companies seeking business opportunities in China," it added.

Further, Sitharaman asked for 'buying missions' to India to source amongst other things, Indian tobacco and oil meals.

On the other hand, the Chinese Minister informed that recently China has quickened the pace of granting clearances to Indian pharma companies for import of the pharma products, it said.

The Chinese Vice Minister also sought the cooperation of India in various multilateral fora where China and India are engaged and assured that India's concerns on a 'Single undertaking' will be duly taken on board with services being an integral part of the cooperation agreement.

In 2015-16, India's exports to China was $9 billion, while imports were $61.7 billion, leaving a trade deficit of $52.7 billion.
The Centre will soon release a new blacklisting policy wherein the defence minister will have the authority to decide the extent of blacklisting.
India blocked a climate change project from Pakistan at the Green Climate Fund, raising eyebrows at the meeting in South Korea. The project is to be located in Gilgit-Baltistan and the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.The (GCF) is an arm of the climate change convention to fund projects in developing countries, supported by financing by rich countries and multilateral donors. India is one of the three board members representing the Asia-Pacific region, along with China and Saudi Arabia. The funds board is meeting in Songdo, South Korea, to consider funding proposals.On Wednesday, Indias representative Dinesh Sharma, special secretary in the finance ministry, called the Pakistan project for adapting to climate change in the Himalayan region as flawed. He said he agreed with all the other proposals.In response to Business Standards e-mail queries, Sharma said he found the Pakistan project flawed on technical grounds and nothing else should be implied from it.But two other developing country board members that Business Standard spoke to expressed disappointment. Here (at climate negotiations) we dont represent just our individual national interests but we work as a group to protect developing country interests India could have put more conditions but let it move ahead. Unfortunately, it is not budging.This will, we fear, isolate India and at the same time weaken our unity, said one of the two, requesting anonymity.The Pakistan project, supported by the UNDP, is meant to reduce flooding risks in Northern Kashmir area because of outbursts from glacial lakes. An independent technical committee of the GCF assessed the project would provide protection to more than 700,000 people and save more than 100 lives that get lost due to frequent glacial lake outbursts.When the proposals came up for discussion at the board, India said he had read the Pakistan proposal in detail and had objections to it. He said that the Pakistan projects success was predicated on there being no glacial outbursts during the five-year tenure of the project, which was unlikely considering the frequency of glacial bursts in the region.  the project is fundamentally shaky and our (GCFs) reputation will be at risk.Surprised at the Indian rejection, the chair asked if he would be willing to consult with the experts on the proposal to see if there was any way to amend the project or resolve the impasse. Sharma replied, I cant think of any conditions on which it can be passed. Just to show that I dont have a closed mind I can hear them but there is very low probability of learning something or adding something.

The Indian intervention raised eye-brows at the meeting among several observers and other board members from developing countries. At the GCF developing countries and within that particularly the Asia Pacific group usually coordinate their moves closely to maintain a negotiating balance against the developed countries. But, in this case, they were taken by surprise by the Indian opposition to Pakistans project.
India has strongly opposed a move by developed countries not to include three chemicals patented by US-based companies in the list of controlled substances that cause global warming as talks here to phase-down climate-damaging Hydrofluorocarbons reached a crucial stage.

India's demand to include the HFOs (hydrofluoroolefins), one of the main alternatives to HFCs, has now become a bone of contention in the final round of negotiations to amendment the to phase down the harmful refrigerant gas.

"What we understand by that 19 HFCs plus three HFOs (Hydrofluoroolefins) which are in Micronesian proposal..... For us, all these 22 are in the controlled substances," India's lead negotiator Manoj Kumar Singh said at the contact group meeting held at Kigali Convention Centre on Wednesday.

India made its stand clear on the issue after a high- level US delegation met Environment Minister Anil Madhav Dave at India office at Kigali Convention Centre.

India's stand supported by a group of other developing nations clearly indicates that differences are emerging in what should be the list of chemicals that should be controlled by the amendment to to phase-down the use of HFCs.

There are 19 HFCs which are in the list of all the parties but three HFCs, which are called as HFOs, are not included in the list of substances to be controlled by the amendment.

These HFOs are new chemicals produced by two companies in the US.

India is proposing to include the name of HFOs in the list of controlled substance. Developed countries including the US, Australia and Canada are not in favour of Indian proposal.

"New patented chemicals, along with HFCs need to be included in the list to manage environmental impacts and illegal trade in refrigerants. HFOs use HCFC, which is an ozone depleting substance, as feedstock during manufacturing," Indian climate expert Chandra Bhushan said.

"Also, HFOs breakdown in environment into a toxic and water polluting chemical called as TFAs. So, to understand and ultimately manage the environmental fallout of increasing use of HFOs, regular data needs to be collected. And, this can only happen when HFOs are in the list of controlled substance," he said.

He also said that listing of these HFOs is important as countries need to track a large number of products called blends, that use HFCs and HFOs together, to manage illegal trade in HFCs.

Bhushan, who is also Deputy Director General of the CSE, said in the last few years, DuPont and Honeywell - two big multinational chemical companies of the US - have come up with these patented chemicals and their blends to replace HFCs.

The most prominent among HFOs is a refrigerant called HFO1234yf that can potentially replace the current refrigerant-HFC 134a in the automobile air conditioning sector.

Though HFOs have very low Global warming potential, there are major concerns around the products of its degradation, he said.
In District 34, North Dakota Sen. Dwight Cook is facing a challenge from Dave Gipp, a past president of United Tribes Technical College.

Sen. Dwight Cook, R-Mandan

While a lot of work has been done to address property taxes in recent years, more is needed, according to Republican Sen. Dwight Cook of Mandan.

Cook, first elected in 1996, said his experience chairing the Senate Finance and Taxation Committee has given him an opportunity to reduce property taxes and improve the overall state tax climate.

He said he plans to keep an eye on oil tax revenue as the state navigates through a tough fiscal period with low oil prices. One of the most important things for Mandan is to maintain the hub city funding, he said.

Last session, Mandan was included in an expanded program for funding to hub cities that have impacts and high employment in the energy industry. The expanded program expires at the end of the biennium. Cook said District 34 lawmakers are ready to make the case for it to continue.

With revenue down because of the slowdown in the energy industry and low agriculture prices, budgeting will be tougher than in recent years, according to Cook.

Weve just got to be smarter, he said of prioritization and delivery of services.

Cook also served on the Senate Government and Veterans Affairs Committee last session.

Dave Gipp, Dem-NPL

Dem-NPL District 34 Senate challenger Dave Gipp says his wealth of experience as past president of United Tribes Technical College has prepared him for legislative responsibilities. He was president of the school for nearly 38 years prior to taking the chancellor job for a short time in 2014.

We need to be frugal with our resources, but also be creative and creating opportunities, said Gipp, 70, who ramped up his campaign this fall.

Residents of the district are concerned about the state budget as well as keeping taxes from rising, he said.

Economic development opportunities for residents and improving access to technical training are important to Gipp. He said incentives can help stimulate small-business growth, and training programs and educational opportunities will help build the workforce and curb poverty.

Thats the only way: to bring incentives to get out of poverty, said Gipp, who earned a degree in political science from the University of North Dakota in 1969.

Gipp was a member of the North Dakota National Guard for several years in the 1970s. He said hed also be an important link in helping strengthen state and tribal relations if elected.
signed an agreement to foster economic ties with Wielkopolska region in Poland, Industries Minister R.V. Deshpande has said.

"The agreement will catalyse in forging business opportunities and establishing flourishing business relations between our regions," said Deshpande on Wednesday on the occasion at Poznan in Poland.

Recalling his meeting with Wielkopolska delegation in Mumbai last November, Deshpande said leading Polish firm Ekolog chose Bengaluru to set up a clean energy technology plant with $50-million investment under the 'Make in India' programme.

"I am informed that Poland is interested in 'Make in India' and has initiated 'Go India' which helps Polish firms to look towards us for investments," noted Deshpande.

Lauding the progress Poland made in the post-war period, especially over the last two decades, the minister said Indo-Polish trade had been thriving, with India exporting commodities, textiles, drugs, machinery and auto parts and importing artificial resins, non-ferrous metals and machine tools from the Eastern European nation.

"Indian software majors like Wipro and TCS have their presence in Poland. India has signed high value arms deals with your country for supply of air defence missiles, armoured recovery vehicles and tank upgrades," Deshpande told Poznan international trade fair deputy Chief Executive Tomasz Kobierski and Wielkopolska board member Leszek Wojtasiak on the occasion.

Noting that Poland was the second highest FDI (Foreign Direct Investment) contributor from the Central European nations to India, as evident from $620 million over 15 years from 2000-2015, the minister said India had, however, invested $3 billion in Poland during the same period.

"Several Indian firms, including Reliance, Ranbaxy, Videocon, Zensar Technologies and KPIT Cummins have invested in Poland, while Polish firms like Can-Pack Poland, Inglot, Geo Fysika have presence in our country," asserted Deshpande.

Reiterating that huge opportunity was present in IT, solid waste management, clean technologies and renewable energy, the minister told Polish stakeholders to explore potential areas for collaborations and investments in the state.

"As Bengaluru is the world's second largest IT cluster and leading start-up hub,Aour state has a good industrial and technology based ecosystem, which attracted global firms to set up their R&D and innovation centres in this tech hub.

Indian Ambassador to Poland Ajay Bisaria was also present on the occasion.
In the wake of the Maratha community's agitation for reservations in education and jobs, the government of Maharashtra announced some decisions on Thursday regarding educational benefits. The state cabinet, chaired by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, raised to Rs 6 lakh the upper income limit for defining an Economically Backward Class and announced extension of monetary benefits under this category to students from all castes.
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) has approved a new mechanism for fixing the price of that oil marketing companies (OMCs) would procure from sugar companies, resulting in a Rs 1-1.50 a litre drop.Oil companies have to necessarily blend up to 10 per cent of in petrol. The price OMCs would have to pay to sugar companies for the 2016-17 season that started from October 1 was fixed at Rs 39 a litre, excluding any taxes and duties. This price would be for supplied from December 1 till November 30, 2017.OMCs would bear the expenditure on excise duty, value added tax/goods and services tax (VAT/GST), transportation charges, etc, as decided by the OMCs. Earlier, these expenditures were borne by the sugar companies or ethanol suppliers. The government in 2014 had fixed an ethanol price of Rs 48.5-49.5 for ethanol supplied to OMCs which included all the taxes and duties levied by states or Centre. This effectively meant the ex-factory realisation for sugar companies was Rs 40.5-41 a litre. Some states levied an extra tax on ethanol and actual realisation for some mills went up to Rs 42 a litre. For such companies, Thursdays decision would mean a Rs 3 a litre drop.Sugar industry sources said almost 70 per cent of the ethanol supplied in the 2015-16 sugar season was at Rs 40.5-41 a litre. The price of ethanol has been determined on the basis of the prevalent price of sugar in the open market, as also the demand- supply situation, Dharmendra Pradhan, petroleum minister, said after the CCEA meeting. The rate paid to sugar mills was never Rs 48.50. It was Rs 42. That price (Rs 48.50) was after including excise duty, VAT and other levies and transportation cost.The price of ethanol will be reviewed at any time during the ethanol supply period  December 1, 2016 to November 30, 2017, it was stated after the meeting.Welcoming the decision, Abinash Verma, director-general of the Indian Sugar Mills Association, said he welcomed the decision to fix an ex-distillery price, removing the uncertainties from tax rates and duties levied by some states.By ensuring GST will be borne by OMCs, the uncertainty of GST rate has also been taken away. However, the government should find ways to compensate or give back the benefit of excise duty waiver announced in June 2015 but withdrawn prematurely in Aug 2016 to ethanol suppliers, to ensure enough is contracted and supplied for the blending programme, said Verma.

To cut import dependence, the government had in 2003 started the programme to blend five per cent of the petrol with ethanol. This was later raised to 10 per cent. However, since 2006, OMCs hadn't got offers for the required quantity of ethanol against the tenders floated by them. Accordingly, the government in December 2014 had decided the delivered price of ethanol at OMC depots would be fixed at Rs 48.5-49.5 a litre, including central/state taxes and transportation charges. This compared with about Rs 29 a litre that OMCs earlier paid for ethanol.
The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has written to the Union ministry of finance for approval to establish an institutional mechanism to deal with inquiries by external probe agencies, and to provide legal assistance to employees under scrutiny.
Meeting between, Commerce and Industry Minister Mrs. Nirmala Sitharaman and Mr. Marcos Pereira, Minister of Industry, Foregin Trade and Services, Brazil.

Mrs. Nirmala Sitharaman, Commerce and Industry Minister and her Brazilian counterpart Mr. Marcos Pereira, Minister of Industry, Foreign Trade and Services held bilateral talks on 13th October, 2016 in New Delhi who is in India to participate in the BRICS summit. The Brazilian Minister thanked Mrs.

Nirmala Sitharaman for holding the meeting and congratulated India on taking over the Presidency of BRICS and wished the forthcoming BRICS Trade Ministers meet at Goa a grand success.

Mr. Marcos Pereira expressed pleasure on the Investment Facilitation Treaty being initialled between India and Brazil at Goa while mentioning that it is their first in Asia and he is glad that it is happening with India.

Both Ministers recollected that the IV th meeting of the India-Brazil Trade Monitoring Mechanism and the 3rd meeting of Joint Administrative Committee of India-MERCOSUR PTA held in Brazil during 29-30th September, 2016 have been successful and CIM thanked Brazil for its initiative in hosting the meetings graciously.

Both Ministers expressed the need to strengthen the India-MERCOSUR PTA and expand the items on offer from both sides to at least 2500 from the current 450 as this would greatly benefit the two way trade and need to have close cooperation between India, Brazil and other MERCOSUR partners so as to ensure that the expansion process does not spill over beyond end of next year.

During the discussions, Mr. Marcos Pereira informed on the reforms being taken by the present Brazilian Government in improving the Business environment, Economic growth and the legislations being embarked upon to bring about labour reforms, social security arrangements besides control of public expenditure.

Mrs. Nirmala Sitharaman mentioned the improvement in ease of doing business in India and influx of huge amount of FDI into India, since the present Government came to power while underlining that the investment from Brazil has been modest and below potential, thereby emphasizing that both countries take measures to enhance two way investment. She mentioned that India felt the absence of Brazil in the VIth India-LAC conclave organized by India during 8-9th October, 2015 in New Delhi and suggested Brazilian Minister to host similar conclaves in Brazil so as to establish long term economic partnerships and foster south-south cooperation. A Joint Working Group on trade promotion was suggested to be formed to ensure smooth conduct and success of such events which the Brazilian side welcomed.

Commerce Minister thanked Brazil for its initiative and cooperation for holding constructive deliberations on MSME, Services, Standardisation, IPR and Single Window mechanism during BRICS summit.

MJPS
is in the eye of a fresh storm after at least five women accused him of sexual assault and harassment, threatening the controversial Republican presidential nominee's already fragile campaign, less than a month before the election day.
Samsung killed the smartphones this week after the devices continued to burst into flames. But the tech behemoth has not extinguished scrutiny over its safety record.
A Syrian man arrested on suspicion he had planned a jihadist bomb attack on a Berlin airport was found dead in his cell after an apparent suicide, authorities said.

Jaber Albakr, 22, who was arrested two days earlier following a tense manhunt after police found explosives in his apartment, was discovered hanged in his jail cell in the eastern city of Leipzig yesterday, reported Germany's Bild daily, national news agency DPA and other media.

"Jaber Albakr took his own life in the Leipzig prison hospital," the regional government in Saxony said in a statement without elaborating.

Albakr had narrowly evaded police commandos on Saturday morning but was arrested some 48 hours later, thanks to three compatriots now widely lauded as heroes, who recognised him, tied him up and handed him to police.

Germany's domestic security service had alerted police last Friday that Albakr may be plotting a bomb attack, and police investigators have since said he was thought to have had links with the Islamic State group.

Early last Saturday, police closed in on his communist-era flat in the eastern city of Chemnitz, but he managed to slip away, sparking a weekend-long nationwide manhunt.

Police then discovered 1.5 kilos (over three pounds) of TATP, the homemade explosive used by Islamic State jihadists in the Paris and Brussels attacks, in his flat.

Investigators said the explosives were "almost ready or even ready for use," and that he was apparently preparing a "bomb, possibly in the form of a suicide vest".

On the run, Albakr contacted the Syrians, who put him up in their apartment in Leipzig but who then realised he was a wanted terror suspect and turned him in to police.

Albakr had offered them money to let him go, they later said.

The top-selling Bild daily described the trio as "the Syrian heroes from Leipzig", while calls have grown to honour and reward them.

DPA said Albakr had told the police the three Syrians had been complicit in his attack plans, but it was unclear whether police took that claim seriously.

Germany's domestic intelligence chief Hans-Georg Maassen said his service had received information that Albakr "initially wanted to target trains in before finally deciding on one of Berlin's airports".
has sent a legal notice to The New York Times asking it to retract a "reckless" and "defamatory" story in which two women claimed the Republican presidential nominee touched them inappropriately.

"Your article is reckless, defamatory and constitutes libel per se. It is apparent from, among other things, the timing of the article, that it is nothing more than a politically-motivated effort to defeat Mr Trump's candidacy," said Marc E Kasowitz, the attorney on behalf of the Republican presidential nominee.

"That is why you apparently performed an entirely inadequate investigation to test the veracity of these false and malicious allegations, including why these two individuals waited, in one case, 11 years, and, in another case, more than three decades, before deciding to come forward with these false and defamatory statements," he said.

"Clearly, The New York Times is willing to provide a platform to anyone wishing to smear Mr Trump's name and reputation prior to the election irrespective of whether the alleged statements have any basis in fact," he said.

"We hereby demand that you immediately cease any further publication of this article, remove it from your website and issue a full and immediate retraction and apology. Failure to do so will leave my client with no option but to pursue all available actions and remedies," Kasowitz said in the legal notice sent to the daily.

Earlier, 70-year-old Trump alleged the mainstream media is an extension of the rival Hillary Clinton Campaign and the system is rigged including that of the non-profit that holds the presidential debate.

"WikiLeaks shows something I've been warning about for a very, very long time. The media is simply an extension of the Clinton Campaign," Trump told his supporters at an election rally in Florida.

Trump alleged that while the media has been writing stories against him, they have been ignoring the critical stories related to Democratic presidential nominee Clinton.

"These dishonest people, mainstream media, they don't talk about this. They don't talk about this. Now, if sneezes today, it's a major story," he said.

"We are in a rigged system. This is a rigged, rigged system. You saw so many of the things. I'll tell you, this WikiLeaks stuff is unbelievable. They want to put it out, but they can't do that, because without the media and without the press, Hillary Clinton would be nothing. She'd be nothing. Zero," he said.

"The corporate media can't report on the establishment because the corporate media is the establishment, such a big part of it," he said.

"Reporters who work for these outlets like the Washington Post or the New York Times may think of themselves as journalists, but they're actually cogs for a corrupt political machine. That's the Clinton machine. The e-mail shows the New York Times, the Boston Globe, Univision who I sued Univision, and I was very happy with what they did," Trump said.
A leading Pakistani daily on Wednesday asked the civilian and military establishment why action against Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) chief Masood Azhar and Jamaat-ud-Dawah's (JuD's) Hafiz Saeed was a "danger" to the country's national security.

The strong editorial in The Nation, considered close to the government and military establishment, came as a prominent journalist, Cyril Almeida, of Dawn was banned from leaving Pakistan because of his front-page report on a rift between the military and the civilian government over the military's covert support to militant groups like the Haqqani network, Taliban and the Lashkar-e-Taiba.

The editorial titled 'How to lose friends and alienate people' said the government and the military were lecturing the press, instead of taking actions against Azhar and Saeed.

JeM leader and Pathankot terror attack mastermind Azhar and JuD chief Saeed, the mastermind of the 2008 Mumbai attacks, roam freely in Pakistan and are believed to have the protection of the military.

The daily said in its editorial that it was a "disturbing day when civilian and military top leadership meet to lecture the media on how to do their job".

"Apparently a barrage of online abuse, and three official denials were not enough to assuage tempers riled after Mr Almeida's exclusive story in Dawn, detailing an unusual exchange between the very same civilian and military top brass that yesterday issued forth a statement on the violation of 'universally acknowledged principles of reporting on national security issues'," the editorial said.

"The report by Mr Almeida has been called 'fabricated', and 'speculative reporting'. But the government and military top brass in yesterday's meeting delivered no explanation for why government MNA's are protesting the visible presence of banned outfits in Pakistan. Or why possible action against Masood Azhar, or Hafiz Saeed is a danger to 'national security'. Or why Pakistan faces increasing isolation? We're all ears," the editorial added.

"Instead, how dare the government and military top brass lecture the press on how to do their job. How dare they treat a feted reporter like a criminal. And how dare they imply that they have either the right or the ability or the monopoly to declare what Pakistan's 'national interest' is," it said.

"And for Mr Almeida, nothing but solidarity. More power to you, and to your pen. The press stands with you," it added.

In an editorial, Dawn said it continues to stand-by Almeida's story and has rejected allegations of "vested interest and false reporting".

The Karachi Press Club has also demanded that the travel ban on Almeida be lifted.
Several women have demonstrated outside Donald Trump's campaign headquarters here calling on Americans to reject the Republican presidential nominee, saying promoting and condoning sexual assault by him is "unforgivable".

Dressed in black, the multiracial group of more than 80 women blockaded the doors to Trump Tower in Manhattan's famed 5th Avenue on Wednesday and called for a rejection of Trump by the Republican party, citing decades of anti-women, anti-immigrant, and anti-black policies supported by the GOP.

The protests come days after a 2005 video surfaced in which Trump is heard making obscene and sexually explicit remarks about women.

The women held signs showing a cat baring its teeth, a reference to the lewd word used by Trump in the video.

They chanted 'GOP hands off me' and 'Donald thinks he runs this town'.

"It's not about lewd language, it's about promoting and condoning sexual assault," said Nadya Stevens, one of the action's organisers.

"It's unforgivable, especially after his racist attacks. As women of all colours, we reject and the GOP (Republican party), and call on the rest of the nation to reject them too," added Stevens.

Brigid Flaherty, who helped organise the protest, said not just Trump but the GOP also has "attacked women's bodies and access to healthcare for decades".

"It's time for women everywhere to reject both Trump and the Republican party that has produced him," she said.

The women formed a human chain across the doors to Trump Tower, stretching out banners reading '#GOPHandsOffMe'.

Many of the women shared stories of how they had been personally impacted by anti-women Republican policies.

"The Republican Party is at war with all women, and black, trans, poor, and immigrant women are impacted first and worst," Flaherty said.

The protest outside Trump Tower was among similar women-led actions held in places like San Francisco, Houston, Albuquerque and Seattle.

Organisers stressed that women, as a group, have the political power to reject sexism, racism and xenophobia.
Despite repeated setbacks on the path to peace in war-wracked Syria, the United States and Russia will give diplomacy another chance, as Washington convenes talks in Europe this weekend to try to secure a ceasefire that sticks.

Washington and Moscow, which officially cut off bilateral contact on the issue last week after a truce deal unraveled, yesterday announced two days of talks  in Lausanne on Saturday, and in London on Sunday.

The meetings come after was plunged into some of the worst violence it has seen, as government forces backed by Russian airpower push a brutal assault on rebel-held eastern Aleppo.

Fresh air strikes and artillery fire in Aleppo yesterday left at least seven people dead, an monitor said, a day after Russia was accused of stepping up its raids on the city.

They also come with tensions high between Moscow and the West, which has accused Russia of potential war crimes over its bombing campaign.

In the Swiss city, US Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov should be joined by their counterparts from Turkey and Gulf countries.

Lavrov named Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar  all backers of Syrian opposition forces  as possible participants. But neither side confirmed an invitation to Iran, a key player in the conflict and an ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Then in London, Kerry will likely meet up with his European counterparts  from Britain, France and Germany.

Both meetings will focus on "a multilateral approach to resolving the crisis in Syria, including a sustained cessation of violence and the resumption of humanitarian aid deliveries," the State Department said.

In Moscow, Russian President Vladimir Putin "expressed the hope that the meeting set for October 15 in Lausanne... will be productive and contribute in a concrete way to a resolution" of the conflict, the Kremlin said.

French President Francois Hollande and German Chancellor Angela Merkel urged Putin to push for a ceasefire, despite the repeated setbacks.

Lavrov, meanwhile, told CNN in an interview yesterday that he hoped the weekend talks in Switzerland could help "launch a serious dialogue" based on the now-defunct US-Russian pact.

"We would like to have a meeting in this narrow format, to have a business-like discussion, not another General Assembly-like debate," Lavrov said.

The United Nations said envoy Staffan de Mistura had been invited to take part in the talks but a spokesman said he did not know if he would attend.

Hopes are rather low for a breakthrough to end the five-year conflict that has claimed some 300,000 lives.
Chinese President on Thursday left for state visits to Cambodia, Bangladesh and India during which he would take part in the BRICS Summit in Goa.

After two-day visit to Cambodia, he would travel to Bangladesh, the first visit by a Chinese President for 30 years.

From Bangladesh, Xi will travel to Goa to attend the BRICS Summit. He will also meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the sidelines of the Summit.

He will be meeting a host of other leaders including heads of the BIMSTEC (Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Myanmar and Thailand), countries who have been invited to the Goa Summit.

In all 11 heads of state from BRICS Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) and Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) countries will attend the meeting.

The two-day BRICS summit will start on October 15.

Xi's entourage includes Wang Huning, member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and director of the Policy Research Office of the CPC Central Committee; Li Zhanshu, member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, member of the Secretariat of the CPC Central Committee and director of the General Office of the CPC Central Committee; and State Councilor Yang Jiechi.
production for 2016-17 would be around 320,000 tonnes, eight per cent lower than 348,000 tonne in 2015-16, according to post-blossom estimates.
While farmers are calling for lower this year, it has been a turnaround for dehydration players. Lower prices have made the onion dehydration industry internationally competitive.
has rallied 5% to Rs 4,080, also its new high on the BSE, in an otherwise weak market on the back of heavy volumes.
Minister of State for External Affairs M.J. Akbar will be visiting Palestine to Co-Chair the first Joint Commission Meeting (JCM) between India and Palestine on November 8-9.

The Palestinian side will be co-chaired by Foreign Minister Riad al-Maliki, said a statement issued by the Ministry of External Affairs here.

India and Palestine enjoy their historic bilateral ties. In order to give further impetus to this bilateral relationship, it was agreed to establish this JCM during External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj's visit to Palestine in January.

The proposed JCM would cover a range of issues, including cooperation in economy, energy, tourism, agriculture, water and environment, education, health, IT, sports, culture, media etc.

Akbar will also be visiting Amman, the capital of Jordan, on November 10 for bilateral talks with his counterpart and other dignitaries.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Morton County is aiming to keep 40 officers from other states here to help police the Dakota Access Pipeline protests, but it is not clear yet who will send them.

"It is our desire to keep that level of support," said Donnell Preskey, spokeswoman for the Morton County Sheriff's Department.

Wisconsin law enforcement agencies sent 43 officers to North Dakota on Sunday, according to Lori Getter, spokeswoman for Wisconsin Emergency Management.

The Wisconsin deputies have provided extra patrols, Preskey said, and they were present at a protest staged Monday at a construction site near St. Anthony.

But most of those officers are going home on Sunday. Only eight will be here for another week, according to Getter.

Dane County Sheriff Dave Mahoney, of Madison, told the Wisconsin State Journal on Wednesday that he was pulling his support early. He sent 13 officers this past week and intended to send the same number in shifts for the next two weeks, but changed his mind because of community pressure and cost.

Getter said it was always the intention that the other 22 officers deployed here would stay one week. They have not been recalled.

She said discussions are ongoing with other Wisconsin law enforcement agencies, but no more officers have been confirmed. She said she was not sure if Wisconsin could keep providing officers.

"We hope that other states in the region will be able to provide assistance as well," Getter said.

Preskey said the Morton County Sheriff's Department has sent requests to other states that might send officers. She would not disclose which states.

The Wisconsin deputies were provided to North Dakota under the Emergency Management Assistance Compact, a mutual aid agreement among states.

The officers came after Wyoming's Laramie County Sheriff Danny Glick, immediate past president of the National Sheriffs' Association, pledged the support of sheriffs across the country Oct. 6.

Out-of-state officers have been paid with funds from the $6 million emergency credit line the state got from the Bank of North Dakota.
The General Assembly today elected the former prime minister of Portugal, Antonio Guterres, as the next United Nations Secretary-General, to succeed Ban Ki-moon when he steps down on 31 December.

Guterres, 67, was Prime Minister of Portugal from 1995 to 2002, and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees from June 2005 to December 2015. He will become the world's top diplomat on 1 January 2017, and hold that post for the next five years.

Adopting a consensus resolution put forward by its President Peter Thomson, the assembly acted on the recommendation on the UN Security Council, which on 6 October forwarded Guterres' name to the 193-member body as its nominee for UN Secretary-General.

Ban Ki-Moon said on the occasion, "Secretary-General-elect Guterres is well known to all of us in the hall. But he is perhaps best known where it counts most: on the frontlines of armed conflict and humanitarian suffering. He is a wonderful choice to steer this organisation."

Also, this was the first time that the selection of a new United Nations Secretary-General, traditionally decided behind closed-doors by a few powerful countries, has involved public discussions with each candidate campaigning for the post.

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Reprimanding Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar's statement that 30 years of steam was released on September 29 when soldiers dismantled seven terror launch pads in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, Congress veteran A.K. Antony while setting the record straight on Thursday said that surgical operations were done during the former UPA regime as well as at the time of other governments in the past, adding that the former is busting too much and somebody should control him.

"And also, I will say while he says that for the 30 years the Indian armed forces did not retaliate, it means more than seven years of its (BJP's) leader and our Prime Minister Atal Bihar Vajpayee's government was also suffering humiliations. It is strange," Antony told ANI.

"Not now, in the past also, and during the UPA regime also, many a times our army crossed the Line of Control (LoC) and conducted retaliatory actions. I can say during our time, many a times these kinds of retaliations were from our parts. In other words, you may say surgical strikes and other retaliatory actions, which depends on the gravity of the attack committed by the enemy on our country and our armed forces," he said disapproving Parrikar's statement.

"I feel sad that the Defence Minister of the country could speak like this frequently. I strongly object to his statement as it is an insult to the armed forces, army, our people and the country. The Defence Minister is busting too much and somebody should control him because we cannot have this kind of debate on security and operational details of the armed forces," said the former defence minister.

"During the last 10 years of the UPA government, ministers did not give details of the operations of the army. Normally, the army briefs the media whatever they feel necessary and not beyond that. Now, the ministers are briefing the media about the operational details of the armed forces, which is not a good practice," he added.

Further taking on Parrikar, Antony said the former's assertion that that the incumbent regime has lifted the burden and frustration of the last 30 years is a clearly an insult to the Indian armed forces and the country.

"What does it mean; it means that for the last 30 years our armed forces were suffering all kinds of retaliation, attacks, infiltration from across the border from the enemy country," he said.

Stating that he can say with authority that the Indian Army has never been an aggressor and India has never on its own provoked its enemy, Antony added, "But at the same time, whenever there is infiltration our armed forces, especially the army, retaliated, which is a practice of our army."

Noting that armed forces, including army, are always allowed to take whatever actions are needed to give a befitting reply to an attack or infiltration against the country, Antony said, "But, the practice is that the army will choose their own time and their own place to retaliate, and not the government. The operational details are not decided by the government, it is decided by the army. So, timing and place of retaliation are decided by the army and they are free to do that. They have done it in the past during the UPA government and during times of other governments also."

Speaking at two events in Mumbai, Parrikar had earlier said that 30 years of steam was released on September 29 when soldiers crossed into Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir to target seven staging areas for terrorists.

"I have been the Defence Minister for two years. From whatever I have known, there is no surgical strike from previous years. What they are quoting are actions taken by border action teams. These are common actions across the globe and by the Indian Army," he said.

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Following the recent murder of one of its activists in Kerala's Kannur district, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has called for a state-wide shutdown on Thursday to protest against the Left Democratic Front (LDF) Government.

Blaming the Communist Party of India (Marxist) for the killing, the BJP alleged that people not following Left ideologies are being murdered.

Noting that it was the seventh politically motivated murder in the district this year, BJP spokesperson Siddharth Nath Singh told ANI, "The CPI-M or the Left ideology has been violent and if you don't stand with their ideology, they would like to differ with you by silencing you through murder, and that's what is exactly happening in Kerala," Singh said.

"It is highly condemnable, but certainly the BJP will raise this issue in a democratic manner and respond to the violence of the Left," he added.

Another BJP leader Sambit Patra said, "A government that cannot protect lives cannot be called a government in fact. We have seen almost every day someone is hacked to death in Kerala. The Kerala Government has to investigate and has to punish those people who are responsible for this."

Both the CPI-M and the BJP are now blaming each other for the death of their respective party workers.

Police has deployed personnel in large numbers in the district to maintain law and order.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Union Cabinet on Thursday gave approval to the establishment and operationalisation of Indian Institute of Management (IIM) at Jammu in a transit/temporary campus at Old Government College of Engineering & Technology from the Academic Year 2016-17.

The project will be built at a cost of Rs.61.90 crore in the temporary campus for the initial four years from 2016 to 2020.

This will help in the student strength intake in the Post Graduate Diploma Programme (PGDP) in Management which will progressively go up to cumulative student strength of 120 in the 4th year.

Meanwhile, steps would also be undertaken up for setting up campus at Jammu and an out-campus in Kashmir region. The Detailed Project Report for the permanent campuses is under preparation and thereafter the process for setting up of the campuses would start.

The Cabinet also approved formation of an IIM Jammu Society under the Societies Registration Act, 1860. IIM Jammu will be run and managed by the Society with a Board of Governors (BOGs) to be constituted by the Government of India, which will administer the Institute and would be responsible for establishment and operationalisation of the Institute.

This is a part of Prime Minister's development package for Jammu & Kashmir. The Institute coupled with opening of IIT at Jammu, modernization of NIT Srinagar and opening of two new AIIMS institutions, one each in Kashmir region and Jammu region, would go a long way in meeting the requirement of high quality living and education in Jammu & Kashmir.

At present, there are nineteen IIMs, located at Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Kolkata, Lucknow, Indore, Kozhikode, Shillong, Ranchi, Raipur, Rohtak, Kashipur, Trichy, Udaipur.

Another six IIMs which have been started in 2015 are located at Amritsar, Sirmaur, Nagpur, Bodhgaya, Sambalpur and Vishakhapatnam.

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China on Thursday urged the British Government to stop interfering in Hong Kong affairs.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang made the remarks at a daily press briefing in response to a half-year report on Hong Kong released by the British government recently, reports Xinhua.

"Hong Kong is a special administrative region of China. Hong Kong affairs belong to China's domestic affairs and any foreign countries has no right to interfere. We demand that the British side be cautious in words and deeds, and stop interfering in Hong Kong affairs," said Geng.

Geng said the policy of "one country, two systems" has scored remarkable achievements since Hong Kong's return to China in 1997 adding that a high degree of autonomy have been fully implemented.

He said adding that the central government has strictly followed the Constitution and the Basic Law of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR) of the People's Republic of China, and given full support to the chief executive and the SAR government in governance according to law.

China has strong confidence and unswerving will to continue implementing the "one country, two systems" policy, the spokesperson said.

In the six-monthly report on Hong Kong, deposited in the British Parliament by the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs on October 12, the case of the five individuals associated with Causeway Bay bookstore and Mighty Current publishing house was raised saying it "continued to cause serious concern, both in Hong Kong and internationally, throughout the reporting period."

It also said that during the reporting period, there were a number of significant developments in the cases of the five individuals; Lee Po (a British citizen), Gui Minhai (a Swedish national), Lui Por, Cheung Chi-ping and Lam Wing-kee.

The report outlines that British citizen Lee Po returned to Hong Kong on March 24 for the first time since he was reported missing on January 1. The Hong Kong Police reported that he had cancelled his missing person's case and said that he had travelled to the mainland voluntarily, was not abducted and did not require assistance from the Hong Kong authorities.

Lam Wing-kee also returned to Hong Kong on 14 June, eight months after his disappearance. Hong Kong police confirmed on the same day that he had cancelled his missing person's report and said he required no assistance from the Hong Kong authorities.

Two days later, Lam held a press conference where he said that he and the other booksellers had been held against their will by mainland agents, denied due process, interrogated, required to sign non-disclosure documents, and forced to make false statements.

Following the press conference, three of Lam's colleagues contradicted his account in statements to the media.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Lambasting Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Kailash Vijayvargiya over his assertion that casting doubts over the surgical strikes conducted by the Indian Army amounts to sedition, the Congress Party on Thursday said that the former being the cause for half of the trouble should get some counselling from the Prime Minister's Office (PMO).

Congress leader Tom Vadakkan alleged that if there is an award for motormouths, Vijayvargiya would get it.

"He is the cause for half of the trouble. I think there is no connectivity between Vijayvargiya and the Prime Minister. That being the situation, I think it's time there is some counselling done for Vijayvargiya by the Prime Minister's Office to tell him to take it easy and not get so excited. In a democracy, criticisms do come; we have all to face it," Vadakkan told ANI.

"But clamping sedition charges against people for offences, which are under the democratic practices practiced in this country and all over the world. So, Vijayvargiya and his likes should chill it out," he added.

The BJP general secretary earlier said that raising doubts on the recent surgical strikes carried out by the Indian army across the Line out of Control (LOC) amounts to sedition.

"One should never doubt the army. To point a finger on the army I believe amounts to sedition. One should never question the army, if somebody is asking for proof that means they have doubts on the army," Vijayvargiya told ANI.

He further said that one should motivate the army rather than questioning and raising doubts just for political gains.

"A statement which demoralises the army and motivates other countries is next to sedition. No matter how many parties are there or what they say, but the country should be the priority," he added.

Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar had earlier heaped praise on the Indian Army, saying they carried out a "100 percent perfect surgical strike" on the seven terror launch pads across the LoC.

"We carried out a 100 percent perfect surgical strike. Our nation carries the heart and courage to carry this task out. There are many people who are not loyal to our country and criticized the Indian Army, but we don't have to give them any proof," Parrikar said while addressing the BJP workers and locals at the GIC ground in Agra.

Parrikar, however, yesterday said that he would only share the credit of the surgical strikes conducted by the Indian Army with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and added that the major share of the success goes to the latter for apt decision making and planning.

"I will only share the credit, the major share goes to the Prime Minister. This should settle the nerves of many people," he said.

He also took a jibe on the cynical criticism surrounding the strikes and said that doubters can also share the credit for the success of the same.

"I understand that people are satisfied," said Parrikar.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Asserting that the Communist Party of India (Marxist) is a combination of German dictator Adolf Hitler and Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) on Thursday said Sitaram Yechury talks of liberal democracy but his party lives in duality.

ideologue Rakesh Sinha said the CPM government in Kerala and the party are engaged in violence against the Sangh and BJP.

"The reason is very obvious. The is expanding and BJP is growing in the state that is not being tolerated by the CPM as a party. Secondly, CPM lives in duality. Its creed is violence, but Sitaram Yechury in Delhi talks of liberal democracy," Sinha told ANI.

"I think the Government of India should take cognizance of growing violence in Kannur. Almost 250 Swayamsevaks have been killed till now," he added.

The BJP's Kerala unit today staged a protest outside the secretariat in Thiruvananthapuram against the murder of a party worker in Kannur.

The BJP has called for a shutdown in the state to protest against the murder of its activist allegedly by the CPI-M members in Pinarayi village in Kannur district.

The BJP, which has demanded a CBI probe into the murder, has also accused Kerala's Left Democratic Front government and Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan of unleashing "political terrorism" in Kerala.
World number one Novak Djokovic remained on course for his fourth Shanghai Rolex Masters crown as he defeated Canada's Vasek Pospisil in straight sets to storm into the quarter-finals of the tournament here on Thursday.

The Serbian, who was back in action for the first time since losing the US Open final to Stan Wawrinka, registered a 6-4, 6-4 win over Pospisil in the third round contest that lasted one hour and 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, second-seed Andy Murray also booked his place in the last eight after clinching a 6-1, 6-3 victory over Lucas Pouille of France in the pre-quarterfinals.

Djokovic will next lock horns with Mischa Zverev while Murray will take on either sixth seed Gael Monfils or No. 11 seed David Goffin.

Murray, who has picked up five titles this year, is battling Djokovic to finish year-end as No. 1 in the ATP Rankings.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
With a CAGR of 14 percent, Indian Pharmaceutical Industry will reach an annual turnover of USD 47.06 Billion by 2018.

An industry predominantly focused on Generics is soon set to diversify its product portfolio to more than 500 APIs, 60,000 generics, CRAM and clinical services across the globe.

The sector sees a continuous support from the government as well, with revised amendments in the patent act of 2002, increased expenditure in the healthcare sector as claimed by National Health Policy Draft 2015.

Also, 100 percent FDI allowed in medical device industry through automatic route is encouraging the leading Indian Pharma companies to raise funds in order to acquire more entities in domestic as well as international markets. So much so, that the current advancements are towards Japan's lucrative USD 111 billion market.

Though a tough nut to crack, this shouldn't be impermeable after an established record in the USA and Europe. After all the aim is high - to make this industry realize it's worth of USD 55 billion by the year 2020.

So how does this affect your life? Are your organizational goals aligning towards increased production or improved security to safeguard the IP that took long to develop? Are you worried about your competitor who is perhaps exploring Industries 5.0 while you are still implementing and far from the benefits of Industries 4.0?

Will your know-how coupled with technology, disrupt the ever changing industry? Or will the industry continue to be giant only in the Generics market? These are the challenges and questions a leader from this industry is busy pondering about and staying in silos will not take the industry forward.

Keeping this in mind Exito Media Concepts is back with the fifth edition of the Pharma Innovation and Technology Summit.

The premium conference that hosts only 80 key decision makers from the leading pharma corporate in India takes place on 8th December in Mumbai.

The event gives the Information and technology heads a chance to network among their peers while gaining latest information, first hand from the industry leaders.

The conference will be centered around key topics like Automation and integrating IOT, latest advances in clinical trial management system, laboratory information management system and SMAC (Social, Mobile, Analytics and Cloud).

Key decision makers like VP and CIO from Wanbury, Group CEP of Batra's health care, VP regulatory affairs from Unimark ltd have been a part of this premium conference. The conference acts as a knowledge sharing platform where attendees get to learn through a series of informative keynotes and presentations and interactive panel discussions.

Open only for the decision makers the conference will see an attendance of CIOs, CTOs, Head of Security, CEOs and Policy makers from the top companies in the pharma and life science industry.

"We have come a long way from the first edition of this event. Our attendees have repeatedly recommended this conference because of the quality content and opportunities we provide here.

The unique format that gives ample networking opportunities is a hit among the delegates and solution providers alike," says Exito's MD Rishikesh Shetty. Join us in Mumbai for the year's last gathering of management suite in the pharma and life sciences sector.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Amidst the intense strain on Pakistani actors working in Bollywood, Fawad Khan has reportedly signed up for a film project produced by Shyam Benegal.

According to a leading national daily, director Harsh Narayan, who has been working to promote cross-border peace for the past 15 years, has approached the 34-year-old Pakistani actor to star in his upcoming project.

Titled 'Ye Raste Hain Pyar Ke,' the movie will chronicle the journey of two musicians who will tour the two warring countries during which they will discover themselves.

The Indian Motion Picture Producers' Association or the IMPPA earlier issued a temporary ban on Pakistani artistes working in Indian Cinema in the wake of the killing of 19 Indian soldiers during the Uri terror attack.

Saying there could not be a better time to put out a film that "explores love and peace and promotes humanity," Narayan notes some of the best works written during the 1965 Indo-Pak war.

These works include Saadat Hasan Manto's 'Toba Tek Singh' and Faiz Ahmed Faiz's poem, 'Black-Out.'

"Faiz composed poems in which he spoke lovingly about his land and its long-suffering people, their hopes and fears, joys and sorrows. I'm trying to capture that feeling through my film," he said in a statement.

Speaking on the film, Benegal asserted, "People called me mad when I was making Ankur! I have found another mad-creative filmmaker in Harsh. He is capable, hard-working and can take on all the creative responsibilities necessary in making this film."

Notably, the announcement came at a time when movies like 'Raees' and 'Ae Dil Hai Mushkil' starring Pakistani actors are already facing a threat.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A local man whose mandatory minimum drug sentence a judge said he disliked imposing received a second chance last week from President Barack Obama.

Shawn Barth, of Bismarck, is one of the first two people in North Dakota to get a commutation from Obama, who has made an initiative of shortening sentences for nonviolent drug offenders. The other is Russell Seidel, of Mandan.

Both men were convicted of dealing drugs, and both were subject to mandatory minimums  sentences their judges say they oppose.

U.S. District Judge Daniel Hovland, who sentenced Barth in 2004, called the mandatory scheme "a bit unreasonable -- draconian, I guess, to say the least," in a recent interview.

He expressed a similar sentiment at Barth's sentencing 11 years ago, saying, "I don't find pleasure in sentencing a 33-year-old man to life in prison," the Tribune reported. "It is an extremely harsh penalty, but Congress writes the laws." The judge even looked for sentencing loopholes that would get him out of issuing the mandatory penalty.

U.S. District Court Senior Judge Patrick Conmy, who sentenced Seidel in 2011, agreed.

"Drug sentences, for a long period of time, were far longer than any purpose they served," he said. "Its only right that someone look at them."

However, Hovland said he would have liked to be consulted on the commutation.

"Any sentencing judge should be contacted by the administration to at least solicit their views about commuting the sentence of the defendant, especially one that received a life sentence," he said.

Barth, 45, was convicted in 2004 of selling methamphetamine and marijuana in Burleigh and Oliver counties. At the time, the Tribune reported that the $80,000 in drugs seized from his house made it the second-largest meth bust in south-central North Dakota history.

Barth was arrested following a four-year investigation connecting him to a network of people transporting meth from Iowa, Minnesota, Montana and Washington state to North Dakota. The drugs were exchanged for cash, cars or boats. Firearms also were part of the drug transactions.

Seidel, 59, was convicted in 2011 of conspiring to sell meth after a search of his garbage revealed ledgers and a syringe that led police to obtain a warrant for his Mandan home, according to court records. Inside, police found more than $40,000 cash and nearly 5 ounces of meth.

Neither man will get out immediately. Barth had his sentence shorted to 27 years. Seidel will serve 15.

This is in line with a trend noted by USA Today: The president has moved from commuting sentences to time served to resentencing people to years less than life.

Neil Fulton, federal public defender for the Dakotas, said fewer than 50 people in the two states are likely eligible for the commutation from the president. The administration has limited the reprieves mostly to nonviolent offenders who would have been sentenced differently today, and who have already served at least 10 years of their sentence.

The majority of people sentenced in this area are convicted of violent offenses on Native American reservations, Fulton said. Also, there are few mandatory minimum drug cases here.

A smaller universe of people qualify, he said.

Other recent changes to sentencing may affect more people in the region, including a case recently accepted by the U.S. Supreme Court that will consider sentencing enhancements for drug offenders with violent pasts, Fulton said.

In total, Obama has granted 672 commutations.
Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) is set to sign a deal with Russian Helicopters and Rostec Corporation on October 15 to manufacture Russian Kamov military helicopters.

The deal will be signed during Russian President Vladimir Putin's visit to India from October 14 to 17 to attend the 17th edition of the Indo-Russian summit and the Eighth BRICS summit.

As many as 30 collaboration proposals - including additional nuclear reactors and fifth generation fighter aircraft, satellite navigation, investment in the hydrocarbon sector - are in the pipeline, which could be taken up at the summit in Goa on Saturday.

Russia and India had agreed to jointly produce about 200 Ka-226T helicopters to replace Cheetah and Chetak choppers under 'Make in India' initiative of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's, who had signed an agreement in this regard during his visit to Moscow in December 2015.

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Human Rights Watch said Wednesday that Bangladesh should immediately release three children of opposition leaders convicted of war crimes who have been illegally detained since August this year.

The organisation stated that donors and counter terror partners of Bangladesh should speak out against frequent abuses committed by the Bangladesh government against political opponents and critics in the name of fighting terrorism.

The three men, Humam Quader Chowdhury, Mir Ahmad Bin Quasem, and Amaan Azmi, were arrested without judicial warrants or formal charges and also have not been produced before a magistrate as required by law.

They have even not been allowed access to their family or lawyers.

However, the government has denied the allegations of having them in their custody despite credible statements from witnesses that all were arrested by law enforcement authorities.

The Asia director at Human Rights Watch, Brad Adams stated that "Bangladesh law enforcement authorities have a long history of politically motivated arrests and disappearances, including detaining people and then denying that the person is in custody." "In many cases detainees are tortured or even killed. The government should immediately charge or release these men and put an end to disappearances and illegal detentions," he added.

The three arrests have come in the aftermath of a string of horrific murders of bloggers, atheists, foreigners, and LGBT activists, culminating with the July 1 attack on the Holey Artisan Bakery in Dhaka, in which 20 people and two police officers had been killed.

Since the bakery attack, the security forces have conducted raids, arrested many people and have killed many alleged militants in what they claim were armed exchanges, and arresting many others.

Of the three arrested, only Chowdhury was actively involved in politics. Bin Quasem worked as a lawyer and does not hold any political position and Azmi is a retired brigadier general.

Prior to their arrests, all the three men had expressed concerns over their safety a month back. Chowdhury and Azmi had even reported police surveillance at and outside their homes.

Arbitrary and illegal detentions are routine security force tactics in Bangladesh.

Two hostages in the Holey Artisan Bakery attack had been secretly detained for over a month. Facing intense national and international pressure, the government later on had admitted of having them in custody.

After being three months in detention, one was finally released without any charge while the other is still in detention and it is still unclear what charges, if any, he faces.

Adams said, "If the government has evidence against any of these three men, it should charge them and immediately grant them access to lawyers and family and then follow all other due process norms." He added, "The government also should own up to its secret detention practices, and put a stop to them.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Stating that the plurality of diversity multiplicity is the real valuable culture of the country, former union minister and Congress veteran M. Veerappa Moily on Thursday said the implementation of Uniform Civil Code is next to impossible in India.

Moily, who was reacting to the move of the Muslim Personal Law Board (MPLB) to boycott the Uniform Civil Law while terming it as 'not good for the nation', said the concept and the design of India is unity in diversity.

"So it is not a uniform, we have hindered casts then have 100 personal laws. I think this is impractical and one can't implement personal law very strongly govern lives of the people of this country," Moily told ANI.

Earlier today, the MPLB said they will boycott the Uniform Civil Law as they feel it is not good for the nation.

"We will boycott the questionnaire sent by the Law Commission and we have decided that Muslims of the country will not answer this question as it is not acceptable and not good for the nation," Hazrat Maulana Mohammad Wali Rahmani of the MPLB told a press conference here.

Rahmani said there are a number of people living in this country belonging from different cultures and added that to bind the culture under one unique code is not acceptable.

The Law Commission earlier last week sought public opinion on the exercise of reforming family laws of all religions.

The commission has reportedly appealed to members of religious, minority and social groups, non-government organisations, to present their views through a questionnaire on a range of issues, including the practice of triple talaq, the right to property for a woman citizen and polygamy.

However, the All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) has been defending the triple talaq system and termed the filing of the affidavit as 'un-islamic.'

They claim that triple talaq is a personal law and the Centre has no right to modify it.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Janata Dal (United) on Thursday advised Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, who on Wednesday cast doubts on Congress' claims of conducting surgical strike under the UPA regime, to refrain himself from making such unnecessary and uncalled statements for interest.

Recalling the Kargil War fought during former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's tenure, JD(U) leader K.C. Tyagi told ANI, "We should remember that during Indira Gandhi's time, the geographical map got changed and should also keep in mind that during Atal Bihari ji's tenure, we went way ahead in Kargil. Parrikar is a defence minister, he should not get involved in these unnecessary arguments for interest."

Urging the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress not to politicise surgical strikes across LoC, Tyagi said that it was not expected from such reputed political parties like them.

"I don't think it is right on both the sides to make statements about surgical strikes. We welcome the strikes that took place at present and it has made India proud," he told ANI.

Respond to the grand old party's demand of an apology from Parrikar for his assertion that the Congress' claims of carrying out surgical strikes were false, Tyagi said he agrees with former.

In a statement that may open a Pandora's box, Defence Minister Parrikar yesterday raised doubts on the Congress' claims of conducting surgical strikes across the LoC during UPA regime.

"From whatever I have learnt, there was no surgical strike anytime earlier," the Minister said, while speaking at an event hosted by the Forum For Integrated Security.

Parrikar said such surgical strikes had never been carried out before. "What they are probably quoting is action taken by Border Action Teams. These are common practices in which local commanders take punitive action against opponents who have been troubling them to settle scores. But the government had never endorsed such action, and it was thus a covert operation carried out without anyone's knowledge. The report is issued subsequently," he added.

Parrikar, However, has also said that the credit for the recent successful surgical strikes in Pakistan-Occupied-Kashmir should go to all the 127 crore Indians, and not to any political party.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Investigation Agency (NIA) on Thursday got police remand of the six Burdwan Blast case accused till October 27 for further interrogation.

The Kolkata Police Special Task Force had earlier arrested the six wanted militants of the banned Islamic outfit Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) from Assam and different parts of West Bengal.

Among the six arrested, two chargesheeted accused are Moulana Yusuf and Abul Kalam, and the other three who are yet to be chargesheeted are Rafique, Jahidul Islam and Sahidul Islam.

Moulana Yusuf is the second-in-command and main accused in the 2014 Burdwan Blast, according to sources.

At least five of the six arrested accused were listed as wanted militants by the NIA for their alleged role in the blast at Khagragarh in Burdwan on October 2, 2014.

The blast is suspected to have taken place while bombs were being assembled inside a building.

Police identified the others arrested as Jahidul Sheikh alias Zaffar alias Jabirul; Mohammad Rafique alias Mohammed Rubel alias Pichchi; Shahidul alias Surya alias Shamim; and, Abdul Kalam alias Kalim. They were remanded in police custody until October 6.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Pakistan's Supreme Court on Thursday adjourned a hearing of the final appeal against the execution of blasphemy accused Asia Bibi.

According to the Dwan, the apex court adjourned the hearing after Justice Iqbal Hamid-ur-Rehman, one of the judges on the three-member bench, recused himself on grounds that he also heard the Salman Taseer case.

A letter has been written to the chief justice to appoint another judge to the bench, and as of now, it is unclear when the hearing will resume.

Asia Bibi, accused of insulting the Prophet Mohammed (PBUH) during an argument with a Muslim woman over a bowl of water, was convicted and sentenced to death in 2010 despite her advocates maintaining her innocence and insisting the accusers held grudges against her.

The allegations against Bibi date back to June 2009, when she was labouring in a field and a row broke out with some Muslim women she was working with.

She was asked to fetch water, but she objected, saying that as a non-Muslim she was unfit to touch the water bowl.

The women went to a local cleric and accused Bibi of blasphemy against the Prophet Mohammed (PBUH), a charge punishable by death under legislation that rights groups say is routinely abused to settle personal vendettas.

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Kashmiri leaders have strongly condemned a terrorist attack on the premises of the Jammu and Kashmir Entrepreneurship Development Institute (JKEDI) at Pampore located on the outskirts of Srinagar, describing it as an attack on the future of Kashmiri youth.

The 56-hour standoff between security forces and terrorists reduced the riverside multi-storey building into a charred skeleton,leaving the future of hundreds of Kashmiri students in the dark.

The JKEDI building was earlier targeted on February 20 by LeT terrorists in which three commandos of the elite forces were martyred during a three-day-long operation.

The terrorists also killed eight CRPF personnel in a separate attack on June 25 in the vicinity of the JKEDI building.

Kashmiri writer and journalist Junaid Qureshi, who is based in Amsterdam, termed such attacks as a deliberate strategy by Pakistan to target education and educational establishments.

"Ignorance is the foundation of terrorism and it is ignorance which is being promoted in Jammu and Kashmir by Pakistan, so that their propaganda can find a foothold", said Junaid.

He further added, "For three months now, schools in the valley are closed. This particular education establishment in Pampore was targeted earlier as well. There seems to be a deep rooted conspiracy to target education in order to Talibanize Jammu and Kashmir".

The Kashmiri activists from Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK) have also strongly opposed the terror attack of educational institutes in Kashmir valley.

Jamil Maqsood, Secretary-Foreign Affairs of United Kashmir People's Party, who is based in Brussels said, "Pakistan backed terrorists are destroying infrastructure in Jammu and Kashmir, the reason is very simple, they are ignorant and brainwashed by the security establishment of Pakistan. Targeting state educational institutions and other premises shows their intentions".

Jamil, who praised India for carrying out surgical strikes on terrorist camps in PoK, said a surgical operation was required to wash out terrorists camps whereever they exist in POK.

He said, "Pakistan doesn't need surgical strikes. That country needs a major surgical operation so that the terrorist infrastructure can be properly dismantled."

Col. (Retired) Wajahat Hassan Khan, who hails from Gilgit Baltistan, also strongly condemned the terrorist attack on the JKEDI in Pampore.

He said, "I strongly condemn this type of terrorist activity, which target educational institutions. It's an attack on Kashmiri youth and is designed to deny them skill development."

Junaid Qureshi said such attacks by Islamabad are its continuous attempt to distort the history of Jammu and Kashmir.

"Many in Jammu and Kashmir refuse to believe that it was Pakistan which violated the Standstill Agreement with Maharaja (Hari Singh) and attacked us on the 22nd of October 1947. Pakistan keeps talking of the UN resolutions on Kashmir, but what it doesn't tell, is that the first clause of the said UN Resolutions obligates Pakistan to withdraw its forces from the part of Jammu and Kashmir which it occupies."

He also targeted the separatists for destablizing Kashmir.

Junaid said, "After getting our children killed, ruining our economy and turning this paradise into hell, what is next on the agenda? Make us illiterate and beggars. I fail to comprehend the audacity of those who think that the blockade of education will solve the Kashmir issue and bring Azadi. And even if it does bring a Talibanised inspired solution, what happens next? What do we Kashmiris do when our next generations cannot read and write? What happens to our society? It is highly condemnable that our education and next generation are being attacked in this way".

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will hold bilateral talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping on October 15 ahead of the BRICS Summit on in Goa.

China on Monday said it was 'ready' for talks with India on the latter's entry into the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG).

However, it has defended its stand on extending a hold on New Delhi's bid for a United Nations ban on Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar.

Responding to a question whether any progress can be expected on the issue of India's admission into the NSG in the meeting between President Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Modi on the sidelines of the BRICS Summit, Vice Foreign Minister Li Baodong said the NSG rules stipulate consensus among the members to admit new ones.

Stating that China and India have maintained good communication on the issue, he said that Beijing was ready to continue consultations with New Delhi to build consensus.

Beijing is opposed to anyone making political gains in the name of counter-terrorism, he said while answering to a question on criticism about China's move to halt India's bid for a ban on Azhar.

The BRICS Summit is scheduled to begin from October 17.

Earlier in June, Prime Minister Modi had urged the Chinese Premier to consider India's NSG case favourably, but China rebuffed India's request at the NSG plenary in Seoul.

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Aiming to reduce travel time significantly, the will ink a pact with Germany for running high-speed trains in the country.

Accompanied by a high-ranking delegation, German Minister for Transport and Digital Infrastructure, Alexander Dobrindt would be meeting Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu.

According to a senior Railway Ministry official, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) will be signed between the two countries for bilateral cooperation in the rail sector.

Dobrindt is visiting India from October 12 to 15. According to railways, it is a follow-up to Prabhu's visit to Germany in April.

The German minister will hold talks with the Railway Minister in Rail Bhavan. Both ministers will focus on deepening collaboration and strengthening ties in the field of railways and high-speed trains.

After the meeting, the MoU will be signed between and DB Engineering and Consulting GmbH.
Global mobile technology startup with presence in over 35 countries OnePlus has announced the launch of its exclusive e-commerce website in India.

After creating a niche for itself in the premium smartphone segment, OnePlus is all set to offer a personalised shopping experience to its fan community by launching an exclusive online brand store for its Indian users.

The online store will improve the availability as well as make it easier for its fans to purchase genuine OnePlus products. To make it more rewarding for early supporters, OnePlus is also bringing its latest range of exclusive merchandise and is offering limited-time offers for existing users.

To avail these offers, users just have to register the IMEI details of their smartphones on the portal and get shopping.

"We are very excited to bring the globally acclaimed OnePlus shopping experience to our fans in India. With the new platform, our users will find it easier to purchase genuine OnePlus products and fan merchandise, right from the comfort of their homes. The e-commerce platform marks yet another major milestone in our India journey and reiterates our long term commitment towards the Indian market and our fan community here," said General Manager - India OnePlus, Vikas Agarwal.

OnePlus has always focused on providing the best services to the OnePlus community by opening several service centers and tying up with brands having similar synergies.

OnePlus has active social media handles that make it easier for fans to reach out to OnePlus with their feedback.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Consumption of smokeless tobacco product 'snus' on a regular basis may prove fatal to men with prostate cancer and can even lead them to the risk of premature death, suggests

a new study led by researchers at Harvard University.

The findings, which are also influenced by previous studies showing increased risk of death from prostate cancer in smokers with the disease, suggest that nicotine or other non-combustion-related components of tobacco may play a role in prostate cancer progression.

Snus is a powdered tobacco product, often sold in teabag-like sachets, that is placed under the upper lip for extended periods.

Co-author of the study Kathryn Wilson, said, "Snus has been suggested as a less harmful alternative to smoking because it lacks the combustion products of smoking that are associated with cancer risk.

However, we found that men with prostate cancer who used snus were at increased risk of premature death."

It contains nicotine but no combustion components, and has not been previously studied in relation to prostate cancer survival.

The researchers analyzed data collected from Swedish construction workers during preventive check-ups between 1971 and 1992, including a tobacco use questionnaire completed during each man's initial check-up.

Of these men, 9,582 later developed prostate cancer.

About half of the subjects died during the follow-up period--2,489 from prostate cancer.

Those who used snus but did not smoke had a 24 percent increased risk of dying from prostate cancer and a 19 percent increased risk of dying, as compared to those who never used tobacco.

Among men whose cancer had not spread, increased risk of death from prostate cancer was three times higher than for never-users of tobacco.

Research associate Sarah Markt said, "There is some evidence from animal studies that nicotine can promote cancer progression, and snus users have high blood levels of nicotine. Snus users are also exposed to other carcinogens in tobacco even though it is a smokeless product."

Adding, "Taken together, this suggests that the effects of smokeless tobacco products should be carefully studied by public health officials."

The study was published in the International Journal of Cancer.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Sri Lankan Navy has been accused by the Tamil Nadu fishermen of attacking them when they were fishing near the territorial waters of the island nation on Tuesday night.

Colombo Page quoted media reports as saying that a fisherman from Pamban had suffered head injury, while another fisherman escaped unhurt when the Sri Lankan Navy personnel allegedly pelted stones against them after opening fire in the air when they were fishing on the high seas near Katchatheevu island.

The Sri Lankan Navy attacked the fishermen for poaching in its country's waters.

When the Sri Lankan Navy opened fire in the air and started pelting stones, the fishermen started pulling the nets with the help of winches as they could not afford to cut away the nets and withdraw immediately.

While pulling the net, a fisherman got hit by a stone and suffered a deep gash on his head.

After the alleged attack, all fishermen returned to the shore.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Backing India's right to self-defence in the aftermath of the Uri terror attack which it dubbed a clear case of cross-border terrorism, the United States has slammed Pakistan and dismissed its recent attempt to link peace in war-torn Afghanistan with resolution of the Kashmir issue.

Peter Lavoy, the White House's point person for South Asia, has said that India-US ties are the most dynamic relationship for the country as he listed the Obama administration's achievements in strengthening the relationship between the two largest democracies of the world.

The White House has backed India's right to defend itself as with any other country, in view of the recent surgical strike but advised caution given the heavy militarisation between the two neighbours. It also said that that the US is making every effort to ensure that India become a member of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) by the end of this year.

19 Indian Army soldiers were martyred during the terror attack on the army base camp in Uri region of Jammu and Kashmir following which Indian Army conducted surgical strikes across the Line of Control (LoC) on September 29.
Adani Transmission's (ATL) proposed acquisition of Reliance Infrastructure's three operating transmission assets is unlikely to impact the rating on its debt facilities, says India Ratings and Research (Ind-Ra).

The three operating transmission assets proposed for acquisition benefit from the revenue sharing mechanism applicable for interstate assets, which is implemented by the Central Transmission Utility (Power Grid Corporation of India).

The acquisition would decrease the counterparty concentration in consolidated ATL's assets, since Maharashtra based utilities contribute between 60% and 65% of ATL's consolidated revenue presently. Ind-Ra would review the final terms of acquisitions and also any future investments.

The rated debt under the obligor group is protected by a waterfall mechanism, whereby cash flows from the operating assets under Adani Transmission India and Maharashtra Eastern Grid Power Transmission Company are first available for servicing the rated debt before being invested in new projects or used for any other purpose, after complying with the defined financial covenants.

ATL has signed a binding term sheet with Reliance Infrastructure for acquiring the assets and expects to complete the transactions by 1QFY18, subject to statutory and regulatory approvals.

ATL's outstanding ratings are as follows:

- INR35.8bn non-convertible debentures: 'IND AA+'/Stable

- INR12bn commercial paper (outstanding INR9.25bn): 'IND A1+'

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The Union Cabinet, chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, has approved the establishment and operationalisation of Indian Institute of Management (IIM) at Jammu in a transit/temporary campus at Old Government College of Engineering & Technology from the Academic Year 2016-17.

The project will involve a cost of Rs.61.90 crore in temporary campus for the initial four years from 2016 to 2020. The student strength intake for this year in the Post Graduate Diploma Programme (PGDP) in Management is 54 which will progressively go up to a cumulative student strength of 120 in the 4th year. Meanwhile, steps would also be taken up for setting up campus at Jammu and an out-campus in Kashmir region. The Detailed Project Report for the permanent campuses is under preparation and thereafter the process for setting up of the campuses would start.

The Cabinet also approved formation of an IIM Jammu Society under the Societies Registration Act, 1860.

IIM Jammu will be run and managed by the Society with a Board of Governors (BOGs) to be constituted by the Government of India, which will administer the Institute and would be responsible for establishment and operationalisation of the Institute.

This is a part of Prime Minister's development package for Jammu & Kashmir. The Institute coupled with opening of IIT at Jammu, modernization of NIT Srinagar and opening of two new AIIMS institutions, one each in Kashmir region and Jammu region, would go a long way in meeting the requirement of high quality living and education in Jammu & Kashmir.

Background:

Indian Institutes of Management are the country's premier institutions imparting best quality education in management on globally benchmarked processes of education and training in management education and allied area of knowledge.

At present, there are nineteen IIMs. Out of these, thirteen IIMs are located at Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Kolkata, Lucknow, Indore, Kozhikode, Shillong, Ranchi, Raipur, Rohtak, Kashipur, Trichy, Udaipur. Another six IIMs which have been started in 2015 are located at Amritsar, Sirmaur, Nagpur, Bodhgaya, Sambalpur and Vishakhapatnam.

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The Union Cabinet under the Chairmanship of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has given its approval for signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on General Cooperation with New Development Bank (NDB) through the BRICS Interbank Cooperation Mechanism by Government at the level of Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs/ Export Import Bank of India.

The proposal will enhance trade and economic relations among the BRICS countries. There is no financial implication involved with signing of the MoU.

The participating institutions from the BRICS nations will be benefitted by this MoU.

The MoU is a non-binding umbrella agreement aimed at establishing a cooperation framework in accordance with the national laws and regulations, besides skills transfer and knowledge sharing amongst the signatories, Further, establishment of the NDB reflects the close relations among the BRICS countries and provides a powerful instrument for increasing their economic cooperation and help India play an enhanced international role. Therefore, keeping in view the strategic relevance of cooperation for sustainable development and inclusive economic growth, the signing of MoU is necessary in the context of cooperation extended by the Members in various forms for promoting and facilitating trade of goods and services as well as investments in mutual projects among the BRICS countries.

Background:

Five banks from the BRIC nations had established the BRICS Interbank Co-operation Mechanism to enhance trade and economic relations amongst the BRIC countries, and enterprises. The BRICS Interbank Co-operation Mechanism now proposes to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on General Co-operation with the New Development Bank.

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Ranil Wickremesinghe, Prime Minister of Sri Lanka stated that his government and the Government of India were working to expand the India - Sri Lanka Free Trade Agreement to include services and investment as well.

He added that the Economic and Technical Cooperation Agreement (ETCA) which has been under negotiation between the two countries should be concluded by the end of the year.

He stated that as these agreements come into force, India would have access to not just the Sri Lankan market but also to markets in Singapore, Japan and China among others as Sri Lanka was in the process of negotiating Free Trade Agreements with several countries.

In addition, he invited Indian companies to invest in Sri Lanka especially in areas such as infrastructure development including ports, airports and power, digital infrastructure, agriculture and fisheries and skilling among others. He stated that the aim of his government was to convert Sri Lanka into a Logistic, Finance and Business hub of South Asia.

Nirmala Sitharaman, Minister of State (IC) for Commerce and Industry, Government of India, the reforms being undertaken by India is making it a more attractive place for companies to do business.

The Minister highlighted three major reform measures undertaken by the Government in the recent past which has helped improve the India's competitiveness in the world. These include the introduction of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) which she stated would integrate 800 transactions onto a single platform.

The second major initiative she highlighted was that of JAM or Jan Dhan Yojana, Aadhar and Mobile.

This initiative ensures financial inclusion of those who are unbanked, direct transfer of benefits to recipients and connectivity.

The third initiative she highlighted were the various measures that the Government was taking to improve the Ease of Doing Business in the Country. The Minister mentioned that the states have adopted this initiative and are working to improve processes and regulations to help improve the ease of doing business in the country.

Prof. Klaus Schwab, Executive Chairman, World Economic forum stated that according to the WEF's Global Competitiveness Index, India was now one of the 40 most competitive economies in the world thanks to the reform measures that had been undertaken.

Chandrajit Banerjee, Director General, stated that the measures taken by the Government had helped improve the ease of doing business in the country.

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Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) rose 0.25% to Rs 1,379.05 at 1:20 Ist on BSE after the company announced that Ssangyong Motor Company signed letter of intent for joint venture with Shaanxi Automobile Group of China.

The announcement was made on Wednesday, 12 October 2016. The market remained shut on that day.

Meanwhile, the S&P BSE Sensex was down 300.97 points or 1.07% at 27,777.86.

On BSE, so far 19,883 shares were traded in the counter as against average daily volume of 73,077 shares in the past one quarter. The stock hit a high of Rs 1,384.90 and a low of Rs 1,353.05 so far during the day. The stock had hit a record high of Rs 1,508.80 on 9 August 2016. The stock had hit a 52-week low of Rs 1,092 on 12 February 2016. The stock had underperformed the market over the past one month till 10 October 2016, falling 6.31% compared with Sensex's 2.48% fall. The scrip had also underperformed the market in past one quarter, declining 5.03% as against Sensex's 3.52% rise.

The large-cap company has equity capital of Rs 310.55 crore. Face value per share is Rs 5.

SsangYong Motor Company, a part of Mahindra group announced that as part of its effort to grow in China, the company signed a letter of intent (LOI) with the Shaanxi Automobile Group for a 50:50 joint venture that will establish a local production plant for completely built unit (CBU) vehicle. The joint venture, which will become SsangYong's first overseas production base, in a 50/50 partnership with the Shaanxi Automobile Group, will construct production facilities for CBU vehicles and an engine plant on a site with an area of 1.23 million square meters in the Xi'an Economic and Technological Development Zone in Xi'an. The first phase of construction will establish a plant with an annual capacity of 1.5 lakh units per year by the end of 2019 end the second phase will involve an expansion of the facilities to 3 lakh units annually. With a local production facility in China, Ssangyong will gain new growth momentum to become a strong global SUV manufacturer.

Further, SsangYong will establish an automotive cluster with its major suppliers that will also enter the market, to ensure product competitiveness, and start the production of SsangYong's current models and models under development, in the second half of 2019. With the signing of LOI for a joint venture, Ssangyong and Shaanxi will form a team to work on the project and discuss the details for the establishment of a joint venture. Next steps will also involve obtaining the approval from the Ssangyong's board of directors, the government of Shaanxi province and Xi'an as well as the central government of China.

M&M's net profit rose 12.4% to Rs 955.21 crore on 12.3% growth in net sales to Rs 10898.08 crore in Q1 June 2016 over Q1 June 2015.

M&M enjoys a leadership position in tractors and utility vehicles in India.

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The Election Commission of India (ECI) has given Delhi's 21 Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) legislators time till October 17 to explain why they should not be disqualified from the assembly after their appointment as Parliamentary Secretaries.

The 21 lawmakers have faced disqualification from the Delhi assembly for allegedly holding 'office of profit' as Parliamentary Secretaries.

In the notice issued on Monday, the ECI also told petitioner Prashant Patel to submit his rejoinder to the 21 AAP lawmakers' reply by October 21.

The AAP legislators had earlier written to the Election Commission requesting for more time to file their replies, following which the extension till October 17 has been given.

"It may be noted that if no reply is received by the aforesaid date, it will be presumed that you have nothing to say in this matter and the Commission will take appropriate action without any further reference to you," the notice said.

After coming to power in February 2015, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's government appointed 21 party lawmakers as the Parliamentary Secretaries, saying this would facilitate smooth functioning of the government but would not cause any burden on the exchequer.

The Delhi High Court in September quashed the appointment of 21 Parliamentary Secretaries.

In June 2015, a major row was sparked off on the issue of 'Office of Profit' after President Pranab Mukherjee rejected the Delhi government's bill to exclude the post of Parliamentary Secretary from the 'Office of Profit' definition.

The Delhi government sought through the bill an amendment to the Delhi Members of Legislative Assembly (Removal of Disqualification) Act, 1997, so as to exclude the post of Parliamentary Secretary from the definition of 'Office of Profit'.

The AAP has maintained that none of the Parliamentary Secretaries was given "pecuniary benefits" and the appointment of the party legislators as Parliamentary Secretaries did not amount to creation of a "public office".

--IANS

vv-am/ss/vt

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The All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) and a number of other prominent Muslim organisations on Thursday rejected the Law Commission's questionnaire on the Uniform Civil Code, calling it "misleading".

Calling the questionnaire "misleading and divisive", AIMPLB General Secretary Maulana Wali Rahmani said Muslims will not respond to it.

"We will boycott this questionnaire. No Muslim will respond to it because it is misleading and deceitful. The Uniform Civil Code is divisive and will lead to social unrest," he told the media here.

"The uniform code is not suited for this nation. There are so many cultures in India and they have to be respected. A uniform code is against the spirit of the Constitution, which safeguards the right of citizens to practise their culture and religion," he said.

Questioning the timing of the move, Rahmani said the Narendra Modi government had deliberately thrown up this issue now to "hide its failures in the last two-and-half years".

The development comes days after the Union government told the Supreme Court that 'triple talaq', 'nikaah halaal' and polygamy were not integral to the practice of Islam or essential religious practices.

Subsequently, the Law Commission on October 7 put up on its website a questionnaire, comprising of 16 questions, to seek public opinion on the civil code issue.

Fielding a question on the issue of triple talaq, Rahmani pointed out that as per the 2011 Census data, the percentage of divorce cases among members of a particular community was much higher than the Muslims.

Also, he added, the prevalence of polygamy was higher among these people than in the Muslims, as per the 2011 Census data.

Other prominent Muslims who represented their respective organisations at the press conference here included Maulana Arshad Madani (Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind), Mohammad Jafar (Jamaat-e-Islami Hind), Maulana Asghar Imam Mehdi (Markazi Jamiat Ahle Hadith), Maulana Mahmood Madani (Jamiat Ulema Hind), M. Manzoor Alam (All India Milli Council), Naved Hamid (All India Majlis-e-Mushawarat) and Maulana Abul Qasim Naumani (Rector, Darul Uloom Deoband).

Besides, Barelvi cleric Maulana Tauqeer Raza Khan of Ittehad-e-Millat Council and Shia cleric Maulana Mohsin Taqvi were scheduled to attend the presser but could not make it, AIMPLB member Kamal Farouqi said.

Rahmani said they would launch a campaign to create awareness amongst Muslims, beginning with a gathering in Lucknow.

Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind President Maulana Arshad Madani said: "The Muslim Personal Law is based on Quran and Hadith and we cannot alter it."

"Modi ji (Prime Minister Narendra Modi) wants to impose dictatorship in the name of democracy," he added.

Madani insisted that it is not just the Muslims who will be affected by a Uniform Civil Code but other communities such as the Sikhs and Christians and the tribals.

He said these communities will also speak up (against the civil code) in due course.

The speakers also accused the Law Commission of not acting as an independent body but as an "arm of the government" in pushing the government's agenda.

--IANS

mak/tsb/bg

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I have not been updating this blog for years, but Im keeping it around because it has many of my posts from a decade ago! For the moment, heres why you c...

1 year ago
Australia's New South Wales Parliament has formally branded US Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump a "revolting slug" unfit for office.

Greens MP Jeremy Buckhingham tabled a motion slamming the Republican candidate, that was passed unanimously, reported ABC news on Thursday.

"It is great that all sides of Australian politics, from conservatives to Liberals to Greens, agree that Donald Trump is a revolting slug ...," Buckingham said after the vote was passed.

The Australian lawmakers had condemned Trump for his "misogynistic, hateful" comments made "about women and minorities".

They had raised the issue of the taped conversations in which Trump boasted about using his fame to "grope" women, and termed it "clearly ... sexual assault".

The report said that the NSW parliament "agrees with those who have described Trump as 'a revolting slug' unfit for public office".

The motion regarding Trump was passed without dissent, after it was confirmed that the term "revolting slug" did not amount to unparliamentary language.

"It's clear that all reasonable and decent people find Trump's behaviour obnoxious," Buckingham said, adding he hoped that the American voters would reject Trump's of hate.

US talkshow host Rosie O'Donnell had previously described Trump as "an orange slug".

--IANS

in/ksk/vt

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The dawn-to-dusk Kerala shutdown called by the Bharatiya Janata Party's state unit on Thursday to protest the murder of one of its activists in Kannur was total, reports here said.

While shops and establishments remained closed, attendances in various government and private establishments were thin as public and private transport and buses remained off the road.

Commuters arriving at railway stations in the state were stranded as public transport was unavailable.

The BJP worker's murder in Kannur on Wednesday had taken place in Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan's village and was the second in two days, also the seventh in Kannur district since he assumed office in May.

Despite the shutdown, Vijayan's cabinet held its routine weekly meeting at the state secretariat where security was stepped up.

Both at the Indian Space Research Organisation centre and Technopark campus, the police were deployed in numbers to ensure the safety of the employees and of the campus.

As many private firms allowed their workers to work from home, "the overall attendance was not like on usual working days," an IT official said.

Although two-wheelers and private vehicles were seen plying around in urban areas, the picture was different in the rural localities.

At Thrissur and in the state capital here, the protesters vented their anger against the media by destroying the advertisement boards of the Communist Party of India-Marxist.

In some places, the protesters even roughed up persons who tried to venture out -- the car of a medical professional in Kollam's Karunagapally was damaged.

The BJP workers also held protest marches in all district headquarters and raised slogans against Pinarayi Vijayan.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Ahead of the BRICS summit over the weekend in Goa, Russian President Vladimir Putin has said the five-nation bloc of emerging economies was "determined" to cooperate in the fight against terrorism.

"For our five countries' leaders this meeting (in Goa) will be a good opportunity to harmonise our positions on key issues on the international agenda. We are determined to cooperate in the fight against terrorism, drug trafficking and corruption," Putin said in an exclusive interview to IANS and Sputnik news agencies.

Putin said BRICS, made up of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, would "also contribute to settling conflicts and ensuring international information security".

The two-day summit in Goa begins on Saturday. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to hold a bilateral meeting with Putin on the sidelines of the Goa summit. Modi is likely to raise the issue of Pakistan-sponsored terrorism with the Russian president.

The BRICS summit comes amid doubts cast over the continuity of the bloc that accounts for nearly 53 per cent of world population. Russia and Brazil are battling a downturn while South African economy is also sluggish. China's growth has also slowed down but India continues to grow at over 7 per cent rate.

Putin said the bloc recognised global economic concerns but expressed a hope that the challenges would be overcome.

"All of us remain concerned over continued lack of stability in the global economy. Together with our partners we will reflect on what can be done to further unite our efforts in order to address these challenges."

Putin also expressed gratitude to India "who has, invariably throughout its chairmanship in BRICS, focused on strengthening and consolidating the strategic partnership within our association".

"I am convinced that the Summit in Goa that will be held under the slogan of continuity and innovation, will be very fruitful. We also expect that the BRICS Summit in Goa will open new opportunities for economic and humanitarian cooperation."

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
BRICS reflects the member-countries' commitment to uphold international law when some Western countries are trying to promote unilateral approaches, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday.

And cooperation within BRICS -- which clubs Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa -- was already yielding practical results, Putin told IANS and Sputnik news agencies in an interview ahead of his visit to Goa to attend the BRICS Summit.

Putin described BRICS as one of the key elements of the emerging multipolar world.

"The five (member) countries have consistently reaffirmed their commitment to the fundamental principles of international law and promote the central role of the UN," he said in response to questions from IANS.

"Our countries reject the policy of coercive pressure and infringement upon the sovereignty of other states. We take similar stances on urgent international issues, including the Syrian crisis and the Middle East settlement."

The Russian leader said the BRICS summits' final declarations reaffirm "our shared commitment to the fundamental principles of inter-state communication, particularly, to the observance of international law with the central coordinating role of the UN.

"With some Western countries attempting to promote their unilateral approaches, this position becomes even more relevant," Putin said, adding that the Goa Summit would be no exception to this rule.

Traditionally, the declarations of BRICS leaders outline fundamental consensus-based stances on a wide range of issues and identify short-term development goals for the five nations, he said.

This, he added, would serve as a target for follow-up steps aimed at strengthening strategic partnerships among the five countries in various spheres.

"As for rendering practical interaction among the five countries more substantive, I would like to stress that today, there exist more than 30 formats for inter-agency cooperation in the political, economic, humanitarian, security and law enforcement areas."

Putin said the establishment of the New Development Bank (NDB) and the BRICS Contingent Reserve Arrangement with a total capital of $200 billion was one concrete example of this cooperation.

"I am convinced that, as the bank gets stronger, its output will only increase, including by means of projects that promote integration among the BRICS countries.

"The NDB started its work in 2016, having approved the first projects in all five countries.

"The priority at the current stage is renewable energy. In Russia, this implies the construction of small 50 MW hydropower plants in Karelia worth $100 million."

Putin said the BRICS countries actively cooperated within the Group of 20 and sought to systematically converge their stand at the WTO to improve the rules and spur multilateral negotiations within the organisation.

"This is why I think the cooperation within BRICS has already begun to yield practical results. It is essential to continue work on consolidating these results and on identifying areas of common interest.

The Russian leader said the participants in the BRICS Summit in Goa would look at the initial results of implementing the Strategy for BRICS Economic Partnership adopted in Ufa and finalise the draft of BRICS Roadmap for Trade, Economic and Investment Cooperation until 2020.

"We intend to establish new formats and mechanisms to cooperate with our partners, in which concerted measures aimed at developing our ties in various fields will be elaborated.

"At the same time we intend to focus on addressing issues related to strengthening international security and stability, enhancing the competitiveness of our economies and the promotion of international development."

Putin said Russia supported the initiatives put forward by the Indian chairmanship in such fields as BRICS collaboration in agriculture, railway transport, sports, tourism and building people-to-people contacts.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The central government on Thursday sought a report from the Kerala government on the killing of a 25-year-old BJP activist in Kannur district.

In a communication, the Union Home Ministry has asked the state government to provide details of the incident and steps taken to nab and punish those responsible for the incident.

BJP activist Ramith was allegedly hacked to death at a village in Dharmadam, the home constituency of Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, in Kannur district on Wednesday.

The Home Ministry has also asked the Kerala government to inform it about the steps taken for security of political workers in the state, official sources said here.

The BJP organised a statewide 'bandh' in Kerala on Thursday to protest the killing of its party activist, which they alleged have been done due to "political vendetta".

BJP President Amit Shah had on Wednesday said: "Murder of Ramith in Pinarayi's home town is disturbing. Attacks on BJP karyakartas (workers) in Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan's home constituency is a matter of grave concern and smacks of political vendetta."

The BJP President also said that Ramith's father Chavassery Uttaman was also killed in 2002 in a similar manner.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Bangladesh capital Dhaka is ready to welcome Chinese President Xi Jinping, the first visit by a Chinese head of state to the country in 30 years, the media reported on Thursday.

The President is scheduled to arrive in Dhaka on October 14 for a two-day visit, amid high hopes to take the bilateral relations to a new height and explore the full potential of economic and trade ties between the two countries, Xinhua news agency reported.

Dhaka is all set to roll out a red carpet welcome to Xi on his visit, which will focus on connectivity and mega infrastructure development projects, along with signing of a number of instruments and bilateral deals.

The capital city has already been decorated in honour of the Chinese leader, with banners and placards welcoming the visiting dignitary.

Posters with pictures of President Xi Jinping and Bangladeshi President Abdul Hamid and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina have been put up all across major streets and junctions in the city.

Posters reading "Heartiest welcome to his excellency Mr. Xi Jinping, President of China" and "Long Live Bangladesh-China Friendship" have also been put up along the 14-km stretch from the Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport to the main city.

Security across the city has been tightened as gun-totting personnel are seen in all the prominent areas.

After Bangladesh, Xi will travel to India to attend the eighth BRICS Summit on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's invitation. He will return to Beijing on October 17.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Even as the Swedish firm Ikea's stores are being awaited by customers, a French luxury furniture brand has opened its doors here.

Brand Roche Bobois has set up its store in a mall on Mehrauli-Gurgaon Road.

"We established a top-end positioning in Mumbai, then in Bangalore and now that continues with the launch of our flagship store in New Delhi," Martin Gleize, International Director of Roche Bobois Group Paris, said in a statement.

The brand is offering two collections -- contemporary and classic, which the company says reflect European craftsmanship.

"Roche Bobois is the leader in the design-driven category of sophisticated furniture and accessories from France and offers an selection of products designed by some of the most talented designers from Europe," said Samvit Tara, Managing Director of Roche Bobois India.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Actor Irrfan Khan, who is back from the premiere of his latest film "Inferno" in Florence, says this is a good time for Indian cinema and actor.

"I can say with full authority that this is a great time to be an Indian actor. Our cinema is being recognized and acknowledged internationally. Very soon Indian actors will be able to make their presence felt in every corner of the world. It's just a matter of time," he said.

The premiere of the film happened at an opera theatre, the Opera di Firenze in Florence, and Irrfan was delighted to hear how minutely the journalists gathered at the venue watched the film.

"They asked intricate literary questions about the film from all of us. They wanted to discuss the film's connection with Dante's Inferno. No one asked me about Indian politics," said Irrfan.

The eminently international Irrfan is back in India for just a few days until his new Hollywood film "Inferno" releases on Friday.

"Actually I'm supposed to be in the US for some important meetings. I had to cancel them and get back home when my producers of 'Inferno', in all their wisdom, decided to release our film in India two weeks in advance of the rest of the world. That sort of threw me off gear, in a good way," laughs Irrfan pleasurably.

"So, here I am just for a few days to do press in India," he added.

Irrfan has plenty of reason to be flattered. The producers of "Inferno" decided to advance their film's release in India to cash in on Irrfan's presence in the cast.

"It is true they thought since I was in the cast, they wanted me to be the face of the film in India. I gladly and humbly accepted the honour, and here I am," said the actor.

Tom Hanks, Irrfan's co-star in "Inferno", recently was quoted as saying, "I thought I was the coolest guy in the room until Irrfan walked in."

Irrfan laughs it off as his great co-star's magnanimity,

"Just being around Tom Hanks is so enriching for me. He is a very generous co-star, colleague and I can comfortably say we're friends. 'Inferno' has a truly global cast."

"It gave me a chance to get to know actors from all across the world. To me the biggest advantage of working abroad is the exposure I get to international talent," he said.

The film is releasing in India on Friday.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The BJP on Thursday apprised Lt Governor Najeeb Jung of the condition of houses in Khera Kalan village, where over 17 houses have been declared dangerous for residing.

"I met Jung-ji today (Thursday) and apprised him of the dangerous condition of the houses there, which have developed cracks," BJP's Delhi state unit chief Satish Upadhyay told IANS.

"He was very positive and listened to the problems of the people of the village very patiently. He has given me two days' time to look into the matter," the BJP leader added.

Attacking the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government, the BJP leader said, "The government is still sleeping and they haven't acted until now. Even the local MLA has not visited the area."

"The government has got the houses vacated, but no compensation has been paid to them," Upadhyay alleged.

Earlier on Wednesday, Upadhyay visited Khera Kalan in north Delhi and assured the residents of help. Those living in the houses which have developed cracks are forced to spend the night at others' places.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
India and China have agreed to cooperate in the energy sector, including on sourcing energy from international markets, the Indian government said on Thursday.

Releasing the minutes of the 4th India-China Strategic Economic Dialogue last week, an official statement here said the two sides called "for a joint strategy to meet the rising energy demand through appropriate policy measures and efforts in the international energy markets."

The Indian side at the dialogue was led by Vice-Chairman of National Institution for Transforming India Arvind Panagariya, and the Chinese side was led by Xu Shaoshi, Chairman of China's National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC).

On renewable energy, both sides agreed to speed up solar module manufacturing in India and expand cooperation in promoting solar rooftop systems

"India offered huge investment opportunities in the renewable energy sector by way of participating through equity support, offsetting hedging cost, taking up of masala bonds, partnering in the solar projects, among others," the statement said.

"Chinese investors showed keen interest in financial investment and participation in large solar park projects in cooperation with Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI)," it added.

The two countries also "agreed to push forward the feasibility study on Delhi-Nagpurhigh-speed railway and construction of Delhi-Chennai high-speed railway," it said.

They also agreed on closer cooperation on coastal manufacturing zone development by encouraging projects in areas like infrastructure, automobile, energy and electronics in next one year, it added.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Whether directly connected with our passions or not, God calls us first and foremost to do the next thing well, to his glory, with all of our might, says John Stonestreet. Short of this awareness, we risk Christianizing a sense of entitlement.

Christians are guilty of inculcating false expectations to their young as well. For at least a couple of generations, Christian colleges and other educational institutions, with the noble intention of communicating the biblical concept of calling being more than full-time ministry jobs, have taught students to look at their own giftedness as the key (sometimes the only key) to discovering Gods will. I must confess my own guilt in this regard.

Of course, theres certainly truth to the idea that the Lord has gifted us in unique ways to serve Him and that we can discover these gifts through our passions and use them for His glory. Remember Olympian Eric Liddells wonderful line from Chariots of Fire? God has made me for a purpose, for China. But hes also made me fast, and when I run, I feel Gods pleasure.

While the biblical picture of calling and vocation includes our giftedness, it also includes things like sacrifice, persecution and an awareness of the needs of my neighbors. Jesus said that those who follow him carry crosses. Paul said that anyone who wishes to follow Christ will be persecuted. (Remember, Liddell died in a Japanese prison camp.)

Its really only Christians in the West, especially America, who have had the luxury of dwelling on the question, What has God made me to be, and what is my calling? Unfortunately, along the way, weve missed other lessons about calling that our brothers and sisters around the world are forced to learn.
President on Thursday said Russia remained the top supplier of advanced weapons and defence technology to its "privileged strategic partner" India and added that Moscow and other BRICS nations were determined to back New Delhi's fight against terror.

"Russia remains in the lead in terms of both direct supplies of most advanced weapons and military equipment and conducting joint researches with India as well as producing goods for military purposes. Our countries actively collaborate in the military technical field," Putin said in an exclusive interview to IANS and Sputnik news agencies.

He underlined India-Russia partnership in the development of BrahMos supersonic cruise missile and building of a new fifth-generation fighter aircraft as "the successful joint projects" of the two countries.

The President, who will be in Goa for the five-nation BRICS Summit this weekend, said many of the Russian projects in India not only have commercial importance but also play a significant social and economic role for the economies of the two partners.

Such projects, he said, "harmoniously fit in the new Indian industrialisation programme", a reference to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's "Make in India" initiative.

"Russian companies see real prospects and high attractiveness of the Indian market," Putin said in response to questions jointly emailed by IANS and Russian Sputnik wire service.

Describing India as "Russia's especially privileged strategic partner," Putin said the cooperation between the two countries was "making good headway in all areas on the basis of strong traditions of friendship, trust and mutual respect".

Putin responded to a range of issues, including India-Russia economic ties, terrorism and Afghanistan.

On the economic front, he said India still remained "Russia's major foreign trade partner" despite trade between the two countries dropping by 7.8 per cent last year.

"We are resolved to overcome the negative trend, which, in our opinion, is largely associated with volatility on the global markets and in exchange rates," he said.

The comments come amid a notion that India had made a strategic shift in its military diplomatic ties after a rapid rise in arms trade with the US and other Western nations.

Russia has been traditionally the largest arms supplier to India. But the ties have witnessed some strain, particularly over the cost overrun of some Russian projects, including the delivery of aircraft carrier Admiral Gorshkov.

India has also made its concerns known over Russia's decision to supply Pakistan with the Mi-35 attack helicopters and engines for the JF-17  a lightweight single-engine multi-role combat aircraft developed jointly by China and Pakistan.

Russia recently also conducted a joint military drill with Pakistan, sparking strong opposition from India at a time New Delhi was seeking to isolate Islamabad on charges of sponsoring terrorism.

But Putin shared his views unambiguously on terrorism, saying the BRICS bloc was "determined" to cooperate in the fight against terrorism.

"For our five countries' leaders this meeting (in Goa) will be a good opportunity to harmonise our positions on key issues on the agenda. We are determined to cooperate in the fight against terrorism, drug trafficking and corruption," Putin said.

Putin said BRICS, made up of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, would "also contribute to settling conflicts and ensuring information security".

The two-day summit in Goa begins on Saturday. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to hold a bilateral meeting with Putin on the sidelines.

Modi is likely to raise the issue of Pakistan-sponsored terrorism with the Russian president.

On Afghanistan, Putin said India and Russia were both interested in deepening "constructive multilateral cooperation" to help rebuild the war-torn country where decisive action was needed to defeat terrorism.

"Russia and India share the need to support national reconciliation efforts under law and are interested in deepening constructive multilateral cooperation for the purposes of assisting Afghanistan in solving the issues of national security, building counter-narcotics capacity, ensuring social and economic development, and enhancing inter-connectivity."

Questions to Putin were emailed before India's September 29 surgical strikes targeting terrorist launch pads in Pakistan-administered Kashmir.
Film: "Inferno"; Director: Ron Howard; Cast: Tom Hanks, Felicity Jones, Irrfan Khan, Omar Sy, Ben Foster, Sidse Babett Knudsen, Ana Ularu, Ida Darvish and Cesare Cremonini; Rating: *1/2

Not all novel adaptations are alluring as films, certainly not Dan Brown's novels.

"Inferno", Brown's fourth novel and the third to be adapted by Ron Howard after "The Da Vinci Code" and "Angels & Demons", is far from towering. In fact, it is an absurdly mounted mystery thriller that fails to impress.

This Robert Langdon series, featuring Tom Hanks as the Harvard University professor of symbology, begins with a shoddily gummed-up montage that forms the prologue. In one of the early scenes in the pre-credits, we see Ben Foster as the crazed billionaire geneticist Bertrand Zobrist falling to his death from the top of a bell tower in Florence and in one of his public address on the evils of over-population, we are informed that, "Humanity is the disease and Inferno is the cure".

After the initial credits, we are shown Professor Langdon waking up in a hospital in Florence, Italy with a scar on his head and no memory of what transpired over the last few days.

He, once again, finds himself the target of a major manhunt. Doctor Sienna Brooks, played by Felicity Jones, helps him escape from the hospital and together they travel across Europe, trying to solve the mystery and thereby avert the deadly virus Inferno, which Zobrist had invented, from destroying humanity.

How Langdon uses clues from Dante's epic poem Inferno and various works of art to track down the deadly virus, forms the crux of the tale.

While the poem tells of Dante's journey through Hell, guided by the ancient Roman poet Virgil, the poem is used in the film as an allegory of Langdon's expedition and hence fails to deliver the finer nuances of the poem.

Tom Hanks as Robert Langdon is brilliant, but his character is stumped due to the poorly written script. He is aptly supported by Irrfan Khan in a prominent role as the enigmatic Harry Sims; Sidse Babett Knudsen as doctor Elizabeth Sinskey; Omar Sy as her French consort Christoph; and Ida Darvish as Martha.

The script, written by David Koepp with its many tangles of double crosses is convoluted, predictable and lacklustre.

Devoid of tension and any semblance of character development, the film is stuck in cinematic limbo. The dialogues too, without any punchlines, are dull and boring. All the characters have a serious air about themselves and there is never a moment of spryness in the narrative.

Visually too, the first half, packed with snappy edits, is disconcerting to the eye.

Overall, when at the very end, you hear "If you loved humanity or this planet, you'd do anything to solve it", you feel let down with all the hype of the "Inferno".

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday condoled the death of Thailand King Bhumibol Adulyadej.

"The people of India and I join the people of Thailand in grieving the loss of one of the tallest leaders of our times, King Bhumibol Adulyadej, who was widely revered by his people. My thoughts are with his countless well-wishers and family," the Prime Minister said.

The Thai King, the world's longest-reigning monarch, died on Thursday in Bangkok at the age of 88, according to the Royal Household Bureau.

The King, who died at 3.52 p.m. (8.52 a.m. GMT), ruled the kingdom for seven decades and was revered by the Thai public as a semi-divine figure, Efe news reported.

He passed away in Siriraj Hospital, where he had received hemodialysis treatment on October 8 after his health worsened during the weekend.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to participate in the 350th birth anniversaryy celebrations of Guru Gobind Singh in Patna Sahib, Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said here.

"PM Modi and some union ministers may participate in the 350th birth anniversary celebrations of Guru Gobind Singh in Patna Sahib in January," Prasad said.

Prasad said the central government has already allocated Rs 100 crore in the budget for the celebrations.

In September 2016, the Bihar tourism department organised the first three-day international Sikh conclave ahead of the main celebrations.

Earlier, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar announced a three-day holiday in Bihar during the celebrations, known as 'Prakash-Parv' at Takht Harmandir Sahib, the birthplace of the 10th Sikh Guru.

Officials of the Takht Harmandir Sahib, said thousands of people -- mainly Sikhs from across the world -- are expected to congregate here for the anniversary celebrations.

The gurudwara management committee is also undertaking huge constructions in its campus. An old guest house complex has been demolished and a new structure is coming up in its place, which will include parking provisions to accommodate the expected massive rush in January.

Takht Sri Harmandirji Sahib, widely known as Patna Sahib, is about 10 km from Patna and was built in the 1950s over the remains of a structure erected by Maharaja Ranjit Singh.

Guru Gobind Singh was born in 1666 to Guru Tegh Bahadur, the ninth Sikh Guru and Mata Gujri. He was formally installed as the leader of the Sikhs at the age of nine, becoming the last of the living Sikh Gurus.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Genoa (Italy), Oct 13 (IANS/AKI) The decapitated body of a man in Italy, who went missing while gathering mushrooms, has been found in woods.

Sixty-eight-year-old Albano Crocco's headless body was found on Wednesday in Liguria's scenic Val Fontanabuona valley with gunshot wounds to the neck not far from his house in the village of Lumarzo.

Crocco's wife and daughter raised the alarm when he failed to return home on Tuesday evening.

He was fired on from behind at close range, probably with a hunting rifle and his head was cut off with a large blade, according to pathologists.

Sniffer dogs were reported to be searching for the missing head and police were questioning Crocco's family and friends.

--IANS/AKI

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) on Thursday rejected the Law Commission's questionnaire on the and decided to boycott it.

The board's move comes days after the union government told the Supreme Court that triple talaq, 'nikaah halaal' and polygamy were not integral to the practice of Islam or essential religious practices.

" is divisive and will lead to social unrest," said the AIMPLB General Secretary, Maulana Wali Rehmani.

"It is against the spirit of the Constitution, which safeguards the right of citizens to practice their culture and religion," he told the media.

" is not good for this nation. There are so many cultures in this nation and they have to be respected."

Jamaat-e-Islami Hind (JIH) President Maulana Arshad Madni, who was also at the briefing said, "The Muslim Personal Law is based on Quran and Hadith and we cannot alter it," adding that Prime Minister Narendra Modi wanted to "impose dictatorship in the name of democracy".
Former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Thursday accused the Mehbooba Mufti-led PDP-BJP state government of "partisan politics" over the Centre's decision to set up an Indian Institute of Management (IIM) in Jammu.

The Union cabinet on Thursday approved the establishment and operation of the premier management institute in the state's winter capital at a cost of nearly Rs 62 crore.

The 20th IIM of the country will function from a temporary campus at Old Government College of Engineering and Technology for the first four years, from 2016 to 2020, it said.

In a series of tweets, the National Conference (NC) leader hit out at Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti.

"Jammu gets the IIT & gets the IIM also. Where have all those voices that called for balanced regional development in J&K disappeared."

"This is just blatant partisan of the kind we have come to expect from the BJPDP. No wonder so much of the state is restive today," wrote Abdullah.

"When Kashmir was awarded an AIIMS (hospital) Jammu agitated, successfully, for its right to be granted one as well. Why this partisanship now?"

"Realise that Mehbooba Mufti has had to sell out her political agenda to remain in power but I didn't realise she's sold her soul also," he tweeted.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Thursday said if India is keen to compete with China, prohibition will have to be imposed across the country.

"I strongly feel that India will need to have country-wide prohibition, if it wants to compete with China," Nitish Kumar said at a function here.

To substantiate his point, he said China progressed and developed only after it ended opium addiction.

"People have a keen desire that our country should compete with China but India and its new generation with liquor won't be able to compete with China," Kumar said.

The Chief Minister, however, said that implementing prohibition is a challenging task.

Last month, a Patna High Court order had struck down the liquor ban in Bihar, put into effect as per the old Excise and Prohibition Act since April 5 this year.

But Bihar became a dry state once again as the new stringent Bihar Excise and Prohibition Act came into force from "Gandhi Jayanti" on Oct 2.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Milan, Oct 13 (IANS/AKI) The Roberto Cavalli fashion house has announced it was cutting 200 out of 672 jobs globally, closing some stores and its Milan offices and relocating to a manufacturing district near Florence.

"The fashion industry is going through hard times due to a significant contraction of consumption in various key markets," said chief executive Giacomo Ferraris.

"Only iconic brands with a coherent business model and efficient organisation can survive."

The firm unveiled its plans after announcing creative director Peter Dundas was leaving after three seasons.

Norwegian-born Dundas faced a tough challenge: reviving a brand considered past its prime while preserving its iconic features after founder Roberto Cavalli sold a majority stake to private equity fund Clessidra in April last year.

"The brand's stylistic team will continue designing collections during this time of transition and transformation," said Ferraris. "We will name a new creative director in due time," he added.

Cavalli, 75, still holds a 10 percent stake in the company and remains a consultant.

--IANS/AKI

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(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.)
India has sought greater market access for its goods, especially rice and pharmaceutical products, into China in view of its mounting trade deficit which is a cause of growing concern, an official statement said here on Thursday.

"Commerce and Industries Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Chinese Vice Minister for Ministry of Finance and Commerce Wang Shouwen exchanged notes on trade and commerce and agreed that the mounting bilateral trade deficit has been a cause for concern for India which seeks greater market access for its goods for a long-term sustainable trade relationship," a statement from the Commerce Ministry said.

Sitharaman asked for expeditious clearances for import of Indian rice and pharmaceutical products into China -- especially those which already have US Food and Drug Administration accreditation.

Expressing concern at the long-drawn procedures for clearances which tend to frustrate the Indian companies seeking business opportunities in China, she asked Wang to consider demonstration of IT/ITeS projects for Indian companies, which have acquired global acclaim.

"Sitharaman requested for 'buying missions' to India to source Indian tobacco and oil meals, amongst other things," the statement said.

The two leaders in consonance with the apex level meetings convened by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping, agreed that measures on providing greater market access for Indian goods and services in China need a demonstrative action, it added.

Wang assured that China would act on the concerns expressed by India regarding market access for Indian goods, and said that recently China has quickened the pace of granting clearances to Indian pharmaceutical companies.

Wang requested the cooperation of India in various multilateral fora where China and India are engaged -- the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership with services being an integral part of the cooperation agreement.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
When Bob Dylan wrote, The Times They Are A Changin, I doubt he had the Swedish Academy in mind. Nevertheless, by awarding him the 2016 Nobel Prize in Literature the Academy has made a bold statement for a change in the way songwriting is viewed as literature.

Many people have already complained that there were many more worthy potential recipients. But lets face the facts: Bob Dylan won, and they lost.

He likely didnt even know he was competing. (Reportedly, he was in Las Vegas for a performance when the award was announced.) But he won.

Now, I suppose it could be argued, as have some, that he hasnt really produced any literature. Whatever one thinks of him winning, however, I dont think thats fair. Haters gonna hate, I guess.

The official press release, cited here in full, states, The Nobel Prize in Literature for 2016 is awarded to Bob Dylan for having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition.

This isnt much to go on. One would think that with such a revolutionary choice, more explanation would be in order. But, I mean, cmon.

Having been named after the Nobel Laureate, Ill admit Im a little biased. The other factor affecting my opinion, however, is that Bob Dylan is the greatest living American songwriter.

And, in fact, he is a poet. And poetry is literature, last I checked. Early on  and all throughout his career  Dylan blended beat poetry with American folk music. Maybe all those other, non-Nobel-winning poets are just jealous that Dylan can play guitar and (sort of, maybe) sing.

In any case, Dylan is significant for this innovative integration, and he continued in that spirit as his career progressed, adapting his lyrical artistry to rock, blues, and gospel along the way.

Dylan is a poet-songwriter-entrepreneur. In a way, he artistically embodies the American traditions of individualism and enterprise (and faith), even while he (rightly) castigated American society for racist violence, identity politics, baptizing war at all cost, miscarrying justice, irreligion, and so on.

While number of albums sold hardly makes someone an artist, his enormous commercial success is no reason to disqualify him either. Dylans influence goes far beyond popular consumption. He is one of the most covered songwriters of all time. And traces of his unique style, whether lyrically or otherwise, can be heard in nearly all popular music since his time.

In 2011, UK journal the Independent published 70 reasons why Dylan is the most important figure in pop-culture history. Among them, they include:

Because he made teenagers interested in poetry again (#2);

Because he invented folk-rock (#4);

Because he wrote It Aint Me, Babe, the worlds first anti-love song (#10);

Because he invented country-rock (#15);

Because in May 1963, a fortnight prior to the release of Freewheelin, when The Ed Sullivan Show refused to let him perform the satirical Talkin John Birch Society Blues, he chose to walk out rather than submit to censorship (#27);

Because when he was trying to explain the kind of music he wanted to create during his electric period, he came up with the phrase that thin wild mercury sound, a better five-word nugget than most songwriters entire output (#29);

Because he wrote A Hard Rains a-Gonna Fall when barely out of his teens, a string of apocalyptic images which altered the way topical singers thought about writing protest songs (#32);

Because when he wrote Chronicles, the first part of his autobiography, it actually helped explain things about his art and the way he worked (#44);

Because, back in the 1970s, just as most fans and critics were considering him washed-up and mined-out, he somehow came up with Blood on the Tracks, an indisputable classic containing some of his finest songs. He has repeated this trick many times (#50);

Because when he wrote a protest song, it made a difference. Thanks to The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll, his powerful 1964 account of the death of a poor black serving-woman at the whim of a Baltimore society blade who served a derisory sentence, the killer in question, one William Zantzinger, lived the rest of his life in bitter ignominy (#53);

Because, when included in Times 100 Most Important People of the Century, he was called master poet, caustic social critic and intrepid, guiding spirit of the counter-culture generation (#55);

Because he is the only contemporary songwriter to have one of his songs prompt a homily by the Pope (#57  that story here );

); Because he created an entire industry of Dylanologist commentators and interpreters, way beyond the attention afforded any other songwriter or performer (#61);

Because he took the 2008 Pulitzer Prize Special Citation for profound impact on popular music and American culture, marked by lyrical compositions of extraordinary poetic power (#70).

Of course, this likely wont assuage the haters, Im sure. But at the end of the day, the important thing is that they didnt win, and no amount of complaining will change that.
A Spanish diplomat who had been living in Pakistan for 34 long years was found dead here and police said on Thursday that he may have committed suicide.

Juan Jose Giner was found dead at his residence and the room was locked from the inside. A 38 bore pistol was found near the body, The News International reported.

Giner had been living in Islamabad for 34 years. He had married twice but both his wives had left him, the police said.

His cook, a Pakistani, alerted the police.

--IANS

mr/in

(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.)
Film: "The Girl on the Train"; Director: Tate Taylor; Cast: Emily Blunt, Haley Bennett, Rebecca Ferguson, Justin Theroux, Luke Evans, Edgar Ramirez, Laura Prepon, Allison Janney, Darren Goldstein, Lisa Kudrow, Lana Young; Rating: ***1/2

Directed by Tate Taylor, the film is an intriguing, psycho-dramatic murder mystery, based on the novel written by Paula Hawkins. It is the story of an alcoholic lady who, to keep a charade of a job, travels by train daily. And in due course, she is one of the last persons to witness a woman who has gone missing.

The premise sounds exciting, but the film is not treated like a thriller. Instead the director unravels the narrative as a slow-paced mystery, weaving the lives of three women -- Rachel Watson, Megan Hipwell and Anna, and two men - Tom Watson and Scott Hipwell.

Rachel Watson, the girl on the train, leads "a sad life." Daily journeying between Grand Central Terminal to the verdant New York suburb of Ardsley-on-Hudson, she is fixated with a home on 13th Becket Road. This was once her home she shared with her husband Tom. And while on the train, through a series of flash-backs we are informed that because couldn't bear a child, her drinking bouts started and how she lost Tom to the blonde Anna, their real-estate agent.

Every day when Rachel passed her former home, she would notice Anna and her rage would once again resurface. And in her drunken stupor, she would harass Tom and Anna, by spying on them and with persistent phone calls.

The Hipwells happened to be their neighbours. Megan, with a colourful past, was now a nanny to Tom and Anna's little daughter.

One day, while on the train and under the influence of alcohol, Rachel happens to notice a blonde standing in the balcony of her old home and kissing a bearded man. Thinking that the blonde is Anna, cheating on her ex-husband, Tom, Rachel out of jealousy and sense of loyalty to Tom, swears to kill Anna.

So, on her way back, she alights from the train and trails Anna. Rachel, of course, drunk and blanked out, can't recall what happened that night. It so happens that on that fateful night, Megan goes missing.

Though the story seems contrived with the characters driven by its plot mechanisms, the screenplay written by Erin Cressida Wilson is gripping.

Despite its sluggish pace and without referring to the source material, one must say the film is refreshingly riveting. The first 15 minutes of the narrative are a bit befuddling due to its differently structured, non-linear narrative. But once the initial hiccups are overcome, the film is worth the investment.

What makes the film fulfilling is its logical end, which is so satisfying.

Emily Blunt with her tousled hair and unkempt look, plays Rachel Watson to the hilt. Her masochistic performance is a treat to watch. She is aptly supported by fine actors like Haley Bennett as Megan, Rebecca Ferguson as Anna, Luke Evans as Megan's obsessed husband Scott, Edgar Ramirez as Dr. Kamal Abdic - Megan's psychiatrist, and Justin Theroux as Tom.

In smaller roles there is Allison Janney as Detective Riley and Laura Prepon as Cathy, Rachel's sympathetic friend at whose house she lives.

On the technical front, with moderate production values, the film is effectively captured by cinematographer Charlotte Bruus Christensen's lens. Some of his rigorous camera movements offering some disorienting and unsteady focus-changing images to communicate Rachel's instability, are noteworthy.

Also, commendable are Editor Michael McCusker's fine edits that put the film in the right perspective.

Overall, The Girl on the Train may not be at par with the October 2014 released thriller Gone Girl, in terms of an enthralling experience, but is nevertheless exciting.

--IANS

troy/nv/vt

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Rome, Oct 13 (IANS/AKI) Britain's Foreign Office has said it was sorry for an online form that asks Italians resident in the UK if they are "Italian, Neapolitan or Sicilian" - 155 years after the unification of Italy.

Italian ambassador to Britain Pasquale Terracciano said he was satisfied with the government's apology for the form which parents of schoolchildren in parts of England and Wales were asked to complete.

"It was an error due rather to ignorance and carelessness on the part of a few education authorities rather than a real wish to discriminate," Terracciano stated.

The British government has said it was asking for the form to be changed, he said.

"It is important to avoid misunderstandings that can arise in this delicate post-Brexit period," said Terracciano, referring to Britain's decision to leave the European Union in a referendum on 23 June.

Italy has been a unified country since March 17, 1861, the Italian embassy pointed out to the British government.

--IANS/AKI

mr/

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Executive Director Erik Solheim on Thursday went the Gandhian way, asking the global community to take a pledge to phase out the heat-trapping organic compounds -- hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) -- and emulate the lifestyle of the Mahatma.

Making a passionate appeal to emulate Mahatma Gandhi's philosophy in the global fight against climate change, he favoured negotiating an agreement to eliminate planet-warming HFCs in the next 30-40 years.

In his opening ministerial remarks, Solheim, who took over as Executive Director of the UNEP in May last, said the world needed to draw inspiration from Mahatma Gandhi, "the greatest Indian of modern times", in its fight against the climate change.

In his extempore speech lasting nearly 25 minutes, he also talked about Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi many a time.

"Recently, I was in India when Prime Minister Narendra Modi decided to ratify the Paris Agreement on climate change. Modi has sent a message to all of us. He had said India will ratify the Paris Agreement on the birthday of Mahatma Gandhi. Maybe we all need to emulate the lifestyle of this greatest Indian (Mahatma Gandhi) of modern times," he said.

"We all need to allow ourselves to be inspired by Gandhi. We need to remind ourselves of what he achieved. He stood up against the greatest power of that time, through non-violence and determination and achieved his goal (of getting India freed from the British India)," he said.

"We are facing similar challenges (on climate change). If we draw inspiration from him, we can also be victorious as he was."

"Let's take that as the motto for this conference. Let's all become the change that we would like to see. Can we do that? Another slogan from a different country says, 'Yes, we can. For sure, we can'," Solheim added.

At present, the 28th meeting of the Parties to the 1989 Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer is underway in the Rwandan capital till October 14 to freeze an agreement as early as possible to eventually eliminate the use of HFCs.

One group of countries, including China, seems to favour average HFC consumption during 2020-22 as the baseline.

Another group, that includes India, seems to opt for average HFC consumption during 2024-26 as the baseline, said an official.

In a landmark decision in November last, the 197 Parties of the Montreal Protocol agreed to the "Dubai Pathway on HFCs" which commits the 197 Parties to "work within the Montreal Protocol to an HFC amendment in 2016 by first resolving challenges by generating solutions in the contact group on the feasibility and ways of managing HFCs".

(Vishal Gulati is in Kigali in Rwanda to cover the 28th Meeting of the Parties to the Montreal Protocol. He can be contacted at vishal.g@ians.in)

--IANS

vg/lok/dg

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In "self defence", three US warships on Thursday fired cruise missiles at a radar installations in Yemen that the Pentagon claimed was used by Yemeni insurgents to target another American warship earlier in.

The three sites -- in Houthi-controlled territory -- targeted by the US warships were located in remote areas, where there was little risk of civilian casualties or collateral damage, CNN quoted a US official as saying.

"These limited self-defence strikes were conducted to protect our personnel, our ships, and our freedom of navigation in this important maritime passageway," Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook said.

"The US will respond to any further threat to our ships and commercial traffic, as appropriate," Cook said.

According to the US officials, the attack was carried out using Tomahawk cruise missiles fired from the destroyer USS Nitze.

The initial assessments showed that three radar sites have been destroyed, the officials added.

They said the strikes were authorised by President Barack Obama.

The attack marks the first time when the US has fired at rebel targets since the start of the Yemen conflict in March 2015, BBC reported.

On Sunday, the USS Mason warship in the Red Sea was targeted by two missile attacks, CNN reported.

The missile, however, missed the warship and landed in water.

The USS Mason was fired on again on Wednesday while conducting routine operations in international waters, according to the Pentagon.

"The ship employed defensive countermeasures, and the missile did not reach USS Mason," Cook said about Wednesday's incident.

"There was no damage to the ship or its crew. USS Mason will continue its operations."

At the time, a Houthi spokesman told the Saba news agency that it had not targeted any warships.

A Saudi-led multinational coalition, supported by the US, is carrying out an air campaign against the Houthi movement.

However, the US support for the coalition has come under strain following an air strike on a funeral hall in the capital Sanaa earlier this month that killed at least 140 persons.

The Saudi government has not publicly acknowledged that its planes carried out the strike, but it has launched an inquiry.

It has also said it will facilitate the evacuation of Yemenis injured in the attack who need medical treatment abroad.

The UN said at least 4,125 civilians have been killed and 7,207 injured since the coalition intervened in the conflict between forces loyal to Yemen's internationally-recognised government and those allied to the Houthis in March 2015.

--IANS

ss/ksk/vt

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived in Cambodia on Thursday on a state visit and will later leave for Bangladesh and India.

This is Xi's first trip to the Southeast Asian nation as the Chinese President. In 2009, he visited as Vice President, Xinhua news agency reported.

Xi is scheduled to meet Cambodian King Norodom Sihamoni, visit Queen Mother Norodom Monineath Sihanouk and hold talks with Prime Minister Hun Sen.

The two countries will conclude a series of cooperation deals during Xi's visit to align their development strategies and boost their practical cooperation, according to Chinese officials.

In June, Xi and Sihamoni met in Beijing when the king paid a state visit to China, and pledged to press ahead with the bilateral comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership, which was established six years ago.

On the economic front, China is now Cambodia's largest trading partner and source of foreign investment, with bilateral collaboration expanding in such areas as trade, investment, connectivity, energy resources and infrastructure construction.

Two-way trade between China and Cambodia reached $4.43 billion in 2015, indicating an annual growth of 17.95 per cent, according to China's Commerce Ministry.

After Cambodia, Xi will travel to Bangladesh where he will hold talks with President Abdul Hamid and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

Xi will then attend the BRICS -- Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa -- summit, to be held in Goa, at the invitation of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Here, the leaders will exchange in-depth views on BRICS cooperation and other global and regional issues.

Xi will return to Beijing on October 17.

--IANS

ksk/vt

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
At their meeting in New Delhi in April 2005, the then Indian and Chinese leaders, Manmohan Singh and Wen Jiabao reaffirmed the elements of consensus underlying the future trajectory of their bilateral relations.
A 30-year-old man was found murdered in Dhamat village under Purqazi police station in the district, police said on Thursday.

The body of Pappu was found with his throat slit on Wednesday. He was killed after he went to relieve himself in the fields, SP Crime Pradeep Gupta said.

Police have registered a case against unidentified miscreants and the body has been sent for post-mortem.
Alabama Humanities Foundation will honor Ben and Luanne Russell with the Alabama Humanities Award; Hill Crest Foundation, Charitable Organization in the Humanities Award; and Nancy Grisham Anderson, Wayne Greenhaw Service Award, at AHF's annual awards luncheon Oct. 24 at 11:30 a.m. at The Club.

The luncheon celebration is always a special time, but there are some added touches this year. The keynote speaker is Stewart McLaurin, president of the White House Historical Association since 2014, who will offer insight into the White House and its historic moments.

McLaurin's career spans nonprofit, education and public policy fields. He has held senior positions with George Washington's Mount Vernon, the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation, the Motion Picture Association, Georgetown University, American Red Cross and the federal government.

Before joining the White House Historical Association, McLaurin served as executive vice president for American Village Citizenship Trust in Montevallo.

McLaurin, an Alabama native and graduate of The University of Alabama, will be accompanied by a special guest - former White House Executive Pastry Chef Roland Mesnier.

During the Oct. 24 recognitions, The Jenice Riley Memorial Scholarship winners will be honored, as well.

Named in memory of the daughter of former Gov. Bob Riley and First Lady Patsy Riley, the scholarship recognizes top teachers across Alabama who make a difference in their classrooms with enhanced learning experiences.

As part of the festivities leading up to the luncheon on Monday, Mesnier will be cooking Sunday afternoon with local chefs George and Meredith McMillan and Samford University students. A reception at Children's Harbor will honor the Russells on Sunday evening. McLaurin will meet with Samford University students again on Monday morning, and Mesnier will attend a Coffee and Conversation at Children's Harbor.

After Monday's luncheon, Mesnier will visit with Birmingham City School System culinary students at Wenonah High School.

The Russells are longtime philanthropists and humanitarians. Ben Russell is the grandson of the founder of Russell Corp., begun in 1902 in Alexander City as a textile manufacturer. Russell became president of Russell Lands in 1970 and has served as chairman and CEO since 1973. It had been a land and timber company and is now Alabama's largest recreational development company with more than 500 employees.

He founded and still chairs CARE Alabama, a statewide fundraising campaign for CARE, which is a humanitarian organization fighting global poverty.

The Russells founded Children's Harbor, a not-for-profit child care organization for children and families on Lake Martin, offering New England-style camping facilities as a retreat for long term and seriously ill children.

In 2008, the Russells led a $100 million campaign to build the new Children's of Alabama Hospital with the largest gift in its history, and the hospital and campus are named Benjamin Russell Hospital for Children. It is now the third largest pediatric hospital in the United States.

Children's Harbor Family Center, located at the Birmingham hospital, resulted from the Russells' gift, and it offers ways for patients and families to break away from their hospital stay.

A Mississippi native, Nancy Grisham Anderson completed her undergraduate degree (magna cum laude) at Millsaps College (Jackson, Miss.) and her graduate work in English at the University of Virginia. After teaching at Millsaps and in high schools in Germany and the United States, Anderson joined the English faculty at Auburn University at Montgomery, where she retired as an associate professor of English and director of Actions Build Community: The AUM-Taulbert Initiative (a community outreach program).

Anderson has a particular interest in Southern literature, especially that of Alabama. She has published work about Lella Warren, Zelda Sayre Fitzgerald, Mary Ward Brown, Harper Lee, Clifton Taulbert and Richard Marius. She has received the William J. Calvert and James Woodall awards from the Association of College English Teachers of Alabama (ACETA) and the Eugene Current-Garcia Award for Distinguished Literary Scholarship. In 2008, she was a finalist for the Brock International Prize in Education.

Hill Crest Foundation is a charitable organization with an aim of supporting the work of other nonprofit and charitable groups in Alabama. Toward that mission, it has generously contributed to countless causes, including Alabama Humanities Foundation, Alabama Shakespeare Festival, youth service organizations, healthcare-related nonprofits, educational foundations and many of Alabama's small, private schools, and public and private colleges and universities.

Tickets and tables are on sale now for the Alabama Humanities Awards Luncheon.

You may purchase tickets or tables online at: http://www.alabamahumanities.org/2016-luncheon-tickets/ or by sending your check to AHF, 1100 Ireland Way, Suite 200, Birmingham, AL 35205 or by calling AHF at (205) 558-3990.

Purchase levels are:

* Individual Ticket - $75

* Table for eight - $750

* Patron ticket - $150

* Patron table for eight - $1,500

* Event Sponsor table for eight - $2,500

* Presenting Sponsor table for eight - $5,000
The real threats to India are "internal" and emanate from communal and social violence, not from outside forces such as Pakistan or China, former security advisor has said.

Asked if Pakistan or China pose an existential threat to India, Menon said: "No".

"In terms of security, I think the real threats are internal," he told PTI.

"There's no existential threat to India's existence today externally, unlike in the 50s or when we were formed. And for many years till the late 60s there were actual internal separatist threats, not anymore. I think that we have actually dealt with," Menon said.

His long career in public service spans diplomacy, security, and India's relations with its neighbours and major global powers. Menon served as national security advisor to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh from January 2010 to May 2014.

Menon's first book post-retirement - 'Choices: Inside the making of India's Foreign Policy' - is all set to hit bookstores globally next week.

Asked to elaborate on what he meant by internal threats, he said: "If there are real threats to India, to the idea of India, India's integrity, today they actually come from within the country."

"If you look at violence in India, deaths from terrorism, from left wing extremism, declined steadily throughout this 21st century until 2014-2015. Even now the basic trend for terrorism, left wing extremism is down. What has increased is since 2012, communal violence, social violence, internal violence has increased. That is something we need to find a way in dealing with," Menon said.

"This is not a traditional law and order problem, which our traditional instruments, the police, the states know how to deal with. You look at violence against women, communal, caste violence, if you look at those forms of violence, these are all a result of tremendous social and economic change of uprooting of population, urbanization... Various forms of change, which we still need to learn how to deal with," he said.

Menon said those are the threats, which in the long run, has a "potential to make a real difference".

"India has changed. It is normal. It happens to most societies where there is change. But you also have to learn new ways of dealing with," he said and attributed the new threats to the rapid and fast development of the country.

When asked that some people attributed this to the BJP coming to power, Menon said even that is a consequence of the change that the Indian society is undergoing now.

Menon previously served as India's foreign secretary from 2006 to 2009 and as ambassador and high commissioner to Israel from 1995-1997, Sri Lanka (1997-2000), China (2000-2003) and Pakistan (2003-2006).
The administration on Thursday ordered an inquiry into burning of effigy of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and others by a section of students in the university campus on the occasion of Dussehra by projecting them as Ravana.

"We have ordered an inquiry into the effigy burning incident and are examining the issue," said Vice Chancellor Jagadesh Kumar, whose picture was also put on the effigy set ablaze on Tuesday night.

The move comes nearly a week after the varsity ordered a proctorial inquiry into burning of effigy of Gujarat government and 'gau-rakshak' (cow vigilantes) and issued show-cause notices to the students concerned.

While Pakistan's Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, 26/11 mastermind Hafiz Saeed and heads of several other militant organisations were the faces of Ravana effigies burnt on Dussehra across the country, members of Congress-affiliated Students' Union of India (NSUI) chose the visages of PM and BJP chief Amit Shah to represent the demon king and burnt the effigy on Tuesday.

They claimed that it was a protest against the Centre's "failure" to honour its promises and the "continuous attacks" on various educational institutions across the country.

While university officials maintained that no permission was sought for the event, the organisers claimed that effigy burning was a "routine" thing on campus and did not require permission from the administration.

Besides Modi and Shah, the effigy had faces of Yoga guru Ramdev, Sadhvi Pragya, Nathuram Godse, Asaram Bapu and the Vice-Chancellor. The students also carried placards with the slogan, 'Truth shall prevail over evil'.
A day after the Congress in Delhi accused Defence Minister of politicising the surgical strikes across the Line of Control (LoC), the party's Goa state unit has asked Parrikar to desist from "verbal diarrhoea".

" is a Defence Minister with verbal diarrhoea. He should speak less, act more, respect the forces and equip them. Our armed forces are strong enough to hit hard. Don't undermine them with your political pitch," Goa Congress spokesperson Sunil Kawthankar said in a statement.

Speaking in Mumbai on Wednesday, Parrikar said there were no surgical strikes during previous Congress regimes.

"I have been the Defence Minister for two years. From whatever I have known, there is no surgical strike from previous years. What they are quoting are actions taken by border action teams. These are common actions across the globe and by the Indian Army," Parrikar was quoted in the media as saying.

Kawthankar, however, claims that the former Goa Chief Minister had reduced the Indian governance to the petty level of 'nukkad' .

"He shouldn't reduce Indian governance to 'nukkad' of Goa and act as a statesman," Kawthankar added.
The situation in power loom town of in Thane district was tense after members of two communities clashed during a Muharram procession. The police said the situation is under control as security was beefed up in the area.

A meeting was convened late last night by senior police officials with the local peace committee soon after the situation was brought under control. It was also attended by local MP Kapil Patil, who urged the people to maintain calm, an official at Thane City Police Control Room said.

The incident occurred when some of arches put up for just-concluded Navratri festival got damaged during the Muharram procession in the evening. This led to tensions between the members of both communities. Soon they started hurling stones at each other.

A sub-inspector, a police naik and one more person were injured when a two-wheeler of a police official was set on fire.

Those injured were sub-inspector Sanjay Rathod, police naik Santosh Mali and a photographer, the officer said, adding that all of them are undergoing treatment at Burns Hospital in Airoli, Navi Mumbai.
Sixteen countries will participate in military exercises aimed at enhancing physical and military capabilities of troops next week in this eastern Pakistani city.

A 25-member Sri Lankan army team arrived here yesterday to take part in the six-day 'Physical Agility and Combat Efficiency System' military exercises, The International reported citing Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR).

Sixteen countries will participate in the drills aimed at enhancing physical and military capabilities of troops, the report said.

The report, however, did not name the countries participating in the exercises.

The first-ever joint military exercise between Pakistan and Russian military commenced on September 27 and concluded on October 10.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Bihar police today suspended three policemen, including a Station House Officer (SHO) of Bhojpur district, after a video showing them dancing with bar girls went viral yesterday, a senior police official said.

"We have suspended three policemen including an SHO, an ASI and a constable of Koilwar police station of Bhojpur district after a video footage went viral showing them dancing with bar girls at a function held at Koilwar, a small township in Bhojpur, the day before yesterday," Patna Zonal IG Naiyar Husnain Khan told PTI.

The action was taken after verifying the video footage, he added.

Sources said that the dance programme was organised by a puja committee at Koilwar chowk on Vijayadashmi.

The three policemen who have been suspended with immediate effect include Koilwar police station SHO Sanjay Shankar, Assistant Sub-Inspector Devchandra Singh and a constable Bhushan, IG said.

"Bhojpur Superintendent of Police has also been asked to initiate departmental proceedings against these policemen for their improper conduct. We will not tolerate such conduct at any cost in which policemen, including SHO, were seen dancing publicly at a stage," IG said adding that this is not expected from a police officer.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Donald Trump is in the eye of a storm after at least five women accused him of sexual assault and harassment, threatening the Republican presidential nominee's already fragile campaign, less than a month before the election day.

The latest accusations against 70-year-old Trump come just days after a 2005 video surfaced of him in which he is talking in lewd and sexually explicit terms about women and bragging about groping them and getting away with it because he was a "star".

The New York Times reported two women's detailed accounts of Trump groping them. There was a similar account from another woman in the Palm Beach Post. Former Apprentice contestant Jennifer Murphy and People magazine writer Natasha Stoynoff also levelled similar allegations against him.

Jessica Leeds, 74, said Trump had groped her when the two were seated next to each other on a flight more than three decades ago.

Rachel Crooks, who worked for a firm based in Trump Tower in 2005, found herself in a lift with Trump and tried to introduce herself by shaking his hand. The Apprentice star kissed Crooks, then 22, "directly on the mouth", she told the New York Times.

Mindy McGillivray, 36, told the Palm Beach Post that she was groped by Trump during a party at his Florida property Mar-a-Lago 13 years ago, while Murphy told Grazia that Trump had kissed her on the lips at the end of a 2005 job interview.

In a lengthy account published late last night, Stoynoff recalled travelling to Mar-a-Lago to interview Trump and his wife Melania, in 2005. Trump, she claimed, had cornered her in private and "within seconds, he was pushing me against the wall, and forcing his tongue down my throat".

The women came forward to tell their stories after Sunday's presidential debate in which Trump denied having ever sexually assaulted women.

The Trump campaign condemned Stoynoff's story as "fabricated" and the New York Times piece as "fiction" and "a completely false, coordinated character assassination".

Trump's lawyers threatened to sue the New York Times.

The Trump campaign distributed a letter sent to the Times' executive editor, Dean Baquet, demanding a retraction and saying the article is "reckless, defamatory and libel per se."



Trump's attorney said failure to retract the piece and remove it from the newspaper's website would leave him "no option but to pursue all available actions and remedies".

When asked to comment on the accusations, Trump told a Times reporter that she was a "disgusting human being".

Jennifer Palmieri, communications director for the



Clinton campaign, said: "This disturbing story sadly fits everything we know about the way Donald Trump has treated women. These reports suggest that he lied on the debate stage and that the disgusting behavior he bragged about in the tape is more than just words."



Earlier, BuzzFeed reported that four contestants in the 1997 Miss Teen USA beauty pageant said Trump walked into the dressing room while the participants, some as young as 15, were changing.

The new controversy comes just a day after Trump's campaign said it was planning to ramp up its attacks on Bill Clinton as a way to attack Hillary.

The Trump campaign is facing a lot of pressure after a stream of Republican leaders withdrew their support from the party's nominee following the emergence of the 2005 tape.

Trump has since gone on the offensive against senior Republican figures including House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senator John McCain.
Consumption of smuggled cigarettes in India has increased by over 90 per cent in past 10 years, a latest report by industry body FICCI said today.

Over 56 per cent smokers prefer attractive packaging of foreign smuggled brands which does not adhere to Indian regulations like pictorial warning on 85 per cent space of the cigarette packet, it said.

Smuggled cigarettes' consumption has increased by over 90 per cent from 12.5 billion to 23.9 billion sticks in last 10 years, the report said, adding that 74 per cent smokers are willing to switch to cheaply-priced smuggled or illegal cigarettes due to higher taxes on legal cigarettes.

Operation of illicit markets such as smuggling, which has close links to terror groups and criminal networks, impacts industries, government, economies and the health and safety of the consumers, it said.

The findings are part of the report on 'Need for Policy Reforms to Combat Illicit Markers - Case Study on Tobacco Industry' issued by FICCI's Committee Against Smuggling and Counterfeiting Activities Destroying the Economy (CASCADE).

"Border guards have to play an important role in combating cross-border illegal trading activities," said Didar Singh, Secretary General FICCI.

Deep Chand, Advisor FICCI CASCADE and former Special Commissioner of Delhi Police, said, "India is a victim of large scale smuggling as illicit trade has entangled not only the legal industry and governments, but also the consumers who are exposed to grave risks to life and security."



The report mentions trade of illicit cigarettes, which constitute a significant component of the tobacco industry and is leading to the loss of revenue to government, loss of business to the legitimate industry, livelihood opportunities, adversely impacting farmers, besides being a threat to national security.

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Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) today launched a week-long campaign 'Vote Jodo Jharu Nal' with an aim to reach out to the voters across the state and inform them about the achievements of the Arvind Kejriwal government in Delhi.

AAP state convener Gurpreet Singh Waraich said campaign was launched today and will continue till October 19.

As per the programme, he said, AAP co-incharge and Delhi MLA Jarnail Singh would hold rallies in the Malwa region, Sangrur MP Bhagwant Mann in Majha region while he will hold rallies in the Doaba region of Punjab.

"Everyday, all the three leaders will be holding two rallies each," he said.

Waraich said that as per the plan, the party candidates will visit five villages every day and about 3,000 to 5,000 volunteers will meet the voters under door-to-door campaign.

The documentaries related to the achievements of AAP government in Delhi and message of AAP National Convener Arvind Kejriwal will be shown through the projectors, he said.

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A Palestinian security official sentenced to jail for criticising president Mahmud Abbas on Facebook for attending Shimon Peres's funeral has been pardoned, a rights group said today.

Abbas has granted the pardon to Lieutenant Colonel Osama Mansour, 49, following his online post criticising the Palestinian president, according to the Independent Commission for Human Rights.

Abbas's office had not commented.

Mansour was public relations director at the Palestinian military liaison unit, which coordinates security with Israel.

He was arrested 10 days ago and sentenced by a military court to a year in prison for disobeying orders against publicly expressing political opinions.

But Amar Dweik, head of Palestinian group Independent Commission for Human Rights, said that Mansour was released on Wednesday and sent into retirement after Abbas issued a decree pardoning him.

Abbas signed the Oslo accords along with late Israeli statesman Peres, who died on September 28, and has called him a "brave" partner for peace.

Peres won the 1994 Nobel Peace Prize jointly with Yitzhak Rabin and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat for his role in negotiating the Oslo accords, which envisioned an independent Palestinian state.

The hawk-turned-dove also served twice as Israeli prime minister and was president from 2007-2014.

But while Peres is hailed in the West as a peacemaker, many in the Arab world, including among the Palestinians, regard him a "war criminal".

They have cited his involvement in successive Arab-Israeli wars, the occupation of Palestinian territory and his support for settlement building before his work on Oslo.

Peres was prime minister in 1996 when more than 100 civilians were killed while sheltering at a UN peacekeepers' base in the Lebanese village of Qana fired upon by Israel.

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The expert team of All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), along with a UK-based specialist, who had earlier examined Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa, today visited Apollo Hospital again.

Hospital sources said international specialist and consultant from Guy's and St Thomas' Hospital, London, Dr Richard Beale, and the AIIMS team, comprising Dr G Khilnani, Professor of Department of Pulmonology Medicine, Dr Anjan Trikha, Professor of Anaesthesiology and Critical Care, and Dr Nitish Nayak, Professor of Department of Cardiology, visited the hospital in the afternoon.

The expert panel, during its earlier visit to the hospital on October 6, had drawn up a detailed medical management plan to treat the 68-year-old AIADMK supremo.

During its last visit, the team had held detailed deliberations on the treatment protocol provided to Jayalalithaa.

On October 9 and 10, Khilnani had visited the hospital and examined the chief minister.

An earlier press release from the hospital had said, he had discussions with the hospital's expert panel and had "concurred with the present line of treatment" being given to the chief minister.

Jayalalithaa continues to be under treatment and "is being constantly monitored by the intensivists and other consultants in the expert panel", it had said.

Necessary respiratory support, antibiotics, nutrition, supportive therapy and passive physiotherapy were being given to her, it had added.

Jayalalithaa was admitted to the hospital on September 22 after she complained of fever and dehydration.

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Congress on Thursday attacked the ruling Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) in the state for "resorting to cheap and desperate measures" to promote the party ahead of next year's Assembly election.

Reacting sharply to the party's recent attempt to use a mortuary van for collecting publicity booklets from the SDM's office at Kharar in Mohali, Congress leaders alleged that the Parkash Singh Badal government had hit "a new low in its efforts to pull the SAD out of the political abyss" it had plunged into.

The driver of the funeral van was forced to flee as the locals came out in protest, they claimed.

Such measures clearly indicated that the Akalis had "lost the last vestige of hope" of coming back to power in the state, Congress leaders Jagmohan Singh Kang, Hardayal Singh Kamboj, Sunder Sham Arora and Harchand Kaur said in a joint statement here.

In fact, they claimed, "It has become more than evident that the corrupt SAD is poised to be completely wiped out of in the coming Assembly election, which is pushing them to resort to such extreme measures."

The state Congress leaders accused the Badal government of "continued misuse of the official machinery for its vested political interests in blatant violation of the Election Commission directives".
Minister of State for External Affairs M J Akbar will pay a two-day visit to Palestine next month during which both sides are expected to explore ways to further deepen ties besides reviewing the situation in West Asia.

Akbar will Co-Chair the first Joint Commission Meeting (JCM) between India and Palestine on November 8 and 9 in which a number of specific issues to expand cooperation in range of areas will be discussed.

The Palestinian side will be co-chaired by Foreign Minister of State Riad al-Maliki.

In order to give further impetus to bilateral relationship, it was agreed to establish this JCM during the visit of External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj to Palestine in January.

"The proposed JCM would cover a range of issues that include cooperation in Economy, Energy, Tourism, Agriculture, Water and Environment, Education, Health, IT, Sports, Culture, Media etc," the External Affairs Ministry said.

India has been a long-standing supporter of Palestine cause.

During her visit to Ramallah, Swaraj had said the entire Indian leadership remains steadfastly committed to the Palestinian cause. Then Palestine had sought India's participation in the West Asia peace process to help defuse crisis in the region.

In October last year, President Pranab Mukherjee had paid a historic trip to Israel and Palestine.

Akbar will also visit Jordanian capital Amman November 10 for bilateral talks with his counterpart and other dignitaries.

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The Algerian army killed two armed and "dangerous" Islamists today in the Skikda region east of the capital, the defence ministry said.

Kalashnikov assault rifles and ammunition were seized during the operation in the Oued Zhour area of Skikda, the ministry said.

It identified the men only as Habbach, also known as Abou Doujana, and Benaldjia who went by the name of Abderrahman.

Algerian media named the first man as Saddek Habbach, the "emir" or leader in eastern Algeria of Jund al-Khilafa extremist movement which is linked to the jihadist Islamic State group.

Jund al-Khilafa, or Soldiers of the Caliphate, has claimed responsibility for the abduction and murder two years ago in the Kabylie region east of Algiers of French mountain guide Herve Gourdel.

More than 100 suspected Islamists have been killed in army operations in Algeria since the beginning of the year, according to an AFP count compiled from official statements.

Algeria uses the term of "terrorists" for armed Islamists who have been active in the North African state since a devastating civil war in the 1990s.

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Punjab Congress chief Amarinder Singh today welcomed all the "anti-Badal forces" into the Congress fold for the "betterment of the state".

"Not just (Awaaz-e-Punjab supremo Navjot Singh) Sidhu, but all those committed to Punjab's governance, to whichever party they may belong, are welcome to join the Congress unconditionally," he said, responding to questions from reporters on the possibility of the merger of Sidhu's front with the Congress.

"I have always maintained that whoever has the interests of the people of Punjab at heart and is ready to embrace the Congress values unconditionally, can come to us and we will accept them with open arms," Amarinder said.

The coming together of all the anti-Badal forces ahead of the state Assembly polls early next year would pave the way for the betterment of Punjab which had been "thrown into a state of total apathy and backwardness by the current Akali regime", he claimed and urged all of them to come together on the Congress platform to save the state from the "regression" into which the ruling SAD-BJP combine had "plunged" it.

"I am happy to welcome into the Congress all those who are ready to work for the betterment of the state and in the interest of promoting positive governance," Amarinder said, adding, "We are already witnessing a strong pro-Congress wave in Punjab which is drawing many people from various parties into the Congress fold."



Disillusioned with their current political affiliations, many people from other parties were making a "beeline" to join the Congress, he claimed, adding, "This is a positive development which will pave the way for more like-minded people to join the party in the coming days."



The state Congress chief said his party would carefully examine all such requests and applications against "stringent benchmarks" before allowing anyone into the party sphere.

"Only those who identify with the Congress culture and are prepared to work within its disciplinary ambit will be allowed to join," he added.

In response to a question on AAP's prospects in the upcoming state Assembly polls, Amarinder dismissed it as a "party of crooks who want to use Punjab for their vested political interests".

"After playing their dirty games in Delhi, which is already suffering from AAP's misgovernance, they are now trying to do the same in Punjab," he said, adding that AAP's "game-plan" was already "exposed" to the people of Punjab.

The acts of sexual and other misconduct of various AAP leaders were no secret, Amarinder said, while referring to reports that AAP leaders in Punjab were asking for "sexual favours from women in exchange of poll tickets".

"The people of Punjab are intelligent enough to distinguish good from bad and will give a befitting lesson in the polls to all those who have been working to the state's detriment," he added.

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Union Minister Ananth Kumar today hailed the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Indian Army for the cross-LoC surgical strikes and took potshots at Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal for seeking proof of the anti-terror action.

"We can all sit here and transact business in peace due to the bravery of our soldiers who carried out surgical strikes across the LoC. We should salute them, thank them and bow down to them," Kumar who was here to inaugurate Pharmac India 2016, a Pharma industry exhibition said.

"In the last 60 years India has never carried out such attacks against terrorism. As Prime Minister Narendra Modi says, we do not want war but if somebody attacks us, terrorises us, tests our patience repeatedly then India will not tolerate it," Kumar who is the union minister for Chemicals and Fertilisers said.

"We will destroy such terror camps where-ever they may be located and come back. I hail Prime Minister Narendra Modi under whose leadership such a daring step was taken," Kumar further said.

The minister also took a jibe at Kejriwal without taking his name for demanding proof of the surgical strikes.

"A message is doing rounds in the social media and Whattsapp, where Hanuman asks Lord Rama to take the body of Demon king Ravana to Delhi after the latter was killed. Shocked Lord Rama asks for the reason, to which Hanuman says that there are some 'great souls' in Delhi who will seek proof of killing of Ravana," Kumar said, leaving the audience in splits.

"They are asking for proof of surgical strikes. Not even US or Russia has denied our surgical strikes. The Pakistani administration is in shambles and that is enough proof of the strikes carried out by us," Kumar said.

Kumar's statement comes at a time when the Opposition has been critical of the BJP ministers alleging that they are trying to take political credit of the surgical strikes.

India carried out surgical strikes on terror launch pads across the LoC on September 29 inflicting significant casualties and heavy damages after Uri terror attack, which left 19 soldiers dead.

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New York-based private equity fund Argand Partners has acquired 100 per cent share-holding in Sigma Electric Manufacturing, which is engaged in electrical fittings and engineering products, for an undisclosed amount.

Argand acquired 100 per cent stake in Sigma Electric from Goldman Sachs Private Equity and other share-holders, the company said in a statement issued here today.

Goldman Sachs Capital Partners had acquired 80 per cent in Pune-based Sigma in 2007 for USD 172 million.

"Argand plans to work closely with the Sigma management team to support the company through the next phase of its growth. Sigma and Argand will actively pursue an aggressive growth strategy, both organic as well as through acquisitions, which will enhance our market strengths across globe," Sigma President and CEO Viren Joshi said.

He said Argand's manufacturing and industrial market experience in addition to global networks will assist the company as it looks to expand its market presence and geographic footprint.

Sigma, with sales of over Rs 1,000 crore and 3,300 employees, has nine facilities located in Pune and Jaipur and manufactures castings in aluminium, aluminium-bronze, zinc, steel, iron and copper.

Commenting on the deal, Argand Partner and Managing Director Tariq Osman said: "Sigma offers customers a unique value proposition and has a truly differentiated position as a global supplier in the precision metal components marketplace. We see exciting potential for further expansion into new markets and geographies.

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A team of Assam Rifles today left for a 27-day-long journey to create mass awareness on peace, unity and cleanliness in three north eastern states from Mizoram.

The team comprising three officers and 17 jawans was flagged off by Colonel B B Pun at Parva village, an official statement said.

The team would visit remote villages in Mizoram, Assam and Tripura and would be travelling by boat, vehicle and also on foot, it said.

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Punjab Congress president Amarinder Singh today accused the Badal government of pushing the debt-ridden farmers in the state to commit suicide through its "anti-farmer policies".

Demanding an explanation from the SAD government for its "failure" to prevent farmers' suicides in the state, Amarinder said Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal are following a "clear policy of discrimination" against the farmers whose interests had been completely "relegated to the background".

"They (the Badals) don't care about the plight of the farmers, who are facing an unprecedented crisis as a result of the heavy debts they are carrying due to the government's non-friendly policies," the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC) president said.

The government's "failure" to ensure timely procurement of the farmers' produce has aggravated their woes, he said.

Reiterating state Congress' commitment to waive off farmer's debts if it comes to power in Punjab, Amarinder assured the farmers that their plight would end after the assembly elections.

Amarinder, who visited mandis in Attari and Raja Sansi areas of Amritsar district, said he was extremely distressed at the situation and had already directed party leaders and workers to go to the ground to interact with farmers.

He said nearly 600 party workers are currently engaged in a door-to-door campaign, interacting with farmers who are reeling under debt burden, as part of the Congress party's mega farmer outreach campaign 'Karza Kurki Khatam - Fasal Di Poori Rakam'.

The door-to-door campaign was launched yesterday in Amritsar in district by Amarinder. The campaign will continue till October 25.

Meanwhile, in a joint statement, PPCC leaders Ajit Inder Singh Mofar, Rana Gurmit Sodhi, Gurcharan S Boparai and Randeep Nabha said that as per the Central government figures submitted in Parliament as many as 56 farmers committed suicide in Punjab till July end this year.

The worst hit, they said, is the Malwa region, which was predominantly agricultural.

They pointed out that in some cases more than one member of the family had resorted to suicide.

Citing an ICSSR study report, they said farmers below the age of 35 are the worst affected because of the agrarian crisis in Punjab.

The leaders said that according to the report nearly 48.6 per cent of the farmers who had committed suicide in Punjab in recent years were under 35 years.

(Reopens NRG 26)



Amarinder also called for setting up a special economic zone (SEZ) within 20 kilometres along the Punjab border.

He said he has prepared a special development plan for the border areas under which special economic zone will be created within 20 kilometres radius, where special concessions will be provided to the industry.

The special economic zone, he said, will generate employment.

He said if Pakistan can have the industry right up to the border, there is no reason why India can't.

Interacting with farmers of Attari and Raja Sansi in various mandis, Amarinder expressed concern over "the distress sale of paddy by the farmers much below the minimum support price as the government agencies are not purchasing the produce on time.
Bangladesh is set to roll out the red carpet for Chinese President Xi Jinping who will arrive here tomorrow on a two-day state visit which Dhaka today said was "crucial" to open a new chapter in bilateral ties specially in the fields of economy and trade.

"The visit will open a new horizon in bilateral economic ties," Foreign Minister Mahmood Ali said today.

The visit by a Chinese president after 30 years was "the reflection of world leaders' confidence to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's dynamic leadership", Ali said.

Ruling Awami League's general secretary and local government minister Syed Ashraf described Bangladesh-China ties as historic and empathic as it was rooted in history.

"Our relation is as old as the history of ancient Chinese and Indian civilisations date back to and it is more empathic than political," Ashraf said.

He sought restoration of an old Bangladesh and China road link, saying it would benefit the regional countries including India.

President Abdul Hamid would welcome Xi with "state honour" at the VVIP terminal of Hazrat Shahjalal International airport. A special aircraft carrying Xi and his entourage members is set land in the morning.

They said a 21-gun salute would herald Xi's arrival while two Bangladesh Air Force jets would escort the aircraft carrying him once it entered the country's skyline.

The visit would be the first by any Chinese head of state to Bangladesh in three decades after president Li Xiannian's visit in March 1986.

Earlier, an official said the visit would be a "milestone" as "both sides would make deals and bilateral relations would be improved".

China sent its vice minister for publicity Tuo Zhan ahead of the presidential visit while he sought increased media campaign for enhanced regional connectivity coinciding with Xi's tour.

"The media in our two countries are now very professional... We expect them to carry out an enhanced campaign for enhanced connectivity particularly for reestablishing the India- Bangladesh- Myanmar-China Corridor," Zhan told a media dialogue on Tuesday.

Analysts said Dhaka sought to develop economic ties with China keeping its warm strategic and political relations with next door India, as its traditional ally and the dominant power in South Asia.

Foreign ministry sources in Dhaka said Bangladesh and China would ink some 20 agreements involving billions of dollars in Chinese funding for large infrastructure projects which Bangladesh considered critical to its development.

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Congress leader Jyotiraditya Scindia today slammed ruling BJP in Madhya Pradesh for "not delivering" on promises in last 13 years and accused the Shivraj Singh Chouhan government of indulging in corruption.

"They came to power in 2003 by making tall promises of developing the state and instead indulged in massive corruption like Vyapam (multi-crore admission-cum-recruitment scam) and Simhastha (Kumbh Mela)," Scindia said addressing a rally here.

He alleged that farmers are not getting power for long durations contrary to the claims made by the Chief Minister.

"Chouhan claims world over that there is a 24-hour electricity supply in MP and there is no power cut. However, the situation is altogether different in the region and farmers are not getting power at all for long duration," Scindia claimed.

He said the ruling party should not "defame" its top leader and former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee "in whose name it has formulated the 'Atal Jyoti Yojna' which has become 'Atal Katauti Yojna' in the area."



The Guna MP alleged that no investors' meets were held in reality, contrary to the claims made by government.

Scindia, also the chief whip in Lok Sabha, accused the Narendra Modi government of "failing" to pay minimum support price to farmers for their produce.

He said country's agriculture growth rate stood at 4.5 per cent under the Congress' rule, but has come down to just one per cent under BJP government.

Attacking the Chouhan government over "Vyapam and Simhastha scams", he said, "While people are suffering, the BJP leaders are becoming richer in the state."



Congress had earlier alleged irregularities and nepotism in awarding plum contracts during Kumbh mela, held at Ujjain this year.

Responding to queries on factionalism in state Congress, Scindia said he never believed in groupism and is of the view that "strong candidates should be given prominence for strengthening the party.

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With an eye on the 2017 Assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh, BJP today said it will launch four 'Parivartan Yatras' next month from Saharanpur, Lalitpur, Sonebhadra and Ballia.

BJP National President Amit Shah will flag-off the yatras, during which party's senior national and state leaders will remain present, a senior party leader said, adding the yatra will culminate with a 'Parivartan Sabha' in Lucknow on December 24.

"'Parivartan Yatras' which will begin from November 5, will culminate with a 'Parivartan Sabha' in Lucknow on the eve of 92nd birthday of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee on December 24," state BJP president Keshav Prasad Maurya said.

First yatra will start from Saharanpur on November 5, second from Lalitpur on November 6, third from Sonebhadra on November 8 and fourth from Ballia on November 9, Maurya said, adding BJP national president Amit Shah, senior national and state ministers will remain present at the start of all the yatras.

He said the party will soon organise a meeting of backward caste community members in two Vidhan Sabha constituencies.

BJP has also decided to hold a youth and woman conference all over the state in which workers upto the booth level will participate.

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Jihadist group has freed 21 of the more than 200 Chibok schoolgirls kidnapped more than two years ago, raising hopes for the release of the others, officials said today.

Local sources said their release was part of a prisoner swap with the Nigerian government, but the authorities denied doing a deal with .

Declaring the release "significant", Nigerian officials said the breakthrough would help the recovery of the 197 girls who remain in captivity.

"It's just a first step in what we believe will lead to the eventual release of all our girls," Nigerian information minister Lai Mohammed said in Abuja.

"When you are fighting an insurgency, it's a combination of carrot and stick," Mohammed said. "The release of these girls does not mean the end to military operations. But it could mean a new phase in the conduct of the war against terror."

In a statement, the Nigerian presidency said the girls were freed after negotiations between and the Nigerian government brokered by the Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the Swiss government.

"Switzerland facilitated contacts between representatives of the Nigerian government and intermediaries of Boko Haram on the release of the Chibok girls," confirmed Swiss foreign ministry spokesman Pierre-Alain Eltschinger.

The girls were exchanged for four Boko Haram militants in Banki, a town in northeast Nigeria close to the Cameroon border, said local sources.

"The girls were brought to Kumshe, which is 15 kilometres (nine miles) from Banki where a military base is stationed, in ICRC vehicles," said a local source.

"The four Boko Haram militants were brought to Banki from Maiduguri in a military helicopter from where they were driven to Kumshe in ICRC vehicles."

From Kumshe the Chibok girls were flown by helicopter to Maiduguri, capital of northeast Borno state, said another local source.

Information minister Mohammed denied that the 21 girls were exchanged for Boko Haram prisoners, saying "this is not a swap."

"It is a release, the product of painstaking negotiations and trust on both sides," he added.

In September, the Nigerian government had admitted it had come close to a swap last year, but that talks broke down.

The Chibok girls were abducted in April 2014, drawing global attention to the Boko Haram insurgency engulfing the area when US First Lady Michelle Obama joined the #BringBackOurGirls online movement.
Renowned Bollywood photographer Jagdish Kamble aka Jagdish Aurangabadkar allegedly committed suicide at his residence in Goregaon this morning, police said.

The body of 65-year-old Jagdish Aurangabadkar was found hanging from the ceiling of his home, they said, adding the incident took place between 9 am and 12.30 pm.

The photographer had been staying alone since his wife and son left him a year ago over a property dispute, police added.

Vanrai police found six envelopes containing suicide letters in different languages addressed to his friends, thanking them for supporting him.

A case has been registered.

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Brazilian aircraft manufacturer Embraer's stock rose today after the company said it was "close" to a deal with US authorities to settle corruption allegations that have dogged it since 2010.

Embraer, the world's third-largest commercial plane-maker after Boeing and Airbus, is under investigation by the US Securities and Exchange Commission over allegations it violated anti-corruption regulations in sales outside Brazil.

The company "is looking to finalise definitive agreements with the Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission in the United States to resolve the allegations," it said in a statement released yesterday.

It is also in talks with Brazilian authorities to settle a local investigation, it said.

Embraer's stock rose more than three per cent on the New York stock exchange and 1.5 per cent in Sao Paulo today morning.

The international corruption probe was opened after officials in the Dominican Republic allegedly accepted a USD 3.5 million bribe to buy eight of Embraer's Super Tucano military planes.

Former Dominican defense minister Rafael Pena Antonio and three other people were arrested in August in the case.

Embraer said it would give details on the settlement deals once they were complete.

The company had set aside USD 200 million in the second quarter to settle the allegations.

That helped push it into the red as it lost nearly $100 million for the quarter amid falling demand for executive jets.

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Historical monuments of all the five member nations which are part of the BRICS Summit will be etched on sand here at the five star resort venue.

With two days left for the Summit to begin, world renowned sand artist Sudarshan Pattnaik began working on the sculptures today, using the sand from Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.

"The sand sculptures require at least 45-50 tons of the sand. The work on creating the monuments has already begun. The final sculpture would be ready by tomorrow morning," Pattnaik told PTI today.

The Padmashree awardee will create five monuments--The Great Wall of China (China), Saint Basil Cathedral (Russia), Taj Mahal (India), Christ the Redeemer (Brazil) and Afrikaans Language Monument (South Africa) next to each other inside the Taj Exotica resort, which will host the Summit.

"It is a great honour that I get to do such a massive sculpture. The heads of all the participating nations will visit the place where the sculpture is installed. This is the biggest honour for me," Pattnaik said.

"All the five nations would be connected through sand in the state of Goa which is known for its beaches," he said, adding that the sculpture would be 30-feet wide and 20-feet broad.

BRICS Summit would be held in Goa from October 15-16 in which heads of all member nations are expected to participate.

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BRICS countries will require additional annual investment of USD 51 billion on average to meet their current renewable energy capacity addition targets, says a report.

The Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA) today said that overall nearly USD 10 billion would need to come in annually from public finance institutions to channelise sufficient private funds to meet the renewable energy capacity targets of BRICS nations.

Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa make up the grouping.

"The current renewable energy targets of BRICS countries require an additional annual investment of USD 51 billion on average, which highlights the gap that may be filled by blended finance mechanisms," IEEFA said.

The report has been released ahead of the BRICS Summit this week.

IEEFA said there are pockets in the renewable energy space such as residential rooftop segment that are riskier and less attractive for private investments and entities like the New Development Bank (NDB) can play a crucial role in catalysing funds.

Overall, BRICS countries have announced targets to add renewable capacity of nearly 500 GW over time horizons ranging from 2020-2030.

"Meeting these targets would require an annual investment of around USD 177 billion. In comparison, the investment in the renewable sector in BRICS countries in 2015 was USD 126 billion, leaving an average shortfall of USD 51 billion," the report said.

With respect to India, IEEFA said the country requires around USD 26 billion each year to meet its renewable capacity targets by 2022, including USD 5 billion annually to build a smart grid to handle higher production from renewable sources.

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Ahead of this week's summit in Goa, Chinese official media on Thursday called on member countries to agree on Beijing's proposal to make the bloc a free trade area and initiate measures to liberalise trade.

"Observers have focused their eyes on New Delhi and have one question in mind: How much courage will it take for the trade ministers from countries gathering there on Thursday for the summit meeting to promote greater cooperation?" an article in the state-run Global Times said.

"It seems China is willing to open up its domestic markets to the other four member countries, but they haven't yet made quite the same commitment," it said.

China recently mooted the idea of setting up a free trade area among Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa (BRICS) countries, it said quoting a recent Chinese Ministry of Commerce statement.

The Ministry said a free trade area would be "a significant form of cooperation."

Beijing has shown sincerity in removing tariff and non-tariff barriers to goods produced in other countries - the question remaining is whether those nations will match the goodwill of China, the article said.

While media reports said BRICS trade ministers will sign an agreement for better economic cooperation with an eye to promoting trade facilitation and reducing non-tariff barriers some BRICS members are not in a hurry to consider a free trade area, it said.

"These countries may be overly cautious about trade liberalisation and multinational firms will be the victims of such conservative ideas," it said.

"China is speeding up its effort to foster a high-standard global free trade network and has signed 14 free trade agreements with countries and regions including Australia and South Korea. Hopefully, the other BRICS countries will not fall too far behind in terms of sharing the fast-growing domestic market in the world's second-largest economy," it said.

Total retail sales of consumer goods in China rose by 10.6 per cent year-on-year in August, underlining the rapid expansion of China's domestic consumer market, it said, adding that China's electric vehicle market is "so hot that India's biggest SUV maker (Mahindra and Mahindra) is angling for a piece of the action to exploit the world's biggest auto market," it said.

BRICS countries account for 40 per cent of the world's population.

Closer market integration among the nations will definitely help tap the potential for all BRICS members to grow their economies, it said.
After taking a group selfie, six underage migrants left the French city of Calais for Britain today, as both countries seek solutions for hundreds of unaccompanied children in the slum-like migrant camp known as the "jungle" before it is shut down in the coming weeks.

Concern about the children in Calais has mounted as France prepares to close the camp, a troubling symbol of Europe's migrant crisis. One aid group estimates there are 1,300 unaccompanied minors in the camp, among between 6,000 and 10,000 migrants overall from across the Mideast and Africa and some Balkan countries.

Six happy and relieved youths - one Syrian, five Afghans - gathered in the Calais local administration headquarters today morning before boarding a Eurostar train, accompanied by volunteers and French officials and clutching plastic folders of documents.

Britain's Home Office says that small groups of children have been coming on a weekly basis for the last few months.

Under pressure from France, the UK government said Monday it would begin admitting hundreds of children with relatives in Britain within days.

However, questions remain about what will happen to those without family ties in the UK.

"I'm very happy today ... It was in my dreams" to reach Britain, said Saadi, a teen boy from Afghanistan. "In London, there is my family. My sister. We have to go. We don't have any (other) solution."



Among the other children was Mohammed Fadel Hani, a 14-year-old who had been working in a makeshift restaurant in the camp while hoping to reach Britain.

The director of aid group France Terre d'Asile, Pierre Henry, told The Associated Press that earlier this week it had counted about 1,300 unaccompanied minors among the Calais migrants, including about 40 per cent who said they had relatives already in Britain.

Aid groups filed an emergency request this week with a court in Lille seeking to delay the closure of the camp, arguing that authorities aren't ready to relocate its residents. Thierry Kuhn, director of aid group Emmaus, told The AP that a decision is expected within 48 hours.

The government is gradually deporting migrants without right to asylum and relocating the rest to more than 160 centers around France. It is expected to close the camp in the coming weeks but no official dates have been announced.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The state-owned buses plying to neighbouring Kerala from the district did not operate today, in view of the hartal called by BJP protesting against the murder of their worker in Kannur.

About 30 buses from the city to destinations like Palakkad, Ernakulam, Guruvayoor and Thrissur were off the roads, official sources said.

Similarly 10 buses from Pollachi in the district and eight from nearby Nilgiris district also remained indoor, they said.

BJP activist Remith was hacked to death in Pinarayi in Kannur district yesterday.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Union on Thursday approved a pact between Export-Import Bank of India (Exim Bank) and BRICS-promoted New Development Bank (NDB), along with other development financial institutions of member nations, with an aim to strengthen trade and economic ties.

The Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has given its approval for signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on general cooperation with NDB through the BRICS Interbank Cooperation Mechanism by Government at the level of Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs/ Export Import Bank of India, an official release said.

There is no financial implication involved with signing of the MoU, it added.

"The proposal will enhance trade and economic relations among the BRICS countries...The participating institutions from the BRICS nations will be benefited by this MoU," the release said.

The MoU is a non-binding umbrella agreement aimed at establishing a cooperation framework in accordance with the national laws and regulations, besides skills transfer and knowledge sharing amongst the signatories.

Further, the release said that establishment of the NDB reflects the close relations among the BRICS countries and provides a powerful instrument for increasing their economic cooperation and help India play an enhanced international role.

"Therefore, keeping in view the strategic relevance of cooperation for sustainable development and inclusive economic growth, the signing of MoU is necessary in the context of cooperation extended by the members in various forms for promoting and facilitating trade of goods and services as well as investments in mutual projects among the BRICS countries," the release, issued after the meeting, said.

Five banks from the BRICS nations had established the BRICS Interbank Co-operation Mechanism to enhance trade and economic relations amongst the member countries and enterprises.

The BRICS Interbank Co-operation Mechanism has proposed to sign an MOU on general cooperation with the NDB.

The on Thursday also gave its approval for signing of an MoU between India and the Russian Federation on Expansion of Bilateral Trade and Economic Cooperation, according to a separate release.

The MoU would expand more bilateral trade and economic cooperation between India and Russian Federation, it added.
Thiruvananthapuram: Call for shutdown in Kerala by the BJP over murder of a party worker in Kannur district. Photo: ANI Twitter

The Centre on Thursday sought a report from the government after the brutal killing of a 25- year-old BJP activist in the Kannur district.

In a communication, the home ministry has asked the state government to provide details of the incident and steps taken to nab and punish those responsible for the crime.

The home ministry has also asked the government to inform it about the steps taken for security of political workers in the state, official sources said.

BJP activist Remith was hacked to death in Kannur district, the home town of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, on Wednesday within 48 hours of the murder of a CPI(M) activist and toddy shop worker Mohanan.

The BJP organised a 'bandh' in Kerala on Thursday to protest the killing of its party activist.
China will provide assistance for Nepal Army's modernisation programme and strengthening its disaster management capabilities, sources said today.

China made the commitment during a recent visit by Defence Minister Balkrishna Khand to China during which he met his Chinese counterpart General Chang Wangquan, who is also the member of the Central Military Commission of China, sources said.

The exact nature of China's help to the Nepalese Army for its modernisation was not spelt out.

During the meeting, Khand stressed the development of a standard on basis of cooperation and support to deal with the current security challenges facing the world.

He also took part in the Enhance Security Dialogue and Cooperation: Build a New Model of International Relation 7th Xiangshan Forum held in Beijing from October 10 to 12.

Khand visited China at the invitation of China Association for Military and China Institute Strategic Studies (CIISS).

He pledged Nepal's readiness for cooperation on regional and international security policies and standards.

Both the ministers discussed matters relating to Nepal's new Constitution, Chinese President Xi Jinping's visit to Nepal and security cooperation, sources said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
China and Pakistan will not let India utilise its resources until the country takes steps to secure borders effectively, Minister of State for Home said on Thursday.

"India is not getting cooperation from Pakistan in border areas. Instead, the neighbouring country is creating trouble. We have to introduce modern technologies in securing our borders which are geographically diverse in nature," he said.

"China and Pakistan will not let us claim our own properties. We could not claim our share of the waters of the Brahmaputra river as we delayed utilising it.

"Mineral reserves in border areas must be utilised which we are unable to do due to the insecure borders. If we succeed in making use of these minerals and natural resources, I do not think our country will remain poor," Ahir said at a seminar on 'Border Management and Illicit Trade' organised by FICCI.

Ladakh has huge reserves of natural resources, including minerals, as after every 10 kilometres, mountains change their colour, he said.

"India has shown its might. World has seen what is the difference between those talking too much and those talking less on the intervening night of September 28 and 29," he told reporters when asked about his reaction on the rhetoric from Pakistan in the wake of surgical strike across the LoC.

India has always tried to improve its ties with neighbouring countries as some tasks cannot be carried out through arms but through dialogue. But, Pakistan has created a lot of problem by indulging in drug-trafficking, Ahir said.

"Young population living in Punjab along Pakistan border has been troubled by Pakistan. This is a persistent challenge which needs to be tackled. Our neighbouring country does not want to see our youths flourish and progress," the minister said.

China had last month blocked a tributary of the Brahmaputra river in Tibet as part of the construction of its "most expensive" hydro project which has caused concern in India as it may impact water flows into the lower riparian country.

Last year, China had operationalised the $1.5 billion Zam Hydropower Station, the largest in Tibet, built on the Brahmaputra river, which has raised concerns in India.

Dr A Didar Singh, Secretary General, FICCI said illicit trade and smuggling of products impact India's economy and industries as well as safety and security of consumers.

"India faces a loss of nearly Rs 40,000 crore in taxes due to illegal trade of just seven products. The actual loss figure can be much higher. Illegal cross-border activities harm the Indian economy," Singh said.

He said these smuggled products also pose serious a threat to the health of consumers.

On the occasion, FICCI Advisor Deep Chand, BSF DG K K Sharma and Dr A P Maheshwari, Additional DG BSF were also present.
A heritage park is set to come up in northwestern China for protecting its only prehistoric ruins of disasters, archaeologists said today.

Lajia heritage site, located in Minhe county, on the upper reaches of the Yellow River, was discovered in 1981.

At 680,000 square meters, it was formed by an earthquake and flood dating back 4,000 years.

The site is an example of Qijia Culture, which flourished in the transitional period from the Neolithic to the Bronze Age, 3,500 to 4,000 years ago, according to archaeologists.

Skeletons, tools and homeware have been unearthed on the site, state-run Xinhua agency reported.

Archaeologists said Lajia is the only site of its kind in China, and it has been dubbed the Oriental Pompeii, an ancient Roman city destroyed by volcanic eruptions.

"Globally speaking, ruins left from natural disasters like the Lajia site are rare. Its value needs to be further explored," said Wang Wei, head of the institute of archeology at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

Many of China's heritage sites have been threatened by urbanisation, and building parks can both preserve the sites and better engage the public, Wang said.

The park in northwestern Qinghai province occupies 102 hectares and cost 475 million yuan (about USD 73 million).

A museum, galleries and other public facilities will be built in the park, according to local authorities.

Findings at Lajia include the world's oldest intact noodles.

The noodles were found under a red pottery bowl that had capsized on the ground.

In 2005, scientists examined the noodles and confirmed they were made from millet.

Scientists said judging from where the noodles were placed, they may have been used for sacrifice rather than daily meals.

Lajia has also led to many scientific discoveries.

In August this year, Chinese and American scientists announced that they had found what could be geological evidence of an earthquake-triggered landslide, which blocked the Yellow River and possibly led one of the largest floods in 10,000 years.

Scientists dated the flood area using radiocarbon dating on skeletons of children who died in the earthquake at Lajia.

The flood happened around 1920 BC, two to three centuries later than traditionally thought, meaning the Xia dynasty may have started later than historians think, said Wu Qinglong from Nanjing Normal University, who led the study.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
China's defence ministry vowed today to improve living standards for military veterans after thousands of disgruntled ex-soldiers gathered outside army offices in Beijing for a rare protest this week.

China has laid off more than a million troops since the 1980s and vowed last year to cut 300,000 more from its standing army of more than two million personnel.

Tens of thousands of army veterans have staged protests in recent years against officials who they accuse of denying them benefits. But the demonstration in Beijing on Tuesday was unusual for its central location and size.

Reports said that 10,000 ex-soldiers were involved. Pictures posted online showed large crowds wearing army uniforms.

China's defence ministry confirmed in a fax to AFP Thursday that "retired soldiers gathered near the offices of the central military commission to express problems relating to employment and livelihood".

It added that authorities had issued policies to improving living standards for retired military staff, and that further efforts would be made to "gradually solve the problem".

Veterans' protests are one of the biggest threats to social stability in the country, Xue Gangling, dean of the China University of Politics and Law, told local media in 2013.

State media said last year that Beijing would launch a new army pension scheme after President Xi Jinping announced the reduction in troop numbers.

It was the latest in a series of giant cuts to the bloated People's Liberation Army (PLA) as Beijing seeks to craft a more efficient fighting force.

But the PLA Daily newspaper said at the time that the difficulties of implementing the latest reductions were "unprecedented".

Many laid-off soldiers, with little formal education, have found it difficult to re-adjust to normal society and find jobs in the civilian economy.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Ahead of the BRICS Summit in Goa, the Congress has expressed its objection to the logo of the event, which it said looks like the party symbol of BJP, even as the AAP questioned the absence of the name of the place, where the meet is being held, from the logo.

"It is highly improper on the part of the relevant BRICS Committee to select the election symbol of a member country, India, when it is well-known that lotus is BJP's poll symbol. Elections of the Goa Assembly are due to be held in February 2017. In Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab and Manipur also polls are due," Congress MP Shantaram Naik told reporters yesterday.

The Congress leader also filed a petition in the Election Commission of India (ECI) demanding that steps should be taken to "freeze" BJP's election symbol, as the party has "misused" it by going against the spirit of Symbols Order, 1968, the law which regulates the allotment of symbol.

Meanwhile, AAP spokesman Rupesh Shinkre sought to know why the name of Goa is not mentioned in the logo, whereas in the past BRICS events, the logo carried the names of the host places.

"As India is gearing up to host the 8th BRICS Summit, it is a matter of pride to Goa to host the event, where the leaders of the next world powers would set their foot," Shinkre said.

"Goa has been earlier a venue to such world events. But BRICS is the biggest among them. Venues of such meets are very significant because the declarations are named after the place of its convention. The 8th BRICS Declaration would be a called as the Goa Declaration," he said.

"With all the humility we would like to draw the attention of stakeholders to issue which has been neglected. The logo of a summit should incorporate the name of the place. Like BRICS summits held in the past since 2009. That is Yekaterinburg (Russia) in 2009, Brasilia (Brazil) in 2010, Sanya (China) in 2011, New Delhi (India) in 2012, Durban (South Africa) in 2013,Fortaleza (Brazil) in 2014 and Ufa (Russia) in 2015. But the BRICS 2016 logo doesn't find the mention of Goa. This is strong exception to the precedence," he added.

Reacting to the criticism, Goa Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar said, "It is good that Naik sees lotus everywhere in Goa in the run up to the polls."



However, Parsekar's party colleague and MP from South Goa Narendra Sawaikar, tweeted, "Logos do not substitute for election symbol. Congress sees propaganda in anything and everything."



The BRICS Summit will take place in Goa on October 15 and 16.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Two RSS workers were on Thursday taken into custody in connection with the murder of a local committee member in Kannur district on October 10.

Toddy shop worker Mohanan, 40, was hacked to death by a six-member gang. He was the CPI(M)'s Paduvilayi local committee member.

Roopesh (23) and Rahul (22) were picked up from RSS office at Kannur, police said.

Police had registered cases against seven persons in connection with the incident.
The Bombay High Court today asked the Maharashtra government to file a reply to a petition seeking CBI probe into alleged assault on two members of a Dalit family in Nashik.

The incident took place after a Dalit youth was arrested in a nearby village for trying to rape a five-year-old girl belonging to an upper caste community, the petition said.

Petitioner Babybai Shinde alleged that a group of armed youths from an upper caste community attacked her two sons outside their house at village Sanjegaon on October 11.

Following the alleged rape attempt at Talegaon village near Nashik last week, there were incidents of stone-pelting targeting the Dalit community, the petition said.

In some places, Dalits were ostracised, it alleged.

Apart from CBI probe, it demanded medical treatment and compensation for the victims and a direction to the local police to have the social boycott on Dalits lifted.

A bench headed by Justice Naresh Patil today gave the government a week to file its reply and adjourned the hearing to October 20.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Noted Dalit writer Pradnya Pawar and Dalit scholar Raosaheb Kasabe were reportedly forced to leave a Marathi literary meet over their "objectionable" comments on Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj.

The meet was organised at Patan in adjoining Satara district by Maharashtra Sahitya Parishad and the alleged incident took place on Sunday when a mob asked the duo to leave the event for "hurting" the sentiments of the Maratha community with their remarks on the 17th century warrior king.

Kasabe was invited as a special guest, while Pawar was nominated president of the two-day event which was dedicated to Dalit icon Babasaheb Ambedkar.

"The first day (Saturday) of the meet was quite good as I and Kasabe delivered our speeches and received an overwhelming response from the attendees. However, on the second day, when the event was underway, a mob of over 100 people came to the venue and asked us to leave.

"The organisers asked us to pack our bags and requested us to leave citing security reasons," Pawar said, adding that they left the venue immediately.

She wondered if their speeches were objectionable, why was there no immediate uproar. "We were told by the mob that we were Dalits and we should not speak anything (on Marathas). They warned us of dire consequences if we spoke further and asked us to leave," she said.

Pawar, the daughter of late Marathi author and poet Daya Pawar -- known for his rich contributions to Dalit literature -- described the incident as an act of "cultural terrorism and censorship on free speech".

When contacted, Kasabe said he tried to initiate a dialogue with those in the mob, but they were not in a mood to listen.

"I asked them who am I? Have you read my writing? Did you know what exactly I said yesterday? But, they were ignorant and were just demanding an apology," he said.

Kasabe said he even offered an apology to them if they were hurt due to their "ignorance".

He alleged that the mob was "sent" by local Shiv Sena MLA Shambhuraj Desai, who had a "political rivalry" with Vikramsinh Patankar of the NCP, one of the organisers of the literary meet.

When contacted, Desai told PTI, "After coming to know from those who attended the event and hearing the speeches of Kasabe and Pawar, where they made objectionable comments on Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, I wrote a letter to the SP and the local administration, seeking action against those who had hurt the sentiments of the Maratha community."



He, however, denied any role in the mob's action.

Satara SP Sandip Patil said the police were probing the incident.

(REOPENS BOM 14)



"I did not send anyone to disrupt the event and if the police check the video footage, things will become clear," Desai claimed.

Patil said action will be taken against the guilty after verifying the video footage of the event.
Dantzler Bridge ribbon cutting.jpg

Jackson County officials gather on the Dantzler Street Bridge in Moss Point to cut the ribbon on a $1.25 million dollar project to raise the bridge 2.8 feet to suit ecotourism of the Pascagoula River Audubon Center. (L to R: Sasha Harris, Sonya Carter, Sue Wright, Steve Renfroe, Mark LaSalle, Brian Fulton, Houston Cunningham, Moss Point Mayor Billy Broomfield, Board of Supervisors Pres. Melton Harris, Dorothy Shaw, Dist. 1 Supervisor Barry Cumbest, Bob Diamond and Patty Huffman.)

(Tyler Carter)

MOSS POINT, Miss. - Residents, Moss Point Mayor Billy Broomfield, and Jackson County officials met at the Dantzler Street Bridge Tuesday morning to hold a ribbon cutting ceremony to show the improvements made to the bridge.

The bridge was altered to provide better accessibility for the river and swamp boat tours that depart from the Audubon Center as well as to better suit recreational boaters during a moderate tide.

Contractor Bob Diamond of Batson and Brown stated the bridge was lifted 2.8 feet. Because of their findings, Batson and Brown deduced 18 inches was needed for boats to clear the bridge under moderate tides. The width of the bridge was also extended to provide extra clearance for boats.

Tuesday's ceremony led with the Pledge of Allegiance by County Administrator Brian Fulton, followed by Board of Supervisors President Melton Harris providing context as to how important the Dantzler Street Bridge project was to Jackson County.

"This improvement has made the Audubon Center one of our newest tourist attractions for the city of Moss Point and we are excited about that," Harris said. "Not just for the city of Moss Point, but this is a welcomed addition to the entire county."

Mayor Broomfield said with the Pascagoula River Audubon Center residing in Moss Point, he expects for the city to bring an additional 8,000 to 10,000 visitors to the River City annually.

Boaters with the Pascagoula River Audubon Center as well as casual boaters are now able to travel the waterways underneath the Dantzler Street Bridge with no problem.

"To have this bridge suit the needs of boaters with the Audubon Center as well as casual boaters, it is not only a 'win-win' for the Audubon Center, but also for the City of Moss Point, Jackson County, and the state of Mississippi," Broomfield said.

Mark LaSalle, Director of the Audubon Center lauded Tuesday's ceremony as a showing of the type of support Jackson County provides to its constituents.

"You have heard the saying, 'it takes a village,'" LaSalle said. "What we want to demonstrate not only to the city, but to the National Audubon Society is that when they take a look at us, they see the strength of the community behind us and that is certainly exemplified by the support we see here today."

LaSalle continued with his praise of the Audubon Center's neighbors and how they welcomed the center with open arms. Former Chevron Refinery executive Steve Renfroe represents volunteers of the Audubon Center and spoke briefly to his involvement and what the Audubon Center has to offer to not just the community, but the state of Mississippi as well.

"There are only about 40 Audubon Nature Centers in the United States and Mississippi has two, and one of them are right here in Moss Point and we feel extremely fortunate for that," Renfroe said.

"The thing of it is the National Audubon Society did not come down from New York City and ask us to put this here, this was a grassroots effort," Renfroe said. "The folks in New York agreed after enough support was shown and today's ceremony is an example of that, but that support must continue. Now when people come to Moss Point to visit our center, they will always have the opportunity to view our river, which is special to us in every way and I'm still very pleased to be a part of it."

According to the county, the project cost around $1.25 million and was funded primarily by the county with the support of $200,000 in grants through the Mississippi Department of Marine Resources.
DMK today announced it will support the 48-hour rail roko agitation called by farmers' organisations of the state on October 17 and 18 on the Cauvery issue.

"Accepting the letter given by farmers bodies seeking DMK's support and participation, it has been decided to support and participate in the proposed 48-hour rail roko demonstration in Tamil Nadu on October 17, 18 to urge the Centre to immediately constitute the Cauvery Management Board," a party release said.

DMK has asked its party functionaries to participate in the protest.

A meeting of all farmers bodies was held at DMK headquarters Anna Arivalayam and it was presided by party treasurer M K Stalin. Senior leaders of the party including Duraimurugan participated.

A resolution adopted at the meeting condemned the Centre for its stance against setting up of the Cauvery Management Board in the Supreme Court, and another urged the State government to immediately convene an all-party meeting and the state assembly and adopt a resolution on the issue to protect Tamil Nadu's interests.

The meet also wanted the AIADMK regime to take a delegation of leaders of all parties and farmers' representatives to Delhi and meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Pranab Mukherjee on the Cauvery issue.

Stalin said the resolutions will be sent to the state government and further steps will be taken after getting its response.

"If the state government does not take steps, we will again consult farmers representatives and take a decision," he said.

The farmers' meeting comes against the backdrop of DMK announcing days ago that it would convene an all-party meeting if the ruling AIADMK failed to do so on Cauvery issue.

Also, it had said the party would lead the delegation to Modi and, if needed also meet the President on the issue.

On October 7, Stalin had said, "I say it for sure, we will convene the meeting ourselves after getting the permission of our party chief (Karunandihi) and (then) lead a delegation to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

(REOPEN MES 4)



Expelled AIADMK leader and former Chief Minister O



Panneerselvam also expressed concern over "people suffering from non-availability" of essential commodities and urged the government to address the matter.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister K Palaniswami assured that the government "is taking all steps" to provide essential commodities through state-run fair price shops.

"In fact, we have ordered procurement of about 20,000 tonnes of pulses while palmolein is also being procured," he said.

School Education Minister K A Sengottaiyan slammed DMK for today's protests and accused the opposition party with trying to find faults with the AIADMK government.
Curfew has been clamped in eight villages of Igatpuri and Trimbakeshwar tehsils in the wake of group clashes and incidents of stone pelting following alleged rape attempt of a minor girl by a teenager here.

Curfew was imposed last night as a precautionary measure to maintain law and order in Vilholi, Sanjegaon, Shevagedang, Anjenary, Talegaon, Mahirawani, Talwade and Gonde villages and will remain in force till tomorrow, a police official of rural control room said today.

Group clashes had broken out across these villages in both the tehsils on Tuesday evening leaving 13 people injured, one of them severely.

Incidents of stone pelting in localities like Satpur, Pathardi Phata, Lekha Nagar and Rane Nagar under city police, kept cops on their toes.

However, the situation in Nashik city was stated to be well under control, police said.

Mobile internet services will continue to remain suspended till tomorrow to prevent spread of rumours.

The state transport bus services between Nashik and Mumbai which were suspended since Sunday on account of arson and stoning incidents, resumed today.

Police have arrested 25 people in connection with the incidents of violence across the district.

Protests had erupted in adjoining villages and spread to Nashik after a 16-year-old boy allegedly tried to rape a five-year-old girl at Talegaon village near Trimbakeshwar.

The boy, who has been taken into custody, was booked under relevant sections of the IPC and Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.

On October 9, 'rasta roko' agitations were staged by angry residents in Wadivhare, Ghoti and Anjaneri-phata villages on Mumbai-Agra national highway.

Police had lobbed teargas shells and also fired some rounds in the air at Talegaon to disperse the mob which had hurled stones at state transport buses and also torched vehicles of police on the highway, resulting into suspension of bus services between Mumbai and Nashik.

Incidents of stone pelting and arson were also reported in Jail Road area of city where a mob damaged a number of two-wheelers, cars and other vehicles parked along the road.

Top police officials, including Commissioner of Police Ravindra Singhal, are closely monitoring the situation.

Leader of Opposition in Maharashtra Assembly Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil and State Woman Commission Chairperson Vijaya Rahatkar visited the civil hospital here and met the relatives of the girl.

Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has given an assurance that the case would be tried in a fast-track court.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Corporate entities should be responsible litigants and must ensure there is no frivolous litigation, Delhi High Court has said while slapping cost of Rs 50,000 on Jet Airways for continuing with a case despite being held guilty of losing the goods of a company.

The order came in a case between Jet Airways and a private pharma firm whose consignment of drugs from Bangladesh was lost by the airline's agent, Biman Bangladesh Airlines.

Justice Valmiki J Mehta said that in the present case, the frivolousness was evident from the fact that the Indian carrier did not lead any evidence before the trial court regarding the value of goods lost or on the aspect of alleged negligence or wilful misconduct by it, leading to the loss.

"... Notable corporations such as Jet Airways, and which is the appellant in this second appeal, must not only be responsible litigants but in fact must ensure that there is no frivolous litigation especially when as a carrier of goods, the goods are lost by the appellant through its agent carrier to whom the goods were handed over," the high court said.

It also said that in spite of the "stark facts" that the goods of the pharma firm, Dhanuka Laboratories Ltd, "have indeed been lost by the appellant", it led no evidence and also "chose to continue with the frivolous litigation, in spite of the fact that both the courts below have concurrently held against it".

Jet Airways had moved the high court against a lower court decision awarding Rs 2,57,062 with 12 per cent interest to the pharma firm, saying that under the Carriage by Air Act, 1972 its liability was limited to a particular amount stated in the provisions.

The high court, however, disagreed with this defence of the airline, saying limited liability cannot be claimed by airlines in cases of wilful misconduct.

The high court observed that in the instant case, the pharma firm had shown evidence that there was wilful misconduct leading to loss of its goods, whereas Jet Airways led no evidence in its defence.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Pointing to conflict of interest in the current framework of getting rated, the Exim Bank today favoured a new credit rating agency by the BRICS group as an alternative, saying it will make cost of borrowing much cheaper.

"We are very happy the Finance Ministry is looking at these issues. The BRICS leadership, which meets here over the next two days, will take a firm view and provide guidance on the next steps," Exim Bank Chairman Yaduvendra Mathur told PTI.

"I am AAA-rated domestically, but that doesn't survive overseas. We want more granularity," he said.

Expressing strong concerns on the way existing agencies go about rating in the current context, he said: "We look at with dismay that the strong economic growth of India is still not captured in the ratings that we get while we raise the money through overseas bonds."



Without naming the global biggies - S&P, Fitch and Moody's - which dominate the sovereign rating business, Mathur said the top three global agencies control 90 per cent of the market and make the issuer pay for the rating rather than the investor which may lead to concerns over possible conflicts of interest.

"There is definitely space and opportunity for an alternative rating architecture," he said.

The Indian proposal to start a rating agency after the setting up of the BRICS-backed New Development Bank, has found favour with other members of the grouping and hence, increases expectations from the eighth BRICS summit, he said.

Mathur was speaking on the sidelines of a two-day BRICS Economic Forum being held in run-up to the summit of the heads of government/state in the coastal state. The BRICS group comprises Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.

He dismissed suggestions of these entrenched agencies starting a new entity to take care of such concerns, saying the parentage needs to change as such an entity may also look at issues similarly.

The solution will have to be left to technical experts, he said, conceding that who promotes the new rating agency will still be an issue.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
After a number of blasts triggered by Pakistani army and militants using remote control devices, Indian troops have been equipped with portable jammers for protection as they patrol the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir.

It is now a part of the drill that one of the jawans of the patrol team will carry the jammer for disarming any remote-controlled Improvised Explosive Devices.

Weighing around 80 kgs along with batteries, the machine can jam any frequency in a radius of 50 meters during mobile patrolling, according to the operator of Jammer.

Wearing one such machine on his back and armed with digital tools, Sepoy Surinder Singh (name changed) said, "Jammers are now part of the patrolling or any operation, be it anti-infiltration or anything else along LoC."



The jawan, while trekking in a mountainous area somewhere in the Noushera sector, tells a group of visiting media persons that, "It is a security measure against RC (remote- controlled) IEDs attacks along the LoC."



The jammers have been inducted to ensure safety of the soldiers during patrolling on the LoC as there have been a series of blasts of IEDs triggered by the enemy.

The jammer has been developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) for the army. It has been indigenously designed and developed by the Electronic Counter measure Systems for protection of VVIPs and Security convoys from the threat of radio controlled bombs often called IEDs.

The Protection System radiates high power electromagnetic signals and prevents the detonation of radio controlled bombs and IEDs,officials said.

The machine is a portable integrated compact communication system developed for various users in different configurations.

It covers HF, VHF & UHF ranges and available in cluster configuration for Army use or in suite configuration for Navy's ground as well as onboard usage.

"It has full capability to detect, locate and jam frequency agile communications as well as monitoring & recording of conventional signals.

These IED jammers are to be put to use for service deployment and operational usage for quick reaction teams, VIP protection vehicles, convoy escorts, movement of troops and counter insurgency operations.

The deployment of jammers has become important in view of increasing threat to security personnel who are being targeted by IEDs, detonated by cell phones and radio signals along LoC in hinterlands, officials said while giving details about the risks encountered by the soldiers.

Top army and BSF officers and jawans have been targeted with remote control IED by militants with support of the Pakistani army and rangers along LoC and IB during past several years making it necessary to arm the foot and motorable patrols along the border with Jammers.

One November 17, 2009, a BSF DIG O P Tanwar was killed and two jawans of the paramilitary force BSF were injured when militants triggered an IED at Baland along the International Border (IB) in Jammu and Kashmir's Samba district.

On June 8, 2013, an army porter was killed and 3 jawans were injured in IED blast along LOC in Poonch.

Subsequently on June 12, 2014, an army jawan was killed and three others, including a Major were injured in an IED blast targeting a patrol party along the LoC in Gambhir battalion area of Poonch district.

On December 15, 2014, five IEDs were defused on IB in Samba.

Last year, on Novemebr 29, an IED blast was triggered to hit a truck suppling ration to forward post along LoC in Poonch.

On December 26, last year, 4 BSF jawans were injured in an explosion near International Border in Samba sector.

On May 29, this year, an army jawan was injured in IED blast on LoC in Rajouri sector.
FieldFresh Foods, a joint venture between Bharti Enterprises and Del Monte Pacific, and Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) have signed a pact to carry out research on corn productivity.

"The collaborative research will examine the relationship between the genetic make-up, environmental factors and crop management of corn in order to develop a production system that is more resilient and helps reduce production costs and greenhouse gas emissions," Fieldfresh Foods said in a statement.

FieldFresh will fund a three-year programme that will aim at enhancing corn crop yield and minimising greenhouse gas emissions.

Under the project, FieldFresh will also fund a Post-Doctoral Fellowship to conduct field trials at FieldFresh's Agri Centre of Excellence (ACE) in Ladhowal (Ludhiana), Punjab, where the company is currently running various crop management trials and partners with farmers to improve overall crop economics.

The research findings of the project will be further translated into guidance for small farmers in India to promote sustainability, financial stability and eradicate food shortages. Additionally, the research outcomes will be shared with other stakeholders.

The memorandum of understanding was signed by FieldFresh Foods CEO Yogesh Bellani and Punjab Agricultural University Vice Chancellor Baldev Singh Dhillon.

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Rockers the Foo Fighters have settled a lawsuit against bosses at Lloyd's of London over insurance payments for a string of cancelled shows.

Dave Grohl and his bandmates were scheduled to perform in Italy and France in November last year, but axed the shows following the terrorist attacks in Paris on November 13, due to safety concerns.

They also reportedly experienced threats themselves following the attacks, when their website was hacked and an image of an Isis flag, an automatic weapon and a message reading, 'Be prepared,' was posted, according to TMZ.

The band had a terrorism clause in its insurance policy and were seeking payment for losses for the cancelled shows.

The lawsuit, which also named bosses at brokerage firm Robertson Taylor as defendants, also pertained to three shows the band axed last year after Grohl's broke his leg at a show in Sweden.

The legal matter has now been settled and dismissed with prejudice, which means the band cannot refile the same claims at a later date. The settlement details are confidential.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Wadia group-promoted GoAir today said its fleet size would be increased to 26 by end of this fiscal from 21 at present as the budget carrier is looking to fly on international routes from 2017.

"The total order book is 144 (aircraft of) A320. We will be taking their delivery until 2025. This basically gives delivery of one aircraft per month. From now onwards, until the end of this financial year we will increase (fleet size) to 26 aircraft.

"We are also looking at starting international operations from summer schedule next year. We are looking within A320 reach (6 hours of journey) which typically covers countries like China, CIS, Iran, Saudi Arabia. It depends on the approvals also," GoaAir CEO Wolfgang Prock-Schauer told a press conference.

A few months ago, GoAir received government's approval to fly to nine countries. GoAir would be the first Indian private carrier to fly to any CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States). CIS countries for which the carrier has got flying nod include Uzbekistan, Kazakhastan and Azerbaijan.

GoAir, which recently announced addition of Hyderabad as its 23rd destination on its network, commenced operations from Hyderabad to Chennai yesterday.

In the second phase, GoAir has plans to introduce daily non-stop flights connecting Hyderabad to Chennai, Bengaluru, Bhubaneswar and Kolkata.

Hyderabad will also be connected to Port Blair via Bengaluru, which will provide leisure travelers additional travel option, prock-Schauer said.

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Government today deliberated the possibility of sharing of a portion of security expenses in airports by travellers with the Civil Aviation Ministry opposing the move backed by the Home Ministry.

A high-level meeting, chaired by Home Minister Rajnath Singh, discussed the issue but no decision has been taken on it, sources privy to the deliberations said.

The Civil Aviation Ministry, led by Minister Ashok Gajapati Raju and his junior Jayant Sinha, argued in the nearly two-hour long meeting that security in airports is a "sovereign function". Hence, responsibility falls on the government and all expenses should be borne by it.

The Home Ministry, led by Rajnath Singh and his junior Kiren Rijiju, agreed with the Civil Aviation Ministry's argument but suggested that a portion of the security expenses should be taken care of by the airport operators, which normally pass on such expenses to travellers.

"However, no decision has been taken on the issue and further deliberations will take place in near future," the source said.

The issue of security audit of nearly 100 civil airports, in the wake of growing threat of terror attacks, was also discussed and it was proposed that all such facilities should be brought under the cover of Central Industrial Security Force gradually.

It has also planned random checking of incoming air travellers at the entrance of airports.

Standard Operating Procedures (SoP) for random checking of incoming vehicles of air travellers in city side approach, thorough checking of cargo and detection of flying objects and drones are also being drawn.

A Civil Aviation Ministry's proposal to raise a separate force for aviation security has already been turned down and all airports will be brought under the security cover of the CISF gradually, the sources said.

The move came after the terror attack on Brussels'



Zaventem airport where terrorists blew explosives inside the airport terminal, much before the 'security hold' area, where passengers and luggage are checked.

The meeting discussed the move to bring 98 civil airports in the country under the security cover of the CISF, the specialised force for airport security.

Out of the total 98 functional airports in the country, 59 are under CISF cover, leaving out 39.

Among 98 airports, 26 airports, including Delhi and Mumbai, are considered hyper-sensitive. Of these hyper-sensitive airports, 18 are under CISF cover while six like Srinagar and Imphal are being guarded by CRPF, the state police or by other paramilitary forces.

Under the sensitive category, there are 56 airports out of which only 37 have CISF cover and amongst 16 other airports, only four have CISF security.

The report of the security audit being conducted by a team of experts from Ministry of Home Affairs, Intelligence Bureau, CISF and Bureau of Civil Aviation Security was also discussed in the meeting.

Calling for a realistic assessment of all airports, security experts said each vulnerable facility needed to be identified and the gaps in security apparatus plugged.

The meeting felt that there was a need for both short-term and long-term steps to reduce vulnerability of airports of high value.

The meeting also discussed the threat emanating from high rise buildings located on the periphery of the airports and suggested that the Union Home Secretary should consult each state about the local police providing peripheral security.

The meeting decided that SoPs for detection of drones and other flying objects will be circulated to all airports for proper implementation.
Global mobile industry body on Thursday called upon the government to reconsider pricing of 700 MHz band that failed to find takers in the just-concluded auction due to its "unrealistically" high price.

In a statement, John Giusti, Chief Regulatory Officer, GSMA, also urged the government to reassess the approach to spectrum auction reserve prices after India "failed" to sell any of the critical 700 MHz band last week.

" is concerned that, after the Indian auction, none of the 700 MHz band can be used to expand mobile broadband coverage to Indian citizens. As we had cautioned, the spectrum went unsold because the reserve prices for this highly sought-after band were set at an unrealistically high level of more than $60 billion (over Rs 4 lakh crore)," it said.

added that high reserve prices inhibit investment or delay deployment in next-generation networks at a time when demand for mobile data is growing manifold.

"Regulators should consider the conditions of the local market while setting reserve prices for spectrum auctions. In India, mobile operators have been asked to pay some of the highest rates for spectrum compared to other markets even though it has a low average revenue per user...," it added.

Urging the Indian government to work with the regulator to recalibrate spectrum pricing for the 700 MHz band, GSMA said that timely deployment of this spectrum will expand the reach of mobile broadband services and deliver positive social and economic benefits to the country's citizens, creating a truly digital India.

The industry body termed the successful sale of licences in the 1800 MHz band "a step in the right direction".

"We are confident that this 1800 MHz spectrum will help operators improve coverage gaps, but more spectrum will be needed to address the exponential increase in mobile broadband traffic," said the group.

GSMA noted that in many markets, mobile operators are struggling to justify the business case for purchasing spectrum at high reserve prices, as proved in India, as well as in the 700 MHz auctions in Australia and Senegal.

"This hurts consumers by delaying deployment in this critical spectrum, when there is already a vibrant global ecosystem in the 700 MHz band with over 100 LTE networks launched worldwide, supported by 469 devices," it added.

In the spectrum auction that concluded last week in India, seven telecom companies made commitments of Rs 65,789 crore for buying 964.80 MHz of spectrum in various frequency bands against 2,354.55 MHz airwaves put on the block.

Even at the end of the five-day auction, nearly 60 per cent of the spectrum remained unsold, including the expensive 700 MHz band, which found no buyers.

The debt-ridden telecom sector ignored premium airwaves in 700 MHz band -- which was put up for sale for the first time -- at a reserve or base price of Rs 11,485 crore per MHz.
We've been hearing and reading a lot about issues that matter to women lately.

Perhaps it's because, for the first time in our history, a woman holds the Presidential nomination for a major party. Or, maybe it's because her opposition appears to be a guy whose concept of women is, shall we say, Neanderthal at best. Whatever the reason, the eyes of the country and the world are now focused on American women.

I want to focus on Mississippi women for a minute. Specifically, let's look at their financial well-being.

In Mississippi, more than 201,000 households have women as the sole or primary breadwinner, according to Sarah Fink, Director of Workplace Safety for the National Partnership for Women and Families. Of those households, 39 percent, or 78,038 households, are living below the poverty level.

Here's one reason why: On average, a woman in Mississippi makes $9,289 less annually than a man, according to the National Partnership for Women and Families. This computes to a deficit of 23 cents per dollar for women when compared to a white, non-Hispanic man. In other words, a white, non-Hispanic woman working in the same or comparable job, makes 77 cents for every dollar her male counterpart takes home.

For African-American women in the state who hold full-time, year-round jobs, the disparity is even more dismal, with women earning 55 cents for every dollar that a white, non-Hispanic man earns.

Imagine: If the wage gap were eliminated in Mississippi, a working woman could provide 77 more weeks of food for her family, nine more months of mortgage and utility payments or more than nine additional months of rent. These figures are also according to according to the National Partnership for Women and families.

It would seem that this situation would be regarded as a bona fide crisis by our state's leaders. It would seem. You'd think that they would be doing everything possible to empower Mississippi women to provide for their families and gain equal footing on a career path. You'd think.

However, all we have to do is just look at the reactions of those leaders to their presidential candidate's most recent outrageous statements about women, and you'll understand why the welfare of Mississippi women has gone largely ignored at our State Capitol.

Indeed, Governor Bryant, Lt. Governor Reeves, the rest of the Republican statewide elected officials and even our entire Republican Congressional delegation essentially gave Donald Trump a pass. "Locker room talk," they say. "Boys will be boys.' they say. And, even though their colleagues all over the country are disavowing and distancing themselves from Mr. Trump, the Mississippi contingent has remained steadfastly loyal.

Is it any wonder that Mississippi's women are in such financial straits? Or, that their families are suffering?

What does the steadfast approval of Trump by Mississippi's entire cadre of Republican elected officials and party officials say to women in Mississippi?

Remember, these are the same leaders who condone an offensive state flag, pass legislation designed to oppress our brothers and sisters because of their sexuality, and deny medical care to our working poor. How can we expect them to pay attention to wage discrimination in the Mississippi workplace? But, somebody certainly needs to pay attention or we risk losing a generation of our best and brightest young women.

The real impact of this wage gap is felt daily in the lives of hundreds of thousands of Mississippians. Yet, Mississippi's state economist Darrin Webb said he hasn't studied the economic impact the wage gap has on the state because "no one has requested any kind of analysis like that." And, just who would be in a position to request such an analysis? Governor Phil Bryant and Lt. Governor Tate Reeves.

Crickets.

As for me, I'll be back again, for the fourth year in a row, submitting a bill to require equal pay for equal work in the State of Mississippi. Let's hope it fares better than it has previously. This is the 21st Century and Mississippi women deserve to be treated as equals. I am more willing than ever to work with the Legislative leadership to usher in a new era of economic equality.

A Pascagoula native, David Baria is a State Representative from Bay St. Louis. He has represented District 122 in Hancock County since 2012. He previously served in the Mississippi Senate from 2008-2011.
The Gujarat government has accepted the Centre's proposal for setting up three industrial parks in the state for manufacturing medical devices, pharmaceutical formulations and bulk drugs.

The proposal was made by Union Minister for Chemicals and Fertilisers Ananth Kumar at an event here and quickly accepted by Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani.

In his inaugural address at "Pharmac India-2016", an exhibition of pharmaceutical industry, Kumar requested the Gujarat CM to accept his ministry's proposal to set up a medical device park, a pharmaceutical formulations park and a bulk drug manufacturing park.

"The Centre is ready to give all kind of support to Gujarat if they are ready to start these parks in the state. Each park would require at least 200 acres of land. Central government is ready provide several facilities for these parks, such as effluent treatment plant and roads," the Union Minister said.

"With such facilities to be given by the Centre, manufacturing cost would come down almost 30 per cent. It would make our Pharma products globally competitive. I appreciate that Rupani has assured to allot land for these parks," said Kumar.

While talking to reporters after the event, Rupani said his government would start the work for identifying and acquiring the land for these parks at the earliest.

"The state government is very positive about these parks and we will do our best to see that these parks come up at the earliest. These parks are having a huge potential to provide employment opportunity to local youths and make Gujarat a global pharma hub," said Rupani.

The CM also assured that around 300 generic medicine stores -- 'Jan Aushadhi Kendra' -- would come up in different parts of state soon to provide cheap medicine to poor citizens.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Turkey's foreign minister and his Arab counterparts in the Gulf today condemned "indiscriminate" air strikes on Syria's Aleppo and expressed "deep regret" at the UN's inability to stop the raids.

The call came in a statement at the close of a meeting in the Saudi capital between Ankara's Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu and his counterparts from the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council.

Russian and Syrian warplanes have been backing a large-scale offensive by Syrian government forces against rebel-controlled east Aleppo.

More than 70 civilians died on Tuesday and Wednesday alone in air strikes and regime artillery fire on eastern Aleppo districts, a monitoring group said.

"Ministers condemned the escalation of military operations in Aleppo by the regime and its supporters through indiscriminate air raids against the civilian population and infrastructure," in a statement issued at the end of the GCC-Turkey talks.

New Zealand, one of the 10 non-permanent UN Security Council members, on Wednesday presented a draft resolution demanding an end to air attacks in Aleppo.

The measure followed the failure of the council to adopt two resolutions on a ceasefire in Syria, one of which was vetoed by Russia during a stormy meeting at the weekend.

Gulf ministers and their Turkish counterpart "expressed their deep regret for the inability of the UN Security Council to make a decision to stop the air campaign and the bombing of civilians in Aleppo", their statement said.

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Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment Krishan Pal Gurjar today pitched for making 104 as a helpline number for eye donation in the country.

"The Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment will strongly recommend to the Health ministry for making 104 as a common number for eye donations in the country," he said at the "Delhi Blind Walk", organised by a Bengaluru-based NGO 'Vision Project' on the occasion of World Sight Day.

Gurjar, along with other participants, also walked blindfolded and pledged to donate eyes.

The walk was organised to promote eye donation, during which a memorandum was handed over to the Minister to make 104 as a helpline number for eye donation.

The Blind Walk started from YMCA and culminated at Jantar Mantar here.

"More than 1000 people from all walks of life walked blindfolded and pledged to donate their eyes," George Kannanthanam, founder director of Vision Project, said in a statement.

The concept of Blind Walk has been developed to give the people with sight to experience what blindness is, through a one kilometre blindfolded walk in a public places, led by visually challenged people, he said.

The NGO had organised eye donation campaign at 55 locations across five countries and the walk was conducted in the US, China, Sri Lanka and Nepal apart from all major cities in India, he added.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Union minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal today hold comprehensive discussions with various departments and other stakeholders to sort out issues impacting smooth flow of FDI in the food processing sector.

"Discussions were held on how to facilitate foreign investments and sort out their issues related to various ministries and departments," the food processing minister said after the meeting.

She said that the concerned ministries and departments have been told to work towards "transforming the Indian food economy and at the same time simplify the laws to attract more investments from across the globe".

The meeting assumes significance as the government is considering certain relaxations in the FDI policy for the food processing sector.

The government is considering allowing stores which would attract FDI to sell personal and home care products up to 25 per cent of their total turnover, sources said.

In June, the government allowed 100 per cent FDI in trading of food products, including through e-commerce, to boost food processing sector in the country.

As per the policy, foreign retailers can sell food products produced and manufactured in India.

Representatives from the commerce and industry ministry, Department of Revenue, FSSAI and micro small and medium enterprises were among others who attended the meeting.

FDI in the country grew by 29 per cent to USD 40 billion in 2015-16 as against USD 30.94 billion in the previous financial year.

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The Bombay High Court today asked Maharashtra government to study how metros like Delhi, Bengaluru and others cope with traffic issues and violations and see if the same can be implemented in Pune also.

A bench headed by Justice V M Kanade said just as the government initiated the E-Challan system in Mumbai, whereby traffic violations along major stretches are detected by CCTV cameras and the violators thus identified through their registered number plates are penalised, it could begin a similar system in Pune.

The bench directed the government to inform the court what measures can be implemented to tackle the increasing traffic violations in Pune on October 25.

The directions came when the bench was hearing a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by five Pune residents.

They have sought that CCTV cameras be installed at major traffic junctions in Pune and other measures be taken by the traffic department to curb violations in Pune and rest of the state.

During the last hearing in August this year, the bench had directed the state government to file a reply whether it was "possible to introduce a system for automatic registration of complaints against the owners of such vehicles that flout traffic norms."



The state today sought additional time to file its reply.

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People who regularly smoke large amounts of cannabis have reduced bone density and are more prone to fractures, putting them at greater risk of osteoporosis in later life, new research has warned.

The study also found that heavy cannabis users have a lower body weight and a reduced body mass index (BMI), which could contribute to thinning of their bones.

Researchers say this could mean heavy users of the drug are at greater risk of osteoporosis in later life.

Scientists at the University of Edinburgh in the UK assessed 170 people who smoke cannabis regularly for recreational purposes and 114 non-users.

The team used a specialised X-ray technique called a DEXA scan to measure the bone density of study participants. They found that the bone density of heavy cannabis users was about five per cent lower than cigarette smokers who did not use cannabis.

Fractures were more common in heavy users compared to non-users, the study found. Moderate users, however, showed no difference from non-users.

The researchers defined heavy users as those who reported smoking cannabis on 5,000 or more occasions in their lifetime. In this study, however, the average heavy cannabis user had taken the drug more than 47,000 times. Moderate users had, on average, taken the drug about 1,000 times.

Smoking cannabis is often associated with increased appetite so the researchers were surprised to find that heavy cannabis users had a lower body weight and BMI than non-users.

This could be because cannabis may reduce appetite when taken in large amounts over a long period of time, researchers said.

The study is the first to investigate bone health amongst cannabis users. Researchers say further studies are needed to better understand the link between use of the drug and thinning of the bones.

"We have known for a while that the components of cannabis can affect bone cell function but we had no idea up until now of what this might mean to people who use cannabis on a regular basis," said lead researcher Stuart Ralston, from Edinburgh's Centre for Genomic and Experimental Medicine.

"Our research has shown that heavy users of cannabis have quite a large reduction in bone density compared with non-users and there is a real concern that this may put them at increased risk of developing osteoporosis and fractures later in life," said Ralston.

The study was published in the American Journal of Medicine.

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India and China have agreed to cooperate on sourcing energy from international markets, construction of high-speed railway and development of coastal manufacturing zones as the two fastest growing economies look to boost growth.

The 4th India-China Strategic Economic Dialogue on October 7 agreed on a number of initiatives for mutually beneficial growth.

The Indian side at the dialogue was led by Arvind Panagariya, Vice-Chairman of National Institution for Transforming India and the Chinese side was led by Xu Shaoshi, Chairman of National Development and Reform Commission.

According to the minutes of the meeting released today, the two sides called "for a joint strategy to meet the rising energy demand through appropriate policy measures and efforts in the international energy markets."



They also agreed to adopt new theme of closer cooperation on coastal manufacturing zone development by encouraging projects in areas like infrastructure, automobile, energy and electronics in next one year.

The two nations "agreed to push forward the feasibility study on Delhi-Nagpurhigh-speed railway and construction of Delhi-Chennai high-speed railway," it said.

China Southwest Jiaotong University and Training Department of the Ministry of Railways of India will hold eight training courses in the field of high-speed railway.

On cooperation in renewable energy, they agreed to speed up solar cell / module manufacturing in India and expand cooperation in promoting solar rooftop.

"India offered huge investment opportunities in the renewable energy sector by way of participating through equity support, offsetting hedging cost, taking up of masala bonds, partnering in the solar projects, etc.

"Chinese investors showed keen interest in financial investment and participation in large solar park projects in cooperation with Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI)," it said.

While India was keen on technical cooperation in promoting underground coal mining technologies and coal gasification, Chinese side proposed for cooperation in environment friendly mining, coal processing, unconventional gas (CBM) and efficient use of coal.

Waste to energy plants were main discussion points on resource conservation and environmental protection.

"Both side recognized that states and cities may be encouraged to get direct agreement with Chinese companies on the desalination technology by adopting transparent procedures," the minutes said.

They also agreed to explore cooperation in low cost construction material technology.

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Bollywood filmmaker Raj Kapoor's 1951 classic "Awaara" is set for a theatrical reboot, according to an agreement signed today between India and China.

The film was a huge success in China, and its song "Awaara Hoon" and Kapoor became widely known across the nation. The agreement is aimed at recreating the film's magic.

It is aimed at recreating the 1951 Raj Kapoor's popular movie "Awaara", which struck a chord with generations of Chinese, India and China today signed an agreement to make a theatrical version of the film.

The agreement was incorporated in a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between Indian Council of Cultural Relations, (ICCR) andChina Shanghai International Arts Festival (CSIAF), Indian Consul General in Shanghai Prakash Gupta told PTI.

The MOU between ICCR and CSIAF which was signed today in Shanghai calls for cultural performances to be organised in India and China during 2017 and 2018.

The agreement was signed coinciding with the visit Amarendra Khatua, Director General of the ICCR to Shanghai to take part in the 18th China Shanghai International Arts Festival, which commenced yesterday.

Khatua emphasised on the longstanding bilateral cultural exchanges between India and China and called for increasing greater cultural exchanges, in particular in Tier-II and Tier-III cities in India and China, respectively.

As part of the MoU, both sides also attempt to make a joint theatrical re-production of "Awaara", which would be set in contemporary times and re-enacted as a theatre version for viewing by contemporary audiences worldwide including India and China, Gupta said.

The theatre version of the movie will be co-financed by both the ICCR and CSIAF.

"Awaara" remained the most popular Indian movie in China in the last six and half decades between generations of Chinese, especially its title song "awaara hu" which local sing as "awaala hu" as letter R is absent in Mandarin.

But the movie and the song has lost traction with the present younger generation of Chinese as it faded out of the memory of Chinese. Recent Indian movies like "3 Idiots" made some impact on the younger generation but not to the extent, "Awaara" did.

So, the theatre version will aim to bring that connectivity, Gupta said. The production was expected to be ready in an year.

Officials from both the countries hope that the "Awaara" will again reignite the vigour in the Sino-Indian relations which currently faced headwinds over a host of issues relating to China's reluctance to back India's membership in the Nuclear Suppliers Group, (NSG) and its technical hold in the UN to ban Masood Azhar, leader of the Pakistan based extremist group, JeM.

The agreement was signed ahead Chinese President, Xi Jinping's visit to India this week to take part in the BRICS summit in Goa where he is due to meet Prime Minister, Narendra Modi on its sidelines.

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India today announced that it will eliminate the HFC-23 gas, a potent greenhouse gas with high global warming potential, as part of its commitment to combat the threat emanating from climate-damaging HFCs.

The major commitment was made by Environment Minister Anil Madhav Dave, who is in Kigali to attend the high-level segment of the conference on Montreal Protocol.

Giving the go-ahead for releasing the order for incinerating the HFC-23 by producers of HCFC-22 gas, Dave said "HFC-23 gas, a potent greenhouse gas with global warming potential 14,800 times more than CO2 is produced as a by-product of HCFC-22 manufacturing, and if vented out in environment, it is a threat to the environment".

The minister clarified that the companies have to internalise the cost of this environmental externality, and create sufficient storage facility to take care of down time and run the incinerators.

It is noted that some HCFC-22 producers even in developed world are not handling the HFC-23 in most professional manner, a statement said.

A N Jha, Secretary, Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF), said this decision of India at this juncture fortifies the determination and commitment of the country on climate issues.

"This will have a positive impact on the discussions on HFCs and will make the governments and producers of HCFC-22 in both developed and developing countries to think on emulating this practice," Jha said.

The government said it is now hard for the teams from countries which are producers of HCFC-22 to negotiate for funding from Multilateral Funds for creating facility for incineration or financial support for incinerating the gas.

Signing the orders, Manoj Kumar Singh, joint secretary in the MoEF and lead Indian negotiator, highlighted the fact that even with complete phase out of HCFCs for usage as refrigerants under the Montreal Protocol that its production will continue for feedstock purposes.

"This production for feedstock purpose will reach 1 million tonnes at its peak, so ensuring the incineration of HFC-23 being produced as by-product will ensure an avoidance of more than 444 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent globally," Singh said.

This is a major break away from the concept of financial assistance for every action on environment, in which India has shown the lead, he added.

(Reopens FGN 22)



Welcoming the government decision, Indian climate experts said the global warming potential of HFC-23 is 14,800 times more than that of CO2, making it an extremely potent greenhouse gas.

New Delhi-based Advocacy group Centre for Science and Environment said that the legislation requires five Indian companies which manufacture HCFC-22 to capture and then incinerate HFC-23 so that its release into the atmosphere is eliminated.

It said this will potentially avoid emissions of HFC-23 equivalent to 100 million tonne of CO2 over the next 15 years.

"With this government order to control the emissions of HFC-23, India is sending a strong signal to the world that it is serious about the climate change issue," said Chandra Bhushan, deputy director general of Centre for Science and Environment (CSE).
India today announced that it will eliminate the HFC-23 gas and directed all five plants in the country that produce it as a by-product to "destroy" the super greenhouse gas with high global warming potential.

"The government, hereby directs that...All HCFC-22 plants to destroy HFC-23 produced as a by-product of HCFC-22 production through incineration using an efficient and proven technology such as thermal oxidation," says the order signed by Manoj Kumar Singh, joint secretary, Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF).

HFC-23 is as a by-product of HCFC-22 production.

The order was issued soon after Environment Minister Anil Madhav Dave announced at the venue of Conference on Montreal Protocol here that India will eliminate the HFC-23 gas, a potent greenhouse gas with high global warming potential, as part of its commitment to combat the threat emanating from climate-damaging Hydrofluorocarbons.

Dave is in Kigali to attend the high-level segment of the conference on Montreal Protocol.

The Environment Ministry ordered five registered enterprises producing HCFC-22 in India, namely SRF Ltd, Gujarat Fluorocarbons Ltd, Navin Fluorine International Ltd, Chemplast Sanmart Ltd and Hindustan Fluorocarbons Ltd to ensure proper upkeep and maintenance of incineration plants of HFC-23, "so that the down time of incineration plants is maintained below 10 per cent".

It also directed the companies to create and maintain sufficient storage capacity to ensure that all HFC-23 is stored during any authorised incineration shutdown, so that no vending occurs.

Earlier, giving the go-ahead for releasing the order for incinerating the HFC-23 by producers of HCFC-22 gas, Dave said "HFC-23 gas, a potent greenhouse gas with global warming potential 14,800 times more than CO2 is produced as a by-product of HCFC-22 manufacturing, and if vented out in environment, it is a threat to the environment".

The minister clarified that the companies have to internalise the cost of this environmental externality, and create sufficient storage facility to take care of down time and run the incinerators.

It is noted that some HCFC-22 producers even in developed world are not handling the HFC-23 in most professional manner, a statement said.

A N Jha, Secretary, Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF), said this decision of India at this juncture fortifies the determination and commitment of the country on climate issues.

"This will have a positive impact on the discussions on HFCs and will make the governments and producers of HCFC-22 in both developed and developing countries to think on emulating this practice," Jha said.

The government said it is now hard for the teams from countries which are producers of HCFC-22 to negotiate for funding from Multilateral Funds for creating facility for incineration or financial support for incinerating the gas.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)




MIDE 2017 takes place from 12 - 14 May at the PWTC Kuala Lumpur and earlier that it usually is scheduled for the month of July as it was brought forward to facilitate the fasting month and the Hari Raya celebration.





More good news is that MIDE 2017 is also moved from Hall 3 to Hall 1 at the Putra World Trade Centre (PWTC) to a bigger hall space of 8,000 square meters and covering a total gross space of 12,000 square meters of exhibition and retail space. The largest dive expo in Malaysia is also looking at more than 2,000 exhibitors, with 200 participating companies from local and abroad attending.







Some of the new products that will be featured at MIDE 2017 MIDE 2017 is geared to welcome business entrepreneurs, tourism boards, dive agencies brand manufacturers and distributors to utilize the platform that has been created and designed to meet the lucrative business for every organisation.

Pros and Cons of MIDE 2017





With any event, there are bound to be pros and cons and for MIDE2017, there are the great sides while there are also the negative. The good thing about the dive expo is that many consumers or beginners get added awareness about scuba diving and also about the many different types of services and products found in the international markets. While the dive expo is well known as the main place for purchasing of dive equipment, courses and dive travel destinations. many consumers now have been spoiled to wait for the expo to buy their dive equipment and this has lead to a slowdown of purchases from the general retailers throughout the year.





As I am a diver myself, I have been attending MIDE over the years and I have also spoken to to a number of people which includes consumers and also retailers. In the end, the consumers are the big winners as they hold back their general purchases until the event takes place. The retailers on the other hand, do good business, as suppliers and distributors would take advantage of the massive turn out by offering special discounts for their items or packages.





Most of the time, you would see a number items sold at really cheap prices and they are 'Only at MIDE Prices', meaning you can only get those prices if you come for the event. Suppliers and distributors are also seen clearing stock with amazing deals, most of the time, overstocked items or last season's items. Some smaller retailers have expressed frustration as in this niche industry, the larger companies have a strong monopoly over the mass consumer, leaving the piece of cake much smaller than it was ten years ago.





For example, Hypergear, the maker of dry bags offered a serious 30% discount on some of their bags and many consumers waited for MIDE to buy these bags. A 20 liter fancy dry bag backpack retails at RM 320.00 with no discount, and at the expo, it was going for RM 220.00 which is a steal.







Visitors checking out some of the booths at MIDE In 2015, the Malaysian dive expo generated a total sales of RM 8 million and for the year of 2016, overall sales reached at approximate total of RM 10 million and the organizers are anticipating a turnover projected sales between RM 10 to 12 million for MIDE 2017. The organisers also claim that the expo has delivered and continue to deliver a great significant growth of revenue for participating companies and further contributes positively to a healthy economic growth towards the dive tourism.

Diving in Malaysia or Abroad?





Most new divers are also spoiled for choices when it comes to dive destinations as ever since AirAsia and many of the other budget airlines came about, the choices to visit neighboring countries was no longer a luxury and affordable to just about anyone. divers now compare countries and live on boards versus back ten years ago when it was just which island in Malaysia we dived at.





Recently, I as a diver did my inaugural diving at Komodo Island where it was on a tourism work trip and for me, an experience to share with my readers, but the truth be told, many divers have already been there due to the easy connectivity from the budget airlines. If you talk about diving in Maldives, chances are four out of ten divers have already been there. This goes to show that divers now have many choices and do not mind spending that extra money to go abroad for scuba diving.





The writer diving at Mantanani Island, Sabah Raja Ampat seems to be the flavor over the last few years and is one of the most expensive dive locations in the region, but during MIDE 2015, a few dive operators from Raja Ampat were seen at the dive expo, the one I talked to was a Raja Ampat Budget Dive Operator who was offering basic homestay on land and boat dives.



Speaking further with the operator, they had already known that there are in fact many new divers in Malaysia who are seeking budget destinations, but not your normal places and more exotic ones, like Raja Ampat.



For diving in Malaysia in 2017, I would have to say that Miri in Sarawak is one of the growing destinations to explore due to the many beautiful reefs that some even say are comparable to Sabah. There are only one or two dive operators there who frequent the many beautiful

Visitors entering the Malaysia International Dive Expo in KL Raja Ampat seems to be the flavor over the last few years and is one of the most expensive dive locations in the region, but during MIDE 2015, a few dive operators from Raja Ampat were seen at the dive expo, the one I talked to was a Raja Ampat Budget Dive Operator who was offering basic homestay on land and boat dives.Speaking further with the operator, they had already known that there are in fact many new divers in Malaysia who are seeking budget destinations, but not your normal places and more exotic ones, like Raja Ampat.For diving in Malaysia in 2017, I would have to say that Miri in Sarawak is one of the growing destinations to explore due to the many beautiful reefs that some even say are comparable to Sabah. There are only one or two dive operators there who frequent the many beautiful Miri dive sites which are around an hour from the mainland.

ADCON 2017









ADCON 2017 will also focus on bringing more insight on technical aspect on diving, servicing and maintenance of dive equipment, camera housing, demonstration on latest products hands-on, demonstrating and teaching on Photoshop techniques, exploring on nitrox certification courses and more.



Diving Tourism and Social Media Branding Awareness



The writer diving at the Red Sea in Jordan Unfortunately, there is no speaker to promote digital dive tourism and social media and diving as this is the current trend with society over the years. Digital and Social Media for diving is one of the best platforms to help businesses, dive resorts and operators to brand themselves online.



I have spoken to many local universities and events on social media and tourism, even as a diver who has been to a number of places around the world, I have been promoting this hobby over the years using Malaysia Asia and my multiple social media channels. Perhaps one day, it would be an honor to be invited to talk at a diving forum or seminar, but in the mean time, you can follow



MIDE 2017

Date: 12-14 May, 2017

Time: 10.00 AM to 9.00 PM

Venue: Hall 1, PWTC, Kuala Lumpur

Website: www.mide.com.my



While MIDE happens, the Asia Dive Conference 2017 (ADCON 2017) will also take place where this special dive conference will enable visitors to explore more option of the conference that will be take place during the 3 day event. The venue for the Malaysia dive conference will be held within the main venue hall to enable visitors have easy access to the seminar room.ADCON 2017 will also focus on bringing more insight on technical aspect on diving, servicing and maintenance of dive equipment, camera housing, demonstration on latest products hands-on, demonstrating and teaching on Photoshop techniques, exploring on nitrox certification courses and more.Unfortunately, there is no speaker to promote digital dive tourism and social media and diving as this is the current trend with society over the years. Digital and Social Media for diving is one of the best platforms to help businesses, dive resorts and operators to brand themselves online.I have spoken to many local universities and events on social media and tourism, even as a diver who has been to a number of places around the world, I have been promoting this hobby over the years using Malaysia Asia and my multiple social media channels. Perhaps one day, it would be an honor to be invited to talk at a diving forum or seminar, but in the mean time, you can follow Malaysia Asia in Instagram for my updates.Date: 12-14 May, 2017Time: 10.00 AM to 9.00 PMVenue: Hall 1, PWTC, Kuala LumpurWebsite: www.mide.com.my

With a strong consistent track record from 2006 till 2016, a total of approximately 110,000 visitors have been visiting the MIDE dive exhibition and expo here in Kuala Lumpur. The number of scuba divers have also grown over the last five years with more and more people wanting to experience this amazing hobby, locally and also abroad and with MIDE being the pioneering force behind the scuba diving industry in Malaysia who organises these events, the number will continue to grow steadily.




A 41-year-old Indian driver has been jailed for three months and fined more than USD 40,000 by a Dubai court for tampering with two parking tickets to park free and save a few dirhams.

The Dubai Court of First Instance convicted the driver, identified only as K.S., of forging an electronic document and fined him Dirham 150,000 (about USD 41,000). Presiding judge Mohammad Jamal also jailed K.S. For three months after he pleaded guilty.

An Emirati inspector at the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) discovered the driver had tampered with a parking ticket and parked his car near Al Khansa roundabout on April 21, Gulf reported.

Three days later, the same inspector discovered that the same car had another forged ticket on the dashboard before police came and apprehended K.S., who had parked the vehicle.

According to Tuesday's ruling, the accused will be deported following the completion of his punishment.

The defendant admitted before the court that he forged two parking tickets and used the forged tickets to park for free.

The inspector testified that he discovered the first forged ticket after the driver had left it on the dashboard.

"I noticed that the car driver had tampered with the dates mentioned on the ticket...It was April 20 but the dates mentioned on the ticket read April 21. I gazed at the ticket closely and it was obvious that the ticket had been forged. My supervisor asked me to wait until the driver returned, but I missed him and he (K.S.) managed to leave," the inspector was quoted as saying.

"A few days later, I saw the same car and the driver had done the same thing...He placed another forged parking ticket on the dashboard. This time I called up the police...They called him up and summoned him to the parking lot where he was apprehended. Two forged tickets were seized in his possession," said the inspector.

The defendant admitted to prosecutors that he had tampered with two parking tickets to park for free.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A consumer court has directed an insurance company to pay full claim amount of Rs 3.65 lakh and compensation to owner of a vehicle in an accident case.

Thane Consumer Redressal Forum president Sneha Mhatre and members, Madhuri Vishwarupe and N D Kadam, in their recent decision ordered Reliance General Insurance Company to pay full claim sum and a compensation of Rs 43,000 to complainant Ramprasad Yadav, a resident of Dombivli.

Complainant's counsel S C Bodulla told the forum that the complainant owned a pickup van and used it to transport raw bananas from Dombivili to Bhusawal to banana wafer processing units.

On September 22, 2013, Yadav was going in the vehicle towards Bhusaval with the driver and the cleaner. The vehicle met with a mishap near Parola in Jalgaon, in which he sustained head injuries.

The van was also severely severely damaged and Yadav lodged a police complaint on the same very day. He was subsequently operated for head injury in Dombivli and afterwards he filed a claim with the insurer.

The insurance company rejected the claim in February 2014, stating that he had violated the policy conditions.

It also argued before the forum that the claim does not stand as the owner had violated the norm by accommodating three persons in the van while only two passengers can travel in it.

Bodulla pointed out that the complainant made use of the vehicle for his livelihood and during the course had to take assistance of the driver and cleaner.

He submitted that the complainant was travelling in the vehicle neither as a passenger nor as a driver as he was the owner of the vehicle.

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Iran has sent two warships to the Gulf of Aden off Yemen's coast to protect commercial vessels, Iranian media said today, at a time of heightened tension for the United States in the region.

The announcement came as Washington said it had destroyed radar sites controlled by the Iran-backed Huthi rebels in Yemen, in response to failed missile attacks on its warships in the Red Sea.

However, the two Iranian destroyers were dispatched on October 5, before the incidents involving the US, the conservative-linked Tasnim agency reported.

Their mission takes them to the Gulf of Aden and the Bab al-Mandeb Strait between Yemen and the Horn of Africa "to protect merchant vessels against pirates", before heading on to Tanzania and possibly South Africa, Tasnim said.

It was not clear if the destroyers had already arrived in the Gulf of Aden.

The US cruise missile strikes today were Washington's first direct action against the Huthi rebels, although it has provided logistical support to the Saudi-led coalition battling the insurgents.

The USS Mason, a destroyer, was targeted yesterday by a missile fired from rebel-held territory which crashed into the ocean before reaching its target.

The Mason and the USS Ponce, an amphibious staging base, had already been targeted on Sunday by two missiles that also fell short.

Iran supports the Shiite Huthis, but denies supplying arms and has fiercely criticised the bombing campaign led by the Saudis.

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Reality TV star Kim Kardashian has cancelled a scheduled appearance at Las Vegas' Hakkasan Nightclub on the heels of her life-threatening robbery in Paris.

The "Keeping Up With The Kardashians" star was supposed to appear at the late-night spot on October 28, a week after her 36th birthday, reported E! online.

"Given recent circumstances, Kim Kardashian will be unable to make her previously scheduled appearance at Hakkasan Las Vegas Nightclub," a representative for the club said.

Kardashian has a USD 1 million deal with Hakkasan, in which she agreed to make four appearances in 2016. She already visited in April and July and has two more events to schedule to fulfill the agreement before the year is up.

After being held at gunpoint by robbers in her Paris luxury stay, Kardashian has stayed out of the spotlight.

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Lawyers in Kanpur today boycotted work and staged a protest against police's "insensitivity" in handling the body of a joint magistrate who was allegedly murdered by her husband.

The lawyers alleged that police carried the body of Kanpur (Rural) Joint Magistrate Pratibha Gautam in a tempo for the postmortem and it remained unattended at the postmortem house for long.

"Action should be taken against the police officials for their insensitivity in handling the body of the joint magistrate," Rewant Mishra, a senior lawyer of Kanpur Bar Association, said.

Kanpur Police SSP Shalabh Mathur has already ordered a probe into the incident.

Judicial magistrate Pratibha's body was found hanging at her official residence in Circuit House Colony in Cantt police station area, in the city, on October 9.

Initially, her Delhi-based advocate husband Manu Abhishek Rajan claimed the death to be a suicide, but her parents said they had doubts about his version and lodged an FIR against him following which he was arrested.

The post-mortem report confirmed that Pratibha, who was three months pregnant, was brutally assaulted and strangled to death.

Police said the couple's call details and WhatsApp messaged revealed that he was pressurising her to undergo abortion.

The couple were having frequent fights as Manu wanted her to undergo an abortion and she had refused, police said.

Pratibha and Manu got married in January this year against the wishes of their families.

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Hip hop star Lil Wayne says he worked as a suicide prevention aide time in Rikers Island jail.

The 34-year-old rapper, who was at the New York prison complex in 2010, for eight months, after he was convicted of possession of a firearm the year before, has opened up about his experiences in the prison in his memoir "Gone 'Til November: A Journal of Rikers Island".

"The job is basically to monitor the top tier (of the jail] for an eight-hour shift and if someone wants to hang up (meaning to kill themselves), to not negotiate with them or try to talk to them out of it, but just to alert and officer," Wayne writes.

"You get paid USD 50 if you stop the person from actually hanging themselves and USD 25 if you find them hung up. Yeah, it's that real," he adds.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
According to a Press Trust of India report, the Mumbai-based realty firm, Lodha Group, has sold homes worth Rs 690 in the last 10 days in its township project at Palava.

The company said it has successfully pre-launched its project in Palava City by selling over 1,350 homes.

"In a period of just 10 days, Palava- India's first privately developed smart city- has sold homes worth Rs 690 crore," Lodha Group said.

The first phase, spreading over 275 acres and comprising 19,000 homes, has been delivered.

This new project, codenamed 'Golden Tomorrow', is part a development venture at Palava that is spread across an area of 4,500 acres and will include the establishment of 20 schools.

Established in 1980, the privately held Lodha Group clocked sales of over Rs 6,400 crore during last financial year.

The company is currently developing around 41 million sq ft of prime residential real estate with the largest land reserves in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR). It has 31 ongoing projects across London, MMR, Pune and Hyderabad.

Lodha Group delivered 3.3 crore sq ft of real estate during FY 2015-16.
Four highway robbers were arrested from the Delhi-Meerut highway for looting Rs 22 lakh worth of garments from a truck in August, police said today.

Shanawaz, Manvir, Rajkumar and Akbar were arrested after their car was intercepted by a police team on a tip-off last night, SP (City) Salman Taj Patil said.

He added the driver of the car managed to escape.

"During interrogation, the accused revealed where the loot was hidden, after which the stolen garments were recovered," he said.

"They had looted the truck at Rajnagar Extension on August 21," he said.

Four country-made pistols 7 live and three used cartridges were seized from them, the SP said.

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The Bombay High Court has refused to interfere with the decision of authorities to compulsorily retire a junior telecom officer in Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd after a departmental inquiry held him guilty in a case of loss of telephone cables.

"No case has been made out by the petitioner to cause interference by this (High) court in exercise of its writ jurisdiction... The petition is dismissed," Justices Naresh Patil and Prakash Naik said in a recent judgement.

The petitioner, Prakash Tyagi, joined services as Junior Telecom Officer in the erstwhile Mumbai Telephone in 1979. By an order dated February 4, 1988, he was placed under suspension, as a departmental enquiry was ordered on account of missing 600 metres of cable.

The charges mentioned in the charge-sheet issued in 1989 related to loss of telephone cable and other related matters.

An FIR was lodged with Juhu Police Station on February 9, 1988 in connection with the incident.

The department alleged that the petitioner, while working as Junior Telecom Officer (JTO), had not laid cables of about 600 metres, but created record showing that he had executed the work. The un-utilised stock of cable thus remained unaccounted for, according to the department.

The petitioner denied the charges levelled against him. An Enquiry Officer was appointed who held a probe and filed a report on January 7, 1991, holding the petitioner guilty of missing cables mentioned in charges 1 to 4 in the chargesheet, while exonerating him from two other charges.

Petitioner's contention was that the Enquiry Officer has not given any reason as to why he had recorded finding of guilt in respect of charges 1 to 4 in the chargesheet. Thereafter, the disciplinary authority passed an order on August 17, 1995, compulsorily retiring the petitioner.

The petitioner filed an appeal on October 18, 1995,



before Appellate Authority against the penalty of compulsory retirement imposed on him but it was rejected in August 1997. He had argued that he was acquitted by a Magistrate in March 1996 after a full trial. He then filed a review petition which too was rejected by the Competent Authority in 1998.

The aggrieved petitioner moved the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) which rejected his plea. He then challenged the CAT order in the High Court.

The High Court was of the view that all the authorities had concurrently held that the charges levelled against the petitioner were proved.

The HC further held that the CAT in detail had scanned the material referred to in the charges, considered the pleadings of the parties, the stand taken by the petitioner and had upheld the findings of the Enquiry Officer.

Therefore, the bench refused to give relief to the petitioner and dismissed his petition.
"Touch the chord of a layman" by drafting simple judgements.

This was the suggestion given by Supreme Court Judge, Justice A K Sikri, to his colleagues, especially those in the lower judiciary.

Addressing a session at the ongoing Kumaon Literary Festival here, he suggested that the lower judiciary should draft simple judgements as they may lack the requisite expertise for using evocative language which ought to be used only by senior judges of high courts and the apex court.

"The law is meant for others as well. And it is about how you play with words. When we are wanting for words, poetry, film become convenient. It will touch the chord of a reader, a layman. Literature must be used only to forcefully convey an idea," Justice Sikri said.

"Make it (evocative language) a tool, but don't be swallowed by it. Judges at the lower level should avoid it as they may not have the expertise. A judgement should be said in a perfect manner," he said.

The Supreme Court judge was deliberating on the topic 'From legal literature to literature in law: Changing contours of judicial opinion' during a session titled 'My Lords, I Rest My Case!' in the 2016 edition of the festival.

He said that evocative literary references must be used sparingly and only when trying to accentuate a judgement.

Sikri said that evocative language must be used only by senior judges of the High Court and Supreme court.

The session was aimed at discussing how the intersection between law and literature in judicial pronouncements ended up becoming judgements by the thesaurus, instead of being elucidative and illuminative.

Sikri explained the pitfalls of such an approach and pitched for making judgements easier to understand.

"The judgement is not meant only for lawyers. When a legal principle is laid down, that may be relevant not only for lawyers but also for other cases, because it becomes a precedent. The judgement is meant for litigants because it is their dispute. Sometimes a larger community is also interested. Judgement is more so for them as well," he said.

Explaining the dangers of a judgement becoming too wordy, senior lawyer and Congress MP Abhishek Manu Singhvi illustrated the point by referring to a paragraph in Justice Dipak Misra's recent verdict in the case of Subramanian Swamy vs Union of India.

Giving an example when judgements become too emotive and descend into hyperbole, senior advocate Sanjay Hegde pointed to the bail order granted to Kanhaiya Kumar where the judge started with the lyrics of the song "Mere desh ki dharti".

"We have to use examples as pivots and as our servants. But many times we end up with judgement by thesaurus," Hegde said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Maldives today pulled out of the Commonwealth calling as "unjust" the grouping's decision to penalise the island nation over the circumstances that led to then President Mohamed Nasheed's ouster in 2012 and the lack of subsequent progress in resolving the political unrest.

The Maldives Foreign Ministry termed as "difficult" but "inevitable" the decision to leave the Commonwealth, a grouping of 53 nations that were mostly territories of the former British Empire.

Last month, the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group (CMAG), had warned Maldives of suspension from the bloc expressing its "deep disappointment" over the country's lack of progress in resolving the political crisis.

Severely critical of Commonwealth, the Maldives said in the name of promotion of democracy, the grouping used the country to increase the organisation's own relevance and leverage in international politics.

"The Commonwealth has sought to take punitive actions against the Maldives since 2012 after the then President of Maldives (Nasheed) resigned, and transfer of power took place as per the procedures set out in the Constitution," the Maldives Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

"The Commonwealth's decision to penalise the Maldives was unjustified especially given that the Commission of National Inquiry (CoNI), established with the help of the Commonwealth, found that the transfer of power in the Maldives was consistent with the constitutional provisions," it said.

The Maldives said, since then the CMAG and the Commonwealth Secretariat have treated the Maldives "unjustly and unfairly".

"The Commonwealth has sought to become an active participant in the domestic political discourse in the Maldives, which is contrary to the principles of the Charters of the UN and the Commonwealth.

"The CMAG and the Commonwealth Secretariat seem to be convinced that the Maldives, because of the high and favourable reputation that the country enjoys internationally, and also perhaps because it is a small state that lacks material power, would be an easy object that can be used, especially in the name of democracy promotion, to increase the organisation's own relevance and leverage in international politics," the statement said.

"The Maldives reassures that its international engagement will continue both bilaterally and multilaterally," it said.

Maldives said it had joined the Commonwealth in 1982 with high hopes and expectations, holding that it will be a platform for coordinating critical issues that the member states, in particular, the smallest members of the organisation face.

The CMAG had criticised the inquiry commission set up to investigate the removal of then President Nasheed from power in 2012.

"Since 2012, the Government of Maldives has been giving



maximum cooperation to the Commonwealth, shown maximum transparency, and engaged with the Commonwealth at the highest levels," the statement said.

"The Government of President Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom has enacted a total of 110 pieces of legislations. Out of which, 94 legislations were directly related to the core values set out in the Commonwealth Charter.

"An overwhelming majority of these legislations (69 out of 94) were specifically designed to promote human rights, to strengthen democratic governance, and to reinforce the separation of powers. These achievements have resulted in strengthening the rule of law and produced tangible outcomes in strengthening democratic institutions in the country," the statement said.
A 26-year-old man who wanted to flee to Syria from the UK to join the dreaded Islamic State militant group was today found guilty in a secret trial here.

Anas Abdalla, from Birmingham, has denied preparing for acts of terrorism by hiding in a lorry with another extremist.

He was convicted by a majority of 11 to one and will be sentenced at a later date.

Abdalla, born in Mogadishu in Somalia, who first came to the UK as an asylum seekertold the Old Bailey court that he was fleeing unwarranted security services intrusion in his life.

"It is eminently preferable and in the interests of justice [if the law allows] for the jury to hear the evidence so that they may be in the best possible informed position so as to be able to reach a conclusion that is fair to both the prosecution and the defence in so far as this critical aspect of the case is concerned," Judge Richard Marks said in reference to holding the trial in secret.

The judge said that he had been persuaded to allow the secret hearing because of the risk that whatever was said would indirectly compromise the trust that current and future informants place in the UK Security Services.

The prosecution had originally scheduled a three-week case at the Old Bailey but took 18 months to complete.

Abdalla has been eventually convicted after the prosecution won a legal battle to take part of the trial behind closed doors.

Abdalla had alleged he was fleeing Britain because he was being "harassed and subject to oppressive treatment" by MI5.

When Abdalla was discovered in the back of a lorry, he was hiding with three other men. One of the other men detained, 29-year-old Gabriel Rasmus, has already pleaded guilty.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Former prime minister Manmohan Singh today paid a visit to Golden Temple before taking part in the condolence meeting of one of his relatives at the Ranjit Avenue gurdwara here.

He spent nearly an hour with his relatives amidst tight security at the Ranjit Avenue gurdwara.

Earlier, Singh went to Golden Temple with wife Gursharan Kaur where the two of them spent around 35 minutes, including about 10 minutes inside the sanctum sanctorum.

After paying obeisance, the two went to the information centre of Golden Temple where they were honoured with a set of Sikh religious books, a woolen shawl and a replica of Golden Temple by Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) officials.

Singh also spoke to SGPC president Avtar Singh Makkar from the information centre over telephone after he was informed that the latter was not keeping well, said Information Officer of Golden Temple Gurbachan Singh.

Gurbachan said Singh and his wife could not spend much time in the sanctum sanctorum since Kaur was suffering from a knee problem and was unable to sit cross-legged for a long time.

State Congress chief Amarinder Singh was also in the city to address a political rally, but he could not meet Singh, the party's district rural chief, Gurjit Singh Aujla, said.

He added that there was no intimation on Singh's visit to any of the party leaders as it was "strictly private".

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
World stocks mostly fell today as weak Chinese data reinforced fears over the world's number two economy, while a spat between Britain's Tesco and Dutch giant Unilever hit sentiment in Europe.

In afternoon deals, Europe's main stock indices were down over one per cent, while Wall Street also opened on the down side.

Asian bourses also buckled on that China's exports plummeted last month, as anaemic global demand hit the world's second-largest economy, while weak imports fuelled worries about crucial domestic appetite.

However, troubled Samsung Electronics staged a slight recovery on bargain-buying after losing about 10 per cent of its value this week on the Galaxy Note 7 crisis.

China said exports plunged more than predicted last month, disappointing markets after a recent upbeat reading on factory activity. In yuan terms it snapped six straight months of increases. Imports also fell, confounding predictions for a rise.

"The drop in China's trade surplus, which included a surprise fall in imports, meant the basic resource sector which has a big exposure to Chinese commodity demand was dragging the UK equity benchmark lower," said CMC Markets analyst Jasper Lawler.

"Shares of Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton were top fallers today, but are still up in a week that has seen domestically focused shares come under pressure because of the weaker pound.

The figures come just a week before the release of third-quarter growth data that are tipped to show the economic powerhouse and key driver to world trade growing at its slowest pace in a quarter of a century.

In Europe, "shares of Tesco and Unilever... Both dropped as investors became alarmed over a dispute on prices", Lawler added.

A seemingly Brexit-fuelled spat between British supermarket giant Tesco and Dutch food and consumer goods multinational Unilever erupted today.

Unilever, which makes popular household brands like Marmite yeast extract spread, Flora margarine, PG Tips teabags and Persil washing powder, wanted major price hikes due to the Brexit-driven slump in sterling -- which it said has ramped up the cost of imported materials.

Tesco -- Britain's biggest retailer which faces intense price competition in its domestic supermarket sector -- has however refused to lift prices.

That prompted Unilever to halt deliveries to the company, sparking a shortage of its branded goods on the supermarket's shelves, while the hashtag #MarmiteGate trended on Twitter.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Actor Tommy Mykal Ford, who starred on five seasons of Martin Lawrence's "Martin sitcom", has passed away. He was 52.

Ford died late Wednesday afternoon, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Ford's family released a statement, "It is with great sadness that we announce the untimely passing of our beloved son, father, brother, husband, and friend Tommy Mykal Ford.

"On behalf of the family, we would like to thank everyone for their love, support and prayers. Funeral arrangements will be forthcoming. Please respect the privacy of the Ford family during our time of grief."



The actor joined the Fox sitcom in 1992, playing sidekick Tommy Strawn in the comedy for more than 100 episodes.

Following the series, he nabbed a role on Fox drama series "New York Undercover" as Lt Malcolm Barker and on UPN's "The Parkers" as Mel Parker.

Prior to his career-making turn on the Lawrence series, Ford appeared on "MacGyver", "Living Single", "The Flash", "Law & Order" and the TV version of "Uncle Buck".

Ford's career in film, television and theater spanned more than two decades. His film appearances through the years include "Harlem Nights", "Night and the City" and "Class Act".

Recently, he branched out as a motivational speaker.

Word of his death spread quickly, flooding social media with tributes from fans and celebrities, which led to his name trending worldwide on Twitter.

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The prestigious 'V Krishnamurthy Award for Excellence'was presented to eminent scientist and former Director-General of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, RA Mashelkar here today.

Former Governor of Tamil Nadu K Rosaiah presented the award to Mashelkar at the Centre for Organisation Development (COD) in the presence of Habil F Khorakiwala, Founder Chairman, Wockhardt Group and Chairman of the Board of Governors, COD among other dignitaries.

The award is instituted by Centre for Organisation Development (COD) to honour individuals who have set high standards of achievement in pursuit of excellence in their respective professions.

Speaking on the occasion Rosaiah said, the presentation of the award is celebration of excellence.

"Mashelkar pursued excellence. It is a daunting task and needs total submission to the ultimate goal. Such individuals have a desire to excel, which comes from within and they compete against themselves in the race to excellence. Mashelkar's contribution to science and the country is immense," Rosaiah said.

In his speech, Mashelkar said, "CSIR is today ranked amongst the top ten achievements of India in science beginning with the great mathematician Ramanujun.

"People call me a 'dangerous optimist of India', but I am passionate to see India at the top. I can see the signs of India becoming a great nation, I feel the new smell of optimism in India, the new generation is dynamic, their aspiration is contagious and the aspirations are only changing dramatically to India's advantage."



He further said, "My generation used to dream of going to USA, our next generation aspired to be CEOs, leaders of Microsoft, Google, but today's generation says, I want to make my own Microsoft, Google in India.

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Two unidentified bike-borne men today snatched an Angolan woman's purse near the Alpha Commercial Complex here.

The incident happened when Manuala Georgenet, a B.Tech student at Noida International University, was walking back to her flat in Sector 36 from the complex, police said.

A passerby came to her help after she raised an alarm but by then snatchers had fled, they added.

On her complaint, an FIR has been registered at Kasna police station. No arrests have been made yet, police said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Wading into the debate over Uniform Civil Code issue, Shiv Sena today said Muslim outfits are opposing Law Commission's questionnaire only because India is a secular country and would not have "dared" to do so had they been living in any Islamic country.

"Laws in our country are based on religion. In the past, there have been amendments to laws for the Hindu and Catholic community as and when needed. Also in Muslim community, laws have been amended in countries like Turkey, Iraq and Malaysia that follow Islam," Sena spokesperson Neelam Gorhe told reporters here.

Her comments came against the backdrop of the Law Commission's decision to invite views on the contentious UCC issue today.

The questionnaire by Law Commission has riled All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) and other Muslim organisations which said they will boycott it and accused the Narendra Modi government of waging a "war" against the community.

Gorhe said the Shiv Sena has always called for UCC to be put in place.

"There needs to be a change in lives of women. They (Muslim bodies) are being able to oppose the UCC only because they reside in a secular country.

"Had they been living in a country that followed Islamic laws, they would not dare to protest against the amendments in laws. There should be a debate on the issue and women should get justice," she added.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu and Leader of Opposition Y S Jaganmohan Reddy today sought to take their bitter political war to the Prime Minister by writing separate letters to Narendra Modi on the issue.

Jagan's letter came a day after Chandrababu indirectly sought to imply that the YSRC leader declared an income of Rs 10,000 crore under the Income Declaration Scheme.

While Chandrababu wanted the Centre to "demonitise" currency notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1000 denomination to "curb" proliferation of parallel economy, Jagan wanted publication of "entire list of IDS-2016" and also initiate a thorough inquiry into the corruption charges against the Chief Minister.

"Out of the Rs 65,000 crore disclosed across the country, Rs 13,000 crore was declared in Hyderabad and, out of it, Rs 10,000 crore by a single individual.

"Who is that, we can't know as per law. Is it possible for a businessman to declare such huge money," he wondered yesterday, indirectly seeking to imply it was the YSRC president.

Separately, a couple of ministers and Telugu Desam legislators directly named Jagan as the one who made the Rs 10,000 crore disclosure, a charge the lone opposition party stoutly denied.

"How is that Mr Chandrababu Naidu alone is privy to this information ? If true, then the person declared should have been a 'benami' of Chandrababu Naidu. Otherwise, how can he be so specific on the numbers," the YSRC chief asked in his letter to the Prime Minister.

"If this information is true, then we people of Andhra Pradesh should also be aware of this information. Hence, we request your office to kindly let us knowas it is also an irony that AP under Naidu has been ranked as the most corrupt state in the country by NCAER (National Council for Applied Economic Research) just recently," the Leader of Opposition said.

Chandrababu, on the other hand, praised Narendra Modi saying "the country is fortunate to have you as Prime Minister at this opportune and inspiring time. Opportunity for transformational change arises rarely and even rarer when such opportunities are actually seized for national transformation."



Lauding the Income Declaration Scheme, the Chief Minister said it has reportedly resulted in pan-India declaration of undisclosed income exceeding Rs 65,000 crore, implying a tax earning of Rs 30,000 crore.

" is a socio-economic evil with grave and disastrous consequences. Apart from loss of revenue to the government, the parallel economy and widening gap between the rich and the poor, it is largely responsible for the deterioration of general moral standards of the society," Chandrababu lamented.

"Indian economy is slated to grow 7.6 per cent this year, making it one of the fastest growing large economies in the world. To remain in the economy 'sweet spot' and reach double-digit growth, the country must ensure forward momentum of its programme of economic reforms," he said.

"By curbing proliferation of parallel economy and transforming India into a cashless transaction economy, the country can be a pride of the world," he felt.
There is one Buddhist nun everyone in Nepal knows by name - not because she's a religious icon and a UNICEF goodwill ambassador, nor for her work running a girl's school and a hospital for kidney patients.

Ani Choying Drolma is famous as one of the country's biggest pop stars.

With more than 12 albums of melodious Nepali tunes and Tibetan hymns that highlight themes of peace and harmony, the songstress in saffron robes has won hearts across the Himalayan nation and abroad.

"I am totally against the conservative, conventional idea of a Buddhist nun," the 45-year-old nun said. Some people "think a Buddhist nun should be someone who does not come out in the media so much, who is isolated ... Always in a monastery, always shy. But I don't believe in that."



Neither do her fans, who greet her with a roar of applause whenever she walks out on stage, and fall silent as she closes her eyes to sing.

"Every time I get frustrated with life or get angry, I just listen to Ani's music and I calm down," said one fan, Sunil Tuladhar. "She is my music goddess."



But with a career deviating sharply from what conservatives in Nepal believe to be the proper path of a Buddhist, she's caught criticism as well.

One Buddhist monk at the famed Swayambhu Shrine questioned how she can reconcile the simple life of a religious ascetic with the fame and wealth she's amassed over her two-decade musical career.

"How can a nun be making money by selling her voice, living a luxurious life and yet claim she is a nun?" Surya Shakya asked.

Despite her fame, Drolma looks every bit the typical Nepalese Buddhist nun, with her hair shaved short and an ever-present smile. She travels the world giving concerts in countries including the United States, Brazil, China and India.

Popular composer Nhyoo Bajracharya, who has worked with Drolma, describes her music as a fusion of traditional Tibetan and Nepali styles. "They are religious songs, slow rock with flavors of blues and jazz combined," he said.

But Drolma believes her singing goes beyond delivering a catchy tune. Her 2004 hit "Phoolko Aankhama," which means "Eyes of the Flower" in the Nepali language, features lyrics that touch on religious teachings, "May my heart always be pure/May my words be always word of wisdom/May the sole of my feet never kill an insect."



Her singing offers listeners a way to practice meditation and "is about invoking a spiritual quality," she said in a recent interview with the Associated Press. "That is what I rejoice in.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Alleging that BJP was exploiting surgical strikes by the Army for electoral gains in Uttar Pradesh, CPI(M) today said no institution in the country, including the armed forces, is "immune" to the Hindutva "subversion" under the NDA government.

Referring to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's speech at a Dussehra event in Lucknow, the Left party said the message was "clear" that BJP will fight the Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls by "mixing" religion with politics.

RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat's remark that "lawful" cow protectors should not be compared with those creating trouble was a "clear" signal that the right-wing outfits will continue their violence on the pretext of beef consumption and cow slaughter, it claimed.

"The warning bells are loud and clear. Under the BJP-RSS dispensation, no institution of the State, including the armed forces, are immune to the Hindutva subversion. This should be a matter of serious concern for every citizen.

"All those who wish to protect the secular, democratic character of the Republic should raise their voice to tell BJP and RSS to keep their hands off the armed forces," former CPI(M) general secretary Prakash Karat said.

He made the remarks in the editorial of forthcoming issue of party mouthpiece 'People's Democracy'.

The Prime Minister broke with the tradition and addressed a Dussehra event in the poll-bound state. The "obvious motive" behind it is making political gains in view of the Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls due next year, Karat said.

"Modi utilised the festival to lace his political message in a religious idiom. He started his speech with 'Jai Shri Ram' and talked of fighting terrorism using analogies from the Ramayana. The message was clear -- the electoral battle in Uttar Pradesh will be fought by mixing religion with politics and on a strident communal agenda," he said.

Reacting to Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar's remark that Indian troops were like Hanuman who did not quite know their prowess before the strikes, the Marxist leader said such "crass casteist and religious imagery to describe the Army's role is a dangerous stuff which will corrode secular basis of the armed forces".

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
An activist of SDPI was stabbed to death in Kerala's Kannur district today as violence marred the state-wide hartal called by BJP in protest against the murder of a party worker allegedly by CPI(M) activists.

Normal life was hit with public transport keeping off the roads and shops and business establishments remaining shut.

BJP activist Remith was hacked to death in the home town of Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan yesterday within 48 hours of the murder of a CPI(M) activist and toddy shop worker Mohanan (40) by a six-member gang at Pathiriyad in Kannur district.

Kannur, where police was on vigil throughout as the body of the slain youth was cremated, witnessed another murder today when Farooq (40), activist of SDPI (Social Democratic Party of India), political wing of Popular Front of India, was stabbed to death by a group.

Police, however, said this was not a political murder and was due to previous enmity even as SDPI pointed fingers at IUML.

Some incidents of violence were reported from various parts of the state. In some places, hartal supporters blocked private vehicles from plying. At Thrissur, hartal supporters damaged the memorial of Azhikode Raghavan, a Communist leader.

At Ottapalam in Palakkad district, activists of RSS and CPI(M)'s youth wing DYFI clashed resulting in injuries to three DYFI workers, police said.

There was a minor clash between BJP and CPI(M) workers at Sreevaraham in Thiruvanathapuram and some workers were injured, police said.

Meanwhile, Additional Chief Secretary (Home) Nalini Netto and state DGP Loknath Behara met Governor P Sathasivam and apprised him of the law-and-order situation in the state.

This is in view of the governor expressing concern over the recent 'isolated incidents' of political murders in Kannur district, a Raj Bhavan press release. They informed the governor efforts were on to apprehend the culprits, irrespective of their party affiliations.

The governor also appealed to leaders of all political parties to convince their local units and cadres on the need to settle differences and disputes amicably and without resorting to violence of any kind.

He also expressed hope that all political parties would come forward to share the responsibilities to maintain peace in areas witnessing violent incidents.

The release also stated that the 'petition on political violence' in Kannur received by the governor and forwarded to the chief minister was also being 'acted upon'.

A march taken out by BJP activists to the Secretariat here



saw some media personnel being attacked.

Cameras and lens of few photographers, who tried to take video footage of some persons damaging a CPI(M) flag post and flex board in front of the secretariat, were allegedly damaged by protesters. They also allegedly manhandled a photographer of an English daily and police have registered a case.

A similar incident of media personnel allegedly being attacked was also reported from Thrissur.

Kerala Union of Working Journalists district secretary C Rahim condemned the incidents and wanted government to take stern action against those who were behind the attack.

Reports on stone pelting of some long distance buses were reported even as private vehicles were blocked in various places and BJP workers allegedly forcibly tried to close down shutters of some shops.

BJP state president, Kummanam Rajasekharan, said the hartal was 'total' in the state and thanked the people for making it a 'success'.

"It is a warning to the CPI(M)'s politics of violence," he said in a statement.

Meanwhile, Congress attacked both CPI(M) and BJP alleging that they were responsible for the violence in Kannur and other parts of the state.

They should ask their workers to lay down arms and shun violence, KPCC President V M Sudheeran told reporters.

(Reopens MDS 9)



Glass panes of a luxury bus of state-owned KSRTC were damaged in stone pelting by some unidentified persons at Panniyankara in the outskirts of Kozhikode around noon.

No one was injured in the incident, according to Assistant Commissioner of Police (Spl Branch), M P Premdas.

A case has been registered.

A car with Karnataka registration from Guruvayoor was damaged in stone pelting by unidentified persons at Moozhikkal, about 10 km from Kozhikode. However, no one was injured and the occupants proceeded on their journey, the ACP said.

A stationery shop, owned by a BJP worker, was set on fire by a gang at Kunnamangalam in the district in which books and other articles worth thousands of rupees were destroyed, police said.
The Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) has taken certain measures so that water of river Hooghly, where a large number of Durga idol are being immersed, does not get polluted.

"We are fishing out the idols within a couple of minutes after immersion at the different ghats and take them by trucks to dumping grounds outside the city. We are using 130 trucks today," said Debasish Kumar, Member, Mayor-in-council of KMC.

The idols made of earth and clay, weigh a few tonnes, are decorated with harmful colours and other materials which contaminate the river affecting aquatic animals and humans.

Organisers of community Durga Pujas were not allowed to submerge the idols by themselves. Instead, KMC authorities were immersing them into the Hooghly which were immediately picked up by cranes before they melt and pollute the water of the sacred river, Kumar said.

"We are also not allowing people to throw 'ghots' into the water. Only one person from the puja organisers are allowed to go and dip the 'ghot' into the water which are also taken out immediately," he said.

Flowers and materials used for decorating the idols were taken out before the idols are immersed, the MMIC said adding those materials are also taken to the dumping ground.

Immersions were being held in 16 ghats of Hooghly in the city from Tuesday and, after a one-day break on Wednesday due to Muharram, would continue till tomorrow, the final day.

The KMC removed idols mainly from Babughat, Gwalior Ghat and Judges Ghat. Port Trust too has joined hands for the purpose at a few ghats.

Kumar said the same arrangements were made for tomorrow's immersion programme.

A grand rally of the best community Durga pujas would be held tomorrow along the city's prime Red Road where West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee would be present.

On Tuesday, around 1500 idols were immersed while close to 2200 were immersed till Thursday evening, a senior official of Kolkata Police said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Intensifying their campaign for potholes-free roads in Mumbai, MNS corporators today asked Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation commissioner Ajoy Mehta to ensure that all potholes are filled before Diwali or else face their wrath.

The ultimatum was given by party corporator Sandeep Deshpande during the meeting of Standing Committee of BMC.

"Our party has given a clear cut ultimatum to civic body chief Ajoy Mehta that if potholes are not filled before Diwali, then our workers would make him stand before potholes and get a placard in his hands to accept and announce that he (Mehta) is responsible for potholes across city," Deshpande told PTI.

On October 5, Deshpande and another corporator, also from MNS, Santosh Dhuri had forced chief engineer of Roads Department to hold a placard in his hand stating "I am responsible for these potholes. Please take note of it."



"We know that whether we make a chief engineer responsible for (condition of) roads or the BMC Commissioner, punishment is same for making both the officers responsible. So why not BMC Commissioner should be declared responsible for the sorry state of roads," he asked.

Deshpande claimed all parties in BMC had supported his stand of holding the chief engineer responsible for pockmarked roads. "The parties expressed their displeasure on why only two corporators were sent to jail for raising a valid issue of potholes," he said.

Meanwhile, Congress, the principal Opposition party in Sena-BJP ruled BMC, has decided to bring a no-confidence motion against Mehta over the issue of potholes-ridden roads in Mumbai.

An uproar was witnessed during the Standing Committee meeting, with corporators spanning all parties holding the civic administration responsible for rising numbers of potholes.

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The New York bomb suspect wanted for injuring 31 people in a September attack in Manhattan pleaded not guilty today to state charges from his hospital bed.

Ahmad Khan Rahimi's public defender entered a plea of not guilty on state charges that his client attempted to murder police officers and unlawfully possessed weapons while on the run in New Jersey.

Bail was set at $5.2 million. Rahimi was shown lying in his hospital bed, where he is being treated after being critically wounded in a shootout with police on September 19 that led to his capture.

"Yes ma'am," said the Afghan-born American weakly in response to questions from Judge Regina Caulfield, who spoke from the court, as he recovered in his home town of Elizabeth, New Jersey.

Looking pale, with a thick black beard and black hair, he had a hospital sheet pulled up almost to his neck.

His public lawyer, Peter Liguori, stood over him wearing a hospital gown over his shirt and tie, and blue rubber gloves on his hands.

Liguori told the court he wished to correct the spelling of his 28-year-old client's last name to Rahimi  not Rahami as previously listed by US authorities.

In addition to the New Jersey charges, Rahimi has been indicted for terrorism, including use of weapons of mass destruction, by federal prosecutors in Manhattan. He has yet to appear on those charges.

The bomb attack in New York's upscale neighborhood of Chelsea wounded 31 people on September 17.

A separate bomb attack forced the cancellation of a US Marine Corps run in the New Jersey town of Seaside Park.

If convicted, the suspect, who worked in his family's fried chicken restaurant, could spend the rest of his life behind bars.

Rahimi was captured while carrying a handwritten journal that lauded Osama bin Laden and US-born Al-Qaeda recruiter Anwar al-Awlaki, and criticised US wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria, prosecutors said.

The FBI believes that he acted alone.

Another bomb found in Chelsea on September 17 was defused safely. Five additional pipe bombs were subsequently found and defused in Elizabeth.

US officials say the suspect traveled extensively to Afghanistan and spent around a year in Pakistan, where he married and his wife became pregnant.
A passenger was killed and 15 others injured today as a private bus overturned near Pandaul Bazar in Bihar's Madhubani district, a police officer said.

The incident took place as a private bus carrying scores of passengers on way to a destination in Madhubani district overturned after the driver lost control of the vehicle, Sakri police station in-charge Satyendra Kumar Gupta said.

While an unidentified passenger died on the spot, 15 others sustained injuries, he said adding the injured persons were taken to a Primary Health Centre (PHC). The attending doctors referred six seriously injured ones to Darbhanga Medical College and Hospital (DMCH) in view of their critical conditon.

The bus driver and cleaner escaped from the spot, the police officer added.

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Pakistan Supreme Court today postponed the hearing of Christian woman Asia Bibi's appeal to overturn her death sentence in an infamous 2010 blasphemy case after one of the judges stepped down.

Bibi, a mother of five from Nankana area of Punjab province, was convicted of blasphemy in 2009 and has been on death row since 2010.

Her death sentence was upheld by the Lahore High Court in 2014 following which she lodged an appeal in the apex court.

A three-member bench of Supreme Court was set to start the hearing but Justice Iqbal Hamid-ur-Rehman, one of the judges, recused on the grounds that he also heard the case of slain Punjab liberal governor Salman Taseer.

He said that he already asked the chief justice to appoint another judge to the bench. It is unclear when the hearing will resume.

Taseer was killed in 2011 by one of his police guards, Mumtaz Qadri, when he termed the regulations "black law" following his meeting with Asia Bibi after her conviction.

Qadri was convicted for murder and hanged in February this year after his appeal was rejected by the Supreme Court. Justice Iqbal Hamid-ur-Rehman was part of the bench.

Blasphemy is a hugely sensitive issue in Muslim-majority Pakistan, which introduced the draconian laws in 1985 in a bid to appease right wing parties. These laws have been often alleged to have been misused to settle personal scores.

Militants also target people blamed for blasphemy or those demanding changes to them.

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A 7-year-old Pakistani-origin boy was allegedly beaten up by five classmates on a school bus in the US for being a Muslim, an incident that has forced his family to move back to Pakistan fearing "Donald Trump's America".

The parents of Abdul Usmani have alleged that he was bullied and beaten by five students on the bus while returning home from Weatherstone Elementary School in Cary, North Carolina, as they made references to Muslims and the boy's Pakistani heritage.

"Welcome to the United States of America of Donald Trump," Zeeshan-ul-hassan Usmani captioned a Facebook photo showing his son, Abdul, with his left arm in a sling.

"He is in grade 1, bullied and beaten by his own classmates in school bus for being a Muslim," Usmani said.

Usmani told BuzzFeed that he his wife along with their three sons have left the US for Pakistan after this latest incident in a long history of discrimination towards his children and family.

"These are six and seven year old kids calling him names, with one kid punching him in the face, while two other kids attacked him, kicked him, and held his arms back," Usmani said.

He described his son "as American as you can get".

"They keep beating him all the way from school to home on the bus," Usmani said of the boy's ride home last Friday.

Abdul, his father said, is traumatised by the attack and has a sprained arm.

Lisa Luten, a spokesperson for the Wake County Public School System, was quoted as saying that the principal of the school immediately began investigating the alleged incident after the family told them about it.

"(The principal) interviewed seven students sitting near this child, and none of the students, nor the bus driver, witnessed any type of altercation or incident," Luten said, adding that the principal has one more child to interview and has not been able to get in contact with the Usmani family since Friday.

Usmani, 38, first came to the US as a Fulbright Scholar from Pakistan and currently works as a Chief Technology Officer of a Silicon Valley data software company.

Usmani said his family was harassed by a neighbour for months because of their religion, and that his other son has been called a terrorist.

"Times are changing and it's not the America we always thought of and believed in. It's not the America that I studied in," Usmani said.

"If Trump wins, America will be great again, but a great that nobody will care about," he said.

Usmani said the irony of the alleged discrimination is he has been working to combat the effects of terrorism and has worked with the UN's Special Envoy for Global Education on a safe school initiative in Pakistan.

Usmani said his family will stay in Pakistan until after the election to see if Trump is elected to determine if his family feels safe enough to return.

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi will have nearly ten bilaterals, including an annual summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin, in three days in Goa from October 15 on the sidelines of the five-nation BRICS Summit and BIMSTEC outreach meet.

Prime Minister Modi will meet Putin on Saturday for the annual summit and the talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping are expected to be held later that day. His summit with Brazilian President Michel Temer is scheduled for Monday.

While issues such as terrorism, economy and connectivity are expected to dominate the deliberations at the multilateral-level, bilateral meetings will see India exploring ways to enhance cooperation in key areas of security, defence, energy and investments, officials said.

Apart from holding meetings with leaders of BRICS (Brazil -Russia-India-China-South Africa), Modi will have talks with Prime Ministers of Bhutan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Thailand. He will also have a bilateral with State Counsellor of Myanmar Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, who is arriving in India on October 16 on her first visit to the country after assuming the office.

During Modi-Putin meeting, key issues of defence, security, civil nuclear cooperation, trade and investment are expected to dominate the talks.

Significantly, Indian envoy to Moscow Pankaj Saran had said that India has conveyed its views to Russia over its joint exercise with Pakistan, a nation which "sponsors and practises terrorism as a matter of State policy", and that it will create further problems.

The bilateral summit also comes at a time when India is undertaking large-scale defence modernisation programme involving replacing old Russian equipment with modern ones from the country itself and from other nations.

Some of the most important defence deals currently under discussion are purchase of 5 S-400 'Triumf' long-range air defence missile systems, Kamov-28 helicopters and upgradation of the Sukhoi 30-MKIs.

On nuclear cooperation, the two sides are working to



finalise a General Framework Agreement and a Credit Protocol for unit 5 and 6 under Kudankulam project and negotiations for the same are likely to be concluded during Putin's upcoming visit, officials said.

During Modi-Xi meeting, issues such as India's NSG membership bid and China blocking the banning of terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammed's chief and mastermind of Pathankot attack Masood Azhar by the UN are likely to be discussed by the Indian side, according to officials.

Ahead of their meeting, China has indicated that it will not remove the technical hold it has placed in the UN Sanctions Committee on banning Azhar as it was opposed to anyone making "political gains in the name of counter- terrorism". However, on NSG, Chinese government has said it was "ready" to talk.

Prime Minister Modi and Chinese President Xi had last met on the sidelines of G-20 in Hangzhou in September.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate a digital exhibition on Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel on October 31 as part of a series of events to mark the birth anniversary of the first Deputy Prime Minister of independent India.

Being observed as Rashtriya Ekta Divas (National Unity Day), it has been decided that Union ministers will visit various parts of the country on the day to participate in programmes marking the birth anniversary of Patel, also known as the 'Iron Man of India', on the lines of the recently-organised mega 'Tiranga Yatra' on the eve of Independence Day.

Events lined up for the occasion include taking a unity pledge, unity runs, public rallies and various competitions such as elocutions, an official said.

The decision was taken during a 45-minute meeting which was attended by several Union ministers, including M Venkaiah Naidu, Sushma Swaraj, Nitin Gadkari, Suresh Prabhu, Ram Vilas Paswan, Anant Geete, Ravi Shankar Prasad, Narendra Singh Tomar and Dharmendra Pradhan.

Based on suggestions from various quarters, it was also decided to display a common photo, related to Patel, also the first Home Minister of independent India, at public establishments and places of public gathering, including railway stations, airports and school buildings across the country.

There were also suggestions to organise week-long programmes as part of observance of 'Ekta Week', but a call in that regard would be taken later, the official said.

As a tribute to Patel, who was instrumental in keeping India united, the Modi government has decided to observe Patel Jayanti as 'Rashtriya Ekta Diwas' as an annual commemoration.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A new terminal built for international flights at the city airport will be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on October 22, a top AAI official said today.

"Construction of the new terminal building is part of the Centre's efforts to modernise existing airports and develop them at par with international standards," Guruprasad Mohapatra, Chairman, Airports Authority of India (AAI), said.

"The new building has been constructed at a cost of Rs 160 crore and it will be inaugurated by the Prime Minister on October 22," he told PTI.

The terminal at the airport in Harni, on the city outskirts, is spread over 18,120 sq mt and can handle 700 passengers (domestic plus international) per hour. It will have 18 check-in counters, he said.

The building, a steel structure, has been designed as per the Advance Building Management System. It has hi-tech security systems, energy-saving cooling mechanism, rainwater harvesting set up and super sensitive fire safety alarm, Mohapatra said.

"Currently, 10 flights operate everyday from the Harni airport which is not equipped to handle more than the existing number of passengers. However, the new terminal will help in accommodating additional flights and passengers," he said.

International flights for neighbouring countries will be available from the terminal, but there will be no direct service for the US or the UK as the runway length is not enough to accommodate big aircraft. No international flight has been announced yet.

S Rahej, AAI Member (Planning), who recently visited the airport, said the terminal is ready for commissioning. The foundation stone for the building was laid on February 26, 2009, but actual construction work started only in May 2011.

Ranjanben Bhatt, the BJP MP from Vadodara, said the city will now find a place on the global civil aviation map.

It will be Modi's first visit to the city after assuming charge in May 2014. In the last Lok Sabha polls, Modi was elected from both Vadodara and Varanasi, but he later vacated the former.

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Gearing up for Diwali, the Delhi government has written to Delhi Police and Customs Department to "strictly" enforce the ban on import and sale of firecrackers of foreign origin in the national capital, a move essentially aimed at reining in the Chinese fireworks menace.

Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) had written to the police chief and Customs Commissioner, along with the relevant directions, on September 30.

The police were asked to take action in case of violations.

The development comes days after Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) said possession and sale of fireworks of foreign origin, which is already a restricted item as far as import is concerned, were illegal in India and punishable under the law.

"There is no blanket ban as such as it will be applicable only on hazardous fireworks. But, most of such products which find their way into the country, mainly from China, exceed the prescribed norms. These letters could be seen as a mere reiteration," a DPCC scientist explained.

Manufacture, possession, usage and sale of any explosive containing sulphur or sulphurate in admixture with any chlorate is already banned in the country.

"Till date, no licence for import of fireworks has been granted under the Explosives Rules, 2008 by Petroleum and Explosives Safety Organisation, a subordinate office of DIPP," the DIPP had said.

Air pollution in Delhi breaches all prescribed limits during Diwali.

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Two persons, who allegedly circulated rumours on social networking sites on the health status of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa, have been arrested, police said today.

Police have warned of stern action against those spreading rumours on the health of Jayalalitha, who is undergoing treatment at a corporate hospital here, and have registered 43 cases so far. Already, two persons have been arrested for spreading such rumours.

28-year-old, Mani Selvam, a bank employee, hailing from Ottapidaram Taluk, Tuticorin and 42-year-old Bala Sundaram hailing from Pammal, Chennai, were the latest to be arrested by the Central Crime Branch police, an official press release said.

Soon after Jayalalithaa was admitted to the Apollo Hospitals on September 22 after she complained of fever and dehydration, rumours were going on about her health on social networking sites including FaceBook and WhatsApp.

To end such rumours, the police have formed a team comprising private cyber experts to keep a watch on those who spread false information about the health and warned of strong action against those involved in such acts.

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The city police today opposed an application by 119 Somali nationals, arrested in 2011 for piracy in the Arabian sea, pleading guilty.

Police said before the trial started, the accused had pleaded 'not guilty', and now they could not be allowed to change their stand when the trial was reaching its end.

"We told the court that there should be no deviation from the procedure, no subsequent plea can be accepted," said special public prosecutor Ranjit Sangle.

The prosecution also said this application should be decided only at the time of recording of the statements of accused at the end of the trial.

The guilty plea came at the fag end of the trial when only one witness was left to be examined, said Sangle.

He also said the application pleading guilty did not say that the accused would not challenge the court's verdict in the high court (if convicted).

The court is likely to hear further arguments on the application next week.

The Indian Navy arrested a total of 120 Somali pirates between January and March 2011 by intercepting their boats, and rescued Thai and Myanmarese hostages.

The accused are being tried for offences under relevant sections of Indian Penal Code, Arms Act and Unlawful Activities Prevention Act. One of them died during the trial.

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A police head constable and two clerks in Rajasthan were today arrested for allegedly taking bribe in separate cases by the anti-corruption bureau in the state.

Head constable Prakash Chandra, who was posted with Kalinjara police station in Banswara, had allegedly demanded a bribe of Rs 3,000 from a man for taking action against an accused named in an FIR lodged by his sister in a dowry case.

After verification of the compliant, the head constable was held, IG ACB V K Singh said.

In Sawaimadhopur district, a junior division clerk Hargoving Singh of SDM Court - Chauth Ka Barwarad was held while accepting the bribe of Rs 3,000 from an employee posted with deputy collector office.

Another upper division clerk of AEN office, Jaipur DISCOM in Alwar, Radheyshyam, was nabbed for taking a bribe of Rs 2,000 from the manager of a company to increase the power load of his firm.

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Two members of a Polish mountaineering team fell ill while trying to climb the Himalayan peak of Shivlinga, prompting the administration to press SDRF personnel, NIM experts and a chopper into operation to rescue them.

Two Polish nationals who were part of a five-member team of mountaineers from that country fell ill on way to Shivlinga peak located at a height of 6,543 metres above Gomukh a couple of days back, Uttarkashi SP Dadanpal said.

A rescue operation was launched by SDRF personnel and experts from Nehru Institute of Mountaineering on board a chopper yesterday after other members of the group returned to their base camp at Tapovan and informed authorities about it, he said.

However, the ailing Polish mountaineers have not been rescued so far, he said.

The helicopter has landed at Tapovan from where the SDRF personnel and NIM experts have to trek to the peak to bring back the ailing mountaineers, he said.

The Polish mountaineering team had begun the expedition on September 22.

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The Jawaharlal Nehru University Teachers' Association (JNUTA) said the varsity has not rejected the proposal to introduce certificate courses in yoga and Indian culture and was deliberating it even as the students union claimed otherwise.

Students' Union maintained that the Academic Council, which is the varsity's statutory decision-making body, has rejected the proposal to introduce these courses "with majority".

"At a recently convened meeting of the Academic Council, certificate course in computational linguistics was approved and two other courses  yoga philosophy and Indian culture  received wonderful suggestions.

"It was decided that the centre concerned might improve the courses in the light of suggestions made and then come back to the Council. At no stage the proposal was rejected outright," a statement issued by JNUTA said.

However, JNUSU in a statement said, "While the students continued to protest outside the AC meeting venue, the proposal to introduce short-term courses in yoga and Indian culture was rejected with majority."

When contacted, the university administration did not comment on the "actual status" of the courses.

The proposal to introduce three short-term courses in these subjects had come last year against the backdrop of right-wing organisations, including RSS, insisting on propagation of culture in educational campuses to promote India's rich heritage and restore its cultural identity.

Following various communications from the HRD Ministry and the University Grants Commission (UGC), had last year circulated a draft of three courses among its various schools and departments for their feedback. The proposal was rejected by the Academic Council in November.

However, the varsity had in May decided to reconsider it and the departments were asked to rework on the proposed course structure and place the same before the council.

The matter was placed before the AC which was held last week amid protests by a section of students.
Condemning the killing of a man allegedly by the liquor mafia in Jalandhar, Congress and AAP today alleged that there was a "complete breakdown" of law and order in the state.

Congress leaders in a joint statement said the murder of Manish Luthra in Jalandhar comes just after a youth, Sukhchain Singh, was killed in Mansa for similar reasons, symbolising "total anarchy" prevailing in Punjab.

They accused the Parkash Singh Badal government of "spreading jungle raj".

The statement was jointly issued by state Congress vice-president Avtar Henry, general secretary Tejinder Singh Bittu, Jalandhar urban and rural presidents Rajinder Berry and Jagbir Brar respectively.

Attacking the state government and Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal, who holds the Home Affairs portfolio, the leaders alleged that the mafia was enjoying the patronage of Akali Dal leaders.

Alleging that the police was "playing into the hands" of SAD leaders, they said, "The way the police force is functioning, it would not be wrong to say that the men in 'Khaki' have virtually turned into Akali workers."



Demanding immediate arrest of those involved in Luthra's murder, they said like Sukhchain Singh, he was also murdered for standing up against the liquor mafia "which is controlled by the Badals".

Meanwhile, AAP's Punjab Convener Gurpreet Singh Waraich said, "The law and order situation has hit a new low in Punjab and it was evident from the series of murders by the liquor mafia this year."



"It seems the mafias -- be it in liquor, sand, land, cable or transport, are virtually ruling the state. This can be gauged from the fact that even after having enough evidence of mafia involvement in the crime the police seemed to be in fear to act under pressure from Akalis," Waraich alleged.

He said if voted to power, the AAP would wipe out the mafia from state and even abolish "Gunda Tax" being taken from sand miners.

AAP demanded Sukhbir's resignation alleging he failed to maintain law and order in the state.

Condemning atrocities on the Dalit community in the state,



Punjab Congress chief Amarinder Singh said he will soon meet family members of the Dalit youth who was killed in Mansa.

"I will meet the youth's family and assure them that the culprits will not go scot-free," he said in Amritsar.

He sought a thorough and unbiased probe in the case and alleged that the repeated attacks on Dalits "were being carried out by mafia and criminals having links to the SAD leadership".

"Such criminals cannot be allowed to roam free. It is the state government's responsibility to bring them to book," he said.

"It is evident that crime against Dalits in Punjab has increased by horrendous proportions under the Badal regime," he alleged, demanding stern and prompt action against the perpetrators in crimes against Dalits.

Taking a jibe at Badal's claims of Punjab being a peaceful state under his rule, he asked, "How can Badal even think of making such a claim when the government has completely failed to ensure the safety of people?"



Punjab has become a "crime state" under Badal's rule, he alleged.
Racially and religiously aggravated abuse incidents in the UK registered a 41 per cent jump in July, a month after the Brexit vote, according to new official statistics released today.

The Home Office said while the figures registered a drop in August, they still remain at a higher level than before the UK's referendum on June 23 to leave the European Union (EU).

As many as 5,468 race hate crimes were registered in July this year, compared to 3,886 in July, 2015, according to figures released by the UK Home Office.

"The number of racially or religiously aggravated offences recorded by the police in July, 2016 was 41 per cent higher than in July, 2015. This level of increase in these offences broadly mirrors the increase in hate crime reported by the National Police Chiefs' Council (NPCC) over the summer," the Home Office statement said.

"There was an increase in the number of racially or religiously aggravated offences recorded in June, 2016, followed by an even sharper increase in July 2016. The number of offences declined in August but remained at a level higher than prior to the referendum," it added.

Hate crime is defined by police as "any criminal offence which is perceived, by the victim or any other person, to be motivated by hostility or prejudice towards someone based on a personal characteristic".

UK Home Secretary Amber Rudd said: "I am pleased to see government action is working and that more victims arefinding the confidence to come forward to report these crimes. Our hate crime laws are among the best in the world, but we cannot becomplacent," Rudd said.

UK police forces monitor hate crimes under five broad strands of race, religion, sexual orientation, disability or transgender identity.

Overall, in 2015-2016, there were 62,518 offences recorded by the police in which one or more hate crime strands were deemed to be a motivating factor.

This was an increase of 19 per cent compared with the 52,465 hate crimes recorded in 2014/15.

Mark Hamilton, NPCC's lead on hate crime, said: "Nobody inthis country should have to live their lives enduring fear, intimidation or - ina third of cases - violence because of who they are."



"We are encouraged by the analysis that a large part ofthis increase is driven by better police reporting and support systems givingvictims the confidence to speak up and get help," Hamilton said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A railway engineer on duty was killed while his colleague was injured when they were run over by a goods train near Kopar railway station.

Assistant divisional signal and telecom engineer Navneet Palane (47) and his colleague Deo Bhau (59) were working on the tracks when they failed to notice the approaching train yesterday, a senior railway official said.

Both were hit by the train and fell off the tracks. The other railway employees working there immediately rushed them to a nearby hospital where Palane was declared dead on arrival. Bhau is reported to be out of danger and is recuperating, he said.

Describing the incident as "extremely unfortunate", a Central Railway spokesperson said the victims were conducting a routine inspection at the time of the mishap, and added their their families would be compensated as per rules.

However, the angry railway unions demanded foolproof safety measures for men at work.

A Central Railway Mazdoor Union leader said the railway administration is not paying heed to their demands for better safety measures.

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STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Right about now ,Fran Reali, an Advance Woman of Achievement in the Class of 2008, is prepping and polishing her one-woman show: "Reali-ty of Breast Cancer,"

The production -- at 8 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 27, in the splendid St. George Theatre -- promises to bring laughter and tears as it raises funds to fight breast cancer by taking the audience on her journey from diagnosis, to treatment, to triumph.

Her goal? To empower women to take the fight head on, because "with love and support, you will overcome."



With solid roots in the community, Reali, who heads up Safari Realty with her husband, Frank Reali, is shining the spotlight on the "Reali-ties" of breast cancer and the courage it takes to overcome the disease not only with love, but with hope and humor.



In 2015, Reali was diagnosed with the disease that claims nearly 600,000 American lives each year and led to her undergo a double mastectomy.

During her year long battle, she began documenting her experience, intending to share with women the importance of a routine mammography test and breast screenings.



"During my treatment I began taking photos to highlight the range of emotions I, and my loved ones, were experiencing," Reali explained. "It was a surreal experience, and anyone that knows me, knows that I could only take this on with my family and a little humor."



No stranger to tragedy in the past, Fran and her husband have been on a life-saving mission for young, local athletes after the sudden loss of their son, Frank J. Reali III, to an undiagnosed heart condition in 2007.

The husband-and-wife team created "Protecting One Young Heart at a Time," a foundation in their son's memory, that brings cardiac testing to student athletes -- free of charge.



Fran's taking this same passionate approach for awareness to breast cancer.



"Though humor was my approach, even during the most difficult days, it's not everyone's way to cope. I'm not trying to demean the severity of breast cancer; I wanted to show people that there can be hope and healing through humor."



All net proceeds from the event will benefit patients at the Florina Rusi Marke Comprehensive Breast Center at Staten Island University Hospital with charitable assistance to ease the financial burden for all women -- and men -- fighting the disease.

What's more, Staten Island locals can look for oversized FlatFrannie cardboard cutouts at any of the locations posted below.

Fran adds: "Feel free to take a selfie and post it to Facebook, Instagram, Twitter for a chance to win a ticket to the Oct. 27th show at the St. George Theatre."



Dr. Culliford's Office South Avenue, Northwell Health / Staten Island University Hospital, Ocean Breeze, Moravian Florist, Grant City Li Greci's Staaten, West Brighton, Safari Realty, Meiers Corners, SIBOR, Graniteville, Investors Bank, West Brighton, LaFontana Restaurant, Oakwood, Mrs. Rosemary's Dance Studio, New Dorp, 1 Edgewater Plaza, Clifton and Alfonso's Pastry Shop, Meiers Corners.



To learn more about the show, contact Fran at 718-442-5200.

For tickets visit TicketMaster.com or call the St George Theatre at 718-442-2900



CELEBRATIONS: OCT. 14-15

Happy birthday Friday to Jeff Turrisi as well as his son, Thomas, Arthur Silva, Alberto Rosa Jr., Rosemarie Gangemi, Ferdinand Scarsella Jr., John Glancy, past governor of the Moose Lodge, Celia Scalici, Kimberly Bougadis, Keith O'Brien, Emily Grace DiToro, Donna Young and Stella Rose Caputo.

Friday is wedding anniversary time for Cathy and Rich Akalski, Linda and Bob Schaffer, Doris and George Bossert, Lisa and Charles Romano who celebrate their 21st and to Dolores and Dom Vitale.

Saturday is birthday time for Joanne Cook, Frances Brown, Carlene Zippilli, Doreen Porter, Sean Thomas Manahan and Helene Fitzgibbons.

Happy wedding anniversary Saturday to

Rose and Tom McClaughry,

to

Rita

and

Chris Hoey

and to

Linda

and
Seeking to cater to the patients in the national capital and neighbouring region, a new-age oncology centre has been commissioned in the heart of Delhi, where cancer cases have been on the rise in the last few years.

Rajiv Gandhi Cancer Institute & Research Centre (RGCIRC), one of Asia's largest centres for cancer care, has been launched in collaboration with National Chest Institute and is located in a modern facility in Gautam Nagar area.

"Delhi has among the highest incidence rates for childhood cancers in the country. According to Indian Council of Medical Research report 2012-14, Delhi had reported 551 new cases of cancers, which was 5.4 per cent of the total cases of cancers reported in India. 309 cases were reported in girls, which is 3.2 per cent of the total cases," RGCIRC said.

D S Negi, CEO of RGCIRC said, "We have set up the south Delhi centre to cater to the pressing need for our services in this part of the national capital region. RGCIRC's presence here will make it convenient for many in this part of the city as well as those in Noida, Faridabad, Gurgaon and Ghaziabad."



The RGCIRC says more than 1,300 people die of cancer everyday and cancer cases in Delhi have been "on a rise" rapidly since 2008-09.

"According to ICMR, cancer cases in India are expected to jump from around 14 lakh in 2016 to over 17.3 lakh by 2020. Deaths due to cancer are projected to go up from 7.36 lakh to over 8.8 lakh in the next four years," it said in a statement.

"We get more than 60,000 patients every year for diagnosis and treatment at our main campus in Rohini. RGCIRC carries a legacy of 20 years, having catered to more than two lakh patients. We sincerely hope our expertise will help many more people."



The new centre will offer daycare services, emergency services and intensive care for cancer patients, supported by a round-the-clock pharmacy and diagnostics. It will hold super-specialty clinics on dedicated days so as to provide focused care.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Union Minister Arun Jaitley today asserted that religion cannot dictate upon the rights of an individual and attacked Congress over its stand on the Uniform Civil Code, saying it was the Constituent Assembly controlled by the party that had envisaged a common civil law for all Indians.

"The Constitution today guarantees each individual right to equality, right to live with dignity. Therefore as far as personal laws are concerned I am one of those who believe that set of rights that personal law has... Will have to be regulated by the Constitution.

"Personal law cannot practise, propagate discrimination; cannot allow a compromise with human dignity. Personal law and practises can certainly deal with religion, can dictate upon rituals. The religion cannot dictate upon rights of individuals," the Finance Minister said.

The government's affidavit on triple talaq is a secular approach, an approach that cuts upon religion, he said.

He rejected the criticism of the government by various Muslim bodies, saying personal laws have been amended by the various governments and cited the amendment brought in by the first NDA government in divorce laws governing Christians. The Church fully supported it, he said.

The Manmohan Singh government had also brought changes in Hindu Succession Act to bring the woman at par with the man in inheritance, Jaitley told Times Now.

Taking a dig at Congress, he said he was "amazed" at its stand as he recalled that the likes of Jawaharlal Nehru and Sardar Patel, who belonged to the party, had envisaged an Uniform Civil Code.

He added that the Law Commission, which has sought views of various stake holders on the UCC, is carrying out an academic exercise following a judicial order and it was not the government's decision.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Russian oil giant Rosneft, together with European commodities trader Trafigura and Russian fund UCP are likely to buy Essar Oil for about USD 13 billion, leaving a token 2 per cent stake with existing promoters, the Ruia family.

The deal, which includes taking over of USD 4.5 billion debt on Essar Oil books, is likely to be signed on Saturday in Goa, sources privy to the transaction said.

Rosneft PJSC is likely to take 49 per cent stake while Trafigura Group Pte and UCP will split another 49 per cent equally among them.

The Ruia family, which currently owns Essar Oil, will keep a token 2 per cent stake after the deal is signed during Russian President Vladimir Putin's visit to Goa for the BRICS Summit on October 15-16, sources said.

They said originally Ruias wanted to shed only 49 per cent in favour of Rosneft but the USD 3.5 billion they would have got from the Russian company wasn't enough to pay of the USD 4.5 billion debt on the company's books.

A larger 74 per cent stake was offered to Rosneft but that idea was dropped as the Russian company faces US sanctions and by a virtue of its majority stake Essar Oil too would have come on that list.

At this stage, Trafigura was roped in and offered 24 per cent stake. Trafigura, which has close ties to Rosneft, was to finance its acquisition by taking loan from Russia's VTB Capital, part of state-controlled bank VTB.

Sources said Trafigura is likely to take 24.5 per cent stake and UCP a matching interest.

The deal includes the Vadinar refinery as well as the Vadinar port and more than 2,500 petrol pumps. A power plant serving the refinery as well as company's coal-bed methane (CBM) blocks are unlikely to be included in the deal.

As part of the deal, Rosneft-Trafigura will also takeover the debt of Essar Oil, sources said.

Last year US Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) had issued a Crimea Sanctions Advisory, adding Rosneft and its subsidiaries to its Sectoral Sanctions Identifications List in retaliation for the Russian "invasion" of eastern Ukraine.

Entities on this list are subject to economic and trade sanctions on grounds that they pose a risk to US national security and are in violation of US foreign policy objectives.

OAO Rosneft had in March signed a non-binding agreement to buy a 49 per cent stake in Essar Oil. This was a follow-up of the July 2015 deal wherein Rosneft was to supply Vadinar refinery with 200,000 barrels of crude per day (10 million tons a year) for 10 years.

Sources said Trafigura may at a later stage transfer its stake to Rosneft.

Trafigura handles most of the crude exported by Rosneft. This has propelled Trafigura to being the world's second- biggest independent oil trader, handling more than 4 million barrels a day.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Billionaire Ruia brothers are likely to sign this weekend a USD 7 billion deal to sell most of their holding in the flagship Essar Oil Ltd to Russian giant Rosneft PJSC, commodities trader Trafigura Group Pte and some financial investors.

While Rosneft, the national oil company of Russia, is likely to buy 49 per cent stake in Essar Oil that owns a 20 million tons refinery at Vadinar in Gujarat, Trafigura may pick up 24 per cent. The Ruia-family may just keep 5-7 per cent and shed the remaining in favour of small investors.

The deal is likely to be inked during Russian President Vladimir Putin's visit to Goa for the BRICS Summit on October 15-16, sources privy to the transaction said.

Sources said originally Ruias wanted to shed only 49 per cent in favour of Rosneft but the USD 3.5 billion they would have got from the Russian company wasn't enough to pay of the USD 4.5 billion debt on the company's books.

A larger 74 per cent stake was offered to Rosneft but that idea was dropped as the Russian company faces US sanctions and by a virtue of its majority stake Essar Oil too would have come on that list.

At this stage, Trafigura was roped in and offered 24 per cent stake. Trafigura, which has close ties to Rosneft, was to finance its acquisition by taking loan from a Russian bank.

Sources said Trafigura's stake would go up to 30 per cent and another 10-15 per cent interest is likely to be picked up by unnamed financial investors.

The deal includes the Vadinar refinery as well as the Vadinar port and more than 2,500 petrol pumps. A power plant serving the refinery as well as company's coal-bed methane (CBM) blocks are unlikely to be included in the deal.

As part of the deal, Rosneft-Trafigura will also takeover the debt of Essar Oil, sources said.

Last year US Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) had issued a Crimea Sanctions Advisory, adding Rosneft and its subsidiaries to its Sectoral Sanctions Identifications List in retaliation for the Russian "invasion" of eastern Ukraine.

Entities on this list are subject to economic and trade sanctions on grounds that they pose a risk to US national security and are in violation of US foreign policy objectives.

OAO Rosneft had in March signed a non-binding agreement to buy a 49 per cent stake in Essar Oil. This was a follow-up of the July 2015 a deal wherein Rosneft was to supply Vadinar refinery with 200,000 barrels of crude per day (10 million tons a year) for 10 years.

Sources said Trafigura may at a later stage transfer its stake to Rosneft.

Trafigura handles most of the crude exported by Rosneft. This has propelled Trafigura to being the world's second- biggest independent oil trader, handling more than four million barrels a day.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Russia said on Thursday that it was prepared to secure safe passage for rebels to quit Syria's Aleppo but kept up air strikes on the battleground city as world powers readied new truce talks.

Syria has been plunged into some of the worst violence of its five-year war since the collapse last month of a truce brokered by Washington and Moscow.

The ensuing surge in fighting has accompanied a large-scale government offensive, backed by Russian air power, to capture the opposition-held half of battered Aleppo.

Russia said it was willing to give rebels safe passage out of Aleppo, where over 250,000 people are under government siege.

"We are ready to ensure the safe withdrawal of armed rebels, the unimpeded passage of civilians to and from eastern Aleppo, as well as the delivery of humanitarian aid there," Russian Lieutenant General Sergei Rudskoy said in a televised briefing.

Early morning raids in east Aleppo killed at least seven civilians, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said, and regime forces captured high ground overlooking opposition areas on the northeastern outskirts of the city.

The Observatory also said five children were killed by rebel rocket fire on western regime-held neighbourhoods, with state television saying a school had been hit.

Residents in the west said they had been forced to pull over in their cars to take shelter in buildings because of the barrage of rebel fire.

Moscow has come under mounting pressure over the rising civilian death toll from President Bashar al-Assad's Russian-backed campaign to take east Aleppo, including Western accusations of possible war crimes.

And analysts said today's offer was simply a gambit to relieve the pressure by appearing to present diplomatic alternatives.

"There is no change in the Russian strategy, the goal remains the destruction of rebel presence in Aleppo," said Syria expert Thomas Pierret.

"Blowing hot and cold allows them to reduce the pressure and empower those who want a strictly diplomatic approach to the Syrian question," he told AFP.

Since the army's assault began in late September, Russian and government bombardment has killed more than 370 people, including 68 children, according to an Observatory toll.

Shelling by rebel and jihadist groups, meanwhile, has killed 68 people in government-held areas.

Several major efforts have failed to secure a political solution to Syria's brutal war, which has cost more than 300,000 lives.
Russia today said its recent military exercises with Pakistan had not affected the preparation for Russian President Vladimir Putin's India visit this week.

"The Indian partners did not link in any way their concerns (over military exercises with Pakistan) with the president's visit," Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov was quoted as saying by Russia's state-run TASS agency.

He made the remarks in response to a question about "whether the recent Russia-Pakistan military exercises in the zone considered by India as a disputed territory had affected the preparation of the Russian leader's visit".

Russian President Putin and Prime Minister Narendra Modi will hold talks in Goa on Saturday, ahead of the BRICS Summit.

The Kremlin aide said that apart from the bilateral agenda, "the Russian and Indian leaders would discuss the situation in Syria, Afghanistan and other countries, and also the fight against terrorism".

Putin and Modi will also discuss cooperation in nuclear power engineering and military-technical cooperation, he said.

Ahead of their annual bilateral Summit, India had conveyed its opposition to Russia over its joint exercise with Pakistan, a nation which "sponsors and practises terrorism as a matter of State policy", saying it will create further problems.

"We have conveyed our views to the Russian side that military cooperation with Pakistan which is a state that sponsors and practises terrorism as a matter of state policy is a wrong approach and it will only create further problems," Indian Ambassador to Moscow Pankaj Saran had said in an interview to Russian agency Ria Novosti.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
South African President Jacob Zuma moved today to block a watchdog's potentially explosive report into graft allegations against him, in his latest legal bid to protect his battered reputation.

Zuma, 74, has survived a series of damaging scandals while in office, but has faced increasing criticism as the economy stalls and after the ruling ANC party suffered unprecedented losses in local polls.

Public Protector Thuli Madonsela had been expected to release tomorrow her report into allegations that Zuma let a wealthy business family have undue influence over government and were even able to choose ministers.

"There is an application for an urgent interdict," Zuma's spokesman Bongani Ngqulunga told AFP, giving no further details.

Madonsela's spokesman said the court application was due to be heard Tuesday.

Madonsela, who is celebrated in South Africa for her diligent work unearthing official misconduct, stands down on Saturday after completing her seven-year term in office.

In 2014, she dealt a major blow to Zuma in a report that found he had "unduly benefited" from the refurbishment of his Nkandla rural home -- valued in 2014 at 216 million rand (then USD 24 million).

Zuma fought the case until being berated by the Constitutional Court and ordered to pay back USD 500,000 of money that had been spent on upgrades including a chicken coop and a swimming pool that was described as a fire-fighting precaution.

The Nkandla scandal became a symbol of corruption and greed within the African National Congress and triggered several unsuccessful impeachment bids against Zuma by the opposition.

The president's new legal battle is to seek to block a report into "state capture" -- the alleged corrupt influence of the powerful Gupta business family on government appointments, contracts and state-owned businesses.

The three Gupta brothers, Ajay, Atul and Rajesh, have built a business empire in mining, media, technology and engineering since moving to South Africa in the 1990s.

Madonsela questioned Zuma for four hours earlier this month over the allegations, including the suggestion that deputy finance minister Mcebisi Jonas had been offered a promotion by the Guptas.

"One would think that President Zuma has concluded that the report won't be too friendly on him, that it might contain explosive findings," Richard Calland, political analyst based at the University of Cape Town, told AFP.

Ralph Mathekga, an independent political analyst, described Zuma's action as "abuse of the legal system".

"He is under pressure," he said. "He wants to try and bury the report in its current form before it even sees the light of day, which is a complete suppression.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Sahibganj in Jharkhand is set to come up as an exim point with a multimodal hub being developed there, and the government's nod to Rs 1,955-crore project on Thursday to link it to Bihar will further boost connectivity, Union Minister said.

"We are constructing a multi-modal hub on the Ganga at Sahibganj with railway, road and water connectivity. We have acquired land and exports can be done to Bangladesh and even to Myanmar, besides goods despatches to West Bengal and Bihar," the road transport, highways and shipping minister said while interacting with the media.

He said the Cabinet nod to the Rs 1,955-crore highway project for construction of a link between Sahibganj in Jharkhand to Manihari in Bihar, including a bridge on the Ganga, will improve connectivity between North India and the North-East.

"This project will prove to be a new link to connect North India to the North-East," he said, adding that goods could also be transported from Sahibganj to Chittagong and other places potentially reducing the transportation cost.

According to Gadkari, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will lay the foundation stone of the project and land.

"The project will prove a milestone for development of Bihar and Jharkhand, and about 70 per cent of the land has been acquired for it," he said.

The cost of the project is estimated to be Rs 1,954.77 crore, including that of land acquisition, resettlement and rehabilitation and other pre-construction activities. The total length of the road to be developed is approximately 22 kms.

The project, the minister said, will be executed in hybrid annuity mode, with the government providing 40 per cent of the cost, while the developer will have to arrange for the remaining 60 per cent.

The new link road will be approximately 16 km long, starting (from Sahibganj Pass in Jharkhand) to another six-km stretch near Narenpur (junction of NH-133B and NH-131A on Manihari bypass in Bihar). This stretch includes a four-lane bridge on the Ganga.

The project, the government said, will help expedite improvement of infrastructure in Bihar and Jharkhand and cut down the time and cost of travel in these states. The development of this stretch is also expected to help uplift socio-economic conditions of people of this region in the state.

It would also enhance employment potential for local labourers for project activities.

The project highway serves as a new formation of the missing link at NH-131A to NH-133B connecting Sahibganj in Jharkhand and Manihari in Bihar. At present, there is a missing link between Jharkhand and Bihar as there is no bridge on the Ganga at this point.

The vehicular traffic uses Vikramshila Setu at Bhagalpur on Farakka barrage, which means covering a long distance for reaching North Bihar.
Superstar Salman Khan is back to playing Chulbul Pandey, but not for the third part, instead it is for a live stunt show "Dabangg," to be held at Bollywood Parks Dubai.

In a behind the scenes video the 50-year-old actor is seen introducing the audience to the show and sets the scene for the stunt performance.

The action filled video also stars, Arbaaz Khan, also co-actor from the film.

"As soon as the mustache and uniform is on, the voice changes, the gait and my whole personality changes. Today, I'm playing my character of Chulbul Pandey, a cop. Expect action, some weird funny dancing steps and humour." Salman said in the video.

The stunt show will take audience on an adventure with police officer Chulbul Pandey, where he has to rescue his damsel Rajjo and her friends from the grabs of fictitious goons.

"I feel no one could have played Chulbul's role better than Salman Khan, as he added a dash of his own personality. While the script offers one thing, Salman had brought a lot more to the table," said Arbaaz, who is also producer of the film.

Shujaat Saudagar is directing the introduction to the show.

Bollywood Parks Dubai is the world's first Bollywood inspired theme park and part of Dubai Parks and Resorts, the Middle East's largest integrated theme park destination.

This zone will also have an interactive track-bound dark ride called "Sholay,The Hunt for Gabbar Singh" with 3D projection, themed show scenes and 4D effects.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Scotland today announced the first step towards holding a referendum on its independence from the UK with its leader saying the country "had the right" to choose a different path if it was not allowed to protect its interests "within the UK".

Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon told the Scottish National Party's conference in Glasgow that an Independence Referendum Bill would be published next week, which marks the first step towards holding a referendum.

"I am determined that Scotland will have the ability to reconsider the question of independence and to do so before the UK leaves the EU - if that is necessary to protect our country's interests. So, I can confirm today that the Independence Referendum Bill will be published for consultation next week," Sturgeon said.

Scotland had the right to choose a different path if it was not allowed to protect its interests "within the UK" in reference to UK's vote to leave the European Union (EU) in June, she said.

Scotland by contrast had voted decisively to stay within the economic bloc.

Those who voted in Scotland backed remaining in Europe by 62 per cent to 38 per cent while the UK as a whole backed leave, by a margin of 52 per cent to 48 per cent.

The first Scottish independence referendum, which took place in September 2014, resulted in a 55 per cent vote against independence.

Sturgeon insisted that British Prime Minister Theresa May needed to respect the 62 per cent who voted to remain in the EU otherwise a second vote may go differently.

She also confirmed that Scottish National Party (SNP) MPs would oppose Brexit legislation when it comes before the House of Commons in 2017.

"The prime minister may have a mandate to take England and Wales out of the EU but she has no mandate whatsoever to remove any part of the UK from the single market," Sturgeon said.

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Since 2008, the Oklahoma legislature has cut almost a quarter out of its per-pupil education spending. Its the largest drop in the nation and has resulted in teacher layoffs, overcrowded classrooms, and a reduction in class offerings.

Weve written extensively about how the budget cuts have roiled state politics there, culminating this year in a ballot measure to raise the states sales tax and more than 40 teachers running for state office.

Cassidy Coffey, a student at U.S. Grant High School in Oklahoma City, used social media to organize over a thousand students to walk out of school on May 16, 2016. In this video she tells us her story.

Dont miss another State EdWatch post. Sign up here to get news alerts in your email inbox. And make sure to follow @StateEdWatch on Twitter for the latest news from state K-12 policy and politics.
Market regulator Sebi has confirmed its interim order banning 21 entities in a case related to tax evasion and illegal gains through misuse of stock exchange mechanism.

A detailed investigation is on against others.

Sebi in an interim order dated June 1 had barred Dhyana Finstock and 75 other entities, including the aforesaid 21, from the market for using the securities system to artificially bump up volume and price of the scrip to provide illegitimate gains to preferential allottees.

The end purpose, according to the Securities and Exchange Board of India, is to claim long-term capital gains (LTCG) benefits.

As per the interim order, the probe by Sebi and BSE began after the stock exchange received complaints from several investors in July last year that they have entered into buy trades in Dhyana on July 27, 2015 based on the stock tips received through SMS.

According to the earlier order, a website registered in Pakistan -- 'bsebull.In' -- was used to lure investors through fraudulent SMSes. A number of buy orders were placed based on messages appearing on bsebull.In, Sebi had noted.

The latest order comes after the 21 entities did not submit their reply and failed to avail of personal hearing after the interim order was passed in June.

"I am of the view that the noticees (21) are deliberately keeping away from these proceedings and are not willing to co-operate," Sebi Whole-time Member Rajeev Kumar Aggarwal said.

As per the interim order, the company, its directors, promoters, preferential allottees and the Dhyana group employed a device wherein "the company in nexus with the preferential allottees made a facade of preferential allotment".

After the expiry of the lock-in period, the Dhyana group purchased shares from preferential allottees at artificially increased prices. In the whole process, entities of the Dhyana Group provided a hugely profitable exit to the preferential allottees.

The regulator noted that the beneficiaries made a collective profit of Rs 107.43 crore on a collective investment of Rs 5.22 crore, a whopping return of approximately 2,060 per cent on their investment in 20 months.

In its latest order, Aggarwal said he did not find "any reason to revoke or modify the directions of the interim order dated June 1, 2016, in the matter of Dhyana Finstock Ltd against the noticees (21 entities)".

Accordingly, Sebi has confirmed the interim order passed against the 21 entities.

Sebi had prima facie found that the entities acted in concert for implementation of the dubious plan, device and artifice that has led to the misuse of stock exchange mechanism.

The rules pertaining to calculation of the indicative



amount for settlement are also likely to be amended.

In order to provide diversified options for investors, Sebi has proposed 'alternative securities' as a new asset class for investments by mutual funds. For now, it will have only REITs and InvITs.

The move is likely to help in attracting more number of investors into REITs and InvITs.

A mutual fund will be permitted to invest only up to 5 per cent of their net asset value in units of a single issuer of alternative securities. The limit will be 10 per cent for total exposure to alternative securities. These caps will not be applicable in the case of index funds.

To boost municipal bonds, also known as muni bonds, Sebi is planning to amend the relevant regulations in order to provide criteria that are alternative to 'net worth' of the municipalities.

The concept of net worth basically applies to a corporate entity and might not be applicable to a municipality in absolute terms. To gauge the financial capacity of a municipality, an alternative criterion is being worked out, the official said.

According to the proposal, a municipality planning to issue bonds should not have negative net worth or material deficit as per its income and expenditure statement for three preceding financial years. Sebi could also come out with any financial criteria from time to time.

The board will also discuss the status of amendments to regulations related to REITs and InvITs.

Amendments to these regulations were notified in November last year and subsequently two InvITs have filed their offer documents with Sebi.

Besides, the regulator will consider a proposal of calibrating the fees, upwards or downwards, for other regulatory works.

It plans to levy a filing fee on draft scheme of arrangements on the lines of amount charged for placing offer documents. Sebi observed that similar work and allocation of resources are involved in respect of processing of draft schemes of arrangements as it is for offer documents.

Further, it plans to charge fee for application under buyback regulations. It is considering to impose a processing fee of Rs 1 lakh on an application for relaxation of strict enforcement of Sebi's ICDR (Issue of Capital and Disclosure Requirements) regulations. Currently, no fee is being charged for processing of such requests.

Also, it plans to revise upwards the panel exemption fee under takeover norms to Rs 5 lakh from Rs 3 lakh. With regard to regulatory fee from exchanges, Sebi will continue with the present fee structure.
Security has been ramped up in the state capital in view of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit here tomorrow.

Modi is scheduled to arrive at the airport around 4 PM and thereafter will head to address an ex-servicemen (Sainik) Sammelan at Lal Parade Ground here, an official of the Public Relation Department said.

He will meet the Jain saint Acharya Vidhyasagarji Maharaj at a Jain temple.

Later, the Prime Minister will inaugurate the Shourya Smarak built at Arera Hills spread over an area of 12.67 acre land and constructed with a cost of Rs 41 crore.

He will remain in Bhopal for nearly three hours before leaving for his onward destination, the official said.

Bhopal Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG) Raman Singh Sikarwar said 5,000 policemen have been deployed at the airport, route and the venue of the three events.

He said police were keeping an eye at public places like stations, bus stands, hotels and hostels.

Sikarwar said vehicles entering into the district are being searched, while security drills are also being carried out.

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BJP MP Kirit Somaiya today alleged that Shiv Sena workers, led by a local leader, tried to kill him "as part of a plan" and urged Mumbai Police Commissioner Datta Padsalgikar to "unearth the plot mastermind".

"The Sena vibhag pramukh has publicly owned up to responsibility for the attack on me and other BJP workers on Tuesday. The Police Commissioner should probe who was the mastermind of the plot to kill me," he told PTI.

"At their Dussehra rally, Sena leaders spoke of surgical strikes if the alliance was broken for the BMC polls. Did they mean this (attempt on my life) by surgical strike," Somaiya said, without naming Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray.

At a 'Ravan dahan' (Ravan burning) function at suburban Mulund, where Somaiya was present, a scuffle broke out between his partymen and Shiv Sainiks, resulting in injuries to a few.

The BJP MP has been targeting the Shiv Sena over "corruption" in Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) and at the function, he reportedly described Ravan as the "BMC mafia" which apparently irked the Shiv Sainiks.

Somaiya today wrote a letter to the Police Commissioner, in which he alleged that "over a hundred persons in vehicles" were waiting at the venue to launch an attack on him.

"After the Ravan dahan, after most of the BJP activists had left the venue and as I came out to get into my car, they suddenly rushed at me with weapons," he alleged.

"We thank you for arresting 13 persons who attacked me with weapons," he added.

"It seems, their plan was to kill/incapacitate me to protect their bosses/mafias. It was a well-designed attack of the group/mafias/party," Somaiya alleged without naming the Sena.

"They waited till the programme got over and all the BJP activists had gone away and attacked me when I was alone," he added.

The BJP leader also thanked the Personal Security Officer (PSO) provided by the Police Commissioner to him, saying he saved his life.

"It must be noted that seven BJP activists (including three women), while protecting me, sustained major injuries (fractures) and were admitted to Hira Monghi Hospital at Mulund. Had police/PSO not taken me away, these goondas would have killed me," he alleged.

"We expect action against those involved, including the mastermind, who has stated in a TV interview that they had planned it and will repeat it. It is nothing but an attempt to silence me for raising my voice against the Rs-5,000 crore corruption in the BMC by the mafia," said Somaiya.

(REOPENS BOM 30)



Meanwhile, reacting to the alleged assault on Somaiya and the BJP MP's allegations against the Shiv Sena, Mumbai Congress chief Sanjay Nirupam said the tussle between the two alliance partners -- BJP and Shiv Sena -- was mere "drama".

"The alliance between these two parties for the last 25 years is nothing but a political theatre. Whenever elections approach, the two parties indulge in fights which has become a customary thing now," he said.

"I want to ask Somaiya, how come his own party is not a partner in the corruption in BMC? How can he and his party wash their hands off corruption," said Nirupam.

Terming the entire episode a "political drama" and a "strategy", Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) general secretary Shalini Thackeray said Somaiya's allegations did not seem to be true.

"This is nothing but their strategy and drama which they do when elections draw closer. People have been suffering due to the corrupt practices adopted by these two parties for years. But, they are smart enough to know that this blame game is just an eyewash.

"I cannot understand why any party would attack anyone only when an election approaches," she said.

Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) spokesperson Preeti Sharma Menon described the "feud" between the two parties as "shameful and dangerous" for the state.

"I do not know who wants to kill whom, but it is certain that the unholy alliance between the two parties has proved to be fatal and their style of governance is killing the common people of the state," she said.

"Not even a single law has been passed by this government, led by these two parties. Be it in the transport sector or regarding women's welfare or in the cooperative sector. Ministers, MLAs and MPs are busy in internal fights and entire Maharashtra is suffering," she said.
In efforts to bolster regional air connectivity, Union Minister Jayant Sinha along with Civil Aviation Ministry officials today held deliberations with representatives of lessors, original equipment manufacturers and other stakeholders.

The meeting also comes at a time when the government is in the process of deciding the final contours of the ambitious Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS).

"Met with lessors, OEM and aviation industry to kick- start the regional connectivity leasing market. Very productive discussion," Sinha, who is the Minister of State for Civil Aviation, said in a tweet.

Last week, he had said that efforts would be made to ensure that flights under RCS start from January 1.

Under RCS, airlines can avail viability gap funding (VGF) while the states concerned have to offer certain concessions such as fire services free of cost.

VGF would be created by way of charging a small levy per departure on all domestic flights on certain routes and small aircraft below 80 seats. Central and state governments would be sharing the VGF amount.

The fares for one-hour flights under the RCS would be capped at Rs 2,500 under the scheme.

The Ministry has signed memorandum of understanding with Gujarat, Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Puducherry among others for implementation of RCS.

RCS refers to operation of an air transport service between any two airports, of which at least one has been declared by the central government as un-served or under-served. There are 394 un-served and 16 under-served airports.

Meanwhile, Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju today held a meeting with German Minister of Transport and Digital Infrastructure Alexander Dobrindt.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Sarah Jessica Parker has made her much-awaited return to television with "Divorce" but her new character Frances is totally different from glamorous Carrie Bradshaw of "Sex and the City", says show creator Sharon Horgan.

The new comedy series revolves around two people, who find themselves at opposite ends after their long-term relationship breaks down.

"The important thing was to not have a character who was like Carrie ten years on. Frances could never be Carrie. Some people might say that had Carrie taken a different route in life, she might have ended where Frances is but I think they are two different women," Horgan told PTI in an exclusive interview over phone from London.

The Irish-British comedian-writer-actor, known for shows like "Pulling" and "Catastrophe", says they did not think much about Parker's famous previous show while working on the HBO series.

Parker, who became a household name with her role of fashionista-writer in "SATC", was also keen to work on a relationship drama for her return to the small screen.

"We did not talk about it (SATC) too much. It was not something we were thinking about when we brought this together. Frances and Robert have grown apart after being together for a long time."



The first episode of "Divorce", which recently aired in the US, has garnered good reviews with critics praising Horgan's sharp writing and performances by Parker and Thomas Haden Church.

Fans in India will be able to catch "Divorce" on Star World Premiere HD on Monday, October 17 at 10:00 PM.

Horgan says working with Parker and Church, both renowned actors with great body of work behind them, feels surreal to her.

"Both of them are such talented actors in drama and comedy. They take what is written on the page and transform it into something else. It is still surreal to me to see their faces in a show that I have made. It is a dream," she says.

While Horgan's previous shows dealt with early stages of relationships, "Divorce" dissects a long drawn-out breakdown.

The writer says she is always attracted to relationships as it is a theme that connects universally.

"They are universal. Most people are or have been in a relationship in their lives. Most people like to be in a relationship, they still like the idea of husband or wife. It is a very rewarding area for me to write about. I don't have a life beyond my work and family. So, it is bound to come in my writings," she says.

The subject matter may be grim but Horgan has used dark humour to highlight the absurd in everyday life.

"It is a grim subject matter but we wanted to infuse it with comedy. You know what is going on in your head but you are actually confused. And just because you want to get out of a relationship, you don't stop loving someone.

"It was an interesting idea to write about because he thinks she is the villain in the relationship but she thinks he is the one who made all the mistakes. It sort of involves the audience."



Best comedy is always inspired by real-life situations and Horgan's writing is full of such instances. The writer says she takes a lot of stuff from her and friends' lives.

"I have never been good at not using my life. You talk about personal things but it's still fiction. However, I draw the line at my children. I will never do that because they are small. But I draw from my life and friends'. Writers do it all the time because the more real it is, the more it works.
Posing for a selfie cost a 25-year-old software engineer his life as he fell into a river and drowned in Odisha's Gajapati district, police said.

The deceased, identified as R Pattanaik of Kamakhya Nagar area in Parlakhemundi, was taking selfie by climbing on boulders and trees along Mahendratanaya river lase evening when he slipped and fell into the water, Inspector incharge of Parlakhemundi police station, Babuli Nayak said.

The fire brigade personnel carried out a search operation soon after the incident that took place near B N Palace to trace Pattanaik, who worked in an IT company in Bengaluru, the IIC said.

His body was recovered about 100 meters from the spot, he said adding police has registered an unnatural death case in connection with the incident.

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A Spanish diplomat was found dead at his home in Pakistan in what appears to be a case of suicide as a pistol was found lying near his body, police said.

Juan Jose Giner had been residing in Pakistan for last 34 years, police said, adding that he had been living alone in a house in the posh F-7 sector as both his wives had left him.

Police recovered a pistol from Giner's residence and said that additional was being collected. The pistol was found near Giner's body, police said, suggesting that it may have been a case of suicide.

Superintendent Police (SP) City Shaikh Zubair said that a forensic mobile lab had reached the spot and further investigations are underway.

He said that Giner's body had been shifted to Polyclinic hospital and the Spanish consulate had been informed of the incident.

"But we will further investigate the incident," he said.

It was not immediately known in which capacity the deceased was working in the embassy.

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The question has had the Washington restaurant scene buzzing since in May of the US capital's first Michelin Guide -- who will get a coveted star?



"Michelin, they're pretty secretive... I don't think anybody has any idea," said Aaron Silverman, the 34-year-old owner and chef of two lauded restaurants in the capital, Rose's Luxury and the newer Pineapple and Pearls.

Restaurants are anxiously awaiting the publication of the first Washington restaurant guide by Michelin, the venerable French company that currently covers restaurants in only three US cities: New York, Chicago and San Francisco.

Just a few of the recommended entries in the Washington guide are expected to win a star in the three-star rating system that ranges from very good to exceptional.

With his seasoned view of the scene, Tom Sietsema, The Washington Post's food critic since 2000, ventured a cautious forecast.

"There should be at least two three-star restaurants in the city. I would be surprised if there were any fewer than two and with luck we'll have at least four," he said.

Among his picks: Mini Bar of Spanish chef Jose Andres, an "adopted son" of Washington who started out under renowned Catalan chef Ferran Adria and who recently had a costly legal dispute with Donald Trump stemming from the Republican presidential candidate's remarks about immigrants.

Mini Bar will be a strong contender for three stars, Sietsema said. The restaurant features a 30-course menu -- dinner for two, including wine, can cost $1,000.

"I think it's the best avant-garde cooking in the country," he said.

"It really does transport you, and I think that's what you want for a three-Michelin star restaurant. It can't merely be wonderful -- you have to be astonished."



Among Sietsema's other favorites is Rasika, which he calls one of the best Indian restaurants in the country, and Komi, a Greek restaurant whose chef Johnny Monis also has a small Thai restaurant -- Little Serow -- credited with having launched, with Rose's Luxury, the city's booming food scene.

Another eatery drawing attention is a tiny Filipino place called Bad Saint.

The diversity of cuisines is key to the identity of Washington, a meld of many influences from residents from all over the world.

"That's one of the strong suits of American cooking. We're very good at borrowing around the world and making something our own," said the Post's Sietsema.

But certain Washington restaurants "don't put as much value on design or ambiance as they do on the plate," he lamented.

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Overnight shelling and over a dozen airstrikes on rebel-held parts of the Syrian city of Aleppo killed at least 11 people, bringing the death toll over the last three days in the embattled city to at least 65, activists said today.

Meanwhile, rebel shelling of government-held areas in the divided city killed two girls at a school. The airstrikes came a day after an air raid hit eastern Aleppo's biggest market, killing at least 15 people and leveling buildings.

Aleppo's unabating violence has given additional urgency to the upcoming meeting between Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and US Secretary of State John Kerry on efforts to find a peace deal in Syria in Switzerland on Saturday. It will be the first face-to-face contact between the two men since Washington broke off bilateral diplomatic contact with Moscow on Syria over the violence in Aleppo earlier this month.

In other developments in Syria's multi-layered conflict, two Iraqi militia commanders said today they have started withdrawing some of their elite forces from Syria, where they are fighting on the side of President Bashar Assad's government, to Iraq in preparation for the battle to retake the city of Mosul from the Islamic State group.

The battle for Mosul is expected to be the most complex yet for Iraqi forces, backed by US-led coalition air-power.

Since Mosul first fell to IS in June 2014, the extremists have been pushed from more than half of the territory they once held in Iraq, according to figures released by Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi's office.

Iraqi Shiite militias are not expected to take part in the operation, although they are likely to be part of the offensive to capture areas nearby such as the town of Tal Afar, which used to have a large Shiite population.

The two commanders, from Iraq's powerful Asaib Ahl Haq and Kataib Hezbollah militias, said more than 2,000 of their fighters have been withdrawn from Syria, mostly from in and around Aleppo, for redeployment near Mosul and the IS stronghold of Hawija. The two spoke to The Associated Press in Baghdad on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss military tactics.

But two Syrian opposition activists - Rami Abdurrahman of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and Turkey-based Ahmad al-Ahmad - said they were unaware of the withdrawal, adding that Iraqi Shiite militias have recently sent reinforcements to Syrian government forces in the Aleppo area.

Earlier this month, an official with the Iraqi Shiite al-Nujaba militia said it sent some 4,000 fighters to Syria, also to the Aleppo area. The two Iraqi commanders said the al-Nujaba militiamen were not part of the pullout.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-o-cha today said the Thai Crown prince has told him he would like to take some time to grieve with the nation before accepting the invitation to become the new king.

King Bhumibol Adulyadej, 88, who was the monarch for 70 years, died this afternoon.

"His Royal Highness would like to wait for an appropriate time," General Prayuth said.

The National Legislative Assembly today met and acknowledged the passing of Adulyadej and observed silence for nine minutes as King Bhumibol was the ninth regent of the Chakri dynasty.

Constitutionally, the next step would have been for National Assembly of Thailand (NLA) president to invite Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn to become the new king.

According to Section 23 of the 2007 constitution, when the throne becomes vacant and the king has already appointed his Heir under the 1924 Palace Law on Succession, the cabinet shall notify the Parliament president who will convene members for acknowledgement.

The parliament president will then invite the Heir to ascend the throne and proclaim him King, according to the provision.

Adulyadej had appointed Prince Vajiralongkorn as the Heir to the Throne on December 28, 1972 after which he became Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn. However, the NLA postponed its scheduled agenda.

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The U.S. Department of Education today released its long-awaited final rules on teacher preparation . The rules, first proposed in 2014 , aim to hold teacher-training programs accountable for the performance of their graduates, and they make it mandatory for states to provide aspiring teachers a way of pre-evaluating programs.

Under the rules, states will be required each year to rate all of its traditional, alternative and distance prep programs as either effective, at-risk, or low-performing. They will have to provide additional support to programs rated as low-performing.

The annual ratings are to be based on several metrics, such as the number of graduates who get jobs in high-needs schools, how long these graduates stay in the teaching profession, and how effective they are as teachers, judging from classroom observations as well as their students academic performance.

In a major change from the proposed ruleswhich were subject to heavy criticism from the field student learning will not have to be based on test scores or the proxy of teacher evaluations based on student test gains; rather, states will have the flexibility to use other measures deemed relevant to student outcomes and determine how various components of their systems are weighted.

States will also need to consider feedback from graduates and employers on how effective they perceive the programs training to be. An effective program, according to the rules, is one that gives plenty of on-the-job training and meets rigorous exit requirements.

In another change from the draft rules, states will no longer be required to ensure that programs only accept top-performing students, as long as all students are held to a high bar by the programs end. The aim here is to ensure that prep programs can recruit diverse candidates into the teaching profession.

The new rules also attempt to steer aspiring teachers into the most successful teacher training programs by limiting TEACH grants to only those programs rated effective for at least two years in a row.

Under the rules, states must establish their reporting systems in the 2016-2017 school year, and can use the following school year to test out their systems. All reporting systems must be in effect by 2018-2019 school year. TEACH grant eligibility can be taken away based on program performance beginning in the 2021-2022 school year.

As an educator, I know that one of the strongest in-school influences on students is the teacher in front of the classroom, said U.S. Secretary of Education John B. King Jr. in a press release. These regulations will help strengthen teacher preparation so that prospective teachers get off to the best start they can, and preparation programs can meet the needs of students and schools for great educators.

Stayed tuned for additional analysis and reaction from the field.
Thailand's revered King Bhumbol Adulyadej passed away today, the palace announced, ending a remarkable seven-decade reign as the world's longest ruling monarch who was seen as a unifying force in the deeply divided country.

He was 88.

The king died at 3.52 pm (local time) at the Siriraj hospital, the palace said in a statement.

Crown Prince Maha Vajralongkorn, Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn, Princess Soamsawali and Princess Chulabhorn were at the hospital.

The 64-year-old Crown Prince will succeed the king, Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha said.

On Sunday, the palace had said that the king was in an unstable condition after receiving haemodialysis treatment.

Hundredsof well-wishers had gathered outside the hospital here for the past two days fervently praying for the good health of King Bhumibol.

The widely revered monarch is central to Thai society and was often treated as a virtual god.

The King was also known as Rama IX, as he was the ninth monarch of the Chakri Dynasty.

Having acceded to the throne 70 years ago, he has been a source of stability and unity for a much changed and still deeply divided nation.

King Bhumibol is the world's longest serving monarch, having acceded to the throne when his brother died in 1946.

During his seven decades on the throne, the king, who is seen as a unifying force, has intervened when events threatened to plunge Thailand into crisis.

Amid increasing concerns about his health in recent months, the Royal Household Bureau had issued more frequent bulletins.

Earlier, Prime Minister Prayuth cancelled an official trip to India to attend the BRICS Summit 2016, a Government House source said.

The prime minister was scheduled to attend the BIMSTEC Outreach at BRICS Summit 2016 on Sunday.

The source said Prayut assigned Deputy Prime Minister Somkid Jatusriithak to attend the summit on his behalf.

A palace statement said late yesterday that the king's "blood pressure lowered and breath quickened".

On Sunday, his blood test indicated that there had been an infection and abnormal function of his liver.

The crowd of well-wishers praying for His Majesty the King continued to swell outside Siriraj Hospital as his loving subjects also gathered at government offices nationwide for prayers today.

People holding photographs of their loved King could be seen sobbing and some wailing even before an announcement was made this evening.

With most people unable to travel to Bangkok, interior permanent secretary Grisada Boonrach had ordered the proper arrangement of places at provincial halls, district offices and local administrative organisation offices nationwide for people to sign books.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Thailand Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha cancelled an official trip to India to attend the BRICS Summit, apparently due to King Bhumibol Adulyadej's health condition.

The prime minister was scheduled to attend the BIMSTEC Outreach at BRICS Summit 2016 in Goa on Sunday, a Government House source said.

Prayuth, however, cancelled the trip and assigned Deputy Prime Minister Somkid Jatusriithak to attend the summit on his behalf, the source added.

His inability to attend the BRICS Summit is seen by many as apparently due to concerns over the health condition of King Bhumibol, who passed away today at the age of 88.

The revered king was the world's longest ruling monarch and seen as a unifying force in the deeply polarised country.

Apart from the heads of governments of Brazil, Russia, China and South Africa to attend the BRICS Summit on October 16, India had earlier received consent of Prime Ministers of Bhutan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Myanmar (State Counsellor) for the outreach meet of Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC).

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Journalism is not just a profession, but a "mission" and it is time for the media to "introspect" as to whether it is helping or undermining the cherished values of democracy, Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman P J Kurien today said.

"Media has a great influence on people, both positive and negative. In fact, their impact is so great that they should ponder and introspect the role they play as the fourth pillar of democracy.

"Journalism is not just a job or a profession, it is a mission and a vocation. They represent the lofty and cherished ideals of our society...Is media today helping or undermining democracy," he asked.

Kurien was addressing a gathering at a media award function this evening.

He also raised concerns over "only sensational stories" making headlines while several good stories "not finding space in print, electronic or digital media."



"The media creates impression about anything or anyone among people. Today, whenever people think of politicians, they think they are corrupt...Our jurisprudence says a person is assumed innocent until proven guilty. But, media just reverses that," he said.

"Besides, on television and newspapers today, we see people are being tempted to eat dangerous (junk) food. Where are the lofty ideals now," he asked.

NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant said, "Electronic media today creates frenzy and has lost balance in its reportage and perspective."



"It has become a place of over-heated discussions and is obsessed with TRPs. At times, it creates a 'war' even if there is no 'war'. It is time for it to sit back and relax in an old-fashioned way," he said.

Veteran journalist Kuldeep Nayyar, who was present on the occasion, lamented the "decline" in "values of journalism."



"For journalists, it has become a job all the time. All they are worried about is when would their next contract be renewed. Real journalism has died," Nayyar, now 93, said.

President's Press Secretary Venu Rajamony said while it is important for media to "point out the deficiency in different sectors, it must also highlight the achievements in those fields, like health care."



"The government is committed to improving the scenario in the health sector, but we need more cross-sector coordination, both nationally and regionally, to achieve maximum results... More jounalists should take up the profession for bringing about a social change, whether it is in the health sector or other fields," Union Health Minister J P Nadda said in a video message.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Republican presidential nominee has said he will cancel the historic Paris Climate deal if voted to power as the agreement would cost the US economy $5.3 trillion and "skyrocket" electricity prices.

Speaking at an election rally in Florida, Trump said he will create jobs all across America and provide cheaper energy to people, especially farmers.

"I believe so much in the environment. Believe it or not, people are shocked - I've won many environmental awards. Many. But the Paris deal, supported by Hillary, will cost our country another $5.3 trillion over a period of time and skyrocket electricity prices," Trump, 70, said.

"We will cancel this deal so that our companies can compete. We want clean beautiful air. We want crystal clear water. That's what we want. We want to be able to do business throughout the world, not so that we can't compete because of these crazy deals that our president is making," he said.

He said he will unlock $50 trillion in energy reserves, meaning many new jobs all across America. That also means cheaper energy for farmers and everybody.

"We are going to take care of our steelworkers who are under siege from China, and we're going to take care of our miners who are practically being put out of business," he said.

"The Obama-Clinton crew spent $50 billion on climate programmes when they should have used that money to help Florida farmers fight diseases that threaten your crops. And that's happening all over," he said.

Trump said TPP was great for other countries but bad for the US.

"We'll do it nice and simple. We like a country? Boom, we do a trading deal. Another one, we do a trading deal. Another one. And if they don't behave, and if they don't live up to the deal, we send them what's called a notice of termination, 30 days," he said.

"We will be free traders, but we will free trade with our friends. We will be smart. We will bring back jobs, and we'll begin making product again. We'll begin making things," he said.

Trump said one of his many his dreams was to have Apple and companies like it to start making their iPhones and other products in the US and not in China and Vietnam or in other countries where they are making them.

"Hillary Clinton is an insider. She fights for herself. I'm an outsider - used to be an insider, to be honest with you. I know the inside and I know the outside. That's why I'm the only one that can fix this mess, folks," he told his supporters.
Two workmen were killed and another employee was severely injured today when a pipeline linked to a boiler that was carrying potassium silicate at a factory here exploded, police said.

The mishap occurred at the chemical factory at Ambattur Industrial Estate late last night.

"There was a leak of the chemical, potassium silicate and when it exploded all of a sudden two workers were killed and one was injured," Police Inspector, Ambattur Industrial Estate, V Karnan told PTI.

The dead were identified as Murugavel, of Tiruvallur district and Ranjan, a native of Odisha, while the injured was identified as Vedamuthu.

Soon after the mishap, all the three men were rushed to the Government Kilpauk Medical College Hospital where Murugavel and Ranjan succumbed to their injuries, and Vedamuthu is undergoing treatment, he said.

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The United States carried out strikes against Yemen's Shiite Houthi rebels for the first time in that country's civil war, destroying three coastal radar sites with Tomahawk cruise missiles in retaliation for missile fire earlier this week toward US Navy ships.

The strikes early today point to the potential for the US to be dragged into a greater role in Yemen's war. For more than a year, Washington has been backing the Saudi-led coalition waging a fierce air campaign against the Houthis and their allies. But American forces had not previously targeted the rebels directly.

But it appears the Houthis lashed out at the United States with the missile fire against its ships in retaliation after warplanes from the Saudi-led coalition struck a funeral in the Yemeni capital Sanaa last weekend being attended by senior rebel figures. The devastating strikes killed nearly 140 people, most of them civilians.

Human Rights Watch said today that the funeral bombing constitutes an apparent war crime. It also called on the United States and Britain to immediately suspend all arms sales to Saudi Arabia.

The two countries have sold the kingdom billions of dollars in weapons for use in the Yemen campaign, and the US military has provided logistical and intelligence support as well.

In today's US strikes, the destroyer USS Nitze launched the cruise missiles, according to an American military official. At around 7.00 AM, the missiles hit radar sites in three locations along the Red Sea coast, Ras Eissa, Khoukha and Makha, according to Col Walid Zeyad, a Yemeni naval official in the nearby Red Sea port of Hodeida.

No information on casualties from the US missiles was provided by American officials. The American military official said the sites were in remote areas, where there was little risk of civilian casualties or collateral damage. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to talk to the press.

President Barack Obama authorized the strikes at the recommendation of Defense Secretary Ash Carter and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen Joseph Dunford, Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook said in a statement.

"These limited self-defense strikes were conducted to protect our personnel, our ships and our freedom of navigation in this important maritime passageway," Cook said.

He said the US will work to ensure navigation in the Red Sea and Bab al-Mandeb, a vital strait off Yemen through which shipping between Asia and Europe through the Suez Canal must pass.

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In a setback to the CPI(M)-led LDF government in Kerala, the State Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau is today understood to have decided to order a preliminary probe into certain controversial appointments of relatives of Industries Minister E P Jayarajan in key posts in state PSUs.

However, there is no official word on the decision of the bureau.

Meanwhile, the Special Court (Vigilance) directed the bureau to file its reply by tomorrow on a complaint with regard to the alleged appointments.

Against the backdrop of opposition Congress and BJP targeting it on the issue, the four-month old LDF government has decided to bring in a law to prevent any nepotism in appointmentsin key positions in public sector units (PSUs).

The cabinet also entrusted Chief Secretary S M Vijayanand with the task to examine the various complaints with regard to any appointments which have become controversial.

"This is to prevent nepotism in appointments," a statement quoting Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said.

The complaint in the Special Vigilance court had sought filing of FIR and registration of case against Jayarajan, who had allegedly appointed some relatives to key posts in state PSUs.

When the case came up today, the court directed the Vigilance bureau to file a reply on the petition by tomorrow.

According to sources, preliminary inquiry was to find out whether there was any substance in the complaints to register a case and order further probe.

The complaint filed in the Vigilance court contended that nepotism amounted to corruption and sought registration of a case under Prevention of Corruption Act.

Besides the complaint in the court, three other petitions, including that of Opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala and BJP leader V Muraleedharan seeking filing of FIR and registering a case against Jayarajan, are pending before Vigilance Director Jacob Thomas.

Against this backdrop, Thomas met Chief Minister Vijayan this morning and held discussions.

Vijayan also met party secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan this evening ahead of the party state committee to be held tomorrow which may discuss the appointment issue.

Meanwhile, Jayarajan has offered to put in his papers if the party demands, party sources said.

The cabinet also decided that Vigilance clearance would



be made mandatory for appointment on posts like Managing Director and General Manager in state PSUs.

Besides this, a committee of national-level experts will henceforth make appointments for senior posts in PSUs in the state, the statement said.

The government is facing embarrassment after the row over alleged appointments broke out with opposition Congress and BJP seeking Jayarajan's resignation.

The industry minister had allegedly appointed P K Sudheer, his nephew and son of Kannur MP P K Sreemathi as Managing Director of Kerala State Industrial Enterprises. Later, the order was reportedly quashed by the government as opposition Congress led UDF and BJP attacked it on the issue.

Another relative of Jayarajan, Deepthi Nishad, daughter-in-law of his brother, who was allegedly appointed General Manager of of Kerala Clay and Ceramics Products Ltd at Kannur, resigned yesterday.

Continuing its attack on the LDF government, Congress said its demand was for the resignation of Jayarajan.

KPCC president V M Sudheeran said his party wanted nothing short of Jayarajan's resignation.

Referring to the steps taken by government for ensuring fair appointments, he said "face saving formula" was not acceptable to Congress.
Hundreds of farmers from at least seven villages in Purandar tehsil in Pune district, where a greenfield international airport is proposed to be set up, today staged a protest here claiming the project will hit their livelihood and affect their future generations.

During their protest held at the Council Hall here, they said that they would not give their land for the planned airport.

The Maharashtra government had recently given its go-ahead for carrying out a detailed project report (DRP) for the airport, which will be spread over 2,400 hectares. The site has been already approved by the Airports Authority of India (AAI), Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had informed.

However, after the state government's announcement about the airport, the affected villages -- Rajewadi, Amble, Waghapur, Pargaon Memane, Khanawadi, Munjawadi and Ikhatpur had passed resolutions that they would not give their land to the project.

In a memorandum, addressed to the Chief Minister, the villagers expressed their reservations about the project, stating that the upcoming airport would destroy their farming and livestock rearing activity and also affect the future of their next generations.

"If our irrigated land goes into the project, farming activity will be destroyed and we will have no option left but to migrate to other places for livelihood. So we do not want any package and government should not put any kind of reservations on the land of these seven villages," reads the memorandum.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Indian batsman Suresh Raina, who was brought back into the ODI side after a gap of one year, has been ruled out of the first one-dayer against New Zealand due to viral fever.

"The BCCI Medical team has confirmed that Suresh Raina, who is recovering from a bout of viral fever, is ruled out of the first ODI against New Zealand. There will be no replacement in the team," the BCCI said in a statement.

Raina was looking forward to feature in his first ODI since October 2015. The opening match of the five-ODI series will be played in Dharamsala on October 16. India have already swept the Test series 3-0.

The southpaw was dropped for the ODIs in Australia and the limited-overs tour of Zimbabwe earlier this year besides the two-match T20 series against the West Indies in USA.

He has not had time in the middle since the Duleep Trophy where his scores read 52, 35 and 90.

Raina led Uttar Pradesh in the team's Ranji Trophy opener against Madhya Pradesh last week but did not come out to bat. Uttar Pradesh ended up suffering an innings and 64 run defeat at the hands of Madhya Pradesh.

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A day after he was booked for allegedly promoting disharmony and enmity between communities, Hindu Makkal Katchi state president Arjun Sampath today said he would fight the case legally.

He had posted pictures of himself performing Ayudha pooja on October 10 on Facebook. About six firearms, including rifles, a pistol, sword and a sickle were placed before a deity and he was seen sitting in front of it.

"There is nothing wrong in performing pooja, as I am following the culture and tradition... Moreover, the rifle kept for the pooja is of my son, who is a member of Rifle club...," Sampath told reporters here.

The sword was presented to him by his followers, he said.

However, one rifle was said to be that of a security guard provided by police and the department has initiated an inquiry into it, police said.

Some vested interests were behind the raking up of issue unnecessarily, since he wanted Ayudha pooja to be performed in government offices and police stations, Sampath alleged.

Meanwhile, a group of HMK workers has submitted a memorandum to the district collector urging him to withdraw the case against their leader.

Cases under Section 153 of the IPC promoting disharmony and enmity between communities) and 25 (1)(a)(exhibiting arms without license from authority) of the Indian Arms Act, have been registered against him, police said.

Though Sampath had withdrawn the post, several political parties and social outfits had submitted memorandums to the police commissioner, demanding legal action against him, as they felt it could lead to disturbance of peace and to find out if he had valid licences for the weapons, police said.

The September 22 murder of Hindu Munnani district spokesperson Sasikumar had triggered violent protests in Coimbatore, with several BJP senior leaders condemning the incident and saying that of late Hindu outfit leaders were being targeted in Tamil Nadu.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Indulge me, if you will, in a thought experiment: Take yourself back to when you were 14. What kind of life did your 14 year-old self imagine you would be living today? What did you imagine you might be doing on a day-to-day basis? Where did you think you would live? Why there? What sorts of things did you imagine would be priorities in your life?

For a number of years now, the initial unit of my engineering class has been about measurement and quantity. Ive had my students fit clothes on movie stars, ship iPhones for Tim Cook, and create a plan to turn our cafeteria into a giant ball pit beach. (Sadly weve never actually been able to do that one, but maybe one day. Anyone have a line on where I could get the leftovers from here ?)

All these projects were interesting enough, but I realized that in each case I was missing a crucial opportunity: by telling students what they were to measure/quantify I was robbing them of an opportunity to imagine themselves as people who measure and quantify.

I now ask them to answer some of the questions I asked you to think about above. Heres the task as I assigned it this year to the 9th graders at my school, Harvest Collegiate High School :

It is 2025. You have just gotten a chance to go to another country for your job or studies. Back in NYC other folks are preparing for your 5 year reunion at Harvest.

While abroad, you find the COOLEST thing and decide that you have to ship a box of them back to Harvest for the big party. This thing is so cool that you want to ship as many of them as possible, but you only have one box to ship them in.

Inside the box youll include a letter explaining:

- Where you are

- What you are shipping

- The size of the shipping box

- The size of the item you are shipping

- How you were able to maximize the number of items that fit in the box

- The weight of the box in pounds and kilograms

Everyone at the reunion party is going to be odee hyped to get your package.

Students have the opportunity to imagine themselves as young adults who need to solve a problem.

Importantly, this task also provides boundaries that influence their imagination in ways that reflect my hopes for them. It tells them that they are the kind of young adult who is successful enough to be offered opportunities for adventure. It also tells them that they are are the kind of young adult who has formed strong connections with the people who went to their high school, ones which they want to maintain even as they go on adventures.

Students have written letters from places familiar and exoctic. Many students write that they are working in a town in the Dominican Republic or Mexico where they have family. Others explain that they are doing scientific research for a graduate degree or working for the UN in a place that theyve only read about. In both cases they are thinking broadly about the question what do you want to be when you grow up?

I have noticed a trend in speaking with 9th graders over my career: it seems that todays 9th graders have a strong idea that they are going to college in a way that 9th graders (at least the ones I worked with) in 2005 did not. Some of my students this year even go as far as to refer to their class as the Class of 2024" (ie the year that they would graduate from college if they graduate high school and college in 4 years).

I have some ambivalence about this trend. It seems wonderful that students (particularly the low income students of color who I teach) see college as something that is accessible. Yet, so many of the people I know, love, and admire didnt follow the educational path that is prescribed by go to high school, go to college, get a job. I wonder if the focus on college going culture implicitly (if unintentionally) makes their choices seem inferior. At a minimum, we should recognize that a four-year degree should not be the only path to a good job  (as Hillary Clinton has been saying on the campaign trail this fall).

What I do know about the emphasis on college and career which so dominates our thinking about students post-high school lives is that it excludes a lot: we are so much more than where we went to college and what we do for a living.

I try to get students to more fully imagine their lives after college by asking them to send a gift to their friends at their 5 year high school reunion. What are some ways that you are asking students to envision themselves as adults?

Photo 1 by geralt https://pixabay.com/en/board-school-immediately-soon-1647323/

Photo 2 by Mary Conroy Almada
It is yatra galore in Uttar Pradesh as major political parties vie with each other to catch the voters' eyes ahead of the crucial Assembly elections due early near year.

With ruling Samajwadi Party's Mulayam Sandesh Yatra already criss-crossing the state and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi traversing from Deoria to Delhi to woo farmers through his Kisan Yatra, BJP today unfolded plans to take out four 'parivrtan yatras" beginning November 5 from different parts of the state.

"The Parivartan yatras which start from November 5 will culminate with a 'parivartan sabha' in Lucknow on the eve of 92nd birthday of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee on December 24," state BJP chief Keshav Prasad said.

The yatras will start from Saharanpur, Lalitpur, Sonebhadra and Ballia and cover all parts of the state. They will be flagged off by senior BJP leaders, including party chief Amit Shah.

After the culmination of his Kisan Yatra in two phases, the Congress Vice President has planned "Rahul Sandesh Yatra".

It is a "massive" 'jan jagaran abhiyan' (public awareness campaign) to reach out to farmers, a local Congress leader said.

During his 25-day march from Deoria in eastern UP, the Congress leader connected with around 25,000 households per block in a do-or-die effort to regain lost moorings in state politics.

The second phase of Samajwadi Party's "Mulayam Sandesh



Yatra" has covered 39 assembly constituencies in western Uttar Pradesh.

"The purpose of this yatra is to inform the public that the Samajwadi Party government in Uttar Pradesh has fulfilled all the promises it made in its election manifesto," a senior SP leader said.

The first phase of the yatra, from September 10 to 20, was launched from Lucknow and covered 73 assembly seats.

The Sandesh Yatra would cover all the 403 assembly seats in the next two phases.

A hi-tech vehicle is being used in 'Mulayam's Sandesh Rath'.

The modified bus has WiFi, makeshift stage with a podium that rises with the help of a lift whenever a leader has to address a gathering, a state-of-art interiors with generator backup for campaigning during evening light.

Rahul too used a similar vehicle during his roadshows.

Another yatra -- Dhamma Chetna Yatra -- will conclude at Kanpur tomorrow at an event which will witness large presence of Dalits who have converted to Buddhism, seen as yet another attempt by the party to reach out to the community in poll-bound Uttar Pradesh.

BJP chief Amit Shah will attend the closing ceremony of the six-month long Dhamma Chetna Yatra and felicitate 110 monks at the event.

Kanpur BJP chief Surendra Maithani said the Yatra is, however, not related to the upcoming elections in the state.
Ahead of meetingof Chief Ministers of Maharashtra, Goa and Karnataka to discuss the Mahadayi water dispute, state BJP President B S Yeddyurappa today suggested that opposition leaders of the allthree states also be invited for the meeting.

"My suggestion is that leaders of the Oppositionof both the Houses of all the three states must be invited tothe meeting of the Chief Ministers slated for October 21 atMumbai on Mahadayi issue," Yeddyurappa told reporters here.

He also appealed to senior Congress leader Mallikarjuna Kharge to persuade the Opposition leaders of Goa and Maharashtra to participate in the meeting.

Chief Ministers of the three states are scheduled tomeet in Mumbai on October 21 following the Mahadayi Water Disputes Tribunal's directions on September one for the states concerned to resolve the water dispute amicably byholding discussions.

Yeddyurappa has also confirmed his party's participation in the all-party meeting convened by the Chief Minister on October 19 to discuss the state's strategyduring the Chief Ministers meeting.

BJP leaders from the state including UnionMinister Ananth Kumar and Opposition Leader Jagadish Shettar had yesterday met Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and apprised him of the the state's concerns on the issue, and thanked him for taking initiative in convening the meeting.

Informing about yesterday's meeting with Fadnavis, Shettar said, "Since the beginning, we have asked them (Congress party which is in power here and in opposition in Maharashtra and Goa) for cooperation. If they had cooperated things could be solved easily,but they are not doing it."



"We have at least had informal meeting with our party in Goa and Maharashtra, but they arenot ready to do that," he added.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister Siddaramaih has expressed hope that the discussion with the Chief Minister will be fruitful.

Responding to a question about BJP leaders meeting Maharashtra Chief Minister, he said, "It would have been better if they had discussion with Goa as the issue is with thatstate."



"I don't wish any controversy at the beginning itself, we want the discussions to be fruitful and that should be everybody's wish," he said.

Karnataka, which has locked horns with theneighbouring Goa on the larger issue of sharing Mahadayi water between both the states, had petitioned the tribunalseeking the release of 7.56 tmcft of water for itsKalasa-Banduri Nala project.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A 21-year-old youth, who was allegedly kidnapped for ransom by a group of men in New Friends Colony area here, has been rescued in Uttar Pradesh, police today said.

Firoz Khan, who works as a manpower agent, was abducted on October 6 over a financial dispute between the victim's brother and a few agents who used to send people to Dubai "for jobs", police said.

After the dispute, five men came to the office of Firoz's brother, the complainant, beat him up and forcefully took him to Bulandshahr in Uttar Pradesh. They demanded Rs 18 lakh as ransom and threatened to kill him if the demand was not met.

The accused -- Sajid, Hilal, Salman, Ashlam and Rizwan -- were frequently changing their location.

Police conducted a raid late night of October 7 at the house of Rizwan at Sabdal Pur village, rescued Firoz and arrested Salman (30) in Bulandshahr.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
By Barani Krishnan

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil prices fell on Wednesday after OPEC reported another monthly hike in output and extended losses in post-settlement trade as industry data suggested the first U.S. crude inventory build in six weeks.

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) said its production rose in September to the highest in at least eight years. It also forecast a rise in 2017 non-OPEC supply.

The American Petroleum Institute (API), a trade group, said after the market settled that U.S. crude stockpiles rose by 2.7 million barrels in the week to Oct. 7. Analysts had expected an increase of 650,000 barrels.

Brent crude settled down 60 cents, or 1.1 percent, at $51.81 a barrel. In post-settlement trade, it fell to as low as $51.61.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude slipped 61 cents, or 1.2 percent, to settle at $50.18. After the API data, it sank to $49.89.

The API report came ahead of official inventory data due from the U.S. Energy Administration (EIA) on Thursday. It was a sign that domestic crude stocks had risen the first time since the start of September. Over the past five weeks, the EIA reported a 26 million-barrel decline in crude stocks."For sure, the fact that we could be getting draws again will take some of the attention away from what OPEC has been doing," said Kyle Cooper, a consultant at Houston-based ION Energy.

Oil prices had mostly risen for nearly two weeks now after the Saudi-dominated OPEC proposed to cut or freeze output with other major oil producers in time for its Nov. 30 policy meeting in Vienna. If carried out to plan, it will be the first output cap by OPEC since 2008 after a glut caused oil prices to crash from mid-2014 highs above $100.

OPEC's September report showed that it produced 33.39 million barrels per day, up 220,000 bpd from August, and as much as 890,000 bpd above the new supply target.

"Once again, it reinforces that their deeds are not matching their words, and that they have a great deal of work cut out for them to try and come to an agreement that will satisfy anything," said John Kilduff, partner at energy hedge fund Again Capital in New York.

Officials of some of the world's biggest oil trading companies told the Commodities Summit in London that crude was unlikely to achieve a supply-demand balance until well into 2017.

(Additional reporting by Sabina Zawadzki in LONDON, Aaron Sheldrick in TOKYO, Henning Gloystein in SINGAPORE and Rania El Gamal in DUBAI; Editing by Alan Crosby)

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
By Barani Krishnan and Ethan Lou

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil prices settled up on Thursday after a U.S. government report showing hefty draws in diesel and gasoline offset the first crude inventory build in six weeks.

Crude prices fell initially when the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said crude stocks swelled 4.9 million barrels in the week ended Oct. 7. It was the first crude build since the end of August and was far above a 700,000-barrel rise forecast by analysts in a poll.

Prices bounced back as the market turned its attention to product inventory drawdowns in the same EIA data. The EIA reported a drop of 3.7 million barrels for distillates, which include diesel and heating oil, and 1.9 million barrels decline for gasoline.

Analysts had expected distillates to draw by just 1.6 million barrels and gasoline to decline by 1.5 million.

Brent crude settled up 22 cents, or 0.4 percent, at $52.03 per barrel.

U.S. crude ended up 26 cents, or 0.5 percent, at $50.44.

"There is a lot of seasonality in this data," Scott Shelton, energy futures broker at ICAP in Durham, North Carolina, said, referring to the EIA inventory report.

Shelton said crude builds were common this time of year as U.S. refineries headed into maintenance.

The rise in crude imports by 110,000 barrels per day (bpd) last week was also "marginal" and "hard to get too excited about if you were bearish", he argued.

John Kilduff, partner at New York energy hedge fund Again Capital, said that while more crude builds were likely in the coming weeks due to depressed refinery runs, "the declines in distillate fuels, of late, are starting to add up".

"We remain a long way from supplies getting tight, but it is a trend worth monitoring," Kilduff added.

In a separate report, the EIA said U.S. crude output averaged 8.7 million bpd in 2016 versus 9.4 million bpd last year. But it also said oil demand growth was expected to slow to 70,000 bpd this year from a previously forecast 200,000 bpd.

Oil prices have trended higher since Sept. 27, with Brent gaining about 13 percent, after the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries announced its first planned output cut in eight years to rein in a global supply glut that forced crude to crash from highs above $100.

Despite its expressed desire to cut output, OPEC this week reported September production at eight-year highs.

Oil industry executives and investors at a Summit differed on how OPEC action will likely affect oil prices, with some expecting $60 by year-end and others seeing a return to $40.

(Additional reporting by Ahmad Ghaddar in LONDON and Henning Gloystein in SINGAPORE; Editing by Bill Trott, Chizu Nomiyama and David Gregorio)

(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.)
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.

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India is all set to host the eighth annual Summit of BRICS from October 15-16 in Goa in its capacity as chair of the influential bloc comprising five major emerging national economies: Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.

These five countries represents over 3.6 billion people, or half of the world population with combined GDP of over USD 16 trillion. As India gears up for 8th BRICS summit in Goa, here's all you need to know about the group.

What India expects from this summit



India assumed chairmanship of BRICS from Russia on February 15 and it will last till December 31. The External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said India's core-theme during BRICS chairmanship will be building responsive, inclusive and collective solutions for the grouping.

Here are the major decisions taken by BRICS nations

In 2009 - BRICS announced the need for a new global reserve currency.

In 2011 - BRICS formed a forum for encouraging cultural, commercial and political co-operation between BRICS nations.

In 2012 - BRICS pledged US$ 75 million to IMF conditional on IMF voting reforms.

In 2013 - BRICS nations agree to create a new global financial institution with China committing $41 billion; India, Brazil and Russia committing $18 billion each and South Africa $5 billion towards the first pool for the new bank.

In 2014 - BRICS nations formally signed a pact to launch a $100 billion bank titled New Development Bank (NDB) and a Contingent Reserve Arrangement (CRA) worth another $100 billion.

2015 - The group adopted a comprehensive 'Strategy for BRICS Economic Partnership'?



What is BRICS?

BRICS is the acronym for an association of five major emerging national economies: Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. Originally, the group did not include South Africa, which was only added in 2011.

The term BRIC was first used in 2001, by Jim O'Neill, then chairman of Goldman Sachs. O'Neill would argue the importance of the original BRIC countries for the future, based on the emergence of and potential for growth that those economies showed. Originally the first four were grouped as BRIC or the BRICs, before the induction of South Africa in 2010.

The BRICS members are all leading developing or newly industrialized countries, but they are distinguished by their large, sometimes fast-growing economies and significant influence on regional affairs; all five are G-20 members. Since 2009, the BRICS nations have met annually at formal summits. Russia currently holds the chair of the BRICS group, and hosted the group's seventh summit in July 2015.



Purpose behind the formation of BRICS

The group started with economic issues of mutual interest and the need to restructure global financial institutions such as the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF). But the agenda of BRICS widened over the years to include issues including counter-terrorism, health, science and technology, labour among other issues.




Global political events such as Brexit, forthcoming US elections and political realignments in Europe may pose some risks for the BRICS group of nations and affect their policies, RBI Governor Urjit Patel said on Thursday.

"Potential unconventional sources such as Black Swan type of events like the Brexit vote, the US presidential elections and the political realignment in Europe have blipped on our (BRICS) radars and will affect our policies going forward," Patel said at the BRICS seminar on Investment Flows.

The event is being held here ahead of the BRICS summit on October 15-16. The BRICS group comprises Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.

Other challenges for the 5-nation grouping are energising investment, management of spillovers in view of uncertainties injected into the business climate and prospects of returns by bouts of financial market turbulence usually on account of policy uncertainty from the systemic central banks of the world.

Even though the sensitivity to spillovers has waned, he said, managing them claims non-trivial resources and policy attention.

"In 2016, we have had seen umpteen times when capital flows to emerging markets flowed and ebbed," he said.

With the current account deficits/surpluses narrow in BRICS countries, these economies seem to be showing some lack of absorption capacities and the wherewithal to convert capital flows into investible resources.

"This is incongruous in the context of the ultra-low cost of overseas finance, especially in mature markets and the availability of large pools of footloose capitals driven to low returns," he added.

Patel also flagged commodity headwinds that most of the BRICS nations face and underlined the need for them to manage the commodity price cycles.

The modest firming up of commodity prices in the first half of this year has alleviated some stress among net commodity exporters and shaved off some trade gains accruing to some of commodity importers, he noted.

"The outlook for commodities, however, generally remains soft and so we must work on a mechanism that even out large real economic effects over the full duration of the cycle so that BRICS economies are not worse off," Patel said.

He said the BRICS nations need to work hard to improve their business environment in domestic economies so as to make investments attractive.


Is it insensitive or discriminatory to have a kids-free zone in an airplane? After all, there are many travellers who board flights with their children and, well, some kids just cry.

The constant wailing of children, however, disturbs and angers travellers who just want to use the precious free time for a quick nap or reading a book. This is the kind of issue that resonates globally.

So, it is no surprise that many international media outlets including UK's The Independent, USA's New York Daily News and Australia's ABC News have reported India's low-cost carrier Indigo's plan for a 'Quiet Zones' in the planes with no children under the age of 12.

Kids are also banned from seats with extra leg room and those next to emergency exits.

While the airline's heart may have been at the right place, the policy has led to a divided opinion.

In fact, according to a report on The Times of India on 24 September a senior Directorate General of Civil Aviation official had promised to "examine" the policy.



The report had also cited travellers who were angered with the policy and expressed their disappointment over the discriminatory policy.

And similar tweets ensued.





#childfreeflights what next human free flights? Grow up people stop blaming kids for your own short tempers - G3 (@G3M01) October 6, 2016



But, meanwhile, there were many who actually welcomed the move, and they were not just people from India.



Totally agree with #childfreeflights I would gladly pay extra for a seperate section on the plane. - Alaisdair (@alaisdair) October 4, 2016 Others felt it wasn't a matter of discrimination.



#childfreeflights hooray !!!! It's not discrimination it's sense !!! Hope it becomes the norm ???? well done @IndiGo6E - shelly richardson (@mishelly2810) October 6, 2016 Finally, one individual gets blunt over the idea,



Read some rows on flights to be child free in India. Until some parents stop kids kicking seat & screaming, gets my vote. #ChildFreeFlights - smillieg (@smillieg) October 8, 2016

Some said they would pay a few bucks extra for these child-free zones:



Indigo, meanwhile, seems to have tried not to let the controversy draw negative publicity. In fact, it seems to have taken down a post on Twitter about its new Quiet Zone regulation from 5 October.

Earlier the airline had told Traveller.com: "Keeping in mind the comfort and convenience of all passengers, row numbers 1 to 4 and 11 to 14 are generally kept as a Quiet Zone on IndiGo flights."


Samsung Electronics Limited has been in the smartphone industry since forever. The South Korean tech giant released its first mobile phone SH 100 back in 1988. Since then it has been manufacturing devices on a streak. The company's experience and almost consistent performance led to a trustworthy brand name which a lot of people were comfortable with.

The recent explosions with the Note 7 has demolished Samsung's trustworthy image like a house of cards on fire. But where did Samsung go wrong with the Note 7 and was it too late to pull the plug on the device's production? There is no confirmation regarding the concrete reason behind this debacle for Samsung.

Initially, the company had categorically blamed it on a certain "battery cell issue", but as it turned out even Samsung had no clue as to what was the exact reason behind the explosions. While it seemed like Samsung was finally getting a hold on the issue a few more Note 7s exploded, but this time it was different.



ALSO READ: Samsung Galaxy S8 is coming and we hope it's fireproof



The explosion of five "safe" Note 7s was the last nail in the device's coffin. Samsung was forced to pull the plug on the Note 7. The company claims to be conducting a 'thorough investigation" but it seems highly unlikely that the results will yield any immediate relief to their stooping sales graph.

1. No device is safe from explosions

There have been numerous reports of exploding smartphones in the past and though none recieved as much attention as the Note 7, most of them were dangerous. In fact, every device that uses a lithium ion battery is susceptible to explosions.

One of the reasons why smartphones became a huge hit was because of its lasting standby time without occupying much space. This was a result of densely packed batteries which was a revolutionary change in the technology but also meant a higher risk of short circuit. Every smartphone you hold these days are powered by these batteries.

Though the chances of explosions are extremely rare, even a slight fault in design can cause an explosion.



2. Expensive doesn't mean safe

Samsung Galaxy line-up has long dominated the premium segment in the Android sphere. After the launch of Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge, the devices have even eaten into Apple sales due to their exceptional built-quality but that doesn't mean that they were any safer compared to the cheaper smartphones.

On the contrary, most flagships represent the company's latest technology which is also the least tested, in terms of real user experience. These flagships constantly push the ceiling with the new technology. Battery technology in particular, hasn't been able to keep up with the evolution of other smartphone components which is why manufacturers are trying to introduce features like quick charge and high density batteries to keep up with the needs.

This in turn results in minor compromises in safety which can very well take the shape of a catastrophe, as in the case of Note 7.

ALSO READ: Samsung slashes its Q3 earnings forecast on Galaxy Note 7 debacle

3. Revised safety regulations

It is clear that the current safety regulations in regard with the smartphones isn't as robust as it needs to be. Most of the countries have their own regulatory bodies to standardize the safety procedures but with the tremendous growth in smartphone technology, these parameters fail to provide a thorough testing of the devices.

Even in the case of smartphone radiations, SAR values have proven to be inept in analysing real life effects and variations. Most tests happens with the assumption of no direct skin-contact with the device. The FCC itself claims that any smarphone that will be tested for radiations when in direct contact with human skin will fail the standard tests.



4. Battery technology needs special amends

As mentioned above, battery technology is runt of the litter when it comes to smartphone technology. Power is critical for every electronic device and the most potent technology currently available, for power storage, was developed in 1991. The lithium-ion batteries that power your smartphones have been nearly the same since its inception.

Though the battery industry has grown substantially, with almost 5-10 per cent of growth every year, there has been no breakthrough to keep up with the growing demand of power.

According to Moore's law, named after Gordon Moore, the co-founder of Intel, the number of transistors in a dense integrated circuit doubles every two years. The computational power Moore talked about is what is driving the smartphone technology. Every year, processors trump the previous versions by almost 30-40 per cent in computing power.

The surge in processing power yields more functionality to the devices but the battery technology fails to power these chipsets.

With every smarter-phone comes a demand of a heavier processor, bigger and highly pixel-dense screen and yet thinner profiles. The current lithium-ion technology is just capable of maintaining the same amount of power back-up. No matter how expensive the smartphone is, most users are forced to scavenge for power by the end of the day.

5. The smartphone race needs to slow down

Every year, since the advent of the first smartphone, a launch event is followed by a flurry of reviews. Even before the smartphone hits the market, a consumer is ready with their respective opinion on the device.

Note 7, iPhone 7 and now the Google Pixel are great examples of the consumer-psyche where devices are being pre-booked without being tested in real life scenarios. By the time a device is tested thoroughly, it's almost time for the user to jump to the next big smartphone.

The short life-cycles of devices and yet heavy demand by consumers has made the smartphone industry one of the most profitable ventures in the world. Manufacturers need to pay heed to safety regulations as much as the availability of the devices.

ALSO READ: Xiaomi's 'Diwali with Mi' sale: Here's what is on offer
It was announced today that Kernel Capital has invested 500k in Causeway Sensors, a spin-out from Queens University Belfast (QUB).



Founded by fellow QUB Academics Dr. Robert Pollard, Prof. Robert Bowman and Dr. John Nelson, the company have developed novel nanostructured chips for sensing applications accompanied with a reading device for the detection and measurement of various proteins (antibodies).

Causeway Sensors is focussed on the global biosensor industry which is expected to reach over $22 billion by 2020.



The Companys pioneering technology has emerged from 10+ years of research in Queens University which was partly supported by Invest NI via a R&D Grant.

The capability to sense the presence of low levels of proteins and their interactions means that Causeways technology can be used as a diagnostic instrument across multiple applications including the detection of early-stage cancer and other diseases, food security and drug discovery.



Causeway Sensors will use this investment to commercialise its technology, with an initial focus on the growing area of medical diagnostics.



The Bank of Ireland Kernel Capital Growth Fund (NI) was designed to help SMEs in Northern Ireland to accelerate their growth.

Invest Northern Ireland has committed 15 million of funding to this fund which is part financed by the European Regional Development Fund under the EU Investment for Growth and Jobs Programme 2014-2020.



CEO of Causeway Sensors, Dr. Bob Pollard today commented, "We are delighted to secure investment from Kernel Capital through The Bank of Ireland Kernel Capital Growth Fund. This investment is a great confidence boost for Causeway Sensors and will allow us to expedite our growth plans to commercialise and scale our technology. Together with continued support from both Kernel and QUBIS, the company is focused on delivering on our innovation roadmap."

Source: www.businessworld.ie

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Sovereign Wealth Fund Qatari Diar has reportedly bought Singapore's iconic Raffles Hotel for US$275 million according to The National newspaper in the Middle East. The deal comes as part of a package which has seen the fund obtain 40% shareholding for US$467 in the Fairmont Raffles hotel chain.

Prince Alwaleed's Kingdom Hotel Investments has moved from a 58% controlling interest in the group to a 35% minority interest in the transaction. KHI owns the Moevenpick Resort in Karon and a few years ago sold its greenfield Raffles development in Tah Sai, Phang Nga to a group including Evolution Capital PCL who changed operator to Ritz-Carlton.

Much speculation remains regarding the management chain which brand stable includes Raffles, Fairmont and Swissotel.
FILE - Evan McMullin speaks at Mount Logan Middle School during a town hall meeting October 12, 2016.

LOGAN  On the same day media reported a surge in Utahs presidential polls for Evan McMullin, the independent candidate held a town hall meeting at Mount Logan Middle School. McMullin spoke for more than 25 minutes Wednesday night before answering questions dealing with issues like education, systematic racism, foreign threats and state rights.

McMullin started his speech by telling his story. He spoke of his ancestors immigrations to the United States, what the country means to him and why he decided to run as what he called the only true conservative candidate.

During the primary stages of the election he was concerned when he saw Donald Trump continue to gain momentum. McMullin had already spent 11 years in the CIA studying documents concerning foreign dictators. He said they displayed similar qualities that he sees in Trump. He believed Trump was a man that would not respect the division of powers and would seek to divide using race and religion.

I saw someone who did not respect the courts, he said. I saw someone who admired dictators overseas and who I didnt think would protect or respect our civil rights.

Unlike what he saw with Trump, he said he expected Hillary Clintons advancement through the primaries. He was also concerned with the Democratic nominee, someone who he considers a deeply corrupt politician.

(She is) somebody who was willing to set up a private email server and compromise national security secrets, put the lives of my former colleagues at risk, all to avoid accountability to the American people, he said. Here we live in a country where 70 to 80 percent of the people feel we are on the wrong track. How can we have a president that feels that she or he is unaccountable to the American people?

According to McMullin, the decision to run for president came after days of prayer and study. He finally felt a conviction that it was the right thing to do.

He also made it clear that he understands a win is unlikely, but he wants to keep up the good fight and believes there is a chance. His strategy has been to win at least one state and hope both Trump and Clinton end up lacking the 270 required electoral votes. In such a situation, the House of Representatives would choose one of the top three candidates.

Right now, a recent poll shows McMullin at 22 percent in Utah, barely trailing Clinton and Trump, who have 26 percent each.

If there was a split in the electoral college, McMullin is confident things could go well for him from that point on. He said he already has a good relationship with the House Republicans.

I just came from there, he said. Like I said, I was the chief policy director there.

With Trumps popularity declining during the past week, McMullin said odds are getting worse there would be a split, but he also believes his campaign is a movement that is standing up for what is right and good.

Were standing up for those things, and we are building a new conservative movement in this country that will extend beyond November 8, he said. And I invite all of you to be a part of that.
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Do not consider WebMD Blogs as medical advice. Never delay or disregard seeking professional medical advice from your doctor or other qualified healthcare provider because of something you have read on WebMD. You should always speak with your doctor before you start, stop, or change any prescribed part of your care plan or treatment. WebMD understands that reading individual, real-life experiences can be a helpful resource, but it is never a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment from a qualified health care provider. If you think you may have a medical emergency, call your doctor or dial 911 immediately.
Mental Health Matters: Yes, depression is a 'real illness.'

Research suggests that people who have depression and another medical illness tend to have more severe symptoms of both illnesses.
The statement continues, coming in the wake of recent positive moves for dialogue by the government as well as the constructive engagement shown by the ethnic armed organizations at the recently convened Twenty First Century Panglong Conference this is both unsettling and disappointing.

The recent clashes have not only caused grievous deaths and injuries including to infants and children, but also displaced tens of thousands of people across the three states. This is unconscionable and seriously risks placing the entire peace process in jeopardy. There is no military solution to the conflicts in Myanmar. Negotiating across the fault lines of majority and minorities represents Myanmars biggest challenge requiring patience, magnanimity and understanding. Any escalation in tension will only undermine the hard won trust between the parties and make peace an even harder undertaking. The high expectations of the peoples of Myanmar as well as the confidence of the international community in the national reconciliation process will only be fulfilled if all parties work together to consolidate the nationwide ceasefire and persist in a sustained political dialogue.

The Special Adviser calls on all sides to meet and negotiate ways to deescalate the conflicts without delay. Pending agreements and solutions, he urges all parties to cease hostile actions, protect civilians, allow unhindered access for humanitarian assistance to affected communities and avoid disproportionate responses to perceived aggressive postures. In his direct communication with the stakeholders, the Special Adviser has encouraged them to move forward constructively to overcome current hurdles and move purposively to realize the legitimate expectations of a stable, peaceful and secure future for all Myanmars peoples.

The United Nations is committed to working with all stakeholders to consolidate the peace process, address urgent humanitarian and other problems and bring peace and tranquillity to the areas currently experiencing tension and conflict.
When is hurricane season? Here's what you need to know in South Texas
The photos and video that were passed around on social media, showed what appeared to be NDAA soldiers surrendering to UWSA. Causing many to wonder why the longtime allies would be fighting.

Both the UWSA and NDAA were formed in the aftermath of the 1989 mutiny that brought an end to the Communist Party of Burma. They have had an ironclad relationship since the days of the CPB along with the Myanmar Democratic National Alliance Army aka the Kokang.

Wa Sate media right away tried to put an end to the rumours by simply stating that the photos and video that appeared online were an overreaction by a Wa leader who was angered by the way his car was rudely inspected while going through a checkpoint. The leader then called in his forces to catch those who were responsible for disrespecting him. Wa media went on to say that both the UWSA and NDAA are working to solve the matter and people should not listen to the rumours.

However, Myanmar media had a field day with the incident and reported that the clashes were in retaliation to the NDAAs decision to send a higher-ranking delegation, led the NDAA leader Sai Luen, to attend the 21st Century Panglong Conference, in Naypyidaw. Thus one-upping the UWSA delegation that was headed by lower ranking Wa officials. However, these accusations have yet to be verified by either the UWSA or the NDAA.

But it seems Myanmar media cannot back their claims that the NDAA leader Sai Luen did, in fact, attend the 21st Century Panglong Conference because there are no photos of Sai Luen attending the conference.

The Shan Harald followed up an earlier report stating that UWSA sent in around 600 troops from UWSAs Battalion 468, and seized three NDAA bases: two mountain bases, Loi Kiusai and Loi Hsarm Hsoom, and a checkpoint at Parng Mark Fai,

According to Shan Harald Pao Aik Pang, the commander of UWSA Battalion 468, had informed NDAA officials that the two mountain outposts would not be returned to them

Meanwhile, Wa State media reported that the UWSA will start a three-month long artillery training program involving some 400 cadets.

The UWSA is known to have Chinese type 96 122mm howitzers and is the only Ethnic Armed Organization to have heavy artillery that can match the firepower of the Myanmar Army.

During this three-month training program that is set to kick off at the start of the dry season, we are likely to see reports of Chinese Peoples Liberations Army advisers leading the training exercise because of the complexity of the weapon.

The type 96 122mm howitzer is produced by China North Industries Corporation (NORINCO) and is a copy of the Russian D-30 howitzer and fire a 21.76kg projectile, with a range of 15,300m to 18,000m or between 9 to 11 miles. Along with the standard projectile the type 96 can also fire a wide range of ordnance that is designed to attack surface targets and armoured vehicles.

If the UWSA really did take those two bases, there can only be two reasons why the Wa would take over the two strategic mountain positions, of Loi Kiusai and Loi Hsarm Hsoom that overlook Kengtung Township. The first would be that the Wa are preparing for the worst in case peace talks do not go well and the Myanmar army decides to advance on their territory. If so, the UWSA could move their type 96 122mm howitzers and defend the high ground in case the Myanmar military tries to take Mong La.

The second reason could be out of paranoia over recent plans by the US to rekindle military to military engagement with Myanmar. Either way, the Wa are preparing for a fight.

The U.S. and Myanmar once had a history of cooperation since Myanmar independence in 1948. In the 1980s U.S. arms sales reached 4.7 million dollars annually and 167 Myanmar soldiers attended U.S. military schools under the International Military Education and Training (IMET) security assistance program. But this all came to an end after the military crackdown in 1988.

It will be interesting to see what happens next, the United Wa State Army is in the process of opening up after years of self-imposed isolation from the rest of Myanmar. They have recently taken part in Aung San Suu Kyis efforts to bring peace and national reconciliation but walked out of her conference over inequality and discrimination. The Wa have also taken unprecedented steps to reached out to the foreign press in order to whitewash their image.

But the announcement of a three-month long artillery training exercise, which might involve PLA advisers, shows that the Wa still does not trust Naypyidaw and reminds us of an old Chinese proverb that goes Rivers and mountains are easy to change, mans character is much harder
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South Cambridgeshire MP Heidi Allen has urged the Cambridge City Deal board to drop a scheme that she believes will waste 140 million of tax payers money.

Speaking at a meeting of the City Deal board on Thursday afternoon - covered live by the Cambridge News , the MP said in a written submission she read out at the meeting: 'The consultation responses alone overwhelmingly reject this route. At a ballpark cost of 140million, the benefit cost ratio of 0.21 represents unacceptably poor value for taxpayers money.'

Allen finished her statement saying to the board: "Do you have the courage to go back to the drawing board? If you do, then I am with you."

In response to the submission, councillor Lewis Herbert suggested he wouldn't change his mind, saying "We are going to discuss this project this afternoon, but I don't think we are going to back off with the belief that the core of this project backs up.

"It's like being at school and having to do an exam in 2019, and if you don't pass that you don't get further funding."

poll loading Do you back the City Deal? 0+ VOTES SO FAR Yes No Undecided

Tightropes

MP Allen responded again to Herbert saying she understood the difficulties faced when working with central government: "I know the hopes and tightropes you have to work with with central Government, but the landscape is very different now. You can say we had a GCSE exam, but we have A-levels coming up with the devolution deal.

The devolution deal refers to Government proposals to devolve power to a large regional body and bring in an elected mayor for the region.

She continued: "That gives us greater freedom. It's less money, but it's money we can borrow against.

"When we get the freedom devolution gives we will be more flexible.

What's the City Deal? See it explained in 60 seconds

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"Give us something that shows you believe it is appropriate to waste 140 million of public money on a vanity scheme, when there are other schemes that are cheaper and have the same effect."

"I think we need to ditch the big expensive white elephant."

MP Allen has agreed to work with the City Deal to arrange further meetings in Westminster with Sajid Javid - The Communities Secretary.

Do you agree with Heidi Allen's comments? What do you make of the City Deal? Let us know in the comments below
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A simple blood test developed in Cambridge could help prevent the spread of a deadly disease.

University scientists have been working on a test for variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD), the human form of Mad Cow Disease.

Spread by eating contaminated meat, it causes changes in mood and behaviour and walking difficulties, leading to loss of movement and speech before eventual death.

Other cases of vCJD have occurred in patients who received blood products prepared from donors who themselves later developed the disease  meaning effective screening of blood donors can save lives.

However the current blood test is a slow process, and can take months, if not years, to return a solution.

Although the number of people known to have died from vCJD is small  less than 180 cases in the UK  recent research has suggested within a certain age group of people in the UK, the number of individuals infected with vCJD, but who have not developed clinical signs of the condition, could be as high as one person in 2,000.

Whether these individuals will go on to develop the clinical form of the disease during their natural life span remains uncertain.

But now researchers say they could be close to a breakthrough, after they genetically-modified fruit flies to produce a protein used to detect the disease.

Dr Raymond Bujdoso from Cambridge University's Department of Veterinary Medicine said: "We have found the fruit flies respond so quickly to infected blood that it means we can develop a faster, more versatile and more sensitive test to detect infectious prions in blood than currently exists."

He suggested the new technique could provide an alternative to the current expensive and time-consuming" blood test.

He said a test that would easily and reliably screen for the disease would represent an ideal solution for identifying donors and blood donations that might present a risk of causing the disease."

Fruit flies are relatively easy and economical to work with, and widely accepted to be an ethical alternative to higher organisms such as mice.

Dr Bujdoso and colleagues say that their fruit fly model will help contribute to the so-called 3Rs  the replacement, refinement and reduction of the use of animals in research.

Professor David Carling, chair of the Biochemical Journal, which published the study, said: The paper from Dr Bujdoso and colleagues provides a proof-of-principle study demonstrating that the fruit fly can be used to detect the infectious agent responsible for a type of neurodegenerative disease.

Although the work is at a preliminary stage, it offers the exciting possibility of developing a quick and reliable screen for early diagnosis of a devastating disease."

The research was supported by the Isaac Newton Trust and the National Centre for the Replacement, Refinement and Reduction of Animals in Research (NC3Rs).
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Cambridge University is at the centre of a row over its role in the City Deal's transport schemes.

The university has a seat on the City Deal Executive Board, which is steering projects aimed at tackling congestion in and around the city.

One of them is boosting public transport in the A428 corridor between Cambridge and Cambourne, including the idea of building a new, off-road busway linking the two locations.

But the university owns land in the area, which some residents feel may be influencing its stance on which schemes it supports.

The university's land holdings north of Madingley Road include Madingley Road park and ride site, which is leased to the county council, the Ridge and Furrow Field, which is within the new North West Cambridge Development, the Madingley Rise site, and south of Madingley Road, the West Cambridge site.

Helen Bradbury, a parish councillor at Coton, said: There is considerable local anger that the university's response to the A428 busway consultation dealt primarily with its landholding interests rather than wider strategic concerns.

Residents believe they are now faced with a massive park and ride on the slope above Coton village because the university did not want it on their farmland.

There is also enormous concern that the university and certain colleges are promoting housing development on the West Fields that contravenes the Local Plan, using a map with this busway already drawn in.

This is a clear conflict of interest, given that the university is one of five members of the City Deal's executive board. So the landowner with the most to gain from busway option 3a has been in a privileged position to promote it. This has greatly damaged public confidence in the governance of the City Deal."

On the bus route, a university spokesman said: As set out in its original response to the City Deal consultation on the A428 Cambourne to Cambridge bus route, which can be found here the university supports enabling further public transport accessibility to the West Cambridge site, which is a major employment site and which has submitted a planning application for further academic and commercial research developments.

One of the City Deal's objectives is to maximise the use of existing infrastructure to connect employment sites with the city and residential areas. The university supports bus route options that go through the existing West Cambridge site as it will help achieve this objective.

The university is unable to comment on how any routes should exit the West Cambridge site until the county council confirms the destination for the routes."

On the role of the university on the City Deal board, the spokesman said: As one of the city's biggest employers and a key stakeholder just like the Local Enterprise Partnership, the University of Cambridge holds a position as a City Deal partner.

As a City Deal Partner, the university is a non-voting member on the City Deal board. It therefore takes part in board discussions but does not take part in the decision-making process. As one of the biggest employers in the city, the university takes an interest in City Deal proposals and submits responses to consultations, just like any other stakeholder.

However, where there is any actual or perceived risk of conflict of interest, the university representative on the City Deal board chooses to abstain from taking part in board meetings.

As a result, Nigel Slater, who represents the university on the City Deal Board, will abstain from attending the City Deal board meeting which will make a final decision on the preferred bus route from Cambourne to Cambridge."

Bridget Smith, leader of the Lib Dem group on South Cambridgeshire District Council, said: "I cannot help but feel sorry for the university and colleges which find themselves in the extremely awkward position of promoting a City Deal scheme which they clearly stand to benefit from. We must realise, however, that this goes to the very heart of the problem, which is the absolutely appalling City Deal governance arrangements which puts so very much power into so very few hands.

"With no proper scrutiny and no accountability what in all honesty did anyone think would happen?

"The university and colleges are charitable institutions, obligated to make the most of their assets so whatever the decision about the A428 corridor it will either have a very negative or a very positive effect on their ability to deliver on these obligations."
| BY Ricki Green |

In a first for the city of L.A, the Los Angeles Tourism & Convention Board (L.A. Tourism) today launches an Australia-wide advertising campaign, specifically aimed at the local millennial market. Titled Get Lost in L.A. the campaign harnesses millennials love for the City of Angels and invites them to discover the epic moments Los Angeles is having in the culinary, culture, fashion and creative spheres.

The new global campaign was developed in conjunction with Los Angeles agency Prettybird, in collaboration with creative boutique REMO+OOB. Australia is the first overseas market to roll-out the campaign, following a North America roll-out in the U.S., Canada and Mexico.

Says Don Skeoch, chief marketing officer for L.A. Tourism: Australia is our second largest overseas market, so its important for us to understand insights into Aussie travellers and roll out strategies to support local trade efforts.

Following a series of focus groups in Australia, we learned that millennials in particular embody an anything is possible sentiment about Los Angeles. These unscripted moments make ones L.A. trip unexpectedly amazing and were encouraging visitors to Get Lost in these only-in-L.A. experiences.

From October, Discover Los Angeles will be rolling out its integrated marketing campaign nationally with a focus on the eastern seaboard. The campaign has been timed to coincide with Australians peak booking and travel periods. The Get Lost campaign will span; out-of-home billboards and bus shelters, long form video, digital advertising and social media buys, as well collaborative marketing ventures with media and trade partners.

Says Craig Gibbons, regional director Australia & New Zealand for L.A. Tourism: We know that Aussies love to experience the glitz and glam of Hollywood and iconic only in L.A style experiences. Our local marketing efforts aim to build on this, inspiring millennials to broaden their horizons and discover other dimensions to this epic city.

As a city of cities with 88 unique neighbourhoods ready to be explored, an incredible dining scene that reflects the multi-cultural tapestry of the 140 nationalities that call the city home, endless outdoor activities and more galleries than any other U.S. city  Aussies will be surprised by what they discover.
Supreme Court signals skepticism of race-conscious college admissions

The Supreme Court gathered Monday to debate one of the most important questions this term: Whether colleges may consider the race of their applicants.
The New York Times reports that two women have come forward to accuse Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump of inappropriately touching them. When asked about the claims, he became angry and insulting.

In a phone interview on Tuesday night, a highly agitated Mr. Trump denied every one of the women's claims. "None of this ever took place," said Mr. Trump, who began shouting at The Times reporter who was questioning him. He said that The Times was making up the allegations to hurt him and that he would sue the news organization if it reported them. "You are a disgusting human being," he told the reporter as she questioned him about the women's claims.

Jessica Leeds, 74, a retired businesswoman, says Trump sexually assaulted her on a plane flight in the early 1980s, forcing her to change seats: "He was like an octopus," she said. "His hands were everywhere."

Rachel Crooks, then a 22-year-old receptionist working in Trump Tower, says he forced a kiss on her in 2005: "It was so inappropriate," Ms. Crooks recalled in an interview. "I was so upset that he thought I was so insignificant that he could do that."
Wednesday, October 12, 2016 at 10:04PM

What's going to happen to the 2.5 million Samsung Galaxy Note7 devices that are enroute to Samsung after a global recall resulting in the company taking them off the market? A Samsung spokesperson told Motherboard that, "the phones will not be repaired, refurbished, or resold ever again: We have a process in place to safely dispose of the phones."

Samsung hasn't specified how it is going to dispose of the 2.5 million devices, all of which contain chemicals (the offending batteries included) rare minerals and various toxic elements. There's a serious question about the impact of such massive disposal and how it could impact the environment. The implications of disposing so many smartphones shortly after they were manufactured just adds to the bad news related to the Note7 recall.

Source: Motherboard
Mexicos America Movil has announced it will invest $600 million in its Dominican Republic unit, Claro Dominicana, over the next three years, America Movil CEO Daniel Hajj said to local daily Listin Diario.

The announcement was made immediately after a meeting between Hajj and Dominican President Danilo Medina.

"The Dominican Republic is currently the fastest growing country, and we will continue investing," Hajj said. He also said that the company would invest $200 million a year in the roll out of broadband and LTE networks.

In February this year the three big telcos, Claro, Dominicana/Altice, Orange and Trilogy Dominicana, announced investments of more than $400 million to be made in 2016.

Claro is the market leader, followed by Orange Dominicana/Altice and Trilogy Dominicana.
FreedomPop launched in the US in 2014 offering free SIM-cards, giving customers access to data, texts and airtime. The agreement with Dish Mexico is the first time it has landed in a new country as part of a joint-venture, a model it says will rollout in other markets in the near future.

Dish Mexico, itself part of a JV between MVS Communications and Echostar Corporation, will provide local expertise, distribution and customer service, while FreedomPop will oversee the operational aspects of the service.

We chose FreedomPop as our strategic partner in Mexico because our main objective is to constantly deliver consumer value and we have seen the company do this in other countries so the model is proven, said Ernesto Vargas-Guajardo, CEO and director of MVS Comunicaciones. Were excited to have the worlds most innovative and customer-centric mobile provider as a partner.

The operation will run on America Movils network, and will be based on FreedomPops freemium model, where it offers basic services for free and users only pay for add-ons, such as additional data or a second phone number.

Since launching, FreedomPop has built up a subscriber base of more than 1 million customers across the US, UK and Spain, giving away more than 10 billion MBs of free data in the last 12 months.

The service will launch commercially within the next three to four months, but beta testing opened up this week.

It is the first of five upcoming joint-ventures, according to FreedomPop CEO Stephen Stokols, with the four others to involve the largest carriers in Germany, Italy, Asia and Australia, the MVNO claims.

We know everyone in the world would love free voice, data and text and with our partnership with Dish Mexico and the upcoming four other international joint ventures, we are exponentially increasing our progress in making free mobile services a reality for everyone, Stokols added.
The company will build the network using 5,400km of subsea cables around the coast of Papua New Guinea (PNG), a mountainous island nation in the south Pacific. The contract includes data centres.

A government-owned wholesale telecoms company, PNG DataCo, will operate the network, which will connect 14 major coastal centres as well as islands. It will also run to Jayapura in Indonesia, providing international connectivity. PNG DataCo was set up in February 2016.

Paul Komboi, managing director of PNG DataCo, said: This new system is very important to Papua New Guinea as it includes not only a new submarine cable network but also internet gateways and data centres. This will improve the whole ICT infrastructure in the country and greatly increase network coverage, capacity and the availability of internet and broadband services to end users.

The design capacity of the system is 8Tbps, which will cater for increased bandwidth demand over the next 10-15 years. When completed, the network will cover 55% of the population and will provide more than 70% of PNGs domestic bandwidth requirements. PNG today relies on satellite and microwave for voice and data connections.

Komboi added: Our selection of the experienced team at Huawei Marine, following a tender process, will ensure a successful implementation and delivery of this system.

Huawei Marines CEO Mike Constable said: For island nations, submarine cable systems are key components required for the development of an affordable and effective ICT infrastructure.
The two companies claim it is the first public showcase of 5G capabilities in Australia. The demonstration used 8x8 Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) and 64 Quadrature Amplitude Modulation (QAM) technologies to attain average speeds of around 4.84Gbps, with latency of 2.8 milliseconds.

The trial was conducted across Vodafones 4.5GHz spectrum band with 200MHz of cell bandwidth, with the operator using two use cases to demonstrate 5G capabilities: virtual reality cameras and robotics.

The robotics demonstration was used to highlight the differences in latency between 4G and 5G, and involved three robots attempting to balance a ball on a shared tray controlled by an app running over Vodafones network.

Over 4G, the robots struggled with 75ms of latency, meaning balancing the balls became difficult. Over 5G, however, the latency was just 2ms and the robots achieved their goal much quicker, according to reports from the demonstration.

Jeff Owen, head of Wireless Strategy at Vodafone Hutchison Australia (VHA), called 5G a "technology enabler".

[5G] will be accompanied by another four types of convergent technologies ... cloud computing, mobile edge computing, network function virtualisation, and network slicing, Owen added.

We will see the core part [of the network] decentralised and moved out towards the towers, and we will see the equipment in the mobile phone towers become increasingly centralised and in many ways be collocated with the core equipment.
First he was flayed by Senator Elizabeth Warren, then Congress had a go, then everyone got to gnaw on the fact that he'd done some seriously criminal stuff, then it emerged that he'd been a party to the bank's frauds since at least 2008, then we learned that his $200B bonus would be subsidized by taxpayers, then we learned that he walked through one of the bank's notorious boiler rooms every day, then his board of directors clawed back a couple million.



Today, he quit.

Fuck you very much, John Stumpf, you crooked scumbag. See you in court.

According to Wells Fargo, Stumpf informed the bank's board of directors that he is stepping down from his position as CEO, effective immediately. Tim Sloan, Wells Fargo's President and Chief Operating Officer, has been selected by the board to succeed Stumpf. Stumpf has been with Wells Fargo since the late '90s, when the bank merged with Minneapolis-based Norwest Bank. He rose to the CEO gig in 2007, around the same time that there were early rumblings of what would become the current bogus account scandal.

Wells Fargo CEO John Stumpf "Retires" Amid Fake Account Fiasco

[Chris Morran/Consumerist]
Gina Miller, an "investment manager," has brought a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the Brexit referendum, arguing that UK law requires a Parliamentary vote on the matter before the government can act on it.

The confusion over the issue is characteristic of the weird nature of the UK constitution. When I was studying to become a British citizen (note: despite what you may have heard, Britons are citizens, not subjects), I had to read the Life in the UK book and pass a test on it. One of the weirdest parts of it was the attempt to describe the UK's "unwritten constitution," a mishmash of court rulings, documents like the Magna Carta, European directives, and things that are just widely understood to be true.

Miller's argument is about the "ancient powers of Royal Prerogative." These are the powers reserved to the monarch  who is represented by the executive, including the Prime Minister which can be exercised without Parliament's approval. Miller says that Royal Prerogative doesn't cover Brexit (which is obviously not something mentioned explicitly in any description of "ancient powers"), the government says it does.

BBC legal correspondent Clive Coleman suggests that this is a live issue, which could go either way.

The case has huge constitutional importance and should provide clarity on whether executive powers can, in effect, trump an act of Parliament. Those bringing the case argue that legislation can only be altered by legislation. The government says it intends to give effect to the outcome of the referendum by bringing about the exit of the UK from the EU. And that that is a proper constitutional and lawful step to take, using prerogative powers, in light of the referendum result and the democratic mandate it has provided.

Brexit: High Court hearing challenge to Article 50 strategy

[BBC]
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.
Last month, Poland's ultra-right government collaborated with the Catholic Church to progress an extreme abortion law that would have sent doctors who performed operations to save fetuses (or their mothers) to prison.

After a global day of protest, the government faced a humiliating climbdown, described as a "lesson in humility" by a government minister.

Now, Jarosaw Kaczynski, leader of the ruling party PIS, has signalled that the law will come back, and will force women to deliver unviable fetuses so that they can be baptized before they are buried.

A legislative proposal from "Voice for Life" (a rabid anti-Choice group) with 160,000 signatures is headed to Parliamentary debate: it would impose longer prison sentences on doctors who perform abortions for women whose lives were not in "immediate danger." It would ban emergency contraception (which acts eggs that have not be fertilized), and declare that life begins at conception. It would require Polish schools to teach these untrue things as facts, and to propagandize against abortion in all cases.

Meanwhile, the Facebook groups "Dziewuchy Dziewuchom" (Gals for Gals) and "Ogolnopolski strajk kobiet" (Poland-Wide Women's Strike) became the coordination points for the new solidarity movement filled with discussions, news, plans and moral support. The movement has widened its focus to include the fight against contempt and violence towards women, influence of the Catholic Church in politics, and political influence in the education system. After the plans of the ruling party became clear and the "Voice for Life" petition landed in the Parliament, the groups have been flooded by posts of women outraged at the proposal and ready to march into the streets again chanting "My body, my choice." The "Poland-Wide Women's Strike  Round Two" is planned for October 24, with several thousand people on the Facebook event confirming they plan to attend.

New Abortion Ban Proposals in Poland Mean the 'Black Protest' Movement Isn't Over Yet

[Kasia Odrozek/Global Voices]





(Image: @LukaszukAB)
Conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh had thoughts yesterday on the problems faced by Donald Trump, whose campaign for president is falling apart after a recording emerged of him boasting about sexually assaulting women.

RUSH LIMBAUGH: You know what the magic word, the only thing that matters in American sexual mores today is? One thing. You can do anything, the left will promote and understand and tolerate anything, as long as there is one element. Do you know what it is? Consent. If there is consent on both or all three or all four, however many are involved in the sex act, it's perfectly fine. Whatever it is. But if the left ever senses and smells that there's no consent in part of the equation then here come the rape police. But consent is the magic key to the left.

It's tempting to think that somewhere in Limbaugh is a decent man on the precipice of an epiphany: yes, consent is key to understanding rape. Never has it been made clearer what the barrier is: a conservative moral system in which consent is irrelevant.

As Limbaugh is useless at both decency and conservatism, though, we're left with the toxic sludge his paragraph representsand all the men like Trump whose behavior it enables.
TheGuarantors, a New York-based insurance tech startup founded in 2014, is seeking to make renting an apartment in New York easier for landlords, brokers and renters through its newly launched, tech-enabled lease guarantee platform.

The platform, which serves as the startups first product offering, connects renters who cannot secure a lease on their own with an insurance-backed co-signer through The Hanover Insurance Group, a Worcester, Mass.-based holding company for several property/casualty insurance companies.

Founder and CEO Julien Bonneville said the idea for the platform first came to him through personal experience.

When I arrived in the U.S. in 2010, as a foreigner and a student, I struggled to be able to rent an apartment here in New York, he told Wells Media Groups Insurance Journal. A few years later in 2014, I decided to launch this new insurance product to help all of these segments of the populationforeigners, students, retirees, entrepreneursto be accepted into the buildings they wanted. The concept is to cover rent in case of nonpayment or lease break, so the landlord would feel confident and happy to sign a lease with the renter. We are providing access to renters and security for landlords.

Potential tenants who dont meet landlord requirements without a lease guarantee can submit a free application online and upload supporting documents through the website, allowing applicants to secure approval within 12 hours of submission.

Once lease details are confirmed with the landlord, renters sign a Lease Rental Bond, and landlords secure apartment availability for the renter. Lease Rental Bonds are backed by The Hanover Insurance Group, licensed in New York State and A-rated (Excellent) by A.M. Best.

The cost of the service for U.S. residents is between 5 and 7 percent of the annual rent. For non-U.S. residents, the cost is between 7 and 10 percent. Fees are dependent on credit score information when available and personal financial condition.

After its launch in 2014, TheGuarantors spent the first year finding a carrier and negotiating a contract, as well as raising funds for the platform, Bonneville said, explaining that it is essentially a surety bond with the beneficiary being the landlord and the payer being the renter.

In terms of the risk nature, its pretty exotic for the insurance industry. Its not like an unanticipated event, such as a house burning down, that you have to protect yourself against. Its a real decision for a renter to stop paying rentIt was a struggle to find a carrier, because its more like a bank or credit card risk than a contingent risk, Julien Bonneville. In terms of the risk nature, its pretty exotic for the insurance industry. Its not like an unanticipated event, such as a house burning down, that you have to protect yourself against. Its a real decision for a renter to stop paying rentIt was a struggle to find a carrier, because its more like a bank or credit card risk than a contingent risk, Julien Bonneville.

In terms of the risk nature, its pretty exotic for the insurance industry, he said. Its not like an unanticipated event, such as a house burning down, that you have to protect yourself against. Its a real decision for a renter to stop paying rent. Due to the nature of the risk, it was a struggle to find a carrier, because its more like a bank or credit card risk than a contingent risk.

Eventually, TheGuarantors partnered with The Hanover Insurance Group, which was drawn to the unique nature of the platform, Hanovers Director of Transactional Surety Scott Reinke said in a press release announcing the product launch.

Hanovers Surety Division has always been very interested in growing in innovative spaces, Reinke said. When TheGuarantors asked us to be their carrier, we saw their team had the right vision and expertise to understand the changing needs of the insurance market.

As the insurance industry becomes increasingly reliant on technology, TheGuarantors aims for its lease guarantee platform to be as tech-oriented as possible.

All interactions are completed online, and everything is well automated and highly efficient, Bonneville said. All of the stakeholders, including brokers, landlords and renters, have their own platform with dashboards so they can track exactly whats going on. We try to be as transparent as possible with all of these stakeholders.

Landlords can log into the dashboard and monitor all renter activity, their exposure, when policies are expiring and the stages of each application being processed. This efficiency is key in helping leasing agents fill vacancies and landlords improve operations, he said.

We want to be as quick as possible, he stated. It takes us 10 to 15 minutes to process an application, and most of the time, were able to underwrite clients in between two and six hours. Everything is done online, so we dont have to slow the leasing process down at all.

The platform categorizes renters into seven different risk classes and requires a salary that is roughly 27 times the amount in monthly rent, rather than typical salary requirements of 40 times the monthly rent to secure an apartment in New York City, he explained. The platform developed an algorithm to take into account liquid assets of renters as well.

We were initially only covering 12-month leases, but based on market feedback and current trends in leasing in New York, Hanover has allowed us to write policies that could cover up to 18-month leases, Bonneville said. We can also cover up to two months of holdovers in case the lease ends and the defaulted renter stays in the unit.

Another changing need TheGuarantors has observed within the insurance market is new construction buildings in what Bonneville classifies as vertical cities, such as New York. Because of regulation and tax abatement, owners of these buildings typically cant ask for more than one months rent for a security deposit from renters, making it difficult to legally protect themselves against default, he said. Bonneville added that this is where the platform receives most of its demand in the initial stage of leasing.

[That] is why were really relevant in that area of the market, he said. Right now, our demand is mainly coming from these high rises and luxury units, so our program is very well adapted for vertical cities where landlords are pretty concentrated and own portfolios of hundreds of thousands of units. We are also working to penetrate the long tail of the market with smaller landlords and figuring out how to enroll them in the program in a cost-effective way, but right now, we see our current product fitting with about eight to 10 vertical cities in the U.S.

The program is open to any building in New York and is also filing in New Jersey. In the future, TheGuarantors hopes to expand the program to vertical cities such as Boston and Chicago, Bonneville said, as well as launch additional products nationwide.

Our overall vision is to become a one-stop shop for insurance needs that landlords have in their relationship with renters, which is why were starting to work on some other new products that would match this type of insurance need, Bonneville said. This is a good, solid first product, but in the future, were also thinking of designing products that might be much more suited for a nationwide mass market.
Swiss Re Group and a South American conglomerate are jointly launching a commercial large-risk insurer in Brazil, and the reinsurer plans to own a majority stake.

The actual partnership, which goes into effect pending various regulatory approvals, takes place through subsidiaries. Plans call for Swiss Res commercial insurance arm, Swiss Re Corporate Solutions Ltd., and Bradesco Seguros S.A., the insurance conglomerate of Bradesco Group to create the company.

Essentially, Bradesco Seguros will contribute its commercial large risk portfolio to Swiss Re Corporate Solutions Brasil Seguros S.A., giving Swiss Re exclusive access to its distribution network. Swiss Re Corporate Solutions gets a 60 percent stake, and Bradesco Solutions will have a 40 percent equity stake in the combined entity.

What theyll build is what both parties hope will be a leading commercial large-risk insurer in Brazil that can enable innovative products to be delivered through an established distribution network, according to the deal announcement.

Swiss Re will gain plenty from the arrangement. As the reinsurer notes, Bradesco Seguros has a distribution network with more than 4,600 Bradesco bank branches across Brazil. There are also 40,000 insurance brokers and agents registered to Bradesco Seguros. As well, Bradesco Seguros professionals who handle commercial large-risk business in Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro will join Swiss Re Corporate Solution Brasil Seguros S.A. (SRCB).

Bradesco Seguros President Randal Luiz Zanetti pointed out, in prepared remarks, that the partnership gives his company more international reach and expertise. Reciprocally, Swiss Re Corporate Solutions CEO Agostino Galvagni said the arrangement goes a long way toward boosting its Latin America market position.

Bradesco Seguros local knowledge and distribution channels coupled with our large net capacity and global underwriting expertise will allow us to deliver superior products to our Brazilian and international clients, Galvagni said in prepared remarks.

Swiss Re has communicated for a while now that it sees emerging markets serving as a big driver for property/casualty premium growth. The reinsurers annual insurance outlook issued in November 2015 predicted that emerging markets will generate non-life premium growth of 8 percent to 9 percent over the next two years Thats far higher than slowed-down, low single-digit premium growth expectations for the U.S. and Japan, Swiss Res report noted.

Source: Swiss Re
Now, he's back with his best book yet: The Attention Merchants: The Epic Scramble to Get Inside Our Heads , an erudite, energizing, outraging, funny and thorough history of one of humanity's core undertakings -- getting other people to care about stuff that matters to you.



Wu's book about ad-tech starts with a history of hucksters, advertisers, con artists, grifters, snake-oil salesmen, and other figures who made it their business to get in your business.

From this history of attention-economics as a social, core human activity, he carefully builds up a devastating critique of ad tech as it stands today, transforming "don't be evil" into the surveillance business model in just a few short years. It connects the dots between the sale of advertising inventory in schools to the bizarre ecosystem of trackers, analyzers and machine-learning models that allow the things you look at on the web to look back at you.





This stuff is my daily beat, and I learned a lot from Attention Merchants. More importantly, Wu has provided a framework for understanding current events in light of wider, historical trends.

Wu  who has just become a father for the first time  is planning a very limited tour for the book. If you can make it to one of these events, you really should.

Monday, October 24 WASHINGTON, DC

6:30 p.m.  Kramerbooks, 1517 Connecticut Ave NW, Washington, DC 20036

Tuesday, October 25 CAMBRIDGE, MA

6:30 p.m.  WorkBar, 45 Prospect Street, Cambridge, MA 02139

Wednesday, October 26 TORONTO, CANADA

5:30 p.m.  Rotman School Event @ University of Toronto, 105 St George Street, Toronto, ON M5S 3E6

Saturday, November 5 AUSTIN, TX

11:00 a.m.  Texas Book Festival, C-SPAN Tent, Austin, TX 78701

Monday, November 14 LOS ANGELES, CA

7:15 pm.  ALOUD series in conversation with Madeleine Brand

Library Foundation of Los Angeles, 630 West Fifth Street, Los Angeles, CA 90071

Tuesday, November 15 SAN FRANCISCO, CA

Event Details 6pm in progress

Wednesday, November 16 PORTLAND, OR

7:30 p.m.  Powell's City of Books, 1005 West Burnside Street, Portland, OR 97209

Thursday, November 17 SEATTLE, WA

7:00 p.m.  Seattle Public Central Library, 1000 Fourth Ave, Seattle, WA, 98104

In nearly every moment of our waking lives, we face a barrage of advertising enticements, branding efforts, sponsored social media, commercials and other efforts to harvest our attention. Over the last century, few times or spaces have remained uncultivated by the "attention merchants," contributing to the distracted, unfocused tenor of our times. Tim Wu argues that this is not simply the byproduct of recent inventions but the end result of more than a century's growth and expansion in the industries that feed on human attention. From the pre-Madison Avenue birth of advertising to TV's golden age to our present age of radically individualized choices, the business model of "attention merchants" has always been the same. He describes the revolts that have risen against these relentless attempts to influence our consumption, from the remote control to FDA regulations to Apple's ad-blocking OS. But he makes clear that attention merchants grow ever-new heads, and their means of harvesting our attention have given rise to the defining industries of our time, changing our naturecognitive, social, and otherwisein ways unimaginable even a generation ago.

The Attention Merchants: The Epic Scramble to Get Inside Our Heads [Tim Wu/Knopf]

(Image: Luma Partners)
Leave it to the Australians to show us how racing ought to be done: with big V8s. Where racing series in other parts of the world keep switching to smaller and smaller engines, the Aussies still run their V8 Supercars series with big engines (at least for the time being), and will soon see the return of Formula 5000.



For those unfamiliar, the original Formula 5000 was run in the 1960s and 70s as a way to get retired open-wheel racing cars back out on the track. It was so named because it allowed engines up to 5.0 liters (or 5000 cc), and ran in various forms in North America, Europe, and Down Under.

Called Formula Thunder 5000, the proposed revival will be based on a new chassis and run exclusively in Australia and New Zealand. The new car is based on a chassis originally designed by California-based Swift Engineering for use in Japans Formula Nippon series, but has been extensively modified.

At its heard sits Fords modular Coyote V8  based on the same block as youd find in a Mustang, F-150, or Falcon, but developed by Australias InnoV8 Race Engines. From there a large portion of the key components (including the gearbox and suspension) are supplied by Australian manufacturers.

As Motorsport.com reports, the car just made its first track test, with Australian Formula 3 Champion Tim Macrow behind the wheel. Its set to run in public for the first time later this month during the Muscle Car Masters at Sydney Motorsport Park, but you can check it out in the photos below and listen to its roar in the (unfortunately low-def) video at bottom.

Photo Gallery

Video
Just a heads-up, it wont be cheap.



At the time Ferrari was gearing up to let the high-performance LaFerrari hybrid loose, Fernando Alonso was still racing for the Scuderia. The Italian company is known to collaborate with its drivers in order to develop and fine-tune certain models, and thats exactly what happened in this case.

According to Alonsos official site, the world champion worked on the cars driving position, control layout, and handling (around the track). Moreover, its believed that after the 6.3-litre V12 automobile enter production, both he and Massa ordered one of the 500 units.

This particular example, offered for sale by Auto Salon Singen, has a small plaque on the vehicles steering wheel that reads Fernando ALONSO (instead of F150, Limited Edition, LaFerrari or the customers dog name). So, is it Alonsos?

Highly unlikely, because the plaque was offered as a factory option (to any LaFerrari) as an homage to Fernandos work on the control layout, seating position and whatnot. Let us put it this way, even Felipe Massas LaFerrari could sport the Fernando Alonso steering wheel plaque (although it probably doesnt).

The vehicles price is undisclosed, but the dealer offers another six (yes, 6) LaFerraris for sale, each with a price tag over the 3 million mark ($3,308,850), with the most expensive costing 3,629,500 ($4,003,701).

For that kind of cash, youll get one of the fastest, most iconic, and most advanced road-going vehicles ever created, which should be enough.

PHOTO GALLERY
Almost 22 years ago, nobody would have thought a small Swedish company would have what it takes to challenge the likes of Ferrari, Lamborghini and Bugatti.



And yet, Koenigsegg is a name familiar to car collectors with deep pockets these days. Thats because Christian von Koenigsegg, owner and CEO of the brand, dreamed of making some of the best vehicles on the planet.

His dream became real in 2002, when the first customer took delivery of a red CC8S at the Geneva Motor Show. Two years later, the CCR was unveiled at the same Swiss event, and in 2006, Koenigsegg introduced the CCX. The CCXR followed it in 2007, and in 2009, the automaker released the special edition Trevita, which was eventually topped by the Agera, one year later, the Agera R in 2011, and the Agera S in 2012.

Billed as the worlds first megacar, the One:1 saw the light of day in 2014, with a name inspired by its power-to-weight ratio, and a massive 1,360 PS (1,341 HP) and more than 1,000 Nm (lb-ft) of torque, produced by an in-house developed 5.0-liter V8 engine. The lump isnt the only thing that Koenigsegg make on their own and, in fact, apart from the Michelin tires, everything else is made in Sweden.

As a final touch, the vehicles logo is actually the Koenigsegg family crest, which Christian doesnt know that much about, except for the fact that it can be traced back to the 11th century, as the 44-year old man told Jay Leno, right before the two jumped inside the One:1 for a few fast laps.

VIDEO
Yesterday, Wells Fargo CEO John Stumpf announced his "early retirement" from the scandal-haunted company, with the CEO seat being filled by former COO Tim Sloan.

Sloan is a bizarre pick for the job. With evidence mounting that the fraud goes back to 2008 or even 2005, and that the company's culture of coercion through blackballing threats was responsible for millions of criminal acts, Wells has appointed a veteran of the company  who held senior, responsible roles through the entirety of the scandal  to the top job.

He's not just any veteran, either: in 2013, Sloan told the LA Times that his company had no "overbearing sales culture"  that everything was fine and the low-level bankers who were coming forward with early warnings about being pressured to act unethically were imagining things.

As the scrutiny over the fiasco grew, Sloan was promoted to President and Chief Operating Officer at Wells. He was the one who gave Carrie Tolstedt  the head of the bank's retail division  that she would be "retiring" this past summer. But through it all, he maintained that Wells Fargo's practice of constantly pushing employees to upsell and cross-sell financial products was not going to change. "Because when you think of our vision, it's to satisfy our customers' financial needs, and to help them succeed financially," he explained to American Banker in a June 2016 interview, adding that the "fundamental strategy that we have is not going to change."

New Wells Fargo CEO Recently Denied "Overbearing Sales Culture" That Created Fake Account Fiasco

[Chris Morran/Consumerist]
To keep the conversation around suicide awareness and mental health going, Castanet has joined forces with The LifeLine Canada Foundation for the month of October.

Local restaurants will bring the message of positive mental health to the dinner table during Food For Thought.

Today, we are featuring Cora Breakfast and Lunch in Kelowna. The first item they are featuring is their Gigi omelette, an egg white omelette with mushrooms, spinach, caramelized onions and goat cheese. Served with fresh fruit and gluten-free toast.

The second item is equally healthy as it is beautiful, it's called the Samira Wake-up. A beautiful plate of lavishly cut fresh fruit served with toast. Also offered with cheese: choice of Brie, Cheddar, Swiss, cottage or cream cheese.

Check back now through Oct. 30 to find out which restaurants are featuring delicious meals with unique mental-health benefits.
Photo: Contributed

Another event at Kelowna's Tolko mill Tuesday night has some neighbours in the area up in arms.

Dr. Charles Lund, who lives in the area, said soot from the mill blanketed the neighbourhood.

It was so bad, he said they had to water down their patio furniture. Cars in the area were also covered with a dusting of the black particles.

Lund said this is the third such event in the last several months.

"We've had a period of fairly clean air for some weeks now, however, last night, there was a tremendous noise coming from the plant," said Lund.

"This morning, everything was covered in large, particulate soot."

Lund, an anesthesiologist, said the soot can be dangerous to those people breathing it in.

"I do understand that Tolko has to do what they have to do, but they do need to have some sort system to prevent these emissions, which are unbelievably harmful to people's health.

"Breathing in this large, particulate soot, is horrendously dangerous. Nobody knows when it's going to happen."

He said he has spoken with the Ministry of Environment, and was told air quality around the mill has been tested six times over the last three years, and on one occasion they were non-compliant, and there was a lot of soot in the air.

The event Tuesday night is similar to a situation earlier this year when soot rained down on boats moored at the Kelowna Yacht Club.

At that time, Tolko admitted they were working to mitigate the problem.

In 2007, the company spent $2 million to replace the combustion control system.

It was designed to significantly reduce the amount of emissions coming from the plant.

Attempts to contact Tolko concerning Tuesday's event were unsuccessful.
Photo: Greater Vernon Chamber of Commerce

Vernon council is hoping to build better relations with property developers and others in the construction trade.

Councillors have agreed to a November forum with the Big Red committee of the Greater Vernon Chamber of Commerce.

The group appeared as a delegation in February, raising concerns about single-family detached construction and expressing frustration over red tape at city hall. At the time, the city was urged to speed up efforts to ensure that attainable housing was being built.

"They're making sure the city is doing a good job and assisting developers developing their projects," said Coun. Brian Quiring, an architect. "They have some suggestions on how we might be able to do things better and, I think, we're absolutely open.

"We're definitely moving in the direction of being more open for business and we look forward to a forum with them."

Members of staff will also be attending the forum and, depending on the outcome, an action team may be developed to work on matters of mutual concern.

Council and staff are committed to ensuring that the City of Vernons development approval process is as efficient as possible, said Kim Flick, director of community infrastructure and development. We want to ensure that we are meeting the needs of industry while maintaining the vision as set out by the whole community, documented in the Official Community Plan.

We believe there has to be continual engagement with the development community to ensure efficient processes are in place at City Hall so that we continue to be open for business and are able to attract new investment, said Dauna Kennedy Grant, Chamber president.
Photo: Getty Images

I wish I were better at marketing.

And by better, I mean I wish I had even the slightest idea of how to market things.

The Missus and I have come up with some awesome inventions over the years, but we have no clue what to do with the idea after it forms in our collective craniums.

Many years ago, we came up with the idea for the air bra.

The concept was simple: you place a tiny hand pump in a specially designed bra and should the need arise to em, er, enhance things, well problem solved.

All the wearer has to do is squeeze the pump a few times and voila. No medical procedures are needed.

The changes would be immediate and if you put in too much air and things grow a little too much, just release the pressure and things go back to normal.

Of course, the trick would be to make sure both sides inflate evenly.

Dumb idea you say? Probably, but several years after we came up with the idea, we saw an ad by a major clothing company for  that's right  an air bra.

You don't hear much about them now, so the concept must have deflated, but it was still an idea good enough for a major corporation to give it a shot.

A friend suggested we make air underwear for men, so they could um, er, enhance a certain area of their physicality.

Hey, if women can do it, why can't men? was his argument.

I think I will leave that marketing campaign to someone else.

A few years after the bra inflator idea, we were driving with our two dogs in the backseat when another idea came upon us: doggie seatbelts.

Our mutts would bounce around back there  jumping from window to window  and if I had to hit the brakes really hard, they would always slam into the back of our seats.

Once, the littlest dog flew into the front seat. And that is where the doggie-seatbelt idea was born.

We had it all figured out. It would be like a harness that snapped into the regular seatbelt clip. No more risk of Fido becoming a projectile in the event of hard breaking or a collision.

We talked about it for a while, but due to our complete and total lack of salesmanship or marketing abilities, the idea crashed.

Until a few years later when we saw an ad for, that's right, a doggie seatbelt.

The design was similar to ours and we were wondering if perhaps we were being spied upon.

While the air bra was kind of a silly concept, doggie seatbelts are a great idea and had we been smart enough to market them, there is a chance I would be writing this column from my yacht in the Bahamas.

It would be a small yacht, but a yacht none the less. But alas, I have no marketing or sales skills.

I do have all sorts of ideas that are sure to make a small fortune should they ever make it to mainstream society.

If the Pet Rock, which was absolutely brilliant, can make its inventor rich, there has to be other silliness out there that can do the same for yours truly.

I don't know what they are yet, and when I do know it still won't help because I won't know how to market them.

OK, I will admit, there are a few holes in my get-rich plan, but at least I have a plan.

Anybody looking for an ideas man with no marketing skills?

This article is written by or on behalf of an outsourced columnist and does not necessarily reflect the views of Castanet.
Photo: Wayne Moore - Castanet File Photo

Patty Hanson says all she wants to do is serve her constituents.

And, despite being away from the board table while on stress leave, the Central Okanagan East regional director continues to do just that.

Hanson said she continues to perform all other duties as an elected official. She sits as second vice-chair of the Southern Interior Local Government Association and continues to attend those meetings, she has been holding meetings within her constituency, and answers emails.

"None of that causes the stress that the regional board causes me," Hanson told Castanet.

"But, I just have not been going to the regional board because it causes me too much stress and anxiety from the comments made and the decisions made."

Those duties she is performing include meetings with the provincial Minister of Community, Sport and Cultural Development, Peter Fassbender,

"There is total lack of governance. We have taxation without representation, now we're looking at another form of government that would better suit our communities."

Although information has not been confirmed by the ministry, Hanson said he is willing to go through with a governance study and expand it (Okanagan East), when necessary.

Hanson said she has a letter of support for a governance review from the Ellison Community Hall Association.

"I am taking a petition around, getting signatures for the minister."

Hanson said she is fed up with the way the electoral areas are treated by those around the board table.

Hanson continues to receive her regular regional district remuneration while on leave. Her alternate on the board, Mark Bartyik, is also paid for meetings he attends in her place.
Photo: Getty Images

One of the things I enjoy the most about representing the riding of Central Okanagan-Similkameen-Nicola is the diversity of the region that ranges from rural, unincorporated areas to more densely populated urban centres.

As much as there are many different challenges because of this diversity, there are also some common themes.

One is that most citizens have a strong connection with local media that in many regions of Canada, including here, are struggling to survive.

Princeton and Merritt have both seen community papers close permanently while others have dropped their publication from twice a week to one.

Elsewhere, many newsrooms have laid off staff as media organizations struggle with changing market dynamics and declining advertising revenues.

As I have previously stated on several occasions and in Ottawa, local media are a critically important facet of life in our communities.

Fortunately for many citizens, there continues to be local live and recorded programming broadcast by the CBC throughout our region.

Although I generally hear support for the CBC, one common complaint I do receive from time to time is that many citizens would prefer it if the CBC were entirely commercial free.

This suggestion is also circulating in Ottawa as many struggling media organizations resent the fact that they are losing much needed ad revenue to a national public broadcaster that is funded with tax dollars.

The debate is an understandable one as CBC is essentially immune to the same market forces that other media organizations are forced to adapt to.

This leads me to the question for this weeks MP report: would you support a commercial-free CBC?

Key to this conversation would be recognizing that this could mean a loss revenue to the CBC if government did not make up a revenue shortfall created by the loss of advertising revenue.

I should also add that the Liberal government is increasing funding to the CBC, which now receives in excess of one billion tax dollars per year.

A commercial-free CBC would not, in my view, substantially help our struggling local media organizations, however it is one measure that many national media organizations have voiced their support; this is in addition to the many local citizens who have expressed support to me for a commercial free CBC.

I welcome your comments on the idea of a commercial free CBC or any other matter before the House of Commons. I can be reached at [email protected] or toll free 1-800-665-8711.

This article is written by or on behalf of an outsourced columnist and does not necessarily reflect the views of Castanet.
Photo: City of Enderby

It's going to be easier and safer for tubers and kayakers to enter the Shuswap River next summer.

A contractor for the City of Enderby has been placing four-by-eight-foot concrete pads in place at Belvedere Hand Launch.

The concrete pads will be like a stairway into the river, explained Mayor Greg McCune. This will actually be safer.

You can get out of your vehicle, blow up your tube and step into the river. And for canoes and kayaks, they can be carried by two people because the slabs are eight-feet-wide.

McCune said officials are thrilled the work is taking place.

Looking back on our history 100 or so years ago, as the paddlewheelers went past (carrying people and goods). There was a lot of industry along the river including a sawmill.

But the junk left behind because of that industry is being cleaned out this week.

This will give much better, safer access to the river for tubers and kayakers, said McCune.
Photo: Contributed

A Kelowna tech company's takeover is complete.

Trading of shares in QHR Corp., a medical records company that's becoming a subsidiary of Loblaw's Shoppers Drug Mart business, end Thursday.

The company has been headquartered in Kelowna's Landmark Square technology centre.

The grocery and pharmacy giant acquired the tech firm for $170 million cash, or $3.10 per share.

That was 22 per cent above QHR's stock price prior to the announcement on Aug. 22. QHR shares closed Wednesday at $3.09 on the TSX Venture Exchange.

Loblaw said QHR will be delisted after Thursday's trading day.

QHR currently supports 7,700 healthcare providers with a suite of secure medical records technology.
Photo: Getty Images

A northern Ontario police force is serving notice to people dressing up as creepy clowns.

North Bay police say while dressing as a clown isn't illegal, officers can charge a person criminally if there are grounds to believe they committed acts of mischief, or threatened, assaulted, or harassed others.

They say two recent incidents prompted the release of the public notice on Thursday.

Investigators say they received a report Wednesday evening that a person dressed as a clown was crouching in the bushes and scaring three children on bicycles  but the suspect was gone by the time officers arrived.

And they say suspects had also left the scene when police investigated a complaint on Oct. 6 that three people dressed as clowns were behind a school and might be trying to scare children.

Creepy clown sightings, threats and arrests have been reported across North America and even reached the United Kingdom.
Photo: The Canadian Press

Tragically Hip frontman Gord Downie says his memory is fading as he battles terminal brain cancer.

Downie spoke with anchor Peter Mansbridge in an exclusive interview for CBC's "The National," which was set to air Thursday night.

In a preview clip of the interview, Downie tells Mansbridge he "can't remember hardly anything."

He admits he had to write "Peter" on his hand so he wouldn't forget the name of the man interviewing him, whom he's known for 25 years.

Downie also says he's fighting his terminal illness, hoping he "can get more time."

When Mansbridge asks him if he's "resigned to the direction this is heading," he says, "Yes, I am. I really am."

Downie revealed his cancer earlier this year. Over the summer, he and the Hip put on a 15-show tour that ended with a live broadcast concert that drew millions.

On Tuesday, Downie is set to release "Secret Path," a new solo album with an accompanying graphic novel inspired by the tragedy of Canada's residential school system. He's also scheduled to perform at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa on Tuesday, and Roy Thomson Hall in Toronto on Oct. 21.

"Secret Path" tells the story of a 12-year-old First Nations boy in Ontario named Chanie Wenjack, who died in 1966 after running away from the Cecilia Jeffrey Indian Residential School near Kenora, Ont.

An animated film on the story  accompanied by documentary footage of Downie tracing Chanie's steps with the Wenjack family  will be broadcast on CBC on Oct. 23.

The interview marks the first time he's discussed his condition publicly.

Downie tells Mansbridge his memories used to be his "forte."

"And now I can't remember hardly anything. I have 'Peter' written on my hand. I have a few things written on my hands. And I say that just to be up front, because I might call you Doug.''
Photo: Google Street View

West Kelowna residents can now avail themselves of free water.

The city made good on a directive from council this week to make water at the bulk filling station available to all residents free of charge.

The decision was made as 11,000 customers who receive water from the Lakeview system head into a third month of a water-quality advisory.

Water at the station is treated at the Powers Creek Treatment Plant, which uses methods including filtration, UV radiation and chlorination.

The filling station is located at Shannon Lake and Asquith roads.

It has been refitted with a new tap, available to all residents, on the Asquith Road side of the station. Containers are not provided.

Users are asked to bring their own containers, and hoses if needed, and ensure they are clean and suitable for potable water.

The free access is granted for the duration of the current water-quality advisory.

Staff is expecting that the higher-than-normal Rose Valley Reservoir algae blooms, which are a prime contributing factor to turbidity, will dissipate in the near future as colder weather sets in and water clarity will soon thereafter return to normal.

Council has directed staff to look into options that might allow the city to build a Rose Valley Water Treatment Plant sooner than the currently forecast 2022.

Solutions will depend on the City of West Kelowna receiving substantial grant funding and/or using water reserves and significant borrowing, with system users covering the interest and principal charges. Both options will require increases in customers' water rates.

At council's direction, staff will proceed imminently to apply for grant funding.
I am just disgusted with the way Mr. Campbell and Mr. Harper decided that the addicted and the disabled could just fend for themselves with the meagre pittance they dole out for the ill. Addiction is a disease - so are there various disabilities that have absolutely nothing to do with drugs and alcohol.

All funding for any programs for these groups of people was put into the pockets of the "leaders" of our provinces and country instead of going where needed.

The population is getting greater but instead of offering help, all of these people were shoved out into the cold, both disabled and addicted. Where are all the individual houses that were supposed to materialize after all institutions were closed?

There are hundreds and hundreds of people with addictions that would clean up if given the opportunity, but all the recovery houses, detoxes and treatment centres were shut down. The only ones that were "allowed" to stay open were the for-profit - only! All government funding for these programs was withdrawn from Ottawa and the Provinces. How disgusting. Then some Senator has the gall to say theses people are (the elderly and the disabled) were a bunch of leaches living off the dole!

The cost of living raises for any of these people was chopped off when Mr. Harper was in charge of Canada. No wonder so many who are disabled or elderly have to live on the streets!! What happened to all the programs my father fought for in the war?

As a disabled person (physically disabled not an addict), my cost of living increases were under 3 per month some years - now I can never catch up. Isn't it funny that the cost of living increases for rents were allowed to go up 10% per year! Yup, the land for the rich only!

What happened to our Canada that was fair to everyone? Mr. Campbell and Mr. Harper is what happened!

A disgusted physically disabled person.

Kerry Kozak
Photo: Wayne Moore

UPDATE: 1:15 p.m.

An ill-advised U-turn was the cause of a two-vehicle collision on Lawrence Avenue early Thursday afternoon.

Police at the scene said a green sedan attempted to make the U-turn on Lawrence, just east of Richter Street when it was T-boned by a blue sedan travelling on Lawrence.

Both drivers were taken to hospital.

The female driver of the blue sedan was seen with a neck brace while the male driver of the green vehicle had to be extracted by emergency personnel.

He had a gash on the left side of his head.

Injuries are said to be minor.

The driver of the green vehicle has been issued a ticket for making an illegal U-turn.

ORIGINAL

A man and woman were taken to hospital with minor injuries Thursday afternoon after a sedan T-boned another sedan.

At approximately 12:20 p.m., a blue Chevrolet Cobalt hit the driver side of a green Chevrolet Cavalier.

It is unknown what caused the crash at this time, but at least two occupants were attended to by paramedics. One with a small gash on the side of their head and another taken away in a neck brace.

Castanet will have more details as they become available.

 with files from Wayne Moore
Photo: Contributed

It's raining in the valley and snowing in the hills.

Big White Ski Resort was excited to share photos on social media today of some staff celebrating the freshly fallen white stuff with a little snowball fight.

According to the mountain, the hill has received 10 centimetres of snow as of Thursday morning with plenty more in the forecast for the rest of the week.

The snowfall announcement on Facebook has received nearly 2,000 likes and more than 300 shares since this morning.

There is also a blanket of fresh snow at SilverStar Mountain Resort, SunPeaks Resort and Apex Mountain Resort.

Big White is currently reminding all snow enthusiasts that there are just a few days left to get an early-bird season pass. Passes are available at Orchard Park Mall until Sunday.
Interpreting Data

For multiple reasons, the data provided in this report (Table 1) (Table 2) are likely to be underestimates of the actual magnitude of acute occupational pesticide-related illness and injury (14). Many cases of pesticide-related illness or injury never are ascertained because affected persons neither seek medical care, nor call appropriate authorities. Furthermore, because the signs and symptoms of acute pesticide-related illnesses are not pathognomonic, and because most health care professionals are not acquainted with the recognition and management of these illnesses, many persons who seek medical care might not receive an accurate diagnosis (15). Even among those who do receive an accurate diagnosis, many cases are not reported to state surveillance systems, despite the fact that each of the participating states has mandatory reporting of occupational pesticide-related illness and injury (6). For these reasons, the reported counts and rates provided in this report must be considered minimum estimates. In contrast, some persons might have been categorized incorrectly as having acute occupational pesticide-related illness because symptoms for acute illnesses associated with pesticides are nonspecific and not pathognomonic, and diagnostic tests are either not available or rarely performed. In addition, rates of pesticide illness and injury might have been affected by inaccurate estimates of the agricultural industry population. Many workers in this industry are difficult to count because of the transient employment of seasonal and migrant farmworkers and because workers with undocumented U.S. immigration status tend to avoid government contact (16). In addition, many agricultural workers have more than one job, and one of these other jobs not involving farming might be the one at which they work the greatest part of the day (17). Because CPS employment estimates include only the one job at which the worker worked the largest number of hours, some persons employed in agriculture might not be included in the agricultural employment estimates (18). Furthermore, the denominator inaccuracies might vary across states because some states might be more likely to have agricultural workers whose usual residence is elsewhere. Agricultural workers are not included in the CPS population estimates of those states in which they reside only temporarily (18).

Although the incidence rates for acute occupational pesticide-related illness and injury were highest in Washington, this finding might not necessarily mean that pesticide exposures are more hazardous or more prevalent in that state. Washington has stronger protections for agricultural workers and a larger and more robust pesticide illness and injury surveillance program when compared to other states, which likely accounts for some of the differences in incidence rates. As an example of stronger worker protections, Washington gives farmworkers the right to organize and bargain collectively, and requires cholinesterase monitoring for some pesticide handlers (6). These protections might make farmworkers in Washington less hesitant to seek medical care for pesticide illness and injury. In addition, Washington has a larger number of surveillance program staff (3.75 full-time equivalents [FTEs] versus an average of 1.3 FTEs in other states), and all but one are bilingual Spanish/English speakers. The odds of identifying agricultural worker cases might be improved when surveillance programs have a bilingual staff of ample size, as agricultural workers are often Spanish-speaking (19). Although workers compensation systems can be an important source of case reports, only two states (Washington and California) received reports from this source between 2007 and 2011. The workers compensation system can be an especially useful reporting source when it is organized as in Washington. For example, the Washington workers compensation system covers the first visit for any suspected work-related illness or injury, even if the illness or injury is determined not to be work-related. In so far as is known, this benefit does not exist in any other state. In addition, unless Washington employers are able to self-insure, workers compensation insurance is provided by an exclusive state-fund operated by the Washington State Department of Labor and Industries. No other private workers compensation insurers exist in the state. This avoids problems that can occur in other states when state authorities either do not receive or incorrectly process information from private workers compensation insurers. No other SENSOR-Pesticides state provides workers compensation insurance through an exclusive state-funded program. For all these reasons, case estimates might be more accurate for Washington than for other states, although even the Washington estimates likely underestimate the actual level of occupational pesticide-related illness and injury.

The pesticides most often implicated in acute occupational pesticide-related illness and injury are listed (Table 3). Data are stratified by whether the affected person was exposed to a single substance (i.e., a pesticidal active ingredient). When affected persons were exposed to a single substance, it is very likely that that substance was responsible for illness or injury. However, this might not be so for persons who were exposed to multiple substances because one of the other substances might have produced the illness or injury. Furthermore, pesticide products also contain solvents and other nonactive ingredients, some of which might produce illness. Because the identity of nonactive ingredients present in pesticide products is almost never available, attribution of illness and injury to these ingredients is rarely possible. In addition, only illnesses and injuries caused by exposure to conventional pesticides were included in this report. Illnesses and injuries caused by chlorine, hypochlorites, and other disinfectants are not included in this report because not all states capture such illnesses (often because of resource constraints in the state health department) and therefore including them would have made the rate estimates not comparable across the 12 states.
This investigation demonstrates that responding to outbreaks of adverse SC reactions can place considerable strain on emergency health care systems in affected localities, and highlights the potential for widespread use and associated illness among homeless persons who might be predisposed to adverse health outcomes. In addition, the simultaneous circulation of multiple SC chemicals during an outbreak might influence the variations and severity of illnesses among users. Collection of SCs in liquid form, and anecdotal reports of inhalation of such liquids using a refillable electronic cigarette, provide evidence of a mode of use distinct from smoking of SCs in herbal form.

Synthetic cannabinoids (SCs) are a chemically diverse class of designer drugs that bind to the same cannabinoid receptors as tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the main psychoactive component of cannabis; some of these drugs are more potent and efficacious agonists than THC and have been associated with outbreaks of overdose-related illness in multiple states. The most commonly reported mode of use involves smoking herbaceous materials that have been sprayed with SCs in liquid form.

In July 2015, personnel in the Alaska Division of Public Healths Section of Epidemiology became aware of an increase in the number of patients being treated in Anchorage hospital emergency departments for adverse reactions associated with use of synthetic cannabinoids (SCs). SCs are a chemically diverse class of designer drugs that bind to the same cannabinoid receptors as tetrahydrocannabinol, the main psychoactive component of cannabis. A public health investigation was initiated to describe clinical outcomes, characterize the outbreak, and identify SC chemicals circulating in Anchorage. During July 15, 2015March 15, 2016, a total of 1,351 ambulance transports to Anchorage emergency departments for adverse SC reactions were identified. A review of charts obtained from two Anchorage hospitals determined that among 167 emergency department visits for adverse SC reactions during July 15September 30, 2015, 11 (6.6%) involved a patient who required endotracheal intubation, 17 (10.2%) involved a patient who was admitted to the intensive care unit, and 66 (39.5%) involved a patient classified as being homeless. Testing of 25 product and paraphernalia samples collected from patients at one hospital identified 11 different SC chemicals. Educational outreach campaigns focused on the considerable health risks of using SCs need to complement judicial and law enforcement actions to reduce SC use.

The outbreak was recognized in July 2015, based on reports in local news media and after a report of a 330% increase in calls to U.S. Poison Control Centers regarding SC poisonings nationwide during JanuaryApril 2015 (1). Investigations of outbreaks of adverse reactions associated with use of SCs in other U.S. cities have documented health effects, including altered mental status, seizures, acute impairment of organ function, and death (26). Because of the potential for severe health outcomes associated with SC use, a public health investigation was initiated, focused on characterizing clinical outcomes and patient demographics, enumerating cases to estimate the associated burden on Anchorage emergency health care systems, and identifying SC chemicals circulating in Anchorage.

To characterize patient demographics and clinical outcomes, personnel in the Alaska Division of Public Healths Section of Epidemiology performed authorized electronic medical record (EMR) reviews and chart abstractions at two of the three nonmilitary hospitals in Anchorage with available records. The one military hospital in Anchorage was not included in the investigation. EMR data were searched using a standardized query that flagged emergency department visits associated with one or more of 11 discharge diagnoses* related to acute drug toxicity, altered mental status, and drug ingestion or abuse. An SC emergency department visit was defined as an emergency department visit during July 15September 30, 2015, to either of the two designated hospitals by a patient with an adverse reaction attributed to self-reported or suspected SC use immediately preceding onset of the adverse reaction. Self-reported or suspected SC use was determined through review of charts of patients associated with flagged emergency department visits. Suspicion of use was based on clinical signs and symptoms deemed consistent with SC use by health care personnel caring for the patient and was often reinforced by the patients possession of SCs or related paraphernalia or witness-reported observed SC use immediately before onset of adverse reactions.

Because EMR data were only available from two of three nonmilitary hospitals in Anchorage, ambulance transport data collected by the Anchorage Fire Department, which is responsible for all ambulance transports within Anchorage, were used to enumerate cases. An SC transport was defined as an ambulance transport during July 15, 2015March 15, 2016 (the outbreak investigation period), to any of the three nonmilitary hospitals in Anchorage of a patient with an adverse reaction attributed to self-reported or suspected SC use immediately preceding onset of the adverse reaction. Evidence of self-reported or suspected SC use was obtained from ambulance transport data. Suspicion of use was based on clinical signs and symptoms deemed consistent with SC use by emergency medical services (EMS) personnel transporting the patient. On November 10, 2015, the Anchorage municipality assembly passed ordinance AO 2015123(S) that raised the criminal penalties associated with possession, sale, and use of SCs in Anchorage. Potential effects of this ordinance on the outbreak were evaluated by comparing total ambulance transports, total and mean number of SC transports, and mean percentage of ambulance transports that were SC transports before and after the outbreak began and before and after passage of the ordinance.

To identify SC chemicals circulating in Anchorage during the outbreak, emergency department personnel at one of the hospitals that participated in the EMR reviews (hospital A) collected 25 samples of products (e.g., plastic bags containing loose herbaceous material) and paraphernalia (e.g., pipes, storage containers, or plastic bags) from 14 patients treated for suspected SC use. These samples were analyzed by liquid chromatography quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry at the University of California, San Francisco. In addition, biologic specimens (blood or urine) collected from three patients treated at hospital A for suspected SC use during the outbreak (one sample per patient) and postmortem serum specimens from 10 persons who died in Anchorage during the outbreak, were tested for secondary metabolites of SC chemicals.

Among 488 emergency department visits during July 15September 30, 2015 flagged by EMR query, a total of 167 (34.2%) were classified as SC emergency department visits, including 74 (44.3%) that involved self-reported SC use and 93 (55.7%) that involved suspected SC use. These 167 SC emergency department visits involved 128 unique patients for whom full name and date of birth information was available; 104 (81.3%) were male, and the median age was 34 years (range = 1262 years). Sixty-six (39.5%) of these SC emergency department visits involved a patient classified as homeless, on the basis of self-report, address information provided to EMS personnel or emergency department staff members by the patient, or location of ambulance pickup. More than two thirds of these SC emergency department visits involved a patient who was lethargic in the emergency department, and one third involved a patient who was agitated. Eleven (6.6%) SC emergency department visits involved a patient who required endotracheal intubation either en route to or while in the emergency department, and 17 (10.2%) involved a patient who was admitted to an intensive care unit (Table 1).

Review of Anchorage Fire Department ambulance transport data collected during July 15, 2015March 15, 2016 (the outbreak investigation period) identified 13,403 ambulance transports in Anchorage, among which 1,351 (10.1%) were SC transports (Table 2). Most SC transports (956; 70.8%) originated within a 2-km2 area of downtown Anchorage that is known to be a hub for the local homeless population and associated service providers. The 1,351 SC transports involved 535 unique patients for whom full name and date of birth information was available; 426 (79.6%) were male, and the median age was 34 years (range = 1269 years). Among the 535 patients, 199 (37.2%) were transported more than once for adverse SC reactions during this period (mean = 4.6 transports/patient; range = 224), and 17 patients (3.2% of all patients) were transported 10 or more times, accounting for 267 (19.8%) of all SC transports.

Before the investigation began, quantitative baseline data on rates of adverse SC reactions in Anchorage were not available. A retrospective review of Anchorage Fire Department ambulance transport data collected during January 1, 2014July 14, 2015 (the preoutbreak period) identified 240 SC transports (mean = 0.4 per day) (Table 2). During the portion of the outbreak investigation period before issuance of the ordinance (July 15November 10, 2015), there were 844 SC transports (mean = 7.1 per day) compared with 507 SC transports (mean = 4.0 per day) after the ordinance was issued (November 11, 2015March 15, 2016) (Table 2). The mean daily number of SC transports during the preordinance outbreak period (7.1) was 17.8 times higher than that during the preoutbreak period (0.4). Analysis of daily SC transport counts from the postordinance outbreak period (N = 126 days) by linear regression identified a significant decline in counts over time (r2 adj = 0.1; p<0.001).

Eleven different SC chemicals were identified among product and paraphernalia samples collected at hospital A, the most common being AB-CHMINACA, MAB-CHMINACA, and 5F-AMB, all highly potent cannabinoid receptor agonists (7,8). Among the 17 (68.0%) samples that tested positive for SCs, all contained multiple SC chemicals. Four of the SC-positive samples were clear, viscous liquids labeled as car air fresheners that can easily be inhaled by using a refillable electronic cigarette, and anecdotal reports from health care providers indicated that a subset of patients treated for adverse SC reactions admitted vaping SCs in liquid form. Among blood or urine specimens collected from three patients treated at hospital A for suspected SC use (one specimen per patient), one tested positive for a metabolite of 5F-AMB and another for a metabolite of MAB-CHMINACA. Postmortem serum specimens collected from 10 patients who died during the outbreak were tested; four were positive for metabolites of SC chemicals, and for these decedents, SC use was noted as either a main or a contributing cause of death on the death certificate.
Country Reports

Chad. After a decade with no reported cases, Chad reported 10 indigenous cases in 2010. After indigenous cases were confirmed during 3 consecutive years, dracunculiasis was declared to be endemic in 2012 (7). In 2015, Chad reported nine cases (none contained) in nine villages, compared with 13 cases in 2014. During the first half of 2016, four cases (three contained) were reported in four villages. None of the 13 villages that reported a case in 2015 or during JanuaryJune 2016 had reported a case previously.

In 2012, Guinea worm infections were first reported in domestic dogs in Chad, and since then, more dogs than humans have been identified with emerging Guinea worms. This substantial number of nonhuman infections has not occurred in any other country during the eradication campaign. Worm specimens obtained from dogs were determined to be genetically indistinguishable from D. medinensis worms removed from humans in Chad (7). Most infections during the current outbreak have occurred in communities along the Chari River. The Carter Center has assisted the Ministry of Health in implementing active village-based surveillance for the disease in more than 1,300 villages in the at-risk zone. The working hypothesis, based on biologic, environmental, and epidemiologic investigations by CDC and the Carter Center, is that human cases and dog infections are associated with the domestic and commercial fishing industry along the Chari River and involve fish or other aquatic species that serve as paratenic hosts (intermediate hosts in which no development of the parasite occurs). New human cases are thought to occur when inadequately cooked paratenic hosts are consumed by humans and when such hosts are consumed raw by dogs (7). Overall, 503 infected dogs (as well as five infected domestic cats) were reported during 2015; during JanuaryJune 2016, 653 infected dogs were reported, a 116% increase over the 302 reported during the same period in 2015. However, the increase in dog infections compared with the same months of the previous year has begun to decline. The overall 116% increase from JanuaryJune 2015 to JanuaryJune 2016 is much less than the 325% increase that occurred during the first 6 months of 2015 compared with the first 6 months of and 2014 (4).

Beginning in October 2013, Chads Guinea Worm Eradication Program urged villagers to be certain their fish were well cooked, bury fish entrails, and prevent dogs from eating fish entrails. By May 2016, according to monthly sample surveys, this intervention was being implemented by about 89% of respondents in surveyed communities with at-risk populations. In February 2014, health education efforts began to persuade villagers to tether infected dogs until the worms emerged to prevent contamination of water and infection of copepods. In February 2015, the program introduced a reward equivalent to US$20 for reporting and tethering an infected dog. Whereas 40% of infected dogs were tethered in 2014 and 68% were tethered in 2015, 81% of 498 infected dogs reported during JanuaryMay 2016 were tethered.

Chad has offered a cash reward equivalent to US$100 for reporting a case of dracunculiasis in humans beginning before 2010. In areas under active surveillance, 85% of 66 residents surveyed in May 2016 knew of the cash reward for reporting a case of dracunculiasis, and 68% knew of the cash reward for reporting and tethering an infected dog.

As of June 2016, 88% of villages with endemic dracunculiasis had safe water (i.e., water sources free of copepods, such as rapidly flowing rivers, protected hand-dug wells, and borehole wells). Temephos usage is limited by the extremely large lagoons used for fishing and as sources of drinking water; however, beginning in August 2014, an innovative technique of applying temephos to smaller cordoned sections of the lagoons at entry points used by infected humans or dogs was introduced to protect 19 villages in 2014, 29 villages in 2015, and 32 villages during JanuaryJune 2016.

The Carter Center and the WHO Collaborating Center for Research, Training and Eradication of Dracunculiasis at CDC are supporting research to better understand the unusual epidemiology of the current outbreak of dracunculiasis in Chad, assess antihelminthic treatment of dogs to prevent maturation of worms, and study the food sources and movements of dogs in an area of Chad with endemic disease. In collaboration with researchers from the University of Georgia, this initiative has demonstrated for the first time that D. medinensis can use an amphibian (frog) as a paratenic host in the laboratory (8) and has recovered, for the first time ever, a Dracunculus larva from a frog captured in the wild in Chad (9).

Ethiopia. In 2015, Ethiopia reported three cases of dracunculiasis (all three contained), one each in two villages in Gog district and one in a village in Abobo district of Gambella Region; the latter case occurred in a patient who also appeared to have been infected in one of the implicated villages in Gog district. This is the same number of cases that Ethiopia reported in 2014. Ethiopia also reported 13 infected dogs and one infected baboon in 2015, compared with three infected dogs and one unconfirmed report of an infected baboon in 2014, all in the same area of Gog district. During JanuaryJune 2016, Ethiopia reported two human cases and three infected dogs, compared with one human case, one infected dog, and one infected baboon during the same period of 2015. The program applied temephos monthly to almost all water sources used by humans in the at-risk area of Gog district throughout 2015. Coverage was increased threefold to include numerous smaller water sources in 2016. The program also introduced a cash reward equivalent to US$20 in April 2015 for reporting an infected animal, and the Ministry of Health held two press conferences to publicize the eradication initiative during the first half of 2016. A total of 152 villages are under active surveillance in two districts of Gambella Region. Ethiopia offers a cash reward equivalent to US$100 for reporting a case of dracunculiasis. Among 1,021 persons surveyed in Gog district in JanuaryJune 2016, 95% were aware of the reward for reporting an infected person; 51% of 1,068 surveyed knew of the reward for reporting an infected animal.

Mali. In 2015, Mali reported five cases of dracunculiasis (three contained) in three villages, located in Ansongo district of Gao Region (Tanzikratene, three cases), Tominian district of Segou Region (Parasilame, one case) and Gourma Rharous district of Timbuktu Region (Ngariatane, one case). This represented an 88% reduction from the 40 cases (35 [88%] contained) reported in 2014. Tanzikratene had reported 29 (73%) of Malis cases in 2014; the other two villages with cases had not previously reported a case. Mali reported no cases during JanuaryJune 2015 or JanuaryJune 2016. However, Mali reported one infected dog in Tominian district in 2015 for the first time since the program began and one infected dog in the first half of 2016. Tanzikratene received a rehabilitated source of safe drinking water in 2015. There are 698 villages under active surveillance. Mali offers a cash reward equivalent to US$100 for reporting a case of dracunculiasis and US$20 for reporting and tethering an infected dog. In areas under active surveillance, 89% of 974 persons surveyed in June 2016 knew of the reward for reporting a case of dracunculiasis, and 61% of 461 surveyed knew of the reward for reporting an infected dog. In a sign of increased political support, in June 2016, the minister of health visited the area of Segou Region where dracunculiasis is endemic.

South Sudan. South Sudan reported five cases of dracunculiasis (two contained) in five villages in 2015, representing a 93% reduction from the 70 cases reported in 2014. It also reported the countrys only known infected dog in 2015, which belonged to the household of one of the human patients. During JanuaryJune 2016, South Sudan reported four cases in June (three contained) in Tonj East County of Warrap State and Jur River County of Western Bahr Al Ghazal State, compared with only one case reported during JanuaryJune 2015. South Sudan has reported zero cases of dracunculiasis for 10 of the 18 months under review. South Sudan had 2,610 villages under active surveillance in 2015. Coverage with interventions in villages with endemic disease remains high, except for providing safe sources of drinking water (Table 2). In early July 2016, increased insecurity forced evacuation of all expatriate staff members assisting the South Sudan Guinea Worm Eradication Program. South Sudan began offering a cash reward equivalent to about US$125 for reporting a case of dracunculiasis in April 2014; in 2015, approximately 72% of 4,125 persons surveyed in areas under active surveillance knew of the reward (10).
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Living Gospel Equality Now: Loving in the Heart of God: Association of Roman Catholic Women Priests
Business / Local

by Thobekile Zhou

Gold and platinum mining fields have been sealed off countrywide by government.Government wants to wade off speculative investors accessing the areas.Mines and Mining Development ministry through its permanent secretary, Francis Gudyanga issued a notice in the Government Gazette on September 30."It is hereby notified that the secretary of Mines and Mining Development, having assumed the powers of the mining commissionerreserved the area described hereunder against prospecting and pegging," reads part of the notice.According to reports, in Mutorashanga, Mashonaland West Province, Gudyanga said 51 650 hectares had been gazetted and these measures were also applicable to several areas across the country, which include claims in the Lutope area of Matabeleland North, Doro Range 1 in Matabeleland South, Mashava in Masvingo, Lalapanzi, and Doro Range 3 in the Midlands and Doro Range 2 in Matabeleland South.
News / Africa

by Staff reporter

A political analyst believes that the ANC has already split 'in spirit', and will not be able to agree on a successor to current president Jacob Zuma before its elective conference in December 2017.Professor Lesiba Teffo, politcal analyst at Unisa told Talk 702: "It's already split  but what we don't have is a formal split."Teffo's comments come amid warnings from ANC headquarters at Luthuli House for party members to speak in public about the NPA's decision to charge finance minister Pravin Gordhan with fraud.Both ANC Chief Whip Jackson Mthembu, and Gauteng Premier David Makhura, have shown support for the embattled finance lead, while the ANC Women's League have shown their support for the NPA."We believe in your ethical leadership. We believe in your ability to face this moment as you work hard and do your best to steer the economy collectively, on the right path," said Makhura."We trust as you go through this you will feel our weight, and not just feel the burden of the responsibility of being minister of finance."The truth will come out. The truth is too strong to be kept secret," Makhura said.Teffo said that the division in opinion within the ruling party is telling. "Their conduct seems to be saying to me, increasingly, more people are likely to be alienated from the ruling party. In short they are not doing themselves any good at all. If anything, they are campaigning inadvertently for the opposition parties."He said that the fact that the party cannot speak in one voice means that there is already a split. "The formalisation of the split is what we are waiting for," he said.Colin Coleman, a partner and head of Goldman Sachs Group in South Africa, told Bloomberg TV: "There is clearly a sharpening of the knives between the various factions within the ANC."Wayne McCurrie, a financial analyst at Ashburton Investments, said that the Gordhan issue is a continuation of the biggest crisis for the ANC and South Africa post 1994.He said that if the ANC leadership does not rise and deal with this internal strife decisively, the country will get a downgrade and the ANC will be shattered as a party.The analyst said that the country should thank president Zuma for Nenegate. This galvanized the anti-Zuma factions and got Gordhan in.
News / National

by Staff reporter

A HERDSMAN from Bulilima, who allegedly stole a gun, killed a woman, raped another and robbed a third in 2009 before fleeing to South Africa has been arrested after he was deported from the neighbouring country.The long arm of the law finally caught up with Joshua Ncube of Madlambuzi last Friday, seven years on, when he arrived in the country with a group that had been deported for illegal migration.Ncube, a court heard, stole a rifle from a fellow herdsman that he had been assigned to guard a field with.It is alleged that on the same night Ncube went to a homestead at Ashallow Farm where he knocked on the door purporting to be selling meat.A lady opened the door and Ncube pointed the rifle at her demanding cash. Ncube failed to get the money and dragged the woman to a nearby bush where he raped her.He appeared on initial remand before Plumtree magistrate, Mr Gideon Ruvetsa, who remanded him in custody to October 24.Prosecuting, Mrs Rose Sibanda said Ncube was arrested on October 7.She said Ncube committed all the offences in June 2009.
Opinion / Columnist

Lusaka. MINDS (Mentorship Institute of National Development and Sustainability is equally concerned about the deteriorating situation in Zimbabwe especially on public resources. This abuse of office has reached unprecedented levels. Corruption has gone at certain levels unchecked and it has become the norm that anyone can get away with corruption.Government is at stand still because of gross abuse of public office. The state is silent on these matters. We have GMB issues, Willovale scandals, ZBC issues were one purchased a van and inflated prices and nothing happened and it is still business as usual. If I may ask as a development analyst where is this country going? ZEC claims it does not have cash to fund diaspora vote but someone has money meant for students to splash in his own constituency.Zimbabwe is on the verge of collapse because of corrupt people who have no people at heart but self and ego on them. Currently this country is bleeding not because of sanctions but corrupt elements who have paralysed the system. Most state companies have literary collapsed because of individuals who have destroyed this country by lining up their pockets.Currently the Government has no nmoney to pay civil servants and Jonathan Moyo is diverting government funds to buy bicycles for headman and funding rallies. Without dangling much in political matters, purely this is rhetoric and who else can fund this regime when they plunder national resources in such a manner.The government does not have money to fund agriculture activities, farmers and at the same time our healthy system has collapsed but someone is diverting student funds for personal enrichment. In the past Zimbabwe blamed sanctions on our economy but the truth of the matter is, it is the corrupt elements who have brought Government operations to halt.Jonathan Moyo is a corrupt minister from the onset. This is not a laughing matter when parliament raises such concern about our public institutions, how rotten they are. We need good governance and reformed public institutions.Citizens are concerned about the misuse of public funds amounting to $450 000 (USD) through an arm of Government ZIMDEF, funds that are meant for public use or students being diverted for rallies and self-enrichment at the expense of the nation. This is a shameful event which needs thorough introspective and critical examination.Zimbabwe is being side-lined by the international community, one of the major reason is being corruption. We have a corrupt system governing our country and our public institutions. No one is immune to the law, and we all being equal we should be law abiding citizens of this country. Every Zimbabwean must respect the constitution of Zimbabwe as our only charter which stipulates the core values of this country.Rallies do not benefit anything when the economy is on its knees. We are in a crisis situation, and Zimbabwe is need of a bail out and at some point someone is diverting funds meant for economic recovery for his personal enrichment. Jonathan Moyo must stop intimidating his opponents, journalist and those who are unearthing his scandals but must be answerable to his corruption allegations levelled against him.The only honourable thing Jonathan Moyo must do is to tender his resignation and pay back what he took from ZIMDEF account by further saving himself from embarrassment. Zimbabwe must eat what it kills. We must learn to live within our own means. We need ministers who live within their own means. We have students who are failing to pay for their tertiary education and they are starving yet someone is splashing money.This matter is not a tribal or a factional matter. Corruption is corruption and it must be dealt with. In fact the current cabinet is the worst in the history of Zimbabwe and it is the most corrupt cabinet with ministers and senior officials who are failing to account for their wealth.RECOMMENDATION ON CORRUPTION MATTERS- This cabinet must be disbanded with immediate effect- We recommend the dismissal of all corrupt officials who have fingered in different corrupt skirmishes.- Ministers must sign contract forms which they must abide with, with clauses that stipulates about corruption.- Ministers must have two five year limits only.- Bring all corrupt officials to book.- Anyone vying for public office must declare their assets before occupying any office- Ministers found wanting must face lengthy jail terms and their assets should be confiscated and auctioned for accountability purpose.- A cabinet reshuffle is imminent- New blood is needed in public office- Stop by elections and divert resource for economic gains------------------Tinashe E Muzamhindo writes in his personal capacity as the Director of Mentorship Institute of National Development and Sustainability (MINDS). MINDS is a civic society organization responsible sustainable development through governance, leadership, gender, development and public finance. He can be contacted at greatorminds@gmail.com
There are many people in Hollywood who have a long sheet of arrests. But not all of them have to do with driving under the influence and other careless offenses. There have been celebrities who decided to use their platform for good. They decided to join protesters to speak out for what they believe to be right, and even got arrested in the process. Most of the time the celebrities get to walk away with a fine. But there are those who also did jail time for protesting. Here are 10 celebrities who were arrested while protesting.

1. George Clooney

The Oscar winner joined a protest at the Sudanese Embassy in Washington, D.C. back in 2012. The protesters were trying to address the violence against civilians in the area. He along with other protesters were then arrested. The crowd was peaceful as they were arrested and taken away. They were reportedly chanting al-Bashir to the ICC as this was happening. Clooney was charged with disorderly crossing of a police line and paid a $100 fine.

We are here really to ask two very simple questions, he said according to CNN. The first question is something immediate  and immediately, we need humanitarian aid to be allowed into the Sudan before it becomes the worst humanitarian crisis in the world. The second thing is for the government in Khartoum to stop randomly killing its own innocent men, women, and children. Stop raping them and stop starving them. Thats all we ask.



2. Shailene Woodley

The Divergent actress joined protesters who are against putting an oil pipeline in North Dakota that will cross four states. Part of this is due to it being bad for the environment, but also American Indians say that the land is sacred. Police ended up arresting her along with 27 people on October 10 for criminal trespassing and engaging in a riot, according to BBC.

3. Woody Harrelson

Back in 1997, the actor joined an anti-logging protest on the Golden Gate Bridge. The goal was to save 60,000 acres of redwood trees in Humboldt County from loggers. The protest actually held up traffic so he along with other protesters were arrested and charged with trespassing, according to the San Francisco Gate. Ill take all the heat thats thrown in my direction, Harrelson said at his arraignment. What we did was right.

Later at a press conference, the actor talked more deeply about the issue. People lose sight of the real issue  Who fights for the trees? I spend a lot of my time in Los Angeles, where you cant breathe the air or swim in the water. Were fighting that. Were fighting for sustainable industry that does not destroy the environment.



4. Susan Sarandon

The Rocky Horror Picture Show actress joined protesters who were responding to a police shooting of an unarmed African immigrant named Amadou Diallo in 1999. They all went to New York police headquarters. She along with 219 people who were involved in the protest were arrested.

If were not here today, she said according to People Magazine, then were saying that what happened is acceptable and normal, and I think that does a disservice to the other police. I think its time we focus on this issue, and racial profiling is not acceptable. I dont think we want to be made safe at the expense of our civil liberties.

5. Mos Def

The rapper decided to do an impromptu performance at the 2006 MTV Video Music Awards outside Radio City Music Hall. He was going to perform Katrina Clap in order to protest the Bush administration for their slow response to Hurricane Katrina victims, according to MTV. However, the performance was unauthorized and therefore shut down by police. The rapper was arrested for disorderly conduct.

6. Cynthia Nixon

The Sex and the City actress is very passionate about her kids education. So much so, that she joined a choreographed protest to get better funding for public schools, according to People Magazine. She ended up getting arrested outside of City Hall in 2002.

I feel good. I feel its the right thing to do, she said according to Newsday. The protesters blocked the entrance of City Hall while singing We Shall Not Be Moved. This whole thing was sparked by Mayor Bloomberg cutting the Board of Educations budget by $350 million.

7. Martin Sheen

The West Wing actor along with three other protesters splashed what looked like blood on the front of a federal building to speak out against U.S. policies in El Salvador in 1990, according to the Los Angeles Times. He also was part of a demonstration in 1986 to speak out against nuclear weapons in outer space. The protesters blocked the McGraw-Hill Building and Sheen was arrested.

And it was my first arrest for a noble cause, the actor recalled to Democracy Now, and it was the happiest day of my life, and Ill never forget. It was so disarming.



8. Daryl Hannah

The Kill Bill: Vol. 1 actress has been a very active protester. She protested against the Keystone XL Pipeline on the streets, but also talked about the issue on news outlets. She was arrested multiple times doing this and even radio host, Sean Hannity ended up promising her to give her bail money, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The actress also was arrested for standing in front of heavy equipment in order to halt construction in Texas.

9. Steve-O

The Jackass star is usually seen doing crazy stunts, but one of his most recent ones was for a good cause. He climbed a crane and shot off fireworks in Hollywood to protest Sea World in 2015, according to the Los Angeles Times. He was sentenced to jail for 30 days for a false emergency, trespassing, using unregistered fireworks, storing fireworks without a permit, and possession of fireworks without a permit. He went on to post an announcement on Instagram.

10. James Cromwell

The Green Mile actor was arrested along with six other protesters at a power plant construction site, according to Gothamist. The protesters sat in front of the entrance of the site and chanted power to the people! The protestors were also connected to each other through metal interlocking devices around their necks. They are against the plant because they claim the CPV plant is bad for the environment, can cause cancer and asthma, and is lowering property values.

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Professor Jan H. van Maarseveen, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands, has received the KNCV Van Marumpenning 2016 from the Koninklijke Nederlandse Chemische Vereniging (KNCV, Royal Netherlands Chemical Society). The award was presented at the De Avond van de Chemie (A Night of Chemistry) event in Leiden, The Netherlands, on October 13, 2016.

The KNCV Van Marumpenning honors achievements in improving chemistrys image in society. Van Maarseveen is recognized for his work as a teacher and science communicator, and his contributions to promoting the social relevance of chemistry.

Jan H. van Maarseveen received his Ph.D. from Radboud University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands, and started his career in the pharmaceutical industry. He joined the University of Amsterdam in 1999 as Assistant Professor, and was promoted to Associate Professor in 1999 and to Full Professor in 2015. Van Maarseveen is a Member of the International Advisory Board of the European Journal of Organic Chemistry. His research focuses on bio-inspired organic synthesis.

Selected Publications

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A drone like this is featured in an Amazon video demonstrating how the delivery system would work. (Amazon photo)

How long will it be, do you think, until companies such as Amazon start delivering packages to you by drone?

If that prospect seems fantastical to you, you're not alone. According to a survey published this week by the U.S. Postal Service, 57 percent of people are either neutral about it or think it's a bad idea. Seventy-five percent of people think drone delivery is five years away at best; the rest think it will take even longer, if it happens at all.

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There are some good reasons to think this timeline is accurate, which we will get into below. But the survey also reveals something else: Our skepticism of the technology may be a factor. That finding, which has been expressed in policy as a relatively slow approach to drone testing, helps shed important light on how technology adoption works more broadly. Here's how.

In its questions, the Postal Service asked respondents how they'd feel about companies such as Amazon, United Parcel Serivce and even the Postal Service itself if they decided to offer drone deliveries today, right now. And the results were unequivocal: Every brand's reputation would suffer, suggesting there is a long way to go before drone deliveries really take off with consumers.

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No matter if you're Amazon, Google or UPS, rolling out drone delivery would result in customers' thinking less of your company, the data show.

If these numbers are right, it suggests that some of the biggest barriers to drone delivery may actually be perceptual as much as technological.

Even if a company said its drone delivery service were ready today, people would still reject it over a perception that it was not. But the thing is, many other countries are moving ahead with drone testing in a major way, while the United States only recently gave companies the green light to begin limited tests, according to Michael Drobac, a legal expert on drones at the law firm Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld.

"What appears to be science fiction or many years off is actually happening  just not here," Drobac said.

This gap between public receptiveness to a technology on the one hand and the actual state of the technology on the other can be found in other industries, too.

Whether it's drones, self-driving cars or even the Internet, the less someone has heard about a technology  and the more they think of it as new or unfamiliar  the less likely it is that they will view it positively. As a person learns about the technology, the more open to it that person becomes.

With self-driving cars, studies by Kelley Blue Book and others have found that those with partly autonomous vehicles  a Tesla with autopilot, or even more basic safety features such as automatic lane-keeping and assistive cruise control  are more likely to view completely robotic cars more favorably.

"Familiarity breeds desire," Rebecca Lindland, senior director of commercial insights at Kelley Blue Book, said in a recent interview.

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It's true that some technological and regulatory hurdles need to be overcome before drone delivery becomes a reality. For example, the U.S. government needs to draw up rules permitting companies such as Amazon to test their drones outside the visual range of the pilot  a steppingstone to true drone delivery.

But if the idea is to really take off, companies will need to convince consumers that it will actually improve their lives  or suffer a blow to their reputation.

"The usual history is people are pretty content with what they know, what they have, and adopting an innovation does take substantial effort," said Ben Shneiderman, an expert on human-computer interaction at the University of Maryland. "The question becomes, 'Which are innovations that may be more acceptable to people, and how might a manufacturer accelerate adoption?'"
DeVry Education Group said it will cap the amount of revenue it receives from federal student aid, including veterans and military tuition assistance, getting in front of a controversial issue as the for-profit industry buckles under economic and regulatory pressure. (Richard Drew / AP)

DeVry University has reached a settlement agreement with the U.S. Department of Education to stop promoting unsubstantiated job placement claims.

The agreement, announced Thursday, requires for-profit DeVry to cease its advertised claim that since 1975, 90 percent of students have found jobs in their field of study within six months of graduation.

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In August 2015, the Education Department requested that DeVry provide data backing up the 90 percent placement rate and, after reviewing the information, found the evidence did not substantiate the claim.

"Students deserve accurate information about where to invest their time and money, and the law is simple and clear: recruitment claims must be backed up by hard data," Secretary of Education John B. King Jr. said in a news release.

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Downers Grove-based DeVry Education Group neither admitted nor denied wrongdoing, according to the settlement, but put a more positive spin on the agreement in its own news release.

"The settlement allows DeVry University to continue communicating its strong student outcomes while providing assurances regarding the extent of its graduate employment data," the company said.

DeVry has been under fire all year over its job placement claims.

In March, the Department of Veterans Affairs suspended DeVry University from its Principles of Excellence program in the wake of allegations that the college misled students about job placement success.

The Federal Trade Commission filed suit in January against DeVry, alleging the company deceived consumers about the likelihood that students would find jobs in their field of study. That lawsuit is ongoing.

The agreement with the Education Department also requires DeVry to set aside $68.4 million in reserves for five years, called a letter of credit, prominently disclose its failure to substantiate the "since 1975" job-placement claim on its website for two years, and take steps to purge the claim from other websites.

In addition, DeVry was placed on heightened cash monitoring, which enables the Education Department to more closely monitor how the institution handles federal aid dollars. In the 2014-2015 academic year, DeVry received approximately $684 million in federal student aid dollars, according to the Education Department.

Founded in Chicago in 1931 as the DeForest Training School, the school's earliest mission was preparing students to work in electronics, film and radio/TV, according to its website.

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During World War II, the school was selected to educate Army aviation instructors on electronic devices, and was one of the first schools to be approved under the original GI Bill. It was renamed DeVry in 1953, expanding its programming offerings and locations over the years.

Publicly traded DeVry has more than 55 campuses nationwide, including nine in the Chicago area.

The for-profit college industry has been facing increased scrutiny in recent years. Sued by regulators for alleged deceptive practices, California-based Corinthian Colleges sold or closed most of its 107 campuses and liquidated its assets through Chapter 11 bankruptcy last year.

Last month, ITT Technical Institute ceased operations at its more than 130 campuses nationwide after the Education Department cut off access to federal financial aid for new students.

rchannick@chicagotribune.com

Twitter @RobertChannick
Lyft driver Michael O'Connor waits at an official ride-sharing pickup zone at Chicago's Navy Pier in June 2016. (Chris Sweda / Chicago Tribune)

A recent federal appellate court ruling that favored ride-sharing firms like Uber and Lyft over the Chicago taxi industry also carried a powerful message to business: older companies beware!

The decision by the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which backed the city's right to regulate ride-sharing firms differently than cabs, doesn't literally give that warning. It does, however, stress that many veteran industries are increasingly under fire from innovative upstarts while also signaling that the legal system recognizes the consequences will be business upheaval and workplace casualties.

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"When new technologies, or new business methods, appear, a common result is the decline or even disappearance of the old," the ruling stated.

I'll leave it to the legal experts to determine where this court decision will ultimately lead. But from a business perspective, it seems to indicate the courts are ready, willing and able to distinguish between emerging business models pioneered by the likes of Uber and Lyft, and legacy industries such as the taxi business.

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Moreover, it asserts that one-size-fits-all regulations don't always apply, even if the competing businesses are ultimately providing the same service. As a result, the city can impose different rules on cabs versus ride-sharing firms because each has its own business model and its relationship with the public is different.

One of the main distinctions: Ride-sharing firms pick up riders that contact them via app, while taxi customers typically flag a cabbie off the street. Ride-sharing firms have an ongoing relationship with their customers, who can rate their drivers and vice versa, while taxis operators typically don't have a clue about who is getting in their vehicles.

Therefore the city can regulate them differently because the services are different, said the court, which also noted customers also see a difference between the two and the industries are not interchangeable.

[The ruling] asserts that one-size-fits-all regulations don't always apply, even if the competing businesses are ultimately providing the same service.

This won't be the last time the legal system will have to referee a battle between old and new. Nearly every mainline industry  medicine, retail, media, travel, manufacturing, finance and even law  is bumping up against fresh-faced competition on an unprecedented scale.

Got a business? Yep, there's an app for that.

Yet among the most contentious issues to emerge is the rising impact of the "gig" economy, a fast-growing group of independent contractors who temporarily fill the employee ranks of Uber, Lyft and numerous other organizations.

There's no hard data yet on the size of this labor force. Some say it represents less than 10 percent of the domestic workforce but is growing rapidly, while other studies says it makes up nearly 25 percent. The U.S. Department of Labor is conducting a study to determine its size.

We do know the gig economy consists of workers from every discipline: drivers, tech specialists, software programmers, contract nurses, adjunct workers and so on.

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While full-time workers usually get steady hours, regular pay and employer-supplied benefits, gig economy workers get none of that bounty. However, they do get flexible hours and more control over their schedules while earning money.

Moreover, those whose skills are in demand get to bounce from various projects, which can make for a fuller career, says Ann Logue, an adjunct lecturer in finance who follows emerging economic trends at University of Illinois at Chicago.

"There's a lot to be said for the flexibility and freedom to do different projects," she says.

But there's also a gig economy dark side, a place where people are forced out of decent-paying full-time employment into multiple jobs just to make a living.

Increasingly, that's occurring due to changing technology, but companies also want to get out from under the sticky requirements that come with full-time employees, including handling payroll taxes, workers' compensation claims and human resource matters.

New concerns, starting from scratch, have a better chance at accomplishing this, but older organizations already have many of these systems grandfathered into place, making it more difficult to dump.

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None of this is going unrecognized or unchallenged.

Already some unions are at the forefront of fighting this tide by advocating for greater enforcement of regulation, trying to organize more employee bargaining units and suing employers who they believe are stripping workers of their rights.

And that brings us back to the recent federal court decision and a quest for guidance.

While not weighing in on gig economy matters, the appellate court did assert that business should not be insulated from competition, no matter how disruptive.

If that occurred, the judges' opinion said: "Instead of taxis, we might have horse and buggies; instead of the telephone, the telegraph; instead of computers, slide rules. Obsolescence would equal entitlement."

roreed@chicagotribune.com

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This eight-bedroom, 10,600-square-foot mansion in Lincoln Park is expected to come on the market Monday for $9.2 million. (Coldwell Banker / Handout)

An eight-bedroom, 10,600-square-foot mansion in Lincoln Park is expected to come on the market Monday for $9.2 million.

Built in 1992 and situated on three city lots, the three-story mansion was designed by architect Howard Holtzman. Its current owner, Susan Flynn, purchased the house for $2.27 million in 1996 with her late husband, Kevin, who died in 2013. The Flynns raised their four children in the home but now, with two of her four children out of the house and a third headed to college next year, Susan Flynn told Elite Street that she is "drawn to simplifying my life" and is interested in downsizing.

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"The home is beautiful and large and grand, and it really wants to be used for entertaining and large gatherings and I just don't find myself doing that as a single person," Flynn told Elite Street. "With my husband, we were social."

When the Flynns bought the home in 1996, they were expecting their first child. Flynn said she and her husband were committed to staying in the city and planned to raise their family there. They were drawn to the house's center courtyard, which features a custom-designed fountain with oversized planters and pavers.

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"The courtyard was the perfect answer for us," she said. "It had to be private, it had to be protected for the kids and it provides a lot of natural light. It's the heart of the home, and it was unlike any other one we had ever seen."

In 2000  while they were expecting their fourth child  the Flynns decided to expand the house, adding a larger dining room, an office and a family room that was directly adjacent to the kitchen. The couple retained Holtzman, the home's original architect, for the design.

"We gained a lot of real living space that was aligned more directly to how the flow of our life went," Flynn said. "We also expanded the children's floor upstairs and set up the entrance on the north (of the house), so it's a courtyard also. So we really have two courtyards, and the courtyard experience has really enhanced the urban living tremendously."

Features in the mansion include 8-1/2 baths, South American cherry wood floors, a curved gallery hall, a library with a wood-burning fireplace and floor-to-ceiling French doors, a two-story dining room with skylights and distressed limestone floors, a DeGuilio kitchen with a stainless steel center island, a six-burner Viking range and Anigre wood from the Ivory Coast, a second-story living room, a master suite with a balustraded balcony, a children's level with five bedrooms, four full baths and a study area, and a lower level with ceruse white oak paneling, a media room, a game arcade, a fitness center, a massage room and an arts and crafts center.

"This house has a classic European style, with a nod to art deco," said listing agent Karen V. Peterson of Coldwell Banker. "It's informed with amenities, and it unfolds as you go through. It's unpretentious, welcoming and very lived-in, but sophisticated and exquisite. And it's hard to get a triple lot in Lincoln Park."

At $9.2 million, the house's asking price places it fifth among listing prices for single-family homes in Chicago. Including multifamily residences such as condominium units and cooperative units, the mansion has the 11th-highest price tag of any residence on the market within Chicago city limits.

Bob Goldsborough is a freelance reporter.







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Expand Autoplay Image 1 of 5 Billionaire Ken Griffin, Illinois richest man, paid $58.75 million in November for the top four floors in the Near North condominium building at 9 W. Walton St., known as No. 9 Walton. This photo shows a rendering of the lobby. (JDL Development / E. Jason Wambsgans/Chicago Tribune (inset))
Geraldine Chaplin, shown in 2014, will be honored Saturday and take part in a special tribute to her father as part of the Chicago International Film Festival. (Stefania D'Alessandro / Getty Images)

Her father used to sing the old song "Chicago" ("that toddlin' town") around the house. Nothing unusual there; quite a few fathers have done that, since that tune was published in 1922.

Here's the distinction. Geraldine Chaplin's father was Charlie Chaplin. For 23 cold winter days in early 1915, Charlie Chaplin lived and worked in Chicago, where he made one of his short comedies for Essanay Studios, "His New Job," before fleeing for Essanay's operation in Niles, Calif.

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Daughter Geraldine's first screen appearance came in a fleeting moment of the 1952 Chaplin feature "Limelight." Since then, she has had a rich, rangy career, more so in Europe than America in recent years. The full resume includes "Doctor Zhivago" for director David Lean, and "Nashville," "Buffalo Bill and the Indians" and, shot in Lake Bluff, Oak Park and Waukegan, "A Wedding" for Robert Altman. She loved Altman  "the best audience an actor could ever hope for," she tells me.

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Now she's busier than ever with film and television roles, and with jury duty. In that latter category, the ebullient Chaplin is serving as president of this year's main competition jury at the Chicago International Film Festival. She met festival founder and artistic director Michael Kutza when they were on the Havana festival jury together in 2015, and hit it off.

"I love them. I really love them," she says of film festivals. She's served on juries everywhere from Cannes on down. "You see films you wouldn't ordinarily see, at least here where I live,in Vevey." She and her husband live in Corsier-sur-Vevey, Switzerland, near Lake Geneva, where her parents, Charlie and Oona Chaplin, made their home.

Festival jury duty, she says, "is thrilling, but at the end it's as inevitable as death: You have to make a choice! You have to pick who's going to win the awards! And that part, I hate. It's always unfair. But you get to see some really good films, and it makes me enthusiastic to go out and find more good projects to do myself."

In the first of his daily CIFF video picks, Tribune film critic Michael Phillips talks about "La La Land," the opening night selection of the 52nd Chicago International Film Festival. (Brandon Howard/Chicago Tribune) (Chicago Tribune)

On Saturday, the third day of the Chicago festival, 72-year-old Chaplin will receive a career achievement award and take part in a special tribute to her dad and to Essanay. Inside the Essanay Studios space in the Uptown neighborhood, Chaplin will chat with festival head Kutza. Film clips from Geraldine Chaplin's career will accompany the tribute.

"Fantastic! I can't believe we'll be in the same building where my father worked!" she says, by phone from Vevey, prior to her Chicago arrival. "So many ghosts! Ben Turpin, Gloria Swanson " she trails off, in a reverie regarding the admittedly minor short "His New Job" and Chaplin's co-stars in the effort. "You see the embryo of the great clown in that film, but it's not a great film." But, yes, for Chicago, a historic one.

She travels a great deal, often for work: Most recently Chaplin filmed "As We Like It" in London for director Carlos Marques-Marcet. The film co-stars her daughter, Oona Chaplin. "They needed someone to play Oona's mother, and she said, 'Well, how about my mother?' " She laughs. I ask her about life in Vevey, and she turns reflective. "I don't like where I live. Because it's cold. I love the sun. I inherited a house when my mother died. I mean, it's quite nice, and there's a lake, and I go for a walk every day and jump in the lake, even in winter."

Let's put it this way, she says, brushing away any conversational trace of regrets: "I love Switzerland. But I love leaving."

"A Tribute to Geraldine Chaplin," 7 p.m. Saturday, Essanay Studios, 1345 W. Argyle St., Chicago. Tickets $75; free parking. For event and ticket information, go to www.chicagofilmfestival.com.

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Michael Phillips is a Tribune critic.

mjphillips@chicagotribune.com

Twitter @phillipstribune

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Opening night of Chicago film fest finds itself in 'La La Land'

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Ryan Gosling sings, dances, reads in margins of Gene Kelly's annotated scripts







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Expand Autoplay Image 1 of 122 Sophie Turner as Jean Grey, anger management student, in "Dark Phoenix." The film, the latest in the "X-Men" franchise, costars James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender and Jessica Chastain. Read the review. (Twentieth Century Fox)
This file photo taken on May 3, 2006 shows Italian playwrite and 1997 Nobel literature laureate, Dario Fo, poses with his wife Franca Rame before receiving the Doctor Honoris Causa title in Rome. (TIZIANA FABI / AFP/Getty Images)

Italian playwright Dario Fo, whose energetic mocking of Italian political life, social mores and religion won him praise, scorn and the Nobel Prize for Literature, died Thursday. He was 90.

Fo died Thursday morning in Milan's Luigi Sacco hospital after suffering respiratory complications from a progressive pulmonary disease, said the chief of pulmonology, Dr. Delfino Luigi Legnani.

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The author of "Accidental Death of an Anarchist" and more than 70 other plays saw himself as playing the role of the jester, combining raunchy humor and scathing satire. He was admired and reviled in equal measure.

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His political activities saw him banned from the United States and censored on Italian television, and his flamboyant artistic antics resulted in repeated arrests.

Fo's work was seen only very rarely in Chicago. In 2000, the now-defunct Tinfish Productions staged Fo's "Abducting Diana." In 1999, the Italian actress Francesca Fanti performed here "Orgasmo Adulto Escapes from the Zoo," a collection of sexuo-political monologues penned by Fo and his wife Franca Rame. And Trap Door Theatre, the experimental company in Wicker has occasionally performed his work. Fo's best-known work, "Accidental Death of an Anarchist" was first seen in Chicago in 1991, produced by New Crime Productions and exeutive produced by John Cusack.

In recent years, Fo became a point of reference for Italy's anti-establishment 5-Star Movement, which eulogized him Thursday as a "spiritual guide."

Movement leader Beppe Grillo posted a video on his blog of a memorable Fo appearance at a 2013 rally giving impetus to the movement to shake up Italy's paralyzed political system.

"Do it yourselves, please! Do it yourselves! "Fo exhorted the crowd. "Please, turn everything upside down!"

The son of a railway worker and a farm hand, Fo had an early introduction to narrative traditions through his grandfather, a well-known storyteller. He studied painting at Milan's prestigious Brera Academy as well as architecture, and at age 25, he began to write and perform satirical cabarets at the Piccolo Theater in Milan.

A staunch leftist, Fo founded a theater company with his wife, the actress Franca Rame, later a senator. Rame died in 2013 at the age of 84.

The pair made a career out of mocking post-war Italy, ranging from the domestic terrorism of the late 1970s to the bitter debates over abortion and divorce and the political corruption scandal in the early 1990s that brought down a whole class of politicians and businessmen.

Dealing with subjects like the Vietnam War, the Chinese revolution and student revolts in the West, Fo and Rame took their works out of "bourgeois" theaters and into streets, piazzas, occupied factories and circus-style tents.

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Italian bishops gagged on Fo's freewheeling interpretations of the Catholic faith.

When he won the 1997 Nobel Prize for Literature, which coincidentally was to be awarded for 2016 on the day of Fo's death, the Vatican newspaper said it was simply "amazed."

"Giving the prize to an actor who is also an author of debatable texts  leaving aside every moral consideration  has surpassed all imagination," L'Osservatore Romano wrote at the time.

Even while offering condolences, Fo's critics made clear his legacy left many with a bitter taste.

"I always considered him someone who was violently one-sided, someone who violently divided the country," said Renato Brunetta, a right-wing politician who said Fo had personally insulted him because of his short stature.

Fo's one-man show, Mistero Buffo, was perhaps his most celebrated, seen by millions of people around the world.

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As his work grew more and more radical, Fo fell out of favor with state TV RAI, which banned him for more than decade. Prosecutors tried but failed to convict him of offending institutions like the national police force.

Some theorized that right-wing sympathizers among the police were behind the kidnapping and rape of Fo's wife by Italian neo-fascists on a Milan street in 1973, when the country's society was largely split ideologically between extreme right and left, and domestic extremist violence gripped the nation.

Not long after winning his Nobel, Fo wrote to Italy's president demanding justice in the case, even though the statute of limitations had expired.

Motivating him, Fo said, was not a thirst for revenge but a desire to help the country recognize the barbarities of that period and move on.

"Accidental Death of an Anarchist" drew from an event that continues to divide Italians, who are often bitterly split between left and right in a stubborn legacy of the ideological and actual battles between fascist stalwarts and communist partisans during World War II. The play is based on the fall from a police station window of an anarchist who was being questioned over a 1969 Milan bank bombing. The police officer who led the interrogation was fatally gunned down in 1972.

Fo's stature as an artist began to outstrip his fame as a militant by the end of the 1970s. Milan's La Scala theater let him direct a play, "Story of a Soldier," in 1978, and audiences in furs, jewels and suits flocked to his works in mainstream theaters.

Still, in 1980 he and Rame were refused visas to the United States because of their support for left-wing activities in Italy. The decision sparked controversy and prompted U.S intellectuals to stage protests in support. In 1984, the U.S. government relented and allowed the couple to visit New York to see a production of "Accidental Death of an Anarchist."

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The Nobel Prize for literature came in 1997. The citation described Fo as a writer "who emulates the jesters of the Middle Ages in scourging authority and upholding the dignity of the downtrodden." Fo himself praised the Nobel committee for its courage in awarding it to him.

Guests attending his prize lecture in Stockholm in 1997 had a surprise as they opened their texts of the lecture. Instead of neatly printed paragraphs full of carefully worded thoughts, they found 25 pages of brightly colored drawings, with scattered words scrawled among them: "Provocation... ignorance of our times."

While he enraged the Vatican, Fo at least once ended up on the same side as the Catholic Church, when both lobbied vigorously  but unsuccessfully  to stop the 2000 execution in Virginia of Rocco Derek Barnabei, a U.S. citizen of Italian origin.

Fo pledged to donate some proceeds of his theater work to anti-death penalty causes around the world. Even though the husband-wife team snubbed the bourgeois theater route at times, the same bourgeoisie turned their plays into sold-out successes, notably Fo's 2003 spoof of then-Italian premier Silvio Berlusconi, "The Two-Headed Anomaly."

That play, at one of Rome's mainstream theaters, explored what many contended was the conflict of interest posed by a premier who was at the time also Italy's richest man, thanks to vast business holdings, largely in the media sector.

The work asked the entertaining question: what would happen if half of Russian President Vladimir Putin's brain was used to replace half of Berlusconi's brain? The play also pre-shadowed Berlusconi's real-life split with his second wife amid sex scandals embroiling the politician.

While Fo had fun with politicians' foibles, his own foray in politics was a failure. In 2006, he lost a bid in a primary to become the center-left's candidate for mayor of Milan.

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On Thursday, Premier Matteo Renzi said with Fo's death, Italy had lost one of the leading protagonists of Italian culture and civil life.

"His satire, research, scenography and artistic activity will leave the inheritance of a great Italian to the world," Renzi said.

Fo and Rame had a son, Jacopo Fo, a writer, who was with him in Milan when he died, the hospital said.

Associated Press and Chicago Tribune theater critic Chris Jones contributed to this report.







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Expand Autoplay Image 1 of 122 Sophie Turner as Jean Grey, anger management student, in "Dark Phoenix." The film, the latest in the "X-Men" franchise, costars James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender and Jessica Chastain. Read the review. (Twentieth Century Fox)
Personal grief often serves as grist for the horror writer's literary mill. Consider Anne Rice, who created Claudia, the undead child companion to Lestat and Louis in "Interview with the Vampire," after the tragic death of her own daughter from leukemia. Edgar Allan Poe's litany of loss spawned many of his finest works, as David Rice's popular "The Madness of Edgar Allan Poe: A Love Story" at First Folio Theatre in Oak Brook has demonstrated in several past Halloween incarnations.

This year for the witching season, First Folio presents the local premiere of Joseph Zettelmaier's "Dr. Seward's Dracula," a postscript of sorts to Bram Stoker's 1897 epistolary horror classic. Much in the manner of his 2014 play, "The Gravedigger," which premiered at First Folio and provided a twist on the Frankenstein story, Zettelmaier's perspective on Dracula involves guilt and a quest for redemption. In director Alison C. Vesely's staging, it also provides some chills and laughs  several at the expense of Stoker himself.

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The title character, Dr. Jack Seward (Christian Gray), has shut himself off from the sanitarium where many of the events in Stoker's book took place. In Zettelmaier's telling, Seward has been sharing his journals about the interlude with the vampire with the Irish writer, who has yet to craft his masterpiece and is hungry for as many bloody details as Seward can provide.

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But Seward's reliability as a narrator is an open question. He converses with the ghost of Emily Covington (Elizabeth Stenholt), whom he has renamed "Lucy" in his journals (much to her displeasure). He also hits the morphine needle with alarming regularity (in part because of an old stab wound from a former patient that refuses to heal properly), and doesn't seem to care much for sleep, food or basic hygiene.

He is, in short, one of the living dead. And when Inspector Louis Carlysle (Craig Spidle) shows up with news that his old mentor and the model for Dr. Van Helsing has been viciously slain, suspicions about Seward's own culpability arise  even as "The Strange Man" (Ted Kitterman) materializes in Seward's moldering living tomb of a bedroom. Is Dracula still alive, or is he, like Emily, a figment of Seward's addled and grieving psyche?

It's atmospheric for sure. Angela Webber Miller's set features sickish-green peeling walls that almost feel alive  unhealthy, but alive. Greg Freeman's lighting design, with its carefully calibrated play of shadows, and Christopher Kriz's mournful sound and music design also create an appropriately chilly feeling.

The First Folio production takes a little while to find its footing. Gray's Seward and Stenholt's Emily begin by enacting their version of squabbling lovers, one of whom happens to be dead, a la Noel Coward's "Blithe Spirit." It's a tad self-conscious. But when Stoker (Joseph Stearns) turns up with a mix of puppy-dog enthusiasm for Seward's tale and an outsider's eye on how the doctor is falling apart in the aftermath of the horror, the narrative stakes become sharp enough to cut to the heart of the story.

Zettelmaier's gift for droll one-liners also gets the most play with Stoker. At one point, Stearns' novelist reads a particularly purple section of his work in progress about Dracula to Gray's Seward, and asks excitedly, "How does that sound?" "Irish," the ailing doctor retorts. There's also a running gag of Stoker being kicked out of the room by the other characters who don't want any meddling writers hanging around when there's serious business afoot. He may be the one who gets the credit for creating the Dracula story, but the author here gets no respect, at least initially.

But as the show progresses, particularly in the swiftly moving second act where the smart twists unspool with clinical precision, Stearns' Stoker shows that he's not just exploiting Seward's story for personal gain. As he explains, "People need monsters. They need to believe that there are limits to humanity and lines that cannot be crossed." He sees in Seward (played with roiling anguish by Gray) a man whose guilt drives him toward self-destruction, if not self-delusion. Zettelmaier's exploration of this classic monster story reminds us that if there is salvation to be found at the end of nightmarish events, it must come through honest reckoning with our stories.

Kerry Reid is a freelance critic.

ctc-arts@chicagotribune.com

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"Dr. Seward's Dracula" - 3 Stars

When: Through Nov. 6

Where: First Folio Theatre, Mayslake Peabody Estate, 1717 W. 31st St., Oak Brook

Running time: 1 hour, 50 minutes

Tickets: $29-$39 at 630-986-8067 or firstfolio.org

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In 'Red Velvet,' taking up the mantle of Othello in 19th century London







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Expand Autoplay Image 1 of 122 Sophie Turner as Jean Grey, anger management student, in "Dark Phoenix." The film, the latest in the "X-Men" franchise, costars James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender and Jessica Chastain. Read the review. (Twentieth Century Fox)
In what one would expect to be a belletristic key to the novel, the narrator observes at one point that, "Sometimes the end tells you everything you need to know about the beginning." This turns out not to be the case, however, with "Sirius," the new, and first, novel by Jonathan Crown  as the tale actually begins quite promisingly.

There's a bit of magic to the way "Sirius" jumps off. The story is reminiscent of Michael Chabon's "The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay" in its portrayal of a Jewish family in Europe that flees the deepening shadow of Nazism to find its way in America via popular culture.

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The paterfamilias is Carl Liliencron, an eminent German scientist and recipient of the prestigious Cothenius Medal from the German Academy of Sciences. The Liliencrons are privileged and cultured haute bourgeoisie, so are slow to admit the terrible truth forming around them in a land that had seemed civilized and accepting, but whose baser impulses are being stirred and fanned. So, yes  it's timely.

The Liliencrons are an impressive lot. Carl's wife, Rahel, is a famed Berlin beauty who chose him despite being pursued by the likes of actor Peter Lorre before he, too, fled to America. Fritz Mahler, conductor and cousin of Gustav, has complimented the pianistic talent of daughter Else. And son Georg is a fine student who would like to be a doctor if, as a Jew, he weren't barred from studying at the university.

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But the family's most gifted member is the dog, Levi.

An Airedale terrier, Levi is the sole survivor of a fictional effort to create Jewish superdogs to match those that the Nazis actually tried to train to speak, read and write. In response to the Nazi edict requiring Jews to use only a limited number of recognizable names, Liliencron changes Levi's name to Sirius, after the Dog Star  a comparison he'll live up to fully.

Following Kristallnacht, the family barely manages to escape Germany. With the help of the loyal Lorre, they make their way to Hollywood, where they begin to assimilate and transform. Carl changes the family name, as well, from Liliencron to Crown.

Like so many immigrants, Carl takes work far below his previous station. Jack Warner, of Warner Bros., gives him a job as driver and "guardian angel"  that is, baby sitter  to one of the studio's hottest actors.

This humble entry into the dream factory changes the family's fates, none more so than Sirius, who becomes the movies' newest canine star.

There's fun in the way the story glides along  and glide it does, as it skims lightly, barely touching the tortured earth below. The book has charm but not much else; and whimsy alone is unequal to the weighty context of the tale.

Sparing spoilers, fate bears Sirius, a canine Zelig (he's too bright to be Forrest Gump), back to Berlin, where, through a series of events, he finds himself the pet of none other than Der Fuehrer, who, now trapped in his bunker, still longs for the canine he actually lost years earlier, Fuchsl.

"Sirius" is subtitled "The Little Dog Who Almost Changed History." One hopes for an "Inglorious Basterds"-style cap to the fantasy. But, despite working with the resistance, Sirius doesn't quite manage to even earn the "almost." While that may be a lot to ask of a little dog, it doesn't seem too much to expect of the guy who chose the title.

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If it seems that the comparisons drawn here are more to movies than books, this is not accidental. The lightness of the prose reads more like a treatment for a future film version than it does serious fiction. Even the book's conclusion  again, falling short of its beginning  suggests the movies. In a flat echo of "The Wizard of Oz," which it invokes earlier on, the book reaches its Aesopian moral by actually using the phrase, "Home is where the heart is."

While often enjoyable, that this is Crown's first novel  at age 63  shows, as his high-flying fantasy comes down to a sentiment from an embroidered pillow. No matter how extraordinary, a dog is going to offer certain limitations as the protagonist of a novel. But even Sirius could have come up with a better ending than that.

Rick Moser is a freelance writer.

'Sirius'

By Jonathan Crown, Scribner, 256 pages, $25
"Crosstalk" by Connie Willis, 512 pages, Del Rey, $28

Connie Willis is among the most beloved and widely honored of science fiction writers, but her longtime fans know that she also has a passion for old movies, particularly classic screwball comedies. In her first novel in six years, that passion gets its fullest expression yet, complete with the snappy dialogue, wildly eccentric characters, comic misunderstandings and, of course, an unlikely romance that is central to the screwball tradition. At the same time, she offers some timely satirical jabs at our overconnected society and high-stakes corporate culture, and ties the whole package together with a classic science fiction idea that's been fairly uncommon in recent decades telepathy.

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(Handout)

Briddey Flannigan works for a telecommunications company desperate to keep up with Apple, but her life is complicated by a quirky, overbearing family, an ambitious, straight-arrow boyfriend, and a brilliant but strangely reclusive smartphone designer. The boyfriend persuades her to join him in a new medical procedure designed to make couples more empathetic with each other, but instead Briddey finds herself receiving telepathic thoughts, first from that reclusive designer  who has secrets of his own  and later from random people, with often hilarious but sometimes terrifying results. The plot ends up a good deal more involved than most screwball comedies, but with a satisfying ending and more sheer hilarity than any science fiction novel this year.

"A Taste of Honey" by Kai Ashante Wilson, 164 pages, Tor, $14.99

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In what at first looks like a familiar fantasy world, a young man named Aqib meets and falls in love with a visiting soldier named Lucrio, despite his own society's homophobia and his father's plans to marry him off to a woman who might improve the family's social status. But Wilson, who has earned considerable attention for his earlier short fiction, shows us that this world is more complex than it seems. In this society, physics and mathematics are important  but mostly are the realm of women  and psychic powers, including telekinesis, are treated as sciences. Furthermore, Lucrio talks more like a dude from modern urban America than a fantasy hero. Wilson's story both subverts and rewards our expectations.

(Handout)

But what is most interesting about the story is the manner in which Wilson tells it. As the romance develops over some 10 days, other chapters leap forward to show us what happens to Aqib years and then decades later, introducing us to an intriguing variety of other characters  including his eventual wife the Blessed Femysade  and different cultures, and giving a distinctly more science fictional vibe to the narrative. The effect is of a much longer novel, rich in invention and provocative in its themes, but Wilson's way of structuring the tale, while episodic at times, is a model of concise, efficient storytelling.

"The Found and the Lost" by Ursula K. Le Guin, 816 pages, Saga, $29.99

Long among America's most respected authors, Le Guin is the first living science fiction writer to be honored by the prestigious Library of America (starting with "The Complete Orsinia," a collection of nonfantastic tales about an imaginary Middle European country). Readers wanting to get a handle on her huge body of work could do worse than this collection of 13 novellas, featuring stories from her "Hainish" series about a galactic civilization, her classic fantasy world Earthsea and her Oregon seaside village called Klatsand.

(Handout)

Le Guin's characteristic themes are represented here, from ecology ("Vaster Than Empires and More Slow") to Native American lore ("Buffalo Gals Won't You Come Out Tonight") to gender roles ("The Matter of Seggri"). There are three stories of Earthsea, all written long after the original trilogy, and one of them ("The Finder") shows how her school for wizards, long before Harry Potter, grew out of a violent and dangerous society. Not all the stories are related to series; "Paradises Lost" is a straightforward science fiction tale, tracing the lives of a boy and girl growing up on a generationslong space voyage. And not all are fantastic: "Hermes" is essentially a historical story tracing generations of women in that Oregon village. All, though, are excellent examples of the brilliant prose, complex characterization and intellectual depth that have made Le Guin a national treasure.

Gary K. Wolfe is a freelance writer.
In this 2015 photo made available by NASA, astronauts Terry Virts, bottom, and Scott Kelly perform eye exams in the Destiny Laboratory of the International Space Station as part of ongoing studies on vision health in microgravity. Kelly sees the mission as a "steppingstone" to Mars. (NASA)

The race to the Red Planet is heating up.

President Barack Obama touted NASA's plans to send people to Mars by the 2030s in a recent piece written for CNN's website. Last month, SpaceX founder Elon Musk announced an ambitious plan to go to Mars and establish a colony, with a human mission landing there as soon as 2025. Boeing's CEO responded that his company would get a rocket with a crew to Mars even earlier than that.

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There's no doubt the spirit is willing, but can the body hold up on the long trip to Mars? This is one of the burning questions that must be answered before embarking on such an epic space journey.

Mars is an average of 140 million miles from Earth, depending on its point in orbit. Getting there would take an estimated six or seven months. Over the years, valuable data has been gathered from previous long-term space missions, from the 1970s Skylab to the International Space Station today. The evidence shows that human physiology is dramatically affected when there is little or no gravity.

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After 340 days on the International Space Station, U.S. astronaut Scott Kelly arrived on Earth earlier this year temporarily 2 inches taller than his identical twin brother, Mark. After spending a year in microgravity aboard the Russian space station Mir in the 1990s, cosmonaut Sergei Avdeyev was taken out of the spacecraft on a stretcher because he was too weak to even sit up in a chair.

Among the bigger challenges scientists are working to overcome are the changes that occur to the human skeleton in space. From previous experience, it is well-established that bones lose about 1 percent of their mass every month they go without gravity. The process of bone loss in space resembles osteoporosis, a common bone disease that particularly affects the elderly.

If crew members land on Mars after months and months without gravity, their bones may not be able to support their own body weight. Their vertebrae, hip bones and wrists may fracture easily and disc herniations may cause back pain that could seriously hinder their ability to build a colony and explore the planet.

To combat these effects, crews on extended space missions have undergone strenuous exercise regimens using resistance training. But even though astronauts strapped into treadmills and other exercise devices for workouts averaging about 2.5 hours a day, they still experienced significant decreases in muscle strength and bone density following flights averaging 180 days long, according to NASA research.

Osteoporosis, which affects an estimated 54 million Americans, is a skeletal disorder caused by factors including age-related loss of efficiency in bone-producing cells, as well as dropping levels of hormones in women after menopause. The result is low bone-mineral density that reduces the ability of bones to resist fracture when bearing loads under normal daily activities. One out of two women and one in four men over age 50 will break a bone as a result of osteoporosis, according to the National Osteoporosis Foundation.

To stay resilient and strong, bones constantly undergo remodeling led by specialized cells that tear down old bone (osteoclasts) and build up new bone (osteoblasts). That process is stimulated by signals from outside the cells, including gravity, which are received by tiny receptors on the outer surface of those cells. Therefore, it may be helpful to study those receptors and see how the response to those signals differs in bodies on Earth and those floating in a space ship. Research on such mechanisms may end up finding ways to help patients deal with osteoporosis back on terra firma.

The impact of zero gravity on bones is just one medical puzzle to be solved before embarking on a trip to Mars. Space causes other complications as well, including alterations to the circulatory system and the immune system, as well as radiation levels that could cause cancer.

Still, in this era when terrorism, gun violence and divisive politics capture most of the headlines, a journey to Mars is an endeavor that may have the power to unify us and rekindle the hope and enthusiasm of the old space race five decades ago. After all, we human beings are  despite our physical frailties  explorers, always seeking to broaden our horizons in this world and beyond.

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The spirit of adventure and the drive to explore is in our bones  as long as our bones are up to the task.

Dr. Dariusz Borys is a bone pathologist at Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood. Dr. John Biemer, a former Chicago Tribune reporter, is a pathology resident at LUMC.

RELATED STORIES:

Obama wants private companies to help send humans to Mars by the 2030s

Space X's Elon Musk offers glimpse of plans for 'self-sustaining city on Mars'

How I kept running while I was pregnant







Expand Autoplay Image 1 of 13 In 1987, Mayor Harold Washington ordered the design of a new central library. The breathtaking Winter Garden on the ninth floor is a quiet locale, perfect for logging some hours. (Stevegeer/iStock)
Community Park at the Bettenhausen Recreation Center in Tinley Park is a popular destination on weekends and features a playground as well as basketball, tennis, bocce ball and sand volleyball courts. (Steve Zimmerman / Daily Southtown)

After moving to the Southland this spring it didn't take long to realize I don't have to go far to find a playground to take the kids.

All it took was a couple of turns into our subdivision and I found five of them, all with a full compliment of slides, swings and sand boxes. I knew everything was going to be more spread out in the suburbs, so it was a relief to know that instead of needing a Google search to find a park, all I had to do was turn my head.

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I told my wife that its probably why Orland has Park as its last name. My remark was met with an instant eye roll.

Recently, I did some research and discovered there's about 250 parks in the south suburbs, stretching from Burbank and Oak Lawn to the north to Frankfort and New Lenox to the south. That's enough to explore a new one nearly every day of spring, summer and fall. It also gave me an idea: why not check them out?

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Years ago I started taking my kids to multiple parks in a single afternoon, sort of a pub crawl for playgrounds, to explore our neighborhood and other parts of Chicago. And to give my wife a needed parenting break.

When I first suggested it to the kids, the idea was met with grade-school cheers and a stampede to the car. Not surprisingly its became a three-season staple in my house.

On Chicago's north side, a tour-de-park didn't require much of a road trip, all you had to do was venture a few blocks farther out from the previous park and presto, there was another. But more often than not, the playgrounds were pretty much the same. The same swings. The same slides. The same hum-drum layout.

Last weekend, I decided to plot a new course to see what the suburbs had to offer and began a quest to find some of Southland's best playgrounds. Here's a few of the best ones I discovered:

Daywatch Weekdays Start each day with Chicago Tribune editors' top story picks, delivered to your inbox. >

Commissioner's Park, 22108 S. 80th Ave., Frankfort: Walking up to "Fort Frankfort" you get the impression you're entering an amusement park of sorts. The park features a maze of wood-constructed tunnels, towers and cubes kids can climb over, under and through. It's a day-long destination that would still be worth it if the park district charged admission.

Community Park, 8125 W. 171st St., Tinley Park: As part of the sprawling Bettenhausen Recreation Center, the playground portion of the complex isn't big, but features several sensory elements and an interactive, electronic gaming system that tests aerobic and spatial awareness skills. Think of a play space the size of a living room with lights, sounds and games that combine Simon and Twister. On each of my visits it drew a crowd and gave kids a workout.

Kennelly Park, 115th Street and Beloit Avenue, Worth: For kids who like pirates, this is the playground for them. The bow of a pirate ship anchors a jungle gym that has attached to a chainlink sail. Nearby is a half-buried dragon tall enough to give most kids a climbing test. It's a Worth-y stop, if for nothing else than a sea-monster selfie.

Mount Greenwood Park, 3721 W. 111th St., Mount Greenwood: This playground was as busy as I expected, with all the favorite features most kids crave, but the auditory elements  vertical chimes and tandem xylophones  made it feel like I was visiting a music store. This park is definitely in tune with what interests kids.

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Wolfe Wildlife Refuge, 109th Street and Laramie Avenue, Oak Lawn: The park is a designated natural wetlands area with a nature trail that loops around a marsh and links together three playgrounds, two of which have tree-themed play areas. Architects took a quirky twist on the playground's design with a covered, tree-trunk slide and a pendulum, battering-ram-like swing that kids couldn't resist.

Steve Zimmerman is a copy editor/designer for the Chicago Tribune who recently moved to the south suburbs from Chicago's northwest side.

sazimmerman@tribpub.com
A man killed in the Austin neighborhood when he and another man were attacked early Tuesday while driving has been identified, authorities said Wednesday.

Lyndell Hodges, 24, was pronounced dead at 1:07 a.m. Tuesday at Mount Sinai Hospital following the shooting in the 1800 block of North Laramie Avenue, according to the Cook County medical examiner's office. Hodges died from multiple gunshot wounds, the office determined following an autopsy.

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Hodges, of the 1300 block of North Waller Avenue, and the other man were driving on Laramie just after 12:05 a.m. Tuesday when they were attacked.

They were in a white car in the 1800 block of North Laramie Avenue when someone nearby opened fire. The men were wounded, and the car crashed into a building.

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The younger man was shot in the buttocks and taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, where he later was pronounced dead. The other man, 36, was grazed in the head and taken to West Suburban Medical Center in Oak Park.
Two men were killed and nine other people were wounded in shootings in Chicago from Thursday afternoon through early Friday, according to police and fire officials.



Devante Norwood, 24, was shot to death just before 10 p.m. in the 7000 block of South Ashland Avenue in the West Englewood neighborhood, police said.



Norwood was standing outside a gas station when someone approached and shot him in the head and back, police said. The shooter left in a black SUV.



Norwood was pronounced dead at the scene. He lived about half a mile away, in the 6800 block of South Bishop Street, according to the Cook County medical examiner's office.



No one was in custody.



Minutes earlier, Aaron Jackson, 25, was killed in a shooting in the Lawndale neighborhood on the West Side.



He was standing in the 1500 block of South Komensky Avenue at about 9:50 p.m. when someone in a dark-colored minivan shot at him. Jackson was shot in the abdomen, police said. He was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 11:28 p.m.



He also lived not far from where he was shot, in the 1300 block of South Lawndale Avenue, less than a mile away.



Other shootings:



 A 17-year-old boy was shot in the leg just before 1:30 a.m. Friday in the 1500 block of West Farwell Avenue in the Rogers Park neighborhood, police said. The teen was walking down the street when someone fired at him. He was taken to Presence St. Francis Hospital in Evanston, where his condition was stabilized.



 About 8 p.m. on the South Side, two men were shot in what police believe may have been a domestic-related attack in the 1200 block of East 75th Street, said Officer Michelle Tannehill, a police spokeswoman. A 55-year-old man suffered a gunshot wound to the right leg and a 54-year-old man suffered a gunshot wound to the right shoulder. Both were taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn in good condition.



The two were in a vehicle when someone came up and fired. They drove to the 8600 block of South Lafayette Avenue, where they stopped and were found by emergency crews.

 About 7:40 p.m. on the Far North Side, a 32-year-old man was wounded in the 1500 block of West Jonquil Terrace in the Rogers Park neighborhood, Tannehill said. The man was taken to Presence St. Francis Hospital in good condition, with gunshot wounds to the left foot and left calf, she said. Information about the shooting was not immediately available.



 About 2:40 p.m. on the South Side, a 25-year-old woman was seriously wounded near 67th Street and Racine Avenue in Englewood, fire officials said. Earlier reports indicated another woman had been shot, but the victim had suffered injuries from glass, Tannehill said.



According to preliminary reports, the women were in a car when someone in a Ford Taurus started firing in their direction. One of the victims suffered a wound to the back of the head, and the other, 32, had injuries to her nose caused by fragments. The younger victim was taken to Stroger Hospital, where her condition was stabilized, Tannehill said.



 Shortly after 1 p.m., four people were shot in the 2700 block of West Lexington Street in the Lawndale neighborhood on the West Side, police said. A 19-year-old man was shot in the face, and two others, ages 18 and 21, were both shot in the thigh. All three were taken in serious condition to Mount Sinai Hospital, Tannehill said.



The fourth victim, 31, suffered wounds to the buttocks and was taken to Stroger Hospital, Tannehill said.



Police found rifle casings at the scene, the same place where five people were shot  two fatally  in a single attack Memorial Day weekend.



The scene was between vacant lots at California Avenue and Lexington and just east of the alley.

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Norwood's age has been corrected in this story.
A former Prairie Grove police officer admitted on the witness stand Thursday that he drank two plastic cups of eggnog before his Nov. 29 shift, which ended when his police SUV slammed into a pole and the officer was charged with driving under the influence.

But Oscar Baez, 52, of Bensenville, said he drank the eggnog about four hours before the start of his 3 p.m. shift. He also testified that he is not typically a drinker but just wanted to "taste it a little bit."

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In additional to misdemeanor DUI, Baez also is charged with felony official misconduct and disobeying a stop sign.

Baez sought to explain why he failed a portion of the roadside sobriety exam that involved tracking with his eyes a pen being moved from side to side. Baez said he had surgery on his eye as a child and has a weak eye muscle for which he wears corrective lenses. He had taken his glasses off before the sobriety exam.

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McHenry County prosecutors allege that Baez was under the influence of alcohol when his vehicle crashed into a utility pole near the intersection of Illinois Highway 31 and Gracy Road about 10:30 that night.

Baez, however, said he crashed because his brakes failed and "went all the way to the floorboard" as he approached the intersection.

Responding officers testified earlier that Baez told them at the scene that "those glasses of eggnog must have been bigger than I thought."

The officers said they smelled alcohol on Baez's breath, that he slurred his speech and swayed during the sobriety test and that he was chewing breath mints. On the stand, Baez said: "I always have mints on me. I have some now."

Baez also contradicted earlier testimony from police officers who said he refused to go to a hospital to submit blood and urine samples. He did acknowledge that he refused a breath test, saying he was "frustrated" knowing by that time that he was being arrested and charged with a DUI.

Baez resigned from his job the following day. He was a police officer for about nine years.

Daywatch Weekdays Start each day with Chicago Tribune editors' top story picks, delivered to your inbox. >

In other testimony Thursday, Martin Pireh, a paramedic who arrived on the scene and examined Baez for injuries, said he did not smell alcohol on Baez's breath.

In closing statements, Assistant State's Attorney Michael Combs said any police officer who is sober would have gone "kicking and screaming to take that (medical) test and save his job."

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Combs said the roadside sobriety test was given by "textbook" standards and Baez's explanation "doesn't make any sense," including that he drank only two cups of eggnog about 12 hours prior to the crash.

"Those brakes didn't fail; he crashed that car because he was under the influence," Combs said.

Baez's attorney, James McCoy, noted that Baez did pass some portions of the roadside exam and said the officer didn't try to "explain away" the alcohol he drank prior to his shift.

McHenry County Judge Michael Feetterer will hand down his verdict Nov. 3. Baez waived his right to a jury trial.

Amanda Marrazzo is a freelance reporter.
Gravestones sit near the Riverdale garage of unlicensed funeral director Anton Godfrey Sept. 10, 2015. Bodies and other remains were found in the garage. (Michael Tercha / Chicago Tribune)

When Brigitte Godfrey unexpectedly died of an asthma attack in March 2013, her family relied on a relative, Anton Godfrey, a well-known funeral director on the South and West sides, to handle the woman's cremation.

But despite Anton Godfrey's personal assurance that he would "take care of things," her family's anxiety grew as he failed to return Brigitte Godfrey's ashes as they agreed. Their grief escalated in September 2015, following Anton Godfrey's own death, when his wife discovered four bodies and a container of organs inside their south suburban garage.

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Authorities believe that Godfrey had been improperly storing the bodies of customers in his personal garage, despite being previously ordered to stop providing funeral services without a license, officials said.

More than a year since the grim discovery, Brigitte Godfrey's family has now filed a breach of contract lawsuit against Anton Godfrey's former Living Waters Funeral Service as well as his widow.

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"The core thing (is) this is not the way you treat someone, their family, or the body of a loved one," Godfrey family attorney Kellie Walters told the Tribune. "This is about making money off of the bereaved and not fulfilling contractual obligations because it didn't fit in with the plan."

The suit alleges consumer fraud and deceptive practices by Godfrey, claiming he misrepresented himself as a licensed funeral director.

Half of the counts in the eight-count lawsuit claim intentional and negative infliction of emotional distress, calling the storage of Brigitte Godfrey's body in the garage "extreme and outrageous." Mario Godfrey had been seeing a psychiatrist since the discovery of his mother's body, Walters said.

The suit also alleges negligence, breach of contract and violations of the state's crematory regulation act.

Daywatch Weekdays Start each day with Chicago Tribune editors' top story picks, delivered to your inbox. >

Attorneys for Anton Godfrey could not immediately be reached.

Brigitte Godfrey's uncremated remains were among the four bodies, along with the cremated remains of another person and a "container of organs," removed by authorities from the garage in the 13900 block of Dearborn Street in Riverdale in September 2015.

Just after the bodies were discovered, the Tribune reported that Anton Godfrey was the subject of multiple cease-and-desist court orders to halt his in-home mortuary practices, according to Illinois State Police. In August 2013, he was fined $10,000 by the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation for running an "unlicensed practice of funeral directing and embalming," according to agency records.

Brigitte Godfrey's funeral services were paid for by her former church, the lawsuit said.

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The Godfrey family's suit is at least the second one filed against Living Waters. In September 2015, the family of Pompey Hicks III filed a lawsuit against Living Waters and Godfrey's widow. That case could be set for trial in December.

wlee@chicagotribune.com

Twitter @MidNoirCowboy
An 8-year-old refugee from the Congo died in Chicago after his family arrived at O'Hare International Airport. The cause of death was still pending after an autopsy was performed Wednesday. Oct. 6, 2016. (CBS Chicago)

An 8-year-old refugee from the Congo who died in Chicago after his family arrived at O'Hare International Airport last week died from natural causes, the Cook County medical examiner's office announced Thursday.



The boy, identified as David Dieme, arrived at O'Hare from Dubai on Oct. 4 with his father and several other children. David died from E. Coli sepsis due to enterocolitis, an inflammation of the intestines, in a natural death, the medical examiner's office determined, according to an office spokeswoman Thursday.

The group was headed to a flight to Texas when a U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer noticed the boy unresponsive, customs officials said.

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Authorities say the boy, who was sick prior to the flight to the United States, was examined by U.S. Centers of Disease Control and Prevention personnel before being taken to Resurrection Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.



An autopsy by the Cook County medical examiner's office was performed last week, but the cause of death had been pending until Thursday.

Tribune Staff, Associated Press
Mayor Rahm Emanuel made a rare campaign appearance on behalf of Hillary Clinton on Thursday, taking shots at Republican nominee Donald Trump's judgment and urging people who want to defeat him to get out and vote.

Appearing with other Democrats at a campaign rally outside Trump Tower downtown, Emanuel repeated the talking points he often recites when asked to weigh in on the presidential race: Clinton is well repaired to handle the demands of the office, while Trump doesn't have the right temperament or values to lead America.

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"(Trump) first started by insulting immigrants, then he went from immigrants to women to working people and everybody between," Emanuel said. "This is not the America  as people noted they don't want their children hearing from. I will just say, this is going to be the first election for my daughter. And her first vote for president will be for a woman president, because there's no office that's not open for women to compete for, and she has all the qualities for the job."

Emanuel has been notably absent from national politics during this campaign. Though he has had a relationship with the Clintons dating to his time working in the White House for President Bill Clinton's administration, he has not been tapped by Hillary Clinton's organization to play a public role in her campaign.

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The mayor was politically damaged by his handling of the fallout from the release of the Laquan McDonald police shooting video, with Hillary Clinton calling for a federal investigation of the Chicago Police Department late last year at a time the mayor was saying it wasn't necessary. And Trump himself repeatedly has pointed to Chicago recently when talking about violent crime in cities across the country.

During the Democratic primary, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders repeatedly slammed Emanuel and called on Clinton to reject his endorsement.

The mayor has frequently said he believes Trump's vision is "wrong for America," and predicted Clinton would win the election, but has done so from the sidelines of the increasingly bitter contest.

But with less than a month left until the Nov. 8 election, Emanuel appeared Thursday alongside Democratic candidates, including congressional hopefuls Brad Schneider of Deerfield and Raja Krishnamoorthi of Schaumburg, to tell Democratic voters not to take victory for granted.

Asked why he was making the appearance shortly before the election, Emanuel said he wanted to impress upon people the need to cast a ballot.

"I wanted to make sure, having been in a few of my campaigns and other elections for president, never take anything for granted," he said.

And Emanuel denied having anything to do with the recent disappearance of a Trump Plaza sign that went missing from near Trump Tower.

"I was in synagogue paying for last year's sins. I didn't start the year with a whole new sin," the mayor joked.

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jebyrne@chicagotribune.com

Twitter @_johnbyrne
In a Wednesday, Aug. 24, 2016 file photo, Aedes Aegypti mosquito larvae swim in a container displayed at the Florida Mosquito Control District Office, in Marathon, Fla. Florida health officials have identified another Miami neighborhood where mosquitoes have spread the Zika virus to people. Florida Gov. Rick Scott's office announced Thursday, Oct. 13, 2016, that five people have been infected with Zika in a 1-square-mile area of the city just north of the Little Haiti neighborhood. (Wilfredo Lee / AP)

MIAMI BEACH, Fla.  Health officials announced Thursday a new Zika zone in Miami  a setback less than a month after declaring the nearby Wynwood neighborhood cleared of the virus following aggressive mosquito spraying.

Five people have been infected with Zika in a 1-square-mile area of the city just north of the Little Haiti neighborhood and about 3 miles north of Wynwood, according to a statement released Thursday by Gov. Rick Scott's office.

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It is the third Miami-area neighborhood identified where mosquitoes have transmitted the virus to people, after Wynwood and a touristy section of Miami Beach, which is still considered an active transmission zone. Wynwood was declared free of the virus after 45 days went by without any new infections.

These are the first such areas of transmission confirmed in the continental U.S., following major outbreaks of the disease across Latin America. Zika symptoms are so mild that most people who get it don't feel sick, but the disease can cause severe brain-related birth defects if a pregnant woman is infected.

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The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Thursday that pregnant women should avoid travel to the new outbreak area, and they should consider postponing non-essential travel to the rest of Miami Dade, according to CDC spokesman Tom Skinner.

"We're not yet at the end of mosquito season, so we might continue to see local transmission going on for a little while yet," Skinner said.

Officials in Florida had warned that Hurricane Matthew would interrupt efforts to eradicate the mosquitoes that spread the virus, and Gov. Rick Scott had told residents to be mindful of standing water on their properties after the storm passed. However, Miami was not as seriously affected by the storm as other areas of the state.

Four cases from the new zone first reported symptoms in September, and the fifth began suffering symptoms earlier this month, Florida Department of Health spokeswoman Mara Gambineri said in an email.

The patients in the new zone include two women and three men, according to the statement from Scott's office. Three live in the area while the other two either visited or worked there.

Zika infections have been reported in over 1 ,020 people in Florida, the vast majority of them related to travel to affected areas outside the country. Miami-Dade County has the largest share of the state's burden, with more travel-related Zika infections than any other Florida county.

Health officials have so far traced 105 cases to three Miami-area infection zones.

Scott has directed another $7.4 million in state funding to hire more mosquito control staff and pay for more pesticide spraying in Miami-Dade County.

"We have seen that aggressive mosquito control efforts have worked in areas like Wynwood and we hope the county also aggressively sprays in this area so we can limit the spread of this virus and protect pregnant women and their growing babies," Scott said in the statement.

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Health officials also were investigating a Zika infection not related to travel that was reported Thursday in a Broward County resident. Officials there said aerial pesticide spraying targeting mosquito larvae would resume early Friday in the Fort Lauderdale area.

Associated Press
Rachel, left, and Ray Dotch, center, sister-in-law and brother-in-law to Keith Lamont Scott, give a news conference in Charlotte, N.C., on Saturday, Sept. 24, 2016. At right is the family's attorney, Justin Bamberg. Dotch objected to reporters' questions about Scott's background, saying he shouldn't have to "humanize in order for him to be treated fairly." (Jeff Siner / AP)

CHARLOTTE, N.C.  A black man shot and killed by a North Carolina police officer last month suffered fatal gunshot wounds to the back and abdomen, according to results released Wednesday from an independent autopsy conducted for his family.

Attorneys for the family of Keith Lamont Scott said in a statement that the family "authorized this release of information because, as they have maintained from the very beginning, they are simply seeking transparency."

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Scott was shot to death Sept. 20 by a black Charlotte-Mecklenburg police officer. The shooting set off two nights of unrest in Charlotte and a series of marches and protests.

The autopsy, performed in the morgue at Newberry County Memorial Hospital in South Carolina on Sept. 30, was signed by forensic pathologist Kim Collins. Collins said the cause of death "is best deemed homicide."

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According to the report, Scott suffered gunshot wounds to his left back, left abdomen and left wrist. He also suffered rib and wrist fractures.

Scott's wife, Rakeyia, said in an interview excerpt shown Wednesday on "CBS Evening News" that she and her family are still seeking answers from police about the shooting. Police have said Scott had a gun, which his wife denies.

"All we want to know is why," Rakeyia Scott said. "Why did you have to take Keith that day? ... Give us a reason, because everything that you're saying right now, it just makes me angrier each day because I just keep hearing more stuff."

The county medical examiner's autopsy results have not been released. Charlotte-Mecklenburg police didn't immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday night.

Scott's funeral, which was postponed because of Hurricane Matthew's approach to the South Carolina coast, is scheduled for 11 a.m. Friday at First Baptist Church of James Island in Charleston, South Carolina.

Associated Press
Adding calorie counts on beer labels is not likely to have any effect on consumer habits. (Abel Uribe / Chicago Tribune)

We live in the information age, which is called that for the same reason the ice age got its name: an overwhelming proliferation of the stuff. We automatically assume that more information is better than less. But as the dinosaurs learned about ice, even something useful can be dangerous in excess.

The lesson so far is lost on most lawmakers and regulators. In July, President Barack Obama signed a bill requiring foods containing genetically modified organisms to be labeled as such. It's an outwardly innocuous requirement that is supposed to leave consumers better informed but will actually cause many to be misled.

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The implication of the mandate is that there is some important difference between foods that contain GMOs and foods that don't. But there isn't. A recent report from the National Academy of Sciences confirmed that genetically engineered food is safe for humans, animals and the environment.

This scientific reality is at odds with public opinion. A June poll by ABC News showed that only one-third of Americans think genetically modified foods are safe to eat. Federally required labels will encourage them to persist in that delusion.

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What's the harm in telling people a simple fact? "A government-mandated label operates as a de facto warning to consumers," writes Case Western Reserve University law professor Jonathan H. Adler in the fall issue of Regulation magazine. "A mandatory label for organic produce that says 'Produced with animal feces' could be literally true, but would also stigmatize the products at issue."

The government says tomato sauce may contain trace amounts of maggots. But it would not make sense to make companies publicize that ingredient because the disclosure would raise false fears.

There are other ways in which labeling requirements can be harmful. Starting next year, the Food and Drug Administration will require chain restaurants to publish the calorie count of each beer on their menus.

But there's scant evidence this sort of information makes much difference. Julie Downs, a scholar at Carnegie Mellon University, says that "putting calorie labels on menus really has little or no effect on people's ordering behaviors at all."

This rule, however, may have an unintended effect on ordering behaviors  by taking some beers off the table. The tests needed to provide accurate information entail costs that are trivial to mass-market manufacturers, which can spread them across huge volumes, but not to small breweries, which can't.

The expense is even greater, notes Berry College economist E. Frank Stephenson, for breweries "that rotate beers frequently, produce seasonal specialties or occasionally tweak their recipes." Not surprisingly, the big beer-makers are in favor of the rule. The Brewers Association, a trade group for smaller ones, is not so keen on it.

The added cost imposed by the new rule is not likely to yield commensurate benefits. Drinkers who prefer low-calorie beers already know what to order, while craft beer aficionados generally put a priority on flavor over everything else. The consumers who get the least benefit will bear the costs of the mandate, in higher prices or fewer options. (Disclosure: My stepson works for a craft brewery.)

Beer and food are not the only realms where more data work to the detriment of consumers. Most states issue report cards for hospitals. This may sound like a foolproof way of protecting patients from incompetent providers. The truth is more complicated.

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University of Chicago law professor Omri Ben-Shahar tells me that "healthier and wealthier people are disproportionately likely to use the report card." Hospitals that get high marks will attract more of these patients  and they have an incentive to cater to them, because treating healthier patients leads to higher scores.

But the higher-rated hospitals don't have unlimited capacity. So less educated and sicker patients, who are less likely to pay attention to the report cards, will find them less accessible, diverting them to hospitals that get worse scores. "The most vulnerable patients, including a large, disproportionate share of African-American patients, are the ones most likely to suffer," Ben-Shahar says.

A lot of disclosures are merely useless, because they go unread  like the "terms and conditions" for iTunes, which run to 6,700 words. But politicians and bureaucrats feel no compunction about generating more and more data that will go unheeded at best and prove harmful at worst.

Mae West said, "Too much of a good thing can be wonderful." If she had lived to read the iTunes user agreement, she might have changed her mind.

Steve Chapman, a member of the Tribune Editorial Board, blogs at www.chicagotribune.com/chapman.

Download "Recalculating: Steve Chapman on a New Century" in the free Printers Row app, available at www.printersrowapp.com.

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schapman@chicagotribune.com

Follow him on Twitter @SteveChapman13 and Facebook.
Yusef Salaam is escorted by police in 1990. Salaam was one of five teenagers who were convicted of raping a white woman in Central Park. Their convictions were later overturned when an imprisoned serial rapist and murderer admitted to having committed the crime alone. (New York Daily News Archive / NY Daily News via Getty Images)

For 27 years, I've been in Donald Trump's crosshairs.

I'm a member of the Central Park Five, a group of teenagers imprisoned for a brutal sexual assault in Central Park in 1989. When we were arrested, the police deprived us of food, drink or sleep for more than 24 hours. Under duress, four of us falsely confessed. Though we were innocent, we spent our formative years in prison, branded as rapists.

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During our trial, it seemed as if every New Yorker had an opinion. But no one took it further than Trump. He called for blood in the most public way possible. Trump used his money to take out full-page ads in all of the city's major newspapers, calling for the reinstatement of the death penalty in New York.

During that time, our families tried to shield us from what was going on in the media, but we still found out about Trump's ad. My initial thought was, "Who is this guy?" I was terrified that I might be executed for a crime I didn't commit.

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Thirteen years later, in 2002, we were exonerated. Matias Reyes eventually confessed to the rape and was definitively linked to the victim by his DNA. New York paid us $41 million in 2014 for our false imprisonment.

Trump has never apologized for calling for our murder. In fact, despite all evidence to the contrary, he's still convinced that we were guilty. When the Republican nominee was recently asked about the Central Park Five, he said, "They admitted they were guilty." In a statement to CNN's Miguel Marquez, Trump wrote, "The police doing the original investigation say they were guilty. The fact that that case was settled with so much evidence against them is outrageous. And the woman, so badly injured, will never be the same." It's further proof of his bias, racism and inability to admit that he's wrong.

Black people across America know that because of the color of our skin, we are guilty before proven innocent.  Yusef Salaam, one of the Central Park Five

When I heard Trump's latest proclamation, it was like the worst feeling in the world. I felt as if I couldn't breathe. Since I was 15, my life has never been my own. I had no control over what happened to me. Being in the spotlight makes me wary and self-conscious again. I am overwhelmed with a nagging fear that an overzealous Trump supporter might take matters into his or her hands.

Doing something simple like picking up dinner for the family or going to the aquarium takes on a whole new wrinkle. I'm always looking over my shoulder, keeping an eye out for people who stare too long. Like a soldier always on high alert, I feel as if I can never enjoy myself fully, with all of the adrenaline that comes with that. It's a scary feeling.

In some ways, I feel as if I'm on trial all over again. Like Trayvon Martin and Mike Brown, young men who were killed and then crucified in the media, I know what it is to be a young black man without a voice. Even though we were found innocent by a court of law, we are still guilty in the court of public opinion. That brings a certain kind of stress.

I realize, too, that I'm not the only victim. Trump has smeared dozens of people, with no regard for the truth. And he has backed a "law and order" system that would systematically target minorities. Trump says he would like to re-institute practices like New York's "stop and frisk," a policy proven to be unconstitutional and unjust. When we hear that he is going to be a "law and order president," a collective chill goes down the spine of those of us who have been the victims of this "law and order."

Black people across America know that because of the color of our skin, we are guilty before proven innocent. As a result, sometimes we lose the best years of our lives. Sometimes we lose our actual lives. We must not let this man ascend to the highest office in the land when he has always proven that he lets neither facts nor humanity lead his steps.

Washington Post

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Yusef Salaam is a motivational speaker based in New York City.
Every railroad needs to operate on schedule, right Metra riders? If the timetable says departure is at 8:15 a.m. and arrival is 8:45 a.m., passengers expect Metra to stick to it. Doesn't always happen, of course.

The commuter rail agency's board has a policy that says that its chairmanship should operate on a schedule too. That policy, adopted in 2012, requires that the leadership post be rotated every four years among the board members from Cook County, including Chicago, and the board members from the five other counties that Metra serves.

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It's kind of like a term limit. That policy was one of the first reforms to emerge from the Phil Pagano scandal, and was aimed at curbing the kind of one-man rule under which Metra operated for decades.

Pagano was the autocratic executive director who committed suicide in 2010 after being caught stealing $475,000 in vacation pay and forging memos to cover it up.

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For too long, Pagano ran Metra virtually unchallenged. Metra's 11-member board of directors, composed of political appointees hand-picked by the six county chairs and commissioners, gave him free rein. For most of this time, Metra's chairman, from distant McHenry County, was Pagano's enabler. Patronage was rife. Contracts went to pals. One board member went to prison.

Pagano's unchecked greed exposed a glaring lack of oversight by Metra's directors. An outraged public started paying attention, and the politicians  finally put in the spotlight themselves  began feeling the heat.

In 2011, Metra's then-chairwoman, DuPage appointee Carole Doris, led the effort to bring in an outsider from California to be executive director. Alex Clifford, a former Marine, was going to clean up Pagano's Dodge City.

Doris' chairmanship days soon ended, however, and after spending a year of behind-the-scenes haggling, the politicians finally agreed in 2012 to give the chairmanship to a suburban Cook County Republican appointee, Brad O'Halloran.

It was a break with the past, for sure, but not a break from scandal. It wasn't long before Metra blew up again. The new chairman soon became embroiled in a power struggle with Clifford. Less than a year later, O'Halloran induced Metra's board to force out Clifford with a secret, six-figure severance package.

The hush-hush deal ignited the public's outrage again. A memo written by Clifford prior to his June 2013 ouster depicted a transit agency besieged by patronage and contract pressure. Among the allegations, Clifford wrote of rebuffing a raise for an ally of House Speaker Michael Madigan. A special task force later described Madigan as a "prominent participant" in patronage hiring at Metra.

Six Metra board members, including O'Halloran, resigned or were removed in the outcry.

After several more months of wrangling, the political powers agreed to install board newcomer Martin Oberman, an appointee of Mayor Rahm Emanuel, as chairman in February 2014. The former independent Chicago alderman was "a leader for reform and accountability in government," Emanuel noted.

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By all accounts, turmoil at Metra finally subsided and the cleanup and transparency efforts initiated by Clifford resumed.

Some examples: During the Pagano era, Metra board meetings were perfunctory events. Board members discussed little publicly and questioned nothing. The one-page agendas were terse and uninformative. Pagano called the shots and did most of the talking.

These days, agendas run an inch thick with details and documentation. Under Oberman's direction, meetings run for hours. Board members discuss the minutest detail (even to the point of tedium, some think). Single expenditures are frequently questioned. Every item is posted on Metra's website.

Board members hold staff accountable, especially Don Orseno, Metra's executive director and CEO.

Chicago transportation officials have been complaining for years about something called "state of good repair." That's jargon for keeping the equipment in good working order, with tracks and bridges well-maintained and safe. Metra's needs total $11.7 billion over 10 years. Pushed by Oberman, Metra launched a long-term strategic funding plan, with clearly outlined fare increase proposals.

Also under Oberman, Metra has endeavored to catch up with the 21st century. It has partnered with the CTA and Pace to adopt mobile ticketing and Ventra. It's trying to give Wi-Fi to passengers in a cost-effective way. It's launched an evaluation of the fairness and effectiveness of Metra's fare structure, which is ongoing.

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Is patronage still alive at Metra? Oberman may have come up with one of the better silver stakes to the heart. Under a policy the board enacted in 2014, every Metra official and employee is required to log any request or recommendation he or she receives on behalf of a job candidate. The log is a public record.

There have been other efforts at transparency and reform, and improving the agency overall. Certainly, other members of Metra's board can share the credit. Anyone who watches the agency's board meetings in person or on its webcasts can identify directors such as Norman Carlson, a railroad industry consultant by profession, as appearing especially conscientious and well-informed. Indeed, other board members admit they are dazzled by Carlson's extensive knowledge and expertise. As Lake County's representative on Metra's board, Carlson could make an excellent chairman when the time comes, albeit without the public persona, communication flair and bow ties that Oberman displays.

Which brings us back to that notion of the Metra chairmanship's four-year term limit. Under the 2012 policy, Cook County's turn at the helm of Metra's board should technically expire Nov. 2, bringing Oberman's term to an end.

One could make a legitimate argument, however, that O'Halloran's fiasco of a chairmanship was a false start, so to speak. Oberman, who has been chairman for less than three years, should not be forced take a time penalty for his predecessor's blundering. Oberman should be given an extension to his term in order to continue the reforms and endeavors he would like to complete.

Metra board members are expected to grapple with this issue when they meet Friday. Some board members say a policy's a policy  especially a fair policy  and should transcend individuals. A one-year extension for Oberman would not violate this sound policy.

As history has shown, the county board chairmen and commissioners from the six counties are the true decision-makers. If there is ultimate accountability and commitment to improving Metra, it rests with them. They should remember Metra's customers and taxpayers are still watching.

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Richard Wronski is a former Tribune transportation reporter. He edits the Chicago Transportation Journal www.chitranspo.com.
For someone whose poll numbers hit rock bottom earlier this year, Mayor Rahm Emanuel has had a pretty good run.

He just signed off on a tentative contract with Chicago Public Schools teachers, avoiding what would have been a disruptive and politically dicey strike. He introduced a budget that sidestepped the entanglements of last year, when he passed a huge property tax hike. And he reversed his positions on teacher pension contributions, tax increment financing policy and hiring more police without critics bellyaching that he flip-flopped.

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All of which is good news for someone whose voter approval numbers had seesawed from decent to dismal since his re-election in 2015: Half of black and Hispanic voters in a February poll for the Chicago Tribune were calling for his resignation. Over the summer, with violence spiking, his reviews didn't get much better. Unrelenting criticism over his handling of the Laquan McDonald case made him an outcast at the Democratic National Convention. Even his political allies openly shamed him during a video presentation.

Is Emanuel finally turning a corner with Chicago voters? Perhaps not yet, but he's trying to pivot. On Tuesday, Emanuel said he intends to run for a third term in 2019. Between now and then, he has little room for error. We aren't here to handicap his prospects. But it's a good time to take a snapshot of the mayor against the backdrop of Chicago in late 2016.

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The city's finances, while on firmer footing due to a series of unpopular tax hikes, remain shaky. Emanuel's $543 million property tax increase, $40 million a year in consumer telephone surcharges and nearly 30 percent jump in water and sewer rates will prop up the city's listing pension funds. But they won't be considered healthy without muscular (and some say unrealistic) investment returns and strict discipline on the city's part to keep up the payments into those funds.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel meets with the Chicago Tribune Editorial Board and reporters on Tuesday, Oct. 11, 2016, in Chicago. (John J. Kim / Chicago Tribune)

Taxpayers don't yet know the price tag of the four-year teacher contract Emanuel signed off on late Monday. And while a recent University of Chicago Consortium on School Research study showed progress on the district's graduation rate and gains in ACT scores, CPS is losing families. Enrollment is down 14,000 students this year, a dramatic decrease that will mean less funding at a time when the district's credit-worthiness is deep into junk-bond status. CPS isn't healthy.

That spike in crime, continuing to expose Chicago as one of the nation's most violent cities, threatens any rebound in Emanuel's approval ratings. Chicago has surpassed 500 homicides already in 2016. After years of resisting calls to hire more police, Emanuel relented and has committed resources in the fiscal year 2017 budget for nearly 1,000 new officers. It's an expensive gamble: We fervently hope the hiring helps bloodied neighborhoods. But help doesn't come free.

Perhaps the most significant hurdle for Emanuel will be re-establishing people's trust in him. Too often he's sent the message that he's more about spin, politics and changing the subject than about accepting bad news and, when necessary, responsibility for it. Police accountability, crime rates, city finances, the loss of businesses and jobs in struggling neighborhoods  all of these and more are in flux. The mayor  who, before his re-election, lost connections with minority communities and was widely viewed as a limousine liberal committed only to wealthy donors and downtown development  still has a lot of Chicago commoners to persuade. There might not be enough blue sweaters.

Voters can't pass judgment until February 2019, which might seem like the distant future. But in the arc of contemporary Chicago, it'll be here in a flash. You'll know the mayor's political prospects by watching how Chicago handles all these serious challenges.

Emanuel had a good week. Only about 120 to go.

Join the discussion on Twitter @Trib_Ed_Board and on Facebook.
Julian Assange, founder of WikiLeaks, is seen through the eyepiece of a camera as he is displayed on a screen via a live video connection during a news conference on the platform's 10th anniversary Oct. 4, 2016 in Berlin. The organization has repeatedly released hacked private correspondence evidently to and from those in and around the campaign of Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton. (Steffi Loos / AFP/Getty Images)

Is WikiLeaks grooming the American voting public to fall for an epic hoax in the days just before the November election?

It's hard to know just what's in the minds of those behind the secretive international organization that has gone from a devotion to exposing government secrets in an ostensible effort to enhance transparency to a devotion to exposing private emails in a brazen effort to boost the fortunes of sagging Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump.

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Almost every day now we see a release of a new trove of hacked private correspondence evidently to and from those in and around the campaign of Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.

I say "evidently" because, for the most part, Democrats have attempted to spin or otherwise minimize the potentially compromising verbiage in the leaks rather than to dispute their authenticity.

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Clinton's running mate Tim Kaine interjected some doubt during a Sunday morning interview on CNN, saying "I don't think we can dignify documents dumped by WikiLeaks and just assume they are all accurate and true. Anybody who hacks in to get documents is completely capable of manipulating them."

Kaine declined to point to a specific message that had been manipulated, but his overall point was sound.

"It's trivial for an experienced person to alter the content of a leaked email or fabricate a new one," said Jeremy Gillula, senior staff technologist for the Electronic Frontier Foundation. "Unless the email is from senders that use certain anti-spam technology, it's very hard to prove the provenance of an email; just as hard to show that it's genuine as to show that it's fake."

"I could make you an email that looks like it came from President (Barack) Obama," said Yan Chen, a professor of computer science at Northwestern University who specializes in cybersecurity. "Headers and metadata can be forged. It's very hard to investigate."

A statement released in July from 31 members of the Aspen Homeland Security Group, a bipartisan counterterrorism organization, warned of the possibility that those who hacked the Democratic National Committee servers might well "salt the files they release with plausible forgeries."

So far, it's possible, even likely, that every stolen email WikiLeaks has posted has been authentic. Most of them have been routine, while others have contained somewhat embarrassing evidence of internal tiffs, cynical strategizing, unseemly coordination between the Democratic National Committee and the Clinton campaign during primary season and so on.

Firecrackers, not bombshells.

Mainstream media outlets, by eagerly trafficking in these stolen goods and publishing excerpts with barely a nod to the notion that the documents might be doctored, have not only normalized the appalling criminality of those who hack private email accounts but also laid the groundwork for a history-changing scam.

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I know this sounds like I'm veering into tinfoil-hat conspiracy-theory territory, but consider: The public has been softened up by the credulous and, I would argue, grossly unethical media coverage of relatively anodyne document dumps, and is now conditioned to believe what WikiLeaks presents, even though the foreign organization is known for cyber-skulduggery, is widely believed to be in league with Russia and is openly trying to influence the results of the American presidential election.

We're ripe for a legitimized WikiLeaks to make major mischief. We're softened up for, say, a late-October release of some or all of the more than 30,000 purportedly personal emails Clinton deleted from her private server before turning over her electronic correspondence to government investigators.

Hackers may have downloaded those files before Clinton deleted them. And, since her team destroyed the disks from which the originals could have been recovered, it will be impossible for Clinton to prove a claim that they've been tampered with in order to show, say, that she engaged in illegal quid pro quo with foreign leaders when she was secretary of state or that she personally orchestrated a coverup of the true story behind the attack on the U.S. diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya.

If this happens, headlines will call it an "October surprise."

But don't you be surprised.

Twitter @EricZorn
The authors are members of Israels Media Watch ( www.imediaw.org.il ).

Updates throughout the day at http://calevbenyefuneh.blog spot.com. If you enjoy "Love of the Land", please be a subscriber. Just put your email address in the "Subscribe" box on the upper right-hand corner of the page.Twitter updates at LoveoftheLand as well as our Love of the Land page at Facebook which has additional pieces of interest besides that which is posted on the blog. Also check-out This Ongoing War by Frimet and Arnold Roth. An excellent blog, very important work.

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..Media Comment/JPost Opinion..12 October '16..On Wednesday morning, last week, the day after Rosh Hashana, Aryeh Golan, anchor of Kol Yisrael radios morning news digest, opened the 8 a.m. broadcast with several minutes devoted to the Gaza flotilla and a march by a new NGO, Women Wage Peace.The flotilla was an effort by 13 women. The march was supposedly by 2,000 women or, according to Haaretz, roughly 2,000 women. Golan awarded precious air time to a fairly insignificant number of people involved in political activity aimed at achieving peace or furthering peace or contributing to peace. Such phrases are favorites of a core group of media personalities who, as editors, directors, interviewers and commentators do not know how to or do not want to distinguish between their personal ideological outlook and their professional duties.According to a news report, the march was to start from the Lebanese border at Rosh Hanikra and end in Jerusalem. Its aim was pressuring the nations leaders to resume peace talks with the Palestinians.During each day of an expected two-week march there would be 5-10 kilometer walks. Since the distance between those two locations is over 180 kilometers, it would seem that the marchers expected to enjoy the well-known Hassidic contraction of the way. Of course, the groups self-description is a non-partisan organization.Golan generously allowed the spokeswoman more than an uninterrupted minute to literally read out her groups statement, but never asked her at that point, or informed his listening audience, just who this group was. Even the simple, but crucial element of who funds it was absent. A quick online search revealed these two charities: The Middle East Peace Dialogue Network and Ameinu  both radical and progressive entities.At a March 5, 2015, demonstration by the group, the foreign press was informed, as Delphine Matthieussent of APF reported, that Women Wage Peace has condemned the militarization of society in Israel. That is quite a different message than seeking peace, placing the group under the heading of extremist. That is, if Israels media could ever apply that adjective to any activist group other than those on the Right.The evening television news round-up programs of the three major channels also devoted time to the flotilla effort, even, on Channel One, bringing us a short clip of Al-Jazeeras report as news. However, no independent reporting was presented. Who are these women? What is their political background? Who is funding them? Their being pro-peace was enough to earn them friendly, non-informative coverage.There is no real mystery here.The death of former president and prime minister Shimon Peres, undoubtedly a towering figure even if only measured by the length of time spent in politics and government service, not to mention his Nobel Peace Prize, is an immense loss for those peace loving sections of Israels media, and was extensively covered. Peres carried the torch of peace at home and abroad in a way no other could. Peres was Mr. Peace  he even had a Peace Center named after him during his lifetime. He was the father of the New Middle East.But he was also the prime mover of the Oslo Process.There was no significant analysis of the secretive and illegal character of the talks which preceded the signing of the Oslo accords. Nor were the many hundreds of victims of peace in Peres words, who were killed as a direct result of his war for peace, afforded any mention.Peres was such an asset to the pro-peace media that the negative aspects of his life were either downplayed, soft-sold or ignored. There was no need to recount the many descriptions and insults which Peres suffered, from Moshe Sharett, Yitzhak Rabin and many more. Would the press have done the same for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu? As Haaretzs Amira Hass reminded us last Thursday in her column, Peres, who gave his blessing to a confidential channel of the Oslo talks, made it clear at the time that he was opposed to the establishment of a Palestinian state. In a Knesset debate, Peres shouted back at then MK Moshe Katsav on November 17, 1993: Are you deaf? I am telling you: no state of Palestine will arise. Very few recollections of his previous outlook were analyzed. Why did he alter his worldview from promotion of an Israel-Jordan confederation and absolute opposition to an independent Palestine state to support for a terrorist state in the midst of Israel? His concept of a New Middle East based on shared economic cooperation failed miserably but was glossed over as well.In the late afternoon on the day of the funeral, an item began to gain traction which was mostly ignored by the core of Israels mainstream media: the White House had issued a corrected press release removing the word Israel from its description of where President Barack Obama delivered his eulogy.Longstanding US policy sees all of Jerusalem, not just the post-67 neighborhoods, as not being under Israeli sovereignty. Israels media glides over this; criticism of construction in east Jerusalem is news. The fact that the item was not even near headline status is but another as aspect of the peace media hiding newsworthy themes.The US State Departments October 5 harsh statement, claiming that it is disheartening that while Israel and the world mourned the passing of President Shimon Peres, and [President Obama]... prepared to honor one of the great champions of peace, plans were advanced to construct homes for Jews in the Shiloh Bloc, was almost celebrated in media circles. Many highlighted the humiliation of Netanyahu.No one, however, informed Israels public that actually, Obama had double-crossed Israel by canceling the 2004 Bush-Sharon letter (which contradicted the Oslo Accords ARTICLE XI 1) which explicitly recognized the reality that a full and complete return to the armistice lines of 1949 was not to be and that only a small number of villages in Samaria would need to be relocated even though limitations on the growth of settlements were included. Would Israels peace media embarrass Obama? The media is so peace agenda oriented that no one, at least in recent memory, has ever assigned an investigative reporter to find out how Peace Now obtains its information on upcoming construction plans in areas beyond the Green Line. We can recall the sharp slap the media elite awarded Channel 2s Uvda program for exposing extreme left-wing activity in the disputed territories and the perhaps criminal behavior of Ezra Nawi back in January.Control of language remains a powerful weapon for those promoting the peace agenda. In a recent lecture in Canada, Professor Richard Landes, a Bar-Ilan University Fellow, noted that the terms right wing, left wing or moderate are terms that are just not descriptive of reality, its actually dysfunctional and makes it hard to understand the political realities were dealing with.Israels media still holds Israels citizens hostage to the perspective of a Peres peace and new Middle East.
Barns of the Midwest will be the topic of classes at Garfield Farm. (Garfield Farm Museum / Handout)

Garfield Farm Museum will host two lectures Saturday about barns and their history.

David Bauer, Garfield Farm Museum's special projects director, will present both lectures. The lectures will discuss how barns gave the Midwest its iconic landscape.

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Barns 101 will focus on barn terminology, their European antecedents, the evolution of the American barn, roof types and modern barns. The lecture will end with a tour of the museum's barns until noon.

Barns 201 will build on the discussions of Barns 101. Attendees will learn about methods for dating a barn and ways of building a barn.

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Refreshments will be provided.

Barns 101 is at 10 a.m., and Barns 201 is at 1 p.m. at Garfield Farm Museum in La Fox.

Admission is $6, and reservations can be made at 630-584-8485 or info@garfieldfarm.org.

Moonlight tours of historic Plano home

Farnsworth House in Plano will host moonlight tours Friday and Saturday.

The tours begin at dusk and return after dark, lasting approximately 90 minutes.

Guests will be led along a lighted path with woods on one side and the Fox River on the other.

Farnsworth House was constructed by Mies van der Rohe in 1951. The house was conceived of in 1945, and the model of the house was exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art in New York in 1947.

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Tickets are $30, or $40 for an interior photo permit. Tickets can be purchased at www.farnsworthhouse.org.

The tours are at 6 p.m. Friday and Saturday at Farnsworth House, 14520 River Road, Plano. Call 630-552-0052 or email to farnsworth@farnsworthhouse.org for more information.

Pumpkin Daze underway in Aurora

Pumpkin Daze is back at Abbey Farms in Aurora through Oct. 31.

Activities include old favorites and new features. Admission includes tractor hay rides, log balancing beams, a pirate ship imagination adventure with two 200-foot-long zip lines, adult pedal go-karts and Kane County's largest corn maze.

For an additional cost, attendees can partake in the air-filled human hamster ball experience, participate in the corn cannon challenge, run a lap on the new bouncing cow train ride, or grab a craft beer or pumpkin from the pumpkin patch.

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The new Pine Tree Cafe and country store and bakery will be open and selling apple cider doughnuts.

Fire pits are available for reservation Fridays and Saturdays.

Abbey Farms is primarily run by volunteers. All proceeds benefit the monks of Marmion Abbey.

Pumpkin Daze will be open through Oct. 31 at Abbey Farms, 850 Butterfield Road, Aurora. Call 630-966-7775 or email to info@abbeyfarms.org for more information.

Tour Viking longship replica in Geneva

A historic Viking warship replica will be open for tours Saturday in Geneva.

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The boat is an exact copy of the Viking ship Gokstad, built around 850.

Thirty-minute guided tours begin every 30 minutes. Self-guided tours are also an option for attendees, who can see the ship from a viewing platform that allows them to see the inside of the vessel.

The tours are the last of 2016. Tours resume in April.

The Viking warship is open for tours from 1 to 4 p.m. Saturday at Good Templar Park, 528 East Side Drive, Geneva. The last guided tour starts at 3:30 p.m. Admission is $5 for adults and $3 for teens. For questions, call 630-753-9412 or email to viking1893@gmail.com.

Literary event in Batavia

Waterline Writers will host five writers for a literary reading Sunday in Batavia.

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Author Julie Oleszek will share passages from "The Fifth Floor," a story of a teen's struggle with grief and anorexia.

Poet Kevin Burris will read from "The Happiest Day of My Life," new from FutureCycle Press.

Katie Phillips will share poems from "Driving Montana, Alone" and her new work.

Lennart Lundh will share poetry from "Jazz Me," the latest of his 10 titles.

Hillary Kobernick will share her poetry for the first time at Waterline.

Each writer will have books available for signing and purchase.

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A five-minute-limit open mic will be held after the readings.

Admission is $5, or $3 for students.

The literary event is at 7 p.m. at Water Street Studios, 160 S. Water St., Batavia. For more information, write to waterlinewriters@gmail.com.

Fundraising walk in Aurora

Mutual Ground will host the ninth annual Walk for Hope on Oct. 22 at Blackberry Farm in Aurora.

This is Mutual Ground's largest fundraiser of the year, group officials said.

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The Fox Valley Park District is offering free park admission to those who register and attend the walk.

Mutual Ground's goal is to have everyone who walks to create a fundraising page and help raise money. Walkers will join victims of sexual assault and domestic violence, family and friends of Mutual Ground.

Pets are not allowed this year.

Register for the walk at www.firstgiving.com/mutualground.

For more information, contact Jocelyn Padilla, marketing and events coordinator, at jpadilla@mutualground.org or call 630-897-0084, ext. 142.

The walk is from 8:30 to 11 a.m. at Blackberry Farm, 100 S. Barnes Road, Aurora.

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Got Pulse? Columnist Joy Davis is looking for interesting, quirky and just plain funny stories about people and places in the Fox Valley. Email her at joydavis234@gmail.com.
Bonnie Christy, right, widow of Ken Christy, looks at a photo of the plaque that will adorn the Aurora Post Office building, indicating the building is named after her husband, Ken Christy. Looking on are Mayor Tom Weisner, far left, and U.S. Rep. Bill Foster, D-Naperville. (Steve Lord / The Beacon-News)

When Richard Durbin first ran for the U.S. Senate years ago, his very first campaign stop was at a conference of the Illinois State Association of Letter Carriers.

He was nervous, as he was a newcomer to statewide politics and had several primary opponents.

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But he remembers to this day that it was Ken Christy who stood up and moved to have the letter carriers endorse Durbin for the Senate seat.

"He was a special person," Durbin said Wednesday, at a ceremony officially naming the Aurora Post Office building on North Broadway after Christy. "He dedicated his life to the Postal Service, to his family and to his friends, over many years."

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A crowd watches the ceremony naming the Aurora Post Office after long-time letter carrier Ken Christy. (Steve Lord / The Beacon-News)

Durbin joined other officials, including U.S. Rep. Bill Foster, D-Naperville, and Aurora Mayor Tom Weisner, at the dedication, which was dotted at times with rain, thunder and the loud, shrill sound of the lightning alarm at nearby River Edge Park.

At one point, Weisner noted that Christy had been a big Chicago Cubs fan, and that after the team's division series winner Tuesday night in San Francisco, "I know Ken is looking down with a big smile on his face."

"He was a regular guy, but he was no ordinary man," Weisner said.

It was Foster who started the impetus to name the Post Office building after Christy, with help from Durbin in the Senate. Foster pointed out that the effort gained unanimous support in both houses of Congress.

"He was deeply committed to working families in Aurora and across Illinois," Foster said. "He was always there to lend a helping hand to those who needed it."

Christy, who was born in Chicago and grew up in Bellwood, lived in Aurora for 59 years. After working in management for a national grocery chain, he became a letter carrier in Aurora and worked there for 31 years. He served as president for the local National Association of Letter Carriers Branch 219 in Aurora for 25 years.

Christy retired as a letter carrier 2011. He successfully ran for a four-year term for Aurora Township clerk as a Democrat in 2013.

Christy continued his work as an advocate for letter carriers as president of Illinois State Association of Letter Carriers until his death. In 2012, he was elected to the Illinois Hall of Fame for Letter Carriers.

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He died in March at age 71, someone "who was taken too soon," Foster said.

"I consider myself lucky to have called him a friend," he said.

slord@tribpub.com
Julia Gutierrez's treatment for a suspected drug overdose impacted her judgment, rendering the Geneva woman unable to "knowingly, voluntarily, intelligently" give up her rights before talking to police about her husband's death.

That argument is contained in a motion filed by Gutierrez's attorney in an effort to suppress statements Gutierrez made to Geneva police investigating the January death of her husband of 31 years, Eduardo. Gutierrez faces murder charges that allege she gave Eduardo a smoothie spiked with the prescription drug Temazepam.

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Geneva police conducting a well-being check at the couple's Crissey Avenue home Jan. 28 found Eduardo dead and Gutierrez unconscious on a bathroom floor, according to authorities and court documents. Gutierrez has pleaded not guilty and remains in Kane County Jail without bail.

Gutierrez's attorney, Kane County Public Defender Julia Yetter, contends in the motion that investigators questioned Gutierrez at Delnor Community Hospital in Geneva without advising her of her rights. Yetter does not specify what Gutierrez told police, but wants Kane County Judge D.J. Tegeler to suppress anything she said during the conversation, or evidence discovered as a result of what she said, because she was in no condition to waive the right to remain silent.

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"At the time of her interrogation, (Gutierrez) was receiving medical treatment for a drug overdose that was thought to be a suicide attempt," Yetter wrote in the motion.

Prosecutors have yet to file a response. The case is scheduled to return to court in December. In its own filings earlier this year, prosecutors indicated they want a potential jury to hear about a previous attempt by Gutierrez to poison her husband with a milk shake in 2002. No charges were lodged in that incident.

Prosecutors also indicated in court documents that Gutierrez sent a check to a friend, along with a note "arguably admitting to the crime and advising of (Gutierrez's) attempt to take her own life," around the time of Eduardo's death.

An attorney representing Eduardo's estate filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Gutierrez earlier this year that included similar allegations relating to how he died.

Dan Campana is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News
Oswego's high-profile post of economic development director is about to be filled.

Village President Gail Johnson announced Thursday that the village has selected Corinna Cole to fill the position. Johnson said Cole will be an "asset" to Oswego with her 10 years of experience working with the New York City Economic Development Corporation.

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As a senior vice president of the division, Cole was responsible for negotiating and overseeing projects totaling $650 million in value and leading a team of project managers, Oswego officials said.

Cole has a bachelor's degree in political science and English literature from Knox College in Galesburg and a certificate in real estate finance and investment from New York University School of Continuing Professional Studies in New York City.

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"I am beyond excited to welcome Ms. Cole to our team," Johnson said in a press release from the village.

Johnson said she thought Cole will bring the "experience, enthusiasm and vision" needed to manage the office.

Last April, former Oswego economic development director Vijay Gadde resigned one year after Johnson was elected to office. Gadde came under fire when he appeared before the Village Board last March to discuss the village's business recruiting strategy.

Cole said she looks forward to working in Oswego.

"I'm thrilled to be joining the village of Oswego, which is clearly a vibrant place with a strong community focus," Cole said.

Cole will be formally appointed Oct. 18.

Linda Girardi is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News
With the seemingly endless reports of negative news and social turmoil, one may wonder if the rock group Queen's line, "nothing really matters" rings true.

Even if it is true, Martin Luther King Jr. once declared, "Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that."

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Holy Family Ministries has been one such instrument of light and love for more than 31 years, providing "opportunities for children and adults from Chicago's underserved neighborhoods to excel academically, grow spiritually, expand life experiences and become effective leaders," according to its mission statement.

Founded in 1985 and led by Senior Pastor Charles Infelt, the Holy Family Lutheran School was established for students in kindergarten through the third grade. It is supported by five suburban congregations, including the Lutheran Church of the Atonement in Barrington, Kenilworth Union Church, Redeemer Lutheran Church in Hinsdale, Lutheran Church of the Ascension in Northfield and the Trinity Lutheran Church in Evanston.

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Shortly after the school's founding, the Holy Family Advisory Council was established and headed by the recently retired Susan Work, the first President and CEO of Holy Family Ministries.

Since then, Holy Family School and Little Learners Academy has quadrupled in growth, according to the groups. This vital instruction often leads to enrollment in competitive high schools and colleges.

Other examples of Holy Family Ministries' success over the years include its afterschool, summer-camp and peace-building programs.

And on Nov. 12, you are invited to attend the event "Reach for the Stars" and support these ministries at Stonegate Conference and Banquet Centre, 2401 West Higgins, Hoffman Estates.

The event features a cocktail reception and silent auction at 5:30 p.m., followed by a dinner and program at 7 p.m.

"The program will be a taste of chapel time at the school, which takes place every Wednesday," said committee member Laurie Badovinac. "Leslie Hunter, the school chaplain, and several children will be there to give us an example of a typical chapel service. It is a very moving experience to see how God works through these children."

Tickets start at $100 a person for the event. The event also includes raffle tickets for a "Lap of Luxury" getaway in Chicago, starting at $25 for one or $100 for five tickets. The fundraising goal is $220,000. All donations are appreciated.

Committee members include: Board Chairman Dan Badovinac, Kristen Egan, Tom and Linda Ernst, Sam and Jennie Kramer, Amy Manthy, Joe and Tami Pringle, and Don Sutherland. The Badovinacs have been involved for about 20 years.

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"Holy Family is such a special place that you can see God at work. The same goes for the benefits.  Each year, we wonder where the benefit items are going to come from and how we are going to fill the banquet hall, then something awesome happens and the benefit raises more money than the previous year," said Laurie Badovinac. "It is a very rewarding ministry to work with Holy Family and raise money for these inner-city children in order to give them a quality Christian education."

Pastor Charisse Jensen with Atonement's Minister of Serving Others shared how she feels "blessed to be a part of this wonderful partnership in serving communities outside Barrington."

"Holy Family School has so many success stories and through education, they offer a way to break through systemic racism and provide a future and hope for their students."

For event information and to RSVP online, visit holyfamilyministries.org.

Kimberly Albrecht is a freelance columnist for Pioneer Press. Reach her at kimproductions@sbcglobal.net.
John C. Landa, Jr. is an attorney, entrepreneur, and writer in Houston, Texas. He spends weekends on a farm in the Texas countryside. He is a frequent presenter on Israel, and a devoted advocate of its right to exist in peace.

Updates throughout the day at http://calevbenyefuneh.blog spot.com. If you enjoy "Love of the Land", please be a subscriber. Just put your email address in the "Subscribe" box on the upper right-hand corner of the page.Twitter updates at LoveoftheLand as well as our Love of the Land page at Facebook which has additional pieces of interest besides that which is posted on the blog. Also check-out This Ongoing War by Frimet and Arnold Roth. An excellent blog, very important work.

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..Times of Israel..09 October '16..Where are the Palestinian refugee camps, and who perpetuates them? What were the causes of the exodus referred to as the Palestinian refugee crisis, and why have the refugees not been resettled? The answers may surprise you.There are presently 58 Palestinian refugee camps. All are located in Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Gaza, and the West Bank. No such camps are located within, or operated by, Israel.There are presently some 1.8 million Arab citizens living freely within Israel. None live in refugee camps. They vote in Israeli elections and can (and do) serve in the Knesset and on Israels highest court. They are of course free to leave but they do not, and for good reason: they enjoy civil liberties and economic opportunities far greater than Arabs in any other country in the Middle East.Unlike other refugee populations, the Palestinian refugees have remained in camps for some three generations without resettlement. The camps have become breeding grounds for terror and incitement. The number of refugees eligible for aid from UNRWA has ballooned over the years, from 750,000 to some 5,000,000. Notably, this includes not just Palestinians who departed from Israel, but also their descendants.Why has this festering wound of deprivation and suffering perpetuated and grown? Why havent Arab host nations closed the camps and integrated the Palestinians into their own populations? And why, indeed, are there still refugee camps in areas ruled by the Palestinian Authority? Accountability lies not with Israel, but with Palestinian leaders and Arab States.The same is true of the origins of the refugee exodus. In 1947, the UN Partition Plan proposed two independent states. Israel accepted, but Palestinian leaders, whose state would include the West Bank and Gaza, rejected the proposal. How many Palestinian refugees would there be had the Palestinians accepted this offer of statehood? Zero.In 1948, Israel declared statehood. The next day Israel was attacked on all sides by Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, and Iraq. Those nations failed in their quest to destroy Israel, and the war they launched caused an exodus of Palestinian refugees. How many Palestinian refugees would there be had the Arab nations not attacked Israel in 1948? Zero.There is an oft-repeated but false narrative that Israel expelled the Palestinians from their homes in 1948. In fact, at Israels founding Prime Minister David Ben Gurion proclaimed that all Arab inhabitants were invited to stay on the basis of full and equal citizenship and due representation in all its bodies and institutions. Many Palestinians left, implored to do so by the same Arab leaders who were bent on destroying Israel. A handful were expelled during the war. But, the Palestinian Arabs who took up Ben Gurions offer to stay in Israel are today (along with their descendants) among the 1.8 million Arab citizens who are part of a thriving and diverse democracy.Notably, former Syrian Prime Minister Haled al Azm stated in his memoirs: Since 1948 we have been demanding the return of the refugees to their homes. But we ourselves are the ones who encouraged them to leave. Only a few months separated our call to them to leave and our appeal to the UN to resolve on their return.Solutions to the problem have been routinely rejected by Palestinian leaders. In 2000, the Camp David accords offered Palestinians another opportunity for statehood. The offer included 97% of the occupied territories, additional land swaps, and $30 billion in compensation for the refugees. But, the proposal also required recognition of Israels right to exist in peace. Yasser Arafat rejected it.Prior to its 2005 withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, Israel attempted to move refugees from camps into permanent housing. The Palestinians opposed the idea, and Arab states have pushed for the adoption of UN resolutions demanding that Israel desist from removal of refugees from camps in Gaza and the West Bank.The argument appears to be that if the refugees cannot return to the places some of them lived inside Israel over 60 years ago, they must be forced to live in the misery of camps. It is as if Palestinian leaders are holding their own people hostage to their unreasonable demands of Israel. The camp populations are highly susceptible to radicalization, and inculcated with the teaching that the Jews are to blame for their plight. The loaded Palestinian concept of a two state solution would require this refugee population to be absorbed within Israel, not the separate Palestinian state.The refugees are pawns in a campaign to demonize Israel. Like Palestinians who are set up as human shields when Hamas jihadists launch rockets from Gaza into Israel, they are exploited and victimized to promote a simple but distorted narrative: there is misery here, and the Jews must be blamed.One who injures his hand and rubs dirt in the wound cannot hold his neighbor accountable for the resulting purulent infection. Those who cite the refugee camps as a basis for boycotting and delegitimizing Israel should look beyond the propaganda and consider the facts. Palestinian leaders must be held accountable for the failed policies, incitement, and missed opportunities that perpetuate and compound so much affliction.
The Oak Forest City Council agreed Tuesday to hire a new inspector for the building department.

Aldermen approved the hiring of Dennis Mucha as an apartment/code enforcement inspector.

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The post is a part-time job within Oak Forest government with compensation determined by the number of inspections Mucha actually performs, said executive secretary Jim Richmond. Mucha recently retired after having worked for Chicago-based Walsh Construction since 2004. He has been an Oak Forest resident for the past 14 years.

Mayor Henry Kuspa, in a memorandum to City Council members, said Mucha, "has many years of experience in the construction industry."

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City Building Commissioner Mike Forbes said Mucha is qualified for the job because he has 44 years of experience as a carpenter. During his career, Mucha has worked for construction companies in Chicago, Markham and Darien.

Mucha is a 1976 graduate of Washburne Trade School in Chicago, and also of Chicago's Fenger High School.

In other business, the City Council approved a resolution praising Jim Pioth, who has been with the Fire Department in Oak Forest for 50 years.

Pioth, a fire department captain who is 69, has been with the Oak Forest department since 1966, beginning as a junior firefighter and working his way up to the department's arson investigation team.

He also is a member of the Illinois Department on Aging's Senior Illinois Hall of Fame, chosen as a representative of the Labor Force category.

Gregory Tejeda is a freelance reporter for Daily Southland.
Ed Dolezal, director of public works in Channahon, looks over Will County's 2040 transportation plan during an open house/public hearing Tuesday at the New Lenox village hall. (Susan DeMar Lafferty / Daily Southtown)

Truck traffic continues to be a major concern Will County residents told officials during one of the last two public hearings on the draft of the county's long range 2040 transportation plan.

The plan, which could be formally approved by the county board in December, addresses all forms of transportation  vehicular, freight, and rail  and will incorporate the county's first bikeway plan.

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The estimated cost to fully implement Will Connects 2040 is estimated to be $1.7 billion, but available revenues total only $418.6 million.

But regardless of what roads are widened, or improved, with more people living, working and driving in Will County in 2040, "we cannot build our way out of our capacity issues," said Christina Kupkowski, project engineer with the Will County Division of Transportation.

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The county will need an "intelligent transportation system" (ITS), she said at the hearing Tuesday. That includes technology tools that can coordinate the timing of traffic signals to improve traffic flow, data streams to provide traveler information, grade crossing monitoring systems and interactive truck route maps.

Replacing grade crossings with overpasses or underpasses could save "hundreds of hours of delay" and enhance safety, but the cost is "steep," according to the plan.

The county will continue to grow as an intermodal hub, and with that comes increasing truck traffic on many major routes.

Maps projecting future traffic patterns still showed roads that would be over capacity in 2040, despite improvements  I-80, US 30, Laraway Road, Manhattan-Monee Road, Route 59 and Route 53.

The freight corridors  Interstates 80, 55, 57, and 355  and the Illiana, would see 8,500 trucks daily. And freight trains would continue to cause traffic delays.

Marge Fleet, a member of the board of education in Laraway School District 70C, is especially concerned about the truck traffic on Laraway Road, in front of the school and along Route 53.

Instead of taking the newly improved Arsenal Road to I-55 "like they should," truck drivers use Laraway Road and Route 53, she said.

The truck traffic has become so bad in front of the school on Laraway Road, that school officials are asking voters to approve a $25 million referendum to build a new school on Rowell Avenue, she said.

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"We need police to enforce the school speed limit and the weight limits on roads near the school," Fleet said.

"Trucks are backed up for a half mile on Laraway Road," said Bill Palmer, a resident of Laraway District 70C. "If they just take the trucks off Laraway, it would alleviate the problem."

"The county is not going to attract good jobs if you can't get people where they need to be," said Bill's wife, Mercedes.

The shelved Illiana toll road project, proposed to handle truck traffic from Interstate 55 to Interstate 65 in Indiana, was still on the minds of many who came to Tuesday's public hearing at the New Lenox village hall, Kupkowski said.

Daily Southtown Twice-weekly News updates from the south suburbs delivered every Monday and Wednesday >

The 2040 plan presented two scenarios  listing $418 billion in projects that the county would have to do with or without the Illiana.

"If the Illiana gets built, we will focus on what Will County needs, and if there is no Illiana, we have to look at things that will replace the Illiana," she said. "It all depends on what kind of money we have."

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According to some of the projects listed, if the Illiana gets built, the county would widen Gougar Road and Laraway Road to four lanes. Without the proposed toll road, it would improve Wilmington-Peotone Road, and widen Laraway and Manhattan-Monee Roads to four lanes, to provide better east-west routes.

Overall the county wants to focus on improving mobility and connectivity, offer congestion relief and safety.

The final public hearing will be from. 4:30 to 7 p.m.Oct. 18 at Romeoville village hall, 1050 W. Romeo Road.

Public comments will be taken until Nov. 2 in writing and online at www.willconnects2040.org.

slafferty@tribpub.com
In a federal civil rights lawsuit, Sammie Young claims he was fired from his job as head of the community policing program in Hazel Crest over his refusal to politically support Mayor Vernard Alsberry. (Ted Slowik / Daily Southtown)

A man's job security was tied to his political support of the mayor in a south suburban community, according to a federal civil rights lawsuit.

A former police employee claims he was fired from his job with the village of Hazel Crest for refusing to politically support Mayor Vernard Alsberry, according to the lawsuit.

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Sammie L. Young, 60, of Flossmoor, filed the suit in September in U.S. District Court. Young claims in the court filing that he was terminated from his position as civilian administrator of Hazel Crest's community policing program "in retaliation for his exercise of free speech and political association" by refusing to purchase tickets to a fund-raising event for Alsberry.

Young says in the lawsuit that he worked for the town's police department from Aug. 3, 2015, to March 30. He says Alsberry called him and offered him the job, which would pay an annual salary between $50,000 and $60,000, according to the suit. Alsberry would be his direct supervisor, the suit says.

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"Young would have to answer only to him, the (village) president," the suit says.

Alsberry promised Young he'd work 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. weekdays, according to the lawsuit. The duties of his full-time position included patrolling and maintaining a visible police presence at parking lots, local schools and community events.

A few weeks after Young started the job, the suit says, Alsberry hired Carolyn Carter for a senior administrative position and appointed Gwen Gray as director of human resources.

"Soon thereafter, Gray told Young, 'You are working under me now,'" the suit claims.

During December and January, while at Village Hall during work hours, Carter was involved in planning a March political fundraiser for Alsberry, the suit says. During one meeting, Carter asked Young if he was going to buy tickets to the fundraiser.

"When Young responded, 'Yes, one,' Carter began to reprimand Young for not properly supporting Alsberry. Young responded by saying to Carter, 'I think it is unprofessional for you to be asking me to buy political tickets while I am on duty,'" the suit says.

Young claims that on Feb. 12, after again telling Carter he didn't plan to buy fundraiser tickets for his wife and friends, Alsberry called Young into a meeting in the mayor's office at Village Hall. The same day, Young was demoted to the position of "civilian community policing assistant" by the police chief, the suit says.

In following weeks, the police chief assigned Young additional duties, required him to work weekends and issued him three written "deficient performance" reports, the suit says. Also, Young's identification card that provided electronic access to the police department was deactivated without warning, the suit says. Young was fired on March 30.

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"The real reason defendant terminated Young's employment was to retaliate against him for exercising his First Amendment right to express his limited support of Alsberry's political fundraising efforts by refusing to purchase more than one fundraising ticket," the suit says.

Alsberry did not reply to messages left with him at the Village Hall. Reached by phone, his wife, Diane, said the best way to reach him was at Village Hall.

Young, a retired Cook County jail official, also has worked with community police officers in Harvey and advised the mayor there since 2008. In May, Young was hospitalized after accidentally shooting himself in the foot at the Harvey police station.

In 2014, Young was at the center of controversy after Harvey Mayor Eric Kellogg's longtime spokeswoman and girlfriend quit and complained about an alleged armed Young repeatedly threatening her in the police station. Kellogg and Young denied wrongdoing, and the village agreed to pay $230,000 to settle a lawsuit filed by Sandra Alvarado.

It can get expensive for public employees to buy political fundraiser tickets for their bosses who are elected officials. Alsberry's campaign website says the mayor is holding a fundraiser on Friday at Idlewild Country Club in Flossmoor. Tickets to the "black tie affair" start at $100. For $2,500, "gold sponsors" receive 10 tickets and a full-page ad in a program.

The website says Alsberry is seeking re-election in April. The site asks voters to support Isaac Wiseman for clerk and three candidates for trustee: incumbent Kevin Moore and newcomers Marian Rias and Java Rogers.

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Illinois State Board of Elections reports show that as of Sept. 30, Citizens to Elect Vernard L. Alsberry Jr. had $13,660 cash on hand. The campaign's $10,250 in itemized donations during the third quarter included $2,500 from Citizens for Michael Hastings. Hastings is the Democratic 19th District state senator from Tinley Park.

Alsberry is a first-term mayor of Hazel Crest. He was elected in 2013, squeaking by with 51.9 percent of the vote in a close race against incumbent Robert Donaldson. He gained control over the Village Board in April 2015, when three trustee candidates he backed won elections.

In May 2015, then-village manager Marlo Kemp was suspended, then fired the following month. Kemp sued, saying he was fired without cause and that his contract included a severance provision.

Earlier this year, the village settled the suit and agreed to pay Kemp $300,000. The former manager had sought the equivalent of four years' salary  about $500,000  stipulated by his severance deal.

The village made a "business decision" to settle, village attorney John Murphey said at the time. An arbitrator could have awarded Kemp the full severance amount, plus his legal costs, which could have ended up costing the village about $800,000 total, the attorney said.

Daily Southtown Twice-weekly News updates from the south suburbs delivered every Monday and Wednesday >

Hazel Crest has a population of about 14,000 residents and an annual budget of about $12 million.

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In March, 69 percent of Hazel Crest voters decided to stick with the village manager form of government in their town. Alsberry had pushed for a referendum to do away with the village manager, which would have given the mayor more control over hiring and firing employees.

Alsberry will face at least one opponent in April's mayoral election. Rod Bashir, a former village trustee, announced he is running for mayor against Alsberry.

Bashir says Alsberry "deliberately deceived" residents with the referendum that sought to change Hazel Crest's form of government.

Opponents of the measure "believed that the referendum essentially transferred the power and responsibility of the village manager to Alsberry with the deliberate effort to misinform Hazel Crest residents," Bashir said in his campaign announcement.

tslowik@tribpub.com

Twitter @tedslowik
Few things in life are more aggravating than having to do something twice because it wasn't done right the first time.

Maybe your boss throws a report on your desk and demands you do it over, only right this time. Maybe you have to throw out some food you burned. Having to do something twice usually causes frustration and stress.

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It's often a waste of time and money. That's probably why people get so aggravated over mistakes. Nobody likes waste.

Still, there's a grace that comes with admitting a mistake, fixing the error, granting forgiveness and moving on.

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I could criticize the villages of Orland Park and Palos Park and the Illinois Department of Transportation for a dumb mistake related to the $100 million LaGrange Road improvement project. But I'm in a forgiving mood today, and I give credit to officials for owning the mistake and correcting it.

The project has affected thousands of south suburban residents, business owners and visitors since work began in 2013. The improvements to U.S. 45 are adding lanes and other features to LaGrange Road between 131st and 179th streets.

Tinley Park, Orland Park, Orland Hills and Palos Park are directly impacted by construction, and people can't wait for work to finish. Orland Park Mayor Dan McLaughlin recently told residents that all lanes of traffic, including new turning lanes, will open by Thanksgiving.

McLaughlin failed to mention a glitch affecting the north end of the project, near Sandburg High School, 13300 S. LaGrange Road. More precisely, the mistake involved about 500 feet of concrete median that was built in the middle of 131st Street east of LaGrange Road.

Workers this week broke up and removed the new concrete. It will cost about $47,000 to fix the mistake, and Palos Park and Orland Park are sharing the cost of fixing it, Palos Park Village Manager Rick Boehm told me.

"The mayors worked together to get it resolved," Boehm said. "There was good cooperation between the two communities."

LaGrange Road is a major commercial corridor. Restaurants, retailers and other businesses fill storefronts up and down U.S. 45. Commerce is essential for the health of communities, since businesses create jobs, generate sales tax revenue and pay property taxes that help lower residential real estate tax rates for everyone else.

A business on a busy thoroughfare benefits from visibility to a lot of traffic. Customers, however, need convenient access to stores. Merchants with great locations at busy intersections suffer if their customers can't get to them.

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That's what happened when the new concrete median was built along 131st Street east of LaGrange Road. The high curb restricted access. Westbound traffic couldn't turn left into a shopping plaza southeast of the intersection, and traffic leaving the plaza could only turn right and head east.

Officials soon began receiving complaints and noticed drivers were making U-turns in the middle of the intersection of LaGrange Road and 131st Street. Other motorists were turning around on LaGrange Road south of the intersection, in front of Sandburg High School.

"It created a dangerous situation," Boehm said. "One of the ideas behind re-doing LaGrange Road was to improve traffic safety. This particular leg of that intersection did not lead to safer travel."

I could go off on what a boneheaded move it was to build the median that cut off access to the businesses in the first place. Plans for this project were drawn up years ago. Surely this was something that should have been caught in the design phase. What were people thinking?

But I won't do that, because we all make mistakes. When I worked concrete for seven years during the 1990s, I made my share of dumb mistakes that had to be fixed.

I envied the ease with which other tradesmen could fix their mistakes. When a painter makes a mistake, he paints over it. But when a concrete guy makes a mistake, it's a labor-intensive process to correct it.

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It's also expensive. This snafu provided an opportunity to check with the Illinois Department of Labor on what the hourly wages are for tradesmen, in accordance with the Prevailing Wage Act.

I'm sure you've heard of prevailing wage rates. As part of his "Turnaround Agenda," Gov. Bruce Rauner wants to create "right to work" zones where prevailing wage requirements could be waived.

Currently, the base rate for a cement mason in Cook County is $43.75 an hour. Other tradesmen involved in fixing the median mistake on 131st Street might include a laborer ($39.20), operating engineer ($46.30 for highway, class 1), traffic safety worker ($32.75) and truck driver ($35.48, class 1).

Crews spent several man-hours this week removing the median. First, a piece of heavy equipment run by an operating engineer broke up the continuous concrete curb and center portion into manageable chunks with a jackhammer-like device.

Next, another operating engineer using a piece of equipment with a shovel scooped the broken-up sections of concrete out of the median and dumped them into trucks.

Roadway materials are typically recycled these days, so the pieces of broken concrete were likely crushed into gravel to be used as the base for another road project somewhere else.

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Daily Southtown Twice-weekly News updates from the south suburbs delivered every Monday and Wednesday >

Another crew will pave over the median, and a double-yellow line will be painted when the project is finished. A much shorter section of concrete median will remain near the intersection, Boehm said.

"It will pretty much be as it was before" construction started, he said.

As it should be. Building the median was a dumb mistake. But at least it's being fixed, and customers should still be able to access businesses when construction is finished.

tslowik@tribpub.com

Twitter @tedslowik

Median removal

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Watch video of workers removing a new concrete median at dailysouthtown.com.
Technology went from being something that was just a convenience to one of life's necessities. No longer do we use it to only
Scouts from Immanuel Lutheran School present the flag to Elgin Marine Corps League 077 members Tom Culumber and Diane Ahrens. (Erin Sauder / The Courier-News)

It was no ordinary morning for East Dundee's Immanuel Lutheran School.

Teachers and students went beyond the four walls of the classroom to take part in an American Flag Retirement Ceremony this week led by members of Elgin Marine Corps League 077.

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"Over the last several weeks, I've been asked why we are taking time away from our school day to 'retire' a flag," Principal Sue Domeier said to the crowd that gathered in the nearby Immanuel Lutheran Church parking lot. "I want to take a minute and answer that."

When a flag flies over the school, Domeier said, it usually lasts between 12 and 15 months before it starts to tear, shred and fade. The flag is then taken down and deposited in the flag receptacle outside the West Dundee VFW.

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"But what happens after that is what we are going to see today, and learn why we treat our flag and all it represents with such honor and respect," Domeier said.

After an opening song by the school choir, Immanuel Lutheran Reverend William Yonker said a prayer.

"Though the flag is made of material, it's stitched together with honor, sacrifice and duty," he said.

Elgin Marine Corps League member Tom Culumber spoke on U.S. flag etiquette as it relates to the Salute, Pledge of Allegiance and the National Anthem.

A flag was then presented by Scouts from Immanuel Lutheran School to members of the Marine Corps to be set on fire according to U.S. Flag Code disposal etiquette.

Marine Corps League member Jerry Chartrand lit the flame in the fire pit while fellow member Fred Zimmermann played TAPS.

Domeier told the students "the Greatest Generation is quickly leaving us."

"Your teachers will help you learn and know about them," she said. "Our Korean War vets are well into their 80s and our Vietnam vets are some of our grandmas and grandpas. Desert Storm, Enduring Freedom, Afghanistan, Iraq and 9/11 are all names and places we've heard about. In each of these places some of our service men and women died serving under the flag that flies over us today."

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Domeier said the flag is more than a pretty piece of cloth.

"It's really about the freedoms we have everyday because of what this flag represents and means to us," she said. "You boys and girls are the next 'Great Generation.' It's important that you know and understand what that means, and why we honor and respect the flag of our country."

Erin Sauder is a freelance reporter for The Courier-News.
Students from West Leyden and East Leyden high schools combined for a summer Education First excursion to Italy and the Netherlands. (Leyden High School District 212)

For the first time, students from West Leyden and East Leyden high schools combined for a summer Education First excursion to Italy and the Netherlands in the name of human rights.

"I feel like human rights is a phrase that we hear often, but I never understood what it really was about, other than rights that belong everyone," West Leyden junior Marco Chaidez said.

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"I had never thought about the right to education, or the right to clean water," he added.

Chaidez was one of six students chosen to travel. Also chosen were Benjamin Velez and Melissa Alaniz from West Leyden and Alyssa Guillu, Marilyn Fuentes and Jake Schwartz from East Leyden. The students were selected based on academic achievement, demonstrated leadership and teacher recommendations.

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Education First conducts tours taking thousands of students and teachers around the world with a mission to "tackle significant global issues in places where they come to life."

The East and West Leyden group traveled to four stops over two weeks in June, where it ended with a two-day group leaders summit. Chaidez said the trip "made me realize how important it was to make sure everyone has access to human rights. Because if it's something that I think is important, people around the world should also have it."

Chaperoned by social studies teacher Bernadette Ryan, the trip began in Florence. From Florence, the students traveled to Umbria, where they got a glimpse of what it is like to live from farm to table, where farmers live off of the land for their survival.

In Umbria, Ryan said that the students made pasta and sauce from scratch and saw firsthand that it is a struggle for small farmers to earn more to benefit from an advanced society. Ryan said students learned "this is what everyday human life experience is like for millions around the world and what it was like hundreds of years ago for most people."

After Umbria, the students traveled to the Vatican and Rome and visited the Colosseum. Ryan said "visiting the sites allowed students to make the connections to human rights and the development of the ideas of democracy and the rights of each individual."

The trip culminated at The Hague in the Netherlands, where they joined with hundreds of other students on tours at the Global Leadership Summit. At The Hague, they were segmented into groups to work as teams to find solutions for crisis situations and displaced people in need.

"When I first started out on the trip, I didn't even know what human rights were. I had an idea of what they were, I just wasn't able to define them," Guillu said. "After the summit, after the summer and hearing people like Gandhi's grandson and Nelson Mandela's grandson talk about what human rights is and hearing these perspectives of people all around the world, it really impacted me, and now I have a completely different understanding of what human rights mean."

Guillu said that she, Chaidez and others who made the human rights trip are starting a United Nations Children's Fund club for East and West Leyden. The first group meeting was on Sept. 22, and the club will be kicking off its first initiative at their schools, with Trick or Treat UNICEF.

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"Trick or Treat for UNICEF is a fundraising project around Halloween that consists of collecting money in boxes that are sent out by UNICEF, then collected by UNICEF and used for children in need," Chaidez wrote in an email.

"I think they came back with a more global understanding of history, the impact of the decisions that we make and automatically wanted to give back in their communities," West Leyden Principal Tatiana Bonuma said. "When you see that energy and determination to change things, however small, it's fascinating. You can't duplicate that in the classroom."

Due to this year's success, the school is planning to send another group of students in 2017.

East Leyden Principal Jason Markey said he is also excited about continuing to enrich students through programs like this one when the students return with inspiration to contribute to their communities.

"Those are the types of things that if our students come out of high school wanting to create a better world ... and doing something to raise awareness for something much larger than themselves, then I think we are all in good hands with these kids," he said.

Taryn Galbreath is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.
Village officials say Glenview's water is safe and has amounts well below the federal threshold for chromium-6, even though trace amounts of the possible carcinogen were found in the village water supply two years ago.

Chromium-6  also known as "hexavalent chromium" and made famous by the movie "Erin Brockovich"  was found during quarterly testing in 2013-2014 at an average 0.235 parts per billion, according to the village. That was well below the Environmental Protection Agency's standard of 100 ppb and California's tougher standard of 10 ppb, officials said.

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"There's nothing unusual from our testing and the surrounding communities that tested in the same range," said Jerry Burke, Glenview's director of public works.

While Glenview announced the completion in 2014 of a water report that included chromium-6 levels, the village recently referenced the report in a newsletter piece that highlighted the low levels of chromium-6 found then. The village decided to re-release the information after a study issued in September by the Environmental Working Group, a nonprofit environmental research organization, said chromium-6 was present in 140 Chicago-area water systems, according to Robyn Doescher, the village's water utility manager. The study said Cook County municipal water systems averaged 0.188 ppb for chromium-6, which is well below both the EPA and California legal standards.

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Chromium is an odorless and tasteless metallic element that comes in two forms: trivalent chromium, or chromium-3, which is an essential nutrient, and chromium-6, which has been known for more than 50 years to cause cancer by inhalation, said David Andrews, a senior scientist for the Washington, D.C.-based EWG.

He said the level of chromium-6 found in Glenview presents a "slightly elevated risk" to residents, meaning that if one million people drink Glenview's water over a lifetime, 10 people would be expected to get cancer.

The EPA is still evaluating the health risks of chromium-6, according to EPA spokeswoman Anne Rowan. Andrews said the EPA standard of 100 ppb is based on the potential for skin irritation and doesn't address other possible health concerns.

California, while having a legal limit for chromium-6 in water of 10 ppb, has set a much lower public health limit of 0.02 ppb following a 2008 study that found mice and rats developed stomach tumors after consuming chromium-6, Andrews said.

When asked if Glenview residents should be concerned about the chromium-6 findings based on the California public health limit, Burke said "not at this time."

"It's slightly elevated above the public health goal level, but not super concerning in the context of the legal limit in California," Andrews said. "It is something to be aware of, especially in the context of a federal regulatory system that is unable to update its science and its drinking water standards."

Glenview gets its water from Wilmette, which is required by the EPA to annually test the water for total chromium, Doescher said. She added that chromium can get into water through the Earth's crust or industrial sources.

Nabil Quafisheh, Wilmette's water management director, said Wilmette tested for chromium-6 in 2013 and again in 2015. Along with other Lake Michigan water producers that have also tested for chromium-6, Wilmette has found only trace amounts of the chemical, he said.

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Kathy Routliffe contributed to this story.

akukulka@tribpub.com
Thefts from unlocked vehicles continue in Hinsdale and neighboring communities. On Wednesday, the Hinsdale Police Department received 15 reports of car burglaries that had occurred overnight.

The car owners said they parked their vehicles unlocked in their driveway or on the street and someone entered and searched the vehicles between 10 p.m. Oct. 11 and 6 a.m. Oct. 12, police said.

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Items, including a MacBook computer, an iPad, sunglasses, loose coins and a backpack containing a wallet, were stolen from eight of the vehicles. The general area where the crimes occurred was in the southeastern section of Hinsdale.

Last week, $10 in change and an antique token were reported stolen from two vehicles that were parked unlocked overnight between Oct. 5-6, in a driveway on the 5500 block of Oak Street.

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But car burglaries and car thefts are not a new occurrence. They have occurred throughout the village this year and in nearby towns, police have reported.

Five vehicles were entered, with items stolen from some, in Willowbrook, the night of Sept. 19.

At least 13 vehicles were burglarized in Darien the night of Sept. 21.

Police Chief Kevin Simpson said since the start of the year, Hinsdale, along with many Chicago area suburbs, also have experienced an increase in stolen autos. Evidence suggested these vehicles were being used in the commission of other serious crimes in Chicago.

Sometimes following the car thefts, reports were received that valuables had been stolen from unlocked cars.

"Our officers are well informed and very diligent in their efforts to prevent and apprehend these offenders," Simpson said. "Patrol tactics have been altered based on intelligence and we will continue to work with surrounding agencies to take the necessary steps address this activity."

Simpson warned it would be premature to assume the recent incidents are directly related to the car burglaries and thefts that occurred during the summer.

"It's important to recognize that these are very different crimes and it's too early in the investigation to say that these recent incidents are somehow related," Simpson said.

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Police ask residents with security cameras to review their recordings and look for anything or anyone suspicious. If people have questions or information related to the recent crimes, they should call the Hinsdale Police Department at 630-789-7070.

The police also remind people again not to leave any valuables in their vehicles and always lock them, but especially overnight.

"By simply locking your vehicle, you can protect yourself from becoming a victim of this type of crime," Simpson said.

Residents are encouraged to report suspicious activity by dialing 911 and allowing police officers to investigate the matter.

kfornek@pioneerlocal.com

Twitter @kfdoings
By Zolzaya Erdenebileg

Crowdfunding, a method of funding a project or venture through donations via an online platform, has become a popular way to raise investments in the West. In China, however, it remains a relatively nascent industry. By the end of April 2016, there were a total of 332 crowdfunding platforms in China compared to 344 in the U.S. by the end of 2013.

However, Chinas potential for growth in the industry is enormous. According to estimates by the World Bank in its 2013 Crowdfundings Potential for the Developing World report, China is estimated to generate US$50 billion, or 52 percent of the global total, in crowdfunding by 2025. During 2015, RMB 11.4 billion (US$1.7 billion) was raised through crowdfunding platforms in China  an increase of over 400 percent compared to 2014.

By the end of 2015, 283 crowdfunding platforms hosted 49,242 projects in China. The majority of these projects  69 percent  were reward-based crowdfunding, where participants were given incentives in return for donations. About 15 percent was charity crowdfunding and about another 15 percent was equity crowdfunding, where participants were given equity shares in return for donations.

Market conditions

Crowdfunding first appeared in the Chinese market in July 2011, with the debut of Demohour, a platform primarily serving creative fields such as design, film and video, music, and publishing. At present, Demohour is one of the largest crowdfunding platforms in China. However, its specific focus on creative fields makes it difficult to compare with the traditional reward and equity crowdfunding platforms. Even Demohours founder and chief executive Chang Yu considers the company to be more of an online presale retailer, more akin to Groupon than to Kickstarter.

In fact, many crowdfunding platforms in China have specialized focuses. For example, Dreamore raises funds for art, culture, and public welfare projects, Musikid serves as a platform for music-related projects, and Tao Meng funds amateur filmmakers and can also recruit crew for proposed projects.

Additionally, Chinese crowdfunding platforms, more so than their counterparts in the West, offer more tangible rewards for their contributors. Chang of Demohour attributes this to the different culture of donations in mainland China. Frequently, a campaign will offer physical goods like coupons, souvenirs, books, and/or DVDs in return for the contributions  much more like a sale than a donation. In most cases, the idea or innovation that the campaign is raising funds for has already started or finished their first prototype.

RELATED: Business Advisory Services from Dezan Shira & Associates

That is not to say that more conventional types of crowdfunding do not exist in China. AngelCrunch, which functions as an AngelList for Chinese companies, was one of the first and is currently one of the biggest equity crowdfunding platforms in China. The platform has 8,000 registered entrepreneurship projects, more than 1,000 listed companies, and over 22,000 members. Other well-known equity sites include Dajiatou, Yuanshihui, Renrentou, ihetou, Yunchou, and more.

Top players

At present, it seems that the crowdfunding industry will experience numerous and lasting changes as bigger companies foray into the field. In December 2013, Aliababa launched crowdfunding on Taobao, under which the company created Yulebao, which allows investors to support Chinese films. The site allows participants to invest small amounts, between RMB 100 and RMB 1,000, in domestically-produced films, and was involved in funding popular projects like Wolf Totem and Tiny Times.

In July 2014, JD.com, one of Chinas largest e-commerce websites, launched Coufenzi, a crowdfunding platform hosting a variety of projects. Shortly after, in 2015, JD.com launched JD Equity Crowdfunding, a platform devoted to entrepreneurs looking for early-stage investors. Baidu and Tencent also entered the market by launching Baidu Crowdfunding and Tencent Succor, also known as Tengxun Lejuan.

Market potential

Recently, there have been many new entries into the market, not only because of the massive potential of Chinese crowdfunding, but due to the prevalence of smartphone usage among the Chinese populace. There are 650 million internet users in China, and 86 percent of internet usage is through smartphones. Furthermore, the use of electronic money is on the rise; Alipay consists of 350 million users, with WeChat Wallet, Baidu Wallet, and many others vying for market share.

There is also a need for crowdfunding from both the demand and the supply side. Chinese investors are actively on the hunt for attractive investment projects to place their money  about US$4.6 trillion worth. At the same time, startups and entrepreneurs have difficulties accessing loans, both from commercial banks and institutional investors, and a low percentage of all bank loans are directed towards them.

Regulating the market

Despite positive momentum within the market, crowdfunding in China has been rocked by allegations of fraud. One such example is Ezubao, an online finance company that supposedly offered fake investment products to nearly one million investors, pilfered over US$7.6 billion, and in late 2015, was eventually investigated, shut down, and discredited by local officials as a large Ponzi scheme. Cases like Ezubao highlight the need for oversight in what may one day be the worlds largest crowdfunding market.

Industry regulations have been slow to be approved and implemented, and at times, contradictory. In December 2014, the Securities Association of China (SAC) issued the first draft regulations for equity crowdfunding, including clear rules on what platforms, investors, and companies are and are not allowed to do. Simultaneously, the draft regulations also place higher requirements for prospective investors, based on the idea that investors must be of the accredited sort. This would mean that anyone who wants to invest in equity crowdfunding projects must meet at least one of the following requirements:

Investing at least RMB 1 million in a single project;

Possessing net assets of RMB 10 million; or

Possessing financial assets of RMB 3 million and having an annual income of at least RMB 500,000 for the past five years.

The draft is still under discussion; therefore, it is possible that further changes will be made. However, it is a telling sign of the confused regulatory state of the industry  the government wants to support it, but may pass laws restricting it and thus, stunt its growth.

More recently, in July 2015, Chinas central bank and several other relevant government departments issued a guideline to regulate the general online finance industry. In August 2015, the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC), the supervising government body for crowdfunding, announced that it would begin inspecting online equity financing platforms and assessing any possible illegal activities. In December 2015, the China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC) issued the first draft for online lending, and in August 2016, announced the first official rules. This development indicates that crowdfunding will soon also be subject to more specific regulatory requirements.

Conclusion

Despite impressive industry growth in 2015, that year still managed to underperform expectations by about RMB 38 billion (US$7.5 billion). However, policy changes spearheaded by the government and a greater acceptance of this particular form of funding among laypeople may promise massive returns for those companies able to weather the competition.



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 china@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.



Establishing & Operating a Business in China 2016

Establishing & Operating a Business in China 2016, produced in collaboration with the experts at Dezan Shira & Associates, explores the establishment procedures and related considerations of the Representative Office (RO), and two types of Limited Liability Companies: the Wholly Foreign-owned Enterprise (WFOE) and the Sino-foreign Joint Venture (JV). The guide also includes issues specific to Hong Kong and Singapore holding companies, and details how foreign investors can close a foreign-invested enterprise smoothly in China.

An Introduction to Doing Business in China 2016

Doing Business in China 2016 is designed to introduce the fundamentals of investing in China. Compiled by the professionals at Dezan Shira & Associates in June 2016, this comprehensive guide is ideal not only for businesses looking to enter the Chinese market, but also for companies who already have a presence here and want to keep up-to-date with the most recent and relevant policy changesSelling, Sourcing and E-commerce in China 2016

Tax, Accounting, and Audit in China 2016

This edition of Tax, Accounting, and Audit in China, updated for 2016, offers a comprehensive overview of the major taxes that foreign investors are likely to encounter when establishing or operating a business in China, as well as other tax-relevant obligations. This concise, detailed, yet pragmatic guide is ideal for CFOs, compliance officers and heads of accounting who must navigate the complex tax and accounting landscape in China in order to effectively manage and strategically plan their China-based operations.
The 2016 Jishou Drum Cultural Festival will kick off in Central China's Hunan province on Oct 15.

The 2016 Jishou Drum Cultural Festival will kick off in Central China's Hunan province on Oct 15. Running through the month, the festival will hold performances in traditional costumes by members of the Miao ethnic group, put up stalls of spicy Hunan cuisine and host activities such as hiking and camping in Jishou city and surrounding areas.

"The annual festival has boosted ecotourism in Jishou. The Miao people's drum dance, for example, is an intangible heritage and draws many tourists," the city's Party chief Liu Zhenyu said in a recent news conference in Beijing.

The 2016 Jishou Drum Cultural Festival will kick off in Central China's Hunan province on Oct 15.

In 2015, tourists made nearly 9.9 million visits to the city, with a revenue of 7.31 billion yuan ($ 1.09 billion). This year, such visits touched nearly 7.8 million until August, increased by about 16.6 percent compared with the same period in previous years.

The city government and the Chinese company Showland Group have decided to together develop the scenic area of Aizhai over the next decade as a destination for sightseeing and leisure at an investment of 3 billion yuan. Aizhai is known for its natural resources and picturesque scenery such as waterfalls and an iconic bridge.
Tango Hackathon is concluded with a startup team called "Dajiaoguai" winning the competition on Oct. 11. [Photo provided to China.org.cn]

Over 20 startup teams, featuring the most advanced technologies in the AR (Augmented Reality) field, competed on a Hackathon, a sprint-like event for computer programmers involved in software development, in Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, on Oct. 12.

Tango Hackathon, sponsored by PC and smartphone giant Lenovo, has drawn over 100 young competitors for a 4-day intensive brainstorming and teamwork exercise to work out AR applications on Tango, a technology platform developed and authored by Google that uses vision to enable mobile devices.

The event is part of the 2016 National Mass Innovation and Entrepreneurship Week, which stages a series of activities, including summits, forums, discussions and road shows.

The winning team of the Hackathon will be granted early-stage seed funding worth one million yuan and a 3-month free incubation from the Lenovo Accelerator, an incubator offering funding, infrastructure and business support for entrepreneurial startups specializing in core technology.

"The event gathers developers from all around the world, who brainstorm to develop new ideas and work out prototypes for new products," explained Cindy Liang, general manager of Lenovo Accelerator. "We want to develop Hackathon into a new model for promoting innovation and supporting start-ups."

"Lenovo has a full breadth of services and resources to help our Accelerator Entrepreneurs develop their product concepts and get off the ground rapidly, including R&D capability, marketing channels, end-to-end supply chain solutions and global mentor network."

The AR-centered competition  involving diversified inventions in gaming, education, consuming products and health care  represents Lenovo's ambitions for augmented reality.

The company said it will release its Lenovo Phab 2 Pro, the first Tango-enabled smartphone that features augmented reality gaming and utilities. It is also expected to introduce its AR app store to put new software into application in mobile phones and tablets.

The first Mass Innovation and Entrepreneurship Week kicked off at Zhongguancun, known as China's Silicon Valley, in Beijing last October after Premier Li Keqiang called for "mass entrepreneurship and innovation" at the Summer Davos Forum in September 2014.

He called for a new wave of mass entrepreneurship and grass-roots entrepreneurship and innovation this year.

Follow China.org.cn on Twitter and Facebook to join the conversation.
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A bank officer counts banknotes. [Xinhua]

The depreciation of the Chinese yuan has limited impact on boosting China's trade, a senior customs official said Thursday.

Chinese yuan depreciation might benefit domestic exporters, but would also raise the import costs of production materials as processing trade still remained a major part of of China's trade pattern, said Huang Songping, spokesperson with the General Administration of Customs (GAC) at a press conference.

An economy's currency fluctuations could have a mixed impact on trade growth due to cross-border cooperation along the global industrial value chain, undermining the boosting effects for exports, Huang added.

China's exports in yuan-denominated terms fell 5.6 percent year on year in September, while imports increased 2.2 percent, customs data showed Thursday.

The Chinese yuan continued a weakening streak against the U.S.dollar after the renminbi was officially included in the SDR currency basket on Oct.1.

The entry would allow exporters to use the renminbi as a pricing currency during trade and cross-border investment and help reduce foreign exchange rate fluctuation risk and exchange costs, Huang said.
China's Ministry of Environmental Protection (MEP) has urged the removal of full-body X-ray scanners at airports and railway stations due to radiation risks.

In an urgent document sent to the Department of Environmental Protection of Sichuan Province (DEPSP) on Monday and published on Wednesday, the MEP urged DEPSP to strengthen law enforcement and stop producing, selling and using full-body X-ray scanners without authorization to ensure the safety of the people.

The document came after some travelers complained about radiation hazards and the use of full-body security scanners at airports and railways stations in Sichuan's capital city Chengdu and other areas.

After receiving the MEP document, the DEPSP said on Wednesday that the Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport is suspected of violating environmental protection regulations by using the devices.

The DEPSP has ordered the airport to remove the full-body X-ray scanners and asked Chengdu city to investigate the issue.

The MEP found that the radiation dose that each person receives from the scanner has just a small effect on the human body, but as China has a large population and heavy travel volume, wide use of full-body X-ray scanners at airports, railways stations and ports is not appropriate.

The MEP said that ionizing radiation devices should not be used to screen humans on a large scale.
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang (C) talks with tourists and local residents while visiting the Macao Museum in Macao Special Administrative Region, south China, Oct. 11, 2016. Premier Li made an inspection tour in Macao Tuesday afternoon. (Xinhua/Rao Aimin)

Premier Li Keqiang wrapped up his three-day inspection visit to Macao on Wednesday, announcing new measures to support Macao's development and enhance relations between China and Portuguese-speaking countries.

During the trip, Li lauded the achievements the Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) has made since its return to the motherland, describing it as a land that has seen the successful practice of the "one country, two systems" principle.

The central government fully recognizes the SAR government's work and hopes the SAR administration will overcome difficulties and continue to take initiative to realize good management, construction and development of the region while uniting Macao's people, said Li when meeting with Chui Sai On, chief executive of Macao SAR on Monday.

The premier said the central government will fully support the law-based governance by the chief executive and the SAR administration, and backs Macao's participation in national development strategies such as the Belt and Road Initiative.

In line with the new demands of Macao, the central government has formulated 19 measures to benefit the SAR, said the premier at a symposium attended by representatives from different walks of life on Wednesday morning.

The new moves include supporting the SAR government in hosting an annual global tourism economy forum, creating influential conventions and exhibitions, setting up a renminbi clearing center for Portuguese-speaking countries and establishing the headquarters for the cooperation and development fund between China and Portuguese-speaking countries.

The measures will help push diversified and sustainable development of Macao's economy.

With its unique history, culture and geographical advantages as well as rich tourism resources, Macao can attract more domestic and global tourists as long as it continues to improve its environment and service industry to become a world tourism and leisure center, said Li.

During the visit, the premier also attended the opening ceremony of the 5th Ministerial Conference of the Forum for Economic and Trade Cooperation between China and Portuguese-speaking countries in Macao.

Macao plans to build a service platform for cooperation between China and Portuguese-speaking countries.

In a keynote speech delivered at the conference, the premier announced China will adopt 18 new measures in the next three years to boost relations between China and Portuguese-speaking countries. Macao SAR will play an important role in providing the platform and supporting the implementation of these measures.

A complex for the cooperation service platform between China and Portuguese-speaking countries will be built in Macao to provide services in trade talks, trade shows and cultural exhibitions and exchanges. The facility is set to become a new landmark for bilateral cooperation.
A popular rendezvous for the elderly to socialize in Shanghai - a restaurant owned by Swedish furniture giant Ikea - is now off-limits to those who don't buy food.

Elderly people socialize outside a restaurant operated by Swedish furniture giant Ikea in Shanghai's Xuhui district on Tuesday.[Yin Liqin/For China Daily]

Ikea told its Xuhui restaurant a week ago to prohibit people from occupying seats if they don't pay. Since then, the crowds have shrunk noticeably during the lunch hour, as much as half, according to informal observers and a security guard.

Every Tuesday and Thursday afternoon for years, elderly people flooded to the restaurant to meet friends or a future partner at zero cost - sometimes exceeding the 700-seat capacity.

With an Ikea membership, which can be easily obtained with a Chinese identification card, free coffee is available.

There were complaints from paying customers during the National Day holiday, Ikea said in an email response to China Daily, explaining the restriction that took effect on Oct 5.

"It's a reasonable restriction. In the first place, Ikea is a business for profit, not a charity organization," said Liu Shihao, a college student at Shanghai Normal University, which is near the outlet.

Liu added that this was the first time he had managed to find a seat and have a bite of food at the restaurant in the three years he's been on the campus. He and his classmates went to the restaurant on Wednesday after learning about the new rule online.

Even some elderly people approved of the decision.

"It's true that we gather here to socialize with our peers. But the last thing we want is to cause trouble and become a disgrace," said a 76-year-old Shanghai native who would only give his surname, Qiu.

The retired automobile factory worker has ritually come to Ikea with his wife for socializing three times a week for two years.

Ikea said in its written response that there had been misbehavior that had to get local police involved.

A cup of coffee is priced at 5 yuan at the Ikea-owned restaurant for nonmembers, half the cost at many fast food chains and one-sixth the cost at Starbucks.

But Qiu said it wasn't about the money.

"We've been to McDonald's and KFC. But there are barely any peers there," he said. "We feel like aliens there - surrounded by youngsters. If there is another place in Shanghai where elderly people can gather, we are more than ready to pay twice as much and travel farther."

The couple live alone and learned of the Ikea restaurant two years ago from a young neighbor who suggested they look for friends there.

A survey conducted by Renmin University of China that was released in March showed that half of the elderly aged above age 60 in China live alone, and a quarter of those said they feel lonely.
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Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday accused France and the United States of deliberately provoking Moscow's veto on a UN Security Council (UNSC) resolution on Syria.

Russia vetoed on Saturday a France-sponsored draft resolution at the UN Security Council calling for an end of air raids against the Syrian city of Aleppo, and offered its own draft which was also not adopted by the UNSC.

"The resolution has been thrown in not for it to be passed. Knowing our position and not discussing our proposals with us, they meant to obtain this veto," Putin told an investment forum in Moscow.

Putin said that by doing so, supporters of the draft resolution were trying to aggravate the situation.

He revealed that prior to presenting the resolution to the UNSC, French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault came to Moscow and exposed the contents of the document to his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov.

Lavrov said that Russia would not vote against the resolution provided Russian amendments were incorporated, Putin said.

According to Putin, Moscow was not satisfied with the fact that the French draft laid all the blame for the situation "exclusively on the Syrian authorities," and that Paris and Washington "accused Russia of all deadly sins."

But he added that Russia was still ready to work with any partners including France and Europe on the Syrian problem.

Refuting Western accusations that Russia was responsible for bombing a humanitarian convoy in the vicinity of the Syrian city of Aleppo on Sept. 19, Putin said "it was one of the terrorist groups that attacked the convoy," and "the Americans are aware of it."
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Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte will make a four-day state visit to China next week, bringing along a 250-member business delegation, and a number of deals are expected to be signed.

The visit, which will be Duterte's first outside Southeast Asia since he became president in June, was announced by China's Foreign Ministry on Wednesday. It will also be the first state visit by a top Philippine leader in the past five years, during which time maritime disputes soured bilateral ties under Duterte's predecessor.

Philippine Trade Undersecretary Nora Terrado, who told Reuters that initially only about two dozen Philippine entrepreneurs were to accompany Duterte to China, said the number had ballooned to about 250.

Experts said the visit, scheduled for Oct 18 to 21, will be a milestone that might open a new chapter in Beijing-Manila relations as well as the South China Sea issue if Manila maintains its sincerity.

Ties between Beijing and Manila had been chilly over the past few years under former president Benigno Aquino III, who played up the maritime dispute on the international stage and refused to hold direct talks with China.

Duterte, unlike his predecessor, has said he wants stronger ties with China to gain funding for development projects and has kept a cool head on the South China Sea dispute, said Wu Shicun, a South China Sea expert.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang confirmed that Duterte will talk with President Xi Jinping as well as meet with Premier Li Keqiang and China's top legislator, Zhang Dejiang.

Although neither side released details of the visit or possible outcomes, Geng said the two sides "are maintaining close contacts about detailed arrangements for the visit and the outcome documents".

It is hoped that the visit will put the bilateral ties "back on the track of being healthy and stable", Geng said, adding that the Philippines is a "traditionally amicable neighbor of China".

Zhou Fangyin, a professor of Chinese foreign policy at the Guangdong Institute for International Strategies, said the preparations for Duterte's visit mirror great sincerity  particularly from the Duterte administration  for thawing ties and for Beijing's vision for long-term investment in bilateral ties.

As to deals that might be signed during the visit, Zhou said potential highlights might be increased trade of agricultural produce with China as well as infrastructure construction, which the Philippines needs.

The visit will be an important opportunity that "both sides should grasp", and "Duterte possibly has his eyes on cooperation with China in the long run" in addition to this visit, Zhou said.

The South China Sea issue is unlikely to be resolved overnight, and neither country should give up working on the fragile ties, Zhou added.

Wu Shicun said "the times have changed" for Chinese-Philippine ties, and he believes "the visit will navigate the relationship out of the record low and move on steadfastly".
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Leaders of France, Germany and Russia discussed ways to hold Normandy format talks as soon as possible to implement the Minsk peace deal, French presidency said on Wednesday.

During a phone conversation, the trio said they would aim to hold "constructive and useful" Normandy format talks needed to end the violent conflict in Ukraine.

French President Francois Hollande, his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin and German Chancellor Angela Merkel hoped to organize the meeting "very soon in Berlin," the Elysee added in a press release.

Hollande and Merkel will hold talks with Ukrainian leader Petro Poroshenko on Thursday, according to the statement.

The format of negotiations got the Normandy name after French and German leaders succeeded to convince Putin and Poroshenko to join a same table of negotiations for the first time during the celebration of the 70th anniversary of the landing of the Allied forces that made a decisive contribution to the liberation of Europe from fascism.

In February 2015, Kiev and Moscow agreed a peace deal including a comprehensive ceasefire, withdrawal of heavy weapons from the frontline of fighting, release of captives, amnesty to detained insurgents and restoration of the Ukrainian government control over the state border.

However, continued clashes in the zone have dashed hopes to fully implement the accord.
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The Pentagon said on Wednesday the United States would respond "at the appropriate time and in the appropriate manner" to repeated missile attacks on a U.S. destroyer off the Yemeni coast.

According to Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook, USS Mason on Wednesday was fired on with at least one missile off the Red Sea coast of Yemen.

"The ship employed defensive countermeasures and the missile did not reach USS Mason," said Cook in a statement. "There was no damage to the ship or its crew."

It was the second time in four days that USS Mason was targeted around that areas, and in his brief statement on Wednesday, Cook said the missile detected by U.S. military on Wednesday "originated from Houthi-controlled territory near Al Hudaydah, Yemen."
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The world will be in danger if Donald Trump becomes president of the United States, a top United Nations official said yesterday.

Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, cited Trump's views on vulnerable communities including minorities and his talk of authorizing torture in interrogations, banned under international law, as "deeply unsettling and disturbing."

"If Donald Trump is elected on the basis of what he has said already, and unless that changes, I think it is without any doubt that he would be dangerous from an international point of view," Zeid told a news briefing in Geneva.

Trump lashed out at US House Speaker Paul Ryan and other "disloyal" Republicans on Tuesday and vowed to campaign in whatever style he wants now that the party establishment has largely abandoned him.

This was after a 2005 video surfaced last week showing him bragging about groping women and making unwanted sexual advances.

Trump has said he would immediately re-authorize the waterboarding of suspected militants if elected, contending that "torture works."

US President Barack Obama, a Democrat, signed an executive order after taking office in January 2009 that banned waterboarding and other "enhanced interrogation techniques." Such executive orders can be rescinded by a successor.

Zeid said he would rather not interfere in political campaigns. But when a candidate's comments pointed to a potential use of torture, prohibited under the Convention against Torture, a pact ratified by the United States, or to vulnerable groups possibly losing their basic rights, he had to speak out.

In a speech in the Hague last month, Zeid accused Trump of spreading "humiliating racial and religious prejudice" and warned of a rise of populist politics that could turn violent.

"I always believe that it's incumbent on leaders to lead and to lead in a way that is ethical and moral," Zeid said yesterday. "The use of half-truths is a very clever political device. Because as every propagandist knows, you allow the listener to fill in the rest."

Trump has portrayed himself as tough on national security and promised to build a wall to stop Mexican immigrant "rapists" crossing the border.

"We have to be on guard to see that in the end vulnerable populations, populations at risk do not again see their rights deprived because of a view that is in the ascendancy based on false premises," Zeid said.
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Afghans marked Ashura or the 10th day of Muslim's month of Maharram on lunar calendar which is a remembrance day for Muslims particularly the Shiite sect to observe the martyrdom of prophet Mohammad's grandson Imam Hussain and his 72 companions who were killed in Karbala of Iraq in 680 AD.

Although the government has taken all security measures to facilitate the mourners to observe Ashura in a peaceful environment, terrorist attacks have claimed the lives of at least 30 worshipers and injured 82 others, according to officials.

In the first fatal offensive which happened in Kabul on the eve of Ashura, at least 16 worshipers were killed and 54 others injured, the Interior Ministry confirmed in a statement on Wednesday.

According to the statement, a group of suicide attackers targeted a shrine in Kabul on Tuesday night and attacked congregation of worshipers, killing 16 innocent civilians including three women and two children and injuring 54 others, including 26 women.

A similar attack on worshipers in another mosque in Kabul on Tuesday night, according to the Interior Ministry, had been foiled after the security forces gunned down two terrorists inside the mosque.

Meanwhile, terrorists launched a deadly attack on the procession of Ashura mourners in Balkh district of the northern Balkh province Wednesday afternoon, killing 14 worshipers and injuring 28 other, according to Farhad Munir, the spokesman for Balkh provincial government.

However, some officials and eyewitnesses on the condition of anonymity put the number of casualties of both the attacks higher than reported by officials.

Meantime, the attacks on Ashura mourners have drawn wide condemnations.

The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) on Wednesday termed the fatal attack as an "atrocity" and denounced it in its strongest term.

"This attack deliberately targeting a large group of civilians exercising their right to freely manifest their religion in worship, observance and practice is an atrocity," UNAMA said in a statement.

Earlier President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani called the attack on worshipers as a "coward terrorist act" aimed at damaging unity among Muslim sects and strongly condemned it.

Former Afghan president Hamid Karzai in a statement released by his office also blamed the enemies of Afghanistan for attacking worshipers.

Joining the condemnations, Afghans from all walks of life, besides slamming attacks on worshipers in Ashura, called upon the government to protect the lives of its citizens.
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Yemen's dominant Shiite Houthi rebels on Wednesday denied reports alleging that government forces have captured al-Buqa border crossing, Saba News Agency reported.

The denial came in a rebel statement which said the reports were "baseless" and attempting to make "illusive victories," adding that the rebel army had repelled advancing of forces loyal to Saudi-backed Yemeni government.

According to the statement, government forces suffered heavy losses "among the mercenaries and (of) their military equipment, including six armored vehicles and two tanks."

It further claimed that the rebel army has complete control of the crossing point, and is ready to confront any further advancing attempt.

Earlier in the day, pro-government media reported that the forces loyal to the exiled president, Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, seized control of al-Buqa, the crossing point at southern Saudi border, which is about 100 km south of Saudi province of Najran, and some 150 km north of Houthi main stronghold Yemeni province of Saada.

The report did not give details about the clashes or casualties.

According to both Saudi and Yemeni official media, Houthi rebels, backed by forces loyal to former President Ali Abdullah Saleh, have been fighting Saudi troops deep inside Najran, as well as Saudi provinces of Asir and Jizan since the war started 19 months ago.

Houthis stormed the capital Sanaa in September 2014, fighting against what they called a corrupt government.

They seized Sanaa and a large part of the northern areas, forcing Hadi and his government to flee into exile.

The Saudi-led coalition launched a military air campaign against Houthis and Saleh's forces on March 26, 2015, aiming to restore Hadi to power and recapture the capital. The attempt is not yet successful.

The coalition air strikes and ground battles have since killed over 10,000 Yemenis, mostly children and women, injuring around 35,000 and displacing another three million, according to the UN reports.
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Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived in Phnom Penh Thursday for a state visit to Cambodia aimed at further solidifying the traditional friendship between the two countries and deepening their comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership.

This is Xi's first trip to the Southeast Asian nation as president. In 2009, he paid an official visit to the kingdom as vice president.

Xi is scheduled to meet Cambodian King Norodom Sihamoni, visit Queen Mother Norodom Monineath Sihanouk and hold talks with Prime Minister Hun Sen.

The two countries will reach a series of cooperation deals during Xi's visit to align their development strategies and boost their practical cooperation.

China and Cambodia have enjoyed a traditional friendship that was forged and cultivated by Chinese leaders of the older generation and late Cambodian King Father Norodom Sihanouk.

In June this year, Xi and Sihamoni met in Beijing when the king paid a state visit to China, and pledged to press ahead with the bilateral comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership, which was established six years ago.

On the economic front, China is now Cambodia's largest trading partner and source of foreign investment, with bilateral collaboration expanding in such areas as trade, investment, connectivity, energy resources and infrastructure construction.

Two-way trade between China and Cambodia reached 4.43 billion U.S. dollars in 2015, indicating an annual growth of 17.95 percent, according to China's Commerce Ministry.

In a joint interview with Chinese media outlets in Cambodia ahead of the visit, Hun Sen said that Xi's trip will make the traditional friendship between the two countries closer and stronger and lift bilateral relations to a higher level.

After Cambodia, Xi will travel to Bangladesh and the western Indian state of Goa, where he will attend a summit of the emerging-market bloc of BRICS, which groups Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.
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An Egyptian delegation will arrive within the next hours here in Riyadh for discussions with Saudi officials on a "common stance" on Syria, local newspaper Okaz reported on Thursday.

The visit comes amid reports of tension between the two countries following Egypt's support of a Russia-sponsored draft resolution at the United Nations Security Council on Syria, a move the Saudi ambassador described as "painful."

Egypt also voted for another draft resolution on Syria, sponsored by France and Spain. Both resolutions failed to get approved at the UN Security Council.

Egypt's UN ambassador, Amr Aboul-Ata, said Cairo voted for both draft resolutions because it "supports all efforts seeking to halt the tragedy of the Syrian people."

"It voted for both resolutions based on their contents, not on political bids that have already become a barrier to the work of the council" Aboul-Ata said.
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Local police said Thursday that a Spanish diplomat was found dead at his residence in the capital city of Pakistan.

The initial investigation suggests he committed suicide.

John Jenner, a diplomat at the Spanish embassy, was living alone at his residence at F7-2 sector in Islamabad and he was found dead in his room which was locked from inside, local reports quoted a police officer as saying.

The police found a pistol near his body. The body was shifted to a local hospital.

Jenner had been living in Islamabad for 34 years and he had two marriages but both wives had left him, according to the police.

Jenner's cook, a Pakistani national, informed the police after he found the room locked. The police have already informed the Spanish embassy.

Meanwhile, the police will investigate all aspects of the incident, said an officer.
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The Russian embassy was subject to intense mortar shelling that lasted for two hours on Wednesday, a well-informed security source told Xinhua on Thursday.

The shelling targeted the embassy in the Mazraa neighborhood in Damascus on Wednesday noon, it said, adding that the source of the shelling is from the rebel-held neighborhood of Jobar in the eastern countryside of Damascus.

None of the embassy staff members were injured or hurt, but the yard of the embassy compound is filled with debris, as work is now ongoing to assess the damages.

It wasn't the first time the embassy of Russia was hit. During the previous times, no injuries were reported.

The mortar shelling on the embassy is part of a broader mortar attacks the rebels in eastern Damascus countryside have recently unleashed.
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Members of Thailand's National Legislative Assembly (NLA) have been told to be ready for a special meeting at 9 p.m. local time (1400 GMT), local media quoted NLA Vice President Surachai Liangboonlertchai as saying on Thursday.

According to the Thai Rath newspaper, Surachai said all members of the NLA have been asked to put aside other schedules on Thursday as it is "necessary" for certain reason.

Meanwhile the NLA will cancel its meeting on Friday.

Surachai also said the NLA members are required to be ready for any special meeting at any time.
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Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said Thursday that her government will publish next week for public consultation a bill of second referendum on Scotland's independence.

Sturgeon told the SNP conference in Glasgow that an Independence Referendum Bill would be published next week. A consultation exercise on the measure will start across Scotland within days.

In a message directed at the British government and British Prime Minister Theresa May, Sturgeon said in an opening speech: "If you think for one single second that I'm not serious about doing what it takes to protect Scotland's interests, then think again."

"If you can't -- or won't -- allow us to protect our interests within the UK, then Scotland will have the right to decide, afresh, if it wants to take a different path," she said.

On September 18, 2014, the people of Scotland voted to remain as part of Britain by a 55-45 percent margin.

It was said at the time that the question of Scottish independence had been settled for a generation or more, with no prospect of an early second public referendum. But within hours of the EU referendum vote being announced, Sturgeon said a second referendum for Scottish independence was highly likely.

In the June 23 referendum, people voted by 52 percent to 48 to leave the EU, but in Scotland the vote for remain was 62 percent, compared to the 38 percent wanting to leave.

The decision to leave the EU, reinforced by May's insistence that the "Brexit" result means all parts of Britain quitting Europe, has brought the Scottish independence question to the forefront of politics.

Sturgeon told delegates that Scotland had the right to seek something better if there were prospects of an unstable future as part of Britain.

Within minutes of the announcement, Sturgeon's plans were heavily criticised by the Labour Party in Scotland.

Scottish Labour leader Kezia Dugdale accused Sturgeon and the SNP of breaking promises that the 2014 independence referendum result would stand for a "generation" and was a "once in a lifetime opportunity."

Dugdale said Scottish Labour will vote against any proposal for another referendum on Scottish independence.
BEIJING - Auto sales in China, the world's biggest auto market, continued to expand at a faster pace in September with growth for the month reaching a new high in more than three years, data from an industry association showed Wednesday.

About 2.56 million cars were sold on the Chinese market last month, up 26.1 percent year on year, according to China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM).

This is an increase from the 24.2 percent registered in August and the fastest growth in around three and half years.

In September, China's vehicle output rose 32.8 percent from a year ago to 2.53 million units.

The strong momentum came as the Chinese economy is showing more signs of stabilizing in recent months.

Earlier official data showed China's manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) stood at 50.4 in September, unchanged from August and staying above the 50-point mark that separates expansion from contraction for the second month in a row.
The Samsung logo at the entrance of Samsung 837 studio in New York, Oct 11, 2016. [Photo/VCG]

BEIJING - Samsung should make earnest efforts in follow-up work to recall Galaxy Note 7 smartphones and protect the legitimate rights of Chinese consumers, an official with China's top market watchdog said Wednesday.

Samsung should take lessons from the latest cellphone recall, fulfill its responsibility as a multinational company, and prevent similar cases from happening, an unnamed official with the Consumer Protection Bureau at the State Administration for Industry and Commerce (SAIC) said in a statement.

Samsung has filed a plan with China's consumer quality watchdog to recall 190,984 Galaxy Note 7 smartphones sold on the Chinese mainland due to an overheating problem.

There have been 20 cases of Galaxy Note 7 phones catching fire or overheating on the mainland, the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine said Tuesday.

The bureau has called on Samsung to strengthen internal product quality control, halt the sale of products with quality defects, refund customers who have purchased the cellphones, and avoid treating customers from different countries unfairly.

The Galaxy Note 7 made its debut in August, but Samsung announced global recall plans in early September, blaming faulty battery cells.
CHONGQING - The economy of southwest China's Chongqing municipality has been boosted by the Belt and Road Initiative, which aims to connect China and other countries along the ancient land and maritime Silk Roads.

Changes started in Chongqing as early as five years ago, when IT companies like HP and Acer set up operations in the municipality.

"These companies needed to develop a convenient, time-saving and cost-effective logistic path to send their products to global markets," said Yang Liqiong, director of the municipal logistics office.

This year, the Yuxinou (Chongqing-Xinjiang-Europe) Railway was opened to connect Chongqing and Duisburg, which is close to Germany's border with the Netherlands.

"Transportation arteries like Yuxinou ended the logistical isolation of Chongqing from countries along the Belt and Road," said Zhang Jun, chairman of the board of a potassium company in Kazakhstan.

In August, Chongqing signed a contract with the Kazakh company to jointly build a fertilizer distribution hub.

"The hub will be used to distribute fertilizers to southwestern provinces in China and also exported to Japan and Southeast Asian countries," Zhang said.

China need 14 million tons of potassium chloride per year, half of which needs to be imported.

"The hub would not have been possible if not for the Yuxinou Railway network," he added.

Better connection

In 2013, China proposed the Belt and Road Initiative, which aims to build a trade and infrastructure network connecting Asia with Europe and Africa, along ancient trade routes. Chongqing has been one of the most active provinces to spearhead efforts to implement the initiative.

The Yuxinou Railway, along with other transportation projects, has been expanded in capacity to support business and trade along the new silk road.

Regular bus services have been opened from Chongqing to southeastern Asian countries. Chongqing spent 10 billion yuan ($1.49 billion) to build the Guoyuan port on the Yangtze River. Rail, aviation and waterway transportation have diversified logistical choices for businesses.

"Inland areas like Chongqing used to be at the end of an international industrial division of labor. We have to wait for the resources to be transferred from developing countries, to the coastal areas of China, and then inland," said Guo Jian, head of the Chongqing municipal commission of economy and information.

"With improved infrastructure, we are in a better position to compete with others and promote business," he said.

Lifan, a Chongqing-based motorcycle and automobile manufacturer, saw a 20 percent growth in sales to the Russian market in last year, despite cross-the-board sluggish growth in the auto market.

"More than 80 percent of our exports to Russia go through Yuxinou Rail. Railway transport saves more than 30 days on shipping, and cut logistical costs by $5 million a year," said Chen Wei, vice president of Lifan.

Industrial upgrading

Chongqing is one of China's largest laptop manufacturing bases. Every year, millions of laptops travel through Yangtze waterways and on railway transport to other parts of China and to the overseas market. It also makes about a third of cell phones in China, or one sixth of the global total, according to an industrial forecast for this year.

"Logistics have figured rather importantly in each and every step as Chongqing builds a strong electronics industry. Good transportation and industrial infrastructure lured and kept strong companies here," said Guo.

Trans-border e-commerce is also booming in Chongqing. Osell, an e-commerce platform headquartered in Chongqing, connects 190,000 small and medium sized Chinese companies with more than 1.7 million overseas retailers and buyers around the world. In 2015, transactions enabled by Osell totaled over $5 billion.

Municipal authorities have pledged further efforts promoting economic development.

"Chongqing is working towards a faster clearing of goods, smoothing out logistical bottlenecks and solving financing problems for companies," said Yang Liqiong.

Authorities will improve the efficiency of the railway network and help develop a sound and healthy market for logistics, she said.
Wang Jianlin, chairman and president of Dalian Wanda Group, attends the Hong Kong Asian Financial Forum (AFF) in Hong Kong, China, on Monday, Jan 18, 2016. [Photo/VCG]

Wang Jianlin, chairman of Dalian Wanda Group, has retained his crown again as the richest man in China, with a fortune of 215 billion yuan ($32 billion), according the Hurun Rich List 2016 released Thursday.

The billionaire Chinese property tycoon has taken the top spot three times, although this year his wealth fell 2 percent compared with a year ago.

Jack Ma, executive chairman of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd, saw his wealth rise 41 percent to 205 billion yuan, ranking second.

Tencent Holdings Ltd founder Pony Ma Huateng moved up one spot to No 3, with a fortune of 165 billion yuan, up 38 percent year on year, despite donating 13.9 billion yuan last year.

This year's dark horse, financial conglomerate Baoneng's chairman Yao Zhenhua's wealth saw a nine-fold increase to 115 billion yuan, moving up 200 places to No 4 in the ranking.

Four new names made it to the top 10 list for the first time: Baoneng's chairman Yao Zhenhua, online gaming and news portal NetEase's founder and CEO Ding Lei, Evergrande Real Estate's chairman Xu Jiayin and household appliances company Midea Group's founder He Xiangjian and his son He Jianfeng.

Lei Jun, founder and CEO of China's mobile company Xiaomi, dropped out of top 10 to 14th place.

"Despite a 20 percent drop in the domestic stock markets and a slowdown in the economy, the Hurun Rich List swelled by 179 to 2,056 individuals, double that of three years ago and up 10-fold from 10 years ago," said Rupert Hoogewerf, Hurun Report Chairman and Chief Researcher.

Hurun has released this ranking for the 18th consecutive year since 1999, while the threshold was 2 billion yuan for the fourth straight year.
A workshop of Goodbaby Group in Kunshan, Jiangsu province. [Photo by Gao Erqiang/China Daily]

When Goodbaby Group, China's largest manufacturer and retailer of baby-care products, made its debut in the global fair for baby and toddler outfitting in Germany earlier this month, its products attracted a lot of attention, presenting stiff competition for some of the world's most famous brands.

Goodbaby, a Suzhou-based producer of buggies and safety seats for cars, said the success at the exhibition can be attributed to their global strategy of mergers and acquisition.

During the past couple of years, the company has acquired some production assets in Europe and North America.

In 2014, the Chinese company made its first acquisition of Cybex GmbH, a German producer of premium car seats. The deal gave Goodbaby wide exposure in Europe, where Cybex is a major brand, as well as entry into the high-end car-seat marketplace.

"We want to be on the cutting-edge of design and technology to provide the most convenient products for our consumers, so we can unveil a new lineup of products each year that represent creativity through acquisition and innovation," said Song Zhenghuan, chairman of Goodbaby Group.

During the same year, it bought the US company Evenflo Co Inc for $143 million. The latter makes a range of juvenile products, from car seats to feeding bottles sold through large retailers like Wal-Mart. The acquisition has enlarged its portfolio to include mid-priced safety car seats.

Goodbaby said it would be able to increase its share of the rapidly growing juvenile car seat market.

Yin Jie, an expert in brand management, said Goodbaby took a shortcut to gain resources in overseas markets by acquiring local companies.

"Normally, consumers in well-developed markets are very loyal to their local brands, making it hard to have major inroads into these markets, but acquisition is a good way to avoid direct competition and give the company an edge both in technology and local distribution networks," he said.

About 70 percent of Goodbaby's business is in overseas markets such as Japan, North America and Europe, with the rest in China.

Goodbaby is already the largest supplier of strollers in North America, Europe and China. But it wants to master design and manufacturing as well so it could stamp its name on baby-care products.
The Wuhan Motor Show, opened in Wuhan, Central China's Hubei province on Wednesday, attracts world top brands and a large number of car enthusiasts. More than 300 exhibitors from more than 80 brands participated in the motor show.

As a professional automotive shows in central China, Wuhan Motor Show has been experienced its 16 consecutive successful years with the support of every exhibitor.

The motor show lasts from Oct 12 to 19 at Wuhan International Exhibition Centre, with a target to promote the development of industry, provide opportunities to exhibitors.

Hannover Milano Fairs Shanghai Ltd and Chengdu International Exhibition & Convention Centre joined hands in the organizing this show.




China's Global Newspaper





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China and Russia will conduct a second joint anti-missile exercise next year.

A China-Russia joint press conference on missile defense on the sidelines of the Xiangshan Forum in Beijing on Tuesday. [Photo/chinadaily.com.cn]

The announcement, on Tuesday, was made at a China-Russia joint press briefing on missile defense on the sidelines of the Xiangshan Forum in Beijing, a high-end meeting of defense officials and experts.

The two countries held a joint computer-simulated anti-missile drill in May.

Observers noted that Beijing and Moscow have increased their anti-missile cooperation this year as the United States and its ally, the Republic of Korea, pushed forward a joint plan to deploy the long-range Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) anti-missile system in the ROK.

The X-band radar associated with the THAAD system has a maximum range of 2,000 km, a radius which is capable of covering parts of China and Russia.

In a joint statement on global strategic stability released following the meeting between President Xi Jinping and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in June, the countries voiced shared concerns over the deployment of antimissile capabilities globally and said that any unilateral deployment is a setback.

At a China-Russia Northeast Asia security consultation in Moscow in July, Beijing and Moscow agreed that they will "proactively consider strengthening bilateral coordinating measures" to tackle potential negative factors posed by the deployment of THAAD.
Jack Ma, founder of Alibaba Group, speaks at the Second World Internet Conference's closing ceremony in Wuzhen, East China's Zhejiang province, Dec 18, 2015. [Photo by Zou Hong/chinadaily.com.cn]

A number of leading technological achievements will be unveiled at an annual internet conference held by China next month, in a bid to encourage innovative contributions in cyberspace, an official of the national internet watchdog said on Wednesday.

The release is scheduled in the afternoon on the opening day of the Third World Internet Conference, which will run from Nov 16 to 18 in Wuzhen, a historic town in Zhejiang province, Ren Xianliang, deputy director of the Cyberspace Administration of China, said in a news release.

"The achievements cover top theories, technologies, products and services in cyberspace from home and abroad, and it is the first time that we have held such an activity," Ren said.

Since early September, more than 400 achievements from more than 300 businesses and academic institutions from around the world have been submitted to the conference as candidates, such as the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Microsoft and IBM.

"A panel of well-known scientists and entrepreneurs is selecting and reviewing these candidates, and will make a final recommendation in line with their significance and influence," he said.

A statement from the administration said that it would invite some innovators to attend the conference and show their products or services on the opening day to the public, while some outstanding achievements will be also shown via video.

Ren said that he hopes the release of these innovations can contribute to building cyberspace-related think tanks among governments and businesses.

Ning Jiajun, a senior researcher at the Advisory Committee for State Informatization, echoed him, saying that it was an opportunity to highlight the country's open attitude and ideas on governing cyberspace.

"We can learn how to develop the internet through innovation, and the activity will be also a platform for us to increase international communication on how to solve internet-related problems, such as cyber attacks and crimes, at the same time," Ning said.
A robot that can write with its hands is displayed at the Summer Davos Forum in Tianjin on June 26, 2016. [Photo by Zhu Xingxin/China Daily]

The annual output of the robotics industry in Tianjin is expected to be worth 12 billion yuan ($1.8 billion) by 2020, with the total number reaching 60,000 robots, according to the Tianjin Municipal Commission of Industry and Information Technology.

An underwater robot made by a Tianjin company to clean the bottom of ships has attracted a lot of attention after it won a prize at an innovation contest last month.

"The working efficiency of the underwater robot could be enhanced by three times compared with manual work. The robot can be widely applied to large ships, propellers and precision instruments for offshore exploration," said Zhang Yang, general manager of Tianjin OSTAR Underwater Vehicles Co Ltd.

The company has received orders from China National Offshore Oil Corporation and China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation, Zhang said.

It is expected that annual sales of the robot will reach 16 million yuan, accounting for 80 percent of the firm's total yearly sales, Zhang added.

At present, the scale of robotics industry in Tianjin has reached 3 billion yuan, and there are more than 100 robot production companies, with a capacity of more than 1,000 robots.

Traditional labor-intensive companies are introducing robots to lower labor costs and develop the high-end manufacturing industry. A unit of Markor Furniture Group, which is located in Tianjin Economic and Technological Development Area, estimated that it cut labor costs by 50 percent with the application of robots.

"The robot industry in Tianjin is to be a new springboard for economic growth based on the advantages of a strong local industrial foundation," said Li Chaoxing, director of the Tianjin Municipal Commission of Industry and Information Technology.

Contact the writers at fanfeifei@chinadaily.com.cn and zhangmin@chinadaily.com.cn
SYDNEY - Apple Inc has not found any evidence of its former employees misappropriating customers' data after a photo-sharing scandal was exposed at its Australian Brisbane store on Thursday.

An Apple spokesperson had confirmed the matter to Xinhua through a short statement, though refusing to comment on the number of staff that were sacked due to the incident.

"Apple believes in treating everyone equally and with respect, and we do not tolerate behavior that goes against our values," the spokesperson said.

"We are investigating a violation of Apple's business conduct policy at our store in Carindale, where several employees have already been terminated as a result of our findings."

"Based on our investigation thus far, we have seen no evidence that customer data or photos were inappropriately transferred or that anyone was photographed by these former employees."

"We have met with our store team to let them know about the investigation and inform them about the steps Apple is taking to protect their privacy."

It was earlier reported that staff at the Brisbane's Apple store have been fired after they were caught stealing and rating customers' pictures as part of a photo-sharing scandal.

News Corp reported on Thursday that dozens of photos were taken of female staff and customers while others were lifted from some Apple customers' phones, it has emerged.

The issue came to light after a staff member at the Carindale store noticed a technician looking through a customer's phone in the repair room.

One Apple staff member told News Corp that they were concerned that the "disgusting" practice was occurring at other stores.

As part of the scandal, it was reported that photos of both customers and staff were taken without their knowledge and their bodies were ranked from one to 10.
A screen shot of the Tipix app. [Photo/app. weibo.com]

HANGZHOU - Apple CEO Tim Cook has praised the champions of a Chinese university app contest, calling their designs "impressive and innovative."

Through his Twitter-like Sina Weibo account, Cook said on Wednesday that "entrants submitted many impressive, innovative ideas" at the contest, organized by Apple and Tsinghua University.

The China Collegiate Computing Contest received 361 app designs and projects submitted by students from 161 universities and colleges over a period of six months.

Cook congratulated the Zhejiang University team for their app Tipix, which won the top prize in the university app category.

Tipix is a photo-editing app. Users can choose brush or move their fingers on smart phones to turn their photo into artwork and share it on social media.

The app was invented by five students from Zhejiang University in 2013. Team leader Zhang Lekai, a PHD of digital art, said he hoped the app would help inspire creativity.

Cook watched the live demonstration of the four finalists on Wednesday. The outstanding winner - the Tipix app - will now take part in Apple's annual Worldwide Developers Conference next year.
A total of 150 Iranians living in Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong province, donated their blood at Guangzhou Blood Center on Wednesday.

The event was held to commemorate the Day of Ashura, an Iranian religious mourning day, when blood donation is part of rituals, said Alireza Salarian, Iranian consul general in Guangzhou.

Salarian, who donated blood with his wife, said the event also marks the friendship between the two countries.

The first blood donating event organized by the Iranian Consulate General in Guangzhou took place in 2014, which saw 37 Iranians donate their blood.

Wang Chuanxi, deputy director of the blood center, welcomed the donations as helping with the blood supply in Guangzhou and signifying the traditional friendship between the two countries.

Caucasians have a higher chance of carrying the rare blood type of Rh-negative than Chinese, he said.

About 100 tons of blood is needed a year in Guangzhou, which houses many large hospitals, Wang said, adding that about 1,500 blood donors are needed in Guangzhou every day.
China will host the fourth Nishan Forum on World Civilizations in Qufu, Shandong province, next month to further promote dialogue among civilizations and uphold Chinese culture, organizers said on Wednesday.

With a theme of "Traditional Culture and Ecological Progress-Marching Towards A Green and Simple Life," The forum will be held in Nishan, the birthplace of Confucius, from Nov 16 to 17, said Zhang Rong, president of Shandong University and vice-chairman of the organizing committee of the forum.

Zhang said the theme of the forum is intended to explore and promote a green and simple lifestyle globally, to better harness our resources and protect the environment.

The forum will also feature a sub-forum on women's rights, which will focus on gender equality and the empowerment of women.

Meanwhile, a global platform will be established in Nishan to promote women's causes worldwide.

Liu Chuansheng, Party chief of Beijing Normal University and also vice-chairman of the organizing committee, said the establishment of the sub-forum and platform is aimed to increase awareness of women's rights protection worldwide.

"The sub-forum is set up also to make the voice of women better heard, and to stimulate the attention of women worldwide," she said.

The First Nishan Forum was held in September 2010, during which the Nishan Declaration of Harmony was issued, calling for dialogue and communication among civilizations.
Shenzhen's Qianhai, the cooperation zone between Shenzhen and Hong Kong, has established an "ecosystem for innovation and entrepreneurship" with the aim of providing comprehensive resources to mainland and Hong Kong startups to help them grow.

The ecosystem covers 12 mainland, Hong Kong and international incubators with specialities in research and development, talents and capital, including Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology of Chinese Academy of Sciences (SIAT), Hong Kong Federation of Youth Groups and IDG Capital.

The incubators will share their resources with each other in an effort to create synergy by offering comprehensive services to startups in Qianhai Shenzhen-Hong Kong Youth Innovation and Entrepreneur Hub(E Hub).

The IDG Capital incubator in Qianhai is the company's first one in China. Orient Zhu, vice president of IDG China, said the incubator will focus on developing mobile internet-related high tech and cultivating entrepreneurs and innovators for smart products.

"We will take advantage of IDG's strong resources to push forward with international high-tech exchanges and development to provide fresh meaning and vitality for the Qianhai model," Zhu said at the incubator ecosystem's launch ceremony in Shenzhen on Wednesday.

However, SIAT president Fan Jianping, said to achieve desired results, incubators need to improve their technological capability.

"Traditional barriers for entrepreneurship, like financing, have become lower. Right now, the barrier lies in technology," Fan said.

"The improvement of technological capability among incubators can greatly reduce the threshold for entrepreneurship and thereby enhance its effect."

As an entrepreneurial center for Shenzhen and Hong Kong startups, E Hub has incubated 163 entrepreneurial projects since its establishment in December 2014, including 71 from Hong Kong and Macao teams. More than 60 percent of the startups have already secured investment.
The Ministry of Environmental Protection recently banned the use of X-ray facilities for public security checks in Sichuan province in response to complaints over the controversial practice.

At checkpoints at some train stations and airports in Chengdu and Mianyang cities, passengers were forced to stand in front of a machine for about 10 seconds before being allowed to enter, China National Radio reported.

Although authorities said such facilities only use weak photon emissions, the companies providing the equipment said they use ionizing radiation, the report said, adding that medical experts said exposure to such radiation increases the risk of cancer.

All passengers, including pregnant women, have been subjected to the procedure, without being informed about what the machines are or what they are doing, it said.

The Ministry of Environmental Protection said on Wednesday that ionizing radiation facilities are not allowed to be used to screen passengers at security checkpoints, adding that the Environmental Protection Bureau of Sichuan province should stop the use of such facilities for public security checks with immediate effect.
Premier Li Keqiang vowed on Wednesday to further lower the threshold to market access for business startups and innovative companies in a bid to create more jobs.

Premier Li Keqiang listens as Tencent founder and CEO Pony Ma (left) talks about his company at the Tencent booth during the launch of the second National Mass Entrepreneurship and Innovation Week on Wednesday in Shenzhen. WU ZHIYI / CHINA DAILY

More than 15,000 companies are registered every day around the nation, but only 70 percent of them are actively operating, Li said while meeting with managers of high-tech companies at the Global Entrepreneurial Leaders Forum in Shenzhen, an industrial hub in Guangdong province.

The government will streamline administrative procedures and further open the market for enterprises, including foreign companies, he added.

Li said more than 9 million jobs were created in urban areas during the first nine months of the year, while more than 12 million graduates from colleges and vocational schools were expected to enter the job market this year.

The achievement can be attributed to entrepreneurship and innovation, he added.

Promoting entrepreneurship and innovation will offer college graduates opportunities for fair competition no matter where in the country they come from, Li said.

In May, the premier made a similar pledge on market access while meeting with foreign companies' CEOs during the China Big Data Industry Summit in Guiyang, capital of Guizhou province.

The Shenzhen forum was part of the second National Mass Entrepreneurship and Innovation Week, which kicked off on Wednesday.

During the first such event in Beijing last year, Li said grassroots entrepreneurship and innovation can create more job opportunities and become a new engine for China's development.

Huang Qunhui, director of the Institute of Industrial Economics at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said: "Small and medium-sized companies, including business startups, provide the largest number of employment opportunities. That's why the central government has attached such great importance to entrepreneurship and innovation."

Among forum participants were celebrities from the internet and manufacturing sectors, including Apple CEO Tim Cook, who also emphasized the significance of innovation and its role in supporting new jobs.

Innovation is crucial to unlocking the growth potential of the Chinese economy as well as the global economy, Cook said, adding that the spirit of entrepreneurship in China is distinctive and strong.

"It's amazing to think that a small company or even an individual in China can create an innovative app  and offer their products to over 1 billion iPhone and iPad users around the world," Cook said.

The country has become an app development powerhouse that supports 1.8 million jobs, including 350,000 new ones in the past 12 months alone, he said, adding that the sector increased 25 percent year-on-year.

More than 400,000 mobile apps at Apple's App Store were created by Chinese developers for customers around the world, Cook said.
Philippine president's trip to China next week hailed as milestone in bilateral ties

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte will make a four-day state visit to China next week, bringing along a 250-member business delegation, and a number of deals are expected to be signed. Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte

The visit, which will be Duterte's first outside Southeast Asia since he became president in June, was announced by China's Foreign Ministry on Wednesday. It will also be the first state visit by a top Philippine leader in the past five years, during which time maritime disputes soured bilateral ties under Duterte's predecessor.

Philippine Trade Undersecretary Nora Terrado, who told Reuters that initially only about two dozen Philippine entrepreneurs were to accompany Duterte to China, said the number had ballooned to about 250.

Experts said the visit, scheduled for Oct 18 to 21, will be a milestone that might open a new chapter in Beijing-Manila relations as well as the South China Sea issue if Manila maintains its sincerity.

Ties between Beijing and Manila had been chilly over the past few years under former president Benigno Aquino III, who played up the maritime dispute on the international stage and refused to hold direct talks with China.

Duterte, unlike his predecessor, has said he wants stronger ties with China to gain funding for development projects and has kept a cool head on the South China Sea dispute, said Wu Shicun, a South China Sea expert.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang confirmed that Duterte will talk with President Xi Jinping as well as meet with Premier Li Keqiang and China's top legislator, Zhang Dejiang.

Although neither side released details of the visit or possible outcomes, Geng said the two sides "are maintaining close contacts about detailed arrangements for the visit and the outcome documents".

It is hoped that the visit will put the bilateral ties "back on the track of being healthy and stable", Geng said, adding that the Philippines is a "traditionally amicable neighbor of China".

Zhou Fangyin, a professor of Chinese foreign policy at the Guangdong Institute for International Strategies, said the preparations for Duterte's visit mirror great sincerity  particularly from the Duterte administration  for thawing ties and for Beijing's vision for long-term investment in bilateral ties.

As to deals that might be signed during the visit, Zhou said potential highlights might be increased trade of agricultural produce with China as well as infrastructure construction, which the Philippines needs.

The visit will be an important opportunity that "both sides should grasp", and "Duterte possibly has his eyes on cooperation with China in the long run" in addition to this visit, Zhou said.

The South China Sea issue is unlikely to be resolved overnight, and neither country should give up working on the fragile ties, Zhou added.

Wu Shicun said "the times have changed" for China-Philippine ties, and he believes "the visit will navigate the relationship out of the record low and move on steadfastly".
Countries sign $62 million in trade deals before president makes his first state visit

China is prepared to expand its imports from Cambodia and enlarge trade, President Xi Jinping said on Wednesday, ahead of his state visit to the Southeast Asian country.

The president's remarks came as companies from the two countries signed eight trade deals valued at $62 million on Tuesday in Phnom Penh, Cambodia's capital. The Chinese companies, led by the Ministry of Commerce, agreed to buy such Cambodian products as cassava starch and granite materials.

Xi authored an article in Cambodia's largest daily newspaper, Rasmei Kampuchea, or Light of Cambodia, calling the country a devoted friend and brotherlike neighbor.

"I am full of expectation on my first visit to Cambodia as China's president," Xi wrote.

China will firmly support Cambodia in maintaining domestic stability and speeding up economic development, Xi said.

According to the Foreign Ministry, Xi will make state visits to Cambodia and Bangladesh on Thursday and Friday, and will then fly to Goa, India, to attend the Eighth BRICS Summit over the weekend. BRICS stands for emerging powerhouses Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.

Xi's Cambodia trip reciprocates the visit to Beijing by King Norodom Sihamoni in June, during which they agreed to further the comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership between their countries.

During his stay, Xi is scheduled to meet with the king, have talks with Prime Minister Hun Sen and witness the signing of deals to boost cooperation in areas such as trade, investment and tourism.

China has been the biggest trade partner and investment source for Cambodia for three consecutive years, and bilateral trade reached $4.4 billion last year.

Jiang Jingkui, director of the Center of South Asian Studies at Peking University, said that the economies of China and Cambodia are highly complementary, and there is great potential for developing bilateral trade.

China is adjusting its economic structure, with some Chinese companies moving their factories to lower-cost Cambodia and Bangladesh, which could tighten economic links, he said.

Xiong Bo, China's ambassador to Cambodia, said that as an important hub of transport in Southeast Asia, Cambodia held a key position on the ancient maritime Silk Road connecting East and West.

The two countries will sign agreements implementing the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative during Xi's visit, he said. The initiative, comprising the Silk Road Economic Belt and 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, was put forward by Xi in 2013 with a focus on infrastructure.

China and Cambodia are building the Sihanoukville special economic zone in southwestern Cambodia as an example of collaboration under the initiative.

Cambodia also voiced support for China's stance on the South China Sea issue in July after the ruling in an arbitration case unilaterally launched by former Philippine president Benigno Aquino III.
China has risen to third globally in the number of highly cited academic papers, according to a report released on Wednesday.

During the past decade, 16,900 papers - 12.8 percent of the top group of those most often cited - were published by Chinese researchers, pushing China ahead of Germany. The top two were the United States and the United Kingdom.

The findings come from the Statistical Data of Chinese S&T Papers, a publication released annually since 1987 by the Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China, a research institute under the Ministry of Science and Technology.

The report also found that citations of Chinese papers in a subset of eight research fields ranked second in the world. The eight fields are agriculture, chemistry, computer science, engineering, materials science, mathematics, physics and pharmaceuticals.

Academic paper citation is an indicator of paper quality. The number of citations has long been treated as reflection of a country's strength in scientific research.

Li Renhan, an official at the Chinese Academy of Engineering, said the report reflected China's present level of scientific research, and the development trend in science and technology both in China and abroad.

"It also helps us to analyze the aspects we need to improve in our future work and offers decision-making support for government agencies and research institutes to make related decisions," he said.

In recent years, the institute has been encouraging researchers to focus on writing papers of high quality. To do that, the institute changed its evaluation system and this year began to release periodic reports on China's "outstanding scientific papers", a term the institute uses to describe papers whose citations surpass the world average.

The reports on the outstanding papers showed that more than 80 percent of them were generated by universities. The remainder were generated by other research institutes or enterprises.

Guo Tiecheng, deputy director of the institute that published the report, said: "By stressing paper quality in the new evaluation system, we hope to guide researchers to conduct research at the scientific frontier and to serve the country's strategies."
A resident (left) gets a free cup of yogurt from a volunteer with the Solidarity Fridge project in Shanghai on Tuesday.Gao Erqiang / China Daily

Solidarity Fridge, a project that first appeared in Spain last year to encourage people not to waste their leftover food, has made its debut in Shanghai, offering free food to those in need.

Supermarkets, restaurants, farms and individuals are helping to provide 30 food items every weekday, including milk, yogurt, rice cakes, canned food and snacks, which are leftover or close to their "best before" date. The items are placed in a fridge in a community activity center on Puxiong Road for the public to consume.

Zhang Qiuxia, project director of the Shanghai Oasis Ecological Conservation and Communication Center, a Shanghai-based nongovernmental organization that operates the project, said the intention is to salvage as much food as possible that would otherwise go to waste, helping those in need.

Statistics from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN show that the value of food thrown away each year in China is $32 billion, while nearly 134 million people are experiencing hunger.

"We collect food that is going to be wasted from farms, food producers, retailers and individuals, and we organize professional transportation and sorting of the items so that they reach vulnerable groups in the community," Zhang said.

The refrigerator has been popular since it was unveiled on Sunday, with all items being taken before noon, according to Wang Longying, a volunteer who helps register the personal information of people who come to collect food. They are reminded to consume the products before their expiration date.

"Most of them are seniors. I am happy to see that the project is really helping those in need on a practical level," Wang said.

The fridge is only one of the NGO's projects. It also helps to provide food shelves, including items such as rice, cooking oil and milk powder, at the community activity center. But such items are for impoverished households in the community only.

"Such families are allowed to pick up one food item per month. In contrast to subsidies for impoverished families, the project includes many enterprises, so it can reach more households," said Zhang Jing, director of the Puxiong neighborhood committee.

She said individual donations are not currently accepted due to food-safety concerns.

The NGO operates food shelves in four neighborhoods in Shanghai, with about 120 metric tons of food donated by more than 40 businesses having been distributed to at least 50,000 people so far.
Corrado Politi attends a tourism festival in Dehong, Yunnan province.Huang Daxiang / For China Daily

The retiree says the southwestern province is a magical land

Corrado Politi, a 75-year-old Italian travel expert, has a white beard, a bulbous nose and a jolly smile. The locals often call him Santa Claus or "Grandpa Italy", but he likes to introduce himself as a native of Southwest China's Yunnan province.

Politi received a doctorate in law from the University of Florence. He speaks eight languages and has worked for the European Foundation for Management Development and other nonprofit organizations.

After retirement, Politi began traveling around the world, and China became his favorite destination. He has visited China more than 20 times in the past 15 years, promoting tourism cooperation between Asian and European countries, and was an international adviser for the China Tourism Academy in 2008.

But he had never visited Yunnan province until he was captivated by flower-woven elephants displayed at the Yunnan exhibition area at an international tourism mart held in the country.

Five days later, he found himself backpacking through the province brimming with snow-capped mountains, rice terraces, lakes and deep gorges, and inhabited by a large number of ethnic groups. His first trip only lasted a week due to his visa expiring, but the journey left a lasting mark.

"It is like a fairy tale to me," he said. "After returning home, I still couldn't keep my mind off Yunnan. I read everything about this place and couldn't wait to visit this magical land again."

Since then, Politi has visited Yunnan every year, staying at his friend's home in Taiping town in Kunming, the provincial capital. Although Politi doesn't speak much Mandarin, he still greets his friend's neighbors every time he sees them. During his stays, Politi explores the province with Huang Linwu, director of the Yunnan Tourism Development Committee, who Politi befriended at the tourism mart.

"He has become so familiar with Yunnan culture that we often joke how he is a Yunnan native born in Italy," Huang said.

At the Long Street Banquet, a traditional Jingpo ethnic festival in Yunnan, Politi danced with the locals, wearing a white fez with stars and fur beads. Later, he put on a Jingpo jacket and ate from a basket full of traditional Yunnan food with friends.

Politi said the good weather, clean air and fresh food in Yunnan have worked wonders for his diabetes and hypertension. "But I love the kind inhabitants the most," he said.

Once, during a rainstorm, Politi's car was stuck in mud near a village in Lyuchun county. Local villagers rushed to help and afterward, they declined Politi's offer of money, saying "it is only natural to help others".

"People here are so nice, so welcoming. I wish to do something for them, for the economy," Politi said. In 2013, he became the international marketing adviser for the Yunnan provincial tourism committee, promoting the province on the world stage.

In 2014, the first direct air route between Paris and Kunming was opened. When packing for Yunnan's tourism promotion event in Europe, Politi removed his personal belongings to make room for more pamphlets. At the event, he used fluent Italian and French to introduce Yunnan to travel agents.

Contact the writers at zhangzhihao@chinadaily.com.cn
Recruit He Ziying (C, Front), rounded by other female soldiers, has video chat with her family in Dongshan Training Base of Hainan Corps of the Chinese People's Armed Police Force, south China's Hainan Province, Oct 11, 2016. Over 20 female new recruits have been taking a three-month training session in the base.[Photo/Xinhua]
Although creative fairs offer a platform for unknown designers to express their artistic talents, experts say the nature of the markets means they require a down-to-earth approach.

"Compared with other fields in the cultural industry, the fair is probably the form that connects most with the general public," said Zhang Zheng, an associate professor at Tsinghua University's school of journalism and communication. "The practitioners are designers, not 'just-for-fun' artists, and their works are ultimately designed not for their own pleasure, but for consumers to appreciate."

He said mass production could make the items at the fairs essential parts of the industry: "The idea of mass production doesn't contradict personal design. But, of course, the government should help to provide training about essentials, such as applying for patents."

Yu Jianguo, deputy director-general of the Hangzhou Cultural and Creative Association in Zhejiang province, said a number of organizers have already put the idea into practice, which will keep designers motivated and reduce the possibility of their work being copied without permission.

"We protect originality of course, but we also encourage designers to put their works into mass production as quickly as they can," he said.
Youdao, a popular online dictionary and translation brand under NetEase Inc, a leading Chinese IT company, announced a plan to release a series of online courses in Beijing on Wednesday.

In addition to existing courses, mainly involving English language training, on Youdao's platform, many more new courses covering different subjects and fields, including music and fashion, will be added, according to Zhou Feng, CEO of Youdao.

"We'll also continue to work, as we always do, to improve the users' experience of our online courses," Zhou said.

In June, the number of people using Youdao online dictionary  a major product used by Chinese netizens to learn foreign languages  reached 600 million. The year 2015 alone saw an increase in user numbers of 100 million.

With such a large number of users, Youdao is determined to further promote its online courses and other related products.

Zhou said Youdao has been using technologies and artificial intelligence to make studying and learning languages easier and more effective.

"We are making efforts to apply AI technology to translation and interpretation, and our newest neural machine translation engine will launched within the year," he said.
Former Hainan vice governor gets life sentence for corruption (Xinhua) Updated: 2016-10-13 14:22

GUANGZHOU -- A Chinese court on Thursday sentenced Tan Li, former vice governor of Hainan province, to life imprisonment for taking bribes.



Tan was also deprived of his political rights for life and all his personal assets shall be confiscated, according to a statement from the Guangzhou City Intermediate People's Court.



The ill-gotten gains were turned over to the state, the court ruling said.



The court found that between 2001 and 2014, Tan took advantage of his various posts in Sichuan and Hainan provinces to seek benefits for others in respects of enterprise development, project construction and arbitration award implementation.



In return, he accepted money or gifts amounting 86.25 million yuan (around $12.8 million dollars) personally or through some "affiliated persons", the court said.



The court convicted Tan of crime of taking bribes. However, it added that the sentence of Tan has taken into account of the facts that Tan has "truthfully confessed" to his crimes, including many acts yet to be discovered by the investigators at the time, and that he showed repentance and was cooperative in surrendering his illegal gains.
A worker scoops sorghum to be steamed as it is readied for the first fermentation to be used in locally made liquor called baijiu at Maotai town, Zunyi city in Southwest China's Guizhou province, on Sept 24, 2016. [Photo/VCG]

Kevin Frayer, a Canadian photographer in the US and winner of the World Press Photo of the Year in 2013, has captured some images of Maotai town, the hometown of China's national liquor Maotai liquor, in Zunyi city, Southwest China's Guizhou province.

Let's take a look at how Maotao liquor, a gold award winner in the 1915 Panama Pacific International Exposition, is produced and the lives of the people who make it.
Central and provincial government funds for poverty alleviation reached a historic record, exceeding 100 billion yuan for the first time ever. The fund from the central budget increased to 66.7 billion yuan, up by 43.4 percent compared to last year. The provincial budgets exceeded 40 billion yuan, which increased more than 50 percent than last year.

Su Guoxia, spokeswoman for the State Council Leading Group Office of Poverty Alleviation and Development, released information on the latest progress on Thursday.

Efforts are being made to strengthen financial services to lift people out of poverty. Micro-credit services for poverty reduction were set up to provide guarantee-and-collateral-free loans of up to 50,000 yuan at base rate with the maximum period of three years. These services enjoyed interest subsidies from the poverty-alleviation fund and county-level risk compensation fund.

Central Bank lending to financial institutions for poverty reduction was set up to benefit businesses directly engaged in poverty eradication and new types of agricultural business owners.

Specialized financial bonds were issued. The bonds started from funding resettlements and then moved on to supporting infrastructure development, photovoltaic industries, tourism and other poverty-reduction projects and new industries.

Efforts are also being made to develop new sources of funding to support poverty reduction endeavors. By expanding public financial transfers, the government increased investments in infrastructure, such as water, electric power, road, gas and internet access, and in basic public services improvement.

The poverty identification process was improved and data accuracy increased. A total of 9.29 million people were removed from the poverty list and another 8.07 million were added.

President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang both addressed the challenge of poverty alleviation at the Central Poverty Alleviation and Development Conference held at the end of November 2015. The central government then issued Decisions on Fighting Poverty, making overall arrangements on poverty alleviation during the 13th Five-Year Plan. Over the past year, the campaign against poverty is being carried out nationwide.
The Guiding Hand: Captivity for Christ in China

by Rudolf Bosshardt

About the book:

As the first book on the Long March by a Westerner, it is a memoir by a Swiss British missionary who travelled with the Red Army for more than 500 days after he first came across the soldiers in 1934. It was first published in 1936 under its original name, The Restraining Hand: Captivity for Christ in China, which was later changed into the current one, The Guiding Hand: Captivity for Christ in China, in 1978. This was the first book on the Long March written by a foreigner who participated in the historical event.

About the author:

Rudolf Alfred Bosshardt (1897-1993) was a British Protestant Christian missionary in China whose Chinese name was Bo Fuli. The circumstances surrounding his presence in the Long March are unique. He and his wife came across the Red Army in Southwest China's Guizhou province in Oct 1934 when the latter had just started the Long March.

General Xiao Ke of the Sixth Corps decided to keep Bosshardt with the unit as he did not want to risk their secret military maneuver becoming public by allowing the missionary to go.

Bosshardt's well-known contribution to the Red Army is his translation of a French map.

At that time, the army was relying on nothing but a small map torn from middle school geography textbook. So a detailed map measuring one square meter was undoubtedly very valuable for the troops, but there was a small hitch: It was in French, a language none of the soldiers knew.

This is where Bosshardt's help proved to be invaluable as he knew French well and also bit of Chinese.

With the help of the map and Bosshardt's information, leaders of the Six Corps decided to head towards the western part of Central China's Hubei province through the eastern part of Guizhou province to join forces with the Third Corps.
A group of 76 teenagers from seven countries learned about the environment and eco-friendly lifestyles at a camp in the Inner Mongolia autonomous region this summer.

The annual camp, co-organized by the United Nations Environment Programme and Elion Foundation, aims to prepare tomorrow's generation to make sustainable use of the planet's finite resources, organizers said.

Camp participants from the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, France, Germany, the Republic of Korea and China spent more than two weeks camping in the Kubuqi Desert in July and August.

This year's event focused on the UN-led, environment-related Sustainable Development Goals, including sustainable consumption and production, clean energy and climate change.

Students learned why a change in consumption habits is essential for achieving the SDGs and how sustainable consumption and production can support efforts to eradicate poverty.

Campers said the experience has changed their attitude toward the environment and they would share what they learned with their peers on social media and websites. They also felt encouraged to start their own groups to involve more young people in environmental awareness promotion activities.

Guo Yintong, 12, said he wants to become an energy expert when he grows up and make it his life mission to ensure that cheaper and eco-friendly energy is easily available to the poor.

"My first thought was that there was nothing in the desert but sand," Guo said, who is from a British school.

Yet during the camp, he was "so impressed by the massive scale of solar panels in the desert".

"Science and high technology can bring us a better life, especially for people living in poor regions," he said.

Liu Xuhao, a participant from Beijing, said: "I treasure the knowledge I have gained and the experience we have had."

The hardest part of the trip was hiking on the sand, walking 5 kilometers with less than a 550-milliliter bottle of water per person, Liu said.

With the sand in the wind hitting their faces and hair, "none of us had this awful feeling before, being thirsty and exhausted", he said.

"We stood by each other, pulling our companions out of the sand or up the dunes and sharing our scarce water. Finally, we made it," he recalled.

Realizing the seriousness of desertification, "we need to take action" to restore the local eco-system, Liu said.

He cited Zhang Xiwang, their tree-planting instructor, as an example to illustrate the efforts of combating desertification.

Teenagers were paired up to plant trees under Zhang's instruction at the camp.

"It was so hard to plant trees in the desert that my partner and I spent about 20 minutes digging a big enough hole in liquid sand," Liu said.

Yet Zhang and his team have expanded green coverage in the desert for more than 25 years, from one tree to 20,000 mu (1,333 hectares) of forests. Zhang's given name, Xiwang, literally means "hope" in Chinese. He himself has brought locals hope of improving the environment. At the same time he has fostered hope among the younger generation by increasing their environmental awareness.

Pointing at the trees and the young campers, Dou Rui, a camp trainer, told Zhang at the end of the planting session: "You said you want to see a glimmer of hope - they are right there."

Guo said: "People want to change the world but do not want to change themselves.""To help the earth, we need to change ourselves," he said. "It is time for each of us to take action right away."

Charley Zhao, a 12-year-old student from Shanghai, said: "I believe that people will be ready to take up their share of responsibility for environmental protection when they are aware of the dangers the earth is exposed to."

"We can start from the small things and develop habits of green living," Zhao said. "Reduce the use of disposable stuff, recycle whatever we can, use less power... these handy things, when added together, can make a big difference."

zhuanti@chinadaily.com.cn

Teenagers from seven countries spend more than two weeks learning about environmental issues at a camp in the Kubuqi Desert in the Inner Mongolia autonomous region during July and August.Provided To China Daily

Campers discuss organic soil in the desert.Provided To China Daily

(China Daily 10/13/2016 page7)
Film director Steven Spielberg (left) [Photo/ China Daily]

Editor's note: Raymond Zhou joined director Steven Spielberg onstage for an exclusive interview before an audience at a promotional event in Beijing for the film The BFG.

Steven Spielberg, arguably Hollywood's best-known director, had many golden nuggets of advice for budding filmmakers during an appearance at Tsinghua University, encouraging them to take advantage of new technologies and make movies that truly speak to them.

"Tell the stories you've been too afraid to tell, but tell them," he said at the university on Monday. "Make the movies you always admired other people for making. If you love a superhero movie, make one with your iPhone. You've all got a little video recorder in your devices. And those can tell stories and show who you are," he said.

Spielberg started making 8-mm films at the age of 12. He recalled how he had to lug a projector and a screen to get people to watch the short films he had made, and he called attention to the unprecedented access that social media has provided for today's film students.

"For me, filmmaking is both a hobby and a profession. I love it so much it seems I shouldn't be paid for it," he said.

One must have that kind of ambition and faith in oneself, he added. "I had more people say no to me than say yes. A hundred nos, but that one yes got me started as a film director."

Spielberg, who dropped out of college but went back and got a bachelor of the arts degree at California State University Long Beach in 2002, said a formal film education is important, since it will help one cultivate the craft that's necessary in the industry.

As for the importance of visual imagination, he said there are movies that are text-oriented, such as Lincoln. He only "framed tableaus and let Tony Kushner's dialogue sing", he said.

There are directors who don't need the iconography of visual imagery, he said, while others enjoy playing with images, such as the boy riding the bicycle toward the moon in E.T. and the dream tree and the big reflecting pool in the new film The BFG, which was directed and co-produced by Spielberg.

He said it's "a personal question" of whether a young filmmaker should specialize in a limited set of genres and subject matters or try as many as possible.

The director said he respects great filmmakers who haven't had a wide variety, such as Alfred Hitchcock or Martin Scorsese, but also admires predecessors like Victor Fleming who never told the same story twice.

"I'm much more eclectic," he said. "I'd like to be able to find the subject that I don't know much about but somehow interests me and forces me to pay attention to it."
Steven Spielberg, chairman of Amblin Partners, and Jack Ma, chairman of Alibaba Group, attend an event to announce a partnership in Beijing on Sunday.[Photo provided to China Daily]

Ma Yun, aka Jack Ma, is again showing his ambition to be part of the world movie business.

The chairman of Alibaba Group, who's one of China's richest people, has already invested in Hollywood blockbusters such as Mission: Impossible 5 and Star Trek Beyond.

Now, he is seeking an alliance with Steven Spielberg.

Spielberg's movies "talk of values, kindness, forgiveness and an optimistic future", Ma told his audience at a Beijing event on Sunday.

Before that, Alibaba Pictures, the film arm of his tech giant, signed a deal to pick up a minority stake in and a board seat on Spielberg's Amblin Partners, which plans to produce up to nine films a year.

Amblin's The BFG, a Spielberg directorial feature adapted from the 1982 namesake children's novel by Roald Dahl, will debut on the mainland on Friday in 2-D, 3-D, Imax 3-D and Dmax formats.

The film was released in North America in July.

For the Chinese version, the voice-over of the main characters has been provided by actor Huang Lei and his 10-year-old daughter, Huang Yici.

A capable company CEO in the future could be "a computer, a machine or an ET", according to Ma, whose group employs nearly 40,000 people and serves 434 million users on online platforms.

But Ma also says machines can't replace humans in creating works of art.

Spielberg, who first became known in China and much of Asia following his sci-fi masterpiece E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982), echoes that belief.

"The future is not about high technology, but about human value. In the past 50 years, we've made human beings like machines. In the next few years, we'll make machines like humans," Spielberg said at the same Beijing event.
Terracotta Warriors at the Emperor Qinshihuang's Mausoleum Site Museum in Xi'an, Shaanxi province [Photo by Zhu Xingxin/Asianewsphoto]

According to the reports from BBC and US's National Geographic, archaeologists claim that the latest study has shown that the Terracotta Warriors and Horses in the Emperor Qinshihuang's mausoleum in China may be inspired by ancient Greeks.

They said that ancient Greek artisans could have been to the then Qin Dynasty (221-206 BC) in the third century BC and trained the local artisans to build the Terracotta Warriors and Horses.

Besides, archaeologists also discovered that European mitochondrial DNA was found in the Qin Dynasty ruins in China's Xinjiang, which shows that Westerners may have come to China during the Qinshihuang (China's first emperor)'s reign. This is more than 1,500 years earlier than Marco Polo's journey to China in the 13th century.

BBC and National Geographic have shot a documentary based on these findings, which are derived from archaeologists' discoveries in the Emperor Qinshihuang's Mausoleum Site Museum.

Liu Xiuzhen, an archaeologist from the museum said, "We now have evidence that close contact existed between China and the West before the formal opening of the Silk Road. This is far earlier than we formerly thought."

Experts said there is evidence from the sculptural style of the Terracotta Warriors, as China didn't have a tradition of building life-sized human statues before the Qinshihuang tomb was created.
Symphony concert marking the 80th anniversary of the Long March is held in Beijing, Oct 12, 2016. [Photo/Sichuan Daily]

Eighty years on, the epic Long March still stirs Chinese people's hearts.

With the last sound of chorus echoing at the concert hall, symphony concert The Long March made a successful debut at the National Center for the Performing Arts (NCPA) in Beijing on Wednesday night.

The theme concert, composed by famed Chinese musician Zhang Qianyi, is dedicated to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the end of the Chinese Red Army's Long March - the 12,500-km military expedition led by the Communist Party of China (CPC) to outmaneuver the Kuomintang regime.

The one-hour performance started with strong tremolos and twangs, recreating the sad feelings of the army forerunners' families when they said goodbye to their heroes who began the military maneuver from Ruijin, East China's Jiangxi province, in October 1934.

By combining Chinese folk music with Western instruments, the concert staged nine music chapters under sub-themes including Seeing off the Beloved Ones, Crossing the Luding Bridge, Snow Mountains and Grasslands and Joining Forces, taking audience on a journey back to the epic expedition that made history.

The concert was greeted with thunderous applause from some 1,000 audience members.

Chinese actor Liu Jing, best known for his roles as the late premier Zhou Enlai, hosted the concert.

The performance was jointly staged by the NCPA Orchestra, the Sichuan Philharmonic Orchestra and chorus from both Beijing and Southwest China's Sichuan province.

The Sichuan Philharmonic Orchestra said the show will also tour their home province on Oct 17.

"We hope the theme concert will help people remember our predecessors and work hard to fulfill the Chinese dream of national rejuvenation. This is the original intention of our creation, and also our ultimate goal," said the orchestra.
They say that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. It can be in their camera lens as well.

A new photo album called 100 Photographers Focus on Canada celebrating the nation's natural and cultural beauty made its debut at the Canadian International School of Beijing on Wednesday.

The book, compiled by China Daily, consists of about 300 photos from more than 140 Chinese and Canadian photographers. It displays Canada's charms from flaming maple leaves, dreamlike aurora borealis and rainbows over the Niagara Falls to the joyful interaction between humans and animals and the everyday lives of Canadians of all ages.

Sun Shangwu, deputy editor-in-chief of China Daily, said the timing of publishing the photo album had a special significance since China and Canada would be celebrating the 46th anniversary of the establishment of their diplomatic ties on Thursday.

"Focus on Canada is a record of memorable moments in Canada," Sun said at the launch event. "Moreover, it is a testimony of the friendship between our people. Through their lenses, and in the language of shape and color, the photographers are expressing the beauty of Canada to the world, and in particular to the people of China."

China Daily, AKD International Education Inc in Canada and Wink Impression (HK) Co., Ltd have been working hand-in-hand on Focus on Canada since June, which included sending Chinese photographers to visit Canada.

Cindy Termorshuizen, charge d'affaires of the Canadian Embassy, emphasized the importance of people-to-people exchanges, mentioning that Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau exchanged visits within just one month in September.

"I believe this commemorative album, created from sights of Canada seen through the lens of visiting photographers, is an important contribution to our efforts to tell the Chinese people the story of Canada and to encourage them to come and visit us," she said.

Whether it is through education, academic and cultural exchanges or through tourism, these exchanges help build cross-cultural understanding and deepen and grow the Canada-China relationship, she added.

Termorshuizen said that since China granted Canada approved destination status in 2010, the number of Chinese visitors to Canada has reached strong, double-digit growth every year. Upwards of 500,000 Chinese tourists visit Canada each year, and a similar number of Canadian tourists visit China.

In the first half of 2016, the number of Chinese tourists to Canada surged over 24 percent compared to the same period last year, and China currently ranks as the third-largest source of visitors to Canada, after the US and UK.

At present, more than 120,000 Chinese students are studying in Canada. Every week, there are 95 direct flights between China and Canada, and both governments are working to allow more direct flights between the two countries to make visiting easier.

The 100 Photographers Focus on Canada is the 12th volume in China Daily's "Focus" series, which includes an album on Russia.

Related:

Photo exhibition: 'Happy Chinese New Year'
Picasso, Tete de Femme uncropped. [Photo provided to China Daily]

Six paintings by Pablo Picasso will be shown in Beijing to inaugurate the opening of Christie's new office and gallery in Beijing on Saturday, occupying three floors of a building at the capital's commercial Jinbao Street.

The three-day exhibition titled Picasso: His Muse and Myth will include two portraits of Dora Maar, the Spanish artist's lover for nearly a decade beginning in the late 1930s.

The paintings will be auctioned at a Christie's sale in New York on Nov 16.

Also on show will be works of both Eastern and Western artists such as Fernando Botero, Sanyu and Chu Teh-Chun.

Picasso, Buste de Femme uncropped. [Photo provided to China Daily]

Picasso has been one of the Western artists favored by Chinese collectors who are extending their interest from homegrown artists to Western pioneers in recent years. Chinese media mogul Wang Zhongjun purchased a Picasso portrait for nearly $30 million in a New York sale last May.

The opening of the new location marks the international auctioneer's celebration of its 250th anniversary, and the site will host future exhibitions, forums and other cultural activities.

Jinqing Cai, chairman of Christie's China, said in a release that the company hopes the space will become an integral part of Beijing's rich cultural heritage and diverse art community.

Related:

Picasso's masterpieces at auction preview in Hong Kong
Every Tuesday and Thursday afternoon for years, elderly people flooded to the restaurant to meet friends or a future partner at zero cost - sometimes exceeding the 700-seat capacity.[Photo by Yin liqin/Asianewsphoto]

A popular rendezvous for the elderly to socialize in Shanghai - a restaurant owned by Swedish furniture giant Ikea - is now off-limits to those who don't buy food.

Ikea told its Xuhui restaurant a week ago to prohibit people from occupying seats if they don't pay. Since then, the crowds have shrunk noticeably during the lunch hour, as much as half, according to informal observers and a security guard.

Every Tuesday and Thursday afternoon for years, elderly people flooded to the restaurant to meet friends or a future partner at zero cost - sometimes exceeding the 700-seat capacity.

With an Ikea membership, which can be easily obtained with a Chinese identification card, free coffee is available.

There were complaints from paying customers during the National Day holiday, Ikea said in an email response to China Daily, explaining the restriction that took effect on Oct 5.

"It's a reasonable restriction. In the first place, Ikea is a business for profit, not a charity organization," said Liu Shihao, a college student at Shanghai Normal University, which is near the outlet.

Liu added that this was the first time he had managed to find a seat and have a bite of food at the restaurant in the three years he's been on the campus. He and his classmates went to the restaurant on Wednesday after learning about the new rule online.

Even some elderly people approved of the decision.
Top officials affirm government's commitment to openness and engagement with the world

Top leaders signaled China's growing openness to the outside world and reaffirmed the nation's commitment to maintaining peace, on the eve of the Oct 1 National Day holiday.

Leaders including President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang embarked on a series of events and meetings in Beijing, including a ceremony honoring martyrs, a grand reception and meetings with foreign guests.

President Xi Jinping and other top leaders arrive to attend a National Day reception at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Sept 30. Feng Yongbin / China Daily

As he met with leading foreign experts working in China who received this year's Friendship Award, Li said China is ready to welcome more talent from abroad as the country becomes more open and inclusive.

On Sept 29, Vice-Premier Ma Kai conferred medals on the 50 foreign experts and praised their contribution to the country's development at an awards ceremony in Beijing.

Li observed that the foreign experts in China include both young and old, and the combination of their brainpower and experience could "help yield a greater boost to China's modernization process and world peace and development".

He said China is offering greater openness, inclusiveness and convenience for outstanding foreign talent, and the country will speed up the processing of applications for permanent residence permits.

Li also greeted foreign ambassadors and envoys assuming their new roles in China. He said China is committed to peace and development, and will join hands with countries to "achieve robust, sustainable, balanced and inclusive growth".

As the leaders attended a reception on Sept 30 evening, Li reiterated China's concept of "building the community of shared destiny".

Su Ge, president of the China Institute of International Studies, notes that China's diplomacy this year has demonstrated greater readiness to contribute to global governance, including hosting the G20 Leaders Summit in early September.

"China's tangible actions are showing to the world that it is a contributor and a mover for world peace, common development and international cooperation," Su said.

On Sept 30 morning, leaders joined veterans, family members of martyrs and representatives from all walks of life gathered at the Monument to the People's Heroes at Tian'anmen Square.

They attended a ceremony to honor deceased national heroes on the annual Martyrs' Day.

Sept 30 marked the third Martyrs' Day on the eve of the National Day.

A red carpet covered paths surrounding the monument, and attendees presented flowers in memory of the people's heroes.

This year is also the 80th anniversary of the Long March, a famous military maneuver carried out by the Red Army in the mid-1930s.

Xinhua contributed to this story.

Contact the writers at zhangyunbi@chinadaily.com.cn
A woman looks at her mobile phone as she rides an escalator past an advertisement for Samsung's Galaxy Note 7 device at a Samsung store in the Gangnam district of Seoul on Tuesday. [Photo/AFP]

At last, Samsung announced on Tuesday that it was recalling all of the more than 190,000 Galaxy Note 7 smartphones sold in the Chinese mainland, and was bringing a total halt to the production of the device because of instances of the battery exploding.

It is yet to be seen whether the overdue move will help the South Korean electronics company recover its damaged reputation among Chinese consumers and regain its position in the smartphone market. The company's stock price plummeted sharply after its announcement, the biggest drop in a single day since the 2008 global financial crisis.

Samsung provoked anger among Chinese consumers after it excluded China from its international recall of the phones, claiming that models sold in the Chinese market used batteries from a different supplier. It even said that it was being framed by its Chinese competitor Huawei. However, several subsequent instances of its phones catching fire further dragged Samsung into the vortex of public controversy.

From the very beginning of the scandal, Samsung has responded badly, only proving that any attempt by a company to cover up something that could be a threat to people's safety is bound to have adverse consequences.

Once a company is aware of such an issue, it should do everything it can to stop people using the product. It should not try to cover up the problem, but instead issue a sincere apology and a timely recall of the faulty items. Any failure to face up to the problem or make timely remedial measures may cause irretrievable damage to its image.

Samsung's attitude and acts following the battery crisis have caused users to deeply doubt its phone technology and also its integrity. Its battery crisis will come to an end as Samsung has now announced a sweeping recall.

However, the incident should serve as a profound reminder to all enterprises that they should be honest with consumers in the case of any quality problem.--Nanfang Metropolis Daily
Han Chunyu, an associate professor at Hebei University of Science and Technology, impressed domestic life scientists when he announced in May he had successfully conducted experiments that improved the gene-editing tool NgAgo. However, other scientists have not been able to repeat the result of his experiments, and 13 of them have called for an investigation. Beijing Times comments:

The ups and downs Han has experienced during the past months are rather dramatic. When he first announced his discovery, he was widely praised with some even saying he could potentially win a Nobel Prize. However, with no one able to repeat the results of his experiments, he has faced doubts and challenges.

Some argue it is a purely scientific matter and there is no need for an investigation. But that is not the case. Han is an employee of a public university, and he has received funding support from his university, the Ministry of Education and the National Natural Science Foundation of China.

Besides, those domestic laboratories that have been trying to repeat Han's experiment are also funded with public money.

And the rule of scientific research is that one researcher's achievements must be repeatable in order to be accepted by others.

Furthermore, global scientists have been trying to repeat Han's experiment. So it is not just about Han's reputation, it is about the reputation of Chinese scientific research. In order to avoid further challenges to Han and Chinese scientists, it is time the authorities investigated to find out the truth of the matter.
An advertisement for online shopping site Taobao.com of Alibaba Group is seen at a metro station in Shanghai, Nov 12, 2014. [Photo/IC]

According to the results of a quality inspection by the State Administration for Industry and Commerce of products sold on the internet, of 497 products sampled, 172 did not pass the quality test. Products sold through T-mall and Taobao proved to be the least qualified. Beijing Youth Daily commented on Wednesday:

Given the high percentage of poor quality online commodities, it is not surprising that there is a popular impression that online retailing is a "paradise" for counterfeit goods. But the department in charge of supervising e-commerce concentrated on products consumers had complained about and its inspection results do not cover every item sold online.

In fact, safety and quality issues are not limited to products sold via the internet. Food safety, for example, is still a concern; excessive pesticide residues and chemical abuse and other ills have repeatedly been exposed.

The public and consumers reading and understanding the results of product sampling tend to focus on the representation rather than substance, not to mention the sampling itself is also prone to doubts among consumers.

For example, in May 2011 the Ministry of Agriculture announced the results of its routine monitoring of agricultural products, which showed that over 97 percent of the sampled vegetables, livestock and aquatic products had passed the quality tests. But consumers found extrapolating the results to all agricultural products hard to accept, and suggested the ministry had engaged in "selective sampling".

When consumers look at the product sampling results, they tend to focus on representation rather than essence, but this does not excuse the authorities from being vigilant and ensuring they do all they can to eliminate dangerous and fake products from the market.
WANG XIAOYING/CHINA DAILY

China's economic slowdown has been the subject of countless debates, discussions, articles and analyses. While the proposed remedies vary considerably, there seems to be a broad consensus that the illness is structural. But another factor has gone largely unnoticed: the business cycle.

For decades, China's economy sustained double-digit GDP growth, but it wasn't immune to the business cycle: in fact, the six-year slowdown China experienced after the 1997 Asian financial crisis was a symptom of precisely such a cycle.

Today, China's business cycle has led to the accumulation of non-performing loans (NPLs) in the corporate sector, just as it did at the turn of the century. While official data show the rate of NPLs is lower than 2 percent, many economists estimate it is more like 3-5 percent. If they are right, NPLs could amount to 6-7 percent of China's GDP.

Most of this debt is held by State-owned enterprises, which account for just one-third of industrial output, yet receive more than half of the credit dispensed by China's banks. Though the debt-equity ratio of the industrial sector as a whole has declined over the past 15 years, the SOEs' has increased since the global financial crisis, to an average of 66 percent, 15 percentage points higher than that of other types of enterprises.

That may not have been a problem when China's economy was growing rapidly, but it represents a serious economic risk today, which is why the government has set deleveraging as one of its major tasks for this year. But execution has been slow, owing partly to China's failure to fully enforce its bankruptcy law.

That commercial banks are not allowed to hold shares in companies has also impeded deleveraging, as it prohibits the use of direct debt-equity swaps to reduce SOE debt. This should change.

China has used debt-equity swaps to reduce NPLs in the State sector before. In 1999, it established four asset-management companies (AMCs) to take on the weakest loans of the four-largest State-owned banks, thereby improving those banks' financial stability. And the AMCs made handsome profits from those shares.

Today, too, debt-equity swaps may be the only viable solution to the NPL problem. But instead of relying only on government-owned entities to assume the debt, China should allow private equity funds to act as AMCs, bidding for the NPLs at a discount.

Such an approach would not just address the NPL problem, by giving the private sector a stake in the SOEs, but also help spur performance-enhancing reforms. After all, despite their grim financial performance, many SOEs have a lot going for them, including state-of-the-art equipment, first-rate technical staff and competitive products.

Their problem is bad governance and poor managementa problem that, as China's top leaders recognized in 2013, private-sector involvement can help resolve. Of course, there are some obstacles to introducing debt-equity swaps between the public and private sectors, beginning with concern about the loss of State assets. Given the severity of SOEs' debt problemthe China Railway Corporation alone holds 3 trillion yuan ($449 billion) in debtdiscounts are inevitable when SOE debts are transferred to private AMCs. This could cause some to assert that the private companies are realizing unjust gains.

To overcome this obstacle, China should engage in local experimentationa tried-and-tested approach that has long guided the country's reformbeginning in the regions where the SOE debt problem is the most acute. The resulting revitalization of SOEs would also help quell any doubts about debt-equity swaps with the private sector.

Another obstacle is the fear that, by allowing SOEs, yet again, to escape market discipline, debt-equity swaps would set a dangerous precedent. But the improvements to corporate governance that would follow from the introduction of private shareholders would reduce substantially the likelihood of SOEs continuing to abuse the financial system.

By allowing private-sector participation in debt-equity swaps, China could kill three birds with one stone: advance SOE deleveraging, strengthen corporate governance in the state sector and enhance economic efficiency. With local experimentation, Chinese authorities can map out that stone's most effective trajectory.

The author is the director of the China Center for Economic Research and dean of the National School of Development at Peking University.

Project Syndicate
A seminar themed "The future of the European economy" was held in Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies, Renmin University of China (RDCY) here in Beijing on Tuesday.Jacques Mistral, the professor of economics and also the senior fellow of the Brookings Institution, is giving speech. [Photo by Wu Zheyu/chinadaily.com.cn]

A seminar themed "The future of the European economy" was held in Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies, Renmin University of China (RDCY) here in Beijing on Tuesday. Jacques Mistral, a senior fellow of the Brookings Institution gave a keynote speech about the European economic future.

Jacques Mistral used to serve as economic advisor to the French Prime Minister, Michel Rocard, from 1988 to 1992, and the special advisor of political economy and international relations to the Minister of Economics, Finances from 2000 to 2001, which makes his research may well shed light on the European economys history and future dynamics to Chinas readers given his rich political experience.

Theres a shared recognition that challenges like debt crises, sluggish growth, populism, the immigration crisis, Brexit, terrorism are spread widely among advanced and emerging economies, and professor Jacques tries to explain and discuss with audiences where Europe stands in the world today and how are the EU and the Eurozone are moving forward in this global context.

Professor Mistral introduced, "It was a long and difficult path to creating the Euro, It was horribly difficult for governments to make policy decisions in a completely unexpected situation. Governments initially made serious policy errors that have fueled negative expectations for two years. They were nonetheless sharing huge common interests."

"Then the authorities progressively made sensible decisions, and they finally surmounted their ideologies and national preferences to find solutions in cooperation. Since the Treaty of Rome in 1957, a crisis in Europe has always been an opportunity to push integration further. So as for monetary decisions, The European Central Bank (ECB) will do whatever it takes to save the euro.

And as for building a better International Monetary System (IMS), professor Mistral suggests, "The IMF is and should remain the core of the IMS, it should be reinforced and gain legitimacy. And also the IMF should be more powerful to control international imbalances and prevent competitive devaluations or debt defaults. Promote the Special Drawing Rights (SDR) as a true international currency, serving for transactions, store of value and financing."

In conclusion, professor Mistral said, "The world economy has until now avoided a catastrophic depression but remains fragile: slow growth, financial risks, social unease, political uncertainties. And the risk of a currency war is not over. In this context, the euro is an anchor, both for the Europeans and for the rest of the world: both trust the  and they are right. The euro is an asset for preserving monetary peace in the long run.

In response to China Daily websites inquiry about how he would predict the world economys development in 2017, he said," The world economy would be regionally solid, but the rate of growth has been disappointing, financial risks remain high in some parts of the world, on top of it, we still have political uncertainty in some areas, so in conclusion we could say its a mixed vision of the future, but I think we should have an international cooperation mechanism like the G20 summit to discuss perspectives on trade, climate change and financial policies."

He Fan, the chief economist of RDCY commented on the seminar with the China Daily website: "Currently, not just in academic circles but also among the public, they tend to believe that the European economy is seriously damaged and would remain dim for quite a period of time. While professor Mistral told us that European countries actually had gone through a variety of difficulties and they already have fruitful experiences to cope with the dilemma. Thats the very point that deserves audience's attention in particular."
After one of the most degrading races in postwar history, US presidential campaigns are getting dirtier still. But will US-China relations change?

As Wikileaks has disclosed information about Hillary Clintons emails, Benghazi scandals and deep ties with Wall Street, her campaign, with its cozy media relations, is promoting Donald Trumps obscene tapes and comments on women.

In the first US presidential election that has been Kardashianed, Clinton has a 5-10% lead against Trump. However, the US Electoral College is ruled by winner-takes-all principles, which give Clinton about 260 and Trump about 165 electors, while some 115 remain undecided. They are the ones Clinton and Trump are now courting - with big money.

After marginalizing her Democratic center-left opposition, Clintons campaign has raised almost $375 million, plus $145 million from big lobbyists. In contrast, Trump has failed to unite the party behind his campaign. As a result, he has raised less than half of Clintons total and is shunned by most big donors.

Clintons America: Sticks, carrots - and sticks

According to US-based Pews survey, the Chinese are divided about Hillary Clinton. More than a third have a favorable view of her, another third has an unfavorable opinion and the rest has no view.

After all, Washingtons pivot to Asia  a de facto effort to contain Chinas rise  was first presented by Clinton as President Obamas foreign secretary. In that role, she also promoted the US-led Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) for Asia, but to beat her Democratic rival Senator Bernie Sanders, she turned against it. As president, she could flip-flop again and support the TPP. She has also threatened to accuse China of currency manipulation, which today makes even less sense than before.

Clinton supports the shift of 60 percent of US military ships to the Asia Pacific, which has contributed to increasing rearmament and friction in the region. She is unlikely to cut military spending even though the US already spends $600 billion on defense annually, more than the next seven countries combined.

She also fully supports the new Cold War against Russia. Indeed, the Bush era neoconservatives have joined Clintons campaign, including Robert Kagan who has supported Chinas containment since the late 1990s, and his wife, Victoria Nuland, who has played a highly controversial role as Obamas representative in Ukraine.

Neoconservatives have embraced Clintons liberal internationalism, which justifies efforts at regime changes. In turn, 50 former Republican national security leaders have slammed Trump who would like to renegotiate US pacts with its allies. In the Pentagon, Clinton means more of the same continuity.
Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton addresses the National Convention of the American Legion in Cincinnati, Ohio, US, August 31, 2016. [Photo/Agencies]

With weeks to go until the bizarre US presidential campaigns ends, the outcome is still uncertain. What does a President Clinton or Trump mean for Sino-US relations? Will we continue to be the best of frenemies, loving and loathing each other, but recognizing that our bilateral relationship is the worlds most important?

Observers should always declare their bias. The early 20th century humorist, Will Rogers said,  I am not a member of any organized political party. Im a Democrat. And so am I, but now its the Republican party thats in utter disarray.

Foreign policy requires predictability to enable nations to determine how best to pursue national interest. This is why our countries have so many analysts trying to determine and prioritize probable scenarios and how to respond to them. The more transparency, the better. This is why Trump would be such a disaster. Trump is a serial liar whose own term for it is truthful hyperbole. But he occasionally tells the truth as I believe he did last April at a speech in Washington when he said that we as a nation have to be more unpredictable. This is a recipe for international relations disaster.

Judging from Trumps comments and the Republican National Committee platform, Sino-US relations will definitely emphasize the second syllable of frenemies. China can look forward to economic warfare from punitive US tariffs and trade barriers. Trump wants to upend the post-1945 world order, end alliances, close military bases in places like Japan and Korea and let allies fend for themselves. However this is merely an educated guess because we dont know who will advise Trump and if he will listen to them, but theyre likely to be seasoned cold warriors and neoconservatives, the likes of whom brought us the liberation of Iraq and other disasters for which the world still suffers mightily.

Nevertheless, Trump has masterfully tapped into widespread malaise and massaged it to the verge of being elected. All of Hillary Clintons numerous expert and political endorsements mean nothing to the 21st century Luddites of Trumps Know Nothing party. In fact, they motivate Trump supporters to more strongly oppose establishment candidates led by Crooked Hillary.

I know that many Chinese friends dont care for Clinton. She is the author of the pivot to Asia. Shes a hawk who, while generally representing a continuation of Obama policies, will definitely be playing hardball.
Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton addresses the National Convention of the American Legion in Cincinnati, Ohio, US, August 31, 2016. [Photo/Agencies]

The great paradox in the last few months of the US presidential election campaign is that American democracy has been weakening the post WWII alliance system as well as a central plank of the pivot to Asia, the TPP. By saying the US might cast off the burden of allies, Donald Trump has already made leaders in Japan, South Korea and the Philippines anxious. Rodrigo Duterte, the Philippine president, surely only says what many are thinking when he doubts American staying power and recognizes he must forge a relationship with China. And it should be noted that, whatever else may be repulsive about Trump, the idea of shedding and sharing the burden with Americas allies resonates with the public, both with respect to alliance commitments in Europe and Asia.

China, however, should be careful what it aims for in this regard  it could end up producing a nuclear Japan sooner rather than later if Trump were to win and Americas defense umbrella of Japan were to be removed. No present security arrangements in the region should be dismantled until more inclusive architecture is in place. A vacuum would be dangerous for everyone.

Both Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, under pressure from the left, have condemned the TPP, which was the centerpiece of the idea of an economic NATO that would cement new trading architecture for East Asia that would put China on the sidelines. Singapore has signaled that a failure to see through TPP, which leaders in Japan agreed to at great political cost by overriding its rice farmers, will make allies doubt Americas clout. A failure of TPP would grant China more space to shape the rules in the region.

In short, the American pivot has been sent on a detour, if not knocked off course, by a disgruntled American public. This raises an even larger question: Can democracy be counted on to keep its commitments? This may also be true with respect to the climate change accord signed by the US and China  28 American states are trying to kill Obamas linchpin Clean Power Act in the courts.

If Hillary Clinton wins, her stated foreign policy aim is to maintain Americas global leadership. At the same time, no responsible leader, her national security team has made clear, wants a weak China. That is not in Americas interest, or the worlds interest. If Chinas ambitions need to be challenged, her team has said, it would be through bolstering its allies.

On this score, the US has to be careful not to over-reach given the growing wariness of those allies concerning Americas long-term commitment. As George Yeo, Singapores former foreign minister, has said, Asian nations can be friends of America, but they cant afford to be enemies of China.

Overall, a new Clinton administration would oppose the idea of Asia for Asians. It wants a pan-Pacific order, not an Asian order. The idea is more to maintain Americas presence, not contain China.

As Peking University scholar Wang Jisi has recently written, the new normal of relations between China and the US is a contest over writing these rules of the future order, both in trade and security.
Populist opposition to globalization and expanding international trade has emerged as a key feature in this year's abrasive US presidential election campaign, with China featured as a handy scapegoat for the country's perceived economic ills.

Republican candidate Donald Trump adopted the line in his first televised debate with Democrat candidate Hillary Clinton on Sept 26.

"You look at what China is doing to our country in terms of making our product," he told more than 80 million domestic viewers. "They're devaluing their currency, and there's nobody in our government to fight themthey're using our country as a piggy bank to rebuild China."

Although debate fact-checkers challenged Trump's assertion that Beijing is engaged in currency devaluation, that is unlikely to temper the impact of the Republican nominee's message in states such as Ohio, in the heart of the so-called Rust Belt, where voters appear inclined to blame their very real economic ills on unfair foreign competition.

A nationwide phenomenon of stagnating wages and growing economic inequality is felt most keenly in a region that has suffered the impact of industrial decline that dates back half a century, long before China emerged as a global trading power.

More recently, Ohio has been hit by a collapse in the price of aluminum, one of the few bright spots on the state's industrial horizon, leading to layoffs and plant closures that are widely blamed on China's expanding production and supposed flooding of the world market.

It should come as no surprise then that Trump has targeted a battleground state that he needs to win if he is to make it to the White House. Ohio voters have picked the winner in all but two presidential elections in the past 120 years and they are currently trending toward the Republican by margins of between 1 and 5 percent.

Trump mentioned Ohio no less than three times in the debate with Clinton, while the combined campaign advertising spend of the two candidates in the state is the second-highest in the nation.

Trump set the tone of his anti-trade rhetoric in a speech in Ohio at the start of September. "We're going to stop the foreign cheating," he told his audience in Wilmington. "The era of economic surrender  which is what we've done, essentially  is over."

The isolationist trend on globalization and trade is not confined to the Republicans. The Democrat runner-up, Bernie Sanders, also seized on foreign trade as a scapegoat for the country's economic ills, consistently arguing that free trade with China had hurt American workers.

Protests against the planned Trans-Pacific Partnership, a trade pact between the US and 11 other Pacific Rim countries, have been a regular feature of Democratic Party rallies, perhaps explaining why Hillary Clinton has hardened her opposition to ratifying the deal. The TPP does not include China, although Beijing has cautiously welcomed the free trade deal.

In Ohio, the China issue has spilled over from the presidential race to the parallel battle for the state's seat in the US Senate. A campaign ad on behalf of Democrat challenger Ted Strickland accused Republican incumbent Rob Portman of being "China's best senator". "After all, Portman voted for eight different trade deals. Portman even led the fight to give the Chinese permanent special trading status," the ad's narrator intones.

In the midst of such political bickering over trade and China's alleged role in America's economic ills, some commentators have been attempting to distinguish myth from reality.

Washington Post columnist Robert J. Samuelson noted earlier this year that while US manufacturing jobs dropped by 5.8 million between 1999 and 2011, the share caused by China was a bit less than one-fifth. He also noted: "With US exports about 80 percent of imports, they offset most  though not all  of trade-related job loss."

Others have noted that, while Rust Belt industries have been hollowed out for decades by many factors, more recently the region's politicians and officials have been welcoming an influx of Chinese investment that has spurred optimism about the future.

In Ohio, China's Fuyao Glass has revived a redundant General Motors plant, partly thanks to a $9.7 million tax credit from the Republican-run state. This year China has made acquisitions worth $75 billion across all sectors of the US economy, reviving job prospects in regions such as the Rust Belt. That includes $4.1 billion in Ohio and neighboring Michigan alone, according to a research report.

China Daily reported just last month that a unit of aluminum maker China Zhongwang Holdings Ltd had agreed to acquire Ohio-based Aleris Corp in a deal valued at about $2.33 billion.

These deals may not be enough to dampen the political China-bashing that has marked this year's election campaign, but they might convince at least some Ohio voters that the benefits of world trade are not just a one-way street.

Harvey Morris is a veteran foreign affairs commentator. He contributed this article to China Daily USA.

Editor: Chris Peterson
An injured woman and her child receive medical treatment at a hospital in Kabul, capital of Afghanistan, Oct 12, 2016. [Photo/Agencies]

WASHINGTON -- The United States strongly condemns the terrorist attacks at two mosques in Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan and the attack in the country's Balkh Province, the White House said Wednesday.

The attacks, which came as Afghans were observing Ashura rituals during holy Muslim's month of Muharram, killed at least 32 people and wounded more than 80.

"These cowardly attacks... targeted Shia civilians preparing for the Ashura holy day of mourning and were clearly designed to stoke sectarian tension in Afghanistan," Ned Price, spokesperson for White House's National Security Council, said in a statement.

The US commended the Afghan police and other security forces who bravely responded to these attacks and fully support efforts to bring the perpetrators to justice, Price said.

The US stands with the people and Government of Afghanistan as we work together to build a more secure, stable, and prosperous Afghanistan, the spokesperson added.
A museum worker stands among partially pieced together Terracotta Warriors in Qin Shi Huang Terracotta Warriors and Horses Museum in Xi'an, Shaanxi province. [ALEXANDER F.YUAN/AP]

A new BBC documentary that will air in the UK and the United States on Sunday claims the famed Terracotta Warriors found within the tomb of China's first emperor near today's city of Xi'an may have had their genesis in Ancient Greece.

The Greatest Tomb on Earth: Secrets of Ancient China puts forward the theory that China and the West were in contact far earlier than previously thought  some 1,500 years before European explorer Marco Polo arrived in China in the 13th century.

The documentary includes input from archaeologists who claim the inspiration for the 8,000 buried Terracotta Warriors discovered in the tomb in 1974 came from Ancient Greece and that Greek artisans may even have trained Chinese craftsmen in the 3rd century BC.

"We now have evidence that close contact existed between the First Emperor's China and the West before the formal opening of the Silk Road. This is far earlier than we formerly thought," senior archaeologist Li Xiuzhen, from the Emperor Qin Shi Huang's Mausoleum Site Museum, told the BBC. At the same time, another study claims to have found European-specific mitochondrial DNA in ancient sites within China's Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, which suggests Westerners may have settled there before the time of the First Emperor.

In the documentary, the archaeologists point out that there was no tradition of building life-sized human statues in China before the creation of the tomb of Emperor Qin Shi Huang in 210-209 BC.

Li believes the inspiration for the radically different statues likely came from outside China.

"We now think the Terracotta Army, the Acrobats and the bronze sculptures found on site were inspired by ancient Greek sculptures and art," she told the broad caster.

[Photo/China Daily]

Lukas Nickel from the University of Vienna told the BBC the statues of circus acrobats found in the tomb support the theory, with the First Emperor possibly influenced by the arrival of Greek statues in Central Asia during the century following Alexander the Great, who died in 323 BC.

The documentary also reveals that the tomb site in

Xi'an is likely far larger than first thought and may be 200 times the size of Egypt's Valley of the Kings. Experts believe it has many more secrets to give up.

Emperor Qin Shi Huang is a towering figure in Chinese history who united warring kingdoms and shaped them into one country. He also started construction of the Great Wall.

Zhang Weixing, the lead archaeologist at the tomb site, is quoted in the Daily Telegraph as saying the recent findings eclipse the tomb's initial discovery.

"The archaeological work undertaken here recently is more important than anything in the past 40 years," Zhang said. "By systematically examining the First Emperor's main tomb and subsidiary burials, we have discovered something more important even than the Terracotta Army."

Other findings believed to have been made at the site include the discovery of the mutilated bones of young women who were believed to have been high-ranking concubines buried with the emperor, and the skull of a young man believed to have been Prince Fu Su, the First Emperor's eldest son. It was found with a crossbow bolt embedded in it.

The Greatest Tomb on Earth is a one-hour special hosted by Dan Snow, Alice Roberts and Albert Lin. It will air on BBC Two in the UK on Sunday at 8 pm and in the US on the National Geographic channel.
President Xi Jinping left Beijing on Thursday morning to start a five-day trip to Cambodia, Bangladesh and India amid China's efforts to boost ties with South and Southeast Asian countries.

The president's plane took off at about 8:30 am at Beijing Capital International Airport and is scheduled to arrive in Phnom Penh after flying four and half hours.

The Chinese president will pay state visits to Cambodia and Bangladesh on Thursday and Friday, and he will then fly to Goa of India to attend the 8th BRICS Summit during the weekend.

In a signed article published on Thursday in Cambodia's largest daily newspaper, Rasmei Kampuchea, Xi said China is prepared to expand its imports from Cambodia and enlarge trade.

"I am full of expectation on my first visit to Cambodia as China's president," Xi wrote, calling Cambodia as a devoted friend and brother-like neighbor.

On Tuesday, companies from China and Cambodia signed eight trade deals valued at $62 million on Tuesday in Phnom Penh. The Chinese companies, led by the Ministry of Commerce, agreed to buy such Cambodian products as cassava starch and granite.

Xi's Cambodia trip reciprocates the visit to Beijing by King Norodom Sihamoni in June, during which they agreed to further the comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership between their countries.

During his stay, Xi is scheduled to meet with the king, have talks with Prime Minister Hun Sen and witness the signing of deals to boost cooperation in areas such as trade, investment and tourism.

China has been the biggest trade partner and investment source for Cambodia for three consecutive years, and bilateral trade reached $4.4 billion last year.
PHNOM PENH - Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived Thursday for a state visit to Cambodia aimed at further solidifying the traditional friendship between the two countries and deepen their comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership.

President Xi Jinping arrives for a state visit to Cambodia in Phnom Penh October 13, 2016. [Photo/Xinhua]

This is Xi's first trip to the Southeast Asian nation as president. In 2009, he paid an official visit to the kingdom as vice president.



Xi is scheduled to meet Cambodian King Norodom Sihamoni, visit Queen Mother Norodom Monineath Sihanouk and hold talks with Prime Minister Hun Sen.



The two countries will reach a series of cooperation deals during Xi's visit to align their development strategies and boost their practical cooperation.



China and Cambodia have enjoyed a traditional friendship that was forged and cultivated by Chinese leaders of the older generation and late Cambodian King Father Norodom Sihanouk.



In June this year, Xi and Sihamoni met in Beijing when the king paid a state visit to China, and pledged to press ahead with the bilateral comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership, which was established six years ago.

On the economic front, China is now Cambodia's largest trading partner and source of foreign investment, with bilateral collaboration expanding in such areas as trade, investment, connectivity, energy resources and infrastructure construction.



Two-way trade between China and Cambodia reached 4.43 billion US dollars in 2015, indicating an annual growth of 17.95 percent, according to China's Commerce Ministry.



In a joint interview with Chinese media outlets in Cambodia ahead of the visit, Hun Sen said that Xi's trip will make the traditional friendship between the two countries closer and stronger and lift bilateral relations to a higher level.



After Cambodia, Xi will travel to Bangladesh and the western Indian state of Goa, where he will attend a summit of the emerging-market bloc of BRICS, which groups Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.
China cherishes a "special friendship" with the Cambodian royal family, President Xi Jinping said on Thursday while meeting with Cambodian King Norodom Sihamoni.

The traditional China-Cambodia friendship is cultivated by generations of leaders including Chinese late chairman Mao Zedong and former premier Zhou Enlai and late Cambodian King Father Norodom Sihanouk, Xi said.

The Chinese president is paying a state visit to Cambodia from Thursday to Friday. It's Xi's first visit to Cambodia since becoming China's top leader in late 2012.

China would like to work together with Cambodia to achieve joint development, Xi said, adding that China will always be good friends and a partner to Cambodia.

On behalf of the Cambodian royal family, government and people, Sihamoni expressed a warm welcome toward President Xi.

The Cambodian king expressed gratitude toward the Chinese government and people for the long-lasting friendship with the Cambodian royal family and the support for Cambodian social and economic development.

Xi's visit aims to deepen the solid relationship between the two countries and yield more results of cooperation, Sihamoni said.

The Cambodian king hosted a welcome ceremony in the palace ahead of the discussions. Tens of thousands of local people gathered in the streets and square in front of the palace, holding the two countries' national flags, portraits of leaders and flowers to welcome the Chinese delegation.
President Xi Jinping arrives for a state visit to Cambodia in Phnom Penh October 13, 2016. [Photo/Xinhua]

PHNOM PENH - Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday met with Cambodian King Norodom Sihamoni at Cambodian Royal Palace, vowing to carry forward the traditional friendship between the two countries.

During their meeting, Xi spoke highly of the traditional friendship between China and Cambodia.

The comprehensive strategic partnership for cooperation of the two countries has seen strong development in recent years and has brought tangible benefits to the two peoples, Xi said.

China values its special friendship with the Cambodian royal family and attaches great importance to the development of its relations with the Southeast Asian nation, said the Chinese president.

China is willing to work with Cambodia to faithfully promote bilateral friendship and deepen all-round cooperation so as to achieve common development and prosperity, he said, adding that China will always be a good partner and friend.

For his part, King Sihamoni welcomed Xi's visit and appreciated the profound friendship of the Chinese government and people towards Cambodian royal family as well as their great support to the country's economic and social development.

The king said Cambodia is satisfied with the results of bilateral cooperation in such areas as politics, economy and people-to-people exchanges.

He believed that Xi's visit will further enhance bilateral ties and render their cooperation even more fruitful.

Cambodia is ready to work with China to carry forward the traditional friendship and ensure that the relationship will get better, said King Sihamoni.

Before their talks, Xi, accompanied by the King, attended a red-carpet ceremony and inspected the guards of honor.

After the meeting, Xi laid a wreath at the statue of King Father Norodom Sihanouk in the company of Queen Mother Norodom Monineath Sihanouk.

Xi arrived at Phnom Penh Thursday noon for a state visit to Cambodia. It is his first trip to the Southeast Asian nation as president. In 2009, he paid an official visit to the kingdom as vice president.
President Xi Jinping arrives for a state visit to Cambodia in Phnom Penh October 13, 2016. [Photo/Xinhua]

China and Cambodia agreed on Thursday to take measures to expand their trade during President Xi Jinping's first state visit to the Southeast Asian neighbor.

Witnessed by Xi and Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, the two countries signed a number of agreements covering areas such as agriculture, oceanic, energy, telecommunication, investment and infrastructure.

The two sides also agreed to jointly implement the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative and enhance cooperation in production capacity. The initiative, consisting of the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, was proposed by Xi in 2013 with a focus on infrastructure.

During his talks with Hun Sen, Xi said he received a magnificent and friendly welcome "from the moment I stepped from the plane". Hundreds of students welcomed the delegation with portraits of the two countries' leaders on the streets outside the airport.

China will continue to offer more support to Cambodia to help the country maintain stability and improve people's livelihoods, Xi said.

Under the leadership of Hun Sen, Cambodia has gained stable social order and rapid economic development, improved people's livelihoods and promoted the country's international status, Xi said.

The Cambodian prime minister called Xi's visit historic and said it will strengthen the traditional bilateral friendship.

He also expressed gratitude for China's medical treatment of Cambodian King Norodom Sihamoni and Queen Mother Norodom Monineath.

Xi was making his first state visit to Cambodia since he became China's top leader in late 2012. He will fly to Bangladesh on Friday morning and then go to Goa, India, to attend the eighth BRICS Summit.

In July, Cambodia voiced support for China's stance on the South China Sea issue after the ruling by an international arbitration tribunal in a case unilaterally launched by former Philippine president Benigno Aquino III.
Cambodian students hold portraits of President Xi Jinping and Cambodian King Norodom Sihamoni during Xi's arrival at Phnom Penh International Airport on Thursday. [Photo/Agencies]

China and Cambodia inked 31 cooperative documents on Thursday during President Xi Jinping's first state visit to the Southeast Asian neighbor.

Features of the agreements and memorandums of understanding, whose signings were witnessed by Xi and Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, include loans, trade deals and construction of power plants.

Additionally, China has agreed to import 200,000 tons of rice from Cambodia.

The two countries also agreed to jointly implement the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative and enhance cooperation in production capacity. The initiative, consisting of the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, was proposed by Xi in 2013 with a focus on infrastructure.

During his talks with Hun Sen, Xi said he received a magnificent and friendly welcome "from the moment I stepped from the plane". Hundreds of students welcomed the delegation with portraits of the two countries' leaders on the streets outside the airport.

China will continue to offer more support to Cambodia to help the country maintain stability and improve people's livelihoods, Xi said.

Under the leadership of Hun Sen, Cambodia has gained stable social order and rapid economic development, improved people's livelihoods and promoted the country's international status, Xi said.

The Cambodian prime minister called Xi's visit historic and said it will strengthen the traditional bilateral friendship.

He also expressed gratitude for China's medical treatment of Cambodian King Norodom Sihamoni and Queen Mother Norodom Monineath.

Xi was making his first state visit to Cambodia since he became China's top leader in late 2012. He will fly to Bangladesh on Friday morning and then go to Goa, India, to attend the eighth BRICS Summit.

In July, Cambodia voiced support for China's stance on the South China Sea issue after the ruling by an international arbitration tribunal in a case unilaterally launched by former Philippine president Benigno Aquino III.

Ye Hailin, a senior researcher of South Asian studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said Xi's visit will not only strengthen bilateral ties with Cambodia, but also have great influence on the Southeast Asian region.

"Cambodia is not a big power, but the country's role is quite prominent in the Southeast Asian region," he said.

The visit will deepen China-Cambodia cooperation under the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative, he added.

"Cambodia is a young country that has great potential in infrastructure and industrial upgrade, and what Cambodian people expect is the same as what Chinese investors expect," Ye said.
(Photo : YouTube Screenshot) Baijiu makers are transforming the 1,000-year-old drink into "the new tequila" to suit the taste of western drinkers.

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While the fiery Chinese liquor baijiu has been distilled for a thousand years exactly the same way, its makers want to transform it into "the new tequila" to attract western drinkers, Bloomberg reported.



The makers of the 106-proof alcohol are struggling with its sales after Chinese President Xi Jinping ordered public officials to cut down their expenses. As a result, revenues plunged to up to 13 percent, and store prices dropped by half.



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With less than 1 percent of baijiu consumed overseas, makers are now planning to dilute the drink's potency, hire mixologists to experiment flavors, and promote the new concoctions at in bars across the world.



"Baijiu must change, transform and explore," Song Shuyu, director of the China Alcoholic Drinks Association, said.



"We want to see baijiu have its moment in the world," Tony Tian, commercial director of Diageo Plc's China White Spirits unit, said. "Tequila had it, vodka had it. Why not baijiu?"



Brands such as Shuijingfang, Beijing Red Star Co., ByeJoe, and HKB are revamping the drink to make it more suitable to the palates abroad. They lowered the alcohol content to 80-proof, infused bottles with flavorings, and promote the antioxidant powers of its main ingredient sorghum.



"Baijiu is not a spirit you can just pour into a martini glass and grow an appreciation for its taste immediately," Orson Salicetti, co-founder of the Lumos bar in New York, said. "The trick to appreciating baijiu is embracing its unfamiliar flavor in cocktails."



Makers have nothing to lose in the first place since exports account for just 0.1 percent of baijiu sales in 2015, according to the figures of the International Wine and Spirit Research in London.



"We want to introduce our baijiu to Western drinkers slowly," Tian said. "We want people to first try it in the context of a cocktail. They may be intrigued by it and then slowly move up to the real version."



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(Photo : YouTube Screenshot) Chinese animal-protection volunteers claimed to have spotted a "functionally extinct" baiji dolphin in Yangtze River.

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Chinese animal protection volunteers claimed they have spotted a baiji dolphin, which is a freshwater dolphin declared to be 'functionally extinct' a decade ago, in Yangtze River in Wuhu, Anhui province, on Oct. 4.



According to South China Morning Post, the expedition team first caught sight of a grey-white creature with a long snout leaping from the water three times between 200 and 300 meters away from the boat.



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Song Qi, the team leader of the expedition, recalled that after 9:20 A.M. on Oct. 4, he saw animal appeared on the water's surface. "I saw most of the body, and the second time around I saw its mouth and head."



The team had two boats. The first one was approximately 100 meters close to where they spotted the animal was, while the second one was about 300 meters far.



Song claimed that the members aboard the first boat spotted the creature three times. He also estimated that around six people on the investigation team saw the animal, according to the Guardian.



"No other creature could jump out of the Yangtze like that," he told Sixth Tone. "All the eyewitnesses, which include fisherman, felt certain that it was a baiji."



Although he admitted that he is not a baiji expert, he said that the local fishermen who also saw the creature identified it as the baiji and were "100% certain."



The group, however, failed to capture conclusive evidence of the sightings.



The team reported the sighting to the Chinese Academy of Science, and a team of experts have been dispatched to look for the endangered species.



The last confirmed sighting of a baiji dolphin was in 2002. After an intensive six-week search in 2006, experts failed to find any evidence of the species along the 6,300-km (3,915 mile) waterway.



The baiji dolphin or Chinese river dolphin is unique to the Yangtze River, the South China Morning Post reported. And if there are any that remains alive, there numbers would be too low to make the species sustainable.







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Tagsbaiji dolphin, Dolphin, freshwater dolphin, Yangtze River, baiji white dolphin, baiji news, animal conservationist
(Photo : getty images.) according to a report by leading Pakistani television channel, China has offered to play the role of a key negotiator to resolve the current tension between India and Pakistan.

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A Chinese government official said that China is ready to play the role of a "key negotiator" to resolve the current tension between India and Pakistan, leading Pakistani television channel reported.



"We will try our level best to resolve the conflict between Pakistan and India," Chinese Foreign Ministry's counsellor for China-Asia Mr. Yuwan was quoted saying by Pakistani news station Channel 24. "We are ready to provide our full assistance."



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The channel further quoted Yuwan as saying that the current tension is not only affecting both nations, but also the entire South Asian region.



China, so far, has not issued any statement on the report.



However, last month, Beijing refused to support a report published in the leading Pakistani newspaper that included a quote by top Chinese diplomat claiming that China supports Pakistan's stance on Kashmir issue and will support Islamabad in case of any foreign aggression.



China officially has been hesitant in taking a clear stance in the ongoing Indo-Pak tension. Beijing said Kashmir is a bilateral issue between India and Pakistan and must be resolved peacefully by both countries.



Traditionally, Pakistan has been dependent on China's diplomatic and military support to counter India's hegemony in South Asia. Islamabad and Beijing's close tie is greatly underscored by their mutual hostility towards India due to festering border issues.



Both countries have fought war with India to settle their border disputes. The disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir has enforced three wars between India and Pakistan.



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Tagschina, India and Pakistan, India, China and India, China and Pakistan, Indo-Pak Tension
Yemen and Djibouti.

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Aerial drones from the U.S. Air Force and the CIA based in Djibouti are scouring coastal Yemen for Houthi anti-ship missile batteries, one of which launched two missiles at the U.S. Navy destroyer, USS Mason, on Oct. 9. The missiles missed.



The intensive aerial reconnaissance is seen by military analysts as a prelude for upcoming attacks on these Houthi missiles, which are apparently made in China but supplied to the Houthi rebels by their Shi'a ally, Iran.



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Fortunately for the Americans, the largest U.S. military base in Africa is located at nearby Djibouti, which lies just across the narrow Bab el Mandeb Strait where the USS Mason and another ship, the HSV-2 Swift operated by the United Arab Emirates, were attacked by Houthi ASMs in the space of eight days.



The Swift was hit and severely damaged by one ASM on Oct. 1 but no one was reported killed. Both ASMs launched at the Mason missed, thanks to countermeasures and anti-missile missiles fired by the Arleigh Burke-class destroyer.



Camp Lemonnier, the largest U.S. military base in Africa, is located at Obock on the northern shore of the Gulf of Tadjoura in Djibouti. Obock opens out into the Gulf of Aden and lies to the south of the Bab el Mandeb Strait. The distance from Djibouti to the strait is only some 130 kilometers.



Camp Lemonnier houses over 4,000 U.S. troops and is used for U.S. Special Forces and drone operations against jihadist groups in the region.



The Pentagon said it's considering military retaliation against Houthi militants in Yemen after their attack on the USS Mason.



Captain Jeff Davis, a Pentagon spokesman, said the U.S. is still assessing who fired missiles at the destroyer when it was in the Red Sea on Sunday.



"Anytime anyone engages a U.S. Navy ship at sea in hostility ... they do so at great peril to themselves," said Capt. Davis.



Asked if that could mean retaliatory strikes against those responsible for firing the missiles, Davis said, "Those things are things that we're looking at."



"We want very much to get to the bottom of what happened. We're going to find out who did this, and we'll take action accordingly."



He said the navy will "get to the bottom of this and we will make sure that anybody who interferes with freedom of navigation or anybody who puts U.S. navy ships at risk does so at their own peril."



Capt. Davis said the ASM used against the Mason was a shore-launched cruise missile. This missile might probably be Iranian.



"It's no secret that Iran has been actively supplying them and giving them the tools of war," said Capt. Davis.



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Tagsaerial drones, U.S. Air Force, CIA, Africa, houthi, anti-ship missile, U.S. Navy, USS Mason, Bab el-Mandeb Strait, Camp Lemonnier, Djibouti, Iran, Captain Jeff Davis
(Photo : Getty Images.) Apple took another step in China expansion, as it opened its first retail store in Macau.

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Apple will open a second research and development center in Shenzhen, China's Silicon Valley, in 2017 despite Beijing's emphasis on domestically developed technologies and a dramatic weakening of Apple's market shares in China.



Apple a few weeks ago opened its first R&D center, this in the Wangjing sub-district, a technological area in northeast Beijing. Built with a total investment of $45 million, the center will have about 500 employees.



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Apple CEO Tim Cook announced the plan on Oct. 11 during his visit to Shenzhen. Cook met with Shenzhen Communist Party secretary Ma Xingrui and other government officials to formally announce the new center.



Cook also attend an entrepreneurship forum in Shenzhen where he talked to Premier Li Keqiang. The Shenzhen city government earlier this month first revealed Apple's plan for its second R&D center in China.



Apple said its planned Shenzhen center, along with the Beijing center, "is also aimed at strengthening relationships with local partners and universities as we work to support talent development across the country.



"We are excited to be opening a new Research and Development center here next year so our engineering team can work even more closely and collaboratively with our manufacturing partner."



"Shenzhen is an incredibly vibrant city where we are proud to support over 200,000 jobs between advanced manufacturing and the growing App economy."



Apple's boost to R&D comes as its momentum in China begins to slow. Revenues for Hong Kong, Taiwan, and mainland China fell 33 percent annually last quarter, and Greater China is no longer Apple's second-biggest market.



Apple is also being watched more closely by the Chinese government. Last April, Beijing forced Apple to shut down its iBooks and iTunes movie stores. The Communist Party of China wants to end China's reliance on foreign technology hence the pressure being applies on Apple.



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Tagsapple, Shenzhen, research & development center, Tim Cook
(Photo : Getty Images) VR Pay is expected to launch commercially in China by the end of 2016.

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Alibaba has unveiled its new payment system that will let shoppers in VR malls to pay for goods in the future by just nodding their heads.



Ant Financial is the one developing the new payment system VR Pay. It comes after Alibabas attempt to use mobile payment using facial recognition technology, which is called pay with a selfie. This is also part of the company's move to maximize the capability of the latest technology in online shopping.



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Alibabas VR Pay will allow shoppers to verify their identity on their logged in accounts on connected devices or voice-recognition technology.



For authenticating their accounts, shoppers may verify their passwords by just nodding the head, or simply doing some head movements, or staring at a point on the virtual display for over one and a half seconds, or by just a touch, according to Digital Trends.



It is very boring to have to take off your goggles for payment," said Lin Feng, who is in charge of Ant Financials F Lab that developed the payment system. "With this, you will never need to take out your phone.



According to Lin, VR Pay is the most convenient method in a VR setting compared with other biometric recognition technologies. However, this is not Alibabas first innovative payment method. The Chinese e-commerce giant introduced pay with a selfie in 2015.



Other companies are also working to develop pioneering payment method and take advantage of the latest online shoppings trends. Amazon is currently in the works of creating a selfie payment system and offers voice recognition payments through its Amazon Echo device.



Ant Financial introduced VR Pay, which was introduced in Shenzen, is expected to launch commercially in China by the end of 2016, CNet reported.



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TagsAlibaba, VR Payment, VR Pay, VR Shoppers, Pay by nodding, Virtual Reality, pay with a selfie, Ant Financial
(Photo : Twitter) Twitter

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A first-of-its-kind study published in the international journal PLOS One reveals how scientists use Twitter to communicate and the results are, well, surprising.



The study is the first to survey scientists on their attitudes towards social media and show how they use digital channels to communicate their research with their peers and the general public.



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The survey involved 587 scientists from a range of academic disciplines and was conducted by a team led by Kimberley Collins, Dr. Jenny Rock of New Zealand's University of Otago and David Shiffman of the University of Miami.



The survey found scientists have yet to widely adopt social media. But the ones that do see many possible advantages to using social media in the workplace.



"Most scientists saw the benefit in using Twitter -- they said it was a good way to access a large and diverse audience. They also appreciate the ease of communicating in snippets, how little time it takes, and how accessible it is." said Collins, who undertook the research for her Master of Science Communication thesis at Otago.



The study also found scientists mostly use Twitter to communicate with colleagues and share peer-reviewed literature within the scholarly community.



"Many scientists said they use Twitter to communicate specifically with other scientists. Some used it as a forum to share their research directly with the public and media, but most saw it as a tool to share research within their field and to stay updated with science outreach and communication," according to Collins.



But relatively few academic scientists currently use social media tools despite the professional benefits associated with social media use.



Misunderstandings of the disadvantages of social media use might contribute to its relatively limited use among scientists. This might be corrected by professional development training workshops or clearer departmental social media usage policies.



The results of this study add to our general understanding of the use of social media by academic scientists and act as a baseline on which to assess future trends in social media use within the science academy, said Collins.



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Tagssocial media, Twitter, Scientists, Kimberley Collins
(Photo : US Navy) USS Nitze

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The United States finally struck back at Yemeni Houthi rebels who fired three missiles at a U.S. Navy destroyer on Oct. 9 by destroying three radar stations that detected and electronically "painted" or locked onto the U.S. warship.



The attack occurred at 9:00 p.m. Eastern Time (0100 GMT) on Oct. 12. The navy said the USS Nitze (DDG-94), one of its three warships patrolling the Red Sea off the southern coast of Yemen, launched BGM-109 Tomahawk Land Attack Missiles against three coastal radar sites in Yemen.



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It revealed initial assessments that indicated all three sites in rebel Houthi-controlled areas were destroyed. The Nitze is an Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer.



In the early evening of Oct. 9, some of the destroyed Houthi radar stations in Yemen "painted" the USS Mason (DDG-87), another Arleigh Burke-class destroyer on patrol in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait.



Houthis rebels then launched three anti-ship missiles (ASMs) -- probably Chinese-made C-802 ASMs -- guided by the radar stations. Mason defeated these ASMs using its anti-missile missiles and decoy missiles.



The navy said Mason used RIM-66 SM-2 anti-missile missiles and RIM-7 Sea Sparrow surface-to-air missiles to engage the Houthi ASMs "well away from the ship."



A ranking navy official said the navy was confident Houthis were aware they were targeting the U.S. warship because spotters were seen nearby.



Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook said President Barack Obama authorized the strikes on the recommendation of Secretary of Defense Ash Carter and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Joseph Dunford.



"These limited self-defense strikes were conducted to protect our personnel, our ships and our freedom of navigation in this important maritime passageway," said Cook.



"The United States will respond to any further threat to our ships and commercial traffic, as appropriate, and will continue to maintain our freedom of navigation in the Red Sea, the Bab el-Mandeb, and elsewhere around the world."



Mason was again attacked on Oct. 12, this time by one ASM. The ASM missed. This latest attack was followed in the evening by the U.S. counterattack.



Along with the USS Mason and USS Nitze on patrol is the USS San Antonio (LPD-17), an amphibious transport dock or landing platform dock carrying hundreds of battle ready U.S. Marines.



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TagsUnited States, U.S. Navy, USS Nitze, BGM-109 Tomahawk Land Attack Missiles, USS Mason, houthi, C-802
(Photo : Getty Images) The Ssangyong XLV is unveiled during the Geneva Motor Show 2016 on March 2, 2016 in Geneva, Switzerland.

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South Korean SUV maker SsangYong Motor Co. is exploring a joint venture with China's Shaanxi Automobile Group Co. to establish a manufacturing plant in the world's biggest automobile market.



Mahindra & Mahindra's South Korean arm announced on Wednesday it had signed a letter of intent (LOI) with Shaanxi Automobile Group. The joint venture aims to put up production facilities for completely-built unit (CBU) vehicles and an engine plant.



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"It is essential to have a local CBU plant in China to increase our competitiveness in the rapidly growing Chinese car market and to increase our sales volume," Choi Johng-ski, CEO of SsangYong Motor, said.



The first phase of construction will give the plant an annual capacity of 150,000 units by the end of 2019, while the second phase will double its output to 300,000 units yearly.



This will mark SsangYong's first overseas production base in a 50:50 partnership with Shaanxi, the Business Standard reported.



SsangYong will also put up an automotive cluster with its major suppliers that will also enter the market. This is to make sure products are competitive and to start the production of the company's flagship models and models under development in the second half of 2019, the Economic Times reported.



SsangYong said although it is too early to make a comment on detailed model plans, it had reviewed the central and western parts of China for the development its very first factory and had taken into consideration China's government policies and growth potential.



Following the signing of the LOI, the two groups will organize a team to work on the Xi'an project, which spans over an area of 1.23 million square meters in the Economic Technological Developmental Zone, and to discuss specifics for the establishment of a joint venture.



SsangYong has been eyeing for potential joint ventures in the United States and China after facing sales decline following the Brexit referendum, Live Mint reported citing Vasudev Tumbe, SsangYong's chief financial office.



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TagsSsangYong, SsangYong Motor, Mahindra & Mahindra, Shaanxi Automobile, Investments, cars, China Car Market
Dead eagle at a wind farm.

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Wind turbines, while providing clean energy, remain one of the leading killers of birds worldwide and a new study has discovered up to a fourth of the birds killed in collisions with the blades of turbine propellers are out-of-town or migratory species.



Globally, wind turbines, many of them grouped in wind farms with hundreds of machines, have been responsible for the deaths of anywhere from 140,000 to 328,000 birds and 500,000 to 1.6 million bats.



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One study, however, claims wind turbines will kill 1.4 million birds yearly by 2030.



This huge number of deaths raises questions about the effects of wind turbines on the population sustainability of flying creatures.



Studies show the Altamont Pass Wind Resource Area (APWRA) in Livermore, California has the worst bird-kill problem in the world among wind farms. That's because of the turbines are located along a major migration route for birds of prey in North America that attracts among the highest concentration of golden eagles in the world.



Another reason for the wind farm's grisly reputation is the massive number of turbines at Altamont: almost 5,000 small and large turbines.



One study claims the Altamont wind farm has killed close to 3,000 golden eagles or goldies since it opened in 1981 until 2013.



Scientists previously believed most of the birds killed at Altamont live nearby. New research, however, shows evidence that birds from up to hundreds of miles away make up a significant portion of the raptors killed at these wind energy fields.



Using DNA from tissue and stable isotopes from the feathers of golden eagle carcasses, researchers from Purdue University and the U.S. Geological Survey found that golden eagles killed at Altamont can come from hundreds of miles away.



Golden eagles are a species of conservation concern, so understanding population-level differences and how individuals interact with turbines is key to meeting a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service target of no net loss to their populations.



"Eagles tend to use that habitat around the turbines. It's windy there, so they can save energy and soar, and their preferred prey, California ground squirrels, is abundant there," said J. Andrew DeWoody, a Purdue professor of genetics in the Department of Forestry and Natural Resources.



"As they soar, these eagles are often looking straight down, and they fail to see the rapidly moving turbine blades. They get hit by the blades, and carcasses are found on the ground under the turbines."



Collaborator David Nelson, a stable isotope ecologist with the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science, tested the birds' feathers for stable hydrogen isotopes, which can be used to determine where the birds likely grew their feathers.



The research team determined that about 75 percent of the 62 birds were from the local population. The remaining 25 percent likely migrated into the area before they were killed.



A genetic analysis revealed that golden eagles from the western U.S. have gene pools similar to those killed at the APWRA, which reflects the capacity of these birds to disperse widely.



The study was published in Conservation Biology on Sept. 28.



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TagsWind Turbines, Altamont Pass Wind Resource Area, Golden Eagles, bats, california, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Geological Survey
(Photo : Getty Images) Zapper is the first European mobile partner of Alipay.

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Alipay has partnered with Zapper to allow Chinese tourists visiting the United Kingdom to pay using the Alipay app in more than 1,000 locations nationwide.



The worlds leading mobile payment platform run by Ant Financial Services Group tapped Zapper to help the company seize a slice of the Chinese tourism market in the UK, according to Finextra.



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Zapper is the first European mobile partner of the Chinese third-party online payment platform that will let 450 million active Alipay users to pay for goods through the Alipay app across affiliated Zapper businesses in the UK, Europe and North America.



With Zapper as a partner, Alipay can further enhance our user experience as they can conveniently shop outside of China and pay with Alipay," said Rita Liu, Head of Alipay EMEA. "Meanwhile merchants, in addition to the Alipay payment solution, can better connect and understand hundreds of thousands Chinese tourists travelling in the UK.



The deal between the two companies suggests strong synergy for both brands in terms of innovative mobile-based QR code technology. Alipay users will also enjoy the same mobile payments in China upon buying goods and services using Zapper.



Similar to Alipay, Zappers QR technology will let almost one million users across 10 different countries and 12,000 affiliated businesses to pay and earn rewards via QR code scanning. Its technology is now allowed to take payments from the Alipay app used by 11.7 million Chinese tourists visiting Europe annually, Banking Technology reported.



Moreover, Alipay partnered with Wirecard to make payment at Munich Airport, Ingenico to allow tourists in accessing European stores, and Paytm to grant Alipay app usage across India.



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TagsAlipay, Zapper, Chinese Tourists, european tour, QR Technology, Zapper U.K., mobile payments, Ant Financial
(Photo : Getty Images) A farmer from Henan Province picks cotton in a cotton field on September 22, 2007 in Shihezi of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, China.

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Cotton supplies in the United States next year will be smaller than previously forecast because of the increasing prices and larger-than-expected purchases in China, a government report in Washington revealed.



Inventories on July 31, 2017, the end of the current crop year, will be 4.3 million bales, 12 percent less than projected last September and below the lowest estimate, Bloomberg reported citing the US Department of Agriculture's report released on Wednesday. The average estimate was 4.87 million bales.



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Analysts at Rabobank International said the report is "bullish" for prices. The report revealed a huge global gap between consumption and production between 2016 and 2016.



The December delivery for cotton increased 2.7 percent to 68.97 cents per pound on ICE Futures U.S.



Meanwhile, the price of the most active cotton futures contract also jumped 9 percent in 2016 on predictions that demand will surpass the global crop, resulting to the reduction in inventories, Bloomberg reported.



The government has increased its forecast for Chinese consumption to 35.5 million bales from 35 million in September. Furthermore, for exports to the United States, it also raised its forecast to 12 million bales from 11.5 million last month, up from the 9.15 million it shipped last season. Of note, a bale weighs 480 pounds or 218 kilograms.



At a global level, the USDA reduced its estimate for world cotton stocks by 2.46 million bales to 87.35 million bales at the close of 2016 to 2017, a drop of over 24 million bales over two seasons.



Other than the cut of US inventory estimate, USDA also flagged upgrades to historical figures on China's consumption. China's recent increase of demand for cotton in the recent state auction process was a key factor in the revision, the Agrimoney reported.



"The sale of more than 12 million bales from China's recently completed reserved auctions amid rising domestic prices suggests the China mill demand was previously underestimates," the USDA said.



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(Photo : getty images.) China on Wednesday delivered stern message to Australia, warning that must be practices caution while speaking on the sensitive issue of South China Sea.

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China said on Wednesday it hopes Australia would practice caution when speaking about the sensitive issue on South China Sea.



The stern message was conveyed in a meeting of top defense officials of China and Australia in Beijing.



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China's defense minister Fan Changlong, vice chairperson of China's Central Military Commission, said the country "hopes that on the South China Sea issue the Australian side can speak and act cautiously, and that its words and deeds match."



Fan reportedly told Australian counterpart, Marshal Mark Binskin, that China is equally hopeful of pushing forward the healthy and stable development of bilateral military ties.



China's latest warning to Australia relative to the ongoing South China Sea issue is not surprising, considering that the latter is one of the staunch allies of the United States. Canberra is openly supportive of America's controversial "freedom of navigation" operation, which aims to counter the mainland's aggressive activities in the disputed maritime territory.



China is one of the largest foreign investors in Australia, aside from being its largest trading partner. The economic reality has pushed many in Australia to debate over its South China Sea policies. However, It has so far failed in convincing the country to change its South China Sea policies.



China stakes claim over almost the entire disputed islands. Beijing's belligerent claim continues despite a verdict by The Hague-based international tribunal court that dismissed its historical assertion.



Brunei, Philippines, Taiwan, Vietnam, Malaysia and Indonesia are other claimants of the South China Sea.



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TagsChina and Australia, Australia, South China Sea Dispute, china
(Photo : YouTube Screenshot) World's longest sightseeing escalator opened its doors to the public in Hubei province, central China.

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China has unveiled the longest sightseeing escalator in the world, trailing 688 meters (2,257 feet) long, in the Enshi Grand Canyon in Hubei province.



Visitors of the Enshi Grand Canyon are now spared from the long walk as they could just take a ride while enjoying the spectacular view.



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"Now tourists can take the escalator to go down the mountain all the way. It improves the degree of comfort during the journey," a spokesperson from Enshi Grand Canyon told MailOnline.



Meanwhile, tourists need not to worry about big crowds as the escalator could transport up to 7,300 visitors every hour, or around 300,000 people per annum.



The escalator costs some $5.2 million yuan to build and takes tourists to an 18-minute journey from start to finish and was opened earlier this month during the China's Golden Week. Each ride costs only 20 yuan ($3).



"We opened the second phase of this escalator on October 1 for the October Golden Week. It is built in the route for tourists to go down the mountain," the spokesman said.



He continued saying that the first phase was opened back in May 2011, which was 288 meters (945 feet) long. It only covered part of the route going down the mountain. But now, the escalator covers the whole 18-minute trip.



"During October 1 to 7, 150,000 tourists [enjoyed] our scenic spot and 70,000 of them used the escalator. The number is higher than our expectation," he said.



According to the New Atlas, the escalator, which is located at the Qixingzhai scenic spot, follows a "" shape along the mountainside. The escalator was made from ecologically sustainable materials like its wooden structure and gray tile floor.



"The whole engineering plan focused on ecological protection, which can be seen from the wooden structure and grey tile at the top of the escalator," Xiong Yan from the Central-South Architectural Design Institute, who is in charge of the project, told People's Daily China.







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Tagsescalator, sightseeing escalator, longest escalator, tourism, Enshi Grand Canyon, china, holiday, golden week, tourist spot
(Photo : Getty Images) Phillipine President Duterte has said that the goal of his visit to China is to strengthen ties with Beijing after years of hostility between the two nations.

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Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has continued his anti-US sentiments, ordering his defense officials to end joint military exercises with US troops as he takes the initial steps to form a new partnership with China by embarking on an official state visit to Beijing this month.



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As Duterte prepares to strengthen ties with China during his trip, he has taken his anti-US sentiments up a notch by instructing Philippine defense chief to halt joint exercises with the US military next year.



Analysts said that the decision to end joint patrols with the US is tantamount to weakening Manila's military alliance with Washington.



Realign



"I insist that we realign, that there will be no more exercises next year. Do not prepare for the exercises," Duterte told Philippine defense secretary Delfin Lorenzana.



He clarified, however, that he was not rescinding the 1951 Mutual Defense Treaty between the Philippines and the US. Under the treaty, the US is obligated to defend the Philippines in case of an armed attack by an external party.



President Duterte emphasized that he will craft Manila's new foreign policy, which will not be based on his predecessor's foreign policies that are dependent on the US.



US forces



Earlier this year, Duterte ordered all US forces to leave the southern part of the Philippines. He has also withdrawn all Philippine military forces from joint patrols with the US in the disputed South China Sea saying "China does not want it."



Meanwhile, China confirmed on Wednesday that the Philippine leader would visit the country from October 18 to 21.



China's foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang on Wednesday said Beijing is looking forward to the visit and impending talks with Manila that will focus on a wide range of common interests.



President Xi Jinping



Geng said Duterte would hold talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang on how to improve ties, trade agreements, and regional issues. He noted that Beijing is looking forward to having a "deep exchange of views."



"China looks forward to increasing mutual trust between the two countries, deepening practical cooperation and continuing the tradition of friendship via the visit of President Duterte," Geng said at a press briefing.



More than 200 Filipino businessmen would accompany the president on his China visit hoping to deals with Chinese companies.



Bonanza



Economists have said that the Philippines stands to receive a bonanza of loans and investments during Duterte's trip with Filipino businessmen reportedly feeling "excited" to do business with Beijing.



President Duterte and President Xi would jointly address more than 600 businessmen and CEOs from both countries on the second day of his visit.



Duterte has stated that he would not raise the dispute over the sovereignty of the Scarborough Shoal during the talks but would instead ask the Chinese government to give Filipino fishermen access to the area.



The Scarborough Shoal was at the center of a case filed by Manila against Beijing in 2013 after the latter seized control of the shoal following a standoff with the Philippine Navy in 2012.



PCA



The Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) ruled in July that China had no legal basis to make territorial claims in the South China Sea. The court also ruled that no country has legal claims over the shoal which is the traditional fishing ground of Chinese, Vietnamese, and Filipino fishermen.



China has rejected the ruling, describing it as "illegal" and "null and void."



Duterte said that he would not insist on the implementation of the ruling during his talk with President Xi Jinping but will instead push for China to give access to Filipino fishermen to areas near the shoal.



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TagsUS-Philippine alliance, Mutual Defense Treaty, China visit, President Rodrigo Duterte, Chinese President Xi jinping, US-Philippine military exercises, Scarborough Shoal, economic cooperation, Philippines, china
(Photo : Pixabay) Boeing has signed a deal to supply China Southern with about a dozen 787-9 Dreamliners starting in 2018.

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Boeing Co. has inked a deal with China Southern for a dozen 787-9 Dreamliners. The deal is worth neatly $3.2 billion as per the list price. These Dreamliners are scheduled to be delivered over the course of three years, starting in 2018.



China Southern is the first Boeing 787 customer from China. It currently has 16 Dreamliners through financial and operating lease agreements. Its total fleet comprises 684 planes.



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The deal is likely to come as a relief to Boeing which is grappling with a shrinking market for twin-aisle planes. On the other hand, it will also strengthen China Southern's long haul fleet.



China Southern is the country's largest airline by fleet size. It expects to augment its fleet to 1,000 aircraft by 2020. The airline also expects its annual passenger traffic to surpass the 160 million mark by 2020. The airline currently has the Boeing 777,787 and 747 aircraft, among others, in its fleet. China Southern expects the deal to strengthen the construction of Guangzhou hub.



The Dreamliner 787-9 features six-meter larger fuselage than the 787-8, enabling it to carry more passengers and cargo over a longer distance. It also allows for 20 percent less fuel use and 20 percent fewer emissions than a similarly-sized airplane.



China is one of the fastest growing aviation markets in the world. It is likely to overtake North America as the world's largest aviation market in the next two decades. Last year, President Xi Jinping signed a deal for 300 jets at $38 billion during his state visit to the United States.



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(Photo : Pixabay) Apple has opened another outpost in China.

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Technology giant Apple is looking to set up a new research and development (R&D) center in China. The metropolis of Shenzhen has been picked as the location for the R&D center. Apple is also planning to build another R&D center in Beijing. Shenzhen is also home to Foxconn City, where many of Apple products are assembled.



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China has emerged as one of the biggest markets for the iPhone. However, lately Chinese companies such as Huawei and OPPO have started to give stiff competition to the American company. The new R&D center is expected to enable Apple work closely with its manufacturing partners. The announcement was made by the company CEO Tim Cook, who is currently touring Asia.



In an email comment, an Apple spokesman said that Apple is excited to have a new place in China. The company will also seek to enhance its collaboration with "local partners and universities." Shenzhen is a major manufacturing hub in China. Many prominent Chinese companies including ZTE have a presence in the city.



Apart from setting up an R&D center, Apple also announced the infusion of $1 billion into Didi Chuxing. The US technology company acquired a board seat in the ride sharing company.



Adrian Perica, Apple's head of mergers and acquisitions, is expected to represent Apple on the board. The investment may provide Apple with crucial data regarding electric and self-driving car technology.



China and Apple share a love-hate relationship. While China is a massive market for Apple, the government has also banned various Apple services such as iBooks and iTunes Movie in the country.



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Tagsapple, Didi Chuxing, Foxconn City, Huawei
(Photo : https://pixabay.com/en/china-soldiers-terracotta-sculpture-805184/) The contact between China and the western world may stretch far back than previously thought.

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A new study suggests that China was in contact with the western world long before the opening of the Silk Road. The new findings are based on the study of DNA found at the site of terracotta warriors in Xi'an.



In an interview with The Guardian, Li Xiuzhen, a senior archaeologist at the Emperor Qin Shi Huang's Mausoleum Site Museum in China, said that the new evidence suggest that there may have been Greek inspiration behind the Terracotta Army, the bronze sculptures, and the acrobats. It is also possible that Greek artisans may have trained the locals in the 3rd Century BC.



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While it is believed that China's interaction with the western world started with Marco Polo's journey in the 13th century, there have been plenty of evidence pointing to earlier interactions. Chinese historians have already documented the visits of foreigners during the 2nd and 3rd Centuries AD.



The terracotta warrior army was first discovered in 1974. It is located less than a mile away from the tomb of Qin Shi Huang, China's first emperor. It is believed that there was no existing tradition of creating life-size human statues in China before the creation of the army. The paradigm shift in style and skill points to some outside influence.



A separate study has also been conducted at sites in Xinjiang Province. The sites showed the presence of European-specific mitochondrial DNA at the sites, suggesting that Westerners may have lived and settled there before and during the era of China's First Emperor.



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TagsXi'an, Marco Polo, Qin Shi Huang
(Photo : James Vaughan) An Asgardia shield protecting the Earth from asteroids and space junk.

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The dream is grand: the first nation state in space. The name of this haven for technocracy is grander still: Asgardia, inspired by Asgard, heavenly home of the Nordic gods where lies the great hall, Valhalla.



But the start of this dream will be mundane: a small, prototype satellite in low Earth orbit to be launched by 2018 that will be the first piece of real estate in space this new space nation will own.



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After the lawyers sort out all the legal niceties (such as marriage in space and laws governing human frailties such as murder), the scientists will set out to build what might be the biggest space station mankind has yet seen -- Asgardia.



And Asgardia will build a planet wide shield protecting the Earth from end-of-the world asteroids, and probably an alien invasion.



The dream of Asgardia was launched yesterday by a small group of daring dreamers led by Russian citizen and businessman Igor Ashurbeyli, who once worked for a Russian state-owned firm that built missiles, tanks and other weapons for Putin's army.



Ashurbeyli also founded the Aerospace International Research Center in Vienna and is currently the chairman of UNESCO's Science of Space Committee. As a businessman, Ashurbeyli heads "Socium Holdings" a firm engaged in a wide variety of activities such weapons-making, military equipment and IT.



Asgardia "will offer an independent platform free from the constraint of a land-based country's laws" said an explanation on the company website.



"Asgardia is the prototype of a free and unrestricted society which holds knowledge, intelligence and science at its core along with the recognition of the ultimate value of each human life. You can join like-minded people on this new."



Asgardia, its founders claim, is an "exciting step in fostering an extended future for humankind."



At a press conference in Paris on Oct. 12, Ashurbeyli said, "the scientific and technological component of the project can be explained in just three words: peace, access and protection."



The men behind the concept of Asgardia want to ensure humanity has an independent "country" that prioritizes scientific advancement over political or commercial ambitions. In other words, Asgardia will be a technocracy, probably in the mould of Singapore, the most successful technocratic society on Earth.



"Asgardia will demonstrate to scientists throughout the world that independent, private and unrestricted research is possible."



"Asgardia ... will offer an independent platform free from the constraint of a land-based country's laws. It will become a place it in orbit which is truly 'no man's land'."



The Asgardians also plan to build a "state of the art protective shield" defending the Earth from asteroids, solar flares and space debris.



All of this is early times, of course. But it is a dream that seems to have a strong driving force behind it.



You can sign up to be an Asgardian on the website. One media source said 1,400 have signed-up. Once that number reaches 100,000, Asgardia can apply to join the United Nations.



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TagsAsgardia, Asgard, Igor Ashurbeyli, Socium Holdings]
(Photo : 'ImposterVT'/Flickr/CC) The Pakistani Supreme Court is located in Islamabad.

The Pakistani Supreme Court will be hearing Asia Bibi's final appeal on October 13th. Bibi is a Christian woman who was given the death penalty on alleged charges of blasphemy about six years ago.

In 2009, Bibi was accused of blaspheming by her co-workers in the falsa berry fields where she worked.

According to an ACLJ account, she wanted to serve water to her co-workers, but they thought that the water was rendered impure by her touching the bucket. Bibi was asked to convert to Islam to be purified. She refused and professed her faith publicly. According to ACLJ:

Asia, who was picking berries, took a break from her work to get a drink of water and offered some water to the other women working with her. Her co-workers informed Asia that they could not drink water from the hands of a Christian woman, because, by handling it, she had made the water haram. Asia's co-workers then demanded that she convert to Islam to be cleansed of her impurity. Asia refused and instead publically affirmed her faith in Jesus Christ.

Five days later, the women who had confronted her over the water incident brought an Islamic cleric with them and alleged that Bibi has insulted Prophet Muhammad. Bibi said she did not do that, but she was subsequently beaten by villagers and taken into custody.

The following year a local court pronounced her guilty and sentenced her to death, even though she denied the charges against her.

Her appeals were delayed many times. When her case was finally heard by the high court in October 2014, her death sentence was upheld. Later, her petition for a legal review by Supreme Court was accepted.

Her conviction for blasphemy charges triggered outrage against her among the Islamic radicals, forcing her family to go in hiding. Fundamentalists have threatened that if Bibi is released, they would kill her and her family.

National and international human rights organizations are urging Pakistan's highest court to release her, while radical Islamic groups are asking the court to put her to death. She is kept in solitary confinement due to concerns about her safety at the hands of other inmates.

Saif ul Malook, Bibi's lawyer, also reported receiving death threats.

Late governor of Punjab Salmaan Taseer was assassinated by a radical Islamist Mumtaz Qadri in 2011 for his publicly-expressed sympathy for Bibi. Qadri was Taseer's own bodyguard. Qadri was hanged for murdering the governor of the state, but his capital punishment sparked protests in Punjab.

Pakistan registers as one of the world's highest number of blasphemy cases. Both Muslims and non-Muslims have been accused of blasphemy in the past.

    press@cdaily.co.kr



- Copyright ,    

#AsiaBibi'sAppealAgainstBlasphemy
Churches sue state of Massachusetts over transgender bathroom access law 13 October, 2016 by Gregory Tomlin , |

BOSTON (Christian Examiner)  Four churches in Massachusetts have filed a federal lawsuit against the state's new transgender bathroom access law because it forces the churches to use their facilities in a way that violates "their core religious beliefs," ABC News has reported.

Under new rules adopted by the Massachusetts Commission against Discrimination (MCAD) and the Massachusetts Attorney General, the churches would be required to, first, edit sermons by removing biblical content on human sexuality, marriage, and other topics related to homosexuality when members of the general public are present.

They would also be required to open bathroom facilities to transgenders if a church facility is used for a secular purpose, such as when the church serves as a polling place or there is a special event, such as a spaghetti supper. The problem is that the state apparently believes it has the right to determine when an event is religious or not religious.

The government shouldn't encroach on the internal, religious practices of a church. Neither the commission nor the attorney general has the constitutional authority to dictate how any church uses its facility or what public statements a church can make concerning a deeply held religious belief, such as human sexuality.

The MCAD, the lawsuit claims, "expressly stated that it would not provide an objective standard, but would review a charge 'involving religious institutions or religious exemptions ... on a case-bycase-basis.' Thus, a pastor, other church leader, or a court must guess as to which of the church's activities subject it to the severe sanctions of the Act, which include fines of $50,000 per violation, up to 365 days in jail, and attorneys' fees.'"

The four churches  Horizon Christian Fellowship, Swansea Abundant Life Assembly of God, House of Destiny Ministries, and Faith Christian Fellowship of Haverhill  all claim in the suit, filed by Alliance Defending Freedom, that the state has failed to understand what a church does.

It invites the public to all of its events "for communal worship, other formal religious services, Sunday school classes, Bible studies, youth-oriented activities," and other reasons, the lawsuit claimed.

Worse, the churches claimed, the act really only targets conservative churches and ministers who still believe what Scripture teachings about human sexuality, complementarianism (the belief that women and men were made to complement one another), and the immutability of biological sex.

"The government shouldn't encroach on the internal, religious practices of a church," ADF's Senior Counsel Steve O'Ban said. "Neither the commission nor the attorney general has the constitutional authority to dictate how any church uses its facility or what public statements a church can make concerning a deeply held religious belief, such as human sexuality."

That is why the suit claims the prohibitions against churches speaking on the issues forces pastors to "self-censor" and "chill" their own speech.

The state's attorney general did not comment on the suit other than to say it was being reviewed. A spokeswoman, however, said the AG's office was "pleased that we finally have a law in place that protects transgender people from discrimination in public places. This law is about civil rights and is critical for people who were without full protection and equality under the law for too long," Jillian Fennimore, the AG's press secretary, told ABC News.
Dallas area pastor reiterates support for Trump Editorial Staff | 13 October, 2016 by Joni B. Hannigan

DALLAS (Christian Examiner)  In a direct two-page letter posted to social media, Jack Graham, pastor of Prestonwood Baptist Church in Metropolitan Dallas, said the "bright, bold Christian leaders who care deeply about the glory of God and our nation," have spoken "frankly and freely" to Trump and have posed questions to him relative to his character.

Graham, also a former president of the Southern Baptist Convention, in his document, "Donald Trump and Spiritual Counsel," also wrote that recent questions to Trump escalated with the release of an 11-year-old video in which Trump uses sexually explicit terms to describe his intent towards women.

The questions, apparently, and conversations have taken place in private, Graham indicated.

In affirming an earlier announcement he will vote for the candidate, but not "endorse his behavior," Graham outlined a rationale for his decision.

The complete document reads:

For the past five months I, along with 24 others, have been a part of Donald Trump's Religious Advisory Council. Our responsibility is to offer prayer, spiritual support, and pastoral counsel to Mr. Trump and his team. There has never been an expectation of endorsement nor were we asked to campaign for the candidate. No one sought the role, but were invited and encouraged to speak frankly and freely.

We are not making group statements or sending press releases. We are not judges; we are counselors. Our group is made up of bright, bold, Christian leaders who care deeply about the glory of God and our nation. This has been a private conversation with Mr. Trump, members of the Trump team, and of course, one another.

I can tell you from my perspective, we have been given generous access to Mr. Trump and vice presidential nominee Mike Pence. In fact, I have been amazed as to how much freedom the council has been offered and the willingness of Mr. Trump to listen. Every one of us has shared our faith in Christ and has sought to be His witnesses (Acts 1:8).

From the beginning, there have been questions relative to Mr. Trump's character and his qualifications for the United States presidency. These questions escalated with the release of the now very public video of Mr. Trump's language and lifestyle 11 years ago.

I, along with every member of the council, have expressed outrage at such vile language and disgraceful views toward women. There is no defense for this very sinful and immoral behavior.

This has been clearly communicated to Mr. Trump himself, who has apologized to his family, friends and to the American people. Is he a better man today? I am hopeful and prayerful.

The question has been raised, is Donald Trump repentant? We are often asked, "Is Donald Trump a Christian?" And of course, "Should he be president?"

Every week on multiple occasions I preach God's Word and offer advice to people seeking help or guidance. It is a daunting task. People's lives and souls are in the balance. But I offer my best because this is a calling I have from the Lord. Do people always do what I say? You of course know the answer to that! Does everyone accept Christ? Sadly, no.

But I keep preaching and sharing my faith because I've never been responsible for the results. It is with that same intent I gratefully serve on Donald Trump's advisory group. We offer counsel and a faithful witness and leave the results to Mr. Trump. I know for a fact that the Gospel has been shared with Mr. Trump. He has been confronted with his sin. He has heard God's truth and has been offered grace and forgiveness.

Our mission as spiritual advisors is to deliver the message. Without question, that message has been faithfully delivered. Several members of our group speak into Mr. Trump's life weekly, if not daily.

As far as qualifications to serve our country as president, that is a decision voters will make November 8. I have written previously as to why I can vote for Donald Trump without endorsing his behavior.

The addition of Evangelical Christian Mike Pence to the ticket, the pledge to nominate pro-life judges to the Supreme Court of the United States, the promise to defund Planned Parenthood, defend the sanctity of life, support Israel, defend the United States against terrorism, protect our religious freedoms, include all Americans in the prosperity of our country, and much more, are the reasons I will vote for Donald Trump. I also believe it is a bad decision to sit out the election or write in a meaningless candidate.

Elections are divisive by nature but necessary if we are to keep our freedoms. Voting is a right and a responsibility. Elections matter. Certainly, this one does. The choice our country makes between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton will set the course of our nation for a generation and beyond.

For me, it has always been about the issuesnot Donald Trump's past, but America's future. Every person should vote his or her convictions and vote for what is best for our country. In my view, the choice for Evangelical Bible-believing Christians could not be clearer.

With Donald Trump and Mike Pence, Christians have an opportunity to influence our government and practice our religious freedoms. I will continue to pray that we will reverse from our current spiritual decline as a nation by seeking God and repenting of our own sins and finding the hope and healing we need that only comes from the Lord Jesus Christ.

The other 23 members of Trump's Christian Advisory Council as noted on the Trump campaign website are:

Michele Bachmann - Former Congresswoman

A.R. Bernard - Senior Pastor and CEO, Christian Cultural Center

Mark Burns - Pastor, Harvest Praise and Worship Center

Tim Clinton - President, American Association of Christian Counselors

Kenneth and Gloria Copeland - Founders, Kenneth Copeland Ministries

James Dobson - Author, Psychologist and Host, My Family Talk

Jerry Falwell, Jr. - President, Liberty University

Ronnie Floyd - Senior Pastor, Cross Church

Jentezen Franklin - Senior Pastor, Free Chapel

Jack Graham - Senior Pastor, Prestonwood Baptist Church

Harry Jackson - Senior Pastor, Hope Christian Church

Robert Jeffress - Senior Pastor, First Baptist Church of Dallas

David Jeremiah - Senior Pastor, Shadow Mountain Community Church

Richard Land  President, Southern Evangelical Seminary

James MacDonald  Founder and Senior Pastor, Harvest Bible Chapel

Johnnie Moore - Author, President of The KAIROS Company

Robert Morris - Senior Pastor, Gateway Church

Tom Mullins  Senior Pastor, Christ Fellowship

Ralph Reed - Founder, Faith and Freedom Coalition

James Robison - Founder, Life OUTREACH International

Tony Suarez - Executive Vice President, National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference

Jay Strack - President, Student Leadership University

Paula White - Senior Pastor, New Destiny Christian Center

Tom Winters - Attorney, Winters and King, Inc.

Sealy Yates  Attorney, Yates and Yates
Bible Society was approved last month in Azerbaijan after a 20-year struggle.

"We at UBS are grateful to God for the new ministry opportunity which has opened up in Azerbaijan with this new Bible Society," said Terje Hartberg, Head of Global Ministry Exchange at UBS. "The Bible Society in Azerbaijan joins the UBS family of 148 Bible Societies working in more than 200 countries and territories to provide Churches with Scriptures and Bible-based programs. Sister Bible Societies have expressed their delight at this newest addition to the global Bible Society movement and stand ready to support the leaders of this emerging ministry in Azerbaijan."

Christian leaders in the country were working and praying hard for the registration of the Bible Society, according to reports.

"This has been a time of close co-operation with our partners and mentors from UBS [United Bible Societies], and particularly from the Norwegian and Ukrainian Bible Societies," Rasim Khalilov, Chairman of the Bible Committee, wrote in a letter of thanks to the UBS fellowship. "We have received an answer to prayer after a time of waiting and hoping. Praise and glory to our Lord!"

Forum 18 had reported last year that the Old Testament and Hebrew Bible are among the "banned" books in the country. The police has confiscated these books in the past.

When World Watch Monitor contacted Forum 18's Felix Corley, he said: "Well, you can't publish, print, import or distribute any religious publication without prior permission from the State Committee, which will also set numbers allowed. So nothing is approved until it is approved."

Founders of the new Bible Society, Khalilov and Pastor Elchin Pashaev, were very excited about the prospect of working towards building infrastructure and ministry programs for the society.

"The registration of the Bible Society in Azerbaijan is a great development for Christianity in our country! It shows our government's policy of tolerance for multiculturalism and for all denominations and communities," said Robert Mobili, Chairman of the Udin Christian Community in Azerbaijan.
SOON Movement (also known as Korea Campus Crusade for Christ, or KCCC) will be hosting its annual winter conference once again this year from December 20 to 23 at the Town and Country Resort & Convention Center in San Diego, CA.

The Higher Calling Conference, which encourages young people to commit themselves to living for Christ, has drawn numerous youth and college students over the years, and some 1,300 gathered last year. This year, the conference will be held under the theme, Resurgence, based on the theme verse Ezekiel 37:5-6.

We want to see God giving and breathing new life into this generation, said SOON Movements Los Angeles regional director Young Lee. Many young people lost their hope and purpose, because they dont know their identity and look for intimacy in other things rather than in God.

"In some ways, many young people are already dead spiritually," said David Cho, one of the organizers of the conference and the national operations director of SOON Movement. "Instead of trying to flee from the temptations of the world, many are satisfied being a part of this world. This year, we want to explore and discover, how can we awaken these people again spiritually? How can we be spiritually restored?"

In particular, there are many areas of brokenness in young peoples lives that are in need of healing, the organizers said, such as brokenness in family, in sexuality, and in their personal relationships with God.

Speakers have also been invited according to the theme, organizers said. Jessica Harris, author of Beggars Daughter, is known for speaking and writing openly about her previous addiction to pornography, for instance, and apologetics speaker and author Sean McDowell has also co-authored a book about sexuality called, Same-Sex Marriage: A Thoughtful Approach to Gods Design for Marriage. Both are among the main plenary session speakers, along with Maze, an author and magician; David Oh, senior pastor of Highland Cornerstone Church; and Dong Whan Kim, the national director of SOON Movement.

Unless these various areas of brokenness are addressed, we cannot shine the light of Jesus, said Lee. And when they are addressed, they become part of that redemptive story to share with others. But we ourselves must experience grace first.

We hope that many people can come and experience the true grace that sets them free from the guilt and shame, and for them to be renewed in Gods presence, he added. We pray that they would experience true intimacy in God, and have a time of healing, as well as pruning.

Elective seminars will also discuss similar topics, as well as broader spiritual and mission-related topics, including depression and inner healing, purity, sexuality, the history of missions, discerning Gods calling, and a survey of the Old and New Testaments.

Meanwhile, organizers have held two luncheons in recent weeks with local church Korean American pastors regarding the conference. SOON Movement also has been partnering with local churches to host Higher Calling Conferences for youth students in other regions. It hosted one in San Diego earlier this year in April, will also host conferences in Bakersfield (October 29) and Hawaii (January 6 to 7).

Higher Calling Conference will also take place in Santa Clara (December 27-30), Atlanta (December 21-24), and New York (January 4 to 7).
Gateway Seminary, one of the six seminaries affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention, has officially launched its Southern California campus and held various events from October 6 to 8 to celebrate.

On the morning of October 6, the school held a dedication service with some 500 faculty members and guests at the chapel in the new campus. The mayor of Ontario, where the school is located, also attended the dedication service and gave congratulatory remarks.

Craig Evans, author and professor at Houston Baptist University, was featured later in the day on October 6 as the Deere Lectures speaker. He spoke on the topic, Ancient Biography and the Reliability of the Gospels, and compared the historical documents before and after AD 1 to explore the historical reliability of the gospel. Later in the evening, some 400 gathered for the Gateway Seminary Gala at the Ontario Convention Center.

Gateway also hosted a Gateway Festival for members of the surrounding community. Food and various activities and games were open to the public for free.

The seminary, which was established in 1944 in Northern California, has had some 8,000 students graduate under its former name, Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary. After the school moved its main campus to Ontario in July 2016, it also changed its name to Gateway Seminary. The school has also had much interest in the Korean community, and has featured a Korean-English Bilingual Program at the Southern California extension in Brea since four years ago.

This article has been translated. For the original in Korean, visit kr.christianitydaily.com.
Defend the past. Save the future.

Those words are lighting up TV screens this week, promoting the new NBC time-travel adventure series Timeless. But really, its ridiculous. No matter how many people want to go back and kill Hitler, the past cannot be changed. Right? Right?

I dont know. Last night, director Ava DuVernay took me back to familiar figures from my childhood. She didnt defend the past. She revealed politicians I remember as heroes to be complicit in things I find difficult to accept. And if you take that journey with me, we might yet become a church that helps save the future by refusing to defend our past.

DuVernay, who directed Selmaa gripping historical drama that has the gospel blazing through its veinshas just delivered a brilliant lesson in time travel, and its streaming now on Netflix. Its called 13th.

With startling interviews, ugly statistics, kinetically charged animation, and shocking man-on-the-street footage of American history, 13th reintroduces Americans to their very own criminal justice system. I say reintroduces because DuVernay films through lenses that reveal a cancer running unchecked.

Full disclosure: Despite Jesuss call for his followers to visit prisoners, I have never stepped through those gates. Remember those religious hypocrites who pass by the man beaten, robbed, and left by the side of the road? DuVernays perspective convicts me. I see now how blind I became, proudly pledging my allegiance to the ideal of liberty and justice for all while revering politicians who manipulated laws to perpetuate injustice.

Informed by the testimonies of historical and ...

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I had the privilege or reading a pre-release version of "God Shines Forth: How the Nature of God Shapes and Drives the Mission of the Church." Here are 20 quotes from the book, which you should pick up.
Boko Haram has released 21 of the girls kidnapped in Chibok in April 2014 to the Nigerian Army in Maidugiri, capital of Borno state (where the Islamist group has been strongest), according to the Nigerian presidents spokesman.

It has been confirmed that the girls were freed in a trade for four imprisoned Boko Haram fighters, the BBC reported. The Swiss government acted as intermediaries.

[Editor's note: On October 13, the Nigerian government denied the swap, instead calling it a release, the product of painstaking negotiations and trust on both sides.]

Joel Billi, pastor and president of the Ekeklesiya Yanuwa Nigeria Church, told World Watch Monitor that 201 of the kidnapped girls belong to his church.

I would have celebrated even if one person was freed. I am very, very happy to hear that 21 of them are free, he said. My heart is also rejoicing that one day soon  the majority of them, if not all of them, are going to be freed.

Its been two and a half years since 275 schoolgirls were kidnapped from their dormitories in Chibok, in the northeastern state of Borno. Their disappearance generated headlines around the world and fueled a social media storm with the hashtag #bringbackourgirls.

Today is the first time any of the schoolgirls have been released, though one of them escaped with her baby and Boko Haram husband in May. Amina Nkeki was found in the Sambisa Forest, close to the border with Cameroon. (Two days later, Nigerias army said it had rescued a second girl, Serah Luka, believed to be the daughter of a pastor. She was later found to not have been among the Chibok girls.)

In September, the Nigerian government for the first time disclosed the details of its failure to secure the release of the girls during negotiations which began in July 2015, shortly after president Muhammadu Buhari took office.

Three times the negotiations were derailedonce at the last minute, even after the president had agreed to free imprisoned Boko Haram fighters. Another time, talks failed because key members of Boko Haram's negotiating team were killed.

In August, Boko Haram released a video which appeared to show some of the Chibok girls looking physically weak and traumatized. In it, a masked man demanded the release of militants in exchange for the girls. One girl, who called herself Maida Yakubu, asked her parents to appeal to the government for their release.

In April, the Boko Haram group released a separate video, apparently filmed on Christmas Day 2015 and broadcast on CNN and other outlets. In it, 15 of the girls pleaded with the Nigerian government to cooperate with the militants for their release. The girls said they were being treated well but wanted to be with their families.

Some parents who attended a screening of that video in Maiduguri identified some of the girls. Two mothers, Rifkatu Ayuba and Mary Ishaya, said they recognized their daughters in the video, while a third mother, Yana Galang, identified five of the missing girls, Reuters reported. One mother said her daughter looked well, much better than she had feared, giving some hope to the families.

The parents have been under a lot of strain: At least 18 of them have died of stress-related illness; 3 have been killed by militants; and many others have persistent health problems brought on by stress.

Billi said he was worried about what might happen to the girls who have been rescued.

When I heard about this news, I said that the church has to come out and talk to the federal government, he said. The church should be in forefront of all things because Anima, who was rescued few months ago, as I am talking, we dont know where she is. This is to say we have mixed feelings about the whole thing.

A month after she escaped, some members of Bring Back Our Girlsan advocacy group campaigning for the safe return of the girlsexpressed concerns over Nkekis whereabouts, saying she had been kept under close control by the government and that she appears to be treated as if shes become a Muslim (which she would have done against her will).

Buhari had promised the government will do everything possible to ensure she receives the care to make a full recovery and to be reintegrated fully into society. But some in the group were concerned that she had not been allowed to return to her Christian family, which they assumed would be a strong element in her recovery from trauma.

Like Nkeki, most of the Chibok girls were reportedly forcibly converted to Islam. It is feared that many have been sexually abused and forced into marriage by their captors.

A report by Nigerias Political Violence Research Network detailed this kind of treatment of minority Christians in northern Nigeria going back to 1999. It revealed how tremendously effective and efficient it is to focus attacks on women and girls because the effects are devastating to the community. Entire families and Christian communities are thus dishonored, regularly leading husbands to reject wives who are victims of rape and causing embarrassment and shame for their children.

Many become outcasts in their communities, stigmatized due to their perceived association with Boko Haram, reported humanitarian news agency IRIN.

Otherspregnant after rape by their captorshave been shamed and are now accused of spawning or seeking to spawn future Boko Haram fighters, stated IRIN.

The fact that Christian women and children suffer at the hands of Boko Haram is a carefully calculated part of the movements multi-pronged frontline offensive, designed to intimidate the population into accepting political-religious change, stated the political violence report.

The use of rape was also justified by Boko Haram militants on the basis of sex as jizya, a reference to a tax that early Islamic rulers demanded from their non-Muslim subjects for their own protection.

UN special envoy Angelina Jolie has spoken at the UK Parliament about rape as a policy aimed at terrorising and destroying communities.

[Islamist groups such as] Islamic State are dictating [it] as policy ... beyond what we have seen before, said Jolie. The Hollywood actress said the groups know it is a very effective weapon and they are using it as a center point of their terror and their way of destroying communities and families, and attacking and dehumanising.
After seven years in prison, Asia Bibi will have to wait even longer to know her fate.

Her appearance Thursday before Pakistans Supreme Court was put off when one of the three judges in the case recused himself. The Christian mother of five is facing a death sentence for blasphemy.

"I was a part of the bench that was hearing the case of Salmaan Taseer, and this case is related to that," Judge Iqbal Hameed ur Rehman reportedly told the court. Taseer was a politician who was assassinated in 2011 after he spoke out on behalf of Bibi. His killer, who was praised by many who thought he did the right thing, was sentenced to death by the Pakistan court and executed in February.

Lawyer and columnist Asad Jamal said Rehman wasnt legally required to remove himself, according to World Watch Monitor (WWM). Both cases have caused national uproar; about 150 radical clerics have called on the government to hang Bibi and others accused of blasphemy. Yesterday 100 policeman were on ...

1
Walk into any Christian bookstore in the country, and youre likely to find whole shelves bearing the works of writer, pastor, and preacher Max Lucado. As a man who likes to write books for people who dont like to read books, Lucado has left a mark on countless readers theological imaginations with his wisdom, accessible style, and warm, hospitable heartqualities that are also on full display in his latest book, Because of Bethlehem.

On this weeks episode of TheCalling, Lucado spoke with CT managing editor Richard Clark about Christmas, the upcoming election, and the lessons hes learned in pursuing his pastoral calling:

On his leadership style: Im a pastor. I can sit down with somebody who has a broken heart and love them and encourage them and remind them of how God cares. But I struggle when I look at a budget. Or I struggle when somebody says, Well, whats the long-term strategy for our church? Well, I dont know. I guess well see. Lets love God, preach Jesus, and pray. There were times when I struggled because I didnt match up to some of the people who had that great strategic leadership skill.

On his struggle with alcohol: I come from a family of alcoholics. Even to this day, I have to watch it. I really do.

On why he loves Christmas: I never get over the fact that you can be in a shopping mall and hear Away in a Manger being played over the speakers.

On the 2016 election: There is still a God in heaven. Even when the person on the throne or in the White House or leading the country is far from God, God is not far from the nation. Books like the Book of ...

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Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. once famously noted that the most segregated hour of Christian America is eleven o'clock on Sunday morning. Nearly 50 years later, a study by Michael Emerson, a Rice University sociologist, backed up Kings assertion, finding that only 8 percent of all Christian congregations in the United States are racially mixed to a significant degree. While many communities, churches, and pastors struggle to grapple with racial divides, some are actively working to bridge them.

Dr. Edwin Young of Second Baptist Church and Bishop James Dixon III of Community of Faith Church are two such pastors. Together, Young and Dixon recently locked arms to form a non-profit called Loving Kids, which, according to their website, is aimed at dramatically impacting the lives of children and families for years to come by providing an opportunity for Houstonians to lend a helping hand to schools throughout the city.

The two pastors look different on the outside: Young is white, 80 years old, and the pastor of a relatively wealthy multi-site church with as many as 72,000 members, while Dixon is middle aged, African American, and leads a 3,000-member church in the poverty-stricken neighborhood of Acres Homes. Underneath, however, their hearts beat with the same goal: to break through the imagined barrier between their congregations and reflect unity among believers.

The prayer of Jesus was God, make them one, and his prayer is still being answered, said Young. In a time like this, it is so important to see that America may be divided, but the church is not. The survival of America depends on the church being the body of Christ.

A Fight for an Open Door

For Young, dealing with racial divisions is nothing new. He began his preaching career at First Baptist Church of Charleston, South Carolina, where the declaration of secession that began the Civil War was signed. He tells the story of how, in his first week of leadership there, he was confronted with the issue of African Americans being turned away at the door. It was a turning point for the church.

I met with the deacons and made it clear: if I was going to be there, the churchnot just the services, but also its membershipwas going to be open to everyone, he said. With the sitting South Carolina governor on the board of deacons, it was a risky proposition, but Young called for a vote. By a narrow margin, he won his appeal for an open-door policy.

More than half a century later, Young will proudly proclaim that there is no room for racism at Second Baptist, either, citing a level of diversity in the church that is rare even by todays standards. I never think about race, he said. I preach the gospel and believe the gospel. We are a family of faith. The diversity is just a by-product of living it out.

Dixon agrees with Young, saying that serving the community is a key aspect of living out the gospel and coming together as the body of Christ. The love of God is expressed through human compassion, Dixon said. Preaching about it is important, but the practicing of it is what makes the difference.

This love is what is bringing the two pastors together in Loving Kids, a joint effort to address poverty and crime in Acres Homes. Young describes Houston as city divided between haves and have-nots. Everyone sees it, said Young, but doesnt want to do anything about it.

Dixon has been trying to do something about the problems facing his community for a long time, but compares his efforts to making brick without straw or the disciples trying to feed the multitudes with five loaves and a fish. It is impossible for a community-based church to transform an area by itself, Dixon said. Dr. Young has helped provide a model. Together, we can do so much more than what we could do alone.

Serving Where the Pain Is

Since the inception of Loving Kids, the two churches have grown their volunteer force to over a thousand, generating support from the mayors office and local businesses. Their goal is to drive out gangs and drugs by working with the local elementary schools, offering tutoring and childrens programs, and providing training and support for young single mothers and high school dropouts.

Community of Faith is a large church in a community with so many needs. They stay busy putting out fires, but they dont have enough firepower, said Young. We just went in and asked where the biggest pain was. The answer was single parents. Thats where the pain is. If you solve the problems of single parents, you solve the problems of the world.

Asked if, given the national racial climate, African American community members are suspicious of white people coming into the community, Dixon and Young both say its never been an issue for one key reason: love.

Love has no color. When authentic love comes along, it is quickly discerned, said Dixon. The character of a person has nothing to do with the color of their skin. Our church was founded by a slave, but what weve become is because of Jesus.

Young said that hed like to see more Christians being willing to put love into action. Love is not a feeling, its doing. You have to prove that love, he said, explaining that reaching outwhether it be to the community or to other churchestakes effort and investment.

And working together across a racial divide? Both Young and Dixon agree that the secret is getting past the differences and simply getting to know one another. Once we break that barrier, we discover we have so many things in common, Dixon said.

Young says that the steps in doing so have been simple and practical. Its relationship-building 101, he said. You pick up the phone, or have a cup of coffee. Healing that divide is just one phone call away.
When I moved to Kenya earlier this year, I became white, powerful, and unfathomably wealthy.

My little family of three lives in a five-bedroom home, and we employ a fulltime house helper and driverall for less than we paid in rent in Silicon Valley. We have every comfort we could possibly want in a country in which 77 percent of the population doesnt have access to electricity and 37 percent dont have safe drinking water.

As an Asian American who grew up in an immigrant, lower-middle-class family, this is the most privileged I have ever been. The everyday struggles of the majority of Kenyansagainst unemployment, poverty, corruption, extrajudicial police killings, and moreare not struggles that I will likely have to face here. In this warm and polite culture, I am treated with extra respect because of the lightness of my skin and the depth of my wallet.

It feels strange. Despite my discomfort with the idea, I cannot deny the abundance of my resources compared to those around me. When our helper tells me about her longstanding toothache, or when she muses how nice it would be to own a refrigerator, or when I realize my familys meal costs as much as her rent, my first response is a messy mix of compassion and guiltfollowed by overwhelming anxiety about whether I should do something to help.

For several years after college, I worked in the nonprofit sector with other young, idealistic professionals who were passionate about social justice. My colleagues and I used the word privilege almost like an insult. We saw ourselvespeople of color who had experienced financial struggle and systemic prejudiceas individuals free of the taint of privilege. We believed that other people, ...

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home World 4 Ethiopian teenagers on trial for distributing Christian books

Four Ethiopian teenage girls are currently on trial after they were arrested for distributing a Christian book in the town of Babile last September.

According to a report by the World Watch Monitor, the four girls, Eden, 15, Gifti, 14, Mihiret, 14, and Deborah, 18, were arrested for distributing a book written in the Ethiopian Amharic language titled "Let's speak the truth in love: Answers to questions by Ahmed Deedat." The book intends to respond to questions posed by the late South African Islamic Scholar Ahmed Deedat regarding Christianity.

The Christians in the area decided to distribute the book after going through a cross-cultural evangelism training. Local Muslims objected to the distribution, claiming that the book is an insult to Islam.

On Sept. 19, the Meserete Kristos Church (MKC) in Babile was attacked. The leaders of MKC and Full Gospel Church (FGC) were called to a meeting the next day and reportedly apologized for the distribution of the book.

After the meeting, a man named Bekele was arrested along with Deborah, Eden and Eden's mother.

In another meeting that occurred on the same day, town officials warned that they would take action against those who would "incite religious clashes." A local Christian pointed out that Islamic literature is circulated in Babile but there has been no backlash against it.

The FGC was reportedly attacked that same night and a group of young Muslims allegedly threatened the life of the MKC leader the next day. Bekele and Eden's mother were released separately but the officials arrested Gifti and Mihiret afterwards.

Eden was reportedly beaten on the first night of her incarceration. An unnamed source told the World Watch Monitor that the girls are holding on to their faith despite their difficulties.

"This [suffering] is an honor for us. We should expect persecution. We are not afraid. We are singing and praying here in prison," Eden said.

"It is an honour to be jailed for God's Kingdom," added Deborah.

The girls first appeared in court on Sept. 28. The judge adjourned the hearing until Oct. 14 to give the prosecution more time to finalize the charges against the girls.

The Ethiopian government guarantees freedom of religion but Christians suffer attacks in areas where Muslims are the majority. The Open Doors World Watch List ranks the country as the 18th most difficult place to live as a Christian.
home World Chinese churches won't pledge loyalty to Communist Party despite looming crackdown

The Chinese Communist Party enacted a new set of laws that puts tougher restrictions on religious activities but churches remained steadfast in their faith and continued to defy government orders.

The new laws sought to criminalize Christians who refuse to pledge loyalty to the state and put churches under the control of the Communist Party, Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) reported.

Wang Zeqing, a pastor of an underground church, acknowledged that the new regulations posed a great challenge to his congregation but he said that he will remain faithful to Jesus Christ.

"A person who truly believes in Jesus Christ will not lose their faith or become weak due the changing environment," he told ABC.

The new laws will also put the party in charge of hiring and firing church leaders and allow them to change religious doctrine.

"Jesus Christ is my only belief, my only loyalty is to Jesus Christ," Wang explained. "God says you should love your enemies, if they are hungry give them food to eat if they are thirsty give them water to drink, so we will pray for the non-believers. Let the spirit of Jesus move them and conquer them," he added.

"We urgently prayer for protection for the church and ask for God's mercy from the new laws from the Party," one churchgoer shouted in prayer.

Other Church leaders in Beijing are already expecting to be arrested and detained. Pastor Xu YongHai told ABC that he is expecting harassment and arrests from the government but he vowed to continue serving in the church even if it has to relocate. He believed that churches will be pushed further underground and continue to grow despite the new regulations.

Authorities have already began the crackdown in other parts of the country even before the new regulations were enacted.

Last month, a house church in Sichuan was ordered to stop holding religious services inside its building. Authorities threatened to impose administrative penalties on the church if it continued to violate the order.
home US Christian group files lawsuit to exempt churches from Massachusetts transgender bathroom law

The Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District court on Tuesday seeking an exemption from the new transgender anti-discrimination law for churches in Massachusetts.

The new ordinance which was enacted on Oct. 1 requires places of public accommodation to allow transgenders to use comfort rooms and changing rooms that conform to their gender identity.

The lawsuit was filed on behalf of four churches against Attorney General Maura Healey and members of the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination (MCAD), MassLive reported.

The ADF argued in the lawsuit that the new law violates the religious freedom of the churches.

"The activities that churches allow in their facilities must be consistent with their understanding of God's truth, and must not present a message that contradicts the churches' understanding of God's truth," the complaint stated.

"The churches' religious beliefs are that sex is an immutable trait from which springs the natural and healthy desires for physical privacy and modesty in states of partial or full undress, such as in showers, changing rooms and restrooms," it continued.

Kasey Suffredini and Mason Dunn of Freedom Massachusetts, the group that advocated for the law, issued a statement saying that the new law just updates existing anti-discrimination laws to include transgenders, adding that churches and pastors are still free to practice their beliefs.

Suffredini and Dunn also noted that the law was supported by 350 congregations when it was still being debated.

According to the guidance written by MCAD, churches will only be subject to the law if it holds secular events such as a spaghetti supper.

The lawsuit argued that all events at the church are religious. The churches are also worried that the sermons will be subject to the anti-discrimination law if it touches on the subject of gender identity.

The ADF is seeking a preliminary injunction to exempt the churches from the law. The plaintiffs in the case are Horizon Christian Fellowship in Fitchburg: Abundant Life Church in Swansea; House of Destiny Ministries in Southbridge; and Faith Christian Fellowship in Haverhill.

The group has also filed a similar lawsuit in Iowa last July on behalf of Fort Des Moines Church of Christ.
home World Christian missionaries share the Gospel in Aleppo as the war rages on

Christian missionaries continue to share their hope in Christ in the Syrian city of Aleppo even as bombs and bullets ravage the city.

According to Christian Aid Mission, ministry workers in the region have baptized more than 230 people this year.

The director of a ministry based in Syria recounted the story of a woman who was told by a man in her dream that she will be visited by three men who will bring her good news.

"She continued to have this dream for six days in a row," the director told Christian Aid Mission. "On the seventh day, one of our teams was doing home visits and decided to visit a new house. The three of them sat down in this woman's house to have a short visit, but when they opened their Bible, she instantly fell to her knees," she added.

When her husband and children arrived, she excitedly told them, "These are the people that the man in my dream told me to meet!"

The family put their faith in Christ after the missionaries told them about his death and resurrection.

Baptisms can be difficult to perform in the country because of the different Islamic groups vying for control. As a precaution, ministry workers are careful not to announce plans for baptisms when they invite people to attend meetings. It is only offered to the participants when they are already gathered at a secret venue.

The ministry leader recalled the time when the ministry prepared for a day of baptism but some of the new believers did not arrive. They found out later that the new believers had been killed when they went to their homes.

"This is why it is best not to announce baptisms," he said.

The city is dangerous enough for civilians who do not have to hide from Islamic radicals. About 400,000 to 500,000 people have been killed since the rebellion against Syrian president Bashar al-Assad began five years ago.

The director said that there is so much to be done and the workers are completely exhausted. He said that the local missionaries are in need of emotional and financial support.

The U.N. does not seem to be optimistic about the situation in Syria. Last Saturday, Stephane Dujarric, a spokesman from the U.N. secretary-general's office, stated that the organization was not able to reach people who are in need of assistance in Aleppo. Dujarric also remarked that he cannot expect an improvement in the city's conditions.
home US Clinton campaign aide rips Catholics in leaked emails

Hillary Clinton's campaign communications director Jennifer Palmieri bashed conservative Catholics and evangelicals in a 2011 email exchange with the Center for American Progress (CAP) president John Halpin.

The exchange, which had the subject line "Conservative Catholics," was released by Wikileaks as part of a batch of hacked emails from Clinton's campaign chairperson John Podesta.

The thread began with Halpin mocking News Corp CEO Rupert Murdoch and Wall Street Journal managing editor Robert Thomson for wanting to raise their children as Catholics.

Halpin went on to complain that there are many Catholics in the conservative movement and said that it was "an amazing bastardization of the faith."

"They must be attracted to the systematic thought and severely backwards gender relations and must be totally unaware of Christian democracy," he wrote.

"I imagine they think it is the most socially acceptable politically conservative religion. Their rich friends wouldn't understand if they became evangelicals," Palmieri replied.

"They can throw around 'Thomistic' thought and 'subsidiarity' and sound sophisticated because no one knows what the hell they're talking about," Halpin wrote back.

Podesta was included in the email exchange but he did not reply to Halpin's comments.

Joseph Cella, founder of the National Catholic Prayer Breakfast, said the emails represented "the open anti-Catholic bigotry of her senior advisers, who attack the deeply held beliefs and theology of Catholics."

Cella urged Clinton and her campaign team to apologize to all Catholics.

Clinton spokesperson Brian Fallon described the issue as a "faux controversy" on Twitter and pointed out that Palmieri herself is Catholic.

In an email to Time, Clinton spokesperson Glen Caplin criticized Wikileaks for the hacking and said that the website is advancing the political agenda of Russian President Vladimir Putin to help elect Donald Trump. Caplin added that the hacking is now being investigated by the FBI.

In another leaked email, Podesta assured a liberal activist that groups like Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good and Catholics United had been created to promote a more progressive approach to Catholicism.
home World France proposes ban on pro-life websites

The French government has revealed its plans to ban pro-life websites that provide biased information about abortion while appearing to be neutral.

The proposed ban, which was announced late September, would be under an amendment to the Equality and Citizenship Law. Offending website owners could face up to two years in prison and would be ordered to pay fines amounting to 30,000 euros (about $33,600).

"Being hostile to abortion is an opinion protected by the civil liberties in France," Laurence Rossignol, minister of families, children, and women's rights, told Rue89. "But creating websites that have all official appearances to actually give biased information designed to deter, guilt, traumatize is not acceptable," he added.

One of the targeted websites is ivg.net, which is among the top search results in Google competing with the government website, ivg.social-sante.gouv.fr. IVG stands for "l'interruption volontaire de grossesse" or "voluntary interruption of pregnancy."

Marie Philippe, a spokeswoman for ivg.net, said the website provides help for "women who suffer from an abortion who finally find a place here to express their pain, ideologically denied in our country."

Rossignol said that ivg.net and other similar sites are claiming to provide unbiased information but are mainly aimed at convincing women not to terminate their pregnancies.

"A woman facing an unwanted pregnancy is sometimes vulnerable," she said. "The sites we are talking about take advantage of the complexity of situations and emotions to get them to renounce abortion," Rossignol added.

According to World, ivg.net contains pages that list facts about the health risks of abortion and numerous testimonies from women who regretted going through the procedure.

In 1993, the French government created a law that prevents pro-life activists from using "moral and psychological maneuvers" to convince women not to go through an abortion.

In one case, an 84-year-old pro-life activist named Xavier Dor was fined 10,000 euros ($13,360) for attempting to counsel women at an abortion clinic. Dor reportedly showed knitted baby shoes to a woman. The 31st Criminal Chamber of the Paris Tribunal ruled that the act constituted "unheard of violence."
home US Russell Moore decries Pat Robertson's dismissal of Trump's lewd comments as "humiliating mess"

Russell Moore denounced Pat Robertson for his dismissal of Trump's lewd comments in a leaked video tape.

In the 2005 video tape recently published by the Washington Post, Trump was heard talking about his failed attempt to seduce a married woman. He also boasted that he is able to get away with kissing and groping women because he is "a star."

Robertson, the founder of Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN), characterized the comments as Trump's attempt to look "macho."

"Let's face it. A guy does something 11 years ago, there was a conversation in Hollywood where he's trying to look like he's macho," said Robertson in his CBN show.

Robertson went on to explain that while the scandalous tape made it look like Trump's campaign is finished, the candidate recovered from it during the second presidential debate.

"He's like the phoenix. They think he's dead, he's come back. And he came back strong. So, he won that debate," he said.

Moore, the president of the Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, shared a link to Robertson's remarks on Twitter and commented, "This is how we got into this mess. This, right here. Humiliating."

Commenting on the second debate, Moore tweeted, "This is the worst political disaster I have ever seen."

Trump's video scandal caused some division among evangelicals leaders.

Renowned theologian Wayne Grudem rescinded his endorsment for Trump and said he is now unsure whom to vote for in the coming elections.

James MacDonald, pastor of Harvest Bible Chapel, described Trump's comments as "misogynistic trash that reveals a man to be lecherous and worthless." MacDonald has not publicly endorsed Trump but he is a member of the candidate's evangelical advisory council.

Gary Bauer of the Campaign for Working Families and Steve Scheffler of Iowa Faith and Freedom Coalition have expressed their disappointment about Trump's remarks but they continue to stand behind him.

Female Evangelical leaders such as Julie Roys of Moody Bible Institute, popular evangelist Beth Moore and Chelsen Vicari have expressed their disgust for Trump's lewd remarks.

"For anyone calling themselves a Christian, 'locker room talk' and 'macho talk' is no defense for degrading, abusive remarks against women," said Vicari, who is the director of the Evangelical Action Director at the Institute on Religion.
home World Secularist group wants Air Force colonel punished for mentioning Christ

The Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF) filed a complaint against an Air Force colonel for mentioning Christ during an interview with the 39th Air Base Wing's public affairs office.

In the interview published on September, Lt. Col. Michael Kersten, who was stationed at the Incirlik Air Base in Turkey, invoked Christ when he was asked which leader had the most influence on him.

"As a Christian, my example is to be like Christ," said Kersten. "He is my guide and affects all of my decisions. He teaches to do all things as unto the Lord and I believe this is synonymous with integrity first and excellence in all we do," he added.

Last Thursday, MRFF president Michael Weinstein sent a demand letter to Col. John C. Walker, commander of the 39th Air Base Wing, complaining that the time, place and manner of Kersten's expression of his faith was unconstitutional.

The letter cited an excerpt from the Air Force Instruction which was quoted as saying, "They must ensure their words and actions cannot reasonably be construed to be officially endorsing or disapproving of, or extending preferential treatment for any faith, belief, or absence of belief."

Weinstein claimed that Kersten's statement was proselytizing and the group also took issue with the colonel's remark that his Christian faith aligned with some of the Air Force official core values.

"We find Lt. Col. Kersten's statement of Christian exceptionalism to be extremely egregious, defiant and violative of Constitutional, judicial and DoD regulatory mandates," Weinstein wrote.

The letter also pointed out that Kersten made his remarks inside an Islamic-allied country. Weinstein claimed that the MRFF office has received numerous complaints from the Incirlik Air Base following the publication of the interview. He asserted that Kersten's Christian bias casted doubts among junior airmen who do not share the colonel's beliefs whether they will be treated fairly.

The MRFF demanded the Air Force to reprimand and punish Kersten publicly and apologize to the other men as well as the members of the Turkish military for Kersten's statement.
home World Swiss court forces Christian nursing home to perform assisted suicide

A nursing home run by the Salvation Army will have to perform assisted suicide upon request of its patients to comply with an order from the Swiss Federal Court.

According to a report from World Radio, the Salvation Army challenged the law that required charitable institutions to allow assisted suicides if a patient requested it. The organization said that the law, which was implemented over a year ago, violated its religious beliefs and freedom of conscience.

The court rejected the complaint and stated that the nursing home would have to give up its charitable status if it did not want to comply with the law. If the Salvation Army chose to follow the court's recommendation, it would no longer receive state subsidies.

Switzerland has seen a 26 percent increase in assisted suicide over the previous year. Swissinfo reported that most of the people who opted to die by assisted suicide were terminally ill.

The Federal Statistics Office reported that there has been 742 cases of assisted suicide in Switzerland in 2014. 42 percent of the cases involved illnesses caused by cancer. 14 percent had neurodegenerative diseases. 11 percent had cardiovascular illnesses while 10 percent had muscoloskeletal disorders.

A study revealed that about 63 percent of people over the age of 50 who are living in German-speaking areas of Switzerland have considered assisted suicide. The research was conducted by the assisted dying organization Exit.

According to Exit's vice-president Marion Schafroth, the results reveal that patients want the issue to be discussed with their doctors "without taboo."

The organization's president Saskia Frei wants to simplify the procedure of assisted suicide so that a police investigation would not be required. Assisted suicide is considered as an "extraordinary death," which required authorities to investigate whether the law has been followed.

Assisted suicide has been legal in Switzerland since the 1940s. The process is usually carried out with a lethal dose of barbiturates prescribed by a doctor. If poison is being used, whether through ingestion or through stomach tubes, it must be performed by the person who opted for assisted suicide.
Asia Bibi, Christian Woman On Death Row For Blasphemy, Has Final Appeal Postponed

The final appeal for Asia Bibi, the Christian mother sentenced to death for blasphemy in Pakistan, has been postponed, Christian Today has been told.

Wilson Chowdhry, of the British Pakistani Christian Association (BPCA), said this morning that the appeal had been adjourned for an indefinite period after the judge refused to hear the case.

Justice Iqbal Hameed ur Rehman said he could not preside over the case, which was due to be heard in Pakistan's Supreme Court today, because he had also tried the murderer of Salman Taseer, the Governor of the Punjab who was assassinated in 2011 after publicly defending Bibi.

"I was a part of the bench that was hearing the case of Salmaan Taseer, and this case is related to that," the judge told the court.

Bibi, real name Aasiya Noreen, is from Ittan Wali, a rural village in the Sheikhupura District of Punjab in eastern Pakistan, about 60 miles west of the capital Lahore.

She was arrested in June 2009 and sentenced to death in November the following year for allegedly blaspheming against the Prophet Muhammad during an argument with fellow farm workers.

She has consistently denied the charges.

Pakistan's repressive blasphemy laws prescribe life imprisonment for the desecration of the Qur'an and the death sentence for "defiling" the Prophet Mohammad, and accusations of incidents have often prompted mob violence. According to the Centre for Research and Security Studies in Pakistan, more than 62 people have been killed in such incidents since 1990. More than 40 people are currently on death row for blasphemy, the majority of whom are members of religious minorities.

Bibi, however, is the first woman to be sentenced to death in Pakistan on blasphemy charges.

Christian Today had previously been told by Christian Solidarity Worldwide's (CSW) South Asia team leader that "if there is any hope of Asia getting justice, it's through the Supreme Court".

The postponement of her appeal will therefore come as a disappointment to campaigners, who have urged Pakistan to release her free of charge.

The CSW source did say on Monday, however, that judges in blasphemy cases are often threatened by Muslim hardliners, which could affect the outcome of her appeal.

"We've seen how politicians who have spoken up have been attacked. Salman Taseer and Shahbaz Bhatti, both killed in 2011, were directly involved in speaking out against the arrest and conviction of Asia Bibi. We have also seen and heard of cases where judges who are presiding over cases involving the blasphemy laws have received threats to their lives and have had to flee the country. So as much as the Pakistani Supreme Court would take a very objective approach, history has taught us that even judges at that level are open to discrimination and threats to their life," he said.
Boko Haram Frees 21 Kidnapped Chibok Schoolgirls In Nigeria

More than 20 schoolgirls kidnapped by Islamist group Boko Haram in Nigeria in 2014 have been released, Nigeria's government confirmed on Thursday.

"The release of the girls...is the outcome of negotiations between the administration and the Boko Haram brokered by the International Red Cross and the Swiss government," a government statement said, confirming that 21 girls were freed. "The negotiations will continue."

Around 270 girls, most of them Christians, were taken from their school on April 14, 2014. Dozens have managed to escape, but more than 200 are still missing.

Their capture was part of Boko Haram's seven-year-old insurgency to set up an Islamic state in the north of Nigeria that has killed some 15,000 people.

More than 910 schools have been targeted by the Islamist group, whose name means "Western [or non-Islamic] education is a sin". At least 611 teachers have been deliberately killed and another 19,000 forced to flee. At least 1,500 schools have closed.

In a video released in May 2014, then-Boko Haram leader, Abubakar Shekau, said women and girls would continue to be abducted to "turn them to the path of true Islam" and ensure they did not attend school.

The fighting has sparked a largely unreported refugee crisis with an estimated 2.2 million people, including 1.4 million children, displaced. Only around 10 per cent are in government-recognised refugee camps where there is some schooling. The other 90 per cent are living with friends and family members with little or no access to education.

A video posted by Boko Haram in August this year showed dozens of the missing Chibok schoolgirls with a militant. One of the girls said that "some" of them had been killed in military airstrikes, while "about 40" had been married.

Additional reporting by Reuters.
Church in U.S. Faces Fine of $100 a Day for Providing Shelter to the Homeless

A Christian church in Delaware, U.S. is being threatened with hefty fines because it has provided housing to a young mother with physical disability.

The Victory Church near Rover is facing a fine of $100 a day after it bought a recreational vehicle (RV) for 21-year-old blind mother Alexis Simms, who is also suffering from lupus.

Simms now lives with her mother and two-and-a-half-year-old daughter inside the vehicle, which is parked on church property behind the building.

Victory Church Pastor Aaron Appling, who advocates helping the homeless, said he and his church members decided to help Simms and her family because of their Christian faith.

"We want to stand up for her, because there is nobody else to stand up for her," Appling said, as quoted by RT.com.

In helping out the homeless, the church ironically finds itself facing problems with its neighbours and even the Kent County government. The county levy court has already issued a notice to the church, telling it to comply with the county zoning codes or receive fines of $100 a day, up to $1,000.

The problem stems from the fact that the land where the RV is parked now is classified as an agricultural residential district. Kia Evans, a county spokeswoman, explained that such type of land can only be used for other purposes if approved by the county.

"It is possible to create a commercial recreational campground at the property with the proper approvals. The purpose of the approvals is to ensure that the health and safety of occupants of the campground, neighbors, and the public at large, is covered," Evans said.

Pastor Appling said he is willing to follow the county's zoning requirements. However, he said getting approvals will cost at least $100,000 to pay for engineering requirements, attorney fees and others.

"Part of our religious belief and faith is to help the poor. They're punishing us for doing what we feel we're commanded to do according to our faith," Appling said.
Evangelist With No Arms or Legs Nick Vujicic Draws Thousands to Christ in Secular Europe

This evangelist has no arms or legs but he's got millions of inspired fans worldwide.

Nick Vujicic once again showed his God-given speaking prowess and the persuasive power of his mind during his recent tour of Europe where he was able to convince thousands to come to Christ, The Christian Post reported.

In his social media posts, Vujicic recalls meeting with the leaders of Ukraine and Slovenia as well as his speaking engagements attended by thousands of people.

In one of his Facebook posts, Vujicic recalled one "incredible" night in Ukraine when more than half of some 5,000 people who listened to him speak in an auditorium "stood, repented, received Jesus as their Lord and Savior and are now being followed up with by the local church. Praise Jesus!"

In another Facebook post, Vujicic talked about his visit to Slovenia where he had the privilege of being introduced to an audience by a president of a country for the very first time. "Honored to have met and prayed with President Borut Pahor. Thank you, Mr. President!" he wrote.

He was also invited as guest of a popular TV talk show. "Had the most amazing interview in Slovenia! The most popular talk show host talked to me about how my book 'Unstoppable' changed her life and led her to find Jesus. Forty-five minutes later, we prayed for the country and God showed up big time! Thank you, sister!" he said.

In "Unstoppable: The Incredible Power of Faith in Action," which was released in 2012, Vujicic shared how he overcame the most difficult periods of his life, and how he was blessed with a joyful married life.

"I actually like this book a little bit better, because it's deeper and more transparent, I think. I share about the depression I went through in 2010, and share that basically 'unstoppable' doesn't mean bullet proof. When you can't walk, God's going to carry you," Vujicic told The Christian Post in an earlier interview where he talked about his first book, "Life Without Limits."

"With me, in my life, I know that there are people who can get encouraged to see how God can use a man without arms and legs to be his hands and feet, but I wanted people to know that I am not a superhero, it is not about me, or how well I speak or articulate  it is the Spirit of God. It is an active relationship with him," Vujicic said.
Go To Jail For Daring To Evangelise: The Growing Threat To Christians In Nepal

Christians in Nepal are being arrested and beaten up for no reason, Christian Today has learned.

Christian leaders in Nepal, a landlocked country in South Asia with China on one side and India on the other, are urging their fellow believers in the West to pressure their MPs to intervene.

The growing harrassment comes as the Nepal government prepares to implement new laws restricting freedon of religion and belief that are similar to the harsh and controversial Pakistani blasphemy law.

Eight Christians are currently awaiting trial later this month, accused of illicit evangelisation. They were arrested and held in custody for nine days, charged with distributing a comic book explaining the story of Jesus as a gift at trauma relief sessions that were held in two schools in eastern Nepal this year as a response to the April 2015 earthquakes.

Christians make up less than two per cent of the 28 million mainly Hindu population of Nepal.

Tanka Subedi, senior pastor of Family of God Church, Kathmandu and advocate for Freedom of Religion and Belief in Nepal and South Asia, said: "For the last two years we have been unsure about how long the doors will be open for us to practise our faith freely. We were not expecting this level of harassment."

Pastor Tanka told Christian Today that there are there are in total 15 court cases waiting to be heard.

"Christians were arrested and beaten without reasons," he said. "Political leaders are accusing Christian for converting by paying money."

Pastors are afraid to take Bibles and literature with them in their ministry becasue there is a danger police will accuse them of trying forcibly to convert others simply by having a Bible in their possession.

"Children are traumatised," he said. Some Christian organisations working for the churches have had no permission to do their work since mid-July. Churches and their ministries have found they no longer have a legal identity.

Orphanages and Christian NGOS working with churches are being regularly harassed."

Tanka said: "The Government has prepared a law banning all types of freedom for religious minorities. Those arrested and their families have a miserable life, they have no money for the court case and travel and lodging for family members to attend. Those who were the breadwinners for the family are in jail. They do not know how their families can be supported."

Tanka added: "It would be helpful if Christians in the West would talk to their Government through MPs to look at the Nepal situation and speak for us. Please urgently pray for Nepal and take some practical action against suppression of Christians in Nepal."

Under Article 26(3) of Nepal's new constitution, introduced in September last year as the nation transitioned from a Hindu monarchy to a secular democratic republic, it is punishable by law to convert someone from one religion to another or act in a way that may jeopardise another's religion.

Among those facing trial on October 26 are Bimal Shahi, Prakash Pradhan and Shakti Pakhrin of Charikot, who spent nine days in jail accused of illegal conversion because of the distribution of a small pamphlet, The Great Story, with the story of Jesus explained for children.

The arrests took place in June 2016, following two trauma counselling sessions organised by Teach Nepal, a Kathmandu-based non-governmental organisation.

The sessions sought to address the psychological needs of children affected by the earthquakes that hit Nepal in April 2015. When they finished, children were given a small gift pack which included a handkerchief and the 23-page comic book.

On their way back to Kathmandu, five Teach Nepal staff were stopped by the police. Their car was searched and a Bible was found in the car.

The Bible was used as evidence by the police to arrest and later accuse them of attempting forcibly to convert children to Christianity.

In both schools, the children who attended the sessions were from diverse faith backgrounds; no religious teaching or prayers took place during the counselling sessions and none of the children were forced to take this gift. The principals of the two schools, who authorised the sessions, and a pastor who was acting as a contact between the schools and the NGO, were also arrested.

In a blog about the case, Christian Solidarity Worldwide's advocacy officer for Nepal writes that the case is important because it will set a precedent.

The charge sheet they were served by the police is thought to be the first in the nation's history in which Article 26 (3) of the newly promulgated constitution was quoted. This clause states: "No person shall, in the exercise of the right conferred by this Articleconvert another person from one religion to another or any act or conduct that may jeopardize other's religion and such act shall be punishable by law."

Tanka said the new legislation seemed to target Christians in particular.

"I always have a Bible or other Christian books in my car, which I often distribute. If the current culture of discrimination against us continues, this might be enough for the police to stop me any time and accuse me of trying to convert others, given that my fellow Christians in the Charikot incident were arrested by the police and the Bible in their possession was used as evidence in their case."

The new constitution states in its preamble that Nepal is a "secular, inclusive, democratic" state and goes on to define the word secular as "including protection of religion, culture handed down from the time immemorial." However this phrase, Sanatana Dharma in the original Nepail text, is a phrase traditionally used to refer to the Hindu faith only.

One of those accused of forcibly converting children has spoken movingly about her plight. China Maya told Thomas Subba, of NepalChurch.com: "I am a Christian by faith having a lot of relations with churches around the country." She helped families feed their children and eventually founded an orphanage. Then earlier this year, during an inspection, a Bible was found in her room. "As a result I was falsely accused of forcing children to religious conversion. It is obvious for a Christian to have Bible at home, but it does not mean that person is proselytising. But they did not understand this aspect; they even declared that they would close my orphanage."

When she took the 14 children in the orphanage to Kathmandu for safety, she found herself accused of trafficking.

"I am accused of human trafficking and proselytising for taking care of poor children," she writes.
Hundreds Of Christian Students At Liberty University Say 'No' To Donald Trump

Hundreds of students at the top US evangelical Christian university, Liberty, have come out against Donald Trump.

The Republican nominee has been controversially backed by Liberty's own president, Jerry Falwell Jr.

The students have formed a new group, Liberty United Against Trump. In an open letter that has already had hundreds of endorsements, they say they do not wish to champion Trump. They only want to be champions for Jesus Christ.

"We Liberty students are often told to support Donald Trump because the other leading candidate is a bad option. Perhaps this is true," they write. "But the only candidate who is directly associated with Liberty University is Donald Trump.

"Because our president has led the world to believe that Liberty University supports Donald Trump, we students must take it upon ourselves to make clear that Donald Trump is absolutely opposed to what we believe, and does not have our support.

"We are not proclaiming our opposition to Donald Trump out of bitterness, but out of a desire to regain the integrity of our school.

"While our president Jerry Falwell Jr. tours the country championing the log in his eye, we want the world to know how many students oppose him. We don't want to champion Donald Trump; we want only to be champions for Christ."

The students lament that Trump is now associated with Liberty since Falwell enorsed him earlier this year. They say they are tired of being associated with one of the worst presidential candidates in American history: "Donald Trump does not represent our values and we want nothing to do with him."

Trump received just 90 votes from Liberty students in Virginia's primary election.

The students say: "Associating any politician with Christianity is damaging to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. But Donald Trump is not just any politician. He has made his name by maligning others and bragging about his sins. Not only is Donald Trump a bad candidate for president, he is actively promoting the very things that we as Christians ought to oppose."

They note that any Liberty faculty or staff member would be terminated for making the comments about women that Trump was revealed to have made.

Falwell's response however was: "We're all sinners."

The students say: "We must make clear to the world that while everyone is a sinner and everyone can be forgiven, a man who constantly and proudly speaks evil does not deserve our support for the nation's highest office."

Len Stevens, director of external comms for Liberty University told Christian Today: "From the University's perspective I can tell you that Liberty University does not support or oppose candidates for public office. Jerry Falwell Jr's endorsement of Donald Trump is a personal endorsement, in his individual capacity as a citizen and not as president of Liberty University. The University is not commenting on this and is referring all comments and inquiries regarding the endorsement to his family, outside the operations of the University." He added that he had nothing about any doubts from Falwell: "I have heard nothing about a potential change in endorsement."

One member of the group behind the letter, Dustin Wahl, told CNN that since publishing the letter at 3 pm on Wednesday, they had more than 200 signatures from fellow students by Wednesday evening. The students took action so that "the world understands how many Liberty students do not support President Falwell in his endorsement of Donald Trump".

A group leader, Tyler McNally, found himself trending on Twitter after he tweeted:

To all politico journos who follow me:



This is the first official statement for Liberty United Against Trump. pic.twitter.com/fBJfV41N3o  Tyler McNally (@Tyler_McNally) October 12, 2016

Falwell himself reiterated on Wednesday night that he was standing behind Trump.

Falwell told CNN: "I'm going to vote for Donald Trump because I believe he's the best qualified to be president of the United States."

He added: "What about the Donald Trump of today? Is he a changed man? I think he is. He's taken all the right positions on all the issues. He will do what's best for America as president."

Libertarian presidential candidate and former governor of New Mexico Gary Johnson will speak at Liberty University's Convocation next Monday. Republican Mike Pence along with Ben Carson, Ted Cruz, and Bernie Sanders have also spoken at Liberty.
Justin Bieber's Pastor Judah Smith Says He's Learned More from the Pop Star than the Pop Star Could Ever Learn from Him

Celebrity pastors tend to get a lot of flak for ministering to individuals who can't seem to shake off nasty scandals and rumours. But Pastor Judah Smith from City Church in Seattle, Washington believes that these celebrities need God just like everybody else, so he's not going to turn his back on them.

While speaking to The Christian Post about his new book "How's Your Soul? Why Everything That Matters Starts With The Inside You," Smith opened up about his relationship with "Love Yourself" crooner Justin Bieber.

Bieber had a reputation for getting into bar brawls and getting arrested for driving under the influence, but Smith said the pop star isn't as bad as some people picture him to be.

"I feel like I have learned more from Justin Bieber than he could ever have learned from me. I have been allowed to love him and I feel like we are family. We talk almost every day," he said. "And I've learned that what does it profit a man to gain the whole world but in the process lose his soul? That all of the trappings that our culture tells us you pursue, leaves us as lifeless as you could possibly imagine."

Smith said celebrities might have incredible wealth and hundreds of millions of adoring fans, but the one thing they really need in their lives is God. It might seem like celebrities are on top of the world and don't need anybody in their lives, but Smith said that idea is wrong. What he tries to do is offer celebrities an authentic relationship so they can experience God's love in their lives.

"And yes, it is unique when a celebrity or someone of renown comes to church. It's like someone who is, if I can say it this way, is impaired in some way," he continued. "You have to do some unique stuff to make sure that they get a fair shake at hearing the Gospel. And so you've got to be protective at times. But what they need is what they all need: love, grace, relationship."
Man Clinically Dead for 8 Minutes Comes Back to Life, Says God 'Has Some Things for Me to Do'

Mike Gibbons from Bonner Springs in Kansas, U.S. has become widely known as "Miracle Mike" because he miraculously came back from the dead. Not only that, but "Miracle Mike" is also being called "Grateful Mike" because he even went back to the emergency room of Providence Medical Center in Kansas City to say thank you to all the medical staff who saved his life.

"He's telling me, 'Thank you' and that's just amazing to have that," his nurse Tammy Weitz told AOL.

"This is a highlight for me, and this will carry me and a lot of the people here for quite some time," added Dr. David Biller, an emergency physician.

Gibbons thanked the hospital's medical staff even though he still had no recollection of his time in the hospital's E.R. on May 2. However, he had a pretty clear recollection of dying.

"I saw a bright light and I thought okay, I'm going home. And then all of a sudden, it went dim. I started rattling around and [I] yelled out, 'Let's roll, Lord' after I pulled something off my face," shared Gibbons.

His doctors told him that he was rushed to the hospital in an ambulance after suffering from cardiac arrest at the Bonner Springs YMCA. Staff and bystanders revived him with an automated external defibrillator, but they weren't optimistic about his chances of survival.

"He had a horrible, horrible colour," recalled Weitz, while Biller feared that Gibbons' heart would "dwindle again." The staff worked hard to restore his blood pressure and cool his body to save his brain cells.

Their efforts worked, because Gibbons regained consciousness. "I wake up four days later and I'm being told I was clinically dead for eight minutes at the Y," Gibbons said. Days later, he made it through a six-way heart bypass surgery. He started walking again days after that and hasn't stopped, although he's lost a whopping 57 pounds.

After everything he's gone through, "Miracle Mike" knows one thing is certain: God allowed him to live again so he can inspire other people to lead healthier lives.

This Saturday, he is set to lead the Rock, Roll and Run 5K Walk and Run in Bonner Springs. The proceeds of the event will benefit several programmes of the Providence YMCA.

"I believe God put all these people in this position to bring me to where I am now. He has some things for me to do," he said.
Pakistan Steps Up Persecution With Ban On 11 Christian TV Stations

Eleven Christian television stations in Pakistan have been declared illegal in the latest crackdown on Christians in the predominantly Muslim nation.

The Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority, a government body, has shut down Christian stations broadcasting in Urdu in an order issed at the end of September.

Ten of the channels are Protestant Christian television stations, and include Isaac TV, Gawahi TV, God Bless TV, Barkat TV, Praise TV, Zindagi TV, Shine TV, Jesus TV, Healing TV and Khushkhabari TV. They had been allowed to broadcast for 17 years.

The authorities have also banned Catholic TV, the diocesan channel in Lahore. "All the Regional Directors General are invited to take the necessary steps to immediately stop the illegal transmission of TV channels in their respective regions," the legal order stipulates.

Father Mushtaq Anjum, a Pakistan monk and priest who specialises in communications and the media, told Agenzia Fides: "The proclamation of the Good News is considered illegal.

"For some years now, with great efforts, Christian communities have organised television networks, cable or web, to talk to Christians and to speak of the Christian faith. Christians have no place in public television channels. We want to understand why they are called illegal. This is another discriminatory law that affects non-Muslims."

Father Anjam said the order was a serious attack on the freedom to practise a religion as well as on the vision of Pakistan founder, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, who imagined a free as opposed to an Islamic society.

He described the bans as "intimidation".

This video is from the YouTube channel of one of the banned stations, Isaac TV.

Catholic TV founder Father Morris Jalal said: "As citizens, Christians have the right to practise their religion, but if they block you, it means not all citizens are equal," according to the Express. He called for people in the West to protest against the bans.

Catholic TV founder Father Morris Jalal said: "As citizens, Christians have the right to practise their religion, but if they block you, it means not all citizens are equal," according to the Express. He called for people in the West to protest against the bans.
Religious Freedoms Of All US Citizens Threatened By Civil Rights Report, Warns Russell Moore

Top Southern Baptist Russell Moore has joined with other religious leaders in lobbying US President Barack Obama against a civil rights report that states that religious exemptions in law are used as a pretext for discrimination.

The report last month from the US Commission on Civil Rights includes a statement from Commission chairman Martin Castro, who says: "Our country was founded by those fleeing religious persecution. We must, therefore, always be vigilant to ensure that religion not be used as a pretext to persecute those whose civil rights and civil liberties should be protected."

He adds: "The phrases 'religious liberty' and 'religious freedom' will stand for nothing except hypocrisy so long as they remain code words for discrimination, intolerance, racism, sexism, homophobia, Islamophobia, Christian supremacy or any form of intolerance."

Religious groups fear that legislation following on from the report could remove current protections for religious belief from organisations including Christian universities, churches and mosques.

The report has already been condemned by leading Baptists such as Albert Mohler, president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, who described it as part of "a moral revolution that is taking place right before our eyes".

According to Baptist Press, Moore, president of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, the public policy arm of the Southern Baptist Convention, wants Obama "to renounce publicly the claim that 'religious freedom' and 'religious liberty' are 'code words' or a 'pretext' for various forms of discrimination".

The letter was sent to the speaker, Paul Ryan, Orrin Hatch, the most senior Republican in the Senate, and Obama.

It says the report "stigmatises tens of millions of religious Americans, their communities, and their faith-based institutions, and threatens the religious freedom of all our citizens".

The signatories, who include Catholic, African, Methodist, Episcopal, Jewish, Muslim, Mormon and Hare Krishna leaders, say: "People of good faith can disagree about the relationship between religious liberty and antidiscrimination laws."

They plead that "no American citizen or institution be labeled by their government as bigoted because of their religious views, and dismissed from the political life of our nation for holding those views".

They argue that this is precisely what the Civil Rights Commission report seeks to do.

The letter was released by the US Conference of Catholic Bishops.
Tom Wright: Why The Cross Is Bigger Than You Think

NT Wright, or Tom Wright, is a former Bishop of Durham and a prolific writer whose work on the New Testament has transformed discussion about Paul, the Gospels and issues like the Resurrection, Justification and the Kingdom of God. He has many fans, and his share of critics too. His latest book, The Day the Revolution Began (SPCK, 19.99), is about the Crucifixion.

Christian Today visited him at the University of St Andrews, Scotland, where we discussed the problem of evil, the power of love, and how many have missed out on what the Cross is all about.

In his book Wright is out to challenge caricatures and misconceptions of what Jesus did on the Cross. It is rooted in his earlier works, such as Surprised by Hope, where he challenged views of salvation which prioritised an individual's escape from earth to an otherworldly 'heaven'.

Speaking to Christian Today, he says: "If we're really saying that the Christian hope is about not going to heaven but new heaven and new earth and new people within that, then doesn't this make the traditional accounts that we give of what the cross achieved look rather different?"

Wright wants to expands people's vision. "The more I then read the New Testament, the more I think, my goodness, there is explosive stuff here which is much bigger and wider than simply 'I've been very bad, God was going to punish me but he punished Jesus instead so now it's alright and I can go to heaven, can't I.'"

This is a caricature - perhaps few preachers would put the Cross in quite those terms - and yet Wright feels that this is yet what many people hear when the gospel is presented, and what many non-Christians can only see as absurd. So, he says: "Now of course the word of the cross is foolishness to the world, but let's make sure it's the right foolishness and not the wrong foolishness."

Wright gives the example of the 'Romans Road', where preachers take Romans 1-4 to as a source for a simple but ultimately narrow formula for the atonement, which draws more influence from pagan ideas about the satisfaction of divine wrath, than what Paul or Jesus talked about. "Instead of 'For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son', you end up saying that 'God so hated the world that he killed his son'...why do people hear that?" In a world full of violence and abuse, many people see this picture and assume that God himself is just as cruel and violent.

Wright isn't denying that "Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures" (it's what his book is all about) but he wants to make sure we know what that really means.

Wright highlights the sinister origins of the Cross as a horrific means of torture. "Crucifixion was a means of social and political control...the cross was a way of saying Caesar and Caesar's empire run this world, and this is what happens if you get in our way...Jesus grew up in the shadow of the cross." So, for Jesus' disciples to say: "'I'm going to tell you about someone who was crucified and is the Lord of the world'...this is utterly crazy".

And yet it was the defining symbol of the early Church. "The early Christians find in the fact of the cross a symbol which says that the God who made the world is with you in the midst of the mess of the world."

Instead of abstract formulas, Wright wants to focus on how Jesus himself understood his death. "When Jesus wanted to explain to his followers what his death was going to mean, he didn't give them a theory, he gave them a meal." The most helpful context for understanding the Cross is thus Passover, the festival where the Jewish people celebrated their Exodus: Yahweh's defeat of the evil powers (Pharoah) and Israel's freedom from slavery. The Cross marked a new Exodus from new powers.

What about forgiveness of sin? The Jewish people longed for this too, not in an abstract moralistic sense, but rather as something that signalled the end of exile, freedom from their idolatry, and Israel's freedom to again be a blessing to the entire world.

Sin is not simply wrongdoing. "We hear the word 'sin' as simply doing naughty things...it's much more organic than that, its the failure to be genuinely human," Wright says. It is rooted in an idolatry that worships anything other than God. In our idolatry, we give power to our idols, and thus we are enslaved. Ironically then, we create our own enemies.

"How are we rescued from that? On the cross we see very starkly who the true God actually is, and we are drawn to worship the true God as having been revealed in utter self-giving love in Jesus. That worship displaces the idolatry which was the root cause of sin." And this, then, is how the evil powers of the world are defeated.

But if the emphasis is not on divine satisfaction, why is sacrifice necessary to defeat evil? "Why doesn't God just send in the tanks?" Wright asks. His answer is: "Because he's not that sort of God...God comes to take the weight of evil on himself."

Wright's work has provoked controversy in the past, including one spat about Justification with John Piper. How does he manage public conflict as a Christian? "I hope that I and others have tried to model good Christian disagreement."

This is a particularly difficult in America, says Wright: "People very easily demonise one another, it gets bound up with culture wars: you only say that because you're one of those stupid liberals, you only say that because you're one of those wicked fundamentalists  the wells have been poisoned."

Wright praises a recent review of his book from Michael Horton at The Gospel Coalition. Horton and Wright have often disagreed, and still do and yet, says Wright: "He is very gracious, bending over backwards to be as positive as he can be. This is how to do it."

Good research means he sometimes has to disagree with his own ideas as well. He notes humbly: "Probably a quarter of what I say is less than fully true...I know that in my personal life I make many mistakes, and I don't expect my intellectual life to be more perfect than that."

Engaging this issue hasn't been easy: Wright describes the personal process of writing this book as "intellectually strenuous but also spiritually strenuous". He speaks of one dark winter abounding in various difficulties, where only prayer got him through. "There is a sense that this is a dangerous place to be. If you want an easy life as a theologian don't write about the cross, because it is costly." He sums it up: "The closer you get to Jesus and the cross, the closer you get to Jesus and the cross."

How does he summarise the cross? "It is a story of love." He pauses, then quotes Dante: "Go back to Dante: 'The love that moves sun and the other stars, this is the love in creation, the love that says let there be, let there be a world that is other than myself, love which is so powerful that won't let creation go'...that has to be at the heart of it."

So, he says: "It isn't just that when Jesus died he made it possible for you to have your sins forgiven and go to heaven...by 6pm on Good Friday the world was a different place. The power that had distorted, defaced, and is destroying the world has in principle been defeated, the resurrection proves that but it was achieved on Good Friday. To celebrate that at a more deep level than we've tended to, I think, is a wonderful challenge."
What King Saul's Rise to Power Can Teach Us About God's Leadership

King Saul was undoubtedly the first human king that Israel ever had. His rise to power was brought about by the Israelites' nagging on Samuel and God, who consented with a sad heart. After all, God is to be King over all their lives.

Still, despite the falls and sad ending that King Saul faced in his lifetime, his rise to power teaches us various things about God's leadership  things that are best learned and applied in our lives.

Here are some things that King Saul can teach us about God's leadership.

1. God's Will Isn't Synonymous to Public Opinion

Contrary to how some people understood Romans 13 which says God is the one putting every leader in place, we need to understand that public opinion can be very different from God's opinion. Thus, we need to realise that the elected leaders need not be the persons who God really wants.

Consider what God told Samuel in their conversation, as read in 1 Samuel 8:4-8:

"Then all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah, and said to him, "Look, you are old, and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now make us a king to judge us like all the nations." But the thing displeased Samuel when they said, "Give us a king to judge us." So Samuel prayed to the Lord. And the Lord said to Samuel, "Heed the voice of the people in all that they say to you; for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me, that I should not reign over them. According to all the works which they have done since the day that I brought them up out of Egypt, even to this daywith which they have forsaken Me and served other godsso they are doing to you also."

2. God Wants Us to Be Responsible for Our Choices

God isn't some person who will turn a blind eye towards our wrongdoing, and certainly is not someone who will clean up our mess. God wants us to be a people who exercise discernment, and take responsibility for whatever decision we make. Think: our decision, our responsibility.

This is exactly what God wanted Israel to do: Be wise and take responsibility. Sure, God allowed Israel to have its own king, but He warned them of the possible consequences of their choices. In the same way, God wants us to exercise discernment in choosing our leaders, and to take responsibility for our support of the people we put in leadership.

Consider What God Instructed Samuel Afterwards, in 1 Samuel 8:9.

"Now therefore, heed their voice. However, you shall solemnly forewarn them, and show them the behavior of the king who will reign over them.""

3. God Wants to Be Our King  The King Who Reigns Over Everything

Let's jump forward to the time when King Saul kept disobeying God. We read that Saul did exploit, but he didn't fully obey God in all that he did. This, of course, displeased the Lord so much.

God Himself wants us to put Him as King and Lord over everything in our lives, including our thoughts, decisions, dreams, plans, and desires. His desire is that our leaders would love Him and put Him first, thus effectively carrying out what God wants to do for the people.

This is very evident in His choosing of the next, and most loved, king of Israel, David. Consider what Samuel told Saul in 1 Samuel 13:14:

"But now your kingdom shall not continue. The Lord has sought for Himself a man after His own heart, and the Lord has commanded him to be commander over His people, because you have not kept what the Lord commanded you."
Why Was Asia Bibi's Death Penalty Appeal Postponed, And What Happens Next?

Asia Bibi, the Christian mother sentenced to death in Pakistan for blasphemy, today had her final appeal postponed after years of languishing on death row.

The Supreme Court judge, Justice Iqbal Hameed ur Rehman, withdrew from the case because he had also overseen the appeal of Mumtaz Qadri, the man charged with  and eventually hanged for  the murder of Govenor of Punjab Salman Taseer in 2011, who had publicly defended Bibi.

"I was a part of the bench that was hearing the case of Salmaan Taseer, and this case is related to that," Rehman told the court in Islamabad.

He did not specify a new date for the hearing, and Bibi was taken back to jail.

So what happens next?

Bibi was first jailed in 2009 and sentenced to death in November the following year for allegedly blaspheming against the Prophet Muhammad during an argument with fellow farm workers. After her colleagues refused to drink from a cup used by Bibi because she was a Christian and therefore deemed 'unclean', she reportedly said: "I believe in my religion and in Jesus Christ, who died on the cross for the sins of mankind. What did your Prophet Muhammad ever do to save mankind?"

She was later pulled before a judge and convicted of blasphemy  a charge she has consistently denied. She was last year moved to solitary confinement in her prison in Multan, eastern Pakistan, over fears she may be attacked by vigilantes, and has been allowed to cook her own food for fear she will be poisoned.

Andrew Boyd of persecution charity Release International said today in the wake of the appeal's adjournment that it was unlikely Bibi's case would move forward quickly.

"She's been there [on death row] for six years," he told Christian Today, and her case is the most-high profile blasphemy case in Pakistan  arguably the most notorious the country has ever seen. More than 1,300 people have been charged with blasphemy in Pakistan since 1987, a disproportionate number of them Christians, but Bibi's case has captured world-wide attention, with international calls for her release and an end to Pakistan's repressive blasphemy laws.

In Pakistan, however, Muslim hardliners are desperate for her to be hanged.

A group of 150 top Muslim clerics from the radical Islamist group Sunni Tehreek issued a statement demanding the government hang Bibi and all other prisoners of blasphemy laws, World Watch Monitor said. The Muslim leaders reportedly issued a "verbal decree" that anyone who rescued or assisted in the rescue of people accused of blasphemy should also be killed.

Today, the cleric of the Red Mosque in Lahore said he would issue a fatwa against the Prime Minister of the country if Asia Bibi was set free.

The exact reason for the judge waiting until today to declare a conflict of interest that was previously known, is unclear. "What we do know," Boyd said, "is that there is an extreme climate of intimidation [in Pakistan]". More than 100 riot police were stationed around the court this morning to try to prevent violence, for which there is precedent in Pakistan. In addition to the assassination of Taseer, minority affairs minister Shahbaz Bhatti was also killed in 2011 for defending Bibi.

More than 60 people associated with blasphemy cases have been murdered in recent years, Boyd said, "so there's a climate of vigilantism, where many believe it is their religious duty to kill a blasphemer. If the court won't do it, they will do it."

It therefore takes immense courage to get involved in a blasphemy case, Boyd added. In earlier trials and appeals in Bibi's case, Islamic extremists packed out the courts in an attempt to intimidate the judge into upholding her death sentence. That's how it ended up being taken all the way to the Supreme Court; no judge has yet overturned the conviction, which campaigners say is probably  at least in part  because of threats to their own life by Islamists.

There was "overwhelming evidence" presented to the Lahore High Court, which held Bibi's earlier appeal, to overturn her conviction, said Wilson Chowdhry, chairman of the British Pakistani Christian Association (BPCA).

"Judges are being frightened, and it's preventing them from conducting this case in an appropriate manner, and bringing justice," he told Christian Today.

"It would seem this delay is completely contrived," he added, attributing the withdrawal of the judge today to the growing climate of extremism in Pakistan.

If it's not possible for the court to find a judge willing to take on the case, Boyd said, the President of Pakistan should issue an immediate pardon and set Bibi free. But this will be difficult given the rapid growth of Islamism.

"The blasphemy law is used like a can of petrol poured over the flames of extremism. It is used and abused to take over people's businesses and to seize land," Boyd said. "It will take enormous courage from the Preisident of Pakistan to pardon Asia, it will take enormous courage for the Prime Minister of Pakistan to repeal the blasphemy law, which has to happen. It will take enormous courage for the Supreme Court  short of a presidential pardon  to overturn Asia's case."

Bibi's earlier appeal in Lahore High Court was postponed five times, and there was a gap of around a month and a half between each postponed date, Chowdhry said. He urged the Supreme Court to set another date for her final appeal immediately, and a BPCA petition can be signed here.

"The longer this case simmers on the boil, extremists will be given the opportunity to make more noise, and gather more people against Asia Bibi," he warned. Each time her case was postponed previously, it "ignited Muslims, because they felt as though they were winning", he added. "Without a doubt, there will be a build-up of the number of extremists calling for her blood, the longer this case goes on.

"I'm praying the legal process in Pakistan is expedited as much as possible...Asia Bibi is only one innocent victim, there will be many more" until Pakistan revises its laws, Chowdhry said.

Boyd concurred. There are at least 16 other people on death row for blasphemy in Pakistan, and "if the Supreme Court were to rule that Asia should hang, it will be the thin edge of the wedge. Many others will die."

"This is a battle for the soul of Pakistan, which is a great, great prize," he added. "It won't come easily, and it won't come cheaply. We've seen in recent years an enormous rise in accusations of blasphemy. There was one case in 2011, and more than 100 in 2014. It all points to a rising intolerance that has to be addressed."

And yet, despite the growing persecution in Pakistan, and the death threats received by Bibi's family, their faith remains strong. Release International contacts have spoken to Bibi's husband, Ashiq Masih, who said his family is holding onto their faith, as is Bibi in prison, despite repeated attempts to convert her to Islam.

"They are courageous people who need our prayers," Boyd said. "What we are seeing [with Bibi] is a woman truly faithful unto death."
Wonder Why Christianity Could Never Mix With Other Faiths? Here Are 3 Reasons

Unity. Many people in the world want that, even us Christians. One thing that will never ever happen, though, is the unity between our faith in God, and other people's faith in their gods. This is one thing that has been misunderstood by many.

An Imagined Union

Many of our brothers and sisters hope that someday, we could be united with other peoples. While that's a noble dream, it is one that cannot become a total reality. Let me elaborate by giving you three reasons why Christianity could never mix with other faiths.

1. God Himself Said We Must Separate Ourselves from Other Faiths

God, the Creator of all things created, said that we who believe in Him should never mix with other faiths and beliefs. This isn't some sort of prejudiced command (because God is just and therefore cannot have any prejudice), but a reality that many Christians must realise personally.

Consider what 2 Corinthians 6:16-18 says:

"And what union can there be between God's temple and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God said: 'I will live in them and walk among them. I will be their God, and they will be my people. Therefore, come out from among unbelievers, and separate yourselves from them, says the Lord. Don't touch their filthy things, and I will welcome you. And I will be your Father, and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.'"

Let me clarify something. While it's true that God wants all men to be saved, He wants all who are saved to come out from their former unsaved identity or way of life, or from having fellowship, or "oneness," with people of other faiths. That's just the way it is  "be holy for I am holy" (see 1 Peter 1:16).

2. There's Only One God

We know that there's only one God, but people of other faiths don't know that, and will never acknowledge that unless they get saved by Christ. Because of this, it will be hard, even impossible, to unite with them.

I read a recent report about a Quran that had Christian verses in it, made by a Muslim and a Christian. Honestly, while it is a noble desire for them to let both faiths see each other in a different light, the truth remains that God cannot be friends with other gods. Who are we to think that God will just shake hands with another?

God said in Exodus 20:7, "You must not have any other god but me."

3. Following Christ Means Following Christ

Jesus Himself said that He came bringing a sword (see Matthew 10:34; Luke 12:51). Christ Himself is the dividing line that separates those who love and follow God from those who don't. While Christ came to save the whole world, He made it a point that those who will follow Him must deny themselves. This means denying fellowship with peoples of other faiths if it means compromising our belief in Christ.

Separate Yourself

Friends, it's a noble desire to be able to befriend people from another faith. However, we must never let that desire overpower the fact and truth that we must separate ourselves from ungodly beliefs, thoughts and practices. God is holy, and expects us to follow suit.
Four Texas companies pleaded guilty and agreed to pay $3.5 million for criminal violations of the Clean Air Act at two oil and chemical processing facilities in Texas, federal officials said Thursday.

KTX Limited and KTX Properties were charged with negligently releasing hazardous air pollutants after a tank exploded at a chemical and petroleum processing plant in Port Arthur in 2011, according to the U.S. Department of Justice and the Environmental Protection Agency. The blast killed one worker and injured two others.

Crosby LP and Ramsey Properties LP were charged with failing to monitor ozone leaks at a chemical processing plant in Crosby between 2008 and 2012, according to the Justice Department and EPA. The companies admitted they falsified records to obtain regulatory permits, according to the Justice Department, citing the plea agreements.

In addition to $3.3 million in criminal fines, the companies will give $200,000 to the Southern Environmental Enforcement Network for the prevention of hazardous air pollutants and emergency response training.
Goodrich Petroleum Corp., one of the first mid-sized drillers to file for bankruptcy this year, has successfully completed its Chapter 11 reorganization plan and has formally emerged from bankruptcy, the company announced.

The Houston-based drilling company was able to negotiate with its creditors to reduce its debts and costs and retain its assets. The company gets $40 million in new capital through second lien notes due in 2019. Half of that money will pay down outstanding debt and the other half will be used to fund the company's drilling program in the Haynesville Shale, according to a company statement.
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The trial for the man at the center of the "Tinder murder" in Australia has revealed chilling new details from that Aug. 7, 2014, date that ended in the death of Warriena Wright, 26.

Gable Tostee, 30, accused of her murder, allegedly intimidated Wright into attempting to escape his apartment by climbing down his 14th-floor balcony, News.com.au reports. She was found dead at the base of the complex.

The two had exchanged a series of Tinder messages and planned to meet when Wright, a New Zealander, would be in town for a friend's wedding.

"You look delicious. I want to do dirty things to you," court documents show he sent via Tinder before they met. "Let's get drunk together. I'm a pornstar after a few drinks."

The pair met, returned to his apartment, and the date spun out of control. The jury in this trial heard that the two "drank alcohol and were intimate."

On a recording from that night, taken on Tostee's phone, he can be heard saying, "That's enough." Wright begins gathering her belongings when he tells her, "I didn't say you have to leave," the Australian Broadcasting Corp. reports. She begins throwing ornamental rocks at him. A witness testified that his dried blood was found on the white rocks in his apartment. (Story continues below.)

He then locked her on his balcony, saying: "I'm gonna let you go, I'm gonna walk you out of this apartment just the way you are. You're not going to collect any belongings, you're just going to walk out. I'm gonna slam the door on you. If you try to pull anything I'll knock you out, I'll knock you the f--- out."

Minutes later, Wright is heard yelling: "No, no, no, no, no. Just let me go home." To which Tostee allegedly replied, "I would but you have been a bad girl."

At about 2 a.m. a "distant scream followed by loud heavy breathing" can be heard on his phone. That's when Gabriele Collyer-Wiedner, who lives directly under Tostee's unit, saw Wright's legs dangling. "I froze there, then the body fell on my balcony railing," she told the Brisbane Times.

After Wright's fall, Tostee steps out and reportedly stops for a Domino's pizza about 45 minutes after her death. He then allegedly calls a lawyer before calling his father, Gray Tostee, who picks him up from the apartment, as reported by the Sydney Morning Herald.

"Why does this sh--t keep happening to me?" he said. "I swear to God I didn't push her, I just chucked her out on the balcony because she was beating me up."

New information has been released from the ongoing trial.

Forensic pathologist Dianne Little testified that Wright's body "folded over itself," the Brisbane Times reports. Wright had an alcohol level of 0.156 percent at the time of her death.

Little reportedly claims that Wright sustained 80 separate injuries in the fall, making it impossible to determine her height. Jurors in the trial were shown a re-enactment of how her body ricocheted off lower balconies.

Tostee will appear in the Brisbane Supreme Court Friday. If convicted, he could face life in jail.
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For decades, well-meaning parents have scrutinized the potentially negative influences of metal and hip-hop. Now, a recent study by Texas Tech University puts country music in the hot seat.

Researchers found that country music from 2010 to 2014 is more likely to refer to a woman's appearance in tight clothing than songs from the previous two decades. The study, which analyzed the lyrics of 750 songs produced between 1990 and 2014, also found that new country music was more likely to objectify women and call them by slang terms.

Eric Rasmussen and Rebecca Densley are the two authors behind the study. They analyzed the top 50 billboard songs of each year and noticed that the genre had gone through a major change.

READ MORE: Texas A&M student leaders to be disciplined over 'disgusting' remarks about women

"Country music has generally been seen as the most wholesome music genre, but what this research is saying is that may not be the case anymore," Rasmussen told Texas Tech Today.

Rasmussen argues that the late 2000s gave birth to "Bro country," a style whose lyrics are more likely to refer to women by nicknames like "baby" or "honey," instead of their names.

"You hear about crossover country where it has incorporated lyrics and beats and other characteristics of pop," Rasmussen said. "Country music is not that old, but it's not steel guitars anymore. It doesn't have that twang anymore. It's more pop, more mainstream and the ratings are driving it."

READ MORE: George Strait says he doesn't see a lot of his influence in country music today

Rasmussen said he hopes the findings will educate people about the effects and influence of media on society, especially children.

In other words, in an ideal world, no one would ever listen to bro country ever again.

"All I know is I want people to start thinking about this," Rasmussen said to Texas Tech Today. "I want my daughters and other young women to have a sense their value is not based on what men think of them or what society thinks of them."

Click through the gallery above to see tips on how to write the best country song.
Next month rap-loving Texans will be clamoring for a special edition vinyl release by UGK and Outkast.

On November 25, Black Friday, Boston-based vinyl imprint Get On Down will release a Texas-shaped vinyl copy of the tag-team single Intl Players Anthem (I Choose You) in record stores.
A slew of new restaurants will debut in Houston this fall, so now's a good time catch up on all of the recent openings. Here's a look  in no particular order  at the top places to check out in town this weekend:

Eloise Nichols Grill & Liquors

Fans of Adair Kitchen should check out this new establishment from siblings Nick Adair and Katie Adair Barnhart. The duo, who named the establishment after their grandmother, will be offering Southern-influenced American dishes. Think fried green tomatoes and a sweet tea-brined pork chop. They've brought on former Kitchen at Karbach Brewery chef Joseph Stayshich to execute these dishes, as well as to craft some small plates for their upcoming establishment: Bebidas Juice, Coffee & Bites. Location: at 2400 Mid Lane (River Oaks)
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Things at Southern Goods have  hopefully temporarily -- gone south.

The partners who opened the popular Heights eatery in August 2015 are now at odds with a lawsuit between them and a pending joint project apparently off the table.

According to a petition filed in Harris County Court on Oct. 10, chef Lyle Bento is suing his Southern Goods business partner Charles Bishop claiming that Bishop "routinely utilized company funds" for his personal use without authority and brought in additional investors to Southern Goods without Bento's consent. In the lawsuit Bento is seeking $100,000.

FUTURE UNCERTAIN: O Pioneers! restaurant would celebrate Texas history

Bishop, according to the petition "used the company funds for personal expenses, disbursed company funds to third parties for [his] expenses, and paid expenses not related to the company." Additionally, the petition states that Bishop "knowingly provided false financial information to [Bento] in order to induce [Bento] to invest in Southern Goods while Bishop divested Southern Goods of its assets."

The two are expected in court on Oct. 17 for a hearing on a temporary restraining order requested by Bento to prevent Bishop from "selling, transferring, or otherwise disposing any of Southern Goods' real or personal property."

While not commenting on the merits of the lawsuit, Bishop remained optimistic about the outcome. "It's a difference of opinion on how things work," he said Thursday. "We're going to work it out. He'll work out his thoughts and I'll work out my thoughts."

Bishop said he intends to remain active in Southern Goods as co-owner.

Bento, who said he couldn't comment on the lawsuit, also suggested that Southern Goods will continue operations as is (Chronicle restaurant critic Alison Cook gave it a positive two-star review in November 2015).

The two, however, will no longer partner together in a new Heights restaurant, 60 Pioneers, that the announced to the Chronicle in June. That project, at 911 W. 11th St., was a restaurant inspired by Texas history.

Bishop, who said his name is on the lease, said he will continue the project under a different name and a new chef.

"I wish him the best of luck going forward on that project," Bento said. "I just won't be part of it."

Bento apparently separated himself from 60 Pioneers many weeks ago.
Costa Brava Bistro, which is lauded for offering up Spanish food with a French twist, has been singled out as a haven for foodies by website OpenTable, which is one of the most popular online restaurant booking platforms.

The Bellaire eatery is no stranger to accolades, as it has made it on a handful of best-of lists at the Houston Chronicle over the past few years since opening in 2012.
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Fort Bend ISD will dedicate a new school Sunday in honor of a Houston firefighters who died in a May 2013 motel fire.

Anne McCormick Sullivan Elementary is being named for the Dulles High School graduate who died when the roof of the Southwest Inn collapsed on her and three colleagues.
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Back when Houston was still a city on the cusp, the real business of the day got done in a smoke-filled, whiskey-fueled room on the eighth floor of the Lamar Hotel.

Suite 8F remains the stuff of legends, a place where the city's powerful gathered for three decades to dole out deals and political destinies along with hands of poker. "Lyndon, fix me a Scotch," was said to have been bellowed to the young politician currying favor long before he ascended to the 36th presidency of the United States.

The names of 8F are today etched on Houston landmarks. They are synonymous with influence and power at the time: Jones. Wortham. Brown. Cullen. Elkins. Hobby.

Yet amid the civic and political deal making was an emerging, deep-pocketed philanthropy that has now been passed to a new generation of givers. Houston's great wealth - combined with its self-made sense of, "If not me, then who?" - has made the city one of the nation's most generous.

More Information giving Selected Houston-area foundations' total giving in 2015: Houston Endowment, $85,843,061 Laura and John Arnold Foundation, $85,348,365 The Brown Foundation, $63, 704,116 The Moody Foundation, $54,796,543 Kinder Foundation, $42,650,633 The Cynthia & George Mitchell Foundation, $14, 287,681, The Cullen Foundation, $12,051,500 The Robert and Janice McNair Foundation, $11,624,763 The Wortham Foundation, $10,565,000 The Elkins Foundation, $9,965,000 John P. McGovern Foundation, $7,368,725 Source: The Foundation Center See More Collapse

"I think there is a tradition of such robust philanthropy in Houston because of their belief that they needed to do it themselves if they wanted Houston to thrive," said Stephen Fenberg, a biographer of Jesse Jones, one of the city's most notable forefathers. "And they knew they would only prosper if Houston thrived."

Jones, son of a Tennessee tobacco farmer, arrived in Houston in 1898 at age 24 to manage his late uncle's estate. He opened a lumberyard and his interests quickly spread to banking and real estate. He had an inkling that his sleepy, adopted city, third in population behind Dallas and San Antonio, could one day be a contender. A decade later he was one of Houston's most powerful men and remained so until his death in 1956.

In 1937 he and his wife, Mary Gibbs Jones, donated most of their wealth to establish the Houston Endowment. "A great community needed great art," Jones believed. The Houston Symphony started in his Majestic Theater and eventually found a permanent home in the Jesse H. Jones Hall for the Performing Arts. He also was one of the original donors to the city's fine arts museum. But his real passion was education. Scholarships were divided equally between men and women, unheard of at the time. He also helped minority students, revolutionary considering the era.

Jones gave broadly to the Texas Medical Center, and today there is the Jesse H. Jones Rotary House Hotel for the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, the Jones library at the Houston Academy of Medicine and the Jesse H. and Mary Gibbs Jones Pavilion. Rice University's business school bears his name and the first women's dormitory on campus is named for his wife. The University of Houston also carries his name on its student life center.

Despite his vast wealth, with only an eighth-grade education, Jones felt handicapped, Fenberg said. He gave so others would not feel the same way.

Hugh Roy Cullen arrived in Houston when the 20th century was new. Having worked in the cotton business, he turned his gaze to oil, suspecting it to be the future. After a few dry holes, he finally struck in 1921. "And the rest is history," said Beth Robertson, Cullen's granddaughter, now 70.

A string of discoveries, often in fields others had given up on, turned him into one of the richest men in America. In 1936, he lost his only son in an oil field accident. Two years later he and his wife, Lillie Cranz Cullen, made their first major gift, offering $260,000 to UH for construction of a building on the new campus in memory of their son.

The university held a special place for Cullen. Having completed only the fifth grade, he knew the struggles of getting an education.

"He wanted it for the working men and women," Robertson said.

"He was a believer of giving people a boost."

In 1947, the Cullen Foundation was created to do good for a city he felt he owed. Of his money he said: "While I found the oil in the ground, I didn't put it there. I don't think I deserve any great credit for using it to help others."

Another in the 8F Crowd, Gus Wortham, came to Houston in 1915 with his father and together they founded John L. Wortham & Son insurance agency. Eleven years later, the younger Wortham entered a partnership with Jesse Jones, James Elkins and John Link to form the American General Insurance Co.

Now one of the largest insurance companies in the nation, it started with just two agents.

The Wortham family believed in and gave generously to the arts. The Wortham Theater Center, home of the Houston Ballet and Grand Opera, is named for him. But one of his great goals was for green space in a city that was increasingly becoming paved over.

Among the outdoor spaces bearing his name are the Gus Wortham Park, the Gus Wortham Memorial Fountain and the Wortham World of Primates at the Houston Zoo.

"He knew there was always money for medicine, churches and education. He wanted to help the sectors that had more difficulty raising money. He saw the value of parks," said Rusty Wortham, a distant relative and now chairman of the Wortham Foundation, founded in 1958.

Among the new breed of givers, the 19-year-old Kinder Foundation exemplifies more tightly focused modern philanthropy.

"We wanted to be transformational - a rifle shot, not a shotgun," said Rich Kinder, once an executive at Enron who left to become co-founder and executive chairman of Kinder Morgan, the largest energy infrastructure company in North America.

"The whole idea is to think big. I've made more mistakes in my life thinking small than thinking big."

His wife, Nancy Kinder, added that philanthropy is now about giving strategically, with a measurable success that is obtainable.

"We're looking at this like a business," she said.

They have pledged a significant share of their wealth to foundation causes.

Among the recipients are the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston and the Kinder Institute for Urban Research at Rice University. Green space is also a priority with major gifts going to Discovery Green, Buffalo Bayou Park and a $50 million pledge to the Houston Parks Board for the Bayou Greenways 2020 Project.

Another billionaire power couple in Houston, Laura and John Arnold, "want to know the root cause of complex problems," said Leila Walsh a spokeswoman for the namesake foundation incorporated in 2008. The Arnolds have pledged to give away most of their wealth in their lifetime to see through projects in such arenas as criminal-justice reform, education and the improvement of pension systems.

John Arnold, also once at Enron, made the bulk of his wealth as a hedge fund manager. His wife, Laura, is a former corporate lawyer and energy company executive.

"They're deeply committed to these causes. They know it's not enough to write checks," said Walsh. "Money alone is not going to solve these systemic problems."
SAN ANTONIO - San Antonio police say the hunt for a gunman is over but no one has been arrested after a shooting incident in a northwest neighborhood.

Officer Doug Greene says police recovered one shell casing following Thursday morning's incident that began with reports of shots fired at vehicles. No one was hurt.

Greene says no vehicles were struck. Investigators are trying to determine whether a gunman was firing into the air or shooting at his own vehicle.

Greene says the area, at La Cantera Parkway near Interstate 10, reopened to traffic about two hours after the incident began.

Retail gasoline prices across Texas up 2 cents this week

COPPELL - Retail gasoline prices across Texas rose 2 cents this week to reach an average $2.03 per gallon.

AAA Texas on Thursday reported the nationwide price at the pump held steady at $2.25 per gallon this week.

The association survey found Corpus Christi has the cheapest gasoline statewide at an average $1.96 per gallon. Texarkana has the most expensive gasoline in Texas this week at an average $2.09 per gallon.

AAA spokesman Doug Shupe (shoop) says Texas gasoline prices continue to be among the least expensive in the country.

Vacuums used after South Texas barge accident, fuel spill

PORT ISABEL - Cleanup crews have used absorbent pads, skimming drums and vacuum trucks to help remove about 5,000 gallons of diesel fuel that spilled when a barge hit a South Texas dock.

Coast Guard officials say recovery work continued Thursday at the accident site on the Intracoastal Waterway near Port Isabel. Nobody was hurt in Tuesday night's fuel spill that Coast Guard originally estimated involved about 20,000 gallons.

Officials say about 1,000 gallons have yet to be recovered. Responders have deployed about 6,000 feet of boom to help contain the fuel.

A Coast Guard statement says the area around the damaged barge is being cleaned. The barge will eventually be moved to a dock in the Brownsville Ship Channel to unload what's left of the cargo.

Bandidos gang member in Texas pleads guilty to 2002 slaying

SAN ANTONIO - Prosecutors say a Bandidos gang member blamed for a 2002 retaliation killing in South Texas has pleaded guilty and faces life in prison.

Frederick Cortez pleaded guilty Wednesday afternoon to murder in aid of racketeering. The 48-year-old Cortez remains in custody pending sentencing next year by a federal judge in San Antonio.
Virgilio Davis was struck with emotion as he knelt to place a pink flag with the name of his mother, Violeta Davis, at the Atascocita High School Breast Cancer Awareness Flag Planting Ceremony.

"I lost my mom to breast cancer in 1997; it was pretty fast for our family," Davis, an Atascocita High School teacher, said. "One of the things about it is it was unexpected and brought my whole family together at a time when we weren't all getting along. I guess my mom's illness had to happen to bring us all together. It was at that moment, I became Virgilio Davis. The person that sings and performs in front of hundreds didn't exist, but one of the last things my mother told me was one day you will be the head of the family and the head of something. I think she was taken from me so I could become who I am today. This means a lot to me right now."
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Everything from ornaments to home decor and gifts for the upcoming holiday season can be found at the upcoming Kingwood Women's Club Holiday Marketplace Oct. 24-25 at Humble Civic Center at 8233 Will Clayton Parkway.

The Holiday Marketplace, an upscale shopping extravaganza that annually attracts thousands and has raised more than $1 million for charity-will mark its 20th anniversary this year.

This shopping event is the brainchild of the Kingwood Women's Club, a nonprofit organization that was formed in the living rooms of a few stay-at-home moms some three decade ago.

Charter member,Diana Hertzenberg remembers the club starting up in 1985 long before Kingwood had a Town Center or Lake Houston Parkway Bridge.

"Kingwood did not even have a McDonald's or large grocery stores like H-E-B or Randall's back then," she said, recalling those early days before Kingwood's master-planned community was home to some 80,000 people.

Since then, the club has mirrored the area's growth by expanding its membership from 25 to 145 members who come from all parts of the Lake Houston area.

Members join the organization not only to enjoy the social camaraderie, but also to give back to their community, explained Nancy Bray who also became a member in 1985.

In the past year, the club's members have donated over 14,000 hours volunteering at a dozen local charities.

"There is a tremendous need out there," said Bray, who is also a coordinator of Kingwood United Methodist Church's Society of St. Stephen, one of the charities where the women's club volunteers. "We had two clients there last week who were flood victims. One had lost everything and was living in their car. Another had suffered flood damage in April and then lost the rest of what they owned in the May flood. We were able to help by providing clothing, flood and cleaning supplies."

But the organization soon realized local charities needed funding as well as their volunteer labor, Hertzenberg said.

So, the organization began raising money by hosting events such as a wine and food festival, casino night and antique house but nothing has proved as successful as the Holiday Marketplace that began in 1997, said another long-time member, Paula Beste.

That marketplace was staged at the Kingwood Country Club.

"We held it on Monday when the club was closed. We had to get an early start to get the 40 booths set up before the market opened in the morning," recalled Lynn Pollard, who joined the club that year.

Six years later, the market had outgrown that space and relocated to the Humble Civic Center.

The center will be filled this year with about 110 booths with such items as handcrafted jewelry, gourmet food, designer clothing, children's specialty items, floral arrangements, home and holiday decor.

"We strive to have new vendors each year. At least a third are different," said Beste. "It's a great place for shoppers to find quality merchandise for the holidays, for gifts and for themselves."

Two years ago, the organization added an evening "preview party" where shoppers can enjoy an early look at the sale items while sipping wine and munching on hors d'oeuvres.

The shopping event includes a silent auction involving many luxury donations as well as a raffle of various gift packages.

Tickets for that preview party Oct. 24 are $25 and include entry to the marketplace the next day. General admission to the market Oct 25 is $10 at the door, but jumps to $25 if the shopper wants to participate in the sit-down catered lunch there. The luncheon tickets need to be purchased before Marketplace; snacks and drinks are also sold.

After expenses, the club has been able to raise over $100,000 each of the last five years for local charities.

"All the proceeds are donated," Beste said.

Funding is used to pay for such things as the Christmas and Thanksgiving food baskets and school supplies that are distributed by Humble Area Assistance Ministries; lunch supplies for the Feed My Lambs' program in Porter; Lone Star College scholarships; the Gathering Place's recreation program for seniors with memory loss; and mammogram screenings for low-income patients through Project Mammogram.

Other charities in which the club members participate include the Kingwood Branch Library, YMCA, FamilyTime Crisis and Counseling Center and Humble Independent School District's eyesight and hearing screening as well as teacher assistance.

"We start planning for the next Marketplace on the day after the last one ends," said Hertzenberg. "It's all worth it, because you make wonderful friends and get the pleasure of seeing good work accomplished."

Marketplace tickets can be purchased from members, Alspaugh's Ace Hardware/ Sterling Events, Dragonfly Boutique and at www.kingwoodwomensclub.org.
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An nearly 14-foot alligator is the newest record-breaking edition to Gator Country as of Wednesday morning.

Owner, Gary Saurage and a group of his employees set out to capture the alligator that measures 13 feet 8 inches after they got the call from Texas Parks and Wildlife that the animal was habitual.

"He could easily knock over a small boat," Johnny Korpela, an employee at Gator Country, said.

Korpela was one of five people that went to Dayton, Texas to bring the alligator back to park.

When capturing alligators, the park uses pick up trucks for transportation - this time the group had to use an 18-foot trailer.

The new gator succeeds "Big Al," the former record-holding gator at the park measuring 13 feet 4 inches.

Right now the gator is located in a pond with smaller gators, while Big Al has his own pond.

Korpela said the park will be working within the next few months to build an additional pond for their newest edition.

Employee David Kirchmeier said the park will be taking name suggestions for the new 800-pound gator.

The winner will get lifetime free admission to the park, Kirchmeier said.

He said suggestion will be taken through any Gator Country social media accounts.
MADISON, Miss - Reports are coming in from across the southeast of people seeing fireballs flying through the sky.

Jay Bird, a 16 WAPT viewer from Madison, said about 7 a.m. Wednesday, he saw a long, white line of light and then heard an explosion with a faint boom.

"It had a fluorescent blue cloud that stuck around for about five minutes," Bird said in an email.

RUSH TO MARS: Obama hopes Americans won't just visit, they'll stay

According to the American Meteor Society, close to 200 people have reported seeing a fireball around the same time as Bird. The reports span from eastern Georgia to east Texas.

NASA said it received more than 100 reports from Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee and Georgia. Unfortunately, NASA said its cameras were turned off when the event happened.

"All sky cameras in the region had already shut down to protect themselves from the bright Sun, forcing us to rely solely on the eyewitness reports for trajectory analysis,"NASA spokeswoman Karen Northon told WDSU -- 16 WAPT's sister station in New Orleans.

The object was a meteor, NASA said. It was first seen 65 miles above Sawyersville, Alabama and moved west at about 89,000 mph.

"It appears to have fragmented 41 miles above Louisville, Mississippi," NASA said. "Estimates of the brightness indicate that the object weighed about 5 pounds and was roughly 5 inches in diameter."

Because of no photos or video, NASA said that a reliable orbit can't be determined, which means the source of the object is a "mystery."

What NASA can say, though, is that it was a natural meteor. However, it wasn't part of the Orionid meteor shower.

Story originally appeared on wapt.com.
Alert! Saturday, Oct. 15, is the start of Medicare's open enrollment -- are you ready?

Toni:

Just received my new 2017 Medicare and You handbook and I cannot find what the 2017 Part D deductibles and "Donut Hole" costs are. I need help because I got in the "Donut Hole" in September of this year. Look forward to what you have to say. Karen, Sugar Land, TX

Hello Karen:

You are correct that the 2017 Medicare and You handbook does not have the current Part D deductibles or out of pocket maximums. On page 90 of the handbook it states under the Important tab to look for specific Medicare drug plan costs in Section 12 and call the plans that you are interested in.

But guess what?? I know what the 2017 Medicare Part D cost will be and they are explained below:

Part D changes for 2017 are:

Initial Deductible: will be increased by $40 from $360 in 2016 to $400 in 2017.

Initial Coverage Limit: will increase from $3,310 in 2016 to $3,700 in 2017 (when the famous "Donut Hole" begins)

Out-of-Pocket Cost: will increase from $4,850 in 2016 to $4,950 in 2017

Donut Hole (coverage gap): begins once you reach your Medicare Part D plan's initial coverage limit ($3,700 in 2017) and ends when you spend a total of $4,950 in 2017. You will spend 40 percent of covered brand name drugs and the drug manufacturer will pay the remainder 50 percent. The prescription drug plan will pay the left over 10 percent of the covered brand name prescription. For generics, you will pay maximum 51 percent co-pay and the prescription drug plan will pay the remaining 49 percent.

If your prescriptions are not in your Part D formulary, then you will pay 100 percent of the prescription drug cost.

Many 2017 standalone Part D plans now have a deductible ranging from $0 to $400.

Toni's Tips to help you stay out of the Donut Hole or not get in it as soon:

1) Use www.medicare.gov when selecting a Medicare Part D plan whether it is your first time or changing during Medicare's Annual Enrollment Period in the fall.

2) Talk to your doctor or doctors about which brand name drugs can be changed to generics.

3) Get samples for both brand name and generics from your doctor.

4) See what generics are in a $4 or $5 generic prescription drug programs at HEB, Wal-Mart, Kroger, etc. Pay for the generics out of your pocket. To get their discounted price you only need a prescription from your doctor.

5) Use your Medicare Part D plan for your brand name drugs and expensive generics. You do not have to put every prescription on your Medicare Part D plan.

6) Visit www.tonisays.com and sign up for Toni's newsletter and receive a free copy of Toni's 2017 Medicare Prescription Drug Survival Guide e-book version.

Upcoming workshops

Upcoming Houston-area Medicare Workshops are scheduled for:

West U Area: 6-8 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 18, at St. Vincent de Paul Catholic Church, 6800 Buffalo Speedway, Houston, TX 77025

Pasadena/Clear Lake Area: 6-8 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 25, at Life Church, 9900 Almeda Genoa, Houston, TX 77075.

To RSVP call 832/519-TONI (8664).

Because of changes and uncertainty in Medicare, Toni's Confused about Medicare workshops for this fall are at Standing Room Only. RSVPs are required. Call 832/519(TONI)8664 for all workshops.

Toni King, author of the new Medicare Survival Guide and its new companion "Confused about Medicare" workshop DVD that are now on sale at www.tonisays.com. Medicare consultations are available at the Toni Says office or email questions to info@tonisays.com or call 832/519-TONI (8664).
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People who say Houston activist Quanell X did not deliver on promised services or results gathered outside the Harris County Criminal Courthouse on Thursday afternoon to tell their stories.

The demonstration was led by Beaumont activist Ricky Jason, who organized a similar protest last week on the steps of the Jefferson County Courthouse.

About a dozen people showed up and four of them offered accounts of giving Quanell X money and not receiving what they believed they had paid for. The stories go as far back seven years ago and as recently as April. Several had copies of contracts or checks to prove their payments to the activist.

One was Beaumont-area teacher Veronica Cooper, who was living in Baytown when she reached out to Quanell in 2009 for help with a school district attempting to terminate her employment.

Cooper saw him in person just once, she said, to hand over a $1,200 check.

"He said that he would set up a meeting," she said before a gaggle of journalists and news cameras. "I thought that we would have some type of dialogue between myself and the superintendent."

Cooper eventually was fired from the Houston-area school district.

"He represents himself as being the voice of the underdog. The voice of the poor people. The downtrodden. The people who have been taken advantage of," she said.

Quanell, a longtime community activist and personal representative, is not a lawyer, but people often pay him for legal assistance or publicity for their cases through media coverage. He also advocates for individuals who allege police brutality and assists law enforcement in negotiating the surrender of wanted individuals.

The 45-year-old issued a response to the allegations by text message.

"We welcome any member of the human family to reach out to us for help but when you do, please tell us the truth and don't leave out any important facts. Often, people come to us claiming racism and when we research and investigate the case, we learn that racism has nothing to do with the case. Just because you have retained my office to help you does not mean we will lie for you," the statement said.

After the news conference, Quanell said his lawyers have advised him not to speak beyond the statement.

Quanell gained national attention in 2011 for releasing the 2010 surveillance footage of Houston Police Department officers punching, kicking and stomping teen robbery suspect Chad Holley, then 15. The video of a black teenager being beaten by white officers sparked nationwide outrage as well as discussions about abuse and racial issues in policing.

Jason, 51, said he first encountered Quanell in 1999 while working to halt the execution of Texas death row inmate and convicted killer Gary Graham, who also was known as Shaka Sankofa. The lethal injection eventually proceeded in 2000.

"Maybe 20 years ago he was trying to do the right thing, but greed," the Beaumont activist said of Quanell. "What has happened is that it has caught up with him."

A "Victims of Quanell X" GoFundMe online campaign started two weeks ago by Jason associate Harold Roberts has raised $45 of its $50,000 goal. According to the page, the proceeds will be used to hire an attorney to file a civil class-action lawsuit against Quanell.

Jason said that group members intend to reach out to criminal prosecutors in several jurisdictions and already have done so in Jefferson County.
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She's steaming mad.

A New York woman has filed a $100,000 lawsuit after a Starbucks worker at a Houston airport allegedly doused the traveler in piping hot coffee.

Jessica Pyne was passing through George Bush Intercontinental Airport on her way to a job when she stepped off the plane to get a cup of java.

But when she got her drink, the barista tipped over the cup while setting it down on the counter, sloshing hot joe all over Pyne's legs, according to the lawsuit filed Wednesday in Harris County court.

"After the incident, the employees of Starbucks basically ignored Plaintiff's cries and requests for assistance," the court papers allege.

Now, Pyne is suing for negligence, alleging that the barista wasn't properly trained, the drink lid wasn't properly secured and the coffee was just too hot.

Citing "great physical pain" and "scarring and disfigurement," she's asking for $100,000 to $200,000 in monetary relief.

Pyne's lawyer declined to comment Thursday.

A Starbucks spokesman said, "We take the health and safety of our customers very seriously. We are looking into the matter to gather more details."

This isn't the first time the Seattle-based coffee company's Houston-area locations have been sued over the temperature of the chain's brew.

Earlier this year, Harris County resident Katherine Mize filed a suit asking for at least $200,000 after a Starbucks spill at a North Loop West drive-through landed her in the hospital with seared skin.

RELATED: Lawyer says Starbucks employee failed to pay attention

The case is set to go to trial next year.
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As the presidential race unfolds at an acrimonious clip, Harris County will host another political showdown this evening: the only debate between Sheriff Ron Hickman and his challenger, Ed Gonzalez.

The two are set to square off at the University of Houston-Downtown at 6 p.m., during a debate moderated by reporters from Univision and KTRK.
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Tamika Cross is a black doctor in Houston, but as she was flying back home from Detroit, she alleges that a Delta flight attendant was discriminating against her because of her race.

Cross took to Facebook to express her frustrations with how she was treated by the Delta crew member.

"I'm sure many of my fellow young, corporate America working women of color can all understand my frustration when I say I'm sick of being disrespected," Cross begins her Facebook post.

She continues to explain the situation saying that the flight attendant allegedly gave her a slew of questions to validate her credibility as a doctor, only to go with a "seasoned white male" who said he was a doctor.

"She says to me 'thanks for your help but he can help us, and he has his credentials.' (Mind you, he hasn't shown anything to her. Just showed up and fit the 'description of a doctor')," Cross writes in her post that has gone viral with over 27,000 shares since Sunday.

The full post can be read below.

After reaching out to Cross' family, her mother says that she isn't going to be taking any interviews at this time.

"Discrimination of any kind is never acceptable," said Catherine Sirna, Spokesperson for Delta Air Lines. "We've been in contact with Dr. Cross and one of our senior leaders is reaching out to assure her that we're completing a full investigation."

RELATED: Parents outraged over racist sign at north Texas elementary school
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A bouncing baby elephant at the Dallas Zoo is getting all the attention up in Big D right now.

The calf, named Ajabu, was born back in early May, but just recently made his public debut at the zoo for all to see.

Ajabus mother is named Mlilo. Her name is pronounced mLEE-lo, which means fire in Zulu.

According to the zoo staff, Ajabu was somewhat of a surprise birth, as earlier pregnancy tests on Mlilo were inconclusive. Elephants have a gestation period of around two years.

RELATED: Houston Zoo shows off newborn anteater pup

Before she came to the zoo, Mlilo was a wild elephant in Swaziland. She came to the zoo underweight with five other Swazi elephants earlier this year. The group was rescued from the drought-stricken country in southern Africa in the spring.

When Ajabu was born he was only 175 pounds, standing just over three feet tall, with a foot-long trunk. Hes nearly doubled his weight and has grown a foot since May.

In order for him to go on public display his habitat needed to be baby-proofed, which is no small feat considering the size of even a baby elephant. He does love water, according to zoo staff, and has a deluxe pond to play in.

Of course time and space were also given for mother and child to bond in private away from prying eyes.

Its an incredible feeling to see how involved the public has been in Ajabus five months of life without meeting him until today, Gregg Hudson, Dallas Zoo president and CEO, said in a press release this week. Ajabu is a remarkable ambassador for his declining species, and now hes able to connect our community even more to the importance of protecting African elephants.

Early in 2016 the Dallas Zoo, in collaboration with conservation officials in Swaziland worked to provide safe havens for 17 African elephants in need of homes due to their habitats in local parks declining in quality.

RELATED: Is the Houston Zoo haunted by the ghost of a former zookeeper?

The managers of the park planned on killing these elephants to focus on area rhino conservation. Instead, a special 747 jet was used to move the group from Swaziland to the States in early March.

Three U.S. partner zoos -- Dallas Zoo; Henry Doorly Zoo in Omaha, Nebraska, and Sedgwick County Zoo in Wichita, Kansas  took in the elephants. New habitats have been built to ensure the health and safety of the elephants in each zoo.

Mlilo, Ajabu, and the rest of the Dallas Zoo's group of elephants all reside at the Giants of the Savanna habitat.

The zoo has four older African elephants nicknamed "The Golden Girls" named Jenny, Gypsy, Congo, and Kamba. They were all born between 1976 and 1982.
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Not shy about claiming the spotlight, Texas secessionists are reporting interest in their group from European independence organizations.

According to the Texas Nationalist Movement's Facebook page, the group's executive director, Nate Smith, is taking "Texit" to Europe this week.

"Texit" is a play on the term "Brexit," which became prominent earlier this year in discussions of the United Kingdom's June referendum to separate from the European Union.

READ MORE: Could Texas afford to #Texit?

The group's president, Daniel Miller, said Thursday afternoon that Smith was either in Paris or on his way from England, where he met with U.K. Independence Party representative George Konstantinidis.

"They had a very good visit about the next steps for Brexit," Miller said. For Smith, he said, the conversation about self-government was "very informative and fruitful." They also discussed new efforts to lead Greece out of the European Union.

The Texas Nationalist Movement, which calls itself the largest independence movement in the United States, says it is "committed to one mission: the political, cultural and economic independence of Texas."

Smith was initially invited by France's Republican Popular Union, to meet with "several continental independence organizations," the Facebook post stated.

READ MORE: In Texas, some local GOPs call for statewide vote on secession

On Friday and Saturday, Smith is scheduled to take part in round-table discussions at a Paris conference, Miller said.

Smith's trip will also include a meeting with Catalonian separatists seeking independence from Spain.

In May, the Texas Republican Party turned back a proposal to allow Texans to decide whether to secede from the United States.
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Keep out.

Worldwide, as thousands of migrants flee war, violent crime or poverty in their homeland, they increasingly find a hostile reception at their neighbor's door.

In the United States, presidential candidate Donald Trump has made anti-immigrant sentiment a central tenet of his campaign by repeatedly promising to build a wall along the nation's southern border and to make Mexico pay for it.

Construction of border walls has risen dramatically since Sept. 1, 2011, bringing to 63 the number of places where two countries are separated by barriers, according to The Washington Post. More were started last year than at any other time since the end of World War II in 1945, the Post reported.

These 63 fortified borders are scattered across four continents, from the border between the United States and Mexico to the one between Thailand and Malaysia.

In its tally, the Post included "nonmobile barriers designed to seal a border."

READ MORE: UN to help stem flow of migrants over Texas border

Some fit the traditional image of a wall -- tall and solid -- while others diverge from that pattern, perhaps in the interest of economy and construction simplicity. One section of the U.S.-Mexico border in California looks as easy to breach as a bicycle rack.

In Europe the trend grew last year with more than 1 million migrants fleeing countries such as Iraq and Syria. While early arrivals encountered minimal hostility, growing numbers provoked a fear response, the Post reported. Hungary began building a fence in 2015, and other nations followed suit.

Israel, in its continuing conflict with the Palestinians, is close to being completely fenced in, according to the Post.

READ MORE: The latest U.S. immigration wave is (probably) over

Click through the gallery to see what border walls look like around the world.
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Justice Terry Jennings of the Texas First Court of Appeals, who has generated national news coverage by switching political parties, said the reaction has been "remarkably positive."

"I've even gotten Facebook messages from New Zealand," the Houston-based justice said Thursday by phone.

Jennings announced Saturday at the Harris County Democratic Party's Johnson, Rayburn & Richards Dinner that, after much reflection, he had decided to leave the Republican Party.

READ MORE: 2 Texas House members jump to GOP

In his remarks to the dinner audience, Jennings recounted that earlier this year, a friend asked him to perform his wedding to another man.

"I was deeply honored to help my friend," the judge said in his speech. "And the fact that I was asked to marry a same-sex couple was irrelevant to me."

But he began to realize that his feelings about that wedding were "profoundly different" from those of many of his fellow Republicans.

"...When I first ran for the Court of Appeals in 2000, moderates were welcome in the GOP," he said in his speech. "I was proud to run as a Republican - the party of my father. Sadly, today in the Republican party, "moderate" is a dirty word. And today's Republican party has chosen a dark path I cannot take."

READ MORE: Democrats' best shot in Texas is party-switching judge

On Thursday, the justice still sounded surprised that his party switch had been covered by the Huffington Post and that the "vast majority" of online comments had been positive.

Jennings, a San Antonio native who holds a law degree from the University of Houston Law Center, shared a message he received from a South Carolina woman who said she has a gay son and has also stopped voting Republican.

"Thank you for standing up for our constitution and for equality by officiating a same-sex marriage," the woman wrote to Jennings.

Jennings is serving a third, six-year term and said he probably will wait until spring to decide whether to run again in 2018.
-- TODAY: The Texas Ethics Commission could decide on Thursday the fate of a high-profile investigation into a politically active nonprofit in a case rife with ramifications for an ongoing battle between tea party groups and state campaign finance regulators over so-called "dark money."

The commission, which regulates Texas' money-in-politics landscape and its lobby laws, has been looking into the anti-tax and limited government group Empower Texans and its leader Michael Quinn Sullivan for more than four years.  Sworn complaints filed in early 2012 from two Republican officials targeted by the nonprofit's activities prompted the probe that has morphed into a case highlighting the limits of state campaign finance regulators to force organizations to turn over documents during an investigation, writes the San Antonio Express-News David Rauf.

-- Abbott, Patrick, and Straus tells CPS to step up CPS reform efforts, by the Chronicles Bobby Cervantes: The trio called on the department's commissioner, Henry Whitman Jr., to develop a plan to hire and train more investigators and caseworkers, reinforce the culture of accountability at all levels of management, and develop partnerships with faith-based organizations to help recruit families willing to take in children in the Child Protective Services system.

>> New nuclear reactors pitched at SXSW Eco, Houston Chronicle

-- Trump bags $5M in SA, Dallas events , by the Express-News John Gonzalez and the Chrons Fauzeya Rahman.Making scant reference to negative developments in his campaign, GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump got a rousing reception from San Antonio donors on Tuesday in what could be his final South Texas swing of the campaign.

Addressing a sold-out luncheon with several hundred guests at the Grand Hyatt Hotel, Trump said hes all in for the final weeks of battle with Democrat Hillary Clinton, even though some leading Republicans including House Speaker Paul Ryan arent at his side, attendees said.  Trump said he expects his poll numbers to improve soon, even as he duels with fellow Republicans who were angered by recent revelations about Trump comments that denigrated women.

>> Republican group wrong that fired Pete Gallego turned around and became a lobbyist, PolitiFact Texas

>> Hegar declines to say if hell vote for Trump, Quorum Report

-- Continuing his efforts to champion law enforcement since five Dallas officers were shot to death in July, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick announced Wednesday that he will press legislators to provide all 59,000 patrol officers in Texas with bulletproof vests capable of stopping high-caliber rounds. Early estimates place the cost at $15 million to $20 million, Patrick said, vowing to fight for the money during the 2017 legislative session despite a tight budget caused by depressed oil and gas prices.(Austin American-Statesman)

-- Odd Texas voting law on interprets scuttled before Nov election, by The Texas Tribunes Alexa Ura

Mallika Das died before the lawsuit was resolved, but her dilemma, laid out in court filings, is part of an ongoing legal battle over a little-noticed provision of Texas election requiring interpreters to be registered voters in the same county in which they are providing help. Ahead of the November election, a federal district judge has blocked Texas from enforcing that provision,ruling it violates the federal Voting Rights Act. Texas is appealing that ruling to the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals.

The requirement will not be in effect during the upcoming election. The Secretary of States office has updated poll worker training material to be consistent with the ruling, said spokeswoman Alicia Pierce. And voter education groups that focus on language-minority voters like Asian Texans are working to ensure that voters get the word they can bring just about anyone, including their minor children, to help them vote. But the case has highlighted a provision of Texas election law that appears to be at odds with federal protections for voters unable to read or write in English. At the heart of the case is whether voters are expected to know the difference between an interpreter and an assistor in the eyes of Texas election law.

CAPITOL DAYBOOK

JOINT

9 a.m.  Aging [E2.026]

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1 p.m.  Natural Resources [E2.010]

SPEED READ

FBI: The safest and most dangerous college campuses in Texas, Houston Chronicle

Past 'locker room talk': Houstonians' stories of sexual assault, Houston Chronicle

Paxton sues Brownsville over bag fee, Statesman

Houston police to get advanced domestic violence training, Houston Chronicle

Report: 116 Texas prisoners are serving life sentences for drug possession, Dallas Morning News

Texas A&M student senators face discipline over disparaging remarks about women, Dallas Morning News

Data report finds racial gaps with Austin police use of force, Austin-American Statesman

Border patrol seizes almost 650 pounds of pot hidden in spools of sheet metal at El

Paso crossing, Dallas Morning News

After officiating same-sex wedding, Houston-area GOP justice comes out as Democrat, Dallas Morning News

RACE TO THE WHITE HOUSE

>> New allegations of sexual assault emerge against Trump, AP

-- Some of what youll hear today, per CNN:

The NY Times reported that Jessica Leeds and Rachel Crooks each had encounters with Trump in which he groped or kissed them without their consent. One of the alleged incidents occurred in 2005, the other more than 30 years ago. People Magazinepublished a report later Wednesday night by one of its writers, Natasha Stoynoff, in which she alleged that she had been physically attacked by Trump at Mar-A-Lago while she was on assignment in December 2005 writing a profile of his first anniversary with his wife, Melania.

-- RNC TV ad spending for Trump: $0  A POLITICO analysis of campaign finance records reveals that the committee has not spent anything on commercials boosting Trump since he emerged as the partys likely nominee. Thats a stark departure from recent elections. In 2008 and 2012, the RNC spent tens of millions of dollars on so-called independent expenditures  principally TV ads, but also direct mail and phone banks  supporting its nominees or attacking their Democratic rivals.

>> Clinton leads Trump by 9 in PA, POLITICO

>> As protestors accuse her husband of rape, Clinton blasts Trumps scorched earth tactics, The Washington Post

>> Trump finds improbably ally in WikiLeaks, NYT
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.
While President George W. Bush left office with an uncertain education legacyhis signature initiative, No Child Left Behind, has had mixed resultsGovernor Bush of Texas achieved genuine success as an education reformer, and the states schools still bear the mark of his influence. Promising to revamp the Texas education code, Bush ran for governor in 1994 on three education initiatives: charter schools, accountability, and vouchers. The first two produced significant legislative reforms, which proved contentious but successful, with solid evidence of improved outcomes. Embracing a model that pushed choice down to the local level and accountability and transparency up to the state level, the Bush reforms provided a foundation for future efforts.

Texas education reform remains incomplete, however. According to a 2005 report of the Dallas Federal Reserve Bank, the state faces long-term demographic trends that raise questions about the future competitiveness of its labor force. Chief among these is the large in-migration of a poor and largely uneducated population fleeing high-tax, high-regulation states like California. (Texas draws more legal and illegal immigrants from other states than from across the border.) Despite improvements in its public school graduation rates, Texas remains beset by one of the highest proportions of adults without a high school education of any state in the country. As the twenty-first-century economy increases demand for a diverse array of workforce skills, these demographic trends present a significant obstacle to the states economic future.

To meet these challenges, Texas should pursue a new round of reforms, including a voucher-based school-choice program, major investments in online and adaptive-learning platforms, curriculum offerings capable of meeting the needs of nontraditional students in a diversified, twenty-first-century workforce, and a repeal of its counterproductive and arguably segregationist bilingual-education mandate. What Bush set in motion in Texas had profound effects, largely positive. But Texas schools need a follow-up.

Bushs landmark 1995 education-reform bill, given the designation Senate Bill 1 to demonstrate its priority, established charter schools in Texas. The idea was to allow schools and school districts to depart from state education regulations and foster competition among them in meeting the rigorous testing standards first established by Democratic governor Ann Richards, Bushs predecessor. Charters are public schools that operate with more independence and flexibility than traditional public schools. They must comply with the basic legal framework for public school operation in Texas, such as accountability and data reporting, graduation requirements, the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) set of milestone and related assessments, teacher certification, textbooks, and bilingual education. But they are free to experiment more broadly with educational approaches than traditional public schools can, and they can apply different hiring and compensation standards. Any charter failing to meet statewide performance standards or otherwise comply with agreed-upon terms of operation can be placed on probationand ultimately be closed.

SB 1 created three types of charter schools. (In 2001, Texas added a fourth, giving college and university campuses the ability to form charters under their own rules.) Open-enrollment charters, which account for the great majority of Texas charter students, are approved directly by the commissioner of education. An open-enrollment charter may be granted to an institution of higher education, a governmental entity, or a nonprofit corporation; most have been granted to nonprofits. Like other charter schools, open-enrollment charters can waive significant regulatory mandates, including teacher-salary standardscharter school officials and teachers generally make less than their counterparts in regular public schoolsalternative-education programs, and (for most student categories) class size. With strict statutory limits on class size in Texas (22 students per classroom from kindergarten through fourth grade), flexibility on class size is vital because its better to have high-quality teachers than lots of small classes.

The second type of charter is the campus program charter or district charter, which can be approved by an independent school districts board of trustees after petition by a majority of parents and teachers at a particular school. The board may not arbitrarily deny such applications. Once granted, the charter remains contingent upon satisfactory performance.

Finally, SB 1 created the home-rule charter, under which voters of a school district could elect to take on independent governance of their schools. The charter, once awarded, would apply to all of them. Of all the categories of charters, home rule was the one that Bush emphasized most in the 1994 campaign and that holds the most potential for autonomy. Up to now, though, no Texas school districts have taken this pathunsurprisingly, as the process presents many hurdles that make successful adoption a daunting prospect. The most significant requirement is the special election, in which at least 25 percent of registered voters must participate, and a majority of those must vote in favor of adopting the home-rule charter. By comparison, the voter turnout in Texass March 2016 presidential primary was 21.5 percent; turnout in gubernatorial primaries runs typically in the single digits. To have a reasonable chance of success, then, a home-rule charter measure should appear on the ballot for a federal or state general election, where turnout is higher. Even then, voter awareness of the issue may be quite low. In addition, the election requirement brings the procedure within the federal Voting Rights Act, including Department of Justice preclearance. These hurdles almost certainly explain why no Texas school district has adopted home ruleyet the model could be viable in Texas, and elsewhere, if the barriers to enactment were relaxed.

About 86 percent of Texas children are enrolled in traditional public schools, with the remainder roughly evenly split among home school, charters, and private schoolbut those proportions are likely to change. Some 230,000 Texas students are enrolled in charter schools, about 4 percent of the state total, with more than 100,000 more on wait lists. With such high demand, the cap on charters continues to be raised. About 195 charters have been awarded so far, covering more than 600 campuses, with the cap set to rise to 305 charters by September 2019.

The 1995 law also instituted crucial changes to school governance. Traditionally, the State Board of Education (SBOE) had been the power center, in control of hiring and firing all senior school officials and making the major decisions regarding school status and performance. SB 1 replaced this model with a more corporate structure, in which the education commissioner reports to the governor, with the SBOE retaining some decision-making power but otherwise stripped of most managerial and regulatory authority. The governor assumed control of appointments to the SBOE and the choice of the education commissioner. Bush streamlined the unwieldy Texas education code, reducing it by a third. The new structure made the Texas Education Agency more resistant to special interests and more capable of long-range planning and execution.

SB 1 also established one of the countrys first statewide accountability systems for public schools. If the charter school bill pushed authority down to the local level among schools and school districts, the accountability measures helped ensure competition in the system. And the state created benchmarks to measure student knowledge and skill levels: TEKS. Students, schools, and districts were regularly assessed against these benchmarks.

Statewide assessments themselves were not new when Bush became governor, but earlier systems lacked rigor. Traditionally, school districts had been accredited with highly subjective, qualitative methods that involved extensive reports and classroom visits. Starting in the Ann Richards era, Texas began moving to a more data-driven approach to accountability. Bush made it known that he planned to build on Richardss accountability reforms, which helped assure bipartisan support.

The current testing system, the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR), evaluates students in math and reading from grades three through eight, in writing in grades four and seven, in science in fifth and seventh, and in social studies in eighth. In high school, students must pass the STAAR for Algebra I, English I, English II, biology, and U.S. history. Bush ended social promotion, the practice of graduating students to the next grade regardless of failing the prior one. High school students cannot graduate if they fail the STAAR.

Likewise, to maintain accreditation, schools and districts must demonstrate performance on the STAAR, as well as satisfy other basic measuresincluding dropout rates, attendance, and average student scores on standardized college-entrance examinations (the SAT and the ACT). Performance of minority students is a particularly important metric, which highlights a vital aspect of the Bush reforms: schools can no longer hide poor minority-student outcomes in a mass of aggregate data. Teacher and administrator pay and bonuses are tied to school performance, and schools are regularlyand publiclyrated.

Assessment of the Texas education reforms was already politicized by the time Bush ran for president. The public debate was somewhat cooled by Bushs embrace of a massive increase in education spending, which rose more than 50 percent during his six years in office, and by national bipartisan acceptance, at least early on, of No Child Left Behind, modeled on the Texas reforms. But education-policy research manages somehow to be even more contentious than education policymaking. During the 2000 campaign, a controversy arose over a RAND study showing soaring student achievement during Bushs tenure. The study gave Bush a powerful talking point, but it was soon undermined by another RAND study that questioned the Texas system of assessment, suggesting that high-stakes testing leads to teaching to the tests. Where the earlier study seemed to show clear benefits for minority students from the Bush reforms, the new study disputed these gains. (Subsequent analysis, in turn, cast doubt on the second study, particularly because of its small sample size.) The matter was never definitively resolved.

What is also clear is that educational outcomes overall have continued to improve in Texas. In a straight comparison, charter schools slightly underperform traditional public schools. But they also have to rely on a lower level of funding per student than do traditional public schools, since they dont receive local tax dollars or state facilities funds. Charter schools are also more economically and ethnically diverse than traditional schools, and their results show a much wider range of performance, with high-performing charters achieving far higher scores than traditional schools, particularly for minority students. About 38 percent of all charter students in Texas attend schools considered high-performing: Kipp Academies, Harmony schools, Idea public schools, Uplift Education Network, and Yes prep schools.

High-performing charter schools are the best-performing schools in Texas. The most iconic is Kipp Academy, which started as a small institution in Houston in 1995, with a specialized fifth-grade school. It then launched a pair of middle schools in Houston and New York, and now has more than 50 schools in Texas and nearly 200 nationwide. The Kipp model is based on its Five Pillars: High Expectations, Choice and Commitment, More Time, Power to Lead, and Focus on Results. Like other Texas charter schools, Kipp can pick its own teachers and set its own curriculum in conformity with TEKS. Kipp is known for taking advantage of the flexibility, with unusual teachers and nontraditional courses. Perhaps Kipps greatest achievement, with a student population disproportionately disadvantaged, has been virtually to match the performance of traditional Texas public schools.

In 2013, Texass Adjusted Cohort Graduation Rate stood at 88 percentamong the best graduation rates in the country.

Another benefit of charter schools is the competitive pressure that they put on traditional schools. Traditional schools that have lost a large number of students (and funding) to new charters have responded with charter-style offerings: early-college academies; academies focused on languages, sciences, or the arts; and specialized vocational schools. With most Texas students still enrolled in traditional public schools, reforming and improving those schools must remain a primary goal of all reform efforts.

The Bush accountability reforms also remain popular, and legislators continue to refine them. In 2013, Texass Adjusted Cohort Graduation Rate (a new uniform national measure developed by the Department of Education) stood at 88 percentamong the best graduation rates in the country, behind only Iowa, Nebraska, and Wisconsin. The graduation rates for black and Hispanic students in Texas (84 percent and 86 percent, respectively) in 2013 were significantly higher than the national average for all students.

Reform critics have argued that since the inception of state assessments in the mid-1990s, heavily minority schools have become virtual test-preparation academies. Supporters counter that thats the whole idea: if students are failing to learn essential skills, then this is precisely where schools need to focus. Other critics are skeptical of the numbers themselves, pointing to investigations that school officials have manipulated statistics. In the El Paso school district alone, more than a dozen educators have been disciplined by the stateand several indicted by the FBIfor trying to cheat the state accountability system.

Dropout rates are another area of dispute. The rates are notoriously difficult to calculatewithout longitudinal tracking of every student, no good way exists to account for students who have not dropped out but changed school districts, moved out of state, or opted for home schooling. Some Texas schools and districts have manipulated the results, leading critics to cast doubt on the entire system, but greater transparency is both desirable and attainable. And there is no doubt that Texass graduation rate is much improved.

A decade ago, it was not uncommon to hear that Texas schools had the worst dropout rates in the country. This assertion was based on a simple analysis of census data, which ranked Texas worst among all 50 states in the percentage of its residents over 25 with a high school degree. Other indicators looked somewhat betterand virtually all indicators have consistently improved since then.

Texas still has among the highest proportion of adult-age high school dropouts in the nation. The reason: the heavy current migration to the state of people at the bottom of the income and education ladders. The image of hipsters and techies moving to Austin, true as it is, can obscure this larger trend. Poor people, including many immigrants from Latin America, are coming to Texas in huge numbers from states like California and New York. When presented with a choice between extensive social services or robust opportunity for personal advancement, they are choosing opportunity. The problem for Texas is that this influx of a deeply uneducated population coincides with rapidly increasing demand for skilled labor. Capital moves where the workforce is, and if capital cant find the skills that it needs in Texas, it will move elsewhere. Indeed, declining workforce skills, along with Texass clogged transportation infrastructure, are major threats to the continued success of the Texas model.

Texas can and should address this looming challenge with specific reformsstarting with a repeal of the bilingual-education mandate. In Texas, elementary school students whose primary language is something other than English are segregated by law into native-language content instruction from an early age. While the dropout rate has improved for blacks and Hispanics overall (to 10.1 percent and 8 percent, respectively, for the class of 2012), it remains abysmal for English-language learners (25 percent). Finding teachers who can teach various subjects in Spanish is notoriously difficult, and many schools wind up with grossly underqualified instructors. Worse, English-language learners need to learn English as quickly as possibleas I did, starting at age sixbut the bilingual mandate effectively prevents it.

Yet Texas reformers almost entirely avoid tackling bilingual education. The reason can be seen in the bruising political battles over bilingual ed in California, Arizona, and other states. For national Hispanic advocacy groups, bilingual-education mandates are sacred relics of multiculturalism, and Texass 1972 law is their crown jewel. Authors such as Angela Valenzuela, professor of education at the University of Texas at Austin and a hero of the left-wing Hispanic advocacy groups, help ensure that research on the educational outcome of reforms, particularly those most needed among minority and disadvantaged students, remains highly biased and politicized. Because education reform in Texas has usually followed a bipartisan path, with Republicans such as Bush carefully cultivating the support of the Hispanic community, the debate in Texas has skirted even a quiet discussion of what may be the most overtly segregationist policy in American schools.

Other reforms are needed, too. Research shows that significantly improving teacher quality can make more of a difference to education outcomes than almost any other school reform, particularly in elementary school. According to McKinsey, the U.S. is notable among developed countries for drawing a significant portion of its teacher pool from the bottom half of graduating high school classes. Certification programs tied to education degrees ensure that few teachers majored in the subjects that they go on to teach. States should seek to make teaching in public schools an elite profession, diversifying pathways to certification, admitting significantly fewer candidates to education-degree programs, and, when fiscally necessary, trading small class size for teacher quality.

Dropout intervention and workforce-skills preparation should be pursued in tandem. Generally, the students at greatest risk of dropping out are those who fail to advance from eighth to ninth grade. Accelerated middle school programs should be augmented with adaptive-learning and online-learning summer initiatives that ensure that students who couldnt pass eighth grade the first time are able to make up their shortfalls and rejoin their peers at the start of ninth grade. These efforts should continue with early-college high school and dual-credit programs, tailored to the needs of students whose family or other obligations may make it difficult to complete college on time. For many students, success in the twenty-first-century economy wont require a four-year college degree, but almost all will need something more than a high school education. Teaching to specific workforce skills and making curricula in final years more adaptive to local workforce needsparticularly in areas with chronic underemployment, such as weldingare also critically important.

Finally, the political stars seem to be aligning for the third, unfulfilled plank of Bushs 1994 educational platform: a voucher-based school-choice system. A framework for true competition between private and public institutions would foster educational gains, demonstrating that a system of free public education need not entail a loss of choice or the inequity of having to pay twice for the same service.

The reorganization of Texas schools during Bushs tenure, along with the states embrace of charters, ran against the grain of the governance structure that has dominated the United States since the New Deal, in which rules set at the federal level provide the baseline that local governments must observe; they can add to, but never subtract from, the federal guidelines. This one-way ratchet favors excessive regulation and empowers special interests. By contrast, the Texas reforms exemplified what could be called competitive subsidiaritywhich holds that nothing should be done by larger structures when smaller structures can handle the same task. And the smaller structures should compete to develop best practices.

The Bush reforms, in other words, mirror the competitive federalism once common to the United States, in which most decision making was left to lower levels of government, reserving for Washington only those matters that had a necessarily national character. No national government can have a single right answer on complex domestic-policy issues. Only time and competition among laboratories of best practices can reveal what works, and even that may depend on local preferences. Hence, practices can vary from state to state, depending on multiple factors, and thus should be left to states to determine as they see fit. Similarly, Texas established goals in the form of essential knowledge and skills, along with a system of statewide accountability, so that officials and the public could assess schools on the same basis in a competitive framework.

Two decades later, however, in Texas and elsewhere, education reform remains mired in politics and vested interests defending their turf. Politics alone virtually guarantees that the debate over George W. Bushs education reforms in Texas will continue. But those reforms have unquestionably shown that a sure path to improving schools lies in local choice and competition, within a stable regulatory umbrellaand that choice and competition work well together. This insight should serve as a guidenot just for education reform in Texas and elsewhere but also for conservative reforms of all kinds.

Top Photo: Under Texas state law, schools are now judged on a number of criteria, including the performance of minority students. (Nick de la Torre/Houston Chronicle/AP Photo)
For the first time in history, the Iranian state broadcaster livestreamed the entire 90-minute US presidential debate on Sunday. This was not meant to be a civics lesson. Rather, it was an effort to highlight the dysfunctionality of the American political system to the Iranian public.

That decision shows the ways in whichwin or losethe Trump campaign has eroded US standing around the world, particularly when it comes to such issues as human rights and press freedom. This may seem incidental compared with the enormous threat a Trump presidency poses to US institutions from the political parties, to the Justice Department, and the media itself. But for vulnerable journalists around the world, its a game changer. As CPJ Chairman Sandra Mims Rowe noted in a statement released this week, A Trump presidency would represent a threat to press freedom in the United States, but the consequences for the rights of journalists around the world could be far more serious.

Trump has consistently trampled on Americas First Amendment tradition.

The US record is far from perfect. But when America stands up for persecuted journalists around the world, it can still make an enormous difference. Recent US efforts have helped free imprisoned bloggers in Vietnam and Ethiopia, and led to the release of Jason Rezaian, the Washington Post reporter jailed in Iran. The US has been a consistent voice for press freedom and internet rights in international forums like the United Nations, providing a critical counterweight to countries like China and Russia, which seek to restrict online speech.

When it comes to press freedom and the rights of journalists around the world, the US exercises its influence in two ways. The first is by example. But Trump has consistently trampled on Americas First Amendment tradition. Throughout his campaign, Trump has insulted and vilified the press and called individual journalists dishonest and sleazy. He has refused to condemn attacks carried out by his supporters. He has systematically denied press credentials to outlets who have covered him critically, including the Washington Post, BuzzFeed, Politico, the Huffington Post, the Daily Beast, Univision and the Des Moines Register. In his latest outburst, Trump threatened to sue The New York Times after it published accounts from two women who said he groped them.

Related: Trumps many, many threats to sue the press since launching his campaign

Trump has routinely made vague proposals to curtail press and internet freedom, declaring thatif elected presidenthe would open up our libel laws so when they write purposely negative and horrible and false articles, we can sue them and win lots of money. As president, Trump would not have Constitutional authority to change US libel laws. But he clearly intends to make trouble for the media and would doubtless find a way to do so.

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The second way in which the US exercises influence is by speaking out when the rights of journalists are violated around the world. Trump has indicated he has no inclination to do so. When MSNBCs Joe Scarborough asked him in December if his admiration of Vladimir Putin was at all tempered by Russias recent history of journalist murders, Trump responded: Hes running his country, and at least hes a leader, unlike what we have in this country Well, I think that our country does plenty of killing, too.

One of the ways that press freedom groups like CPJ conduct their advocacy is by goading the US government to exercise its influence appropriately, highlighting the most serious press freedom violations around the world and calling on the US to take action. There have been challenges during the Obama administration, because as noted in CPJs 2013 report The Obama Administration and the Press, the US record has been fraught, and includes the aggressive prosecution of leakers and a lack of transparency. Based on the way Hillary Clinton has managed media coverage during her campaign, these kinds of issues would continue and could even grow worse under her presidency.

Nevertheless, the Obama administration has defended press freedom, albeit selectively, speaking out about the rights of journalists in places like Vietnam, Russia, Venezuela, Ecuador, and at times Turkey, where Vice President Biden met with the wife of then imprisoned journalist Can Dundar during a visit in January (the US record in China and Egypt is less compelling). The US has a consistently strong record of defending free speech values in international fora, notably the International Telecommunication Union, a relatively obscure UN agency which China would like to use to control the global internet. Under a Trump presidency, this critical influence would vanish.

If Trump were to be elected president, he would likely become Americas first democratator.

In many countries around the worldfrom Russia to Turkeyelected autocrats pose a tremendous challenge to press freedom. I call these leaders democratators because they have used the authority gained at the ballot box to undermine and weaken the institutions that constrain their power, including the press. If Trump were to be elected president, he would likely become Americas first democratator. Though he now appears likely to lose, the Trump campaign has already had a negative influenceas anyone who watched debate night from Tehran already knows.

Has America ever needed a media watchdog more than now? Help us by joining CJR today

Joel Simon is a fellow at Tow Center for Digital Journalism. His next book is The Infodemic: How Censorship Made the World Sicker and Less Free co-authored with Robert Mahoney.
New Jersey Transits board of directors will convene publicly Thursday for the first time in four months amid a federal safety investigation and calls by state lawmakers for subpoena power over the nations third-biggest mass-transportation provider.

The agencys eight-person board typically meets monthly, except in August. Its unclear why the panel, whose four public members were appointed by Republican Governor Chris Christie, hasnt met since a telephone conference in July during which it approved contracts with two rail unions. The trustees have yet to consider a $2.1 billion operating budget for the fiscal year that began July 1.

Now New Jersey Transit, with more than 170,000 daily commuter bus and rail boardings in New York City alone, faces the wrath of transportation advocates demanding more transparency, and passengers complaining about worsening service since a fatal wreck in Hoboken on Sept. 29. On Facebook, members of the Delayed on New Jersey Support Group urged people to flood the meeting scheduled for 9 a.m.  during commuter rush hour  at the agencys Newark headquarters.

Why havent they passed a budget? said Joe Clift, a retired Long Island Rail Road planning director who keeps watch on New York City-area transportation agencies. This is four months now without a regular meeting. You could argue that they never need to have a board meeting.

Nancy Snyder and Jennifer Nelson, spokeswomen for the agency, didnt respond to telephoned and e-mailed requests for comment on why the board didnt convene for routine business in July and September. In an e-mail, though, Snyder said committees met in August and September. One, she said, was the focal point for accepting public/customer input and where on-time performance and similar information is provided to the public.

The most recent spending plan contains language which allows the agency to continue operations until the Fiscal Year 2017 budget is adopted, Snyder said. Day-to-day operations are supported by customer revenue and other earnings, she said.

None of the agencys trustees responded to requests for comment. Brian Murray, a spokesman for Christie, referred questions to New Jersey Transit.

The agency already is under investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board as a result of the Sept. 29 accident in Hoboken, which killed a woman on the platform and injured more than 100 passengers. The train was traveling 21 miles per hour, twice the limit, when it hit the station, according to the NTSB, which hasnt determined yet what caused the crash.

Lawmakers say the crash has renewed their focus on New Jersey Transits leadership, finances, hiring and safety record after years of declined invitations to speak to the legislature. Since 2011, the agency has paid more than $500,000 to settle safety and procedure violations cited by the Federal Railroad Administration, records show. Since 2002, breakdowns have increased, federal records show. Alerts warning of delays and congestion are put out almost daily by the mass-transit agency, which has raised fares five times since 2002 to help close budget gaps.

Assemblyman John Wisniewski, a Sayreville Democrat, last week introduced a resolution seeking permission to issue subpoenas for the testimony of persons and the production of books, papers, correspondence and other documents. Another Democrat, Senator Bob Gordon from Fair Lawn, was rearranging a hearing schedule this month to summon New Jersey Transit authorities to Trenton.

Though some runs were restored Monday for the 15,000 daily passengers who use the station to reach Manhattan, nine tracks remained out of service. The agency hasnt disclosed the extent of the damage, the cost to repair, or when full operations may resume. Hobokens historic terminal, part of a $175 million restoration, was damaged less than a year later by Hurricane Sandy flood waters in 2012, leading to a 17-month service suspension.

On social media, users complained about rush-hour crowding and delays, routine in the New York City area, worsening without Hoboken in full operation.

They have not been accountable to the public, Jeff Tittel, executive director of the New Jersey chapter of the Sierra Club, an environmental group, said in a statement.This is the first meeting after the Hoboken disaster and there are still many unanswered questions.

E-mails seeking comment on the boards activities werent returned by Dennis Martin, a veteran of New Jersey Transit bus operations who has been interim executive director since December, and Richard Hammer, the transportation department commissioner who acts as chairman. Ford Scudder, the state treasurer, and John Spinello, chief of the governors authorities unit, two more board members, also didnt respond to e-mails.

Three Christie board appointees  Bruce Meisel, Ray Greaves and James Finkle Jr.  didnt return phone messages. A fourth, Flora Castillo, a 17-year trustee who has served during Republican and Democratic administrations, didnt respond to a request for comment sent via her Twitter account.

Copyright 2022 Bloomberg.
New or replaced gas service lines for apartments and small businesses across the United States must be equipped with inexpensive safety valves starting next year following deadly fires and explosions over decades that could have been avoided, the Obama administration announced Tuesday.

The National Transportation Safety board and many advocates had pressed for years to broaden requirements for so-called excess flow valves, which can shut off gas automatically when a line is ruptured. An Associated Press investigation in 2012 uncovered more than 270 accidents dating to 1968 that could have been averted or made less dangerous if the valves had been in place.

The administrations rule would not require the valves on tens of millions of existing lines. Customers could request that valves be installed by their gas utility, but Tuesdays U.S Department of Transportation rule left it up to state regulators to decide who will pay for the work.

The valves can cost about $30 apiece for residential use.

They wont prevent lines from being ruptured, such as when a backhoe doing excavation work slices through a gas pipe servicing a house.

But by limiting the amount of gas that escapes, officials say the valves can prevent a buildup of fuel that can contribute to explosions or fires. That will result in reduced fatalities, injuries, lost product, and other property damage from certain types of preventable incidents, transportation officials wrote in the rule.

Federal safety officials have said the valves could have averted accidents that killed at least 10 people and injured many more since 1998. Among those was a 2012 Springfield, Massachusetts, explosion that leveled a strip club, injured at least 20 people and damaged dozens of buildings.

A 2009 mandate called for the installation of excess flow valves on new and replaced gas distribution lines serving single-family residences. The new rule expands that mandate to include lines serving multiple homes, duplexes and small multi-family buildings, and shops ranging from doctors offices and shopping centers to banks.

The rule also requires gas distribution companies to install curb valves  manually-operated shut-off valves located near the service main  or EFVs for larger-diameter lines to protect against uncontrolled gas releases from larger commercial and industrial users.

Out of more than 67 million gas service lines in the U.S., more than 9 million have excess flow valves, according to information previously submitted to regulators. A breakdown by type of customer was not available.

About 220,000 customers annually would be affected by the rule, according to the Transportation Departments Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration.

Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
In an exclusive interview with Claims Journal, Brian Gainer, a presenter at this years annual International Association of Claim Professionals conference held recently in California, discussed the issues that surround a high profile event like the 2014 deadly police shooting in Ferguson, Mo.

Gainer, a partner and chairman of the Municipal Liability Practice Group with the law firm of Johnson & Bell said the effect of incidents, like the one in Ferguson, impact the way civil rights lawsuits against police officers are defended.

The Ferguson incident and incidents like it have a dramatic effect on how we defend civil rights lawsuits against police officers, Gainer said.

With incidents in major cities across the country, including Charlotte, Chicago and Baltimore, attention on these cases is heightened, Gainer said.

Its become a much more challenging environment to do that [defend police against lawsuits] for a number of different reasons, said Gainer.

In Charlotte, N.C., Keith La Mont Scott was shot by police on September 20. According to an Associated Press Story by Meg Kinnard and Marth Waggoner published recently, friends and family say he suffered a traumatic brain injury the year prior to his death. His wife uploaded a cell phone video of the incident to social media.

Heated confrontations between police and African Americans across the country are regularly being captured via cell phone video and plastered on the news. Gainer explained how media attention affects claims associated with these incidents.

Often, when they hit the mainstream media you have or they have the video and nothing else, he said, indicating that it creates an information vacuum regarding missing facts.

Initially, there may be an account that is anti-police or pro-suspect.

Even later, Ferguson for exampleif you find out that the facts as they were first reported were wrong in some way or somewhat erroneous. Its too late, its almost impossible to correct the narrative once its been created, explained Gainer.

That results in a problem for future defense of similar cases because its just a Google search away, he said. It can expose jurors to a story that has no basis in fact.

It makes voir dire and other types of questions for prospective jurors so much more important. We really have to place an emphasis on it, Gainer said.

The August 2014 shooting death of an unarmed Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo., prompted months of protests that resulted in a $40 million civil rights lawsuit by protestors alleging that police used excessive force against them. A federal judge ruled recently that the plaintiffs failed to present credible evidence proving crowd-control tactics by police in the days following Browns August 2014 death in the St. Louis suburb involved malice or bad faith, noting that protestors ignored repeated warnings to disperse.

Gainer shared his thoughts on what might assist in diffusing these types of situations in the future. Two main ways of addressing officer involved shootings are body cameras and improved training, he said.

Body cameras seem to be the wave of the future when it comes to policing, explained Gainer. Its about as close as you can get to seeing what a police officer sees.

He thinks the technology can reframe incidents and reduce anti-police sentiment. And according to a recent study, he may be right.

In the UK, a study of British and U.S. police by Cambridge University revealed a 93 percent decrease in the number of complaints made against officers when they used body cameras.

Researchers suggest that cameras encourage best behavior on the part of both the officers and the public.

The study involved West Midlands Police, West Yorkshire Police, Cambridgeshire Constabulary, Police Service of Northern Ireland and departments in Ventura and Rialto, California. Nearly 2,000 officers and 1.4 million working hours were studied for a period of one year.

Barak Ariel, the researcher who led the study, said that people who are being observed and know it change their behavior.

Everyone is recording the police except themselves. Now we have something from the officers point of view, said Ariel.

Gainer expects that police departments throughout the country will take these incidents and use them as tools to teach officers about de-escalation and alternatives to the use of deadly force. I think that these incidents if they do nothing else will allow police departments to more effectively train their officers.

Jim Suhr of the Associated Press contributed to this article.
ORANGE, Ohio -- Kidnapping (of adult for sexual assault), aggravated robbery, rape; Orange Place: A Euclid man, 22, was arrested on Oct. 10 after a prostitute said he sexually assaulted her during a robbery in her room at the Extended Stay South hotel in Orange.

The Detroit, Mich., woman, 27, reported that she was advertising on Backpage.com and was meeting up with a customer around noon who had offered to pay her $100 when he arrived with what appeared to be a handgun. He instead took $300 of hers out of a kitchen drawer, then raped her, threatening to kill her otherwise.

When he started looking around for more money, the victim escaped and hid in a room that was left open by housekeeping. An officer had noticed a man matching the suspect's description getting into a 2005 Buick and managed to trace its owner to the point where Euclid police were waiting for him when he arrived home.

In his possession, they found credit cards belonging to the victim, an ATM receipt where he had attempted to withdraw $200 on her account, $468 in cash, several cell phones -- at least one belonging to her, and a black tire wrench that was folded to look like a handgun, matching a likeness that the victim drew for police.

He was taken to jail, with sexual evidence gathered from the hotel room for a rape kit analysis.

Obstructing official business, escape; Orange Place: Police returned to the Extended Stay South Hotel on the evening of Oct. 10 to check on a witness from an earlier incident who had given them a false name and Social Security number.

After they handcuffed him as "John Doe," he said he'd had surgery to his left wrist and could they please allow his hands to be cuffed in front of him, rather than behind his back.

Police obliged and then he told them he was going to run now, which may have been the first true statement he'd given them all day. Giving chase through the Wasabi steakhouse parking lot, police warned him about using a Taser stun gun, which they did from a distance of about 15 feet, with the barbs connecting to his upper back and buttocks.

Medics arrived and the taser barbs were removed, as the suspect was taken Ahuja Medical Center to be medically cleared, then to jail, at least until he provided his correct personal information.

It turned out that the east side Cleveland man, 32, had a felony warrant through the Cuyahoga County Sheriff's Department.

Domestic violence, Orange Place: A Warrensville Heights man, 25, was arrested following an Oct. 10 incident at the Extended Stay South where he was observed arguing with his live-in girlfriend, then pulling her back into their room.

Police found her face red and swollen, with blood on a towel in their room, and they explained that she had hit her cheek on the door as he was forcing her back in.

Although the Maple Heights woman, 23, did not want to press charges, police did, although she refused to let them photograph her face.

Warrant served, I-271 and Harvard Road: A Shaker Heights woman, 30, was awaiting extradition to Texas on Oct. 6 after police ran her license plate and found a felony warrant out of Dallas County.

Receiving stolen property, Orange Place: As an A-1 Bail bondsman was turning over an unidentified woman with a warrant to Eastlake police around 4:40 a.m. on Oct. 6, a check of the temporary tag on her 2012 Nissan Maxima showed it was either listed as stolen through the Cleveland Police Department, or somehow repossessed.

If you would like to discuss the police blotter, please visit our crime and courts comments page.
Federal courthouse cleveland

Two men were indicted Thursday and charged with dealing large amounts of drugs in the Cleveland area.

(Plain Dealer file photo)

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- A grand jury indicted two brothers Thursday on charges that they brought large amounts of heroin and fentanyl to Northeast Ohio from Connecticut, the U.S. Attorney's Office said in a news release.

Mizraim "Psycho" Vega, 27, of South Euclid, and Abimelec "Eugene" Vega, 25, of Cleveland are charged with conspiracy to distribute heroin, acetylfentanyl and fentanyl. They also face charges for dealing drugs in August and September, prosecutors say.

Both were arrested in September and charged via criminal complaint. They are in the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service. Abimelec Vega was arrested in Orlando and is expected to be brought back to Cleveland.

Prosecutors say that Abimelec, when talking to an FBI informant, identified himself as a member of the Latin Kings and said he could obtain large shipments of drugs from a fellow gang member.

The brothers sold 80 grams of heroin for $8,000 on Aug. 26. According to the release, Vega told the informant, "the one thing I'll tell is to make sure to cut it (dilute the heroin). That stuff...you can't send it to the street like that, it's too strong. That stuff could kill someone, bro!"

Abimelec Vega also told the source in September that he was changing phones because someone had died from the drugs he had sold, the release says. Federal authorities also tracked him traveling around Bridgeport, Connecticut, where the Latin Kings are known to deal drugs, court filings say.

Joseph Morse, Mizraim Vega's attorney, did not return a phone call Thursday. It was not immediately clear whether Abimelec Vega had an attorney.

If you would like to comment on this story, please visit Thursday's crime and courts comments section.
MEDINA, Ohio - Three of the four candidates running for Medina County commissioner were among 18 office seekers who spoke at a forum this morning at Medina Hospital.

Medina Breakfast Kiwanis hosted the forum. Candidates for county, state and federal office each had a chance to speak for two minutes to members of the service organization.

Mark Kolesar: "I have a track record of putting politics aside."

Medina County commissioners

Mark Kolesar and William Hutson are vying for the seat currently held by Medina County Commissioner Tim Smith. Hutson ousted Smith in the Republican primary.

Democrat Kolesar currently serves as the Ward 3 representative on Medina City Council, a post he has held for the last 12 years. The 33-year county resident said he thinks he could add a "much needed boost" to the Board of Commissioners.

He touted his "common sense approach" to government and the importance of transparency, honesty, vision and wise use of tax dollars.

"I understand the ins and outs of running a government. I have a track record of putting politics aside," Kolesar said.

Hutson, who has lived in the county for 23 years, says his goal is to maintain the quality of life for county residents.

He has worked for the Westfield Companies for 30 years, serving in capacities ranging from legal to executive.

"I managed a budget that was eight figures," Hutson said.

He has also served as the law director for the village of Westfield Center for 19 years, has served on the Port Authority Board and was a member of the Cloverleaf Local Schools Board of Education.

William Hutson: "I managed a budget that was eight figures."

He was a school board member at a time when the district was in dire financial straits.

"We made the necessary cuts that were very, very difficult and pulled the district through that crisis," he said.

The other contested commissioner's race is between longtime Republican incumbent Patricia Geissman and Democrat Matthew Zamborsky.

Zamborsky did not attend the forum.

Geissman, who has been a commissioner for 24 years, earlier served as executive director of the Medina unit of the American Red Cross, as an emergency medical technician for the Lodi Fire Department and as a Realtor.

"When an incumbent runs again, they need to run on their record," she said.

She talked about her efforts to create the Railroad Safety Task Force and the Foreclosure Prevention Task Force. She was also an organizing member of the hunger initiative that has grown into Feeding Medina County.

"That's three of the initiatives I have taken," she said.

Medina County Common Pleas Court

Medina County Common Pleas Court Judge Christopher Collier is being challenged by Michael T. Conway.

Patricia Geissman: "When an incumbent runs again, they need to run on their record."

Conway has practiced law for 25 years. Before that, he was a captain in the United States Marines.

"My whole life has been about service, taking care of other people," Conway said.

"I think I've tried every kind of case you can try as a lawyer. From assault to zoning, I've worked on it," he said.

He said he thinks it is important to take the focus off the judge in a courtroom and put it on the lawyers, plaintiffs and defendants.

Collier has practiced law for 37 years and has been a Common Pleas Court judge here for nearly 18 years. He touted his creation of the county's first drug court and increased intervention for those addicted to heroin and other illegal drugs.

"Drug addiction is the engine of crime in Medina County," he said.

Collier said he likes to get out from behind the bench and talk with students and the community about what goes on in the courtroom. He thanked community members for serving on his juries.

"Jurors are the backbone of the justice system," he said.

"I hold this job in trust ... for the community, through you. I never forget that you're my boss," Collier said.

Medina County prosecutor

Twenty-eight-year incumbent Dean Holman, a Democrat, faces a challenge from Republican S. Forrest Thompson.

Holman, who has tried 14,000 felony cases during his tenure, said his goal is to provide for "fair and aggressive prosecution."

Among his accomplishments, he said he is especially proud of creating the Victims Assistance Program in 1989, shortly after becoming county prosecutor.

Before that time, victims were not permitted to speak in the courtroom at a defendant's sentencing. Holman wanted to make sure that their voices were heard.

Today, his focus has turned to the heroin crisis in Medina County. He has assigned an assistant prosecutor to work with the U.S. Attorney's Office and the Drug Enforcement Agency to work for solutions to the problem.

Thompson, a Wadsworth resident who has served as an attorney in Medina County for the last 22 years, agrees that heroin is a serious issue.

He said he advocates an amnesty-style program that would keep heroin addicts out of court.

"We cannot prosecute our way out of a heroin crisis," he said.

Other Medina County races

Other contested Medina County races in the Nov. 8 general election include:

* Clerk of Courts - Republican incumbent Dave Wadsworth faces a challenge from Democrat Dick Mack.

* Recorder - Democrat Susan Luf is running against Republican incumbent Colleen M. Swedyk.

* Treasurer - Republican incumbent John Burke is being challenged by Democrat Robert Glawe.

* Coroner - Longtime incumbent Neil Grabenstetter, a Democrat, faces a challenge from Republican Lisa M. Deranek.

Wadsworth, Swedyk and Burke all spoke at the Kiwanis forum.

Also campaigning at the forum were 9th District Court of Appeals Judges Donna Carr and Lynn Callahan, who are both running unopposed, and Ohio Sen. Larry Obhoff (R-22). Obhoff's opponent, Christopher King, was not in attendance.

Incumbent Ohio Rep. Steve Hambley (R-69) and his opponent, Democrat Frank Zona, both spoke to Kiwanis members, as did incumbent Roslyn Painter-Goffi and Lisa Woods, who are running for the 5th District seat on the Ohio Board of Education.

Capping off the breakfast meeting was Keith Mundy, the Democratic challenger to U.S. Rep. Jim Renacci (R-16). Renacci was not at the forum.

Mundy, an Akron native who now lives in Parma and owns Court Delivery (which services the legal community serving subpoenas and conducting research and investigations), was the Ohio grassroots coordinator of volunteer activities for Bernie Sanders' presidential campaign.

That grassroots work inspired him to run for office.

"One thing I'm not is a professional politician. We really do need some fresh blood. We need regular people" to run for office, Mundy said.

"The people have got to be taken care of. They've got to be listened to," he said.
The FBI released an updated photo of the man suspected of abducting a 6-year-old girl from her Cleveland home, as well as the car he drove.

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The case of a man who abducted a 6-year-old Cleveland girl and later tried to abduct a 10-year-old Elyria girl has left federal investigators baffled.

More than 200 agents and police officers across the state have worked on the case. They have surveillance video of the kidnapper that shows his face. They have him on video driving a distinctive car.

They've blasted his photo out via social media and highway billboards nationwide in hopes that someone would recognize him.

But the 325 tips that have come into the FBI have led nowhere.

Now the FBI is hoping that people in smaller townships and villages in Northeast Ohio recognize him. They're specifically re-directing their efforts in Lorain County, where the first known attempted abduction happened on Feb. 25.

"We're wondering if we're just targeting the right audience," FBI spokeswoman Kelly Liberti said. "When we went out to North Ridgeville to see if there was a connection with an attempted abduction out there, they had no idea what we were talking about."

For the first time on Thursday, the FBI acknowledged that the 6-year-old girl was violently attacked by her kidnapper during the 17 hours he held her in his room at an unknown location.

"He didn't take her to have a tea party," FBI spokeswoman Vicki Anderson said. "He did things to her that we're not going to go into. But she was harmed. We're happy she's alive but they didn't play Barbies."

Anderson said investigators are baffled that they have yet to get a tip that leads them to the serial kidnapper. Liberti said when they send out out images of bank robbery suspects to the media, they often get responses that lead to arrests within hours.

For some reason, it hasn't panned out for investigators in the "stranger abductor" case, which they said is extremely rare.

"Someone knows him," Liberti said. "Someone was in the house with the (Cleveland) girl."

Anderson said they've had some difficulty nailing down a specific year for the Chevy Malibu that he drove to the Cleveland abduction. Working with Chevy engineers, they've narrowed it down to a 2002 or 2003 model. They know it's a dark colored car, but don't know the exact color because it isn't clear in the surveillance video.

The car has a lighter colored panel on the front driver's side which makes it more distinguishable from other models. It also has an after-market spoiler on the back.

Liberti said they have checked chop shops and area salvage yards to see if anyone demolished a car with that description, but they've found nothing.

She also said they've reviewed hours and hours of surveillance video from the surrounding neighborhoods for the days before and after each abduction, hoping to catch a glimpse of the car. Nothing was found.

A composite sketch of the man that was released was too vague to be helpful and has, in some cases, drawn investigators into wasting time trying to identify tips generated from the sketch.

"The sketch looks like half the guys in Ohio," Anderson said.

Anderson said they've spread the photos across the country, including Louisville, Detroit, Indianapolis and Buffalo to no avail. What the FBI does know is that he's a violent predator.

"He's a bad, bad guy," Anderson added.

The man went into the 10-year-old Elyria girl's home Feb. 24 and unlocked several doors and windows. The next day, he opened the 10-year-old girl's bedroom window, grabbed her legs and tried to pull her outside.

She fought the man off and ran to her father's bedroom for help.

He next surfaced on the FBI's radar a week before he took the 6-year-old Cleveland girl. He was seen walking near the girl's home May 14, 15 and 20. In the early morning hours of May 21, he parked across the street, went into her home and took her as she slept.

The man ran back across the street to his car and drove to a home in an unknown location. The girl described the bedroom where she was held as having pictures of a deer on the walls. She also heard a woman's voice ask her abductor if the man wanted anything to eat. Anderson said they do not believe that woman knew the abducted girl was inside the home.

The man dropped the girl off about 17 hours later at the intersection of Lyric Avenue and West 140th Street. She walked up to a nearby home and rang the doorbell. The residents recognized her from media reports and called police.

The FBI is also worried if they don't catch the abductor, there may be more victims in the future.

"Whoever he is, he's very dangerous," Liberti said. "And he's dangerous to anyone with a child."

The FBI is asking anyone with knowledge of the incident, or can help identify the man, to call their tip line at 216-622-6824.

To comment on this story, please visit our crime and courts comments page.
Brandi Bledsoe, a transgender woman, was found dead behind a Cleveland home. Her death is being investigated as a suspected homicide.

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- A Cleveland woman found dead Saturday with a plastic bag around her head identifies as a transgender woman, according to family members.

Brandi Bledsoe, 32, told her family about two years ago that she wanted to be identified as Brandi, instead of Brandon, the name in which she was identified to the media by the Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner.

Her death is a suspected homicide, but the medical examiner has not offered an official ruling on how she died.

Bledsoe was found dead about 10 a.m. in the driveway behind a home on Drexel Avenue, near East 108th Street.

She was wearing only underwear and had white plastic bags covering her head and both hands, according to police reports.

A 5-year-old boy discovered her body while riding bikes with his 12-year-old brother.

Police also said she had head trauma. Cleveland police spokesman Jennifer Ciaccia said investigators will take her transgender status into consideration in the investigation. She said the investigation is in its early stages and it's too early to determine of motive for Bledsoe's death.

No arrests have been made in the case.

Bledsoe's cousin, John Craggett, said she told the family about two years ago that she wanted to be identified as Brandi.

"She wasn't very outgoing before she told us," Craggett said. "She just wasn't happy with who she was. When she told us, she was honestly a lot better as Brandi. She was happy."

Bledsoe's grandfather, 73-year-old Johnnie Ledbetter, agreed.

"We got a long great when she lived with me," Ledbetter said. "I wish she was around more after she moved out."

Craggett said Bledsoe grew up in Nebraska and moved to Cleveland several years ago. She recently moved out of her grandfather's home and into her own place.

"She was really independent," Craggett said. "A lot of opportunities opened up for her. She was looking for freedom."

Bledsoe worked at an area Home Depot and was an artist who specialized in animation.

"She was really beautiful," Craggett said. "She was really sweet and nice. That's what bugs the crap out of me about this. Whoever did this can rot in hell."

Her death, if officially ruled a homicide, would be the 23rd transgender death in the country in 2016, according to the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation.

Three other transgender women have been killed in the Cleveland area since 2012.

Brittany Stergis, 22, was shot dead in December 2013 inside her car at the Lakeview Estates apartments on West 25th Street. Delshawn Carroll is serving 18 years to life in prison after he admitted to the killing.

Betty Skinner, a 52-year-old disabled resident of a senior apartment complex in Cleveland's Old Brooklyn neighborhood, was found dead the same year in her bed of an apparent homicide. She had head injuries.

Those deaths happened less than a year after 20-year-old Cemia "Ce Ce" Dove was killed in an apartment in Olmsted Township. Cuyahoga County prosecutors said Andrey Bridges thought he had arranged a date with a woman when Dove arrived.

Prosecutors said Bridges became enraged when he discovered Dove was transgender. He stabbed her 40 times, then threw her body into a pond.

To comment on this story, please visit our crime and courts comments page.
Donald Trump

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump delivers a speech, Thursday, Oct. 13, 2016, in Columbus, Ohio.

(AP Photo/ Evan Vucci)

COLUMBUS, Ohio--Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump said Thursday that he would address America's student-loan "crisis" by easing federal regulations on schools and punishing colleges that don't control tuition costs.

In what was billed as a "Millennial policy" speech, Trump told a crowd of mostly college-aged supporters that, as president, he'll ensure young people have jobs waiting for them when they graduate.

The billionaire businessman also fired back against new reports accusing him of groping and kissing women without their consent, saying he was "slandered and libeled."

In the crowd at Donald Trump's Millennial policy speech in Columbus, Ohio Posted by cleveland.com on Thursday, October 13, 2016

Trump drew a warm reception from the crowd of about 450 in downtown Columbus, who at one point broke into the anti-Hillary Clinton chant "Lock her up!"

"So young and so jaded already," Trump replied in jest.

Here's more about what he talked about.

Trump offered proposals to make college cheaper

Trump blamed the "skyrocketing" cost of college on bloated college administrations and bureaucracies, which in turn he blamed on "the unnecessary cost of complying with federal regulations."

If elected, Trump said, he would reduce those regulations, leading to smaller school administrations and cheaper tuition rates.

Trump also threatened that schools with "huge endowments" that don't do enough to keep tuition rates low should no longer be exempt from paying taxes on their endowment.

"If the federal government is going to subsidize student loans, it has a right to expect that colleges work hard to control costs and invest their resources in their students," he said. "If colleges refuse to take this responsibility seriously, they will be held accountable."

Trump also proposed streamlining the current "complex maze" of student loan repayment programs to "a single income-based repayment program similar to those that have proved so popular in recent years."

Trump said his final plan to address student-loan debt will be worked out through negotiation. "We're going to work it out big-league," he said.

Trump denied claims of sexual assault

Trump also disputed recent reports that he groped and kissed a number of women without their consent.

He said the stories contained "false claims without any evidence" and that he has never met the women making the allegations.

"We will not let these lies distract us from our campaign," he said. "This is a campaign of truth - it really is."

Trump critics deride him over comments

Trump, who dismissed a video of him making vulgar, sexually aggressive comments about women as "locker-room banter", drew criticism from Democrats with Columbus ties in statements released by the Clinton campaign.

"While the video of Trump bragging that he can get away with sexually assaulting women because of his fame is incredibly offensive and disturbing, it is not altogether that surprising," said state Rep. Kristen Boggs, a Columbus Democrat. "In addition to insulting and demeaning women, he has shown disrespect for African-Americans, Latinos, Muslims, POWS, people with disabilities, and immigrants. ...He is temperamentally unfit to be our president."

Chibundu Nnake, a former Ohio State University linebacker, said "if a student-athlete at OSU talked about women the way Donald Trump did, it would disqualify him from playing sports for Ohio State, let alone running for president."
portman strickland

Republican U.S. Sen. Rob Portman and Democratic former Gov. Ted Strickland met for their first campaign face-off Wednesday

(Left: Mark Duncan, AP Photo; Right: Jay LaPrete, AP Photo )

Republican U.S. Sen. Rob Portman and Democratic former Gov. Ted Strickland face off during an interview with the cleveland.com and Plain Dealer editorial board. Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump is fading in Ohio, according to a new Baldwin Wallace University statewide poll. Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton leads Trump by 9 points in the state. Read more in today's Ohio politics roundup.

Senate showdown: Rob Portman and Ted Strickland met for their first campaign face-off Wednesday. The two U.S. Senate rivals, along with Green Party candidate Joe DeMare, duked it out before the cleveland.com and Plain Dealer editorial board. Watch the full video here.

Portman, the Republican incumbent, and Strickland, the Democratic former governor, fired shots at each other while making their policy differences clear, cleveland.com's Jeremy Pelzer reports.

Portman defended his past support of Trump, an endorsement he rescinded over the weekend after video emerged showing the GOP presidential nominee making lewd comments about women.

"To me, this was the last straw," Portman said of the video. "I believe in this case -- it's a personal decision on my part -- that what he said was so offensive, and so demeaning and degrading, specifically to women, that I could no longer support him."

And Strickland pushed back on criticism about his recent remarks on the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. Strickland was making reference to a tie ruling affecting organized labor. Portman accused Strickland of celebrating Scalia's death, which the former governor hotly denied.

Portman maintains a commanding lead in recent polls, including a 12-point advantage in a poll released Wednesday by Baldwin Wallace University.

About those polls: Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, who once appeared to be on his way to winning Ohio, has seen his lead evaporate in a number of recent polls, while Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton seems to have the momentum. Clinton leads Trump by 9 points in the BW poll. Cleveland.com's Andrew J. Tobias looks at the reasons behind the shifting numbers.

"The short answer is Trump has allowed himself to be Trump, and that's what's caused him to stumble," Tom Sutton, director of BW's Community Research Institute, told Tobias.

The poll included a high number of responses from educated voters, which could help explain Trump's poor performance among Republicans surveyed. Clinton does well with more educated voters, while the opposite is true for Trump.

"On the other hand, the poll under-sampled black voters, who overwhelmingly back Clinton. So Clinton's overall +9 lead could be relatively sound," Tobias writes.

Sutton talked to me more about the poll in a Facebook Live interview. You can catch it here.

Full disclosure: Trump rarely admits to being wrong about anything. But cleveland.com's Henry J. Gomez is not above owning up to some of his predictions about Trump -- 11 of them-- that didn't pan out. Among them was this declaration by Gomez in July 2015, when Trump was riding high in the polls: "Enjoy the Trump show while it lasts. While it's undeniable he is having an impact on the race and forcing the Republican Party to confront rhetoric it was hoping to avoid this cycle, his campaign has all the makings of a limited-run engagement."

Who has Trump's ear? Ohio Republican Party Chairman Matt Borges, for one. Borges speaks with Trump frequently by phone and when the candidate visits Ohio. Gomez interviewed Borges, aka "the Donald Trump whisperer," just after Borges spoke by phone with Trump Wednesday morning. What did Borges and Trump talk about? "I told him we have a path to carry Ohio, so let's just stick together," Borges told Gomez. "He said, 'OK, I love ya.'"

LeBron in the locker room: Cleveland Cavaliers star LeBron James jumped into the controversy over a tape that captured Trump's lewd comments in 2005 in which Trump bragged that he could sexually assault women with impunity. Trump has characterized the comments as "locker room talk." James doesn't buy it, cleveland.com's Chris Fedor reports.

"What is 'locker room talk' to me? It's not what that guy said," James said Wednesday afternoon following the team's practice. "We don't disrespect women in no shape or fashion in our locker room. That never comes up. Obviously, I got a mother-in-law, a wife, a mom and a daughter and those conversations just don't go on in our locker room."

Early voting well underway: Wednesday was the first day of early voting in Ohio, and voters lined up early at the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections to exercise their right. Plain Dealer Photographer Marvin Fong was there to capture the action.

More Ohio campaign visits: Clinton was in the Buckeye State earlier this week, and Trump and President Obama are on their way. And on Wednesday, we found out that Bill Clinton is coming back Friday to campaign for his wife in Cincinnati and Columbus.

Job losses from minimum wage? Clevelanders will decide next May whether to incrementally bump the minimum wage up to $15. But a new study reports that a $15 minimum wage may lead to job losses, cleveland.com reporter Sabrina Eaton writes.

The study "concludes that a government mandated minimum wage of $15 per hour (or $30,000 on an annual full-time basis) is a mistake because it will hurt the very people it intends to help. The study predicts many people will not get hired or their jobs will be eliminated if a national $15 minimum wage is enacted," Eaton writes.

The study predicts that the minimum wage increase will increase youth unemployment and the prices of goods and services. And it suggests that fast food companies, like McDonald's, might eliminate jobs in favor of automated self-service computers.

Get Battleground Briefing, our FREE politics newsletter, delivered to your inbox: Sign up here. Tips or links? Send here. Follow along on Twitter: @_marykilpatrick.
20161004_160956-1(1).jpg

Students hold up a banner at the Parma High School rally in front of the Parma Senior High School Oct. 4.

(Mark Holan/special to cleveland.com)

PARMA, Ohio -- A roughly $9 million clerical error found in Parma City School financial forecast will have no effect on the district's finances, officials said.

The error, found by Parma parents, was in a line marked treasurer/county auditor fees. The number on the budget was roughly $10.2 million. The number should have been around $1.2 million -- the difference was supposed to be in payroll, a cost erroneously marked as lower than it should have been.

The two mistakes leveled out, leading to a zero net effect on the bottom line for the budget, district officials confirmed Wednesday in an interview with cleveland.com.

Right now, there's uproar over what to do to solve the district's financial problems. There is a $7 million shortfall predicted for this year, and $8 million for next year. Cuts to the arts and to STEM and consolidating the high schools into one building are among the changes proposed, which upset community members and led to a rally outside the Board of Education's Oct. 4 meeting.

Many online were hoping that the clerical error would solve the ailing district's fiscal caution status, but the district still is forecasting a $7 million shortfall for this school year.

Superintendent Carl Hilling, in a news conference Wednesday to address the error, said he will recommend the board approve an independent audit for the district's finances, something that some parents and students had been pushing for since news of the shortfall was announced.

He added he hopes the audit can strengthen the relationship between the district and residents, parents and students.

"Today we are taking the first step to regain that trust," he said.

Hilling could ask the board to approve the outside audit as soon as Oct. 24, the board's next regular meeting, but there is no specific timetable. The cost of the audit is undetermined, but the money would have to come from the district's general fund.

The district still is on a Nov. 1 deadline for its fiscal recovery plan, which would detail the cuts that need to be made in order to get finances back on track. There is a request in to extend this to Jan. 31, but that must be approved by the city.

Read Hilling's full statement from Wednesday's press conference here, and Crowley's full statement here.
Swiss federal prosecutors have opened criminal proceedings against Zurich-based Falcon Private Bank for allegedly failing to prevent suspected money laundering linked to 1MDB, the scandal-hit Malaysian state fund, prosecutors said on Wednesday.

Falcon becomes the second Swiss bank after BSI to face a criminal investigation by Switzerland's Office of the Attorney General (OAG) over links to 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB).

Falcon, owned by Abu Dhabi's International Petroleum Investment Co (IPIC), said in a statement it would cooperate with the OAG to help ensure a speedy resolution to the investigation.

The OAG said in January it suspected misappropriations from 1MDB totaled roughly $4 billion, while alleging last week that a Ponzi scheme may have been set up to conceal an alleged $800 million fraud.

Founded by Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak, who chaired its advisory board, 1MDB is the subject of money-laundering investigations in at least six countries including Switzerland, Singapore and the United States.
The latest NBC/Wall Street Journal poll released Tuesday shows Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton with 46 percent of support from likely voters in a four-way race, compared with 37 percent for Trump.

"If you are worried about political risk in 2017 and 2018, I think you need to take this into account," he told CNBC's " Closing Bell" Wednesday.

With Donald Trump down in the polls and openly feuding with some members of the Republican Party, there is a "realistic possibility" the Democrats will sweep the White House, Senate and House of Representatives this election, said Jimmy Pethokoukis, a scholar at the American Enterprise Institute.

Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton and her vice presidential running mate Senator Tim Kaine celebrate among balloons after she accepted the nomination on the fourth and final night at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, July 28, 2016.

The GOP nominee has also lashed out at Republicans he claims have been "disloyal." House Speaker Paul Ryan has said he would no longer defend Trump in the wake of a 2005 video showing Trump bragging about groping women. Other big-name Republicans have also announced they were withdrawing their support.

While Trump's troubles could pull support away from other Republican candidates, voters may also opt to pull the lever for Trump and ignore those who are not supporting him, said Pethokoukis, who is also a CNBC contributor.

Now Democrats "are talking about a clean sweep and being able to re-run the first term of Obama the way they would have liked to have done if it wasn't overshadowed by the financial crisis," he said.

That means things like the return of cap and trade, which is geared toward controlling greenhouse gas emissions, executive pay reform, paid leave and the Pacific Trade Deal, he noted.

He also thinks it may mean reforms in Obamacare and perhaps spending more money on it, as well as Clinton's tax hikes going through.
WHEN: Today, Wednesday, October 12th



WHERE: CNBC's "Fast Money"

Following is the unofficial transcript of a CNBC EXCLUSIVE interview with Tim Sloan, new CEO of Wells Fargo, on CNBC's "Fast Money" (M-T, 5PM-6PM ET, F, 5PM-5:30PM ET) tonight, Wednesday, October 12th. Following are links to the video on CNBC.com: http://video.cnbc.com/gallery/?video=3000558899 and http://video.cnbc.com/gallery/?video=3000558898.

All references must be sourced to CNBC.

MELISSA LEE: LET'S GO STRAIGHT TO WILFRED FROST, WHO HAS GOT AN EXCLUSIVE WITH THE NEW CEO OF WELLS FARGO. WILF, TAKE IT AWAY.

WILFRED FROST: THANKS VERY MUCH, MELISSA. YES, WE ARE JOINED BY TIM SLOAN, THE NEW CEO. MR. SLOAN, THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR YOUR TIME THIS EVENING. I WANTED TO ASK, IF I MAY, TO START, IF I MAY, BY ASKING WHETHER YOU FEEL MR. STUMPF'S DEPARTURE FROM WELLS FARGO IS A NECESSARY CONDITION FOR THE COMPANY TO BE ABLE TO MOVE FORWARD?

TIM SLOAN: THANKS FOR THE QUESTION, WILFRED. JOHN CERTAINLY DID. I THINK JOHN'S DECISION TO RETIRE IS ONE THAT, YOU KNOW, IS CLEARLY SAD FOR ALL OF US AT WELLS FARGO, BECAUSE WE THINK SO HIGHLY OF JOHN AND HIS LEADERSHIP IN THE COMPANY OVER THE LAST DECADE AND LONGER. BUT HE CONCLUDED THAT THIS WAS THE RIGHT THING TO DO FOR THE COMPANY TO ALLOW IT TO MOVE FORWARD, BECAUSE HE FELT THAT THE FOCUS ON HIM WAS BECOMING A DISTRACTION AND A HINDRANCE TO THE OPERATIONS OF THE BUSINESS.

FROST: DO YOU FEEL SORRY FOR HIM? HAS HE BEEN MADE A SCAPEGOAT, EVEN THOUGH HE MADE THIS DECISION HIMSELF?

SLOAN: WILFRED, JOHN IS A FRIEND OF MINE, AND I HAVE BEEN PRIVILEGED TO WORK WITH HIM AND FOR HIM FOR A GOOD PORTION OF MY CAREER. SO THERE IS NO QUESTION THAT I FEEL SORRY FOR HIM. AND -- BUT HAVING SAID THAT, HE WOULDN'T WANT ANY OF US TO FEEL SORRY FOR HIM, BECAUSE HIS FIRST -- YOU KNOW, HIS FOCUS HERE WAS TO DO THE RIGHT THING FOR WELLS FARGO, AND THAT'S WHY HE DECIDED TO RETIRE.

FROST: SO YOU SAID HE FELT IT WAS A NECESSARY CONDITION. IS IT A SUFFICIENT CONDITION, IN YOUR EYES, FOR THE COMPANY TO MOVE FORWARD? OR IS THERE MORE TO BE DONE?

SLOAN: OH, THERE IS A LOT TO BE DONE. WELLS FARGO IS A COMPANY THAT'S MADE UP OF 268,000 TEAM MEMBERS, ALL ACROSS THE COUNTRY AND ALL ACROSS THE WORLD. AND NO ONE INDIVIDUAL IS NECESSARILY GOING TO MAKE THE DIFFERENCE. WE ALL HAVE TO WORK TOGETHER TO RESTORE THE REPUTATION OF THE COMPANY, TO CONTINUE TO FOCUS ON MOVING THE COMPANY FORWARD. SO ONE PERSON, WHETHER IT'S JOHN STUMPF OR CANDIDLY, ME, IS NOT GOING TO MAKE THE DIFFERENCE.

FROST: WITH THAT IN MIND, WHAT ARE YOU PLANNING TO DO, PERSONALLY? BECAUSE CLEARLY, IN THE EYES OF THE PRESS AND LAWMAKERS, PARTICULARLY, NOT ENOUGH HAS BEEN DONE SO FAR. THERE WAS STILL A LOT OF PRESSURE ON YOU AS A COMPANY. WHAT MORE DO YOU PLAN TO DO THAT MR. STUMPF HASN'T YET?

SLOAN: WELL, JOHN SET IN MOTION A SIGNIFICANT NUMBER OF CHANGES, SOME OF WHICH WE HAVE ANNOUNCED, SPECIFIC, FOR EXAMPLE, IN OUR RETAIL BANKING BUSINESS, WE HAVE MADE SOME CHANGES IN TERMS OF OUR MANAGEMENT THERE. MARY MACK, WHO REPORTS TO ME IS NOW THE NEW HEAD OF OUR COMMUNITY BANKING BUSINESS. WE HAVE MADE CHANGES IN TERMS OF SOME OF OUR INCENTIVE COMPENSATION SYSTEM. WE HAVE REACHED OUT TO OUR CUSTOMERS TO MAKE SURE THAT THEY KNOW IF THEY HAVE ANY CONCERNS HOW THEY CAN CONTACT US. WE HAVE REMEDIATED AND CORRECTED ANY ERRORS THAT WE HAVE MADE FOR ANY OF OUR CUSTOMERS THAT WE'RE AWARE OF, AND WE'RE GOING TO CONTINUE TO FOCUS ON OUR CUSTOMERS AS WE HAVE FOR 164 YEARS TO BRING THEM THE BEST PRODUCTS AND SERVICE AND CONVENIENCE THAT WE CAN.

FROST: WE EXPECT, OF COURSE, BOTH THE SENATE AND THE HOUSE TO STILL PUSH FOR MORE ANSWERS. THEY'VE SAID THEIR INVESTIGATIONS ARE NOT OVER YET. SO ARE YOU PERSONALLY EXPECTING TO HAVE TO GO IN FRONT OF CONGRESS SOON IN PLACE OF MR. STUMPF, WHO WAS GOING TO BE CALLED BACK?

SLOAN: I DON'T KNOW THE ANSWER TO THAT, WILFRED. BUT YOU ARE CORRECT. THERE HAVE BEEN SOME ADDITIONAL REQUESTS FOR INFORMATION BY BOTH THE HOUSE AND THE SENATE. AND WE ARE CONTINUING TO COMPLY WITH PROVIDING THEM ANSWERS TO WHATEVER QUESTIONS THEY HAVE.

FROST: DO YOU FEEL THE LAWMAKERS -- AT TIMES HAVE BEEN A BIT OVER THE TOP, PARTICULARLY THAT SECOND HEARING AT TIMES WERE -- WERE THINGS SHOUTED AT MR. STUMP, STATEMENTS MADE, RATHER THAN QUESTIONS ASKED?

SLOAN: WELL, I THINK THAT WE WERE DISAPPOINTED THAT THE HEARINGS TURNED INTO A SITUATION IN WHICH THERE WERE MORE SPEECHES GIVEN THAN QUESTIONS ASKED BECAUSE WE FELT LIKE THERE WAS MORE ANSWERS THAT WE COULD HAVE PROVIDED. BUT, YOU KNOW, THOSE HEARINGS ARE OVER WITH, AND WE'RE MOVING ON.

FROST: AND MAY I JUST ASK, WHEN DID YOU PERSONALLY FIND OUT ABOUT THIS SCANDAL, CLEARLY IN YOUR ROLE AS CEO AND HEAD OF WHOLESALE BANKING. WAS IT SOMETHING YOU FOUND OUT ABOUT AT THE SAME TIME AS MR. STUMPF IN 2013?

SLOAN:YOU KNOW, WILFRED, THERE IS AN INDEPENDENT INVESTIGATION THAT'S GOING ON, ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD. AND I THINK -- AND I WANT TO BE VERY DEFERENTIAL TO THEIR PROCESS.

FROST: SURE.

SLOAN: I THINK THE IMPORTANT THING IS THAT JOHN HAS MADE A VERY IMPORTANT DECISION FOR THE COMPANY TO RETIRE. AND I'M IN A NEW ROLE, AND WE'RE GOING TO MOVE FORWARD.

FROST: MR. SLOAN, MY COLLEAGUE, MELISSA, IN THE STUDIO, HAS A QUESTION FOR YOU BEFORE  I'D LOVE TO ROUND IT OFF WITH A COUPLE CLOSING QUESTIONS.

SLOAN: SURE, THAT'S FINE.

LEE: TIM, JUST TO FOLLOW UP ON WILFRED'S POINT, DID THE FORMER HEAD OF RETAIL BANKING, CARRIE TOLSTEDT, DID SHE EVER REPORT DIRECTLY TO YOU?

SLOAN: SHE DID. I WAS NAMED PRESIDENT AND CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER IN NOVEMBER OF LAST YEAR, AND AT THAT POINT, CARRIE REPORTED DIRECTLY TO ME.

LEE: AND I PRESUME YOU DID READ "THE LOS ANGELES TIMES" BACK IN 2013, SO YOU WERE AWARE OF WHAT WAS GOING ON ALLEGEDLY AT THE BANK.

SLOAN: CORRECT. I RECALL THAT STORY. THAT'S CORRECT.

LEE: DID YOU THINK THAT IT WAS SOMETHING THAT -- I MEAN, YOU'RE A 29-YEAR VETERAN AT WELLS FARGO, AND I ASK THIS QUESTION, MAINLY BECAUSE INVESTORS ARE WONDERING IF YOUR APPOINTMENT AS CEO REALLY DOES TURN THE PAGE BEYOND THIS SCANDAL, TIM.

SLOAN: WELL, I THINK THAT THE ANSWER TO THAT IS WE'RE GOING TO DETERMINE, YOU KNOW, IN A FEW MONTHS, IN A FEW YEARS FROM NOW. I DON'T THINK ONE DAY OR AN HOUR AFTER THIS WAS ANNOUNCED THAT IS GOING TO ANSWER THAT QUESTION. SO WE'LL SEE.

FROST: MR. SLOAN, IF I JUMP BACK IN AGAIN, I SUPPOSE I WANTED TO ASK WHETHER YOU'RE HOPEFUL THAT THE EARNINGS THAT YOU'LL BE RELEASING ON FRIDAY WILL HELP YOU TO DRAW A LINE UNDER THE SHARE PRICE PRESSURE YOU'VE FELT. BECAUSE CLEARLY, THIS HAS BEEN A MASSIVE PR ISSUE FOR YOU, SO FAR. BUT DO YOU HOPE THAT FRIDAY WILL PROVE THAT THIS ISN'T A NUMBERS AND EARNINGS ISSUE FOR YOU?

SLOAN: WELL, I DO. BUT I NEED TO BE VERY CAREFUL, BECAUSE WE'RE TWO DAYS BEFORE WE ANNOUNCE OUR EARNINGS, AND ANY INTONATION IN MY VOICE OR EXCITEMENT OR DISAPPOINTMENT MIGHT LEAD ANYBODY TO CONCLUDE SOMETHING INAPPROPRIATE. YOU WILL FIND OUT FRIDAY MORNING. WE LOOK FORWARD TO TALKING TO OUR INVESTORS, JUST LIKE WE DO EVERY QUARTER.

FROST: AND ONE  SORRY, TWO MORE FINAL QUESTIONS. I JUST WANT TO ASK, IF THERE ARE FURTHER INVESTIGATIONS, PARTICULARLY INTO MR. STUMPF, POSSIBLY CRIMINAL, AS HAS BEEN CALLED FOR FROM CERTAIN SENATORS, DOES THE BANK'S OPTED DEPARTURE CONTINUE TO STAND CLOSELY BY HIM, OR IS HE ON HIS OWN?

SLOAN: WELL, I THINK THAT IS A TOPIC TO -- FOR THE BOARD TO REVIEW. I'M NOT AWARE OF ANY CRIMINAL INVESTIGATIONS THAT ARE GOING ON RIGHT NOW AS IT RELATES TO MR. STUMPF.

FROST: MY FINAL QUESTION FOR YOU, MR. SLOAN. YOU SAID IN A PRESS RELEASE THAT IT WAS, QUOTE, A PRIVILEGE TO HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY TO LEAD ONE OF AMERICA'S MOST STORIED COMPANIES. IS THIS A PROUD MOMENT FOR YOU OR A SAD MOMENT FOR YOU?

SLOAN: IT'S A SAD -- THAT'S A VERY FAIR QUESTION. IT'S A SAD MOMENT, BECAUSE JOHN STUMPF IS RETIRING IN A SITUATION THAT I THINK HE WOULD HAVE NEVER IMAGINED. AND HE HAS DONE SUCH A GREAT JOB IN MANAGING THIS COMPANY, NOTWITHSTANDING SOME OF THINGS THAT I THINK HE WISHED HE WOULD HAVE DONE DIFFERENTLY. THAT'S WHAT MAKES IT SAD. HAVING SAID THAT, I FEEL A GREAT RESPONSIBILITY, AND I'M LOOKING FORWARD TO BEING THE CEO OF THIS COMPANY. WE HAVE AN AMAZING -- 164-YEAR HISTORY. AND WE ARE NOT GOING TO ALLOW THE LAST FIVE WEEKS TO DEFINE THE SUCCESS -- THE FUTURE SUCCESS OF A VERY WELL REGARDED AND WELL KNOWN 164-YEAR OLD COMPANY.

FROST: MR. SLOAN, THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR YOUR TIME. WE REALLY APPRECIATE THE CALL. CONGRATULATIONS ON YOUR APPOINTMENT ALBEIT IN THOSE SAD CIRCUMSTANCES YOU MENTIONED. MR. SLOAN, THE CEO OF WELLS FARGO JOINING US. MELISSA, I'LL SEND IT BACK TO YOU.

SLOAN: THANK YOU.

LEE: TIM SLOAN, THE NEW CEO OF WELLS FARGO AND OF COURSE OUR OWN WILFRED FROST FOR BRINGING THAT EXCLUSIVE TO "FAST MONEY."

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Cramer constantly worries about the stocks in his charitable trust. He sees danger when the stocks in his portfolio go down as the market goes up. That tells him that someone knows something he doesn't.

In order to really make money in the market these days, investors need discipline. Mistakes can cost you in trading, but if you do nothing with your money, you will have a whole lot of nothing to show for it.

"The rules protect you against your own bad judgment about what's going on at the companies you own or what's happening in the market overall," the " Mad Money " host said.

After getting burned too many times, he learned the value of discipline.

When Jim Cramer first started out in trading, he didn't like rules. He believed that either they couldn't really help, or they would cut his upside and prevent him from making more money.

Stocks aren't houses. You can't fall back and live in them if you have mortgages on them. They just get taken away.

One nightmare scenario is when an investor owns too much stock in the market versus what the market's going to do. They ran out of cash and can't buy any more stock, and decide to make the terrible decision to borrow money to finance their portfolio.



"Stocks aren't houses. You can't fall back and live in them if you have mortgages on them. They just get taken away," Cramer said.

So, what is the magic trick to bail you out of a bad situation?

"Discipline trumps conviction," Cramer added.

He recommended that investors find their own form of discipline to watch their stocks, and have a game plan for when things go wrong. For instance, Cramer has a system of ranking his stocks when things are good, so this way he can hedge himself when they go awry.

He also thinks it is important to "circle the wagons" on a few high-quality stocks, and be willing to buy them when they fall so you can get a better average price for your earnings.

Cramer's ranking system will get you through the chaotic times and allow you to remain cool and methodical when everyone is scrambling in chaos.

At the end of the day, Cramer wants investors to recognize that things will go wrong. There will be a stock that you own one day where there is something wrong with the company, and you don't know about it. Events will come that you cannot foresee.

The trick to reducing the damage to your portfolio is to be ready with a game plan that will bail you out in the short term and keep you in the market long term. This way, your money is ready to work for you when you need it most.
For the second time this week the USS Mason was targeted by at least one incoming missile fired from a Houthi-controlled area of Yemen. The missiles did not impact the ship and no one was hurt.

A U.S. military official said a coastal defense cruise missile was fired from a Houthi-controlled area south of Al Hudaydah around 6 p.m. local time. The ship used countermeasures, but the officials are not yet certain whether the measures stopped the missile or if it fizzled.



More from NBC News:

Putin denies Russia behind hacking, says 'hysteria' aims to distract U.S. public

U.S. suspends Haitian deportation policy after Hurricane Matthew

College students say 'drunkorexia' is more than a buzzword



The USS San Antonio and the USS Ponce was operating in the area with the Mason at the time.



On Tuesday the Pentagon vowed that there would be retribution after a pair of missiles were fired the USS Mason, a U.S. Navy destroyer, as it conducted routine operations in international waters near the strait of Bab el-Mandeb.

"We are going to find out who did it and take action accordingly," said Capt. Jeff Davis, a Defense Department spokesman said Tuesday. "Anybody who puts U.S. Navy ships at risk does so at their own peril."
watch now

Have an empty nest and an equally empty nest egg? "Education expenses often dominate everything, and once that goes away, the key is knowing what the gap is and knowing the plan for what to do with that money," said Levi Brandriss, an advisor with Ameriprise Financial in Bethesda, Maryland. Refocusing on their own savings is something boomers appear to have trouble doing.

Researchers at the Boston College Center for Retirement Research estimated that couples who have two children and make $100,000 a year should be able to save an extra 12 percent for retirement once they are empty nesters. In reality, that same study found that families said they were only able to bump up their savings by less than 1 percent. Sound familiar? Then here's what you need to do to get your nest egg back on track.

Declare a financial blackout

Mark LaSpisa, president of Vermillion Financial Advisors in South Barrington, Ill., suggests instituting a blackout period for making financial decisions.

"The temptation is too big to start celebrating and to start spending money, buying that brand new car you have sought for years, going on that month-long European vacation or doing a home addition," he said.

For six to 12 months don't make any changes or big-ticket purchases, which should give you time to think about your goals for this next big phase of life, he said.



Stockpile cash

Focus on building up a cash reserve, especially if it was depleted while you paid those college tuition or other bills.

Brandriss recommends his clients save enough to cover monthly expenses for up to two years. "The key reason for having a few years of cash on hand is that you can handle an above-average market downturn," he said. That cushion will allow you to retire when you want, Brandriss said.

Don't downsize the house, trim insurance instead
Police check arriving cars outside Schoenefeld Aiport near Berlin following the launch of a manhunt for a terror suspect on October 8, 2016 in Schoenefeld, Germany.

A Syrian migrant suspected of planning a bomb attack on a Berlin airport has committed suicide in policy custody, Spiegel Online reported on Wednesday, citing judicial sources.

The news website said Jaber Albakr had been under round-the-clock surveillance due to an acute risk of suicide and hunger strike. It was not yet clear how he had killed himself, Spiegel said.

Reuters was not immediately able to confirm the report.

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Optimizing nonstop is exhausting, but that's startup life. The goal is to become more productive, more successful, more nimble, and more notable than the competition. Despite constant work, the reality every founder faces is that there is a high likelihood they will fail. That tension led to a profane screed by a 27-year-old software engineer, Shem Magnezi, and his colleague Omri Aloni, on the self-publishing platform Medium. The post is succinctly titled "F--- You Startup World." And it's been blowing up.

Shem Magnezi Source: Shem Magnezi

It's currently the most popular post on Medium by far, even beating out a confession from a guy who says he's voting for Trump. They criticize the 24-7 work schedule that is held up as the gold standard. "F-- your crazy work hours. Nobody gives a f--- that Elon musk is working 100 hours a week, and that Marissa Mayer pulling in a 130 hour work week while still breastfeeding her newborns. You're not Elon Musk. You ain't Marissa Mayer, you're not going to get to space, and you won't build the next Space X. Do me a favor, put your f---ing Mac away and go play with your kids."

Everybody is a f---ing entrepreneur now. Especially all those straight-out-of-college-entrepreneurs. Just so you know: it's called 'unemployed.' Shem Magnezi and Omri Aloni Co-authors of "F--- You Startup World"

They also mock the fact that so many people today claim to be entrepreneurs. "F--- 'entrepreneurs' nowadays, seriously. Everybody is a f---ing entrepreneur now. Especially all those straight-out-of-college-entrepreneurs. Just so you know: it's called 'unemployed'. F--- your bootstrapping, too. F--- working out of garages and f--- your 2.5 square meters 'workspace' at WeWork. 'But hey! At least I can bring my dog to work!' F--- you, seriously." And they're totally over the productivity, self-improvement ninjas.

F--- you productivity freaks. You try to make me feel bad because I woke up 'only' at 6:00 AM. Shem Magnezi and Omri Aloni Co-authors of "F--- You Startup World"

"F--- you productivity freaks. You try to make me feel bad because I woke up 'only' at 6:00 AM. S---, you woke up at 4:30, meditated for 30 minutes, reviewed your quarterly and yearly 'goals' for another 30 minutes, and slurped on a delicious Soylent shake while checking daily retention trends. F--- your noise cancelling headphones and Pomodoro timers, your f---ing to-do lists, apps, notes, sticky notes, and God knows what else." Magnezi and Aloni's post has received dozens of responses, most of them supportive. Their sentiments have apparently struck a nerve with a whole lot of people. For example, former business journalist turned entrepreneur Julien Brault says that the post made him laugh, though it didn't strip him of his naive optimism.

Omri Aloni Source: Omri Aloni

"You made me laugh in the middle of my f----- up start-up life from inside a sound-proof booth inside a coworking space I'm working in 80 hours a week, eating bagels and left-over pizzas, 'cause my start-up is bootstrapped and I have no money. I understand you. And I appreciate your sense of humour. Seriously. But I'm so dumb I'm still believing I'm going to space at some point. Seriously," Brault writes. Adele Tiblier relates but also says she will take the over-scheduled, over-optimized, success-obsessed culture over corporate doldrums every day. "Funny as hell," she writes. "But to be honest, I'll take the push for transparency, fast-moving sprints and Soylent-drinking sales teams over the dinosaur companies that provide limited/no visibility to their team, and a sea of unknowns without direction any day."

I want to emphasize that I don't hate on the startup culture. I'm actually part of it. I just think that there are things about our current work culture that kind of lost their track. Shem Magnezi Co-author of "F--- You Startup World"

And while Magnezi and Aloni mock the startup culture, they're doing so from the inside, a fact they admit at the end of the post. In fact, that probably accounts for their screed's success. Magnezi and Aloni worked together at Israeli startup called MyRoll for three years. Tel Aviv-based AVG Israel acquired MyRoll a year ago and the authors are now working together at AVG Israel.
The highest portfolio allocations for social-impact investment were made by wealthy individuals in Indonesia (45.8 percent), Malaysia (43.6 percent) and Chin a (40.8 percent), the report said.

HNWIs in Asia excluding Japan (AXJ) were more active in the social-impact investing sphere than similarly wealthy individuals in other parts of the world, allocating 37.3 percent of their portfolios to social-impact investments, in comparison to the 31.6 percent allocated by HNWIs in the rest of the world.

HNWIs are defined as individuals with investable assets of at least $1 million. Capgemini described "social-impact investments" as ones that generated benefits for broader society as well as financial gains, and largely looked at data for 2015.

But Asian high net worth individuals (HNWIs) are less likely than other regions' HNWIs to entrust their assets to a wealth manager, the Asia-Pacific Wealth Report, released on Thursday by management consultancy firm Capgemini, found.

Asia's millionaires are the most socially conscious investors among their global peers, according to a new report, with Indonesians, Malaysians and Chinese the most keen on putting their cash to work for society's benefit.

Despite being a relatively new concept for Asia's wealthy, the report found that HNWIs in the region were enthusiastic about the socially responsible asset class, and 58.2 percent of HNWIs in AXJ indicated that they intended to increase their social-impact investment allocations in the future, in contrast to 50.4 percent of HNWIs in the rest of the world.

The vehicles of choice for social-impact investments among Asia's HNWIs were socially responsible bonds and funds, the report said.

Among other findings, Capgemini reported that despite results reflecting higher levels of trust in wealth managers in 2016 compared to a year ago, HNWIs in AXJ parked only 30.6 percent of their assets with a wealth manager. In Japan, the rich chose to allocate just 23.7 percent of their assets to wealth managers.

In contrast, HNWIs from outside Asia allocated an average of 34.5 percent of their assets to wealth management firms.

Instead, Asia's rich preferred to keep their assets where they could see them, with 15.4 percent preferring to keep their assets in hard cash, the report said. Retail bank accounts were the preferred choice for 17.2 percent of Asian HNWIs.

The low penetration of wealth management services is related to the way wealth is generated in the Asia, according to David Wilson, head of strategic analysis at Capgemini.

"[A] lot of entrepreneurial wealth is locked up in business that can't yet be brought into the wealth management sector," he told CNBC.

Meanwhile, wealth managers weren't giving HNWIs a compelling proposition to choose them a retail bank, Wilson said. While wealth management firms might understand the needs of HNWIs in the region, they weren't investing enough in that "innovative new services and digital experiences" that clients might be looking for, he added.

The Asia-Pacific region created the largest volume of HNWI wealth in the world, with the total pool of wealth totaling $17.4 trillion in 2015, reflecting a 10.1 percent increase from the previous year.

China and Japan contributed most heavily to growth in the total wealth pool; rich individuals from the world's second and third-largest economies drove more than 90 percent of the growth in HNWI wealth in the region, the report stated.

The region was also home to the largest population of HNWIs in the world, with 5.1 million individuals in Asia in 2015, a 9.4 percent jump on-year. Japan had the highest number of HNWIs, at 2.72 million. China had the second-largest figure, at 1.03 million, while Australia was a distant third at 234,000.

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China should not see increased military cooperation between Singapore and Australia through a deal that will dramatically expand northern Australian training facilities as an attempt to contain it, the two prime ministers said on Thursday.

Australian and Singaporean officials signed a pact under which Singapore will spend up to 2.25 billion Australian dollars ($1.7 billion) to double the capacity of its facilities in military training areas in Queensland state.

Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said China was the biggest trading partner of both Singapore and Australia. The agreement was part of regional cooperation, he said.

"I don't think that Singapore and Australia together could possibly be seen as a bloc" against China, Lee told reporters. "We are good friends, but we are not treaty allies and neither are we opposed to any countries in the region."

Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said he agreed with Lee and his view that the U.S. military presence in the Asia-Pacific region had underpinned the region's stability and prosperity for the past 40 years.

"That extraordinary growth, perhaps most of all in China, has been underpinned by that foundation of peace," Turnbull said. "The importance of American engagement in our region cannot be overstated."
Amid a contentious presidential race, U.S. president Barack Obama called out political rivals that seek to cut scientific funding on Thursday.

"That's why I get so riled up when I see people willfully ignore facts," Obama said from The White House Frontiers conference in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. "Or stick their heads in the sand about basic scientific consensus. It's not just that that position leads to bad policy. It's also that it undermines the very thing that has always made America the engine for innovation around the world."

Energy policy has been key in the presidential race between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, after an audience member at a recent town hall became an internet sensation with his question on energy policy. Trump has tweeted that global warming is a hoax, while fellow Republican Jim Inhofe produced a snowball in Congress last year, claiming it disproved global warming. Ben Carson, a republican presidential hopeful and neurosurgeon, also called the climate change debate "irrelevant."



"It's not just that they're saying climate change is a hoax, or taking a snowball on the Senate floor to prove that the planet's not getting warmer. It's that they're doing everything they can to gut funding for research and development."

Ignoring inconvenient scientific paths is the "path to ruin," Obama said from the conference, which was focused on building U.S. capacity in science, technology and innovation.



"Look, I only get two terms," Obama said. "Which is fine. The presidency is a relay race  we run our leg then we hand off the baton. That's why this conference isn't just about where we've been, but where we're going."

Curing cancer, finding new sources of energy, and adjusting to population growth will help America keep its economic lead, Obama said.

"Innovation is not a luxury that we do away with when we're tightening our belts," Obama said. "It's precisely at those moments when we've got real challenges that we double down on new solutions that can lead to new jobs, new industries and a larger economy."



Science needs to return to its "rightful place" in America, by bringing computer science to schools, Obama said.

"We are working to help all of our children understand that they, too, have a place in science and tech," Obama said. "Not just boys in hoodies, but girls in Native American reservations. Kids whose parents can't afford personal tutors ... we don't want them overlooked for a job in the future."



The conference was hosted by Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Pittsburgh.
"If we're going to have more of the same, that's not acceptable," he said. "We are beyond the point of tweaking. We want to see fundamental reform of Wells Fargo before we make a decision."

Chiang told CNBC's " Closing Bell " on Thursday he is going to watch the bank closely to make sure there is a change in culture and it returns to serving customers.

Stumpf retired effective immediately on Wednesday. President and Chief Operating Officer Tim Sloan was chosen to succeed him as CEO and Lead Director Stephen Sanger will serve as the board's non-executive chairman.

In September, the state suspended its relationship with Wells Fargo after the bank was accused of defrauding customers.

It will take more than the retirement of Wells Fargo CEO John Stumpf to make California State Treasurer John Chiang change his mind about doing business with the bank again.

The bank came under fire after it was revealed that employees in its community banking division opened about 2 million accounts without customer authorization. Wells Fargo ultimately paid $185 million in fines, and Stumpf found himself in the crosshairs on Capitol Hill.

California's sanctions include suspending Wells Fargo as a managing underwriter on state negotiated bond sales. Chiang said the financial hit for the bank will probably be in the millions.

Plus, California is the nation's largest issuer of municipal debt.

"There is huge prestige when you say you can do business with the largest municipal issuer. We want them to get back on the right track. We're not trying to create harm for them. We want them to fix the problems," he said.

New York City is still doing business with Wells Fargo, for now. The city's municipal pension funds include over 10,000 shares of the bank.

Comptroller Scott Stringer, whose office advises on those municipal pension funds, welcomed the news that Stumpf has left the company.

However, he told "Closing Bell" he wants more accountability at the firm for what happened, noting that no managers have been fired. He has also called for clawbacks, or recouping executive compensation, at the bank.

"We need to see results. We need to see transparency. And we need to send a very strong message that we're watching and yes, if you do not do what we expect you to do  we could pull out as well."

 Reuters contributed to this report.
Battling back, Donald Trump said Thursday new allegations that he inappropriately touched women are "totally and absolutely false," and he blamed the news media of spreading fabrications.



"These events never, ever happened and the people that said them, meekly, fully understand," he said at a rally in swing state Florida.

"These claims are all fabricated," he said. Trump also said he has "substantial evidence" that disputes the allegations, which he said would be "made public in an appropriate way and at an appropriate time, very soon."

Shortly before he spoke, first lady Michelle Obama told a rally in New Hampshire that the leaked 2005 video of Trump joking about groping women without consent has "shaken me to my core."



"This was not just a lewd conversation. This wasn't locker room banter. This was a powerful individual speaking freely and openly about sexually predatory behavior," Mrs. Obama said.



Earlier on Thursday, the Republican presidential nominee lashed out at publications that reported the accounts of women who allege Trump touched them without their consent.

@realDonaldTrump: Why didn't the writer of the twelve year old article in People Magazine mention the "incident" in her story. Because it did not happen!

@realDonaldTrump: The phony story in the failing @nytimes is a TOTAL FABRICATION. Written by same people as last discredited story on women. WATCH!

The New York Times on Wednesday reported the accounts of two women who described encounters during which Trump allegedly grabbed or kissed them inappropriately. Also Wednesday, a People magazine staff writer reported that the New York real estate tycoon pushed her against a wall at his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida in 2005 and was soon "forcing his tongue down my throat."

NBC News has not confirmed the allegations.
Check out which companies are making headlines before the bell:

Delta Air Lines  The airline reported adjusted quarterly profit of $1.70 per share, beating estimates by five cents a share. However, revenue was below forecasts as the key metric of revenue per available seat mile fell 5.6 percent from a year earlier. Delta also said an August outage cost the airline $100 million.

Wells Fargo  Chief Executive Officer John Stumpf announced his retirement, effective immediately, following the sales practices scandal that's engulfed the bank over the past few weeks. Chief Operating Officer Tim Sloan will succeed Stumpf as CEO, while lead director Stephen Sanger will take the chairman's slot.

Pfizer  Jefferies downgraded the drugmaker to "hold" from "buy," due to a lack of catalysts and drivers for a higher stock price. The firm said AbbVie and Eli Lilly remain its top U.S. picks in the drug sector. Separately, Pfizer lost its appeal in a patent case over its pain drug Lyrica in a U.K. court, but said it would seek a further appeal.

CSX  CSX reported quarterly profit of 48 cents per share, three cents a share above estimates. Revenue for the railroad operator was slightly ahead of forecasts. CSX's results were hurt by a drop in freight volumes, but did manage to beat expectations nonetheless.

Kellogg  The cereal maker bought Ritmo Investimentos, the controlling shareholder of Brazilian food company Parati. Kellogg also said it would cut back on stock buybacks this year to "preserve financial flexibility."

Harley-Davidson  The motorcycle maker is planning to increase its emphasis on Asian sales, according to Chief Executive Officer Matthew Levatich. He told Reuters he is optimistic about growing the company's business in both existing and new Asian markets.

Nokia  The wireless technology company was removed from the "Conviction Buy" list at Goldman Sachs, although the firm retained a "buy" rating. Goldman said the move reflects further declines in global capital expenditures by the wireless industry.

Dollar Tree , Five Below  The two stocks were both rated "overweight" in a new report on discount retailers at KeyBanc, which also rated Dollar General at "sector weight." Keybanc said Dollar Tree is executing well at its legacy stores, as well as successfully turning around the Family Dollar stores it acquired when it bought that company last year. Five Below got praise for good product value, as well as an "exciting shopping experience."

HCA  HCA was upgraded to "overweight" from "sector weight" at KeyBanc, which pointed to both valuation of the hospital operator's stock and a potential upside catalyst of a more likely Hillary Clinton win in the presidential election.

Amazon.com  Amazon announced it would hire more than 120,000 seasonal workers for this y year's holiday season. The online retailer noted that more than 14,000 of last year's seasonal hires stayed on as full-time employees.

Abercrombie & Fitch  The apparel retailer announced a redefined identity for the Abercrombie & Fitch brand, to be accompanied by its largest-ever ad campaign. It will feature a redesigned website and all new digital advertising.

Deckers Outdoor  Susquehanna Financial downgraded the footwear maker to "negative" from "neutral," saying the health of its UGG brand is at risk due to an increase in promotional activity.
European governments are looking to increase defense budgets after years of declining spending.

According to the International Institute for Strategic studies (IISS), EU member state spending on the military in 2015 totaled 203 billion euros, almost 15 percent smaller than in 2007.

Now in 2016, Western European defense spending is set to rise by over 1 percent in 2016, ending six consecutive years of cuts.

Fenella Mcgerty, principal analyst at IHS Jane's said in a note Wednesday that there is a marked shift in attitude towards security spending in Europe.

"Larger European states have already begun implementing defense spending increases in light of the continually developing threats to domestic security," the analyst said.
Hurricane Nicole is seen approaching Bermuda in this image from NOAA's GOES-East satellite taken at 12pm ET (16:00GMT) October 12, 2016.

The British territory of Bermuda hunkered down overnight as Hurricane Nicole rapidly strengthened into a major Category 4 storm and took aim at the tiny island in the northern Atlantic Ocean.

The U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami called Nicole an "extremely dangerous" storm and urged islanders to rush preparations for its powerful rain and winds. It said Nicole should pass near or over Bermuda on Thursday. The storm was located about 180 miles (290 kilometers) south-southwest of Bermuda late Wednesday night. It had maximum sustained winds of 130 mph (215 kph) and was moving north-northeast at 102 mph (19 kph).

Rains were already hitting Bermuda and authorities on Wednesday ordered schools and government offices closed, and asked people to remain indoors.

John Drnek tweet

"I believe we are generally ready for it," Premier Michael Dunkley said. "Now we just have to hope and pray for the best."

Hundreds of people had rushed to shops and gas stations for last-minute preparations as rain and wind began to batter Bermuda, which has sturdy infrastructure and is accustomed to storms.

Those at home made last-minute preparations for what lay ahead, with resident Danni Joell saying she was "cooking up a storm" with her son, Tyler, in the kitchen.

"So far we've made an apple pie, and there are some cookies in the oven," she said. "Hopefully we will have enough to gets us through."

Businesses were largely boarded up by Wednesday night, and dozens of vessels from one marina were already neatly packed away between historical buildings in Mangrove Bay, a popular spot for water activities in Bermuda's northwest tip. Hotels, meanwhile, reported an uptick in bookings as people sought shelters with power.

American Airlines and Air Canada are among several that have cancelled flights to the island, and several cruise ships have cancelled trips, as well.

The hurricane was kicking up heavy surf in islands south of Bermuda including Puerto Rico, where authorities said they were looking for the body of a surfer who disappeared on Tuesday. He was identified as 37-year-old Gabriel Pantoja.
Commodity analysts at Goldman Sachs have detailed a new tactical opportunity for investors, explaining that a supply glut will mean copper will see some significant price pressures in the coming months.



Copper weakness relative to zinc strength has been one of the bank's core views throughout 2016, and that view was renewed Thursday with a fresh call on what it describes as its "metal supply divergence trade."



"Over the next three to six months we believe that copper will continue to underperform zinc, with copper about to hit a wall of supply, while the zinc concentrate market continues to tighten," the team of analysts, led by Jeffrey Currie, said in a note.
Sen. Marco Rubio looks on as Donald Trump speaks during the CNBC GOP Primary Debate in Boulder, Co. on Oct. 28th, 2015.

Candidate committees and outside groups like super PACs on both sides have spent at least $320 million on just five Senate races  in Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, Ohio, Florida and Nevada  according to the Center for Responsive Politics. All of those races accept Nevada feature an incumbent Republican senator, and pro-GOP forces have heavily outspent pro-Democrat groups in the contests with Republican senators.

Prior spending indicates cash could trickle down to several crucial races in the Senate. Many of those feature Republican incumbents trying to hold off Democratic challenges as they walk a tightrope between distancing themselves from an increasingly toxic Trump and holding on to the businessman's most fervent supporters.

House Speaker Paul Ryan told fellow lawmakers this week he will focus the election's final weeks on keeping GOP majorities in Congress rather than defending his party's presidential nominee. While the Republican National Committee and Trump's campaign insist their relationship has not changed, the party and its major donors could follow Ryan's lead in refocusing down ballot.

Donald Trump 's public spat with his party will shift even more focus to already expensive Senate races as the Republicans try to hang on to control of Capitol Hill.

That huge spending should only continue if the GOP shifts its focus from Trump. Campaign and outside groups backing him have raised and used considerably less money than groups supporting most recent presidential nominees.

Democrats need to gain four seats to control the Senate if Hillary Clinton wins, or five if Trump wins. The party faces a much tougher task in taking control of the House, even with the GOP spat.



Spending so far indicates the Republicans will focus on tight Senate races in New Hampshire and Pennsylvania, which "look like hot spots right now," said Steven Billet, director of the masters program in legislative affairs at George Washington University's Graduate School of Political Management. The Pennsylvania race pitting GOP Sen. Pat Toomey against Democrat Katie McGinty is already more expensive than the costliest race in the 2012 cycle. In that year, campaigns and outside groups poured about $85 million into the race between Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren and then-Republican incumbent Scott Brown.

Billet noted that some cash could also shift to key races in Missouri, North Carolina and Nevada.

He added that the Republican National Committee had more than $40 million on hand at the end of August and it would have to decide whether to shift those resources down ballot.

"The question is what the party will do with that money. Are they going to try to save Donald Trump or save the Senate?" he asked.

The Trump campaign has decided to pull out of Virginia, according to NBC News, focusing instead on Pennsylvania, Florida, North Carolina and Ohio, which are crucial to any chance he has of winning the presidency.

The Republican Party and donors could also focus their down-ballot efforts on those states, said David Kochel, a Republican strategist who previously worked with Mitt Romney and Jeb Bush.

"I think the thing to do is what Paul Ryan suggested, which is just we ignore the Trump campaign as they're in full meltdown," Kochel told CNBC's "Squawk on the Street" on Thursday.

Congressional campaign committee spending only goes through the end of June, as the organizations file reports to the Federal Election Commission on a quarterly basis. Outside groups file reports monthly.

The next quarterly reports are due Saturday.


For Democrats, winning back the House won't be easy. Here's how it might happen.

The ongoing implosion of the Donald Trump campaign, after release of a tape capturing the Republican presidential nominee's demeaning remarks about women along with claims by women that they had been groped by the candidate, has touched off widespread concern about the fallout on the rest of the GOP ticket.

This week, dozens of down-ballot candidates running for House and Senate seats have repudiated the standard-bearer in a wave of defections not seen in decades. House Speaker Paul Ryan has effectively told down-ballot Republican candidates to put their own campaigns first.

Ordinarily, changing control of the House is an uphill battle for the party out of power. That's because of the longstanding power of the incumbency brought about by decades of redistricting. Over the years, both parties have rewritten the boundaries of their districts to solidify their support by drawing a line around highly concentrated pockets of voters, insuring that congressional districts stay in each parties hands.

In many districts, the daunting reality of the long odds in unseating an incumbent also makes it harder for the party out of power to field strong candidates. Even when an incumbent retires or moves on to run for Senate, a party's hold on a given district can be tough to break. This year, of the 40 House seats that are open to newcomers on both sides, more than half are considered "safe" for the party in power.

As a result, party control typically shifts each two-year cycle in only about 15 percent of congressional districts. That means the battle for control is fought in just a few dozen contested seats. This time around, the breakdown favors Republicans, with just 38 of the 435 seats considered real contests.
As technology develops, increasingly innovative ways of generating energy from some very unconventional sources are being devised.



To give just two examples, Scottish start-up Celtic Renewables has developed technology to turn the by-products of making whisky into a biofuel, while London-based bio-bean is turning waste coffee grounds into advanced biofuels.

In India, one of the world's most populated countries, the issue of waste and how to dispose of it is a big problem for many: according to WaterAid India, roughly 560 million people in India go to the toilet "in the open."

In Chennai, the state government is looking to tackle problems surrounding sewage and its disposal through using smart solutions. The Kodungaiyur sewage treatment plant both disposes of waste and harnesses its energy potential.

"Chennai, being a metro city, has a sewage treatment capacity of 732 million liters per day," Pandian Appakutti, resident engineer at VA Tech Wabag, told CNBC's Sustainable Energy.

"The sewage has to be treated in order to prevent the water bodies from getting polluted," Appakutti added. "In Chennai we have 13 plants, sewage treatment plants, out of which seven plants are with biogas engines."

The process doesn't use oxygen, but captures methane and uses it in the plant's engines, helping to make the plant self-sufficient.

"We are making this process more economical as well as environmentally friendly," Malhari Habbu, service manager at Clarke Energy, said.

"The biogas generated through the process here mainly contains methane, which is a highly hazardous gas for the greenhouse," Habbu added. "By using it for power generation we are reducing the greenhouse effect caused by this plant."

More innovations are coming: The plant will soon be re-using processed domestic waste water to help relieve droughts and water shortages in the area.

"The secondary treated water is going to be further treated by using a tertiary treatment plant with a capacity of 45 million liters per day," Appakutti said.
Comstock Images | Getty Images

A new rule is about to shake up your retirement accounts and the relationship you have with your advisor.

On April 10, 2017, the Department of Labor, the federal agency that oversees retirement plans, enables its so-called fiduciary regulation. Starting on that date, broker-dealers and financial advisors will be required to provide advice that is in your best interest. It may seem surprising that wasn't always the case, yet the White House Council of Economic Advisers says conflicts of interest by investment advisors leads to $17 billion in lost income every year for most savers. Retirement accounts are a big business for advisors, broker-dealers and the institutions that hold and invest your savings. As of the end of the second quarter of 2016, IRA assets totaled $7.53 trillion, according to the Investment Company Institute. "The Department of Labor has done what the Securities and Exchange Commission is unable to do: create an enforceable best interest standard and rein in conflicts that aren't in the best interest of the investor," said Barbara Roper, director of investor protection at the Washington, D.C.-based Consumer Federation of America. "While there may be some hiccups along the way in terms of implementation, the ultimate outcome is better advice and lower costs," she said. "We are already seeing that."

Financial services firms are preparing their businesses ahead of the rule. For example, Merrill Lynch recently announced that it would stop offering new commission-based IRA brokerage accounts through its advisors as of the April date. Instead, clients will have three options for retirement-related investment advice: They can work with an advisor on a fee-basis, where he or she will be paid a percentage of assets invested. They can also use commission-based, self-directed brokerage accounts, or Merrill Edge Guided Investing, a fee-based robo-advisor option that will start early next year. Here is what you can expect to see happen in coming months.

How will the rule affect my advisor relationship?

First things first: This rule does not affect regular brokerage accounts. It's applicable to retirement accounts  IRAs  and the advisors who handle them. If you are already paying flat fees or a percentage of assets managed, rather than commissions, very little may change in your relationship. However, if your advisor has been receiving commissions, expect to get a pile of paperwork from him or her, said Marcia S. Wagner, managing director at the Wagner Law Group in Boston. In that case, if you have an IRA, this paperwork will include the "best interest contract," a document that states that your advisor and his or her firm will act in your best interest  as a fiduciary. This contract will require any conflicts of interest to be disclosed. You will also be notified of legal remedies available to you.

Finally, you will also receive details on the services your advisor will provide and the associated fees you will pay. "[Under the rule], the advisor can't receive more than reasonable compensation," said Fred Reish, a partner at Drinker Biddle & Reath. "The more services he provides for the investor  if the investor wants it  the more those services are worth."

Is this the end of commission-based service?

No. The new rule doesn't end commissions for everyone. The "best interest contract" allows your advisor to continue receiving these payments, provided his firm meets certain conditions. This includes ensuring that advisors don't receive incentives for acting against your interests, such as steering you to a particular mutual fund or annuity just because they get paid more for it.

Some firms are tweaking their compensation models in anticipation of this requirement. For instance, broker-dealer LPL Financial announced this summer that it would standardize advisors' commissions on mutual funds and variable annuities. Your best interest contract will have more details on these types of arrangements, their associated fees and how your advisor's firm will mitigate those conflicts of interest. "If the service is commission-based, the retail investor will get more information on the various forms of compensation that the broker-dealer and advisor have received," Wagner said. That disclosure will also bring to light other forms of compensation that the broker-dealer and advisor can get, which may be an eye-opener. "The retail investor might have thought things were just commission-based," Wagner said. "They won't know that it's also revenue sharing, sponsored conferences, and 12b-1 fees."

Will my fees go up?

It depends. Some fund providers are cutting fees to help advisors make the transition to comply with the regulation, as consumer advocates and even the White House have pointed out how higher fund expenses in IRAs can eat away at returns. BlackRock slashed costs on 15 ETFs in early October. Other fund firms have also trimmed expenses. Whether your advisor will charge more, however, will vary. "There is some debate in the industry that if a firm wants to move a client to a fee-based account as opposed to a transactional cost from commissions it could cost the investor even more," said Duane Thompson, senior policy analyst at fi360, a Pittsburgh-based provider of fiduciary-related education. Going forward, fees will likely reflect the service you seek. "If you really need a higher cost, actively managed model, then you should ask for it," said Reish of Drinker Biddle. "If you want to do the research yourself, but you want a second opinion, then that should be lower cost," he said. Some firms might also be inclined to offer clients a robo-advised option. More from FA Playbook:

It may seem obvious, but you need to plan ahead for life's unexpected events

Not so fast: Advisor industry groups challenge Washington's fiduciary ruling

Honest financial advisors should embrace new Labor Dept. fiduciary standard



What will happen if I roll over my 401(k) to an IRA?
Mark Cuban said Donald Trump's reputation and brand are damaged.

"There's just a stigma attached to his brand now," Cuban said on CNBC's "Power Lunch."

When CNBC asked the owner of the NBA's Dallas Mavericks about the state of Trump's brand, Cuban responded that it's "done" and "over." Cuban, who has publicly endorsed Hillary Clinton, explained that Trump's brand went from being a "top five brand" to one that's "recognized by everybody for the wrong reason."

Trump has seen renewed criticism as more women have come forward with allegations that the Republican presidential nominee made sexual advances on them without their consent. NBC News has not confirmed the allegations. The allegations follow a leaked video in which the New York businessman boasts that his fame lets him "do anything" he wants to women.

Over the weekend, as some Republican lawmakers denounced Trump's comments, Cuban tweeted that "Bernie Madoff now has a better brand" than Trump.

@mcuban: Every single @realDonaldTrump hotel and golf course is toast. Done. Over. Bernie Madoff now has a better brand.

During Sunday's presidential debate, Trump brushed the incident off, calling it "locker room talk." Cuban, a billionaire, responded on Thursday saying he's "never heard that talk in a locker room, ever."

"I've never heard anybody discuss anything like that," he said shaking his head. "I've heard a lot of stupid stuff, too, but nothing like that."

The Trump campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Disclosure: CNBC owns the exclusive off-network cable rights to "Shark Tank," which features Mark Cuban as a judge.
Russian president Vladimir Putin is not yet ready for a full-scale privatization drive despite the sale of the government's stake in oil firm Bashneft to the country's largest producer Rosneft, according to an analyst.

Rosneft paid 329.69 billion rubles ($5.30 billion) for a 50.08 percent stake in Bashneft. Putin hailed the deal as one that could give a boost to the country's privatization drive.

"The main thing is that we don't stop the privatization process," Putin said at the VTB Bank Russia Calling investment summit on Wednesday, adding that the deal will help obtain "maximum gain" from the point of view of the budget and fiscal interests.

But many have questioned if this is real privatization given that Rosneft, the buyer of the stake, is backed by the Kremlin. Analysts said that Putin knows that it wasn't "real privatization" and are not convinced that the country will see a large drive in this area.
John Stumpf did the right thing in resigning, but Wells Fargo 's board should have acted sooner to clean up the phony accounts scandal, management expert Jeffrey Sonnenfeld said Thursday.

In an interview on CNBC's "Squawk Box," the associate dean of Yale's School of Management called it a "shame" that the board's instincts were so poor when it came to the scandal, even though the board was largely kept in the dark that about 2 million unauthorized accounts had been created after 2011.

"They should've started this investigation years ago, certainly months ago, and the fact that they've only started their own legal investigation now stands in stark contrast to Yahoo's much better responsiveness to the governance issue under Marissa Mayer and investigating their scandals," Sonnenfeld said.

"I think that the board acted wisely and late, and I do think that John Stumpf did the right thing," Sonnenfeld added.



He added that he was not so sure the leadership was, in fact, kept entirely out of the loop.



Sonnenfeld said former SEC Chairman Richard Breeden told him that Stumpf and Wells Fargo CFO John Shrewsberry signed off on significant financial forms without disclosing that any fraudulent activity was taking place.

Sonnenfeld said he was less than pleased with the Senate hearings that ensued after news broke in September about Wells Fargo's $185 million settlement with regulators over the matter.

He said he was "astounded" by how long it took the former CEO to apologize in the hearing. Stumpf "wouldn't even acknowledge that there was a deep, systemic cultural problem," Sonnenfeld said.



Investors also were misled, according to Sonnenfeld.

"This was critical to the stock rise," Sonnenfeld said. "He was using [the phony accounts] to head off, or at least embed deeply in, quite a number of investor calls, talking about the success of cross-selling, building this platform for the future."

Wells Fargo declined to comment beyond its announcement of Stumpf's retirement.
Thai women hold portraits of Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej as they pray for his health at Siriraj Hospital, where the king is being treated, in Bangkok on October 12, 2016.

Commentary from within Thailand about the king's health and succession plans is scarce because of the country's tough royal defamation laws, which has seen increased usage under the current military government.

Thai monarchy observers said the choice of words stood out from previous official updates on the ailing king's health. The widely venerated monarch enthroned since 1946 has been out of the public eye in recent years due to a range of health issues including renal failure. The palace has released more frequent updates of his health this year.

In a fresh online statement on Wednesday afternoon, the government provided updates on how the public could "sign and write well-wishing messages" but did not give further updates on the monarch's health.

The statement said the king was put on a ventilator after his blood pressure dropped following the procedures. His doctors were monitoring him closely as "the overall symptoms of his sickness are still not stable," it said.

The palace statement first released late Sunday said the world's longest reigning living monarch was in a "generally unstable" condition after treatment to purify his blood and drain excess cerebrospinal fluid.

Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha abruptly cancelled a scheduled visit to the rural Chonburi province as the Thai stock market and the baht took a beating for the third straight day after an official statement over the weekend described King Bhumibol's health as "unstable".

Royal succession in Thailand will be seamless when it is eventually triggered, palace observers say, as the acutely taboo topic resurfaced on Wednesday following growing signs the health of the revered 88-year-old King Bhumibol Adulyadej is deteriorating.

"This is an extraordinary statement from the Royal Household Bureau. Usually they try to say something positive, not this time," said Kevin Hewison, a veteran Thai politics expert who is emeritus professor of Asian Studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Serhat Unaldi, a Germany-based author of a book about the monarchy, said the phrase "not stable" is "indeed an unusual choice of words".

"The king seems to be in a critical condition," he said.

Patrick Jory, a Southeast Asian history expert at Australia's University of Queensland, said the sharp drop in the Thai stock exchange on Monday following the announcement "is probably the clearest indication of public sentiment about this news".

"If there is not another statement soon saying that the king is now 'stable', people will assume that his health remains 'unstable', which will likely cause further alarm," said Jory, who specializes in the history of the Thai monarchy.

"Everyone is aware of the state of the king's health, even though they cannot express it openly because of the sensitivity around the monarchy."

King Bhumibol is the ninth king of the 234-year-old Chakri dynasty, and ascended the throne after his elder brother King Ananda Mahidol died in a mysterious shooting. The reigning monarch is widely respected for his role in restoring the prestige of the previously floundering institution and for acting as an unifying force in a country beset with deep-seated political divisions between city-dwelling elites and the rural poor.

More from the South China Morning Post :

Ailing Thai king's health 'not stable' after haemodialysis treatment, palace says

Thai junta chief Prayuth abruptly cancels all official engagements to meet crown prince as king's health fears grow

With Thailand's king on deathbed, just how strong are China'sties with key regional ally?

The kingdom has seen 19 coups d'etats  including 12 successful ones  since absolute monarchy was abolished in 1932.

Foreign-based experts as well as Thailand-based political observers who chose to remain anonymous told This Week in Asia there is little doubt the current Crown Prince Vajiralongkorn, 64, will become king when his father dies.

"My view is that the prince will become king. I do not anticipate opposition. The junta has made it clear enough that they are behind the prince," said Hewison, referring to the current administration led by former army general Prayuth Chan-ocha, who seized power in 2014.

Unaldi said he believed Vajiralongkorn's position as the future king is "cast in stone".

"There is no alternative to Vajiralongkorn. According to the Palace Law of Succession, he is the rightful heir to the throne," said the author of Working Towards the Monarchy: The Politics of Space in Downtown Bangkok.

Jory said it will be difficult for many Thais to accept the death of the current monarch even as they prepare to witness the first coronation in many generations.

This is "because of the centrality of the monarchy and the long reign of the present king," he said.

"It is likely that there will be a long period of mourning, perhaps up to a year or more," he added.
The Treasury Department announced regulations Thursday that it hopes will keep corporate taxes in the United States by making it more difficult for companies to take advantage of tax inversions.

Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew said the department and the Internal Revenue Service hope the new regulations will "fix our broken tax system." The rules aim to make corporate tax inversions less appealing for American companies. Tax inversions have fueled controversy as corporations can get a lower tax rate by acquiring a smaller foreign competitor, allowing the company to move its tax address overseas.



In particular, the department seeks to end the "earnings stripping" process in which a company pays deductible interest to a parent company or affiliate in another country with lower taxes. Corporations will also have to file documentation on their interest deductions on related-party loans.

"We have taken a series of actions to make it harder for large foreign multinational companies to avoid paying U.S. taxes and reduce the incentives for U.S. companies to shift income and operations overseas," Lew said in a statement. "Such tax avoidance practices are wrong and should be stopped."

In April, President Barack Obama called on Congress to close loopholes, which he argued would boost tax revenue and create more funding for infrastructure and education.

After the Treasury announced new regulations in April to reduce tax inversions, Pfizer terminated its $160 billion deal to acquire Allergan .



The regulations announced Thursday target "earnings stripping" techniques which allow companies to take advantage of their tax inversions.

Despite corporate America's misgivings, the department has pushed forward with these regulations. It said, however, that it has taken stakeholder concerns into consideration and relaxed a few points in the final regulations.

The Treasury said it will provide a "broad exemption" for cash pools as well as short-term loans. It also said there will be "limited exemptions for certain entities where the risk of earnings stripping is low." Exceptions for distributions were "significantly expanded" for "ordinary business transactions," the department said.



The Treasury Department also pushed back the effective date to Jan. 1, 2018, giving companies more time to comply with the new regulations.
The departure of John Stumpf as chairman and CEO of Wells Fargo gives the embattled bank the chance to turn the page on the secret account scandal, banking analyst Mike Mayo of CLSA told CNBC on Thursday.



Mayo said new CEO Tim Sloan, elevated late Wednesday from president and COO, has the opportunity to really compensate defrauded customers.

"Here's my solution, or one of many solutions: ... Sloan stands up there and says, 'Listen, we're going to make 1 million phone calls to every affected customer,'" Mayo said on "Squawk Box."

The bank should pay those 1 million customers $1,000 each, Mayo added. Such a move would add up to $100 million, which would match the amount Wells Fargo paid to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau as part of a $185 million settlement of charges that bank employees opened fee-generating accounts for unsuspecting customers.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency received $35 million, while the city of Los Angeles got $50 million. Under last month's settlement, only $5 million was allocated for victimized customers.

"This is the worst crisis management I've seen in my three decades of following the banking industry. This is ridiculous," Mayo said, arguing the bank "struck out looking" in its handling of the mess, which also resulted in two contentious hearings on Capitol Hill.

The bank analyst did applaud the clawbacks of some of Stumpf's compensation and that of the former head of the community banking unit where the sales practices in question were conducted.

In addition to Stumpf's retirement and Sloan's promotion, lead director Stephen Sanger becomes the board's nonexecutive chairman.

Wells Fargo shares were slightly lower in early Thursday trading. Since the scandal broke, Wells Fargo stock has fallen about 9 percent, based on Wednesday's close.

The bank is set to report its latest quarterly earnings on Friday.
watch now

If world-famous British fashion designer and punk priestess, Dame Vivienne Westwood had the opportunity to vote in the upcoming U.S. election, neither Hillary Clinton nor Donald Trump would get her pick on the ballot. "To me, Hillary's evil and I think she's a war-mongerer," Westwood told CNBC's Tania Bryer. "I don't expect the world to change with Hillary Clinton. You know we're all going for climate change. I'm not Pro-Trump. If I would be American, I would not vote for either of them." "I would not be able to vote for either of them, except if there's a Green (Party) person. I would vote for a Green person." With less than a month to go until the U.S. presidential election, the tension is mounting over what the outcome will be. In a recent NBC News / Wall Street Journal poll, Clinton had the support of 46 percent of likely voters, whereas Trump had 37 percent, Libertarian Party's Gary Johnson had 8 percent, and the Green Party's Jill Stein had 2 percent. In a head-to-head race, Clinton outperforms Trump by 10 points.

Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton (L) and Republican nominee Donald Trump walk to their seats during the second presidential debate RICK WILKING | AFP | Getty Images

In CNBC Conversation's latest episode, when pressed over who she'd vote for, the designer said she wouldn't as politicians were applying a "terrible rotten financial system."

While many know Westwood for her fashion empire, and coming up with the original look for Punk rock in the 1970s, the designer is also an avid environmental activist, having teamed up with Greenpeace and its "Save The Arctic" campaign, along with working with the likes of PETA, renewable energy investment platform "Trillion Fund", and setting up website "Climate Revolution". "I wouldn't even pick Barack Obama over them either, because the people are applying the terrible rotten financial system  there's no difference between them. If they apply that system which is about war and she's a very, very warmongering person, Hillary Clinton." "So it's about war and about killing everything on the planet actually through climate change. They don't want their rotten financial system changed. You know so there's no choice between them. You cannot choose. They're all the same." Expanding the conversation into broader politics, Westwood told CNBC she believed activists needed to try and tell people how the "new world" would look like if society "swapped this terrible financial system for a fair financial system." "We've got to have a green economy and a green economy is a fair economy. We live in a myth. People believe that somehow the whole of evolution is done for one end result, which is us. And this could even be literally  we might be the very last creatures on the planet, we might have killed everything and ourselves  not straight away because we've still got this green bit left."

Fighting the "rotten financial system" in the UK

This "rotten financial system" is a topic Westwood would also like to bring up with her own Prime Minister, Theresa May.

If she had the opportunity, Westwood said she'd tell May that the leader "could be the most important person that ever trod on this planet" if she could stop applying the current "rotten financial system" and "employ a system that gives equality to people  it's designed to give equality, not to give siphoning off and austerity."

Vivienne Westwood wears a 'Theresa Talk Vivienne' t-shirt when arriving for a celebration of British fashion hosted by British Prime Minister Theresa May Chris J Ratcliffe | Getty Images News | Getty Images
SYRACUSE, N.Y.  The Central New York Community Foundation Inc. has awarded more than $161,000 in grants to area nonprofits.

The funding is part of the fifth round of grants in the organizations performance management initiative.

The effort helps organizations navigate the complexities of data measurement to evaluate and communicate their effectiveness, the Community Foundation said in a news release.

All grant recipients are now members of a new performance-management learning community, the Community Foundation said.

The group will meet over the course of the next year to hone their data-management skills and share their successes and challenges with one another.

The CNY Community Foundation operates at the CNY Philanthropy Center, which is located at 431 East Fayette St. in Syracuse.

Established in 1927, the Community Foundation encourages local philanthropy by supporting the growth of permanent charitable endowments for the betterment of the region, according to its news release.

The Community Foundation says it is the largest charitable foundation in the region with assets of nearly $193 million.

Red House Arts Center

The grant recipients include the Red House Arts Center, Inc., described as a regional provider of community based arts education for at-risk youth and individuals with disabilities, according to the news release.

Itll use a grant of $20,000 to measure the impact of its partnership with the Syracuse City School District at the middle-school level compared to its similar data from the elementary level.

We are looking forward to continuing this partnership to help enrich students, strengthen learning and academic progress and promote fun learning in middle schools, Samara Hannah, executive director of the Redhouse, said in the Community Foundation news release. With the help of this grant we will continue to track the impact of the program as we look to expand to other schools in the region, with a goal to expand nationally.

After participating in the performance-management learning community in 2015, the Redhouse decided to reapply for a second grant, the Community Foundation said.

Participation in the learning community allowed us to refine and systematize our data collection for our childrens programs launched with the Syracuse City School District, said Hannah. We learned a great deal throughout our experience and have been excited to reapply for another grant to further advance and measure the partnership this year.

Additional recipients

Besides the Red House Arts Center, WCNY will use a grant of nearly $16,000 to strengthen its capacity to demonstrate the impact of its Enterprise America program.

The Community Foundation also awarded ProLiteracy Worldwide of Syracuse a $20,000 grant to evaluate whether its online educational program is producing positive outcomes for adult learners.

Additionally, the Onondaga County Department of Health will use a $20,000 award to assess a relationship between recidivism rates and transition programming offered to those who are serving jail time.

The organization also awarded the Center for Community Alternatives a grant of $20,000 to strengthen the ability of its employment-related programs to gather and use data for planning, quality assurance and program improvement.

In addition, McMahon/Ryan Child Advocacy Center will use a grant of more than $16,000 to evaluate the High Five child-abuse prevention program, track outcomes, and analyze the program for quality improvement.

The recipients also included the Samaritan Center of Syracuse, which will devote a grant of more than $17,000 to collect and analyze data relevant to an expanding case management and programming effort in order to improve its ability to meet guests needs.

The recipients also included Volunteer Lawyers Project of Onondaga County, which will use a grant of $19,000 to conduct a study to determine unmet legal needs in the community.

In addition, the Westcott Community Center is getting more than $13,000 to utilize data-collection skills that will provide the community with a picture of the center and its work in the organizations first annual report.

Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com
The race and gender activist reflected on her experience growing up with apartheid in South Africa. Naomi Tutu said she hopes to inspire those working to remedy racial injustice when she speaks in January at the 24th annual Columbia Values Diversity Celebration.
How to get involved

To get involved with Race Matters, Friends, visit their Facebook group, or attend their next meeting:

What: City Manager Mike Matthes will join Race Matters, Friends at the group's weekly meeting.

When: 6:30 p.m., Oct. 25

Where: To be announced.
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
Fight over Missouri marijuana amendment nears finish line

In just over a week, Missourians will decide whether to adopt a state constitutional amendment for recreational marijuana.
Ad Investing Trends New this week - 166 interested

The Humble Mineral at the Heart of the EV Revolution (Not Lithium)

You may know of graphite as what's in the tip of a No. 2 pencil, but it is the key to many forms of renewable energy. Today, this humble mineral is at the epicenter of the electric car revolution. Because what most people don't know is today's EV batteries contain more than 220 pounds of graphite  more than lithium, copper or aluminum!
In September, Dell and EMC finalized the largest ever merger of tech companies, creating privately held Dell Technologies - a "family" of companies that provides everything from PCs to hyperconverged infrastructure with annual revenue of some $75 billion. Ahead of next week's Dell EMC World conference, CEO Michael Dell spoke with IDG Chief Content Officer John Gallant about what Dell and EMC customers can expect -- in sales, service, product integration -- from this landscape-altering combination.

The Dell/EMC merger is in stark contrast with rival Hewlett Packard's earlier move to split into consumer- and enterprise-facing units. Dell dissected HP's approach (smaller doesn't necessarily mean more nimble) and talked about why getting bigger now is a better deal for customers. Also, with presidential hopefuls bantering about building walls and breaking trade deals, Dell warned about the dangers of protectionism and the risk of "mutually assured destruction" from limiting global trade.

There's been a tremendous amount of coverage in the business and financial press about your merger with EMC. But let's take the customer perspective here. Why does this merger make sense for customers?

If you step back and think about how the world is evolving, clearly from an infrastructure standpoint there are big things going on in terms of software defined, converged and hyperconverged. Bringing together the very best of the industry in servers, storage, virtualization [and] cloud software is allowing us to simplify the lives of our customers.

The growth in public cloud and the interest in public cloud has largely been a function of bringing the workload up to the application level. That's extrapolated a lot of the infrastructure into a much simpler, more manageable construct. It's also the reason why converged and hyperconverged infrastructure are growing even faster than the public cloud, because they bring those same benefits in an on-premise and hybrid type environment.

Bringing together Dell, EMC, VMware, Pivotal, we create a unique company in terms of scale and the ability to serve customers' needs across existing IT and the IT of tomorrow. Our company is a leader in server, storage, virtualization, PCs, [and has] very strong positions in the IT of tomorrow -- digital transformation, software-defined data center, mobility, security. Customers are faced with two challenges. On the one hand, they need to embrace digital transformation. On the other hand, they need to modernize their infrastructure in order to pay for the digital transformation, because it's not as if they're given an extra budget to do digital transformation.

[ Further reading: IDG CEO interview series ]

What will you be able to do that the two companies separately weren't able to do? Or what will you be able to do more quickly or better?

If you go back to 2001, Dell and EMC announced an alliance, and this is actually where this all began, interestingly enough. At the time we called it Dell EMC. It was very successful, grew very fast, got up to a couple billion dollars a year. If you look at VCE and what EMC, Cisco, VMware did, that was also very successful for a lot of the same reasons.

Customers no longer want to integrate all these things themselves. By bringing together the very best of the industry into engineered, integrated solutions, we can more rapidly help our customers address the challenges and what they want to do in their infrastructure. I think the industry is consolidating and we've been a consolidator in compute and servers, now number one in server share globally. In PCs we've gained share for 15 quarters in a row. I believe scale matters and we're at the stage of the industry where it's consolidating.

The other question readers always have when they've worked with companies of this scale: How will you minimize the impact of this merger on customers? They're worried about losing sales reps that they've worked with, channel partners that they've counted on. How do you address these concerns?

We spent a lot of time absolutely focused on how we maximize to combine the power of the companies and the customer-facing activities. The relationships that we have with customers are among the most important aspects of this in terms of how we ensure success.

One of the things we found when we looked at the top 5,000 EMC customers and the top 5,000 Dell customers was that among those only about 1,000 were common. There's actually very little overlap between the two, which tells us there are lots of cross-sell opportunities, but it [also] makes it a lot simpler in terms of avoiding churn and maintaining your relationships both with the Dell and EMC sales professionals and with our channel partners.

We're bringing the teams together in a way that's [designed] to minimize churn. The thing we've heard time and time again from customers is they're excited about doing more with a leading company that's number one in everything all in one place. They don't actually like to have more partners. You can look at our company and say -- OK, you're leading in 20 or so areas across IT. You're going to integrate those and build solutions. Well, let's just take it as a thought experiment and say you were 20 companies. I haven't seen any customer in the world that actually wants that. What I'm hearing from customers is they're quite excited about doing more with us because we have created this market-leading, industry-leading company.

What should customers expect in terms of addressing product overlap and any potential impact on products they've already invested in?

I think we've got some good news there as well. When you look at Dell, EMC, VMware, you don't have much overlap at all. This is one of the reasons why our alliance worked so well in the past and why we feel so strongly about the combination. If you look at the entry level or midrange of storage, that's one potential area where somebody might see some overlap.

But even as we looked at that, what we found is that the two different product lines serve different purposes. What customers would know as the EMC Unity or VNX product line and the Dell Compellent product line, both of those will continue. And of course, all the other product lines that EMC has in storage from VMAX to Isilon, Data Domain, XtremIO, DSSD, ECS, those will all continue.

The future for our readers is public and hybrid cloud. How does this merger make Dell and EMC stronger in those markets? What new and innovative things can people expect in the way of cloud offerings?

Well, cloud is not just a place. Cloud is a way of doing IT. Again, a little pattern recognition. If you go back to the mid-1990s, where people were talking about the Internet, the questions were: What's your Internet strategy? Where's your Internet product division? Where's your vice president of the Internet? Where is all that now?

Well, it turns out that the Internet is everywhere. It's in everything, that's just how we do stuff. We get it, it's like oxygen. The cloud is actually like that, too. And this is why it's a bit of a confounding topic, because cloud is not just a place, it's a way of doing things. Within our family, of course, we have VMware, which has 500,000 customers who are all on this journey to some form of a private cloud, a hybrid cloud, a multi-cloud world where they're connecting all these things together. We have Pivotal, a leading platform-as-a-service with Cloud Foundry, not only the Pivotal Cloud Foundry, but Cloud Foundry open source, which has been adopted by most of the leading companies in the industry.

Then, of course, we have Dell EMC building the infrastructure for not only public clouds, but also private clouds and hybrid clouds and allowing customers to connect all this together. We have some incredible new technologies like [VMware] NSX for the virtualization of the network, which is tremendously important in terms of connecting these multiple clouds together and doing it in a secure and encrypted way.

Across the family, we have tremendous capabilities. It spans from the largest companies in the world all the way down to -- how do you build in a 2u server, a hyperconverged platform that is essentially a cloud in the box? I think you know that's one of the fastest growing areas of the company. With our VMware hypervisor technology, our VSAN virtual storage, our ScaleIO technology, we have the leading hypervisor and the leading software-defined storage, and of course we're number one in servers. We're well positioned across all the various use cases.

And an interesting perspective on this, we've been selling infrastructure to the public clouds for years, billions of dollars of equipment to most, if not all, of the public clouds. The big difference in what those companies are doing, it's not in the hardware. It's in the software, it brings the workload up to the application level. And that idea is not unique to the public cloud. It can be done in service providers, it can be done in software-as-a-service, it can be done in individual companies. This is where the whole converged and hyperconverged is growing so fast.

The other big issue is people moving workloads to the public cloud, to Amazon and other platforms. We have Amazon, Microsoft, Google, IBM, even Oracle at their recent conference, really ramping up those platform efforts. Will Dell be offering infrastructure-as-a-service? Will you be offering platform-as-a-service?

We have the Virtustream public cloud, which I would not position as a public cloud to compete on all workloads. Virtustream is very focused on mission-critical, tier 1 applications like SAP, for example, for large organizations.

We support our customers having a multi-cloud environment, and connecting all those things together is a non-trivial task. That's where a lot of the work that VMware has done, Dell EMC has done, in creating these hybrid cloud offerings. You'll see an announcement here very shortly from VMware and AWS, [which] are working together to be able to extend out the VMware environment into additional public clouds, including AWS.

It sounds like the goal is to be the best hybrid cloud onramp to public cloud rather than trying to compete at that AWS level with your own infrastructure-as-a-service or at the Azure level with your own platform as a service offering.

Yeah. I'll give you perspective on this. Somebody says: 'We have a cloud-first strategy and our strategy is to move everything to the public cloud.' All right. I understand. I think that what they will probably find over time is that that's uncompetitive. And the reason I say that is, first of all, all the workloads don't easily move to the public cloud. The other thing is that there's no magic in the public cloud. The public cloud can be extremely helpful for certain types of workloads.

But for companies that have a relatively predictable nature of their workload, if they're using the same tools that exist in the public cloud, in other words, they're moving the workloads up to the application level and they're using modern converged and hyperconverged infrastructure, they'll find tremendous benefits from that relative to the public cloud.

There isn't going to be one answer for all companies. You'll see all sorts of different models here, across industry, as it relates to security requirements and that sort of thing. We don't see the whole world going to the public cloud, even though the public cloud is certainly growing.
Some Washington, D.C., residents may soon be sharing the streets with Starship Technologies' delivery robots.

Back in June, Washington became the first U.S. city to approve a pilot program of the ground-based delivery robots. Among some restrictions, the D.C. Council bill specifies that PPDs, or personal delivery devices, must not operate above 10 miles per hour, must weigh less than 50 pounds without cargo, and must obey all traffic and pedestrian signs and signals.

Starship Technologies' bot is equipped to follow all of these guidelines. It weighs around 40 pounds and is capable of carrying about three filled shopping bags while rolling along at a safe speed of four miles per hour. It's also equipped with nine cameras and a number of sensors to help it avoid obstacles and allow remote operators to keep an eye on it.

Right now, most of the company's robots are under the constant supervision of an operator and a walking escort, but Starship Technologies hopes that its delivery robots will eventually be 99 percent autonomous.

Starship Technologies is the brainchild of Skype cofounders Ahti Heinla and Janus Friis, who wanted to bridge the last gap of "on-demand" deliveries by targeting the most inefficient delivery areas: residential neighborhoods. The company says its robots will be able to deliver goods within a one- to three-mile radius in 15 to 30 minutes.

Through an app, consumers will be able to order a delivery robot and choose the exact time they want their parcels delivered, for the cost of US$1. Other companies are also developing autonomous delivery robots, but Starship Technologies says it's not worried about the competition -- especially the one coming from the air.

"It takes a lot more energy to lift something off the ground than to just roll it across the ground at 4 miles per hour, and that affects the economics," says marketing manager Henry Harris-Burland. "Consumers dont want to pay more for drone delivery, they may want to do it the first time, but then its gonna get old very quickly,"

Martyn Williams A test run of Starship Technologies' delivery robot on the streets of San Francisco on September 27, 2016.

Of course, unlike aerial drones, ground-based robots have a greater chance of being vandalized and stolen. To discourage this, the team has equipped the bots with alarms, GPS tracking, a lockable lid, and a two-way speaker system. Starship Technologies has already experimented with real deliveries in the U.K., Switzerland, and Germany, and so far, they haven't had any instances of theft. It remains to be seen if U.S. residents will be as courteous.
One of the most striking declarations in Theresa Mays party conference speech went as follows:

But we will never again  in any future conflict  let those activist, left-wing human rights lawyers harangue and harass the bravest of the brave  the men and women of Britains Armed Forces.

How was this problem ever allowed to arise, and why is it only now being dealt with? Someone who can help answer these questions is Tom Tugendhat, who between leaving the Army in 2013, and being elected MP for Tonbridge and Malling in 2015, raised the alarm in two pamphlets for Policy Exchange: The Fog of Law and Clearing the Fog of Law.

ConHome: An excellent short film, made for the BBC by your colleague Johnny Mercer MP and picked up in the press, this week showed how members of our Armed Forces are being harassed at public expense by lawyers about allegations to do with the Iraq War in 2003, which in many cases were already looked into years ago, and prove to be groundless.

It contained moving testimony from soldiers whose lives have been ruined. The General you used to work for said in the film:

I think this comes out of this instinct somewhere in Whitehall, within the Establishment, that basically soldiers arent good and freedom fighters, we call them terrorists, kill 3,000 people in one go but in the minds of some of these people they are somehow quite good and we are not.

Do you agree with General Lord Richards, your former boss?

Tugendhat: I think the General knows how to express his own opinions. I think that most people are very supportive of the armed forces.

ConHome: Even in Whitehall?

Tugendhat: Yes. I think that many people do understand the armed forces, including many people in Whitehall, but what weve got is a bureaucracy that looks for as little trouble as possible. I think that most people do value our armed forces, but sometimes it is easier bureaucratically to follow a process through than to think why it is wrong.

And it demands ministerial courage to stop things. And I think Theresa May has done very well in saying, first of all, that soldiers will get the legal protection they deserve, and secondly that the difference is going to be starting very soon, because the Iraq Historic Allegations Team process will stop very soon.

ConHome: What went wrong? Did we fail to get a derogation from the European Convention on Human Rights?

Tugendhat: We didnt ask for one.

ConHome: When was this?

Tugendhat: Well you have to ask for one before. You cant derogate afterwards.

ConHome: So before 2003?

Tugendhat: Exactly. Jack Straw actually, it was quite interesting, it just never occurred to them that the ECHR applied extra-territorially. They didnt ask because they didnt think they needed to. They thought it only applied to signatory states. Its never occurred to them that it applied to Brits abroad.

ConHome: So how did you yourself get into this?

Tugendhat: I got into it because I started to see the beginning of litigation in 2011-12. And when I left the Army in 2013 Id been speaking to Dean Godson [Director of Policy Exchange] about it.

ConHome: And he said, Do a proper piece of work about it?

Tugendhat: Yes. And that was the first pamphlet with Laura Croft. I then did the second one with Richard Ekins and Jonathan Morgan.

ConHome: And is the Fog of Law now starting to clear in fact?

Tugendhat: Yes it is, in fact. Michael Fallon has picked this up, finally.

ConHome: Hes the first Secretary of State to pick this up?

Tugendhat: Properly to pick it up, yes. Number 10, the previous Number 10, was talking about it, but various other things came up, I cant think what.

ConHome: So in 2013, when you published your first pamphlet, I remember Charles Moore wrote an appreciative piece about it in the Daily Telegraph, but generally speaking you didnt get much immediate movement?

Tugendhat: No. I got a lot of very positive feedback at the time,but most people thought, Well thisll feed through and itll go away.

But of course it didnt go away. In fact it got worse. And it got worse because of the Iraq Historic Allegations Team  IHAT  which was effectively various lawyers using legal aid money to look for victims, victims in inverted commas, because as we now know, some of the victims were in fact Iraqi militia members who having tried and failed to kill British troops in battle, then decided the appropriate next step was to sue them.

ConHome: So you and Godson decided youd got to have a second crack at this.

Tugendhat: Exactly.

ConHome: Was it the volume of cases that particularly alarmed you [which as the Telegraph recently reported, has reached, if you add up the numbers for Iraq and Afghanistan, the extraordinary total of over 2,200], or knowing about some individual cases that were very unfair, or both?

Tugendhat: When I wrote the first paper I had no idea of the volume. When I wrote the second paper I thought there was an issue with numbers, but I didnt realise quite the volume. And I dont think anybody did, to be honest, until last year.

ConHome: Youve said you dont think theres prejudice against the Army in Whitehall, but there probably is prejudice in favour of human rights? When officials hear the words human rights, they probably think We dont want to be seen to be anti-human rights.

And they dont say, in Disraelis words to the purveyors of general doctrines of freedom: I prefer the liberties we now enjoy to the liberalism they profess, and find something better than the Rights of Man in the Rights of Englishmen.'

Tugendhat: I think thats fair. Its not that they think the British soldier is the scum of the earth, or whatever it is that Wellington said. I think it is that when somebody says human rights they get very nervous.

ConHome: And is that starting to change now?

Tugendhat: I think people are starting to realise that in that wonderful Burke expression, It is a general popular error to imagine the loudest complainers for the public to be the most anxious for its welfare. When you look at the income of some of these legal aid firms, it does make you wonder what they mean by human rights.

ConHome: Is there a danger of this wholesome reaction going too far, and good stuff being swept away?

Tugendhat: No.

ConHome: Whats your general attitude to human rights?

Tugendhat: My general attitude to human rights is what it always was. Human rights matter. Human rights emerge from about 7,000 years of first Judaic tradition and then Christian and then through various periods and the Enlightenment to today.

They are absolutely part of the social fabric of our society. Im not arguing here that nobody has rights. Thats not the point. What Im arguing is which is the best code of ethics, which is the best law to apply.

Because the reality is that the battlefield is not the same as Brighton, or London, or whatever, and what is reasonable in one place is not reasonable in another. What you hold someone to account in one place is not reasonable in another.

ConHome: So its basically the Geneva Conventions that govern behaviour in war?

Tugendhat: Yes, its International Humanitarian Law, as its also called. In the very title of it, you can see its not a rejection of all these things. Its picking the right code.

The fundamental difference is International Humanitarian Law identifies who is and is not a legitimate target. You do not have to give a warning to a soldier in battle. You do not have to say Stop or Ill fire. You just shoot them.

Not to do so endangers your own side. In Human Rights Law you have to give warnings. What International Humanitarian Law says very clearly is these laws apply very clearly to certain people, uniformed soldiers and so on. Other people, noncombatants, civilians, medics, you cannot do anything to. Youre not allowed to shoot them.

ConHome: Can you lock them up?

Tugendhat: You can detain them during the period of hostilities if certain conditions are met. There are constraints, but International Humanitarian Law appreciates that a time of war exists. Whereas Human Rights Law says no, no, all people are the same.

So actually, what youre doing is removing rights from civilians and imposing them on combatants, because youre treating them all the same. You, O soldier, have no right to act with force in order to protect Mr Jones the farmer, because you must treat them all equally.

Therefore if Mr Jones happens to get killed by the militiaman over there, you arent allowed to intervene. Thats his tough luck and you cant intervene. So all that training in order to be able to protect Mr Jones is useless.

ConHome: How did the Prime Minister get the point of this? That was a very strong line in her conference speech.

Tugendhat: Yes, I think she was very, very well-informed. Very, very wisely advised.

ConHome: Who by?

Tugendhat: I dont know. I presume it was Nick Timothy. But to be honest, I suspect the reason she got it is that shes just spent six years working with intelligence agencies and shes had to think about it more than some others have done over the last six years so she was ready I think Cameron was there but he hadnt got round to doing anything.

A lot of people who have already been through it, an inquiry in 2004-5 or whatever, theyre going round it again.

ConHome: That sort of double jeopardy is monstrously unjust.

Tugendhat: Its really grossly, grossly unfair.

ConHome: Is it because communications are now better?

Tugendhat: War crimes did get reported before. Massacres of EOKA terrorists who were killed in Cyprus, various British soldiers did go to prison for that. Queens Regulations, which govern how a soldier is to behave, and say things like you must cut your hair and you must wear your boots in a certain way, also say you must not beat up and torture.

ConHome: The sheer volume of cases, as I think General Mike Jackson pointed out in this weeks film, is impossible.

Tugendhat: Unless you actually think, which I dont think anybody does, that every British soldier was busily torturing and murdering their way around Iraq, its absurd.

Im not in any way seeking to excuse criminality. When criminality occurs it should be prosecuted, but it should be prosecuted according to the appropriate law, and the appropriate law here is what the Army calls the Law of Armed Conflict, the lawyers call International Humanitarian Law and Joe Public calls the Geneva Conventions.

If you torture someone, that is a violation of the Geneva Conventions. You are not allowed to shoot wounded people who are not presenting a threat and have surrendered. Soldiers dont just go around doing whatever they like. The rules are very clear.

If you cannot securely or confidently deploy forces without being concerned theyre going to be tried ten years later for something that wasnt a crime when they did it, or was reasonable, then youre in a pretty difficult place.

It effectively means you just cannot use force. Or, worse still, you can use force, but when you do, its the individual soldier who takes responsibility, which is really unfair.

ConHome: So what else should Fallon be doing to sort this out?

Tugendhat: Well Fallons doing the right thing on derogation [from the ECHR in future conflicts].

ConHome: Though Dominic Grieve contends that derogation from the ECHR will make little difference.

Tugendhat: Dominic is right  it will make little difference to liability, but more difference to litigation. What I mean by that is that Queens Regulations will still prevent abuse and soldiers will still be liable for any misdeeds but they will instead be tried by court martial etc rather than hunted by lawyers with interests.

Fallon is also doing the right thing on hiring lawyers. Because the other thing people say is the right thing to do is to stop everything. But actually what weve got to do is change the precedents.

And the way you change precedents is by fighting cases and winning. And what happened over the last five or ten years was the British government settled a lot of these cases instead of fighting them. It settled them because it thought, Well its a one-off.

ConHome: They paid Danegeld, in fact.

Tugendhat: They paid Danegeld. They not only got the Danes to come back, they also created a legal precedent. As we have a Common Law system, reversing precedents is very difficult. The way you reverse precedents is either a vote in Parliament, or winning future cases. So weve got to win some future cases.
Daniel Hannan is an MEP for South-East England, and a journalist, author and broadcaster.

Our economy should work for everyone, said Theresa May in Birmingham last week. But if your pay has stagnated for several years in a row and fixed items of spending keep going up, it doesnt feel like its working for you.

Quite. Regular readers will know that this is an optimistic column. We are witnessing a global embourgeoisement. Most people in most places have seen colossal advances in their standard of living. But not everyone, and not everywhere.

Have a look at the chart below, which shows the changes in income after 1988. The x-axis shows the population of the world by wealth. Poor African villagers are at the left, and you are at the right (the fact that youre reading this article online tells me that).

The graph, compiled by Branko Milanovic and Cristoph Lakner, shows the effects of the massive global enrichment that statisticians take for granted, but that Left-wing politicians still often deny. Almost everyone has become better off as previously closed economies in Africa and Asia have joined the global trading system. The exception, as you can see, is people around the 80th percentile, who correspond, broadly speaking, to unskilled workers in developed countries.

Its fair to point out that not everyone accepts these findings. A new report for the Resolution Foundation by Adam Corlett shows that unskilled workers in Western countries have in fact seen rises in their living standards, and suggests that the dip around the 80th percentile reflects other factors, such as the falling populations of Japan and the former Communist states.

Even so, low-income families in Western countries, including the UK, have not been keeping up, at least not when assets are taken into account along with wages. Its not true that the rich have got richer while the poor have got poorer; but it is true that (within developed countries if not globally) the rich have been getting richer at a faster rate than the poor have.

You dont have to be on the Left to worry about that disparity. No government, no party that aspires to be national, should be unconcerned by the economic stagnation of parts of Britain. Most Tories flinched when Matthew Parris urged them to turn their backs on places like Clacton, which had annoyed him by voting UKIP. Im sure the Prime Minister recoiled along with the rest of us.

She wants prosperity to spill over into these places, and rightly so. The question is how to do it. All Conservatives recognise the limits of state power. Governments are not terribly good at building cars or operating trains, and alleviating poverty is a lot harder than building cars.

Several pundits concluded that the Prime Minister was espousing Continental-style Christian Democracy  in other words, a more dirigiste and corporatist form of capitalism. I dont see any sign of it. While Christian Democrats like to think of themselves as champions for the poor, their policies usually result in slower growth, higher unemployment and privileges for certain interest groups.

There are far more effective ways to make life easier for low-income families than through direct intervention. For example, it should be possible to lower the cost of living in a way that will benefit everybody, but will proportionately bring the greatest benefits to the least well-off.

For most households, the biggest items of expenditure are groceries, fuel, tax and housing. All these could be lower. When we leave the EU and the Common Agricultural Policy, well be able to cut tariffs on non-EU agrarian imports. We can also disapply some of the EUs energy boondoggles, which serve to redistribute wealth from ordinary families to wealthy landowners. Those two reforms, coupled with cheaper clothes if we opt out of the EUs textile tariffs, could lower costs by a whopping 933 a year for the average family.

At the same time, we should continue to raise the tax threshold, a policy which, more than any other, has helped to rescue people from the squalor of dependency.

The Prime Minister has flagged up two further ideas which ought to boost the disposable incomes of working families. First, removing some of the restrictions on building new houses; and, second, ending the reliance on quantitative easing, which has had the effect of shifting money from wage-earners to rentiers. Again, good for her.

Every one of these policies will help the poor, not through bigger government, but through smaller government. Without state intervention, food will fall back toward world prices. Without EU directives, fuel bills will be cheaper. Without restrictive planning laws, housing will be more affordable. Without state manipulation of the currency, wages will hold their value. Raising the tax threshold benefits everyone, but chiefly the poor.

Id add one more item to the list. Britain has some of the highest childcare costs in Europe  again, because of state intervention, specifically rules on the child-to-carer ratio that are more costly than their Continental equivalents. Again, we need only shift the rocks to let the grass grow.

This isnt Adenauer-style Christian Democracy. It isnt even Disraeli-style Tory Democracy. Its  whats the word? Oh, yes: conservatism.
James Frayne is Director of communications agency Public First and author of Meet the People, a guide to moving public opinion. The focus of this column is Theresa Mays conservatism for ordinary working people.

Theresa Mays No. 10 have the most politically sophisticated strategy of recent Tory administrations  with a clear plan to dominate the mainstream of British politics.

Their focus on those just managing is right and they are addressing areas of historic Tory weakness: urban centres and former industrial heartlands.

In time, well see more policies targeted at their other fundamental weakness  amongst ethnic minorities (no, the last week hasnt helped).

Mays team will look back on their first period in power with satisfaction. But now theyre through conference and have the opportunity to take stock, theyll be thinking about how to deal with areas of weakness in the machine.

This is crucial as they seek to execute their ambitious plan. So, what will they be looking at? There are four obvious areas.

The first is Theresa Mays presentation skills. She has some strengths: she looks good, sounds normal and wears power well. But she has neither David Camerons ability to dominate the room or studio she speaks in, nor his quickness of feet. She can look nervous and therefore awkward  as she did occasionally in her conference speech.

This might change as she becomes more experienced as PM but  given the scale of No 10s ambition  Id ask a donor to put their hands in their pocket for some serious media training. George Osborne clearly sought help and it radically improved his communications skills.

The second issue is that the policy and communications teams obviously arent working together well enough at the moment. Policies are being initially briefed with extreme clarity, but nuance is being injected afterwards which looks like theyre rowing back.

This happened with Hinkley Point, Grammars and Foreign Worker lists. The policy teams have to be fully involved in the briefings from start to finish.

The third issue regards their political faces. Given that the Government is looking to own provincial England in its entirety, they could do with some more spokespeople that were brought up in these areas or that represent provincial English seats.

Rishi Sunak, who replaced William Hague in Richmond, should be given a more prominent role. Yorkshire-born Lucy Frazer, who combines high intellect with an ability to talk in ordinary English, is another MP we should hear more from. There are others.

The fourth and final issue is Amber Rudd. The foreign worker list was a bad policy but, to be fair, No 10 will have signed it off. Her problem is more fundamental: she seems arrogant and superior. Thats not ideal but manageable for a junior minister that gets sent on to Newsnight.

But its a disaster for a politician in charge of the single most important issue for the public. Her media team are amongst the best around and are well placed to sort this problem out. If Rudd wont let them, shell get moved on.

Ive repeatedly made the point that a big Europe speech is overdue. Thats still true. If anything finishes May off, itll be Europe and the issue is still running away from her. But shell also be better placed to deal with this challenge if No. 10 sorts out the issues above.
United States Court of Appeals, Third Circuit. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA v. RAFAEL SANCHEZ, a/k/a Rafael Sanchez Figuereo, Appellant No. 15-3251 Decided: October 12, 2016

Before: AMBRO, SMITH * and FISHER, Circuit Judges.

OPINION**

Defendant Rafael Sanchez pleaded guilty to conspiring to defraud the United States and aggravated identity theft for his role in a tax-fraud scheme. The District Court sentenced him to 94 months' imprisonment followed by 3 years' supervised release and ordered $694,237.09 in restitution. He appeals, alleging three procedural deficiencies that occurred during his sentencing. We will affirm the District Court's judgment.

I.

We write principally for the parties, who are familiar with the factual context and legal history of this case. Therefore, we will set forth only those facts that are necessary to our analysis.

Sanchez is a citizen of the Dominican Republic who was lawfully residing in the United States. During all relevant proceedings in the District Court, an interpreter translated for Sanchez, who speaks Spanish.

From 2009 to 2014, Sanchez and others used a stolen IRS tax-preparer identification number and fake or stolen taxpayer information to prepare and file at least 128 fraudulent federal income tax returns, each claiming a multi-thousand dollar refund. The scam was profitable until the IRS exposed it: Sanchez and his coconspirators falsely recovered hundreds of thousands of dollars in tax refunds.

In March of 2015, a federal grand jury returned a 43-count second superseding indictment against Sanchez and his coconspirators. Under a plea agreement with the government, Sanchez pleaded guilty before the District Court to count 1 (conspiracy to defraud the United States) and count 32 (aggravated identity theft). In the plea agreement and during his change-of-plea hearing, Sanchez acknowledged he was responsible for a loss of more than $400,000 but less than $1,000,000 and that full restitution was required.

Following Sanchez's guilty pleas, the Probation Office prepared a Presentence Investigation Report and two addendums (the PIR). Based upon a total offense level of 26 and a criminal history category of I, the PIR calculated Sanchez's advisory Sentencing Guidelines range at 63 to 78 months' imprisonment at count 1, plus a mandatory consecutive 24 months' imprisonment at count 32. The PIR calculated Sanchez's mandatory restitution at $694,237.09$181,615 from false tax returns filed directly through his business, plus $512,622.09 from those filed through coconspirators in New York. Finally, the PIR estimated Sanchez's net worth and total monthly cash flow at $0.00.

At sentencing, the District Court first addressed and rejected Sanchez's objections to the PIR that (1) a 3-level reduction for acceptance of responsibility applied and (2) a 4-level leadership enhancement did not apply. After the parties agreed that the total offense level was 26, the District Court sentenced Sanchez to 94 months' imprisonment followed by 3 years' supervised release. The District Court heard briefly about Sanchez's financial condition from defense counsel, declined to impose a fine, and ordered $694,237.09 in interest-free restitution to the IRS, payable under different terms during imprisonment and after release. As the hearing adjourned, Sanchez appeared to express confusion about the sentence imposed. Through the interpreter, Sanchez claimed he pleaded guilty with the understanding that the maximum [he would get] was 24 months. The District Court advised Sanchez to talk with his counsel and take any action he deemed appropriate. This timely appeal followed.

II.7

Sanchez concedes, and our review of the record confirms, that he failed to preserve the issues he raises on appeal in the District Court. Our review is, therefore, limited to plain error under Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 52(b). Under that rule, Sanchez must establish that a clear or obvious error occurred that affected his substantial rights. If he meets this test, we ask whether the error seriously affects the fairness, integrity, or public reputation of judicial proceedings. If it did, we have discretion to remedy it.

III.

Sanchez argues that the District Court plainly erred by failing to (A) set forth or adopt a final Guidelines calculation on the record, (B) verify for the record that he and his attorney read and discussed the PIR, and (C) make specific factual findings about his ability to pay mandatory restitution. Based upon these alleged plain errors, he asks us to vacate the District Court's judgment and remand for resentencing.

With respect to Sanchez's first two arguments, we agree that the District Court erred. We conclude, however, that those errors did not affect[ ] the outcome of the proceedings, as required for relief under Rule 52(b). With respect to Sanchez's third argument, we find no error. Accordingly, we will affirm. We address Sanchez's arguments in turn.

A.

First, we agree with Sanchez that the District Court erred by imposing the sentence without first setting forth on the record its final Guidelines calculation or stating whether it adopted the PIR's calculation as its own. District courts must first calculate a defendant's Guidelines range. Here, the only discussion on the record of the final Guidelines calculation came from the parties. After the District Court rejected Sanchez's PIR objections, counsel for the Government stated, I just want to make clear where we are at the end of what Your Honor has found  [W]e are at an offense level of 26?, after which Sanchez's counsel stated, That's correct. The District Court did not accept, reject, or add to the parties' statements in any way. It did not specifically recount, for example, that (1) the offense level of 26 applied only to count 1 and carried an imprisonment range of 63 to 78 months, (2) count 32 carried a separate mandatory consecutive 24-month imprisonment term, or (3) the Guidelines supervised-release ranges were 1 to 3 years at count 1 and 1 year at count 32. Nor did the District Court indicate before imposing the sentence that it would adopt the PIR's Guidelines calculation as its own. Because we find no adequate explanation for Sanchez of how a Guidelines calculation  was reached on this record, the District Court erred.

This error, however, did not affect the outcome of the proceedings, as required for relief under Rule 52(b). While no final Guidelines calculation was set forth explicitly or adopted on the record before the sentence was imposed, Sanchez does not claim, and we cannot discern from the record, that the District Court improperly computed and applied the Guidelines in rendering its sentence. Sanchez's sentence of 70 months' imprisonment at count 1 was squarely in the middle of the Guidelines range of 63 to 78 months. His sentence of 24 months' imprisonment at count 32, running consecutively to the 70-month sentence imposed at count 1, was required by statute and under the Guidelines. Finally, his 3-year term of supervised release was within the Guidelines ranges for each count, and restitution was required by statute and under the Guidelines. Sanchez does not allege that the District Court's failure to recount the final Guidelines calculation for the record somehow hindered his ability to raise additional objections to the PIR's calculation or resulted in a substantively unreasonable sentence. Because this error did not affect the outcome of the District Court's proceedings, relief is not warranted on this ground under Rule 52(b).

B.

Second, we agree with Sanchez that the District Court erred by making no attempt to inquire specifically, or otherwise determine, that Sanchez read and talked about the PIR with his counsel. During sentencing, district courts must verify that the defendant and defense counsel had the opportunity to read and discuss the PIR and any addendum. There is no absolute requirement that a district court personally ask the defendant for verification, but it must somehow determine that the defendant has had this opportunity. The District Court here did not abide by this standard. Sanchez was never explicitly asked if he read and talked about the PIR and its two addendums with counsel. The record, moreover, lacks any functional equivalent to such an explicit colloquy. Sanchez lodged two objections to the PIR's Guidelines calculation, and his counsel argued vaguely (and unsuccessfully) to remove factual statements in the PIR about an alleged arrest occurring before Sanchez came to the United States. But these statementsmade by the partiesdo not absolve the District Court from its verification duty under Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 32(i)(A)(1), especially where there is no indication that the PIR was translated into Spanish for Sanchez. This was error.

This error, however, did not affect the outcome of the District Court proceedings, as required for relief under Rule 52(b). Sanchez does not claim on appeal that hein factdid not read, understand, and talk about the PIR with his counsel, resulting in prejudice. He claims merely that the District Court failed to verify that he did so for the record, in violation of Rule 32(a)(1)(i). In United States v. Stevens, we rejected this argument under Rule 52(b), stating that

[n]either Stevens's original nor his reply brief asserts that either Stevens or his counsel did not receive and read the [PIR] or did not discuss it together; nor does Stevens therein raise any claim of prejudice or assert any inaccuracy in the [PIR]. Nor does anything in the record suggest otherwise. Stevens merely contends that the district court's error was equivalent to a structural defect in the sentencing process, affected his substantial rights per se, and therefore requires automatic vacatur and remand. We find this contention meritless.18

We find Sanchez's argument similarly baseless. Sanchez objected to the PIR's Guidelines calculation on two distinct grounds at sentencing and does not suggest here that the District Court's failure to verify that he reviewed the PIR impeded him from raising other objections. While Sanchez seemed to express confusion about his sentence's length as the hearing closed, that confusion appears to have stemmed from the plea negotiations and agreement, not the PIR. Through the interpreter, Sanchez stated, My lawyers, they did a deal with the assistant DA, the maximum I will get was 24 months. So I plead guilty and the maximum will be 24 months. I sent the letter. Sanchez made no mention of the PIR. This error, therefore, did not affect the outcome of the District Court proceedings, and relief is not warranted on this ground under Rule 52(b).

C.

Finally, we disagree with Sanchez's third argument that the District Court erred by failing to make adequate factual findings about his ability to pay mandatory restitution. Where full restitution is ordered, the sentencing court must specify the manner and schedule of how it must be paid after considering the defendant's financial resources and other assets, projected earnings and other income, and any financial obligations, including those to dependents. Where the record evidences a [district] court's consideration of the defendant's financial situationalbeit without express findingsthe[se] requirements  are satisfied.

The District Court met this test. As explained above, the PIR detailed Sanchez's assets and liabilities and estimated his net worth and total monthly cash flow at $0.00. Before imposition of the sentence, however, this exchange occurred during the hearing:

Defense counsel: Judge, [Sanchez] tells me he has some money that's set aside that is not, you know, proceeds or anything involving this scheme that he does intend to put towards restitution, and he does intend on making restitution in full 

The Court: Thank you very much, Mr. Sanchez 22

Defense counsel also noted for the record that Sanchez has two dependent children, (then) ages 9 and 17. Thereafter, the District Court noted for the record, twice, that the loss attributable to Sanchez exceeds $400,000. Finally, the District Court set forth a detailed restitution-payment plan for Sanchez, waiving interest:

During imprisonment, restitution is payable [to the IRS] every three months in an amount, after telephone allowance, equal to 50 percent of the funds deposited in [Sanchez's] inmate trust fund account.

In the event the restitution is not paid in full prior to commencement of supervised release, [Sanchez] shall, as a condition of supervised release, satisfy the amount due in monthly installments of not less than $100 to commence 30 days after release from confinement.25

Based upon the foregoing, we are satisfied that the District Court adequately considered Sanchez's financial situationalbeit without express findingsin imposing mandatory restitution. We find no error here. Relief is not warranted on this ground under Rule 52(b).

IV.

For the reasons set forth above, we will affirm the District Court's judgment.

FOOTNOTES

. Joint Appendix (J.A.) 2543.

. J.A. 4471; 18 U.S.C.  286, 1028A(a)(1).

. J.A. 52, 5961, 96100; 18 U.S.C.  3663A(a)(1), (c)(1); United States Sentencing Guidelines Manual (U.S.S.G.)  5E1.1(a)(1).

. J.A. 107116, 12223.

. J.A. 117 (imposing 70 months' imprisonment at count 1, plus 24 months' imprisonment at count 32, to be served consecutively, for a total of 94 months).

. J.A. 125.

. The District Court had jurisdiction under 18 U.S.C.  3231. We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C.  1291 and 18 U.S.C.  3742.

. United States v. Flores-Mejia, 759 F.3d 253, 258 (3d Cir. 2014) (en banc).

. United States v. Marcus, 560 U.S. 258, 262 (2010) (internal quotation marks omitted).

. Puckett v. United States, 556 U.S. 129, 135 (2009).

. Id. (internal quotation marks omitted).

. See United States v. Gunter, 462 F.3d 237, 247 (3d Cir. 2006).

. J.A. 117.

. See United States v. Friedman, 658 F.3d 342, 361 (3d Cir. 2011).

. Fed. R. Crim. P. 32(i)(1)(A).

. United States v. Stevens, 223 F.3d 239, 241 (3d Cir. 2000); see United States v. Mays, 798 F.2d 78, 80 (3d Cir. 1986).

. J.A. 118. In its final judgment entered after the sentencing hearing, the District Court adopted the PIR without change.

. 223 F.3d at 243; accord United States v. Rangel-Arreola, 991 F.2d 1519, 1526 n.5 (10th Cir. 1993) (To remand when no prejudice exists [after a Rule 32(a)(1)(i) violation] is to require the district court to undergo an exercise in futility in order to obtain the same sentence.).

. J.A. 125.

. 18 U.S.C.  3664(f)(2); United States v. Lessner, 498 F.3d 185, 201 (3d Cir. 2007).

. Lessner, 498 F.3d at 201.

. J.A. 120.

. J.A. 118.

. J.A. 12122.

. J.A. 123.

. Lessner, 498 F.3d at 201.

FISHER, Circuit Judge.
Wanted to review my time and stay at Taconic Hotel in Vermont from the other weekend. You guys are going to fall in love with this place like I did so be prepared! It was one of my favorite hotels ever! See why below...

LOCATION:





The main reason we visited Vermont was to go to our shooting class with Orvis and so obviously we wanted something in the area. Well this hotel was not even 5 minutes down the same road. The location was perfect! It was so close to everything but at the same time far away enough away so it was peaceful. You're surrounded by trees and forrest and then a mile or two up the road is a little downtown area. We couldn't have asked for a better location!





THE ROOM:





I LOVED our room -- everything about it but especially the decor. It was like a super stylish cottage feel with the dark wood, neutral colors and the bathroom wallpaper (I still die just thinking about it). It was super spacious, had everything we could need and honestly had the best robes! I slept in mine every single night I never wanted to change out of it!





The shower was also ah-mazing. I'm very picky when it comes to showers and water pressure and there is just no hotel who understands the importance of that like Taconic did. I loveddddd that shower and I really do think about it often hahah.





THE AMENITIES:





The amenities at the hotel were A+! They had a heated pool (which I will be back and bring my swimsuit to), a in house restaurant (more on that below), wine social hours, free valet, loaner bikes, in room umbrellas and walking sticks, everything you would need for a pet and this "forgot it, we've got it" list of amenities:





Like wuuuuttttt this place was unreal. I was mostly (and seriously) impressed by this list. Do you know how many times I forget to pack my charger? Or lose my one hair tie? They really thought of everything and I was super impressed.





FOOD:





Okay... the food... omg. We had the pleasure of eating at the in house restaurant, The Copper Grouse one night for dinner and it was honestly one of the best meals Andrew and I have had this year. It was SO good. Not only the food, but the staff -- I think that's what made it so great! They were so extremely nice, attentive and helpful during dinner. We even got to the point where we were mixing new drinks to try based off of what we like. Andrew said he had the best cocktail of his life that night (and he is a beer guy).





Also, again, the decor of the place was stellar. I wanted whoever decorated this place to come and show me how its done. We also almost sat outside -- but it was supper chilly at night -- and I still kind of regret not doing it because they give you a warm GINGHAM blanket to wrap yourself in. Ugh, literally my dreams to be in gingham by a fire pit. Next time!!





THE HOTEL:





The hotel itself was just really amazing. It looked brand spankin' new and the decor + styling of the place was drool worthy. It's the perfect little escape in Vermont and Andrew and I really really loved staying there. It was cozy, welcoming, extremely well staffed, perfectly maintained and picture perfect.





Overall My Experience Was...





A++++++++++ Andrew and I still talk about it to this day -- we both agreed that Taconic (and Manchester) will be our fall/winter getaway like Nantucket is our summer place. We fell in love with the area, the hotel and the food. We cannot wait to be back soon!












United States Court of Appeals, Fourth Circuit. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff  Appellee, v. ANTHONY TORELL TATUM, a/k/a Anthony Tatum, a/k/a Brandon Ross, a/k/a Short Dog, Defendant - Appellant. No. 15-4460 Decided: October 12, 2016

Before DUNCAN and FLOYD, Circuit Judges, and DAVIS, Senior Circuit Judge. Richard A. Finci, Jennifer L. Mayer, HOULON, BERMAN, FINCI, LEVENSTEIN & SKOK, LLC, Greenbelt, Maryland, for Appellant. Rod J. Rosenstein, United States Attorney, Thomas P. Windom, Deborah A. Johnston, Assistant United States Attorneys, Greenbelt, Maryland, for Appellee.

Anthony Torell Tatum appeals his 324-month sentence entered pursuant to his guilty plea to drug and money laundering conspiracies and a firearm charge. On appeal, Tatum contended that the district court erred in calculating the drug quantity attributable to him as at least 150 kilograms of cocaine. We affirmed Tatum's sentence. Tatum has filed a petition for panel and en banc rehearing, and after consideration of his arguments on rehearing, we conclude that our prior opinion misstated a mathematical calculation. Accordingly, we grant Appellant's petition for panel rehearing, and having determined that the misstatement in the original opinion had no bearing on our resolution of the ultimate issue, we affirm.

Under the Sentencing Guidelines in effect at the time of Tatum's sentencing, a defendant convicted of conspiring to distribute controlled substances is accountable for all quantities of contraband with which he was directly involved and, in the case of a jointly undertaken criminal activity, all reasonably foreseeable quantities of contraband that were in furtherance of the joint criminal conduct. U.S. Sentencing Guidelines Manual  1B1.3 cmt. n.2 (2014). The Government must prove the drug quantity attributable to the defendant by a preponderance of the evidence. United States v. Carter, 300 F.3d 415, 425 (4th Cir. 2002). The district court may rely on information in the presentence report unless the defendant affirmatively shows that the information is inaccurate or unreliable. Id. A district court's findings on drug quantity are generally factual in nature, and therefore we review for clear error. Id. In addition, we may affirm a Guidelines determination for any reason appearing in the record. United States v. Garnett, 243 F.3d 824, 830 (4th Cir. 2001) (holding that appellate courts may affirm [the] sentence on the basis of any conduct [in the record] that independently and properly should result in an increase in the offense level ) (citation omitted).

Tatum avers that his drug quantity should be limited to the amount to which he pled guilty. He raises numerous arguments attacking the reliability and relevance of the Government's evidence at sentencing. In the district court, Tatum provided no evidence or argument as to the actual scope of his participation in the drug conspiracy to which he pled guilty; instead, he rested on the Government's alleged lack of proof and the district court's alleged failure to properly consider the evidence.

We conclude that the evidence clearly shows that Tatum was responsible for at least 150 kilograms of cocaine. Further, the evidence is so overwhelming that most of Tatum's arguments fail to cut to the heart of the matter and just operate to obfuscate the issue. Specifically, Tatum admitted in the statement of facts attached to his plea agreement that over $90,000 of cash deposits in the bank accounts of his businesses were virtually all drug proceeds. In addition, Tatum admitted that, [i]n addition, he used drug proceeds of $17,000 (plus the cost of a 2013 Volvo) to purchase cars. He also admitted to buying expensive jewelry, including men's watches, with drug proceeds.

The evidence presented by the Government at sentencing showed that, from just one store, Tatum's watch purchases totaled $260,000. Other seized jewelry and designer clothes were appraised at over $360,000. In addition, the case agent averred that Tatum's cash deposits from 2009 until 2011 were $650,000, the vast majority of which was drug proceeds. Thus, even recognizing some double counting and excluding the amounts contested in Tatum's rehearing petition, Tatum's admissions, combined with record evidence, easily show that Tatum's purchases with and deposits of drug proceeds were at least $750,000.

Tatum contends that his businesses were legitimate and ongoing, even though at least a part of the cash deposits were drug proceeds. Thus, he claims that many of his purchases and deposits were made with legitimate funds. In support, Tatum states that one of his businesses reported $200,000 in income on its 2012 tax returns and that an investigator submitted evidence that the same business was a legitimate business. However, this evidence only concerns one of Tatum's businesses and does not call into question the nature of his other businesses. Moreover, there is no evidence in the record that the $200,000 income reported was actually traceable to legitimate income, and the investigator could not locate records sufficient to provide an estimate as to the company's income. In addition, the case agent averred that $650,000 in cash deposits across 22 of Tatum's bank accounts were not related to the operation of legitimate businesses and that the vast majority of the business expenses were personal expenditures. Thus, even if some portion of the funds in Tatum's bank accounts were legitimate, his admissions and the other evidence of record show clearly at least $750,000 of drug proceeds attributable to Tatum.

According to the affidavit of the case agent, distribution of a kilogram of cocaine nets between $1000 and $5000. Thus, even using the most conservative calculations, the drug proceeds described above and supported by Tatum's admissions, as well as the record evidence, easily represent more than 150 kilograms of cocaine. Notably, this extremely conservative calculation does not even consider the wealth of other evidence of drug quantity, including the cocaine seized during the investigation, any other reasonably foreseeable actions by any members of the conspiracy that did not directly profit Tatum, and the fact that the evidence could support a finding that $750,000 converted to 750 kilograms of cocaine ($1000 from each kilogram). As such, we find that the district court's conclusions regarding drug quantity were not clear error and were well-supported by the record.

Tatum's other arguments are nearly wholly irrelevant given these findings. Tatum contends that the district court failed to make particularized findings regarding the scope of his conspiracy and the quantity of cocaine involved. The court also allegedly failed to make a finding regarding how much of the coconspirators' conduct was reasonably foreseeable to Tatum. Tatum also challenges the case agent's statements regarding information from informants. Tatum alleges that the statements are insufficiently corroborated and that he was not able to challenge the evidence given that the informants were not identified. Tatum also asserts that certain cocaine amounts and cash (not his bank accounts) were never tied to him and that the district court's conclusions were entirely speculative. As discussed above, however, even removing much of this evidence, the 150-kilogram threshold is easily obtained. As such, any district court error in these regards would not render the drug amount clearly erroneous, given the overwhelming evidence against Tatum. Accordingly, we will not address each issue separately.

Tatum also has filed several pro se supplemental briefs. We deny his motions to file these briefs. See United States v. Penniegraft, 641 F.3d 566, 569 n.1 (4th Cir. 2011) (denying motion to file pro se supplemental brief where appellant had counsel and appeal not filed pursuant to Anders v. California, 386 U.S. 738 (1967)); see also Myers v. Johnson, 76 F.3d 1330, 1335 (5th Cir. 1996) (By accepting the assistance of counsel the criminal appellant waives his right to present pro se briefs on direct appeal.). We affirm Tatum's sentence. We dispense with oral argument because the facts and legal contentions are adequately presented in the materials before this court and argument would not aid the decisional process.

AFFIRMED

FOOTNOTES

. We denied the petition for rehearing en banc by separate order.

. In his petition for rehearing, Tatum contends that money order deposits and payment deposits are not part of his admission that virtually all of the cash deposits were drug proceeds. We need not rule on this issue and, instead, have omitted any funds in Tatum's admission that were not clearly stated to be cash deposits.

. Tatum also admitted to purchasing a $60,000 Land Rover in 2011, although the statement of facts does not specifically identify those funds as drug proceeds.

. While these dates precede the dates in the indictment, we find no error in including these drug proceeds as relevant conduct.

. Tatum also contends that the Government failed to have an expert testify as to the proper conversion of cash into cocaine amounts. To the contrary, however, the Government presented the affidavit of the case agent, which provided a range of conversion rates, the most conservative of which still shows that Tatum was responsible for over 150 kilograms of cocaine. Tatum does not challenge the agent's testimony of pricing and profits or provide any evidence of his own estimates.

PER CURIAM:
Channel programs News

Connection Buys GlobalServe to Better Support Multinational Clients

Michael Novinson

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Connection has purchased GlobalServe, a global IT service management company, to make it easier for U.S.-based multinational firms to support the technology needs of their offshore divisions. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Merrimack, New Hampshire-based Connection, formerly known as PC Connection, said its acquisition of 30-person GlobalServe would make it possible for global conglomerates to quickly and easily fulfill their IT needs by using GlobalServe's procurement system to work with a roster of 500 solution providers with a combined 25,000 employees across 174 countries.

Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey-based GlobalServe is most valuable for multinational firms, thanks to its procurement engine, said Tim McGrath, president and CEO of Connection, No. 21 on the CRN Solution Provider 500. He estimates that GlobalServe could be a good fit for roughly 40 percent of Connection's customers.

McGrath cited automobile and media as two sectors of Connection's customer base that will particularly benefit from GlobalServe's capabilities, which include centralized purchasing, real-time reporting, automated billing and visibility into IT assets worldwide.

[RELATED: PC Connection Changes Name To Connection To Flex Advanced Technologies Muscle]

"By buying GlobalServe, we are ready to go day one," McGrath told CRN. "I think this is unsurpassed in the industry."

Leveraging in-country IT service providers will help ensure multinational customers receive appropriate hardware, are served in the local language and currency, and are given a warranty that's in accordance with local regulations, McGrath said.

The local solution provider receives the revenue associated with carrying out the service, McGrath said, while Connection receives a small fee for every transaction that goes through the portal. GlobalServe has less than 20 employees based in the United States, McGrath said, with 10 others providing around-the-clock help desk and support from an offshore location.

GlobalServe will operate as a standalone division within Connection, and McGrath said GlobalServe's existing customers can continue to with the company even if they're not a Connection customer. Connection has been a GlobalServe customer, and when the financial backers behind GlobalServe indicated this summer that they wanted to make an exit, McGrath said he decided to seize the opportunity.

Without GlobalServe, McGrath said multinational firms would have to cobble together relationships with local IT suppliers one at a time, initiating contact, negotiating pricing, recording asset numbers and ensuring the transaction is fulfilled. McGrath said Connection's customers have for years been asking for help with supporting employees around the globe.

Connection's competitors have addressed the increased demand for overseas support by opening up offices in Europe, Canada and occasionally Asia, McGrath said. But he thinks GlobalServe will be faster and cheaper way to reach more countries than brick-and-mortar offices. GlobalServe is Connection's second acquisition of the year, following its purchase of Softmart in May.
Internet of things News

OT, IT And IoT: KMC Controls Navigates New Opportunities Across Converging Channels

Lindsey O'Donnell

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The Internet of Things (IoT) is set to take over enterprise building automation and manufacturing, creating lots of opportunity for the channel. As it does, KMC Controls is bringing together two very different worlds: Its existing operational technology (OT) partners, who specialize in the physical aspects of building control, like lighting and energy automation, and IT technology partners, who handle computing hardware, software and networking technology.

At the KMC Genius Summit this week in Chicago, Illinois, KMC Controls is showing off its Commander IoT platform, a perfect example of OT and IT worlds colliding. The Commander, created with Dell hardware and Intel chips, helps bridge the gap between traditional building automation and the world of IoT. It communicates with sensors and IoT devices, stores and secures data and allows a site administrator to run a building more efficiently and safely.

KMC Controls hopes IT channel partners see the potential sales platforms like Commander can generate. The challenge will be foster communication between KMC Controls' existing OT partners and new IT channel relationships.

I think theres definitely a blurring of the lines [between IT and OT], and solution providers are being pulled into OT opportunities because of client relationships, Richard Newberry, chairman advisor of New Paris, Indiana-based KMC Controls, told CRN. Now if we have approved IT providers, our OT players can now bring in and subcontract an IT provider  if they have the relationship with the customer, why not sell them computers, or servers, or whatever it may be, and then sub[contract] it out?

[Related: KMC Controls Calls On IT Providers To Become A New Channel For Its Internet Of Things Platform]

KMC Controls is a classic OT company. It has been in the building controls industry since 1969, and supplies a full lineup of traditional building controls with IoT connectivity and native Commander support. The company has sold its products through an operational technology channel  made up of controls and mechanical contractors. But Newberry said Commander will appeal to both IT and OT partners as a means of better blending IT and operational technology functions in IoT solutions.

Were looking to open a new channel, and thats the IT providers, with providing them with Commander. Well be bringing more offerings to the IT channels, and the same offerings well take to our OT channel, he said. I fully expect in the next two to five years there will be some specific M&A activity in this area, as IT providers decide its the right thing to do to get into the OT, and vice versa.

What is clear is that OT and IT need one another to deliver competitive solutions that result in modern, efficient and fully-automated buildings. Mergers, acquisitions and deep partnerships -- led by the likes of Intel and Dell, who supply both "worlds" with technology -- will be required as this space evolves.

IoT decisions are being made in the field, Luis Alvarez, president and CEO of Alvarez Technology Group, a Salinas, California-based IoT MSP, said during KMC Genius Summit. We need to work with companies like [operational technology providers]  our clients are looking at the OT space, and it would also make sense for players in the OT space to partner with someone in the IT space.

KMC Controls' Commander platform will be a contributor here, too. Newberry says it was developed to let channel partners focus on value-added services and build recurring revenue streams through managed services -- one of the main attractions of businesses looking to build an IoT practice.

And, yes, Dell and Intel can be strategic match-makers here. As soon as one of our IT providers puts Commander into a facility, and they decide they see an opportunity in the traditional OT space, theyre very likely to go to one of our OT providers and subcontract them, and vice versa, he said.
Mobility News

HP Inc. Reveals Plans For Up To 4,000 Job Cuts In Next Three Years

Lindsey O'Donnell

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HP Inc. plans to cut up to 4,000 jobs across multiple divisions in the next three years as part of a restructuring plan, the company disclosed in a filing on Thursday.

HP Inc.'s restructuring plan, which comes as the company grapples with a sluggish demand for PCs and printers, will save it about $200 million to $300 million beginning in fiscal 2020, according to the filing. The company's stock dropped almost 2 percent in after hours trading.

"Although our markets remain very challenged, we are committed to innovating in the core and continue to see long-term growth opportunities in commercial mobility and services, the disruption of the A3 copier market, and the digitization of graphics and manufacturing through our leading 3D printing solutions," said HP Inc. President and CEO Dion Weisler, in a statement.

[Related: Microsoft Inks Six-Year Deal With HP Inc. For Dynamics CRM]

HP Inc., formed after the breakup of Hewlett-Packard Co. about a year ago, is trying to find ways to drive profitability beyond PCs  including commercial mobility and services, as well as disrupting the 3D printer market. The announcement of impending job cuts comes after market research firm IDC said that the PC market is facing a 3.9 percent year-over-year decline in the third quarter of 2016.

Doug Grosfield, the founder and CEO of Five Nines IT Solutions, a Kitchener, Ontario-based strategic service provider, said that the job cuts would help the Palo Alto, California company form a stronger focus on more profitable lines of business.

"HP has made such changes at many levels within the tech behemoth's organization," Grosfield wrote to CRN in an email. "Proof of the value of these strategic changes is evident in the larger dividend checks written to stakeholders this year, and also to the partner channel with the clearer boundaries between business units. Stronger focus on lines of business will result, as will lower overheads due to redundancies in the workforce."

"HP is not alone in terms of significant restructuring efforts in the tech space these days, but they are certainly more aggressive than most," he added.

In addition to job cuts, HP Inc. announced it expects adjusted profits for fiscal 2017 to be in the range of $1.55 to $1.65 a share. HP Inc. employs about 50,000 people, according to the company's website.
Networking News

ScanSource To Intelisys Partners: 'We Live To Serve You'

Gina Narcisi

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Master agent Intelisys kicked off its largest partner event of the year in Napa, California by reassuring partners that its recent acquisition by IT distributor ScanSource will only help both VAR and agent partners "go bigger."

ScanSource's CEO Mike Baur took the stage at Channel Connect on Wednesday and told partners why the 24-year-old IT distributor made its most expensive acquisition to date. With 24 acquisitions under its belt, ScanSource sees that services and solution selling are becoming the most lucrative businesses and the VAR and agent partner channel models are converging.

Greenville, South Carolina-based ScanSource has a community of over 500 supplier partners and over 3,600 reseller partners, but the company saw an opportunity to get into recurring connectivity and telecom solution selling. That's where Intelisys and its partner community come in, Baur said.

"We feel confident this is going to be successful. This is a big bet for ScanSource," he said.

[Related: CRN Exclusive: Intelisys To Address Impact Of ScanSource Acquisition, New Opportunities For Partners At Channel Connect 2016]

VARs are pivoting to recurring revenue quickly, and agent partners see opportunities in selling hardware. In a few years, there won't be a difference between VARs or telecom agents, according to Andrew Pryfogle, senior vice president of cloud transformation for Petaluma, California-based Intelisys, who spoke first on the keynote stage Wednesday.

"It's two people eating from opposite sides of the same apple. This is creating enormous opportunities for partners," Pryfogle said.

The partnership between the distributor and the master agent will be particularly useful in closing this gap. The ScanSource-Intelisys deal will let partners talk about solutions with their customers, instead of focusing on one area of technology, according to Joe Monaco, CEO of The Monaco Group, a Boca Raton, Florida-based solution provider and Intelisys partner.

"Having that breadth of products and scale will be a big addition to our portfolio of products, and much more impactful to put in front of a customer. It's a great marriage," Monaco said.

The acquisition means more credibility for Intelisys, too, he added.

Intelisys' Andrew Pryfogle said that Intelisys plans to "protect what it has built," and ScanSource's Baur assured partners that the Intelisys brand isn't going away. Combined, the two companies will have more scale, and Intelisys partners will have access to ScanSource's scale and financial resources, Baur said.

"[Baur] is a lot like us. He loves to win, hates to lose  and is also compassionate," Rick Dellar, co-founder for Intelisys told the standing room audience of channel partners.

Baur also guaranteed partners that ScanSource, like Intelisys, has no interest in working directly with end customers, or "stealing accounts." The carrier contracts and payment schedules that Intelisys has in place today also won't be changing.

"If you look at what Intelisys does, and what ScanSource is, it's really simple," Baur said. "Over time, the channel is the only way to grow efficiently, and customers want that trusted advisor  I love seeing independent business owners that are really successful. We live to serve you."

Businesses will continue to lean on their partners to help them manage the changing IT landscape, and solution providers are the perfect "agents of change," Pryfogle said.

"We are really good at this," he said. "[With ScanSource], we'll be able to go bigger, and accomplish things we've never accomplished before."
News about Donald Trumps sexually inappropriate comments in a 2005 video have been everywhere on the internet in the past few days. Perhaps more than any other faux pas or inappropriate remark Trump has made, the sexually aggressive comments in the video in question have caused evangelicals to reconsider supporting Trump.

Throughout the 2016 election cycle, Christians have argued their cases for being pro or anti-Trump. Thoughtful and well-meaning arguments have come from both sides, and while few seemed to be able to wholeheartedly get behind Trump, many made the case that he is the lesser of two evils, would appoint conservative justices to the Supreme Court, or would protect their religious freedom.

But, with the recently released video of Trump talking about kissing women without their consent and using profane language to discuss his interaction with them, many evangelicals are feeling that Trumps lack of morality poses a more serious threat than was perhaps previously supposed.

In a scathing editorial for Christianity Today, Christian author Andy Crouch makes it clear that, Evangelicals, of all people, should not be silent about Donald Trumps blatant immorality.

Christian author and professor Denny Burk applauds Crouchs article and Christianity Today for publishing it, despite its likeliness to generate controversy.

In his blog post Why More Evangelicals May Need to Follow CTs Lead, Burk calls on Christians to stand up for biblical morality, which in this case means refusing to support Donald Trump.

Burk reminds us that, unfortunately, the media and secular culture will likely fail to distinguish between evangelicals who support Trump and those who dont. Christians, therefore, need to be united and vocal in their condemnation of a candidate who, as Crouchs article notes, is a perfect embodiment of the earthly nature the Bible talks about.

He has given no evidence of humility or dependence on others, let alone on God his Maker and Judge, writes Crouch. He wantonly celebrates strongmen and takes every opportunity to humiliate and demean the vulnerable. He shows no curiosity or capacity to learn. He is, in short, the very embodiment of what the Bible calls a fool.

Burk agrees with this assessment and calls on Christians not only to condemn Trumps comments in the video, but to call out his behavior for what it is--immoral, inconsistent with Christian principles, and a disqualification from presidential candidacy.

Burk is not calling on evangelicals to swing to the other extreme and endorse Hillary Clinton, which would be the other side of the lesser of two evils. In fact, he does not encourage Christians to vote for any party or person. He instead focuses on the impact a Trump endorsement will have on the Church beyond this present election.

Initially, only a few prominent Christian leaders pulled their support for Trump after the release of the video, perhaps the most notable of whom was theologian Wayne Grudem who had previously written an article on why voting for Trump was a morally good choice.

Since then, as Burk notes, a few more leaders have spoken out and even called for Trumps resignation. But Burk writes that evangelicals need to overwhelmingly condemn Trumps comments and behavior and to call for a higher standard.

[N]ow is the time to speak up, Burk says. What we say now will shape the public impressions of evangelical Christianity later. And conscientious evangelicals need to be heard.

What do you think? Did Trumps comments in the recently released video cause you to reconsider your candidate choice in light of your faith?

Publication date: October 12, 2016

Veronica Neffinger is the editor of ChristianHeadlines.com
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The Port of Seattle and Norwegian Cruise Line announced today that the Norwegian Bliss will homeport in Seattle beginning in 2018 when the ship is delivered.

The Port of Seattle also said it will have its biggest cruise year ever in 2017, expecting over one million revenue passengers through its cruise terminals.

As we cross the one million passenger mark next year, having the largest vessel scheduled on the West Coast for the 2018 cruise season shows real commitment by Norwegian Cruise Line to invest in Seattle, said Port of Seattle Commission President John Creighton. Larger cruise vessels like the Norwegian Bliss mean more passengers bringing more revenue and jobs to our region.

The Port of Seattle is proud to partner with Norwegian Cruise Line as we work to bring people from around the world to see Alaska, said Port of Seattle CEO Ted Fick. Our long relationship together is evident in this historic and unprecedented 15-year lease here at Pier 66.

Norwegian was the first line to begin cruising to Alaska from Seattle in 2000 and its only fitting that we bring our newest ship, Norwegian Bliss, directly to this incredible location, said Andy Stuart, President and CEO of Norwegian Cruise Line. Alaska is one of the top destinations for our guests to explore and we are thrilled to be the first cruise line to offer guests the opportunity to experience this coveted destination on a brand new, state-of-the-art cruise ship from Seattle.

The Bliss will be delivered in spring 2018. After a transatlantic crossing and a Panama Canal transit across the new locks, the ship will sail north along the west coast, reaching Seattle for the start of the summer cruising season.

The Norwegian Bliss will sail weekly seven-day Alaskan cruises from Pier 66 in Seattle. The ships itinerary will feature calls in Ketchikan, Juno, Skagway and Victoria, British Columbia, along with scenic glacier cruising.

Norwegian did not comment on further deployment after the Alaska summer season.

Norwegian has also announced that marine wildlife artist Wyland has been commissioned to design the hull artwork for Norwegian Bliss. Known for his iconic whale murals, marine life paintings and sculptures, Wyland has inspired a generation about the importance of marine life conservation.
The Visionaries -- Jacinta, 6, Francisco, 8, and Lucia, 9









On Sunday in October 13, 1917, at midday, a crowd of approximately 100,000 spectators gathered on a rainy day in a wet, soggy field to witness the miracle that was about to take place. The people had gathered there because three shepherd children had predicted that at high noon Our Lady who had appeared to them several times would perform a great miracle in a field near Fatima, Portugal called Cova da Iria.Silence, Silence, Our Lady is coming! Lucia shouted out, over the din of the crowd, as she saw the bright flash of light in the sky over the holm oak tree. Everyone grew quiet; a holy hush came over the crowd as they instantly fell to their knees. It was as if there was an electrically charged current running through the crowd, as they waited in eager anticipation of the miraculous appearance of the Mother of God.Suddenly, she appeared. Our Lady was dressed all in white with brilliant beams of bright light emanating from her. She rested her luminous white feet upon the small evergreen tree, adorned with flowers and ribbons.Lucia asked: "What does Your Grace wish of me?"Our Lady answered: "I wish to tell you that I want a chapel built here in my honor. I am the Lady of the Rosary. Continue to pray the rosary every day. The war is going to end, and the soldiers will soon return to their homes."Lucia: "I have many things to ask you: if you would cure some sick persons, and if you would convert some sinners..."Our Lady: "Some yes, others no. They must amend their lives and ask forgiveness for their sins." Growing gloomier, she added, Let them offend Our Lord no more for He is already much offended.Then, as Our Lady opened her hands, they began glowing, and as she stood up, her own radiant rays bonded with the bright blaze of the sun.At that moment, Lucia cried out, "Look at the sun!"Once Our Lady had vanished, three visions followed in succession, which symbolized the joyful, sorrowful, and glorious mysteries. Lucia alone viewed all three visions; Francisco and Jacinta saw only the first.First, Saint Joseph appeared by the sun with the Child Jesus and Our Lady of the Rosary. It was the Holy Family. The Virgin was dressed in white with a blue mantle. Saint Joseph was also dressed in white, and the Child Jesus in light red. Saint Joseph blessed the crowd, making the Sign of the Cross three times. The Child Jesus did the same.Second, there was a vision of Our Lady of Sorrows and of Our Lord overwhelmed with sorrow on the way to Calvary. Our Lord made the Sign of the Cross to bless the people.Finally, Our Lady of Mount Carmel, crowned queen of heaven and earth, appeared in a glorious vision holding the Child Jesus near her heart.While these three visions transpired, the crowd of 70,000 spectators witnessed the miracle of the sun. It had rained throughout the apparition. At the end of the discussion between Our Lady and Lucia Lucia cried out, "Look at the sun!"The crowd stood up and looked up at the sky, entranced by an amazing array of visions. The clouds parted, exposing the sun as an enormous silver disc, shining with extreme intensity. Then, the huge disk started to "dance." The sun spun swiftly like a revolving ball of fire. Then it stopped abruptly for a moment, only to start spinning again. Its outer edges turned scarlet red; spinning, it scattered its fiery flames across the sky. The reflection of the flames changed the colors of everything around them the trees, the people, the earth, and even the air. Shimmering shades of yellow, blue, and white colors painted the environment. Finally, the ball of fire trembled, shook, and then plunged in a zigzag pattern toward the terrified crowd.Fearing that this was the end of the world, the people dropped to their knees and cried out in unison, weeping and praying, begging God to have mercy on them.All this lasted about ten minutes. Finally, the sun zigzagged back to its original spot in the sky and returned to normal.Surprisingly, people noticed that their clothes, soaking wet from the rain, had dried.The miracle of the sun was also seen by several witnesses up to twenty-five miles away from the apparition site.The Portugal news and other newspapers at that time reported the miraculous event.On October 13, 1930 at the Cova da Iria, before a crowd of over 100,000 pilgrims, the Bishop of Leiria read his pastoral letter which ended with the following declaration:"We deem it well: 1. to declare worthy of belief the vision of the shepherds at the Cova da Iria, in the Parish of Fatima, of this Diocese, on the thirteenth day of the months from May to October, 1917; 2. to give official permission for the cult of Our Lady of Fatima."What does our Lady ask of us today? She continues to plead with us to pray the Rosary daily. The Rosary is one of the most powerful weapons in our arsenal for spiritual warfare. It is a grace-filled contemplative prayer that aids us in bringing about a more fruitful spiritual life for not only for our own souls, but for the souls of others. It is a powerful way to bring souls to conversion. Some of the most hardened sinners will turn back to God when we pray the Rosary, asking for Our Lady's intercession. Praying the Rosary is one of the most effective ways of putting an end to the greatest evils of our time.Sources:Fatima.org
contributed / contributed

Bridgeport  The courtyard at Housatonic Community College will host the Clothesline Project from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., on Monday and Tuesday, Oct. 17.

The project is meant to bring awareness to violence. Victims of violence or those who know someone who is can decorate a t-shirt with a message expressing their emotions, and hang it on the clothesline where it becomes a testimony to the experience.
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BRIDGEPORT  A fractured Board of Education met Wednesday, and its members spoke without yelling and even agreed on some practical matters related to governance of the school system.

That relative harmony might have surprised some, given that the board has been divided into two camps over the past few months, with meetings degenerating into shouting matches, a boycott, and even  according to some  borderline trespassing.

The special board meeting Wednesday included just two agenda items, which had been agreed upon ahead of time: scheduling the ongoing superintendent search and a report regarding the impact of changes in summer school fees and scheduling.

The search discussion culminated in actual agreement, despite some criticism of Chairman Dennis Bradley over an apparent delay in signing a related document.

The the report on summer fees did not spark any major controversy.

But the meeting was not free of snipes between the feuding factions.

Before business got under way, board member Howard Gardner repeated a complaint about the ongoing boycott of regular meetings by some members of the board, including Bradley, who want board member Maria Pereira to resign.

Mr. Chair, just before we begin the business of the meeting, I just want to air my great disappointment with whats been going with the board  half of the board  with your leadership.

I must say that your behavior (and that of the other boycotting members) has tarnished the reputation of this board more than anything that (Periera) had said or done.

Bradley, for the most part, avoided responding to criticisms during the meeting.

On Tuesday night, Pereira, Gardner, and two other board members held a contested board meeting that opponents including Bradley considered unofficial and non-binding.

Wednesdays special meeting paved the way for selection of a Superintendent. I did not break the deadlock over regular board meetings.

Bradley and allies continue to boycott, pressing for Pereiras resignation.
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STRATFORD  Territorial over Connecticuts claim to being the helicopter capital, a cavalcade of politicians led by Gov. Dannel P. Malloy celebrated the delivery Thursday of the 1,000th H-60M Black Hawk by Sikorsky to the Army.

The ceremonial transfer of the logbooks for the $13.4 million on-budget chopper comes just two weeks after Malloy and lawmakers signed off on a $220 million economic incentive package for Sikorsky parent Lockheed Martin to keep its storied assembly line in Stratford until 2032.

Joined by military brass and hundreds of union workers inside Sikorskys cavernous military hangar, Malloy said Connecticut has played an integral role in the nations defense dating back to the American Revolution.

George Washington referred to Connecticut as the provisions state, Malloy said. Throughout our history, Connecticut has played a leading role. This is a great day.

The workhorse of the U.S. military for nearly four decades, the Black Hawk has become a symbol of air supremacy, from the 2011 Pakistan raid that killed Osama bin Laden to recent search-and-rescue missions in the southeastern U.S. after Hurricane Matthew. Sikorsky has been churning out about 100 of the latest Black Hawk model for the past decade. Visible from the Sikorsky Bridge, which carries Route 15 over the Housatonic River, one of the ubiquitous helicopters is propped up on a pedestal.

You know, theres nothing like coming across that bridge and seeing that Black Hawk helicopter out there, said U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., whose district includes the plant. We are lucky to have them in our state. We stand on your shoulders because when it comes to defense, we should be buying American, and nothing is more American than the Black Hawk.

Sikorsky is the anti-General Electric, renewing its commitment to keep its headquarters in Connecticut after lawmakers overwhelmingly agreed to give the company yearly grants of $8.6 million for 14 years if it meets benchmarks for suppliers, job growth and payroll. Sales tax exemptions of $5.7 million a year are included in the package, plus incentives close to $2 million a year if job targets are exceeded.

The deal is expected to yield $69 billion in economic benefits over the next 16 years, according to the state. The package passed the House 136-6 and Senate 35-1 last month, with a few Republican holdouts, including Sen. Joe Markley, of Southington, who characterized the deal as a form of corporate welfare. Sikorskys workforce of 7,855 employees is expected to dip to 6,582 during the next six years and rebound to 8,000 by 2032.

Senate Majority Leader Bob Duff, D-Norwalk, defended the incentives Thursday while posing for photos with the milestone Black Hawk.

Other states competed for this, Duff said.
Deborah Miller, a 60-year-old West Haven woman, will be spending 72 months behind bars for distributing narcotics.

U.S. District Judge Vanessa L. Bryant in Hartford handed down the sentence Wednesday that includes five years of supervised release.

Deirdre M. Daly, U.S. Attorney Connecticut, said Deborah Miller release, for distributing narcotics.

According to court documents and statements made in court, at approximately 11 a.m. on July 4, 2015, an explosion took place on Wintergreen Avenue in Hamden. Responding law enforcement located a deceased white male, who had been wrapped in plastic garbage bag material and bound by rope material, in a wooded area close to where the explosion had occurred. An explosive-type device and debris were also located in close proximity to the body. The victim, who had also sustained three apparent gunshot wounds, was subsequently identified as Edward Brooks, 39, of West Haven, according to a release by Deirdre M. Daly, U.S. Attorney Connecticut.

After West Haven Police informed investigators that Brooks had been residing at 59 Front Avenue in West Haven, and that the residents of 59 Front Avenue, including Miller, were subjects of an ongoing narcotics investigation, investigators executed a state narcotics search and seizure warrant at 59 Front Avenue and seized numerous items, including pipe bomb making materials that were consistent with the materials found at the Wintergreen Avenue explosion scene, approximately 16 grams of cocaine base approximately 10.6 grams of methamphetamine and narcotics packaging material. Investigators also seized a surveillance DVR, which captured video surveillance from eight cameras placed around the residence.

The investigation revealed that between September 2014 and July 2015, Miller and others conspired to distribute at least 1.6 kilograms of crack cocaine.

Miller has been detained since her arrest on July 13, 2015. On April 25, 2016, she pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute and to possess with intent to distribute cocaine base (crack cocaine).

This matter is being investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Drug Enforcement Administration, U.S. Postal Inspection Service, Connecticut State Police and West Haven Police Department. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Vanessa Richards, Stephen Reynolds and Jacabed Rodriguez-Coss. This investigation and prosecution is being coordinated with the States Attorneys Office for the Judicial District of Ansonia-Milford.
Hoping to make Connecticut's power grid smarter and reduce power outages across the state, Eversource Energy announced Thursday it's installing 200 "smart switches" around the state that can decrease outages by 30 to 50 percent.

The switches can be controlled from the company's operations center to restore outages without having to send out crews to repair issues.

Over the past two years, Eversource said they have installed about 50 of these switches throughout the state. In 2016, more than 60 devices were added, with 90 more set to be installed in 2017, according to the company.

"In Fairfield County, smart switches have been, or are scheduled to be installed, in Darien, Norwalk, Stamford, Danbury and Ridgefield," Mitch Gross, Eversource Energy spokesperson, said of the installations.

Eversource's "smart switches" are able to identify where an outage occurs, isolate issues, and re-route energy to customers, the company said. The switches are being added to areas more frequently affected by outages in recent years.

"Our continued investments in the electric grid, including self-healing technology like smart switches, are helping keep the power flowing for our customers," Ken Bowes, Vice President of Engineering at Eversource in Connecticut, said in a release. "This automated equipment requires no human action, which allows us to restore an outage much more quickly  oftentimes within one minute.

"In many cases, customers may not even be affected by the outage," Bowes added.

The installations follow the company's 5-year, $300 million plan to improve system reliability through tree trimming and removal, weather- and tree-resistant wiring, pole and other hardware upgrades, and equipment automation.

Eversource serves an estimated 1.2 million customers in 149 cities and towns and provides natural gas to 226,000 customers in 72 communities in Connecticut.
While Andrew Frye lay dying on the floor of a Super 8 motel room in Green, Ohio, in April, a party raged around him.

The attendees - high from a mixture of heroin and fentanyl - weren't other teenagers but the 16-year-old's mother and grandmother, police said.

Prosecutors would later say the very people who should have protected the teenager from the dangers of drug use were the ones who walked him to a ledge and "enabled" him to jump.

"We have evidence of drug abuse by more than one person, more than one relative of the deceased," Summit County Sheriff Steve Barry told the Cleveland Plain Dealer in April. "It appears his mother, her friend and his grandmother, and a friend of the grandmother, all had a hand in obtaining and disseminating heroin among themselves.

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"The evidence in this case turns my stomach," Barry said.

Six months later, the evidence was enough to persuade a judge to sentence the teen's mother, Heather Frye, and her mother, Brenda Frye, to nine years each in prison, according to the Akron Beacon Journal. The women pleaded guilty in August to multiple charges, including corrupting another with drugs, child endangering, tampering with evidence and involuntary manslaughter, a first-degree felony punishable by up to 11 years in prison, according to the paper.

Two other people in the room at the time - Jessica Irons, a friend of Heather Frye's, and Donald Callaghan, a friend of Brenda Frye's - faced lesser charges in connection with the teenager's death.

"The ultimate price was not paid by either of you," Summit County Common Pleas Court Judge Lynne Callahan told the Frye women, according to ABC affiliate WEWS. "The ultimate price was paid by Andrew. It boils down to personal responsibility and because of that a 16-year-old boy is dead."

"I want to apologize to my family and to everybody that loved Andrew," Brenda Frye said in court.

Attorneys for the two women had argued that nobody in the hotel room intended for the teen to use heroin; instead, lawyers said, the drugs were intended for a friend, according to the journal.

After the teenager's death, Barry, the sheriff, told reporters that it was "quite apparent" that the teenager was beyond help by the time rescuers arrived, according to Fox affiliate WJW. The adults with him had attempted to hide needles and drugs in the room.

Citing court and prison records, the Beacon Journal reported that the women have a history of drug-related crime and that the teenager's mother spent time in prison on three occasions between 2007 and 2014.

Margaret Scott, deputy chief assistant prosecutor, told reporters in April that overdose deaths are becoming increasingly common in the region.

The Plain Dealer reported that "during a 17-month stretch ending last May, nearly 1,000 people died from an overdose in Ohio." Over a 17-day period last month, the paper noted, "at least 29 people died from overdoses in Cuyahoga County alone."

"Unfortunately, this isn't unusual," Scott said. "It's a horrible tragedy because of the age we see here, but it's not unusual to see family members, unfortunately, procuring and giving the heroin and fentanyl to one another.

More News Teen dies getting high on heroin with mother and grandmother

"If you're going to give someone else your poison and you know it's likely going to kill them," he added, "we're going to look at holding you criminally responsible."

Nationwide, opioids such as heroin and prescription pain relievers killed more than 28,000 people in 2014, more than any year on record, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. At least half of all opioid overdose deaths involved a prescription drug, the CDC said, adding that the number of overdose deaths involving opioids has nearly quadrupled nationwide since 1999.

Heather Frye didn't have custody of her son, according to the Plain Dealer. A detective assigned to the case told the paper that the 32-year-old wanted to be "the fun weekend mom."

Andrew was adopted as an infant by Tammy Smith, a great-aunt and legal guardian, according to the Beacon Journal. With the help of her late fiance, John Sabini, she raised Frye alongside her three children like he was one of their own, she told the paper.

When Sabini died in 2010, Smith said, Andrew was overcome by loss and began seeking the company of his biological mother, which worried family members. When his mother showed up a couple of times a year, family members told the Beacon Journal, she claimed that she was not using drugs and that she planned to clean up her life.

"He just wanted his mother and to be around [her] no matter how bad it was," Julie Andrea, Smith's 33-year-old daughter, told the Beacon Journal. "He wanted her to stop. He thought that if he was with her when she was using, at least he was with her."

Unfortunately, the teenager developed his own history of drug abuse, the Plain Dealer reported. And yet, he was still a teenager, family members told the paper, one who "liked animals, building computers, playing with his cousin's children and singing."

"Never in a million years did we think she would get him into heroin," Andrea told the paper. "We think the only reason he did it was to get her approval."

The last full night Andrew would spend alive, his biological mother showed up at Smith's door to take the teenager on an outing. The plan was for the pair to go shopping and then go swimming at a local motel, according to NBC affiliate WKYC.

"He told me he loved me and he would come back," Smith told the Beacon Journal.

At some point the next day, his mother, his grandmother and their friends gathered in the motel room and decided to shoot up with the teenager. Detectives told the Beacon Journal that Heather Frye told her son to shoot up in a bathroom so she wouldn't have to watch him do it - the act bothered her.

In a recording of a 6:45 p.m. phone call to 911, a sobbing and hysterical Heather Frye can be heard telling a dispatcher that she awoke to find her child dead, according to the Beacon Journal.

"He's not breathing," the paper quotes her as saying. "I woke up and my son is so cold."

After telling the dispatcher that she suspected her son was dead of a drug overdose, she asked another sobering question:

"Can I pick him up and hold him, please? . . . I want to hold him," she said. "I just want my baby back."

Smith, the teenager's adopted mother, told the Beacon Journal that she longs for the same thing. She was folding clothes when she learned that her son was dead. There is a hole in their family now, she said, and if she could, she'd give up her life to "truly trade places with him."

"I miss that boy so bad," she said. "I wanted him to grow up and go to college."

"She stole him," Smith added, referring to Andrew's biological mother. "I feel broken, I really do."
Meant to crash

Information indicates that this plane crash was intentional.

Lt. Josh Litwin, of the East Hartford Police Department, referring to a plane crash in that town on Tuesday. A flight instructor was seriously injured and the student pilot was killed. Authorities suspect suicide as the motive for the crash.

Loopholes

In many of the cases where violence plays out in Connecticut, we find the gun was purchased in a state that has loopholes that we dont have in our state.
CultNews101.com: news, links, resources. Cults101.org: resources about cults, cultic groups, abusive relationships, movements, religions, political organizations and related topics. CultMediation.com: offers resources designed to help thoughtful families and friends understand and respond to the complexity of a loved ones cult involvement. Intervention101.com: to help families and friends understand and effectively respond to the complexity of a loved one's cult involvement. CultRecovery101.com: assists group members and their families make the sometimes difficult transition from coercion to renewed individual choice.
These real PA creatures could become cryptids if we don't save them
Russia's bombardment of Aleppo is one of the defining atrocities of our time.

With at least 30,000 dead and the city in ruins, it is no wonder commentators have compared it to the Nazi bombing of the Basque town of Guernica in 1937, which killed hundreds of civilians and inspired Picasso to create the most famous anti-war painting in history.

So when Boris Johnson suggested anti-war campaigners should demonstrate outside Russia's London embassy, protesting in the name of the men, women and children slaughtered by Vladimir Putin's war in Syria, it was hard to imagine anybody who might disagree.

Anybody, that is, apart from the leader of the Labour Party and his hard-Left supporters.

Today, Seumas Milne not only speaks for Jeremy Corbyn but reflects his world-view, shapes his reaction to world events and is the single most articulate and influential force inside the new hard-Left Labour Party

According to Jeremy Corbyn's official spokesman, the real tragedy is that Aleppo is 'diverting attention' from the true villains in Syria  Britain and the United States. People, he said, should be protesting outside the U.S. embassy, not the Russian one.

When I heard those words, I was shocked but not surprised. My mind went back ten years to February 16, 2006, when a truly extraordinary article appeared in the Guardian newspaper.

The author was a pale, intense man called Seumas Milne, and his mission was to rescue the reputation of the Soviet Union from its critics.

It was outrageous, he thought, that Western historians insisted on painting Stalin as a brutal tyrant and were always banging on about his unfortunate habit of murdering millions of peasants and throwing people into Siberian prison camps, instead of concentrating on his wonderful achievements.

Russia's bombardment of Aleppo is one of the defining atrocities of our time

With at least 30,000 dead and the city in ruins, it is no wonder commentators have compared it to the Nazi bombing of the Basque town of Guernica in 1937, which killed hundreds of civilians and inspired Picasso to create the most famous anti-war painting in history

In fact, he wrote, communist regimes such as those of Lenin and Stalin had encompassed 'genuine idealism and commitment . . . For all its brutalities and failures, Communism in the Soviet Union, Eastern Europe and elsewhere delivered rapid industrialisation, mass education, job security and huge advances in social and gender equality'.

Given that record, Milne yearned for the days when the world would learn from communism's 'successes as well as its failures'. One day, he hoped, Russia and China would once again offer a genuine 'alternative to the new global capitalist order'.

Mad? Unforgivable? Almost unbelievably callous, ignorant, warped and deluded? Yes, yes and yes again.

But not, unfortunately, irrelevant. You see, the man who wrote those words is now Labour's official spokesman, the same man who tried to excuse Russia's bombing of Aleppo.

Today, Seumas Milne not only speaks for Jeremy Corbyn but reflects his world-view, shapes his reaction to world events and is the single most articulate and influential force inside the new hard-Left Labour Party.

No wonder the Labour leadership refuse to condemn Russia's murderous campaign in Syria. No wonder they try to divert attention instead to the supposed crimes of Britain and the U.S., battling the depraved murderers of Islamic State.

Fifty years ago, men such as Mr Corbyn and Mr Milne were known as Stalin's 'useful idiots'

As the admirably independent-minded Labour MP John Woodcock remarked this week, Milne is a man 'notorious for his pro-Russia views and hatred of America'.

Yet Mr Woodcock might as well have been talking about Jeremy Corbyn, who seems more than ever a mere mouthpiece for his vampiric press chief.

Almost incredibly, what Mr Milne wrote in 2006 is now the guiding principle of the Labour Party. No matter how many thousands are burned alive by Russian bombs, Milne, Jeremy Corbyn and the sinister Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell will always defend their friends in Moscow.

These are men for whom Mr Putin can do no wrong and the West can do no right.

Mr Corbyn appeared on the Kremlin's propaganda channel Russia Today, and never wastes an opportunity to defend Mr Putin from Western criticism. Mr McDonnell openly calls himself a Marxist and brandished Mao's Little Red Book in the House of Commons.

As for Mr Milne, he has shared a platform with the Russian leader, interviewing him on stage in the Black Sea resort of Sochi at a conference designed to rehabilitate Mr Putin's international image. His expenses, naturally, were paid by Russian businessmen.

For Mr Milne, that Russia had just invaded Ukraine and seized Crimea was entirely irrelevant. Russia, he insisted, was blameless, having intervened only to save itself from 'Western aggression'.

Fifty years ago, men such as Mr Corbyn and Mr Milne were known as Stalin's 'useful idiots'. They conform absolutely to the stereotype of all those privileged Marxist intellectuals in the Thirties who never had a bad word for the Soviet Union or a good one for democratic Britain.

The Animal Farm author George Orwell came across men like Mr Milne in the Thirties. They hated their own country, he thought, and took 'their cookery from Paris and their opinions from Moscow'.

All the time they were 'chipping away at English morale, trying to spread an outlook that was sometimes squashily pacifist, sometimes violently pro-Russian, but always anti-British'.

So Orwell would immediately have recognised an organisation like the hard-Left group Stop The War, which Mr Corbyn once chaired and in which all three men have been active.

On Wednesday, a Stop The War spokesman told the BBC that he deplored criticism of Moscow over the bombing of Aleppo, because it only added to the 'hysteria and the jingoism that is being whipped up at the moment against Russia'.

Every day, every hour, children are wounded and killed, their bodies broken by the bombs of Vladimir Putin and the bullets of his Syrian puppets

Not really anti-war, then. Just anti-Western.

A psychologist could spend years puzzling over the murky mental workings of men such as Mr Milne and Mr Corbyn.

My own view is that their constant emphasis on the wickedness of the West, coupled with the self-loathing implicit in their hatred of Britain, is a kind of narcissism  a constant obsession with themselves and their country's supposed failings.

They cannot see any problem, anywhere on the planet, without believing it is the West's fault. Even when Russian bombs are falling on Syrian children, it is somehow all about us.

But the disturbing thing about this type is that whereas their predecessors in the Fifties and Sixties, such as the Marxist academics Eric Hobsbawm and Ralph Miliband (father of Ed and David), were safely confined to their seminar rooms like monkeys in a zoo, these men are now in charge of Her Majesty's Opposition.

They have reduced the Labour Party, the party that took us into Nato and built our nuclear deterrent, into a front organisation for Stop The War.

Worse, they are now planning  if, God forbid, they ever get anywhere near Downing Street  to scrap our nuclear weapons and run down our military, and this at a time when Mr Putin is rattling his sabre against our Nato allies in the Baltic states.

In Mr Corbyn's case, I think the explanation for his views is blind stupidity. I think he genuinely cannot see beyond his ideological blinkers and simply fails to understand the damage he is doing to the Labour Party, the solidarity of the West and the security of this country.

But with Mr Milne I think there is a more sinister explanation. He is the personification of all the ills fostered by far-Left intellectualism in Britain in the past century, from his instinctive hatred of his own country to his slavish self-abasement before the despots of the East.

In his malignancy, mendacity and hypocrisy, in his narcissism and anti-patriotism, he is betraying not only the history of the Labour Party but the basic values of this country.

These may sound strong words, but I believe Mr Milne and his Stop The War friends are a cancer at the heart of our political and intellectual life. Every day their influence grows, the weaker our democracy becomes.

In the meantime, Aleppo burns. One of the oldest cities in the world, inhabited since at least 5,000 BC, it has been reduced to a smoking ruin.

Every day, every hour, children are wounded and killed, their bodies broken by the bombs of Vladimir Putin and the bullets of his Syrian puppets.

But every day, even as the death toll mounts, the Russian president knows that his useful idiots, Jeremy Corbyn, John McDonnell and Seumas Milne, will be there to defend him at Westminster and on the airwaves of our publicly funded national broadcaster.

What a disgrace for our democracy. What dishonour for the Labour Party, what shame for Britain.
A distinguished writer friend of mine was sent out this week on a mission by his panicking wife. He was ordered to find as many large jars of Marmite as possible, at any price, because they were rapidly vanishing from the shelves of all the supermarkets.

Thankfully the dispute which caused Marmite's disappearance has been resolved. But even so, the short-lived battle between the nation's biggest producer of consumer goods, the Anglo-Dutch giant Unilever, and Britain's biggest supermarket chain, Tesco, could be a worrying portent of things to come. For on the surface, it was the first public manifestation of the impact of Brexit and a falling pound on the High Street.

On one side was the 9.3 million-a-year suave committee-man Paul Polman, the Dutch chief executive of Unilever. His nemesis was 'Drastic' Dave Lewis, the bruising boss of Tesco who, with exquisite irony, spent 27 years forging a fearsome reputation as Unilever's cost-cutting king  hence his nickname  before being brought in to shake up the supermarket chain.

Anglo-Dutch consumer goods manufacturer Unilever retreated amid widespread outrage after it blamed Brexit for a 10 per cent price rises on dozens of brands including Marmite

At the heart of the fight between these two very different protagonists was Unilever's clumsy  and ultimately unsuccessful  attempt to protect itself against what it claimed was the impact of a falling pound by demanding an across-the-board price increase from Tesco of 10 per cent on all of its products, which range from the breakfast favourite Marmite to Ben & Jerry's ice cream and Dove soap and beauty products.

But in choosing Tesco  or, more pertinently, Lewis  as his means of battering supermarkets into paying more for Unilever products, Polman badly miscalculated. Because Lewis has a reputation for standing up to price-war bullies like Polman, and forced Unilever to stand down and admit yesterday evening that the situation 'had been resolved'.

Lewis's defiance on behalf of his customers resulted in a hugely welcome victory for people power against business giants determined to exploit Brexit to increase their profit margins at the expense of consumers.

At the centre of this dispute is a massive hypocrisy. Like the big oil and energy companies, Unilever appears to have adopted what is known in the trade as a 'rocket and feather' approach to its pricing policy.

When the cost of any ingredients used to manufacture its products climbs  which has happened in some cases because the fall in the pound makes imported components more expensive  the prices Unilever charges for those products go up like a rocket.

But when the cost of those ingredients falls on the world markets  as happened in recent years thanks to a worldwide glut of key commodities and a stronger pound on the foreign exchange markets  Unilever does its best to avoid cutting prices, and they fall only like a feather.

An empty Marmite shelf in Clerkenwell, London, after shoppers stocked up on affected items

Instead of passing on the benefits to supermarkets and the consumer, the company uses falling costs to raise the profit margin it makes on its sales.

Unilever's main justification for the price increase was that it had been adversely affected by exchange rate movements. But as an exporter of British-made food and beauty products, the business  like many FTSE 100 companies  gains a competitive advantage from the fall in the pound which makes its goods cheaper to buy overseas.

What is more, the group's own results for the third quarter, which have just been released and cover the post-Brexit era, show that the overall impact of exchange rate movements on all its main lines of business  health care, foods, home care and refreshment  was to increase costs by 3.4 per cent, which is less than one-third of the price hike it tried to impose on British households.

A screenshot taken on the Tesco website shows Marmite was not available to buy online

UK consumers will also be angry that this multi-national giant  which began life as Lever Brothers, a Quaker-run business renowned for its philanthropy as it made soap products at Port Sunlight in Liverpool  reportedly organises the branding of some of its products through Schaffhausen in Switzerland to minimise its tax liabilities  something that's legitimate, but hardly civic-minded.

Behind this battle between the British supermarkets and Unilever is a historic war between the High Street and its suppliers.

The biggest suppliers like Unilever have traditionally had the upper hand because they have brands that consumers want, and can ultimately damage the grocers by withdrawing supplies.

This is particularly true for specialist products such as Marmite because the alternative products, such as Lidl's yeast-based spread, are simply not as good.

And while it is true that Tesco and the supermarkets can behave ruthlessly  Britain's dairy farmers, for example, have suffered mightily because the big grocery chains have been selling milk as so-called 'loss leaders' at rock bottom prices to lure customers into their stores  at least Dave Lewis had the gumption to stand up to Unilever on this occasion.

Tesco chief executive Dave Lewis (left) and Unilever CEO Paul Polman with Prince Harry

The truth is that Unilever's assault on British consumers was more about teaching the UK a harsh lesson for daring to leave the protective certainties of the EU than about the vagaries of Britain's currency.

After all, in the run up to the referendum, when many sensible British firms chose not to come down on any side, Unilever was a staunch supporter of Remain.

During the referendum campaign, long before the 17 per cent fall in the value of the pound, Polman was making hay of the fact that prices would rise: 'Let's take ice cream, for example, one of our Wall's products  a Magnum. Undoubtedly if the UK will leave, conditions would not be as good as if we stay in.'

But the reality is that a glut of home-produced milk means that ingredient costs for Magnums have rarely been lower.

Marmite, Persil and Surf were among the Unilever brands affected by the unusual stand-off

The latest data shows that Unilever, with its monopoly on so many household brands, has a staggering operating margin  the profit it makes on sales  of 15 per cent.

Contrast this with what is happening to Britain's grocery market where the arrival of no-frills grocers such as German companies Lidl and Aldi has led to the fiercest price war in living memory. Tesco, with almost 30 per cent of the grocery market, has a profit margin of just 1.7 per cent.

The fact is that Unilever can comfortably absorb such pain as there is from Brexit.
From the moment he was appointed, Seumas Milne's ability to grab the limelight  for all the wrong reasons  quickly became apparent.

Back then, a year ago, the spin doctor accompanied his new boss to Labour Party headquarters for a television interview about the situation in Syria.

But Jeremy Corbyn's efforts to appear statesmanlike were suddenly undermined by the distracting appearance of a man in the background.

Not once but twice he passed behind the Labour leader, the second time trying in vain to cover his face from the camera.

Like the master he serves, Seumas Milne's core beliefs could hardly be more out of touch with popular opinion

At the time, few viewers would have recognised the interloper  Milne. The same cannot be said today.

In recent weeks, his interventions have seen him making headlines, rather than shaping them, on an almost daily basis.

Turn the clock back to last month's Labour conference. Who can forget the images of the thunderous face of Shadow Defence Secretary Clive Lewis as he prepared to address the hall. He was moments away from delivering his keynote speech when a yellow Post-it note informed him that part of what he was going to say had been scrapped.

He then discovered, as the edited speech on the autocue scrolled up, that because his view went against that of Jeremy Corbyn, he had been prevented from conveying his support for the renewal of Britain's Trident nuclear deterrent.

Mr Lewis was said to have been so unhappy at being censored that he punched a wall in anger. No prizes for guessing who was responsible for that last-minute tweak.

Then, on Wednesday, Seumas Milne was at it again. This time he faced calls for Corbyn to sack him after he suggested British and U.S. raids against Islamic State in Syria were as bad as the Russian bombing of Aleppo.

As for Vladimir Putin, Milne has long been a supporter, even appearing with him at a 2014 event in Sochi in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine

Asked if the UK was as culpable as Russia for the bloodshed in Syria, he said: 'We are not in the business of allocating blame.'

The fact is that, like the master he serves, Milne's core beliefs could hardly be more out of touch with popular opinion.

This is patently obvious from looking back at hundreds of articles he penned in his 30-year career at the Guardian, prior to his appointment as Labour's executive director of strategy and communications.

In that time he spoke up for Stalin, refused to condemn Osama Bin Laden after 9/11, defended insurgents responsible for killing British soldiers in Iraq, and claimed Fusilier Lee Rigby's murder in London wasn't 'terrorism in the normal sense' because he was a member of the Armed Forces.

Whether it was the fall of the Berlin Wall and collapse of the Soviet empire, or the riots that devastated parts of London in 2011, Milne attempted to defend the indefensible.

As for Vladimir Putin, Milne has long been a supporter, even appearing with him at a 2014 event in Sochi in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

So to say the promotion of 'Shameless Milne' to such a position of power by Jeremy Corbyn was greeted with astonishment would be something of an understatement  even among those on the Left.

Who can forget the images of the thunderous face of Shadow Defence Secretary Clive Lewis as he prepared to address the hall at last month's Labour conference?

Peter Mandelson accused Corbyn of a lack of professionalism in the appointment, saying Milne was 'completely unsuited to such a job', having 'little connection with mainstream politics'.

And Labour grandee Lord Soley, a long-term acquaintance of Milne's, accused him of being a friend of tyrants and an enemy of democracy. 'He was always overly sympathetic to authoritarian regimes and under-sympathetic to countries that enjoyed democracy and the rule of law,' he said.

'He would be very critical of Britain or the U.S. but not of Russia or Iran, countries or regimes I would keep my distance from unless I was trying to change them.'

Even among his newspaper colleagues there were those who could not wait to stick the knife in.

Guardian columnist Suzanne Moore described him as 'c*** central', adding: 'I f*****g hate these public school leftists. Bye, bye Labour.'

Public school? Very much so.

Millionaire Milne is a product of unalloyed privilege. The son of a former Director-General of the BBC forced to quit after a series of rows with the Thatcher government, he was raised in a grand six-bedroomed pile in London's exclusive Holland Park  close to the home of that other oh-so privileged socialist, Tony Benn.

Educated at 35,000-a-year Winchester College, he studied politics, philosophy and economics at Oxford  which seems obligatory for many wonk-like Left-wing politicos  before going into journalism.

Today he lives in a 2 million property in the leafy south-west London enclave of Richmond (bought without a mortgage, if you please) from where he and his Italian wife Cristina Montanari, a one-time director at an advertising company, managed to avoid sending their children to the local comprehensive and sent them instead to . . . grammar schools.

And not just any: two of the top selective state schools in the country, which is perhaps why both went on to study at Oxbridge.

This has not stopped Labour  whose policy Milne shapes  from campaigning furiously against Conservative proposals to introduce more grammars. Add in his love of Armani ties and fine dining, and is it any surprise that many find Milne nauseatingly hypocritical?

Milne has spoken up for Stalin, refused to condemn Osama Bin Laden after 9/11, defended insurgents responsible for killing British soldiers in Iraq, and claimed Fusilier Lee Rigby's (pictured) murder in London wasn't 'terrorism in the normal sense' because he was a member of the Armed Forces

And as the distinguished novelist and Labour-backer Robert Harris has pointed out, these things do matter. Comparing his own background with Milne's, he said: '[I'm] council-house born. Voted Foot, Kinnock. But not for private-school apologists for Stalin. Sorry.'

Given Corbyn's widespread unpopularity and propensity for gaffes, it was clear he needed a capable and disciplined PR team. Step forward Milne, then 57.

Significantly, Labour officials mentioned that rather than quit his job as a Guardian columnist and associate editor, Milne would simply be 'on leave' from the paper.

Perhaps, some speculated, this was because the Labour post was short-term and Milne would need a job and pension to fall back on. But the arrangement has created disquiet at the Guardian.

There is concern that Milne's split loyalty could do severe damage to the much-valued independence of the paper  which is, in fact, a mish-mash of received wisdom and Leftish views.

Controversially, too, there is suspicion that his leave was sanctioned because of his close friendship with the paper's editor, Kath Viner  he is said to be far more in tune with her politically than with her predecessor, Alan Rusbridger, and canvassed tirelessly for her to get the job.

Those who know Milne say he can be charming and great company full of the easy self-confidence a costly private education can bestow.

His father Alasdair Milne was also educated at Winchester and Oxford.

And when Alasdair died in 2013, he left an estate worth almost 4 million (the family house sold last year for 3,778,000). It is estimated that after tax, Seumas Milne would have inherited about 800,000.

Alasdair Milne became BBC Director-General in 1982, and in his five years in the post there were rows with Margaret Thatcher's Tories over what she regarded as biased BBC coverage of the miners' strike, the U.S. bombing of Libya and a documentary featuring a long interview with Sinn Fein's Martin McGuinness.

In his memoirs, John Birt, a BBC Director-General years later, wrote that Thatcher regarded Milne Snr as 'an arrogant public-school toff presiding over an unmanaged, out-of-control institution'.

Friends say that in a family where political and philosophical discussion were the order of the day at the dinner table, young Seumas would have been heavily influenced by his father's fulminations against the Tory party.

It was only natural that Milne attended Balliol, the Oxford college led for 13 years until 1978 by the Marxist historian Christopher Hill.

'It was very, very Left-wing at the time,' one contemporary told me. 'People such as Seumas sat around endlessly debating procedural motions and sending telegrams to the likes of Leonid Brezhnev [the Soviet leader] congratulating them on their great achievements.

'The politics of the Corbynistas are a resurrection of student politics from those days  and will no doubt prove to be just as ineffectual now as then.'

Indeed, a former aide of Ed Miliband told me that Milne is 'one of those hardcore lefties who support policies that will never get Labour back into power'.
Under normal circumstances, in the intensely competitive British retail industry, the price row between Tesco and Unilever would be unremarkable. But in these febrile post-referendum days, it was elevated to a national crisis by pro-Remain campaigners desperate to claim Brexit is destroying the economy.

Indeed, from the way it was projected through the BBC echo chamber yesterday, you would have been forgiven for thinking Brexit had killed off Marmite altogether.

Last night a deal was done, but that shouldn't stop corporate behemoth Unilever facing richly deserved criticism for using the pound's fall since June 23 as an excuse to hike by ten per cent the cost of some of our best known brands.

From the way it was projected through the BBC echo chamber yesterday, you would have been forgiven for thinking Brexit had killed off Marmite altogether

In doing so, it was using Brexit as a cover for blatant profiteering. Import costs, even by the company's own measure, are up three per cent. Any anyway, Marmite, like many other products, is made entirely from British ingredients.

Particularly galling are the firm's blatant double standards. When the pound was overvalued, and commodity prices low, it enjoyed the profits instead of passing on price cuts. And it fails to mention that the falling pound makes its exports much more profitable.

But put to one side Unilever's abuse of its economic muscle (profit margins are higher than at Tesco) and ask whether it acted out of cynical political intent.

Remember that in the run-up to polling day, the firm's chief executive, Paul Polman  who earned an eye-watering 9.3million last year  issued dire warnings on the consequences of Brexit  including that it would push up the cost of ice-cream. Of course, there will be trouble ahead, but how wrong he was about the economy, which has been doing very well.

Yes, we understand why Unilever  which benefits from an endless supply of cheap EU labour  has a vested interest in staying in the single market, with its untrammelled free movement which suppresses UK wages and puts immense social strain on our communities.

Nor are they alone. Only this week Brussels cheerleader the CBI was wailing about Britain heading for a 'cliff edge' and demanding open-door migration continues. How galling that within hours of the outburst it emerged that JCB  one of our key industrial exporters  had quit the lobby group in protest.

What a pity that Unilever, a company with proud British links, doesn't share JCB's patriotism and respect for the will of the people.

Preserve the Union

Barely two years after Scottish voters decisively rejected breaking up the United Kingdom, the SNP are at it again, demanding another referendum even though their arguments lie in ruins.

Consider the facts. If it wasn't being subsidised by the British taxpayer, Scotland would be the basket case of Europe, with a budget deficit of nearly 15billion, or ten per cent of GDP. North Sea revenues the SNP predicted to be 7.5billion a year are now just 60million.

Barely two years after Scottish voters decisively rejected breaking up the United Kingdom, the SNP are at it again, demanding another referendum even though their arguments lie in ruins

On its own, Scotland would have no prospect of joining the EU  which is reeling from Brexit and a refugee crisis, and hardly wants another Greece on its books.

In any event, Spain would surely veto its membership for fear of furthering Catalan independence demands.

This newspaper wholeheartedly believes in the Union, which is still the most successful and enduring alliance in history. To her credit, Theresa May has spoken repeatedly of her determination to reinforce the bonds between our nations.
Madagascar, Lemurs and Spies: One man reveals how he helped expose a link between illegal logging and expensive guitars in new documentary



As we headed upriver into the rain forest of Madagascar, I knew something was wrong. Every so often, a small boat slid past us in the opposite direction, the trunks of huge trees lashed to the side.



We saw more than 200 such boats as we travelled deep into the rain forest. The local men on board watched us closely as, silently, we headed upriver.



I shouldnt have been there at all. I was working undercover, posing as a timber buyer, to infiltrate the timber mafia of Madagascar where the rape of the rain forest has reached crisis level and is destroying the last existing habitat of the threatened white lemur, or silky sifaka. Illegal loggers are tearing the heart out of the forest.



As Sascha headed upriver into the rain forest of Madagascar, he knew something was wrong

To fight them, you need to tackle the international companies that pay for the wood, the people who create the demand. So, posing as wood traders, we had set up an undercover company, a website, business cards and good back-stories because you never know when its going to get tough.

The preparation for an undercover expedition has to be perfect. In the past, team members from my campaign group, the Environmental Investigation Agency, have been arrested or kidnapped. The EIA is an independent, international campaigning organisation committed to investigating and exposing environmental crime.



But it wasnt until a colleague and I were on the small plane bringing us from the Madagascan capital of Antananarivo to the small northern town of Antalaha that we fully realised just how alert we were going to need to be. Among the other passengers on board my colleague recognised Roger Thunam  the biggest timber baron in Madagascar, one of the men who we had to stop.



But we needed hard evidence. If the logging was illegal, we needed to see it with our own eyes



What should have been a relaxed flight was suddenly tense and nervous. When the plane bumped to a stop at the tiny airport of Antalaha we watched as Thunam  a mixture of charm and menace  greeted virtually everyone in the terminal, shaking hands and slapping backs.



He went behind the bar and started handing out drinks to anyone who wanted one. In Antalaha, Thunam was the man. We made our way to our hotel to begin the wait. If you turn up as a timber trader you dont have to approach anyone  theyll find you. We sat down in the hotel restaurant, with a beautiful view of the humpbacked whales just beyond the reef, our hotel manager asked us what brought us to Madagascar and I told him: Were looking for good ebony.



He said he knew just the person we needed to speak to. The next day we found ourselves sitting in Thunams office, with questions to answer. He asked us how big our company was, how much timber we would want and whether it would be worthwhile for him. Suddenly, things opened up for us  we had convinced him we were genuine.



Sascha says the people of Madagascar are not the only victims and certain species of lemur are also at risk

Determined: Sascha is a Harvard Graduate and ex-Marine who runs the Environmental Investigation Agency

Thunam told his men to look after us  that was all they needed to know. The boss had given us his approval. The loggers began showing us the timber they had in the yard and, by talking to them, it quickly became clear the logs were being brought out of Masoala national park.

But we needed hard evidence. If the logging was illegal, we needed to see it with our own eyes. I told them we had to see the quality of the ebony on offer, so the cutters took us deep into the protected jungle. As we approached the site, I realised my companion and I were five days walk from safety among men whose livelihood depended illegal timber. We were on our own.



We were led by the chief illegal logger and were taken to stumps they had cut. We filmed with hidden cameras, fixed locations of logging on GPS navigation systems and detailed the impact the illegal loggers had on the wildlife in the park. The loggers hunt the red ruffed lemur for food. The meat of the red ruffed lemur is the best, one of them told us.



They proudly showed us trees they were planning to cut, including the fine, towering ebony and rosewood trees of the purest quality which have the highest value for the musical instrument market in the west. It was extraordinary to see the forest but the logging was tearing it apart. We were watching the forest collapsing from the inside  it was heartbreaking. I hadnt realised the scale on which the cutting was being done.



It is now impossible to find Madagascan ebony in guitars or other instruments (a Gibson Les Paul pictured)

That was brought home to me in shocking form when we returned to Antalaha and visited Thunams main sawmill. For hundreds of yards around, ebony was stacked metres high. Hundreds and hundreds of trees, cut despite the fact that logging in the national park has been banned since 2006.

Against the background noise of screaming wood saws, I saw thousands of pieces of rosewood - another wood popular in the manufacture of guitars - being cut to size for export. The workers were earning nothing more than a few dollars a day; it was Thunam who reaped the big profits when the wood was sent abroad.

It was there that I found the most important piece of evidence - the one that would eventually lead me to a manufacturer who is a household name in the west. Parts of the sawmill were dedicated to ready-cut wood for musical instruments. One I picked up was the ebony fingerboard for a guitar  its considered the best wood in the world for the purpose, but its illegal to buy. The fingerboards were stacked in towers almost as tall as myself.



So who was buying it? And where did it end up? We took a long journey back to the US and began the second part of the investigation: the paper trail. While export documents showed that most of Thunams timber went to China but then I discovered some of it was coming to a very famous company: Gibson guitars, a firm with more than 100 years of history behind it.



Gibson is one of the greatest names in musical instruments and created probably the best-known guitar of all time, the Gibson Les Paul. After we published our findings, Gibson in Nashville, Tennessee was raided by federal authorities. Madagascan timber, guitars and paperwork were all seized.



The companys chief executive, Henry Juszkiewicz, said the company didnt know the origins of the wood. We were buying through an intermediary in Germany, he said, adding that the company had stopped buying directly from Madagascar. Legal proceedings are still going on against Gibson, but since the raid in 2009 there has already been a sea change in the guitar and music industry.



It is now impossible to find Madagascan ebony in guitars or other instruments so that demand has gone. And guitar manufacturers are also avoiding Madagascan rosewood. The raid on Gibson has brought the whole issue of illegal wood to the fore and other companies are taking responsibility for the wood they use.



There are projects underway allowing the impoverished people of Madagascar to export wood in a way that is sustainable and beneficial for the local people. The money that goes to the illegal timber barons is sent overseas into bank accounts abroad. The workers get just $2 a day. Its an extraordinarily unjust situation.



The people of Madagascar are not the only victims. One of the worlds most beautiful creatures, the white lemur, is dangerously at risk from this terrible despoilation of the forest, and needs all the help we can give it.


A young mother who found a lump in her breast delayed the ultrasound for over a year only to discover the aggressive cancer spread to her lymph nodes.

Amber Whalen, from Melbourne, felt the unusual lump in 2014 but ignored it until she was volunteering at a charity event to raise money for breast and ovarian cancer a year later.

'I felt like such a hypocrite at this event, telling people to get checked, when it was something I had been putting off myself,' the 29-year-old told Daily Mail Australia.

Amber Whalen, from Melbourne, felt the unusual lump in 2014 but ignored it until she was volunteering at a charity event to raise money for breast and ovarian cancer a year later.

Amber Whalen, 29, pictured with her three children Oliver, now five, Hazel, four, Chase, 18-months and husband Ben, 34

A week after Pink Hope's 'Bright Pink Lipstick Day' she had the lump checked, which revealed the shocking news that she had breast cancer.

'I was in shock, at 28 you don't expect to get that kind of news, I didn't have much family history except for an Aunt on my dad's side.'

Ms Whalen had believed the lump was a benign tumour - because she'd had one 10 years prior - so didn't have it checked.

Ms Whalen's 86-year-old Grandmother was also diagnosed with breast cancer and she believes there must be a genetic link her doctor did not initially pick up on.

'[Before being diagnosed] all I heard was the doctor saying "it'll be fine," so I put it off,' she said.

The delay in the ultrasound meant the cancer had travelled to Ms Whalen's lymph nodes, which meant had to undergo grueling chemotherapy.

In September 2015, after a fundraising event for Pink Hope's 'Bright Pink Lipstick Day' she finally organised an ultrasound. A week later she found out she had breast cancer

The delay in the ultrasound meant the cancer had travelled to Ms Whalen's Lymph nodes, which meant she would have to undergo grueling chemotherapy

Amber went from going to the gym three times a week to barely being able to reach the letterbox without becoming breathless

Amber Whalen was just 28-years-old and a mother to three young children when she received the devastating news that she had breast cancer

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She went from going to the gym three times a week to barely being able to reach the letterbox without becoming breathless.

Even more heartbreaking, she became too sick to play with her young children.

'My husband Ben and I sat them down and told them mummy's sick, she's taking medicine that will make her better but it will also make her very tired,' she told Daily Mail Australia.

'They couldn't really grasp the concept of what was happening, they were just so young. I felt so helpless.'

In November last year, Ms Whalen underwent surgery to remove the lump and affected nodes, starting chemotherapy two weeks later which lasted until February 2016 and then radiotherapy.

'I've now finished chemo and radiation and in a month I'll be in full remission,' she said.

'I'm now considering more preventative surgery, including having a double mastectomy and having my ovaries removed.'

'I'm quite anxious about it already, it's so expensive. But there's a 65 per cent chance of the cancer returning so it would be worth it not to go through it again.'

In November last year, Ms Whalen underwent surgery to remove the lump and affected nodes, starting chemotherapy two weeks later which lasted until February 2016

The young mother (left) says she almost didn't pay to have the genetic testing for the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes either because it was also so expensive

Ms Whalen is now considering more preventative surgery, including having a double mastectomy and having her ovaries removed

The young mother says she almost didn't pay to have the genetic testing for the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes either because it was also so expensive.

'I had to pay $1200 just to get the test. I couldn't afford that, I had three kids and I was on maternity leave.

'I was very lucky that my dad offered to pay for it, he wanted to know whether there was a genetic link.'

Ms Whalen is now supporting to the Pink Hope Genetic Testing Program, which offers eligible Australian's access to more affordable genetic testing.

The program allows those at risk of breast and ovarian cancer to pay for genetic testing for $200.

Often the tests can cost as much as $2,000 for Australian's who don't meet the eligibility criteria of the public system.

A person being tested must have more than a 20 per cent likelihood of a gene mutation or have a personal history of breast or ovarian cancer and have a 10 per cent likelihood of a gene mutation.

It's encourage that anyone at high risk should still access genetic testing through the public system if they meet the eligibility criteria.

Pink Hope's genetic testing kit, is being provided by US organisation, Colour Genomics will offer a comprehensive analysis of 30 genes associated with an increased risk for the most common hereditary cancers

After the testing kit is received, further to being requested by a physician, the patient provides a saliva sample before the kit is returned to Colour Genomics.

Ms Whalen said there is a 65 per cent chance of the cancer returning

Ms Whalen (left) is now supporting to the Pink Hope Genetic Testing Program founded by Krystal Barter (right), which offers eligible Australian's access to more affordable genetic testing

Pink Hope Founder, Krystal Barter, underwent genetic testing at the age of 22, which resulted in her having a preventative double mastectomy after returning positive for the BRCA gene.

She said the organisation's program will hopefully address the current pressures faced by Australia's public Familial Cancer Centres.

'Our public system is under increasing pressure to meet the demand for genetic counselling, which soared after Angelina Jolie told the world of her decision to have her breasts and ovaries removed after finding out she had the BRCA1 gene mutation,' said Ms Barter.
How did your parents cook Sunday roasts when you were small? Did they do beef rib or topside? Lamb shoulder or lamb leg? Did they stuff chickens with lemons or onions? What about herbs? Did you get roasties or Yorkshire puddings or BOTH, you lucky devil? And was gravy homemade or - shhhh - from a jar?

How did your parents cook Sunday lunch? Chances are, that's how you'll do it...

Chances are, however your ma and pa cooked Sunday lunch is exactly how you'll do it today, according to Marks & Spencer's Head of Product Development (and all-round foodie whizz) Sandra Ziles.

'Our roast dinner habits, tips and tricks mostly boil down to what our mothers did,' Sandra explains. 'We hand recipes down through families, so if your mother made stuffing in a separate tray and sliced it up afterwards (like mine did), that's probably what you'll do today (like I do).

'My mother made delicious gravy by whisking a little flour, salt and pepper into the meat's cooking juices, then adding stock... so that's what I do. But everyone has their own recipe. And some people make it with powder - because that's what their mothers did.'

Is your perfect roast dinner chicken, beef, pork, or lamb? If lamb's your thing, try M&S' succulent new slow-cooked boneless lamb shoulder with mint & redcurrant gravy

M&S Head of Product Development Sandra Ziles with their new slow-cooked lamb roast

Of course, the problem with rigidly sticking to what you've known for 30-odd years is that experimenting suddenly becomes eye-wateringly scary.

Where do you begin cooking pork if you've always done beef? Do you treat lamb shoulder the same way you do a leg? And how in the name of goose fat roasties does one spatchcock a chicken?

So to celebrate the launch of M&S' exciting new slow-cooked range - featuring succulent, super-flavoursome, but less commonly used cuts of meat, such as veal, venison, lamb shoulder and beef shoulder - Sandra reveals her tips for making perfect roast dinners every single time, whatever meat you choose...

PERFECT ROAST CHICKEN

Spatchcock your roast chicken for quicker cooking time and preposterously crispy skin

'When I was growing up it was very expensive and therefore a real treat - so I absolutely love it!' says Sandra. 'The best thing about roasting a chicken is that if you cook a really big one you'll have leftovers until Wednesday: you can make a great gravy with the cooking juices, turn the bones into stock for soup, use leftover meat in lunchbox sandwiches, curries, pies, pasta sauces... And roast chicken has such a wonderful flavour - I tend to stuff mine with a lemon and some herbs.'

When it comes to roasting chickens, Sandra has two favourite methods: 'The first is to spatchcock it: carefully use a pair of kitchen scissors to cut it open, from end to end, lie it on some onions, lemon, whole garlic cloves and herbs, with the skin on top and legs in the air.'

Rub olive oil, salt and pepper all over the bird's skin, pop it into a 180C fan oven for 30 minutes per 500g, until golden, basting a couple of times. Leave it to rest under foil and a tea towel for 10 minutes.

Rest, rest & rest some more! 'Resting meat after cooking is crucial,' says Sandra. 'The meat will relax, continue cooking in the residual heat, absorb cooking juices, carve better and taste better. If you carve it as soon as it comes out all the juices will leak out and the meat will be dry. Cover your meat with two layers of foil and a couple of clean tea towels and let it rest for 20 minutes or so - depending on how large the cut is.'

'Spatchcocking makes a chicken cook quicker and more evenly, and gets all the skin beautifully crisp,' says Sandra. 'Plus it's easier to cut into portions once it's done. If you're worried about cutting up the bird, we sell a ready spatchcocked chicken in M&S that's terrific for roasting, or grilling on a barbecue.'

'My second method is to roast the chicken upside down for 20 minutes on at 160C fan, before flipping it over and finishing it off right-way-up: 40 minutes per kg, plus 30 mins. This ensures the skin on the bottom goes crispy, not soggy. This is also a good trick when cooking turkey as it stops the breast meat getting dry - just be careful not to let the turkey crush itself under its own weight!'

Everyone likes the leg and nobody wants breast? Cook two smaller roast chickens instead of one big one to keep everyone happy, then use leftover breast meat in lunchbox sandwiches

Sandra's even got the perfect solution for families who squabble over legs and breasts: 'Instead of buying one big bird, buy two smaller ones. That way you'll have four legs, four wings, four breasts, and everyone's happy. Plus, they'll cook faster.'

The Great Gravy Debate 'Buying ready-made gravy is absolutely fine!' says Sandra. 'In fact, when people make M&S Christmas food orders it's our gravy that sells fastest - by a country mile. Similarly, if you use a powder it's also fine! But if you do, make sure you add the meat's cooking juices for extra flavour.'

PERFECT ROAST BEEF

'I adore Yorkies, so making roast beef is a great excuse to have them!' says Sandra. 'The king of beef joints is, of course, the rib - it's got plenty of fat marbling throughout so is phenomenally flavoursome and succulent. For a boneless rib of beef, just sprinkle with salt and pepper - you don't need oil as there's enough fat in it already - roast at 180C fan for 20 minutes per 500g for rare, 25 minutes for medium, and 30 minutes for well done. Leave it to rest under foil and a tea towel for 30 minutes before carving. Add a dollop of new grainy M&S Meaty Mustard to the gravy.'

Rib of beef - the king of beef cuts - needs only seasoning, searing, and briefly cooking on a super-low heat to keep it beautifully pink all the way through

She adds: 'Most people pick topside to roast as its the most traditional, but its very lean so can be a slightly dryer texture than the rib. When cooking topside, season with salt and pepper and plenty of olive oil. Then cook at 160C fan for 30 minutes per 500g for rare, 35 minutes for medium, 40 minutes for well done. Allow to rest. The leaner your beef joint, the thinner you should carve it, otherwise it might be slightly dry to eat. Serve with lashings of tasty gravy.

Cold meats hate hot ovens Always bring your meat to room temperature before cooking to ensure it cooks evenly throughout.

'Our M&S Slow Cooked Beef Shoulder with Red Wine & Shallot Gravy (964g 12.00) is a boned and rolled beef shoulder joint, rubbed with salt, cracked black pepper and garlic, before being slow cooked until meltingly tender, with a beef, red wine and shallot gravy. We've cooked it for many hours, and for the first time have done a bigger size that serves four, so you can have a family roast ready in under an hour.'

M&S Slow Cooked Beef Shoulder with Red Wine & Shallot Gravy (964g 12.00) is a boned and rolled beef shoulder joint, rubbed with salt, cracked black pepper and garlic

And for a special occasion? Sandra would opt for fillet of beef.

'For a treat Id roast a fillet; its more expensive but quick and a fabulous cut. Season it with salt, pepper and oil, then sear it in a pan on a high heat then pop in a 180C fan oven for 30 minutes per 500g for rare, 35 minutes for medium, and 40 minutes for well done. Then rest. Fillet takes on other flavours really well, like mustard butter or garlic and herbs. Serve it with some M&S ready-to-roast potatoes or one of our lovely new Quick Roast vegetable trays - it would be delicious with our Spiced Cauliflower - and you'll have Sunday lunch ready almost immediately!'

Alternatively, for Sunday lunch with a twist, choose M&S' new Slow Cooked Veal with Madeira Sauce - a delicate shoulder of veal rubbed with salt, cracked black pepper, parsley and thyme, slow cooked until tender with a rich Madeira sauce (457g 7.00).

For a really special roast, pick fillet of beef - a more expensive cut but wonderfully unctuous and incredibly quick to cook

PERFECT ROAST LAMB

'If I want to slow-cook lamb I'll roast a lovely fatty shoulder: score it, rub it in salt, pepper, olive oil, garlic and rosemary, cover it tightly in foil and put into a super-hot oven and then turn the heat down to 140C fan and roast for four hours per 2kg, until it's falling off the bone.

'But if I want to carve lamb neatly then I'll choose something leaner - and you can't beat a fabulous leg. Lay the joint on top of some vegetables and stock which will stop the meat drying out and create a beautiful sauce for gravy, and then stud the lamb all over with garlic and rosemary - we actually sell a pre-studded one in M&S to make things easier for you.

'For a standard leg, cook it at 170C fan for 20 minutes per 500g plus 20 minutes for medium, or 25 minutes per 500g plus 25 minutes for well done.

Lamb leg with roast potatoes, piles of garlic and rosemary is a Sunday lunch classic

'Our new M&S slow cooked lamb is a lovely juicy cut that people are usually anxious about cooking. It's a Boneless Lamb Shoulder with Mint & Redcurrant Gravy (894g 12.00), a rolled joint, rubbed with salt, cracked black pepper, mint and garlic before being slow cooked until meltingly tender, with a lamb, redcurrant and mint gravy. And it will serve four in under an hour.'

M&S's new Slow Cooked Lamb Shoulder With Mint & Redcurrant Gravy

'Weve just launched the perfect accompaniment to go with lamb - M&S Redcurrant and Red Wine Jelly - it's ideal with lamb or venison, whether you serve it with the meat or add a spoonful to enhance gravies and sauces.'

Test it out on M&S' new slow-cooked Boneless Venison with Red Wine & Juniper Sauce (457g 7.00), a naturally lean venison shoulder seasoned and cooked low until scrumptiously tender, with a rich red wine, redcurrant and juniper sauce

M&S' new slow-cooked venison is a naturally lean venison shoulder seasoned and cooked low until scrumptiously tender, with a rich red wine, redcurrant and juniper sauce

M&S Slow Cooked Venison With Red Wine Sauce is perfect with M&S Redcurrant & Red Wine Jelly

PERFECT ROAST PORK

Rolled pork is a great joint to roast because the meat is kept moist beneath the crackling

'People avoid pork because they think it's a dry meat,' explains Sandra. 'But it may just have been overcooked.

'Remember, the pork will go on cooking in its own residual heat while it rests. And resting also allows the meat to reabsorb the juices and tenderise which stops it drying out.

'Pork leg, shoulder, and rolled pork loin are terrific for roasting because they keep their shape so you get consistent cooking throughout.

'Lay the cut on top of some onions and root vegetables with some stock, which will help the meat cook and prevent it from drying out. Season the meat and cook at 220C fan for 30 minutes per 500g to seal, then 160C for 30 mins per 500g, until the pork falls apart.

'Next week were launching Breckland White pork in M&S, a new, outdoor reared breed we've created with farmers in south Norfolk and northwest Suffolk. It's bred for succulence and tenderness so will be deliciously moist and will carve a bit thicker.'

Slow-cooking pork keeps it really succulent, so you can carve big juicy pieces off rather than thinner, drier slices - just be sure to cover it in foil to stop the meat drying out during cooking

From perfect roast tatties to tarragon butter carrots: 13 perfect sides to complement your perfect roasts

From bone marrow in your gravy to carrots poached in butter and spiced bread sauce, here are 14 perfect sides to accompany your perfect roast...

1. Perfect roasties every time

Everyone has a secret ingredient for perfect roasties, but we have two: semolina and beef dripping and. Par-boil peeled maris pipers in plenty of salted water, shake them in a colander and bash with the back of a wooden spoon to rough them up a bit. Dust with salt, pepper and fine semolina for extra crunch. Toss in sizzling hot melted beef dripping (M&S have great new British Beef Dripping), and roast at 220C for around 50 minutes, turning twice, until lovely and golden.

For perfect roasties cook them in M&S British Beef Dripping, and add celeriac and apple to mash for a hint of sweetness

2. Most moreish mash

Mash seasoned boiled potato with cooked celeriac, cooked apple, butter and a blob of mustard for a deliciously creamy mash thats perfect with roast pork.

Top Tip: With the addition of cream, a grating of nutmeg and a stick blender, youll have a sublime puree.

3. Meaty mustard (its a thing)

M&S Meaty Mustard: Delicious on... well... on absolutely everything

Forget horseradish; for the ultimate beef accompaniment try M&Ss new Meaty Mustard, a hearty wholegrain mustard made with rich beef stock. Unctuous, umami heaven. Spoon a dollop into gravy for a spicy kick. Also immensely good with roast pork.

4. Raw Brussels sprouts

For a terrific, light, refreshingly zesty side that will delight even the sprout-hating brigade. Finely shred raw Brussels sprouts, mix with crispy lardons and crushed roasted hazelnuts. Season with salt, pepper, olive oil, a dash of red wine vinegar, a squeeze of lemon and some lemon zest.

5. Red cabbage with a twist

We all love red cabbage with apple and cinnamon spices, but M&S have gone one better and added beetroot and cranberries to their classic, ready-to-braise mix. The M&S Red Cabbage, Beetroot, Apple and Cranberry mix is rich, glossy and unctuous but with plenty of bite, and packed to the rafters with nutrients

6. Pimp your Yorkies

Before making Yorkshire pudding batter, infuse the milk with flavours of your choice  were particularly fond of garlic and cayenne pepper, or grated cheese and chopped chives. You can also stir some crispy shallots or fried lardons into the batter for a truly hedonistic treat. Just be careful not to add too many extras or your batter may not rise properly.

Top Tip: The oil in your muffin trays must be searing hot before you pour in your Yorkie batter. Drop some in, and if it doesnt spit and splutter, wait for it to get even hotter. The trick for identical, straight Yorkies is to pour the batter directly into the exact centre of each hole.

For perfect Yorkshire puddings, pour batter into hot oil

7. Whole baked cauliflower

For the ultimate timesaver side, sprinkle a whole, large cauliflower (leaves removed) with herbs and spices of your choice  were big fans of cumin, coriander, paprika and garlic, especially if serving with roasted lamb  drizzle with olive oil, season. Then pop under foil in a 150C oven for about an hour and a half, until cooked through. Boom.

8. Butter-poached carrots

Butter-glazed carrots with tarragon and garlic are everybody's friend

Boiled carrots can be boring, so liven things up by poaching them in butter, garlic, fresh tarragon, salt, pepper, a drizzle of honey and enough water to just cover them. Once theyre al-dente, remove from the pan and reduce the sauce. Pop the carrots back in and coat with the sticky glaze before serving.

Top Tip: When serving Sunday lunch to lots of people, prepare as much as you can the night before. Peeled, chopped vegetables can be stored in cold water overnight. That way youre not faffing about with a vegetable peeler when you should be thinking about making gravy or opening another bottle of merlot.

9. Colourful vegetable mixes

For a super-quick and nutritious side with zero stress, pop a tray of M&S Quick Roast Chantenay Carrot, Parsnip & Rosemary, or M&S Quick Roast Onion Squash, Butternut & Red Onion mix in the oven for 20 minutes. The sweet, colourful combinations go perfectly with any roast, but the sweetness of the carrots will complement pork, while the butternut mix is ideal with lamb.

M&S Quick Roast Chantenay Carrot, Parsnip & Rosemary

M&S Quick Roast Onion Squash Butternut & Red Onion

Are you a lamb and mint or a lamb and yoghurt kind of roaster?

10. Yoghurt or mint sauce?

Lamb and mint sauce is a classic combination, but so is lamb and yoghurt, the pair being wondrous bedfellows in both the pre-cook marinade and the post-cook dunk. Instead of serving roast lamb with vinegary mint sauce, try plating it with a spoonful of garlicky, lemony, minty Greek yoghurt. Tzatziki without the cucumber, basically. Your roasties will thank you for it, too.

11. Gorgeous greens

For a lighter side dish try blanched greens  kale, tenderstem broccoli, chard or hispi cabbage are all perfect  sauteed in butter, garlic and fresh sliced red chilli, and finished with a dash of soy sauce. Ideal with roast meat on a warmer day. For a healthy side, M&S have created a wonderfully green new Biancoli, Butternut & Tenderstem vegetable pack that's all chopped up and steams in just 20 minutes. (We won't tell if you melt butter on top of them after.)

12. Bread sauce, boring? No way!

Bread sauce already contains a few funky spices, such as cloves, nutmeg and mace, but spice yours up even further with earthy additions like garlic, cinnamon, ginger, star anise, paprika, cumin, cardamom, cayenne pepper, or pink peppercorns.

13. Simplest stuffing
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Despite over 12 years of marriage, Crown Princess Mary and Prince Frederik of Denmark appear to be as enamoured with one another as ever.

And to celebrate the 13th anniversary of their engagement, the royal couple recently teamed up to host their annual Crown Prince Couple's Awards in Holstebro, Denmark.

The set of awards were first established in 2004 by the Bikuben Foundation as a wedding gift to the couple, to highlight Danish achievements in social work and culture.

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Happy couple: To celebrate the 13th anniversary of their engagement, the royal couple recently teamed up to host their annual Crown Prince Couple's Awards in Holstebro, Denmark

Little ballerina: The set of awards were first established in 2004 by the Bikuben Foundation as a wedding gift to the couple, to highlight Danish achievements in social work and culture

Closer than ever: The set of awards were first established in 2004 by the Bikuben Foundation as a wedding gift to the couple, to highlight Danish achievements in social work and culture

Princess Mary arrived at the Music Theatre of Holstebro in a black off the shoulder top and a stunning sapphire brocade skirt by Australian designer Jayson Brunsdon.

True to her effortlessly elegant style, she paired the metallic silver and blue number with a pair of blue Gianvito Rossi silk pumps and wore her hair pinned back to show off her silver earrings.

The 44-year-old first wore the statement skirt in 2014 at the gala dinner of the American Chamber of Commerce.

Glam: Princess Mary arrived at the Music Theatre of Holstebro in a black off the shoulder top and a stunning sapphire brocade skirt by Australian designer Jayson Brunsdon

Annual event: The couple presented four awards: the Cultural Award, Social Award and two Stardust Awards for up and coming innovators

Mingling: The couple also spent time meeting with the guests

The Prince, 48, kept it simple in a black tailored suit and navy tie and chic black dress shoes.

Before entering the theatre, the couple was greeted by a young ballerina from the Royal Ballet School who presented the Princess with a large bunch of flowers.

Upon entering, the royal couple spent time meeting guests together before heading up on stage to present four awards: the Cultural Award, Social Award and two Stardust Awards for up and coming innovators.

Glamorous: True to her effortlessly elegant style, she wore her hair pinned back to show off her silver earrings

Proud winner: The royal pair took to the stage to deliver speeches during the evening, which also included performances by a number of local musicians

In 2016, the Social prize went to Children, Youth & Grief, an organisation offering free counselling and psychological treatment for young people who have lost or a dealing with ill family members.

The Culture prize went to film director and screenwriter, Tobias Lindholm, and the two Stardust prizes went to Johansen Forest Place Architects and musician Mathias Heise.
The future of condoms is here, according to a company that has developed a barrier that 'changes everything'.

American company Lelo, which is most well known for designing high-end sex toys, has launched a new condom called 'Hex' which ships worldwide, including to Australia.

The product aims to address the three main issues that come along with most condoms: That is discomfort, slippage, and breakage.

In fact, an accompanying video on the website shows that it can be pricked with a pin and not completely break apart.

The future? A new condom claims that you can prick it with a pin and not have the entire sheath break

The condom, instead of being one smooth piece of latex, has 350 small interconnected hexagons making up the sheath.

This, the company demonstrates in a short video, means that if the condom has a small tear or pinprick, the entire condom doesn't break, unlike with traditional barriers.

In addition, the website states that with its structure, the condom allows body warmth to be transmitted between partners for 'a more sensitive and more intimate sexual sensation'.

However, medical experts have warned that even an extremely small break, like a pinprick, could let semen through.

New: The condom has 350 connected hexagons instead of one smooth barrier and is called the 'Lelo Hex'

Expert: Dr Deborah Bateson (above) the medical director for Family Planning NSW says that it's important to know when a condom has broken

'Its really important to be alerted to the fact a condom has broken, because then you can get put in the necessary steps,' Family Planning NSW Medical Director Dr Deborah Bateson explained to Daily Mail Australia.

'If you know your condom has broken, you can get STI testing, you can get an emergency contraception if needed. We want people to know the condom has broken '

Other sex educators expressed similar concerns, including writer and educator The Lorax of Sex.

'While it sucks to have a condom break, the way in which they break acts as, whether intentionally or not, a red flag system,' she wrote.

'The shattering of the condom means you know that your barrier has failed and that you now need to take steps to address the situation- emergency contraception, STI testing, post-exposure STI prophylaxis.'

Oops: The condom can be pricked with a pin but not break completely apart

Stay healthy: Medical experts warn that it's important to know if your condom has even the smallest tear, so you can get STI testing and emergency contraception

Dr Bateson did, however, praise any company that was doing more research on contraception and trying to improve condoms.

'The [Lelo Hex] its still latex, and really if were thinking about new products and developmentss its important to think about new materials,' she said.

'We need to do more research into female condoms, there are other things to look at.'

She also stressed the important of doubling up long term contraception with condoms and getting regular STI tests.

'Condoms are great, theyre the best things weve got to prevent STIs,' Dr Bateson said. 'But we also recommend getting STI tests once a year, or if you have a new partner, or have had unsafe sex.'
It was originally made for her honeymoon, which may explain why the Duchess of Cornwall is so fond of this elegant vermilion coat with its distinctive tartan trim.

So fond, it seems, that Camilla has been seen wearing it dozens of times over the last 11 years, including to an event in Scotland on Tuesday night with her husband, Prince Charles.

The couple were opening the new Highgrove Shop in Ballater a which raises money for the princes charities, as well as the Rothesay Rooms Restaurant, a local venture which the prince helped get off the ground following last years devastating floods.

The Duchess of Cornwall dusted of her faithful vermilion coat with its distinctive tartan trim for a Royal engagement in Ballater, Scotland, we she and husband Prince Charles visited business with a charitable mission

Camillas choice of coat was particularly appropriate as it has a collar made from Rothesay Muted Hunting Tartan.

Charles and Camilla are known as the Duke and Duchess of Rothesay when they are living and working north of the border and have a Highland home, Birkhall, just a stones throw from Ballater village.

The coat was made by celebrated couturier and society favourite Roy Allen, who used work at Hardy Amies, and has designed for both Queen and the Queen Mother, Princess Diana, Princess Margaret, Princess Michael of Kent and the Duchess of York.

He has dressed Camilla ever since her engagement to Charles and created the outfit worn by her daughter, Laura, to their wedding.

Camilla first unveiled the eye-catching red coat on her honeymoon to Scotland in 2005 - when she wore it three times in the space of a week.

She was also seen in it again when she and Charles visited Canisbay Church in Caithness in 2006 and when the couple joined Queen Sonia of Norway to open the Shetland Museum the following year.

The Royal couple visited Highgrove Shop in Ballater a which raises money for the princes charities, as well as the Rothesay Rooms Restaurant, which the Prince of Wales helped to get back on its feet after devastating floods

Camilla has kept her trusty coat for more than a decade, finding it perfectly fitting for many occasions. A royal source has said the Duchess does not see the point in buying new items when she does not need to

Last year it was dusted off yet again as Camilla tasted some ice cream at a food festival in St Andrews Square, Edinburgh.

A royal source said: She likes the coat and doesnt see the point of buying something new every time she steps out in public.

Although she does have a dresser to help organise her working wardrobe, Camilla, 69, shares the Queens thrifty eye for what has been dubbed royal credit crunch couture.
Time was when a woman who wore white stilettos was judged as bold, brassy and, well, to put it politely, probably a bit of an Essex Girl.

The shoes that nearly every woman of a certain age wore in the Eighties have been cast into the fashion wilderness along with snow-washed jeans, super-short denim miniskirts and those tight white ski-pants.

The last time I actually saw anyone wearing white stilettos was two summers ago in Palma Airport, Majorca. While my children and I waited joylessly for our flight, a posse of young British women, who clearly hadn't slept the night before, spilled through passport control.

Earlier this month, Victoria Beckham, who at the height of her Spice Girls fame might have teamed a pair with a miniscule boob tube dress, was snapped on the eve of her New York fashion show wearing them with a demure, ankle-grazing dress

As they paraded past in neon singlet tops baring the slogan, 'Born in Manchester. Wrecked In Magaluf', I looked down at their feet and have to admit to stifling a giggle because each of them was tottering along on a pair of sky-high white heels.

You would also expect to see white stilettos disfiguring the lawns at Aintree, clattering out of the country's nightclubs in the early hours and wedged firmly onto the mahogany-tanned feet of the Katie Prices and Cheryl Coles of this world.

But recently something rather astonishing has happened. Rather than our friends from Magaluf or Essex, it's been fashion's most imperious style mavens who have begun to reclaim the white stiletto.

It started two years ago with the impossibly leggy Poppy Delevingne, sister of supermodel Cara, who arrived at a film premiere wearing a demure minidress and white stilettos.

Next up was Isabel Spearman, Samantha Cameron's former stylist and new fashion business partner, who was photographed after last year's General Election with an unmistakable pair peeking out from beneath her jeans.

As Isabel is the sort of human fashion radar who can spot a new trend months before the rest of us, at that point we really should have realised that something major was afoot.

As Alexandra Shulman has said of white stilettos, it's the hint of bad taste that's 'an intrinsic part of their charm'

Then back in May, the editor of British Vogue, Alexandra Shulman, collected an Outstanding Achievement award sporting white stilettos.

And earlier this month, Victoria Beckham, who at the height of her Spice Girls fame might have teamed a pair with a miniscule boob tube dress, was snapped on the eve of her New York fashion show wearing them with a demure, ankle-grazing dress. So what's going on? How did this shoe ever get another shot at the fashion limelight?

Well, what fashion loves more than anything else is irony, and what could be more ironic than reviving a shoe with so many tasteless associations?

As Alexandra Shulman has said of white stilettos, it's the hint of bad taste that's 'an intrinsic part of their charm'.

It started two years ago with the impossibly leggy Poppy Delevingne, sister of supermodel Cara, who arrived at a film premiere wearing a demure minidress and white stilettos

But with something so closely linked to the ladette culture, the shoes undoubtedly present the most severe of fashion challenges: how to wear them without looking tasteless and trashy?

Well, look closely and you'll notice that the fashion cogniscenti are wearing just one style of white stiletto  slender sides, pointed toes and needle-like four-inch heels.

Veer in any way from that look with say, a strap or a platform heel, and you will find yourself channelling Magaluf faster than a boy racer in a Ford Capri. For this is fashion snobbery at its most finely tuned.

Of course, we middle-aged women should know better and be able to resist the pointy shoes we wore as we stole our first kisses on the dance floor.

But the truth is we can't. We are sentimental beings, who love a little nostalgia.

As I write this, my mind is casting itself back to the days when I wore my faux leather Dolcis pair with a body suit and cowboy jeans rolled up at the hems, plus a mane of wild curls tied back with a bandana  an Eighties look of dubious taste that was eerily recreated on the Topshop catwalk earlier this month, when models stomped around in slinky disco dresses and an array of garish stilettos, ranging in colour from white to bubble-gum pink and leopard-print.

The women in that Topshop audience were not old enough to have experienced white stilettos first time around. Unlike me, they were not furrowing their brows in horror. They were as excited about those pointy shoes as we were in the Eighties.

Now the high priestesses of fashion are embracing them again, it looks as though we must brace ourselves for a proper comeback. And a cruel one at that. For with the joy of slipping a tanned foot into a pristine white stiletto comes concomitant grief. For these are the most wildly impractical pieces of footwear.

Public transport, bad weather, even walking across the pavement to climb into a taxi all pose a threat to that perfect leather. Which, of course, makes them the ultimate Stealth Wealth shoe.

It is why designer Tom Ford has produced a pair in ivory python with a gleaming gold heel (920) and why the Gianvito Rossi heels (445) worn by Posh are for posing in, not walking.

Only the very richest and most privileged can afford the lifestyle required to wear them. And it is these women who will pay through the nose for exactly the right shape, label and height.
There was a time when dancers in the Australian Ballet would give up their careers so they could have children.

Now, not only is it possible for ballerinas to grow their families and keep their careers, it's both encouraged and celebrated.

But this doesn't mean it isn't hard work.

Dana Stephensen, a 31-year-old soloist with the company, manages to train and perform up to nine shows a week all while raising her one-year-old baby boy Jasper.

Super dancer: Dana Stephensen, a 31-year-old soloist with the Australian Ballet, manages to train and perform up to nine shows a week all while raising her one-year-old baby boy Jasper

Adorable: Jasper often visits Ms Stephensen at work and plays with the other 'ballet babies'

'I started dancing when I was just three years old and I never looked back... I've never had a moment where I didn't love it,' Ms Stephensen told Daily Mail Australia.

'From a young age I was basically dancing six days a week so it was an intense passion and I was supported incredibly by my family who weren't involved in the arts at all.

'I moved from Brisbane to Melbourne when I was 16 to attend the Australian Ballet School which was a huge step for my parents. I can understand now as a mother that sending your child to dance full time without the certainty of a career is a risk.'

Passionate: 'I started dancing when I was just three years old and I never looked back... I've never had a moment where I didn't love it,' Ms Stephensen told Daily Mail Australia

From a young age Ms Stephensen knew what she wanted to do, but after being offered a contract with the Australian Ballet after her three year course she started learning how important balance was.

Relationships can be a bit hard with all of the touring as you might meet someone and then you're not there for six months.

'Admittedly ballet is a career that does take a lot out of you. We work so hard and it is one of the busiest companies in the world as we are dancing six days a week, performing up to nine shows a week and everyday we are rehearsing the next ballet season as well,' she said.

'So it does impact your lifestyle choices but I managed to fit it in. I had my fun in my early twenties and we have the opportunity to travel with our job which is really wonderful. When you are in your early twenties and in London or Paris on tour that's pretty remarkable.

'It does take a lot out of you': 'We are dancing six days a week, performing up to nine shows a week and everyday we are rehearsing the next ballet season as well,' she said

'But moving ahead as you start to progress, opportunities come up that you really want to give your all to that might change your lifestyle. Relationships can be a bit hard with all of the touring as you might meet someone and then you're not there for six months.'

Ms Stephensen said it took a while to work out how she could feel her best and feel as though her life had some kind of balance.

'I've had my own health problems as well and trying to balance that with having a really high functioning job and performing 200 shows a year was hard,' she said.

Despite her demanding schedule, Ms Stephensen later met her husband Michael who was willing to accept her hectic lifestyle.

Glowing: Ms Stephensen was never worried about returning to dance after pregnancy

Happy family: Despite her demanding schedule, Ms Stephensen later met her husband Michael who was willing to accept her hectic lifestyle

'It's all about timing. Often you meet people and it's not the right time, especially with touring, but when I met my husband he was really okay with the touring,' Ms Stephensen said.

There is no part time in a major dance company so when you go back you go back to six days a week, eight shows a week.

'We met through a friend and he's a freelance photographer which gives us flexibility. He was able to come up to Sydney to see me and he even came on our New York tour. Looking ahead to starting a family, we just thought we'd make it work.

Ms Stephensen had always wanted to be a mother, and with the Australian Ballet's maternity program she wasn't concerned about it impacting her career.

'These days we are so lucky with an amazing parental leave package which enables women to go and have a child and then come back to the stage,' she said.

Accepting: 'These days we are so lucky with an amazing parental leave package which enables women to go and have a child and then come back to the stage,' she said

'Since that policy came into place we have seen so many ballet babies born and it's amazing. You see the mums come back to the stage and the performances they give are just beyond. They were incredible before but come back infinitely better.

'Motherhood teaches you so much and it opens up this treasure box of new things that you explore and performing is so much about life experiences. Pregnancy is one of the most formative life experiences I've had and it informs so much of my work now.'

Ms Stephensen took her pregnancy as a time to reflect and didn't feel pressure to train throughout.

'I did some very easy classes most days until around 25 weeks when I didn't want to anymore. I took my pregnancy as a time to step back from the ballet and let it be about creating life,' she explained.

New woman: 'Motherhood teaches you so much and it opens up this treasure box of new things that you explore and performing is so much about life experiences,' she said

Throughout her pregnancy, Ms Stephensen continued pilates and worked on reception for the company so she was still involved as much as possible.

Once she gave birth to Jasper, she worked with a the company's medical team who make sure all new mothers take the right steps towards performing again.

'It's all very personalised and I wanted to take my time with Jasper, mainly because I wanted to spend as much time as I could with him,' Ms Stephensen said.

'A ballerina's life is very full on and when you go back to being a ballet dancer full time it is just as full on. There is no part time in a major dance company so when you go back you go back to six days a week, eight shows a week.

Full on: 'There is no part time in a major dance company so when you go back you go back to six days a week, eight shows a week,' she said

'I knew it was ahead of me but I was enjoying breastfeeding which I did for 11 months and Jasper was just thriving and I loved it so much.'

Ms Stephensen started pilates five months after giving birth, before starting classes again around three months later.

'I was rehearsing again at eight months and back on stage by nine months,' Ms Stephensen said.

'It seems quite quick when you think about it but it never felt rushed to me which is exactly what I wanted.'

'It never felt rushed': 'I was rehearsing again at eight months and back on stage by nine months,' Ms Stephensen said

Ms Stephensen, who is now back into full time dancing and is dancing Giselle on the regional tour, said has had a 'really nice first experience' with balancing motherhood and her career.

'We have had a couple of nannies so he is either with a nanny or my husband because he works from home,' she said.

'He's a great little baby and just goes with the flow. Next year he will go into daycare for some of that but with touring it's very changeable so we have a routine but it does need to work with our lifestyle.'

Jasper is often in the studio with Ms Stephensen and spends as much time with his mum as possible.

Emotive: Ms Stephensen, who hopes to have more children in the future, is grateful that she is able to balance her passion and family life

'Michael will bring Jasper in when he can so he's often in at lunch times and sometimes some of the other ballet babies are there too so they have a little play together and crawl around the studios,' Ms Stephensen said.

For me at 31 to stop dancing and throw away all of the experience and artistry I've just built up would be so sad.

'It's fantastic to be around because of all the music and there's lots of happy faces. Plus there are 79 dancers willing to babysit so that's always good too.

'It's amazing for them to grow up around arts. It's amazing that they can see people with such a passion for artistic pursuits and the arts are just so important. Plus he loves dancing around.'

Ms Stephensen, who said if Jasper shows an interest she would be more than happy to put him into a class, believes the Australian Ballet's Storytime Ballet is a great way for children to be introduced to the industry.

All smiles: 'It's the most rewarding experience and I feel almost self-indulgent that I get to explore all of this new life experience that is motherhood,' Ms Stephensen said

'It's made especially for children and it's an hour long interactive performance where kids are encouraged to come dressed up as their favourite characters,' she said.

'The Nutcracker is opening and it's so easy to follow and something children can engage with and be incredibly inspired by.

'It's a wonderful opportunity for children to have that light bulb moment in their little mind, that "wow", and maybe want to be up there or simply keep watching it for years to come.'

Ms Stephensen, who hopes to have more children in the future, is grateful that she is able to balance her passion and family life.

Making the most of it: With normal careers you have until you're 60 to progress but while some ballerinas dance into their forties now, the spectrum is still so much shorter,' she said

'Not long ago it meant stopping your career to have a baby and it's amazing how different things are now,' Ms Stephensen said.

'But while I'd love to have another child we are not ready yet as I'd like to dance a little bit more. With normal careers you have until you're 60 to progress but while some ballerinas dance into their forties now, the spectrum is still so much shorter.

'For me at 31 to stop dancing and throw away all of the experience and artistry I've just built up would be so sad.'

Back into it: Ms Stephensen is now back into full time dancing and is dancing Giselle (pictured) on the regional tour

Ms Stephensen hopes all female dancers feel confident enough to have a baby if they want to.

'It's the most rewarding experience and I feel almost self-indulgent that I get to explore all of this new life experience that is motherhood... the fact that you can put that into what you're doing on stage is amazing,' she said.

'Then at the end of the day you go back to your baby and it only makes you so much more valuable as a dancer.

'It's been the best thing I've ever done.'
For Jo Scott, her spiral into drug addiction began 16 years ago when her husband was tragically killed in a car crash.

His shock death, which left her caring for their three young children alone, made her angry at the world and desperate to numb the pain she was feeling.

At first she tried to keep busy, thinking time would heal her. But eventually, after her relationship following her husband's death broke down, she said she hit 'rock bottom'.

Jo Scott (above, two weeks before she quit using) became an ice addict after turning to the drug when her husband was killed

She moved to Townsville then turned her life around to become a personal trainer and own a gym (above, now in her gym)

VICTORIA'S ICE EPIDEMIC Last year, an investigation by the Police Association of Victoria exposed the town of Sale in Victoria as a town where ice had become a 'major problem'. In Sale, which has a population of around 12,000, it was reported that drug dealers were making ice in the back of cars to sell on the street and the problem was seeping into smaller country towns nearby, including Heyfield - which has a population of around 2000. Advertisement

'Grief caught up with me,' Ms Scott, now 45, told Daily Mail Australia. 'I started into this whole cycle of getting drunk a lot. Alcohol was the main one to start with, and then it lead into speed, and then into ice.'

Living in Heyfield, Victoria, at the time Ms Scott said that ice was easy to come by. This made it incredibly easy to slip into an addiction.

Ice was also a way for her to deal with her depression, which was so severe at the time that she attempted suicide.

'I was revived,' she explained, of her attempt. But afterwards she fell further into addiction.

She tried to get off the drug a couple of times, including once after she spent 10 days in jail for breaching bail conditions, but it was too difficult because of the availability of the drug.

'Id tried to get out but it was so available and before you know it I was back into it,' Ms Scott said.

'At the time my reasoning was while Im busy or while I'm high I cant feel things, that this is how I can cope.'

Although smiling in this photo, Ms Scott said she was battling with depression when it was taken. (She is pictured with one of her daughters)

Now she has had professional help for her depression, working with a psychologist and feeling better than ever

Despite occasional trouble with the police for possession of the drug, Ms Scott said that she never stole to maintain her habit or lied to her family, which helped her justify in her mind that what she was doing wasn't wrong or her fault.

'I was angry at the world, everything was everyone elses problem,' she explained. 'My family, I wanted them to see how hurt I was but they were all just angry with me.'

In 2013, it all became too much. After failed attempts to get clean, Ms Scott realised that she needed to leave Heyfield to have any real chance.

Her partner Warren had joined the army and moved to Sydney, but was soon to be posted to Townsville. The mum asked if she and her kids could move to Queensland with him for six months so she could get off ice.

'I was still on ice until I left,' she said. 'On the 18 January 2014 I arrived in Townsville, but I kept myself on it until I got there.'

'I slept for three days when I got there and then never looked back.'

In 2013, Ms Scott moved to Townsville and started focusing on working out instead of using drugs

She is very open with her clients about her past addictions, and helps people who have gone through things like alcoholism and bulimia

Ms Scott needed something positive to focus on, and started going to the gym.

'I decided that if I thought about ice that day, I would go to the gym,' she said. 'I did a 12 week challenge in July 2014 and when I won I got the bug.'

Only a year later Ms Scott was a qualified personal trainer and helping people who wanted to get fitter. She was so successful that by April 2016 she had opened her own gym, Optimal Body Fitness.

And the personal trainer is open with her clients about her battle with addiction, which she says helps those who are struggling with food or health problems.

'Ive got people I work with coming out of alcohol addiction and bulimia,' she explained. 'They realise they can get through it because what I went through.'

Ms Scott now has four employees and her program, which combines fitness, nutrition and psychology, is booked out.

Her gym is doing so well she has four employees and her program is booked out completely

Ms Scott says that the ice-addicted person she was isn't even recognisible to her anymore

Three years on, Ms Scott doesn't even recognise the person she was before when on ice.

'I was so angry. I thought "how dare my husband be taken from me, how dare I be left alone to care for the kids, f**k the world,"' she said. 'I didnt think it was my fault, I thought I was functioning well on it.'

'I dont see the old me as me anymore, I see it in the third person. Because Im so far from those emotions and feelings, and the way I lived back then seems out of this world. Its like Im watching a character in a movie.'

Her partner and her children have been incredibly supportive, and she says that just knowing they are proud of her is the best feeling she has.

And her advice for those struggling with addictions of their own, whether that be food, drugs, or something else, is simple and to the point.
Australian model and Instagram star, Mimi Elashiry, is usually seen in beachy bikini photoshoots or rocking her signature bohemian style at festivals around the country.

But what many of her followers don't know, is that the successful 21-year-old is also a classically trained ballerina and studied at The Ballet Class in Sydney.

On Thursday, the natural beauty had the opportunity to combine both of her passions as she danced inside the world's first life-size jewellery box to launch Pandora's new 'Rose' collection.

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Ballerina: Australian model and Instagram star, Mimi Elashiry, is usually seen in beachy bikini photoshoots or rocking her signature bohemian style at festivals around the country

Elegant: But what many of her followers don't know, is that the successful 21-year-old is also a classically trained ballerina and studied at The Ballet Class in Sydney

Stunning: The natural beauty had the opportunity to combine both of her passions as she danced inside a life-size jewellery box to launch Pandora's new 'Rose' collection

'I'm a massive fan of Pandora and have been for such a long time. My sister and I always got a little charm when we lost a tooth,' Mimi told Daily Mail Australia.

'Im obsessed with Pandora Rose; whether youre going for a bohemian, edgy, vintage or classic look, you can pair it with silver or gold, layer it up and really make it your own.

'The idea of being a ballerina is truly a dream come true. I've been dancing since I was six and while I model a lot I recently discovered that I just really need to keep dancing.'

Glowing: 'I'm a massive fan of Pandora and have been for such a long time. My sister and I always got a little charm when we lost a tooth,' Mimi told Daily Mail Australia

On trend: 'Im obsessed with Pandora Rose; whether youre going for a bohemian, edgy, vintage or classic look, you can pair it with silver or gold, layer it up and really make it your own,' she said

Mimi, who has close to 900,000 followers on Instagram, said it was amazing to be recognised as a dancer and to have the opportunity to perform as an 'ethereal ballerina' in Sydney's Pitt St Mall.

'I had an awesome choreographer and when I'm up there I'm just dancing in my own world... it's fantastic,' she said.

The bespoke ballet piece evoked a jewellery box dancer and Mimi also worked with Australian director, Gemma Lee, to create a new film called 'Pandora Make it Rose' which 'tells the story of Mimi's journey into a breath-taking Pandora Rose world.'

Proud: 'The idea of being a ballerina is truly a dream come true. I've been dancing since I was six and while I model I recently discovered that I just really need to keep dancing,' Mimi said

Touched: Mimi, who has close to 900,000 followers on Instagram , said it was amazing to be recognised as a dancer and to have the opportunity to perform as an 'ethereal ballerina'

Through her dance, Mimi wears bespoke costumes created by Australian dress designer to the stars, Cassandra Scott-Finn.

Named as 'one to watch' by former French Vogue editor Carine Roitfeld, the blogger and fashion designer is happy to see the industry embracing all kinds of models.

'Four to five years ago being shorter than 5'7 was a restriction but I've always done what I wanted and I didn't need an agent at that time to push me into the industry,' she said.

New project: The bespoke ballet piece evoked a jewellery box dancer and Mimi also worked with Australian director, Gemma Lee, to create a new film called 'Pandora Make it Rose'

Modern: 'I love the designs and the bohemian feel with all of the leaves and angel wings and organic shapes mixed in with the hearts and diamantes,' Mimi said

'If you have a dream or are interested in something social media now gives you the opportunity to share that with the world which gives you awesome individuality.'

Mimi said her enormous following and platform has opened her up to a number of incredible opportunities over the years.

'I definitely credit many of the opportunities to followers and without them I wouldn't have the support and interest I have now and my profile wouldn't be shared,' she said.

'I truly do thank my followers for everything.'

Follow your dream: Named as 'one to watch' by former French Vogue editor Carine Roitfeld, the blogger and fashion designer is happy to see the industry embracing all kinds of models

Superstar: 'If you have a dream or are interested in something social media now gives you the opportunity to share that with the world which gives you awesome individuality,' she said

Mimi is an advocate for only promoting and supporting brands and companies she relates to and hopes others follow in her footsteps.

'It might not be for everyone but I only align myself with brands I agree with and this then helps me keep my integrity. If you are doing things for followers or money then you lose your personality,' she said.

'People can't relate to you if you're not yourself and you need to have your own voice.'

Boho: Superstar: 'If you have a dream or are interested in something social media now gives you the opportunity to share that with the world,' she said

Genuine: Mimi is an advocate for only promoting and supporting brands and companies she relates to and hopes others follow in her footsteps

Mimi said this is why she partnered with Pandora.

'I love the designs and the bohemian feel with all of the leaves and angel wings and organic shapes mixed in with the hearts and diamantes,' Mimi said.

'I also love the trend of layering everything up and layering bangles and earrings and all of that. That suits my style very well.'
He's known for his quick wit and politically incorrect comments, but now it's been revealed that his famous 'gaffes' almost cost the Duke of Edinburgh his royal bride.

Speaking at the Chelenham Literary Festival, the Queen's biographer A.N. Wilson has revealed how courtiers warned the monarch not to marry Prince Philip because he was too 'funny'.

The Telegraph reported that royal aides were concerned that the outspoken naval officer was not the right match for the rather more serious and reserved Princess Elizabeth.

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The Queen's biographer A.N. Wilson has revealed how courtiers warned the monarch not to marry Prince Philip because he was too 'funny' to be a good match

Opening up about courtiers' reservations, Wilson explained: 'They said it for lots of reasons, but the fact is he was wrong.

'The Queen is very reserved, diligent person. He isn't. He was a naval officer and he was also quite funny.'

The Duke's unguarded comments including telling the President of Nigeria, who was wearing traditional robes: 'You look like youre ready for bed!

In 1995 in Scotland he asked a driving instructor how he kept 'the natives off the booze long enough to pass the test?'.

The then Princess Elizabeth leaves Westminster Abbey with her husband Prince Philip after their marriage ceremony in November 1947

The royal couple will celebrate their 70th wedding anniversary next year and the Queen has previously described the Duke as her 'strength and stay' throughout the years

And on a 1986 visit to China he told a British student: If you stay here much longer, you will go home with slitty eyes.'

It was previously revealed that King George's private secretary Sir Tommy Lascelles, felt Philip was rough, ill-mannered, uneducated and would probably not be faithful.

But Wilson praised the royal's sense of humour and said that he didn't consider his infamous comments to be 'gaffes'.

THE DUKE HASN'T LOST HIS SENSE OF HUMOUR When the Queen was presented with a fountain pen by Royal Mail staff for her 90th birthday, Prince Philip quipped 'are you sure you can afford it?'. It is not known if it was a reference to Royal Mail's falling profits or the usual 500 price tag of the pen. On a walkabout in Wales in June this year, the Duke informed a group of schoolchildren: 'You must have really good brains to speak Welsh.' In 2010 he asked a young Navy sea cadet instructor if she worked in a strip club. Last year, he asked women at Chadwell Heath Community Centre in east London: 'Who do you sponge off?' He also asked a train announcer at Birmingham New Street station is she spoke with an accent. He added: 'I suppose youve got to announce in an English accent so everyone can understand you.' Advertisement

'They are the kind of jokes a naval officer of a certain age might make,' he said. 'I think they are made rather wonderfully.'

The 13-year-old Princess Elizabeth, first met Philip as an 18-year-old cadet on a visit with her father George VI to Dartmouth Naval College.

She later told her friends that he looked like a Viking god.

Eight years later, they married at Westminster Abbey on November 20, 1947, four years before the Queen's coronation.

In a letter to the Queen Mother, after their marriage he admitted he has fallen in love 'completely and unreservedly.

The only thing in this world which is absolutely real to me, and my ambition, is to weld the two of us into a new combined existence that will not only be able to withstand the shocks directed at us but will also have a positive existence for the good, he said.
Shoppers have been left reeling after Tesco's decision to axe 200 much-loved products in a row with consumer goods giant Unilever over a 10 per cent price hike.

Customers seeking out popular items such as PG Tips teabags and Persil detergent are being faced with a 'currently not available' message on the retailer's website and empty shelves in stores.

But being forced to shop elsewhere could be used as an opportunity to save money.

FEMAIL compared eight of the popular Unilever products from the rest of the big five supermarkets - Waitrose, Asda, Morrisons and Sainsbury's - as well as Iceland to find the cheapest prices.

Surprisingly, shopping at Sainsbury's might be your best bet for a bargain with the supermarket stocking three of the lowest priced items.

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Customers are faced with a 'currently not available' message on many popular prodcuts at Tesco after Unilever withdrew 200 popular products in a row over a 10 per cent price hike

Persil Small & Mighty Biological Liquid - 25 Washes

Shopping around for this detergent is worth your while as you can save up to 4.00.

ASDA and Waitrose are selling it for 7.00, but you can snap it up for just 3.00 thanks to a special offer at Morrison's.

There's a small saving of 50p to be had at Iceland, or you can nab it for 5.50 at Sainsbury's.

Persil Small & Mighty Biological Liquid - 25 Washes cost 7 from Tesco but is currently available from Morrisons for just 3

Pot Noodle Chicken & Mushroom Flavour

Now that you can no longer get this comfort food guilty pleasure at Tesco, your best bet is to go to ASDA.

The retailer is currently offering chicken and mushroom flavour Pot Noodle for just 50p.

But shop at Morrisons, Iceland and Waitrose you'll end up paying double that for one pot, or 95p at Sainsbury's.

A Pot Noodle Chicken & Mushroom Flavour would have cost you 1 at Tesco but it's on offer for 50p at Asda

Ben & Jerry's Utter Peanut Butter Clutter Cookie Core Ice Cream

Shoppers will no doubt be disappointed to find another popular treat missing when they go to the freezer aisle at Tesco.

Waitrose, ASDA and Morrison's are selling Ben & Jerry's peanut butter flavour ice cream for around the 4 mark.

But you can save a few pennies on the frozen treat at Sainsbury's where it is just3.85.

Previously Tesco was selling Ben & Jerry's peanut butter flavour ice cream for 4.00, but Sainsbury's is stocking the frozen treat for 3.85

PG Tips Pyramid Tea Bags 80

No PG Tips could easily send a nation of tea lovers into a frenzy.

You'll pay around the 2.50 mark at Waitrose, Morrisons and Sainsbury's - give or take a few pence.

But if you're after a good deal, go to Iceland to pay 2 for a box of 80 tea bags, while ASDA is second best at 2.29.

Tesco was offering a 2.49 box of 80 PG Tips bags for 2, but you can still get the same deal at Iceland

Dove Anti-Perspirant Deodorant Roll-On Original

Shoppers may have to get used to not throwing their toiletries into the trollies at Tesco with Unilever making a large range of health and beauty products in addition to groceries.

Waitrose is selling it for 2, but you'll have to pay 2.40 at Morrisons and ASDA at 2.40.

The best place to pick up a bargain is Sainsbury's where it's on offer for just 1.50.

Sainsbury's customers can save 50p on a Dove roll-on that was 2.00 at Tesco

Hellmann's Real Mayonnaise 400g

If you're after a dollop of mayo for your sandwiches, Waitrose and ASDA are offering a jar of Hellman's for 1.89.

It's more pricey at Morrisons, where it will set you back 2.00 and it's not stocked at Iceland.

If you're after a saving, you'll get the best price at Sainsbury's where it costs 1.80.

If you're after a saving on Hellman's you'll get the best price at Sainsbury's where it costs 1.80, nine pence cheaper than the Tesco price

Bertolli Original Spread 500g

Frozen food giant Iceland is selling a tub of the olive oil based spread for 1.

Meanwhile, you will pay 80 pence more at ASDA, Waitrose and Sainsbury's.

Again, Morrisons is the most expensive at 2.36, more than double the Iceland price.

Iceland has a very decent saving of 80p on a 500g tub of Bertolli spread which was 1.80 at Tesco

Knorr Stock Cubes Chicken

Most of the other supermarkets are offering the eight chicken stock cubes for around .150.

Again, you'll pay the most at Morrisons where they're five pence more expensive.

The best deal is from Waitrose where the stock cubes are currently on offer for just 1.

Tesco was offering eight Knorr chicken stock cubes for 1.50, but you can get the same product from Waitrose for 1

Critics of the Unilever move claim the world's largest consumer goods manufacturer, which makes an estimated 2billion profit a year, is 'using Brexit as an excuse to raise prices'.

The Anglo-Dutch firm, which heavily campaigned against Brexit, claims it has been forced to increase prices as a result of the falling value of the pound in the wake of the referendum.

However Tesco has rejected the higher prices, prompting Unilever to halt deliveries to its stores.

It means popular Unilever products such as Marmite, Flora, Persil, Dove, PG Tips, Vaseline and Ben & Jerry's are no longer available on Tesco's website and will not be restocked when store shelves are empty.

The stand-off has left the supermarket facing a shortage of more than 200 brands including Surf detergent, Comfort fabric conditioner, Hellmann's mayonnaise, Pot Noodle and Chicken Tonight.
The Queen made quite an entrance on Thursday as she paid a visit to the Corps of Royal Engineers to celebrate their 300th anniversary.

Her Majesty visited Brompton Barracks in Chatham, Kent, where she met military personnel, inspect 140 troops and view examples of heavy specialist equipment used by soldiers.

Arriving in style in her Bentley - before transferring to her open-topped Range Rover for the parade -the monarch was flanked by military personnel, and wore a bright turquoise coat and matching dress with black velvet lining.

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Her Majesty paid a visit to the Corps of Royal Engineers on Thursday to celebrate their 300th anniversary, wearing a bright turquoise coat and matching dress with black velvet lining

The monarch arrived in style in her Range Rover flanked by military personnel before she met military personnel, inspected 140 troops and viewed examples of heavy specialist equipment

She was welcomed by the national anthem and salutes from senior officers. Following the parade, the Queen, who is the Colonel-in-Chief of the Corps of Royal Engineers, met military personnel and gave a short speech.

She told troops: 'It gives me great pleasure to be here today to see the Royal Engineer corp in Chatham, at this, the 300 year.

'I am delighted to be able to share with you this momentous moment in the history of the corp. Since my last visit in 2007 you have been at the forefront of innovation.'

The monarch, who turned 90 this year, also praised their work in Iraq and Afghanistan and said she wished 'every sapper, wherever they may be, all the success and good fortune for the future'.

The Queen makes an entrance in her chauffeur-driven car. After the parade, Her Majesty .who is the Colonel-in-Chief of the Corps of Royal Engineers, met military personnel from the Corps

Her Majesty dressed in a typically colourful ensemble trimmed with black velvet and feathers

After arriving at Brompton, Her Majesty gave a short speech, telling troops: 'It gives me great pleasure to be here today to see the Royal Engineer corp in Chatham, at this, the 300 year'

The Queen added: 'I am delighted to be able to share with you this momentous moment in the history of the corp. Since my last visit in 2007 you have been at the forefront of innovation'

After her speech, the Queen posed for pictures with the entire Corps outside the Officers Mess before attending a reception with Sappers and their families.

She was presented with a sundial from apprentices at the training centre - as well as two cuddly toys for Prince George and Princess Charlotte - before sitting down for lunch according to Kent Online.

The Queen was even given a special underwater salute by a team of divers.

The Queen was even given a special underwater salute by a team of divers (pictured: diver Clive Robertson)

The entire corps seemed keen to address Her Majesty including a team of divers

It wasn't just the divers who wanted to catch a glimpse of the Queen; crowds also lined the pavements outside to catch a glimpse of Her Majesty in her private car surrounded by police

Her Majesty last visited the corps at Brompton Barracks nine years ago.

During her 2007 visit, the Queen met groups of Sappers, inspected the Honour Guard, spoke to trainees and families and had her photograph taken with personnel.

She was accompanied on that occasion by the Chief Royal Engineer, General Sir Kevin O'Donoghue.

Today, crowds once again lined the pavements outside to catch a glimpse of Her Majesty in her private car surrounded by police on motorbikes.

The monarch, who turned 90 this year, also praised their work in Iraq and Afghanistan and wished 'every sapper, wherever they may be, all the success and good fortune for the future'

The Queen exits her vehicle on what is her first visit to the barracks in nine years. During her last visit the Queen inspected the Honour Guard, met groups of Sappers and spoke to trainees

Her Majesty makes her way onto the stage to give a speech to troops where she praised soliders' work in Iraq and Afghanistan

Officers salute the monarch as she leaves her Bentley before hopping into her Range Rover

The Queen arrived in a Bentley before transferring to a Range Rover for her historic visit

Staff salute Her Majesty as she gets back into the vehicle following her address

Following the formal parade, the Queen attended a reception with Sappers and their families

A gift fit for a Queen: Her Majesty was presented with a sundial from apprentices at the training centre - as well as two cuddly toys for Prince George and Princess Charlotte

Her Majesty speaks to troops in the Barracks following her address

The Queen inspects a map as she is shown around the barracks during her first visit in nine years

Her Majesty looks engrossed as she listens to an address at the Barracks following her speech

The Corps of Royal Engineers at Brompton Barracks celebrate their 300th anniversary this year

The Queen is introduced to the barracks' resident dog at the end of a busy morning in Chatham

The Queen poses for pictures with the entire Corps outside the Officers Mess

The Queen stands out among a sea of navy in her bright turquoise coat dress and hat

Historic visit: Her Majesty last visited the corps at Brompton Barracks nine years ago

The Queen also visited the barracks as long ago as May 1987, when she officially opened the Royal Engineers Museum.

The Royal Engineers will this year mark their tercentenary with a series of country wide events, celebrating a history of service throughout the world.

On the 26th May 1716 by Warrant of King George I, the Engineers and the Artillery were placed on separate establishments - and the Corps of Engineers was officially born.
Air quality is expected to be in the moderate range on Thursday. The air quality index is forecast to be 51, with ozone being the higher pollutant.For the full air quality report, including pollen and mold spore counts for today click here
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Chinese couples are flocking to London to have wedding photos taken with the capital's famous landmarks as a backdrop.

It is customary in China for couples to have their wedding photos taken before they are married and to show guests the images on cards and large screens on the big day.

Thanks to the capital's instantly recognizable landmarks, London is becoming an increasingly popular location for the pre-wedding shoots. The trip and extravagant photo shoot costs couples around 5,000.

Chinese couples are flocking to London to have wedding photos taken with the capital's famous landmarks as a backdrop. It's a custom for couples to have their wedding photos taken before they are married to show to guests on the big day

Echo Li and her fiance Charles Qian, who met in London, pose during a pre-wedding shoot next to the London Eye. Big Ben, Buckingham Palace and St Pauls' Cathedral are also favourite spots for pre-wedding snaps for Chinese couples to be taken

Charles Qian and his fiance Echo Li pose during a pre-wedding photography shoot opposite the Palace of Westminster. Photography studios such as J.R Studios in East London have seen business boom as the capital has become increasingly popular as a location for photography

These images show Charles Qian and his fiance Echo Li, both 28 from Shenzhen in China, on their photo shoot in the capital yesterday.

The couple met in the UK whilst they were studying in Preston and decided to come back to celebrate their marriage.

JR Studios in East London organised the photo shoot, which lasted 10 hours, at locations around London.

Charles and Echo's shoot, which took place at three locations, set them back 1350. The price included dress rental, London transportation as well as the beautiful touched-up images.

The studio also offers a 1700 package with four locations and a 2,700 two-day photo shoot, with one day in London and one outside. Cambridge, Oxford, or Brighton are all popular destinations.

Studio owner and manager Ray Wu of JR Studio says the costs for couples to travel to the UK is around 700-900 each and the couples pay around 200 per room per night on their hotel.

'Generally our couples would expect to spend at least 5,000 for the trip to the UK, including our photo shoot,' he says.

A phone box adds an extra London touch as Echo and Charles, from Shenzhen in China, pose by St Pauls' Cathedral

Echo Li and her fiance Charles Qian, are instructed on how to pose by photographer Dominic Wu during a pre-wedding photography shoot next the London Eye

Ray also told the BBC: There are more and more people coming to London for their wedding photos.

Last year alone I had 200 couple and I believe it will increase this year.

'They make albums and big canvases for friends to remember - as well as hanging on the wall.'

He added: Usually one of the couple used to live here or study here. So they come back for the shoot.'

Echo, from Shenzhen in China, chooses bouquets as she and her fiance Charles Qian prepare to have pre-wedding photographs taken next to London landmark

Echo waits for instruction from photographer Dominic Wu during a pre-wedding photography shoot on Westminster Bridge

Bride-to-be Echo Li passes her cardigan to an assistant during a pre-wedding photography shoot at St Paul's Cathedral

Big Ben, the London Eye, Buckingham Palace and St Paul's Cathedral are all favourite spots for the pre-wedding snaps to be taken.

Ray says their business boom thanks to London's increasing popularity on the Chinese wedding stage.

The studio provide the wedding outfits as well as the complete hair and make up works for the bride and groom.

The couples are then whisked away to be photographed in front of London's iconic landmarks.

In one session, the bride will change dresses several times. Echo chose three different gowns for her London shoot.

Echo explained that due to the hectic nature of Chinese weddings, there is never any time for images on the day.

Charles Qian and his fiance Echo Li pose during a pre-wedding photography shoot opposite the Palace of Westminster

Groom-to-be, Charles Qian, has his bow tie adjusted as his fiance Echo Li poses during a pre-wedding photography shoot

Tourists look on as Echo Li and her fiance Charles Qian walk in front of St Paul's Cathedral during a pre-wedding shoot

Echo Li (L)from Shenzhen in China looks in the mirror as has make-up applied in a studio before changing into a gown

Bride-to-be, Echo Li and her fiance Charles Qian, are assisted as they prepare to pose during a pre-wedding shoot

Echo Li has make-up applied in a studio before changing into a wedding a dress and having pre-wedding photographs taken

Dress assistant Susan Su walks with Echo Li (right) and her fiance Charles Qian as they make their way through an underground carpark to start their pre-wedding photography shoot at St Paul's Cathedral

Bride-to-be, Echo and her fiance Charles Qian, outside St Paul's Cathedral as tourists at the sight look on

Echo descends stairs to a carpark to get changed during a pre-wedding photography shoot at Westminster Bridge

Photographer Dominic Wu (centre, left) instructs bride-to-be, Echo during a wedding shoot at St Paul's Cathedral

Red dresses seemed to be rather common among the Chinese brides such is seen in this photo taken by JR Studio

Tower bridge proved to be a striking destination for many of the clients of the JR London studios with the scene proving particularly dramatic after dark

This bride removes her shoes in order to clamber upon the Embankment outside the Houses of Parliament

Westminster bridge acts as the perfect London backdrop for this young bride who beams before the camera

This couple have a picture perfect ending to their wedding as they walk hand in hand with Big Ben in the background

Keen to add extra flair to the London vibe this couple add a Union Jack flag as a prop to their wedding photos
Ivanka Trump has stood by her father Donald's side throughout his controversial election, but her good friend Wendi Murdoch is reminding others that she's not the one running for president.

The 47-year-old film producer spoke highly of Ivanka, 34, after she was asked about living in America and her longtime friendship with the GOP nominee's eldest daughter during what the reporter referred to as an 'especially crazy election'.

'Well, shes not running for office. Shes very impressive,' Wendi said in her interview with The Guardian. 'She has three children and she is teaching them Chinese. Its very nice.'

Friends forever: Wendi Murdoch (left) spoke highly of Ivanka Trump (right) and their friendship during a recent interview. The two are pictured at the 2016 Met Gala in May

She added: 'Weve been friendly for many years. I try to separate [the election] from that. She collects art, you know.'

Wendi agreed with artist Chinese artist Cai Guo-Qiang when he compared what Americans are experiencing this election season to the referendum in Britain during the joint interview.

However, Wendi has not publicly endorsed Donald or Hillary Clinton, and it appears that she is refusing to let politics get in the way of her longtime friendship with Ivanka.

Kind words: The 47-year-old film producer said Ivanka is 'very impressive', while pointing out that it is her father Donald who is running for office  not her

Close as can be: Wendi, who is pictured laughing with Ivanka at the US Open last month, also said that it is 'very nice' that the mother-of-three is teaching her children Chinese

The former wife of media mogul Rupert Murdoch even had a hand in reuniting Ivanka with her now-husband Jared Kushner after they briefly broke up in 2008 over religious reasons.

The pair reconciled and married the following year, with Ivanka converting to Judaism.

Wendi joined Ivanka and Jared on vacation in Croatia in August and a month later they were photographed laughing together at the US Open.

Over the summer, Ivanka expressed public support for her friend after she was featured in an article by Vogue, sharing an image from the magazine to help promote it.

Smiling for the camera: Ivanka and Wendi vacationed in Croatia together in August

Matchmaker: Wendi helped Ivanka reunite with her now-husband Jared Kushner. The couple are pictured walking to work together in July

'@WendiMurdoch is one of those friends that inspires you to work hard, be better and laugh louder,' Ivanka wrote on Instagram. 'She is a remarkable woman whose story was beautifully told in this months @voguemagazine.'

Ivanka also previously championed her friend in her own interview with the magazine.

'It's really a whirlwind with Wendi,' she said. 'I can't recall the last time I had a conversation with her that didn't conclude with her connecting me to four people who might become great friends or great business opportunities.'

Ivanka's father has come under-fire for his treatment of women after the release of shocking audio of Donald bragging about his attempts to seduce a married woman in September 2005.

Doting daughter: Ivanka has supported her father Donald throughout his controversial election. The GOP nominee is pictured introducing his proposed child care plan

Father-daughter moment: Ivanka can be seen kissing her dad at Sunday night's debate in St. Louis, Missouri

'You know Im automatically attracted to beautiful  I just start kissing them. Its like a magnet. Just kiss. I dont even wait,' he boasts in the clip. 'And when youre a star they let you do it. You can do anything. Grab them by the p***y. You can do anything.'

In a statement, Donald's wife Melania called her husband's words 'unacceptable and offensive' to her and added that they do 'not represent the man that I know'.

However, Ivanka has remained silent throughout the ongoing scandal.
When Cassandra Blackwell was asked by a man she was dating 'how many other guys' she was talking to she was stumped.

Rather than ignoring the question or lying, Cassandra, who works in retail management, decided to follow the example of a man known for his ability to dodge difficult questions.

In a flash of inspiration, the 22-year-old from Toronto, Canada, replied with Donald Trump's 'I will knock the hell out of ISIS' speech from Sunday's US presidential debate in a text that she shared on Twitter.

Direct: Cassandra Blackwell, 22, pictured, was stumped when a date sent her a text asking her whether she was speaking to other men

Avoidance tactics: Rather than answer him honestly - she was dating other men - she decided to avoid his question by adapting quotes by Trump from Sunday night's presidential debate

The man, who she had been 'casually dating' for around a month, asked her: 'How many other guys are you talking to? Haha.'

Starting her reply with the words 'we never said we were exclusive,' Cassandra adapted quotes from the Republican presidential candidate's response when he was asked about allegations of sexual assault against him.

Cassandra's message read: 'You know, when we have a world where Isis is chopping off heads, where you have them, frankly, drowning people in steel cages, where you have wars and horrible sights all over and you have so many bad things happening, this is like Medieval times.

'Can you imagine the people doing so well against us with Isis and they look at our country and see what's going on.

Confusing: Using portions of his answer about allegations of sexual assault from Sunday's debate, she replied to the man with quotes about Isis

Mixed results: While the man found it amusing at first, he lost patience when she would not answer his question. Twitter users praised her tactics after she shared the conversation online

'Yes, I am talking to other men and I'm very embarrassed by it but it's one of those things. I will knock the hell out of Isis.'

Sharing a screengrab of the exchange on Twitter, she wrote: 'Listen. I'm not saying Trump's not a moron. But it works.'

Cassandra, who is currently living in Montreal, said the love interest found her politically-fueled messages funny, but later lost patience and broke off contact.

She said she met the man on Tinder about a month ago but that it was not serious because she is only in the city temporarily.

She told Daily Mail Online: 'Initially he was humored by my responses, we'd been talking about the debate that day a lot, but eventually he got annoyed that i wasn't answering him and stopped texting me.

Helping hand: Eventually the man stopped replying to Cassandra's Trump-inspired messages - which is exactly what she had been hoping would happen

'I probably won't see him again as he doesn't seem to be OK with me dating other people even though leading up to this I'd been extremely transparent about it.'

Although the intended subject of the message was not impressed, Twitter users loved it.

Cassandra's tweet has been liked more than 9,000 times and re-tweeted by more than 3,000 users.

As a Canadian citizen Cassandra cannot vote in the US presidential election, but she said if she could she would vote for his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton.

She said: 'He's a monster. He's racist and misogynistic and represents all of the worst parts of our society.
Twins who were born four months early after a five-day labour were saved after being kept in bubble wrap.

Isabelle and Fletcher Salloum were not expected to survive after arriving at just 24 weeks  before the UK abortion cut-off limit.

But they were covered by doctors in the everyday material shortly after birth to keep them warm and retain their body heat.

Both the twins, from Southwick, West Sussex, developed chronic lung disease, a heart-related illness and a tissue-eating bug.

Despite everything they have faced, the pair are now 19 months old and are deemed to be healthy by doctors.

Isabelle and Fletcher Salloum, from Southwick, West Sussex, were not expected to survive after arriving at just 24 weeks  before the UK abortion cut-off limit. They were born after their parents tried to conceive for more than seven years

Their delighted parents, who conceived them after two rounds of NHS-funded IVF treatment following seven years of trying, have released pictures of them then and now in a bid to give other parents of premature babies hope.

Mother Alexa, 33, said: 'They really are amazing. Theyre well worth all the heartache and five days of labour.

'Now they are 19 months old but if theyd have been born when they were supposed to be theyd be 15 months.

'Its amazing to think they are doing so well. They took seven years to arrive but couldn't wait to come early.'

They were covered by doctors in bubble wrap shortly after birth to keep them warm and retain their body heat (Isabelle pictured in bubble wrap)

They were took to the neo-natal intensive care unit straight away where they were put in incubators (Fletcher pictured in bubble wrap)

The twins were due in July 2015 - but in March, at exactly 24 weeks gone, Mrs Salloum's waters broke.

She was taken to hospital by her husband, Richard, 39, where doctors suspected a water infection.

However, they soon discovered she was 2cm dilated and the babies were on their way.

Medics then blue-lighted her to the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton where she was given drugs in a bid to halt labour.

She said: 'I was ordered to take total bed-rest. People would visit me and I would be contracting.

'Thankfully, Richard and I are both cheerful and take things as they are, so were calm.'

Both the twins developed chronic lung disease, a rare heart condition and a tissue-eating bug as a result of being born prematurely

Isabelle, who weighed just 1lb 7oz at birth  an ounce smaller than her brother  underwent six operations and suffered a brain bleed. She had a three-hour operation to fit a stoma bag after the tissue in her tiny stomach started dying when she was just four weeks old

While her big brother contracted the same tissue-death bug three times in a row but was treated with antiobiotics

After five days in labour, the babies decided they would no longer wait and she gave birth.

Fletcher arrived first but he didn't cry - which the family later found out was because he wasn't breathing.

Then Isabelle come out and started crying as both were rushed to neo-natal intensive care.

Here the pair were wrapped in bubble wrap to allow them to stay warm and retain their body heat.

Extended periods of cold can lead to harmful side effects in premature babies, such as respiratory diseases and hypothermia.

It wasnt until 12 hours later that Mrs Salloum was allowed to see her babies for the first time.

In incubators, they were critically ill and had numerous problems.

Both were suffering from chronic lung disease, common in premature babies, and a heart-related illness called PDA.

This is when abnormal blood flow occurs between two of the major arteries connected to the heart.

They also both suffered from necrotizing enterocolitis, where portions of the bowel undergo tissue death.

Despite everything they have faced, the pair are now 19 months old and are deemed to be healthy by doctors

Mother Alexa, 33, said: 'They really are amazing. Theyre well worth all the heartache and five days of labour' (pictured with her husband, Richard, 39)

Isabelle, who weighed just 1lb 7oz at birth  an ounce smaller than her brother  underwent six operations and suffered a brain bleed.

She had a three-hour operation to fit a stoma bag after the tissue in her tiny stomach started dying when she was just four weeks old.

WHY WAS BUBBLE WRAP USED? Temperature control is critical for newborn babies to prevent illness and developmental issues. Extended periods of cold can lead to harmful side effects in babies which include hypoglycaemia, respiratory distress and failure to gain weight. Preventing hypothermia is important to survival and long-term outcome in neonates, doctors say. But premature babies are more at risk of hypothermia. Bubble wrap provides an insulation layer to prevent heat loss from convective air currents. The bubbles placed downwards maximise the air trapped between the sheet and the newborn baby. Source: GOSH Advertisement

Meanwhile, her big brother, contracted the same tissue-death bug three times in a row but was treated with antiobiotics.

Isabelle also needed an eye operation as she had developed a problem with her retina.

Over the next few weeks she also had surgery to fit a BROVIAC line, similar to a Hickman line, to enable fluids to enter her.

But gradually the twins conditions improved and four months later - around the time he was actually due  Fletcher was allowed home.

A month later, Isabelle followed and they were reunited.

Their development has been slightly delayed and Isabelle has since been diagnosed with cerebral palsy, but overall they are coming on leaps and bounds.

The family will be forever indebted to the Trevor Mann Baby Unit at the hospital the twins were born.

The charity provided the parents with accommodation near the twins when they were in hospital.
Hormone treatments taken by thousands of men with prostate cancer could double their risk of developing dementia, research suggests.

Roughly 18,000 men in Britain start taking hormone pills or injections every year - nearly 40 per cent of the 47,000 men diagnosed with prostate cancer.

The treatments work by lowering levels of testosterone, a hormone which is normally harmless but in prostate cancer patients can drive the growth of tumours.

The therapy is a standard treatment for men whose cancers have started to spread and cannot be eliminated by surgery or radiotherapy alone.

Androgen Deprivation Therapy - which shuts down the body's main supply of testosterone - doubles the risk of dementia within five years, researchers found

But a study of nearly 9,300 patients in the US found that men treated with hormone therapies were more than twice as likely to develop Alzheimer's and other forms of dementia within five years.

The participants, who had an average age of 67, had a 7.9 per cent chance of being diagnosed with dementia if they were on hormone treatments.

Men who did not receive hormone treatments had only a 3.5 per cent of dementia.

Lead researcher Dr Nigam Shah, from Stanford University in California, said: 'The risk is real, and depending on the prior dementia history of the patient, we may want to consider alternative treatment.'

The findings, published in the journal JAMA Oncology, showed that men aged 70 and older who had been on hormone treatments for at least 12 months were most at risk.

The scientists suspect that hormone treatments drive dementia risk because testosterone protects brain cells.

When testosterone levels are driven down - reducing the cancer risk - it may leave brain cells exposed, meaning dementia is more likely to develop.

The most common form of hormone therapy used in the UK is a drug called goserelin, sold under the brand name Zoladex, which is injected.

It is a standard treatment for men whose cancers have started to spread and cannot be eliminated by surgery or radiotherapy alone

It interferes with signals from the brain that instruct the testicles to make testosterone.

The scientists urged prostate cancer patients receiving hormone therapy not to change their treatment without consulting their doctors.

Co-author Dr Kevin Nead, from the University of Pennsylvania, US, said: 'I was surprised at how ubiquitous the effects on all types of dementia were, but I would definitely not alter clinical care based on our results.'

He said more research was needed to look at the link between hormone treatments and dementia and identify what kinds of patients might be most at risk.

THE TEST THAT SAVED BEN STILLER'S LIFE Ben Stiller's prostate cancer battle brought the disease back into the spotlight and with it, the debate over whether men should be offered routine screening. He revealed his tumour had been growing for five years and credited the prostate-specific antigen (PSA) tests he had done with saving his life. The Hollywood actor revealed he was diagnosed with an 'aggressive' form of cancer two years ago - and secretly had surgery to remove his prostate. By September that year, he was told he was cancer-free. Now, he is urging men to speak to their doctors about being tested at an earlier age. Advertisement

Male hormones are known to play a role in the health and growth of neurons, which may help explain the association, said the scientists.

Dr Matthew Hobbs, deputy director of research at the charity Prostate Cancer UK said: 'Hormone therapy is a highly effective treatment for prostate cancer and can keep the disease at bay for many years.

'However, all prostate cancer treatments can result in side effects and so it's vital that men speak with their consultant to weigh up the benefits and risks of all available treatments so that they can make the right choice for them.

'Although this research suggests that there may be a link between hormone therapy and dementia, it's very hard to draw clear cut conclusions from studies like these and further research is needed to confirm the findings.

'Men having treatment for prostate cancer are likely to be living with other health problems which may also increase their risk of dementia. No man should stop taking hormone therapy based on these findings.'

Dr Laura Phipps of Alzheimers Research UK, said: 'While these results suggest a link between androgen deprivation therapy and an increased risk of dementia, they do not show that ADT is definitely causing this increased risk.

'We need to better understand the impact of sex hormones in the brain in diseases like Alzheimers to delve deeper into the possible reasons for this link.
Women need to be healthier before they conceive or risk their child developing a host of health problems, experts have warned.

Babies are being put at risk of brain damage, stroke, heart attack or asthma in adulthood because their mother was obese, scientists say.

A series of studies suggest the problem begins in the womb - with the time before couples begin a family representing a 'missed opportunity' to tackle it.

Research has also shown youngsters are more likely to pile on the pounds if their parents were overweight before they were born.

Leading doctors argue a new approach is needed to motivate future parents to live a healthier lifestyle.

Mothers-to-be should be leading healthier lifestyles before they conceive to reduce the amount of childhood obesity, a study has found

There is now a wealth of evidence the risk of obesity and its associated conditions, such as heart disease diabetes and some cancers, could impact the developing baby.

In turn, when the child becomes a young adult they may pass the risk of obesity on to their children.

Many young people, whilst appearing outwardly healthy, are nonetheless on a risky path to obesity and chronic disease and more likely to pass this risk to their children, the researchers warn.

Far from helping them to prepare and plan for pregnancy and parenthood, many public health programmes assume their needs are similar to the general population and require no special measures or provisions.

Professor Mark Hanson, of the University of Southampton, urged an initiative that engages parents to be and encourages them to be part of the solution.

Engaging future parents in leading healthier lives will not only promote their health later, but will give their children a healthier start to life, they say.

Professor Hanson said: 'The approach needed is both top down and bottom up, but even more importantly requires something in between which young people can help to create themselves.

'If at present many young people do not seem to care about their health or view it as a low priority, perhaps they have not been given clear information about what they can do to optimise their health for themselves and their children.

'All societies owe their adolescents the chance to make their future healthier.

Almost a third of British children are now overweight or obese with half of women classed as overweight when they conceive

'Additionally, the political leaders who have committed to the new Global Strategy for Women's, Children's and Adolescents' Health must give adolescent health priority in national health strategies, plans and budgets.

'Only these actions will enable the transformation required.'

Tam Fry, patron of the Child Growth Foundation, said five years ago he warned the Royal Society of Medicine about the problem in an address to eminent gynaecologists entitled 'Get In Shape For Serious Sex.'

He said: 'I am furious about this because the Government is doing nothing, and neither are the royal colleges.

'A fifth of women are obese when they become pregnant and half are overweight, and no one is flagging this up. Theresa May ignored it in her Childhood Obesity Strategy.

'It is a fact that most women end up wanting to have a baby and they must be taught from childbearing age when they are still in school about the importance of staying in shape not just for themselves but for any future, desired children.

'This should start at 12 or 13, even though they may not have a child for another fifteen years or more, if we are to raise awareness.

A new study suggests the problem begins in the womb - with the time before couples begin a family representing a 'missed opportunity' to tackle it

Mr Fry, who is also a spokesperson for the National Obesity Forum and an expert advisory team member of Action On Sugar, said: 'The researchers are right, obesity is a vicious circle which is being hand down the generations.'

The four papers on Maternal Obesity were launched at a conference in Munich today

and also explore trends in the global prevalence of obesity among women and their clinical management especially during pregnancy when the risks of conditions such as pre-eclampsia, high blood pressure and gestational diabetes are major concerns.

Lead author Professor Lucilla Poston, head of division of Women's Health at King's College London, said: 'Most women with obesity who intend to conceive are not aware of the risks of infertility or complications.

'Obesity challenges the health of the mother and has much wider and long-lasting consequences than are generally appreciated by either health professionals or women themselves.

'A pragmatic solution is required on a global scale, particularly in low-income and middle income countries where we see a rapidly rising problem.'

The researchers also look at the range of effects maternal obesity can have on the child including greater fat tissue, increased risk of allergies and effects on brain and behavioural development, such as autism and ADHD.
A rare group of children is immune to AIDS, scientists believe.

The 170 boys and girls in South Africa are known as 'non-progressors'.

They were all born with HIV, after being infected in the womb, and still have extremely high levels of the disease in their blood.

But they are completely healthy.

Most importantly, their infection has not made the natural progression to AIDS - and doctors believe it never will, even without antiretroviral (ART) drugs.

The 170 boys and girls in South Africa are known as 'non-progressors'. They were all born with HIV, and still have extremely high levels of the disease. But they are completely healthy

WHY ARE THESE KIDS RESISTANT TO AIDS? Scientists have identified a group of 170 'non-progressors' in South Africa. The children are all aged over five years old, and they were all born with HIV. However, scientists say their disease will never develop into AIDS - even without antiretroviral therapy, the standard treatment for patients. These children have a uniquely weak immune system. It means there are not enough immune cells for the HIV virus to infect and destroy to proliferate itself. They also have lower levels of certain a receptor protein on cells. Normally, the HIV virus accesses cells through this protein (which is called CCR5). But without it, there are few - if any routes for the infection to take to proliferate. Advertisement

The phenomenon, explained in a report by the University of Oxford on Thursday, could seem to defy logic.

HIV attacks a sufferer's immune system, leaving them open to infections, and causing their disease to develop into AIDS.

But these children, all over the age of five, have a uniquely weak immune system.

While that may seem to be dangerous, the report's lead researcher Dr Philip Goulder explains it is this biological quirk that means they have an almost zero per cent chance of contracting AIDS.

Essentially there are not enough immune cells for the virus to infect and destroy, which is the way it grows.

That is exactly what antiretroviral drugs are designed to do - suppress the immune system to deprive HIV of fuel.

'The critical factor was that they had very low levels of immune activation,' Professor Goulder said.

'We saw a failure of HIV to activate the immune system.

'It's difficult for the virus to get into [their immune cells], so they remain relatively unscathed.'

Professor Goulder and his colleagues have been monitoring blood samples of HIV patients for years, and found that just five per cent of children are non-progressors.

Their research shows these 'non-progressors' have lower levels of certain a receptor protein on cells.

Normally, the HIV virus accesses cells through this protein (which is called CCR5).

But without it, there are few - if any routes for the infection to take to proliferate.

Like all sufferers, these children will soon be put on ART, since the UN changed its guidelines to say all children with HIV need to take medication.

But Professor Goulder explains that they don't need it.

...AS U.S. SCIENTISTS CLAIM THEY ARE NEAR TO A 'CURE' FOR HIV

by Reuters

His report comes as National Institute of Health researchers reveal they are close to reaching a 'functional cure' for HIV.

The new drug combination helped stave off a monkey version of HIV for nearly two years after stopping all treatments.

It raised hopes for a functional cure for HIV.

The treatment involved standard antiretroviral therapy, plus an experimental antibody that hits the same target as Takeda Pharmaceutical's Entyvio, a drug approved in more than 50 countries for ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease.

The findings, published Thursday in the journal Science, are promising enough that scientists at the National Institutes of Health, which funded the research, have already begun testing the Takeda drug, known generically as vedolizumab, in people newly infected with HIV.

A new drug combination helped stave off a monkey version of HIV (pictured) for nearly two years after stopping all treatments

'The experimental treatment regimen appears to have given the immune systems of the monkeys the necessary boost to put the virus into sustained remission,' said Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious diseases, part of the NIH, who co-led the study.

Sustained remission - known as a 'functional cure' - could have sweeping implications for people infected with the human immunodeficiency virus or HIV, which attacks the immune system.

Highly effective treatments known as antiretroviral therapy push the virus down to undetectable levels in the blood, but they must be taken every day over a person's lifetime to remain effective, said Aftab Ansari of Emory University School of Medicine who co-lead the study.

Ansari said the study was based on the understanding that in the early days of infection, HIV attacks a specific class of immune cells that congregate in large quantities in the gut.

They theorized that if they could protect these immune cells, they could buy the immune system enough time to mount an effective response.

To do this, the team tested an antibody that blocks a protein called alpha-4/beta-7 integrin that HIV uses to attack immune cells in the gut.

For the study, they infected 18 monkeys with simian immunodeficiency virus or SIV, the monkey version of HIV.

The experimental treatment regimen appears to have put the virus into sustained remission Dr Anthony Fauci, NIH's infectious diseases chief

They then treated all of the animals with ART for 90 days, and, as it does in humans, the ART controlled the virus, reducing it to undetectable levels.

Antiretroviral drugs used in this stage of the experiment included Gilead's tenofovir and emtricitabine, sold in a combination drug for people as Truvada, and a Merck integrase inhibitor known as L-870812.

In 11 monkeys, the scientists then gave infusions of the antibody for 23 weeks, and seven monkeys got a placebo. Three of the 11 monkeys developed a reaction to the treatment and had to stop the therapy.

In the eight monkeys that got the treatment, six initially showed signs that SIV was rebounding, but eventually their immune systems were able to control the virus. In two others, the virus never rebounded.

All eight have continued to suppress SIV to undetectable levels for up to 23 months after all treatment stopped. In the control group, SIV rebounded and all seven animals died.

The study did not look at whether the monkeys were still able to transmit the virus, but studies in people have shown that reducing HIV to undetectable levels cuts transmission rates by nearly 100 percent.

Ansari said the study is promising because it could eventually lead to a treatment for HIV in people that would not require a lifetime of ART therapy.

Scientists have recently focused on efforts to cure HIV, reducing the burden of lifelong treatment, but prior efforts have been frustrated by the HIV virus' ability to form hidden reservoirs that replenish the virus when treatments are halted.

In one dramatic case, Timothy Ray Brown, the so-called 'Berlin patient,' was cured of HIV after an elaborate treatment for leukemia in 2007 that involved the destruction of his immune system and a stem cell transplant from a donor with a rare genetic mutation that resists HIV infection.

Ansari cautioned that not all treatments that work in monkeys will work in people. He said the findings are still very early, and said many more experiments are needed to understand why the antibody protected the monkeys.

Still, he said Takeda's antibody vedolizumab is 'identical' to the one the team used on the monkeys.

NIH researchers already have begun a study to see if a 30-week course of Takeda's drug vedolizumab is safe and helps control HIV when patients are temporarily taken off conventional ART treatments.

Preliminary results are expected by the end of 2017 with further data becoming available into 2018.

If proven safe, the drug would need to be studied in larger trials to prove it is also effective.
LATEST ON ZIKA: WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT THE VIRUS

HOW DO PEOPLE GET IT?

MOSQUITO BITES

Zika is transmitted to people through the bite of infected female mosquitoes, primarily the Aedes aegypti mosquito.

It is the same type that spreads dengue, chikungunya and yellow fever.

The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) said Aedes aegypti mosquitoes are found in all countries in the Americas except Canada and continental Chile.

Zika will likely reach all countries and territories of the region where Aedes mosquitoes are found.

SEX

The virus can also be transmitted through sex, from either a male or female partner who has been infected.

BLOOD TRANSFUSION

A few cases of apparent infection via blood transfusion have been reported.

PREGNANCY

A mother can pass the virus to her unborn fetus.

Current research indicates the greatest microcephaly risk is associated with infection during the first trimester of pregnancy, but health officials have warned an impact could be seen in later weeks.

Recent studies have shown evidence of Zika in amniotic fluid, placenta and fetal brain tissue.

HOW DO YOU TREAT ZIKA?

There is no treatment or vaccine for Zika infection.

Companies and scientists are racing to develop a safe and effective vaccine for Zika.

However, a preventative shot is not expected to be ready for widespread use for at least two or three years.

WHAT ARE THE DANGERS?

BIRTH DEFECTS

Microcephaly

The CDC concluded that infection with the Zika virus in pregnant women is a cause of the birth defect microcephaly.

Microcephaly is a condition defined by unusually small heads that can result in developmental problems, and other severe brain abnormalities in babies.

The CDC said that since the causal relationship had been established, several important questions must still be answered with studies that could take years.

The World Health Organization in an updated assessment said the 'most likely explanation' is that Zika virus infection during pregnancy is a cause of congenital brain abnormalities including microcephaly.

Brazil recently reported 1,949 confirmed cases of microcephaly believed to be linked to Zika infections in pregnant women.

It is investigating more than 3,030 suspected cases of microcephaly.

Guillain-Barre syndrome

The WHO also updated its guidelines to say the infection is a trigger of Guillain-Barre syndrome (GBS), a rare neurological disorder that can result in paralysis.

Its previous statement, based on a rapid assessment of evidence, said there was strong scientific consensus that Zika virus caused GBS, microcephaly and other neurological disorders.

WHAT ARE THE SYMPTOMS?

People infected with Zika may have a mild fever, skin rash, conjunctivitis, muscle and joint pain and fatigue that can last for two to seven days.

But as many as 80 per cent of people infected never develop symptoms.

HOW CAN ZIKA BE CONTAINED?

Efforts to control the spread of the virus focus on eliminating mosquito breeding sites and taking precautions against mosquito bites such as using insect repellent and mosquito nets.

U.S. and international health officials have advised pregnant women to avoid travel to Latin American and Caribbean countries, sections of Miami, Florida in the United States and Singapore where they may be exposed to Zika.

They are also advising that men and women who have traveled to Zika outbreak areas use condoms or abstain from sex for six months to prevent sexual transmission of the virus.

HOW WIDESPREAD IS THE OUTBREAK?

Active Zika outbreaks have been reported in at least 59 countries or territories, most of them in the Americas, according to the CDC. Brazil has been the country most affected.

Africa: 1 country

Cape Verde

Americas: 49 countries

Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Aruba, The Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bolivia, Bonaire, Brazil, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Curacao, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, French Guiana, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Martinique, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Saba, Puerto Rico, Saint Barthelmy, Saint Lucia, Saint Martin, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Saint Eustatius, St. Maarten, St. Kitts and Nevis, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, Turks and Caicos, United States, U.S. Virgin Islands, Venezuela.

Asia: 1 country

Singapore

Oceania/Pacific Islands: 8 countries

American Samoa, Fiji, Kosrae, Federated States of Micronesia, Marshall Islands, New Caledonia, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Tonga.

HISTORY OF ZIKA

The Zika virus is found in tropical locales with large mosquito populations.

Outbreaks of Zika have been recorded in Africa, the Americas, Southern Asia and the Western Pacific.

The virus was first identified in Uganda in 1947 in rhesus monkeys and was first identified in people in 1952 in Uganda and Tanzania, according to the WHO.

ANY OTHER ZIKA-RELATED COMPLICATIONS?

Zika has also been associated with other neurological disorders, including serious brain and spinal cord infections.

The long-term health consequences of Zika infection are unclear.
ORSON WELLES: ONE-MAN BAND by Simon Callow

ORSON WELLES: ONE-MAN BAND

by Simon Callow

(Vintage 12.99)

Just like Shakespeares Sir John Falstaff, the character he played in his great film, Chimes At Midnight, Orson Welles was an immense figure in every way: vast of ego and girth, with an expansive multiplicity of talents.

Simon Callows multi-volume biography of the wayward genius is the equal of its subject in sheer heft. The third volume (of a planned four) begins in 1947, when Welles, short of money after a Broadway flop, left America for Europe, where he was to spend the next 20 years.

Those years, though haunted by the pressing financial need to take dreadful roles in dreadful films, produced some unforgettable work: the role of Harry Lime in Carol Reeds The Third Man, and the films Touch Of Evil  and Chimes At Midnight.

Callows knowledge is encyclopaedic, his affection for his brilliant, impossible subject palpable, and his bravura writing a perfect match for his subject.

1966: THE YEAR THE DECADE EXPLODED by Jon Savage

1966: THE YEAR THE DECADE EXPLODED

by Jon Savage

(Faber 12.99)

There are certain years in which the seeds of social change seem to germinate, and 1966 was one of them.

Jon Savage observes that, the year began in pop and ended with rock, but it was a moment when music became not merely the sound- track to life, but life itself. A ferment of new movements was bubbling: civil rights, feminism, CND and the growing resistance to the war in Vietnam.

Music both reflected the counter-culture and helped to drive it. In 12 essays, each based on a record released in the corresponding month, Savage explores the themes suggested by the music and current events of that month, from Simon & Garfunkels The Sound Of Silence in January to Tom Joness Green, Green Grass Of Home, which went to No 1 in December.

A virtuoso fusion of music writing and social history, this is a vastly entertaining snapshot of a turbulent year.

THE CABARET OF PLANTS by Richard Mabey

THE CABARET OF PLANTS

by Richard Mabey

(Profile 9.99)

We think of plants, writes Richard Mabey, as utilitarian and decorative objects.

They are pleasant to have around, but dont capture our imagination in the way animals do.

Mabeys latest book is a challenge to the view of vegetation as a mere adjunct to landscape. Its a story about plants as the authors of their own lives, he explains. Plants have agendas of their own.

This may seem an alarming prospect (the inexorable march of Japanese knotweed springs to mind), but Mabeys enthusiasm for the stories of flora is infectious.

He finds enchantment in everything from the humble forget-me-not, beloved by the Romantic poets, to the carnivorous Venus flytrap, discovered in the Carolina swamps, where its Native American name was, wonderfully, tipitiwitchet.
BOOK OF THE WEEK

BLITZED: DRUGS IN NAZI GERMANY

by Norman Ohler, translated by Shaun Whiteside (Allen Lane 20)

The pill-poppers were ecstatic as they crammed the drugs into their mouths and washed them down with a gulp of beer.

The rush was almost instantaneous. Euphoria, they reported back later, alertness, freshness, intensification of performance, thirst for action.

They couldnt get enough of their doses of methamphetamine, the upper, which today is commonly known as crystal meth. They didnt need sleep. They buzzed all over. Im wide awake. My heartbeat thunders in my ears. Everything becomes immaterial and abstract. The light is so bright I can hardly bear the brilliance.

'Hitler (pictured above) was increasingly pumping himself full of weird substances to keep his flagging health from caving in, all concocted by his personal doctor, Theodor Morell, and injected into the Fuhrer many times a day'

On the surface, this all sounds like a modern scene, a snapshot from a 21st-century rave party or rock concert, where youngsters blow their minds on illegal chemical stimulants. But if you thought that, then you couldnt be more wrong.

Because, astonishingly, these descriptions of drug-taking are from soldiers and airmen of Nazi Germany as they invaded and conquered Poland in a lightning-swift attack back in 1939.

As the tanks, troops and planes swarmed across the border, there was no time for rest. Medical officers doled out performance-enhancing, mind-bending tablets by the bucket-load to keep men awake, alert and focused.

It has long been known that figures at the top of the Nazi hierarchy were serious drug-takers. The Luftwaffe chief, Hermann Goering, was addicted to morphine, and the Fuhrer himself had massive doses of stimulants injected into him on a daily basis.

But much the same, it now seems, went for those they commanded. Poland fell in a matter of days to Nazi troops high on the German-invented, factory-produced amphetamine called Pervitin.

The tablets tasted horrible  repellently bitter and floury, according to one soldier as he chewed his three at a time  but were so effective in overcoming fatigue and delivering super-human self-confidence that the distinctive orange and blue tubes they came in were every bit as essential a piece of kit as grenades and rifles.

According to this book by German author Norman Ohler, the whole of the Third Reich was awash with narcotics. The apt title of Blitzed sums up how drugged up he believes that nation was as it fought and lost World War II.

National Socialism, he writes, was toxic in the truest sense of the word. It gave the world a chemical legacy that still affects us today, a poison that refuses to disappear.

Addicted: Luftwaffe chief Hermann Goering (above)

The Nazis came to power, dont forget, claiming the moral high ground over the decadent, drug-fuelled years of Germanys Weimar Republic, in which actresses sipped cocktails of chloroform and ether, and close to half of Berlins doctors were said to be morphine addicts. Hitler and his gang were clean, they insisted, declaring a war on hard drugs and clamping down on seductive poisons such as heroin and cocaine and the degenerates who used them.

But a blind eye was turned to other dangerous narcotics. At the Temmler pharmaceuticals factory near Berlin, chemists turned out synthetic happy pills by the millions. Their active ingredient was an artificial form of adrenalin, which acted like a firework going off in the brain.

It upped energy levels, gave confidence, boosted libido. Pretty soon in booming Germany, everyone in industry, business or at home was upping his or her game by downing pills. They worked on menopausal women, new mums with the baby blues and hay fever sufferers. You could even buy chocolates that were spiked with it. Side-effects from prolonged use  listlessness, joylessness and depression  were downplayed. And when the country went to war in 1939 and into situations of even greater stress, naturally the drug went, too.

Soldier Heinrich Boll (later a Nobel laureate in literature) wrote home from the front line asking his parents to send him a bit of bacon, cigarettes and some Pervitin.

Senior military doctors were big fans. Excellent for rousing a weary squad, wrote one. Those in combat agreed. The drug switched off inhibitions as well as fatigue. Gruesome tasks were more easily done.

Its positives in the Poland campaign were an argument for its use in Hitlers next blitzkrieg attack  the invasion of Belgium and France in May 1940.

Three weeks before it was launched, a so-called stimulant decree went out to field regiments: one tablet a day and two at night and a man could go for 24 hours or more without sleep. The only side-effect might be belligerence  and what was wrong with that?

The apt title of Blitzed sums up how drugged up he believes that nation was as it fought and lost World War II

The Temmler factory went into overdrive, turning out a staggering 35 million pills. On this massive high, the pumped-up German army hared through Belgium and France, covering hundreds of miles without stopping, right to the shores of the English Channel.

But then, surprisingly, the rush was over. The German military onslaught controversially came to a halt on Hitlers order, letting the British Army off the hook at Dunkirk to scramble back home and live to fight another day.

Ohler claims that drugs played a part in this supposedly crucial strategic blunder. The ghastly Goering, he says, was shooting up on morphine at the time with his craftsman-made gold syringe.

Bloated, as a result, with a false sense of invincibility, he insisted to Hitler that his air force could do a better job of destroying the British on the beaches than the army could.

But the Luftwaffe failed in this mission, as it also did in the subsequent aerial Battle of Britain. London was blitzed by bombs, but survived to continue the war. For Germany, the momentum of victory was gone, replaced by a sense of anti-climax.

A long, dragged-out war began, particularly in Russia, where, after initial spectacular successes mirroring those in Poland and France, the German army was bogged down. Pervitin suited a blitz strategy, but had the opposite effect during the attritional slugging match that now followed.

All its bad side-effects surfaced: depression, lethargy, insomnia, paranoia.

Plus dependency. By now, millions of Germans, whether away fighting or at home, were addicted.

BLITZED: DRUGS IN NAZI GERMANY by Norman Ohler, translated by Shaun Whiteside (Allen Lane 20)

To be fair, Germanys fighting men were not alone in their use of stimulants. British air crews swallowed what they called wakey-wakey pills before setting out on long-distance bombing missions to Germany.

But these were Benzedrine, also an amphetamine, but much less potent than crystal meth. Nor did the habit spread to the civilian population here, which had only tea, cigarettes and watered beer to settle its nerves.

The full extent of Nazi Germanys drug habit, as detailed by Ohler, comes as a real surprise.

It seems to have been more widespread and more debilitating to the war effort than historians previously realised.

But then again, Hitler was increasingly pumping himself full of weird substances to keep his flagging health from caving in, all concocted by his personal doctor, Theodor Morell, and injected into the Fuhrer many times a day.

Eva Braun, Mussolini, Himmler, Ribbentrop, Speer and Goerings wife were also on Morells books.

He picked from more than 80 painkillers, pick-me-ups, hormone preparations, steroids, quack remedies and balms, always changing the ingredients of the cocktail to avoid dependency and always injecting because Hitler preferred the quick fix of a needle. His arms had the tracks of a junkie as a result.

From late 1943, he was on frequent doses of Eukodal, an opiate that gave a bigger kick than heroin. It gave him ludicrously optimistic highs  in which he maintained he could still rule the world  followed by deep depressions, where he lashed out at all those around him for disloyalty.

The mad mood swings were also accompanied by other side-effects  insomnia, tremors and terrible constipation. Thus it was that, shaking and unable to sleep or defecate, the Fuhrer and his Thousand-Year Reich collapsed in ruins in just 12 years, brought down by ego, over-ambition and dodgy drugs.
Five area volleyball teams will compete in state sectional games on Thursday. The winners of each sectional match will qualify for the state volleyball tournament which starts next week in Murfreesboro.

In Class A, Sale Creek will host Red Boiling Springs and Grace will travel to Goodpasture.

In Class AA, Red Bank will host Upperman and Signal Mountain will host Hixson.

In Class AAA, Cleveland will host Oakland.

State Sectionals:



Class A

Red Boiling Springs at Sale Creek 7 p.m.

Grace at Goodpasture 7 p.m.



Class AA

Upperman at Red Bank 7 p.m.

Hixson at Signal Mountain 7 p.m.



Class AAA

Oakland at Cleveland 7 p.m.






NIGHTMARE IN BERLIN by Hans Fallada

NIGHTMARE IN BERLIN

by Hans Fallada

(Scribe 15.99)

Hans Falladas Alone In Berlin, the story of a couple distributing anti-Nazi literature and paying a high price for it, is an acknowledged classic. Never before published in English, and strongly autobiographical, this earlier novel, Nightmare In Berlin, has at its heart a comparable nightmare of guilt and retribution.

In April 1945, the Reich has collapsed and, in a small town in the north-east region, Dr Doll has been made mayor by the recently arrived Red Army.

Will Germany ever be forgiven, he asks as he struggles to keep afloat in the cauldron of jealousies, retribution and remorse that characterise his wretched homeland.

With his much younger wife, he flees to Berlin where, in the battle to stay alive, they succumb to addiction. Fallada and his own wife also had drug problems and his portrait of the Dolls is both painful and poignant, even if the novel does not quite match the stature of his later one.

THE DEVIL'S FEAST

by M.J. Carter

(Fig Tree 14.99)

All is not well at the mighty Reform Club in London, even with the great chef Alexis Soyer, the Napoleon of food, making culinary waves in its kitchens. A man has died on the premises and it looks suspiciously like murder.

Terrified for the clubs reputation, its grandees persuade a reluctant Captain William Avery to solve the case.

The murders mount, however. Could they be connected to the imminent arrival at the club of the eastern potentate, Ibrahim Pasha, who is instrumental in the Middle East peace process?

Avery is desperate for his partner, Jeremiah, to come and help him out, but he is banged up in Marshalsea prison.

The keynote to this third Blake & Avery outing is enjoyment  in the sharp, clever plot, the telling detail and the authors uncanny ability to summon up the inner sanctum of the Victorian male club, a debtors prison or Soyers extra- ordinary dishes.

THE PLAGUE CHARMER by Karen Maitland

THE PLAGUE CHARMER

by Karen Maitland

(Headline Review 13.99)

Karen Maitlands blend of history, myth and superstition is unleashed in this story of the pestilence-ridden fishing village of Porlock Weir in the West Country. In 1361, the second wave of the Black Death is decimating the population.

No one is exempt: and with every death the human suffering and despair intensifies until, one day, a strange woman is pulled from the sea who tells the stricken villagers that she can save them for a price  which is a human life. Who would be willing to pay it?

Seven novels in, Karen Maitland is totally at home in her chosen territory  a meticulously detailed medieval setting into which she imports lashings of high Gothic drama and supernatural twists.
PLEASE TAKE ME HOME

by Clare Campbell

(Little, Brown 14.99)

In New York in the early summer of 1893, the bodies of dead cats began turning up all over Brooklyn. The area already had a reputation for being overrun with noisy tramp cats, but the abundance of cadavers was new.

In June, Grace Georgia Devide was arrested for killing stray cats. She was a member of a new society called The Midnight Band of Mercy. These women couldnt bear to witness the suffering of the animals once cherished as kittens, then abandoned as they grew and bred. Before neutering became widely available, what else was to be done about the citys ever-increasing population of starving and disease-ridden stray cats?

Twenty-first century cat lovers should brace themselves for the fact that the first half of Clare Campbells thorough history of rescue cats necessarily deals with the euthanasia of hundreds of thousands of street cats, once classed as vermin. Those who wanted to prevent strays falling into the hands of furriers and vivisectionists were originally advised to drown them.

By 1884, Battersea Dogs Home opened the first large-scale chamber for the negation of life (stock)

Then, as it was not easy to force prussic acid down their throats (as was done to unwanted dogs), cheap and widely available chloroform became the lethal drug of choice.

By 1884, Battersea Dogs Home opened the first large-scale chamber for the negation of life.

Concern about the humane disposal of feral cats ran alongside the rising popularity of cats as pets. Although unfashionable at the start of the 19th century, the feline star rose throughout Queen Victorias reign. Her Majestys public affection for her pedigree angora White Heather completed the cats triumphant social climb.

One of Victorias favourite Prime Ministers, Lord Salisbury, reportedly held long conversations in murmurs and soft purrs with his cat Floss.

But war did much to shift attitudes. As cats provided comfort to the lonely and bereaved and protected precious food from rodents, the concept of rehoming gained popularity.

PLEASE TAKE ME HOME by Clare Campbell

In the Fifties, cats overtook dogs as the most popular household pet, with the neutering movement gaining momentum. In the Sixties, the cause became cool, championed by pop stars and models such as Celia Hammond, who trapped strays for neutering herself and went on to found her own shelter. This form of population control was more appealing to animal lovers than the electrocution now offered (alongside chloroform) by Battersea.

A tradition of rescue cats at 10 Downing Street began in 1973, when the RSPCA provided a stray kitten called Wilberforce who prowled on through the Callaghan and Thatcher years. In 1992, Humphrey wandered in from the streets of SW1 to serve under Thatcher, Major and Blair, while the Camerons adopted Larry in 2011.

Shelters with No Kill policies have become increasingly popular in the new millennium, but the recession has also seen more strays handed in to homes. In 2010, the Blue Cross scooped up 1,175 kittens dumped at roadsides.

Anybody in search of a rescue cat today should take a fresh look at the much-maligned black cat, which is most likely to be overlooked by potential adopters on the absurdly superficial grounds that it has no personality.
BIOGRAPHY

BERYL BAINBRIDGE

by Brendan King

(Bloomsbury 25)

Beryl Bainbridge lied as a child and it was a habit that stuck. Exasperated by the writers constant verbal fudging over her shenanigans with married men, one friend wrote to her: Oh, you never tell the truth. Youre dreadfully dishonest  six years went by before the friendship was healed.

Bainbridges biographer, Brendan King, was her editorial assistant for 23 years and has set himself the task to be a detective  sifting through her letters and journals to try to distinguish between fabrication and reality. An approximate relationship with the truth is no impediment, of course, to being a great fiction writer.

But it wasnt until Beryl hooked up with the Duckworth publisher Colin Haycraft (who with his editor wife Anna  aka the novelist Alice Thomas Ellis  launched and nurtured Beryls writing career) that she had a hit book, the first two having sunk without trace.

Feverishly passionate: Novelist Beryl Bainbridge

The major theme of this biography is made clear from the outset. Its subtitle is Love By All Sorts Of Means, and is underlined in the frontispiece with a quote from one of Bainbridges letters to a long-standing female friend, Judith Shackleton, in 1963: I go on making messy relationships, fail, and fling myself into a fresh one. I seem to have an intense craving for narcissistic gratification. I have to get love by all sorts of means...

There are so many love affairs, starting with her secret meetings with a German prisoner-of-war, Harry, when she was 14.

Her feverishly passionate nature is revealed in an overwrought letter she wrote, at 15, from boarding school to her mother, Winifred: Mummy darling you dont know how much I love you... Its [sic] very hard being young, and aching to be old and wonderful... [there is] a great love within my heart swelling and hurting, because I love you... all my love is pouring at your feet... I want to be more famous and more wonderful than you have ever dreamed...

The big or most constant love of her life was Austin Davies, whom Beryl met when she was an actress in the early Fifties at the Liverpool Playhouse. He was an art student who had been employed to help with the sets for Bernard Shaws Caesar And Cleopatra, and she was instantly smitten.

They do eventually get together, after lots of to-ing and fro-ing  the reader is not spared much of the detail (I am beginning to be rather weary of my indecisive nature, writes Austin; hes not the only one)  and heartbreak on Beryls side.

During the rough course of their love affair, on one of their many separations, Austin (known to Beryl as Aussie) makes one girlfriend pregnant  a devout Catholic who begs him to marry her to prevent her committing the cardinal sin of abortion.

The girlfriend he marries is Beryl; the girlfriend who ends up having the abortion (and suffering terrible guilt  it is her lifelong secret) is Anna Haycraft, then known as Anne Lindholm. In later life, Beryl  almost inevitably, one feels, reading this biography  has a long covert affair with Annas husband, Colin. On her death-bed, Anna refuses to see Beryl.

60 Age at which Dame Beryl gave up sex Advertisement

The first 300 pages of the book are dominated by her love life. Time and again, she is involved in a love triangle with two men  usually, but not always, with her husband, Aussie, also father of her first two children, Aaron and Jo-Jo, and another man.

(She had a third child, another daughter, Rudi, with the writer Alan Sharp.)

On more than one occasion, she returns to the home Aussie has bought to house his family (in Albert Street, Camden Town) to find that her husband and her lover have had a civilised drink together while working out the terms on which Beryl will be handed over to her new man.

If it is true that you should never meet your heroes, after struggling to finish this book the same should be said for reading their biographies.

For those of us who have loved Bainbridges spare, singular, dark (and often darkly comic) novels  from Harriet Said and Sweet William to the wonderful historical backdrop later books: The Birthday Boys (Captain Scotts fateful expedition), Master Georgie (the Crimean War), Every Man For Himself (the Titanic) and According To Queeney (the curious relationship between Samuel Johnson and Mrs Thrale)  it is lowering to have her rendered as a vapid, self-obsessed, neurotic drunk.

The authorial tone borders on the unfriendly at times, and makes one wonder about the nature of their working relationship, which cant have been all that bad since it endured for more than two decades.

BERYL BAINBRIDGE by Brendan King

To give one example, there are many mentions of her being a terrible cook  without her being given any credit for making the effort to prepare home-cooked meals every day for her family, despite her lack of interest in food.

The book ticks all the boxes  her parents, her flirtation with communism and Roman Catholicism, her rape, abortion, suicide attempts, acting, painting, Damehood, friendships and love affairs  but there is something terribly inert about it all.

I longed for a writer who could convey what it felt like to be in Bainbridges presence  how she dressed, smelt, the way she walked, her personal tics.

Some key characters in her life are represented only by emails, and I was curious about how they had aged and wanted some atmosphere and physical context to their words. In short, I feel Bainbridge deserved a biographer who was closer to being her equal as a writer.

A s it happens, I was fortunate enough to meet her in her Albert Street home, complete with Eric, her smelly stuffed water-buffalo that almost blocked the hall, and was not disappointed at all. She was kind and clear-headed with strong, contrarian views on rape.

It was piercing, as I wrote then, to hear her say: Im quite pleased about the books but they dont mean anything, not really... all I ever wanted to do was to be married and have children.

She died eight years later in 2010 of cancer at the age of 77 and was awarded the Booker Prize  for which she had been shortlisted no fewer than five times  posthumously and voted for by the public, for Master Georgie.
A war of words has erupted within Indias biggest religious minority group after the All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) decided to boycott a questionnaire on authoring a common code for issues such as marriage, divorce and property rights.

While the AIMPLB accused the law panel of behaving like an agent of the Narendra Modi government - arguing that the proposed Uniform Civil Code is a threat to the countrys pluralism and diversity - Muslim female activists said the board cannot speak for the entire community.

The Constitution allows Muslims to regulate matters such as marriage, divorce and inheritance through their own civil code, though the community itself has been clamouring for reforms and a ban on oppressive customs.

A war of words has erupted within Indias biggest religious minority group after the All India Muslim Personal Law Board boycotted a questionnaire on issues such as marriage and divorce

Jamiat-Ulema-e-Hind president of Maulana Arshad Madani said: "People of different cultures stay in this country. If a uniform civil code is implemented, attempts will be made to paint all in one colour, which is not in the interest of the country".

The development comes after the Supreme Court's historic exercise to examine if controversial practices such as instant divorce and polygamy, allowed by Islamic personal law, results in gender discrimination.

Since then a number of Muslim women have come forward to challenge the legitimacy of the practices.

"First of all AIMPLB is not a body which represents the entire community," said Zakia Soman, co-founder of the Bharatiya Muslim Mahila Andolan.

"They are just an NGO, so we must give it only that much importance and not more than that. It is a welcome step taken by the Law Commission of India.

"It is not that the law panel is only talking about triple talaq or polygamy. They are talking about rights of women.

"Patriarchal forces that run the board do not want to give women their rights."

Three decades ago, the apex court ruled against the marital code for Muslims in a landmark judgement when it said a Muslim woman, Shah Bano, was entitled to alimony in a divorce case.

But Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi - faced with mounting anger from Muslim groups - used parliamentary procedures to set aside the verdict.

"AIMPLB is only a registered society and what its members say cannot be taken as a final word, said Farah Faiz, president of the Rashtrawadi Muslim Mahila Sangh and one of the petitioners in the SC seeking a ban on the discriminatory practices of triple talaq and polygamy.

"They have self-drafted aims and objectives. They have no right to decide on the personal laws of the community.

"They are not the guardians of the Muslims in this country."

Members of the BJP and hardline Hindu groups have frequently criticised the provision for separate laws for Muslims and have been pushing for a common code for all Indians," said Farah Faiz.

BJP spokesperson Nalin Kohli told reporters: "We need to see the issue in totality.

"The constitutional scheme talks about the desirability of Uniform Civil Code.

"No one has the right to say they do not want to see the implementation of what the Constitution demandsIndia is a democracy. Can even a discussion not take place?"

A bench headed by the Chief Justice of India is examining the effects of triple talaq and polygamy on the fundamental rights of Muslim women and inspecting if these practices are ending up in gender discrimination.

Ever since the court began the exercise, several Muslim women's organisations have jumped on the bandwagon to attack the practices.

Slamming the affidavit filed by the AIMPLB which stated that the SC cannot interfere with the personal laws of religions, Faiz said, "The Supreme Court is the actual guardian of the constitution.

"If they cannot interfere when gross violation of laws and individual rights is happening in the society, who can? The sharia courts and qazis supported by the AIMPLB do not allow women to enforce their rights.

"The board is also trying to give a religious colour to the debate on triple talaq by terming it a practice prescribed by the Quran."

Article 44 of the Constitution says implementation of the Uniform Civil Code is the duty of the state.

At present there are different laws governing these aspects for different communities in India.

Jamiat-Ulema-e-Hind president of Maulana Arshad Madani said: "People of different cultures stay in this country. If a uniform civil code is implemented, attempts will be made to paint all in one colour, which is not in the interest of the country"

Laws governing inheritance or divorce among Hindus are different from those pertaining to Muslims or Christians.

The demand for a uniform civil code essentially means unifying all these personal laws to have one set of secular laws dealing with these aspects that will apply to all citizens of India irrespective of the community they belong to.

The BJP had promised the Uniform Civil Code in its poll manifesto ahead of the 2014 general elections.

The Modi government has already told the SC that there is no reason Muslim women in India should be denied their constitutional rights when, "Muslim countries where Islam is the state religion have undergone extensive reform in this sphere.

"Secularism being a hallmark of Indian democracy, no part of its citizenry ought to be denied access to fundamental rights, much less can any section of a secular society be worse off than its counterparts in theocratic countries, many of which have undergone reform," said the governments affidavit.
Hackers using foreign servers have made a clutch of unsuccessful attempts this year to break into the Delhi Police control room.

Security researchers say the Pakistani state and computer jocks often attack soft targets in India such as University websites lacking sophisticated security.

But the police department says it has a fool-proof computer system at the control room that is not connected to the Internet.

Hackers using foreign servers have made a clutch of unsuccessful attempts to break into the Delhi Police control room, but the police department says that its systems are fool-proof

The entire mechanism works on an internal network that protects it from getting hacked as it is isolated from the outside world.

An officer said Delhi Police have an analogue system to answer emergency calls in case the system gets hacked or infected by a virus.

According to cyber experts the intensity of attacks has increased manifold as after targeting government websites, hackers have homed in on the Delhi Police control room and have also claimed to have gained access to the Global Positioning System (GPS) server of some state police.

Indian experts have also confirmed that there was a breach in the GPS server but said claims of access by Pakistani hackers were false.

Experts say hackers and even nation states have used 'cyber weapons' to knock out electrical grids, disable domestic airline networks, jam Internet connectivity, erase money from bank accounts and confuse radar systems across the world.

Over confident? The Delhi police department says it has a fool-proof computer system at the control room that is not connected to the Internet

According to a senior officer, unidentified persons attempted to access to the Delhi Police control room recently but could not break into the high-tech system.

A similar failed attack on the control room was witnessed before January 26 this year.

The official website of Delhi Police was shut down immediately as a precaution for a few hours.

"We have customised our system in such a way that it will not get affected by any such hacking attempts," said a senior officer with the control room.

"Hackers are continuously bombarding to take over the Delhi Police control room but they will never succeed."

The officer said a special investigation team was formed to identify the hackers and the locations were traced to Russia and Germany.

A fresh set of guidelines was issued to the entire staff and cyber security system after these attempts.

Mail Today reported this week that Indian hackers broke into the Pakistan government network, locking their computers and data.

In retaliation, Pakistani hackers claimed to have gained access to the GPS of police vehicles but refused to furnish details of states and cars compromised by them.

The cyber war between India and Pakistan started afresh after a terrorist attack on a military camp in Kashmirs Uri sector last month.

Indian hackers retaliated only after their Pakistani counterparts defaced Indian sites and circulated videos saying Indias surgical strikes in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) were "fake".

But the recent statements by Pakistani hackers have raised serious concerns as Pakistani hacker Fakir has claimed to have gained access to servers that maintain data and information about locations of police vans.

Fakir claims he can track the location of the vehicles and can spot where they are in real time.

He also said he could halt these vehicles. To provide proof of his attack, he also shared a screenshot in which locations of close to 40 vehicles in Madhya Pradesh were shared.

The cyber war between India and Pakistan started afresh after a terrorist attack on a military camp in Kashmirs Uri sector last month

Experts in India confirmed that there was a breach and termed it "critical", but rubbished Fakirs assertion of getting control over the police vans.

"The hacker got access to the server which stores the data but actual magnitude of loss of information is yet to be confirmed. He got access to location of police vans, which is sensitive data but the attack was limited to Madhya Pradesh," said Delhi-based cyber expert Amit Dubey.

Even Delhi Police say it is impossible to hack into their PCR network.
A civil servant and his family were allegedly abused in by a group of four drunk youths who also tried to make a video of his wife after a car accident near Siri Fort auditorium.

When the police arrived at the scene in south Delhi, the youths argued with them and threatened them citing their 'influence' and 'high-profile connections'.

The family of a DANICS officer, who is currently on deputation to Delhi Development Authority (DDA), was going from their house in Asiad village to their daughters school to drop her for school trip when their car was hit by a Maruti Swift coming from South Extension on August Kranti Marg near Siri Fort auditorium around 11.30 pm, said a senior police officer.

A civil servant and his family were allegedly abused in by a group of four drunk youths who also tried to make a video of his wife after a car accident near Siri Fort auditorium

The officer was on his way to drop his 10-year-old daughter to the school from where she was supposed to leave for her school trip to Spain.

The four men, who were allegedly under the influence of alcohol, alighted from the car and started abusing the officer.

When the officer protested, they became aggressive and started harassing him and mocked him to take action against them, said a police officer.

When his wife tried to intervene, they also misbehaved with her flaunting their high-profile connections, police said.

One of the men allegedly tried to make a video of the officers wife. When the officer and his wife protested, they were allegedly threatened and asked to back off.

Meanwhile, a police patrol party of sub-inspector Sachin and constable Chander were stopped by the officer for help. The drunken youths then started misbehaving with the police and abused them.

The men allegedly said: You dont know about our influence, and threatened the police personnel.
The varsity administration of Jawaharlal Nehru University has ordered an inquiry into the burning of an effigy of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Amit Shah as Ravana on Dussehra.

The university was catapulted into the centre of a nationwide debate on nationalism in February after a number of Left-leaning students commemorated the death of terrorist Afzal Guru on the campus.

While terror mastermind Hafiz Saeed and Pakistan PM Nawaz Sharif have been the faces of Ravana this Dussehra at several places across the country, a section of students chose the BJP hierarchy for Ravana.

BJP activists burn effigy of Congress president Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, Arvind Kejriwal, Mamata Banerjee during protest against NSUI students who burnt effigy of Prime Minister Narendra Modi at JNU campus

"We have ordered an inquiry into the effigy burning incident and are examining the issue, said JNU vice-chancellor M Jagadesh Kumar, who also was one of the many faces of the Ravana effigy set ablaze on Tuesday night.

Saurabh Sharma , former JNU students union (JNUSU) joint secretary from the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), told Mail Today that the frequency of such incidents was pointing to the increasing lawlessness on the campus.

The varsity administration of JNU has ordered an inquiry into the burning of an effigy of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Bharatiya Janata Party president Amit Shah as Ravana on Dussehra

"The February 9 incident too was not followed by any strict action against the perpetrators.

"There is a growing tendency among fringe organisations to grab headlines by doing something that is either seditious or outright anti-national".

The administrations move comes nearly a week after the varsity ordered a proctorial inquiry into burning of effigy of Gujarat government and 'gau-rakshak' (cow vigilantes), and issued showcause notices to the students concerned.

Members of the students arm of the Congress party, NSUI, chose the faces of the PM and the BJP chief to represent the demon king and had burnt the effigy on Tuesday.
The son of legendary fashion designer Roberto Cavalli has also signed up

They include Ukrainian heiress, who once said she is 'too beautiful to work'

MailOnline lists the heirs, heiresses and entrepreneurs already using app

For the Rich Kids of Instagram life is a whirlwind of private jets, yachts in the Caribbean and the champagne-fuelled best parties... all shamelessly shared on social media.

And now the young, super wealthy have a new platform to flaunt their fabulous wealth - an exclusive photo sharing members 'only club', named 'Rich Kids'.

Claiming 'to flush out the fakes from the real millionaires', the mobile phone app charges members 1,000 to upload their pictures.

T he fee may be small change to new members. But the app owners cashing in on the Rich Kids of Instagram craze may have overlooked one small detail: Rich kids can share their fabulous wealth already, for free, on... Instagram.

Founders Juraj Ivan and Michal Harustiak admit their idea is 'inspired' by Rich Kids of Instagram.

Rubbishing suggestions the app is a PR stunt, Juraj told MailOnline: 'I was surprised that there is no service or social network for Rich people, that is not private.

'All of the social networks for the rich are closed to the eye of a random user.

'We think that being rich is boring when nobody sees you.'

Eleven new members have joined the Rich Kids app - described a social networking site for rich kids - initially for free in the hope of tempting more to follow.

Among them are Ukrainian socialite Julia Stakhiva, who boasts she is too beautiful to work - and claims to fly her hairstylist from Moscow to London just so she looks 'perfect'.

Turkish real estate 'prince' Emir Bahadir, 24, who says he grew knowing the best in 'cars, clothing, dining, art, and travelling' is also on it along with Robert Cavalli, son of fashion icon Roberto, who parties with Naomi Campbell and Kendall Jenner.

Also on the site is Israeli skincare king Dor Bukobza, 25, who brags that his shoes cost more than his friends' cars.

A new exclusive photo sharing app charges the super wealthy 1,000-a-month to post photos of their lavish lifestyles. Pictured: Ukrainian food empire heiress Julia Stakhiva, 23, a member

The Rich Kids app developers say the 1,000 a month fee separates the real millionaires from the fakes. Pictured: Joey Bissell, who claims to invest in gold

The app is another platform for the Rich Kids of Instagram to flaunt their riches on social media. Pictured: Turkish real estaet magnate Emir Bahadir relaxing at a villa at the Principe Leopoldo resort in Lugano, Switzerland

Browsing through the app is free but to post pictures, users must 'prove' their wealth and pay a membership fee of 12,000-a-year. Pictured: Robert Cavalli, son of fashion icon Robert, who is one of the first super rich 20-somethings to use the app

Founder Juraj Ivan, told MailOnline: 'Being rich is boring when nobody sees you'. He added: 'There is a lot of users pretending to be rich on Instagram.' Pictured: Roxie Conrad Gaut, from Newport, California, in the sea in Harbour Island, the Bahamas

UKRAINIAN 'TOMATO QUEEN' WHO'S 'TOO PRETTY TOO WORK' Ukraine-born Julia Stakhiva, 24, is already accustomed to the limelight, having appeared on magazine covers and daytime TV to talk about her incredible lifestyle. The graduate from Regent's University in London claims to spend 30,000-a-year on cosmetic procedures and has a wardrobe worth 1.5million. She sees the Rich Kids app as a networking tool to connect to others who have become used to luxury. 'How can you call your self rich or successful if you can not afford to pay for a membership?' she told MailOnline. 'The price is definitely fair, otherwise it wouldn't be exclusive.' 'I come from a wealthy background. I've always been surrounded by privilege. These people are my friends and some of them may even become my colleagues. We travel and party together. Ukraine-born Julia Stakhiva (pictured), 24, is one of the Rich Kids members. Julia, pictured in a 180,000 Ferrari 488 in Chelsea, London, wants to be a reality TV star Julia has been known to spend 30,000 on cosmetic procedures every year and told MailOnline how she flies her hair stylist from Moscow to London to make her look 'perfect' 'How can you call your self rich or successful if you can not afford to pay for a membership?' Julia said of the Rich Kids apps 1,000 a month fee 'I am finally going to be able to find like-minded, young entrepreneurs with who I can connect with. ' Be it front row seats at Milan Fashion Week, weekends on her hilltop villa in Cannes or cruising around Chelsea in a Ferrari 488, Julia is used to the very best life has to offer. I am 100 per cent sure people will download the app to have a sneak peak of our lives Julia Stakhiva Julia, the heiress to a food production empire in Ukraine who moved to London aged 17 to study, believes 'ordinary' people won't be able to resist taking a glimpse into her other-worldly life. 'I am 100 per cent sure people will download the app to have a sneak peak of our lives,' she said. 'I dont need to work hard to surprise them any way, it comes naturally. I've never felt the need to prove that my family has money. 'Everything's been there since I was a kid - the shopping, vacations, cars, drivers, parties. Julia, who claims to spend up to 8,000 on eating out and travelling a month, believes 'ordinary' people won't be able to resist taking a sneak peak at the exclusive app She is said to have a fur collection worth 300,000 and angered viewers of British daytime show This Morning when she said she is 'too beautiful to work' and spends her life partying 'I even fly my hair stylist from Russia! I used to fly to him from London but now it's easier to take him with me on vacation or work events to make sure I always look perfect.' Since graduating from her 15,950-a-year Global Business Management and Marketing course, Julia has been forging her name as a reality TV star. I even fly my hair stylist from Russia! I used to fly to him from London but now it's easier to take him with me on vacation or work events to make sure I always look perfect Julia Stakhiva Julia, who is said to have a fur collection worth 300,000, starred in E4's Rich Kids of Instagram documentary and subsequently as a guest on This Morning, where she shocked viewers by saying she is 'too beautiful' to work and spends her life partying. She now says she has a team of five full-time staff - from fashion stylist to photographer - who travel the world promoting her image. 'Our last trip was few weeks ago to Milan Fashion Week. We took more than six suitcases of designer outfits. We also partied with celebrities and attended different fashion shows - Versace, Moschino, Dolce & Gabbana.' Julia is often trolled on social media while boasting of her privileged lifestyle. Under an Instagram photo which she captioned 'haters gonna hate', user @_selmahadir wrote: 'One day mummy and daddy won't be alive... What r u gonna do then?' But the multi-millionairess is so busy jetting around the world, she says she has no time for the 'haters' who brand her a 'fake b****'. Julia says she runs a team of five full-time employees - from fashion stylist to photographer - who travel the world with her, promoting her image 'While they talk, I would have already changed countries, bought a new pair of high heels and gone out partying like crazy, drinking out of a champagne bottle,' Julia told MailOnline. 'Sometimes that all happens in less than 24 hours! I'll wake up in London and the weather will be depressing so I call my father to complain. 'He always tells me, "I guess its time to change the weather for you - and then I book my ticket to Paris or South of France.' Advertisement

ROBERT CAVALLI: HEIR TO HIS FATHER'S FASHION THRONE

Robert Cavalli has his pick of the best fashion shows and after parties, where he's often seen rubbing shoulders with the glamorous models from his famous designer father's fashion shows.

The mega-rich 24-year-old, christened Robin, regularly posts photos to his 236,000 Instagram followers of nights out with supermodels and A-listers including Kendall Jenner, Lindsay Lohan and Allesandra Ambrosio.

Often boasting of being close friends with the stars, he wrote under a photo of him with Jenner and Balmain creative director Olivier Rousteing: 'Too much fun last night. Love you.'

On another, which showed Naomi Campbell cuddling up to Italian porn star Cicciolina, he used the hashtag #memoriesforlife.

And next to a selfie with Brazilian model and actress Allesandra Ambrosio, he wrote: 'Love and love you. We have the best time together.'

With 236,000 Instagram followers, Robert Cavalli (pictured), son of fashion icon Ricardo, is another super rich 20-something invited to use the exclusive Rich Kids app

Robert's Instagram feed is flooded with photos of A-listers including Kendall Jenner, Naomi Campbell (left) and Allesandra Ambrosio. Right: Robert with his fashion designer son Roberto

Robert attended the 44,360-a-year Cobham International School in Surrey, UK. Pictured: his fashion designer father Roberto (right) attending his graduation in 2012

Robert, whose father is reportedly worth 400million, boasts of being close to the A-listers in his photos. Next to one of supermodel Kendall Jenner, he wrote: 'Too much fun last night'

Educated at the prestigious 44,360-a-year Cobham International School in Surrey, his profile includes pictures of his father Roberto, who built a fashion empire now estimated to be worth 400m.

In 2012 his father wrote in his blog of his son's graduation: 'Robin [Robert] was beautiful, handsome. I watched him throughout the entire ceremony to enter his heart and feel with him all his sensations! Mom and Dad couldnt be more proud.'

Robin [Robert] has struggled to find an apartment he wanted, just a few meters from my boutique on Sloane Street in London. I had to help him with it. I did not listen to my principles Robert's father, Roberto Cavalli

His Instagram photos skip from a chalet in St Moritz, Switzerland, to a yacht off the coast of Monaco or a beach on the party island of Ibiza, where he is usually accompanied by a fleet of bikini-clad beauties.

Her told Coveteur how, as a student, he spent his summers at his sprawling family home in Florence, Italy, which is decorated with purple velvet sofas, leopard skin ottomans and statues adorned in sunglasses.

He also revealed his plans to move to New York to follow in his father's illustrious footsteps.

Robert, who went on to study business, also at Regent's University, reportedly owns an apartment near to his father's boutique in London's upmarket Sloane Square, where the average property costs around 2.1million, his father's blog suggests.

Roberto wrote: 'I had to help him with it. I did not listen to my principles "not to help children too much". Robin is a student in his first year in college. Maybe he deserves a little help!

Next to a blurry selfie with Brazilian model and actress Allesandra Ambrosio (pictured), Robert wrote: 'Love and love you. We have the best time together'

Robert once told the Coveteur website how he, as a student, he would spend his summers at his family's sprawling mansion in Florence, Italy (pictured)

He posts pictures from the world's most glamourous locations, including a chalet in St Moritz, Switzerland, where he is believed to have spent last Christmas with his family

'I have not seen Robin, my little big gentle giant, for several weeks! He is waiting for me at the door, perhaps he is anxious to see me and excited to show me his new apartment!

The fashion designer also revealed on his blog that his son is close to Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich's brother-in-law, his thirDasha's brother Boris Zhukov, 21.

Roberto told of how he spent the evening with his son at the Playboy Club in London, adding: 'I taught Robin and his friends how to play Black Jack. The croupier was a beautiful girl dressed as a bunny.'

ROXIE CONRAD GAUT: THE MYSTERIOUS BLONDE JET-SETTER As she quite rightly states in her Instagram bio, Roxie Conrad Gaut lives 'a beautiful life'. The University of Southern California student, often posing on the steps of a private jet, flits from beach to luxurious beach - forever sharing the journey with her 12,000 Instagram followers. Roxie's Instagram feed is full of photos of her with her bikini-clad pals lounging on a beach in the Bahamas or swigging bubbly in a pool in her native Newport Beach, California. 'Monday Mornings call for swimming in your pjs,' she wrote next to a photo of her and two friends jumping onto a inflatable golden swan. Mysterious blonde Roxie Conrad Gaut (pictured), believed to be in her 20s, was one of the first 11 people to be invited to use the Rich Kids app free of charge Roxie boasts more than 10,000 Instagram followers and posts pictures from lavish destinations around the world but very little is known about the glamourous blonde. Pictured: An Instagram post from the island of Great Guana Cay She accompanied another photo from inside a seaside Malibu apartment with floor-to-ceiling windows with the caption: 'My Taste of heaven.' Several others show her on runways around the world - from Lake Tahoe in Nevada to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico - ready to board another jet with her designer luggage. In the last month, she has tagged herself as being in London, Munich, Ibiza and Paris, where she claimed to attend fashion week. Roxie's mother Stacie has been the president of investment company Conrad Management for 22 years, according to her LinkedIn profile. The company's website claims it provides investment advice to its clients, which include 'high-net-worth individuals' and 'medium sized businesses'. In 2014, the company was given a 'recognition award for excellence' as one of the top ten companies in its sector whose assets are worth between $10m and $250m. The business is based in Newport Beach, Calfornia, where it bought two offices for $13.6m in 2010, according to real estate website CoStar. Roxie's Facebook profile claims she is from Newport Beach in the US and attended the University of Southern California. Pictured: Instagram post showing Roxie next to a private jet in California Advertisement

EMIR BAHADIR: THE TURKISH 'PRINCE' USED TO LUXURY

Heir to a generations-old Turkish real estate empire, Emir Bahadir, 25, says he grew up exploring only the best in 'cars, clothing, dining, art, and travelling'.

Bahadir, who counts St. Barts, Courchevel in France and St Moritz in Switzerland as his favourite destinations, told MailOnline: 'I am an avid connoisseur of the life of luxury.'

'Nothing like chill afternoons,' he wrote alongside a photo of him lounging in a crystal clear swimming pool in St Tropez.

Born in Istanbul and raised in Switzerland, Emir says he went to the 60,000-a-year TASIS school in Lugano, Switzerland.

Emir Bahadir, 24, is the heir to a Turkish real estate empire and recently spent 2.8m on an apartment in New York's West upmarket Village area

Bahadir counts St. Barts, Courchevel in France and St Moritz in Switzerland as his favourite destinations. Pictured: Bahadir on a yacht off the coast of Mykonos, Greece

He then went New York University where he completed a 'double-major' in Business and Technology Management.

Emir hopes says he agreed to join the app to inspire others to follow their own dreams.

I'd say to those who accuse me for living my life the way I do, to work hard because there is no reason anyone can't be successful Emir Bahadir

He told MailOnline: 'The more successful I become, the more I intend to help others.

'I think people should not download this app just to follow lavish lifestyles, but also to view it as a tool to grow their ambitions.

'I'd say to those who accuse me for living my life the way I do, to work hard because there is no reason anyone can't be successful.'

Bahadir, a co-founder of real estate firm RLTY NYC who comes from a prominent Turkish real estate family, paid 2.8m for a luxury apartment in Manhattan last year, the New York Post reported.

Bahadir told MailOnline he attended the prestigious TASIS school in Lugano, Switzerland, where boarding students can expect to pay upwards of 60,000-a-year

Bahadir says he grew up exploring only the best in 'cars, clothing, dining, art, and traveling'. Pictured: Bahadir heading 'back to reality' on a helicopter following his holiday in St Tropez

The 1,760-square-foot came with two bedrooms, two bathrooms, a wood burning fireplace and even an elevator.

Emir sees his followers as an audience to entertain, saying: 'I have always wanted to show people a life filled with the perfect balance of culture, luxury, and discipline.

He began using Instagram the very week it launched as an online photo album - but it grew to be a very important part of his life and a platform to share his incredible experiences.

DOR BUKOBZA: 'MY SHOES COST MORE THAN MY FRIENDS' CARS' Dor Bukobza, 25, is an Israeli businessman who owns the distribution rights to skincare company Vine Vera, who sell 50ml tubs of moisturiser for as much as 100, theEvening Standard reported. He shares his expensive taste in cars, alcohol and food with his 30,000 followers. Holding a dozen bottle of Champagne, he says to them: 'We're thirsty. What should we open first?' Israeli entrepreneur Dor Bukobza, 25, claims to be one of the original Rich Kids of Instagram. Pictured: Bukobza posing on a Lamborghini on Instagram He shares his expensive taste in cars, alcohol and food with his 30,000 followers. Alongside a photo of a dozen bottles of Champagne he writes: 'We're thirsty. What should we open first?' 'Who am I picking up?' He wrote alongside a photo of himself casually relaxing on the bonnet of what he claims to be his Lamborghini, parked in the driveway of a country estate. He recently posted a picture of him with a blonde female outside the exclusive Novikov restaurant in Berkeley St, London, where a main course costs up to 100. According to the Standard, Bukobza claims he is one of the original Rich Kids of Instagram. Dressed head-to-toe in Gucci, he even says money does not mean 'that much to him'. He adds: 'Sure, Ive got shoes worth more than some of my friends' cars, but those friends are still the most interesting people I know.' 'I shouldn't have to,' he wrote next to a picture of himself with a beautiful blonde outside the exclusive Novikov restaurant in Berkeley St, London 'When you write the story of your life, don't let anyone else hold the pen,' he mused next to this photo of himself lounging on a rooftop pool in Marina Bay Sands, Singapore Advertisement

The other Rich Kids already on the exclusive pay-to-use app include perennial jet-setter Juliette Lourdes, 'gold trader' Joey Bissell, New York-based entrepreneur Neil Mathew and Rodrigo Alves, who claims to have spend more than 300,000 on cosmetic surgery.

Miami-based Lourdes is often pictured behind the wheel of a BMW or the bonnet of a Rolls Royce, parked on a runway next to a private jet.

Her brother Christopher runs a travel advice website while her equally glamourous sister Alexandra runs a service offering bespoke brand management and luxury event planning.

Joey Bissell claims to trade rare gold and currency on eBay, selling banknotes dating back to 1945 for as much as 800. Pictured: Bissell posing with a bottle of champagne and a wad of $100 bills

At 23, US-based businessman Neil Mathew founded an international concierge service that caters to high-end clients around the world. Pictured: Mathew watching Friends inside his Mercedes

'You just have to kill your haters with success and bury them with a smile,' she writes next to a photo of herself and Christopher posing next to a Ferrari.

Her fellow Rich Kid Neil Mathew believes people will download the app to 'keep up with the latest trends' they are setting.

The Brooklyn-born entrepreneur Mathew, 27, who sells and invest in luxury properties, told MailOnline: 'It [the app] brings a society of high-end individuals together on an app to network.

'The price will keep the app exclusive for individuals with an exotic and lavish lifestyle.'

Plastic surgery fanatic Rodrigo Alves, who adorns himself in designer clothing and claims to spend 20,000 on a night out in Vegas, thinks it will be great for his nightlife.

Mathew, 27, who sells and invest in luxury properties, told MailOnline: 'It [the app] brings a society of high-end individuals together on an app to network'

Juliette Lourdes (pictured), who has more than 12,000 followers, invited to use the app often poses for photos next to private jets and luxurious cars

Plastic surgery fanatic Rodrigo Alves (pictured) says being on the Rich Kids app will help him get into the most exclusive night clubs and bars

He told MailOnline he looks forward to 'exchanging special contacts' that can help him get 'fast tracked into the best, exclusive night clubs and bars'.

On his Instagram bio, Joey Bissell, who claims to have an Aston Martin, Porsche, Bentley and Audi R8 parked in his driveway, says he invests in 'rare money, gold treasure and liquor'.

He sells rare currency including Egyptian banknotes dating back to 1945 - fetching as much as 800 - on his eBay store, which has a 100% buyer rating.
Kenyan police have arrested a British man and two Somali women on suspicion of recruiting for Somalia's Islamist Shabaab militants.

The man, named as Tom James, 32, works for M&C Saatchi and his previous projects include counter-terrorism projects in Somalia .

A huge team of armed officers swooped on his home in the affluent Nairobi suburb of Gigri on Tuesday.

Three are in custody in Kenya suspected of recruiting for Somalia's Islamist Shabaab militants Simon Maina (AFP/File)

James, who graduated from the University of Leeds, left the UK to work in Africa in the Middle East and Before was an English teacher in Syria while learning Arabic at Damascus University, The Telegraph reports.

Part of his most recent work was a radio campaign to stop young people being dragged into extremism, the paper said.

It is understood police found Al-Shabaab literature and books when it raided the luxury home.

A police source said: 'We have three suspects in custody and one of them is British.

'We are still interrogating them with a view to taking them to court tomorrow,' one police source said.

'They are being investigated for radicalisation.'

Another source said the three were suspected of 'recruiting Kenyan youths to join Al Shabaab.'

'They are strong indications that they have travelled to and from Somalia on several occasions and the investigations will be centred on that aspect,' he added.

Michael Adebolajo, jailed for life for brutally murdering Fusilier Lee Rigby in Woolwich back in 2013, was a suspected member of Al-Shabaab

The raid was carried out in the presence of the director of Kenya's Criminal Investigations Department Ndegwa Muhoro, sources said.

The Al-Qaeda backed Shabaab has fought to overthrow the internationally-backed Somalian government in Mogadishu since 2007, but turned its sights on Kenya when the army was sent into Somalia in 2011 to fight the Islamic insurgents.

In November 2014 gunmen flagged down a commuter bus, separated passengers by religion and executed 28 non-Muslims.

Since then the militants have targeted civilians in different parts of Kenya, including a dramatic assault on Nairobi's Westgate shopping mall in which at least 67 people were killed and the murder of 148 people at Garissa University in the northeast in 2015.

Michael Adebolajo, jailed for life for brutally murdering Fusilier Lee Rigby in Woolwich back in 2013, was a suspected member of Al-Shabaab.
A remote village on Alaska's northwest coast has begun a reverse tourism campaign. Residents want visitors to stay away.

Pacific walruses by the thousands in recent years have come ashore in early fall near the Inupiat village of Point Lay, including about 6,000 last week, and people have dropped in, hoping to see a marine mammal phenomenon brought on by climate change and disappearing summer sea ice in the Chukchi Sea.

However, Point Lay, population 270, has no hotel or restaurants and disturbances by boats or airplanes can spook walrus into stampedes that crush the smallest animals.

The walruses are also hunted by villagers for food sources, according to CBS News.

In September 13, walruses gather to rest on the shores of the Chukchi Sea near the coastal village of Point Lay, Alaska. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has obtained a $140,000 grant from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation to help Point Lay tell the world that walrus are vulnerable to stampedes and to stay away when they're on shore

The walruses can be spooked by loud noises or disturbances, so locals want people to stay away - however, villagers can hunt the mammals but must use them for food sources not just ivory

Point Lay has only a population of 270 - much less than the approximately 6,000 walruses who came to the village last week

It is very difficult for anyone to get to the walruses as you have to travel across a cove to get to them and they can't be seen from the village

So Point Lay is working with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on an information campaign: Thanks for the interest, but please don't stop by.

'They've had people come and had no place to accommodate them and they ended up having to tell the person to get back on the plane and head out,' said Andrea Medeiros, spokeswoman for the agency in Anchorage. 'I would imagine it's a very awkward situation for them.'

The walruses can't even be seen from the village.

'You have to travel across a cove to get to where the animals are,' Medeiros said. Visitors would need a ride from a resident and the trip can be hazardous.

In 2014, thousands of walruses lay out at Point Lay, Alaska. Tourists are warned to stay away as stampedes can kill the smaller walruses

'They're actually on a barrier island,' she said.

Walruses started coming ashore on the northwest Alaska coast in 2007. In September last year, 35,000 packed a rocky beach near Point Lay.

The carcasses of more than 130 mostly young walruses were counted after a stampede in September 2009 at Icy Cape.

Walruses prefer spreading out on sea ice, where they can monitor the approach of predators such as polar bears.

Many adult male walrus stay south of the Bering Strait year-round. However, females with calves stay on the edge of pack ice, where the young can rest as mothers dive for clams.

As the sea ice melts, the edge moves north, providing a moving platform over the shallow Bering and Chukchi seas.

Because of global warming, the walruses can only rest on ice over deep water or on the shore and in recent years they have chosen the shore

Point Lay Barrier Island (top right) is located on the Chukchi Sea - since the '80s thousands of Walruses, sometimes around 10,000, come to haul out

In recent years, as Arctic temperatures have warmed, the edge of the sea ice has receded far to the north over water too deep for walrus to dive and reach the ocean bottom.

Walruses have the choice of resting on ice over deep water or moving to shore, joined by thousands of other animals.

Remnant ice floating in the Chukchi gave walrus a safe platform this year until Friday, when about 6,000 of them came ashore near Point Lay.

They appear to have since moved on, likely to Russia, Joel Garlich-Miller, a walrus biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, said in a Tuesday statement.

Leo Ferreira, Point Lay Tribal Council president, in an interview with Sitka radio station KCAW last year urged the media to keep its distance and reacted angrily when a photographer flew near the walrus.

He issued a statement Friday reiterating a 'no media' policy while walrus are on shore.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service works with the Federal Aviation Administration to discourage airplanes from flying near walruses.

Point Lay, Alaska, above, is home to thousands of walruses that make their way there in early fall near the Inupiat village

The agency also has received a two-year, $140,000 grant from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation to help Point Lay.

The grant will pay to train Point Lay young people in photography, videography and film production that could be used on a website about walrus coming ashore.

The goal is to keep people informed while warning them of the hazards and discouraging them from visiting.

The grant also will pay for villagers to monitor walrus coming ashore over about 50 miles of ocean beach, and to collect data including the age, sex and cause of any walrus deaths.

Walrus herds are just one change brought to Point Lay by climate change. The frozen ground on which the village is built is melting.

Over the summer, soil weakened ground between a river and the lake where Point Lay drew water. A canal developed and drained the lake. The community has water in storage tanks that should last about a year, giving residents time to find a new water source.

Point Lay residents are trying to adapt.
Here is the latest jail booking report from Hamilton County:

ALEXANDER, JOHN CARLOS

309 BROWNTOWN ROAD CHATTANOOGA, 37415

Age at Arrest: 43 years old

Arresting Agency: Red Bank

FAILURE TO APPEAR

---

BAKER, JESSICA FAYE

826 NORTH VALLEYWOOD CIRCLE CHATTANOOGA, 37343

Age at Arrest: 33 years old

Arresting Agency: Hamilton County

POSSESSION OF CONTROLLED SUBSTANCE (MARIJUANA)

DRIVING ON REVOKED, SUSPENDED OR CANCELLED LICENSE

---

BANTHER, LAKISHA NICOLE

804 FORREST DALE LN UNIT B HIXSON, 37343

Age at Arrest: 31 years old

Arresting Agency: Collegedale

Booked for Previous Charges or Other Reason(s)

---

BARNER, RUDOLPH

1312 ELY RD APT 5 CHATTANOOGA, 37343

Age at Arrest: 58 years old

Arresting Agency: Chattanooga

DOMESTIC ASSAULT

---

BEARD, SETH AUSTIN

414 DOGWOOD LN CHATTANOOGA,

Age at Arrest: 21 years old

Arresting Agency: Hamilton County

DOMESTIC ASSAULT

---

BORDERS, TERRELL DEVON

7657 BORISS DR APT B CHATTANOOGA, 37416

Age at Arrest: 19 years old

Arresting Agency: Chattanooga

THEFT OF PROPERTY

---

BOWMAN, DEREASCAN

1630 E 17 TH STREET CHATTANOOGA, 37404

Age at Arrest: 20 years old

Arresting Agency: Chatt.

Housing AuthorityPOSSESSION OF CONTROLLED SUBSTANCE---BROWN, NOAH WILLIAM47 ROCKY TOP LANE SIGNAL MOUNTAIN, 37377Age at Arrest: 29 years oldArresting Agency: Hamilton CountyDRIVING ON REVOKED, SUSPENDED OR CANCELLED LICENSE---BURNHAM, JOSHUA EUGENE3495 WESTSIDE DR NW APT 3 CLEVELAND, 37312Age at Arrest: 31 years oldArresting Agency: Hamilton CountyVIOLATION OF PROBATION (THEFT UNDER 500)---CARSON, DARION SEBASTIAN1102 MOSS STREET CHATTANOOGA, 37406Age at Arrest: 46 years oldArresting Agency: ChattanoogaBooked for Previous Charges or Other Reason(s)---DAY, STEVEN ALLEN936 MOUNTAIN CREEK ROAD APT#R202 CHATTANOOGA, 37405Age at Arrest: 38 years oldArresting Agency: ChattanoogaDOMESTIC ASSAULT---DOSS, TONY WAY171 SIGNAL HILLS DRIVE CHATTANOOGA, 37405Age at Arrest: 22 years oldArresting Agency: Hamilton CountyAGGRAVATED ASSAULT (DOMESTIC)---FINNIGAN, CHELSEA ANN7636 BONNIE DRIVE CHATTANOOGA, 37416Age at Arrest: 24 years oldArresting Agency: Hamilton CountyVEHICULAR HOMICIDEFAIL TO MAINTAIN LANETEXTING WHILE DRIVINGDRIVING ON REVOKED LICENSEFINANCIAL RESPONSIBILITYDRIVING UNDER THE INFLUENCE---FORTE, JALOREY7310 STANDIFER GAP RD APT 1023 CHATTANOOGA, 37421Age at Arrest: 19 years oldArresting Agency: ChattanoogaTHEFT OF PROPERTY---FRAZIER, RONALD JERRYHOMELESS SALVATION ARMY CHATTANOOGA, 37403Age at Arrest: 64 years oldArresting Agency: ChattanoogaCRIMINAL TRESPASSING---FUQUA, KENDALE1408 FRED WILL CIRCLE CHATTANOOGA, 37411Age at Arrest: 21 years oldArresting Agency: ChattanoogaPOSS. OF HANDGUN WHILE UNDER THE INFLUENCECONTRIBUTING TO THE DELINQUENCY OF A MINOR---GOLSON, JESSIE LEE1204 GROVE CHATTANOOGA, 37402Age at Arrest: 60 years oldArresting Agency: ChattanoogaTHEFT OF PROPERTY---GRAHAM, ERIC MICHAEL5401 EAST MANNING STREET CHATTANOOGA, 37405Age at Arrest: 27 years oldArresting Agency: ChattanoogaOBSTRUCTING HIGHWAY OR OTHER PASSAGEWAYPOSSESSION OF CONTROLLED SUBSTANCE---HAMPTON, ANDY LEE1509 DOGWOOD RD TUNNEL HILL, 30755Age at Arrest: 31 years oldArresting Agency: Hamilton CountyVIOLATION OF PROBATION (POSSESSION OF METHAMPHETAMVIOLATION OF PROBATION (ATTEMPTING INITIATING THEVIOLATION OF PROBATION (FELONIOUS POSSESSION OF DR---HARGISS, ZACHARY JEROLD727 E 11TH STREET CHATTANOOGA, 37402Age at Arrest: 19 years oldArresting Agency: Hamilton CountyCRIMINAL TRESPASSINGPUBLIC INTOXICATION---HICKS, DAVID LEBRON7637 MALLETTE LANE CHATTANOOGA, 37406Age at Arrest: 36 years oldArresting Agency: Hamilton CountyBooked for Previous Charges or Other Reason(s)---HOLLAND, WILLIAM JASON10099 BIG PINE LANE SODDY DAISY, 37379Age at Arrest: 37 years oldArresting Agency: Hamilton CountyTHEFT OF PROPERTY (OVER $500)DRIVING ON REVOKED, SUSPENDED OR CANCELLED LICENSE---HOLLINGSWORTH, JIMMY WAYNE132 MIDDLE RD LOOKOUT MTN, 30750Age at Arrest: 47 years oldArresting Agency: ChattanoogaTHEFT OF PROPERTYPUBLIC INTOXICATION---HOPPE, TOKAR STEVEN1620 VARNER ROAD HIXSON, 37343Age at Arrest: 39 years oldArresting Agency: Hamilton CountyPOSS OF HEROIN FOR RESALEPOSS OF METH FOR RESALEPOSS OF ADDERALL FOR RESALEPOSSESSION OF DRUG PARAPHERNALIA---JACKSON, DAVID LEE10701 LORA LANE COLLEGEDALE, 37363Age at Arrest: 20 years oldArresting Agency: CollegedaleBooked for Previous Charges or Other Reason(s)---JOHNSON, JASON CHARLES7732 N DENT RD HIXSON, 37343Age at Arrest: 46 years oldArresting Agency: Hamilton CountyDRIVING UNDER THE INFLUENCEFAILURE TO YIELD RIGHT OF WAYFINANCIAL RESPONSIBILITYREGISTRATION, DRIVING UNREGISTERED VEHICLESTOP SIGN VIOLATION---JOHNSON, SAMANTHA P300 BRANCH DRIVE HIXSON, 37343Age at Arrest: 29 years oldArresting Agency: Hamilton CountyPOSS OF ADDERALL FOR RESALEPOSSESSION OF DRUG PARAPHERNALIADRIVING ON REVOKED, SUSPENDED OR CANCELLED LICENSE---JOHNSTON, GERALD C4298 BRYRNEWOOD CIR HIXSON, 37343Age at Arrest: 44 years oldArresting Agency: Hamilton CountyDOMESTIC ASSAULT---JONES, JOSHUA LAMONT1106 N HAWTHORNE ST CHATTANOOGA, 37404Age at Arrest: 22 years oldArresting Agency: ChattanoogaDISORDERLY CONDUCT---JONES, WILLIAM COREY5804 PATRICK PLACE CHATTANOOGA, 37421Age at Arrest: 23 years oldArresting Agency: CollegedaleBooked for Previous Charges or Other Reason(s)---MOORE, DAVID JEROME2502 WOODFIN AVE RED BANK, 37415Age at Arrest: 39 years oldArresting Agency: Hamilton CountyVIOLATION OF PROBATION (DOMESTIC ASSAULT)---MOORE, JOHN HENRY314 JACKSON ST CARTERSVILLE, 30120Age at Arrest: 64 years oldArresting Agency: Hamilton CountyVIOLATION OF PROBATION (ASSAULT)VIOLATION OF PROBATION (DOMESTIC ASSAULT)---MOSS, JACOB JEAN1077 LOFTEN LANE CHICKAMAUGA, 30741Age at Arrest: 34 years oldArresting Agency: Signal MountainFAILURE TO APPEAR---PARIS, CARA NICOLE800 MCCALLIE AVENUE CHATTANOOGA, 37403Age at Arrest: 33 years oldArresting Agency: ChattanoogaCRIMINAL TRESPASSINGDISORDERLY CONDUCT---PARIS, DARRELL DEWAYNE1538 BRAGG STREET CHATTANOOGA, 37406Age at Arrest: 27 years oldArresting Agency: Hamilton CountyBooked for Previous Charges or Other Reason(s)---PATILLO, TAUREAN C2618 CARR ST APT A CHATTANOOGA, 37408Age at Arrest: 25 years oldArresting Agency: ChattanoogaDRIVING ON REVOKED, SUSPENDED OR CANCELLED LICENSEFAILURE TO MAINTAIN LANEREGISTRATION, IMPROPER DISPLAY OF PLATESSPEEDINGFINANCIAL RESPONSIBILITY---POPE, CADARIUS DEWAYNE1713 LAHUGH CHATTANOOGA, 37406Age at Arrest: 21 years oldArresting Agency: Hamilton CountyAGGRAVATED BURGLARYAGGRAVATED ASSAULT---SCROGGINS, TAMI M8108 BLUEGILL CIRCLE OOLTEWAH, 37363Age at Arrest: 46 years oldArresting Agency: ChattanoogaDRIVING UNDER THE INFLUENCESEAT BELT LAW VIOLATIONFAILURE TO MAINTAIN LANEIMPLIED CONSENT LAW - DRIVERSFINANCIAL RESPONSIBILITYDRIVERS TO EXERCISE DUE CARE---SHINGLETON, MATTHEW JACK ALLEN171 SIGNAL HILLS DRIVE CHATTANOOGA, 37415Age at Arrest: 25 years oldArresting Agency: Hamilton CountyVIOLATION OF PROBATION (THEFT OF PROPERTY UNDER $5---SOTO, PHILLIP PAUL162 POND SPRINGS ROAD CHICKAMAUGA, 30703Age at Arrest: 35 years oldArresting Agency: ChattanoogaCRIMINAL TRESPASSING---TAYLOR, DEBORAH ANN101 EAST 20TH STREET CHATTANOOGA, 37408Age at Arrest: 62 years oldArresting Agency: Hamilton CountyFUGITIVE (ARREST FOR CRIME IN ANOTHER STATE)---WALLER, RICHARD JR101 E 20TH STREET RM 326 CHATTANOOGA, 37408Age at Arrest: 57 years oldArresting Agency: ChattanoogaVIOLATION OF PROBATION (POSSESSION OF DRUG PARAPHE---WARE, SAUL ADRIAN3138 HOLSTEB DRIVE MURFREESBORO, 37128Age at Arrest: 56 years oldArresting Agency: ChattanoogaDRIVING ON REVOKED, SUSPENDED OR CANCELLED LICENSEREGISTRATION, EXPIRED---WELLS, JOSHUA1531 MAYFLOWER RD SALE CREEK, 37373Age at Arrest: 27 years oldArresting Agency: Hamilton CountyDRIVING ON REVOKED, SUSPENDED OR CANCELLED LICENSELEAVING SCENE ACCIDENT DEATH OR PERSONAL INJURY---WHITE, NOAH DENNIS ROSS4611 WEBB RD CHATTANOOGA, 37363Age at Arrest: 18 years oldArresting Agency: Hamilton CountyAGGRAVATED ROBBERYTHEFT OF PROPERTY---WILLIAMS, CORDERO MONTEZ2011 EAST 14TH STREET CHATTANOOGA, 37404Age at Arrest: 29 years oldArresting Agency: Hamilton CountyFAILURE TO APPEARCONTEMPT OF COURT---WYATT, DOULESHA ERVINNAHOMELES CHATTANOOGA, 37421Age at Arrest: 29 years oldArresting Agency: ChattanoogaPUBLIC INTOXICATIONDISORDERLY CONDUCTVANDALISM/MALICIOUS MISCHIEFRESISTING ARREST OR OBSTRUCTION OF LEGAL PROCESS

Here are the mug shots:

BEARD, SETH AUSTIN

Age at Arrest: 21

Date of Birth: 05/20/1995

Arresting Agency: Hamilton County



Last Date of Arrest: 10/12/2016

Charge(s):

DOMESTIC ASSAULT BORDERS, TERRELL DEVON

Age at Arrest: 19

Date of Birth: 12/29/1996

Arresting Agency: Chattanooga



Last Date of Arrest: 10/12/2016

Charge(s):

THEFT OF PROPERTY BOWMAN, DEREASCAN

Age at Arrest: 20

Date of Birth: 03/29/1996

Arresting Agency: Chatt. Housing Authority



Last Date of Arrest: 10/12/2016

Charge(s):

POSSESSION OF CONTROLLED SUBSTANCE BROWN, NOAH WILLIAM

Age at Arrest: 29

Date of Birth: 11/25/1986

Arresting Agency: Hamilton County



Last Date of Arrest: 10/12/2016

Charge(s):

DRIVING ON REVOKED, SUSPENDED OR CANCELLED LICENSE BURNHAM, JOSHUA EUGENE

Age at Arrest: 31

Date of Birth: 09/02/1985

Arresting Agency: Hamilton County



Last Date of Arrest: 10/12/2016

Charge(s):

VIOLATION OF PROBATION (THEFT UNDER 500) DAY, STEVEN ALLEN

Age at Arrest: 38

Date of Birth: 08/14/1978

Arresting Agency: Chattanooga



Last Date of Arrest: 10/12/2016

Charge(s):

DOMESTIC ASSAULT DOSS, TONY WAY

Age at Arrest: 22

Date of Birth: 01/14/1994

Arresting Agency: Hamilton County



Last Date of Arrest: 10/12/2016

Charge(s):

AGGRAVATED ASSAULT (DOMESTIC) FINNIGAN, CHELSEA ANN

Age at Arrest: 24

Date of Birth: 02/25/1992

Arresting Agency: Hamilton County



Last Date of Arrest: 10/12/2016

Charge(s):

VEHICULAR HOMICIDE

FAIL TO MAINTAIN LANE

TEXTING WHILE DRIVING

DRIVING ON REVOKED LICENSE

FINANCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

DRIVING UNDER THE INFLUENCE FORTE, JALOREY

Age at Arrest: 19

Date of Birth: 03/09/1997

Arresting Agency: Chattanooga



Last Date of Arrest: 10/12/2016

Charge(s):

THEFT OF PROPERTY FRAZIER, RONALD JERRY

Age at Arrest: 64

Date of Birth: 07/01/1952

Arresting Agency: Chattanooga



Last Date of Arrest: 10/12/2016

Charge(s):

CRIMINAL TRESPASSING

GOLSON, JESSIE LEE

Age at Arrest: 60

Date of Birth: 10/11/1954

Arresting Agency: Chattanooga



Last Date of Arrest: 10/12/2016

Charge(s):

THEFT OF PROPERTY GRAHAM, ERIC MICHAEL

Age at Arrest: 27

Date of Birth: 06/03/1989

Arresting Agency: Chattanooga



Last Date of Arrest: 10/12/2016

Charge(s):

FAILURE TO APPEAR HAMPTON, ANDY LEE

Age at Arrest: 31

Date of Birth: 04/16/1985

Arresting Agency: Hamilton County



Last Date of Arrest: 10/12/2016

Charge(s):

VIOLATION OF PROBATION (POSSESSION OF METHAMPHETAM

VIOLATION OF PROBATION (ATTEMPTING INITIATING THE

VIOLATION OF PROBATION (FELONIOUS POSSESSION OF DR HARGISS, ZACHARY JEROLD

Age at Arrest: 19

Date of Birth: 06/27/1997

Arresting Agency: Hamilton County



Last Date of Arrest: 10/12/2016

Charge(s):

CRIMINAL TRESPASSING

PUBLIC INTOXICATION HICKS, DAVID LEBRON

Age at Arrest: 36

Date of Birth: 11/13/1979

Arresting Agency: Hamilton County



Last Date of Arrest: 10/12/2016

Booked for Previous Charges or Other Reason(s)

HOLLINGSWORTH, JIMMY WAYNE

Age at Arrest: 47

Date of Birth: 08/25/1969

Arresting Agency: Chattanooga



Last Date of Arrest: 10/12/2016

Charge(s):

THEFT OF PROPERTY

PUBLIC INTOXICATION HOPPE, TOKAR STEVEN

Age at Arrest: 39

Date of Birth: 11/24/1976

Arresting Agency: Hamilton County



Last Date of Arrest: 10/12/2016

Charge(s):

POSS OF HEROIN FOR RESALE

POSS OF METH FOR RESALE

POSS OF ADDERALL FOR RESALE

POSSESSION OF DRUG PARAPHERNALIA JACKSON, DAVID LEE

Age at Arrest: 20

Date of Birth: 12/22/1995

Arresting Agency: Collegedale



Last Date of Arrest: 10/12/2016

Booked for Previous Charges or Other Reason(s)

JOHNSON, JASON CHARLES

Age at Arrest: 46

Date of Birth: 04/21/1970

Arresting Agency: Hamilton County



Last Date of Arrest: 10/12/2016

Charge(s):

DRIVING UNDER THE INFLUENCE

FAILURE TO YIELD RIGHT OF WAY

FINANCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

REGISTRATION, DRIVING UNREGISTERED VEHICLE

STOP SIGN VIOLATION JOHNSON, SAMANTHA P

Age at Arrest: 29

Date of Birth: 08/03/1987

Arresting Agency: Hamilton County



Last Date of Arrest: 10/12/2016

Charge(s):

POSS OF ADDERALL FOR RESALE

POSSESSION OF DRUG PARAPHERNALIA

DRIVING ON REVOKED, SUSPENDED OR CANCELLED LICENSE

JOHNSTON, GERALD C

Age at Arrest: 44

Date of Birth: 05/12/1972

Arresting Agency: Hamilton County



Last Date of Arrest: 10/12/2016

Charge(s):

DOMESTIC ASSAULT JONES, JOSHUA LAMONT

Age at Arrest: 22

Date of Birth: 01/19/1994

Arresting Agency: Chattanooga



Last Date of Arrest: 10/12/2016

Charge(s):

DISORDERLY CONDUCT JONES, WILLIAM COREY

Age at Arrest: 23

Date of Birth: 12/15/1992

Arresting Agency: Collegedale



Last Date of Arrest: 10/12/2016

Booked for Previous Charges or Other Reason(s)

MOORE, JOHN HENRY

Age at Arrest: 64

Date of Birth: 10/03/1952

Arresting Agency: Hamilton County



Last Date of Arrest: 10/12/2016

Charge(s):

VIOLATION OF PROBATION (ASSAULT)

VIOLATION OF PROBATION (DOMESTIC ASSAULT) PARIS, CARA NICOLE

Age at Arrest: 33

Date of Birth: 07/27/1983

Arresting Agency: Chattanooga



Last Date of Arrest: 10/12/2016

Charge(s):

CRIMINAL TRESPASSING

DISORDERLY CONDUCT PARIS, DARRELL DEWAYNE

Age at Arrest: 27

Date of Birth: 10/20/1988

Arresting Agency: Hamilton County



Last Date of Arrest: 10/12/2016

Booked for Previous Charges or Other Reason(s)

POPE, CADARIUS DEWAYNE

Age at Arrest: 21

Date of Birth: 02/17/1995

Arresting Agency: Hamilton County



Last Date of Arrest: 10/12/2016

Charge(s):

AGGRAVATED BURGLARY

AGGRAVATED ASSAULT SCROGGINS, TAMI M

Age at Arrest: 46

Date of Birth: 11/19/1969

Arresting Agency: Chattanooga



Last Date of Arrest: 10/12/2016

Charge(s):

DRIVING UNDER THE INFLUENCE

SEAT BELT LAW VIOLATION

FAILURE TO MAINTAIN LANE

IMPLIED CONSENT LAW - DRIVERS

FINANCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

DRIVERS TO EXERCISE DUE CARE SHINGLETON, MATTHEW JACK ALLEN

Age at Arrest: 25

Date of Birth: 09/24/1991

Arresting Agency: Hamilton County



Last Date of Arrest: 10/12/2016

Charge(s):

VIOLATION OF PROBATION (THEFT OF PROPERTY UNDER $5 SOTO, PHILLIP PAUL

Age at Arrest: 35

Date of Birth: 06/11/1981

Arresting Agency: Chattanooga



Last Date of Arrest: 10/12/2016

Charge(s):

CRIMINAL TRESPASSING
Military missiles launched by the US in a series of 'limited self-defense strikes' have destroyed three radar sites on Yemen's Red Sea Coast, the Pentagon has revealed.

The retaliatory attack, authorized by President Obama, follows two incidents this week in which missiles were fired on a US naval destroyer called the USS Mason.

Thursday's strikes mark the first shots fired by the US against Yemen's Shiite rebels, known as the Houthis, in the country's long-running civil war.

The US previously only provided logistical support and refueling to the Saudi-led coalition battling the Houthis and their allies, including supporters of Yemen's former president Ali Abdullah Saleh.

While the US military has been focused on al-Qaeda in Yemen, the Houthis had not been a primary target of American forces.

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Military missiles launched by the US in a series of 'limited self-defense strikes' (pictured on Thursday) have destroyed three radar sites on Yemen's Red Sea Coast, the Pentagon revealed

Thursday's strikes by the USS Nitze (pictured in file photo) mark the first shots fired by the US against Yemen's Shiite rebels, known as Houthis, in the country's long-running civil war

But that all changed after missiles launched from Houthi-controlled territory targeted the USS Mason twice in four days this week.

The destroyer USS Nitze launched the Tomahawk cruise missiles at the coastal targets early Thursday morning.

No information on casualties from the US missiles was provided by American officials.

The three radar sites were in remote areas, where there was little risk of civilian casualties or collateral damage, said a military official who was not authorized to be named and spoke on condition of anonymity.

Obama authorized the strikes at the recommendation of Defense Secretary Ash Carter and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Joseph Dunford, Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook said in a statement.

American officials had said earlier that the US was weighing what military response to take.

'These limited self-defense strikes were conducted to protect our personnel, our ships and our freedom of navigation in this important maritime passageway,' Cook said.

'The United States will respond to any further threat to our ships and commercial traffic, as appropriate, and will continue to maintain our freedom of navigation in the Red Sea, the Bab al-Mandeb and elsewhere around the world.'

The retaliatory attack, authorized by President Obama, follows two incidents this week in which missiles were fired on the US naval destroyer USS Mason (pictured in file photo)

Loai al-Shami, a Houthi spokesman, declined to comment immediately on the US strike.

On Wednesday two missiles were fired at the USS Mason, a guided missile destroyer that is conducting routine operations off the Red Sea coast with the USS Ponce, an amphibious warship.

Neither missile got near the ship, said a US military official.

The missiles were fired from the Yemen coast, near the location used Sunday when two missiles were launched at the same two ships, said the official.

A second official said it wasn't clear whether the ship's countermeasures caused the missiles to hit the water on Wednesday or if they would have landed there anyway.

'These unjustified attacks are serious, but they will not deter us from our mission,' the chief of naval operations, Adm. John Richardson, said in a statement Wednesday.

'The team in USS Mason demonstrated initiative and toughness as they defended themselves and others against these unfounded attacks over the weekend and again today. All Americans should be proud of them.'

The missiles fired on Sunday were variants of the so-called Silkworm missile, and both also fell harmlessly into the water. The Silkworm is a type of coastal defense cruise missile that Iran has been known to use.

The Houthis (pictured in file photo) had not been a primary target of American forces until missiles launched from Houthi-controlled territory targeted the USS Mason this week

Sunday was the first time that US ships were targeted by a missile launch from Yemen.

Last week, an Emirati-leased Swift boat came under rocket fire near the same area and sustained serious damage.

The United Arab Emirates said the vessel was carrying humanitarian aid and had a crew of civilians, while the Houthis called it a warship.

The US has been considering withdrawing its support for the Saudi-led coalition fighting the Houthis following an airstrike on a funeral in addition to other troubling incidents of civilian casualties caused by the Saudi bombing campaign.

It is believed that the strike on the funeral, which occurred in Yemen's capital Sana'a last week, likely sparked the rebels to launch more ballistic missiles in Saudi Arabia and target the US warships in the Red Sea.

Some 140 people were killed during the funeral strike and more than 600 were injured.

Human rights groups have expressed outrage over the deaths and accused the US of complicity.

It is believes the attacks on the USS Mason may have been in retaliation for a Saudi bombing campaign that killed 140 people at a funeral in Yemen's capital Sana'a (pictured)

The US has been considering withdrawing its support for the Saudi-led coalition fighting the Houthis following the airstrike, which also injured more than 600 people

The White House has since said it is conducting a 'review' to ensure US cooperation with longtime partner Saudi Arabia is in line with 'US principles, values and interests.'

Thursday's missile launch could also affect US relations with Iran, which says it backs the Yemeni rebels but denies arming them.

That claim is contradicted by the US Navy, which says it has intercepted several shipping boats since the war began that were carrying Iranian weaponry suspected to be on the way to Yemen.

There was no immediate reaction to the US launch on Thursday morning in Iran, which was marking the Shiite commemoration of Ashoura.
A composite image of the buck-toothed stalker Victorian Police are searching for

A buck-toothed man walking his dog stalked and sexually assaulted a student in Melbourne's east multiple times as she walked to school.

In the latest attack, the predator pulled his teenage victim to his chest before kissing her head numerous times as she tried to pull away, Victorian police allege.

The man in his 50s, with protruding front teeth and side burns, struck at Springvale over a three-week period in August and September.

Police have released images of the man and his dog, believed to be called 'Honey'.

He is described as being Caucasian, with a lanky build, receding hairline and grey hair.

The fair-skinned, wrinkly man with an Australian accent was also seen walking a golden brown dog, possibly a Staffordshire bull terrier, and was spotted on one occasion wearing shorts with his socks pulled up around his calves.

The man approached his 18-year-old victim several times as she walked to school in the Mile Creek path area, between late August and mid-September.

In the most recent attack, he approached the teenager as she was waiting for a friend at nearby Oakdale Court.

It is alleged he put his arm around her and pulled her against his chest.

She attempted to pull way but the man pulled her in tighter and kissed the top of her head numerous times, before she managed to escape.

The Mile Creek path at Springvale where the stalker attacked the student walking to school
A vegan travel blogger who videoed herself in tears after seeing a crate of sheep being trafficked on a ferry says she has received daily rape and death threats since the footage was posted online.

Kristin Lajeunesse, who is from the U.S., was on a ferry from Picton to Wellington in New Zealand last week when she smelt 'animal faeces' at the rear of the boat and decided to investigate.

She became emotional after seeing dozens of sheep packed into a crate, describing the scene as 'cruelty set against beauty' in a tearful video which was viewed hundreds of thousands of times.

Kristin Lajeunesse, originally from the US, was on a ferry from Picton to Wellington in New Zealand last week when she smelt 'animal faeces'

Ms Lajeunesse became emotional after seeing dozens of sheep packed into a crate, describing the scene as 'cruelty set against beauty'

In a new video posted on Tuesday, Ms Lajeunesse said she was upset and disturbed that tens of thousands of people had threatened her over the past week.

'What I found most disturbing was the expression with which people shared the fact that they disagreed with me being vegan or why I posted the video at all,' she said.

'To the point where I was receiving daily death and rape threats and other awful things like that.'

She said she was fine with people criticising what she posted online, but was upset with the way in which people had attacked her.

'I think what also makes it a bit upsetting is that this experience happened in a country which has built its reputation on being really open and friendly, the people being really kind and generous  That added a bit to the shock.'

Some viewers posted pictures of freshly sliced lamb to Facebook, saying the young woman needed to 'harden up'.

Ms Lajeunesse travelled to New Zealand on a trip funded by Vegan Travel to visit different vegan restaurants across the country

Ms Lajeunesse travelled to New Zealand on a trip funded by Vegan Travel to visit different vegan restaurants across the country.

She did a similar trip across the US in a chevy van in 2011 after quitting her job at Vegan Weddings HQ.

She has more than 105,000 Facebook followers on her page Will Travel for Vegan Food.

She said overall she had had 'quite lovely experiences' in New Zealand and was appreciative of all the support she has received from around the world.

She said tens of thousands of people had threatened her since she posted the video online

Ms Lajeunesse did a similar vegan trip across the US in a chevy van in 2011 after quitting her job at Vegan Weddings HQ

While she had many supporters saying how devastating her experience on the ferry was, Ms Lajeunesse was also heavily criticised

Some viewers posted pictures of freshly sliced lamb, saying the young woman needed to 'harden up'
Toyota is recalling 340,000 of its Prius hybrid cars worldwide over faulty brakes.

The Japanese firm said it was not aware of any reports of accidents linked to the defect 'as of October 3', updating an earlier statement which said it was still looking into various reports.

Toyota Motor Corp said that the parking brake cable on the cars can disengage unexpectedly, causing the brakes to stop working properly.

Toyota Prius. Hundreds of thousands of hybrid cars are set to be recalled worldwide

This means that if the car  a petrol-electric hybrid  is left in a gear other than park, it could roll away.

The recall includes 212,000 cars in Japan and 94,000 in North America. There will be 17,000 recalled in Europe, and the problem is with cars that were manufactured between August last year and this month.

The firm said all the hatchbacks in question were made at the Tsutsumi plant, which is at the firms Japanese headquarters.

The Prius is very popular among minicab drivers in London because its eco credentials mean it is exempt from the congestion charge. Toyota has a history of having to recall vehicles over problems. In June it emerged that tens of thousands of the manufacturers cars in Britain were being recalled for safety reasons.

The company was forced to act over a series of concerns, including fears that the vehicles airbags could inflate without warning. Toyota  which is the worlds largest carmaker  recalled 2.9million vehicles worldwide as part of that recall, including 72,885 UK-registered Prius, Auris and Lexus CT200h models, due to possible cracks in the fuel emissions control unit.

The recall includes 212,000 cars in Japan and 94,000 in North America. There will be a further recall of 17,000 cars deemed unsafe across Europe

The brake issue directive follows two other large recalls for the firm in 2009 and 2010, which affected 9million vehicles in total

The firm also said that just under half of the vehicles affected in the UK could also have a small crack in inflators in the airbags on both the driver and passenger sides, which may then expand  causing the airbags to partially inflate.

It followed two other large recalls for the firm in 2009 and 2010, which affected 9million vehicles in total. The scandal followed a string of fatal crashes that occurred when accelerator pedals got stuck.
Staff at an Apple store have come under fire after they were allegedly caught stealing personal photographs from customer's iPhones and taking explicit pictures of co-workers to rate them out of 10.

Several Queensland workers are accused of taking images of their fellow co-workers and shoppers amid a disturbing photo-sharing scandal, Yahoo 7 News reported.

Four men from the Carindale store in Brisbane have been sacked after they were allegedly found to have taken more than 100 photos of female colleagues and customers without their knowledge.

The alleged privacy breach came to light after an employee stumbled across a technician scrolling through a customer's phone in the repair room.

Staff at an Apple store have come under fire after they were allegedly caught stealing personal photos from customer's iPhones and taking explicit pictures of co-workers (stock image)

It's also alleged the workers were found to have shared the images to employees at other Queensland store to rank their appearances out of 10.

'One person would take a photo and add it to the chat and others would give the person or their butt or their boobs a rating out of 10 and they would add their own side commentary,' an anonymous Apple staff member told The Courier Mail.

'Everyone feels uncomfortable and the female staff don't know how to feel because the leadership won't tell staff who is involved.

'Denying the girls the right to know what has gone on is hiding the guys away from the full brunt of the consequences.'

However, Apple has denied allegations that photographs were taken or transferred.

Four men from the Carindale store in Brisbane have been sacked after they were allegedly found to have taken more than 100 graphic and close-up photos (stock image)

'Based on our investigation thus far, we have seen no evidence that customer data or photos were inappropriately transferred or that anyone was photographed by these former employees,' the company said in a statement to Daily Mail Australia.

'We have met with our store team to let them know about the investigation and inform them about the steps Apple is taking to protect their privacy.'

The company confirmed they are investigating the Carindale store over the string of privacy breaching allegations.

'Apple believe in treating everyone equally and with respect, and we do not tolerate behaviour that goes against our values,' the company said.
The BBC was last night accused of dishing out a constant stream of negativity in its post-referendum Brexit coverage.

Iain Duncan Smith and other Tory MPs criticised the corporation over how it has reported economic news since the referendum and the Governments approach to Brexit negotiations.

Backbench Conservative MP and Leave campaigner Peter Bone called on the Department for Culture, Media and Sport to investigate the broadcaster over what he called its strong bias against quitting the EU.

Iain Duncan Smith, pictured, has attacked the BBC's economic coverage since the referendum

Tory back bencher Peter Bone, pictured, wants an investigation into the BBC's anti-Brexit bias

Boris Johnson, pictured on the campaign trail, said the BBC was 'shamelessly anti-Brexit'

The row was reignited after a senior BBC reporter predicted a further fall in the pound during Prime Ministers Questions yesterday. Assistant political editor Norman Smith wrote on Twitter: Stand by for another tumble on the pound following Theresa Mays remarks on the single market.

The BBC rejected the criticisms, insisting its post-referendum coverage has been responsible and impartial. Last week Boris Johnson hit out at the corporation over its shamelessly anti-Brexit coverage. The Foreign Secretary told delegates at the Tory party conference that the way the BBC had covered the outcome of the vote was infuriating.

Although the broadcaster was praised during the referendum campaign for even-handed coverage of the debate, there has been criticism of its reporting since the result was announced.

It has given huge prominence to a recent legal bid to block Theresa May from invoking Article 50 without a parliamentary vote on the terms of Brexit.

It also placed huge emphasis on the fall of the pound, calling it a crisis, and is accused of failing to give enough attention to the upsides of a weaker currency. Eurosceptics say the BBC has reported on positive economic news since the vote by preceding it with the phrase despite Brexit.

Pro-Brexit Tories complain the BBC is concentrating too much on negative news and any positive economic data is often prefixed with the phrase 'despite Brexit'

Former Minister John Redwood said: 'I think the BBC should understand there are lots of things going on other than Brexit', complaining Radio 4 described sterling's decline as a 'crisis'

Brexit secretary David Davis, pictured in the Commons, said there was a 'Blame Brexit festival'

Mr Duncan Smith accused the corporation of a constant stream of negativity about the value of the pound. They are constantly talking about the value of the pound while ignoring other good economic news or the positive impact a lower pound can have, he said. Its not Norman Smiths job to speculate on what the pound is going to do. He should be reporting events. The former work and pensions secretary added: Banging on and on about it makes it seem like a crisis when it isnt one.

NO 10: WILL WE KEEP PAYING INTO EU COFFERS? By JAMES SLACK Downing Street yesterday left the door open to the UK paying billions of pounds to the EU to secure trade deals. Officials said that, once Britain had left the union, it will regain full control of the 10billion a year currently sent to Brussels. But they did not rule out opting to spend as much as 5billion a year on EU projects in order to secure preferential trading terms. Some ministers believe the UK contribution to the union is one of the countrys best bargaining chips. Once Brexit is implemented, Brussels will lose around 15 per cent of its total budget overnight  leaving it without the funds needed to pay for infrastructure and economic development projects in countries such as Poland. Officials argue that cash could procure support for trade deals with the UK. Tory MP Kwasi Kwarteng said: It may well be the case that we have to contribute, I think, for a transition period. But John Redwood, the Conservative MP and Brexit campaigner, said the idea was absurd. He said the UK should offer only to carry on trading exactly as we are at the moment. But he added: Theres absolutely no need to pay them money to buy their imports. A Government spokesman said: We will not provide a running commentary on our negotiating position. Advertisement

However, the former minister praised the BBCs political editor, Laura Kuenssberg, for her even handed reporting.

Mr Bone, of the Leave Means Leave campaign, said: The referendum is over, the British people voted to leave, yet the BBC are determined to campaign for the UK to remain in the EU.

I have seen no evidence of impartiality and an overwhelmingly strong bias against leaving. The BBC has a duty to provide balanced coverage and it has completely failed to do so.

I urge the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport to investigate the BBCs post-referendum coverage.

On Tuesday in its main interview slot, Radio 4s Today programme discussed the fall in the pound. The segment began by describing the pounds decline as a full-blown currency crisis.

Former Cabinet minister John Redwood said: I think the BBC should understand there are lots of things going on other than Brexit.

The economy is doing better than they feared and they should cheer up and reflect that mood.

In the House of Commons, Brexit Secretary David Davis said that in the immediate aftermath of the vote to Leave there was an extraordinary outpouring almost of grief  a blame Brexit festival, if you like. He did not mention the BBC specifically.

A spokesman for the corporation said: BBC news is covering events following the referendum vote and the impact of sterlings revaluation in a responsible and impartial way.

We have reported on the upsides as well as downsides and other key economic indicators like the FTSEs strength, consumer confidence and manufacturing and services sectors rebounding.
A mother accused of murdering her daughter allegedly fed the four-year-old pills to save her from the evil spirits possessing her.

Evelyn Kathleen Sen faced an insanity hearing on Thursday over the death of Maggie Renee Watson at her home in the Auckland suburb of Onehunga on August 6, 2015.

She was found not guilty of murdering her 4-year-old daughter on the grounds of insanity.

A psychiatric expert gave evidence about the Malaysian born mother's 'untreated psychotic delusions', theNew Zealand Herald reports.

Maggie Renee Watson, 4, died at her home in the Auckland suburb of Onehunga on August 6, 2015

Dr Mhairi Duff told the High Court in Auckland that Sen took an overdose of sleeping tablets to kill herself after giving Maggie pills.

'She believed her daughter was being tortured and at risk of possession. Her evidence for this came from a delusional belief system,' Duff said in evidence.

Maggie had been waking up screaming in the nights before her death, and Sen believed she needed to save her, the court heard.

'She did not think these were nightmares, that they related to real events. Rather, this was evidence of possession by evil spirits, that her daughter was already experiencing torture.'

The court heard how Sen woke in the early evening of August 6, distressed to find she had survived her overdose, while Maggie had passed away.

'She realised her daughter was dead and took a further overdose. She moved around the house in a distressed state,' Duff told the court.

The psychiatric expert said there were trails of blood around the Moana Ave home and the words 'Pastor John' written in blood.

Duff told the court that Sen knew her actions were morally wrong, but at the time of the alleged murder she believed she was allowing her daughter to be accepted into heaven.
Motorists whose cars are being damaged by potholes on Britain's 'crumbling third world roads' are making a compensation claim to councils every 17 minutes, a damning new report reveals today.

But while the number of claims made has risen by nearly 9 per cent, the money that cash-strapped councils are paying out to hard-pressed motoristsis is actually falling, leaving drivers out of pocket, according to the respected RAC Foundation.

It says that last year drivers made at least 31,483 claims against councils across Britain for potentially 'life-threatening' vehicle damage  equivalent to one every 17 minutes.

Motorists whose cars are being damaged by potholes on Britain's 'crumbling third world roads' are making a compensation claim to councils every 17 minutes

The main damage is to a car's suspension, tyres, buckled wheels, and alignment and tracking.

But councils paid out in only just over a quarter (26.9 per cent) of cases over the last financial year.

And although the average claim was for 432, the average value of a successful claim was significantly lower at 306.

Across the whole of Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales) the number of claims for pothole and other damage causwd by poorly-maintained roads submitted by motorists to local council rose from 28,971 to 31,483  an increase of 8.67 per cent.

But the cash paid out by councils for car-damage has fallen from just over 2m (2,004,782) in 2014/15 to 1.784 million in 2015/16, a drop of around 11 per cent or more than 220,000.

The council with the highest number of claims made against it was Hampshire at 1,952, followed by Surrey (1,412), Hertfordshire (1,369), Kent (1,120) and Lancashire (930).

Councils paid out in only about one in four cases - 26.9 per cent - over the last financial year

The only council in Great Britain to receive no claims for vehicle damage caused by potholes in 2015/16 was the Isles of Scilly. Orkney Council and the City of London received just one claim each.

The RAC Foundation report said the government's own assessment is that there is a road maintenance backlog of up to 8.6billion. The latest annual ALARM survey of local authority highways departments puts it at 11.8 billion.

RAC Foundation director Steve Gooding said: 'These figures are symptomatic of the inadequate funding available for local road maintenance.

'Drivers worried about the cost of running a car scarcely know where to look. They must try to keep one eye on rising pump prices and another on the potholes that can add hundreds to their annual motoring bills by causing damage to tyres and wheels.

The main damage is to a car's suspension, tyres, buckled wheels, and alignment and tracking

Mr Gooding added: 'The Chancellor last week admitted our infrastructure languished near the bottom of the developed-countries' league table. Many of the millions of drivers dodging potholes on a daily basis might put it rather less politely and wonder whether some of our crumbling local roads have been relegated to much lower divisions and are more third world than first.'

He said: 'Year in, year out, the backlog of work on local roads is estimated to run to several billion pounds.

'A pitted road surface isn't just a problem for motorists  for those on two wheels it can be life threatening.' 'Mr Hammond says he is keen to support targeted, value-for-money public investment. Providing the funds to fix our roads would be a great place to start and would show rapid results.'
A woman who saved up for ten years for a $150,000 renovation on her home has been left devastated after being told a new bridge will run directly over it.

Catherine Pendelich, who lives in Carnegie in Melbourne's south-east, made a submission to the Supreme Court to try and stop the skyrail project.

She told Daily Mail Australia the skyrail will block all sunlight into her home, and claims there was not an appropriate consultation process about the project.

Before and after: Melbourne woman Catherine Pendelich is contesting the construction of the skyrail as she says it will impose on her backyard (right is a digitally altered image)

The construction will see three sections of rail run above ground between Caulfield and Dandenong (artist's impression is pictured)

The construction will see three sections of rail run above ground between Caulfield and Dandenong.

Ms Pendelich said there will also be 'huge' pylons put in behind her fence at intervals of 20 metres.

She started the renovations on her home last July after saving up the $150,000 for ten years.

'None of us knew we would have a huge elevated railway hovering over our homes', she told Daily Mail Australia.

Ms Pendelich says the rail will block sunlight to her yard and home

She also raised concerns about noise, as she says there will not only be light rail trains but also freight vehicles using the line.

In February the Victorian government unveiled their plans for the skyrail, however Ms Pendelich claims locals 'were never told anything about elevated railway'.

Despite these claims Public Transport Minister Jacinta Allan said there had been consultations for over nine months.

'There was more than nine months of consultation on our plan to remove every single level crossing on Melbourne's busiest rail corridor and work is now underway.

'We will continue to work with residents while we remove nine dangerous level crossings, establish kilometres of new parkland and create space for more trains.

Ms Pendelich also raised concerns about noise, as she says there will not only be light rail trains but also freight vehicles using the line (artist's impression)
Six women have come forward to accuse Donald Trump of touching or kissing them inappropriately, just days after the Republican nominee told Anderson Cooper that he had never kissed or groped a woman without their consent.

Temple Taggert, who competed as Miss Utah in the 1997 Miss USA pageant claims that Trump kissed her on the lips against her will.

Cassandra Searles, who served as Miss Washington in the 2013 pageant, claims that Trump 'grabbed her a**' and invited her back to his hotel room during the competition.

Natasha Stoynoff was interviewing Trump at Mar-a-Lago back in 2005 when she claims that Trump began 'forcing his tongue down [her] throat.'

Mindy McGillivray claims she was also at Mar-a-Lago when she was groped by Trump.

Rachel Crooks claims Trump kissed her on the lips against her will in 2005, and Jessica Leeds alleged that Trump sexually assaulted her on a plane three decades ago.

Trump furiously denied the allegations of Crooks and Leeds when approached by a journalist for the New York Times.

'None of this ever took place,' he shouted at the female reported when asked for comment, before calling her a 'disgusting human being.'

He reiterated this on Thursday while speaking at a rally in Florida, stating: 'These claims are all fabricated. They're pure fiction and outright lies. These events never ever happened.'

Scroll down for videos

Lining up: Six women have come forward claiming they were kissed or touched inappropriately by Donald Trump over the past three decades

Shooting them down: Trump took to Twitter on Thursday morning to shot down the claims being made by these women

On the attack: Trump also lashed out at the New York Times for publishing the stories of two of these women

Trump faced his first direct question about these allegations on Thursday afternoon ahead of his speech in West Palm Beach, Florida.

None of this ever took place. You are a disgusting human being. - Trump to female reporter from New York Times when asked to comment on the allegations made by two women

At the end of a roundtable event for small business owners, Associated Press reporter Jonathan Lemire asked the Republican nominee if he had ever touched or groped a woman without her consent.

'Mr. Trump, can you deny - have ever touched her in history,' asked Lemire.

It is unclear which of the six women he was referring to at the time.

Trump shook his head in disgust while others in the room began to boo. He then told the roundtable participants: 'What a sleazebag.'

The event was being livestreamed, but the feed cut off just as Lemire asked his question.

Trump's campaign has also denied the accusations being made by these women, saying they are 'fiction' and 'completely false.'

They also sent a legal letter to the Times, and Trump said on Thursday that he plans to move forward with a lawsuit.

'Your article is reckless, defamatory and constitutes libel per se. It is apparent from, among other things, the timing of the article, that this is nothing more than a politically-motivated attempt to defeat Mr Trump's candidacy,' reads the letter.

Your article is reckless, defamatory and constitutes libel per se. It is apparent from, among other things, the timing of the article, that this is nothing more than a politically-motivated attempt to defeat Mr Trump's candidacy. - Trump's legal letter to the New York Times

A senior campaign aide for Trump has previously stated that the Republican nominees was preparing to go to 'war' with the Times.

Lawyers from the New York Times quickly fired off their own, very strongly worded response to Trump.

The Times stated in the letter that they declined to take down the Trump story despite his lawyers request, saying: 'Mr. Trump has bragged about his non-consensual sexual touching of women. He has bragged about intruding on beauty pageant contestants in their dressing rooms.

'He acquiesced to a radio host's request to discuss Mr. Trump's own daughter as a "piece of a**."'

The letter later states: 'Nothing in our article has had the slightest effect on the reputation that Mr. Trump, through his own words and actions, has already created for himself.'

Lawyers for the Times then conclude their letter by writing: 'We published newsworthy information about a subject of deep national concern.

'If Mr. Trump disagrees, if he believes that American citizens had no right to hear what these women had to say and that the law of this country forces us and those who would dare to criticize him to stand silent or be punished, we welcome the opportunity to have a court set him straight.'

Lashing out: Trump had his lawyers fire off a letter (above) to the New York Times

Fighting back: 'Nothing in our article has had the slightest effect on the reputation that Mr. Trump, through his own words and actions, has already created for himself,' said the New York Times

In a 2005 interview with Access Hollywood, Trump was captured on audio saying to host Billy Bush: 'I'm automatically attracted to beautiful women  I just start kissing them. It's like a magnet.

'Just kiss. I don't even wait. And when you're a star, they let you do it. You can do anything.'

He said in the wake of the tape's release that his comments were nothing more than locker room talk.'

Clinton's campaign condemned the behavior described in the latest allegations, saying it suggest Trump lied to voters during Sunday's second presidential debate.

Nothing in our article has had the slightest effect on the reputation that Mr. Trump, through his own words and actions, has already created for himself ... If Mr. Trump disagrees, if he believes that American citizens had no right to hear what these women had to say and that the law of this country forces us and those who would dare to criticize him to stand silent or be punished, we welcome the opportunity to have a court set him straight. - New York Times response to Trump's legal complaint

'This disturbing story sadly fits everything we know about the way Donald Trump has treated women,' communications director Jennifer Palmieri said in a statement.

'These reports suggest that he lied on the debate stage and that the disgusting behavior he bragged about in the tape is more than just words.'

Fox News host Megyn Kelly also weighed in on the topic on Twitter Wednesday night, covering both whether Trump would have much chance in a lawsuit and the complicated nature of women who have been victims of assault coming forward.

Responding to a report Trump's camp was drafting a suit, Kelly tweeted: 'Risks: Defamation v. hard to prove since DT=pub figure. Also, truth is a defense so NYT will double down & will cast wide net in discovery.'

The star host also discussed why the alleged victims may have taken so long to come forward and report the abuse.

'Well, these women, they never had a lawsuit,' she said on the Kelly File. 'And the truth is that victims of sexual assault, victims of rape, victims of unwanted groping, they often dont come forward.

'Theyre humiliated, especially back in the day. They were told move along, it happens to all women, youve got to take it. Its a complicated issue.'

This latest Trump controversy comes just one day after his campaign said it was planning to ramp up its attacks on Bill Clinton as a way to attack Hillary.

'Were going to turn him into Bill Cosby,' Steve Bannon told staffers, according to Bloomberg News.

Jessica Leeds: 'Groped by Trump on a plane'

Number one: Jessica Leeds (above) said that Trump 'grabbed her breasts and tried to put his hand up her skirt' on a flight more than three decades ago

Quote: 'He was like an octopus,' Leed (above on Wednesday) told the Times. 'His hands were everywhere'

Jessica Leeds, a 74-year-old former businesswoman who lives in Manhattan, was the first woman featured in the Times story.

Leeds told the newspaper she was 'assaulted' by Trump on a flight when she was 38.

He was like an octopus. His hands were everywhere. - Jessica Leeds

She explained how she was sat beside the Republican nominee in first class, when he lifted the arm-rest between then and allegedly began touching her.

'He was like an octopus,' said Leeds. 'His hands were everywhere.'

Leeds, who told the newspaper the incident 'was an assault', said she rushed to the back of the plane to escape Trump's advances.

She also said that when she heard Trump deny ever touching a woman against her will on Sunday night she wanted 'to punch the screen' of her television.

Rachel Crooks: 'Kissed by Trump in an elevator'

Number two: The second woman who is claiming she was touched inappropriately by Trump is Rachel Crooks (above)

No go: Crooks (on right) says Trump kissed her on the mouth without permission while in an elevator

The second woman the newspaper claims was touched inappropriately by Trump is Rachel Crooks.

Crooks was a 22-year-old working as a receptionist at Bayrock Group, a real estate company based in Trump Tower in Manhattan, when she says Trump kissed her on the mouth without permission while in an elevator in 2005.

It was so inappropriate. I was so upset that he thought I was so insignificant that he could do that. - Rachel Crooks

'It was so inappropriate,' said Crooks. 'I was so upset that he thought I was so insignificant that he could do that.'

Crooks told the newspaper the incident took place after she shook hands with Trump in an elevator and he allegedly refused to let go. She says he then began kissing her on the cheeks, before then kissing her lips.

Trump responded by writing on Twitter Thursday: 'The phony story in the failing @NYTimes is a TOTAL FABRICATION. Written by same people as last discredited story on women. WATCH!'

Mindy McGillivray: 'Groped by Trump at Mar-a-Lago'

Third claim: Mindy McGillivray (pictured) said Trump grabbed her backside after she helped a photographer who was covering a concert at Trump's Palm Beach manor

The room where it allegedly happened: McGillivray (above at Mar-a-Lago) was 23 at the time of the alleged groping

Mindy McGillivary was the third woman to accuse the Republican nominee told her story to the Palm Beach Post, saying she was groped by Trump 13 years ago at his Mar-a-Lago mansion.

The 36-year-old said that Trump grabbed her backside after she helped a photographer who was covering a concert at Trump's Palm Beach manor.

McGillivray, who was 23 at the time, said she was with Ken Davidoff at the Mar-a-Lago on January 24, 2003.

Its a respect issue for all women. If something like this happens to you, you should speak up. - Mindy McGillivray

'All of a sudden I felt a grab, a little nudge. I think its Kens camera bag, that was my first instinct,' she told the newspaper. 'I turn around and theres Donald. He sort of looked away quickly.'

McGillivray said she became furious when she saw Trump claim during the second presidential debate that he had never groped a woman inappropriately, and immediately began to consider sharing her story.

'Its a respect issue for all women. If something like this happens to you, you should speak up,' said McGillivray.

She also admitted to the newspaper she has a lengthy criminal record, and understands that it will likely be brought up in the wake of her making the allegations against Trump.

McGillivray has two felony arrests, and was arrested on DUI and child neglect charges in 2012.

Natasha Stoynoff: 'Kissed and groped during interview at Mar-a-Lago'

Unwanted kiss: The fourth woman was People writer Natasha Stoynoff (above), who claims Trump shoved his tongue down her throat

Difficult: Stoynoff went on to detail how her 'self-esteem crashed to zero' as a result of the alleged attack, which she struggled to get her head around

The fourth woman to bring new allegations against Trump is Natasha Stoynoff, a writer with People.

Stoynoff recounted how she had traveled to Mar-a-Largo to interview Trump and his wife, Melania, in December 2005.

'Our photo team shot the Trumps on the lush grounds of their Florida estate, and I interviewed them about how happy their first year of marriage had been,' she wrote in People.

In those few minutes alone with Trump, my self-esteem crashed to zero. - Natasha Stoynoff

'When we took a break for the then very-pregnant Melania to go upstairs and change wardrobe for more photos, Donald wanted to show me around the mansion.

'There was one "tremendous" room in particular, he said, that I just had to see.

'We walked into that room alone, and Trump shut the door behind us. I turned around, and within seconds, he was pushing me against the wall, and forcing his tongue down my throat.

'I was grateful when Trumps longtime butler burst into the room a minute later, as I tried to unpin myself.'

Stoynoff went on to detail how her 'self-esteem crashed to zero' as a result of the alleged attack, which she struggled to get her head around.

You take a look. Take a look at her. Take a look at her words. You tell me what you think. I don't think so. - Trump on Stoynoff's claims

'How could the actions of one man make feel so utterly violated?' she wrote.

'Id been interviewing A-list celebrities for over 20 years, but what hed done was a first. Did he think Id be flattered?'

The writer then explained how she tried to get on with the task at hand, interviewing the Trumps, before Donald said something as they were again alone, waiting for Melania.

'Trump smiled and leaned forward. "You know were going to have an affair, dont you?" he declared. "Have you ever been to Peter Lugers for steaks? Ill take you. Were going to have an affair, Im telling you."'

Trump responded to the claim on Twitter Thursday by writing: 'Why didn't the writer of the twelve year old article in People Magazine mention the "incident" in her story. Because it did not happen!'

He again addressed the claims during his rally on Thursday, saying: 'You take a look. Take a look at her. Take a look at her words. You tell me what you think.'

Trump then told the crowd: 'I don't think so.'

Cassandra Searles: 'Trump grabbed my a** and invited me to his hotel room'

Speaking up: The fifth woman to claim Trump acted inappropriately towards her is Cassandra Searles (above)

Back in the day: Searles, who won Miss Washington in 2013, shared a picture of the other models who took part in the Trump-owned pageant in 2013 on Facebook (above)

Allegation: 'He probably doesnt want me telling the story about that time he continually grabbed my a** and invited me to his hotel room,' said Searles

The fifth woman to claim Trump acted inappropriately towards her is Searles.

She first shared her story earlier this year, but her claims were highlighted in the wake of Wednesday's allegations.

He probably doesnt want me telling the story about that time he continually grabbed my a** and invited me to his hotel room. - Cassandra Searles

Searles, who won Miss Washington in 2013, shared a picture of the other models who took part in the Trump-owned pageant in 2013 on Facebook and included a caption saying the Republican nominee treated them 'like cattle'.

'Do yall remember that one time we had to do our onstage introductions, but this one guy treated us like cattle and made us do it again because we didnt look him in the eyes?' she wrote in June.

'Do you also remember when he then proceeded to have us lined up so he could get a closer look at his property?

'Oh I forgot to mention that guy will be in the running to become the next President of the United States.'

Searles took her comments a step further replying to a comment on the picture, claiming Trump groped her and tried to seduce her.

'He probably doesnt want me telling the story about that time he continually grabbed my a** and invited me to his hotel room,' said Searles.

Temple Taggart: 'Two unwanted kisses from Trump'

Difficult talk: Temple Taggart (above) got emotional as she spoke, the sixth woman to come forward with claims

Not warranted: Taggart said that Trump kissed her on the lips despite not knowing her (Taggart above with Trump and then wife Marla Maples)

The sixth women to speak out was Taggart, who like Searles competed in the Miss USA pageant and was a contestant the first time that she claims Trump kissed her against her will.

Taggart told the New York Times earlier this year that Trump kissed her on the lips during the pageant, but shared more about her story in the wake of his comments during Sunday night's debate.

'When I first heard the leaked tape, it's very unsettling... you don't want to hear anyone talking about women like that,' said Taggart.

'You look at your sweet, little innocent daughter and think, "this is the world I'm raising her in."'

You have the right to say no. You have the right to get out of there. You have the right to leave, and you have the right to make them feel uncomfortable if they're making you feel uncomfortable. I don't care what you have to do - you just get yourself out of that situation. - Temple Taggart on the advice she will give her young daughter

She claims that her father saw Trump during rehearsal for the pageant and decided to get his attention so that his daughter could met the billionaire businessman.

'It was at that time that he turned to me and embraced me and gave me a kiss on the lips,' said Taggart.

'I remember feeling kind of embarrassed, like wanting to turn and wipe my mouth, like, "What just happened?"' said Taggart.

This happened again when she went to New York City to meet Trump soon after she told NBC News.

'I remember immediately thinking, what does he think this is?' said Taggart, who added that the kiss was the kind one would give their boyfriend.

Her chaperone told her that she was not to be alone with Trump after witnessing the kiss.

Taggart - who said she is not a fan of Hillary Clinton - then broke down thinking about her young daughter ever having to experience something like she did with Trump.

'You have the right to say no. You have the right to get out of there. You have the right to leave, and you have the right to make them feel uncomfortable if they're making you feel uncomfortable,' said Taggart.

'I don't care what you have to do - you just get yourself out of the situation.'

Trump responded to Taggart's accusation by saying: 'I don't know anything about her. I don't even know who she is.'
CHATTANOOGA SOUTHERN RAILWAY, 1891

Initially the Chattanooga Southern Railway (CS) was intended entirely to provide freight service for iron ore, coal, and lumber out of the region between Chattanooga and Gadsden, Alabama, but after a few years added passenger service. In 1895 the company reorganized as the Chattanooga Southern Railroad (also CS), which C.E. James reorganized again in 1911 as the Tennessee, Alabama, and Georgia Railway (TAG). Southern Railway purchased the railway in 1971 and integrated it and its assets.

Cenchant

At first called Durham Junction, the depot at this schedule stop and coupon station stood at the Nickajack Road crossing, four miles northwest of Chickamauga. The original name derived from its being at the junction for the CRC with the Chickamauga and Durham Railroad. A community grew up around the busy depot, but it now exists mostly as a geographic place-name.

The post office of Cenchat operated from 1902 until 1909.

Eagle Cliff

A mile-and-a-quarter down the line toward Chattanooga stood this schedule stop in the community for which it was named. The community was named for the eponymous cliff on Lookout Mountain which served as a home for eagles; the community now goes by the name Valley View, but its central street is called Eagle Cliff Drive.

The post office of Eagle Cliff operated from 1860 until 1904.

Moonsboro

A half mile further stood this schedule stop, named for the community here which now goes simply by the name Moons. Chattanooga Valley High and Elementary Schools are here today.

Flintstone

Another half mile down stood this schedule stop, the most important in this part of the upper Chattanooga Valley. The residential part of the community is now concentrated adjacent to Chattanooga Valley Road.

The post office of Flintstone was established in 1891.

Rock Creek

This schedule stop stood three-quarters-of-a-mile down from Flintstone, probably at the crossing of Rock Creek Road.

Woodburn

This signal stop was one-third of a mile south of the Tennessee stateline.

For more information, see the entry for this station under Mountain Division in the section on the Union Railway of Chattanooga.

Endline

The first station in Hamilton County, Tennessee, the small depot at this schedule stop stood north of West 57th Street halfway between Tennessee Avenue and St. Elmo Avenue. A big tree now stands there. At some point TAG changed the name of this station to St. Elmo.

The post office of Endline operated from 1897 until 1900, when it was moved to St. Elmo.

Thurmans Station

This schedule stop primarily served the junction of this railway with the Belt Line.

For more information, see the entry for this station in the Mountain Division of the section on the Union Railway of Chattanooga.

Alton Park

CS used the Belt Lines depot but called their schedule stop Alton Park. After the Belt Line went under, CS took full control of operations at both the depot and the yards, the latter of which it expanded greatly, Alton Park became the sole name.

For more information, see the entry for Oak Hill in the Mountain Division under the section on the Union Railway of Chattanooga.

Cravens

For information on this station, see the section on the Nashville and Chattanooga Railroad.

Chattanooga

CS initially ended its trips to Chattanooga at Georgia Avenue Depot originally constructed for the Union Railway, but soon switched to using Union Depot, as did TAG.

For more information, see the entry for Chattanooga under the Western and Atlantic Railroad.

Chuck Hamilton

<natty4bumpo@gmail.com>
The former head of MI6 has urged Boris Johnson to be more cautious after the Foreign Secretary called for anti-war protests outside the Russian embassy.

Sir John Sawers, who ran the Secret Intelligence Service from 2009 to 2014, indicated the politicians comments could risk retaliation against British diplomats in Russia.

Mr Johnson has been roundly criticised for his shameful call for demonstrations against the bombing of Syria.

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Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson called for demonstrations outside Russia's London embassy

Former MI6 head Sir John Sawyer attacked the call claiming it put British diplomats at risk

Russia accused him of Russophobic hysteria and said his claims Moscow had committed every deadly sin was a storm in a teacup full of muddy London water.

Sir John said: We all have to be a little bit careful and mindful of the security of our embassy in Moscow when we think about calling for demonstrations here in London.

Speaking on BBC Radio 4s Today programme, he added: We need to be careful about the consequences of things we call for. He also highlighted the attack on the UKs base in Iran by protesters in 2011 when crowds stormed the embassy. Even Stop the War campaigners hit back against Mr Johnsons remarks and refused to protest, saying they did not want to contribute to the jingoism and hysteria whipped up against Russia.

In an emergency debate on Syria in the Commons on Tuesday, Mr Johnson said Vladimir Putin was in danger of turning his country into an international pariah because of its bombing of civilians. He said there was no commensurate horror among anti-war protest groups and said he would like to see demonstrations outside the Russian embassy by the Stop the War coalition.

Mr Johnsons comments sparked a furore in Russia and created a diplomatic storm as Moscow accused British MPs of being on the wrong side of history. Mr Johnson also told the Commons that all evidence pointed at Moscow being behind an attack on an aid convoy in September, which would make Russia guilty of war crimes.

Russias Ministry of Defence published a fierce statement in response and the embassy called for proof from the British Foreign Office that Russia had committed war crimes in Syria. Russian Major General Igor Konashenkov said: The Russophobic hysteria of certain members of the British establishment is no longer impressive.

The frenzy that has gripped... Boris Johnson, who accuses Russia of committing every deadly sin, is a storm in a teacup full of muddy London water.

He insisted none of his aircraft was in the area at the time of an attack on the aid convoy.

Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov reminded Mr Johnson about the obligation to ensure the security of foreign diplomatic missions in the UK.

He said: The Foreign Secretary certainly knows about the Vienna Convention and the UK responsibility for the security of the diplomatic missions on its territory.

Stop the War vice-chairman Chris Nineham responded by saying he would not support or go on a protest outside the Russian embassy.
Gary McKinnon has called on the Government to prevent the extradition of fellow computer hacker and Aspergers sufferer Lauri Love

Gary McKinnon has called on the Government to prevent the extradition of fellow computer hacker and Aspergers sufferer Lauri Love.

He warned that the fragile vicars son would not survive the US prison system and urged the Home Secretary to halt the case.

Mr Love, 31, faces up to 99 years in a US jail and a fine of $9million if convicted, but his family and supporters argue he would take his own life if extradited.

Describing his own experience as corrosive and a nightmare, Mr McKinnon revealed he planned to take his own life rather than face trial in the US.

Speaking from my own experience, the incessant worrying eats away at your nerves. The possibility of spending decades, possibly the rest of your life, in a foreign jail always haunts you, he said.

You develop your own form of madness. Its a nightmare that wages a war of attrition on your already damaged mental health. And one of the worst things is watching the destructive effect it has on your family.

I made up my mind that I couldnt go to the US if I lost the case. I bought enough potassium chloride  the third chemical in the trio of lethal injections used in US executions  to stop my heart.

Mr McKinnons extradition was halted after then Home Secretary Theresa May intervened in his case following a campaign by the Mail. But the law has since changed and the decision to extradite an accused person to the States now rests with the courts.

University student Mr Love is alleged to have stolen huge amounts of data from US agencies including the Federal Reserve, the US Army, the Department of Defence, Nasa and the FBI using his home computer.

Mr Love, 31, faces up to 99 years in a US jail and a fine of $9million if convicted, but his family and supporters argue he would take his own life if extradited

But the US government are yet to produce any evidence against him, despite requesting his arrest which was carried out in 2013. Since then, the Aspergers sufferer has faced a three-year legal battle against extradition.

Last month, a judge agreed that Mr Love should be extradited. It is expected that Home Secretary Amber Rudd will rubber-stamp the agreement imminently. But his legal team plan to appeal the decision.

Mr Loves campaign has attracted the support of politicians including Mr McKinnons MP David Burrowes who raised the issue at Prime Ministers Questions yesterday.

Mr McKinnon, whose case was described as almost identical to Mr Loves, also pledged his backing and urged the Government to prevent the case going ahead.

What effect did Lauris alleged actions have on the US? No one died, no one was hurt. There is no suggestion that he committed fraud, acted for personal gain, or exposed personal information, he told Computer Weekly.

He also warned that Mr Love, who has dual British-Finnish nationality and is from Stradishall, Suffolk, would not survive the US prison system while awaiting trial.

Mentally ill people can be treated like animals once incarcerated. Prison staff are not able to provide the medical or psychological attention they need, though the US authorities promise they will, he said.

Its hard enough serving a long sentence in a foreign jail, but when youre on the autistic spectrum, like myself and Lauri Love, its many times harder.

I was fortunate that Theresa May, then home secretary, had the strength to make one of the most compassionate political decisions ever.

I can only hope that for Lauri and his family the horror will end soon, and that the current home secretary, Amber Rudd, together with the courts, will display the same courage by refusing Lauri Loves extradition.

Recalling his own nightmare experience, he added: I went through my own nightmare fighting extradition for 10 years, from 2002 to 2012.

Watching Lauri and his family interviewed on television brings back painful memories of an experience made worse by flawed legislation.

Under the US-UK extradition treaty, the US can request the extradition of a UK citizen based on untested evidence. The UK has no equivalent right to extradite Americans for alleged crimes committed in breach of UK law.

Mr McKinnon argued that in his case evidence provided by the US was later described by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) as hearsay and inadmissible in a UK court.

This deeply flawed extradition treaty has been misused time and time again, he said.

He also claimed that US government prosecutors routinely overstate the seriousness of hacking offences to make defendants appear highly dangerous to secure their extradition.

Mr McKinnon pointed out that his intrusions into US computer systems from his bedroom were described as the biggest military hack ever.

Fellow hacker Matthew Bevan was described as the worst threat to national security since Hitler, he added.
Scotland's public spending deficit is higher than Greeces and tackling it would mean doubling the basic rate of income tax or VAT, campaigners have warned.

Research shows the Scottish deficit is now at 9.5 per cent of GDP  the highest rate of the European Union nations and double the rate of the UK as a whole.

Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon wants Scotland to rejoin the EU following the Brexit vote, but a report claims that its economy would struggle to meet the stringent entry criteria.

Scottish First Minister wants Scotland to rejoin the EU, but a report by the Taxpayers' Alliance says the country would struggle to meet the stringent entry criteria

The Taxpayers Alliance said that its deficit would have to be plugged to a more sustainable level by either massive cuts in public spending or hiking taxes, particularly if Scotland became independent.

Scotland ran up a fiscal deficit of 14.8billion in 2015-16  and has run a deficit every year since devolution in 1999. To force it down to 3 per cent of GDP, as the EU demands under its stability and growth pact, Scotland would have to increase the basic rate of income tax from 20p to 39p or double VAT to 40 per cent. Or the Scottish government could instead embark on massive spending cuts of 3billion a year to meet the EUs deficit criteria.

This would be the equivalent of all defence spending, public order and safety or transport  or slashing health spending by 82 per cent.

Greece, which has a budget deficit of 7.2 per cent, has had to be bailed out by the EU following years of overspending by its government, with harsh austerity measures and public services slashed to bring down costs.

The Taxpayers Alliance said in its report, Scotlands Over-Spending Problem, that if its public spending was in line with England its chronic deficit problem would be largely eliminated, but Scots have an extra 20 per cent spent on them per head than the English.

John OConnell, chief executive of the TaxPayers Alliance, said: Scottish taxpayers face a huge deficit that must be tackled. Public spending promises made today will be paid for by tomorrows taxpayers, which means higher taxes and more debt for our children and grandchildren. Politicians in Holyrood must do the responsible thing and commit to getting the public finances under control.

Theresa May said sticking with the UK was Scotland's best economic bet

The pressure group said: It is living well beyond its means. Scotlands higher levels of public spending are made possible only by the subsidy from English taxpayers.

It also warned that increasing taxes to cut the deficit would have a deeply damaging impact.

It said: An independent Scotland jacking up taxes could expect to see a haemorrhage of GDP and jobs. Tax revenues could even fall, which means the only option to balance the books would be to cut spending.

Last month, Theresa May underlined how Scotlands best economic bet was to stick with the UK. The Prime Minister said: The fall in oil prices demonstrates just how crucial that relationship is financially: Scotland was able to weather that downturn because of the UKs broad shoulders.

Tax revenues from the North Sea collapsed, but funding for Scottish public services remained unscathed. That is how our union works: we share each others successes when times are good, and shoulder each others burdens when times are tough.

The report will be unwelcome reading for Miss Sturgeon, as she opens the SNPs conference in Glasgow today. Official figures also showed that Scotlands economy grew at a slower pace compared to the previous three months.

Kezia Dugdale, Scottish Labour leader, said: Its time for Nicola Sturgeon and the SNP to take ownership of a decade of SNP government, which is littered with broken promises, budget cuts, and backwards steps.
The world's largest consumer goods manufacturer warned that Brexit could have a negative effect on business in Britain in the lead up to the EU referendum.

Unilever was among several businesses which warned a decision to leave the EU would be bad for retailers, provoking allegations of scaremongering.

Chief executive Paul Polman, along with former chief executives Patrick Cescau and Niall FitzGerald and ex-chairman Sir Michael Perry, sent a joint letter to employees effectively warning them of the dangers of Brexit ahead of the June referendum.

Unilever chief executive Paul Polman (pictured above), along with former chief executives Patrick Cescau and Niall FitzGerald and ex-chairman Sir Michael Perry, sent a joint letter to employees effectively warning them of the dangers of Brexit ahead of the June referendum

Mr Polman also warned that a vote to Leave would mean hikes in import duties on items such as dairy products, leading to price rises that would affect consumers.

Citing the example of Wall's Magnum ice cream, Mr Polman warned about trade restrictions, saying: 'Undoubtedly if the UK were to Leave, the conditions will not be as good as if they stay in.'

Unilever has now suspended delivery of its supplies to Tesco after the supermarket giant refused to adhere to its reported demands of a 10 per cent price rise.

Tesco, which is battling growing competition from discount chains such as Aldi or Lidl, does not feel it necessary to pay an additional 10 per cent on products, which Unilever reportedly requires due to the falling value of sterling post Brexit.

MPs have condemned Unilever, saying the firm is using Brexit as an excuse to exploit consumers. They warn it may damage its brand.

Unilever has not yet commented on the fall-out with Tesco, but its chief executive and former bosses were part of the team which campaigned to Remain in the EU.

Former Unilever chief executives Patrick Cescau (right) and Niall FitzGerald (left) also warned about Brexit in the long letter sent to all employees ahead of the EU referendum in June

'A hugely important and irreversible decision'

Here, we publish in full the letter Mr Polman, Mr Cescau, Mr FitzGerald and Sir Michael sent to employees in the run-up to June's vote:

'Over the last 24 years we have each had the honour of leading Unilever, one of the world's truly great consumer goods companies.

'Between us, we have given the company more than a hundred and twenty years of service. In return, it has given us a remarkable perspective on what it takes to succeed in an era of rapidly accelerating globalisation  something we have also gained through our experience of serving in leading roles in other successful international companies.

'In many ways, our own backgrounds  as citizens of the UK, Ireland, France and the Netherlands  reflect the Europeanism on which Unilever is founded, and from which it has derived so much of its strength down the years.

We feel a responsibility to point out that Unilever in the UK, with its thriving operating company, international research centres, factories and global headquarters would, in our considered opinion, be negatively impacted if the UK were to leave the European Union

'Despite our diverse nationalities, we are all very clear on this  the vital importance of the UK to Unilever, and of Unilever to the UK. This is where the Unilever story began, and where  with the company's Dutch partners  an Anglo-Dutch business was formed that has gone on to become the globally-renowned company we know today.

'Europe however remains Unilever's heartland.

'And within Europe, the UK has always been a vital part, punching above its weight in Unilever's highly interdependent structure with its network of factories, internationally-renowned research centres, training facilities and other key corporate functions, not to mention a global headquarters whose Blackfriars office stands as a powerful symbol of Unilever's place in the world and its global reach.

'Long may that remain.

'As we look back, it is clear that the introduction 24 years ago, in 1992, of the Single European Act completely refashioned Europe's economic landscape.

'As, respectively, the leaders of the company throughout that entire period, we have seen first-hand how, at each stage of its development, the Single Market has steadily transformed Unilever's business, enabling it to reap the extraordinary advantages of European integration, to the benefit of its UK employees and its many other stakeholders.

Unilever has now suspended delivery of its supplies to Tesco after the supermarket giant refused to adhere to its reported demands of a 10 per cent price rise which it blamed on Brexit

'As Paul has confirmed, those benefits remain just as true today as at every previous stage.

'In short, Unilever owes much of its success over the last quarter of a century to the creation of a single European market of 500 million consumers, and  importantly  to the collective weight of the European Union in helping to open up markets and drive standards in other parts of the world, including in such important areas as the environment and social protection. Indeed, the European Union has become a window on the world  crucial to any European-based business, like Unilever, seeking to grow and prosper in a highly globalised marketplace.

'While of course the EU needs continuously to adapt and improve, we believe that is best achieved when the UK has the self-confidence to lead in Europe, as it has done so effectively in the past, for example on issues like the single market and enlargement.

'It is not for us to suggest how people might vote. Many factors need to be considered. We respect that. But in taking this hugely important and irreversible decision, we feel a responsibility to point out that Unilever in the UK, with its thriving operating company, international research centres, factories and global headquarters would, in our considered opinion, be negatively impacted if the UK were to leave the European Union.

'We therefore hope that in the interests of Unilever, the UK, Europe, and indeed the wider global economy, the UK will choose to Remain and thereby continue to play a central role in Unilever's long-term growth and prosperity.

Paul Polman (2009 - )

Patrick Cescau (2004  2008)

Niall FitzGerald KBE (1996  2004)
A semi-trailer has been caught on camera rear ending a car in Sydney's south and causing a three-car pile-up during the morning rush.

A Dash Cam video shows the truck crashing into a Toyota Corolla sedan on the Princes Highway at Engadine.

That sedan then rear ends a Subaru Forester SUV, which in turn rear ends a tray-back ute.

Footage of the accident has already been viewed more than 82,000 times on Facebook since it was posted on Wednesday.

The video has been viewed another 10,362 times onYouTube

The 7am crash has divided opinion, with Facebook posts debating whether the white Corolla sedan had cut in front of the semi-trailer.

However, Dash Cam Owners Australia clarified the white car did not jump in front of the truck, adding the owner of the camera had told them the semi-trailer driver had admitted fault at the scene.

The Brailey's Transport truck split seconds before it slams into the Toyota Corolla sedan

Peter Brailey, the owner of family-owned Brailey's Transport, said his driver was at fault.

'The guy's made a mistake, there's no one injured,' the businessman from Port Kembla, south of Sydney, told Daily Mail Australia.

'You're picking on someone who's made a mistake in peak hour traffic.'

A NSW Police spokesman said no one at the scene had called emergency services.

The impact of the truck rear ending the Toyota Corolla sedan caused the boot lid to buckle
Hillary Clinton's campaign manager John Podesta had his Twitter account taken over Wednesday, a day after he accused Russia behind the hack of years worth of his private emails that are getting posted on Wikileaks.

Podesta's account, which usually promotes Clinton's policies and campaign, instead sent out a brief one-line message in a Tweet posted Wednesday evening that definitely isn't in keeping with Podesta's political stance.

'I've switched Teams.Vote Trump 2016.Hi pol,' Podesta's account said.

Hillary Clintons campaign chairman John Podesta said he met with the FBI to discuss the hack of his emails, which were first posted online on Friday

The Tweet contained a link to a site that couldn't be located when DailyMail.com tried to access it. It was not immediately clear who was behind the intrusion.

A message said 'Teams.vote's server DNS address could not be found.'

The Clinton campaign confirmed the hack of the account but had little new information Wednesday evening.

'Clearly some action has been taken either on the Twitter side or our side,' Clinton spokesman Nick Merrill told reporters traveling with the candidate before her rally in Las Vegas.

'We can confirm that Johns Twitter account was hacked, which would explain the message you all disembarked from the plane and received, and were working on fixing it,' he said. Later Tuesday evening the tweet was removed from Podesta's site, with no explanation posted on the account.

The tweets immediately below the top one appeared legitimate  one contained a friendly exchange with celebrity chef Jose Andres, who feuded with Trump over his statements about Mexicans and pulled out of a deal to open a restaurant inside a Trump property.

A tweet from Podesta's Twitter account said he had 'switched teams' and 'Trump 2016'

The breach was another distraction for Clinton's campaign chair and senior advisor, who previously served as a counselor to President Obama and chief of staff to President Bill Clinton.

On Tuesday night, a campaign that has been hinging on boorish behavior and 90s sex scandals took a dark turn turn toward espionage and foreign manipulation as a Podesta drew a line between Donald Trumps campaign and hacks of Democrats that the government says Russia is behind.

After days of embarrassing disclosures from the hack of his emails, Podesta laid out the shadowy connections that he said run all the way from Donald Trump advisor Roger Stone to Russian intelligence agencies.

Speaking to reporters aboard Clintons campaign plane Tuesday night, Podesta blasted Russian interference in the US election less than a month away.

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Podesta hast blasted Russia for being behind the hack and claims they are trying to interfere in the election 'on behalf of Mr Trump', he told reporters on Tuesday

Podesta said he met with the FBI on Sunday to discuss the hack of his own emails, and that he was informed that his situation is being investigated as part of a broader inquiry into the hack of the Democratic National Committee and other officials.

They confirmed that theyre investigating the criminal hack of my email. And we of course are carefully cooperating in that investigation, Podesta told DailyMail.com and other reporters traveling with Clinton from Miami.

Russian interference in this election and their apparent attempt to influence it on behalf of Mr. Trump is I think should be of utmost concern to all Americans, Podesta said.

He pointed to former Nixon adviser Roger Stone, an informal adviser to Trump on occasion, as the first in a series of links surrounding the hack.

Stone, Podesta said, had already confirmed that he had been in touch with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who promised and then delivered by releasing leaked emails from Democrats.

Podesta claims Trump may be acting on behalf of Russia, noting he has been more consistent with Russian foreign policy than US foreign policy

Podesta confers with Hillary Clinton aide Huma Abedin aboard Clinton's campaign plane Tuesday

Podesta charges that Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, who has dumped hacked Democratic emails, is part of a connection that leads back to Moscow-backed hackers

So I think its a reasonable assumption to at least reach the conclusion that Mr. Stone had advance warning and the Trump campaign had advanced warning about what Assange was going to do, Podesta said.

He referred to an August 21 tweet by Stone as evidence of inside information. 'Trust me, it will soon the Podesta's time in the barrel. #CrookedHillary,' Stone tweeted, using a favorite catch phrase of Trump's.

But on that same day, Wikileaks was tweeting about Podesta, raising the possibility that Stone simply got the information online  although the article was about the investigation of a firm, The Podesta Group, that is controlled by Podesta's brother, Tony.

Podesta then pointed to a link between Assange and the hacker Guccifer 2.0, who posted DNC and other emails.

Guccifer claims to be Romanian, although US intelligence agencies announced Friday they believe Russian intelligence is behind the hacking of Democrats.

Thousands of Podestas emails were posted on the DCLeaks website in recent days, revealing all kinds of internal Clinton campaign workings. Podesta has not confirmed the accuracy of any individual emails that have been published.

Then Podesta asked why Trump might be acting on behalf of Russia.

Podesta pointed to former Nixon adviser Roger Stone (pictured), an informal adviser to Trump on occasion, as the first in a series of links surrounding the hack

He said Trump has been more consistent with Russian foreign policy than US foreign policy, citing Trumps statements about weakening NATO and stating that the US might not rush to defend allies who hadnt made good on their NATO commitments.

He also pointed to Trumps statements on Crimea  Trump once said there had been no invasion but then claimed he had been misunderstood  and said it may be part of Trumps apparent love affair, bromance  with [Russian President] Vladimir Putin.

It may just be policy. It may be just that theyve found somebody who essentially has adopted lock, stock, and barrel the Putin foreign policy,' Podesta said.

'Or perhaps its Mr. Trumps deep engagement and ties with Russian interests in his business affairs, he added, mentioning some Trump connections to Russian oligarchs.

Podesta cited informal Trump advisor Roger Stone as saying he had been in touch with Wikileaks founder Julian Assange

Roger Stone, pictured at his office in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., is a veteran Republican political operative with a reputed skill for dirty trick

Podesta brought up Trumps statement in Mondays presidential debate that it isnt known if Russia was behind the hacks and that there may be no hack.

Podesta said Trump made those claims notwithstanding the statement on Friday from the Director of National Intelligence and Department of Homeland Security.'

'Hes either willfully ignoring the information thats coming from the highest reaches of the US intelligence community or he is, as our former acting CIA director Mike Morrell said, an unwitting agent of the Russian federation Podesta said.

Podesta said the timing of the email dump seemed intended to counter Donald Trumps infamous p**** tape, which came out shortly before.

I think they clearly intended to. It wasnt any coincidence I think that within minutes of the Access Hollywood tape coming out they decided that this was their counter move to try to take the publics attention off the despicable things that Donald Trump said on that video.

But he acknowledged what information he had was circumstantial and that he had no hard evidence Stone  or the Trump camp proper  knew or helped further the hack, which would be a crime.

There is definitely circumstantial evidence that Mr. Stone must have been witting about what was likely to come. Mr. Stone, notwithstanding that hes not a former member of his campaign team, has been a longtime adviser to Mr. Trump and so I think theres at least a reasonable belief that Mr. Assange may have passed this information on to Mr. Stone, he said.

He said the hack was clearly intended to hurt the campaign.

I think they clearly intended to. It wasnt any coincidence I think that within minutes of the Access Hollywood tape coming out they decided that this was their counter move to try to take the publics attention off the despicable things that Donald Trump said on that video, he said.

Stone told a Florida GOP organization he was expecting an October surprise when asked about Assange.

Well, it could be any number of things. I actually have communicated with Assange. I believe the next tranche of his documents pertain to the Clinton Foundation but there's no telling what the October surprise may be.

Trump, in a campaign speech Tuesday night, repeatedly referenced Wikileaks in his remarks, and cited revelations that emerged from hacks.

'These Wikileaks emails confirm what those of us here today have known all along: Hillary Clinton is the vessel for a corrupt global establishment that is raiding our country and surrendering our sovereignty,' Trump said. 'This criminal government cartel doesnt recognize borders, but believes in global governance, unlimited immigration, and rule by corporations.'
State school teachers refuse to encourage bright, disadvantaged pupils to apply to Oxford and Cambridge because they assume most wont be happy there.

Four in ten teachers said they would rarely or never advise their cleverest children to apply  despite the opportunities this could offer the students, a study found.

Of those admitting they did not encourage pupils, 19 per cent said it was because they felt the children were unlikely to get in and 13 per cent said they didnt think they would be happy there.

Sir Peter Lampl, chairman of the Sutton Trust, said: Many state school teachers dont see Oxbridge as a realistic goal for their brightest pupils.'

The findings come amid a Government drive to increase the number of students from deprived backgrounds going to top universities.

AND HERE'S THE COMPETITION... SCHOOL IN INDIA THAT EMBRACES SELECTION Aiming high: Pupils from the VidyGyan Leadership Academy in India Sitting neatly in lines, their uniforms impeccable, these lucky pupils attend a school so popular that 250,000 children apply for just 200 places. The VidyaGyan Leadership Academy in India is embracing selection to offer those from the poorest backgrounds an elite education for free. Roshni Nadar Malhotra, a trustee of the Shiv Nadar Foundation which has spent 59million on the school in Uttar Pradesh, said its aim was to help bright pupils from disadvantaged rural areas get into top universities. The businesswoman told the BBC: There is a huge population in India not being tapped for their excellence ... We wanted to see if we could have an admissions system that was truly meritorious. When students get into a great university, its a huge aspirational lift for their village. These students become beacons of hope. She said the first graduates had achieved stellar results. When pupils at the boarding school go home for the summer, they are expected to carry out a community project to help their local area. Only children from families with an income below 1,500 a year are eligible, and the school carries out checks to make sure wealthier parents do not try to play the system. Around 250,000 youngsters apply every year, with 125,000 then taking a test so that the school can compile a shortlist of 6,000. Home visits then whittle the applicants down to the best 200. Advertisement

In previous years, both Oxford and Cambridge have faced criticism for not doing enough to encourage children from state schools and disadvantaged backgrounds to apply for courses. Theresa May has highlighted the injustice of white working-class boys being the least likely group to attend university.

The Government hopes to reintroduce grammar schools to the poorest areas in the country to help more disadvantaged bright children get into Oxbridge.

Yesterday, experts said the findings showed many teachers in the comprehensive system were failing to help bright students fulfil their potential.

The study of 1,607 primary and secondary school teachers was carried out by the Sutton Trust, a charity providing educational opportunities for children from under-privileged backgrounds.

Sir Peter Lampl, chairman of the Sutton Trust, said: Many state school teachers dont see Oxbridge as a realistic goal for their brightest pupils. It is vital that the universities step up their outreach activities to address teachers and students misconceptions.

Chris McGovern, of the Campaign for Real Education, said: Lots of teachers, it seems, are actively damaging the future prospects of the children they teach.

If the Government seeks an extra argument in favour of grammar schools for helping raise the attainment and expectation of children from deprived backgrounds, this research finding provides it.

The news comes ahead of the deadline this Saturday for applying to Oxford and Cambridge.

Just one-fifth of the polled teachers said they always advised their bright pupils to apply and a quarter said they usually did.

Researchers also found teachers common misconceptions extended to the proportion of state school students at Oxford and Cambridge. Just over a fifth thought less than 20 per cent of students came from the state sector when the actual figure is about 60 per cent.
Pens and pencils at the ready: the hunt is on again for Britains best aspiring cartoonists.

Each year the Young Cartoonists of the Year competition, run by the British Cartoonists Association, offers the chance to be judged by the best in the business and attracts thousands of entries.

This years panel includes cartoonists from nearly every national daily newspaper, including the Daily Mails incomparable Mac, who joined this newspaper in 1970 and whose own 2016 anthology goes on sale this week.

Daily Mail cartoonist Mac said: 'This is a great competition to get young cartoonists noticed'

Mac joined this newspaper in 1970, and the panel includes cartoonists from nearly every national daily newspaper

Mac said: This is a great competition to get young cartoonists noticed. You have to expect rejection when you are starting out, but if you keep going eventually youll get something accepted and thats a foot on the ladder.

Many of us are getting a bit long in the tooth but not enough would-be cartoonists are knocking on the door. You really have to have perseverance in this business when you are starting off. There are two categories, the under-30s and under-18s. Last years under-30s winner was Sean Coen, then 29, from London, with a cartoon featuring a joke about who does the washing up. He drew two men sitting at a table after a meal with a messy kitchen in the background and one saying to the other: Yeah but I cooked.

Oonagh Richardson, 11, from Stirchley, Birmingham, won the Woodcock Prize, awarded for a wacky cartoon, with hers about laughter being the best medicine  except for treating diarrhoea. She drew it for her grandfather to cheer him up while he was in hospital.

The under-18s winner was Christian Beeston, 12, from Macclesfield with a drawing of a giant rabbit pulling a man out of a top hat.

Entries must be an original cartoon, in colour or black and white, drawn freehand to a maximum size of A4. They must be submitted by November 4 to The Young Cartoonists of the Year Competition, The Cartoon Museum, 35 Little Russell Street, London, WC1A 2HH. For more details visit www.cartoonmuseum.org.
Chris Grayling, the Transport Secretary, will announce an extension of the Delay Repay scheme - which will encompass the Southern Rail service

Passengers will be able to claim compensation if their trains are more than 15 minutes late, ministers will reveal today.

Chris Grayling, the Transport Secretary, will announce an extension of the Delay Repay scheme to be introduced on a group of railway services, including troubled Southern Rail, by next spring.

It will then be rolled out across the country.

Passengers will be able to claim up to 25 per cent of the cost of a single fare for delays of between 15 and 29 minutes.

After half an hour rail customers can claim back 50 per cent, rising to the full fare for trains delayed more than an hour.

According to the transport watchdog, 94,201 rail services were delayed by between 15 and 30 minutes last year.

Some 26,241 were delayed by more than half an hour and 232,267 services were cancelled completely.

The new terms will be introduced within months on Govia Thameslink Railway services, including Southern, and then extended to South Western, West Midland and South Eastern franchises.

Industrial action has caused huge problems for Southern Rail and its passengers, along with continual poor service.

Talks between bosses and the RMT union in an attempt to avert further strike action broke down yesterday.

Mr Grayling will say today: Above all else passengers want a reliable train service, but when things do go wrong it is vital that they are compensated fairly.

Delay Repay 15 is a major improvement for passengers and we are working with train companies to make it as easy as possible for passenger.

Passengers will be able to claim up to 25 per cent of the cost of their fare back, for trains delayed between 15 and 29 minutes. The trial run will include Southern Rail, blighted by RMT Union strikes, pictured

Some rail passengers may have to wait until as late as 2024 while the changed terms get rolled out to other franchises. But officials are looking at ways to introduce the new terms of compensation by 2020.

Charles Horton, chief executive of Govia Thameslink, said: We warmly welcome this announcement. When passengers are delayed, they deserve compensation and we strongly advise all our passengers to make a claim.

This announcement will be good news for those with shorter journeys who think it is unfair they receive nothing for delays under 30 minutes.
This is the moment a brave shopkeeper locked himself inside his store with an alleged gangland thief and fought him for ten minutes.

The dramatic footage, captured in Melbourne yesterday, shows the shop owner and suspect exchanging blows as police try to make their way inside.

Eventually the officers get into the store and are forced to use capsicum spray to subdue the struggling man before handcuffing him.

This is the moment an alleged robbery by a man reported to be a member of an African gang was stopped by a brave shopkeeper who fought back

CCTV shows the shopkeeper locking one of the alleged thieves in his store and wrestling with him for around 10 minutes until police arrive

Police told Daily Mail Australia they were called to the store, on Paisley Street, at around 2.45pm to reports that two men had entered and starting taking items.

Officers said the shopkeeper had detained one man, a 24-year-old from Shepparton, who was arrested at the scene.

The second man, a 29-year-old from Footscray, managed to get away but returned to the scene a short time later armed with a knife.

Police say he fled the scene a second time before being arrested a short distance away. Both remain in custody and are assisting police with inquiries.

Officers attempted to get into the store through a hole that had been smashed by another man using bricks and pieces of concrete

Once inside the officers had to use capsicum spray and batons in order to subdue the suspect and get him in hadcuffs

According to 7 News, which obtained the footage, both men were of African descent and believed to be part of a gang operating in the area.

Video of the incident shows the shopkeeper exchanging vicious blows inside the store before struggling on the floor.

Eventually two officers get inside where they are forced to use batons to get the man in handcuffs before he is pictured on the pavement outside.

According to pedestrians, a gang of people had been terrorising the street for hours before the alleged robbery took place.

Witnesses said a gang of African men were terrorising the street before the robbery, in an area where African Apex are known to operate

Melbourne's streets have been plagued in recent months by the African Apex gang, a group of largely young males of Sudanese refugee background who have left some residents terrified.

The group are believed to have been behind multiple robberies, carjackings, and violent assaults around the city, and were responsible for the Moomba riots.

It is not known if the two men filmed in the store yesterday were part of that group.
UC Foundation Associate Professor of English Sybil Baker, is one of 11 Tennessee artists awarded an Individual Artist Fellowship from the Tennessee Arts Commission for 2017.



The fellowships support outstanding professional artists in the categories of craft, dance, literary arts, media, music, theater, and visual art.



An exploration of Chattanooga, race, wanderers, and refugees (to name a few), Prof. Bakers soon to be released nonfiction work Immigration Essays will benefit the most from her recent award.



This collection of essays, set to be published in January of 2017 through C&R Press, began when Prof. Baker was awarded a 2014 MakeWork Grant to fund her projects as she set out to interview and publish Chattanoogas unheard voices.



The project quickly became overwhelmingI soon found that there are so many people in Chattanooga whose stories deserve to be told and listened to. Where was I to begin? said Prof. Baker.



As she met with refugees through Chattanoogas Bridge Refugee Service, her project grew beyond the Chattanooga region and became intertwined with her own personal experiences as a Southerner and the influence of her time abroad as an English teacher for twelve years in South Korea, as well as her visiting professorship in North Cyprus last year.



While they [the essays] vary in form and style, all of them revisit and return to my own obsessions and questions in this collection: race, immigration, refugees, expatriation, gentrification, family, and the myth of the American Dream, Prof. Baker said.



C&R Press describes Immigration Essays with, Baker excavates her past as well as Chattanoogas to try and understand the ghosts that haunt her and the city she inhabits.



When Prof. Baker isnt teaching creative writing and humanities courses on campus, she might be working as fiction editor for Drunken Boat or frequenting the Yale Writers Conference to teach. She is also the author of Talismans, The Life Plan, and Into this World.



On Thursday at 6 p.m., Prof. Baker will lead the Hunter Museum of American Arts Art+Issues talk Gentrification: localized colonization or urban uplift? which is free and open to the Chattanooga community.
Saddam Hussein built a secret torture dungeon and execution chamber in the heart of New York City and even shipped the bodies of his victims out of the country using diplomatic immunity, insiders say.

On taking control of Iraq in 1979, the dictator installed a 'detention room' in the basement of the country's Permanent Mission building in Manhattan's Upper East Side.

There, sources told the NY Post, Iraqi civilians were held in detention, subjected to gruesome torture and even murdered - just across the road from Michael Bloomberg, who would later become the city's mayor.

Despot: Saddam Hussein (pictured center, with King Hussein of Jordan, far left, in 1990) had a torture room built into Iraq's New York Mission building when he assumed power in 1979

House of horrors: The dungeon in the Upper East Side building (pictured) was used to detain the relatives of political dissidents, some of whom were brutally beaten, tortured or even killed

Neighbor: Michael Bloomberg has lived across the street from the Mission since 1973. The dungeon was still in operation until 2003 - his first year in office as mayor of New York

The detention room was equipped with sturdy doors that were near-impossible to break in or out of, and buried so deep that victims' screams could not be heard.

And even if they did somehow manage to break out, guard equipped with 9mm pistols and Kalashnikov rifles would be on hand to deal with the 'problem.'

In that terrifying dungeon, beneath the five-story Mission at 14 East 79th Street, family members of 'troublesome' Iraqi citizens would be locked up to coerce their relatives back in Iraq.

Some would even be tortured by Hussein's sinister agents, the Mukhabarat, who would pull out fingernails and toenails, and hit them with hoses, planks and copper wire.

If anyone died in the dungeon - and they did, according to the official sources, who did not want to be named - their bodies would be smuggled out of the US.

'They just put [the body] in a diplomatic box and it can just be shipped,' she source said. 'This is diplomatic - nobody has the authority to examine it or open it.'

Mukhabarat agents would typically wait until the unwitting Iraqi citizen came to the building on typical business before dragging them down to the dungeon.

The officials also confirmed that Hussein's men had committed similar acts of violence in other countries.

'Mukhabarat does whatever the hell Mukhabarat needs to do,' the official said. 'They are the last people you ever wanted to meet during the Saddam era.'

The basement also contained two other rooms: An office, and a communications center used to receive and send orders to and from Iraq.

Sadist: Operatives of Hussein (pictured in Baghdad in 1983) communicated with Iraq from an operations room also located in the basement of the building. Hussein was deposed in 2003

Home: This is Bloomberg's home, opposite the Mission. Feds raided the Iraqi building in 2003 after Hussain fell. The dungeon is now a kitchenette for the new Iraqi government

Six years before the 'detention room' was built, Michael Bloomberg - then a 31-year-old general partner in a Wall Street investment bank - bought the house opposite, at 17 East 79th Street.

That meant he was frequently unwittingly stood just tens of feet away from imprisoned, tortured and terrified victims of Hussein's brutal regime.

Hussein's regime fell in 2003, one year into Bloomberg's 11-year tenure as mayor of New York, and the Mission was soon broken wide open by the Feds.

Arguing that the US was now in control of Iraq, the agents broke open the vaults and offices, seizing documents, computers and other information.

Now both Iraq and the Mission are under new management, and the 'detention room' is no more, having been refurbished as a kitchenette at a cost of around $120,000.
George Osborne says he has ruled out writing his autobiography because there is more petrol in his political tank

Former Chancellor George Osborne is clearly not giving up hope of making a political comeback.

The Tory MP, who had his sights set on the Conservative Party leadership before his ambitions were dashed by the referendum, says he has ruled out writing his autobiography because there is more petrol in his political tank.

I dont think now is the right time for me to write a memoir. Its too soon, Osborne, 45, tells me.

You cant write a memoir until you know what happens next, and hopefully, theres more to do before I start looking back.

Osborne, who lives in Notting Hill with his novelist wife Frances and their two children, says hes been humbled by his relegation to the backbenches after he was sacked by new PM Theresa May. As well he might.

The chief architect of Project Fear has been humiliated by the Brexit vote and many of his dire prognostications failed to come to pass.

At the launch party this week for the Science Museums Wonderlab exhibition, where he received a fellowship, he admitted: I told my daughter that I was going to be coming to the Science Museum, and she said: Does that mean we can skip the queue to get in?

And I said: Unfortunately, darling, those days are behind us.

Osborne might also have been deterred by the lukewarm response to the proposed memoirs of his chum David Cameron. Bidding for the ex-premiers life story fell far short of the 2 million target wanted by his literary agent and offers were said to be between 500,000 and 800,000.

His refusal to depart the political stage could heighten any pre-existing tensions he has with May, whom he recently criticised for her focus on her grammar schools policy.

When May succeeded Cameron after his six-year premiership, Osborne, who did not put himself in the running for the top post, delivered a backhanded compliment by saying she was the best person for the job of the candidates who put themselves forward.

The former alumnus of St Pauls school, however, could have other reasons for not wanting to revisit his past, given his alleged friendship with former dominatrix Natalie Rowe, aka Miss Whiplash, who said he snorted cocaine in the 1990s  a claim he strongly denies.

Tom Watson, Labours deputy leader who failed to oust Jeremy Corbyn during the summer coup, tweeted a story that the pulsing beat from Stayin Alive saved a New York subway workers life following an electric shock.

The now shadow Culture Secretary added: The healing power of disco.

Perhaps the next Shadow Cabinet meeting will also have a Bee Gees theme  Tragedy.

Mothers pride as Walliams meets HM

David Walliamss mother beamed up at him with pride as he shook hands with the Queen on Tuesday night at the Royal Academy of Arts.

The 45-year-old comedian gave a deferential bow as he greeted HM during a reception and awards ceremony attended by newly knighted Sir Rod Stewart and his wife Penny.

David Walliamss mother beamed up at him with pride as he shook hands with the Queen on Tuesday night at the Royal Academy of Arts

Childrens author Walliams often brings his mother Kathleen along to showbiz events and earlier this year she stood in for Simon Cowell on Britains Got Talent. He has also previously taken her to meet HM at Buckingham Palace.

Former lab technician Kathleen was married to Davids London Transport engineer father, Peter, who died of cancer in 2007.

The first thing you see when you come into Mums house is a picture of her and me meeting the Queen, says Walliams.

Shes got it right by the door as you come in so no one misses it.

High-definition television is proving a nightmare for The Apprentice star Karren Brady.

Baroness Brady of Knightsbridge, as the 47-year-old has been known since David Cameron handed her a peerage in 2014, admits: Its true that HDTV is very unforgiving.

'I meet people in the street who say: You look like Karren Brady, but shes fat.

Dame Judi Dench and conservationist David Mills, who have been together five years

Dame Judi gets snippy

Until now the path of love has run smoothly between Dame Judi Dench and conservationist David Mills, who have been together five years.

But I learn there is a subject which causes friction between the couple.

Its her hair, whispers one of the Oscar winners confidantes. She likes it short and he doesnt.

Dame Judi, 81, has been telling friends: Its ridiculous. I cant be twirling a hairbrush in one hand and a dryer in the other at my age.

'Particularly when I am filming and they are going to plonk a wig or a hat on my head anyway.

Artist David Hockneys latest offering, a limited edition book of his works that costs 1,750 and weighs 35kg, has hit the wrong note with comedian-turned-artist Vic Reeves.
84 percent of Filipinos said they supported the drug crackdown in a recent opinion poll

than 3,600 people killed since June 30, with 1,377 shot by police

war on drugs has seen more

Advertisement

More gruesome photographs of Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte's bloody crackdown on drugs have emerged, as the acid-tongued leader rides high in opinion polls and introduces a nationwide ban on smoking.

The photos show drug suspects packed inside police holding cells, a body dumped in a canal and a candle-lit vigil on a roadside in Manila, the country's capital.

The drug war, Duterte's signature policy popular among Filipinos who elected him in May by a huge margin, has killed more than 3,600 people since June 30, with 1,377 shot by police in operations. Activists believe the rest were mostly vigilante killings.

Scroll down for video

Inmates watch as drug suspects are processed inside a police station on October 12, 2016

A body of a man with his hands tied behind his back found in a canal on September 27, 2016

The United Nations, the European Union, the United States and international human rights groups have all raised concern over alleged extrajudicial killings.

But Duterte, who is known as 'The Punisher', is rating well with Filipinos, according to two recent opinion polls.

The president was rated 'very good', with a net satisfaction rating of 64 percent in a Social Weather Stations Poll on Thursday last week. Only 11 percent of 1,200 people polled were not satisfied with Duterte.

In a separate poll the following day, 84 percent of Filipinos said they supported the drug crackdown although most felt it important to arrest suspects alive.

Duterte has dismissed the international protestations - often in foul-mouthed tirades - as meddling in what he says are internal affairs.

The firebrand politician, not content with just stamping out hard drugs, has also recently introduced a nationwide smoking ban

The national restrictions will be along the same lines as those set in Duterte's old municipality of Davao - no smoking in public places, either indoor or outdoor.

Residents light candles on the bloodied spot where a man was killed by unknown assailants on October 12, 2016

An alleged drug dealer and execution victim is examined by police

Investigators inspect the body of an alleged drug dealer in Manila on October 1, 2016

Confiscated crystal meth (locally known as 'shabu'), cash and drug paraphernalia
Hillary Clinton has found brawny new force to help her contend with a series of protesters who have begun to mar her events  members of the local carpenters union who took matters into their own hands at her Las Vegas rally.

Clinton was delivering her standard stump speech as she tries to fire up voters to get them to the polls and make hay out of still more reports about Donald Trump's treatment of women.

But once again, protesters interrupted her remarks to call her a 'liar' and call former President Bill Clinton a 'rapist.'

Protesters have been proliferating since Donald Trump brought Clinton accusers to the second presidential debate.

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A protester had his shirt ripped off after he got thrown to the ground after yelling while Hillary Clinton spoke in Las Vegas. Members of the local carpenters union swiftly got him out of the outdoor event

Video courtesy: Twitter/NewsTreanor & KSNV

The InfoWars web site run by conspiracy theorist Alex Jones is offering a $5,000 bounty to people willing to say 'Bill Clinton is a rapist' on TV and $1,000 to people who can get a 'rape' shirt on TV, NBC has reported.

When one man started yelling during Clinton's remarks Tuesday, he was quickly surrounded by men from the local 1977 wearing blue union t-shirts.

At some point, he fell to the ground and got his shirt ripped.

Frank Hawk, business manager for the union, said there 30 or 40 members there. He told DailyMail.com he was told the man was 'yelling the "N word."' When union members escorted him out, he turned to reporters and yelled 'Hillary Clinton is a liar and go to infowars.'

'A group of our guys were saying, Buddy, you better get out of here,' he added. Eventually they handed him off to police who were at the periphery of the event. 'I was grabbing every carpenter I could find,' he said.

'They say he was pushed down,' Hawk said his members told him.

A second man, who was wearing dark sunglasses, started yelling: Bill Clinton is a rapist repeatedly. After several carpenters rushed to the scene, he allowed himself to be escorted out.

'We're not doing security. We're just helping out,' one union member told DailyMail.com.

A man yelled out during Clinton's speech

Blue shirted members of local 1977 approached him and got him to stop yelling

A large group of carpenters escort a third man out during Clinton's event

Carpenters getting the job done. Hawk says they perform about $4 million man hours per year in Las Vegas doing their trade

'A lot of our members are here,' said Hawk, who estimated 30 or 40 showed up. He said at first, they handed water to the seven people who passed out waiting for the event to start. But then when the protesters started, they took matters into their own hands. Hawk stressed that they were not tasked with security and the union members.

The interruptions reached the point where Clinton goaded the protesters.

'You know, the protesters theyve had a bad couple of weeks so I can understand why theyre upset,' Clinton said, to a laugh from her supporters.

Hillary Clinton flew to Colorado and Las Vegas to try to rally supporters to turn out and vote before a West Coast fundraising blitz

Clinton spoke to a lively crowd of supporters at an outdoor rally at the Smith Center for the Performing Arts in Vegas.

She has increasingly been holding outdoor events with larger events as she tries to fire up voter turnout efforts while state registration and mail-in voting deadlines kick in.

Introducer Rep. Dina Titus laced into Trump  and even said he 'assaulted' women, after new reports of women who charged he kissed them without their consent or grabbed them.

'Just when I imagined that Donald Trump could not get any worse, he has sunk to a new low,' Titus said.

'He denigrated our housekeepers here in Las Vegas ... He sexually assaulted and harassed and maligned women and called it locker talk, she said. 'You dont talk like that in the locker room do you? No.'

'You know he attacked his own party leaders including war hero McCain. I mean what is he thinkin?' said Titus.

WHAT'S FOR DINNER? Clinton visited Tacos el Gordo in Las Vegas Tuesday before her campaign rally

Clinton surveys the menu at Tacos el Gordo without benefit of advice from her campaign staff

NOT YET ON EVERY CORNER: Clinton visited the taco stand after getting taken there by her motorcade.

Before Clinton went to her rally, she hit a taco stand  Tacos El Gordo, where she met with an immigration activist ordered two plates with tacos.

She met with activist Astrid Silva a 'DREAMer' who is featured in a Clinton web ad, though it only had 558 views Wednesday night.

"We've got to get everybody out to vote!" Clinton said.

A waiter told her some options, and Clinton said, 'We'll try it.'

Clinton campaigned earlier in Pueblo, Colorado

The Clinton camp continues to put forward U.S. government claims that Russia is behind hacks of Democratic emails.

The Clinton camp jumped on a new assertion by occasional Trump informal advisor Roger Stone that he has a 'back channel' connection to Wikileaks as evidence that the Trump camp had advanced knowledge of the email dump.

Since Friday, the Clinton camp has been contending with thousands of hacked emails of campaign chief John Podesta that got posted on Wikileaks.

The story might be all-consuming were it not for the release of the stunning tape Friday of Donald Trump's 11-year old comments about grabbing women by the genitals.

'It is disturbing that Roger Stone, a longtime Donald Trump confidante, has confirmed the fact that has "back-channel communications" with Wikileaks, an organization that is working with the Russian government to affect the American presidential election,' said Clinton spokesman Glen Caplin.
Bill Clinton battled hecklers accusing him of 'rape' for a third time tonight.

'You're a rapist!' a man holding a picture of the ex-president's face shouted a couple minutes into Clinton's speech in Waterloo. 'Bill is a rapist! He's a rapist!' he yelled several times over.

The man was accompanied by a woman making similar claims. They continued to shout at the president as they were escorted out of the venue by the Secret Service.

Bill Clinton told an angry audience, calling on the protesters to be booted, 'Wait, wait, wait. Give that guy a hand. Theyve had a very bad week in the Trump campaign. And he feels that.

'Give him a hand, give him a hand,' Bill bellowed. 'The problem is, if you only listen to one television station, and nobody ever tells you the truth, you get like that.'

SCROLL DOWN FOR VIDEO

Bill Clinton battled hecklers accusing him of 'rape' for a third time tonight. Bill told his angry audience, 'Wait, wait, wait. Give that guy a hand. Theyve had a very bad week'

Continuing, he said, 'That's what's wrong with American politics. And I don't want you to treat them they way that they treat you.

During a similar disruption on Saturday Clinton also said his interrupters 'had a bad day'.

Clinton was in Milwaukee discussing climate change when those protesters shouted: 'Bill Clinton is a rapist!'

The former president told his audience then, as he did tonight, to give the as they were removed from the event, CBS News reported.

'Don't worry about it. Thank you,' he said.

Clinton referenced a leaked Access Hollywood video of Trump gloating about the way he grabs women by the p***y and said, 'You gotta feel sorry for them, they had a bad day yesterday, so they're trying to make it up.'

It was the second time in three days that the 68-year-old husband of the Democratic presidential nominee had his remarks overshadowed by demonstrator taunting him with rape allegations.

A woman charged him with the crime in Canton, Ohio, last Wednesday, as well.

The interruptions became more frequent after Infowars' Alex Jones offered $1,000 on Friday to anyone who makes it on TV for five seconds wearing a t-shirt accusing Bill of rape. If they shout the same thing, the reward jumps to $5,000.

Hillary Clinton confronted accusations about her husband's alleged behavior on Monday when a protester crashed her rally wearing a shirt accusing her husband of 'rape.'

'You know, I do hope someone follows that gentleman out and stages an intervention,' Clinton told the crowd. 'He clearly has not been following this election very closely.'

A man wearing a 'Rape' t-shirt got ejected from Hillary Clinton's rally in Detroit on Monday

Juanita Broaddrick has accused Bill Clinton of raping her. Donald Trump brought her as a guest to the second presidential debate

Broaddrick and Kathleen Willey were also at a news conference Trump hosted before the debate

The man was seated directly behind Clinton, putting his silent protest on display to a TV audience tuning in.

It wasn't clear whether Clinton was able to see what was on his shirt when she made her comments.

President Barack Obama got his own handful of Bill Clinton 'rape' protesters Tuesday when two young people sporting 'Bill Clinton Rapist' t-shirts interrupted his Greensboro, North Carolina rally a few minutes in.

The president appeared to find the whole thing funny, pausing at length while Secret Service hauled them out.

'You know, this is the great thing about politics in America, it takes all kinds,' he laughed. 'Folks will just do all kinds of stuff. Now where was I?'

When things didn't quite get back in order, he tried again.

'You know, say, those are some folks who  they were auditioning for a reality show,' Obama said.

Hillary Clinton laughed off the protest and said the man needed an 'intervention'

On Sunday night, Trump brought Juanita Broaddrick as a guest to the second presidential debate. She was one of three Clinton accusers he had in tow at the event. A fourth, Kathy Shelton, blames Clinton for successfully arguing for reduced charges her rapist.

Broaddrick has said Bill Clinton raped her in Little Rock in 1978 and bit her lip during the alleged assault. Clinton has vehemently denied the accusation.

At a Trump-organized photo-op in St. Louis Sunday, Broaddrick said: 'Mr. Trump may have said some bad words, but Bill Clinton raped me, and Hillary Clinton threatened me. I don't think there's any comparison.'

According to Broaddrick, Clinton came up to her not long after the alleged attack and thanked her in a way she found threatening and considered a way of telling her to keep quiet.

Charges were never brought.

Bill Clinton has long denied Broaddrick's accusations, and Hillary has declined to address them.

Several Bill Clinton 'rapist' protesters have interrupted Hillary Clinton's events since Donald Trump brought three women to the debate who accused the ex-president of sexual misdeeds

Broaddrick herself denied that the incident occurred in a deposition given in connection to the Paula Jones sexual harassment lawusit. But she later recanted and said it happened.

'He starts to bite on my top lip, and I tried to pull away from him,' she recalled.

'And then he forces me down on the bed. And I just was very frightened, and I tried to get away from him and I told him "No," that I didnt want this to happen but he wouldnt listen to me.'

'It was a real panicky, panicky situation,' she recounted. 'I was even to the point where I was getting very noisy, you know, yelling to "Please stop." And thats when he pressed down on my right shoulder and he would bite my lip.'

'When everything was over with,' Broaddrick claimed, 'he got up and straightened himself, and I was crying at the moment and he walks to the door, and calmly puts on his sunglasses.'

'And before he goes out the door he says "You better get some ice on that." And he turned and went out the door.

Hillary Clinton's campaign chairman John Podesta said following the Trump press conference: 'Trump is desperate hes trying to take this race to a place in the gutter and were not going there.'

Bill's spokesman, Angel Urena, declined to comment Thursday on the ongoing protests.

He tweeted out a Bloomberg article earlier in the day though that said, 'Whether acting as a pawn for the Russians or for his campaign henchmen who've made a career going after @billclinton, one thing is clear: "Donald Trump is doubling down on his strategy of focusing on Bill Clinton's accusers." '

The Clintons' lawyer, David Kendall, said in 1999, 'Any allegation that the president assaulted Mrs. Broaddrick more than 20 years ago is absolutely false. Beyond that, we're not going to comment.'
Throughout the referendum campaign, the Mail regularly congratulated the BBC on its even-handed coverage of the debate. Three months later that brief flirtation with impartiality has evaporated and the corporation has reverted to its Europhile roots with a vengeance.

Gone is any attempt to present the positive case for Brexit. Instead, the corporation has become the mouthpiece for embittered Remainers who refuse to accept the will of the people and hope to overturn the referendum result by stealth and scaremongering.

Day after day, endless airtime is given to these whingers, who trot out unsubstantiated claims that Britain will fall into an economic abyss if we leave the single market. (The fact theres been nothing but good economic news since June seems to have escaped them.)

The BBC gave sanctimonious shadow foreign secretary Emily (White Van Man) Thornberry a platform to suggest that the Leave vote had been a terrible mistake

Only yesterday, the BBC led its morning bulletins on a ludicrous Labour stunt to ask the Government 170 questions about its plans for Brexit and gave sanctimonious shadow foreign secretary Emily (White Van Man) Thornberry a platform to suggest that the Leave vote had been a terrible mistake.

Later, during Prime Ministers Questions, BBC assistant political editor Norman Smith sent the sarcastic tweet: Stand by for another tumble on the pound following Theresa Mays remarks on the single market. He was wrong and the pound went up (and how interesting anyway that former Bank of England governor Mervyn King says the fall in the pound is a welcome change). But is this the impartiality we expect from the BBC?

In throwing its huge weight behind the campaign to undermine Brexit negotiations, the BBC is taking sides with a self-serving political elite against the democratic wishes of 17.4million ordinary people  all of whom help pay its wages.

This is our national broadcaster and the countrys most influential opinion former. As such it has a duty to be non-partisan.

The BBC represents much of whats great about Britain but this naked political prejudice is an affront to its charter principles and a betrayal of millions of licence-fee payers.

Right track for HS2

This paper has long been doubtful about HS2, questioning whether the modest reductions it promises in journey times between London and the North and Midlands are worth the huge disruption and eye-watering 56billion cost  already nearly double the original estimate and predicted to go higher still.

But decisions on this and other major construction schemes have been delayed for far too long. Giving the go-ahead to HS2 at least shows the Government is serious about rebuilding and expanding our outdated infrastructure.

If this project, which so many have doubts about, triggers a much-needed renaissance in British engineering, then maybe the huge cost can be justified

It also presents a massive opportunity to revitalise Britains rail engineering industries  once the envy of the world  which is why we say its absolutely imperative that HS2 is built by British companies, using British steel and British employees, whatever European competition rules might say.

If this project, which so many have doubts about, triggers a much-needed renaissance in British engineering, then maybe the huge cost can be justified.

Scotland would be the poorest country in Europe
Dodgy emails were sent to thousands of participants asking for money

They were stolen from email server of Sydney events company Pont3

Contact details of thousands of people who participated in fitness events like the Blackmores Sydney Running Festival have been compromised after an events company's server was hacked.

The names, mailing addresses, phone numbers and email addresses of some participants and volunteers were stolen when an 'unauthorised user' gained access to mailing lists last week.

Dodgy emails were sent to thousands of participants with some saying they received invoices of $3,000 that needed to be paid this week.

Details of thousands of people who participated in fitness events like the Blackmores Sydney Running Festival have been compromised after events company Pont3's server was hacked

It is unclear how many people were affected but the Blackmores Sydney Running Festival had around 33,000 participants this year alone.

Pont3, the Sydney-based events company in charge of the events, issued a statement on its website on Wednesday detailing the security breach.

Blackmores Sydney Running Festival advised participants on its Facebook page.

The company said no financial information was taken, but may have included names, mailing addresses, phone numbers and email addresses of subscribers.

The names, mailing addresses, phone numbers and email addresses of some participants and volunteers were stolen when an 'unauthorised user' gained access to mailing lists last week

They said even though the breach occurred last week, people weren't informed until Wednesday because NSW Police were investigating.

Pont3 run various event including the Blackmores Sydney Running Festival, Sydney Harbour 10k, Warrior Run and Electric Run Aus.

The company warned those who received an email from Pont3 asking for financial or personal information to be wary.
Qantas will resume flying between Sydney and Beijing more than seven years after the airline dumped the route.

Daily flights to the Chinese capital will re-launch from January 25 after Virgin Australia announced services to Beijing and Shanghai from next June.

The route will add 3,300 seats a week to tap into the 'exceptional growth' of the Chinese-Australian travel market, Qantas announced in a statement on Thursday.

Qantas will resume flights between Beijing and Sydney, more than seven years after canning the route (Qantas planes pictured at Sydney International Airport)

The flights will operate through Beijing Capital International Airport (pictured) from January 25 next year

'The tourism industry in Australia is very excited about what the Chinese market will deliver over the next few years, especially given it's already become our second biggest source of visitors after New Zealand,' Qantas Group Chief Executive Alan Joyce said.

'Australia is now at the top of the wish list for Chinese travellers thinking about where they want to go next. There are 21 million people in Beijing alone and from the start of next year they will be just one Qantas flight away. The potential is tremendous,' he said.

'Australia is now at the top of the wish list for Chinese travellers thinking about where they want to go next,' Qantas Group Chief Executive Alan Joyce (pictured) said

Qantas had initially dumped the route in 2009.

The flights will operate through Beijing Capital International Airport, using an Airbus A330-200 aircraft.

Qantas already has daily flights between Shanghai and 28 return services a week to Hong Kong.

The route represents an 18 per cent increase on the airline's total capacity into Greater China and a seven per cent increase in its total capacity into Asia.

About 50 per cent of Qantas and Jetstar's international capacity is now dedicated to Asia, compared with 30 per cent 10 years ago.

Qantas has added flights to Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan, the Phillipines and Indonesia to accommodate the growing market.
Sydney's housing boom is coming to an end and apartment prices in the city are forecast to drop nearly seven per cent by 2019.

House prices across Sydney are tipped to remain flat at a median price of $1.05 million for the next three years, after jumping a staggering 56 per cent since 2012.

The softening prices should improve affordability for first home buyers looking to break into the Sydney property market, according to insurance provider QBE.

QBE's latest Housing Outlook report for 2016-19, prepared by analysts BIS Shrapnel, also predicts a significant drop in house and apartment prices in Melbourne.

Sydney's housing boom is coming to an end and apartment prices in the city (pictured) are forecast to drop nearly seven per cent by 2019

Melbourne unit prices are expected to decline by nine per cent in the next three years, according to the report.

Brisbane unit prices will plummet by over eight per cent in the same period, while its house prices are set to forecast the highest growth of the three largest capital cities.

The price drops are said to be a result of tighter lending to investors by banks, which have slowed down demand and softened the national residential property market.

Apartment prices in Sydney and Melbourne are tipped to plummet across the next three years

'Prices are forecast to soften through the three years to 2019, which is likely to be positive for housing affordability,' said QBE Lenders' Mortgage Insurance chief executive Phil White.

'It's expected owner occupiers, including first home buyers, will be stepping in to pick up some of this opportunity in the market.'

Reduced mining investment and a weaker economy in Perth saw a decline by five per cent in median house prices across the last 18 months, and that trend is set to continue to 10 per cent by June 2019.

Meanwhile, Adelaide, Darwin and Canberra are all tipped to experience varying levels of declined median house and apartment prices by 2019, the report indicated.
A handful of celebrities including actors Michael B. Jordan, Danny Glover and The Wire's Michael K. Williams have appeared in a poignant public service announcement calling for an end to police brutality against black Americans.

The stars are featured in the short film, titled Against The Wall, to recreate the pose suspects are ordered to take while under arrest.

They stared helplessly down the camera while the recordings of real-life 911 and police radio calls played in the background.

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Michael B. Jordan is first to appear in the film Against The Wall. He is seen pressed against concrete as if being arrested, staring desperately into the camera

Jordan and Williams are joined by actors Sophia Dawson and Danny Glover, artist Sydney G. James and activist Van Jones in the four-minute clip.

Among the 911 and police radio calls played in the background is one in which George Zimmerman reports shooting dead 17-year-old unarmed Trayvon Martin.

'He's a black male,' the 33-year-old told the operator after shooting the teenager in February 2012.

In others, police are heard screaming at unarmed suspects. News coverage of their deaths is also replayed.

Produced by filmmakers Gerard Bush and Christopher Renz, the film is designed to demonstrate the plight of African-Americans to have been targeted by police because of their race.

'We thought it would prove powerful to place these celebrated people in the same positions that too many within the black community face  being forced against the wall, hands up, on the ground and eventually shot dead by police,' Bush told Mashable.

Veteran actor Danny Glover is also featured. Filmmakers said they wanted to utilize the stars' public profiles to draw attention to the issue

The Wire's Michael K. Williams also appears in the film (above) to highlight police brutality against African Americans

The star is later filmed lying on the ground, his eyes closed in helplessness

'You can see and feel the same pain, bewilderment, fear, humiliation in the faces of these celebrated people, as you could imagine would have been on the faces of the victims themselves.'

Police have killed 843 people in 2016, according to The Guardian. Among them, 36 have been black and unarmed.

The recent killing of a mentally ill man in San Diego, California, sparked protests.

Alfred Olango, 38, was shot dead by officers in a parking lot. The man's family is seeking an investigation into his death.

Jordan earlier this year took to social media to lash out at police across the US for the 'murders' of unarmed black men.

Political activist Van Jones is also involved in the film which was produced in association with Sankoga, an organisation which matches celebrities with causes to produce social injustice campaigns

Artist Sydney G. James is also in the film that was produced by Gerard Bush and Christopher Renz

The film concludes with the message Black Is Not A Weapon

'Black people are being disproportionally dehumanized and murdered, this must stop!

'This hits close to home. It could have easily been myself, my little brother, my dad, one of my friends, or any of us.

'When one of us is murdered because a police officer is "afraid for their life", it pains us  we feel it,' he wrote.

Glover has publicly vowed to support Hillary Clinton at the November presidential election, listing the treatment of black people among his reasons for voting against Trump.

'I know where black people are going, and Im going to go with them. Im going to go with those mothers. Im going to go with those mothers, because my mother, if she was here, she would have hugged those mothers, and she would have been weeping in front of the television.

'And Im going to go with those mothers, absolutely,' he told the People's Organization in Progress in August, referring to the parents of slain black youngsters who have also sided politically with the Democratic candidate.
The UTC School of Education has partnered with the Hamilton County Department of Education to pair UTC students with accomplished teacher mentors as a part of a new student teacher pilot program.Were able to come together through this pilot program to place our pre-k through third grade teacher candidates with outstanding teachers for an extended placement. They will be able to learn from the very best teachers so that they can grow and become the very best they can be, said Dr. Renee Murley, the new director of the School of Education.Teacher mentors were hand picked from nine diverse Hamilton County schools and strategically placed with UTC students.Aug. 23 marked the official start to the pilot program, when teacher mentors, principals, and UTC students met for a reception in the University Center.Many of the teachers chosen were graduates of UTC, so this was something of a homecoming for them. Thats a good thing, because they will be able to talk specifically about their training as it relates to their experience at our University. It also shows that there are a lot of high quality, high performing graduates from our School of Education, and our current students can learn so much from them, said Dr. Valerie Rutledge, dean of the College of Health, Education, and Professional Studies.Teri Bailey was one such UTC alumna who was excited to return to her alma mater as a teacher mentor.Im just excited to be a part of this program. As a UTC grad myself, Im excited to work with a current student from UTC. Im looking forward to bring them into my own classroom, to work with them and be that partner to help lead them through this process, Ms. Bailey said.UTC students were able to meet and talk with their new mentors as they prepared for their semester-long student teaching experience. Under the new program, students will stay in the same classroom for 14 weeks. This is a departure from the two seven week placements student teachers have previously done.The research shows that the more extended time a student has in a field placement for student teaching, the better qualified and more successful they are, Dr. Murley said.Dr. Rutledge said, Prior to this pilot program, students had two student placements of about seven weeks at each location. The challenge was that, by the time our students were just getting comfortable  getting to know the school, the students in the class, the teacher they were working with  it was time to move to a new placement.Throughout the semester, the longer placement will offer students more opportunities to co-teach and to take over the classrooms on their own. Students will be able to learn first hand from their seasoned mentors, in addition to a professor in residence provided by UTC. This provides focused support to ensure that our education majors will be successful.By the time students graduate, they will have extensive experience in the classroom, in a variety of different settings, with different populations in different communities. We want to provide a mixture of experiences while they are here so that they are fully prepared and confident that they can succeed. Though they may not end up working at the schools where they were placed, familiarity with the Hamilton County school system and the community is a great advantage. Not all of these students will stay and teach in Hamilton County, but our goal is to prepare them to that they are comfortable teaching in any classroom across the country, Dr. Rutledge said.The program was one of the first undertakings by Dr. Murley, who hopes to improve the quality of teacher preparation here at UTC while also strengthen University ties to the community.This is such a wonderful partnership between the School of Education and the Hamilton County Department of Education, Dr. Murley said.After this year, data from the pilot program will be examined to show where the program has succeeded and how it can be improved. Moving forward, the program will hopefully be able to keep student mentees and teacher mentors in contact even after the students graduate and enter their first classrooms.We also want to look into the possibility of creating a year long residency model. This would include things like being there from the start of the school year so our students can help with classroom setup and experience how thats done. This year, UTCs school year started a few weeks after theirs, so by the time our students arrived for their student teaching appointments, classrooms had already been set up and in session for a time. We want students to see behind the scenes to see what has to be done prior to the start of school, and all the other aspects that go into teaching, Dr. Rutledge said. The goal is to expand the program as much as possible. We hope to continue to develop this program in a way that benefits the UTC School of Education as well as Hamilton County.
Former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani has apologized after being caught brazenly lying about Hillary Clinton's response to the September 11 terrorist attacks.

The ex-mayor said he 'made a mistake, I'm wrong, and I apologize' after claiming earlier in the day Clinton did not visit Ground Zero in the immediate wake of the attack.

Giuliani made his incorrect comments while speaking to Donald Trump supporters at a rally in Ocala, Florida, on Wednesday.

'Dont tell me if you said that you remember Sept. 11, 2001. I remember Sept. 11, 2001. Yes, yes, you helped to get benefits for the people who were injured that day,' the former mayor said in reference to the work Clinton did as Senator for New York to support victims of the attack.

Former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani has been caught brazenly lying about Hillary Clinton's response to the September 11 terrorist attacks

'But I heard her say that she was there that day. I was there that day, I dont remember seeing Hillary Clinton there,' Giuliani (pictured standing next to Hillary Clinton) said

'But I heard her say that she was there that day. I was there that day, I dont remember seeing Hillary Clinton there.

'I lost so many friends on Sept. 11, I think about it every day. Dont tell me you belong to our very, very tight group of never forget. Dont tell me that,' he told Raw Story.

But Giuliani's claims have been undone by photographs taken on September 12 that show Clinton not only in Manhattan, but walking side-by-side with the former mayor.

The political duo was pictured with then-New York governor George Pataki.

Giuliani's claims about Hillary have been undone by a series of photographs taken on September 12 that show Clinton not only in Manhattan, but with the former mayor

Rudy Giuliani and Hillary Clinton are seen together at St Patrick's Catherdral in New York in 2000

Clinton has often described being in Washington - where congress was in session - when hijacked jets began striking the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, before travelling to New York on a federal plane on September 12.

While there, she toured the devastated area on foot, and also circled the smoldering rubble in a helicopter.

Last month, the Democratic nominee described what she saw as: 'as close to a depiction of hell that I've ever personally seen'.

Donald Trump greets former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani at a campaign rally in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, October 10

Rudy Giuliani has previously praised the work Hillary Clinton did in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks

'There weren't that many survivors; the ones that did survive were grievously injured. The loss of life was overwhelming," she told CNN last month.

'But it was also my job and the job of other officials to get our city and state and country what we needed.

'I would meet these shattered lives of people where they were broken, but I saw so many of them strengthen and show such resilience. So I felt privileged.'

Hillary Clinton greets Rudy Giuliani in 2008, when they were presidential candidate hopefuls for their respective parties

Giuliani's comments contradict some he made earlier this year, when he praised Clinton for her work in the wake of the attack.

'Hillary Clinton, like Senator Schumer, like the entire Senate and House of Representatives, like every Republican and Democrat that I know, was enormously helpful,' he told the Washington Post in July.
A married couple sent themselves thousands of death threats in an attempt to get $580,000 workers compensation, a court has heard.

Former South Australian Health employees Tabitha Lean, 40, and Simon Peisley, 37, have pleaded not guilty to 48 counts of deception.

Appearing in the opening of their trial in the District Court on Wednesday, prosecutor Christopher Edge said the pair were bombarded with 80,000 threats.

Prosecutors allege the married couple at the centre of the fraud scam mailed crude letters and blood-stained parcels to their home and office over a two-year period in an elaborate ploy to get indefinite time off work and score free holidays.

But they were thwarted by police who fought cunning with cunning, breaking into the pair's home to mark paper and envelopes with 'invisible ink'.

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Former South Australian Health employees Tabitha Lean (right) and Simon Peisley, 37, (left) sent themselves death threats in an attempt to get workers compensation, a court heard

The court heard how the pair had gone to extreme lengths to fake the threats - comprising letters, parcels and phone calls, and vandalising their own home.

Some of the parcels contained fake blood-soaked children's clothing - and windows at the couple's home were covered in messages written in fake blood.

'They even went so far as to send their children items at school,' prosecutor Edge said.

'All of this was a clever, sophisticated and very well executed lie. They were in this together all of the way. A willing, effective and loyal partnership.'

Many of the letters claimed the couple were not safe at work, or demanded Lean step down from her management position in Aboriginal health services at SA Health.

And because of the link to work, their employer funded their family holidays to Melbourne and the Gold Coast - and allowed the pair to get paid time off work.

The state government also put them up in a North Adelaide apartment so they didn't have to stay at home, while their medical and pharmacy expenses were also covered.

Some of the letters demanded the mother (pictured) to step down from her management position in Aboriginal health services at SA Health

The court heard how the pair had gone to extreme lengths to send death threats to their work

The pair faced the opening of their trial in the SA District Court (pictured) on Wednesday

But police began to suspect Lean and Peisley were behind the threats and devised their own plot to catch them.

Police secretly broke into the couple's apartment and when they found a stack of envelopes and paper, marked them with a special invisible ink.

'They covertly entered the apartment, then snuck away, leaving no trace they had been there,' Mr Edge said.

The next threat the couple received, and handed over to police, was tested with a UV light, revealing the invisible markings the officers had made. The couple were arrested soon after.

DNA samples, handwriting analysis and other evidence will be used in the prosecution's case.
A Sydney teenager charged with planning an Islamic State style terror attack is allegedly intentions to do 'something bigger' than the murder of Curtis Cheng.

The boy, 16, was intercepted on a police wire in October last year talking to his mother after the NSW Police accountant was murdered, court documents reveal.

'When they come, I'm going to do something to them that they have never seen before,' he allegedly said. 'I'm going to do something bigger.'

The revelations come after photos emerged of the prayer hall in Bankstown where the teenagers were arrested, Adnum Lane Musallah.

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This is the prayer house in Bankstown where two teenagers were arrested on terror charges

The prayer hall is the Adnum Lane Musallah in Bankstown

The two 16-year-old boys were arrested by counter-terrorism police in Sydney's south-west on Wednesday

Police claim the boy was drawing comparisons between himself and teen terrorist Farhad Jabar who shot the Mr Cheng outside NSW Police Force headquarters in Parramatta.

He and another 16-year-old boy are now behind bars after facing court on Thursday for allegedly possessing M9 Bayonet hunting knives in preparation to commit a terrorist act.

The pair were arrested by counter-terrorism police the day before outside a Bankstown prayer hall after allegedly purchasing the weapons from a nearby gun shop.

One boy allegedly had a handwritten note pledging allegiance to IS in his possession when he was arrested, according to court documents.

The pair were formally refused bail at Parramatta Children's Court and their cases adjourned until December 7.

Both teens were well known to counter-terror police.

One was previously caught overseas trying to enter 'an area under control of a terrorist organisation', police will allege.

Pictured is the entrance to the upstairs Prayer Hall in Bankstown, Sydney

Seen here is a set of garages in Adnum Lane

The pair as they were allegedly walking to behead someone with bayonets (pictured)

After the pair were arrested, radical Muslim preacher Junaid Thorne (pictured) approached officers and demanded them to tell him 'Where are my brothers?'

He was found in possession of electronic IS literature on his return to Australia.

The other, whose relative is behind bars for terror offences, allegedly took part in a Hyde Park protest in 2012 carrying a sign that read 'Behead those who insult the prophet'.

Authorities were unaware of any specific targets of this foiled alleged terror plot, but believed an attack was imminent.

'Had we not been in the right place at the right time ... certainly somebody, potentially today, would be, or another day imminently, would be without their life,' AFP Deputy Commissioner Michael Phelan said on Thursday.

Asked if the teens were plotting a beheading, NSW Police Deputy Commissioner Cath Burn said: 'We don't have any information to indicate that, however it is an ongoing investigation.'

The teens have each been charged with planning an act of terror - which carries a penalty of life behind bars - and being members of a terrorist organisation, which carries a penalty of 10 years' prison.

The teenagers, who were allegedly carrying handwritten notes pledging allegiance to ISIS, were stopped by police as part of an ongoing terrorism investigation (left) before they were taken away (right)

The teenagers, who were previously reported to have been walking to the Bankstown Police Station, were stopped by officers on Fetherstone Road by the Bankstown Musalla (pictured)

Four western Sydney properties connected with the teenagers - including a prayer hall and multiple homes - were raided after the boys were taken into custody.

Items were seized for forensic examination and police have not ruled out making further arrests.

The age of the two boys is of significant concern to counter-terrorism police, who are seeing an increase in the number of radicalised teens.

'The age of these two individuals at the age of 16 is of unbelievable concern to us. We are seeing it time and time again,' Ms Burn said.

'It's up to the parents, really, to try to do everything they can to make sure those signs of radicalisation at an early stage are addressed.'

If proved, this would be the 11th imminent terror attack prevented by the Joint Counter Terrorism Team in Australia.

A relative of one of the teenagers, one of which is the son of a convicted terrorist, was seen leaving the Bankstown Police Station after their arrest (pictured)

'We've got to remember that our current threat level is 'probable', and it's there for a reason,' Ms Burn said.

'We are doing everything we can to prevent such attacks.'

Earlier it was reported by News Corp that radical Muslim preacher Junaid Thorne demanded police tell him 'Where are my brothers?' after they arrested the boys.

Thorne was held in the Supermax High Risk Management Centre in Goulburn, New South Wales, for four months for dodging counter-terrorism authorities and using a false name to fly from Perth to Sydney, ABC reported.

One of the teenagers, whose father has been convicted of terror-related charges, was allegedly arrested last year for not standing for the national anthem at his high school.

Witnesses said one of the boys was seen smiling as he sat on the ground in handcuffs (pictured)

Both of the men have been known to police officers for several years (pictured)

The same teen's family was also targeted during the Operation Appleby raids in September 2014, and launched legal action against the NSW Police.

'What really burns me from inside was hearing my mum screaming and seeing her in pain and not being able to do anything. I will remember that forever', he told Fairfax at the time.
Police say Figueroa was not licensed to own a gun in Massachusetts

Figueroa described himself as constable of City of Boston, bounty hunter, former corrections officer and mixed martial arts practitioner

On the site, Kirk Figueroa is identified as founder of Code Blue Protection Corp and is described as former member of US Army Reserves

Police removed from the scene a Ford Crown Victoria with name of website, elitepolicing.org, operated by a private security company

Figueroa was clad in body armor and had a tactical shotgun, according to the commissioner

The officers' colleagues used their hands to stop their bleeding

Officer Richard Cintolo has 27 years of experience with the police force and Officer Matt Morris has 12

Commissioner William Evans says it appears the procedure 'went well'

Wounded officers are out of surgery but are said to be in critical condition

The suspect, identified as 33-year-old Kirk Figueroa, was shot and killed

Shooter identified: The gunman who opened fire on police in Boston has been named as Kirk Figueroa, 33, a former member of US Army Reserves and founder of a private security company

The man who police say critically wounded two officers responding to a domestic dispute in Boston overnight was revealed to be a former US Army reservist, bounty hunter and founder of a private security company.

The suspect, identified as 33-year-old Kirk Figueroa, was shot and killed in a gun battle with police that took place at around 11pm Wednesday in East Boston.

City officials said he was sworn in as a police constable in July, he carried a badge and had the power to perform arrests.

The injured officers, identified this afternoon as officers Richard Cintolo and Matt Morris, were pulled out of a house in Orient Heights, where they had been called to reports of a fight between Figueroa and his male roommate.

Other police officers who were in attendance used their hands to stop their colleagues' from bleeding out, Boston Police Commissioner William Evans said on Thursday. That officer had undergone training on how to properly tie a tourniquet just the week before.

Evans told reporters during an afternoon briefing that that Morris took a bullet to the leg that severed a major artery, and his life was probably saved by another officer who tied a tourniquet on his leg.

Officers down: The Boston Police Department has identified the injured officers as 27-year veteran Richard Cintolo and 12-year veteran Matt Morris

Both wounded officers underwent surgery overnight at Massachussets General Hospital and remained hospitalized in critical condition, but Evans said they were recovering.

According to the commissioner, the suspect in the shooting was wearing body armor and was armed with what he described as an 'assault' rifle.

He later described the weapon as a tactical shotgun. Tactical shotguns typically have shorter barrels and are capable of quickly firing several rounds.

This afternoon, Commissioner Evans revealed that Figueroa was not licensed to own a gun in Massachusetts. It also emerged that Boston police had never arrested Figueroa before.

A Ford Crown Victoria bearing the name of a website, Elitepolicing.org, was seen being removed from the scene of the shootout on Gladstone Street by police Thursday morning.

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Two police officers were shot during a standoff with an armed suspect in east Boston on Wednesday night. Above, police descend on the scene afterwards

This image shows police towing away a Ford Crown Victoria emblazoned with the name 'Elitepolicing.org,' which is a website associated with Figueroa's private security company

The site is operated by a private security company called Code Blue Protection Corp. According to its description, the company 'provides unique, high tech security services for a diverse range of international clients, including all levels of governments, businesses, and individuals.'

Elitepolicing.org includes a two-paragraph biography of a Kirk Figueroa, who describes himself as the founder of Code Blue Protection Corp.

According to the website, Figueroa was a member of the US Army Reserves military police battalion between 2003 and 2011.

For a period of two years, he also served as an apprentice licensed private investigator in Florida, eventually earning a PI diploma from University of North Texas, according to the online bio.

Figueroa also worked as a bounty hunter in California and practiced mixed martial arts.

Prior to joining the Army Reserves, according to the biography, Figueroa worked as a correctional officer with the West Virginia Department of Military Affairs, and was appointed to serve as 'Constable within the town parish and City of Boston.'

Fox 25 News reporter Michael Henrich tweeted that Boston City Clerk's Office has confirmed to him that Figueroa was sworn in as a constable this past July.

Constables provide the same services on the municipal level as sheriff's deputies on the county level, namely, serve court subpoenas and warrants.

In Boston, constables carry badges and have limited policing authority allowing them to perform arrests.

The 'founder biography' page on the security company's website includes a photo of a man wearing a red beret, believed to be the now-deceased Kirk Figueroa.

An Army spokesman confirmed that Figueroa was in the Reserves but could not provide dates. California authorities said it could not immediately confirm whether he was a bounty hunter.

Footage taken by East Boston residents of just 'some' of the shots revealed 11 in quick succession.

Kirk Figueroa's roommate, who was initially believed to have been involved in the armed altercation, was dismissed and was unharmed.

Police at first feared they may too have been a danger and issued a shelter-in order to residents.

Speaking outside Massachusetts General Hospital in the early hours of Thursday morning, Commissioner Evans pleaded with residents to pray for the injured officers.

The officers were responding to reports of a man with a gun at 10.51pm. The suspect involved in the shooting was killed

'We have nine officers also receiving medical treatment that are pretty shaken up. Some applied their hands to the wounds.'

Mayor Marty Walsh said of the wounded officers, Cintolo and Morris: 'Thank God they will be going home sometime soon.'

'I just want everyone to pray, pray for their families,' Commissioner Evans added.

'The two individuals who know most about what happened are fighting for their lives. I ask the city and the region to pray for their wellbeing, their safety and their families.'

Officer Cintolo has been working with the force for 28 years while Officer Morris has 12 years of experience.

'I always say, we're not proud when we have to use deadly force but obviously we had two officers gravely injured here and it left no choice.

'I just want everyone to pray, we pray for their families. Let's just hope they pull through,' added Commissioner Evans.

Around 100 officers descended on the scene after the shots were fired. They attended in large groups after receiving reports that one of the men involved had a gun.

Swarms of police officers descended on the scene within hours of the shooting in Boston (above)

Both the officers were described as being in an 'extremely critical' condition on Thursday

Addressing reporters at the scene, Commissioner Evans said it appeared the argument was a 'domestic dispute gone bad'.

Witnesses said between 25 and 30 shots were fired in total. A 7 News reporter at the scene shared footage of the descending police cars and vans when the shooting was first reported.

In a separate incident in Baltimore, an officer was shot while attempting to stop a recently stolen car.

'Officer shot, 1000 block Bethune Road, South Baltimore. Non-life threatening injury. Suspects outstanding,' a post on its department's Twitter page said.

They had stopped a vehicle that was recently carjacked when the suspect opened fire, a police spokesman said.

One suspect involved was killed. Their roommate, who was initially feared to have been involved, was dismissed as a suspect
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As the famous saying goes, you can't mess with Texas - even when you're a giant 13.5-foot alligator.

The massive reptile, the largest ever caught in Texas, was captured at Champion Lake in the Trinity River National Wildlife Refuge on Wednesday.

Gary Saurage and his team at Gator Country were called on to help remove the 900-pound gator, who officially clocks in at 13.5ft 8in, after it started to scare visitors at the park in Liberty.

This 13ft 8in alligator was captured at Champion Lake in the Trinity River National Wildlife Refuge in Texas on Wednesday

Gary Saurage and his team at Gator Country (pictured) were called on to help remove the alligator, who was starting to scare visitors at the park in Liberty

One woman was fishing for crab when the alligator, who had lost its fear of humans, came right up to her.

'It was very dangerous,' park director Stuart Marcus told the Houston Chronicle.

The woman ran away and was unharmed, but Marcus knew he had a problem - and that Saurage was the perfect person to fix it.

Saurage is the co-owner of Gator Country, an alligator and reptile educational facility in Beaumont.

It was just a month ago that a 13ft 8.5in alligator was killed in nearby Dayton, but Saurage initially didn't believe Marcus when the director told him the park had 13-foot alligators.

'When they came out this morning, they got to see for themselves,' Marcus said.

It took Saurage, his co-owner Arlie Hammonds, and their two college interns Johnny Korpela and Daniel Navarro, to capture the single alligator.

The colossal gator swam right up to the men on the boat dock, where they then baited it to swim into rope lassos they had already placed in the water.

The men baited the alligator to swim into rope lassos they placed in the water to help secure the reptile

The group then tied the ropes to a truck, which they then used to pull the alligator out of the embankment

'When we finally got the alligator lassoed, there were four of us standing on the bank and I was nearly pulled into the water,' Saurage said.

The group then tied the ropes to a truck, which they used to pull the alligator out of the embankment.

'It took every one of us to capture this animal,' Saurage said. 'It's unreal how strong these alligators are.'

The gator has since been relocated to the 20-acre Gator Country facility, where it will live with 450 other large alligators.

Marcus said it is likely the alligator set a record for largest live capture in the state and now Saurage is asking the community to help him name the revolutionary reptile.

'It took every one of us to capture this animal,' Saurage said of his team. 'It's unreal how strong these alligators are'

Saurage said he will likely remember this alligator for the rest of his life. 'I have been looking for one this big my whole career,' he wrote on Facebook, posting this picture of him with the alligator

Early recommendations include 'Big Tex', 'Darth Gator', and 'Bigger Al'.

But no matter what name is chosen, Saurage said he will likely remember this alligator for the rest of his life.

'I have been looking for one this big my whole career,' he wrote on Facebook, posting a picture of him with the alligator.

'This is the pinnacle of our success,' he later told the Chronicle. 'I've got every alligator park in the country calling to congratulate us on our capture.'

Saurage's work isn't done. He said Gator Country still has to capture around four to six more alligators who are coming up to the dock.

He added that the alligators have lost their fear because humans have been feeding them.

'We would have captured more today but we wanted to get this guy back to our park and in the water before he was harmed,' Saurage added.

Marcus said the park would have preferred that the alligator had lived out its life in Champion Lake, but said his 'aggressive nature' had become too much of a problem.

'This was the best compromise,' he said. 'Before loss of life for a person or the alligator.'
Donald Trump is a 'revolting slug', upper house MPs have unanimously agreed in the NSW parliament.

Greens MP Jeremy Buckingham tabled a motion condemning the U.S. Republican presidential hopeful for his 'misogynistic, hateful' comments about minorities.

'[This house] agrees with those who have described Mr Trump as "a revolting slug" unfit for public office,' Buckingham's motion on Thursday read.

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Donald Trump has been called a 'revolting slug' by the NSW upper house for his 'hateful' comments about women and minorities (Trump pictured on Wednesday at a rally)

The motion follows revelations Trump appeared to describe himself sexually assaulting women in leaked audio from 2005. He also appears to have said, 'I'm going to be dating her in 10-years', referring to a 10-year-old girl in 1992.

Women have also been coming forward this week with claims Trump had touched them inappropriately.

The NSW upper house also called out the divisive, destructive impact of hate speech from political candidates.

Mr Buckingham's motion was unanimously carried.

'It's clear that all reasonable and decent people find Donald Trump's behaviour obnoxious,' Greens MP Jeremy Buckingham said

'It's clear that all reasonable and decent people find Donald Trump's behaviour obnoxious,' Buckingham said.

'The world is hoping and that the world is hoping American voters reject his politics of hate.'

Don Harwin, President of the Legislative Council, looked into whether the term 'revolting slug' was unparliamentary language before agreeing to the motion.

The motion was allowed because Buckingham was quoting someone else's description of Trump and the comment was not directed at an opponent, Sydney Morning Herald reported.
A mother who was hallucinating on a cocktail of drugs left her infant unattended in a pram out in the sun for 30 minutes, a court has heard.

The Brisbane mother-of-two, 42, did not remember taking cannabis, Valium and Subutex at a friend's house before leaving her 13-month-old baby exposed to the sun in Inala.

Brisbane District Court Judge Michael Burnett handed the mother a 12-month probation order over what he branded as 'selfish behaviour', reports Courier Mail.

A mother who was hallucinating on a cocktail of drugs left her infant unattended in the sun for 30 minutes

The woman, who lost care of her children after the incident, told police her 'children were at home' when they found her nearby, the court heard.

The baby was hospitalised but was released without any injury or distress from exposure to the sun.

The mother's defence lawyer said the loss of her children caused her considerable grief.

The woman on Thursday pleaded guilty to one count of leaving a child under 12 unattended without making provisions for its supervision and care.

Judge Burnett said he hoped the probation order would be a wakeup call to the mother to address her substance addiction.

'I hope this has been a salient experience and will motivate you to address your addiction problems and get you back on track to becoming a positive member of society.'
Megyn Kelly appeared to allude on air to claims she was sexually harassed by disgraced former Fox News CEO Roger Ailes.

During a segment on Wednesday's 'The Kelly File' that focused on historic claims of abuse against Donald Trump and Bill Clinton, she said: 'The truth is, victims of sexual assault, victims of rape, victims of groping - they often don't come forward.

'They're humiliated - especially back in the day they were told, "Move along, it happens to all women, you gotta take it."'

It was the first time the host has hinted at the allegations made against Ailes on her show.

The remarks were notable in the light of claims made by New York Magazine in July that Kelly told lawyers that Ailes had harassed her in the 2000s.

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Megyn Kelly (center, with Dana Perino and Chris Stirewalt) reportedly said Fox News CEO Roger Ailes harassed her in the 2000s. She seemed to allude to it on her show Wednesday during a segment discussing sex abuse claims made against Donald Trump and Bill Clinton

She reportedly made the claim to Fox investigators after Ailes (left) was accused of harassing Gretchen Carlson (right). Kelly has never publicly acknowledged the claim

Watch the latest video at <a href="http://video.foxnews.com">video.foxnews.com</a>

According to that report, Kelly made the allegation while speaking to lawyers hired by Fox to investigate claims that Ailes had harassed another host, Gretchen Carlson.

Kelly allegedly told the investigators Ailes had made 'unwanted advances' towards her ten years previously, when she was a young correspondent at Fox.

Kelly has never publicly addressed or confirmed those claims.

But she was notably not among the female Fox staff members who rushed to Ailes's defense when Carlson sued him for allegedly firing her for refusing his sexual advances on July 6.

Ailes resigned in July after the abuse allegations surfaced, prompting a crisis at the station.

Kelly's remarks on Wednesday came as she talked to Dana Perino and Chris Stirewalt, hosts of a Fox News Radio podcast and the TV series 'Perino & Stirewalt: Ill Tell You What.'

She was talking about how people on both sides of the political aisle question why the claims against Trump and Clinton took so long to surface.

'I don't know whether it happened or not,' she added, 'I'm just saying these matters are complicated.'

On Wednesday's 'The Kelly File' she talked about how 'back in the day' women were expected to tolerate harassment and that 'humiliation' can make them hold off reporting it for years

Kelly's remarks came on the same day that four women came forward to accuse Trump of sexually assaulting or making inappropriate passes at them.

Jessica Leeds, a 74-year-old former businesswoman who lives in Manhattan, told the newspaper she was 'assaulted' by Trump on a flight when she was 38.

Rachel Crooks said that Trump kissed her on the mouth without permission in an elevator in 2005, when she was a 22 and working as a receptionist at a company based in Trump Tower in Manhattan.

Mindy McGillivray, 36, said that Trump had grabbed her backside 13 years ago while she was helping out a photographer at his Mar-a-lago mansion.

And Cassandra Searles, a former Miss USA contestant, accused Trump of repeatedly grabbing her buttocks and asking her to go back to his hotel room. She made the claims earlier in the year, but they had been highlighted by recent events.

Trump has denied all claims.

She made the remarks while talking about historic allegations of harassment made against Donald Trump by four women, including ex-Miss USA contestant Cassandra Searles (right)

Bill Clinton has also faced multiple historic claims, including one by Juanita Broaddrick, now 70, who has claimed for 17 years that he bit and raped her in a hotel room.

Paula Jones said in 1994 that Clinton had exposed himself and propositioned her in a hotel room three years previously.

And in 2015 Kathleen Willey claimed Clinton had groped her buttocks in 1993. He has been accused of multiple other offenses.

All three women were present in the audience at the presidential debate between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump on October 9, at Trump's invitation.

Clinton denied all three claims, though he settled out of court with Jones for $850,000, saying he wanted to put the matter to rest.

Roger Ailes ultimately resigned as CEO of Fox News on July 21 and collected a $40million payout, though he will continue to advise the station until 2018.

Rupert Murdoch has taken over as interim CEO; the company reportedly settled with Carlson out of court for $20million.
Bermuda is hunkering down as Hurricane Nicole rapidly strengthened into a major Category 4 storm overnight and took aim at the tiny island.

The U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami called Nicole an 'extremely dangerous' storm and urged islanders to rush preparations for its powerful rain and winds.

It said Nicole should pass near or over the British territory of Bermuda in the North Atlantic Ocean on Thursday and has already produced 130mph winds.

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This satellite image shows Hurricane Nicole approaching the island of Bermuda about 240 miles south-south-west of Bermuda on Wednesday evening

The U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami called Nicole an 'extremely dangerous' storm and urged islanders to rush preparations for its powerful rain and winds. It is seen above approaching the island

Winds of up to 130mph have already been registered by hurricane analysts. Its predicted path is seen above

The storm was located about 55 miles (85 kilometers) south-southwest of Bermuda Thursday morning.

It had maximum sustained winds of 125 mph (205 kph) and was moving north-northeast at 15 mph (24 kph).

'While hurricanes often affect Bermuda, a hurricane this strong is rare,' the National Hurricane Center said.

Power outages were reported on Thursday as at least one transformer exploded in Bermuda, which has sturdy infrastructure and is accustomed to storms.

Heavy rain is already hitting Bermuda and authorities ordered schools and government offices closed, and asked people to remain indoors.

'I believe we are generally ready for it,' Premier Michael Dunkley said.

'Now we just have to hope and pray for the best.'

Hundreds of people had rushed to shops and gas stations for last-minute preparations as rain and wind began to batter Bermuda, which has sturdy infrastructure and is accustomed to storms.

The storm was located about 55 miles (85 kilometers) south-southwest of Bermuda Thursday morning

Storm force wind predictions from Nicole are seen in the graphic above

Those at home made last-minute preparations for what lay ahead, with resident Danni Joell saying she was 'cooking up a storm' with her son, Tyler, in the kitchen.

'So far we've made an apple pie, and there are some cookies in the oven,' she said.

'Hopefully we will have enough to gets us through.'

Businesses were largely boarded up by Wednesday night, and dozens of vessels from one marina were already neatly packed away between historical buildings in Mangrove Bay, a popular spot for water activities in Bermuda's northwest tip.

Hotels, meanwhile, reported an increase in bookings as people sought shelters with power.

Wind and surf picks up as Hurricane Nicole approaches the Coopers Island Nature Reserve in St. Georges, Bermuda, on Wednesday

American Airlines and Air Canada are among several that have canceled flights to the island, and several cruise ships have canceled trips as well.

The hurricane was kicking up heavy surf in islands south of Bermuda including Puerto Rico, where authorities said they were looking for the body of a surfer who disappeared on Tuesday.

He was identified as 37-year-old Gabriel Pantoja.

It comes just days after the death toll for Hurricane Matthew reached more than 1,000.

The Category 5 storm caused devastation in Haiti, Dominican Republic, Cuba, Southeastern U.S. and Canadian Maritimes.
A man who savagely beat his girlfriend and then fled into the bush will spend at least 12 years behind bars before being speared in both legs five times upon his release.

Danny Ferguson, 36, was found guilty of the manslaughter of his 34-year-old partner Serena Amos near Oodnadatta, an outback town in South Australia, in July 2015.

He was sentenced to 15 years with a 12-year non-parole period, but also agreed to endure the spearing as part of a traditional Aboriginal punishment for his crime.

In his murder trial on Wednesday, the Supreme Court heard Ferguson repeatedly beat Ms Amos while the pair were on a week-long camping trip together.

His repeated attacks led to extensive internal bleeding and her eventual death.

Aboriginal man Danny Ferguson, 36, has been sentenced to 15 years in jail for the manslaughter of his girlfriend

Ms Amos' dead body was then said to have been driven from the campsite by Ferguson to his sister's house in town.

'When he drove that red Torago into Oodnadatta that afternoon Serena Amos was dead in the fully reclined front passenger seat,' prosecutor Peter Longson said in his opening address.

'She died of multiple soft tissue injuries which caused her to bleed internally and gave her acute renal (kidney) failure.'

He said Ferguson stopped to speak with a young boy on a motorbike on the way back to town.

Picking up his sister, the pair headed to a clinic but when nurses couldn't revive Ms Amos, Ferguson fled into the outback.

Upon his release from jail, he also agreed to be speared through each leg five times as part of a traditional Aboriginal punishment for his crimes (stock image of Aboriginal dancer with spear)

Aboriginal punishments Traditional indigenous communities still operate under their own tribal laws with different punishments in place Tribal elders make the decision on what punishment a person deserves, based on the severity of the crime and a number of other factors For smaller crimes the punishment of shaming and ridicule is often used Popular punishments for more serious crimes include: exclusion from the community, sorcery (magic) or incantation, individual or collective 'duelling' with weapons, burning hair from the person's body or thigh spearing Source: Australian Government Advertisement

Police launched a widespread manhunt and brought in aboriginal trackers, sniffer dogs and planes to help.

They picked up Ferguson's track and he was arrested about 110km north of Oodnadatta almost four days later, travelling the whole way on foot.

A pair of jeans, a t-shirt and a shovel were recovered from the car with blood stains on them that matched Ms Amos's DNA.

During sentencing on Thursday, Justice Anne Vanstone dismissed claims that whether or not Ms Amos had a previous heart condition was irrelevant to the case.

'Whether she suffered a coronary heart attack, is, in the end, neither here nor there,' she said,' she said, according to the ABC.

'I see this as an extremely serious case of manslaughter.'

She said his release date was so far away that the traditional punishment would not play a factor in her decision.
As usual, the city of Collegedale does what it wants, when it wants.

Last week the city of Collegedale lowered the speed limit on SR 2 (US 11) in Collegedale, Hamilton County, between Ooltewah and the Bradley County line from 55 mph to 45 mph. This was done despite urging from Tennessee Department of Transportation not to change the speed limit. I called TDOT about new speed limit decrease and they told me that while the city of Collegedale does have the right to change the speed limit even though this is a state road, they did it against the advice of TDOT. I believe that city of Collegedale has not done the proper engineering studies that would warrant the decrease in speed.

There is only one reason for this decrease in speed limit and that is greed. I recently spoke with a former city of Collegedale police officer who joined another police force in part due to the pressure put on the police officers by the city manager to write speeding tickets. Everyone locally knows that the city of Collegedale Police Force has one of the worst reputations in the country for harassment and this is just one more example of that harassment and greed.

The speedtrap.org website show the reputation the city of Collegedale has nationwide. If you agree with this injustice please call TDOT as I did file a complaint on complaintslist.com.

Nancy Williams

* * *

Nancy, I am not sure what part of town you are from, but coming from someone who travels Lee Highway (between Collegedale and the Bradley County line) not only have I witnessed, but have helped several accident victims. I have seen two wrecks in almost four years that did not require medical transport, but still required EMS to check them (bloody nose from air bags, etc).

With that, over 60 percent of those wrecks with injuries at Edgmon and Lee Highway have serious and some even life threatening injuries. I've watched multiple people have to be extricated by the jaws of life.

So lowering the speed limit in Collegedale may be a speed trap because of the lack of notifying the public of the speed change, it is clearly needed and has been for years. When you pull off Edgmon at drive time traffic, or better yet when 75 is shut down and people are rerouted the back way to and from Cleveland, you will thank every Collegedale employee, police included, for slowing traffic down. Dead Mans Gap didn't get its name because it's cute.

Wake up and more than likely slow down and you won't get a speeding ticket. This speed limit is our only hope of being safe for those who travel that strip daily.

I wish Collegedale would stop more people for speeding there, as even though they do the best they can with a narrow curvy road, it's still not 100 percent.

Kudos to Collegedale for trying to make that strip safer, we appreciate it and hope and pray our times of helping those severely injured in wrecks is coming to an end with the change of speed.



Jessica Russell

* * *

Ms. Williams, I take exception to your accusations of the city of Collegedale and our city manager. First, If you traveled this stretch of Lee Highway frequently, as Ms Russell obviously does, or daily, as I do, then you would know that this is a dangerous stretch of roadway. Two fatalities have occurred at the intersection of Lee Highway and Edgemon Road in the last two years.

As Ms. Russell mentions, I too have witnessed numerous "near misses" at this intersection. Especially at peak times it is dangerous trying to enter Lee Highway due to limited sight distances and excessive speed.

While TDOT has plans next year to signalize and improve this intersection, those of use that travel this area daily are faced with as much as 20 minute waits to get on to Lee Highway from Edgemon Road. The train track at this intersection exponentially increases the risk of accident. I am sure that this is a safety measure taken by the city and nothing more. So far it hasn't positively impacted safety.

Secondly, I was on the city commission when the current city manager, Ted Rogers, was hired in 2006 and served along with him until 2014. He is a man of character and integrity and I seriously doubt Mr. Rogers put any such "pressure" on our police force. If anything he encourages professionalism, courtesy and public safety.

I am glad they lowered the speed limit, I hope it will eventually have a positive impact. Until TDOT improves this intersection, those of use traveling this area will have to continue to exercise extreme caution.

John Turner

Collegedale

* * *

TDOT, like many state DOTs, sets most main road posted speed limits with science to achieve the safest and smoothest traffic flows with the fewest crashes. The key principle is to set the limit at the 85th percentile speed of free flowing traffic under good conditions, rounded to the nearest 5 mph interval. Example: If 85 percent of the cars under good conditions are at or below 43 to 47 mph, then 45 is the safest limit to post. Posting 35 in that area will increase speed variance and cause several bad driving behaviors, and is likely to slightly increase the crash risks.

Why? Because posted limits have almost no effect on the actual travel speeds of about the upper half of the flow. They do reduces the speeds of a very small percentage, typically no more than 10 percent or 15 percent of the flow, to be compliant with the artificially-low limit set below the normal travel speeds. This increases speed variance which disturbs the smooth flow and often slightly raises the crash risks.

There are very good reasons that TDOT recommends against this sort of "feel good" change which is not based on science, and the city of Collegedale should listen to the traffic safety engineering experts at TDOT.

James C. Walker

Life Member, National Motorists Association

Board Member and Executive Director, National Motorists Association Foundation

* * *

I disagree wholeheartedly with Ms. Williams and I thank Ms. Russel and our former Mayor John Turner for their comments. SR 2 (US 11) in the area she describes has been and is a mess. Folks average 70 to 80 down on the straight away coming towards the intersection with Edgemon Road. Keep in mind also that there are numerous businesses along that road too and they have people pulling in and out of them all day. Collegedale changed the speed limit to save lives at that intersection, and it was the only thing we could do according to TDOT, from my understanding. TDOT has finally put fixing the intersection on the radar for being fixed as I gather we have hit the magic number of fatalities and near fatal wrecks their as to warrant a fix.

In as much as former police men talk about pressure to write tickets, your accusations are not born out by numbers. Anyone can go in and ask to see how many stops the citys police make, and anyone can take a calculator to the numbers and figure out that a large majority get off with a warning. In fact typically when you see multiple police cars involved its because the officer has a drug bust on their hands. Ooltewah  Ringgold Road has turned into a bypass for the drug carriers. They get off in Ringgold and come up through here to avoid those black suburbans that park on the state line. So the numbers dont support your argument no matter what some website says, and many a time folks seem to see what they want to see and then talk about things they saw without any knowledge of the facts of the matter.

Collegedale is one of the most successfully and efficiently run small cities in the state, sorry we dont have time to be a speed trap, we have better things to do with our time, like patrolling the streets of our neighborhoods, taking drugs off the streets, protecting property, and helping make Collegedale one of the safest cities to live in, in our State. Thank you again, Ms. Russel and Mayor Turner, for you kind comments about our truly great little city.

David C. Barto  someone who has to deal with that intersection every day of his life

* * *

I drive this section of highway regularly and am so glad the speed limit had been reduced to 45 mph. This is a very dangerous stretch and no one needs to be going 55 through here.

I also find it hard to imagine that TDOT would oppose this change as I understand they are working with Collegedale in planning the installation much-needed traffic signals in this area.

Robert Clapp

Collegedale

* * *

The stretch of road is rated at 55 mph and reducing it to 45 mph will not stop the traffic crashes as the above gentleman put so well. There are two ways to prevent the crashes:





1. Pay attention to your driving whatever the speed limit and do not pull out in front of other drivers,

2. A traffic signal, which TDOT is ?currently working on.





I drive this road most days and I try hard to pay attention to my driving and surroundings. I also ?drive at the posted speed limit whether I agree with it or not.

Nancy Williams




The man who murdered Stephanie Scott has had violent thoughts on a weekly basis since he was seven years old.

Vincent Stanford, who was sentenced to life in jail for murdering the NSW teacher, said he did not have to be angry to feel his 'cold-blooded violence'.

The 25-year-old cleaner said his violent thoughts were usually triggered when people caused him stress by interrupting his routine and in the past this had been triggered by teachers, other students, mental health care nurses and his mother.

Stanford said he had never been bothered by violence - his own or anyone else's.

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Convicted murderer Vincent Stanford went to school in the Netherlands after his family moved back there at the age of three. Pictured is an 11-year old Stanford

Vincent Stanford (centre on Thursday), who was sentenced to life in jail for murdering the NSW teacher, said he did not have to be angry to feel his 'cold-blooded violence'

As a child, he used to think it was normal and kept his violent tendencies 'bottled up'.

Stanford said he knew now it was not normal and he still entertained the same thoughts.

He said he would have violent thoughts on a weekly basis, especially when he had to interact with other people as he preferred to be alone.

The forensic psychologist noted Stanford believed he could not learn to tolerate people.

'This is just the way I'm arranged - I don't think there is anything I can do to get them [violent thoughts] away,' Stanford said.

After raping and murdering Ms Scott, Stanford said he definitely did not enjoy killing but he did acknowledge that killing her reduced his tension and the overwhelming urge he had to kill her.

He did not have any urges to kill anyone else for a couple of months after April 2015 when he was 24 but he said the feelings did return.

When he did have violent thoughts, Stanford did try to keep them in check.

At the age of 12, he grabbed a school principal by the throat so hard she could hardly breathe

After raping and murdering Ms Scott (pictured), Stanford said he definitely did not enjoy killing but he did acknowledge that killing her reduced the overwhelming urge he had to kill

He also led secret life online that included violent video games (pictured), a seeming obsession with fantasy worlds and rambling writings for a science fiction series

Pictured is a grab from a video game Stanford played as the above avatar

He was also asked whether or not he felt guilty about the murder of Ms Scott.

Stanford responded: 'No, this was something I had to do... I couldn't stop myself.'

He believes he was 'different to other people' and thought he had done 'remarkably well to live with people for 25 years'.

The convicted murder thinks there was no 'treatments for my inability to deal with other people'.

Stanford was born in Australia and his family moved to the Netherlands when he was three years old.

His father returned to Australia six months later and Stanford had not spoken to him since then.

Stanford went to a 'behaviour school' in 2001 and 2002 in the Netherlands because of his 'unruly behaviour, limited social skills, limited friendships and oppositional behaviour'.

The convicted murderer was at another school in 2003, where he was in a schoolyard without authorisation and refused to leave.

Stanford was born in Australia and his family moved to the Netherlands when he was three years old. Pictured is his Netherlands identification photo

Stanford, twin brother Marcus (pictured) and older brother Luke were raised by their mother, Anneke Noort, after their father left

Stanford being led into a prison van in handcuffs after he was sentenced to life in prison

Ms Scott was a beloved teacher in Leeton, in central NSW, and was killed just days before her wedding. She is pictured above at her hen's party

Stanford (pictured in handcuffs spent time in an adolescent psychiatric centre for 'behaviour problems and violent incidents'

He unexpectedly grabbed the school's principal by the throat with both hands and with such force that she had difficulty breathing.

A month prior to this he had been involved in a fight with another student where he grabbed him by the throat. At the time he was 12 years old.

Following the incident he was admitted to an adolescent psychiatric centre for 'behaviour problems and violent incidents'.

A report done by the facility diagnosed him with autism and 'oppositional defiant disorder'.

After he was released, Stanford was referred for behaviour management but he was not prescribed any medication.

He was then enrolled in a smaller school for students with special needs and remained there until the age of 16.

Stanford said he did not have any personal relationships except for a girlfriend for six months when he was 14.

When asked by the psychologist if he wanted another girlfriend, Stanford replied it was 'not something I craved in life'.

He had dreams of studying information technology at university and wanted to join the army but was rejected in both cases.

Instead Stanford worked as a cleaner at the same company for five years and then a sawmill.

He claims he left his cleaning job in his early 20s as he had 'serious thoughts of violence toward his boss on a few occasions and knew it was "time to leave".'

Stanford said his boss was 'disorganised and did not care about the standard of his workers, which really annoyed [him because] he took pride in his work performance'.

He had dreams of studying information technology at university and wanted to join the army but was rejected in both cases

Stanford got a job as a cleaner a couple of months after settling in Leeton after moving his mother and older brother, Luke. Pictured is Leeton High School where he worked

Pictured is Stanford's mother Anneke Noort who raised him and his brothers after his father left

He also has no history of drugs or alcohol abuse.

Stanford, twin brother Marcus and older brother Luke were raised by their mother, Anneke Noort, after their father left.

Family life for Stanford was not dysfunctional and he had 'alright' relationships with members of his immediate family.

But he was not particularly close with Luke.

Stanford, Luke and Ms Noort returned to Australia in early 2014 and lived in Leeton.

His twin brother, Marcus, had returned a year or two earlier, and had made a home for himself in South Australia.

Friends and family of Ms Scott outside Griffith Local Court on Thursday after Stanford was sentenced to life

Ms Scott's fiance Aaron Leeson-Woolley (pictured) at Griffith Local Court

Mr Leeson-Woolley (left) was set to marry Ms Scott before she was murdered

Stanford got a job as a cleaner a couple of months after settling in Leeton.

But he did not have a very active social life, telling the forensic psychologist he had no friends.

He also led secret life online that included violent video games, a seeming obsession with fantasy worlds and rambling writings for a science fiction series.

Stanford said he did not enjoy being around other people because it made him stressful and he disliked it.

He said he liked his cleaning job as it meant working before and after hours alone, and required little social interaction.
Advertisement

Muslim Shi'ites are gauging their own eyes and beating themselves bloody to celebrate the holiest days on the Shi'ite calendar.

Millions of Muslim worshipers across the world including India, Lebanon and Greece, have taken part in the religious ceremony.

The bloody event sees worshipers self-mutilate and also draw blood from crying children - to rid them of their sins.

One man gauged at his own eye during the Mahorram procession in Ajmer India on October 12

It marks the anniversary of the Battle of Karbala when the grandson of Profit Mohammed, Imam Hussein ibn Ali, was killed.

The purpose of the ceremony is to reenact the battle, in an attempt to echo Imam Hussein Ibn Ali's suffering.

Tasua and Ashura, the 9th and 10th days of the Mahorram calendar, are days of intense morning in Shia Islam.

And to appropriately respect his suffering, followers self-flagellate, whipping and cutting themselves in front of the masses.

Photos emerged from this year's event which capture the dangerous and horrific nature of the ritual.

A Shi'ite Muslim child cries as he bleeds after being cut on the forehead with a razor during the religious procession in Nabatiyeh town, in southern Lebanon

A boy looks down into the camera as blood drips from his head during processions in Nabatiyeh town, Lebanon on October 12

Men in Ajmer in India's north are dripping in blood after mass self-flagellation on October 12

One man from Ajmer, in India's north, can be seen gauging his own eye until it partially pops out of its socket and erupts with blood.

Another photo captures a group of Indian men standing in a pool of their own blood, as it drips from their wounded bodies.

One particularly shocking photo emerged from Lebanon, where the event was also respected.

It depicts a teenage boy staring down the barrel of the camera with his face covered in blood - after he was cut on the forehead with a razer during the religious procession.

Shocking acts of self-flagellation to mark Ashura were also captured in Piraeus, near Athens in Greece

The passion was obvious in the faces of the men who took part in the gruesome religious event

Young children were also not excluded from the gruesome mutilations.

One particularly heinous photo arose from the religious procession in Nabatiyeh town, in southern Lebanon.

It shows a frightened baby crying as blood is wiped from his face after he too was cut with a razor blade - all in the name of religion.

A Shi'ite Muslim living in Greece flagellates himself during a Muharram procession to mark Ashura in Piraeus, near Athens

Men whip their own backs with blades attached to metal chains in Greece on October 12



The frightening October 12 ceremony is the culmination of four weeks of mourning, and is still practiced in Shi'ite Islam communities across the world.

Hundreds of people in Ajmer India can be seen gathering together to mark the occasion which has been observed since the Battle of Karbala in 680 AD.

The self-flagellation ritual originated from southern Lebanon and southern Iraq, both regions which continue to respect the tradition.

And while the ceremony is still celebrated in communities across the world, it has been strongly discouraged by many governments and religious bodies due to its dangerous nature.

The bloody tradition was respected in Shi'ite Muslim communities right across the world - including Greece where this photo was captured

The event has been strongly discouraged by many governments and religious bodies due to its dangerous nature

The face of passion and terror was captured in one man's face during the religious procession in Greece this month

Hundreds gather to commemorate the Battle of Karbala in India on October 12
A drunk driver who killed a teenager after swerving her car in an attempt to scare the occupants of a moped has appealed for an early release from prison.

Janet Louise Kirby, who is serving four-and-a-half years behind bars, has claimed she should be let out earlier because the victim was her own daughter Lois, The West Australian reported.

The 48-year-old woman had played a drinking game before she got behind the wheel with six passengers, aged between 15 and 20, crammed into her five-seat car in Merriwa, Western Australia.

The mother, who was caught with a blood alcohol reading of 0.110, was taking her daughter and her friends to a party when she was encouraged by the group to scare the moped rider and their passenger in March last year.

Janet Louise Kirby (right) crashed her car that claimed the life of her daughter Lois (left)

The mother was caught with a blood alcohol reading of 0.110 after she lost control of her car

But tragedy struck when Kirby lost control after she tried to overtake the moped, with the vehicle coming to rest of its roof.

Her 15-year-old daughter, who was unrestrained in the boot, was thrown from the vehicle after it rolled off the road.

Kirby, who was disqualified from driving for up to three years, pleaded guilty to dangerous driving occasioning death.

But in the Western Australian court on Tuesday, her lawyers argued the mother should get less time in jail because she was already serving a 'life sentence' following her daughter's death.

The mother had played a drinking game with her daughter before she got behind the wheel

Kirby (left) pleaded guilty to dangerous driving occasioning death of her daughter (right)

Barrister Simon Watters said Kirby would live with the guilt after killing her child.

'There will be an ongoing punishment when she finishes her parole... because she knows she killed her own daughter,' Mr Watters said, according to the publication.

However, Justice Robert Mazza said the accident could have been prevented if Kirby didn't drive recklessly.
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A crumbling cottage in Sydney's inner-city with a block of land five times the size of those surrounding it has hit the market with a price tag of $3 million.

Photographs of the run-down building reveal a rusted roof, peeling paint, overgrown backyard, moulding stone bathroom, and wires hanging loosely from the ceiling.

The Redfern home stretches across 507 square metres of land, when other homes in the crowded suburb typically sit on lots of land with less than 100 square metres.

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A crumbling cottage in Sydney's inner-city with a huge block of land is hitting the market with a $3 million price tag

The decrepit building is heritage listed, meaning buyers won't be able to demolish it and will have to settle with restoring it

The Redfern home stretches across 507 square metres of land, when other homes in the crowded suburb typically sit on lots of land with less than 100 square metres

Buyers keen to snap up the huge block of land will have to contend with a set of conditions that come with the heritage-listed cottage.

According to Domain, the dilapidated Dascome Cottage is in fact part of the original estate of William Redfern, an English convict that the suburb was named after.

A spokesperson for the City of Sydney council told the publication that the property needed to be retained and conserved - with no extra stories added to it.

Dascome Cottage is in fact part of the original estate of William Redfern, an English convict that the suburb was named after

Photographs reveal the filthy state of the home, including a mouldy stone bathroom

The rare Victorian-era building is believed to have been built in the 1840's, and sits on a quiet cul-de-sac in the heart of Redfern

The Local Environment Plan for the property also stipulates that changes cannot be made to the face of the building unless they are restorative changes.

The rare Victorian-era building is believed to have been built in the 1840's, and sits on a quiet cul-de-sac in the heart of Redfern, a short stroll from shops and minutes from the city centre.

Selling agent William Phillips of BresicWhitney told Domain there had been a lot of interest in the property.

He said he had 'never' come across a property like it before, and described it as being 'liveable - just very tired.'

Wires hang loosely from the 1840s building, snaking across walls with peeling strips of paint

Selling agent William Phillips of BresicWhitney told Domain there had been a lot of interest in the property
Dilpreet Singh took photos of his baby son with guns and ammunition

A Melbourne city council candidate who has come under fire for taking photographs of his baby son with guns and ammunition says to him the images are perfectly 'acceptable'.

The Watts ward candidate in the Melton City election, Dilpreet Singh, is a Sikh and told the Star Weekly his religion is a 'warriors religion' which meant photographs with weapons was acceptable as was putting them on social media.

'Grandparents who serve in army create images like this to portray a token of honour, especially when the child is first-born into the next generation. This was the case in my family too,' Mr Singh said.

A would-be politician has come under fire after posting photos of his child with guns

Dilpreet Singh, pictured, defended the photographs as he is proud of his 'warrior religion' and their weapon culture

The council candidate is also a justice of the peace and has been for six years - he says he has never condoned violence.

He also hit back at people who compared the images with terrorism calling it an 'insult on tradition' and 'shameful'.

'It is extremely disappointing that personal images have been used to drive a political agenda in a deliberate attempt to discredit me and my culture,' Mr Singh said.

The photos have since been deleted from the Facebook account.

Victoria police released the following statement after they were contacted by Daily Mail Australia.

The photos which were originally posted on Facebook were removed after they were used against Mr Singh

'An investigation was initiated by Victoria Police following the circulation of Facebook photographs depicting a child with firearms and ammunition.

'Victoria Police spoke to a 36-year-old man from Hillside in relation to the images and investigators are satisfied that no offences have been committed in Victoria.

'The investigation is now complete.'
An asylum seeker had his lips, ears and eyelids ripped off by another migrant before being stabbed in both eyes in a horrific attack at a German refugee centre.

The bloody assault happened in the town of Schluchtern not far from Frankfurt in central Germany.

Police believe some of the victim's facial features were bitten off and he was left blinded after being stabbed in both eyeballs.

An asylum seeker had his lips, ears and eyelids ripped off by another migrant before being stabbed in both eyes in a horrific attack at a German refugee centre (file picture)

A resident in the refugee accommodation heard loud screams from the home of the perpetrator and called police last Friday evening.

Officers broke down the door and seized a bloodstained 19-year-old who was sitting on his 18-year-old victim.

Jurgen Heinze, Hanau prosecutor, said the victim was also stabbed in the throat and the eyeballs. It remains unclear whether his sight can be saved.

The victim, a Somalian, was attacked by a man from Eritrea. The cause of the dispute is unclear although prosecutor did say some 'ritualistic' elements to the assault could not be ruled out.

The bloody assault happened in the town of Schluchtern (pictured) not far from Frankfurt in central Germany

The 18-year-old was taken to a specialist clinic. His life is not in danger but he remains in deep shock and unaware of his environment.

The attacker is being held on assault and attempted manslaughter charges which prosecutors say may be upgraded to attempted murder.

'The investigating authorities have never experienced here before this form of violence. The victim was cruelly mutilated and must reckon with permanent damage. It is unclear whether the man permanently blinded,' said a police spokesman.
A former stripper is appealing to have her prison sentence reduced over the murder of her fiance because his body was not mutilated.

Robyn Jane Lindholm, 43, had enlisted two men to kill Wayne Amey, who are also appealing their sentences because they claim to have been following the directions of a 'wicked' femme fatale.

Wayne Amey, 54, the owner of Hawthorn gym in east Melbourne, had been beaten in the basement of his apartment building, hog-tied in a car boot and pleaded for his life before he is believed to have been stabbed in the chest in December, 2013, the Victorian Court of Appeal heard on Thursday.

Mr Amey's body was then left wedged between boulders at Mount Korong in northern Victoria.

Former stripper Robyn Jane Lindholm (pictured) is appealing her jail sentence for the murder of her fiance Wayne Amey

Wayne Amey, 54, had been beaten in the basement of his apartment building, hog-tied in the boot of a car and most likely stabbed before his body was dumped between boulders at a mountain

Lindholm's lover Torsten Trabert and John Anthony Ryan had killed Mr Amey the day before he would appear in court over a property dispute between him and Lindholm.

The 43-year-old had been sentenced to 25 years in prison, Trabert to 28 years, and Ryan to 31 years in the Supreme Court last year.

All three on Thursday began their case to have their sentences reduced.

The former stripper's defence counsel, Scott Johns, argued Mr Amey had not been mutilated and 'extreme violence' had not been used, The Age reported.

Mr Amey was not a vulnerable young person, Mr Johns said.

Lindholm's lover Torsten Trabert (left) and John Anthony Ryan (right) had killed Mr Amey the day before he would appear in court over a property dispute between him and Lindholm

Counsel for Lindholm, 43, argued at the Victorian Court of Appeal Mr Amey's body had not been mutilated and 'extreme violence' had not been used in his death (Lindholm is pictured leaving Melbourne Supreme Court in December last year)

While Lindholm had harboured an intention to kill him for a while, she had pleaded guilty to the murder  even if it was at a late stage, her counsel said.

Both of the men's barristers argued Mr Amey would still be alive if it weren't for Lindholm.

'The killing of Wayne Amey is Robyn Lindholm's wicked design,' Adam Chernok, for Trabert, said.

'The one person the killing wouldn't have taken place without is Robyn Lindholm,' David Hallowes, for Ryan, said.

Trabert, her then lover, on Thursday appealed his sentence on the basis his only motive was 'put very simply, your honour, sex', the Court of Appeal heard.

Senior Crown prosecutor Douglas Trapnell, QC, said all three were equally responsible for Mr Amey's death.

Trabert's sentence had already been reduced for leading police to find the body, Mr Trapnell said.

But without his help, his body may never have been found, Mr Chernok said, and Lindholm may not have entered a guilty plea.

Lindholm is pictured leaving Melbourne Supreme Court in December last year for sentencing

Mr Chernok said Lindholm had the 'primary motive' to kill.

'My client is motivated by sex in the context of his particular circumstances,' he said.

Ryan's lawyer David Hallowes said his client believed they were only going to beat Mr Amey. Mr Amey was mistreating Lindholm, Ryan claimed to have been told.
The death toll from Hurricane Matthew has reached 36 in the US, with 20 of the fatalities reported in North Carolina, where floodwaters continued rising Thursday.

Anita Van Beveren has been returning day after day to watch the brown floodwater creep toward the rental home she shares with her two teenage children. While she got many belongings out, they couldn't move everything  a bicycle is chained to a back deck surrounded by water.

'I cry and pray. There's nothing else to do,' said Van Beveren, who is staying with friends. 'We keep coming up here every hour. And every hour it's worse.'

Many neighbors are keeping similar vigils on Van Beveren's side of Willow Street, which runs parallel to the Tar River and has largely served as a boundary between those who evacuated and those who stayed.

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Destruction: Floodwaters creep further into the Hampton Inn, Quality Inn and Hardees at the intersection of U.S. 258 South and U.S. 70 on Wednesday

Bird's eye view: Water flows across Highway 11 South near Skinner's Bypass in Kinston

Inundated: Marquis Sheffield, of Herbert Street retrieves clothing from his flooded home after Hurricane Matthew caused severe flooding in Goldsboro, North Carolina

Plowing through: A car is reflected in the floodwaters along Herbert Street after Hurricane Matthew caused severe flooding in Goldsboro

Submerged: Vehicles at a business are surrounded by floodwaters in Lumberton, North Carolina, Wednesday

Mayor Pro-Tem Kandie Smith, left, and Mayor Allen Thomas embrace as they join about 1,000 people in a town prayer at the Greene St. bridge over the rising Tar River near the Town Commons in downtown Greenville

Stuck: A truck sits stranded on Interstate 95 in floodwaters in Lumberton Wednesday

The leafy neighborhood  one of many around North Carolina to suffer flooding after Hurricane Matthew  includes one-story homes and small apartment buildings that house a mix of families and students from nearby East Carolina University.

North of Willow, houses and apartments were filling up with water even before the river was expected to crest Thursday.

The flooding was triggered by heavy rain from Matthew, which killed more than 500 people in Haiti before churning its way up the East Coast of the US.

North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory said Thursday the number of power outages was down to about 55,000, form a high of nearly 900,000 when the storm hit last week.

But McCrory said flooding continues to be a major problem in the eastern part of the state.

No new deaths were reported Thursday in North Carolina. State officials say 20 people have died in the storm, almost all of them in vehicle-related drownings.

McCrory said three more counties have been approved for federal help. Nearly three dozen counties are now approved for aid to local government and 17 counties have been approved for help to individuals who suffered losses.

Hard hit: Mobile homes are reflected in the floodwaters in Goldsboro

Marked: A home is labeled with evacuation markings along Herbert Street after Hurricane Matthew in Goldsboro

Mike Corey wears waders as he goes to check on his units as the floodwaters slowly rise at the Wyndham Circle duplex complex in Greenville on Wednesday

Propane tank sit in floodwaters from Hurricane Matthew in Lumberton

Caitlyn Cain, left, and friend Sidney Daniels inspect flooding associated with Hurricane Matthew near Cain's old home in Greenville

A man pulls a boat down a flooded street with some of his belongings he recovered from his home in Lumberton

'The poorest of the poor are the ones that are being hurt the most by the floods,' the governor said, citing conditions in Lumberton and smaller communities of Pembroke and St. Pauls.

On Wednesday, the governor called the residents in Robeson County 'the most resilient citizens I have ever met.'

Goldman Sachs analysts estimated that Hurricane Matthew caused $10billion in property damage, about half of that insured losses.

For US hurricanes historically, that is relatively small; it makes Matthew only the 22nd worst storm in terms of property damage.

In Greenville, North Carolina, south of Willow Street and uphill from the river, homeowners expect their houses to be dry, and most stayed despite a mandatory evacuation.

Barricade: Sandbags and no entry signs are seen in front of apartments located near the Tar River in Greenville

Water world: Kyle Hawley, right, and roommate Trey Wood, pilot their boat through the streets of their submerged neighborhood in Greenville

Adam Brauns walks away from a house near the Tar River in Greenville, where he was using duct tape and sheets of plastic to seal off a crawl space on Wednesday

A woman rides in a boat down a flooded street with her dog that she rescued from her home as in Lumberton

'People that are staying are pretty comfortable because a lot of us were here for Floyd, and we know what's coming,' said John Benson. He lives on a street that crosses Willow just uphill from a Dead End sign that marked the edge of the floodwaters from Hurricane Floyd in 1999. The Tar River isn't expected to get as high this time.

Joe Davis owns houses on another street that crosses Willow, including a rental property where waist-deep water lapped at the foundation Wednesday.

He watched a worker use duct tape and sheets of plastic to seal crawl space vents after placing sandbags at the doors.

'This is my first time doing this, so we'll see how this works,' said Davis, who bought the rental house several months ago.

Wearing duck-hunting waders, Andrew Brauns strode through the murky water after working on Davis' rental house. He does maintenance for several property owners and said he put in several 15-hour days this week.

'These are going to be our two worst houses actually,' he said, pointing to the rental house and one across the street. 'So we've really been trying to keep the water out. Under the houses, it can wash a bunch of the foundations away.'

An apartment complex near the Tar River in Greenville is seen surrounded by floodwaters on Wednesday. Many houses and apartments near the river were already taking on water a day before the river swollen by Hurricane Matthew was forecast to crest on Thursday

A National Guard vehicle drives through as the floodwaters slowly rise at the Wyndham Circle duplex complex in Greenville on Wednesday

A partially submerged school bus is parked along Old Asphalt Road in Kinston, as water from Hurricane Matthew continues to rise over the banks of the Neuse River

Disaster area: A car rests submerged in a lot alongside US 70W in Kinston

A passerby stops to take a photo of the waters rising around Fred Moody & Sons Garage in Kinston

Homes are surrounded by floodwaters from Hurricane Matthew in Lumberton, N.C., Wednesday

Workers try to contain a fuel spill from tanks surrounded by floodwaters in Lumberton

Two tenants of another house surrounded by several feet of water  Carolyn Raby and Nicole Beauchene  walked up to survey the scene at the end of the street that dead ends near the river. They said their landlord has been letting them stay in another house he owns, but the ordeal has fried their nerves.

'I haven't slept. I don't eat. The only normal thing I have is work and that's sad when work's your only normal thing to do,' said Beauchene, who works at the sandwich shop Jimmy John's.

Matthew also brought record flooding to some areas of South Carolina. The National Weather Service reports the Little Pee Dee River near Galivants Ferry in Horry County has broken a flood record set almost 90 years ago.
This comes after Senator Hinch was snapped sleeping in

After 25 years of lobbying the Australian Senate has scrapped its restrictive photography rules.

The Senate on Thursday agreed to Senator Derryn Hinch's motion to end restrictive media coverage rules in the upper house, only weeks after he was snapped sleeping during the first sitting day of Parliament.

Days later he flaunted the photography rules by tweeting a photo of himself with wide-open eyes in the Senate chamber.

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The Senate on Thursday agreed to Senator Derryn Hinch's motion to end restrictive media coverage rules in the upper house

Newly-elected senator Derryn Hinch posted a wide-eyed selfie after he admitted to catching some shut eye on his first day in parliament

After 25 years of lobbying the Australian Senate has scrapped its restrictive photography rules

As it stands now, photographs can only be taken of the senator who has the call, unlike in the House of Representatives where the media can photograph any MP at any time.

But that will change as of November 28, when photography rules for both chambers will be the same.

Senator Hinch vowed overturning the 'ridiculous' rule would be his first move as a senator.

He insisted it wasn't about getting more exposure for himself, but rather ensuring voters could make fully informed decisions at elections.

'If you get caught nibbling your ear wax, or counting your money or dozing- tough.'
A British tourist has been fined 3,000 after he defecated on the runway of an Italian airport after stepping off a three-hour Ryanair flight from Manchester.

David Sharp, 68, of Salford, had flown into Brindisi Airport in Apulia in southern Italy last week with the budget carrier and was making his way to the terminal building after leaving the aircraft.

However, he was seemingly unable to wait to reach a toilet inside the airport building and began to pull down his trousers.

The 68-year-old British tourist had flown into Brindisi Airport in Apulia in southern Italy when he defecated on the runway after leaving the plane

Italian media reported that he then began to defecate on the asphalt between the aircraft and the gate to the terminal building.

When confronted by Italian border police, he was unable to give an explanation for what he had done and was described as being in a state of 'mild agitation'.

According to local newspaper the Brindisi Report, he was later fined 3,000 for committing an obscene act. The fine was paid the next day after police tracked him down to the Casa Barocco B&B in nearby Leece, where he was staying with a friend.

A spokesman for Ryanair said: 'An individual was detained by local police at Brindisi Airport on September 30. This is a matter for local police.'

Mario Marcone, deputy police commander at Brindisi airport, added: 'We will not tolerate this sort of behaviour. There was no need to do what he did.'

He added to The Sun: 'This was a very embarrassing episode as it happened in front of around 50 passengers on the plane and airport staff.

'This isn't something we deal with every day.'

However, it isn't the only time police at Brindisi airport have had to intervene with British holidaymakers.

Italian media reported that he then began to defecate on the asphalt between the aircraft and the gate to the terminal building after catching a Ryanair flight from Manchester

One Monday officers were called to Thomas Cook flight from the UK after a married couple on board had a disagreement and the husband tried to leave the plane.

The aircraft, which was en route to Corfu, had made an unscheduled stop in Italy due to bad weather.

The plane then had to be refuelled and the passengers were told that they would not be embarking at this time.

However, according to the Local, the couple began arguing and the husband, aged 43, left the aircraft, despite being told not to do so and had to be caught by police.
I just wanted to comment on the issue of bicycles on the highway in Chattanooga. Let's look at the cost so far. We have to pay for the use of our highways from taxes. Why not have a bicycle tax for them to use our highways?

I would like to propose a $25 bicycles tax for every bicycle that ride on our streets.

Since we want to share our highways, let them pay a bicycle tax to ride on our highways.

Gregory Holloway


Kisok Thavarajah was jailed for eight months after taking part in the ATM scam

A former Tesco worker threw a 100,000 wedding luxurious London hotel weeks before he was jailed for an ATM scam.

Kisok Thavarajah, who earned 16,000-a-year during his time as a checkout assistant for the supermarket giant, invited 400 guests to the do at Grosvenor House Hotel.

The cost of hiring out the Park Lane venue was 60,000, while the lavish bash included a 17-tier 3,500 cake and table decorations costing 20,000.

Thavarajah, who has also previously worked as a factory packer, would later plead guilty to stealing 4,400 by installing a jamming device and camera at an ATM.

The 25-year-old married Kiruthiga Skanthatheva during a Hindu ceremony in the hotel's Grand Ballroom in July.

A friend of the 28-year-old bride told The Sun: ' They said Kisok paid for everything.

'No one had a clue how he could possibly afford it, yet hes managed to get married like George Clooney.'

Sri-Lankan Thavarajah, from Lambeth, was jailed for eight months after admitting to a charge of conspiracy to defraud.

The cost of hiring out the Park Lane venue was 60,000, while the lavish bash included a 17-tier 3,500 cake and table decorations costing 20,000

The 25-year-old married Kiruthiga Skanthatheva during a Hindu ceremony in the hotel's Grand Ballroom in July

Along with Nadarajah Nanthakumar and Jahamithra Visvanathan, Thavarajah stole 4,400 in two hours from a cash machine in Sutton High Street.

One gadget employed by the trio was a 'Lebanese loop' device that stops a person's bank card from leaving the ATM.

Meanwhile, the camera from an iPod Nano would record the PIN used by the victim.

Police were alerted to the fraud after two women used the cash machine at a Barclays bank one morning in November.

They told the bank their cards had been swallowed, after which time they were informed 4,400 had been taken from their accounts between them.

During a hearing in September, Croydon Crown Court heard how CCTV picked up a BMW, which was eventually linked to the three men.
Kurdish forces have revealed the 'Mad Max' style armoured-plated cars they hope will help them free the Iraqi city of Mosul from ISIS control.

The Peshmerga troops have converted large cars and lorries into war vehicles by adding metal plates, grills and missile launchers to the top and bonnet.

They have been forced to take the initiative of bolstering their cars and lorries after ISIS jihadists captured Mosul and fought off the Peshmerga, who only use Soviet-era military equipment.

One of the Kurdish armoured vehicles that have been created as Peshmerga troops prepare for the battle of Mosul

The soldiers large cars and lorries into war vehicles by adding metal plates, grills and missile launchers to the top and bonnet

Mosul, home to up to 1.5 million people, has been the headquarters of the ISIS self-declared caliphate in northern Iraq since 2014.

The battle for the city, expected later this month, will help shape the future of Iraq and the legacy of U.S. President Barack Obama.

Soldiers from Turkey, a regional power with the second largest armed forces in NATO, have been training Sunni Muslim and Kurdish Peshmerga units at the Bashiqa camp in northern Iraq and want them to take part in the expected battle for Mosul.

But their presence has sparked a row with the Shi'ite-led government in Baghdad, which is keen that its forces be at the forefront of the offensive.

The Peshmerga have had to take the initiative to transform their vehicles as they only have basic Soviet-era military equipment

Another one of the armoured vehicles that has been created by Kurdish troops in northern Iraq

However, Turkey has said it will station its troops nearby despite the opposition by the Iraqi government.

President Tayyip Erdogan explained he would do all it could to prevent the operation from deepening sectarian conflict on its borders.

In a speech in Istanbul, he said: 'We will use all our resources to prevent our brothers in Syria and Iraq from being crushed under the wheels of global power games, and to keep us from suffering a similar fate.

'We are determined to deflate the balloon of sectarian conflict aimed at drowning the region in blood and fire.'

Mosul, home to up to 1.5 million people, has been the headquarters of the ISIS self-declared caliphate in northern Iraq since 2014

Turkey is part of the U.S.-led coalition against ISIS and has played a frontline role in Syria. It says its troops are in Iraq as part of an international mission to train and equip Iraqi forces to fight Islamic State.

"Turkey does not move on orders from others ... Turkey's presence in the Bashiqa camp will remain until Mosul is rid of Daesh," Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus told the state-run Anadolu Agency on Wednesday, using an acronym for Islamic State.

"Whoever the Mosul population is, Arabs or Turkmen, they have lived together for centuries and will continue to do so.
Kneeling blindfolded in front of a baying crowd of men and children, ISIS prisoners are brutally stoned to death - after being accused of adultery.

Sickening photos show victims being pelted with heavy rocks near the city of Abu Kamal in eastern Syria, close to the border with Iraq.

Hundreds of people, including young children, watch in the town square as fanatics carry out the medieval-style executions.

Kneeling blindfolded in front of a baying crowd of men and children, ISIS prisoners are brutally stoned to death - after being accused of adultery

Hundreds of people, including young children, watch in the town square as fanatics carry out the medieval-style executions

Sickening photos show victims being pelted with heavy rocks near the city of Abu Kamal in eastern Syria, close to the border with Iraq

The terror group had reportedly accused the men of adultery and sentenced them to death.

Pictures show extremists reading out the charges over a loud speaker before the men are led to their fate.

One, wearing dark trousers and a white top, is handcuffed and blindfolded before being forced to kneel on a carpet.

The terror group had reportedly accused the men of adultery and sentenced them to death

Executioners inflict gruesome injuries on the head and body of one of the victims by repeatedly hurling rocks at him

Moments later, executioners inflict gruesome injuries on his head and body by hurling rocks at him.

The other, dressed all in white, does not appear to be blindfolded or have his hands tied. Pictures show his dead body after being stoned.

It is not the first time ISIS have used the brutal execution technique.

Pictures show extremists reading out the charges over a loud speaker before the men are led to their fate

A victim dressed in white is embraced before he is led to his fate in the town square

An executioner was pictured reading out the charges against the victim before he was executed in public

In June, pictures emerged showing four married men being stoned to death over the same adultery charge.

The images showed blindfolded prisoners praying on the floor next to a pile of rocks before they were killed under the terror group's warped interpretation of sharia law.
Mel Gibson is set to be be welcomed back into the Hollywood fold after a 10-year 'prison sentence' for anti-Semitic slurs.

The American actor, 60, had struggled to win over producers and directors in Tinseltown after he made defamatory statements about Jews to an officer who arrested him on a DUI charge in July 2006.

But after teaming up with a gay Jewish producer, David Permut, to direct World War Two-themed Hacksaw Ridge, the door looks set to be left ajar for the Oscar winner after being in so-called 'director's jail' for a decade.

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Mel Gibson - pictured receiving the Outstanding Contribution to World Cinema Award at the 5th Annual Irish Film and Television Awards (IFTA's) 2008 at the Gaiety Theater in Dublin - is closer to being welcomed back into the Hollywood fold after a 10-year 'prison sentence' for anti-Semitic remarks

The new movie about a conscientious objector in the war was described by The Hollywood Reporter's (THR) David Rooney as a 'forceful comeback  that succeeds in combining horror with grace'.

Producer Permut told THR decided to put prejudice to one side and get to know Gibson.

'Believe me, there were conversations I had with people who were questioning me about going down the path with Mel,' he said.

'But he's not the person some people interpret him to be on the surface.

'Ask anyone involved with this film - above the line, below the line - they all revered him.

'The crew would lay in front of the tracks for Mel.

'It was an amazing experience and a learning experience for me because I got to know the man whom I never really knew.'

'I think Mel has been misunderstood by people who may not know him, but nobody can take his talent away.

'Ultimately, I think time heals.'

The American actor, 60, had struggled to win over producers and directors in Tinseltown after he made defamatory slurs about Jews at an officer who arrested him on a DUI charge in July 2006 - pictured right is his mugshot

It is Gibson's first foray behind the camera since Apocalypto, which opened just four months after his anti-Semitic disgrace.

At the time, Ari Emanuel, then at Endeavour, wrote an open letter telling the industry it could not allow Gibson to get away with 'such tragically inflammatory statements', and later dumped him as a client.

The Braveheart star came out publicly and apologized in the aftermath of the DUI arrest, denouncing his comments, but the damage was done.

Owing to his latest film, his talents are poised to do the talking.

Sue Kroll, president of worldwide marketing and distribution at Warner Bros, told THR: 'I've known Mel for many years, and his talents as a filmmaker are undeniable.

'He is a gifted storyteller and has created some really exceptional films.'

Among those chasing the reformed star are said to be CAA and UTA, now managed by Rick Nicita.

As of yet, Emanuel's WME has not shown an interest.
A teenage boy diagnosed with terminal cancer just months after his father received the same prognosis has died.

New Zealand high school student Jesse Warena, 17, had incurable non-Hodgkin Lymphoma and his father John is in the late stages of lung cancer.

New Zealand teenager Jesse Warena, who died as a result of non-Hodgkin Lymphoma

He died on Wednesday and an outpouring of grief has seen dozens of tributes posted to the teen's social media pages.

Jesse was remembered as a positive, happy and genuine young man with a 'big heart and an incredible character'.

The tragic news of his diagnosis shattered Jesse's mother Pearl Mcrae and three older brothers.

In an even crueler twist of fate, Pearl's eldest son Jon was murdered in a street brawl in 2007 while living in Australia. Five men were jailed over the fatal fight in Perth.

Despite undergoing intensive treatment over the past year, including chemotherapy and radiation, in September Jesse learned that his only option going forward was palliative care.

New Zealand high school student Jesse Warena (pictured), 17, has incurable non-Hodgkin Lymphoma and his father John is in the late stages of lung cancer

Dozens of heartfelt messages and tributes were posted to Jesse's Facebook page

The brave teenager was taking it one day at a time, and was striving to complete his National Certificate of Educational Achievement level 2 and get his driver's license.

Ms Mcrae, who lived in Hawke's Bay on the east coast of the North Island, previously told stuff.co.nz she was overwhelmed by the nightmarish news.

'It is devastating, you wouldn't wish it on your worst enemy,' she said.

'I break down at night, sometimes. Anything can spark it, but I have got to keep a brave face on.'

The mother-of-six had split her time between looking after Jesse, her youngest son, and travelling to Palmerston North Hospital where her ex-husband John is battling lung cancer.

A fundraising page had been set up to help financially support Ms Mcrae and allow Jesse to tick off some activities on his bucket list.

esse was remembered as a positive, happy and genuine young man with a 'big heart and an incredible character'
A horrific head on collision left two drivers trapped and in serious condition after their trucks collided on the Pacific Highway.

Both truck drivers were trapped for up to an hour after one of the truck's crossed through the median strip wire and collided head on with the other at 11.10am on the NSW mid-north coast, 120km north of Newcastle.

One of the truck's flipped on its side during the head on collision on the Pacific Highway

A trail of destruction was left after two trucks collided head on leaving both male drivers trapped for up to an hour

Images from the scene at Coolongolook show one of the mangled trucks was flipped on its side during the heavy collision.

Emergency services rushed to the scene on the Pacific Highway finding a trail of destruction and both male drivers confined in their truck as a result of the accident.

Authorities were able to free both men and they were airlifted to hospitals, one driver to a Newcastle hospital, where they remain in serious condition.

Local police, heavy vehicle inspectors and the Traffic and Highway Patrol Crash Investigation looked into the accident, which left a massive clean up after debris was left scattered across the highway.

Both drivers were airlifted to hospitals after midday and are in serious condition

The crash invlolving two trucks took place on the Pacific Highway at around 11.10am on the NSW mid-north coast, Coolongolook
The two teenagers accused of planning an Islamic State style terror attack were captured on security footage exchanging bags as they were on their way to allegedly behead someone with bayonets.

The 16-year-olds were seen standing on a busy sidewalk on Wednesday as they handed over their bags to one another before allegedly walking into a gun shop, where police claim they bought the weapons, according to Seven News.

Less than an hour later, they were arrested by counter-terrorism police as they entered a Muslim prayer hall in Bankstown, in south-west Sydney, where police claim the pair planned on saying their final prayers, according to theSydney Morning Herald.

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Two 16-year-olds accused of planning an ISIS style terror attack were seen on CCTV footage in west Sydney exchanging bags as they walked to allegedly behead someone with bayonets (pictured)

The teenagers were spotted on Wednesday handing their bags to one another before allegedly entering a gun shop, where police claim they bought the weapons (pictured)

Less than an hour later the pair (pictured) were arrested by counter-terrorism police outside a Muslim prayer hall in Bankstown as they prepared for an 'immanent attack,' police claim

It comes as one of the teenagers is accused of telling his mother he allegedly intended to do 'something bigger' than the murder of Curtis Cheng.

'When they come, I'm going to do something to them that they have never seen before,' he allegedly said. 'I'm going to do something bigger,' the boy, who was intercepted on a police wire, said, according to court documents.

Police claim the boy was drawing comparisons between himself and teen terrorist Farhad Jabar who shot the Mr Cheng outside NSW Police Force headquarters in Parramatta.

The revelations come after photos emerged of the mosque in Bankstown where the teenagers were arrested, Adnum Lane Musallah.

He and another 16-year-old boy remain behind bars after facing court on Thursday for allegedly possessing M9 Bayonet hunting knives in preparation to commit a terrorist act.

This is the prayer house in Bankstown where two teenagers were arrested on terror charges

The prayer hall is the Adnum Lane Musallah in Bankstown

The two 16-year-old boys were arrested by counter-terrorism police in Sydney's south-west on Wednesday

One boy allegedly had a handwritten note pledging allegiance to IS in his possession when he was arrested, according to court documents.

The pair were formally refused bail at Parramatta Children's Court and their cases adjourned until December 7.

Both teens were well known to counter-terror police.

One was previously caught overseas trying to enter 'an area under control of a terrorist organisation', police will allege.

Pictured is the entrance to the upstairs Prayer Hall in Bankstown, Sydney

Seen here is a set of garages in Adnum Lane

Witnesses said they saw one of the men (pictured) smiling after he was arrested

He was found in possession of electronic IS literature on his return to Australia.

The other, whose relative is behind bars for terror offences, allegedly took part in a Hyde Park protest in 2012 carrying a sign that read 'Behead those who insult the prophet'.

Authorities were unaware of any specific targets of this foiled alleged terror plot, but believed an attack was imminent.

'Had we not been in the right place at the right time ... certainly somebody, potentially today, would be, or another day imminently, would be without their life,' AFP Deputy Commissioner Michael Phelan said on Thursday.

Asked if the teens were plotting a beheading, NSW Police Deputy Commissioner Cath Burn said: 'We don't have any information to indicate that, however it is an ongoing investigation.'

The teens have each been charged with planning an act of terror - which carries a penalty of life behind bars - and being members of a terrorist organisation, which carries a penalty of 10 years' prison.

After the pair were arrested, radical Muslim preacher Junaid Thorne (pictured) approached officers and demanded them to tell him 'Where are my brothers?'

The teenagers, who were allegedly carrying handwritten notes pledging allegiance to ISIS, were stopped by police (left) before they were taken away (right)

The teenagers, who were previously reported to have been walking to the Bankstown Police Station, were stopped by officers on Fetherstone Road by the Bankstown Musalla (pictured)

Four western Sydney properties connected with the teenagers - including a prayer hall and multiple homes - were raided after the boys were taken into custody.

Items were seized for forensic examination and police have not ruled out making further arrests.

The age of the two boys is of significant concern to counter-terrorism police, who are seeing an increase in the number of radicalised teens.

'The age of these two individuals at the age of 16 is of unbelievable concern to us. We are seeing it time and time again,' Ms Burn said.

'It's up to the parents, really, to try to do everything they can to make sure those signs of radicalisation at an early stage are addressed.'

If proved, this would be the 11th imminent terror attack prevented by the Joint Counter Terrorism Team in Australia.

A relative of one of the teenagers, one of which is the son of a convicted terrorist, was seen leaving the Bankstown Police Station after their arrest (pictured)

'We've got to remember that our current threat level is 'probable', and it's there for a reason,' Ms Burn said.

'We are doing everything we can to prevent such attacks.'

Earlier it was reported by News Corp that radical Muslim preacher Junaid Thorne demanded police tell him 'Where are my brothers?' after they arrested the boys.

Thorne was held in the Supermax High Risk Management Centre in Goulburn, New South Wales, for four months for dodging counter-terrorism authorities and using a false name to fly from Perth to Sydney, ABC reported.

One of the teenagers, whose father has been convicted of terror-related charges, was allegedly arrested last year for not standing for the national anthem at his high school.

Both of the men have been known to police officers for several years (pictured)

The same teen's family was also targeted during the Operation Appleby raids in September 2014, and launched legal action against the NSW Police.

'What really burns me from inside was hearing my mum screaming and seeing her in pain and not being able to do anything. I will remember that forever', he told Fairfax at the time.
Pre-wedding photos are a big business in China with many people heading to

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Impressive images reveal the struggle Chinese couples have to go through in order to get picturesque wedding photos.

Pictures from the scenic location in Qingdao taken on October 12 show couples having to maneuver around other brides and grooms in order to get the perfect shot.

Over 100,000 couples reportedly turn out every year to take their photos in a location that is considered romantic.

An exclusive setting? Couples pose for photos by the sea at the scenic spot in Qingdao, China

Complicated posing: The couples have to find spots on the rock without getting other brides and grooms in their picture

A stroll by the sea: A couple walk along the beach in Qingdao as they take their pre-wedding photos

Any room? Pre-wedding photos are big business in China with couples spending vast sums of money on their pictures

Images show wedding couples taking their photos on rocks at Qingdao's Pacific Point beach.

They have to move to different parts of the rocks to avoid having other couples in their photos.

According to news163.com, the beach is considered to be a romantic setting.

Pre-wedding photos are big business in China with couples spending vast sums of money on photos which will then be put on display during the wedding dinner.

A big wedding party: Couples take wedding photos by the sea in Qingdao, China's Shandong province

Fighting for some space: According to reports over 100,000 people flock to the beach for their wedding images

A couple pose for their pre-wedding photos which will then be displayed during their wedding banquet

Doesn't look very clean: Qingdao is a famous seaside location which has struggled in the past with green algae

People have been commenting on the story on the news site.

One user commented: 'People can't afford to travel to the Maldives. They can fake it in Qingdao.'

While another wrote: 'There's a high chance of meeting your ex there.'

And one user said: 'Everyone is going to the same location for wedding photos. Their photos will all end up the same.'

Qingdao is famous for its seaside location which often has a problem with algae.

Despite the government's best clean-up efforts, combating the algae that comes from the Yellow Sea is an uphill battle, with algae piling up on the Shandong Province city's beaches.

Striking a pose: A couple, just one of the 100,000 that have their pictures taken in Qingdao

A romantic setting: A bride and groom take photos by the sea for their wedding photos
Police in India are hunting for a gang of cattle rustlers who made a quick getaway after stuffing a cow into the back seat of a hatchback car.

The gang made their mooo-ve after spotting the animal on a quiet street in the western state of Gujarat.

A CCTV camera happened to catch the gang as one of them grabs the beast, twisting its neck as he opens a rear door.

Get a moooo-ve on! The two men manhandle the animal into the back of the car

An accomplice gets out to help and the two men manhandle the frightened creature into the back seat of a small white hatchback as the driver starts to drive off.

The video, which is now on YouTube, was circulated to a local vigilante group who alerted the police.

Police found the car and arrested one man, who is now being questioned.

The missing cow has yet to turn up and could already have been turned into burgers.

The cow was grabbed off a street in the state of Gujarat

The Times of India says cattle rustling, known locally as 'lifting', is a growing phenomenon.

The newspaper says affluent Indians have developed a taste for beef, despite the fact that cows are considered sacred in Hinduism.

Thousands of cows roam India's streets, providing easy prey for nefarious gangs who sell them to unscrupulous slaughterhouses.

Eventually the pair managed to squeeze it into the back seat
Donald Trump's spokesperson has called claims he groped a woman on a flight in the 1980s '100 per cent false' because back then first class flights had 'fixed armrests'.

Katrina Pierson told CNN the allegations of assault made by Jessica Leeds in the New York Times are 'ridiculous', based on her knowledge of planes from 30 years ago.

Leeds, a 74-year-old former businesswoman who lives in Manhattan, told the newspaper she was 'assaulted' by Trump on a flight when she was 38.

She claimed she was sat beside the Republican nominee in first class, when he lifted the armrest between them and began touching her.

'He was like an octopus,' she told the Times. 'His hands were everywhere.'

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Trump's spokeswoman Katrina Pierson said that the allegations of assault made against the Republican presidential candidate by Jessica Leeds in the New York Times are 'ridiculous'

Leeds said she rushed to the back of the plane to escape Trump's advances.

Pierson told CNN: 'I do not believe it at all, it is 100 per cent false.

'As I was saying this is the exact same New York Times that tried the same stunt back in March and then those women came forward and debunked that article.'

She went on to explain why she believes the allegations aren't true based on the type of aircraft that existed at the time.

'This is why this story is ridiculous, to answer your question more thoroughly, we are talking about the early 1980s, Don.

'Seriously back then you had planes DC9, a DC10, an MD80, a 707 and maybe an L1011 but she said specifically to New York and this is what's important so we can cross out the DC10 and the L1011 - because guess what? First class seats have fixed armrests.

'So what I can tell you about her story is if she was groped on a plane it wasn't by Donald Trump and it certainly wasn't in first class,' Pierson said.

This week f ive women - including Jessica Leeds - have come forward to accuse Trump of trying to touch them inappropriately without their consent.

The CNN anchors laughed and looked amused as Katrina Pierson detailed her knowledge of aircrafts as an explanation why the Trump allegations can't be true

Three women have claimed Donald Trump tried to touch them inappropriately without consent

The New York Times claims to have spoken to two women who say they were victims of the Republican nominee in two separate incidents that took place in 1980 and another in 2005.

Further allegations were made by women during interviews with the Palm Beach Post and People Magazine, while Yahoo News republished an accusation made earlier this year.

Trump's campaign denied the accusations, saying they are 'fiction' and 'completely false'.

His former campaign manager Corey Lewandowski also raised questions about the validity of the allegations, before trying to compare Trump's alleged abuse to Hillary Clinton's work as a lawyer when she defended a rapist.

Trump's legal team also appeared to hit back against the claim, sending the New York Times a letter demanding a retraction.

'Your article is reckless, defamatory and constitutes libel per se. It is apparent from, among other things, the timing of the article, that this is nothing more than a politically-motivated attempt to defeat Mr Trump's candidacy,' it reads.

Meanwhile, two sources in Trump's campaign told DailyMail.com a lawsuit against the Times is already being drafted. One of those sources, a senior campaign aide, said the Republican nominee for president is going to 'war' against the newspaper.

Leeds was the first woman featured in the New York Times story.

The second woman the newspaper claims was touched inappropriately by Trump is Rachel Crooks.

DONALD TRUMP'S CAMPAIGN STATEMENT DENYING THE ALLEGATIONS This entire article is fiction, and for the New York Times to launch a completely false, coordinated character assassination against Mr Trump on a topic like this is dangerous. To reach back decades in an attempt to smear Mr Trump trvializes sexual assault, and it sets a new low for where the media is willing to go in its efforts to determine this election. It is absurd to think that one of the most recognizable business leaders on the planet with a strong record of empowering women in his companies would do the things alleged in this story, and for this to only become public decades later in the final month of a campaign for president should say it all. Further, The Times story buries the pro-Clinton financial and social media activity on behalf of Hillary Clinton's candidacy, reinforcing that this is truly nothing more than a political attack. This is a sad day for the Times.' Jason Miller, Senior Communications Advisor Advertisement

Crooks was a 22-year-old working as a receptionist at Bayrock Group, a real estate company based in Trump Tower in Manhattan, when she says Trump kissed her on the mouth without permission while in an elevator in 2005.

'It was so inappropriate,' Crooks told the New York Times. 'I was so upset that he thought I was so insignificant that he could do that.'

Crooks told the newspaper the incident took place after she shook hands with Trump in an elevator and he allegedly refused to let go. She says he then began kissing her on the cheeks, before then kissing her lips.

The second woman the New York Times claims was touched inappropriately by Trump is Rachel Crooks (pictured)

Crooks (right) was a 22-year-old working as a receptionist at Bayrock Group, a real estate company based in Trump Tower in Manhattan, when she says Trump kissed her on the mouth without permission while in an elevator

Trump furiously denied the allegations when approached by a journalist for the Times.

'None of this ever took place,' he shouted at the reporter, according to the paper, before telling the journalist they are a 'disgusting human being'.

He was like an octopus.His hands were everywhere Jessica Leeds, The New York Times

The third woman to accuse the Republican nominee told her story to the Palm Beach Post, saying she was groped by Trump 13 years ago at his Mar-a-Lago mansion.

Mindy McGillivray, 36, told the newspaper Trump grabbed her backside after she helped a photographer who was covering a concert at Trump's Palm Beach manor.

McGillivray, who was 23 at the time, said she was with Ken Davidoff at the Mar-a-Lago on January 24, 2003.

The fifth woman to claim Trump acted inappropriately towards her was Cassandra Searles (pictured), a former Miss USA contestant

Searles shared a post on social media claiming Trump treated the women in the Miss USA pageant 'like cattle'

TIMELINE OF ALL THE WOMEN WHO HAVE ACCUSED DONALD TRUMP OF SEXUAL ASSAULT OR INAPPROPRIATE BEHAVIOR 1980 - Jessica Leeds Leeds, a 74-year-old former businesswoman who lives in Manhattan, told the New York Times on Wednesday she was 'assaulted' by Trump on a flight when she was 38. Leeds explained how she was sat beside Trump in first class on a flight, when the Republican nominee lifted the arm-rest between then and allegedly began touching her. 'He was like an octopus,' she told the Times. 'His hands were everywhere.' 1989 - Ivana Trump The Donald's first wife claimed she was 'violated' by him after a violent attack, documents filed as part of the couple's divorce claimed, according to the Daily Beast. Ivana distanced herself from the claims last year when Trump started his campaign. 1993 - Jill Harth Jill Harth, a makeup artist, accused Trump of 'attempted rape' stemming from an incident in 1993. Harth told the Guardian the incident in question took place during a visit to Trump's Mar-a-Lago mansion in January of that year. 'He pushed me up against the wall, and had his hands all over me and tried to get up my dress again,' she told the newspaper. 'I had to physically say: 'What are you doing? Stop it.'' 1997 - Four Miss Teen USA contestants Mariah Billado and three other contestants claimed to Buzzfeed that Trump walked into dressing rooms prior to the pageant while competitors were naked. 'I remember putting on my dress really quick because I was like, 'Oh my god, there's a man in here'.' Bilado told the website, before adding Trump said something like: 'Don't worry, ladies, I've seen it all before'. 1997 - Miss USA contestant Temple Taggart Temple Taggart, a former Miss Utah, told the New York Times earlier this year that Trump kissed her on the lips during the pageant. 'I thought, 'Oh my God, gross'... I think there were a few other girls that he kissed on the mouth. I was like 'Wow, that's inappropriate',' she told the newspaper. Taggart has also sat down for an interview with NBC News. 'When I first heard the leaked tape, it's very unsettling... you don't want to hear anyone talking about women like that,' she said in a promotion clip for the interview. 'You look at your sweet, little innocent daughter and think, 'this is the world I'm raising her in'.' Trump responded to Taggart's accusation by saying: 'I don't know anything about her. I don't even know who she is.' 2000 - Miss USA contestant Bridget Sullivan Bridget Sullivan told Buzzfeed earlier this year that the then-owner of the pageant walked through the backstage area to wish contestants good luck, despite the fact many of them were naked at the time. 'The time that he walked through the dressing rooms was really shocking. We were all naked,' Sullivan said. She went on to describe Trump as a 'creepy uncle', saying he would 'hug you just a little low on your back.' 2001 - Miss USA contestant Tasha Dixon Dixon told CBS News earlier this year walked into the changing rooms at the pageant without warning, meaning many of the competitors were naked or not fully dressed. 'Our first introduction to him was when we were at the dress rehearsal and half naked changing into our bikinis,' Dixon said in an interview. 'He just came strolling right in. There was no second to put a robe on or any sort of clothing or anything. Some girls were topless. Other girls were naked.' 2003 - Mindy McGillivray Mindy McGillivray, 36, told the Palm Beach Post that Trump grabbed her backside after she helped a photographer who was covering a concert at Trump's Mar-a-Lago mansion. McGillivray, who was 23 at the time, said she was with Ken Davidoff at the Mar-a-Lago on January 24, 2003. 'All of a sudden I felt a grab, a little nudge. I think it's Ken's camera bag, that was my first instinct,' she told the newspaper. 'I turn around and there's Donald. He sort of looked away quickly.' 2005 - Rachel Crooks Rachel Crooks was a 22-year-old working as a receptionist at Bayrock Group, a real estate company based in Trump Tower in Manhattan, when she says Trump kissed her on the mouth without permission while in an elevator in 2005. 'It was so inappropriate,' Ms. Crooks told the New York Times. 'I was so upset that he thought I was so insignificant that he could do that.' Crooks told the newspaper the incident took place after she shook hands with Trump in an elevator and he allegedly refused to let go. She says he then began kissing her on the cheeks, before then kissing her lips. 2005 - Donald Trump admits he would 'inspect' pageant contestants backstage Donald Trump bragged about the extra power he had during an interview with Howard Stern in April 2005, the tapes of which have been released by CNN. 'I'll tell you the funniest is that I'll go backstage before a show and everyone's getting dressed,' Trump said about the pageant. 'No men are anywhere, and I'm allowed to go in, because I'm the owner of the pageant and therefore I'm inspecting it. 'Is everyone OK'? You know, they're standing there with no clothes. 'Is everybody OK?' 'And you see these incredible looking women, and so I sort of get away with things like that.' 2005 - Trump brags about being able to grope women without consent to Billy Bush on the set of Access Hollywood 'You know I'm automatically attracted to beautiful - I just start kissing them. It's like a magnet. Just kiss. I don't even wait,' he was heard saying to Billy Bush on the set of Access Hollywood in 2005 in a recording published by the Washington Post last Friday. 'And when you're a star they let you do it. You can do anything. Grab them by the p---y. You can do anything.' 2005 - Natasha Stoynoff Natasha Stoynoff recounted how she had traveled to Mar-a-Largo to interview Trump and his wife, Melania, in December 2005. She said Donald took her into a room he really wanted to see, before forcing himself on her. 'We walked into that room alone, and Trump shut the door behind us. I turned around, and within seconds, he was pushing me against the wall, and forcing his tongue down my throat,' she wrote for People. Stoynoff went on to say how she was rescued when a butler walked in, however when the two were alone again shortly after Trump told her they were 'going to have an affair'. 2010 - Friend of CNN anchor Erin Burnett Erin Burnett detailed an encounter that a friend had with Trump in March 2010 in the boardroom at Trump Tower, when he allegedly tried to kiss her without permission. The woman told Burnett, according to CNN: 'Trump took Tic Tacs, suggested I take them also. He then leaned in, catching me off guard, and kissed me almost on lips. I was really freaked out. 'After (the meeting), Trump asked me to come into his office alone. Was really unsure what to do. ... Figured I could handle myself. Anyway, once in his office he kept telling me how special I am and gave me his cell, asked me to call him. I ran the hell out of there.' 2013 - Miss USA contestant Cassandra Searles Searles, who won Miss Washington in 2013, said Trump tried to seduce her, groped her, and treated the women in the pageant 'like cattle', according to Yahoo News. 'Do y'all remember that one time we had to do our onstage introductions, but this one guy treated us like cattle and made us do it again because we didn't look him in the eyes?' she wrote in June. 'Do you also remember when he then proceeded to have us lined up so he could get a closer look at his property? 'Oh I forgot to mention that guy will be in the running to become the next President of the United States.' She then added: 'He probably doesn't want me telling the story about that time he continually grabbed my a** and invited me to his hotel room.' Advertisement

'All of a sudden I felt a grab, a little nudge. I think it's Ken's camera bag, that was my first instinct,' she told the newspaper. 'I turn around and there's Donald. He sort of looked away quickly.'

McGillivray told the newspaper she became furious when she saw Trump claim during the second presidential debate that he had never groped a woman inappropriately, and immediately began to consider sharing her story.

'It's a respect issue for all women. If something like this happens to you, you should speak up,' she said, according to the Palm Beach Post.

She also admitted to the newspaper she has a lengthy criminal record, and understands that it will likely be brought up in the wake of her making the allegations against Trump.

McGillivray has two felony arrests, and was arrested on DUI and child neglect charges in 2012.

The fourth woman to bring new allegations against Trump was Natasha Stoynoff, a writer with People Magazine.

Mindy McGillivray (pictured), 36, told the Palm Beach Post that Trump grabbed her backside after she helped a photographer who was covering a concert at Trump's Palm Beach manor

Stoynoff recounted how she had traveled to Mar-a-Largo to interview Trump and his wife, Melania, in December 2005.

'Our photo team shot the Trumps on the lush grounds of their Florida estate, and I interviewed them about how happy their first year of marriage had been,' she wrote in People.

'When we took a break for the then very-pregnant Melania to go upstairs and change wardrobe for more photos, Donald wanted to show me around the mansion.

'There was one 'tremendous' room in particular, he said, that I just had to see.

'We walked into that room alone, and Trump shut the door behind us. I turned around, and within seconds, he was pushing me against the wall, and forcing his tongue down my throat.

'I was grateful when Trump's longtime butler burst into the room a minute later, as I tried to unpin myself.'

Stoynoff went on to detail how her 'self-esteem crashed to zero' as a result of the alleged attack, which she struggled to get her head around.

'How could the actions of one man make feel so utterly violated?' she wrote.

The fourth woman to bring new allegations against Trump was Natasha Stoynoff, a writer with People Magazine

'I'd been interviewing A-list celebrities for over 20 years, but what he'd done was a first. Did he think I'd be flattered?'

The writer then explained how she tried to get on with the task at hand, interviewing the Trumps, before Donald said something as they were again alone, waiting for Melania.

Trump smiled and leaned forward. 'You know we're going to have an affair, don't you? People Magazine writer Natasha Stoynoff

'Trump smiled and leaned forward. 'You know we're going to have an affair, don't you?' he declared. 'Have you ever been to Peter Luger's for steaks? I'll take you. We're going to have an affair, I'm telling you.''

The fifth woman to claim Trump acted inappropriately towards her was Cassandra Searles, a former Miss USA contestant, who did so earlier this year only to have her claim highlighted in the wake of Wednesday's allegations.

Searles, who won Miss Washington in 2013, shared a picture of the other models who took part in the Trump-owned pageant in 2013 on Facebook and included a caption saying the Republican nominee treated them 'like cattle'.

Searles took her comments a step further replying to a comment on the picture, claiming Trump groped her and tried to seduce her

'Do y'all remember that one time we had to do our onstage introductions, but this one guy treated us like cattle and made us do it again because we didn't look him in the eyes?' she wrote in June, according to Yahoo News.

'Do you also remember when he then proceeded to have us lined up so he could get a closer look at his property?

'Oh I forgot to mention that guy will be in the running to become the next President of the United States.'

Searles took her comments a step further replying to a comment on the picture, claiming Trump groped her and tried to seduce her.

The accusations come after Trump (pictured in 2005 with Billy Bush) was heard making lewd comments about women on the set of Access Hollywood

'And when you're a star they let you do it. You can do anything. Grab them by the p---y. You can do anything,' Trump (pictured in 2005) was recorded saying

Trump was recorded on a hot mic making this shocking remark about being able to do 'whatever (he wanted)' to women

'He probably doesn't want me telling the story about that time he continually grabbed my a** and invited me to his hotel room,' she said, according to Yahoo News.

It also appears another woman is set to speak out again against Trump, 1997 Miss USA contestant Temple Taggart.

Taggart, a former Miss Utah, told the New York Times earlier this year that Trump kissed her on the lips during the pageant.

'I thought, 'Oh my God, gross'... I think there were a few other girls that he kissed on the mouth. I was like 'Wow, that's inappropriate',' she told the newspaper.

Taggart has also sat down for an interview with NBC News.

'When I first heard the leaked tape, it's very unsettling... you don't want to hear anyone talking about women like that,' she said in a promotion clip for the interview.

'You look at your sweet, little innocent daughter and think, 'this is the world I'm raising her in'.'

Trump responded to Taggart's accusation by saying: 'I don't know anything about her. I don't even know who she is.'

Temple Taggart a 1997 Miss USA contestant, has also spoken out again the GOP candidate

Taggart (pictured during the 1997 pageant) said Trump approached her and kissed her on the lips during the contest

Hillary Clinton's campaign condemned the behavior described in the latest allegations, saying it suggest Trump lied to voters during Sunday's second presidential debate.

'This disturbing story sadly fits everything we know about the way Donald Trump has treated women,' communications director Jennifer Palmieri said in a statement.

'These reports suggest that he lied on the debate stage and that the disgusting behavior he bragged about in the tape is more than just words.'

Fox News host Megyn Kelly weighed in on the topic, covering both whether Trump would have much chance in a lawsuit and the complicated nature of women who have been victims of assault coming forward.

Responding to a report Trump's camp was drafting a suit, Kelly tweeted: 'Risks: Defamation v. hard to prove since DT=pub figure. Also, truth is a defense so NYT will double down & will cast wide net in discovery.'

The star host also discussed why the alleged victims may have taken so long to come forward and report the abuse.

Fox News host Megyn Kelly weighed in on the topic, covering both whether Trump would have much chance in a lawsuit and the complicated nature of women who have been victims of assault coming forward

Kelly responded to a report on the risks Trump would be taking if he tries to sue the New York Times over the story

Kelly, who alleged said she was abused by former Fox News boss Roger Ailes, also explained why it is hard for women who have been sexually assaulted to come forward

'Well, these women, they never had a lawsuit,' she said on the Kelly File. 'And the truth is that victims of sexual assault, victims of rape, victims of unwanted groping, they often don't come forward.

'They're humiliated, especially back in the day. They were told move along, it happens to all women, you've got to take it. It's a complicated issue.'

Kelly's remarks are related to the Trump allegations, but also linked to the Roger Ailes abuse scandal at Fox, to which she potential a part of.

It was reported by New York Magazine earlier this year that Kelly told Fox's internal investigators she was subjected to sexual harassment from Ailes. She has refused to speak about her experience with the disgraced former network boss publicly.

Despite the controversial day, Trump's current campaign manager, Kellyanne Conway, was able to find a small bit of humor.

Despite the controversial day, Trump's current campaign manager, Kellyanne Conway, was able to find a small bit of humor by referencing a recent SNL skit about her

Conway tweeted, shortly after 12:30am on Thursday: 'Just leaving Trump Tower, definitely looking like those 'last 10 minutes of prom', Kate McKinnon. @nbcsnl.'

The comment was in reference to a recent SNL skit, where Conway - played by Kate McKinnon, was described as looking like: 'the last 10 minutes of prom'.

The accusations come after Trump was caught on a hot mic in 2005 bragging about being able to get away with forcing himself on women due to his celebrity and status.

'You know I'm automatically attracted to beautiful - I just start kissing them. It's like a magnet. Just kiss. I don't even wait,' he was heard saying in the recording published by the Washington Post last Friday.

'And when you're a star they let you do it. You can do anything. Grab them by the p---y. You can do anything.'

Wednesday's controversy comes just one day after Trump's campaign said it was planning to ramp up its attacks on Bill Clinton as a way to attack Hillary.
Two years ago, the search committee had its work cut out for them as they narrowed down applicants ready to serve as senior minister at First Christian Church. Led by Chairman Dan Summerlin, the committee provided frequent updates to the entire congregation and held cottage meetings that were attended by many members. These meetings confirmed the fact that First Christian Church was not only ready for change but also embraced it.

In late summer of 2015, Rev. Brandon Gilvin and his wife, Dr. Lisa Hale Gilvin visited the church to meet with members at a dinner in their honor. Shortly thereafter, the call to serve as pastor was extended; and the rest, as they say, is history.

Rev. Gilvin assumed his duties on October 15, 2015. This Sunday, one year and one day into his tenure, the Rev. Dr. Christal Williams, regional minister, Disciples of Christ, will install him as FCCs 17th pastor.

Rev. Gilvin spent the first 12 years of his career developing a unique skill set, as his work took him all over the world, and gave him insight into some of the best ways communities--large and small--can make a difference in the world. He served as director of Operations at Week of Compassion for more than five years in the Indiana area. Besides duties as FCC senior minister, Rev. Gilvin works as a consultant, freelance writer, educator, and speaker. He is currently a member of the Introductory Field Education Seminar Teaching Team at Vanderbilt University, his alma mater, where he facilitates a small group of M.Div. students regarding their internship placements.

Blessed with an impressive array of leadership skills, Rev. Gilvin leads with a results-driven perspective on sustainable development, disaster and other humanitarian relief.

As a self-professed "glue guy for a team, his compassion and professionalism help him tackle big problems, while developing more nimble, imaginative ideas in the process. I will gladly handle the small stuff, too, he chuckles.

Rev. Gilvins leadership style emphasizes trust, mutual engagement and empowerment. Members of FCC feel revitalized under his leadership and sense of community.

Located at 650 McCallie Ave., across from UTC, all are welcome at First Christian Church, a church of service, working for wholeness in a broken world. Visit http://firstchristian-chat.com for more information.






Gina Miller (pictured centre) arrives at the High Court in London today ahead of the landmark legal challenge

A wealthy investment fund manager was accused of 'arrogance' today as she launched a landmark legal bid to block Brexit being triggered.

Gina Miller is the leading figure in a High Court challenge demanding that Theresa May stages a vote in parliament before invoking Article 50.

The campaigning former model - who is married to a multi-millionaire fund manager - was a supporter of Remain during the referendum campaign and has previously said she 'felt physically sick' when she heard the result.

But the Prime Minister has dismissed her calls of those of her supporters - and took the unusual step of dispatching the Attorney General to argue the case in person.

Ms Miller - who has complained of death threats over her legal bid - brought her own high-powered team of lawyers to London's High Court, led by top barrister Lord Pannick QC.

He told three judges in a packed courtroom that the case 'raises an issue of fundamental constitutional importance'.

Lord Pannick said the case was not concerned with the 'political wisdom' of the country withdrawing from the EU and it was wrong to suggest that the legal challenge was 'merely camouflage' for those who wanted to remain.

He told the court: 'Many of the rights that Ms Miller and others currently enjoy will be removed if the notification is given - for example, Ms Miller's right to free movement, her right to free movement of goods, her right to freedom of services across Europe.'

Mrs May announced at the Conservative Party conference that she intends to trigger Article 50 by the end of March.

Campaigners say only Parliament is empowered to authorise service of the Article 50 notice and Mrs May's stance threatens to undermine its sovereignty and the rule of law.

Ms Miller is a former model who is now married to super-rich financier Alan Miller (left)

She has previously claimed she 'felt physically sick' when she heard the referendum result

WHAT IS THE LEGAL CASE? Lord Pannick argued Theresa May could not use royal prerogative powers to remove rights established by the European Communities Act 1972, which made EU law part of UK law, as it was for Parliament to decide whether or not to maintain those statutory rights. He said the question of the legal limits on Executive power 'arises in the context of one of the most important of our statutes which is the source of so much of the law of the land.' The first applicant to lodge a Brexit legal challenge was London hairdresser Deir Dos Santos, and he is among a wide group of 'concerned citizens' supporting Ms Miller's application for judicial review. Their lawyers contend it is a fundamental constitutional requirement that there should be full scrutiny by both houses of Parliament, followed by new legislation. Notification of Article 50 by royal prerogative, they argue, would hit rights established by the European Communities Act 1972, which made EU law part of UK law. But only Parliament has the sovereign power to repeal the 1972 Act. Advertisement

Ms Miller, a mother-of-three who lives in London with her hedge fund manager husband Alan Miller, said when she was given permission to launch her action: 'This case is all about the sovereignty of Parliament.

'It is very important that the (Article 50) issues are dealt with in a serious and grown-up way. We are making sure that happens.'

After several hours of making submissions on her behalf on the first day of the hearing, Lord Pannick QC told the court that Ms Miller had received further 'abuse, threats and insults' due to the legal challenge.

The case is being heard by Lord Thomas, the Lord Chief Justice, sitting with Sir Terence Etherton, Master of the Rolls, and Lord Justice Sales.

Attorney General Jeremy Wright, the Government's leading law officer, is arguing in court that the challenge lacks legal merit.

He said: 'The country voted to leave the EU in a referendum approved by Act of Parliament.

'There must be no attempts to remain inside the EU, no attempts to rejoin it through the back door, and no second referendum.

'The result should be respected and the Government intends to do just that.'

Other applicants wishing to intervene include Britons living in France campaigning as 'Fair Deal for Expats' and individuals from other countries living in the UK anxious to secure guarantees for rights gained as EU citizens.

Ms Miller is the founder of investment management group SCM Private, and is the leading figure in the legal bid to stop Theresa May triggering Article 50 without a parliamentary vote

Pro-EU protesters had gathered outside the High Court today for the start of the judicial review case

Protesters outside the Royal Courts of Justice today were determined to make their views on Brexit plain

A group referred to as 'the AB Parties' say they are representative of a large class of 'ordinary, poor or otherwise vulnerable' people and their children whose fundamental human rights and stability are at stake.

Because of the urgency and constitutional importance of the case, any appeal is expected to be heard by the Supreme Court, the highest court in the land, before the end of the year.

But Tory former minister Dominic Raab, a high profile Brexit campaigner, accused Ms Miller of 'a pretty special kind of arrogance'.

'I think this is a pretty naked attempt to steal the referendum by the back door,' he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

Mr Raab added: 'I don't think it's right that a fund manager with deep pockets and legal friends in high places gets to go to court and try and block or frustrate that process.

'I think it takes a pretty special kind of arrogance to think that one person's view trumps that of 33 million.'

Attorney General Jeremy Wright has been sent to court by the Prime Minister to spell out the government's case
while on an excursion- all three were rushed to hospital

Two special-needs teenagers and a carer have been injured after their mini-bus collided with a tram and slammed into a wall.

All three were rushed to hospital after the crash which occurred while on an excursion in Melbourne's city centre on Wednesday night.

The carer driving the mini-bus - a women in her 20s - had to be freed by firefighters after suffering head, neck and chest injuries in the crash, emergency services said on Thursday.

Two special-needs teenagers and a carer have been injured after their mini-bus collided with a tram and slammed into a wall (pictured)

All three were rushed to hospital after the crash which occurred while on an excursion in Melbourne's city centre

She had been making a hook turn from Collins Street about 10.45pm on Wednesday when a tram crashed into the side of the mini-bus and pushed it 100 metres down the road.

The bus then collided with a parked car, mounted the gutter and crashed into a pillar of a building, police said.

Two of the four special-needs teenagers on the bus suffered arm and facial injuries and were taken to hospital in a stable condition.

The tram driver was also assessed at the scene, Ambulance Victoria said.

The teenagers, aged 15 to 17, are students at a Bass Coast school and had been in Melbourne on a school camp.
Ashley Symes, 23, was cautioned by Kent Police over the stunt

Clown who ended up with bloody nose in prank gone wrong arrested

Police have fined Simon Chinery, 28, who had claimed he was seriously injured after being attacked

Lancashire Police released a statement saying that Simon Chinery had not been attacked by a 'killer clown'

A father-of-one who claimed he had been left 'disabled for life' after being attacked by a 'killer clown' made it up, police have revealed.

Simon Chinery, 28, said he was attacked by a clown at a cash machine and had suffered serious ligaments injuries to his hand from a 10-inch blade.

However Lancashire Police now say the man was 'not attacked by a clown and had in fact injured his hand falling on broken glass'.

They said he had been issued a fine for wasting police time.

Chinery even claimed he'd lost his job due to the severity of his injuries and described in detail what the clown was wearing in Blackburn, Lancs.

A spokesperson from Lancashire Police said: 'After looking into this report we have established that the man was not attacked by a clown and had in fact injured his hand falling on broken glass.

'We are aware that widespread media coverage of this allegation may have been unsettling for local residents and we would like to reassure the public that no crime has taken place on this occasion.

'We have now issued a 28-year-old man from Blackburn with a penalty notice for wasting police time.

' We work extremely hard investigating serious crime and our time needs to remain focused on genuine incidents.'

Chinery claimed he had been left disabled by the attack, but police said a man has been fined for wasting police time

However clown-related incidents continue to be reported to police across the country.

It is not just unsuspecting bystanders who are suffering, as a hospital in Newcastle, which often hosts clown doctors to cheer up sick children, has cancelled a celebration event over security concerns.

Meanwhile eerie threats have been made by clown groups on social media to 'visit' schools if they receive enough 'likes'.

Crimes continue to be committed by offenders wearing clown masks too, from robberies to assaults.

And one prankster who was left with a bloody nose after being hit by a man he was trying to scare received a double whammy when he was arrested and cautioned by police for his behaviour.

Doctors at Great North Children's Hospital, pictured, said a planned 'clown celebration' event had been postponed over the craze after security became concerned

Andy Symes, left, tried to 'prank' a man in Kent while dressed as a clown and wielding a baseball bat, pictured

But the man was not intimidated and struck back, hitting Symes in the face, pictured

In Newcastle, the celebration of the work of the Clown Doctors at the Great North Children's Hospital has been postponed following a spate of incidents involving people dressed in scary clown costumes.

Staff at Newcastle's Royal Victoria Infirmary were put on alert after a message to 'hit' the hospital was posted on an Instagram account called Killer Clowns North East.

A hospital spokesman said an email advised staff to be vigilant and report suspicious activity to security staff.

It came as the North East Clown Doctors are celebrating 10 years of, as they say, 'bringing smiles and laughter to hospitalised children and their families'.

Martin Wilson, director of Durham-based TIN Arts, which runs the Clown Doctors programme, said a planned celebratory event at the Great North Children's Hospital on Thursday had been postponed.

'We were called by security at the hospital who were worried that a member of the public might see people wandering around with red noses on and misconstrue what was happening,' he said.

'We were going to have a banner in the foyer with a large photograph and they advised us not to do that.

'I can understand that if someone wasn't familiar with our programme and saw one of our guys wearing a red nose then they might report it to someone else.

'I can see, with what's going on at the moment, that this might cause a bit of a panic and someone might ring the police and we'd find ourselves in the news for the wrong reason.'

Mr Wilson said the clown doctors would go onto wards at the Great North Children's Hospital tomorrow, as they do every Thursday, but not appear in any public areas - as had been planned originally.

There are eight clown doctors in the programme, all 'experienced theatre practitioners' who have undertaken special training.

He was left with a bloody nose, pictured, and has since been arrested and cautioned by the police

A clown prankster who was decked by his intended victim has been hit with a double whammy after he was arrested and cautioned.

Ashley Symes, 23, was filmed walking through the streets of Chatham, in Kent, wielding a baseball bat and jumping out on unsuspecting passers-by.

But one of his victims fought back, leaving hapless Symes with a blooded nose and his cameraman screaming, 'It's a prank. It's a prank'.

The craze is still sweeping across Britain with more incidents happening by the day.

Now Symes, from Sittingbourne, Kent, has been arrested and cautioned by police for threatening a teenage girl as part of the stunt.

He had previously said: 'I always wanted to do pranks. I follow a lot of American pranksters on YouTube, and with all the news stories about clowns I thought I'd do something no one in the UK had done.

'A lot of people I scared said it was funny, even the man that punched me said it was funny.'

He added: 'If it's done well, in a controlled way it's harmless. We try to let the people know what is going on. As long as there's no harm done people should see it as a joke.

Another gang of clowns attacked a car in Bexley London, while Jade Strong was driving home with a friend.

After seeing two figures ahead of her, she switched on her full beams and saw they were dressed as clowns.

One of the clowns chased Miss Strong's car and began whacking it, but she managed to escape.

The 21-year-old, from Bexley, south-east London, said: 'One of them had a white and grey jumper on with a white clown mask and big red hair and the other one was all in black with an orange and gold clown face.

'So I started to speed up but could only go so fast because of the speed bumps.

'The one all in black started running for my car and hit it with something, but I'm not sure what.'

A spokesman for the Metropolitan Police said Bexley Police received a report of five youths aged from 17-20 dressed in clown and Halloween masks attempting to frighten and intimidate members of the public passing by Danson Park.

He said: 'Officers attended and spoke to the group. A 20-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of a section 5 public order offence.

'He was subsequently dealt with by way of Penalty Notice Disorder (PND).'

A taxi controller known only as Rita was seen being confronted by a clown in her office in Leicester, left and right

Alone in the office, she bravely gets up and chases the creepy clown out, left and right

A fearless taxi controller got her own back on a 'killer clown' in Leicester after she was caught on camera chasing him out of her office.

Chilling CCTV shows the sinister figure watching over her before the woman - named only as Rita - got up and scared him away.

The clown visibly jumped when fearless Rita shouted at him, before running off when she chased him out of the office.

Rita was alone in ADT Taxis' control room on her first night shift when she was confronted by the prankster, dressed as a killer clown, on Monday just after 9pm.

Footage shows the menacing figure watching Rita through a glass panel for over 10 seconds, before the woman gets up from her desk.

Darren Green, a manger at ADT Taxis, watched the terrifying event unfold as he routinely logged into the system to check the CCTV.

The 45-year-old said: 'I was working from home on Monday night and I just happened to log in to the CCTV as I do every now and then. I logged in two minutes before the clown came in.

'I originally thought it was a customer myself, then when I looked again I realised it was a clown.

'I had to double check the footage to make sure I wasn't seeing things.

'Thankfully Rita is OK. She even chased him down the street.'

Meanwhile a man wielding a sledgehammer stole a safe and attacked a worker at a sandwich factory in Bolton.

It comes as clowns armed with 'swords' were arrested by police outside a Manchester shopping centre - but were then released after officers realised the weapons were plastic.

Meanwhile a celebration of children's clown entertainers at a Newcastle hospital was postponed due to the scary incidents happening across the UK.

A sledgehammer-wielding 'clown', left, and accomplices, also armed with hammers, right, robbed a sandwich factory in Bolton

CCTV images caught them arriving in a black Audi A3, pictured, before rushing into Express Cuisine

The raiders, left and right, proceeded to punch and kick a member of staff before making off with a safe

In Bolton, the clown and two accomplices, also carrying hammers, were caught on CCTV raiding Express Cuisine's production plant at Sunnyside Business Centre in Bolton, Greater Manchester, at around 7.10pm on Tuesday.

Owner Sohel Patel now worries there will be more attacks as Halloween approaches.

The gang punched and kicked an employee, then hauled out the safe and drove off with it in the boot of a car.

Mr Patel said: 'A black Audi A3 pulled up in our car park with four people inside: the driver and three others.

'The three passengers got out and came into our reception door at very fast speed.

'They were armed with a red and black sledgehammer and DIY-style hammers and had clown masks on and came through into our open plan office area.

'One member of staff, an admin assistant, was punched and kicked and they asked him where the safe is.

'He tried to avoid telling them where it is and they ended up finding the safe anyway.

'They were going through the drawers trying to find the key.'

They loaded up the car, pictured, with the safe after failing to find the key to open it

Express Cuisine owner Sohel Patel, pictured, said he fears similar incidents will keep happening in the build-up to Halloween

The raid took place at around 7.10pm on Tuesday night at the business, pictured, in Bolton

Mr Patel said the gang failed to locate the key and resorted to carrying the safe away.

One of the robbers ran outside and told the driver to reverse the Audi to the front door.

The group loaded the safe into the car boot and drove off but the boot lid sprang open after just a few metres.

The passengers got out of the vehicle and in trying to close the lid accidentally smashed the car's rear window.

Mr Patel said the Audi sped off with the boot half open and the whole incident was over within seven minutes.

He said: 'One of them we believe to be an Asian male because of what he said in Urdu: 'Come on, let's go'.

'The other two we believe are white males. They were all in hoodies and clown masks, jogging pants and trainers.

'The admin assistant suffered black eyes, bruised ribs and his legs are hurt quite badly.'

Other employees working in the fridge and distribution areas on the other side of the factory did not see or hear the heist.

Mr Patel said the violent raid was the first time the 17-year-old business - which manufacturers pre-packed sandwiches for clients such as supermarkets and universities and relocated to Bolton from Manchester in April - had fallen victim to the crime.

He said: 'We have drivers bringing cash in so we assume it was somebody already known to the business or who has been into office and knew cash does come in.

'All our staff are shaken up and we have to take precautions and change some of the processes we have just because of what's happened.

'I'm more worried about the fact Halloween is coming up and people need to be a bit more vigilant because clown masks may be used, and taken advantage of, during trick-or-treating.'

Instagram user clowns_uk posted this picture of Penketh High School in Warrington, promising to 'visit' if it was liked 1,000 times. It was liked almost 3,00 times

Meanwhile an Instagram user called clowns_uk issued a chilling warning to a school in Warrington.

In a post picturing Penketh High School, the user said if the image was 'liked' 1,000 times the clowns would 'visit' the school on October 14.

So far the post has been liked almost 3,000 times and bizarrely most people commenting have urged the user to come to visit their own schools.

In Manchester, footage showed the teenagers - one who was just 14 - walking in front of cars outside Manchester Fort Retail Park in Cheetham Hill on Tuesday night carrying what appeared to be large swords.

The video, filmed by a passenger in a nearby car, showed the sinister-looking figures casually strolling past shocked onlookers.

They were wearing clown masks and dark clothing, and had their hoods up.

According to police, officers were called to the retail park just before 8pm after witnesses reported seeing youths dressed as clowns and carrying swords.

Four teenage boys were arrested on suspicion of carrying offensive weapons but were released after it was discovered they were made of plastic.

A spokesman for GMP said: 'Police were called shortly before 8pm on Tuesday to Cheetham Hill near to Manchester Fort Retail Park to reports of youths wearing clown masks and carrying swords.

'Officers detained four teenage boys on suspicion of carrying offensive weapons and following further enquiries all four were released.

'It was established the boys were carrying plastic swords and there was no evidence on this occasion to suggest any threat to the public.'

There have also been reports of pranksters reducing children to tears as they walked to school in Bury.

GMP's Assistant Chief Constable Catherine Hankinson urging people to refrain from fuelling the 'killer clown' craze which originated in the USA.

Clowns wielding 'swords', ringed, which turned out to be plastic, were stopped by police in Manchester on Tuesday night

The 'clowns', pictured, were revealed to be four teenagers and police said there was 'no evidence' they presented a threat to the public

She said: 'The individuals who are getting involved in this may not realise just how frightening it is to be on the receiving end, especially for children.

'It shows a complete disregard for people's wellbeing and will not be tolerated in Greater Manchester.'

This week Gateshead Council forwarded information from police to all primary schools to reassure concerned parents while other school heads in the region have confirmed they would work closely with police in the case of any clown-related misbehaviour.

Meanwhile a Birmingham school was targeted by pranksters who hung two 'killer clown' costumes on the rails late at night.

The outfits were left on the railings of Holy Family Catholic Primary School and Nursery in Coventry Road, in Small Heath, on Monday.

They were spotted by a local as he returned home from work at 11.40pm.

He pulled over and, after getting advice from the police, took the costumes down and handed them into school next morning.

The man, who did not wish to give his name, said: 'I was driving down the road and I spotted them just hanging there. They looked like new costumes. They still had the labels on - they were from George at Asda.

'I've been reading about the clown stuff and it was clear that whoever had put it there was trying to scare the kids because it's a primary school.

'I have got young kids and I wouldn't want them to see this first thing in the morning.

'Children would have been scared, especially those who know about the clown craze.'

West Midlands Police confirmed they had received a call in relation to the matter.

CREEPY CLOWN SIGHTINGS TERRORISE THE UK These are some of the sightings of clowns in the UK in a week: Epidemic? Our map shows how many places across the country have had reported sightings of the clowns Bracknell: Leah Woodcock saw a clown peeping through a restaurant window as she ate with friends on Sunday night. Crawley, West Sussex: Residents report seeing people with clown masks 'lying in wait' on street corners as they prepare to chase adults and children down the streets. Manchester: On Sunday night, two separate incidents of two clowns jumping out at people as they stopped their cars outside a shopping centre were reported, with one woman claiming one jumped on her car bonnet. County Durham: A clown jumped out at four young children, aged 11 and 12, on their way to school. Manchester: Children were left 'petrified' by a person driving through the streets wearing a clown mask. Gloucester: Six reports were made of pranksters dressed as clowns wielding knives, following people or acting suspiciously. Greater Manchester: A clown was spotted ambling down a street wearing a hockey mask and covered in 'blood' in the middle of the day in Ashton-under-Lyne Plymouth: A man posted a video online showing him being confronted at night in the town by a clown armed with a hammer. There have been other report of people dressed as clowns, including one near a school bus. Newcastle: There have been several reports of a knife-wielding clown in a Teeside village where a mother and daughter were reportedly chased by one. Liverpool: A clowns social media account sharing images of schools in Liverpool on Friday, with scared youngsters also spotting them. Police presence increased outside several schools on Monday in response to apparent threats made by the clowns the week before. Dundee: Police were called to a park after eight youngsters in clown masks were spotted frightening motorists in the area. Sheffield: Workers in Sheffield spotted a clown on a mobility scooter. Leeds: Tom Jackson, 18, a first year student at Leeds Beckett University said he was 'very scared' when he saw a man dressed as a clown near an underpass in Leeds at 4.30am on Friday. Essex: Two young girls on their way to school were approached by a pair of male clowns in a black van who invited the girls to a birthday party. The girls fled in terror. Caernarfon, North Wales: A passenger in a passing car spotted a clown near a kids playground at night. Walsall: A driver posted footage of a clown trying to get into her car, also claiming he had followed her into a pub and stared at her for five minutes before leaving. Norfolk, Norwich: A 30-year-old man dressed up as a clown has been arrested after jumping out on a lone woman in a park and chasing her. The man was arrested in connection with Public Order offences after screaming at the female victim on Sunday. He was given a caution. Chorley, Lancashire: A clown lurked outside a home for 15 minutes before a grandmother shouted for it to 'p*** off'. Leicester: A woman claims she gave birth at eight months after a teenage clown jumped out and scared her, causing her to go into early labour. Mother and baby are said to be doing well. Watford, Hertfordshire: At 3.30pm on Sunday October 9 two children riding their bears up to Harebreaks were beeped at by a car which had a clown holding a butter knife in who shouted 'I'm a clown with a knife' Sandy, Bedfordshire: According to Clown Spotted UK on Facebook a picture was shared on Monday, October 10, of two clowns in nearby woods, one allegedly with a chainsaw. Carmarthen, Wales: The social media page also showed one in the town centre of Carmarthen. Advertisement

Another man was left with a head injury after being battered in the street - as a gang of teenagers in sinister clown masks reportedly watched on.

Police said the traumatised 37-year-old victim was involved in an altercation with a group of eight to 10 males aged between 14 and 18, in Birkenhead, Merseyside, on Sunday (October 9) when one of the youths assaulted him.

The group are all believed to have been dressed in dark clothing with their hoods up and faces covered - with some of the group wearing clown masks.

However, police said the youth involved in the attack, which took place on the Beechwood Estate at around 7.50pm, was not wearing a clown mask.

The man, who was rushed to hospital to be treated for head injuries and is now recovering at home, has been left traumatised by the ordeal.

Detective Inspector Paul lamb, from Wirral CID, said: 'This assault not only left the victim with a head injury but has left him extremely shaken.

'I'd appeal to anyone who may have witnessed the assault or the events leading up to it, and afterwards, to get in touch with us. Any information could prove vital in our investigation.

'Merseyside Police wants to make it perfectly clear that people engaging in intimidating or violent behaviour with their faces covered or wearing clown masks will not be treated as a joke or prank.

'We will not tolerate any kind of anti-social or violent behaviour directed at members of our communities.

'We would urge people to think very seriously about what impact this kind of behaviour might have as well as whether their behaviour could constitute a crime and could lead to their arrest and a potential criminal record.'

A yob wearing a clown mask has threatened a shopper with a plastic meat cleaver in a supermarket car park in the latest 'killer clown' incident.

The fancy-dressed assailant was spotted outside a Tesco superstore in Ferndown, Dorset, holding the fake weapon.

It is not known what the motive of the attack was or if indeed it was a prank but police have launched an investigation.

This latest incident comes as popular south coast children's theme park has revised its nine-day Halloween extravaganza after banning all clowns from the half-term event.

Last minute changes have been made by bosses at Adventure Wonderland due the furore surrounding the creepy craze.

Andy Brennan, creative director of entertainment at Adventure Wonderland, said: 'This year was going to be based around clowns and circus characters but we have decided to pull any clown based content.

'Parents can come to us with complete reassurance that we are a clown-free zone. We are zero tolerance on clowns.'

The craze has prompted an unusual response from some people - with a group of friends coming together to form the Cumbria Superheroes to battle back against the pranksters.

Garry Bedford, the 'Batman' of the group, appeared on This Morning today talking to Phillip Schofield and Holly Willougby about the seriousness of the situation.

He was speaking via videolink while also in the studio was professional clown Tommy Armstrong, who was distraught at the effect the craze was having on his profession and said he wanted to help children overcome their fears.

But Mr Bedford said: 'Theres a lot of frightened children out there, little boys and girls.

'You can sense the fear that theyve got of the clowns from the calls.

'Respect to Tommy and what he does but there are a lot of people in this clown craze who are playing on a lot of minds.'

His group have set up a hotline that anyone can ring if they spot any clowns and are looking for reassurance.

However his appearance only prompted laughter from Holly, who could not keep her composure.

Nice man: The interview began with Tommy Armstrong, who sat in the studio and spoke about how he is a friendly clown who likes to give gifts out to people (left) before Garry Bedford, right, aka 'Batman' spoke about his group's hotline for concerned people

Hilarious: Batman talked about a hotline he has created in which he reassures people who have become frightened by the latest pranking craze by Holly was a victim of her emotions

Perhaps the biggest victims of the craze are the professional clowns who are now being tarred with the same brush as the pranksters.

Children's entertainer Mark Scott said he has been left shocked after receiving death threats from teenage thugs phoning him up and accusing him of being a 'killer clown.'

Mr Scott, who performs as Cookie the Clown at children's birthday parties, school events and weddings, has been inundated with phone calls from withheld numbers since anxiety around the clown craze took hold and has reported the threats to the police.

Since Saturday he has received around 40 phone calls, including one chilling voicemail where an anonymous caller told him: 'You are a killer clown, I am going to track you down and kill you.'

The 54-year-old said: 'I have had a flood of abusive calls, the first one I received I didn't answer as my son was playing Pokemon on my phone, but I had a voicemail from a young person saying 'You are a killer clown, I am going to track you down and kill you.'

'I thought it was a one-off but then I got another call from a young person saying 'killer clown,' that sort of nonsense.

'A lot of calls are coming in with no caller ID, so if it is a real customer they will now have to call me on my mobile phone.'

Overnight from Sunday to Monday he received around 24 calls, and said he will no longer answer calls from withheld numbers.

'There was a bizarre twist because when the police called, it was from an unknown number,' he said.

'I've only had one voicemail actually saying something and three where no-one says anything. There was one where a young person called, it sounded like he was in school or something, and he was abusing me.

'There was a phone call where someone kept saying, 'who's that?' then they tried to call me again.'
Another inquiry is also probing allegations of war crimes in

An army sergeant claims he witnessed the execution of an unarmed prisoner of war who was shot in the head by another Australian soldier in Afghanistan.

Special forces commando Kevin Frost came forward with allegations on Thursday that he and others in his platoon were involved in the cover up of a war crime during one of his three tours of Afghanistan with the Australian Army, the ABC reported.

Sergeant Frost, from Sydney, said he doesn't remember everything about the event, but recalls the moment he turned around to find a man he had just captured laying dead on the floor with blood seeping from a bullet wound on his head.

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Special forces commando Kevin Frost (pictured) came forward with allegations on Thursday that he and others in his platoon were involved in the cover up of a war crime in Afghanistan

'I turned around and the guy was dead. He'd been shot through the forehead,' Sergeant Frost told the ABC.

'I can't remember if he cut the cuffs off first, or if he cut the cuffs of after he shot him... I didn't want to look,' he added.

Mr Frost said the incident on the battlefield, which he referred to as 'murder' and an 'execution', weighed heavily on his mind and caused him to withdraw from his family and friends.

'It's slowly and obviously surely eroded my own self esteem, my own self worth,' he told the ABC.

Mr Frost, who will soon leave the military, said memories of the event then caused him to spiral into drug addiction and he was later hospitalised with post-traumatic stress disorder.

Despite intensive counselling, Mr Frost said his guilty conscious did not subside and now wants to make sure the alleged shooting is not 'swept under the carpet'.

Despite intensive counselling, Mr Frost said his guilty conscious did not subside and now wants to make sure the alleged shooting is not 'swept under the carpet' (stock image)

'I realised no amount of counselling can help you atone for your actions like this - what I am doing here is the only way for this to be atoned for,' he said.

Mr Frost said he believed there were still 'many' other war crimes committed that Australian soldiers are covering up.

The officer claims to be ready to face the ramifications of his actions and has called for himself and his former comrades to be punished 'with the full weight of the law' for their alleged crimes, even if it means jail time.

He has urged others to come forward.

The Department of Defence has confirmed Sergeant Frost's allegations are being investigated, while an independent review has been launched into various claims that Australian soldiers committed war crimes while serving in Afghanistan.

New South Wales Supreme Court judge Paul Brereton (pictured) is reportedly assisting the Inspector General of the Australian Defence Force in the wide-ranging and secretive review

New South Wales Supreme Court judge Paul Brereton is reportedly assisting the Inspector General of the Australian Defence Force in the wide-ranging and secretive review.

The scope or how many incidents were being probed where Australian soldiers are alleged to have breached the Geneva Convention is not clear.
Ryan Stanislaw, 24, was arrested after he allegedly shot an AR-15 rifle through a bedroom window

A man has been arrested after he allegedly fired a gun into a house while on a 'zombie hunting' mission, narrowly missing a sleeping man inside.

Ryan Stanislaw, 24, was arrested on Saturday after he allegedly shot an AR-15 rifle through the window of a home on Memory Lane in North St. Paul, Minnesota.

Police said a bullet shattered the window of a bedroom at 5am, while Ken Quaale was sleeping inside.

The bullet ricocheted off the walls of the room, and narrowly missed Mr Quaale's head by one foot.

Quaale told Fox 9 said: 'All I heard was a big gun shot and then I heard the window come shattering over my head.'

He added: 'I think he was on drugs. He had to be on drugs to be doing something like that'.

When police arrived, they found Stainslaw, who reportedly smelled of alcohol, marching up and down outside with an AR-15 rifle slung around his neck. They say he was not on drugs.

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Ken Quaale tells Fox 9 how he was sleeping when the bullet came through the window and points to where it ricocheted around the room

The window where the bullet entered is seen above. Stanislaw is alleged to have fired an AR-15 through the property on Memory Lane

The AR-15 that Stanislaw is alleged to have carried out the shooting with is seen above

Stanislaw allegedly told police that he was aiming at 'a zombie'.

Im out here making sure my neighborhood is safe. I didnt see the cops, so I figured Id do something,' he said.

Stanislaw had 30 rounds of ammunition on him and bullets marked as 'zombie specific ammunition'.

The 'special, neon green, polymer-tipped Z-Max bullets' said they were 'specifically designed for zombie elimination'.

Police records show that Stanislaw was charged with a firearm violation, and possession of a firearm by an ineligible person.

He was ineligible to carry a gun because he had been convicted last month of making terror-related threats.

Stanislaws mother has claimed he had no history of mental illness.

The incident took place on Memory Lane in North St. Paul, Minnesota. Photo of the scene is pictured above
A sick blackmailer held a family to ransom over their missing dog - before sending a final chilling text that read 'too late, Charlie's dead' and a picture of their beloved pet allegedly hanged by the neck.

Andrius Snigir and partner Olivia Spionkowska from Dudley Port, West Midlands, were devastated when 16-month-old beagle Charlie disappeared during a walk on Saturday evening.

After putting up flyers they received a phone call from an anonymous man who claimed he'd seen a distressed-looking Charlie with three Asian boys talking about dog fighting.

Ms Spionkowska said it is impossible to imagine a dog more loved by any family than Charlie

The blackmailer bombarded Charlie's owners with cruel texts saying their dog would be killed

The sick caller later sent this picture appearing to show a hanged beagle but the family don't believe it's Charlie

The mystery caller then started bombarding the family with texts saying that he had Charlie and was willing to reunite them, but demanding a reward for his services.

Minutes later he threatened to 'put Charlie in his curry' before saying 'right Charlie's having it' and then sent a harrowing image of a beagle hanging by the neck.

Mr Snigir and Ms Spionkowska do not think the dead dog is Charlie as, despite similar fur patterns, he looks plumper. They hope the texter is merely preying on their misery.

Mr Snigir, 29, said: 'He's just one of those people who shouldn't be walking this earth - you don't do things like that.

'Looking at the picture we don't think it's him - the dog was a bit too chubby to be Charlie. Thankfully we thought this quite quickly but we would have been devastated if it was him.

'They think it's funny to make fun of someone's misery, it's just wrong.

'The house is so empty without him. Every time my partner and I talk about him we just get emotional because pets are part of your family. It's devastating.'

Charlie's owners have contacted the police and hope he will still be found safe and well

Olivia Spionkowska with daughter Sofija and Charlie, who she described as 'the perfect dog.'

Mr Snigir with Charlie. He said: 'The house is so empty without him. Every time my partner and I talk about him we just get emotional because pets are part of your family. It's devastating.'

Charlie was enjoying a run in Sheepwash Nature Reserve, Tipton, around at 5.30pm on Saturday when he started barking and chased after a cat.

Mr Snigir. who works as a team leader at a warehouse, said the barking suddenly stopped and the cat sauntered back onto the path - but there was no sign of Charlie.

After searching for two hours until it went dark he went home and made 150 posters to put up on Sunday.

On Monday he received a call from an anonymous man who initially claimed he'd seen Charlie with three boys. He later claimed he had got the dog from them and was willing to return him to the family.

Charlie's family put up posters trying to find him, but it led to a call from a sick blackmailer

Mr Snigar has contacted police over the ransom attempt relating to his dog, Charlie the beagle

Charlie the much-loved beagle went missing during a walk, then his family from Dudley Port were targeted by a blackmailer who tried to extort money before claiming the dog was hanged

The man bombarded the couple with a flurry of texts over 45 minutes toying with them and saying he was at a series of locations.

He eventually texted 'not want ya dog then? I'm taking him home with me then' and 11 minutes later messaged them saying 'too late Charlie's dead'.

Mr Snigir and Ms Spionkowska reported the incident to West Bromwich Police but claim officers told them nothing could be done at that stage.

Despite telling them that Charlie was dead, the callous texter sent a final burst of messages claiming they could have the dog back if they placed money in his bank account.

When he received no reply a final chilling message of 'right Charlie's having it' was sent.

After blocking the sender another number, who they believe is the same person, sent a picture of a hanged beagle the following day.

They went back to West Bromwich Police who have promised to take action.

Playful Charlie - shown here with Mr Snigir - is still missing and his family just want him back

Mr Snigir said: 'The whole thing is devastating. If anyone does know where he is there would be no questions asked, we just want him back home.

'We had Charlie two months before my 10-month-old daughter Sofija was born - she has grown up with him, he's just the perfect dog.'

Ms Spionkowska, 31, said: 'Charlie is not just a dog, he is a member of the family.

'We had him when I was pregnant and because we were always together he became like a son to me.

'Charlie is perfect in every way - I can't imagine that any family could love him more.'

A West Midlands Police spokesman said: 'A man came into West Bromwich front office at 2.55pm on October 12 to report that his dog had been stolen.
Russian citizens have reacted with fear over reports Moscow has ordered officials to fly home all relatives living abroad - with some residents claiming it is 'another step towards war'.

The Kremlin is said to have told high ranking officials to bring their loved ones back to the 'Motherland' immediately - with any who disobey being overlooked for promotion.

It comes against a backdrop of rapidly deteriorating relations with the West over Russia's role in the Syria conflict and just days after Putin moved nuclear-ready missiles closer to the border with Poland.

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Russian citizens have reacted with fear over reports Moscow has ordered officials to fly home all relatives living abroad - with some residents claiming it is 'another step towards war'. Russian president Vladimir Putin is pictured at a test missile launch

Vladimir Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov (pictured with his daughter Lisa) stopped short of denying claims the Kremlin had ordered high-ranking officials to fly their relatives back to Russia

Putin also cancelled a planned visit to France amid a furious row over Moscow's role in the Syrian conflict and just days after it emerged the Kremlin had moved nuclear-capable missiles near to the Polish border.

Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev warned just days ago that the world is at a 'dangerous point' due to rising tensions between Russia and the US.

Russian political analyst Stanislav Belkovsky warned yesterday: 'This is all part of the package of measures to prepare elites to some "big war".'

And today, Russians reacted with a mixture of fury and gallows humour over the Kremlin's new orders amid rising world tension and the possibility of global war.

Political analyst Valery Solovei said plans were afoot for 'serious limitations' on people wishing to leave Russia.

While he doubted a return to the Soviet system of 'exit visas' for its citizens, he said: 'Officials of all levels and their relatives will be recommended not to leave the country.

Putin (pictured) cancelled a planned visit to France amid a furious row over Moscow's role in the Syrian conflict and just days after it emerged the Kremlin had moved nuclear-capable missiles near to the Polish border

The Kremlin hsa reportedly moved nuclear-ready missiles closer to the border with Poland. A Russian truck-mounted Topol intercontinental ballistic missile is pictured during a military display

'As soon as officials are limited in their freedom of travel, they will make sure the rest of society gets the same treatment.

'As far as I know a tourist tax will be introduced for people wishing to go abroad.'

But there was deep concern from some Russians on social media that the alleged move signals war on the way.

Journalist Ostap Karmodi warned: 'First siloviki (security personnel) were prohibited from going abroad, then high-ranking officials were asked to sell foreign houses, close their companies and shut (overseas) bank accounts.

'Now they are ordered to bring children back. The only strange thing is that it didn't happen earlier. This is, of course, a preparation to war.

'Not in a sense that Putin is getting ready to a nuclear strike at America and Europe. They believe that the war against Russia started a long time ago.

'By moving everything they can back into Russia they try to minimise their vulnerability and clean up their own ranks to get rid of unstable elements.

'Children are the most vulnerable, they mustn't let the West to take hostages.'

RUSSIA TESTS BALLISTIC MISSILES AS TENSIONS BUILD Russia's military conducted a series of intercontinental ballistic missile tests on Wednesday, the latest flexing of its muscles as tensions with the US spike over Syria. Russian forces fired a nuclear-capable rocket from a Pacific Fleet submarine in the Sea of Okhotsk north of Japan, state-run RIA Novosti reported. A Topol missile was shot off from a submarine in the Barents Sea, and a third was launched from an inland site in the north-west of the vast country, Russian agencies reported. The latest display of might by Moscow - which has been conducting regular military drills since ties with the West slumped in 2014 over Ukraine - comes as tensions have shot up in recent days. Putin has reporedly moved nuclear-ready missiles closer to the border with Poland Russia has pulled the plug on a series of deals with the US - including a symbolic disarmament pact between the two nuclear powers to dispose of weapons-grade plutonium - as Washington has halted talks on Syria. The Kremlin has also moved an air defence missile system and missile cruisers to the war-ravaged country to bolster its forces there. That comes as the West has accused Moscow of committing potential war crimes in its bombing of rebel-held part of the city of Aleppo in support of an assault by regime forces. Washington has previously lashed out at Moscow for resorting to alleged "nuclear sabre-rattling" as East-West relations fell to the worst level since the Cold War following Russia's seizure of Crimea from Ukraine in March 2014. Advertisement

Blogger Ilya Viceman, a Putin critic, warned: 'This is not yet an order to "bring everyone back within 24 hours to Russia" but a firm request from the presidential administration which would be so hard to refuse.

'This is not war, of course, but another small step towards it.

'This is also an insurance against escape of the most knowledgeable state servants abroad - with their families in Russia, control will remain with the state.'

The Kremlin fell short of issuing an outright denial with Vladimir Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov stating only: 'It is the first time I have heard about that.'

Relations between Russia and the US are at their lowest since the Cold War and have soured in recent days after Washington pulled the plug on Syria talks and accused Russia of hacking attacks.

The Kremlin has also suspended a series of nuclear pacts, including a symbolic cooperation deal to cut stocks of weapons-grade plutonium.

Just days ago, it was reported that Russia had moved nuclear-capable missiles near to the Polish border as tensions escalated between the worlds largest nation and the West.

Political analyst Valery Solovei (pictured) said plans were afoot for 'serious limitations' on people wishing to leave Russia

The Iskander missiles sent to Kaliningrad, a Russian enclave on the Baltic Sea between Nato members Poland and Lithuania, are now within range of major Western cities including Berlin.

Polish officials  whose capital Warsaw is potentially threatened  have described the move as of the 'highest concern'.

Putin's decision to cancel his Paris visit came a day after French President Francois Hollande said Syrian forces had committed a 'war crime' in the battered city of Aleppo with the support of Russian air strikes.

Putin had been due in Paris on October 19 to inaugurate a spiritual centre at a new Russian Orthodox church near the Eiffel Tower, but Hollande had insisted his Russian counterpart also took part in talks with him about Syria.

The unprecedented cancellation of a visit so close to being finalised is a 'serious step... reminiscent of the Cold War', said Russian foreign policy analyst Fyodor Lukyanov.

'This is part of the broader escalation in the tensions between Russia and the West, and Russia and NATO,' he told AFP.

The Kremlin has also been angered over the banning of the Russian Paralympic team from the Rio Olympics amid claims of state-sponsored doping of its athletes.

Meanwhile, the top advisor to US presidential candidate Hillary Clinton has said the FBI is investigating Russia's possible role in hacking thousands of his personal emails.

But Russian officials have vigorously rejected accusations of meddling in the US presidential elections and dismissed allegations that Moscow was behind a series of recent hacks on US institutions.

Historian Eugene Ponasenkov, a member of an Independent Human Rights Council, said that the media has learned about the Kremlin 'recommending' officials bring back children and other relatives from the West

Just days ago, it was reported that Russia had moved nuclear-capable missiles near to the Polish border as tensions escalated between the worlds largest nation and the West (file picture)

Yesterday's reports stemming from news source znak.com claimed all state employees should take their children out of foreign schools and repatriate their families.

Sweeping travel restrictions already apply to security and law enforcement officials and in some cases family members and the supposed proposals were seen as an extension of these.

While there were reports including from Noviye Izvestia suggesting the znak.com report was a 'fake', other sources are suspicious that pressure is indeed being brought to bear as Russia's propaganda machine paints the West as enemy number one.

Gallows humour also set in among some citizens who took to Twitter in an attempt to make light of the situation.

One joke imagined a telegram from Putin mouthpiece Peskov's 18-year-old daughter Lisa - whose views are not always politically correct in Russia, and now lives in France - demanding to meet her off the next flight from Nice.

Blogger Danny Lerer added: 'I'd love to watch Peskov's daughter - who doesn't speak Russian and grew up in the States - being brought back to Russia. Guess they'd need to handcuff her first.'

Another popular comment was a British aristocrat asking his butler: 'Barrymore, what is this howl coming from the swamps?'

The reply: 'Children and other relatives of Russian officials, Sir. They don't want to go back.'

Mr Gorbachev's comments come as France has said they will ask the International Criminal Court's prosecutor to launch an investigation into war crimes it says have been committed by Syrian and Russian forces in eastern Aleppo, pictured

Blogger Irina Azarova write: 'Haha - imagine half-empty schools all around the UK after Russians pull their children back!'

Historian Eugene Ponasenkov, a member of an Independent Human Rights Council, said: 'The media has learned about the Kremlin "recommending" officials to bring back children and other relatives from the West.

'So soon we should expect to see plenty of billionaire orphans.

'Just like when our captured soldiers were said by officials to have resigned a long time ago.

'Imagine bureaucrats saying: "Yes this is my son or daughter (still living abroad) but they resigned from our family a while ago".'

Another commenter Ania Dorn said: 'I worked at Rublyovka (Moscow's most elite suburb) for many years and I can tell you this - there is no way they'll bring their children anywhere near here (Russia).

'They've got so much money that even if tomorrow they all leave their armchairs and will say **** off to this government up to its very top, they'll still have enough to live the most luxurious life for generations to come.'

Other senior officials echoed the line that they had not seen the order, without fully denying its existence.

'I didn't hear it, I am not aware of this command,' said first deputy chief of Putin's political party, United Russia, Viktor Pinsky.
Donald Trump's campaign is reportedly 'pulling out of Virginia' so he can focuses on four key battleground states: Pennsylvania, Florida, North Carolina and Ohio.

Three sources reportedly confirmed the decision to NBC late on Wednesday as the race for the White House enters the last month.

But Trump's former Virginia state chairman Corey Stewart said he was 'disgusted' by the decision, and branded it 'totally premature'.

Donald Trump's campaign is reportedly 'pulling out of Virginia' so he can focuses on four key battleground states: Pennsylvania, Florida, North Carolina and Ohio. He is seen during a campaign event in Lakeland, Florida, on Wednesday

Trump's former chairman for Virginia, who was sacked on Monday, was forced to make a plea for his state via social media

Corey Stewart urged Trump not to pull out of Virginia because it would be a 'betrayal'

On Wednesday night Stewart issued a plea to Trump via Facebook and Twitter urging him not to pull out of Virginia.

'A plea to the Trump campaign: Don't pull out of Virginia. Thousands of dedicated volunteers have spent millions of hours knocking on doors, making phone calls and raising money for Mr. Trump over the past 15 months. Virginia is winnable.

'An aggressive ad campaign - in combination with the efforts of these volunteers - will produce results. Pulling out now would be a betrayal to these volunteers,' he said.

Stewart was fired immediately after leading a group of Republicans to protest outside party headquarters near the Capitol on Monday afternoon.

The protest drew dozens of angry Trump supporters to the front step of the Republican National Committee headquarters.

Trump had hoped to stop the exodus of Republicans running away from his campaign with a solid performance in Sunday's presidential debate.

He did energize his core supporters by hurling insults at Clinton  he called her the 'devil' and promised to put her in jail if he's president  but he appeared to do little to win over new voters.

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump kisses a 'Women for Trump' sign during a campaign rally on Wednesday

Trump had hoped to stop the exodus of Republicans running away from his campaign with a solid performance in Sunday's presidential debate

He insisted his vulgar remarks on the videotape were mere 'locker room' talk and tried to turn the attention to Bill Clinton's extramarital affairs.

Meanwhile, Clinton's campaign believes Virginia is swiftly moving from a swing state to reliably Democratic territory in presidential elections. It's a striking assessment given that Virginia hadn't voted for a Democrat in more than 40 years before Obama's first of two victories.

Like Colorado, Clinton's comfort in Virginia comes from both a changing population makeup and Trump's struggles with suburban woman. The state continues to get less white, and its suburban areas, particularly in northern Virginia, keep adding more moderate and well-educated voters.

Still, Virginia has been a regular stop for Trump. He's visited six times since the summer Republican convention and is spending about the same amount of money on television ads there as he is in Colorado.

Clinton? She hasn't visited Virginia since July. Her campaign stopped spending money on television advertisements the following month.

If Trump really has stopped campaigning in Virginia and loses it, he'll need to find another way to make up a batch of electoral votes that successful Republicans have banked on.
She became the envy of women across the nation when Great British Bake Off star Selasi Gbormittah announced he had a girlfriend.

And now MailOnline can reveal the fan favourite's other half is a stunning property worker who has been giving him constant support behind-the-scenes.

Strawberry blonde Joelle Rainford, 28, has been dating the talented baker for more than two-and-a-half years and the couple live together in London.

She does not appear to have been fazed by his flirty relationship with his co-star Benjamina Ebuehi - who crashed out of the competition on Wednesday.

What a lovely evening.... #dressup #dining #drinks #withhim  A photo posted by Joelle (@r_joelle) on Oct 9, 2016 at 10:09am PDT

#ukactive #flameawards2014 #redcarpet A photo posted by Joelle (@r_joelle) on Nov 29, 2014 at 2:10pm PST

Joelle even posed for a friendly photograph with Benjamina two weeks ago - after social media was sent into a frenzy by the competitors' sizzling on-screen chemistry.

It was all smiles as the pair sipped champagne at a mid-week bake-off party.

'Loved having Benjamina join us! #thanksforcoming,' Joelle captioned the image.

To which Benjamina replied: 'Great evening!!'

She even shared a picture of Selasi and Benjamina after they both 'sailed through' week five, saying: '#teamselasi #soveryproud #greatcompany.'

Joelle, originally from Ferndown in Dorset, also appears to find the public outcry about Selasi's relationship status amusing.

Selasi Gbormittah (left) and Benjamina Ebuehi (right) had a flirty exchange on camera when he fed her his lemon curd

#bakeoffwednesdays #midweekparty #gbbo .... Loved having Benjamina join us! #thanksforcoming  A photo posted by Joelle (@r_joelle) on Sep 26, 2016 at 3:34pm PDT

The 28-year-old shared a link to an article saying 'Selasi Broke Everybody When Said That He's Got A Girlfriend On 'Bake Off' along with a peace sign emoji.

Selasi broke the news by telling judges that he was using a recipe from his 'girlfriend's mum' during the 'signature bake' Yorkshire pudding challenge.

The Ghanaian-born banker, 30, is the show's stand-out star, with fans branding him a 'heart-throb' from the first episode.

And Joelle is clearly enjoying all the perks that come with dating a GBBO contestant - including eating their delicious food.

She posted a picture of a grilled squid, prawn and sea bream saladmade by the 'boss himself' Selasi.

The couple have also jetted off for a number of exotic holidays during their lengthy relationship.

They were seen posing in front of the Statue of Liberty in New York as well as enjoying sunny beach days in Malta and Barbados.

Pictures on Selasi's social media accounts show him equally comfortable at drinks parties on boats and rooftops and at black-tie dinners with his banking friends.

But his journey to the Bake Off tent has not been an easy one.

Just 15 years ago, he was living in Zomayi, in the poverty-stricken Volta region of Ghana, with his parents Dan and Regina, brother Senanu, sister Edinam as well as their grandparents in a cramped house.

His parents worked all day to make ends meet (Regina was a nurse and Dan a finance officer at a national oil company) and his grandmother Suzanna took care of the children, cutting their hair and sewing their clothes to save money.

Selasi started helping in the kitchen as a toddler and credits his father for his love of cooking: 'My inspiration was Dad. He is a great cook.'

A photo posted by Joelle (@r_joelle) on Jun 20, 2014 at 4:09pm PDT

But, when he was just six, Selasi's life changed dramatically.

In 1992, in a bid to find work that would bring in more money, his mother, now 56, travelled 8,000 miles to London, for a nurse's training post at Charing Cross Hospital and later at Hammersmith and St Mary's hospitals.

She lived in rented accommodation and sent home any money she made. Selasi, meanwhile, was sent to a government-funded boarding school in Accra, Ghana's capital.

At the age of 14, Selasi moved to London with his elder brother and they lived in a three-bedroom local authority flat in a tower block in White City.

He went on to work on the global transactions desk at Deutsche Bank.

 A photo posted by Joelle (@r_joelle) on Jan 11, 2015 at 8:24am PST

His creative flair for cakes, smooth demeanour and laid-back approach made him an early favourite on the show.

And his on-screen chemistry with Benjamina served to increase his popularity as many fans were hoping for a GBBO romance.

After she was sent home on Wednesday, Selasi took to social media to confess he's miss his 'sister'.

'Aww sister from another country, I'd say mother but I already have a sister and wouldn't want anther mother etc haha,' he wrote.

Anyway, keep on baking missy. You are a good egg and if I do say so myself, you are a pretty awesomely talented baker.

Definitely learned a few tricks from you in that legendary tent. Amazing time spent and definitely see you soon!
A former contestant on the American version of The Apprentice has described Donald Trump's comments about women as 'flat-out disgusting'

Gene Folkes spoke to Good Morning Britain today - and claimed the presidential candidate would make negative remarks about contestants' appearance, race, and sex on the show.

Folkes told presenters Ben Shephard and Susanna Reid that Trump had a 'blatant disregard for professionalism' and demonstrated behaviour that was 'flat out disgusting'.

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Gene Folkes, a former contestant on the American version of The Apprentice, described Donald Trump's comments about women as 'flat-out disgusting'

Mr Folkes told presenters Ben Shephard and Susanna Reid that Trump had a 'blatant disregard for professionalism'

Donald Trump was behind the American version of the television series, The Apprentice

Mr Folkes took part in the reality television series in 2010 when it was fronted by Trump.

His appearance on ITV today comes after a recording of Trump making lewd comments about women in 2005 emerged on Friday.

Susannah Reid said: 'When the original tapes emerged the Apprentice producer tweeted: "I assure you, when it comes to the Trump tapes, there are far worse."

'You were there on the show, what did you see of Trump's behaviour?'

Mr Folkes replied: 'It's almost like he uses charm as a hook then he'd begin to denigrate contestants from the minute we walked into the boardroom.

'From comments had made about people's ethnic backgrounds to half the contestants being female, about their physical appearances, their abilities - I think he spoke to them in a very condescending way.

'I've been around fellow veterans in very difficult situations and I haven't heard quite those types of comments or people being treated that way as people being treated by Donald Trump.

'There was a blatant disregard for decency and professionalism.'

Mr Folkes, pictured left, back row, during his time on The Apprentice in 2010

Speaking live from Atlanta, Mr Folkes described his stint on the 2010 reality television series

Describing Donald Trump, Mr Folkes (pictured on The Apprentice), said: 'he'd begin to denigrate contestants from the minute we walked into the boardroom'

Gene Folkes took part in the reality television series in 2010 when it was fronted by Trump

He said: 'I haven't heard quite those types of comments or people being treated that way as people being treated by Donald Trump'

Reid asked him: '[Trump] described the language on the tapes that have been released as 'locker room banter' - the sort of language you're talking him using, would you say it's worse than that?'

He replied: 'It's flat out disgusting'.

When probed about Trump defending his comments as 'locker room banter', Folkes replied: 'Some of the men who had daughters were left blushing and they said, "man I wouldn't have my daughters around that guy"

'That's not any locker room banter that I've been a part of.'

Folkes claimed Trump had a ' blatant disregard for professionalism' and demonstrated behaviour that was 'flat out disgusting' on the show

Donald Trump addressing a rally at the Lakeland Linder Regional Airport in Lakeland, Florida yesterday

Mr Folkes added: 'I do not believe he has the ability to make America great again.

'He doesn't have the belief to unify our allies. He is not going to make a good president!
TUES/18 Red Bank Chamber Council MeetingNoon1 p.m.Red Bank Community Center: Tom Weathers Dr., behind Erlanger NorthSpeaker: Amy French, Director of East Tennessee Alzheimer's Association$10WED/19 Ooltewah/Collegedale Chamber Council Meeting9:1510:30 a.m.Collegedale City Hall: 4910 Swinyar Dr.Speaker: David Barto, Collegedale Tomorrow FoundationFreeWED/19 Hixson Chamber Council Meeting11:45 a.m.1 p.m.North River Civic Center: 1009 Executive Dr.$10WED/19 Ribbon Cutting for JHM Certified Public Accountants22:30 p.m.JHM Certified Public Accountants: 2215 Olan Mill Dr.THUR/20 Selling to China8:30 a.m.4:30 p.m.Tennessee Small Business Development Center: 100 Cherokee Blvd.Speakers: Matthew Quigley, Commercial Officer, U.S.Department of Commerce; Micheline Johnson, Of Counsel, Baker Donelson; Craig Baker, President, Global Testing Laboratories; Doreen Edelman, Shareholder and Co-Lead of Global Business Team, Baker Donelson; John Gurney, Senior Vice President, First Tennessee Bank; Harry Buscher, Vice President Export Operations, V. Alexander; John Swindeman, CEO, Nanomechanics, Inc.; Elizabeth Rowland, Executive Director, TN-China Network; Robert Leach, Director, East Tennessee Export Assistance Center, U.S. Department of Commerce$88 fee includes breakfast, lunch and snack. Register at form.jotform.com/62732985672165 THUR/20 Small Business Orientation11:30 a.m.1 p.m.Tennessee Small Business Development Center: 100 Cherokee Blvd.Speaker: Lynn Chesnutt, SBDC Small Business AdvisorDuring this free session, the counselor discusses basic business planning including financial projections and legal entity. You will receive an information packet containing phone numbers and addresses for information about business licenses and taxes and other start-up materials. Registration required at tsbdc.org.THUR/20 North Hamilton County Chamber Council Meeting11:45 a.m.1 p.m.Budweiser: 200 Shearer St.$10THUR/20 Business After Hours + Membership Blitz Celebration5-7:30 p.m.Chattanooga Zoo: 1101 McCallie Ave.Business After Hours bring an average of 100 business people together for networking and refreshments. Octobers Business After Hours is sponsored by Connections Promotional Products, MainStay Suites and Mr. Handyman of Chattanooga, and is hosted by the Chattanooga Zoo. This event is doubling as a celebration of the Fall 2016 Membership Blitz.THUR/20 E-Commerce 1015:307:30 p.m.BrightBridge Womens Business Center: 535 Chestnut St.Speaker: Emily Pilkington with BrightBridge Womens Business CenterTraining will cover the basics of selling online, focusing on selling through eBay, Etsy and Bonanza. Topics include shipping, receiving payment and the basics of listing items on each platform. This is a free workshop developed by an e-commerce seller, not an eBay/Etsy/Bonanza employee. Register at brightbridgewbc.org , or call 423-648-9251.FRI/21 International Business Chamber Council Meeting89:30 a.m.INCubator: 100 Cherokee Blvd."Chattanooga Manufacturing: Focus on Yanfeng"This is an opportunity to see pre-production at Yanfeng and learn about its Chattanooga operation.FRI/21 East Brainerd Chamber Council Coffee8:309:30 a.m.Chattanooga Courtyard Marriott I-75: 2210 Bams Dr.Join the East Brainerd Council for its monthly coffee on the third Friday of every month.FRI/21 YPAC Southern Soiree7 p.m. MidnightWaterhouse Pavilion: 850 Market St.$45Each year, YPAC hosts its signature event, a social gathering called Southern Soiree. Local food and music are cornerstones of this event, which serves as a fundraiser supporting YPACs annual programming initiatives. Proceeds from this year's event will also support YPACs community partner, STEP-UP Chattanooga, in its efforts to prepare Chattanooga high school students for success in college and the workforce. Register at ypchattanooga.org
A newlywed bride died on her honeymoon after having a heart attack believed to have been caused by eating contaminated fish.

Christine Fensome, 54, was on a dream trip to Mexico with her husband Andy Bennetts, 58, when she fell ill during the night on September 27.

The mother-of-three is understood to have died from a heart attack caused by the fatal foodborne ciguatera toxin, found in reef fish contaminated with toxic algae.

Christine Fensome was on a dream trip to Mexico where she had a heart attack after eating contaminated fish

The 54-year-old died just days after a 'fairytale' white wedding to Andy Bennetts

Christine, from Burghill in Herefordshire, was described as being a 'fit and active' regular gym-goer who doted on her five grandchildren.

Christine's brother James Bowyer, 49, told today how his sister died as a result of ciguatera poisoning caused by eating a grouper fish.

The foodborne illness is caused by eating fish contaminated with a toxin from a plankton that is found on coral, algae and seaweed.

He said: 'If anything can come from my sister's death it is raising awareness about eating fish abroad. Knowledge appears to be quite limited about ciguatera but it can be a hidden death sentence.

'Due to global warming this toxin is becoming more prevalent and is found on algae on coral reefs in certain parts of the world - including the Gulf of Mexico.

Christine's husband Andy was too upset to talk about his wife's sudden and tragic death

'This algae gets eaten by smaller fish and those fish get eaten by larger fish like groupers and barracudas. There are no known tests to detect it and there is no effective treatment for it. So there was nothing Christine could have really done.

'Restaurants over there tend to serve smaller fish as that means smaller the amount of potential toxins.

'Ciguatera poisonings are quite common but deaths are extremely rare. It can cause shooting pains in the chest and in my sister's case it has caused her to have a heart attack.

'Even the coroners officer had never heard of it and I don't think many people will have done over here.

'I want people to be aware of these dangers but most of all remember by sister as an amazing woman who overcame so much to find happiness again.

'She is a true inspiration to our whole family,'

The mother-of-three had just married Andy Bennetts, 58 - but died just ten days later

Christine's mother Sybil claimed her daughter died ten minutes after arriving at a Mexican hospital after she fell ill from eating the fish.

She added: 'Andy says she woke up in the night with terrible sickness and diarrhoea with funny sounds coming from her throat.

'She just got worse so an ambulance took her to hospital and within ten minutes of arriving the doctors came out and told Andy she had died.

'Andy told us it was a heart attack that might have been caused by the fish she ate the night before.'

Just two days before she died Christine posted photographs on Facebook showing the couple enjoying their honeymoon in Cancun.

Today Mr Bennett, who works in insurance, said: 'I'm sorry. I'm just not ready to talk about what happened.'

It is the second tragedy to hit the family after they lost their dad Craig in 2004, who was killed in a hit-and-run at the age of 41.

Ciguatera poisoning is a foodborne illness caused by eating fish contaminated with a toxin from a plankton that is found on coral, algae and seaweed - such as the grouper fish (pictured)

Ciguatera is the most common marine toxin disease associated with consumption of contaminated reef fish such as barracuda, grouper (pictured), and snapper

Christine's three children Brad, 33, Richard, 30 and Hayley, 29, say their mother struggled to get over the loss until meeting Andy seven years ago.

They say Andy taught her to 'love again' and the pair tied the knot on September 17 before jetting off to South America for their honeymoon.

CIGUATERA POISONING Ciguatera is the most common marine toxin disease associated with consumption of contaminated reef fish such as barracuda, grouper, and snapper. There are about 50,000 reported poisonings worldwide per year of the toxin, but it is said to rarely cause death. Some people can suffer for weeks to months with debilitating neurologic symptoms, including profound weakness, temperature sensation changes, pain, and numbness. It can also cause sickness, poor circulation and shooting pains through the chest. The main areas where the toxin is prevalent is the Caribbean Sea, Hawaii, and coastal Central America. The toxin is odourless and tasteless and cannot be removed by conventional cooking. In September this year experts predicted ciguatera could be a health risk in British waters 'within a few decades' as sea temperatures rise. Advertisement

Her daughter Hayley said: 'I used to cry to mum that my dad would not be able to walk me down the aisle and she would tell me that she would be there to walk me down the aisle.

'But now I haven't got anyone. People met her once and fell in love with her. She would do anything for any of us. She tried so hard to be both mum and dad.'

Hayley said when their father died Christine had struggled to come to terms with the shock and became a recluse.

She added: 'Our mum didn't come out of the house for five years. She couldn't get going. But she found her feet again slowly and found happiness at the end.'

Christine's son Richard added: 'The fact she went from happy to dark times and finally got happiness again and then this.

'It is too much to take in. It is a major shock. Mum stuck us all together. She was the glue and now she has gone. She didn't have the ending she deserved for what she gave to life but she is going to have the farewell she deserves.'

Christine's 79-year-old mother said the family was 'completely devastated': 'Her wedding day was beautiful. And then this happens less than two weeks later. It just doesn't seem fair at all.

'We are still all in shock and looking for answers ourselves. We want to know exactly what has happened.'
His concerned mother was livid when she found the shocking footage

A nine-year-old boy driving a four-wheel drive along a fatal stretch of beach on Fraser Island has been filmed by his father doing burn outs in the sand.

The boy's concerned mother was shocked when she found footage of the young boy driving along the beach as other motorists enjoying the popular four-wheel driving destination pass him by, A Current Affair reported.

His father recorded him sitting behind the wheel from inside the car and also doing spraying sand on the beach as he does 'doughnuts' while the nine-year-old appears to drive without a supervisor in the large off-road vehicle.

Scroll down for video

A nine-year-old boy driving a four-wheel drive along a fatal stretch of beach on Fraser Island has been filmed by his father doing burn outs in the sand

He was filmed from inside the car and also doing spraying sand on the beach as he does 'doughnuts' while the nine-year-old appears to drive without a supervisor (pictured)

The boy's mother was livid when she discovered his father had allowed him to drive, particularly on Fraser Island where a four-wheel drive accidents have claimed the lives of a number of tourists, including British backpacker Jade Fox, 22, in 2014.

'I was shocked and I was really worried for his welfare and other people in the area,' the woman who can not be identified for legal reasons told A Current Affair.

'You could actually kill someone driving when youre nine years old old and thats why children dont have licences,' she added.

Paul Turner, from the Royal Automobile Club of Queensland, said the young boy did not have the intellectual or physical capability to drive a four-wheel drive and observed that he appeared to almost lose control several times during the joy ride.

The nine-year-old boy's feet barley reach the pedals of the large off-road vehicle

The boy's mother (pictured) was livid when she discovered his father had allowed him to drive

Particularly on Fraser Island (pictured) where a four-wheel drive accidents have claimed the lives of a number of tourists

'This is a very dangerous activity teaching a kid how to do burnouts at nine on a public beach is not the best way for that child to learn how to drive,' he told A Current Affair.

The father can be heard encouraging his son to perform risky manoeuvres like get closer to the water, despite saying 'theres no way he can drive'.

The boy's mother said she contacted police about the incident after she confronted her son and he revealed when and where the footage was taken.

The father can be heard encouraging his son to perform risky manoeuvres like get closer to the water, despite saying 'theres no way he can drive'

But she said an officer told her they could not help as the incident took place on the beach, A Current Affair reported.

The woman said she intended to hand the footage over to police.
Boris Johnson took aim at the 'prophets of doom' about Brexit today - and insisted the UK could get a better deal than single market membership.

The Foreign Secretary lashed out at gloomy predictions about the consequences of leaving the EU, insisting European states had a clear interest in giving us a good deal.

But he hinted that a settlement could take longer than two years to finalise, and there was likely to be 'sturm und drang' - German for 'storms and stress - along the way.

Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said there would be 'sturm und drang' during the Brexit process but the UK could end up with a better trade deal than the single market

The comments came as the Cabinet minister gave evidence to the Foreign Affairs Select committee for the first time since joining the government.

Mr Johnson risked tensions with those demanding a tough crackdown on immigration - currently running at a net 300,000 a year - by insisting 'people of talent' would still be welcome after Brexit.

'We are taking back control of our borders as we said we would, and that's what we will do,' Mr Johnson said.

'It doesn't meant that we are going to be hostile to people of talent who want to live and work here. I think it is extremely important that we continue to send out a signal of openness and welcome to the many brilliant people who help to drive the London economy and the UK economy...

'Brexit is not any sort of mandate for this country to turn in on itself and haul up the drawbridge or to detach itself from the international community.

'I know as a former mayor of this city how vastly our capital and our whole economy has profited from London's role and the UK's role as a lodestar and a magnet for talent. I believe there is no inconsistency between the desire to take back control of our borders and the need to be open to skills from around the world.'

He refused to be drawn on whether the government wanted to stay in the EU single market, or what kind of trading terms we would be seeking - saying there would not be a 'running commentary' on the negotiations.

Mr Johnson insisted the term 'single market' was 'increasingly useless'.

He joked that people seemed to view it rather like London's 'Groucho Club', where you were either a member or not.

The MP argued that Britain would get a deal of 'equal value... or possibly greater value' from the other EU states. He stressed that the UK purchased more German cars than any other nation in the bloc.

'It will take time before the full benefits of Brexit appear because obviously we haven't even begun the process of leaving,' Mr Johnson told the cross-party committee.

'I do think that businesses investing in the UK can have the maximum possible certainty... that our friends and partners across the channel have a huge interest in doing the best possible deal.'

Mr Johnson said the 'prophets of doom' had so far been proved wrong by economic data, and he believed that situation would continue.

But he conceded that there may be 'sturm und drang' during the Brexit process.
China has told South Korea to stay 'cool-headed' after Chinese fishermen sank a South Korean coast guard boat.

During a press conference on October 11, a foreign ministry spokesman told Seoul to keep calm and rational when dealing with the incident.

The sinking occurred on October 7 when the South Korean coastguards were trying to stop 40 Chinese fishing boats from suspected illegal fishing on the Yellow Sea.

China has told Seoul to stay level headed after the sinking of a coastguard ship (File photo)

South Korean coast guards claim they were trying to investigate illegal fishing (File photo)

There were no fatalities recorded during the incident according to the South Korean coastguard.

It's alleged that two Chinese boats rammed the 4.5-tonne coastguard vessel forcing one of the coast guards to escape by jumping into the water.

South Korea's Foreign Ministry summoned the Chinese ambassador Qiu Guohong on October 11 to complain about the sinking.

During a press conference on October 11, China's Foreign Ministry spokesman said that they were working with South Korea through diplomatic channels.

He also said that Seoul should remain calm and rational when dealing with the incident.

China's state-run Global Times wrote an opinion piece saying: 'Both sides should exercise restraint at this time. If tensions spiral out of control, we are clear Seoul would not be frightened, but neither would China.'

It's alleged that two Chinese boats rammed the 4.5-tonne coastguard vessel (File photo)

South Korean officials have confirmed that warning shots were fired (File photo)

Media in South Korea reported that coast guard officers fired shots at the fishing boats and into the sky as they approached the vessel.

Officials confirmed that warning shots were fired into the sky and they are looking into claims that shots were fired at the Chinese boats.

There has been increasing tension between South Korean and Chinese coastguards in recent years with cases of illegal fishing on the rise.

On September 29, three Chinese fishermen died after a fire broke out on their ship after a South Korean coastguard ship threw 'flashbang' grenades onto the vessel.

In September, three Chinese fishermen died after 'flashbang' grenades were thrown (File photo)
Samsung will offer Galaxy Note 7 customers $25 to spend on an iPhone if they reject a replacement from the South Korean firm's own products.

The electronics giant has been in damage-control mode amid reports of its latest high-end device catching fire in countries including in China, the US and South Korea.

Samsung said today it was offering up to $100 in bill credit to consumers who exchange their Note 7s for any of its smartphone models in the US. American customers who exchange their Note 7s for a refund or other branded smartphone will receive $25 in bill credit.

Samsung will offer Galaxy Note 7 customers $25 to spend on an iPhone if they reject a replacement from the South Korean firm's own products

The electronics giant has been in damage-control mode amid reports of its latest high-end device catching fire in countries including in China, the US and South Korea

The consumer electronics company is also expanding a US recall of the fire-prone model to a total 1.9 million Note 7 phones, which includes the 1 million Galaxy Note 7s it recalled on September 15.

Samsung is boosting its marketing and promotional efforts around other Galaxy-series smartphones to cushion the blow from the demise of the premium Note 7, which it finally abandoned this week after failing to resolve overheating problems which caused some of the phones to ignite.

'We appreciate the patience of our consumers, carriers and retail partners for carrying the burden during these challenging times,' said Tim Baxter, president and chief operating officer, Samsung Electronics America.

'We are committed to doing everything we can to make this right.'

The US Consumer Product Safety Commission said on Thursday the Note 7's 'battery can overheat and catch fire, posing serious fire and burn hazard to consumers.'

It added that Samsung has received 96 reports of batteries in Note 7 phones overheating in the US, including 23 new reports since the September 15 recall announcement.

American customers who exchange their Note 7s for a refund or other branded smartphone will receive $25 in bill credit

In the US, Samsung began sending fireproof boxes and protective gloves to customers returning potentially explosive Note 7s, drawing humorous barbs from social media commentators.

The company has commenced offering similar financial incentives in its home market of South Korea, which it says would compensate consumers for their 'big inconvenience.'

After days of heavy losses, Samsung's shares ended 1.4% higher on Thursday while the broader market fell 0.9%.

On Wednesday, the firm slashed its quarterly profit estimate by $2.3billion to reflect the impact of the Note 7 withdrawal, giving some investors hope that the financial cost of the debacle had been largely accounted for.

'We are confident the 3Q 16 re-statement puts to bed the direct financial impact of the Note 7 recall and termination,' UBS said in a report.

The consumer electronics company is also expanding a US recall of the fire-prone model to a total 1.9 million Note 7 phones, which includes the 1 million Galaxy Note 7s it recalled on September 15

'In the near-term, we believe investors will re-focus on shareholders returns ahead of full 3Q results Oct 27th.'

Customers will have plenty of choice in the weeks ahead, with South Korean mobile carriers including SK Telecom planning to take pre-orders for Apple's iPhone 7 starting on Friday. LG Electronics also recently launched its V20 smartphone.

Many analysts say the real risk to Samsung lies in the reputational damage it suffers in a cut-throat industry rather than financial costs.

'Industry experience, such as the decline of Nokia and BlackBerry, shows how successful manufacturers can lose market share particularly quickly in the handset business,' Fitch ratings agency said in a report on Thursday.

Moody's also said in a report that day that the Note woes are 'credit negative' and 'threaten to have a more lasting negative effect on the Samsung brand and would require significant marketing expense to regain consumer confidence.'
BBC Royal Correspondent Nicholas Witchell has risked angering Prince Charles again - after asking an audience to vote on whether Camilla should be 'Queen'.

The veteran reporter was once described by the heir to the throne as an 'awful man' after he asked about his upcoming wedding to the Duchess of Cornwall.

But Witchell has now inflamed the row again after he carried out an impromptu audience poll at the Cheltenham Literature Festival.

BBC Royal Correspondent Nicholas Witchell has risked angering Prince Charles again - after asking an audience to vote on whether Camilla should be 'Queen'

Witchell was once described by Charles as an 'awful man' in a recording picked up by a boom mic on the ski slopes of Klosters in 2005 (pictured, during a photo call with William and Harry)

He asked the crowd if they felt 'comfortable' with Camilla being Queen - and around half of them said no.

Witchell first angered the Prince in 2005 when he asked William and Charles about their father's wedding, a question that had already been cleared by the palace.

But later on, the future King was overheard slating the reporter by a boom mic on the sloped of the Swiss Kloster resort, which wasn't discovered until a sound engineer listened to the footage later.

He told his sons: 'Bloody people. I can't bear that man. I mean, he's so awful, he really is.'

Witchell carried out his straw poll while interviewing royal biographer Andrew Norman Wilson at the event on Wednesday.

He was asking Mr Wilson about the Queen when an audience member asked if he thought Camilla would take the title when the Duke of Cornwall was crowned King.

The author said Camilla would - but Witchell continued to press him for his opinion on whether she 'should' take the title before turning to the audience.

He asked the packed audience for a show of hands on whether they felt 'comfortable' with the Duchess of Cornwall becoming Queen.

Nearly half of the 200-strong audience at the ten-day festival apparently said they would feel uneasy with Camilla taking the title.

One audience member said: 'One woman asked could Camilla become Queen. A N Wilson was quite adamant that if Prince Charles becomes King and his wife is alive then she would be Queen.

Witchell carried out his straw poll while interviewing royal biographer Andrew Norman Wilson at the event on Wednesday

'Witchell tried to push him, asking him for his opinion on whether she should be, but he said it wasn't for him to decide - so he did a straw poll.'

Royalist author A N Wilson, 65, was being interviewed by the BBC correspondent at the literary festival yesterday before they took questions from the audience.

When Oxford-educated Wilson said Camilla could be Queen, Witchell challenged him, pointing out that she was named the Duchess of Cambridge rather than the Princess of Wales - the title associated with Diana.

Wilson answered: 'That's out of deference, perfectly proper deference to somebody we think of as Princess of Wales. It's not because we don't think she is Princess of Wales.'

But apparently Witchell continued to press him for his opinion on whether she 'should' be called Queen, to which Wilson said it wasn't for him to decide.

So the reporter turned to the audience and apparently admitted 'I don't know if I'm allowed to do this' before asking how many felt 'comfortable' with Camilla as Queen.

Mr Wilson responded: 'It's interesting so many people feel discomfort and interesting to see if it is reverting to the story of 1936.'

He was referring to the 1936 constitutional crisis when King-Emperor Edward VIII proposed to marry Wallis Simpson, a divorced American socialite.

Witchell asked the audience after royal biographer A N Wilson (pictured) told someone in the crowd that Camilla could become Queen if Prince Charles becomes King then passes away

But he added that it was 'totally inappropriate' to compare Wallis Simpson to Camilla.

During the talk, Wilson, who has penned books on Elizabeth II, said Her Majesty has survived by being 'dull' and thrifty.

He reportedly said Prince Charles needed to stop complaining about being poor and consider giving the family fortune - which he called 'a curse' - back to the state.

He added: 'If the Royal Family could only take a leaf out of the Vatican's book and just say we, the great British people, are only too happy for them to live in the palaces beyond our grandest imagining, eat off gold plates if they want to, wear gold crowns in the bath if they want to, but it all belongs to us.'

He added preserving the Royals' wealth had even led to the Queen making 'terrible blunders', such giving the Duke of York and Sarah Ferguson a mansion.

'Everybody, even if they are fervent monarchists, feels slightly tainted by it,' he said.

When Oxford-educated Wilson said Camilla could be Queen, Witchell challenged him, pointing out that she was named the Duchess of Cambridge rather than the Princess of Wales

He said the country should pay for the upkeep of the Royal Family but make sure the Windsors know 'it isn't their loot'.

People took to Twitter to slam the validity of Witchell's poll.

Patricia Treble said: 'Polls are only as good as how they are constructed. I'm curious about the audience: how they were chosen, how the questions were asked.'

Cepe Smith answered: 'They turned up as an audience to listen to Nicholas Witchell.

'It's ticket holders for A N Wilson at the Cheltenham Literary Festival. So random.

'And as it was nearly half [who said they were not comfortable with Camilla as Queen] that means more than half have no problem.

'I am so blinking tired of BBC bias.'
A former Miss Teen USA has claimed she was warned Donald Trump 'doesn't like black people' when she competed in the beauty pageant he owned in 2010.

Kamie Crawford, from Maryland, wrote a string of tweets about her experience with Trump on Wednesday as five women came forward accusing the Republican candidate of sexual assault. Trump has denied the assault allegations.

The 23-year-old, who was crowned Miss Teen USA at the Atlantis Paradise Island in the Bahamas in July 2010, was 17 when she first met Trump.

'As the first WOC (women of color) to win the title in almost a decade - I was forewarned prior to meeting him that, "Mr Trump doesn't like black people. So don't take it the wrong way if he isn't extremely welcoming towards you. If he is, then you must be the type of black he likes",' Ms Crawford claimed.

Kamie Crawford, from Maryland, is pictured here in 2011 after being crowned Miss Teen USA

She said that at the time she had 'only experienced racism once' before.

'Needless to say, I was totally caught off guard and super nervous because this is supposed to be my boss I'm meeting - and he might not like me already,' she recalled.

Ms Crawford alleged that after she was warned about Trump she 'saw him in action and witness[ed] him completely snub a black contestant at Miss Universe rehearsals'.

'While she was practicing on stage. Literally turned his back to the stage and made a face like he was going to vomit at the sight of her,' she claimed.

Ms Crawford wrote about her alleged experience with Trump in a string of tweets on Wednesday

She said as the first woman of color to win the title in almost a decade she was warned 'Mr Trump doesn't like black people'

Ms Crawford claims she was told the Republican candidate only likes certain 'types' of black people

However, Ms Crawford said she was 'lucky' because it turned out she was 'the type of black he liked'.

'He toted me around his buddies who were all there gawking at the Miss Universe girls. Bragged about how "beautiful" and "well spoken" I was. "She's so smart, look how smart she is" he kept saying. Mind u, baby boy just met me.

'Of course I was over the moon - my boss likes me. I can survive the next 10 months of this. (I was maybe 2 months into my reign at the time).

Ms Crawford, now 23, spoke out about her alleged experience with Trump on Wednesday

Ms Crawford, who was was crowned Miss Teen USA at the Atlantis Paradise Island in the Bahamas in July 2010, was 17 when she first met Trump

The former beauty pageant star said when she was 17 she had only experienced racism once

'I was totally caught off guard and super nervous because this is supposed to be my boss,' she wrote

She said after she was warned about him she saw him 'snub a black contestant at Miss Universe rehearsals'

She claimed Trump 'literally turned his back to the stage and made a face like he was going to vomit'

Ms Crawford alleged she was 'toted' around by Trump because she was the 'type' of black he liked

Ms Crawford now owns her own fashion company and is back Clinton for president

'But in hindsight, there was nothing to be excited about. This man is running for president of a country with ALL "types" of black,' she said.

Ms Crawford clarified that Trump was not 'predatory' towards her and she did not witness him acting that way towards anyone in her competition.

Throwing her support behind Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton, Ms Crawford said: 'I have nothing to gain from talking about my experiences. But we as a nation have EVERYTHING to lose. Reasons why #Imwithher.'

MailOnline has contacted representatives for Trump for comment.
A second independence referendum could be held as soon as 2019 if Scotland's national interest is at stake, Nicola Sturgeon warned today.

Sources close to the First Minister today confirmed a draft bill on a new poll that will be published next week could be pushed through in time for a referendum before Britain officially leaves the EU in a bid to protect Scotland's EU membership.

Theresa May announced last week she will invoke Article 50 - the clause in the EU treaties setting out the rules for leaving - before the end of March, triggering a two year negotiation before Brexit occurs.

The SNP leader used her opening speech to her party's three day conference Glasgow to condemn a 'hard Brexit' lead by right-wing Tories eager to drag Britain out of the EU single market.

Polls suggest Scotland remains deeply split on independence after the 2014 referendum produced a 10-point victory for the unionist Better Together campaign.

SNP First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, pictured at the party conference in Glasgow today, told party members SNP MPs would vote against Brexit legislation next year

Ms Sturgeon toured the exhibition at the SNP conference in Glasgow this afternoon after revealing she would publish new legislation on independence next week

Eearlier at today's conference, Angus Robertson was elected as depute leader with a claim Scottish independence was 'very, very close'.

Mrs May and Ms Sturgeon met in July for initial talks on Brexit but relations between the pair have appeared to deteriorate as the Prime Minister sets out her plans.

Ms Sturgeon today warned Mrs May the 'ball is in your court' as she condemned the Tories for putting Scotland in the position where it faced leaving the EU.

Attacking Tory plans for a hard Brexit that target immigration control over free market access, Ms Sturgeon warned: 'No one would have the right to deny Scotland the chance of choosing a better future.'

And the First Minister warned: ' On the morning after the referendum, I said I would protect Scotland's ability to make that choice.

'In our Programme for Government, I committed to publishing a draft referendum bill.

'I am determined that Scotland will have the ability to reconsider the question of independence - and to do so before the UK leaves the EU - if that is necessary to protect our country's interests.'

Ms Sturgeon's intervention came despite campaigners warning Scotland's public spending deficit is higher than Greece's and tackling it would mean doubling the basic rate of income tax or VAT.

Research shows the Scottish deficit is now at 9.5 per cent of GDP  the highest rate of the European Union nations and double the rate of the UK as a whole.

Ms Sturgeon today warned Mrs May the 'ball is in your court' as she condemned the Tories for putting Scotland in the position where it faced leaving the EU

SWINNEY: WE COULD BACK SHARING THE POUND AT A SECOND INDY REF The SNP could go into a second independence referendum arguing again that Scotland should share the pound with the rest of the UK. When the policy was put forward in the run-up to the 2014 vote, it was rejected by then chancellor George Osborne and other leading Westminster politicians - and was seen as one reason why the Yes campaign failed. But Deputy First Minister John Swinney said he does not know if nationalists will necessarily have to make a different argument if another vote on leaving the UK takes place. He was speaking after First Minister Nicola Sturgeon told the SNP conference in Glasgow that an Independence Referendum Bill will be published for consultation next week. Speaking at a fringe event at the conference held by The Times newspaper, the former finance secretary said a better economic case will need to be made to persuade most Scots to leave the UK. He said he had been at the 'epicentre' of the economic argument for independence, but that it was not 'sufficiently compelling' to voters in 2014. He also said he does not regret making the case for an independent Scotland to share the pound with the rest of the UK. Mr Swinney said: 'I don't regret any decision. I took what I thought were the best decisions. I would love the currency issue to have been one which glided through nice and smoothly and didn't cause any disruption, but the other options we considered, the other possibilities, were not without their challenges. 'I don't regret anything about the arguments I put forward, I have to honestly accept they weren't sufficiently compelling because we didn't win the referendum, which is why we have to be open minded about how we pursue these arguments in the future.' Advertisement

Ms Sturgeon insisted quitting the single market would be 'disastrous' for the UK economy and she said there was neither a 'rational case' or 'authority' for it.

And she said the SNP would lobby to get 'substantial new powers' for the Scottish Parliament to protect Scotland's place in the single market.

Ms Sturgeon said she wanted the power to 'strike international trade deals' and 'greater powers over immigration'.

And she said: 'UK ministers might think it is acceptable to order businesses to create lists of foreign workers. We do not.'

The measures promoted by the Scottish Government will look to implement the 'softest possible' Brexit for Scotland with a view to creating a different settlement north of the border.

The proposals will focus on areas already devolved to Scotland that have European links, such as police and justice.

But sources close to the First Minister insisted the objective was not to impose 'red lines' on Mrs May's Article 50 negotiations.

In her opening address to launch the three-day SNP conference at the SECC in Glasgow, she told members the party would work to frustrate and limit the Government's Brexit plans.

She told delegates: 'I can confirm today that SNP MPs will vote against the Brexit Bill when it come before the House of Commons next year.

'That Bill will repeal the legislation that enacted our EU membership. Scotland didn't vote for that and so neither will our MPs.

'But we will also work to persuade others  Labour, Liberals and moderate Tories  to join us in a coalition against a hard Brexit: not just for Scotland, but for the whole UK.'

The legislation - dubbed a great reform bill by Mrs May's government - is due to be at the heart of the next Queen's Speech

Once complete, it will abolish EU law imposed in Brussels and replace it with identical laws on a British basis which can then be amended or repealed in the normal way.

Citing a commitment from the Conservative manifesto that the party will support the single market, Ms Sturgeon said: 'The Prime Minister may have a mandate to take England and Wales out of the EU but she has no mandate whatsoever to remove any part of the UK from the Single Market.

Ms Sturgeon addressed a packed hall at Glasgow's SECC and received a huge standing ovation, pictured, as she announced the new referendum bill

Ms Sturgeon's speech was her first to conference since the SNP were re-elected in May, despite losing a majority at the Holyrood parliament

'And if the majority in the House of Commons stand up for what they know to be right, she will not get away with doing it.'

In a speech which will infuriate many Leave supporters, including the 38 per cent of Scots who voted to exit the EU, Ms Sturgeon claimed 'many' Leave voters are angry about how Brexit is developing.

She told the SNP members: 'Make no mistake  the right wing of the Tory party is now in the ascendancy and it is seeking to hijack the referendum result. Brexit has become Tory Brexit.

'They are using it as licence for the xenophobia that has long lain under the surface  but which is now in full view.

Ms Sturgeon, pictured making her opening speech to the SNP conference, launched her attack on Brexit at the first day of the SNP conference in Glasgow today

Ms Sturgeon delighted delegates with a warning quitting the single market would be 'disastrous' for the UK economy and she said there was neither a 'rational case' or 'authority' for it

'They are holding it up as cover for a hard Brexit that they have no mandate for  but which they are determined to impose, regardless of the ruinous consequences.

SCOTLAND'S ECONOMY IS WORSE THAN GREECE'S, CAMPAIGN CLAIMS Scotland's public spending deficit is higher than Greece's and tackling it would mean doubling the basic rate of income tax or VAT, campaigners have warned. Research shows the Scottish deficit is now at 9.5 per cent of GDP  the highest rate of the European Union nations and double the rate of the UK as a whole. Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon wants Scotland to rejoin the EU following the Brexit vote, but a report claims that its economy would struggle to meet the stringent entry criteria. The Taxpayers' Alliance said that its deficit would have to be plugged to a more sustainable level by either massive cuts in public spending or hiking taxes, particularly if Scotland became independent. Scotland ran up a fiscal deficit of 14.8billion in 2015-16  and has run a deficit every year since devolution in 1999. To force it down to 3 per cent of GDP, as the EU demands under its stability and growth pact, Scotland would have to increase the basic rate of income tax from 20p to 39p or double VAT to 40 per cent. Or the Scottish government could instead embark on massive spending cuts of 3billion a year to meet the EU's deficit criteria. This would be the equivalent of all defence spending, public order and safety or transport  or slashing health spending by 82 per cent. Advertisement

'I suspect that many of those who voted to Leave now look at the actions and rhetoric of the Tories and think 'that's not what I voted for'.

'They may have voted to take back control - but I don't imagine many of them are happy to have handed that control to Boris Johnson, David Davis and Liam Fox. They certainly didn't vote to throw economic rationality out of the window.

'They didn't vote to lower their own living standards or to sacrifice jobs and investment. They didn't vote for our businesses to face tariffs or for holiday-makers to need visas.

'They didn't vote for the scapegoating of foreigners.'

The comments were last night dismissed by former Labour MP Tom Harris, who led the Scottish Vote Leave campaign.

He said: 'If anything, there has been a swing since the referendum towards acceptance that we are leaving.

'I don't think moderate MPs in the rest of the country need to look to Nicola Sturgeon for any kind of leadership at all.

'It is a very arrogant approach to say that Leave, having won the referendum, should be frustrated in Parliament, but that seems to be what Nicola and the rest of the Remain camp seem to want.'

In his victory speech after becoming depute leader, Mr Robertson said he would work 'to deliver the independence we all seek'.

He told the SNP faithful: 'We are very, very close to independence.

'Securing 45 per cent support in the independence referendum was a great achievement but we must reach out to the 55 per cent who voted no.

'The SNP depute leader has a big job to make this happen. I will work with Nicola Sturgeon to make this happen.'

Angus Robertson, left with the First Minister, was elected depute leader by a landslide after securing 52.5 per cent of the vote

Scottish Labour leader Kezia Dugdale said today's speech showed Ms Sturgeon was more interested in dividing the country than running it and Scotland Secretary David Mundell accused the First Minister of creating uncertainty

In her speech, Ms Sturgeon warned the case for independence would have to be made again.

She warned the SNP faithful: 'When Scotland does come to take this decision again - whenever that might be - we must not take for granted how anyone will vote.

'It will be a new debate - not a rerun of 2014. We must not assume that people's views - yes or no - are the same today as they were two years ago.

Scottish Leave campaigner and ex Labour MP Tom Harris dismissed Ms Sturgeon's claims as arrogance

'Instead we must engage the arguments with a fresh eye and an open mind. The case for independence will have to be made and won.'

Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson said her party would oppose any attempt to 'drag' Scotland into a second independence referendum.

She said: 'Nicola Sturgeon could today have set out a positive, constructive vision for how the country progresses together.

'Instead she has made it clear she wants to take Scotland back to yet more uncertainty, more division and more constitutional upheaval.

'This isn't the action of a First Minister of Scotland but an SNP fundamentalist who puts independence first, last and always.'

Scottish Secretary David Mundell said: 'Constant talk of another independence referendum is creating uncertainty and damaging the Scottish economy at a time when our growth is lagging behind the UK as a whole.

'The people of Scotland spoke loudly and clearly in the result of the legal, fair and decisive referendum of 2014 and that should be respected, as the UK and Scottish Governments both committed to do in the Edinburgh Agreement.

'As we prepare to leave the EU, the First Minister should commit her Government to working constructively with the UK Government to seize the opportunities that will bring, not taking Scotland back to the divisive constitutional debates of the past.'

SNP activists gathered in Glasgow today for the first day of three discussing SNP policies and priorities after May's elections and the EU referendum

Scottish Labour leader Kezia Dugdale said: 'This confirms that the SNP's priority is not education, or healthcare, or tackling poverty.

'Nicola Sturgeon's top priority is to divide our nation once again. But our country is already divided following the Tories' reckless Brexit gamble and we should not be seeking further divisions.

'Our economy is in trouble, and the last thing we need is the uncertainty of another independence referendum.

'It is little over two years since more than 2million Scots voted to reject independence. Nicola Sturgeon promised us that she would respect that result and said the referendum would put the issue to bed for a 'generation'.

'She should keep that promise. Scottish Labour will vote against any referendum Bill that she brings before parliament.

'In her speech to the SNP conference, Nicola Sturgeon had an opportunity to tell the country how she will face the challenges of the future. Instead, she resorted to an argument of the past.'

Angus Robertson wins the race to be SNP deputy to Nicola Sturgeon and claims: 'We are very, very close to independence'

SNP Westminster leader Angus Robertson has been elected as the party's new depute leader.

Mr Robertson secured 52.5% of the vote, defeating fellow MP Tommy Sheppard, who secured 25.5% of votes, MEP Alyn Smith, who took 18.6%, and Inverclyde councillor Chris McEleny, who was backed by 3.4%.

The results were announced at the start of the SNP's national conference in Glasgow.

Mr Robertson said he was 'absolutely bowled over' by his election, which comes after his predecessor Stewart Hosie stood down from the job amid allegations about his love life.

Angus Robertson, left, was congratulated by his rivals today after surging to victory in the depute leader race

He said: 'I think it makes perfect sense for the leadership team of the SNP to be made up by our leader in the Scottish Government and parliament, Nicola Sturgeon our First Minister, and the leader at Westminster.

'I think it makes perfect sense that our leadership team reflects Scotland, Nicola as a fantastic representative of this great city in central Scotland, myself as a parliamentarian living, working and representing in a part of rural Scotland.'

He added: 'We are the most effective political party in this country, our strength comes from our members, our branches, our local grass-roots campaigning and our partnership with councillors and parliamentarians.

'We have big challenges ahead and big opportunities.

'We are very, very close to independence and we must start campaigning right now to persuade people who did not vote Yes in 2014.

'I believe that the SNP depute leader has a big job to make this happen and I will work with Nicola Sturgeon to make this happen.'

Mr Robertson (right) said he was 'absolutely bowled over' by his election, which comes after his predecessor Stewart Hosie (left) quit amid allegations about his love life

Mr Robertson - widely seen as the favourite to replace him - has been the party's Westminster leader since 2010.

His UK-wide profile rose after the SNP won 56 of Scotland's 59 Westminster seats in the 2015 general election, giving him a weekly platform at Prime Minister's Questions.

Mr Robertson was born in London to Scottish and German parents, and grew up in Edinburgh before attending university in Aberdeen.

He worked as a journalist and then as a European and international affairs adviser to SNP MSPs at Holyrood before he was elected to Westminster in 2001 to represent Moray.

He served as the party's defence spokesman and in 2015 was appointed as a member of the Privy Council and the parliamentary Intelligence and Security Committee.
He was later convicted of larceny and placed on a good behaviour bond

Bailey approached the woman and stole her phone during the argument

His mistress called his wife after discovering he was married with two kids

Bailey, 32, made a profile with a false name on dating site 'Plenty of Fish'

A woman has left a 32-year-old man's life in disarray after she called his partner following the discovery he was living a double life with a wife and two kids.

Shannon Bailey from Tuggerah, on the Central Coast, NSW, met the woman in March, a month after creating a profile under the assumed name, Blake Vassallo, on the online dating site, Plenty of Fish.

The victim began to become suspicious after Bailey continued to lie about his whereabouts, reported The Daily Telegraph.

Shannon Bailey, 32, is accused of starting a relationship with a woman under false pretenses as he had a wife and two kids. The mistress called his wife upon finding out

The victim was suspicious of the accuseds behaviour and ever changing narrative about his whereabouts and their relationship and, with the help of a friend, set about investigating his bona fides, a court heard.

The victim was left angry after she unintentionally became Baileys mistress.

The victim, who was reeling and upset about being put into such a vicarious situation, decided to contact the accuseds wife and inform her of what had been occurring, believing it was the right and honourable thing to do, the police reports said.

On April 22, Bailey approached his victim aggressively claiming she had ruined his life before taking her mobile phone.

The accused got out of his car and approached the victim aggressively and demanded her mobile phone saying something along the lines of "youve ruined my life", the police facts read.

Refusing the return the phone, Bailey was later charged and convicted of larceny.

He was placed on a nine-month good behaviour bond.
Several child migrants posed for selfies today as they prepared to say 'au revoir' to France and board Eurostar trains bringing them to Britain.

A small group of under-age migrants left the Calais for Britain as the British and French governments continue to negotiate about should happen to up to 1,000 unaccompanied children who are living in the slum-like camp known as 'The Jungle', which is due to close down within weeks.

Six children gathered in Calais this morning before boarding a Eurostar train, accompanied by volunteers and French officials.

Scroll down for video

One Syrian and five Afghan boys - all of whom have family in Britain - wait at the customs checkpoint at Calais train station before boarding a train to London

Before boarding, they took a group selfie, while clutching plastic folders of documents.

Under pressure from France, the British government said on Monday it would begin admitting hundreds of children who have relatives in Britain and are legally entitled to come to the UK.

But questions remain about what will happen to those who do not have family in Britain.

These boys, in their teens, are on their way to join relatives in Britain. Sometimes it can be extremely difficult to ascertain the exact ages of child migrants

Earlier this year Lord Dubs, a Labour peer who came to Britain on the Kindertransport programme for Jewish children fleeing the Nazis in the 1930s, forced through a measure in Parliament which forced then prime minister David Cameron to agree to accept unaccompanied children, even if they did not have the formal right to settle in Britain.

Many, but not all, of the unaccompanied children in The Jungle are from Syria.

Aid groups filed an emergency request this week with a court in Lille seeking to delay the closure of the camp, arguing that the French authorities are not prepared to relocate its thousands of residents.

The young migrants preparing to board their train today, accompanied by a French official

Thierry Kuhn of aid group Emmaus said today a decision is expected within 48 hours.

The French government is expected to relocate as many as 9,000 migrants to more than 160 centres around France in the next couple of weeks and then shut down the camp.

Thousands of migrants, many of them fleeing violence in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan, have reached Calais in the hope of making it to Britain.

The five Afghans and one Syrian wave goodbye to friends before boarding the train

Migrants play football in The Jungle, which is due to be demolished within weeks

Earlier this week Britain's Home Secretary Amber Rudd told the French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve he must ensure the security of hundreds of youngsters before The Jungle was bulldozed.

Miss Rudd also emphasised Britain's moral duty to bring dozens of unaccompanied youngsters to the UK.

But she said before the government could bring lone children with family ties to Britain, French officials had to provide a list of names.
Here is the weekly road construction report for Hamilton County:

U.S. 27 (I-124) widening from I-24/U.S. 27 interchange to north of the Olgiati Bridge over the Tennessee River, including widening the Olgiati Bridge: Work on this project continues. The speed limit on U.S. 27 in the construction zone has been lowered to 45 MPH. The contractor may have temporary lane or shoulder closures on U.S. 27 between 7 p.m.-6 a.m. On the evening of Thursday, between 7 p.m.-6 a.m., the temporary ramp from U.S.

27 North to Main Street will be closed to allow the contractor to pave the temporary ramp. Traffic will remain on the existing ramp at this time. On the evening of Tuesday, between 7 p.m.-6 a.m., the temporary ramp from U.S. 27 North to Main Street will be closed to allow the contractor to stripe the temporary ramp and to shift traffic onto it. TDOT contract crews have closed the on ramp from eastbound MLK Boulevard to U.S. 27 North until December. A temporary left turn lane on eastbound MLK Boulevard has been constructed to allow traffic to access the alternate on-ramp to U.S. 27 North. As the project progresses, there may be short term temporary lane closures for the safety of the traveling public on city streets within the project area. Flaggers will assist with these closures and they will be properly signed in accordance with the Federal Highway Administrations Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices. During Phase 1 of the U.S. 27 project, the contractor will be working on the northbound side of U.S. 27 on the bridges. Work will consist of demolishing and reconstructing the outside sections of the bridges along U.S. 27 North. Also on U.S. 27 South, they will be constructing a large retaining wall between the Olgiati Bridge and 6th Street. At least one lane will remain open in each direction on U.S. 27. THP will assist with traffic control on the project as necessary. Estimated project completion date is July 2019. For more info, visit the project website http://www.tn.gov/tdot/topic/US27-reconstruction-chattanooga . [Dement Construction Co., LLC/JM/CNP230]

SR 317 (Apison Pike) the grading, drainage and paving on from Old Lee Highway (LM 5.58) to SR-321 (Ooltewah-Ringgold Road) (LM 7.84): Work on this project continues. During this report period the contractor may have intermittent lane closures throughout the project from 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Flaggers will assist with traffic control as needed. Estimated project completion date is May 2017. [Wright Brothers Const. Co. /Pruett/CNN279]

SR-320 (East Brainerd Road) grading, drainage, installation of signals, construction of seven retaining walls and paving from east of Graysville Road to east of Bel-Air Road: Work on this project continues. The contractor will be detouring traffic from Givens Road to Grays Drive through Thursday for the installation of a storm drain. During this report period, the contractor will have intermittent lane closures between 9 a.m.-2 p.m. This work may affect either direction of East Brainerd Road or side streets from Graysville Road to Hamlett Drive as the contractor installs road crossings and borings. The contractor may have short-term lane closures to perform various operations on an as-needed basis. Flaggers will assist with traffic control as needed. Estimated project completion is June 2017. [Mountain State Contractors, LLC /Pruett/CNN383]

Shepherd Road over SR-153 construction of a rolled steel girder bridge from West Shepherd Road to Shaw Avenue in Chattanooga, including grading, drainage and paving: Work on this project continues. During the project, there may be intermittent nighttime lane closures as necessary in both directions on SR-153 between 8 p.m.-6 a.m. During this report period, the contractor may have nighttime lane closures on SR 153 in both directions to install pavement markings and guardrail. At least one lane will remain open on SR 153 and the Shepherd Road ramps will remain open during this time. The contractor will continue work on the Airport Connector and Shepherd Road during this report period. During these times traffic will be maintained through the project, although there will be occasional lane shifts and flagging operations to assist with traffic movement through the work zone. Please anticipate short delays and use extra caution though the work zone. Estimated project completion is October. [Jones Brothers Contractors, Inc./Micka/CNP105]

SR-153 resurfacing from the SR-319 underpass (LM 8.89) to north of Grubb Road (LM 10.85): Work on this project continues. During this report period, the contractor will conduct milling and paving operations between 9 p.m.-6 a.m. At least one travel lane will remain open to traffic at all times. THP will assist with traffic control as needed. Motorists should use caution and be alert to construction equipment and vehicles within the work zone. Estimated project completion date is November. [Wright Brothers Construction Co., Inc./Micka/CNQ193]

The tunnel cleaning of the McCallie Tunnel on U.S. 11 (US 64, SR-2), the Stringers Ridge Tunnel on U.S. 127 (SR-8), and the Bachman Tubes on U.S. 41 (U.S. 76, SR-8): The nighttime cleaning operation of McCallie Tunnels, Stringers Ridge Tunnel, and Bachman Tubes occurs normally on Wednesday and Thursday nights during the week with the 3rd Tuesday of the month. Work hours are between 8 p.m.-6 a.m. Tunnels will be closed during cleaning, and detours will be marked accordingly as each tunnel is cleaned. Contract completion date is June 2017. [Diamond Specialized, Inc./Micka/CNQ174]

SR-60, resurfacing along various portions of SR-60. In Hamilton County from the Meigs County line (L.M. 0.00) to the Meigs County line. In Meigs County from the Bradley County line (L.M. 0.00) to the Hamilton County line (L.M. 1.02) and from the Hamilton County line (L.M. 0.00) to north of Horner Hollow Road (L.M. 2.10): Work on this project continues. During this report period, the contractor may have lane closures between 7 a.m.-7 p.m. At least one travel lane will remain open to traffic at all times. Flaggers will assist with traffic control as needed. Estimated project completion date is November. [Talley Construction/Pruett/CNQ192]






A business hopeful who helped her younger brother run a student drug dealing ring has avoided jail after claiming a prison stretch would 'blight' her future career.

Privately-educated Poppy Murray, 22, acted as a go-between for her younger brother Joel, 19, who dealt 'recreational' drugs to Manchester's party set.

They were arrested after police raided their family's semi-detached home in Middleton, Greater Manchester and found amphetamines stuffed in a freezer.

Joel Murray was jailed for seven years for supplying cocaine but his older sister - who claimed she did not see 'anything morally wrong' with supplying drugs to friends - got a suspended sentence.

Poppy Murray has avoided a prison sentence despite a court hearing she helped her brother organise drug deals. Her lawyers told court a jail term would wreck her career prospects

Manchester's Minshull Street Crown Court heard Poppy Murray is running a catering business as well as studying an events management degree at Manchester Metropolitan University.

Her lawyers told the court her arrest and prosecution had led her to suffer from eczema and anxiety.

Defence lawyer Richard English said: 'Using recreational drugs as students is not exceptional - in fact it is unexceptional. Miss Murray did not see anything morally wrong with what she did. However she now accepts plainly that it was wrong.

'The money was pooled and the drugs were shared. A prison sentence would be a punishment but it would do nothing but blight a very bright career. She is a very clever, ambitious and driven young lady.'

Her brother Joel was jailed for seven years for supplying and possessing drugs

Mr English added: 'To her credit she has continued her university course at Manchester Metropolitan University and is expected to receive a good degree in event management.

'She works at a city centre hotel and I am told that she is very good at what she does. She is a very clever, ambitious and driven young lady.

'She has also recently set up her own business with her friend. They cook 200 meals a week and delivers them.'

The court heard the drugs raid took place in 2014.

Prosecutor Tim Brennand said: 'Amphetamines were seized from a freezer in the outhouse and Joel Murray's attic bedroom was also searched.

'A black Nokia mobile phone was found and examined and text messages were found that were suggestive of the purchase and supply of illegal drugs. Poppy's iPhone 5 was also seized.

'Between the 22 and 26th of August, just the day before the search, text messages were sent regarding purchasing a large quantity of cocaine and offering it for sale.

'Another message was seen to be purchasing Benzopehtamine, which can be used in the preparation and the cutting of cocaine.'

The court heard Murray thought there was nothing wrong with dealing drugs to friends

As well as a cocaine charge, Joel also pleaded guilty to possessing 2030 MDMA tablets worth 6,090 and 606g of cannabis worth 8,480 after the drugs were found hidden in a bucket inside his wardrobe during a different police search.
The exploding smart phone batteries that forced Samsung to scrap its top-end Galaxy Note 7 were installed in a factory in rural Vietnam overlooking buffalo fields and rice paddies where workers earn salaries starting at 33 a week, MailOnline can reveal.

Batteries were processed and packaged in Samsung's specialist SDI battery-making plant in northern Vietnam where the South Korean giant phone maker has invested billions of pounds since 2009 to create a low-cost global production hub.

Nearly 50,000 workers from some of Vietnam's poorest towns and villages work up to 12 hours a day in the vast Samsung complex built amid farmland with one of Southeast Asia's cheapest labour markets.

And while Samsung insists it will not axe jobs in Vietnam this year because of the scandal, workers in the battery factory within the complex say the company has already started temporary lay-offs.

The exploding smart phone batteries that forced Samsung to scrap its top-end Galaxy Note 7 were put together in a factory in rural Vietnam overlooking buffalo fields and rice paddies

Workers say the batteries were processed and packaged in Samsung's specialist SDI battery-making plant in northern Vietnam. Picured: Local market next to sprawling complex

Investigators are examining procedures at the Samsung SDI plant in Bac Ninh (pictured)  40km north of Vietnam's capital Hanoi  to find the cause of the catastrophic blazes

Samsung recalled 2.5 million smartphones after some 25 cases of Note 7 smart phones bursting into flames. The Note 7 has now been scrapped altogether

The enormous plant is 40km north of Hanoi (above) and has tripled the province's GDP in four years

Investigators are examining procedures at the Samsung SDI plant in Bac Ninh  40km north of Vietnam's capital Hanoi  as they try to find the cause of the catastrophic smart phone blazes, factory insiders told Mail Online.

'We're all very worried for what the future holds,' said a 23-year-old woman production line worker who been at the SDI factory within the Bac Ninh complex for two years.

'Officials have been all over the place in the past few weeks and our Korean managers seem on edge.'

Galaxy Note 7 smart phones  which retailed in the UK for around 749  were made at Samsung's two Vietnam factory complexes in Bac Ninh and Thai Nguyen as well as in South Korea and China, while the batteries were packaged at Bac Ninh, workers said.

We're all very worried for what the future holds. Officials have been all over the place in the past few weeks and our Korean managers seem on edge. Production line worker at Samsung SDI

The cells for the batteries  designed to drive the Note 7's high-end features including an iris scanner and fast wifi charging  were made in one of Samsung SDI's battery manufacturers in Korea, China and Malaysia, but the company refused to divulge which one.

From there, the cells were then sent to Samsung SDI in Bac Ninh to be processed and packaged ready to fit into the devices.

The battery cells were fitted into a 'mould' or frame to make them compatible with the smart phones before being sealed up and placed in the phones.

The batteries were then put into the phones in another part of the sprawling Bac Ninh complex.

Samsung says it will not axe jobs in Vietnam because of the scandal, but workers say temporary lay-offs have already started. Pictured: Third floor of complex appears shut down

Nearly 50,000 workers from some of Vietnam's poorest areas work up to 12 hours a day in the vast Samsung complex built amid farmland. Pictured: Employees leaving at the end of the day

A spokesman for Samsung denied that workers at Samsung SDI had been laid off : 'We maintain the same number of employees as before the Note 7 issue'. Pictured: Workers leaving at the end of the day

Samsung recalled 2.5 million smartphones after at least 25 cases emerged of the Note 7 smart phones bursting into flames. The model was scrapped altogether after replacement phones began catching fire too.

Five replacement phones have reportedly caught fire in the US. In one incident passengers were evacuated from a Southwest Airlines flight in Kentucky when a replacement Note 7 started smouldering and making popping noises.

Another Note 7 phone was believed to have caught fire on a flight from Singapore to Chennai in India, prompting the government to summon Samsung officials to a meeting.

Samsung SDI is a division of Samsung specialising in batteries but operates as a separate listed company.

The Vietnamese factory, which also makes batteries for other models and brands, was still operating this week.

But windows on the third floor where workers said the Note 7 batteries were handled were shuttered and unlit as work continued into the evening on other floors.

'We don't know what's happening but some of my colleagues have been sent home on 70 per cent pay and told to wait until more work comes in,' one worker told MailOnline.

Factory workers said they were warned by management not to speak about the issues inside the Samsung plant. Pictured: Shops and restaurants opposite the Bac Ninh complex

But windows on the third floor where workers said the Note 7 batteries were handled were shuttered and unlit in the evening. Pictured: Gates at the vast complex

In Bac Ninh alone, more than 2,000 new hotels and restaurants opened between 2011 and 2015 because of Samsung's arrival. Pictured: A local market next to the complex

Production line jobs at the Bac Ninh factory pay a minimum of 4 million Vietnam dong (VND) a month (147)  above the regional minimum wage of 3.5 million Vietnam dong. Pictured: Coach park at factory

Samsung has invested 12.3 billion in Vietnam since it began operations there seven years ago and directly employs around 130,000 people across the country with another estimated 270,000 jobs relying on Samsung. Pictured: One of the many entrances to the factory

Factory workers said they had been expressly warned by management not to speak to anyone about the issues inside the Samsung plant and all spoke on condition of anonymity.

The initial explosions in Galaxy Note 7 phones are said by Samsung to be caused by a flaw in the battery cell  a high-powered battery designed to drive the phone's sophisticated features including an iris scanner and fast-charge technology.

Production line jobs at the Bac Ninh factory pay a minimum of 4 million Vietnam dong (VND) a month (147)  above the regional minimum wage of 3.5 million Vietnam dong.

With overtime, however, most workers say they collect monthly pay packets of around 8 million VND (295) with higher skilled workers earning up to 12 million VND (442.50).

'It's hard work and the hours are long but it's very good money for this part of the country,' said a 20-year-old male worker who moved 100 miles from Vietnam's border with China to live and work at the factory.

Samsung's share price was hit particularly badly when the company announced the complete recall of the Galaxy Note 7

Shortly after recalling the Note 7, Samsung sent out special fire resistant boxes for customers to return their handsets. The kits (above) contain a series of boxes, protective bags and gloves

The initial explosions in the Note 7 are said by Samsung to be caused by a flaw in the battery cell. Pictured: Customers have shared photographs claiming to show their burned handsets

Customers with Note 7 devices should turn off the power and seek a refund or exchange them. Pictured: A car on fire in the US which allegedly started after a Note 7 was left on charge

Samsung has invested 12.3 billion in Vietnam since it began operations there seven years ago and directly employs around 130,000 people across the country with another estimated 270,000 jobs relying on Samsung.

In Bac Ninh alone, more than 2,000 new hotels and restaurants opened between 2011 and 2015 because of Samsung's arrival and the province's GDP soared to three times the national average.

I've heard their scientists have already finished the Galaxy 8. We'll start making it in a few months and there'll be more work than ever and all this fuss will be forgotten. Factory worker

The Bac Ninh complex made 100 million products last year which generated 10.4 billion in overseas sales, accounting for more than 11 per cent of Vietnam's total export turnover.

The Korean electronics giant is now Vietnam's biggest single exporter, exporting 27 billion of electronics in 2015 alone.

The exploding smartphone scandal has raised severe questions about the prospects not only for Samsung but for Vietnam's national economy.

Social media users joked about the danger of the beleaguered Galaxy Note 7

Social media users have been posting jokes about the Note 7 since the scandal broke. One person quipped that Note 7 users could end up like Two-Face from the Dark Knight

But on Wednesday evening as they ate noodles and drank beer in the migrant workers' shanty town that has sprung up alongside buffalo fields outside the vast Bac Ninh complex, employees were confident Samsung would bounce back.

'There was nothing here before Samsung came along,' one 27-year-old worker from a local farming family said. 'They're brilliant business people and they'll soon get over this setback.

'I've heard their scientists have already finished the Galaxy 8. We'll start making it in a few months and when that happens, there'll be more work than ever and all this fuss will be forgotten.'

A Galaxy Note 7 burning at a Burger King in South Korea was apparently caught on video by someone eating at the fast food restaurant

Employees are confident Samsung will survive: 'I've heard their scientists have already finished the Galaxy 8. We'll start making it in a few months and... all this fuss will be forgotten'. Pictured: A Note 7 customer posted an image claiming to show their burnt out phone

A spokesman for Samsung denied that workers at Samsung SDI had been laid off as a result of the problems with the Note 7.

'We maintain the same number of employees as before the Note 7 issue,' he said in an emailed response.

Asked what the nature of the investigation at the Samsung SDI factory in Bac Ninh was and what it had established so far, he responded: 'No comment.'
Boris Johnson has raised the prospect of deepening British military involvement in Syria amid growing condemnation of Russian atrocities.

The Foreign Secretary said the UK and its allies would looking to beef up sanctions against Moscow and Bashar Assad's regime at a meeting this weekend.

But he also revealed they would be considering more 'kinetic and military' options.

The rebel-held Syrian city of Aleppo has been under intense bombardment by Bashar Assad's Russian-backed forces

Boris Johnson said today that stepping up military action was being considered, although he stressed such an escalation would not definitely happen

The tougher line comes after Mr Johnson triggered a diplomatic spat by urging protests outside the Russian embassy over intense bombing of residential areas in rebel-held Aleppo.

Jeremy Corbyn's tope aide waded into the row yesterday by complaining that the focus on horrors in Aleppo was 'diverting attention' from the consequences of Western military action.

Seumas Milne also suggested people should be protesting outside the US embassy in London rather than Moscow's embassy.

The remarks were roundly condemned by Labour moderates, who branded Mr Milne a 'Putin apologist'.

There was fresh embarrassment for Mr Corbyn today as state-backed Pravda seized on the comments to justify Russia's position - while the US state department condemned them.

Giving evidence to the Foreign Affairs Select Committee this morning, Mr Johnson said: 'Our options now are on the humanitarian front, to intensify sanctions on some of the key players in the Assad regime and on Russians as well.

Jeremy Corbyn's spokesman complained that the focus on horrors in Aleppo was 'diverting attention' from the consequences of Western military action

'It is right that we should be looking again at the more kinetic options and military options.

'I think we're still a pretty long day's march from getting there, but that doesn't mean discussions aren't going on - because they are.'

Mr Johnson said he hesitated to raise hopes about what the West could do, after the Commons voted against intervention in 2013.

But he said since then many people had changed their view and concluded that the West 'can't let this go on'.

At a briefing for journalists yesterday, Mr Milne was asked whether there was a moral equivalence between US-led action and Russian action in Syria.

A child waits for treatment at a makeshift hospital after an airstrike on a residential neighbourhood this week

'The focus on Russian atrocities or Syrian army atrocities, which is absolutely correct, sometimes diverts attention from other atrocities that are taking place,' he said.

'Independent assessments are that there have been very large scale civilian casualties as a result of US-led coalition bombing.

Seumas Milne is Jeremy Corbyn's closest aide and spokesman

'There are several cases of large numbers of civilian deaths in single attacks and there hasn't been so much attention on those atrocities.

'Both the US and British authorities have been reluctant to accept any independent assessment of those.'

Asked if the UK was as culpable as Russia, Mr Milne said: 'We are not in the business of allocating blame on the whole thing. Russia's intervention in the civil war has been opposed by Jeremy from the start and the intervention of foreign powers in the conflict has no doubt escalated and fuelled it throughout.'

Pressed on whether that meant people should protest outside the US embassy instead of Russia's, the spokesman replied: 'People are free to protest outside the intervening powers' embassies and there are a number of them  not just the United States and Russia, but multiple foreign interventions.'

Milne's comments come as bombs continue to fall on Aleppo.

A young Syrian boy was rescued from the rubble by a member of the White Helmets following heavy air strikes the rebel-held Fardous neighbourhood yesterday

An injured Syrian boy cries as bombs continue to fall in the city of Aleppo
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Clinging on for dear life as they are pulled from the water, these are the latest migrants to scramble to safety after being rescued off the coast of Libya.

The rubber boat they were sailing in while heading towards Europe capsized in the Mediterranean, forcing rescuers to bring them to safety.

Both men and women, some wearing life jackets could be seen desperate holding on to rescue vessels and makeshift inflatables pleading to be saved from the water.

Migrants and refugees wait to be rescued after their rubber boat overturned off the coast of Libya while on the way to Europe

Desperate men and women wearing lifejackets stretched out their hands to pleaded to be pulled from the water by rescuers

Many of the migrants were clinging on to the rescue boats for dear life as the waited to be pulled from the cold water

One man was coughing and spluttering after taking in too much water before being pulled to the safety of a rescue boat

Others could be seen coughing and spluttering as they were dragged to safety, some eight nautical miles off the coast of Libya after almost drowning.

Meanwhile a group of men were pictured straddling the side of a rubber boat just to stay afloat.

The dramatic night-time rescue comes as a growing number of people are attempting the treacherous sea journey from Libya or Egypt, after the closure of the Balkan migrant trail route leading from Greece to western Europe.

This has prompted Germany's interior minister Thomas de Maziere to table a proposal where he said migrants rescued at sea should be taken to centres in north Africa where their claims for asylum in European Union countries can be studied.

A rescuer grabs the hand of a migrant who is stuck in the water before he attempts to pull him to the safety of the boar

A group of men wearing life jackets try to climb on to the inflatable side of the rubber dinghy as they wait for rescuers

A growing number of people are attempting the treacherous sea journey from Libya or Egypt, after the closure of the Balkan migrant trail route leading from Greece to western Europe

Now the German interior minister has suggested that migrants rescued at sea should be taken to centres in north Africa where their claims for asylum in European Union countries can be studied

Mr De Maiziere made the suggestion as he arrived for a Luxembourg meeting of EU interior ministers who are trying to slow the migrant flow from Libya to Italy.

He told reporters: 'People who are rescued in the Mediterranean should be brought back to safe accommodation facilities in northern Africa.

'Their need for protection would be verified and we would put into place a resettlement to Europe with generous quotas, fairly divided between the European countries.

'The others have to go back to their home countries.'

Migrants straddling the side of the inflatable rubber dinghy wave and hold out their arms while flares are set off in the background

Two men wearing life vests and floating on top of an inflatable device wait in the water after their dinghy sank off the coast of Libya

Libya's new national unity government last week rejected calls from some EU countries to build refugee camps on its shores

A woman is pulled by her two arms and lifted to safety after being rescued from the Mediterranean while trying to sail to Europe

EU countries, confronting populist opposition to refugees, have long feuded over quotas for relocating asylum seekers

EU countries, confronting populist opposition to refugees, have long feuded over quotas for relocating asylum seekers from Greece and Italy as well as for resettling people from refugee camps.

Mr De Maiziere did not mention a specific country in north Africa but EU officials have been discussing efforts to curb the migrant flow with Libya, the main transit point for African migrants heading to Europe.
Eamonn Holmes was cut off mid-sentence in an awkward sign-off during his final Sky News Sunrise show.

The Northern Irish presenter, 56, was being hugged by co-stars Nazaneen Ghaffar, Isabel Webster and Jacquie Beltrao in the final moments but the broadcast ended suddenly as he said 'why would I go...'.

Prior to his abrupt farewell, Holmes had thanked viewers for 'putting up' with him for more than a decade in his goodbye speech.

The presenter, 56, was being mobbed by Nazaneen Ghaffar, Isabel Webster and Jacquie Beltrao in the final moments but the broadcast ended suddenly as he said 'why would I go...'

Eamonn Holmes, pictured during his first Sunrise broadcast in October 2005, with Lorna Dunkley, has bowed out after 11 years

He said: 'Thank you very much indeed for putting up with me in all that time. In 11 years, I have had to report on some awful news, but I've also had to report on some really fantastic news as well, some really uplifting news and we should have more of that.

'But, the main thing is, it's not important who presents the news, the news is the important thing.'

He urged viewers to 'keep on watching it, keep on doing it' and that 'Sunrise and the news continues' following his departure.

His colleagues paid tribute to 'the king of breakfast TV' this morning, playing a video montage of his highlights on the show.

The day before his final show, Holmes had asked fans to tune in to 'join me for the last day'.

Last month, Holmes, who also hosts ITV's This Morning with his wife Ruth Langsford every Friday morning, confirmed his departure from the daily breakfast programme via a post on his Facebook page.

This was despite him signing a new multimillionaire pound five-year contract in 2013.

Holmes has presented Sunrise since 2005, following his departure from ITV's GMTV, which he co-hosted for 12 years.

He will continue with his work for Channel 5, where he presents game show Its Not Me, Its You and documentary series How The Other Half Lives.

Last month, Holmes, who also hosts ITV's This Morning with his wife Ruth Langsford every Friday morning, confirmed his departure from the daily breakfast programme

Announcing his departure in September, Holmes said: 'I cannot stress how hard it is saying goodbye to such a programme and the friends and colleagues who I have met over the years because of it - but nothing stays the same - nor should it.

'New studios mean a wonderful chance for new ideas and a new approach with new presenters. I hope they enjoy and respect the privilege of hosting Sunrise and waking up Britain and the world as much as I have.

'To those who have worked or woken up with me on Sky News over the years - thank you. I hope you appreciated that I tried to do it differently.'

He had to apologise earlier this year after being accused of comparing an attack on the Manchester United (whom he supports) team bus by West Ham supporters to the Hillsborough disaster which led to deaths of 96 Liverpool fans.

Holmes will be replaced as anchor by Sarah-Jane Mee, who will be joined by new co-host Jonathan Samuels, currently the senior correspondent for Sky News.
Holidaymakers are facing fresh misery in the wake of the Brexit vote as they are being charged one pound for one euro.

Last week, a flash crash in the value of the pound pushed the exchange rate to lows not seen since the financial crisis.

A receipt from a bureaux de change at London's City Airport today demonstrates how the exchange rate has dropped dramatically following the EU referendum.

This comes amid airport staff claiming travellers are becoming increasingly 'abusive' because of the poor exchange rates.

A receipt from a bureaux de change at London's City Airport today demonstrates how the value of the pound has fallen following the EU referendum

While the actual rate is around 1.1 Euro to the pound, airport bureaux de change charge more - angering some holidaymakers trying to get hold of some currency at the last minute.

In Stansted Airport, one bureau de change worker said: 'You wouldn't believe how many complaints we've had since Brexit.

'People keep hurling abuse at us, they're angry and swearing  but there's nothing we can do because the rates keep falling.'

And this picture is being repeated at airports up and down the country.

Last week, a flash crash in the value of the pound pushed the exchange rate to lows not seen since the global financial crisis.

While the actual rate is around 1.1 Euro to the pound, airport bureaux de change charge more - angering holidaymakers

On Tuesday, official exchange rates settled at 1.10 to the pound and $1.21 to the pound.

But bureaux de change at airports have taken the chance to slash rates to new lows.

And as half term and the festive season approaches, those heading to European Christmas markets, autumn sun in the Canaries, or visiting family in South Africa or Canada will find their trips costing hundreds of pounds more than last year.

In October 2015, when the official exchange rate was 1.349 to the pound, tourists would get 1,349 for 1,000. Today, 1,000 will get just 1,110  239 fewer.

And at London Gatwick Airport yesterday morning, the sense of frustration among tourists heading abroad was in full show.

A man and his wife in their 50s at the bureau de change in the departure area before security were told the rate was 0.96 to the pound.

His wife senses a chill in the air and asks: 'Is that bad?'

'Err, yeah,' he replies as they leave without purchasing.

City Airport: The situation is being echoed at airports up and down the country

Martin Lewis, founder of MoneySavingExpert, took to Twitter on Sunday to criticise Moneycorp.

He posted a picture of a screen at Gatwick advertising the rates it was offering customers looking to buy and sell currency and wrote: 'No wonder they shouted at me 'you're not allowed to photograph that'. Disgraceful exchange rate profiteering at Moneycorp Gatwick.'

The picture showed travellers would get just 0.97 for each 1 they changed.

To get the same 1 back, however, it would cost them 1.348.

The difference between these rates is known as the buy and sell spread. The bigger it is, the more money the firm is said to be making from buying and selling currency.

Other Twitter users have expressed similar outrage in the past week, and shared stories of how they've been told off for taking pictures of exchange rate signs at airport bureaux de change.

Adrian Maggs wrote: 'Moneycorp, why do you try and stop people taking photographs of your rates? Are you embarrassed by them? You should be!'

Moneycorp defended its lower airport rates by saying it has to cover significant ground rent, staffing and security costs.

Slide: Last week, a flash crash in the value of the pound pushed the exchange rate to lows not seen since the global financial crisis

Last week, remarks by French President Francois Hollande about taking a hardline stance in negotiations over Brexit triggered a so-called flash crash.

ARE THE AIRPORTS RIPPING US OFF? When Money Mail rang around other airports to ask why their rates were so poor, we were repeatedly given the brush off by staff working at currency counters. They said they had been inundated with calls and many are now refusing to reveal their rates over the phone or explain to disillusioned customers why they are so bad. When we called Moneycorp at Stansted, the woman who answered told us she wouldn't tell us the walk-up rates over the phone because 'the stock market is changing so much'. At Southend Airport a woman initially refused to reveal the rate and demanded to know when we were due to fly and where we were going. Eventually, when pressed, she said the rate was roughly one to one. At Belfast, Edinburgh and Luton, where the currency exchange is run by ICE, staff all willingly revealed their rate as 0.96 to the pound. All advise us to go to the High Street or buy online to get a better rate. So what's really going on with holiday money rates and are the airports ripping us off? All companies have had to cut their rates in recent months after the pound plummeted following Britain's vote to leave the European Union, which caused economic uncertainty. Advertisement

This involved computers in Asia designed to make trades on the back of news stories such as these quickly selling heaps of sterling, causing the value of the pound to plummet.

Gary Styles, an economist at GPS Economics, says: 'It's hard to tell how much automatic currency trading caused the pound to fall.

'While it likely caused a sharp movement in the short term, I think we were probably going to see sterling slide further anyway after Brexit.'

But experts have raised concerns that currency firms at airports are taking advantage of the struggling pound to profit more than usual.

Holidaymakers have long been warned they will get a poorer deal if they wait until arriving at the airport to get their foreign currency. The rates are almost always far worse than if you buy your cash in advance.

When the official rate was 1.20 to the pound at the end of June, you got roughly 1.08 at airports.

After the Brexit vote, Money Mail reported that the gap between airport rates and the official rate had widened from the usual 10 per cent to 16 per cent at St Pancras station in London, where customers leave for Paris on the Eurostar.

Now we can reveal that in some places the gap has widened further.

At, Southend, Edinburgh, Belfast and Luton airports there is a 15 per cent difference  with 0.96 to the pound on offer.

At Southampton Airport the gap has reached 25 per cent. Yesterday, the rate was just 0.88 to the pound. For 1,000 you would get just 880.

In the High Street, most companies are still offering more than 1 to the pound  some as high as 1.096.

So holidaymakers due to travel in the next few weeks should act now to lessen the blow of the falling pound.

In October 2015, when the official exchange rate was 1.349 to the pound, you would get 1,349 for 1,000. Today, 1,000 will get you just 1,110  239 fewer

The number one rule is: always buy your currency in advance. Never leave it until you reach the airport.

You can even have the money delivered to your door or arrange to collect it from an airport or local currency exchange booth.

The best rates are online. Yesterday, 1,000 would have got you 1,085 with AirMoney. If you were willing to book in advance and collect at the airport, you could have got 1,095 with ICE at Heathrow Airport.

If you are not due to travel for a few weeks, you can order your currency now for collection just before your holiday.

Then if the pound bounces back before you go, many currency firms, including Travelex, Sainsbury's and Tesco, will allow you to cancel your order and reserve the money again at a better rate.

FairFX charges 1.50 to withdraw cash but nothing on spending

Travelex, for example, allows you to order your cash 30 days in advance and cancel free of charge up to 24 hours before you leave.

This is an excellent way of hedging your bets  but you need to keep an eye on the currency prices so you don't lose out.

Banks say they are seeing a rush of holidaymakers looking to take out debit and credit cards that offer cheap spending abroad.

You will still be affected by the falling pound, but the blow will be softened because you'll be charged a truer rate of exchange.

For example, MasterCard's rate yesterday was 1.106 to the pound, while purchases made with Visa were charged at 1.104.

Remember, though, that you'll get the rate on the day. So you're taking a gamble that the pound doesn't fall further in value before you leave  or while you're away.

Banks usually charge hefty fees when you use your card abroad  typically adding an extra 3 on each 100 spend. On top of this, there will be fees of around 1.50 each time you withdraw cash.

But some, such as Halifax's Clarity card, Santander's Zero card and Barclaycard's Platinum Travel card, offer fee-free spending overseas.

Halifax says it has seen applications for its card jump 10 per cent in recent weeks compared with this time last year as a result of the fluctuating pound.

Metro Bank also offers fee-free debit cards for overseas spending in Europe  but you must open a current account to get them. Metro Bank branches are limited to London and the South East, and the card is only fee-free in Europe.

Virgin Money won't charge you for using your debit card overseas to make purchases. However you will need to avoid using the card to take cash out at an ATM abroad as it applies a 1.50 charge.

A final option is a pre-paid card. Here, you load up your card in euros or dollars to lock into rates today.

One of the best deals comes from Revolut, which uses near to official exchange rates and has no ATM fees on up to 500 per month.

FairFX charges 1.50 to withdraw cash but nothing on spending. It has its own exchange rate, which it says can be better than its competitors.

Tracy Bownes, retail director at Moneycorp, says: 'An easy and more cost-effective way for customers to buy travel money is to pre-order online and collect at the airport. We always encourage customers to do this. Our online reserve-and-collect rates are always highly competitive.'
Russian-born Ekaterina Fields, 43, (pictured today), has launched her bid for a better divorce deal, arriving to court dressed down in silver Gucci trainers

A Russian beauty queen awarded 3.3million and 370,000-a-year in her divorce is fighting for more because it is not enough for 'a reasonable standard of living'.

Russian-born Ekaterina Fields, 43, launched her bid for a better deal from lawyer ex-husband Richard Fields, 60, today, arriving to court in a pair of silver Gucci trainers.

The former child actress received the massive payout and annual income when she split from the American lawyer last year after almost a decade, the court heard.

But she now wants him to up the payments as she fears he will die or be too old to maintain his earning power before her personal savings reach 1million.

In their divorce battle, the court head how they lived a lavish lifestyle, ate in the finest restaurants, had a cook and two nannies at home, and a Maserati on the drive.

In their divorce, she asked a judge to award her huge sums, including 60,000-a-year for beauty treatments and clothes and 75,000 for holidays.

Mr Justice Holman handed her assets totalling more than 3.3m, which he said was enough for her to continue living in Kensington and Chelsea with their two children.

He also ordered Mr Fields to stump up 370,000-a-year in maintenance, which included 100,000-a-year to enable her to build up a savings 'stockpile'.

But Miss Fields, who was Miss World University 1990 and is now a British citizen, claims that will not be enough to fund a reasonable lifestyle in future.

She says her husband can afford to pay into her nest egg at more than double the rate ordered by the judge.

'The wife says the provision for the future fund was too small and would leave her unprovided for in later life,' Lady Justice Black told the Court of Appeal.

The Russian-born former beauty queen was awarded 3.3million in cash and assets as well as 370,000-a-year from her lawyer ex-husband Richard Fields (right), 60, last year. She is pictured arriving at court for that hearing in June 2015

During last year's divorce battle, Mr Justice Holman heard that the couple, who met in 2001, had lived a life of luxury which some might consider 'eye-watering'.

They lived in an apartment near Central Park, in New York, enjoying the equivalent of an 800,000-a-year lifestyle in London.

Miss Fields said their life was 'luxurious', with a cook, cleaner and two nannies employed.

'We enjoyed frequent foreign holidays, always flying business class, and ate in the finest restaurants,' she said.

'He encouraged me to spend freely and would buy me lavish gifts of jewellery several times each year.'

Mr Fields, in his evidence, admitted he was generous and that he always spent close to his limits, without saving.

Miss Fields, who was crowned Miss World University in 1990 (left), insisted she needed to stay in the Kensington and Chelsea area during the divorce, while Mr Fields suggested alternatives

As their relationship came to an end, Miss Fields moved to London, where she has lived ever since.

Much of last year's divorce case revolved around arguments about where she should live.

She insisted she needed to stay in the Kensington and Chelsea area, while he put forward examples of cheaper alternatives in south London.

Eventually, Mr Justice Holman decided to split their assets in a way that would allow her to purchase a property in the city's wealthiest borough.

A 1.2million lump sum and other assets brought her share to 3.3m, while he walked away with 2.6m and a significant ongoing earning capacity.

Miss Fields (pictured in may last year) wants Mr Fields to pay more in case he dies or his earning power is reduced before her savings reach 1million

Neither would be able to support the lifestyle they previously enjoyed, but the judge said each would retain 'considerable prosperity'.

'The capital was designed to provide her with the minimum sum the judge thought would be needed for housing herself and the children,' said Lady Justice Black.

In her appeal arguments, Miss Fields claims that the annual 100,000 payments she was awarded to build up savings are nowhere near enough.

Mr Justice Holman had intended that, after 10 years, she would have 1million in the bank, plus investment gain, she said.

But Miss Fields says her much older ex's health issues and age mean that his time as a top earner are limited.

And she claims the nest egg she is likely to be left with would be 'insufficient to maintain a reasonable standard of living', the appeal judge said.

'It is suggested that Mr Justice Holman failed to appreciate that the husband could pay more each year, enabling the wife to build the fund at a rate of 215,000 per annum,' she added.

Mr Fields can expect substantial performance-related bonuses from work over the next few years, which could be used to fund extra payments to his ex-wife, she argues.

Opposing her application, lawyers for Mr Fields, who was not in court, argued that the judge last year had split the assets and ordered the annual payments in a way that was fair between them.

Since then, he had suffered a downturn in his income and was planning an application to vary the order downwards anyway, he said.

Miss Fields, who was the lawyer's fifth wife, suffers from chronic fatigue syndrome and is unable to work, the court heard.

After a short hearing, Lady Justice Black said she would adjourn Miss Field's appeal bid until a later date.

She said further evidence is required about her ex-husband's health issues before any appeal can go ahead.
John Nagl, the headmaster of The Haverford School, assaulted his son in a dispute over a cellphone and marijuana, officials say

The headmaster of a prep school in Philadelphia's affluent Main Line suburb has been placed on leave after police say he assaulted his son in a dispute over a cellphone and marijuana, according to officials.

The Haverford School's board chairman says John Nagl was placed on administrative leave and Assistant Headmaster Mark Thorburn has become acting headmaster.

Police say Nagl on Monday told officers he had taken his son's cellphone and marijuana, and that a physical altercation broke out when he heard his son speaking on the phone.

Nagl says on Saturday he discovered marijuana in the his son's backpack and seized it along with his son's phone, according to 6ABC.

The headmaster says his son was speaking on the phone two days later, and that he seized the phone and his son 're-engaged in a physical altercation,' the station quoted an affidavit as saying.

The son dialed 911 and said Nagl 'nearly choked him unconscious to where he felt "lightheaded" and had a little trouble breathing,' court documents seen by Philly.com said.

Police say Nagl admitted he put his son in a choke hold to end the altercation. They say the son had red marks on his chest.

Nagl has been charged with simple assault.

The Haverford School serves boys in pre-K to grade 12. Tuition and fees range from $22,300 for pre-K to $37,500 for grades 9 - 12, the school says

Lawyer Robert Keller told the Delaware County Daily Times: 'Dr. Nagl is a wonderful person who has represented our country with two tours of duty protecting us.

'Additionally, he is a West Point grad, he's a Rhodes Scholar, has done wonderful work at the Haverford School and he maintains his innocence and we will be very aggressively defending him.'

Nagl was arraigned and released on $30,000 unsecured bail, the newspaper said.

Online, the prep school says that Nagl 'was previously the inaugural Minerva Research Professor at the U.S. Naval Academy and also taught at West Point and Georgetown University.

'Dr. Nagl was a Distinguished Graduate of the United States Military Academy Class of 1988 who earned his masters and doctoral degrees from Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar.'

The school website says Nagl was in the US Army for 20 years, and served in both Operation Desert Storm and Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Police say Nagl (left) admitted he put his son in a choke hold to end the altercation. They say the son had red marks on his chest. Nagl has been charged with simple assault

The Haverford School serves boys in pre-K to grade 12. Tuition and fees range from $22,300 for pre-K to $37,500 for grades 9 - 12, the school says online.

School officials said in a statement to 6ABC: 'The Haverford School realizes the serious concerns this charge raises in our community and has dedicated resources toward assessing the situation in its entirety, both fairly and deliberately.

'The Board of Trustees, upon learning of the incident, immediately placed Dr. Nagl on administrative leave and appointed Assistant Headmaster Mark Thorburn as Acting Headmaster to carry out the mission of the School.

'The well-being of our boys and our guiding Principles of Community remain paramount.

'Dr. Nagl is fully cooperating with the School as we all navigate this difficult situation.
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Heartbroken Thais are mourning the death of their beloved king today as his playboy son provoked mystery by requesting his succession to the throne be delayed.

King Bhumibol, who was the world's longest reigning monarch, died this morning in hospital in Bangkok at the age of 88.

He served for 70 years and commanded great respect from his people, who wept openly on the streets after learning of his passing away.

Heartbroken Thais are mourning the death of their beloved King Bhumibol who died today in hospital in Bangkok at the age of 88. He is pictured with his wife Queen Sirikit

Crown Prince of Thailand Maha Vajiralongkorn, who has told the Thai PM he wants to delay becoming king following the death of his father

Two women break down in tears and cry as they pray for King Bhumibol in Bangkok

But as attention now turns to Bhumibol's successor, the Thai government say Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn has sought a delay by the country's Prime Minister in naming him king.

It came after the news filtered in of his father's death prompting crowds of Thais packed into a courtyard beneath the monarch's hospital window to chant 'Long live the king!'.

One of those leading the chants, Sukit Tanaboonsombat, 46, said: 'I want the king to hear us in case he will come back to life.

'I'm waiting for a miracle to bring the king back to life because he said he wanted to live until 120 years old.'

Many of those outside the hospital clutched pictures of the King and wore pink and yellow shirts

Thai people were openly weeping in the street with one woman cuddling a picture of the king

On hearing the announcement of the King's death, people outside the hospital where he was being treated wept in the street

Thai's were pictured crying and embracing each other after hearing that Bhumibol had died

Well-wishers outside the hospital brought flowers and prayed for the King outside the Siriraj hospital

One woman was so overcome with emotion on hearing of the king's death she collapsed to the ground

Across the board, Thai television turned its programming over to glorifying the revered king, broadcasting images of him at his 1946 coronation, patrolling in military fatigues, and overseeing programmes aiding the poor.

Government officials also added there will be a one-year mourning period, with all entertainment functions being 'toned down' for 30 days.

Thai leader Prayut Chan-O-Cha told reporters at Government House: 'I had a royal audience with the Crown Prince (Maha Vajiralongkorn) and he asked for time to prepare before being proclaimed as the new king.

'He said at present, he is the heir apparent. But he would like to take some time to mourn, together with the people of Thailand.'

The delay comes as Vajiralongkorn has constantly been dogged by a reputation that some fear could weaken respect for the Thai monarchy

Vajiralongkorn has been married three times and all three marriages have ended in divorce. He is pictured with his third wife Srirasmi Koet-amphaeng and his son Prince Dipangkorn Rasmijoti

The delay comes as he has constantly been dogged by a reputation that some fear could weaken respect for the Thai monarchy.

The 64-year-old has had three stormy marriages that have all ended in divorce and there have long been rumours about his finances and hot temper.

His last marriage to Srirasmi Koet-amphaeng, with whom he had a son, Prince Dipangkorn Rasmijoti, ended in 2014 when she had her royal title stripped.

A grieving woman weeps by candlelight after hearing the figurehead of the nation had succumbed at the age of 88

Devoted subjects were overwhelmed by the sad news, and many held images of the late king as they grieved his passing

It came just months after a video emerged during the Thai military coup in 2014 of the pair throwing a party in honour of their pet dog Foo Foo in the royal palace in Bangkok.

Srirasmi could be seen cavorting in just a tiny G-string as she fed the dog cake before they later sang happy birthday to the animal.

In 2014, footage emerged of Prince Vajiralongkorn and Princess Srirasmi throwing a party in honour of their pet dog Foo Foo in the royal palace in Bangkok

Princess Srirasmi could be seen cavorting in just a tiny G-string as she fed the dog cake before they later sang happy birthday to the animal in the footage. The couple are now divorced

The video came after a former US ambassador in Bangkok told how Princess Srirasmi confided in him during a state dinner that Foo Foo 'holds the rank of Air Chief Marshal'.

Given the controversy, there had been talk that his older sister might ascend to the Thai throne but today the government all but confirmed Vajiralongkorn as the successor.

He was born in July 1952 and the prince was accorded the kind of attention one would expect from growing up in a palace.

In later life he told an interviewer that even at the age of 12 he was unable to tie his own shoes because courtiers had always done it for him.

Maha Vajiralongkorn was commissioned as an officer in the three branches of Thailand's armed forces and by age 14 was sent to boarding school in England

Efforts to prepare the prince for the throne began in earnest in his early teens. He was commissioned as an officer in the three branches of Thailand's armed forces and by age 14 was sent to boarding school in England.

He continued his studies at a school in Sydney in preparation for Australia's Royal Military College at Duntroon, which he entered in 1972 and graduated from in 1975, shortly after Thailand's neighbours Cambodia, Laos and South Vietnam fell to communist forces.

The prince took part in some military action against Thailand's homegrown communist insurgency, but began facing greater challenges on the personal front.

In 1977, reportedly bowing to his mother's wishes, he married a maternal first cousin, Soamsawali Kitiyakara. Their daughter, Princess Bajrakitiyabha, was born in 1978, even as the marriage was falling apart.

Just nine months later, the prince had a son by Yuvadhida Polpraserth, a commoner who was to become his second wife.

This prompted his own mother to note his reputation with women, telling reporters when she travelled to the United States in 1982: 'My son the crown prince is a little bit of a Don Juan. He is a good student, a good boy, but women find him interesting and he finds women even more interesting.'

Palace elders tried to encourage Vajiralongkorn's enthusiasm for military duties with training stints abroad.

A 1980 course of advanced military training in the United States whetted his appetite for flying, a passion carried on to this day, sometimes in the wide-bodied jets of national carrier Thai Airways.

Critics noted his pastime was expensive, citing for example, a $20 million F-16 jet fighter the military presented to him in 1992 for his personal use.

King Bhumibol with his son Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn. It is expected that he will become the new king

In 1992, he said his reputation was 'upsetting' to him, especially because he felt unable to defend himself because of his royal position.

Speaking to reporters specially invited to his residence, he denied some long-standing rumors: that he owned nightclubs that were profiting by flouting legal closing hours because of links to him, that he was a godfather of various financial scam and that he rigged the national lottery.

Speaking at the time he said: 'The money I spend is acquired honestly. I don't want to touch money earned illegally and through the suffering of others.'

But the rumour mill has continued to feed on his personal life. All five of the children with the woman who became his second wife were born years before he was divorced from his first spouse.

After winning grudging acceptance from the palace to treat his second wife as a royal, they had a spectacular bust-up in 1996 which saw her flee to England with their four sons and one daughter. The prince then flew there to grab his daughter back.

King Bhumibol and his wife Queen Sirkit wave to crowds in Bangkok in 2006. The Queen is also facing ailing health

Because Bhumibol, has been king since 1946, there is great concern about the eventual succession

In 2001, he married another commoner, Srirasmi and then had the royal status of his sons by his second wife withdrawn.

However, Srirasmi also fell out of favour as some of her close relatives were arrested in November 2014 on charges of abusing the crown prince's name in collusion with corrupt police to run a massive extortion scheme.

She was stripped of her royal title and the couple are now divorced.

Earlier this year, he also saw himself at the centre of another controversy when police raided the Bangkok home of a British journalist's wife and questioned her for several hours in connection with his social media posts containing photographs supposedly of Vajiralongkorn.

The pictures showed him wearing low slung jeans and crop top with a huge tattoo on his back. However, Thai police insisted that the images were doctored.

Also widely discussed, albeit privately, in Thailand is Vajiralongkorn's relationship with former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was deposed by a military coup in 2006 after being accused of corruption and disrespect for the king.

The Thai king and queen in Guards uniform in the Throne Room of the Grand Palace, Bangkok. There will now be a year-long mourning period in Thailand

Thaksin, a billionaire, was believed to have sought the prince's favor with lavish gifts of cash and property.

However last year, Vajiralongkorn made two high-profile public appearances in Thailand, leading thousands of people in mass bicycling events to mark the birthdays of his mother and his father.

Many saw the events as an attempt to raise his profile in preparation for his eventual installation as king.

Some analysts have likened Vajiralongkorn's situation to that of Britain's Prince Charles, forced to tread water while Queen Elizabeth II reigns for a seventh decade.

A crucial difference is that while Charles and his family can be held to public account, particularly by the press, Thailand's royal family is protected by an Asian tradition of reverence as well as harsh laws that mandate a prison term of three to 15 years for anyone found guilty of the loosely defined crime of insulting the monarchy.

The death of King Bhumibol means that Great Britain's Queen Elizabeth II is now the world's longest reigning monarch

However, during his father's reign that spanned 70 years, the US-born king became much more than Thailand's constitutional monarch.

Bhumibol was viewed by many in the majority Buddhist nation as a bodhisattva, or holy being who delays entering nirvana to aid the human race

He was the nation's one constant as myriad governments rose and fell and regarded as a gentle leader who used the influence of the throne to unify the nation.

In his heyday, the frail-looking, soft-spoken man in spectacles wielded so much power and respect, he was able to squelch coups and rebellions with a gesture or a few well-chosen words.

Bhumibol was viewed by many in the majority Buddhist nation as a bodhisattva, or holy being who delays entering nirvana to aid the human race.

But while junta leaders, prime ministers and courtiers approached him only on their knees, Bhumibol was remarkably down-to-earth.

He rolled up his sleeves and hiked into impoverished villages and remote rice paddies to assess the state of his country and help resolve everything from water and food shortages to family squabbles.

He played half a dozen musical instruments and jammed with American jazz greats including Benny Goodman.

By the twilight of his rule, Bhumibol had become the world's richest monarch and one of the planet's wealthiest people.

Forbes magazine estimated his fortune at more than $30 billion in 2011.

Although not known for having extravagant tastes, he nevertheless lived the elite life of a modern-day king, racing yachts and appearing at official functions clothed in ornate golden robes.

Over the last decade, the once vigorous Bhumibol had withdrawn from public life due to a series of illnesses. His wife, Queen Sirikit, has also long been ailing and has been even more rarely seen.

A woman wearing pink in honour of Bhumibol breaks down in tears on hearing the news of his death

A Thai woman wipes the tears from her eyes as another clutches a picture of the king close to her chest

Two Thai women are inconsolable after hearing the announcement of the king's passing. He was seen as a father to his people

The king was often ensconced at a Bangkok hospital, emerging from time to time to gaze across the Chao Phraya River from a special pavilion.

He had been notably silent about the political upheaval and protests that have shaken the country in recent years.

During his last days in hospital, Thai people gathered outside bringing flowers and saying prayers.

His death means that Great Britain's Queen Elizabeth II has now become the world's longest reigning monarch.
A senior minister has waded into the Marmite row by urging consumers to buy 'own brand' alternatives during the stand-off over Unilever price hikes.

The multi-national firm is at loggerheads with Tesco after saying the fall in the Pound since the Brexit vote meant it had to increase prices by 10 per cent.

The supermarket has refused to pay the extra, leaving it running short of stocks of popular products including Marmite and Persil.

Leader of the House David Lidington said people could buy 'own brand yeast extracts' during the row over price hikes after the Brexit vote

Unilever is facing a major backlash over the dispute, already dubbed 'Marmitegate'

Unilever is now facing a furious backlash, with many people pointing out that the yeast extract spread is actually manufactured in Burton-upon-Trent.

Leader of the House David Lidington was asked about the government's response to the situation in parliament.

His Labour counterpart Valerie Vaz suggested that party leader Jeremy Corbyn was launching a personal campaign to get Marmite back on the shelves.

Sat next to the veteran left-winger in the chamber, she said: 'This morning I received a text, it's an upgrade from an email, from a "Jeremy" who says "we want our Marmite back".

Mr Lidington replied: 'I am sure that members on all sides of the House will have sympathy for your call to restore our Marmite.

'I think that the best advice I can give to her about her email correspondent is to advise Jeremy that during the current commercial dispute between the wholesaler and the retailer there are a number of own brand yeast extracts that are available.'

Amid laughter, he referred to Mr Corbyn's Islington North constituency, saying: 'I'm confident that in an area like Islington there is a wealth of alternatives of both traditional and organic varieties that will be available to the discerning customer.'

Pete Wishart, the SNP's Commons leader, also urged Mr Lidington to take action.

He said: 'Who would have thought that the first casualty of this hard Brexit would be the nation's supplies of Marmite?'

Mr Liddington was answering questions in the House of Commons today when the issue was raised by MPs

Marmite is among a range of popular goods manufactured by Unilever and caught up in the stand-off with Tesco

Mr Wishart said it was time for the Government to reconsider its plans for a 'full English Brexit' and opt for a 'more palatable continental Brexit instead'.

Mr Liddington replied: 'I simply note that on the information I have been given this morning the ingredients of Marmite are not imported into the United Kingdom but are manufactured and supplied here.
Walter Davis, executive director of Tennessee Health Care campaign issued the following statement regarding Blue Cross Blue shield of Tennessee's withdrawal of insurance coverage in three major markets in Tennessee:

"How do you fix problems with health care access that impact tens of thousands of Tennesseans? By walking away and creating barriers to care, or by working for solutions?

"For 27 years, the Tennessee Health Care Campaign has worked to assure all Tennesseans access to affordable health care. THCCs networks of volunteers and the Affordable Care Act Marketplace Navigators, known as Get Covered Tennessee, across the state have helped thousands of Tennesseans successfully enroll in plans that meet their needs and suit their pocket books.

"Access to affordable, accessible healthcare relies on insurance options in every county in the state. Blue Cross Blue Shield of Tennessees withdrawal of insurance coverage from 130,000 people in the Nashville, Knoxville and Memphis areas is shameful. They did it without warning and little more than a month before the ACA Open Enrollment Period begins. It has unleashed fears that BCBSTs remaining 80,000 rural customers may also be stranded. It could increase the number of uninsured Tennesseans and heighten the financial stresses on Tennessees hospitals. This is not what we expected from a non-profit company with assets in the $2 billion range whose mission includes a 'positive impact on the communities we serve'.

"BCBST was granted a 62 percent premium increase, one of the largest in the country, for the 2017 ACA Marketplace year by the Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance. Was the unprecedented 62 percent increase in premiums granted by TDCI Commissioner McPeak without any assurance that BCBST would maintain coverage for its existing customers? Why is BCBST not being required to reduce its Marketplace premium increases now that it has minimized its financial risk by dumping these 130,000 clients? Providing care in rural Tennessee is much cheaper.

"It is also TDCIs responsibility to ensure that insurance companies have a large enough network of providers to support the number of subscribers they have in the Tennessee Marketplace. Does BCBST need to guarantee that rural access to urban specialty care will remain intact?

"The ACA relies on the private market to provide health care coverage and to manage business risk. But if the private insurers cannot, Congress and the states will have to revisit public options. If private insurers instead continue to make net income or executive salaries the bottom line, it becomes imperative to create an effective consumer voice within TDCI, as exists in many other States, to prevent disruptive events like BCBSTs actions.

"BCBST is abandoning people without offering meaningful assistance for customers who must transition to another Marketplace plan. A BCBST form letter suggests they call the Marketplace or look outside of it where there is no financial support. Where is the companys concern for how individuals will maintain relationships with their doctors or specialists in the major urban centers that have been cut from coverage? Where is BCBSTs mission of ' commitment to community service'?

"We wait to see if BCBST will provide individual customer assistance to its former customers and guarantee healthy networks to rural members. Meanwhile BCBST could point to the professional help of GetCovered Tennessee (http://www.getcoveredtenn.org). A free call to 844-644-5443 can provide local assistance and a free meeting with a trained assister.

"While there are issues that can be and need to be fixed in the Affordable Care Act in Washington, there are other vital implementation matters that purely rely upon the State of Tennessees leadership to fix now.

"If the Tennessee General Assembly had passed Insure Tennessee, Governor Bill Haslams proposal to use the ACA to cover the uninsured not eligible for the Marketplace tax credits or TennCare, a primary reason for the volatility in Tennessees insurance market would have been eliminated.

"Commissioner Julie Mix McPeak is responsible for managing these regulatory situations, along with oversight from Governor Haslam. We urge Tennesseans to call upon Governor Haslam to support efforts with the legislature to craft a plan that extends healthcare to all those in the Gap and to push for a statewide consumer advisory group to ensure public concerns are given more weight in future TCDI decisions."






A South Dakota man is accused of sitting on his pregnant ex-girlfriend and slicing off her nipples with a pair of scissors.

Tony Ledbetter, 45, is charged with eight counts of domestic assault in the brutal beating of his ex-girlfriend, which started when a conversation about their relationship led into an argument, police spokesman Sam Clemens said.

'The really disturbing part is he went and grabbed some scissors and sat on top of her and used those scissors to cut off her nipples,' Clemens said told Keloland.com.

Prosecutors said the victim is pregnant with Ledbetter's child.

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Tony Ledbetter, 45 of South Dakota, is accused of sitting on his pregnant ex-girlfriend and slicing off her nipples with a pair of scissors. He is seen above at the Lincoln County Courthouse in Canton, S.D., Thursday

Prosecutors said the victim is pregnant with Ledbetter's child. The baby appears to be fine

The woman told investigators that Ledbetter also punched her and slammed her head on the ground.

Ledbetter, 45, is charged with eight counts of domestic assault

He tried to stop her screaming by putting his forearm on her throat and stuffing a blanket in her mouth.

She managed to free herself and called out for help, police said.

Ledbetter called 911 to explain himself, KSFY reported.

The 39-year-old woman is hospitalized but no information about her condition has been released. The baby is doing fine, the family said.

In court Thursday, prosecutor Tom Wollman said Ledbetter wasn't under the influence of any substances but 'just lost it', the Argus Leader reported.

'We believe he presents an extreme risk to the public,' Wollman said.

Police called the case 'disturbing'.

'It's something we see daily,' Clemens told the Argus Leader. 'It cuts across all demographics.'

Ledbetter is assigned to public defender. He is being held on $250,000 bond.

His criminal record includes previous assault convictions as recently as 2013, according to the Argus Leader.
The Washington Post added its name to the growing list of newspapers that have endorsed Democrat Hillary Clinton, writing that the former secretary of state 'has the potential to be an excellent president of the United States.'

Editorial board members added that 'we are not making this endorsement simply because Ms. Clinton's chief opponent is dreadful,' to which they added, 'Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump is dreadful, that is true.'

They then laid out the case that Clinton is not the lesser of two evils, but could be an effective leader of an 'angrily divided nation, working with legislators who in many cases are determined to thwart her, while her defeated opponent quite possibly will pretend her victory is fraudulent.'

They call her: 'dogged, resilient, purposeful and smart,' while labeling Trump 'bigoted, ignorant, deceitful, narcissistic, vengeful, petty, misogynistic, fiscally reckless, intellectually lazy, contemptuous of democracy and enamored of Americas enemies.'

'As president, he would pose a grave danger to the nation and the world,' they write.

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Hillary Clinton got a thumbs up from the Washington Post's editorial board today as they made a case for her presidency

At the top of the editorial, the Washington Post writers note that they're endorsing Hillary Clinton, but not just because her opponent, Donald Trump, is 'dreadful'

Throughout the editorial, which appeared in the print newspaper today, the Post's writers are candid about their chosen candidate's shortcomings, from her propensity to not disclose information to the public and the media, to the 'unprecedented and unseemly' way that she and her husband cashed in on the political speaking circuit.

'And no one will accuse Ms. Clinton of an excess of charisma: She has neither the eloquence of President Obama nor the folksy charm of former President George W. Bush or, for that matter, her husband,' they write.

But eloquence and charm, they argue, may not be what forces progress in the nation's current sticky political situation, but rather 'policy chops and persistence.'

The writers look toward Clinton's resume and defend some of her choices. For instance, they argue, criticism of the administration's 'reset' with Russia is 'off-base,' noting how Dmitry Medvedev was the president of the country at the time, not Vladimir Putin.

'It was smart to test Mr. Medvedevs willingness to cooperate, and in fact the United States and Russia made progress under Ms. Clintons leadership, including in nuclear-arms control and in facilitating resupply of U.S. troops in Afghanistan across Russian territory,' they wrote.

'As Mr. Putin reasserted himself and Russia became more hostile, Ms. Clinton was clear-eyed about the need to adjust U.S. policy,' they added.

The board members called her a 'voice for engagement on behalf of democracy, human rights and stability' while serving in the current administration arguing that her 'foreign-policy inclinations were sounder than her president's.'

Nothing how she wanted a Syrian intervention when Obama did not the Post's writers argue that the 'world is far more dangerous' because of the president's inaction.

The Washington Post suggested that Hillary Clinton's persistence and policy chops could be what the country needs during a time of great political partisanship

And, as far as Libya is concerned the writers suggest 'though the hyper-investigated Benghazi affair proved to be no scandal at all, Ms. Clinton should have argued more persistently to help stabilize Libya after its dictator fell.'

Going back further, the newspaper's editorial board reminded voters of Clinton's ascent to the Senate, which could have been used to settle scores so soon after her husband was impeached, but 'colleagues in both parties found her to be businesslike, knowledgeable, intent on accomplishment, willing to work across the aisle and less focused than most on getting credit.'

The editorial board members noted that 'no election is without risk' and worried that this Clinton presidency could lack transparency and openness and accountability.

'Even here, however, Mr. Trump makes her look good,' the write. 'She has released years of tax returns. She has voluntarily identified her campaign bundlers. The Clinton Foundation actually is a charitable foundation, not a vehicle for purchasing portraits of herself.'

'She is a paragon of transparency relative to her opponent,' they add.

In closing, the editorial board said that Clinton would 'prove a worthy example to girls who celebrate the election of America's first female president.
Cheryl Cope, pictured above, died in an 'overcrowded and understaffed hospital' an inquest has heard

An interior designer died in an overcrowded and understaffed London hospital on a weekend after doctors missed clear symptoms of blood poisoning, an inquest heard.

Cheryl Cope, 51, went to casualty at Whittington Hospital, London, at around 6.45am on a Saturday morning with what she thought was flu.

She was put in the Urgent Care Unit but a doctor who saw her admitted she got 'sidetracked' as two doctors had called in sick and patients were clogging up the busy A&E because there were no free beds.

As her condition worsened she was given antibiotics and put on a drip.

But it was more than five hours later that she was diagnosed with blood poisoning, known as sepsis.

She died less than 24 hours later in the early hours of Sunday February 28 this year, Poplar Coroner's Court heard.

Today coroner Jackie Devonshire addressed husband of seven years, Jonathan Cope, saying: 'You say there was a failure to recognise your wife was seriously ill.

'Once sepsis was diagnosed you say there was a delay in treatment.'

The coroner added: 'Cheryl's observations were taken at 7.40am and again at 9am.

'She was moved to the resuscitation unit at 10.45am and given IV. She continued to deteriorate.

Mrs Cope with her husband Jonathan. Mr Cope told the inquest his wife had become ill shortly after he had when he returned from a business trip to France

'The intensive care registrar was contacted at 11.30am. After review she was moved to intensive care.

'She continued to deteriorate in intensive care. She was handed over to the medical team at 8.30pm.'

Coronor Devonish asked: 'Could Cheryl have survived if earlier treatment had been given?

'Your wife presented with clear symptoms of sepsis. The hospital acknowledges this was not recognised.'

Speaking outside the inquest, Mr Cope, husband of Cheryl Cope, above, said: 'She was my soul mate, my best friend, my everything. She was a wonderful person.'

Mr Cope said he developed flu symptoms after returning from a business trip to France on February 11 this year.

He said: 'Cheryl started showing flu symptoms as well. We said she was about three or four days behind me symptom-wise.

DOCTORS WERE OFF SICK AND IT WAS ONE OF THE BUSIEST NIGHT'S IN YEARS Staff at the hospital told how a combination of factors including doctors off sick, an unusually busy night and a lack of space the night Cheryl Cope was admitted a difficult one. Night nurse Rodolfo Catacutan who took Cheryl's observations at 7.40am said: 'It was probably the busiest night I have worked in my entire nursing career and I have been a nurse for 16 years.' Dr Heidi Edmunson, the consultant in charge the weekend of Cheryl's death, said: 'There were a lot of patients coming in, but it wasn't an unusual amount. 'It was exacerbated by a shortage of doctors - two had called in sick. 'Then there was the amount of people in the majors area who, under normal circumstances, should have been in the hospital but there was no room to move them there. 'The sheer lack of space contributed to the problem.' Advertisement

'Our cleaner had said how there was a horrible flu going round so we just bedded down and prepared for a dose of flu.'

He said of the morning of February 27: 'Cheryl got up and was coughing badly.

'I saw her going downstairs but I could see she was using the wall for support.

'She said I needed to take her to hospital. I said I'd call an ambulance but she specifically wanted to go to The Whittington so I took her there.'

Rory Bademoch, representing Cheryl's family, said she had a heart rate of 117 and a respiratory rate of 29 which meant she qualified for the 'sepsis pathway' to be pursued.

These tests were done by a nurse at 7.40am and Dr Jennifer Duschl came on shift at 8.30am.

Dr Duschl said: 'When I first saw Cheryl she was sat up on the chair with her husband.

'She looked unwell but she was alert. She told me she had been unwell for about two weeks from flu-like symptoms.

'She was pale and clammy and had swelling in her hand and calf.

'At this point I thought she might have a chest infection. I said she needed a blood test.'

As Cheryl started to deteriorate further it was thought she could have a blood clot on the lung or ischemic bowel.

Dr Duschl said: 'We started IV fluids and antibiotics.'

But it was only after 11.30am that sepsis was first noted.

Mr Bademoch said: 'Do you now accept that when you recognised that the criteria for sepsis were fulfilled you should have contacted the intensive care unit?'

Dr Duschl said: 'Yes. In hindsight I should have called ITU but at the time I believed I was doing the right thing in trying to get her moved to the resuscitation unit.

Cheryl Cope, 51, went to casualty at The Whittington Hospital (pictured) around 6.45am on a Saturday morning with what she thought was flu but was dead less than 24 hours later

Dr Heidi Edmunson, the consultant in charge the weekend of Cheryl's death, admitted the problem was exacerbated by a shortage of doctors, at Poplar Coroner's Court (pictured)

'I have had discussions with colleagues about this since. It has affected me a lot.

'We spoke about what I could have or should have done differently.

'In hindsight, I should have called for help rather than getting sidetracked - I was trying to organise space in resuscitation and arrange imaging.'

She added: 'I've never seen a busier department than that day. I've never experience it before.'

Night nurse Rodolfo Catacutan who took Cheryl's observations at 7.40am said: 'It was probably the busiest night I have worked in my entire nursing career and I have been a nurse for 16 years.'

Dr Heidi Edmunson, the consultant in charge the weekend of Cheryl's death, admitted the problem was exacerbated by a shortage of doctors as two had called in sick.

Speaking outside the inquest, Jonathan, breaking down with grief said: 'She was my soul mate, my best friend, my everything. She was a wonderful person.'
He inquired about the ticket just two hours after he was charged

They allegedly threatened them and raped them numerous of times

Abuuh and two other men allegedly booked a 'full service' at an apartment

A 23-year-old man accused of violently attacking and raping two sex workers was caught attempting to flee the country after purchasing a one-way flight to Somalia, a court heard.

Rashid Mohamud Abuuh, was released on bail on Tuesday after pleading not guilty to charges of rape, sexual assault, and aggravated robbery.

Abuuh was with two other men, who have also been charged, on March 12, when they allegedly attacked the women in a Canberra apartment, reported The Canberra Times.

Rashid Mohamud Abuuh, 23, allegedly attempted to flee the country after he was charged with rape, sexual assault, and aggravated robbery

Police claim the women were threatened at knife, point, stripped naked and raped numerous times after they booked a 'full service'.

Abuuh allegedly purchased the tickets less than two hours after police summoned him to court.

He was released on strict bail conditions after he pleaded not guilty on Tuesday but was arrested the following night for breaking his 11pm curfew.

Abuuh represented himself in court on Thursday and claimed he broke his curfew because he was feeling ill and left his home to see a doctor.

He also admitted he had booked the flight to Somalia to visit family and friends as well as get married.

'Given the timing of the purchase of the ticket I believe he is a flight risk and has no intention of returning and appearing before the court,' Detective Senior Constable Susanna Leister said.

He was released on strict bail conditions after he pleaded not guilty on Tuesday but was arrested on Wednesday for breaking his 11pm curfew

Ms Leister also told the court they feared Abuuh would attempt to contact the women again.

'There's ongoing investigations into his involvement in several similar incidents and his level of participation in those incidents,' she said.

'There is a fear that he will attempt to re-contact the victims.'

As a result, the magistrate revoked Abuuhs bail and remanded him in custody until his next court appearance on December 20.
Groups of creepy clowns are planning on meeting at a reserve on Friday where two men were murdered more than 20 years ago.

Social media posts about the gathering at Sydney's North Narrabeens Deep Creek Reserve, where Richard Leonard stabbed a taxi driver and shot and dismembered another man in 1994, has been brought to the attention of police, according to The Daily Telegraph.

The clown craze originated in the U.S. and has since gained traction in Australia, with a number of incidents being reported.

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A group of clowns (pictured) are planning on meeting on Friday at Sydney's North Narrabeens Deep Creek Reserve, where two men were murdered by Richard Leonard in 1994

Social media posts about the gathering has been brought to the attention of police and officers said they would be patrolling the area (pictured)

A woman was alone in her car at a McDonald's drive-through in country Victoria on Sunday when a man dressed as a clown allegedly threatened her with an axe.

A 23-year-old man was arrested over the incident and is expected to be charged by summons with assault, weapons, public order and disguise offences.

In Queensland, a 15-year-old boy, who said he wanted to freak out his sisters, is facing weapon and public nuisance charges after he was allegedly spotted in a clown mask and carrying a knife in suburban Brisbane on Monday night.

Police said they will be patrolling the reserve to discourage the gathering.

Leonard (pictured) stabbed a taxi driver more than 30 times and shot a second man with a bow before dismembering him at the reserve more than 20 years ago

'Well be there to greet them and if they commit an offence, they can expect legal action against them,' Northern Beaches duty officer Insp Luke Arthurs said

'Its against the law to intimidate members of the public.'

Leonard shot Stephen Dempsey with a bow at the reserve on August 2, 1994, before putting his body in the creek.

South Australia's police commissioner Grant Stevens says 'anyone who dresses up as a clown with the intention of scaring other people can only be described as a d**khead' (left: a clown in Caboolture, Queensland and right in Campbelltown, NSW)

Hours later he went back to the reserve and dismembered the body before taking the body parts home, where he kept them in his fridge for four months.

The previous month, Leonard stabbed Ezzedine Bahmad more than 30 times at the nearby Collaroy Plateau, the Telegraph reported.

Leonard was sentenced to two life terms.

News of the clown craze's newest event comes after South Australia's police commissioner Grant Stevens said 'anyone who dresses up as a clown with the intention of scaring other people can only be described as a d**khead,' according to FiveAA.

Mr Stevens (centre) says the state's police force is bracing for more calls reporting clown sightings as Halloween approaches

'There is enough for us out there to do now, without having to respond to instances where people think that this is funny,' he said on Thursday.

The commissioner said people dressed as clowns will not receive much sympathy from SA police if those they frighten then retaliate.

'We'll be looking at taking action against them for their behaviour, which has instigated that level of fear that someone feels they have to protect themselves,' he said.

'I think you have to have a good hard look at yourself -- preferably with the mask off.'
A Kentucky high school teacher has apologized to her students after handing out an assignment asking them to give their thoughts on the n-word.

The teacher, who is white and a woman but has not been named, at Lafayette High School in Lexington issued the homework to her ninth grade English class last week.

It was designed to address the derogatory language the students would soon face when studying Harper Lees novel To Kill A Mockingbird, WKYT reports.

It featured seven questions or statements, each one featuring the racial slur, spelled out in full - including 'N***** is a derogatory word' and 'Is it acceptable for a black person to say 'N*****?'

The assignment asked students to write if they agreed or disagreed with the statements and explain why.

But the questionnaire offended some students and soon went viral on social media, sparking a demonstration by a local group that campaigns against racial injustice.

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A Kentucky high school principal has apologized after a teacher handed out an assignment asking students to give their thoughts on the n-word (above)

Freshman Kiarah Raglin said she and many of her classmates felt uncomfortable when they saw the n-word on the homework.

Everyone kind of laughed, it was a nervous laugh and then we kind of sat there and asked each other, did this really happen? she told the local station.

She showed the assignment to her mother.

I felt sorry for her to be in this classroom with a predominantly white classroom with a Caucasian teacher standing over here, using these words over and over, Kiarahs mother Andrea Raglin told WKYT.

These are not words we use in our home.

Freshman Kiarah Raglin (pictured) said she and many of her classmates felt uncomfortable when they saw the n-word on the homework

Andrea Raglin (right, with her daughter Kiarah, a freshman at Lafayette) said she doesnt object to the book being taught, but she believes that there are better ways to teach the issues

She added that while she doesnt object to the book being taught in her daughters classroom, she believes that there are better ways to teach the issues that come up in To Kill A Mockingbird.

The whole entire point of the book was missed because of this assignment and seven questions specifically on this word, as opposed to other parts of the book that shouldve been discussed as well, Raglin said.

Lafayette High School Principal Bryne A. Jacobs said he was not aware of the homework until it went viral online.

On Monday, protesters gathered outside the Fayette County Public Schools Central Office to demonstrate.

Jesus Gonzalez, with the group Central Kentucky Showing Up For Racial Justice, speaks out about the assignment during a meeting on Tuesday

Lafayette High School Principal Bryne A. Jacobs (above) said he was not aware of the homework until it went viral online

The group, Central Kentucky Showing Up For Racial Justice, released a statement saying it 'believes that teachers should assign books with difficult topics such as To Kill A Mockingbird, but that crafting thoughtful, well-planned lessons is an essential part of this process,' the Lexington Herald-Leader reports.

'The assignment handed out to students last week was neither thoughtful nor well planned, and as a result, the teachers who handed out this assignment created an unsafe learning environment for their students.'

On Tuesday, Jacobs said the teacher in question had apologized to her students, but did not speak about whether she would face any disciplinary action.

He said: We were embarrassed by the assignment because we know many of our students and community members are offended.

Jacobs said he is offended by the assignment personally as well.

We own the mistakes that happen. We apologize. We address them so that they do not happen again, he added.
Race and religious hate crime jumped by more than two fifths in the wake of the EU referendum, official figures show.

The number of racially and religiously aggravated alleged offences recorded by police in July was 41 per cent higher than in the same month last year.

A Home Office report detailed the sharp increase. There were 3,886 such crimes logged by police across England and Wales in July 2015, rising to 5,468 in July this year.

Police in England and Wales reported a surge in the number of hate crime reports after June 23

Data from 31 police forces showed that in the two weeks up to and including the day of the referendum on June 23, forces recorded 1,546 racially or religiously aggravated offences.

In the fortnight immediately after the poll, the number climbed by almost half to 2,241.

The peak daily total between May and August was seen on July 1, when 207 alleged race or religious hate crimes were recorded.

The number fell in August, but remained at a higher level than prior to the referendum, the report said.

It added that the sharp rise in offences was not replicated in non-racially or religiously aggravated equivalent offences.

Home Secretary Amber Rudd said: 'Hatred has no place in a Britain that works for everyone and we are determined to stamp it out.

'I am pleased to see Government action is working and that more victims are finding the confidence to come forward to report these crimes.

'Our hate crime laws are among the best in the world, but we cannot be complacent.'

A vigil after a Polish man was killed in a suspected hate crime in Harlow, Essex, in August

The Home Office report showed that in 2015/16 the overall number of hate crimes logged by forces in England and Wales increased by 19 per cent, with 62,518 recorded - a rate of around 170 every day.

Of the offences logged over the year, 49,419 (79 per cent) were race hate crimes, 7,194 (12 per cent) related to sexual orientation, 4,400 (7 per cent) were religious hate crimes and 3,629 (6 per cent) were disability hate crimes.

Transgender people were targeted in 858, or 1 per cent of cases.

It is possible for a hate crime offence to have more than one motivating factor, meaning the numbers total more than 62,518 and 100 per cent, the report said.

CRIMES BELIEVED TO HAVE BEEN MOTIVATED BY HATE Just a day after the referendum result on June 23, signs reading 'Leave the EU - No more Polish vermin' were posted through doors of members of the Polish community in Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire. They were also found on a road near a school there. Police launched an investigation, which is ongoing, but no arrests have been made. A Polish community centre in north London was daubed in racist graffiti in the weekend following the vote. Arek Jozwik was allegedly killed in an attack sparked by him being heard speaking Polish In August, Arek Jozwik, a Polish man, was killed by a gang of thugs in a suspected hate attack outside a takeaway in Harlow, Essex, in August. Police reportedly told Mr Jozwik's family it was because a gang of teenagers heard him speaking in Polish. His Polish friend survived the attack, but Mr Jozwik died in hospital two days later. Six teenagers were arrested - five were later released without charge due to insufficient evidence and the sixth remains on bail. Advertisement




They called the police after allegedly finding their property in his pockets

The 26-year-old fell asleep in the

was allegedly trashing and robbing home when he became tired

A lazy thief, 26, has been caught after he took a nap in the house he was allegedly trashing and robbing only for the owners to catch him the next morning.

It is alleged a thief was caught in Kirwan, Townsville after he became tired trashing a house - with the residents away - and fell asleep in the homeowners' bed with stolen goods in his pockets.

A 26-year-old Doomadgee man was caught taking a nap in the house he was allegedly robbing (Stock Image)

The two residents came home to a trashed house and the alleged thief asleep in their upstairs bed (Stock Image)

The two Kirwan residents returned to their home early the next morning after a night away to allegedly find the clueless thief asleep in their upstairs bed, according to the Townsville Bulletin.

After waking the man they called the police after they found their property in his pockets.

The couples house was trashed and goods were missing.

The police arrested the 26-year-old Doomadgee man and he was charged with one count of burglary, commit indictable offence and stealing.

The man is expected to appear in Townsville Magistrates Court on October 26.
Chinese experts are planning to arrange mating for him to help understand the cause of his odd colour

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Abandoned by his mother and bullied by his playmates, giant panda Qizai had a hard childhood.

However, the adorable bear, currently seven years old, has grown to be a super star in the animal world; for Qizai has proved that when it comes to a panda, it's not always a case of black and white.

Currently living in the Foping Panda Valley in Shaanxi province, the animal is thought to be the only living panda in the world who has a rare coat of white and brown.

As plan emerged that the Chinese experts are due to mate Qizai to demystify his unusual fur colour, MailOnline spoke to Qizai's keeper about the fluffy creature.

Too cute to bear: Qizai, from China, has proved that when it comes to a panda, it's not always a case of black and white

Un-bear-lievable: The seven-year-old is thought to be the world's only living panda who has a rare coat of white and brown

Adorable: Abandoned by his mother and bullied by his playmates, giant panda Qizai had a hard childhood before being saved

Animal star: However, the adorable bear, currently seven years old, has grown to be a super star in the animal world

He Xin, a 26-year-old Foping native, has taken care of Qizai, whose name means 'the seventh son', at the Foping Panda Valley for around two years. Before that Qizai lived at the Shaanxi Rare Wildlife Rescue.

The soft-spoken man spends up to 18 hours a day looking after the bear, getting up at 6am in the morning to feed him bamboo and going to bed at midnight after making sure that the panda sleeps well.

'He is slower than the other pandas, but he is also cuter,' Mr He told MailOnline, describing him as a 'gentle, funny and adorable' animal.

The keeper said Qizai does not act as quickly as the other pandas.

Mr He said: 'All pandas here have names. When I call out their names, the other black-and-white pandas would react and come to me quickly, but for Qizai, it usually takes sometime to him to realise that.'

The man added that when Qizai was a cub, he had been bullied by other pandas who would eat his bamboo.

'He eats more slowly than the other too,' Mr He said.

However, after he reached adulthood, Qizai has been raised in a separate enclosure. He is fed four to five times a day, and his meals range from bamboo, to milk to Chinese flour buns.

The famous bear now weighs more than 100 kilograms (220 pounds), the normal size for a seven-year-old panda, and can eat around 20 kilograms (44 pounds) of bamboo every day.

He Xin (pictured), a 26-year-old Foping native, has taken care of Qizai at the Foping Panda Valley for around two years

Before being moved to the Foping Panda Valley, Qizai lived at the Shaanxi Rare Wildlife Rescue after being saved by experts

His keeper gets up at 6am to feed Qizai bamboo and goes to bed at midnight after making sure that the panda sleeps well

'He is slower than the other pandas, but he is also cuter,' said Mr He, adding Qizai was 'gentle, funny and adorable' animal.

Mr He added that when Qizai was a cub, he had been bullied by other pandas who would eat his bamboo

As the brown bear grows older, Chinese experts are now planning to arrange mating for Qizai, according to Youth.cn. They are hoping that by observing and studying the appearance of his child, they would be one step closer to understanding the cause of the fur colour of Qizai, whose mother is black and white.

Mr He was not aware of the details of the plan, however he said he suspected it would be next year as 'normally when a panda reaches seven years old, mating will be arranged.'

As for Qizai's white and brown coat, it could be due to a gene mutation, said Mr He.

The keeper said the pandas from Shaanxi, a province in central China, have different appearance to those from south-west China's Sichuan province, where the giant pandas are thought to originate.

'The pandas in Shaanxi have lighter fur colour than the Sichuan pandas,' said Mr He.

'Some of them have dark brown fur around the stomach,' he added. 'But Qizai is the most brown panda of them all.'

The adorable bear frolics and eats 44 pounds of bamboo a day in Foping Panda Valley, Shaanxi province, central China

Qizai the brown bear is given four to five times a day, and his meal range from bamboo, to milk to Chinese flour buns

The famous bear now weighs more than 200 kilograms (440 pounds), the normal size for a seven-year-old panda

As the brown bear grows older, Chinese experts are now planning to arrange mating for Qizai, according to Chinese media

Experts are hoping that by observing and studying the appearance of his child, they would understand Qizai's fur colour

Qizai was found as a two-month-old cub, weak and alone, by researchers in a nature reserve in Qinling Mountains

Qizai was found as a two-month-old cub, weak and alone, by researchers in a nature reserve in Qinling Mountains in central China after his mother had apparently disappeared into the jungle.

For his own safety, the researchers took him to the nearby Shaanxi Rare Wildlife Rescue, Breeding and Research Centre where he was given medical treatment and fed on panda milk saved by the centre's staff from other pandas.

He has since grown into the fine, eye-catching specimen he is today.

There are 1,864 wild pandas in the world, according to World Wildlife.

They live mainly in bamboo forests high in the mountains of south-west China, mostly in Sichuan province, but they can also be found in Shaanxi province, where Qizai is from.

This September, The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) said in a report that the giant panda is now classified as a 'vulnerable' instead of 'endangered' species, reflecting its growing numbers in the wild in China.
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A signed postcard of Adolf Hitler that he gave to a member of the SS after they bonded over their mutual love of German Shepherds has emerged.

The image on the front of the card shows a relaxed-looking Fuhrer lying on a patch of grass with his beloved pet Blondi beside him.

He gave it to Ullrich Ellenbeck, a former medical student who had left school to join the SS in the Second World War.

Ullrich Ellenbeck received a signed postcard featuring a relaxed-looking Fuhrer lying on a patch of grass with his beloved pet Blondi beside him after they bonded over their love of dogs (left), and another from Goebbels (right)

It has emerged along with four pages of notes written by Ellenbeck, who died aged 99 in 2011, in which he recounts growing up as the youngest of 10 children in Berlin before developing an interest in Nazi politics

It has emerged along with four pages of notes written by Ellenbeck, who died aged 99 in 2011, in which he recounts growing up as the youngest of 10 children in Berlin before developing an interest in Nazi politics.

The items, along with another signed postcard given to him by notorious Nazi Joseph Goebbels, have been acquired directly from Ellenbeck's estate and are set to be auctioned in the UK this month with an estimate of 5,000.

In the notes he describes meeting Hitler, spending time on his yacht and, after a friendly chat about their dogs, the Nazi leader gave him the signed postcard as a keepsake in 1943.

The notes written by Ellenbeck, a father-of-two, state: 'I had a chance to talk to Hitler about his dog Blondi, for I myself loved dogs very much and we had to work with German Shepherds in the SS.

'One dog was very attached to me and I took it home with me. Those dogs were hard trained, very obedient to their keeper and I admired how Hitler could handle his dog - that's how we got to talking.'

Ellenbeck also describes how his wife Anna knew Eva Braun, and made a dress for her to wear on a date with Hitler to the opera.

There was nothing on the back of the postcards (left), given to Ullrich Ellenbeck (right), who also had a German Shepherd

He also reminisces about Anna's friendship with Magda Goebbels, which led to her propaganda minister husband giving the couple a signed postcard.

He continues: 'Anna attended some welfare bazaars, which were organised by Goebbels's wife to support poor children at Christmas.

'My wife was impressed by her and her role next to a man like Goebbels.

'Although people often called her a strict woman, who did not spend much time with her own children, this is not true.'

However, despite his apparently friendliness with the Nazi elite and role in the SS, he writes that he was left haunted by the persecution of the Jewish people.

He says: 'I was never involved in anything that happened with the Jewish people.

'I cannot say that I never had the choice to attend such crimes, which I dislike and find inhuman.

The items, along with another signed postcard given to him by notorious Nazi Joseph Goebbels, have been acquired directly from Ellenbeck's estate and are set to be auctioned in the UK this month with an estimate of 5,000

In the notes he describes meeting Hitler, spending time on his yacht and, after a friendly chat about their dogs, the Nazi leader gave him the signed postcard as a keepsake in 1943

'But I attended World War II as an officer of the Wehrmacht as I considered it my duty to serve my country.

'I fought in Russia, but please understand if I do not want to share what I saw and experienced there.

'These experiences really were stuck in my mind for a long time after the war and I had bad nightmares.'

Ben Jones, a consultant at Mullocks Auctioneers in Shropshire, which is selling the lot, said: 'This fascinating and highly personal account was written just a year before Ullrich Ellenbeck died.

'We don't often hear these stories, especially in such detail, because those involved have not wanted to be identified for obvious reasons.'
A notorious gang has given the meth dealers in its town 24 hours to leave - and they say they'll only ask nicely the first time.

Tribal Huk gang leader Jamie Pink delivered the ultimatum to drug dealers in the North Island, New Zealand town of Ngaruawahia at a community meeting on Thursday evening.

Pink said the deadline ended at 6.30pm on Friday and after asking once, visits would begin to those who hadn't gone, Stuff.co.nz reported.

He's previously used violence to shut down meth dealers after his daughter - a young teenager at the time - and her friends were offered the drug in 2007, it was reported.

Jamie Pink's gang, the Tribal Huks, have given methamphetamine dealers in their New Zealand town 24 hours to leave

After the 24 hour period is up, Pink's gang will ask nicely - once. After that, visits will begin, he says

Pink's gang had zero tolerance for the methamphetamine (shown) and did not use nor sell it (stock image)

He told a community meeting in the town: 'For a lot of years, the Huks have kept a lot of other gangs out of here in Ngaruawahia and we are always going to do that, but we haven't kept their poison out of here. We are a bit sorry about that.

'From this second on, without disrespecting, we know who they are - some of them are whanau (extended family), but they've got to go. They have 24 hours to stop. We ask nicely first, then they've got to go. We've got no choice. The kids are asking for it. They'll be asked nicely the first time.'

Pink has openly admitted assaulting people in the past - and serving time for it - and has no problem explaining what would happen to a rival gang if they stepped foot in Ngaruawahia.

'We'll attack them. We'll attack them in the main street. Anywhere they stop,' he told the SBS in 2015.

Members of the Tribal Huk gang pictured together in an SBS documentary from 2015

Ngaruawahia (pictured, stock image) is a town in the Waikato region of New Zealand's North Island

In 2007, he used violence to shut down dealers after his then 13-year-old daughter was offered methamphetamine - also known as 'Ice' in Australia.

His gang had zero tolerance for the drug and did not use nor sell it.

The threat to drug dealers came as crime in the town - which has a population of just more than 5,100 - appeared to be on the rise, Stuff reported.

They have 24 hours to stop. We ask nicely first, then they've got to go... They'll be asked nicely the first time.

Pink believed meth was responsible.

Members of the community gathered at the meeting supported his demand.

The region's mayor agreed, too.

Waikato District Mayor Allan Sanson said: 'I do support that message. You know anybody that sells drugs needs to leave town as far as I'm concerned. They're not welcome in our community. They just prey on the weak and vulnerable'.

But a police officer present said the threats of violence or threatening people to leave weren't condoned.

Pink said the Tribal Huks would support families 'doing it hard' with food packs and help agencies that aided those quitting meth.

'Anyone need any help, we will be there for you.'

Members of the Ngaruawahia (pictured) community gathered at the meeting supported Pink's demand (stock image)
Piercing HQ has claimed the woman was never a client of the store

She wants the shop to pay for the $6,000 surgery to have them fixed

The woman claims she was left with

A woman left with painful and disfigured ears after trying to have them shaped like a pixie's wants her body modifier to pay $6,000 to have them repaired.

The woman, who does not want to be identified, has claimed Piercing HQ Cranbourne, in Melbourne's south east, was negligent when a body modification artist contracted by them botched a 'pixie ear' alteration in April 2014.

The modification should have given her dainty, pointed ears resembling those of an elf or the Star Trek character Spock, but instead she was left with thickened skin and a deformed outer ear that she claims has caused her pain since the procedure.

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A woman left with painful and disfigured ears (right) after trying to have them shaped like a pixie's (left) wants her body modifier to pay $6,000 to have them repaired

'For two years, I have suffered complications, pain and discomfort,' she told the Herald Sun.

'I'm devastated at what's happened and don't want anyone else to have to go through the same thing,' she added.

The woman has launched legal action against the piercing shop in the Victorian County Court and plans to claim damages on top of a $6,000 payment to have a plastic surgeon repair her misshapen ears, the Herald Sun reported.

She said Piercing HQ claimed to deliver results of the 'highest standard' when she made inquiries about the procedure and felt confident the artist employed by the shop, who is now deceased, would ensure she was not harmed in the process.

The woman has alleged that upon returning to the store to have her stitches removed she learned the body modification artist had not completed the produce properly.

The modification requires the cartridge at the top of the ear to be sliced and sewn back together in a point but the woman claims her ears were mutilated and heavily scarred.

A woman shows off the results of her modification before the stitches are removed

She said Piercing HQ (pictured) claimed to deliver results of the 'highest standard' during her consultation and felt confident the artist would ensure she was not harmed

In the woman's statement of claim, she said the appearance of her ears has significantly eroded her self confidence, causing her to suffer with anxiety and depression, the Herald Sun reported.

The woman's lawyer, Ike Nwokolo from Slater and Gordon, said she had a reasonable right to expect the work performed in the studio would be carried out with precision.

Many doctors have said the modification is irreversible, with Mr Nwokolo claiming that if his client was sufficiently warned of the risks she would not have proceeded.

The modification requires the cartridge at the top of the ear to be sliced and sewn back together in a point

As a section of cartilage needs to be removed for the procedure, it can not be reversed

'Not only did she not achieve the look that she was after, she was also left with serious injuries and will require plastic surgery to fix what's left of her ears,' told the Herald Sun.

But a manager at Piercing HQ has claimed the woman was never a client of the store.

She said the woman was a client of the modifier, who hired out a room in her shop to perform procedures.

Daily Mail Australia has contacted Piercing HQ about the modifier's qualifications.

The case will be heard in the Victorian County Court.
He dismissed what he said as nothing more than 'locker room' banter

Trump came under fire for lewd comments recorded in a 2005 video

for saying 'you can do anything' to women

Denver Broncos cornerback Aqib Talib has claimed Donald Trump 'may fit in' with his team when it comes to locker room chat.

Talib was referencing the Republican presidential nominee's assertion that his lewd comments about women, aired in a 2005 recording, were nothing more than 'locker room' banter.

Trump came under fire for the comments made in a video published on Friday by the Washington Post, which shows him arriving to film a cameo on Days Of Our Lives. The footage includes his conversation with Billy Bush.

'You know I'm automatically attracted to beautiful  I just start kissing them. It's like a magnet. Just kiss. I don't even wait,' Trump said.

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Cornerback Aqib Talib said the way Trump talks about women could fit in with locker room chat

'And when you're a star, they let you do it. You can do anything... Grab them by the p***y. You can do anything.'

Trump's wife Melania condemned the comments, calling them offensive and unacceptable.

This week Talib said in a locker room interview with 9News: 'Trump may fit in if he came in here, who knows?'

Meanwhile, the soap opera actress, Arianne Zucker, seen in the video that rocked the presidential campaign has said Trump's comments were offensive.

But Zucker said she wasn't shocked by it, given 'that type of personality.' She says that's 'probably why it doesn't mean a lot to me.'

Zucker spoke in an interview broadcast Thursday on NBC's 'Today.'

Zucker is the actress who meets Trump and TV personality Bush on the set and in the video, before greeting Zucker, Trump tells Bush he needs to use Tic Tacs in case he starts kissing her.

Talib's comment comes as a four-month investigation into a Denver shooting that injured him found that he shot himself in the leg.

The station WFAA-TV reported Wednesday that the Dallas Police Department will not file criminal charges against Talib in connection to the June 5 shooting.

The investigation reportedly concluded that Talib's initial claim that he was shot by someone while standing in a park was unfounded.

Self-inflicted wound: A four-month police investigation has reportedly concluded that Dallas Broncos cornerback Aqib Talib shot himself in the leg in June

The Denver Police Department would not confirm the report regarding the outcome of the investigation, and neither Talib nor the Denver Broncos organization would comment on it.

According to witness accounts, Talib was standing in a Dallas park in the early hours of June 5 when he suffered a gunshot wound to his lower right leg.

He was taken in his Rolls Royce to Medical City Dallas Hospital, where doctors concluded that he did not requires a surgery. The 30-year-old was treated and released home the following day.

When interviewed by police, Talib said he was in the park with a group of people when he heard a gunshot, then collapsed to the ground with a bullet in his leg.

He also reportedly told investigators he was 'too intoxicated' to recall what happened at the time.

That initial police report stated that Talib had been shot 'by an unknown suspect.'

'Too drunk to remember': Talib initially told police that someone shot him in the leg while he was standing in a park, but that he was 'too intoxicated' to recall exactly what happened

Out of the picture: Talib was forced to sit out a White House reception honoring the Broncos' Super Bowl 50 victory on June 6
More than 47,000 worth of wine was quaffed at Government parties in the past year, figures revealed today.

The annual statement on the Government Wine Cellar revealed a narrow profit for the fifth year running after the coalition declared the cellar should be self-funding.

But the number of bottles drained still exceeded more than 3,000 in 2015/16 - at an average cost of 12.66 per bottle.

Almost half of the red and white wine drunk in 2015/16 was English or Welsh, the statement revealed.

More than 47,000 worth of wine was quaffed at Government parties in the past year, figures revealed today

Consumption from the cellar, based in Lancaster House on Whitehall, actually plunged on the year before - but junior Foreign Office Minister Sir Alan Duncan blamed this on the General Election, which left the Government shut down for weeks.

Current stock in the wine cellar is worth more than 800,000, down slightly on the year before.

Revealing this year's figures, Sir Alan said: 'Consumption by volume fell by 32 per cent in 2015/16 due to fewer Government events, particularly during the General Election period.

Junior Foreign Office minister Sir Alan Duncan, pictured at a Tory conference, revealed the figures in the annual statement

'Sales of stock amounted to 40,390. Further funds from other government departments added 15,848 to the overall receipts.

'Purchases amounted to 40,177, a reduction of some 43 per cent.

'The highest consumption level by volume was again of English and Welsh wine, at 44 per cent of the total.'

Liberal Democrat MP Greg Mulholland said: 'Taxpayers will be amazed to learn that while Conservative ministers talk about cutting the cost of politics, they have stocked government's own wine cellar to the tune of over 800,000.

'There are surely more important things for Tory ministers to prioritise spending 800,000 on?

'Official ONS figures show the average household spending 4 a week on wine at home.

'Given this, people will be amazed that over 47,000 worth of bottles were drunk at government events in the last year alone!'
The New York Police Department arrested a 26-year-old Bronx man for allegedly trying to rape a woman who was on a nighttime jog in Central Park.

Police said Forest Richardson grabbed the 27-year-old woman from behind and dragged her into bushes, the New York Post reported.

Richardson has been accused of trying to rape the jogger and threatening to cut her throat before fleeing the scene with her iPhone and keys.

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The NYPD arrested 26-year-old Bronx man, Forest Richardson for allegedly grabbing a 27-year-old woman from behind and attempting to rape her in Central Park (pictured). Police said the woman was on a nighttime job around 9.40pm when the incident took place

Police found Richardson in the Bronx on Thursday after they tracked the woman's cellphone, sources told the Post.

The woman told investigators that she was punched in the head and kicked around before being able to run to 110th Street and Lenox Avenue, where she got help from two on-duty cops, the Post reported.

Richardson faces charges of attempted rape, robbery, sex abuse, assault and criminal possession of stolen property.

The incident took place near East Drive and East 107th Street around 9.40pm on Monday, police said.

The man was taken to Bellevue Hospital after he made statements saying he planed to hurt himself, police sources told the Post.

Richardson was arrested in the past for two attempted rapes in 2013 and 2014.

He was also taken into custody for assault, grand larceny and criminal contempt.

The woman told investigators that she was punched in the head and kicked around before being able to run to 110th Street and Lenox Avenue, where she got help from two on-duty cops. The incident took place in Central Park (pictured) near East Drive and East 107th Street

The incident comes more than a month after jogger Karina Vetrano (pictured) was found raped and murdered in a marshy area near her Howard Beach home in Queens. A spokesperson told the DailyMail that there 'is no information to confirm that the two cases are linked'

The incident comes more than a month after jogger Karina Vetrano was found dead in a marshy area near her Howard Beach home in Queens.

Vetrano, 30, was out for a jog in Spring Creek Park on the evening of August 2 when she was attacked, sexually assaulted and strangled to death.

Her severely beaten body was found around five hours later after her retired firefighter father Phil reported her missing when she failed to come home from her run, and sent out a search party to track her down.

On August 31, police released a sketch of a man they wanted to interview who was seen leaving the Queens park not long after Vetrano's death.

The mystery man has not been named a suspect or a person of interest, and it is unknown whether police ever tracked him down.

Police have received dozens of tips and the reward money has topped at $275,000, but no suspect has been arrested.

When asked if there was a possible connection between the recent Central Park attempted rape case and Vetrano's case a spokesperson for the NYPD said there isn't information indicating there is a connection at this time.

The spokesperson told the DailyMail that there 'is no information to confirm that the two cases are linked', adding that both investigations are ongoing and more information will be released as it is received.
An Aeroflot jet has been evacuated moments before take off from Geneva airport after a Russian man told check in staff there was a bomb on board, it has emerged.

Bomb disposal experts have descended on the passenger plane which is still on the tarmac at the Swiss terminal.

It comes after a threat was made at a ticket counter before the Russian airline jet was due to take off earlier today.

An Aeroflot jet has been evacuated moments before take off from Geneva airport after a bomb threat, it has emerged (file picture)

(file picture)Bomb disposal experts have descended on the passenger plane which is still on the tarmac at the Swiss terminal

Geneva prosecutors say a Russian man has already been arrested and an investigation is underway.

The man told an airline ticket desk just before 1pm local time that there was a bomb on a plane at the airport, the prosecutors' office said in a statement.

'The aircraft, already preparing for take-off on the tarmac, was recalled to its stand. The passengers were taken off, nobody was hurt,' it said.

'The man who initiated the threat has been detained by police. An investigation is underway.'

A police bomb disposal team is checking the aircraft, which an airport spokesman said was still standing empty on the tarmac.

An Aeroflot statement said it was Aeroflot flight 2381 from Geneva to Moscow and its passengers would be transferred to other aircraft for the journey.

The prosecutor's spokesman said there were 115 people on board, but he did not specify if that included flight crew.

It comes after a bomb threat was made at a ticket counter before the Russian airline jet was due to take off

The statement said a police bomb disposal team was checking the aircraft, which according to an airport spokesman was still standing empty on the tarmac.

The incident comes less than three months after the airport was put on high alert for half a day because of a woman who made a false bomb threat in a fit of jealousy over her husband and his mistress.

She was later jailed for three months and billed 90,000 Swiss francs ($92,000)for wasting police time.

Several European cities have experienced real bomb attacks this year, including at Brussels airport in March and Istanbul's Ataturk airport in July.
Photographs of Walt Disney have been altered by the billion dollar company he started to gloss over the fact he was a heavy smoker who died from lung cancer linked to his three-pack-a-day habit.

Disney, who died in 1966 at the age of 65, was known to be an inveterate chain smoker and even had his left lung removed shortly after the movie release of Mary Poppins.

An eagle-eyed Reddit user spotted the airbrushed picture at the park in California, on Wednesday.

The company is understood to have edited the pictures of its founder so as not encourage smoking - particularly among children who visit Disneyland.

Before-and-after: An eagle-eyed Reddit user pointed out how no photos of Walt Disney smoking can be found at Disneyland and how the company has edited cigarettes out. Disney is pictured left with a cigarette and right without it

He even had his left lung removed shortly after the movie release of Mary Poppins. Disney is pictured above left with a cigarette and right with the cigarette edited out by the company

Disney (above in the 1950s), who passed away from lung cancer in 1966 at the age of 65, was known to be an inveterate chain smoker

'At Disneyland all photos of Walt Disney have his cigarettes Photoshopped out,' the reddit user wrote in the post while sharing a photo of Disney without a cigarette and doing a weird two-finger point.

The Disney brand has an on screen ban of smoking that came into effect in 2007 from Disney CEO and chairman Bob Iger.

The company reportedly started editing out the cigarettes its founder smoked to hide his smoking habit from children who would visit Disneyland. Disney is pictured above without a cigarette

Tom Hank's portrayal of Disney in the film Saving Mr. Banks did not show any scenes of him lighting up once. Hanks is pictured above doing the odd two-finger point that can be found in many of the edited photos of the icon

'We expect that depictions of cigarette smoking in future Disney-branded films will be non-existent,' Iger said at that the time.

Tom Hank's portrayal of Disney in the film Saving Mr. Banks did not show any scenes of him lighting up once, despite the fact that the film producer and entrepreneur smoked at least three packs of cigarettes a day.

While speaking at the Napa Valley Film Festival, the films producer, Alison Owen, and director, John Lee Hancock, said they were 'nervous' about working with the studio giant on the film about its founder, in fear that executives would try and control the picture.

But the company only made one request and they told them 'there could be no smoking,' Owen said.

However, there is at least one scene in the film that show Hanks doing the odd two-finger point like he is holding an imaginary cigarette that mimic the photoshopped pictures of Disney.

Disney even opened up a Tobacconist and Fine Tobbaco shops (above) on Disneyland's Main Street in 1955 between the Main Street Cinema and the Magic Shop

The shop sold Disney labeled tobacco (right), matches (left) and even cigar pipes until it was closed permanently in 1991.

In addition, the filmmakers have another scene in the movie where Hanks' character is seen putting out a cigarette in his office, though the cigarette and smoke are obscured.

Disney fell into the habit of smoking when he was an ambulance driver in France during the First World War. He smoked both a pipe and his favorite brand of cigarettes, Lucky Strike.

He suffered from an incessant cough and made a point of never smoking around children.

Disney fell into the habit of smoking when he was an ambulance driver in France during the First World War. He is pictured above smoking a cigarette next to his wife Lillian Bounds in the 1920s

Disney even opened up a tobacconist on Disneyland's Main Street in 1955 between the Main Street Cinema and the Magic Shop.

The shop sold Disney labeled tobacco, matches and even cigar pipes until it was closed permanently in 1991.

In that spot, the 20th Century Music Company can be found selling Disney-themed CDs and videos.
Married father-of-two was jailed for life for the murder of Paige Doherty

smirks at the camera as he gropes blonde dancer's bum and breasts

The shocking and disturbing video was filmed 5 years ago in a

Child killer John Leathem smirks and screams 'yes' over and over again in pleasure while cavorting with a stripper in this disturbing video.

Leathem, who was jailed for life yesterday for the murder of 15-year-old Scottish schoolgirl Paige Doherty, laughs as he gropes and fondles a stripper during the chilling clip.

The shocking video was filmed five years ago and shows Leathem in a pub enjoying a lap dance from a topless woman wearing a black thong.

His friends are heard jeering in the background and branding the killer a 'pervert'.

Child killer John Leathem was sat down in a chair (pictured left) and led around a pub by a lead by a blonde stripper (pictured right) in the disturbing video

The married father-of-two is covered in shaving foam (pictured left) and gropes the stripper's bum (pictured right) and breasts during the clip filmed five years ago

During the minute-long clip Leathem is covered in shaving cream, tied up and led around the pub floor on all fours while wearing a leather mask.

Sat in a chair and smirking at the camera he gropes the blonde dancer's bottom and breasts while his friend's call him a 'dirty b******'.

Leathem, who is wearing only a T-shirt and boxers, is whipped with a leather paddle and shouts 'yes!' over and over again in pleasure during the clip.

As he is dragged around the pub on all fours by the stripper, men are heard shouting, 'you're a scumbag!' in the background.

John Leathem (pictured left) was jailed for life yesterday for murdering schoolgirl Paige Doherty (pictured right) in March

When Leathem stands on a chair the woman pulls down his boxers exposing his penis to the camera.

As the lap dance finishes the cameraman asks, 'How does it feel you pervert?'.

He answers: 'I'm a pervert? Yous watched it you c****!'

Yesterday married father-of-two was sentenced to a minimum of 27 years in prison at the High Court in Glasgow for murdering Paige in March.

A blonde stripper (pictured) performs for Leathem and his friends who can be heard shouting 'dirty b******' in the background

He stabbed the schoolgirl more than 60 times at his shop in Clydebank, West Dunbartonshire after she went in to buy food on her way to her part-time hairdressing job.

Leathem, 32, attacked her in his back office shortly after 8.20am and claimed in court they had argued about a job.

He was captured on CCTV carrying her body out of the shop in a bin bag and putting it in the boot of his car.

CCTV footage captured Paige's final moments as she walked towards Leathem's sandwich shop in Clydebank, West Dunbartonshire

The killer's twin brother George spent time on the sex offender's register after he put his hand over a woman's mouth and grabbed her breasts and buttocks during an assault in November 2004.

In court Leathem tried to blame his shocking crime on the way his brother was treated by authorities.

Yesterday outside the courtroom Paige's mother Pamela Munro (pictured) said the murder had left a 'huge piece missing' in her life

In passing sentence, Lady Rae said: 'You claim that... after discovering she was only 15 years of age, you told her that you could not employ her, as a result of which - you say - this child threatened to reveal that you had touched her inappropriately if you did not give her that job.

'At that stage, after you both stood up suddenly, the child started screaming and then, apparently recalling the consequences to your twin brother of his having been adjudged a sex offender, you immediately reacted by grabbing a knife lying on a shelf in the back office and proceeded to stab her repeatedly.

Hundreds of people turned out for the schoolgirl's funeral after her killing shocked the Scottish town (pictured)

'No evidence has been placed before me to support your assertion.

'Having regard to your counsel's stance that, even if your assertions were true, your reaction to that alleged threat was in no way mitigatory of this appalling, wicked crime.'
Donald Trump's bare-fisted campaign CEO Steve Bannon is already threatening to punch back at Bill Clinton as a response to a flurry of new allegations by women who say Trump assaulted them or made unwanted advances.

In language that evokes both sexual predation and the total destruction of a man's reputation, Bannon told Bloomberg News, ''We're going to turn him into Bill Cosby.'

Trump already brought four Clinton accusers  three who have made charges against Bill Clinton  to the second presidential debate Monday.

Bannon threatened to bring forward still more information. 'Women are coming to us who have been groped or sexually abused by Bill Clinton,' he told the publication, without providing further detail.

Donald Trump's campaign CEO Steve Bannon is threatening to turn former President Bill Clinton 'into Bill Cosby,' code for destroying his reputation, by bringing forward unnamed women who he says were 'groped or sexually abused' by the former president

Trump is considering featuring the women at his campaign rallies to 'give witness to what Hillary Clinton actually did,' he said.

Trump meanwhile, has already come out swinging against the publications who have raised the new accusations just a month before Election Day, as well as some of the women making the new claims.

'Why didn't the writer of the twelve year old article in People Magazine mention the 'incident' in her story. Because it did not happen!' Trump Tweeted Thursday morning.

The tweet was in response to a new claim, by People magazine reporter Natasha Stoynoff, who wrote a personal account saying Trump unexpectedly pinned her to a wall and kissed her in 2005, when she was assigned to cover him for the celebrity magazine.

Bill Cosby attends a pre-trial conference in Pennsylvania relating to a lawsuit against him. Dozens of women say he made unwanted advances toward them

Trump blasted the New York times for its report featuring two women's claims he made unwanted advances on them

He also went after a People Magazine reporter who says Trump pushed her against a wall and tried to kiss her inside a room at his Mar-a-Lago estate during a 2005 interview

Steven Bannon said the Trump campaign is considering featuring accusers at campaign rallies

'We walked into that room alone, and Trump shut the door behind us. I turned around, and within seconds, he was pushing me against the wall, and forcing his tongue down my throat,' she wrote.

She continued: 'Now, I'm a tall, strapping girl who grew up wrestling two giant brothers. I even once sparred with Mike Tyson. It takes a lot to push me. But Trump is much bigger  a looming figure  and he was fast, taking me by surprise, and throwing me off balance.'

She concluded: 'I was stunned. And I was grateful when Trump's longtime butler burst into the room a minute later, as I tried to unpin myself.'

Number one: Jessica Leeds (above on Wednesday) said that Trump 'grabbed her breasts and tried to put his hand up her skirt' on a flight more than three decades ago

The second woman the New York Times claims was touched inappropriately by Trump is Rachel Crooks (pictured)

Crooks (right) was a 22-year-old working as a receptionist at Bayrock Group, a real estate company based in Trump Tower in Manhattan, when she says Trump kissed her on the mouth without permission while in an elevator

The fifth woman to claim Trump acted inappropriately towards her was Cassandra Searles (pictured), a former Miss USA contestant

Trump also has threatened to sue the New York Times, which published accounts by two women who say Trump made unwanted advances, one aboard a plane in the first class cabin on a flight to New York, another inside his Trump Tower office.

'The phoney [sic] story in the failing @NYTimes is a TOTAL FABRICATION. Written by same people as last discredited story on woman. WATCH!' Trump wrote.

In another plank of the strategy, the three Clinton accusers, Juanita Broaddrick, Kathleen Willey, and Paula Jones are set to appear in a Fox News special hosted by Sean Hannity, who has conducted a series of sympathetic interviews with Trump.

Broaddrick accuses Bill Clinton of raping her in 1978, Willey accuses Clinton of groping her inside the White House, and Jones won a large settlement after suing him for sexual harassment.
Sarkis Tokatlian, pictured at court today, is said to have lashed out when he wanted a cigarette

The former chauffeur of a Saudi 'princess' dubbed the vamp in the veil attacked a drinking partner for not giving him a cigarette, a court heard today.

Sarkis Tokatlian, 61, allegedly assaulted Sameer Khan at his home after the pair had been boozing in London on June 5, leaving him with cuts to the head.

Tokatlian, who once worked as the driver of Saudi princess Sara Al Amoudi, allegedly lost his temper after being denied a smoke, Westminster Magistrates Court heard.

Kate Shilton, prosecuting, said: The complainant in this case is Mr Khan.

'He has met him at a club that evening.

They and two others have returned to the defendants home address so they can continue drinking.

It is alleged he has asked for a cigarette and when they did not have any he jumped on Mr Khan causing them both to fall on the floor.

He has then grabbed an implement and hit him over the head with it.

Emergency services were called, and the complainant suffered quite nasty cuts thats required gluing.

Ms Al Amoudi, the vamp in the veil, triumphed in her High Court battle against two London tycoons in 2014 after she was accused of lying her way to a 14 million property empire

The former chauffeur denies the assault charge and will go on trial in London next February

When police arrived, they saw the defendant was still on top of the complainant.'

Tokatalian of Bolsover Street, Fitzrovia, central London, denied one count of assault by beating and told the court: I was on top of him restraining him when they arrived.

He was bailed ahead of his trial at City of London Magistrates' Court on February 15.

Ms Al Amoudi, dubbed the vamp in the veil famously triumphed in her High Court battle against two London property tycoons in 2014 after she was accused of lying her way to a 14 million property empire.

She maintained throughout a month-long hearing that she was the runaway daughter of a billionaire Saudi sheikh.

Ms Al Amoudi, pictured left without her veil at a Mayfair club, maintained during the 2014 case that she is the daughter of a Saudi sheikh. Now her former chauffeur is accused of assault

Ms Al Amoudi has previously said she had fled a threatened stoning to death in her homeland after finding love in Britain in 2001

The 'Saudi princess' and the 14million property empire

By NEIL SEARS FOR THE DAILY MAIL

During the 14million property empire case, Sara Al Amoudi, who claimed she was the 33-year-old daughter of a Saudi billionaire, was pursued by Ian Paton and Amanda Clutterbuck, who said she duped them into signing over six flats in Londons West End and should be forced to hand them back.

But the Court of Appeal rejected the couples plea in 2015, saying the continuing mystery about her identity  including claims she is an African illegal immigrant  was irrelevant to their case.

A judge said there was no evidence Miss Al Amoudi used her royal identity to persuade Mr Paton  who she says was her secret lover  and Miss Clutterbuck to sign over the flats, and refused to give them leave to appeal against a ruling made in 2014 that said she could keep the properties.

The Home Office refused to comment on her case at the time, but there was no sign of her being deported, despite the question marks over her origins.

Miss Al Amoudi  who in court denied being a prostitute or a bogus princess  said Mr Paton used the flats to repay millions she had lent him out of suitcases stuffed with cash she was sent from Saudi Arabia.

Regarding her identity, she had previously said she had fled a threatened stoning to death in her homeland after finding love in Britain in 2001.

She also said she had once been a child-bride of the Saudi king, and in court hearings asked to be allowed to shield her face with a veil, saying she was a strict Muslim.

But the hearing in October 2015 was told her story was actually a pack of lies.

It was claimed her Saudi birth certificate was a fake, and that she was really a 45-year-old Ethiopian called Lina Abdullahi Idris.

The Saudi billionaire she claimed was her father had already publicly denied being any relation.

The court was told that before beginning her princess act, Miss Al Amoudi was a cocaine-using prostitute who was once caught in the bedroom of a wealthy client by his enraged wife.

After seeing a photograph of her wearing a revealing dress in the Daily Mail, Fatima Raidi gave evidence that the Muslim princess was really a vice girl.

Miss Clutterbuck and Mr Patons barrister, Stephen Auld QC, told the court: Almost the entirety of the defendants story was not true.

Miss Raidi says she found the defendant in a hotel room with her husband in circumstances not consistent with her being a devout Muslim and member of the Saudi royal family.

And the court heard that former hire car driver Kevin Beard had given a statement in which he told of driving Miss Al Amoudi and two friends around when they were escorts for up to five years.

Mr Auld said: He told of drunkenness, cocaine, and what the three women appeared to be involved in ... The evidence is that the princess was quite literally an imposter.

However Miss Al Amoudis lawyers largely ignored the claims, arguing they were irrelevant to the case.

Rejecting the appeal application, Lord Justice Andrew Longmore noted the original judges finding that the exact identity of Miss Al Amoudi remains unknown, but agreed with the defence.
This is the gruesome moment ISIS brutes used meat cleavers and hammers to chop off the hands of two men in a Syrian town square.

The men were dragged before a baying crowd in Abu Kamal in eastern Syria, close to the border with Iraq, before the savage punishment was carried out.

Pictures show the men being forced to kneel next to a chopping block before their arms are tied down and fingers pulled to ensure their hands are flat.

Pictures capture the gruesome moment ISIS brutes used meat cleavers and hammers to chop off the hands of two men in a Syrian town square

The men were dragged before a baying crowd in Abu Kamal in eastern Syria, close to the border with Iraq, before the savage punishment was carried out

A blade is placed on the top of the wrist before a masked jihadist uses a metal hammer to strike down on the meat cleaver.

Moments later, men rush in with bandages to stem the flow of bleeding.

It is not the first time thieves have been maimed by ISIS brutes for their crimes.

In September, extremists were pictured holding down a man before slicing off his hand in the city of Hama in western Syria.

A month earlier, sickening images emerged of a similar punishment being handed out in the terror group's stronghold of Raqqa in Syria.

A blade is placed on the top of the wrist before a masked jihadist uses a metal hammer to strike down on the meat cleaver

Sickening: Moments later, men rush in with bandages to stem the flow of bleeding

In the past, ISIS barbarians have also used industrial paper cutters to carry out the same punishment.

It comes as US-backed Iraqi forces continue to prepare for the long-anticipated assault on the last major ISIS bastion in neighbouring Iraq, potentially the biggest battle in the country since the US-led invasion of 2003.

The assault of Mosul could begin by the end of this month, according to Iraqi sources including a government security advisor, a provincial official and an army field commander.
Dr Ben Carson (pictured above on Sunday at the second presidential debate) recently said that gay marriage would bring 'mass killings'

Dr. Ben Carson suggested that America is on the precipice of violent unrest thanks to the legalization of gay marriage.

The former neurosurgeon and failed presidential candidate was a speaker at the Pensmore National Symposium on Religious Liberty on October 7, at the College of the Ozarks.

At the conference, the Seventh-day Adventist Christian told conservatives to fight against an 'ever-growing government' for their faith, according to the News-Leader.

He suggested that 'there will be mass killings once again' and that 'the peace that we experience now will be only a memory'.

'This is the nation that stands between peace and utter chaos,' he said.

When asked what he thought was causing this descent, Carson responded: 'The whole gay marriage issue'.

Carson made the controversial remarks at the Pensmore National Symposium on Religious Liberty on October 7, at the College of the Ozarks (pictured at the symposium above)

He explained: 'Why must they change it? I believe the reason is, if you can change the word of God in one area, then you can change it in every area. It's the camel's nose under the tent, and it will just be an avalanche of one thing after the other.

'We won't have anything that we can use as our reference point because we will have thrown out God's word. It'll be every man for himself, every man deciding for himself what is right and what is wrong, and that can't possibly lead to a good place.'

Carson ran in the Republican presidential primary, but lost the party's nomination to Donald Trump. He is now supporting Trump in the 2016 presidential race.
A mind-blowing video has emerged of a man releasing a sackful of snakes in the wild and patting them away in India.

The video was shot in Panchmadhi forest of Hoshangabad area near Bhopal.

A snake catcher confirmed they released 285 of them inside the forest after they checked there were no people nearby.

Knot of snakes rescued from people's homes released back into the wild in anchmadhi forest of Hoshangabad area near Bhopal, India

They released 285 rat snakes and later helped 60 poisonous snakes escape death

Snake catcher Salem Khan said snakes are our friends not our enemies

Salem Khan, employed with Bhopal civic body, said: 'We chose to release them during the evening time as the earth is cooler during that time.

'If the earth is hot, it might cause problem to the snakes who always prefer to stay in cooler places.

'We released 285 rat snakes deep inside the forest after ensuring that there are no human habitats nearby.'

In the video the man can be seen not only pouring hundreds of snakes out of a large bag, but he also patted them away, and one got attached to his trousers.

He can then be seen praying at the end.

Mr Khan, who has been a snake catcher for around 30 years, added: 'The same day, we released as many as 60 poisonous snakes, including cobras.

The man releases the snacks and then shockingly pats them away

Mr Khan who helps capture snakes like these for re-release is known as the snake man

He rescues around 100 to 200 snakes a month often from the properties of cabinet colleaues

'We need to rescue snakes because they are our friends -- and not enemies. They also a good friend of farmers as they help kill rats in the fields.'

The 345 rat snakes and poisonous snakes were released after 4pm on September 23 after they were captured from the bungalows and house of influential people of Madhya Pradesh, including chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and several of his cabinet colleagues.

Khan, who captures and releases around 100-200 snakes every month, is popularly knows as Saleem Saanp Wale, or Saleem the snake man, in the area.

He commented: 'I capture around 25-30 snakes every day across Bhopal.

'So far I have rescued and released 220,000 snakes in the jungles of Panchmadhi.'
New Jersey Governor Chris Christie has been issued with a criminal summons over the Bridgegate scandal - and could face up to ten years in prison if found guilty.

Christie faces an official misconduct complaint stemming from the closure of lanes leading to the George Washington Bridge in 2013, which caused traffic mayhem.

The lane closures were allegedly a plot by Christie's aides, who prosecutors say concocted a plan to cause travel chaos for drivers as political payback for Fort Lee's city mayor after he did not endorse Christie's re-election bid.

The resulting scandal helped sink the governor's hopes for the presidency.

A judge issued the summons Thursday after finding probable cause for the misconduct complaint, which was filed last month by Bill Brennan, a citizen activist and retired firefighter.

Scroll down for video

Chris Christie, governor of New Jersey (pictured in January) faces an official misconduct complaint over 'Bridgegate'

The complaint relates to the closure of lanes leading to the George Washington Bridge

Brennan, who filed the complaint in municipal court in Fort Lee, New Jersey in September, says the fallout from the scandal cost taxpayers millions of dollars. The bridge is a major link to New York City.

The judge sent the case to the Bergen County prosecutor's office, which will decide whether the case will lead to an indictment.

Christie, one of 17 Republican nominees who originally vied for the presidency ahead of the upcoming election, denies knowing anything about the lane closing scheme at the time.

But former Port Authority executive David Wildstein, who has admitted to orchestrating the plot, testified that he told Christie on Sept. 11, 2013 about the closures, which caused traffic chaos between Sept. 9-13.

Brennan's complaint alleges Christie committed misconduct by not taking any immediate action.

A spokesman for Christie (pictured in January) said the governor would appeal the ruling

Municipal Court administrative specialist Jessica Lemley said a complaint of official misconduct would mean Christie is accused of knowingly refraining from performing a duty imposed on him by law, or clearly inherent in the nature of his office.

Official misconduct carries a possible sentence of five to 10 years. The Republican governor appointed the prosecutor.

Brian Murray, a Christie spokesman, said the governor would appeal the ruling.

'This is a dishonorable complaint filed by a known serial complainant and political activist with a history of abusing the judicial system,' Murray said.

'The simple fact is the governor had no knowledge of the lane realignments either before they happened or while they were happening. This matter has already been thoroughly investigated by three separate independent investigations.'

Brennan has filed multiple complaints and lawsuits against New Jersey officials over the years.

Bridget Kelly, left, and Bill Baroni, right, pictured arriving at the Martin Luther King Jr. Federal Courthouse in Newark, New Jersey in October. The duo have been on trial for their alleged roles in the scandal

Christie's former deputy chief of staff, Bridget Kelly, and former Port Authority of New York and New Jersey executive Bill Baroni have been on trial in federal court for their alleged roles in the scandal.

Federal prosecutors have accused Kelly, Baroni and Wildstein of masterminding the closures to punish Fort Lee Mayor Michael Sokolich for not endorsing the governor's campaign run.

In August it was revealed in court documents that one of Christie's former staffers accused him of lying about the scandal in a text message sent while the governor was holding a press conference.

'Are you listening? He just flat out lied about senior staff and Stepien not being involved,' Christina Genovese told a campaign staffer in the message.
Trio burst into tears after the verdicts of not guilty were read out in court

Three Syrian refugees who fled to the UK to escape civil war have been cleared of sexually assaulting two schoolgirls in a park.

Omar Badreddin, 18, Mohammed Alfrouh, 20, and Mohammad Allakkoud, 18, were alleged to have sexually assaulted the girls, both 14, in Leazes Park.

The defendants, in a large group of Syrians picnicking in the park, had met the girls on May 9, and there was an agreement to see them the next day, the court heard.

One girl was said to have typed her number in Mr Badreddin's phone before allegedly leading him off for a kiss. He insisted he did not know she was 14.

Mohammad Allakkoud (left) and Mohammed Hamdan Alfrouh (right) pictured outside Newcastle Crown Court

During the two-week trial defence barristers applied for the case to be thrown out, it can now be reported.

They said that there were inconsistencies in the complainants' evidence to police, to the court and in cross-examination.

One of the girls was a 'proven liar', the defence teams claimed, who had fabricated serious allegations about her home life prior to the sex assault claims.

The case was also delayed by one and a half days while all the defendants' interviews with police were checked and re-translated.

One serious mistake arose when Mr Alfrouh described seeing Mr Badreddin and the girl kissing behind the pavilion.

In his police interview he was translated as saying he saw Mr Badreddin's penis and her vagina touching.

Omar Marwan Badreddin (left) arrived in the UK last November under the government's resettlement programme

But in front of the jury Mr Alfrouh insisted he did not say that, and when the tape was checked, an alternative translation was provided for the jury.

He was also translated as telling police he 'tried to' kiss the girl who was with Mr Badreddin, but this was changed to 'wanted to' kiss her and that he stopped himself.

Later the judge said the cause of the delays was that the interviews needed to be re-interpreted due to errors - 'some of them minor, some of them major'.

As the forewoman returned the not guilty verdicts on the three, the young defendants burst into tears.

After they left the dock, they wept and hugged each other and family members in the corridor outside.

One of the men - Mr Badreddin - is originally from Damascus but fled to Jordan as the country was gripped by civil war.

One of the men, Mr Badreddin (left), is originally from Damascus but fled to Jordan as the country was gripped by civil war

He arrived in the UK last November under the government's resettlement programme.

At the height of the crisis, the Prime Minister announced plans to resettle 20,000 Syrian refugees in Britain at a cost of more than half a billion pounds.

Married Mohammed Alfrouh, 20, was cleared of three counts of sexual assault.

He was accused of kissing one girl in the park on consecutive nights, and of also molesting the girl Mr Badreddin was accused of kissing behind a pavilion.

Mohammed Allakkoud, 18, whose father died in Syria and who was living in Newcastle with his extended family, was accused by the girl of holding her mouth and nose while the others attacked her. He was cleared of a single charge of sexual assault.

Outside court a spokesman for the defendants said: 'They came from Syria to live in peace. They believe the judge is fair. This is a free country, it is not like Syria.'

Chief Inspector Steve Ammari added: 'We respect the decision of the court and we thank the complainants in this case for their support and help throughout.'
Griffin has pleaded not guilty and will return to court in December

It is alleged one of the incidents occurred in exchange for cigarettes

He also allegedly demanded she expose herself and slapped her bottom

The youth worker allegedly demanded the girl rub his penis 'up and down'

A youth worker, 39, accused of indecently assaulting a girl, 15, allegedly demanded she rub his penis 'up and down' and reveal her breasts in exchange for cigarettes.

Lee Griffin allegedly assaulted the teenager on three different dates in early September while she was in his care in Nowra, in the South Coast region of New South Wales.

During one 'sleepover shift, Griffin allegedly told the girl to expose herself because it was his birthday, reported The Daily Telegraph.

Lee Griffin, 39, is accused of assaulting a 15-year-old girl on three different occasions in September while she was in her care

'The complainant states that the accused was at her (bedroom) door for approximately three hours harassing her to show him her body,' the documents say.

'Feeling pestered and harassed, the complainant stepped into the light so that the accused could see her and removed her bra, exposing her breasts.'

Griffin then told the girl he will return to her bedroom at 7am.

'Maybe then you might show me your p***y,' he said.

The teenager allegedly told officers in a recorded interview Griffin had slapped her bottom on one occasion and fondled her breasts on another, reported Illawarra Mercury.

The girl allegedly told police in a recorded conversation Griffin fondled her breasts and slapped her bottom (stock photo)

Wollongong Child Abuse Squad received a report about the alleged incidents on September 21 and then had him arrested on October 8.

Griffin is charged with two counts of aggravated indecent assault and two of aggravated act of indecency involving a person under 16.

'My client is not going to be answering any questions but I will say that my client takes the charges very seriously,' his lawyer Aaron Kernaghan said.

'He considers them a significant insult to both his dignity and his integrity.

'He intends to defend the charges and maintains that he is not guilty and he looks forward to his time in court December.'
Former Australian Prime Minster Tony Abbott has jumped to the defence of Donald Trump's supporters and has even claimed his policies are 'reasonable'.

U.S. Republican candidate Donald Trump has been feeling the heat of the presidential race after his lewd remarks - from a decade ago - caught him in hot water and now finds himself trailing Democratic leader Hillary Clinton by double-digits.

But the former Australian PM is a self-confessed admirer of America and backs most of Mr Trump's policies and his supporters, according to the SMH.

Former Australian Prime Minster Tony Abbott has weighed in on the U.S. presidential race and jumped to the defence of Donald Trump's supporters (File Image)

U.S. Republican candidate Donald Trump has been feeling the heat of the presidential race after his lewd remarks - from a decade ago - caught him in hot water (File Image)

'Many of the Trump positions are reasonable enough,' he said.

Mr Trump's supporters were maligned by Hillary Clinton, when she called half of them a 'basket of deplorables' and were labelled 'racict, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamophobic'.

Mrs Clinton was forced to apologise and Mr Abbott jumped to the defence of the supporters claiming they are citizens who yearn for change and are following a leader they believe can make this happen.

'The point that I want to make is that the vast majority of Trump supporters are not deplorables, they really aren't,' he said.

Mr Abbott condemned Mr Trump's remarks in a recent video that caught him referring to women in an appalling demeanor (File Image)

'They are decent people who want to see change inside their country and that's fair enough.'

However, Mr Abbott condemned Mr Trump's remarks in a recent video that caught him referring to women in an appalling demeanor, back in 2005.

He described the tapes as, 'gross beyond belief' and 'indefensible', on Sky News this past Wednesday night.

Mr Abbott's defence of Mr Trump comes in sharp contrast to Labor leader Bill Shorten who broke the political mold to lambaste the potential U.S. president.

Mr Shorten launched a scathing attack on Mr Trump claiming he was 'entirely unsuitable' to lead the U.S. and even called his positions as 'barking mad'.

Hillary Clinton has taken a double-digit lead over Mr Trump in the presidential race (File Image)




Birthday comes just one day after her murderer was sentenced to life in jail

One day after they watched their daughter's murderer sentenced to life in prison, the parents of slain school teacher Stephanie Scott will celebrate what would have been her 28th birthday.

Merrilyn and Robert Scott said they planned to mark the sombre occasion with a cup of tea and a Mint Slice biscuit at 3pm on Friday, October 14.

Following a 'difficult and harrowing' 18 months since their daughter was brutally raped and murdered at Leeton High School in the NSW Riverina, Merrilyn Scott said it was time to 'let the music and fun back in'.

Scroll down for video.

The parents of murdered school teacher Stephanie Scott (pictured) will celebrate what would have been her 28th birthday on Friday

'So much has been taken away from us. Stephanie has had everything taken away from her,' she said.

Stephanie Scott was raped and murdered by a cleaner at Leeton High School, where she worked as a teacher, when she went into school to prepare lessons on Easter Sunday, April 5, 2015.

She was murdered just six days before she was due to get married.

Vincent Stanford was sentenced to life in prison on Thursday for her murder.

Merrilyn Scott (pictured right) said the public's interest in the tragedy was understandable because 'Stephanie (pictured left) embodied all that was good about human kind'

'So much has been taken away from us. Stephanie has had everything taken away from her,' Merrilyn Scott (pictured left) said alongside her husband Robert (pictured right)

Mrs Scott said the public's interest in the tragedy was understandable because 'Stephanie embodied all that was good about human kind'.

But she said it was now time to step back and grieve in private.

'We need to be able to fade from public view to mourn our beautiful girl and work our way through our grief'.

'Stephanie would want us to resume our lives,' she said.

'Stephanie (pictured) would want us to resume our lives,' Merrilyn Scott said

Stephanie Scott (pictured) was tragically raped and murdered by a cleaner at Leeton High School, where she worked as a teacher

Stephanie Scott (pictured) was murdered on April 5, 2015, just six days before she was due to get married

Speaking outside Griffith Courthouse on Wednesday, Mrs Scott said her and her husband Robert would start to celebrate Stephanie's 'too short, amazing life'.

'We will be having a cup of tea and a Mint Slice biscuit at three,' she said.

Mrs Scott invited the nation to join them in remembering their slain daughter on her 28th birthday, the second of her birthdays they were forced to celebrate without her.

Speaking outside Griffith Courthouse on Wednesday, Mrs Scott (pictured left) said her and her husband Robert (pictured right) would start to celebrate Stephanie's 'too short, amazing life'
San Francisco Giants fans have blamed the teams World Series elimination on the fact Taylor Swift did not release an album this year.

Giants supporters blasted the popstar on social media, blaming her in a bizarre jinx theory.

Jessika Swanson said: 'TBH Giants didn't win cuz Taylor Swift didn't release an album during October like she did every other even year. [sic]'

San Francisco Giants fans have blamed the teams World Series elimination on Taylor Swift

Jessika Swanson said: 'TBH Giants didn't win cuz Taylor Swift didn't release an album'

Javier Baez's tiebreaking single capped a four-run rally in the ninth inning, helping the Chicago Cubs beat the Giants 6-5 on Tuesday night in Game 4 to win their NL Division Series.

Swift has previously released albums on even-numbered years - 'Speak Now' in 2010, 'Red' in 2012 and smash-hit '1989' in 2014.

The releases in October/November time have coincided with the years that the Giants have won.

Chris Hine joked that it was more than a coincidence that the Giants didn't win this year

Josh Kranzberg said he blames the Giants losing on the 26-year-old pop superstar

Hunter Pence of the San Francisco Giants reacts after flying out to deep center field against the Chicago Cubs in Game Four of their National League Division Series on Tuesday

Amy Hodgkinson pointed out that Swift specifically releases albums on even years

Austin joked he blames Taylor Swift for 'not dropping an album after going through two break ups'

Alman Joy said Taylor should dedicate her next album to the Giants

The Giants had won 10 straight games when facing postseason elimination. The World Series champions in 2010, '12 and '14.

But their every-other-year title chance is now over with the club's first postseason series defeat in the last 12.

Josh Granzberg wrote on Twitter: 'I blame the Giants losing on Taylor Swift. This one's on you, Tay.'
Britain is the country most worried about mass immigration, a survey of 25 major nations reveals today.

The study by Ipsos MORI found more than 42 per cent of Britons put immigration in the list of issues which most concerns them.

By contrast, it did not figure in the global list of top five worries.

The findings are likely to prove helpful to Theresa May in her Brexit negotiations  emphasising the fact that one of the major reasons Britain voted Out was to regain control of our borders.

The poll findings are likely to help Theresa May, pictured in Spain today with her counterpart Mariano Rajoy, make the case Britain should have stronger immigration controls

They also come at a time when big business is putting pressure on the government not to impose tough new restriction on EU immigration.

Based on the findings, business leaders and MPs arguing that Britain should continue to allow free movement of migrants in return for access to the single market are significantly out of touch with the rest of the country.

Britains figure of 42 per cent of people being concerned about immigration is even higher than in Germany (41 per cent) and Sweden (33 per cent)  which have been worst affected by the migration crisis.

Out of the 25 countries, Britain is also the most concerned about the rise of extremism, with 28 per cent citing this as a worry.

Also in the top five worries in the UK are healthcare (34 per cent), terrorism (31 per cent) and poverty and social inequality (29 per cent).

The economy did not figure  despite the aftermath of Project Fear and a series of warnings that the economy would suffer post-Brexit.

Britons are positive about the direction the country is headed in with 44 per cent saying they think things are going in the right direction.

This is above the global average and  crucially - the most optimistic response out of the European countries in the study.

The study by Ipsos MORI found more than 42 per cent of Britons put immigration in the list of issues which most concerns them - higher than citizens in 24 other countries

Ipsos MORI managing director Bobby Duffy said: Britain is most worried about immigration from all 25 countries included in the study - showing that the concern very clearly flagged in the EU Referendum has not subsided.

But its also striking how quickly initial fears that were heading in the wrong direction following Brexit have abated: people have not seen much impact on the economy or felt it on their own standard of living.

Institute of Directors spokesman Seamus Nevin called on Mrs May to to abandon the Governments commitment to reduce net migration to the tens of thousands

'Whether this will continue is a matter of fierce debate, but given the importance of consumer confidence to the economy, this is at least a positive.

This relatively relaxed economic view is backed up by comparing our worries with other countries. In particular, unemployment is the top global concern  but it doesnt even feature in the top 5 in Britain. Countries like Spain and Italy are in a completely different place, with around 7 in 10 people saying unemployment is a key worry.

The poll is setback to big business in its demands for continued mass immigration.

The pro-Brussels CBI lobby group claims that continued access to low-skilled EU migrants is vital for the economy.

Today, the Institute of Directors calls on Theresa May to abandon the Governments commitment to reduce net migration to the tens of thousands.

The IoD is also urging ministers to announce that any EU migrant already living and working in the UK should be allowed to stay.

IoD spokesman Seamus Nevin said: The Leave majority was, in part, a vote of no confidence in how successive governments have managed immigration.

'Dissatisfaction with policymakers was exacerbated by the Government under-delivering on a promise to bring the number of migrants down to tens of thousands. The persistence with this target is hard to understand, and we beg the Home Secretary to think again.

Those who voted to leave the EU did so for many reasons, but we dont think anyone wanted to make the country worse-off.

'The evidence is very strong that immigrants play a positive role in our economy, but the Government needs to tackle the publics concerns, without hindering the nations prosperity in uncertain times.

Mrs May has indicated she will resist the demands  re-stating her commitment to tens of thousands.

She has also pledged that restoring full control of the UKs borders will be her priority in the Brexit talks.
Six women have come forward claiming they were groped or kissed by Donald Trump against their will, just days after he denied ever participating in that sort of behavior.

Trump was forced to deny that he had ever assaulted a woman in the wake of a 2005 interview with Access Hollywood, in which he was captured on audio saying to host Billy Bush: 'I'm automatically attracted to beautiful women  I just start kissing them. It's like a magnet.

'Just kiss. I don't even wait. And when you're a star, they let you do it. You can do anything.'

He said in the wake of the tape's release that his comments were nothing more than locker room talk.'

Trump has also denied the claims being made by these six women in interviews, on Twitter and through his lawyers.

Scroll down for videos

Number one: Jessica Leeds (above) said that Trump 'grabbed her breasts and tried to put his hand up her skirt' on a flight more than three decades ago

Quote: 'He was like an octopus,' Leed (above on Wednesday) told the Times. 'His hands were everywhere'

Jessica Leeds

Jessica Leeds, a 74-year-old former businesswoman who lives in Manhattan, recalled her encounter with Trump to the New York Times.

Leeds told the newspaper she was 'assaulted' by Trump on a flight when she was 38.

She explained how she was sat beside the Republican nominee in first class, when he lifted the arm-rest between then and allegedly began touching her.

'He was like an octopus,' said Leeds. 'His hands were everywhere.'

Leeds, who told the newspaper the incident 'was an assault', said she rushed to the back of the plane to escape Trump's advances.

She also said that when she heard Trump deny ever touching a woman aginst her will on Sunday night she wanted 'to punch the screen' of her television.

Number two: The second woman who is claiming she was touched inappropriately by Trump is Rachel Crooks (above)

No go: Crooks (on right) says Trump kissed her on the mouth without permission while in an elevator

Rachel Crooks

The second woman the newspaper claims was touched inappropriately by Trump is Rachel Crooks.

Crooks was a 22-year-old working as a receptionist at Bayrock Group, a real estate company based in Trump Tower in Manhattan, when she says Trump kissed her on the mouth without permission while in an elevator in 2005.

'It was so inappropriate,' said Crooks. 'I was so upset that he thought I was so insignificant that he could do that.'

Crooks told the newspaper the incident took place after she shook hands with Trump in an elevator and he allegedly refused to let go. She says he then began kissing her on the cheeks, before then kissing her lips.

Trump responded by writing on Twitter Thursday: 'The phony story in the failing @NYTimes is a TOTAL FABRICATION. Written by same people as last discredited story on women. WATCH!'

Third claims: Mindy McGillivray (pictured) said Trump grabbed her backside after she helped a photographer who was covering a concert at Trump's Palm Beach manor

Mindy McGillivray

Mindy McGillivary was the third woman to accuse the Republican nominee told her story to the Palm Beach Post, saying she was groped by Trump 13 years ago at his Mar-a-Lago mansion.

The 36-year-old said that Trump grabbed her backside after she helped a photographer who was covering a concert at Trump's Palm Beach manor.

McGillivray, who was 23 at the time, said she was with Ken Davidoff at the Mar-a-Lago on January 24, 2003.

'All of a sudden I felt a grab, a little nudge. I think its Kens camera bag, that was my first instinct,' she told the newspaper. 'I turn around and theres Donald. He sort of looked away quickly.'

McGillivray said she became furious when she saw Trump claim during the second presidential debate that he had never groped a woman inappropriately, and immediately began to consider sharing her story.

'Its a respect issue for all women. If something like this happens to you, you should speak up,' she said, according to the Palm Beach Post.

She also admitted to the newspaper she has a lengthy criminal record, and understands that it will likely be brought up in the wake of her making the allegations against Trump.

McGillivray has two felony arrests, and was arrested on DUI and child neglect charges in 2012.

Unwanted kiss: The fourth woman was People writer Natasha Stoynoff (above), who claims Trump shoved his tongue down her throat

Natasha Stoynoff

The fourth woman to bring new allegations against Trump is Natasha Stoynoff, a writer with People.

Stoynoff recounted how she had traveled to Mar-a-Largo to interview Trump and his wife, Melania, in December 2005.

'Our photo team shot the Trumps on the lush grounds of their Florida estate, and I interviewed them about how happy their first year of marriage had been,' she wrote in People.

'When we took a break for the then very-pregnant Melania to go upstairs and change wardrobe for more photos, Donald wanted to show me around the mansion.

'There was one "tremendous" room in particular, he said, that I just had to see.

'We walked into that room alone, and Trump shut the door behind us. I turned around, and within seconds, he was pushing me against the wall, and forcing his tongue down my throat.

'I was grateful when Trumps longtime butler burst into the room a minute later, as I tried to unpin myself.'

Stoynoff went on to detail how her 'self-esteem crashed to zero' as a result of the alleged attack, which she struggled to get her head around.

'How could the actions of one man make feel so utterly violated?' she wrote.

'Id been interviewing A-list celebrities for over 20 years, but what hed done was a first. Did he think Id be flattered?'

The writer then explained how she tried to get on with the task at hand, interviewing the Trumps, before Donald said something as they were again alone, waiting for Melania.

'Trump smiled and leaned forward. "You know were going to have an affair, dont you?" he declared. "Have you ever been to Peter Lugers for steaks? Ill take you. Were going to have an affair, Im telling you."'

Trump responded to the claim on Twitter Thursday by writing: 'Why didn't the writer of the twelve year old article in People Magazine mention the "incident" in her story. Because it did not happen!'

Speaking up: The fifth woman to claim Trump acted inappropriately towards her is Cassandra Searles (above)

Back in the day: Searles, who won Miss Washington in 2013, shared a picture of the other models who took part in the Trump-owned pageant in 2013 on Facebook (above)

Allegation: 'He probably doesnt want me telling the story about that time he continually grabbed my a** and invited me to his hotel room,' said Searles

Cassandra Searles

The fifth woman to claim Trump acted inappropriately towards her is Cassandra Searles.

She first shared her story earlier this year, but her claims were highlighted in the wake of Wednesday's allegations.

Searles, who won Miss Washington in 2013, shared a picture of the other models who took part in the Trump-owned pageant in 2013 on Facebook and included a caption saying the Republican nominee treated them 'like cattle'.

'Do yall remember that one time we had to do our onstage introductions, but this one guy treated us like cattle and made us do it again because we didnt look him in the eyes?' she wrote in June.

'Do you also remember when he then proceeded to have us lined up so he could get a closer look at his property?

'Oh I forgot to mention that guy will be in the running to become the next President of the United States.'

Searles took her comments a step further replying to a comment on the picture, claiming Trump groped her and tried to seduce her.

'He probably doesnt want me telling the story about that time he continually grabbed my a** and invited me to his hotel room,' said Searles.

Difficult talk: Temple Taggart (above) got emotional as she spoke, the sixth woman to come forward with claims

Not warranted: Taggart said that Trump kissed her on the lips despite not knowing her (Taggart above with Trump and then wife Marla Maples)

Temple Taggart

The sixth women to speak out is Temple Taggart, who like Searles competed in the Miss USA pageant and was a contestant the first time that she claims Trump kissed her against her will.

Taggart told the New York Times earlier this year that Trump kissed her on the lips during the pageant, but shared more about her story in the wake of his comments during Sunday night's debate.

'When I first heard the leaked tape, it's very unsettling... you don't want to hear anyone talking about women like that,' said Taggart.

'You look at your sweet, little innocent daughter and think, "this is the world I'm raising her in."'

She claims that her father saw Trump during rehearsal for the pageant and decided to get his attention so that his daughter could met the billionaire businessman.

'It was at that time that he turned to me and embraced me and gave me a kiss on the lips,' said Taggart.

'I remember feeling kind of embarrassed, like wanting to turn and wipe my mouth, like, "What just happened?"' said Taggart.

This happened again when she went to New York City to meet Trump soon after she told NBC News.

'I remember immediately thinking, what does he think this is?' said Taggart, who added that the kiss was the kind one would give their boyfriend.

Her chaperone told her that she was not to be alone with Trump after witnessing the kiss.

Taggart - who said she is not a fan of Hillary Clinton - then broke down thinking about her young daughter ever having to experience something like she did with Trump.

'You have the right to say no. You have the right to get out of there. You have the right to leave, and you have the right to make them feel uncomfortable if they're making you feel uncomfortable,' said Taggart.

'I don't care what you have to do  you just get yourself out of the situation.'
A female teacher 'encouraged' her 17-year-old pupil to experiment with drugs and alcohol during their relationship, a hearing was told today.

Lecturer Nia Davies, 31, is alleged to have sent the teenager 'hundreds of thousands' of personal messages including discussing cannabis and alcohol while teaching her.

A disciplinary hearing was told the media and film lecturer had a 'sexual relationship' with the teenage girl which was discovered when her policeman father noticed a love bite on his daughter's neck.

Lecturer Nia Davies denies sexual activity with the teenager, but has admitted the pair 'met socially', before 'things blossomed' into a relationship

While she denies sexual activity with the teenager, Davies has admitted the pair 'met socially', before 'things blossomed' into a relationship.

'Voluminous' Whatsapp, social media and email messages are alleged to have been exchanged between the A-level student and teacher during their relationship.

Presenting officer Cadi Dewi said: 'In just 17 days alone the pair exchanged 350 pages worth of messages. 120 were sent in just one day.

'Davies showed a willingness to overstep boundaries at the college. There were frequent references to the use of drugs, using cannabis and alcohol.

'The willingness by Davies to encourage effectively illegal behaviour is further evidence of her going beyond what is expected within professional boundaries.'

Ms Dewi told the hearing in Cardiff the pair, 'had been, and still were, in an extremely close relationship together.'

She said: 'It was an extremely close and highly inappropriate relationship. It became a relationship that was sexual in nature.

'Davies' motivation in becoming so friendly and so close to the girl was that she had a sexual interest in her.'

'Voluminous' Whatsapp, social media and email messages are alleged to have been exchanged between the A-level student and teacher (pictured) during their relationship

George Pollitt, representing Davies, told the hearing his client - who did not appear for today's hearing - has now admitted being in a relationship with the girl, now 19.

Mr Pollitt said: 'She said they have engaged in some sort of relationship which is not platonic since 2015, when the girl was over the age of 18, and when my client was not employed at the college.

'I cannot put a label on what the relationship is, but I'm told it's hard to define. They met up socially as friends and things blossomed.

'Also, while they don't share an address they do often stay together at Davies' address in Cardiff.'

Mr Pollitt stressed this did not mean the pair were seeing each other during the 10 months they were said to have conducted their affair at Carmarthenshire College in Llanelli, West Wales.

Davies is accused of eight claims she 'engaged in an inappropriate relationship' with the girl, who was referred to as 'Learner A' throughout the hearing.

She has now admitted 'engaging in email communication of a social rather than academic nature,' and 'saw Learner A unaccompanied on a social basis'.

The 31-year-old has not been charged by police but is currently the subject of a hearing of the Education Workforce Council

But she denies six others which include 'shared a bed with Learner A during a trip to London', 'invited Learner A into her home on at least one occasion' and 'engaged in sexual intercourse with Learner A.'

The girl also denied being in a relationship with her former teacher when she appeared before the misconduct hearing, calling claims she'd admitted parts of the affair to police, her sister and her parents as 'untrue.'

A police investigation led to Davies being arrested and bailed, but she was not charged.

Her college in Llanelli, West Wales, launched their own investigation, but her fixed term contract was not renewed before its completion and she failed to attend investigation meetings.
A Mexican restaurant has been forced to apologize after using Donald Trumps offensive grab her by the p***y comment to promote its tacos.

La Carnita street food restaurant in Canada has deleted an Instagram post featuring a picture of its tacos and the caption 'what if Donald Trump said, "grab her by the taco"...'

The picture was accompanied with the hashtag 'taco Tuesday'.

Social media users called the post sexist and called for the restaurant to be boycotted. Some claimed it was trying to capitalize on the publication of a 2005 recording in which the Republican nominee boasted of using his fame to kiss and grab women.

La Carnita street food restaurant in Canada has deleted this Instagram post featuring a picture of its tacos and the caption 'what if Donald Trump said, "grab her by the taco"...'

Margaret Johnston wrote: Seriously question how this could EVER be thought of as ok?

John and Gloria said: How will you explain this to your female employees? I pity them.

La Carnita apologized on Wednesday in a series of tweets, calling the post a mistake.

Tonight, we made a mistake. A big one. We used a caption that was dumb, rude, and insensitive, the restaurant said.

Social media users said the restaurant was trying to capitalize on the publication of a 2005 recording in which the Republican nominee boasted of using his fame to kiss and grab women

La Carnita apologized in a string of tweets on Wednesday after backlash about its Instagram post

The restaurant said 'for anyone who saw it, know that we understand your anger'

La Carnita said 'we fully realize why it was inappropriate' after their was outrage on social media

Once we realized our error, we quickly removed it. For anyone who saw it, know that we understand your anger and fully realize why it was inappropriate. We truly apologize. We can do better, and we will.

This is not the first time La Carnita has come under fire, in 2014 its Twitter account referred to its waitresses as tacH**S.

In a further message on Facebook, Andrew Richmond, CEO of Monarch and Misfits, which owns the popular taqueria chain said: I wanted to personally address the concerns that have been raised about our company values. This isn't who we are, or how we want to represent ourselves.

Andrew Richmond, CEO of Monarch and Misfits, which owns the popular taqueria chain said: I wanted to personally address the concerns that have been raised about our company values'

Our comments and actions have never been ill intentioned, but have crossed the line on more than one occasion. We recognize that there are systemic and cultural things that need to be fixed to ensure that this doesn't continue happening.

Richmond promised to sensitivity training for the management team and to donate a percentage of food sales on Tuesdays for the next eight weeks to a Canadian charity that works to stop violence, poverty and empower women.

We will provide an update at the end of the 8 weeks on how much has been donated and the status of our sensitivity training, he said.

We understand the anger and discussion surrounding this issue. A large percentage of our staff and management team are women.
Advertisement

Hundreds of travellers lined the streets of south London to pay tribute to a man known as 'King of the Gypsies' in an incredibly lavish funeral.

Patrick Ward, 72, who had spent his younger years living a 'traditional traveller lifestyle' had eight children and 70 grandchildren.

But after losing his battle with liver cancer earlier this month, hundreds of gypsies came to pay tribute to him.

Hundreds of travellers from across the UK flocked to pay their last respects to a man known as 'King of the Gypsies'. His coffin arrived on a white carriage with white horses

There were also trucks full of flowers following the funeral car as hundreds paid their respects to the 'King of the Gypsies'

Some of the vehicles carried banners about Mr Ward. This one paid tribute to a 'Dad, Father-in-law, Grandad and Great Grandad' as people lined the streets to watch the procession

There was another horse and cart (pictured) in the procession for Mr Ward, who had lived his life as a traditional gypsie

A bagpipe player also followed the coffin, as well as people from the family holding flamboyant floral displays

The flamboyant procession, held in Dulwich, south London, saw Patrick's coffin arrive in a white carriage, pulled by six white horses.

A bagpipe player, another horse and cart as well as trucks full of flowers also featured in the procession.

Patrick, who worked as a builder, had moved from Ireland to Britain in the 1960s.

He went on to travel around the UK for many years, living in Manchester, Birmingham, and Liverpool where he met and married his wife Mary.

He finally settled in Croydon, where he lived for over 30 years.

Patrick's daughter Bernadette, 42, said her father never came to terms with the loss of his wife.

Mr Ward, who worked as a builder, had moved from Ireland to Britain in the 1960s and went on to travel around the UK for many years, living in Manchester, Birmingham, and Liverpool

He married his wife Mary and finally settled in Croydon, where he lived for over 30 years. He had eight children and 70 grandchildren

Mourners from the travelling community in Britain and Ireland released balloons in Patrick's honour and two police officers attended

Patrick's coffin (pictured inside the carriage) was carried through the cemetery and family members fave readings at at St Margaret Clitherow Church, in West Norwood

Speaking before the funeral, Bernadette said: 'He never got over my mum dying five years ago, a part of him died with her.

'He was a very loving father and would help anyone. He had a heart of gold.'

Mourners from the travelling community in Britain and Ireland released balloons in Patrick's honour and two police officers attended.

Patrick's coffin was carried through the cemetery and family members fave readings at at St Margaret Clitherow Church, in West Norwood.

After Mr Ward made his final journey, hundreds gathered at the church to pay tribute to a man well respected in the community

It was an incredibly lavish funeral, with horse and carriages walking walking through the streets of south London (pictured)

At the church, the white horses and carriage stop alongside the traditional horse and cart that Mr Ward would have been more accustomed to, with his traditional lifestyle

Mary-Anne, Mr Ward's second eldest daughter, added: 'He was the rock of the family.

'I can't explain how dearly he was loved, he was joyful and happy and my whole life is a fond memory of him.'

Mary-Anne's husband Jimmy said: 'We would call him a 'true blue' which means he was a gentleman.

'If you were ever down or needed help he would talk to you and help you out, he used to say that there are people worse off in this world, carry on about your business.'
Two Texas police officers responding to a late-night noise complaint figured they were heading to yet another house party where they would ask for the music to be turned down.

However they were surprised to find the commotion was actually a group of men out in a Carrollton, Dallas County, street, dancing to the song My Girl in preparation for a wedding.

The men explained that one member of the group, David Opegbemi, was getting married the next day, and that they were still rehearsing the dance they were due to perform at the reception.

So, in order to prove the story, the group of groomsmen put the music back on and showed the cops their moves.

Dance rehearsal: Cops arrived at this house in Carrollton, Texas, expecting a house party, but instead found a group of men rehearsing a wedding dance to the song My Girl

The groom, Opegbemi, later explained that the police were called three times to the racket the men were making - but he swears it was all for a good cause.

'Our intent was never to disturb the peace,' he wrote on Facebook.

'We are just a group of young black educated men who were having a good time and bonding while at dance practice. It's sad that we had the police called on us, but that's our world.

'We understand that we might be perceived as (a) danger, but we hope this shows something positive and that a group of black men at night is not always a threat.'

Opegbemi also shared the video of how the dance actually worked out at the wedding with KHOU.

Finished product: The groom, David Opegbemi, shared a video of the dance with KHOU

With the groomsmen suited up and Opegbemi in a white tuxedo, the men pulled off the dance to My Girl perfectly

Opegbemi also thanked the officers that attended the house for their understanding.

'Again, we are very thankful for the officers that approached us,' he said in the message.

'With what is going on in the world today, things could of got bad real quick, but thankfully it didn't. For the officer that stayed and let his body cam capture this moment, you sir are everything an officer should be.

'Outside of serving and protecting, you were kind, friendly, and understanding. Great job and thank you for sharing this video!!!'

Photos of Opegbemi and his blushing bride were shared by the couple's wedding photographer.
A Pennsylvania man who owned DVDs about hunting humans has been arrested on homicide charges after DNA test results proved that bones dug up in his yard belong to his female co-worker who vanished three years ago.

Authorities believe Michael Horvath, 49, of of Saylorsburg, killed 41-year-old mother Holly Grim, who was last seen in Lower Macungie Township in Lehigh County in November 2013.

Evidence found in Horvath's home suggests she might have been tortured or otherwise met with a violent death, officials said.

Police found shackles, stun guns and notes indicating that Horvath might have been stalking someone, as well as several DVDs dealing with murder, sexually deviant behavior and 'hunting humans,' according to a probable cause affidavit filed with the charges.

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Authorities believe Michael Horvath (pictured left) killed 41-year-old mother Holly Grim (right), who was last seen in Lower Macungie Township, Pennsylvania, in November 2013

State police Lt. Joseph Sokolofski said at a news conference on Thursday that there 'wasn't one 'aha' moment' that led police to charge Horvath.

'It was a natural progression. It was the tenacity of the investigators, and it was the cooperation of the district attorney's office,' he said.

Investigators are still working to determine a motive and having the remains examined in hopes of determining how and when Grim died.

According to court papers, state troopers recently found at least two pieces of rib bone determined by DNA to be Grim's buried in a shallow 4-by-4-foot section of an embankment behind Horvath's backyard in Ross Township, in Monroe County.

Troopers began digging September 27 and finished October 5 before the Monroe County coroner sent the bones for DNA and other tests, according to a criminal complaint.

Police got a search warrant to dig, in part, because a blood stain found at Grim's residence was eventually matched to a DNA sample drawn from Horvath in 2014.

The Lower Macungie Township woman was reported missing by her mother after she didn't show up for work at Allen Organ Co.,

State police found bones in Horvath's yard (above, his home in a file photo) in Ross Township, Monroe County, during nine days of digging this month

Horvath and Grim worked together at the company, which makes church organs.

But on the morning of November 22, 2013, she drove her son to a bus stop but never showed up to work at Allen Organs in Macungie.

Her car was later found in her driveway. Horvath left his job four months after Grim disappeared, NBC 10 reports.

Horvath initially told police he was late for work the day Grim disappeared because he was fixing a flat tire, and he had repeatedly been questioned by police as a person of interest.

He told detectives that his car had a flat tire around two-and-a-half miles from Grim's home and he had gone home to fix it before making his way to work.

Horvath was interviewed again in June 2014. At that time, he gave a DNA sample.

His DNA was a match for a bloodstain found outside Grim's home at the time of her disappearance.

But he claimed that he had been at Grim's home to help her get a washer and dryer inside.

According to a probable cause affidavit, seen by Leigh Valley Live, Horvath's wife thought he was being unfaithful and provided investigators with cellphone records.

But authorities said there is no indication yet that Horvath and Grim had a relationship outside of work.

Police filed charges of homicide, evidence tampering, obstruction of law and abuse of corpse charges in Monroe County because that's where they believe he killed Grim.

He's charged in Lehigh County with two counts of kidnapping, one in order to facilitate a felony  in this case, homicide  and the other with the intent to inflict injury or terror on the victim.

He doesn't have an attorney listed in court records.

State police found bones in Horvath's yard in Ross Township, Monroe County, during nine days of digging this month.

The bones were found buried under less than 18 inches of dirt in an approximately four-by-four square foot area down an embankment behind Horvath's yard, Pennsylvania State Police Lt. Joseph Sokolofski told a news conference on Thursday.
The US is said to have agreed for the safe transfer of terrorists from Iraq to Eastern Syria on the premise ISIS militants fight Russian troops when they get there, a news agency has claimed.

The agreement is said to involve 9,000 extremists who will leave Mosul for eastern areas of the country to capture the cities of Dier ez-Zouer and Palmyra.

Its purpose, it is claimed by Russian news agency RIA Novosti, is that the White House hopes the ISIS militants will fight Russian troops in war-torn Syria.

ISIS fighters will be allowed to flee Mosul and retreat to Syria under an agreement made with the US, Russia has claimed

The news agency reported that America and Saudi Arabia had come to an agreement to create a peaceful passage for ISIS fighters to leave Mosul for Syria before Iraqi government security forces begin their liberation of the city, according toIraqi News.

'The United States and Saudi Arabia reached the agreement to provide safe havens for the ISIS militants and their families before Iraqi government security forces storm into the city of Mosul,' RIA Novosti said.

The Russian news agency added: 'The international coalition air force will conduct a number of air strikes on several buildings that were previously agreed on with the militants.

Secretary General of Hezbollah Hassan Nasrallah yesterday accused The White House of trying to mobilize ISIS in the eastern region of Syria.

According to the anonymous diplomatic source, President Barack Obama has already sanctioned an operation to liberate Mosul, due to take place this month.

ISIS captured Mosul - the biggest city in northern Iraq and a key oil centre - in June 2014 but its hold on the area has grown weaker in recent weeks as the Iraqi army and Kurdish forces attack from opposite directions.
The RAF has killed 1,700 Islamic State fighters since bombing began, for the loss of no civilian lives, the Ministry of Defence has claimed.

If true the air campaign against the extremist group in Iraq and Syria would be 'unprecedented in the history of modern warfare'.

RAF Typhoons, Tornadoes and Reaper drones have conducted 1,066 strikes against IS, and the MoD has said 'detailed assessments' reveal no civilian losses.

Typhoon aircraft used in the targeted campaign against ISIS militants in Iraq and Syria. RAF strikes have resulted in no civilian deaths, according to the Ministry of Defence

Defence Secretary Sir Michael Fallon has praised the work of UK forces in the Middle East, saying that IS, the 'evil of our age', has been driven back considerably

An estimated 1,571 fighters recorded as having been killed in Iraq since bombing began two years ago, and 181 in Syria since the start of operations there in December of last year.

The UK has been able to kill proportionately more militants in Iraq because it is operating there with the local government's support, and has been able to break many IS lines of communication in the country.

Defence Secretary Sir Michael Fallon said: 'Daesh is being defeated. It is being driven back. It now occupies less than 10% of Iraqi territory.

'So two years on we're making significant progress. This remains a hard fight. Yet Britain will not waiver in our efforts to defeat the evil of our age.'

A spike in numbers killed in Syria during August (108), came as the RAF assisted Kurdish-led rebel forces liberate the city of Manbij, in Aleppo province, from IS control.

The MoD said it cannot verify the number of IS extremists killed as it is unable to visit the air strike sites, adding: 'They are estimated figures based on post-strike analysis.'

A damaged block of flats in the city of Manbij, Iraq, where Kurdish forces advanced with the aid of British air support to drive back extremist militants. The RAF killed 108 fighter in the operation

The rubble of Manbij, which was liberated from IS. The MoD has claimed that no civilian lives have been lost as a result of UK bombing since the air campaign began

The monitoring group for the coalition bombing campaign against IS, Airwars, is skeptical about the MoD's claims, which they say are equivalent to those made by the Russian government.

Airwars director Chris Woods said the MoD had engaged with the organisation about the 35 incidents of concern it raised between January and July where there have been reports of civilian deaths, and RAF aircraft have been in the vicinity.

Reaper drone used to target enemy fighters from great altitudes. The unmanned craft have been operating in the skies above Iraq and Syria

The Tornado is one of the state-of-the-art aircraft being used to weaken IS forces. Monitoring group Airwars have remained skeptical of the claim that the strikes from such fighter jets have resulted in no innocent civilians being killed, saying that if the claim was true it would be 'unprecedented

He added: 'Where we have more concern with the MoD is its assertion, an aggressive assertion at times, that they have killed no civilians in the war in Iraq and Syria despite more than 1,000 air strikes.

'That would be unprecedented in the history of warfare.'
A 12-year-old Massachusetts boy is facing criminal charges for taking three 9mm bullets to school and threatening classmates.

Police says the boy, who isn't named because he is a juvenile, took the live rounds to West Springfield Middle School on September 27.

Classmates found out about the ammo on the bus to school - and the boy threatened to assault anyone who turned him in.

According to police he said that if he had a gun, he would use it on kids who gave him a hard time.

A 12-year-old Massachusetts boy is facing criminal charges for taking three 9mm bullets to school and threatening classmates

'The fact pattern here is sort of interesting,' police Chief Ron Campurciani told The Republic.

A school officer says some kids on the bus were so scared, they got off before their stops.

The boy now faces charges of illegal possession of ammunition and threatening to commit a crime

Police checked the boy's locker and found three rounds of live ammo, police said.

Once his parents were notified, he began to search for 'snitches' using Kik, an anonymous messaging service for smartphones.

'We have screenshots,' Campurciani told the Republic. 'He's trying to gather up friends to go beat this kid who gave him up.'

The boy now faces charges of illegal possession of ammunition and threatening to commit a crime, WGGB reported.

Police said he got the bullets from his older brother, who is a legal gun owner.

The incident resulted in the older brother's carrying license being revoked for failure to store ammo in a safe place.

'Obviously, he's not securing it properly,' Campurciani told the Republic.

School officials say the boy has been disciplined. But given his age, they cannot divulge details on any punitive action.

'Unfortunately, due to the student's age - 12 years old - I can't comment as to disciplinary action, but I can tell you that the department took action under the student handbook to resolve the issue,' Mayor Will Reichelt told the Republic
A new exhibit at the National Museum of Estonia which invites visitors to desecrate an image of the Virgin Mary has sparked outrage in some quarters of the Christian community.

The virtual image is projected on a screen in a glass case - and remains intact until a 'smash' zone is kicked at the base of the installation.

This causes the sacred statue to shatter and is replaced by the word, 'Reformation' - after which the exhibit resets itself.

It is intended to celebrate the Protestant Reformation in the historically Lutheran nation.

A new exhibit at the National Museum of Estonia which invites visitors to desecrate an image of the Virgin Mary has sparked outrage in some quarters of the Christian community

Estonia became mainly Lutheran in the 16th century. There were around 108,000 adherents as of the 2011 census, compared to around 4,500 Roman Catholics.

Although two-thirds of the nation declares no religious affiliation - making it one of the least religious countries in the world - there has been an outcry over the museum's exhibit.

Christian leaders and politicians said the desecration of a sacred image makes a mockery of religion.

Urmas Viilma, the Archbishop of the Estonian Evangelical Lutheran Church, said it insults the feelings of believers.

The virtual image is projected on a screen in a glass case - and remains intact until a 'smash' zone is kicked at the base of the installation

'I very seriously doubt that this exhibit is suitable for the permanent collection of the National Museum of Estonia, even if it is interesting from a technical point of view or from the perspective of modern approach to the depiction of historical events,' he wrote on Facebook.

He further noted that for a 'huge number of believers,' the Virgin Mary is 'not some historical figure or event, gone into oblivion, but a reality today.'

Meanwhile, Mart Helme, chairman of the opposition Conservative People's Party and former ambassador to Russia, said the display also offends the Russian-speaking community of Estonia who have a strong devotion to the Virgin Mary.

'Most Russians living in Estonia are actively religious people and their integration is not helped by religious insult approved on a state level,' Helme said, noting that the display 'insults the feelings of religious Russian-speaking residents and hinders their integration,' he told Breitbart.

'Mocking the symbols of faith also has a political dimension to it. An attack on symbols may lead to an escalation of social tensions and a cooling of inter-state relations,' he added.

According to the museum's Facebook page, the exhibit is an 'artistic representation of the theme of iconoclasm' - adding that 'violence is not the message that we would like to promote'.
A cadaver dealer washed human remains down the drain, stored heads in mouthwash and lied to families about what he did with the bodies of their loved ones, prosecutors say.

Arthur Rathburn operated International Biological Inc., which rented out body parts for medical or dental training.

He is accused of dismembering bodies and renting infected parts to medical researchers without the permission of the deceaseds family, the Detroit Free Press reports.

After years of the FBI building a criminal case against Rathburn, of Grosse Pointe Park, Michigan, federal prosecutors are preparing to take the case to trial soon.

Arthur Rathburn (above, outside Theodore Levin United States Courthouse in Detroit in February) is accused of dismembering bodies and renting infected parts to medical researchers without the permission of the deceaseds family

He is trying to ensure the gruesome details of his body broker business are not heard by the jury, according to the Free Press.

But his request was denied this week by a judge who said his Detroit warehouse appears to be a hub of illegally activity.

Rathburn misdeeds include allegedly shipping blood-filled coolers of fresh heads on commercial airliners and storing thousands of body parts on ice at his warehouse, International Biological Inc.

Those remains were seized by the FBI in a raid in 2013.

But now, further details about the grisliness of his enterprise have surfaced in court filings.

They include statements from three confidential sources, two of which were Rathburns employees.

Arthur Rathburn disposes of human biological waste down the drain and in the regular garbage at (his) Detroit facility, an FBI agent wrote in an affidavit based on information from one of the employees, according to the Free Press.

Rathburn operated International Biological Inc. (above, file photo), which rented out body parts for medical or dental training

The affidavit continues: When Rathburn sends the body for cremation, not all of the body is sent. Rathburn keeps some of the parts for later use  these are not returned to the family.

The employee added that Rathburn only cremates the torso and keeps the head, neck, arms and legs.

But the families of the donors are never told that they have only been given part of their loved ones back.

Rathburn and his wife Elizabeth were indicted in January after years of being watched by authorities.

The indictment says he falsely claimed eight human heads shipped in 2012 had been embalmed, yet human blood was found in the coolers.

In March, his wife struck a deal with prosecutors and pleaded guilty to wire fraud. She faces four to 10 months in prison under the terms of her agreement.

She admitted that she falsely told a customer that human remains for medical training were free of infectious diseases.

She didn't disclose in an email that remains provided for a 2012 meeting of the American Society of Anesthesiologists in Washington, D.C., had tested positive for hepatitis B and HIV.

Investigators don't believe anyone became ill.

Elizabeth, who is divorcing Rathburn, also agreed to testify against her husband.

Arthur Rathburn is accused of fraud, making false statements and transporting hazardous materials. He has pleaded not guilty.

If convicted, he faces up to 20 years in prison.

Authorities say that between 2007 and 2013, the couple bought body parts from Illinois and Arizona and stored them in their warehouse in Detroit before renting the remains to researchers.

Rathburn was the co-ordinator of the University of Michigans anatomical donation program in the 1980s but he was fired for selling bodies.

In 1989, he reportedly began his own cadaver-dealing business.
A 105ft bridge made fro LEGO may have once seemed like the mad ravings of a childhood enthusiasts aspiring to one day build the real-life infrastructure of tomorrow's world.

But for those who have achieved that aspiration, it has become a reality and the record-breaking structure now adorns the headquarters of a group representing those modern-day engineers.

The LEGO structure has been built top open a new exhibition celebrating bridge building over the centuries, which has opened in London's Institution of Civil Engineers.

A 32-metre LEGO bridge (pictured) has been built in London'd Institution of Civil Engineers

It holds the Guinness World Record for the longest bridge span in the world made entirely out of interlocking plastic bricks

The Institution Tweeted this bridge selfie when the bridge was unveiled to open a new exhibition on bridge building

It holds the Guinness World Record the longest bridge span in the world made entirely out of interlocking plastic bricks.

To do so, the rules state that the bridge had to be completely free standing without the aid of a reinforcing frame, glue or other supports  a civil engineering challenge in its own right.

Thenew exhibition aims to reach a wider audience of potential engineers and educate the public on their vital role to society.

In addition to the focal LEGO bridge display, the exhibition will house a series of interactive and educational displays, including the story behind numerous famous bridges through the ages.

Among them is the grand nineteenth century engineering innovation by IK Brunel and Sarah Guppy spanning the Avon Gorge, the Clifton suspension bridge.

It took more than a century from when the idea was first mooted for the bridge to open in 1864, but it still links North Somerset and Bristol today.

The story behind the Clifton suspension bridge in Bristol is also told in the exhibition

Telford and Robert Stephensons road and rail crossings over the treacherous waters of the Menai Strait also features

Another famous story explored is the construction of Telford and Robert Stephensons road and rail crossings over the treacherous waters of the Menai Strait.

Often considered the cream of nineteenth century bridge design invention, the three bridges helped shape from the Welsh mainland to Anglesey shaped bridge-building all over the world.
A woman whose mother's ashes were stolen from her car fears an addict stole and ingested them thinking they were drugs.

Carolyn Parker told The Enterprise of Brockton the ashes were in a plastic bag inside a small white box in her glove compartment.

They were taken from her unlocked Jeep in Massachusetts on Monday.

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Carolyn Parker (pictured), whose mother's ashes were stolen from her car, fears an addict stole and ingested them thinking they were drugs

Parker says the ashes were in a plastic bag inside a small white box in her glove compartment. They were taken from her unlocked Jeep (pictured with the door open) in Massachusetts on Monday

She said the thief took only the ashes, leaving behind her expensive sunglasses, $20 in change and a gold chain hanging from her rearview mirror.

Her mother Donna Potter died in July at age 71.

Parker's mother Donna Potter (pictured) died in July at age 71

Parker had the ashes in her vehicle so she could spread them at her mother's favorite spots.

She told the Enterprise: 'It must have been somebody who thought they hit the mother load with drugs and just grabbed it.

'It was dark and maybe they couldn't see exactly what it was.

'They wouldn't have taken it if they knew what it was. I feel bad for them.

'There's a huge drug problem going on and clearly that person going through my car is desperate.'

Parker told the newspaper: 'I was going to have a necklace made with both my mother's and my son's ashes fused together but now I can't do that.'

She says it's 'mortifying' to think that someone may have ingested the ashes.

She's asking the thief to return them no questions asked.

Parker explained to CBS Boston : 'It was ashes that I had in my car so that when I wanted to go and spread them somewhere, I had them in my car.

'I spend a lot of time in my car, so why not have my mother in my car with me.'

Parker's mother died of breast cancer, the TV station reported.

Parker told the news outlet: 'I have had this pit in my stomach since it happened. I feel like I'm in a bad dream.'
Qatar, an Islamist state in the Persian gulf, gave former President Bill Clinton $1million for his birthday in 2012, according to emails released by WikiLeaks.

According to a message that was released in the leak of Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta's emails this week, Ami Desai, director of foreign policy for the Clinton Foundation, told several other staffers about the check.

'[Qatar] Would like to see WJC "for five minutes" in NYC, to present $1 million check that Qatar promised for WJC's birthday in 2011,' Desai wrote.

Qatar ambassadors asked Ami Desai, director of foreign policy for the Clinton Foundation, for 'five minutes' with Bill Clinton in 2012. Pictured above, Clinton meets with Qatar's Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani in Doha 12 January 2004

The email continued: 'Qatar would welcome our suggestions for investments in Haiti  particularly on education and health.

'They have allocated most of their $20 million but are happy to consider projects we suggest. Im collecting input from CF Haiti team.'

Ami Desai, director of foreign policy for the Clinton Foundation sent the email to several Clinton staffers

The email was addressed to top aides Doug Band and Justin Cooper, board chairman Bruce Lindsey and former foundation COO Laura Graham.

The email suggests that Desai met with ambassadors from Qatar, Brazil, Peru, Malawi and Rwanda to discuss financial and philanthropic strategies for the Clinton Foundation.

Thousands of Podesta's emails were posted on the DCLeaks website in recent days, revealing all kinds of internal Clinton campaign workings.

Podesta has not confirmed the accuracy of any individual emails that have been published.

Clinton's campaign said the FBI was investigating who hacked Podesta's email.

Spokesman Glen Caplin said Wednesday it's 'clear' that the hacking of Podesta's email 'is the work of the Russian government'. He attributed that to the FBI, though the bureau has not said so publicly.

The message was released in the leak of Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta's (center) emails this week. It was addressed to top aides Doug Band (left) and Justin Cooper, board chairman Bruce Lindsey and former foundation COO Laura Graham

Caplin said Trump's campaign needs to explain its 'possible ties to foreign espionage.'

Meanwhile, late Wednesday, it appeared someone hacked Podesta's verified Twitter account and posted a message saying he had 'switched teams' and was supporting Trump.

The message was deleted within a few minutes of it appearing. 'We can confirm that John's Twitter account was hacked, which would explain the message,' spokesman Nick Merrill said.

U.S. intelligence officials last week blamed the Russian government for a series of breaches intended to influence the presidential election.
are now finished and Ajabu went on display Wednesday

A baby elephant whose mother gave birth this spring after being rescued from a national park in Africa has finally gone on display at Dallas Zoo.

The mother, Mlilo, was pregnant when she arrived at the zoo from the nation of Swaziland and gave birth in May, however officials were not aware at the time.

Ajabu was born underweight on May 14, and the enclosure needed to be extensively baby-proofed to allow the calf to live in the exhibit.

Welcome to your new home: Ajabu the baby elephant walks along with his mother Mlilo in the Giants of the Savanna exhibit at the Dallas Zoo in Dallas on Wednesday

The male calf named Ajabu went on public display on Wednesday, with his mother, in the Giants of the Savanna exhibit. Ajabu was born May 14 to Mlilo

Harrison Edell, the zoo's senior director of living collections, said it took some time to get the enclosure ready and get Ajabu up to a healthy weight.

'Because mom was originally pregnant in South Africa, where there weren't a lot of food resources, when he was born he was on the smaller side,' Edell told the Dallas News.

'Right now he looks real small next to mom, who weighs almost 4,900 pounds, while he weights about 330 pounds right now.

'Hes growing quickly. He's catching up. But he definitely had a rocky start.'

'He definitely had a rocky start': Harrison Edell, the zoo's senior director of living collections, explained how Ajabu was born underweight

The zoo announced on Wednesday that Ajabu was on display with his mother in the Giants of the Savanna exhibit.

'We were trying to give him as much room to get around and explore without letting him get around into public areas or service areas or keeper areas,' Doug Dykman, the zoo's vice president of facilities and sustainability programs, told the Dallas News.

'It was all really basically, how do we keep him safe and give him an opportunity to grow safely?'

Ajabu weighed just 175 pounds at birth. He's now almost 4 feet tall.

Ajabu, a five-month-old baby elephant, stands with his mother Mlilo in the Giants of the Savannah exhibit at the Dallas Zoo in Dallas on Wednesday

The zoo says the calf is still nursing but some of his teeth have emerged and he also eats hay and produce.

The Giants of the Savanna habitat features animals including elephants, giraffes, zebras, lions and cheetahs.

Measuring at more than 11 acres of land, it is home to elephants, giraffes, zebras and other animal, and had three areas that needed to be remodeled before Ajabu was allowed to be introduced.
The small Persian Gulf nation of Qatar found an unusual way to say 'happy birthday' to former President Bill Clinton: a $1 million check to the Clinton Foundation.

The existence of the 'birthday' check was revealed in newly dumped documents on Wikileaks hacked from Hillary Clinton campaign chair John Podesta.

The check, reported by the Daily Caller, came following meeting between a Clinton Foundation official and several foreign ambassadors to the U.S.

At the time the check was delivered, the Qataris were seeking five minutes of face time with the former president, while also soliciting input on how to make 'investments' in Haiti in education and health, a possible reference to charity efforts.

Bill Clinton pictured with the Emir of Qatar Hamad Bin Khalifa Al Thani in 2005. The ambassador of Qatar provided a $1 million donation to the Clinton Foundation in connection with Clinton's birthday, according to a hacked email

'Would like to see WJC 'for five minutes' in NYC, to present $1 million check that Qatar promised for WJC's birthday in 2011, Clinton official Ami Desai wrote in 2012.

'Qatar would welcome our suggestions for investments in Haiti - particularly on education and health, Desai added.

'They have allocated most of their $20 million but are happy to consider projects we suggest. I'm collecting input from CF Haiti team,' a reference to the Clinton Foundation.

The Clinton Foundation had made investments and reconstruction in Haiti a major focus following the devastating earthquake there.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MR. PRESIDENT: The email discussed a $1 million check 'for WJC's birthday'

Bill Clinton, his then-chief of staff John Podesta, and aide Doug Band at the White House in 2001 on his last day in office

The Qataris also inquired about making investments in Haiti for health and education

The email was penned by Clinton Foundation policy director Amitabh Desai

Qatar has been a major beneficiary of the U.S. security umbrella in the Middle East. The small oil-rich emirate also makes substantial purchases of U.S. military equipment.

The email also describes meetings with the ambassadors of Brazil, Peru, Malawi and Rwanda.

The ambassador meetings appeared to be geared toward soliciting ideas for foundation projects in their countries.

In the case of Peru, the ambassador was asked for ideas about 'which sectors/parts of Peru to focus on in order to create jobs.'

'He suggested we speak with his son, an alderman in Lima, about jobs projects for young men who otherwise could be recruited by gangs,' according to the email.

'Ambassador also suggested speaking with Minister for Women and Vulnerable Populations, Ms. Ana Jara, for jobs projects for women.'

Hillary Clinton's campaign has not been commenting on the veracity of specific emails, although it has said all of them may not be accurate.

The U.S. intelligence community says Russian intelligence is behind the hack of Democratic officials. The FBI has opened an investigation into the hack of Podesta's emails.

The email was sent to longtime Bill Clinton aide Doug Band, Bruce Lindsey, who chairs the Clinton Foundation board, Clinton aide Justin Cooper, and Laura Graham, the foundation chief operating officer.

The foundation did not have immediate comment.

It wasn't immediately clear why the email would have been included in Podesta's emails, as he was not listed as a recipient. It was posted on the Wikileaks site, which has been dumping thousands of emails believed to have been hacked from Podesta's account.
Hillary Clinton's campaign chairman described Hispanic Democrats withholding their endorsement as 'needy Latinos' and advised the candidate to butter them up with phone calls.

In a hacked email from August 2015 with the subject line, 'Needy Latinos and 1 easy call,' John Podesta told Hillary's right-hand aide, Huma Abedin, that the the candidate needed to reach out to former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson and former Energy Secretary Federico Pena and personally ask for their backing.

Both men served in Bill Clinton's cabinet. Richardson was also an Energy secretary to the two-term president. Podesta said Richardson is a 'd***' but Hillary should phone him anyway.

In a hacked email from August 2015 with the subject line, 'Needy Latinos and 1 easy call,' John Podesta told Hillary's right-hand aide, Huma Abedin, that the the candidate needed to reach out to former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson (pictured)

Richardson had emailed Podesta, a chief of staff to Bill in the White House, two days before and indicated that he wouldn't endorse Hillary in the Democratic primary unless she made the call.

'You should support her. Don't make it so complicated,' Podesta told him, according to ABC News.

Nonetheless, Podesta recommended in the Abedin email that Hillary speak to him.

'I had heard that you were upset that I encouraged a call between WJC and Richardson to bury the hatchet,' Podesta said. 'Richardson is still on TV a lot, especially on Univision and Telemundo and not withstanding the fact that he can be a d***, it was worth getting him in a good place.'

Podesta told Clinton he'd been 'pressing' Richardson to commit to her campaign 'but I think it will take a call from you to get a formal endorsement.

'But if it's too galling, don't bother.'

Clinton should also consider calling Pena, he said.

Podesta told Clinton he'd been 'pressing' Richardson to commit to her campaign 'but I think it will take a call from you to get a formal endorsement. 'But if it's too galling, don't bother'

'Ask him how he's been doing...ask about his views on the race and what she should be doing in Colorado...ask that he consider publicly supporting you.'

Pena had relayed to former Interior Secretary Ken Salazar that he was peeved with the Clintons over the way they treated him after Bill's presidency.'

'He confided to Ken that his Cabinet stints ripped up his family, he gave everything to the cause and no time to his family, he went through a messy divorce in the late 90's and was left really down and felt like no one reached out to him then so he felt pretty cut off from Clinton World,' Podesta stated.

The ex-cabinet secretary endorsed Barack Obama in 2007 because he asked, Podesta said.

'He kind of wants to be with you, but this stuff is still grinding on him. Ken suggests a call to him.'

Of Pena's complaints Podesta said he's 'not sure any of this is factually accurate, but this is how he is feeling.'

'On balance, I recommend making this call as much because it's important to Ken who has been great.'

'I had heard that you were upset that I encouraged a call between WJC and Richardson to bury the hatchet,' Podesta wrote. 'Richardson is still on TV a lot, especially on Univision and Telemundo and not withstanding the fact that he can be a d***, it was worth getting him in a good place.'

Podesta has acknowledged that emails were in fact stolen from his personal account and that he is working with the FBI to determine the culprit.

'It is now clear that the illegal hack of my personal email account was -- just like the other recent, election-related hacks -- the work of the Russian government,' he said in a Wednesday statement.

He claimed there were a 'growing number of links between Trump's associates, Wikileaks and the Russian government' and said it 'raises troubling questions about the possibility that Trump's allies had advance knowledge of the release of these illegally obtained emails.
A 24-year-old drunk driver lost control of his pickup truck and plowed into a Florida home killing a Reverends elderly wife, authorities say.

Ryan Tallent, of Plant City, faces a DUI manslaughter charge and is being booked into the Polk County Jail, Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd.

Judd identified the woman who died as Janice Folds.

Folds, 77, and her husband, the Rev. Wyatt Folds, were married for 55 years.

Janice Folds (pictured left, with her husband) died in the crash on Thursday. She and her husband, the Rev. Wyatt Folds, were married for 55 years

Ryan Tallent's car is seen having crashed through the front of Wyatt and Janice Folds' home

Police were at the scene on Thursday. Pictured is some tape after they closed off the area outside the Folds' house

Judd said the truck exploded through a bedroom and dining room of the Lakeland home at about 40 mph on Thursday morning. eventually coming to a stop in the kitchen.

He said she appeared to have been in the guest bedroom of the home when she was killed.

Rev. Folds was home at the time of the incident, but was not hurt.

The couple had been about to leave for Bible study when the crash occurred.

Ryan Tallent, of Plant City, faces a DUI manslaughter charge after the crash on Thursday

Tallent is seen in handcuffs and being led by police officers after the deadly car crash on Thursday

Rev. Folds was home at the time of the incident that killed his wife (together, above) but was not hurt

Judd also said that Tallent had tried to leave the scene, but neighbors stopped him, according to Fox 13.

He murdered that woman, the sheriff told the local station. Im angry.

Judd said that Tallent failed a sobriety test miserably.

He had also been speeding and weaving over the road before he crashed into the home on Fitzgerald Road, according to Fox13.

It isn't clear whether Tallent has a lawyer.
She had contacted police prior to the attack and her case will be reviewed

A man has been arrested after the body of a 'kind, clever and beautiful' young woman was found.

Doctor's daughter Alice Ruggles, 24, was found with serious injuries at a house in Gateshead - she had previously been in contact with police.

A 25-year-old man who knew the victim has been arrested on suspicion of murder, and the case will be reviewed by the Independent Police Complaints Commission.

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Alice Ruggles, 24, had been in contact with the police prior to the incident in Gateshead. Emergency services arrived at a house in the area following reports of concern for the victim. She was pronounced dead on the scene. It is believed Alice knew the man, 25, who has been arrested on suspicion of murder

Northumbria Police rushed to the Saltwell Park area of Gateshead following a call reporting concern for the victim.

They arrived at Rawlings Road to find her body with serious injuries, and she was pronounced dead at the scene.

One witness who lives on the street said she heard 'shouting and a commotion' on the evening of the attack.

A man known the the victim was arrested, suspected of murdering Alice Ruggles, who had moved to the North East from her family home in Leicestershire.

Rawlings Road in Saltwell park, Gateshead, where the body of the 24-year-old woman was found with 'serious injuries'

Her heartbroken family have paid tribute to her.

They said: "She was kind, clever and beautiful; we are struggling to come to terms with the fact that she is not with us anymore.

"She loved life, loved her friends and loved her job. She had so much to live for. Nothing, nothing can ever replace her."

"She loved life, loved her friends and loved her job." Alice Ruggle's family have paid tribute to the young woman who 'had so much to live for'

She was the daughter of Dr. Sue Hills, a teacher at Leicester High School, and Professor Clive Ruggles, who used to work in the Archaeology and Ancient History department of the University of Leicester.

Alice was a former pupil of Leicester High School, a fee-paying school which costs 11,000 a year to attend, where her mother is head of the Mathematics department.
Michelle Obama tugged at female voters' emotions in a speech today from Manchester, New Hampshire, by expressing how deeply upset she was by Republican nominee Donald Trump.

'Last week we saw this candidate actually bragging about sexually assaulting women,' the first lady said. 'And I have to tell you, I can't stop thinking about this.'

'It has shaken me to my core in a way that I could not have predicted,' she said.

The first lady, who has stumped for Hillary Clinton in Pennsylvania and North Carolina since her barn-burner of a convention speech, warned her audience that they wouldn't be getting that stump speech today.

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Michelle Obama spoke today in New Hampshire about how Donald Trump's recent comments on women have shaken her to her core

'I can't stop thinking about this,' Michelle Obama said, throwing aside her typical stump speech to blast Donald Trump's comments about women

'So as much as I'd like to pretend that this isn't happening and to come out here and do my normal campaign speech, it would be dishonest and disingenuous of me to just move on to the next thing like this was all just a bad dream,' Obama said.

As Trump was throwing down the gauntlet and suggesting that the accusers' stories, reported in the New York Times and elsewhere, are made up, Obama cast those women as every American woman who has been sexually assaulted or had a sexist boss.

The first lady compared Trump's comments and his 'belief that you can do anything you want to a woman' to a cast of creepy characters that plenty of American women know well.

'It's like that the sick, sick feeling you get when you're walking down the street, minding your own business and some guy [spews] out some vulgar words about your body,' Obama said.

Michelle Obama told her audience it was OK to feel upset about Donald Trump's comments in which he 'bragged about sexually assaulting women'

Michelle Obama likened the women who are accusing Trump of misdeeds to American women everywhere who have been sexually assaulted or degraded at work

'Or that guy at work who stands a little too close, stares a little too long, you feel uncomfortable in your own skin,' the first lady continued.

'It's that feeling of terror and violation that too many women have felt when someone has grabbed them or forced himself on them and they said no, but he doesn't listen,' Obama said.

She noted how this is a reality on college campuses and elsewhere, every single day.

She even brought up 'Mad Men'-era workplace sexism, portraying Trump as the still-sexist boss.

'It reminds us of stories we heard from our mothers and grandmothers, about how back in their day the boss could do and say whatever he pleased to the women in the office and even though they worked so hard, jumped over every hurdle to prove themselves, it was never enough,' she noted.

Obama then gave the audience permission to be upset.

'But New Hampshire, let me be clear, this is not normal, this is not politics as usual,' Michelle Obama said.

'But here we are in 2016 and we're hearing these exact same things every day on the campaign trail,' she said. 'We are drowning in it.'

'And all of us are doing what women have always done. We are trying to keep our heads above water. Just trying to get through it, pretending that this doesn't really bother us,' she said.

She then went through the reasons why she thought female voters weren't getting emotionally upset.

'Maybe because we think that admitting how much it hurts makes women look weak,' she suggested.

'Maybe we're afraid to be that vulnerable,' she thought.

Maybe we've grown accustomed to swallowing these emotions because we've seen that people won't often take our word over his,' she brought up.

'Or maybe we don't want to believe that there are people still out there that think so little of us as women,' FLOTUS floated.

She noted how many people were treating Trump's comments and women's reaction to them as overblown or unwarranted, as Trump himself has referred to his 'p****' video as just 'locker room talk.'

'But New Hampshire, let me be clear, this is not normal, this is not politics as usual,' Obama said.

'This is disgraceful, it is intolerable and it doesn't matter what party you belong to: Democrat, Republican, independent  no woman deserves to be treated this way, none of us deserve this kind of abuse,' she said.

The first lady further pulled on the audience's heartstrings by bringing up the impression Trump was having on children, both little girls and little boys.

Pulling in men to the equation, she talked about how the men she associates with don't talk about women like this.

'And to dismiss this as everyday locker room talk is an insult to decent men everywhere,' Obama said.

She repeated that this is not how someone who wants to be president of the United States behaves.

'Because let's be very clear, strong men, men who are truly role models, don't need to put down women to make themselves feel powerful,' she stated.

'People who are truly strong, lift others up,' she said.

'People who are truly powerful bring people together and that is what we need in our next president. We need someone who is a uniting force in this country,' she continued.
Indiana pastor, Bobby Slagle, is charged with threatening to shoot two children to keep them away from his church, police said

An Indiana pastor is charged with threatening to shoot neighborhood children to keep them away from his church.

Bobby Slagle of New Castle's Calvary Baptist Church is charged with felony intimidation and misdemeanor resisting law enforcement, according to The Star Press.

Slagle said he was frustrated about vandalism at his church in New Castle, 50 miles east of Indianapolis, according to a police report.

New Castle police say Slagle 'advised the kids that if they did not get off his property he was going to shoot them'.

The 69-year-old said that 'it was his right to tell the kids what he did'.

Police said Slagle raised his shirt, showing the children a .38-caliber revolver in his waist band around 5pm on Monday.

Slagle allegedly threatened a brother and sister riding their bicycles to nearby Baker Park, the Star Press reported.

An officer wrote in the report that one of the children was 'upset and shaking' while recounting the incident.

The report says Slagle allegedly struggled with arresting officers on the church property.

Police also discovered that his gun 'contained four live rounds of ammo,' the Star Press reported.

Slagle waived his right to an initial hearing and a judge entered not guilty pleas on his behalf.

The pastor could receive up to 30 months in prison if convicted of the charges against him.

Slagle said he was frustrated about vandalism at the Calvary Baptist Church (pictured). New Castle police said Slagle 'advised the kids that if they did not get off his property he was going to shoot them'
A former Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) agent who is facing up to 15 years in prison for his role in a widespread Navy bribery scheme claims he was seduced into becoming a mole because he was lonely, needed both a girlfriend and a father figure.

Three years ago, John Beliveau, a former NCIS supervisory special agent, pleaded guilty to trading classified, secret information to the head of Glenn Defense Marine Asia (GDMA), Leonard 'Fat Leonard' Francis, in exchange for an estimated $30,000 in cash, prostitutes and luxury vacations.

Prosecutors say the 51-year-old Malaysian kingpin bought information from Navy officials that allowed his company to overbill the military branch by at least $20million for services it provided to Navy ships at Asian ports since 2009. Francis asked Navy captains to re-route ships to ports owned by his company or to small ports where they could impose fake port fees on the Navy.

Beliveau is due to be sentenced during a hearing on Friday, and in a recent court filing, his lawyers have argued that he receive a year's home confinement followed by supervised release.

They claim Beliveau, who started working for NCIS in 2002, committed the crimes because he has mental disorders, was tired, drank too much alcohol, was weak, needed a father figure and a girlfriend due to loneliness.

John Beliveau (center) a former NCIS supervisory special agent, pleaded guilty to trading classified, secret information in exchange for an estimated $30,000 cash, prostitutes and luxury vacations

Prosecutors say Leonard 'Fat Leonard' Francis (center) bought information from Navy officials, including Beliveau, that allowed his company to overbill the military branch by at least $20million for services it provided to Navy ships

'In the instant offense, severe mental illness and compromised judgment, rather than greed, motivated Mr. Beliveau,' his defense lawyers argued in a recent court filing obtained by ABC News.

'He was weak and vulnerable, and in his compromised state, he exercised terrible judgment.'

However, prosecutors in the case called the defense's request an 'insult' and they want Beliveau to serve 15 years in prison.

'Beliveau's sentencing submission discusses his psychological diagnoses at length but makes no effort to identify how they justify his decision to take bribes from the target of a criminal investigation,' in their own filing last week prosecutors said.

'At any rate, there can be no doubt that the facts establish that Beliveau is a high-achieving adult who understood the consequences of his actions ... Unfortunately, however, Beliveau used his considerable talents to perpetuate a lengthy and damaging bribery and fraud scheme.

'Beliveau conspired to steal tens of millions of dollars from the U.S. Navy, he put lives at risk, and has forever tarnished the reputation of the agency and country he was sworn to protect.

'That he did so for a steady stream of prostitutes, lavish trips and dinners and envelopes of cash is directly relevant to the court's analysis of his history and characteristics.'

Beliveau was apart of the widespread bribery ring operated by 350lb Francis, who is known in military circles as 'Fat Leonard', through his company that provided fuel, food and supplies for Navy ships for 25 years.

Beliveau (left) is due to be sentenced during a hearing on Friday, and in a recent court filing, his lawyers have argued that he receive a year's home confinement followed by supervised release

They claim Beliveau (center), who started working for NCIS in 2002, committed the crimes because he has mental disorders, was tired, drank too much alcohol, was weak, needed a father figure and a girlfriend due to loneliness

The bribery ring involved more than a dozen Navy servicemen and high-ranking officials who gave him classified information.

Francis, who was arrested in September 2013 and pleaded guilty in January 2015, ripped off the Navy with the information he received on ship movements and ships being steered toward his ports.

Following the arrest, hundreds of law enforcement agents arrested other suspects in three states and seven countries and seized incriminating files from his business empire.

More than a dozen Navy officers, including a vice admiral, have been disciplined or been criminally prosecuted while some are still facing charges related to the scheme.

Beliveau didn't come into the bribery scheme until after Francis had learned he was being investigated by the NCIS, which is the law enforcement agency of the Navy.

The two men met while Beliveau was stationed from 2008 to 2012 in Singapore.

Beliveau's attorneys said that their client found Francis to be a 'wealthy, smooth-talking, popular man,' while Francis seemingly found someone he used to get information.

'(Francis) wined, dined and cultivated relationships with his guests that he would later exploit,' Beliveau's attorneys said in the more than 70-page court filing.

Beliveau didn't come into the bribery scheme until after Francis (right) had learned he was being investigated by the NCIS. Francis paid Beliveau to leak information about the investigation to him

'Mr. Beliveau was weak ... In essence, Mr. Beliveau was a prime target for Francis. He was exhausted and lonely.'

In their argument for Beliveau, the court filing states that he lived with loneliness, intense securities, serious mental and physical ailments that go back to his childhood.

Though Beliveau had a successful career as an NCIS agent, his lawyers said he never had a romantic relationship or any real friends as he drank excessively and lived with anxiety and obsessive compulsive disorder.

When he met Francis, Beliveau believed that he found a friend and betrayed the country for him, his attorneys said in the filing.

'(Beliveau) became attached to Mr. Francis, a man who was powerful and had the resources to keep him safe and provide him with the numbing agents that John used as his primary coping mechanism,' Beliveau's therapist wrote at some point, as quoted in the defense filing ABC obtained.

The reference to 'numbing agents' he received included thousands of dollars, prostitutes, fine dining and alcohol.

Francis even purchased a decommissioned British warship (above), renamed it the Glenn Braveheart, and occasionally turned it into a giant party boat with prostitutes

Francis had even purchased a decommissioned British warship, renamed it the Glenn Braveheart, and occasionally turned it into a giant party boat, complete with prostitutes in the wardroom according to court records.

Starting in 2011, prosecutors say Beliveau gave Francis numerous internal NCIS reports and trained him on how to best answer questions from investigators.

'As the months went by, Mr. Beliveau fell deeper into Francis' scheme to a point in which they communicated almost daily.' Beliveau's attorneys said in the filing.

'He was symptomatically obsessed with Francis and overwhelmingly attached to the relief Francis could provide through the parties and prostitutes.'

In addition, Francis and Beliveau sent dozens of emails back and forth about hookers and payment.

In one email Beliveau wrote in 2012 to Francis, he said: 'You give your whores more money than me ;)

'Don't get too busy that you forget your friends ... let me know ... I can be your best friend or worst enemy.'

Prosecutors claim that Beliveau allegedly gave Francis 'real-time updates and warnings about every significant development' via text message concerning the NCIS' cases on him.

Beliveau's attorney's say he became attached to Francis and the luxuries that he gave him. Prosecutors claim that Beliveau (center) gave Francis 'real-time updates and warnings about every significant development' via text message concerning the NCIS' cases on him

Beliveau provided Francis with the identities of witnesses who were cooperating and also warned him that an NCIS source was making recordings of a GDMA employee.

'I have 30 reports for u (sic), not good, ur (sic) girl in Thailand fd (sic) up and got caught on tape,' one of the messages from Beliveau said, according to prosecutors.

Authorities came to suspect that a mole was working inside NCIS. They created a 'clandestine team of agents' to operate a 'secret investigation that was completely walled off' from NCIS's internal system.

Military authorities went into the NCIS system in July 2013 and placed a fake report that said the investigation into Francis' business was to be closed, in an effort to trap the mole.

Beliveau immediately reported that information to Francis, who then traveled to San Diego to meet with Navy officials who worked for him in the scheme.

Military authorities arrested Francis, Beliveau and a group of service members involved in the scheme.

Beliveau agreed to cooperate with investigators in the widespread case three months later and he pleaded guilty.

His attorneys have also argued that the crimes he committed were not as bad as some of what others did for Francis.

They also said that prior to Beliveau meeting Francis, he had never done anything wrong in his life.

Last year, US Navy commander Jose Luis Sanchez (above) pleaded guilty in the case for providing shipping schedules and other information to Francis in exchange for bribes

'Mr. Beliveau's involvement in this scheme is truly an aberration from who he truly is  an honorable, thoughtful man dedicated to a life of service,' the court filing states.

'Mr. Beliveau is deeply remorseful and disappointed in himself.'

Prosecutors have countered Beliveau's attorney's argument with stating that the 15-year prison sentence recommendation should be imposed because his crimes were worse since he was a law enforcement officer for the Navy.

'The sentence that this court imposes upon Beliveau should reflect the level of trust that the judiciary and the public place in federal law enforcement agents and the gravity of the harm that results when agents breach that trust,' the prosecutors' filing states.

'For this reason, the harm that Beliveau did to the GDMA investigation  which was considerable  pales in comparison to the damage done to the public's faith in the law enforcement officers responsible for ensuring that the justice system achieves equitable results.'

Last year, US Navy commander Jose Luis Sanchez said he provided shipping schedules and other information to Francis in exchange for bribes.
The family of Keith Lamont Scott have released the results of a private autopsy, showing that he was shot in the back, abdomen and wrist by a cop before he died

The widow of Keith Lamont Scott, the Charlotte man who was killed by police last month, has called into the question the assertion that a black officer fired the round that took her husband's life.

An independent autopsy ordered by Scott's family has revealed that the 43-year-old shooting victim was hit in the back and abdomen during a confrontation with police on September 20.

According to the official version of events, Charlotte-Mecklenburg officer Brentley Vinson, who is black, pulled the trigger and killed Scott, who was also black.

But in an interview with CBS This Morning, which aired Wednesday, Rakeiya Scott, Keith's widow, suggested that Vinson was not the shooter.

Officer Vinson, I dont believe shot my husband, Scott told Gayle King.

When asked what she meant by her statement, Mrs Scott, who was present at the scene of the shooting, said Officer Vinson was standing to her left, at a distance.

'He's not part of the interaction,' Rakeiya Scott said.

Prompted by King to explain what, in her opinion, the Charlotte Police Department had to gain by claiming that a black officer was the shooter. Scott was noncommittal in her response.

'Im not sure what they have to gain. I'm just going by what I recall and believe that day,' she said.

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Widow speaks: Rakeyia Scott (left) has questioned whether black officer Brentley Vinson (right) was actually the man who shot her husband and has insisted her husband's death was '100 per cent' motivated by race

Rakeiya Scott also stated in the televised interviewed she believed her husband's shooting was '100 per cent' motivated by race.

Lawyers for Keith Scott's family said they released the findings of the independent autopsy to maintain 'transparency' in the case, which sparked violent demonstrations in Charlotte last month.

The autopsy, performed in the morgue at Newberry County Memorial Hospital in South Carolina on September 30, was signed by forensic pathologist Kim Collins.

Collins said the cause of death 'is best deemed homicide.'

According to the report, Scott suffered gunshot wounds to his left back, left abdomen and left wrist. He also suffered rib and wrist fractures.

The county medical examiner's autopsy results have not yet been released, while the investigation into Scott's death is ongoing.

Scott was shot dead by a Charlotte, North Carolina, police officer on September 20

Forensic pathologist Kim Collins. Collins said the cause of death 'is best deemed homicide'

Mrs Scott said Keith was on 11 different medications after a motorcycle accident in November 2015.

He was in the hospital for two months after the collision, and suffered severe head injuries that affected his behavior until his dead.

She also denied that he had a gun on him or in the car when he was shot.

Describing the day her husband was killed, she said: 'He's just sitting in the car. He's just sitting there, looking forward. He's confused. I know he was. He'd just taken his medicine.

'He had no gun. He was not a threat. He was just not a threat, period. He didn't have a gun, he wasn't a threat.

'I saw this incident unfold before my face. What people don't seem to understand, they're trying to bring in our past, but prior to -- I mean, after November the 2nd, after this accident, after his motorcycle accident and when he returned home in January, he was a totally different person.'

She then questioned why the police officers involved in the shooting didn't give him simple commands.

Mrs Scott added: 'All we want to know is why. Why did you have to take Keith that day? ... Give us a reason, because everything that you're saying right now, it just makes me angrier each day because I just keep hearing more stuff.'

Explaining why she believes Officer Vinson didn't shoot her husband, she said: 'Because of the positioning, when the shooting actually occurred. Officer Vinson was to my left, further. My positioning was where I could see the officer with the white shirt, my husband, the police - the officer with the dash cam, and the officer right here with the red.'

Nearly a year before her husband was shot to death by police, Mrs Scott filed restraining orders against him because he threatened to kill her and her son.

Scott admits that there had been violence in their relationship.

'All of it is correct, absolutely. But that's my marriage. I don't expect anyone to understand our marriage,' Scott said.

'Does that have anything to do with this case?' King asked.

'Had they known him, then I would understand why they would be and, you know, in defense mode. They didn't know who my husband was. They didn't know nothing about him,' Scott said.

Scott's funeral, which was postponed because of Hurricane Matthew's approach to the South Carolina coast, is scheduled for 11am on Friday at First Baptist Church of James Island in Charleston, South Carolina.
A lawsuit filed by a woman who alleges she was raped multiple times by Donald Trump will be heard in front of a judge in a pre-trial conference this December.

Judge Ronnie Abrams has ordered legal counsel for Trump and his co-defendant Jeffrey Epstein to appear on December 16 to set a case schedule.

It was filed in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York this past June, with an amended complaint submitted late last month.

'Defendant Trump initiated sexual contact with Plaintiff at four different parties. On the fourth and final sexual encounter with Defendant Trump, Defendant Trump tied Plaintiff to a bed, exposed himself to Plaintiff, and then proceeded to forcibly rape Plaintiff,' claims the woman in the lawsuit, who is identified as Jane Doe.

'During the course of this savage sexual attack, Plaintiff loudly pleaded with Defendant Trump to stop but with no effect. Defendant Trump responded to Plaintiffs pleas by violently striking Plaintiff in the face with his open hand and screaming that he would do whatever he wanted.'

Trump denied the claims when the lawsuit was filed in June, saying: 'The allegations are not only categorically false, but disgusting at the highest level and clearly framed to solicit media attention or, perhaps, are simply politically motivated.

'There is absolutely no merit to these allegations. Period.'

Claims: Donald Trump (above on Thursday) is being accused of 'forcibly raping' a 13-year-old girl in the summer of 1994 in a lawsuit

Court date: A judge has ordered legal counsel for Donald Trump to appear in court this December for a pre-trial conference (Jane Doe's claims above)

Jane Doe, alleges in the lawsuit that she 'was subject to acts of rape, sexual misconduct, criminal sexual acts, sexual abuse, forcible touching, assault, battery, intentional and reckless infliction of emotional distress, duress, false imprisonment, and threats of death and/or serious bodily injury by the Defendants that took place at several parties during the summer months of 1994'.

She claims that the alleged sexual assaults took place at the Manhattan mansion belonging to Epstein.

Corroborating her claims is a woman identified as Tiffany Doe who was an employee of Epstein at the time, and who claims in a signed declaration that she first convinced Jane Doe to attend one of Epstein's parties.

Tiffany Doe claims she was present when Jane was allegedly raped by Trump.

'It was at these series of parties that I personally witnessed the Plaintiff being forced to perform various sexual acts with Donald J. Trump and Mr. Epstein. Both Mr. Trump and Mr. Epstein were advised that she was 13 years old,' claims Tiffany Doe in her signed declaration for a protective order.

'I personally witnessed four sexual encounters that the Plaintiff was forced to have with Mr. Trump during this period, including the fourth of these encounters where Mr. Trump forcibly raped her despite her pleas to stop.'

Tiffany Doe also states in her declaration: 'I personally witnessed the one occasion where Mr. Trump forced the Plaintiff and a 12-year-old female named Maria perform oral sex on Mr. Trump and witnessed his physical abuse of both minors when they finished the act.'

Defendant: Financier Jeffrey Epstein (above in 2008) is also accused of raping the girl in the lawsuit

Alleged location: The lawsuit alleges that the rape occurred at the home of Jeffrey Epstein (above)

Jane Doe claims in her complaint that after Trump allegedly raped her, he threatened her life and said she and her family 'would be physically harmed if not killed' if she mentioned what happened between them.

She is also claiming in the complaint that Epstein raped her on the same night that she was raped by Trump.

'Defendant Epstein forced himself upon Plaintiff and proceeded to rape her anally and vaginally despite her loud pleas to stop,' claims Jane Doe in her lawsuit.

'Defendant Epstein then attempted to strike Plaintiff about the head with his closed fists while he angrily screamed at Plaintiff that he, Defendant Epstein, rather than Defendant Trump, should have been the one who took Plaintiffs virginity, before Plaintiff finally managed to break away from Defendant Epstein.'

The lawsuit later states: 'Both Defendants let Plaintiff know that each was a very wealthy, powerful man and indicated that they had the power, ability and means to carry out their threats.

'Indeed, Defendant Trump stated that Plaintiff shouldnt ever say anything if she didnt want to disappear like Maria, a 12-year-old female that was forced to be involved in the third incident with Defendant Trump and that Plaintiff had not seen since that third incident, and that he was capable of having her whole family killed.'
A Pennsylvania man who spent 25 years behind bars for his wife's 1991 murder won't face retrial and instead will be freed from prison.

Kevin Siehl, 60, had been granted a retrial in the case, for which he had been serving life in prison for the July 1991 slaying of his 29-year-old estranged wife, Christine Siehl.

Her body was found stabbed at least 20 times in a bathtub with the shower still running in her Johnstown, Pennsylvania, apartment.

Prosecutors said on Thursday that they don't believe they can prove their case 25 years later.

Kevin Siehl (pictured), 60, had spent 25 years behind bars after being convicted of the 1991 murder of his wife. A judge ordered Thursday that Siehl won't face a retrial and instead will be freed from prison

Senior Judge David Grine had previously granted a new trial, ruling Cambria County prosecutors were wrong not to disclose blood evidence that may have helped Siehl's lawyers defend him at trial.

And on Thursday Grine ordered that Siehl not be retried and immediately released from the State Correctional Institution-Huntingdon, where Siehl's been since he was 36.

'We are happy that, today, the fight to win his freedom  a fight fought mostly by Mr. Siehl himself  is finally over,' public defender Lisa Freeland said in a written statement. She added that she's happy Siehl is free from punishment for 'a crime he did not commit.'

The Pennsylvania Attorney General's Office wouldn't go that far, but did acknowledge not having enough evidence to retry Siehl for first-degree murder.

'The Commonwealth asserts that the evidence remaining, 25 years after the original prosecution against the defendant, is insufficient when measured against the Commonwealth's burden of proof,' the state prosecutors wrote in their motion asking Grine to dismiss the charges and free Siehl.

The attorney general's office handled the case because Cambria County District Attorney Kelly Callihan had a conflict of interest.

She was once a legal intern for a law firm that handled an earlier, unsuccessful appeal in the 1990s.

Grine, who is from Centre County, was appointed to handle the case because prosecutors and Siehl's former defense attorneys were accused of wrongdoing in Siehl's appeal, including two attorneys now sitting as Cambria County Common Pleas judges.

Senior Judge David Grine had previously granted a new trial, ruling Cambria County prosecutors were wrong not to disclose blood evidence that may have helped Siehl's lawyers defend him at trial

On Thursday Grine ordered that Siehl not be retried and immediately released from the State Correctional Institution-Huntingdon (pictured), where Siehl's been since he was 36

In Grine's July ruling, he determined prosecutors wrongly withheld evidence from retesting of what appeared to be blood on the defendant's shoes.

The new tests showed the blood was Siehl's, not his wife's, as prosecutors contended, yet that evidence wasn't turned over to Siehl's lawyers.

Grine found the failure to disclose the evidence 'so undermined the truth-determining process that no reliable adjudication of guilt or innocence could have taken place,' Grine wrote in July.

The judge also faulted the defense for failure to challenge evidence, including a bloody fingerprint used to tie Siehl to the crime scene.
Elizabeth Smart is speaking out against Donald Trump over the lewd comments he made about women in a 2005 Access Hollywood interview, and his subsequent apology in which he justified the words he used by referring to his conversation as 'locker room talk.'

The young mother, who at the age of 14 was kidnapped from her bedroom and held captive for nine months by a man who repeatedly raped her, said that Trump's dismissal of his words is dangerous to survivors of sexual abuse.

'The worst part about it is listening to people trying to belittle it, just saying, "Well, it's locker-room talk, it's locker-room banter,"' said Smart, 28, in an interview with The Salt-Lake Tribune.

'Anyone belittling sexual violence, sexual abuse, they're doing a huge disservice to victims of violent crimes, violent sexual abuse. There's no justifying it - ever.'

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Speaking out: Elizabeth Smart (above in 2013) is criticizing Donald Trump for his recent comments about women which he claimed were just 'locker room talk'

Mad: 'Anyone belittling sexual violence, sexual abuse, they're doing a huge disservice to victims of violent crimes, violent sexual abuse,' said Smart (Trump above on Wednesday)

Trump was travelling to film a walk-on role on the NBC soap opera Days of Our Lives in 2005 when he made the comments Smart is referencing in her interview, with Access Hollywood and host Billy Bush trailing him for the day.

Trump can be heard talking about how he 'moved on' Bush's co-host nancy O'Dell depite the fact that she was married, and then discussing how she now has 'big phony t*** and everything.'

Bush could later be heard on the video calling soap star Arianne Zucker a 'hot piece of a***,' while Trump spoke about needing Tic Tacs in case the two started kissing.

It was at that point that Trump told Bush: '[W]hen you're a star they let you do it. You can do anything. Whatever you want ... grab them by the p****.'

Smart also spoke about her belief that young women need to be more educated about rape and assault, something she wishes she knew more about when she was taken in the middle of their night from her family home.

Smart was just 14 (above after he release) when she was kidnapped)

'When I was first raped, I didn't realize there was a difference between rape and sex,' explained Smart.

'Immediately, in my little 14-year-old mind when that happened, I thought, "I'm impure. Who will ever want to marry me now?"

'If my parents knew what happened, would they even want me back, or would they think, "Good thing we had six kids cause we still have five others?"'

The interview took place in Smart's hometown of Park City, where she lives with her husband and daughter Chloe.

She was joined by Chris Hansen, who was taping a special episode of his show Crime Watch Daily With Chris Hansen about Smart's new role on the program as a special correspondent.

In her first appearance on the show last month, Smart interviewed one of the women who claims she was sexually assaulted by alleged serial rapist Marc Winner.

At the end of the episode, Smart went to Winner's home to confront him while he is out on parole as he awaits his trial.

Smart was kidnapped from her bed in August 2002 and held captive for nine months before she was discovered by police.

She was found alive in March of the following year in Sandy, Utah, and Brian David Mitchell and Wanda Barzee were arrested for abducting the teenager.

Mitchell, who raped Smart repeatedly during her captivity, is currently sevring life in prison.
Hillary Clintons inner circle privately expressed concerns about tabloid reports on one of Bill Clintons alleged mistresses, a blond socialite who was reportedly nicknamed The Energizer, according to leaked emails published by Wikileaks this week.

A Dec. 28, 2014 email exchange between Hillary Clintons top aide Cheryl Mills and campaign chairman John Podesta appears to reference Julie Tauber McMahon, a wealthy 56-year-old neighbor of the Clintons who has been romantically linked to the former president.

The email was sent by Podesta to Mills, and is subject-lined Julie.

Saw her pic in this or last weeks Enquirer, wrote Podesta. Probably need to revisit Whitehaven conversation.

A Dec. 28, 2014 email exchange between Hillary Clintons top aide Cheryl Mills and campaign chairman John Podesta appears to reference Julie Tauber McMahon (left), a wealthy 56-year-old neighbor of the Clintons who has been romantically linked to the former president

Mills responded, k.

In the months leading up to the emails, the National Enquirer and other outlets had reported on Clintons supposed fling with Tauber McMahon. Whitehaven is the name of the Clintons house in Washington, D.C.  indicating that close aides previously huddled to discuss the alleged affair.

According to Ron Kesslers 2014 book The First Family Detail: Secret Service Agents Reveal the Hidden Lives of Presidents, Secret Service agents nicknamed McMahon The Energizer because of how Bill Clinton appeared to be reinvigorated by her visits.

McMahon has denied the affair and said she is a family friend of the Clintons.

Bill Clinton reportedly struck up a relationship with McMahon, a Chappaqua, New York neighbour, after leaving the White House. In 2010, the Clinton Global Initiative helped steer a $2 million commitment to a firm co-owned by McMahon.

Whitehaven: The Clintons residence in Washington, DC

Bill Clinton has previously admitted to extramarital affairs with White House intern Monica Lewinsky and former model Gennifer Flowers, and a number of other women have claimed they had sexual relationships with him while he was married.

The former president has also been accused by several women of sexual assault and harassment. In 1998, he paid $850,000 to settle a sexual harassment lawsuit brought by former Arkansas state employee Paula Jones, who claimed Clinton exposed himself to her in a hotel room.

A former White House volunteer, Kathleen Willey, accused Clinton of sexually assaulting her during a meeting in the Oval Office. Juanita Broaddrick, a former nursing home administrator from Arkansas, said she was raped by Clinton in 1978 during a meeting in an Arkansas hotel room.




And he said America must embrace scientific development

But he also took the time to warn against denying climate change

And he piloted a virtual spaceship into the International Space Station

The Pittsburgh event gave him the chance to geek out with technology

Barack Obama might be the most powerful man in the world, but at heart he's just a science nerd - as he proved while touring the White House Frontiers Conference Thursday.

The commander-in-geek was clearly in his element as he stepped off Air Force One in Pittburgh and headed to the event, which showcases thrilling innovations in tech.

There, a clearly delighted President fist-bumped a paralyzed man who uses a mind-controlled robotic hand, goofed around with a baby in a Nasa T-shirt and got a taste of astronaut life.

Geek power: Self-confessed science geek Barack Obama hangs out with his ten-month-old counterpart Rowan Wright at the White House Frontiers Conference in Pittsburgh Thursday

Space commander: Obama managed to successfully dock into the ISS using this official flight simulator, joking that it was like driving an Uber

The President beamed as he took docked a virtual shuttle into the International Space Station on a Boeing Starliner Flight Simulator that had been installed at the event, held in Carnegie Mellon University.

'Your ride is here, baby,' Obama said after docking the simulator on the International Space Station. 'This is like the Uber shuttle. In case anybody calls, we'll be there in five minutes.'

But his control of a virtual shuttle was nothing compared to Nathan Copeland's dexterity with the robotic hand protruding from his wheelchair.

Copeland, who is paralyzed, explained that he was able to use his mind to control the arm remotely, and could even feel sensation through it - making him the first person in the world to use such technology.

Hand it to him: Obama was astonished to meet Nathan Copeland (left), who is the first person to use a mind-controlled robotic arm that allows them to feel sensation

'What a story,' Obama said incredulously, before offering up a handshake and a much cooler fist-bump.

But the President's cultivated air of cool was no match for the geek power on display at the show.

The Harvard-trained lawyer, who has never been shy about his fascination with science and technology, gawked at a self-flying quadcopter, or mini-drone.

Brass knuckles? Obama greeted Copeland, who is paralyzed, with a fist-bump - a moment of cool during his enthusiastically geeky day at Pittsburgh's Carnegie Mellon University

He goofed around with ten-month-old baby Rowan Wright, whom he spotted wearing a Nasa T-shirt.

And he showed short shrift for those who 'willfully ignore facts or stick their hands in the sand' on issues like global warming.

'Sixty years ago, when the Russians beat us to space, we didn't deny that Sputnik was up there. That wouldn't have worked,' Obama said.

'No, we acknowledged the facts and then built a space program almost overnight, and then beat them to the moon.'

Urging a new aspiration for the nation, Obama has set a goal to send humans to Mars by the 2030s.

In Pittsburgh he got a look at the SpaceX Dragon Spacecraft, part of ongoing research to develop vehicles that could transport astronauts to the red planet.

Obama remarked at the white capsule's petite size: 'It's like putting up with Sasha and Malia in the back of the car. It's a long car ride.'
Justin Ross Harris took a picture of his son Cooper every morning as he dropped him off at the Little Apron Academy day care - until two weeks before the little boy died in his dad's hot car.

And when Ross Harris was running late, he usually called the day care to let them know - but not on June 18, 2014, the day Cooper died.

Riveting testimony was presented to jurors Thursday from teachers and staff at the Smyrna, Georgia day care facility, where 22-month-old Cooper Harris had been enrolled since he was an infant.

Harris, 35, is standing trial for the first-degree murder of his son.

Ross Harris in court on Thursday. Prosecutors believe he deliberately left his son to die in the family's Hyundai Tucson back in 2014

Justin Ross Harris with his ex-wife Leanna and Cooper. A worker at Cooper's day care told the court she was puzzled to see his mother arrive on that June afternoon to retrieve him

Police and prosecutors believe he deliberately locked his son in the family's Hyundai Tucson on a hot June day and left him to die as heat inside the car reached close to 120 degrees.

He drove to his job only two minutes from where they had just had breakfast instead of taking him to the day care center a few minutes away, investigators said.

Keyatta Patrick, an early childhood teacher at the academy, was the young boy's teacher. She told jurors Cooper was a 'fun and loving child,' and recalled how he had just started to speak the day before he died.

'I hear him say 'I need a diaper.' I was so excited he was using words,' she said.

Michelle Gray also worked at the day care center, created specifically for children of Home Depot Corporation employees. Harris worked as a web developer for the company in a location called the 'Tree House' nearby.

Her job was to stay with children at the end of the day until a parent collected them to go home.

She told the court she was puzzled to see Cooper's mother Leanna arrive on that June afternoon to retrieve him.

'I thought, '"That's weird, that's Cooper's mom," she recalled. 'I asked her, 'What are you doing here, Cooper's not here,' she said.

'She was confused and frantic' when she realized her son wasn't at the center, the teacher continued.

Keyatta Patrick, an early childhood teacher at Cooper's academy, told the court that Cooper had just started to speak the day before he died

Michelle Gray also worked at the day care center, created specifically for children of Home Depot Corporation employees. She said she was puzzled to see Cooper's mother Leanna arrive on that June afternoon to retrieve him. 'I asked her, 'What are you doing here, Cooper's not here,' she said.

She testified that she didn't receive any phone calls from Harris that day, although police said phone records indicated a 6-minute conversation from the father to Cooper's classroom shortly after 4 p.m.

But Cooper was already dead by that time, investigators said.

Last week a Cobb County Police crime scene technician was the first witness for the state.

Brad Shumpert stood next to a large display screen in the courtroom, describing the graphic pictures and videos that showed the young boy's body on the asphalt outside his father's silver SUV in June 2014 near Smyrna, Georgia.

Shumpert's graphic images showed Cooper's legs that seemed frozen in a bent position from sitting in a car seat inside the hot and locked car, the result of rigor mortis that had set in. Cooper's eyes were open.

His face showed the scratches from his attempts to claw his way out of the car seat as he slowly baked to his death for more than seven hours while his father worked.

Defense attorney Maddox Kilgore questions teacher Keyatta Patrick about a photograph of Cooper Harris with his dad dressed in a tool costume from a day care party

Graphic images from crime scene technician Brad Shumpert showed Cooper's legs that seemed frozen in a bent position from sitting in a car seat inside the hot and locked car. The disturbing images troubled several jurors as the displays continued

Cooper was found dead in Harris's SUV aged just 22 months

Shumpert's pictures also documented the interior of the SUV and showed the proximity of Cooper's red and black car seat, only inches behind and to the side of the driver's seat.

One image also showed an outside temperature indicator on the dashboard at the time, which showed 95 degrees at the time he made the pictures.

The disturbing images troubled several jurors as the displays continued. One woman kept her hand over her mouth. Another covered her eyes. Several jurors looked away from time to time.

Shumpert said he remembered a 'noticeable' odor at the scene and describe the victim's 'hot, musty, urine-soaked diaper', though he didn't note it in on his report.

Harris and his defense attorney insist the grisly death was an accident and not an intentional act, as police and prosecutors believe.

Another witness, James Hawkins, described to the jury his futile attempts to breathe life into the limp and sweat-soaked body of Cooper, pulled from his father's compact SUV only moments earlier.

Hawkins and his colleague Anthony Pantano were among the first people on the scene as Harris pulled his SUV into a strip mall, exited quickly from the driver side door and began screaming.

The two lighting installers had just finished repairing a restaurant's decorative lights when they heard the screech of brakes and loud screaming, Hawkins testified.

Shumpert shows a photo of the car seat where Cooper was trapped for seven hours as he sat in the hot car

Shumpert's pictures also documented the interior of the SUV and showed the proximity of Cooper's red and black car seat, only inches behind and to the side of the driver's seat

Pantano quickly drove his van to the spot where the SUV had come to an abrupt stop behind a pizza restaurant. Hawkins ran to join him.

Pantano testified how Harris tried to unbuckle his young son from a child's car seat behind the driver's seat. Pantano crawled inside to help the distraught driver to get the limp child onto the pavement.

Pantano described how Harris attempted to revive his son as he lay on the ground but gave up and walked away from the child's body after 'a few compressions and one breath'.

Harris's defense rests on convincing the jury that his son's death was an accident. He faces charges of first-degree murder for Cooper's death by hyperthermia while he worked for more than seven hours inside an office building.

Harris pulled into a shopping mall parking lot, took Cooper out of the car and tried to perform CPR but was 'too overwhelmed and couldn't concentrate', his defense attorney Maddox Kilgore explained.

Prosecutors contend Harris misled investigators and tried to get them to believe the young boy's death was an accident.

What looked like a tragic accident came under public scrutiny after investigators said they found Harris had researched child deaths inside vehicles before his son perished.

The prosecution says Harris knew his son was in the car and may have wanted the boy out of his life - so that he could carry on his relationships with various women.

'He closed the door on his 22-month-old son's life and sought another life. Minutes before he closed the door on that child, while that child sat in the car, evidence will show that this defendant had been online and exchanged comments that he'd been unhappy in his marriage,' prosecutors said.

'On that day, when his son was cooking to death, he was texting with a 16-year-old girl, trying to get photos of her vaginal area,' Cobb County assistant district attorney Chuck Boring told the jury during opening statements.

He said: 'Harris pulled into a shopping center after leaving work and began shouting, 'What have I done? What have I done?

'His behavior was not consistent with somebody who had just discovered his child in the back seat after forgetting him. Did he cry, 'somebody call 911, somebody come help my child'? No,' Boring continued.

'While other people were trying to help his son, he was walking around. He starts trying to call his wife, and trying to call the daycare. He doesn't call 911 and separates himself from his child. No tears.'

James Hawkins, a lighting contractor, was among first on the scene as the lifeless body of Cooper Harris was lifted from Ross Harris' SUV. He performed CPR on Cooper but realized he was dead after blowing two breaths into the baby's mouth. 'It was blowing into a busted bag,' he recalled

Witness Anthony Pantano described how Harris attempted to revive his son as he lay on the ground but gave up and walked away from the child's body after 'a few compressions and one breath'

The car Harris left his son inside while he went to work in Marietta, Georgia, is shown in this image from WSB-TV

But Harris's defense attorney Maddox Kilgore said sexual behavior is not some kind of motive for murdering 'the person he loved more than anything in the world', Kilgore said.

'No matter how perverse and nasty and wrong that we think it is, it doesn't have a thing in the world to do with the fact that he forgot that little boy. Nothing.'

'What it is, is evidence of his filthy sex life. That's all it is,' he added.

An indictment filed against Harris in September 2014 listed the following eight charges: malice murder, two counts of felony murder, cruelty to children in the first degree, cruelty to children in the second degree, criminal attempt to commit a felony of sexual exploitation of children, and two counts of dissemination of harmful material to minors.

A murder conviction in Georgia carries a life sentence in prison.

Prosecutors previously said Harris was messaging six women the day Cooper died. He reportedly told one woman on the app Whisper: 'I love my son and all but we both need escapes.'
Donald Trump's campaign blasted Newsweek magazine on Thursday for reporting a news 'hoax' about the Republican presidential nominee as the real thing.

Newsweek cited a story in the Serbian weekly magazine Nedeljnik on Wednesday that said Trump had issued an apology for bombing raids that Bill Clinton green-lighted while he was president.

Nedeljnik claimed to have conducted an interview with Trump through his Indiana state campaign director, Suzie Jaworowski.

Both Jaworowski and Trump communications aide Jason Miller say the interview never happened.

Donald Trump's campaign blasted Newsweek magazine on Thursday after the publication said Trump had issued an apology for bombing raids that Bill Clinton green-lighted while president

'Mr. Trump never gave an interview to the Serbian weekly magazine Nedeljnikas as falsely reported by the discredited Newsweek, nor was such an interview conducted through our Indiana State Director,' Miller said on Thursday.

'This was a hoax and we look forward to receiving a formal retraction and apology from all involved,'

'This is completely false,' Jaworowski added. 'I have never served as a conduit to interview Mr Trump for anyone.'

Newsweek published its story on Wednesday as a local politician warmed up Trump's rally crowd in Ocala, Florida.

'Donald Trump doesn't apologize for America,' the speaker said as cheers erupted.

The juxtaposition quickly became fodder for anti-Trump partisans on Twitter.

The bombing raids Trump had supposedly apologized for came in 1995 and 1999, as the United States and its NATO allies targeted the fracturing Yugoslavia.

Separatist and rebel groups in Bosnia and Herzegovina put pressure on Belgrade for independence in 1995. Kosovar fighters fought their own battle four years later.

As Yugoslavia collapsed, Serbian militias carried out a brutal genocide against Muslim minorities.

The bombing raids Trump had supposedly apologized for came in 1995 and 1999, as the United States and its NATO allies targeted the fracturing Yugoslavia

Separatist and rebel groups in Bosnia and Herzegovina put pressure on Belgrade for independence in 1995. Kosovar fighters fought their own battle four years later

Clinton's airstrikes were criticized for the hundreds of casualties they inflicted on civilians, but they were successful in stopping the slaughter.

Trump, in Newsweek's version, was said to have stood by the aggressors.

'The bombing of Serbs, who were our allies in both world wars, was a big mistake,' the Serbian magazine quoted Trump as saying.

'Serbians are very good people. Unfortunately, the Clinton administration caused them a lot of harm, but also throughout the Balkans, which they made a mess out of.'

The Trump campaign's pushback against Newsweek came as the Republican renewed his attack on 'dishonest media' who he says are conspiring to derail his White House bid.

Newsweek featured comments from Eric Gordy, professor in Southeast European Politics at University College London, who said the comments attributed to Trump were similar to Russia's propaganda efforts to recuit Serbs' support.

'The most obvious interpretation of his statement is that it is another sign of alignment with Russia,' Gordy said of the imagined interview.
Almost Half Of Illinois Residents Want Out, Survey Finds

By Stephen Gossett in News on Oct 13, 2016 3:00PM



Flickr / Photo: Jessica Spengler

Nearly half of Illinoisans want out of the stateand its not just a matter of wanderlust.

Researchers at the Paul Simon Institute at Southern Illinois University-Carbondale found that 47 percent of registered voters would like to move. Fifty-one percent said they wanted to say, with only two percent undecided.

Taxes were the number one reason cited (27 percent or respondents), with weather (16 percent), government (15 percent) and jobs and education (13 percent) following.

There are lots of reasons why people want to leave, David Yepsen, director of the Institute, said in a press release. Not much can be done about the weather but policy makers can do something about perceptions of the quality of services, tax competitiveness, tax fairness and educational and job opportunities.

People often dont feel they get good value for their tax dollars and with frequent stories of public corruption or the large numbers of governmental units, its no wonder why they feel that way, Yepsen added.

Younger people are even more likely to want to bail, according to the survey: 57 percent of people under 35 would rather leave, while 58 percent between 35 and 50 indicated theyd prefer to leave the state.

Policy-makers argue over whether people are leaving or not, Yepsen said. The most troubling finding in this poll is that so many younger people are thinking about it. Thats the states future.

Here in Cook County, Mayor Rahm Emanuel and the City Council have passed a series of tax increasesincluding property and water/sewer hikesin recent years in attempts to shore up unfunded pension liabilities. Cook County President Toni Preckwinkle is expected to include a sugary-drinks tax as part her budget proposal on Thursday. At the state level, Illinois' stopgap budget is due to expire shortly after the November elections.
How they hooted, those Bremoaners, when Boris Johnson was made Foreign Secretary back in July. Itll be a disaster and he wont have a clue, they claimed. Diplomacy, you see, had become one of those specialised and lofty pursuits reserved for People Like Them.

To be a Foreign Secretary you had to be a grey technocrat, preferably a lawyer or a bore with a quiver full of opaque opinions. You were not allowed to use lively phrases or bubble with Olde England merriment. Good lord, no.

Diplomacy was drab and robotic. It belonged not to the populus but to the prosaic, turf-defending clerisy. Philip Hammond was just the ticket.

Boris had done his prep. He looked alert. He spoke with caution  yet still in an accessible, interesting way

Testosterone-fuelled Boris, with his linguistic exuberance, would soon ignite World War Three by goosing some global titans popsy or by lobbing Wodehousian wisecracks at a po-faced Middle Eastern potentate.

He would make Donald Trump look like Demosthenes. He would park a buttock on a nuclear button and thus accidentally send a Polaris missile fizzing up from one of our subs off the Pembrokeshire coastline, destination Vladivostok. Whoops!

Like so many of the snootocracys tutting airs post-Brexit, it has proved not quite right. Boris did an early-morning session today in front of the Commons foreign affairs select committee and he performed almost faultlessly. He had done his prep. He looked alert. He spoke with caution  yet still in an accessible, interesting way.

He even coped with some porridgey vocabulary from a Scots Nationalist on the committee, North East Fifes Stephen Gethins, who accused him of not having a scooby. Boris barely blinked. Syria, Europe, the Yemen, Russia, the Commonwealth  these were just some of the topics during the long meeting chaired by Crispin Blunt (Con), who has grown a grey beard worthy of a Venetian doge. Boris sat between two Whitehall high-ups. Did they look a little queasy at the start?

To watch such a naturally eloquent batsman block out several overs of crafty bowling was, it has to be admitted, a nerve-fraying affair. The Press crouched in the slips, awaiting a loose flash of willow.

He began by giving a short speech  rather against the form of these meetings, it has to be said  in which he radiated optimism about British prospects after our exit from the EU

There were one or two close snicks, perhaps. Labours Mike Gapes got him to admit he was proud to be a world citizen, a breed Theresa May attacked in her recent party conference speech. At another point Boris nearly said balls but corrected it to nonsense. He slalomed his way round the multi-syllabled names of leading statesmen in Cyprus.

He spat out the acronyms of political parties in Kurdistan. He wrapped his tongue with practice round the spaghetti names and titles of two obscure magnificoes from the European Commission.

He began by giving a short speech  rather against the form of these meetings, it has to be said  in which he radiated optimism about British prospects after our exit from the EU. Yet he went out of his way to be polite about European Commission members. Although a certain amount of plaster had fallen off ceilings in Brussels since our EU referendum result, he was sure that the Commissions grandees would prove faithful servants of Europe and ensure that Britain and EU states continued to trade to each others benefit.

Boris has learned to step with care through minutiae. He spoke about how we were extricating ourselves from the European Union treaty (this is subtly but important different from saying we are leaving Europe).

Andrew Rosindell (Con, Romford) wanted him to fly the Commonwealth flag from Government buildings.

Boris, chuckling at Mr Rosindells ardour for all things Commonwealth, admitted he hadnt a clue what the flag looked like. One of the Whitehall officials drew a quick sketch for him. Jolly nice flag, said Boris. But he would not at that instance agree to run it up the flagpole.
The niece of media heavyweight Ita Buttrose has been charged with assaulting a police officer on the front lawn of her luxury home.

Lizzie Buttrose was arrested and charged on Thursday night after the incident outside her Vaucluse home.

Police were called to the 47-year-old's home at about 8.30pm following reports of an alarm sounding.

Lizzie Buttrose (pictured with her partner Zoran Stopar) was arrested and charged on Thursday night with assaulting a police officer outside her Vaucluse home in Sydney

Officers were speaking to Ms Buttrose when her partner Zoran Stopar approached them a short time later.

'It will be alleged the woman was verbally abusive towards the officers before she assaulted a constable,' a NSW Police spokeswoman told Daily Mail Australia.

Ms Buttrose was arrested and taken to Waverley Police Station where she was charged with assaulting a police officer.

She was granted conditional bail in the early hours of Friday morning.

Police say the officer did not require medical treatment.

The 47-year-old Sydney socialite was allegedly verbally abusive towards the police officers before she assaulted a constable at about 8.30pm on Thursday

The incident on Thursday night is the fourth time police have been called to Ms Buttrose's (right) home in two years

The incident on Thursday night is the fourth time police have been called to Ms Buttrose's home in two years, the Daily Telegraph reports.

Police responded after she sounded a panic button in her home in March and they were called again in August for an alleged domestic dispute.

She is the niece of Ita Buttrose and is the sister of convicted drug dealer Richard Buttrose.

Ms Buttrose will face Waverley Local Court on November 15.
A teenage boy accused of planning an Islamic State-inspired attack had been kicked out of Egypt after he arrived in the country with the intention of taking up arms for a terrorist organisation.

The 16-year-old, who was arrested along with another boy, was intercepted and questioned by Egyptian authorities on the way to Sinai, an area controlled by terrorists, before he was sent home late last year, The Australian reported.

He was found with an edition of Islamic State magazine Dabiq on his phone but this material was not enough for Australian police to charge the boy.

Instead police held on to the information that was passed on to them by Egyptian authorities and continued to build a case against the boy who was planning to meet up with Ansar Bait al Maqdis - a group with links to Islamic State.

His friend, also 16, had been exposed to extremist ideals from at least the age of 12 when he was seen at the 2012 Hyde Park protest.

One of the teenage boys arrested on Wednesday with the intention of terrorist attack in Sydney. He is pictured here at the age of 12 at the 2012 Hyde Park riots

A photograph show the boy was handed a sign to hold up that said: 'Behead all those who insult the Prophet.'

The pair, who cannot be named for legal reasons, were arrested on Wednesday after they were captured on security footage exchanging bags as they were on their way to allegedly behead someone with bayonets.

The 16-year-olds were seen standing on a busy sidewalk on Wednesday as they handed over their bags to one another before allegedly walking into a gun shop where police claim they bought the weapons, according to Seven News.

Less than an hour later, they were arrested by counter-terrorism police as they entered a Muslim prayer hall in Bankstown, in south-west Sydney.

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Two 16-year-olds accused of planning an ISIS style terror attack were seen on CCTV footage in west Sydney exchanging bags as they walked to allegedly behead someone with bayonets (pictured)

The teenagers were spotted on Wednesday handing their bags to one another before allegedly entering a gun shop, where police claim they bought the weapons (pictured)

Less than an hour later the pair (pictured) were arrested by counter-terrorism police outside a Muslim prayer hall in Bankstown as they prepared for an 'immanent attack,' police claim

Police claim the pair were planned on saying their final prayers at the hall, according to The Sydney Morning Herald.

It comes as one of the teenagers is accused of telling his mother he allegedly intended to do 'something bigger' than the murder of Curtis Cheng.

'When they come, I'm going to do something to them that they have never seen before,' he allegedly said.

'I'm going to do something bigger,' the boy, who was intercepted on a police wire, said, according to court documents.

His mother did not go to authorities with the information.

Police claim the boy was drawing comparisons between himself and teen terrorist Farhad Jabar who shot the Mr Cheng outside NSW Police Force headquarters in Parramatta.

The revelations come after photos emerged of the mosque in Bankstown where the teenagers were arrested, Adnum Lane Musallah.

He and another 16-year-old boy remain behind bars after facing court on Thursday for allegedly possessing M9 Bayonet hunting knives in preparation to commit a terrorist act.

This is the prayer house in Bankstown where two teenagers were arrested on terror charges

The prayer hall is the Adnum Lane Musallah in Bankstown

The two 16-year-old boys were arrested by counter-terrorism police in Sydney's south-west on Wednesday

One boy allegedly had a handwritten note pledging allegiance to IS in his possession when he was arrested, according to court documents.

The pair were formally refused bail at Parramatta Children's Court and their cases adjourned until December 7.

Both teens were well known to counter-terror police.

The boy who took part in the Hyde Park riots already has a relative behind bars for terror offences.

Pictured is the entrance to the upstairs Prayer Hall in Bankstown, Sydney

Seen here is a set of garages in Adnum Lane

Witnesses said they saw one of the men (pictured) smiling after he was arrested

Authorities were unaware of any specific targets of this foiled alleged terror plot, but believed an attack was imminent.

'Had we not been in the right place at the right time ... certainly somebody, potentially today, would be, or another day imminently, would be without their life,' AFP Deputy Commissioner Michael Phelan said on Thursday.

Asked if the teens were plotting a beheading, NSW Police Deputy Commissioner Cath Burn said: 'We don't have any information to indicate that, however it is an ongoing investigation.'

The teens have each been charged with planning an act of terror - which carries a penalty of life behind bars - and being members of a terrorist organisation, which carries a penalty of 10 years' prison.

After the pair were arrested, radical Muslim preacher Junaid Thorne (pictured) approached officers and demanded them to tell him 'Where are my brothers?'

The teenagers, who were allegedly carrying handwritten notes pledging allegiance to ISIS, were stopped by police (left) before they were taken away (right)

The teenagers, who were previously reported to have been walking to the Bankstown Police Station, were stopped by officers on Fetherstone Road by the Bankstown Musalla (pictured)

Four western Sydney properties connected with the teenagers - including a prayer hall and multiple homes - were raided after the boys were taken into custody.

Items were seized for forensic examination and police have not ruled out making further arrests.

The age of the two boys is of significant concern to counter-terrorism police, who are seeing an increase in the number of radicalised teens.

'The age of these two individuals at the age of 16 is of unbelievable concern to us. We are seeing it time and time again,' Ms Burn said.

'It's up to the parents, really, to try to do everything they can to make sure those signs of radicalisation at an early stage are addressed.'

If proved, this would be the 11th imminent terror attack prevented by the Joint Counter Terrorism Team in Australia.

A relative of one of the teenagers, one of which is the son of a convicted terrorist, was seen leaving the Bankstown Police Station after their arrest (pictured)

'We've got to remember that our current threat level is 'probable', and it's there for a reason,' Ms Burn said.

'We are doing everything we can to prevent such attacks.'

Earlier it was reported by News Corp that radical Muslim preacher Junaid Thorne demanded police tell him 'Where are my brothers?' after they arrested the boys.

Thorne was held in the Supermax High Risk Management Centre in Goulburn, New South Wales, for four months for dodging counter-terrorism authorities and using a false name to fly from Perth to Sydney, ABC reported.

One of the teenagers, whose father has been convicted of terror-related charges, was allegedly arrested last year for not standing for the national anthem at his high school.

Both of the men have been known to police officers for several years (pictured)

The same teen's family was also targeted during the Operation Appleby raids in September 2014, and launched legal action against the NSW Police.

'What really burns me from inside was hearing my mum screaming and seeing her in pain and not being able to do anything. I will remember that forever', he told Fairfax at the time.
Celebrities including Reese Witherspoon, Andy Cohen and Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos were quick to congratulate the couple

'October 12, 2016! We lovingly made our family official,' wrote Bozzi on Instagram, alongside a photo of the family

The two exchanged vows at the Beverly Hills Courthouse in front of their daughters Billie and Ava

CAA superagent Bryan Lourd and his longtime boyfriend, The Palm

CAA superagent Bryan Lourd and The Palm restaurteaur Bruce Bozzi tied the knot in Beverly Hills on Wednesday.

The longtime partners were officially declared husband and husband at the Beverly Hills Courthouse, where they were joined by their daughters Ava and Billie, who currently stars in the Fox series Scream Queens.

Billie's mother is actress Carrie Fisher, who dated Lourd for three years in the early 90s.

Wedding bells: CAA superagent Bryan Lourd and his longtime boyfriend, The Palm restaurateur Bruce Bozzi, were married on Wednesday (couple above with daughters Ava and Billie)

Best wishes: Celebrities including Reese Witherspoon, Andy Cohen and Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos were quick to congratulate the couple

Billie posted a photo of the family at the courthouse on Wednesday, writing: '[M]y #papichulos finally made it official today and I couldn't be a happier gal!! #lourdbozziconnection #thefamsallhere'

The family all appeared smiling and laughing in the photo.

Bozzi posted a similar photo to Instagram, writing: 'October 12, 2016! We lovingly made our family official. Though we've been married in our hearts for years today The State of California made us legal! I  you #bwl & our daughters! #ifoundasundaykindoflove'

He also later posted an old shot of the two enjoying a night out in tuxedos, with a mirror in the background catching the back of friend Anna Wintour's head.

'Great shot @ms.thao celebrating love & marriage today! #bwl #bbb #thejourney #marriagequality  This photo was a hell of a wedding! #loveislife,' wrote Bozzi.

Happiness: 'October 12, 2016! We lovingly made our family official,' wrote Bozzi on Instagram, alongside a photo of the family

Past relationship: Lourd previously dated actress Carrie Fisher, who is Billie's mother

Celebrities including Reese Witherspoon, Andy Cohen and Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos were quick to congratulate the couple on social media.

Hollywood A-listers including David Geffen and Brian Grazer also sent messages to the newlyweds.

Lourd and Bozzi have been two of Hillary Clinton's biggest supporters over the course of the election, and held a fundraiser at their Los Angeles home this past May which was hosted by Wintour.
A man has been seriously burnt and 30 residents evacuated after a suspected gas explosion at a block of units in Sydney this morning.

Emergency services were called to the property on Old South Head Road in Bondi Junction about 4.35am and found a 35-year-old man with burns to his arms, face and legs.

He was treated at the scene by NSW Ambulance Paramedics before being rushed to St Vincent's Hospital. His condition is described as serious.

A suspected gas explosion blew out the windows at a block of units in Sydney this morning

A man was seriously burnt and 30 residents evacuated from the building after the explosion

NSW Ambulance Paramedics treated a 35-year-old man at the scene

Thirty people were evacuated from the building.

Residents described being woken up by the sound of shattering glass ad bricks.

'I just heard all this almighty rubble falling everywhere,' a resident told Channel Nine.

'When I came out the front I looked up and I could see all the windows blown out on the top floor... some of my windows on the ground floor had been blown out as well,' the man said.

The exact cause of the explosion is yet to be confirmed but police have been told the 35-year-old may have been using a gas heater in his unit.

Structural engineers will examine the building before investigators can enter and begin to examine the scene.

Traffic diversions were in place earlier in the morning, with one lane still affected.

Police have been told a gas heater being used to heat a unit may have caused the explosion

Emergency services were called to the property in Bondi Junction about 4.35am

The force of the blast blew out windows in the top and bottom floors

One resident said he was woken at 4.30am and heard an 'almighty rubble falling everywhere'

Residents described being woken up by the sound of shattering glass and rubble

Traffic diversions were in place earlier in the morning, with one lane affected

Residents at the Bondi Junction apartment block waited outside while the scene wassecured
Patients who call 111 with seemingly minor illnesses will be sent to pharmacists rather than GPs, under an NHS scheme.

From December, anyone with a sore throat, earache, flu-like symptoms or indigestion will be told to go to their high street chemist.

The scheme will run across England for two and a half years and is designed to reduce pressures on overwhelmed GP surgeries.

David Mowat, Community Health and Care Minister, has endorsed the scheme

But will raise concerns that deadly illnesses will be missed as symptoms will be dismissed as a minor cough and cold.

The 111 helpline has been fraught with difficulties ever since its launch in 2013 and it is manned by untrained call centre staff reading off a script.

Its failings were partly blamed on the death of one year old William Mead from sepsis in 2014, whose symptoms were confused with a cough.

And although pharmacists do a four year degree, they are far less qualified than GPs who have at least ten years training under their belts.

But NHS England claims the scheme will free-up family doctors who spend up to 40 per cent of their day advising patients with minor illnesses.

Under the pilot, which will run until April 2016, call centre staff will instruct anyone needing repeat prescriptions straight to pharmacies  rather than surgeries.

Officials believe it will eventually reduce the numbers of calls to NHS 111 by 200,000 a year from patients who arent seriously ill or need urgent medication.

In time, they hope patients who initially call 111 will learn that they can be more appropriately dealt with by pharmacists.

David Mowat, Community Health and Care Minister said: Community pharmacists already contribute a huge amount to the NHS, but we are modernising the sector to give patients the best possible quality and care.

Officials believe the scheme will eventually reduce the numbers of calls to NHS 111 by 200,000 a year and alleviate pressure on GPs

This new scheme will make more use of pharmacists expertise, as well as freeing up vital time for GPs and reducing visits to A&E for urgent repeat medicines.

This scheme is part of our drive to meet increasing demand for services - transforming how pharmacists and their teams operate in the community, and bringing clear benefits to patients and the public whilst making the best use of taxpayers money.

Keith Willett, Medical Director for Acute Care, NHS England, said: Directing patients to go to a community pharmacy instead of a GP or A&E for urgent repeat medicines and less serious conditions, could certainly reduce the current pressure on the NHS, and become an important part of pharmacy services in the future.
A right-wing troll and Donald Trump supporter has vandalized Hillary Clinton's Wikipedia page and covered it with lewd pictures and offensive language.

The troll, who was only identified by their Twitter account - @meepsheepy, tampered with Hillary's page by posting pornographic images of a naked woman, along with a message to anyone attacking the Democratic nominee.

'Reminder that voting for Hillary Clinton this Novmeber (sic) means proving how much of a spineless, boring cuck you are,' the message read.

A right-wing troll and Donald Trump supporter has vandalized Hillary Clinton's Wikipedia page and covered it with lewd pictures and offensive language

'Nuclear war will be inevitable, as will be Bill Clinton raping more women and children. Save the America you know and love by voting for Donald Trump.'

The message ended by asking 'girls to send pictures' to the troll's Twitter account. 'Cuck' is a term used by trolls and right-wing supporters online to insult people they don't agree with.

The troll was allegedly carried out by @meepsheepy for the 'Gay N***** Assocation of America', an internet trolling group.

Bill Clinton's Wikipedia page was also targeted by the troll, however both were back to normal within minutes.

The troll wrote on Hillary Clinton's page that 'nuclear war will be inevitable' if the Democrat wins the election

A website spokeswoman said both pages have no been protected to prevent similar attacks in future.

'Editors responded quickly to revert the vandalism and protect the article. The Wikimedia community takes vandalism very seriously,' a spokeswoman told the New York Daily News.
Heathrow is expected to be given the green light within days to build a third runway.

After years of delay, Prime Minister Theresa May is set to defy fierce opposition from key members of her Cabinet, including Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, to boost Britains airport capacity.

Campaigners predict an announcement about Heathrow could be made by Transport Secretary Chris Grayling in the Commons as early as Tuesday.

An announcement about the runway could be made in the Commons as early as Tuesday

A decision to back Heathrow would be welcomed by business groups, which claim that expanding it will provide a much bigger boost to the economy than the alternative choice of a second runway at Gatwick.

But last night supporters of Gatwick were refusing to give up, and claimed the Government is also planning to leave the door open to expanding airport capacity there as well.

Insiders said Gatwick could be given approval within the next five years as its 30-year agreement with West Sussex local authorities not to expand is due to expire in 2019. However, senior Whitehall officials have questioned whether the finance would be available to fund two major runway projects.

An artist's impression of how Heathrow Airport could look with a third runway

It was also claimed last night that the Government plans to urge Birmingham Airport to push forward proposals for an additional runway  an option which was not even considered by the independent Airports Commission in its report, published more than a year ago, that unanimously backed a third runway at Heathrow.

Mr Johnson  who promised to lie down in front of the bulldozers if Heathrow was given the go-ahead  is said to be resigned to Mrs May pushing ahead with a third runway at the UKs biggest airport.

A Cambridge University study last week found that a third runway at Heathrow could be built without breaching pollution laws, which had been seen as a key barrier to its expansion.

Louise Ellman MP, the Labour chairman of the Commons transport committee which also published a report backing Heathrow, said: Its high time a decision was taken.'

Tory MP for Reigate, Crispin Blunt, who leads an action group against Gatwick expansion, said last night: It would be astonishing if the Government did not follow the recommendation from the Airports Commission for Heathrow.

Despite the overwhelming support from businesses for Heathrow, Cabinet ministers remain deeply divided.

Education Secretary Justine Greening is among those opposed to Heathrow expansion, while leading Conservative Zac Goldsmith warned last week he may quit his West London seat and stand as an independent if Heathrow gets approval. He said the legal, environmental and financial risks were immense.
A mother has been sentenced to nine years in prison for her role in the heroin death of her 16-year-old son - and the boy's grandmother will be joining her behind bars.

Both Heather Frye and her mother Brenda Frye pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter in the death of Andrew Frye on April 6.

Andrew was found dead, face down in a chair, from a heroin overdose in a Super 8 motel room in Green, Ohio.

His mother and grandma, both admitted heroin addicts, were passed out in the same room.

Heather Frye, 32, sobbed alongside her mother Brenda Frye, 52, as they were both sentenced to nine years in jail for the death of her 16-year-old son Andrew Frye

Both Heather (left) and Brenda (right) were passed out in the same room as Andrew when he overdosed, face down in a chair, in a Super 8 motel room in Green on April 6

Brenda Frye, 52, obtained the heroin for her daughter, delivering the drugs that Heather planned to do with her friend Jessica Irons.

John Greven, Heather's attorney, said she had only intended for her and Irons to do the heroin in the hotel that day, according to the Canton Repository.

'Heather bought the drugs because Heather (has been) an addict for as long as she could remember,' he told the court.

Greven said that Heather, 32, had scolded Andrew that night when she saw him walk out of the bathroom with a syringe in his hand.

'Unfortunately, she created a situation where Andrew would have access to the drugs,' he added.

Heather said she had never intended for Andrew (pictured) to use the drugs delivered to their motel room that day

Heather sobbed in court as Geven said the mother knew Andrew had died because of her addiction - and that she created the atmosphere that led to his death.

But Geven disputed headlines that claimed Heather had told police she wanted to be a 'fun weekend mom'.

He said there was also no indication in her interviews with investigators that Heather had ever claimed she told Andrew it was okay if he used drugs, as long as she didn't see him do it.

Brenda briefly spoke in the courtroom, saying she just wanted 'to apologize to my family'.

Prosecutors had sought an 11-year sentence for Heather and an eight-year sentence for Brenda, but the judge ruled that both women were equally responsible for Andrew's death.

'The ultimate price was not paid by either of you,' said Summit County Common Pleas Court Judge Lynne Callahan, according to WEWS.

'The ultimate price was paid by Andrew. It boils down to personal responsibility and because of that a 16-year-old boy is dead.'

Callahan said her sentencing was based on the fact that the women, who both have extensive criminal records, had exercised poor judgement that day.

Scott Frye (second from left) watches as his mother Brenda and sister Heather are led away to prison after their sentencing on Wednesday

Tammy Smith, Andrew's aunt, said she had raised Andrew for most of his life and warned him to stay away from his mother because of her drug problem

She added that they had many chances throughout the years to turn their lives around.

Heather was also sentenced on charges of tampering with evidence and endangering children, while Brenda also pleaded guilty to trafficking in heroin.

Irons, 35, was sentenced to four years in prison for involuntary manslaughter and tampering with evidence.

Donald Callahan, Brenda's 59-year-old boyfriend, pleaded guilty to heroin possession after providing Andrew's grandmother with the drugs that killed him.

He will be sentenced on October 26.

Tammy Smith, Andrew's aunt, said she had raised Andrew for most of his life and warned him to stay away from his mother because of her drug problem.

'He just wanted her in his life,' she said.
Poor pupils from grammar schools are almost twice as likely to get a place at an elite university as richer children at comprehensives, figures show.

When compared with other disadvantaged children in comprehensives, the difference is even more stark  with those at grammars more than three times more likely to attend a top university.

The Government statistics come amid a drive to increase the number of children from deprived backgrounds at the elite Russell Group universities.

Prime Minister Theresa May used her maiden speech to express frustration at statistics showing that white working class boys were the least likely to go to university

In her maiden speech, Prime Minister Theresa May spoke of the injustice of white working class boys being the least likely group to attend university.

And yesterdays data suggests selective schools multiply poor childrens chances of being able to parachute themselves into a better life.

Education Secretary Justine Greening said: We want to build a country that works for everybody and that means an excellent education for every child. These figures show grammar schools open up fantastic opportunities for their pupils, no matter what their background. Too many children are currently held back from fulfilling their potential purely because of where they live or how much their parents earn.

We need to level the playing field and our proposals to create more great school places are a step towards this.

The statistics show 71 per cent of poor sixth formers at grammar schools go on to university.

Justine Greening MP Secretary of State for Education said the government intended to level the playing field

This is much higher than the 56 per cent of similarly poor children at comprehensives.

And 29 per cent of disadvantaged grammar school students go to Russell Group universities. This compares with just 9 per cent of poorer sixth formers and 15 per cent of better off ones at comprehensives.

The figures published by the Department for Education show the positive outcomes from grammar schools for children from all backgrounds. However, there are only 163 left in the country following a ban on new selective schools imposed by Tony Blair in 1998.

The Government is currently consulting on scrapping the ban on new grammar schools, and allowing them to open where parents want them.

In return, grammars will be expected to improve the education of pupils in other local schools, ensuring there is no return to the binary education system of the past.

The news came as the House of Lords debated the plans yesterday  with several peers voicing their support for the scheme.

Tory peer Lord Framlingham said teaching pupils of similar ability was the only way to deliver effective education.

He said: Children are stronger than we sometimes think and often understand better than we appreciate what the world is like.

Statistics now indicate that poorer pupils at grammar schools are more likely to go to elite universities than rich children at comprehensives. File photo

Can our national educational policy really be that because some will not succeed none must try? How depressing.
Chicago Disability-Rights Group Sues Uber For Discrimination

By Stephen Gossett in News on Oct 13, 2016 7:24PM



Photo via Tripp on Flickr

A Chicago-based disability-rights organization is suing Uber for what they claim is violation of the Americans With Disabilities Act. The lawsuit, filed by Access Living of Metro Chicago and three other complainants, alleges the rideshare service is not usable by people with motorized wheelchairs and other mobility devices and therefore discriminates against the disabled.

Transportation access has always been a central issue of civil rights for people with disabilities, said Steven P. Blonder, an attorney for the complainant said in a statement. Transportation is key to the independence of people with disabilities, providing a link to education, employment and social activities. As a growing player in our transportation system, Uber is responsible for delivering its part of that link.

Access Living claims that Uber has failed to deliver on promises to provide riders who use motorized wheelchairs with service on par with UberX.

Furthermore, between September 201 and August 2015, Uber administered only14 rides (from a total of millions) to motorized wheelchair users who require wheelchair-accessible vehicles, Access Living claims. The UberWAV service, which provides wheelchair-accessible vehicles for ridersis routinely shows no drivers available when service is requested, plaintiffs argue.

Why people who use motorized wheelchairs filed a complaint against Uber. No vehicles available, rushhour. Chi.https://t.co/mg2MsuCD9T pic.twitter.com/8UVuhrwETE  AccessLivingChicago (@AccessLiving) October 13, 2016

Some City Council memberssuch as Ald. Anthony Beale and Ald. Ed Burke (who, reports show, have received funds from taxi lobbies)fought earlier this year for more robust regulations against rideshare companies, such as Uber and Lyft, including stronger disability service. But much watered-down ordinance ultimately passed, in June, after rideshare companies threatened to pull out service from Chicago.

Update:

An Uber spokesperson told Chicagoist in a statement:

We take this issue seriously and are committed to increasing mobility and freedom for all riders and drivers, including those members of our communities who are disabled. There is always more to be done and we will continue working hard to expand access to affordable, reliable transportation options for all Chicagoans."

Cab Drivers United/AFSCME also released a statement on Thursday about the lawsuit.

"While Uber has promised the city and groups like Access Living that wheelchair accessible rides are coming - the disabled community has waited two years and seen no progress," union member Bayo Aladesuru said in the statement. "Despite Uber officials promising to provide equitable services, according to data provided by the city, Uber does not have a single wheelchair accessible vehicle on the road."



Equitable transportation options are a big part of ensuring people with disabilities have their independence, and Im proud to help provide that service," Aladesuru added.
Consumers face an epidemic of price hikes blamed on Brexit following the row between Unilever and Tesco, experts warn.

Retail analysts fear manufacturers are lining up to impose price rises blamed on a fall in the value of the pound since the referendum.

Sterling has fallen about 18 per cent against the US dollar and 15 per cent against the euro since the vote to leave the European Union.

Retail analysts fear manufacturers are lining up to impose price rises on British supermarkets blamed on a fall in the value of the pound since the EU referendum (file picture, model posing)

The slide has boosted exports but also driven up the cost of imports  setting the scene for higher prices in supermarkets and on the high street.

Britons already pay more for everything from gadgets such as Apple's iPhone to games consoles.

Internet streaming services, beauty products and designer clothes are also more expensive as global brands see Britain as a 'Treasure Island'.

It is feared the cost of everything from clothes, wine and food to televisions, dishwashers and washing machines will rise in the coming months.

Business expert Professor Andrew Fearne, of the University of East Anglia, said: 'The problem is that some companies will use the exchange rate as a vehicle for negotiating price rises that are avoidable.

It comes after Unilever and Tesco became embroiled in a stand-off over rumoured price hikes

'What we are seeing here is the thin edge of a very long wedge in the world of fast-moving consumer goods.'

But, as Unilever has found, firms that try to push through price rises on the back of Brexit risk a backlash. Ian Wright, of the Food and Drink Federation, which speaks for manufacturers, warned of more Brexit-induced price battles.
Queen Elizabeth II visits the Corps of Royal Engineers at Brompton Barracks in Chatham to celebrate their 300th anniversary

It was the day that she became the longest reigning monarch in the world.

And for the Queen, as is so often the case, it was business as usual.

The latest landmark for Her Majesty came as Thailand announced the death of its king after 70 years on the throne.

King Bhumibol Adulyadej, 88, had reigned since June 9 1946.

The Queen, who turned 90 in April, has reigned for 64 years, having succeeded her father, King George VI, in February 1952.

On September 15 last year she surpassed the previous British record, held by her great-great grandmother, Queen Victoria, having ruled this country for 23,226 days, 16 hours and some 30 minutes.

Just like last autumn, when she insisted that overtaking her illustrious ancestor was 'not a record to which I have ever aspired', the Queen will take no great pleasure in capturing the world record  for to do so would be seen to be glorifying the death of a fellow head of state.

It will also be an uncomfortable reminder that to rule for the same period  seven decades  would take her to the grand age of 96 while her husband, Prince Philip, with whom she will celebrate 70 years of marriage next November, would be 101.

Divers of the Royal Engineers salute the Queen at the Centenary of the Corps of the Royal Engineers at Brompton Barracks

The Queen, on duty yesterday to mark the 300th anniversary of the Royal Engineers in Chatham, Kent, will also be acutely aware that the Thai people are grieving for their revered ruler, many of whom took to the streets last night crying and clutching pictures of the king.

The Queen - wearing a Stewart Parvin turquoise green wool dress with matching coat and a Royal Engineers brooch - inspected 140 troops from an open-top Range Rover.

As she viewed heavy specialist equipment, she was saluted by two troops in a water tank in front of guests including musician Jools Holland, who attended in his role as a deputy lieutenant of Kent.

The Queen visited the barracks as she became the world's longest living reigning monarch

She said the title was not something she aspired too, as it celebrated the death of a fellow head of state. Above left, the Queen at the barracks, above right, the salute given by the diver

In her address, the Queen said that since 1716 the Corps of Royal Engineers has been 'at the forefront of operations and often in difficult circumstances'.

There was no immediate statement from Buckingham Palace last night but Prime Minister Theresa May and Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson joined leaders around the world in paying tribute to the monarch, whose death will be marked with a one-year mourning period by Thai government officials.

Mrs May said: 'His Majesty guided the Kingdom of Thailand with dignity, dedication and vision throughout his life. He will be greatly missed.

'Our thoughts are with the people of Thailand at this difficult time.'

Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha announced that the government will observe one year of mourning and flags will fly at half-staff for 30 days.

King Bhumibol Adulyadej - whose name means 'strength of the land, incomparable power' - had been in poor health for a number of years and was rarely seen in public but was still viewed as something of a demi-God.

His popularity stemmed partly from his long reign, but he was also viewed as a pillar of stability.

Strict lese-majeste laws banned any criticism of him or the Thai royal family. In August 2015, a man was sentenced to 30 years in prison by a Thai military court for insulting the country's monarchy on Facebook.

Queen Elizabeth with King Bhumibol in Thailand in 1996, when she was on royal tour with her husband Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh

Earlier this week it emerged that the 88-year-old had been taken to a Bangkok's Siriraj Hospital where he was in a critical condition.

An announcement by the royal household said he had 'passed away peacefully' with family members around him at 3.52 local time, 9.52 BST.

The palace did not provide further details or give a specific cause of death.

Earlier this week it had said he was on a ventilator, battling kidney problems, leaving many Thais to fear the worst.

The world will now be watching to see how Thailand's ruling military junta react to what is certain to be a pivotal and unstable moment for the country.

King Bhumibol will be succeeded by his named successor, Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn, but he does not command the same deep affection. He spends much of his time abroad and is considered something of a playboy.

The Queen has some way to go before she becomes the world's longest reigning monarch ever.

King Sobhuza II of Swaziland, who died in 1982, holds this title. He was just four months old when he became king and ruled for 82 years and 253 days.

It was estimated that he had about 210 children from at least 70 wives and by the time of his death, he had more than 1,000 grandchildren.

The longest reign of any monarch of a large country in European history belongs to Louis XIV of France - who was also known as Louis the Great, or the Sun King.
Dramatic footage shows the moment a Chinese fireman goes down a tiny well headfirst to rescue a boy who had fallen down.

The three-year-old boy had fallen down the 26-foot-shaft while playing in Pei County, China's Jiangsu province on October 10, reports Huanqiu, an affiliation with the People's Daily Online.

The child had landed on its feet and could be heard crying throughout the rescue.

Shocking: The man goes down the abandoned well head first to rescue the stuck boy

Ouch! The child fell down the 26-foot-shaft, landing on his feet in two inches of water

The boy fell down the hole while playing alone in nearby fields.

According to reports, the well was previously used for irrigation but has been abandoned for some time.

It had around two inches of water at the bottom.

According to witnesses, the boy was stood in the water, standing and crying from fright.

Finally free: The child was reunited with his family after being rescued

A tight fit: The firefighter was lowered down into the very narrow hole

The fire brigade were called to the scene and a rescuer went down the well head first to rescue the child.

As the hole was very small, the man had to be lowered down slowly.

Footage shows the child eventually freed and reunited with his family.

People have been discussing the story on Chinese social media site Coral.qq.com.

One user wrote: 'Chinese firefighters are omnipotent - from rescuing a man with his penis stuck to putting out fires in a warehouse explosion.'
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The moon is bombarded by so much space rock that its surface gets a complete facelift every 81,000 years, according to a study based on Nasa data.

The study also estimates that asteroids and comets crashing into Earth's only natural satellite create, on average, 180 new craters at least 33 feet (10 metres) in diameter every year.

This is a third more than previous estimates, and it means astronauts visiting the moon will have to be more careful to avoid the flying space rocks.

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The findings, published in Nature, come from 'before and after' pictures taken by Nasa's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft, which has been mapping the Moon since 2009 (shown above)

These pictures shows a lunar impact crater created on March 17th, 2013. The two images are from the LROC instrument aboard Nasas Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. The before image (left) is from February 12th, 2012, and the after image (right) is from July 28th, 2013. The new crater is about 19 metres (62 feet) wide

METEORITES ON EARTH Earth is also constantly pelted by asteroids and meteors, but is protected by a thick atmosphere. More than 100 tonnes of dust and sand-sized particles rain down on the planet every day. Even space rocks up to across 80 feet (25 metres) will likely explode and disintegrate in the upper layers of our atmosphere, causing little or no damage, according to Nasa. The Moon's ultra-thin atmosphere only contains about 100 molecules of gases and elements per cubic centimetre (0.6 cubic inch). Earth's atmosphere at sea level, by contrast, is packed with about 100 billion billion molecules per cubic centimetre. Advertisement

By comparing images of the same area at regular intervals, a team of scientists led by Emerson Speyerer from Arizona State University in Tempe tallied the number of new craters and extrapolated to the entire surface of the moon.

'We detected 222 new impact craters and found 33 per cent more craters with a diameter of at least 10 metres than predicted' by earlier models, the researchers concluded.

Small meteors regularly impact the moon and Earth, where they usually burn up in the atmosphere or land in uninhabited areas and are not detected.

But on the moon, these impacts constantly form craters and basins.

'It's just something that's happening all the time,' said Emerson Speyerer, lead author of the paper.

The scientists also found thousands of subtler disturbances on the surface, which they described as 'scars' from smaller, secondary impacts.

These smaller impacts, over thousands of years, churned up the top layer of the moon without creating craters.

This churn, affecting the top 0.6 inches (two centimetres) of mostly loose moon dust, happens 100 times more frequently than previously thought, scientists reported.

This means planetary geologists will also need to rethink their understanding of the age of the lunar surface.

Models of how old the moon's surface is depend on counting craters and estimating how long the terrain has been pummelled to form the number of craters seen today.

If the craters form more quickly than we thought, it means the surface is likely to be younger than previous estimates.

A colourised topography of the moon's surface. By comparing images of the same area at regular intervals, a team of scientists led by Emerson Speyerer from Arizona State University in Tempe were able to tally the number of new craters and extrapolate to the entire surface of the moon

This image shows a close-up of the newly-discovered 39 foot (12 metre) diameter impact crater, which formed between 25 October 2012 and 21 April 2013. Meteorites have created at least 222 impact craters into the moon's surface in the past 7 years, the study found

Although most of the craters on the moon's surface formed millions of years ago, meteorites continue to create fresh marks.

Along with the fresh craters, the team found more than 47,000 splotches - these are formed when material gets kicked up by the main impact and rains down.

This means a bigger risk for any future lunar habitats, Stephanie Werner, a planetary geologist at the University of Oslo told Nature.

Example of a low reflectance (top) and high reflectance (bottom) splotch, created either by a small impacts or from material ejected and raining down from another impact. In both cases, the top few centimeters of the soil was churned up by the impact

Earth is also constantly pelted by asteroids and meteors, but is protected by a thick atmosphere.

More than 100 tonnes of dust and sand-sized particles rain down on the planet every day.

Even space rocks up to across 80 feet (25 metres) will likely explode and disintegrate in the upper layers of our atmosphere, causing little or no damage, according to Nasa.

The Moon's ultra-thin atmosphere only contains about 100 molecules of gases and elements per cubic centimetre (0.6 cubic inch).

Earth's atmosphere at sea level, by contrast, is packed with about 100 billion billion molecules per cubic centimetre.
Around 55 million years ago, Earth experienced a series of sudden and extreme global warming events, known as the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM).

Little is known about the causes of this warming period, but it has previously been linked to the rise of mammals on Earth.

Now, a new discovery could shed more light on this period in the planet's history.

Researchers have now provided the first direct evidence that a comet struck Earth during this time  although it is unknown whether this occurred in relation to the warming period.

Around 55 million years ago, Earth experienced a series of sudden and extreme global warming events, known as the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM). Researchers have now provided the first direct evidence that a comet struck Earth during this time

THE PALEOCENE-EOCENE THERMAL MAXIMUM The PETM occurred at the boundary between the Palaeocene and Eocene time periods (around 55 million years ago) where a rapid change in climate took place. It lasted around two million years and it is thought that there was a massive release of carbon to the ocean and atmosphere causing a significant global warming. The PETM represents a 'tipping point' and a potential reference for future climate change. Little is currently known about the source, quantity or rate of carbon release, or of the impact of major reorganisation in ocean circulations that took place at this time. Source: British Geological Survey Advertisement

In recent years, the PETM has become a major point of interest for scientists as it is perhaps the best past comparison by which to understand impacts of global climate warming today.

Even so, the cause of this warming event remains a mystery.

Atmospheric carbon dioxide increased rapidly during the PETM, and an accompanying spike in global temperatures of about five to eight degrees Celsius lasted for about 150,000 years.

While it is known that the temperatures rose due to a massive injection of carbon into the atmosphere, the cause of this has not yet been proven.

Among the theories suggested include carbon release from volcanoes and extraterrestrial impact on Earth.

Researchers from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in New York studied sections of marine shelf  areas of ocean less than 200 metres (656 feet) from land  on the Atlantic Coastal Plain, which stretches from Florida all the way north to the Hudson river in New York.

This area is associated with the Paleocene-Eocene boundary, as it was formed by the movement of large glaciers that occurred between the two periods.

There, they discovered small glass spheres with distinctive patterns and craters.

In the paper, the researchers, led by Morgan Schaller, wrote: 'If spherules are present, they generally are glasses and may contain crystallites both of which have characteristic morphologies.

'Crystallites show distinct internal textures that indicate rapid quenching from high temperature and they can be enriched in projectile material.'

Researchers from Columbia University studied sections of marine shelf  areas of ocean less than 200 metres from land  on the Atlantic Coastal Plain, which stretches from Florida all the way north to the Hudson river in New York

The crystallites had microcraters - evidence of the speed at which they were traveling as they solidified and hit the ground.

The researchers discovered small glass spherules, and believe them to be terrestrial debris ejected during a meteorite impact around 55 million years ago

Based on these features, the researchers believe them to be terrestrial debris ejected during a meteorite impact.

The results suggest that a comet impact occurred near the Paleocene-Eocene boundary.

Mr Schaller added: 'This tells us that there was an extraterrestrial impact at the time this sediment was deposited  a space rock hit the planet.

'The coincidence of an impact with a major climate change is nothing short of remarkable.'

It is still unclear exactly when this impact event occurred in relation to the PETM or what effect it may have had on this period of global environmental change.
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In just ten years, a plane that flies using a radical hybrid wing shaped body could become a reality.

In a step towards realising that goal, a scale version of the 'Blended Wing Body' (BWB) aircraft is currently being tested at a Nasa facility.

In the latest tests, the space agency has revealed how the researchers are making sure it will be as green as possible by watching how particles flow around the aircraft using lasers.

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Engineers at Nasa's Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, used lasers inside the 14-by 22-Foot Subsonic Tunnel to map how air flows over a Boeing Blended Wing Body (BWB) model. The name for the technique is called particle image velocimetry. If you look closely you can see the light bouncing off tracer particles

THE BLENDED WING BODY Many of Boeing's advanced vehicle concepts centre around a blended wing body design. A blended wing body does not look like a conventional airplane. Instead of the usual tube and wing design, it's shaped more like a triangle where the wings are, in essence, merged into the body. Another difference is that it does not have a tail. Researchers still face several challenges in developing a full production model of a BWB aircraft. The main drawback to the blended wing body concept is that it lacks control surfaces and conventional stabilising surfaces such as a tail making it unstable and difficult to control. Advertisement

The triangle-shaped plane, that could one day be used by the US military, is reminiscent of spy planes and designed to cut through the air more efficiently.

Boeing is developing the plane alongside Nasa, and testing at the Nasa Langley Research Center in Virginia, in a 14- by 22-foot (4.2 by 6.7 metre) subsonic tunnel, and will continue testing until the end of September.

In the BWB design, the wing blends seamlessly into the body of the aircraft, which makes it extremely aerodynamic and creates dramatic cuts in fuel consumption, noise and emissions.

Boeing and Nasa researchers are using a 6 per cent scale, 13-foot-wingspan model to test their designs.

The researchers have mapped the flow of air over the aircraft using lasers and smoke with a technique known as particle imagery velocimetry (PIV).

'We're happy to have the model back in our wind tunnel,' said Dan Vicroy, principal investigator at Nasa Langley, when the initial tests began last month.

'It gives us a couple of opportunities - to add to our knowledge about this configuration as well as how to improve our testing methods.'

The same model was put through its paces in the Langley 14-by 22-Foot tunnel in 2014 and in the 40-by 80-foot wind tunnel at Nasa's Ames Research Center in California in 2015.

But for this set of tests it looks slightly different.

The top of it has been painted in non-reflective matte black to accommodate laser lights that will sweep across the model in sheets.

'Testing the same model in two very different tunnels gives us data to make our test methods better,' he added.

PIV is something the team has not done before with this model.

A scale version of the 'Blended Wing Body' (BWB) aircraft (pictured) is currently being tested at a Nasa facility. The triangle-shaped plane, that could one day be used by the US military, is reminiscent of spy planes and designed to cut through the air more efficiently

Boeing is developing the plane alongside Nasa, and testing at the Nasa Langley Research Center in Virginia, in a 14- by 22-foot (4.2 by 6.7 metre) subsonic tunnel, will continue until the end of September. Boeing and Nasa researchers are using a 6 per cent scale, 13-foot-wingspan model to test their designs (pictured)

This idea for a possible future aircraft is called a 'hybrid wing body' or sometimes a blended wing body. In this design, the wing blends seamlessly into the body of the aircraft, which makes it extremely aerodynamic and holds great promise for dramatic reductions in fuel consumption, noise and emissions

This same model was put through its paces in the Langley 14-by 22-Foot tunnel in 2014 and in the 40-by 80-foot wind tunnel at Nasa's Ames Research Center in California in 2015. But for this test it looks a different - the top of it has been painted in non-reflective matte black to accommodate laser lights that will sweep across the model in sheets

The testing builds on years of research into the BWB aircraft shape.

For example in 2012, Nasa successfully tested the X-48C - another 'hybrid wing-body' plane with a greater internal volume for passengers and cargo.

With a 21 ft (6.54 metre) wingspan, the aircraft was an 8.5 per cent scale model of a heavy-lift, subsonic airplane with a 240-foot wingspan.

'Our tests are a continuation of more than two decades of successful research and development of this concept, which is unparalleled in industry,' said John Bonet, Boeing's test director for the BWB.

'What we learn from this round of testing will be used to complete the definition of our aerodynamic, stability and control low-speed databases  a major milestone in the technology development of the concept.'

The BWB concept is unique in that it gets rid of the conventional tube and wing shape of today's airplanes, in favour of a triangular tailless aircraft that effectively merges the vehicle's wing and body.

The researchers will be mapping the flow of air over the aircraft using lasers and smoke with a technique known as particle imagery velocimetry (PIV). 'We're happy to have the model back in our wind tunnel,' said Dan Vicroy, principal investigator at Nasa Langley, when the initial tests began in September this year

The BWB concept is unique in that it gets rid of the conventional tube and wing shape of today's airplanes, in favour of a triangular tailless aircraft that effectively merges the vehicle's wing and body. But it might not stay a concept for much longer. Boeing thinks a BWB-type aircraft could be developed in the next 10 years

But it might not stay a concept for much longer.

Boeing thinks a BWB-type aircraft could be developed in the next 10 years as a subsonic transport.

It could begin in the military as transport variants for airlift and aerial refuelling, according to John Dorris III, who works in Phantom Works Fixed Wing Assembly for Boeing.

'By transferring technology and features from current Boeing programs like the C-17 and KC-46  we're able to address the US Air Force's vision for 2030 and beyond,' he said.

'Boeing's Blended Wing Body concept can be scaled, with variants that will allow us to meet our customer's mission requirements and fleet demands.'

Other company leaders agree. 'We believe our body of work, both in design, test and engineering, is technically superior when compared to other designs in the marketplace,' Naveed Hussain, vice president of Aeromechanics Technology at Boeing said.

'The BWB is showing great potential to offer structural, aerodynamic and operating efficiencies as well as the capability to be more fuel efficient and quieter over more traditional aircraft designs.'

Boeing's advanced vehicle concept centers around the familiar blended wing body design like the X-48. What makes this design different is the placement of its Pratt & Whitney geared turbofan engines on the top of the plane's back end, flanked by two vertical tails to shield people on the ground from engine noise
A drone boat which can patrol the English Channel and track migrants on 12-hour missions is being trialled for Special Forces during a massive robot war games exercise.

The unmanned futuristic spy vessel can race across the seas at 54mph (86km/h) and spot people traffickers or terrorists posing as refugees and carrying weapons.

Yesterday it took part in the Royal Navy's robotic Unmanned Warrior exercise, the biggest ever war game using more than 50 types of drones off the UK coast.

A drone boat which can patrol the English Channel and track migrants on 12-hour missions is being trialled for Special Forces during a massive robot war games exercise

THE P950 BOAT The inflatable P950 boat - of which a manned version is already in service and is used by elite troops - can be driven both manually by a remote control and also in an autonomous mode. Using a remote control with a joystick, troops on a ships miles away or on land can tell it where to go and have a live 360 degree angle of what the boat sees. Or they can put it in autonomous mode and just give the boat a destination, and the boat will navigate itself avoiding any obstacles it comes into contact with. In the future it could be equipped with weaponry to help with mine-hunting. Advertisement

It joined mini-submarines scouring the sea bed with sonar beams, a robotic speedboat dubbed 'Bladerunner' and aerial drones.

Equipped with state-of-the-art radar systems and a 360 degree camera, it can hunt down enemy forces and send a live link back to SAS troops either on shore or an a bigger ship 18km away.

It is autonomous  which means elite soldiers and sailors can flick a switch and send it off on a covert mission without having to steer it along the way.

The vessel is designed to carry out surveillance operations in some of the world's most remote and hostile marine environments.

And BAE  the firm behind the invention  see it being used to search the seas for migrants trying to head to Britain.

They have invested 1.4 million in developing the boat.

Defence Secretary Michael Fallon said of the exercise: 'The sheer scale of this exercise demonstrates how our Armed Forces are leading in developing futuristic technologies to keep us safe at sea, or in the air.

'It is part of our new approach to harness innovation, backed by a rising defence budget, to ensure we keep ahead of our adversaries'.

Andy Wright, BAE's strategic technology director, said of the boat: 'One of its uses is surveillance.

Its 'persistent surveillance', which means it can stay in the seas for hours spying on incoming vessels, means it can also 'patrol open waters in search of smugglers or people traffickers'

'The fact you've not got individuals on-board means greater ability to be able to detect from a safe distance when a migrant boat is in trouble.'

He said the company was currently looking at using the boat to patrol UK shores.

Its 'persistent surveillance', which means it can stay in the seas for hours spying on incoming vessels, means it can also 'patrol open waters in search of smugglers or people traffickers'.

'The unmanned vessels will work alongside manned vessels making it easier for teams to search around the clock', BAE said.

The inflatable P950 boat - of which a manned version is already in service and is used by elite troops - can be driven both manually by a remote control and also in an autonomous mode.

Using a remote control with a joystick, troops on a ship miles away or on land can tell it where to go and have a live 360 degree angle of what the boat sees.

The inflatable P950 boat  of which a manned version is already in service and is used by elite troops - can be driven both manually by a remote control and also in an autonomous mode

Or they can put it in autonomous mode and just give the boat a destination, and the boat will navigate itself avoiding any obstacles it comes into contact with.

In the future it could be equipped with weaponry to help with mine-hunting.

Speaking at a briefing in London, Mr Wright said: 'We are living through a new revolution. That's the digital revolution.'

He added: 'We are looking at the ability for a number of different potential missions for this, for instance, maritime surveillance.

'For example, if you wanted to look at fishing vessels to determine if they were carrying pirates.'

He said it could also be used to work out if people on-board a boat were armed, adding: 'At that point the man boat can either decide to retire or take action.'

Mr Wright said Harbour patrol was another area being examined, as its persistent capability means the boat doesn't have to return to the shore for 12-hours to relieve fatigued sailors.

The boat can also be used for convoy protection in which it would go in front of a larger ship to monitor the seas and look out for threats

THE UNMANNED WARRIOR The two-week Unmanned Warrior exercise runs through a range of scenarios, including war situations, disputed territory, terrorist activity and piracy. It is the largest demonstration of autonomous maritime systems in the world. It is taking place off the coast of west Scotland and west Wales. It will show off robotic boats and mini-subs, as well as drones and helicopters. Among the high-tech equipment is also a robotic speedboat dubbed 'Bladerunner'. Advertisement

It can also be used for convoy protection in which it would go in front of a larger ship to monitor the seas and look out for threats.

Small drone aircraft could also be launched from the vessel if Special Forces decide to jump on-board and get closer to enemy action.

Mr Wright said: 'We are demonstrating this capability now in the Hebrides. We are trialling it at the Unmanned Warrior exercise. It is its first use with the Royal Navy.'

Setting out its advantage over the Reaper drones which are being flown over Iraq and Syria, he said: 'The key thing is drones are piloted by an individual remotely, this can go into autonomous mode.

'You can ask the boat to go from A to B and it can work out its own route. This is the first time that we've used that (autonomous technology) in a maritime environment.'

The two-week Unmanned Warrior exercise runs through a range of scenarios, including war situations, disputed territory, terrorist activity and piracy.

It is the largest demonstration of autonomous maritime systems in the world. It is taking place off the coast of west Scotland and west Wales.

It will show off robotic boats and mini-subs, as well as drones and helicopters.

Among the high-tech equipment is also a robotic speedboat dubbed 'Bladerunner'.
ceremony in Baltimore, which is on October 15th

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After months of anticipation, the US' largest and most technologically sophisticated destroyer, the USS Zumwalt, is finally set to be officially commissioned into the US Navy.

Following a last minute hitch that saw the craft remain in Virginia at Naval Station Norfolk longer than expected after crew members detected a leak on the vessel, the $4.3 billion (3.3 billion) craft is now finally ready to join the Army.

Today it finally arrived in Baltimore for Saturday's ceremony, where Captain James Kirk will officially take control of the ship.

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The US Navy's new guided missile destroyer DDG 1000 USS Zumwalt is moored to a dock on October 13, 2016 in Baltimore, Maryland. The ship will be commissioned on October 15.

As the stealthy Zumwalt was headed to its commissioning ceremony in Baltimore with a crew of 147 officers and sailors, who were praised by their skipper, Captain James Kirk, for their preparation over the past three years to get the first-in-class warship ready for duty.

He admitted his name has caused much hilarity - saying 'certainly I have been ribbed every now and then with someone saying, 'You're going where no man has gone before, on this class of ship.''

The bridge also looks like something from 'Star Trek' with two chairs surrounded by nearly 360 degrees of video monitors, with inevitable comparisons of the Zumwalt to the Starship Enterprise and the skipper to the fictional Captain Kirk.

'The three things this crew exemplifies is high level of technical expertise, great teamwork and then the toughness to get done what needs to get done,' Navy Capt James Kirk said.

After the Zumwalt is commissioned, the destroyer will return to its home port in San Diego. Capt. James A. Kirk will be the commanding officer.

Capt. James A. Kirk (C), talks about his new command, the US Navy's new guided missile destroyer DDG 1000 USS Zumwalt on October 13, 2016 in Baltimore, Maryland. The Zumwalt is the lead ship of a class of next-generation multi-mission surface combatants and is named for Adm. Elmo R. Zumwalt, former chief of naval operations.

'On this ship, teamwork is at a premium.'

The 610-foot destroyer once headed out for sea trials in a snowstorm, and hundreds of people gathered to watch as it headed into the remnants of Tropical Storm Hermine while leaving Maine for good.

It features an angular shape to minimize its radar signature, an unconventional wave-piercing hull and a composite deckhouse that hides radar and other sensors.

It boasts a powerful new gun system that can unload 600 rocket-powered projectiles on targets more than 70 miles away.

The ship features an angular shape to minimize its radar signature, an unconventional wave-piercing hull and a composite deckhouse that hides radar and other sensors.

The bridge also looks like something from 'Star Trek' with two chairs surrounded by nearly 360 degrees of video monitors, with inevitable comparisons of the Zumwalt to the Starship Enterprise and the skipper to the fictional Captain Kirk.

It boasts a powerful new gun system that can unload 600 rocket-powered projectiles on targets more than 70 miles away.

Weighing in at nearly 15,000 tons, it is about 50 per cent heavier than current destroyers.

But the crew size is half of the 300 personnel of those destroyers.

Heavy automation of fire suppression, flood control and other systems means fewer sailors are required, part of a trend in the Navy.

The new Ford-class aircraft carriers will sail with several hundred fewer crew members.

US Navy Captain Lauren Chatmas (L), stands with US Navy LCDR Rebecca Haggard next to the US Navy's new guided missile destroyer DDG 1000 USS Zumwalt on October 13, 2016 in Baltimore, Maryland. The Zumwalt is the lead ship of a class of next-generation multi-mission surface combatants and is named for Adm. Elmo R. Zumwalt, former chief of naval operations.

More than a dozen U.S. and Canadian ships will be docked in Baltimore as part of Fleet Week, which runs Oct. 10-17. The Blue Angels will perform Saturday and Sunday from 1 to 4 p.m. over Fort McHenry in Baltimore.

Construction of the Zumwalt began in February 2009 and the ship was launched in October 2013.

After the Zumwalt is commissioned, the destroyer will return to its home port in San Diego. Capt. James A. Kirk will be the commanding officer.

The destroyer is named for Admiral 'Bud' Zumwalt, Jr., who served as chief of naval operations from 1970-1974. Zumwalt was instrumental in breaking down barriers in the Navy, making it possible for females and minorities to serve as senior officers. He retired in 1974 and died five years later.

The future USS Zumwalt headed down the Kennebec River after leaving Bath Iron Works earlier this month in Maine for testing

David Aitken, the Zumwalt's fire control chief, said all sailors are cross-trained, but there's more sharing of tasks on the Zumwalt.

'We all work together because there are fewer of us,' said the chief petty officer, who's the primary supervisor for sailors who operate the ship's weapon systems.

He said he prefers the arrangement because there's more work to do and more systems to learn.

After months of anticipation, the nation's largest and most technologically sophisticated destroyer, USS Zumwalt was scheduled to finally set sail for training at sea. But it appears the Navy's newest destroyer will remain in Virginia at Naval Station Norfolk longer than expected after crew members detected a leak on the vessel

But some are concerned that the Navy could be going too far in reducing the number of sailors. Commanding officers like to have an 'extra margin' to account for injuries or missions that could leave the crew depleted, said retired Vice Adm. Pete Daly, CEO of the U.S. Naval Institute.

The Zumwalt, Daly said, has the smallest crew size since the Farragut-class built in the 1930s, which featured a similar complement of sailors.

And those ships were tiny in comparison to the Zumwalt, he added.

USS ZUMWALT: EQUIPPED TO DOMINATE THE SEAS FOR DECADES A model of the Zumwalt Class destroyer built by Bath Iron Works and Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding is seen displayed during a contract signing ceremony at the Pentagon Displacement: 14,564 long tons (14,798 t) Length: 600 ft (180 m) Beam: 80.7 ft (24.6 m) Draft: 27.6 ft (8.4 m) Propulsion: Two Rolls-Royce Marine Trent-30 gas turbines driving Curtiss-Wright generators and emergency diesel generators, 78 MW (105,000 shp); two propellers driven by electric motors Speed: Over 30 kn (56 km/h; 35 mph) Weapons: 20  MK 57 VLS modules, with a total of 80 launch cells RIM-162 Evolved Sea Sparrow Missile (ESSM), four per cell Tactical Tomahawk, one per cell Vertical Launch Anti-Submarine Rocket (ASROC), one per cell Two  155 mm/62 caliber Advanced Gun System 920  155 mm rounds total; 600 in automated store with Auxiliary store room with up to 320 rounds (non-automatic) as of April 2005 70100 LRLAP rounds planned as of 2005 of total Two  Mk 110 57 mm gun (CIGS) Future versions of the radical design are expected to be used to test a futuristic 'Star Wars' railgun (advanced gun system) that uses electromagnetic energy to fire a shell weighing 10kg at up to 5,400mph over 100 miles Advertisement

The Zumwalt's crew is constantly talked up by Kirk, who wants to make sure the highly trained sailors are not overshadowed by the vessel's technology.

But it's hard to escape the ship's wow factor.

The future USS Zumwalt is so stealthy that it'll go to sea with reflective material that can be hoisted to make it more visible to other ships.

It is designed to look like a much smaller vessel on radar, and it lived up to its billing during recent builder trials.

Lawrence Pye, a lobsterman, told The Associated Press that on his radar screen the 610-foot ship looked like a 40- to 50-foot fishing boat.

He watched as the behemoth came within a half-mile while returning to shipbuilder Bath Iron Works.

'It's pretty mammoth when it's that close to you,' Pye said.

Despite its size, the warship is 50 times harder to detect than current destroyers thanks to its angular shape and other design features, and its stealth could improve even more once testing equipment is removed, said Capt. James Downey, program manager.

During sea trials last month, the Navy tested Zumwalt's radar signature with and without reflective material hoisted on its halyard, he said.

The goal was to get a better idea of exactly how stealthy the ship really is, Downey said from Washington, D.C.

The 610-foot destroyer once headed out for sea trials in a snowstorm, and hundreds of people gathered to watch as it headed into the remnants of Tropical Storm Hermine while leaving Maine for good

The reflectors, which look like metal cylinders, have been used on other warships and will be standard issue on the Zumwalt and two sister ships for times when stealth becomes a liability and they want to be visible on radar, like times of fog or heavy ship traffic, he said.

The possibility of a collision is remote.

The Zumwalt has sophisticated radar to detect vessels from miles away, allowing plenty of time for evasive action.

But there is a concern that civilian mariners might not see it during bad weather or at night, and the reflective material could save them from being startled.

The destroyer is unlike anything ever built for the Navy.

Besides a shape designed to deflect enemy radar, it features a wave-piercing 'tumblehome' hull, composite deckhouse, electric propulsion and new guns.

The warship is due to be commissioned in October in Baltimore, and will undergo more testing before becoming fully operational in 2018.

Future versions of the radical design are expected to be used to test a futuristic 'Star Wars' railgun that uses electromagnetic energy to fire a shell weighing 10kg at up to 5,400mph over 100 miles  with such force and accuracy it penetrates three concrete walls or six half-inch thick steel plates.

The $4.3bn ship departed from shipbuilder Bath Iron Works in Maine and carefully navigating the winding Kennebec River during trials

More than 200 shipbuilders, sailors and residents gathered to watch as the futuristic 600-foot, 15,000-ton USS Zumwalt glided past Fort Popham, accompanied by tugboats on Monday.

The $4.3bn ship departed from shipbuilder Bath Iron Works in Maine and carefully navigating the winding Kennebec River.

Kelley Campana, a Bath Iron Works employee, said she had goose bumps and tears in her eyes.

'This is pretty exciting. It's a great day to be a shipbuilder and to be an American,' she said.

'It's the first in its class. There's never been anything like it. It looks like the future.'

Larry Harris, a retired Raytheon employee who worked on the ship, watched it depart from Bath.

'It's as cool as can be. It's nice to see it underway,' he said.

'Hopefully, it will perform as advertised.'

Bath Iron Works will be testing the ship's performance and making tweaks this winter.

For the crew and all those involved in designing, building, and readying this fantastic ship, this is a huge milestone,' the ship's skipper, Navy Capt. James Kirk, said before the ship departed.

The ship has electric propulsion, new radar and sonar, powerful missiles and guns, and a stealthy design to reduce its radar signature

The ship has electric propulsion, new radar and sonar, powerful missiles and guns, and a stealthy design to reduce its radar signature.

Advanced automation will allow the warship to operate with a much smaller crew size than current destroyers.

All of that innovation has led to construction delays and a growing price tag.

The Zumwalt, the first of three ships in the class, will cost at least $4.4 billion.

The ship looks like nothing ever built at Bath Iron Works, with an inverse bow that juts forward to slice through the waves.

Sharp angles deflect enemy radar signals. Radar and antennas are hidden in a composite deckhouse.

The builder sea trials will answer any questions of seaworthiness for a ship that utilizes a type of hull associated with pre-dreadnought battleships from a century ago.

Critics say the 'tumblehome' hull's sloping shape makes it less stable than conventional hulls, but it contributes to the ship's stealth and the Navy is confident in the design.

Eric Wertheim, author and editor of the U.S. Naval Institute's 'Guide to Combat Fleets of the World,' said there's no question the integration of so many new systems from the electric drive to the tumblehome hull carries some level of risk.

Operational concerns, growing costs and fleet makeup led the Navy to truncate the 32-ship program to three ships, he said.

With only three ships, the class of destroyers could become something of a technology demonstration project, he said.

The goal is to deliver it to the Navy sometime next year.

'We are absolutely fired up to see Zumwalt get underway.

The Zumwalt looks like no other U.S. warship, with an angular profile and clean carbon fiber superstructure that hides antennas and radar masts.
Several Russian firms now make everything from tanks and missile launchers to dozens of tank models

first used by British in First World War, and throughout Second World War

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At first glance, they look like any other military vehicle.

However, Russian army bosses have revealed their latest range of weapons - and they are all inflatable.

The blow up battalions are designed to bamboozle satellites and surveillance aircraft into thinking forces are more powerful than they actually are.

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Aleksei A. Komarov of Rusbal, a hot air balloon company that also provides Russia's Ministry of Defense with everything from tanks, jets and missile launchers - all in inflatable form. Here, he is stood next to a life sized mock a Mig-31 workers had just inflated in a field outside Sergeev Posad, 50 miles to the north of Moscow, where their factory is located.

'If you study the major battles of history, you see that trickery wins every time,' Aleksei A. Komarov of Rusbal, a hot air balloon company that also provides Russia's Ministry of Defense with everything from tanks, jets and missile launchers - all in inflatable form, told the New York Times.

The decoys, made of material rather than rubber, are designed to appear lifelike from as close as 300 yards, yet be able to vanish in minutes.

Employees prepare to inflate a copy of a Mig-31 in a field outside Sergeev Posad, 50 miles to the north of Moscow, where their factory is located.

The fullsize mock of a Mig-31takes around five minutes to inflate fully, the firm says.

The inflatable T-80 tank, one of the company's standard products, weighs 154 pounds, costs about $16,000, and is delivered in two duffel bags.

It can inflate and deflate in about five minutes.

Russia's new fighting force includes tanks, complete with gun barrels, an S-300 missile launching truck, MiG fighter jets and entire radar stations.

Manufacturer Rusbal has been dealing with defence bosses since 1995 but refused to say how many air-filled models have been made, sold and deployed.

Employees looked on after having inflated a fullsize mock of a Mig-31 in a field outside Sergeev Posad, 50 miles to the north of Moscow.

Employees inflated a life sized mock of a S300 rocket system next to a fullsize mock of a Mig-31 they had just inflated in a field outside Sergeev Posad, 50 miles to the north of Moscow, where their factory is located.

A hot air balloon enthusiast founded Rusbal in 1993 and later diversified into bouncy castles.

On its website, the firm now offers a huge range of military vehicles.

However, the technique is not new.

During World War I Britain mocked up wooden tanks which were towed around the country by horses, using a set of concealed wheels behind their pretend tracks.

And in World War II disused British airfields were dressed up like military runways, complete with dummy planes and fuel resources, to confuse German bombers and soldiers.

WOODEN TANKS IN WORLD WAR ONE: THE HISTORY OF DECOYS IN WARFARE During World War I Britain mocked up wooden tanks which were towed around the country by horses, using a set of concealed wheels behind their pretend tracks. They were constructed from a wooden framework and covered with painted Hessian cloth. Many were fitted with concealed wheels underneath and were towed from place to place by a pair of horses. An inflatable Sherman M4, left, and dummy tanks, mounted on trucks, going to the forward areas in the Western Desert, 13 February 1942 Dummy tanks, representing Allied models, were also found to have been constructed by the Germans, although it is believed they were mainly used for training. The decoys were used during World War II by both the Allies, who dubbed them 'spoofs' and the Germans. A dummy Sherman under construction by 6 Field Park Company, Royal Engineers, in the Anzio bridgehead on 29 April 1944. One of the first uses of dummy tanks during the Second World War was in the North African Campaign, where Royal Engineers constructed two dummy tanks per day. Between April and June 1941, they were able to build three dummy Royal Tank Regiments, and another in November that same year. The design was foldable, allowing them to be moved. Jeeps and steel frames were used to make them move more realistically. Inflatable dummies were also used. In one operation in September 1944, the British deployed 148 inflatable tanks close to the front line - although around half were 'destroyed' by fragments from German mortar and artillery fire, and by Allied bombs falling short. Dummy tanks were also used in Operation Fortitude prior to the landings at the Normandy Beaches to confuse German forces. Disused British airfields were dressed up like military runways, complete with dummy planes and fuel resources, to confuse German bombers and soldiers. Advertisement

'There was a lot of skepticism at first,' Maria A. Oparina, the director of Rusbal and daughter of the founder, told the times.

The firm refuses to reveal its sales figures, but say its output has shot up in the last year.

Workers inflate a model of a Russian S-300 long range surface-to-air missile system at the compound of the RusBal balloon manufacturer outside Moscow. The small firm produces infrared and radar reflective inflatable dummy targets in 1:1 ratio that are designed for the Russian military and the international defence market.

Another Russian firm, Rusbal, created this dummy of a truck, designed to look like the real thing from the air

A Mig 31 (left) and an SU 27 (right) - or so it would seem at first glance.

The factory now employs 80 people full time, most sewing inflatable weapons which the firm also exports.

It made about $3 million worth of inflatable decoys of the S-300 antiaircraft missile system to sell to Iran, but was left holding the goods when the Russian government suspended the sale of the actual missile system because of United Nations sanctions.
Also looked at belief in conspiracy theories, finding 'a degree of paranoia'

Clowns and spiders may send an occasional chill down your spine, but according to a new study, Americans are more plagued by the thought of Obamacare, gun control, and government corruption.

More than 1,500 adults were asked to rank 79 fears from a wide range of categories, including both man-made and natural disasters, the future, and health.

The results reflect the idea that people fear what they cannot control, with government issues and terrorism topping the list, and reveal that the US is a strongly conspiratorial society as many responses exhibited a degree of paranoia.

Clowns and spiders may send an occasional chill down your spine, but according to a new study, Americans are more plagued by the thought of Obamacare, gun control, and government corruption

TOP 10 FEARS IN THE US Corruption of government officials Terrorist attack on the nation Inadequate funds for the future Victim of terrorism Gun control Loved ones dying Economic/ financial collapse Identity theft Loved ones seriously ill Affordable Health Care Act/ Obamacare Advertisement

In the annual Chapman University Survey of American Fears, researchers recruited a random sample of 1,511 English-speaking Americans over the age of 18 from across the country.

Participants were asked to indicate their level of fear on numerous examples across 11 major domains.

These were: crime, personal fears, immigration/demographic changes, environment, relationships, technology, natural disasters, illness and death, economic, man-made disasters, and government.

The researchers also examined belief in conspiracy theories and Islamophobia, revealing disturbing levels of distrust for Muslims among the American population.

Responses showed that people in the US are most concerned about corruption of government officials, with 60.6 percent of the group responding that they are either afraid or very afraid of this phenomenon.

According to the researchers, this same fear was also number one last year.

The top ten list also includes terrorist attacks on the nation (41 percent) and inadequate funds for the future (39.9 percent).

An equal percentage of respondents reported that they were either afraid or very afraid of being the victim or terrorism and gun control, with both of these categories receiving 38.5 percent.

This was followed by the fear of loved ones dying (38.1 percent), economic/financial collapse (35.5 percent), identify theft (37.1 percent), loved ones seriously ill (35.9 percent), and the Affordable Health Care Act (35.5).

Participants were asked to indicate their level of fear from examples across 11 domains: crime, personal fears, immigration/demographic changes, environment, relationships, technology, natural disasters, illness and death, economic, man-made disasters, and government

WHAT AMERICANS FEAR THE MOST 1. Corrupt government officials 2. Terrorist Attack Manmade Disasters 3. Not having enough money for the future 4. Terrorism 5. Government restrictions on firearms and ammunition 6. People I love dying 7. Economic/financial collapse 8. Identity theft 9. People I love becoming seriously ill 10. The Affordable Health Care Act/Obamacare 11. Credit card fraud 12. Biological warfare 13. Reptiles 14. Government tracking of personal data 15. High medical bills 16. The US will be involved in another World War 17. Global warming and climate change 18. Nuclear weapons attack 19. Cyber-terrorism 20. Being hit by a drunk driver 21. Pollution of oceans, rivers and lakes 22. Devastating tornado 23. Pandemic or a major epidemic 24. Corporate tracking of personal data 25. Extinction of plant and animal species 26. Pollution of drinking water 27. Break-ins 28. Widespread civil unrest 29. Nuclear accident/meltdown 30. Random/mass shooting 31. Oil spills 32. Collapse of the electrical grid 33. Public speaking 34. Theft of property 35. Losing my data, photos or other important documents in a disaster 36. Insects/arachnids 37. Becoming unemployed 38. Heights 39. Devastating drought 40. Illegal immigration 41. Devastating hurricane 42. Devastating earthquake 43. Devastating flood 44. Murder by a stranger 45. Devastating blizzard/winter storm 46. Government use of drones within the US 47. Financial fraud (such as a Ponzi scheme, embezzlement, etc.) 48. Sexual assault by a stranger 49. Mugging 50. Gang violence 51. Walking alone at night 52. Deep lakes and oceans 53. Air Pollution 54. Becoming seriously ill 55. Racial/hate crime 56. Police brutality 57. Abduction/kidnapping 58. Becoming the victim of a violent crim 59. Dying 60. Becoming the victim of a property crime 61. Sexual assault by someone you know 62. Whites no longer being the majority in the US 63. Murder by someone you know 64. Stalking 65. Small enclosed spaces 66. Needles 67. Computers replacing people in the workforce 68. Technology I dont understand 69. Large volcanic eruption 70. Germs 71. Flying 72. Blood 73. Animals (dogs, rats, etc). 74. Significant other cheating on you 75. Zombies 76. Strangers 77. Ghosts 78. Clowns 79. Others talking about you behind your back Advertisement

The 2016 survey data shows us the top fears have shifted from last years, which were heavily based in economic and big brother type issues to include more health and financial fears this year, said Christopher Bader, PhD, professor of sociology at Chapman University, who led the team effort.

People often fear what they cannot control, and we find continued evidence of that in our top fears.

The researchers also investigated belief in conspiracy theories, and participants were asked about their beliefs on nine different popular topics, including the JFK assassination, Barack Obamas birth certificate, alien encounters, the moon landings, and the 9/11 attacks.

Their responses suggest the United States is rife with conspiracy theorists  and those most likely to fall within this category were employed, low-income Republicans with lower levels of education, who were likely to be Catholic or a Christian denomination, but rarely attend religious services.

The researchers also investigated belief in conspiracy theories, and participants were asked about their beliefs on nine different popular topics, including the JFK assassination, Barack Obamas birth certificate, alien encounters, the moon landings, and the 9/11 attacks

Beliefs in the paranormal were brought to light in the survey, as researchers found that more Americans now believe in supernatural phenomena than last year. Overall, two-thirds of Americans believe in something paranormal

We found clear evidence that the United States is a strongly conspiratorial society, said Dr Bader.

We see a degree of paranoia in the responses.

'Most indicative is nearly one-third of respondents believed the government is concealing information about the North Dakota crash, a theory we asked about that  to our knowledge  we made up,' the researcher continued.

Conspiracy theorists tend to be more pessimistic about the near future, fearful of government, less trusting of other people in their lives and more likely to engage in actions due to their fears, such as purchasing a gun.

STUDY REVEALS 'DISTURBING' TREND OF ISLAMOPHOBIA The 2016 Chapman University Survey of American Fears has revealed troubling new insight on the rise of Islamophobia. According to the researchers, nearly half of American respondents said they would not be comfortable with a Mosque being built in the neighbourhood. Along with this, one-third reported that Muslims are more likely to engage in terrorism, and agreed that the US should put a stop to immigration from Muslim nations. The survey revealed disturbing levels of distrust for Muslims among the American population, according to the researchers The researchers say these beliefs varied dramatically based on the participants origins within the country. People living in urban areas were less likely to distrust Muslims or support institutionalized discrimination, they found, and men were more likely to hold anti-Muslim opinions than women. Along with this, they found that white Americans had much higher levels of Islamophobia than non-whites, and that Republicans were far more likely to have anti-Muslim views than Democrats, while Independents fell in the middle. People living in urban areas were less likely to distrust Muslims or support institutionalized discrimination, they found, and men were more likely to hold anti-Muslim opinions than women For a nation that touts its commitment to religious liberty, the prevalence of these beliefs should be disturbing, said Ed Day, PhD, chair of the department of sociology at Chapman University and one of the three researchers on the survey. According to the researcher, the results show significant portions of the US population distrust Muslims and believe the nation is justified in singling out one religious tradition for increased law enforcement scrutiny. Those with Islamophobic views are more likely to be rural, male, white, older, and lacking a college education. However, the survey data do not allow us to dig deeply into the sources of anti-Muslim prejudice. Regardless of the sources, the prevalence of anti-Muslim sentiment is a concern. Advertisement

Beliefs in the paranormal were also brought to light in the survey, as researchers found that more Americans now believe in supernatural phenomena than last year.

Participants were asked about a number of beliefs, including Bigfoot, psychic powers, haunted houses, and alien visits.

More than half of the respondents reported that they believe places can be haunted by spirits, while only 13 percent believed in the existence of Bigfoot.

Overall, however, the researchers say two-thirds of Americans believe in something paranormal.
Police Arrest Man Accused Of Robbing Logan Square Liquor Stores At Gunpoint

By Rachel Cromidas in News on Oct 13, 2016 4:05PM



CPD surveillance footage.

A Logan Square man was accused of robbing several neighborhood convenience stores at gunpoint earlier this fall.

Angelo Stanton, 27,of West McLean Avenue, was charged with felony armed robbery, attempted robbery, and several unlawful weapons charges after police identified him as the man who was caught on video surveillance robbing or attempting to rob several liquor stores and convenience stores.

A police alert issued Oct. 5 said that an armed robber, pictured above, held up four Logan Square stores at the following addresses and times: 2222 N. Western Ave. Friday, Aug. 26 at 3:56 p.m.; 1900 N. California Ave., Tuesday, Sept. 23, at 5:00 p.m.; 2501 W. North Ave. on Tuesday Sept. 20 at 8:35 p.m.; 3048 W. Fullerton Ave. on Thursday, Sept. 22 at 9:30 p.m.

Police arrested Stanton Tuesday in the 1500 block of North Leavitt Avenue and he will be arraigned at central bond court Thursday afternoon.
Could support 80 million simultaneous HD video calls between the cities

Will span nearly 8,000 miles of the Pacific,

An 8,000 mile undersea internet cable connecting Los Angeles to Hong Kong is set to be built across the Pacific Ocean by 2018.

Google is teaming up with Facebook, Pacific Light Data Communication, and TE SubCom to construct a system thats twice as powerful as the record-holding Faster cable that went live in June, which was said to be 10 million times quicker than a modem.

According to the researchers, the new ultra high-capacity system would be able to support 80 million simultaneous HD video conference calls between Asia and North America, and will bring faster speeds and increased security.

An 8,000 mile undersea internet cable connecting Los Angeles to Hong Kong is set to be built across the Pacific Ocean by 2018. It will be twice as powerful as the record-holding Faster cable that went live in June, which was said to be 10 million times quicker than a modem

THE SUBSEA CABLE The PLCN will stretch nearly 8,000 miles, from Los Angeles to Hong Kong. It is an ultra high-capacity system, capable of 120-terabits-per-second. This is twice the capabilities of the Faster cable, which connects the US to Japan. Researchers say the new would be able to support 80 million simultaneous HD video conference calls between Asia and North America. Advertisement

Plans for the Pacific Light Cable Network (PLCN) were announced on the Google Cloud Platform Blog.

The cable will be the highest capacity trans-Pacific system, with a capacity of 120 terabits-per-second, and is the sixth undersea cable the Google has taken part in.

Its hoped that the PLCN will be operational in 2018.

From the get-go, PLCN is designed to accommodate evolving infrastructure technology, allowing us to independently choose network equipment and refresh optical technology as it advances, the Google team wrote.

Most importantly, PLCN will bring lower latency, more security, and greater bandwidth to Google users in the APAC region.

Along with this, the firm says it will expand Googles reach in Asia for Google Cloud and G Suite users.

Just months ago, Google revealed the completion of its subsea cable system that stretches from the United States to Japan.

The new system will be twice as powerful as the record-holding Faster cable that went live in June, pictured, which was said to be 10 million times quicker than a modem

THE 5,600 MILE CABLE The Faster subsea cable system has 60TBps total capacity  10 million times faster than a cable modem. It transmits multiple colours of light over various frequencies, using a repeater to reenergize the light roughly every 37 miles. It has landing points in Oregon, in the US, and Chiba and Mie, in Japan, but connectivity will extend along the West Coast of the US and to major cities in Japan and other Asian locations. Advertisement

The $300 million Faster cable system is backed by six companies, including Google, and runs through the Pacific Ocean from Oregon to Chiba and Mie.

The system currently has a greater total capacity than any other undersea cable, Google SVP of Technical Infrastructure Urs Holzle revealed in a blog post.

It can deliver 60 terabits per second of bandwidth 5,600 miles across the ocean, bringing high speed connection to users in the US and Japan.

Internet users and our customers in Japan today should notice things seem to be moving a bitFASTER, Holzle wrote.

Today, our FASTER subsea cable between Japan and the U.S. officially entered into service.

It has landing points in Oregon, in the US, and Chiba and Mie, in Japan, but the benefits wont be limited only to these areas.

The submarine cable system has extended connections along the West Coast, allowing it to cover Los Angeles, the San Francisco Bay Area, Portland, and Seattle.

And, this connectivity will reach many major cities in Japan and other Asian locations.

The subsea cable system can deliver 60 terabits per second of bandwidth 5,600 miles across the ocean, bringing high speed connection to users in the US and Japan. It has landing points in Oregon, in the US, and Chiba and Mie, in Japan, but the benefits wont be limited only to these areas

The Faster Cable system was built through the collaboration of six international companies and NEC Corporation.

It transmits multiple colours of light over various frequencies, using a repeater to reenergize the light roughly every 37 miles.

Construction was first announced in August 2014.

From the very beginning of the project, we repeatedly said to each other, faster, Faster and FASTER, and at one point it because the project name, and today it becomes a reality, said Hiromitsu Todokoro, Chairman of the FASTER Management Committee.

This is the outcome of six members collaborative contribution and expertise together with NECs support.

Along with this achievement, Google will open its Google Cloud Platform region in Tokyo later this year, for a faster and more secure public cloud, according to Holzle.

Faster isnt the only subsea cable system, the SVP explained, but it is the most powerful.
Monarch's chief executive has called for flights to resume between the UK and Sharm el-Sheikh.

The airline announced on Wednesday that it had secured a 165million cash injection from its owner, allowing the carrier to retain its licence to operate.

Andrew Swaffield said the company's recent struggles began when flights to the Egyptian Red Sea resort were suspended by the government due to security fears, following the suspected terrorist bombing of a Russian airliner in October last year.

Monarch's chief executive has called for flights to resume between the UK and Sharm el-Sheikh (file photo)

He told delegates at the annual convention of UK travel organisation Abta in Abu Dhabi that he believed the flight ban should be lifted.

Mr Swaffield said: 'My own view is that it's now at a point where it is ready to open and the necessary security has been carried out.

'But it's important to say that it's not my job to decide that. We are dependent upon the government reaching that conclusion.'

Mr Swaffield revealed that he was sitting in a tree during a safari in Botswana when he was told about the downing of the Russian plane.

He said: 'I nearly fell out of the tree.

'That was really the moment, at the end of October, when really it became clear that things were beginning to turn.'

Andrew Swaffield told delegates at the annual convention of UK travel organisation Abta in Abu Dhabi that he believed the flight ban should be lifted (file photo)

Monarch's future was cast into doubt over recent weeks, with the firm forced to deny speculation that it was in financial trouble.

It faced a deadline of midnight on Wednesday to obtain fresh funding or risk being unable to renew its Atol licence.

Hours before then it announced that it had received investment from its owner, Greybull Capital.

MONARCH IN NUMBERS Founded in 1968

Carried 625,000 passengers last year

Employs 2,800 people

114,000 Twitter followers

Flies from five UK airports to 40 places

200million of cost cutting measures by new owners who took over in 2014

Turned a 57.3million loss into a 19.2million pre-tax profit

Needed 35million to get through the winter period Advertisement

Mr Swaffield revealed he would 'love' to see the resumption of flights to Sharm as it is a 'very important market'.

He said: 'It's affordable, it's hot and it's not too far away.

'In the winter that puts it in the category of competing with Tenerife and the Canary Islands, but they're much more expensive.

'For British holidaymakers looking for a more affordable winter sun holiday, Sharm being out of the market is a big problem.'

He said Monarch was 'standing ready to go back in', but warned that in order to operate flights for the February half term period the Government would need to act 'pretty quick' to give the go-ahead.

He warned: 'Once that's gone then you're talking about 'is it actually worth flying in the summer at all?

'It's not really a summer resort.'

Thomas Cook's UK managing director Chris Mottershead claimed that holidaymakers are now more prepared to visit countries hit by terror attacks.

The carrier faced a deadline of midnight on Wednesday to obtain fresh funding or risk being unable to renew its Atol licence (file photo)

In an interview with the Press Association, he said: 'Customers are resettling more quickly than I've seen in the past. They are overcoming fears.'

But Mr Mottershead added that there was no reason for people to go to places where they 'weren't 100 per cent comfortable'.

He said: 'We are there in many ways as the servants of the customers. That's our role in life. We're not here to force people to do anything. We provide holidays to places that people want to go.'

Monarch's future had been cast into doubt over the past weeks, with the firm forced to deny speculation that it was in financial trouble.

But the extension of the Atol licence by the Civil Aviation Authority, which was dependent on fresh funding, means Monarch will now be able to sell package holidays.
Jet2.com has apologised and Thrifty in Cyprus has launched investigation

It set alight as they returned from shopping trip and they had to jump out

A holidaymaker claims he was forced to leap out of his hire car when it burst into flames while he was driving.

Richard Mason, from Burnley, Lancashire, paid 220 for a Ford Fiesta for a dream two-week holiday to Lysos, Cyprus, with his partner last month.

But the 46-year-old claims just 11 hours after picking up the vehicle from rental company Thrifty's Paphos Airport branch the couple were forced to leap to safety when it unexpectedly set alight on a mountainous road.

46-year-old Richard Mason claims just 11 hours after picking up a Ford vehicle from rental company Thrifty's Paphos Airport branch he and his partner were forced to leap to safety when it unexpectedly set alight on a mountainous road

'Smoke started coming from the engine.We jumped out of the car just as it caught fire. Very quickly the whole car was ablaze with black smoke billowing from it,' Mason said. Firefighters were called to the scene to tackle the raging flames

Mason picked up the car from Thrifty at the beginning of his holiday on September 17 after seeing the firm advertised through Jet2.com.

He claims the fire occurred the following day as he and his partner drove on a mountainous road back to their holiday accommodation after an early morning supermarket trip.

The health and safety business owner, said: 'We were on our way back from the supermarket when the car started to feel funny and struggle uphill, but we thought that was just because it was an old car.

'Smoke started coming from the engine. We pulled over and then there was a lot of white smoke.

'We jumped out of the car just as it caught fire. Very quickly the whole car was ablaze with black smoke billowing from it.

'Luckily we were unhurt, but we were worried it was going to set the countryside alight.

'It could have been a lot worse had we had children in the back, or were elderly or had elderly passengers.

Photographs taken by Mason afterwards revealing the Ford's scorched husk

He said: 'Looking back, we didn't realise the fuel tank must have been leaking. When you're on holiday you do drop your guard.'

Mason said after the car set alight, a passing tractor driver helped them alert the police, fire service and Thrifty. The driver then calmly offered them grapes to eat amidst the inferno.

Firefighters soon arrived on the scene to tackle the raging flames - with photographs taken by Mason afterwards revealing the Ford's scorched husk.

Mason alleges that the Ford was the second car offered to him by Thrifty after the first failed to meet his standards when he went to pick it up.

Mason alleges that the Ford was the second car offered to him by Thrifty after the first failed to meet his standards when he went to pick it up

He said: 'When we first picked up the car and said it wasn't the one we had ordered, the assistant smiled and just said, "or similar".

'We refused to take it, so we were given a Ford Fiesta, it didn't look looked after.

'The fire obviously did have an effect on the first few days of the holiday.

'We lost our grocery shopping, which can be replaced.'

He added: 'People's lives cannot, so I think holiday companies who advertise these firms on their web sites should be checking the cars are safe and roadworthy to UK standards.'

A spokesman for Thrifty Cyprus said: 'We have launched a full internal investigation and have as well escalated the issue to the senior management of Thrifty Cyprus.

'They are in turn working closely with Ford Cyprus to find out the exact cause of the incident.

'However, we need more time to collect all the facts as we take such matters very seriously.'

Mason (right) said: 'The fire obviously did have an effect on the first few days of the holiday. We lost our grocery shopping, which can be replaced. People's lives cannot, so I think holiday companies who advertise these firms on their web sites should be checking the cars are safe and roadworthy to UK standards.'

Jet2.com has apologised to Mason and are arranging compensation while a spokesman for Ford said fires were an insurance issue.

A Jet2.com spokesman said: 'We introduce customers to reputable partner suppliers to arrange car hire, meaning that the two parties enter into a direct contract.

'Despite this, we have been in touch with Richard to offer a full apology and arrange compensation.

'All of our partner suppliers go through a strict process to ensure that their vehicles are fit for purpose and are maintained and operated in line with all necessary regulations.

'As the safety of our customers is our number one priority, we are investigating this isolated incident with the partner supplier.'
A birthday holiday abroad turned into the trip from hell when a family of five suffered severe illness after catching a serious parasitic infection.

Steven Gorniak was so sick as a result of the disease caught at a 'filthy' Cyprus resort that he has been forced to put his career on hold.

Gorniak, 30, was celebrating his mother's birthday abroad with his family when he became ill.

Steven Gorniak (second from left) was so sick as a result of the disease caught at a 'filthy' Cyprus resort that he has been forced to put his career on hold. Gorniak, 30, was celebrating his mother's birthday abroad with his family

He has now instructed lawyers to investigate a number of hygiene and safety concerns he has about the three-star hotel he stayed at

All five family members suffered severe illness during the trip to the Crown Resorts Horizon Hotel in Paphos - but Gorniak was by far the worst affected.

He suffered diarrhoea, stomach cramps and a lack of appetite.

And on his return to the UK, tests conducted by his local GP confirmed he was suffering with giardiasis, an infection of the intestine that causes diarrhoea and other symptoms.

He has now instructed lawyers to investigate a number of hygiene and safety concerns he has about the three-star hotel he stayed at.

Gorniak, from Camborne, Cornwall, travelled with his mother Amanda, sister Janina, nephew Lucijan and brother Benn Wisby for a week-long break in August that was booked through Thomson and First Choice.

The illness has had such an impact on his health he was forced to put his career on hold while he recovers both weight and fitness.

He said: 'We had booked this trip to celebrate my mother's birthday and we were really looking forward to it.

Gorniak, who works as an environmental health officer, told lawyers that he did not see the swimming pool at the hotel cleaned in the week his family were there

The seats in the restaurant were in a poor condition and the cutlery and crockery in the restaurant appeared dirty, he claims

Lewd graffiti was also rife around the resort, even in children's areas (left). Gorniak added: 'The hotel was not at the standard we expected from the one we booked through Thomson and I can only hope by taking legal action and raising awareness of the illness we suffered will ensure hygiene standards at the hotel are looked at'

'It turned into a nightmare when we all starting suffering from these terrible symptoms.

'They were awful and we just wanted to get home and put an end to it.

'For me the problems did not end when I got back home and I was forced to take three days off work to help me recover.

'It was also quite shocking to be diagnosed with giardiasis and I want to know what caused me to develop this.'

Gorniak, who works as an environmental health officer, has now highlighted a number of safety and hygiene concerns he had during his holiday.

He told lawyers that he did not see the swimming pool at the hotel cleaned in the week his family were there, that there were a number of stray cats roaming around the hotel on a number of occasions and that the cutlery and crockery in the restaurant appeared dirty.

Gorniak also took pictures of ants and other pests crawling over a drinks machine in the hotel restaurant.

He added: 'The hotel was not at the standard we expected from the one we booked through Thomson and I can only hope by taking legal action and raising awareness of the illness we suffered will ensure hygiene standards at the hotel are looked at.

Mould can be seen on light fixtures (left) while ceilings were also damaged (right). 'It turned into a nightmare when we all starting suffering from these terrible symptoms. 'They were awful and we just wanted to get home and put an end to it', he said

He added: 'The hotel was not at the standard we expected from the one we booked through Thomson and I can only hope by taking legal action and raising awareness of the illness we suffered will ensure hygiene standards at the hotel are looked at'

'For me the problems did not end when I got back home and I was forced to take three days off work to help me recover. It was also quite shocking to be diagnosed with giardiasis and I want to know what caused me to develop this' said Gorniak (pictured left with Benn and Amanda)

'People who spend their money on a holiday don't deserve to suffer the horrendous ordeal we did.'

Jatinder Paul, an associate solicitor and expert international personal injury lawyer at Irwin Mitchell, who is representing Steven and his family, added: 'The problems Steven and his family suffered during their holiday in Cyprus and since their return to the UK are concerning.

'Giardiasis can be very unpleasant for victims and understandably Steven wants to understand how he and his family fell ill during their time at this hotel.

'We have now launched our own investigation into the illness he suffered in the hope of providing him with the answers he is looking for.'

'We would like to hear from anyone who was staying at the resort at the time who may also have suffered with illness as they may be able to help with our investigations.'

Giardiasis is caused by microscopic parasites known as Giardia intestinalis, which live in the intestines of animals and humans and in most cases it is spread by drinking water that has been contaminated with infected faeces.

A First Choice spokesperson told MailOnline Travel: 'First Choice is sorry to hear of Mr Gorniaks experience. As this is now subject to legal proceedings, it would be inappropriate for us to comment further.
Passengers travelling to Brisbane ended up making an impromptu visit to Bali after the aircraft they were travelling on was forced to make an emergency landing there.

The Thai Airways Dreamliner reportedly suffered from a suspected leak from its right engine a few hours into the flight from Bangkok and the pilots decided to divert the flight.

The airline, which is banned from several Asian countries over safety fears, is already under higher safety restrictions set out by Australia's Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA).

Scroll down for video

Passengers travelling to Brisbane ended up making an impromptu visit to Bali after the aircraft they were travelling on was forced to make an emergency landing there (file photo)

The flight took off from Bangkok on October 10 but was diverted to Bali several hours into the journey (pictured)

Flight TG473 was scheduled to take off from Bangkok at 11.59pm on October 9 according to Flightradar24.

However, the flight was delayed until 3.01am on October 10. The cause of this is unknown.

A few hours into the journey, the captain made the announcement that the flight would be diverted to Bali.

The plane proceeded to dump fuel from its wings ahead of the emergency landing, which was captured by Paul Pluta and posted to his Youtube channel.

In the footage, Pluta said he spotted the change in course of the flight on the flight tracker in front of him and alerted the cabin crew.

He was then informed that there would be an emergency landing in Denpasar.

The plane dumped fuel (pictured) from its wings ahead of the emergency landing, which was captured by Paul Pluta

Despite the emergency landing, the aircraft arrived in Bali safely and the passengers were taken to hotels near the airport

The video blogger also showed clips of the fuel being dumped as well as the aircraft at Ngurah Rai International Airport after it had safely landed.

News.com.au reported that the aircraft was carrying 264 passengers on board at the time.

They were all given overnight accommodation in hotels near the airport while the aircraft was being fixed.

The Aviation Herald reported that a second Thai Airways plane was sent to Denpasar to pick up the passengers and take them on to their final destination of Brisbane.

There was a total delay of 37 hours by the time the passengers finally arrived according to the report.

In interviews with ABC Brisbane shortly after finally arriving in Australia on October 12, the passengers expressed mixed feelings about their experience.

In the footage, Pluta said he spotted the change in course of the flight on the flight tracker in front of him and alerted the cabin crew. He was then informed that there would be an emergency landing in Denpasar

One woman said: 'It was obviously something so minimal. Everyone was being quite dramatic and quite angry with the time.

'But it really wasn't that bad. We got put up in a five-star hotel, we were fed, we were watered.'

However, another passenger commented: 'They handled it really poorly. The communication was terrible.'

The Aviation Herald reported that the diversion was due to a suspected fuel leak from the right hand engine.

There has been concerns about the safety of Thai Airways in the past.

The airline was previously banned from flying to China, Japan and South Korea according to a Daily Mail Australia report.

It was also put under higher safety restrictions by Australia's Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) in 2015.
A sojourn is 'a temporary stay' and, for us, one of the best ways to indulge in one is to take a cruise on the Seabourn Sojourn.

We flew to Singapore and, after a night at the Four Seasons hotel, we joined the ship, looking forward to sailing the Andaman Sea and the Straits of Malacca, rediscovering Malaysia and Thailand and seeing Myanmar, formerly Burma, for the first time.

We spent the first day familiarising ourselves with the ship, with its 450 passengers from 22 countries and 350 crew, while we were at our first port of call, Kuala Lumpur.

Holy amazing: A hot-air balloon floats over some of the 2,000 temples at Bagan

We went ashore the next day in Penang, a bustling island with Chinese, Malay and Indian people living and working together.

We started with the daunting prospect of having to climb 272 steps, our guide informed us, to the incredible Kek Lok Si Temple sprawled across rolling hills, built in tiers, and boasting the spectacular Pagoda of Ten Thousand Buddhas.

Many of us went on this cruise because Myanmar was on the itinerary.

We were intrigued to visit Yangon - formerly Rangoon - the country's largest city and home to six million people, many of whom travel to and from work on the traditional ferries plying up and down the Yangon river.

The city's temples, pagodas, colonial buildings, street life and friendly faces make it a very special destination.

Gilded: The most sacred of all Buddhist sites is the Shwedagon Pagoda ('shwe' means gold) and legend has it that it is 2,600 years old

The most sacred of all Buddhist sites is the Shwedagon Pagoda ('shwe' means gold) and legend has it that it is 2,600 years old.

It is gilded with 60 tons of gold and its 325ft spire is topped by a 76-carat diamond.

It is like a miniature town with myriad stupas, shrines and pavilions where families come to meet their friends, groups of nurses in their red uniforms gather and the monks are happy to have their photographs taken with you.

There are more than 4,000 monks, nuns and novices in Myanmar and we soon came to understand that Buddhism is more a way of life than a religion.

Judith Chalmers and her husband Neil Durden-Smith embarked on the 16-night sojourn

From Yangon we flew 450 miles north to Bagan, the first capital of the Burmese Empire, situated close to the eastern bank of the Irrawaddy River, with its 2,000 temples and pagodas.

Take a hot-air balloon flight at sunrise or sunset to see them all laid out before you on the Bagan Plain.

Another highlight was Phuket in southern Thailand, where we went by speedboat through Phang Nga Bay to James Bond Island where The Man With The Golden Gun was filmed.

On the return journey we stopped at Khai Island and lunched under trees by the white sand beach. Then it was time to rejoin the Sojourn back to Singapore via Langkawi and Malacca.

What an amazing sojourn.
He played the impossibly handsome - but dysfunctional - Don Draper.

But Mad Men actor Jon Hamm has revealed he regularly relies on therapy to keep himself in peak mental shape - and that rehab helped him battle his alcoholism.

Speaking to Mr Porter's The Journal, the 45 year-old is almost evangelical about the popular practice - and encourages more Brits to follow suit.

Scroll down for video

Helping hand: Mad Men actor Jon Hamm has revealed he regularly relies on therapy to keep himself in peak mental shape - and that rehab helped him battle his alcoholism

The swarthy star, who has since gone on to star in Bridesmaids and Absolutely Fabulous, checked into rehab for alcoholism after his hit AMC series ended - and he simultaneously split with his partner of 18 years, the film actor/director Ms Jennifer Westfeldt.

'It has all these connotations, but its just an extended period of talking about yourself,' he says. 'People go for all sorts of reasons, not all of which are chemically related.

'But theres something to be said for pulling yourself out of the grind for a period of time and concentrating on recalibrating the system. And it works. Its great.'

Handsome: Speaking to Mr Porter's The Journal , the 45 year-old is almost evangelical about the popular practice - and encourages more Brits to follow suit

Cool dude: The 45 year-old performer is on fine fashion form in the interview's photoshoot

As for regular therapy, he added that it stemmed from the loss of his last-surviving parent, his father, who died when Jon was just 20. Previously, Hamm had moved in with him, aged 10, after his mother died of cancer.

'After Id lost my dad, I had this horrible paralysing inertia  and no one in my family was capable of dealing with it.

'So what do you do? Go and see a professional. I preach it from the mountaintops. I know its a luxury and its not something everyone can afford. But if you can, do it. Its like a mental gym.'

'I find it very helpful. I know the English are a lot more sceptical about it than Americans are, but maybe after Brexit, youll change your minds.'

Too cool: The smouldering star turned to rehab after the loss of his father when he was twenty

Success: Thankfully, he's now in a good place - emotionally and professionally. His latest role is in comedy Keeping Up With The Joneses, released October 28, which co-stars Isla Fisher

Thankfully, he is now in a good place - both emotionally and professionally. His latest role is in comedy Keeping Up With The Joneses, released October 28, which co-stars Isla Fisher.

But, while he loves his job, he's grateful he isn't a youngster starting out now.

'I speak to young kids and they cant even get into an audition unless they have a certain number of followers on Instagram,' he adds.

'Of course, it doesnt mean anything  you can go out and buy 100,000 followers. But it becomes meaningful if business decides its meaningful. In time there will be a correction and we will look back on this period and say, "Wow. We were really dumb."'

Strike a pose: The actor poses in stylish tweed trousers a sheepskin jacket from Mr Porter

Back in the day: Jon during his Mad Men hey-day as the impossibly handsome Don Draper

Although, despite all this, he remains very selective about the work he'll do.

'I was very hesitant to be involved with any superhero stuff,' he adds. 'It takes so long as they dont want one movie, they want three movies with two crossovers Youre [just] doing it for the exposure.
style and appeal on The Daily Show last night

He captured the hearts and minds of the American people during the second presidential debate.

Now Ken Bone has a new admirer to add to his growing list - The Daily Show host Trevor Noah.

'After the debate, some people say that Trump won because, honestly, he managed to distract attention from his p***** grabbing scandal,' Noah said last night on The Daily Show.

'And some people say Hilary Clinton won because she made sense.

'But it's clear who really won. Because in the middle of that historically nasty debate, an exhausted nation cried out to God, "throw us a bone", and he did.'

Nearly 67 million people tuned into the debate, but the real star, said Noah, was Kenneth Bone, a power plant worker from Granite City, Illinois.

'I love Ken Bone, I love this guy so much and it's not just me. For two days all of America has been experiencing a non-stop Ken B****,' Noah said.

Wearing a red cable-knit sweater and glasses, Bone changed the pace of the debate between Trump and Clinton on Sunday.

Instead of asking questions about attitudes towards women or private email servers, the mustachioed power plant worker focused on energy instead.

His manner and fashion sense also won the admiration of viewers.

Super-fan: Last night on The Daily Show, Trevor Noah revealed why he is in love with presidential debate star Ken Bone

On The Daily Show, Noah played a clip in which Bone said that voting for Donald Trump might be better for him financially, but it could also mean that certain Americans have their rights taken away from them.

'If [Trump] is allowed to appoint the next Supreme Court nominee, there is a good chance we could lose some of the rights we have fought for,' said Bone.

'Okay, two things I love about his guy: One, everything,' Noah said in response to the clip.

'Two, he's not just thinking about his own interests in this election.

'With all the negativity we've been exposed to throughout the campaign, Ken Bone seems like an actually decent person.'

Social star: Bone reveals that before the debate, he only had seven Twitter followers - and two of these were his grandmother

Signature style: Bone's fashion is also a hit with The Daily Show host, who suggested that now Hillary is going to show up in the third debate with a red sweater and a fake mustache

But it's not just his attitude towards voting that Noah loves. Ken's mesmerizing style is also a hit with The Daily Show host.

'You know, right now Hilary's campaign is analyzing everything about him,' said Noah.

'She's going to show up in the third debate with a red sweater and a fake mustache.'

In another clip, Bone reveals that before the debate, he only had seven Twitter followers.

Two of these were his grandmother, after she created another account when she forget her password.

'Bone isn't just a ray of honesty in this hurricane of bull****,' said Noah.

'He's also a one man basket of adorables.'
Kirsten Dunst showed off her fashion prowess as she stepped out in West Hollywood on Wednesday.

She was seen leaving the celebrity hotspot Il Piccolino in West Hollywood with a friend.

The blonde actress looked sensational in a pair of navy blue cigarette trousers and a black buttoned up blouse as she added a pair of black high heels to her outfit. She was also with a male friend.

Cute fellow: Kirsten Dunst enjoyed lunch at Il Piccolino in West Hollywood with a male friend on Wednesday

Cute ensemble: The blonde actress looked sensational in a pair of navy blue cigarette trousers and a black buttoned up blouse as she added a pair of black high heels to her outfit

Smoking haute: The star was also seen with a cigarette as she waited by the valet with a female pal as well

The Spider-Man actress tied her blonde tresses into a ponytail as she donned a pair of designer shades.

She added a chic beige handbag to finish off her made up look.

Kirsten was seen dining with a male friend who looked laid back in a pair of black trousers, a shirt, jacket and white Nike trainers.

Her fave purse: Dunst has been carting around her wicker Ferragamo purse all year

The talented actress has a busy year ahead with her acting career.

She has a film out in early January 2017 titled Hidden Figures, which follows a team of African-American women who provide NASA with important mathematical data needed to launch the program's first successful space missions.

She will play the character Vivian Michael opposite a very talented cast including, Kevin Costner, Taraji P. Henson and Octavia Spencer.

In demand: The talented actress has a busy year ahead with three films coming out

Kirsten has a Western drama coming out next year also called The Beguiled.

A Union soldier is held captive in a Confederate girl boarding school, and begins to con himself to each of their hearts. The cast thus far includes Nicole Kidman, Colin Farrell and Elle Fanning.

Lastly she has a film called Woodshock coming out too, however a synopsis for the film hasn't been released yet. The film will be directed by Kate Mulleavy and Laura Mulleavy.
Dakota Johnson was the embodiment of sophisticated fall fashion when she headed out for a day in New York on Wednesday.

The 27-year-old wore a smart grey coat, a super pricey pair of Gucci ankle boots worth over $1,000, and blue ripped jeans cinched in to highlight her slender torso.

Dakota accessorized the look with a chic pair of black sunglasses that sat atop her flawless, blemish-free face that had hardly a stitch of makeup on it.

Simply sophisticated! Dakota Johnson wore a sophisticated grey coat, a super pricey pair of Gucci ankle boots, and blue ripped jeans during an outing in New York on Thursday

Topping off her complexion with pink blush, the minimal makeup brought out the Fifty Shades Of Grey star's natural beauty on full display.

Dakota had a black purse slung over her shoulder and carried a tangerine orange sweater in her hand.

Added extras! Johnson had a black purse slung over her shoulder and carried a tangerine orange sweater in her hand

Chatting with a friend, Dakota looked in top spirits as she enjoyed a bit of fresh air.

The actress was hours earlier every bit the social butterfly, with E! reporting the star spent some time Tuesday evening with Taylor Swift and Cara Delevingne.

Dakota, the daughter of Melanie Griffith and Don Johnson, has also recently turned 27 years old, but The Five-Year Engagement actress has plenty of celebrate apart from her birthday as of late.

Girl time! Chatting with a friend, Johnson looked in top spirits as she enjoyed a bit of fresh air

She's wrapped filming on two Fifty Shades Of Grey sequels in which she reprises the role of Anastasia Steele opposite Jamie Dornan as Christian Grey.

Fifty Shades darker is slated for a February 2017 release while Fifty Shades Freed will open a year later in February 2018.

Next up, Dakota will star in the horror thriller Suspiria with Chloe Grace Moretz and Tilda Swinton.

The movie, due out for release next year, is a remake of a classic Italian film of the same name released in 1977 and will be financed and distributed by Amazon Studios.
Report: Officers Who Sodomized Man With Screwdriver Still Employed By CPD

By Stephen Gossett in News on Oct 13, 2016 4:09PM



Photo: Scott Olson / Getty Images

A Chicago police officer, who was found liable for sodomizing a man with a screwdriver, and another officer, who watched the assault, are still employed by the Chicago Police Department, nearly ten years after a civil suit, according to reports by activist-journalist Shaun King.

A recent petition to have the two officers fired has generated more than 10,000 signatures as of Thursday morning.

The incident occurred in August, 2004. The victima black, then-20-year-old man named Coprez Coffiewas pulled over by officers Scott Korhonen and Gerald Lodwich while riding in a van with friends. The officers, who believed Coffie was making a drug deal, then drove him to an alley. There, Korhonen got a screwdriver and jammed it deep into the rectum of Coffiecausing internal injuries to Coffie, King writes.

Korhonen and Lodwich were found guilty in 2007 of unreasonable search. (Screwdrivers and human fecal matter were discovered in the officers car during the investigation) The City of Chicago was ordered to pay Coffie $4 million in damages plus hundreds of thousands in court fees. Still, despite a judges preliminary ruling that found a a preponderance of the evidence, the officers never faced criminal charges or disciplinary action, according to New York Daily News.

"It's further evidence that the Police Department does not do an effective job of policing itself," said Jon Loevy, Coffies attorney, at the time of the civil verdict.

Worse yet, King examined a listing of current city employees through Chicagos Data Portal and found that both Korhonen and Lodwich were still taking home a paycheck. According to records, Korhonen drew an annual salary of $87,384 and Lodwich drew $90,618.

A petition on ForceChange was published on Monday and has been circulated heavily via social media. The letter reads in part:

Police swear an oath to protect and to serve, and it is unacceptable for any officer to disregard that oath and not face any consequences. Officers Scott Korhonen and Gerald Lodwich were found liable of inappropriate, illegal, and brutal conduct toward a citizen. They have not been held accountable for their alleged crimes, but they must be.

Chicago police did not immediately reply to a request for comment from Chicagoist.

Read Kings full article at New York Daily News here.
Kim Kardashian has canceled an appearance in Las Vegas.

According to E! News the 35-year-old Keeping Up With The Kardashians star won't host Hakkasan Nightclub inside Sin City's MGM Grand on October 28.

The same site added that the wife of Kanye West has been getting counseling after experiencing flashbacks after she was held at gunpoint and robbed of $11 million worth of jewels in Paris.

Rain check: Kim Kardashian has nixed an appearance she was slated to make on October 28 at the Hakkasan Nightclub in Las Vegas, according to E! News; she's pictured there in July

She is apparently contractually obligated to appear four times this year at the club, collecting $1 million for her trouble.

The cancelled gig, in the wake of her October 21 birthday, would have only been her third. No fourth appearance is listed on the venue's online events calendar.

However, citing sources from Hakkasan, E! News claimed the club has its eyes fixed on a smooth rapport with the reality star and her family, and will let her shift the event to a new date without a pay cut.

Seeking help: She's also availing herself of counselling, having suffered flashbacks to the gunpoint Paris robbery that deprived her of jewellery including the pictured ring; here she is seen in Paris on September 29

Meanwhile, at home in Los Angeles 'her security is always around her' claims an E! News source.

Noting that 'Kim is very paranoid still when she is alone,' the source revealed: 'She has been having flashbacks and hasn't been sleeping well.'

Her family's come through for her. 'Her sisters and mom have been checking on her every day.'

And despite his commitments to his Saint Pablo tour, 'Kanye has been by her side when he isn't working and calling her nonstop to check in on her.'

Halfway there: She's completed two of her four contractually obligated appearances at the club this year

Whatever quality time she can snap up with her three-year-old daughter North and infant son Saint ;is the biggest distraction for her mind.;

The elder sibling 'is aware her mom is sad and not herself, but Kanye and Kim are trying not to talk about it around her.'

Though she's opting out of them for the moment, the mother of two is no stranger to Las Vegas celebrations, having rung in multiple birthdays at TAO Nightclub at The Venetian. She'd swung by Hakkasan - which is located in MGM Grand - on April 8 and July 22 this year, nipping half of her contractual duties in the bud.

Number one: Her first 2016 gig at the club took place April 8 (pictured), and Hakkasan are letting her shift her October 28 commitment to another date without a cut to the $1 million she'll earn this year for her appearances there




Pamela Anderson was on quite the mission when she landed in London on Wednesday.

The Baywatch actress started a petition as she urged the British Prime Minister Theresa May to ban wild animals in circuses.

The blonde bombshell was seen holding a letter directly addressed to the female PM at 10 Downing Street London.

Standing up for them: Pamela Anderson started a petition as she urged the British Prime Minister Theresa May to ban wild animal circuses in London on Wednesday

Legs eleven: The actress showed off her toned and tanned legs

She held up the letter to photographers as she also held up a sign that read: 'Ban wild animals in circuses now.'

The animal advocate made sure that asking Theresa May to bring forward this legislation was at the top of her agenda.

Peta is a company based in Los Angeles and is the largest animal rights organization in the world.

She's serious: The blonde bombshell was seen holding a letter directly addressed to the female PM at 10 Downing Street London

Cause close to her: The animal advocate made sure that asking Theresa May to bring forward this legislation was at the top of her agenda

Huge supporter: Pamela has been involved with the animal rights organization Peta for a long time

It has more than 5 million members and supporters.

Pamela is an avid supporter of Peta and has engaged in several projects to help their cause in society.

The actress once posed in a lettuce bikini to promote vegan eating to help secure the release of Sunder, an elephant who was kept chained and beaten in an Indian temple.

Doing her part: She held up the letter to photographers as she also held up a sign that read: 'Ban wild animals in circuses now'

Supporting Peta: She once posed in a lettuce bikini to promote vegan eating to help secure the release of Sunder, an elephant who was kept chained and beaten in an Indian temple

Standing proud: The actress happily posed for photos as she held up the letter to the PM

She even took part in a documentary in 2014 called, A Conversation With Pamela Anderson.

In this she shared what motivated her lifelong compassion and her decision to launch the Pamela Anderson Foundation.

The foundation supports those working on the front lines for animal, human, and environmental rights.

Peta isn't the only organization Pamela works with. She also helps Sea Shepherd, Mercy for Animals and IFAW.

Animal rights activist: She even took part in a documentary in 2014 called, A Conversation With Pamela Anderson, which is about her love for animals and the environment

Other organizations: She also helps Sea Shepherd, Mercy for Animals and IFAW
Her ex-boyfriend Patrick McDermott is rumoured to have faked his own death in 2005 to live with another woman in Mexico.

And Olivia Newton-John, 68, recently opened up about moving on from the tragedy and finding love with her 64-year-old husband John Easterling.

'He's incredibly smart and compassionate. He says yes to everything, he says yes to life!' the Grease star told People Magazine.

'I'm grateful': Olivia Newton-John, 68, has spoken candidly about finding true love with 64-year-old husband John Easterling after her ex-boyfriend mysteriously disappeared

'I dated a little bit, but I wasn't expecting to fall in love with him and then bam!

'I'm very lucky I have a wonderful, beautiful husband who is just so loving and fantastic. I always tell my friends you're never too old to find love. I found the love of my life at 59 going on 60! I'm grateful.'

Olivia previously dated former cameraman Patrick McDermott for nine years until he vanished during a fishing trip in San Pedro, California in June 2005.

'You're never too old to find love': Olivia said she didn't expect to fall in love after her ex Patrick McDermott vanished during a fishing trip in San Pedro, California in June 2005

Speaking of his disappearance, she told the publication the the hardest part was the unanswered questions.

Two months after Patrick vanished, investigators claimed he had been found alive and well in rural Mexico, where he was living with his new girlfriend.

Woman's Day reported earlier this year that fresh evidence confirmed previous claims that he had settled down with a European woman.

Vanished: Investigators claimed Patrick McDermott (L) had been found alive and well in rural Mexico - and was living with his new girlfriend

Investigator John Nazarian told the magazine: 'It's rumored he was with a German national. I spoke to people there.

'The girl he was travelling with was described as having a German accent.'

He added: 'To come up with the conclusion that he fell off the boat, and allegedly no-one saw him fall off the boat, is the most preposterous thing I've ever heard in my life.'

Fresh evidence: Woman's Day claimed earlier this year that Patrick had settled down with a woman 'with a German accent' and was living quietly in Mexico

Patrick was 48 when he went missing from the boat Freedom, which had set off from San Pedro Marina for a fishing expedition on June 30th, 2005.

None of the 22 passengers saw McDermott go overboard during the trip.

He wasn't reported missing until a week later when Olivia contacted authorities after he failed to show up for a family gathering.
She has carved out a niche in the global fashion industry thanks to her off-beat and edgy aesthetic.

And Montana Cox brought her quirky style A-game to a restaurant opening in Sydney on Wednesday wearing a boxy black blazer and a T-shirt with Japanese imagery.

The 23-year-old model flaunted her endless legs in a pair of three-quarter trousers and white sneakers as she posed for photographs at the event.

Scroll down for video

Style queen! Montana Cox brought her quirky style A-game on Wednesday as she attended a restaurant opening in Sydney wearing a boxy black blazer and a T-shirt with Japanese imagery

She completed her look with a stylish maroon handbag by Yves Saint Laurent and a delicate gold necklace.

Opting for a natural make-up look, Montana let her shoulder-length brunette hair hang in natural curls by her shoulders.

It comes after Montana revealed she was excited about the next stage of her career, after being dropped by David Jones as an ambassador two months ago.

Chic and sleek! The 23-year-old model flaunted her endless legs in a pair of three-quarter trousers and white sneakers as she posed for photographs at the event

Off-duty model moment: She completed her look with a stylish maroon handbag by Yves Saint Laurent and a delicate gold necklace

'I'm really excited. It's been great working with David Jones but I'm ready for new challenges,' she previously told The Daily Telegraph.

'I haven't done it (the international modelling circuit) for a couple of seasons because it has been hard to fit in, but I'll be able to give it my all now.'

The former Australia's Next Top Model winner is now a free agent as she plans to return home to New York.

A touch of bling: She also wore a single gold ring on her left middle finger

Natural look: Opting for a natural make-up look, Montana let her shoulder-length brunette hair hang in natural curls by her shoulders

Moving on: It comes after Montana revealed she was excited about the next stage of her career, after being dropped by David Jones as an ambassador two months ago

It comes after Montana's colleague Jessica Gomes reportedly signed a one-year deal to stay with David Jones - despite launching a Hollywood career.

In May, The Sydney Morning Herald reported Jessica, 30, will stay on with the department store for another 12 months, for a rumoured $350,000.

The Perth-born beauty has been an ambassador for three years and regularly appears on the runway during Fashion Week and at new season collection launches.

Moving on: 'I'm really excited. It's been great working with David Jones but I'm ready for new challenges,' she told The Daily Telegraph
Her love life might be the talk of the town, but Kristen Stewart was focusing on her work Wednesday.

The 26-year-old actress appeared in a Today show segment alongside Laura Dern, her co-star in the upcoming Certain Women, where the duo spoke out about the Kelly Reichardt-directed movie, and the message it sends to Hollywood about women.

The Twilight star - who was recently seen out with Cara Delevingne ex St Vincent, 34, following a reported split with longtime girlfriend Alicia Cargile - said the film explores deep topics for moviegoers to dig into.

Scroll down for video

On the promotional trail: Kristen Stewart, 26, said that the characters in her new film Certain Women are linked through a 'spiritual through-line'

Center of attention: Stewart, who appeared with her co-star in the film Laura Dern, has been in the spotlight as of late after she was seen with model Cara Delevingne's ex, St. Vincent

'It's easy to say, 'Oh, its a movie about strong women,' but I think its more really about the unresolved, and the sort of like, receding that can happen in order to protect yourself,' said Stewart, whose longtime relationship with actor Robert Pattinson came careening down in the wake of her 2012 affair with then-married Snow White and the Huntsman director Rupert Sanders.

In the appearance, Stewart wore a white blouse with a black skirt, grey socks and black shoes, while Dern wore a floral gown and strappy sandal heels.

The star said the film tells the tale of 'three women [who] you wouldnt necessarily draw an immediate connection between all three, necessarily, but theres a sort of, I dont know, like a spiritual through-line,' Stewart said.

A new love: Stewart's love life has been eventful over the past few months, as she split with her one-time assistant Alicia Cargile (left) and was recently spotted with musician St. Vincent (right), whose real name is Annie Clark

Throwback: Dern talked about the differences between the way women were presented onscreen in the 70s compared to now, preferring the depth explored in the earlier era

'That's kind of what I see with all three of them; [but] if you see very, very clear versions of these women that are just beneath the surface, and you're like, 'Come on out, come on out.'

The film is an onscreen adaptation of a trio of short stories originally published by writer Maile Meloy, called Native Sandstone, Tome and Travis B.

The Personal Shopper actress remarked that the film version has 'quite different' elements than the literary version, adding, 'I think they definitely retain the spirit, but [director Kelly Reichardt] made them very much her own.'

Dynamic duo: The stars have been promoting the upcoming film in many dual appearances

Without getting too specific, Dern, 49, said that the film's subliminal theme is 'a bit in the air with our current political climate and this concept of "female-first."'

The Wild at Heart star, whose parents are Hollywood greats Bruce Dern and Diane Ladd, said her memories of the films hitting theaters 40 years back presented a fairer shake for the fairer sex.

'I was very lucky to be raised by two actors, who when they were first taking me to sets in the 1970s and I was watching films made about women: They were complicated, they were fierce, they were messy - and there was zero judgement about it.'

Affirmation: Kristen looks on as the eloquent Dern talks shop with TODAY hosts Kathie Lee Gifford and Hoda Kotb

'Suddenly now, women in movies who are complicated, its like, "This is so cutting edge,"' Dern said.

She added: 'We're having to circle back to something that should be the norm - people are complicated, people have flaws.'

Certain Women hits theaters October 14.
He has recently been seen enjoying a romantic stroll with his pregnant girlfriend Rosalind Ross, 26.

But Mel Gibson was back on set on Wednesday, filming his latest movie The Professor and the Madman in Dublin.

The 60-year-old actor looked rather bizarre as he strolled through the set baring his chest under a black coat teamed with jeans.

Bare chested: Mel Gibson bared his chest as he strolled through the Dublin set of his latest film The Professor and the Madman on Tuesday

The Professor and the Madman co-stars Sean Penn and is about the creation of the Oxford English Dictionary.

The film is adapted from a book by Simon Winchester focusing on the creation of the Oxford English Dictionary, and Gibson will play the professor of the title, Sir James Murray.

According to Variety, Penn stars as Dr William Chester Minor, - a man who who submitted more than 10,000 entries for the dictionary while he was an inmate at an asylum.

Surprise! Three hikers came across Mel on the summit of Wicklow Mountain at the weekend

Revision time: Mel seemed to be reading from his script in the Irish holiday

Eclectic appearance: Mel was later seen in period dress with a script in hand

His appearance came after he surprised several fans on the summit of Wicklow Mountain last weekend.

Fans Heather Fogarty and her pals Michael OConnor and Shane Gallagher bumped into the star during their hike in Ireland.

'Climbed the sugar loaf today,' Heather wrote, alongside the snapshot on Instagram. 'And to top it all off, we met Mel Gibson at the summit.'

New role: Mel plays professor James Murray, who began compiling the dictionary back in 1857,

Back to work: Mel is also producing The Professor and the Madman

The star looked in relaxed mood on set after the recent announcement that he would become a father for the ninth time.

And Mel was recently seen enjoying a healthy lunch date with his pregnant girlfriend.

Rosalind Ross - who is 34 years his junior - is a writer and former equestrian vaulter and a decade younger than his eldest child.

Relaxed: It was recently announced that Mel would become a father for the ninth time

Gibson has seven children with ex-wife Robyn Moore: Hannah, 36, twin boys Christian and Edward, 34, William, 31, Louis, 28, Milo, 26, and Thomas, 17.

He also has a six-year-old daughter, Lucia, with former girlfriend Oksana Grigorieva.

'Mel and Rose are so excited about the baby,' a friend told People magazine.

'Mel loves being a dad and he and Rose can't wait to be parents together. The last two years have been some of his happiest years he's ever had.'
The Missing

Rating:

The Aberfan Young Wives' Club

Rating:

The clues are all here. Like good detectives, we just have to stay alert, be observant, trust our deductions. Its the only way we have a chance... not of solving the crime, but of working out what the heck is going on.

The first series of The Missing (BBC1), about the hunt for an abducted child, was a conventional whodunnit, concealed within the psychological portrait of two distraught parents desperate to find their son.

The new series is not a straightforward sequel, though it does feature retired French sleuth Julien Baptiste, played by Tcheky Karyo.

The new series of The Missing is not a straightforward sequel to the popular series, and it is not told in a straightforward fashion. Concentration is needed for this thriller

And it is not straightforward storytelling either. For a brief moment at the beginning, it teased us by hinting that another boy was going to be snatched, as a British lad at an Army school in Germany drifted away from the playground.

That would have been far too simple. It was his sister, Alice, who was taken, in a sequence that intercut her kidnap with the moment, 11 years later in 2014, when she staggered out of woods and collapsed in the town marketplace.

Obviously, then, this was not going to be a suspense drama about the police investigation. Alice had been held captive for more than a decade in an underground room with another young woman, subjected to terrible abuse, and then escaped... or was let go. That much we know.

Except we dont. In the last line of the episode, Baptiste told a journalist: I believe that girl was not Alice.

What else dont we know? Practically everything. The girl who wasnt really Alice was dead within weeks of her return, but were not sure what happened.

Theres no explanation yet for how Alices father Sam (David Morrissey) suffered burns across his face and body  nor why, two years on, hes having an affair with the military policewoman who dealt with Alice/not Alices reappearance.

And Baptiste is in Iraq with the marvellous Olafur Darri Olafsson (star of Icelandic thriller Trapped), but we can barely start to guess how the trail lead him there.

Gaynor Madgwick was one of 23 townsfolk from the tragic town to speak for excellent and moving The Aberfan Young Wives' Club. She was a school child who survived the disaster in South Wales

Roger Allam had a superb cameo as a nasal brigadier whose brains flickered like a dim glowworm.

But at the core of the drama was Keeley Hawes, who has been outstanding in a succession of serials over the past couple of years. She was Alices mother, Gemma, the Army wife powerless to prevent her family from disintegrating.

Keeley had few lines, and most of what she did say was hesitant and hollow. There were no emotional speeches, no outbursts. Writers Jack and Harry Williams told me earlier this year that they created the part for her because she can say so much with her face, she doesnt need dialogue. Now I see what they meant.

Words could not convey either the grief of families in The Aberfan Young Wives Club (ITV), marking the 50th anniversary of the disaster that claimed the lives of 116 children and five teachers at Pantglas Junior School, as well as 23 other townsfolk. Newsreel from the time revealed a community numbed by loss. Rescuers dug at the black sludge that had poured down in an avalanche from the coal tips above the Welsh Valleys town, after days of torrential rain in October 1966, burying the school and a score of houses.

School survivor Gaynor Madgwick (fourth from right, middle row) in the last photograph taken of the class. On October 21st 1966 1000's of tons of waste from Merthyr Vale Colliery slid down a mountain onto the village of Aberfan. One of the sites caught in the waste was the Pantglas Junior School. 144 people were killed, 116 of them were children

Do you think theres anybody still here? asked a BBC reporter in clipped, respectful tones.

Aye, came the answer, my mothers probably still in here. The reporter simply couldnt say any more, and neither could the man, who turned his back on the camera.

Half a century on, the women of Aberfan who had lost siblings and children were able to talk about the catastrophe and its aftermath. A social club, the Young Wives of the title, had helped them to rebuild something of their lives.

But still the event was too awful for words. I dont think I existed for a while, one mother said.
Shailene Woodley could face 60 days in jail for her trespassing charges.

The 24-year-old actress was arrested for criminal trespassing on Monday, after she was caught on the construction site for the Dakota Access Pipeline.

The star was among roughly 100 protesters who turned up to the site for a peaceful protest against the proposed pipeline plans, amid concerns the transportation of crude oil across the Missouri river could potentially cause irreversible harm to drinking water as well as the river's ecosystem.

Possible consequences: Divergent star Shailene Woodley could face 60 days in jail for her trespassing charges

Now, it has been revealed that the Divergent star could face two months in jail as well as a fine of $3,000 if she is found guilty of the charges brought against her, according to the AP.

The Fault in Our Stars actress will appear in a North Dakota court in the city of Mandan on October 24, adds AP. An estimated 26 other activists were also arrested under the same charges as Shailene and are also facing the same penalties if found guilty.

The star - who livestreamed her protest on Facebook - previously said her arrest came as a result of her celebrity status, after a police officer told her she had been arrested because she was 'identified'.

She said: 'I'm being arrested. Because I was trespassing, like everyone else. But as soon as you guys asked me to leave, I left.

Under arrest: Woodley is seen being put into handcuffs at the demonstration against the Dakota Access Pipeline near St. Anthony, North Dakota, on Monday

'I'm being arrested! I was down there with everybody else! I don't know what's going on, as soon as they came I left. It's because I'm well known, it's because I have 40,000 people watching.'

The actress also described how police officers 'grabbed' her, and wouldn't let her go.

She said: 'I was just walking back to the RV which is right there, so we could go back to camp peacefully. They grabbed me by the jacket and they said I wasn't allowed to continue. They have giant guns and batons and zip ties and they're not letting me go.'

Breaking her silence: Woodley posted this picture to her Instagram with the caption: 'One day, baby, we'll sing our poetry. The words dripping from our tongues wet with ripened patience. And the lyrics, the sweet fruits born from the seeds our aging hands are now sowing'

On Tuesday, the actress spoke out after being arrested for protesting against the building of a $3.8billion pipeline.

In her first words since being released, the actress indicated she won't let go of the fight.

'One day, baby, we'll sing our poetry,' she wrote on Instagram Tuesday evening, captioning a picture of three people in a canoe.

Led away: She is led to a transport vehicle by a Morton County Sheriff's deputy after being arrested

'The words dripping from our tongues wet with ripened patience. and the lyrics, the sweet fruits born from the seeds our aging hands are now sowing. #alwaysinallways #heartforward #uptous #NoDAPL #protectcleanwater #iamonyourside'

Morton County Sheriff's Department spokesman Rob Keller says Woodley was one of 27 protesters arrested Monday. She was also charged with engaging in a riot.

She was released on Tuesday morning at 11.00am ET after spending a night behind bars.

The 24-year-old actress was livestreaming her protest Monday of the four-state Dakota Access pipeline for a total of more than two-and-a-half hours Monday before her arrest by local authorities

In a statement to US Weekly, one of her representatives said: 'She appreciates the outpouring of support, not only for her, but more importantly, for the continued fight against the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline.'

The video showing what appeared to be a peaceful protest has been viewed more than three million times.

Woodley has been an outspoken opponent of the $3.8 billion project.

'When you asked us to leave we did': Shailene is seen on the live stream that has been viewed by almost three million people, attempting to tell officers that the protest was peaceful

She was one of about 100 protesters at a construction site for the controversial pipeline project, which many say will destroy sacred Native American burial grounds.

Since May thousands - including representatives of several Native American tribes - have camped near the pipeline's proposed route to oppose its construction.

Beyond the camp, many have marched and disrupted construction sites for the project.

In total, 123 people have been arrested with a further 27 apprehended on Monday.

Meanwhile: Woodley attends the premiere of 'Snowden' in New York on September 13, 2016

In a press conference on Monday afternoon, Cass County Sheriff Paul Laney defended police activity on the site.

'We don't know what's in that crowd. They are not peaceful and prayerful. It's unlawful - that's what's happening here. The courts have spoken and the rule of law governs our land.

'People with an ideology and agenda not from here are bringing it here. What started as a North Dakota issue has gone well beyond that.

'They were intentionally violating the law, a peaceful protest is getting word out. Today was very tense - it was a tense and dangerous situation.'

Two campaigners chained themselves to construction equipment, according to the sheriff. It was this small group which prompted the wider protest with a fleet of vehicles - including Woodley in an RV.

According to police those protesters parked their vehicles and marched on the private construction site.
Andy Cohen tweeted and deleted how he believes the Real Housewives will vote in the upcoming presidential election.

The 48-year-old Bravo fixture shared his political predictions on Saturday, according to an article on Wednesday by Us Weekly.

'NJ are Trump,' Cohen tweeted in reference to the cast members of The Real Housewives Of New Jersey.

Political pundit: Andy Cohen, shown last week in New York City, tweeted and deleted on Saturday how the Real Housewives are voting

'I so dont care it's all good. I think all the RHOC are trumpies and g[o]d knows who else. All the RHOA and RHONY are HRC. Most of BH too. I ,' he also tweeted.

He was suggesting that the Real Housewives of Orange County stars also were behind Republican nominee Trump, while the casts of the Real Housewives of Atlanta and New York City and most of Beverly Hills crew favored Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.

The executive producer of the popular Real Housewives franchise apparently was attempting to direct message someone but instead publicly tweeted.

Cohen has made it clear that he's not supporting Trump, 70, in his bid for the White House.

Deleted it: The Bravo fixture tweeted and deleted that Real Housewives in New Jersey and Orange County support Trump

The Watch What Happens Live host unfavorably compared the second presidential debate on Sunday to taping a Housewives reunion.

'I actually feel grosser after 50 minutes of this than I did after a day of shooting the #RHONJ Reunion last week,' Cohen tweeted.

He added: 'Trump threatening to put [Clinton] in jail was really scary and is haunting me. I've seen Housewives talk dirty but this was next level.'

They're 'trumpies'? Cohen tweeted that the cast of The Real Housewives Of Orange County support Trump

Clinton supporters: The cast of The Real Housewives Of New York City supposedly support Clinton

Democratic backers: Cohen said the cast of The Real Housewives Of Atlanta also back Clinton

He also took Trump to task on Twitter on Tuesday for claiming that he won the second presidential debate.

RHONY star Carole Radziwill, 53, has been a vocal supporter of Clinton with most of her recent tweets bashing Trump.

Her fellow RHONY co-star Bethenny Frankel, 45, also is a Clinton supporter and attended a star-studded fundraiser for the candidate in June in New York City.

Trump antagonist: Cohen has made it clear that he's not supporting Trump

Housewives comparison: The Watch What Happens Live host compared the debate unfavorably to a Housewives reunion
Bruce Willis was pictured for the first time on set in Montreal for his upcoming highly anticipated movie Death Wish.

The Die Hard actor was pictured with his star studded cast including Vincent D'Onofrio, Cami Morrone, Elisabeth Shue and Eli Roth.

In many of the photos he got a nice hug and kiss from Shue as a costar looked on

Big project! Bruce Willis and Elisabeth Shue got close on the set of the Death Wish reboot

Action hero: It's no surprise the Willis was chosen by the studio for the reboot of the beloved franchise

Leading lady: Shue (C) plays his wife, Lucy Kersey, in the film

Method actor: The actor looked stern on set, no doubt getting in character for the dark drama

New role: Willis was pictured for the first time on set in Montreal

The film, directed by Eli Roth, follows the story of Bruce Willis' character Paul Kersey a family man who is driven to a murderous rage after something happens to his family.

The action star is seen wearing a blue dress shirt paired with a v-neck sweater, khakis and a blue bomber jacket.

The actor looked stern on set, no doubt getting in character for the dark drama.

The rebooted version will once again be adapted from Brian Garfields novel where a mild-mannered father who is transformed into a killing machine after his family is torn apart by a violent incident.

Flawless: Even with minimal make-up and her hair scraped back the young starlet showed off her radiant beauty

Casual chic: Morrone donned a purple jacket for the chilly day in Canada

Talented: The young actress is signed with IMG Models

Shue plays his wife, Lucy Kersey, in the film whilst Breaking Bad's Dean Norris plays Detective Rains.

It's no surprise the action hero Willis was chosen by the studio for the reboot of the beloved franchise.

Charles Bronson - who passed away in 2003 - was the original protagonist in the 1974 action, drama.

Talented cast: The Die Hard actor was pictured with his star studded cast

Dark premise: The film, directed by Eli Roth, follows the story of Bruce Willis' character Paul Kersey a family man who is driven to a murderous rage after something happens to his family

Meanwhile the talented actor has a lot of other projects going on including Once Upon a Time in Venice and First Kill.

Once Upon a Time in Venice will come out later this year and it follows an L.A. detective who seeks out the ruthless gang that stole his dog.

Aquaman's Jason Momoa and Argo's John Goodman will star in the movie alongside the Die Hard actor.

Laid back: The action star is seen wearing a blue dress shirt paired with a v-neck sweater, khakis and a blue bomber jacket

On set! The cast and crew all gathered around ahead of filming

First Kill is an action thriller that follows the story of a police chief who tries to solve a kidnapping involving a bank robber holding a young boy hostage.

Willis plays the Police Chief in the movie whilst Hayden Christensen plays the father.

The OG: Actor Charles Bronson pictured in the 1974 film Death Wish
Picasso, Tete de Femme uncropped.

Six paintings by Pablo Picasso will be shown in Beijing to inaugurate the opening of Christie's new office and gallery in Beijing on Saturday, occupying three floors of a building at the capital's commercial Jinbao Street.

The three-day exhibition titled Picasso: His Muse and Myth will include two portraits of Dora Maar, the Spanish artist's lover for nearly a decade beginning in the late 1930s.

The paintings will be auctioned at a Christie's sale in New York on Nov 16.

Also on show will be works of both Eastern and Western artists such as Fernando Botero, Sanyu and Chu Teh-Chun.

Picasso, Buste de Femme uncropped.

Picasso has been one of the Western artists favored by Chinese collectors who are extending their interest from homegrown artists to Western pioneers in recent years. Chinese media mogul Wang Zhongjun purchased a Picasso portrait for nearly $30 million in a New York sale last May.

The opening of the new location marks the international auctioneer's celebration of its 250th anniversary, and the site will host future exhibitions, forums and other cultural activities.

Jinqing Cai, chairman of Christie's China, said in a release that the company hopes the space will become an integral part of Beijing's rich cultural heritage and diverse art community.
With their stylish dinner suits and flowing blond hair, they look almost identical.

Playboy Formula One racing champ James Hunts son Freddie could have been mistaken for his father as he partied in Mayfair.

Freddie, 29, earns his crust as an endurance racer. However, unlike his papa, who once boasted bedding more than 5,000 women before his death in 1993 at 45, Freddie says he prefers life at a slower pace.

Playboy Formula One racing champ James Hunts son Freddie could have been mistaken for his father as he partied in Mayfair

Jeremy Clarkson, 56, cosied up to Jemima Goldsmith at the launch of sexpert Mariella Frostrups erotic anthology

Clarkson cosies up to Jemima

Jeremy Clarkson turned out for the launch of sexpert Mariella Frostrups erotic anthology and didnt miss the chance to flash his grizzled torso via an artfully unbuttoned shirt.

The paunchy petrolhead, 56, cruised up to heiress Jemima Goldsmith, who dressed in a plunging black jumpsuit and armfuls of gold bangles.

Jemima, 46, has a racy taste in men, and seemed comfortable in the ex-Top Gear presenters avuncular company.

The socialite is currently courting PR man Matthew Freud, after flings with wayward fop Hugh Grant and toxic reptile Russell Brand.

Paris very pampered 6k pooch

Heiress Paris Hilton has bought a new teacup Chihuahua for $8,000 (6,500) and shared the image of her 12 oz pet on Instagram.

So in love with my new baby girl, she cooed. What should I name this lil cutie?

Diamond Baby and Love Bug were her preferred options. Paris held her canine comfortably in one hand while dangling from her other arm a luxury doggie bag to transport the pet. The 500 bag comes with a drink pouch and pet passport holder.

Heiress Paris Hilton has bought a new teacup Chihuahua for $8,000 (6,500) and shared the image of her 12 oz pet on Instagram

Wannabe models are wasting their time in deportment classes if they want to be the face of Burberry.

The next Cara Delevingne will boast a lazy posture, says the fashion photographer Mario Testino.

We try to book only English models for our campaign so it is very important to have somebody that just by the way they stand or move, you know they are British, he says.
They officially announced their split eight months ago after 10 years of marriage.

And on Thursday, Michael Klim confirmed his estranged wife Lindy is engaged to her new partner Adam Ellis.

During an interview with KIIS FM's Kyle & Jackie O Show, the former Olympic swimmer admitted he was blindsided by the news and found out on social media.

So she didn't tell you? Michael Klim (L) confirmed his estranged wife Lindy (R) is engaged to her new partner Adam Ellis on Thursday - and claimed he first heard the news on social media

'I found out through Instagram,' the father-of-three revealed before quickly adding: 'I am happy.'

'She has moved on thats for sure,' he concluded.

Speaking to Daily Mail Australia on Thursday, Michael said: 'We obviously have both moved on. Our number one priority is co-parenting our children'.

Unaware: The former Olympic swimmer has admitted he was blindsided by the news and found out on social media earlier in the week

Michael's statement comes days after Lindy and Adam sparked engagement rumours as friends took to Instagram to congratulate them.

Despite being flooded with messages hinting that Adam has proposed, the Balinese princess refused to confirm if she was engaged.

Daily Mail Australia has contacted a representative for Lindy for comment.

Big news: His statement comes two days after Lindy and her new beau sent social media into meltdown as friends took to Instagram to congratulate her on the engagement

Speaking to DMA in May, Lindy revealed she never expected to fall in love with Adam after her split.

'It's completely not what I expected, to fall back into another relationship, but he's so lovely,' she said cheerfully.

The couple were first spotted together at London's Heathrow Airport shortly after she confirmed her separation.

'So happy for you two': Despite being flooded with messages hinting that Adam has proposed, the Balinese princess refused to confirm if she was engaged

The moment after? The speculation of an engagement came after the she reportedly shared an Instagram story of herself announcing the news - before swiftly deleting it

'It's about time I got on with my life,' she also told DMA, adding that she thought dating would be difficult as a mother-of-three.

'I didn't think anybody would want me. I've got three children and that's a lot to take on,' she said.

Despite believing she would remain single for a while, Lindy admitted she was lucky to find British hunk Adam.

Unexpected: While speaking to Daily Mail Australia in May, Lindy said she never expected to fall in love with Adam

Happy: Lindy also admitted she was lucky to have bagged the British builder, saying: 'Adam is amazing and I'm really fortunate that I found him'

'Adam is amazing and I'm really fortunate that I found him,' she continued. 'It's been a tough little while for me, but I'm really happy now.'

Lindy announced her new relationship with Adam just weeks after revealing she had ended her marriage.

At the time of the split, the pair released a joint statement via their management.

New love: She said she thought she would remain single because she has three children

The statement read: 'It is with much respect for each other that Michael and Lindy Klim have agreed to formally separate, believing that this decision is best for their family.

'Michael and Lindys children will always remain their highest priority, and their happiness will be Michael and Lindys primary focus.

'We ask that you respect their privacy at this time,' it concluded.
It's not every day seasoned TV presenter Samantha Armytage loses her marbles live on air.

But Thursday morning saw an exception to the rule this week, when the bubbly blonde, 40, broke down in hysterical laughter during an interview with a dancing clown on Channel Seven's Sunrise program.

During the segment, which was ironically titled 'no laughing matter,' Samantha and her co-host David 'Kochie' Kosh, spoke to two professional clowns about their reaction to the recent creepy clowns craze on social media.

Scroll down for video.

Losing her cool! Sam Armytage, 40, broke down in hysterical laughter during an interview with a dancing clown on Channel Seven's Sunrise program on Thursday

Toward the end of the interview, clown performer 'Jelby' cheekily asked: 'Do you want me to do a little dance?' before launching into a bizarre undulating-filled jive.

The unexpected performance sent Samantha into a fit of uncontrollable laughter, prompting Kochie to wrap up the interview alone.

'Alright... Jelbie that's... Ok thank you for that,' stammered Kochie.

What's going on here? Toward the end of the interview, clown performer 'Jelby' cheekily asked: 'Do you want me to do a little dance?' before launching into a bizarre undulating-filled jive

'How can I be scary?' asked Jelbie, seemingly unaware of Samantha's hyena-like shrieks.

'No that's certainly not scary,' responded Kochie, before Samantha butted in with: 'I thought it was a bit scary.'

'So early in the morning too,' Kochie said, before breaking his poker face by descending into a fit of giggles.

Case of the giggles: The unexpected performance sent Samantha into a fit of uncontrollable laughter, prompting Kochie to wrap up the interview alone

The segment comes after a 15-year-old boy became the first Australian to be charged over the the 'creepy clown' craze that has been sweeping the country.

Police allege the boy was found outside his family home in Inala, in Brisbane's south. The 15-year-old was arrested at about 9pm on Tuesday night after police allegedly found him standing in the street wearing a clown mask and brandishing a knife, the Brisbane Times reported.

The boy was later charged by police with public nuisance and unlawful possession of a knife, and will now face the charges under the Youth Justice Act.

Unaware: 'How can I be scary?' asked Jelbie, seemingly unaware of Samantha's hyena-like shrieks
He's the hunky male model who was sent home in dramatic fashion on Wednesday's episode of The Bachelorette.

And despite politicking against his rivals and taking any opportunity to show off his ripped muscles, Rhys Chilton told TV Week he actually struggled with his nerves.

'I definitely would have tried to be a little more confident in front of the cameras,' the 29-year-old said in a bizarre confession.

Scroll down for video

Really? Despite politicking against his rivals and taking any opportunity to show off his ripped muscles, The Bachelorette's Rhys Chilton told TV Week he actually struggled with his nerves

And while composing a few lines of poetry probably didn't him Rhys conquer his fears in front of the camera, Rhys insisted he could handle the teasing remarks from the other boys.

'If I wrote poetry for a girl and my mates didn't give me stick for it, I would be very disappointed in them.

'I have a big creative side and (writing poems) came easily to me,' he continued.

Best of frenemies? The handsome model often conspired against his on-screen rival Sam Johnston (pictured) who was also eliminated from the series on Wednesday's episode

'If I wrote poetry for a girl and my mates didn't give me stick for it, I would be disappointed in them': Rhys insisted that he could handle the teasing remarks from the other boys

Rhys was eliminated from the show on Wednesday night, after a disaster date with Georgia Love and fellow contestant Sam Johnston.

After his eviction, Rhys revealed to The Daily Telegraph that he has a more 'realistic' approach to finding love.

'Georgia made a point of giving up her career to finding the one, which I would never do.

'I think I am open to finding the one, which is a more realistic approach.'

Speaking out: Rhys revealed to The Daily Telegraph shortly after his eviction that he has a more 'realistic' approach to finding love

During his last episode, Sam and Rhys went head-to-head and the plan was for one to be eliminated after their date.

However, in a shock twist, both were sent packing.

Rhys did not seem too heartbroken by his dismissal, after telling Georgia:'If this was the outside world, I would have walked away.'
He was evicted as part of the shock four-man elimination Bachelorette episode on Wednesday night.

But despite not being chosen as one of Georgia Love's six remaining suitors, Matt D has revealed he's ready to move on.

The 29-year-old told TV Week on Wednesday he was looking forward to getting back out there after being axed from the matchmaking series.

Scroll down for video

Back on the market! Bachelorette contestant Matt D says he's single and ready to mingle in an interview with TV Week after his eviction, saying: 'It will be nice to start dating again'

'It will be nice to start dating again,' the security specialist said.

Matt finished his chat with: 'Hopefully there is a lovely girl out there for me not too far away'.

He also admitted the fact he wasn't willing to relocate for a potential relationship to blossom with the former journalist could have been the reason he was removed from the competition.

Looking for love... again! Despite not winning the heart of Georgia, the security specialist is hopeful there's a lovely girl out there for him not to far away

Not having it! Matt (pictured), who has never had a single date, got annoyed when Courtney was awarded a second one-on-one date over him, saying: 'It's a bit of a jab in the guts'

Matt, who was never given a one-on-one date, revealed he wasn't feeling confident about receiving a rose after disclosing his inability to move due to work and family.

Earlier in the episode, he lashed out at Courtney for being awarded a second one-on-one date with the brunette beauty.

The television presenter landed the coveted spot for a second time, despite some of the guys in the mansion, including Matt, not having even had one single date yet.

Matt got annoyed when Courtney was named the lucky man over him, saying: 'It's a bit of a jab in the guts'.

Zoo time: Courtney Dober landed a single date with Georgia Love for the second time on Wednesday's episode of The Bachelorette, but the TV presenter seemed less than impressed at first

He added: 'Honestly, you'd be one of my favourites in the house, I'm stoked for you, but that pisses me off. I'm not gonna lie'.

Courtney meanwhile looked less then impressed when he heard he was chosen by Georgia.

'Really? I was feeling a little bit vulnerable and all the eyes were on me and in the back of my head I just wanted to go, "Yes!",' Courtney told the camera.

Do you want to go? Courtney meanwhile looked less then impressed when he heard he was chosen by Georgia

He said he wanted to go but joked to the camera he was worried the other boys were going to punch him.

The guys in the mansion also noticed this visible disregard, telling him 'you don't look happy about it'.

Georgia took Courtney - who is also an industrial designer by trade - to the National Zoo in Canberra and the pair had a one-on-one experience with meerkats.

Afterwards, Georgia expressed her concern to Courtney that her feelings for him were one-sided and he didn't feel the same, especially after [the group date] last week.

Putting her heart on the line: Afterwards, Georgia expressed her concern to Courtney that her feelings for him were one-sided

She said to camera: 'I really like him. I just want him around all the time. So if I was to find out that that was just one-sided, I'd be devastated.'

The former journalist told Courtney: 'I know that it's nerve-racking being in this strange situation that we're in, but I do absolutely see you as someone that I could have in my life and, yeah... You know that I really like you.'

'So I feel like I've laid all my cards out on the table and just want to know if that's reciprocated, basically.'

The pair then shared a smooch as Courtney's way of answering her question.

Steamy! The pair then shared a smooch as Courtney's way of answering her question

'I get a really good feeling when I'm around you,' Courtney said.

He added: 'Because you do just make me laugh and I do feel very comfortable around you. That's why I kissed you 'cause I just... I honestly felt that that was right.'

'I'm enjoying just finding out more about you and showing you more about me and I feel like we do have such a great connection .'

Later in the episode both Sam and Rhys were eliminated during a group date at Sydney's Luna Park.

Matt D and Todd were then sent home during the rose ceremony.
He's owed it for almost two decades but it looks as though Vin Diesel is finally saying goodbye to his starter home in Los Angeles.

The actor bought his home in the Hollywood Hills 16 years ago and reports reveal that his house has just hit the market.

His two bedroom, three bath pad in Los Angeles is going for $1.395 million.

Moved on: Fast & Furious star Vin Diesel has listed his Hollywood Hills home for $1.4 million

He briefly put it on the market in 2013 but has been renting out the space since then.

According to TMZ, if he gets his asking price, the actor could make a profit of around $833k from the relatively-modest home.

The master bedroom features French doors opening to a decadent pool, spa and a built-in BBQ.

Been a while: He briefly put it on the market in 2013 but has been renting out the space since then

Not bad: Vin has been renting out the relatively modest home for the past few years

Sprucing up: There is room for some creativity and decoration by the looks of it

And inside it has a beautiful brick fireplace.

The star continues to be in demand as an action hero if his upcoming films are anything to go by.

He has a plethora of films coming out including more from the Fast & Furious franchise, The Avengers and Guardians Of The Galaxy.

Marble: The bathroom was decked out in elaborate grey marble

More room: The sitting room is complete with a sofa and TV

Chill area: Outside is a modest pool and relaxation area at the back

Available: His two bedroom, three bath pad in Los Angeles is going for $1.395 million

Good location: The pad resides in the Hollywood Hills

The action, sci-fi Avengers: Infinity War is due to be released 4 May 2018.

The epic Marvel movie cast includes Brie Larson, Chris Pratt, Scarlett Johansson, Benedict Cumberbatch, Chris Hemsworth, Zoe Saldana, Elizabeth Olsen, Sebastian Stan, Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Samuel L. Jackson, Bradley Cooper and Paul Rudd.

The highly anticipated Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 is being released in theatres 5 May 2017 and will include similar cast members from Avengers.

Spacious! The place has room for several vehicels

Chris Pratt will reprise his role as will Zoe Saldana, Bradley Cooper and of course Diesel.

There will also be a Fast & Furious 8, a Fast & Furious 9 and a Fast & Furious 10.

The last film in the franchise will come out in 2021.
Evan Peters made his long-awaited return to American Horror Story on Wednesday night  as the crazed gay millionaire Edward Phillipe Mott.

Edward is the wealthy ancestor of Season 4's Dandy Mott, played by Finn Wittrock.

A 'dramatic reenactment' at the start of the show depicted Edward flaunting his wealth by buying up an entire auction of fine art in the 1870s.

Wealthy man: Evan Peters, left, made his long-awaited return to American Horror Story on Wednesday night  as the crazed gay millionaire Edward Phillipe Mott

Mott then purchased the North Carolina land on which to build the creepy mansion where 'he and his beloved artwork could be alone'.

He took a male lover, with whom he like to 'rouge each other's nip*les'.

His gay lover: Edward is the wealthy ancestor of Season 4's Dandy Mott, played by Finn Wittrock

Billionaire: A 'dramatic reenactment' at the start of the show depicted Edward flaunting his wealth by buying up an entire auction of fine art in the 1870s

Tender moment: He took a male lover, with whom he like to 'rouge each other's nip*les'.

Edward was devastated to find some of his artwork destroyed in the night.

Crazed with grief, he began beating his staff to uncover the vandal.

He then locked them in a bunker until the culprit confessed his crime.

Proud of his art: This scene was set in the past prior to Matt and Shelby's scenes

Secret affair: The crazed billionaire is seen talking with his male lover

Tender kiss: The couple then later have an intimate bath together

Edward was later dragged from his bed by The Butcher, played by Kathy Bates, who was consecrating the right to her land, with his blood.

She had him impaled him on a stake and burned alive. Edward's lover was later imprisoned for the crime.

Before the event: Things get intimate before all his artwork gets destroyed

Not happy: Crazed with grief he began beating his staff to uncover the vandal. He then locked them in a bunker until the culprit confessed his crime

Back in present time Matt, played by Cuba Gooding Jr, and Shelby, played by Sarah Paulson, called 911 as The Butcher and her mob surrounded them.

They were about to escape when a hideous creature leapt out and grabbed Lee's daughter Flora.

Making a run for it: Back in present time Matt, played by Cuba Gooding Jr, and Shelby, played by Sarah Paulson, called 911 as The Butcher and her mob surrounded them

They ran into Edward in the basement, who offered to transport them to safety.

He took them into the woods and left them.

They were then captured and taken to the Polk's house, where the two feral boys had been found suckling a dead pig in a previous episode.

Creepy: They were about to escape when a hideous creature leapt out and grabbed Lee's daughter Flora

She's been taken: Terrified Flora is captured by the creature

A man was bleeding out on a table  his leg had been hacked off. 'Mamma took my leg,' he wailed.

Mamma Polk offered around a piece of her son's flesh, which turned out to be rancid, so they bludgeoned him to death with a hammer.

'There was only one place worse than the Polk's house, and that was our house,' said Shelby.

Screaming for help: Shelby shrieks out to find Flora and luckily does as the creature retreats

His ghost: They ran into Edward in the basement, who offered to transport them to safety. He took them into the woods and left them

Crazy woman: Mamma Polk offered around a piece of her son's flesh, which turned out to be rancid, so they bludgeoned him to death with a hammer

Meanwhile boozy cop Lee, played by Angela Bassett, was being questioned over the gruesome murder of her husband.

Shelby had informed the police that Lee might be a suspect: 'I had nothing to do with Mason's death, so you either charge me or let me go,' Lee told the cops.

Interrogation: Meanwhile boozy cop Lee, played by Angela Bassett, was being questioned over the gruesome murder of her husband

Release me: Shelby had informed the police that Lee might be a suspect: 'I had nothing to do with Mason's death, so you either charge me or let me go,' Lee told the cops

Tender moment: Matt then managed to overpower one of the Polk men during a truck ride towards The Butcher

Matt then managed to overpower one of the Polk men during a truck ride towards The Butcher.

But they were retrieved, and Mamma Polk shattered Shelby's leg with a sledgehammer.

'You have to save Flora,' she begged Matt as they lay bound in the truck.

They were dragged into a circle of The Butcher's hillbillies and sinister pig men.

Horrifying scenes: They were dragged into a circle of The Butcher's hillbillies and sinister pig men

Don't take her: The little girl was upset that Thomasin White was going to sacrifice Flora first

Just as the creatures were about to sacrifice little Flora, Lee appeared.

One of The Butcher's followers then surprisingly knocked her out, and threw himself on the fire.

Edward reappeared to help Matt and Shelby escape with Lee.

Karma: Just as the creatures were about to sacrifice little Flora, Lee appeared

Lucky escape: One of The Butcher's followers then surprisingly knocked her out, and threw himself on the fire

Time to make a run for it: Edward reappeared to help Matt and Shelby escape with Lee

'When I close my eyes I can still see the fire,' said Shelby, who said she was haunted by dreams of The Butcher for the rest of her life.

They stayed in a motel while they planned their departure back to L.A.

American Horror Story continues next week on FX.

Home sweet home: They were safe but Shelby was still injured and on crutches

Safe: The family had a lucky escape from the ordeal as they found a motel to stay at

Lovers kiss: They stayed in a motel while they planned their departure back to L.A.
He once complained that American women can't keep up with his hard-partying lifestyle.

And Hannibal Buress, 33, appears to have met his match with Australian women, who he recently applauded for being 'straightforward' and drama-free when it comes to hook-ups.

'If Australian girls wanna hook up with you, they hook up with you,' he told The Daily Telegraph.

Drama-free hook ups: Hannibal Buress, 33, appears to have met his match with Australian women, who he recently applauded for being 'straightforward' and drama-free when it comes to hook-ups

'There's no dilly dallying. It's very open and honest and you don't have to buy them drinks.'

Hannibal recalled meeting a girl in Sydney, who he spent time with 'for a few days' during his 2012 tour Down Under.

'She was witty and charming and straightforward... I hope I hang out with her again in Sydney, that way I don't have to deal with anyone else,' he told the publication.

Girlfriend in Sydney? Hannibal recalled meeting a girl in Sydney, who he spent time with 'for a few days' during his 2012 tour Down Under and hopes to see her again while he's in town

Meanwhile, the former Saturday Night Live writer is best known for igniting the Bill Cosby sex scandal, calling him a 'rapist' during a stand-up performance in Philadelphia.

It was captured on video and later went viral, which led to renewed scrutiny of decades-old allegations of sexual assault lodged by a number of women.

Hannibal previously said it was a 'weird surprise' that his joke precipitated Cosby's fall from grace.

Comedy making news: the former Saturday Night Live writer is best known for igniting the Bill Cosby sex scandal, calling him a 'rapist' during a stand-up performance in Philadelphia

'I was doing a joke in my show and that shouldn't influence public opinion. I don't know if it should go that far,' he said earlier this year.

'That's just one joke that ... people took and really ran with it,' he said.

At the time, Hannibal took to Twitter alluding to the controversy he had sparked.

'Boy, that escalated quickly. I mean that really got out of hand fast,' he wrote.

Bill Cosby has denied all of the allegations made against him.
She's made the transition from the catwalk to the big screen.

And supermodel-turned-leading lady Cara Delevingne confessed it was Oscar-winner Angelina Jolie who inspired her to pursue her dreams of acting and, eventually, directing.

The 24-year-old British model made the revelation on Tuesday in a glowing tribute she wrote for her 'girl hero' Angelina, tagging the United Nation's Girl Up campaign in the Instagram post.

'She also inspired me to follow my dreams': Supermodel-turned-leading lady Cara Delevingne confessed on Monday that it was none other then Angelina Jolie who inspired her to pursue her dreams of acting and, eventually, directing

Cara shared a stunning photo of the actress, looking elegant and sophisticated as she rested her chin upon her hand.

The catwalk queen was in no shortage of praise for the actress in her tribute, citing Angelina's position as a goodwill ambassador and her determination to 'make a difference' for refugees in the caption.

'My admiration for Angelina Jolie is endless,' she started off in the gushing caption. 'I also admire anyone who transforms their pain into power.

Showing her support: Cara, pictured in August in New York, posted the photo on International Day Of The Girl, a day designed to focus on empowering young women

'I admire unruly activists. I admire her continued involvement with the UN as a goodwill ambassador.

'She is ruthless, determined and unforgiving in her efforts to make a difference for Refugee's. She also inspired me to follow my dreams into acting and have higher goals of one day becoming a director.

'I have chosen her as my #GirlHero today! Take action today with @girlupcampaign and let me know who your #GirlHero is....'

Dedicated: Jolie, pictured in September at a camp in Jordan for Syrian refugees, became a Special Envoy in 2012

Cara posted the photo on International Day Of The Girl, a day designed to focus on empowering young women.

Angelina, who has recently made headlines for filing for divorce from Brad Pitt, worked as a goodwill ambassador for the UNHCR beginning in 2001.

In 2012, she was appointed Special Envoy for the UNHCR.

Haunting: The 24-year-old starred as Enchantress in the new film Suicide Squad

Cara, meanwhile, catapulted to stardom as a model, walking on runways for the likes of Chanel, Victoria's Secret, and Fendi.

And while Cara continues to model today, she has also transitioned into acting, with roles in Paper Towns and Suicide Squad.

She will next star in Tulip Fever, London Fields, and Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets.

London Fields will enjoy a release this year, while Tulip Fever and Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets will premiere in 2017.
She's obviously used to parting crowds, and on Wednesday Kendall Jenner was at it again when she made a stylish exit from Mastro's Steakhouse alongside her pals in Beverly Hills.

The 20-year-old catwalk queen channeled the 90's in the fashion stakes as she wore a white graphic print T-shirt, a choker necklace, and slender sunglasses.

Kendall was joined by her friend Jaden Smith, 18, who appeared to leave in separate car than her.

Blast from the past! Kendall Jenner channeled the 90's in the fashion stakes as she wore a white graphic print T-shirt, a choker necklace, and slender sunglasses when she made a stylish exit from Mastro's Steakhouse alongside her pals in Beverly Hills on Wednesday

Scraping her dark brunette tresses up into a messy bun, Kendall looked casual but super trendy as she made her exit outside.

Her lips remained bare, though her blemish-free complexion did seem to have some blush.

Kendall appeared to leave behind her large purses at home that evening in favour of a tiny fire engine red wallet.

And, to add a high fashion touch, Kendall rocked a Gucci belt around her slender waist.

And off they go! The stars appeared to be leaving in separate cars

Red alert! Kendall appeared to leave behind her large purses at home that evening in favour of a tiny fire engine red wallet

Kendall eventually made her way inside a car, driven by a friend, as she headed off to her next destination of the night.

Jaden, meanwhile, also kept it casual in a long-sleeve Harley Davidson black shirt.

The actor, who is the son of Will and Jada Pinkett Smith, was seen out earlier that day with his sister, Willow.

Super stylish: Scraping her dark brunette tresses up into a messy bun, the 20-year-old looked casual but super trendy as she made her exit outside

Hitting the road! Jenner eventually made her way inside a car, driven by a friend, as she headed off to her next destination of the night

Kendall was also spotted out earlier that day grabbing lunch with Scott Disick.

The outing comes just ten days after her older sister, Kim Kardashian, was robbed at gunpoint in Paris.

Kendall was in Paris at the time of Kim's ordeal, and was in a nightclub with Kim's security guard - meaning the mother-of-two was alone at her apartment.

Keeping it casual! Jaden Smith, meanwhile, also kept it casual in a long-sleeve Harley Davidson black shirt

Family first! The actor, who is the son of Will and Jada Pinkett Smith, was also spotted out earlier that day with his sister, Willow Smith, in West Hollywood

Khloe Kardashian broke her silence on the $10 million robbery during her Tuesday appearance on The Ellen DeGeneres Show.

The reality star told the daytime host: 'I mean, it's incredibly traumatic what happened to her.'

Adding: 'But our family is super close and great and we'll get though it together.'

Khloe said that while 'it was horrible what happened to her,' she and her family 'appreciate all of your guys' love and support.'

Not impressed: The singer and model wore a long grey cardigan

Style icon: Free spirit Jaden wore a cap over his hair and sported a Harley sweatshirt

Nice wheels: The Smiths pulled up in Jaden's Tesla X

Earlier on Wednesday, Jaden was seen out with his sister Willow Smith, 15.

The Whip My Hair singer wore a long grey cardigan over a black sweatshirt and leggings.

She added zip-up boots and kept a tight grip on her smartphone as they greeted friends.
China urges the Philippines to solve bilateral disputes through negotiation and consultation on the basis of mutual respect and trust, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson said Tuesday.

It was reported that Philippine Foreign Secretary Perfecto Yasay said recently that time is not right for the Philippines and China to discuss territorial disputes and the Philippines would only discuss territorial disputes with China on the basis of the so-called award on the South China Sea arbitration.

A tribunal in July issued an "award" on the South China Sea arbitration, which was unilaterally initiated by the former government of the Philippines. China has reiterated that it will not accept any proposition or action based on the decision.

China's position on this so-called award is clear, spokesperson Lu Kang said, adding that China sticks by its position -- the peaceful solution of disputes through dialogue and consultation.

"The door of bilateral dialogue is always open," Lu said.

Friendly, steady and healthy bilateral ties are in accordance with the fundamental interests of the two countries and their people's expectations, the spokesperson said.

Lu expressed his hope that the Philippine side will work with China, show their sincerity in dialogue, properly handle differences through negotiation and consultation based on mutual respect and trust, and push bilateral ties back on a healthy track at an early date.
Her character's love life in Summer Bay has been a little rocky in past weeks.

But things may be heating up for Home and Away star Pia Miller's character, as she was spotted locking lips with co-star George Mason on Wednesday.

The pair appeared to take a beachside stroll near Palm Beach for a heart-to-heart, before intimately holding hands and kissing.

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Heating up! Home and Away's Pia Miller was spotted locking lips with co-star George Mason in Palm Beach on Wednesday

Once a couple on the soap, they were noticeably pleased by each other's company, smiling throughout their brief encounter.

Pia and George's characters Katarina Chapman and Martin 'Ash' Ashford broke up after a criminal investigation compromised Kat's badge on the police force.

The 32-year-old actress wore her starched blue police uniform, with cap and hefty black work boots during the yet-to-be-aired scene.

Her gun holster on her leather belt was visibly empty.

Summer Bay smooching! Pia closed her eyes for the intimate kiss, while her co-star tilted his head to avoid an awkward bump from her brimmed cap

Pia closed her eyes romantically for the smooch, as George tilted his head slightly to avoid an awkward bump with her brimmed cap.

The Chilean-born model looked hesitant during the meeting, but flashed a bright smile as the cheerful co-stars got closer.

George, wearing a grey muscle T-shirt and blue board shorts, gave the impression of having an in-depth conversation with his co-star.

Back together? Pia and George's characters are not together on the soap, but this intimate interaction may be predicting a plot twist for the Australian series

Avoiding eye contact: The Chilean-born model looked hesitant during the meeting, as George appeared to plead with her while grabbing her hands

Teary? George pulled Pia closer as to comfort her as she appears to become visibly distressed by the possibly confrontation

The actress and model kept her brunette tresses off her face in a styled bun, pushed through the back of her police cap.

She embraced her natural beauty, with a light pink shade of lipstick and matching high-set blush.

Pia also appeared to give George's character a yellow confidential slip from her right pant pocket, as he's later seen holding it while her pocket is opened.

What's that yellow document? Pia Miller seems to have given George a confidential document from her police pants as they meet in private

Natural beauty! Pia went for a minimal makeup look with a light pink shade of lipstick and matching high-set blush

Twinning! The actress and model kept her brunette tresses off her face in a styled bun, pushed through the back of her police cap, while her co-star also rocked a similar 'do

The actress meanwhile is dating Tyson Mullane.

Pia has two children, Lennox Miller, 13, and Isaiah Loyola, nine.

She recently ended her married with ex-sportsman Brad Miller in October last year, after being together since 2007.

Pia has opened up about the breakdown of her marriage, saying it was due to her struggle to balance family life with her filming commitments for the Channel Seven soap.
Whether strutting down the catwalks or gracing the FROW, her stylish presence at Paris Fashion Week was hard to miss.

And Karlie Kloss continued her trend-setting ways in a grey and black ensemble as she headed out in New York City on Wednesday.

The 24-year-old model embraced the emerging chill in a stylish white coat which cinched in her tiny waist as she lined the streets of the Big Apple.

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Stepping out: Karlie Kloss , 24, cinched in her waist with a grey belted trench coat as she headed out in New York City on Wednesday

Opting for minimalism, Karlie teamed her outerwear with a figure-hugging turtleneck top, black tights, and Sunday Somewhere sunglasses.

Her blonde tresses were un-styled, yet still effortlessly framed her face which boasted only a slick of make-up.

With a chic black handbag draped over one shoulder, she looked in high spirits as she strolled forth in a pair of ballet flats - later swapping them for trainers.

Stylish: The talented model later swapped her chic looking pumps for a pair of comfortable looking trainers

Fashion savvy: The thick white coat boasted elongated collars all the way down to her navel, injecting a further chic element with the belted knot in the middle

Earlier this month, Karlie was busy in the French capital as she walked in several shows for Paris Fashion Week, as well as gracing the front row of many others.

She put on a seductive display outside the Christian Dior show in a stunning floor-length blazer, pencil skirt and sheer lace top.

Proving to be a true chameleon she donned a colourful cut-out mini dress which showed off her catwalk ready legs for the Louis Vuitton show.

She also went on to wow on the runway during the Elie Saab show in a playful starry ensemble, which featured an elongated train and matching cap

Minimalistic: Karlie teamed her outerwear with a figure-hugging turtleneck top, black tights, and Sunday Somewhere sunglasses

All eyes on her: She put on a seductive display outside the Christian Dior show at Paris Fashion Week in a stunning floor-length blazer, pencil skit and sheer lace top

The adventurous Illinois native recently revealed she had taken a flying lesson in a fun Instagram snap.

'Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking,' Karlie captioned the snapshot.

Karlie, who is a member of Taylor Swift's famous girl squad, also started Kode With Klossy, a program which gives teenage girls the opportunity to learn coding and take computer science classes.

Karlie told Refinery29 in April that she took a coding class 'out of curiosity' and felt compelled to encourage others to learn how to code.

Intergalactic: She also went on to wow during the Elie Saab show in a playful starry ensemble, which featured an elongated train and matching cap

'It really is a very creative skill set in its own way,' she said. 'You can problem solve. You can be able to build a solution for whatever you can dream. It can be applied in so many different directions.'

Karlie added: 'Im still learning myself. I really enjoy working on projects and definitely want to build something, be it an app or a business idea.

'Being able to actually build it out myself is something Im really excited about. That's what I wanted to share with other students, other young women  that empowering feeling of being able to create anything you can dream of.'

'This is your captain speaking': The Illinois native is adamant on keeping herself busy off the runways and recently revealed she had taken a flying lesson in a fun Instagram snap




They are both frequent faces on the A-list social scene - with him a respected actor and her a socialite.

And it seems Jeremy Renner and Hofit Golan have formed something a close relationship over the years, as they were seen enjoying a night out together in London on Wednesday.

The 45-year-old actor and the 30-something fashionista were spotted heading to Tape nightclub in Oxford Circus in an intriguingly close fashion.

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Getting close: Jeremy Renner, 45, and Hofit Golan were spotted heading to Tape night club in London on Wednesday night in a suspiciously close fashion

The American Hustle star kept things casual in his signature black winter coat, layered on top of a simple navy T-shirt.

The hunk smartened the look up with a set of suave grey suede Aquatalia 'Ace' shoes as she ventured on his reunion with the Israeli beauty.

Meanwhile Lindsay Lohan's pal Hofit flashed a hint of her flat and toned abs in a black jumpsuit, which featured cheeky cut-outs at the waist.

Adding a hot pink hand bag for a pop of colour and leaving her face make-up simple to show off her natural beauty, it is no wonder the blonde jet-setter caught the attention of the Academy Award nominee.

Stylish: The hunk sported a black coat and suave grey suede Aquatalia 'Ace' shoes as she ventured on his reunion with the Israeli beauty

The duo kept their faces blank as they headed into the exclusive party venue in very close proximity - venturing to their exclusive location side by side.

The pair were first seen together at the 62nd Taormina Film Festival's Gala Dinner in Sicily back in June.

Hofit later uploaded a photo of them from the event to her Instagram, calling Jeremy a 'superstar actor' in the caption.

While Jeremy is known for keeping his personal life behind closed doors, the actor was then seen only days later in Taormina enjoying a day on the beach with a mystery brunette.

Cheeky: It was no wonder Hofit caught the attention of the Hollywood actor as she flashed a hint of her flat abs in a black jumpsuit, which featured cut-outs at the waist

The companions were seen getting very close as they hugged after a quick dip in the sea during their idyllic Italian beach break.

The Bourne Legacy actor was originally married to Canadian model and actress Sonni Pacheco, who he has one daughter with - Ava, 3.

However after marrying in January 2014, Sonni then filed for divorce just ten months later in December.

The couple have been through something of an acrimonious split however, with Pacheco claiming Renner had fallen behind in support payments recently.

In September, TMZ reported that the actor paid his ex-wife $16,000 in support for his three-year-old daughter Ava, along with another $24,000 for her lawyer and accountant.

Old friends: The pair were first seen together at the 62nd Taormina Film Festival's Gala Dinner in Sicily back in June

According to the website, she has also made several claims against the actor, alleging his house is unsafe for their daughter as Jeremy has a gun collection, with one of the weapons behind a bar while out in the open.

Back in June 2015, Jeremy told Playboy that he doesn't address the questions asked about his sexuality or romantic life.

'As a general rule I dont respond to questions about my personal life. Im not going to try to prove what I am or am not. Its silly, right? When you Google yourself and the first thing that comes up is "Jeremy Renner gay," its like, "Oh, now youve arrived. Youre now a giant movie star."'

Meanwhile Hofit confirmed to MailOnline last June that she had been dating a Geordie swimmer called Ian for nine months.

However, the socialite has not been seen with him or posted anything about their relationship on social media in 2016, leaving her romantic situation unknown.

Jeremy is in London to promote his new film Arrival, which he co-stars in with Amy Adams.

The new block-buster, which premiered at the Venice Film Festival in early September, follows a linguist (Adams) who recruited by the military to assist in translating alien communications.
They're busy promoting their new flick Jack Reacher: Never Go Back in the Far East.

And Cobie Smulders and Tom Cruise appeared in high spirits as they hit the red carpet for the premiere of their new blockbuster on Wednesday in Shanghai, China.

Looking a vision in cream tulle, Cobie, 34, pushed the fashion envelope as she stunned in a calf-grazing one shouldered dress with tiered ruffles while posing for photos with Tom and their director Edward Zwick.

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Style stars: Cobie Smulders and her co-star Tom Cruise hit the red carpet for the premiere of Jack Reacher on Wednesday in Shanghai, China with director Edward Zwick (right)

Oozing country vibes, the romantic inspired number featured black chiffon shoulder detail that exhibited the Hollywood beauty's toned arms.

The How I Met Your Mother star's dress highlighted her tiny waist with a silk belt which fell to carpet in dramatic fashion.

Cobie injected height into her already statuesque frame in a pair of black towering strappy sandals that elongated her slender legs.

Sweeping her raven locks off her face, the Canadian stunner styled her tresses into a deep side parting as she teased her hair into a chignon as her fringe framed her features.

All smiles: Oozing country vibes, the romantic inspired number featured black chiffon shoulder detail that exhibited the Hollywood beauty's toned arms.

High spirits: Sweeping her raven locks off her face, the Canadian stunner styled her tresses into a deep side parting as she teased her hair into a chignon as her fringe framed her features

The style maven couldn't wipe the smile off her face as she joined Tom in the promotional trail for the movie, which is getting a simultaneous release in the U.S. and China on October 21.

In the film, Jack Reacher must uncover the truth behind a major government conspiracy in order to clear his name.

On the run as a fugitive from the law, Reacher uncovers a potential secret from his past that could change his life forever.

The actress plays Major Susan Turner in the film, heading up the military police unit that Tom's character Jack Reacher used to run.

Meanwhile, Tom looked every inch the American heartthrob alongside his leading lady in a petrol blue ISAIA suit at the event.

The 54-year-old teamed his sharp attire with a white shirt and matching petrol blue tie as he arrived at the event in his dark brown brogues.

Suave: Tom looked every inch the American heartthrob alongside his leading lady in a petrol blue suit from ISAIA at the event

Dapper: The 54-year-old teamed his sharp attire with a white shirt and matching petrol blue tie

Tom brushed his brown locks across his forehead as he sported a clean shaven look, smiling for waiting cameras.

Soaking up the atmosphere at the cinematic event, the actor signed a number of autographs and took photos with eager fans who lined the Grand Gateway 66 Shopping Mall in the Chinese city to get a glimpse of him.

The plot of the second Jack Reacher film revolves around an accusation that former military police major Jack committed a murder 16 years prior.

Beaming: Tom stopped and chatted to his loyal fans in the Chinese city

Autograp time: Soaking up the atmosphere at the cinematic event, the actor signed a number of autographs

Selfie: Tom took a number of pictures with eager fans at the premiere

'He's alone and he's sort of in his element and then he couples up with me and all hell breaks loose,' Cobie told ET back in June. 'We're on the run for this entire movie.'

The sequel is adapted from the series of novels by Lee Child, and the first Jack Reacher film released in 2012 made $200 million.

It was shot almost entirely in New Orleans, and the first teaser trailer debuted online on Monday.

Cinematic: The trio smiled for waiting cameras as they held microphones for the exclusive event
He was confronted by Georgia Love after he essentially forfeit a contestant to win time alone with her, leaving The Bachelorette deeply offended.

But it seems that wasn't enough to shake Courtney Dober, who seemingly stuffed up another chance at alone time with the leading lady on their group date during Thursday night's episode.

Cameron, Lee, Courtney and Jake were tasked with putting their hearts on their sleeves during love letter challenge, as part of a series of tasks to test if 'love is blind'.

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Self sabotage? Courtney Dober seemingly stuffed up another chance at alone time with Georgia Love on their group date during Thursday night's episode of The Bachelorette

The industrial designer claimed to have writer's block and instead of penning a heart-felt letter or confessions of love, he jotted down a short poem.

Embarrassed on hearing the other boys' words as they were all read out loud by each other, he admitted his was only 'one fifth the length' and felt bad.

When it came for one of the bachelors to be eliminated, while the others progressed through to the last round, Courtney was the one sent home from the date.

When host Osher Gunsberg asked which one she connected with the least, she was careful not to offend any of the boys, stating: 'I will say, and only because it didn't get as in-depth as the others was the one that Lee read.'

Looks vs personality: The writing challenge was part of a series of challenges on the group date to see who Georgia preferred when the boys good looks were taken out of the picture

Owning up to his love letter, Courntey took his envelope and waved goodbye to Georgia, who didn't seem to mind letting him go on this occasion.

The writing challenge was part of a series of challenges on the group date to see who Georgia preferred when the boys good looks were taken out of the picture.

The first challenge saw the boys speaking in the ear of senior citizens who had five minutes to impress the brunette beauty in a speed date challenge on their behalf.

The humorous speed date saw the boys whispering compliments and asking the elderly men to hold Georgia's hand and brush her hair from her face.

Humorous: The first challenge saw the boys speaking in the ear of senior citizens who had five minutes to impress the brunette beauty in a speed date challenge on their behalf

Describing himself: Courtney was the first to start the challenge describing himself as 'spontaneous' and a 'little bit crazy'

Courtney was the first to start the challenge describing himself as 'spontaneous' and a 'little bit crazy'.

Next up was Cameron who wooed Georgia by asking his replacement to hold her hand and tell her she was beautiful.

Cameron described himself as a 'very affectionate boyfriend' before the challenge moved onto Jake who also asked his replacement to move her hair from her face and stroke her hand.

While Lee, took the approach to use humour as a way to connect with Georgia, asking her to feel his replacements Jacket sleeve and telling her it was made from 'boyfriend material.'

Romantic: Next up was Cameron who wooed Georgia by asking his replacement to hold her hand and tell her she was beautiful

Hard act to follow: Clancy appeared to find the challenge difficult and failed to answer the questions to Georgia's satisfaction and was eliminated during the speed dating round

Clancy appeared to find the challenge difficult and failed to answer the questions to Georgia's satisfaction and was eliminated during the speed dating round.

Next is when the boys put their emotions on paper, writing intimate love letters to Georgia.

The final challenge saw Lee, Cameron and Jake dance cheek-to-cheek with the 27-year-old.

Cameron, who was the ultimate victor, got to spend some quality time with Georgia at the end of the challenge, impressing her with his 'affectionate' side.

Intimate: Next is when the boys put their emotions on paper, writing intimate love letters to Georgia

All smiles: Georgia was taken aback by the letter written by Jake which showed his most intimate secrets about her revealed

Having lost yet another challenge to spend time alone with Georgia, Courtney confessed at the cocktail party that he may come off as being 'disinterested'.

'I am, you know, someone who's not overly emotional and affectionate and all the rest of it.

'I hope she doesn't receive that as being disinterested, 'cause, you know, I'm not.'

Despite his poor effort in the group challenge, Georgia granted Courtney his wish and won him a little more time to impress the reality starlet by giving him a rose.

Dance off: The final challenge saw Lee, Cameron and Jake dance cheek-to-cheek with the 27-year-old

Loving moment: Cameron, who was the ultimate victor, got to spend some quality time with Georgia at the end of the challenge, impressing her with his 'affectionate' side

This isn't the first time Courtney failed to impress Georgia, who confronted Courtney about feeling 'totally humiliated' during a medieval group date.

'All of these guys have made an effort and then Courtney couldn't have cared less. How embarrassing,' she told the camera when he walked through a gauntlet on purpose to lose a challenge.

Previously, he also handed over alone time after a group date to Tommy, who won the billy cart challenge and was yet to spend time with the Bachelorette.

His move confused and embarrassed Georgia, who thought he wasn't picking up the same vibe she was feeling.
She plays the oh-so-sexy voluptuous Gloria Delgado-Pritchett in Modern Family.

Yet Sofia Vergara, 44, wrapped up against the cold in an oversized padded jacket as she left the Modern Family set on Wednesday.

The Colombian beauty walked alongside co-star Eric Stonestreet in Westlake, California, where she has been filming season eight of the hit show.

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Wrapping up: Sofia Vergara, 44, wrapped up against the cold in an oversized padded jacket as she left the Modern Family set on Wednesday alongside co-star Eric Stonestreet

Clearly feeling a chill in the air, the actress folded her arms to keep the warmth in her winter outerwear while waiting in-between scenes.

Sofia was ready to unleash her on-screen sex appeal as her bouncy dip-dyed locks were teased to perfection by her side.

Catching the wind slightly, it framed her stunning face which was chiselled to perfection and sported a glamorous slick of make-up.

The bubbly beauty completed the look with a baggy pair of trousers and bulky boots - providing the utmost comfort as she hung around while on her phone.

Always glam: Sofia - who portrays sexy Gloria Delgado-Pritchett on the ABC series - was ready to unleash her sex appeal as her bouncy brunette locks were teased to perfection by her side

She's got it all going on: The richest actress on TV looked stunning as she filmed a Thanksgiving special of the show last week

The eighth season of the Emmy Award winning show is currently in full swing and the cast have already filmed a Halloween special.

The star, who was named as the richest actress on TV by Forbes for the fifth year running, looked stunning as she filmed a Thanksgiving special last week.

Sofia donned a relaxed, yet sexy outfit, including a blue lace top with sheer half sleeves and some skintight jeans.

Fame: Sofia has made a name for herself as sexy outspoken Gloria Delgado-Pritchett in the Emmy award-winning series

Sofia recently confessed that she initially thought she was 'too old' for her now husband Joe Manganiello to date her at first.

Appearing on the Harry talk show hosted by Harry Connick Jr last month, she revealed: 'When he started trying to convince me to go out with him. I didnt want to go out with him because of that.

'I dont want to deal with that, I am too old now to be with a guy that all the girls are like after him.

'Youre too hot, this is going to be so much work. I'm not kidding. I didnt want to go out with him because of how hot he was.'
She revealed in the past she had been the victim of botched treatment from an unqualified plastic surgeon.

And Priscilla Presley, 71, shocked viewers with her incredibly youthful appearance on Thursday morning's installment of Lorraine, showcasing a smooth, wrinkle free complexion.

The former wife of Elvis chatted to host Lorraine Kelly about her late ex-husband during her rare interview on British TV.

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Ageless: Priscilla Presley, 71, shocked viewers with her incredibly youthful appearance on Thursday morning's installment of Lorraine, showcasing a smooth, wrinkle free complexion

But it was her looks which really got people going on social media, with countless viewers taking to Twitter to comment.

One user posted: 'Flicking thru channels on TV and thought I saw a Lizard being interviewed on Lorraine. Turns out it was Priscilla Presley after surgery!'

Another mused: 'Must be a point where you say 'yep enough plastic surgery now' else you just look like Frankenstein's monster @ITVLorraine #PriscillaPresley'.

A third harsh comment read: 'I'm really sorry, I'm sure she's a lovely woman, but I have nightmares after looking at @Cilla_Presley for too long #justsaying #Lorraine'.

Rare interview: The former wife of Elvis chatted to host Lorraine Kelly about her late ex-husband Elvis

Harsh: It was her looks which really got people going on social media, with countless viewers taking to Twitter to comment

Popular topic: The social media site was awash with commentary about her youthful look

'Poor #PriscillaPresley she can hardly move her face at all now! #Lorraine', another shared, while another wrote, 'Priscilla Presley's face #Lorraine #Botox #Fillers #Scary'.

On the flip side, several fans fawned over her stunning, age-defying looks.

One fan wrote: 'Priscilla Presley on #Lorraine - she looks incredible.'

Another gushed:'How unbelievably stunning is #PriscillaPresley Woah! 71!! #Lorraine @ITV.'

Age-defying: It was hard to believe Priscilla was 71 with her auburn locks and smooth skin

Chic: The star donned an elegant black jumper and dress ensemble, with subtle cut-out detailing on the sleeves and running down the front

Promoting her ex: The star is releasing a new compilation Elvis album, The Wonder of You: Elvis Presley with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra

In the hot seat: Priscilla enjoyed a chat with host Lorraine Kelly on the morning show

'As if Priscilla Presley is 71!! @ITVLorraine', another fan posted.

Priscilla opened up about her union with late music legend Elvis, who she was married to from 19671973 before his passing in 1977.

Despite infidelities on both sides of the marriage, the pair remained close after their split.

She said of her late spouse: 'There was no one else like him... He was fantastic.

Mixed opinions: On the flip side, several fans fawned over her stunning, age-defying looks

'He was fantastic': Priscilla opened up about her union with late music legend Elvis, who she was married to from 19671973 before his passing in 1977

Demure: The American star covered up in a smart black coat as she left the TV studios

Fond memories: She reflected, 'He gave me so much pleasure and joy'

'Caring, empathetic, all those things but he had his moods as well, but they were mostly creativity driven as he was into his career.'

Priscilla revealed she was so proud of Lisa Marie and their grandchildren, including actress Riley Keough.

The star is releasing a new compilation Elvis album, The Wonder of You: Elvis Presley with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.

'He gave me so much pleasure and joy. He deserves every bit of it', she said of the record's success.

Stylish: Priscilla set off her look with simple black heels and a matching clutch bag

Smile and wave: She flashed a coy smile as she headed off following her interview

Priscilla previously fell foul to botched plastic surgery, and allegedly had industrial low-grade silicone similar to that used by mechanics to grease car parts injected into her face.

Her spokesperson added said at the time: 'Priscilla Presley was one of many documented victims of Dr. Serrano.

'An investigation which uncovered his misconduct ultimately lead to his imprisonment. Ms. Presley dealt with this matter years ago and everything is now well.'

Serrano was investigated after his patients complained the injections caused lumps, paralysis and craters in the face.

He was arrested in 2004 and charged in relation to the illegal injections.

Serrano was later sentenced to 18 months in prison after pleading guilty to conspiracy, smuggling and use of unapproved drugs in 2006.

Love of her life: Priscilla is pictured on her wedding day with Elvis at the Aladdin Hotel-Casino in Las Vegas in 1967

Natural beauty: The stunning star was an undeniable beauty in her youth
Geordie Shore star Scotty T has dismissed claims of a hotel tryst with married Loose Women panellist Katie Price.

The reality TV personality, 28, was linked to Katie, 38, after the pair were seen driving to a Hilton Hotel in Newcastle, prompting rumours of a causal fling.

Scotty has since rubbished the claims, insisting his relationship with the former glamour model is strictly platonic and his motives on the day in question completely innocent.

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Just mates: Geordie Shore star Scotty T has dismissed claims of a hotel tryst with married Loose Women panellist Katie Price

Shes genuinely just my pal. I literally took her for a sunbed at my friends salon and that was it, he told Radio Aire while rehearsing for an appearance in new panto Snow White and the Seven Dwarves.

Katie has also strenuously denied claims her marriage to husband Kieran Hayler is on the rocks following reports her meeting with the Geordie Shore hunk.

The mother of five took to social media to lash out at rumours her husband was threatening to walk out on her after the 'humiliation'.

Claims: The reality TV personality, 28, was linked to Katie, 38 (pictured with husband Kieran Hayler) after the pair were seen driving to a Hilton Hotel in Newcastle, prompting rumours of a causal fling

Katie raged: 'My team made it clear earlier today on a call,anyet they still run a story that implies things that simply aren't true. Very disappointing. (sic)'

This comes after Now magazine alleged Kieran was feeling 'emasculated' by his wife after she was seen leaving a hotel with reality star Scotty.

'Kieran can't handle anymore humiliation. Katie's ditched the woman he married and replaced her with Jordan', the insider said.

Speaking out: Katie Price has also strenuously denied claims her relationship with Kieran Hayler is on the rocks

Taking to Twitter: The 38-year-old star took to social media to lash out at rumours her husband was threatening to walk out on her after the 'humiliation'

Denial: This comes after it was alleged Kieran was feeling 'emasculated' by his wife after she was seen leaving a hotel with reality star Scotty T

'The pictures of her with Scotty just add to the problems for Kieran. He confronted her, accusing her of double standards and blatantly flirting.'

MailOnline has contacted Katie's representative for comment.

Scotty previously denied claims of a secret hotel tryst with Katie in his Daily Star column, writing: 'Yes, of course I would bang her, she is FIT.

'She is also a wicked woman and a laugh to be around. But she is married with kids and I respect that'.

Elsewhere an old tweet of Scotty's from 2015 has also resurfaced, in which he tells Katie to ditch Kieran for him.

He wrote: '@MissKatiePrice needs to bin that k**b off and just get with me like #PuaMilf'.

Cheeky: An old tweet of Scotty's from 2015 has also resurfaced, in which he tells Katie to ditch Kieran for him

No way: Scotty denied the claims of a secret hotel tryst with Katie, writing in his Daily Star column: 'She is married with kids and I respect that'

Katie took to her Instagram account on Saturday to rubbish claims her marriage to Kieran is in trouble.

Wearing a pair of oversized black shades, she calmly says in the close-up video: 'I'd just like to clarify that no ex bought me this necklace, he wouldn't be able to afford it. I bought it myself.

'And me and Kieran are happily married with no problems. Thank you.'

Clearing it up: This comes after Katie took to her Instagram account on Saturday to rubbish claims her marriage to Kieran is in trouble

Therapy: The pair will be going to couples therapy in the near future, but she insists they're on the right track

Rude boy: Both Scotty and Katie have moved to pour cold water on their rumoured tryst

During Friday's episode of Loose Women, Katie revealed she is taking a month long break from the show in order to work through her issues with Kieran, amongst them his previous infidelity with two of her closest friends.

She explained: 'We're gonna go back to a therapist, not because there's anything wrong with our relationship... He's realised now I've moved on, how much he's hurt me. It's a lot for him to deal with.

'Everything, all in my life, I've never really sat down and spoken about it (with a therapist).'

She added: 'We had therapy at the time (of Kieran's cheating) and I thought I was over it... The past two weeks, I've been back on my book tour, it's reopened new wounds. I've had to talk about it.'

Setting the record straight: She also denied reports she wore a necklace gifted to her by ex-husband Alex Reid on Friday's Loose Women

However, while she insisted multiple times throughout the show's broadcast that she and Kieran are not splitting, she did mistakenly refer to him as ex-husband Peter Andre.

After her initial announcement of taking a break, Kieran sent a video message from his phone, in which he said: 'Hi babes, I love you and I'm so proud of you and I'm going to support you through everything. I love you.'

Katie jokingly fired back: 'You're the one who did the damage!'

When asked by her co-hosts if she'll ever forgive him, she said: 'I'll never forgive him. Never forget... But I wanna clarify me and Kieran - oops, I almost said Pete then - are absolutely fine. It's just been hard emotionally for both of us.'

She also confessed that her move to expand her boobs to a new bra-busting size - much like her old alter ego Jordan - was likely because of insecurities.

The mother-of-five said: 'The boobs had nothing to do with what's happened with the book. I will admit people see me going out in more skimpy stuff.

Oops! During her time on the show, Katie mistakenly referred to Kieran as her ex Peter Andre

'When I met Kieran, my body was small and normal and then I had two babies back-to-back and gained weight... The two women he had affairs with were smaller... Now I'm back to where I was and maybe it's like, "Now I'm back to where you want me."

'I am insecure. I am vulnerable. It's kind of a relief for me to admit I'm not as strong as people think. I have to put a barrier up. But enough's enough now.

'I'm not disappearing for ages, just a few weeks... We're just going away on a belated honeymoon, just me and Kieran and the kids and enjoy some horses.

'I want to help Kieran through this as well, because it's tough for us both... I do trust him, but because of all this book stuff there's turbulence.'

The first moment that she realised how gruelling it might be to relive the trauma was when her legal team advised her to read through her book and she couldn't face it.

Testing times: Katie explained that speaking about her husband's cheating so extensively two-and-a-half years later has tested her and her spouse emotionally

'It's just something I don't want to relive again,' she said. 'It's just absolutely awful, torture.'

She also explained that she got through many of her past pains by putting up a defence mechanism.

'If I'm hurt, I try and answer it in a jokey-bantery way to look like I can handle it... I haven't got any tears to cry. My heart is shattered.'

But she's also been feeling sorry for Kieran - despite the damage of his past actions.

'It's also been hard for Kieran,' she said. 'He's changed in two-and-a-half years... I've had to relive it with a fresh mind and go, "Oh my god, this is what he did to me."'

Kieran's indiscretions stayed close to Katie's mind, as later on in the show, when Anne Diamond came on as a guest, she made further confessions when the TV veteran spoke about being cheated on.

Demure: Katie displayed her slimline physique in a comparably demure ensemble

Heartbroken: Katie broke Kieran's heart when he cheated on her with two of her best friends

'Sometimes, it crosses my mind that I want to hurt him back,' said Katie of Kieran. 'Sometimes, I just want him to feel the pain that I had.'

'We had people in room. I shouldn't have to justify myself. I'm married. I'm not gonna do that.'

During the show, she also took some time to shoot down rumours that she'd had a fling with Scotty T.

'This has dragged on,' she said, looking exasperated as she explained that the Geordie Shore star had taken her and a friend to a sunbed.

She recalled: 'Afterwards he asked if he could come and change in my room because he had a event to get to in Blackpool. While he was in there I was just getting my hair done and thats it. Were just friends.
She's the ex-wife of 73-year-old millionaire Geoffrey Edelsten best known for her unique fashion choices.

However, on Thursday night Brynne Edelsten stepped out at the Share the Dignity, I Stand Up event in Melbourne playing it safe in a rose pink coloured cut-out mini dress.

The 33-year-old flaunted her recently slimmed down figure in the fitted ensemble, which showcased her hourglass figure.

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Playing it safe: Brynne Edelsten stepped out at the Share the Dignity, I Stand Up event in Melbourne on Thursday in a rose pink coloured cut-out mini dress flaunting her slimmed down figure

Further highlighting her weight-loss, the socialite's slinky number appeared to be loose around her mid-section.

Also, rather uncharacteristically, the blonde bombshell kept her ample cleavage under wraps.

The 33-year-old opted for minimal accessories including a gold wrist band and she matched this with gold hoop earrings, highlighted with her blonde tresses pulled to one side.

She crossed her shapely legs as she posed in black zip up shoes for the photographers, as she attended the event without her new beau Ian McAllister.

Later she was joined by The Bachelorette eliminated contestants Todd Jesson and Carlos Fang.

Minimal accessories: The 33-year-old opted for minimal accessories including a gold wrist band and she matched this with gold hoop earrings

Flaunting her figure: She crossed her shapely legs as she posed in black zip up shoes for the photographers, as she attended the event without her new beau Ian McAllister

Celebrity friends: Brynne was later joined by The Bachelorette reject Todd Jesson who wore a silver blazer, suede ankle boots and dark jeans for the charity event

Todd held Brynne by the waist as he posed alongside the blonde bombshell, cutting a casual figure in a silver blazer, suede boots and dark jeans.

Brynne wasn't the only woman to pose alongside The Bachelorette reject who was later seen with Emily Carrison.

Carlos also appeared at the charity event, wearing a denim shirt white singlet top and olive coloured pants.

Just friends: Brynne wasn't the only woman to pose alongside The Bachelorette reject who was later seen with Emily Carrison

Bachelorette boys: Todd and Carlos were both in the running to win Georgia Love's heart but were unlucky in love

Looking good: Carlos Fang also made an appearance on the night cutting a casual chic figure in a denim shirt white singlet top and olive coloured pants

Fashionable: The tattooed ex-reality star showcased his ink in the singlet top and appeared to be all smiles as he posed next to Amber Gelinas who opted for a similarly casual look

He opted for fashionable brown boots to pair with his smart casual ensemble.

The tattooed ex-reality star showcased his ink in the singlet top and appeared to be all smiles as he posed next to former Bachelor contestant Amber Gelinas.

Amber opted for a similarly casual chic outfit wearing a black blazer, blue jeans and a beige wedges.

She paired the outfit with a khaki top and a simple long hanging necklace.

Support: Dave Thorton also made an appearance on the night wearing a I Stand Up shirt and dark jeans

Dave Thorton also made an appearance on the night wearing a I Stand Up shirt and dark jeans.

The Share Dignity event was hosted to empower people and give them the strength to stand up to domestic violence.

On Facebook Share Dignity wrote: 'I stand against Domestic Violence because no man or woman deserves to lose their right to a safe and loving home.

They added, 'Stand with us against Domestic Violence,' imploring others to do the same.
She showcased her baby bump for the first time on Monday night.

But newly-pregnant Geri Horner was sure to keep her blooming belly covered up from the wind and rain in North London on Thursday.

The 44-year-old songstress layered up in a thick winter coat and chunky scarf as she headed to her dental practice in Highgate in the pouring rain - protecting herself with a huge umbrella in hand.

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God bless mother nature: Geri Horner, 44, shielded her newly-pregnant belly with a thick coat and scarf as she headed to the dentist in the pouring rain on Thursday

Glamour: Maintaining her usual glamour, Geri dressed her face with a classic pair of Aviator sunglasses, despite the day's grey demeanor

The famous redhead looked relaxed as she headed home from her dental appointment, despite the dreary weather.

Geri clad herself in slim fitting black jeans and a warm woollen coat to keep herself and her upcoming arrival warm from the cold Autumn day.

Shielding her bump even more the star, who is expecting her first child with husband Christian Horner, wrapped a soft and chunky beige scarf around her neck, breaking up the black colour of her outfit.

Well prepared: Geri clad herself in slim fitting black jeans and a warm woollen coat to keep herself and her upcoming arrival warm from the cold Autumn day

Keeping warm: Geri clad herself in slim fitting black jeans and a warm woollen coat to keep herself and her upcoming arrival warm from the cold Autumn day

Perhaps not anticipating the heavy downpour, the Raining Men star finished her look with a chic pair of black pointed stiletto heels - which left her feet uncovered, and soaked.

However maintaining her usual glamour, Geri dressed her face with a classic pair of Aviator sunglasses, despite the day's grey demeanor.

Holding a large cream spotted umbrella to cover herself from the drizzle, the star looked casual and comfy as she headed on her low-key day of chores after an exciting week revealing her pregnancy to fans.

Putting a foot wrong: Perhaps not anticipating the downpour, Geri finished her look with a chic pair of black pointed stiletto heels - which left her feet uncovered, and soaked.

Prior to this trip, Geri has been seen proudly flaunting her baby bump since its big reveal on Monday - uploading a photo to Instagram the following day which displayed her blooming body in full view.

The former Spice Girl could not stop smiling in the snap as she stood to the side to give a full view of her growing bump.

Geri, nee Halliwell, looked stunning in the happy snap in which she stood with her hands on her hips while looking over her shoulder in a tight black top.

Blooming! Geri Horner has been proudly flaunting her growing baby bump as illustrated by her latest Instagram post in which she flashed her blooming body while hitting the studio

With her famously petite frame, her belly looked particularly rounded in what was her second unveiling following her bump debut at the Attitude Awards on Monday night.

The Watford-born beauty wore her hair in loose waves while pulling headphones atop her head as she recorded tracks, no doubt alongside the Spice Girls reformed three-piece styled under the name GEM.

Geri is joining her bandmates Emma Bunton and Mel B - with Mel C and Victoria Beckham declining to take part - for a lucrative reunion tour to mark the band's 20th anniversary in style.

The big reveal! The 44-year-old former Spice Girl, who is expecting with her husband Christian Horner, could not stop smiling as she stood to the side to give a full view of her growing bump

Loved-up: Geri married her handsome partner in Bedfordshire in May last year

Geri - who already has 10-year-old daughter Bluebell from a past relationship - and her husband are 'overjoyed' to be expecting their first child together.

A spokesperson for the star confirmed: 'Geri and Christian are absolutely delighted to announce they are expecting their first child together.

'The couple are overjoyed with the good news and cannot wait to welcome the newest addition to their family.'

Happier than ever: With her famously petite frame, the bump looked particularly rounded in what was her second unveiling following her bump debut at the Attitude Awards on Monday night

God bless: Geri borrowed a line from her single It's Raining Men to announce her happy news on Instagram

Geri borrowed a line from her single It's Raining Men to announce her happy news on Instagram.

She wrote: 'God bless Mother Nature #mamaspice (sic),' sharing a sketch of a heavily pregnant woman alongside the caption.

Hours after her announcement when she headed to the Attitude Awards Geri was feted with the Honorary Gay Award.

Way bacl when: Geri is joining her bandmates Emma Bunton and Mel B - with Mel C and Victoria Beckham declining to take part - for a lucrative reunion tour to mark the band's 20th anniversary in style

Baby Bluebell: Geri - who already has 10-year-old daughter Bluebell (pictured in 2007) from a past relationship - and her husband are 'overjoyed' to be expecting their first child together

The Attitude website listed the reasons Geri was the ideal candidate for the prize: 'A Spice Girl who sings about raining men, once arrived at Londons G-A-Y on horseback for no discernible reason and who gets the LGBT community and our struggles...

'Geri Horner is as close to being a gay man as its possible to be  were thrilled to bestow upon her that most prestigious of awards: Honourary Gay.'

She was given the prize by her fellow former Spice Girl Emma, who was suitably named Baby Spice. The former colleagues cosied up backstage with Emma cradling her bump.
He's playing the lead role in the much-anticipated Harry Potter prequel Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them.

And Eddie Redmayne, 34, had a twinkle in his eye as he arrived at the Mayfair Hotel in London on Thursday for a promotional photocall.

The handsome actor exuded youthfulness as he posed for photographs in a smart-casual ensemble.

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Leading man: Eddie Redmayne, 34, had a twinkle in his eye as he arrived at the Mayfair Hotel in London on Thursday for a promotional photocall for Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them

The Theory Of Everything star wore a black jumper, emblazoned with the white outline of a dog on the front, over a pale blue shirt.

He sported a pair of navy blue trousers and white trainers, while he accessorised with a smart watch.

Eddie styled his brown hair in a swept and tousled fashion, and he stood in a relaxed manner with his hands tucked in his pockets.

Boyish good looks: The handsome actor exuded youthfulness as he posed for photographs in a smart-casual ensemble

On the promo trail: The star was joined by co-stars Dan Fogler, Alison Sudol and Katherine Waterston, all of which dressed in dark ensembles

Side by side: The foursome looked to be a close-knit unit

The star was joined by co-stars Dan Fogler, Alison Sudol and Katherine Waterston, all of which dressed in dark ensembles.

Alison, 31, produced a cute smile which brought out her dimples, and she enhanced her natural beauty with classily applied make-up.

She wore a smart, black, shortsleeve coat fastened up to the neck with brass buttons.

Pretty: Alison, 31, produced a cute smile which brought out her dimples, and she enhanced her natural beauty with classily applied make-up

Sophisticated: She wore a smart, black, shortsleeve coat fastened up to the neck with brass buttons

Katherine, 36, dressed in an open black cardigan with a leather trim and she wore her raven locks messily tied up.

Completing the quartet, Dan, 39, rocked a flat cap and a well-groomed beard. He put on a dapper display in a dark suit but forwent a tie.

The full trailer for the film was recently unveiled and it promises to mesmerise fans with its display of continued magic and mysticism.

Coordinated: Katherine, 36, dressed in an open black cardigan with a leather trim and she wore her raven locks messily tied up

Rugged: Completing the quartet, Dan, 39, rocked a flat cap and a well-groomed beard. He put on a dapper display in a dark suit but forwent a tie

Redmayne stars as Newt Scamander, a magizoologist who wreaks havoc on 1920s New York City when he releases a case full of his magical creatures.

The American wizarding authorities subsequently pursue the Brit as his collection of dangerous creatures and their habitats roam the metropolis.

His error drives a deeper wedge between the city's magical and non-magical communities as Newt races to correct his error.
He may have left The Bachelorette on Wednesday night's episode but it was clear that while Rhys Chilton was gone, he was not forgotten.

Fans flocked to Twitter on Thursday lamenting the bachelor's exit from the show before the group date which involved love letter writing.

The former contestant and part-time poet was the subject of many tweets and memes as the episode aired, showing Courtney opting for a rhyming poem for Georgia Love instead of a heart-felt letter.

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A lasting memory: The Bachelorette fans remembered former contestant Rhys (seen) and his love of poems on Thursday when the current contestants battled it out in a love letter competition

In one humorous post, one fan wrote the model and entrepreneur would be 'spewing' he missed out on the competition.

'Rhys is going to be spewing when he finds out he missed this poetry opportunity,' they wrote.

Another remarked: 'Where is Rhys!!! Left one night early! Lol.'

Cheeky! In one humorous post, one fan wrote that the model and entrepreneur would be 'spewing' that he missed out on the competition

Humorous: GIFS were also shared including one of Mean Girls character Regina George in a neck brace rolling her eyes, with one saying: 'Rhys must be like this right now'

Another GIF: One was of Kylie Jenner crying and wiping her eyes, with one person writing underneath that Rhys' note 'would have been gold'

A range of GIFs were also shared, including one of Mean Girls character Regina George in a neck brace rolling her eyes, with the caption: 'Rhys must be like this right now.'

Another GIF was of Kylie Jenner crying and wiping her eyes, with one person writing underneath that Rhys' note 'would have been gold.'

Contestants Lee, Courtney, Cameron and Jake were on a group date and had to write a love letter for Georgia on Thursday's show.

They eventually had to read out each other's notes to the former journalist and she had to chose one person to disqualify from the date, before heading to another round with the remaining boys.

Ready to pour your heart out? Contestants Lee, (front left), Courtney, (right), Cameron (Back right) and Jake (back left) were on a group date and had to write a love letter for Georgia on Thursday's show

Courtney's poem didn't move Georgia and he failed to make it through.

He said he had 'writer's block' and struggled to put what he felt on paper.

Rhys meanwhile was known for his love of poems on the show.

Last week, he debuted a new work to a less than impressed Georgia.

'I actually wasn't going to read this to you,' he began, unconvincingly, before clearing his throat.

Another one! Last week, he debuted a new work to a less than impressed Georgia

'"It's been a bit tricky being poetic and witty, I've had to teach the boys how to rhyme."

'"Such an empty week since last we did speak, how I've wished for more quality time,"' part of it read.

Back at the cocktail party, Rhys' arch-rival Samuel Johnston quickly realised what was going on.

'Oh, my God! It's another poem. More poems, boys!' he said excitedly.

On Wednesday's show, he decided to leave after being on a date with Sam and Georgia, with one of the boys set to be kicked off by Georgia afterwards.

Not having it: On Wednesday's show, he decided to leave after being on a date with Sam (L) and Georgia, with one of the boys set to be kicked off by Georgia afterwards

'If this was the outside world, I would have walked away,' Rhys told Georgia.

'I'm not ready to meet "The One",' he also admitted as they talked in Luna Park.

Noticing her shock, he tried to explain himself further, explaining: 'I never plan, but I'm open to anything that comes along.'

At the end, he and Georgia hugged.

Meanwhile in another shock twist, Sam also left when he revealed he thought going on the show would boost his modelling and acting ambitions.
He recently confessed he was to blame for the failure of his first wedding to Torrei Hart.

But Kevin Hart's stunning second wife Eniko Parrish clearly seemed content in marital bliss as she accompanied him to a special screening of Kevin Hart: What Now? in New York on Wednesday.

The comedy actor, 37, looked dapper in a super stylish suit as his missus, 32, who he wed in August, radiated in a sexy white and black lace number.

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In love: Kevin Hart's stunning second wife Eniko Parrish clearly seemed content in marital bliss as she accompanied him to a special screening of Kevin Hart: What Now? in New York on Wednesday

Obviously the star attraction for the documentary which sees him performing stand-up, Kevin looked handsome in the suit which boasted white detailing on the seams.

Skimming his frame, he completed the A-list look with shiny silver shoes, spectacles, silver rings and a watch.

Eniko stole the spotlight in her sleeveless, figure-hugging dress which lined her model curves and fell at a stylish midi level.

She towered over Kevin's 5 ft 2 in frame in her caged heels.

Hart to heart: The comedy actor, 37, looked dapper in a super stylish suit as his missus, 32, who he wed in August, radiated in a sexy white and black lace number

Stylish: Obviously the star attraction for the documentary which sees him performing stand-up, Kevin looked handsome as ever at the event

Her glossy raven tresses were parted down the middle and immaculately framed her face.

The genetically gifted couple tied the knot in August in a star-studded ceremony in the community of Montecito, California.

And despite being content with his marriage now, Kevin confirmed it was a different story with his first wife, Torrei.



'I got married at the age of 22. I was still all over the place,' the star told talk show host Chelsea Handler on her Netflix show, Chelsea, which aired earlier this week.

'I didn't really understand the definition of marriage. I wasn't ready for it, so I take responsibility. I can say I messed my first marriage up. I'm man enough to say that.'

Details: He completed the A-list look with shiny silver specs, silver rings and a watch.

Star appeal: Kevin was in great spirits as he was joined by a legion of fans for the special screening

Manning up: Kevin admitted he was to blame for the failure of his first marriage to Torrei Hart in a chat with Chelsea Handler on her Netflix show, Chelsea , which aired earlier this week

Ever the funnyman, he couldn't resist joking: 'At the same time, that was when I was in the prime of my sexy, so don't blame me. That's when I was figuring it out.'

However he and Torrie, 38, who split in 2011 after eight years together are firm friends who co-parent their two children, daughter Heaven, 11, and son Hendrix, eight.

'I will say that me and my ex-wife, regardless of the problems we went through, are in an amazing place now where we're friends, we're great parents,' the Central Intelligence star explained.

Before the split: Kevin and Torrei Hart at an event in 2004. He said they are still good friends who co-parent their two children, daughter Heaven, 11, and son Hendrix, eight

Kevin also admitted that it was a long time before he felt ready to marry again.

'To make this big step, it took me some time,' he told Chelsea of Eniko. 'It took seven years. And then I was like, "You know what? She deserves it," because I can't keep just letting this walk around free,' he joked gesturing to his body.

'That's not fair to her. I got to lock this up.'

As well as his love life, things have been going brilliantly for Kevin on the career front and he was honoured with a coveted star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame earlier this month with Eniko, Heaven and Hendrix watching on.

Big day: Kevin was honoured with a coveted star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame earlier this month with Eniko, Heaven and Hendrix watching on




Ben Mingay toasted the middle of the week with a glass of white wine alongside Wonderland co-star Tim Ross at the launch of Australia's edition of Robb Report.

The Australian television drama stars appeared all smiles as they held glasses of wine in what appeared to be a sauna room at a property in Sydney's Surry Hills.

Ben wore a dark navy blazer with a pocket square and paired the outfit with a crisp white shirt as he posed beside Tim.

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Celebration: Ben Mingay (R) toasted the middle of the week alongside Wonderland star co-star Tim Ross (L) at the launch of Australia's edition of Robb Report in Sydney on Thursday night

The former Packed To The Rafters star wore brown pants and appeared in happy spirits as he made the toast.

Tim opted for a black suit and no tie combination pairing the outfit with a dark brown laced shoe.

He too toasted Ben back as the pair posed in a blue and white tiled room.

All smiles: The Australian television drama stars appeared all smiles as they held glasses of wine in what appeared to be a sauna room

Tia Provost joined the launch and cut an elegant figure in a plunging duty pink dress.

The busty brunette put on a leggy display as she revealed her trim pins through a slit in the flowing dress.

She paired the outfit with beige heels and appeared to be without any accessories for the event.

Looking good: The busty brunette put on a leggy display as she revealed one leg through a slit in the flowing dress

Tia wore a nude lip and lashings of mascara, keeping her chocolate brown locks out and parted to one side.

The body positive plus size model was also posed in the multi-tiled room.

The U.S. lifestyle and luxury magazine was launched in Australia on Thursday to coincide with the publications 40th anniversary.

Natural beauty: Tia wore a nude lip and lashings of mascara, keeping her chocolate brown locks out and parted to one side

Speaking with Mumbrella in July editor Michael Stahl said: 'The magazine is more about telling the stories behind things  the craftsmanship, the history.

'It covers automotive, which has been my experience, watches and fashion, travel, private aviations and boats.
She's the former Australia's Next Top Model winner who spent three years as an ambassador for David Jones.

But after being dumped by the department store earlier this year, Montana Cox says her career is busier than ever and is happy with the way things are.

Speaking to The Daily Telegraph in an interview published on Friday, the 23-year-old admitted: '[I] have been working every day this week shooting some really cool things. It is always good to be in demand.'

'There is life after David Jones': Montana Cox has revealed she's busier than ever just months after being dropped as an ambassador for David Jones

'There is life after David Jones. Life keeps on going,' she added defiantly.

Chatting to the publication ahead of the Harper's Bazaar Australia's Bazaar in Bloom event on Thursday night, raising funds for the Royal Hospital For Women, the model spoke about her future plans for a family.

After stating she does want babies one day, Montana then clarified it was still some time down the track.

'I am only 23 so hopefully I have a little more modelling to do before I get a big belly.'

But like her other famous friends - Nicole Trunfio, Megan Gale and Lara Worthington - she plans to keep modelling after having children.

Finishing up: In July David Jones announced they would not be renewing Montana's contract, after three years with the department store

'It is all about the come back body': While admitting she doesn't have a plan in place, the 23-year-old confesses kids and modelling after having babies is definitely on the cards

'I dont really have a plan in place, but these days people model after they have the baby and it is all about the come back body,' she noted.

In July David Jones announced they would not be renewing Montana's contract, after three years with the department store.

However, this didn't seem to upset the brunette beauty, who told The Daily Telegraph: 'I'm really excited. it's been great working with David Jones but I'm ready for new challenges'.

Focusing on reinvigorating her international modelling career, the 23-year-old saw it as an opportunity.

'I haven't done it (the international modelling circuit) for a couple of seasons because it has been hard to fit in, but I'll be able to give it my all now.'

The brunette beauty took to the runway for the final time as an ambassador in August.
Colin Farrell says his seven-year-old son Henry has been taking an interest in the presidential election and he's not a fan of Donald Trump.

'He just wants to know why everyone is being so mean to each other,' the 40-year-old actor said during an appearance Thursday on The Ellen DeGeneres Show.

The Irish hunk - wearing Cult of Individuality jeans - explained that Henry wasn't very keen on Trump to begin with 'because of his hair maybe.'

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Politics lesson: Colin Farrell told Ellen DeGeneres how his son Henry, seven, doesn't like Donald Trump because 'he just keeps grabbing those kittens' in reference to groping scandal

But like any father, he has a hard time explaining what's going on with the groping claims leveled against Republican nominee Donald Trump.

So he's come up with a novel approach.

'And now he can't stand Trump because I've had to explain to him why Trump keeps on being mean to kittens,' he told Ellen.

'He just keeps grabbing those kittens!'

Cool dad: The Irish actor, 40, came up with the novel approach to try and explain to his youngster what was going on int he presidential election, which Henry has taken an interest in

Out of the mouths of babes: Farrell told Ellen that his son wants to know 'why everyone is being so mean to each other' in the run-up to the November 8 election

Henry, whose mom is Farrell's Ondine co-star, Polish actress Alicja Bachleda-Curus, is the youngest of the actor's two children.

He also shares son James, 13, with Kim Bordenave.

Farrell was on the daytime chat show to promote his new movie Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them.

Wearing well: Farrell wore faded Cult of Individuality denims and a black sweater over a white t-shirt for his appearance on the daytime chat show Thursday and sported a goatee

Chemistry: The two appeared to be good friends, sharing jokes about giving up caffeine and smoking

The film is about Newt Scamander, played by Eddie Redmayne, and his adventures in New York's secret community of witches and wizards seventy years before Harry Potter reads his book in school.

Written by Harry Potter creator J.K. Rowling, and directed by David Yates who made four of the beloved Harry Potter movies, Farrell plays Percival Graves, a wizard and head of magical security in the 1920s.

The movie which also stars Ezra Miller, Zoe Kravitz and Ron Perlman hits theatres on November 18.
Uma Thurman and her ex fiance Arpad Busson are headed to court again in their ongoing custody battle.

Mr Busson has demanded more visitation with the couples three-year-old daughter, less than a year after they reached an initial settlement over the custody of their child.

Busson filed a motion for temporary visitation rights on August 31. He first filed a custody lawsuit against Thurman in New York in 2014.

The former couple are set to face off in Manhattan Supreme Court by December, according to Page Six.

The custody batlle continues: Uma Thurman and her ex fiance Arpad Busson are headed to court again in their ongoing custody battle

A rep for Uma Thurman has been contacted by DailyMail.com for comment.

Busson - a London-based French multimillionaire - has had a rocky relationship with Thurman since they first started dating in 2007.

The investor and actress were originally set to be married in 2009, but the wedding was called off, and Thurman returned her eight-carat diamond ring.

In 2011, the couple reconciled and shortly thereafter Thurman became pregnant with their daughter, Luna Thurman-Busson, who she gave birth to in 2012.

Thurman and Busson then were set to get married again, but Thurman called off the engagement and the couple again parted ways.

Shortly following their breakup, Busson slapped Thurman with a lawsuit demanding more custody of their daughter. He also demanded the power to make important life decisions for their daughter.

Thurmans representative released a statement after the lawsuit was filed: It is unfortunate that this very private discussion regarding Mr. Busson's visitation rights and his participation in decision making has been made public.

Busson - a London-based French multimillionaire - has had a rocky relationship with Thurman since the couple (pictured together in 2007) first started dating in 2007

In 2015, Thurman, who often posts loving photos with her daughter on Instagram (above), and Busson signed a three-year plan on how they agreed to co-parent their daughter

However, we are optimistic that a fair agreement for both sides will be reached out of court.

In September 2015, the couple finally reached a settlement, and the judge praised them for putting aside their issues aside for the benefit of their daughter.

At the time, the judge was quoted saying both parties had compromised very little to reach the settlement.

The terms of the deal, however, were sealed from the public and the terms remain confidential.

It was reported at the time that Thurman and Busson signed a three-year plan on how they agreed to co-parent their daughter.

But after Busson headed back to court on August 31, it appears that he wants more custody.

After being engaged twice and splitting after Thurman gave birth to their daughter, the couple (pictured together in 2009) went to court to battle for custody of their young daughter

He filed a Pendente Lite Visitation, which is usually only filed during an on-going battle, with one person seeking to have the judge award temporary visitation until the outcome of the case.

Once the final order on custody and support is issued by the judge, the temporary decision is voided.

It is unclear why he filed for temporary visitation rights if the couple reached a settlement last year.

Thurman, who also has two teenage children with ex-husband Ethan Hawke, has yet to respond to Bussons motion for visitation, but a hearing is set for September 29 in New York Supreme Court.
Billy Bush and his handlers have indicated that he is going down swinging as his lawyer suggested that he is ready to litigate against NBC if they can't reach a deal.

Marshall Grossman's comments come amid claims executives at rival network ABC are courting the 44-year-old to star in next year's Dancing With The Stars.

Grossman, a well-respected attorney in LA who represented Erin Andrews in her stalker case, has joined Bush's team and defended his client's role in the tape.

'If Billy had been passive or responded "Shut the f*** up" to Trump, Billy would have been out of a job the next day,' he told The Hollywood Reporter.

Wanted! ABC's Dancing With The Stars is rumored to be courting beleaguered Today host Billy Bush for the 2017 season of the hit reality series

While he's been removed from NBC's Today show in the wake of the scandal, PageSix.com reports that ABC wants him to head up the 2017 season of their hit reality show.

'It comes in March. That's far enough away,' a source said.

'Everybody goes on to do the apology tour,' the source added. 'It's also a way for ABC to establish a relationship with him.'

DWTS is certainly the way Olympic swimmer Ryan Lochte has taken following his Rio robbery scandal.

Ruffled feathers: Bush was slammed by co-anchor Al Roker for his soft interview of Olympic gold medalist Ryan Lochte after he claimed he'd been robbed at gunpoint in Rio in August

Bush's game plan? The disgraced swimmer has been rehabilitating his image as a conteast on DWTS and has so far survived five weeks on the show with dance pro partner Cheryl Burke

The gold medalist has survived five weeks on the series that pairs celebrities with professional dancers, with the last couple standing rewarded with the Mirror Ball trophy.

And ironically, it was Bush's soft handling of Lochte in a Today show interview at the Rio Olympics after he claimed to have been robbed at gunpoint earned him a tongue-lashing from Al Roker.

Matt Lauer then conducted a tougher follow-up interview with the champion swimmer.

Bush is reportedly looking to hire a PR crisis manager to help rehabilitate his image in the wake of the Trump scandal.
Filmmakers have kept fans guessing over the plot for Transformers: The Last Knight.

And after the producers came under fire for shooting Nazi-themed scenes at Blenheim Palace this month, Director Michael Bay threw another curveball at confused fans as the cast were seen working on what appeared to be a medieval set in Surrey on Wednesday.

Filming what appeared to be a battle scene, actors were seen dressed as knights as they stormed down the countryside on horseback.

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Keeping them guessing: Director Michael Bay threw another curveball at fans as the cast were scene working on Transformers: The Last Knight in a medieval set in Surrey on Wednesday

Charging down the hillside, the actors threw themselves into character for the for the fifth Transformers movie - which is slated for release on June 23, 2017.

Whilst the plot of the film has been kept under wraps, it is believed to follow Optimus Prime's attempts to find a new team to help save the world from extinction.

As some fans had expected the film to take place during World War II, the medieval scenes will no doubt come as a confusion.

Trot to it! Filming what appeared to be a battle scene, actors were seen dressed as knights as they stormed down the countryside on horseback

Giddy up! Charging down the hillside, the actors threw themselves into character for the for the fifth Transformers movie - which is slated for release on June 23, 2017

Confused? Whilst the plot of the film has been kept under wraps, it is believed to follow Optimus Prime's attempts to find a new team to help save the world from extinction

Transformers: The Last Knight will also see the return of star Mark Wahlberg as Cade Yeager, Josh Duhamel as Lieutenant Colonel Lennox, Tyrese Gibson as Robert Epps and Stanley Tucci as Joshua Joyce.

Filming for the big money blockbuster has seen the crew travel all over the world, with principal photography beginning in Cuba before taking place in the likes of Phoenix, Detroit, London, Iceland and Scotland.

But it was their work in Oxfordshire which caused the biggest stir after producers decked out Blenheim Palace - Winston Churchill's birthplace - in Nazi flags.

Back in time? The scenes will come as a surprise to fans as some had expected the film to take place during World War II after the cast were seen filming decked in Nazi-themed outfits

No expense spared: The big budget movie will feature many of the explosions and shock scenes synonymous with the film franchise

If you go down to the woods today: The cast were seen filming around the Surrey countryside

There will be blood: The scenes seemed particularly violent

Only the strongest survive: The cast were seen running along the woods

Casting an eye: Michael Bay watched on as the crew got to work

Taking direction: The cast and crew huddled together between filming scenes

The 2,000-acre estate was overrun with extras wearing SS uniform during filming of a Second World War scene as part of the hugely successful Transformers series.

Critics described the decision to hire out the property as 'highly insensitive' and said the wartime leader would have been appalled.

Residents were also unimpressed with the scenes, with people living near the estate at Woodstock complaining about loud noise as explosions and fake gunshots were heard from the set during filming.

While members of the public were still allowed to roam the grounds during the day, props and equipment bearing swastikas were put up at night.
She's joined by a star-studded cast for her latest role in Their Finest.

But Gemma Arterton ensured all eyes would be on her as she walked the red carpet for the movie premiere at the BFI London Film Festival on Thursday.

Clad in a glittering jumpsuit, the 30-year-old actress was a vision of beauty as she stepped out for the event, which coincided with The Mayor of London's gala.

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Leading lady: Gemma Arterton ensured all eyes would be on her as she walked the red carpet for the Their Finest premiere at the BFI London Film Festival on Thursday

Shimmering under the bright lights, Gemma turned heads as she paraded her lithe figure in the colourful all-in-one.

Featuring a V-neckline, the sequinned jumpsuit bore batwing sleeves that flattered her incredible shape whilst remaining demure.

Nipping in at her tiny waist, the garment also featured a glimmering belt that further highlighted her hourglass frame.

English rose: Clad in a glittering jumpsuit, the 30-year-old actress was a vision of beauty as she stepped out for the event, which coincided with The Mayor of London's gala

Stunning in sequins: Shimmering under the bright lights, Gemma turned heads as she paraded her lithe figure in the colourful jumpsuit that flattered her shape whilst remaining demure

With the trousers cullotte in design, she flashed a hint of her shapely pins, which were elongated with a pair of gold strappy heels.

Ensuring her jumpsuit would remain the focus of her ensemble, Gemma opted for a neutral make-up palette that flattered her flawless features, whilst her face was framed with a sweeping side fringe.

Keeping her accessories simple, she finished off the look with a pair of delicate silver earrings that injected some added glamour to her ensemble.

Brunette beauty: Ensuring her jumpsuit would remain the focus of her ensemble, Gemma opted for a neutral make-up palette that flattered her flawless features

Leggy lady! With the trousers cullotte in design, she flashed a hint of her shapely pins, which were elongated with a pair of gold strappy heels

Hair she is! Gemma wore her chestnut coloured locks in a chic low ponytail

Best foot forward: Gemma strode with purpose down the red carpet

Amazing from all angles: Gemma dazzled in her colourful ensemble as she posed up a storm

Working her angles: The cameras loved Gemma as she made her way inside

Friendly: Gemma had time for fans as she stopped to sign autographs on the red carpet

Stunning: Gemma was a vision of beauty as she headed inside to watch the film

Glam: All eyes were on Gemma as she posed for the cameras

Gemma was joined on the red carpet by her co-stars, Bill Nighy and Sam Claflin.

Sam was accompanied by his radiant wife Laura Haddock - who welcomed their first child in December 2015.

Showing off her incredible post-baby figure, the Guardians of the Galaxy actress donned a floor length white gown with a plunging neckline.

Cute couple: Gemma was joined on the red carpet by her co-star, Sam Claflin, who was accompanied by his radiant wife Laura Haddock - who welcomed their first child in December

Bit of all white! Showing off her incredible post-baby figure, the Guardians of the Galaxy actress donned a floor length white gown with a plunging neckline

Loved-up: The pair couldn't keep their hands off each other as they cuddled up on the carpet

All smiles: The cute couple beamed as they posed for snaps at the premiere

Picture perfect: The photogenic couple were right at home on the red carpet

Dazzling: The pair were radiant as they lit up the red carpet with their smiles

Laura was no doubt excited to see her man in action in Their Finest - a British romance-comedy directed by Lone Scherfig, who is also responsible for An Education and One Day.

Set during World War I, the film follows a group of inspiring filmmakers who try to make a patriotic film that will boost morale of the British army during The Blitz.

Joining Sam and Bill in the film is the likes of Rachael Stirling, Jack Huston and Jake Lacy, whilst Gemma plays lead character Catrin Cole.

Peace out: Bill Nighy was also in attendance and couldn't resist posing for the cameras

Suited and booted: The Golden Globe winning actor looked dapper in a fitted navy suit

Beautiful in black: Rachael Stirling wowed in a figure-hugging little black dress with an asymmetric fringed hemline in a grey ombre design

Perfect pair: Rachael was joined by her husband Guy Garvey who looked dapper in a black suit

The look of love: The pair seemed in great spirits as they cuddled up together

Can't take my eyes off of you: Guy looked completely smitten with his beautiful wife

Quirky: Geoffrey Rush dressed appropriately for the weather in a chunky jumper and scarf

Lacy lady: Stephanie Hyam flashed the flesh in a little black dress with sheer lace panels

Having just finished her run as the bawdy Nell Gwyn on the West End, the determined film-maker role is undoubtedly a welcome change for Gemma, who recently revealed that she wishes to play a wide variety of strong female roles across her career.

She told The Telegraph: 'There are great stories that havent been told.

'Id love to do a film about [silent film actress] Mary Pickford, or the first ever female barrister. And not just historical characters, but also stuff thats more kind of female-centric.'

Chirpy: Gemma and Sam seemed pleased to be reunited on the red carpet

Playful pals: Sam wrapped an arm around Gemma as they beamed broadly for the cameras

Posing up a storm: The pair were in great spirits on the evening

Having a laugh: Gemma and Sam shared a joke with Guy and Rachael

Fantastic four: The team seemed in great spirits on the night
His September performance of Go 4 It with his band Corey's Angels went viral, leading to a Twitter storm, memes, and a barrage of criticism.

Despite the hate, Corey Feldman was ready for another go on Thursday as he appeared on the Today show to perform new song, Take a Stand.

The 45-year-old discussed the group's harsh criticism following their first performance, asserting: 'We can't be afraid to share our art.'

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Can't keep him down! Corey Feldman returned to the Today show on Thursday for another performance from album Angelic 2 the Core, despite the harsh criticism from his first appearance, which went viral

Unforgettable: Co-host Tamron Hall revealed that Corey's September 16 performance (pictured) was now the most-watched Today.com video of the year

He explained to Tamron Hall that though he was hurt by all of the hate, he received a bit of advice from friend and investor Brian McMullen that helped him to see the bright side.

Corey said that Brian had pointed out that successful acts such as KISS, Eminem, and Nirvana all received hate and were mocked when they first started.

'It didn't make sense to them at that time,' Corey explained of the audience reaction, noting: 'But those all became amazing legends.'

He's golden! Corey dressed in a flashy, gold jacket for the appearance, asserting to Tamron ahead of the performance: 'I'm not letting the bullies get to us'

The Stand By Me star revealed that that advice 'turned it all around' for him, as he realized that a reason for the hate was that 'we're doing something new that hasn't been done before.'

'But it's all about innovation and being an artist,' the star shared. 'I'm not letting the bullies get to us.'

The former child actor also noted that amid all of the hate, he had received support following his last performance from Pink, Kesha, Stand by Me co-star Jerry O'Connell, and Paris Jackson, daughter of the late King of Pop, Michael Jackson.

Misunderstood: The former child actor explained that the reason he had gotten so much hate was because 'we're doing something new that hasn't been done before'

Patriotic: Corey, who was later seen waving a small American flag as he performed, told Tamron that song Take a Stand was 'for America'

Corey introduced a new song from his Angelic 2 the Core album for this performance, Take a Stand, revealing that it is 'for America.'

'We are at a time right now where the world needs to focus really on peace and love and tolerance, especially with all the bullying,' he explained.

The 80s star wore a shiny, gold jacket for the performance, accessorizing with a white hood with gold embellishments by Alan Joseph Designs, which he later removed to whip around his long, brown hair while dancing.

Hitting back: As Corey presented his new song, he explained: 'We are at a time right now where the world needs to focus really on peace and love and tolerance, especially with all the bullying'

He teamed them with white trousers, coordinating with his 'Angels,' who all wore white mini dresses with halo and wing accessories.

The day before his follow-up performance, Today shared a response that Corey had written for all of the critics of his September 16 appearance.

'As an artist, if I fail and make mistakes, that's when my critics have a field day. However, the most painful part is when you get it all right, and remember all the parts, yet you open your computer, and read comments that would tear a hole through any commoners' hearts,' he wrote.

Moving forward: The harsh reaction to Corey's first performance had the star sobbing in a since-deleted Facebook Live video

'My hope is you will see me, hear and feel me, and one day understand, that underneath the art, I'm simply a man,' Corey concluded.

The appearance came almost a month after a widely mocked performance of single Go 4 It, which debuted on the Today show on September 16 - and which Tamron revealed as the year's most-watched Today.com video.

Co-hosts Tamron, Billy Bush, and Al Roker had commented on the performance a few days later, showing disgust at the critical responses, which called Corey a 'freak' and a 'weirdo,' among other things.

In the spotlight: Corey had originally risen to fame as the star of Eighties films such as Stand By Me (pictured third from the left, alongside: Wil Wheaton, Jerry O'Connell, and River Phoenix)

Billy later invited Corey back for an encore, after agreeing with Tamron that he should ignore the hate.

At the time, Corey had revealed in a since-deleted Facebook Live post that he couldn't get out of bed because of all of the vitriol surrounding the performance.
Nature's Weirdest Events

Rating:

Britain's Secrets With Anne Robinson

Rating:

Waving his hands wildly, his lisp accentuated by his excitement, Chris Packham was in full Magnus Pyke mode.

Chris started in the Eighties as the young punk of wildlife TV but, as he ages, he is growing into his real persona  like the much-missed Dr Pyke, hes a white-haired mad scientist at heart.

He took a febrile delight in explaining the oddities in Natures Weirdest Events (BBC2), as he stalked his gloomy laboratory waving a torch like a light sabre. The stories didnt really need these visual effects: they were quite bizarre enough on their own . . . such as the Norwegian mining town where strange lights danced like UFOs in the sky every night.

Researchers from the University of Greifswald Caroline Michael, exlapined some of the weird wonders of nature in the BBC 2 offering

One hillside was rich in copper, the other in zinc, with a sulphurous river of acid running between them. The whole valley acted as a gigantic car battery. How odd!

And the animals he introduced seemed to defy all sense and reason. There were sharks that glowed in the dark like cheap toys from a cracker, Australian lorikeet parrots that lay on the ground and hiccupped, and caterpillars that built towering hats, fit for Royal Ascot, out of their own discarded heads when they shed their skin.

Strangest of all, though, was the marine biologist studying neon sea insects. His name? Dr Haddock . . .

This series often feels like a show you might stumble upon while flicking through the high numbers on the set-top box, on a channel called something like National Geographic Discovery Wild USA Plus One. Its a magazine compilation of unrelated segments, with links supplied by eerie noises on the soundtrack and clips of flickering celluloid.

But it is rescued from its formulaic format, partly by the infectious glee of the presenter and partly by the high quality of the filming.

THE FIRING OF THE NIGHT: Demented Jessica was spared the chop, on The Apprentice (BBC1). So was obnoxious, bullying Karthik. Instead, some nonentity we had barely seen was shown the door. Its almost as if Alan Sugar wants to torment viewers by nurturing his most imbecilic candidates. Advertisement

This is no collection of YouTube uploads. Some of the footage was quite magical, especially of the ocean-going swarms of translucent blue woodlice called sea sapphires, and the burnished waterfall in Yosemite National Park, California, which for a few minutes every year refracts the sunset and glows like a cascade of molten lava.

Beside these natural beauties, human beings can seem unlovely creatures  such as the colossus from Evergreen Park, Illinois, who is able to fix tin cans and plastic bottles to his bare skin, using suction and the stickiness of his own sweat.

He was the proud holder of a Guinness world record, but what he really looked in need of was a shower.

One of natures weirdest tricks is the way dogs grow like their owners. A spaniel called Ellie supplied surprising proof, on Britains Secrets With Anne Robinson (BBC1)  like the presenter, she has a floppy blonde fringe and bobbed ears, but a grizzled, grey muzzle.

Anne Robinson in the saddle showing her softer side in her BBC 1 series, even frolicking with a cuddly spaniel

Perhaps youd never quite thought of Ice Queen Anne as a cuddly spaniel. But Ellie is a breed known as a working cocker, which somehow sounds more appropriate.

It was obvious that Anne loved Ellie to bits. Thats a softer side to her that we dont usually see on telly. But for the rest of the show, investigating the British obsession with our pets, she was the unbridled Mistress of Mean.

What is the point of cats? she demanded, with a dismissive sneer at a playful kitten.

Robinson still maintained some of her Ice Queen persona, which she cruelly inflicted open an innocent lover of bunnies

The animal, a black-and-white fluffball, batted coyly at a feather on a string. Is that it? Anne choked. Her exaggerated cruelty was fun when she was puncturing egos on her quiz game, The Weakest Link. And her hard carapace is invaluable for the consumer journalism of Watchdog.

But it was unkind to taunt and mock these people, when their only crime was to love their pets.

Anne was at her worst with a woman whose home is a rabbit warren for 11 spoiled bunnies, and who adores them so much she has her favourites tattooed over her body, like a walking copy of Watership Down.
The day before armed men are said to have engaged in a real-life shootout near the set of Jennifer Lopez's cop drama Shades Of Blue.

But the 47-year-old actress was back on set on Thursday as she posted an Instagram selfie from her dressing room with the caption: 'Back at it!! #setlife #workflow #letsgetit'.

The cast and crew were unharmed in the gunfire and NYPD are reported to have swiftly responded taking control of the situation in Brooklyn on Wednesday, according to Deadline.

Nothing can stop J-Lo! Jennifer Lopez posted a selfie to Instagram with the caption 'Back at it!! #setlife #workflow #letsgetit' on Thursday one day after an alleged gunfight broke out near the Brooklyn set of her TV show Shades Of Blue

Lopez was said to have left for the day before the alleged gunfire erupted.

However, Deadline spoke to NYPD Lt. Thomas Antonetti who said they had no confirmed reports of a shooting or any record of a 911 call.

Actress Kathryn Kates, who was guest starring on an episode, was on set and spoke to the publication.

Kates says she had a late call time on set: 'I arrived late in the day around 4:30 and there were police cars when I arrived  and I was told there had been gunshots...'

In character: The 47-year-old pictured on set the same day of the alleged shooting; however the actress is said to have left for the day before the chaotic gunfire broke loose

Filming: Fiction was invaded by reality it appears on Wednesday as the cop show was apparently overrun by real life criminals who are reported to have engaged in a gun battle nearby

Kates said there was a separate disturbance hours later while she was in her trailer blocks from the set with Tracey from the wardrobe department.

'We heard a commotion outside, then banging on my door and female voices pleading to let them in,' Kates continued.

'Tracey opened the door and quickly locked it  the 2 PAs rushed in saying they were being threatened and, had she not locked the door, whomever was outside would have gotten in,' the actress added.

The show completed a full day of filming and security was looking into the incident at Kates's trailer.

Actress Kathryn Kates is guest starring on an episode and was on the set after the gunfire

In the show Lopez, 47, plays NYPD detective Harlee Santos forced to work for the FBI's anti-corruption task force.

The show costars Ray Liotta, who plays her mentor and father figure Lt. Wozniak.

Shades Of Blue certainly shows some grey areas as Lopez's character is not exactly squeaky clean.
Writers form the series have said the higher-ups may now regret decision

Bosses turned down the chance as they

It has taken over from Poldark as the nation's favourite Sunday night drama.

But the makers of Victoria had their offer of a Christmas special rejected by ITV over concerns the series would not be popular enough, it has emerged.

Daisy Goodwin, 54, writer of the hit series, said that ITV bosses had misjudged the popularity of the show and were now regretting their decision.

Speaking in London Daisy Goodwin, 54, writer of the hit series about queen Victoria, played by Jenna Coleman, pictured, has said: ' I bet they are wishing they had one now'

Speaking at the Science Museum, in central London, she said: 'We did offer them one for this year but they went, 'Umm' I don't think they knew how big the show was going to become.

'I wish we had one this year. I bet they are wishing they had one now but we will have one for next year.'

Miss Goodwin recently confirmed that ITV had commissioned a Victoria Christmas special in 2017. It followed news last month that a second series of the drama will be aired next year.

Miss Goodwin also revealed that members of the royal family were big fans of the series in which Jenna Coleman portrays Queen Victoria in the early years of her reign.

'I know someone who is a very old friend of the Queen's and I was told that the royal family is enjoying it hugely,' she said.

ITV's period drama has proved to be a hit, surmounting the lead in Sunday night ratings onece held by BBC rival Poldark

'Whether that means the Queen is enjoying it, I don't know, but I know that other people in her circles are enjoying it.'

The second series of BBC2's Cornish mining drama Poldark has been locked in a fierce ratings war with Victoria since the show began on ITV in August.

On Sunday, the series finale of the royal saga pulled in 5.5million viewers, comfortably beating its BBC rival which attracted just 4.9m.

In Victoria, Miss Coleman stars alongside Tom Hughes who plays a young Prince Albert.

, Miss Coleman stars alongside Tom Hughes who plays a young Prince Albert. The pair are understood to have a relationship off-screen, as well as perusing their royal romance

The pair are understood to be in a relationship off-screen having started dating before filming for Victoria began last year.

Asked about the stars' romance, Miss Goodwin said: 'You know they have been really good friends for a long time and it makes it easier for them to work together, and thank god they get on as you know they have terrific chemistry.
Naomie Harris was scared. She had accepted the role of Paula, a crack addict, in a film called Moonlight. But reading the script, she began to worry about her suitability for the part.

Im teetotal! I dont drink alcohol; I dont smoke; I dont even drink coffee! she exclaims.

I was like: How am I going to find a crack addict within me? 

The idea alarmed her, but she was excited, too, because the role of this desperate woman, raising her son in a down-and-out district of Florida, was out of her comfort zone, and she knew it would challenge her.

Naomie Harris at The Premiere of 'Moonlight' at Embankment Gardens. As a teetotaller, she had to study hard to play an addict

She also liked the fact that the film, written and directed by Barry Jenkins and based on a play by Tarell McCraney, a one-time RSC international playwright in residence, was not suggesting that all black people are drug addicts without hope of redemption.

Harris told me she realised after doing some research  and much to her surprise  that shes not all that different from Paula.

I must have looked surprised, too, because she laughed: There I was, thinking  and judging. Shes an addict. But what I really learned, from watching videos about crack addiction and addicts on You Tube, is that Im an addict, too. Were all addicts in some way.

Addiction is really about having a pain you cant deal with; and using drugs  or whatever it is  to numb it. We all have our own sources of pain and emotional trauma and we just use different things to take care of it.

Some of us wake in the middle of the night and eat Haagen-Dazs ice cream, she says.

Not her, of course. Her thing is work. I overwork, for sure. To compensate for . . . I dont know. I think its just that Im an observer of life and Im far more comfortable observing, rather than being in it. Really, my addiction is film  and I serve it by working.

Her powerful portrait of Paula is among Naomies best work, particularly as Paula ages while her son Chiron grows from schoolboy to young adult.

When I saw the picture for a second time, at the Telluride Film Festival, I was struck by one moment when Paulas body is so riddled with drugs she can barely stagger up the stairs.

Because of visa difficulties, Harris shot all her scenes in three days. The moments she shares with the three actors who play Chiron  Alex R. Hibbert, Ashton Sanders and Trevante Rhodes  are by turns harsh and heartbreaking.

The picture was lauded at Telluride and that good word-of-mouth followed it to the Toronto International Film Festival, and on to the BFI London Film Festival, where it played last weekend to thunderous ovations (it will go on general release here early next year).

Naomie is grateful to the women she watched on YouTube. I saw people smoke crack; and then I watched tutorials on how to smoke it, she said, shaking her head.

I met a woman who was a crack addict, and she described her addiction as a love affair gone wrong: you feel like youre elated and in love and your lover has his claws in you, she said, a shiver running through her as she recalled the conversation.

Moonlight is being hailed by critics as one of the best films of the year; and I think a lot of that is down to the acting  not just by Harris, but across the board  as well as Jenkinss beautiful direction, and the sense that, ultimately, the movie is hopeful.

Its also good to see Harris in a role thats the antithesis of Miss Moneypenny in the Bond films; and very different, too, from the counsellor she plays opposite Will Smith, Helen Mirren, Kate Winslet and Keira Knightley in the upcoming Collateral Beauty, which is due to open at the end of December.

Tom Hollander, above, is in Travesties in Southwark until November 19

Watch out for...

Tom Stoppard, who is in active discussions to transfer the acclaimed revival of his play Travesties from the Menier Chocolate Factory in Southwark into the West End early in 2017.

The hope is that Travesties, directed with flair by Patrick Marber, would then scoot over to Broadway in the autumn  as long as its brilliant leading man Tom Hollander is available to go, too.

Hollander and his great cast mates, Freddie Fox, Peter McDonald, Amy Morgan, Clare Foster, Forbes Masson, Sarah Quist and Tim Wallers can be seen at the Menier until November 19.

Mark Strong, one of the leads in David Hare's The Red Barn

Mark Strong, Hope Davis and Elizabeth Debicki, who are the leads at the National Theatre in David Hares scorching new play The Red Barn, based on Georges Simenons novel La Main. The psychological study has been directed with scintillating style by Robert Icke and its a piece where the design is as show-stopping as the acting.

So step forward Bunny Christie, Paule Constable, Tom Gibbons and Tim Reid, who are responsible, respectively, for sets and costumes, lighting, sound, and video and projection.

The Red Barn is set in the Sixties and imbued with a slight Mad Men sensibility, in that folks knock back tumblers of Scotch for breakfast. The play, which is on at the Lyttelton, wont be shown in cinemas on NT Live, which is a shame, because the run on the South Bank has very few seats left.

Emmet Kirwan and Ian Lloyd Anderson, who bring their freestyle Edinburgh Festival hit Dublin Oldschool to the Nationals Dorfman Theatre for a short run from January 24 until January 31.
She's known for her array of glamorous party frocks.

And Kimberley Garner didn't disappoint as she attended the Quintessentially Foundation's Poker night at the Savoy in London, turning heads in an ankle length plunging silk gown.

Ensuring she was the centre of attention, the 26-year-old former Made In Chelsea star soon changed into an all-white shorts ensemble as she moved onto the Consept store launch.

Scroll down for video

Glam: Kimberley Garner didn't disappoint as she attended the Quintessentially Foundation's Poker night at the Savoy in London, turning heads in a ankle length plunging silk gown

Attending the annual poker event, Kimberley upped the glam factor in a plunging negligee style dress, flaunting a hint of cleavage.

The strappy number hugged her curves perfectly, and she matched it with coordinated delicate sandals.

Protecting herself against the autumnal chill, she carried a faux fur shawl.

Changing outfits: Ensuring she was the centre of attention, the 26-year-old former Made In Chelsea star soon changed into an all-white shorts ensemble as she moved onto the Consept store launch

Vision in white: The strappy number hugged her curves perfectly, and she matched it with coordinated delicate sandals

The strappy number hugged her curves perfectly, and she matched it with coordinated delicate sandals

And keeping her look simple, she wore her blonde hair in its trademark loose style.

Going for a touch of lipgloss and powder, she accentuated her blue peepers with lashings of mascara.

And keeping her accessories understated, the swimwear designer added a few delicate necklaces and bracelets.

Glitz: The strappy number hugged her curves perfectly, and she matched it with coordinated delicate sandals

Blondes have more fun? Keeping her look simple, she wore her blonde hair in their trademark loose style

Simple: Keeping her accessories understated, the swimwear designer added a few delicate necklaces and bracelets

Well that's awkward! Kimberley's ex-boyfriend Diego Bivero-Volpe was also in attendance at the event with glamorous Charlotte Carroll

Winning big? Diego seemed in very high spirits as he tried his luck at the poker table

Dapper dude: Kimberley's Made In Chelsea co-star Jamie Laing was suited and booted in a smart grey suit as he sipped on a glass of champagne

Girls' night out: Rugby player Ben Cohen's ex-wife Abby (L) enjoyed a night out at the event with Louise Cole

Moving onto her next event, the Chelsea native opted for a summery white ensemble.

Donning thigh-skimming white shorts she made the most of her long toned pins.

And ensuring she flashed plenty of skin, Kimberley teamed it with a plunging white waistcoat, wearing nothing underneath.

Moving on: Cheryl's estranged husband, French restaurateur Jean-Bernard Fernandez Versini, attended the charity event amid reports the singer is expecting her first child with Liam Payne

Suited and booted: Ben Elliot, director of Quintessentially, and former EastEnders actor Michael Greco seemed in good spirits at the star-studded bash

Cheese! She posed up a storm for photographers at the venue

Glitzy! Kimberley showed off the encrusted heel on her rosegold metallic sandals

Vampy! Olivia opted for gothic lace in stark contrast to Kimberley's soft appearance

Shielding herself against the autumnal chill, she completed the outfit with a sleeveless floor-length waistcoat and an elegant slim shawl.

Kimberly found fame in E4 reality show Made in Chelsea, but left after only one season.

After leaving the show the former reality star has been focusing on her swimwear range, Kimberly London.

Fashion designer Rupert Lycett-Green won the Quintessentially poker tournament, taking home the top prize of six nights at luxury resorts in the Maldives and Abu Dhabi.

Blondes unite: Kimberley posed alongside model Olivia Cox

Taking the plunge: In spite of her long night of party-hopping, Kimberley looked effortlessly glamorous as she left the bash
UN urges Burundi to restore ties with rights office

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Wednesday urged Burundi to reverse its decision to break ties with the UN rights office following a report warning of a risk of genocide.

The United Nations also reminded Bujumbura that it must still cooperate with ongoing investigations of the International Criminal Court (ICC) despite its decision to pull out of the treaty setting up the world court.

"We are very disappointed to learn of the government's decision to cease cooperation with the office of the high commissioner for human rights," UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters.

Protestors demonstrate in front of France's embassy against a United Nations (UN) Security Council decision to send a police contingent to the violence-wracked country on July 30, 2016 in Bujumbura STR (AFP/File)

The office with its 51 staffers will remain open in Burundi "pending further discussion," said Dujarric.

"The secretary-general calls on the government of Burundi to continue its cooperation with the high commissioner" for human rights, he added.

Burundi on Tuesday suspended cooperation with the rights office, accusing it of helping to draft a "dishonest" report that blamed the government for a surge in violence in the country.

The government a day earlier barred three UN rights experts who wrote the report from entering the territory.

The report documenting cases of torture and killings paved the way for the creation of a formal Commission of Inquiry to gather evidence of atrocities.

Burundi's parliament on Wednesday voted to withdraw from the Rome treaty setting up the ICC.

The United Nations said it had yet to be formally notified by Burundi of its withdrawal, but added that if Bujumbura goes through with the decision it would be "regrettable."

Dujarric said that under the Rome statutes, the decision to pull out of the treaty will become effective one year after Bujumbura has formally notified the United Nations of its decision.

"State-parties that decide to withdraw are still obliged to cooperate with any criminal investigations or proceedings that were commenced before the effective date of withdrawal," said the spokesman.

The ICC opened its investigation of possible war crimes in Burundi in April.

The UN Security Council is due to hold a closed-door meeting on Burundi on Thursday.

The political crisis began in April 2015 when President Pierre Nkurunziza announced plans to run for a controversial third term in power, which he went on to win.
Explosive Trump repeats call to jail Clinton

Hillary Clinton on Wednesday slammed rival Donald Trump's "pure negativity" in their bitter presidential race, as he adopted an increasingly incendiary tone and renewed his call for the Democratic nominee to go to jail.

With less than four weeks before Election Day, and Clinton maintaining her edge in national polls, the pair bore down on key battleground states where the race is likely to be decided.

Trump slammed his opponent, declaring her a criminal who should be prosecuted for endangering national security by using a private email account while secretary of state, and deleting some 33,000 messages that Clinton said were personal and not work-related.

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump pumps his fist to supporters at the conclusion of his campaign event on the tarmac at Lakeland Linder Regional Airport in Lakeland, Florida on October 12, 2016 Gregg Newton (AFP)

"After getting the subpoena to give over your emails and lots of other things, she deleted the emails," a fired-up Trump told supporters in Lakeland, Florida.

"She has to go to jail," he added, to rousing cheers.

"Based on her crimes, she should not be allowed to run for president. It's time for a new direction," he said, to chants of "Lock her up!" from the crowd.

Trump made similar remarks hours earlier in Ocala, another city in the crucial central region of Florida near Orlando.

"Whether I win, lose or draw, I'm ashamed of what's happened to our country, and so are you," he said.

Trump is facing intense outside opposition and a wave of anger from fellow Republicans for vile remarks he made about women that were caught on a hot mic in 2005, and made public last Friday.

With his support teetering, the candidate appeared ready to unleash scorched-earth tactics against Clinton, as he did to a degree in their second debate on Sunday, when he reminded the nation of former president Bill Clinton's infidelities and threatened to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate Hillary Clinton if he wins the election.

He also went negative once more on Paul Ryan, after the House speaker told fellow Republican lawmakers that he could no longer defend or campaign with Trump.

"Already the Republican nominee has a massive disadvantage and especially when you have the leaders not putting their weight behind the people," Trump said, angry that Ryan failed to congratulate him for his debate performance against Clinton Sunday.

- 'Sinister deal' -

"You'd think they'd say great going Don, let's go. Let's beat this crook," Trump said.

"No, he doesn't do that," he added of Ryan. "There's a whole sinister deal going on."

Clinton sought to strike a more positive tone to her supporters in Colorado to counter the Trump effort to turn off voters.

"I want to give you something to vote for, not just something to vote against," she said in Pueblo, dismissing Trump's assaults as "desperate."

"That's all they have left. Pure negativity, pessimism, and we're not going to let Donald Trump get away with it, are we?" she said.

"America is better than what Donald Trump says and represents."

She also cast an eye to potentially expanding the electoral map in her favor, after new polling came out showing that races in traditionally Republican bastions Utah and Arizona were in play.

"If you've got any friends in Utah and Arizona, make sure they vote too," Clinton said.

Trump meanwhile blasted her for comments she apparently made in closed-door speeches to Wall Street banks and other corporations in recent years, after portions of the speeches were made public when anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks published hacked emails to and from Clinton staffers.

"She pledged to dissolve the borders of the United States of America," Trump fumed.

Clinton apparently told a Brazilian bank in 2013: "My dream is a hemispheric common market, with open trade and open borders, sometime in the future with energy that's as green and sustainable as we can get it."

Clinton's campaign has expressed concern that Russian hackers are to blame for the cyber-attacks on her campaign's emails.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation has determined that Russian intelligence agencies are behind the hack of Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta's email account, according to the Wall Street Journal.

"This level of meddling by a foreign power can only be aimed at boosting Donald Trump and should send chills down the spine of all Americans, regardless of political party," Podesta said in a statement.

Republicans in disarray over Trump Christopher HUFFAKER (AFP)

Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton walks to supporters after speaking during a Colorado Democratic party rally in the Palace of Agriculture at the state fairgrounds October 12, 2016 in Pueblo, Colorado Brendan Smialowski (AFP)
'IS inspired' teens charged in Australia

Two 16-year-old boys were charged Thursday with planning an imminent terror attack after being arrested with "bayonet-type" knives in Sydney, with police saying the pair were inspired by the so-called Islamic State group.

The boys, who were not named, were seized in the city's southwest after buying the weapons in a shop, renewing fears about youth radicalisation.

They face life imprisonment if convicted on charges of "acts done in preparation, or planning, terrorist acts", and membership of a terror organisation.

New South Wales Police Commissioner Catherine Burn and Australian Federal Police Deputy Commissioner Michael Phelan address the media after two 16-year-old boys were charged with terror-related offences in Sydney on October 13, 2016 William West (AFP)

"We don't have any specific information of a particular target where we will allege that there was going to be an imminent attack," said New South Wales Deputy Police Commissioner Catherine Burn.

"What we do know, though, is that the actions, we will allege, were enough to say they were preparing to do an attack although we don't know specifically where that attack was going to take place."

She added that police were alleging "the attack was inspired by Islamic State".

"The charge that relates to membership of an organisation, we will allude to their association or allegiance with Islamic State," she said.

They were refused bail by a children's court and are due to reappear in December.

Australian officials say they have now prevented 11 terror attacks on home soil in the past two years. But several have taken place, including the murder of a Sydney police employee last year.

Counter-terror police have made a series of arrests since late 2014, with the young age and radicalisation of many of those detained a growing concern for authorities.

"Anybody who says they've got the silver bullet to youth radicalisation, please tell me all about it," said Australian Federal Police Deputy Commissioner Michael Phelan.

He said some youngsters were going from "zero to full radicalisation within 48 hours or 72 hours to an event that we've had to stop".

"It is a very difficult subject because one size does not fit all. People are radicalised in all different ways," he added.

"That's the problem for us -- trying to identify that early and trying to put people into programmes, try and work with them and try and stop them on the path to radicalisation."

The latest arrests come just weeks after a 22-year-old man, who police said was also inspired by Islamic State, stabbed a 59-year-old grandfather out walking in Sydney, leaving him with serious injuries.

Two days before the stabbing, a teenage boy was charged with making threats at the Sydney Opera House, with both incidents following an IS call to target high-profile Australian sites.

The Australian government has become increasingly concerned about homegrown extremism and the terror threat level was raised in September 2014.

Canberra is also worried about its citizens fighting with jihadist organisations such as Islamic State in Iraq and Syria and helping radicalise others.

[caption]
Haiti tops list of disaster deaths: UN

Hurricane-ravaged Haiti, still recovering from a devastating 2010 earthquake, has suffered the highest number of disaster deaths of any country in the past two decades, the UN said.

Haiti, the poorest country in the Americas, currently reeling from the impact of Hurricane Matthew which has left at least 473 people dead, registered nearly 230,000 disaster deaths over the past two decades, a new report by the United Nations agency for disaster risk reduction (UNISDR) found.

The study analysed data from more than 7,000 disasters over the past 20 years.

A boy walks with goats past destroyed houses in the village of Labey in the south west of Haiti, October 11, 2016 Hector Retamal (AFP)

In a statement, UN chief Ban Ki-moon described the report's findings as "a damning indictment of inequality", pointing out that "high income countries suffer huge economic losses in disasters, but people in low income countries pay with their lives".

The study determined that 90 percent of the 1.35 million people who had died in disasters between 1996 and 2015 lived in low- or middle-income countries, with Haiti alone accounting for about a sixth of the deaths.

"There is a clear connection between the socioeconomic status of a country and the loss of life associated with these hazards that strike these countries," UNISDR chief Robert Glasser told reporters.

The Haiti toll was by far the highest of any country during the period -- followed by Indonesia with more than 182,000 deaths and Myanmar with 139,500 deaths, Thursday's report showed.

- 'Unacceptable' -

Glasser said that in 2010, when Haiti saw 223,000 people perish in a massive earthquake, equally violent quakes caused far fewer casualties in Chile and no deaths at all in New Zealand.

"The links to poverty are absolutely clear in this example in Haiti," Glasser told reporters.

He insisted it was "outrageous and unacceptable" that the country had once again suffered massive disaster losses that could have been avoided with better preparedness -- a lesson it should have learned after the earthquake.

"Of course it is challenging in a country like Haiti for reasons of governance and poverty," he acknowledged, but insisted the challenges were "not insurmountable".

Haiti, with the help of the international community, must take "clear steps", including improving early warning systems and educating the community on how to follow disaster alerts, Glasser said.

"This is the last time we should have this sort of situation," he said.

The report meanwhile showed that earthquakes and the tsunamis they trigger have been the biggest killers over the past two decades, together accounting for 748,621 deaths.

But climate-related disasters like floods, landslides, heatwaves and severe storms have surged, with such events more than doubling in the past 20 years, Glasser said.

Hurricane-hit Haiti Laurence CHU, Gal ROMA (AFP)
On May 31, 2016, the Embassy of the People's Republic of China celebrated China-Philippines Friendship day by co-hosting the opening ceremony of the Chinese Film and Food Festival with De La Salle University, Manila.

It was such a great honor and privilege to be chosen to represent my country the Philippines for this year's ASEAN Media Officer and Journalists Seminar. Among all of the participants, I was the only one who has been to China for the second time. However, everything that I had experienced here in Beijing and in Kunming was uniquely incomparable in all forms. Indeed, learning Chinese culture cannot be done in just two weeks even if you've been to China a couple of times.

Learning the media ethics of my Chinese counterparts made me realize that I have little knowledge about China. Without a doubt, the Philippine media is really different from the Chinese media practices. Nevertheless, as media practitioners, both cultures are similar in being the voice of the public, educating the people, disseminating information, connecting worlds and preventing corruption in the government by exposing extortion, promoting transparency and pushing for accountability to create reforms that will benefit the people. This is what journalism is all about; our role in society extends beyond cultural differences.

Furthermore, being the sole-representative of the Philippines in this short-course program it was no doubt that the relationship between China and my country at the present stage were mentioned whenever the South China Sea issue was discussed. And being a journalist, it is my job to be objective and open-minded, and to listen to the other side of the story to create balanced and unbiased reporting. Moreover, as a citizen of the Philippines, I myself also wanted peace not just for my family but for the next Filipino generation. Clearly, China and the Philippines have differences but these differences are not sufficient reasons to prevent a harmonious relationship within the region. Like what my father said, the best way in settling a conflict is to listen. I am one of the million Filipinos who are hoping for a peaceful settlement and to be more united with our neighboring countries in Asia through people-to-people relationships and cultural exchange.

In line with this, we all may have our own opinion about the Chinese culture, Chinese political system and China's geopolitics, but at the end of the day, who are we to judge and who am I to judge? Like the Chinese saying, even if the shoes are small it is only the owner who would know if they suit her. It is not me or any single person who can tell the Chinese people what is good for them because they already know what is right for them far beyond the shallow judgments of others. No doubt, you can never fully understand China if you do not experience China.

Therefore, I would like to express my sincerest gratitude to China International Publishing Group, the Ministry of Commerce, the State Council, the Provincial Government of Yunnan and the Chinese Embassy in Manila for the opportunity they have given me, the additional knowledge that I have gained these past two weeks and the chance to see the wonderful sights in Kunming. Furthermore, this seminar will never be memorable without the people who are involved.

Confucius once said, never establish friendship with people who are not more virtuous than you. I guess I'm just fortunate. I have not just established new contacts but I have gained new friends who aren't only more virtuous than I, but value the core essence of respect. Respecting each other's differences in terms of religion, practices, tradition and culture is paramount. Therefore, I am very much humbled that I managed to be part of this circle even though I am the youngest in both age and professional experience.

As we part ways and get back to our respective countries and continue with our daily routine, I just want you to know that there is a young female journalist in the Philippines who cherished you all in the sincerest definition of the word. Thank you for teaching me about your culture. Thank you for accepting me, my perfectly imperfect personality and please accept my apologies to all the shortcomings I have committed or if I offended anyone during the process. Nevertheless, the memories that we've shared here in China will remain as a handprint on my heart; so, in whatever ways each of our stories ends, I know you all have rewritten mine by being my friends.

Jhemmylrut Teng (Carla Lim) is a TV5 correspondent for foreign affairs in the Philippines.

This post is part of her speech at the closing session of the ASEAN Media Officer and Journalists Seminar which China recently hosted.
Trump fortune-telling Zoltar doll provokes New York

There's little love for Donald Trump in his hometown these days, so New York has been both tickled and repelled by a fortune-telling, Trump-in-a-box mocking his offense-dishing campaign for president.

"Look into my crystal ball and see America's future," intones the animatronic mannequin in the Republican nominee's voice, wearing his trademark red tie, white shirt and dark jacket, complete with a bouffant blonde hairstyle.

"Not every woman is a dog -- only the fat, disgusting ones. And don't worry: in the future, when I am president, I'll do something about it. We are gonna make America SEXY again!" boomed the doll near Central Park on Thursday.

People look at the 'All-Seeing Trump', a fortune-telling fairground attraction in New York on October 12, 2016 William Edwards (AFP)

The Trump-in-a-box has been made to resemble the Zoltar machine made famous in the 1988 Hollywood movie "Big" starring Tom Hanks.

The Trump version has its own Twitter handle, @AllSeeingTrump and website, www.allseeingtrump.com, but its organizers did not respond to an AFP request to comment.

Push a button and it dispenses written fortune slips. "If you wish to see your future... build a fallout shelter," said one in a nod to fears whipped up by the Democrats that Trump cannot be trusted with the nuclear codes.

The Manhattan real estate billionaire and former reality star is crashing in the polls against his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton, following the emergence last weekend of a 2005 tape in which he boasts of groping women.

Republican lawmakers have rushed to distance themselves from a candidate they now fear could wipe out their majority in the Senate on November 8.

But for 17 months Trump has inflamed America with a divisive campaign, calling Mexicans rapists, promising to build a wall on the southern US border, and threatening to ban Muslims and deport millions of illegal immigrants.

He has denounced both free trade deals and US infrastructure, promised to "make America great again" with outlandish pledges.

- 'Horrifying' -

"During my presidency, I break off all trade with the Chinese. I have no choice. How can I negotiate with China when I can't even understand a word they're saying? It's like, 'Hello? Speak English," the doll said.

Professing his "love" for the Mexican people, the doll then promises to pack them onto trains like "cattle" -- drawing parallels with the Nazi Holocaust.

"My trains are so much better than the ones the German used," said the doll, its red eyes glowing.

The machine has been popping up in various locales around New York. Around two dozen passersby gathered around Wednesday outside Central Park, taking selfies and pressing for fortunes.

Molly Moulthrob, 44, who works for a tech company in Texas and who does not support Trump, told AFP she thought the Zoltar machine was "scary but true."

"It's super funny specially in the political climate now, when everything is very nasty on both sides," she said.

But others focused more on the political danger they feel from the real Trump.

"It's horrifying," said Tobin Rothlein, a jogger in his 40s from Brooklyn.

"I don't think it's funny. I think people have to stop laughing at it and actually listen to what people are saying -- more people realizing what's at stake," he added.

"It's very sad he's a candidate and what he stands for" agreed Loretta Wroble, 72, visiting for the day from Connecticut.

"In America we really need to be looking what we are really doing and who we are as a people and what's important to us," she added.
'Star' gazing before Washington's first Michelin Guide

The question has had the Washington restaurant scene buzzing since news in May of the US capital's first Michelin Guide -- who will get a coveted star?

"Michelin, they're pretty secretive... I don't think anybody has any idea," said Aaron Silverman, the 34-year-old owner and chef of two lauded restaurants in the capital, Rose's Luxury and the newer Pineapple and Pearls.

Restaurants are anxiously awaiting the publication Thursday of the first Washington restaurant guide by Michelin, the venerable French company that currently covers restaurants in only three US cities: New York, Chicago and San Francisco.

Restaurants are anxiously awaiting the publication of the first Washington restaurant guide by Michelin, the venerable French company that currently covers restaurants in only three US cities: New York, Chicago and San Francisco Olivier Douliery (AFP)

Just a few of the recommended entries in the Washington guide are expected to win a star in the three-star rating system that ranges from very good to exceptional.

With his seasoned view of the scene, Tom Sietsema, The Washington Post's food critic since 2000, ventured a cautious forecast.

"There should be at least two three-star restaurants in the city. I would be surprised if there were any fewer than two and with luck we'll have at least four," he said.

Among his picks: Mini Bar of Spanish chef Jose Andres, an "adopted son" of Washington who started out under renowned Catalan chef Ferran Adria and who recently had a costly legal dispute with Donald Trump stemming from the Republican presidential candidate's remarks about immigrants.

Mini Bar will be a strong contender for three stars, Sietsema said. The restaurant features a 30-course menu -- dinner for two, including wine, can cost $1,000.

"I think it's the best avant-garde cooking in the country," he said.

"It really does transport you, and I think that's what you want for a three-Michelin star restaurant. It can't merely be wonderful -- you have to be astonished."

- America's melting pot -

Among Sietsema's other favorites is Rasika, which he calls one of the best Indian restaurants in the country, and Komi, a Greek restaurant whose chef Johnny Monis also has a small Thai restaurant -- Little Serow -- credited with having launched, with Rose's Luxury, the city's booming food scene.

Another eatery drawing attention is a tiny Filipino place called Bad Saint.

The diversity of cuisines is key to the identity of Washington, a meld of many influences from residents from all over the world.

"That's one of the strong suits of American cooking. We're very good at borrowing around the world and making something our own," said the Post's Sietsema.

But certain Washington restaurants "don't put as much value on design or ambiance as they do on the plate," he lamented.

Jason Tilery, a Washington native and passionate foodie, also bets Mini Bar will get three stars.

The 39-year-old employee of a health insurance company invests a substantial part of his wages in dining out, which he chronicles in a blog, Capital Gourmand.

Pineapple and Pearls, which opened this year to rave reviews, is "on par with any two Michelin star," he said, after dining there twice.

Metier, a recently opened restaurant by renowned chef Eric Ziebold, featuring contemporary American cuisine, also has a chance, Tilery said.

But those two may be too new to make the cut, he said.

Among the only known Michelin criteria for earning a star is consistency between visits, the quality of the products, the mastery of flavor and cooking techniques, the personality of the chef reflected in the food, and value for price.

Staff prepare appetizers in the kitchen of the Pineapple and Pearls restaurant in Washington, DC Olivier Douliery (AFP)

People wait in front of Rose's Luxury and Pineapple and Pearls restaurants, on September 21, 2016, in Washington, DC Olivier Douliery (AFP)
Thailand's beloved king, unifying figure, dies at 88

King Bhumibol Adulyadej, long a unifying figure in politically fractious Thailand, died Thursday and uncertainty over the succession quickly arose as his crown prince reportedly sought a delay in taking over.

The death of the 88-year-old Bhumibol, the world's longest-reigning monarch, removed a revered father figure in a country where political tensions are still raw two years after a military coup.

US President Barack Obama led global tributes to Bhumibol, whose death ends a remarkable seven-decade reign during which Thailand served as a pillar of relative stability in a turbulent region.

Thailand's King Bhumibol Adulyadej, pictured in May 2010 Pornchai Kittiwongsakul (AFP/File)

Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn, 64, is the king's named successor, but the country's military junta chief Prayut Chan-O-Cha said the prince informed him he was not yet ready to assume the throne.

"He asked for time to prepare for legal processes in order to proclaim him on the throne at the appropriate time," Prayut told reporters after meeting the prince.

Most Thais have known no other monarch than Bhumibol and he was portrayed as a guiding light through decades of political turmoil and coups.

The palace said he died at 3:52 pm (0852 GMT) after a long illness, causing large crowds to erupt in mourning outside the hospital where Bhumibol spent most of the last two years.

"How will Thailand live without you, father?" cried one distressed young man as others chanted "Long Live the King!"

Prayut, the former army chief who heads the ruling junta, quickly affirmed Vajiralongkorn as chosen successor.

But the delay in officially proclaiming him king will fuel concerns over a potentially messy succession.

The Crown Prince is yet to attain his father's widespread popularity, spending much of his time overseas.

Analysts said elites likely want to stage a slow and careful transition.

"But any delay is worrisome as it creates suspicion and the Thai people are concerned anyway about the monarchy's future under Vajiralongkorn," said Paul Handley, author of the unauthorised biography "The King Never Smiles".

"It's maybe too early, but it almost creates a power vacuum."

- Year-long mourning -

Speaking earlier on television, Prayut said Thailand would hold a one-year mourning period and that the country's notorious entertainment functions must be "toned down" for a month.

Trading on the Thai stock exchange would continue, however.

Bhumibol's death is a major test for Prayut's junta, which seized power in 2014.

The coup ended a decade of strife between Thailand's two major political factions, exacerbated by the king's declining health as jostling elites competed for power.

The military has deep links with the palace and many inside the kingdom saw the putsch as a move to ensure generals could squelch any instability during a succession.

Backed by a palace-driven personality cult, Bhumibol was revered by many as a demigod who rose above the kingdom's notoriously fractious politics, and many mourners on Thursday fretted about the future.

Bhumibol's subjects have had many years to contemplate his demise -- he has not been seen in public for months and has suffered prolonged ill health -- but his passing remained a great tragedy to millions.

During his reign, Thailand transformed from an impoverished, rural nation into one of the region's most successful economies, avoiding the civil wars and communist takeovers of its neighbours.

He built a reputation for criss-crossing the nation to visit the rural poor and sometimes intervened to quell Thailand's frequent political violence.

At other times, however, he stayed silent. He approved most of the army's many coups during his reign.

In a statement Obama described Bhumibol as a "close friend" and "tireless champion" of his country's development. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said he was a "unifying national leader... respected internationally".

- Criticism muted -

Any criticism, republican sentiment, or speculation on succession is smothered by a draconian lese majeste law, use of which has surged since the militarys latest takeover.

In recent years, and especially since the 2014 coup, the heir-apparent Vajiralongkorn has been more visible in Thailand and appeared in more royal engagements.

He will inherit one of the world's richest monarchies.

During his reign, Bhumibol, with his establishment allies, built up a multi-billion-dollar royal business empire spanning property, construction and banking.

The palace's announcement this week that the king was gravely ill sent stocks and the currency tumbling.

Capital Economics said in a note that the king's death could lead to "deep political uncertainty".

"There is a risk that political tensions flare up, triggering a slowdown in economic growth," it said. "All eyes now will turn to the succession process."

Thailand royal family

Britain's Queen Elizabeth II with Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej in Bangkok in 1996

People hold a photo of Thailand's King Bhumibol Adulyadej as they react to his death on October 13, 2016 at Siriraj Hospital in Bangkok Munir Uz Zaman (AFP)

Thai Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn has yet to attain his father's widespread popularity in the country Pornchai Kittiwongsakul (AFP/File)
China exports dive in September on weak global demand

China's exports plummeted last month, data showed Thursday, as anaemic global demand dealt another blow to the world's second-largest economy, while weak imports fuelled worries about crucial domestic appetite.

The figures will come as a disappointment after a recent batch of healthy statistics, and suggest the Asian giant and key driver of the global economy is yet to see the bottom of a years-long growth slowdown.

China's performance affects partners from Australia to Zambia, which have been battered as its expansion has weakened to levels not seen in a quarter of a century.

China's exports fell to 1.22 trillion yuan (around $180 billion) in the month

Officials said exports sank 10.0 percent year-on-year in September to $184.5 billion, while imports fell 1.9 percent to $142.5 billion.

"There remain obvious obstacles facing China's foreign trade development," Customs spokesman Huang Songping told reporters in Beijing. "World growth remains sluggish and global trade lacks effective support."

Both readings missed expectations, with a Bloomberg News survey of economists forecasting a drop of 3.3 percent for exports and a 0.6 percent rise in imports.

The figures are likely to put further pressure on China's yuan currency, which hit six-year lows against the US dollar this week.

The trade surplus declined to $42.0 billion, down around $10 billion month-on-month, which analysts from ANZ said could weigh on the yuan exchange rate, "particularly in the face of a stronger" dollar.

"Against the backdrop of an ongoing capital account deficit, the trade surplus has been an important factor in offsetting capital outflows. But the contraction in exports may continue to see the trade surplus narrow," they said.

Analyst Julian Evans-Pritchard of Capital Economists said the results were "much weaker" than expected, noting that persistently "sluggish global demand" dragged on exports, and that the decline in imports raised questions about the strength of recovery in China's domestic demand.

In August China's imports beat expectations and broke a two-year losing streak, posting a 1.5 percent annual increase.

But last month's return to negative territory, with drops in import volumes of iron ore and copper, could be "an early sign that the recent recovery in economic activity is losing momentum", Evans-Pritchard said. However, he warned against "reading too much into a single data point".

- Lack of momentum -

The weak data underscored that any recovery in global demand was going to be "gradual and susceptible to setbacks", said Louis Kuijs of Oxford Economics.

Looking ahead, the world's largest trader in goods faces headwinds due to "downside risks stemming from the US election" and Britain's EU exit, the ANZ analysts said.

Exports -- long a key driver of Chinese growth -- were not expected to contribute to its expansion, they added.

Customs spokesman Huang told the briefing that China's challenges were "not short term" and its traditional trade competitiveness was "weakening".

Domestic economic structural reform was still painful and "there remain rather large downward pressures on the economy", he said.

China is seeking to restructure its economy to make the spending power of its nearly 1.4 billion people a key driver for growth, instead of massive government investment and cheap exports.

Medium to high-end manufacturing was leaving China and returning to developed economies as they sought to boost their own industries to create jobs, he noted.

"Global trade protectionism is rising and China's trade is facing risks from increasing trade frictions," he added.

A total of 85 trade remedy investigations were launched against China in the first eight months of the year, up 49 percent year on year, he said.

Customs earlier released the figures in yuan terms, which showed a 5.6 percent drop in exports and a 2.2 percent on-year decline in imports, with a 25 percent drop in the monthly trade surplus to 278.35 billion yuan.

However, traders brushed off the news, with the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index flat at the break.

China trade surplus
Pakistan delays blasphemy appeal after judge steps down

Pakistan's Supreme Court delayed an appeal into a notorious blasphemy case against a Christian mother on death row Thursday after one of the judges stepped down, with thousands of security forces deployed following threats from Muslim clerics.

Police and troops had been stationed across Islamabad as the court readied to hear a final appeal in the case of Asia Bibi, who has been on death row since 2010. Observers had warned of "tremendous" repercussions in the case.

But one of the three-judge bench, Justice Iqbal Hameed ur Rehman, told the court he had to recuse himself, claiming a conflict of interest.

Asia Bibi was convicted and sentenced to hang in 2010 after an argument with a Muslim woman over a bowl of water Arif Ali (AFP/File)

"I was a part of the bench that was hearing the case of Salmaan Taseer, and this case is related to that," he told the court, which was overflowing with journalists, lawyers, activists and clerics.

Taseer, a liberal provincial governor, was gunned down in Islamabad in 2011 after speaking out for Bibi.

His assassin, Mumtaz Qadri, was hanged earlier in 2016 in a step liberals hailed as progressive, but which brought hardliners into the streets calling for Bibi's death.

Rehman was chief justice on the Islamabad High Court which heard Qadri's appeal in 2011, according to local media.

The Supreme Court did not immediately set a new date for Bibi's appeal.

Observers have called the case a battle for Pakistan's soul as the state walks a line between upholding human rights and appeasing hardliners.

Clerics at the influential Red Mosque in Islamabad warned they would launch a nationwide protest if Bibi is released.

"Anyone who defends or protects a blasphemer of the Prophet will themselves be considered guilty of blasphemy," spokesman Hafiz Ihtesham Ahmed said.

He warned against foreign diplomats lobbying for Bibi's release, saying in a statement that clerics would mobilise the public if she was freed and "everyone will become Qadri".

"All the foreign powers should keep in mind that we won't let them succeed in their nefarious designs," Ahmed told AFP at the court on Thursday.

Police said up to 3,000 security forces had been sent out across the capital.

Bibi's lawyer Saif-ul-Mulook called the Red Mosque threat "big".

"I hope the government takes it very seriously and takes care of our security," he told media outside the court Thursday.

- 'A sensitive case' -

Blasphemy is a hugely sensitive issue in Pakistan. Anyone even accused of insulting Islam risks a violent and bloody death at the hands of vigilantes.

Rights groups complain the controversial legislation is often abused to carry out personal vendettas, mainly against minority Christians.

Bibi was convicted and sentenced to hang in 2010 after an argument with a Muslim woman over a bowl of water. Her supporters maintain her innocence and insist it was a personal dispute, and the Vatican has called for her release.

But successive appeals have been rejected, and if the Supreme Court bench eventually upholds Bibi's conviction her only recourse will be a direct appeal to the president for clemency.

If that fails, she could become the first person in Pakistan to be executed for blasphemy.

The International Commission of Jurists in a statement said it was disappointed over the further delay in Bibi's case and urged the Supreme Court to set a new hearing date as soon as possible.

"Asia Bibi has been on death row for six years under a bad law that has been improperly applied," said Sam Zarifi, ICJs Asia Director.

"The Supreme Court has previously held that people accused of blasphemy in Pakistan 'suffer beyond proportion or repair'  such delays in proceedings are one reason why," he said.

The repercussions for minorities, human rights and the blasphemy laws in Pakistan would be "tremendous", said Shahzad Akbar, a human rights lawyer.

Zohra Yusuf, chair of the independent Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, told AFP the appeal delay was "regrettable", noting that Bibi was already being held in solitary confinement due to security concerns.

The judges may be "apprehensive", she said, adding that after the Supreme Court announced its decision to uphold Qadri's death sentence, justices had to sneak out the back door of the court.

"It's a sensitive case. I think they (the judges) have realised that if Asia Bibi (is) acquitted, they may be putting their own lives on the line," Yusuf said.

Prosecutor Ghulam Mustafa Chaudhry told AFP Thursday that he wanted the case to be decided "on merit and not any foreign pressure".

"Asia Bibi has been convicted and proven guilty not by one court but two courts, and I hope things will remain the same in the Supreme Court of Pakistan," he said.

Asia Bibi pictured at a prison in Sheikhupura, Pakistan, in 2010

Ashiq Masih (left), the husband of Asia Bibi, leaves the Supreme Court in Islamabad on October 13, 2016 Farooq Naeem (AFP)

Pakistani protesters shout slogans against Asia Bibi, a Christian woman facing death sentence for blasphemy, at a protest in Karachi on October 13, 2016 Asif Hassan (AFP)
US hits radar sites in first strikes on Yemen rebels

The US military directly targeted Yemen's Huthi rebels for the first time on Thursday, hitting radar sites controlled by the insurgents after US warships came under missile attacks twice in four days.

Defence officials in Washington said five Tomahawk cruise missiles destroyed three mobile radar sites in Huthi-held territory on Yemen's Red Sea coast and that the Pentagon was preparing for possible new retaliatory strikes.

The Shiite Huthi rebels have denied firing missiles at US warships in the Red Sea on Sunday and Wednesday that fell short of their targets.

A destroyed vehicle bearing a radar antenna is pictured in the Yemeni port city of Hodeidah on October 13, 2016

The United States is providing logistical support to a Saudi-led coalition that has been battling the rebels since last year, but Thursday's bombing marked the first time Washington has taken direct action against the Huthis.

Following the US strikes, Iranian media reported that Tehran which backs the Huthis had dispatched two warships to the Gulf of Aden on October 5, tasked with "protecting commercial ships and oil tankers" from pirates.

The Pentagon said the cruise missile strikes -- authorised by President Barack Obama -- were launched by the destroyer USS Nitze.

"Initial assessments show the sites were destroyed," Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook said in a statement.

The strikes "targeted radar sites involved in the recent missile launches threatening USS Mason and other vessels operating in international waters in the Red Sea and the Bab al-Mandab (Strait)," he said.

"The United States will respond to any further threat to our ships and commercial traffic, as appropriate, and will continue to maintain our freedom of navigation in the Red Sea, the Bab al-Mandab, and elsewhere around the world," Cook added.

The US strikes did not target Huthi missiles and, though the radars' destruction makes it harder to aim the weapons, a senior defence official warned the rebels could still use small spotter boats or even online ship-tracking websites to find new targets.

"They do need to knock it off. We will not hesitate" to launch new retaliatory attacks, said the official, speaking to AFP on condition of anonymity.

- Attack claims 'baseless': rebels -

The Huthis said the accusations they had fired on US warships were "baseless".

"Such claims aim to create false justifications to step up attacks and to cover up for the continuous crimes committed by the aggression against the Yemeni people," the rebel-controlled Saba news agency quoted a military official allied with the insurgents as saying.

The Saudi-led coalition launched its campaign in March last year, after the rebels seized control of large parts of Yemen including Sanaa, forcing the government of President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi to flee.

The coalition has since carried out hundreds of air strikes and provided ground troops to support Hadi's forces, but it has failed to dislodge the rebels -- who are allied with forces loyal to ex-president Ali Abdallah Saleh -- from key areas.

The US military provides intelligence and refuelling for coalition aircraft. It also supplies advanced munitions and logistics support to the effort, and is Saudi Arabia's biggest arms supplier.

The campaign has faced increasing international criticism over civilian deaths, with critics calling on Washington to end its support for the coalition.

After a coalition air strike on a funeral in Sanaa on Saturday killed more than 140 people, the US administration announced an "immediate review" of its cooperation.

- 'Unlawful' funeral strike -

Human Rights Watch, which has regularly criticised the Saudi intervention, said the funeral strike needed to be investigated as "an apparent war crime".

"While military personnel and civilian officials involved in the war effort were attending the ceremony, the clear presence of several hundred civilians strongly suggests that the attack was unlawfully disproportionate," it said.

Francois Heisbourg, an analyst at the Paris-based Foundation for Strategic Research, said it was unlikely Washington was stepping up its participation in the coalition.

"They reacted in a limited manner and it should stop there," he said.

Soufan Group, a US-based security consultancy firm, said the Huthis "represent an increasingly significant instrument of Iran's regional strategy".

"To counter Saudi Arabia, Iran is supplying the Huthis with capabilities similar to those it provides to its most important regional ally," the Lebanese Shiite militant group Hezbollah, it said.

Yemen's conflict has killed more than 6,800 people, wounded more than 35,000 and displaced at least three million since the coalition launched military operations, according to the United Nations.

As well as supporting the coalition, Washington has for years carried out drone attacks against jihadists in Yemen, regularly killing members of the local branch of Al-Qaeda.

US strikes targets in Yemen

A missile fired from Huthi rebel-held territory at the USS Mason crashed into the ocean before reaching its target

Yemeni soldiers monitor cars at a checkpoint as authorities tighten up security measures in the capital Sanaa Mohammed Huwais (AFP/File)
Cambodia embraces China's President Xi on state visit

China's President Xi Jinping promised Cambodia hundreds of millions of dollars in aid and loans on Thursday during a state visit to the nation, which is one Beijing's staunchest regional allies.

Hundreds of students waving Cambodian and Chinese flags greeted Xi alongside officials at the airport before his motorcade sped into town for an audience with the royal family and later Prime Minister Hun Sen.

Cambodia has long been a strident supporter of Beijing's communist rulers, who have lavished the poor country with cash.

Students hold portraits of Chinese President Xi Jinping and Cambodian King Norodom Sihamoni as they weclome Xi at Phnom Penh international airport Tang Chhin Sothy (AFP)

On Thursday the two leaders signed 31 agreements that saw China give Cambodia $178 million in aid for economic cooperation, a $59 million loan, plus an additional $15 million in military aid.

Xi also forgave a $89 million debt, the leaders said in a joint announcement after a signing ceremony.

China is Cambodia's top foreign investor and has given the country billions of dollars in grants and low-interest loans during Hun Sen's 31-year rule.

In July it offered Cambodia nearly $550 million in aid, days after the kingdom was accused of undermining regional unity by backing Beijing in disputes over the South China Sea.

In recent years Cambodia has become a thorn in the side for neighbouring nations hoping to present a unified front against China's island building in the contested waters.

Several Southeast Asian nations have competing claims to parts of the sea and many in the region want to keep pressure on China over its efforts to militarise the sea.

But Cambodia's unwavering support for China has scuppered regional efforts to jointly rebuke Beijing.

Ahead of Xi's trip, a leading Cambodian newspaper published an article signed by Xi that praised the Southeast Asian nation for coming to its defence over the sea row.

"When China acted to safeguard its territorial sovereignty and maritime interests and was devoted to resolving related disputes through peaceful negotiation, Cambodia did not hesitate to speak out to uphold justice," the Chinese president wrote in the article published by Cambodia's Rasmei Kampuchea newspaper.

He also described the two nations' friendship as "beaming with new vitality" and enjoying "deep political trust and win-win economic cooperation".

Large portraits of the Chinese leader and Cambodia's King Norodom Sihamoni were erected along the streets of the capital Phnom Penh ahead of the two-day visit, which is Xi's first there as president.

Hun Sen regularly praises Beijing's "no-strings-attached" aid, compared to help from the United States and European Union which is often accompanied by calls to address corruption and human rights abuses in his country.

"For Cambodia, China is the most important strategic and economic partner," said Vannarith Chheang, who chairs the Cambodian Institute for Strategic Studies, adding that Cambodia, in turn, is China's "most reliable friend in Southeast Asia".

Chinese President Xi Jinping (C) arrives at the Phnom Penh international airport on October 13, 2016 for a two-day state visit Tang Chhin Sothy (AFP)
Philippines' Duterte seeks money, respect in China

Firebrand Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte heads to China next week seeking billions of dollars in investments and buckets of respect, as he pivots angrily away from traditional ally the United States.

Chinese President Xi Jinping is set to give the mercurial leader a warm welcome, after Duterte threatened to end a decades-long alliance with the United States and gave Beijing a timely boost in its quest for more control over the strategically vital South China Sea.

Duterte, 71, has said he is trying to wean the Philippines off an unhealthy reliance on its former colonial ruler, although he has signalled the shift is also due to his outrage at US criticism of his deadly war on crime.

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has threatened to end a decades-long alliance with the United States Ted Aljibe (AFP/File)

Analysts believe Duterte's attraction to a rising China is typical of his ultra-pragmatic governing style, following repeated speeches from him highlighting what he believes is the United States' diminishing economic and military might.

"He is a results-oriented person, Machiavellian, too," University of the Philippines political science professor Clarita Carlos told AFP.

"The guy knows if he can find markets for our bananas, pineapples, and create employment, whether it's China, Russia or Mali, that's where we are going. Whatever works."

Duterte is bringing along a delegation of hundreds of businessmen, including many of the Philippines' most powerful tycoons, in a bid to capitalise on the warming of relations that have taken place due to his efforts to placate Beijing on the South China Sea row.

China claims nearly all of the strategically vital sea, even waters approaching the Philippines and other Southeast Asian nations, and has in recent years built artificial islands in the disputed areas that are capable of hosting military bases.

- Chinese anger -

Duterte's predecessor, Benigno Aquino, infuriated Beijing by challenging it on a range of fronts.

Aquino allowed American troops to be stationed in the Philippines, launched joint patrols in the sea, filed a legal case at a UN-backed tribunal, repeatedly raised the issue at regional summits and refused to hold direct negotiations with Beijing.

In July, 12 days after Duterte took office, the international tribunal handed the Philippines a surprisingly resounding victory, ruling that China's claims to most of the sea had no legal basis and that its artificial island-building was illegal.

But, instead of using the verdict to pressure China as Aquino would have done, Duterte sought to mend ties with Beijing.

He also launched a sustained verbal assault on the United States, scrapping the joint patrols as well as a series of annual war games.

During the election campaign, Duterte said he was willing to "set aside" the South China Sea dispute in return for China building a railway through the impoverished southern Philippine region of Mindanao.

He also said it was not in the nation's interest to insist on its claim over Scarborough Shoal, a fishing ground within the Philippines' exclusive economic zone that China seized in 2012.

"Let's just not dwell on Scarborough because we cannot fight them," Duterte said this week.

- Respect -

Duterte has also signalled he wants to go to Beijing to enjoy some respect, following relentless criticism from the West about alleged extrajudicial killings in his war on crime.

More than 3,300 people have been killed in the crackdown, and US President Barack Obama has been among the many critics to express concern about an apparent breakdown in the rule of law.

"Eventually I might in my term, break up with America. I would rather go to Russia or to China. Even if we do not agree with their ideology, they have respect for the people. Respect is important," Duterte said this month.

He also said he hoped to visit Russia soon after China.

Maritime law expert Jay Batongbacal warned Duterte's approach was a big gamble for the Philippines, with China the only sure winner at this stage.

Duterte "is taking a huge risk, betting all on China's goodwill and beneficence without the insurance provided by the diversified, multilateral support of historical and traditional friends and allies", Batongbacal, a University of the Philippines law professor, wrote this week.

Still, it is too early for China to claim victory, according to Richard Javad Heydarian, a regional expert at De La Salle University in Manila.

"I won't be surprised if at some point Duterte will hedge his bets and pivot back to the US if he fails to get any satisfactory concession from China," Heydarian said.

Chinese President Xi Jinping is set to give Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte a warm welcome Tang Chhin Sothy (AFP)

US marines ride on an Amphibious Assault vehiclle during a beach landing as part of the Philippines-US amphibious landing exercise in Zambales province on October 7, 2016 Ted Aljibe (AFP/File)
Modi hosts BRICS leaders as bloc beset by economic woes

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will look to reinvigorate the BRICS group of emerging nations at a summit this weekend with India seen as a bright spot in a bloc whose clout has been undermined by economic woes.

BRICS -- a club made up of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa -- was formed in 2011 with the aim of using its growing economic and political influence to challenge Western hegemony.

The nations, with a joint estimated GDP of $16 trillion, set up their own bank in parallel to the Washington-based International Monetary Fund and World Bank and hold summits rivalling the G7 forum.

India is now the world's fastest-growing major economy in an otherwise gloomy environment and its GDP is expected to grow 7.6% in 201617 Chandan Khanna (AFP/File)

But the countries, accounting for 53 percent of world population, have been hit by falling global demand and lower commodity prices, while several have also been mired in corruption scandals.

Russia and Brazil have fallen into recession recently, South Africa only just managed to avoid the same fate last month while China's economy -- the recent engine of world growth -- has slowed sharply.

India by contrast is now the world's fastest-growing major economy in an otherwise gloomy environment and its GDP is expected to grow 7.6 percent in 2016-17.

Indian foreign ministry official Amar Sinha said the leaders would debate "global growth prospects, the role of BRICS in leading this global growth and our contributions to it".

He also confirmed regional security and climate change were on the agenda while Russia is expecting talks on Syria.

President Vladimir Putin's office said in a statement that "international terrorism and the Syria peace process" would be discussed as Moscow faces international anger over its airstrikes in support of the Assad regime.

China's Vice Foreign Minister Li Baodong meanwhile said the leaders would "exchange in-depth views on BRICS cooperation and other global and regional issues", according to state news agency Xinhua.

Some of the more substantive talks are expected at bilaterals on the sidelines of the summit in the tourist state of Goa, with Modi expected to separately meet China's President Xi Jinping and Putin.

Brazil's new President Michel Temer, who replaced impeached Dilma Rousseff, will look to such meetings to boost trade ties and help drag his country out of its worst recession in half a century.

The summit comes amid some scepticism about the future of BRICS, especially given India's efforts to reach out to the US and Europe since Modi -- a one-time pariah of the West -- came to power in 2014.

- 'Reduced potency' -

Eswar Prasad, professor of trade and economics at Cornell University in the United States, said BRICS had been weakened by its collective burdens.

"The economic troubles faced by many members of the BRICS group have reduced its potency and influence in the world economy," he told AFP.

Prasad said BRICS needed to focus on a global issue such as pushing back against mounting anti-globalisation rhetoric to stay relevant.

"Given its sheer size and continued significant contribution to global growth, this group could have some clout if it acted in concert in dealing with issues of global governance and the international monetary system."

Geethanjali Nataraj, currently at the Brookings Institute India, agreed the summit needed to focus on areas of common concern, warning India against pursuing contentious issues with regional rival China.

"India needs to tread with caution and avoid all controversial issues that would lead to friction," Nataraj wrote in the Financial Express.

India will also be looking for BRICS to condemn recent cross-border attacks blamed on militants in Pakistan that have spiked tensions between the neighbours, according to local media.

Analysts however are sceptical of India's chances of securing a joint condemnation given China's strong diplomatic support for Pakistan and Russia's efforts to forge closer defence ties with Islamabad.

Taking place at the same time in Goa is a meeting of heads of a seven-nation grouping called BIMSTEC loosely based around the Bay of Bengal.

Myanmar's Aung Sang Suu Kyi, Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina as well as the leaders of Thailand, Sri Lanka, Bhutan and Nepal are set to attend for talks focused on trade.
Warplanes hit Syria's Aleppo ahead of new diplomatic push

Russian and Syrian warplanes pounded Aleppo again on Thursday after two days of heavy bombardment that killed more than 70 civilians, as world powers prepared for last-ditch weekend talks on a ceasefire.

Syria has been plunged into some of the worst violence of its five-year war after the collapse of a hard-won truce brokered by Washington and Moscow.

The ensuing surge in fighting saw government forces declare a large-scale offensive, backed by Russian and Syrian air power, to capture the opposition-held half of battered Aleppo.

Syrian civilians and rescuers gather at the site of an air strike by government forces in the rebel held neighbourhood of Al-Shaar in Aleppo Karam al-Masri (AFP/File)

More than 20 air strikes hit the rebel-controlled east at dawn on Thursday, killing seven civilians, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said.

On the northeastern outskirts of the city, advancing regime troops captured several hilltops overlooking opposition-held areas.

Syrian state television said four children were killed by rebel rocket fire on a school in a western regime-held neighbourhood.

Moscow has come under mounting international pressure over the rising civilian death toll from Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's Russian-backed campaign to take east Aleppo, including Western accusations of possible war crimes.

Seven children were among 71 civilians killed in strikes and regime artillery fire on eastern districts on Tuesday and Wednesday, Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman said.

- Fresh weekend diplomacy -

Opposition shelling on government-held districts of the city, meanwhile, killed at least eight civilians over those two days, according to the British-based monitor, which relies on a network of sources on the ground.

Since the army announced its assault on the city on September 22, Russian and government bombardment on the eastern districts has killed more than 370 people, including 68 children, according to an Observatory toll.

Shelling and rocket fire by myriad rebel and jihadist groups, meanwhile, has killed 68 people in government-held areas.

Several major international efforts have failed to secure a political solution to the war, which has killed more than 300,000 people.

A new diplomatic push will take place this weekend. US Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov are expected to be joined in Lausanne on Saturday by counterparts from Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar -- all backers of Syrian opposition forces.

Neither side has confirmed an invitation to Iran, a key player in the conflict and an ally of Assad.

- 'Political rhetoric' -

Then in London on Sunday, Kerry will likely meet up with his European counterparts from Britain, France and Germany.

The United Nations said Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura had been invited to take part in the talks but it was unclear if he would attend.

Lavrov told CNN in an interview Wednesday that he hoped the discussions in Switzerland could help "launch a serious dialogue" based on the now-defunct US-Russian pact.

The two world powers had worked closely in recent months and reached a deal in mid-September that was billed as the "best chance" to end Syria's bloodshed.

That agreement envisioned a halt to hostilities, increased humanitarian aid to hundreds of thousands of besieged civilians across Syria, and unprecedented coordination between Moscow and Washington against jihadists.

But the truce fell apart after a week, and peace efforts have since struggled to get off the ground.

A French-drafted resolution was shot down by Russia in a stormy UN session last weekend.

Russian President Vladimir Putin hit out at Paris for the vetoed proposal, accusing it of deliberately putting forward a motion "fanning hysteria around Russia."

Putin dismissed accusations of possible war crimes as "political rhetoric" and warned Western countries against imposing sanctions on Russia.

New Zealand on Wednesday presented another draft resolution demanding an end to air strikes on Aleppo.

Aleppo under fire AFP , John SAEKI, Laurence CHU (AFP)

Hopes remain low for a breakthrough to end the Syrian conflict that has displaced millions since the start of the five-year civil war in 2011 Sameer Al-Doumy (AFP/File)

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov (left) and US Secretary of State John Kerry have agreed to hold weekend talks in Lausanne aimed at "creating the conditions for the resolution of the Syrian crisis" Bryan R. Smith (AFP/File)
A customer checks his smartphone app that eases finding a taxi. [Photo/China Daily]

Four Chinese megacities  Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen  recently announced detailed draft regulations on internet car-hailing services.

Under these plans, Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen will have requirements for the vehicle's wheelbase and require that only local drivers enter the service; Guangzhou will also only allow drivers who hold at least a junior high school diploma and own vehicles bought within one year.

The detailed plans, which are still being subjected to public scrutinizing, all show that "stricter regulations on internet car-hailing services" are becoming a consensus, reported Youth Times on Oct. 9.

The new rules have caused instant nationwide repercussions and doubts over their sustained operation.

One internet user jokingly suggests that a lady on blind dates need only ask one simple question  "Are you a part-time ride-hailing driver?"  in order to know the man's financial and living conditions, since only local residents, who have a car with at least a 1.8T engine, a wheelbase over 2,660 mm and a local license plate, can apply to be a car-hailing driver.

But does any Beijinger or Shanghainese with a fancy car want to take the trouble to serve as a driver?

According to statistics released by DidiChuxing, the Chinese-based car-hailing company, only 1/5 of existing certified cars on its platform in Shanghai can meet the wheelbase requirement; of 410,000 Didi-drivers, less than 10,000 have Shanghai hukou, the required household registration certificates.

This means that only 20 percent of certified cars in Shanghai can meet the wheelbase requirement and only 2.5 percent drivers can meet the hukou requirement.

Higher threshold and tougher regulations probably mean that the sharing economy will hit the skids and that hailing a taxi might be still difficult and expensive.

Essentially, local government's drafted measures will not only raise the operation costs but also the threshold for drivers to enter the service.

This may bring about three outcomes.

First, car-hailing services, as a model of the "Internet Plus" business, will still be something for the privileged few.

Up until June this year, Didi had had 300 million registered users, including 15 million certified drivers, and reached a record number of 14 million daily orders.

If local governments were to follow suit in tightening their control, millions of jobs and tens of billions of trade value may disappear.

Second, tightened control is actually against the tide of green transformation in urban areas. Some estimates suggest that the average waiting time for customers hailing a car may increase from five minutes to fifteen minutes and that drivers might choose the more convenient and profitable hailing orders.

The positive influences of online car-hailing, such as promoting efficient transportation and environmental protection, would also be hurt.

Third, stricter regulation in the business will also impact people's daily lives.

The aim is to make people happy, satisfied and convenient, said Liu Xiaoming, vice minister of transport, when discussing the transportation reforms.

If the tightened regulation is implemented and expands to other cities, one can easy to imagine how the public would react.

Fortunately, the policy is still in the pipeline. Local policymakers should think twice and try to regulate car-hailing services in a less invasive way.

Deng Haijian is a political commentator for China.com.cn.

The article was first published in Chinese and translated by GuoYiming.

Opinion articles reflect the views of their authors, not necessarily those of China.org.cn
Yemen funeral air strike 'an apparent war crime': HRW

An air strike on a Yemeni funeral ceremony which killed at least 140 people "is an apparent war crime," Human Rights Watch said on Thursday.

The Saturday strike which Yemen's Huthi rebels blamed on a Saudi-led military coalition was one of the deadliest in the coalition's air campaign against the rebels and their allies.

The coalition has faced mounting international criticism over civilian casualties from its bombing.

Rescue teams and bystanders gather at the site of an airstrike on a funeral hall in the capital Sanaa on October 8, 2016 Mohammed Huwais (AFP/File)

"While military personnel and civilian officials involved in the war effort were attending the ceremony, the clear presence of several hundred civilians strongly suggests that the attack was unlawfully disproportionate," Human Rights Watch said in a statement.

"The funeral strike underscores the urgent need for credible international investigations into alleged laws-of-war violations in Yemen."

The watchdog called on foreign governments including the United States and Britain to immediately suspend arms sales to Saudi Arabia.

"After unlawfully attacking schools, markets, hospitals, weddings and homes over the last 19 months, the Saudi-led coalition has now added a funeral to its ever-increasing list of abuses," said HRW's Middle East and North Africa director Sarah Leah Whitson.

"An independent international investigation of this atrocity is needed as the coalition has shown its unwillingness to uphold its legal obligations to credibly investigate."

Leading rebel officers were among those killed in the strike, the rebel-controlled Saba news agency reported.

Saudi Arabia announced an easing of its blockade of rebel-held areas to allow the evacuation of hundreds of wounded for treatment abroad.

The coalition initially denied responsibility but after condemnation from Western governments, it promised an investigation of the "regrettable and painful" event.

A letter sent to the UN Security Council on Sunday "expressed the kingdom's deep regret" over the "attack", state media reported the following day.

"It also renewed its full respect for and commitment to international humanitarian law and international human rights law, and the emphasis on continuing to ensure the taking of all possible measures to protect civilians and civilian sites in Yemen."

Map of Yemen locating the city of Sanaa, where many civilians were killed in Saudi-led air strikes on October 8
Turkey, Israel to examine building gas pipeline

Israel and Turkey on Thursday agreed to open discussions on building a gas pipeline to pump Israeli gas to Europe, as the Israeli energy minister made the first ministerial visit since a crisis in ties.

Israeli Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz met his Turkish counterpart Berat Albayrak in Istanbul, the highest level official meeting since the two countries normalised ties in June after a 2010 crisis triggered by Israel's deadly storming of a Gaza-bound aid ship.

Until the 2010 crisis, NATO member Turkey had been Israel's key ally in the Muslim world, and the process to normalise relations was strongly backed by the United States.

Israeli Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz speaks to reporters during the World Energy Congress in Istanbul, on October 13, 2016 Ozan Kose (AFP)

Hailing his visit as the start of economic benefits of normalisation, Steinitz said they agreed to start examining the feasibility of building an undersea gas pipeline to pump Israeli gas to Turkish consumers and on to Europe.

"What we decided is to establish immediately a dialogue between our two governments... in order to examine the possibility and the feasibility of such a project," he said.

He said that while Israel was also building regional energy cooperation links with Jordan, Egypt, Cyprus and Greece "the Turkish option is very important".

He added that Israel "will also be glad to see Turkish companies involved in Israeli energy sector" including in the exploration of gas fields.

A fluent English speaker, Albayrak is President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's son-in-law and seen as one of the rising stars of the Turkish government.

The Turkish energy ministry said in a statement meanwhile that the two ministers had agreed "to establish dialogue on exporting natural gas."

- 'Sweetener in relations' -

There remains huge potential for tension between the two sides, with Erdogan seeing himself as a champion of the Palestinian cause and being a strong backer of Hamas.

Israel meanwhile is unlikely to forget Erdogan's past verbal assaults on the Israeli leadership that extended to accusations of "keeping Hitler's spirit alive".

But Turkey, which is hugely dependent on Russia for its energy imports, is keen to diversify supplies and has a close eye on Israel's own developing resources.

Israel is searching for energy partners to develop its Leviathan natural gas field in a bid to make it economically feasible.

"I believe energy is a sweetener in normalising Turkish-Israeli relations," energy expert Necdet Pamir of Bilkent University in Ankara told AFP.

"From Israel's perspective, shipping its gas to Europe through Turkey is the most profitable way," Pamir said. "Turkey is the most rational market for Israel."

Steinitz said Israel has discovered so far approximately 900 billion cubic meters (bcm) of natural gas but further exploration could raise the estimated reserves to around 3,000 bcm.

"This is a lot of gas -- much more than a little country like Israel can consume."

The talks on the proposed Israel-Turkey pipeline come just three days after Russia and Turkey signed an agreement on the construction of the TurkStream pipeline to pump Russian gas to Turkey and Europe.

- 'Token of normalisation' -

The relationship between the two countries plunged to an all time low after the Israeli commando raid on a Gaza-bound ship that killed 10 Turks, prompting Ankara to expel the Israeli ambassador and freeze all defence ties.

The two sides finally agreed in June to end the bitter six-year rift after long-running secret talks in third countries with Israel offering $20 million in compensation, an apology over the raid and permission for Turkish aid to reach Gaza.

Israel and Turkey are now set to return their ambassadors to their posts, with the Israeli foreign ministry due to appoint an envoy to Ankara on October 27.

The deal appeared to be part of a general recalibration of Turkish foreign policy under Prime Minister Binali Yildirim, who took over in May, to limit regional disputes that had multiplied under his predecessor Ahmet Davutoglu including with Russia.

Steinitz described his visit as "a token of this normalisation process that has just started."

The minister said he had also discussed the involvement of Turkish companies in improving the lives of Palestinians in Gaza, insisting this was not against Israel's interests so long as its security was preserved.
Iraq summons Turkish ambassador to protest troop presence

The Iraqi foreign ministry summoned the Turkish ambassador on Thursday to protest the continued presence of Turkish troops in northern Iraq without Baghdad's permission, a ministry spokesman said.

Turkish troops are deployed in the Bashiqa area near the jihadist-held city of Mosul, and Turkey's prime minister has said that they will stay despite Baghdad's demands that they be withdrawn.

The Turkish ambassador was given a "a strongly worded formal note of protest" regarding "the continued presence of Turkish forces near Bashiqa and recent abusive statements from their leadership," spokesman Ahmed Jamal told AFP.

Turkish troops have been deployed near the Iraqi city of Mosul Mustafa Ozer (AFP/File)

Earlier this week, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi to "know your place," and said that he is "not on my level."

And Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said last week that the country's forces would stay "no matter what the Iraqi government in Baghdad says."

Abadi has repeatedly demanded that the Turkish troops be withdrawn and said that they will not take part in the impending operation to recapture Mosul from the Islamic State jihadist group.

The US State Department issued a statement earlier this week that implicitly backed Iraq's position, saying that: "We believe all international forces in Iraq should be there with the approval of and in coordination with the government of Iraq."

Iraqi forces are preparing for the operation to retake Mosul from IS, which is expected to be the toughest and most complex battle of the country's more than two-year war against the jihadists.
World urged to scrap super greenhouse gases at Rwanda summit

Rwanda's President Paul Kagame urged world leaders to rid the world of potent greenhouse gases used in refrigerators and air conditioners, as he opened a high-level meeting in Kigali Thursday.

Envoys from nearly 200 nations are in the Rwandan capital to thrash out an agreement to phase out hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), which were introduced in the 1990s to save the ozone layer -- but turned out to be catastrophic for global warming.

Halting the use of HFCs -- also found in aerosols and foam insulation -- is crucial to meeting the goals to curb the rise of global temperatures agreed in a historic accord drafted in Paris last year.

Delegates attend the official opening of the 28th meeting of the Parties to the Montreal Protocol in Kigali on October 13, 2016 Cyril Ndegeya (AFP)

"We should not allow ourselves to be satisfied with making a little bit of good progress when it is within our power to actually solve the problem," Kagame told the meeting, attended by representatives of 197 countries.

US Secretary of State John Kerry is among the 40 ministers expected.

Kagame, whose small east African nation has put the environment at the heart of its development strategy, said that eradicating HFCs "will make our world safer and more prosperous".

Maxime Beaugrand of the Institute for Governance and Sustainable Development was positive that there would be an agreement Friday to phase out HFCs.

"Negotiations are moving in the right direction. I think we can expect an amendment tomorrow in Kigali and I think it will be sufficiently ambitious," she told AFP.

HFCs predecessors, chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), were discontinued under the ozone-protecting Montreal Protocol when scientists realised the compounds were responsible for the growing hole in the ozone layer, which protects Earth from the Sun's dangerous ultraviolet rays.

However it emerged that HFCs -- while safe for the now-healing ozone -- are thousands of times worse for trapping heat in the atmosphere than carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas.

"(HFCs) are increasing at a rate of 10-15 percent a year," Greenpeace global strategist Paula Carbajal told AFP. "That makes them the fastest-growing greenhouse gas."

According to a study by the Berkeley National Laboratory, residential air conditioning is the cause of the largest growth in HFCs -- and the world is likely to have another 700 million air conditioners by 2030.

"The world room air conditioner market is growing fast with increasing urbanisation, electrification, rising incomes and falling air conditioner prices in many developing economies."

Beaugrand said alternatives to HFCs existed in all refrigeration sectors.

These alternatives "either have less of a warming potential than HFCs or they are natural like ammonia".

Other alternatives are water and gases called hydrofluoroolefins (HFOs) which are a form of HFCs, however some, like Greenpeace, believe these are still too dangerous.

- A gradual phase-down -

Carbajal said HFCs could add as much as 0.1 degrees celsius (0.18 Fahrenheit) to average global temperatures by mid-century, and 0.5 degrees celsius (0.9 F) by 2100.

The Paris climate agreement aims to keep global warming below two degrees celsius, compared with pre-industrial levels, and continued use of HFCs could prove a serious stumbling block to attaining the goal.

"If HFC growth is not stopped, it becomes virtually impossible to meet the Paris goals," said David Doniger of the Natural Resources Defense Council, an environmental advocacy group.

HFCs -- though they are greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide -- are not dealt with under the Paris Agreement but under the Montreal Protocol, adopted in 1987.

Negotiators are weighing various proposals for amending the protocol to freeze HFC production and use, with possible dates for such moves ranging from almost immediately to as late as 2031.

India -- which is a major HFC producer along with China -- backs the later date, while countries in very hot parts of the world where HFC-using air conditioners are in high demand, want temporary exemptions.

Last month, a group of developed countries and companies offered $80 million (72 million euros) to help developing countries make the switch away from HFCs.

"No one, frankly, will forgive you nor me if we cannot find a compromise at this conference because this is one of the cheapest, one of the easiest, one of the lowest hanging fruits in the entire household of climate mitigation," Erik Solheim, head of the UN Environment Programme, told delegates.

Rwandan President Paul Kagame (3rd R) poses with participants during the official opening of the 28th meeting of the Parties to the Montreal Protocol in Kigali on October 13, 2016 Cyril Ndegeya (AFP)
Maldives quits Commonwealth over rights row

The Maldives angrily quit the Commonwealth on Thursday after years of wrangling over its human rights record since the toppling of its first democratically elected leader four years ago.

The troubled honeymoon island nation said it had been treated "unjustly and unfairly" by the bloc, a voluntary association of more than 50 countries, mostly former territories of the British empire.

"The decision to leave the Commonwealth was difficult, but inevitable," said a statement from the foreign ministry.

Flags of the Commonwealth nations fly outside the House of Commons in London on March 10, 2013 Justin Tallis (AFP/File)

The former British protectorate has come under intense international pressure since the controversial conviction of former president Mohamed Nasheed on terrorism charges.

The Commonwealth put Male on notice after Nasheed stood down as president in February 2012 and said he had been forced out in a coup.

It has since criticised the government over its crackdown on dissidents and its controversial judiciary, and sent a special envoy to try to improve the archipelago's rights record.

In its statement Thursday, the Maldives, which had previously threatened to pull out of the bloc, accused the London-based Commonwealth Secretariat of interfering in its affairs.

"The Commonwealth has sought to become an active participant in the domestic political discourse in the Maldives, which is contrary to the principles of the charters of the UN and the Commonwealth," it said.

"The Commonwealth Secretariat seem to be convinced that the Maldives... would be an easy object that can be used, especially in the name of democracy promotion, to increase the organisation's own relevance and leverage in international politics."

The Commonwealth's watchdog committee of foreign ministers last month voiced "deep disappointment at the lack of progress" in Maldives.

It said it would consider suspension at its next gathering in March 2017.

- Hope for return -

In a statement received by AFP, Commonwealth Secretary-General Patricia Scotland said the organisation's members and peoples "will share my sadness and disappointment" at Maldives' decision to quit.

"The Commonwealth Charter reflects the commitment of our member states to democracy and human rights, development and growth, and diversity," she said.

"We will continue to champion these values and to support all member states, especially small and developing states, in upholding and advancing these practically for the enduring benefit of their citizens.

"Therefore, we hope that this will be a temporary separation and that Maldives will feel able to return to the Commonwealth family and all that it represents in due course."

The United States has said democracy is under threat in the strategically located archipelago, which sits on key international shipping lanes.

Washington has criticised the rush trial against Nasheed and demanded his release.

A UN panel has also ruled that Nasheed's imprisonment last year was illegal and ordered the regime of President Abdulla Yameen to pay him compensation.

- Political unrest -

The country of 340,000 Sunni Muslims is famed for its coral-fringed islands but has been gripped by political unrest since the fall of Nasheed and there are regular anti-government protests.

The government faces allegations of corruption as well as cracking down on any dissent while all its opposition leaders are either in exile or in jail.

Nasheed secured political asylum in Britain this year after travelling to London for medical treatment while on prison leave from a controversial 13-year prison sentence.

He travelled to neighbouring Sri Lanka last month to meet with other exiled Maldivian dissidents in a bid to agree on a plan to "legally topple" Yameen.

While dissidents met in Sri Lanka, Maldivian police raided the offices of the Maldives Independent website in the capital Male hours after Al Jazeera aired a documentary accusing Yameen and his government of massive corruption and money laundering.

The country becomes the latest to leave the Commonwealth after Gambia, which quit in October 2013.

The Maldives has come under intense international pressure since the controversial conviction of former president Mohamed Nasheed on terrorism charges Ben Stansall (AFP/File)
Japanese fisherman say painted as 'sadists' in Oscar-winner The Cove

A group of Japanese fishermen have broken their silence over a controversial annual dolphin kill that was the focus of the Oscar-winning documentary "The Cove".

"In the film we are portrayed like a town of criminals," said Yoshiharu Kai, head of the Taiji Fishermen's Union. "It's an interesting film but it's not a truthful film."

This week marked the first time representatives of the southwestern Japanese fishing village of Taiji have spoken to international media about the impact felt in their community after the release of "The Cove".

A cove in Taiji, western Japan

The Louie Psihoyos-directed documentary caused an international uproar following its release in 2009.

The film takes an unflinching look at a practice that dates back 400 years, with close-up scenes of slaughter after dolphins are driven close in to shore, and of disputes between the fishermen and environmental protesters.

Highly publicised and widespread social and international condemnation of the kill followed the release of the film. Concerns were also raised over the methods used by the filmmakers to capture footage used, and about the films general depiction of Japanese people.

Taiji fishermen are responsible for the annual killing of a maximum of 2,000 dolphins out of the 20,000 allowed each year under Japanese law. At the time "The Cove" was being shot they had refused to speak to the filmmakers, with Kai saying Wednesday they had been unsure of their motives at the time.

The fishermen were then dismayed by the way they had been portrayed as "sadistic".

"We have lived side by side with these animals for hundreds of years," said Kai.

Kai is part of a delegation at the 21st Busan International Film festival that includes the mayor of Taiji, Kazutaka Sangen, as well as filmmaker Megumi Sasaki. Her documentary "A Whale of a Tale" has made its world premiere at BIFF and revisits both events surrounding the making of the Oscar-winning film, and what has followed.

Sangen believes international reaction to "The Cove" was fuelled by the "drive in" method the fishermen use to trap the dolphins, a method that brings the creatures close to the shore and is easily captured on film.

"Other town hunt them out to sea," said Sangen. "It seems that if people cant see when animals are killed then there is no controversy. In our town children grow up dreaming of becoming a whaler.

"But the world has changed. We know seeing the slaughter of any animal is not a good thing. We understand these sensitivities now."

The New York-based Sasaki's film takes a measured approach to the major players on both sides of the controversy and was aimed, the director said, to both place the practice of the annual kill into historical and cultural context while encouraging dialogue between the opposing sides on the modern issues being raised.

"I've lived in the States for almost 30 years and what struck me the most is that there is no counter argument about this," said Sasaki. "There is no voice heard from Japan. It is such a touchy, very sensitive subject but I thought why aren't the Japanese saying something?"

Sasaki told AFP she knew she would be courting controversy by making her documentary but that said she felt it was important to present "both sides of the argument".

"'The Cove' was really well made but there are many misconceptions about whaling and the town and the people," she said.

"It is such a powerful film and as a Japanese filmmaker living in the United States I understand the other view and I know where it is coming from. But I think the world should know there is another voice, which we have never heard, in the [western] world. I'm not trying to say what's right or wrong. I want the audience to think and feel and decide."

"A Whale of a Tale" is in the running for the top prize for documentaries at BIFF, with award winners announced when the festival draws to a close on Saturday.
As sun sets on Bhumibol's reign, what next for Thailand?

The passing of Thailand's 88-year-old King Bhumibol Adulyadej, the world's longest-reigning monarch, has thrust the nation into a moment of immense uncertainty.

Although the king's health has been deteriorating for years, the palace has never made public plans for how a royal succession will unfold.

As a result little is known about how the country will cope as it faces its first change of crown in 70 years.

Thailand's King Bhumibol Adulyadej was the world's longest-reigning monarch Pairoj (AFP/File)

Complicating the matter is a draconian royal defamation law that bars criticism of the monarchy and makes it fraught, if not criminal, to publicly discuss a future without him.

Here is what is known about the watershed moment in Thailand's history.

Who is the heir?

The crown prince is his only son, 64-year-old Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn.

Shortly after his father's death was announced, Prime Minister Prayut went on all Thai television stations to say that parliament would be informed later in the evening that Bhumibol had appointed Vajiralongkorn to succeed him.

Bhumibol was also named king in 1946 on the same day that his older brother was found dead in mysterious circumstances with a single gunshot to head.

But in Thailand there is often a gap, sometimes of many years, between assuming the throne and being crowned.

Vajiralongkorn does not enjoy his father's level of popularity and analysts say it is difficult to predict what kind of king he will be.

The heir has spent significant periods of his adult life in Europe, though he has taken on more royal duties at home in the twilight of his father's reign.

How would succession effect ordinary Thais?

An outpouring of grief is expected to be profound.

"With the passing of this monarch, psychologically Thailand will be absolutely transformed," David Streckfuss, an expert on the Thai monarchy, told AFP.

Many Thais worship the king with a near-religious fervour and can be brought to tears when asked to describe their devotion.

His portrait hangs inside many homes and on streets across the nation. Cinemagoers stand for the royal anthem before every screening.

The lese majeste law has shielded the monarch from overt criticism while a well-oiled palace publicity machine extolled him as a semi-divine moral leader and champion of the poor.

Some credit the king with binding the polarised country together across seven decades of political upheaval.

"People have anxieties and apprehensions about the near future because the king's role in the past has been so indispensable and instrumental in seeing Thailand climb from being a backwater village to a modern nation," said Thitinan Pongsudhirak, a politics expert at Chulalongkorn University.

Is unrest likely?

Probably not given the military is still in firm control of the kingdom since its 2014 coup.

The generals have clamped down on dissent and ramped up lese majeste prosecutions, with people behind bars for even tangential criticism of the king.

Paul Chambers, an expert on the Thai military, predicted an "intensified military clampdown and a possible delay to the return to democracy".

The junta has promised elections in late 2017, but its timeline keeps slipping.

Thailand's military has long cast itself as a defender of the monarchy and lese majeste prosecutions have surged under junta rule.

"Most signs point to a stable royal succession," risk consultancy firm Eurasia Group said in a note to clients this week.

What about business?

Given the sensitivity of the issue, government and palace officials did not release any information on plans for the king's passing and the recent health scare caused market jitters.

In his television address, Prayut said Thai government officials and state enterprise employees would hold a one-year mourning period and invited all Thais to do the same.

Schools and businesses are likely to shut down for the coming days.

But the Thai government is aware that any prolonged closure of businesses and government ministries could hit the already struggling economy, especially as peak tourist season begins in December.

It is tradition to keep the bodies of royal family members and Buddhist leaders for months before their eventual cremation.

In the past, royal funerals have involved lavish, large-scale processions of monks and soldiers with thousands of black-cad Thais thronging the streets.

Thailand royal family
Russia to sign S-400 air defence deal with India

Russian President Vladimir Putin will seal a deal with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi during an upcoming visit to deliver Moscow's most advanced air defence system, the Kremlin said Thursday.

"An agreement on the delivery of S-400 'Triumph' anti-missile defence systems and other deals will be signed as a result of the talks," Russian news agencies quoted Putin aide Yuri Ushakov as saying, without specifying a timeframe.

Putin will meet Modi in the Indian state of Goa on Saturday on the sidelines of the BRICS Summit involving the leaders of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.

The S-400 is Russia's most modern air defence system

The Kremlin earlier this week said the talks with Modi would focus on "a wide range of matters of bilateral relations, especially trade and economic ties."

The S-400 is Russia's most modern air defence system and has been deployed to Syria, where Moscow is conducting a bombing campaign in support of long-time ally Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

The system can track some 300 targets and shoot down around three dozen simultaneously over a range of several hundred kilometres.

India has signed a series of key defence deals under Modi as part of a $100 billion upgrade of its Soviet-era military hardware, making it an attractive proposition for arms exporters.
S. Africa's Zuma moves to block graft report

South African President Jacob Zuma moved on Thursday to block a watchdog's potentially explosive report into graft allegations against him, in his latest legal bid to protect his battered reputation.

Zuma, 74, has survived a series of damaging scandals while in office, but has faced increasing criticism as the economy stalls and after the ruling ANC party suffered unprecedented losses in local polls.

Public Protector Thuli Madonsela had been expected to release on Friday her report into allegations that Zuma let a wealthy business family have undue influence over government and were even able to choose ministers.

South African President Jacob Zuma came to power in 2009 but is due to step down in 2019 Rodger Bosch (AFP/File)

"There is an application for an urgent interdict," Zuma's spokesman Bongani Ngqulunga told AFP, giving no further details.

Madonsela's spokesman said the court application was due to be heard Tuesday.

Madonsela, who is celebrated in South Africa for her diligent work unearthing official misconduct, stands down on Saturday after completing her seven-year term in office.

In 2014, she dealt a major blow to Zuma in a report that found he had "unduly benefited" from the refurbishment of his Nkandla rural home -- valued in 2014 at 216 million rand (then $24 million).

Zuma fought the case until being berated by the Constitutional Court and ordered to pay back $500,000 (450,000 euros) of money that had been spent on upgrades including a chicken coop and a swimming pool that was described as a fire-fighting precaution.

- Corrupt influence? -

The Nkandla scandal became a symbol of corruption and greed within the African National Congress and triggered several unsuccessful impeachment bids against Zuma by the opposition.

The president's new legal battle is to seek to block a report into "state capture" -- the alleged corrupt influence of the powerful Gupta business family on government appointments, contracts and state-owned businesses.

The three Gupta brothers, Ajay, Atul and Rajesh, have built a business empire in mining, media, technology and engineering since moving to South Africa in the 1990s.

Madonsela questioned Zuma for four hours earlier this month over the allegations, including the suggestion that deputy finance minister Mcebisi Jonas had been offered a promotion by the Guptas.

"One would think that President Zuma has concluded that the report won't be too friendly on him, that it might contain explosive findings," Richard Calland, political analyst based at the University of Cape Town, told AFP.

Ralph Mathekga, an independent political analyst, described Zuma's action as "abuse of the legal system".

- Political tussles -

"He is under pressure," he said. "He wants to try and bury the report in its current form before it even sees the light of day, which is a complete suppression."

Zuma, 74, endured another bout of criticism this week after Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan, with whom he has repeatedly clashed, was summoned to court on separate graft charges.

Gordhan, a vocal campaigner against corruption within the government, has alleged that the case against him is politically motivated.

The announcement that Gordhan would be prosecuted sent the rand plummeting and sparked investor fears that he would soon be sacked -- a move likely to spell further trouble for South Africa's dire economic health.

Gordhan, an internationally-respected technocrat, was appointed only last year to calm panicked investors after Zuma sacked two finance ministers within four days.

Madonsela will be succeeded by Busisiwe Mkhwebane, currently a senior official at the intelligence agency.

Zuma, who is due to step down in 2019, is also fighting a court order that could reinstate almost 800 corruption charges against him.

The 783 charges relate to alleged corruption, racketeering, fraud and money laundering over a multi-billion dollar arms deal in the 1990s.

South Africa's Public Protector Thuli Madonsela has been widely praised for her diligent work unearthing official misconduct Stefan Heunis (AFP)
Note funny! Andy Murray slams snooping TV crews

Andy Murray told camera crews to stop snooping in his bag on Thursday after his private match notes were exposed on TV during last week's China Open final.

Murray was annoyed that TV cameras zoomed into his bag to reveal handwritten tactical pointers during Sunday's 6-4, 7-6 (7/2) win over Bulgaria's Grigor Dimitrov.

"The camera crews were going right inside my bag to see what was on (the notes)," the British world number two said at the Shanghai Masters.

Britain's Andy Murray in action at the 2016 Shanghai Masters Johannes Eisele (AFP)

"I just asked this week... that I don't mind the camera being on me at the change of ends but just to not be right inside my bag, if possible.

"Hopefully they respect that and it's not a problem."
You are here: Home

The World Tourism Cities Federation (WTCF) has published a report showing that in 2015 the number of Chinese outbound tourists reached 120 million, with a total overseas spending of US$215 billion. China is still the world's biggest outbound travel market and the country with the most overseas consumption on travelling.

According to the report, 76.34 percent of Chinese tourists consider travel to be an important way to improve their quality of life and happiness. The strong growth of China's outbound tourism has contributed substantially to the world's tourism markets.

Paris is a preferred place for Chinese tourists when they plan their long-distance journeys, followed by Rome and Los Angeles.

The report is based on a survey that collected a total of 11,173 questionnaires.

WTCF is a non-governmental organization established in 2012. It now has a membership of 172 cities.

Let's have a look at the top 10 cities for Chinese long-distance outbound travel.

Frankfurt, Germany

Frankfurt, Germany [File photo]

Follow China.org.cn on Twitter and Facebook to join the conversation.
Russia offers to secure rebel evacuation from Syria's Aleppo

Russia said Thursday it was prepared to secure safe passage for rebels to quit Syria's Aleppo but kept up air strikes on the battleground city as world powers readied new truce talks.

In a development demonstrating the perils of journeying in the war-wracked country, at least 17 people -- most of them rebels -- died in a car bomb blast at an opposition checkpoint in northern Aleppo province on Thursday, a monitor said.

The blast hit near the town of Azaz close to the border with Turkey, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, adding that 14 of the dead were rebel fighters. It said the toll could rise.

Jihadist fighters from the former Al-Nusra Front, guard an armament school in Aleppo Omar Haj Kadour (AFP/File)

The Islamic State group has regularly targeted rebel factions with bomb attacks, including an October 6 attack at a border crossing in neighbouring Idlib province that killed 29 rebels.

Syria has been plunged into some of the worst violence of its five-year war since the collapse last month of a truce brokered by Washington and Moscow.

The ensuing surge in fighting has accompanied a large-scale government offensive, backed by Russian air power, to capture the opposition-held half of battered Aleppo.

Russia said Thursday it was willing to give rebels safe passage out of Aleppo, where over 250,000 people are under government siege.

"We are ready to ensure the safe withdrawal of armed rebels, the unimpeded passage of civilians to and from eastern Aleppo, as well as the delivery of humanitarian aid there," Russian Lieutenant General Sergei Rudskoy said in a televised briefing.

Early morning raids in east Aleppo killed at least seven civilians, the Observatory said, and regime forces captured high ground overlooking opposition areas on the northeastern outskirts of the city.

The Observatory also said five children were killed by rebel rocket fire on western regime-held neighbourhoods, with state television saying a school had been hit.

Residents in the west said they had been forced to pull over in their cars to take shelter in buildings because of the barrage of rebel fire.

- Fresh truce talks -

Moscow has come under mounting international pressure over the rising civilian death toll from President Bashar al-Assad's Russian-backed campaign to take east Aleppo, including Western accusations of possible war crimes.

Analysts said Thursday's offer was simply a gambit to relieve the pressure by appearing to present diplomatic alternatives.

"There is no change in the Russian strategy: the goal remains the destruction of rebel presence in Aleppo," said Syria expert Thomas Pierret.

"Blowing hot and cold allows them to reduce the pressure and empower those who want a strictly diplomatic approach to the Syrian question," he told AFP.

Since the army's assault began in late September, Russian and government bombardment has killed more than 370 people, including 68 children, according to an Observatory toll.

Shelling by rebel and jihadist groups, meanwhile, has killed 68 people in government-held areas.

Several major international efforts have failed to secure a political solution to Syria's brutal war, which has cost more than 300,000 lives.

As key powers geared up for a new round of talks, newly-appointed UN chief Antonio Guterres said Thursday it was time to overcome divisions over ending the war.

"Whatever divisions might exist, now it's more important to unite," Guterres said. "It is the moral obligation of us all to stop the suffering of the Syrian people."

US Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov are expected to be joined at talks in the Swiss city of Lausanne on Saturday by their counterparts from Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar -- all backers of Syrian opposition forces.

Lavrov told CNN television in an interview Wednesday that he hoped the discussions in Switzerland could help "launch a serious dialogue" based on the now-defunct US-Russian pact.

- 'Fanning hysteria' -

Washington and Moscow had worked closely in recent months and reached a deal in mid-September that was billed as the "best chance" to end Syria's bloodshed.

But the truce fell apart after a week, and peace efforts have since struggled to get off the ground.

Despite differences over Syria, Russia and Turkey have been pursuing closer ties and Assad welcomed the rapprochement in an interview with Russia's Komsomolskaya Pravda tabloid.

"The only hope that we have as Syria is that Russia can make some changes in the Turkish policy," he said.

Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir, whose country like Turkey supports the opposition and has long called for Assad's ouster, also welcomed the Ankara-Moscow rapprochement.

"We see the reduction in tension between Turkey and Russia as perhaps an opportunity" that could help a solution in Syria, said Jubeir.

A Syrian man carries a child as they await treatment at a hospital in the regime-held part of Aleppo on October 13, 2016 George Ourfalian (AFP)
Trump denies sex assault 'lies,' faces first lady rebuke

Donald Trump savaged US media for reporting "outright lies" that he groped and forcibly kissed women, as First Lady Michelle Obama blasted the Republican nominee in a powerful tirade.

Just 26 days before the American electorate chooses a successor to her husband on November 8, a visibly angry first lady delivered a fiery takedown of the real estate mogul and his "disgraceful" behavior.

"Now is the time for all of us to stand up and say, enough is enough," Obama told a rally for Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton in New Hampshire. "This has got to stop right now."

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump's campaign has threatened to sue The New York Times for publishing the accounts of two women who accused him of groping and kissing them Mandal Ngan (AFP)

Her husband turned up the heat later on Thursday, jetting to the key swing state of Ohio to lash Republicans tight to their sinking ship.

The New York mogul came from a "swamp of crazy" that Republicans had cultivated over decades, Barack Obama told the state where Trump has long held a lead but where a poll on Thursday edged Clinton ahead.

But the 70-year-old Trump was defiant, castigating his accusers as "horrible liars" and accusing Clinton of conspiring in a coordinated media attempt to sabotage his campaign.

At least six women have accused Trump of making unwanted physical advances in accounts reported by The New York Times, NBC, People Magazine and others, most of them after Trump asserted in Sunday's debate with Clinton that he had never sexually assaulted a woman.

With his campaign in free-fall and sliding in the polls, Trump pounded the battleground states of Florida and Ohio.

"These vicious claims about me of inappropriate conduct with women are totally and absolutely false," Trump told a rally in West Palm Beach. "The attacks are orchestrated by the Clintons and their media allies."

Trump said his lawyers were preparing a lawsuit against The New York Times -- which published the accounts of two women who accused him of groping and kissing them -- unless the paper retracts the article.

- 'Disgraceful, intolerable' -

The Times refused to back down.

"We published newsworthy information about a subject of deep public concern," the paper's assistant general counsel David McCraw wrote in a letter to Trump's lawyers.

The women's accusations surfaced after a video emerged of Trump boasting in 2005 of groping women with impunity because he was famous, sending the White House race into unprecedented levels of vulgarity.

He apologized and, trying to stem his bleeding in the national polls to the 68-year-old Clinton, downplayed the comments as "locker room talk" -- a remark the first lady decried.

"This was a powerful individual speaking freely and openly about sexually predatory behavior. And actually bragging about kissing and groping women," Michelle Obama said during her speech.

"No woman deserves to be treated this way. No one deserves this kind of abuse," she added. "This is not normal. It is not politics as usual. This is disgraceful. It is intolerable."

The allegations against Trump suggest a decades-long pattern of sexually inappropriate behavior.

Jessica Leeds, a 74-year-old former businesswoman, told the Times that Trump groped her on a flight in the early 1980s, grabbing her breasts and reaching up her skirt.

"He was like an octopus," she said. "It was an assault."

- 'Tongue down my throat' -

Another accuser, a former writer for People Magazine accused Trump of forcibly kissing her during an interview to mark his wedding anniversary with then-pregnant third wife Melania in 2005.

"I turned around, and within seconds he was pushing me against the wall and forcing his tongue down my throat," Natasha Stoynoff wrote.

Melania Trump threatened the magazine and writer with legal action late Thursday over "false and completely fictionalized" statements. However, she took issue not with the accusations against her husband, but Stoynoff's account of bumping into her on a Manhattan street later.

During an evening rally in Cincinnati, Trump sought to get back on message, blasting Clinton as "corrupt" and repeating his pledge to hire a special prosecutor to investigate her email scandal.

In a sinister note Thursday that critics likened to historical slurs against Jews, he charged that Clinton met "in secret with international banks to plot the destruction of US sovereignty in order to enrich these global financial powers".

The former secretary of state, visiting a campaign field office in San Francisco, briefly addressed the ugliness of the presidential race.

"We cannot let this pessimism, this dark and divisive and dangerous vision of America, take hold in anybody's heart," she said. "There's hardly any part of America that he's not targeted."

A visibly angry US First Lady Michelle Obama has delivered a fiery takedown of Donald Trump and his "disgraceful" behavior Zach Gibson (AFP/File)

The race for the White House Paz Pizarro, Thomas Saint-Circq (AFP)

People listen while Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton speaks at one of her campaign field offices on October 13, 2016, in San Francisco, California Brendan Smialowski (AFP)

Supporters of US Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump gather next to a vehicle before a rally in West Palm Beach, Florida on October 13, 2016 Leila Macor (AFP)

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton speaks during a rally at Ohio State University in Columbus Timothy A. Clary (AFP)
British FM eyes 'military options' in Syria

Britain should consider "military options" in Syria but they are still a distant prospect and could only happen in a coalition with the United States, foreign minister Boris Johnson said Thursday.

"It is right now we should be looking again at the more kinetic, military options," said Johnson, who is due to host talks on the conflict with other Western powers on Sunday.

"Whether that means we can get a coalition together fore more kinetic action now, I can't prophesise," he told a parliamentary committee.

British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson delivers a speech on the first day of the Conservative party annual conference at the International Convention Centre in Birmingham, central England, on October 2, 2016 Oli Scarff (AFP/File)

The British parliament in 2013 voted against air strikes on President Bashar al-Assad's forces.

It has since voted to approve air strikes but only against Islamic State jihadist group targets in Syria.

Some lawmakers have recently called for Britain to impose a no-fly zone in Syria to prevent Russian and Syrian forces bombing Aleppo.

Referring to military options, Johnson said: "We must be realistic about how these work and what is deliverable.

"You can't do anything without a coalition, without doing it with the Americans. We're still a pretty long day's march from getting that.

"It doesn't mean that discussions aren't going on. They are," he said.

"Most people, including John Kerry, feel that the process of discussion with the Russians has basically run out of road," he said.

Kerry and his Russian counterepart Sergei Lavrov are due to meet in Lausanne on Saturday, in talks also joined by their counterparts from Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar.

Prime Minister Theresa May's spokeswoman said the British premier would "weigh up very carefully" any military or other options put forward to end the crisis in Syria.

"Clearly when the government and parliament considered this before, there were concerns about a range of action.

"Since then, obviously the conflict has continued and we started taking action against Daesh," she said, using an Arabic term for Islamic State jihadists.

"But I think the prime minister would weigh up very carefully any options that were put forward and the potential consequences of those," she said.

Russia said Thursday it was prepared to secure safe passage for rebels to quit Syria's Aleppo but kept up air strikes on the battleground city as world powers readied new truce talks.

Syria has been plunged into some of the worst violence of its five-year war since the collapse last month of a truce brokered by Washington and Moscow.

The ensuing surge in fighting has accompanied a large-scale government offensive, backed by Russian air power, to capture the opposition-held half of battered Aleppo.
ICC prosecutor 'deeply concerned' by Philippines killings

The International Criminal Court's chief prosecutor said on Thursday she was "deeply concerned" about thousands of alleged killings in the Philippines, warning that those responsible could face prosecution.

"I am deeply concerned about these alleged killings and the fact that public statements from high officials of the... Philippines seem to condone such killings," Fatou Bensouda said in a statement issued in The Hague.

Bensouda added she was also concerned that high officials "seem to encourage State forces and civilians alike to continue targeting these individuals with lethal force."

The International Criminal Court's chief prosecutor says she is concerned that high officials "seem to encourage State forces and civilians alike to continue targeting these individuals with lethal force" Ted Aljibe (AFP/File)

Since July Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte has overseen a brutal crackdown on illegal drugs that has left more than 3,300 people dead, both at the hands of police as well as in unexplained circumstances, according to official data.

The United Nations, the European Union, the United States and international human rights groups have all raised concerns over alleged extrajudicial killings.

Bensouda issued a warning: "Let me be clear: any person in the Philippines who incites or engages in acts of mass violence including by ordering, requesting, encouraging or contributing... to the commission of crimes within the jurisdiction of the ICC is potentially liable for prosecution before the Court."

The acid-tongued Duterte has rejected the allegations and called the campaign an internal affair of the Philippines.

He has also branded US President Barack Obama a "son of a whore" and UN chief Ban Ki-moon a "fool" over their criticism.

- 'The court has jurisdiction' -

Duterte last month challenged Ban and international human rights experts to visit the country, both to investigate the allegations and to face him in a public debate.

On Wednesday Manila formally issued an invitation to UN Special Rapporteur Agnes Callamard to investigate the killings.

The government had initially rebuffed Callamard when she announced plans to take up Duterte's challenge.

Callamard has since told AFP she would discuss with Manila the date and scope of a fact-finding mission, state guarantees for her freedom of movement and inquiry, and assurances about the safety of mission members and their interview subjects.

Duterte has insisted that he and his police forces have done nothing illegal, and that law enforcers have been forced to shoot and kill after suspects put up a fight.

The Philippines has been an ICC member state since November 2011 "and as such, the Court has jurisdiction over genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity committed on the territory or by nationals of the Philippines," Bensouda said.

She added that her office "will be closely following developments in the Philippines in the weeks to come and record any instance of incitement or resort to violence with a view to assessing whether a preliminary examination into the Philipines needs to be opened."

The ICC's prosecutor has to the power to ask the Hague-based court's judges to authorise a preliminary probe, which gathers evidence to see whether a full-blown investigation -- which could lead to an eventual trial -- should be opened.
Top adviser to Israeli prime minister resigns

A top diplomat and longtime adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has resigned from his post for personal reasons, the foreign ministry announced on Thursday.

Dore Gold has served as director general of Israel's foreign ministry since June 2015 and has been a close adviser to Netanyahu for more than two decades.

The ministry statement did not provide further details of why he was resigning.

Dore Gold has served as director general of Israel's foreign ministry since June 2015 and has been a close adviser to Netanyahu for more than two decades Thomas Coex (AFP/File)

"I would like to thank Prime Minister Netanyahu for his confidence in me," the statement quoted Gold as saying.

"As in the past, I will make myself available to the prime minister's needs in any capacity he sees fit."

Netanyahu, who also holds the post of foreign minister, praised the "important contribution" made by Gold to reinforce relations between Israel and the international community, including in Africa.

"Dore has been at my side for 25 years and I am sure he will remain available for any (future) mission," he said in a statement.

Netanyahu's office later announced that the prime minister had chosen career diplomat Youval Rotem to replace Gold.

Rotem is a former ambassador to Australia and the ex-head of the cabinet of the foreign minister.

Gold's resignation comes at a crucial time for Israeli diplomacy.

Israeli leaders are concerned US President Barack Obama will seek to lay out parameters for a resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict before he leaves office in January.
DRCongo warlord 'not scapegoat for all child soldiers'

Former Congolese warlord Thomas Lubanga should not have to pay reparations to all child soldiers conscripted into the country's brutal northeastern conflict, his lawyer told war crimes judges Thursday.

"That would turn Thomas Lubanga into a scapegoat for the phenomenon of child soldiers in Ituri," lawyer Jean-Marie Biju-Duval said.

He was speaking on the second and final day of hearings at the International Criminal Court seeking to determine the reparations to be paid to support projects to help rehabilitate the victims.

Former Congolese warlord Thomas Lubanga was found guilty in 2012 of abducting children -- boys and girls -- as young as 11 and press-ganging them into his Union of Congolese Patriots in the Democratic Republic of Congo Jerry Lampen (Pool/AFP/File)

Lubanga was found guilty in 2012 of abducting children -- boys and girls -- as young as 11 and press-ganging them into his Union of Congolese Patriots (UPC) in the eastern Ituri region of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

He was jailed for 14 years in a sentence later upheld on appeal.

But the court also ruled that Lubanga is personally liable for reparations to his victims, who at the time of the crimes in 2002-2003 were all under the age of 15.

"Which child soldiers?" asked Lubanga's lawyer, saying it would be difficult to identify victims and risk reviving tensions in Ituri, which "since the late 1990s... like all of the eastern DRC had been overwhelmed by the phenomenon of child soldiers."

Experts say most of these former child fighters are "often forgotten, living the consequences of stigmatisation."

Lubanga, who is currently in a DRCongo jail has proposed through his lawyers to take part in a "traditional reconciliation ceremony."

Victims' representative Luc Walleyn said he was "pleased with this announcement as it seems to imply that Mr Lubanga is finally admitting the reality of recruitment of children under 15 years."

The reparations case was opened in 2012, but has bogged down as lawyers and experts have wrestled with the best way of ensuring that the victims -- many of whom are now in their 30s and have children of their own -- can be helped.

The Trust Fund for Victims, an independent body set up to help administer ICC reparations, is seeking approval from the court for a three-year plan of projects to help rehabilitate the victims.

It has set aside 1 million euros ($1.1 million) to fund projects aimed at "reconciling the victims with their families and affected communities".
As Trump fights assault allegations, gender gap widens

Even before women started coming forward to accuse Donald Trump of sexual assault, the Republican candidate with a record of misogynistic talk was no hero with female voters.

Now, the gender gap in US presidential politics is set to be its widest yet as women swarm in support of Hillary Clinton and her bid to become the first female US president.

First Lady Michelle Obama issued a rallying cry Thursday for women to fight Trump at the ballot box, calling his sexually aggressive comments about women "disgraceful" and "intolerable."

If only women voted on November 8, on projection argues that the blue associated with Clinton's Democratic Party would cover more than 40 of the 50 US states Jessica Kourkounis (Getty/AFP/File)

"While our mother and grandmothers were often powerless to change their circumstances, today we as women have all the power we need to determine the outcome of this election," Obama told a rally to cheers.

"We have knowledge. We have a choice. We have a vote."

But even before this week's explosive allegations of impropriety, polls suggest that Trump had lost the women's vote by a wide margin.

A projection out this week illustrated the fault line in stark fashion: if only women voted on November 8, the blue associated with Clinton's Democratic Party would cover more than 40 of the 50 US states.

Clinton would capture 450 of the 538 votes in the electoral college, which decides who becomes president, according to the projection by pollster Nate Silver of the news website FiveThirtyEight.com.

Conversely, if only men were to cast ballots, the bright red of Trump's Republicans would spill far enough to earn him 350 electoral votes.

Part of the explanation, said Susan Carroll, professor of political science and women's and gender studies at Rutgers University in New Jersey, is that Trump never really tried to appeal to women voters.

His efforts, she said, essentially amounted to "a couple of little token things on child care" and inviting his daughter Ivanka to speak at the Republican convention.

"That's been pretty much it," said Carroll, who is also a scholar at the Center for American Women and Politics.

Instead, Carroll said, Trump has largely reached out to men, particularly white, middle-class males without a college degree -- the kind likely to have suffered in a changing global economy that draws manufacturing jobs from the US, and who are particularly apt to embrace Trump's platform promising more work and denouncing free trade deals.

- Male 'comfort' in Trump -

With Trump's campaign stumbling from one disaster to the next and the man himself practically at war with leaders of the Republican Party that nominated him, Clinton is comfortably ahead.

The latest Real Clear Politics polling average puts the margin at six points across the country, and the latest polls show her ahead in a slew of must-win states for Trump.

But the gender gap is startling.

Among women voters Clinton looks unbeatable. Early October polls consistently give her a double-digit lead over Trump and in some cases a margin of 20-plus points.

But the trash-talking New York real estate developer holds a strong lead among men. Here, too, the difference is huge: as many as 12 points in a Quinniapac University survey, for instance.

One factor that helps explain Trump's popularity among men is this: many seem to like his aura of male dominance and monetary success.

A poll out this week found that 45 percent of Trump supporters agree with this statement: "These days society seems to punish men just for acting like men." Among Clinton backers the proportion was 34 percent.

Silver, in an article accompanying the all-men and all-women electorate projection, acknowledged it was an intellectual experiment.

"But it seems fair to say that, if Trump loses the election, it will be because women voted against him," he said.

Historically, since the 1980s American women have tended to vote Democrat anyway and men identify more as Republican.

And as far back as her failed 2008 presidential bid, Clinton has built up a strong base among women, and the gender gap would have grown this year and perhaps set a record no matter who her opponent was, Carroll said.

"This might have been likely even it had not been Trump," she added. Trump has just made it easier.

Donald Trump supporters in Fresno, California Spencer Platt (Getty/AFP/File)

In an effort to reach out to women voters, Ivanka Trump met with the female politicians to promote her father's proposals on child care Chip Somodevilla (Getty/AFP/File)
Egypt's Sisi defends UN Syria vote amid Saudi discord

President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on Thursday defended Egypt's decision to vote for a UN resolution on Syria strongly opposed by Saudi Arabia, in a rare public dispute between the allies.

Cairo voted in favour of a Russian-drafted resolution on Syria at the UN Security Council on Saturday, angering Riyadh, one of Sisi's main backers since he toppled Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in 2013.

Two days later, Cairo announced Saudi oil giant Aramco halted petroleum shipments for October, which were part of a deal signed in April for Aramco to deliver 700,000 tonnes of products monthly to Egypt.

Cairo voted in favour of a Russian-drafted resolution on Syria at the UN Security Council on Saturday, angering Riyadh, one of Egypt President Sisi's main backers since he toppled Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in 2013 Timothy A. Clary (AFP/File)

Riyadh's UN envoy Abdullah al-Muallimi described as "painful" the fact that Senegal and Malaysia were "closer to the Arab consensus" on Syria than Egypt, the Arab representative at the security council.

"Some commentators thought that halting the shipment of petroleum products was a response to that issue (Egypt's UN vote)," Sisi said in a speech aired on state television.

"I say no; take note that this deal is commercial."

Still, he did not offer an explanation as to why the deliveries were halted, and Aramco has yet to comment on its decision.

"We don't know what the situation is with these companies," Sisi said commenting on the halted shipments, adding that "we have taken the necessary procedures and there won't be problems in petroleum products."

"We are very, very careful about our historical relations with our brothers in the Gulf," Sisi said, "but in the context where we respect our sovereignty, together."

Sisi said there was "an attempt to sabotage Egypt's relations and isolating it," without elaborating.

"If you want real sovereignty in decision-making, nations that are sovereign in their decisions suffer, suffer a lot," said Sisi.
Gulf, Turkey bemoan UN inaction on Aleppo

Turkey's foreign minister and his Arab counterparts in the Gulf on Thursday condemned "indiscriminate" air strikes on Syria's Aleppo and expressed "deep regret" at the UN's inability to stop the raids.

The concerns came in a statement closing a meeting in the Saudi capital between Ankara's Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu and his counterparts from the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council.

Russian and Syrian warplanes are backing a large-scale offensive by Syrian government forces against rebel-controlled east Aleppo.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu (L) speaks with Saudi Arabia's Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir during a meeting with foreign ministers of the GCC in the Saudi capital Riyadh, on October 13, 2016 Fayez Nureldine (AFP)

More than 70 civilians died on Tuesday and Wednesday alone in air strikes and regime artillery fire on eastern Aleppo districts, a monitoring group said.

"Ministers condemned the escalation of military operations in Aleppo by the regime and its supporters through indiscriminate air raids against the civilian population and infrastructure," the GCC-Turkey communique said.

New Zealand, one of 10 non-permanent UN Security Council members, on Wednesday presented a draft resolution demanding an end to air attacks in Aleppo.

The council earlier failed to adopt two resolutions on a ceasefire in Syria, one of which was vetoed by Russia during a stormy meeting at the weekend.

Gulf ministers and their Turkish counterpart "expressed their deep regret for the inability of the UN Security Council to make a decision to stop the air campaign and the bombing of civilians in Aleppo", their statement said.

The foreign ministers of GCC members Saudi Arabia and Qatar, along with Cavusoglu, are to join US Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in the Swiss city of Lausanne on Saturday for the latest diplomatic push to settle the conflict.

Despite differences over Syria, Russia and Turkey have been pursuing closer ties.

Ankara has staunchly backed Syria's opposition, as does the GCC, and both see no future for Syria's President Bashar al-Assad.

- Like-minded -

At a news conference, Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir said the Gulf views the Ankara-Moscow rapprochement positively.

"We see the reduction in tension between Turkey and Russia as perhaps an opportunity" that could help a solution in Syria.

"Turkey views the situation in Syria exactly the way we do."

Cavusoglu said a normalisation of ties does not mean Turkey will change its position on Assad, "but having a good dialogue is always better than not".

Ministers expressed concern about the use of "sectarian militia forces" as part of an imminent Iraqi operation to retake that country's Mosul city from the Islamic State group jihadists.

UN human rights chief Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein has said there was strong evidence of atrocities by the Iran-backed Ketaeb Hezbollah,ok one of the main militias that fought alongside security forces to recapture another Iraqi city, Fallujah, earlier this year.

"If these militia are going to have a role in Mosul then I think this is going to be a catastrophe," Jubeir told reporters.

In their statement, the GCC and Turkey also emphasised the goal of establishing a free trade area "as soon as possible".

Turkey's Economy Minister Nihat Zeybekci attended the Riyadh talks, part of a regular dialogue between the two sides.

Saudi Arabia has become an increasingly close ally of Turkey.

The kingdom's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Nayef met last month in Turkey with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Cavusoglu told reporters that Erdogan "is shortly going to visit Saudi Arabia" but the date has not been finalised.
Pinterest tops 150 mln monthly users

Pinterest on Thursday announced that the number of monthly users soared in the past year to top 150 million, with most of that growth coming from outside the United States.

Pinterest grew 50 percent from a year ago, with 80 million of its "active Pinners" not from the US.

Co-founder and chief executive Ben Silbermann said in a blog post that he thought the growth particularly impressive given that Pinterest doesn't consider itself a social network.

"Pinterest is more of a personal tool than a social one," co-founder and chief executive Ben Silbermann said Lionel Bonaventure (AFP/File)

"Pinterest is more of a personal tool than a social one. People don't come to see what their friends are doing," Silbermann said.

"Instead, they come to Pinterest to find ideas to try, figure out which ones they love, and learn a little bit about themselves in the process."

People go to Pinterest for inspiration and ideas, and with each new user, software at the service gets more data with which to personalize recommendations, according to the San Francisco-based company.

Pinterest said it serves up more than 10 billion recommendations daily, double the amount delivered a year ago.

The company also boasted being an online venue for more than a million businesses, along with tens of thousands of advertisers.

Pinterest is a virtual bulletin board platform, with users decorating their boards with pictures showcasing interests in a variety of areas, including food, fashion and travel.

Pinterest sees itself as being positioned at the crossroads of social networking and online search, with users consulting it when seeking out products or services.

Instead of coming to Pinterest to see photos of friends, people come with "commercial intent" that puts the site in an ideal position to display native -- or disguised -- advertising for trips, clothing or other offerings, according to company president Tim Kendall.

Pinterest recently introduced video ads as it moved to cash in on a growing appetite for videos at the popular online bulletin board.

In June, the company unveiled new features to facilitate shopping on the site, as the platform pushes to become an e-commerce hub.

The offerings included a virtual shopping bag that users can fill as they cruise bulletin boards.
 Flash

Before moving to China, my favorite hideaway was Hawaii, so I was delighted to learn China has its own Hawaii  southernmost Hainan Province.

A Han Dynasty (206 BC - AD 220) emperor established a military garrison on Hainan Island, the largest island of Hainan Province, in 110 BC. Sun Yat-sen recommended the establishment of a province in the region in 1906, but this did not happen until 1988, the year we moved to China.

Over three times the size of Hawaii's largest island, Hainan Island's natural and cultural diversity is breathtaking  white coral sand beaches, coconut plantations, hot springs, rare birds, and wildlife such as the clouded leopard.

Our first trip to Hainan was in January 1994, when we drove 6,000 km around South China to gear up for our 40,000 km drive to Tibet five months later. We packed our van with food, clothes, bedding and the boys' schoolbooks and headed south. We soon realized why officials had discouraged us from making the trip.

China has excellent highways today, but in 1994 it was like driving on the moon. I averaged only 20 to 25 mph even on highways. In one village, I crawled so slowly over the potholes and ruts that a senior villager grinned as she passed me on her rusty bicycle.

We learned that privacy is elusive in a nation of 1.3 billion people. Even in the remotest woods, every time we set up camp, locals appeared seemingly from thin air and squatted in a circle around us  though at a polite distance  to watch us cook, eat and prepare for bed. When some obviously poor farmers shyly handed us fruit and vegetables I thought they were selling them, but not so. They were giving us the food because they thought our meal too austere. Although the driving was exhausting, I was re-energized daily by the hospitality and openness of the people we encountered.

Bill Brown and his two kids on the beach at Hainan's beautiful coastal city of Sanya.

At 1 am on the third day, we rode the car ferry to Hainan Island and checked into Haikou's Overseas Chinese Hotel. We looked forward to the first sleep in days in a warm bed  but it wasn't warm. A cold front had hit Haikou (about 10 degrees centigrade), and the hotel had no heating because, as the shivering maid explained, "It's never cold in Haikou." So we warmed the room with Sue's hair dryer.

The following day we spent 12 hours driving 170 km to Hainan's first tourist resort, Dongjiao Coconut Plantation, where we stayed in a quaint Polynesian hut nestled midst coconut trees. Energetic grannies hawked fresh coconut juice, tousled our towheaded sons' hair, and debated what province these strange Chinese were from. I was delighted to learn that many spoke the Minnan dialect common in Xiamen and Taiwan. When I spoke a few phrases in Minnan they acted like I was a long lost relative  albeit a strange one.

Bill Brown and his son feed a monkey on the highlands of Five Finger Mountain City.

After repairing a flat tire the next morning (we had four or five every week), I spent 11 hours driving the 160 km to Xinglong, and its "hot springs famous at home and abroad." We stopped for lunch in a village where young women stood in the middle of the road waving towels to attract tour bus drivers to their little diner. Even the simplest dishes were expensive, but the portions were generous, the food delicious  and the bill was half what I expected! I told the girl she'd miscalculated and she grinned and said, "Menu prices are for rich tour groups, not for friends." In appreciation, I took photos of the girls with our sons and later mailed them copies.

Our sons had long anticipated visiting Monkey Island, which we reached by ferry, but which today has China's longest over-water cable car (2,138 meters). We thought we'd have to search for the macaques but they came after us instead. When we ran out of peanuts, the monkeys climbed over the boys' jackets and pawed their pockets, scaring my son Matthew. We raced for the gate, macaques on our tail.

We bought two oysters from fishermen, who pried them open and presented each boy with a pearl, which I thought fitting. Whereas Americans say a child is "the apple of my eye," Chinese say he or she is "a bright pearl in my palm."

Bill Brown's sons take a photo with two Hainan locals of the Li ethnic minority.

In Hainan's beautiful coastal city of Sanya, the boys built castles of its fine white sand and we snorkeled amidst tropical fish in crystal blue waters. The highlight was chatting with fishermen, helping them haul in their nets and sampling their catch.

After Sanya, we went to see the deer in the Datian Nature Reserve and drove to the highlands of Five Finger Mountain City. There we spent three days enjoying lush forests and waterfalls, Li and Miao tribal villages, and the otherworldly Five Finger Mountain.

I was thrilled to learn that the world's third largest crystal quarry was just north of Five Finger Mountain. I've collected rocks since I was six, so we sifted the red clay with trowels (which I keep on hand) and found several crystals for my 400 kg collection in Xiamen University.

I'd have happily stayed in Hainan a month but school was starting, so we returned to Xiamen via Guangxi and Chairman Mao's birthplace in Hunan, following the Long March route for part of the trip  but I knew I'd return to Hainan many times.

And like Hawaii, Hainan has been in my blood ever since. Aloha, Hainan!

DR. BILL BROWN is a professor at the Xiamen University MBA Center and Academic Director of its OneMBA program.
Is S.Africa's graft watchdog about to lose its teeth?

South Africa's fearless corruption fighter is to step down at the weekend, sparking fears the war on graft she has led for seven years might now run out of steam.

Thuli Madonsela, whose term expires Saturday, has worked with such vigour and effectiveness that President Jacob Zuma, long her number one target, moved Thursday to block her potentially explosive report into new graft allegations against him.

The post of "public protector" was created in 1995 with a mission, according to the constitution, to "strengthen democracy by investigating and redressing improper and prejudicial conduct, maladministration and abuse of power in state affairs."

Thuli Madonsela, a 54-year-old lawyer, took up the job of public protector in 2009, a few months after South Africa's current President Jacob Zuma came to power, and has since proved herself to be an anti-graft force to be reckoned with Marco Longari (AFP/File)

The office wields investigative powers independent of the public prosecutor, although it operates under a tight budget.

Madonsela, a 54-year-old lawyer, took up the job in 2009, a few months after Zuma came to power, and has since proved herself to be an anti-graft force to be reckoned with.

"She clearly raised the profile of this office, balancing high profile cases like Nkandla and defending ordinary people," Judith February, a researcher at the Institute for Security Studies, told AFP.

In 2014, Madonsela dealt a major blow to Zuma in a report that found he had "unduly benefited" from the taxpayer-funded refurbishment of his Nkandla rural home -- valued in 2014 at 216 million rand (then $24 million).

In the face of fierce pressure, she allied herself with an opposition lawsuit which culminated last month in Zuma's saying he had paid back the equivalent of over $500,000 (450,000 euros).

In so doing, "she used legal ways and pushed for democratic institutions to work," said February, adding that Madonsela had managed to increase public trust in her office.

Throughout her term, Madonsela has kept the president in her sights.

- From Nkandlagate to Guptagate -

No sooner was the "Nkandlagate" battle won than she began to investigate the the allegedly corrupt influence of the powerful Gupta business family on government appointments, contracts and state-owned businesses.

It was in this context that she questioned Zuma for more than four hours last week.

"I leave a little (more) cynical about human beings," she told the News24 website.

"I now listen to everyone with a pinch of salt, because honestly I have learnt that humans just lie with a straight face," she said.

Madonsela, who plans to take a year's sabbatical, passes her baton to Busisiwe Mkhwebane, another lawyer who currently works in the ministry of state security.

Mkhwebane, 46, has already said she will prioritise investigating issues surrounding the needs of the poor over state corruption, a position that has alarmed the opposition.

"Thuli Madonsela showed that we can do both!" insisted February.

At a time when public prosecutors are suspected of being directly influenced by Zuma -- notably over a decision to charge Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan over alleged graft -- many analysts are already worried that the office of the public protector, a pillar of South Africa's young democracy, is being deliberately weakened.
Israel slams UNESCO over 'Occupied Jerusalem'

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu blasted UNESCO for holding a vote Thursday on "Occupied Palestine" saying the Paris-based UN cultural body has lost its legitimacy.

The resolutions put forward by several Arab countries including Egypt, Lebanon and Algeria, were adopted at committee stage and are to be submitted Tuesday to UNESCO's executive body.

Participants said 24 votes were cast in favour and six against with 26 abstentions and two absentees.

Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu blasted UNESCO over its vote on "Occupied Palestine", saying the Paris-based UN body had "lost what legitimacy it once had" Gali Tibbon (AFP/File)

The resolutions refer to "Occupied Palestine" and aim to "safeguard the Palestinian cultural heritage and the distinctive character of East Jerusalem", according to a text seen by AFP.

"With this absurd decision, UNESCO has lost what legitimacy it once had," Netanyahu said in a statement.

The text of the resolutions refer to Israel as an "occupying power".

The US also voiced displeasure saying it "strongly opposed these resolutions."

"We are deeply concerned about these kinds of recurring politicized resolutions that do nothing to advance constructive results on the ground and we don't believe they should be adopted," State Department deputy spokesman Mark Toner said.

The status of Jerusalem is the thorniest issue of the decades-long Palestinian conflict.

Israel captured east Jerusalem during the 1967 war and later annexed it -- in a move not recognised by the international community -- declaring all of the city its unified capital.

The Palestinians see east Jerusalem as the capital of their promised future state.

Thursday's vote comes six months after UNESCO adopted in April a resolution on the flashpoint Al-Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem, that failed to mention the site's Jewish name of the Temple Mount.

"To say that Israel has no connection to the Temple Mount and Western Wall is like saying China has no connection to the Great Wall of China or Egypt has no connection to the pyramids," Netanyahu said Thursday, echoing remarks he made in April.

"However, I believe that the historical truth will prevail," he added.

The president of the Israeli Knesset, or parliament, Yuli Edelstein, said on Twitter: "If Jews have no links to holy sites, UNESCO and the UN have no links to history and reality."

Opposition chief Isaac Herzog denounced on his Facebook page "those who seek to rewrite history".
UNESCO risks fresh Israel anger with Jerusalem resolutions

UNESCO's decision-making body will next week consider two new resolutions on "Occupied Palestine", six months after a similar text angered Israel.

The two resolutions, put forward by several Arab countries including Egypt, Lebanon and Algeria, were adopted Thursday at committee stage by the Paris-based organisation.

Participants said 24 votes were cast in favour and six against with 26 abstentions and two absentees.

The Temple Mount, or Al-Aqsa compound, in east Jerusalem, which was taken by Israel in the 1967 Six-Day War and later annexed in a move not recognised internationally, has long been a flashpoint in the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians Ahmad Gharabli (AFP/File)

In general, the 58 member states of the UN cultural, scientific and educational body's Executive Board vote in line with the decisions taken by committees.

The resolutions refer to "Occupied Palestine" and aim to "safeguard the Palestinian cultural heritage and the distinctive character of East Jerusalem", according to a text seen by AFP.

Israel is referred to throughout as the "occupying power".

The terms are the same as those used in a resolution mid-April by UNESCO's Executive Board.

On that occasion, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu slammed the resolution as "yet another absurd UN decision".

He said it "ignores the unique historic connection of Judaism to the Temple Mount" by referring to the site by its Arabic name, the Al-Aqsa mosque compound.

However, a Palestinian diplomatic source said the new resolutions submitted refer to the "importance of Jerusalem's Old City and its walls for the three monotheistic religions".

France, which was strongly criticised by Israel for supporting the controversial resolution in April, abstained on Thursday.
Dubai port titan invests in futuristic Hyperloop train

Shipping port industry colossus DP World Group of Dubai on Thursday joined backers of a US startup working on the futuristic super-speedy train concept Hyperloop.

DP World Group, the third-largest port operator in the world, led a $50 million round of investment in Hyperloop One, according to the company.

A breakdown of the funding was not disclosed, but Hyperloop One said that latest round brought to $160 million the amount of financing raised since it was founded in 2014.

A Hyperloop tube is displayed during the first test of the propulsion system on May 11, 2016 in Las Vegas, Nevada John Gurzinski (AFP/File)

DP World Group recently announced it is exploring the potential to use a Hyperloop system to move containers between ships docked at the port of Jebel Ali to a new inland depot in Dubai.

The fresh investment came with DP World Group chief executive Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem taking a seat on Hyperloop Ones board of directors.

"We continue to seek opportunities to invest in and utilize our expertise to develop disruptive technology, Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem said in a release.

"We are exploring many innovations in our sector."

Hyperloop One said that Summa Group chairman Ziyavudin Magomedov was also joining the startup's board.

The private holding company was described as having significant investments in port logistics, engineering, construction, telecommunications and the oil and gas sectors

Hyperloop One planned the first demonstration of a full Hyperloop system in the first quarter of next year.

With a team of nearly 200 brilliant employees, the company is leading the way in the development of Hyperloop technology and we are on track to show the world our full system early next year," said Hyperloop One chief executive Rob Lloyd.

The startup also announced it has brought on a new finance executive with internet industry credentials as it worked to polish an image tarnished by a nasty legal battle with co-founder Brogan BamBrogan.

BamBrogan accused former colleagues of nepotism, threats and mismanagement, igniting a drama at a startup devoted to revolutionizing transport systems.

Earlier this year, Hyperloop One held its first public test in the desert outside Las Vegas, trying out engine components designed to rocket pods carrying people or cargo through tubes at speeds of 700 miles per hour (1,125 kilometers) or more.

The company one of the startups with its site set on realizing a futuristic vision for transportation at near-supersonic speeds laid out three years ago by billionaire Elon Musk, the entrepreneur behind electric car company Tesla and private space exploration endeavor Space X.

Instead of developing the idea himself, Musk made freely available his research into the feasibility of getting people or cargo places at unprecedented speeds by firing them in pods through low-pressure tubes.
Verizon says massive Yahoo hack could impact deal

Verizon said Thursday the massive breach affecting 500 million Yahoo customers could have a "material" effect on the $4.8 billion deal to acquire key assets of the Internet group.

The comments from Verizon general counsel Craig Silliman suggest the US telecom giant could seek to reduce the purchase price or walk away from the deal.

"I think we have a reasonable basis to believe right now that the impact is material and we're looking to Yahoo to demonstrate to us the full impact." Silliman told a group of reporters.

Verizon Communications Inc is close to a revised deal to buy Yahoo Inc's core internet business for $250 million to $350 million less than the original agreed price of $4.83 billion.

"If they believe that it's not then they'll need to show us that."

The use of the term "material" by Verizon would suggest a substantive change in the value of Yahoo that was not previously known, which could allow the telecom group to lower its offer or scrap the deal.

Yahoo last month announced the hack in late 2014 affecting some 500 million users worldwide, a fresh blow to the faded internet star. It said the attack was likely "state sponsored," although some analysts questioned the source.

Responding to the Verizon comments, a Yahoo spokesman said in an emailed statement: "We are confident in Yahoo's value and we continue to work towards integration with Verizon."

Yahoo agreed in July to sell its core assets to Verizon for $4.8 billion, ending a 20-year run as an independent company for the internet pioneer.

The deal would separate the Yahoo internet assets from its more valuable stake in Chinese online giant Alibaba.
US rapper Coolio facing firearms charge

American rapper Coolio was charged Thursday with a firearms violation after allegedly carrying a handgun in a backpack at Los Angeles International Airport.

The gun was discovered in a bag as a member of the 53-year-old's entourage went through a TSA screening checkpoint on September 17, Los Angeles Superior Court heard.

The man initially claimed to be the owner but an inspection revealed items in the bag belonging to Coolio, who had already boarded a plane.

Rapper Coolio, real name Artis Leon Ivey, pictured in 2012, was removed from an aircraft and arrested after admitting a bag containing a gun was his

The rapper, best known for the chart-topping song "Gangsta's Paradise," was removed from the aircraft and arrested after admitting the bag was his.

He faces a single felony count of possession of a firearm by a felon with two priors, according to the LA County District Attorney's Office.

Prosecutors said he has a 2001 conviction for carrying a concealed weapon in a vehicle and a 2009 conviction for possession of cocaine base.

Coolio -- real name Artis Leon Ivey -- had been scheduled to be arraigned today, but the hearing was postponed until October 26.
Michelle Obama leads charge against 'disgraceful' Trump

Michelle Obama has said she looks forward to a quieter, calmer life after politics. But on Thursday she hit the campaign trail with a vengeance.

Her voice quivering with emotion, the wildly popular first lady launched a blistering attack on Donald Trump's sexually aggressive talk about women, calling it "disgraceful," especially coming from a man running for president.

"It has shaken me to my core in a way that I couldn't have predicted," she said.

US first lady Michelle Obama who has largely shunned the political limelight to focus on education and health issues, galvanized a rally for Democrat Hillary Clinton in New Hampshire with an impassioned plea to "stop this madness" Jessica Kourkounis (Getty/AFP/File)

Obama, a Harvard-educated lawyer who has largely shunned the political limelight to focus on education and health issues, galvanized a rally for Democrat Hillary Clinton in New Hampshire with an impassioned plea to "stop this madness."

Her comments came as Trump fought back against a cascade of allegations of sexual misconduct, which surfaced days after a video of him boasting that his fame allowed him to grope women with impunity.

The Republican nominee has dismissed the tape's contents as guy talk.

"This wasn't locker room banter," said the 52-year-old first lady, visibly incensed.

"This was a powerful individual speaking freely and openly about sexually predatory behavior. And actually bragging about kissing and groping women."

"It doesn't matter what party you belong to -- Democrat, Republican, independent -- no woman deserves to be treated this way. No one deserves this kind of abuse."

She lashed out at what she called Trump's "cruel" and "frightening" attitude towards women, while deliberately never using his name.

"This is not normal. It is not politics as usual. This is disgraceful. It is intolerable."

- 'Not how decent human beings behave' -

Obama is arguably one of America's most popular public figures. She had a favorable rating of 64 percent in a Gallup poll released in August.

In addition to her work fighting child obesity and promoting education, in her time in the White House she has achieved the status of a pop star -- stylish and poised, articulate but down to earth, both fun and funny.

After the Obama daughters were voted last year as being among Americas' most influential teens by Time magazine, Obama said, "They're not influential. They just live here."

Mrs. Obama makes regular appearances on late night TV, "Mom dancing" or singing karaoke, has handed out an Oscar award, and appeared on the covers of magazines such as Vogue, Ebony and Time.

She has also joined President Barack Obama on the campaign trail to help Clinton in her bid to become the first female American president.

Her appearance Thursday came at a critical juncture: with Trump's presidential bid teetering after claims from at least six women surfaced, alleging that he had made unwanted sexual advances towards them in the past, including groping and kissing.

The Manhattan billionaire said Sunday in his second presidential debate with Clinton that despite the lewd 2005 conversation captured on video, he had never sexually assaulted women.

Trump has vehemently denied the claims since reported by various US media outlets including The New York Times, NBC and People magazine, slamming them as politically-motivated and threatening to sue the Times.

"The phony story in the failing @nytimes is a TOTAL FABRICATION," Trump posted on Twitter.

But Michelle Obama nevertheless attacked him with a vengeance.

"The men in my life do not talk about women like this," she said. "This is not how decent human beings behave and this is certainly not how someone who wants to be president of the United States behaves."

She championed Clinton as a unifying force and said only she could help "heal the wounds that divide us."

Clinton tweeted right back at her: "@FLOTUS, I'm in awe. Thanks for putting into words what's in so many of our hearts. -H"

The first lady issued a rallying cry for women to fight Trump at the ballot box.

If Trump were elected, she warned, "we're telling our sons that it's okay to humiliate women. We're telling our daughters that this is how they deserve to be treated."

"While our mothers and grandmothers were often powerless to change their circumstances, today we as women have all the power we need to determine the outcome of this election," Obama said to cheers.

"We have knowledge. We have a choice. We have a vote."

US first lady Michelle Obama campaigns for democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton on September 28, 2016 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Jessica Kourkounis (Getty/AFP/File)
Critics call charge against Sheriff Joe Arpaio comeuppance

PHOENIX (AP)  The longtime sheriff of metro Phoenix has walked away from criminal investigations in the past without facing charges and still has managed to get re-elected.

Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who became a national name by cracking down on illegal immigration and forcing inmates to wear pink underwear and live in tents in the desert heat, faced federal investigation four years ago on allegations he retaliated against two local officials and a judge at odds with him by accusing them of corruption.

His office also was investigated for misspending more than $100 million in jail funds, including on those failed investigations into rival officials and on patrols that a judge later concluded had racially profiled Latinos.

FILE - In this Jan. 9, 2013, file photo, Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio speaks to reporters in Phoenix, Ariz. A judge will hold a hearing in Phoenix, Ariz., Tuesday, Oct. 11, 2016, to discuss legal issues raised by a recommendation that prosecutors file a criminal contempt-of-court case against Arpaio. The hearing falls the day before early voting starts in Arpaio's bid for a seventh term as metro Phoenix's top law enforcer. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin, File)

Neither investigation led to prosecution of the sheriff nor his employees, but federal authorities plan to reverse course Wednesday and charge the defiant 84-year-old lawman with misdemeanor criminal contempt of court, marking a major blow on the day early voting begins in his bid for a seventh term.

Despite the investigations and unorthodox approach to his jails, the sheriff has won solid support from voters for his tough-on-crime tactics. But Arpaio now faces his toughest push yet for re-election as he finally faces criminal repercussions in the heavily Hispanic state.

Joel Robbins, a Phoenix attorney who has filed dozens of lawsuits against Arpaio over the years, said a criminal contempt charge will be a long-awaited comeuppance for a lawman who has flouted the rules and exposed taxpayers to millions of dollars in unnecessary legal costs.

"Even if it's a misdemeanor, someone has said we have had enough of the sheriff's violations of people's rights and violations of laws," Robbins said.

Chad Willems, Arpaio's campaign manager, said the U.S. Justice Department is purposefully trying to hurt the sheriff's re-election chances by charging him less than a month before Election Day.

"You don't file charges for revenge or political gain, and that's what you see from the Department of Justice," Willems said, adding that voters might initially be shocked by such a charge but will eventually conclude the case is politically motivated.

The Justice Department declined to comment on Willems' claims.

Federal prosecutors said Tuesday that they would charge Arpaio for ignoring a judge's order to stop the signature immigration patrols that helped make him a national political figure. The order was issued in a racial profiling case that Arpaio lost three years ago in which he was found to have violated the civil rights of Latinos.

The U.S. Justice Department also is conducting an obstruction-of-justice investigation into Arpaio's defiance of a court order to turn over 50 hard drives in a secret investigation that critics say aimed to discredit the judge in the racial profiling case.

Arpaio, who has already collected $12 million in campaign cash during this election cycle, emailed a fundraising plea to supporters Wednesday that focused on the upcoming charge, saying it would mark the Obama administration's "last shot at taking me down."

Mike O'Neil, a pollster in the Phoenix suburb of Tempe, said the charge would not bode well politically for the sheriff, who won his 2012 race with nearly 51 percent of the vote. Since then, the sheriff has faced a steady stream of unfavorable news from his racial profiling case, including revelations that it's expected to cost taxpayers $72 million by next summer.

"The drip-drip-drip of legal developments has hurt him," O'Neil said, but noting that Arpaio's die-hard supporters won't back away in his race against Democrat Paul Penzone.

Years ago, Arpaio sidestepped charges after a federal grand jury spent nearly three years looking into criminal abuse-of-power allegations over his failed criminal investigations of local officials. Prosecutors closed the case in 2012.

Federal authorities also investigated complaints from officials in Maricopa County, where Arpaio polices, that his office inappropriately spent more than $100 million from two jail funds over an eight-year period to pay for different law enforcement operations.

Nearly $85 million came from a voter-approved sales tax that could be spent only on running the jails. An additional $14 million came from a fund for inmates to buy household items and make phone calls.

The agency said there was no attempt to hide the spending and it was the result of an innocent accounting mistake, attributing the problem to an outdated payroll system. In the end, prosecutors said they found no evidence that shifting funds from one law enforcement purpose to another constituted a criminal violation.

___

Follow Jacques Billeaud at twitter.com/jacquesbilleaud. His work can be found at http://bigstory.ap.org/content/jacques-billeaud.

Protesters wearing anti-Joe Arpaio t-shirts gather in front of U.S. District Court as prosecutors announce they will charge the Maricopa County Sheriff with criminal contempt-of-court Tuesday, Oct. 11, 2016, in Phoenix. Arpaio is accused of defying a judge's orders to end his immigration patrols in Arizona, which if convicted could lead to jail time, as Arpaio seeks another term as Maricopa County Sheriff in less than a month. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)

Protesters display an effigy of Maricopa Country Sheriff Joe Arpaio wearing prison clothes in front of U.S. District Court as prosecutors announce they will charge Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio with criminal contempt-of-court Tuesday, Oct. 11, 2016, in Phoenix. Arpaio is accused of defying a judge's orders to end his immigration patrols in Arizona, which if convicted could lead to jail time, as Arpaio seeks another term as Maricopa County Sheriff in less than a month. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)

Protesters gather in front of U.S. District Court as prosecutors announce they will charge Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio with criminal contempt-of-court Tuesday, Oct. 11, 2016, in Phoenix. Arpaio is accused of defying a judge's orders to end his immigration patrols in Arizona, which if convicted could lead to jail time, as Arpaio seeks another term as Maricopa County Sheriff in less than a month. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)
The Latest: Portland police arrest 10 in clash over contract

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP)  The Latest on police protests in Portland, Oregon (all times local):

10:10 p.m.

Portland police say they have increased the number of protesters arrested at City Hall from nine to 10.

Protesters sit on the street after clashing with Portland police outside City Hall in Portland, Ore., Wednesday, Oct. 12, 2016. The Portland City Council approved a new police contract in a conference room that was blocked off from the general public because of protests that led to arrests. (Brad Schmidt/The Oregonian via AP)

The Portland Police Bureau issued the information as a correction Wednesday night.

People were protesting at a City Council meeting at which council members approved a new police contract that raises questions about the use of body cameras and gives police officers a raise.

___

5:40 p.m.

Portland police say they arrested nine people who were protesting at City Hall over a new police contract that raised questions about the future use of body cameras and gives officers a pay raise.

The Portland Police Bureau said in statement late Wednesday that protesters threw objects at officers both inside and outside of City Hall.

Protesters are now dispersing from the downtown area after a day of demonstrations.

Demonstrators disrupted a Wednesday meeting the City Council convened to consider the contract.

With demonstrators inside City Hall, Mayor Charlie Hales adjourned the meeting soon after it began.

Commissioners later reconvened in a secure location not open to the public and approved the contract 3-1.

The protesters are with Black Lives Matter and Don't Shoot Portland.

___

1:40 p.m.

The Portland City Council approved a new police contract in a conference room that was blocked off from the general public because of protests that led to arrests.

Members of Black Lives Matter and Don't Shoot PDX were unhappy with contract language regarding the use of body cameras by police. They also wanted Mayor Charlie Hales to avoid handling negotiations, and let Mayor-elect Ted Wheeler handle the task when he takes office in January.

But Hales pressed ahead, and the council passed the contract Wednesday.

Protesters clashed with police outside City Hall. The Portland Police Bureau said on Twitter that officers deployed pepper spray and made arrests. The bureau says protesters threw "projectiles" at officers.

Hales said the labor contract will help the city fill vacancies in the police bureau.

Protesters sit on the street after clashing with Portland police outside City Hall in Portland, Ore., Wednesday, Oct. 12, 2016. The Portland City Council approved a new police contract in a conference room that was blocked off from the general public because of protests that led to arrests. (Brad Schmidt/The Oregonian via AP)
Australian state lawmakers condemn Trump as 'revolting slug'

SYDNEY (AP)  A state Parliament in Australia on Thursday unanimously passed a motion that described U.S. presidential nominee Donald Trump as "a revolting slug unfit for public office."

Jeremy Buckingham, a lawmaker from the minor Greens party, introduced the motion to the New South Wales Legislative Council, the Parliament's upper house.

"This house ... agrees with those who have described Mr. Trump as a 'revolting slug' unfit for public office," the motion said.

The house "condemns the misogynist, hateful comments" made by the Republican candidate about women and minorities, including the remarks revealed by media at the weekend "that clearly describe sexual assault," the motion said.

Had any lawmaker objected to the motion, it would have been struck off the list of parliamentary business. Because there was no objection, the motion was recorded as having been unanimously agreed to by the Sydney-based house.

"It's a great that all sides of Australian politics, from conservatives to liberals to Greens, agree that Donald Trump is a 'revolting slug' and completely unfit for public office," Buckingham said in a statement.
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Thailand's 88-year-old King Bhumibol Adulyadej is still in an unstable condition, said the Bureau of the Royal Household in a statement late on Wednesday.

Thai citizens pray for the health of Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej at the Siriraj Hospital in Bangkok, Thailand, Oct. 12, 2016. [Photo/Xinhua]

"The king's blood pressure lowered further on Tuesday, his pulse became faster and his blood was more acidic," said the Bureau of the Royal Household.

According to a blood test, the king was infected with virus, and his liver functioned abnormally.

The statement said doctors used medicine to cure the blood pressure problem, put a ventilator on him and applied Continuous Renal Replacement Therapy ( CRRT).

"He is still in a unstable condition in general while doctors are closely monitoring his symptoms," said the statement.

The Thai government has asked the public not to be panic or believe rumors on the king on social media.
3 South Koreans shot dead in Philippines

MANILA, Philippines (AP)  Philippine police said Thursday the bodies of three foreigners with gunshots to their heads have been found in a sugar cane field, and South Korea's Foreign Ministry identified them as its nationals.

One man had his feet bound by packaging tape, the other man and the woman had marks of strangulation and the left wrist of the woman also had packaging tape, said police investigator Victor Eduardo. They were found by a farm worker Tuesday morning in a field in Bacolor town in northern Pampanga province.

South Korea's Foreign Ministry said it was the fourth homicide case involving South Koreans in the Philippines this year in which six died. It said it will work with the Philippine police for a quick investigation, but provided no other details.
Australia, Singapore say defense pact should not worry China

CANBERRA, Australia (AP)  China should not see increased military cooperation between Singapore and Australia through a deal that will dramatically expand northern Australian training facilities as an attempt contain it, the two prime ministers said on Thursday.

Australian and Singaporean officials signed a pact under which Singapore will spend up to 2.25 billion Australian dollars ($1.7 billion) to double the capacity of its facilities in military training areas in Queensland state.

Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said China was the biggest trading partner of both Singapore and Australia. The agreement was part of regional cooperation, he said.

"I don't think that Singapore and Australia together could possibly be seen as a bloc" against China, Lee told reporters. "We are good friends, but we are not treaty allies and neither are we opposed to any countries in the region."

Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said he agreed with Lee and his view that the U.S. military presence in the Asia-Pacific region had underpinned the region's stability and prosperity for the past 40 years.

"That extraordinary growth, perhaps most of all in China, has been underpinned by that foundation of peace," Turnbull said. "The importance of American engagement in our region cannot be overstated."

As well as U.S. military involvement in the region, both prime ministers hoped U.S. Congress would agree to join the 12-country Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal, even though both Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton have come out against the pact.

Under the new defense deal, the Singapore military will triple their annual access to the Australian training grounds to 18 weeks. Singapore troop numbers will increase from 6,600 to 14,000.

The Chinese Embassy in Australia did not immediately respond to a request for comment. China has been critical of a comparable deal between Australia and the United States to make the northern Australian city of Darwin a growing training hub for U.S Marines.

Australia and the United States last week struck a cost-sharing deal to pay for more than AU$2 billion in infrastructure to accommodate up to 2,500 Marines.
Wells Fargo CEO is out as bank grapples with sales scandal

NEW YORK (AP)  Wells Fargo's embattled CEO John Stumpf is stepping down as the nation's second-largest bank is roiled by a scandal over its sales practices.

The San Francisco bank said Stumpf is retiring effective immediately and also relinquishing his title as chairman. He won't be receiving severance pay and the bank announced earlier that he will forfeit $41 million in stock awards.

Wells Fargo's chief operating officer, Tim Sloan, will succeed Stumpf as CEO and join the company's board. Sloan has been with Wells Fargo for 29 years. Stephen Sanger, the bank's lead director, will serve as the board's non-executive chairman.

FILE - In this Tuesday, Sept. 20, 2016, file photo, Wells Fargo CEO John Stumpf testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, before the Senate Banking Committee. Wells Fargos embattled CEO Stumpf is out effective immediately, with President and Chief Operating Officer Tim Sloan taking over as the head of the one of the nations largest banks, the company announced Wednesday, Oct. 12, 2016. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)

Stumpf's end at Wells Fargo comes a little over a month after the bank was fined by California and federal regulators $185 million over its sales practices.

The regulators alleged employees trying to meet aggressive sales targets opened bank and credit card accounts, moved money between those accounts and even created fake email addresses to sign customers up for online banking  all without customer authorization. Debit cards were issued and activated, as well as PINs created, without customers' knowledge.

"I wish I could snap my fingers and make everything all right again, but it's going to take time," said Sloan said in an interview late Wednesday. "We are going to make it right by our customers and we are going to work to win that trust back."

Stumpf, a 34-year veteran of the bank who took over as CEO in 2007, had previously gained acclaim for navigating Wells Fargo through the financial crisis and keeping it free of scandal. But he came under withering pressure over the alleged misconduct, believed to have gone on at the bank for years. Some 5,300 lower-level employees were fired.

"While I have been deeply committed and focused on managing the company through this period, I have decided it is best for the company that I step aside," he said in a prepared statement Wednesday.

Among Stumpf's critics, Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts told him at a Senate Banking Committee hearing last month that he should resign and "give back the money you took while the scam was going on."

News of Stumpf's departure, however, did little to quell some lawmakers' anger over the affair or their demands for information from the company on how harmed customers and employees will be made whole.

Senate Banking Committee Chairman Richard Shelby, R-Ala., and the panel's senior Democrat, Sherrod Brown of Ohio, said Wednesday that Stumpf's retirement doesn't answer important questions.

"We are still waiting for answers as to how Wells Fargo plans to right its wrongs against customers and the low-paid employees who weren't given the benefit of a retirement package when they were fired for refusing to cheat," Brown said in a statement.

Stumpf earned $19.3 million last year. But he and Carrie Tolstedt, the executive who ran the retail banking division, will forfeit millions.

Tolstedt announced in July that she would retire from the bank this year and had been expected to leave with as much as $125 million in salary, stock options and other compensation. She was stripped of $19 million of her stock awards, and her departure was made immediate.

The revelations have sparked investigations by federal agencies. The bank's independent directors have also launched their own investigation.

Wells Fargo is scheduled to report its quarterly results Friday morning. In after-hours trading, its stock rose 76 cents, or nearly 1.7 percent, to $46.08.

___

AP Business Writer Marcy Gordon contributed to this story from Washington.

___

Ken Sweet covers banking and consumer financial issues for The Associated Press. Follow him on Twitter at @kensweet

FILE - In this Thursday, Sept. 29, 2016, file photo, Wells Fargo CEO John Stumpf leaves a hearing room on Capitol Hill in Washington, after testifying before the House Financial Services Committee investigating Wells Fargo's opening of unauthorized customer accounts. Embattled CEO Stumpf is out effective immediately, with President and Chief Operating Officer Tim Sloan taking over as the head of the one of the nations largest banks, the company announced Wednesday, Oct. 12, 2016. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen)
Peace is top priority for next UN chief Antonio Guterres

UNITED NATIONS (AP)  Antonio Guterres pledged Thursday to make the pursuit of peace in a conflict-torn world his "over-arching priority" after being elected the next secretary-general of the United Nations.

The former Portuguese prime minister and U.N. refugee chief told the 193 members of the U.N. General Assembly who elected him by acclamation that the United Nations has "the moral duty and the universal right" to ensure peace  and he will be promoting a new "diplomacy for peace" advocating dialogue to settle disputes.

Gutteres said he will do his best before taking the reins of the U.N. from Ban Ki-moon on Jan. 1 to prepare "to act as a convener, an honest broker, someone trying to bring people together" in conflicts and crises from Syria and Yemen to South Sudan.

U.N. Secretary-General-designate, Antonio Guterres, right, listens during a meeting of the U.N. General Assembly concerning his appointment, Thursday, Oct. 13, 2016 at U.N. headquarters. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews)

"It's high time to fight for peace," he said, and make people understand that whatever divisions exist it's more important to unite and end the suffering because of the risks for countries in conflict and the international community.

Guterres, who will become the ninth U.N. chief in the world body's 71-year history, said he is not only fully aware of the challenges the United Nations faces but the limitations surrounding the secretary-general.

"The dramatic problems of today's complex world can only inspire a humble approach, one in which the secretary-general alone neither has all the answers nor seeks to impose his views, one in which the secretary-general makes his good offices available ... to help find solutions that benefit everyone involved."

It was Guterres' strong performance answering questions before the General Assembly, and his executive experience as prime minister and as the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees from 2005-2015 that propelled him to first place among the 13 candidates vying for the job in the informal polls in the Security Council. After last week's sixth poll, the council nominated him by acclamation.

At Thursday's meeting, General Assembly President Peter Thompson introduced the resolution to elect Gutteres, said members wanted it adopted by acclamation, and banged his gavel in approval as diplomats broke into applause.

Guterres "embodies the highest standards of competence, integrity and leadership," Thompson said.

Secretary-General Ban, recalling Guterres' decade as the U.N.'s refugee chief, told the assembly that he is "best known where it counts most, on the front lines of armed conflict and humanitarian suffering."

Ban noted that Guterres' election was 10 years to the day after his own election in 2006, calling the ceremony "poignant for me." But he told Guterres: "the people of the world are all looking forward to your tenure with confidence and excitement."

Ambassador Samantha Power, speaking on behalf of the United States as the host country of the United Nations, called Gutteres "supremely qualified," saying he will use the office to be "an independent force to prevent conflict and alleviate human suffering."

She said the world's nations are challenging the United Nations and the secretary-general to do more than they have ever done before.

For the U.N. to succeed, Power said, nation are asking Guterres to serve as a peacemaker, a reformer to streamline the U.N. bureaucracy, and an advocate rallying the world "to respond to humanitarian and man-made catastrophes, and defending the human rights of all people."

Power stressed the importance of U.N. unity in selecting Guterres, especially in the often divided Security Council  a view echoed by Guterres who expressed hope that this unity can be channeled to take decisions to bring peace.

He said that in a world which is more and more multi-ethnic, multi-cultural and multi-religious, "diversity can bring us together not drive us apart."

But Guterres said: "We must make sure that we are able to break this alliance between all those terrorist groups, or violent extremists on one side, and the expressions of populism and xenophobia on the other side. These two reinforce each other, and we must be able to fight both of them with determination."

Antonio Guterres of Portugal, Secretary-General designate of the United Nations, sits on the podium during his appointment at U.N. headquarters, Thursday, Oct. 13, 2016. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

FILE - In this Oct. 6, 2016 file photo, former Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Guterres reads a statement at Necessidades Palace in Lisbon after the U.N. Security Council's selection of Guterres as next U.N. Secretary General. The United Nations' 193-member states are expected to appoint Guterres as the world body's next secretary-general on Thursday, Oct. 13, 2016. (AP Photo/Steven Governo, File)

Antonio Guterres of Portugal, Secretary-General designate of the United Nations, sits on the podium during his appointment at U.N. headquarters, Thursday, Oct. 13, 2016. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
Nepal's most popular Buddhist nun is a musical rock star

KATHMANDU, Nepal (AP)  There is one Buddhist nun everyone in Nepal knows by name  not because she's a religious icon and a UNICEF goodwill ambassador, nor for her work running a girl's school and a hospital for kidney patients.

Ani Choying Drolma is famous as one of the country's biggest pop stars.

With more than 12 albums of melodious Nepali tunes and Tibetan hymns that highlight themes of peace and harmony, the songstress in saffron robes has won hearts across the Himalayan nation and abroad.

In this Sept. 7, 2016 photo, Buddhist nun Ani Choying Drolma smiles for a photo at her residence in Kathmandu, Nepal. Drolma is Nepal's most popular Buddhist nun, not because she is a nun, or even a UNICEF goodwill ambassador, but as one of the country's biggest pop stars. Despite her fame, Drolma looks every bit the typical Nepalese Buddhist nun, with her hair shaved short and an ever-present smile. She travels the world giving concerts in countries including the United States, Brazil, China and India. (AP Photo/Niranjan Shrestha)

"I am totally against the conservative, conventional idea of a Buddhist nun," the 45-year-old nun said. Some people "think a Buddhist nun should be someone who does not come out in the media so much, who is isolated ... always in a monastery, always shy. But I don't believe in that."

Neither do her fans, who greet her with a roar of applause whenever she walks out on stage, and fall silent as she closes her eyes to sing.

"Every time I get frustrated with life or get angry, I just listen to Ani's music and I calm down," said one fan, Sunil Tuladhar. "She is my music goddess."

But with a career deviating sharply from what conservatives in Nepal believe to be the proper path of a Buddhist, she's caught criticism as well. One Buddhist monk at the famed Swayambhu Shrine questioned how she can reconcile the simple life of a religious ascetic with the fame and wealth she's amassed over her two-decade musical career.

"How can a nun be making money by selling her voice, living a luxurious life and yet claim she is a nun?" Surya Shakya asked.

Despite her fame, Drolma looks every bit the typical Nepalese Buddhist nun, with her hair shaved short and an ever-present smile. She travels the world giving concerts in countries including the United States, Brazil, China and India.

Popular composer Nhyoo Bajracharya, who has worked with Drolma, describes her music as a fusion of traditional Tibetan and Nepali styles. "They are religious songs, slow rock with flavors of blues and jazz combined," he said.

But Drolma believes her singing goes beyond delivering a catchy tune. Her 2004 hit "Phoolko Aankhama," which means "Eyes of the Flower" in the Nepali language, features lyrics that touch on religious teachings: "May my heart always be pure/May my words be always word of wisdom/May the sole of my feet never kill an insect."

Her singing offers listeners a way to practice meditation and "is about invoking a spiritual quality," she said in a recent interview with the Associated Press. "That is what I rejoice in."

She refused to say how much money she has earned from album sales and concerts, but said she donates much of it to education charities through her Nun's Welfare Foundation and runs a kidney hospital.

Still, compared with most Nepalese living in this impoverished mountain nation, Drolma lives like a rock star  with a luxury car and a new home in an upscale neighborhood of the capital of Kathmandu.

"It is a very conservative point of view thinking that a nun should be poor and wearing rags. That's a wrong attitude," she said. "My concerts make very good money, my CD sales make very good money, and I think that helps me to afford such comfortable life."

Drolma said she was 13 when her mother allowed her to join the Nagi Gompa nunnery to escape from an abusive father. She also dreaded getting married, as she would likely have been forced to do as it was the custom in Nepal at the time.

"I had the impression that getting married was the worst thing to do in life," she said.

At the nunnery, just north of Kathmandu, she learned to chant the Buddhist scriptures. But while most recited the lines quickly, she stood out  chanting melodiously and drawing the other nuns' admiration.

In 1994, American musician Steve Tibbetts visited the nunnery and, being impressed with her voice, recorded her singing. He returned after receiving interest from U.S. record companies, and recorded Drolma's first album, "Cho," released in 1997.

The album royalties and performance fees that came after left Drolma a bit stunned. Most Nepalese have humble lives, with a quarter of the country's 28 million people living in poverty and heavily reliant on subsistence farming and remittances from family members working abroad.

"The question was, what do I do with the money?" she said. "I realized that this money can help me fulfill my dream, so that is how I started the school."

She set up an educational foundation and opened the Arya Tara school, on a mountainside just south of Kathmandu. The boarding school offers about 80 girls, aged about 5 to 18, free lessons in Buddhist scripture as well as math, science and computer skills. The foundation also covers the cost of sending the girls to college.

The students, similarly clad in saffron robes, giggle and smile when talking about Drolma.

"Ani is more than my mother. My mother gave me birth, but Ani raised me, gave me education, took care of me and is the only reason that I have reached this far," said 17-year-old Dolma Lhamu, who is now enrolled in college.

Drolma is similarly adored at the kidney hospital she runs in Kathmandu, where hundreds of patients receive free dialysis twice a week.

She said it's her work at the hospital and school that keep her singing and accepting invitations to perform. For the critics who question her globe-trotting lifestyle or high income, she has little patience.

"People in society will have different opinions," she said. "I try my best to see how I can improve my attitude toward life, toward people and toward the world, and to find ways to make the best use of my life.

"I am famous today, but tomorrow people will not know me. It fades away. That is the reality," she said.

In this Sept. 7, 2016 photo, Buddhist nun Ani Choying Drolma sits for a photo at her residence in Kathmandu, Nepal. Drolma is Nepal's most popular Buddhist nun, not because she is a nun, or even a UNICEF goodwill ambassador, but as one of the country's biggest pop stars. Despite her fame, Drolma looks every bit the typical Nepalese Buddhist nun, with her hair shaved short and an ever-present smile. She travels the world giving concerts in countries including the United States, Brazil, China and India. (AP Photo/Niranjan Shrestha)

In this Sept. 29, 2016 photo, Nepalese patients receive treatment at Aarogya Foundation, a kidney hospital run by Buddhist nun Ani Choying Drolma in Kathmandu, Nepal. Drolma is famous as one of the country's biggest pop stars. She refused to say how much money she has earned from album sales and concerts, but said she donates much of it to education charities through her Nun's Welfare Foundation and runs a kidney hospital. (AP Photo/Niranjan Shrestha)

In this Sept. 16, 2016 photo, a portrait of singing monk Ani Choying Drolma hangs on the wall of her Arya Tara School, on the outskirts of Kathmandu, Nepal. Drolma is Nepal's most popular Buddhist nun, not because she is a nun, or even a UNICEF goodwill ambassador, but as one of the country's biggest pop stars. The boarding school she set up offers about 80 girls, aged about 5 to 18, free lessons in Buddhist scripture as well as math, science and computer skills. The foundation also covers the cost of sending the girls to college. (AP Photo/Niranjan Shrestha)

In this Sept. 29, 2016 photo, music CD's of Buddhist nun Ani Choying Drolma are on display at a store in Kathmandu, Nepal. With more than 12 albums of melodious Nepali tunes and Tibetan hymns that highlight themes of peace and harmony, the songstress in saffron robes has won hearts across the Himalayan nation and abroad. (AP Photo/Niranjan Shrestha)

In this Sept. 16, 2016 photo, nuns study inside a classroom of the Arya Tara School run by Ani Choying Drolma on the outskirts of Kathmandu, Nepal. Drolma is Nepal's most popular Buddhist nun, not because she is a nun, or even a UNICEF goodwill ambassador, but as one of the country's biggest pop stars. The boarding school she set up offers about 80 girls, aged about 5 to 18, free lessons in Buddhist scripture as well as math, science and computer skills. The foundation also covers the cost of sending the girls to college. (AP Photo/Niranjan Shrestha)

In this Oct. 7, 2016 photo, Buddhist nun and musician Ani Choying Drolma, center, performs during a concert in Mumbai, India. She is one Buddhist nun everyone in Nepal knows by name, not because shes a religious icon and a UNICEF goodwill ambassador, nor for her work running a girls school and a hospital for kidney patients but because she is one of the countrys biggest pop stars. With more than 12 albums of melodious Nepali tunes and Tibetan hymns that highlight themes of peace and harmony, the songstress in saffron robes has won hearts across the Himalayan nation and abroad. (AP Photo/Rajanish Kakade)

In this Oct. 7, 2016 photo, Buddhist nun and musician Ani Choying Drolma performs during a concert in Mumbai, India. She is one Buddhist nun everyone in Nepal knows by name, not because shes a religious icon and a UNICEF goodwill ambassador, nor for her work running a girls school and a hospital for kidney patients but because she is one of the countrys biggest pop stars. With more than 12 albums of melodious Nepali tunes and Tibetan hymns that highlight themes of peace and harmony, the songstress in saffron robes has won hearts across the Himalayan nation and abroad. (AP Photo/Rajanish Kakade)
US strikes in Yemen risk wider entanglement in civil war

WASHINGTON (AP)  The direct U.S. entry into Yemen's civil war, for now a limited response to rebel missile fire on a U.S. Navy ship, risks a wider entanglement that could leave the next American president embroiled in a yet another unwanted Middle East war with broad implications for the region and beyond.

Obama administration officials from the White House, Pentagon and State Department all argued that Thursday's cruise missile strikes on radar sites controlled by Iranian-backed Houthi rebels were strictly a self-defense measure and not an escalation in military involvement.

"These strikes are not connected to the broader conflict in Yemen," Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook said. "We want to make crystal clear that if you threaten our forces, you threaten our ships, we will be prepared to respond, as we did in this case."

This image made from video shows a radar site after a U.S. airstrike in Hodeida, Yemen on Thursday, Oct. 13, 2016. US-launched Tomahawk cruise missiles destroyed three coastal radar sites in Houthi-controlled territory on Yemen's Red Sea Coast early on Thursday, officials said, a retaliatory action that followed two incidents this week in which missiles were fired at US Navy ships. (AP Photo via AP video)

The potential consequences of more American military action  and even possibly inaction  could affect the stability of the longstanding U.S.-Saudi relationship, maritime security in an area where Iran has shown increasing interest, and last year's landmark nuclear deal with the Islamic republic. Any would impact the balance of power in the flashpoint region.

The U.S. is already involved in the conflict indirectly through its support of the Saudi-led coalition fighting the rebels on behalf of the Yemen government. And the willingness to move from proxy to active combatant, even in self-defense, opens the door to a greater role.

It has happened before. Despite a deep reluctance, President Barack Obama has expanded the U.S. military footprint in Iraq and Syria to confront the threat posed by the Islamic State group. In Yemen, the administration's actions have previously been confined to drone strikes against al-Qaida's affiliate there and logistical support to the Saudis. Strikes against Houthi targets are the first of their kind.

It appears the Houthis lashed out at the United States with missile fire against the USS Mason in the Red Sea in retaliation after warplanes from the Saudi-led coalition struck a funeral in the Yemeni capital Sanaa last weekend attended by senior rebel figures. The devastating airstrikes killed nearly 140 people, most of them civilians.

The missile fire from the Houthis missed the American ship, but chief of naval operations Adm. John Richardson said, "Enough was enough," and the Navy was ordered to launch five missile strikes.

State Department deputy spokesman Mark Toner said the sites "were specifically targeted in order to take out or in some way limit the ability for the Houthis to carry out these strikes."

Already, signs are there of broader implications of American military action.

Shortly after the missile strike, two Iranian warships began steaming toward the Gulf of Aden on Yemen's southern coast. Although ostensibly deployed as part of a regular anti-piracy patrol, the timing suggested it was aimed at sending a signal to the U.S., which has vowed to retaliate against any new provocations from the Houthis.

"We are prepared to respond if necessary to any future missile launches," White House spokesman Eric Schultz said. He called on all parties to the conflict to abide by the terms of a fragile agreement reached in April. "Our belief is the violence should subside consistent with the terms of that agreement."

Iran says it backs the Yemeni rebels but denies arming them. U.S. officials have held open the possibility that the Houthis may have captured some missiles from Yemen's army but have also made clear Iran is supplying them as well. These missiles, State Department spokesman John Kirby said this week, "are provided by Iran to the Houthi rebels."

Iran's support for the Houthis has been steady even as Washington engaged with Tehran on the nuclear deal, which went into effect in January and gave Iran billions of dollars in sanctions relief in return for limiting its nuclear program. Saudi Arabia and the Gulf Arab states, long concerned about Iranian intentions in the region, were highly suspicious of the agreement and welcomed it only coolly.

Perhaps in part to ease those concerns the U.S. has offered wide-ranging support for the Saudi-led coalition fighting Yemen's rebels.

That backing, however, has come under increasing criticism from lawmakers, human rights groups and others who have decried coalition airstrikes on civilians in Yemen as possible war crimes, including the weekend funeral attack. The U.S. has said it is reviewing its support although there is no sign that review will be completed quickly.

Despite denials of responsibility from the Houthis, many believe the funeral bombing sparked the rebels to launch more missiles into Saudi Arabia as well as attempt to target the U.S. warships.

Yemen's state news agency Saba  under Houthi control  quoted an unnamed military official as saying the U.S. accusations that the missiles were fired from areas under control of Houthis were false. He said they were an attempt to create "false justifications" to distract from criticism of the funeral attack.

This image made from video shows a radar site after a U.S. airstrike in Hodeida,Yemen on Thursday, Oct. 13, 2016. US-launched Tomahawk cruise missiles destroyed three coastal radar sites in Houthi-controlled territory on Yemen's Red Sea Coast early on Thursday, officials said, a retaliatory action that followed two incidents this week in which missiles were fired at US Navy ships. (AP Photo via AP video)

In this image released by the U.S. Navy, the USS Mason (DDG 87), conducts maneuvers as part of a exercise in the Gulf of Oman on Sept. 10, 2016. For the second time this week two missiles were fired at the USS Mason in the Red Sea, and officials believe they were launched by the same Yemen-based Houthi rebels involved in the earlier attack, a U.S. military official said Wednesday. According to the official, the missiles were fired early Oct. 12 at the USS Mason that is conducting routine operations in the region, along with the USS Ponce, an amphibious warship. The official said that neither missile got near the ship. (Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Blake Midnight/U.S. Navy via AP)

Yemen's army spokesman Brigadier General Sharaf G. Loqman, left, speaks to a reporter during an interview with The Associated Press in Sanaa, Yemen, Thursday, Oct. 13, 2016. U.S.-launched Tomahawk cruise missiles destroyed three coastal radar sites in Houthi-controlled territory on Yemen's Red Sea Coast early Thursday, officials said, a retaliatory action that followed two incidents this week in which missiles were fired at U.S. Navy ships. Loqman said that the army never targets ships outside the territorial waters and only those that enter the Yemeni waters come under attack. (AP Photo/Hani Mohammed)

Members of the Higher Council for Civilian Community Organization, inspect a destroyed funeral hall as they protest against a deadly Saudi-led airstrike on a funeral hall six days ago, in Sanaa, Yemen, Thursday, Oct. 13, 2016. (AP Photo/Hani Mohammed)

A destroyed funeral hall is seen after was hit by a Saudi-led airstrike on Saturday, in Sanaa, Yemen, Thursday, Oct. 13, 2016. (AP Photo/Hani Mohammed)

Members of the Higher Council for Civilian Community Organization, protest against a deadly Saudi-led airstrike on a funeral hall six days ago, in Sanaa, Yemen, Thursday, Oct. 13, 2016. (AP Photo/Hani Mohammed)

Members ofthe Higher Council for Civilian Community Organization protest against a deadly Saudi-led airstrike on a funeral hall six days ago, in Sanaa, Yemen, Thursday, Oct. 13, 2016. (AP Photo/Hani Mohammed)
Hawaii agency opposes rule change for foreign fishermen

HONOLULU (AP)  A group of Hawaii residents want to change local rules for issuing commercial fishing licenses and make the process more transparent after an Associated Press investigation found that hundreds of undocumented fishermen work in the fleet.

A federal loophole allows the foreign men to work but exempts them from most basic labor protections, and some residents are concerned that state rules offer little transparency and leave workers in the dark.

State and federal lawmakers promised to improve conditions for the foreign crews, and at least one company stopped buying fish from the boats immediately following the AP investigation.

FILE - In this March 23, 2016, file photo, a Honolulu Fish Auction worker receives fish from a U.S. fishing vessel crewed by foreign fishermen at Pier 38 in Honolulu. In a posting dealing with undocumented foreign fishermen in Hawaii, the state Department of Aquatic Resources is recommending that a board deciding on rule changes for commercial fishing licenses deny the petition. (AP Photo/Caleb Jones, File)

The petition asks for rule changes that include certifying that license applicants understand and have read the paperwork they are signing, but a state agency recommends the changes not be implemented.

The foreign fishermen who work in the fleet often do not read, write or understand English and therefore cannot legitimately agree to terms of the license, petitioners said Wednesday.

In a document signed by Bruce Anderson, the administrator for the Division of Aquatic Resources, the department recommends denying the rule changes because the petition focuses on labor issues that are outside the department's jurisdiction.

"We believe that a requirement that the applicant certify the he or she understands the application, or alternatively, certification from a person assisting the applicant the he or she has read the application and translated its terms to the applicant, is unnecessary," the document said. "The applicant would be required to comply with all terms and condition of a commercial marine license."

In a statement issued Thursday by the Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources, Anderson reiterated his comments and discussed the issue further.

"While we are clearly concerned about recent media reports regarding working conditions on fishing vessels, our responsibilities currently involve enforcing DAR (Division of Aquatics) CML (commercial marine licensing) rules and any violations associated with the Joint Enforcement Agreement with NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration," Anderson said.

"It is absurd that DLNR will grant a fishing license in the expectation that the applicant will observe its terms and conditions when the applicant may never have seen or read the original application," said Oahu resident Larry Geller in a statement emailed Wednesday. Geller was among a group to sign the petition.

"Aside from the language issues, the applications are filed by the ships captains and not by the applicant, under current rules. If the DLNR is interested in compliance, it needs to change its inadequate rules," he added.

Over six months, The Associated Press obtained confidential contracts, reviewed dozens of business records and interviewed boat owners, brokers and more than 50 fishermen in Hawaii, Indonesia and San Francisco. The investigation found men living in squalor on some boats, forced to use buckets instead of toilets, suffering running sores from bed bugs and sometimes lacking sufficient food. It also revealed instances of human trafficking.

The report was part of the AP's ongoing global look at labor abuses in the fishing industry, stretching from Southeast Asia to America's own waters. Last year, the AP reported on fishermen locked in a cage and others buried under fake names on the remote Indonesian island village of Benjina. Their catch was traced to the United States, leading to more than 2,000 slaves being freed. But thousands more remain trapped worldwide in a murky industry where work takes place far from shore and often without oversight.

Another of the petitioners, Kathryn Xian, who runs the nonprofit Pacific Alliance to Stop Slavery, told The Associated Press Wednesday that the petition is not asking for the department to consider labor issues.

"We are basically trying to lay a foundation for future steps to be made in the licensing process to make it more transparent," Xian said. "What the DLNR fails to understand is that the process by which these undocumented workers 'are assigned' fishing licenses is problematic and possibly unlawful," Xian said in a statement.

The Board of Land and Natural Resources, which will make the final decision, will hold a meeting on Friday that will address the issue.

The Department of Land and Natural Resources, which oversees the various departments, told the AP on Wednesday that it will not comment on the issue until the board has heard arguments from the public and has made its decision.
Michigan Democrat seeks foothold in rural US House district

ST. IGNACE, Mich. (AP)  Proudly wielding the Winchester hunting rifle his grandfather passed along to him, Democrat Lon Johnson promises in TV ads to "stand up" to his own party and protect Second Amendment rights for small-town voters across northern Michigan.

His pitch is calibrated for one of the country's most rural congressional districts, the type of seat that Democrats rarely hold now due to redistricting and the countryside's shift toward the GOP. With the vast 1st District open due to third-term Republican Rep. Dan Benishek's retirement, Democrats have a shot at retaking what was in their hands for nearly two decades until the 2010 tea party wave.

Johnson, a former state Democratic Party chairman, faces retired Marine Lt. Gen. Jack Bergman in the November election. Their campaigns and parties are flooding the airwaves to condemn the other candidate as a carpetbagger with thin ties to the area and policy proposals that make him "not one of us."

In this Sept. 29, 2016, photo, Democrat Lon Johnson speaks with Sandy Durm, a co-owner of Java Joe's Cafe, while campaigning at the cafe in St. Ignace, Mich. Johnson is running against Republican Jack Bergman in Michigan's hotly contested, open 1st Congressional District. (AP Photo/David Eggert)

If Johnson is successful, he'll end up in a very small club in Washington. After losing races in Georgia, North Carolina and West Virginia, Democrats represent only three of the country's 34 districts where at least half the population is defined as rural: Maine's 1st District and two Minnesota seats. Democrats are hoping to pick up Maine's neighboring 2nd District, where freshman GOP Rep. Bruce Poliquin is vulnerable. Republicans, meanwhile, are trying hard to unseat Democratic Rep. Rick Nolan in Minnesota's 8th District.

In Michigan's 1st District, which stretches 530 miles and encompasses the entire Upper Peninsula and the top half of the Lower Peninsula, Johnson has pledged to protect entitlement programs and veteran services  significant issues in a Republican-leaning district with more than 200,000 Social Security beneficiaries, 10th-highest in the United States.

"What we need is someone who's going to protect what we've earned and go out there and create a place where our families can stay and succeed. ... My opponent just wants to privatize everything," the 45-year-old said after a recent campaign stop at a cafe in St. Ignace, a city of 2,400 just north of the Mackinac Bridge, a 5-mile span connecting the peninsulas.

Bergman, a 69-year-old political newcomer who bills himself as a "straight-talking" Marine, was the surprise primary winner, besting current and former state senators. His outsider message resonated, not unlike billionaire businessman and GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump's  minus the bombast. In a nod to Trump's popularity in northern Michigan, Democrats are not tethering Bergman to Trump.

Alarmed that Social Security only has enough money to pay full benefits until 2034, Bergman said he wants to "personalize" the program so young workers can choose how the money they give to the government is invested.

"People want choice in their lives," Bergman said. "Let's face it. We're a country of unprecedented individual freedoms."

That's a message that could resonate with the district's residents, who are known for their independence. Those from the Upper Peninsula are "Yoopers." People south of the Mackinac Bridge are "trolls."

Democrats are optimistic because while Mitt Romney outpaced President Barack Obama by 8 percentage points in the district in 2012, the incumbent GOP congressman  Benishek  won re-election by half a percentage point, or 1,881 votes. Johnson, whose wife was a top campaign fundraiser for Obama, has the financial edge.

Republicans are criticizing Johnson's support for Obama's health law, which was unpopular enough in the area that, after helping rescue it, former Rep. Bart Stupak, an anti-abortion Democrat, didn't seek re-election in 2010.

With the parties more divided on social issues, voters are less likely to distinguish between a party's presidential nominee and congressional candidate, Boston College political scientist David Hopkins said.

"Rural voters really see the Republicans as the party of people like them," he said.

Barb Wilkins, of St. Ignace, works 25 hours a week at a shoe store across the bridge in Mackinaw City.

Unemployment rates swing widely up here  Michigan's lowest in summer tourism months, but highest in the offseason. She supports Bergman, but is angry that state Republicans cut unemployment benefits from 26 weeks to 20 weeks, which she said hurts seasonal workers already struggling with low wages.

"Jack Bergman seems to be more upstanding because of his service time. That seems to be where he's credible," said Wilkins, 45.

Joe Durm, a Democrat who owns restaurants in St. Ignace, said he likes Johnson's aggressiveness despite being frustrated over his gun ad.

"I don't think we're doing anything wrong," the 73-year-old said of Democrats' gun-control proposals. He conceded, though, that a Democrat must pass muster with the National Rifle Association to win the district.

"I'm probably the only one in this town that doesn't have a gun," he said.

Bergman's support for privatizing Social Security is a "huge issue," Durm said, because the population is older. "Our county, everybody leaves. All the kids leave."

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Follow David Eggert on Twitter at http://twitter.com/DavidEggert00 . His work can be found at http://bigstory.ap.org/author/david-eggert

In this Sept. 29, 2016, photo, Democrat Lon Johnson speaks with his supporter, while campaigning at Java Joe's Cafe in St. Ignace, Mich. Johnson is running against Republican Jack Bergman in Michigan's hotly contested, open 1st Congressional District. (AP Photo/David Eggert)
The man accused of setting off bombings in New Jersey and New York, injuring more than 30 people, pleaded not guilty to charges he tried to kill police officers before they captured him.

Ahmad Khan Rahami made the plea from his hospital room in Elizabeth, New Jersey, where he continues to recover from injuries sustained in the September 19 shootout with police.

His head was propped up on pillows, while public defender Peter Liguori stood by his side wearing a disposable hospital gown and plastic gloves.

He faces five charges of attempted murder of a police officer and a weapons offense.

He was read his rights by Judge Regina Caulfield and answered "yes" in a faint voice to a series of questions she asked him.

Ahmad Rahami pleaded not guilty to charges he tried to kill police officers on Thursday in Elizabeth, New Jersey court. Rahami appeared in court via a video feed from his hospital room

Thursday marked Rahami's first court appearance. He has yet to be arraigned for his alleged role in the New York and New Jersey bombings last month. A live link from Rahami's hospital room is seen above in court on Thursday

Rahami is suspected of plotting three bombings in New York and New Jersey last month, but has not yet been arraigned on those charges.

The second blast in New York City's Chelsea neighborhood resulted in 31 injuries.

Meanwhile, CBS News has revealed that Rahami has been communicating with investigators by nodding, according to two law enforcement sources who spoke with the outlet.

When investigators asked if anyone else was involved in the plot, Rahami reportedly indicated 'no'.

Rahami also nodded 'yes' when investigators asked him if the three bombing locations (The first in Seaside Park, New Jersey; the second in Chelsea, New York City; and the third in Elizabeth, New Jersey) were random.

Rahami, an Afghan-born U.S. citizen, has been hospitalized with gunshot wounds since a police shootout that led to his capture on September 19 outside a bar in Linden.

Rahami has been hospitalized since his arrest in a shootout with police on September 19. Pictured on the left being taken from the scene on a stretcher, and on the right in a mugshot

He has apparently told investigators that he choose the three bombing sites at random. Above investigators at the scene of the explosion in Chelsea

Authorities have declined to provide details on Rahami's medical condition, citing privacy laws.

Rahami, 28, is charged with five counts of attempted murder of a police officer and weapons offenses.

He is accused of detonating a pipe bomb along the route of a Marine Corps charity race in the New Jersey shore town of Seaside Park and a pressure cooker bomb in New York City on Sept. 17. No one was injured in the New Jersey blast, and 31 people were hurt in the New York blast. A second pressure cooker bomb did not explode.
Tips of the trade: How to find gold in streams and rivers

A growing number of people are heading to the streams and rivers in search of gold. There is plenty to be had, experts say, but probably not enough for you to quit your day job.

To find the specks of gold or even a nugget or two, you will need to the right equipment and keen sense of where to find it. A few tips from the experts:

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In this Sunday, Sept. 4, 2016, photo, Chris Hall shows off a vile of gold he's mined from the Wild Ammonoosuc River in Bath, N.H. A new generation of gold miners is giving prospecting a try, especially in New England and the Pacific Northwest. The growth is attributed partially to television shows like "Yukon Gold." (AP Photo/Jim Cole)

WHERE TO GO

There are thousands of places across the country to go in search of gold. Along with Vermont, Maine and New Hampshire in the Northeast, North Carolina and Georgia are popular with miners in the Southeast, while California, Utah, Oregon, Nevada and Idaho are well known out West.

To find a good stream, it's probably worth joining the Gold Prospectors Association of America or searching for a mining club on Facebook in your area. Every few years, the Gold Prospectors put out a book of all the land claims that members can prospect for gold.

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WHAT TO BRING

For the beginner, it is advisable to dress for wet conditions with many miners wearing hip boots during the summer and waders in the fall. You should also bring a pan the size of a dinner plate, a strainer called a classifier and sucker bottles to capture the gold. More serious miners might consider investing in a suction dredge and sluice box  where legal  that allows them to process much more material.

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HOW TO STRIKE GOLD

The first step is finding the right spot in the river where the gold might collect, such as a crook in the bedrock, idle pools, log jams, inside corners of rivers or spaces between boulders. Then start digging, filling your pan with gravel.

From there, continuously weed out the bigger rocks and pebbles. Then, place the pan underwater and saturate what remains, a process that allows the lighter material to float away.

With the pan still underwater, slosh the muddy mix back and forth. After a few minutes, you should be left with black sand  hopefully speckled with flakes of gold.

In this Sunday, Sept. 4, 2016, photo, Chris Hall gets ready to search for gold in the Wild Ammonoosuc River in Bath, N.H. Mining for gold began in the late 1800s in New Hampshire. All the big mining operations are now gone, but recreational mining is done in certain areas of the state. (AP Photo/Jim Cole)

In this photo taken Sunday, Sept. 4, 2016, Chris Hall pans for gold in the Wild Ammonoosuc River in Bath, N.H. A new generation of gold miners is giving prospecting a try, especially in New England and the Pacific Northwest. But more are turning to machinery, and thats causing problems. Environmentalists complain mechanized mining poses a threat to river systems. Some states are banning certain mining techniques deemed harmful. (AP Photo/Jim Cole)

In this photo taken Sunday, Sept. 4, 2016, Chris Hall uses a sluice box to pan for gold in the Wild Ammonoosuc River in Bath, N.H. A new generation of gold miners is giving prospecting a try, especially in New England and the Pacific Northwest. But more are turning to machinery, and thats causing problems. Environmentalists complain mechanized mining poses a threat to river systems. Some states are banning certain mining techniques deemed harmful. (AP Photo/Jim Cole)

In this photo taken Sunday, Sept. 4, 2016, Greg Cassavaugh pans for gold in the Wild Ammonoosuc River in Bath, N.H. A new generation of gold miners is giving prospecting a try, especially in New England and the Pacific Northwest. But more are turning to machinery, and thats causing problems. Environmentalists complain mechanized mining poses a threat to river systems. Some states are banning certain mining techniques deemed harmful. (AP Photo/Jim Cole)

In this 1887 photo provided by the Plymouth Historical Society, men pan for gold in a stream in the Five Corners area of Plymouth, Vt. A growing number of people, especially in New England and the Pacific Northwest, are returning to streams in search of gold. (E.G. Davis collection/Plymouth Historical Society via AP)

In this 1887 photo provided by the Plymouth Historical Society, a small audience watches men setting up a long box for gold prospecting in a stream in the Five Corners area of Plymouth, Vt. A growing number of people, especially in New England and the Pacific Northwest, are returning to streams in search of gold. (E.G. Davis collection/Plymouth Historical Society via AP)

In this 1887 photo provided by the Plymouth Historical Society, men work beside a long box while panning for gold in a stream in the Five Corners area of Plymouth, Vt. A new generation of gold miners is giving prospecting a try, especially in New England and the Pacific Northwest. The growth is attributed partially to television shows like "Yukon Gold." (E.G. Davis collection/Plymouth Historical Society via AP)
 Flash

People who feel their "life has been completed" should be given the legal right to assisted suicide, the Dutch government has told the parliament.

"People who believe that their life has been completed shall under strict and careful criteria be enabled to end their life in dignity. The government wants to consult with different care providers to develop a new law to shape this principle," said a brief of the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport on Wednesday.

This is about a system in addition to and alongside with the current euthanasia system, it added.

On Wednesday, Dutch Health Minister Edith Schippers and Justice Minister Ard van de Steur addressed a letter to the parliament in response to a report by an independent committee of experts made public last February.

The report concluded that people who might not be suffering from illness but feel their lives have been completed should not have the right to assisted suicide.

The report also said that the current euthanasia law is functioning well and that there is room within the euthanasia that is not used. But it considered undesirable to expand the existing legal possibilities for assisted suicide.

But, "the government believes that such a request for help from people who have unbearable and hopeless suffering without medical basis, can be a legitimate request," said the brief of the Dutch ministry.

The government will seek a solution to ensure that assisted suicide for "completed life" will be carefully checked and balanced without abuse, it added.

Under the current Dutch law, precisely the "Termination of Life on Request and Assisted Suicide Act" which took effect on April 1, 2002, euthanasia is only legal in cases of "hopeless and unbearable" suffering without prospect of improvement. In practice it is limited to those suffering from serious medical conditions, and it must be done by doctors who must follow strict procedures.

In the past decade, several civil organizations and liberal parties have been calling for expanding assisted suicide to people who no longer wish to live but are turned down for euthanasia.

In its February report, the independent committee argued that more should be done to make sure people are not "tired of living" by, for example, doing more to eradicate loneliness.
Slower growth, rivalries key issues at BRICS summit in India

NEW DELHI (AP)  Expectations were high when five big, developing nations in 2009 joined as the so-called BRICS. The cooperation of the fast-rising economies driving world growth seemed to herald a new era of putting poverty alleviation and infrastructure development first.

The five BRICS countries  Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa  do not lack for heft. They represent nearly half the world's population and a quarter of its economy, at a combined $16.6 trillion. But at a summit in the western Indian state of Goa this weekend, their leaders will be struggling to temper their tendency to compete, rather than collaborate, in boosting their slowing economies.

The five nations face unique challenges that make coordination tricky.

FILE - In this July 9, 2015, file photo, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, left, and Russian President Vladimir Putin prepare to shake hands prior to their talks during the BRICS Summit in Ufa, Russia. The leaders of five big, developing nations that banded together in 2009 as the so-called BRICS nations, are set to attend their annual summit Oct. 15-16, 2016 in a beach resort town in the western Indian state of Goa. But with their own economies now flagging, some analysts are questioning whether the group, consisting of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, still has clout in representing nearly half the world's population and a quarter of its economy at $16.6 trillion. (AP Photo/Ivan Sekretarev, File)

The authoritarian systems in Russia and China diverge from the lively democracies in India, South Africa and Brazil. Conflicting alliances with non-BRICS countries mean the group is unlikely to reach a consensus over issues such as the war in Syria or tensions in the South China Sea.

Within their ranks, the four other nations are chafing at China's increasing dominance in manufacturing and trade and seem unlikely to support a push by Beijing for more open markets when they are striving to keep their own heads above water.

"BRICS is still a work in progress," says H.H.S. Vishwanathan, a former Indian diplomat in the U.S. and several African countries. "If one looks at statements from the last seven summits, the agenda of the group is constantly evolving and expanding."

Chinese academics and analysts have floated the idea of pushing for a free-trade agreement among the BRICS. A Chinese Commerce Ministry spokesman said last month that, while China hasn't made such a proposal formally, it believes that removing tariffs and other barriers could be important for practical cooperation between the five nations.

Such an idea would likely fall flat with other BRICS countries anxious over cheap Chinese goods flooding their markets and already burdened by huge trade deficits with Beijing.

"It is likely the Chinese may not bring it up at all, because they would not want to be in an embarrassing position," Vishwanathan said. "This is a nonstarter for the BRICS."

In Goa, the BRICS leaders are likely to buttress their development-focused economic agenda with a decision to establish their own credit-rating agency, which they argue would treat developing countries more fairly than existing ones favoring Western economies.

They are also mulling founding a think tank to help shape international dialogues on finance. More modest aims include easing visa restrictions for business leaders and increasing investments from China, especially for funding infrastructure projects.

"While we cannot expect any big announcement over a BRICS free trade arrangement, the Goa summit statement will reflect the desire of the five to strengthen trading arrangements to push intra-BRICS trade," said Samir Saran, vice-president of the Observer Research Foundation think tank in New Delhi and a member of the BRICS Think Tank Council.

To date, the BRICS group's biggest achievement has been launching a financing alternative to the International Monetary Fund and World Bank intended to expand lending for infrastructure projects, initially within their countries. The Shanghai-based New Development Bank approved its first set of loans totaling $911 million this year for renewable energy projects in the five founding member nations.

"The fact that the NDB was created in three years and has already cleared more than $900 million worth of projects this year is quite creditable," said Vishwanathan, the former Indian diplomat.

Overshadowing the meeting in Goa is the hard reality of slowing growth around the globe.

China's expansion has slowed to its slowest pace in 25 years, though it is still near a robust annual pace of 7 percent.

Russia has been flummoxed by declining oil prices. Brazil is just emerging from its worst recession since the 1930s. South Africa's economic turmoil could lead to its credit rating being downgraded to junk by the year's end.

India, with an economy growing at a 7.5 percent pace, is still failing to create the 1 million new jobs it needs each month as enormous numbers of youths join the work force.

Still, they still have the potential to alter the order of world trade, said Biswajeet Dhar, an economics professor at New Delhi's Jawaharlal Nehru University. Other trading arrangements, such as the WTO, are heavily influenced by the industrialized countries, he notes. And a U.S.-led push for a Pacific Rim trade block, the Trans-Pacific Partnership, has yet to take off.

"This is the opportunity for the BRICS countries to craft a more equitable global trading order," Dhar said.

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AP researcher Yu Bing in Beijing contributed to this report.

___

Follow Nirmala George at www.twitter.com/NirmalaGeorge1
Officials say US missiles destroy radar sites on Yemen coast

WASHINGTON (AP)  U.S.-launched Tomahawk cruise missiles destroyed three coastal radar sites in Houthi-controlled territory on Yemen's Red Sea Coast early Thursday, officials said, a retaliatory action that followed two incidents this week in which missiles were fired at U.S. Navy ships.

The strikes marked the first U.S. strikes targeting the Houthis in Yemen's long-running civil war. The U.S. previously only provided logistical support and refueling to the Saudi-led coalition battling Yemen's Shiite rebels known as Houthis and their allies, including supporters of Yemen's former president, Ali Abdullah Saleh.

While the U.S. military has been focused on al-Qaida in Yemen, the Houthis had not been a primary target of American forces until the missile launches from Houthi-controlled territory this week.

In this Thursday Oct. 13 photo released by U.S. Navy, the guided missile destroyer USS Nitze (DDG 94) launches a strike against coastal sites in Houthi-controlled territory on Yemen's Red Sea coast. U.S.-launched Tomahawk cruise missiles destroyed three coastal radar sites in Houthi-controlled territory on Yemen's Red Sea Coast early Thursday, officials said, a retaliatory action that followed two incidents this week in which missiles were fired at U.S. Navy ships. (U.S. Navy via AP)

No information on casualties from the U.S. missiles was provided by American officials. The three radar sites were in remote areas, where there was little risk of civilian casualties or collateral damage, said a military official who was not authorized to be named and spoke on condition of anonymity.

The destroyer USS Nitze launched the cruise missiles, the official said.

President Barack Obama authorized the strikes at the recommendation of Defense Secretary Ash Carter and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Joseph Dunford, Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook said in a statement. U.S. officials had said earlier that the U.S. was weighing what military response to take.

"These limited self-defense strikes were conducted to protect our personnel, our ships and our freedom of navigation in this important maritime passageway," Cook said following the U.S. action. "The United States will respond to any further threat to our ships and commercial traffic, as appropriate, and will continue to maintain our freedom of navigation in the Red Sea, the Bab al-Mandeb and elsewhere around the world."

In a sign of the regional nature of the Yemen conflict, the Houthis' ally Iran announced Thursday that it was deploying two warships into the Bab el-Mandeb strait and the Gulf of Aden.

The semi-official Tasnim news agency said the deployment of the Alvand and the Bushehr was part of a regular anti-piracy patrol off Yemen and East Africa. Still, its announcement hours after the American strike appeared aimed at sending a signal to the United States.

Iran says it supports the Houthis, though it denies arming the rebels. The U.S. Navy says it has intercepted shipments of weapons from Iran bound for Yemen.

Meanwhile, Yemen's state news agency Saba under Houthis' control quoted an unnamed military official as saying that US accusations that a US destroyer had come under attack from areas under control of Houthis were false. He said, "all these claims are totally untrue and that the popular committees (Houthi militias) have nothing to do with such action."

He added, "such claims are part of the general context of creating false justifications to escalate assaults and cover up the continuous crimes committed by the aggression against the Yemeni people, along with the blockade imposed on it, and after the increasing condemnations to such barbaric and hideous crimes against Yemenis."

Loai al-Shami, a Houthi spokesman, had earlier declined to comment on the U.S. strike.

Sharaf loqman, spokesman for the Yemeni army, called it an "American farce to find a reason to interfere in Yemen directly after failure of the Saudis."

He said that the army never targets ships outside the territorial waters and only those that enter the Yemeni waters come under attack.

Early Wednesday, two missiles were fired at the USS Mason, an Arleigh Burke class of guided missile destroyer that is conducting routine operations in the region with the USS Ponce, an amphibious warship. Neither missile got near the ship, said a U.S. military official.

The missiles were fired from the Yemen coast, near the location used Sunday when two missiles were launched at the same two ships, said the official, who was not authorized to be named and spoke on condition of anonymity.

A second official said it wasn't clear whether the ship's countermeasures caused the missiles to hit the water on Wednesday or if they would have landed there anyway. The official also spoke on condition of anonymity.

"These unjustified attacks are serious, but they will not deter us from our mission," the chief of naval operations, Adm. John Richardson, said in a statement Wednesday. "The team in USS Mason demonstrated initiative and toughness as they defended themselves and others against these unfounded attacks over the weekend and again today. All Americans should be proud of them."

Col. Walid Zeyad, a top naval official in Hodeida, told the AP that radars were in three different sites: Ras Eissa and Khoukha (both in Hodeida) and al-Makha port, of the western province of Taiz. He said that they were hit early morning around 7 a.m.

The area is a hub of weapons smuggling. The general impression in Yemen was that since the Saudi imposition of a blockade, and the air campaign, all radars were destroyed. When asked Zeyad if these radars are new, he declined to comment.

The missiles fired on Sunday were variants of the so-called Silkworm missile, and both also fell harmlessly into the water. The Silkworm is a type of coastal defense cruise missile that Iran has been known to use.

Sunday was the first time that U.S. ships were targeted by a missile launch from Yemen. Last week, an Emirati-leased Swift boat came under rocket fire near the same area and sustained serious damage. The United Arab Emirates described the vessel as carrying humanitarian aid and having a crew of civilians, while the Houthis called the boat a warship.

The U.S. has been considering withdrawing its support for the Saudi-led coalition fighting the Houthis following Saturday's airstrike on a funeral and other troubling incidents of civilian casualties as a result of the Saudi bombing campaign.

The strike on the funeral in the capital, Sanaa, killed some 140 people and wounded more than 600. That bombing, among the deadliest of the war, likely sparked the rebels to launch more ballistic missiles in Saudi Arabia and target the U.S. warships in the Red Sea.

Human rights groups have expressed outrage over the deaths and accused the U.S. of complicity, leading the White House to say it was conducting a "review" to ensure U.S. cooperation with longtime partner Saudi Arabia is in line with "U.S. principles, values and interests."

Meanwhile, an international human rights group, Human Rights Watch, said Thursday that the funeral bombing constitutes an apparent war crime and that the remnants of missiles found at the site of the attack showed that they were American-made. It said a disproportionate number of the victims were civilians when the coalition carried out two airstrikes.

An international investigation is needed into the "atrocity," said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director for the rights group. She said the attack on the funeral joins a long list of abuses by the coalition.

The U.S. missile launch also could affect relations with Iran, which says it backs the Yemeni rebels but denies arming them. That's contradicted by the U.S. Navy, which says it has intercepted several shipping boats since the war began carrying Iranian weaponry suspected to be on the way to Yemen.

There was no immediate reaction to the U.S. launch Thursday morning in Iran, which was marking the Shiite commemoration of Ashoura. Houthi-linked media also did not report the strike.

The missile fire by the Houthi raises questions about maritime safety in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, which serves as a gateway for oil tankers headed to Europe through the Suez Canal. The U.S. moved more naval ships near the strait after an Emirati-leased Swift boat came under rocket fire near the same area and sustained serious damage. The United Arab Emirates described the vessel as carrying humanitarian aid and having a crew of civilians, while the Houthis called the boat a warship.

Analysts with the Washington Institute for Near East Policy called the Houthi missile fire "a surprisingly aggressive move," but stressed there were limits to Iran's control of the rebels.

"Houthi relations with the Islamic Republic resemble the Iran-Hamas relationship more than the Iran-Hezbollah relationship  that is, the Houthis are autonomous partners who usually act in accordance with their own interests, though often with smuggled Iranian arms and other indirect help," the analysts wrote in a report released early Thursday.

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Associated Press writers Maggie Michael in Sanaa, Yemen, Jon Gambrell in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and Nasser Karimi in Tehran, Iran, contributed to this report.
Lashing back, Trump calls accusers 'horrible horrible liars'

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP)  Lashing back, Donald Trump heatedly rejected the growing list of sexual assault allegations against him as "pure fiction" on Thursday, hammering his female accusers as "horrible, horrible liars" as the already-nasty presidential campaign sank further into charges of attacks on women.

Campaign foe Hillary Clinton said "the disturbing stories just keep on coming" about her Republican opponent, but she let first lady Michelle Obama's passionate response carry the day. Obama, in battleground New Hampshire, warned that the New York billionaire's behavior "is not something we can ignore."

After years of working to end "this kind of violence and abuse and disrespect ... we're hearing these exact same things on the campaign trail. We are drowning in it," Obama declared, her voice cracking with emotion. "We can't expose our children to this any longer, not for another minute, let alone for four years."

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton takes the stage at a fundraiser at the Civic Center Auditorium in San Francisco, Thursday, Oct. 13, 2016. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

With Election Day less than four weeks away, Republican Trump was again forced to defend himself against allegations of sexual misconduct, five days after a video surfaced in which he bragged about kissing and groping women without their permission.

Similar behavior was detailed by women who accused Trump in articles published late Wednesday by The New York Times and the Palm Beach Post. Separately, a People Magazine reporter offered a first-person account accusing Trump of attacking her while she was in Florida to interview him and his pregnant wife.

Ever defiant, the New York billionaire denied the allegations and blamed them on Hillary Clinton's campaign and the complicit news media as he campaigned in Florida. He promised to sue his media critics and said he was preparing evidence that would discredit his female accusers, whom he called "horrible people. They're horrible, horrible liars."

He went further during an evening appearance in Columbus, Ohio, saying he "never met" some of the women.

"I don't know who they are," he insisted and said they "made up stories."

"These vicious claims about me, of inappropriate conduct with women, are totally and absolutely false. And the Clintons know it," he said earlier. He offered no evidence discrediting the new reports except to ask why his accusers had waited years and then made their allegations less than a month before the election.

His comments came soon after he called a reporter "a sleazebag" for asking whether Trump had ever touched or groped a woman without her consent.

Trump's attacks on his accusers' credibility marked an awkward break from campaign manager, Kellyanne Conway, who earlier in the week highlighted a Clinton tweet that said "every survivor of sexual assault deserves to be heard, believed, and supported."

Conway hoped to encourage more women to come forward with allegations against Bill Clinton, building on the campaign's Sunday decision to bring three of the former president's accusers to the second presidential debate.

"His campaign is promising more scorched-earth attacks. Now that's up to him," Clinton said during a San Francisco fundraiser. "He can run his campaign however he chooses. And frankly, I don't care if he goes after me."

Trump running mate Mike Pence ditched the national reporters who pay to travel with his campaign in Pennsylvania. The Indiana governor's Twitter account showed him meeting with faith leaders and stopping at a restaurant  after a Pence spokesman said the vice presidential nominee was attending closed-door fundraisers.

Republican leaders across the country said they were deeply troubled by the allegations against Trump, but there was no evidence of new defections. Over the weekend, dozens of Republican senators and congressmen vowed they would not vote for him, with many calling on him to step aside.

Some recanted after an aggressive weekend debate performance. And in what he called an increasingly "muddy" election, Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson raised complaints about Hillary Clinton Thursday but wondered aloud what could change voters' minds at this point.

"Is there a deal-breaker out there? How many emails have to be destroyed? How many investigations have to be concluded with question marks? How many comments have to come out from one campaign in reference to religious institutions that raises concerns?"

More Trump accusers may be coming forward, according to attorney Gloria Allred, who said women have contacted her office in recent days.

"The dam has broken, and more women will be coming forward," she said.

The stories about Trump and his countercharges against Clinton's husband have plunged an already rancorous campaign to new lows. They also have distracted attention from the release of thousands of hacked emails from Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta that included some potentially damaging information.

A new batch indicated on Thursday that her 2008 presidential campaign had tried to move the Illinois Democratic primary to a later date, believing it might help her. The emails are being parceled out by WikiLeaks.

For Trump, the cumulative effect of recent revelations and allegations about his personal life appears to be a tumble in the battleground states he needs to win in November. What was already a narrow path to the 270 Electoral College votes needed for victory has virtually disappeared unless there's a significant shake-up before Nov. 8

He promised Thursday to focus on issues in the final weeks, even as his campaign crafted plans to highlight decades-old accusations against Bill Clinton.

Trump confidant and informal adviser Roger Stone has long encouraged him to make Bill Clinton's alleged assaults a centerpiece of the campaign. Steve Bannon, the campaign's chief executive, until recently ran a conservative website that eagerly promotes conspiracy theories about the Clintons.

Back in New Hampshire, Michelle Obama said, "Enough is enough."

If Americans let Trump win the election "we are telling our sons it's OK to humiliate women. We are telling our daughters this is the way they deserve to be treated. We are telling all of our kids that bigotry and bullying is perfectly acceptable."

___

Peoples reported from Washington. AP writer Michael Casey in Manchester, New Hampshire, Brian Slodysko in Allentown, Pennsylvania, Ken Thomas in San Francisco and Jack Gillum in Washington contributed to this report.

Jessica Leeds arrives at her apartment building, Wednesday, Oct. 12, 2016, in New York. Leeds was one of two women who told the New York Times that Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump touched her inappropriately. (AP Photo/Julie Jacobson)
Giuliani admits he was wrong about Clinton and 9/11

NEW YORK (AP)  Stumping for Donald Trump in Ocala, Florida, on Wednesday, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani told a crowd that Hillary Clinton had falsely claimed to have been in New York on Sept. 11, 2001  an incorrect claim he took back a few hours later.

"I made a mistake. I'm wrong and I apologize," Giuliani told The Associated Press.

In Florida, addressing what he portrayed as Clinton's past remarks on the subject, Giuliani said: "Don't tell me, if you said that, that you remember Sept. 11, 2001. I remember Sept. 11, 2001. Yes, yes, you helped to get benefits for the people that were injured that day. But I heard her say one day she was there that day. I was there that day. I don't remember seeing Hillary Clinton there."

FILE - In this Wednesday, Sept. 12, 2001 file photo, New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, center, leads New York Gov. George Pataki, left, and Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., on a tour of the site of the World Trade Center disaster. While stumping for Donald Trump in Ocala, Fla., on Oct. 12, 2016, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani accused Hillary Clinton of falsely claiming to have been in New York on Sept. 11, 2001. It isnt clear what Giuliani was talking about. On many occasions, Clinton has described being in Washington, where Congress was in session, on Sept. 11 when hijacked jets began striking the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Flights were still grounded on Sept. 12, 2001, but Clinton traveled to New York City the next day aboard a federal plane. There, she circled the smoldering World Trade Center in a helicopter, then toured ground zero with Giuliani and Pataki. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty, File)

In fact, she wasn't in New York, but she never claimed to be, either.

On many occasions, Clinton has described being in Washington, D.C., on Sept. 11 when hijacked jets struck the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. She was a member of the Senate at the time, and Congress was in session.

The next day, commercial flights remained grounded but Clinton traveled to New York City aboard a government plane. There, she circled the smoldering World Trade Center in a helicopter, then toured ground zero with Giuliani and New York's Republican governor, George Pataki.

Photos of that tour show Clinton standing shoulder to shoulder with Giuliani.

Asked about his comments, Giuliani said he thought he had heard Clinton say during the last presidential debate that she was in New York on 9/11. But after being contacted by a reporter, he reviewed a transcript and found out he was wrong.

Told that he was being criticized online by people posting photographs of him with Clinton at ground zero, Giuliani was contrite.

"I probably deserve it," he said.

After returning to Washington, Clinton worked with other lawmakers to secure billions of dollars in federal aid for New York to assist in the city's recovery.

In his speech in Ocala, Giuliani questioned Clinton's commitment to people killed or injured in the attacks.
Ryan's break from Trump prompts talk of GOP rebellion

WASHINGTON (AP)  House Speaker Paul Ryan's abandonment of Donald Trump is aimed at protecting Republican control of the House. But it may test his hold on his own job, and his long-term ambitions.

Ryan's announcement that he won't defend his party's presidential nominee and that GOP candidates should choose their own paths to victory  with or without Trump  has led some Republicans to suggest they may not back Ryan's re-election as speaker.

"Given the stakes of this election, if Paul Ryan isn't for Trump, then I'm not for Paul Ryan," Rep. Jim Bridenstine, R-Okla., said Wednesday on Twitter.

FILE - In this May 12, 2016, file photo, House Speaker Paul Ryan of Wis. speaks with reporters on Capitol Hill in Washington, following his meeting with Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump. The escalating clash between Ryan and Trump is prompting warnings of retaliation against the speaker from rank-and-file House Republicans. That means Ryan could face a rebellion like the one that drove former Speaker John Boehner into retirement and that may test Ryans hold on his own job. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen, File)

Assuming Republicans remain in control of the House after November's elections  which no longer seems assured  Ryan may need every GOP vote he can get to keep his post. That means Ryan, R-Wis., cannot afford to let this week's trickle of defiant Republican lawmakers grow much larger.

Ryan, 46, was the 2012 vice presidential nominee and many think he could run for president in 2020, or beyond. Losing an election for speaker could be a blow to any loftier political ambitions.

Ryan's tactic has cheered many GOP lawmakers nervous that Trump's flagging candidacy could cost them their jobs. But it has infuriated other Republicans and conservatives, in and out of Congress, especially Trump's die-hard backers. They consider Ryan's decision a betrayal that will weaken Trump's chances of beating Democratic Hillary Clinton.

"I suspect whatever he said would be a no-win for unanimity" among Republicans, former Rep. Tom Reynolds, R-N.Y., said Wednesday. "He's walking on a tightrope, like any speaker up for re-election," said Reynolds, who led the House GOP's campaign organization a decade ago.

On Monday, Ryan told House Republicans in a conference call that he will spend the time until the Nov. 8 election working to keep GOP control of the House, and will do nothing to help Trump. That call came after the revelation of a 2005 video showing Trump making vulgar remarks about forcing himself physically on women.

Trump has since assailed Ryan, on Twitter and in public remarks. Trump said Wednesday while campaigning in Florida that Ryan and other Republicans are involved in a "sinister deal" against him. He offered no evidence for the assertion.

Bridenstine is a conservative and a member of the House Freedom Caucus, which often bucks leadership. But he backed Ryan when the House elected him speaker last October.

Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Calif., who also supported Ryan then, hinted in an interview with The Associated Press that he might not favor keeping Ryan in the House's top job.

"I never doubted he should be speaker. However, if he can't prevent himself from panicking and helping the enemy in a situation like this, well, then we'll find out," Rohrabacher said Monday.

Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., said Ryan was under pressure from Republicans in conservative districts to back Trump and from candidates from more moderate areas to distance themselves from him.

"The risk he took was a plausible one, it was well intentioned. And we're not going to know until Nov. 9 whether it's going to work or not," King said.

AshLee Strong, Ryan's spokeswoman, said Wednesday that Ryan is "fighting to ensure we hold a strong majority next Congress, and he is always working to earn the respect and support of his colleagues."

House Republicans meet after the November vote to select their nominee for speaker. Ryan would need 218 votes  a majority of the House's 435 members  to become speaker when the full House votes in January.

There are currently 246 House Republicans, plus a vacant seat the GOP seems likely to retain.

But that number probably will shrink after Election Day, with GOP moderates among the likeliest to lose. That means a greater proportion of conservatives, some of whom are hostile to established GOP leaders, and indicates Ryan may not be able to afford losing much support.

Ryan succeeded former Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, who retired last October after it became clear that opposition from conservatives within his party's caucus meant he did not have the votes to retain his job.
Britain, France seek solutions for Calais migrant camp kids

CALAIS, France (AP)  After taking a group selfie, six underage migrants left the French city of Calais for Britain on Thursday, as both countries seek solutions for hundreds of unaccompanied children in the slum-like migrant camp known as the "jungle" before it is shut down in the coming weeks.

Concern about the children in Calais has mounted as France prepares to close the camp, a troubling symbol of Europe's migrant crisis. One aid group estimates there are 1,300 unaccompanied minors in the camp, among between 6,000 and 10,000 migrants overall from across the Mideast and Africa and some Balkan countries.

Six happy and relieved youths  one Syrian, five Afghans  gathered in the Calais local administration headquarters Thursday morning before boarding a Eurostar train, accompanied by volunteers and French officials and clutching plastic folders of documents.

One Syrian and five Afghan boys wait at the custom checkpoint of the Calais train station, northern France, as they leave for Britain Thursday, Oct. 13, 2016. A group of underage migrants is leaving the French city of Calais for Britain, as both governments seek solutions for hundreds of unaccompanied children in Calais slum-like migrant camp before it is shut down in the coming weeks. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)

Britain's Home Office says that small groups of children have been coming on a weekly basis for the last few months. Under pressure from France, the U.K. government said Monday it would begin admitting hundreds of children with relatives in Britain within days. However, questions remain about what will happen to those without family ties in the U.K.

"I'm very happy today ... it was in my dreams" to reach Britain, said Saadi, a teen boy from Afghanistan. "In London, there is my family. My sister. We have to go. We don't have any (other) solution."

Among the other children was Mohammed Fadel Hani, a 14-year-old who had been working in a makeshift restaurant in the camp while hoping to reach Britain.

The director of aid group France Terre d'Asile, Pierre Henry, told The Associated Press that earlier this week it had counted about 1,300 unaccompanied minors among the Calais migrants, including about 40 percent who said they had relatives already in Britain.

Aid groups filed an emergency request this week with a court in Lille seeking to delay the closure of the camp, arguing that authorities aren't ready to relocate its residents. Thierry Kuhn, director of aid group Emmaus, told The AP on Thursday that a decision is expected within 48 hours.

The government is gradually deporting migrants without right to asylum and relocating the rest to more than 160 centers around France. It is expected to close the camp in the coming weeks but no official dates have been announced.

Migrants carry a bag as they walk inside a makeshift migrants camp near Calais, France, late Wednesday, Oct. 12, 2016. Charities working with refugees and migrants living in a slum-like camp in northern France objected Tuesday to the government's plan to dismantle the site and disperse the occupants, saying French authorities should not act in haste. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)

A night view of a makeshift migrants camp near Calais, France, Wednesday, Oct. 12, 2016. Charities working with refugees and migrants living in a slum-like camp in northern France objected Tuesday to the government's plan to dismantle the site and disperse the occupants, saying French authorities should not act in haste. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)

One Syrian and five Afghan boys wave on the platform of the Calais train station, northern France, as they depart for Britain Thursday, Oct. 13, 2016. A group of underage migrants is leaving the French city of Calais for Britain, as both governments seek solutions for hundreds of unaccompanied children in Calais slum-like migrant camp before it is shut down in the coming weeks. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)

One Syrian and five Afghan boys wait at the custom checkpoint of the Calais train station, northern France, as they leave for Britain Thursday, Oct. 13, 2016. A group of underage migrants is leaving the French city of Calais for Britain, as both governments seek solutions for hundreds of unaccompanied children in Calais slum-like migrant camp before it is shut down in the coming weeks. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)

One Syrian and five Afghan boys are seen on the platform of the Calais train station, northern France, as they leave for Britain Thursday, Oct. 13, 2016. A group of underage migrants is leaving the French city of Calais for Britain, as both governments seek solutions for hundreds of unaccompanied children in Calais slum-like migrant camp before it is shut down in the coming weeks. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)
Cell death deprives German authorities of key source on IS

BERLIN (AP)  Relief about the capture of a young Syrian suspected of preparing a bomb attack in Germany this week gave way to frustration after he strangled himself in his jail cell, dashing authorities' hopes of gaining intelligence about the man's alleged links to the Islamic State group.

Jaber Albakr's apparently self-inflicted death late Wednesday has likely deprived authorities of a key source of information about what extremist groups might be planning in Germany, which has so far been spared the kind of mass-casualty attacks seen in neighboring France.

The 22-year-old's suicide with a T-shirt also put a glaring spotlight on law enforcement failures in the eastern state of Saxony, where Albakr had evaded arrest for two days until a trio of fellow Syrians tied him up and turned him in.

Saxony attourney general Klaus Fleischmann, Willi Schmid, corrections department head of the Saxon justice ministry; Rolf Jacob, director of the Justizvollzugsanstalt (JVA) Leipzig prison, ,and Saxony justice minister Sebastian Gemkow, from left, speak during a press conference on the death in Leipzig JVA of Jaber al-Bakr, who was arrested on suspicion of terrorism, during a press conference in Dresden, Germany, Thursday, Oct. 13, 2016. The 22-year-old Syrian was found hanged in his cell on Wednesday night. (Arno Burgi/dpa via AP)

"What happened last night demands swift and comprehensive investigation by the justice authorities," Germany's top security official, Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere, said Thursday. "What's more, it makes the investigation into possible masterminds and other accomplices harder."

Authorities suspected Albakr of planning to use home-made explosives to carry out an attack on one of Berlin's two airports this week. Following his arrest early Monday, officials said they were investigating possible links to IS.

The group already has claimed responsibility for two attacks in Germany in July, in which several people were injured but only the attackers died.

Officials said Thursday that Albakr strangled himself by tying his shirt to a security grate inside his cell at the jail in Saxony's biggest city Leipzig.

Prison chief Rolf Jacob told reporters in the state capital Dresden that a trainee guard had checked on the prisoner at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, and that when she returned for another check at 7:45 p.m. she found Albakr hanging lifeless. Attempts to revive Albakr were unsuccessful, and a doctor declared him dead a half-hour later.

Facing widespread criticism that such a high-profile prisoner was able to kill himself, Saxony state authorities said multiple precautions were taken.

Albakr was assessed by a psychologist with whom he discussed what impact his behavior in prison would have on his trial, leading her to believe he was considering his long-term future, Jacob said.

On the other hand, Albakr had refused all food at the prison and accepted only one glass of water, the prison chief said. He also had destroyed both a lighting fixture and an electrical outlet in his cell  actions that were believed to be vandalism and "not interpreted as a suicide attempt," Jacob said.

"It was clear that we were dealing with someone here where we had to work very carefully, and suicide risk played a role," he said.

But while Albakr was given pants with no belt and checked on at regular intervals, prison authorities decided against putting him in a special cell for prisoners assessed as an "acute, clearly visible suicide risk."

Albakr's public defender, Dresden attorney Alexander Huebner, told The Associated Press prison authorities should have done more to prevent his client from harming himself.

"I can't understand how they didn't assume there was a suicide risk," he said. "In this case, there should have been total surveillance with someone sitting in front of him."

Huebner said he last spoke to his client for 90 minutes on Tuesday and noted that he was agitated.

Saxony's Justice Minister Sebastian Gemkow acknowledged that, with hindsight, mistakes had been made.

"It should not have happened, even though we did everything we could to prevent it," Gemkow said, dismissing suggestions that he might resign over the lapse.

Authorities have another suspect alleged to have been involved in the plot in custody, identified only as Khalil A. in keeping with German privacy laws.

The 33-year-old Syrian was the tenant of an apartment in the city of Chemnitz where police found hidden explosives and was arrested over the weekend as a co-conspirator.

A spokesman for Germany's attorney general  who handles terrorism-related cases  said prosecutors would continue to investigate the case.

"We have to look at this soberly," Stefan Biehl told The Associated Press. "One always hopes that the accused provide further information. If one of two accused persons falls away then a potential source of information disappears."

"We're simply going to continue with what's left and try to determine the background to this deed," said Biehl.

Albakr was granted asylum after arriving in Germany last year, but had been under surveillance by German domestic intelligence since last month.

He eluded Saxony state police on Saturday as they prepared to raid the Chemnitz apartment where he had been staying. Inside the apartment police found highly volatile explosives and a homemade bomb vest.

He was arrested Monday in Leipzig after one of the three Syrians who tied him up brought a mobile phone photograph of the suspect to local police.

On Wednesday, de Maiziere said that Albakr had undergone a security check last year, but it did not turn up anything suspicious.

___

Kerstin Sopke in Dresden, Germany, contributed to this report.

A hearse leaves the prison in Leipzig, eastern Germany, early Thursday morning, Oct. 13, 2016. A 22-year-old Syrian man arrested in Germany for a suspected Islamic extremist bomb plot killed himself Wednesday in a prison cell in Leipzig, Saxony's state Justice Ministry said late Wednesday. (Jan Woitas/dpa via AP)
Advertisement

Gone are the long rows of wood-framed display cases sprinkled with campaign paraphernalia and lengthy narratives about President Richard Nixon.

Instead, the renovated Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum tells the former president's story through larger-than-life photographs, interactive touchscreens and video of Nixon's speeches and his eventual departure from the White House.

The museum reopens Friday following a $15million makeover aimed at bringing the country's 37th president closer to younger generations less familiar with the Watergate scandal and his groundbreaking trip to China.

New look: Tayron Santos cleans the newly-installed wall mural of former President Richard Nixon in the lobby area of the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum in Yorba Linda, California. The museum will reopen Friday following a $15million makeover

Remembered: Joe Lopez, a communications director at Richard Nixon Foundation, watches a film that opens with Nixon's resignation speech after the Watergate scandal at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum

'It just wasn't technologically savvy, and we needed to bring it into the 21st century,' said Michael Ellzey, the library's director.

The overhaul also brings the 18,000-square-foot museum completely into the fold of the National Archives, which assumed control of the Yorba Linda library in 2007 and inherited exhibits designed by a foundation run by Nixon's supporters that were seen by many as too partisan.

It is one of 13 presidential libraries that were built with private money and turned over to the National Archives to administer.

In Nixon's case, forming such a partnership was delayed for years by disputes over the records after his resignation and concerns the California site inaccurately portrayed history.

Scandal: The Watergate Gallery is seen in the museum at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum

While the section devoted to Watergate was redone in 2011, those focused on the Vietnam War, U.S.-Soviet relations and domestic policy had not been upgraded since 1990.

The texts of the new exhibits were reviewed by a panel of four historians chosen by the National Archives.

US President Richard Nixon is pictured in 1970

'The Nixon Library, for many years, wanted to present an image of Nixon that was one produced by his friends,' said David Farber, a panelist and University of Kansas history professor.

'The new library is much better. They're willing to concede there's a lot of controversies about the Nixon presidency.'

The campus includes the house where Nixon was born and his final resting place.

WATERGATE SCANDAL

The new museum isn't shy about Nixon's legacy as the only U.S. president to resign.

A 12-minute film before the exhibits opens with Nixon's 1974 resignation speech after the Watergate scandal, in which he tells Americans, 'I have never been a quitter.'

He is described as combative and visionary in the film, which details his rise to the presidency.

'You sit down, and you settle in, and boom - it just hits you with the reality, with the frailties of a man (that) are there right before you,' Ellzey said. 'Then it goes on to tell a deeper story.'

The Watergate exhibit was redone when the National Archives took over.

Foreign affairs: Michael Ellzey, director of Richard Nixon Presidential Library, stands in the gallery devoted to Nixon's visit to China

Hail to the chief: A life-size replica of the Oval Office where former President Richard Nixon worked is part of the museum

Conflict: Victor Garcete works in the Vietnam War gallery that's included in the presidential museum

IN NIXON'S SHOES

Unlike a more traditional gallery, the museum tries to put visitors in Nixon's shoes.

After the film, visitors walk down a hallway covered with ceiling-to-floor colorful photographs of the social turmoil of the 1960s to give a sense of the country Nixon inherited upon his election.

The next stop is a life-size replica of the Oval Office where Nixon worked in the White House.

In another room, visitors can use a set of touchscreens to read about how Nixon's advisers suggested he handle the crisis in Cambodia, the Yom Kippur War and the military draft.

Afterward, they can make their own choices about the best course of action, and compare them to the president's.

'The objective is critical thinking,' said William Baribault, president of the Richard Nixon Foundation, the private nonprofit focused on preserving Nixon's legacy that raised money for the overhaul.

'Exposing people to the decision-making process in a presidency, so that more people would understand it and, in fact, more people might aspire.'

Private moment: A sculpture of former President Richard Nixon at the Lincoln Sitting Room with a notepad is on display in the museum

Get out the vote: Campaign buttons bear the slogan 'Nixons's the one!' in the museum in Yorba Linda

All smiles: An image of former President Richard Nixon from the 1972 presidential campaign is reflected on a glass window in the museum

NIXON'S NOTES

According to the film, Nixon would take notes nightly on yellow legal pads during his time in the White House.

In the museum, visitors can see computerized images of these pads devoted to topics ranging from relations with the Soviet Union to personal goals to football.

In 1970, he wrote on one of them that he wanted to 'make use out of each day'.

The notes are presented both in Nixon's scrawling handwriting and computer-generated type, which is easier to read.

The galleries also include conversations from Nixon's era that were recorded via an extensive taping system in the White House.

National controversy: A Watergate exhibit at the museum is seen in this March 2011 file photo

On the road: Visitors peer at Nixon's presidential library at the museum in a 2005 photograph

Blast from the past: A visitor is seen walking past an exhibit at the library in May 2013
Pakistan: Spanish diplomat found dead in home

ISLAMABAD (AP)  A Spanish diplomat was found dead Thursday in his Islamabad home in what authorities suspect is a suicide, Pakistani police said.

The 60-year-old man was found in his bedroom by a domestic servant with a revolver by his side, said police officer Iftikhar Chatha.

A doctor at Islamabad's Federal Government Services Hospital said the man died of a gunshot wound to the head. But the doctor, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to brief the media, said there would be no ruling on whether the death was suicide until an autopsy had been performed.

An ambulance that brought the body of a Spanish diplomat is parked at a clinic in Islamabad, Pakistan, Thursday, Oct. 13, 2016. Pakistani police say a Spanish diplomat has been found dead in his Islamabad home in what authorities suspect is a suicide. Police officer Iftikhar Chatha said Thursday that the 60-year-old man was found in his bedroom by a domestic servant. (AP Photo/B.K. Bangash)
A gang member pleaded not guilty Thursday to the 'ambush' murders of two Palm Springs police officers.

John Hernandez Felix entered the pleas in a California courtroom where he appeared with shackles on his legs and was ordered held without bail.

Felix, 26, is charged with killing Officers Jose 'Gil' Gilbert Vega, 63, and Lesley Zerebny, 27, and wounding a third officer when they came to his family home on Saturday in response to a call involving a domestic disturbance.

California gang member John Hernandez Felix (left) pleaded not guilty Thursday to the 'ambush' murders of two Palm Springs police officers

Felix is charged with killing Officers Jose 'Gil' Gilbert Vega (right) and Lesley Zerebny (left) and wounding a third officer when they came to his family home on Saturday

Authorities said Felix was intent on killing them.

Police have not released further details.

Vega, a 35-year veteran of the force, was preparing to retire.

Zerebny had been with the department about 18 months and left behind a 4-month-old daughter with her husband, a Riverside County sheriff's deputy.

Felix previously pleaded guilty to assault with a firearm and acknowledged his gang membership in a 2009 case.

Authorities said Felix, 26, was intent on killing police on Saturday. Pictured, Assistant Riverside County Sheriff Joe Cleary giving a press conference

Felix previously pleaded guilty to assault with a firearm and acknowledged his gang membership in a 2009 case. Pictured, Kathy Seacrist wipes away tears as she stands in front of a memorial for the slain officers

Felix's public defender Michael Rowlands had asked for a delay in the arraignment so his client could undergo a psychological exam.

'We need to get that done before we decide which way we are going to proceed,' Rowlands said.

Superior Court Judge Victoria Cameron denied the request but said she would allow Felix to possibly change his plea in November after the assessment.

Felix also pleaded not guilty to three attempted murder charges and a pair of weapons charges.

He spoke only to enter the plea and answer yes-or-no questions.

Felix's public defender Michael Rowlands had asked for a delay in the arraignment so his client could undergo a psychological exam. Pictured, family and friends of one of the victims

Felix is eligible for the death penalty, but prosecutors have not yet announced whether they will seek it

Felix is eligible for the death penalty, but prosecutors have not yet announced whether they will seek it.

The courtroom was packed with victims' family members and police officers.

Rowlands argued that cameras should not be allowed in the courtroom to avoid prejudicing the public against Felix.
Cops: Man who shot 2 Boston officers didn't have gun license

BOSTON (AP)  A man who shot and wounded two police officers responding to a report of a domestic disturbance was armed with a tactical shotgun and wearing body armor but didn't have a gun license, authorities said Thursday.

The officers were responding to a 911 call from a home in the East Boston neighborhood at about 11 p.m. Wednesday about 33-year-old Kirk Figueroa threatening his roommate with a knife, police Commissioner William Evans said.

Two officers entered the home and were shot by Figueroa, who was then shot and killed by other officers, Evans said. Figueroa was not licensed to have a gun in Massachusetts, police said.

This undated photo released Thursday, Oct. 13, 2016, by the Boston Police Department shows Officer Richard Cintolo, one of two officers shot in the East Boston neighborhood late Wednesday night while responding to a report of a domestic disturbance. Cintolo, a 27-year veteran of the department, underwent surgery Thursday and was in critical condition, but recovering. (Boston Police Department via AP

The injured officers were identified as Richard Cintolo, a 27-year veteran, and Matt Morris, a 12-year veteran. Both underwent surgery and were in critical condition, but they are recovering, Evans said.

Mayor Marty Walsh said, "Thank God they will be going home sometime soon."

Police originally said Figueroa was armed with an assault rifle, but Evans later described the weapon as a tactical shotgun. Tactical shotguns typically have shorter barrels and are capable of quickly firing several rounds.

"Domestic calls, as you know, are probably the most volatile. You never really know what you're walking into," Evans said. "And I think we see right now the dangers of our job."

Two police officers in Palm Springs, California, were killed last weekend when they responded to a domestic violence call. Police there said the officers had just asked a man to come out of his family's home Saturday when he opened fire through a closed front door.

Those killings are the latest in a series of fatal attacks on officers that includes ambushes in Dallas and Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

Police towed Figueroa's car from outside his home Thursday morning. The vehicle was decorated with the name of a website called elitepolicing.org. On the site, a man who identifies himself as Kirk Figueroa says his company, Code Blue Protection Corp., provides police support, fugitive apprehension and extradition services, and armored car training.

Figueroa described himself as a Boston constable, a former member of a U.S. Army Reserve military police unit, a bounty hunter in California and a former corrections officer. He also said he was trained in mixed martial arts. Constables are authorized to serve subpoenas and other legal documents in civil cases.

An Army spokesman confirmed that Figueroa was in the Reserves but could not provide dates. California authorities said it could not immediately confirm whether he was a bounty hunter.

Figueroa was shot and killed by several other officers who at the sound of gunfire entered the home.

"Two of the officers dragged their fellow officers out of the line of fire so they were in a protected zone, and the officers continued to engage in a gun exchange," Evans said.

An artery in Morris' leg was severed, and his life was probably saved by another officer who tied a tourniquet on it, Evans said. That officer had undergone training on how to properly tie a tourniquet just the week before.

Nine other officers were treated at a hospital for trauma, stress and minor injuries.

Police, initially concerned that there might be a second suspect, ordered residents to shelter in place. That order was later lifted.

As is standard protocol following such events, the district attorney's office said there would be an investigation into the use of deadly force.

"They ran into a firefight here, able to pull two of their officers out safely, and again unfortunately, we had to take a life in doing it," Evans said.

___

This story has been corrected to show the suspect's first name is Kirk, not Kurt, per Boston police correction.

This undated photo released Thursday, Oct. 13, 2016, by the Boston Police Department shows Officer Matthew Morris, one of two officers shot in the East Boston neighborhood late Wednesday night while responding to a report of a domestic disturbance. Morris, a 12-year veteran of the department, underwent surgery Thursday and was in critical condition, but recovering. (Boston Police Department via AP)

Police search for a suspect after a shooting in the East Boston neighborhood of Boston, Wednesday, Oct. 12, 2016. Police say two officers were shot late Wednesday night. Their conditions were not immediately available. It's unclear what led to the shooting. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

Police search for a suspect after a police shooting in the East Boston neighborhood of Boston, Wednesday, Oct. 12, 2016. Police say two officers were shot late Wednesday night. Their conditions were not immediately available. It's unclear what led to the shooting. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

Police search for a suspect after a police shooting in the East Boston neighborhood of Boston, Wednesday, Oct. 12, 2016. Police say two officers were shot late Wednesday night. Their conditions were not immediately available. It's unclear what led to the shooting. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

Police search for a suspect after a shooting in the East Boston neighborhood of Boston, Wednesday, Oct. 12, 2016. Police say two officers were shot late Wednesday night. Their conditions were not immediately available. It's unclear what led to the shooting. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
Australia Senate lifts media censorship rules after 25 years

CANBERRA, Australia (AP)  The Australian Senate on Thursday lifted tough censorship rules on media coverage of its sessions at the urging of a senator who himself was recently snapped snoozing in the chamber.

Independent lawmaker Derryn Hinch, who is a former journalist, was caught napping by a photographer in the Senate in August when it sat for the first time after July elections.

The extraordinary restrictions on press photographers working in the Senate have banned such candid and unflattering pictures for the past 25 years. Senators can be snapped only when they stand to speak.

The rules had been relaxed the day Hinch was photographed because of the special circumstances of the opening of Australia's 45th Parliament. It was a rare sitting of all federal 226 lawmakers in a single chamber to hear a speech by the governor-general. Many, like Hinch, had never before been seen publicly as senators because they had just been elected. Lawmakers in the House of Representative were accustomed to more liberal media rules in their own chamber.

Hinch on Thursday successfully moved the motion that allows the press to photograph largely whatever they want in the Senate. No senator opposed the motion to lift the current restrictions from Nov. 28. The Senate rules will then be the same as those in the House of Representatives. Media are not permitted to photograph the contents of lawmakers' documents in either chamber.

"It sounds crazy, but I got caught falling asleep ... and that was the only day you could legally take my photo," the 72-year-old told reporters. "I could sleep every afternoon for the rest of the session and you're not allowed to photograph it  now that's just wrong."

Hinch, who was dubbed "the Human Headline" during his media career due to his tendency to become the center of news stories, denied suspicions that his nap was a publicity stunt. But he said the fact that he was caught and still wanted more media freedom added impetus to his campaign.

He personally defied the restrictions by photographing himself in the chamber and posting the picture on social media. He was not sanctioned for the rule breech.

The censorship rules ignited debate in March when a journalist tweeted from the Senate that a senator was playing the video game Candy Crush on his iPad. Senate security then seized the journalist's phone in case it contained photographic evidence, sparking complaints from the media that security had overstepped its authority.
Powerful greenhouse gases in focus at global climate meeting

JOHANNESBURG (AP)  Greenhouse gases that are more powerful than carbon dioxide are the focus of a global gathering this week in Africa. Experts say cutting hydrofluorocarbons, or HFCs, is the fastest way to reduce global warming. The United States is among the countries that want the world to quickly phase out the use of HFCs, and Secretary of State John Kerry is arriving Thursday to encourage a deal. Here's a look at a potential global climate agreement that has been described by the Natural Resources Defense Council as "the world's biggest climate protection achievement in the year after Paris."

___

IT'S NOT ABOUT THE OZONE LAYER

FILE - In this Tuesday, May 17, 2016 file photo, an Indian boy of a migrant daily wageworker sleeps in scorching summer temperatures near an air conditioner shop at a marketplace in New Delhi, India. Greenhouse gases more powerful than carbon dioxide are the focus of a global gathering this week in Rwanda, with Secretary of State John Kerry expected to arrive Thursday, Oct. 13, 2016 to apply pressure for a deal to quickly phase out hydrofluorocarbons which are used in air conditioners, refrigerators, and insulating foams. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri, File)

The ozone layer has been healing for a while, thanks to the global agreement known as the Montreal Protocol. In 1987, countries alarmed by the discovery of a huge hole in the ozone layer over Antarctica signed the treaty to eventually end the use of chlorofluorocarbons, which at the time were used in refrigerators and aerosols like hair spray. HFCs were introduced to replace CFCs, and scientists realized only later that they have a strong effect on global warming. Although HFCs don't harm the ozone layer, their ability to trap the heat radiating off the Earth is hundreds or thousands of times more potent than that of carbon dioxide. The U.N. Environment Program says that reducing HFCs under the treaty could reduce global warming by .5-degree Celsius by the end of this century and environmental groups say the step is essential to meeting the goals of the Paris Agreement on climate change.

___

WHERE THE U.S. AND CHINA AGREE

The United States and China have their difficult issues, but the world's two worst polluters have pushed to fight climate change. The two heavyweights agreed in 2013 to pursue a deal to phase out HFCs, which are used in air conditioners, refrigerators and insulating foams. The U.S. and China are urging the countries gathered this week in Kigali, Rwanda, to extend the Montreal Protocol to include HFCs. They also want agreement on an "early freeze date" for when countries must cap their use of them. The U.S. and India, the world's third worst polluter, also have agreed to try to use the treaty to phase out the chemical.

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A THREAT AS URGENT AS EXTREMISTS?

HFCs have been called the world's fastest-growing climate pollutants, though they are less plentiful than carbon dioxide. The growth comes as more people in developing countries make enough money to buy appliances. Last month, Kerry said HFCs currently emit as much pollution as 300 coal-fired power plants. At an international climate meeting in July for state parties to the Montreal Protocol, Kerry stressed the urgency of fighting climate change, saying it is as dangerous as the threat posed by the Islamic State and other extremist groups, if not more so.

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AFRICAN, ISLAND STATES IN A HURRY

Small island states and other countries, including many in Africa, that say they face the biggest threat from climate change are urging action on HFCs, and soon. At the July meeting by states parties to the treaty, many countries favored capping the growth of HFCs in 2021. China was said to prefer later in the decade, with India aiming at the end of it or beyond. Whatever the timing, less-developed countries are seeking help from richer ones to help them implement the treaty.

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This version corrects the name of the organization to the Natural Resources Defense Council.

Rwanda's President Paul Kagame, right, Rwanda's Minister of Natural Resources Dr Vincent Biruta, left, and Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Erik Solheim, center, attend the official opening of the 28th Meeting of the Parties to the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer, in Kigali, Rwanda, Thursday, Oct. 13, 2016. Secretary of State John Kerry is expected to arrive at the meeting Thursday to apply pressure for a deal to quickly phase out hydro-fluorocarbons which are used in air conditioners, refrigerators, and insulating foams. (AP Photo)

A group of unidentified delegates discuss together during a break at the official opening of the 28th Meeting of the Parties to the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer, in Kigali, Rwanda Thursday, Oct. 13, 2016. Secretary of State John Kerry is expected to arrive at the meeting Thursday to apply pressure for a deal to quickly phase out hydro-fluorocarbons which are used in air conditioners, refrigerators, and insulating foams. (AP Photo)

FILE - In this May 24, 2015, file photo, a man pours water on his face during a hot summer day in Hyderabad, India. Greenhouse gases more powerful than carbon dioxide are the focus of a global gathering this week in Rwanda, with Secretary of State John Kerry expected to arrive Thursday, Oct. 13, 2016 to apply pressure for a deal to quickly phase out hydrofluorocarbons which are used in air conditioners, refrigerators, and insulating foams. (AP Photo/Mahesh Kumar A., File)

FILE - In this Thursday, July 30, 2015, file photo, air conditioners and power generators are displayed on a street in central Baghdad, Iraq. Greenhouse gases more powerful than carbon dioxide are the focus of a global gathering this week in Rwanda, with Secretary of State John Kerry expected to arrive Thursday, Oct. 13, 2016 to apply pressure for a deal to quickly phase out hydrofluorocarbons which are used in air conditioners, refrigerators, and insulating foams. (AP Photo/ Khalid Mohammed, File)

FILE - In this Saturday, Dec. 12, 2015, file photo, climate activists demonstrate during COP21, the United Nations Climate Change Conference, in Paris, France. Greenhouse gases more powerful than carbon dioxide are the focus of a global gathering this week in Rwanda, with Secretary of State John Kerry expected to arrive Thursday, Oct. 13, 2016 to apply pressure for a deal to quickly phase out hydrofluorocarbons which are used in air conditioners, refrigerators, and insulating foams. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus, File)

FILE - In this Nov. 25, 2015 file photo, a man pulls a fridge through the street as people surf the Internet at a public Wi-Fi hotspot in Havana, Cuba. Greenhouse gases more powerful than carbon dioxide are the focus of a global gathering this week in Rwanda, with Secretary of State John Kerry expected to arrive Thursday, Oct. 13, 2016 to apply pressure for a deal to quickly phase out hydrofluorocarbons which are used in air conditioners, refrigerators, and insulating foams. (AP Photo/Desmond Boylan, File)

FILE - In this July 21, 2011, file photo, an iceberg floats in the sea near Qeqertarsuaq, Disko Island, Greenland. Greenhouse gases more powerful than carbon dioxide are the focus of a global gathering this week in Rwanda, with Secretary of State John Kerry expected to arrive Thursday, Oct. 13, 2016 to apply pressure for a deal to quickly phase out hydrofluorocarbons which are used in air conditioners, refrigerators, and insulating foams. (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley, File)

FILE - In this Wednesday, Sept. 21, 2016 file photo, United States Secretary of State John Kerry addresses a high-level event on the entry into force of the Paris Agreement on climate change during the 71st session of the U.N. General Assembly at U.N. Headquarters in New York. Greenhouse gases more powerful than carbon dioxide are the focus of a global gathering this week in Rwanda, with Secretary of State John Kerry expected to arrive Thursday, Oct. 13, 2016 to apply pressure for a deal to quickly phase out hydrofluorocarbons which are used in air conditioners, refrigerators, and insulating foams. (AP Photo/Jason DeCrow, File)

FILE - In this July 26, 2011 file photo, drops of water fall from a melting iceberg near Nuuk, Greenland. Greenhouse gases more powerful than carbon dioxide are the focus of a global gathering this week in Rwanda, with Secretary of State John Kerry expected to arrive Thursday, Oct. 13, 2016 to apply pressure for a deal to quickly phase out hydrofluorocarbons which are used in air conditioners, refrigerators, and insulating foams. (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley, File)
Gripped by grief, Thais mourn death of beloved monarch

BANGKOK (AP)  Thailand began its first day in 70 years without a king on Friday in a profound state of mourning, with people across the shaken nation dressed in black following the death of the world's longest-reigning monarch, Bhumibol Adulyadej.

The 88-year-old king had spent much of the last decade hospitalized and the momentous news, announced in a palace statement Thursday, had long been both anticipated and feared. But the nation remained stable and life continued largely as usual with most shops, banks and tourist sites open.

In Bangkok, residents began lining the streets where the king's body was expected to pass Friday afternoon in a royal procession from Siriraj hospital to the Temple of the Emerald Buddha, or Wat Phra Kaew, which is located on the grounds of the ornate Grand Palace.

A Thai woman holds on to a portrait of Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej in a line to offer condolences for the king at Grand Palace in Bangkok, Thailand, Friday, Oct. 14, 2016. Grieving Thais went to work dressed mostly in black Friday morning, just hours after the palace announced the death of their beloved King Bhumibol, the politically fractious country's unifying figure and the world's longest-reigning monarch.(AP Photo/ Gemunu Amarasinghe)

"It is a great loss for Thai people," said Siwanart Phra-Anan, on office worker in the financial district. "His Majesty will be in Thai people's heart forever."

"I'm lost for words because since I was born, I had him as a father of the nation and he unified us," said another, Siwanee Varikornsakul. "I've never been in this situation before. I don't know what to say. My heart is numb."

Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha said late Thursday that Bhumibol's son, Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn, will succeed the king under the constitution. But he said the prince had asked for more time to mourn with the nation before ascending the throne. No date has been set for his coronation.

The government announced a one-year mourning period and a 30-day moratorium on state events, and all public offices and schools will fly flags at half-staff for 30 days. But businesses, tourist attractions and public transport were to remain open Friday because of the government's desire not to hurt the sputtering economy.

"The stock market, investments, other businesses should not stop. Do not try to let the country lose its credibility, especially in the case of impact on the stock exchange," Prayuth said.

Television channels were running non-stop footage devoted to the life of the king, who was deeply revered and held up as a unifying figure in the politically fractious country despite two coups in the last decade alone.

Most Thais have seen no other king in their lifetime and thought of Bhumibol, who reigned for 70 years, as their father and the embodiment of goodness and godliness.

Although a constitutional monarch, he wielded enormous political power and served as a unifying figure during Thailand's numerous political crises. But in recent years, he suffered from a variety of illnesses that affected his kidneys, brain, lungs, heart and blood. He remained publicly detached from recent political upheavals, including the 2014 coup that brought Prayuth, an army general, to power.

"Since I was young I saw him work really hard, and now it's hard to explain. I feel numb inside," said Danaiwut Wiroonpiti, 26, a photographer who was crying outside the Grand Palace on Thursday. "He's the center of all Thai people. It's like we lost the main pillar of our lives, the person who holds us together. I can't hold my tears."

Portraits of Bhumibol displayed in most Thai homes and businesses generally depict him in arduous travels to remote villages, where he often went to see the situation of his subjects first hand.

But recently, whenever Bhumibol appeared in public, he was in a wheelchair, waving feebly at his subjects. Even those rare appearances stopped as he became confined to the hospital.

On Sunday, the palace announced his health had become "unstable," and on Wednesday, Vajiralongkorn rushed back from Germany, Prayuth canceled a trip abroad and royal family members began gathering at Siriraj Hospital.

He died a little before 4 p.m. on Thursday, the palace said. His death was announced three hours later in a broadcast carried simultaneously by all TV stations.

"Even though the board of doctors has closely monitored and treated him to the best of its abilities, the king's condition never improved," the palace said in a statement. It said he passed away peacefully.

"He is now in heaven and may be looking over Thai citizens from there," Prayuth said in a statement. "He was a king that was loved and adored by all. The reign of the king has ended and his kindness cannot be found anywhere else."

Messages of condolences poured in from across the world.

"With a creative spirit and a drive for innovation, he pioneered new technologies that have rightfully received worldwide acclaim," President Barack Obama said. "His majesty leaves a legacy of care for the Thai people that will be cherished by future generations."

French President Francois Hollande hailed the king for "exceptional human qualities ... his profound sense of justice, his care for modernity and sustainable development." Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi described him as "one of the tallest leaders of our times."

Bhumibol Adulyadej (pronounced poo-mee-pon ah-dun-yaa-det) became king in 1946. He anchored the Southeast Asian country through violent upheavals at home and communist revolutions next door with a blend of majesty and a common touch.

There is great concern about the succession, since Vajiralongkorn has not earned the same respect as his father.

Government spokesman Sansern Kaewkamnerd said for the next 30 days all TV and radio stations, including online media, will broadcast the same programs provided by a government-controlled pool. He did not specify foreign TV channels in the rule, but on Thursday night all channels on the country's main satellite TV service, including BBC and CNN, were replaced by the pool footage.

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Associated Press journalists Nattasuda Anusonadisai, Natnicha Chuwiruch, Jerry Harmer, Kiko Rosario and Tassanee Vejpongsa contributed to this report.

A Thai woman weeps as she holds on to a portrait of Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej in a line to offer condolences for the king at Grand Palace in Bangkok, Thailand, Friday, Oct. 14, 2016. Grieving Thais went to work dressed mostly in black Friday morning, just hours after the palace announced the death of their beloved King Bhumibol, the politically fractious country's unifying figure and the world's longest-reigning monarch.(AP Photo/ Gemunu Amarasinghe)

A Thai woman weeps as she stands in a line to offer condolences for Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej at Grand Palace in Bangkok, Thailand, Friday, Oct. 14, 2016. Grieving Thais went to work dressed mostly in black Friday morning, just hours after the palace announced the death of their beloved King Bhumibol, the politically fractious country's unifying figure and the world's longest-reigning monarch.(AP Photo/Gemunu Amarasinghe)

A Thai woman weeps as she stands in a line to offer condolences for Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej at Grand Palace in Bangkok, Thailand, Friday, Oct. 14, 2016. Grieving Thais went to work dressed mostly in black Friday morning, just hours after the palace announced the death of their beloved King Bhumibol, the politically fractious country's unifying figure and the world's longest-reigning monarch.(AP Photo/ Gemunu Amarasinghe)

Thai people stand in lines to offer condolences for Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej at Grand Palace in Bangkok, Thailand, Friday, Oct. 14, 2016. Grieving Thais went to work dressed mostly in black Friday morning, just hours after the palace announced the death of their beloved King Bhumibol, the politically fractious country's unifying figure and the world's longest-reigning monarch.(AP Photo/ Gemunu Amarasinghe)

A portrait of Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej, center is displayed as Thai people stand in lines to offer condolences for the king at Grand Palace in Bangkok, Thailand, Friday, Oct. 14, 2016. Grieving Thais went to work dressed mostly in black Friday morning, just hours after the palace announced the death of their beloved King Bhumibol, the politically fractious country's unifying figure and the world's longest-reigning monarch.(AP Photo/ Gemunu Amarasinghe)

Thai people stand in lines to offer condolences for Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej at Grand Palace in Bangkok, Thailand, Friday, Oct. 14, 2016. Grieving Thais went to work dressed mostly in black Friday morning, just hours after the palace announced the death of their beloved King Bhumibol, the politically fractious country's unifying figure and the world's longest-reigning monarch.(AP Photo/ Gemunu Amarasinghe)

Thai people sit in front of Grand Palace, wait for the body of Thailand's King Bhumibol Adulyadej to be carried in Bangkok, Thailand, Friday, Oct. 14, 2016. Grieving Thais went to work dressed mostly in black Friday morning, just hours after the palace announced the death of their beloved King Bhumibol, the politically fractious country's unifying figure and the world's longest-reigning monarch.(AP Photo/ Gemunu Amarasinghe)

With a Thai national flag at half-mast, Thai people stand in lines to offer condolences for Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej at Grand Palace in Bangkok, Thailand, Friday, Oct. 14, 2016. Grieving Thais went to work dressed mostly in black Friday morning, just hours after the palace announced the death of their beloved King Bhumibol, the politically fractious country's unifying figure and the world's longest-reigning monarch.(AP Photo/ Gemunu Amarasinghe)

A Buddhist monk holds his begging bowl and a bag with a portrait of Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej close to Grand Palace in Bangkok, Thailand, Friday, Oct. 14, 2016. Grieving Thais went to work dressed mostly in black Friday morning, just hours after the palace announced the death of their beloved King Bhumibol Adulyadej, the politically fractious country's unifying figure and the world's longest-reigning monarch.(AP Photo/ Gemunu Amarasinghe)

A man offers newspapers featuring Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej in Bangkok, Thailand, Friday, Oct. 14, 2016. Grieving Thais went to work dressed mostly in black Friday morning, just hours after the palace announced the death of their beloved King Bhumibol, the politically fractious country's unifying figure and the world's longest-reigning monarch.(AP Photo/ Gemunu Amarasinghe)

A cat watches a sniffer dog walking close to Grand Palace in Bangkok, Thailand, Friday, Oct. 14, 2016. Grieving Thais went to work dressed mostly in black Friday morning, just hours after the palace announced the death of their beloved King Bhumibol Adulyadej, the politically fractious country's unifying figure and the world's longest-reigning monarch.(AP Photo/ Gemunu Amarasinghe)

A Thai man, partly dressed in black, offers alms for Buddhist monks close to Grand Palace in Bangkok, Thailand, Friday, Oct. 14, 2016. Grieving Thais went to work dressed mostly in black Friday morning, just hours after the palace announced the death of their beloved King Bhumibol Adulyadej, the politically fractious country's unifying figure and the world's longest-reigning monarch.(AP Photo/ Gemunu Amarasinghe)

Thai people, some dressed in black, offer alms for Buddhist monks close to Grand Palace in Bangkok, Thailand, Friday, Oct. 14, 2016. Grieving Thais went to work dressed mostly in black Friday morning, just hours after the palace announced the death of their beloved King Bhumibol Adulyadej, the politically fractious country's unifying figure and the world's longest-reigning monarch.(AP Photo/ Gemunu Amarasinghe)

Thai people, mostly dressed in black offer alms for Buddhist monks close to Grand Palace in Bangkok, Thailand, Friday, Oct. 14, 2016. Grieving Thais went to work dressed mostly in black Friday morning, just hours after the palace announced the death of their beloved King Bhumibol Adulyadej, the politically fractious country's unifying figure and the world's longest-reigning monarch.(AP Photo/ Gemunu Amarasinghe)

A Thai woman weeps as she holds on to a portrait of Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej in a line to offer condolences for the king at Grand Palace in Bangkok, Thailand, Friday, Oct. 14, 2016. Grieving Thais went to work dressed mostly in black Friday morning, just hours after the palace announced the death of their beloved King Bhumibol, the politically fractious country's unifying figure and the world's longest-reigning monarch.(AP Photo/ Gemunu Amarasinghe)

Thais take picture at the Grand Palace in Bangkok, Thailand, Friday, Oct. 14, 2016. Grieving Thais went to work dressed mostly in black Friday morning, just hours after the palace announced the death of their beloved King Bhumibol Adulyadej, the politically fractious country's unifying figure and the world's longest-reigning monarch. He was 88.(AP Photo/Kittinun Rodsupan)

A Thai woman holds a portrait of Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej outside Siriraj Hospital where Bhumibol had been treated in Bangkok, Thailand, Friday, Oct. 14, 2016. Grieving Thais went to work dressed mostly in black Friday morning, just hours after the palace announced the death of their beloved King Bhumibol Adulyadej, the politically fractious countrys unifying figure and the worlds longest-reigning monarch. He was 88. (AP Photo/Kittinun Rodsupan)

A Thai holding a picture of Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej outside Siriraj Hospital in Bangkok, Thailand, Friday, Oct. 14, 2016. Grieving Thais went to work dressed mostly in black Friday morning, just hours after the palace announced the death of their beloved King Bhumibol, the politically fractious countrys unifying figure and the worlds longest-reigning monarch. He was 88. (AP Photo/Kittinun Rodsupan)

Thais hold portraits of Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej at Siriraj Hospital as they wait for the body of the king to be carried to Grand Palace in Bangkok, Thailand, Friday, Oct. 14, 2016. Grieving Thais went to work dressed mostly in black Friday morning, just hours after the palace announced the death of their beloved King Bhumibol, the politically fractious countrys unifying figure and the worlds longest-reigning monarch. He was 88. (AP Photo/Kittinun Rodsupan)

Thais sit at Siriraj Hospital as they wait for the body of Thailand's King Bhumibol Adulyadej to be carried to Grand Palace in Bangkok, Thailand, Friday, Oct. 14, 2016. Grieving Thais went to work dressed mostly in black Friday morning, just hours after the palace announced the death of their beloved King Bhumibol, the politically fractious countrys unifying figure and the worlds longest-reigning monarch. He was 88. (AP Photo/Kittinun Rodsupan)

Buddhist monks and Thais line up to offer condolences for Thailand's King Bhumibol Adulyadej at Grand Palace in Bangkok, Thailand, Friday, Oct. 14, 2016. Grieving Thais went to work dressed mostly in black Friday morning, just hours after the palace announced the death of their beloved King Bhumibol, the politically fractious country's unifying figure and the world's longest-reigning monarch. He was 88. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)

Thais line up to offer condolences for Thailand's King Bhumibol Adulyadej at Grand Palace in Bangkok, Thailand, Friday, Oct. 14, 2016. Grieving Thais went to work dressed mostly in black Friday morning, just hours after the palace announced the death of their beloved King Bhumibol, the politically fractious country's unifying figure and the world's longest-reigning monarch. He was 88. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)

Buddhist monks and Thais line up to offer condolences for Thailand's King Bhumibol Adulyadej at Grand Palace in Bangkok, Thailand, Friday, Oct. 14, 2016. Grieving Thais went to work dressed mostly in black Friday morning, just hours after the palace announced the death of their beloved King Bhumibol, the politically fractious country's unifying figure and the world's longest-reigning monarch. He was 88. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)
Russia, the West clash in tiny Montenegro election

PODGORICA, Montenegro (AP)  Voters in Montenegro face a stark choice: continue on a chartered pro-Western course and NATO membership, or slide back to the embrace of their traditional Slavic ally Russia.

The election Sunday in this tiny Balkan nation is the most significant since the vote for independence from much larger Serbia a decade ago. The outcome could jeopardize NATO and European Union enlargement in southeastern Europe and could prove decisive in Moscow's bid to regain influence in the strategic region.

The vote pits Montenegro's long-ruling Democratic Party of Socialists, led by powerful pro-Western Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic, against a cluster of pro-Russian and pro-Serbian opposition groups which staunchly oppose the country's NATO bid.

In this photo taken on Wednesday, Oct. 12, 2016, a man walks by an election poster of pro-Western Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic, leader of the Democratic Party of Socialists, reading "We are joining NATO, we are at the doorstep at the developed European family" and "With firm step ahead!", in downtown Podgorica, Montenegro. The Sunday general election in the tiny Balkan nation is the most significant since the vote for independence from much larger Serbia a decade ago. (AP Photo/Risto Bozovic)

In July, NATO adopted a declaration welcoming Montenegro as a new member. What remains is Montenegro's ratification of the accession agreement.

Djukanovic, who ruled Montenegro as a premier or president for more than 25 years, is hoping to secure a parliamentary majority to ratify the NATO agreement in the assembly, without holding a popular referendum whose outcome would be highly uncertain. The opposition is demanding a referendum on NATO.

The latest polls suggest that Djukanovic's ruling DPS will gain a majority in Montenegro's 81-seat parliament. But without enough seats to rule alone, analysts say Djukanovic will have tough time forming a ruling coalition.

The scenic country of 650,000 people, squeezed between the Adriatic Sea and towering mountains, is deeply divided among those who favor and oppose the Western integrations.

Russia strongly opposes the expansion of the Western military alliance in European ex-communist countries it considers part of its "strategic interests." Wary of Russian influence in the still-volatile region, which was engulfed in bloody civil wars in the 1990s, the West wants Montenegro in NATO.

As a Serbian ally, Montenegro was bombed in 1999 by NATO, which launched air strike to stop a crackdown against Kosovo Albanian separatists. That made NATO highly unpopular in the predominantly Christian Orthodox country.

Until recently, Montenegro had been a faithful ally of Russia. But after splitting with Serbia in a 2006 referendum, Montenegro took a strong turn toward Euro-Atlantic integration.

Russian companies have invested millions in Montenegro, which has also become a favorite Russian tourist destination. Russians have also been buying property along the Adriatic Sea. An estimated 10,000 Russians have become Montenegrin citizens.

Officials from President Vladimir Putin's United Russia party, who have branded Djukanovic's NATO bid "irresponsible with far-reaching consequences," have openly supported Montenegrin opposition parties and have reportedly financed some of their leaders  something they deny.

In a sign that tensions could escalate, pro-Putin bikers and people from Russia, Serbia, eastern Ukraine and Bosnia have recently set up a "Balkan Cossack Army" in Montenegro to fight for Christian Orthodox interests.

The opposition groups accusing Djukanovic of corruption, nepotism and economic mismanagement and have pledged to lift Western sanctions against Russia for its actions in Ukraine if they win.

During the heated campaign, Djukanovic accused opposition leaders of "treason" for putting the Kremlin's interests first.

"There is no worst crime than to betray the interests of your own country," he said. "They won't succeed, no way!"

Nebojsa Medojevic, leader of the opposition Democratic Front, has rejected Djukanovic's claims, saying the group "has not had any political, financial or logistic support from Moscow."

He said Montenegro is seeking its "first democratic government since 1945," accusing Djukanovic of creating "a sick system with widespread corruption and crime."

Milan Petrovic, a 50-year old from Podgorica, supports the opposition, believing "they would bring thieves to justice and Montenegro to a brighter future than NATO membership offers."

But teacher Nikola Popovic, 33, hopes NATO membership would bring in more foreign investments and raise living standards.

"In a cultural sense, we more belong to the European Union than to Russia, even though we have stronger ethnic ties with the Russian people," he said. "The time has come for us to go West."

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AP Writer Dusan Stojanovic contributed from Belgrade, Serbia.

In this photo taken on Wednesday Oct. 12, 2016, a man walks by an election poster of pro-Western Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic, leader of the Democratic Party of Socialists, reading "We are joining NATO, we are at the doorstep at the developed European family" and "With firm step ahead!", in downtown Podgorica, Montenegro. The Sunday general election in the tiny Balkan nation is the most significant since the vote for independence from much larger Serbia a decade ago. (AP Photo/Risto Bozovic)
Nigeria says 21 abducted Chibok schoolgirls freed in swap

MAIDUGURI, Nigeria (AP)  Twenty-one of the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapped by Boko Haram more than two years ago were freed Thursday in a swap for detained leaders of the Islamic extremist group, government and military officials said, the first release since nearly 300 girls were taken captive in a case that provoked international outrage.

The freed girls, some carrying babies, were released before dawn and placed in the custody of the Department of State Services, Nigeria's secret intelligence agency. In photos released by the government, the former captives, most now young women, appeared gaunt and exhausted. The government "wants the girls to have some rest," said presidential spokesman Garba Shehu, adding that "all of them are very tired."

Some 197 captives remain missing, though some reportedly have died.

In this photo released by the Nigeria State House, Nigeria's Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, left, welcomes some of the freed Chibok school girls at the state House in Abuja, Nigeria, Thursday, Oct. 13, 2016. Twenty-one of the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapped by Boko Haram more than two years ago were freed Thursday in a swap for detained leaders of the Islamic extremist group  the first release since nearly 300 girls were taken captive in a case that provoked international outrage. (Sunday Aghaeze/Nigeria State House via AP)

"We are extremely delighted and grateful," said the Bring Back Our Girls movement, which campaigned in Nigeria and internationally for the release of the girls, most of whom were teenagers when they were seized in April 2014 from their school in the northeastern town of Chibok.

"We thank the federal government and, like Oliver Twist, we ask for more," said Hauwa Biu, an activist in Maiduguri, the capital of northeastern Borno state and the birthplace of Boko Haram.

The release was negotiated between the government and Boko Haram, with the International Committee of the Red Cross and the Swiss government acting as intermediaries, Shehu said. He said negotiations would continue for the release of the other students.

Many of the girls freed Thursday were carrying babies, said an aid worker who saw them in Maiduguri, where they were taken by helicopter after their release, before being flown to the capital, Abuja. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media. The government said at least one child, a boy of about 20 months, was among those released. Many Boko Haram captives recently freed by military action have been shunned by their communities because they came home pregnant or with babies from the fighters.

Four detained Boko Haram leaders were released Wednesday night in Banki, a town on Nigeria's northeast border with Cameroon, said a military officer familiar with the talks. In exchange for their release, the girls were freed in Banki hours later, said the officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to journalists.

But Information Minister Lai Mohammed insisted there was no swap, just "a release, the product of painstaking negotiations and trust on both sides."

At a news conference, he refused to say how the girls were chosen. He said they would be "debriefed" and placed in the care of doctors, psychologists, social workers and trauma experts, and their names would be released after their parents were informed.

In Abuja, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo welcomed the freed young women, telling them: "The whole nation's been waiting for you," according to a post on the official Twitter account of the Nigerian presidency. He said the girls' parents were on their way to the Nigerian capital to be reunited with them.

In photos of the meeting released by the government, many of the women appeared malnourished, their clothes hanging loosely over their bony frames. Others freed from Boko Haram captivity by military action have said the extremists are running out of food.

A Chibok community leader, Pogu Bitrus, said one parent had called to say the government had contacted him to say his daughter was freed. "We just want all of our girls to come home," he said.

The abduction of 276 schoolgirls from their school in Chibok and the government's failure to quickly free them caused an international outcry and brought Boko Haram, Nigeria's home-grown Islamic extremist group, to the world's attention. Dozens of the girls escaped on their own, but some 197 remain missing.

In May, one of the captives, Amina Ali Nkeki, managed to escape and told her family that some of the kidnapped girls had died of illness and that others, like herself, had been married off to fighters and were pregnant or had babies, her mother told the AP. She said her daughter wants to come home with her baby, but has been kept in the custody of the secret service.

"It is hoped that the newly released 21 won't exchange captivity in Sambisa Forest for captivity in an Abuja fortress," said Emmanuel Ogebe, a Washington-based human rights lawyer whose foundation is helping educate some of the escaped Chibok girls in the United States.

Ogebe also criticized the government's release of photos of the freed young women before they had even been reunited with their parents, saying they must "be kept out of public parading, photo ops and political exploitation by the government of Nigeria."

Former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who campaigned for the girls' freedom as the U.N. special envoy for global education, urged Nigeria's government not to give up until every girl is safely home with her family. "We do not know how they will readjust, but one thing is for certain, their lives have changed forever," he said.

Soon after the kidnapping, Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau said he would marry the girls to his fighters, saying they should be wives, not going to school. The name Boko Haram means "Western education is forbidden," or "sinful," in Nigeria's Hausa language.

The extremists have attacked many schools and kidnapped many thousands of girls and boys during their seven-year insurgency that has killed more than 20,000 people, according to Amnesty International. In a statement Thursday, Shehu put the death toll at more than 30,000. Some 2.6 million people have been driven from their homes by the insurgency and the United Nations has warned that tens of thousands face famine-like conditions.

Negotiations last year failed when Boko Haram demanded a ransom of $5.2 billion for the girls' freedom, according to a recently published authorized biography of Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari by American historian John Paden. It was not clear if any money changed hands in this swap.

Negotiations may have been complicated by a leadership struggle within Boko Haram, where the Islamic State group has named a new leader to replace Shekau, who insists he is still in charge.

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Faul reported from Johannesburg. Associated Press writer Ismail Alfa Abdulrahim contributed to this report from Maiduguri, Nigeria.

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This story was updated to clarify that a military official said the girls were released as part of a swap.

In this photo released by the Nigeria State House, Nigeria's Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, left, welcomes some of the freed Chibok school girls at the state House in Abuja, Nigeria, Thursday, Oct. 13, 2016. Twenty-one of the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapped by Boko Haram more than two years ago were freed Thursday in a swap for detained leaders of the Islamic extremist group  the first release since nearly 300 girls were taken captive in a case that provoked international outrage. (Sunday Aghaeze/Nigeria State House via AP)

In this photo released by the Nigeria State House, Nigerian government officials welcome some of the freed Chibok school girls at the state House in Abuja, Nigeria, Thursday, Oct. 13, 2016. Twenty-one of the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapped by Boko Haram more than two years ago were freed Thursday in a swap for detained leaders of the Islamic extremist group  the first release since nearly 300 girls were taken captive in a case that provoked international outrage. (Sunday Aghaeze/Nigeria State House via AP)

In this photo released by the Nigeria State House, some of the freed Chibok school girls are seen at the state House in Abuja, Nigeria, Thursday, Oct. 13, 2016. Twenty-one of the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapped by Boko Haram more than two years ago were freed Thursday in a swap for detained leaders of the Islamic extremist group  the first release since nearly 300 girls were taken captive in a case that provoked international outrage. (Sunday Aghaeze/Nigeria State House via AP)

In this photo released by the Nigeria State House, Nigeria's Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, right, welcomes some of the freed Chibok school girls at the state House in Abuja, Nigeria, Thursday, Oct. 13, 2016. Twenty-one of the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapped by Boko Haram more than two years ago were freed Thursday in a swap for detained leaders of the Islamic extremist group  the first release since nearly 300 girls were taken captive in a case that provoked international outrage. (Sunday Aghaeze/Nigeria State House via AP)

In this photo released by the Nigeria State House, Nigeria's Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, left, welcomes some of the freed Chibok school girls at the state House in Abuja, Nigeria, Thursday, Oct. 13, 2016. Twenty-one of the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapped by Boko Haram more than two years ago were freed Thursday in a swap for detained leaders of the Islamic extremist group  the first release since nearly 300 girls were taken captive in a case that provoked international outrage. (Sunday Aghaeze/Nigeria State House via AP)

FILE- In this undated image taken from video distributed Sunday, Aug. 14, 2016, an alleged Boko Haram soldier standing in front of a group of girls alleged to be some of the 276 abducted Chibok schoolgirls held since April 2014, in an unknown location. Twenty-one of the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapped by Boko Haram Islamic extremists more than two years ago have been freed in negotiations, officials said Thursday, Oct. 13, 2016. Some 197 girls remain captive, though it is not known how many of them may have died. (Militant video/Site Institute via AP File)
Pope to canonize 'gaucho priest,' earlier version of himself

VATICAN CITY (AP)  Pope Francis this weekend will canonize Argentina's "gaucho priest," the poncho-wearing, mate-sipping pastor who rode his mule Malacara to the far-flung peripheries of Argentina to minister to the poor.

In many ways, Francis will be honoring a 19th-century version of himself.

Born in 1849 in the province of Cordoba, Jose Gabriel del Rosario Brochero was one of the most famous Catholics in the Argentina of Francis' youth. He died in 1914 after living for years with leprosy that he was said to have contracted from one of his faithful.

FILE- In this Sunday, May 17, 2015 file photo, Pope Francis arrives to celebrate a canonization ceremony of four new saints in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican. Pope Francis this weekend, Oct. 15-16, 2016, will canonize Jose Gabriel del Rosario Brochero, Argentina's "gaucho priest," the poncho-wearing, mate-sipping pastor who rode his mule Malacara to the far-flung peripheries of Argentina to minister to the poor. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino, File)

Brochero was beatified in 2013, after Pope Benedict XVI signed off on a miracle attributed to his intercession. History's first Argentine pope cleared him for sainthood earlier this year and on Sunday will canonize Brochero along with six other people in one of the final big Masses of his Holy Year of Mercy.

When Brochero was beatified in 2013, Francis wrote a letter to Argentina's bishops praising Brochero for having had the "smell of his sheep." That's a phrase Francis has frequently used to describe his ideal pastor: one who accompanies his flock, walking with them through life's ups and downs.

"He never stayed in the parish office, he got on his mule and went out to find people like a priest of the street  to the point of getting leprosy," Francis wrote.

Francis, who like Brochero and most Argentines adores his mate tea, has exhorted his pastors to go to the peripheries to find wounded souls and bring them God's mercy. Francis himself has travelled to some of the most forgotten corners of the world to minister to the faithful, and as archbishop of Buenos Aires, was known for riding public transport around town and visiting the capital's slums to celebrate Mass for prostitutes and drug addicts, the most marginal of society.

Another parallel shared by the two Argentines is Brochero's spirituality, which is deeply rooted in the Jesuit spiritual exercises that are so dear to Francis. Just as Brochero would lead his flock in performing the spiritual exercises of St. Ignatius Loyola, so too does Francis, bringing the entire Vatican hierarchy each year on retreat outside Rome.

"If there is one religious figure in Argentina's history who best exemplifies Pope Francis's idea of a priest, it's 'el cura' Brochero," said Austen Ivereigh, author of the Francis biography "The Great Reformer."

"He lived simply, and for others, at one with the gauchos and poor folk."

Francis resembles Brochero in other ways, too, with his simple, casual and  even occasionally  foul language. In fact, Brochero's sainthood case was held up for years by concern that his "vulgar" language was not befitting of a priest, according to the Rev. Diego Fares, an Argentine Jesuit writing in the Jesuit magazine Civilta Cattolica.

"Over time, the officials in the Causes of Saints office came to believe the reality that the people of God knew from the start: that Brochero's language was a language of love. Time showed that his words were neither vulgar nor refined: They were the words that were right for each person," Fares wrote.

In his 2013 letter, Francis praised Brochero for the simplicity of his message and language.

"He invited them to drink a mate, they chatted, and Brochero spoke to them in a way they all understood because it came from his heart, of the faith and love he had for Jesus," he said.

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Follow Nicole Winfield at www.twitter.com/nwinfield
Delta posts a profit despite lower airfare, rising expenses

NEW YORK (AP)  Lower airfares and rising salaries are putting a squeeze on Delta Air Lines.

Luckily for the airline, the price of jet fuel remains cheap and the Atlanta-based carrier was able to report Thursday a third-quarter profit of $1.26 billion, down 4 percent from the same period last year.

Summer is typically the strongest period for U.S. airlines and Delta's earnings could signal an end of an extraordinary run of record profits for the industry. The issue is that this era of cheap fuel isn't going to last forever.

A Delta Air Lines jet sits at a gate at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, in Atlanta, Thursday, Oct. 13, 2016. Lower airfares and rising salaries are putting a squeeze on Delta Air Lines. Luckily for the airline, the price of jet fuel remains cheap and the Atlanta-based carrier was able to report a third-quarter profit of $1.26 billion, down 4 percent from the same period a year earlier. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

Delta  which is the first major U.S. airline to report earnings  paid $1.50 for each gallon of jet fuel in the quarter, down from $1.89 during the same period last year. An oil refinery owned by Delta in Pennsylvania lost $45 million in the quarter, yet possession of the facility gives the airline a 3-cents-per-gallon fuel advantage over competitors. Every penny per gallon saved adds up with the airline consuming 1.1 billion gallons of fuel during the quarter. Delta warned in its earnings release that, for the first time in several years, year-over-year fuel prices will be higher in the next quarter.

After posting more than $56 billion in industry profits since 2010, U.S. airlines are now struggling with too many seats in the sky, lower airfares and increased costs for most non-fuel expenses including salaries and payments for new aircraft.

The amount of money Delta collected for each mile that each available seat flew plunged 6.8 percent during the three months that ended Sept. 30.

The average airfare for each 1,000 miles passengers flew during the summer was $153.80, down 5.3 percent from the $162.40 Delta collected during the same period last year.

The number of available seats and the miles they flew increased 1.5 percent while the actual flying by paying customers fell 0.2 percent. A year ago, 86.8 percent of Delta's seats were filled with paying passengers during the peak July, August and September quarter. That fell this year to 85.4 percent.

Delta, the world's second-largest airline by passenger traffic, said it plans to slow its growth to 1 percent in the next quarter and into 2017 so it can try to raise airfares. It hopes that its industry-leading on-time performance will convince travelers  especially higher-paying business fliers  to book with Delta and possibly pay more to do so.

Delta indicated on a call with investors that airfares may have hit their low point.

The airline's president, Glen Hauenstein, said that within the next 90 days he expects more than half of Delta's routes to see higher year-over-year revenue per available seat. In the past six to eight weeks, the airline has seen airfares climb on last-minute bookings.

Latin America routes  which have been hammered by regional economic troubles  saw revenue per available seat climb 1.4 percent.

However, lucrative Trans-Atlantic routes fell 9.7 percent, something Hauenstein attributed to the growth of low-cost airlines in that market, terrorism fears and Great Britain's vote to leave the European Union and the subsequent drop of the country's currency.

"We continue to be cautiously optimistic," Hauenstein said.

While Delta is taking in less cash, it's also paying out more.

The number of full-time equivalent employees rose 1.3 percent to 84,084. Salaries and benefits jumped 8 percent to $2.5 billion. And that doesn't factor in a proposed new pilot contract which would drive up Delta's wage expenses more.

Delta also continued to replace its aging fleet of jets, leading to a 14 percent increase in its aircraft payments. Its fleet climbed from 925 jets to 960 in the past year. The new jets also have more seats than those they are replacing, making it even harder for Delta to easily pull down its capacity and increase airfares.

Overall, Delta's revenue for the quarter declined 6 percent to $10.48 billion from $11.11 billion last year and fell short of Wall Street forecasts. Four analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research expected $10.59 billion. The airline said $100 million of that shortfall was a result of an August computer outage that grounded its planes around the globe and led to more than 2,300 flight cancelations. Another $70 million in the gap came because of gains last year from currencies bets on the Japanese Yen.

On a per-share basis, the Atlanta-based company said it had profit of $1.69. Earnings, adjusted for non-recurring costs, came to $1.70 per share. That profit surpassed Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of nine analysts surveyed by Zacks was for earnings of $1.65 per share.

Delta shares rose 74 cents, or 1.9 percent, to close at $40.01. The stock has declined 16 percent in the last 12 months.

___

Elements of this story were generated by Automated Insights (http://automatedinsights.com/ap) using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report on DAL at http://www.zacks.com/ap/DAL

_____

Follow Scott Mayerowitz at twitter.com/GlobeTrotScott. His work can be found at http://bigstory.ap.org/content/scott-mayerowitz.

Passengers unload in front of a Delta Air Lines sign at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, in Atlanta, Thursday, Oct. 13, 2016. Lower airfares and rising salaries are putting a squeeze on Delta Air Lines. Luckily for the airline, the price of jet fuel remains cheap and the Atlanta-based carrier was able to report a third-quarter profit of $1.26 billion, down 4 percent from the same period a year earlier. (AP Photo/David Goldman)
Police: Car break-in suspect shot and wounded by officer

ATLANTA (AP)  Investigators say an Atlanta police officer shot and wounded a man while investigating a report of someone breaking into vehicles.

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation is looking into the shooting, which happened early Thursday morning.

The GBI says preliminary information provided by Atlanta authorities indicates the responding officers spotted a man crouched near a vehicle in a driveway. When the officers asked the man to step out with his hands up, he fired shots in their direction.

One officer returned fire, hitting the man who ran a short distance before he was caught.

The man was taken to Grady Memorial Hospital, where he was in stable condition.

No officers were shot.
AP Explains: Yemen's stalemate war threatens to entangle US

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP)  By firing missiles into Yemen, the United States likely will be further entangled in a stalemate war in the Arab world's poorest country, a conflict it has sought to extract itself from in recent weeks. But who exactly is fighting in Yemen and what does the U.S. have to do it with it?

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A COUNTRY AT WAR

In this image released by the U.S. Navy, the USS Mason (DDG 87), conducts maneuvers as part of a exercise in the Gulf of Oman on Sept. 10, 2016. For the second time this week two missiles were fired at the USS Mason in the Red Sea, and officials believe they were launched by the same Yemen-based Houthi rebels involved in the earlier attack, a U.S. military official said Wednesday. According to the official, the missiles were fired early Oct. 12 at the USS Mason that is conducting routine operations in the region, along with the USS Ponce, an amphibious warship. The official said that neither missile got near the ship. (Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Blake Midnight/U.S. Navy via AP)

Yemen, on the southern edge of the Arabian Peninsula, has been in the midst of a civil war since September 2014. That's when Shiite rebels, known as Houthis, swept into the capital of Sanaa and overthrew the country's internationally recognized government. Houthi allies include forces loyal to Yemen's former President Ali Abdullah Saleh and have the backing of Shiite power Iran. In March 2015, a Saudi-led coalition of Arab countries began a military campaign against the Houthi forces, saying its mission served in part as a counterbalance to Iran's influence.

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A STALLED OFFENSIVE

Since launching its campaign, the Saudi-led coalition retook the port city of Aden and lands in southern Yemen. However, Sanaa and the Houthi heartland of northern Yemen remain held by the rebels. A ground offensive to retake the capital, which likely would involve street-by-street fighting and heavy casualties, appears unlikely. Instead, the Saudi-led campaign has relied on airstrikes. Those airstrikes, however, have proven deadly for civilians. A United Nations report said coalition airstrikes were responsible for 60 percent of civilian deaths over a yearlong span starting in July 2015.

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AN INCREASINGLY WARY U.S.

After the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, the U.S. launched drone strikes against suspected al-Qaida militant targets in the country from a local military base and provided Yemen with hundreds of millions of dollars in security assistance. American troops were evacuated from Yemen amid the latest Houthi push, but airstrikes targeting al-Qaida have continued. U.S. forces offered targeting guidance to the Saudi-led coalition and logistical assistance at the beginning of their campaign. They have pulled back in recent weeks, however, over the coalition killing civilians in their airstrikes.

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EXCHANGING MISSILE FIRE

The USS Mason, an American destroyer, has come under missile fire twice in recent days in the Red Sea from Houthi-held territory in Yemen, according to the U.S. Navy. In response, the Navy said it fired Tomahawk missiles at three coastal radar sites held by the Houthis  the first direct American attack in the war. The U.S. also says the missiles fired by the Houthis appear to be Iranian, further internationalizing the conflict. While Iran denies arming the Houthis, the Navy says it has intercepted several boats carrying Iranian weapons likely heading for Yemen since the conflict began.

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DANCING ON THE HEADS OF SNAKES

The U.S. attack on the Houthis came 16 years to the day al-Qaida militants in Yemen bombed the USS Cole, killing 17 American sailors. Though against a different enemy now, the missile strike comes as al-Qaida holds territory in eastern Yemen amid the vacuum created by the civil war. The Islamic State group has a presence as well. The strike also suggests any further attack on U.S. warships will draw retaliatory American fire. And while backing away from helping the Saudi-led coalition, the U.S. still sells billions of dollars' worth of weaponry to the kingdom. Saleh, Yemen's former president, once described the challenge of governing Yemen as "dancing on the heads of snakes." Now it seems the U.S. faces the same dance in Yemen, with partners it can't ignore.

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Follow Jon Gambrell on Twitter at www.twitter.com/jongambrellap . His work can be found at http://bigstory.ap.org/content/jon-gambrell .
Thailand's revered king dies after 70 years on throne

BANGKOK (AP)  In an age when most of the world's blue bloods cut ribbons and meekly approved whatever their governments proposed, the 70-year reign of Thailand's King Bhumibol Adulyadej stood out in sharp relief, perhaps a throwback to a long-vanished past.

Enjoying an almost god-like status, Bhumibol wielded real political power and inspired mass popularity as the world's longest-reigning monarch.

Despite being held in great reverence, the king waded through rice paddies and trudged up hillsides to improve life for Thailand's have-nots. He could squat humbly with lowland farmers and opium-growing hill tribesmen to talk about crops, irrigation and even their marital problems.

FILE - In this June 9, 2006, file photo released by the Thai Government Public Relations Department, Thailand King Bhumibol Adulyadej acknowledges the crowd in Bangkok during the celebrations of the 60th anniversary of his accession to the throne. Thailand's Royal Palace said on Thursday, Oct. 13, 2016, that Thailand's King Bhumibol, the world's longest-reigning monarch, has died at age 88. (Thai Government Public Relations Department via AP, File)

Bhumibol guided his country through political upheaval and wrenching social and economic change, and yet, in his final years, more Thais questioned the need for a powerful monarchy in the 21st century. Some critics believed its dependence on the king hindered democratic development. In any case, it is almost certain his successor will not have the same influence.

Thus, when the Royal Palace announced that Bhumibol had died Thursday at the age of 88, there was an instant and immense outpouring of grief.

Tearful mourners holding photos of the king stood outside Bangkok's Siriraj Hospital, chanting prayers and looking up at the building. Since September 2009, he had spent most of his time there, first with a lung infection and then for physical therapy and other ailments.

Born in the United States while his father was studying at Harvard, Bhumibol Adulyadej (pronounced poo-me-pon ah-dun-yaa-det) was widely regarded by generations of Thais as the key stabilizing force in their politically fractious country, and many fear a dangerous vacuum after his passing.

The frail-looking, soft-spoken man in spectacles squelched coups and rebellions three times with just a gesture or a few well-chosen words.

As the nation once known as Siam hurtled from an agrarian society to a modern, industrializing nation of 70 million, he upheld traditional values and spearheaded thousands of projects. He traveled the country to seek solutions for problems of inadequate food, water, health and jobs, aiming to set examples for the government to build on.

"They say that a kingdom is like a pyramid: the king on top and the people below," he once told an Associated Press reporter. "But in this country, it's upside down. That's why I sometimes have a pain around here." He pointed to his neck and shoulders.

Although not extravagant, Bhumibol was the world's wealthiest monarch and one of its richest individuals, with a fortune estimated at about $30 billion by Forbes magazine.

Criticizing the king in general is dangerous in Thailand because speaking ill of the royal family is a crime punishable by imprisonment.

Even so, the nation teems with sincere signs of affection for Bhumibol. Taxi windows proclaim "Long Live the King," and ubiquitous posters depict him not only as an exalted figure in glimmering robes, but also as an ordinary-looking man.

Courtiers and Thai guests to his palaces approached him on their knees and addressed him using a special royal vocabulary. But his common touch was evident in the countryside, where he rolled up his sleeves in lifelong service of the poor.

In his twilight years, however, his legacy was at least somewhat eroded by political and social divisions that erupted in mass street protests and a 2006 military coup. Suspicions that the palace took sides against the elected prime minister began eroding monarchy-worship, and Thais who would never have dared criticize the king in his heyday began asking whether the monarchy's power had advanced or impeded Thailand's march to full-fledged democracy. In ill health and near-seclusion, the king did not directly participate in the debate.

An uprising in the Muslim-dominated south further frayed the national unity for which Bhumibol worked all his life. Despite the royal family's hands-on efforts to win hearts and minds, the conflict has claimed more than 5,000 lives since early 2004.

Even the forces of nature seemed to conspire against him when the worst flooding in almost six decades hit Thailand's north and central regions in 2011. The king had taken a special interest in water management, researching floods and drought and suggesting solutions.

Disillusioned in recent years with societal greed, environmental destruction and the sidelining of traditions, the king said he tried to move with the times.

"A constitutional monarch must change with the country, but at the same time he must keep the spirit of the country," he declared. People may be different, he said, "but the common character of the people must be embodied by the king."

With Bhumibol's passing, the world's longest reigning monarch is England's Queen Elizabeth II, who ascended in 1952.

Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha said Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn will become the new monarch, in accordance with the constitution. He said the government will notify the National Legislative Assembly, or parliament, of the succession.

Prayuth told reporters he had an audience with the prince, hours after Bhumibol's death, and Vajiralongkorn had asked for a delay in proclaiming him king so he could "take some time to mourn, together with the people of Thailand."

Vajiralongkorn does not enjoy his father's stature. He has had to deny rumors of illegal activities; his personal life  married and divorced three times  has been stormy.

Technically, the throne could have passed to one of Vajiralongkorn's sons or to his sister, the popular Princess Sirindhorn. Bhumibol also has two daughters, Chulabhorn and Ubol Ratana.

"The next king will not be as influential as King Bhumibol, and I would bet that there will be a lot of competition to gain power over him or her by the military and political factions who want to use the king for their own ends," said Paul Handley, American author of "The King Never Smiles," a biography scorned by monarchists for its frank criticism. The book was banned in Thailand, and a Thai-American man was arrested for allegedly posting translations of parts of it on the internet.

Under the constitution, the king serves as head of state and placed in "a position of revered worship," but real political power rests in the hands of parliament and a prime minister. Bhumibol's clout issued from his own immense popularity and the ability of royalists to implement his wishes.

Bhumibol was born Dec. 5, 1927, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, while his father, Prince Mahidol of Songkhla, was studying medicine at Harvard University. Mahidol died less than two years later.

In 1946, Bhumibol's 20-year-old brother, King Ananda Mahidol, was found dead of a gunshot wound to the head in a palace bedroom under circumstances that remain mysterious. Bhumibol, just 18, was named king the same day but returned to Switzerland to continue studying law and political science.

He played a half-dozen musical instruments, jammed with American jazz greats and wrote a song, "Blue Night," that was used in a racy Broadway musical a month after his May 5, 1950, coronation. He raced yachts and expounded in several languages on Buddhist philosophy and dam construction.

Thailand's power brokers initially thought the young king could be easily manipulated. But the various strongmen found more than their match as he set about restoring the prestige of a seven-century-old monarchy whose absolute powers weren't bound by a constitution until 1932.

A week before his coronation, he married Sirikit Kitiyakara, the daughter of an aristocrat and diplomat. She had helped nurse him back to health after a 1948 road accident blinded him in his right eye. Together they bridged East and West, visiting nearly 30 countries early in their reign.

Bhumibol addressed the U.S. Congress when Dwight D. Eisenhower was president and dined with French leader Charles de Gaulle.

Normally in the background, the king stepped forward at crucial moments.

During a pro-democracy uprising in 1973, Bhumibol ordered the gates of the Grand Palace opened to students fleeing the gunfire of troops loyal to a dictatorial triumvirate. The message was clear, and the trio went into exile.

In 1992, amid another bloody confrontation between the military and pro-democracy protesters, the king called in the two key protagonists, who prostrated themselves before him on nationwide TV and promised peace. The crisis ended immediately.

The name Bhumibol means "Strength of the Land," and the bounty of Thailand's soil and waters was the king's passion.

In 1952, he set out to breed a better freshwater fish, a staple of the Thai peasantry, in the ponds of his Chitralada Palace in Bangkok. It was the first of more than 4,300 palace-sponsored development projects, with 40 percent related to water resources. Many of the projects, including the initial one, have proved successful, although others have frayed over the years.

The king chained himself to an annual work cycle in the 1970s and '80s, traveling 30,000 kilometers (20,000 miles) through the countryside while still managing to officiate at more than 500 royal, religious and state ceremonies.

He believed national unity would be strengthened and Thailand's then-potent communist insurgents would simply wither in the jungle, while the country would be spared the revolutions spreading through neighboring Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos.

A major achievement was pioneering work in eradicating opium grown by northern hill tribes.

"It has become an instrument of destruction. ... The drugs subjugate the body, the money subjugates the soul," he said, funding the first project in the world to convince the tribes that there was more money in crops other than opium.

The experts at first were skeptical, but three years later, in 1969, the U.N., the U.S. and other foreign donors formally joined forces and opium production was dramatically slashed. The work has since been studied as a blueprint for other countries.

The weight of royalty and Bhumibol's work for the have-nots won him a following backed up by nightly TV programs that tracked his every move. He also was protected from criticism by harsh lese majeste laws against insulting the royal family. Those laws were rarely used for most of his reign but have been repeatedly invoked in recent years, despite international criticism and allegations they were used for political purposes.

Thailand recently has been plagued by corruption and a city-country poverty gap that came to a head in 2006, in confrontations between then-Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra and an alliance staging mass protests. Thaksin drew support largely from the rural poor, while many of his fiercest opponents represented the country's business and bureaucratic elite.

Bhumibol urged the top courts to resolve the crisis. The demonstrators had urged the king to make Thaksin resign. A bloodless military coup followed, and Thaksin, who had been attending the U.N. General Assembly, went into exile. The new military-backed government said the king endorsed the coup after it took place but had not ordered it.

The crisis simmered, with Thaksin's opponents  the so-called "Yellow Shirts"  claiming the mantle of defending the monarchy.

With the country polarized, Queen Sirikit attended the funeral of a Yellow Shirt follower killed in clashes, undermining the axiom that the throne was above politics.

In his final years, Bhumibol retreated increasingly behind palace walls. Some cited poor health and others speculated he was dispirited about the succession and future of the monarchy.

Some of his private conversations at the time reflected a deep concern that Thailand had lost much of the core culture he had sought to embody all his life.

___

Associated Press writer Todd Pitman contributed.

In this May 9, 2016, photo,Thailand's Crown Prince Vajiralongkorn is seated at the royal plowing ceremony in Bangkok. Thailand's Royal Palace said on Thursday, Oct. 13, 2016, that Thailand's King Bhumibol Adulyadej, the world's longest reigning monarch, has died at age 88. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)

People cry after Royal Palace's announcement outside Siriraj Hospital where Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej was being treated, in Bangkok, Thailand, Thursday, Oct. 13, 2016. Thailand's Royal Palace said on Thursday King Bhumibol, the world's longest-reigning monarch, has died at age 88. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)

A woman cries after Royal Palace's announcement outside Siriraj Hospital where Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej was being treated, in Bangkok, Thailand, Thursday, Oct. 13, 2016. Thailand's Royal Palace said on Thursday King Bhumibol, the world's longest-reigning monarch, has died at age 88. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)

FILE - In this Sept. 26, 2015, file photo, Thailand's Crown Prince Vajiralongkorn hosts a ceremony at the official opening of Ratchapakdi Park in Hua Hin, 240 kilometers (150 miles) south of Bangkok. Thailand's Royal Palace said on Thursday, Oct. 13, 2016, that Thailand's King Bhumibol Adulyadej, the world's longest reigning monarch, has died at age 88. (AP Photo/Mark Baker, File)

FILE - In this Aug. 4, 2006, file photo,Thailand's King Bhumibol Adulyadej holds a camera as he waves while leaving Siriraj Hospital in Bangkok. Thailand's Royal Palace said on Thursday, Oct. 13, 2016, that Thailand's King Bhumibol Adulyadej, the world's longest-reigning monarch, has died at age 88. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit, File)

FILE - In this April 12, 1977, file photo, Thailand's King Bhumibol Adulyadej and Queen Sirikit attend a symbolic mass cremation ceremony for Thai soldiers and civilians killed by communist insurgents over a one year period. Thailand's Royal Palace said on Thursday, Oct. 13, 2016, that Thailand's King Bhumibol Adulyadej, the world's longest-reigning monarch, has died at age 88. (AP Photo/Neal Ulevich, File)

FILE - In this Feb. 11, 1972, file photo, Britain's Queen Elizabeth II walks with Thailand's King Bhumibol Adulyadej, right, with Queen Sirikit at rear left and Prince Philip at rear right, in Bangkok. Thailand's Royal Palace said on Thursday, Oct. 13, 2016, that Thailand's King Bhumibol Adulyadej, the world's longest-reigning monarch, has died at age 88. (AP Photo, File)

FILE - In this March 7, 1935, file photo, Prince Bhumibol, left, stands with his brother, King Ananda Mahidol of Siam, now known as Thailand, at their school in Lausanne Switzerland. Thailand's Royal Palace said on Thursday, Oct. 13, 2016, that Thailand's King Bhumibol Adulyadej, the world's longest-reigning monarch, has died at age 88. (AP Photo, File)

FILE - In this Dec. 16, 1938, file photo, thirteen-year-old King Ananda of Siam, now known as Thailand, left, and his brother Prince Bhumibol, right, inspect a model train presented to him at Saranromya Gardens in Bangkok. Thailand's Royal Palace said on Thursday, Oct. 13, 2016, that Thailand's King Bhumibol Adulyadej, the world's longest-reigning monarch, has died at age 88. (AP Photo, File)

FILE - In this April 30, 2013, file photo, Thailand Crown Prince Vajiralongkorn, right, and Princess Sirindhorn attend a church service prior to the inauguration of Dutch King Willem-Alexander in Amsterdam. Thailand's Royal Palace said on Thursday, Oct. 13, 2016, that Thailand's King Bhumibol, the world's longest-reigning monarch, has died at age 88. (Michel Kooren/Pool Photo via AP)

FILE - In this Dec. 5, 1999, file photo,Thailand's King Bhumibol Adulyadej, left, Queen Sirikit, right, and the Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn acknowledge well wishers as they celebrate the King's 72nd birthday. Thailand's Royal Palace said on Thursday, Oct. 13, 2016, that Thailand's King Bhumibol, the world's longest-reigning monarch, has died at age 88. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit, File)

FILE - In this May 10, 2015, file photo, Thailand's King Bhumibol Adulyadej is seated in in a car as leaves Siriraj Hospital in Bangkok to return to his seaside palace. Thailand's Royal Palace said on Thursday, Oct. 13, 2016, that Thailand's King Bhumibol, the world's longest-reigning monarch, has died at age 88. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit, File)

FILE - In this Dec. 2, 2004, file photo,Thailand's King Bhumibol Adulyadej, standing, and Queen Sirikit, seated left, and Crown Prince Vajiralongkorn, seated right, review the honor guard in Bangkok. Thailand's Royal Palace said on Thursday, Oct. 13, 2016, that Thailand's King Bhumibol, the world's longest-reigning monarch, has died at age 88. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit, File)

FILE - In this May 25, 2012, file photo, Thailand's King Bhumibol Adulyadej, center, is pushed in a wheelchair as he arrives at a rice field in Ayutthaya province, central Thailand. Thailand's Queen Sirikit, in purple, is walking at rear with Princess Sirindhorn. Thailand's Royal Palace said on Thursday, Oct. 13, 2016, that Thailand's King Bhumibol, the world's longest-reigning monarch, has died at age 88. (AP Photo/File)

Thais cry outside Siriraj Hospital where King Bhumibol Adulyadej was treated in Bangkok, Thailand, Thursday, Oct. 13, 2016. Thailand's Royal Palace said King Bhumibol, the world's longest-reigning monarch, has died at age 88. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)
The Latest: South Korea says king was father of Thailand

BANGKOK (AP)  The Latest on the death of Thailand's King Bhumibol, the world's longest-reigning monarch, (all times local):

9 a.m.

South Korean President Park Geun-hye has credited King Bhumibol for his leadership as the "father of Thailand and its spiritual pillar" in offering her condolences to the people of Thailand and its royal family.

A Thai woman puts her hands together in prayer at Siriraj Hospital where Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej was being treated in Bangkok, Thailand, Thursday, Oct. 13, 2016. Thailand's Royal Palace said King Bhumibol, the world's longest-reigning monarch, has died at age 88. (AP Photo/Wason Wanichakorn)

Park in a statement also expressed gratitude that Thailand during King Bhumibol's reign sent troops to fight with allied forces led by the United States during the 1950-1953 Korean War, which was triggered by North Korea's invasion of the South.

"On behalf of the government of the Republic of Korea and its people, I express deep condolences to the royal family and Thai people," Park said in a statement.

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8:30 a.m.

China has credited King Bhumibol for his "remarkable contributions" to Thailand's development.

The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement that Bhumibol worked to strengthen ties between China and Thailand and "made an irreplaceable contribution to cementing the two people's friendship and expanding bilateral cooperation."

"China deeply mourns King Bhumibol's passing and expresses sincere condolences to the Thai people and government," the ministry said.

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8 a.m.

U.S. Secretary of Defense Ash Carter said the men and women of the Department of Defense joined President Obama in offering their condolences to the Royal Family of the Kingdom of Thailand and the people of Thailand.

"As his majesty's legacy is being honored around the world, I want in particular to recognize his majesty's contributions to the longstanding alliance between our two nations," Carter said.

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7:30 a.m.

Hong Kong's acting chief executive, Carrie Lam, has expressed profound sadness at the passing of the king.

"On behalf of the people and Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, it is with great sadness that I express our profound condolences on the passing of His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej," Lam said in a statement.

"We join the people of Thailand during this period of national mourning and reflection," Lam said.

7 a.m.

Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull on Friday described King Bhumibol as "a major figure in modern Asian history."

"We are deeply saddened by the passing of His Majesty and we offer our condolences to the Thai royal family and the people of Thailand," Turnbull told Radio 3AW.

"He is a major figure in modern Asian history. Under his reign, Thailand's population grew from just under 20 million to over 67 million and of course the strides in economic and social development have been enormous," Turnbull said.

"The Thai community in Australia, which is close to 50,000, will particularly feel the loss of His Majesty, a very, very revered figure," Turnbull said.

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7 a.m.

New Zealand Prime Minister John Key says his thoughts are with the people of Thailand following the death of the king.

"King Bhumibol was the world's longest serving monarch and presided over a period of transformative growth and development that saw Thailand emerge as a regional leader and one of South East Asia's major economies," Key said.

He said that the king and Queen Sirikit visited New Zealand, and that more than 100,000 New Zealanders visit Thailand each year.

"I extend the New Zealand Government's sincerest condolences to Queen Sirikit, Thailand's Royal Family and all the people of Thailand," Key said.

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6:45 a.m.

Indonesia is offering its deepest condolence to Thailand on the death of the country's king.

In a statement at the state palace, President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo said the king was a world leader who was close to his people and brought prosperity during his reign of 70 years.

"On behalf of the Indonesian government and people, I express deep condolences on the death of King Bhumibol Adulyadej," Jokowi said. "The world has lost a leader who was close to the people, a carrier of peace and unity and prosperity for the people of Thailand."

He added emphasized that the Thai King's modesty and concerns for his people deserves to be emulated.

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6:30 a.m.

Former President Bill Clinton and his wife Democratic Presidential Candidate Hillary Clinton have offered their heartfelt condolences over the death of Thailand's king, calling him a kind, good leader.

"His Majesty deepened ties between the U.S. and Thailand, our first ally in Southeast Asia. He was a true servant leader, acting with wisdom, strength, humility, and genuine care for the welfare of all people," the former president said in a statement issued Thursday.

He added: "I was honored to visit Thailand as President on the 50th year of his reign when we celebrated our shared love of jazz music, and Hillary was grateful to have had the opportunity, with President Obama, to visit with His Majesty on her last trip to Thailand."

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1:30 a.m.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has sent his condolences over the death of Thailand's king, noting the country's achievements during his 70-year reign.

Putin said that King Bhumibol Adulyadej, who died Thursday at age 88, has presided over successful economic development and contributed to the strengthening of Thailand's positions abroad. He said in his telegram that the king won "sincere love of his people and high respect abroad."

According to the Kremlin, Putin also noted in his letter that the king will be remembered in Russia for his support of friendship and cooperation between the two countries.

Putin offered his support for the royal family, the government and the people of Thailand.

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11:30 p.m.

The U.N. General Assembly and Security Council stood in silent tribute to Thailand's King Bhumibol, and Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called him "a unifying national leader" who is "highly respected internationally."

Assembly President Peter Thompson asked the assembly at the start of Thursday's meeting to stand for a moment of silence in tribute to the king, who died earlier in the day. Shortly after, Russia's deputy U.N. ambassador, Petr Iliichev, did the same at the start of a Security Council meeting.

The assembly, the council, and the secretary-general sent condolences to the royal family and the government and people of Thailand.

"At this time of sorrow and loss," Ban said, "I hope that Thailand will continue to honor King Bhumibol's legacy of commitment to universal values and respect for human rights."

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11 p.m.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has expressed her condolences on the death of Thailand's King Bhumibol, saying the monarch modernized and strengthened his country during his seven decades on the throne.

Merkel said in a statement Thursday that Bhumibol had "worked tirelessly for the welfare of the Thai people" and steered the country through "political and economic crises."

Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said Bhumibol had contributed significantly to the friendship between Thailand and Germany.

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10:40 p.m.

Currency trading firm OANDA says it expects investors' nervousness to intensify over fears of political uncertainty following the death of Thailand's king, but it says economic losses will be limited.

King Bhumibol Adulyadej, who died Thursday, was a stabilizing figure in the Southeast Asian nation, which went through tumultuous change during his 70-year reign.

OANDA said in a statement said that although the Thai baht and the stock exchange index will remain under pressure, much of the uncertainty premium is already built into the price of both, thus losses will be limited.

"We expect the Bank of Thailand will be ready to step in to smooth any disorderly currency moves," it said. It also forecast the military government would extend its tenure to ensure political stability, which "will give support to the SETi (Stock Exchange of Thailand index) once the initial knee-jerk moves have worked through the system."

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10:30 p.m.

Dutch King Willem-Alexander has paid tribute to his Thai counterpart King Bhumibol Adulyadej, praising him for "emphasizing the values of harmony and peaceful cooperation in his country."

Willem-Alexander says in a statement that "my wife, my mother and I have warm memories of our meetings" with the king, who died Thursday at age 88.

Dutch Foreign Minister Bert Koenders, in Bangkok for a meeting of the European Union and Southeast Asian nations, called the late king "a symbol for unity" for the Thai population who played a stabilizing role in politically turbulent times in his country.

The Dutch Foreign Ministry adjusted its travel advice for Thailand to reflect the period of mourning for the king.

The ministry advises travelers to "respect the restrictions on social life" imposed by local authorities and says that "critical comments or discussions about the royal house must be avoided."

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10:30 p.m.

The president of France has offered his condolences after the death of Thailand's king.

King Bhumibol Adulyadej died Thursday at age 88 after years of ill health.

In a statement, French President Francois Hollande hailed the king for his "exceptional human qualities. His profound sense of justice, his care for modernity and sustainable development that earned him the affection of the Thai people, as well as the world's esteem."

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10:15 p.m.

Thailand's prime minister says the crown prince Maha Vajiralongkorn has asked for a delay in proclaiming him king so that he can take time to mourn along with the people of Thailand.

Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha told reporters that he had an audience with the prince on Thursday, hours after the death of King Bhumibol Adulyadej.

"He said at present, he is the heir apparent. But he would like to take some time to mourn, together with the people of Thailand," Prayuth said.

Vajiralongkorn was named the heir apparent in 1972 by the king, and according to the constitution should ascend the throne as the constitutional monarch after approval by the National Assembly, which is a formality under the constitution.

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9:45 p.m.

Secretary of State John Kerry says the United States "stands with the people of Thailand at this difficult time" after the death of its king.

Kerry said in a statement Thursday, "Our thoughts and prayers are with you."

King Bhumibol Adulyadej was born in the U.S. Kerry said that a square named for Bhumibol at his birthplace in Cambridge, Massachusetts, "will remain an enduring memorial to the special bond he created between our peoples. He will be long remembered and will be deeply missed."

Massachusetts is Kerry's home state.

Although U.S.-Thai relations ties have been strained since a 2014 military coup in Thailand, the two nations are close allies and have diplomatic relations dating back more than 180 years. Bhumibol visited the U.S. twice in the 1960s and addressed Congress.

___

9:45 p.m.

European leaders are expressing sympathy following the death of Thailand's king on Thursday.

British Prime Minister Theresa May issued a statement expressing "my sincere personal condolences to the royal family and the people of Thailand on the death of His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej."

"His Majesty guided the Kingdom of Thailand with dignity, dedication and vision throughout his life. He will be greatly missed," she said.

Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven told Sweden's TT news agency, "My condolences to the royal family but also to the whole Thai people. King Bhumibol has meant a lot to the Thai people. That one can notice when in Thailand."

Finland's Foreign Minister Timo Soini tweeted: "I'm deeply saddened to receive the news about the passing of His Majesty the King; sincere condolences to the people of Thailand."

___

9:30 p.m.

The Philippines says it is mourning Thailand's King Bhumibol Adulyadej.

The king, who died Thursday, was "the guiding hand behind the emergence of Thailand as one of the most progressive countries in the whole of Asia," said presidential spokesman Ernesto Abella.

The statement issued on behalf of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte and the Filipino people said they extended their deepest condolences to his family and those the king left behind.

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9:15 p.m.

President Barack Obama is offering his condolences to Thailand on the death of its king.

Obama says King Bhumibol Adulyadej was a tireless champion of his country's development and also showed an "unflagging devotion" to improving the standard of living for the Thai people.

The king died Thursday at age 88 after his health declined.

Obama says the king was a close friend of the United States and a valued partner of many U.S. presidents. He recalled meeting the king during a 2012 visit to Thailand.

Obama says the king leaves behind a legacy of care for the Thai people that future generations will cherish.

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9:15 p.m.

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak offered his heartfelt condolences to the Thai royal family and the people of Thailand after the death of King Bhumibol on Thursday.

"King Bhumibol was a towering presence whose contribution to Thailand, and the rest of the region, is beyond words. We join the Thai people in mourning his loss," Najib wrote on his Facebook.

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9 p.m.

Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said he was in "deep sorrow" at the death of Thailand's King Bhumibol Aduyadej, and remembered him as a gentle person.

"On behalf of the government of Japan and its people, I express my sincerest condolences," Abe said in a message released following the king's death Thursday. "I remember King Bhumibol as a highly gifted and gentle person."

He praised the king for his contribution in lifting Thailand's economy.

"As a spiritual support for the people, His Majesty has led Thailand's remarkable development and advancement of the people's living standard," Abe said.

Japan's Emperor Akihito visited Thailand in 1991 in his first trip abroad after ascending to the throne.

"The king's great contribution in deepening friendship between Japan and Thailand will be remembered by all Japanese people," he said.

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9 p.m.

India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted a condolence message after the death Thursday of Thailand's king.

"People of India and I join the people of Thailand in grieving the loss of one of the tallest leaders of our times, King Bhumibol Adulyadej," he wrote.

Modi said his thoughts were with the king's family and others.

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8:15 p.m.

Tears streamed down the faces of Thais upon the news that King Bhumibol Adulyadej had died.

Many people in the large crowd that had been holding a vigil outside Siriraj Hospital in Bangkok broke down with emotion Thursday evening. Many held pictures of the king and wore yellow or pink clothing in his honor.

In the Sukhumvit commercial district of the capital, humanitarian worker Gaewkarn Fuangtong was sobbing.

"I lost one of the most important people in my life. I feel like I haven't done enough for him. I should have done more. I will do good, do better for his sake."

Office worker Patcharatida Jamsrijun, said "My heart sank," upon hearing of the king's passing.

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7:20 p.m.

Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha says Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn will become the new monarch after the death of his father in accordance with the constitution.

He said the king had designated his successor on Dec. 28, 1972. "We the government must proceed with the next steps in accordance with the law," he said.

Prayuth did not name Vajiralongkorn specifically, but it has been officially proclaimed that he was named the successor by his father 44 years ago.

He said the government will notify the National Legislative Assembly, or parliament, of the king's successor, and they will act accordingly with the laws of succession in the constitution.

Prayuth added that the government will observe one year of mourning and flags will fly at half-staff for 30 days. No government events will be held for 30 days, he said.

This item has been updated to CORRECT the date the crown prince was named successor.

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7:10 p.m.

Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha has declared a one-year mourning period for the government following the death of King Bhumibol Adulyadej.

In a common broadcast carried by all Thai TV channels, Prayuth said the king's death Thursday is a tragedy for the people of Thailand.

"He was a king that was loved and adored by all. The reign of the king has ended and his kindness cannot be found anywhere else," Prayuth said.

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7 p.m.

Thailand's Royal Palace says King Bhumibol, the world's longest-reigning monarch, has died at age 88.

The palace said the king passed away peacefully on Thursday at Bangkok's Siriraj Hospital.

"Even though the board of doctors has closely monitored and treated him to the best of its abilities, the king's condition never improved but deteriorated until Thursday," it said in a statement issued about three hours later.

TV stations announcers wore black clothes as they discussed his passing. The brief announcement mentioned his 70-year-reign and noted that he passed away peacefully.

Thais cry outside Siriraj Hospital where King Bhumibol Adulyadej was treated in Bangkok, Thailand, Thursday, Oct. 13, 2016. Thailand's Royal Palace said King Bhumibol, the world's longest-reigning monarch, has died at age 88. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)

Thai people cry after Royal Palace's announcement outside Siriraj Hospital where King Bhumibol Adulyadej was being treated, in Bangkok, Thailand, Thursday, Oct. 13, 2016. Thailand's Royal Palace said on Thursday King Bhumibol, the world's longest-reigning monarch, has died at age 88. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)

A Thai woman cries after Royal Palace's announcement outside Siriraj Hospital where King Bhumibol Adulyadej was being treated, in Bangkok, Thailand, Thursday, Oct. 13, 2016. Thailand's Royal Palace said on Thursday King Bhumibol, the world's longest-reigning monarch, has died at age 88. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)

Thais hold portraits of Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej at Siriraj Hospital where the king is being treated in Bangkok, Thailand, Thursday, Oct. 13, 2016. Thais chanted prayers Wednesday as the country's stock market and currency tumbled and the prime minister canceled an overseas trip amid concerns about long-ailing King Adulyadej's health. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)

Thais cry as they pray for Thailand's King Bhumibol Adulyadej at Siriraj Hospital where the king is being treated in Bangkok, Thailand, Thursday, Oct. 13, 2016. The royal palace said in a statement late Wednesday that the 88-year-old king's blood pressure had dropped, his liver and kidneys were not working properly and he remained on a ventilator. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)

Thais pray at Siriraj Hospital where Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej was being treated in Bangkok, Thailand, Thursday, Oct. 13, 2016. Thailand's Royal Palace said King Bhumibol, the world's longest-reigning monarch, has died at age 88. (AP Photo/Wason Wanichakorn)

A child reacts, at Siriraj Hospital where the king is being treated in Bangkok, Thailand, Thursday, Oct. 13, 2016. Thailand's Royal Palace says King Bhumibol, the world's longest-reigning monarch, has died at age 88. (AP Photo/Wason Wanichakorn)
Poles protest ruling party chief's anti-abortion proposal

WARSAW, Poland (AP)  Women and men who support abortion rights have staged a new protest against Poland's conservative ruling party, angered by it leader's proposal to prohibit abortions of badly deformed fetuses with no chance of survival.

Some 300 people gathered late Thursday outside the house of Law and Justice party Chairman Jaroslaw Kaczynski. They said their "Black Protest," featuring black flags and angry chants, was a response to statements Kaczynski made in an interview Wednesday.

The 67-year-old Kaczynski, who is a Roman Catholic, said in the interview that his party wants to tighten Poland's already strict abortion law to ensure that "even cases of very difficult pregnancies, when the child is certain to die, very deformed, still end up in a birth, so that the child can be baptized, buried, have a name."

FILE - In this Monday, Oct. 3, 2016 file photo, Polish women and some male supporters blow horns while raising a hanger, the symbol of illegal abortion, during a nationwide strike and demonstration to protest a legislative proposal for a total ban on abortion in Warsaw, Poland. Polish women who support pro-abortion rights have called new protests against the conservative ruling partys policy, angered by it leaders words that even badly deformed fetuses with no chance of survival should be born. Womens group say they will stage a protest Thursday, Oct. 13, 2016 in front of Law and Justice party leader Jaroslaw Kaczynskis house in Warsaw and then hold nationwide rallies on Oct. 24. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski, File)

He said such pregnancies could be terminated, though, when the mother's health or life was in danger. He gave no timing for the new law.

"We are not birth machines," Anna Dryjanska, one of the protest organizers, said. "We are against attempts to treat women like objects."

It was not clear if Kaczynski was home during the demonstration, but light could be seen through drawn curtains in one window.

Participants said they hope that repeated protests would the drive the message home. Nationwide rallies on the ruling party's efforts to further limit abortions in Poland are scheduled for Oct. 23-24.

"As a young woman, I want to have the right to choice, to decide about myself and not be treated as an object," Julia Jeschke, 26, said. The ruling party's proposals "are denying me this natural right."

Earlier this month, women staged massive nationwide protests against a draft law that called for a total ban on abortions and a prison term for women terminating pregnancies.

Days later, Poland's parliament, including many Law and Justice lawmakers, voted against the ban.

Opposition lawmakers said Kaczynski should let women decide for themselves.

"Please leave Polish women alone," Malgorzata Kidawa-Blonska of the centrist Civic Platform said. "Let no politician try to arrange life for Polish women."

Poland's 1993 anti-abortion law, a result of a hard-won compromise with the influential Catholic Church, is among Europe's most restrictive. Termination of pregnancy is allowed through the 12th week only if the woman's health or life is threatened; the pregnancy results from crime like rape or incest; or the fetus is incurably damaged.
Greek prison guards convicted of torturing inmate

THESSALONIKI, Greece (AP)  Twelve Greek prison guards have received jail sentences of 5-7 years for torturing a convict, but were cleared of responsibility for his death hours after the attack.

A Thessaloniki court on Thursday found the guards at the northern Nigrita Prison guilty of torture that caused grievous bodily harm.

But it ruled that the April 2014 assault did not trigger the fatal heart attack Albanian Ilie Kareli, 42, later suffered in his cell. All 12 were freed pending their appeal trial.

The court accepted a coroner's testimony that Kareli, a convicted robber, had suffered from a serious, previously undetected heart condition.
New York man accused of overcrowding, keeping deer as pet

SPRINGS, N.Y. (AP)  A New York man is accused of numerous housing and code violations and illegally keeping a deer as a pet in his Long Island yard.

East Hampton Town police were called Wednesday after receiving a call of possible overcrowding at the Springs home.

Police say Angel Otavalo had illegally converted the basement into seven bedrooms. They charged him with failing to have a certificate of occupancy for various rooms, failing to have smoke and carbon monoxide detectors and construction without a permit.

They also charged him with unlawful possession of wildlife.

Police say there were eight vehicles parked in the driveway when they arrived.
Romanian leader: Officials mishandled bear shooting

BUCHAREST, Romania (AP)  Romania's president on Thursday criticized the way authorities handled the case of a brown bear that was shot by police after it wandered into a central city.

The bear entered Sibiu, a picturesque tourist city, on Wednesday and was shot by a police rifleman after an attempt with a tranquilizer dart failed. Video of the bear being shot that appeared on social media led to protests from Romanians who say the frightened creature was not a threat.

Local police chief Tiberiu Iulian Ivancea said police were investigating the use of the weapon and how the bear entered the city.

In this Wednesday, Oct. 12, 2016 photo provided by Turnul Sfatului, a bear cub lies in a flower pot after being shot dead by Romanian police in SIbiu, Romania. Romanian police opened an inquiry Thursday, Oct. 13, 2016, into the death of a the brown bear, which was shot after it wandered into a city Wednesday before police shot it, sparking outrage among people and wildlife protection organizations, with the country's President Klaus Iohannis criticizing the killing. (Silvana Armat/Turnul Sfatului via AP)

President Klaus Iohannis, meanwhile, accused 50 "untrained and disorganized officials" of mishandling the case and asked "wouldn't it be easier ... to have 2 or 3 trained people?"

"It is not a natural disaster if a bear walks into the city. But the emotion it creates is like the emotion created by a natural disaster," he said in comments broadcast live. "To avoid powerful and negative emotions, we need clear procedures."

Romania has between 5,000 and 6,000 bears in the country.
Fighting in Central African Republic kills 30, UN says

BANGUI, Central African Republic (AP)  Fighters with the former Seleka rebel group attacked a northern town in Central African Republic overnight Wednesday, and clashes left at least 30 dead and 57 wounded as United Nations peacekeepers confronted them, the U.N. said.

The attack in Kaga-Bandoro was likely retaliation for the death on Tuesday of a suspected former Seleka member, the peacekeeping mission said in a statement. Peacekeepers repelled the attackers, killing at least 12 of them, the U.N. mission said.

The U.N. condemned the violence that saw rebels attack civilians, target authorities and loot aid organizations.

In this photo provided by International Rescue Committee, hundreds of refugees seek shelter in a hangar at the United Nations peacekeeping base in Kaga Bandoro refugee camp in Central African Republic, Thursday, Oct. 13, 2016. Fighters with the former Seleka rebel group attacked a northern town in Central African Republic overnight Wednesday, and clashes left at least 30 dead and 57 wounded as United Nations peacekeepers confronted them, the U.N. said. The attack in Kaga-Bandoro was likely retaliation for the death on Tuesday of a suspected former Seleka member, the peacekeeping mission said in a statement. Peacekeepers repelled the attackers, killing at least 12 of them, the U.N. mission said. (David Belluz/International Rescue Committee via AP)

Armed men attacked a secondary school during a teacher training, witnesses told the U.N. children's agency, saying that among those killed were three teachers, the director of an educational center and the vice president of the parents association.

"We are deeply shocked by these developments and saddened that teachers have been targeted," said Mohamed Malick Fall, UNICEF's representative in the country.

A local priest said he saw that two humanitarian workers were also among the dead. He spoke on condition of anonymity out of fear for his safety.

More than 5,000 people already displaced by years of violence have taken refuge next to the U.N. base, their informal settlements burned, the U.N. Office for Humanitarian Affairs said.

"There is, today, no legitimate reason for any armed group to use weapons," said the U.N. mission's chief, Parfait Onanga-Anyanga. "The people have suffered enough and are tired of this war that has lasted too long."

Central African Republic descended into conflict in 2013 when the mostly Muslim Seleka rebels overthrew the Christian president. That ushered in a brutal reign in which the rebels committed atrocities. When the rebel leader left power, a backlash by the Christian anti-Balaka militia against Muslim civilians followed.

The sectarian violence has continued, despite a high-profile visit by Pope Francis last year to appeal for calm.

Hundreds of former Seleka fighters have regrouped in Kaga-Bandoro, along with Muslim civilians, after fleeing the capital, Bangui, two years ago.

___

Associated Press writer Carley Petesch in Dakar, Senegal, contributed to this report.

In this photo provided by International Rescue Committee, a mother and her son stand amid the ashes of their hut and personal possessions in the Kaga Bandoro refugee camp in Central African Republic, Thursday, Oct. 13, 2016. Fighters with the former Seleka rebel group attacked a northern town in Central African Republic overnight Wednesday, and clashes left at least 30 dead and 57 wounded as United Nations peacekeepers confronted them, the U.N. said. The attack in Kaga-Bandoro was likely retaliation for the death on Tuesday of a suspected former Seleka member, the peacekeeping mission said in a statement. Peacekeepers repelled the attackers, killing at least 12 of them, the U.N. mission said. (David Belluz/International Rescue Committee via AP)
Suit seeks Georgia voter deadline extension due to hurricane

ATLANTA (AP)  A federal lawsuit is seeking an emergency extension of the voter registration deadline in at least one Georgia county that suffered damage from Hurricane Matthew.

The Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law filed the lawsuit Wednesday in Savannah on behalf of several groups that work to encourage voter registration. The suit names Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal and Secretary of State Brian Kemp, the state's top elections official.

Kemp spokeswoman Candice Broce said it's easier to register to vote in Georgia than it ever has been before, noting that people can register or update their information online, by text message or by using a free mobile app that's available 24 hours a day.

"We have been preparing for this election for over a year, and the office's ramped-up outreach efforts on social and traditional media have delivered incredible results," she wrote in an email. "For these reasons, we find it difficult to reconcile these groups' claims against what we have seen and heard in our service to Georgians across the state."

The registration deadline in Georgia to be able to vote in this year's general election was Tuesday. The lawsuit asks a judge to extend the deadline until Oct. 18 either in Chatham County or for the entire state.

A judge on Thursday scheduled a hearing on the request for Friday morning.

The lawsuit notes that deadlines have been extended in other coastal states after Matthew roared up the Southeast Coast from Florida, causing several deaths in the U.S. before weakening and heading out to sea. High winds, heavy rain and flooding from Matthew led to downed trees, building damage and power outages around Chatham, a county of about 278,000 people that includes the historic city of Savannah and part of Georgia's roughly 100-mile coastline.

After Florida Gov. Rick Scott declined to extend that state's deadline, a federal judge on Wednesday extended that state's Oct. 11 deadline to 5 p.m. on Oct. 18. South Carolina extended its original Oct. 7 deadline to accept registration forms postmarked no later than Tuesday because of the storm. North Carolina's voter registration deadline is Friday, but the state also has same-day registration during its early voting period, Oct. 20 through Nov. 5.

The Georgia lawsuit says Chatham County government offices were closed because of the hurricane for the last six days before the voter registration, starting Oct. 6 and continuing through Tuesday. It added most post offices, which also register voters, reopened Tuesday in the county.

Evacuation orders and the closure of government offices prevented Chatham residents from registering to vote in person in the final days of the registration period and because of widespread power outages many may not have been able to register online, the lawsuit says.

The lawsuit was filed on behalf of the Georgia State Conference of the NAACP and two other groups, the Georgia Coalition for the Peoples' Agenda and Third Sector Development. All three had to abandon voter registration efforts because of the hurricane, the lawsuit says.

If the deadline isn't extended, "many eligible prospective voters who were forced to choose between their safety and the fundamental right to vote and suffered hardship as a result of Hurricane Matthew will be disenfranchised in the November 8, 2016 election," the lawsuit says.

"We had hoped that Georgia would do the right thing by its citizens and not penalize aspiring voters impacted by Hurricane Matthew," Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law president and executive director Kristen Clarke said in an emailed statement. "There is no right more important than the right to vote, and this suit seeks to ensure that those who wish to exercise that right are not arbitrarily blocked by the vicissitudes of a hurricane and the hardened stance of elections officials."

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South Africa's president seeks to block release of report

JOHANNESBURG (AP)  South African media say President Jacob Zuma is seeking to block the release of a preliminary report on whether a wealthy business family sought to influence the selection of some Cabinet minister picks.

News outlets eNCA and News24 reported Thursday that Zuma is going to court to prevent the release of the report by Public Protector Thuli Madonsela, head of the state watchdog agency. Zuma previously asked for an opportunity to question witnesses who testified for her report.

Madonsela is investigating links between Zuma and the Guptas, an Indian immigrant family accused of meddling in politics. Zuma and the Guptas deny any wrongdoing.
South Dakota man accused of cutting off woman's nipples

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP)  A Sioux Falls man is accused of sitting on a woman and slicing off her nipples with a pair of scissors.

Police spokesman Sam Clemens says 45-year-old Tony Ledbetter attacked the woman during an argument Tuesday. He's charged with domestic aggravated assault.

The 39-year-old woman was hospitalized but no information about her condition has been released.

Tony Ledbetter appears at the Lincoln County Courthouse in Canton, S.D., Thursday, Oct. 13, 2016, on charges of domestic aggravated assault. Ledbetter attacked a woman during an argument Tuesday. (Katie Nelson/The Argus Leader via AP)

Clemens says the woman told investigators Ledbetter also punched her, slammed her head on the ground and tried to stop her screaming by putting his forearm on her throat and stuffing a blanket in her mouth.
Hurricanes leave Florida coasts vulnerable to 'King tides'

MIAMI BEACH, Fla. (AP)  Flood warnings have been issued for parts of Florida's Atlantic coast experiencing annual "King tides."

The National Weather Service says flooding is expected along the St. Johns River and South Florida's coastline through Friday.

King tides bring the year's highest tides each fall. Scientists say they're inching higher because of rising sea levels.

According to the Miami Herald (http://hrld.us/2etDsaH) offshore winds from Hurricane Nicole are causing waters to flood some low-lying areas more than expected.

TCPalm.com (http://bit.ly/2d9BrjK ) reports beaches with significant erosion and damage to dunes from Hurricane Matthew are especially vulnerable this year.
World leaders join Thai people in mourning their king

BANGKOK (AP)  World leaders and Thai people alike are mourning King Bhumibol Adulyadej, who died Thursday at age 88, after 70 years on the throne. The world's longest-reigning monarch, he was known as a unifying force in Thailand and a king devoted to helping his people:

___

DANAIWUT WIROONPITI, 26, a photographer at the Grand Palace in Bangkok:

Thai people react, at Siriraj Hospital where the king is being treated in Bangkok, Thailand, Thursday, Oct. 13, 2016. Thailand's Royal Palace says King Bhumibol, the world's longest-reigning monarch, has died at age 88. (AP Photo/Wason Wanichakorn)

"Since I was young I've seen him work really hard, and now it's hard to explain. I feel numb inside. He's the center of all Thai people. It's like we lost the main pillar of our lives, the person who holds us together. I can't hold my tears. I can't help it. ... I knew this day would come and I tried to prepare myself for it, but still I couldn't help it. But on another thought, I'm happy for him and relieved that he no longer has to suffer."

___

PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA:

"I had the honor of calling on His Majesty the King during my visit to Thailand in 2012, and recall his grace and warmth, as well as his deep affection and compassion for the Thai people. As the revered leader and only monarch that most Thais have ever known, His Majesty was a tireless champion of his country's development and demonstrated unflagging devotion to improving the standard of living of the Thai people. With a creative spirit and a drive for innovation, he pioneered new technologies that have rightfully received worldwide acclaim. His Majesty leaves a legacy of care for the Thai people that will be cherished by future generations."

___

THEERA YING SOMBAT, 32, a motorcycle taxi driver at the Grand Palace:

"My heart just sank, I was nervous and sad. Nothing like this has ever happened before. I have been following the news since yesterday. Now I don't even want to go out with my friends. No partying for sure. I don't even feel like working. I think I will go home soon."

___

JAPANESE PRIME MINISTER SHINZO ABE:

"I remember King Bhumibol as a highly gifted and gentle person. ... As a spiritual support for the people, His Majesty has led Thailand's remarkable development and advancement of the people's living standard. ... The king's great contribution in deepening friendship between Japan and Thailand will be remembered by all Japanese people."

___

INDIAN PRIME MINISTER NARENDRA MODI:

"People of India and I join the people of Thailand in grieving the loss of one of the tallest leaders of our times, King Bhumibol Adulyadej."

___

SRIRAT PONLOP, a jewelry shop owner at the Grand Palace:

"I'm deeply saddened. Everybody loves him. We love our king. ... He has done a lot of good things for us. I pray and meditate for him. I know that our country is shaken by this news I know this would happen, but it's really hard."

___

MALAYSIAN PRIME MINISTER NAJIB RAZAK:

"King Bhumibol was a towering presence whose contribution to Thailand, and the rest of the region, is beyond words. We join the Thai people in mourning his loss."

___

U.S. AMBASSADOR TO THAILAND GLYN DAVIES:

"His Majesty lived a long and glorious life. Americans celebrate him because he personified the close connection between our two nations and peoples. ... Through his patience, perseverance and selfless dedication to duty, King Bhumibol embodied Thailand's Ten Kingly Virtues. This beautiful and unique land is touched today by a great and profound loss."

___

GAEWKARN FUANGTONG, 39, a humanitarian worker in Bangkok's financial district:

"There is no word to explain my feelings right now. ... I lost one of the most important people in my life. I feel like I haven't done enough for him. I should have done more. I will do good, do better, for his sake."

___

BRITISH PRIME MINISTER THERESA MAY:

"My sincere personal condolences to the royal family and the people of Thailand on the death of His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej. His Majesty guided the Kingdom of Thailand with dignity, dedication and vision throughout his life. He will be greatly missed."

___

PATCHARATIDA JAMSRIJUN, 25, an office worker in Bangkok's financial district:

"I just heard about the news. My heart sank. I don't know what to do. And we don't know what's going to happen. I want to know how the country will go from now. Who will take his place and what will happen."

___

SWEDISH PRIME MINISTER STEFAN LOFVEN:

"My condolences to the royal family but also to the whole Thai people. King Bhumibol has meant a lot to the Thai people. That one can notice when in Thailand."

Thais embrace at Siriraj Hospital where Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej was being treated in Bangkok, Thailand, Thursday, Oct. 13, 2016. Thailand's Royal Palace said King Bhumibol, the world's longest-reigning monarch, has died at age 88. (AP Photo/Wason Wanichakorn)

People react, at Siriraj Hospital where the king is being treated in Bangkok, Thailand, Thursday, Oct. 13, 2016. Thailand's Royal Palace says King Bhumibol, the world's longest-reigning monarch, has died at age 88. (AP Photo/Wason Wanichakorn)

People react, at Siriraj Hospital where the king is being treated in Bangkok, Thailand, Thursday, Oct. 13, 2016. Thailand's Royal Palace says King Bhumibol, the world's longest-reigning monarch, has died at age 88. (AP Photo/Wason Wanichakorn)

Thai people cry after Royal Palace's announcement outside Siriraj Hospital where King Bhumibol Adulyadej was being treated, in Bangkok, Thailand, Thursday, Oct. 13, 2016. Thailand's Royal Palace said on Thursday King Bhumibol, the world's longest-reigning monarch, has died at age 88. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)

Thai people cry after Royal Palace's announcement outside Siriraj Hospital where King Bhumibol Adulyadej was being treated, in Bangkok, Thailand, Thursday, Oct. 13, 2016. Thailand's Royal Palace said on Thursday King Bhumibol, the world's longest-reigning monarch, has died at age 88. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)

People react after Royal Palace's announcement outside Siriraj Hospital where Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej was being treated, in Bangkok, Thailand, Thursday, Oct. 13, 2016. Thailand's Royal Palace said on Thursday King Bhumibol, the world's longest-reigning monarch, has died at age 88. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)
Police: Trooper fatally shoots man who pointed gun at him

MOREHEAD, Ky. (AP)  Kentucky State Police say a trooper has fatally shot a man who pointed a gun at him.

A police statement says Trooper Michael Armstrong went to a residence in Morehead on Wednesday evening to serve an arrest warrant on 22-year-old Matthew Brewer. Police say Brewer fled from Armstrong on foot and in the process pointed a gun at the trooper. Authorities say the trooper then fired his weapon, striking Brewer.

Rowan County Coroner John Northcutt pronounced Brewer dead at the scene.

Both Armstrong and Brewer are white.
The Latest: EU likely to approve continued border checks

BRUSSELS (AP)  The Latest on the influx of asylum-seekers and migrants in Europe(all times local):

7:50 p.m.

The European Union's top migration official says the bloc's executive arm will allow northern European countries to keep border controls in place if migrant arrivals continue to pose a threat to public order.

Afghan migrants warm themselves with a fire inside a makeshift migrants camp near Calais, France, late Wednesday, Oct. 12, 2016. Charities working with refugees and migrants living in a slum-like camp in northern France objected Tuesday to the government's plan to dismantle the site and disperse the occupants, saying French authorities should not act in haste. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)

EU Migration Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos said Thursday that requests with "justifiable reasons" to continue ID checks will be considered.

But he warned: "We are not going to have for long periods a reintroduction of border controls."

Austria, Denmark, Germany, Norway and Sweden have been permitted to carry out checks until Nov. 12 due to migration pressures. Germany signaled Thursday that it will seek to have the checks prolonged.

It is likely the nations will be granted a six-month extension.

___

7:15 p.m.

Germany and Switzerland are stepping up patrols along their common border to stop migrants from traveling northward in breach of European Union asylum rules.

Switzerland, which isn't a member of the bloc, has become a key transit country for migrants who cross the Mediterranean, land in Italy and want to continue to Germany and Scandinavia.

Germany's Interior Ministry said Thursday that police recorded about 4,500 illegal border crossings from Switzerland between January and August of this year.

It said the two countries would work more closely to stop people from illegally entering Germany  particularly by train  and return those who have.

Last year, around 890,000 people arrived in Germany seeking asylum. EU rules require asylum-seekers to file their request in the first EU member state they enter.

___

6 p.m.

Pope Francis has denounced the forced repatriation of unaccompanied children migrants who flee wars and poverty.

The pontiff says that countries should try to meet their needs and the needs of their families rather than return them to uncertain futures.

Francis took up the plight of child migrants in his annual message for the World Day of Migrants and Refugees on Thursday.

History's first Latin American pope didn't cite specific cases, but the plight of unaccompanied children crossing into Mexico from Central America en route to the U.S. has been a concern of Catholic bishops and Catholic grassroots organizations for years.

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5:50 p.m.

Macedonia has again extended the state of emergency declared at the height of Europe's migration crisis along its borders with Greece and Serbia until the end of June 2017.

The decision was made by the country's parliament Thursday. Macedonia first imposed a state of emergency on its southern and northern borders in August 2015 for a six-month period. It has been renewed a few times since.

About 1 million refugees and other migrants transited through Macedonia last year on their way to Europe's prosperous heartland.

The country erected a 20-kilometer (13-mile) long metal fence along the border with Greece last November to stop illegal crossings.

More than 200 people remain stranded in Macedonia since the Balkan transit route was closed this year after a series of countries sealed their borders to refugees and other migrants.

___

2:35 p.m.

French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve says Italy is not doing enough to screen arriving migrants and is failing to ensure that people who do not qualify for asylum are sent home.

Cazeneuve told reporters in Luxembourg Thursday that "we have to do what was decided," by properly screening people from northern Africa at registration centers known as "hotspots."

He says "it's unthinkable that some of those who arrive in Italy do not pass through the hotspots, otherwise we are taking a security risk."

Cazeneuve says most migrants who come to Italy want to improve their way of life and are not fleeing conflict. He said these people "who do not qualify for protection in Europe must be sent back."

Around 150,000 migrants have entered Italy by sea this year.

___

10:35 a.m.

Aid groups have asked a court to delay government plans to close a wretched migrant camp in the French port of Calais, arguing that authorities aren't ready to relocate its thousands of residents.

Concern has been mounting particularly about hundreds of unaccompanied children in the so-called "jungle" camp in Calais, a troubling symbol of Europe's migrant crisis.

Thierry Kuhn of aid group Emmaus said Thursday that the groups filed an emergency request with a court in Lille seeking to delay the closure. A decision is expected within 48 hours.

The government is expected to close the camp in the coming weeks and relocate migrants to centers around France, but has not given a firm shutdown date. The camp has attracted migrants from the Mideast and Africa seeking to reach Britain.
Thai king Bhumibol was bridge in close relations with US

WASHINGTON (AP)  Thailand's King Bhumibol Adulyadej, who died Thursday after a 70-year reign, was historically an important bridge in his nation's close, but recently strained, relations with the United States.

Bhumibol was born in the U.S. and was an important ally for Washington in combating the spread of communism in Southeast Asia during the Cold War. He met with six sitting U.S. presidents, starting with Dwight Eisenhower in 1960 and ending with President Barack Obama in 2012.

Bhumibol's passing at age 88 won't set back those ties. The U.S.-Thai relationship dates back over 180 years, and Washington wants Bangkok to remain a bridgehead for its outreach to the region. But his death comes amid uncertainty about the direction of the relationship following a 2014 military coup that prompted Washington to curb high-level government engagement.

FILE - In this June 28, 1960, file photo, U.S. President Dwight Eisenhower, center, is seated between Thailand's King Bhumibol Adulyadej, left, and Queen Sirikit for a motorcade drive from National Airport to the White House in Washington. Thailand's Royal Palace said on Thursday, Oct. 13, 2016, that Thailand's King Bhumibol Adulyadej, the world's longest-reigning monarch, has died at age 88. (AP Photo, File)

Bhumibol had no formal political role, and he made his last overseas trip decades ago, but he was instrumental in shaping modern Thailand and its international profile. He made two state visits to the United States in the 1960s, and addressed a joint meeting of Congress.

"His Majesty the King was a close friend of the United States and a valued partner of many U.S. presidents," Obama said in a statement Thursday. "The American people and I stand with the people of Thailand as we mourn His Majesty the King's passing, and today we hold the Thai people in our thoughts and prayers."

Bhumibol was born in 1927 in Cambridge, Massachusetts, at a hospital affiliated with Harvard Medical School, where his father, Prince Mahidol of Songkhla, studied. A square in Cambridge is named for Bhumibol. Secretary of State John Kerry said that would be an "enduring memorial to the special bond he created between our peoples."

Bhumibol ascended the throne in 1946, and first visited the U.S. as king in 1960 at the start of a 15-country tour of the West that established him on the international stage and helped cement his standing at home. Images of the visit remain ubiquitous in Thailand to this day: the king and his glamorous wife, Queen Sirikit, seated alongside Elvis Presley on the set of "G.I. Blues" at Paramount studios; the king playing jazz saxophone alongside famed clarinet player Benny Goodman; the king standing in a convertible limousine on a ticker tape parade through New York.

"The Americans went all out with a mix of soft entertainment and gushing political recognition that put Bhumibol in a light comparable to that of the West's most powerful leaders," Paul Handley wrote in a biography of Bhumibol, "The King Never Smiles."

It was a time when the U.S. wanted a trusted ally in Southeast Asia as its fears over the spread of communism that would culminate in the Vietnam War were intensifying.

Bhumibol visited again in 1967, and this time was focused more heavily on winning U.S. support for the Thai military as it grappled with a communist insurgency. Thailand would go on to send troops to fight in Vietnam, and it provided bases for the U.S. Air Force.

Desmond Walton, senior director at the Bower Group Asia consultancy and a former U.S. military attache to Thailand, said it was strategic interests that drove the U.S. and Thailand together, but Bhumibol played an instrumental role and provided an emotional bond between the two nations. When Obama visited him in 2012 at the Bangkok hospital where the king spent much of the last decade of his life, they together leafed through an album of photos of the king's meetings with U.S. presidents.

The strategic importance of Thailand to the U.S. diminished after the Vietnam War, but relations remained close. The path ahead, however, remains clouded by uncertainty about when the country will return to civilian rule, which will be required for Washington to normalize ties once more.

State Department spokesman Mark Toner said Thursday the U.S. supports a return to democracy, but it was premature to lay out U.S. expectations for the near-term as Thailand enters a yearlong mourning period.

FILE - In this Nov. 25, 1996, file photo, U.S. President Bill Clinton, left, meets with Thailand's King Bhumibol Adulyadej at Chitrlada Palace in Bangkok. Thailand's Royal Palace said on Thursday, Oct. 13, 2016, that King Bhumibol, the world's longest-reigning monarch, has died at age 88. (Pool Photo via AP, File)
Pakistan adjourns hearing of Christian woman on death row

ISLAMABAD (AP)  Pakistan's top court on Thursday adjourned the appeals hearing for a Christian woman convicted of blasphemy who has been on death row since 2010, as dozens of radical Islamists rallied in two major cities demanding her execution.

The case of Aasia Bibi, a mother of five, has drawn an international outcry and criticism of Pakistan's harsh blasphemy laws.

She was arrested six years ago after she quarreled with Muslim women working at a farm harvesting berries in eastern Punjab province and charged with insulting Islam's Prophet Muhammad, a charge she has repeatedly denied.

Saiful Malook, left, lawyer of Pakistani Christian woman Aasia Bibi briefs media with Bibi's husband Ashiq Masih outside the Supreme Court in Islamabad, Pakistan. Thursday, Oct. 13, 2016. Pakistan's supreme court has adjourned an appeal from a Christian woman Aasia Bibi who has been on death row on blasphemous charges since 2010 after one of the judges refused to hear the case citing a possible conflict of interest. (AP Photo/B.K. Bangash)

Her first appeal was dismissed by a Lahore High Court in 2014, but the Supreme Court stayed her execution in 2015 and suspended the high court verdict. The appeal to the top court is Bibi's final legal recourse.

On Thursday, a Supreme Court judge adjourned the hearing indefinitely, refusing to hear the appeal and citing a possible conflict of interest. Bibi's lawyer, Saiful Malook, told reporters that no new hearing date has been set.

Bibi's husband Ashiq Masih attended the brief session but left the courthouse without speaking to the media. He and the couple's children have been living at a secret location since Bibi's arrest, for security reasons.

Security was tightened around the court building ahead of the session. Pakistani Islamists have been demanding Bibi's execution and two officials  Punjab Gov. Salman Taseer and minorities' minister Shahbaz Bhatti  were murdered in 2011 after speaking in support of Bibi and calling for reform of Pakistan's blasphemy law.

Rallies also took place on Thursday in the cities of Lahore and Karachi, with demonstrators demanding Bibi's execution and warning that her release would lead to more bloodshed in Pakistan. Another such rally was planned for Friday.

Dozens of Pakistanis are sentenced to death each year under the blasphemy laws, which date back to the 1980s military rule of Gen. Mohammad Zia ul-Haq.

But in recent years, no executions on blasphemy charges have been carried out and the cases of those sentenced to death have been lingering on appeals.

Christians make up less than 5 percent of Muslim-majority Pakistan, a nation of 180 million people. In 2010, Pope Benedict XVI called for Bibi's release.

Zohra Yusuf, the head of Pakistan's independent Human Rights Commission, said she was disappointed over the delay in Thursday's appeals hearing.

"Bibi has been in the jail for nearly six years and she needs justice," Yusuf told The Associated Press. She criticized the judge for not "recusing himself" and allowing the session to proceed.
Christie faces official misconduct complaint for bridge case

TRENTON, N.J. (AP)  Republican Gov. Chris Christie wasn't charged by federal prosecutors in the George Washington Bridge lane-closing case and wasn't held responsible by other investigations into the political revenge plot, but he's now been ensnared again in the legal fallout because of a citizen's misconduct complaint.

On Thursday, a New Jersey judge in Hackensack allowed the complaint against Christie to move forward. Christie's office said he will appeal and described the citizen as a "serial complainant and political activist with a history of abusing the system."

The complaint, filed by retired Teaneck firefighter William Brennan, alleges Christie "knowingly refrained from ordering that his subordinates take all necessary action to re-open local access lanes" from Fort Lee that had been "closed with the purpose to injure Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich" for not endorsing Christie's re-election bid.

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie addresses a gathering at the New Jersey State Museum during a Hispanic Heritage Month event Wednesday, Oct. 12, 2016, in Trenton, N.J. (AP Photo/Mel Evans)

The complaint claims residents were "deprived the benefit and enjoyment of their community."

Brennan, who ran a failed campaign for the Assembly as a Democrat in 2011, disagreed with the characterization of him by the governor's office. He said in a telephone interview Thursday that he's pursuing the complaint on behalf of the public.

"I'm more interested in what the judge who heard the evidence had to say, and the judge signed (the summons)," Brennan said.

The judge's decision comes amid the trial of two former Christie appointees who are accused of orchestrating the lane closures in September 2013 as retribution against Sokolich, a Democrat.

The prosecution's star witness, David Wildstein, testified that several members in the governor's inner circle knew about the plot beforehand or soon after and that Christie himself was told about the traffic jams on the third day of the four-day lane closures.

Christie has adamantly denied that happened, and spokesman Brian Murray said Thursday: "The simple fact is the governor had no knowledge of the lane realignments either before they happened or while they were happening."

The governor's misconduct case next goes to the Bergen County prosecutor's office in Hackensack, which will decide whether it will lead to an indictment. Christie appointed the prosecutor in that office.

Spectators in the courtroom who were mostly there for minor criminal violations applauded after Judge Roy McGeady's ruling.

"I'm satisfied that there's probable cause to believe that an event of official misconduct was caused by Gov. Christie," McGeady said. "I'm going to issue the summons."

Christie attorney Craig Carpenito told the judge that the complaint was "intentionally misleading" and that what Christie knew about the closures was already thoroughly investigated.

Official misconduct is considered a second-degree offense in New Jersey and carries a possible sentence of five to 10 years. An initial court appearance is scheduled for Oct. 24.

Three investigations into the scandal did not find evidence Christie authorized or knew about the lane closures. Federal prosecutors did not charge Christie after their investigation, a Democrat-led legislative panel failed to find evidence linking the governor to the plot and a 2014 taxpayer-funded report found the governor wasn't aware of the September 2013 closures until afterward.

Bill Baroni, former deputy executive director at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, and Bridget Kelly, Christie's deputy chief of staff, are on trial in the lane closures case.

Baroni and Kelly face charges including conspiracy, fraud and deprivation of civil rights. The most serious charge, wire fraud conspiracy, carries a 20-year maximum prison sentence.

They contend the scheme was conceived and executed by Wildstein, a career political operative and blogger their attorneys have characterized as Christie's hatchet man at the Port Authority, a powerful bistate agency that runs bridges, tunnels, ports, airports and the World Trade Center.

Their trial is nearing the end of its fourth week. On Thursday the prosecution rested its case after showing jurors video of Baroni's 2013 testimony before a state legislative committee in which he described the lane closures as part of a traffic study.

That was a lie aimed at covering up the scheme, prosecutors say.

The trial is expected to last two more weeks, and both Baroni and Kelly are expected to testify.

___

Associated Press writers David Porter in Newark and Shawn Marsh in Trenton contributed to this story.
Condoms sent to Ayotte say: 'Protect Yourself From Trump'

MANCHESTER, N.H. (AP)  Women's health advocates have delivered hundreds of condoms to Republican U.S. Sen. Kelly Ayotte's (AY'-ahtz) office in New Hampshire bearing the message "Protect Yourself from Trump."

The delivery from Planned Parenthood New Hampshire Action Fund ties together two issues that have landed Ayotte in the news.

Last week, her campaign handed out condoms at the University of New Hampshire to highlight a birth control bill she sponsored. She also said Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump "absolutely" would make a good role model for children but said later she had misspoken.

She dropped her support for Trump altogether last weekend after a 2005 videotape emerged of him bragging about grabbing women without their consent.
Israeli leader blasts UN resolution on Jerusalem

JERUSALEM (AP)  Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says a resolution adopted by the U.N. cultural agency denies the Jewish connection to holy sites in Jerusalem and is a "theatre of the absurd."

The UNESCO resolution, sponsored by several Arab countries, marginalizes Jewish ties to the Western Wall, a remnant of the biblical temple compound, and to the plaza that Jews revere as the Temple Mount and Muslims revere as the Noble Sanctuary.

Netanyahu asks on his Facebook page: "Is it any wonder the U.N. has become a moral farce when UNESCO, the U.N. body tasked with preserving history, denies and distorts history?"
The Latest: Bomb suspect enters plea in police shootings

ELIZABETH, N.J. (AP)  The Latest on court proceedings against a man suspected of setting off bombs in New Jersey and New York (all times local):

2:20 p.m.

A man accused of setting off bombs in New Jersey and New York has made his first court appearance on charges he tried to fatally shoot police officers trying to capture him.

FILE - This Sept. 2016 file photo provided by Union County Prosecutor's Office shows Ahmad Khan Rahami. Prosecutors say Ahmad Khan Rahamis hearing is scheduled for Thursday, Oct. 13, 2016 in Elizabeth, N.J. Hes charged with five counts of attempted murder of a police officer. (Union County Prosecutor's Office via AP, File)

Ahmad Khan Rahimi's attorney pleaded not guilty on his behalf to charges of attempted murder of police. Rahimi appeared via video from his hospital bed in Newark.

The Afghan-born U.S. citizen has been hospitalized with gunshot wounds since a police shootout that led to his capture on Sept. 19 outside a bar in Linden.

Rahimi is accused of detonating a pipe bomb in a New Jersey shore town and a pressure cooker bomb in New York City on Sept. 17, injuring 31 people.

A video stream of Rahimi was shown in the courtroom in Elizabeth, New Jersey. Rahimi's head was propped up on pillows. A public defender stood next to him wearing a disposable hospital gown and plastic gloves.

___

1 a.m.

A man accused of setting off bombs in New Jersey and New York is scheduled to be arraigned on charges he tried to kill police officers.

Ahmad Khan Rahimi's hearing is set for Thursday in Elizabeth, New Jersey. Prosecutors say Rahimi will appear via video from his hospital bed.

The Afghan-born U.S. citizen has been hospitalized with gunshot wounds since a police shootout that led to his capture Sept. 19 outside a bar in Linden.

Rahimi is charged with five counts of attempted murder of a police officer.

He's accused of detonating a pipe bomb in a New Jersey shore town and a pressure cooker bomb in New York City on Sept. 17, injuring 31 people.

His public defenders have a policy of not commenting on cases.

___
Bombing suspect pleads not guilty in police shootings

ELIZABETH, N.J. (AP)  A man accused of setting off bombs in New Jersey and New York, injuring more than 30 people, pleaded not guilty on Thursday to charges he tried to kill police officers before they captured him.

An attorney for Ahmad Khan Rahimi entered the pleas as Rahimi appeared via video from his hospital bed in Newark. It was Rahimi's first public appearance since last month's bombings and police chase. He remains jailed on $5.2 million bail.

Rahimi, an Afghan-born U.S. citizen, has been hospitalized with gunshot wounds since a police shootout that led to his capture on Sept. 19 outside a bar in Linden. His head was propped up on pillows, while public defender Peter Liguori stood by his side wearing a disposable hospital gown and plastic gloves.

CORRECTS SPELLING TO RAHIMI INSTEAD OF RAHAMI - Ahmad Khan Rahimi, left, appears via video from his hospital bed in Newark, N.J., during a court hearing at the Union County Courthouse, Thursday, Oct. 13, 2016, in Elizabeth, N.J. Rahami, accused of setting off bombs in New York and New Jersey in September, made his first court appearance on charges he tried to fatally shoot police officers trying to capture him. (Union County Courthouse via AP, Pool)

Rahimi, 28, is charged with five counts of attempted murder of a police officer and weapons offenses. He was read his rights by Judge Regina Caulfield and answered "yes" in a faint voice to a series of questions she asked him.

He is accused of detonating a pipe bomb along the route of a Marine Corps charity race in the New Jersey shore town of Seaside Park and a pressure cooker bomb in New York City on Sept. 17. No one was injured in the New Jersey blast, and 31 people were hurt in the New York blast. A second pressure cooker bomb did not explode.

Rahimi has not made court appearances on federal charges in either state.

Officer Angel Padilla, who prosecutors say was shot by Rahimi, was in court along with fellow Linden officers.

___

This story has been corrected to show the suspect's surname is Rahimi, not Rahami, based on updated information provided by his lawyer in court.

Ahmad Khan Rahimi, who was arrested as a suspect in the September bombings in New York and New Jersey, makes his first court appearance from his hospital bed in Newark, N.J., via video, on charges he tried to fatally shoot police officers, during a hearing at the Union County Courthouse, Thursday, Oct. 13, 2016, in Elizabeth, N.J. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez, Pool)

CORRECTS NAME FROM RAHAMI TO RAHIMI - FILE - This Sept. 2016 file photo provided by Union County Prosecutor's Office shows Ahmad Khan Rahimi. Prosecutors say Ahmad Khan Rahimis hearing is scheduled for Thursday, Oct. 13, 2016 in Elizabeth, N.J. Hes charged with five counts of attempted murder of a police officer. (Union County Prosecutor's Office via AP, File)
The Latest: Old Dominion: 'zero tolerance' for sex assault

RICHMOND, Va. (AP)  The Latest on a federal complaint filed by an Old Dominion University student who reported that she was raped in her dorm room in 2014 (all times local):

3:30 p.m.

A spokeswoman for Old Dominion University says it is committed to treating victims of sexual assault with "care, professionalism and respect."

Giovanna Genard confirmed in a statement Thursday that the university has received a federal complaint alleging that school mishandled a student's rape case in 2014.

The complaint filed with the U.S. Department of Education accuses campus police of preventing the woman from getting a medical exam to preserve evidence until after she was interrogated for almost eight hours.

Genard said the school has "zero tolerance" for sexual assault. She said the university cannot comment further "due to the legal nature of the claim."

___

1:00 p.m.

An Old Dominion University student who reported she was raped in her dorm room is charging that campus police prevented her from getting a medical exam to preserve evidence until after she was interrogated for almost eight hours.

Her complaint to federal education officials about the October 2014 episode also says she was not given written information about her right to seek a protective order against the person she said attacked her, among other things. It accuses school officials of mishandling the case.

The complaint was filed Wednesday with the U.S. Department of Education. The woman was not identified in the complaint.
Feds seek early release for ex-Massachusetts speaker DiMasi

BOSTON (AP)  Federal officials recommended Thursday that former Massachusetts House Speaker Salvatore DiMasi be granted early release from prison as he battles cancer.

The U.S. Bureau of Prisons and federal prosecutors filed a court notice requesting that DiMasi's sentence be reduced to time already served so he could be released immediately. The once-powerful Democrat has served almost five years of an eight-year prison term for corruption.

Since his 2011 conviction, DiMasi, 71, was diagnosed with tongue cancer and later prostate cancer.

FILE-- This Jan. 7, 2009 file photograph shows Massachusetts House Speaker Salvatore DiMasi acknowledging applause from the chamber as he bangs the gavel after being re-elected at the Statehouse in Boston. Federal officials are recommending an early release from prison for DiMasi as he battles cancer. The U.S. Bureau of Prisons is filing a notice in court saying it's requesting compassionate release for the once-powerful Democrat, who has served almost five years of an eight-year term for corruption. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

The compassionate release recommendation is intended for inmates with terminal illnesses as well as elderly inmates who have served a significant portion of their sentences. U.S. District Court Judge Mark Wolf, who presided over the trial, must approve the request.

DiMasi was convicted of steering state contracts to a software firm in exchange for $65,000 in payments funneled through his private law firm.

DiMasi's age, the length of time he has served and his medical condition were cited in the court filing, submitted by the U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts, as constituting the extraordinary and compelling reasons that warrant the reduction in sentence.

"He is a senior who has served 56 months (58 of his 96-month term of imprisonment and is experiencing deteriorating physical health that substantially diminishes his ability to function in a correctional facility," lawyers wrote, explaining that he had required a feeding tube for one year and continued to suffer from choking episodes and other symptoms.

DiMasi's wife, Debbie, has publicly criticized federal prison officials, saying they took too long to diagnose his cancer. She has said some of his suffering could have been avoided if prison doctors had examined him when he first reported suspicious swelling in his throat and neck shortly after beginning his sentence in November 2011. Instead, his cancer was not diagnosed until April 2012, giving the disease time to grow and spread, she contends.

"We are immeasurably grateful for the government's decision to recommend Sal's release and, in particular, for the sensitivity, compassion and leadership shown in the process by United States Attorney Carmen Ortiz," Debbie DiMasi said in a statement Thursday.

DiMasi was convicted on charges including extortion, theft and bribery. His sentence was the longest ever given in Massachusetts for crimes in office by an elected official.

Former Statehouse lobbyist Richard McDonough also was convicted of conspiracy and fraud, and software salesman Joseph Lally pleaded guilty before the trial and was sentenced to 18 months in prison. A third defendant, businessman Richard Vitale, was acquitted.

DiMasi, who served as House leader from 2004 until his resignation in 2009, was the third straight speaker to leave office because of ethics issues.

"No matter how you view the charges and the case against him, I think that what he's been put through as a human being is unconscionable, and I'm happy that the federal government agrees that it's time to move toward compassionate release and hope the judge agrees," said David Guarino, who formerly served as a top aide to DiMasi.

During sentencing, Wolf credited DiMasi for working on behalf of the disadvantaged as a legislator and said his life story was, in many ways, typical of the American dream, noting that he was the son of Italian immigrants who worked hard to succeed and became the first Italian-American speaker in state history.

But Wolf added the dream had been "corrupted."

DiMasi maintained his innocence throughout.

Defense attorneys argued the payments were legitimate and were not made in exchange for official actions by the lawmaker.
Some Republican officials stick with Trump, cite the issues

WASHINGTON (AP)  Some key Republican officeholders and candidates reaffirmed their support for Donald Trump Thursday despite new allegations from women that he groped and assaulted them. The Republicans argued that Trump would still be better on key issues like energy and the Supreme Court than Democrat Hillary Clinton.

"Asked and answered like 10 times in the last week and the answer's still the same," said Sen. Roy Blunt of Missouri, who is running for re-election, when pressed by reporters about Trump. "As long as the choice is Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton ... Hillary Clinton will not change the Obamacare disaster, the out of control regulators or our terrible foreign policy. I think with a Republican Congress, that he may be able to do that."

Said West Virginia GOP gubernatorial candidate Bill Cole, president of the state Senate: "You have one candidate who wants to be there for our coal and our natural gas industry, and another one that wants to destroy them."

"I was offended by what he said. But the choice is so clear: If we're going to move West Virginia forward, we have to have Donald Trump in the White House," Cole added. "We have to, to open our opportunities with coal and natural gas in the state."

During a campaign debate Thursday night, North Carolina GOP Sen. Richard Burr said he accepts Trump's statements that he didn't commit sexual assault and still supports Trump politically because he's worried more about Hillary Clinton's "lack of judgment."

Strikingly, there was scant evidence Thursday of any additional GOP defections from Trump's campaign.

In the wake of last Friday's disclosure of the 2005 "Access Hollywood" tape of Trump talking about kissing and grabbing women, some big-name Republicans withdrew their support, including Sens. John McCain of Arizona, Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire and Rob Portman of Ohio, all of whom are up for re-election. But at least publicly, no one else appeared to be jumping ship on Thursday, perhaps because of the fury of GOP base voters, goaded by Trump himself, over the original defectors. A few of the original defectors subsequently got back on board, including Sen. John Thune of South Dakota, a member of the Senate's GOP leadership.

Despite the new level of controversy surrounding him, Republican consultants generally believe that Trump has a core of supporters who will not abandon him. So for elected Republican officials in red states like Missouri, West Virginia or Arkansas, especially anyone running for office, denouncing Trump may not be a smart move.

And those GOP officials who already had distanced themselves from Trump were largely silent on the new allegations Thursday. House Speaker Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, who on Monday announced he would not defend Trump or campaign for him, appeared before the Waukesha County Business Alliance but refused to take questions from reporters. He told the group he wanted to have a discussion on ideas and not "all the mudslinging and the mess that's out there on TV." He did not mention Trump.

The New York Times and the Palm Beach Post on Wednesday reported on three women who alleged Trump had inappropriately touched them. Separately, a People Magazine reporter wrote a detailed first-person account of being attacked by Trump. Trump denied it all, labeling his accusers liars and blaming a corrupt media establishment and criminal Clinton campaign.

In Arkansas, Gov. Asa Hutchinson reiterated his support for Trump Thursday, saying that while the candidate's remarks about women are troubling, their being raised amid a political campaign makes the situation "very muddy."

"You have two candidates that are both flawed, and the American public just has to evaluate it," Hutchinson said. "My evaluation is on the big picture items of where our economy goes, where we go in fighting ISIS, in terms of the Supreme Court."

In Ohio, the office of state Treasurer Josh Mandel, a past and potentially future candidate for higher office, released a statement condemning Trump's comments but adding: "For the sake of the Supreme Court, Second Amendment, religious liberty, fight against radical Islam and many other issues, his endorsement and vote for Mr. Trump still stands."

And in Nebraska, Rep. Adrian Smith said that electing Hillary Clinton "would be a disaster. The choice in this election is between Clinton and Donald Trump, and on issues such as border security, terrorism, repealing Obamacare and appointing Supreme Court justices, my support has always been for the Republican ticket."

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Judge: Winner's lawsuit in lottery-fixing case can continue

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP)  The winner of a $9 million state lottery jackpot can continue a lawsuit that contends he would have won millions more if the prior drawing had not been rigged by a rogue insider, an Iowa judge has ruled.

District Court Judge Karen Romano rejected requests Wednesday to dismiss the case, which is the first filed against the Multi-State Lottery Association over a major jackpot-rigging scandal inside the organization.

She ruled that the association and the Iowa Lottery are not immune from the lawsuit and that Larry Dawson of Webster City, Iowa has the legal standing to bring the case.

FILE - In this Sept. 9, 2015, file photo, former Multi-State Lottery Association security director Eddie Tipton leaves the Polk County Courthouse in Des Moines, Iowa, after his sentencing in a jackpot-fixing scandal. A judge says the winner of a Hot Lotto jackpot can continue a lawsuit that contends he would have won millions more if the prior drawing had not been rigged by a lottery vendor. Judge Karen Romano has rejected requests to dismiss the case, which is the first filed against the Multi-State Lottery Association over a jackpot-rigging scandal inside the organization. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall, File)

Dawson, a financial adviser nicknamed "Lucky Larry," won a Hot Lotto jackpot worth $9 million in May 2011. He contends that the jackpot should have been worth $25.5 million had the prior jackpot in December 2010 not been fixed by association security director Eddie Tipton.

A jury convicted Tipton last year of fraud for allegedly tampering with the random number generator that picked the digits for the $16.5 million drawing at the association's suburban Des Moines headquarters. Investigators say that Tipton then bought the winning numbers himself and worked with associates in an unsuccessful attempt to claim that prize. The Multi-State Lottery Association ultimately sent the money back to the 16 state lotteries that offer the game as an unclaimed prize.

Dawson's lawsuit, filed earlier this year, contends the prize pool should have rolled over to subsequent drawings under Hot Lotto's official rules since there was no legitimate winner. He won the game's next jackpot, and contends it should have been much larger.

The lawsuit alleges that lax security measures at the association allowed Tipton to carry out his scheme undetected for years. He has since been charged with working with associates to claim jackpots worth millions in Colorado, Wisconsin, Oklahoma and Kansas. Tipton has pleaded not guilty to those charges and is appealing his earlier conviction.

Before answering Dawson's lawsuit, the Iowa Lottery and the association filed motions to dismiss the case based on several legal theories, including that they are legally shielded and that Dawson's injuries were too speculative.

In a statement, Dawson's attorneys said they were pleased with the ruling and look forward to continuing the case.
Fox's Lou Dobbs apologizes for tweeting accuser's info

NEW YORK (AP)  Fox Business Network's Lou Dobbs apologized Thursday for tweeting the address and phone number of a woman who alleged Donald Trump had groped her without her consent.

Dobbs on Thursday retweeted a news article about accusations made by a New York woman, Jessica Leeds. She told The New York Times that the future Republican presidential candidate had grabbed her breasts and tried to reach up her dress on an airplane more than 30 years ago. Trump has denied the allegations.

The link Dobbs had retweeted  not from the Times  added Leeds' personal information, and his tweet was subsequently disseminated.

FILE - In this Nov. 16, 2009 file photo, Lou Dobbs, left, speaks with Bill O'Reilly during taping a segment for Fox News channel's "The O'Reilly Factor," in New York. Dobbs apologized Thursday, Oct. 13, 2016, for a tweeting the address and phone number of a woman who alleged Donald Trump had groped her without her consent. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens, File)
Prosecution rests in case against GOP Gov. Christie's allies

NEWARK, N.J. (AP)  The prosecution rested its case Thursday against two former allies of Republican Gov. Chris Christie charged in the George Washington Bridge lane-closing trial.

The trial of former Christie deputy chief of staff Bridget Kelly and former bridge authority executive Bill Baroni is in its fourth week.

Kelly and Baroni are charged with closing access lanes to the bridge in 2013 to cause traffic jams to punish Fort Lee's Democratic mayor, who didn't support Christie's re-election. They have pleaded not guilty and have said the government has twisted federal law to turn their actions into crimes. They also have said other people with more power and influence were involved in the lane closures but aren't being prosecuted.

Jurors on Thursday saw video of Baroni's testimony before a state legislative committee in 2013 in which he says the lane closures were part of a traffic study. Prosecutors contend that was a cover story to hide the true nature of the scheme.

An FBI agent also testified several emails had been deleted from Kelly's account, including one in which she wrote, "Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee." The bridge, one of the busiest in the world, connects Fort Lee with New York City.

Baroni's attorney, Michael Baldassare, called as his first witness Charles McKenna, Christie's chief counsel in 2013 and an assistant U.S. attorney under Christie before that.

McKenna described meeting separately with Baroni and former Port Authority of New York and New Jersey colleague David Wildstein, who has pleaded guilty, in December 2013 to ask them to resign.

McKenna testified that even though Port Authority Executive Director Patrick Foye had told a legislative committee in early December that no traffic study existed, he didn't question Baroni on details about the lane closures.

"I was under the impression there was a traffic study  a traffic study that didn't go well but a traffic study nonetheless," he said.

Fort Lee was plunged into four days of gridlock during the week of Sept. 9, 2013. Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich's pleas for help were ignored, part of the plan cooked up by Baroni, Kelly and Wildstein, prosecutors say.

Baroni is expected to testify early next week. Kelly also is expected to testify.
UN chief to visit hurricane-ravaged Haiti

UNITED NATIONS (AP)  Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will visit hurricane-ravaged Haiti on Saturday.

U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric announced Thursday that Ban will meet with communities affected by Hurricane Matthew as well as government officials and humanitarian workers.

The U.N. chief is also expected to visit the city of Les Cayes, one of the hardest-hit areas, with provisional President Jocelerme Privert, he said.

Dujarric appealed to donors to contribute to the $120 million U.N. appeal to help hurricane victims, saying only 5 percent of the funds have been received.

The Haitian government says more than 1.4 million people urgently need humanitarian assistance.
Navy officer pleads guilty in growing bribery case

SAN DIEGO (AP)  A Navy lieutenant commander on Thursday admitted to providing inside information to a Malaysian defense contractor nicknamed "Fat Leonard" whose ship supply company overbilled the maritime branch by at least $35 million in a mushrooming case involving nearly a dozen Navy officers so far, many of whom were bought off with prostitutes.

Supply and logistic officer Lt. Cmdr. Gentry Debord pleaded guilty to a federal charge of conspiracy to commit bribery Thursday in federal court in San Diego.

His attorney Robert Schlein said his client has accepted responsibility for his actions and Schlein found him to be a "very open, honest and professional guy" in the seven months they worked together. He added that most of the offenses were committed when Debord was a junior officer.

"It's a complex set of facts in this case," Schlein said. "It involves a variety of people and he would be someone on the lesser end of that involvement."

Prosecutors say Debord regularly requested Glenn Defense Marine Asia executives to arrange prostitutes for him during port visits in Asia in exchange for helping the company.

GDMA officials described Debord in emails as "sex crazed" and said he swallowed the bribes, "hook, line and sinker," according to instant messages quoted in the plea agreement.

"This conduct is a disgrace to the U.S. Navy and an affront to U.S. taxpayers who were left to foot the bill for parties and prostitutes," said U.S. Attorney Laura Duffy.

The company's CEO, Leonard Francis, is awaiting sentencing after pleading guilty to bribing Navy officials with more than $500,000 in cash, prostitutes, luxury hotel stays and a staggering amount of others gifts in exchange for classified information.

Among the 16 defendants are 11 current or former U.S. Navy officials.

From November 2007 to January 2013, Debord provided Francis and others with inside Navy information and directed Francis and GDMA to inflate invoices to cover the bribes he was receiving. He also pushed the Navy to buy items from GDMA, including in 2008 when he convinced the Navy to not use the food and provisions it owned.

The judge agreed to allow Debord to live with his family in Ohio until his sentencing hearing, which is set for January.
Brazil's Silva to stand 3rd trial in corruption probe

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP)  Former Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva will face corruption charges in connection with an alleged scheme involving the construction giant Odebrecht.

A court Brasilia said in a statement Thursday that Silva was formally charged with interfering in a state-run development bank to assure financing for a small firm owned by a nephew of his late first wife. Lawyers of the left-leaning leader denied any wrongdoing and said he is being politically targeted. It is the third set of criminal charges brought against the former leader.

Silva also faces charges for alleged obstruction of justice in connection with the sprawling scandal at state-run oil giant Petrobras.
Sun sets on time as Sunrise presenter for Eamonn Holmes

Eamonn Holmes will present Sky News' flagship breakfast programme Sunrise for the final time on Thursday after 11 years as anchor.

The Northern Irishman, 56, signed a five-year deal to stay with Sky in 2013 amid reports he was being lined up to front ITV's troubled early morning show Daybreak.

However, last month t he presenter, who also hosts ITV's This Morning with his wife Ruth Langsford every Friday morning, confirmed his departure from the daily breakfast programme via a post on his Facebook page.

Eamonn Holmes has presented Sunrise since 2005

On Wednesday he posted: "The Sun sets for me on Sunrise tomorrow morning after 11 years. I hope you can join me for the last day."

Holmes has presented Sunrise since 2005, following his departure from ITV's GMTV, which he co-hosted for 12 years.

Announcing his departure in September, Holmes said: "I cannot stress how hard it is saying goodbye to such a programme and the friends and colleagues who I have met over the years because of it - but nothing stays the same - nor should it.

"New studios mean a wonderful chance for new ideas and a new approach with new presenters. I hope they enjoy and respect the privilege of hosting Sunrise and waking up Britain and the world as much as I have."

"To those who have worked or woken up with me on Sky News over the years - thank you. I hope you appreciated that I tried to do it differently."

He had to apologise earlier this year after being accused of comparing an attack on the Manchester United team bus by West Ham supporters to the Hillsborough disaster which led to deaths of 96 Liverpool fans.

Holmes will be replaced as anchor by Sarah-Jane Mee, who will be joined by new co-host Jonathan Samuels, currently the senior correspondent for Sky News.
Scottish Government set to publish Bill on second independence vote

A consultation will begin next week on legislation for a second Scottish independence referendum, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has announced.

The SNP leader said Scots should have the ability to reconsider the issue in light of the vote for Brexit and "to do so before the UK leaves the EU".

She told delegates at the SNP conference in Glasgow that an Independence Referendum Bill will be published for consultation by the Scottish Government next week.

Nicola Sturgeon said her Government will publish a second Bill on Scottish independence next week

The First Minister also announced plans for "specific proposals" aimed at protecting Scotland's interests in Europe and keeping the country in the single market "even if the rest of the UK decides to leave".

This will include seeking "substantial additional powers" for Holyrood as part of the UK's Article 50 negotiations, including over international deals with other nations and immigration.

She also confirmed that SNP MPs at Westminster will vote against the "Brexit Bill" when it comes before the House of Commons next year, and they will seek to form a coalition with Labour, Liberals and moderate Tories against a hard Brexit.

But a spokeswoman for Prime Minister Theresa May said the SNP's focus should instead be on "working together as a union, as a United Kingdom , to get the best deal as we leave the European Union".

Ms Sturgeon's speech was also criticised by opposition parties who accused her of stoking "division and more constitutional upheaval".

She told the conference: "I am determined that Scotland will have the ability to reconsider the question of independence - and to do so before the UK leaves the EU - if that is necessary to protect our country's interests.

"So I can confirm today that the Independence Referendum Bill will be published for consultation next week."

The First Minister insisted a fresh vote on independence would not simply be a re-run of the arguments of 2014 - when voters backed staying in the UK by 55% to 45%.

She told SNP activists: "W e must engage the arguments with a fresh eye and an open mind. The case for independence will have to be made and won."

But she said if the choice is between "an inward looking, insular, Brexit Britain governed by a right-wing Tory party obsessed with borders and blue passports at the expense of economic strength and stability" and a "progressive, outward looking, internationalist Scotland", then it is a case that "we will win".

She accused Mrs May of having displayed "disregard for Scotland's democratic voice that was reminiscent of Margaret Thatcher".

In a direct message to the Prime Minister, she continued: "If you think for one single second that I'm not serious about doing what it takes to protect Scotland's interests, then think again.

"If you can't - or won't - allow us to protect our interests within the UK, then Scotland will have the right to decide, afresh, if it wants to take a different path."

Mrs May's official spokeswoman told a Westminster briefing: "The position of the Prime Minister and the Government hasn't changed.

"This issue was addressed in 2014, what we should all be focusing on now is working together as a union, as a United Kingdom, to get the best deal as we leave the European Union."

Scottish Secretary David Mundell called on Ms Sturgeon to " commit her Government to working constructively with the UK Government to seize the opportunities that will bring, not taking Scotland back to the divisive constitutional debates of the past".

Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson said her party would oppose any attempt to "drag" Scotland into a second independence referendum.

She said: 'Nicola Sturgeon could today have set out a positive, constructive vision for how the country progresses together.

"Instead she has made it clear she wants to take Scotland back to yet more uncertainty, more division and more constitutional upheaval.

"This isn't the action of a First Minister of Scotland but an SNP fundamentalist who puts independence first, last and always."

Scottish Labour leader Kezia Dugdale said: "This confirms that the SNP's priority is not education, or healthcare, or tackling poverty.

"Nicola Sturgeon's top priority is to divide our nation once again. But our country is already divided following the Tories' reckless Brexit gamble and we should not be seeking further divisions.

"Our economy is in trouble and the last thing we need is the uncertainty of another independence referendum."

But the consultation was welcomed by the pro-independence S cottish Greens, who said: "Independence may be Scotland's best hope of remaining in the EU, and it's right that preparations are made and the case continues to be built."

Downing Street said the Prime Minister is committed to working with Holyrood, but stressed the Scottish Government will not be able to prevent Brexit.

The Prime Minister's spokeswoman said Mrs May is not "dismissing outright" calls for Scotland to be given extra powers over trade or immigration.

"The Prime Minister is approaching both the relationship between the four constituent parts of the UK and our relationship with the EU as we leave in a constructive and engaged spirit," the spokeswoman said.

Responding to the First Minister's call for extra powers over international deals and immigration, the spokeswoman said Mrs May is willing to "hear views and listen" b ut "there is a clear settlement with regard to devolution and what matters are reserved and what are not".
Queen takes over longest reign mantle after Thailand's King Bhumibol dies

The Queen has become the world's longest reigning living monarch following the death of the King of Thailand.

King Bhumibol Adulyadej of Thailand had reigned since June 9 1946, and was two years younger than the Queen.

Following his death aged 88, Elizabeth II takes up the position as the longest serving current head of state on the planet.

The Queen and King Bhumibol of Thailand at a state banquet at the Chakri Palace in Bangkok

But she is unlikely to acknowledge such a record, particularly as the Thai people are grieving for their revered head of state.

King Bhumibol Adulyadej - whose name means "strength of the land, incomparable power" - had been in poor health for a number of years and was rarely seen in public.

The Royal Palace said the king's health had deteriorated until he passed away peacefully on Thursday at Bangkok's Siriraj Hospital, where a large crowd had been holding a vigil.

Prime Minister Theresa May and Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson joined leaders around the world in paying tribute to the monarch, whose death will be marked with a one-year mourning period by Thai government officials.

Mrs May said: " His Majesty guided the Kingdom of Thailand with dignity, dedication and vision throughout his life. He will be greatly missed.

"Our thoughts are with the people of Thailand at this difficult time."

The king's popularity stemmed partly from his long reign, but he was also viewed as a pillar of stability. Strict lese-majeste laws banned any criticism of him or the Thai royal family.

In August 2015, a man was sentenced to 30 years in prison by a Thai military court for insulting the country's monarchy on Facebook.

The Queen is already the longest reigning monarch in British history and was matter of fact about that achievement.

At around 5.30pm on September 9, 2015, she overtook her great-great-grandmother Queen Victoria, having reigned for 23,226 days, 16 hours and some 30 minutes.

As she thanked the nation for its kind messages as she opened the Borders Railway in Tweedbank on the landmark day, she admitted that the royal record was ''not one to which I have ever aspired''.

She added: ''Inevitably a long life can pass by many milestones. My own is no exception."

The milestone of 63 years and 216 days was tinged with sadness for the Queen, who acceded to the throne at the age of 25, as the calculation of her record is linked to the start of her reign on the death of her father George VI.

She has some way to go before she becomes the world's longest reigning monarch ever.

King Sobhuza II of Swaziland, who died in 1982, holds this title. He was just four months old when he became king and ruled for 82 years and 253 days.

It was estimated that he had about 210 children from at least 70 wives and by the time of his death, he had more than 1,000 grandchildren.

The longest reign of any monarch of a large country in European history belongs to Louis XIV of France - who was also known as Louis the Great, or the Sun King.

His reign lasted for 72 years and 110 days, from 1643 to 1715.

The Queen sent private messages of condolence to Queen Sirikit and Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn, a Buckingham Palace spokeswoman said.

The King during a state visit to London in 1960

The King with his queen, Sirikit, were met by the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh

A banquet was held at the Guildhall

The Thai royal couple arrive at Westminster Abbey to pay homage at the tomb of the Unknown Warrior

The Thai royal family stayed at King's Beeches in Sunninghill, Berkshire for the summer of 1966

The Queen visited Thailand in 1996

The Queen was welcomed to the Charkri Palace in Bangkok
UK-hosted talks to consider 'all options' on Syria amid Aleppo death toll anger

Britain is to host talks by Western powers to consider "all options" for ending the bloodshed in Syria amid deepening anger and frustration at the rising civilian death toll in Aleppo.

As the regime forces and their Russian backers continued to pound rebel-held areas of the city, Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said it was time to consider "more kinetic options" including "military options".

The Foreign Office insisted that his comments were not intended as a first step towards military intervention in Syria's bloody civil war.

Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said it was time to consider "more kinetic options" including "military options".

But giving evidence to the Commons Foreign Affairs Committee, Mr Johnson said the US-Russia dialogue aimed at brokering a ceasefire appeared to have "run out of road" and there was a need to find an alternative way forward.

He told MPs that he had called US secretary of state John Kerry and other Western foreign ministers - including those of France and Germany - for talks on Sunday to consider their options.

"Most people, I think, are now changing their minds about this and they are thinking 'We can't let this go on forever, we can't just see Aleppo pulverised in this way, we have to do something'," he said.

"Whether that means we can get a coalition together now for more kinetic action now, I cannot prophesy, but certainly what most people want to see is a new set of options."

His comments followed calls from MPs on both sides of the House debate on Syria for the establishment of a no-fly zone to end the air strikes on Aleppo, however Mr Johnson said they had to be "realistic" about what could be done.

With time running out for the Obama administration and the US in the grip of an extraordinarily bitter presidential election, he acknowledged it may be some time before Washington was ready for a new initiative.

"It is right now we should be looking again at the more kinetic options and the military options, but we must be realistic about how these in fact work and what is deliverable," he said.

"Certainly you can't do anything without a coalition with the Americans. I think we are still a pretty long day's march from getting that, but that doesn't mean that discussions aren't going on because they certainly are."

Downing Street also stressed caution, saying Theresa May would want to "weigh up very carefully" the "potential consequences" of any proposals that were brought forward.

Meanwhile, Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov announced plans for a rival meeting on Saturday bringing together countries with "direct influence on what is going on on the ground", including the US as well as Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar.

"We would like to have a meeting in this narrow format to have a businesslike discussion, not another General Assembly-like debate," he said in an interview with the American CNN network.

Mr Lavrov also hit out at Mr Johnson after he repeated accusations Russian forces had been responsible for war crimes in Aleppo, accusing him of "politicking" and of trying to set himself up as some sort of "internationally-recognised prosecutor-general".

The Foreign Secretary insisted he was not seeking a new cold war stand-off with Moscow, and said that while the actions of President Vladimir Putin represented a "very serious problem, ultimately there would have to be dialogue.

"It is doing many, many terrible things, but I don't think that Russia today can be compared with the Soviet Union as I remember as a child. I don't think it is right to talk about a new cold war," he said.

"We have a very serious problem, but we have to engage with Russia - we have to persuade the Russian government, we have to persuade Vladimir Putin, that there is another path for him and for his government," he added.

Downing Street insisted there were "no plans for military action" but "we are working with the international community to look at how do we bring a conflict to an end".

The Prime Minister's spokeswoman added: "As the Foreign Secretary has said, lots of the options that people are looking at have got difficult issues that would need to be addressed."
Britain kills more than 1,700 IS terrorists in Iraq and Syria air strikes

Britain has killed more than 1,700 Islamic State (IS) terrorists in air strikes in Iraq and Syria, according to official statistics.

Figures to the end of September obtained by the Press Association under Freedom of Information laws show an estimated 1,571 fighters recorded as having been killed in Iraq since bombing began two years ago, and 181 in Syria since the start of operations there in December 2015.

The Ministry of Defence said "detailed assessments" of the 1,066 air strikes the RAF has carried out against IS showed no civilians have been killed - a claim that if true would be "unprecedented in the history of modern warfare", according to a prominent monitoring group.

A Tornado flight using Brimstone missiles attacks mobile cranes in the Omar oil field in Syria (Ministry of Defence/PA)

The spike in numbers killed in Syria during August (108), came as RAF Typhoons, Tornadoes and Reaper drones were assisting Kurdish-led rebel forces liberate the city of Manbij, in Aleppo province, from IS control.

The UK has been able to kill proportionately more militants in Iraq because it is operating there with the local government's support, and has been able to break many IS lines of communication in the country.

Defence Secretary Sir Michael Fallon said: "Daesh is being defeated. It is being driven back. It now occupies less than 10% of Iraqi territory.

"So two years on we're making significant progress. This remains a hard fight. Yet Britain will not waiver in our efforts to defeat the evil of our age."

The MoD said it cannot verify the number of IS extremists killed as it is unable to visit the air strike sites, adding: "They are estimated figures based on post-strike analysis."

The monitoring group Airwars said this "air-only" assessment of the damage RAF bombs cause means the Government cannot claim it has not killed civilians, and stressed this puts Britain in the same position as Russia on the issue.

Airwars director Chris Woods said the MoD had engaged with the organisation about the 35 incidents of concern it raised between January and July where there have been reports of civilian deaths, and RAF aircraft have been in the vicinity.

But he went on: "Where we have more concern with the MoD is its assertion, an aggressive assertion at times, that they have killed no civilians in the war in Iraq and Syria despite more than 1,000 air strikes.

"That would be unprecedented in the history of warfare.

"What they are really saying is, from their air-only surveillance, they do not know."

He went on: "The MoD is really saying it doesn't know, but from its own aerial assessments, the best it can say is it probably hasn't.

"That gets translated by ministers and civil servants as 'we have not killed any civilians'.

"That is a position which we do not recognise.

"From the air alone they cannot know the effect that their air strikes are having on the ground."

Mr Woods said the US is the only coalition power to admit killing civilians.

"Britain is in the uncomfortable position of being in the same position as Russia in claiming that large numbers of air strikes have killed no civilians," he added.

The MoD said RAF pilots operate under strict targeting procedures to minimise the risk of civilian casualties.

It is understood this includes an ability to "shift cold" mid-strike and direct missiles or other munitions away from a target if potential civilians enter an area where terrorists are being attacked.

"We can't completely eliminate the risk of civilian casualties but we carefully mitigate that risk through strict targeting procedures," a spokesman said.

"The evidence from detailed assessments of each strike is that we've avoided any civilian casualties so far in this conflict."

Shadow defence secretary Nia Griffith said: "I welcome the fact that RAF air strikes in Iraq and Syria appear to be having an impact on the number of Daesh fighters on the ground.

"Targeted air strikes carried out in accordance with international law clearly have an important role to play in combating Daesh's capability in Iraq and Syria, and its ability to carry out attacks in this country and elsewhere.
Labour 'will stick to' commitment to renew Trident nuclear weapons system

Labour remains committed to renewing the Trident nuclear weapons system, new shadow defence secretary Nia Griffith has said.

The issue of Trident has caused deep rifts within Labour as leader Jeremy Corbyn, a long-standing campaigner against nuclear weapons, does not agree with the party's official policy supporting renewal.

Ms Griffith admitted she had "in the past" had "serious doubts" about Trident but Labour policy was to back it and that was not likely to change.

Shadow defence secretary Nia Griffith said Labour remains committed to renewing the Trident nuclear weapons system.

She told Forces TV that Labour delegates at the party's conferences had backed the weapons system "and that is a commitment that we will stick to".

Ms Griffith added: "I don't see party policy changing any time soon because the votes have been quite consistent in conference."

The shadow defence secretary said Labour "c an't be shilly-shallying about" on Trident, but added the UK must push for multilateral disarmament.

"What we do need to do now, and there is a very strong mood for this, both within the Labour Party and in the broader public, is really push forward on the multilateral nuclear disarmament, on the multilateral approach of bringing people together across the globe to try to make our world a safer place," she said.

Ms Griffith replaced Clive Lewis in the defence brief when Mr Corbyn reshuffled his top team after being re-elected as leader.

Mr Lewis was moved from the defence portfolio to become shadow business secretary following controversy at last month's Labour Party conference, when the leader's office doctored the ex-soldier's speech on Trident at the last minute.

Meanwhile, former Labour chief whip Dame Rosie Winterton, who was sacked in the reshuffle, has been made the party's envoy with responsibility for relations with Labour's international sister parties.

Announcing the appointment, Mr Corbyn said that she would take up Labour's vacancy on the Party of European Socialists.

The dismissal of the popular Dame Rosie angered many moderate Labour MPs and her new post is likely to been seen as little compensation.

Mr Corbyn said: "Rosie has a wealth of knowledge and experience and will be a real asset in helping the Labour Party develop closer links with our sister parties around the world."

The Labour leader also announced the appointment of seven more shadow ministers - taking his frontbench team to 68.

The new appointments are Paula Sherriff (women and equalities), Richard Burden (transport), Wayne David (defence), Khalid Mahmood (foreign office), Gill Furniss (steel, postal affairs and consumer protection), Rupa Huq (home affairs) and Lyn Brown (home affairs).

Gary Smith, Scottish regional secretary of the GMB union, welcomed Ms Griffith's comments.

"This is a sensible and inevitable climbdown," he said.
Mark Hughes: Wales compromised Joe Allen's fitness

Stoke boss Mark Hughes has accused Wales of "compromising" the fitness of Joe Allen after the midfielder returned from international duty with a hamstring injury.

Allen picked up the injury after scoring in the 2-2 draw in Austria and sat out the following game against Georgia in Cardiff.

But Hughes believes Allen did too much with Chris Coleman's men and as a result is a doubt for this week's Premier League clash with Sunderland.

Joe Allen is a doubt for Stoke's Premier League game against Sunderland

Hughes told Stoke's official website: "We're still checking on Joe, he hasn't trained with the group yet.

"We've just got to be a little bit careful with him; unfortunately he probably did a little bit too much with the Welsh squad.

"We would have given him an extra day's rest but he trained with [them] and that's probably compromised him a little bit so they have to be a little bit careful in that regard.
Strapped for dollars and flooded with rice, Egypt to import more anyway

By Eric Knecht and Maha El Dahan

CAIRO/ABU DHABI Oct 12 (Reuters) - Egypt is looking to import large quantities of rice this month as farmers refuse to sell the government their crops despite a plentiful harvest and an extreme shortage of dollars that should make buying from abroad a last resort.

Egypt's 2016 rice paddy production is estimated at 5.1 million metric tonnes versus annual consumption of about 3.95 million tonnes, a United States Department of Agriculture report this week stated.

Farmers have however refused to sell their crops to the government, arguing that 2,400 Egyptian pound ($270.27) per tonne state-mandated price is too low. That has forced up local prices and made supplies at local outlets scarce in recent weeks.

Egypt's state grain buyer GASC will on Wednesday hold an international purchase tender for at least 100,000 tonnes of white medium-grain rice, the start of a government campaign to purchase 500,000 tonnes of the grain.

The tender comes despite an acute dollar shortage that has sapped the country's ability to purchase from abroad and forced its central bank to ration dollars for essential commodities, the result of a 2011 uprising that chased away tourists, foreign investors and their hard currency.

Unlike wheat, sugar, and other staple commodities which the North African country imports to meet demand that outstrips local production, its bountiful rice crop far exceeds domestic needs. However, the price dispute means it has to import.

"Farmers don't want to sell because in the previous years they saw that they sold cheaply and then prices increased and they didn't profit," said Mostafa al-Naggari, head of the rice committee of Egypt's agricultural export council.

"In the free market (the price of rice) is around 2,900 Egyptian pounds ($326.58) and the government is offering 2,400, so there is a huge gap," Naggari added.

Temporary rice shortages and price spikes have become common since the government failed to purchase stocks during its 2015 harvest, an omission that allowed speculating traders to buy up and hoard the country's entire crop, sending prices soaring upward until the state called for tenders.

"The farmers are keeping in mind everything that happened last year...they sold the crop very cheap and the traders made a lot of money. This year the farmers want to store it," said one rice trader.

Wednesday's tender may be tactical, traders said, a shot across the bow to farmers holding stocks in hopes that they will release them to the market.

Prices fell by roughly 10 percent since the government announced its purchase tender last week, but this could jump back up if the tender isn't completed, the rice trader said.
Turkey purges NATO military envoys after failed coup

By Robin Emmott

BRUSSELS, Oct 12 (Reuters) - Turkey has fired hundreds of senior military staff serving at NATO in Europe and the United States following July's coup attempt, documents show, broadening a purge to include some of the armed forces' best-trained officials.

In a classified military dispatch seen by Reuters, 149 military envoys posted to the alliance's headquarters and command centres in Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands and Britain were ordered on Sept. 27 to return to Turkey within three days.

Most were dismissed from service on their arrival, arrested and imprisoned, according to a Turkish military official at NATO and two farewell letters sent by departing Turkish officials emailed to colleagues at NATO and seen by Reuters.

One of those letters wrote of a "witch-hunt" of senior air force commanders serving overseas.

In total, about 400 military envoys have been fired so far, the Turkish military official said. Two non-Turkish NATO staff familiar with the situation confirmed that Turkish personnel are being recalled but did not have more details.

Although the number of dismissals is a small fraction of the 100,000 judges, police, teachers and soldiers to be suspended or fired since the failed coup, the decision to target some of the most highly-trained staff in prestigious foreign posts underscores the depth of President Tayyip Erdogan's purge.

Turkish officials say the scale of the crackdown, which has broad popular support at home, is justified by the gravity of events on July 15, when rogue soldiers commandeered tanks, fighter jets and helicopters, bombing parliament and government buildings in their attempt to seize power. More than 240 people, many of them civilians, were killed.

But the dismissals at NATO raise questions about Turkey's strategy after the failed coup, as Erdogan seeks closer ties with the alliance's Cold War foe Russia.

Turkey is a vital ally to the West in the war against Islamic State militants and in tackling Europe's migrant crisis. It is also one of the main troop contributors to NATO's training mission in Afghanistan.

Of the 50 military staff posted to the Turkish delegation at NATO's headquarters in Brussels, only nine remain, according to the Turkish official who spoke to Reuters. Turkish military representatives were not present in recent meetings. "Turkey is not at the table," the official said.

Turkey's ambassador to NATO, who runs a 30-strong diplomatic team at the alliance HQ, declined to comment.

A NATO official said that Turkey has notified the alliance about military personnel changes at NATO commands in Europe and in the United States, adding that the issue has been discussed at a senior level between NATO and Turkish officials.

"We are confident that Turkey will keep its commitment to the rule of law when bringing the perpetrators of the coup to justice," the NATO official said.

A senior official in Ankara declined to go into details, saying only that Turkey had recalled some soldiers and diplomats after the coup attempt, some of whom had failed to return. "Turkey called back certain military personnel and diplomats working abroad after the coup," the senior official said, adding that not all of those recalled were being punished.

"Those who do not return to Turkey or try to seek asylum abroad must be held to account. We expect our allies to back us on this, and not to support coup plotters if they were involved," the official said.

"UNFORTUNATE FAREWELL"

Colleagues of those recalled and arrested suspect they are accused of being part of the military faction that seized bridges and roads and attacked Turkey's parliament on July 15. However, they say no charges have been made and no explanation given. They deny any wrongdoing.

"We were at our desks abroad at the time of the attempted coup," said the official, who has been called back to a meeting in Ankara this week and believes he is likely to be dismissed and arrested. "We had no reason to undermine the government."

Some of those fired have not returned to Turkey for fear of prison sentences. They have had their passports revoked, bank accounts blocked and pension rights cancelled. Spouses and relatives who are still in Turkey are banned by police from leaving the country and some are imprisoned, according to the two farewell letters seen by Reuters.

"They took everything from me, even my family," said a U.S.-educated Turkish fighter pilot instructor, who was sent to NATO in Brussels for a three-year posting and was fired in August. The person has now requested asylum in Belgium.

"I have not been notified of any charges against me."

Erdogan and the government blame the network of Turkish Islamic cleric Fethullah Gulen, who has lived in self-imposed exile in the United States since 1999, for masterminding the coup. They accuse his followers of infiltrating the military and state institutions over decades in a bid to seize power.

But dismissed NATO soldiers say they were targeted because of their Western outlook and education in Europe and the United States. They believe that puts them at odds with Erdogan's vision of an Islamic Turkey inspired by the Ottoman empire, unable to fit in with what they see as Turkey's pious masses and a president forging a nation that will not be dictated to by foreigners.

One dismissed staff member, Colonel Aziz Erdogan, wrote: "The common denominator of these victims is that all of them have a ... Western educational background and secular mindset." Erdogan, who is no relation of the president, made the comment in a letter entitled "Unfortunate Farewell" to colleagues at NATO headquarters in Brussels.
Swiss raise 2017 quotas for non-EU workers

ZURICH, Oct 12 (Reuters) - Switzerland will let an extra 1,000 expert employees from countries outside Europe enter the country to work next year, the government decided on Wednesday, boosting the annual quota to help hard-pressed local companies recruit specialists.

The move means 7,500 people from so-called third countries outside the European Union plus EFTA countries Iceland, Norway and Liechtenstein can take up Swiss jobs.

The government had cut the annual quota to 6,500 after voters in 2014 backed a referendum for immigration curbs to reduce an influx of foreigners that already make up a quarter of Switzerland's population.

Immigration has been a hot political topic in Switzerland, which is trying to rein in new arrivals even from the EU despite bilateral accords guaranteeing free movement for EU citizens as the price for enhanced Swiss access to the single market.
Poland blames Airbus for failed deal, may fuel investor jitters

By Pawel Sobczak and Marcin Goettig

WARSAW, Oct 12 (Reuters) - Poland's government has blamed Airbus Helicopters for the breakdown last week of a multi-billion-dollar deal, escalating a row that is likely to fuel tension with foreign investors and delay massive army modernisation plans.

Airbus has accused the Polish government of shifting the goal posts as it competed with U.S. and Italian rivals to sell Poland multi-purpose helicopters. On Tuesday, it threatened legal action over the cancellation of the contract.

Defence Minister Antoni Macierewicz said the French company, not the Polish government, had walked away from talks, and Airbus should compensate Poland for any financial losses.

The decision appears to be the latest effort by the year-old government to make eastern Europe's largest economy less dependent on foreign money. But it adds to mounting displeasure with Poland in western Europe.

The country's euro-sceptical government opposes the European Union's immigration policy and has tried to reform the Constitutional Court, which western governments see as a threat to democratic checks and balances.

By souring ties with France, NATO member Poland also risks losing an important ally in its push for tough EU policy toward Russia, just as Moscow is flexing its military muscles by moving nuclear-capable missiles into the Kaliningrad enclave bordering Poland.

Macierewicz defended the economic rationale behind the cancellation, saying the Airbus offer had been expensive and offered insufficient offsets - agreements by a seller to buy products from a customer that typically go with defence contracts.

"The contract was geared towards the French producer and disregarded the Polish producer," Macierewicz told the broadcaster TVP Infor. "There is a question of compensation here which Poland should seek."

MILITARY FUTURE, DOMESTIC POLITICS

The helicopter deal is part of a $40 billion long-term army refurbishment project. It aims to bring Poland's largely Soviet-era military hardware up to NATO standards.

Poland's former government, in power until October 2015 election, had provisionally selected Airbus to sell it 50 Caracal multi-role helicopters, as part of this effort.

Before winning the October election, the Law and Justice party (PiS) had criticised the Airbus talks, accusing the government of putting local industry at a disadvantage.

Grzegorz Schetyna, the head of the former ruling party, Civic Platform, in turn questioned an announcement on Tuesday that the government would buy military helicopters from factories in the Polish towns of Mielec and Swidnik. Both are areas where PiS enjoys strong public support.

The two factories are controlled, respectively, by Sikorsky Aircraft Corp, a unit of Lockheed Martin Corp, and AgustaWestland, part of Italy's Leonardo-Finmeccanica.

"We don't know what led to these decisions," Schetyna was quoted as saying by the newspaper Gazeta Wyborcza on Wednesday.

"The public must know the details of this grim story which takes us out of the EU and turns us into a 'banana republic' where procedures and law ... are not obeyed."

PiS officials have not specified whether the helicopters from the Mielec and Swidnik factories would replace all the hardware which Airbus would have supplied or whether any new tenders would called.

Despite public signals that PiS was opposed to the Airbus deal, French officials appeared surprised by the cancellation. Discussions over the offset provisions had continued until the last minute.

Sources familiar with the discussions said the meeting to end talks lasted 10 minutes and the French had been handed a brief letter saying the offer didn't meet Poland's security interests.
Russia's Putin says Aleppo war crimes accusations are "rhetoric"

PARIS, Oct 12 (Reuters) - French accusations that the bombing of Aleppo amounts to war crimes are rhetoric, Russian President Vladimir Putin said in an interview with French television TF1 aired on Wednesday.

"It's political rhetoric that doesn't make a lot of sense and doesn't take account of the reality in Syria," Putin said in comments translated into French and recorded on Tuesday.
Weyerhaeuser explores sale of Uruguay timber business

MONTEVIDEO, Oct 12 (Reuters) - Real estate investment trust Weyerhaeuser Co said on Wednesday it was exploring strategic alternatives, including a possible sale, for its timberlands and manufacturing operations in Uruguay.

The Uruguay operations include more than 300,000 acres of timberlands in northeastern and north central Uruguay, a plywood and veneer manufacturing facility, a cogeneration facility and a seedling nursery, the company said.

"This is a strategic revision with various possibilities: one is a sale but another is maintaining operations just as they are today," the company's South America Director Alvaro Molinari told Reuters.

Weyerhaeuser has been restructuring its business since it bought Plum Creek Timber Co Inc in February, combining the two largest owners of timberland in the United States.

Since then, Weyerhaeuser has said it would sell its pulp business to International Paper Co for $2.2 billion and its liquid packaging unit to Nippon Paper Industries Co Ltd for about $285 million.

Weyerhaeuser said this month it would sell its North Pacific paper unit to private company One Rock Capital Partners LLC.

Molinari said the business has recovered since the 2007-09 world financial crisis.

"We are in a challenging year but there have also been opportunities," he said. "From the market point of view, we have hit the bottom and we are now starting to rebound."
Canada-U.S. oil pipelines resume operations after activists halt flow

By Catherine Ngai and Nia Williams

NEW YORK/CALGARY, Oct 12 (Reuters) - Five oil pipelines disrupted by environmental protesters were back up and running on Wednesday after an unprecedented act of sabotage left policy makers and energy executives from Calgary to Washington mulling how to secure key energy infrastructure.

Protesters simultaneously broke into valve stations at five different remote locations on Tuesday to stop the flow of crude through arteries that carry millions of barrels of crude from Canada to the United States every day.

Companies operating the pipelines, which pump around 15 percent of U.S. oil consumption, shut down their lines for between five and seven hours as a safety measure before the restart, according to Reuters estimates and company representatives.

The action on Tuesday underscored the vulnerability of the thousands of miles of pipeline in the United States that deliver energy to consumers.

In Washington, White House spokesman Josh Earnest said on Wednesday the departments of Homeland Security and Transportation were "trying to get to the bottom of what exactly happened and what potential steps could be taken to ensure the safety and security of our energy infrastructure."

"We certainly take that security quite seriously," Earnest told a daily news briefing.

Protest group Climate Direct Action said on Tuesday the action was to support the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, which is protesting construction of the $3.7 billion Dakota Access pipeline, carrying oil from North Dakota to the U.S. Gulf Coast.

Activists across Montana, Minnesota, North Dakota and Washington state were arrested on Tuesday after the early-morning raids, which they posted on social media.

Part of that group included a documentary filmmaker, who was arrested and had her footage confiscated. She remained in custody in Pembina County, North Dakota, on Wednesday.

In Washington state, three protesters are in custody and are expected to face formal charges by Thursday evening, said Chris Baldwin, a sergeant with Skagit County Sheriff's office.

In Minnesota, two people have been charged in connection with pipeline tampering, said Rick Mollin, the county attorney for the Clearwater County Attorney's office.

TransCanada Corp's Keystone pipeline, Spectra Energy Partners LP's Express pipeline and Enbridge Inc's Line 4 and 67 all restarted Tuesday afternoon, according to company representatives.

Information provider Genscape said Keystone was running at reduced rates.

Kinder Morgan Inc said it was not operating a spur of the pipeline affected by the protesters, although it has since restarted the main pipeline.

Together, the pipelines can carry nearly 2.8 million barrels a day of crude across the border.

In Texas on Wednesday, a gathering of around 150 activists organized by the Texas Environmental Justice Advocacy Services held a protest in front of the offices of Energy Transfer Partners, spearheading construction of Dakota Access.
Italy judge jails 3 for 20 years each over deadly 2015 migrant voyage

PALERMO, Italy, Oct 12 (Reuters) - An Italian judge sentenced three men to 20 years each in jail on Wednesday for their role in packing hundreds of migrants into a boat in which 49 suffocated in the Mediterranean last August, a legal source said.

The judge in Catania, Sicily, found the three guilty of murder and facilitating illegal immigration, more than a year after rescuers recovered the victims from the hold of a fishing boat from which they also pulled 312 survivors.

Five others suspected of forming the boat's crew still face trial by a court in Catania, where the victims and survivors were taken by a Norwegian ship after the rescue.

The three convicted, named in a Catania court document seen by Reuters as Mohamed Assayd, Mustapha Saaid and Mohamed Ali Chouchane, were given an accelerated trial.

The source said Assayd is a 19-year-old Libyan, while the latter two are both 24 years old and from Morocco and Tunisia respectively.

Italy is on the front line of a migration crisis which has become increasingly deadly in its third year. Some 90 percent of arrivals began their voyage on smugglers' boats in Libya, European Union officials say.

Last July, another Sicilian court sentenced a Tunisian man to 18 years in jail for contributing to a 2013 shipwreck that killed 366 people. Prosecutors have demanded an 18-year sentence for the man they say captained a boat that sank killing more than 600 migrants in 2015.
Thousands march for Colombia peace, rebel leader sees solution soon

By Helen Murphy

BOGOTA, Oct 12 (Reuters) - Thousands of Colombians wearing white and carrying flowers marched through Bogota on Wednesday demanding that politicians revive a peace accord to end five-decades of war after voters rejected the hard-fought deal in a referendum.

In a show of support for the agreement inked last month by President Juan Manuel Santos and Rodrigo Londono, head of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), the throng of students, farmers and indigenous leaders congregated in Plaza Bolivar, in front of Congress.

"All Colombians must work on building peace. We must strive for a better future and forgiveness is the best example we can give," said Carmenza Pinto, 64, who was displaced by the war, as she joined the so-called "March of the Flowers."

The demonstration took place as Santos and his team heard proposals from representatives of those who voted against the accord - rejected by a razor-thin margin of less than half a percentage point - as too lenient on the Marxist rebels.

Londono, known by his nom de guerre, Timochenko, said early on Wednesday he has met on numerous occasions with government negotiators in Havana to find a way around the impasse and is confident the deal can be resuscitated.

"This is a conflict that has gone on many years and opened deep wounds ... We must join forces and together apply healing balm to the wounds," Londono, 57, told Caracol Radio. "We will have good news soon."

Led by hardline former President Alvaro Uribe, the "No" side wants FARC leaders to lose their freedom for five to eight years and be banned from elected office.

They were outraged that the accord offered ten congressional seats instead of prison cells in return for ending a conflict that has killed more than 220,000 people.

Uribe opposed FARC leaders receiving non-traditional sentences like clearing landmines, and instead insisted they be confined, even if they are held on farms.

Although the FARC leadership has said it is willing to hear new ideas, Uribe's proposals may be difficult to accept, given they have repeatedly refused to consider jail time and want to form a political party.

Londono said he respects the views of the No" camp, and even Uribe, whose two terms in office were spent in a fierce offensive against the FARC.
Scotland's Sturgeon seeks to unite opposition to "hard Brexit"

By Elisabeth O'Leary

GLASGOW, Oct 13 (Reuters) - Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon will seek to unite and lead political opposition throughout Britain to any "hard Brexit", according to a speech to be given on Thursday.

She will tell her Scottish National Party's (SNP) conference that the path taken by Prime Minister Theresa May since Britain voted to leave the EU in June - which has seen heavy falls in the pound - is one of "economic recklessness."

"The (Conservatives) are holding (the referendum result) up as cover for a hard Brexit that they have no mandate for - but which they are determined to impose, regardless of the ruinous consequences," she will tell the conference, which opens on Thursday.

"Brexit has become Tory (Conservative) Brexit," Sturgeon will tell the SNP, by far the dominant Scottish party at Westminster with 56 of Scotland's 59 seats in the UK parliament.

Scotland voted 62 percent to 38 percent to stay in the EU.

"I suspect that many of those who voted to Leave (the EU) now look at the actions and rhetoric of the (British government) and think 'that's not what I voted for'."

Sturgeon will seek to head a group of opposition lawmakers including Labour and Liberal Democrat parliamentarians, as well as some members of May's own Conservative Party, she will say.

May has vowed to restore sovereignty and increase controls over migration, leading to a growing perception that Britain is on course for a "hard" Brexit where restricting immigration takes priority over retaining access to Europe's single market.

Britain's government has a working majority of just 16 seats in the 650-seat Westminster parliament.

However, uniting opposition to a hard Brexit will be a tall order. The main opposition Labour Party has been consumed by infighting over its leader, Jeremy Corbyn, who is supported by its membership base but not by senior party members.

Some of Sturgeon's own SNP party supported leaving the EU, according to opinion polls carried out earlier this year.

Sturgeon will also tell delegates in Glasgow that the SNP will vote against the "Great Repeal Bill" which is designed to end the European Union's legal supremacy in the UK by converting all EU laws into British law as soon as Britain leaves.

The bill is expected to be introduced to parliament next year.

The prospect of leaving the EU has upset many Scots, including some of those who voted "no" to an independent Scotland two years ago because they feared independence would mean losing EU membership.
New Zealand pushes to break U.N. Security Council deadlock on Syria

By Michelle Nichols

UNITED NATIONS, Oct 12 (Reuters) - New Zealand gave the 15-member United Nations Security Council on Wednesday a draft resolution that would demand an end to all attacks that may kill civilians in Syria, particularly air strikes in Aleppo, just days after Russia vetoed a similar text.

Russia on Saturday vetoed a French draft resolution that would have demanded an end to "all aerial bombardments of and military flights over Aleppo city." A similar rival Russian text, which did not include that demand, was voted on straight after the French text, but failed to get enough votes.

The New Zealand draft resolution, seen by Reuters, demands an "end to all attacks which may result in the death or injury of civilians or damage to civilian objects in Syria, in particular those carried out by air in Aleppo."

The Syrian government launched an assault to capture rebel-held areas of Aleppo last month with Russian air support and Iranian-backed militias, a week into a ceasefire agreed by Washington and Moscow. More than 250,000 people are trapped under siege in eastern Aleppo.

The New Zealand draft text was likely to be discussed by council envoys at a lunch with U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Thursday, diplomats said, adding that the aim was to see if a vote could be taken within a week or so.

A U.N. resolution needs nine votes in favor and no vetoes to be adopted. The veto powers are the United States, France, Britain, Russia and China.

"The council has a responsibility to try to address what is clearly the biggest issue on its agenda and with the level of killing and destruction that is going on just to give up seems to us not to be an acceptable course of action," New Zealand's U.N. Ambassador Gerard van Bohemen said.

"The aim on this one is to make a practical difference. We know resolution of themselves don't do that, but if it helps people make decisions to change their behavior then it would be useful," he said.

Separately, diplomats said Canada was pushing for the 193-member U.N. General Assembly to be briefed on Syria next week.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry will meet his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, in Switzerland on Saturday to discuss Syria, officials said. Kerry broke off talks with Lavrov last week over the Aleppo offensive.
Deadly Bangladesh blaze shows up safety gaps 3 years after factory collapse

By Serajul Quadir and Ruma Paul

DHAKA, Oct 13 (Reuters) - Bangladesh's safety inspectors twice extended an operating licence at a food and cigarette packaging plant in the capital Dhaka without making physical checks.

That breach of rules is now being investigated by the government after a fire at the Tampaco Foils factory killed at least 39 people last month.

The cause of the Sept. 10 blaze, the country's worst industrial accident since the 2013 Rana Plaza tragedy in which more than 1,100 mostly garment workers died, is unknown. The plant's owner, a former member of parliament, has gone missing.

Flammable materials stored on the factory floor, a gas leak, excessive use of gas and poorly positioned boilers are all being looked at as possible reasons.

Syed Ahmed, head of the department charged with inspecting factories and commercial buildings, said his inspectors should have visited Tampaco before renewing its licence, but did not, partly because of a shortage of staff.

"If we could have inspected the factory, then we may have noticed and could have taken action on those shortcomings, and this could have averted disaster," Ahmed told Reuters.

He said the department had launched an internal review to identify who was responsible for signing the documents.

Interviews with Ahmed and more than 20 regulators, investigators, technicians and witnesses involved in the fire at the factory reveal a lack of oversight that the government is scrambling to fix.

While inspections of plants making clothes for global brands have increased significantly since Rana Plaza - many carried out by or on behalf of Western companies - other sectors that also supply international firms have had less attention.

"This disaster has opened our eyes to the fact that we must also focus on other factories," Ahmed said.

Mikail Shipar, secretary of the Labour and Employment Ministry, said the government was investigating why Tampaco's licence was renewed without a visit. The operating licence is one of several required, but among the most important.

"There will be a committee from this ministry and action will be taken if anyone is found guilty for this lack of oversight," he told Reuters.

Plans to expand Ahmed's department of about 250 inspectors by nearly tenfold have picked up pace since the fire, Shipar added.

The lack of resources is undermining safety for millions of Bangladeshi workers, as well as damaging the south Asian nation's image among investors.

The $28 billion garment industry is key, accounting for around 15 percent of the economy. More than four fifths of Bangladesh's exports are to the clothing industry, making it the world's second largest garment supplier after China.

WESTERN COMPANY CHECKS

According to a senior inspection official, the licence at Tampaco, which supplies packaging to local firms and multinationals including British American Tobacco and Nestle, was extended through 2015 and then again until the middle of 2017, both times with no visit.

When asked about the extension of the plant's operating licence without inspections taking place, a British American Tobacco Bangladesh spokeswoman said the cigarette maker understood them to have been made by independent inspectors as stipulated by the government.

"We understood, as part of our own review process, that all the necessary checks had been made," she said in an emailed statement, adding that the company had reviewed Tampaco in 2012, 2014 and 2015, and had provided environment and health and safety training, including fire safety, in January, 2016.

"At the time of the last review in October, 2015, British American Tobacco Bangladesh checked all required licences and they were found to be valid."

BAT Bangladesh also said it was bringing forward on-site reviews of all "priority suppliers" in Bangladesh.

A Nestle spokeswoman said: "When more is known about the cause of this tragedy, we will work with the authorities and other stakeholders to determine how to avoid any such incidents in the future."

The company said the Tampaco plant had passed a fire safety and prevention audit by independent inspection company SGS in 2012, and Nestle, which conducts audits around every three years, was in the process of organizing the next one.

BANGLADESH'S IMAGE PROBLEM

There are thousands of big factories and warehouses in Bangladesh, many of them making goods cheaply for multinational companies, with only a few hundred inspectors to check them.

Improving safety is crucial to restoring the country's image as a place to work and invest.

Beyond industrial safety, Islamist militants have increased attacks. In the worst incident, gunmen killed 22 people in a Dhaka cafe in July, most of them from abroad.

"One of the risks for Bangladesh right now is that between the July terror attack, the legacy of Rana Plaza and now this (Tampaco fire), it begins to look like a non-desirable place to do business," said Sarah Labowitz, co-head of NYU Stern's Center for Business and Human Rights.

"The government and industry really need to step up and respond."

Shipar said the government was preparing to beef up inspections in the non-garment sector.

They would be concentrated in four industrial districts, three of them in or around Dhaka and one in the southeastern port city of Chittagong.

"It is our estimate that roughly 4,000 factories will come under this project," he said. "We cannot inspect all factories, and so we have to give priority to those factories that are prone to fires or explosions."

The problem is not only lack of staff.

Coordination between inspection teams is problematic, and the labyrinthine licencing system can cause headaches for company bosses.

"When we ask (for) documents or to implement recommendations ... the management says they struggle with so many licences and do not understand which one should have priority," said Abdus Sattar, who works in the factory inspection department.

OWNER GOES MISSING

The Tampaco factory is owned by Syed Mokbul Hussain, a former lawmaker.

He told Reuters on the day of the blaze that Tampaco was "fully compliant", but has not been contactable since to answer questions about the licencing process or other safety issues.

Police said Hussain and nine top managers had gone into hiding since the fire.

Habibur Rahman, a production officer of Tampaco, defended the company's safety record.

"Why would the owner ignore compliance issues after investing billions of taka?" he said.

Factories are usually notified about inspections first, raising questions about their efficacy.

One government inspector, who asked not to be named, told Reuters during a recent visit to a Dhaka plant that, if he arrived unannounced, more often than not he would be turned away.

Promised reforms will come too late for the 39 people confirmed killed at Tampaco. Several people are missing and dozens more were injured.

Abdul Momin, who survived the explosion and fire early that Saturday morning, was one of several witnesses who said they heard the hiss of gas before the blast rocked the building.

"All of a sudden, I heard a blast," said Mohammad Manowar Hossain, a long-time Tampaco worker, speaking from hospital recently where he was being treated for two broken legs.

"I lost my senses. After I got my senses back, there were many injured workers lying beside me crying for help."

Ahmed, head of the inspection team, said Tampaco had been warned in 2014 about raw material storage and that it must ensure the safety of its gas riser - a piping component.

It is not clear whether the recommendations were followed. ($1 = 78.40 Taka)
The hidden cut: female genital mutilation in Asia

By Emma Batha

LONDON, Oct 13 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Clinics in Singapore are performing female genital cutting on babies, activists say, despite global pledges to end the internationally condemned practice.

A U.N. report on female genital mutilation (FGM) this year listed 30 countries where cutting is practised, almost all in Africa.

However, campaigners believe FGM happens in at least 45 countries and is more widespread in Asia than commonly thought.

The procedure varies between communities, ranging from the partial removal of the clitoris or clitoral hood to pricking the genitals.

Here are some Asian countries affected by FGM:

INDONESIA: Around half of girls under the age of 11 have undergone FGM in Indonesia which is the only Asian country listed in the global U.N. report on FGM. The procedure is often carried out by health professionals. The government recently launched a campaign to end FGM despite opposition from religious leaders who have stymied past efforts to combat the practice.

MALAYSIA: A small study of Malay Muslims in north Malaysia found more than 90 percent of women had been cut, with 80 percent citing religious reasons. There is an increasing trend for doctors to perform the practice. In 2009, Malaysia's religious authority ruled circumcision was obligatory, unless harmful. In 2012, the health ministry called for the procedure to be standardised.

SINGAPORE: Activists say it is practised by most Malay Muslims but there are no studies. It is legal and performed in clinics for around 20-35 Singapore dollars ($15-$26), but is not widely known about outside the Malay community. Supporters cite religious, cultural and hygiene reasons.

BRUNEI: The ritual is legal. There have been no major studies but one researcher says it is performed on girls aged 40 to 60 days and involves the removal of a small amount of tissue.

THAILAND: Pricking or scratching of the clitoral hood is reported to be practised in southern Thailand but there are no official statistics. One researcher found women in Satun province generally supported the procedure while men opposed it. MALDIVES: Cutting is legal and anecdotal reports suggest it is undergoing a resurgence, particularly on the outer islands. It has been actively encouraged by some influential Islamic scholars. One issued a fatwa in 2012 saying female circumcision was "part of nature". INDIA: It is practised by the close-knit Dawoodi Bohra community, a Shia Muslim sect thought to number up to 2 million worldwide. A group of Indian women subjected to FGM as children have called for the government to ban the ritual, called khatna. In most cases, part of the clitoral hood is cut, but in some cases girls have had part or all of the clitoris cut. The Bohras consider khatna a religious obligation. PAKISTAN: As in India, it is carried out by the Dawoodi Bohra and remained a well-kept secret until very recently. It is typically performed on girls between the ages of six and nine years old. It is thought the practice may have come from Yemen, to where Dawoodi Bohras trace their roots and where female cutting is prevalent in some parts.
Gunmen kill 3 soldiers, two others, in north Burkina Faso - gov't

OUAGADOUGOU, Oct 12 (Reuters) - Unidentified gunmen killed three Burkinabe soldiers and two civilians on Wednesday, a military source said, in the latest sign that instability in Mali is spreading to its southern neighbour.

The defence ministry had earlier confirmed the deaths of the soldiers.

Attacks by Islamist militants in Burkina Faso were rare before a major strike by al Qaeda-linked fighters in the capital killed 29 people in January. The latest attack prompted President Roch Marc Kabore to delay a trip to Belgium and call an emergency ministerial meeting, government sources said.

The military source said three soldiers were also wounded. Earlier, the defence ministry had said two of the attackers were dead in the attack at Ingangom, five kilometres from the Malian border. The source said the military later realised the dead were civilians. The same base was attacked in June, resulting in the death of three police officers.
Oil prices fall after OPEC reports rising output, U.S. crude inventories rise

By Henning Gloystein

SINGAPORE, Oct 13 (Reuters) - Oil prices fell early on Thursday after OPEC said that its production had risen to its highest level in at least eight years and following reports of an increase in U.S. crude stockpiles.

International Brent crude oil futures were trading at $51.52 per barrel at 0016 GMT, down 29 cents, or 0.6 percent, from their previous close.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were down 34 cents, or 0.7 percent, at $49.84 per barrel.

Traders said oil markets had come under pressure after Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) reported a rise in production, despite the producer cartel having plans, potentially with non-OPEC producer Russia, to cut output in a bid to rein in a global supply overhang.

"Crude responded predictably, with both Brent and WTI falling," said Jeffrey Halley, senior market analyst at brokerage OANDA in Singapore.

OPEC on Wednesday reported its oil production rose in September to the highest in at least eight years and raised its forecast for 2017 non-OPEC supply growth, pointing to a larger surplus next year despite the group's deal to cut output.

The producer cartel pumped 33.39 million barrels per day (bpd) last month, according to figures OPEC collects from secondary sources, up 220,000 bpd from August.

"In the absence of any OPEC-Russia headlines to give crude its daily adrenaline shot, the market looks nervously to the EIA Crude Inventory figures due in the US this evening," Halley added.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) is due to publish official storage inventory data later on Thursday.

The American Petroleum Institute, a trade group, reported on Wednesday that U.S. crude inventories rose by 2.7 million barrels to 470.9 million barrels in the week to Oct. 7. This would be the first rise in oil stocks following five straight weeks of declines.
REUTERS SUMMIT-Investors may be betting oil glut will end soon, but crude traders beg to differ

By Henning Gloystein

SINGAPORE, Oct 12 (Reuters) - Investors may have driven crude oil futures prices above $50 a barrel and amassed large bullish positions in expectations of further gains to come but their optimism isn't shared by the people who produce, refine, ship or trade the real stuff on a daily basis.

They inhabit a very different world in which there is plenty of oil sloshing around and buyers can get cargoes of crude at discounts to their official selling prices. Neither do they see much of animpact anytime soon from plans by members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to cut production from record highs as they seek to rein in two years of oversupply.

Ian Taylor, chief executive of commodities trading giant Vitol, told Reuters this week that there is more physical crude around than the futures prices are indicating.

Global oil production has outpaced consumption since at least early 2015, with the current mismatch at about half a million barrels every day, according to data on Thomson Reuters' Eikon.

Jeffrey Halley, senior analyst at brokerage OANDA warned that while the financial markets were becoming more confident, "the reality is the world is pumping a lot more oil than it uses."

Consequently, crude futures are trading at premiums to their underlying physical grades. Brent futures are currently at a premium of about $2 a barrel to the main physical cargoes that underpin those contracts.

And in a further sign of a well-supplied market, Middle East crudes from the United Arab Emirates and Qatar last month traded in the spot market at discounts of as much as 25 cents a barrel to their official selling prices.

PRODUCERS HEDGING

Market data shows that just as financial traders have amassed long positions, producers have built up large short positions in the crude futures market. That helps them to hedge against any possible plunge in the prices of the crude they sell.

Some in the financial markets are taking notice.

Goldman Sachs told clients this week that despite a production cut becoming a "greater possibility", markets were unlikely to rebalance in 2017, warning of another price fall to the low $40s per barrel. That would be a repeat of 2015 when financial markets pushed up prices just to slump back amid the ongoing glut.

Many investors, though, are betting on the days of oversupply ending within a few months. They are supported by energy economists and strategists at some of the other banks.

"The oil market is irrevocably gravitating towards equilibrium, leading to higher prices," said Hans van Cleef, senior energy economist at Dutch bank ABN Amro in a note to clients this week.

A collapse in the gold to oil price ratio supports the bullish sentiment.

The ratio between these two key commodities has plunged from 40 to below 25, and the head of oil research at Japan's Nomura bank, Gordon Kwan, said this implied either higher oil or lower gold going forward.

"One reason the gold/oil ratio spikes around periods of financial crisis is because oil prices tend to fall when economic growth is weak and investors are worried, while gold thrives in that environment," he added.

"Assuming gold stabilises at $1,250, if the gold/oil ratio hits 20x, this implies oil price could rise above $60 per barrel, consistent with our 2017 Brent crude average forecast," Kwan said.

Morgan Stanley said this week that it expected Brent prices to rise from an average of $42 per barrel this year to $51 in 2017 and to $70 on average for 2018.

But, while the focus is on OPEC's proposed cut, with Russia possibly joining, others warn output is creeping up elsewhere.

Eikon data shows that the amount of U.S. rigs drilling for new production has steadily increased since May .

"Productivity has surprised on the upside... and with the rig count slowly climbing upwards one can be cautiously optimistic that the U.S. shale industry is gearing up for a recovery," said Ted Young, chief financial officer of Dorian LPG, one of the world's biggest shippers of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG).
Samsung's woes highlight explosive limits of lithium batteries

By Jeremy Wagstaff

SINGAPORE, Oct 13 (Reuters) - Lithium-based batteries have been powering our portable devices for 25 years.

But consumer demand for smaller, longer lasting devices is forcing manufacturers to push the technology, battery experts say, testing the limits of how much energy they can safely pack into smaller spaces.

"A battery is really a bomb that releases its energy in a controlled way," says Qichao Hu, a former researcher at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and founder of SolidEnergy Systems, a battery startup.

"There are fundamental safety issues to all batteries, and as you get to higher energy density and faster charge, the barrier to explosion is less and less."

On Tuesday, Samsung Electronics scrapped its flagship Note 7 smartphone and told customers return their devices after weeks of bruising reports of phones igniting and images of scorched handsets.

In early September, the world's largest smartphone maker blamed "a very rare manufacturing process error" for the problems. It has said it is still investigating reports of fires in a second, supposedly safe, batch of phones.

Exactly what caused the problems will be the subject of detailed studies by regulators, the company and its suppliers.

Experts are baffled by what could be causing the overheating in the replacement phones, if not the batteries. Samsung says it would be "premature to speculate" on the outcome of its investigations.

"We are reviewing every step of our engineering, manufacturing and quality control processes," Samsung said in an emailed response to Reuters.

An official at the Korean Agency for Technology and Standards, which is also investigating, said the fault in the replacement devices might not be the same as the problem in the original product.

Both Samsung SDI and Amperex Technology Ltd (ATL), which supply batteries to Samsung Electronics, declined to comment.

Samsung's Note 7 crisis may be its biggest, but the problems with lithium-ion are not new.

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission has issued recalls for battery packs, snow blowers, hoverboards, flashlights and power recliners in the past year, all because of fires caused by lithium-ion batteries.

In 2013, Boeing was forced to ground its entire fleet of advanced 787 jetliners after some lithium-ion batteries caught fire. The fleet was allowed to resume flights after changes were made to the battery and charger, and to better contain battery fires.

"We remain confident in the comprehensive improvements made to the 787 battery system following this event, and in the overall performance of the battery system and the safety of the airplane," Boeing said in 2014 after an investigation into one incident.

Link to Reuters TV segment: http://www.reuters.tv/v/2P2/2016/10/13/note-7-highlights-the-explosive-risks-of-lithium

LIGHT-WEIGHT, HIGH ENERGY

Lithium is the lightest of all metals, and can pack a lot of energy into a small volume - making it perfect for batteries.

The market has grown from a few hundred million cells in 2000 to 8 billion last year, according to Albemarle, a U.S. chemical company.

But for the same reason, lithium-ion batteries need safety mechanisms built in, adding to production costs.

And with prices falling 14 percent per year for the past 15 years, according to Albemarle, smaller scale players have scrimped on safety, says Lewis Larsen, CEO of Lattice Energy, a consultancy.

There is no evidence Samsung or its battery suppliers cut corners with the Note 7, and Tony Olson, CEO of consultancy D2 Worldwide, said the problem was not limited to cheaper products.

He ran tests on batteries in laptops a decade ago, highlighting the dangers of them catching fire. Some 9.6 million Sony Corp laptop batteries were subsequently recalled.

But when Olsen repeated the tests on other laptop batteries seven years later he found that "very little had changed in battery safety design, despite being under tremendous scrutiny."

Sony, HP Inc, Toshiba Corp and Panasonic Corp have all recalled laptop battery packs this year over fire hazards, according to the Consumer Product Safety Commission. Panasonic, which supplied the batteries, said the problem was caused by manufacturing issues which it had now resolved.

Asked about Samsung's woes last week, Panasonic CEO Kazuhiro Tsuga told reporters lithium ion batteries could become prone to fires when density was raised and fast charging was applied.

"It's a trade-off between that (risk) and benefits. We place the biggest priority on safety," Tsuga said. "With current technologies, it's extremely difficult to make it zero chance of such incidents."

GREATER DEMANDS

Before the era of smartphones, users didn't require much of their device - a few phone calls, a few SMS messages. The phone of today, however, needs to do a lot more, and is in constant use.

According to eMarketer, an advertising consultancy, Chinese mobile users, for example, spend nearly twice as long on their smartphone as they did four years ago.

This in turn has pushed manufacturers into making their screens bigger and their devices more powerful, packing more energy into smaller spaces. And however sophisticated the materials, "they're not 100 percent safe and they never will be," said Larsen, the consultant.

"What we're seeing from the standpoint of lithium-ion technology is they're beginning to reach the safe energy density limits of that technology."

But experts are divided on that point. Brandon Ng, whose Hong Kong startup QFE plans to sell refrigerator-sized batteries to replace diesel generators, said there is still room for improvements.

"There is still a lot of developmental headroom with lithium-ion batteries in terms of increasing the energy they can store."

Long-promised new technologies to make batteries safer are around the corner.

Tim Grejtak, an analyst at Lux Research, said there are dozens of startups working on the issue, but the scientific problems were hard to solve and would take time.

Among the most promising candidates, according to Grejtak, is California-based Blue Current, which is working on a high density, low flammable battery using gel electrolytes.

Massachusetts-based SolidEnergy Systems is working on a lithium metal battery which founder Hu says takes up half the space of existing batteries. It will be used first in high altitude drones, he says, and in consumer devices, including smartphones, by 2018.
Ecuador moves Assange questioning to November

QUITO, Oct 12 (Reuters) - Ecuador has delayed until Nov. 14 its questioning of Julian Assange in a Swedish rape investigation, at the Wikileaks founder's request, the prosecutor's office of the Andean country said on Wednesday.

The questioning, led by an Ecuadorian prosecutor and originally scheduled for Monday, could help end a four-year-long deadlock since Assange took refuge in Ecuador's London embassy.

"He made the request in a document, via the Ecuadorian ambassador in the United Kingdom, in which he sets out his reasons pertaining to protection guarantees and self-defense," the prosecutor's office said in a statement.

Swedish chief prosecutor Ingrid Isgren and a police investigator will be allowed to be present to ask questions through the Ecuadorian prosecutor, who will later report the findings to Sweden, the European country's prosecutors have previously said.
Idemitsu delays full takeover of Showa Shell on founding family opposition

By Taiga Uranaka

TOKYO, Oct 13 (Reuters) - Japanese refiner Idemitsu Kosan Co Ltd has put on hold its plan for a full takeover of smaller rival Showa Shell Sekiyu indefinitely after running into fierce opposition from the Idemitsu founding family.

The postponement raises fresh questions over whether the two firms will ever be able to combine businesses given that the founding family, which owns just over a third of Idemitsu, could either block a full deal outright or even if it was not blocked, could veto board decisions.

The Idemitsu family argues that Idemitsu can and should survive on its own, citing the firms' different corporate cultures. Analysts say, however, the family is more likely concerned that its stake in the company would be diluted.

Idemitsu management said on Thursday that it will press ahead with one section of the deal - a signed agreement to acquire a 33.3 percent stake in Showa Shell for about 170 billion yen ($1.7 billion) from Royal Dutch Shell this month or in November. Royal Dutch Shell also said it was committed to the sale.

The founding family has, however, previously claimed it will be able to scuttle this part of the transaction too after buying a small stake in Showa Shell.

That purchase has meant that if Idemitsu buys the stake from Royal Dutch Shell, Idemitsu may have to make a tender offer for the rest of Showa Shell shares at a price much higher than current market levels - a move it would be reluctant to undertake.

Idemitsu CEO Takashi Tsukioka told a news conference that while the company was no longer aiming for an full acquisition by April 1 as initially envisioned, management had no intention of abandoning the plan altogether.

"We have sent a message to our staff that we will definitely complete the merger," he said.

A takeover was to have been the second in the domestic refining sector after JX Holdings Inc's planned takeover of TonenGeneral Sekiyu KK. Pressure to consolidate, both within the industry and from the government has been high, as gasoline demand declines due to a shrinking population.

Jiji news agency quoted Industry minister Hiroshige Seko as saying on Thursday that the merger was important to boost competitiveness in the refining sector.

A representative for the founding family was not immediately available to comment.

Shares in Idemitsu, Japan's second-biggest refiner by sales, fell 2.6 percent while Showa Shell's stock dropped 4 percent in Thursday trade. Both companies currently have a market value of around $3.6 billion although Idemitsu is bigger in terms of sales and refining capacity.

Naoki Fujiwara, a fund manager at Shinkin Asset Management, said a postponement would be disappointing.

"Consolidation is necessary when looking five to 10 years ahead. The market is shrinking and refiners need to pursue economies of scale," he said.
Japan's Idemitsu to delay planned purchase of Showa Shell - source

TOKYO, Oct 13 (Reuters) - Japanese refiner Idemitsu Kosan Co Ltd is likely to delay its planned acquisition of Showa Shell Sekiyu, a source with direct knowledge of the matter said. The move comes after fierce opposition from the Idemitsu founding family to the acquisition.

Both companies are set to make a formal decision on the matter on Thursday, said the source who declined to be identified before a formal announcement of the move.

Japanese media reported that the firms would hold a news conference later in the day.
Suedzucker profit jumps 81 pct on firm sugar price

HAMBURG, Oct 13 (Reuters) - Suedzucker, Europe's largest sugar refiner, on Thursday said rising sugar prices helped it post an 81 percent jump in first-half net profit at 155 million euros ($173.6 million).

Suedzucker had made an advance partial release of its half-year results on Sept. 22 when it raised its full-year earnings forecast as higher sugar prices fuelled a strong increase in second-quarter earnings.

The company on Thursday confirmed it expected group operating profit in its 2016/17 financial year starting in March to reach 340 million to 390 million euros from 241 million euros in the previous year.

First-half operating profit in its core sugar sector rose to 40 million euros from a loss of 13 million euros in the previous year, Suedzucker said.

The 2016 sugar harvest processing campaign began in September, it said, adding that indications for this year's sugar beet harvest were positive.

"Suedzucker Group expects an above average beet yield of just under 76 tonnes per hectare (previous year: 69) thanks to heavy rainfall in June and July," it said. "Sugar yield will come in at the average level of the past five years."

Raw sugar futures rose to their highest in more than 4 years on Oct. 5, as lowered expectations for Indian production and a slackening cane processing in Brazil lent support to talk of a potential world sugar supply deficit.
Three South Koreans found shot dead in Philippines amid string of killings

SEOUL, Oct 13 (Reuters) - The bodies of three South Koreans with gunshot wounds to the head have been found in the Philippines, a South Korean foreign ministry official said on Thursday, the latest in a string of killings of Koreans in the southeast Asian nation.

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has waged a ruthless anti-crime campaign since taking office on June 30 in which more than 3,600 people have died in police operations and alleged vigilante killings.

The bodies of two men and a woman, all older than 40 and all with gunshot wounds to the head, were found on Tuesday in Bacolor outside the capital, Manila, the ministry official said by telephone.

Chief of police at the town of Bacolor, Sonia Alvarez, said the deaths were unlikely to be related to drugs and instead looked like a crime of passion or indebtedness.

A South Korean consular official is working with Philippine authorities on the case, but no motive or suspects have yet been identified, said the official, who declined to be named because he was not authorised to speak to the media.

The Philippine embassy in Seoul declined to comment.

The legs of one of the male victims were bound while the woman's wrists were tied, the official added.
Concerned about king's health, Thais flock to Bangkok hospital

By Aukkarapon Niyomyat

BANGKOK, Oct 13 (Reuters) - About 300 people gathered at a Bangkok hospital on Thursday where Thailand's King Bhumibol Adulyadej, the world's longest reigning monarch, is in an unstable condition as the government urged jittery stock market investors to ignore rumours.

The palace said in a statement late on Wednesday the king's health had "overall not yet stabilized" and the 88-year-old was on a ventilator and battling a new infection.

It followed a statement on Sunday saying the king was in an unstable condition after receiving haemodialysis treatment.

Well-wishers gathered on Thursday outside Siriraj Hospital, which is near Bangkok's Chao Phraya river.

Some wore yellow, the king's colour, and others donned pink, a colour they believe will bring the king an improvement in his health. Some prayed.

"I was worried so I came here to see for myself," said housewife Thornpan Tornueng, 67.

"This evening I will take part in chanting for the king."

District police commander Rithee Visetkamin said more people were expected to gather at the hospital through the day.

The king has long been seen as a unifying figure in Thailand, which has grappled with political uncertainty in recent years. His health, which is watched closely, is a sensitive subject.

Strict lese-majeste laws mean public discussions of his health and any succession plans are punishable by lengthy jail terms.

Investors in the Stock Exchange of Thailand have sold shares since Sunday's statement from the Royal Household Bureau on the king's health.

The main index fell as much as 6.9 percent on Wednesday to its lowest since March 1, but recovered to close down 2.5 percent, its lowest since the end of May.

It was down 2.1 percent by the mid-day break on Thursday.

Deputy Prime Minister Somkid Jatusripitak said he had asked the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to investigate rumours that had been affecting the market.

"I will tell the SEC to investigate who spread the news and who caused stocks to fall. Foreigners are waiting to pick up stocks and Thais are selling them," Somkid told reporters.

"I don't think it's beneficial to do that because this is an important time for the country and we should not undermine ourselves."

"Don't listen to rumours. Please only listen to the government," he added.
Tesco, Unilever settle prices row after pound's Brexit dive

By James Davey and Martinne Geller

LONDON, Oct 13 (Reuters) - Britain's biggest retailer, Tesco , settled a pricing row with Unilever after halting online sales of goods produced by the Anglo-Dutch giant in a dispute caused by a plunge in the pound since Britons voted to leave the EU.

The dispute between Tesco and one of the world's largest consumer goods companies was a first clear sign for consumers of the turbulence unleashed by the Brexit vote and of how it could hurt them.

Products such as Persil washing powder, Ben & Jerry's ice cream and Marmite - a brown yeast-extract spread with a like-it-or-loathe-it reputation - had been unavailable on the website of Britain's largest online grocer on Thursday.

Both sides declared the spat over on Thursday. "We're pleased this situation has been resolved to our satisfaction," a Tesco spokesman said. Unilever also said the supply situation in Britain and Ireland had been successfully resolved.

The June 23 vote to leave the EU took many investors and company executives by surprise, unleashing the biggest one-day fall in sterling against the dollar.

The pound's fall -- it is down 19 percent against the U.S. currency and about 16 percent against the euro -- has left suppliers and retailers battling for profits as imported goods become more expensive.

That fight appeared to spread to supermarket shelves. Supervalu, Ireland's largest supermarket, said it was also holding negotiations with Unilever over pricing and could "experience some supply issues on certain Unilever products".

Bruno Monteyne, a former senior Tesco executive who is now an analyst at Bernstein, said Tesco has typically one to two weeks' stock.

"While politicians can deny reality, a shampoo produced on the continent is now 17 percent more expensive," he said. "This isn't about Tesco or Unilever but about all UK retailers and suppliers."

Tesco and Unilever stock fell 2.2 and 3.5 percent respectively.

High street stalwart WH Smith said separately it would look to consolidate factories and negotiate better prices with suppliers to cut costs.

"If people are worried about losing Marmite from Tesco, wait until they find out about jobs...," said Wes Streeting, a lawmaker from the opposition Labour Party who backed the Remain campaign in the June 23 referendum.

"MARMITEGATE"

The pricing row reflected the tensions building throughout the system, with Tesco the one retailer big enough to push back against Unilever's demands and Unilever one of the only suppliers powerful enough to stand its ground.

The standoff dominated the news in Britain on Thursday, with "Marmitegate" trending on Twitter and "Marmite Wars" splashed on the front pages. The Daily Mail dubbed it "Brexit Blackmail.

It also has a personal dimension as Tesco boss Dave Lewis was previously a senior executive at Unilever, where his radical overhaul of the firm's businesses won him the nickname "Drastic Dave".

An executive at a rival consumer goods company that has not pushed for UK price increases said it was "absolutely brilliant positioning" by Tesco and no coincidence that the news broke on Wednesday, the eve of Unilever publishing financial results showing better-than-expected sales growth due to pricing.

"This makes Dave Lewis look like a hero defending consumers," the person said.

AGGRESSIVE

Two people familiar with the situation said Unilever had demanded 10 percent rises in the prices it charges Britain's big four supermarkets -- Tesco, Sainsbury's, Asda and Morrisons -- across a wide range of goods.

One said no other big consumer goods company had been as aggressive as Unilever on price demands while the second source said they had protested against Unilever's demands as some of the products were made in Britain.

The sources said two of the big four were still weighing whether to accept the rises or scrap some products.

Unilever Chief Financial Officer Graeme Pitkethly said the increases were "substantially less" than what was needed to cover the hit from the pound's fall. "We are confident that this situation will be resolved pretty quickly," he said.

Tesco is rebuilding itself after a 2014 scandal when it acknowledged overstating profits and pressuring its suppliers into driving down prices. Last week Lewis hailed a transformed relationship with suppliers as a factor in the grocer reporting a 60 percent rise in first-half profit.

But he indicated it was not a given that suppliers should be able to recoup the cost of the falling pound as they had not always passed on benefits when sterling was much stronger.

Most analysts and economists believe sterling's slump will lead to higher grocery prices, following years of deflation because of a price war between the big chains.
Poland to offer France other projects after ditching helicopters

WARSAW, Oct 13 (Reuters) - Poland will offer France alternative investment projects after cancelling a multi-billion-dollar military helicopter deal with Airbus , PAP news agency quoted Polish Prime Minister as saying late on Wednesday.

Poland had agreed to buy 50 Airbus utility helicopters in April 2015 for 13.5 billion zlotys ($3.5 billion) as part of efforts to modernize its military forces at a time of tensions with neighbour Russia.

The country's previous, centrist government, which was beaten by the Law and Justice (PiS) party in elections last October, had agreed the provisional deal.

But on Oct. 4 the new administration said it was scrapping the contract altogether, straining relations between the two European Union member countries.

"The Polish government has acted in accordance with the interests of the Polish state. This is a normal business behaviour, nobody has been betrayed," PAP quoted Szydlo as telling private broadcaster Telewizja Trwam.
TI Fluid Systems postpones London IPO plans blaming market conditions

Oct 13 (Reuters) - Auto parts maker TI Fluid Systems said on Thursday it had decided not to proceed with its initial public offering (IPO) in London at the current time, citing market conditions.

The company, based in Oxford, England but incorporated in the United States, said last month that it expected to raise about 600 million euros ($672 million) by listing in London.

It already delayed the IPO after Britain's vote to leave the European Union in June, which triggered volatility in financial markets.

Two other companies in Europe - UK gym operator Pure Gym and German real estate company OfficeFirst - also cancelled IPO plans on Tuesday due to unfavourable conditions. They join a growing number of firms to cancel listings this year amid disappointing debuts for many that did brave choppy markets.

Bookbuilding for UK waste management group Biffa's London IPO closed on Wednesday without a covered message, suggesting that float could also be cancelled.

London's blue chip stock index actually hit a record high on Tuesday, as a weak pound will boost earnings of many international companies, but there are concerns about volatility in the UK currency which has tumbled to its lowest in three decades since the Brexit vote.
Russia says Damascus embassy targeted in mortar attack, no staff hurt

MOSCOW, Oct 13 (Reuters) - The Russian embassy in Damascus was targeted in a mortar attack on Wednesday, the Russian Foreign Ministry said, condemning what it called "a terrorist attack" in the Syrian capital.

One of the mortar shells, fired from a district controlled by rebels, exploded close to the guard post in front of the embassy, while another detonated near the entrance to the consular office, the ministry said in a statement.

The embassy compound was strewn with shrapnel, but none of embassy staff were hurt, it said. It said material damage was being assessed.
Italian Nobel-winning playwright and master satirist Dario Fo dies

By Isla Binnie

ROME, Oct 13 (Reuters) - Nobel prize-winning Italian playwright, director and political activist Dario Fo, an acclaimed satirist who poked a finger in the eye of the church and state, has died aged 90, officials said on Thursday.

Famous for his cutting political satire in plays such as 'The Accidental Death of an Anarchist', Fo won the Nobel prize for literature in 1997.

He remained a committed activist right to the end, skewering Italian authorities with his sharp wit and appearing at a rally in support of the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement last month. He was admitted to hospital in Milan 12 days ago.

"With Dario Fo, Italy loses one of the great protagonists of theatre, culture and the civic life of our country," said Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, who was himself regularly ridiculed by the irreverent Fo.

"His satire, his research, his work on set design, his multi-faceted artistic activity remain the legacy of a great Italian in the world."

Fo and his wife, muse and leading lady Franca Rame, captured the hearts and minds of ordinary Italians, writing and performing for stage, radio and television and regularly skewering political leaders with deft, clever dialogue.

His subversive humour won him a cult status, but also saw him periodically hounded off the stage and television in an attempt by the Italian establishment to muzzle him. He was barred from entering the United States in the early 1980s.

"The Accidental Death of an Anarchist", which brought him international fame, was based on the true story of a railway worker who fell to his death from the fourth floor of a Milan police station where he was being interrogated.

Police said he committed suicide, while Fo suggested he was killed. The play was first performed in Milan in 1970 and has since been performed in more than 40 countries.

Awarding him its literature prize, the Nobel Foundation said Fo "emulates the jesters of the Middle Ages in scourging authority and upholding the dignity of the downtrodden".

"BLASPHEMOUS"

Born in a small town on the banks of Lake Maggiore in northern Italy in 1926, Fo spent his childhood following his amateur actor father who worked on the railways, and absorbing oral storytelling traditions in taverns and town squares.

He learned narrative techniques from his grandfather, a farmer who travelled the countryside telling satirical anecdotes about local news to attract customers to buy his produce.

As a student, he was called up to the army of Fascist dictator Benito Mussolini, but escaped and hid in an attic for the last few months of the war before Italy was liberated.

After the war, he turned his hand to stage design and improvised monologues.

He elicited praise and censure in 1953 for the co-written play "A Finger in the Eye" that satirised what Fo saw as historical falsehoods constructed under Fascism.

Some churches warned their parishioners not to go to see the play, which the atheist Fo described as "a satirical critique of every conceivable subject".

Fo met Rame while they were working on the same production in Milan. They married in 1954 and despite sometimes torrid relations, they stayed together until Rame's death in 2013.

"I dream every night of Franca and I dream that she is alive," Fo told Ansa news agency when he turned 90 in 2016 - an age that he said was crazy. "I still have ideas that I want to pursue, and this outrages me," he said.

Rame helped Fo write many of his plays, including his most celebrated work in Italy, "Mistero Buffo", known as "A Comic Mystery" in English, which was a collection of short scenes depicting stories from the Bible as told by the powerless.

The Vatican denounced the work as "blasphemous".

In 2013, the Five Star's leader Beppe Grillo said he should become Italy's next president, but Fo declined to have his name put forward, saying he was too old and had too much left to do.
Hargreaves Lansdown warns on investor confidence, shares drop

By Simon Jessop

LONDON, Oct 13 (Reuters) - British investment company Hargreaves Lansdown said new business growth slowed in the three months to end-September, taking the shine off a record quarter for assets and profits.

The group, which focuses mainly on UK retail investors, was also cautious on its outlook, which contributed to a fall in its shares of more than three percent.

"Despite the higher stock market levels, investor confidence has fallen and there remains much uncertainty about the future economic environment weighing on investors' minds," it said in a statement.

"Future stock market levels and investor confidence will have a significant part to play during the remainder of our financial year."

The FTSE All Share index was up 6.8 percent over the September quarter, Reuters data showed, partly helped by a boost in profits for companies with overseas earnings as a result of a slide in the value of sterling following Britain's vote to leave the European Union.

Net new business inflows in the September quarter were 1.1 billion pounds, Hargreaves said, down 22 percent from the 1.4 billion recorded in the first quarter of 2016.

Total active client numbers rose by 20,000, meanwhile, down 17 percent from 24,000 in the first quarter of 2016.

But the company's total assets under administration rose 9.5 percent in the three months to end-September to a record 67.6 billion pounds, buoyed by the stock market gains.

At the same time, strong demand from clients to trade shares in the wake of the June Brexit vote helped the company to produce record net quarterly revenues, up 15 percent to 90.6 million pounds.

In response, Hargreaves Lansdown's shares were down 2.8 percent by 0738 GMT. They are down around 20 percent since the start of the year.

Analysts at KBW, who have a "Market Perform" rating on the stock, said the strong rise in assets would likely see consensus expectations for the full-year raised, although the slow-down in new business was less positive.

"We wonder how long Hargreaves can maintain its breakneck growth," they said in a note to clients, adding that while client retention was strong, the new business slowdown could be a sign that demand was waning.
Charity groups ask court to halt Calais migrant camp closure in France

LILLE/PARIS, Oct 13 (Reuters) - Several charity organisations have asked a court in France to halt the imminent closure of the notorious "Jungle" migrant camp where thousands of refugees live in the port city of Calais, many of them desperate to get across the sea to Britain.

The organisations lodged their request at a court in Lille on Wednesday evening, according to an official in the region. A judicial source said an emergency ruling should be delivered within 48 hours.

President Francois Hollande announced in late September that the camp, where the number of inhabitants was at one stage estimated at close to 10,000, would be shut down.

His Socialist government has already started moving groups of refugees to new locations throughout the country ahead of a final phase in which the camp will be demolished. People involved in helping the camp dwellers spoke this week of a demolition date as early as Oct. 17.
Three months ago, Gao Jun, a co-worker from a church in Inner Mongolia, and Brother Zhao Yizhong launched the "grant ministry for seminarians".

In the first phase, the ministry collected a fund of 20,050 yuan through a social networking crowdfunding platform called Qingsongchou within a month. Then, it has distributed an education grant of 1000 yuan to each of the 20 financial disadvantaged seminarians selected for the program.

The aided seminary students come from six seminaries which includes Yanjing Theological Seminary, Chinese Mission Seminary and other provincial seminaries located in Hubei, Inner Mongolia, Shaanxi and Beijing. Candidates should be recommended by the seminaries and those who qualify and pass the check will receive grants.

Co-founded by many Christians, the grants for seminarians aim to support poor but excellent students. It has no connection with any church or local CCC&TSPM. For the purpose of "assisting theology with donations", it works to "make its contribution to theology construction."

Talking about why it was founded, Gao Jun, one of the initiators, tells CCD that this summer, a couple who quit their jobs to studying theology after having experienced God's grace had to work part-time to feed themselves on holidays or leisure time. Knowing this, Gao gave a donation to support their living. Having received it, the wife told him that they only had 20 yuan that couldn't pay their meals for the next day in the pocket that day. She thanked God for preparing this for them. Moved by this, he started to give donations to poor seminarians.

He says, "Everyone donates a bit, donates the daily expense used to buy cigarettes, wine, clothes, cosmetics, jewelry or bags to assist theology (construction) ! Every day we forward it to the friend's circle and WeChat groups, which is all assistance..."

Gao continues that it is onerous to do this ministry by the two and hopes for more people to join in it.
Philippine president forms panel to probe media violence, protect press

MANILA, Oct 13 (Reuters) - Philippine leader Rodrigo Duterte has issued an administrative order to create a presidential task force to protect journalists and investigate attacks on media, in what is one of the world's most dangerous countries for the press.

A special unit comprised of cabinet ministers, police, defence and justice officials would spend a month compiling an inventory of outstanding cases before pursuing investigations, said Presidential Communications Secretary Martin Andanar.

The Philippines enjoys one of the most liberal media environments in Asia, but violence against journalists is common and probes into killings are often inconclusive or hamstrung by lack of witness testimony.

"The reason why the president wanted this administrative order number 1 is because he cares for you, for us," he told a regular briefing on Thursday.

"And he believes in freedom of the press."

The order was signed by Duterte on Tuesday and includes the formation of an oversight panel to scrutinise the probes and gather input from non-governmental sources, such as human rights and journalist groups.

It would also monitor media personnel in danger and provide them with protection, Andanar said.

Scores of journalists have been killed in the Philippines in the past three decades, with many of the victims radio broadcasters, often for coverage of provincial-level politics, which is notoriously dangerous.

Thirty-one journalists were among 57 people killed in a massacre in 2009 in the southern province of Maguindanao while covering a local election, in what was one of the most deadly incidents involving media in the world.
Casino confident French profit goal not dented by weak quarter

By Dominique Vidalon

PARIS, Oct 13 (Reuters) - Retailer Casino said it would hit its French profit forecast for the year on Thursday, despite a slowing of third quarter sales growth due to a weaker performance in France which overshadowed robust food sales in Brazil.

Casino, whose credit rating was cut to junk by Standard & Poor's in March, is under pressure to revive profits in France, where it makes 46 percent of its sales, at a time of slower growth in Brazil, its second-largest market after France.

"We are confident on our recovery plan in France. We are very confident in achieving the 500 million euros," Chief Financial Officer Antoine Giscard d'Estaing told a conference call.

Casino is banking on price cuts to boost sales at its French stores, as well as cost cuts and savings from a purchasing deal with French retailer Intermarche to achieve its profit goal.

Excluding acquisitions, currency effects and revenue on fuel, sales rose by 2.9 percent to 10.43 billion euros ($11.7 billion), down from 3.8 percent in the previous quarter.

By 0752 GMT, Casino shares were 1.63 percent lower, underperforming the European retail sector, which was off 0.96 percent.

In France, the sales slowdown reflected more favourable year-ago comparables, the closure of 282 loss-making convenience stores and the transfer of some Leaderprice stores to franchisees, Casino said.

Sales at the Monoprix chain also suffered from unfavourable weather conditions and a decline in tourist activity in Paris.

Warm temperatures also weighed on apparel sales at the Geant Casino hypermarkets where same-store sales slowed to 0.3 percent from 2.2 percent in the second quarter.

"Even if is somewhat "circumstantial", we have to admit that this trading statement brings the new impetus to a "halt" in France," Bryan Garnier analysts said in a note.

But in recession-hit Brazil, where Casino makes around 40 percent of its sales, food retail sales grew 8.3 percent, driven by the cash and carry Assai stores and promotional activity at the Extra hypermarkets.

Same-store sales at the group's Via Varejo consumer electronics unit, which accounts for 11 percent of Casino's sales, rose by 1.8 percent after growing 2.6 percent in the second quarter.
Austria says EU emergency border checks must be extended

LUXEMBOURG, Oct 13 (Reuters) - Austria said on Thursday emergency border checks imposed within Europe's free travel zone during the migrant crisis should be extended beyond the mid-November deadline as the bloc does not yet have the situation under control.

Germany, Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Austria introduced emergency border checks inside the so-called Schengen zone as the continent struggled to control the chaotic influx of about 1.3 million people last year.

Border controls were restored by countries along migration routes from the main arrival point in Greece to Germany, the top destination for refugees and migrants. But the emergency measures are only authorised until mid-November.

"I think you've got to take a look at the reality. In Greece there are 50,000 refugees ... and there are many in the Balkan countries," said Austrian Interior Minister Wolfgang Sobotka.

"So I can hardly imagine that the system will be functioning on Nov. 15. I think it will probably be necessary to have an extension or we have to think of other steps."

Diplomats in Brussels from several EU member states have said in recent days they do not expect to fully restore the Schengen zone, a major plank of European integration, just yet.
France's Hollande says ready to take part in four-way Ukraine talks

PARIS, Oct 13 (Reuters) - French President Francois Hollande is ready to take part in talks over the Ukraine crisis with the leaders of Russia, Germany and Ukraine in the coming days, his office said on Thursday.

Hollande hopes a roadmap defining steps that would eventually give Ukraine back control over its border with Russia could be outlined soon, his office said in a statement, adding that Hollande had spoken with Ukrainian president Petro Poroschenko earlier in the day.
Russia completes delivery of S-300 air defence missiles to Iran -RIA

MOSCOW, Oct 13 (Reuters) - Russia has completed the delivery of S-300 air defence missile systems to Iran, RIA news agency quoted Russia's state arms export agency as saying on Thursday.

Russia's agreement to provide Iran with S-300 has sparked concern in Israel. Moscow cancelled the contract to deliver S-300s to Iran in 2010 under pressure from the West.

Russian President Vladimir Putin lifted that self-imposed ban in April 2016, following an interim agreement that paved the way for last year's full nuclear deal.
Britain should be looking at military options in Syria - minister

LONDON, Oct 13 (Reuters) - Foreign minister Boris Johnson said on Thursday it was right to look at British military involvement in the Syrian conflict, but that any action would need to be part of a coalition involving the United States and was not likely in the short term.

"It is right now that we should be looking again at the more kinetic options, the military options," Johnson told a committee of lawmakers. "But we must be realistic about how these in fact work, and what is deliverable."

"We can't do anything without a coalition, without doing it with the Americans. I think we're still a pretty long day's march from getting there but that doesn't mean that discussions aren't going on, because they certainly are."
Vietnam says no to foreign military base on its soil

HANOI, Oct 13 (Reuters) - Vietnam said on Thursday it would not allow other countries to set up military bases there, just days after Russia said it was considering reopening Soviet-era bases in Vietnam and Cuba.

Russian news agencies last week quoted a Russian deputy defence minister as saying Russia was considering plans to restore the bases that had served as pivots for Soviet global military power during the Cold War.

"Vietnam's consistent policy is not to engage a military ally or engage with any country to oppose a third country," Foreign Ministry spokesman Le Hai Binh told a news briefing.

"We will also not allow any other countries to set up a military base in Vietnam."

While pursuing a neutral foreign policy to befriend many countries and allowing port calls by foreign warships, Vietnam still bars any permanent presence by foreign military forces.

Russia, which inherits a long relationship with Vietnam, withdrew from the deepwater Cam Ranh naval base in the early 2000s as part of its drawing down of military presence around the world after the demise of the Soviet Union.

Cam Ranh is the jewel in the crown of Vietnam's military, with an air base once used by the U.S. and Soviet forces and a deep water bay home to its modern, Russian-built submarines.
TI Fluid Systems joins list of firms to shelve IPO

By Noor Zainab Hussain

Oct 13 (Reuters) - Auto parts maker TI Fluid Systems said on Thursday it had cancelled plans to list on the London stock exchange, the latest company to abandon an initial public offering (IPO) and blame volatile markets.

Although stock markets are riding high - normally a good sign for new issues - investors are wary of turbulence amid a faltering global economy and following Britain's shock vote to leave the European Union in June.

"The uncertainty is the challenge. Post Brexit, which is still not that long ago, investors are still sorting their investment strategies," said Ian Gorham, chief executive of fund supermarket Hargreaves Lansdown.

Worldwide, money raised from IPOs fell by more than a third to $79.2 billion in the first nine months of this year, the lowest since 2009, Thomson Reuters data shows.

TI Fluid, based in Oxford, southern England but incorporated in the United States, said last month it expected to raise about 600 million euros ($672 million) by listing in London.

The company, which designs and makes automotive fluid carrying and delivery systems, had already delayed its IPO once, shortly after the Brexit vote.

Its private equity owner, Bain Capital, could not immediately be reached for comment. Bain bought TI Fluid in 2015 for about $2.4 billion, including debt.

Two other companies in Europe - British gym operator Pure Gym and German real estate company OfficeFirst - cancelled IPO plans on Tuesday, citing unfavourable conditions.

Last week, British energy supplier First Utility also postponed plans to list shares.

Bookbuilding for UK waste management group Biffa's London IPO closed on Wednesday. There has been no announcement so far on the level of interest, which some bankers said suggested it might also be cancelled.

A source familiar with the matter said Biffa, its advisers and shareholders were still determined to get the IPO done.

Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan and Citigroup were acting as joint bookrunners for TI Fluid's IPO. HSBC Bank was the lead manager and Lazard & Co Ltd the company's financial adviser.
EU set to keep emergency border checks as members argue over migration

By Gabriela Baczynska

LUXEMBOURG, Oct 13 (Reuters) - Germany, Austria and Sweden said on Thursday that emergency border checks inside Europe's free-travel zone should remain in place after a mid-November expiry as the EU continues to argue over how to deal with an influx of refugees and migrants.

The EU partly suspended the Schengen zone - where people can cross national borders without border controls - last year amid the chaos of some 1.3 million people crossing the Mediterranean to Europe to flee war and poverty in the Middle East and Africa.

Along with the British decision to exit the bloc, the failure of Schengen is another blow to European integration, with many eastern European countries refusing to take in refugees to relieve "front-line" countries such as Greece and Italy where migrants land.

"You've got to take a look at the reality. In Greece there are 50,000 refugees ... and there are many in the Balkan countries," Austria's Interior Minister Wolfgang Sobotka told his EU colleagues at a meeting in Luxembourg.

"So I can hardly imagine that the system will be functioning on Nov. 15. I think it will probably be necessary to have an extension or we have to think of other steps."

German Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere said he favoured extending the emergency border checks and French diplomats say Paris would not oppose it.

Germany, Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Austria have the checks in place and diplomats have said they do not expect to fully restore free movement after the mid-November expiry.

The EU's executive says it would like to return to normal by year-end but admitted last month conditions were still not right despite a sharp drop in overall arrival numbers.

EU states still argue over who should take in the refugees who have already made it to the bloc and how to share out the burden of caring for any future arrivals - part of a highly sensitive reform of the bloc's asylum system.

Poland, Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic have refused to host any, angering Italy and Greece where tens of thousands are stuck, as well as Germany and Sweden which are the final destinations for many migrants who trek across the continent after making it to the EU's southern shores.

The easterners say they can help in other ways, for example by sending more guards to help protect external borders.

Sweden's Interior Minister Anders Ygeman warned those states that the payouts they get from the EU budget were at stake.

"In the long run, the tax payers in Sweden will say that if you can chose whether or not to follow some decisions in the EU, why can't we chose to not pay to those countries who do not honour their obligations?," he said.

"We're not there yet but it will happen. It will also happen in Germany and Austria ... The lack of solidarity in the long run also threatens the free movement, as you see with the border controls. That really should make these countries think."

A report by the RAND Europe think-tank commissioned by the European Parliament estimated the one-off costs of re-establishing borders inside Schengen at up to 20 billion euros, with annual operating costs at up to 3 billion euros thereafter.
Russia has 'playbook' for covert influence in Eastern Europe -study

By John Walcott and Warren Strobel

WASHINGTON, Oct 13 (Reuters) - Russia has mounted a campaign of covert economic and political measures to manipulate five countries in central and eastern Europe, discredit the West's liberal democratic model, and undermine trans-Atlantic ties, a report by a private U.S. research group said.

The report released on Thursday said Moscow had co-opted sympathetic politicians, strived to dominate energy markets and other economic sectors, and undermined anti-corruption measures in an attempt to gain sway over governments in Bulgaria, Hungary, Latvia, Serbia, and Slovakia.

"In certain countries, Russian influence has become so pervasive and endemic that it has challenged national stability as well as a country's Western orientation and Euro-Atlantic stability," said the report of a 16-month study by the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington and the Sofia, Bulgaria-based Center for the Study of Democracy.

The publication of "The Kremlin Playbook: Understanding Russian Influence in Eastern and Central Europe" coincides with an unprecedented debate in the United States over whether Russia is attempting to interfere in the Nov. 8 presidential election with cyber attacks and the release of emails from the campaign of Democratic Party candidate Hillary Clinton.

The former U.S. Secretary of State's campaign has said the Kremlin is trying to help Republican Donald Trump win the White House.

On Friday, the U.S. government for the first time formally accused Russia of hacking Democratic Party organizations. Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday rejected allegations of meddling in the election.

The Russian Embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment on the report, which will be presented at CSIS in Washington on Thursday. Reuters received an advance copy.

On Sunday, however, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told Russian state TV the United States was increasing its hostility toward Moscow. Lavrov complained that NATO had been steadily moving military infrastructure closer to Russia's borders with Eastern European countries and criticized sanctions imposed over Moscow's role in the Ukraine crisis.

A former U.S. State Department official is the report's lead author and U.S. officials said they concur with the findings on Russia's involvement in Eastern Europe.

"The Russians have been engaged in a sustained campaign to recapture what Putin considers their rightful buffer in Eastern Europe, and to undermine not just NATO and the EU, but the entire democratic foundation of both institutions," said a U.S. official who has studied Russian behavior since before the Soviet Union's collapse in 1991.

The official requested anonymity because, he said, the White House has ordered officials not to publicly discuss hostile Russian activities.

Those activities, he said, include bribery, propaganda, disinformation, "the occasional" assassination of Kremlin critics at home or abroad, and now using the internet to undermine opponents and weaken Western institutions.

"The Kremlin Playbook" cites a series of Russian efforts to expand its writ in central and eastern Europe.

They range from "megadeal" projects such as the 12.2 billion euro contract to build two new nuclear reactors in Hungary, awarded to Russia under opaque terms, to the cultivation of pro-Russian businessmen who gain political office and then shield Moscow's interests, it said.

In Bulgaria, Russia's economic presence is so strong, averaging 22 percent of GDP between 2005 and 2014, "that the country is at high risk of Russian-influenced state capture," the report said.

Heather Conley, the former U.S. official and lead author of the report, said in an interview that the study was intended to highlight a challenge that has received insufficient attention from American and European policymakers.

"The first step is to acknowledge that which is happening," said Conley. "What is at stake here is how we view ourselves and the functioning of our democracy."

The report proposes measures to curb what it calls an "unvirtuous cycle" of covert Russian influence. They include more focus on illicit financial flows and revamping U.S. assistance programs to stress strengthening governance and combating Russian influence.

It is not the only study this year to highlight Russia's measures in the region.

"Russia has opened a new political front within Europe by supporting the far right against the liberal European Union," the Centre for Historical Analysis and Conflict Research, a British Army research group, said in February.
Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen called on Beijing that the both sides of the Strait to resume and sit down to restart the peace talks as soon as possible during her maiden national day address.

Knowing that Tsai's request to resume talks comes nearly five months after Beijing halted official communication with the island nation.

Tsai said that there will be no general agenda to be included in the discussion for as long as it is helpful to the development of cross-strait peace and as well as the welfare of people on both sides.

However, the Taiwanese leader still refused to accept the crucial "One China principle."

Tsai said that they will not change their pledges as well as their goodwill but they will not bow to pressure and revert not the old path of confrontation.

Tsai chose to continue with her confrontation policy denyibg the 1992 consensus over the One China principle that left China nettled about the taiwanese leader's decision.

Although Tsai wanted a friendly relationship with China yet her peaceful approach were considered hypocritical respect by Beijing.
Can global climate cash keep Senegal's salt collectors afloat?

By Megan Rowling

KAFFRINE, Senegal, Oct 13 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - In the humid heat of Senegal's rainy season, Mbayan Fam points across a bleak expanse of sand dotted with grass to the shallow sea inlet where she and her fellow salt collectors harvest white "gold" with their bare hands.

The wide delta, reached by a flood-prone dirt road, is a tough place to work, and the women lack protective equipment, causing them skin problems. In recent years their incomes have dropped too, as sand swept across the denuded landscape by the wind has silted up half the inlet, the young woman says.

But the salt gatherers of Keur Mboucki municipality, on the western edge of the central region of Kaffrine, are hoping efforts to reforest the inlet's shores with salt-tolerant trees will make life easier for them.

"With these trees that we have planted, we can reclaim the land, and carry on with our activities," said Fam. "We will have shade where we can sit down and rest a bit. And we can also use the trees to treat illnesses."

The reforestation push is just one of 22 community projects in the area being financed by Britain under a flagship 140 million ($174 million) programme known as BRACED, which aims to help over 5 million people become more resilient to climate extremes and disasters in 13 countries across Africa and Asia.

In Senegal, as well as in Mopti in neighbouring Mali, environment and development group IED Afrique and its partners are aiming to show that local communities are capable of using international funding for climate change action effectively - whether to tackle shrinking forests or worsening floods and drought.

At Keur Mboucki town hall, Lieutenant Babakar Deme, who heads the local branch of the government's water and forest service, stresses there is still a lot to learn.

Not all the 48,000 or so tiny eucalyptus and native species, including acacia senegal and "sump" (desert date), put in this year along 5 kilometres of the inlet's banks are thriving.

A few have already shrivelled in the relentless heat and salty soil. The goal is for four-fifths to survive, says Deme.

His team set up a nursery to cultivate the saplings - a skill villagers will need to acquire so they can carry on the reforesting work initially funded by 12.6 million West African francs (around $21,500) from the UK government's climate change aid budget.

Deme says the environmental problems here at the tip of the Saloum Delta lie not with salt, which has always been exploited, but rather the rising rate at which people have cut down trees in the past decade.

The inlet is dotted with large piles of salt covered by acacia branches to protect them from the elements. In other parts of the region, the savannah forests are under attack from charcoal makers and farmers clearing land to grow crops.

"All the actions of humans combined have resulted in reducing this ecosystem to nothing," said Deme. "Now we want to restore it."

If the trees grow as planned, they will secure the sandy soil and add nutrients to it over the next couple of years, reducing erosion by the water and wind, and helping recuperate some 50 hectares of land for agriculture, he added.

For Keur Mboucki's mayor, Abdou Aziz Diagne, protecting the salt business by restoring its surroundings is vital for the economic life of his 11,900-strong community - and could help prevent migration, he says.

"Salt is our 'gold'," he said. "All our young people do this work if they are not herders or in local government. It means they can stay here because they can earn money."

LOCAL ADAPTATION

IED Afrique director Mamadou Bara Gueye said the billions of dollars in climate finance being channelled from wealthy countries to help poorer parts of the world adapt to climate shifts are usually spent by national-level state agencies.

The money does not filter down to local groups, which often lack the information and expertise to tap into urgently needed resources, he added.

"It is a bit paradoxical because even though (communities) do not have access to finance mechanisms, when you go into the field you realise that they have developed strategies for adaptation, without waiting for policies," Gueye said.

That is particularly the case for nomadic livestock herders in Africa's Sahel region who have adjusted to variable rainfall patterns for decades or even centuries, he added.

The aim of the BRACED project in Senegal and Mali is to enable local people to identify their needs in coping with climate stresses, and to design and run their own projects.

In doing so, IED Afrique wants to influence the big hitters in providing climate aid.

Top of the list is the $10 billion Green Climate Fund (GCF). It has approved 17 projects to help developing countries tackle global warming since becoming fully operational last year, and is considering 10 more at a board meeting this week.

But the poorest countries are finding it hard to directly access the GCF's money, which is a demanding process.

"What we are hoping is that, at the end, we will (be able) to say to the GCF, 'Here is a model we think is best suited to funding (local) adaptation'," said Gueye.

More climate finance is starting to filter down to communities but it is not yet enough, said Saleemul Huq, director of the Dhaka-based International Centre for Climate Change and Development.

"Funders - whether they be national or global - are very bad at ensuring that money goes to the poorest and most vulnerable," he said. "There is very little effort to get it down to the lowest level because it does require a lot of effort."

In general, donors find it easier to hand over $100 million for a big national programme than "find 100 people to give $1 million to", Huq noted.

There are some institutions that are doing things differently, such as the Global Environment Facility, which has a long-running programme giving out small grants of up to $50,000 directly to community projects.

And there are a growing number of organisations and networks that are hoping to act as trusted intermediaries between global funds and communities, Huq said, such as Shack/Slum Dwellers International, which represents the urban poor in 33 countries.

CLIMATE DISCONNECT

In Senegal, IED Afrique wants the state's National Programme for Local Development (PNDL) to play that role, filtering money down to "communes", the smallest administrative division.

At the same time, the idea is to put climate change firmly on the development agenda, as the two issues have been largely disconnected until now, said Gueye.

"We did not want to reinvent the wheel, so we are using the system that is already in place," said Samba Faye Diop, director of the Agency for Regional Development in Kaffrine.

So far efforts to provide technical support to local authorities planning projects are paying off, he said, with nearly all submitting proposals for a second round of funding.

Most of the projects backed so far are linked to forestry and farming because of the need to profit from the rainy season, which usually ends in October.

Others in the pipeline include infrastructure to store crops safely from floods and vaccination centres for the region's plentiful goats and cattle.

TESTING GROUND

IED Afrique is also working with Senegal's meteorological agency ANACIM to expand efforts to get practical weather and climate information into the hands of local farmers.

Aissatou Ndao works on one of six "test fields", where some crops are planted using traditional practices and others according to the latest climate and weather information filtered down via text message and the region's agriculture service.

"To get better results, we pay attention to the forecasts, and select seeds based on them," said the chair of Kahi commune's environment committee, proudly surveying healthy peanut and millet plants ripening in the sun. "We always know exactly when to sow."

Ndao and others involved in forest projects in the area said they need funding for equipment such as tractors, vans and machinery to work more efficiently, as well as fencing to keep replanted land secure from people and marauding livestock.

Regional development director Diop said work remained to be done with community groups that, in most cases, still lack the know-how needed to benefit from international climate funding.

In Keur Mboucki, Deme said local officials have also asked for more training in winning and managing climate finance.

"The communes still don't really have the skills needed - they don't have enough human resources. Putting together a project is not obvious," he said.
Taliban fighters ambush, kill dozens of retreating Afghan troops

By Stanekzai Zainullah

LASHKAR GAH, Afghanistan, Oct 13 (Reuters) - Taliban militants ambushed and killed around 100 Afghan police and soldiers earlier this week as they tried to retreat, the heaviest losses suffered by government forces during months of fierce clashes near the capital of southern Helmand province.

On Tuesday, dozens of Afghan police and soldiers were cut down as they withdrew from their positions in Chah-e-Anjir, about 12 km outside the city of Lashkar Gah, having been surrounded and besieged for days.

"We were one battalion there and, except me and two others, no one came out alive," Faiz Mohammad, an army soldier who survived the ambush, told Reuters in Lashkar Gah, a bloodied bandage wrapped around his head.

Afghan Taliban fighters have pushed into some areas of Lashkar Gah, firing rockets at government buildings and sparking a new wave of residents fleeing the city.

The sustained assault is the most serious threat to security in Afghanistan since the brief capture of the northern city of Kunduz a year ago, and underlines the government's precarious defences despite support from U.S.-led foreign forces.

One senior security official put the death toll from the Chah-e-Anjir incident at around 90, while other sources said it was likely to be higher.

"As they (government forces) were coming towards Lashkar Gah, they were ambushed in three locations," the official said.

Dozens of other security personnel surrendered during the debacle, while Taliban gunmen seized at least 22 armoured Humvees, dozens of trucks, and hundreds of rifles, he said.

Taliban spokesman Qari Yousuf Ahmadi said that account was accurate, and that militants killed and captured dozens of troops.

Mohammad Rasool Zazai, spokesman for the army's 215th Corps in Helmand, said reinforcements had been working on a plan to relieve police and soldiers in Chah-e-Anjir, but they left their positions before an operation was launched.

"We were in contact with the troops there and the plan was to bring them back to Lashkar Gah to protect the city, but they decided to move without coordinating with us and they were ambushed by the Taliban."

HEAVY LOSSES, DESERTIONS

Afghan officials say security forces are losing as many as 5,000 people each month through casualties and desertion, while only about 3,000 new soldiers and police are recruited over the same period.

With the Taliban on the offensive in several parts of Afghanistan, many new recruits are deployed to the front lines with only a few weeks of training, putting extra burden on elite special forces to do much of the fighting.

General Wali Mohammad Ahmadzai, who took command of the 215th Corps at the beginning of the month, confirmed that his forces had sustained "a lot" of casualties in this week's fighting, but could not provide an exact number.

Army officials said at least 400 new troops have been sent to the Lashkar Gah, including special forces.

The NATO-led military coalition has hundreds of advisers in Helmand province, while U.S. troops and aircraft have been dispatched to help the Afghans.

Ahmadzai made "a deliberate decision to withdraw some of his forces back into Lashkar Gah so that they can have mass and so they can help defend Lashkar Gah, and then be prepared to the offense," U.S. military spokesman Brigadier General Charles Cleveland said at a briefing on Wednesday.

Since the beginning of October, U.S. aircraft have conducted at least 15 airstrikes in Helmand in support of Afghan troops, he said.
South Sudan opposition leader in South Africa for treatment - spokesman

NAIROBI, Oct 13 (Reuters) - South Sudanese opposition leader Riek Machar is in South Africa to receive medical treatment, his spokesman said on Thursday, after the former vice president fled fighting that erupted in the South Sudanese capital in July.

Machar initially travelled through the bush from South Sudan to Democratic Republic of Congo, sustaining a leg injury on the way after an aide said his group had been pursued by forces loyal to his rival President Salva Kiir.

From Congo, Machar travelled to Sudan where he also received medical care. "He is now in South Africa for medical treatment," his Nairobi-based spokesman, James Gatdet Dak, told Reuters, adding that he was likely to stay there for about a week.

He did not say where he would go afterwards.

There was no immediate comment from South African officials.

Political rivalry between Kiir, an ethnic Dinka, and Machar, a Nuer, sparked a civil war that has often followed ethnic lines.

A peace deal was signed in 2015, but it proved shaky from the outset and fierce fighting flared in Juba in July of this year, just weeks after Machar had returned to resume his post as vice president.

Clashes have broken out elsewhere in South Sudan since then, raising concerns about a return to all-out conflict.
U.N. calls for deal to cut greenhouse gases at Rwanda talks

By Clement Uwiringiyimana

KIGALI, Oct 13 (Reuters) - The world will not forgive leaders gathered in Rwanda this week if they fail to back a proposed agreement to cut greenhouse gases, a top U.N. official said on Thursday, calling the deal an easy one to achieve.

Representatives from about 150 nations heard the appeal as they opened negotiations on a deal to phase down the use of factory-made hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) gases, which are used in refrigerators, air conditioners and aerosols.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry was expected to join the conference later in the day. U.S. officials said they were optimistic an agreement could be reached at the meeting ending on Friday.

"No one, frankly, will forgive you if you cannot find a compromise at this conference," said Erik Solheim, executive director of United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP).

"This is one of the cheapest, one of the easiest, one of the lowest-hanging fruits in the entire arsenal of climate mediation," he told the opening session in the Rwandan capital Kigali.

Scientists say a quick reduction of HFCs could dramatically slow climate change, avoiding perhaps 0.5 degree Celsius (0.9 Fahrenheit) of a projected rise in average temperatures by 2100.

Solheim said failure to act would contribute to more extreme droughts and stronger storms of the type that hit Haiti last week, killing about 1,000 people. "Expect more of this extreme weather if we don't fight against climate change," he said.

Among developing nations, India has been under the greatest pressure to sign a deal. It wants poor nations to be allowed to peak their HFC emissions in 2031 to avoid hurting growing industries.

The Kigali talks are part of the 1987 Montreal Protocol, which helped protect the ozone layer by cutting the use of chlorofluorocarbons. The ozone layer shields the planet from ultraviolet rays that can cause skin cancer.

That deal prevented 2 million cases of skin cancer, Solheim said, adding he had been diagnosed with the disease himself.
Malaysia "trying to put internet genie back in bottle" with planned curbs

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 13 (Reuters) - Human Rights Watch on Thursday expressed concern over planned amendments to a Malaysian media law that would give broader powers to the authorities to stifle online dissent, amid a wider crackdown on free speech and assembly.

The U.S.-based rights group's report comes as Prime Minister Najib Razak battles criticism over his handling of a multi-billion dollar financial scandal at state fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB).

"What Malaysia is trying to do is put the internet genie back in the bottle, back to a time when the government had greater control over information received by its citizens," HRW Asia deputy director Phil Robertson told reporters.

Amendments to the Communications and Multimedia Act have not been publicly disclosed. Media reports have said they could require news portals and political blogs to register with the government, increase penalties for offences under the act and broaden powers for the authorities to take down online content.

Neither the prime minister's office nor the communications and multimedia minister, Salleh Said Keruak, responded to requests for comment.

Salleh was previously quoted by the New Straits Times newspaper that the proposed amendments were designed to safeguard against online abuses such as pornography, extremism and gambling.

The HRW report said a rising number of Malaysians were investigated over the past year for criticising the government. It follows an earlier HRW release last year on the increasing use of criminal laws to stifle dissent.

"We found that there were few countries in Southeast Asia worse than Malaysia when it came to the rapid deterioration of human rights... it's like a bad movie sequel," Robertson said.

Despite a longstanding government pledge not to censor the internet, authorities have blocked several websites and news portals carrying reports critical of 1MDB and Prime Minister Najib.

Authorities have also cracked down on anti-government rally organisers, opposition leaders and activists.

Among them was artist Fahmi Reza, who faces charges under the act for a caricature of Najib with a clown face.

1MDB is the subject of money-laundering investigations in at least six countries. The U.S. Department of Justice filed lawsuits in July to seize dozens of assets from 1MDB, saying $3.5 billion was misappropriated from the fund.
Nigeria's Boko Haram frees 21 kidnapped Chibok girls after 2-1/2 years

By Alexis Akwagyiram and Felix Onuah

ABUJA, Oct 13 (Reuters) - Jihadist group Boko Haram has freed 21 of more than 200 girls it kidnapped in April 2014 in the northern Nigerian town of Chibok, after mediation by Switzerland and the International Red Cross, officials said on Thursday.

Around 270 girls were taken from their school in Chibok in the remote northeastern Borno state, where Boko Haram has waged a seven-year insurgency aimed at creating an Islamic state, killing thousands and displacing more than 2 million people.

"I met them about an hour ago and I can confirm they are in good health," Nigerian Vice President Yemi Osinbajo said after meeting the 21 released girls, who were brought from the northeastern city of Maiduguri to the capital Abuja.

Their release, a boost for the government of President Muhammadu Buhari, came after the Red Cross and the Swiss government brokered a deal with the group, officials said.

Dozens had escaped in the initial melee in 2014, but more than 200 girls are still missing. The kidnapping prompted outrage worldwide and the girls' plight was publicised using a Twitter hashtag, #bringbackourgirls.

"In the next few days or months we will be able to negotiate the release of more of the girls," Osinbajo told reporters.

A picture released by a presidency official showed one of the girls holding a baby when they met Osinbajo. Officials have accused Boko Haram of having married off the girls to its followers.

Information Minister Lai Mohammed denied reports that the government had swapped Boko Haram fighters for their release and said he was not aware if any ransom had been paid. He said a Nigerian army operation against Boko Haram would continue.

Switzerland "facilitated contacts between Nigerian representatives and intermediaries of Boko Haram" after a request from Abuja, a Swiss government spokeswoman said.

"We have nothing to add," she said, when asked if it had been a prisoner swap.

In recent days, the Nigerian military has been carrying out a large-scale offensive in the Sambisa forest, a stronghold of Boko Haram, which last year pledged loyalty to the Islamic State militant group.

Boko Haram controlled a swathe of land around the size of Belgium at the start of 2015, but Nigeria's army, aided by troops from neighbouring countries, has recaptured most of the territory. The group still stages suicide bombings in the northeast, as well as in neighbouring Niger and Cameroon.

Boko Haram published a video in August apparently showing recent footage of dozens of the kidnapped girls and said some had been killed in air strikes.

The militant group has kidnapped hundreds of men, women and children but the kidnapping of the Chibok girls brought it worldwide attention.

Authorities said in May one of the missing girls had been found and Buhari promised to rescue the others.
Poland attracts US investment in car industry, holds talks with Toyota- minister

WARSAW, Oct 13 (Reuters) - Poland has attracted a major investment in its automotive industry from the United States and it is also in talks with Toyota on a potential new project in Poland, Deputy Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said on Thursday.

"We have a decision on another, big investment, American one, in the automotive sector," Morawiecki said without providing more details.

He was speaking at news conference on Daimler's plans to build a 500 million euro engine plant in south-west Poland, which was announced in May.

The plant will make engines for Mercedes-Benz passenger cars.

Markus Schaefer, board member for production for Mercedes-Benz Cars, who was also speaking at the news conference, said that the plant in Jawor, around 70 kilometres west of Wroclaw, would hire 500 people.

At a separate event on Thursday, Morawiecki was asked whether Toyota also had plans to invest in Poland. "Talks are being held," he said.
-Africa's population boom fuels "unstoppable" migration to Europe

By Tim Cocks and Edward McAllister

DAKAR/AGADEZ, Oct 13 (Reuters) - When German Chancellor Angela Merkel toured three African nations this week for talks on curbing migration to Europe, the leader of the world's poorest country, Niger, suggested it would take a "Marshall Plan" of massive aid to stop people coming.

Merkel politely declined the request, expressing concern about how well the aid would be spent and noting that, at a summit in Malta last year, the European Union had already earmarked 1.8 billion euros for a trust fund to train and resettle migrants.

But Niger's President Mahatma Issoufou also proposed something perhaps more significant, in the long run, than a development package - bringing Niger's population growth down from 3.9 percent, the highest in the world.

Though he gave no details on how this could be achieved, demography clearly holds the key both to Europe's migration crisis and to the African poverty feeding it. As long as population growth in African countries outstrips their ability to educate, house and employ their citizens, large numbers of people will continue to brave the deserts and seas to escape.

"You can't resolve this by just paying money," said Owoeye Olumide, a demographer at Bowen university in southwest Nigeria, one of the world's most densely populated regions.

"There are going to be too many people ... the development you need will not be possible. You have to lower fertility rates and bring down population (by educating and empowering women)."

Niger, a vast, largely desert nation to the north of Nigeria, presents the starkest example of Africa's challenges.

With an average of 7.6 children born to each woman, its population is projected to more than triple to 72 million by 2050, from about 20 million now, according to the latest U.N. figures. By then, Africa will have more than doubled its population to 2.4 billion, the United Nations says.

Frequent droughts in Niger cause hunger, and low investment in education means a dearth of skills. Yet somehow it must hugely increase food production just to stay where it is.

SMUGGLERS' PARADISE

Ironically, Niger's location in the largely unpoliced sands of the Sahara also makes it a draw for migrants. They come from across Africa hoping to be smuggled to a better life in Libya or Algeria -- or over the Mediterranean to Europe.

In doing so, the migrants bring cash to Niger, a country that has repeatedly proved unable to feed itself.

Ousmane Diallo, 38, travelled for 10 days by bus from Sierra Leone on the Atlantic coast to Agadez, a Saharan town in Niger at the crossroads of the people-smuggling business. He spent $700 on police and military checkpoints along the way.

His is precisely the kind of ambition the German chancellor would like to discourage.

"I want to work in a car factory in Germany," he said in a dimly lit restaurant in Agadez, his few possessions - spare trousers, shoes, water and a Bible - crammed into a small bag.

The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) expects migration through the Agadez region this year to reach 300,000, more than twice the 120,000 it estimates came through in 2015.

EU officials hope to deter migrants like Diallo by making clear that life as an illegal immigrant in Europe is hardly better than staying in Africa. But that message has yet to filter down.

Diallo was swindled out of 150,000 CFA francs ($256) he paid smugglers in Agadez to reach central Libya. Desperate, he has given his last 50,000 CFA to a gang he hopes will come good.

"(In) Europe ... I can save and earn money. I cannot return back. I have nothing there," he said of his native Sierra Leone.

In 2013, Niger's corruption investigators did a study on smuggling that was never published, but which Reuters has seen. It said Niger's security forces make almost half a million CFA francs ($850) from every round trip by a smuggling truck -- just from migrants alone, not including payoffs from the gangs.

The government did not respond to a request for comment.

"PRETTY UNSTOPPABLE"

Agadez, a desolate town of sandy streets and mud houses, is booming. Touts flock to fresh migrants at the bus station. For $10, they offer space in padlocked courtyards where arrivals sleep on dirt floors. Landlords might squeeze 40 migrants into one yard, making hundreds of dollars a night.

Money changers and motor oil vendors throng the streets.

"Pretty much the whole population of Agadez now lives off providing services to migrants in transit," said Richard Danziger, IOM regional director for West and Central Africa.

"What we can't do right now is offer real alternatives," he said, adding that "a mixture of development aid and job creation is the only way forward".

According to a theory popular with investment bankers and management consultants, Africa's population woes will solve themselves. Africa, they say, will reap a "demographic dividend" as its bulging youth population drives innovation and consumer markets -- as happened to Asia in decades past.

The latest commodity crash highlighted reasons for being less optimistic: Africa remains over-dependent on raw materials and has failed to create the manufacturing or service jobs that helped drive Asia forwards.

And despite predictions, economic growth hasn't significantly cut birth rates in most African countries.

Yet even if Africa is 'rising', says Renaissance Capital's Charles Robertson, himself an optimist, migration will remain "pretty unstoppable".

Any bright youth who chooses to stay in most African countries has a good chance of doubling his wealth over 10 years, he says, but that still presents a dilemma:
Israel's top diplomat in surprise resignation

JERUSALEM, Oct 13 (Reuters) - Israel's top diplomat, Foreign Ministry Director-General Dore Gold, resigned in a surprise move on Thursday, citing "personal reasons" for leaving the post 17 months after his appointment.

Gold, a right-wing, U.S.-born academic, had been a long-term, off-and-on adviser to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu before being named director-general.

"As in the past, I will make myself available to the prime minister's needs in any capacity he sees fit," Gold said in a statement announcing his resignation, noting a 25-year-old professional relationship with Netanyahu.

Gold had been tasked by Netanyahu, who also holds the post of foreign minister, with improving relations with African countries. Last year, he officiated at the reopening of Israel's embassy in Cairo, based in its ambassador's residence.

Gold, a former Israeli ambassador to the United Nations, had also been at the forefront of Israel's efforts to engage more openly with Sunni Muslim states in the region, particularly when it came to shared opposition towards the U.S.-led deal on Iran's nuclear programme.

"I thank Dr. Dore Gold for his great contribution towards strengthening Israel's diplomatic ties in the world, including in Africa and the Middle East," Netanyahu said in statement.
Syria buys one million tonnes Russian wheat -Syrian government source

ABU DHABI, Oct 13 (Reuters) - Syria's state grain buying agency Hoboob bought one million tonnes of Russian wheat at 150 euros a tonne, on a cost and freight basis, a Syrian government source close to the matter told Reuters on Thursday.

The wheat bought in the Hoboob tender is for shipment for a year after opening up the letter of credit, the source said.

Syria often buys wheat from its political ally Russia but this was an unusually large amount. The source said it should cover the government's needs for this year until the next local wheat buying season in 2017.
UW-Madison students reported more than three times as many instances of discrimination to campus officials through the first half of 2016 than they had during the prior six months, according to a report released Wednesday.

The increase  from 18 reported incidents in the second half of 2015 to 66 from January through June of this year  came amid a series of high-profile racist incidents at UW-Madison, as well as a social media campaign in which minority students sought to bring greater attention to the negative experiences they have had at the university.

Incidents reported to UW-Madison included anti-Semitic graffiti spray-painted on university buildings, as well as what officials described as racial insults and intense, disrespectful, threatening and controversial posts online.

In 30 of the incidents, the victim was targeted based on their ethnicity or national origin, according to UW-Madison, while others were discriminated against because of their religion, gender or sexual orientation.

Campus officials said Wednesday it is unclear whether instances of hate and bias, as the university refers to them, have actually been more prevalent at UW-Madison this year.

Rather, they said, the higher number of reports was likely the result of more students coming forward when incidents happen, which officials attributed to the universitys efforts to encourage reporting.

Dean of Students Lori Berquam said the increase is similar to what universities have seen in reports of sexual assault recently as campuses have made students more aware of the process for reporting.

Im glad that we have a mechanism so students who are impacted can be heard, and can more importantly be supported, Berquam said.

Its also not clear how the 66 reported incidents through June of this year stack up historically. UW-Madisons Bias Response Team, which handles those incidents, has tracked them only since July 2015.

Berquam said the Bias Response Team often responds to incidents that may not be so severe that police are involved, but certainly (have) an impact on our community by making people feel unwelcome.

We know that those issues on our campus impact the ability of our students to be successful inside the classroom, Berquam said.

One of the incidents, the anti-Semitic graffiti, was considered a hate crime. A Madison man who is not affiliated with the university pleaded guilty in July to misdemeanor criminal charges for the graffiti, according to online court records.

Seven additional reports were filed to the team that officials determined were not related to bias.

UW-Madison officials say they have taken several steps to address concerns students raised during protests over the campus racial climate last semester. Among other programs, teaching assistants, house fellows and about 1,000 new students have been taking part in inclusivity training programs since the summer.

Nine UW-Madison students were disciplined for their role in six bias incidents, according to the report.

They received a range of punishments  three students were given written reprimands, three were put on probation, one was suspended from the university and one was kicked out of University Housing. Some students received multiple sanctions for the same incident.

Free-speech organizations have raised concerns that the focus on bias incidents at UW-Madison and other universities, as well as a push for students to report potentially discriminatory actions, could stifle the open exchange of ideas on college campuses.

Berquam said UW-Madison is committed to free expression, and believes it can create a more welcoming university while respecting free-speech rights.
Maldives to leave Commonwealth weeks after democracy warning

Oct 13 (Reuters) - The Maldives said on Thursday it will leave the Commonwealth, weeks after the organisation warned it could be suspended because of its lack of progress in promoting rule of law and democracy.

Best known as a paradise for wealthy tourists, the Indian Ocean archipelago has been mired in political unrest since Mohamed Nasheed, its first democratically elected leader, was ousted in disputed circumstances in 2012.

The decision comes as the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group last month warned the Maldives that in the absence of substantive progress in rule of law and democracy, it would consider its options, including suspension.

The Commonwealth comprises 53 states that were mostly former British colonies.

"The decision to leave the Commonwealth was difficult, but inevitable," the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

"Regrettably, the Commonwealth has not recognised that progress and achievements that the Maldives accomplished in cultivating a culture of democracy in the country and in building and strengthening democratic institutions."

President Abdulla Yameen's administration reintroduced the death penalty in July, rejecting repeated requests by right groups and the West.

Nasheed, in exile in Britain after being allowed out of jail to go there for medical treatment, formed the Maldives United Opposition in June with the aim of toppling Yameen.
Turkey says botched assault on Iraq's Mosul would trigger refugee wave

ANKARA, Oct 13 (Reuters) - Any mistake in a planned U.S.-backed operation to drive Islamic State from the Iraqi city of Mosul could result in hundreds of thousands of refugees and Turkey is concerned about reports of a Kurdish militant role in the plan, Turkey's presidential spokesman said on Thursday.

Ibrahim Kalin also said that Turkey had no secret agenda in Iraq and was in favour of solving problems with Baghdad through dialogue. Turkey is locked in an escalating row with Iraq over who should take part in the planned Mosul assault.
France's Juppe dominates race for party's presidential ticket -poll

PARIS, Oct 13 (Reuters) - Alain Juppe is holding onto his comfortable lead in the race for France's Republican party presidential nomination, a poll showed on Thursday, hours before the former prime minister locks horns with rivals in a televised debate.

The OpinionWay survey showed that 42 percent of respondents intended to vote for Juppe, a moderate conservative, in the primary contest's first round of voting, compared with 28 percent for his chief rival, former president Nicolas Sarkozy.

In a run-off, support for Juppe rises to 62 percent while Sarkozy trails with 38 percent, the poll showed.

With his pitch as the candidate who will restore national pride by acting tough on immigration and defending France against militant Islam, Sarkozy has been alienating centrist voters.

On Wednesday, the UDI party of centrists threw their backing behind Juppe, who regularly ranks as one of France's most popular politicians but struggles to steal media limelight from the energetic but often abrasive Sarkozy.

Roughly half the respondents to the survey who said they would back two other candidates, Francois Fillon and Bruno Le Maire, in a first round, intended to swing behind Juppe while fewer than a third planned to support Sarkozy in a run-off. The remainder did not state their intention.

The poll surveyed 700 people who said they would vote in the centre-right primary between Oct 7 -11.

Unemployment was the main election issue for voters, the poll showed, with immigration and security close behind.

Turnout will be critical to the outcome of the two-round primaries on Nov. 20 and Nov. 27. A high turnout from a broad centre-right voter base is seen as favourable to Juppe, while a low turnout in which only core party members turn up is seen benefitting Sarkozy.

Anyone willing to cough up 2 euros and sign a document saying they share the values of the right and centre can take part in the primaries.

Opinion polls indicate that the winner of the Republican primary vote will be favourite to win the presidential election in April, most likely in a run-off against far right National Front leader Marine Le Pen.
Cash-strapped U.N. faces huge challenges in Mosul offensive

By Michael Georgy

ERBIL, Oct 13 (Reuters) - The United Nations says it bracing for the world's biggest and most complex humanitarian effort in the upcoming battle for the Iraqi city of Mosul, which could make up to 1 million people homeless and see civilians used as human shields or even gassed.

U.S.-backed Iraqi forces are preparing for the long-anticipated assault on the last major Islamic State bastion in Iraq, potentially the biggest battle in the country since the U.S.-led invasion of 2003.

The assault of Mosul could begin by the end of this month, according to Iraqi sources including a government security advisor, a provincial official and an army field commander.

Islamic State fighters are dug in, expected to fight hard and have a history of forcing civilians to stay in harm's way during previous battles to defend territory.

With a pre-war population of around 2 million, Mosul is by far the biggest city held by the militants - around 4-5 times the size of any other city recaptured so far from the fighters, who swept through northern Iraq in 2014 and also hold a swathe of Syria.

"The worst case scenario in Mosul would look something like this: you would have mass expulsion of hundreds of thousands of people. You would have hundreds of thousands of people who are held as human shields," said Lise Grande, the U.N. Humanitarian Coordinator for Iraq.

"You would have a chemical attack that would put tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands or maybe even more at grave risk. If all that were to happen at the same time it would be catastrophic," said Grande, noting that Islamic State has said it could use chemical weapons to defend the city.

"In order to house and support and accommodate 1 million people at dignified standards we would be looking at an operation of $1 billion," she said.

That is more than four times the $230 million the international body has received so far for the effort, funds which have only recently arrived.

So far, a total of six camps have been built that can accommodate 50,000 people. Efforts are underway to construct 11 more, said Grande.

Grande and Iraqi officials are hoping residents can stay home as long as possible to avoid being caught up in the crossfire once the shooting starts, and to avoid a mass exodus that would overwhelm relief efforts.

Of the up to 1.5 million people believed to be in Mosul now, around 200,000 are expected to try and escape as Islamic State digs in for its most important fight.

"If you were to see a forced population movement of more than 150,000 people, at that stage there isn't an institution in the world that could cope with that scale of movement," said Grande. "What we are hoping is that the population movement is staggered. That it doesn't happen all at once."

Islamic State swept into Mosul in 2014 with virtually no resistance from the Iraqi army. Its leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, declared a caliphate and his followers took control, beheading or executing anyone suspected of opposing them.

Mosul is a predominately Sunni city located in one of the most ethnically diverse parts of Iraq.

Apart from the Iraqi army, an array of other forces aim to join in the battle against Islamic State, from Shi'ite militias to the peshmerga security forces of Iraq's Kurdish autonomous region, to a Sunni force backed by Turkey.

The wrong mix could deepen sectarian divisions after Mosul is attacked, risking all-out civil war and more hardship.

Securing aid resources is difficult when much of the Middle East, especially Syria, is locked in war. There are already more than 3 million people displaced in Iraq in connection with conflicts with Islamic State. Next door, 11 million Syrians are displaced.

The United Nations has tried to understand what life is like under Islamic State in cities like Mosul, and has been in touch with informers inside the city since Islamic State arrived.
Germany aghast after Syrian bomb suspect kills himself in jail

BERLIN, Oct 13 (Reuters) - Police and judicial officials in the German state of Saxony faced a blaze of criticism on Thursday after a Syrian man suspected of plotting to bomb a Berlin airport killed himself in a detention centre where he had been deemed not at risk of suicide.

Jaber Albakr, 22, who evaded police on Saturday and sparked a two-day manhunt before being turned in by fellow Syrians, hanged himself in his cell on Wednesday evening with his T-shirt, officials said.

Facing calls to step down, Saxony's State Justice Minister Sebastian Gemkow, a member of Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives, told a news conference the suicide "should never have happened" but he denied authorities had made any mistakes.

Politicians from across the spectrum rounded on Merkel's conservatives who rule in Saxony after the suicide, which followed the bungled police attempt - acting on a secret service tip-off - to catch Albakr on Saturday.

"This is an unprecedented sequence of failures by the police and judicial system," said Thomas Oppermann, head of the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD) parliamentary group. "It looks as if Saxony lacks any capacity to fight terrorism professionally."

SYRIANS ALERT POLICE

Albakr's defence lawyer, Alexander Huebner, accused the authorities of a "justice scandal", adding: "I'm totally shocked and absolutely speechless that something like this could happen."

The chief of the detention centre, Rolf Jacob, said Albakr was questioned by a psychologist at the centre and determined not to be at serious risk of committing suicide.

The Syrian, who arrived in Germany in February last year, appeared calm and was monitored at 15 minute intervals. These were lengthened to 30 minutes despite Albakr pulling a lamp in his cell out of its fitting and tampering with a plug socket.

"There was no major sign that he was upset," said Jacob, before adding that at 7.45 p.m. (1745 GMT) on Wednesday the suspect was found having hanged himself.

Huebner said Albakr's suicidal tendencies had been well documented, adding that his client decided to go on hunger strike directly after his arrest on Monday.

Little else is known about Albakr, who evaded police in Chemnitz on Saturday and travelled to Leipzig, where he met up with a group of Syrians he contacted via an online network before they tied him up at their flat and alerted police.

Die Welt newspaper, citing investigative sources, reported on Tuesday that Albakr had spent several months in Turkey this year, leaving in the spring and returning to Germany in late August.
South Africa's Zuma asks court to stop anti-graft report - presidency

JOHANNESBURG, Oct 13 (Reuters) - South African President Jacob Zuma has asked a court to stop the Public Protector, an anti-corruption watchdog, from releasing the findings of a probe into alleged political interference by his wealthy friends, the presidency said on Thursday.

"I can confirm that the president has applied for a court interdict," Zuma's spokesman Bongani Ngqulunga told Reuters. He could not confirm whether the application had been granted.
South Africa's Zuma asks court to block anti-graft report

JOHANNESBURG, Oct 13 (Reuters) - South African President Jacob Zuma has asked a court to stop the release of results of an anti-corruption investigation over allegations of political interference by his wealthy friends, his spokeswoman said on Thursday.

Public Protector Thuli Madonsela was due on Friday to release her preliminary findings in a probe into the Guptas, an Indian-born family accused of using their close ties with Zuma to influence cabinet appointments.

"I can confirm that the president has applied for a court interdict," Zuma's spokesman Bongani Ngqulunga told Reuters.

Madonsela questioned Zuma for four hours last week as part of her final investigation before her seven-year term comes to an end on Saturday.

In a statement late Thursday, graft watchdog spokeswoman Kgalalelo Masibi said Madonsela would release her last batch of investigation reports on Friday and provide updates on the progress of other investigations. But she did not state whether the report on the Guptas would be among them.

Although Zuma and the Guptas deny wrongdoing, the allegations have damaged the president, who was separately forced to repay part of the cost of a lavish upgrade to his private residence as a result of an investigation by Madonsela.

On Monday, Zuma asked Madonsela not to report her findings until he has had a chance to question other witnesses and reviewed any evidence that implicated him. But Madonsela said the president had been given all the evidence implicating him on Oct. 1, and urged Zuma to answer questions to aid the probe.

The main opposition Democratic Alliance party said in a statement that Zuma was "worried about what is contained in this report, and desperate to stop it from being made public".

Lawyer Gert van der Merwe, who represents Ajay Gupta, said his client would not seek to block the report.

The row over the report adds to pressure on Zuma, whose government was rocked this week when prosecutors ordered Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan to appear in court on Nov. 2 to hear fraud charges against him, news that sent markets reeling.

Analysts have said that Gordhan has been a target of political pressure from a faction allied to the president although he has denied any rift with the finance minister.

Perceived divisions between Gordhan and Zuma have previously rattled markets in Africa's most industrialised economy, which is at risk of having its credit rating downgraded to "junk" later this year.

The premier of Guateng, South Africa's most economically important province, said the fraud charges levelled against Gordhan were frivolous and undermined efforts to avoid a ratings cut.
A president really shouldn't say that, French judge tells Hollande

By Chine Labbe

PARIS, Oct 13 (Reuters) - France's top magistrate took the unusual step of publicly berating the president on Thursday after disparaging comments about the judiciary Francois Hollande reportedly made to journalists emerged in a book published this week.

The spat with the judiciary is just one of the embarrassments the book, "A President Shouldn't Say That" written by two journalists from daily Le Monde, has caused.

Speaking from the gilded grand chamber of the centuries-old court of justice in central Paris, France's highest ranking magistrate Bertrand Louvel told newly appointed judges the comments attributed to Hollande were degrading and dangerous for the institution.

"The President of the Republic has let comments be published, without denying them, in which he calls the judiciary a 'cowardly institution' where some 'hide away', 'play the virtuous' and 'dislike politics'," said Louvel, wearing the traditional fur-lined red robes.

"His predecessor had before likened magistrates to 'small, tasteless peas'," the judge said, referring to comments made by former president Nicolas Sarkozy.

"This renewed outrage against the judiciary, at a time where all authorities should show coherence, poses an institutional problem," Louvel said.

Hollande also reportedly told the journalists in December 2015, a month after Islamist gunmen killed 130 people in Paris, that France had "a problem with Islam", comments that risk damaging his left-wing party base six months before a presidential election.

On Wednesday, Hollande invited France's two highest ranking judges to see him in a bid to patch up relations. On Thursday, they said the 20-minute meeting had failed to quell their anxiety.

"Yesterday's meeting with the president did not soften the feeling of humiliation magistrates experienced again," top prosecutor Jean-Claude Marin said.

"What can the French people be thinking when such comments are made about their justice system by the country's highest authority?"

A source close to Hollande told Reuters the president had always respected the judiciary's independence, adding: "The president must be judged on his actions and public speeches."

Justice Minister Jean-Jacques Urvoas said: "Give me one word, one public word the president has said since 2012 where he commented on a court decision? Not a word, even less an insult, an act or an intervention in a court decision."
10 facts about Boko Haram and Nigeria's kidnapped Chibok girls

DAKAR, Oct 13 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Boko Haram has freed 21 of more than 200 schoolgirls kidnapped by the Islamist militant group in April 2014 in the northern Nigerian town of Chibok, the government said on Thursday.

Around 270 girls were taken from their school in Chibok in the northeastern Borno state, where the Islamist militants have waged a seven-year insurgency to try to set up an Islamic state.

"The release of the girls ... is the outcome of negotiations between the administration and Boko Haram brokered by the International Red Cross and the Swiss government," a presidency statement said. "The negotiations will continue."

Nigeria will continue its military operations against Boko Haram, the country's information minister said. He also said Nigeria did not swap any Boko Haram prisoners for the release of the girls, who would be brought to the capital Abuja later on Thursday.

Here are 10 key facts about the Chibok schoolgirls and the Islamist militant group Boko Haram:

* Since 2009, Boko Haram has waged an insurgency to carve out an Islamic state in northeast Nigeria that has killed at least 15,000 people and displaced more than two million.

* The most high-profile attack took place on April 14, 2014, when Boko Haram kidnapped 276 school girls, from a secondary school in Chibok in northeast Borno state. About 50 of the girls escaped in the initial melee but 219 were captured.

* Nigeria's government and military, then under the command of former president Goodluck Jonathan, faced heavy criticism for their handling of the incident, with towns and cities across the nation witnessing protests.

* The kidnappings prompted a strong social media reaction, with the phrase #bringbackourgirls tweeted around 3.3 million times by mid-May 2014, and the campaign which followed backed by U.S. First Lady Michelle Obama.

* Hope for the girls was briefly raised in April 2015 when the Nigerian military announced it had rescued 200 girls and 93 women from the Sambisa forest, northeast of Chibok. It was later revealed that the Chibok girls were not among them.

* One of the Chibok girls, Amina Ali, was rescued in May. Held for months by the Nigerian government, she told her mother that the girls were starved and resorted to eating raw maize, and that some had died in captivity, suffered broken legs or gone deaf after being too close to explosions.

* Boko Haram in August published a video showing footage of dozens of the Chibok girls, and a masked man saying some of their classmates had been killed in air strikes. In the video, unidentified bodies could be seen on the ground.

* About 2,000 girls and boys have been kidnapped by Boko Haram since the beginning of 2014, according to Amnesty International, which says they are used as cooks, sex slaves, fighters and even suicide bombers.

* Boko Haram used 44 children to carry out suicide attacks in West Africa last year, up from four in 2014, with some as young as eight, mostly girls, detonating bombs in schools and markets, according to the U.N. children's agency UNICEF.
United Nations appoints Portugal's Guterres as next U.N. chief

By Michelle Nichols

UNITED NATIONS, Oct 13 (Reuters) - The 193-member United Nations General Assembly unanimously appointed former Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Guterres on Thursday as the ninth secretary-general of the world body for five years beginning Jan. 1, 2017.

Guterres, 67, will replace Ban Ki-moon, 72, of South Korea. Ban will step down at the end of 2016 after serving two fiveterms. Guterres was Portugal's prime minister from 1995 to 2002 and U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees from 2005 to 2015.

Guterres pledged on Thursday to act as an "honest broker" and said he would take a humble approach in trying to deal with global issues, with human dignity at the core of his work.

"Diversity can bring us together, not drive us apart," Guterres told the General Assembly.

"We must make sure that we are able to break this alliance between all those terrorist groups or violent extremists on one side and the expressions of populism and xenophobia on the other side," he said. "These two reinforce each other, and we must be able to fight both of them with determination."

The 15-member U.N. Security Council last week unanimously recommended that the General Assembly appoint Guterres. He beat out 12 other candidates, seven of whom were women, amid a push for the first woman to be elected.

Guterres told the General Assembly that protection and empowerment of women and girls was a priority commitment. He has pledged to work toward gender parity within the United Nations.

"We have selected a candidate who is prepared to cut past the jargon and the acronyms and the sterile briefings and get real," U.S. Ambassador Samantha Power told the General Assembly. "He knows the only measure of our work here is whether we are or are not helping and supporting real people."

Diplomats were now watching to see who Guterres appoints to senior U.N. positions amid speculation by diplomats and U.N. officials that China would like one of its nationals to head peacekeeping and that Russia is keen to lead political affairs.

Currently, a French man runs peacekeeping, an American man leads political affairs and a British man is in charge of humanitarian affairs.

A senior U.N. Security Council diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity, said several people had insisted that Guterres did not do any deals to win Russia and China's votes.

"(Guterres is) the sort of person who will pick a strong team around him, appointment on merit," said the diplomat, adding that, while he had not heard it directly from any Chinese diplomats "it is clear (China is) making a significant challenge for the Department of Peacekeeping."

When asked earlier this month if Russia had an interest in one of the senior U.N. positions, Russia's U.N. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin told reporters: "We do believe that Russia should be properly represented in the Secretariat."
The state Ethics Commission has dismissed a complaint against a state lawmaker, Rep. Dean Knudson, who launched his own political action committee.

The dismissal signals Knudsons creation of the PAC, Wisconsin Liberty Fund, will be permitted under a new state law that dials back restrictions on cash flowing into political campaigns.

The Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, a group that advocates for increased campaign finance regulation, filed the complaint. It alleges Knudson tried to skirt campaign finance restrictions by violating a provision of the law that bars candidates from establishing more than one candidate committee.

But the law does not prohibit a candidate from forming a separate political action committee, Ethics Commission staff attorney David Buerger wrote in a letter explaining the dismissal to Democracy Campaign director Matthew Rothschild.

The letter says the commission, at its most recent meeting Monday, voted to dismiss the complaint for lack of reasonable suspicion that the law has been violated.

Knudson maintained his actions were legal when asked about them by the Wisconsin State Journal earlier this year. He said he consulted the states former campaign-finance agency, the Government Accountability Board, before forming the PAC. The move was unconventional in the sense that typically PACs are formed to represent business, labor or ideological interest groups.

Buerger and commission chairwoman Peg Lautenschlager told the Wisconsin State Journal Wednesday they cannot comment on Mondays vote because it was taken in closed session as required by law.

The Democracy Campaign has maintained that allowing elected officials or candidates to create their own PACs would enable them to be used as shadow campaigns  and far more lucrative ones at that.

Contributions to state representatives or state senators are limited by law to $1,000 or $2,000, respectively. But political action committees may accept contributions in unlimited amounts.

State Sen. Jon Erpenbach raised the same concern during a Senate floor debate in November on the new campaign finance measure  which Gov. Scott Walker later signed into law. Erpenbach, D-Middleton, tried to amend the bill to bar candidates from creating any political committees other than their own candidate committee, but the amendment was voted down.

Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, R-Juneau, responded during the Senate debate by saying a provision in the law bars a candidate or elected official from creating a PAC to use for certain campaign activities on their own behalf. The provision bars coordination between PACs and candidates for so-called express advocacy, a type of political communication that explicitly calls for the election or defeat of a candidate.

Knudson, R-Hudson, is not seeking re-election this year. Earlier this year Knudson transferred the balance from his campaign account, about $21,000, into Wisconsin Liberty Fund, which he created in June. Knudson listed himself as the funds chairman and treasurer.

He told the State Journal he expects to use the fund to advocate for constitutional limited government and for liberty and freedom  primarily through so-called issue advocacy, a type of political communication that often depicts a candidate positively or negatively but does not explicitly call for their election or defeat.
U.S. targets corporate tax-reduction strategy with new regulation

By David Morgan

WASHINGTON, Oct 13 (Reuters) - The Obama administration, in its latest bid to prevent American companies from minimizing U.S. taxes by rebasing abroad, issued final rules on Thursday to combat a key tax-reduction technique known as earnings stripping.

Six months after proposing the regulations, the U.S. Treasury made good on its pledge to move swiftly against corporate tax inversions by rolling out the new final rule, despite opposition from business groups and from Republicans in Congress who demanded a delay only last week.

"For years, this administration consistently has called for comprehensive business tax reform to fix our broken tax system," Treasury Secretary Jack Lew told reporters. "In the absence of congressional action, however, it is Treasury's responsibility to use our authority to protect the tax base."

Business lobbyists said the rules would likely be challenged in court.

Tax inversions occur when a U.S. company is acquired by a smaller foreign business from a low-tax country and adopts its domicile to reduce the combined firm's overall U.S. tax burden.

Inversions have occurred since the 1980s, but a new wave in recent years prompted the Treasury to take a series of actions including Thursday's final regulations, which were unveiled in April as part of a package that led to the collapse of a $160 billion merger deal between U.S. drugmaker Pfizer Inc and Ireland's Allergan Plc.

Treasury also imposed a temporary rule in April to prevent foreign companies from engaging in serial inversions. That is expected to be finalized later this year.

Earnings stripping occurs when the U.S. subsidiary of a newly inverted company avoids taxes on domestic operations by sending them overseas as tax-deductable interest payments.

The newly finalized regulations would reclassify some forms of debt as equity, changing tax-exempt interest payments into dividends that are taxed.

Business groups including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce have warned that the regulations could harm the cash management operations of U.S.-based multinationals and pose damaging unintended consequences for a range of businesses by creating mountains of red tape.

But Treasury officials said the final rules addressed those concerns by granting exemptions for regulated financial and insurance firms, cash pooling, short-term debt, transactions between the foreign units of U.S. companies, stock acquisitions for employee compensation plans and other operations.
With much more diagnosis and treatment required for the restoration of a health service where the well-being of the patients is given top priority, the Sri Lanka Medical Associations three senior general practitioners have made an enlightened and challenging appeal to their colleagues.



The three general practitioners are Dr. Duncan Bujawansa, Dr. Percy Motha and Dr. Eugene Corea. They were assisted by activist Ashraff Jainudeen, who is a leading member of the Peoples Movement for the Rights of Patients (PMRP). Their appeal is titled, Patients are our teachers.



At a time when drug companies are sending hundreds of medical representatives in an apparent bid to influence doctors as to what drugs they should prescribe, the three doctors say in a letter to their colleague that there is a widespread perception that many doctors are not delivering care to the patients in a humane manner.



We do not see the medical profession or those in authority showing much concern about this state of affairs. Sometimes it even appears as though we are in denial. This lack of concern may be due to poor motivation and commitment to behave in a patient centred manner, the doctors say. However, the letter adds that in recent times there seems to be a desire on the part of medical teachers and seniors to come to grips with this problem. This is to be appreciated particularly because medical education depends heavily on the participation of patients in the teaching or learning process.



Edmund Pellegrino, a legendary ethicisit, in a passionate appeal to doctors to be altruistic, argues that the physicians knowledge is not individually owned and should not be used primarily for personal benefits. According to Pellegrino, society sanctions the invasion of privacy as in dissecting bodies of individuals, participating in the care of the sick, or experimenting with human subjects so that doctors may learn.



According to the three doctors, Sri Lankan medical students and doctors learn almost exclusively from patients in the public sector institutions. Many of them are floor patients. In the process patients often lose their privacy, human dignity, confidentiality and, most important of all, suffer physical and mental distress.



From history taking, to examination and to the carrying out of procedures, this activity sanctioned by society is practiced in our institutions with little realization or appreciation of this fact. The first palpation, auscultation, phlebotomy, suturing, rectal and vaginal examinations even ophthalmoscopy represent a voyage of discovery to the novice, the doctors say. A voyage sponsored by patients, the latter are just instructional material in the hands of the fumbling student. Little children, infants and even the unborn are also affected. As the career advances, the first appendectomy, caesarian section, laparotomy, stenting, bypass, craniotomy are learnt by trial and error. Mistakes do happen when you learn. Unintentionally patients become the guinea pigs of doctors when they learn so that society may be made whole. The fact that this process is played out almost exclusively in the public sector means that it is the most disenfranchised and helpless group of sick human beings in our society and make the greatest sacrifice in the learning that is freely obtained by students and doctors. Our faltering first steps are among sick people who are poor.



The doctors say that furthermore, throughout their professional lives they continue to learn. The sponsoring agencies of these continuing professional development (CPD) programmes in turn are able to donate money because they too earn good profits from patients. Though doctors and medical students frequently and publicly bemoan the hardships they face and the great sacrifices they make, the patients who are their guinea pigs suffer in silence. Neither do we see a commensurate concern for them among doctors.



Students worship their school teachers and look after their needs. Medical students and doctors venerate and commemorate their medical gurus. Professional drivers pay obeisance to their vehicles beside the steering wheels at the beginning of each working day.



The doctors ask what they should do for the patients who nurture the doctors learning and sometimes lose their lives in the process.
Deputy Minister of Public Enterprise Development EranWickramaratne, in an interview with Dailymirror, says preferential market access to India is always important. He says the current Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with India should be expanded from goods to services. He shared the following with us:-

QHow important is it for Sri Lanka to have trade agreements with different countries?

International trade is increasingly based on trade agreements. Most countries in the world will be party to multiple trade agreements. Sri Lanka has about four trade agreements of which the Indo-Sri Lanka agreement is the most significant. Trade agreements are not the panacea for increasing exports. However, it will certainly be more difficult to increase trade without having preferential treatment into markets.



QIn that context, how important is to sign the proposed Economic and Technology Cooperation Agreement (ETCA) with India?

India is the fastest growing economy in Asia. Its present GDP growth is about 7.6%, while Sri Lankas will be about 5%. Chinas sustainable economic development strategy will also yield a lower growth than India over the next decade. We are at the gateway to the worlds fastest growing market. Are we to ignore this opportunity? All opportunities are time bound. If we miss this opportunity, other countries through preferential agreements, will benefit. With Indias adverse relationship with Pakistan, an even greater opportunity exists for us. Presently, more than 50% of goods going into India are trans-shipped through the Colombo port. We are the last port of call into India.If we do not capitalise on this, it is a matter of time before others will take advantage through trade agreements to nullify the advantage we have geographically. Today, trade must be seen wholistically: not just goods, but goods and services. Technology is the glue that binds both goods and services.



QThere are concerns raised by local exporters on the shortcomings in the current Free Trade Agreement (FTA). How do you respond?

There are shortcomings in the current trade arrangements. Most of these shortcomings are related to non- tariff barriers. Moving goods across Indian states and the differential treatment and delays have caused much frustration amongst SL exporters.



These issues are being constantly raised by the SL side in trade negotiations. In August 2016, the Lokh Sabha unanimously passed a Constitution Amendment Bill that enabled the Goods and Services Tax Bill (GST) to replace a number of different state and local.



This could potentially turn India into the worlds largest single market. It may take some time to take effect but may address some of the issues we face in terms of state border delays.



In the Economic and Technological Cooperation Agreements (ETCA) we are also making the case for Mutual Recognition Agreements (MRAs). Then, a Sri Lankan exporter will be able to obtain an export standards certificate from Sri Lanka which will be acceptable in India and vice versa. This would speed up the movement of goods.

QHow can Sri Lanka secure greater market access to India?

The FTA with India needs to be expanded beyond goods to services. The ETCAs go beyond the present agreements. The opposition to ETCA is mainly based on the fear that the larger, more powerful neighbour would unequally benefit from any arrangements. The present FTA has increased SLs exports to India by over 30% from 2006 to 2015, while imports from India have grown. But SLs exports to India have grown faster than Indias exports to SL. 68% of SLs exports to India are under the FTA while more than 90% of Indias exports to SL are outside the FTA. We import vehicles to small industrial items from India because it is price competitive and not because of the FTA. If we do not import these items from India, we would have to do so from China, Korea or Japan. The imports will be more expensive than importing from India. It is clear that our exports to India receive preferential treatment. We must expand that market opportunity and overcome the non-tariff barriers we face.



QHow can we reduce the trade gap with India?

The trade gap with India will worsen in the short-run as long as Indian goods are the cheapest for Sri Lankans to access. But over time the potential for us to export to India will be much bigger than our ability to consume Indian goods. SL has a great opportunity to sell value added services not only to India but to the world. We cannot compete in the low-end labour intensive BPO industry. But we can produce quality professionals - Engineers, doctors, para-medics, caregivers, accountants, finance professionals, lawyers, ICT professionals etc.



We need to increase these numbers not only to cater to our local market but also to the international market. These are quality professionals for high quality value added services. Technology is changing the way we do business. We do not have to export these professionals. They can live here and provide services globally. That window is opening. The government with its limited resources cannot do it. The private sector has taken the lead in some areas. Why not open the door for the private sector in other areas too? The government must regulate standards. That is the way forward.

QApart from the ETCA, what are your views on the current budgetary position of the government?

Economic growth for the year is estimated at around 5% and with the continuing fiscal consolidation efforts of the government, the budget deficit is expected to be around5% - 6%. Revenue collection has improved but will still be under 14% of GDP. Government expenditure has not been cut due to the fulfilment of election pledges. It is in this context that the 2017 budget has to considered. Governments have to be concerned about short term expenditure of the population while ensuring long term growth and stability of the economy. We have to manage the irresponsible debt burden we inherited, while creating macroeconomic stability by reducing the budget deficit.



As there is little flexibility in trimming government expenditure the focus is on enhancing revenue collection through better implementation of proposals, widening the tax net and reducing the burden of direct taxes which is more socially just. Increasing economic activity and growth is more dependent on the credibility of actions rather than on the proposal itself. Financial markets and investors respond more favourably to consistency of policy rather than on the policy itself.



QWhat are the plans for reforming the State ventures?

Recognising the urgent need to address the problems in SOEs the government set up a separate ministry to focus on public enterprises. More than 50 SOEs are gazetted under this ministry. They cover a wide range of operations hence they have been categorised under different clusters such as banking and finance, aviation, plantation, services and industries. Restructuring efforts are underway in these enterprises. Given the enormous losses being made in the airlines, there was an urgent need to restructure the airline. A restructuring plan which includes the rationalisation of routes and fleets is currently being undertaken and the process to look for a strategic partner is ongoing.

In the banking sector, there is a process to rationalise the small state banks while encouraging the larger banks to prepare themselves to face the challenges arising from greater competition, enhanced regulation and the fine tech revolution.



The fundamental reason why Sri Lankas SOE sector have underperformed is due to the absence of a system to hold the owners (Boards of Directors) and Managers of SOEs accountable for losses and the direct control over strategic and operational decision making by politicians and bureaucrats, which often leads to compromises in efficiency. Further, in many areas that SOEs operate, they are not subject to competition. Politicians will make political decisions rather than economic ones and these decisions will tend to be focused on the short term benefits, ignoring long term consequences. There is a preference to postpone tough decisions than risk unpopularity, which is why state enterprises are able to keep running losses continually. SOEs underperform due to a host of commonly experienced governance problems. The focus of the governments current reform process is to restructure the existing SOE governance framework by establishing an independent entity which will be the central body of power over all SOEs. The functions of this entity would be to professionalise the Boards and Management of SOEs; ensure a performance driven culture by identifying key performance indicators (KPIs) and regularly monitoring their progress. Listing even a small percentage of the shares of an SOE will improve corporate governance as it will have to meet the requirements of the Securities and Exchange Commission.



Q How far have you progressed in working out the PPP model for it?

PPP contracts are tools that can be used for the government to leverage the private sectors knowledge, experience, financial capacity, to improve the quantity and quality of public services. In PPP arrangements the skills and resources of both sectors (public and private) are shared, while both bear the risk and reward in delivering a service to the public. Private involvement helps to ensure that projects are driven by economic and commercial priorities. If social objectives need to be met these are accounted for transparently and provided for by the government. PPP can help address the resource constraints faced by the government while ensuring public services are provided. The major advantage in PPPs is that risk can be shared and each sectors strengths can be capitalised on. Private sector strengths such as management efficiency and rapid technology adoption, can be combined with the publics interest.



There are many sectors that the government is engaged in at present which lend themselves to PPPs. In the Ministry of Public Enterprise Development, we have begun to look at PPPs in sectors such as aviation and plantation. The plantation sector has been making colossal losses partly due to market conditions but also due to management issues. The government has indicated that it is not prepared to continue to funding these loss making enterprises. The Ministry is looking at a PPP model to turnaround this sector. Several projects have been identified where the government would enter into PPP with the private sector to manage or start new ventures on plantation lands.



QWhat is the progress on introducing this model for Sri Lankan Airlines?

The significant losses accumulated by the airlines has forced the government to look at alternative models for the airlines. A PPP model was considered the most suitable as it would bring in the required capital infusion and management capabilities which would be necessary to turn around the airline. In this regard, Cabinet appointed financial advisors to advise the government on the restructuring of the Sri Lankan Airlines and Mihin Lanka. An advertisement was placed both international and local media calling for interested parties to submit their expressions of interest (EOI). EOI were received from several parties which are currently being evaluated by the financial advisors. Based on the evaluation a few candidates will be shortlisted to submit detailed proposals on the restructuring of the airlines.



QHow do you view the current political challenges of the government?

The Sirisena-Wickremesinghe administration has made great strides in restoring the rule of law and democracy. As in any transition from a more authoritarian administration to a more democratic one the exercise of freedom without responsibility can be viewed as somewhat chaotic. The governments majority is solid and its resolve to carry out its mandate must not be underestimated.People are disappointed with our ability to bring to justice those who have plundered the economy and blatantly abused power. People are getting frustrated with the delays in the judicial process. This is not something new but has been like this for a few decades. But the difference now is that peoples expectations are very high. The Justice Ministry,the Attorney Generals Department and the Judiciary need to take note of this. Peoples confidence in their governments have been questioned from time to time. But their confidence in the judicial process must not be eroded. It is time to act fast.
The head of a certain state-run establishment who happens to be the brother-in-law of a leading member of the top team in yahapalanaya, has become a veritable terror to the female employees of the establishment.



By the way, the employees of the place had blocked this high-ups access to his office during a recent industrial action.



Employees charge that this high-up who behaves like a typical lunatic harass the female workers after making cooked up allegations against them.



A group of aggrieved female workers giving evidence at a high-powered official committee gave the chapter and verse of the high-ups obnoxious conduct, they say.
KUNDUZ, AFP, Aug 21, 2016 - Afghan forces have recaptured a district that had fallen briefly to the Taliban, officials and residents said Sunday, after thousands of people fled their homes in Afghanistan's northeastern Kunduz province.

Khan Abad district, which is around 30 kilometres east of Kunduz city -- the provincial capital where militants last year scored their biggest ever victory -- had fallen to the Taliban after they launched a pre-dawn attack on the district centre on Saturday, according to local officials.

Several hours later Afghan special forces were deployed to the area -- a key route to Kunduz city -- to retake the district.

The district was recaptured by government forces on Saturday evening, according to Sayed Mahmood Danish, a Kunduz governor spokesman.




A 46-year-old woman was killed and her 18-year-old daughter injured when they were run over by a private bus plying from Moratuwa to Colombo. They were on the pedestrian crossing on Galle Road near the Milagiriya Church on October 1.



The victims who were residents of Warakapola were residing in Bambalapitiya because the girl was schooling at Devi Balika Vidyalaya in Colombo 8.



The bus driver was remanded by the High Court on murder charges.

Video by RM
The Sri LankaGermany Business Council of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce (CCC) hosted the high-powered German business delegation arrived in Sri Lanka last week.

The delegation from the Asia Pacific Business Association, Germany was headed by Mercmarine Group of Companies CEO

Thomas Kriwat.

Sri LankaGermany Business Council President Mark Francis speaking during the occasion emphasized the importance of having close relationship with Sri Lanka and Germany. He said a strong and close relationship will encourage the growth of bilateral trade and investment between the two counties.

Further, the Asia Pacific Business Association expressed its interest in working more closely with the Sri LankaGermany Business Council.

The Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany associated with the Sri LankaGerman Business Council in hosting the delegation. The event took place at Hilton Colombo Residences.
The retro-chic Chaaya Blu Trincomalee belonging to the Cinnamon Hotels & Resorts chain, celebrated 5 eventful years on 10th May. Over the past 5 years, the hotel has evolved into the prime leisure destination on the east coast, not only for its uber stylish offering, but also due to its status as the best whale watching hub in the country.



Built around the theme of sun, sand and water-based fun activities, Chaaya Blu Trincomalee offers an exciting whale watching experience for guests that is built on sustainable and responsible tourism practices. Significantly, the hotel has earned its reputation by demonstrating a robust sustainability framework that ensures that all its stakeholders are part of the hotels success story.



While whale watching offers a novel experience for guests, it is a vital lifeline for the local community. The hotel has employed local fishermen (who ply their boats for whale watching) and fitted their boats with non-polluting, silent engines so as not to disturb the marine life. The hotel has invested heavily in acquiring such equipment and infrastructure to develop a professionally-managed whale watching operation for its guests. Commencing with 2 boat operators, the hotel has built up a pool of 8 fishermen, who regularly operate the whale watching expeditions under the supervision of Chaaya Blu Trincomalee.



The hotel has empowered these boat operators with knowledge about the dos and donts to preserve marine life and ensure safety of guests. Every whale watching trip is accompanied by a naturalist who shares his knowledge with the guests.



Since the hotel commenced operations 5 years ago, it has increased the percentage of local residents in its employment, providing a secure and stable livelihood source for people from surrounding communities. These employees are further supported by free English speaking and soft skills necessary for future success in their careers.



Another far-reaching sustainability initiative undertaken by Chaaya Blu Trincomalee is the preservation and clean up of Pigeon Island, famed for its live corals and rich marine life. Over-visitation and weak environmental regulations is putting the corals and marine life on the island at risk, thereby threatening their existence.



Chaaya Blu Trincomalee has taken on the challenge of educating their guests who visit Pigeon Island about the ecological impact of coral reefs and the importance of not walking on or breaking off corals as souvenirs. The hotels efforts at nurturing the natural wonders of Pigeon Island have been commended by the Sri Lanka Navy.
Dr. Kapila Jayaratne MBBS, MSc, DCH, MD (Community Medicine) Consultant Community Physician and the President of the Perinatal Society of Sri Lanka discussed child, mother and prenatal care situation in Sri Lanka with the Dailymirror. Excerpts:

QWhy should the Government or the Ministry of Health pay additional attention to Perinatal care in the country?

In Sri Lanka, a majority of maternal deaths took place near term and during the immediate post-partum period. Maternal near-misses show a similar picture. Perinatal deaths are also concentrated immediately before, around and just after delivery. A justification for investing on the care in and around delivery as put forward in The Every Newborn Action Plan resulting in saving the lives of both mothers and babies, and also the prevention of stillbirths. The future of the nation mainly rests on mothers and babies.



Sri Lankas maternal and child healthcare service delivery is so successful that the country has a maternal and child health record that is the envy of South Asia. But we still have room for further improvement and that is why this special attention to perinatal care.



Over the years, MMR (Maternal Mortality Rate) declined in Sri Lanka. In 1948, 1,700 women died when 100,000 babies were born alive but there was a steady reductions in maternal deaths in successive years. Now we capture almost all maternal deaths. In the year 2015, we had 113 maternal deaths and 334,841 live births to report a MMR of 33.7 per 100,000 live births. In other words 34 women die when 100,000 babies are born alive.



QExplain briefly the current situation of MMR and perinatal care in Sri Lanka.

Reviewing maternal deaths per se will do nothing. Translating lessons learnt into policies, programmes and practices are also of utmost importance. We have done a multitude of actions as lessons learnt out of maternal deaths.



Over eight years from 2007, the countrys MMR fluctuates at the same level. This is despite a background of 99% antenatal care, 99.9% hospital deliveries and 91% post-partum domiciliary care.

The cause of maternal death profile shows 65% medical complications especially heart diseases and pneumonias. Our caesarean section rate is 34.5% in 2015 and the induction rate is as high as 33%. An in depth analysis into such high rates has not so far been conducted.



QWhat about the IMR (Infant Mortality Rate)?

The infant mortality rate also reduced over the years to reach 8.2 per 1,000 live births in 2013. When translated into numbers  it is nearly 3030 babies dying before their first birthday in a year in this country. Seventy one percent (2120) of these deaths are reported in the neonatal period  within 28 days. Out of neonatal deaths also 60% (1270) take place in the first 7 days of life.



QDoes Sri Lanka have a scientific and uptodate Perinatal death review process similar to that of a developed country?

A systematic perinatal death review process was formulated in 2006 by the FHB (Family Health Bureau) SLCP (Sri Lanka College of Gynaecologists) and PSSL (Perinatal Society of Sri Lanka). In the year 2014, data were received from a total of 452 hospitals including 21 Private hospitals. Considering the total live births reported by the Registrar Generals Department for the year, the coverage of live births was 99.6%.



QWhat actions have been taken to bring down the MMR and CMR by the Health Ministry?

In preparation of an Every Newborn Action Plan for Sri Lanka, FHB commissioned a review of a current newborn care programme - A Bottleneck Analysis. The report was published in 2016. Many of the bottlenecks identified are implicated on maternal and newborn survival.



QAs the President of the PSSL what are the priority areas you have identified in perinatology to further improve the care on expectant mothers, unborn babies and newborns?

During my tenure as president, with the background theme  Reshaping the care for pregnant women, unborn babies and newborns, I proposed a 15 fold activities to improve perinatal care. As per the constitution, the PSSL can have a variety of members from different specialties.



Two strategic plans  No more deaths: Prevent maternal and perinatal deaths. The Every Newborn: An Action Plan to End Preventable Deaths (ENAP) and Ending Preventable Maternal Mortality (EPMM), aim to catalyze global action to eliminate wide disparities in the risk of death and end preventable maternal and newborn mortality and stillbirths within a generation.



QWhat are the Intricacies in Newborn care?

There are numerous sophisticated therapeutic modalities introduced in sick newborn care. A significant portion of deliveries end up with preterm babies. Total Parenteral Nutrition is important for optimal nutrition for sick babies. All these are not yet available for management of preterm babies. PSSL will advocate for making available such therapeutic approaches in the country.



QDo you have a sophisticated date base for PMR and MMR?

The first step in formulating preventive strategies on perinatal mortality is the accurate capture of all perinatal deaths and classification of the causes of those deaths across all settings, using a globally applicable and comparable system. Sri Lanka initiated using ICD-PM classification advocated by WHO from January 2016. The ICD-PM is intended to facilitate the consistent collection, analysis and interpretation of information on perinatal deaths.



Not only the counting and registering but also the vital event is also important. Our council will facilitate registration of stillbirths and early neonatal deaths with Registrar General Department. In a framework of patient-centred care a humane approach is fundamental. Adding the dimension of rights-based approach will undoubtedly improve the quality of perinatal care.



QExplain how this field could be further improved by mixing technology?

In that process, as time passes by, it would become increasingly difficult not to take note of the great technological advances made in the fields of information and communication technology (ICT), and its application in perinatology. These advances are rewriting textbooks and transforming medicine and the way health care is delivered.



We cannot wait and watch any more, change must come, sooner than later. As much as antenatal care, skilled birth attendance and improved neonatal care, helped us conquer maternal and perinatal deaths, ICT and genomics are the weapons that will help us conquer further reduction of mortality and improve survival of pregnant mothers, unborn babies and neonatal.
By Shabiya Ali Ahlam

China affirmed its commitment to helping its regional peers to reach their full growth potential, but implied the international agencies must step up and speed up their efforts for such economies to grow more trade for success.

As World Trade Organization (WTO) members we must make efforts, we must speed up implementation of the packaged agreement. We must step up our effort to improve the trade facilitation agreement as soon as possible. This is essential, Chinas Vice Minister of Commerce Wang Shouwen told the World Export Development Forum (WEDF) 2016, that concluded in Colombo yesterday.



He noted that the trade cost reduction produced by the Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA) could be more valuable for developing countries and they should join in regional development measures.

Advocating for Free Trade Agreements (FTAs), an avenue China capitalized on to integrate with the world, Shouwen stressed that open and transparent FTAs do not substitute WTO, but supplement it.

FTAs between members that are at different levels of development promote industrial cooperation. It would allow trade and investment flow to the benefit of all participants, said the Vice Minister while commending Sri Lanka for taking a similar route in its determination in boosting trade ties with the international market.



To-date, China has concluded 14 FTAs covering 22 countries and as result has been successful in attracting US $1.7 trillion in FDIs. This alone accounts for about half of Chinas trade and 14 percent of Chinas total jobs.



Attracting investment is important for exports and FDIs and knowledge transition is a crucial part of driving indigenous innovation in local companies, he added.

Furthermore, the Vice Minister also reaffirmed Chinas continued support to Sri Lanka. Acknowledging that the two nations are in active discussion in boosting ties, Shouwen stressed China would support Sri Lankas development ambitions and would partner with the country going forward.



China is willing and very faithful to Sri Lanka and would remain so as a partner to making a large number of planned projects by the Sri Lankan government a success, he assured.
A federal judge signaled Wednesday he is unlikely to suspend Wisconsin's voter ID law for the November election, but chastised the state for making "no effort" to inform voters lacking necessary documents how to obtain a photo ID.

The state is asking Peterson to deny a request filed earlier this month by the liberal group One Wisconsin Institute to either suspend the state's voter ID law for the November election or put in place remedial measures to address issues with the ID petition process (IDPP), which is designed to help people who don't have the proper documentation obtain IDs.

U.S. District Judge James Peterson heard testimony from both sides on Wednesday, and called attorneys back for a Thursday morning hearing to discuss remedies to the issues raised in the case.

"I'm very disappointed to see that the state really did nothing in response to my order on (July) 29," Peterson said.

Peterson in July found the IDPP system did not require "wholesale invalidation," but that it did not act as an effective safety net for qualified electors who struggle to obtain proper IDs.

"The IDPP is pretty much a disaster," Peterson wrote, later referring to it as a "wretched failure."

Under Peterson's July ruling, once a petitioner submits sufficient materials, the state Division of Motor Vehicles must "promptly issue a credential valid for voting, unless readily available information shows that the petitioner is not a qualified elector entitled to such a credential." The state must also "inform the general public" of that process.

Peterson on Wednesday said he thinks state officials assumed an emergency rule implemented in May would satisfy the July order. Under that rule, the DMV is required to issue receipts to would-be voters who are in the process of obtaining a photo ID but aren't able to provide the necessary documents in time for an election. Voters are able to cast ballots with those temporary receipts.

"There was really, as far as I can tell, no effort made  to inform the public" how the IDPP process works, Peterson said, calling attempts to do so "spotty" and "erratic."

Most outreach and education has addressed the voter ID law in general, and not the much more complex process for people lacking documents like birth certificates, he said.

Still, he said, he's not sure he has the jurisdiction to suspend the voter ID law.

"I also believe that, as I held at the end of July, i want to respect the states decision to have a voter ID law. I dont think under current law its unconstitutional," he said.

However, he added, a functioning IDPP is a prerequisite to a constitutionally sound voter ID law.

The state needs to "step up" and take more seriously its efforts to make sure voters understand the process and can obtain voting credentials.

The judge will meet with attorneys from both sides on Thursday to determine how best to address concerns that were raised. That will likely involve "some sort of public education blitz," possibly in the form of a palm-sized card with information about the IDPP and "aggressive outreach."

Much of the education effort for voters likely to need the IDPP may need to be undertaken by volunteers, friends and family members, Peterson said.

The request to suspend the law came after media reports based on recordings from the advocacy group VoteRiders indicated DMV workers gave inaccurate information to people seeking IDs.

The state argued the interactions detailed in media reports were mostly hypothetical conversations, with questions designed to "trip up" DMV workers. They argued that the actual voters whose interactions were recorded have all received IDs.

In a court-ordered report filed last week, Attorney General Brad Schimel said state officials are doing enough to address concerns with the way voter identification credentials are issued to those who need them.

Measures being taken by the DMV include requiring additional training on the IDPP for field staff, updating language in application materials and "making clear through agency-wide communications that the proper functioning of the IDPP is a priority."

Peterson said the state has made "enormous strides" in its training approach, but said it can't rely entirely on DMV workers to execute the process flawlessly.

"The fight is far from over and it will not end until every legal voter in Wisconsin that wants to vote is able to do so and have that vote counted," said One Wisconsin Institute executive director Scot Ross in a statement.
MP Namal Rajapaksa said today that the IGP should conduct an investigation to find out how police officers with outstanding cases against them were recruited to the FCID.

He said he had the names of the police officers in the FCID who had cases and corruption charges against them.

The police officer who arrested me recently was out on bail in a murder case. I filed a case against the FCID demanding compensation. I will file more cases. This is just the beginning. We still have faith in the judiciary, he said.

Mr. Rajapaksa asked why police officers with criminal charges against them were assigned to question politicians.

The government is doing things contrary to the principles of good governance. Murders are rampant. The underworld has raised its head, he said.

He said people neither respect nor fear the police and the judiciary as they had been politicized.

He said people were losing faith in the judiciary and the economy was collapsing. (Ajith Siriwardana)
The Cabinet on Tuesday approved the Policy and Legal Framework relating to the proposed Counter Terrorism Act (CTA) which would replace the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA), Cabinet Spokesman, acting Mass Media and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Karunaratne Paranawithana said yesterday.

The proposal submitted to the Cabinet for the approval of the Policy and Legal Framework of the CTA by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe also decided to refer it to the Parliamentary Sectoral Oversight Committee on National Security requesting their observations within a months time and to direct the Legal Draftsman to draft legislation accordingly, taking into consideration the Policy and Legal Framework along with the observations of the Parliamentary Sectoral Oversight Committee on National Security.

Paranawithana said a committee chaired by the Minister of Law and Order and Southern Development Sagala Ratnayake had been appointed to draft a new counter terrorism law instead of the existing Prevention of Terrorism Act for providing adequate provisions for prevention of terrorism and affirm Sri Lanka's commitment on human rights responsibilities.

Accordingly, the Cabinet has decided to forward the policy and legal framework drafted by the said committee to the Sectoral Oversight Committee on National Security for further discussions.

Prime Minister Wickremesinghe told the Cabinet that he had appointed a committee headed by Minister of Law and Order to draft the Policy and Legal Framework to introduce a new Counter Terrorism Law, repealing and replacing the Prevention of Terrorism Act in order to ensure full compliance with Sri Lankas Human Rights obligations, while having adequate provisions to combat and deal with terrorism.

The Committee has concluded its deliberations and submitted a draft Policy and Legal Framework relating to the proposed Counter Terrorism Act of Sri Lanka.

Paranawithana also said Foreign Affairs Minister Mangala Samaraweera had also submitted a report containing the proposals of his Ministry to be incorporated in the new Act and the Sectoral Oversight Committee in Parliament.

The Foreign Affairs Ministry proposals are reported to have included the current global trend in countering terrorism and protecting of human rights at the same time.

There were demands by various global agencies to Sri Lanka in the recent past, to drop the PTA and introduce new legislations instead. (Sandun A Jayasekera)
The parents of the 17-year-old schoolgirl, who died last year after falling into an unprotected drain at the Nittawela Junction on the Kandy-Katugastota Road, filed a civil law suit, in the Kaduwela District Court today, claiming damages from the Kandy Municipal Council (KMC) and the Road Development Authority (RDA).

They are claiming Rs.100 million each from the two institutions.

At the time of her death, the teenager Sahebdeen Mohamed Asra was studying for the GCE Advanced Level at the Badiudeen Mohamed Balika Vidyalaya in Kandy.

She is reported to have fallen into the open drain when trying to escape the water splashed by a speeding vehicle, while returning home in the pouring rain with two other girls after attending a tuition class. (Shehan Chamika Silva)
ANKARA, AFP, Aug 21, 2016 - The death toll from the bomb attack on a wedding in Gaziantep in southeastern Turkey has risen to 50, the regional governor's office said on Sunday.

The number of those killed in the terrorist bombings is, as of today, 50, the office of governor Ali Yerlikaya said in a statement, raising a previous toll of 30.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said the attack was likely carried out by Islamic State (IS) jihadists.
Colombo High Court Judge Pathmini N Ranawaka today noticed the respondents, cited by former chief JMO Ananda Samarasekara in his revision application, to appear in court on October 27.

He filed a revision application in the High Court after his anticipatory bail application filed in the Colombo Chief Magistrate's Court in connection with the investigation into Wasim Thajudeens missing body parts, was rejected.

Mr. Samarasekaera cited the Attorney General and the OIC of the CIDs Homicide Division as respondents.

His anticipatory bail application was rejected by Colombo Additional Magistrate Dulani Amarasinghe.

When the application was taken up for consideration, Deputy Solicitor General Dilan Ratnayake objected to the granting of bail on the grounds that witness statements alleged that a few days before Mr. Samarasekaras retirement, he had dispatched Thajudeens body parts.

The DSG informed Court that the CID was investigating the disappearance of the body parts under the Public Property Act on the basis that the body parts had been taken into the former JMO's custody and therefore they belonged to the State.

An anticipatory bail application can be filed by an individual seeking bail in anticipation of being named or arrested in connection with a nonbailable offence.

Mr. Samarasekara had also filed a petition in the Supreme Court against the imminent infringement of his fundamental rights in connection with the investigation into Wasim Thajudeens killing. (Shehan Chamika Silva)
Ukraine war: Putin is no pushover

So Ukraine is winning the war against mighty Russia, an enemy which is armed
Shavindra Indika Dias - Managing Director

FOREWAY Logistics Colombo is celebrating its 5th year anniversary on the 05th of October 2016. The company head quartered in the heart of Colombo, Sri Lanka provides a full range of supply chain management solutions to the industry and its stakeholders.

The company was incorporated in 2011 as a small-scale organization, and has slowly and steadily developed as a medium scale group, even during the most difficult period for freight and logistical service providers. During its first five years of business, FOREWAY Logistics Sri Lanka has built up a portfolio of impressive clients with a wide range of products catering to the international market.

FOREWAY Logistics provides total supply chain management services via sea or air, including international and domestic transportation and warehousing facility. Specialized in transshipment and trans-loading as well as sea to air or vice a versa operations, the organization also specializes in handling temperature controlled cargo, aviation and military units as well as heavy machinery and construction-based commodities. The company also has an Airport Branch office, which caters to all the requirements of air freight related services.



Managing Director, Shavindra Indika Dias said, The first half a decade has been a very exciting and challenging time for FOREWAY Logistics. Weve had fantastic support from our network agents, shipping and airlines and other service providers, which enables us to concentrate in providing the best possible services to our clients. A special gratitude must go to all the clients who believed in us from the beginning and supported us unconditionally

FOREWAY Logistics is proud to be a network member of Lognet Global (part of WCA  the worlds largest Logistics Network) and Professional Forwarders International (PFI), where they represent on an exclusive basis. On a regular basis the organization has represented Sri Lanka at Annual Conferences and Annual General Meetings held worldwide.

Shavindra added, Were enjoying an extremely busy period with a lot of changes taking place in the shipping industry itself and with new developments we have implemented within the group. A special appreciation must go to all staff members who work round the clock with lot of hard work and dedication to cope up with new developments.

Running on a fully automated system, the company has a mix of the best technology and highly experienced staff. They are dynamic, competent and confident in what they do and are the energy that propels FOREWAY forward. They have been challenged throughout their logistics career, tested and proved that they are the best in the business.
A purohita from the South recently set out on a visit to Rajarata on official business well ahead of the crack of dawn.



The motorcade was cruising along the Puttalam-Anuradhapura road when the chief purohita began feeling the pangs of hunger. While watching out for a wayside tea kiosk to have some bites, the chief one spotted a kola-kenda spot and asked his security guards to stop.



The purohita and his escorts, who entered the booth, found a few peasants seated inside sipping the popular herbal broth. The kola-kenda available for serving was hardly sufficient for the new crowd and the politico and his escorts had to wait for a fresh supply from a pot already boiling on the hearth. The politico was impatiently waiting for the broth, when a talkative one from among the peasants addressed him. How do you size up the current political situation, Sir?



Yahapalanaya government is running smoothly! the politico replied.



Then, why is the pro-government groups lose at all elections to co-operatives. Didnt your group lose at the election held in your own village? the talkative one asked again.



Taken aback by this question, the purohita could not give an immediate reply.



And the talkative peasant continued to hold forth: Sir, high-ups in politics like you do not appear to feel the pulse of people like us. That accounts for your complacency.



The peasant who appeared to be in his element proceeded with a commentary on the difficulties the ordinary people were going through. Irked by the critical remarks being made by the peasant, the politico decided that it was more conducive for his political health to leave the place immediately rather than get into an argument with the man. He addressed the kola-kenda booth owner. I have to rush to Anuradhapura to keep an appointment. So I am sorry that we have to miss your kola-kenda.



And as he left the booth with his escorts to the waiting vehicle, the talkative peasant spoke up again: Sir, its a pity you cant wait for kola-kenda. Please also remember, Sir, that we too cannot wait too long for solutions to our urgent problems.
NASIRIYAH, AFP, Aug 21, 2016 - Iraq on Sunday hanged 36 men convicted over the 2014 massacre by Sunni jihadists and allied militants of hundreds of military recruits, officials said.

They had been found guilty of involvement in the Speicher massacre, named after a base near Tikrit where up to 1,700 recruits were kidnapped before being executed in a massacre claimed by the Islamic State group.

The executions of 36 convicted over the Speicher crime were carried out this morning in Nasiriyah prison, a spokesman for the governor's office in Dhiqar, the province of which Nasiriyah is the capital, told AFP.

The governor of Dhiqar, Yahya al-Nasseri and Justice Minister Haidar al-Zamili were present to oversee the executions, Abdelhassan Dawood said.
The Joint Opposition today questioned whether the unclear manner, in which the Perpetual Treasuries Limited earned an excessive profit of Rs. 5 billion by trading Government Bonds, could fall under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.

Addressing a media briefing, Joint Opposition leader MP Dinesh Gunawardane claimed that Central Bank (CB) report on the controversial bond issue, had found that the source of earning a profit of Rs. 5 billion was unclear.

It is suspicious in which manner the Perpetual Treasuries Limited earned an excessive profit. As the Joint Opposition, we would like to request an immediate declaration from the Government on this issue whether it could fall under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, he added.

He also said the Government should be taken immediate steps to seal the Perpetual Treasuries Limited.

Meanwhile, Joint Opposition member Prof. G.L. Peiris said Perpetual Treasuries Limited had made an after-tax profit of Rs.5.1 billion for the year ended in March 31, which was even more than an annual after-tax profit of a bank in Sri Lanka.

The Government is expecting an income of Rs. 3 billion with the increase of Value added tax in this year. But this company earns more than what the Government expected from VAT increment by burdening the poor with excess taxes. Therefore, this company should be sealed as soon as possible, he added. (Kalathma Jayawardhane)

Video by Sanjeewa
A group of Sri Lankan and Filipino refugees in Hong Kong sheltered US whistleblower Edward Snowden, the former National Security Agency (NSA) contractor, until he fled to Russia from Hong Kong. Ajith Puspakumara, a 44-year-old former Sri Lankan soldier and Supun Kellapatha had provided shelter to Snowden in 2013. The refugees told the CNN about their experiences and how they housed and hosted the most wanted man.
Industry and Commerce Ministry Secretary T. M. K. B. Tennakoon (left) and Lanka Sugar Company (Private) Limited Chairman Navin Adikarama

Pic by Pradeep Dilrukshana

By Chandeepa Wettasinghe

Foreign investor interest in the local sugar industry is rising, with discussions underway to provide another 20,000 hectares to a Korean company to start production, a high level government official said yesterday.



A Korean company which is interested in planting sugarcane is currently conducting negotiations with us, Industry and Commerce Ministry Secretary T. M. K. B. Tennakoon said.

He added that the investor was looking at planting in around 20,000 hectares, and the government is currently evaluating which land parcels should be allocated.



The government has set aside 120,000 hectares for sugarcane cultivation, including the 13,000 hectares currently under cultivation.



Meanwhile, Tennakoon added that the Indian company which had signed an investment agreement to take over the dormant Kantale sugar factory and 20,000 hectares for sugarcane cultivation was ready to start planting soon.

He failed to provide the names of the two companies.

Only brown sugar is produced locally, and amounts to around 8 percent of the total sugar market in Sri Lanka.



Primary Industries Minister Daya Gamage had recently said that the government was hoping to facilitate the creation of 5 new sugar factories to boost local production.

The state-owned Lanka Sugar Company (Private) Limited Chairman Navin Adikarama said that a local investor was planning to cultivate 3,000 hectares of sugarcane in Athimale, Monaragala.

According to Adikarama, sugarcane seedlings can be harvested in 10 months, and planting a hectare costs around Rs. 130,000.



Sugarcanes can be ratooned for 2- 3 years, where the base of the plant is left standing on the soil, to allow harvestable sprouts to grow even faster, and to save up on planting costs.

Adikarama said that sugarcane has a very high return on investment.

You can get 90 percent of the return on investments in one year, he said.

He noted that the returns depend on the recovery rate of sugar i.e. the sugar produced per volumes of sugarcane crushed.

It depends on how much you recover per tonne of cane. If we have 5-6 percent we cant break-even. If its 8 percent plus, we can break even. Actually, with ethanol, were positive, Adikarama said.

He noted that even with a 5-6 percent return, where sugar worth Rs. 4,500 is produced from a tonne, the ethanol collected as a by-product of the manufacturing process helps to push the returns from a tonne to Rs. 11,000.



Tennakoon said that a Rs. 4,750 subsidy is given to local farmers per tonne of sugarcane supplied, which the government is hoping to increase above Rs. 5,000 in the future.

According to Adikarama, with a sugar recovery rate of 9 percent, Rs. 5,500-6000 in sugar can be produced.



He noted that Lanka Sugar Company is currently averaging a recovery rate of 8.33 percent. According to the Central Bank, the recovery rate for 2015 had been 7.5 percent, 8.0 percent for 2014, and 8.2 percent for 2013. According to the Central Bank, the average sugarcane yield per hectare was 90 metric tonnes in 2015, improving from 75 in 2014. The sugar factories, which were nationalized in a controversial move by the former regime, had crushed 750,000 metric tonnes of sugarcane in 2015, up from 657,000 metric tonnes in 2014.



They had purchased 337,000 metric tonnes of private sugarcane in 2015, up from 204,000 metric tonnes in 2014.

Meanwhile, Tennakoon said that the ethanol tanks in the state-owned companies are always full, and that they sometimes have to sell ethanol at a cheaper rate in order to free up storage for new supplies.



However, most of the ethanol used for alcohol production in Sri Lanka is imported, and corruption allegations have been levelled at the importation process.
The Maldivian Government today announced that it would leave the Commonwealth, a collection of countries made up largely of former British colonies, citing the organisation had taken punitive actions against the Maldives despite the progress made by the country to strengthen democratic institutions.

Issuing a statement, the Foreign Affairs Ministry of the Maldives said the decision to leave the Commonwealth was difficult, but inevitable.

The Maldives joined the Commonwealth in 1982 with high hopes and expectations, convinced that the organisation will be an arena for coordinating critical issues that the member States, in particular, the smallest members of the organisation face.

Since 2012, the Government of Maldives has been giving maximum cooperation to the Commonwealth, shown maximum transparency, and engaged with the Commonwealth at the highest levels.

The Government had high hopes that such level of engagement will produce fruitful results. Regrettably, the Commonwealth has not recognised that progress and achievements that the Maldives accomplished in cultivating a culture of democracy in the country and in building and strengthening democratic institutions.

The Government of President Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom has enacted a total of 110 pieces of legislations. Out of which, 94 legislations were directly related to the core values set out in the Commonwealth Charter. An overwhelming majority of these legislations (69 out of 94) were specifically designed to promote human rights, to strengthen democratic governance, and to reinforce the separation of powers. These achievements have resulted in strengthening the rule of law and produced tangible outcomes in strengthening democratic institutions in the country.

The Commonwealth has sought to take punitive actions against the Maldives since 2012 after the then President of Maldives resigned, and transfer of power took place as per the procedures set out in the Constitution. The Commonwealths decision to penalise the Maldives was unjustified especially given that the Commission of National Inquiry (CoNI), established with the help of the Commonwealth, found that the transfer of power in the Maldives was consistent with the constitutional provisions.

Since then, the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group (CMAG) and the Commonwealth Secretariat have treated the Maldives unjustly and unfairly. The Commonwealth has sought to become an active participant in the domestic political discourse in the Maldives, which is contrary to the principles of the Charters of the UN and the Commonwealth. The CMAG and the Commonwealth Secretariat seem to be convinced that the Maldives, because of the high and favourable reputation that the country enjoys internationally, and also perhaps because it is a small State that lacks material power, would be an easy object that can be used, especially in the name of democracy promotion, to increase the organisations own relevance and leverage in international politics, the statement said.

The government however reassured that its international engagement would continue both bilaterally and multilaterally.
Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera today called on Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto at the Foreign Ministry to discuss bilateral cooperation and issues of mutual concern. The Hungarian Foreign Minister was accompanied by a delegation that consisted of Ambassador of Hungary to Sri Lanka Gylua Patho and Gabor Kun, Deputy CEO of the Hungarian National Trading House. Meanwhile, Minister Samaraweera met Dr. Shamshad Akhtar, the Under-Secretary General of the United Nations and Executive Secretary of the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP) at the Ministry. (Foreign Minister Media)
By Economic Intelligence Unit, Ceylon Chamber of Commerce

The participants at the recently concluded Sri Lanka Economic Summit are optimistic about the governments ability to deliver economic results in the next four years, but are critical of the progress made so far and have mixed views about Budget 2017, according to a survey conducted at the event.



The Ceylon Chamber of Commerce (CCC), the organisers of the summit, surveyed top corporate executives at the summit through a combination of mobile and written questionnaires. The questions were anchored to the overall theme of the summit of Focus.Act.Deliver. as well as to specific issues tackled in the sessions, ranging from public-private partnerships (PPPs), to tourism, human capital and international trade and logistics.



The results on specific sector questions need to be interpreted with the caveat in that the audience would not entirely consist of experts of each of those subject areas.

Views on performance poor, but optimism for next four years

The poll asked three questions inked to the summits theme of Focus.Act.Deliver. The first on How focussed is the government on creating policies that support private sector growth?

showed a lot of pessimism with 47 percent of respondents giving a score of three out of five (with one being the lowest and five being the highest). Thirty six percent scored a one or two and only 15 percent scoring a four or five. This reflects the wider feelings of confusion and uncertainty among the private sector on the governments economic policy plans.



On the question of How successful has the government been in auctioning such policy changes during the last one year?, a majority of 49 percent scored a low two out of five, indicating strong disappointment in the progress of reform in the first year of the governments term. Only a low 7 percent gave a score of four or five and 26 percent gave a score of one, the lowest.



Interestingly, however, top executives were a bit more optimistic about the future, but uncertainty prevailed. On the question of How confident are you that the government can deliver its economic promises in the next four years?, 41 percent of respondents scored either a four or five, while 35 percent scored a moderate three out of five. A quarter or respondents were still pessimistic, scoring a one or two.



On trade policy, an overwhelming majority of 70 percent of them agreed that economic and trade agreements with partner countries would boost Sri Lankas economy. Only 2 percent disagreed, while 28 percent were undecided.



Strong support for PPPs, but concerns on capabilities

The session on PPPs explored the key reasons why the PPPs are needed right now, particularly due to the constrained fiscal space and growing debt burden as well as the need to bring down project costs and improve the viability and accountability of public infrastructure projects. The audience strongly endorsed this, with 85 percent voting yes to the question of whether PPPs are a viable alternative to building infrastructure in Sri Lanka and only 6 percent voting no and 9 percent unsure. Yet, there are some concerns of the capabilities for structuring PPP deals as highlighted by the experts on the panel and echoed in the votes of the audience. Fifty six percent of the audience either said no or were unsure on the question of Does Sri Lanka have the expertise/capacity to structure PPP deals that are viable in the short and long term and can attract investors, while 44 percent said yes. Meanwhile, 64 percent voted yes on whether roads, ports, energy and airports were the top priority sectors for PPPs right now.



Tourism  Positioning as a value brand

The tourism session highlighted the need for continual investments to improve infrastructure to ease tourism bottlenecks, a focused campaign to brand and market the destination globally, informed by research; and a comprehensive and accelerated programme to tackle the gaps in skills availability and service standards.



On the question of whether Sri Lanka Tourism was focused on these issues, a significant portion of the participants (42 percent) believed that it was not, while 41 percent were ambivalent and 17 percent said yes.



An overwhelming majority, 83 percent, indicated that these issues are important and Sri Lanka Tourism should address them if tourism is to deliver on its potential.



Participants were also asked to comment on what positioning Sri Lanka should promote on the tourism level. Forty four percent said that Sri Lanka should be positioned as up-market, while 25 percent disagreed; the majority felt Sri Lanka should not be positioned as a budget market (54 percent) with only a minority (9 percent) saying it should; and overwhelmingly the consensus was that Sri Lanka should be positioned as a value for money market (71 percent) with just 5 percent disagreeing.



Location advantage  Ports and shipping key

The leveraging on location session focussed largely on Sri Lankas international connectively infrastructure  particularly ports and shipping. Interestingly, the majority of participants were in agreement that constructing the Hambantota Port at this stage was positive (54 percent), but with a number of them (32 percent) disagreeing and a further 14 percent ambivalent. An issue that was scrutinized quite a bit during the session was the role of the Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA)  and its conflict of interest as both a regulator as well as a port developer and terminal operator. The SLPA Chairman strongly acknowledged the need to reform this and he proposed that the SLPA should remain as a port and terminal developer, with a higher authority set up as the port regulator.



On the question of whether the SLPAs terminals should be corporatized (so it competed on equal footing with the private players) a sharp majority (59 percent) voted yes, while only 6 percent voted no and 35 percent were ambivalent. The participants were also strongly in favour of removing foreign ownership restrictions on freight forwarding and shipping (64 percent), while just 16 percent opposed it.



Talent pool  Investment in education

The results in the talent pool session were rather mixed. On the question of whether Sri Lanka has sufficient numbers of skilled talent to meet the countrys growth aspirations over the next five years, 36 percent said no, while 38 percent said yes. A further 26 percent were ambivalent.



On whether the executives companies would be interested in hiring talent from countries in the region if the process of obtaining work visas for such candidates was simpler, 43 percent responded yes, 32 percent responded no and 20 percent were ambivalent. What there was strong consensus on, however, was that the budget outlay on education must increase even if it means that taxes need to be increased - 75 percent said yes, 12 percent said no and 13 percent were unsure.



Immediate issue  Budget 2017

On the immediate future of macro and growth policies  Budget 2017  the participants were rather sceptical. Only a minority of executives  18 percent expressed confidence that Budget 2017 will set the right economic policy climate to boost business confidence and drive growth. Meanwhile, 34 percent were not confident and a significant share  48 percent  was unsure.



These results, while based on a sample of 100 respondents for the questions related to specific sessions and 200 for the three overall questions, could hint at a wider dissatisfaction among the corporate community of the countrys economic condition. A challenging global economic climate, legacy issues from the previous government, persistent domestic policy bottlenecks are no doubt feeding into this sentiment.



It is important that the government take steps to boost the confidence of the private sector, so that it rekindles its animal spirits and recalibrate risk. The prime ministers Economic Policy statement due this month is eagerly awaited by the business community, which, together with Budget 2017, ought to set the stage for a period of sustained inclusive growth over the next four years with a focus on action and delivering on the countrys abundant

economic potential.
MANILA, AFP, Aug 21, 2016 - President Rodrigo Duterte threatened on Sunday to withdraw the Philippines from the United Nations, as he launched another profanity-laced tirade against the organisation for criticising his bloody war on crime.

More than 1,500 people have been killed since Duterte took office and immediately began his law-and-order crackdown, according to police statistics, triggering fierce criticism from the UN and rights groups.

Duterte, a lawyer famous for an acid tongue who has repeatedly told the UN not to interfere, on Sunday stepped up his rhetoric against the organisation.

Maybe we'll just have to decide to separate from the United Nations. If you are that disrespectful, son of a whore, then I will just leave you, Duterte said in a press conference in his home city of Davao.
Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said today he would visit Brussels on Saturday to re-negotiate GSP Plus trade facility with the European Union.

Prime Minister Wickremesinghe said this at the World Export Development Forum 2016 organised by the Export Development Board (EDB) and International Trade Centre which got underway this morning.

On Saturday I will be leaving for Brussels to re-negotiate GSP Plus, he said while stressing that Sri Lanka needed to find markets for its products in order to increase exports, which would enable growth.

We had the GSP+, so did Bangladesh. We gave it up while Bangladesh kept quiet, and increased its exports on garments alone.

We focused instead on foreign remittances. But that is limited as it brings a limited income from large number of people, he said.

The Prime Minister said Sri Lanka would be working on several free trade agreements and also a comprehensive economic partnership with Japan, while the country was looking towards signing free trade agreements with Bay of Bengal countries.

We have three important agreements -with India, the Economic Technological Cooperation (ETCA) agreement. It will enable us for closer cooperation with India, especially with the five Southern States, with Sri Lanka being the fastest growing area in the sub continent. At the moment there is a combined GDP of $ 500 billion. There is a lot of scope for Sri Lanka and India to work together, he said.

He also said Sri Lanka would be working on another FTA with Singapore. The Prime Minister said Sri Lanka would negotiate on Free Trade Agreement with other Bay of Bengal countries as well.

The Bay of Bengal will be a fast growing region with fast growing incomes, he said.

He said Sri Lanka was currently talking with China on a Free Trade Agreement under One Gate, One Road initiative.

This way we can reach for Asian markets and the European markets. The way USA will develop will be known after November, when the new regime takes over. But we have made the plans as far as markets are concerned, he said.

He said a programme of giving incentives to the foreign direct investments and local investments would be announced shortly.

The Prime Minister said one core area that would be focused on would be to give incentives to domestic manufacturing industries to become competitive. (Yohan Perera)
President Maithripala Sirisena expressed his extreme displeasure and disgust today at the dragging to court of the former defence secretary and three former commanders of the Navy, in a case filed by the Bribery Commission.

He said lawyers who appeared in the case had alleged that he was behind these actions. He said he did not know about them until later.

I knew only that morning that there was such a case, he said.

There are objectives and a policy in establishing independent commissions. Those who are in these commissions should know their subject areas. Those who are not aware of national security, military administration and management are taking various wrong decisions without thinking, he said.

President Sirisena said the top officials of the respective institutions had a right and a responsibility to inform him and the Defence Minister of these matters.

Some people may say that it should not be so as these are independent commissions. Even though commissioners were appointed by the constitutional council, it is I, the President, who appoint the Chairman and the Director General of these commissions, he said.

He expressed these views at a function, Sathviru Urumaya held at the Foundation Institute to hand over the deeds of houses and lands to military officers.

He said if there was an issue with regard to the Defence Ministry and Avant Garde, there were a procedure and methodology to investigate it.

He said some people, including former president Mahinda Rajapaksa, took political advantage when they were taken to court.

I was not elected President to intervene in judicial matters or influence independent commissions or pressure the Attorney General to release rapists. I was elected to carry out political reforms and uphold democracy, judicial independence and law and order. I will not surrender to anyone when meeting my responsibilities. I will not act to weaken the security forces nor allow others to do so, he said.

Commenting on the remanding of some army intelligence officers in the Ekneligoda case, he said he had advised the relevant officials to take action against them if they had done wrong, grant them bail and hear the case -- or release them if they were not guilty.

I did not talk about these matters in public earlier, but I have to do so now and take action, he said.

He said that he had raised the matter at a special meeting with the Prime Minister and the Cabinet and pointed out that he would have to take action if the CID, FCID and Bribery Commission were acting according to some political agenda.

These institutions cannot function according to a political agenda. The law should be the same for everyone. People allege that I was behind these things. I do not want to remand or imprison anyone. I want to tell you this today, if not I will be blamed, he said.

He said his government had been able to mitigate the allegations of human rights violations and settle proposals for hybrid courts and international judges.

He said that, despite this, some were accusing him of betraying and weakening the security forces and destroying the country for his political advantage.

Anyone can come and discuss these matters with me, he said. (Ajith Siriwardana)
French carmaker Renault SA will recall some of its top-selling, entry-level cars in India, called Kwid, to inspect the fuel system, foreign media reports said yesterday.

Renault India will recall select units of the 0.8-litre variant of the Kwid produced up to May 18, 2016. The company did not immediately say how many cars would be affected.

As a proactive measure, a fuel hose clip will be added to these select cars along with the evaluation of overall functionality of the fuel system to mitigate any potential disruption of fuel supply, Renault India said in a statement. Renault Kwid has become an extremely popular small car within a very short period of time in Sri Lanka with higher taxes slapped on better quality used Japanese cars.
The Royal Omani Naval Ship,Al Naasir arrived at the Port of Colombo this morning on a goodwill and replenishment visit. The ship was ceremonially welcomed by the Sri Lanka Navy in accordance with naval traditions on her arrival. The Omani vessel is scheduled to depart from Colombo Harbour on October 13th. Pictures courtesy Navy.lk
SEOUL, AFP, Aug 21, 2016 - South Korea warned Sunday of possible North Korean assassinations and kidnappings in revenge for recent high-profile defections to the South.

With tensions also high before a large-scale South Korea-US military exercise starting Monday, the Unification Ministry in Seoul said Pyongyang was bent on provocation.

A ministry official told reporters the defection to Seoul of North Korea's deputy ambassador to Britain and his family had put the North in a very difficult situation.

Considering (North Korean leader) Kim Jong-Un's character, it is very dangerous, the official said on condition of anonymity.
By Chandeepa Wettasinghe

While giving a tacit seal of approval for the Sri Lankan governments plan to promote export industries through economic zones, Australian National University Arndt-Corden Department of Economics, Crawford School of Public Policy Economics Prof. Prema-chandra Athukorala, who was speaking at the second Advocata Public Lecture last week, warned that the government must ensure policy consistency and ease of doing business for global production networks (GPNs) in order to attract foreign direct investments (FDIs).



The Sri Lankan government is hoping to create 45 economic zones that focus on export-oriented industrial manufacturing across the country, some of which will be managed by foreign countries or companies, in order to fulfil the governments election promise to create one million new jobs in the country. However, so far, no action plan or legislation has been brought forward to make the plans a reality.



Services vs. manufacturing

Some ministers say that we have to bypass manufacturing to focus on tourism and other areas. Some others talk about electronics and hi-tech manufacturing. These are not mutually exclusive things, Prof. Athukorala said.



A popular belief is that services complement products and economies transition towards service-based economies after going through a period of industrialization. However, Sri Lanka, like a handful of other developing countries, skipped full industrialization and became a service-oriented economy.

Prof. Athukorala noted that the start of the industrialization process in the late 70s and early 80s saw FDI interest from companies such as Motorola and Harris Corporation, which if had been successful, might have led to full-scale industrialization, given the herd mentality of such investors.

Foreign investments come in a package. It is not only capital, it comes with managerial knowhow, marketing expertise and so on. This is the reason why we need foreign investments to lead the country into global production systems, he added.



While the leapfrogging had the advantage of saving the environment from the flipsides of industrializationfor which Sri Lanka can now avail itself of environmentally friendly technologiesit deprived most local industries of a sound technological base to remain competitive with the world as well as to provide goods at cheap prices to the domestic market.



This has led to an import-oriented economy, where, 56.6 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP) and 45.6 percent of labour participation in 2015 were through services, mainly through the retail, wholesale, food, transport and accommodation services. A dangerous trend has been spotted recently, where most of the youth entering the labour force prefer to become three-wheel drivers or join the public service, despite the availability of better private sector jobs.



However, Prof. Athukorala noted that Sri Lanka must produce goods for the export marketpossibly in view of the countrys deteriorating trade deficit.



Considering our conditions, we have to manufacture. Manufacturing also has the advantage of absorbing unskilled workers. Unlike other industries and sectors in the world, it can absorb unskilled workers and give them a job. Thats why India is promoting manufacturing, Prof. Athukorala said. While some may argue that Sri Lanka has no unemployment problemwith 4.7 percent unemployment in 2015and that industries such as tourism and apparel are short of labour, tourism is also known to pay extremely poorly, except for those at the top of the pyramid, while the countrys service quality in tourism has also been found lacking by international experts recently.



Prof. Athukorala noted that if Sri Lanka increases high-tech product assemblywhich requires no skillover time, the labour force can be trained to move up the value chain into manufacturing components or even into design, further increasing income to the country.



However, in order to do that, Prof. Athukorala pointed out that Sri Lanka should transition from its current buyer-driven GPNs, such as apparel manufacturing, where leading companies such as Victorias Secret and Nike keep local companies at arms length without significant capital or technological transfers, to producer-driven GPNs, where foreign multinationals set up their own operations in the country.



He said that this does not result in local companies going out of business either.



We are not ignoring domestic companies. The lesson from other countries, including Japan and other countries in a developed or under developed stages is that they always rely on foreign capital and foreign technology. It is not going to preclude the domestic enterprises doing their work, he said.

Prof. Athukorala added that having producer-driven GPNs in fact results in multinationals subcontracting some activities to domestic companies, which results in further technological transfers, and is clearly the most preferred form of production, since producer-driven GPNs make up 51.1 percent of global manufacturing exports, compared to 12 percent of buyer-driven GPNs.



Policy environment

However, in order to attract producer-driven GPNs, Prof. Athukorala said that the country requires consistent, liberal economic policies.



When the Motorola manager came, he made a statement; Political stability and policy certainty are the super most criteria we use in assessing investments, given if the production in one location is disturbed, the entire production network gets disturbed, so political and policy stability is important, he added.



Prof. Athukorala noted that liberalization of property rights for foreign companies, a better judicial process that enforces contracts and liberalized trade and investment regimes are crucial to attract producer-driven GPNs.



Current legislation calls for a local party to be a 51 percent owner of any company if a foreign party wants to own land in Sri Lanka, while most customs tariffs are high in order to derive higher revenue and many industries are protected through mercantilist lobbying, thereby reducing competitiveness. Prof. Athukorala advised that the government to learn from the mistakes made in policymaking over the past three decades and to use the experiences to restart the liberalization process initiated in 1977, which got sidetracked due to the civil war.



Sri Lankas immediate policy priority should be to restore policy emphasis on export-oriented industrialisation, set up institutional safeguards to avert further backsliding from reforms and continue with implementing the incomplete reform agenda, he said.
Two individuals were admitted to the Trincomalee Hospital following a police shooting in front of the Trincomalee Magistrates Court this morning, Police said.

The injured were part of a group consuming liquor inside a van parked outside the Magistrates Court.

Police said the group had become boisterous soon after and obstructed police officers from carrying out their duty.

When the group was ordered to vacate the premises, the driver of the van had tried to run over a police officer.

The officer in turn had opened fire at the vehicle, injuring a 26 year old youth in the van while the other individual was injured in a scuffle with the police.

The injured were admitted to the Trincomalee Hospital and the driver of the van was arrested by the Trincomalee Harbour Police.

Police said the group was from Kalawanchikudy. Further investigations are being conducted by the Trincomalee Harbour Police. (Amadoru Amarajeewa)
MAS Water Lab

Apparel and fabrics conglomerate MAS Holdings has unveiled a state of the art laboratory that will be dedicated to analysing the water quality across the group as part of its growing commitments to sustainability. The CENSURA lab is certified by the Sri Lanka Accreditation Board (SLAB) under ISO IEC 17025:2005. Located inside the MAS Fabric Park in Thulhiriya the CENSURA lab is recognized as a Professional Accredited Laboratory in this field

The Hydro & Environmental Department of MAS Fabric Park is excited to contribute the services of this lab to all who wish to test their water  wastewater and sludge qualities. Its a responsibility we have taken very seriously inside MAS and our commitment to constantly measure and understand our own footprint starts with knowing the quality of the water we drink, manufacture with and finally discharge.

Equipped with state of the art technology such as ICP-OES the MAS CENSURA lab also uses the APHA (American Public Health Association) standard test methods for analysing critical water quality parameters like Arsenic (As) , Cadmium (Cd) , Lead (Pb) , Chromium (Cr) and all others down to the trace levels of ppb. The lab also supports the other Finite Element Analysis (FEA) which paves the way for adequate controls.

Sharad Amalean  Deputy Chairman of MAS Holdings says We see huge opportunity for industry to create their own pathways to responsible water consumption. This is our own contribution and we remain committed to sharing our resources, our knowledge and best practices with all those who carry the same passion for sustainability or have the desire to make a real difference in how they do business.

The MAS CENSURA lab can reached at WaterLab@masholdings.com
Measures would be taken to allow women to hold the post of Deputy Inspector General of Police, a higher rank than the current Senior Superintendent of Police, women are allowed to hold in the Police Department, the National Police Commission said today.

NPC Secretary Ariyadasa Cooray said there were 11,000 women employed in the force as of now and that they could only legally be appointed to the position of SSP.

Speaking of the women in high ranking positions in the Police, Mr. Cooray said that there were only two SSP positions for women at present.

When questioned if a woman could ever be the appointed Inspector General of Police, members of the Commission said the current situation in the Police force did not allow such an appointment.

However, they did not rule out the probability of such an appointment far in the future.

Meanwhile, the commission said nine women ASPs had been appointed in each of the Provinces in the country to address issues of Police women.(Darshana Sanjeewa)
China's Xiaomi [XTC.UL] is raising over $1 billion from investors including Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC that would value the smartphone maker at over $45 billion, a person familiar with the deal said.

The fund raising was first reported by the Wall Street Journal, which also said this round was led by tech fund All-Stars Investment and included Russian tech fund DST Global and Yunfeng Capital, a private-equity firm affiliated with Alibaba Group Holding Ltd Executive Chairman Jack Ma.

All-Stars Investment is led by former Morgan Stanley analyst Richard Ji.

GIC's investment in Xiaomi comes after Singapore state investor Temasek Holdings Pte Ltd [TEM.UL] bought a small stake in the smartphone maker during an earlier funding exercise, a second person said.

The people were not authorized to speak to media on the matter and so declined to be identified. Xiaomi and GIC declined to comment. Ji could not be reached for comment.

Xiaomi brands itself as an Internet company that eschews traditional marketing and sells hardware at low prices as a distribution channel for its real money maker, software and services.

It has been investing heavily in other manufacturers with the aim of building an ecosystem of Internet-connected devices and appliances to extend its reach beyond smartphones.

Nomura analysts said in a report earlier this month that Xiaomi and founder Lei Jun had invested in 43 companies across China's mobile Internet eco-system, including smart device makers, network infrastructure firms, smartphone platform developers, and providers of various mobile internet services.

Xiaomi's investment partners include Shunwei VC, Temasek and Kingsoft, the Nomura analysts said.

(This story was refiled to remove superfluous 'a' from first paragraph)

(Reporting by Saeed Azhar and Gerry Shih; Editing by Christopher Cushing)

(Reuters)
Amid the ongoing turmoil in Pakistan threatening to further divide the civilian polity and the all powerful army, Balochistan continues to reel under severe excesses perpetrated by the security forces on the Baloch populace who are getting increasingly restive to breathe more freedom and liberty.

The action by the khaki-clad forces in the Baloch province has been cold and calculated.

Objective of the ceaseless brutal move by the Pakistan establishment is obviously to stifle the Baloch voice and tighten the stranglehold, exactly as the province is all set to internationalise the issue of ongoing atrocities on the Balochis. There are several instances in support of the Baloch claims on excesses on them. The federal government's crackdown on the Baloch youth opposing the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is the central issue of a direct confrontation.

Available figures suggest in July, under the national plan, security forces had killed 375 and incarcerated 13,575 in nearly 3,000 operations displaying an ugly show of force. Any opposition to the CPEC was crushed with violence. On October 4, 22-year-old Shabbir Baloch was abducted by security forces in Gwarkop. Under the ensuing operation, 50 vehicles were used on ground, supported by two gunship helicopters. This demonstrates the intensity of the offensive against the hapless Balochis.

Shabbir Baloch was always active with Baloch Students Organisation (Azad) and was also the information secretary and spokesperson of this outfit. As of now, Shabbir's whereabouts are still unknown.

Baloch youth protest against Pakistani oppression in Balochistan. [Photo: Agencies]

Earlier on September 30, Majeed Rashid was arrested while travelling from Mand to Gomazi via Tump and Kech. His vehicle was stopped at Azian checkpost. Since then he is untraceable. His disappearance, under mysterious circumstances, raises strong suspicion about the intent of the atrocious security forces.

Meanwhile, reports trickled in confirming that activist Hasil Baloch was shot dead in cold blood in front of a large crowd on October 5 in Kech under district Makran. Such naked aggression came in the wake of Pakistan government's open and repeated warnings that no hurdles would be tolerated in the way of CPEC.

Other than the oppression perpetrated on the Balochis, Pakistan has been witnessing several acts of terror. A product of Pakistan military, terrorism in Pakistan has now engulfed the nation under its inflamed wings.

The inferno refuses to die down. On September 13, an explosion detonated by the terrorists claimed innocent lives and grievously wounded many in Shikarpur, Sind. In another glaring attack on September 16, 36 were killed and several injured at a deadly explosion in midst of a Friday congregation at a mosque in Anbar Tahsil.

These acts of terror at regular intervals by state and non-state actors with Balochis as the prime target, throws up a great sense of insecurity amongst the innocent Pakistanis who are aspiring for an amicable relationship with India but their dreams look shattered by the masterly inaction and nonstop human rights abuses by the authorities.

In the ongoing turbulent times, Pakistani media is on the radar of its notorious intelligence and military.

Cyril Almeida, a well-known journalist from Dawn newspaper is being blatantly hounded for his candid disclosures that Sharif led government had recently warned the ISI and the military to act against terror groups reining them in, and more importantly, to start reinvestigation on the cases of terror attacks in Pathankot and Mumbai 26/11.

Irked by the bold press coverage, Cyril has incurred the wrath of the government and may face tough action. On the flip side, however, this gives a wonderful opportunity for the media fraternity in Pakistan to steadfastly unite and fight the establishment.

Given the current fragile state of affairs in Pakistan, this remains only a faint possibility.
With the official announcement of former Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Guterres as the next UN secretary-general, the race to engender the UN secretary-general's post is now over.

For a few years now, there had been a lot of noise to have a woman as the next UN secretary-general. It would have been walk the talk for the UN, who has been working around the world with different member states to implement the third Goal of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) to Promote Gender Equality and Empower Women.

Though none of the women candidates needed empowerment, it was the UN itself that required to be seen as a gender equal place, from bottom to top. This is because the UN till date has not had a woman secretary-general in its 60 plus years of existence.

Given the favourable environment to field a women candidate, a number of excellent names emerged. Frontrunner remained Helen Clark who was former prime minister of New Zealand and who later ably headed the UN Development Programme (UNDP).

During the course of time, more desirable qualifications emerged, so the choice for a European candidate was floated, as the previous three secretary-generals were from the other parts of the world, namely, from the Middle East, Boutros Boutros Ghali, then from Africa, Kofi Annan and recently from Asia, Ban Ki-moon.

The category was further defined to Eastern Europe since there had been a number of secretary-generals from Europe but none from the eastern part. Names such as Irina Bokova, a Bulgarian and the current director-general of UNESCO was suggested.

Antonio Guterres set to be next UN secretary-general. (Photo credit: AP)

However Bokova's candidacy was an uphill task from the start. Though an able leader and a firm executer, she'd done the unthinkable in the very beginning of her stint at UNESCO, which was, to oversee Palestine being voted in as a full member of UNESCO.

This decision did not go down well with USA, though they had supported her candidacy for UNESCO and immediately withdrew its financial support to the organisation after the vote, followed by other countries such as Canada and the UK.

UNESCO went through one of its worst financial crisis and Bokova had to make some difficult cuts to see a continued transition and relevance of the UN body.

A number of countries appreciated her stand and would have supported her candidature but with the USA in the Permanent Council, this would have been near impossible.

USA, in the meantime, floated the idea of a candidate from the Americas and Susana Malcorra, the Argentinian foreign minister's name was suggested. But Russia put its weight behind somebody from Eastern Europe, so another former foreign minister; Vesna Pusic's name emerged from Croatia.

The world is still looking for women candidates from the desired areas to be fielded for the UNSG's post. And the best of the lot were fielded and the most number of women in any given candidacy, however the top job went to Antonio Guterres. A man from Western Europe. As many as half a dozen women candidates were sidelined and as many male candidates from Eastern Europe, rejected.

This is not to deny that Guterres did not excel in this role as the former UN high commissioner for refugees or the fact that he was fielded as the Security Council candidate. But it was time that a woman was given the baton to both, address long neglected areas and bring in viewpoints that the UN has been missing.

The countries voting for the new secretary-general had stated that the candidate would be chosen based on merit and irrespective of his or her nationality and gender. And that is absolutely fair but it is hard to believe that some of the strongest women candidates weren't good enough for the UNSG post.
As the date for the presidential polls is nearing, political temperature has risen to an unprecedented level in the US, with both Hillary Clinton, Democratic Partys presidential candidate, and Donald J Trump, Republican Partys presidential candidate, vigorously trying to ensure their victory.

However, ever since Trump won the Republican nomination, his prospect of winning the election has been overshadowed by controversies. The latest revelations that he perhaps avoided paying taxes for 18 years and the appearance of a 2005 tape containing his obscene comments on women have further put a question mark over his suitability for the post of US President.

This can be gauged from the fact that several senior members of his own party have asked him to leave the presidential race. Though Trump's defiant performance in the second presidential debate has ruled out the possibility of his withdrawal, it appears very difficult for him to recover the lost political ground in the election next month.

On the other hand, the prospect of Clinton becoming the next president appears much strong, with her registering a five per cent edge over Trump after the second presidential debate. Of course, it does not mean Clinton will have an easy walk to the White House. In fact, she too is facing serious allegations over the mishandling of classified emails as secretary of state.

She has also not so far spelt out how different her approach would be from the Barack Obama administration to address domestic and foreign affairs issues. Yet, what seems to be working in her favour is the fact that a) American people are increasingly viewing Clinton better than Trump for the highest political post of the country and b) the gulf between Trump and several elites of his own party is widening.

Nevertheless, given the degree of unpredictability inbuilt in competitive democratic electoral politics, it would highly impossible for anyone, including experts, to predict the mood of the American people before the elections results are declared on January 6, 2017.

Certainly, given the USs continued influence on global affairs, the world community is also anxiously waiting to see how the new US administration will respond to important international issues, including Chinas assertive posturing in the South China Sea, the crises in Syria, Ukraine and Iraq, the menace of terrorism and others.

Indeed, India is also closely observing the presidential election to understand how bilateral ties between the two countries would progress. In turn, Indian strategists, experts and, of course, the common people are engaged in debating who would be a better US president for India - Clinton or Trump.

Though there is a small section of "nationalist" forces who view Trump as a good President for India, given his anti-Muslim stand, the general feeling in India is that under his administration, New Delhi and Washington may face obstacles in sustaining the momentum gained in bilateral ties over the last two years.

Undoubtedly, there are some convincing reasons for this assessment. One factor that casts dark clouds over the future of India-US ties under the Trump administration is his announcement of initiating a tough immigration policy and hiking the minimum wage paid to H1B visa holders, if elected president.

This in turn would not only reduce the prospects of job opportunities for skilled Indian workers, but would also show a sharp decline in remittances that India receives from its non-resident people in the US. This would have an adverse impact on the Indian economy.

Trump saying that Muslims should be banned from entering the US has also set off alarm bells ringing in India, which has the second largest Muslim population in the world. Though sections of Hindu nationalists have expressed consonance with Trump's view, the fact remains that the secular character of Indian democracy does not allow the Indian government to share Trump's degrading views about the Muslim community.

It is believed Hillary Clinton played a crucial role in pursuading husband Bill Clinton to revive the India-US relationship post 1998. (Photo credit: AP)

This is possibly why, while replying to a question on this particular issue in the US, defence minister Manohar Parrikar said: We dont look towards communities with suspicion.

Further, except for calling Pakistan probably the most dangerous country in the world because of its nuclear weapons, Trump has not outlined his approach towards South Asia. Added to this is his comment that the US should not automatically come to the defence of its NATO allies if they are attacked - it has started a debate about a possible shift in USs security strategy under Trump.

Of course, at a time when India and the US are trying to develop a strong bloc, comprising Japan, Australia and other like-minded countries, to contain Chinas assertive behaviour, Trump's election as US president may adversely impact this process.

In addition, as Trump does not have the experience of working at any level in the US administration, his ideas and capabilities on many issues including foreign policy are yet to be tested.

On the other hand, Clinton enjoys personal bonhomie with India, the genesis of which was back in 1995 when she visited India as part of her 12-day trip to South Asia. It is believed that later, she played a crucial role in pursuading husband Bill Clinton to revive the India-US relationship, which had hit its lowest point following the 1998 nuclear tests by India.

She co-chaired the Senate India Caucus and supported the India-US Civil Nuclear Agreement. During her tenure as US secretary of state (2009-2013), she further consolidated the engagement between the two countries. Her contribution is greatly recognised in facilitating cooperation between the countries in the field of high technology, defence and in establishing the strategic dialogue in July 2009.

She played an important role in strengthening ties with New Delhi under President Obamas rebalancing of American policy vis a vis Asia. Her speech in Chennai in 2011 was viewed as a historic movement in bilateral ties between the two countries, where she said the time has come for India to lead Much of the history of the 21st century will be written in Asia which, in turn, will be influenced by the partnership between the US and India and its relationship with neighbours.

She also said India should not just look east, but engage east and act east- to emerge and consolidate its status as an Asian power. Her strong stand against Pakistan for its dismal performance in eliminating terrorist havens from its soil continues to have an impact on the minds of Indian people.

In fact, one can imagine the closeness between India and Clinton that had Trump alleging she received funds from Indian leaders. According to the Wall Street Journal, Clinton enjoys a good reputation also among sections of the Indian-American community, which is the third largest ethnic group among Asians in the US, with a population of about 3.2 million.

Unlike Trump, Clinton has recognised the benefit the US has garnered from its outsourcing policy. In turn, the synergy between Clinton and the Indian-American community would further help strength the bond between the two countries.
In a sign of rapidly deteriorating US-Russia ties, Russian President Vladimir Putin passed an order suspending an agreement with the United States - signed in 2000 by then secretary of state Hillary Clinton - for the disposal of 34 metric tonne of weapons grade plutonium.

This is another marker in the downward trajectory of relations between Moscow and Washington.

The document said that the deal was being suspended "as a result of unfriendly actions by the US towards the Russian Federation".

President Putin submitted a bill to the Russian parliament setting a series of pre-conditions for the US for the agreement to be resumed.

Sanctions

These include reduction of US military infrastructure and troops in countries that joined NATO after September 1, 2000, and lifting of all American sanctions against Russia and compensation for the damage they have caused.

The US - as well as the European Union - imposed a series of sanctions against Russia following the annexation by Moscow of Ukraine's southern Crimea peninsula in 2014, and Russia's support for separatists in eastern Ukraine.

On the other side, the US suspended talks with Russia over the Syrian crisis. Washington said Moscow had not lived up to the terms of last month's ceasefire agreement, which has since collapsed.

Russian air strikes in Syria. (Photo credit: Reuters)

Russia said it regretted the decision, accusing the US of trying to shift the blame on to Russia over the failed deal.

It was, therefore, no surprise when earlier this week the state department decided to call off talks between Washington and Moscow on a new ceasefire in Syria.

The ceasefire deal forged earlier this month - which few ever believed would work - started falling apart almost immediately, punctuated by a mistaken US airstrike on Syrian troops, the Russian and Syrian attack on a UN aid convoy, continued fighting by some US-backed rebels, and Syrian jets refusing to stop pounding civilian targets.

Almost a year after Russia began its air campaign to help Bashar al-Assad's government crush opposition rebels, downward spiral in Syria continues even as Syrian and Russian jets continued to pound Aleppo.

Ceasefire

A US-Russia brokered ceasefire fell apart last month, after Russia and Syria launched the air offensive against opposition rebels in a bid to push them out of major urban areas.

The bombardments have pushed diplomatic engagement between Moscow and Washington to the brink. It's unclear what, if any, deal can be struck at this point between Moscow and Washington to end the slaughter of civilians.

Fighting on the ground in the besieged city has been fierce over the past several days, with pro-government forces wresting strategically significant ground from the rebels, while Damascus used its moment of strength to demand that the rebels lay down their arms and leave the city.

Aleppo is where things are taking the most gruesome human toll, with Russian bombs obliterating entire apartment blocks and hospitals while Washington could only threaten to shut down ceasefire talks - to Moscow's annoyance and seeming amusement.

Washington and Moscow are squaring off in Syria, the Black Sea, the Baltics, and right on through to the hacking of computer networks. But Moscow is doing most of the jabbing, with the Americans crying foul.

Russian deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov last week dismissed secretary of state John Kerry's call for another seven-day ceasefire in Syria, adding that Kerry's threat to walk away from negotiations was little more than an "emotional breakdown".

Divergence

Reacting to state department spokesman John Kirby's comment this week that Moscow's bombing runs on Syrian civilians could lead to terror attacks in Russia and Russian soldiers coming home in "body bags," Maj Gen Igor Konashenkov, spokesman for Russia's defence ministry, said the comments were "the most frank confession by the US side so far that the whole 'opposition' ostensibly fighting a 'civil war' in Syria is a US-controlled terrorist international," using a Soviet-era term.

Meanwhile, some Syrian rebels in and around Aleppo, feeling burned by Washington, are drawing closer to the Nusra Front, Al-Qaeda's powerful affiliate in the country.

Russia and the US have fundamentally divergent views of the conflict. Russia's objective is to ensure the survival of the Assad regime, whereas for the US it is the root of Syria's crisis.

Russia has deftly used its power to challenge the US and has positioned itself as a major beneficiary of the ongoing turmoil.

Putin may have several aims in Syria but the most significant one remains that of projecting Russian power on the global stage and re-establishing Moscow as a credible global power.

It still remains to be seen if he will be successful in his objective.
"I started this war killing Germans in Africa. Then France. Then Belgium. Now Im killing Germans in Germany. It will end, soon. But before it does, a lot more people gotta die."

Angelina Jolies ex-husband Brad Pitts character US Army Sergeant Don "Wardaddy" Collier utters these lines in the 2014 movie Fury, a poignant and painful reminder of how much war can take from each of us. While not quite a masterpiece, the film lacks the dreaded stench of self-righteous soliloquies and takes the viewer into the belly of the beast  the eponymous American WWII tank  to smell the iron vapour of blood, rust and gasoline.

After decades of hostility, three full-scale wars and numerous assaults by proxy, relations between India and Pakistan are once again at swords point. Predictably, the warmongers on both sides have crawled out of the woodworks, settled down in front of their laptops or smartphones, and started churning out bizarre armchair-conquistador ideas.

The 2014 movie Fury is a poignant and painful reminder of how much war can take from each of us.

The human tendency to wage war is an evolutionary puzzle. Vietnam veteran William Broyles may have offered an explanation in his 1984 article for Esquire magazine, "Why Men Love War".

"War is beautiful. There is something about a firefight at night, something about the mechanical elegance of an M-60 machine gun. They are everything they should be, perfect examples of their form. When you are firing out at night, the red tracers go out into the blackness as if you were drawing with a light pen. Then little dots of light start winking back, and green tracers from the AK-47s begin to weave in with the red to form brilliant patterns that seem, given their great speeds, oddly timeless, as if they had been etched on the night. And then perhaps the gunships called Spooky come in and fire their incredible guns like huge hoses washing down from the sky, like something God would do when He was really ticked off. And then the flares pop, casting eerie shadows as they float down on their little parachutes, swinging in the breeze, and anyone who moves, in their light seems a ghost escaped from hell."

Who would want a war between two nuclear-armed neighbours?

Well, Pakistans national security strategy is still driven by its perceived existential threat from India. Many of its citizens loathe Prime Minister Narendra Modi as a belligerent anti-Muslim Hindu fundamentalist.

The extremists want to provoke him into military action that would unite Pakistanis in a war against India instead of against homegrown terrorists. They feel, considering Modis reputation and self-image as a strongman, he would have to respond forcefully to violence emanating from the neighbouring country or he risks losing credibility.

The jingoists on both sides of the border thrive on sustaining hatred and conflicts, knowing fully well that the only ones likely to benefit from a war are the two countries armies, defence industries, ultra-nationalists, and religious extremists.

Indias keyboard hawks, mostly supporters of the BJP and hardline Hindu groups, have time and again urged the government to nuke Pakistan. To be fair, they are not discriminating. Many of these featherbrained fighters have frequently offered the sage advice of dropping an N-bomb (not the drug) on Kashmir or any group of people that doesnt agree with their ideology.

Analysts feel the recent escalation will not lead to full-fledged combat between India and Pakistan as the main deterrent to a hot war on the subcontinent is nuclear weapons. The militarists have latched onto this, goading the government to choose conflict while cheerfully assuring the country that everything would turn out fine.

Theres much merit in the argument that Pakistan is unlikely to use the nuclear option because it knows that in such a scenario it would be reduced from an Islamic state to a gaseous state in a matter of minutes. But theres always the teeny-tiny, atomic-sized possibility that if matters escalate, the military would drop a dirty bomb or two into the lap of a terrorist group and let it do some target practice on India.

The warmongers here may argue that this step too would prove suicidal for Pakistan. And thats also a sound contention. Because, like we all know, the drought of suicidal tendencies among the rogue nations populace is well-documented.

Why do some people crave war? Perhaps because it conceals the limits and inadequacies of their separate natures. It replaces the difficult grey areas of daily life with an eerie, serene clarity. It creates a sense of unity in the face of a collective threat.

Or, as Broyles wrote, "Most people fear freedom; war removes that fear. And like a stem father, it provides with its order and discipline both security and an irresistible urge to rebel against it, a constant yearning to fly over the cuckoos nest."
Acclaimed Movie that 'Destroys Atheism' to Premiere in 200 Countries Contact: Jen Thompson, Living Waters, 800-437-1893; Press Room: www.atheistmovie.com/press



LOS ANGELES, Oct. 13, 2016 /Christian Newswire/ -- A new movie that purportedly "destroys atheism with one scientific question" will be televised live by Daystar from inside the life-size Noah's Ark at the Ark Encounter in Williamstown, Kentucky.



Download high res photo here



Daystar, the largest Christian TV network in America, will broadcast the live event to 680 million households in over 200 countries on Saturday, October 22 at 7 p.m. (ET). Filmmaker Ray Comfort said, "We are delighted that both Answers in Genesis and Daystar have seen the importance of 'The Atheist Delusion.'"



The film has been praised by top Christian leaders and filmmakers such as Alex Kendrick, Kevin Sorbo, and Kirk Cameron. Author and reality TV cohost Jason Benham said, "That was the best documentary I've ever seen!"



Comfort is pleading with parents to watch "The Atheist Delusion" with their young children and teenagers. "Millions are being deceived by the foolishness of atheism. If there's no God then pornography, abortion, fornication, adultery, homosexuality, and blasphemy are okay, and this worldview will be reflected at the voting booth."



The best-selling author warned, "Don't wait until your kids say that they are no longer going to church because there's no proof for God, and that atheism is intellectual and scientific. As this film shows, that kind of thinking couldn't be further from the truth."



Matt Barber, cultural analyst with Fox News, MSNBC, and CNN, said, "This is, bar none, the most compelling and comprehensive piece of its kind. Somehow ['The Atheist Delusion'] managed, in less than an hour, to make the case for the Creator God."



The live premiere, co-hosted by the Ark's founder Ken Ham, can be seen on the Daystar Channel on Saturday, October 22 at 7 p.m. (ET). To watch the trailer and learn more, visit www.AtheistMovie.com.



Press Room: www.atheistmovie.com/press



For interviews with Ray Comfort, contact Jen Thompson: jthompson@livingwaters.com

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Christianity Today Hosting Church Leader Summit in April 2017

Contact: Cory Whitehead, Christianity Today, 630-260-6200 ext 4220



CAROL STREAM, Ill., Oct. 13, 2016 /Christian Newswire/ -- Christianity Today will host its first-ever Church Leader Summit on April 4, 2017, in Dallas, Texas, as a part of Christian Leadership Alliance's Outcomes Conference. The summit, on the theme of Leading With Hope in a Post-Christian Culture, will equip pastors and church leaders to model a new, hopeful, non-defensive way to lead in the face of marginalization and opposition.



The Church Leader Summit will be hosted by CT executive editor Andy Crouch. "It's a crazy, complicated time to be a Christian leader," Crouch wrote to prospective summit participants. "Civility in our public life seems to be collapsing, and at the same time racial and ethnic bias seem to be increasing, and the understanding of family and sexuality is shifting. The debate over how to respond even among Christians can be polarizing, often inflamed by the sense that our influence is dwindling. But I see tremendous reasons for hope. There are countless leaders whose ministries are thriving in this 'post-Christian' cultural environment."



Crouch and CT editors Katelyn Beaty and Richard Clark will be joined by Bishop Claude Alexander, Ed Stetzer, Deb Hirsch, Tish Harrison Warren, and others who are leading in the face of marginalization and modeling Beautiful OrthodoxyCT's ministry cause of communicating biblical conviction with love.



Attendees can expect an intensive, strategic, and conversation-rich day with key takeaways for their church, including:

Making "the margins" places of cultural influence.



Finding models of Christian social engagement that are proactive rather than defensive, and unifying rather than polarizing.



Being equipped to lead with hope in human sexuality and ethics, religious liberty, and race and reconciliation.

The Church Leader Summit is the first segment of the Church Leader Experience at CLA's 2017 Outcomes Conference, April 4 - 6. After the summit, leaders will then gain from two days of practical church leader workshops and powerful general sessions as part of the Outcomes Conference.



More information can be found online and early-bird discounts are available through October 31: www.outcomesconference.org/2017-church-leader-summit



Christianity Today is a nonprofit, global media ministry centered on Beautiful Orthodoxystrengthening the church by richly communicating the breadth of the true, good, and beautiful gospel. Reaching over four million people monthly with various digital and print resources, the ministry equips Christians to renew their minds, serve the church, and create culture to the glory of God.



Christian Leadership Alliance (CLA) represents world-changing leaders from Christian nonprofit ministries, churches, businesses and educational institutions. CLA's mission is to equip and unite Christian leaders to transform the world for Christ. To learn more, visit www.ChristianLeadershipAlliance.org. To learn more about the Outcomes Conference visit www.OutcomesConference.org.
GRAMMY Award-Winning Contemporary Christian Artist Chris Tomlin Receives SoundExchange Digital Radio Award at the 47th GMA Dove Awards Contact: Sophia Majlessi, 202-696-1832; Josh Goldman, 202-559-0558; both with SoundExchange; Velvet Kelm, for Chris Tomlin, 615-591-7989



WASHINGTON, Oct. 12, 2016 /Christian Newswire/ -- SoundExchange yesterday awarded GRAMMY Award-winning contemporary Christian music superstar Chris Tomlin its prestigious Digital Radio Award in recognition of his incredible popularity on digital radio.



Tomlin has amassed more than one billion performances on the more than 2,800 digital radio services from which SoundExchange collects digital performance royalties. SoundExchange President and CEO Michael Huppe presented Tomlin with the award on October 11 during the 47th Annual Gospel Music Association (GMA) Dove Awards, which honor performers in Christian and gospel music.



"Chris is a fantastic artist with a massive following, and we couldn't be more proud to honor him with our SoundExchange Digital Radio Award," Huppe said. "We were also honored to bestow this award upon Chris during the GMA's Dove Awards, which are so important to the Christian and gospel artists and fans globally."



"I'm incredibly grateful and humbled to receive SoundExchange's Digital Radio Award," Tomlin said. "I'm blown away by how many people are streaming Christian music, and this award is an affirmation of the power and the impact of the genre."



Only recording artists who are registered members of SoundExchange and have at least one billion streams are eligible to receive the SoundExchange Digital Radio Award. Justin Timberlake, Garth Brooks and Pitbull also have received the award.



The Dove Awards took place on Tuesday, October 11 at Lipscomb's University's Allen Arena in Nashville at 6:30 p.m. (CST). Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN) will exclusively broadcast the awards show on Sunday, October 16, at 7 p.m. (PST).



About SoundExchange

SoundExchange is the nonprofit organization at the center of digital music, developing solutions to benefit the entire music industry. The organization collects and distributes digital performance royalties on behalf of more than 130,000 recording artists and master rights owners accounts. To date, SoundExchange has paid out more than $4 billion in royalties. For more information, visit www.SoundExchange.com or www.facebook.com/soundexchange.



About Chris Tomlin

Likely "the most often sung artist anywhere" according to TIME Magazine, Chris Tomlin is among the most influential artists in Christian music. Selling over 7 million albums and 8.9 million digital tracks, Tomlin has 15 No. 1 radio singles, a GRAMMY Award, three Billboard Music Awards, two platinum and five gold albums to his name. Tomlin's first book, Good Good Father, is available now and his new album, Never Lose Sight, will release October 21.

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home Tech The Pirate Bay update, news: Popular TPB music account seized; Uploader pleads guilty to copyright infringement

Although The Pirate Bay stays afloat as one of the longstanding and most resilient file-sharing hubs, the uploaders on the torrent site feel the pang of copyright holders and production companies in their bid to stop piracy.

According to TorrentFreak, The Pirate Bay user Wayne Evans, who goes by the name OldSkoolScouse on TPB, pleaded guilty to two counts of "distributing an article infringing copyright and one of possessing or controlling an article for use in fraud."

A self-confessed music lover, the 39-year-old from Everton uploaded the UK's Top 40 Singles on his account on The Pirate Bay each week. He also operated DeeJayPortal, a site that offers a capella tracks among other music resources for Disc Jockeys.

Evans first came to the radar of the Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit (PIPCU) and the PRS for Music last September, with the two entities joining forces to investigate and eventually raid his house in Liverpool.

Both his TPB account and DeeJayPortal were shut down by authorities. Evans will return to court for his sentence on Nov. 11 and was granted unconditional bail.

Detective Constable Steven Kettle, who led the investigation, spoke to TorrentFreak about the impact of the actions of Evans in the music industry.

"This significant result highlights the issue of digital piracy and its profound effect on the music industry and individual artists whose work is being infringed," Kettle said.

"Evans distributed Top 40 chart music and 'a cappella' music on a large scale causing significant losses to the industry and he now awaits sentencing. This investigation demonstrates PIPCUs commitment in tackling the complex issue of online piracy and the importance of working with our industry partners, which includes PRS in achieving the strongest and most successful outcomes," he continued.

In other news, The Pirate Bay was flagged as a phishing site by Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox last week, warning users about the "risks" in accessing the site. However, it appears that this has been taken care of as the browsers no longer show the warnings.
home World Zimbabwe pastor urges Pope Francis to excommunicate President Mugabe

A Zimbabwean pastor based in Kariba sent a petition to Pope Francis asking him to excommunicate President Robert Mugabe for alleged human rights violations to those who protested against his rule.

According to a report from New Zimbabwe, Pastor Patrick Mugadza submitted his petition on Tuesday to Father Gabriel Pesce, the secretary of the Apostolic Nunciature in Zimbabwe.

"The president tells us that he is a practicing Catholic, hence we are petitioning you to help our nation before he fulfils his promise of crushing anyone who dares to speak sense," Mugadza wrote in the petition

Mugadza, leader of the Remnant Church, stated that the nation has been subjected to poverty even though minerals have been discovered within its borders.

"According to Romans 13:4, a leader is a representative of God here on earth but according to the given account, there is no proof of godly representation in his leadership," he continued.

Mugadza noted that Mugabe, at age 92, is now "too old to run the country effectively." The president is seeking another five-year term in the 2018 elections.

The petition also mentioned that the Catholic Church has records of Mugabe's atrocities against Zimbabweans, referring to the Gukurahundi campaign in the 1980s which killed around 20,000 civilians.

The pastor encouraged Zimbabweans to participate in a week-long demonstration against Mugabe. He urged the people to call the national radio and television stations to ask Mugabe to step down.

Mugadza gained media attention in December when he participated in a one-man protest at the Victoria Falls resort where Mugabe's party, Zanu PF, was holding a conference.

In another protest last April, he chained himself to a pole while holding a cross in one hand and a Bible in the other.

Mugabe declared a state of disaster in February and asked for foreign and domestic help when it was revealed that about a quarter of its citizens were going hungry. The food shortage was blamed on the El Nino phenomenon which caused drought in southern Africa.
It didnt take long, but Gabriel Alvarez is back in the cigar industry. Earlier today, Alvarez announced that he has accepted the position of Director of Sales of Casa Cuevas Cigars. Alvarez will be doing what he has done very well in the past  launching a new brand into the U.S. market.

Casa Cuevas Cigars is run by the Cuevas family who have four generations of experience in the cigar business. The company owns its own factory in Santiago, Dominican Republic called Tabacalea La Lavas. The factory is run by Luis Cuevas Sr. and his son Luis Jr. While they have manufactured cigars for companies such as Gurkha, Carlos Torano, and Sam Leccia, it is now in the process of introducing its own brand into the U.S. market with Casa Cuevas.

Alvarez says more details around the U.S. launch of Casa Cuevas is forthcoming.

Prior to joining Casa Cuevas Cigars, Alvarez served as U.S. Director of Sales for two years at Maya Selva Cigars from September 2014 through September 2016. During his tenure Maya Selva Cigars, Alvarez headed up the U.S. operation and was instrumental in introducing the companys product to the U.S. market. Prior to joining Maya Selva Cigars, Alvarez served as Operations Manager for Kuuts LLC, the U.S. distribution arm for Compania Hondurena de Tabaco. Alvarez had a similar role there introducing the products of Compania Hondurena de Tabaco into the U.S..

Image Credits: From Gabriel Alvarez
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(North West) Limited, PPL Pty Limited, PT Network Services Limited, PTI Telecom Limited, Peoples Phone Limited, Pinnacle Cellular Group Limited, Pinnacle Cellular Limited, Plex Limited, Plustech Mercantile Company Private Limited, Prime Metals Ltd., Project Telecom Holdings Limited, Quickcomm Software Solutions, Radio Opt GmbH, Rian Mobile Limited, SBC SMART CITY 1517 B.V., SMMS Investments Pvt Limited, Safaricom Limited, Safenet N.P A., Sarmady Communications, Scarlet Ibis Investments 23 (Pty) Limited, Scorpios Beverages Pvt. Ltd, Silver Stream Investments Limited, Singlepoint (4U) Limited, Singlepoint (4U) Ltd., Singlepoint Payment Services Limited, Siro Limited, Spar Aerospace (Nigeria) Limited, Sport TV Portugal S.A, Starnet, Stentor Communications Limited, Stentor Limited, Storage Technology Services (Pty) Limited, T.W. Telecom Limited, T3 Telecommunications Limited, TKS Telepost Kabel-Service Kaiserslautern Beteiligungs GmbH, TKS Telepost Kabel-Service Kaiserslautern GmbH & Co. KG, TNAS Limited, TSM NZ Limited, Talkland Airtime Services Limited, Talkland Australia Pty Limited, Talkland Communications Limited, Talkland International Limited, Talkland Midlands Limited, Talkmobile Limited, Tele2 Italia SPA, Tele2 Spain, Telecom Investments India Private Limited, Telecommunications Europe Limited, Ternhill Communications Limited, The Cobra Group, The Eastern Leasing Company Limited, The Old Telecom Sales Co. Limited, Thus Group Holdings Limited, Thus Group Limited, Thus Limited, Thus Profit Sharing Trustees Limited, TnT Expense Management LLC, Tomorrow Street GP S.a r.l., Tomorrow Street SCA, Torenspits II B.V., Townley Communications Limited, Trans Crystal Ltd., UMT Investments Limited, UPC Nederland Holding I B.V., UPC Nederland Holding II B.V., UPC Nederland Holding III B.V., Unified Communications, Uniqueair Limited, Urbana Teleunion Rostock GmbH & Co.KG, Usha Martin Telematics Limited, VAPL No. 2 Pty Limited, VBA (Mauritius) Limited, VBA Holdings Limited, VBA International (SL) Limited, VBA International Limited, VEI S.r.l., VM SA, VND S.p.A, VSSB Vodafone Shared Services Budapest Private Limited Company, Verwaltung Urbana Teleunion Rostock GmbH, Victus Networks S.A., Vizzavi Finance Limited, Vizzavi Limited, Voda Limited, Vodacall Limited, Vodacash s.p.r.l., Vodacom (Pty) Limited, Vodacom Business (Angola) Limitada, Vodacom Business (Ghana) Limited, Vodacom Business (Kenya) Limited, Vodacom Business Africa (Nigeria) Limited, Vodacom Business Africa Group (Pty) Limited, Vodacom Business Africa Group Services Limited, Vodacom Business Cameroon SA, Vodacom Business Cote Divoire S.A.R.L., Vodacom Congo (RDC) SA, Vodacom Financial Services (Proprietary) Limited, Vodacom Group Limited, Vodacom Insurance Administration Company (Proprietary) Limited, Vodacom Insurance Company (RF) Limited, Vodacom International Holdings (Pty) Limited, Vodacom International Limited, Vodacom Lesotho (Pty) Limited, Vodacom Life Assurance Company (RF) Limited, Vodacom Payment Services (Proprietary) Limited, Vodacom Properties No 1 (Proprietary) Limited, Vodacom Properties No.2 (Pty) Limited, Vodacom Tanzania Limited Zanzibar, Vodacom Tanzania Public Limited Company, Vodacom UK Limited, Vodafone (NI) Limited, Vodafone (New Zealand) Hedging Limited, Vodafone (Scotland) Limited, Vodafone 2, Vodafone 4 UK, Vodafone 5 Limited, Vodafone 5 UK, Vodafone 6 UK, Vodafone Albania Sh.A, Vodafone Alternatif Telekom Hizmetleri A.S., Vodafone Americas 4, Vodafone Americas Virginia Inc., Vodafone And Qatar Foundation L.L.C, Vodafone Asset Management Services S.a r.l., Vodafone Australia Pty Limited, Vodafone Automotive Deutschland GmbH, Vodafone Automotive Electronic Systems S.r.L, Vodafone Automotive France S.A.S, Vodafone Automotive Iberia S.L, Vodafone Automotive Italia S.p.A, Vodafone Automotive Japan K.K, Vodafone Automotive Korea Limited, Vodafone Automotive SpA, Vodafone Automotive Technologies (Beijing) Co Ltd, Vodafone Automotive Telematics Development S.A.S, Vodafone Automotive Telematics S.A, Vodafone Automotive UK Limited, Vodafone Belgium SA/NV, Vodafone Benelux Limited, Vodafone Bilgi Ve Iletisim Hizmetleri AS, Vodafone Business Services Limited, Vodafone Business Solutions Limited, Vodafone Canada Inc, Vodafone Cellular Limited, Vodafone Central Services Limited, Vodafone China Limited (China), Vodafone China Limited (Hong Kong), Vodafone Connect 2 Limited, Vodafone Connect Limited, Vodafone Consolidated Holdings Limited, Vodafone Corporate Limited, Vodafone Corporate Secretaries Limited, Vodafone Czech Republic A.S., Vodafone DC Pension Trustee Company Limited, Vodafone Dagitim Hizmetleri A.S., Vodafone Data, Vodafone Distribution Holdings Limited, Vodafone Egypt Telecommunications S.A.E., Vodafone Elektronik Para Ve Odeme Hizmetleri A.S., Vodafone Empresa Brasil Telecomunicacoes Ltda, Vodafone Empresa Mexico S.de R.L. de C.V., Vodafone Enabler Espana S.L., Vodafone Enterprise Australia Pty Limited, Vodafone Enterprise Austria GmbH, Vodafone Enterprise Bahrain W.L.L., Vodafone Enterprise Bulgaria EOOD, Vodafone Enterprise Chile SA, Vodafone Enterprise Communications Technical Services (Shanghai) Co. Ltd, Vodafone Enterprise Corporate Secretaries Limited, Vodafone Enterprise Denmark A/S, Vodafone Enterprise Equipment Limited, Vodafone Enterprise Europe (UK) Limited, Vodafone Enterprise Europe (UK) Limited  Czech Branch, Vodafone Enterprise Europe (UK) Limited  DubaiI Branch, Vodafone Enterprise Finland OY, Vodafone Enterprise France SAS, Vodafone Enterprise Germany GmbH, Vodafone Enterprise Global Businesses S.a r.l., Vodafone Enterprise Global Limited, Vodafone Enterprise Global Network HK Ltd, Vodafone Enterprise Global Network Pte. Ltd., Vodafone Enterprise Hong Kong Ltd, Vodafone Enterprise Italy S.r.L, Vodafone Enterprise Korea Limited, Vodafone Enterprise Luxembourg S.A., Vodafone Enterprise Netherlands BV, Vodafone Enterprise Norway AS, Vodafone Enterprise Regional Business Singapore Pte.Ltd., Vodafone Enterprise Singapore Pte.Ltd, Vodafone Enterprise Spain S.L.U.  Portugal Branch, Vodafone Enterprise Spain SLU, Vodafone Enterprise Sweden AB, Vodafone Enterprise Switzerland AG, Vodafone Erste Beteiligungsgesellschaft mbH, Vodafone Espana S.A.U., Vodafone Euro Hedging Limited, Vodafone Euro Hedging Two, Vodafone Europe B.V., Vodafone Europe UK, Vodafone European Investments, Vodafone European Portal Limited, Vodafone Finance Limited, Vodafone Finance Luxembourg Limited, Vodafone Finance Sweden, Vodafone Finance UK Limited, Vodafone Financial Operations, Vodafone Financial Services B.V., Vodafone Fixed Ltd, Vodafone Foundation, Vodafone Foundation Australia Pty Limited, Vodafone Gestioni S.p.A, Vodafone Ghana Mobile Financial Services Limited, Vodafone Global Content Services Limited, Vodafone Global Enterprise (Hong Kong) Limited, Vodafone Global Enterprise (Italy) S.R.L., Vodafone Global Enterprise (Japan) K.K., Vodafone Global Enterprise (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd, Vodafone Global Enterprise Limited, Vodafone Global Enterprise Russia LLC, Vodafone Global Enterprise Taiwan Limited, Vodafone Global Enterprise Telecommunications (Hellas) A.E., Vodafone Global Network Limited, Vodafone Global Network Limited  Slovakia Branch, Vodafone Global Services Private Limited, Vodafone GmbH, Vodafone Group (Directors) Trustee Limited, Vodafone Group Pension Trustee Limited, Vodafone Group Services GmbH, Vodafone Group Services Ireland Limited, Vodafone Group Services Limited, Vodafone Group Services No.2 Limited, Vodafone Group Share Trustee Limited, Vodafone Hire Limited, Vodafone Holding A.S., Vodafone Holdings (Jersey) Limited, Vodafone Holdings (SA) Proprietary Limited, Vodafone Holdings Europe S.L.U., Vodafone Holdings Luxembourg Limited, Vodafone Hutchison Australia Pty Limited, Vodafone Hutchison Finance Pty Limited, Vodafone Hutchison Receivables Pty Limited, Vodafone IP Licensing Limited, Vodafone India Digital Limited, Vodafone India Limited, Vodafone India Services Private Limited, Vodafone India Ventures Limited, Vodafone Institut fur Gesellschaft und Kommunikation GmbH, Vodafone Intermediate Enterprises Limited, Vodafone International 1 S.a.r.l. Luxembourg Zweigniederlassung Bern, Vodafone International 1 S.a r.l., Vodafone International 2 Limited, Vodafone International Holdings B.V., Vodafone International Holdings Limited, Vodafone International M S.a r.l., Vodafone International Operations Limited, Vodafone International Services LLC, Vodafone Investment UK, Vodafone Investments (SA) Proprietary Limited, Vodafone Investments Australia Limited, Vodafone Investments Limited, Vodafone Investments Luxembourg S.a r.l., Vodafone Investments Luxembourg S.a r.l. Luxembourg Zweigniederlassung Bern, Vodafone Ireland Distribution Limited, Vodafone Ireland Ltd., Vodafone Ireland Marketing Limited, Vodafone Ireland Property Holdings Limited, Vodafone Ireland Retail Limited, Vodafone Italia S.p.A., Vodafone Jersey Dollar Holdings Limited, Vodafone Jersey Finance, Vodafone Jersey Yen Holdings Unlimited, Vodafone Kabel Deutschland Field Services GmbH, Vodafone Kabel Deutschland GmbH, Vodafone Kabel Deutschland Kundenbetreuung GmbH, Vodafone Kenya Limited, Vodafone Leasing Limited, Vodafone Libertel B.V., Vodafone Limited, Vodafone Luxembourg 5 S.a r.l., Vodafone Luxembourg 5 S.a r.l. Luxembourg Zweigniederlassung Bern, Vodafone Luxembourg S.a r.l., Vodafone Luxembourg S.a r.l. Luxembourg Zweigniederlassung Bern, Vodafone M-PESA SH.P.K., Vodafone M-Pesa S.A, Vodafone M.C. Mobile Services Limited , Vodafone Magyarorszag Mobile Tavkozlesi Zartkoruen Mukodo Reszvenytarsasag, Vodafone Malta Limited, Vodafone Marketing UK , Vodafone Maroc SARL, Vodafone Mauritius Ltd., Vodafone Mobile Commerce Limited, Vodafone Mobile Communications Limited, Vodafone Mobile Enterprises Limited, Vodafone Mobile NZ Limited, Vodafone Mobile Network Limited, Vodafone Mobile Operations Limited, Vodafone Mobile Services Limited, Vodafone Multimedia Limited, Vodafone Nederland Holding I B.V., Vodafone Nederland Holding II B.V., Vodafone Nederland Holding III B.V., Vodafone Net Iletisim Hizmetleri A.S., Vodafone Network Pty Limited, Vodafone New Zealand Foundation Limited, Vodafone New Zealand Limited, Vodafone Next Generation Services Limited, Vodafone Nominees Limited1, Vodafone ONO S.A.U., Vodafone Oceania Limited, Vodafone Old Show Ground Site Management Limited, Vodafone Overseas Finance Limited, Vodafone Overseas Holdings Limited, Vodafone Panafon International Holdings B.V., Vodafone Panafon UK, Vodafone Partner Services Limited, Vodafone Payment Solutions S.a r.l., Vodafone Portugal  Comunicacoes Pessoais S.A., Vodafone Procurement Company S.a r.l., Vodafone Property Investments Limited, Vodafone Pty Limited, Vodafone Qatar Q.S.C., Vodafone Retail (Holdings) Limited , Vodafone Retail Limited, Vodafone Roaming Services S.a r.l., Vodafone Romania S.A, Vodafone Romania M - Payments SRL, Vodafone Romania Technologies SRL, Vodafone Sales & Services Limited, Vodafone Satellite Services Limited, Vodafone Servicios SL.U, Vodafone Servizi E Tecnologie S.R.L, Vodafone Servicos Empresariais Brasil Ltda., Vodafone Shared Services Romania SRL, Vodafone Specialist Communications Limited, Vodafone Stiftung Deutschland Gemeinnutzige GmbH, Vodafone Technology Solutions Limited, Vodafone Teknoloji Hizmetleri A.S., Vodafone Tele-Services (India) Holdings Limited, Vodafone Telecel-Comunicates Pessoais S.A., Vodafone Telecommunications (India) Limited, Vodafone Telekomunikasyon A.S, Vodafone Towers Limited, Vodafone UK Content Services Limited, Vodafone UK Investments Limited , Vodafone UK Limited1 , Vodafone US Inc, Vodafone Ventures Limited1 , Vodafone Vierte Verwaltungs AG, Vodafone Worldwide Holdings Limited, Vodafone Yen Finance Limited , Vodafone m-pesa Limited, Vodafone-Central Limited Vodaphone Limited, Vodafone-Panafon Hellenic Telecommunications Company S.A., VodafoneZiggo Group Holding B.V, Vodata Limited , Vouchercloud SA (Pty) Ltd, Wataneya Telecommunications S.A.E, Waterberg Lodge (Proprietary) Limited, Wayfinder, Wheatfields Investments 276 (Proprietary) Limited, Wireless Interactions & NFC Accelerator 2013 B.V., Woodend Cellular Limited, Woodend Communications Limited, Woodend Group Limited, Woodend Holdings Limited, XB Facilities B.V, XLink Communications (Proprietary) Limited, Your Communications Group Limited, ZUM B.V., ZYB, Zelitron S.A., Zesko B.V., Ziggo B.V., Ziggo Bond Company B.V., Ziggo Deelnemingen B.V., Ziggo Finance 2 B.V., Ziggo Financing Partnership, Ziggo Holding B.V., Ziggo Netwerk B.V., Ziggo Netwerk II B.V., Ziggo Services B.V., Ziggo Services Employment B.V., Ziggo Services Netwerk 2 B.V., Ziggo Zakelijk Services B.V., and Zoranet Connectivity Services B.V..

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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.

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Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc. (NYSE:ARE), an S&P 500<sup></sup> urban office real estate investment trust ("REIT"), is the first, longest-tenured, and pioneering owner, operator, and developer uniquely focused on collaborative life science, technology, and agtech campuses in AAA innovation cluster locations, with a total market capitalization of $31.9 billion as of December 31, 2020, and an asset base in North America of 49.7 million square feet ("SF"). The asset base in North America includes 31.9 million RSF of operating properties and 3.3 million RSF of Class A properties undergoing construction, 7.1 million RSF of near-term and intermediate-term development and redevelopment projects, and 7.4 million SF of future development projects. Founded in 1994, Alexandria pioneered this niche and has since established a significant market presence in key locations, including Greater Boston, San Francisco, New York City, San Diego, Seattle, Maryland, and Research Triangle. Alexandria has a longstanding and proven track record of developing Class A properties clustered in urban life science, technology, and agtech campuses that provide our innovative tenants with highly dynamic and collaborative environments that enhance their ability to successfully recruit and retain world-class talent and inspire productivity, efficiency, creativity, and success. Alexandria also provides strategic capital to transformative life science, technology, and agtech companies through our venture capital platform. We believe our unique business model and diligent underwriting ensure a high-quality and diverse tenant base that results in higher occupancy levels, longer lease terms, higher rental income, higher returns, and greater long-term asset value.
Ingredion Incorporated, together with its subsidiaries, produces and sells starches and sweeteners for various industries. It operates through four segments: North America; South America; Asia-Pacific; and Europe, Middle East and Africa. The company offers sweetener products comprising glucose syrups, high maltose syrups, high fructose corn syrups, caramel colors, dextrose, polyols, maltodextrins, and glucose syrup solids, as well as food-grade and industrial starches, biomaterials, and nutrition ingredients. It also provides edible corn oil; refined corn oil to packers of cooking oil and to producers of margarine, salad dressings, shortening, mayonnaise, and other foods; and corn gluten feed used as protein feed for chickens, pet food, and aquaculture, as well as fruit and vegetable products, such as concentrates, purees and essences, pulse proteins, and hydrocolloids systems and blends. The company's products are derived primarily from processing corn and other starch-based materials, such as tapioca, potato, and rice. It serves food, beverage, brewing, and animal nutrition industries. The company was formerly known as Corn Products International, Inc. and changed its name to Ingredion Incorporated in June 2012. Ingredion Incorporated was founded in 1906 and is headquartered in Westchester, Illinois.
Ag Growth International Inc., together with its subsidiaries, manufactures and distributes grain and rice handling, storage, and conditioning equipment in Canada, the United States, and internationally. The company offers storage equipment comprising grain and bolted bins, hopper bins, smooth wall bins, temporary storage equipment, unloads and sweeps, water tanks, fuel tanks; and conditioning equipment, such as mixed flow dryers, fans and heaters, aerations, airaugers, aeration floors, vents and exhausters, stirrings, and accessories. It also provides portable handling equipment, such as portable augers, conveyors, grain vacs, post pounders, seed treaters, and accessories; and permanent handling equipment, including bucket elevators, chain and belt conveyors, enclosed belt conveyors, distributors, feed handling equipment, screw feeders and conveyors, and spouts and connections. In addition, the company offers towers, catwalks, ladders, all-steel buildings, flat storage buildings; batch blenders, bulk scales, declining weight blenders, vertical blenders, micro-dosing systems, mixers, milling equipment; and controllers, hazard monitoring equipment, monitoring and automation equipment, sampling solutions. Further, it provides cleaning and destoners, rice milling and processing equipment, bin unloads, blending and control systems, Liquid and dry fertilizer blending and conveying equipment, turnkey design and build construction solutions for seed and fertilizer facilities, and farm management software. The company markets its products under the AGI, Airlanco, Batco, Brownie, CMC, Compass, Danmare, Ezee-dry, Frame, Grain Guard, Grainmaxx, Hi Roller, Hutchinson, Improtech, Junge, Keho, Mayrath, Milltec, MMS, Neco, PTM, REM, Sabe, Sentinel, Storm, Suretrack, Tramco, Twister, Westeel, Westfield, Wheatheart, and Yargus brand names. It provides its equipment for agricultural commodities. The company was founded in 1996 and is headquartered in Winnipeg, Canada.
Arch Resources, Inc. produces and sells thermal and metallurgical coal from surface and underground mines. As of December 31, 2021, the company operated seven active mines. It also owned or controlled primarily through long-term leases approximately 28,292 acres of coal land in Ohio; 952 acres of coal land in Maryland; 10,095 acres of coal land in Virginia; 306,033 acres of coal land in West Virginia; 81,470 acres of coal land in Wyoming; 234,543 acres of coal land in Illinois; 33,047 acres of coal land in Kentucky; 362 acres of coal land in Montana; 248 acres of coal land in Pennsylvania; and 19,018 acres of coal land in Colorado, as well as smaller parcels of property in Alabama, Indiana, Washington, Arkansas, California, Utah, and Texas. The company sells its products to utility, industrial, and steel producers in the United States, Europe, Asia, Central and South America, and Africa. The company was formerly known as Arch Coal, Inc. and changed its name to Arch Resources, Inc. in May 2020. Arch Resources, Inc. was incorporated in 1969 and is headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri.
The following companies are subsidiares of Pearson: AEL (S) PTE Limited, ATI Professional Development LLC, Addison Wesley Longman Inc., Addison-Wesley Educational Publishers Inc., Aldwych Finance Limited, Americas Choice Inc., Atkey Finance Limited, Author Solutions, Axis Finance Inc., CAMSAWUSA Inc., CTI Education Group (Pty) Limited, Camsaw Inc., Casapsi Livraria e Editora Ltda, Centro Cultural Americano Franquias e Comercio Ltda., Century Consultants Ltd., Certiport, Certiport China Co Ltd, Certiport China Holding LLC, Certiport Inc., Cogmed Systems AB, Connections Academy of Arkansas LLC, Connections Academy of Florida LLC, Connections Academy of Iowa LLC, Connections Academy of Maine LLC, Connections Academy of Maryland LLC, Connections Academy of Minnesota LLC, Connections Academy of Missouri LLC, Connections Academy of Nevada LLC, Connections Academy of New Jersey LLC, Connections Academy of New Mexico LLC, Connections Academy of New York LLC, Connections Academy of Oregon LLC, Connections Academy of Pennsylvania LLC, Connections Academy of Tennessee LLC, Connections Academy of Texas LLC, Connections Education Inc., Connections Education LLC, Connections Education of Florida LLC, Dominie Press Inc., Dorian Finance Limited, Dorling Kindersley Australasia Pty Limited, EBNT Canada Holdings ULC, EBNT Holdings Limited, EBNT USA Holdings Inc., Edexcel Limited, Edexcel South Africa Pty Ltd, Education Development International plc, Education Resources (Cyprus) Limited, Educational Management Group Inc., Educational Publishers LLP, Embanet ULC, Embanet-Compass Knowledge Group Inc., EmbanetCompass, Embankment Finance Limited, English Language Learning and Instruction System Inc., Escape Studios Limited, FBH Inc., Falstaff Holdco Inc., Falstaff Inc., GED Domains LLC, GED Testing Service LLC, George (Shanghai) Commercial Information Consulting Co. Ltd, Global Education, Global George I Limited, Global George II Limited, GlobalEnglish, Globe Fearon Inc., Guangzhou Crescent Software Co. Ltd, Heinemann Education Botswana (Publishers) (Proprietary) Limited, Heinemann Publishers (Pty) Ltd, INTELLIPRO INC., Icodeon Limited, IndiaCan Education Private Limited, Integral 7 Inc., Integrated Analytics LLC, J M Solucoes Exportacao e Importacao Ltda, K12 Learning Services LLC, Kagiso Education Pty Ltd, Knowledge Analysis Technologies LLC, LCCI International Qualifications (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd., LCCIEB Training Consultancy. Ltd, Learning Catalytics, LessonLab Inc., Lignum Oil Company, Linx Brasil Distribuidora Ltda., Longman (Malawi) Limited, Longman Australasia Pty Ltd, Longman Group(Overseas Holdings)Limited, Longman Indochina Acquisition L.L.C., Longman Kenya Limited, Longman Mocambique Ltda, Longman Romania S.R.L., Longman Swaziland (Pty) Limited, Longman Tanzania Limited, Longman Zambia Educational Publishers Pty Ltd, Longman Zambia Limited, Longman Zimbabwe (Private) Ltd, Longmaned Ecuador S.A., Major123 Limited, Maskew Miller Longman (Pty) Limited, MeasureUp LLC, Modern Curriculum Inc., Multi Holding, Multi Treinamento e Editora Ltda, NCS Information Technology Services (Beijing) Co Ltd, NCS Pearson Inc., NCS Pearson Pty Ltd, NCS Pearson Puerto Rico Inc., National Computer Systems Japan Co. Ltd, Ordinate Corporation, PN Holdings Inc., PT Efficient English Services, Pearson (Beijing) Management Consulting Co. Ltd., Pearson (Guizhou) Education Technology Co. Ltd., Pearson Affordable Learning Fund Limited, Pearson America LLC, Pearson Amsterdam B.V., Pearson Australia Finance Unlimited, Pearson Australia Group Pty Ltd, Pearson Australia Holdings Pty Ltd, Pearson Australia Pty Ltd, Pearson Benelux B.V., Pearson Books Limited, Pearson Brazil Finance Limited, Pearson Business Services Inc., Pearson Canada Assessment Inc., Pearson Canada Finance Unlimited, Pearson Canada Holdings Inc, Pearson Canada Inc., Pearson Central Europe Spoka z ograniczona odpowiedzialnoscia, Pearson College Limited, Pearson DBC Holdings Inc., Pearson Desarrollo y Capacitacion Profesional Chile Limitada, Pearson Deutschland GmbH, Pearson Digital Learning Puerto Rico Inc., Pearson Dollar Finance Two Limited, Pearson Dollar Finance plc, Pearson Educacion SA, Pearson Educacion de Chile Limitada, Pearson Educacion de Colombia S A S, Pearson Educacion de Mexico S.A. de C.V., Pearson Educacion de Panama SA, Pearson Educacion de Peru S.A., Pearson Education (Singapore) Pte Ltd, Pearson Education Achievement Solutions (RF) (Pty) Limited, Pearson Education Africa (Pty) Ltd, Pearson Education Asia Limited, Pearson Education Botswana (Proprietary) Limited, Pearson Education Hellas SA, Pearson Education Holdings Limited, Pearson Education Inc., Pearson Education Indochina Limited, Pearson Education Investments Limited, Pearson Education Korea Limited, Pearson Education Limited, Pearson Education Namibia (Pty) Limited, Pearson Education Publishing Limited, Pearson Education S.A., Pearson Education SA, Pearson Education South Africa (Pty) Ltd, Pearson Education South Asia Pte. Ltd., Pearson Education Taiwan Ltd, Pearson Education do Brasil S.A, Pearson Educational Measurement Canada Inc., Pearson Educational Publishers LLC, Pearson Egitim Cozumleri Tikaret Limited Sirketi, Pearson Falstaff (Holdings) Inc., Pearson Falstaff Holdco LLC, Pearson France, Pearson Funding Five plc, Pearson Funding Four plc, Pearson Funding Two Limited, Pearson Holdings Inc., Pearson Holdings Southern Africa (Pty) Limited, Pearson IOKI Spoka z ograniczona odpowiedzialnoscia, Pearson India Education Services Private Limited, Pearson India Support Services Private Limited, Pearson Institute of Higher Education, Pearson International Finance Limited, Pearson Investment Holdings Inc., Pearson Italia S.p.A, Pearson Japan KK, Pearson Lanka (Private) Limited, Pearson Learning China (HK) Limited, Pearson Lesotho (Pty) Ltd, Pearson Loan Finance No. 3 Limited, Pearson Loan Finance No. 4 Limited, Pearson Loan Finance No.2 Unlimited, Pearson Loan Finance Unlimited, Pearson Longman Uganda Limited, Pearson Malaysia Sdn. Bhd., Pearson Management Services Limited, Pearson Management Services Philippines Inc., Pearson Maryland Inc., Pearson Netherlands B.V., Pearson Netherlands Holdings B.V., Pearson Nominees Limited, Pearson Online Tutoring LLC, Pearson Overseas Holdings Limited, Pearson PEM P.R. Inc., Pearson PRH Holdings Limited, Pearson Pension Nominees Limited, Pearson Pension Property Fund Limited, Pearson Pension Trustee Limited, Pearson Pension Trustee Services Limited, Pearson Professional Assessments Limited, Pearson Real Estate Holdings Inc., Pearson Real Estate Holdings Limited, Pearson Schweiz AG, Pearson Services Limited, Pearson Shared Services Limited, Pearson South Africa (Pty) Ltd, Pearson Strand Finance Limited, Pearson Sweden AB, Pearson VUE Philippines Inc., Pearson in Practice Holdings Limited, Pearson in Practice Skills Based Learning Limited, Pearson in Practice Technology Limited, Penguin Capital LLC, Phumelela Publishers (Pty) Ltd, ProctorCam Inc., Reading Property Holdings LLC, Rebus Planning Associates Inc., Reston Publishing Company Inc., Rycade Capital Corporation, Shanghai AWL Education Software Ltd, Silver Burdett Ginn Inc., Skylight Training and Publishing Inc., Smarthinking Inc., Sound Holdings Inc., Spear Insurance Company Limited, Stark Verlag GmbH, Sunnykey International Holdings Limited (BVI), TQ Catalis Limited, TQ Clapham Limited, TQ Education and Training Limited, TQ Global Limited, TQ Group Limited, TQ Holdings Limited, The Financial Times (I) Pvt Ltd, The Learning Edge International pty Ltd, The Waite Group Inc, Trio Parent Holdings LLC, US Learning Services LLC, USLS Holdings LLC, Virtual Nerd, Vue Testing Services Israel Ltd, Vue Testing Services Korea Limited, Wall Street Institute Kft., Williams Education GmbH, eCollege.com, and Editions Du Renouveau Pedagogique Inc..

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The following companies are subsidiares of International Flavors & Fragrances: 1456111 Ontario Limited, A. Boake Roberts And Company (Holding) Limited, ASA Ventures Inc., Agtech Products Inc., Alpris Ltd., Amco SP Z.O.O, ApS Syntetic, Aroma S.A., Aromatics Holdings Limited, Aromco Ltd., Aromor, Arvin Company, Asian Investments Inc., Atelier du Parfumeur IFF Grasse SAS, BKF Vision Ltd, BSA India Food Ingr. P. Ltd., Belden Company, Branch office of DuPont Protein Technologies International Sales LLC, Bremil Industria e Comercio de Ingredientes Alimenticos Ltda. , Bremil S/A Industria De Produtos Alimenticos , Bush Boake Allen (New Zealand) Limited, Bush Boake Allen (Pension Trustees) Limited, Bush Boake Allen Australia Pty Ltd, Bush Boake Allen Benelux B.V., Bush Boake Allen Chile S.A., Bush Boake Allen Controladora S.A. de C.V., Bush Boake Allen Enterprises Limited, Bush Boake Allen Holdings (U.K.) Limited, Bush Boake Allen Inc., Bush Boake Allen Inc., Bush Boake Allen Limited, Bush Boake Allen Zimbabwe (Private) Limited, Bush Boake Allen do Brasil Industria e Comercio Ltda., Butamax Advanced Biofuels LLC, Chemical Process Materials and Equipment S.A., CitraSource Holdings L.L.C., Columbia PhytoTechnology LLC, Columbia Phytotechnology LLC, Cometra ApS, Crestmont Investment Co., Cultor Oy, DDP Specialty Products Germany GmbH & Co. KG, DDP Specialty Products Poland Sp. z.o.o., DSP Germany N&B Real Estate GmbH & Co KG, Daivd Michael Netherlands B.V., Dandy Lions Limited, Danisco (China) Co. Ltd., Danisco (China) Holding Co. Ltd., Danisco (India) Private Limited, Danisco (Zhangjiagang) Textural Ingredients Co. Ltd., Danisco Argentina S.A., Danisco Australia Pty Limited, Danisco Austria GmbH, Danisco B.V., Danisco Biosciences (Shanghai) Co. Ltd, Danisco Brasil Ltda., Danisco Canada Inc., Danisco Chile S.A., Danisco Colombia Ltda., Danisco Cultor (Switzerland) AG, Danisco Cultor Sweden AB, Danisco Cultor Trading Ltda., Danisco Czech Republic a.s., Danisco Deutschland GmbH, Danisco Dis Ticaret Limited Sirketi, Danisco Egypt Trading LLC, Danisco Flexible Brasil Ltda, Danisco France SAS, Danisco Guatemala S.A., Danisco Holding USA Inc., Danisco Holdings (UK) Ltd., Danisco Holland B.V., Danisco Ingredients Belgium N.V., Danisco Italia S.p.A., Danisco Japan Limited, Danisco Malaysia Sdn. Bhd., Danisco Mexicana S.A. de C.V., Danisco Mexico S.A. de C.V., Danisco New Zealand Limited, Danisco Nutrition & Bioscience Greece Ltd., Danisco Nutrition & Biosciences Korea Ltd., Danisco Nutrition & Biosciences Malaysia SDN. BHD., Danisco Nutrition & Biosciences Taiwan Limited, Danisco Nutrition and Biosciences India Private Ltd, Danisco Peru S.A.C., Danisco Poland Sp. z.o.o, Danisco Singapore Pte. Ltd., Danisco South Africa (Pty) Ltd., Danisco Sweeteners Oy, Danisco Switzerland AG, Danisco UK Ltd., Danisco US Inc., Danisco USA Inc., Danisco Ukraine LLC, Danisco Zaandam BV, David Michael & Company (Canada) 1986 Ltd., David Michael Europe S.A.S., Du Pont de Nemours Nigeria Limited, DuPont (Shanghai) Enterprise Co. Ltd., DuPont Acquisition LLC, DuPont Danisco Cellulosic Ethanol LLC, DuPont Denmark Holding ApS, DuPont Electronics Holding LLC, DuPont LA Holding 1 BV, DuPont Lanka (Private) Limited, DuPont Nutrition (Thailand) Ltd, DuPont Nutrition Biosciences ApS, DuPont Nutrition Dis Ticaret Limited Sirketi, DuPont Nutrition Food Ingredients (Beijing) Co. Ltd., DuPont Nutrition Ingredientes BRASIL LTDA, DuPont Nutrition International, DuPont Nutrition Ireland, DuPont Nutrition Italy SRL (f/k/a FMC Chemical Italy SrL), DuPont Nutrition Manufacturing UK Limited, DuPont Nutrition Mexicana S.A de C.V., DuPont Nutrition Mexico S.A de C.V., DuPont Nutrition Norge AS, DuPont Nutrition Philippines Inc., DuPont Nutrition USA Inc, DuPont Nutrition and Biosciences Iberica S.L., DuPont Protein Technologies International Sales LLC, DuPont S&C Holding LLC, DuPont Shineway Luohe Food Company Limited , DuPont Shineway Luohe Protein Company Limited , DuPont US Holding LLC, DuPont de Nemours Kenya Limited, ERELEM, ETOL SK s.r.o., ETOL-RUS Ltd., Eden Essentials Inc., Envoltec Industria de Embalagens Ltda. , Enzymotec Australia PTY LTD, Enzymotec Singapore Pte. Ltd., Enzymotec USA Inc., Etol Aroma Ve Baharat Gida Urunleri San.Ve Tic.a.s., Etol JVE d.o.o., Etol Proizvodnja Arom D.O.O, Etol Skopje DRUSTVO ZA TRGOVIJA ETOL UVOZ-IZVOZ DOOEL, FYMSA Real Estate LLC (23), FYMSA del Caribe S.R.L , Fangchen International Trading Ltd. (6), Finnfeeds Finland Oy, Finnfeeds Oy, Finnsugar Bioproducts Inc., Flavor Systems International Inc., Flavors and Essences UK Limited, FoodBlenders Limited, Foreign Trade Representative of Danisco Singapore Pte. Ltd., Fragrance Resources, Fragrance Resources (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Fragrance Resources Asia Pacific Ltd., Frutarom (Asia Pacific) Limited, Frutarom (Marketing) S.R.L., Frutarom (UK) Holdings Limited, Frutarom (UK) Ltd., Frutarom - Etol (UK) Limited, Frutarom Belgium N.V., Frutarom Chile S.A., Frutarom Czech Republic S.r.o, Frutarom Do Brazil Industria E Comercio Ltda., Frutarom Etol RO SRL, Frutarom Etol Ukraine LLC., Frutarom F&F Trading (Shanghai) Co., Frutarom Finance EUR AG, Frutarom Flavors (Kushan) Co Ltd., Frutarom Flavors Mexico S.A. de C.V., Frutarom Flavours (India) Private Limited (14), Frutarom France S.A.R.L, Frutarom Germany GmbH, Frutarom Gida Urunleri Sanayi Ve Ticaret Limited Sirketi, Frutarom Global Ltd., Frutarom GmbH, Frutarom Industries Ld, Frutarom Industries Ltd., Frutarom Italy S.r.l, Frutarom Kenya Limited, Frutarom Ltd., Frutarom Netherlands B.V., Frutarom Nigeria Limited, Frutarom Nordic A/S Flachsmann Scandinavia A/S Aksel Holm-Essensfabrik A / S, Frutarom Norway A.S, Frutarom Peru S.A. (Montana Food activity), Frutarom Production GmbH, Frutarom Savory Solutions Austria GmbH, Frutarom Savory Solutions Germany GmbH, Frutarom Savory Solutions Switzerland AG, Frutarom Savory Solutions Ukraine, Frutarom Switzerland Finance CHF AG, Frutarom Switzerland Finance GBP AG, Frutarom Switzerland Finance MXN AG, Frutarom Switzerland Finance USD AG, Frutarom Switzerland Ltd., Frutarom Trade & Marketing (1990) Ltd., Frutarom UK Investments Limited, Frutarom USA Holding Inc., Frutarom USA Inc., Frutarom do Brasil GRU Industria e Comercio Ltda., Genencor (China) Bio-Products Co. Ltd., Genencor International B.V., Genencor International BVBA, Genencor International Holding BV, Genencor International Indiana Inc., Genencor International Oy, Genencor International Wisconsin Inc., Genencor Mauritius Ltd., Genentech Ventures Inc., Grow Company Inc., Hagelin Flv (UK) Ltd., Hexachem Sociedad Anonima, IB EMEA Holding 2 B.V., IFF (BVI) Limited, IFF (Korea) Inc., IFF Aroma Esans Sanayi Ve Ticaret Anonim Sirketi, IFF Augusta Holdings LLC, IFF Australia Holdings Pty Ltd, IFF Benicarlo S.L., IFF Bio-Technology (Nanjing) Co. Ltd., IFF Capital Services, IFF Chemical Holdings Inc., IFF Delaware Holdings LLC, IFF Essencias e Fragrancias Ltda., IFF Flavors & Fragrances (Hangzhou) Trading Co. Ltd., IFF Fragrance GmbH, IFF Hungary Global Kft, IFF International Inc., IFF Latin American Holdings (Espana) S.L., IFF Mexico Manufactura S.A. de C.V., IFF Murcia Natural Ingredients S.L., IFF Sabores y Fragancias de Chile Ltda., IFF Turkey Aroma Ve Esans Urunleri Satis Ticaret Anonim Sirketi, IFF West Africa Limited, IFF Worldwide LLC, Ingrediants dooel Skopje, Institut Europeen de Biologie Cellulaire, International Aroma Group, International Flavors & Fragrances (Canada) Ltd., International Flavors & Fragrances (Caribe) Inc., International Flavors & Fragrances (China) Ltd., International Flavors & Fragrances (Greater Asia) Pte. Ltd, International Flavors & Fragrances (Hangzhou) Co. Ltd., International Flavors & Fragrances (Hong Kong) Limited, International Flavors & Fragrances (Japan) Ltd., International Flavors & Fragrances (Luxembourg) S.a r.l., International Flavors & Fragrances (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd., International Flavors & Fragrances (Mexico) S. de R.L. de C.V., International Flavors & Fragrances (Middle East) FZ-LLC, International Flavors & Fragrances (Myanmar) Limited, International Flavors & Fragrances (Nederland) Holding B.V., International Flavors & Fragrances (Philippines) Inc., International Flavors & Fragrances (Poland) Sp. z o.o., International Flavors & Fragrances (Vietnam) Limited Liability Company, International Flavors & Fragrances (ZhangJiagang) Co. Ltd., International Flavors & Fragrances (Zhejiang) Co. Ltd., International Flavors & Fragrances (Zimbabwe) (Private) Ltd., International Flavors & Fragrances Ardenne S.a r.l., International Flavors & Fragrances France Holding I SAS, International Flavors & Fragrances France Holding II SAS, International Flavors & Fragrances France Holding III SAS, International Flavors & Fragrances Holdings LLC, International Flavors & Fragrances I.F.F. (Chile) Limitada, International Flavors & Fragrances I.F.F. (Espana) S.A., International Flavors & Fragrances I.F.F. (Hungary) Kft, International Flavors & Fragrances I.F.F. (Nederland) B.V., International Flavors & Fragrances I.F.F. (Norden) AB, International Flavors & Fragrances I.F.F. (Rus), International Flavors & Fragrances IFF (Deutschland) GmbH, International Flavors & Fragrances IFF (France) SAS, International Flavors & Fragrances Irish Acquisition Company Limited, International Flavors and Fragrances Colombia S.A.S., International Flavors and Fragrances I.F.F. (Israel) Ltd., International Flavors and Fragrances IFF (South Africa), International Flavors and Fragrances Ingredients Ltd, International Flavors e Fragrances IFF (Italia) S.r.l., International Flavours & Fragrances (Australia) Pty Ltd, International Flavours & Fragrances (CIL) Limited, International Flavours & Fragrances (GB) Holdings Limited, International Flavours & Fragrances (Mauritius) Ltd, International Flavours & Fragrances (NZ) Limited, International Flavours & Fragrances (Pension Trustees) Limited, International Flavours & Fragrances (Thailand) Limited, International Flavours & Fragrances I.F.F. (Great Britain) Limited, International Flavours & Fragrances India Private Limited (13), International Frutarom Corporation, Inventive Food Technology (ZQ) Ltd., Inventive Technology Ltd., Irish Flavours and Fragrances Limited, K-Vision Consulting and Investments Ltd, Kelp Industries Pty. Ltd, Leagel GmbH (11), Leagel S.r.l. (19), Les Ingredients Alimentaires BSA Inc., Les Laboratories Bio ForeXtra Inc., Lucas Meyer Cosmetics, Lucas Meyer Cosmetics Australia Pty Ltd, Lucas Meyer Cosmetics Canada Inc., Lucas Meyer Cosmetics S.A.S., M.P. Equity Holdings Ltd, MISR Company for Aromatic products, Manseg S.A., Mark Services Holdings Inc., N&B Chemicals Germany GmbH, N&B EMEA Holding B.V., N&B Germany Verwaltungs-GmbH, N&B International Holding B.V., N&B NL BV - Saudi Branch, N&B Real Estate Verwaltungs-GmbH, N&B Services BV, N&B Switzerland  UAE Branch, N&H EMEA Holding 1 BV, N&H EMEA Holding 2 BV, N&H EMEA Holding B.V., N&H International Holding 1 B.V., N&H International Holding 3 BV, N&H Switzerland Holding Sarl, Nardi Armoas Ltda., Neptune Merger Sub I Inc., Neptune Merger Sub II LLC, New Asia Holdco B.V., Nutra-Lease Ltd. (16), Nutrition & Bioscience (Luxembourg) S.a r.l., Nutrition & Bioscience (Switzerland) GmbH, Nutrition & Bioscience (Thailand) Co. Ltd., Nutrition & Bioscience Pakistan (Private) Ltd, Nutrition & Biosciences (Finland) Oy, Nutrition & Biosciences (France) SAS, Nutrition & Biosciences (Sweden) AB, Nutrition & Biosciences (UK) Ltd, Nutrition & Biosciences Argentina S.A.U., Nutrition & Biosciences Australia Pty Ltd., Nutrition & Biosciences Brasil Ingredientes Ltda., Nutrition & Biosciences Canada Company, Nutrition & Biosciences Chile SpA, Nutrition & Biosciences Colombia S.A.S, Nutrition & Biosciences Hong Kong Limited, Nutrition & Biosciences Hungary Limited Liability Company, Nutrition & Biosciences Inc., Nutrition & Biosciences Italy S.r.l., Nutrition & Biosciences Japan K.K., Nutrition & Biosciences Korea Ltd., Nutrition & Biosciences Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Nutrition & Biosciences Netherlands B.V., Nutrition & Biosciences New Zealand Limited, Nutrition & Biosciences Singapore Pte. Ltd., Nutrition & Biosciences USA 1 LLC, Nutrition & Biosciences USA 2 LLC, Nutrition & Biosciences USA 3 LLC, Nutrition & Biosciences Vietnam Company Limited, Nutrition Biosciences USA 4 Inc, Nutrition and Biosciences South Africa (Pty) Ltd, Nutrition and Biosciences Spain S.L., OOO WIBERG Rus, P.T. Essence Indonesia, PARMA FA, PIASA USA (24), PM Taiwan Inc., PT Blue Cube Indonesia, PTI Astana LLC, PTI CA LLC, PTI Center LLC, PTI Group of Companies LLC (GK PTI), PTI-BEL TUE, PTI-MOL LLC, PTI-NN LLC, PTI-Ukraine LLC, Platinum Absolut LLC, Pointer Specialty Chemicals LLC, Protein Technologies Do Brasil Ltda., Protein Technologies International Asia Pacific LLC, Protein Technologies International Development LLC, Protein Technologies International Europe LLC, Proveedores de Ingenieria Alimentaria S.A. de C.V. ("PIASA") (17), Prowin International Ltd., Pucheng Yongfang Fragrance Technology Co. Ltd. , Redbrook (UK) Limited, Redbrook Blentech Limited, Redbrook Ingredient Services Limited, Rene Laurent SAS, Representaciones FYMSA S.A. de C.V (FYMSA) (18), Rohm and Haas Wood Treatment LLC, SP EMEA Holding 8 BV, SP Holding IB Inc., SP Nutrition and Health (Singapore) Inc., Sabormax Industria de Alimentos e Representacao Ltda., Savoury Flavours (Holding) Limited, Savoury Flavours Ltd., Solae (UK) Limited, Solae Argentina S.A., Solae Australia Pty Limited, Solae Belgium N.V., Solae Company India Private Limited, Solae Denmark ApS, Solae Deutschland GmbH (f/k/a CSY Agri-Processing (Deutschland) GmbH), Solae Do Brasil Industria E Comercio De Alimentos Ltda., Solae Europe S.A., Solae Holdings LLC, Solae Investimentos LTDA, Solae LLC (SMLLC of Solae Holdings), Solae Overseas B.V., Solae Trading (Shanghai) Company Ltd., Solae de Mexico S.A. de C.V. (formerly PTI Mexico), Solae do Brasil Holdings Ltda., Sonarome Private Limited (15), Southern Cross Botanicals Pty Ltd, Specialty Products Balkans d.o.o., Specialty Products FZE, Specialty Products N&H Inc, Specialty Products US LLC, Speximo AB, TNI Investments NV, Tastepoint Flavors (Shanghai) Co. Ltd, Tastepoint Inc., Tastepoint OOO, Tastepoint Polska Sp.z o.o, Tastepoint SA (Pty) Ltd., Tastepoint Tovarna arom in etericnih olj d.o.o., Taura Natural Ingredients (Australia) Pty Limited, Taura Natural Ingredients (North America) Inc., Taura Natural Ingredients Holdings Pty Limited, Taura Natural Ingredients Ltd., Taura Natural Ingredients NV, Tekhnomol Soya Products LLC, The Additive Advantage LLC, The Additive Advantage LLC, The Foote & Jenks Corporation, The Mighty Company Limited (21), Thorungaverksmidjan HF (12), UFC America Inc., Unique Flavors Proprietary Limited, Unique Food Solutions Proprietary Limited, Unique Ingredients Limited, VAYA PHARMA HONKG LTD, VITIVA proizvodnja in storitve d.d., Vantodio Holdings Limited, Vaya Pharma Inc., Vaya Pharma Pte Ltd. (20), Venezuela Protein Technologies Internationla -PTI C.A., W.W. Holdings Inc., WIBERG Italia S.r.l., Wiberg Baharat San.Tic.A.S, Wiberg Canada Inc., Wiberg Corporation of California, Wiberg Corporation., Yderns 1 ApS, ZAO Danisco, extrakt chemie Dr. Bruno Stellmach GmbH, iDrug Delivery Inc.(Delaware) (22), nternational Flavors & Fragrances S.R.L., van Ameringen-Haebler Inc., and world wide WIBERG GmbH.

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COLUMBUS  Bryan Salazar promises an unexpected twist at the end of Anna in the Tropics.

But youll have to attend the upcoming Central Community College-Columbus show to find out what it is.

Salazar, a sophomore at CCC-C, plays Juan Julian in the theater production, a lector from Cuba who is hired to work at the Alcalar family cigar factory in Tampa, Florida, in 1929.

Julian introduces the factory workers to Leo Tolstoys Anna Karenina, and the charming lectors presence and story evoke a stream of emotions from the family members torn between their Cuban past and American future.

It has a lot of emotion in it, said Salazar, a theater major who played Detrick in last years production of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.

The seven-person cast has been preparing since August for the semesters first performance, and director Keith Hale believes he has the perfect group to tell the Pulitzer Prize-winning story.

Its definitely an ensemble piece. So its not relying on one or two characters, he said.

The multi-layered play mirrors Tolstoys classic Russian novel as its read to the factory workers by Julian.

CCC sophomore Jose Rojas said his portrayal of Cheche, the half-brother of cigar factory owner Santiago Alcalar, is a welcome change from his usual role providing comic relief.

Its more of a drama than what people are used to, said Rojas, whose character has ambitions of taking a larger stake in the factory and using modern equipment to replace the traditional hand-rolling.

Rojas said the plays dramatic themes add an extra challenge for the actors.

The story line, which includes infidelity, gambling, drinking and violence, also gives the play a directors warning. Its meant for mature audiences.

Sophomore Lizzy Baustert, who plays Conchita Alcalar, said Anna in the Tropics has elements of a Spanish love story, but thats intertwined with her characters affair with the lector, financial problems created by Santiagos gambling and additional conflict caused by Cheche.

It shows everyones flaws, said Christopher Hemmer, who plays Santiago.

Salazar said the multitude of stories within the play get people thinking.

Theres just so much that goes into it, he said. I just feel really blessed and proud to be working with such amazing actors.

It just brings the show to life, he added.

CCC sophomore Tommy Wiseman, who plays Conchita's husband Palomo, agrees.

Everyone is doing amazing, he said. Its going to be great on opening night.

In addition to being an award-winning play, Hale said he believes Anna in the Tropics was an appropriate selection for a community with a growing Cuban and Latino population.

I thought that it embraced some of the diversity in our community now, the CCC-C theater instructor said.

Performances of Anna in the Tropics are set for 7 p.m. Oct. 20-22 and 2 p.m. Oct. 22 in the colleges Fine Arts Theater. Tickets are $7 for general admission and reservations arent required.

The play has also been entered as an associate production in the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival. Two performers from the CCC-C production will be selected to compete for an Irene Ryan Scholarship during the regional festival in Des Moines, Iowa, in January.

Members of the cast and crew for the CCC-C production are:

Christopher Hemmer -- Santiago

Jose Rojas -- Cheche

Brenna Noller -- Ofelia

Precious Young -- Marela

Lizzy Baustert -- Conchita

Bryan Salazar -- Juan Julian

Tommy Wiseman -- Palomo

Keith Hale -- Director

Levi Howe -- Technical director

Josh Bates -- Stage manager
SILVER CREEK  John "Jack" W. Sock, 80, of Silver Creek, passed away peacefully on Tuesday, Oct. 11, 2016, at Brookestone Acres in Columbus.

A Mass of Christian Burial will be held 10:30 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 15, at St. Lawrence Catholic Church in Silver Creek with Fr. William L'Heureux officiating. Burial will follow at St. Lawrence Catholic Cemetery in Silver Creek, with military honors by American Legion Post 263 of Silver Creek and Nebraska Military Honor Guard. Visitation will be 5-7 p.m. Friday, with a 7 p.m. Scripture and rosary service, at the church. Palmer-Santin Funeral Home of Fullerton is serving the family.

Jack was born Aug. 9, 1936, to Philip and Helen (Jarecki) Sock in Osceola. He graduated from Silver Creek High School in 1954. He served in the U.S. Army from 1955-57. On Oct. 25, 1958, he married Alberta Cutsor in Silver Creek and to this union five children were born. When he returned from the Army, he took over farming on the family farm west of Silver Creek. He continued to farm until his death.

He enjoyed fishing, hunting, playing solitaire, watching the markets and going to his grandchildrens games. His greatest love was for his family and farming with his son. He enjoyed spending as much time with them as possible. He also enjoyed harvest. He was fortunate enough to be able to harvest one last time before he passed.

He is survived by his loving wife of 58 years, Alberta of Silver Creek; five children, Shelly (Butch) Zelasney, Pam Cave, Lisa (Todd) Graham and Todd (Joan) Sock, all of Silver Creek, and Jackie (Kevin) Wieseman of Osceola; 17 grandchildren and six great-grandchildren; brothers, Philip Sock of Denver and Jerry Sock of Loup City; and sisters, Barbara Moore of Columbus and Mary Ann Koziol of Grand Island.

He was preceded in death by his parents; brother, Roman Sock; twin brother, James Sock; and sisters, Helen Reimer and Elizabeth Sock.
LINCOLN  Verizon Wireless on Wednesday announced plans to close its Lincoln call center, as well as four others in the U.S.

Wednesday's announcement affects 3,200 Verizon employees nationwide, including 320 in Lincoln.

"We have made a very difficult but necessary business decision to close our call center in Lincoln and relocate those jobs to other Verizon customer service call centers," Meagan Dorsch, a Verizon Wireless spokeswoman, said in an email.

Dorsch said the company has extra capacity at other locations, and "we are in effect putting more positions in each call center." The other call centers closing are Bangor, Maine, Rancho Cordova, California, Rochester, New York, and Wallingford, Connecticut.

The Lincoln call center at 4600 Innovation Drive, which is near Interstate 80 in northwest Lincoln, will remain open until March 24, and Dorsch said Lincoln employees will be given the opportunity to transfer to other locations. The company is offering a $500 travel stipend to employees who want to visit other centers and $10,000 in relocation assistance for those who transfer.

She also said those who choose not to relocate will be offered assistance in finding a new job as well as a severance package.

Lincoln Chamber of Commerce President Wendy Birdsall said she was "very disappointed" about the closure but added she was optimistic about the job prospects for those affected.

"We've got 4,000 open jobs and a 3 percent unemployment rate," Birdsall said. "I feel prospects are good."

In a statement, Gov. Pete Ricketts offered the state's support to workers who will be out of a job.

Losing a job is very stressful on a family," he said. "The Department of Labor and Economic Development are ready to assist Verizons impacted team members to make this transition as smooth as possible.

This marks the third time in four years that Verizon Wireless has closed call centers. In 2014, it closed five centers and consolidated seven others, cutting 5,200 jobs nationwide. In 2012, it closed three call centers and consolidated two others, cutting more than 3,000 jobs.

Verizon also announced last week that it was cutting jobs at its retail stores as growth in its wireless business slows.

The Lincoln call center opened in October 2007 with about 200 employees. Employment locally eventually grew to 600 people, but it never approached the target of 800 set by the company when it announced plans to come to Lincoln in December 2006.

At the time, local officials said they believed it was the largest-ever project in terms of jobs in the city's history.

Employees who contacted the Journal Star on Wednesday said company officials cited the inability to fill the Lincoln center with qualified applicants as a reason for shutting it down.

The call center handled both customer service and tech support.

Before coming to Lincoln, Verizon applied for state tax incentives, which at the time were estimated to be worth $8 to $12 million if the company met all requirements.

It's unknown how much it actually received, however. According to the Nebraska Department of Revenue, there are no tax incentive agreements currently in effect for Verizon Wireless.

Nebraska Tax Commissioner Tony Fulton said that could mean the company met all requirements and received all its tax credits, or it could mean the company never followed through with the agreement.
A University of California IT employee whose job is being outsourced to India recently wrote Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) for help.

Feinstein's office sent back a letter addressing manufacturing job losses, not IT, and offered the worker no assistance.

The employee is part of a group of 50 IT workers and another 30 contractors facing layoffs after the university hired an offshore outsourcing firm. The firm, India-based HCL, won a contract to manage infrastructure services.

That contract is worth about $50 million over five years and can be leveraged by other university campuses -- meaning they could also bring in HCL if they so choose.

The affected IT employees, who work at the school's San Francisco (UCSF) campus, are slated to lose their jobs in February and say they will be training foreign replacements.

Since the layoffs became public, the school has posted Labor Condition Applications (LCA) notices -- as required by federal law when H-1B workers are being placed. UCSF employees have seen these notices and made some available to Computerworld. They show that the jobs posted are for programmer analyst II and network administrator IV.

A portion of one of the the Labor Condition Applications notices posted at UCSF.

For the existing UCSF employees, the notices were disheartening.

"Many of us can easily fill the job. We are training them to replace us," said one employee who requested anonymity because he is still employed by the university.

The letter to Feinstein said, in part:

"The decision to move the University of California San Francisco datacenters from California to Washington was difficult to grasp. I saw several of my long time co-workers terminated, and my California tax dollars that go into the UC system being diverted to the state of Washington.

"The recent decision to outsource 17% of Information Technology to India based Company HCL has literally hit home. I am being asked to do knowledge transfer to a foreigner so they can take over my job in February of 2017.

"I am asking for your support in requesting an oversight with the Department of Labor in regards to the contract between HCL of India and University of California San Francisco. This contract will more than likely not save the University money, but it will definitely wipe out what is now a somewhat diverse workplace."

In response, Feinstein's office replied with what sounds like a form letter that cites tax code issues as an incentive to moving jobs overseas. But tax code changes do not help IT jobs that don't involve physical relocations of equipment and plants. It's the type of letter that might be more appropriate for someone in manufacturing and makes no mention of the use of the H-1B visa in IT job offshoring.

Specifically, Feinstein's office wrote back:

"Thank you for your letter expressing your concern with the outsourcing of U.S. jobs overseas. I appreciate hearing from you and welcome the opportunity to respond as this issue is of particular importance to me.

"I have received many heartfelt letters from Californians who have either lost their jobs when their company moved jobs overseas, or know people who have. It is very troubling to me that the downsizing of companies and the outsourcing of jobs appears to be becoming a trend not only in California, but nationwide. The striking loss of good jobs in California certainly indicates that both the downsizing of companies and the outsourcing of jobs are playing an increasingly prevalent role in our economy.

"As such, I believe that instead of excusing the loss of high paying jobs as inevitable, we should be taking reasonable and sensible measures to stop encouraging U.S. companies to move their employees overseas. For example, our tax code frequently rewards companies for moving jobs offshore by allowing the companies to bring foreign earned profits back into the U.S. at a rate well below what you or I pay on our income taxes.

"We also need to invest in our future. We must continue to fund and strengthen our domestic education system, which has made Americans the most productive and skilled workforce in the world. Furthermore, we must invest in appropriate safety nets for those who are temporarily displaced by shifts in domestic industry. Such safety nets would include the extension of temporary unemployment benefits, more affordable healthcare for those between jobs, and more robust job training and placement services for people displaced by outsourcing.

"I am very troubled by the loss of American jobs and will continue to investigate the roots of this problem to arrive at an appropriate and effective solution. Please know that I will continue to work hard to keep good jobs in the U.S. and to keep Americans employed.

"Again, thank you for writing. If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact my Washington, D.C. office at (202) 224-3841."

On Tuesday, Feinsteins office was contacted by Computerworld about the communication. An aide to the senator who didnt want to be identified said via email that the Feinstein reply was not the appropriate response. The Senators office receives more than 100,000 pieces of correspondence each month and on occasion they arent directed correctly.

The aide also said Feinstein's office reached out to the IT worker to express our apologies and see if the Senator can be of assistance.

As a U.S. senator, Feinstein could have asked the U.S. Department of Labor, Department of Homeland Security and other agencies to review the situation. She could have also asked California's governor to take a look at the IT outsourcing or contact the University of California directly -- a public institution that also receives federal dollars -- to ask why a partially taxpayer-supported university is moving jobs to India.

Feinstein also has another close connection to UCSF. Her husband, Richard Blum, is on the Board of Regents overseeing the University of California system.
Click on a 360 icon to enter our virtual tour and watch for information hotspots inside. Follow arrows or use the menu to move among the sections of the ship. MOBILE USERS: Depending on your browser, you may have to tap the red icons twice to get to the tour. If you have issues, follow this link .

USS Detroit specifications

The latest USS Detroit, the sixth vessel to bear the name, puts the Navys latest technology into its fastest combat ship. Littoral combat ships are designed to operate in shallower waters than the fleets larger members. To do that, its designed for maximum speed and maneuverability. In addition, the ship can modify up to 40 percent of its onboard space in order to meet the demands of different mission types.

Class and type: Littoral combat ship (LCS), Freedom variant

Full load and displacement: 3,400 metric tons

Length: 389 feet

Beam (width): 57 feet

Draft (depth): 13.5 feet

Speed: 45 knots (52 mph)

Propulsion: Combined diesel and gas turbine with steerable water jet propulsion

Complement: 50 core crew, with accommodations for up to 98

Project credits

360-degree photography: Daniel Mears / The Detroit News

Additional photography: Lockheed Martin, U.S. Navy

Design: Tom Gromak / The Detroit News

Editor: Kevin Hardy / The Detroit News

360 viewer technology: Marzipano.net
Biddeford-Saco-OOB Courier

Those who habitually put items in their recycling bins that don't belong there are the target of the ordinance amendment, not those who make an occasional, accidental mistake, said Public Works Director Jeff Demers.
This page may be updated if the event is repeated

Past Event - Saturday, November 12, 2016 This page may be updated if the event is repeated

RESERVATIONS & INFO: 937.293.2841 Ext. 127 education1@daytonhistory.org

Come to an open house at the Patterson Homestead and learn how the family influenced Dayton today!

Home and Harvest celebration highlights Dayton's prominent Patterson family and their arrival to Dayton in the early 1800s. Costumed interpreters bring this story to life, telling the tale of Dayton's early days through the eyes of one of its most famous families.

Constructed in three major components between 1816-1850, this legendary home raised three generations of Pattersons, including legendary industrialist John H. Patterson who founded his National Cash Register enterprise on the family's land--roughly a half-mile northwest of Patterson Homestead.

Originally the home of Revolutionary War soldier and Lexington, Kentucky, founder, Colonel Robert Patterson, this Federal-style historic house museum tells the story of Dayton's influential Patterson family. Colonel Patterson first settled here in 1804, and upon his death in 1827, Rubicon Farm (the name of his land) covered 2,038 acres.

Rubicon Farm featured hogs, sheep, cattle, various mills, an apple orchard, and a farm that raised corn, wheat rye, oats, and tobacco. The Patterson have long been a strong component of Dayton's story, and it all began with a log cabin, a 320-acre farm, and a willing, resilient spirit.

Presented in conjunction with the Oakwood Historical Society, Home and Harvest brings the fascinating story of Patterson Homestead's early years to life!
The company has worked on the motor to make this bike more nimble and accessible with a reduced seat height to 794mm and an overall weight of 210kg (more than 20kg lighter).

Japanese motorcycle brand Kawasaki revealed the updated Ninja H2 and the next-gen Ninja 650 at the INTERMOT fair that concluded on October 9 in Germany. Apart from this, the company also previewed the Z900 and the Z650 bikes at the event and the new bikes will be officially revealed at the upcoming EICMA to be held in Milan, Italy, next month. It is quite possible that once launched, the new Z900 will replace the currently available Z800, while the Z650 could take the place of the ER-6n.

The 2017 Kawasaki Z900 is a big change over the existing Z800. It gets an all-new steel trellis frame and a new 948cc engine. The new 125PS motor has been derived from the bigger Kawasaki Z1000 that also contributes to the aggressive design lines of the upcoming Z900. The company has worked on the motor to make this bike more nimble and accessible with a reduced seat height to 794mm and an overall weight of 210kg (more than 20kg lighter).

The bike will offer a slightly aggressive riding posture and it will get Kawasaki's assist and slipper clutch for easier up-shifts and trouble-free down-shifts. The front inverted forks also get stepless rebound damping and pre-load adjustability whereas it currently comes with the rear monoshock only. Along with the new alloys, the dual 300mm front discs in combination with four-piston calipers from Nissin are also new. Moreover, the new Kawasaki Z900 will be offered with ABS as standard.

The parallel-twin powered 2017 Kawasaki Z650 will replace the existing ER6-n. The Z650 also gets a new trellis steel frame while the 650cc parallel-twin engine remains unchanged, the same engine which powers the Ninja 650. However, the peak power output has been reduced by 3PS in order to make it Euro-4 compliant. The bike also gets assist & slipper clutch along with the ABS, while the brakes come from Tokico. Visual changes on the bike include a well-designed underbelly exhaust, restyled headlamp and dashboard, banana-shaped swingarm and side panels.

Source: BikeDekho.com
The leaders instructed the IPRCM to commence work on the terms of reference decided and increase efforts to advance cooperation in a more systematic and coordinated manner.

New Delhi: BRICS trade ministers on October 13 urged for greater cooperation on e-commerce among the member nations, besides calling for removal of non-tariff barriers to boost participation of emerging economies in the world trade. The ministers also emphasised the need to enhance cooperation in the areas of intellectual property rights (IPRs).

The five-nation grouping - Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa - has formed the BRICS IPR Cooperation Mechanism (IPRCM). The leaders instructed the IPRCM to commence work on the terms of reference decided and increase efforts to advance cooperation in a more systematic and coordinated manner.

"The ministers reiterated the importance of strengthening intra-BRICS cooperation on e-commerce...The ministers have emphasised the need for cooperation to boost e-commerce development in the BRICS countries, enhance capacity building and promote cooperation on infrastructure," the joint communique said.

The communique was issued after the sixth BRICS trade ministers meeting here. On non-trade barriers, the ministers emphasised that increase in the hurdles constraints the participation of developing countries in the global trade.

"The ministers agreed in principle to the concepts in the mechanism and urged the CGETI (BRICS Contact Group on Economic and Trade Issues) to advance this work including on the issue of scope," it said.

The trade ministers meeting made an assessment of the BRICS economic scenario in relation to areas of cooperation on trade and investment. They also recognised the importance of preserving policy space to promote industrialisation and value addition and to enhance cooperation for structural transformation and sustainable development of BRICS countries.

"The ministers agreed that close cooperation among the CGETI, the BRICS Business Council and New Development Bank is useful for implementing and bringing the BRICS economic cooperation to a new high quality level," the communique said.

The ministers also acknowledged the role of MSMEs as the engines of export led growth and employment generation. With a view to ensure greater business engagement amongst MSMEs in the BRICS region, the ministers underlined the importance of developing cooperation among MSMEs in the crucial areas of trade and investment.

This cooperation can be in the form of exchange of information on the regulatory framework, rules, regulations and good regulatory practices governing MSMEs; interface among the major chambers of commerce and industry of the MSMEs, and participation of MSME stakeholders in BRICS economic events such as trade fairs, conferences, seminars etc, it said.
During the meeting, Sitharaman raised concerns over the widening trade deficit between the two countries.

New Delhi: China on October 13 assured India that it will act on the concerns expressed by India on giving greater market access to domestic products to bridge the widening trade deficit.

The issue, among others, was discussed during the meeting held here between Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Wang Shouwen, Vice Minister for Ministry of Finance and Commerce, China. The Chinese minister is here to attend the 6th BRICS Trade Ministers' meeting.

"The Chinese Vice Minister assured that China would act on the concerns expressed by India regarding market access for Indian goods in the Chinese markets," the commerce ministry said in a statement.

During the meeting, Sitharaman raised concerns over the widening trade deficit between the two countries. Both the leaders exchanged notes on trade and commerce and agreed that the "mounting bilateral trade deficit has been a cause for concern for India" which seeks greater market access for its goods for a long-term sustainable trade relationship, it said.

Sitharaman requested expeditious clearances for import of Indian rice besides a Green Channel for import of Indian pharmaceutical products to China especially those which already have USFDA and EUFDA accreditation, it added.

She also requested the Chinese Vice Minister to consider demonstration of IT/ITeS projects for Indian companies - which have acquired global acclaim.

"She expressed concerns at the long drawn procedures for clearances which tend to frustrate the Indian companies seeking business opportunities in China," it added.

Further Sitharaman asked for 'buying missions to India to source amongst other things, Indian tobacco and oil meals. On the other hand, the Chinese Minister informed that recently China has quickened the pace of granting clearances to Indian pharma companies for import of the pharma products, it said.

The Chinese Vice Minister also sought cooperation of India on various multilateral fora where China and India are engaged and assured that Indias concerns on a Single undertaking will be duly taken on board with services being an integral part of the cooperation agreement.

In 2015-16, India's exports to China was USD 9 billion, while imports were USD 61.7 billion, leaving a trade deficit of USD 52.7 billion.
China on Thursday assured India that it would act on the concerns expressed by country on easy market access to Indian goods in the Chinese markets

New Delhi: China on Thursday assured India that it would act on the concerns expressed by country on easy market access to Indian goods in the Chinese markets to bridge the gap on widening trade deficit. Commerce and industries minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Wang Shouwen, Vice minister for ministry of finance and commerce, China exchanged notes on trade and commerce and agreed that the mounting bilateral trade deficit has been a cause for concern for India which seeks greater market access for its goods for a long term sustainable trade relationship. Ms Sitharaman asked for expeditious clearances for import of Indian rice and a Green Channel for import of Indian Pharmaceutical products to China - especially those which already have USFDA and EUFDA accreditation.

She also asked the Chinese vice-minister to consider demonstration IT/ITeS projects for Indian companies which have acquired global acclaim. The minister expressed concerns at the long drawn procedures for clearances which tend to frustrate the Indian companies seeking business opportunities in China. Ms Sitharaman requested for buying missions to India to source amongst other things, Indian Tobacco and oil meals.

Exim Bank Calls for credit ratings agency:

Pointing to conflict of interest in the current framework of getting rated, the Exim Bank on Thursday favoured a new credit rating agency by the BRICS group as an alternative, saying it will make cost of borrowing much cheaper. We are very happy the Finance ministry is looking at these issues. The BRICS leadership, which meets here over the next two days, will take a firm view and provide guidance on the next steps, Exim Bank chairman Yaduvendra Mathur said.

I am AAA-rated domestically, but that doesnt survive overseas. We want more granularity, he said. Expressing strong concerns on the way existing agencies go about rating in the current context, he said: We look at with dismay that the strong economic growth of India is still not captured in the ratings that we get while we raise the money through overseas bonds.
The 70-year-old actor said that he wanted to break the ice between him and the veteran actor when the latter was battling for life, but nothing materialised.

Mumbai: Actor-turned-politician Shatrughan Sinha today said he had to "pay a price" for his honesty in both his political and acting career.

Recalling his short stint as the Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare under the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government, Sinha said, "I started an anti-tobacco campaign when I was the Health minister. I do not know whether it is true, but people say that I was shunted from health to shipping because the tobacco lobby was against me."

The BJP MP from Bihar was speaking at the ongoing Kumaon Literary Festival here.

"No allegations have come up against me (in my political life) and sometimes for that, you may have to pay a price. When you are honest, you end up locking the ways of people near you. They then pull you down," he said.

Sinha said that he has had to pay a similar price in his eventful acting career.

The outspoken parliamentarian said his biggest regret was starting his political career with a by-election opposite Bollywood actor Rajesh Khanna, on the orders of senior BJP leader L K Advani.

Sinha said he not only lost the election, but also a friend in Khanna.

"My biggest political regret has been to start my political career with a by-election, of course on the orders of my friend, philosopher, guide and guru, L K Advani. I could not say no to him. He insisted that I fight.

"I fought, and that too against my very dear friend late, the great Rajesh Khanna. And I lost, or was maybe made to lose...That is a different story altogether," the actor said.

He said Khanna had stopped talking to him after the polls, which left the 'Khamosh' actor hurt.

"He had stopped talking to me and I was very hurt about it. I had apologised," he said.

The 70-year-old actor said that he wanted to break the ice between him and the veteran actor when the latter was battling for life, but nothing materialised.

"When I was in the hospital for a bypass surgery 2 years ago, Rajesh Khanna was battling for life..I told my daughter that I would go and apologise to him again...Unfortunately I could not make it," he said.
Mumbai: Bollywood's desi girl, Priyanka Chopra is at the peak of her career. After giving a stellar performance in her the first season of 'Quantico', the actress is stealing all the thunder in the show's second season.

Recently, while shooting for her Hollywood show, the actress and her co-stars from 'Quantico' got candid and were seen posing for the lens.

In between shots, Priyanka along with her co-star Yasmine Al Massri, got posing for photographs.

Co-star Yasmine Al Massri, who plays twins Nimah and Raina Amin in the American TV series, took to her official Twitter handle where she posted the pictures of the cast behind the scenes.

The Lebanese-born American actress captioned the photos, "Photo shoot In between takes #quan2co on set #BehindtheScenes with my @priyankachopra @JohannaEBraddy."

In a picture, we see Priyanka posing with another co-star Johanna Braddy, who plays Shelby Wyatt in the drama thriller created by Joshua Safran.

Apart from these pictures, Yasmin also shared a picture of her girl squad on Instagram, where we see the three beautiful ladies in one frame.

'Quantico' also stars Josh Hopkins, Jake McLaughlin, Aunjanue Ellis, Yasmine Al Massri and Tate Ellington among others.

'Quantico' is in its ongoing second season, which began airing on September 25, 2016. Apart from this, Priyanka is all set to make her Hollywood silver screen debut with Dwayne Johnson starrer 'Baywatch'.
Mumbai: The initial critical verdict on the new Irrfan Khan Hollywood thriller Inferno where he shares screen space with the mighty Tom Hanks seems far from encouraging.

Leading international critics have slammed Inferno as a film by saying ,Absurdity outweighs the thrills in Ron Howards lifeless three-quel, a movie thats not at all good  but never so bad as to be entertaining.

The highly regarded British newspaper The Guardian has severely criticized the film describing it as horrifically dull. While Time Out feels By the end , even Hanks looks a bit bored.

Alarmingly there is no or little mention of Irrfan Khan in the reviews that have appeared, leading to the apprehension that Irrfan may have a very small part in the film.

About the Indian fear that his role in Inferno may not be substantial, Irrfan protests, I do not share these misgivings. I am not concerned about the length of the role. For me Inferno was an experience of a lifetime. I got to work with Tom Hanks, which was an incredible learning curve in my career.

For his admirers who would like to see more of Irrfan in Inferno, the actors warns, I am not concerned with the mathematics of the footage. I am looking at the experience in its totality.And it was a phenomenal experience.
Mumbai: Bollywood's King Khan, Shah Rukh along with Anushka Sharma is globetrotting for the Imtiaz Ali's upcoming film 'The Ring'. After Prague, Amsterdam and Lisbon, the team has now moved to Budapest where they have been shooting for the film since last few weeks.

So far, we came across a lot of inside pictures from the film's sets, which doubled the film's hype. It's not wrong to say that SRK and Anushka starrer 'The Ring' is one of the most awaited films right now.

The film's update is not only creating fan frenzy in the country but also abroad. The minute SRK steps out for the shoot, he is surrounded by fans, waiting to catch his glimpse.

Recently, the actor took some time off to meet and greet his fans. The actor not only posed for few pictures but also bonded with them.

Here are more recent pictures from the film's set:

Shah Rukh Khan The Ring

Shah Rukh Khan The Ring

Shah Rukh Khan The Ring

In the film, Shah Rukh Khan will be seen playing a tourist guide in the film, touted to be a romantic drama.

The film, sees SRK and Anushka working with Imtiaz for the very first time, and pairing up together for the third time, after Anushka's debut venture, Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi,' and Yash Chopra's swansong, 'Jab Tak Hai Jaan.'
What would the best and the worst-case scenario be in Karan Johars stand-off with political elements in Mumbai, who have threatened to ban Johars Ae Dil Hai Mushkil (ADHM) if Fawad is not replaced?

Replacement however, cannot be an option, even if cinemas threaten not to screen any film featuring a Pakistani actor.

Says a very close friend of the producer-filmmaker, Ae Dil is complete and ready for release. One cant replace an actor in a completed film. And even if replacement was a possibility, Karan wouldnt exercise that option. He will stand by his actors and technicians, no matter what the financial losses may be.

Word has it that Karan has apparently disclosed to close friends that he would rather not release the film than tamper with Fawads role in it.

However, that is a worst-case option. Chances are  and Karan and his team are hoping for this  that the current tensions will die down by the time the film releases.

Fawad is featured in a smaller role than Ranbir and Anushka Sharma. But his presence is awfully crucial to the plot. One cannot take Fawad out of the film without losing the essence of the plot. That apart, Fawad stays. Period, says Karans friend, firmly.

What doesnt stay is the proposed new film starring Katrina and Fawad that was to start in Delhi around November. Sources from Dharma Productions say that project is off. This is yet another setback for Katrina, who is reeling under the crippling failure of her last two films, Fitoor and Baar Baar Dekho.
Mumbai: Production company bosses behind Star Wars: The Force Awakens have been fined USD 1.95 million for the mishap that led to Harrison Ford breaking his leg on set.

The 74-year-old actor was seriously injured in June, 2014 at Pinewood Studios in Buckinghamshire, England when his leg became trapped in the door of his character Han Solo's Millennium Falcon spaceship.

Ford was airlifted to a nearby hospital for surgery and spent months recovering from the injury before he returned to complete his scenes as Solo, reported Deadline.

Executives at Foodles Production (UK) Ltd. pleaded guilty earlier this year to two charges brought by the Health and Safety Executive.

In court, lawmakers were told the actor could have been killed when the hydraulic metal door hit Ford with a force comparable to the weight of a small car.

Judge Francis Sheridan ruled production executives failed to communicate the risk to Ford, stating, "The greatest failing of all on behalf of the company is a lack of communication, a lack because, if you have a risk assessment and you do not communicate it, what is the point of having one? That is the most serious breach here. If only they had included Mr Ford in all the discussions, he might have at least been alert to the dangers that he had to avoid."
Bengaluru girl Nimsha Raj is excited for her debutant film, Oru Thadavai Pakkalam, which is all set to hit the screens this year. The upcoming actor, in a candid chat with DC, says, she is looking forward to flourishing in the industry. She also opens up about her role in the film, her modelling career and more.

Nimsha, who holds a degree in engineering, never really thought about acting in the first place. I was working at a reputed corporate company earlier; but I quit since I didnt feel it was right for me. Then I was into graphic designing... thats when I met upcoming director Vikarnan Ashok who told me to try my hand at acting and things started rolling from then, she grins.

About Oru Thadavai Pakkalam? It is a different attempt, directed by Pudhu Raja, based on the floods in Chennai. I play an interesting character called Varuni, the weather goddess (laughs). My scenes will be very hilarious, though they have very little relevance to the story, Nimsha says.

I will be playing a role in Vikarnans next film too, which is currently in the pre-production phase... I am also in talks with another untitled Telugu movie, she adds.

Unlike many actors, who started off their career as models, Nimsha ventured into acting and now she has started endorsing many popular brands. When I started off, my focus was mainly on acting, but now I am trying to test the waters with modelling also, she says.

Language is indeed a barrier for Nimsha but she is currently learning Tamil  People who know the language have an edge over me. Nowadays filmmakers expect more from the actors; you cant just get away with lip-syncing! So, I am watching more Tamil films and learning from my friends in Tamil Nadu.

If there is one Tamil director that she dreams of working with, it is Mani Ratnam. I love his films and I am ready to work in his movie even if it is a small role of sorts, she smiles and signs off.
Actress Trisha, who is gearing up for the release of Dhanushs Kodi, is playing a role with negative shades for the first time in her career. She also has Mohini and Sathuranga Vettai 2 in different stages of production. But now it seems that the VTV star could have landed her biggest heroine-centric film yet: the Tamil remake of Bollywood hit NH10!

Sources reveal that Trisha will be reprising Anushka Sharmas role from the original thriller, which garnered both critical and commercial success.

Confirming the news, Trishas mother, Uma Krishnan says, It is true that she has been approached for the remake. But, we cannot give out any other information at this point of time. Talks are currently underway and the production house will announce the news in the coming days. It is unclear when this untitled project would kick-start. NH10, directed by Navdeep Singh, starring Anushka and Neil Bhoopalam, is about a young couples encounter on a road trip, with a ruthless gangster involved in honour killing.
Actress Rakul Preet established a place for herself in Kollywood with Yennamo Yedho. However, she has been missing in action post that. When it was announced that she has been signed opposite Vishal in Mysskins Thupparivalan, the entire industry was looking forward to her re-entry of sorts. But now the actress had to walk out of the film due to date issues. This decision has raised many eyebrows as she turned down the film after Akshara Haasan was brought on board. The busy actress has now cleared the ongoing controversy.

Speaking to DC, Rakul says, Yes, the news is true and I had to back out of Thupparivaalan, as I am currently busy with five projects  Dhruva with Ram Charan, AR Murugadoss- Mahesh Babus untitled bilingual project, films with Sai Dharam Tej, Naga Chaitanya and Boyapati Srinu. I signed Thupparivaalan in February and it was supposed to start in June. Since, it got delayed, I couldnt take this film up. I would have loved to do the movie as Mysskin is one of my favourite directors. Even if I tried to compensate by doing day and night schedules, I couldnt squeeze in a sixth film.

Rakul will resume shooting AR Murugadoss bilingual project in Hyderabad from today. She further added that the team has planned the next schedule in Chennai. Putting an end to all speculations about playing the female lead opposite Vikram in Saamy 2, she says, I am not even aware of Saamy 2. Anu Emmanuel of Action Hero Biju fame is likely to replace Rakul in the film.
The findings are part of the report on Need for Policy Reforms to Combat Illicit Markers (Photo: AFP)

New Delhi: Consumption of smuggled cigarettes in India has increased by over 90 per cent in past 10 years, a latest report by industry body FICCI said today.

Over 56 per cent smokers prefer attractive packaging of foreign smuggled brands which does not adhere to Indian regulations like pictorial warning on 85 per cent space of the cigarette packet, it said.

Smuggled cigarettes consumption has increased by over 90 per cent from 12.5 billion to 23.9 billion sticks in last 10 years, the report said, adding that 74 per cent smokers are willing to switch to cheaply-priced smuggled or illegal cigarettes due to higher taxes on legal cigarettes.

Operation of illicit markets such as smuggling, which has close links to terror groups and criminal networks, impacts industries, government, economies and the health and safety of the consumers, it said.

The findings are part of the report on Need for Policy Reforms to Combat Illicit Markers - Case Study on Tobacco Industry issued by FICCIs Committee Against Smuggling and Counterfeiting Activities Destroying the Economy (CASCADE).

"Border guards have to play an important role in combating cross-border illegal trading activities," said Didar Singh, Secretary General FICCI.

Deep Chand, Advisor FICCI CASCADE and former Special Commissioner of Delhi Police, said, "India is a victim of large scale smuggling as illicit trade has entangled not only the legal industry and governments, but also the consumers who are exposed to grave risks to life and security."

The report mentions trade of illicit cigarettes, which constitute a significant component of the tobacco industry and is leading to the loss of revenue to government, loss of business to the legitimate industry, livelihood opportunities, adversely impacting farmers, besides being a threat to national security.
This could mean heavy users of the drug are at greater risk of osteoporosis (Photo: AFP)

Washington: A recent study has found that people, who regularly smoke large amounts of cannabis have reduced bone density and are more prone to fractures.

The study also found that heavy cannabis users have a lower body weight and a reduced body mass index (BMI), which could contribute to thinning of their bones.

Researchers say this could mean heavy users of the drug are at greater risk of osteoporosis in the later stages of their life.

Scientists at the University of Edinburgh assessed 170 people, who smoke cannabis regularly for recreational purposes and 114 non-users. The team used a specialised x-ray technique called a DEXA scan to measure the bone density of study participants.

They found that the bone density of heavy cannabis users was about five percent lower than cigarette smokers who did not use cannabis. Fractures were more common in heavy users compared to non-users, the study found.

Moderate users, however, showed no difference from non-users. The researchers defined heavy users as those who reported smoking cannabis on 5,000 or more occasions in their lifetime.

In this study, however, the average heavy cannabis user had taken the drug more than 47,000 times. Moderate users had, on average, taken the drug about 1,000 times.

Smoking cannabis is often associated with increased appetite so the researchers were surprised to find that heavy cannabis users had a lower body weight and BMI than non-users.

This could be because cannabis may reduce appetite when taken in large amounts over a long period of time, the team says. The study is the first to investigate bone health amongst cannabis users.

Lead researcher Professor Stuart Ralston said: "We have known for a while that the components of cannabis can affect bone cell function but we had no idea up until now of what this might mean to people who use cannabis on a regular basis."

"Our research has shown that heavy users of cannabis have quite a large reduction in bone density compared with non-users and there is a real concern that this may put them at increased risk of developing osteoporosis and fractures later in life," he added.

The study was published in the American Journal of Medicine.
Bengaluru: Falling on the second Thursday of every October, World Sight Day aims to raise awareness about avoidable blindness and vision impairment. Vinod Daniel, Chairman, AusHeritage, who is also the CEO of India Vision Institute, a charitable trust that works to raise awareness about uncorrected refractive error, which is a major cause of preventable blindness, and the importance of eye-health care, spoke to Deccan Chronicle a day before conducting the Walk in the Dark, a public awareness initiative conceptualised by IVI to raise awareness about uncorrected refractive error, the need for more optometrists in the country and timely eye check-ups for children and elderly people.

Could you tell us a little about the India Vision Institute?

IVI is a non-profit registered trust with a vision to promote excellence in vision care delivery in India. It is a joint initiative of the LV Prasad Eye Institute, Hyderabad and Brian Holden Vision Institute, Sydney. Also, we try working on strategic projects aimed at raising public awareness and building professional recognition, ramping up human resource development, ensuring minimum standards of diagnostic and clinical infrastructure. We also work towards a long term sustainable formula in which we provide a framework to improve vision care in India by providing excellent and equitable solutions, assisting in eliminating visual impairment and avoiding blindness

How prevalent are cases of blindness in India?

Over 10 crore Indians suffer from uncorrected refractive error, which can cause preventable blindness as they need access to glasses, but don't have it. A corrective pair of spectacles mitigates these problems and also increases the productivity of those affected by 34 % and their wages by 20%. Out of those affected nationwide, over 1 crore Indian children (1 in 20) suffer from vision impairment due to uncorrected refractive error. Most of them are underprivileged and cannot afford a pair of spectacles.

Does the country have enough number of optometrists?

India needs 125,000 optometrists and sadly there are only 45,000, which is just a third of the requirement. Hence students should be made aware of optometrics as a field of study and encouraged to take up the course just like in any other specialty.

Tell us about the Walk in the Dark' project?

The walk involves walking blindfolded in a public space, led by visually impaired children. It provides a firsthand experience of what blindness is like. The walk also highlights the role of the government and civil society in assisting those with impaired vision. It educates people about the challenges faced by the blind and visually impaired, and the commendable way in which they work around their disability.
Houston: Dinosaurs may not have been able to make noises similar to the bird calls we hear today, say scientists who have found the oldest known vocal organ of a bird in an Antarctic fossil.

The fossil belongs to a relative of ducks and geese that lived more than 66 million years ago during the age of dinosaurs, researchers said. The discovery of the Mesazoic-era vocal organ - called a syrinx - and its apparent absence in non-avian dinosaur fossils of the same age indicate that the organ may have

originated late in the evolution of birds and that other dinosaurs may not have been able to make noises similar to the bird calls we hear today, researchers said.

Birds are direct descendants of dinosaurs and are considered living dinosaurs by scientists. "This finding helps explain why no such organ has been preserved in a non-bird dinosaur or crocodile relative," said Julia Clarke, from The University of Texas at Austin, who discovered the fossil syrinx and led the analysis.

"This is another important step to figuring out what dinosaurs sounded like as well as giving us insight into the evolution of birds," said Clarke. The syrinx is made of stiff, cartilage rings that support soft tissues that vibrate to produce the complex songs and calls of modern birds. Cartilage does not fossilise as well as

hard tissues such as bone.

However, the high mineral content in the syrinx's rings sometimes allows for fossilisation. All other known examples of fossilised syrinxes occur in birds that lived well after non-avian dinosaurs went extinct. The syrinx was found in a fossil of Vegavis iaai, a bird that lived during the Cretaceous. Clarke described the species in 2005.

It was discovered on Antarctica's Vega Island in 1992 by a team from the Argentine Antarctic Institute. However, it was not until 2013 that Clarke noticed that the Vegavis fossil included a syrinx. During the past two years, the team searched the dinosaur fossil record for other examples of a syrinx, but so far has found none.

The asymmetrical shape of the syrinx indicates that the extinct species could have made honking noises via two sound sources in the right and left parts of the organ. The researchers also scanned syrinxes of other birds to compare with the Vegavis syrinx. This included 12 syrinxes from living birds and the next oldest fossilised syrinx, which had not yet been studied. The findings were published in the journal Nature.
Days after the forest department found and successfully trapped a five-month-old leopard cub from inside the house of a local in Acchad village, Palghar, the animal passed away on Tuesday morning.

After the cubs medical reports in Palghar suggested immediate treatment, she was taken to Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP) late night on Sunday, October 9, on an emergency basis. However, despite several attempts, she succumbed to a fit on Tuesday morning.

Park officials said the cub was in an emaciated condition with little or no muscle and fat mass. The Asian Age on October 10 had reported that Dahanu forest officials decided to transport the cub owing to extreme weakness as highlighted in the blood test report.

Park officials said that the cub was in such a bad condition probably because of prolonged starvation and stress. Blood tests revealed very low haemoglobin and cell counts. Liver function was found to be depressed and the prognosis went from poor to grave.

The post mortem will be conducted on Thursday afternoon. Results will be possibly available on Saturday, said Dr Shailesh Pethe, veterinarian of SGNP.

The forest department had conducted tests after trapping the leopard and had found the animal to be weak which is why the department had decided to transport the animal to SGNP on Sunday night.

Deputy chief conservator, Dahanu division, N.S. Ladkat explained, The leopard hadnt eaten anything for more than two weeks. She was too weak to survive. However, she will be cremated in the park itself.
The monarch, who died in exile in 1836, is the only French king not buried in his homeland (Photo: AFP)

Slovenia: The most celebrated resident of Nova Gorica in Slovenia is long-dead French King Charles X, but now townsfolk worry they may lose him to a movement for the repatriation of his remains.

Last month, a French historical lobby group called for the remains to be taken from Nova Gorica's monastery back to France. The monarch, who died in exile in 1836, is the only French king not buried in his homeland.

Slovenia has not reacted officially, but the mayor and locals insist Charles X must remain at Kostanjevica, a Franciscan monastery perched atop a picturesque hill on the outskirts of the town, where he chose to be interred.

"The king has been buried here for 180 years and is a part of our heritage," Mayor Matej Arcon said. But the French Association for the Return of Charles X strongly disagrees, and wants the exiled monarch to rejoin his family slumbering in the Bourbon crypt of the Saint-Denis basilica near Paris.

"We want to gather the family in this Bourbon crypt where Louis XVI, Marie-Antoinette, Louis XVIII already are. There has been a place waiting for Charles X for two centuries," said Philippe Delorme, the association's honorary president. Charles X was king for six years until a revolution ended his rule in 1830 and drove him into exile.

Thereafter he lived from city to city across Europe before moving in 1836 to Gorizia, then part of the Habsburg dynasty's Austrian Empire and now in Italy, fleeing a cholera epidemic raging in Prague at the time. But Charles was too late. He fell ill within days and became the region's only cholera victim that year. From his deathbed he gazed up at the hilltop monastery and asked to be buried there.

"If it was his wish to be buried here it should be respected. Our town is proud of his tomb," said Ema Otrin, a retired teacher from Nova Gorica, which was built next to Gorizia on the Slovenian side of the border after World War Two.

Charles's heart was cut out and sent to France, in line with Habsburg tradition, but the then-revolutionary government refused it. It now lies in the coffin next to his other remains.

He shares the crypt at the end of a narrow white-painted corridor below the monastery church with his son, two grandchildren and some of their wives.

The six coffins, five carved from the grey marble of a regional quarry, are tended by the Franciscans without financial help from France. They attract about 10,000 visitors a year, from Slovenia and abroad.

Father Jernej, abbot at the monastery, said he expected media interest would bring more visitors. "We welcome them."
Naveen and others were playing volleyball when around 5.30 pm a gang of about 10-12 came on bikes to the ground and stabbed Naveen before fleeing the spot. (Representational image)

BENGALURU: A 25-year-old man was stabbed to death by a 10-member gang in Devamachohalli village in Tavarekere police limits on Wednesday evening.

The deceased, Naveen Kumar, was a resident of Devamachohalli village and was unemployed.

Naveen and others were playing volleyball when around 5.30 pm a gang of about 10-12 came on bikes to the ground and stabbed Naveen before fleeing the spot. Eyewitnesses said there was no fight before the murder. The gang came, stabbed him and fled on their bikes. We suspect personal rivalry behind the murder, a police official said.
has aggressively targeted Sena and has repeatedly alleged that civic body was riddled with "mafia-raj and corruption". (Photo: PTI/File)

Mumbai: Eight more Shiv Sena activists have been arrested in connection with the assault on BJP leader Kirit Somaiya and party workers at suburban Mulund here, police said on Thursday.

The fresh arrests were made last night, taking the number of total arrests in this case to 13, an officer of Navghar Police Station said.

Yesterday, five persons were held during the day.

The MP from Mumbai-North-East constituency was allegedly assaulted by Sena workers on Tuesday after they disrupted a programme organised by Somaiya wherein an effigy of 'corruption mafia in MCGM' was to be burnt to mark the festival of Dussehra.

Three persons, including a woman, were injured in the clash between the workers of the two alliance partners.

All the accused would be produced before a local today, the officer said. MCGM is ruled by the Sena-BJP alliance for the last 20 years and civic polls are scheduled early next year.

Somaiya, a former Mumbai BJP chief, has aggressively targeted Sena and has repeatedly alleged that civic body was riddled with "mafia-raj and corruption".
Police are probing how armed men were going around freely in town to commit such a murder in a public place like a bus stand.

Madurai: In a shocking incident, a 25-year-old auto driver was shot dead inside a state transport corporation bus in Virudhunagar near here on Wednesday morning.

Two unidentified armed men who were also travelling with Karuppusamy, who hails from Kavalapatti in Virudhunagar district, killed him inside the bus heading towards Coimbatore from Nagercoil.

Police said the incident took place at 11.30 am at Saatur bus terminus and the assailants escaped from the scene, adding that initial investigations link the murder to an inter-gang rivalry. When the co-passengers raised an alarm, the gang members jumped out of the bus and escaped, they said. "A man who was sitting near the victim took out a gun and shot him after a brief altercation," they said.

Police are probing how armed men were going around freely in town to commit such a murder in a public place like a bus stand. Teams have been formed to hunt down the assailants.
Gond had been running the business for two decades, involving his family as well. (Photo: File)

Patna: An exorcist from Bihar was finally caught by the long arm of the law after he attempted to rape a woman in order to cure her husband of cancer.

According to a report in the Hindustan Times, the incident took place at the exorcist Dharmraj Gonds ashram (house) at Dasaunti village under Mohania police station area of Kaimur district in south western Bihar last week.

60-year-old Gond found himself in trouble when the woman whose husband he was treating started to scream out to her relatives outside the room as he attempted to rape her.

The womans family members, one of them an army man, informed Kaimur superintendent of police Harpreet Kaur on phone, causing the police to rush to the spot and arrest Gond.

Five human skulls, Rs 18,000 cash and fake cash memos were recovered from the house, said the report.

Gond had been running the business for two decades, involving his family as well. He has a criminal history, having been jailed for robbery back in 1993.

The victim said when she brought her husband to the exorcist, he told her that her husbands cancer was in an advanced stage and could be cured after performing pooja costing Rs 20,000.

The couple negotiated the sum down to Rs 15,000 and then the exorcist called the couple to his house at night for the special pooja.

She was taken alone to a dark room around midnight where human forms meant to resemble Goddess Kali and Bhairav blessed her.

But the woman realized that the voice of Kali was the same as that of the exorcists daughter. When the man tried to get physical with her, she cried out for help.

Gonds daughter-in-law and a man posing as Bhairav are absconding, a police officer said.

The arrested exorcist told the police he had brought the human skulls from his Gurus place in Uttar Pradesh. Unsure whether they were really human skulls, the police have sent them to Forensic Science Lab (FSL) in Patna, said the report.
Raghuram found only iron bars when he unwrapped the package after the vehicle moved about 25 m from the transaction point.

Chennai: A 54-year-old bullion dealer vanished after transacting 5 kg iron bars as gold for Rs 1.5 crore with his long time business associate who is also into dealing bullion, on Tuesday evening.

Police said Raghuram, (48), resident of Gandhi Road, Alwarthirunagar, and Sampathkumar (54), of V.V.Saminathan Street, Ullagaram, had mutually dealt bullion among them for about 15 years, and both have earned the trust of the other.

Putting that mileage to use, the latter had informed Raghuram that, he was in possession of 5 kg gold (24-carat), which was illegally smuggled into the country, and that he was willing to deal it with the former. Considering the lucrative nature of the deal, Raghuram agreed to purchase the gold.

At around 6.30 pm, Raghuram went to meet Sampathkumar with `1.5 crore packed in 3 bags, in an autorickshaw, on Thulasingam Street. The duo met at Kakada junction where they transacted the business, and Raghuram proceeded with the package handed over as gold by Sampathkumar on South Mint Street.

Raghuram found only iron bars when he unwrapped the package after the vehicle moved about 25 m from the transaction point. He rushed back to the exchange spot only to learn that Sampathkumar was long-gone, and the latter's mobile was switched off.

Raghuram had lodged a complaint with the Elephant Gate Police Inspector Julius Ceaser. Preliminary probe had established that the duo exchanged cash and package at the said point, and there was CCTV footage available corroborating the claims made by the complainant.

Sampathkumar had not turned his mobile on since the incident was reported. We believe that he was encouraged to stage con-act since he was convinced that Rahuram will not go to the police as the transaction is in grey-market, said a senior police official.
Hyderabad: The death of 13-year-old Aradhana Samdariya has turned out be a tough case for cops with a high possibility that the probe might hit a roadblock. Investigators lack technical evidence like postmortem report and witnesses.

Since the body has been cremated, there is no scope for exhumation.

All that the investigators could get their hands on was the report of a doctor, who declared the girl was brought dead at the hospital. That wont be sufficient for the police to proceed with charges of culpable homicide against the parents.

The investigation officials of Market police are under immense pressure from various quarters including the highly influential community given the case is a matter of religious practice.

A senior official from the North Zone police admitted that the case was a difficult one. The girl was cremated soon after her death. We cannot establish the cause of death because there is no scope for exhumation. The doctor gave a medical report suggesting it was due to cardiac arrest. It indeed is difficult to go ahead with charges against the parents, he said.

Investigation officer and Market police inspector, M. Mattaiah said the probe was progressing. We have taken the statement of the parents. We have also sought legal opinion on various aspects, he said.

Petitioner, Balala Hakkula Sangham, a child rights organisation, approached the commissioner of police requesting that the case be altered to murder from culpable homicide.

Police had booked a case against the parents for culpable homicide and under Section 75 of Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015 for willful neglect of a child.
Police said the suspect forced the girl to his vehicle near her cottage and raped her while his two friends kept watch on Tuesday midnight. (Representational image)

Hyderabad: A 16-year-old girl was allegedly raped by her co-worker at the Ramakrishna old age home at LB Nagar. Police arrested the rapist G. Ganesh, 25, of Nandigama, and his two friends who helped him.

Police said the suspect forced the girl to his vehicle near her cottage and raped her while his two friends kept watch on Tuesday midnight. The victim was a nurse, police said.

According to the victim, Ganesh called her in the night and took her to a four-wheeler in the parking lot of the old age home and assaulted her.

His two friends Venkatesh and Subba Rao also tried to rape the girl. When the girl raised an alarm, they dropped her back to her room and warned her against telling anyone of the incident,, said LB Nagar inspector P. Kasi Reddy. The victim later informed the management and police.

The LB Nagar police arrested the three suspects from the old age home. Police has booked a case against the suspects for rape and under Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act.
A Central Railway Mazdoor Union leader said the railway administration is not paying heed to their demands for better safety measures. (Representational image)

Mumbai: A railway engineer on duty was killed while his colleague was injured when they were run over by a goods train near Kopar railway station.

Assistant divisional signal and telecom engineer Navneet Palane (47) and his colleague Deo Bhau (59) were working on the tracks when they failed to notice the approaching train yesterday, a senior railway official said.

Both were hit by the train and fell off the tracks. The other railway employees working there immediately rushed them to a nearby hospital where Palane was declared dead on arrival. Bhau is reported to be out of danger and is recuperating, he said.

Describing the incident as "extremely unfortunate", a Central Railway spokesperson said the victims were conducting a routine inspection at the time of the mishap, and added their families would be compensated as per rules.

However, the ankogry railway unions demanded foolproof safety measures for men at work.

A Central Railway Mazdoor Union leader said the railway administration is not paying heed to their demands for better safety measures.
Pollachi: An unknown attacker stabbed a 29-year-old woman on her face in Pollachi on Tuesday night. Police suspect the incident to be fallout of an illicit personal relationship.

Police said on Wednesday that tragedy struck Susie, a divorcee and daughter of a 58-year-old dentist of Venkat Ramana street in Pollachi, when the miscreant attacked her as she was returning home from her tailoring shop.

A stalker riding a bike had followed Susie, stabbed her in a deserted area and sped away before members of the public could even notice the incident, police said. Susie fell unconscious at the spot and she was later admitted to a private hospital here.

Susie, after being divorced from her husband Prem Nath, allegedly developed intimacy with a 40-year-old Pollachi-based businessman, Anwar Sadhathkhan, police said.

However, she began avoiding her friend recently after allegedly developing friendship with another man from Tirupur, police said.

This had led to a wordy duel with Sadhathkhan, who allegedly warned her to stop talking to her new boyfriend, police said, adding, Susie, however, ignored the warnings and continued with her new relationship.

We have lodged a complaint; we suspect Susies old boyfriend who is absconding to be involved in the attack, said a police official. They are waiting for Susie to regain consciousness to enable begin the investigations in the case.
New Delhi: Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) chief Maulana Masood Azhar, accused in the Uri and Pathankot attacks, has asked the Pakistani government to allow jihadist groups to escalate their operations against India.

According to a report in the Indian Express, Azhar has argued that a lack of decisiveness in this regard could rob Pakistan of a historic opportunity to seize Kashmir.

Azhars appeal has been published in JeMs weekly magazine Al-Qalam and comes amidst reports of disagreement between the civilian and military bosses in Pakistan over continued support to militants carrying out attacks against India.

If the government of Pakistan shows a little courage, Azhar writes in a front-page article in the magazine, the problem of Kashmir, as well as the dispute over water, can be resolved once and for all right now. If nothing else, the government simply has to open the path for the mujahideen. Then, god willing, all the bitter memories of 1971 will be dissolved into the triumphant emotions of 2016.

Azhar argues in the piece that the jihadist policies Pakistan backed in the 1990s were beneficial to the country.

India had sought to build Akhand Bharat, Azhar claims, but its hopes were destroyed in the course of the jihad which left every one of its limbs badly injured.

Azhar then mocks Indias military prowess, saying the attacks in Pathankot and Uri had exposed it.

Saying that India is putting pressure on Pakistan all the time, Azhar asserts that it should have been Pakistan which cancelled the SAARC summit instead of India. He says that the jihadist insurgency in Kashmir has reduced Indias military strength considerably and Pakistan should take advantage of this.

The JeM chief then hails the transformation of jihad into a global phenomenon, saying that after Kashmir, Afghanistan and Palestine, there was lightning now in Syria and Iraq, and jihad had turned from a small spring to a river into a great ocean.

Following the terrorist attack on the Pathankot airbase in January, Pakistans government had acknowledged responsibility for the attacks lay with the Jaish-e-Muhammad, and promised action against the perpetrators. Though its Federal Investigation Agency was given access it sought to Indian witnesses, the agency has not shared the status of investigations with India. However, Masood Azhar and other key suspects remain free.

According to Pakistani newspaper Dawn, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif chaired a meeting where Foreign Secretary Aizaz Chaudhry gave a presentation outlining international anger with Pakistan over its continued support for jihadist groups. The report said that West Punjab CM Shabaz Sharif had made it clear that the government could not act against terror as long as groups like JeM were given free rein.
Panaji: Ahead of the BRICS Summit in Goa, the Congress has expressed its objection to the logo of the event, which it said looks like the party symbol of BJP, even as the AAP questioned the absence of the name of the place, where the meet is being held, from the logo.

"It is highly improper on the part of the relevant BRICS Committee to select the election symbol of a member country, India, when it is well-known that lotus is BJP's poll symbol. Elections of the Goa Assembly are due to be held in February 2017.

"In Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab and Manipur also polls are due," Congress MP Shantaram Naik told reporters on Wednesday.

The Congress leader also filed a petition in the Election Commission of India (ECI) demanding that steps should be taken to "freeze" BJP's election symbol, as the party has "misused" it by going against the spirit of Symbols Order, 1968, the law which regulates the allotment of symbol.

Meanwhile, AAP spokesman Rupesh Shinkre sought to know why the name of Goa is not mentioned in the logo, whereas in the past BRICS events, the logo carried the names of the host places.

"As India is gearing up to host the 8th BRICS Summit, it is a matter of pride to Goa to host the event, where the leaders of the next world powers would set their foot," Shinkre said.

"Goa has been earlier a venue to such world events. But BRICS is the biggest among them. Venues of such meets are very significant because the declarations are named after the place of its convention. The 8th BRICS Declaration would be a called as the Goa Declaration," he said.

"With all the humility we would like to draw the attention of stakeholders to issue which has been neglected.

The logo of a summit should incorporate the name of the place.

Like BRICS summits held in the past since 2009. That is Yekaterinburg (Russia) in 2009, Brasilia (Brazil) in 2010, Sanya (China) in 2011, New Delhi (India) in 2012, Durban (South Africa) in 2013, Fortaleza (Brazil) in 2014 and Ufa (Russia) in 2015. But the BRICS 2016 logo doesn't find the mention of Goa. This is strong exception to the precedence," he added.

Reacting to the criticism, Goa Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar said, "It is good that Naik sees lotus everywhere in Goa in the run up to the polls."

However, Parsekar's party colleague and MP from South Goa Narendra Sawaikar, tweeted, "Logos do not substitute for election symbol. Congress sees propaganda in anything and everything."

The BRICS Summit will take place in Goa on October 15 and 16.
Earlier in the day, the All Indian Muslim Personal Law Board and some other outfits opposed the Law Commission's questionnaire on Uniform Civil Code. (Photo: AFP)

New Delhi: In the face of strong opposition to Uniform Civil Code by Muslim outfits, Congress on Thursday said its implementation would be impossible while BJP asserted that the move is aimed at moving towards a progressive society.

Other opposition parties like JD(U) accused the BJP-led central government of trying to polarise the people ahead of Assembly polls in several states, with leader of Majlis Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) Asaduddin Owaisi saying that bringing the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) will "kill" the diversity and plurality of India.

Earlier in the day, the All Indian Muslim Personal Law Board and some other outfits opposed the Law Commission's questionnaire on Uniform Civil Code, including abolition of 'triple talaq' and announced their boycott of the move, accusing the government of waging a "war" against the community.

Read: Not acceptable: Muslim law board says will boycott Uniform Civil Code

"If you enforce something in the name of Uniform Civil Code, then it will kill the diversity and plurality of the country. It's not right to look at it from a Muslim perspective because Indian diversity also comprises of Dalits and Tribals. There are different traditions in Hinduism as well," he said.

Owaisi said the government's "real agenda" was to focus on Muslims and polarise the society.

Reacting to the issue, former Law Minister and Congress leader Veerappa Moily said it will be difficult to implement UCC in a country like India where various communities and groups are governed by personal laws.

"In a country of this nature, implementation of Uniform Civil Code is next to impossible," he said adding no one should take it as a communal agenda or a Hindu versus Muslim issue. He said 200-300 personal laws exist in India covering various communities.

BJP national secretary Siddharth Nath Singh said the Law Commission is taking opinion of all the stakeholders on the issue following which it will form a "considered opinion" and give it to the Supreme Court.

"Now it is for the Muslim Personal Law Board to consider whether they want to be part of the stakeholders or they want to be an individual identity... if Personal Law Board people are misinformed, I cannot do much about it," he said.

Singh also referred to some international declarations and countries like Turkey, Iran and Indonesia saying they changed law to ensure gender equality. He said it was a move towards building a progressive society.
New Delhi: Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar on Wednesday said the biggest challenge he faced after assuming office was to "deal with scams".

"The biggest challenge was to deal with the scams. We formed laws after some scam was unearthed. It finally led to several stringent laws coming into force and halting entire defence procurement procedure," he said.

Terming as "not practical" the blacklisting of companies or entire group for the fault of its subsidiary, Parrikar said there are only 17-20 group of companies across the globe that are into defence equipment manufacturing and supply.

"There should be a practical approach while initiating any action against the faulty component or product supplied by particular company or arm of a major group. We could blacklist that particular part or arm. It is a subjective issue," he said speaking on "Strengthening India's Defence Capabilities", anchored by security analyst Nitin Gokhale, in suburban Bandra here.

The Defence Minister said the Union Law Ministry has approved the draft policy for black-listing the companies. "We will take it further soon".

Parrikar pitched for indigenisation of manufacturing of weapons, as Indian government spends lakhs of crore of rupees on its import.

"Self-reliance in weapons manufacturing is an imaginary thing. If a country achieves around 70 per cent indigenisation in weapon manufacturing, then it should be sufficient and (India) achieving it would be a good thing," he said, adding that by 2019, we will achieve that 70 per cent benchmark.

"There is no constraint of funds for defence procurement till 2027. Our requirement is projected on Union Finance Ministry's graph," he said.

Asked about the progress in development of weapons, the defence minister said, "Based on the Howitzer model, a light gun is in its final stage. Its weight would be 30 per cent of the existing canons deployed in mountains. Artillery guns of 155x52 calibre are also going to be replaced soon. These two are major achievements in development of weapons," he said.

Clarifying on the OROP issue, he said some people are creating a wrong perception. "Of the Rs 8000 crore demand, we have so far approved a package of Rs 7500 crore," he added.

Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of an industry exhibition on technology and material sciences in Navi Mumbai, Parrikar said "During the past 23 months that I have been in charge, we have signed contracts worth Rs 2.2 trillion.

Recently, we signed a letter of intent with a government-run shipyard for about Rs 32,000 crore, taking the total orders to Rs 2.5 trillion."

"Over the next six months, I hope to sign another Rs 50,000-60,000 crore worth of contracts, taking the total to Rs 3 trillion," he said.

"The Make in India initiative has seen defence exports from Rs 500 crore to Rs 3,000 crore, though the ministry figures will show only Rs 2,100 crore. One reason for this is that export of aviation sector items are not included in this as it has been delicensed."

When asked about the inflows through the FDI route after foreign direct investment cap was hiked to 49 per cent, he said so far it has been about USD 100 million but will go up as foreign capital flows in.

Parrikar also said his Ministry is finalising a new strategic materials policy so that we can promote production as well as storage of defence-related strategic materials.

"We have set up a study team to draft a new strategic materials policy to promote the sector, which involves production and storage of these materials," he said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi shakes hands with Chinese President Xi Jinping during a meeting in Tashkent on the sidelines of SCO Summit earlier this year. (Photo: AP)

New Delhi: Notwithstanding differences in Sino-India relations, China on Thursday said sound and stable development of ties in recent years has proved that the dragon and the elephant can join hands and peacefully co-exist.

Once, predictions about our future relations dwelled on rivalry between the dragon and the elephant. However, the sound and stable development of bilateral relations in recent years has proved that the dragon and the elephant can join hands to dance together, Minister Counsellor of Chinese Embassy Cheng Guangzhong said here.

Cheng, speaking at the inauguration of a China-themed book editorial office in India, said China and India with their distinctive histories, cultures and religions can bring their diversity into full play when cooperating with each other in different areas.

Cultural exchanges and dialogues are crucial for the two countries to seek common ground while maintaining individual characteristics. Two of the oldest civilisations in the world, China and India, are more than capable of finding ways to achieve peaceful coexistence as giant neighbours, he said.

Noting that China and India are emerging markets with big potential for development, Cheng said, We are also ancient civilisations with a time-honoured history and brilliant culture. The two neighbours have long engaged in exchanges and mutual learning. As major countries in Asia, China and India have always been a focus of attention.

Leaders, who have helped forge China-India friendship, have said that a true Asian century will come only when China and India are both developed and that when India and China come together, it will be a big event for Asia and indeed even the world, he asserted.

The two largest Asian nations bear the historical responsibility and mandate of the times to maintain peace and stability in Asia and achieve its prosperity and renewal, Cheng said.

China-India ties have recently been under stress due to issues like Chinas opposition to Indias efforts to get JeM chief Masood Azhar banned by the UN and Beijings efforts to scuttle Indias membership bid at NSG.

China has also blocked a tributary of the mighty Brahmaputra in Tibet as part of the construction of its most expensive hydro-power project, causing concern in India as it may impact water flows into the lower riparian countries.
Hubballi: The initiative of Maharashtra Chief Minister, Devendra Fadnavis to hold a meeting on the Mahadayi water dispute with Karnataka and Goa has made farmers here more hopeful of finding a solution to their water crisis.



Farmer leaders, who are demanding early implementation of the Kalasa Banduri project, have resolved to take a special delegation to Mumbai when all three Chief Ministers meet on October 21 and inform them about the drinking water scarcity and recurring drought in the four districts of Mumbai-Karnataka region.

"We are hopeful that the Goa Chief Minister will be present this time for the meeting convened by his Maharashtra counterpart to find an amicable solution to the water dispute. We will leave no stone unturned to convince Chief Ministers of all three states about the drinking water crisis in our region. We will meet all the delegates in Mumbai, said farmer leader, Vikas Soppin.

Farmers have also stepped up their agitation in Nargund and Navalgund to exert pressure on BJP and Congress leaders to persuade their party leaders in Goa to attend the meeting in Mumbai.

Meanwhile, Dharwad district in-charge minister, Vinay Kulkarni has convened a meeting of farmers ahead of the all-party meeting called by the Chief Minister on October 19 to discuss the Mahadayi issue.

With their plea to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to intervene in the dispute falling on deaf ears and the Mahadayi tribunal rejecting the interim application of Karnataka , the farmers have now pinned their hopes on the Mumbai meet coming to their rescue.

CM calls all-party meeting to discuss Mahadayi dispute

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said in Mysuru on Wednesday that an party meeting had been convened on October 19 to discuss the Mahadayi issue before he leaves to participate in the meeting with the Chief Ministers of Goa and Maharashtra on October 21 to settle the pending dispute over sharing of river water through mutual talks. Speaking to mediapersons, near his residence on Wednesday, he said, he would also meet the farmers leaders concerned and hear them out.

Meanwhile the Karnataka BJP unit took no time to attack the Congress party Goa unit which had said that it was not for sharing Mahadayi water with Karnataka. Party state unit president, B.S. Yeddyurappa issued a statement in Bengaluru on Wednesday condemning the statement of opposition leader in the Goa Assembly, Pratap Singh Rane who while talking to a local newspaper had said that Goa should not share a single drop of Mahadayi water with Karnataka. Mr Rane also said that Karnataka misused the water and now wanted more water from Goa. Mr Yeddyurappa took strong objection to the statement of Mr Rane and said, "Karnataka has always been judicious while utilising river water. This kind of irrational and adamant attitude of the Congress party is in tune with the statement of Congress president Sonia Gandhi who made a similar statement in the last Assembly elections. Mr Rane's statement is the continuation of that. Mr Rane's statement comes at a time when the Mahadayi dispute is being resolved through negotiations. His statement tantamounts to insulting the Mahadayi river water tribunal. I urge AICC president Sonia Gandhi and AICC vice president Rahul Gandhi to intervene in the matter and prevail upon Goa Congress leaders to ensure justice for Karnataka where their government is in power."
New Delhi: The home ministry has asked for a report on the burning of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's effigies on the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) campus on Tuesday.

The ministry asked the police to submit a detailed report on the effigy-burning by a section of students on Dussehra, which is celebrated with the symbolic burning of the demon king Ravana to depict his defeat by Lord Ram and the victory of good over evil.

The protest was allegedly organized by members of the Congress's student wing NSUI. The students also burnt effigies of BJP President Amit Shah, Mahatma Gandhi's assassin Nathuram Godse, Malegaon blast accused Sadhvi Pragya and yoga teacher Baba Ramdev.

The JNU administration on Thursday ordered an inquiry into burning of effigy of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and others by a section of students in the university campus on the occasion of Dussehra by projecting them as Ravana.

"We have ordered an inquiry into the effigy burning incident and are examining the issue," said JNU Vice Chancellor Jagadesh Kumar, whose picture was also put on the effigy set ablaze on Tuesday night.

The move comes nearly a week after the varsity ordered a proctorial inquiry into burning of effigy of Gujarat government and 'gau-rakshak' (cow vigilantes) and issued show-cause notices to the students concerned.

While Pakistan's Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, 26/11 mastermind Hafiz Saeed and heads of several other militant organisations were the faces of Ravana effigies burnt on

Dussehra across the country, members of Congress-affiliated National Students' Union of India (NSUI) chose the visages of PM and BJP chief Amit Shah to represent the demon king and burnt the effigy on Tuesday.

They claimed that it was a protest against the Centre's "failure" to honour its promises and the "continuous attacks" on various educational institutions across the country.

While university officials maintained that no permission was sought for the event, the organisers claimed that effigy burning was a "routine" thing on campus and did not require permission from the administration.

Besides Modi and Shah, the effigy had faces of Yoga guru Ramdev, Sadhvi Pragya, Nathuram Godse, Asaram Bapu and the Vice-Chancellor. The students also carried placards with the slogan, 'Truth shall prevail over evil'.
New Delhi: Indian Army soldier Chandu Babulal Chohan, who "inadvertently crossed over" to the other side of the Line of Control (LoC), a day after the surgical strikes, is in Pakistan's custody, confirmed Pakistans DGMO on Thursday.

According to ANI, the neighboring country's DGMO accepted that Chandu Babulal Chauhan is in their custody. This is the first reaction by Pakistan on the incident.

Earlier, it was reported that Pakistan will formally treat captured Indian soldier Chandu Babulal Chohan as a Prisoner of War (PoW) and accord him the treatment prescribed under the Geneva Convention.

Pakistan is viewing Chohan as an active combatant captured after India announced to the world that it had carried out surgical strikes in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK).

Chohan, a soldier from the 37 Rashtriya Rifles had inadvertently crossed over to the other side of the LoC with his weapon on September 29. However, he had nothing to do with the Armys surgical strikes on terror launchpads in PoK.

In times of peace, if anyone inadvertently crosses over, Indian and Pakistani Army local commanders get in touch through flag meetings at the LoC and hand back the people. If required, the DGMOs of the two Armies can also get in touch. In October 2011, for example, an Indian Army helicopter with four Army personnel on board flew by mistake into PoK and landed there. Pakistan handed back the men and helicopter.

Previous instances

In July 2012, India handed back a Pakistan Army soldier who had sneaked across the LoC allegedly to meet his girlfriend.

In August 2014, Pakistan handed back an Indian soldier who had been swept away by the river Chenab into PoK.

In September 2015, Pakistan handed back an Indian civilian woman who had strayed across the border inadvertently into PoK.
Srinagar: Jammu and Kashmir police has been left red faced after one of its officers passed on information about the deployment of police and paramilitary forces in the Valley to a Pakistani spy who posed as an 'Army Commander'.

The Police Control Room in Srinagar recently received a call from a Pakistani spy who demanded information about the force deployment.

The call was intercepted by central intelligence agencies which submitted a report to the Union Home Ministry about the "negligence" on the part of the Kashmir police officer. The Home Ministry asked the Director General of Police K Rajendra Kumar to initiate an inquiry against the officer, who has been suspended, official sources said in Srinagar.

The errant Inspector was officiating as Deputy Superintendent of Police at the Jammu and Kashmir Armed Police Control Room.

Giving details of the incident, the sources said a call was received by the official concerned (name withheld) on a land line number and the caller identified himself as an "Army Commander". He asked the officer to share details of deployment of police and paramilitary forces in the Kashmir Valley which is witnessing unrest since July 8.

The caller also provided a number to the officer and asked him to use one of the instant messaging services for sending the information, sources said.

Not realising that he was being conned into passing on confidential information by a Pakistani spy, the officer did the needful.

Later, on being confronted, he told his superiors that he had informed his immediate senior in the control room about the call and whether he should share the deployment details.

It was only after his senior voiced 'no reservation' that he passed on the information using an instant messaging application.

Senior officials of the state police said it was a case of "negligence" and that during the ongoing unrest, which started after the death of Hizbul Mujahideen terrorist Burhan Wani on July 8, police control room was flooded with calls from across the border.
Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Thursday ordered state Chief Secretary SM Vijayanand to look into allegations of nepotism against Industries Minister EP Jayarajan.

According to reports, vigilance probe has been ordered against Jayarajan, who had earlier expressed his willingness to resign from his ministerial post following accusations of nepotism levelled against him by the state Opposition parties.

In a statement, the CM said that appointments to the posts of Managing Director/ General Manager in cooperative institutions will have to first be cleared by the state Vigilance department. A team consisting of national-level experts would be formed to recruit employees in the public cooperative sector, Vijayan assured.

The appointment of PK Sudhir Nambiar -Jayarajans nephew and veteran CPI(M) leader PK Sreemathis son- as the MD of the Kerala State Industrial Enterprises  had raised the hackles of the Opposition.

Though the appointment of Nambiar has been rescinded, there is speculation that Jayarajan may still be asked to quit his cabinet post, as the party wants to send out a strong signal to the masses that it was very serious about implementing its anti-corruption crusade.
New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will have nearly ten bilateral meetings, including an annual summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin, in three days in Goa from October 15 on the sidelines of the five-nation BRICS Summit and BIMSTEC outreach meet.

Prime Minister Modi will meet Putin on Saturday for the annual summit and the talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping are expected to be held later that day. His summit with Brazilian President Michel Temer is scheduled for Monday.

While issues such as terrorism, economy and connectivity are expected to dominate the deliberations at the multilateral-level, bilateral meetings will see India exploring ways to enhance cooperation in key areas of security, defence, energy and investments, officials said.

Apart from holding meetings with leaders of BRICS (Brazil-Russia-India-China-South Africa), Modi will have talks with Prime Ministers of Bhutan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Thailand. He will also have a bilateral with State Counsellor of Myanmar Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, who is arriving in India on October 16 on her first visit to the country after assuming the office.

During Modi-Putin meeting, key issues of defence, security, civil nuclear cooperation, trade and investment are expected to dominate the talks.

Significantly, Indian envoy to Moscow Pankaj Saran had said that India has conveyed its views to Russia over its joint exercise with Pakistan, a nation which "sponsors and practises terrorism as a matter of State policy", and that it will create further problems.

The bilateral summit also comes at a time when India is undertaking large-scale defence modernisation programme involving replacing old Russian equipment with modern ones from the country itself and from other nations.

Some of the most important defence deals currently under discussion are purchase of 5 S-400 'Triumf' long-range air defence missile systems, Kamov-28 helicopters and upgradation of the Sukhoi 30-MKIs.
After nearly a year long probe into the alleged assault on a young Dalit writer and poet in Davangere on October 24, 2015, the police have come to the conclusion that he was not attacked and filed a closure report.

Bengaluru: After nearly a year long probe into the alleged assault on a young Dalit writer and poet in Davangere on October 24, 2015, the police have come to the conclusion that he was not attacked and filed a closure report. However, the writer, Uchachangi Prasad, has refuted the police findings.

The attack, which happened some months after the assassination of noted rationalist Prof M.M. Kalburgi, had sparked a series of protests all over the state. In his police complaint, Prasad had alleged that he was attacked by a gang of eight to 10 people. He was then a post-graduate student of Journalism in Davangere University.

Prasad had stated that an unidentified man had come to his hostel room and informed that his mother had a heart attack and was hospitalised. "I went with him in his bike as he had assured to take me to the hospital. But he led me to an isolated place, where I was attacked with knives by a group of 8-10 people," he had stated.

The Dalit writer told the police that the assailants had warned him for his

'anti-Hindu' stand and writing against caste system. "They poured kumkum on me and threatened to chop off all my fingers," he had mentioned in his complaint.

The police had registered cases under attempt to murder (IPC 307) and kidnapping, under the various provisions of the Scheduled Castes and Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989.

"The incident took place just three months after Kalburgi assassination. At

that time the country was witnessing heated debates over rising intolerance.

This incident has brought shame to the state of Karnataka," recalled a young Kannada writer, who wished to be anonymous.

Charges baseless: Police

But after a year, the Davanagere police have closed the case and sent a closure report to the state government. They have stated that the whole incident was fictitious and Prasad's allegations were baseless.

"Prasad had informed that he had sustained injuries due to the knife attack. But according to the doctor who treated him, the said injuries were not because of a knife attack. While undergoing treatment Prasad had informed the doctor that he got injured due to a fall," said an officer, who was part of the investigation.

"Why did Prasad leave with an unknown person? Why he did not first verify the information about his mother's illness? Why he had he switched off his mobile phone at the time of the incident? These were some of the questions we had raised at the time of the investigation. But he did not give any satisfactory answer," the officer added.

According to the police, after examining the CCTV footage they had concluded that the complaint was false. "We had first asked Prasad to identify the road used by the bike rider. We checked three hours of CCTV footage on that particular date when the attack took place, but not even a single bike was spotted on that road," he informed.

"When we asked Prasad to provide some other substantial proof, so that we

could continue with the investigation, he was not ready to provide any. He

had stated that it was the duty of the police to find the evidence. So we decided to close the case," he said.

Why should I lie: Prasad

The Dalit writer, who is currently a guest lecturer at a government first grade college, told Deccan Chronicle that he is yet to go through the police report. "I don't know what the police report has stated. But I never lied. I was attacked," Prasad said.

He pointed out that Dalits have always been denied justice. "Kambalapalli, Khairlanji incidents are reality. No one was punished and that does not mean these incidents did not happen at all," he said. He said the attackers were not known to him. "Immediately after the attack, some senior officials had spoken to me. But since then nobody spoke to me about the incident," he clarified.
A video showing the policemen dancing with bar girls went viral on Wednesday. (Photo: Representational Image)

Patna/Bhojpur: Bihar police on Thursday suspended three policemen, including a Station House Officer (SHO) of Bhojpur district, after a video showing them dancing with bar girls went viral on Wednesday, a senior police official said.

"We have suspended three policemen including an SHO, an ASI and a constable of Koilwar police station of Bhojpur district after a video footage went viral showing them dancing with bar girls at a function held at Koilwar, a small township in Bhojpur, the day before yesterday," Patna Zonal IG Naiyar Husnain Khan told PTI.

The action was taken after verifying the video footage, he added.

Sources said that the dance programme was organised by a puja committee at Koilwar chowk on Vijayadashmi.

The three policemen who have been suspended with immediate effect include Koilwar police station SHO Sanjay Shankar, Assistant Sub-Inspector Devchandra Singh and a constable Bhushan, IG said.

"Bhojpur Superintendent of Police has also been asked to initiate departmental proceedings against these policemen for their improper conduct. We will not tolerate such conduct at any cost in which policemen, including SHO, were seen dancing publicly at a stage," IG said adding that this is not expected from a police officer.
Law Commission Chairman BS Chauhan sounded surprised over the decision of the AIMPLB to boycott the questionnaire of the panel on Uniform Civil Code (UCC). (Photo: PTI)

Lucknow/ New Delhi: The Law Commission's decision to invite views on the contentious Uniform Civil Code on Thursday drew criticism from the All India Muslim Personal Law Board and other Muslim organisations which said they will boycott it and accused the Modi government of waging a "war" against the community.

As the Muslim outfits claimed a Uniform Civil Code (UCC) will "kill" India's pluralism, right wing organisations like BJP and Shiv Sena, long-time votaries of a common code, strongly supported the government's decision, insisting it would bolster gender equality and end discrimination against women.

Centrist parties like Congress and JD(U) said the idea of UCC was "unimplementable" and accused the BJP-led government of trying to polarise the people ahead of the assembly polls in several states, including key battle ground state Uttar Pradesh.

Addressing a press conference in Delhi, the AIMPLB members and representatives of Muslim organisations contended the UCC, if implemented, will paint all people in "one colour" which will threaten the country's pluralism and diversity.

Trashing government's stand on the issue of triple talaq, the outfits claimed the community has reported lesser number of divorce cases vis-a-vis other communities, especially the Hindu community which, they said, has reported higher divorce ratio according to Census 2011.

AIMPLB general secretary Wali Rehmani, Jamiat-Ulema-e-Hind president Maulana Arshad Madani and representatives of other bodies said all the Muslim sects and its women were "one" on these issues.

They said the outfits will launch a campaign to create awareness among Muslims from Thursday, beginning with a gathering in Lucknow.

The Board members, however, admitted that there were "flaws" in the personal laws governing Muslims and they were addressed from time-to-time.

They said the country is facing problems on various fronts including the LoC and issues like killings elsewhere.

"This is all destructive. The government should try to fix this and ensure peace than seeking views on issues like UCC," Madani said.

Contrary to the Commission's claim that the step is an "endeavour" to address discrimination against vulnerable groups and harmonise the various cultural practices, Rehmani said when implemented the UCC will bring to an end country's pluralism and paint all in "one colour" and finish diversity.

"Also, we don't want the practice of triple talaq to be abolished. There are more divorces in other communities.

Rather the highest rate, which is double that of Muslims, is among Hindus," he claimed

Amid row over "triple talaq", All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) will also start a nation-wide signature campaign on Friday among Muslims against the central government affidavit in the Supreme Court on the matter.

"The affidavit filed by the central government on the matter of triple talaq is a direct infringement on the Shariat and a nation-wide signature campaign will start from tomorrow on this matter," senior AIMPLB member Khalid Rasheed Farangimahli said in Lucknow on Thursday.

The campaign will start in the state from the Aishbagh Idgah after the Friday prayers on Friday, he said.

A letter to this effect has been sent to imams of all the mosques in the state appealing to them to take active part in this exercise to protect Islamic Shariat which will be read out just before the Friday namaz on Frirday, Farangimahli said.Earlier,

Meanwhile, Law Commission Chairman B S Chauhan on Thursday sounded surprised over the decision of the All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) to boycott the questionnaire of the panel on Uniform Civil Code (UCC), but refused to comment on the controversy.

"I have no comments to offer. The only thing I would like to state is that we have only floated the documents for public comments. No report has been finalised," he said to a poser on the AIMPLB questioning the decision of the law panel to seek public comments on UCC and the issue of 'triple talaq'.

Talking to PTI, the former Supreme Court judge said seeking public comments on issues of importance is a practice successive Commissions have followed.

In an appeal issued on October 7, the Commission had said the objective of the endeavour was to address discrimination against vulnerable groups and harmonise various cultural practices.

In the appeal, it has assured the people that the "norms of no one class, group or community will dominate the tone and tenor of family law reforms".

Justice Chauhan had said in the appeal that the family law reform has to view women's rights as an end in itself rather than a matter of constitutional provision, religious right and political debate.

Indicating need for wider consultation before taking a call on Uniform Civil Code, the government had in June asked the Law Commission to examine the issue.

The move asking the law panel to examine the issue assumes significance as the Supreme Court had recently said it would prefer a wider debate, in public as well as in court, before taking a decision on the constitutional validity of 'triple talaq', which many complain is abused by Muslim men to arbitrarily divorce their wives.

On October 7, the Centre in an affidavit in the Supreme Court had opposed the practice of triple talaq.
It will be a silent protest and message will be reached to the administration with beda (do not want) campaign. (Representational image)

BENGALURU: The campaign to form a massive human chain on Sunday, to protest construction of steel flyover is gaining support, both online and offline.

People from all walks of life including veteran freedom fighter H. S. Doreswamy, actor Prakash Belavadi and some legislators have expressed solidarity with the even.

One of the activists Srinivas Alavalli told Deccan Chronicle that with few days left for the event the feedback has been overwhelming.

Organisations such as Bus Prayanikara Vedike, Citizens Action Forum (CAF) and Residents Welfare Association (RWA) across the city, especially from North Bengaluru, are being invited to express solidarity.

It will be a silent protest and message will be reached to the administration with beda (do not want) campaign. Four meeting points have been identified for people to gather and to form human chain.

A structure has been created for people to assemble at Chalukya Circle, BDA junction, Cauvery theatre and Mekhri Circle as per their convenience. The idea is to say that the citizens are totally against steel and contractor lobby.

We want green Bengaluru, he added. The organisers have already sought police permission from four different police stations  High Grounds, Seshadripuram, Vyalikaval and Sadashivanagar. The police have granted permission and directed us to hold a peaceful protest, he added.
Hyderabad: The Lokayukta on Thursday ordered the north zone deputy commissioner of police to inquire into the death of Aradhana Samdariya after fasting for 68 days and submit a report by October 24.

Balala Hakkula Sangham, an NGO, had filed a petition with the Lokayukta seeking a direction to the police to book Aradhanas parents and religious gurus for murder under IPC Section 302.

Asked about the Lokayukta order, a police official said a case had been booked and inquiry was on. There was no technical evidence in the case and police was collecting circumstantial evidence to prove the case against Aradhanas parents.

They have agreed that she fasted for 68 days. The medical certificate says she died of cardiac arrest. What lead to cardiac arrest needs to be probed. All her family members were aware of what happened. All these aspects will be presented as evidence, Mahanakali ACP S. Gangadhar said.

Other senior police officials said the case could not be altered to murder. After taking legal opinion, a case of culpable homicide had been booked, they said. Arrests would be based on the outcome of the investigation and the evidence collected, they said.

Earlier the Market police had registered a case on the parents for culpable homicide and under Section 75 of Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015 for wilful neglect of a child causing unnecessary mental or physical suffering after the NGO lodged a complaint.

Aradhana, 13, a student of St Francis High School at Secunderabad, was the elder daughter of Mr Laxmichand Samdariya, a jewellery merchant from Pot Market.

She died on October 4, two days after breaking her 68-day fast, which was a part of the Charturmas, the time considered holy by Jains.
Chennai: The BJP national president Amit Shah and Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley visited the Apollo Hospital where AIADMK supremo and Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa is undergoing treatment.

During their nearly 20 minute visit to the hospital on Wednesday, doctors explained to them about the nature of treatment being given to the Chief Minister. Shah and Jaitley, who flew down from New Delhi together and reached the airport around 12.30 pm by an Air India flight, left the hospital without briefing the waiting media persons. When asked, a BJP senior said the two leaders came to the city only to visit the hospital where Ms Jayalalithaa is being treated and had to leave immediately.

Later, Mr Shah posted on the microblogging site: Visited Apollo Hospital in Chennai to enquire about the health of Tamil Nadu CM J. Jayalalithaa Ji. I wish and pray for her speedy recovery. And Mr Jaitley tweeted: Visited Apollo hospital Chennai today. I wish J. Jayalalithaa Ji, Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu a speedy recovery.

Stating that Mr Amit Shah and Mr Arun Jaitley had visited Ms Jayalalithaa to convey the BJPs good wishes for her speedy recovery and long healthy life, BJP office secretary Mahendra Pandey said we sincerely hope that she would resume her duties soon in the service of the people of Tamil Nadu.
Patna/Bhojpur: Bihar police on Thursday suspended three policemen, including a Station House Officer (SHO) of Bhojpur district, after a video showing them dancing with bar girls went viral on Wednesday, a senior police official said.

"We have suspended three policemen including an SHO, an ASI and a constable of Koilwar police station of Bhojpur district after a video footage went viral showing them dancing with bar girls at a function held at Koilwar, a small township in Bhojpur, the day before yesterday," Patna Zonal IG Naiyar Husnain Khan said.

The action was taken after verifying the video footage, he added.

Sources said that the dance programme was organised by a puja committee at Koilwar chowk on Vijayadashmi.

The three policemen who have been suspended with immediate effect include Koilwar police station SHO Sanjay Shankar, Assistant Sub-Inspector Devchandra Singh and a constable Bhushan, IG said.

"Bhojpur Superintendent of Police has also been asked to initiate departmental proceedings against these policemen for their improper conduct. We will not tolerate such conduct at any cost in which policemen, including SHO, were seen dancing publicly at a stage," IG said adding that this is not expected from a police officer.
Chennai: A permanent set of media persons with microphones and writing pads waiting outside a hospital is a rare sight. But, it has become part of a routine work for the media since the Apollo hospital where Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa is undergoing treatment from Sept. 22 is bustling with activity as political leaders from the national to local level are making a bee-line to it.

But, the media briefings outside the hospital are stereotyped with every one of them coming out with get well messages, besides giving an optimistic news to AIADMK partymen, who rarely remember many of those visitors managing a meeting with their leader before.

Apollo resembles a pilgrimage centre where devotees of all kind come and display their devotion to the anxious party cadre and confused voters. Till now, TN was considered a land of personal political rivalries, sometimes hitting the rock bottom of vendetta politics, mud slinging and derogatory comments on personal lives.

Suddenly, the state appears to have undergone a grand transformation with all politicians turning out into a model of political culture and civility. Politicians have become paragons of virtue and human sympathy, forgetting all their petty quarrels and dirty squabbles.

Commenting on this, political analyst Bernard D Sami said This has not happened earlier. I think the political leadership is maturing in Tamil Nadu. I think it is out of goodwill and it is a spontaneous action. They are all political leaders, but dont think there is no political motives in their visit.

VCK leader Thol. Thirumavalavan became the first politician to descend on the Apollo, meeting AIADMK leaders and ministers, before wishing a speedy recovery for the CM. However, it was the visit of Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi which turned the nations focus to Apollo. Besides, expressing his wishes, he also conveyed the Congress partys support to Jayalalithaa, a strange humanitarian gesture.

It was said that TNCC president S. Thirunavukkarasar arranged Rahuls visit to show his clout in the AIADMK where he began his political career. But, the DMK did not find anything political in Rahuls move. Party spokesperson T.K.S. Elangovan said Our leader Stalin too had made a visit. We dont see politics in Rahuls visit too.

Leader of Opposition M.K. Stalin, who met the doctors to enquire about the Chief Ministers health, the next day said the visit followed a direction from party chief M. Karunanidhi and added that he was carrying the wishes of the party leader.

Interestingly, almost all the visitors barring Stalin also expressed their strong opposition to appointing an interim Chief Minister, a demand vociferously rejected by the ruling AIADMK too.

DMDK founder, who is the lone leader to avoid a visit had charged that the visits are for political gains. He said Everyday one or the other leader is visiting Apollo and speaking to the press outside, leading to reports of political gains.

However, AIADMK leaders are confident that such humanitarian gestures could not become a political tool for any party, since they are optimistic of their leaders recovery and taking over the reins of power. Party spokesperson C.R. Saraswathi said Not only in Tamil Nadu, Tamils all over the world are praying for the CM and she is recovering very well and allocation of portfolios to the Finance Minister is only a temporary measure till the Chief Minister returned to the helm of affairs.
Thanjavur: The 2016 Shanmugha Arts Science Technology and Research Academy (Sastra) University-Ramanujan Prize will be jointly awarded to Dr Kaisa Matomaki of the University of Turku, Finland, and Dr Maksym Radziwill of McGill University, Canada, and Rutgers University, USA, for their recent revolutionary collaborative work on multiplicative functions in short intervals.

The work has opened the door to a series of breakthroughs on some notoriously difficult questions such as the Erdos discrepancy problem and Chowlas conjecture, previously believed to be well beyond reach.

The Sastra-Ramanujan Prize was established in 2005 and is awarded annually for outstanding contributions by young mathematicians to areas influenced by the Mathematics genius Srinivasa Ramanujan.

The age limit for the prize has been set at 32 because Ramanujan achieved so much in his brief life of 32 years. The prize will be awarded during December 21-22, 2016, at the International Conference on Number Theory at Sastra University in Kumbakonam (Ramanujans hometown) where the prize is given annually. Dr Matomaki and Dr Radziwill will share the $10,000 prize this year.

They are especially recognized for their spectacular collaboration, and also for their very significant individual contributions.

Kaisa Matomaki is one of the strongest young analytic number theorists in the world today, said a university release here on Wednesday.

She made a prominent entrance to the world stage during 2007-09 when she established a number of significant results, which are contained in about ten excellent research papers as well as in her outstanding Ph. D. thesis of 2009 submitted to the University of London under the direction of Professor Glyn Harman. Matomaki has about 30 first-rate publications on various central questions in number theory.

She also has several major collaborations with leading number theorists; her outstanding collaboration with Radziwill began in 2014. Maksym Radziwill is one of the very best of the new generation of analytic number theorists, added the university press release.
A large number of devotees converge on Swarnala tank near Bara Shaheed Dargah in Nellore city on Wednesday as part of Rottela Panduga. (Photo: DC)

Nellore: The popular Rottela Panduga commenced on a grand note at Bara Shaheed dargah here with a large number of devotees from various parts of the state and neighbouring states offering prayers.

People from all faiths participate in this unique festival where people offer rotis in lieu of their fulfilled desires and those who want similar wishes fulfilled pick them up.

The exchange of rotis takes place at Nellore tank, which is also known as 'Swarnala Cheruvu', located close to the dargah.

The rotis are named after the desires of the individuals such as marriage, job, money, children, higher education, prosperity, own house, foreign visit and this time special category status too.

Before offering rotis, the devotees offer prayers at Bara Shaheed dargah to the tombs of 12 martyrs, who sacrificed their lives in a battle against the British troops in 1751, a year which marked the siege of Arcot during a series of Carnatic wars.

As per legend, the 12 warriors were beheaded at a place called Gandavaram, 15 km from Nellore. The headless bodies were brought back by their horses to the dargah area here. The place became popular because they were buried at the spot and a dargah was built thereafter.

The annual event is observed in the month of Muharram as urs of 12 martyrs whose mortal remains are buried in the compound.

In the backdrop of recent bomb blast in the premises of the district court, authorities made elaborate security arrangements and deployed nearly 2,000 police personnel.

Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu is the first CM to participate in the festival on Thursday that dates back to more than three centuries. As part of improving facilities, a ghat similar to one constructed in Krishna river for recent Pushkaralu at Amaravati has been built in Nellore.
Bengaluru: An 18-year-old Yemeni girl, who was undergoing treatment for end-stage kidney failure at Fortis Hospital in Bengaluru, has lost her hearing in both ears because of medical negligence of her nephrologist Dr Rajanna Sreedhara, her relatives alleged. They charged that the doctor continued the girl on a high dosage of antibiotics despite audiometric tests showing signs of profound hearing loss during treatment.

The distraught father of the victim, Abdullah, has flown his daughter Anwer Abdullah to Egypt for treatment after the family lost hopes with doctors here. Victims brother Saeed Abdullah brought the incident to the notice of the Yemeni embassy in Mumbai and diplomatic officials have written to the hospital accusing the doctor of medical negligence.

Mr Abdullah, his ailing daughter Anwer, her mother Huda Mohammad, sister Sheika Abdullah and brother Saeed came to India on April 25 with the hope of finding at least one donor match within the family as all of them were ready to donate their one kidney to save the 18-year-old girl.

Anwer was in high school in Hadramout in Yemen when she suddenly developed fever. She was later diagnosed with kidney failure. We were advised that we would get quality treatment and a kidney transplant for Anwer in Bengaluru as it has good hospitals and the cost of treatment is reasonable, said Saeed, Anwers brother. The family then sold a part of their property in Hadramout where Abdullah worked as a cab driver and came to Bengaluru.

Anwer was initially undergoing treatment at Apollo Hospital on Bannerghatta Road, but as her condition did not improve and I noticed that their dialysis methods were crude and they did not even change the filer in the dialysis machine, we felt that we should shift her to Fortis for dialysis, Saeed said.

On May 26, Anwer was taken to Fortis Hospital on Bannerghatta Road where she was put on dialysis. Consultant nephrologist Dr Rajanna Sreedhara attended to her and as there was no change in her condition for a week, the doctor doubled the dosage of the antibiotic, Amikacin, he said.

While Apollo doctor had prescribed Amikacin dosage of 250 mg, Dr Sreedhara made it 500 mg. Anwer took the medication for over a month after which she started developing hearing impairment, for which audiometric tests were done multiple times. Anwer lost her hearing completely on August 29 as indicated in the audiometric test done at Fortis, he said.

We noticed from the case papers submitted to us that the first audiometry done on June 20, 2016 showed that both ears were normal, read a communication from the embassy to the hospital.

The patient started losing her hearing and she asked the doctor who advised her for audiometry test on August 29. It showed hearing loss in both ears, but he continued the same medication and did not take any preventive measure or change the medication. The third audiometry test was done on September 8 which showed complete loss of hearing. So from all of this, we know that the doctor failed to provide proper measures to prevent such an event. We kindly request you to treat our patient in gaining back her hearing as its your responsibility that caused her hearing loss, read the letter from the Consulate General of The Republic of Yemen addressed to the medical director, Fortis Hospitals, Bannerghatta Road, Bengaluru.

When we sought an explanation from Dr Sreedhara, he said at least we could save her life. Anwer keeps crying as life has become difficult for her with the kidney failure and now the hearing loss. Her hearing has not improved even with hearing-aids, Saeed said.

Family members approached the JP Nagar police and filed a complaint, but the police registered only a noncognisable report. The family is now lodging complaints with the Karnataka Medical Council, Indian Medical Association and Indian Medical Council. They are also contemplating filing a case with consumer grievance court for adequate compensation.
Bengaluru: Chief Minister Siddaramaiah who has completed over three decades in state politics, now seems to be nurturing his 'Delhi dreams' with plans to enter the Lok Sabha from Mysuru constituency.

However, according to sources close to the CM, the foremost priority of Mr Siddaramaiah is to ensure the victory of his second son, Dr Yathindra Siddaramaiah who is set to make his debut in state politics from Varuna Assembly constituency, presently held by his father.

Mr Siddaramaiah has enjoyed power in the last three decades and also went on to become CM, a dream which he nurtured since the day he joined Janata Dal (Secular). But, as long as he was in JD(S), he could not rise above the post of Deputy CM thanks to his mentor and JD(S) supremo, Mr H.D. Deve Gowda who wanted to make his son, Mr H.D. Kumaraswamy CM.

After his exit from JD(S), Mr Siddaramaiah joined the Congress Party about a decade ago and fulfilled his dream of becoming CM. Having worked as MLA, minister, deputy chief minister and now CM, Mr Siddaramaiah has enjoyed power except for a brief period when he lost the Assembly polls from Chamundeshwari constituency. The sudden demise of Rakesh Siddaramaiah, his first son, who was seen as his heir apparent, forced him to bring into politics his second son, Dr Yathindra. Already, the groundwork has been done for the 'rangapravesha' of Dr Yathindra in the 2018 polls from Varuna.

A senior Congress leader told Deccan Chronicle that Mr Siddaramaiah is unlikely to contest in 2018 saying he has to campaign in all 224 Assembly constituencies and his son's constituency in particular. More than his victory, it would be more important for Siddaramaiah to ensure his son's victory despite anti-incumbency.

For this reason, Mr Siddaramaiah is learnt to have started hobnobbing with Mr Deve Gowda to convince him to field a weak candidate against his son in Varuna.

A Congress leader said the party is unlikely to give poll tickets to father and son and that too in two adjoining constituencies. Such proposals have been rejected in the past and the same yardstick may be made applicable to Siddaramaiah. If that happens, he has no option except choose another constituency or go to the Lok Sabha as done by two senior leaders-Mr Mallikarjun Kharge and Mr Dharam Singh. The party high command may consider Mr Siddaramaiah for the Mysuru seat which the BJP won in 2014 as health is not on the side of defeated Congress candidate A.H. Vishwanath.

Former minister Srinivasprasad to quit Assembly and Congress too

Senior Congress leader and former revenue minister V. Srinivasprasad has declared that he will submit his resignation from the post of MLA on October 17.

Addressing a press meet in Nanjangud in Mysuru, on Wednesday, he said, he had taken the appointment of Assembly Speaker Mr K.B. Koliwad on October 17 to submit his resignation.

He added that he would also hand over his resignation from the primary membership of the Congress party.

He said, I am a senior leader who has served the public for four decades and I have served as Union Minister too. I am not frustrated over being removed as a state minister. But I am deeply hurt by the way it was done to me. After I resign I will speak out about the injustice meted out to me before the leaders and people of Nanjangud constituency, Mr Srinivasprasad said.

He added, After that, I will decide which party to join and whether to contest the elections or not in future.

During the recent Cabinet reshuffle, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah had dropped Mr Srinivasprasad along with Housing Minister and actor-politician M.H. Ambareesh from the state Cabinet to induct other Congress MLAs and this was resisted by both leaders.
The senior-most appointee was Adilabad collector Jyothi Buddha Prakash from 2002 batch, and there were six others from the 2011 and 2010 batches. (Representational image)

Hyderabad: Reorganisation of districts has helped junior bureaucrats and Group-1 officials get posts which took longer to reach in undivided AP.

It used to take nine years for IAS officers and six for IPS to become collectors and superintendent of police in the districts. Following the reorganisation of districts, many junior IAS officials, some from them from the 2012 batch, have been posted as collectors.

The senior-most appointee was Adilabad collector Jyothi Buddha Prakash from 2002 batch, and there were six others from the 2011 and 2010 batches.

The junior-most were from 2012 batch: A. Varshini (Peddapalli), D. Krishna Bhaskar (Sircilla), R. Hanumanthu (Bhadradri) and R.V. Karnan (Manchiryal).

A senior official stated that it took 10 years for him to become collector in the past. In a way, these junior officials are privileged, he said.

Asked whether lack of experience in administrative matters would become a factor, IAS Officers Association president K. Pradeep Chandra said the junior officers would live up to expectations.

Because of fewer districts in states like erstwhile AP and West Bengal, it used to take a considerable time for IAS officials to get posted as collector. The number of districts has increased after reorganisation, and the need arose to appoint more IAS officials as collectors, Mr Pradeep Chandra said.
Mr Rao raised the issue of student deportations in US and stressed on the importance of positive association between both the nations.

Hyderabad: IT and NRI Affairs minister K.T. Rama Rao, during his week-long US trip, on Thursday held a series of meetings with industrial, embassy and other sectors and invited them to invest in Telangana state in various sectors.

Addressing the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, a group of leading innovative biopharmaceutical research companies of the US, Mr Rao spoke of the TS governments Pharma City project and the industrial policy TS-iPASS. The meeting was attended by representatives from major companies including Pfizer, Eli Lilly, Alexion, Merck, Amgen and others.

The minister held meeting with acting ambassador of India in US, Taranjit Singh Sandhu wherein issues of bilateral interest to US and India and the role of Ease of Doing Business in India were discussed.

Newly-appointed Consul General of US in Hyderabad Katherine B. Hadda called on Mr Rao apprised him of her priorities when she takes charge. Mr Rao raised the issue of student deportations in US and stressed on the importance of positive association between both the nations.

Boeing International president Bertrand-Marc Allen called on Mr Rao and discussed the status of Boeings engagement in the Aerospace city in Hyderabad.

Later, Mr Rao met a high-level team of officials from the US Environmental Protection Agency and shared TS governments vision to elevate environmental standards with a best-in-class enabling framework to curb industrial pollution.

The minister briefed them about the TS governments efforts in relocating industries outside the Outer Ring Road (ORR) in Hyderabad Pharma City with the objective of making Hyderabad greener and pollution-free.
Hyderabad: AIMIM president and Hyderabad MP, Asaduddin Owaisi on Thursday said that imposing Uniform Civil Code will damage the diversity and pluralism of India.

He was interacting with media persons here against the backdrop of the decision of the All India Muslim Personal Law Board to boycott the consultation paper and reject the questionnaire sent by the Law Commission of India.

Replying a question with regard to the decision of the AIMPLB to boycott the questionnaire of the Law Commission, Mr Owaisi said, As a member of the AIMPLB, I respect the decision of the Board. But we, as a political party, have decided to reply to the questionnaire as it is loaded in favour of UCC.

He said, I have been consistently saying and will reiterate again that UCC is not good for our nation. This country doesnt have only one culture or one religion. Every community and every caste in India whether it is Hindu, Muslim, Dalit, Christian or Sikh has its own culture. This country celebrates the diversity of culture and religion.

He asked whether an agreement can be arrived at on what should be inheritance according to Mitakshara and Dayabhaga schools.

Can anyone take away cultural rights which the Constitution has given to Mizoram and Nagaland? Why are Muslims being denied Hindu Undivided Family tax rebate? Mr Owaisi asked.

Stating that UCC is a directive principle, he asked if it isnt in complete violation of fundamental rights related to equality and freedom of religion.

The MP said that to cover up its failures and divert the minds of people, the government has been pushing UCC to the public eye.
A wag may have got much of it right over the social media: India: We attacked Pakistan across the LoC

Pak: Didnt

India: Did

Pak: Didnt

India: Did

The normal adversarial relationship between the two neighbours seems to have gone topsy-turvy. One obvious question: why did the Modi government publicise and even brag about the attack on the outposts of Pakistan-based jihadis, and why is Pakistan and its media so fervently denying it. Such incursions have happened in the past on both sides  we keep our own incursions a secret and complain about the Pakistani ones, likewise so does our estranged neighbour. So the normal response to the September 18 jihadi attack at Uri, killing 19 Armymen, would have been a similar attack across the LoC on Pakistan-based jiha-dis. The Pakistan Army would have got the message, and Indian opinion mitigated by claiming the terrorists were killed in a border clash. So why did the BJP go on the offensive and raise the ante? It certainly had the TV channels on its side, and was pushed further by their hyper-nationalism. The coming elections in UP, Punjab and Gujarat may have had a lot to do with it. Within hours of the surgical strikes, the Sangh Parivar began victory marches and then posters appeared across UP declaring India would beat Pakistan in its own land! BJP leaders, including the defence minister, went on to brag in public. Yet it has wisely decided not to give in to demands that it release videotapes.

The Congress, which initially praised the military action, accused Mr Modi of playing on the soldiers sacrifices. Other netas like Arvind Kejriwal, Amarinder Singh and even Mayawati joined in the criticism. What was earlier a near unanimous backing of the military action by the political class became divided along party lines as the Opposition didnt want the BJP to reap electoral advantage. There has thus been a collapse in the traditional political consensus on security matters. The Pakistans refusal to acknowledge an attack across the LoC stemmed from an unwillingness to allow volatile public opinion to be swayed into demanding a retaliatory attack. War is specially dangerous given the nuclear arsenals of both sides. The war-mongering has increased with competitive media channels drumming up hysteria. While the nuclear arsenals may hold back any immediate escalation, both India and Pakistan are becoming more belligerent. There are unconfirmed reports of over 100 jihadis gathering at the LoC for further attacks. Skirmishes, meanwhile, continue. The danger of escalation is for the moment restraining both sides.

Sashank Joshi, a fellow at the Royal United Services Institute in London, a think tank on international defence, writes: There is a qualitative difference between a low-level, tactical raid on minor outposts a short distance from the LoC and a large-scale assault on the headquarters of the organisations that continue to attack India. These are deeper inside Pakistan, closer to major population centres, and far larger in size. While Pakistan suffered humiliation with Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Bhutan and Sri Lanka, in addition to India, dropping out of the Saarc summit in Islamabad in November, it gained a public relations coup by taking an international media team to the LoC to convince the media that there had been no incursion, but only shelling.

There is the further demand by BJP spokesmen on national TV that the security forces are sacrosanct, and are not to be questioned. Any implied questioning of the Armys supposed role in the crossing of the LoC is compared to an act of treason. In a democracy, the Army should be questioned over its actions by the civil authority and by Parliament. Its actions can also be questioned even if it goes by laws like the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, applicable in Kashmir and parts of the Northeast. This is applicable to the unrest that began in the Kashmir Valley in July. During the unrest, 87 people were killed and over 8,000 people injured, with more than 800 of them having got pellet injuries in their eyes. If the Modi government was more responsive to the people of Kashmir, the escalation of hostilities between the neighbours need not have happened.
The backdrop to the annual India-Russia summit in Goa on Saturday is an acrimonious East-West standoff, a strengthening Russia-China axis, Russias perceived dalliance with Pakistan and Indias broadening engagement with the United States. A recurrent narrative in India is that the warm India-Russia friendship is eroding. While discarding romanticised versions of history, we shouldnt forget significant historical facts that are still relevant. The Soviet Unions contribution to building newly-independent Indias industrial base and military strength is such a fact, as also the USSRs six vetoes in the UN Security Council on matters of core interest to India  in 1957 and 1962 on Jammu and Kashmir, in 1961 on the Indian troop withdrawal from Goa and thrice in December 1971 during the India-Pakistan war.

Though obviously not of that magnitude, it was helpful for India that Russia, as UNSC president in October, asserted J&K wouldnt be on the Councils agenda. Back in 2002, when India was under rising pressure to terminate Operation Parakram and defuse India-Pakistan tensions, there were periodic murmurs about possible UNSC action to reinforce the pressure. In addition to deft diplomacy by India, Russian support discouraged those moves. Today, about 70 per cent of the weapons and equipment with our armed forces are of Russian origin. Their maintenance, overhaul and upgradation will remain an inescapable part of India-Russia defence cooperation. Make in India offers a new template for this collaboration. New solutions are also being found to old issues of timely supplies and transparent pricing of spares and components of Russian defence platforms.

India now seeks the best available defence equipment from around the world, but this is a gradual process. Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (Sipri) statistics show 70 per cent of Indias arms imports in 2011-15 were from Russia; the US being next with 14 per cent. Sipri concludes that based on existing orders and weapons, Russia will remain, by a significant distance, the main supplier of major arms to India in the foreseeable future. Collaboration on modern technologies is evident in the BrahMos missile systems being developed and deployed on platforms of all three services. Joint development of the fifth generation fighter with stealth tech will be a qualitatively higher level of collaboration. Among the few countries developing such aircraft today, only Russia offers the possibility for India to join in their development and manufacture. The project will strengthen both the Air Forces fleet and the countrys technological capacity.

The second 1,000 MW unit of Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant will soon produce full power. Ten more units are in the pipeline. Russia is the only country involved in nuclear power production in India. Others still agonise on the financial and legal implications of our liability legislation. The effort to strengthen the trade and investment pillar of the India-Russia partnership has intensified in recent years. In the past year, our hydrocarbon companies have proactively exploited attractive investment opportunities in Russia. An economic cooperation agreement under negotiation between India and the Eurasian Economic Union (Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Armenia and Kyrgyzstan) would benefit India-Russia trade. But the real gamechanger would be the International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC), a multi-modal route from India to Russia via Iran, that would make exports much more competitive because of 40 per cent lower freight costs and container transit times.

Even the closest bilateral relationships have challenges. Russias expanding defence cooperation with Pakistan has received much publicity, exacerbated by the recent joint military drills. The intensification of Russia-China ties, including in defence, is of concern to India, specially (but not only) due to Chinas strategic partnership with Pakistan. Russia too is concerned about the impact on India-Russia defence cooperation of the recent India-US Logistics Exchange Agreement (LEMOA). Each side has its perspective on these developments. Russias tighter embrace of China was a political and economic necessity in the face of Western efforts, post-Crimean accession, to internationally isolate it and impose sanctions. At least part of the Russian explanation for its Pakistan initiatives is the concern that the Taliban domination of northern Afghanistan might facilitate the flow of terrorists and drugs into Russia through the porous Afghan-Central Asia borders.

It is this broad canvas that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin will discuss in Goa  of intensifying collaboration and new cooperation horizons, as well as some mutual concerns. The strength of bilateral relationships is not in the absence of wrinkles, but in their capacity to iron them out to mutual satisfaction. It needs acceptance that countries act in their national interest in response to developing situations. A frank dialogue would seek, not to restrict the third-country engagement of either partner, but to obtain the assurance that such engagement would be sensitive to the core concerns of the other partner. This understanding is possible with Russia due to the range and depth of our existing and potential cooperation, and a congruence of geopolitical outlook.

Geography is an important determinant of India-Russia ties. India and Russia share borders with an increasingly assertive neighbour. Political and economic compulsions influence each of their relationships with China; but each also has a longer-term strategic perspective. Similarly, India and Russia share the extended neighbourhood of Northwest, Central and West Asia, in which many of our perspectives coincide. Geopolitics inspires alignments along multiple axes. Emotional hand-wringing that our best friend is now hobnobbing with our enemy is pointless. A hardheaded foreign policy should eschew all emotion.
The events culminating in Dasara, the Hindu festival that marks the symbolic triumph of good over evil and during which the story of the victory of the heroic and righteous Lord Ram, an avatar of Vishnu, over powerful demon king Ravana, have been a potboiler of a pure political kind this year. The true meaning of religion and spirituality was comprehensively eclipsed as the ruling party sought to politicise it by putting up posters and banners across poll-bound Uttar Pradesh in which Prime Minister Narendra Modi was shown as Ram vanquishing Ravana in the shape of Pakistan PM Nawaz Sharif. The obvious backdrop, of course, was the cross-LoC surgical strike of a fortnight earlier. Never before has a religious event, that brings forth a wellspring of devotional fervour in India, been made a servant of politics, both domestic and that between nation states.

The Prime Minister said at a public function in New Delhi that this years Vijayadasami, the final day of Dasara on which the killing of the demon takes place, was something special. No one failed to take the hint. Only days before, in order to sound correct, the Prime Minister had asked his party not to do any partisan chest-thumping over the cross-LoC strike. But he conspicuously failed to get the objectionable posters removed. His own intentions became manifest when he departed from tradition to celebrate Vijayadasami in Lucknow instead of in the national capital. UP Chief Ninister Akhilesh Yadav underlined the political nature of this when he remarked: If the election was due in Bihar instead of UP, Mr Modi would have celebrated Vijayadasami in Patna.

In Lucknow, while on the stage, the PM did aarti of Lord Ram and chanted Jai Shri Ram, Jai Jai Shri Ram, Hindu religious chants. This is contrary to the public ethos of the country in which high personages of the State, like the President, PM and Chief Ministers, dont convert a public forum into a religious one, and lend a sectarian or communal colour to proceedings. In UP, the BJP and RSS had pulled down the Babri Masjid amid chants of Jai Shri Ram back in December 1992.

With crucial Assembly elections just months away, only the blind will fail to see the vulgarisation by the countrys top politicians of Lucknows storied Ram Lila, where Nawab Wajid Ali Shah of Oudh used to be a regular participant. Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi, who hailed the Prime Minister for the surgical strike, used pretty base language to chastise him for politicising the Armys action. This was of a piece with the political climate of our day. In his Vijayadasami address, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat openly politicised the surgical strike. Such tendencies are deplorable.
Samsung in a statement said it was sending the fireproof return kit to customers who bought the Galaxy Note 7 phone on its website.

Samsung is sending fireproof boxes and protective gloves to customers returning potentially explosive Galaxy Note 7 phones, sparking a firestorm of humor on social media about the new twist in the recall scandal.

The company has permanently halted production of its Galaxy Note 7 smartphone less than two months after launch following reports that some batteries caught fire. Reports that some replacement models also went up in smoke were an additional blow to Samsung's brand and financial outlook.

"Samsung fireproof boxes? Have they been tested?" wrote Twitter user @powermax_news, a sales and service group that works on products from Samsung rival Apple.

Samsung in a statement said it was sending the fireproof return kit to customers who bought the Galaxy Note 7 phone on its website.

The kit includes a Static Shielding Pouch that is required to be put inside an OEM Replacement Box, inside another Inner Box, inside a final thermally insulated Recovery Box to protect rest of the package. The outer Recovery box contains precise instructions, and a pair of gloves for people who are people sensitive to ceramic fibre paper lining on the outer box carries. Additionally, the outer box carries a description saying, Damaged defective lithium-ion battery forbidden for transport by aircraft. Ground and vessel shipment only, in all caps.

A YouTube video by Android developer news site XDA Developers on Tuesday showed a "return kit," including a fireproof box with a "forbidden for transport by aircraft" warning and blue gloves to handle the device.

"The ultimate prank is when you open a box inside a box inside a box to find...a bag," Tweeted user @Nataddda.

US wireless carriers described getting similar materials to return the phones.

Sprint Corp (S.N) spokeswoman Laura Lisec said retail employees had been told to remove phones from packaging, power them down and secure them in the heat-proof boxes. Sprint phones nationwide are being consolidated at a warehouse in Illinois before being forwarded to Samsung.

Verizon spokeswoman Kelly Crummey said retail stores were keeping returned Note 7s separate from other merchandise but did not share details regarding shipping or packaging.

She said returns were steady and that many customers were choosing other Samsung Android operating system phones, rather than switching to Apple and its iOS.

"The Samsung Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge are really popular with customers. From what we've seen with customers if they like Android they like Android and if they like iOS they like iOS," she said.

Shippers, meanwhile, are taking their own precautions. The US Postal Service, FedEx and UPS said they would not ship the phones by air, consistent with US regulation. But FedEx will only take phones returned to stores, not from individuals directly.

Royal Mail, operator of Britain's main postal service, said on Wednesday it had banned the delivery Note 7 smartphones through its network for safety reasons, making it potentially difficult for many Britons to return the recalled devices.

Click on Deccan Chronicle Technology and Science for the latest news and reviews. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter.
Twenty-one of the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapped by Boko Haram Islamic extremists more than two years ago have been freed in negotiations. (Photo: AP)

Abuja: Nigeria's information minister said Thursday that the release of 21 of the more than 200 Chibok girls abducted by Boko Haram more than two years ago was not a prisoner swap.

"Please note that this is not a swap. It is a release, the product of painstaking negotiations and trust on both sides," Lai Mohammed told reporters in Abuja, denying claims from local sources that the girls were freed in exchange for four Boko Haram prisoners.

The minister said the release followed intensive negotiations with Boko Haram leadership.

"As soon as the necessary confidence was built on both sides, the parties agreed on the date and the location of the release of the 21 girls," he said.

The government would continue to pursue the release of the remaining girls, he said, adding that those freed would receive medical attention and care.

"We see this as a credible first step in the eventual release of all the Chibok girls in captivity. It is also a major step in confidence-building between us as a government and the Boko Haram leadership on the issue of the Chibok girls," he said.

Mohammed said the government would release the names of the girls after contacting their parents and verifying their identities.

Nigeria announced last month that it had opened negotiations with Boko Haram to secure the release of the abducted girls -- but revealed that the talks were derailed due to a divisions in the jihadist group.

Previous efforts to negotiate with the group also failed.

Boko Haram had insisted the girls would only be released in exchange for its members being held in government custody.

In April 2014, 276 girls were seized from their accommodation in the northeast town of Chibok as part of Boko Haram's campaign to establish an Islamist state in the region.

Scores of the girls escaped in the hours after the kidnapping, while another was rescued earlier this year.

The mass abduction drew global attention to the jihadist insurgency which has claimed some 20,000 lives and forced at least 2.6 million more to flee their homes since 2009.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, right, and Prime Minister of the France Manuel Valls (Photo: AP)

Ottawa: French Prime Minister Manuel Valls said Thursday that his country supports the election of Hillary Clinton over Donald Trump in the upcoming U.S. presidential election.

Valls said during a visit to Ottawa that he and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau have discussed the U.S. election. Valls didn't share Trudeau's thoughts, but he was categorical about his pick in the Nov. 8 election: Clinton.

Valls, speaking in French, said U.S. President Barack Obama was "elected by the world" and "Trump is rejected by the world."

On the allegations of sexually predatory behavior swirling around the Republican nominee, a stone-faced Trudeau - a self-avowed feminist - would say only that he "has stood clearly and strongly all my life around issues of sexual harassment."

The two prime ministers were scheduled to travel to Montreal later in the day for discussions with Quebec Premier Philippe Couillard about the Canada-EU free trade deal.

Valls said he expects Trudeau to be in Brussels on Oct. 27 to sign the deal.

Trudeau called the deal a "win-win" for both sides. He also said it's a "progressive agreement that heralds a new approach with regard to defending the rights of governments to legislate on the environment, the rights of workers, the issues that our constituents care about."

Trudeau ended a joint news conference with Valls on a pointed note, saying that in a post-Brexit world, not signing the agreement would send a strong and unsavory message.

"If Europe cannot manage to sign this agreement, that sends a very clear message not only to Europeans but to the whole world that Europe is choosing a path that is not productive either for its citizens or for the world," he said. "That would be a shame."

Climate change and the Canada-EU free trade deal have been singled out by Trudeau's office as being among Canada's top priorities.

Speaking to reporters at the French Embassy early Thursday, Valls also reiterated France's desire to see Canada send peacekeepers to West Africa to join the fight against Islamic militants.

The Trudeau government has said it will commit 600 peacekeepers to UN missions, and France has been pushing Canada to join the UN mission in West Africa.

France has 3,000 troops fighting a separate counter-insurgency mission in several of its former colonized countries, under the banner of Operation Barkhane.
Important dosuments of John F. Kennedy (left), George Washington (right), Gerald Ford (bottom) and a few other US presidents will be auctioned. (Photos: AP)

New York: John F. Kennedy's scribbled notes for a 1960 campaign speech and a fragment of George Washington's draft of his first inaugural address are among presidential documents going to auction.

The Lion Heart Autographs also is offering the front page of The New York Times from September 12, 2001, autographed by five US presidents  Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush  who were attending a national day of remembrance and prayer for 9/11 victims at the National Cathedral in Washington.

The headline above a photograph of the burning World Trade Center says: "US Attacked: Hijacked Jets Destroy Twin Towers and Hit Pentagon in Day of Terror." The front page's presale estimate is $6,000 to $8,000. The auction house will donate all of its commission from the proceeds of the sale of the page to the 9/11 charity Tuesday's Children.

The New York City auction is October 26.

JFK's fragmented notes reference his famous campaign slogan "The New Frontier" with the words "to ask you to join me on the path toward the new frontier." They were used for a speech at a 1960 rally in Los Angeles. Its pre-sale estimate is $2,500 to $3,500.

The Washington fragment, one of a small number that survive of Washington's handwritten draft for his first inaugural speech, contains the words "Let us advance directly forward in the path of our duty. Should the path at first prove intricate and thorny, it will grow plain and smooth as we go." It carries a pre-sale estimate of $130,000 to $150,000.

Another highlight is a 1993 letter on White House stationery signed by Clinton thanking New York Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan for his support for the renewal of China's Most Favored Nation status. Estimated to bring up to $1,000, it states that China "will be held accountable for its human rights record and its trade and weapons proliferation practices."
Washington: Supporting India's "right to self-defence" in the aftermath of the Uri attack which it dubbed a "clear case of cross-border terrorism", the US on Wednesday dismissed the recent attempt by Pakistan to link peace in war-torn Afghanistan with resolution of the Kashmir issue.

The White House backed India's right to defend itself as with any other country, in view of the recent surgical strike but advised caution given the heavy militarisation between the two neighbours.

It also said that that the US is making every effort to ensure that India become a member of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) by the end of this year.

Making a rare appearance before a Washington audience, Peter Lavoy, the White House's point person for South Asia, said that India-US ties are the "most dynamic relationship" for the US as he listed the Obama administration's achievements in strengthening the relationship between the two largest democracies of the world.

"It (Uri) was a clear case of cross-border terrorism. We condemned this act of terrorism. It was a horrific attack. Every country has a right to self-defence. But in a heavily militarised relationship that has also experienced three wars, there is indeed a need for caution and restraint," he said responding to a question on the Uri attack.

"We share with India, the concern for preventing any future attack. We empathise with the Indian position that it needs to respond militarily to cross-border threat of terrorism. But we also advise caution," Lavoy said.

India and Pakistan have a "friction-filled relationship" and they have not found a way to overcome that, he said.

Last week, Lavoy met the two special envoys of Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Kashmir.

The two Pakistani envoys in their public meetings had linked peace in Afghanistan to resolving the Kashmir issue.

"We certainly do not believe that the situation in Afghanistan is linked with Kashmir," the top White House official said.

Lavoy said the US is making every effort to ensure that India becomes a member of the Nuclear Suppliers Group by the end of this year.

"In 2016 India ought to join the NSG," he said and referred to the commitment made by the US in this regard.

India becoming a member of NSG, he argued would exhibit New Delhi's new leadership in non-proliferation.

"Every effort is being made to ensure India ought to join NSG this year," Mr Lavoy said to a question.
Russian President Vladimir Putin insisted on Wednesday his country was not involved in an effort to influence the US presidential election. (Photo: AP)

Washington/Moscow: Russian President Vladimir Putin insisted on Wednesday his country was not involved in an effort to influence the United States presidential election even as WikiLeaks released another trove of internal documents from Hillary Clintons campaign.

Last week, the US government formally accused Russia of launching a hacking campaign to interfere with the US election process.

Clintons campaign, which has charged the Kremlin is trying to help Republican Donald Trump win the White House on Nov. 8, took its allegations a step further on Tuesday when John Podesta, chairman of the Democratic nominees campaign, accused the Trump campaign of colluding with Russia.

At events in Florida, Trump said he had nothing to do with Putin or Russia.

"I promise you, I don't have any business deals with Russia," Trump said at a rally in Lakeland.

In Moscow, Putin said nothing in the hacking scandal is in Russias interests and accused all sides in the US presidential campaign of misusing rhetoric about Russia for their own purposes.

They started this hysteria, saying this (hacking) is in Russias interests, but this has nothing to do with Russias interests, Putin told a business forum.

Putin said his government would work with whoever won the US election, "if, of course, the new US leader wishes to work with our country."

WikiLeaks, the organization started by Julian Assange that publishes leaked information on the internet, this week released thousands of emails from Podestas email account and has not said how it obtained them. Last week, it posted excerpts from Clintons private speeches to banking and financial firms.

The Clinton campaign has not confirmed the authenticity of the messages.

The leaks, coming as the election campaign reaches the final stretch, have the potential to embarrass the Clinton camp. In recent days, however, Trump's own campaign has been in deeper trouble over the emergence of a 2005 video in which Trump bragged about groping women. Many Republican elected officials have turned their back on him and Clinton's lead in national opinion polls has increased.

Trump escalated his attacks on US House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan on Wednesday, deepening a fracture in the Republican Party.

Clinton, a former secretary of state, has repeatedly accused Trump of having overly friendly ties with Putin and Russia.

She has noted that Trumps foreign policies have tended to align with Russians interests, whether it has been questioning NATOs role in defending Eastern Europe, failing to recognize Russias intrusion into Ukraine, and supporting Russias actions in Syria.

Trump, a New York businessman who has never previously run for office, has shifted his policies on a wide range of issues, from taxes to the minimum wage to immigration during his White House campaign but his statements on Russia have been consistent. His friendly stance toward Moscow departs from the views of many prominent Republicans.

During a presidential debate on Sunday, Trump publicly disagreed with his own vice presidential choice, Mike Pence, who had called for a more hawkish approach toward Russia.

I Dont Know Putin

At that debate, Trump questioned whether Russia was behind the hacks, as the US government has asserted. And on Wednesday, during a rally in Ocala, Florida, Trump echoed those remarks.

Have you ever noticed, anything that goes wrong they blame Russia?" Trump told the crowd. "They always blame Russia and then they says Donald Trump is friends . . . I dont know Putin, folks. What the hell do I have to do with Putin?

Trump has said that as president he would seek warmer relations with Russia and that it would be in the United States' best interests to seek Russia's help to defeat Islamic State.

Trump is the most pro-Russian presidential candidate ever, said Max Boot, a senior fellow for national security studies at the Council of Foreign Relations. Putin no doubt sees a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to reorient US foreign policy in his direction by electing Trump.

A Russian ultra-nationalist ally of Putin who is known for his fiery rhetoric said Trump was the only person able to de-escalate dangerous tensions between Moscow and Washington, and predicted nuclear war if Clinton were elected.

"Relations between Russia and the United States can't get any worse. The only way they can get worse is if a war starts," Vladimir Zhirinovsky, a flamboyant veteran lawmaker, told Reuters.

Clinton campaign chairman Podesta said on Tuesday the FBI was investigating a criminal hack of his emails, and he tied the Trump campaign to the leaks by suggesting that a former Trump adviser, Roger Stone, had advance warning of the hacks.

The Trump campaign has not responded to the allegation about Stone, but Trump has denied any coordination with the Russian government to embarrass Clinton.

He has, however, made clear he supports WikiLeaks efforts. I love WikiLeaks, he said at a rally in Pennsylvania on Tuesday.

The United States has an ongoing criminal investigation into Assanges publishing of classified material. Clinton has been a fierce critic of Assange, who remains at the Ecuadorean embassy in London where he sought refuge in 2012 to avoid possible extradition to Sweden.

Last week, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and Department of Homeland Security said the government was confident the hacks of Democratic political groups and campaign officials originated from high levels of the Russian government.

The White House on Tuesday promised a proportional response to Russia over the hacks.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told CNN the United States has offered no proof of his governments involvement, and suggested Moscow was unconcerned about possible reprisals.

If they decided to do something, let them do it, Lavrov said.
Newly elected lawmaker Yau Wai-ching, 25, lays down a banner that reads 'Hong Kong is Not China' before taking the Legislative Council Oath at the first meeting of the council, in Hong Kong, on Wednesday. (Photo: AFP)

Hong Kong: Rebel lawmakers in Hong Kong swore, shouted, banged drums and railed against "tyranny" on Wednesday when they took their oaths of office in the city's parliament, as calls grow for a split from Beijing.

The chaotic first meeting of the new term of the Legislative Council (Legco) came after a citywide vote last month saw victories for several lawmakers advocating more autonomy or even independence for Hong Kong.

The city is semi-autonomous under a "one country, two systems" deal sealed when Britain returned Hong Kong to China in 1997.

The arrangement protects Hong Kong's freedoms for 50 years, but there are increasing concerns those liberties are disappearing as Beijing tightens its grip.

Lawmakers are required to recite a short oath in Legco before they can officially take up their seats.

That oath declares repeatedly that Hong Kong is a "special administrative region" of China.

The government had warned lawmakers in advance they risked losing their seats if they did not take the oath properly.

Nathan Law, 23, Legco's youngest lawmaker and a former pro-democracy protest leader, delivered an impassioned speech ahead of taking the oath.

"You can chain me, you can torture me, you can even destroy this body - but you can never imprison my mind," he said, quoting India's independence leader Mahatma Gandhi.

Law, who is calling for self-determination for Hong Kong, was one of the main leaders of the 2014 Umbrella Movement rallies which brought tens of thousands to the streets calling for democratic reform.

Two new pro-independence lawmakers, Baggio Leung and Yau Wai-ching, added their own words before the oath, pledging to serve the "Hong Kong nation".

Both displayed flags emblazoned with the words: "Hong Kong is not China".

Leung took the full oath in English but refused to pronounce "China" correctly, instead calling it "Cheena".

Yau was distinctly heard saying "the People's Re-fucking of Zeena", instead of "the People's Republic of China" in her oath, although she denied that later, blaming her accent.

Local media reported that they had used the word "Shina" instead of China, an archaic, derogatory Japanese term for the mainland.

Risk to seats

New lawmaker Eddie Chu, who advocates a public referendum on Hong Kong's future sovereignty, shouted "Democratic self-determination! Tyranny will perish!" after taking his oath.

Teacher Lau Siu-lai, also a former Umbrella Movement activist, read every word of the oath at a snail's pace, prompting some pro-Beijing lawmakers to walk out.

The Legco clerk told Leung, Yau and one other pro-democracy lawmaker that he was unable to "administer" their oaths, because they had modified them.

It is not yet clear whether any of the lawmakers deemed not to have taken the oath properly will be barred from taking up their seats.

In a statement issued before the oath-taking, the government cited a law that stipulates "any person who declines or neglects to take an oath duly requested which he or she is required to take shall vacate office or be disqualified from entering on it".

The session was suspended after Law refused to return to his seat, questioning why the clerk had objected to the three lawmakers' oaths.

According to government rules, the clerk must now refer the invalid oath cases to the Legco president, who was elected Wednesday afternoon amid further chaos.

The three lawmakers who did not have their oaths approved were told they could not vote for Legco president.

The vast majority of pro-democracy lawmakers left the chamber before the vote, with some shouting and tearing up their ballots.

Pro-Beijing legislator Andrew Leung was voted in by 38 to zero by establishment lawmakers, who are in the majority in the Legco.

The pro-democracy camp had objected to his candidacy.

Separately Wednesday, Britain urged Hong Kong to protect rights and freedoms in the city in its regular six-monthly report.
A spokeswoman for the ruling party, Beata Mazurek, called Kownacki's words "unfortunate" and "not very diplomatic." (Representational image)

Warsaw: Poland's deputy defense minister on Thursday described the French as "people who learned to eat with a fork from us," but denied the two countries are embroiled in a diplomatic war over a failed defense deal.

While rejecting the suggestion that France and Poland are at deep odds, Deputy Defense Minister Bartosz Kownacki said during an interview with the private broadcaster TVN24 that the French had compromised themselves and revealed their "class" by disinviting Poland from an arms fair to take place next week in Paris amid the defense deal spat.

"They are a people who learned to eat with a fork from us a few centuries ago. So maybe this is why they are behaving in this way now," said Kownacki, who belongs to the conservative ruling Law and Justice party.

This week the Polish government and representatives of French aircraft producer Airbus have traded recriminations over a failed multibillion-euro deal under which Poland was to have bought 50 military helicopters from the company.

The Poles say the deal was bad for Poland; Airbus says the government misled the company and that it will seek compensation.

Poland's opposition party, Civic Platform, chose Airbus helicopters in a tender before it lost power to Law and Justice. The party has called for a parliamentary commission to investigate why the deal with Airbus was rejected.

Civic Platform also called on the government today to immediately fire Kownacki for his remarks about the French people.

"He debased French people, who are our allies in NATO," lawmaker Jan Grabiec, the party's spokesman, said.

"Deputy minister Kownacki not only does not know history, he doesn't know the basic facts and he also does not know the basic rules of diplomacy," Grabiec said.

A spokeswoman for the ruling party, Beata Mazurek, called Kownacki's words "unfortunate" and "not very diplomatic."
The terror plot suspect in Germany was found dead in his cell on Wednesday after an apparent suicide. (Photo: AP)

Berlin: A Syrian man arrested on suspicion of plotting a jihadist bomb attack on a Berlin airport was found dead in his cell on Wednesday after an apparent suicide, sparking outrage over a "judicial scandal".

Jaber Albakr, who was arrested two days earlier following a nationwide manhunt after police found explosives in his apartment, was discovered hanged in his jail cell in the eastern city of Leipzig, reported Germany's Bild daily and national news agency DPA.

"Jaber Albakr took his own life in the Leipzig prison hospital," the government of the eastern, ex-communist state of Saxony said in a statement, without elaborating.

Albakr, 22,had narrowly evaded police commandos at dawn last Saturday but was arrested some 48 hours later, thanks to three compatriots now widely lauded as heroes, who said that after recognising him, they tied him up and handed him to police.

Politicians and the suspect's defence lawyer reacted with outrage over the death in custody which followed what was widely seen as a botched police search that ended only thanks to the three other Syrian asylum seekers.

'Heroes of Leipzig'

Germany's domestic security service had first alerted police last Friday that Albakr may be plotting a bomb attack, and police investigators have since said he was thought to have had links with the Islamic State group.

Early last Saturday, police closed in on his communist-era flat in the eastern city of Chemnitz, but he managed to slip away after they fired a warning shot, sparking a weekend-long nationwide manhunt and high alerts at railway stations and airports.

Police then discovered 1.5 kilograms (over three pounds) of TATP, the homemade explosive dubbed the "mother of Satan" that was used by Islamic State jihadists in the Paris and Brussels attacks, in his flat.

Investigators said the explosives were "almost ready or even ready for use," and that he was apparently preparing a "bomb, possibly in the form of a suicide vest".

Public broadcaster MDR said Wednesday that Albakr, who first arrived in Germany in early 2015, had since then twice returned to Syria via Turkey.

Germany's domestic intelligence chief Hans-Georg Maassen said his service had received information that Albakr "initially wanted to target trains in Germany before finally deciding on one of Berlin's airports".

The service reportedly believes the attack may have been only days away.

On the run over the weekend, Albakr had contacted the Syrians, who put him up in their apartment in Leipzig but then realised he was a wanted terror suspect and turned him in to police, having kept him in a headlock and tied up with an electric cable.

Albakr had offered them money to let him go, but they refused, they later told media, which did not identify them for fear of IS reprisals against the men.

The top-selling Bild daily described the trio as "the Syrian heroes from Leipzig", while calls and online petitions have grown to honour and reward them.

DPA said Albakr had told police the three Syrians had been complicit in his attack plans, but it was unclear whether police took that claim seriously. It said there was no news of fresh charges being laid.

'Shock and disbelief'

Politicians reacted with anger and incredulity to the news of Albakr's suicide while he was in the custody of the eastern state of Saxony.

Conservative lawmaker Wolfgang Bosbach called it a "true nightmare", Greens party lawmaker Volker Beck tweeted "how could this happen?," while the Social Democrats' Johannes Kahrs wrote "What's up in Saxony this time? Crazy."

The state of Saxony has received notoriety amid Germany's record migrant influx, which brought 890,000 asylum seekers last year, as a hotbed of far-right protests and racist hate crimes.

Last weekend's police hunt earned its police more bad press after officers let the suspect slip through their dragnet, with one investigator later saying police could not chase him because of their heavy bulletproof vests.

Albakr's public defence lawyer Alexander Huebner told Focus news weekly that the detainee's jailers had been aware he presented a suicide risk and angrily labelled the death a "judicial scandal".

"He had already smashed lamps and manipulated power points" after entering a hunger strike shortly after his arrest, agreeing only to drink a glass of water, Huebner said.

"I am incredibly shocked and in disbelief that this could have happened."
London: A 40-year-old man wanted in India in connection with post-Godhra riots in Gujarat in 2002 will be extradited from the UK to stand trial in India, UK Home Office announced on Thursday.

Samir Vinubhai Patel had been arrested by Scotland Yard in west London in August on a Red Corner Notice issued by the Indian authorities.

His extradition order was signed by UK home secretary Amber Rudd on September 22 and now officials are in the process of finalising "surrender arrangements".

"On 22 September, the Secretary of State (Rudd), having carefully considered all relevant matters, signed the order for Samirbhai Vinubhai Patel's extradition to India. He is accused, whilst being part of a rioting mob, of three counts of murder, two counts of using unlawful violence with others for a common purpose and one count of arson," a UK Home Office spokesperson said.

According to Gujarat Police, Patel is wanted in connection with riots in Ode village of Anand district after he had escaped to the UK by jumping bail a few years ago.

A team of officials are believed to be on their way to London to take him into custody to fly back to India by the end of this week.

"We can confirm that Mr Patel has consented to his extradition to India. However, we are unable to comment on any surrender arrangements as this is an operational matter for the police," a UK Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) statement said.

On March 1, 2002, 23 people from the Muslim community were burnt alive in a house in Pirwali Bhagol area of Ode village.

Patel along with two other accused, who are still at large, are accused of being part of the riot mob at the time.

Patel's whereabouts were traced to a home in Hounslow, west London after which Scotland Yard arrested him on August 9.

"On August 9, officers from the MPS (Metropolitan Police Service) extradition unit attended an address in Beavers Lane, Hounslow and arrested Samir Vinubhai Patel, aged 40, on a warrant issued under section 71 Extradition Act 2003. He appeared at Westminster Magistrates Court on 10 August 2016," a Scotland Yard statement said.

India and the UK have an extradition treaty in force since 1993.
Berlin: Russian President Vladimir Putin is said to have ordered his politicians and high-ranking officials to call back their relatives living abroad apparently over a prospect of global war.

According to a report in Daily Mail, administration staff, regional administrators, lawmakers and employees of public corporations have been instructed to immediately take their children out of schools in foreign countries.

The warning came after Putin cancelled a trip to France following French President Francois Hollandes accusation that Syrian forces committed a 'war crime' in Aleppo with the backing of Russian air strikes.

The cancellation of Paris trip is a serious step... reminiscent of the Cold War, Russian foreign policy analyst Fyodor Lukyanov said.

The move also came days after Moscow moved nuclear-capable missiles near the Polish border, which according to Polish officials is a matter of highest concern.

Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev has also said that the world is at a dangerous point because of the rising tensions between Russia and the United States.

However, Russian political analyst Stanislav Belkovsky said that the warning was all part of the package of measures to prepare elites to some 'big war'.

Tensions between the US and Russia escalated following the fallout of a ceasefire in Syria. Russia has also been accused by the US of supporting Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump to win the US election, an accusation denied by Russia.
Russias military fired a nuclear-capable rocket from a Pacific Fleet submarine in the Sea of Okhotsk, north of Japan, on Wednesday. (Photo: AP)

Moscow: Russia's military conducted a series of intercontinental ballistic missile tests on Wednesday, the latest flexing of its muscles as tensions with the United States spike over Syria.

Russian forces fired a nuclear-capable rocket from a Pacific Fleet submarine in the Sea of Okhotsk, north of Japan, state-run RIA Novosti reported.

A Topol missile was shot off from a submarine in the Barents Sea, and a third was launched from an inland site in the north-west of the vast country, Russian agencies reported.

The latest display of might by Moscow  which has been conducting regular military drills since ties with the West slumped in 2014 over Ukraine  comes as tensions have shot up in recent days.

Russia has pulled the plug on a series of deals with the US  including a symbolic disarmament pact between the two nuclear powers to dispose of weapons-grade plutonium  as Washington has halted talks on Syria.

The Kremlin has also moved an air defence missile system and missile cruisers to the war-ravaged country to bolster its forces there.

That comes as the West has accused Moscow of committing potential war crimes in its bombing of rebel-held part of the city of Aleppo in support of an assault by regime forces.

Washington has previously lashed out at Moscow for resorting to alleged "nuclear sabre-rattling" as East-West relations fell to the worst level since the Cold War following Russia's seizure of Crimea from Ukraine in March 2014.
Putin will meet Modi in the Indian state of Goa on Saturday on the sidelines of the BRICS Summit. (Photo: AFP)

Moscow: Russian President Vladimir Putin will seal a deal with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi during an upcoming visit to deliver Moscow's most advanced air defence system, the Kremlin said Thursday.

"An agreement on the delivery of S-400 'Triumph' anti-missile defence systems and other deals will be signed as a result of the talks," Russian news agencies quoted Putin aide Yuri Ushakov as saying, without specifying a timeframe.

Putin will meet Modi in the Indian state of Goa on Saturday on the sidelines of the BRICS Summit involving the leaders of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.

The Kremlin earlier this week said the talks with Modi would focus on "a wide range of matters of bilateral relations, especially trade and economic ties."

The S-400 is Russia's most modern air defence system and has been deployed to Syria, where Moscow is conducting a bombing campaign in support of long-time ally Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

The system can track some 300 targets and shoot down around three dozen simultaneously over a range of several hundred kilometres.

India has signed a series of key defence deals under Modi as part of a $100 billion upgrade of its Soviet-era military hardware, making it an attractive proposition for arms exporters.

In September, after nearly a decade of discussions and setbacks, India signed a deal to acquire 36 French Rafale fighter jets for 7.9 billion euros ($8.8 billion) to bolster its military against an increasingly assertive China.
Moscow: Americans should vote for Donald Trump as president next month or risk being dragged into a nuclear war, according to a Russian ultra-nationalist ally of President Vladimir Putin who likes to compare himself to the US Republican candidate.

Vladimir Zhirinovsky, a flamboyant veteran lawmaker known for his fiery rhetoric, told Reuters in an interview that Trump was the only person able to de-escalate dangerous tensions between Moscow and Washington.

By contrast, Trump's Democratic rival Hillary Clinton could spark World War Three, said Zhirinovsky, who received a top state award from Putin after his pro-Kremlin Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR) came third in Russia's parliamentary election last month.

Many Russians regard Zhirinovsky as a clownish figure who makes outspoken statements to grab attention but he is also widely viewed as a faithful servant of Kremlin policy, sometimes used to float radical opinions to test public reaction.

"Relations between Russia and the United States can't get any worse. The only way they can get worse is if a war starts," said Zhirinovsky, speaking in his huge office on the 10th floor of Russia's State Duma, or lower house of parliament.

"Americans voting for a president on Nov. 8 must realise that they are voting for peace on Planet Earth if they vote for Trump. But if they vote for Hillary it's war. It will be a short movie. There will be Hiroshimas and Nagasakis everywhere."

Zhirinovsky's comments coincide with deep disagreements between Washington and Moscow over Syria and Ukraine and after the White House last week accused Russia of a campaign of cyber attacks against Democratic Party organisations.

Even as WikiLeaks released another trove of internal documents from Clinton's campaign on Wednesday, Putin insisted his country was not involved in an effort to influence the US presidential election.

The Russian Trump?

Zhirinovsky likes to shock liberal public opinion and he has frequently heaped scorn on the West, which he and other Russian nationalists regard as decadent, hypocritical and corrupted by political correctness.

His combative style, reminiscent of Trump's, ensures him plenty of television air time and millions of votes in Russian elections, often from the kind of blue-collar workers who are the bedrock of the US Republican candidate's support.

Zhirinovsky once proposed blocking off mostly Muslim southern Russia with a barbed wire fence, echoing Trump's call for a wall along the US border with Mexico.

Zhirinovsky, who said he met Trump in New York in 2002, revels in his similarities with the American businessman - they are the same age, favour coarse, sometimes misogynistic language and boast about putting their own country first. Zhirinovsky has even said he wants a DNA test to see if he is related to Trump.

But unlike Trump, a billionaire real estate developer who casts himself as the anti-establishment candidate in the US presidential race with no past political experience, Zhirinovsky is a consummate political insider who has sat in the Duma for more than two decades.

Putin has also praised Trump as "very talented", while the Republican candidate has said the Kremlin boss is a better leader than US President Barack Obama. Clinton has accused Trump of being too cosy with Putin and questioned his business interests in Russia.

In other comments that have delighted Moscow, Trump has questioned the value of NATO for Washington, has spoken ambiguously about Russia's 2014 annexation of Ukraine's Crimea and suggested that the United States under his leadership would adopt a more isolationist foreign policy.

"He (Trump) won't care about Syria, Libya and Iraq and why an earth should America interfere in these countries? And Ukraine. Who needs Ukraine?," said Zhirinovsky, who once counted himself a friend of Iraq's Saddam Hussein and Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi and whose deaths he still laments.

"Trump will have a brilliant chance to make relations more peaceful ... He's the only one who can do this," he said, adding that Trump could even win a Nobel peace prize.

Clinton "Craves Power"

In contrast, Zhirinovsky described Clinton as "an evil mother-in law" and said her record as secretary of state under Obama in 2009-2013 showed she was unfit to lead her country.

"She craves power. Her view is that Hillary is the most important person on the planet, that America is an exceptional country, as Barack Obama said," said Zhirinovsky. "That's dangerous. She could start a nuclear war."

In typically chauvinistic remarks, Zhirinovsky said Clinton's gender should also bar her from the presidency.

"Most Americans should choose Trump because men have been leading for millions of year. You can't take the risk of having one of the richest, most powerful countries led by a woman president," he said.

Asked about lewd comments Trump made about women in 2005 that have harmed his campaign, Zhirinovsky defended the Republican: "Men all round the world sometimes say such things that are just for their comrades. We must only consider his business (and political) qualities."

Though Putin and Trump have never met, Zhirinovsky said he believed they could establish a close working relationship, adding: "Victory for Trump would be a gift to humanity. But if Hillary Clinton wins it will be the last US president ever."
Islamabad: Pakistan Army chief General Raheel Sharif on Thursday confirmed death sentence handed down to 10 terrorists by military courts for their involvement in killing civilians, polio workers and armed forces personnel.

The 10 condemned terrorists, belonging to the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) rebel outfit, were convicted by speedy trial in military courts.

"These terrorists were involved in heinous offences related to terrorism, including killing of innocent civilians, polio workers, NGO employees, police officials and armed forces personnel," army said.

Fire-arms and explosives were also recovered from their possession.

The military courts were set up in Pakistan to expedite the trial process for terror-related offences following the December 2014 Talibans massacre at an army-run school in Peshawar in which over 150 people, mostly school children, were killed.

Following the attack, the government had lifted the moratorium on the death penalty and the Parliament passed the 21st amendment which established military courts which was challenged in the Supreme Court.

The apex court ruled in favour of setting up of the courts in August last year.

It is not known where the trial was held and when the verdict of conviction announced, as the military courts work in secrecy due to fear of backlash by militants.
The proposed steel flyover from Basaveshwara Circle to Hebbal to provide a seamless commute to Kempegowda International Airport has been viewed by environmental experts and other citizens as another unnecessary inconvenience to the public. More than 800 trees that are more than 50 years old and some buildings of historical value will be razed to the ground.



If the two flyovers along Bellary Road and the elevated road towards the airport havent helped, people wonder how this new project will ease traffic. Environmental experts say the proposal to plant 10 trees for each tree being cut will not compensate for the existing canopy.



Environmentalist B N Viswanath points out that the city has already lost a lot of tree cover in the name of development.



Bengaluru was once called the airconditioned city but the authorities havent bothered to bring back the old glory by retaining the existing green cover or planting new trees. Even if we plant 10 times the trees  and let us say all of them survive  the present two generations will not see its benefits (if they can be called

benefits). This is because cutting trees has become a continual process, reasons Viswanath. He feels the existing small and medium steel flyovers dont benefit many either. It will not help the general public but only benefit politicians and contractors involved in the project, he adds.



Tree lines are required in Bengaluru to keep the increasing pollution in check.



Despite petitions filed and public outrage against the project, the government authorities seem keen on going ahead with it. T V Ramachandra, associate faculty, Centre for infrastructure, Sustainable Transportation and Urban Planning, Centre for Sustainable Technologies, Indian Institute of Science, points out that there has been an increase in concrete area (paved surfaces), with the loss of 88 per cent of green cover and 79 per cent of water bodies over the last four decades (1970 to 2016).



The city is on the verge of becoming unlivable with this kind of senseless, irresponsible and unplanned growth. If we continue this way, the landscape consist of 95 per cent of paved surfaces. This is unacceptable as there will not be sufficient and clean air and water or a clean environment, explains Ramachandra. He says no government project has compensated for the tree loss satisfactorily so far.



The city has 14.78 lakh trees for 95 lakh people. This means for every person there are seven trees. But to remove only respiratory carbon, we should have eight trees per person. The government must stop wasting public resources and take the city towards a healthy status, he adds.



While experts warn that the proposed project will lead to serious ecological imbalance, citizens too dont see the need for it at the cost of cutting down so many trees.



Shruthi Umesh, a chartered accountant, thinks it would be better if the government could chalk out alternative routes to divert traffic and ease the congestion than add to the existing flyovers.



The proposed flyover will benefit only those going to the airport. It has taken so many years for 800 trees to grow and planting new saplings will not make up for their loss, says Shruthi.



She also points out that planting more trees will control the rising pollution levels. We see so many people affected with respiratory disease so we need more trees to survive the increasing traffic and pollution, she says.



There are a lot of people who carpool and cycle to work, like V P Bijoy, an employee with Dell Technology. He has signed a petition opposing the construction of the steel flyover.



The authorities should concentrate on widening

the roads, providing proper pedestrian paths and effectively managing the traffic flow rather than undertaking such massive projects that only cater to the interests of a small group. Most of these trees that will face the axe are more than 50 years old and cutting them is not the way forward, reasons Bijoy.



The need of the hour, says Ramachandra, is to decongest the city.



Flyovers are being proposed without proper assessment just to spend public money. We need to decongest the city and get back the city from the clutches of land, water and waste mafia, he says.




Two separate events in different parts of the country show how free speech and the rights of the media can easily be attacked and curbed in the country. Last week, the Jammu & Kashmir government banned Kashmir Reader, a newspaper published from Srinagar, on the ground that its contents can cause incitement to acts of violence and disturbance of public tranquility. Journalists in Kerala have been unable report the proceedings of the Kerala High Court and some lower courts for over two months because of threats and acts of violence by lawyers who have denied them entry into the court premises. The threat came from different sources in the two cases but the effect has been denial of the peoples right to know and the right of the media to discharge its professional duties. There has been no relief in spite of continued protests against the highhanded actions.



Bans on newspapers and media channels, censorship and other methods of preventing information from reaching the people are against the spirit of democracy and a violation of the fundamental right to freedom of expression. Governments in Kashmir have resorted to all these methods in the past. The ban on Kashmir Reader was imposed arbitrarily. It was not asked to give an explanation for any report or comment it had published. If it had carried any objectionable material it could have been prosecuted under relevant provisions of the law. It is not considered to have published anything which other newspapers have not. The government clamped down on the newspaper perhaps to send out a warning to others. The media is under heavy pressure in Kashmir. Some weeks ago, the government had shut down all printing presses and temporarily banned all newspapers for three days. Other channels of information including social media have also faced controls and curbs. Media freedom is especially relevant and important in disturbed conditions like those in Kashmir. Violation of normal constitutional rights can only worsen the situation, and it cannot be justified on any pretext.



In Kerala, lawyers who felt aggrieved about the report of a case of misconduct against one of their own have prevented media persons from entering the court. Media personnel were attacked and manhandled. Interventions by the government and other agencies have not helped to end the standoff. Decisions taken at meetings held by the chief justice have not been honoured. Blocking legitimate access to courts and preventing judicial proceedings from being reported amounts to denial of media freedom. People have the right to know what happens in the court and the lawyers cannot deny it. Unfortunately no authority is able to enforce the right.




Apocalypse is the catastrophic end of the world. According to Genesis, the world was created on Oct 23, 4004 BC at 9 in the morning, as precisely calculated by the Irish Archbishop James Ussher! The Book of Revelation in the New Testament says that the world will end in an apocalypse known by the appearance of four horsemen riding pestilence, war, famine and death.





Srimad Bhagavatham and Vishnu Purana also say the present kali yuga will end in a great pralaya, though this will be preceded by four yugas lasting long geological ages  the satya yuga lasting 1,728 million years; the treta yuga 1,296 million years; the dvapara yuga 8,64,000 years; and the kali yuga lasting a final 4,32,000 years making a neat 4:3:2:1 ratio and the first life cycle of earth being a geologically respectable 4.3 billion years.



Bengaluru is a late-comer to this ancient timeframe, having been established by Kempe Gowda only in 1537. But it has managed its kaliyuga-apocalypse at the remarkable speed of light. The Four Horses of Bengalurus apocalypse have already appeared on the horizon. These are water, garbage, vehicles and pollution.

Water: We have converted the land of a thousand tanks into a land of thousand sewage tanks, lakeview apartments and layouts  with some MLAs proudly prefixing layout to their names as if it is their Padmabhushan award.



At the historical 4% growth rate of the past 50 years, the Bangalore Metropolitan Region will have a population of 22 million in 2031. Cauvery cannot supply more than 29 tmc ft of water, 2,260 million litres per day (mld) and, after an even reduced 20% leakage, a net of 1,800 mld. At the government norm of 130 litres per capita, the shortage will be 1,000 mld.



The four lakh borewells today are pumping out 3.7 times the annual rainwater recharge. It does not require rocket science to see that at this rate, Bengaluru will run out of underground water in 10 years. Since the nitrates in the sewage-lakes keep percolating to the borewells, what the tankers are supplying is 49% non-potable and 19% have escherichia coli, requiring dialysis when infected.



Without water, a city dies. Therefore, for the survival of Bengaluru, a Comprehensive Plan covering leakage-plugging, recovery of used water, supply from rejuvenated lakes and rajakaluves, basin-wise rainwater harvesting and support to NGOs has been cost-estimated by competent consultants at Rs 40,000 crore and 10 years implementation. But because of the resistance of the BWSSB staff  who will lose control over contractors due to the financial discipline imposed in externally-funded projects  this is not done. Thus, for the sake of 2,400 employees interest, a mega city contributing 60% of Karnatakas tax revenue can get evacuated!



Garbage: Despite several delegations of BBMP councillors, legislators and officers visiting the tourist spots of Hamburg, Las Vegas, Rio, Macau, Kenya and so on to study how Bengalurus daily 3,200 tonne garbage can be handled, smokey mountains like the kind in Metro Manila are emerging here, thanks to the iron triangle of transport contractors-corporators-BBMP officers. Slow death from environmental diseases will be the result.



Immobile metal

Vehicles: For a population of 110 lakh, Bengaluru has 58 lakh motorised vehicles, increasing at 9% a year. Ninja loans (No-income-no job-no assets), as in the 2008 mortgage bubble in the Western economies, are available even at 0% interest for vehicle loans. Very soon, Bengalurus roads will become a mass of immobile metal.

Even walking will not be possible as the few sidewalks are increasingly used by two-wheelers. Traffic jams of six hours as in Manila and mobile car-commodes as in Bangkok (here is a good startup idea!) will be common in a few years. Road rage will be rampant adding to the traffic paralysis.



Again, nothing is learnt from Singapore, Shanghai or Jakarta. In Singapore, since 1990 vehicles are auctioned in a monthly Vehicle Quota System, the premium for private cars vary from S$51,000 to S$71,000 and for motorbikes S$6,800 for a 10-year Certificate of Entitlement. Singapore has an Electronic Pricing System by which the 80 Gantries (Electronic Gates) automatically charge a fee varying with peak and slack hours.



Every vehicle is required to install an electronic In-Vehicle Unit which costs S$150. On an average, peak hour travel costs a daily toll of S$15 (1 S$ = Rs 49). As a result, the vehicle growth rate is restricted to 0.5% annually and the tax collected is used for traffic modernisation. For a population of 5.5 million, Singapore has a vehicle population of just one million.



Jakarta, with a population of 30 million, has since 2004 a Bus Rapid Transport System of 210 km, the longest in the world, commuting 116 m in 2016. It has 12 primary routes and 10 cross-corridor routes, supplemented by medium-buses. The average fare is Rupiah 2,900 (Rs 19). Many other cities such as Shanghai have started following other systems. But in Bengaluru, we have Tenaliraman solutions of steel flyovers (at Rs 267crore/km instead of public transport)!



Pollution: Bengaluru has PM-10 particulate matter from vehicles and factories which is massively higher than national and international standards. In busy junctions, peak pollution is 1300/m3 which is 26 times the WHO standard and 13 times the Indian standard.



According to the Centre for Science and Environment, the citys particulate matter level has increased by 57% between 2010 and 2014. Some of the diseases due to environmental pollution are lung diseases, asthma, bronchitis, cancer, kidney diseases, birth defects, fertility problems, goitre, heart diseases, lead and mercury poisoning, newborn disorders, from the long list of pollution-caused diseases.



Bengaluru is a dying city. With the business as usual scenario, the Four Horses

of Apocalypse will take over and half the city will have to be evacuated in 10 years. As Nassim Nicholas Talebs Black Swan shows, extreme events occur repeatedly

in history but people become complacent and pay the price.



(The writer is former Additional Chief Secretary, Government of Karnataka)
A six-year-old boy from Delhi who had been kidnapped by a mentally unstable woman was rescued from Katra in Jammu and Kashmir, police said on Tuesday.





The woman, 19, has been arrested and sent to a hospital for treatment, said police. Nishants parents were exhilarated after being reunited with their only child this Dussehra after a gap of three days. Nishant had been missing since October 8 when he had gone to a park near his house, said police.



After his disappearance, a missing person complaint was registered at South Delhis South Campus police station, and police searched him in the entire city. Few days back, Railway Protection Force (RPF) at the Katra Railway station detained a woman on suspicion who was roaming with a minor boy.



During her search, phone number of her brother was found from her purse, following which her brother was called in Katra, said a senior police officer. When her brother reached Katra, he informed the RPF personnel about the unsound mental condition of his sister.



He also told RPF that his sister had come to Delhi from her native town Muzzaffarnagar with her relatives to get herself treated at the Institute of Human Behaviour and Allied Sciences (IHBAS).



After few days of arriving in the capital, she ran away from her relatives and had been missing since until she was found in Katra. The RPF then contacted the Delhi Police and told us about the boy who was with the woman, the officer added.



A team of RPF personnel then reached Delhi along with the woman and Nishant.Police said the woman had taken Nishant along with her from the park, but how she reached Katra is still being investigated.



The woman allegedly intimidated and physically assaulted the boy to make her go with her. A case of kidnapping is registered at the South Campus police station, and police are waiting for the woman to get a green signal from the doctors so that she could be questioned in the case.



The minor boy could also be questioned to know more about the entire episode, said police.
Four days after a stone-pelting incident in east Delhis Trilokpuri, local residents observed Muharram under heavy deployment of police and paramilitary forces on Wednesday.





Locals claimed tensions escalated in the area in the past two years after it was hit by communal clashes in October 2014 over a dumping ground, following which more police force has been deployed for Muharram this year.



Earlier, not many police personnel were deployed here. Paramilitary forces like Rapid Action Force (RAF) were not put in service and only local police was present to keep a vigil. But for the last two years, the harmonious atmosphere has been disturbed," said Shakir Ali.



In October 2014, clashes broke out between Hindus and Muslims in the area.Residents say the friendly atmosphere has been disturbed over the last couple of years. Any small issue leads to rumour-mongering and is given a communal colour.



There is a division in society and secularism is declining. This is the reason why the friendly atmosphere has been disturbed. A small problem gives rise to rumours, thus leading to communal clashes, said another local resident.



Shamshad, who has been staying in the area for decades, said the place was peaceful until the last two years.



I came here 40 years back and this place has been peaceful except during the 1984 anti-Sikh riots. However, the last two years have been different, said Shamsad, who is in his seventies.



Another residenty, Mohammad Javed, said it would take 50 years for the situation to normalise in the area.



Meanwhile, paramilitary forces, including RAF and CRPF, were deployed to keep vigil at the various venues of the Muharram procession.Deputy Commissioner of Police Rishi Pal said the situation has been peaceful.
The real threats to India are "internal" and emanate from communal and social violence, not from outside forces such as Pakistan or China, former national security advisor Shivshankar Menon has said.





Asked if Pakistan or China pose an existential threat to India, Menon said: "No"."In terms of national security, I think the real threats are internal," he told PTI.



"There's no existential threat to India's existence today externally, unlike in the 50s or when we were formed. And for many years till late 60s there were actual internal separatist threats, not any more. I think that we have actual dealt with," Menon said.



His long career in public service spans diplomacy, national security, and India's relations with its neighbours and major global powers. Menon served as national security advisor to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh from January 2010 to May 2014.



Menon's first book post retirement - 'Choices: Inside the making of India's Foreign Policy' - is all set to hit book stores globally next week.



Asked to elaborate on what he meant by internal threats, he said: "If there are real threats to India, to the idea of India, India's integrity, today they actually come from within the country."



"If you look at violence in India, deaths from terrorism, from left wing extremism, declined steadily throughout this 21st century until 2014-2015. Even now the basic trend for terrorism, left wing extremism is down. What has increased is since 2012, communal violence, social violence, internal violence has increase. That is something we need to find a way in dealing with," Menon said.



"This is not a traditional law and order problem, which our traditional instruments, the police, the states know how to deal with. You look at violence against women, communal, caste violence, if you look at those firms of violence, these are all a result of tremendous social and economic change of uprooting of population, urbanization... various forms of change, which we still need to learn how to deal with," he said.



Menon said those are the threats, which in the long run, has a "potential to make real difference".



"India has changed. It is normal. It happens to most societies where there is change. But you also have to learn new ways of dealing with," he said and attributed the new threats to the rapid and fast development of the country.



When asked that some people attributed this to the BJP coming to power, Menon said even that is a consequence of the change that the Indian society is undergoing now.



Menon previously served as India's foreign secretary from 2006 to 2009 and as ambassador and high commissioner to Israel from 1995-1997, Sri Lanka (1997-2000), China (2000-2003) and Pakistan (2003-2006).
SAARC has not lived up to its potential, a top White House official said and "regretted" that the regional summit has to be postponed this year after most of the member countries pulled out of it.





"It is regrettable that the SAARC meeting could not be held this year," Peter Lavoy, Senior Director for South Asia at the National Security Council (NSC), White House told a Washington audience in response to a question at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).



"In fact SAARC has not lived up to the potential of other regional groupings like ASEAN. That grouping has countries with similar frictions, similar boarder disputes, ethnic concerns and other problems at the time ASEAN was created," he said.



But SAARC has not been able to provide that platform, which has negative effect on the relationships, Lavoy said when asked about America's relationship between India and Pakistan.



"I think, the bottom line is we do not try to balance this relationship," he said, adding that the Obama Administration has been focused on deepening and broadening its relationship with India.



"We wish that were to be the case with Pakistan. We work very hard with Pakistan to turn that into a productive mutually beneficial relationship. I am sure the next administration would continue with these tendencies," Lavoy said.



The US he said already has a very vibrant trilateral co-operation with India and Japan.



"There is no reason why other countries can't join in on this partnership," he said.Following the attack in Uri in which 19 soldiers were killed, India decided not to participate in the SAARC Summit that was scheduled to be held in Islamabad in November.



Following India, several other South Asian countries  Bangladesh, Bhutan, Afghanistan and Sri Lanka  pulled out of the summit. This forced Pakistan to postpone the SAARC Summit for an indefinite period.
The Law Commission's decision to invite views on the contentious Uniform Civil Code today drew criticism from the All India Muslim Personal Law Board and other Muslim organisations which said they will boycott it and accused the Modi government of waging a "war" against the community.



As the Muslim outfits claimed a Uniform Civil Code (UCC) will "kill" India's pluralism, right wing organisations like BJP and Shiv Sena, long-time votaries of a common code, strongly supported the government's decision, insisting it would bolster gender equality and end discrimination against women.



Centrist parties like Congress and JD(U) said the idea of UCC was "unimplementable" and accused the BJP-led government of trying to polarise the people ahead of the assembly polls in several states, including key battle ground state Uttar Pradesh.



Addressing a press conference here, the AIMPLB members and representatives of Muslim organisations contended the UCC, if implemented, will paint all people in "one colour" which will threaten the country's pluralism and diversity.



Trashing government's stand on the issue of triple talaq, the outfits claimed the community has reported lesser number of divorce cases vis-a-vis other communities, especially the Hindu community which, they said, has reported higher divorce ratio according to Census 2011.



AIMPLB general secretary Wali Rehmani, Jamiat-Ulema -e-Hind president Maulana Arshad Madani and representatives of other bodies said all the Muslim sects and its women were "one" on these issues.



They said the outfits will launch a campaign to create awareness among Muslims from today, beginning with a gathering in Lucknow.



The Board members, however, admitted that there were "flaws" in the personal laws governing Muslims and they were addressed from time-to-time.



They said the country is facing problems on various fronts including the LoC and issues like killings elsewhere.



"This is all destructive. The government should try to fix this and ensure peace than seeking views on issues like UCC," Madani said.



Contrary to the Commission's claim that the step is an "endeavour" to address discrimination against vulnerable groups and harmonise the various cultural practices, Rehmani said when implemented the UCC will bring to an end country's pluralism and paint all in "one colour" and finish diversity.



"Also, we don't want the practice of triple talaq to be abolished. There are more divorces in other communities. Rather the highest rate, which is double that of Muslims, is among Hindus," he claimed.



As the Muslim outfits panned the government's action, Congress said enforcement of a Uniform Civil Code was impossible, while BJP claimed it was aimed at moving towards a progressive society.



Other opposition parties like JD(U) accused the Modi government of trying to polarise people ahead of the Assembly polls in several states.



All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) leader Asaduddin Owaisi said bringing the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) will "kill" the diversity and plurality of India. He, however, said his party will "certainly" respond to the questionnaire.



"If you enforce something in the name of Uniform Civil Code, then it will kill the diversity and plurality of the country. It's not right to look at it from a Muslim perspective because Indian diversity also comprises Dalits and Tribals. There are different traditions in Hinduism as well," he said.



The Hyderabad MP said the government's "real agenda" was to focus on Muslims and polarise the society.



Reacting to the issue, former Law Minister and Congress leader Veerappa Moily said it will be difficult to implement UCC in a country like India where various communities and groups are governed by personal laws.



"In a country of this nature, implementation of Uniform Civil Code is next to impossible," he said, adding no one should take it as a communal agenda or a Hindu versus Muslim issue. He said 200-300 personal laws exist in India covering various communities.



BJP national secretary Sidharth Nath Singh said the Law Commission is taking opinion of all the stakeholders on the issue following which it will form a "considered opinion" and give it to the Supreme Court.



"Now it is for the Muslim Personal Law Board to consider whether they want to be part of the stakeholders or they want to be an individual identity... if Personal Law Board people are misinformed, I cannot do much about it," he said.



Singh also referred to some international declarations and countries like Turkey, Iran and Indonesia, saying they changed law to ensure gender equality. He said it was a move towards building a progressive society.



Shiv Sena's Sanjay Raut said, "For how long the Muslims will stay away from the national mainstream. The Muslim Law Board should support the UCC as it will help the community, especially the women to come out of misery.



"Our party's stand is 'one code, one law' and it should be viewed as a national issue rather than religious one."



JD(U) MP Ali Anwar asked the government why it was only focusing on Muslims and said it is not the time to start such a debate. "They want to polarise the society."



Meanwhile, women members of the Board contended that contrary to perception, the personal law balances rights of Muslim women and men "very well" and that there is no need for change.



"There is no need for any reform in the law. Triple talaq is not an issue and the government's move to impose UCC intends to snatch our religious freedom guaranteed in the Indian Constitution. That's the reason we are fighting for our rights," Aasma Zehra, a Board member, said.



In a statement issued later, the Board alleged that the Commission's decision to seek public feedback on UCC was a "calculated" move aimed at disrupting communal harmony and urged all "secular" parties to oppose the step.



It alleged that the questionnaire highlighted the "ulterior" intentions of the Commission and an attempt was being made to "nullify" the Muslim Personal Law.



It also termed the questionnaire as "vague and confusing" and one giving impression that personal laws are responsible for social inequalities and gender disparities and have "nullified" the rights of women.



The Law Commission had on October 7 sought feedback from public on whether the practice of triple talaq be abolished and whether a uniform civil code should be optional.


Superior infrastructure in Tibet will provide China an "upper hand" over India by being a "gateway" to Nepal and Bangladesh for greater trade and investments, Chinese media said today.





"The competition of China and India over building railways in Nepal will influence the future development of Nepal and Bangladesh. It will also bring more challenges to Tibet," an article in the state-run Global Times here said today.



"In the next decade, if India continues on its high growth track and speeds up the development of infrastructure and manufacturing, this will impose multi-dimensional pressure on China, of which Tibet will bear the brunt," it said.



Fortunately, as the central government has attached great importance and offered considerable support to the region, "Tibet has gained the upper hand over India in terms of infrastructure development and has established sound economic cooperation relations with neighbouring provinces and cities, it said.



How to further open up Tibet exploit its advantages over India to deal with challenges and exercise an influence over the region while maintaining Tibet's stability needs policy support, it said.



"It also requires coordination among all western provinces, cities and autonomous regions," it said.



India and Nepal are linked by comparatively good roads.

For years, India has occupied 60 to 70 per cent of Nepal's total trade while China has only 10 per cent.



During his visit to India, Nepal's new Prime Minister Prachanda revealed that the two countries would discuss the possibility of India helping build a railway connecting Mechi and Mahakali, it said.



"If this comes true, a network not only connecting India, but also Tibet and Bangladesh will be formed," it said.



The article said Tibet is emerging as an important part of the China-initiated "One Belt and One Road" (Silk Road) initiative.



"Geographically, as a hub of critical value in connecting China and South Asia, the autonomous region is playing an increasingly important role in regional networks with the acceleration of India's development and the boosting of Sino-Indian economic relations," it said.



"Over 200 kms northeast of Bhairawa, a Nepali city close to the border with India, is Nepal's capital Kathmandu. 100 kilometers northward from Kathmandu is Kodari, a border crossing from Nepal into China. The three cities make up one of the most important passageways connecting China and the Indian Subcontinent," it said.



The other side of the border from Kodari is Zhangmu, a Chinese customs town and port of entry in Tibet.



The town accounts for around 82 per cent of bilateral trade between China and Nepal and 90 per cent of that between Tibet and Nepal, it said.




A 7-year-old Pakistani-origin boy was allegedly beaten up by five classmates on a school bus in the US for being a Muslim, an incident that has forced his family to move back to Pakistan fearing "Donald Trump's America".





The parents of Abdul Usmani have alleged that he was bullied and beaten by five students on the bus while returning home from Weatherstone Elementary School in Cary, North Carolina, as they made references to Muslims and the boy's Pakistani heritage.



"Welcome to the United States of America of Donald Trump," Zeeshan-ul-hassan Usmani captioned a Facebook photo showing his son, Abdul, with his left arm in a sling.



"He is in grade 1, bullied and beaten by his own classmates in school bus for being a Muslim," Usmani said.



Usmani told BuzzFeed News that he and his wife along with their three sons have left the US for Pakistan after this latest incident in a long history of discrimination towards his children and family.



"These are six and seven year old kids calling him names, with one kid punching him in the face, while two other kids attacked him, kicked him, and held his arms back," Usmani said.

He described his son "as American as you can get".



"They keep beating him all the way from school to home on the bus," Usmani said of the boy's ride home last Friday.



Abdul, his father said, is traumatised by the attack and has a sprained arm.

Lisa Luten, a spokesperson for the Wake County Public School System, was quoted as saying that the principal of the school immediately began investigating the alleged incident after the family told them about it.



"(The principal) interviewed seven students sitting near this child, and none of the students, nor the bus driver, witnessed any type of altercation or incident," Luten said, adding that the principal has one more child to interview and has not been able to get in contact with the Usmani family since Friday.



Usmani, 38, first came to the US as a Fulbright Scholar from Pakistan and currently works as a Chief Technology Officer of a Silicon Valley data software company.



Usmani said his family was harassed by a neighbour for months because of their religion, and that his other son has been called a terrorist.



"Times are changing and it's not the America we always thought of and believed in. It's not the America that I studied in," Usmani said.



"If Trump wins, America will be great again, but a great that nobody will care about," he said.

Usmani said the irony of the alleged discrimination is he has been working to combat the effects of terrorism and has worked with the UN's Special Envoy for Global Education on a safe school initiative in Pakistan.



Usmani said his family will stay in Pakistan until after the election to see if Trump is elected to determine if his family feels safe enough to return.
After a number of blasts triggered by Pakistani army and militants using remote control devices, Indian troops have been equipped with portable jammers for protection as they patrol the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir.





It is now a part of the drill that one of the jawans of the patrol team will carry the jammer for disarming any remote-controlled Improvised Explosive Devices.



Weighing around 80 kgs along with batteries, the machine can jam any frequency in a radius of 50 meters during mobile patrolling, according to the operator of Jammer.



Wearing one such machine on his back and armed with digital tools, Sepoy Surinder Singh (name changed) said, "Jammers are now part of the patrolling or any operation, be it anti-infiltration or anything else along LoC."



The jawan, while trekking in a mountainous area somewhere in the Noushera sector, tells a group of visiting media persons that, "It is a security measure against RC (remote- controlled) IEDs attacks along the LoC."



The jammers have been inducted to ensure safety of the soldiers during patrolling on the LoC as there have been a series of blasts of IEDs triggered by the enemy.



The jammer has been developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) for the army. It has been indigenously designed and developed by the Electronic Counter measure Systems for protection of VVIPs and Security convoys from the threat of radio controlled bombs often called IEDs.



The Protection System radiates high power electromagnetic signals and prevents the detonation of radio controlled bombs and IEDs, officials said.



The machine is a portable integrated compact communication system developed for various users in different configurations.



It covers HF, VHF & UHF ranges and available in cluster configuration for Army use or in suite configuration for Navys ground as well as onboard usage.



"It has full capability to detect, locate and jam frequency agile communications as well as monitoring & recording of conventional signals.



These IED jammers are to be put to use for service deployment and operational usage for quick reaction teams, VIP protection vehicles, convoy escorts, movement of troops and counter insurgency operations.



The deployment of jammers has become important in view of increasing threat to security personnel who are being targeted by IEDs, detonated by cell phones and radio signals along LoC in hinterlands, officials said while giving details about the risks encountered by the soldiers.



Top army and BSF officers and jawans have been targeted with remote control IED by militants with support of the Pakistani army and rangers along LoC and IB during past several years making it necessary to arm the foot and motorable patrols along the border with Jammers.



One November 17, 2009, a BSF DIG O P Tanwar was killed and two jawans of the paramilitary force BSF were injured when militants triggered an IED at Baland along the International Border (IB) in Jammu and Kashmir's Samba district.



On June 8, 2013, an army porter was killed and 3 jawans were injured in IED blast along LOC in Poonch.



Subsequently on June 12, 2014, an army jawan was killed and three others, including a Major were injured in an IED blast targeting a patrol party along the LoC in Gambhir battalion area of Poonch district.



On December 15, 2014, five IEDs were defused on IB in Samba.

Last year, on Novemebr 29, an IED blast was triggered to hit a truck suppling ration to forward post along LoC in Poonch.



On December 26, last year, 4 BSF jawans were injured in an explosion near International Border in Samba sector.



On May 29, this year, an army jawan was injured in IED blast on LoC in Rajouri sector.


An angry Maldives today quit the Commonwealth, protesting the grouping's "unjust" decision to penalise it over the circumstances that led to then President Mohamed Nasheed's ouster in 2012 and the lack of subsequent progress in resolving the political unrest.





The Maldives Foreign Ministry termed as "difficult" but "inevitable" the decision to leave the Commonwealth, a grouping of 53 nations that were mostly territories of the former British Empire.



Last month, the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group (CMAG), had warned Maldives of suspension from the bloc expressing its "deep disappointment" over the country's lack of progress in resolving the political crisis.



Severely critical of Commonwealth, the Maldives said in the name of promotion of democracy, the grouping used the country to increase the organisation's own relevance and leverage in international politics.



"The Commonwealth has sought to take punitive actions against the Maldives since 2012 after the then President of Maldives (Nasheed) resigned, and transfer of power took place as per the procedures set out in the Constitution," the Maldives Foreign Ministry said in a statement.



"The Commonwealth's decision to penalise the Maldives was unjustified especially given that the Commission of National Inquiry (CoNI), established with the help of the Commonwealth, found that the transfer of power in the Maldives was consistent with the constitutional provisions," it said.



The Maldives said, since then the CMAG and the Commonwealth Secretariat have treated the Maldives "unjustly and unfairly".



"The Commonwealth has sought to become an active participant in the domestic political discourse in the Maldives, which is contrary to the principles of the Charters of the UN and the Commonwealth.



"The CMAG and the Commonwealth Secretariat seem to be convinced that the Maldives, because of the high and favourable reputation that the country enjoys internationally, and also perhaps because it is a small state that lacks material power, would be an easy object that can be used, especially in the name of democracy promotion, to increase the organisation's own relevance and leverage in international politics," the statement said.



"The Maldives reassures that its international engagement will continue both bilaterally and multilaterally," it said.



Maldives said it had joined the Commonwealth in 1982 with high hopes and expectations, holding that it will be a platform for coordinating critical issues that the member states, in particular, the smallest members of the organisation face.



The CMAG had criticised the inquiry commission set up to investigate the removal of then President Nasheed from power in 2012.


Portugal's former Prime Minister Antonio Guterres was today appointed as the next Secretary-General of the United Nations by the General Assembly.



The 193 member states of the powerful General Assembly adopted the resolution by acclamation, appointing 67-year-old Guterres as the 9th UN Secretary-General to take over from Ban Ki-moon, whose tenure will end on December 31.



The 15-nation UN Security Council had last week voted for Guterres by acclamation and forwarded his name to the General Assembly.



Guterres, who was Prime Minister of Portugal from 1995 to 2002, and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees from June 2005 to December 2015, will assume his new role on January 1, 2017 for a five-year term that can be renewed by Member States for an additional five years.



Guterres had emerged as the front-runner in all the six informal polls conducted in the Council to select the Secretary-General amid a heightened call by several UN member states and civil society organisations to elect a woman chief for the world body, which has had a man at its helm for all the 71 years of its existence.



Ban, however, described him as "a superb choice" for the position of Secretary-General, noting that the two had worked closely during Guterres' "long and outstanding tenure" as the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.



"Secretary-General-elect Guterres is well known to all of us in the hall. But he is perhaps best known where it counts most: on the frontlines of armed conflict and humanitarian suffering," Ban said referring to Guterres' time as head of the UN refugee agency.



He had last week said Guterres "showed deep compassion for the millions of people who have been forced from their homes. He worked around-the-clock to mount effective operations to come to their assistance".



"His past experience as Prime Minister of Portugal, his wide knowledge of world affairs and his lively intellect will serve him well in leading the United Nations in a crucial period," he had said.



Speaking in Lisbon shortly after his selection last week, Guterres had expressed "gratitude and humility" and had vowed to "serve" those most vulnerable, including victims of conflict, terrorism, violation of rights and poverty.



In his vision statement submitted in April, he had stressed that the values of peace, justice, human dignity, tolerance and solidarity enshrined in the Charter are central to all cultures and religions in the world and are reflected in the Holy Books - from the "Upanishads" to the Quran and the Gospels.



Guterres had said the Secretary-General of the UN should "actively, consistently and tirelessly" exercise his good offices and mediation capacity as an honest broker, bridge builder and messenger of peace.



He had noted that prevention is also crucial to combat terrorism and the international community has the "legal right and moral duty" to act collectively to put an end to terrorism "in all its forms and manifestations".



Under procedures for appointing the world body's new chief, after the recommendation is transmitted from the Council to the Assembly, a draft resolution is issued for the Assembly to take action.



The last five Secretaries-General were appointed by the Assembly through a resolution adopted by consensus. A vote takes place only if a Member State requests it and a simple majority of those voting would be required for the Assembly to adopt the resolution. If a vote is taken, it will be by secret ballot.



The UN Charter, signed in 1945 as the foundation of the Organisation, says relatively little about how a Secretary- General is to be selected, aside from Article 97, which notes that the candidate "shall be appointed by the General Assembly upon the recommendation of the Security Council".



In addition to Guterres, 12 other candidates were in the running for the position. Action in the Assembly will culminate an historic process: the selection of a new United Nations Secretary-General, traditionally decided behind closed-doors by a few powerful countries, had for the first time, involved public discussions with each candidate campaigning for the world's top diplomatic post.



Russia's envoy to the UN and President of the Council for October Vitaly Churkin had told reporters that Guterres has "many strong qualities" to lead the UN.



"I sensed in my conversations with other members of the Security Council and various members of the UN that Guterres has great UN credentials having been High Commissioner for Refugees for 10 years," he had said, adding in this position Guterres has seen "most gruesome conflicts" the world has to deal with.



"He is a person who talks to everyone, listens to everyone and speaks his mind. Very outgoing person so i think it was a great choice," Churkin had said last week.



The informal briefings between the candidates, UN Member States and civil society representatives kicked off in April, when the first three candidates presented their 'vision statements' and answered questions on how they would promote sustainable development, improve efforts to create peace, protect human rights, and deal with huge humanitarian catastrophes should they be selected to lead the Organization.



In addition, this past July, the UN held its first-ever globally televised and webcast townhall-style debate in the General Assembly Hall, where the confirmed candidates at the time took questions from diplomats and the public at large.


Russia and India will sign a multi-billion dollar deal for S-400 'Triumf' long-range air defence missile systems on Saturday following talks between Russian President Vladmir Putin and Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Goa, state media here reported today.





"Following the results of the negotiations between our president and (Indian Prime Minister Narendra) Modi, an agreement will be signed on the delivery of S-400 Triumf anti aircraft missile systems to India, as well as some other documents," Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov was quoted as saying by TASS news agency.



India is interested in getting five systems of the most modern air defence system, capable of firing three types of missiles, creating a layered defence, and simultaneously engaging 36 targets.



It has the capability to destroy incoming hostile aircraft, missiles and even drones at ranges of up to 400 km.



If India signs the deal, it would be the second customer of the prized missile system after China which had struck a USD 3 billion contract last year.



The S-400, an upgraded version of the S-300, had previously only been available to the Russian defence forces.



It is manufactured by Almaz-Antey and has been in service in Russia since 2007. Ushakov said part of the documents will be signed behind closed doors. The Kremlin aide declined to comment on the details of the deal, suggesting that first the document should be signed.



Russia also plans to sign an agreement on building Project 11356 frigates for the Indian Navy and setting up a Russian- Indian joint venture to produce Kamov Ka-226T helicopters, the agency reported.



Following the results of their talks, Putin and Modi will adopt a joint statement to reflect their common approaches towards solving various global and regional issues.



Both sides will also approve a roadmap of measures timed to coincide with the 70th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries.



Overall, Russia and India are set to sign about 18 documents, he said. The Russian presidential aide said Putin and Modi will hold their talks in Goa ahead of the summit of the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) grouping of leading emerging economies.



The Russian and Indian leaders are first expected to talk in a narrow format and then negotiations will be held at the level of delegations. Russia's delegation will also be represented by Vice- Premier Dmitry Rogozin, the heads of the Industry and Trade, Energy and Economics Ministries, state civil nuclear power corporation Rosatom and others.



After the talks, the Russian and Indian leaders will take part in the ceremony of laying the foundation for the third and fourth power units of India's Kudankulam nuclear power plant via a video conference, make statements for the media and hold a tete-a-tete lunch.
The National School of Drama(NSD) is hosting the 9th Asia Pacific Bureau (APB) meet in which drama schools from countries like Bangladesh, China, Indonesia, Iran, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore and Thailand will participate.





The festival, which will be held from October 19 to 25, will examine contemporary performance culture in Asia, elements of traditionalism, modernisation and other factors that have contributed to it in terms of content, form and style.



This is yet another occasion where all Asia Pacific Bureau schools will show their strength. This is also a platform for NSD to show rich Indian performance heritage and showcase contemporary and traditional theatre variety to the world, says Waman Kendre, director NSD.



The theme of this edition is The strength of Asia in Contemporary Performance Culture, and the participating schools will explore the nuances of different cultures in theatre performances.



According to an official statement, the meet creates opportunities for theatre students and teachers to interact with each other in multiple ways and share their philosophies during the week-long festival.


India and China have agreed to cooperate on sourcing energy from international markets, construction of high-speed railway and development of coastal manufacturing zones as the two fastest growing economies look to boost growth.





The 4th India-China Strategic Economic Dialogue on October 7 agreed on a number of initiatives for mutually beneficial growth.



The Indian side at the dialogue was led by Arvind Panagariya, Vice-Chairman of National Institution for Transforming India and the Chinese side was led by Xu Shaoshi, Chairman of National Development and Reform Commission.



According to the minutes of the meeting released today, the two sides called "for a joint strategy to meet the rising energy demand through appropriate policy measures and efforts in the international energy markets."



They also agreed to adopt new theme of closer cooperation on coastal manufacturing zone development by encouraging projects in areas like infrastructure, automobile, energy and electronics in next one year.



The two nations "agreed to push forward the feasibility study on Delhi-Nagpurhigh-speed railway and construction of Delhi-Chennai high-speed railway," it said.



China Southwest Jiaotong University and Training Department of the Ministry of Railways of India will hold eight training courses in the field of high-speed railway.



On cooperation in renewable energy, they agreed to speed up solar cell / module manufacturing in India and expand cooperation in promoting solar rooftop.



"India offered huge investment opportunities in the renewable energy sector by way of participating through equity support, offsetting hedging cost, taking up of masala bonds, partnering in the solar projects, etc.



"Chinese investors showed keen interest in financial investment and participation in large solar park projects in cooperation with Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI)," it said.



While India was keen on technical cooperation in promoting underground coal mining technologies and coal gasification, Chinese side proposed for cooperation in environment friendly mining, coal processing, unconventional gas (CBM) and efficient use of coal.



Waste to energy plants were main discussion points on resource conservation and environmental protection.



"Both side recognized that states and cities may be encouraged to get direct agreement with Chinese companies on the desalination technology by adopting transparent procedures," the minutes said.



They also agreed to explore cooperation in low cost construction material technology.



The 'Digital India' and China's 'Internet Plus' programs will collaborate to promote manufacturing technology.



"It was emphasised that the complementary strengths of India and China in ICT sector specially computer hardware of China and Computer software of India should be leveraged for competitive and economic advantage," the minutes said.



Reviewing progress made on in feasibility study of raising speed of existing railways and high-speed railway, it was informed at the meeting that China Railway Eryuan Engineering Group Co Ltd has given an interim final feasibility study report on Chennai-Bangalore-Mysore railway upgradation project to India High-speed Railway Company.



After further modification and improvement of the report, the two sides will discuss further on cooperation and research on project implementation, including design consulting, building construction and project financing so as to promote cooperation and achieve concrete results.



Also, China Railway Siyuan Survey and design Group Company (CRSSDGC) submitted inception report of feasibility in Delhi-Nagpur High-Speed Railways.



"The two sides agreed to have further discussion on providing of data needed for the study," it said.



Also, China Railway Group together with India Railway Station Development Company will conduct research on law, economy and technology and will identify railway stations for study for redevelopment.



They noted the India and China face the same challenges of high fossil fuel share in the primary energy, high import dependence and a drive to enhance the share of cleaner energy sources, such as natural gas and renewable energy.



"China and India are still to achieve satisfactory levels of energy consumption and are reporting growth in energy demand whereas the developed world has now reached near saturation," the minutes said.



They called for a joint strategy to meet the rising energy demand through appropriate policy measures and efforts in the international energy markets. NITI Aayog proposed closer interaction with NDRC on understanding China's huge success in development of coastal manufacturing zones.



"It was proposed that during the course of the next one year, NITI Aayog will lead the initiative to bring the States of India closer to their counterparts in the developed coastal regions of China. NDRC would support this initiative," it said.



The meet noted that Indian government is deepening reforms to "build a fair and healthy environment for business and manufacturing."



Also, "it assigns high priority to improving business environment so as to attract foreign capital and turn India into the fastest growing economy in the world for multiple decades. The country has already emerged as a bright spot in the otherwise gloomy global economy. Indian government is committed to maintaining this momentum," the minutes said.



China on the other hand said it was committed to implementing new development concepts and maintaining stability to achieve progress.



"It appropriately works to enlarge the general needs and to promote supply-side structural reforms aimed at actively guiding the market and effectively dealing with risks and challenges.



"Chinese economy is operating within a healthy range with the deepening of structural adjustment and strengthening of reform and opening-up, which brings about continuous improvement of peoples livelihood and social stability," it added.


As a young girl in Portland, Oregon, Renee Watson immersed herself in the words of Langston Hughes, discovering that his poems about black identity mirrored experiences in her own life.



Since moving to Harlem in New York City more than a decade ago, she has often walked by his old home  a three-storey brownstone on East 127th Street with cast-iron railings and overgrown ivy. The author spent his final 20 years, and wrote some of the most notable literary works of the Harlem Renaissance, in this house. It was designated a historic landmark in 1981. Yet in recent years, the property has remained empty.



A performance space opened in 2007, but closed when the tenants were evicted about a year later. In 2010, the current owner listed the house for one million dollars, but found no buyers. With her neighbourhood experiencing rapid gentrification, Renee, 38, an author and poet, felt that too many crucial landmarks of the Harlem Renaissance, like Langstons home, were disappearing or going unnoticed. It feels like, whether its intentional or not, our stories are being erased, Renee said. So, after a years worth of planning, she began to preserve the legacy of the house herself.



She began a non-profit organisation, persuaded the owner to let her lease and renovate the brownstone, and started raising the money necessary to do so. If she can successfully open Langstons home and maintain it as a public space, it would be a notable feat, especially in New York City, some preservationists say. Thats a pretty remarkable mission-driven desire to preserve a place, said Seri Worden, senior field officer for the National Trust for Historic Preservation. I do think its rare, and it sounds like its working.



With rents and mortgage costs soaring in the city, a small preservation group or non-profit group like Renees must often confront almost insurmountable financial obstacles to buy, preserve and maintain a property. Its one of the greatest challenges facing historic preservation today, said David Ehrich, a former banker who has led many efforts to preserve the Stonewall Inn in Greenwich Village. The cost of historic preservation is almost out of reach.



Renee envisions using Langstons home as a gathering space for young artists, tied to a non-profit she is starting for emerging writers. In June, the homeowner agreed to lease and eventually sell the brownstone to Renees organisation as long as its members could raise the

money.



Turn to the masses



Renee took to crowdfunding and raised more than $87,000, which she says is enough to cover the first six months of rent and renovation costs. She would not say how much the owner was asking for an eventual sale. Similar homes nearby have sold in the past several months for about two million dollars. Several famous New York City homes have been converted into museums  such as the Louis Armstrong House Museum in Queens  but many were sold or donated to the city. Other efforts have failed or stalled because of a lack of funding, resources or cooperation from the buildings owner.



Some historical preservation advocates, like Barbaralee Diamonstein-Spielvogel, chairwoman of the New York State Council on the Arts, emphasise the importance of a home owners right to keep a home private, even if it is a historic landmark. Moreover, many existing house museums across the country have struggled to maintain budgets and build attendances. A house museum, Barbaralee argues, might not be the most effective way to teach the public about a historic figure.I care more about who did what in that building, she said. I care more about his ideas than his furniture.



Renees efforts are still a gamble. Like any non-profit, her collective will need to continue fundraising to sustain the home, she said. They also hope to bring in additional revenue by renting out rooms to artists and authors for events and book launches. What makes Renees approach unique, Seri said, is the fact that she does not simply plan to make it a house museum, but rather is creating a space for educational and creative programmes. House museums are really challenging, Seri said. We do have to think bigger about some of our historic sites.



In Queens, Bob Singleton, executive director of the Greater Astoria Historical Society, has tried for years to raise money to buy the Steinway Mansion, an elaborate Italianate villa once owned by the Steinway family, of the piano company.When the house went on the market in 2011 for the first time in decades, he formed a group called Friends of Steinway Mansion, but they failed to raise enough money. In 2014, the mansion and the surrounding lots were sold to its current owners, who bought the property as an investment. Warehouses and storage units have been built on the nearby land, but the mansion has remained vacant. Sal Lucchese, one of the property owners, said he would absolutely entertain an offer to turn the mansion into a public space, but so far, Singletons group and others have not had the means to do so.



Beyond the financial costs, Singleton said the zoning and renovating logistics involved with converting the mansion into a community center required support from local elected officials, which he did not have.You need every component in the community on board for this, Singleton said. Unless you have that, everything else is moot.



(Susan Beachy contributed research)
External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj condemned the terrorist attacks on the Indian Army base at Uri, Jammu and Kashmir, in her speech at the UN. The tone and tenor of the speech was to evoke a sense of nationalism among her countrymen and inform the international community about Indias zero-tolerance towards externally-fostered terrorism. The Indian Army also strengthened these political pronouncements with the statement that it reserves the right to respond at the time and place of its own choosing.



However, the ambiguity over the Indian response ceased with the surgical strikes on terrorist launch pads across the Line of Control (LoC). The Indian media reported 38 terrorists and two Pakistani soldiers killed with no Indian casualties. The Pakistan Inter-Services Public Relations vehemently dismissed and acknowledged only the killing of two soldiers.



Beyond the narratives and counter narratives of the incident, both the Pakistani terror attack on Uri and the Indian Army response are just tactical components on a larger strategic canvas. To secure a strategic victory against Pakistan, it is necessary to appreciate the hybrid nature of the threat posed by Pakistan in conjunction with the emergent geopolitical realities.



In the wake of Prime Minister Narendra Modis speech on the grim developments within Balochistan, security experts on South Asia prophesy a terrorist attack on India in the near future. Christine Fair, a strategic affairs analyst with Rand Corporation, pointed out a pattern of Pakistans terror response to Indias benevolent gestures and, thus, advocated a hardliner approach for India.



According to Nadia Schadlow, hybrid warfare uses a blend of military, economic, diplomatic, criminal, and informational means to achieve desired political goals. Pakistans hybrid war against its neighbours, India and Afghanistan, is almost as old as its formation as a nation state in 1947.



Pakistans pursuit of a hybrid warfare model against India and Afghanistan can be understood by two principal factors. Whilst the quest for strategic depth is the fundamental driver in Afghanistan, the Kashmir issue, multiplied by the bitter memories of Bangladesh liberation, has been the key determinant in the Indian context. The second factor that compels Pakistan is the numerically superior Indian military force levels and the nuclear deterrent.



This explains Pakistans hybrid war strategy against India in Punjab and Kashmir through support from local militants, pr-ovided with economic and military aid, besides diplomatic support from China. Pakistan has also raised militant groups like Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), Harkat-ul-Mujahideen (HuM) and others to work as proxies and permit it plausible deniability.



Pakistan follows a similar strategy in Afghanistan with the Taliban as its proxy. Douglas A Livermore, a US Special Forces Officer, writes that Pakistans support to the Taliban is to acquire strategic depth on its western flank, allowing (it) to focus all its attention on India.



Sino-Pak nexus



Along with this hybrid threat, the other factor that begs attention is the Sino-Pak nexus and Indo-US friendship that has changed the regional geopolitical scenario. The popular assessment is that Chinas rationale to develop a heavily burdened, one-sided, all-weather friendship with Pakistan is because Beijing perceives India as a peer competitor which must be confined to South Asia.



Andrew Small, author of The China-Pakistan Axis: Asias New Geopolitics, has argued that Chinas economic, military, diplomatic and technological assistance hasnt been out of a spirit of good will but has largely corresponded very closely to Chinas strategic interests in the region and beyond.



Moreover, the metamorphosis of the Indo-US relationship under the BJP regime has open-ed channels for greater military cooperation between the two countries, especially to challen-ge Chinas primacy in the region.



Janes defence analysts Brian Cloughley and Caron Natasha Tauro conducted empirical research on the developments around the Sino-Indian borders in Aksai Chin area and Arun-achal Pradesh to conclude the rising risk of conflict along the Line of Actual Control. For fear of encirclement by US allies, the Sino-Pak nexus can only grow stronger. Such stronger Sino-Pak ties may manifest to cyber warfare and cyber espionage.



Chinas cyber capabilities have been a real concern for the West and the proliferation of these capabilities to Pakistan, and further to territorially based clandestine non-state actors, can severely challenge Indias critical infrastructure security. Chinese assistance in this area can be central to enlarge Pakistans hybrid war design.



Pakistans hybrid warfare against India which includes terrorist targets like Uri, Pathankot and Gurudaspur, has a clear strategic ambition. The nuclear component in the hybrid war st-rategy is sought to act as a guarantor against full-fledged retaliation. So, the surgical strikes cannot be an absolute response to deter Pakistans tactical terrorist strikes time and again.



Indias diplomatic, economic and military responses against Pakistan amount to psychological war against her. Clearly, the decision to highlight human rights violation in Balochistan and the pronouncements to review the 1960 Indus Water Treaty form part of such a policy towards Pakistan. Also, the latest move against Indias participation at the Saarc summit in Pakistan proves to be another step in this direction.



(The writer is an M Phil research scholar at the School of International Studies, JNU, New Delhi)


JLT Independent Insurance Brokers has acquired Vantage Insurance Brokers and Risk Advisors employee benefits insurance brokerage portfolio in India for an undisclosed sum.





Pune-based Vantage operates one of Indias largest employee benefits insurance portfolios with services that include insurance broking, health risk advisory and benefits consulting.



JLT Independent Insurance Brokers, a provider of insurance, reinsurance and advisory services, has operations in six cities, including Mumbai and Bengaluru, and is a specialty joint venture between Jardine Lloyd Thompson group (JLT) and Sunidhi group, a leading financial services group with over 80 branches across India.



Meanwhile, in another development, JLT Group has got regulatory approval to increase its stake in JLT Independent to 49% from 26%.



The increase in JLT Groups stake comes at a time when the Indian insurance market is growing rapidly. The addition of Vantages employee benefits insurance brokerage portfolio will open up a host of new services for our clients in India, JLT Independent chief executive officer Sanjay Radhakrishnan said.



JLT is known for its insurance products and services while Vantage has built a credible and strong brand specialising in employee benefit services. There is a strong strategic fit between the two businesses that will drive innovation in the marketplace, founder of Vantage and newly appointed deputy chief executive of JLT Independent Arvind Laddha said.


A bitter political war ensued in Andhra Pradesh after Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu in a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday urged him to demonetise the Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 notes to curtail black money.





Naidu also urged the prime minister to mount pressure on Swiss banks to disclose the names of those who have stashed black money. He also lauded IDS 2016, saying it resulted in a pan-India declaration of undisclosed income exceeding Rs 65,000 crore.



Trouble started after Naidu, at a press conference in Velagapudi, indirectly implied that YSR Congress Party chief Y S Jaganmohan Reddy had declared Rs 10,000 crore out of a record Rs 13,000 crore as income under the Income Declaration Scheme (IDS). Taking objection to the charges, Reddy also dashed off a letter to the prime minister on Thursday.



In his letter, Reddy wanted to know how the details of IDS 2016 were selectively leaked to Naidu when the Central Board of Direct Taxes has not released any data to the public. He wanted the entire list of IDS 2016 to be published and a thorough inquiry initiated into the corruption charges against the chief minister.



How is that Mr Chandrababu Naidu alone is privy to this information? If true, then the person who declared should have been a benami of Chandrababu Naidu.



Otherwise, how can he be so specific about the numbers? the YSRC chief wrote. He also enclosed a party publication on a list of corruption charges against Naidu.



The person Naidu was talking about must be his benami, otherwise why he is worried and asking the prime minister to withdraw large denomination currency, Public Accounts Committee chairman and YSRCP MLA Buggana Rajendranath Reddy said.



Former Congress MP Undavalli Arunkumar wrote to Finance Minister Arun Jaitley asking him to make public the list of those people who have declared their hitherto undeclared assets to clear the air.


With her health parameters under continuous observation, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa was once again visited by Dr Richard John Beale, based in the UK, to check on her progress.





Apollo Hospital sources disclosed on Thursday that the chief minister will also be examined by a team of experts from AIIMS.



The chief minister is responding well to the treatment, a source said.



The latest hospital bulletin said that a panel of doctors, consisting of intensivists, cardiologists, respiratory physicians and infectious disease specialists, among others, were monitoring the chief minister.



Ministers hold meetings

With the governor handing over Jayalalithaas portfolios to Finance Minister O Panneerselvam, it was business as usual in the state secretariat on Thursday, with several ministers holding review meetings of their departments.



Though government employees and IAS officials discharged their duties at the secretariat, most of the ministers were camping in the Apollo Hospital here where the chief minister is undergoing treatment.



On Thursday morning, Cooperation Minister Sellur K Raju reviewed the state governments recent announcement of the loan waiver scheme for farmers. With the festival season approaching, the minister also monitored the stock situation of ration shops across the state.



Panneerselvam, who was already handling portfolios like finance, planning, legislative assembly, elections and passports, personnel and administrative reforms training, will also look after public, Indian Administrative Service, Indian Police Service, Indian Forest Service, general administration, district revenue officers, police and home departments, which were handled by Jayalalithaa.


Making the most of the nationwide cow protection drive, a real estate group here has announced the offer of a free cow with every 400-square yard plot it sells near the temple town of Yadadri.





The deal comes with a buy-back offer of the milk and cow for half the price after 84 months.



Whats more, the Hyderabad-based Aravinda Shree Indian Sandalwoods Private Limited also offers to maintain the Holstein Friesian crossbred cow, worth

Rs 70,000, at a common dairy facility  Rachita dairy farm  and offers Rs 3,000 earned from the milk. After a period of time, we will even buy back the cow for Rs 50,000, said S Ramakrishna, one of company directors.



The idea occurred after Prime Minister Narendra Modi issued a warning against fake cow vigilantes. We wanted to have a dairy where cows are protected and investors can have their money back, he said.



The firm is in talks with cow suppliers in Haryana and Andhra Pradesh and is planning to start the dairy facility in a few months.



Buyers have the option of taking the cow home if they want, while they are required to sign an agreement with the firm for its maintenance. Each cow will be insured considering its high value, Ramakrishna said.



For those who are not in a hurry to build a property on their plots, located about 49 kilometres from the Telangana capital, the firm also offers income from malabar neem and sandalwood plantations in their 400-square yard plot, which would be ready for cutting and sale in seven to 15 years.



The firm will also install a plant to process cow urine and make organic manure out of cow dung.


The Tibetan activists are set to stage protests against Beijings rule over their homeland when Chinese president Xi Jinping will visit Goa later this week.





The Tibetan Youth Congress (TYC) on Wednesday announced its plan to stage a protest demonstration in Goa during Xis visit for attending the 8th BRICS summit on Saturday and Sunday.



The protests by the TYC activists may add to the stress in India-China relations even as Xi and Prime Minister Narendra Modi are likely to discuss the recent irritants that cropped up in a bilateral meeting on the sideline of the summit. The TYC on Wednesday expressed serious concern on the current critical situation in Tibet and demanded end of Beijings illegal occupation of Tibet.



As long as the occupation continues, as long as the communist government continues with their hard-line stance and policies; ignoring the cries of the Tibetan people, the struggle and resistance of Tibetans will continue, said TYC president Tenzing Jigme.



The TYC is based in Dharamsala  the seat of the Tibetan Government-in-Exile in Himachal Pradesh. The Dalai Lama, the icon of Tibetans struggle against Chinas rule over Tibet, has also been living in Dharamsala ever since he escaped to India in 1959.



Sources told DH that the Chinese Embassy in New Delhi had already shared with the Indian Government the concerns of Beijing over possibility of Tibetans staging protest demonstration in Goa.
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Thursday refused to comment on the decision taken by former minister V Srinivas Prasad to resign from the Legislative Assembly and the Congress.





Prasad, who was dropped from the Cabinet in June this year, has accused Siddaramaiah of hatching a conspiracy to finish off his political career.



I have no comments to make, Sidaramaiah said when reporters sought his comments in Bengaluru.



In another part of Bengaluru when asked about Prasads possible entry into the BJP, the partys state president B S Yeddyurappa said, As of now, he is still in the Congress. It would not be appropriate to discuss about him. Let me talk to him after he quits the Congress. After that, I will be able to say something on this matter.
Senior BJP leader R Ashoka said many leaders from different parties will join BJP in the days to come.





Speaking to mediapersons after his visit to Sri Krishna temple here on Thursday,

he said that former minister V Srinivas Prasad was treated inhumanly by the Congress, especially Chief Minister Siddaramaiah.



Prasad is in constant touch with BJP state president Yedyyurappa and he is expected to join BJP shortly, he said.



He added that Dalit leader and former bureaucrat K Shivaram would also join BJP on Friday in a programme to be held in Bengaluru under the leadership of Home Minister Rajnath Singh.



He charged that the law and order mechanism in the state has totally collapsed and the state government has failed to handle the issues related to rivers Cauvery and Mahadayi.



Ashok said there is no confusion and differences in BJP as the All India General Secretary of BJP has separately spoken to Yeddyurapa and Eshwarappa to find an amicable solution.



There would be no formation of Rayanna brigade. The forthcoming 2018 Legislative Assembly polls would be fought unitedly by BJP as BJP expects to put an end to erratic rule of Congress, he added.
With Pakistan blocking most of the counter-terrorism initiatives by the Saarc, India is now set to rely on the Bimstec to boost regional cooperation against the menace.





Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday will call upon the leaders of the Bimstec (Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation) nations to fast-track implementation of regional initiatives to combat terrorism.



Modi will host the Bimstec leaders in Goa this weekend on the sidelines of the 8th summit of the BRICS, a bloc comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.

The prime minister will chair a meeting of the Bimstec leaders on Sunday, which will be followed by the BRICS leaders outreach meeting with their Bimstec counterparts.

Sources told DH that the prime minister will call for early ratification of the Bimstec convention on cooperation in combating international terrorism, transnational organised crime and illicit drug trafficking.



He would stress on the early commencement of negotiations on the Bimstec convention on extradition too, added the sources.



New Delhi will also seek early implementation of the BRICS convention on mutual legal assistance in criminal matters.



The Saarc also adopted a convention on mutual legal assistance in criminal matters almost eight years ago. But it is yet to come into force as Pakistan did not ratify the 2008 convention. Pakistan also blocked the establishment of the Saarc terrorist offences monitoring desk and the Saarc drug offences monitoring desk.



Irked by Pakistans persistent efforts to block the South Asian nations collective initiatives against terrorism, India is now set to push for regional cooperation against the menace through the Bimstec, which comprises five (India, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal and Sri Lanka) of the eight members of the Saarc, said sources in New Delhi.

Pakistan, Afghanistan and Maldives are not members of the Saarc.



New Delhi has also started exploring possibilities of trilateral counter-terrorism cooperation among India, Iran and Afghanistan, another move to side-step Pakistan in building synergy in anti-terror policies in the region.


Congress Rajya Sabha members on Thursday questioned the last minute cancellation of a briefing scheduled for Friday for members of Parliamentary Committee on Defence, on the recent surgical strikes along the LoC.





Senior Congress leaders Madhusudhan Mistry and Ambika Soni have shot off letters to Committee Chairman Maj Gen B C Khanduri (retd), asking him whether the Ministry of Defence does not trust members of Parliament to maintain secrecy of the proceedings.



The original agenda was for the Army officials to brief the Committee members on the recent surgical strikes against terror infrastructure, Mistry and Soni said in a joint statement.



DH had reported on October 6 that Khanduri had sought a briefing from the Defence Ministry on the surgical strikes to avenge the Uri terrorist attack, which was turned down.



The decision not to brief the committee on the surgical strikes under the garb of secrecy, shows a lack of confidence in the Members of Parliament and in the committee, who are bound by an oath of secrecy, they said. We see no reason why the agenda was changed and that too at the last minute, Mistry said.



BJP leader Subramanian Swamy, who is also a member of the Standing Committee, however, differed saying the decision should be left to the Army. Instead of the surgical strikes, the committee is now scheduled to deliberate on the status of e-postal ballot system in relation to proxy and postal voting by defence personnel in general elections.



Mistry demanded revival of the original agenda of the meeting. He also insisted that the defence officials must inform the committee about the number of surgical strikes carried out since 2004.


BJP State President B S Yeddyurappa has sought that the leaders of the Opposition in the legislatures of Karnataka, Maharashtra and Goa should be invited for the October 21 meeting on Mahadayi issue convened in Mumbai.



Speaking to reporters in Bengaluru on Thursday, Yeddyurappa said senior Congress leaders, including Sonia Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge, should convince their party leaders in Maharashtra and Goa to arrive at an amicable solution to resolve the

Mahadayi water sharing dispute.



The Mahadayi Water Disputes Tribunal last month had advised chief ministers of Karnataka, Goa and Maharashtra to try to arrive at an amicable settlement through negotiations. Accordingly, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has organised a meeting of chief ministers of the three states in Mumbai on October 21.



The Congress is the principal opposition party in the BJP-ruled Maharashtra and Goa. Congress leaders in Goa have said that the state should not part with Mahadayi waters to Karnataka.



Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Assembly Jagadish Shettar told reporters here that the BJP had prepared a platform for discussion on the Mahadayi issue by holding talks with Fadnavis on Wednesday.



The Maharashtra chief minister is of the strong view that water disputes could be solved through talks and negotiations.



Fadnavis said Maharashtra has an open mind to discuss the issue. Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Water Resources Minister M B Patil should go well-prepared to the meeting of the riparian states, he added.



Meanwhile, Siddaramaiah evaded a direct reply to queries by reporters on the statements by Congress leaders of Goa as well as Yeddyurappas suggestion.



It is not important who is opposing. We will be sitting across the table for the first time on October 21. We will discuss all aspects. We do not wish to create controversy at any stage. Our sole intention is that some solution should emerge from the meeting, Siddaramaiah said.



He said he has convened an all-party meeting in Bengaluru on October 19 to discuss the Mahadayi issue.



The dispute relates to Maharashtra and Goa raising objection to Karnatakas proposal to draw of water from the Mahadayi river to the Malaprabha river by building canals at Kalasa and Banduri to provide drinking water to the twin cities of Hubballi-Dharwad and the districts of Belagavi and Gadag.



Make Auradkar report public: BJP



The BJP on Thursday urged the government to make public the report given by the senior police officer Raghavendra Auradkar on the recent Mahadayi agitation.



Parts of Dharwad, Haveri and Gadag districts witnessed widespread violent protests over the Mahadayi tribunals interim order rejecting Karnatakas claim of water. As many as 187 agitators were arrested and the Opposition has been demanding withdrawal of cases booked against them. The government had asked Auradkar-led police officers team to study the authenticity of the cases.



Jagadish Shettar said innocent people including pregnant women were beaten up by the police during the agitation. The government had promised to withdraw the cases filed against 187 people. However, the findings of the Auradkar team has not been made public so far, Shettar added.

Ball will be in Centres court



Law Minister T B Jayachandra on Thursday said the ball will be in the Centres court to take a decision on the Mahadayi issue after the October 21 meeting.



Jayachandra said Prime Minister Narendra Modi had recently told an all-party delegation from the state, which had sought his intervention on the Mahadayi issue, that consultation process between the three states should be held first, reports DHNS from Bengaluru.



The consultation meeting will be happening on October 21 after which the ball will be in the Centres court, Jayachandra said.
The All Indian Muslim Personal Law Board and other Muslim religious bodies on Thursday boycotted the exercise of the Law Commission seeking public opinion on the Uniform Civil Code, following the Union government's opposition to the triple talaq issue.





Addressing a joint press conference here, they accused the Law Commission of acting on behalf of the Narendra Modi government to pave the way for imposition of the common civil code. The government is resorting to divisive policies at a time when the nation is fighting on the borders, they said.



It is against the pluralism and diversity of the country. All communities have different customs and traditions. Our Constitution accepts that. Its a dangerous idea to treat them with a single yardstick. We oppose this, Maulana Wali Rehmani, a Muslim leader, said.



Rahmani, who is AIMPLBs officiating general secretary, said the Modi government was trying to shift the peoples focus from its work to the code, as it failed to fulfil its poll promises.



He said the Muslim bodies rejected the governments stance on triple talaq and cited the census figures to claim that Muslims had less divorces than other communities.



We will boycott the Law Commission. It is biased. It is not working as an independent body. It is acting as a government body.



Jamiat-Ulema-e-Hind president Maulana Arshad Madani said, If the Uniform Civil Code is implemented, attempts will be made to paint all in one colour, which is not in the interest of the country. Also, we dont want triple talaq to be abolished. There are more divorces in other communities. Rather, the highest rate, double that of Muslims, is among the Hindus.



Both the leaders contended that Muslims and other minorities like Christians and Parsis would lose their existing right to apply their own religious laws for family matters, including marriage, divorce and inheritance. Even various sects of Hindus, including Dalits and Lingayats, will be affected, they contended.



However, Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) leader Asaduddin Owaisi said his party would put forth its views and answer the questionnaire of the Law Commission. But Owaisi said he supported the view of the AIMPLB that the exercise is against pluralism.



Differing with the AIMPLB, the Muslim womens organisations said banning triple talaq was not against the Shariat law because the Koran did not have such a provision.



Zakia Soman of the Bharatiya Muslim Mahila Andolan said, As far as the Koran is concerned, there is no mention of triple talaq. It is a later addition. After the passing away of the Prophet, one of the imams allowed it only temporarily. The right to divorce is given equally to both parties There is a 90-day period for reconciliation and deliberation. Our primary argument in the Supreme Court is that it is not against the Shariat.



Reacting to the development, Law Commission chairman Justice B S Chauhan said, We dont want to force any majority view on the minorities. We are here to find out the will of the people. We have put the questionnaire in the public domain so that stakeholders may respond.



Union Minister for Minority Affairs, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, said a healthy debate should take place between different communities on the Uniform Civil Code to arrive at a decision on the issue. Many Islamic nations have carried out reforms. The AIMPLB has put forth its views. Now, we need a healthy debate, Naqvi said.



Defending the Centres stand on triple talaq, Union Law Minister Ravishankar Prasad said three basic principles  gender justice, non-discrimination and dignity of women  were at the core of the governments affidavit. Countries such as Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Morocco, Tunisia, Turkey, Indonesia, Egypt, Iran and even Pakistan have regulated their laws much earlier.



The government last week told the Supreme Court that it wants to end the practice of triple talaq, which allows Muslim men to divorce their wives by pronouncing talaq three times. The AIMPLB, on the other hand, opposed the move to strike off the practice of triple talaq. It told the apex court that personal laws cannot be rewritten in the name of reforms. The Uniform Civil Code is not enforceable by a court of law, the Muslim body maintained. The apex court will resume hearing on the issue next week.



The Law Commission had appealed to the members of religious, minority and social groups, non-governmental organisations, political parties and government agencies, to present their views through a questionnaire on a range of issues, including triple talaq and the right to property for a woman citizen. It also solicited public opinion on all possible models and templates of a common civil code.




The earthquake measuring centre at Sharana Shirasagi in Chincholi taluk has confirmed strange noises that were heard from inside the earth at Indrapada Hosalli in the taluk on Wednesday, and has also confirmed mild tremors.





Mild tremors measuring 1.6 on the Richter scale were recorded from the village

on Wednesday morning at 8.05.



Following the incident, a team of earthquake experts from Bengaluru would arrive at the village on Friday and also install a temporary earthquake measuring device, tahsildar Prakash Kuduri said.



Scientists from Karnataka State Natural Disaster Monitering Centre Ramesh Dikpal and Abhinaya would visit the village.



Apart from collecting information and creating awareness, they would assemble a temoprary device in a school. An ideal place for installation of the device has already been identified, Kuduri said.



Kuduri said that the earthquake-measuring centre does not have any details with regard to the strange noises that were heard in the village last Saturday and Monday. However, the centre has confirmed that mild tremors occurred on Wednesday.



The village has black stones on the surface, at a depth of 40 to 60 feet there are limestones and at a depth of 160 feet sand has been found. The facts came to light when borewell was sunk in the village, said residents Shivakumar Patil and Basavaraj Hosamani.



Common activity



It is a common activity which occurs deep inside the earth. When groundwater level rises, layers of earth swell like bread.



As a result, some layers join others and break free from existing ones.



There is nothing to worry, said Anaveerappa Biradar, Assistant Scientist, Earthquake Measuring Centre at Sharana Shirasagi.


A barrage of accusations that Donald Trump groped or inappropriately kissed women rocked the race for the White House on Wednesday, with the Republican nominee angrily denying the reports and his campaign branding them character assassination.





Claims by at least five women in accounts reported by The New York Times, NBC, People Magazine and other outlets came to light after Trump said in Sundays presidential debate with his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton that he had never sexually assaulted women.



The denial

His denial came as he tried to set his campaign back on track after a video recording from 2005 surfaced on Friday in which the 70-year-old real estate mogul is heard making lewd boasts about how his celebrity status meant he could grope women with impunity.



With just 27 days until the November 8 election, and Clinton in the drivers seat with national polls in her favour, Trumps free-falling campaign is fuelling Republican worries the controversy may seriously damage the party. Former businesswoman Jessica Leeds, 74, told The New York Times that Trump groped her on a flight in the early 1980s as they sat next to each other in first class.



About 45 minutes after takeoff, Trump lifted the armrest and began grabbing her breasts and tried to put his hand up her skirt, she said.



He was like an octopus...His hands were everywhere...It was an assault, she told the daily.



Rachel Crooks said she was a 22-year-old receptionist at a real estate company in Trump Tower in 2005 when she encountered Trump outside an elevator in the building one morning. After she introduced herself, he kissed me directly on the mouth, she told the daily. It was so inappropriate...I was so upset that he thought I was so insignificant that he could do that, Crooks added. None of this ever took place, Trump angrily told NYT, calling the reporter a disgusting human being.



Among the accusations, Mindy McGillivray, now 36, said that Trump grabbed her at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida in 2003, the Palm Beach Post reported on Wednesday. It was pretty close to the centre of my b****, she said of the incident that happened as she was working as a photographers assistant at an event.



Former Miss Utah Temple Taggart McDowell told NBC on Wednesday that Trump kissed her when she was a 21-year-old contestant in his Miss Universe contest in 1997. People Magazine also published an account by a former staff writer who said Trump forced himself on her when she interviewed him in 2005. Trump shut the door behind us...and within seconds he was pushing me against the wall and forcing his tongue down my throat, Natasha Stoynoff wrote.



None of the women reported the incidents to law enforcement agencies.


BJP state president B S Yeddyurappa has termed the proposed Chalukya Circle-Hebbal steel flyover project a daylight robbery of taxpayers money by the Siddaramaiah government.





Speaking to reporters here on Thursday, Yeddyurappa said the BJP suspected a mega scam in the Rs 1,791-crore project and demanded that it be dropped immediately.



He claimed that the Congress government was conspiring to divert 40% of the project cost to the party, but did not specify the purpose. Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly Jagadish Shettar said the government was hurrying through the project, giving room for doubting its intention.



The BJP will not oppose infrastructure projects to decongest Bengaluru roads. But in the case of the steel flyover, the government has not maintained transparency. It has not shared comprehensive details of the project with the people, he said. Shettar said debates were going on in the media on the manner in which the flyover project was being pushed by the government and people, too, were expressing their views. The steel flyover project is an old proposal. The government is suddenly trying to implement it so hurriedly.



What are the alternatives to the cost-intensive steel flyover project? Why are the options not being discussed? Why the cost escalation from Rs 1,399 crore to Rs 1,791 crore? The government should explain why it is not interested in running a Metro line instead of the flyover, he asked. He said the government must allow discussions on the various aspects of the project and all the details should be shared with the public.


The Bangalore Vision Group (BVG) on Thursday asked the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) to make a presentation before it on the controversial project to build a flyover between Basaveshwara Circle and Hebbal.





This comes a day after Bengaluru Development Minister K J George opened up on the project, and the BDA released a 10-page document on its website, listing the salient features of the proposed flyover.



We have asked the BDA engineering team to make a presentation to the BVG on the salient features of the project and to also assess the alternatives available and examine if they can be implemented. We also want the details of the study on the volume of traffic on the route. The present cost of the project is too high. We will discuss if the cost can be reduced and steel mixed with concrete so that taxpayers are not burdened, said Vivek Menon, BVG member and advisor to the state government on infrastructure issues. He stressed that connectivity to the Kempegowda International Airport was important and that the government must provide it.



Menon, however, clarified that the BVG didnt intend to rehash the project, but said there was a need to understand the logic behind such a huge investment. We want the presentation by this weekend but the BDA is yet to get back to us. We called the BDA because it neither consulted us before submitting the project to the Cabinet nor consulted the public, Menon added.



The BVG and the Bangalore Metropolitan Planning Committee (BMPC) were formed by the government to be the collective voice of the people. The BVGs aim is to be an objective listener and decision-maker.



Another member, who did not want to come on record, echoed concerns that the project required huge investment and axing of hundreds of trees. To get these things cleared, we have sought the BDAs response. But we are yet to hear from it, the member added.





Project should be for city, not just airport: IIMB prof

G Ramesh, associate professor, Centre for Public Policy, Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore (IIMB), has said that all projects should be for the city, not just for the airport-bound public.

Even if there is logic behind the flyover project, the government should satisfy the public through consultation. Public reservations should be looked at seriously. It is good to present alternatives to the public rather than sticking to just one solution. The government should come up with solutions which ease traffic in the city rather than configuring the city for airport. Also, it should look at pedestrians as much as automobiles, he said.

Ramesh saw no harm if the project was really planned to ease congestion in the city.

But if it is easing travel to the airport, that is stretching it too far. Airport exists for the city, not the other way round. Even earlier, we should have gone for a train link to the airport rather than an elevated road. We are defying the global trend. Nowhere are there elevated roads to the airport, Ramesh added.



MoEF clearance must for flyover: IISc researcher

T V Ramachandra, co-ordinator, Energy and Wetlands Research Group, Centre for Ecological Sciences, Indian Institute of Science (IISc), said the Bangalore Development Authoritys (BDA) stand that clearance from the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) was not required for the flyover project was a misguided one.

The project is neither people-friendly nor environment-friendly. It requires environmental clearance considering the likelihood of damage to the environment. Strengthening public transport is the only solution.

We need to decongest the city and move major installations out of Bengaluru. The money wasted on Bengaluru could be used in other districts so that industries can move there, he said.



L&T yet to get go-ahead from government

Larsen and Toubro (L&T), the company which won the contract to build the steel flyover through bidding and negotiations, has not yet received any government order to start work on the project. A representative of the company said they would talk on the project only after getting an official letter to start the work.



Only three access points to flyover: Firm which made DPR

Access to the proposed steel flyover will be limited to just three points  Mehkri Circle, Hebbal and High Grounds, a representative of STUP Consultants Pvt Ltd, the firm which prepared the detailed project report, told DH on condition of anonymity.

Access control means that motorists cannot get down from the flyover everywhere since the elevated road will be focused towards the airport and the highway only. The flyover can take a speed of over 80 kmph, but that does not mean that two-wheelers and auto-rickshaws cannot ply.

The flyover will be strong enough to take the load of fire tenders, trucks and military tankers, but access to heavy vehicles will be from certain points only, the representative said.

The steel flyover has been designed in such a way that there is no need to demolish any concrete structure for adding more loops, the way it was done for the Hebbal flyover.

The future plan of the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) is to add more loops as and when traffic increases in the city. So in case of steel, the barriers will be removed and loops will be added, he explained.


To encourage eye donations, around 600 people, including 150 visually-impaired took part in the 'World Blind Walk' in the city on the occasion of the World Sight Day on Thursday.





The event was organised by Project Vision, an NGO to create Vision Ambassadors who would coordinate eye donations. The concept of the blind walk saw people with sight walking blindfolded for a kilometre, led by visually-impaired persons.



Deputy Commissioner of Police (Southeast), Dr M B Boralingaiah flagged off the walk from St Johns Hospital and walked for a few minutes blindfolded, said Dr Nagendra Prasad, coordinator, Project Vision, Bengaluru. The walk that started from St Johns Hospital proceeded to Forum Mall in Koramangala.



People must know about eye donation and also how people and their memories live on through such noble causes, said Dr Prasad.



A statement from Project Vision said there was a gap in the eye donation and requirement and, thus there was a need for Vision Ambassadors.



Corneal blindness can be eliminated by having Vision Ambassadors in the community, it stated. Similar eye donation campaigns, organised by Project Vision were held simultaneously at 55 locations across five countries.



In the five countries, about 5,000 visually-challenged people led over 25,000 people in blindfolded walks. The walk ended with a pledge to donate eyes and help the cause of the visually-challenged people across the world.




Its eight days since a fire broke out at the Kannahalli waste processing unit, off Magadi Road in western Bengaluru. But it is yet to be brought under control.





Sources in the Kannahalli plant said about 70% of the fire has been extinguished and efforts are on to douse the fire completely.



About 80 people under the guidance of a few fire personnel are working round-the-clock to extinguish the fire. We hoped to control the fire by Monday, but did not succeed, said a BBMP officer.



He said that the fire in the Refuse Derived Fuel (RDF) unit rages on, even after spraying huge quantity of water. He says it may take four to five days to bring the fire under control.



The BBMP had initially planned to resume the operation of the plant by Wednesday. The civic agency is finding it hard to divert waste to other six garbage processing units across Bengaluru, almost all of them with a capacity of processing 500 tonnes of waste per day (TPD).



Mayor G Padmavathi and her deputy M Anand visited the waste processing units at Doddaballapur and Mavallipura on Wednesday.



The two plants have a capacity of 500 TPD and 250 TPD, respectively. The plant operators told her that they were not getting segregated waste, which reduces and delays the production of compost and RDF.



She directed the officials there to return the garbage consignments, if they are not segregated. The mayor has also directed that measures be taken to upgrade the units.



Hospitals fined for dumping waste

Six hospitals under Dasarahalli zone were penalised on Wednesday for dumping bio-medical waste at public places. These hospitals are Lakshmi Nursing Home at Chokkasandra, Vivek Scan Centre on Tumakuru Road, Sumukha Poly Clinic at T Dasarahalli, a dental clinic on Tumakuru Road and Modern Diagnostic Centre at T Dasarahalli. BBMP collected a fine of Rs 54,000 from them.
Delays that dogged the tunnelling work of Namma Metro first phase may come back to haunt the proposed 13.79-km underground corridor of Namma Metro Phase II too.





This is evident from the fact that Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Ltd (BMRCL) has made no progress in the extensive preliminary work like land acquisition, arranging funds and awarding contracts.



BMRCL took almost five years to complete the 10-km tunnelling work in the first phase. In spite of dividing the work in two packages (Coastal-TTS JV and CECSoma-CICI JV) and using six tunnel-boring machines, BMRCL had to face criticism for overshooting deadlines several times. The last tunnel-boring machine broke through only in September.



Delayed Phase-I tunneling work had a direct impact on the Puttenahalli-National College Metro operations, though the elevated stretch was ready for use since 2015. The incomplete underground work between Kempegowda interchange Metro station and Sampige Road in Malleswaram has disappointed lakhs of commuters, who are anticipating a seamless ride away from the vehicle-congested roads. Urban planners point out that similar instances of poor planning and promises are going to rebound yet again with the delay in starting the second phase of the underground work. Besides, further extension of Nagawara line has been the most preferred choice of the nine route options to Kempegowda International Airport (KIA), which is about 35 km away from Nagawara.



Besides six elevated stations, the proposed Gottigere-IIMB-Nagawara Metro line consists of 12 underground Metro stations, involving extensive tunnelling work. Underground stations are Dairy Circle, Mico Industries, Langford Town, Vellara Jn, MG Road, Shivajinagar, Cantonment Railway Station, Pottery Town, Tannery Road, Venkateshpuram, Arabic College and Nagawara. The estimated cost of this particular stretch is Rs 11,014 crore.



BMRCL, however, is confident of completing the tunnelling work faster than Phase-I. We had divided the first phase tunnelling work into two packages. This time, we will divide the work into several packages in order to finish it quickly, a senior BMRCL official said, refusing to mention the year of completion.



Route of Gottigere-Nagawara Metro line

The line traverses along Bannerghatta Road as an elevated line up to Swagath Road Cross and then goes underground just after Sagar Hospital near the fire station. The entire length from this point is underground. The line passes through the Dairy Circle, and runs along the Mico industries and then reaches Hosur Road, crossing Richmond Road at Vellara Junction. After this, the line traverses below Brigade Road and crosses MG Road underneath the Phase  I East-West Metro line and reaches Kamaraj Road. At MG Road, the underground integrated station is planned 90 metres below the platform edge of the existing elevated MG Road Station and is connected through escalators and stairs. After this, the underground alignment crosses Cubbon Road to reach Shivajinagar Bus Stand. Further, the alignment traverses below the Queens Road and reaches Cantonment Railway Station. From here, the line traverses below Nandidurg Road, Tannery Road and reaches Nagawara after crossing the ORR.
A software engineer who had gone missing from Kaggalipura on October 9, was found in Delhi on Wednesday night.





Aditya Shrivastava, 32, was found safe near the airport in Delhi. He had gone to Delhi to meet his relative as he was upset over a domestic problem, said the police.



He had gone missing while boarding a Hyderabad-bound bus. Adityas parents tried to call him, but he was not reachable. They informed his friends in Benglauru who lodged a complaint with the police.



He told the police that he wanted to be away from his family. Hence, he flew to Delhi and joined his relatives, said the Kaggalipura police station inspector. Aditya has promised that he would come to Bengaluru next week to appear before the police.


The police have arrested a youth for misbehaving with a foreign national in Kumaraswamy Layout. The suspect, Abu Salman, 19, was a courier boy in a private firm.





The victim, a 23-year-old citizen from Iran, had booked a pair of shoes online. Salman had gone to her house to deliver the shoes. He attempted to flash when the victim was about to pay him money, the police said.



She raised an alarm. However, he fled from the spot before neighbours rushed to her rescue.



A few youths chased and caught him. They handed him over to the police.



Youth drowns

A 22-year-old youth drowned in Hogenakkal Falls on Thursday.



Mazid Khan was a resident of Hulikal village in Magadi taluk. He was working with Kaudalli division of Chescom, the police said.



He had gone to Gopinatham village with Krishna Nayak, Ramanju Nayak and Shivalinga for a work. They decided to swim for a while at the falls while returning. Khan lost balance as he was not a good swimmer and drowned. The body was traced near Hatur, about 15 kilometres away from Hogenakkal, the police said.


An array of workshops, awareness programmes and campaigns focusing on the safety of women and children will be conducted by Bangalore Political Action Committee (B.PAC ) as part of its initiative for women and children, under the banner of B.SAFE.





Speaking on the sidelines of a workshop on Women and Childrens Safety, Revathy Ashok, CEO and managing trustee of B.PAC said, We have chalked out several programmes to be implemented over a period of one year. We have selected 20 government-aided schools to hold workshops on child safety by engaging with parents, teachers and the school managements. We will be training 750 women on various aspects of women safety that include police and legal support, definition of violence and laws.



She said that the training programmes would be undertaken by members of B.PACs Bangalore Civic Leadership Incubation Programme (BCLIP), in association with United Way of Bengaluru and Australian Aid - an Australian government agency responsible for managing Australias overseas aid programme.



Sean Kelly, Australian Consul-General to South India, promised during the workshop to lend support to the awareness programmes and organisations involved in the campaign.



MLC V S Ugrappa said that an interim report was submitted to the government by the Legislative Committee on Women and Child Safety six months ago, with recommendations to improve their safety. But the report has gathering dust, he said.



Alarms in 500 BMTC buses

The B.PAC, which is closely working with government agencies on various issues, said that it had been pushing the government to instal alarm systems in BMTC buses. We faced a lot of resistance initially. But we are now glad that the government has finally agreed to instal alarms in 500 buses, which will aid in creating safer spaces for women and children, Revathy said.




Two men, who barged into a church in outer Delhis Begumpur area during prayers last Sunday and accused the priest of religious conversion, were arrested on Thursday.





A case of deliberate and malicious act intended to outrage religious feelings and disturbing religious assembly has been registered.



We have arrested Yogi Mathur this morning from Karala village and Deepak Sharma from Sant Kabir Nagar in Uttar Pradesh, said M N Tiwary, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Outer) on Thursday.



Deepak, 30, works at the farm run by Yogi, 40, in Karala village. Police are questioning them about their motives and the number of people involved in the matter.



The church has seen similar disturbances in the past.The incident happened around 10 am at the Christ Blessing Church in Jain Nagar where over 50 people were gathered for the Sunday service.



I was engrossed in prayer when I saw a white pajama-clad man speaking with the devotees in demeaning language, said priest Paul Daniel.



He was using derogatory references for Jesus and accusing me of converting people to Christianity, he added.



Police said the accused did not engage in violent acts or break any object on the church premises.



We registered a case and arrested the accused as the investigating officer thought it to be of a serious matter. We are questioning the accused and probing the matter. Further action will be taken according to the investigation, said Tiwary.



After the incident, the church authorities registered a complaint at the local police station and on Thursday the two accused were arrested.



The priest told DH: I dont want to pursue the matter further as I fear political groups from both sides could take advantage of the situation and use it to create a bigger controversy. The church has been running from a rented building since 2014.



Just a week after the opening of the church two years ago, a similar incident had taken place, said Manoj, a church member and complainant in the case. The church authorities had complained to the police following which two policemen were posted in front of the building. Earlier this year, following a similar incident, police protection was reinstated after the church provided the CCTV footage.


A fun new spot has opened in Carmel Valley offering the opportunity to gather, create and connect. Mint Studio, a do-it-yourself studio, officially opened in the Village at Pacific Highlands Ranch on Oct. 7, just in time for painted pumpkins and learning to knit chunky, warm scarfs.

The unique art studio and event space created by owner Jayme Sanders will host craft workshops, classes, open studio time, date nights and social gatherings for both kids and adults. DIY-ers will be able to get creative at macrame and beer nights, mother-daughter cookie decorating classes or calligraphy classes, and learn skills such as wood burning, glass etching and watercolor brush lettering.

A fun fall project at Mint. (Karen Billing) (Karen Billing )

Sanders studio is a Pinterest board come to life, with all the newest trends and designs packed into one fresh space full of beautiful things.

All too often attempts at a gorgeous DIY project do not end up looking like the Pinterest picture, said Sanders of her inspiration for the studio. The projects can often be very expensive and involve several trips to the craft store, which, for Carmel Valley residents, involves a 20-minute one-way trip to the nearest Michaels. Many of us create beautiful Pinterest boards of projects we would love to someday do but the time, effort and lack of tools or knowledge prohibit the novice crafter from completing heartfelt projects and the joy that comes from the creative experience.

As Sanders said, Mint creates the time to stop pinning, and start doing.

Kids programs will start for children as young as 3 with pre-school, home school and after-school classes. Sanders hopes Mint will become a creative space for art and science, to inspire young minds, support sensory art, art therapy, mindful art and yoga.

Adult workshops will be offered monthly by local artisans and celebrity makers. One of the studios opening events was held on Oct. 6 with celebrity crafter Amy Tangerine, sharing the art of modern scrapbooking.

Crafters gather to work at a recent event. (Karen Billing) (Karen Billing )

Sanders, a Carmel Valley resident for 12 years and mother of three, grew up in a family of makers in Minnesota.

I spent every summer crafting with my grandma, Sanders said. I always loved it because it was such a release, it was therapeutic, a time to zone out and make something great and never stop learning new and interesting things.

As a mom to three kids, things got busy, but she never lost her desire to create.

I thought Carmel Valley needed someplace to go with girlfriends, not just a bar, and someplace to connect with your kids and slow things down and be in a makers space, Sanders said. We need more art exposure as a community and a place to bring us all together.

Each month there will be about 20 projects to choose from during open studio times, with all of the supplies and space needed on site. As Sanders said, it eliminates the mess and the need to buy expensive tools. Sanders current obsession is the Minc, a gold foil applicator, while her daughter loves the INSTAX Camera, an instant camera that is like a mini, modern Polaroid.

I love everything personalized, Sanders said. Nothing mass-produced.

Classes and workshops have already been scheduled through January and she is finding that people are willing to travel from out of state to attend classes given by some of the top celebrity crafters who tour the country and world. Tangerine, for example, stopped in San Diego fresh from New York and Palm Springs, on her way to Tokyo. Those who attended the class got a packet of scrapbooking goodies and a lesson in Tangerines unique mini travel scrapbooks.

In the coming weeks, Mint will waste no time getting crafty: a pumpkin succulent design class will be offered Sunday, Oct. 16 from 1-3 p.m. and a Halloween cookie decorating class is coming on Saturday, Oct. 22 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Lark and Arrow will be in studio on Oct. 22 for a class on macrame plant hangers from 3-5 p.m.

Prices and registration information is available on the website, themint.studio.

Business spotlights are developed through this newspapers advertising department in support of our advertisers.
Three years ago, Melanie Limas An  then a seventh-grader at Carmel Valley Middle School but already interested in media  saw in an email from the San Diego House Rabbit Society that the organization was soliciting for a volunteer videographer. Melanie assumed they were looking for an adult.

However, Melanie was talented enough to handle the job and has done it well enough for the past three years that, in 2016, the sophomore at Canyon Crest Academy was named the San Diego chapters Volunteer of the Year.

Melanie attended the recent awards ceremony, which doubles as a celebration for all of the volunteers  this year it was at Dave & Busters  with no idea she was even being considered for the award. She was just having some fun.

The volunteers got to hang out at the arcade and then there was a potluck; I was really happy I got to come and just relax with the other volunteers, Melanie said. Then the director of (the San Diego branch) of the House Rabbit Society started naming off nominees and people for different categories and eventually they called Volunteer of the Year. They called my name and I was shocked!

But there was a good reason Melanie won out over college-age and adult volunteers, as more than 200 bunnies have been adopted since she began as in-house videographer, where her main duty is making videos of rabbits to upload to the organizations YouTube channel. This allows families to preview the potential bunnies they may want to adopt before they come into the House Rabbit Society location in Kearney Mesa.

We see young volunteers like Melanie as the future to the success of our organization, said San Diego House Rabbit Society Board Director Patricia Mulcahy. They do everything from the front office to the back bunny care. Her energy, creativity and enthusiasm paints a bright future.

The videos can be viewed at www.youtube.com/user/SDHRS

I go in there every other Sunday and I get to take videos of the adoptable rabbits that they have, Melanie explained. Its hard because each rabbit has its own personality. I try to get them to play or move around so that families can see how friendly or playful the bunnies can be. Sometimes theyll come up and nudge the camera with their nose, which always makes an adorable shot.

The two loves that Melanie brings together for her volunteer career can be traced back to mom Gloria Limas, a former news reporter who grew up in Texas with nearly 50 bunnies.

Melanie and her brother Danny, 13, each had pet rabbits as youngsters  though Snowy and Peanut Butter have passed on  and now the family, which also includes dad Kyong, has a bunny named Oreo.

As for her video skills, Melanie got started in a video program at Ocean Air Elementary School, where once a month they would put on a news broadcast for the entire school.

I look back on it and I cringe because its not very good, but it was so much fun, said Melanie, who then did a weekly news broadcast in middle school and is now working at CCTV at Canyon Crest. A straight-A student and accomplish tap dancer, Melanie has also been accepted to CCAs prestigious cinema conservatory.

I have so many more options available to me because of what Ive done at the San Diego Rabbit Society, the articulate young woman continued. I really love volunteering there, I love helping the little rabbits, they are always so adorable and its the best volunteering career I could have.

Melanie plans to be around rabbits for the rest of her life, and she is considering a career in psychiatry, if not filmmaking.

Her CCA videos can be seen at www.youtube.com/user/CCATelevision, and more information on the San Diego House Rabbit Society is www.sandiegorabbits.org.
San Dieguito Union High School District parents and board members got a preview of all the exciting things to come at district schools on a Prop AA tour on Oct. 5. Guests traveled by yellow school bus to Earl Warren Middle School, Torrey Pines High School and San Dieguito and Canyon Crest Academies to see a variety of campus construction projects, all made possible by the $449 bond initiative passed by voters in 2012.

The tour started at what Interim SDUHSD Superintendent Eric Dill said was perhaps the most exciting project in the district: the brand new Earl Warren campus in Solana Beach, converting one of the districts oldest schools into its newest school.

The $42 million project is right on schedule, set to welcome students in fall 2017. Next week the board will consider an amendment to add solar to the new campus.

As construction on the beachy new campus has been underway, students have attended school in the temporary Seahawk Village interim campus, which Dill said has been very successful. The district has entered a partnership with Solana Beach School District that should its general obligation bond  the $105 million Prop JJ  pass in November, the interim campus would house Skyline School students as their school is built across Lomas Santa Fe Drive.

Just as Earl Warren students have embraced the interim campus, so have San Dieguito High School Academy (SDA) students. As construction on a new 22-classroom building is underway, the tour showed how students have taken ownership of the construction walls around the developing campus, painting murals and adding decorations such as flower boxes to the windows that offer a glimpse of the work underway.

They have added their own artistic flair to the construction, said SDA Principal Bjorn Paige. They see it as an installation piece.

The $20 million building replaces what Paige jokingly referred to as Soviet-era bunkers, offering new science and math classrooms by the fall of 2017. Once that construction is complete, work will begin on a second, 33-classroom building on the southeast side of the campus, this one creating new spaces for English, social science and art studios.

At Canyon Crest Academy in the districts south end, the tour saw how work is moving along quickly on Building B, the new 14-classroom building at the front of the campus. The $18 million project, a combination of Prop AA and Mello Roos funding, began at the beginning of the summer and was a reflection of the extra space needed due to the growth of Pacific Highlands Ranch neighborhoods.

At Torrey Pines High School, Principal Rob Coppo led visitors into the schools 13 brand new science classrooms, reconfigured in what had been an old, dark hallway that is now filled with natural light. The new classrooms offer a bright, open design with mobile tables and comfortable chairs in a more collegiate environment.

Its an amazing retrofit, said Coppo, a 1986 graduate of Torrey Pines. I remember taking French across the hallway.

The new learning commons/media center is currently under construction at Torrey Pines and is set to open in January. A new entry for the front of the school off Del Mar Heights Road is also currently in the works. The next phase, starting in the summer of 2017, will be to create the new visual and culinary arts building at Torrey Pines, as well as the long-awaited new proscenium theater and new black box theater. Demolition is expected to begin shortly after graduation with an anticipated opening of fall 2019.

As the tour ended, Dill said there are plenty of exciting Prop AA projects still to come, particularly in the north end of the district where Oak Crest and Diegueno Middle School will be the recipients of new science classrooms.

It just shows what we can do when the community comes together and supports our schools, Dill said.
Community members recently heard from both sides of an initiative on Del Mars ballot that would require voter approval for sizable developments citywide.

Measure R, if passed in November, would require voter approval for proposed development projects in a commercial zone that are 25,000 square feet or larger, allow a density bonus or require a specific plan or zoning code change.

Supporters and opponents of the measure shared their views during a nearly hour-long forum Oct. 5 at Del Mar City Hall.

Arnold Wiesel, president of a community group called Del Mar Hillside Community Association and the person who led the effort to put the measure on the ballot, along with Roger Arnold, a professor of economics at Cal State San Marcos, spoke on behalf of supporters. Speaking in opposition were Bud Emerson, a member of the citys finance committee, and former Del Mar City Manager Wayne Dernetz.

Moderated by the League of Women Voters of North County San Diego, the forum started with opening statements and then both sides took turns answering questions from the audience.

Election Day November 2016 could be the one and only opportunity the residents of Del Mar get to say that they want a more direct voice than they currently have in matters that relate to the appearance, livability and characteristics of their city, Arnold said.

A group opposed to the size and density of Watermark Del Mar, a 48-unit multifamily complex planned for the corner of Jimmy Durante Boulevard and San Dieguito Drive, circulated a petition and submitted it to the city and the San Diego County Registrar of Voters in May with 505 signatures from residents supporting the ballot measure.

Only 286 signatures, representing 10 percent of the registered voters in the city, were needed to qualify the measure for the upcoming general election. The Registrar of Voters confirmed in June that the measure met the required number of signatures.

After the signatures were confirmed, the council in July agreed to put the initiative on the November ballot rather than adopt an ordinance they did not support.

Spearheaded by Wiesel, he and other supporters have since said that the measure is not about Watermark, but about allowing voters to have a say in the community.

Measure R essentially says that major zoning changes and the like are far too important to the residents of Del Mar to be left up to just a handful of people, Arnold said.

The right to public vote is the right to exercise our most representative form of government, making certain the general interests and concerns of our entire community are heard, as opposed to the narrower interests and concerns of a few city council members, added Wiesel, who has lived in Del Mar for 25 years.

Measure R explicitly asks: Do the registered voters of Del Mar want the right to public vote, requiring voter approval for certain development projects?

They also contended that the measure is appropriate for Del Mar due to the size of the small coastal city.

Projects in Del Mar of a given size are much more visible and likely to affect neighboring areas than would be the case in a city of a larger total area, Arnold said. Initiatives similar in character to Measure R are popping up all across the country.

Opponents, however, argued that the measure conflicts with the citys general plan and state housing regulations.

R is a reach too far, Emerson said. It creates a lot of unintended consequences. It conflicts with an existing law, existing ordinances  It is likely to end up in court.

In fact, in a legal analysis of the initiative, Assistant City Attorney Barry Schultz found multiple conflicts with state law.

According to the report, the initiative potentially conflicts with the councils administrative authority and single subject rule. The report stated that the initiative also appears to be inconsistent with planning and zoning documents, including the community plan, housing element, zoning code, Measure B  a similar voter-approved law in place that governs large developments in the downtown area  and the local coastal program. Finally, there could be fiscal impacts associated with implementation of the initiative if passed, according to the report.

Watermark includes seven affordable units that will help Del Mar meet the state-approved requirements of its housing element. When the report was presented to the council in July, Schultz said the city was currently 22 units short of meeting its requirements.

When it (housing element) was certified, the major strategy that the state looked at was looking at the rezone to the Watermark site, Schultz said.

During the forum Dernetz agreed that the measure could limit the citys ability to rezone land in order to meet its housing needs, especially low-income housing.

Proponents intentions may be sincere, but the approach theyve taken in Measure R is ill-conceived and misguided, said Dernetz, who has lived in Del Mar since 1973 and served as city manager from 1973 to 1979.

If approved by voters, Measure R will result in uncertainty and confusion over development requirements in all of the citys commercial zones and have a chilling effect on future commercial development and revitalization, he said.

One of the questions from the audience asked both sides to clarify the relationship between Measure B and Measure R, and whether the proposed measure would conflict with Measure B.

Enacted by voters in 1986, Measure B requires voter approval of properties in Del Mars downtown commercial district larger than 25,000 square feet in area or proposing more than 11,500 square feet of development area.

My understanding, from attorneys who have looked at it, is that it is conflictual, Emerson said. The exact legal conflict I dont know.

Dernetz said the two measures would conflict because the new measure is written differently.

This proposition makes many changes to the citys community plan, to the zoning ordinances, and as Ive outlined, conflicts with mandatory state procedures, he said.

Supporters, however, contended that the two measures do not conflict because Measure R simply extends Measure B.

Measure B and Measure R are basically a similar animal. Theyre basically the same thing, Arnold said.

If Measure B is lawful, and we know that it is, then it would follow that Measure R is lawful as well, he added. If Measure B is unlawful, and that is not the case, then and only then would it seem to be that Measure R is unlawful.
5 Things That You Need To Know About Hrithik Roshan's Kaabil
Report elk hoof disease online: More cases being seen in Oregon Tweet October 13, 2016 An elk with an abnormal hoof seen last year in northwest Oregon. Trail camera image courtesy of Mike Jackson.

Download high resolution image. SALEM, Ore.ODFW has confirmed 16 cases of hoof disease in Oregon elk since the first case was confirmed in early 2014. Veterinary staff are reminding hunters throughout Oregon to be on the lookout for limping elk that may have this debilitating disease. Report any sightings to the ODFWs elk hoof disease online reporting page http://www.dfw.state.or.us/wildlife/health_program/elk_hoof_disease/ or contact ODFWs Wildlife Health Lab (1-866-968-2600 / Wildlife.Health@state.or.us). Elk hoof disease is a bacterial infection that causes severe lameness in elk. Elk with the disease have deformed and overgrown or broken sloughed hooves and other hoof abnormalities related to the infection (see photos at http://www.dfw.state.or.us/wildlife/health_program/docs/ElkHoofDiseaseFactSheetFinal.pdf). ODFWs veterinary staff requests that hunters who harvest an elk with infected or overgrown hooves save all hooves and contact the ODFW Wildlife Health Laboratory (1-866-968-2600 / Wildlife.Health@state.or.us) to arrange for collection. Hoof disease does not affect the meat of elk harvested by hunters and poses no risk to human health. However, lame elk may be in poorer body condition and appear thin. The online reporting page for elk hoof disease was launched during the fall of 2014 and is used to track observations of limping elk submitted by the public. Initial cases and reports were identified in counties bordering southwest Washington where the initial outbreak occurred. However, over the past year ODFW has documented other sporadic cases in northeastern Oregon. Observations reported by the public are critical in mapping where the disease currently exists and how the distribution is changing, said Julia Burco, ODFW district wildlife veterinarian. There is still a lot to learn about this new disease in Oregon and every new observation helps. The condition initially appeared in southwestern Washington elk herds between the late 1990s and early 2000s. A dramatic rise in reports of limping elk in 2007-2008 prompted an investigation into the underlying cause. In 2014, the bacteria known as treponemes were identified as a consistent organism associated with the deformed, overgrown, broken or sloughed hooves seen in affected elk. In some of southwest Washingtons elk herds, 20-90 percent of the animals are showing lameness. Because of the known interchange between Oregon and Washington elk across the Columbia River, the disease was anticipated by ODFW staff. However, the wide distribution of sporadic cases across Oregon are difficult to understand and are being investigated further. Oregons big game hunting seasons are underway now through the end of the year. Oregons first general rifle elk season, Cascade elk, opens Saturday, Oct. 15. More about elk hoof disease Scientists have identified specific bacteria from the genus Treponema are the primary culprits contributing to hoof disease in southwestern Washingtons and now Oregons elk. Historically, ODFW has seen sporadic cases of hoof disease, but only recently have scientists confirmed the presence of the multiple species of bacteria, including Treponema, that are believed to cause treponeme-associated hoof disease (TAHD). Though antibiotics, foot baths, cleaning pens and other methods can help treat similar problems in livestock, there are no practical ways to treat free-ranging elk with hoof disease. For more information please visit: ODFWs Elk Hoof Disease Fact Sheet (http://www.dfw.state.or.us/wildlife/health_program/docs/ElkHoofDiseaseFactSheetFinal.pdf) ODFWs Wildlife Health Page (http://www.dfw.state.or.us/wildlife/health_program/index.asp) ###
CloudBuy , the cloud-based ecommerce software supplier, has agreed a five-year deal with United Overseas Bank to develop a new online marketplace for the Asian banks customers.

The AIM-listed company said it would provide an ecommerce environment for business-to-business (B2B) transactions with a business-to-consumer (B2C) style online shopping experience for Singapore's largest SME-focused bank.

Revenue for the company would come from implementation services, the software as a service licence and transaction based sales, while some revenue will be recognised this year it is not expected to change market expectations for the year.

CloudBuys chief executive, Lyn Duncan said: "The fact that CloudBuy solutions has payment card industry data security standard level 1 payment security accreditation, the highest level used in the payments industry, is really important to provide a trustworthy environment for buyers and sellers to come together. This is a model that will be attractive to other banks globally".

Mervyn Koh, managing director and head of business banking Singapore at UOB, said the virtual marketplace would make it easier for customers to get good bargains with collective bulk purchases and address the challenge of rising business costs.

As the business to business marketplace will showcase products and services from different suppliers, small to medium enterprises will also be able to make purchases online conveniently without having to request numerous and separate price quotations."

Shares in CloudBuy were up 7.14% to 5.62p at 1016 BST.
Textiles importer and distributor Leeds Group investors gathered on Thursday for the companys annual general meeting, with Jan G Holmstrom bearing bad news in his statement.

The AIM-traded firms non-executive chairman said that, having completed four months of the current financial year, sales volumes are below expectations which the board attributes, at least in part, to the unseasonably warm weather throughout Europe depressing retail demand.

In addition, sales in ChinohTex have been held back by large scale factory closures around the Shanghai area ordered by the Chinese authorities to improve air quality in the run up to the recent G20 Summit.

Nevertheless, profits are above our expectations, aided by currency exchange gains, Holmstrom said.

The expansion of the Hemmers facility at Nordhorn is now completed and in full use, he confirmed, saying the project was completed close to budget in terms of both cost and timeframe.

[The company] should now begin to reap the benefits of saving the cost of rented warehouse space, increased sales opportunities from a much enlarged showroom, and the ability to bring in-house the double folding of fabrics that has been out-sourced in the past.

In December 2014, Hemmers acquired a 50% joint venture interest in KMR, a retail chain of 14 fabric and haberdashery stores.

Holmstrom said two more stores were opened in the last financial year, and in the first four months of the current financial year the total has been brought to 19 stores by the opening of shops in Berlin, Leipzig and Chemnitz.

There will be further significant investment by KMR during the year of both a capital and revenue nature as modern EDP systems are introduced as a prerequisite for further profitable growth, he said.

Holmstrom added that, in view of the high levels of recent and continuing investment in the business, the board would not recommend the payment of a dividend.

It remains the long term intention of the board to seek further opportunities to maximise the value of the group to the benefit of all shareholders by identifying appropriate investments that strengthen the group.
Imperial Innovations' annual pre-tax loss widened while the technology commercialisation and investment company increased investments across its business with universities and a joint venture.

For the year ended 31 July, the pre-tax loss widened to 63.1m from 15.1m, last year, which included a 56.2m net fair value loss.

Quoted net fair value loss of 66.9m was largely due to the decline in Circassia business share price due to a disappointing phase three trial for its cat allergy product which was why et assets only increased by 8.5% to 455.9m.

During the year, the company invested 69.9m across 33 portfolio companies, a 15% increase in the rate of investment over previous year and more than double two years ago, due to an maturity of the portfolio companies.

About 79% was invested into existing portfolio companies and seven growth companies were added to investment portfolio.

The portfolio companies raised 206.4m, down 57%, while the net portfolio rose by 2.4% to 335.1m.

There is 198.3m available to invest, including an undrawn 50m second loan facility from the European Investment Bank.

The company committed 24.8m to the University College London Technology Fund and the European Investment Fund.

Imperial Innovations allotted 3.3m to the $40m Apollo Therapeutics joint venture with Cambridge Enterprise, UCL Business, AstraZeneca, GlaxoSmithKline and Johnson & Johnson.

Through a share placing on AIM the company raised 100m to strengthen the balance sheet.

Chief executive Russ Cummings said: "We significantly increased our visibility of new investment opportunities and strengthened our position in our ecosystem with the elite universities within the 'Golden Triangle', with the completion of two new initiatives.

"Many of our portfolio companies made significant technical, clinical or commercial progress and we once again increased our level of investment, including leading six major funding rounds.

"We are continuing to see a healthy stream of new investment opportunities coming from the academic, research and entrepreneurial community within the 'Golden Triangle', as clearly demonstrated by the two new additions to our portfolio at the start of this new financial year."

Shares in Imperial Innovations were by 0.61% to 415p at 0905 BST.
AIM-listed regenerative medical devices company Tissue Regenix Group s saw operating losses widen at the interim stage even as its revenues nudged higher, although it did gain regulatory approval for its products in Europe and the US.

For the six months ended 31 July, revenue increased by 150% to 631,000 when compared to the same period the previous year, while its operating losses widened by about 34% to 5.52m in line with its expectations.

With finance income of 81,000, which was down 30% from last year, and a research and development tax credit of 280,000 the loss after tax was 5.16m, which was up 40%. Of this, 5.08m was credited to the equity holders of the parent company.

Revenue from the wound care business rose to 631,000 from 244,000 while commission costs were rose to $290,000 from $100,000, which was 32.5% of sales. Guidance for full-years margin and commission percentage remained at about 80% and 37.5%, respectively.

For the orthopedics business, costs increased 23% to 1.3m due to clinical trial expenditure, while overall costs for the company remained flat at 1.4m.

The company was debt free and had a cash balance at the end of July of 13.51m, down 46%.

AIM-listed Tissue Regenix , which was spun out from the University of Leeds in 2006, signed its first group purchasing order contract in the US for wound care product DermaPure and gained Medicare approvals for the product with 93% now covered.

The firm gained a premarket notification, known as a 510k market clearance, for SurgiPure XD, a reconstructive tissue matrix, which was the first US Food and Drug Administration approved product, with an expected launch in the second half of 2017.

During the first half of the year, the process of the companys patented decellularisation technology called dCELL, which removes DNA and other cellular material from animal and human tissue leaving tissue scaffold, was also approved by the FDA.

The regulatory process for the OrthoPure XT, an orthopedic product, was shortened and the company expects to launch it in Europe in the first half 2017 as CE European approval anticipated six months ahead of schedule.

Tissue Regenixs GBM-V tissue bank joint-venture in Rostock, Germany carved out a path for human tissue applications in mainland Europe, with initial focus on CardioPure, dCELL heart valves, and DermaPure.

Significant milestones ahead

The company said the next twelve months promised significant milestones including the launch of the first orthopaedic application in Europe, the launch of its second wound care product, SurgiPure XD in the US and the ongoing regulatory submissions to the German authorities for decellurised tissues to be treated at GBM-V.

Alongside this, the continued growth of DermaPure, as evidenced by these results, and the ongoing development of our orthopaedic business within the US ensure that we remain on track to end our year accomplishing our corporate goals, and we look forward to reporting our progress over the coming months.

Shares in Tissue Regenix Group were down 4.79% to 17.38p at 1405 BST.
The Scottish government is to publish a draft bill for a second independence referendum next week, the first minister said on Thursday.

At the SNP conference in Glasgow, Nicola Sturgeon said Scots should be able to reassess their position in the Union before Britain leaves the EU.

Prime Minister Theresa May said she would trigger Article 50 to start formal divorce negotiations with the EU by the end of March 2017, meaning the country could be out by Easter 2019.

Sturgeon said May should respect the 62% of Scottish voters who voted to remain in the EU and that she had a mandate to keep Scotland in the EU.

The Prime Minister may have a mandate to take England and Wales out of the EU but she has no mandate whatsoever to remove any part of the UK from the single market.

I am determined that Scotland will have the ability to reconsider the question of independence  and to do so before the UK leaves the EU  if that is necessary to protect our countrys interests.

So I can confirm today that the independence referendum bill will be published for consultation next week.

She said the SNP would vote against the Brexit bill when it comes to House of Commons next year and called upon MPs from other parties to vote against it.

We will also work to persuade others  Labour, Liberals and moderate Tories  to join us in a coalition against a hard Brexit: not just for Scotland, but for the whole UK.

We know that Brexit will damage our economy. Hard Brexit  removal, not just from the EU, but from the single market as well  will be disastrous.

Sturgeon said the governments rhetoric and policies on immigration and uncertainty over whether the UK would remain a member of the single market had overtaken Brexit discussions by the rampant right wing in the Conservative party which the referendum has given them a licence for the xenophobia that has long lain under the surface.

In the first referendum in September 2014, Scots rejected independence by 45% to 55%.

A recent poll by the Herald newspaper from BMG, found that independence does not have a majority with 47% against, 38% for independence and 12% undecided.

Meanwhile, the High Court was hearing a legal challenge over whether ministers can invoke Article 50 without the MPs passing a law.

On Wednesday, the prime minister bowed to pressure allowing Parliament to debate Brexit before she triggers Article 50 after she previously said she would not give a running commentary, but ruled out giving MPs a vote.
Commodity prices slid lower, with agricultural and energy futures registering the steepest declines.

Out on the Chicago Board of Trade, corn futures for delivery in December 2016 fell 2.40% to $3.37 a bushel while those for wheat declined 2.88% to $3.96.

ICE-traded cotton on the other hand jumped 2.73% to reach $68.97 a pound after the US Department of Agriculture cut its estimate of domestic inventories by more than was expected.

Soybean futures also gained on the back of official data pointing to lower than expected production.

In parallel, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countriess latest tally of its members production, using secondary data sources, revealed a 220,000 barrel a day jump in the cartels output, to 33.39m b/d - the highest since at least 2008.

That served to send crude oil futures yet again, despite remarks from the groups Secretary General regarding the likelihood of an output cut when OPEC next meets.

We are confident of Russias commitments, OPEC Secretary General Mohammed Barkindo told Bloomberg on Wednesday.

In the previous session, top officials from Rosneft and Lukoil said their companies would abide by any instructions from the Kremlin.

Also weighing on the commodities space was strength in the US dollar.

Bloombergs commodity index dropped 0.61% to 85.65 as the US dollar spot index advanced 0.28% to 97.97.

December 2016 gold futures gained 0.30% to $1,257.56/oz..
The European Union is set to appeal a ruling from the World Trade Organisation last month which found that it had provided too many subsidies to plane manufacturer Airbus .

The bloc has been locked in a tit-for-tat dispute with the US concerning subsidies given to plane makers, in a wrangling that has been going on for the last 12 years.

Along with Britain, France, Germany and Spain, the EU is facing the charges of failing to comply with previous rulings about the trade dispute.

Executive branch European Commission said that they disagreed with the latest ruling, and is planning to appeal.

The US officials involved allege that $22bn of illegal subsidies were given to Airbus by the countries and the EU, an assertion rejected by the Commission.

"The present appeal should be seen in the context of two on-going WTO challenges brought by the EU against billions of US subsidies to Boeing for its aircraft production," the Commission added.
Embattled Wells Fargo CEO John Stumpf has resigned from his position effective immediately in the wake of the fake account scandal which rocked the US bank last month.

In September the California-based bank announced that it had agreed to pay out $185m to regulators after creating unauthorised accounts and credit cards for its customers.

Stumpf appeared before committees in both the House of Representatives and the Senate to explain his company's actions, after 5,300 employees were sacked as a result of the practice.

The former executive "will not receive any severance payment", according to the Guardian, but further reports suggest he will walk away with a pay packet of $134m.

He will be replaced by former chief operating officer of the bank Timothy Sloan, the bank said in a statement.

"I have decided it is best for the company that I step aside. I know no better individual to lead this company forward than Tim Sloan," Stumpf said.

Elizabeth Warren, the senator who was leading the lawmakers' scrutiny of Stumpf and Wells Fargo, has said that his decision still does not provide real accountability for the company's actions.

"If Mr. Stumpf is leaving with all of his ill-gotten millions that's still not real accountability," Warren told Business Insider.

"A bank teller would face criminal charges and a prison sentence for stealing a handful of 20s from the cash drawer. A bank CEO should not be able to oversee a massive fraud and simply walk away to enjoy his millions in retirement."
At midday, the benchmark Stoxx Europe 600 index was down 0.8%, Germanys DAX was off 1.1% and Frances CAC 40 was 1.2% weaker.

Meanwhile, oil prices steadied, having slipped back after OPEC said oil production in September rose to its highest level in eight years. West Texas Intermediate was flat at $50.17 a barrel and Brent crude was up 0.1% at $51.86.

Basic resources suffered the brunt of the selling, with the Stoxx 600 sub-index for the sector down 1.5% following the release of disappointing Chinese trade data.

Figures released earlier showed Chinese exports and imports in September missed expectations, with exports down 10% in dollar terms year-on-year and imports down 1.9%. Economists had been expecting a 3% decline in exports and a 1% rise in imports.

In yuan terms, exports were 5.6% lower on the year, while imports were up 2.2%.

Meanwhile, investors also continued to digest the minutes of the Federal Reserves 20-21 September meeting. The minutes, released on Wednesday, showed it was a close call to keep rates on hold, with policymakers generally of the view that a move higher could be on the cards within months if the economy keeps on track.

Lee Wild, heady of equity strategy at stockbroker Interactive Investor, said the market had already pencilled in a December hike, so finding out that September was a close call was not a needle mover.

Fears about the global economy are. Overnight data shows Chinese exports fell 10% last month, much more than expected. Imports in dollar terms were down, too, proving August's surprise increase was a one-off. Expect the Chinese currency to devalue further, which could have a major impact on demand for commodities and imported goods.



Oil prices are already lower Thursday, although figures showing producers are pumping like crazy to beat a possible cut in output is hurting here. An extra 220,000 barrels a day left the ground last month as oil nations fill their boots before OPECs meeting in Vienna next month. If a cut doesn't happen - and there are no guarantees with OPEC - prices will fall much further.

In corporate news, Unilever was under pressure after a storm broke over a supermarket pricing dispute over Marmite and several other of its brands, although the group reported solid underlying sales amid tough third-quarter conditions.

The dispute was with Tesco, whose shares declined on Thursday.

Elsewhere, French supermarket operator Groupe Casino was lower despite reporting a rise in third-quarter sales.

Shares in Deutsche Bank fell following reports the lender has introduced a hiring freeze as it looks to cut costs.

On the upside, subscription broadcaster and broadband provider Sky was in the black after saying first-quarter group revenue rose 7%, while WH Smith gained ground after reporting an 8% rise in pre-tax profit for the year to the end of August.

ProSiebenSat.1 Media was also higher after it lifted its 2016 and 2018 sales projections.
Chinas trade surplus unexpectedly shrank in September as exports plunged more than anticipated.

The trade surplus came to $41.99bn last month, down from $52.05bn in August and compared to forecasts of $53bn.

Exports in dollar terms fell 10% year-on-year in September, far more than the 3.3% decline expected, following a 2.8% dip the previous month. Imports slid 1.9% in September, below estimates for a 0.7% increase and after a 1.5% rise in August.

The continued underwhelming performance of Chinese exports adds weight to our view that the Peoples Bank will maintain its recent policy of gradual trade-weighted renminbi depreciation in coming quarters, said Julian Evans-Pritchard, China economist at Capital Economics.

In the US, the minutes of the central banks 20-21 September meeting suggested a December rate hike could be on the cards. The minutes showed it was a close call to keep rates on hold, with policymakers generally of the view that a move higher could happen within months if the economy keeps on track.

Investors are now looking ahead to speeches by Fed officials including Patrick Harker and Neel Kashkari. They are not voting members of the Fed this year but will be in 2017.

Their views will therefore be of great interest to traders, with markets currently not pricing in another rate hike after December up to September next year. Well also get the latest jobless claims data from the US, said Oandas Craig Erlam.

On this side of the pond, the Royal Institution for Chartered Surveyors said surveyors reported an unexpected increase in house prices in the last three months as demand outstripped supply. The headline balance of firms reporting that house prices have risen over the last three months increased to +17% in September from +13% in August and beating the City consensus, which had predicted a slide to +12%.

Still to come on the data front, US initial jobless claims at 1330 BST and the Energy Information Administrations US weekly crude inventories report at 1600 BST.

Meanwhile, oil prices climbed ahead of the EIA data with Brent crude up 0.15% to $51.89 per barrel and West Texas Intermediate crude up 0.02% to $50.19 per barrel at 1202 BST. Prices fell earlier after OPEC said production had risen to the highest level in at least eight years in September, while data from the American Petroleum Institute showed an increase in US weekly crude inventories.

In company news, United Utilities got a boost as Societe Generale upgraded the stock to buy from hold, noting that recent share price weakness now implies a total shareholder return of 18%.

Prudential shares fell as Societe Generale lowered its rating on the stock to sell from hold and cut its target price to 1,250p from 1,400p.

Housebuilders rallied following the RICS data with Persimmon, Taylor Wimpey and Barratt Developments in the black.

Mining stocks, including BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto, were under pressure on the disappointing China trade data.

Unilever was in the red after a storm broke over a supermarket pricing dispute over Marmite and several other of its brands, although the group reported solid underlying sales amid tough third-quarter conditions. As a result, Tesco, whose chief executive Dave Lewis is an ex Unilever director, has withdrawn many of its fellow FTSE 100 constituent's products from sale.

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 6,981.80 -0.60%

FTSE 250 (MCX) 17,938.43 -0.10%

techMARK (TASX) 3,530.31 -0.15%

FTSE 100 - Risers

Fresnillo (FRES) 1,696.00p 3.67%

Persimmon (PSN) 1,750.00p 3.49%

Taylor Wimpey (TW.) 147.80p 2.85%

Polymetal International (POLY) 864.00p 2.25%

Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 7,080.00p 2.16%

Barratt Developments (BDEV) 484.20p 2.15%

British Land Company (BLND) 592.00p 1.72%

United Utilities Group (UU.) 930.50p 1.69%

Intu Properties (INTU) 287.90p 1.62%

Land Securities Group (LAND) 982.50p 1.39%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Standard Life (SL.) 333.70p -4.36%

Rio Tinto (RIO) 2,601.50p -3.92%

Prudential (PRU) 1,393.50p -3.86%

BHP Billiton (BLT) 1,196.50p -3.39%

Mondi (MNDI) 1,605.00p -3.08%

Centrica (CNA) 209.40p -2.83%

Unilever (ULVR) 3,624.00p -2.67%

Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 172.50p -2.49%

Legal & General Group (LGEN) 211.70p -2.44%

Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.) 1,207.00p -2.43%

FTSE 250 - Risers

Capital & Counties Properties (CAPC) 277.60p 3.85%

Acacia Mining (ACA) 474.90p 3.74%

Hochschild Mining (HOC) 260.50p 3.37%

WH Smith (SMWH) 1,576.00p 3.34%

Booker Group (BOK) 181.40p 3.30%

Galliford Try (GFRD) 1,352.00p 2.81%

Centamin (DI) (CEY) 150.70p 2.38%

Unite Group (UTG) 603.50p 2.29%

Tullow Oil (TLW) 269.90p 2.16%

Big Yellow Group (BYG) 727.00p 2.11%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Close Brothers Group (CBG) 1,325.00p -4.61%

Evraz (EVR) 206.80p -4.57%

Hays (HAS) 136.40p -3.26%

CMC Markets (CMCX) 194.30p -3.19%

Brown (N.) Group (BWNG) 194.10p -3.14%

Allied Minds (ALM) 358.80p -2.76%

Mitie Group (MTO) 200.90p -2.66%

Domino's Pizza Group (DOM) 344.30p -2.60%

Aberdeen Asset Management (ADN) 329.50p -2.51%

Riverstone Energy Limited (RSE) 1,185.00p -2.47%
While its Kumba iron ore subsidiary confirmed exclusive rights to the Sishen mine in South Africa, Anglo American was reported to be close to agreeing at least a $1bn sale of its Australian coal assets.

The FTSE 100 company was said to be weeks away from finalising the sale to a consortium led by private equity group Apollo Global Management, Reuters reported on Thursday afternoon.

Sources differed between whether the sale would be completed next week or within the next month, and would follow the sale of its niobium and phosphates businesses in Brazil to China Molybdenum last month for a net $1.5bn cash as it looks to pay down debt.

Meanwhile, Kumba Iron Ore was granted a final 21.4% share of the mining rights for the Sishen mine after an appeal process by South Africa's Department of Mineral Resources.

Kumba is now the sole and exclusive holder of the right to mine iron ore and quartzite at the Sishen mine.
Support services group Babcock International has been awarded a competitive contract from US defence contractor General Dynamics Electric Boat to manufacture tactile missile tube assemblies.

The contract is part of the common missile compartment (CMC) project for the UK Successor and US 'Ohio' Class replacement submarine programmes and the work is part of the second phase of the project.

Babcock said the contract, which is expects to begin towards the end of this year and complete in the early 2020s, places the firm as a critical supplier of missile tube assemblies.

The work will be carried out at Babcock's facilities at Rosyth and Bristol, sustaining around 150 positions created in the first phase. The contract for this batch of CMC components is expected to be worth around 80m.

Chief executive Archie Bethel said: We are delighted to be continuing to support these internationally significant programmes with our highly specialised and experienced teams and look forward to working closely with our customer as this programme continues to develop further over the coming years.

"Supporting Electric Boat with the CMC project for the future submarines also underpins our wider involvement in the UK Successor programme where we have already secured the supply of other critical equipment and are also heavily involved in the design phase with a focus on the overall through life performance and operational cost of the future platforms."

The Common Missile Compartment project is a jointly-specified common element of both the UKs Successor submarine and the panned replacement for the US Ohio class Trident submarines.

The Successor is the replacement programme for the Royal Navys Trident missile Vanguard Class submarines which form the UKs nuclear deterrent.

At 1412 BST, Babcock shares were down 0.6% to 985p.
Britain is facing a divorce bill from the EU for as much as 20bn, according to a Financial Times analysis that shows the blocs shared budget is emerging as one of the biggest political obstacles to a Brexit deal. More than 300bn of shared payment liabilities will need to be settled in the divorce reckoning, according to EU accounts. It is a legacy of joint financial obligations stretching back decades  from pension pledges and multi-annual contracts to commitments to fund infrastructure projects  that Brussels will insist the UK must honour.  Financial Times

The plummeting pound is threatening UK households supplies of Ben & Jerrys ice cream and Marmite spread, as Tesco, the countrys biggest supermarket, pulled dozens of products from sale online in a row over who should bear the cost of the weakening currency. Unilever has demanded steep price increases to offset the higher cost of imported commodities, which are priced in euros and dollars, according to executives at multiple supermarket groups.  Financial Times

Two coal power plants will be paid a combined 77m to be on standby this winter as part of National Grids plan to minimise the risk of electricity blackouts. The size of the UKs capacity margin  the buffer zone between available power supply and predicted peak demand  will be revealed on Friday when National Grid publishes its winter outlook.  Guardian

Rail passengers will be able to claim compensation when trains are more than 15 minutes late, under new plans revealed by the Department for Transport (DfT). The policy, Delay Repay 15, will be launched first on Southern trains, which have suffered months of disruption over disputes about the role of conductors. It will then feature on other Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) services in the coming months before being rolled out across the country. - Guardian

John Stumpf, the embattled chief executive of Wells Fargo, has resigned with immediate effect after the US bank admitted that staff opened unauthorised accounts for several years to meet sales targets. Mr Stumpf, who led Wells Fargo since 2007 and steered the bank through the financial crisis, will also step down as the bank's chairman, the company said last night.  Telegraph

British businesses should stop hiding and instead travel the world promoting Brand Britain as cheerleaders of open markets, according to former Sainsburys boss Justin King. The self-confessed "remoaner" - a nickname reflecting his vote to remain in the EU and his subsequent grumbling - said the economy was performing well, but that should not be taken for granted.  Telegraph

The Treasury and the Financial Conduct Authority have denied an accusation of insider dealing after it emerged that they exchanged confidential information about a regulatory investigation into Royal Bank of Scotland. Before the partial sale of the governments stake in RBS, John Kingman, one of the Treasurys top civil servants, sought and was provided with secret details about the timing of an FCA report into the activities of the banks global restructuring group (GRG).  The Times

Europe would shoot itself in the foot if it tried to dismantle the City of London in Brexit negotiations, a deputy governor of the Bank of England has warned. Sir Jon Cunliffe, formerly Britains permanent representative to the European Union, admitted that the nation would suffer if Brussels tried to attract business to the Continent, but he said that Europe also would be harmed because the costs of finance would rise.  The Times
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What you need to know for Monday's $1 billion Powerball drawing
Washington State Housing Finance Commission

Photo courtesy Alec Miller From left: Michael Mirra, Stephen Norman, Betsy Hunter, Marilee Roloff and Chris Lowell.

The Seattle-based nonprofit WSHFC honored six people as Friends of Housing at the recent Housing Washington conference in Tacoma. They are: Stephen Norman, executive director of King County Housing Authority; Joanne Quinn, asset manager for the Seattle Office of Housing; Betsy Hunter, deputy director for Plymouth Housing; Chris Lowell, executive director of the Housing Authority of Thurston County; Marilee Roloff, founder of the Spokane teen shelter Crosswalk; and Robert Rozen, a Senate staffer who helped U.S. Sen. George Mitchell develop of the 1986 federal legislation that created the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit program. Also honored was Michael Mirra, who leads the Tacoma Housing Authority. He received the Margaret M. Sevy Affordable Housing Lifetime Achievement Award.




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.
Home Four wheelers Mahindra Launches Enforcer Floodbuster Version In Philippines oi-Kennedy Paul

As a step towards transportation solutions especially during the floods in the Philippines, Mahindra has launched an 'almost flood-proof' variant of the Enforcer pickup. The Enforcer pickup is an older version of the Bolero pickup built in India.

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Google has launched a free training platform to help small businesses develop the digital skills they need to grow and thrive online.

According to John Ball, Head of Google Marketing Solutions Australia, The Digital Garage includes 90 training modules covering a range of topics including website design, search engine optimisation, online marketing including social media, and more. Further, he said participants can complete the whole online course for a certificate from Google supported by IAB Australia.

Ball identified research by Deloitte, which identified inadequate digital skills as a barrier to making the most of the web. Compared with low levels of digital engagement, highly digitally engaged SMBs are 1.5 times more likely to be growing revenue, 7 times more likely to be exporting, 8 times more likely to be creating jobs and 14 times more likely to be innovating, than those businesses with low levels of digital engagement.

Australian SMBs have much to gain from boosting their digital skills but with the daily demands of managing a business and technology changing so rapidly, more than 90 per cent of SMBs are not taking full advantage of todays digital tools, Ball said.

We believe everyone should have access to the digital skills they need for their business to thrive, thats why were launching The Digital Garage.

Small businesses make a major contribution to Australia, both through economic activity and employment, so thriving SMBs mean stronger economic growth and a boost for local communities.

Richard Flanagan, Head of Small Business Marketing, Google Australia spoke to Dynamic Business about the learning opportunities The Digital Garage affords small business owners:

What do business owners take away from the course?

Completing the Digital Garage course means youve mastered the fundamental principles of digital marketing. You will have completed all the training modules and passed the associated quizzes on each topic, as well as the comprehensive final exam. Someone who has completed the course will have a solid understanding of the fundamental tools and strategies, from Google and from across the industry, needed to grow a business online.

What weight does the completion certificate carry?

If participants complete the whole online course they will receive a certificate from Google supported by IAB Australia. This certificate will be sent by email after theyve completed the full Topic Library and successfully passed the final exam. The certificate can be promoted on a LinkedIn profile.

What went into making each module user-friendly?

Firstly, we wanted to make the content bite-size, keeping in mind how busy business owners and employees are. They need to solve specific problems and fit learning into a very busy schedule of running their business and delighting customers. In addition, theres a tailored learning path that narrows down the full library to those topics of highest interest. Content is accessible from any device. The modules use everyday terms and descriptions, plus we have included a jargon-busting resource to help decipher unknown topics. Finally, weve included practical examples from real business owners who have applied these concepts and tools to their own businesses.

What is the duration of the whole course?

Each video is about 4-5 minutes. At the end of each topic you will be asked to complete an assessment quiz. If you pass, youll earn the badge for that topic. There is no limit on the time you can spend on each module but its designed to deliver, bite-sized lessons. The full topic library is around 10 hours of content.

Will the platform evolve to include new modules?

Yes, The Digital Garage will evolve just as the industry and technology trends change over time.
A new twist on skillet grilled catfish

A southern favorite is catfish. And while most of the time southerners tend to like their catfish fried this recipe takes a little different spin...

Decorate the museum, make a garland

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Barry Joslin is one of my closest friends. His family lives on Sanibel Island, Fla., where he serves as a pastor. Hurricane Ian devastated their...
It was a rainy evening , I was feeling cold when I entered the shop. I sat down for a bit to settle down. I looked at the menu and glanced at the gigantic servings of gelato on the other table beside me. I hesitated for a second Am I ready for a cold gelato on this cold rainy night?.

My host was very kind to notice I was a bit chilled he offered me coffee or something warm first . After all, Morellis does not only serve great tasting gelatos that will take your memories back to childhood, but they also serve artisanal coffes that will invigorate and sooth your senses at the same time. Highly recommended is their Soft Vanila Affogato , Caramello or Morellis Cappuccino. I declined the coffee though, as it was a bit late for coffee for me. My coffee tolerance is not as high as other writers. I can only take one coffee a day.

Bowsing through the menu I saw a couple of sweets for my sweet tooth. I stood up and had a taste test of each flavor available on display, they have a wide array of choices. while you can order per scoop, you can also order per what they recommend in their menu, they are tried and tested mix of flavors that suits everyone preferences.

Take for example Thewhich is a mix of cholate, hazelnut, and soft vanilla gelato adorned with chocolate truffle, Piedmonte hazelnuts, Magnum Choclate swirls, and hazelnut sauce in a chocolate cup topped with fresh whipped cream! YUM!

After my taste testing, I actually felt warm. Ive always wanted to eat on the couples cup that I always see when I pass by Morellis Gelato in Edsa Shangri-la Mall East Wing, so thats the one I ordered for myself. The Amore Cup has two different flavors the other cup has the chocolate, hazelnut, vanilla mix and the other cup has the berry flavors with strawberry, cherry and vanilla. It was actually the perfect cup for me as it has both worlds, fruity and chocolatey.



Fortunately , I did not have to go through the date yourself #gelatonights as I had MJ to share my Amore Cup with.



I think we had a bit of sugar high and I think it was the perfect night cap to have a Gelato Baileys, an after dinner after work dessert with a booze. Its really good!



If you plan to take your kids there, theres something for them too, Morellis Banana Split is a classic or the Hot Fudge Sundae. Or well they can pick one scoop after another . Kids can never say no to ice cream!

Morellis Gelato was founded by Giuseppe Morelli in 1907 when he becan selling homeade gelato from the back of his bicycle around the English seaside resort of Broadstairs. Morellis has expaned both locally and internationally and can be found in Cafe de Paris, Monte Carlo, and the Dubai Mall. In the Philippines, Global Restaurant Concepts Inc is responsible for bringing this brand here so we can enjoy a good scoop or more of Morellis gelato.

Morellis is available at Shangri-la Mall from 11am to 10pm and at Powerplant Mall in Rockwell Makati from 11am-9pm on weekdays and 10am to 9pm on weekends.

Watch my #GelatoNight at Morellis here
This editorial by Josue Tanaka, EBRD's Managing Director, Energy Efficiency and Climate Change, was first published in L'Economiste

With the world gearing up for a major international climate conference in Morocco, a spotlight has been thrown on the role of Africa in the global fight against climate change.

As our colleagues at the African Development Bank (AfDB) have so eloquently expressed, Africa faces a double-edged challenge  it must drastically increase its citizens access to basic power services and at the same time it must meet its commitments under the climate change agreement.

African nations made climate commitments as part of the Paris Climate Agreement, sealed at the COP21 climate talks in the French capital at the end of 2015. The COP22 follow-up conference will be held in Marrakesh in November 2016, building on the Paris accord and helping deliver its pledges.

Africa and its climate challenges will certainly feature strongly in the Marrakesh discussions.

The EBRD has joined in the collective response to addressing Africas energy challenges. Since 2012 it has been actively investing in three North African economies.

But the Banks particular expertise in attracting private sector financing to green energy investments is now spreading to other countries across the continent.

The EBRDs involvement in the southern and eastern Mediterranean (SEMED) region came in response to the political and economic upheaval that swept across the Arab world in 2011. The Bank applied the skills that it had developed in promoting the private sector in emerging Europe to a whole new set of countries.

Over the last four years, it has financed around 100 projects worth over 3.8 billion in Egypt, Morocco and Tunisia, as well as in Jordan.

Climate finance has played a major role in this engagement and an important priority has been placed on developing renewable sources of energy, tapping into the regions abundant natural resources of sun and wind.

Together with international partners, the EBRD launched a US$ 250 million financing framework for private sector renewable energy generation in its SEMED region in 2015.

Its first project under the new facility was an investment with Moroccos Banque Marocaine du Commerce Exterieur (BMCE) Bank of Africa and the Clean Technology Fund (CTF) in a windfarm in Khalladi, close to the Moroccan city of Tangiers.

North Africa has also proved to be fertile ground for another of the EBRDs innovative and powerful climate instruments, its Sustainable Energy Financing Facilities (SEFFs).

Through its SEFFs, the EBRD extends credit lines to local financial institutions that seek to develop sustainable energy financing as a permanent area of their business. Finance for sustainable energy projects is provided primarily in energy efficiency and small-scale renewable projects. Local banks lend the funds they have received from the EBRD on to their clients, such as small and medium-sized businesses, corporate and residential borrowers, and renewable energy project developers.

This financing instrument has been very popular across a large number of countries where the EBRD invests. Individual facilities are tailored to suit the prevailing market conditions in any given country.

Up to now, over 30 SEFF programmes  and still counting  have been developed in 24 countries, such as the successful TurSEFF in Turkey, a facility worth some US$ 1.5 billion for Turkish banks to pass on to their clients.

The equivalent facility for Morocco is called MorSEFF. In 2015, the EBRD, the Agence Francaise de Developpement (AFD), the European Investment Bank (EIB) and Kreditanstalt fur Wiederaufbau (KfW) teamed up together and  with support from the European Union  provided a 20 million credit line under MorSEFF for climate projects for the clients of BMCE Bank.

An important element in the roll-out of the SEFFs is the EBRDs cooperation with international donors such as European Union and the Climate Investment Funds (CIFs).

With their support and funding, the EBRD can reach out to even more potential investors and provide inventives that not only help reduce market barriers to successful investment in sustainable energy projects but contribute to the successful development of financial markets and banking sectors fully attuned to the promotion of a low-carbon economy.

The EBRD is currently actively engaging in knowledge-sharing exercises, passing on its expertise to parties who may well look to the CIFs to help fund their investments. The Bank is also keen to ensure that, in addition to the provision of its own financing, its successful SEFF business model can be shared with other insitutions, even in countries that do not come within the EBRDs geographical remit. We have, for example, shared our experiences with SEFFs with the AfDB to support the start of their activities in sub-Saharan Africa. The EBRD has also highlighted its SEFF products to a range of African banks at a pre-COP22 conference in Casablanca in October 2016, co-hosted by BMCE.

By stepping up its international cooperation in this way, the EBRD is seeking to achieve a lasting impact and to make an important contribution to addressing the global climate challenge.
When Robert Bobb was appointed to be the Emergency Financial Manager for Detroit Public Schools in 2009, the district was $219 million in debt. When he left two years later, the debt had ballooned by 50% to $327 million. This is one of the legacies of Emergency Management in Michigan.

Another of the legacies is that people who failed colossally in their efforts to cut their way to rebuilding struggling school districts and municipalities go on (or at least try to go on) to leverage that into gainful employment. For example, disgraced former Education Achievement Authority Chancellor John Covington has been working hard to land another superintendent job but has been rebuffed multiple times.

Robert Bobb is no exception except that, rather than being rebuffed, his company, The Robert Bobb Group which he formed less than a year after leaving Detroit, has been hired by the Petersburg City Council in Virginia to rescue their city from financial calamity.

The Petersburg City Council on Tuesday decided to spend more than a quarter-million dollars  during a financial crisis that threatens the citys existence  to enter into emergency negotiations with the Robert C. Bobb Group. In a 5-1 vote  with Councilman David Coleman absent and Councilwoman Treska Wilson-Smith dissenting  the citys leaders said the deal with Bobbs financial consulting company is meant to preserve the interests of the city to maintain the proper functioning of the government.

I have to give the guy credit. Not everyone could go from increasing a school districts deficit by over $100 million in just two years to being seen as a savior for a city facing a financial emergency. Thats good marketing, for sure.

It makes you wonder if they actually have Google in Petersburg, Virginia
A new law called the Energy Policy Modernization Act is on the fast track to being sent to President Obama to sign into law. Inside this bill is a small provision that could have wide ranging impacts. An amendment introduced by Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski would designate the burning of wood and wood products for energy as carbon neutral. The specific part of the amendment, No. 3140, involved is actually just one sentence: To support the key role that forests in the United States can play in addressing the energy needs of the United States, the Secretary, the Secretary of Agriculture, and the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency shall, consistent with their missions, jointly  reflect the carbon-neutrality of forest bioenergy and recognize biomass as a renewable energy source, provided the use of forest biomass for energy production does not cause conversion of forests to non-forest use.

While wood is certainly a renewable energy source, burning it is anything but carbon neutral.

Last February, 65 scientists at the Woods Hole Research Center all called BS on this idea. They sent a letter to the 10 U.S. senators who are working on the Energy Policy Modernization Act. Here is an excerpt of what they had to say (emphasis mine):

Dear Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Minority Leader Harry Reid, Chairwoman Lisa Murkowski, and Ranking Member Maria Cantwell: We are 65 research scientists and practitioners who study energy, soils, forested and wetland ecosystems and climate change. We are writing in our individual capacities to express our concern over the implications of a forest biomass carbon neutrality Senate Amendment 3140 to the Energy Policy Modernization Act that was recently accepted by the US Senate. This well-intentioned legislation, which claims to address climate change, would in fact promote deforestation in the U.S. and elsewhere and make climate change much worse. The amendment would require all federal departments and agencies to promote consistent policies that reflect the carbon neutrality of forest bioenergy and recognize biomass as a renewable energy source. Mandating that there are no carbon dioxide emissions from burning wood from forests to produce energy does not make it so in fact. The consequence of the amendment is to encourage a shift to forest biofuels in the form of pellets and wood chips to replace coal in the generation of electricity. Wood burning power plants are becoming more numerous in the United States and in the European Union. The US Department of Commerce and the US Forest Service are promoting expanded export of American wood pellets for this purpose to Europe and to Asia. Burning any carbon containing substance whether biomass or fossil fuels releases carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Burning forest biomass to make electricity releases substantially more carbon dioxide per unit of electricity than does coal. Removing the carbon dioxide released from burning wood through new tree growth requires many decades to a century, and not all trees reach maturity because of drought, fire, insects or land use conversion. All the while the added carbon dioxide is in the atmosphere trapping heat. Right now, large areas of American forests including old growth trees are being cleared for pellets that are shipped to Europe and burned to produce electricity that is counted there as zero carbon. There is no requirement in the amendment that trees used for bioenergy be replaced. International obligations require the United States to account for bioenergy emissions from either the energy sector or as land-use change. While forest biomass energy may be renewable over the long-term, it is not a low-carbon source of energy like solar panels. Using the same amount of land area, solar panels produce up to 80-times as much electricity as wood burning with no emissions at all. Yet with this amendment, both might receive the same subsidy under the Act. Furthermore, fossil fuel emissions associated with producing bioenergy (harvesting, chipping, drying, pelletizing and transporting) are equivalent to 20-25% of direct emissions, and under this legislation these emissions are unaccounted for. Forest bioenergy as currently produced also competes with land for other forest products including timber, paper and agriculture. Promoting forest biomass therefore encourages additional deforestation.

Its a pretty astonishing move but it could rev up the forest products and wood pellet industry in Sen. Murkowskis state by making it less expensive to operate wood-burning power plants which is clearly her intent with this amendment.

Operating under the carbon neutral concept of wood fired power generation, the U.K. and Germany have converted coal fired boilers to wood pellets. German firms have built massive pellet plants for export in the South and East U.S. State governments in forest regions of the U.S. are also eyeing wood pellet production as a job creation tool. A report for Midwestern states calculated 153 jobs arise for every 100,000 tons of wood pellets produced.

Different forms of the legislation have been passed by the U.S. House and Senate and its now in conference committee to iron out the details. They are in a hot rush to get it passed before the November general election. Environmentalist groups are already on the record for not supporting it for a variety of reasons. After the House bill passed, the White House indicated it would veto the bill if major changes were not made.

Heres hoping this particularly outrageous part of the bill is stripped out before the conference committee finishes its work.
Microsoft on Monday announced a series of major enhancements to its enterprise cloud platform, as well as a new strategic partnership with Adobe, advancing its drive to attract new business from core competitors like Salesforce and Amazon.

Microsoft has entered a strategic partnership to make Azure the preferred cloud platform for the Adobe Marketing Cloud, Adobe Creative Cloud and Adobe Document Cloud. Adobe Marketing Cloud will become the preferred service for Microsofts Dynamics 365 Enterprise edition.

I think we would both say that SaaS has completely disrupted how enterprises are thinking about software, said Shantanu Narayen, chief executive of Adobe, at Microsoft Ignite in Atlanta. We think its absolutely critical that we provide this integration  between sales and marketing and visualization.

The announcement of the new Azure monitoring and management updates, which allow seamless integration, was critical for Microsoft, said Rob Enderle, principal analyst at the Enderle Group.

Microsoft is the only firm that offers both on- and off-premises implementations of the same cloud-based platform, he told the E-Commerce Times.

For ease of management for hybrid cloud solutions, which remain the IT favorite, allowing the greatest match of flexibility, performance, compliance and cost, this should put Microsoft in a position of significant advantage, said Enderle, particularly for a global enterprise.

Adobes move raises questions about why it decided to reduce its participation in the AWS platform, noted Ed Anderson, research vice president, cloud services, at Gartner.

It might be related to some of the intelligence capabilities now available through Microsofts Cortana platform, he suggested.

Its not entirely clear how or why Adobe would be interested in moving the application to Azure, Anderson told the E-Commerce Times. Regardless, this isnt a change that can happen overnight, and it will take some work on Adobes part to make the change.

Think Fast

Microsoft also unveiled several artificial intelligence innovations, including several new skills for Cortana, the companys personal assistant.

Office 365s new intelligence capabilities:

Tap, which uses Microsoft Graph to incorporate content from within the company into documents and emails;

Quickstarter for Powerpoint and Sway; and

Maps, which allows new forms of Excel charts to be converted into visualizations.

Microsofts My Analytics, formerly known as Delve Analytics, provides insights into how employees spend work time. Relationship Assistant is included in the upcoming Dynamics 365 for Sales.

The company also announced a multiyear deal with Renault-Nissan Alliance to provide advanced navigation and predictive services. Remote monitoring of car features and geofencing will provide theft protection, disabling the car if necessary. The alliance is working on a plan to unveil 10 autonomous vehicles by 2020.

Threat Protection

Further, Microsoft announced a series of security enhancements for Windows 10 and across the Office 365 platform, along with data protection tools for the enterprise customer.

Windows Defender Application Guard, which will come to Windows 10 enterprise customers in 2017, uses isolated containers and virtualization-based security technology to stop malicious code from moving across employee devices in a corporate setting.

The security announcements could be a breakthrough in terms of containing threats to Edge users, said Paul Teich, principal analyst at Tirias Research.

If Microsoft carries through with their advanced threat detection inside of their hardware secure containers, it means that most of the Web-based threats that infect peoples PCs can be stopped in the browser container  they will not get a chance to touch the rest of the PC, he told the E-Commerce Times.

Office 365 Threat Intelligence will provide alerts on the origination of specific attacks, and Office 365 Advanced Threat Protection will be extended to Word, Excel, Powerpoint, SharePoint and OneDrive, scanning attached files and examining links for malicious code.
Federal authorities last week launched a probe of a suspected cyberattack that targeted the private Gmail account of a White House staffer.

The employees correspondence turned up on the DCleaks hacktivist site, which earlier this month posted the private emails of former Secretary of State Colin Powell.

The latest dump involves the private account of White House staffer Ian Mellul, whose personal emails were published on the DCleaks Twitter account and website, along with the claim that they represented just part of a trove of correspondence from February 2015 through June of this year.

Melluls job entails coordination with the U.S. Secret Service and local law enforcement regarding the official travel of First Lady Michelle Obama and Vice President Joe Biden, according to DCleaks.

He reportedly also does work for the presidential campaign of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, whose operations repeatedly have been targeted in recent months.

First Ladys Passport

The posted emails include a range of mundane correspondence involving White House tours, various official trips, invoices and other discussions with the Clinton campaign and government officials.

More troubling is the sites posting of what it claims is the first ladys open passport. It is not clear why that image would be in the staffers Gmail account.

The Secret Service is aware of the alleged email hacking of a White House staffer, spokesperson Cathy Milhoan told TechNewsWorld. The Secret Service is concerned any time unauthorized information that might pertain to one of the individuals we protect, or our operation, is allegedly disclosed.

However, the agency does not disclose information on investigations as a matter of policy, she added.

Powell Leak

DCleaks earlier this month published a highly publicized trove of email correspondence from Powell, including some colorful commentary about Hillary Clinton and her presidential rival Donald Trump. It also includes some of Powells remarks about his advice to Clinton concerning email practices after she became secretary of state in 2009.

In the latest breach, the targeting of a low-level staffer is not by happenstance. Its likely a targeted move to access proprietary government information through a back door.

This shouldnt be considered a breach, but rather an attack, said Christopher Budd, global threat communications manager at Trend Micro.

The information around this indicates that this is a single, personal email account that has been compromised, he told TechNewsWorld.

The fact that the hackers targeted the personal account of the White House staffer may be an indication that they were unable to penetrate the official government email accounts at the White House, Budd argued.

Targeting private accounts is a classic tactic used by cyberespionage groups in island-hopping attacks, he pointed out. The tactic involves going after private emails in order to breach government accounts and systems through well-crafted spear phishing campaigns.

Influence Peddling?

DCleaks is a Russian-based influence outlet, according to ThreatConnect.

Guccifer 2.0 used DCleaks as a vehicle to dump emails obtained from the hacked Hillary Clinton campaign staffer, according to the firm.

Further, DCLeaks hosted a group of compromised emails from the account of Billy Rinehart Jr., a former United Nations Foundation official and regional director of the DNC, whose email was compromised in a similar fashion using tactics associated with Fancy Bear, ThreatConnect said.

Cybersecurity firm Crowdstrike previously linked Fancy bear and Cozy Bear to the hacker networks that targeted the Democratic National Committee earlier this year. Russian officials repeatedly hav edenied any connection to cyberattacks on the DNC, Clinton campaign or other agencies related to the election.
McLaren Technology Group, which manufactures Formula One and luxury supercars, last week denied rumors that it was engaging in discussions with Apple regarding a possible purchase or strategic investment.

Apple has been pursing a highly secretive project to develop its own venture in the electric and autonomous vehicle space, code-named Project Titan, and it recently entered negotiations with McLaren on a potential deal, according to The Financial Times.

We can confirm that McLaren is not in talks with Apple in respect of any investment or acquisition, spokesperson Wayne Bruce told the E-Commerce Times.

When we asked specifically if Apple had approached the company about a potential deal, Bruce responded, Such is the nature of our business that a variety of different companies have confidential discussions with us and must remain so.

Led by CEO Ron Dennis, McLaren is known in the industry as a long-standing innovator in the European racing and luxury performance car circuits. It built the 12C and 12C Spider and the McLaren P1, and it is known for using lightweight carbon fiber materials that give its vehicles a unique combination of speed and durability.

The company is pursuing its own strategy of autonomous vehicle technology, Bruce said, confirming earlier reports that its focus was on adding autonomous safety features to its line of performance cars.

Apple Retools

Such a tie-up could make sense for Apple, given its history of failed negotiations and its desire to kick-start its car development project to catch up with rivals Tesla and Google, among others.

Having McLaren by their side would give [Apple] a unique position in the automotive arena, a step above what Tesla, Faraday Future and Karma automotive have in mind for their future losses, said Vishwas Shankar, mobility research manager at Frost & Sullivan.

Apple, after many failed talks with German OEMs, needs a partner with global appeal, he told the E-Commerce Times.

McLaren has a number of proprietary patents related to its proficiency in race technology, high-tech medical devices and research, Kelley Blue Book analyst Michael Harley told the E-Commerce Times.

Second Front

Apple also has entered talks to buy startup Lit Motors, which has developed an electric self-balancing motorcycle, according to a New York Times story following up on the FT report. The Times piece cites three anonymous sources.

Lit Motors C-1 is actually a two-wheeled, electric-powered vehicle that looks like a miniature car, with a windshield, roof and doors, and steering wheel. Otherwise, it has features similar to a motorbike or scooter. It uses two gyroscopes to keep it upright, and it uses a steer-by-wire system with sensors.

Several former engineers from Lit Motors currently work for Apple, according to the Times report.

The rumors come at a critical time for Apple. Its autonomous vehicle project earlier this month suffered a partial closure with layoffs of dozens of employees, according to the NYT.

The company this summer lost a key executive, Bart Nabbe, to startup Faraday Future.

A feeding frenzy is developing, with major tech companies maneuvering to snap up resources that will help them win the race to dominate the autonomous vehicle business, suggested Steven Polzin, director of mobility policy research at the Center for Urban Transportation Research at the University of South Florida.

Its interesting how the players are being pretty aggressive to stakeout collaborations and partnerships, and nobody wanting to be left out, he told the E-Commerce Times, but its not clear how well thought through some of their relationships are.
Many Americans are working to reduce their exposure to harmful chemicals and toxic ingredients. Few industries have faced more criticism for their ingredients than the cosmetics industry and lately, it seems that more and more brands are releasing organic or all-natural personal care lines.

Few industries have faced more criticism for their ingredients than the cosmetics industry.

Shampoos and conditioners, in particular, contain a lot of toxic ingredients. Some health-conscious consumers have taken to making their own haircare products, but others still prefer to use ready-made, expert-developed shampoos and conditioners. If this is you, rest assured that you have plenty of options. You dont necessarily have to spend a fortune, either. A quick glance at a products ingredient list can tell you a lot about its safety.

Here are five toxic ingredients youll want to be sure to avoid when picking out a shampoo or conditioner:

1. Sulfates

Youve probably heard of sulfates by now; pretty much every natural hair care brand states proudly on its packaging that a product is sulfate-free. But what are sulfates and why should you avoid them?

The main thing to keep in mind when thinking about sulfates is that they are chemical detergents. That in itself isnt necessarily a bad thing, but it means that sulfates are extremely effective at removing dirt and oil  in fact, theyre a little too effective. Sulfates are harsh on the hair and scalp, so they can strip away that natural moisture that keeps your hair shiny and soft.

On a deeper level, they may carry some hormone-disrupting agents along with them. According to Natural Society, many sulfates contain traces of dioxane, a known carcinogen. Dioxane is also thought to disrupt kidney function.

2. Parabens

Parabens are another widely hated group of chemicals that youve probably been told to avoid in your beauty and personal care products. Parabens are xenoestrogens, which means that they have a similar composition to hormones found in the human body. Xenoestrogens are thought to disrupt hormones and could even pose a cancer risk.

Real Simple even noted that British scientists found evidence of parabens in samples of breast cancer tissue. Though this doesnt necessarily mean the parabens caused the cancer, most natural-minded folks try to avoid parabens completely.

3. Fragrance

Fragrances are bad, bad, bad. If the fragrance in your product comes from a natural essential oil, it will say so on the packaging. If all the manufacturers have chosen to tell you about the ingredient is that its a fragrance, thats generally bad news.

The term fragrance allows manufacturers to opt out of including a list of the ingredients used to create that fragrance, as the term is not regulated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. So really, if fragrance is listed on an ingredient list, theres no telling whats in there. Natural Society even notes that there are more than 3,100 chemicals used by the fragrance industry to concoct these suspicious-sounding additions to your shampoos and conditioners.

4. Triclosan

Triclosan is an antibacterial agent thats often added to personal care products as a preservative. Dr. Ben Kim notes that we still dont have enough conclusive evidence to say for sure whether or not triclosan is safe for use, but there have certainly been some warning signs to the contrary.

Triclosan is thought to be an endocrine disruptor, which means it can be harmful in the same fashion as xenoestrogens. Its also been linked to immune system problems, weight loss and uncontrolled cellular reproduction, according to Dr. Kim.

5. Polyethylene Glycol

Polyethylene glycol or PEG, is also thought to interfere with the body. According to Natural Society, the state of California has classified the chemical as a developmental toxicant, which means that it may interfere with human development. Its also known to be contaminated by the aforementioned cancer-causer dioxane.

If youre looking for shampoos and conditioners that are made with safe, reliable, natural ingredients, you have lots of options at your fingertips. And if youre feeling more adventurous, of course, you could always try making your own homemade hair care products.

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By Katherine Paul

Monsanto may not be the largest company in the world. Or the worst. But the St. Louis, Missouri, biotech giant has become the poster child for all thats wrong with our industrial food and farming system.

With 21,000 employees in 66 countries and $15 billion in revenue, Monsanto is a biotech industry heavyweight. The monopolizer of seeds is the poster child for an industry that is the source of at least one-third of global anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions, and is largely responsible for the depletion of soil, water and biodiversity. Not to mention the companys marginalizationand sometimes terrorizationof millions of small farmers.

Since the early 20th century, Monsanto has marketed highly toxic products that have contaminated the environment and permanently sickened or killed thousands of people around the world.

The most toxic of its products include:

 PCBs: one of the 12 persistent organic pollutants (POPs), which affect human and animal fertility

 2,4,5 T (2,4-D): a component of Agent Orange containing dioxin which was used by the US military during the Vietnam war and continues to be a major cause of birth defects and cancers

 Lasso: an herbicide now banned in Europe

 Roundup: the most widely used herbicide in the world, and cause of one of the biggest health and environmental tragedies in modern history. This highly toxic weed killer, sprayed on genetically modified or GMO crops including soybeans, corn and rapeseed for animal feed or for the production of biofuels, was recently classified as a probable human carcinogen by the World Health Organization.

In a rare exception, Monsanto was recently ordered to pay $46.5 million to compensate victims of its PCB poisoning. Sometimes the company settles out of court, to avoid having to admit to any wrongdoing.

But for the most part, thanks to the multinationals powerful influence over U.S. politicians, Monsanto has been able to poison with impunity.

Its time for the citizens of the world to fight back. On Oct. 15-16, in The Hague, Netherlandsthe International City of Peace and Justicea panel of distinguished international judges will hear testimony from witnesses, represented by legitimate lawyers, who have been harmed by Monsanto.

A press conference Dec. 3, 2015 in Paris during COP21 announcing the International Monsanto Tribunal.  Solene Charrasse

In their preparation for the citizens tribunal, and during witness testimony, the judges will consider six questions that are relevant not just in relation to Monsanto, but to all companies involved in shaping the future of agriculture.

The six questions are:

1. Right to a healthy environment: Did the firm Monsanto violate, by its activities, the right to a safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment, as recognized in international human rights law (Res. 25/21 of the Human Rights Council, of 15 April 2014), taking into account the responsibilities imposed on corporations by the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, as endorsed by the Human Rights Council in Resolution 17/4 of 16 June 2011?

2. Right to food: Did the firm Monsanto violate, by its activities, the right to food, as recognized in Article 11 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, in Articles 24.2(c) and (e) and 27.3 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, and in Articles 25(f) and 28.1 of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, taking into account the responsibilities imposed on corporations by the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, as endorsed by the Human Rights Council in Resolution 17/4 of 16 June 2011?

3. Right to health: Did the firm Monsanto violate, by its activities, the right to the highest attainable standard of health, as recognized in Article 12 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, or the right of child to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health, as recognized by Article 24 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, taking into account the responsibilities imposed on corporations by the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, as endorsed by the Human Rights Council in Resolution 17/4 of 16 June 2011?

4. Freedom of expression and academic research: Did the firm Monsanto violate the freedom indispensable for scientific research, as guaranteed by Article 15(3) of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, as well as the freedoms of thought and expression guaranteed in Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, taking into account the responsibilities imposed on corporations by the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, as endorsed by the Human Rights Council in Resolution 17/4 of 16 June 2011?

5. Complicity in war crimes: Is the firm Monsanto complicit in the commission of a war crime, as defined in Article 8(2) of the International Criminal Court, by providing materials to the United States Army in the context of operation Ranch Hand launched in Viet Nam in 1962?

6. Ecocide: Could the past and present activities of Monsanto constitute a crime of ecocide, understood as causing serious damage or destroying the environment, so as to significantly and durably alter the global commons or ecosystem services upon which certain human groups rely?

The citizens tribunal judges will not have the power to adopt binding decisions. But they will issue opinions which will provide victims and their legal counsel the arguments and legal grounds for further lawsuits against Monsanto within their national jurisdictions.

Throughout history, citizens tribunals have been an effective tool for highlighting the need to change international law so that victims of transnational companies have a means to legal redress. They are most successful when they are able to attract media attention, and are endorsed and supported by millions of citizens throughout the world.

If you would like to endorse the International Monsanto Tribunal and follow its progress, sign on here. To submit witness testimony, email claims (at) Monsanto-tribunal.org. You can also support the tribunal financially.

Katherine Paul is associate director of the Organic Consumers Association.

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Award-winning journalist Amy Goodman, charged with criminal trespassing for filming an attack on Native American-led pipeline protesters, will turn herself in to North Dakota authorities on Oct. 17.

Amy Goodman will surrender to authorities at the Morton CountyMandan Combined Law Enforcement and Corrections Center at 8:15 a.m. local time (CDT).

I will go back to North Dakota to fight this charge. It is a clear violation of the First Amendment, said Goodman. I was doing my job as a journalist, covering a violent attack on Native American protesters.

The charge in State of North Dakota v. Amy Goodman stems from Democracy Now!s coverage of the protests against the Dakota Access pipeline. On Sept. 3, Democracy Now! filmed security guards working for the pipeline company attacking protesters. The report showed guards unleashing dogs and using pepper spray and featured people with bite injuries and a dog with blood on its mouth and nose.

Dakota Access Pipeline Company Attacks Native American Protesters With Dogs and Mace https://t.co/CUFI0VlRMI @Greenpeace @Sierra_Magazine  EcoWatch (@EcoWatch) September 6, 2016

Democracy Now!s report went viral online, was viewed more than 14 million times on Facebook and was rebroadcast on many outlets, including CBS, NBC, NPR, CNN, MSNBC and the Huffington Post.

On Sept. 8, a criminal complaint and warrant was issued for Goodmans arrest.

Ironically, in the states criminal complaint, North Dakota Bureau of Criminal Investigation Special Agent Lindsey Wohl, referencing the Democracy Now! video report in a sworn affidavit, stated, Amy Goodman can be seen on the video identifying herself and interviewing protesters about their involvement in the protest. This is precisely the point: Goodman was doing the constitutionally protected work of a reporter.

The pipeline project has faced months of resistance from the Standing Rock Sioux tribe and members of more than 200 other tribes from across the U.S., Canada and Latin America.

The Committee to Protect Journalists has said that the warrant is a transparent attempt to intimidate reporters from covering protests of significant public interest.

Steve Andrist, executive director of the North Dakota Newspaper Association, told The Bismarck Tribune, Its regrettable that authorities chose to charge a reporter who was just doing her job.

Reposted with permission from our media associate Democracy Now!
A nearly three-quarter-square-mile chunk of ice broke off the

Porcupine Glacier in British Columbia this summer, but it was only detected recently when the National Aeronautics and Space Administration posted a satellite image of the area. Glaciologist Mauri Pelto called it the biggest calving event in North America that he has ever seen.

The breakup at Porcupine is the largest single iceberg (by area) to calve from a North American glacier in recent decades. NASA Earth Observatory

The Porcupine Glacier, a 12-mile-long tongue of an ice field in the Hoodoo Mountains of Northern British Columbia, has been

studied for many years. From 1985 to 2005, researchers saw a reduction of 0.3 percent a year. The glacier has also been thinning, at a rate of about 2.5 inches per year. As it melts, it grows a lake at the end of the glacier.

The volume loss has been speeding up in these glaciers, Pelto

told The Globe and Mail.

The Landsat 8 satellite passed over Porcupine Glacier on Aug. 27 revealing the breakaway ice as compared to an image made two days earlier. Dr. Pelto, who has been analyzing satellite imagery of the areas glaciers since the 1980s, said the Porcupine Glacier event is part of a broader trend in which glaciers are retreating rapidly. This summers sudden calving event shrunk the glacier back a full mile.

[vimeo https://vimeo.com/185171648 expand=1]

Pelto is a professor of environmental science at Nichols College in Dudley, Massachusetts, a small town on the Connecticut border south of Worcester. Pelto has been making field trips to the North Cascades every year since 1983 and uses satellite images to see the larger view.

Without the images, we would just have the isolated point measurements of ground truth at specific times, Pelto said.



This calving event would have been unlike those often seen in

Alaska, where a large section of ice crashes dramatically into the sea. The Porcupine Glacier features a low slope, so the iceberg would have simply slid into the lake.

It would have been more like if youre pushing off from the shore in a canoe. It didnt break off and fall in, Pelto explained.

During his three decades of research, Pelto has also observed a large number of new alpine lakes being formed and expanded as glaciers have retreated in the Alps, Himalayas, Andes, North America, New Zealand, and Norway. He has also witnessed new islands revealed off the coast of Greenland and Novaya Zemlya that had been hidden under ice for thousands of years.

The U.S. Geological Survey says that

Alaskas glaciers are losing 75 billion tons of ice each year. Thats an amount of water that would fill Yankee Stadium 150,000 times, year after year.

Its hard for me to forecast the climate going forward, but its not going to get better for the glaciers, Pelto said.
What is fracking?

Fracking is a process of blasting water, chemicals and frac sand deep into the earth to break up sedimentary rock and access natural gas and crude oil deposits. The fracking industry, which has sought to promote the practice as safe and controlled, has preferred the term hydraulic fracturing.

Fracking emerged as an unconventional, relatively new and extremely popular technique only about 20 years ago in the U.S., after advances in technology gave it an unprecedented ability to identify and extract massive amounts of resources efficiently.

Fracking is one of the most important environmental issues today, and its a prime example of how a new technology that offers immediate economic and political benefits can outpace (often less obvious) environmental and health concerns.

Why is fracking so controversial?

Modern fracking emerged so quickly, faster than its impacts were understood. Just as importantly, once scientists, health experts and the public started to object with evidence of harm it was causing, business and government succeeded in perpetuating a message of uncertainty, that more research was necessary, further enabling the full speed ahead fracking juggernaut.

How does fracking impact the environment?

Frackings supporters have pushed an environmental angle, insisting that natural gas can be a bridge fuel, a cheaper, cleaner option than coal before we have a large-scale transition to renewable energy. This claim has some merit, as natural gas does emit much less carbon dioxide than coal or oil. However, it is still a fossil fuel, adding harmful emissions while the climate crisis worsens. Moreover, fracking wells leak methane, a greenhouse gas more than 25 times more potent than CO2.

Water



In order to break up rock formations one to two miles deep, a fracking operation requires millions of gallons amount of water. After its used, the resulting wastewater, which contains chemicals is pumped back into injection wells, sent to treatment plants, or can be dangerously dumped or spilled.

In 2016 the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released a report skewed friendly to industry in its language: Hydraulic Fracturing for Oil and Gas: Impacts from the Hydraulic Fracturing Water Cycle on Drinking Water Resources in the United States. The EPA acknowledged that drinking water contamination was possible, but ultimately came to this conclusion: Data gaps and uncertainties limited EPAs ability to fully assess the potential impacts on drinking water resources locally and nationally.

Earthquakes



According to the U.S. Geologic Survey, disposal of wastewater has caused an increase in earthquakes in the central U.S. Seismologists have reported that frackings initial blasting process can trigger earthquakes.

Air Pollution

In addition to methane, fracking releases many toxic contaminants into the air. EPA has acknowledged the public health threat, but a lack of urgent political pressure has sidelined the agency into advising on ways to control and reduce, rather than eliminate, the danger.

Toxic Chemicals



Fracking fluids contain unknown chemicals and known carcinogens such as benzene. Fracking companies havent been required to disclose their proprietary formulas, however. This is yet another example of how uncertainty serves as an enabling force. The EPA has identified more than 1,000 different chemicals used in fracking fluid.

Wildlife



Fracking can destroy wildlife habitats, pollute rivers and fisheries, poison birds, and use up water supplies that animals need to survive.

How does fracking affect the economy?



The fracking boom made the U.S. the worlds largest producer of oil and gas, reducing its energy imports from 26% to less than 4%. It has lowered oil and gas prices and created thousands of industry jobs. While fracking companies profited greatly at first, as prices dropped their margins collapsed. Many are now going bankrupt.

How is fracking regulated?



Congress has enabled the oil and gas industry to be exempt from such regulations as the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, and the Safe Drinking Water Act.

Fracking surged during the Obama administration, which moved to protect water from fracking on federal lands in 2015. Subsequently, the Trump administration sought to roll back protections and expand fracking on federal lands.

Key Examples of Fracking in the United States

Pennsylvania

Pennsylvanias Marcellus Shale is the source for about 40% of shale gas production in the U.S.

New York

While the Marcellus Shale also runs through New York, the state has banned fracking.

Texas

Texas produces more crude oil than any other state.

North Dakota

The Bakken Shale in North Dakota has been one of the main sites for the fracking boom and subsequent bust, leaving behind extensive environmental damage.

A recent report found that all 50 states could provide 100% (or even greater) in-state renewable energy.

Other Countries



Outside the U.S., only Canada, China and Argentina have commercial fracking operations. A UN report in 2018 said that other countries were highly unlikely to produce at such a large scale as the U.S., due to political and cultural factors, and existing infrastructure.

The Future of Fracking

While renewables were considered a solution for peak oil only a decade ago, fracking changed the terms of the debate, with a new focus from environmentalists to keep it in the ground starting in 2015.

The Biden administration now stands at a pivotal moment in the climate crisis. Bidens stance on fracking is not yet entirely clear, but he has rejoined the Paris agreement and appears to take climate seriously. At the same time, he is sympathetic to workers in fossil fuel industries, was vice president during the fracking boom years under Obama, and may be more inclined to seek a gradual transition than one fast enough to help solve the crisis.
Bayer will no longer sell glyphosate-containing products to U.S. home gardeners, the company announced on Thursday.

The move comes as the company currently faces around 30,000 legal claims from customers who believe use of these products  including the flagship Roundup  caused them to develop cancer, as AgWeb reported.

Bayers decision to end U.S. residential sale of Roundup is a historic victory for public health and the environment, Center for Food Safety executive director Andrew Kimbrell said in a statement. As agricultural, large-scale use of this toxic pesticide continues, our farmworkers remain at risk. Its time for EPA to act and ban glyphosate for all uses.

The antithesis of eco-friendly lawn care, Glyphosate is a controversial ingredient because it has been linked to the development of non-Hodgkin lymphoma, as Cure noted. The World Health Organizations International Agency for Research on Cancer declared that it was probably carcinogenic to humans, in 2015. While the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) under former President Donald Trump ruled that the chemical did not pose any risk to human health, the Biden Administration later admitted that the review was flawed and needed to be redone, as Common Dreams reported. Still, it refused to take it off the market in the meantime.

Bayers decision comes in response to the many lawsuits related to glyphosate that it inherited when it acquired Monsanto in 2018. Juries sided with the plaintiffs in three highly-watched trials before Bayer settled around 95,000 cases in 2020 to the tune of $10 billion. That settlement, which was one of the largest in U.S. history, allowed Bayer to continue to sell Roundup without any warnings. However, the company still faces further litigation, and said it decided to pull the product from residential use in order to prevent more. More than 90 percent of recent claims come from the residential home and garden market, AgWeb reported.

This move is being made exclusively to manage litigation risk and not because of any safety concerns, the company said when it announced its decision.

The products will be replaced with different active ingredients beginning in 2023, following reviews by the EPA and state regulatory bodies. January 2023 was the earliest the change could reasonably be implemented, Bayer Crop Science Division president Liam Condon told AgWeb.

This is from a regulatory and logistical point of view (of whats) possible, Condon said during a conference call with investors, as AgWeb reported.

For an expert review of companies that use environmentally friendly lawn care practices, be sure to check out our lawn care companies guide.
Starting tomorrow, 30 witnesses and legal experts from five different continents will testify before five international judges at the three-day Monsanto Tribunal in The Hague, Netherlands. Their testimonies will attempt to hold the agrochemical giant accountable for their alleged crimes against humanity and destruction of the environment, or ecocide.

Monsanto Tribunal organizers have called Monsantos Roundup the source of the greatest health and environmental scandal in modern history. Monsanto Tribunal Facebook

This symbolic trial, which will be live streamed from Oct. 15, 8:30 a.m. GMT+2 on the tribunal website, will follow guidelines of the United Nationss international court of justice and will have no legal standing. Rather, its purpose is to gather legal counsel from the judges as well as legal grounds for future litigation.

The aim of the tribunal is to give a legal opinion on the environmental and health damage caused by the multinational Monsanto, the tribunal organizers state on their website. This will add to the international debate to include the crime of Ecocide into international criminal law. It will also give people all over the world a well documented legal file to be used in lawsuits against Monsanto and similar chemical companies.

Monsanto, which is inching closer to a $66 billion takeover from German pharmaceuticals giant Bayer, has faced a never-ending slew of health and environmental controversies over its products since, well, the beginning of the twentieth century.

Monsantos historical line-up of products includes banned and highly toxic chemicals such as 2,4,5-trichlorophenoxyacetic acid (a dioxin-containing component of the defoliant Agent Orange); PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyl); and Lasso, a herbicide banned in Europe. Glyphosate, the controversial main ingredient in Monsantos best-selling weedkiller RoundUp, is the most widely used pesticide in the world. Monsanto is also the worlds largest genetically modified (GMO) seed maker, giving them a major hand over the world food supply.

The trial, which will proceed on the same weekend as World Food Day, is organized by Organic Consumers Association, International Foundation for Organic Agriculture (IFOAM) Organics International, Navdanya, Regeneration International, Millions Against Monsanto as well as dozens of global food, farming and environmental justice groups.

Tribunal organizer Vandana Shiva is an outspoken critic of Monsanto. Monsanto has come to be seen as one of the most dangerous corporations on the planet, the physicist, author, activist and founder of Navdanya said in a statement.

It has earned this reputation through a history of producing products toxic to humans and the environment, as well as well-documented manipulation of scientific evidence, disingenuous PR efforts and applying relentless political pressure worldwide to promote its products. Life, society and democracy are under threat. We refuse to allow this future to unfold.

Andre Leu, president of IFOAM, said, Monsanto is able to ignore the human and environmental damage caused by its products, and maintain its devastating activities through a strategy of systemic concealment: by lobbying regulatory agencies and governments, by resorting to lying and corruption, by financing fraudulent scientific studies, by pressuring independent scientists, and by manipulating the press and media. Monsantos history reads like a text-book case of impunity, benefiting transnational corporations and their executives, whose activities contribute to climate and biosphere crises and threaten the safety of the planet.

Monsanto will not be present at the trial, calling it a staged event organized by the organic food industry where the outcome is pre-determined.

As this is a stunt staged and supported by the International Foundation for Organic Agriculture (IFOAM)an umbrella organization of organic agriculture organizations, and their associates such as Navdanya and others who are fundamentally opposed to modern agriculturewe will not participate, states an open letter signed by the companys Human Rights Steering Committee.

To address these ever increasing challenges collaboratively and advance our commitment to human rights, we welcome a genuine constructive conversation with diverse ideas and perspectives about food and agriculture production, the letter also states. These conversations are much needed to help find sustainable solutions to those challenges.

https://twitter.com/Greenpeace/statuses/786540767749734400 law, it is impossible to bring criminal charges against a company like Monsanto or its management, for possible crimes against human health and the integrity of the environment, Lucy Rees, speaking on behalf of End Ecocide on Earth, also told the publication.

Greenpeace has been a vocal supporter of the tribunal. The industrial scale of agriculture today has broken our food system, the environmental group said. Giant agri-businesses fail to take into account the health of the environment and the communities who depend on it. Monoculture and dependence on chemical fertilizers and pesticides are taking its toll on the planet, animals and us.

According to a tribunal newsletter, witnesses and experts who will be present at the trial includes health experts, victims and representatives from communities affected by the spraying of pesticides in Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, France, India, Sri Lanka and Paraguay; farmers and seed savers from Australia, Bangladesh, Burkina Faso, Canada, France; beekeepers from Yucatan, Mexico; and scientists from Brazil, Germany, France, the UK and the U.S. Former UN special rapporteur on the right to food Olivier De Schutter will also testify.
The upper house of the New South Wales state parliament in Australia is condemning Donald Trumps run for president of the United States calling him a revolting slug unfit for public office.

On Thursday, Greens MP Jeremy Buckingham introduced a motion slamming Trumps hateful comments about women and minorities, including the remarks revealed last weekend that clearly describe sexual assault.

Watch Buckinghams motion here:

The motion also addressed that the house reflects on the divisive, destructive impact of hate speech from political candidate and members of elected office has on our community.

[This house] agrees with those who have described Mr. Trump as a revolting slug unfit for public office, the motion concluded.

While Trump has previously been described as an orange slug, by former talk show host and comedian Rosie ODonnell, this may be the first time he has been described in such a way on record.

Buckinghams motion was passed unanimously without objection or a formal vote.

Its a great that all sides of Australian politics, from conservatives to liberals to greens, agree that Donald Trump is a revolting slug and completely unfit for public office, Buckingham said. Its clear that all reasonable and decent people find Donald Trumps behavior obnoxious and that the world is hoping American voters reject his politics of hate.

Buckingham became well known to EcoWatch readers after his video went viral showing gas exploding on an Australian river near a fracking site.
The headline flew around the globe like wild fire. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published their long-awaited draft fracking drinking water study and concluded: fracking has had no widespread impact on drinking water. But if youve had your ear to the ground in fracking communities, something didnt sit right with the EPAs takeaway. Though the gas industry claims fracking is safe and doesnt harm drinking water, that story doesnt match what many landowners report from the fracking fields.

Fracking well pads are six-acre plus industrial zones that concentrate many gas wells on one location.

At least in Pennsylvania, the reason for this discrepancy comes down to a singular issue: mismanaged record-keeping and reporting by the Department of the Environment (DEP). Based on 2,309 previously unreported fracking complaints unearthed by the non-profit Public Herald, the public can now peek into 1,275 fracking water complaints from 17 of 40 fracking counties. However, Pennsylvanias official tally of water contamination is only 271 for all 40 counties.

Contrary to the EPA fracking studys conclusion, the prevalence of drinking water contamination appears to be much higher than previously reported. Accurate drinking water complaint data is vital to know as Maryland drafts new fracking regulations to potentially welcome the natural gas industry into Western Maryland in 2017.

What is a Contaminated Water Well?

Officially, Pennsylvania reports 271 confirmed cases of water degradation due to unconventional natural gas operations (a.k.a. fracking).

In Pennsylvania, water degradation is when a private water well located within 2,500 feet of a fracking well has been negatively impacted within six months of drilling. According to the DEP, water degradation falls into two campsreduced water volume or the presence of constituents found in higher levels after drilling than before drilling. Constituents can be naturally-occurring, fracking-related chemicals or methane gas than seeps into aquifers and water wells.

Homeowners usually know right away if somethings up with their well water. Their tap waters clarity or color changes, the water smells gross or the well runs dry. Whats harder for homeowners to self-identify is natural gas (methane) migration because methane gas is odorless. Methane is highly flammable and if present at dissolved levels above 28 mg/L requires immediate remediation or the potential for explosions exists.

Tainted water collected from a private drinking water well in PA near a fracking site.

Pennsylvanias DEP regulates the oil and gas industry and is also the 911 dispatch center for fracking complaints. DEPs role is to register citizen fracking complaints, research complaints and conduct water tests if needed. If water well damage is proved to be caused by nearby fracking, DEP notifies the gas driller that they are responsible for providing water replacement.

Buried in Folders: 1,275 Water Complaints

Prior to Public Heralds fracking complaints database (an open source project named #fileroom) which was launched in September 2015, the public had little access to Pennsylvanias fracking water complaints. What was known is that the DEP fracking complaint system was horrendous.

After considerable legal wrangling, the Scranton Times-Tribune obtained 969 determination letters and the newsroom reported in May 2013, water damage and murky testing methods.

In May 2014, Pennsylvanias Auditor General reviewed DEP complaint files and reported eight areas of mishandling with sloppy record keeping topping the list.

When asked if the publics health was being threatened from fracking water contamination, Pennsylvanias Auditor General publicly commented, we cant say one way or the other because their [DEP] record keeping is so poor.

After threatening legal action in 2013, Pennsylvanias DEP offices finally gave Public Herald volunteers access to all fracking complaints.

Over more than two years, Public Heralds team scanned 2,309 complaints from 17 of 40 counties. The complaints are stored online in the #fileroom database. The fracking complaints were stored in filing cabinets and most cases werent entered into any formal central tracking system. The 17 counties account for about 80 percent of Pennsylvanias fracking wells drilled.

Public Heralds volunteers scanned 2,309 fracking complaints found in paper folders at PA. DEP offices. Photo credit: J.B. Pribanic

Seventeen (or 44 percent) Water Contamination RateDepending on How You Look at It

Not only are Pennsylvanias water complaints much higher than previously reported, but also the basis that complaints are compared to leads people to believe that contamination rates are lower than they really are.

Heres why: A key fracking selling point is that multiple gas wells can be drilled from one central location, also called a well pad. A fracking well pad is a six-acre plus industrial zone that can host as many as 10 individual gas wells that spread out like a spider web underground. The number of fracking well pad locations interspersed near homes is actually smaller than realized because many fracking wells are concentrated from one location. Pennsylvanias DEP reports an average of 2.6 wells drilled per fracking well pad location. (As of Jan. 26, Pennsylvania has 3,687 unconventional well pads and 9,632 unconventional wells drilled since 2000).

If youre a homeowner or an elected official, assessing the scale of water complaints, comparing to the number of well pad locations is more relevant than comparing to the number of wells drilled. Using the higher figure of wells drilled, which most reporting does, minimizes the scale of impact to people living near concentrated fracking operations.

To understand how this changes the story, if DEPs official tally of 271 confirmed water contaminations is compared to 9,632 fracking wells drilled since 2000, thats a three percent water contamination rate. That figure seems pretty low and supports the EPAs conclusion that fracking water contamination isnt widespread.

Public Heralds Pennsylvania fracking water complaints by county. Photo credit: Public Herald / DEP

But if you dig into Public Heralds #fileroom database, as the chart above illustrates, 1,275 water complaints were filed in 17 counties with only 2,923* fracking well pads. Those well pads hosted 7,627 gas wells. That means that for about every two fracking well pads, one homeowner called in a water complaint, instead of one for every seven wells drilled. Thats a 44 percent fracking water complaint rate suggesting that water well issues are pervasive. Even if the water complaints are compared to the number of wells drilled in these 17 counties, its a 17 percent water complaint rate.

Not only is the sky-high complaint rate concerning, but why did the DEP dismiss and not report more than 1,000 water well complaints? Did 1,000+ homeowners call in bogus water well claims?

Why Were Three-Quarters of Citizen Water Well Complaints Dismissed?

It is clear that as Pennsylvania rapidly began drilling fracking wells around 2006, the DEP was overwhelmed and unprepared to process the volume of citizen complaints. As explained above, both the Scranton Times-Tribune and Pennsylvanias Auditor General found many points-of-failure in the DEPs fracking complaint process.

A Harvard Law School study analyzed 450 Pennsylvania fracking complaints and produced a what-not-to-do-report suggesting four recommendations: require baseline water well testing, seriously improve the complaint administrative function, improve communication with landowners and allow for appeals. The Scranton Times-Tribune, Pennsylvania Auditor General, Harvard School analysis plus Public Heralds#fileroom complaint database call into serious question if the 1,000+ water complaints should have been dismissed.

Public Heralds own in-depth analysis of 200 complaints found nine ways DEPs decision on water contamination could be challenged and possibly reversed.

Most concerning is that the states Auditor General found that the DEP encouraged gas drillers and homeowners to reach voluntary restitution agreements on the side. Yet, the DEP did not register and track many of those agreements.

How Does a Lack of Data Lead to No Widespread Damage Claim?

Because fracking is regulated at the state level, all 30+ fracking states have different and separate complaint processes. There is no accurate and centralized database in the U.S. reporting drinking water damage resulting from bad well casings, hydraulic fracturing, above ground spills, waste pond spills or drilling mishaps and failures.

That point is printed throughout the EPAs draft Potential Impacts of Hydraulic Fracturing for Oil and Gas on Drinking Water Resources. The study relied on available data and reporting. The EPA essentially used Pennsylvania DEPs official tally of 271 determined cases. Its unclear if the thousands of unreported fracking complaints were even analyzed.

The U.S. EPAs executive summary spells this out plainly in the Key Data Limitations and Uncertainties section: This assessment used available data and literature to examine the potential impacts of hydraulic fracturing from oil and gas on drinking water resources nationally. As part of this effort, we identified data limitations and uncertainties associated with current information on hydraulic fracturing and its potential to affect drinking water resources. In particular, data limitations preclude a determination of the frequency of impacts with any certainty. These limitations and uncertainties are discussed in brief below.

It is unclear how the EPA concluded there is no widespread water contamination due to fracking when there is little to no data.

Thats exactly the same conclusion the EPAs own 31-member Science Advisory Panel announced recently in a statement on Jan. 8. The panel announced that the EPAs draft Fracking Drinking Water Studys findings, are inconsistent with the observations, data and levels of uncertainty.

But the fracking-is-safe train has already left the station.

Collateral Damage

Whats clear is that fracking causes damage to private drinking water wells. Sadly, many Pennsylvania landowners whose drinking water wells were compromised because of nearby fracking operations received no restitution because the DEP did not properly assess their complaints.

Washington and Bradford counties registered more than 500 citizen complaints in each county. Photo credit: FracTracker

Even with the large volume of incoming drinking water complaints, Pennsylvanias DEP did not assume a presumption of liability for the gas drilling industry; the onus of proof was on the homeowner to prove contamination for their water wells that were within half a mile from a fracking well pad. And many landowners, especially in the early phases of fracking, didnt have pre-drilling water tests to compare post-drilling results.

Looking Ahead for Maryland

To ensure that Western Maryland landowners dont face the same situation, Marylands Department of the Environment and elected officials should consider closely analyzing Pennsylvanias thousands of fracking complaints. Public Herald is still scanning the Southwest regions files.

Joshua Pribanic, Public Heralds editor-in-chief adds, At this point, there is no way to find out what happened with thousands of fracking water complaints except to go door-to-door and ask what happened with a complainants drinking water. In many cases youll find rooms stuffed with bottled water. Or, youll find in the basement an industry-supplied reverse osmosis system or a methane mitigation system. The true extent of water contamination has been concealed. And that doesnt help Maryland as we look to study and analyze our sister states actual results.

Reposted with permission from our media associate Baltimore Fishbowl.
As the fracking industry tries to expand internationally, being promoted as a so-called clean bridge fuel, it is increasingly clear the industry has not one, but two, Achilles heels.

The first is the release of the potent greenhouse gas, methane. The second is water pollution and the threat the controversial technique poses to drinking water.

A new study by scientists from Stanford University in California, published in Environmental Science & Technology has found that fracking operations near Pavillion in Wyoming have had clear impact to underground sources of drinking water. Photo credit: Dominic DiGiulio

Both areas are highly disputed, but nearly every week new research reveals new evidence of harm by fracking.

Two weeks ago, new research was published concerning methane. And this week new research concerns water pollution.

A new study by scientists from Stanford University in California, published in Environmental Science & Technology, has found that fracking operations near Pavillion, Wyoming have had clear impact to underground sources of drinking water.

The operations near Pavillion have long been contentious. Back in 2008, the town made headlines when local residents started complaining of a foul taste and odor in their drinking water, leading to an investigation by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

In 2011, the EPA issued a preliminary report which linked shallow fracking to toxic compounds in aquifers, but no action was taken by the agency, leading to one of the co-authors of the new study, Rob Jackson, professor at the School of Earth, Energy & Environmental Sciences at the University to argue that the EPA has consistently walked away from investigations where people and the environment appear to have been harmed.

The agency now maintains that since June 2013, the EPA and the state both agreed that the best path forward in advancing the understanding of groundwater issues in the Pavillion area included EPAs support for the states additional investigation of pits, production wells and drinking water.

However, the federal Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry has now advised area residents to avoid bathing, cooking or drinking with water from their taps.

Locations of oil and gas production wells versus domestic water wells in Pavillion, Wyoming. Photo credit: Environmental Science & Technology

The new Stanford study goes beyond the 2011 EPA report to document not only the occurrence of fracking chemicals in underground sources of drinking water but also their impact on that water that is making it unsafe for use.

According to the university: The research paints a picture of unsafe practices including the dumping of drilling and production fluids containing diesel fuel, high chemical concentrations in unlined pits and a lack of adequate cement barriers to protect groundwater.

This is a wake-up call, said lead author Dominic DiGiulio, a visiting scholar at the Stanford School of Earth, Energy & Environmental Sciences, who used to work for the EPA. Its perfectly legal to inject stimulation fluids into underground drinking water resources. This may be causing widespread impacts on drinking water resources.

He believes that other states which have shallow fracking operations, such as California, Colorado, Montana and North Dakota could also have contaminated water.

DiGiulio argues that Geologic and groundwater conditions at Pavillion are not unique in the Rocky Mountain region. This suggests there may be widespread impact to underground sources of drinking water as a result of unconventional oil and gas extraction.

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May 22 has been declared International Biodiversity Day by the United Nations. It gives us an opportunity to become aware of the rich biodiversity that has been evolved by our farmers as co-creators with nature. It also provides an opportunity to acknowledge the threats to our biodiversity and our rights from IPR monopolies and monocultures.

Just as our Vedas and Upanishads have no individual authors, our rich biodiversity, including seeds, have been evolved cumulatively. They are a common heritage of present and future farm communities who have evolved them collectively. I recently joined tribals in Central India who have evolved thousands of rice varieties for their festival of Akti. Akti is a celebration of the relationship of the seed and the soil and the sharing of the seed as a sacred duty to the Earth and the community.

Why do farmers adopt Bt cotton which harms them? But farmers do not choose Bt cotton, Shiva writes. They have to buy Bt cotton as all other choices are destroyed. Photo credit: Kimberly Vardeman / Flickr

In addition to learning about seeds from women and peasants, I had the honor to participate and contribute to international and national laws on biodiversity. I worked closely with our government in the run-up to the 1992 Rio Earth Summit, when the UN Convention on Biodiversity (CBD) was adopted by the international community. Three key commitments in the CBD are protection of the sovereign rights of countries to their biodiversity, the traditional knowledge of communities and biosafety in the context of genetically-modified foods.

The UN appointed me on the expert panel for the framework for the biosafety protocol, now adopted as the Cartagena protocol on biosafety. I was appointed a member of the expert group to draft the National Biodiversity Act, as well as the Plant Variety and Farmers Rights Act. We ensured that farmers rights are recognized in our laws. A farmer shall be deemed to be entitled to save, use, sow, resow, exchange, share or sell his farm produce, including seed of a variety protected under this act, in the same manner as he was entitled before the coming into force of this act, it says.

We have worked for the past three decades to protect the diversity and integrity of our seeds, the rights of farmers and resist and challenge the illegitimate IPR monopolies of companies like Monsanto which do genetic engineering to claim patents and royalties.

Patents on seeds are unjust and unjustified. A patent or any intellectual property right is a monopoly granted by society in exchange for benefits. But society has no benefit in toxic, non-renewable seeds. We are losing biodiversity and cultural diversity, we are losing nutrition, taste and quality of our food. Above all, we are losing our fundamental freedom to decide what seeds we will sow, how we will grow our food and what we will eat.

Seed as a common good has become a commodity of private seed companies. Unless protected and put back in the hands of our farmers, it is at risk of being lost forever.

Across the world, communities are saving and exchanging seeds in diverse ways, appropriate to their context. They are creating and recreating freedomfor the seed, for seed keepers and for all life and all people. When we save the seed, we also reclaim and rejuvenate knowledgethe knowledge of breeding and conservation, the knowledge of food and farming. Uniformity as a pseudo-scientific measure has been used to establish unjust IPR monopolies on seed. Once a company has patents on seeds, it pushes its patented crops on farmers in order to collect royalties.

Humanity has been eating thousands and thousands (8,500) of plant species. Today we are being condemned to eat GM corn and soya in various forms. Four primary cropscorn, soya, canola and cottonhave all been grown at the cost of other crops because they generate a royalty for every acre planted. For example, India had 1,500 different kinds of cotton, now 95 percent of the cotton planted is GMO Bt Cotton for which Monsanto collects royalties. More than 11 million hectares of land are used to cultivate cotton, of which 9.5 million hectares is used to grow Monsantos Bt variety.

A common question is: Why do farmers adopt Bt cotton which harms them? But farmers do not choose Bt cotton. They have to buy Bt cotton as all other choices are destroyed. Monsanto establishes its seed monopoly through three mechanisms:

1. Make farmers give up old seed, called seed replacement in industry jargon.

2. Influence public institutions to stop breeding. According to information received through RTI, the Central Cotton Research Institute did not release cotton varieties for Vidharba after Monsanto entered with its Bt cotton seeds.

3. Lock Indian companies into licensing agreements.

These coercive, corrupt mechanisms are now falling apart. Navdanya created community seed banks and farmers have access to open pollinated, native organic seeds. The CCIR, under the leadership of Dr. Keshav Kranti, is developing native cotton varieties. Finally, the government also intervened to regulate Monsantos monopoly. On March 8, it passed a seed price control order regulating the price of seed under the Essential Commodities Act.

Monsanto and the biotechnology industry challenged the government order. We were impleaded in the Karnataka high court. On May 3, Justice Bopanna gave an order reaffirming that the government has a duty to regulate seed prices and Monsanto does not have a right to seed monopoly. Biodiversity and small farmers are the foundation of food security, not corporations like Monsanto which are destroying biodiversity and pushing farmers to suicide. These crimes against humanity must stop. That is why on Oct. 16, International Food Day, we will organize a Monsanto Tribunal at The Hague to try Monsanto for its various crimes.

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(Madam Secretary / Facebook)"Madam Secretary" season 3 airs Sundays at 9 p.m. on CBS.

The US Ambassador to Algeria dies at the time when Elizabeth wants to quell the civil war in the upcoming episode 2, titled "The Linchpin," of the third season of the American political drama "Madam Secretary."

Algeria is on the edge of a civil war so Elizabeth (Tea Leoni) decides to start negotiating for a regime change. However, her plans will not turn as smooth as she expected it to be when the US Ambassador to Algeria, Rory (Dakin Matthews), dies unexpectedly.

Henry (Tim Daly), on the other hand, is busy fighting to save religious antiquities in Algeria. This is after he learns that the pieces are being destroyed by Hizb al-Shahid. Meanwhile, the McCord children learn their own security detail after Jason's (Evan Roe) computer gets hacked.

The promo trailer for "The Linchpin" shows Elizabeth learning that someone is hacking the McCord children. According to the report from the security, it starts when the kids' school phone system gets hacked. She receives a message from the hacker saying, "We can get to your family anytime."

Meanwhile, actor Erich Bergen, who plays Blake Moran, revealed that some of the show's storyline reflects the real world. However, the US presidential campaign is not inspired from the real US elections.

"There is no character that is based on, or similar to, a Trump character on Madam Secretary because I don't know if that type of character would be believed in a fictional setting," he explained to Australian Associated Press. "I think he's so unique to reality which is why he's gotten as far as he has, it's because he is so shocking. I don't know if you put it in a fictional setting, I don't know if it would be as believed."

The actor also added that the show is more focused on running the country and less on the political campaign.

"Madam Secretary" season 3 airs Sundays at 9 p.m. on CBS.
From 10am today, 77,000 students sat the only compulsory exam of the HSC  English.The HSC, which runs over three weeks, will be the last before sweeping new changes to the HSC come into effect next year.Meanwhile, the NSW Education Minister, Adrian Piccoli , has wished the states students good luck, reminding them not to worry as the exams are "not the be-all and end-all".To gain the HSC, students must have completed a minimum of 12 units of preliminary courses and 10 units of HSC courses. All courses in the HSC have a unit value  the majority being 2 units.Students must satisfactorily complete the preliminary course  usually studied during Year 11  before they are eligible to commence the corresponding HSC course, which is usually studied during Year 12.An overhaul of the exam, announced in July, will see Year 9 students require a mark of Band 8 or higher in their NAPLAN tests to qualify for their HSC in Year 12.There have been concerns that the changes may cause more harm than good, with parents and principals warning that the prerequisite could see more than half the states students fail at the first hurdle to get their HSC.Labors education spokesman, Jihad Dib, said the changes place enormous pressure on students from the age of 14 to pass the exam.Meanwhile, one mental health organisation, ReachOut, has launched online resources for parents of students who are struggling with HSC-related stresses.ReachOut chief executive, Jono Nicholas, told The Educator that the organisation's digital platforms see an influx of activity in the lead up to the HSC, with more than 130,000 people having accessed its study and stress related content last year.We launched a support service for parents of teenagers earlier this year, ReachOut Parents , and one of the top issues parents told us they wanted help with was their kids school and study stress, so we know this is an issue parents are concerned about, he said.Parents want advice on how they can best support their teenagers, without adding to the pressure that students are already experiencing.Nicholas pointed out that some parents can be just as, if not more, stressed than their teenagers.We've put together some really practical tips and advice on how you can support your kids through this time, as well as keeping things in perspective, he said.Although it's important that students do their best, their year 12 marks do not define them - there are many different options, opportunities and career paths and there is not just one path to their future.In a statement in the lead-up to todays exams, BOSTES president, Tom Alegounarias, said the certificate was a highly regarded international credential that would prepare them well for their chosen careers after school.While some students will feature on our merit lists and have their projects and performances selected for the HSC showcases, all students should be proud of their achievements, he said.Students who will complete their HSC this year will receive a highly regarded international credential that has prepared them well for whatever path they choose when they leave school. I wish you all the best.The exams finish on Friday, November 4.
In June 2013, a still jet-lagged Hillary Clinton addressed the Clinton Global Initiative America meeting in Chicagoher first major appearance since stepping down as U.S. secretary of state four months earlier.

She announced that early-childhood development, which ha[s] been close to my heart my entire adult life, would be part of her portfolio at the philanthropy, now that she had entered private life.

Clintons time as a private citizen was brief. But the initiative she launched at that meetingToo Small to Failcontinues its work, focused on encouraging parents to see themselves as their childrens first teachers and enlisting such partners as hospitals, television writers, playground developers, and city-based philanthropies. In the case of a Clinton victory in next months presidential election, Too Small to Fails profile could rise even higher by virtue of its focus on domestic issues. Former President Bill Clinton has said the foundation would stop taking foreign money if his wife were to become president. The foundations high-profile international work would spin off to other organizations, leaving its focus on issues within the borders of the United States.

Healthy kids and loving families need no economic justification. Thats what everyone should want and work for, Hillary Clinton said at that 2013 meeting, in a speech that was seen as laying the foundation for future political aspirations.

But ask yourself: If we dont apply what we know to helping our kids to the best of their abilities, to take their role in our country and the world, are we really going to be able maintain the American dream?

Too Small to Fail is a joint project between the foundation and The Opportunity Institute in Berkeley, Calif. The Opportunity Institute is a nonprofit spinoff of Next Generation, a San Francisco-based policy and communications organization that was the original partner with the Clinton Foundation on the initiative.

Funding for Too Small to Fail comes from the two organizations. The operating expenses are handled by the Clinton Foundation and in 2014 were a portion of a $13.8 million line item for other programs. The Opportunity Institute, as a new organization, is still in the process of compiling income and expenses for the Internal Revenue Service. Next Generation, the former Too Small to Fail partner, spent about $5 million on child and family issues in 2014, which included both Too Small to Fail and California-focused work.

At 3 years old, the initiative is youngbut it has developed an extensive strategy to envelop families in the message that talking, reading, and singing to their young children, from birth, is essential.

We were influenced by new brain-science research and about the critical role that parents play in their childrens early development, said Patti Miller, who co-directs Too Small to Fail from the foundation side. Ann OLeary, a senior policy adviser to the Clinton campaign, was Too Small to Fails first director at the foundation.

Kara Dukakis, who directs Too Small to Fail efforts for The Opportunity Institute, said that evolved pretty quickly to involve the role of communities. How can we weave into the fabric of communities these opportunities to engage in these activities?

Marketing Their Efforts

Borrowing terms used in politics and in advertising, the initiative has organized its work around an air game"mass media messagingand a ground game, or person-to-person efforts. The Clinton Foundation oversees more of the marketing effort, while the Opportunity Institute has focused on some of the partnerships with various groups that work directly with families.

Reaching the Youngest Children Too Small to Fail, a 3-year-old initiative of the Bill, Hillary and Chelsea Clinton Foundation and the Opportunity Institute, provides information and tools to encourage caregivers to talk, sing, and read to their children. Among its projects: Pequenos y Valiosos

(Young and Valuable)

A campaign that focuses on Hispanic families by showing literacy-enrichment public-service announcements on Univision. Hospital Partnerships

At the UCSF Benioff Childrens Hospital Oaklands primary-care clinic in California, pediatricians deliver messages about early brain development at well-baby visits, along with tote bags full of tools for parents to take home. In 2016, the initiative started delivering information on early math development as well. Kids and Family Spotify Channel

In August 2016, Spotify, the music and video streaming service, relaunched its Kids Category, called Kids and Family, with help from the initiative, which provided information and research on early-childhood education and expertise on early brain and language development. Wash Time Is Talk Time

Five thousand coin laundries nationwide are distributing early-literacy activity/coloring pages and parent tip sheets. They also feature posters outlining language-development tips. Television Messaging

The initiative has collaborated with Hollywood writers and producers to incorporate literacy and language-development information into prime-time network and cable programming, including Law & Order: SVU, Jane the Virgin, Orange Is the New Black, and The Fosters. Source: Too Small to Fail

For the air game, how do we reach parents where they are? Miller said. One important connection was considered to be through television. So initiative leaders met with television writers and producers to ask them if they would consider embedding messages about talking, reading, and singing in popular television shows.

That led to scenes such as in Orange Is the New Black, when the character Maria Ruiz tells her taciturn boyfriend he has to talk to their baby to help with her development. He surprises Maria by chatting with the baby during a prison visit. Mommys staying right here, so we can see her, kiss her, and tell her all about our day, he says.

Similar messages have also been incorporated into other prime-time programming, such as Law & Order: SVU, Jane the Virgin, and Criminal Minds.

Another focus of this work has been a partnership with Univision, a public-service campaign called Pequenos y Valiosos, or Young and Valuable. The campaign features announcements and other events aimed at a Spanish-speaking audience. Celebrity mothers have also participated in English-language PSAs.

The ground game encourages parental interaction through trusted messengers and high-quality tools, such as books and other materials that encourage parents to use every opportunity to interact with their children, said Dukakis, with The Opportunity Institute.

That has meant renovating or building playgrounds that have brightly colored prompts for parents to talk to their children about shapes or colors.

The messaging has extended to other places not commonly associated with literacy, such as coin laundries. Too Small to Fail joined with a pre-existing initiative in Arkansas to offer story time at laundromats, where parents often bring their families and that have a lot of forced downtime.

Vicki Collet, an assistant education professor at the University of Arkansas, was the co-founder of the Laundry & Literacy Project in northwest Arkansas, which started in 2011. The foundation enlisted her help as an adviser for an expanded project called Wash Time Is Talk Time, which provided colorful signs and coloring sheets to interested coin-laundry owners.

One benefit from our collaboration is that [Too Small to Fail] is really good at pulling together a lot of resources, Collet said. For example, the foundation was able to get a publisher to donate books to distribute to children.

Enlisting Medical Partners

Another effort has been centered at UCSF Benioff Childrens Hospital Oakland, a childrens hospital in California.

Susan Greenwald, the manager of community-partnership programs for the hospital, said the organization was already involved with the nonprofit Reach Out and Read, but that partnership was limited to the hospitals primary-care facility.

That had not had as much of a hospitalwide impact, Greenwald said. What we tried to do with Too Small to Fail is to see how we could promote the theme hospitalwide.

Visitors to the hospital now can see prompts everywhere similar to the ones used on the playgrounds and in the coin laundries, encouraging parents to talk to children. The hospital also distributes books, T-shirts, and other learning materials during well-baby visits.

Greenwald says that public-information campaigns like that are not new. This effort attempts to take all the science and boil it down to one message: Talking is teaching.

This is more like the back to sleep campaign, or when we try to educate people to stop smoking or about immunization. Its reaching a broad group of people with a very simple message, Greenwald said.

Too Small to Fail, unlike other early-childhood advocacy organizations, has not gone beyond this message to press for political changes in policies. But advisory board member Dana Suskind, the founder and director of the Thirty Million Words initiative, said that focusing on literacy and closing the word gap between affluent and lower-income children means investing in parents as well.

Parents can build their childrens brain without a doubt, but they cant do it without the right supports, said Dr. Suskind, who learned of the importance of talk though her work as a cochlear-implant surgeon. This is a strong mandate that we have to invest in families.
In mid-August, the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released a report that, despite its startling findings, received only a modest amount of press coverage. It included the following statistics:

 More than 40 percent of lesbian, gay, and bisexual students surveyed had seriously considered suicide in the previous year, and nearly 30 percent had attempted it.

 Thirty-four percent of lesbian, gay, and bisexual students were bullied at school, compared with 19 percent of other students, and 28 percent were bullied online, twice the rate of their heterosexual peers.

 More than one in 10 lesbian, gay, and bisexual students missed at least one day of school in the previous month because they felt unsafe.

 About 60 percent of lesbian, gay, and bisexual students said they had felt sad or hopeless for extended periods of time.

The CDC report was based on data from the 2015 national Youth Risk Behavior Survey, completed by more than 15,000 students in grades 9-12, plus 25 state and 19 school district surveys. It was the first report to document nationally what smaller studies have been finding for years: Lesbian, gay, and bisexual adolescents are at dramatically higher risk than their heterosexual peers for suicidal thinking and behaviors, depression, bullying at school , and other health and psychological issues.

Now that the biennial national survey has finally introduced questions about sexual orientation, a change researchers in the field have been advocating for years, we know conclusively that theres a national problem. We also know that schools across the country are not doing enough to address it.

Certainly the persistent epidemics of suicide and bullying that affect LGBT youthsmost of whom, it should also be noted, show tremendous resiliencedo not stem from their experiences in schools alone. Families, communities, the media, and conservative politicians send negative messages to youths every day about what it means to be lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender. As the sector of society charged with educating our nations young people, schools are responsible for ensuring that all of themgay and straight, transgender and cisgenderunderstand what being LGBT means beyond the slurs they might hear in the hallway or the stereotypes they might see in music videos.

For the past two or three decades, most of the work on LGBT issues in schoolsif they are addressed at allhas focused on safety. Policies against bullying, the monitoring of anti-LGBT language, and the designation of LGBT safe zones all send a message to LGBT students that they have a right to safe space in their schools. These measures have made a life-saving difference to many, many students.

Is a safe space in a part of the school or for part of the week the only thing to which LGBT students are entitled?"

But schools almost exclusive focus on safety also raises some important questions. Would we accept safety as the standard of practice for any other population of students? If a tolerant teachers classroom or a gay-straight alliance meeting is considered a safe space for LGBT students, have school officials done their job? What about the rest of the building? Is a safe space in a part of the school or for part of the week the only thing to which LGBT students are entitled? What about the knowledge and skills they need to develop a positive sense of their identities as LGBT people?

Despite the important progress we have made in recent decades in making schools safer for LGBT studentsand we still have a long way to go on that frontsilence is still the default in most schools. The most recent National School Climate Survey by the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network, or GLSEN, found that fewer than one in five students heard any positive mention of LGBT issues in any of their classes; fewer than half had access to LGBT-related library resources ; and roughly half still said their schools didnt have gay-straight alliances.

Transgender students, who are problematically still not represented in the national CDC survey, face the greatest harassment risk among all LGBT students, according to GLSENs survey, and theres evidence that their risk for suicide exceeds even that of lesbian, gay, and bisexual youths.

The current national debate about transgender students rights seems to have reduced the issue to arguments about bathrooms, as if this were the central aspect of what it means to be transgender. The silence about transgender identity and people in schools does little to expand students understanding.

Fortunately, some schools and districts are moving the discourse on LGBT issues beyond that of mere safety and setting examples for the rest of the country to follow. In 2013, I began conducting research for a book called Safe Is Not Enough and found inspiring examples of teachers, administrators, librarians, counselors, and students whose work embodies this philosophy.

At a Massachusetts high school, half of all studentsLGBT and otherwisewere taking a course in LGBT literature before they graduated. In communities in Missouri and Utah, students were learning how to work with elected officials on advancing LGBT rights. In Washington state and Chicago, elementary school students were learning about gender stereotypes and the diversity of families. In Los Angeles, teachers were receiving clear guidelines about respecting the rights of transgender students in ways that related not only to bathrooms , but also to their work in classrooms.

I am optimistic that there are educators all over the country who are ready to work toward a new standard, who want to make their schools more than just safe for LGBT students. They just dont know where to begin.

If all we keep aiming for is to keep LGBT students safe, we will fall short of even this modest goal. But if we aim instead to affirm and celebrate LGBT identities, maybe we can come one step closer to creating schools where everyone can achieve to their full potential.
Even in the internet age, the lowly telephone remains an indispensable tool in the day-to-day operations of nearly every school.

But thanks to the double whammy of declining state aid and disappearing federal subsidies for such legacy technology services, districts nationwide are scrambling to fill a roughly $359 million hole in their collective budgets, according to a new analysis by the Edmond, Okla.-based consulting firm Funds for Learning.

The problem will likely get worse before it gets better, said John Harrington, the groups CEO.

Schools are nowhere near being in a position to just cut their phone lines, Harrington said. If they need to get a hold of a parent, theyre not going to message them on Facebook.

The challenge stems from a 2014 decision by the Federal Communications Commission to modernize the federal E-rate program, which helps schools and libraries cover the cost of telecommunications services. Like other universal service programs, the E-rate has transitioned to focus on support for high-speed internet connections and internal wireless networks. The changes have been a boon for many districts making digital upgrades, especially because the FCC raised the E-rates annual spending cap more than 60 percent, to $3.9 billion.

But the added support for broadband has come with a cost: diminishing support for older telecommunications technologies upon which the K-12 sector still relies heavily.

The combined cost of the voice services required by the nation schools and libraries has held fairly steady over the past five years, at roughly $1 billion per year, according to the Funds for Learning analysis. But the portion of that need covered by the E-rate program has declined from $799 million in 2014 to $326 million this year, the group found.

Declining E-Rate Support As the Federal Communications Commission has increased support for high-speed internet and wireless connections, schools and libraries have had to pay more out of pocket for voice service and equipment.

How It Hurts

Jon Wilkins, the chief of the FCCs wireless-telecommunications bureau, acknowledged the budget challenge facing schools.

But he described the switch in support from phones to broadband as an intentional policy decision by the FCC.

This is a feature, not a bug, Wilkins said.

The 19,000-student Putnam City district, located in and around Oklahoma City, offers a prime example of the bind many schools face.

Back in 2010, the district began reinvesting in both classroom technology and upgrades to its broadband infrastructure. More than 16,000 iPads are now available to Putnam City students and staff members. The district has a high-speed, 3 Gigabit-per-second connection to the internet at an extremely affordable rate. A fiber-optic cable network links all of Putnam Citys buildings, and there is now high-speed Wi-Fi access available across the district.

The E-rate played a huge role in that digital transformation: $2.3 million in federal subsidies through the program covered about half those infrastructure upgrades, said Cory Boggs, the districts executive director of information-technology services.

Putnam City schools still need phones, though. Until recently, the E-rate helped Boggs pay for them.

From 2012 to 2014, he said, the program covered between 82 percent and 85 percent of the districts local, long-distance, and cellular servicea total of more than $90,000 per year.

During the 2015-16 school year, however, that support dropped to $46,000, the result of the FCCs planned phase downby 20 percent per yearof federal subsidies for legacy services.

This school year, the support will decline even further. By 2019-20, E-rate subsidies for phone service will go away altogether.

The money to cover the gap, Boggs said, all comes out of my budget.

Thats especially challenging, he said, because Oklahoma lawmakers have slashed per-pupil state spending on public education by 24 percent since 2008. During that time, Putnam Citys enrollment has grown significantly, but state aid to the district has dropped by more than $400 per child, and the percentage of the districts overall operating budget covered by state revenue has declined from 50 percent to 43 percent.

Such austerity has trickled down to individual departments, including technology, where discretionary spending has been slashed in half in recent years.

For Boggs, that meant not refilling two staff positions that went vacant, asking maintenance and IT staff to pay for or provide their own cellphones to use at work, and planning for the possibility that some technology problems will have to go unrepaired by the end of the school year.

Not paying for local and long-distance phone service was not an option, Boggs said.

We still have tons of parents calling in every day, he said. The phone has not become antiquated.

Continued Budget Pain

Schools and libraries across the country feel the same way, said Harrington of Funds for Learning.

Back in 2014, the E-rate modernization order called on the FCC to evaluate the impact of decreasing voice support for schools and libraries after the second year of its planned phase down in support. Hoping to spur that process, Funds for Learning in June conducted a national survey of more than 1,000 E-rate applicants. Nearly half said they hoped to see support for phone and voice service reinstated.

But Wilkins of the FCC said no such plans are under consideration.

Instead, he said, the commission expects to see a shift toward more data-based services that rely on computer networks instead of phone lines.

Were confident that the market is going to sort this out over the next cycle or two, Wilkins said. More and more vendors will adjust, and new solutions will be offered.

Harrington isnt so sure. Many schools have for years been transitioning to such voice-over IP systems, but such technology can typically only be applied to internal district communications, he maintained. Furthermore, Harrington said, the E-rate program no longer provides subsidies for the physical equipment that such systems require.

For their part, Boggs and other school technology leaders say they understand and support the FCCs overall focus on high-speed broadband.

But that doesnt make their short-term crunch any easier.

Weve got a limited budget, Boggs said, but the phone is just one of those things you cant live without.
Health Minister to face Translarna question



Finley Hesketh

The Island's new Health Minister will be asked about funding a drug that could help a local boy with Duchenne.

Seven-year-old Finley Hesketh has the rare muscle-wasting condition, but the Manx Government does not fund Translarna - a drug which could help slow the progression of his condition.

MLC David Cretney will put a question to Kate Beecroft when Tynwald sits next week, asking the Douglas South MHK whether her department will review its decision not to fund the drug.

The drug is available on the NHS in the UK, resulting in Finley's parents indicating that they would move away if they are unable to secure Translarna funding locally.
Chief Minister discusses Brexit with other nations



Chief Minister Howard Quayle MHK

The Chief Minister is back from a two-day trip to Brussels to discuss the UK's withdrawal from the European Union.

Howard Quayle travelled to Belgium on Monday to discuss how Brexit could effect the Isle of Man.

The MHK for Middle talked to representatives from the UK Government, European Parliament and other states, including Gibraltar and the Faroe Islands.

The Manx Government has spent the last six months assessing how the UK's departure from the EU could effect the Island, and the risks and opportunities that come with it.

The UK is expected to formally start the exit process in March next year.
1

The Reaper

"You want scary stories? Okay. So this happened when I was 21." recalls 56-year-old Anne Jismah. "My best friend had to get some stitches on her forehead and I was getting bored, so I decided to explore the hospital she was in. I had crossed only 2 rooms when something in the 3rd one caught my eye. This girl, who couldnt have been more than 7, was lying on a hospital bed with dozens of medical tubes going inside her body. And right then, I saw a black shadow hovering over her for maybe 4 seconds.

I rubbed my eyes and the shadow was gone. But so was the girl! The monitor started beeping because her heart rate had flat lined, and to this day I still believe it was the Reaper who was sucking in her soul, taking it away to God to be judged."
The water bill was a bit smudged. Or so I thought since the amount payable seemed to be in five figures. I was supposed to pay 30,156 by such-and-such a date. I thought that there had been a mistake. However, getting the whole thing sorted out gave me an opportunity to see how something seems to have changed with the way the bureaucratic machine now works.

It turns out that the tenants living in the flat for the last seven years had stopped paying the water bill since 2010. Add to that late charges, surcharge, etc, and pretty soon we were talking real money. I didnt even know where to start trying to get this issue resolved. So I checked out the website of the Delhi Jal Board and got the address of the local water office. Except that I had no idea of its location. So I, without any hope, called the landline number of the officer mentioned on the website. And lo and behold, not only was the phone answered but I was also very politely told what I needed to do and where exactly the office is located.
MUNICH, October 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --



- Three abstracts highlight the economic burden of Venous Thromboembolism (VTE) in

Europe and provide new insights into VTE treatment with LIXIANA(R)(edoxaban)

- Daiichi Sankyo is committed to enhancing the understanding, prevention and

treatment of VTE, and is partnering with the International Society on Thrombosis and

Haemostasis for World Thrombosis Day, 13 October

Daiichi Sankyo Europe GmbH Group (hereafter, Daiichi Sankyo) today announced the presentation of three abstracts at the International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research (ISPOR) EU Congress, 29 October - 2 November 2016, in Vienna, Austria. The data will provide insight into the safety and efficacy of once-daily LIXIANA (edoxaban) compared to rivaroxaban for the treatment of VTE[1] and the cost-effectiveness of edoxaban, compared to warfarin.[2] Analyses of health-economic data from the PREvention oF thromboembolic events - European Registry in Venous ThromboEmbolism (PREFER in VTE) registry will also be presented, giving insights into the economic burden of pulmonary embolism (PE) in terms of mortality, healthcare resource utilisation, health-related quality of life (HrQoL), and loss of productivity.[3]

Details of the abstracts being presented at the ISPOR EU Congress are included below:



- The economic burden of pulmonary embolism in Europe (Gumbs P, et al.) - 8:45 -

14:15, Monday 31 October

- An analysis of the efficacy and safety of edoxaban in comparison with rivaroxaban in

the treatment of deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolism (van Hout B, et al.) -

15.15 - 19.15, Tuesday 1 November

- Cost-effectiveness of edoxaban compared to warfarin for the treatment and secondary

prevention of venous thromboembolism in the UK (Clay E, et al.) - 15:15 - 19:15,

Tuesday 1 November

"We are pleased that additional scientific evidence can help to simplify the use of once-daily Lixiana in the treatment of VTE, and to create awareness on the complexities of the economic burden it poses," said Dr Juan Carlos Jaramillo, Senior Vice President, Head of Market Access and Medical Affairs. "As an official partner of World Thrombosis Day, Daiichi Sankyo is committed to promoting broader global awareness of VTE, as we work to reduce the burden of the disease."

VTE is an umbrella term for two related conditions, deep vein thrombosis (DVT) and pulmonary embolism (PE). DVT is a disease caused by a blood clot found in deep veins, usually within the lower leg, thigh or pelvis, although they can occur in other parts of the body as well.[4] PE occurs when part of a clot detaches and lodges in the pulmonary arteries, causing a potentially fatal condition.[5]

VTE is a major cause of morbidity and mortality.[6] In 25 EU countries VTE events exceed 1.5 million every year and the annual incidence of VTE in developed countries is estimated to be 1-3 per 1,000 adults.[7],[8] A prior incidence of a VTE is the most significant risk factor of a second occurrence, and after the age of 50, the risk doubles every ten years.[9]

To learn more about VTE, an interactive infographic can be viewed here: http://af-vte.thisinfographic.com/wtd

About Edoxaban Edoxaban is an oral, once-daily, direct factor Xa (pronounced "Ten A") inhibitor. Factor Xa is one of the key components responsible for blood clotting, so inhibiting this makes the blood thin and less prone to clotting.

The edoxaban Summary of Product Characteristics can be viewed here:enlace .

About Extensive Clinical Research Program for Edoxaban Daiichi Sankyo is committed to expanding scientific knowledge about edoxaban, as demonstrated through our research programs evaluating its use in a broad range of cardiovascular conditions, patient types and clinical settings in atrial fibrillation (AF) and venous thromboembolism (VTE). The extensive edoxaban research program include multiple RCTs (randomized, controlled trials), registries and non-interventional studies, with the goal of generating new clinical and real-world-data regarding its use in AF and VTE populations. Daiichi Sankyo expects that more than 100,000 patients will participate in the edoxaban clinical research program, including completed, ongoing and future research.

The RCTs include:



- ENSURE-AF (EdoxabaN vs. warfarin in subjectS UndeRgoing cardiovErsion of Atrial

Fibrillation), in AF patients undergoing electrical cardioversion

- ENTRUST-AF PCI (EdoxabaN TReatment versUS VKA in paTients with AF undergoing PCI), in

AF patients undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention

- Hokusai-VTE Cancer (Edoxaban in Venous Thromboembolism Associated with Cancer), in

patients with cancer and an acute VTE event

- ELDERCARE-AF (Edoxaban Low-Dose for EldeR CARE AF patients), in elderly AF patients in

Japan

In addition, global and regional registry studies will provide important real-world-data about the use of edoxaban and other oral anticoagulants in everyday practice, and include:



- ETNA-AF (Edoxaban Treatment in routiNe clinical prActice in patients with non

valvular Atrial Fibrillation)

- ETNA-VTE (Edoxaban Treatment in routiNe clinical prActice in patients with Venous

ThromboEmbolism)

- EMIT-AF/VTE (Edoxaban Management In diagnostic and Therapeutic procedures-AF/VTE);

- Prolongation PREFER in AF (PREvention oF thromboembolic events - European Registry) in

patients with AF

- ANAFIE (All Nippon AF In Elderly) Registry in Japan;

We are committed to adding to the scientific body of knowledge around edoxaban in a variety of AF and VTE patients, including those who are vulnerable.

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(CONTINUA)
Some cultural ideas are like viruses. A noxious notion starts one place and soon it spreads like a, well, cultural plague.

That is why the proposal from Rotterdam to subject some women to mandatory contraception is so wrong and concerning. From the story in The Independent:

Rotterdam city council has called for mothers, judged to be incapable to raise children, to be given compulsory contraception by court order. The Dutch council has launched a voluntary contraception drive for 160 women believed to be at risk due to learning difficulties, psychological issues or addiction, nrc.nl reports. The alderman responsible for youth welfare, Hugo De Jonge, has called for judges to be given the power to force incompetent mothers to use contraception such as getting the coil fitted

Forcing people who have committed no crime to take medication or be subjected a medical procedure  not for their benefit but to serve a perceived social purpose  is tyranny. Indeed, I am reminded of the forced mental health treatment to which Soviet dissenters were infamously subjected.

The idea is steeped in eugenics. Only the fit  as determined by those in power  should be allowed to have babies.

Technocracy always leads to authoritarian impulses. Always.

Photo: Rotterdam waterfront, by YorickGroen [GFDL or CC-BY-SA-3.0], via Wikimedia Commons.

Cross-posted at The Corner.
Genetic discovery helps explain Irish giant folklore

Scientists at the University of Exeter Medical School were part of genetics research which could help explain the legend of giants in Irish folklore.

The study, led by Barts and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry, Queen Mary University of London, in collaboration with the universities of Exeter, Belfast and Dublin and University College London as well as 17 other Institutions, studied patients with the hormonal disorder acromegaly and tested DNA samples from the general public to identify carriers of a gene predisposing to childhood-onset acromegaly often leading to gigantism.

They undertook an ambitious and widely collaborative study, enlisting the invaluable help of patients and the general public to set the study up in Northern Ireland and Republic of Ireland. They identified a particular mutation in Irish patients and now searched for carriers of this gene in Ireland. The frequency of the AIP mutation (R304*) was found to be surprisingly high in Mid-Ulster, Northern Ireland. The data suggest that all Irish patients with this particular mutations (18 families and 81 carriers) are descendants from the same ancestor, who lived in the area 2,500 years ago. Out of the identified 81 carriers 31 had developed acromegaly and over half of these had gigantism (18 patients, 58%). The clinical importance of this study is that we can now screen family members and carriers can be followed to pick disease up early. Our larger study has showed that 24% of seemingly unaffected gene carriers in fact have early signs of acromegaly, and some were immediately operated as a result of the genetic screening process.

This study may also give a scientific explanation for the numerous Gaelic myth of giants in Ireland, where the Giant causeway and the legend of the creation of a lake is strongly linked to giants. In modern history, famous Irish giants include Charles Byrne whose skeleton in the Hunterian Museum, London was studied and DNA sample showed he also carries the same mutation. There is data available of numerous giants living in this area over the last centuries such as Mary Murphy (the Portrush Giantess) and James Kirkland (one of the Potsdam Giants) making this data support a colourful story.

Professor Sian Ellard, of the University of Exeter Medical School, who collaborated on the research said: Irish folklore has numerous stories regarding Irish giants and the remains of some of these giants have been studied in the past. Our data provides an explanation for the observation made by the pioneering anthropologist James C. Prichard in 1826.

Prichard wrote: In Ireland men of uncommon stature are often seen, and even a gigantic form and stature occur there much more frequently than in this island [Britain] . . . We can hardly avoid the conclusion that there must be some peculiarity in Ireland which gives rise to these phenomena.

Importantly, the prediction that 436 carriers and 86 affected individuals may be undiagnosed and alive today in Ireland (or elsewhere among people with Irish ancestors), mean that we may be able in many patients to prevent the onset of gigantism and prevent the premature mortality associated with this potentially severely disfiguring condition.

The paper, entitled Increased Population Risk of AIP-Related Acromegaly and Gigantism in Ireland, was led by Marta Korbonits, at Barts and the London School of Medicine, was published in the journal Human Mutation. It was written by Radian, S., Diekmann, Y., Gabrovska, P., Holland, B., Bradley, L., Wallace, H., Stals, K., Bussell, A.M., McGurren, K., Cuesta, M., Ryan, A.W., Herincs, M., Hernandez-Ramirez, L.C., Holland, A., Samuels, J., Aflorei, E.D., Barry, S., Denes, J., Pernicova, I., Stiles, C.E., Trivellin, G., McCloskey, R., Ajzensztejn, M., Abid, N., Akker, S.A., Mercado, M., Cohen, M., Thakker, R.V., Baldeweg, S., Barkan, A., Musat, M., Levy, M., Orme, S.M., Unterlander, M., Burger, J., Kumar, A.V., Ellard, S., McPartlin, J., McManus, R., Linden, G.J., Atkinson, B., Balding, D.J., Agha, A., Thompson, C.J., Hunter, S.J., Thomas, M.G., Morrison, P.J. & Korbonits, M. Read the full article here.
The New Zealand Government has announced changes to residency permits in a bid to reduce the rising number of people seeking the right to live and work in New Zealand.Some 5,000 fewer residency permits will be granted and the number of points required for a skilled visa is being increased while the parent category is being temporarily closed.  Immigration Minister Michael Woodhouse said the changes are part of a regular review of immigration levels, but some organisations said they were surprised by the announcement.Migrants make a valuable contribution to New Zealand both culturally and economically, and the Government periodically reviews all our immigration settings to make sure they are working as intended, Woodhouse said.While we are confident our immigration settings are working well, the New Zealand Residency Permit is reviewed every couple of years to ensure we have the right number and skill mix of people gaining residence, he added.The planning range for residence approvals for the next two years is being reduced to 85,000 to 95,000 from 90,000 to 100,000 while the number of points required for residence is rising from 140 to 160 points under the Skilled Migrant Category and the number of places for the capped family categories is being reduced from 5,500 to 2,000 per year.Increasing the points required to gain residence will moderate the growth in applications in the Skilled Migrant Category and enable us to lower the overall number of migrants gaining residence. Changes to the Family Category, including temporarily closing the Parent Category to new applications, will also reduce the total number of migrants being granted residence, Woodhouse said.Raising the points will also prioritise access for higher skilled SMC migrants, ensuring we strike the right balance between attracting skilled workers that allow companies to grow and managing demand in a period of strong growth. The announcement demonstrates the Government is taking a responsible, pragmatic approach to managing immigration, he added.There are also further changes looming for visa requirements for South African visitors to New Zealand. From 21 November all visiting South Africans will require visitor visas. According to Immigration New Zealand the changes are being made because of an increase in the number of South African nationals who do not meet New Zealand entry requirements and are being refused entry.There has been an increase in the number of people from South Africa found holding counterfeit or fraudulently obtained passports. The visitor visa application requires evidence of funds, return tickets, and genuine reasons for a visit and this is also being flouted by some who use a visitor visa to get to New Zealand and then look for a job and apply for a more permanent visa, having never intended to return home.
The University of Texas at Arlington and Apache Corp. will partner on a water study around Balmorhea, an environmentally sensitive West Texas oasis where the Houston company announced a massive oil and gas discovery last month.

The study is significant as it is the first time a corporation is inviting scientists to study the entire drilling process as well as the chemicals used to extract oil and gas from the ground. University researchers will have the chance to do baseline tests of groundwater and surface water before the drilling starts.

Scientists will also be able to conduct the first independent research on the muds used during drilling as well as the chemistry of hydraulic fracturing, the process of pumping millions of gallons of water and chemicals at high pressure to crack the rock before sand is added to prop open those fissures, allowing oil and gas to flow up the well.

Its very new and an unprecedented relationship, said Kevin Schug, a UT Arlington chemistry professor and the director of the Collaborative Laboratories for Environmental Analysis and Remediation, known as the CLEAR lab. Its the absolute best way we can have testing alongside the oil and gas process to ensure environmental integrity.

Apache in September announced the discovery of Alpine High in southwestern Reeves County, a part of a the massive Permian Basin where theres been little oil and gas activity. If its successful, it could be the biggest U.S. unconventional oil and gas find in a decade.

The companys acreage is centered around the desert oasis of Balmorhea State Park, built by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930s. Water flows into the park from San Solomon Springs, the largest in a series of interconnected springs in the area, and home to endangered desert fishes, the Pecos gambusia and the Comanche Springs pupfish.

Many residents are concerned about that the oil field activity could damage the artesian spring system. Nearby Comanche Springs in Fort Stockton was pumped dry in the 1960s for agricultural use.

Schug said researchers will test a mix of private water wells, municipal water wells and surface water to look at water quality, timing other sampling with drilling, fracking and production. If there is a problem, researchers can work alongside Apache for remediation.

I hope we prove were providing quality information, Schug said. I think it will set an important precedent for the industry and alleviate fears of the unknown.

UT Arlington plans to write peer-reviewed papers from the water study, though it would have to keep some of the information thats considered a trade secret private  namely the exact chemistry of frac fluid, which the industry has refused to publicly disclose. The initial plan is for the study to take about a year, though Schug said the hope is that the partnership would expand beyond that.

UT Arlingtons CLEAR lab has been looking for an industry partner for such research, but Apache approached it about the water study, which it will help fund.

Apache said it has created exclusion zones and wont drill under Balmorhea State Park, although it owns the mineral rights there. It has also promised not to drill inside or under the city limits of Balmorhea. The companys additionally doing background soil sampling and its own baseline groundwater and surface water testing.

We are in the early stages of this project and want to take proactive steps to protect the sensitive ecology and water resources in the area, said Cal Cooper, director of special projects and emerging technology for Apache, in a news release.

Apache is active in other parts of the Permian Basin, the states largest oil field, where it has tapped brackish aquifers and uses recycled produced water  the water that comes up a well alongside oil and gas  to meet its water needs for fracking. Apache has said it may start a similar program in its Alpine High development.

The Alpine High is in southwestern Reeves County. It holds an estimated 3 billion barrels of oil and 75 trillion cubic feet of rich gas, the company said, in just two of five geologic zones that are stacked on top of each other like a layer cake. Apache leased 182,000 acres in Reeves County in the second half of 2015, roughly 20 percent of the county.

Apache estimates it has 2,000 to 3,000 future drilling locations in Alpine Highs Woodford and Barnett rock formations. The company is working to the west of other companies in Reeves County and in formations where few companies have struck oil. The Barnett Shale is better known in North Texas for the prolific and eponymous gas field around Fort Worth.

The Permian Basin, which has produced 29 billion barrels of oil and is estimated to have more in recoverable reserves, has been pumping oil since the first commercial well in 1921. Last week it had 203 working drilling rigs, 41 percent of those active in the U.S. The Alpine High is in an area where companies have found little oil in the past, though. If the field proves a success, it would expand the footprint of the Permian.

State parks officials initially said the drilling was not a concern, but later told the Houston Chronicle they have not conducted any research to assess the impact of oil drilling on the park or springs. The parks department just recently gathered other scientific studies on the regions aquifers.

Its not just the artesian spring that present a challenge for Apache.

The region around Alpine High also is considered environmentally sensitive because its not far from the University of Texas McDonald Observatory in the Davis Mountains in neighboring Jeff Davis County, where astronomers have worried about the encroaching nighttime lights and sky glow of the 24-hour oil field.

Reeves County is part of a 28,000-square-mile, dark-sky reserve that requires companies to regulate outdoor lighting to protect the McDonald Observatory, whose Hobby-Eberly Telescope atop Mount Fowlkes is the largest in North America. The reserve was created by the Legislature in 2011, though enforcement and awareness have been spotty.

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Apache has been complying with dark skies rules and has met with the observatory. A parallel concern for astronomers is round-the-clock gas flaring, which is common early in the development of a field before things such as pipelines and gas plants are built.

For UT Arlington, the partnership with Apache represents a chance to expand its oil field research.

A recent study from researchers at UT Arlington, Inform Environmental, Tarleton State, Ohio State and the University of North Texas found that water wells in the Eagle Ford Shale oil field in South Texas showed signs of contamination from industrial or agricultural work.

The study, published in the journal Science of the Total Environment, found instances of bubbly water that indicated dissolved gas was present. It also found abnormal chloride/bromide ratios  an indication of contamination  and volatile organic compounds, known as VOCs.

Shale oil production is the biggest industry in South Texas, but it isnt the only one, the study noted. Theres also poultry, cattle and grass production.

Researchers couldnt definitely link the contamination with oil and gas activity because they did not have access to the oil wells or the chemicals that were used in the process of drilling wells and bringing them into production.

jhiller@express-news.net

Twitter: @Jennifer_Hiller
OPECs effort to secure cooperation of nonmembers in a global deal to curb crude output will roll on from Istanbul to Vienna, with Russia on board but growing internal differences over sharing the burden of cuts.

Russia is ready to participate in a technical exchange to set a road map for oil production levels in the Austrian capital on Oct. 29, Energy Minister Alexander Novak told reporters Wednesday. Talks in Istanbul were positive and cooperation between members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and other producers is now well-established, said Qatars Energy Minister Mohammed al Sada.

It takes more than OPEC to stabilize the market  there is a realization that other big players need to do their jobs including U.S. shale producers, United Arab Emirates Energy Minister Suhail Mohammed al Mazrouei said in an interview with Bloomberg television. If we all collectively agree that there is an oversupply, then we need to collectively participate in fixing this. We are sending an open invitation to everyone.

OPEC achieved its main task in Istanbul, as Russias two largest oil producers said they would comply with any government instructions to curb oil output, following President Vladimir Putins backing for a supply deal. That leaves the success or failure of an accord involving producers of half the worlds oil in the hands of an OPEC committee, which will meet later this month to resolve disputes over how much Venezuela and Iraq should pump.

We are confident of Russias commitments, OPEC Secretary-General Mohammed Barkindo said in an interview with Bloomberg television before the meeting in Istanbul on Wednesday. Although its still too early to assign countries individual output targets, momentum is on our side and Barkindo said hes very optimistic that nonmembers will join a deal to reduce output.

The scale of the internal obstacles OPEC must resolve was revealed Wednesday as the groups latest output estimates showed a half-million-barrel difference of opinion over how much two key members are pumping. Venezuelas and Iraqs own figures on how much crude they produced in September were significantly higher than estimates compiled by OPEC from so-called secondary sources. The two nations are disputing the data, which could determine the production target for each country when caps on members output are decided in November.

Ministers from some of the largest oil-producing nations gathered in Turkey this week to discuss ways to end a two-year supply glut. With benchmark Brent crude trading at about $52 a barrel  less than half its price in mid-2014  producers remain under severe economic pressure. After OPECs surprise reversal of its policy of pumping without constraints in Algiers last month, the group was seeking cooperation from other nations, in particular Russia.

Saudi Arabias Energy and Industry Minister Khalid al-Falih left Turkey on Tuesday, having already secured the support of Putin, who said the worlds largest energy exporter was ready to join in joint measures to limit output. The Russian president reiterated in Moscow on Wednesday that he would have no problem freezing output at current levels if OPEC members commit, although he said there was no point talking about a cut.

Representatives of the U.A.E., Qatar, Algeria, Venezuela, Russia, Gabon and Mexico met with Barkindo on Wednesday for further consultative talks.

OPEC agreed in Algiers to have a new production range of 32.5 million to 33 million barrels a day, compared with record output of 33.75 million barrels a day in September. While the broad principles of the deal are in place, its implementation could be challenging.

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The details of how supply will be reduced need to be finalized by the groups next meeting in Vienna on Nov. 30. Nigeria, Libya and Iran are exempt from making cuts because their production has been curtailed by violence or sanctions. A committee has been established to work out how other members will share the burden, meeting for the first time in Vienna on Oct. 28 to 29, Barkindo said.

OPECs internal disagreements have so far focused on an average of crude-production estimates from news organizations and other forecasters that appears in the groups monthly report, commonly known as secondary sources.

Venezuela told OPEC it pumped 2.33 million barrels of crude a day in September, 245,000 more than estimated by secondary sources, which include news organizations such as Platts and Argus Media as well as the International Energy Agency. Iraq said it pumped 4.78 million barrels a day, 320,000 more than the secondary-source view. The total discrepancy for both countries equals the daily production of Ecuador.

Before OPECs committee meets at the end of the month, Barkindo may travel to Baghdad for further discussions, he said Tuesday. Iraq didnt attend the meeting in Istanbul.

Its more likely than ever that there will be some kind of cooperation between OPEC and non-OPEC, said Tamas Varga, an analyst at PVM Oil Associates Ltd. in London. Even if theres an agreement thats reached, the following three months after the agreement will be crucial, when we will actually see production figures.
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The legal feud between San Antonios Vysk Communications Inc. and local investment firm Acequia may be nearing an end.

Vysk, which makes smartphone cases designed to keep calls private, said in a federal court filing Wednesday that the two sides were engaged in settlement discussions and expect to reach a resolution to the dispute in the very near future.

Vysk originally sued Acequia, headed by angel investor Peter Selig, in June in Bexar County District Court, accusing the investment firm of trying to wrestle away control of the company and its intellectual property. However, Vysk dropped the case July 20, about 20 minutes after it received a call from a San Antonio Express-News reporter asking about the case. A Vysk lawyer said the parties had already reached an agreement, but that the paperwork dismissing the case had yet to be filed with the court.

Nevertheless, about a week later, Acequia sued Vysk and CEO Victor Cocchia for fraud in U.S. District Court in San Antonio. Acequia accused them of falsifying and concealing critical information to persuade Selig to invest $1.6 million. Acequia described Vysk as a sinking ship with a rogue chief executive at its helm who has burned through nearly $15 million in innocent investor funds by making poor and reckless business decisions.

The very next day, Vysk refiled its lawsuit in the state court.

Reached Wednesday, Cocchia confirmed the settlement talks.

Were in negotiations, and we hope to have a settlement, he said. After its done, I will be happy to comment as much as possible.

Calls to Selig and his attorney were not immediately returned.

The two sides were scheduled to meet in court today before U.S. Magistrate Judge Henry J. Bemporad on Vysks request to stay the case or toss it altogether. The hearing has been reset for Nov. 9.

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In its request, Vysk said it dropped its lawsuit in good faith, but that Acequia retaliated by suing in a federal court. Acequia filed the suit to generate unfavorable press against Vysk by bringing baseless claims and to force the startup tech company to litigate in two courts, Vysks court filing stated.

In Wednesdays court filing, Vysk reported that settlement papers contemplate a Nov. 1 payment date with a provision that parties dismiss their lawsuits within three days of payment. The amount of the payment was not disclosed. Cocchia declined to address whether Vysk is making the payment to Acequia.

Vysk has developed a smartphone case that is intended to protect a users privacy on calls, keep contacts confidential, provide encrypted text messages, and prevent hackers from accessing a phones camera.

pdanner@express-news.net

Twitter: @AlamoPD
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Saginaw rancher Pete Bonds remembers the Holstein that came down with mad cow disease in December 2003 unaffectionately as the cow who stole Christmas.

Within hours of the Christmas Eve finding, Japan, which accounted for a third of U.S. beef exports, had banned the product for fear of the spread of the deadly brain-wasting disease.

From there, the markets dropped like dominoes: Canada, Mexico, South Korea, Australia, Brazil, Chile, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Peru, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand and China shut their doors. U.S. beef exports fell from $3.2 billion in 2003 to $631 million in 2004.

Thirteen years later, mad cow disease long since has been ruled out as a threat and those markets largely have reopened. The World Trade Organization in 2007 dubbed the U.S. a controlled risk, meaning beef from the country could be safely traded.

U.S. beef producers in 2015 did a brisk $5.8 billion in trade to 112 different countries.

But aside from accepting some byproducts like beef tallow, China, the worlds fastest-growing beef market, has been a holdout, repeatedly dashing producers hopes with contentions it still wasnt convinced U.S. beef was safe.

The recent news that China at long last would  and for real, this time  accept U.S. beef is a potential game changer for ranchers struggling with low prices spurred by a post-drought oversupply of cattle.

I did some figuring after this thing came up, Bonds said of the Sept. 20 assertion by Premier Li Keqiang. If we could increase the consumption of beef in China by 1 ounce per person per week, the United States could not raise that amount of cattle.

The loss of the Chinese market wasnt a huge deal in 2003, when the U.S. exported about $10 million in beef to China, or about 3 percent of total exports.

But over the past few years, growth in household spending in the 1.4 billion-population country has been explosive, and beef has been catching on as an upscale alternative to other proteins. In 2015, the Chinese imported a record $2.3 billion in beef from countries like Australia, New Zealand and Brazil. Lenz said estimates bring this years Chinese beef imports to nearly $2.8 billion.

So why arent Bonds and his cattle country colleagues celebrating their potential share of that market with a Texas-sized woo-hoo?

Chinas holdout wasnt about bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), as mad cow disease is scientifically known, Bonds opined, but about trade and protectionism.

In his view, the Chinese were sore about U.S. inspectors declaring Chinese plants unfit amid numerous scandals  including Chinese-made pet food killing U.S. pets, unsanitary practices at a packaging plant that supplied restaurants including McDonalds and KFC as well as children getting sick from drinking toxic milk.

The USDAs 2014 decision to accept Chinese-processed, U.S.-raised chicken from four plants widely was seen as a trade-off to get China to accept U.S. beef.

Its all tied into politics, agreed Duane Lenz, a market analyst at Cattlefax. Weve been banned because of BSE, and thats not been an issue for several years.  So you have to wonder about that.

The devil now may be in the hormones. If the yet-to-be-decided guidelines call for only the type of hormone-free beef shipped to some European countries, U.S. producers may be priced out of official channels to the Chinese mainland.

Despite the backlash against Big Beef practices of castrating bulls, injecting cattle with growth hormones and fattening them on grain, U.S. and other consumers seem to prefer the arguably more flavorful and tender product, Bonds said.

We just dont raise that much beef without the use of hormones, he said. See, most of the world  they do not use the hormones, but they leave the males intact and run them on grass for 21/2 years. And then the meat you know from those cattle is not near as good as what we produce here.

Li recognized that in remarks he made at the Waldorf Astoria in New York: We also recognize that the United States has very good beef, so why should we deny Chinese customers this choice?

So far, China has said it will accept beef from U.S. cattle thats under 30 months old.

Most U.S. cattle are ready for harvest at about 18 months old, and almost all are slaughtered before they reach 30 months.

The news is certainly positive for the beef industry from the standpoint of Chinas demand for beef, said Joe Schuele, spokesman for the U.S. Meat Export Federation. What we dont know yet is how much of our supply will be eligible. We just dont know what the requirements will be and its really hard to speculate on that.

Like others, Schuele attributed Chinas reopening to U.S. beef largely to the nations growing demand. Chinas availability of agricultural land is small compared to its population, and a dramatic culling of its hog and sow herd due to high grain prices there has cut supplies of its most popular protein.

Growing availability of beef, meanwhile, has consumers receptive to new ways to prepare it.

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You have a really rapidly growing restaurant and modern supermarket sector where beef suppliers have an opportunity to showcase their product, Schuele said. Thats hard to do in a kind of wet market setting. So over the years as China has had more venues where beef could be demonstrated and showcased, I think its touched a lot more people.

It helps that Asian markets tend to favor variety meats as well as the short ribs, short plates and chuck rolls that arent as popular in the U.S.

If U.S. beef shipments resume in China, having one more Asian market buying those cuts is beneficial because that can tend to bolster the price, he said.

USDA export statistics showing exorbitant shipments of beef to Vietnam and Hong Kong support the theory that conventionally raised U.S. beef has for years been reaching Chinese tables via transborder black markets.

David Anderson, an agricultural economist at Texas A&M University, said that even if the rules have yet to be written, Chinas stated intention to once again import U.S. beef is real progress.

It also comes at a time when producers could use more customers.

Record droughts across the U.S. in 2011 and 2012 dried up pastures and forced cattle raisers to sell off their herds. When the supply of animals dwindled to the lowest point in 60 years, meat packing plants such as the L&H Packing Co. plant on San Antonios South Side and the Cargill plant in Plainview shuttered. Beef prices reached record highs in 2014, and cattle raisers optimistically held back heifers and restocked their herds.

Now theres too many cattle, and the feedlots only can wait out the markets for so long until the animals get too fat and need to be slaughtered at a loss. Live cattle prices have plunged by about 40 percent of their highs, even as retailers havent rushed to lower prices for consumers and packers enjoying soaring profits havent rushed to add back laborers and capacity.

The chance to expand our export markets, to take some of that off our market, I think thats something we should be hoping for pretty strongly, Anderson said.

lbrezosky@express-news.net
Associated Press /File photo

WASHINGTON  Federal forecasters see a weak and short-lived La Nina coming, probably next month. The flip side of El Nino changes weather patterns worldwide, often bringing drier weather to the southern parts of the United States, including Texas and drought-struck California.

Climate Prediction Center deputy director Mike Halpert forecasts a 70 percent chance that La Nina will arrive next month. Conditions  mostly cooling of the central Pacific  are almost there, but not quite.
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Architect Tobin Smith and wife Courtney could easily moonlight as curators. Their keen eyes, creativity and design aesthetics have created a spectacular home that is much like a well-edited exhibit.

I always say a home should be like a gallery, not just for the art, but for the people who live there  a showcase for (them as) characters, Tobin said.

Thats one of the reasons the homes furnishings are largely muted colors of nature to allow the art to pop.

Courtney, an art teacher, initially feared the palette wouldnt be lively enough.

Im around color all the time. I like vivid hues, she said. But Tobin convinced me that artwork and objects would add brightness to our walls. He was right. Too many different colors would have taken away from the art. Im really happy with our decision to keep things simple and neutral.

The neutral palette also showcases the architecture of the 1954 Alamo Heights home designed and built by architect Otto Ransleben.

More Information House Rules Courtney and Tobin Smith have learned lessons about displaying art in the home. Leave it open Furniture, books and objects are part of the conversation, too, so not every wall needs to be full. And art needs breathing room just like we do. Guiding light Good lighting is essential. The Smiths decided art placement during the design process, and that guided the selection and location of light fixtures. Study in contrasts If a large two-dimensional piece hangs on one wall, consider something different - such as works in a series or a mounted sculpture - on the adjacent wall. In the Smiths' library, a large abstract painting is paired with a grid of black and white family photos. Cheryl Van Tuyl Jividen See More Collapse

Giving the home its updated contemporary and modern feel required Tobins vision.

It was this postage-stamp lot, a derelict midcentury that everyone thought wed surely tear down. Id been looking for years. It was like a cave, a one-story shoe box on the lower level, he said. A second story had been added in the 1970s.

Over two years, Tobin did the architectural design, the initial demolition  including ripping out carpet, scraping up cork and removing walls  and he acted as the general contractor.

Though the transformation was dramatic, the footprint of the house didnt change. We knew going in we had a solid foundation and good bones, he said.

One change was converting the second story to include what is now an entry, stairwell and master suite. A library and powder room were carved out on the ground floor.

They discovered beautifully grained redwood under brick red paint on the exterior. After a lot of ripping off and sanding, the wood was flipped over and remounted to showcase the grain. Scraps of the wood were turned on edge to create a bar with a cartridge brass facing in the center of the home.

They kept the bare orange DHanis block walls in the main living areas, painting it only when a room demanded something different. It serves as a backdrop for art theyve collected, inherited and received as gifts.

Collecting (art) is our favorite thing to do for birthdays or anniversary gifts or on our travels. Every piece has a story, Tobin said.

Among the pieces are sculptured clay works by Patzy Halliday, Courtneys aunt, and painted works by both their mothers.

One unique piece is a gift a client commissioned local artist Waddy Armstrong to create. It incorporates a collage of leaf photos cut into delicate widespread branches to echo Tobins intent to connect the interior with outdoor spaces.

The art and the style of the home are well-suited for the couples preference of low-riding furniture which affords easy entertaining or time alone watching Netflix while eating dinner on TV trays.
WASHINGTON  As Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton intensify their attacks on each other's business and personal dealings, the presidential campaign has become a mirror of their tangled relationships with Wall Street.

In a change election following the recovery from a devastating recession, nobody wants to be the bankers' candidate. But Trump and Clinton, both New Yorkers with close ties to Wall Street, have plenty to live down.

Clinton has been most on the defensive as Trump has pressed his attacks on her closed-door Wall Street speeches  released by WikiLeaks last Friday  revealing a mixed relationship with the financial industry that largely is backing her.

Trump, the billionaire businessman running as a populist outsider, has implored voters to follow the money, telling a rally in New Hampshire last week that the Wall Street investors who have rigged the regulations against the middle class  they are donating to Hillary Clinton.

Clinton, appealing to the Democrats' traditional middle-class base, has targeted her Republican rival's record of profiting from the very system he says is rigged, turning others pain into his own personal gain, and possibly paying little to nothing in federal income taxes along the way.

In the wake of the 2008 bank bailout  a cataclysmic event that energized the tea party movement  Trump's now-defunct university offered an investor workshop on how to cash in on the greatest property liquidation in history.

The Republican standard-bearer now also favors scrapping some of the banking regulations Congress enacted as a hedge against another financial catastrophe.

In an election that has upended all the conventional rules, however, Wall Street has abandoned its past embrace of the Republican ticket, and instead is betting heavily on Clinton.

Campaign donors from the securities and investment sector have given Clinton's campaign and outside groups that support her more than $58 million so far. That compares to a relatively miniscule $560,000 for Trump, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, which analyzes campaign finance reports.

Part of that yawning gap can be explained by Trump's decision to self-finance much of his campaign throughout the primaries. About a third of the $165 million his campaign had raised through the middle of September was his own money, records show.

His appeals to Wall Street, however, have stepped up since he won the GOP nomination in July, despite his assertion at an Ohio rally in early August that he did not even want Wall Street money, and that if he got any he would send it back.

Theres no evidence Trump has refused any Wall Street money. Theres mounting proof, however, that Wall Street has turned its back on Trump's vows to scrap trade deals, start mass deportations and weaken the Federal Reserve  all policy planks that represent risk and uncertainty.

Business, in general, wants stability, said Euel Elliott, who teaches public policy and political economy at the University of Texas at Dallas.

The shift to Clinton is a stark reversal from 2012, when GOP nominee Mitt Romney, a venture capital executive, took in more than $23 million from the securities and investment industry. That was nearly four times as much as the $6.8 million that went to President Barack Obama.

The tables were turned in 2008, when Wall Street backed Obama to the tune of $16.5 million, almost double the $9.3 million that went to Republican John McCain, who was running with tea party heroine Sarah Palin, a political unknown widely regarded as a risky bet.

To Elliott, the pattern shows Wall Street financiers are more strategic than ideological. They want to hedge their bets, and if they think they have a sure winner, they're going to go to that person.

The same pattern has played in other sectors of the economy, including the energy sector, which has given more than twice as much money to Clinton than Trump, to date.

When it comes to oil and gas money, however, both lag behind Texas also-rans Jeb Bush and Ted Cruz.

If big financiers fear Trump, he by no means has cut off ties to Wall Street, which has been a source of credit to his casino and real estate ventures over the years.

Trump's inner-circle also is dominated by some of financial services industry's most potent titans, backers who have celebrated his wealth and praised his reported tax avoidance as genius.

Trump's national campaign finance director, former Goldman Sachs Group Inc. banker Steven Mnuchin, is a hedge fund manager, as is one of his top new advisers and financial backers, Robert Mercer, a former Cruz supporter.

Clinton, too, has a bevy of big-money backers, including investor George Soros, hedge fund executive Donald Sussman, billionaire investor Warren Buffett and former Goldman Sachs partner Gary Gensler, her chief finance adviser.

For popular consumption, Wall Street was mentioned only twice in their first debate. When it did come up, the dividing line was stark.

Clinton attacked Trump for rooting for the 2006 housing crisis  which she blamed partly on Wall Street  a financial perfect storm that cost millions of Americans their homes and wiped out an estimated $13 trillion in family wealth. Trump' answer: That's called business.

While Trump repeatedly has attacked Clinton for some $4.1 million in speaking fees from financial firms, Clinton sought to put him on the defensive about his businesses debt to Wall Street and foreign banks  including the Bank of China  to the tune of $650 million.

Trump's attacks suggesting that the banks totally own Clinton resemble those of her Democratic primary rival, Vermont U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders. Unlike Trump, however, Sanders shunned the sort of big-dollar fundraisers Trump has employed to raise money with the Republican National Committee since he secured the nomination.

Clinton has called Trump's attacks a lesson in hypocrisy.

On many of the issues that animate Wall Street, Trump's free-market conservatism would appear to be much more in sync.

He promises to undo the landmark Dodd-Frank financial reform law enacted in 2010 to regulate the banks in response to the financial crisis. Clinton would strengthen the law by, among other things, tightening the so-called Volcker Rule that bars banks from speculating with federally insured deposits.

Clinton also argues for tighter curbs on Wall Street pay, including making top banking chiefs individually responsible for some of the fines levied on their institutions, such as those imposed on Wells Fargo for its fraudulent customer accounts.

Clinton also would clamp down on the so-called carried interest loophole that allows hedge fund managers to treat their compensation as lesser-taxed investment income. Trump too has called it a form of getting away with murder, which hed presumably end.

While Trump may be closer to Wall Street on the issues, the banks also have had a front-row seat to his controversial business practices, including multiple business failures, bankruptcies and the alleged mob ties that Cruz tried to use against him in the Republican primaries.

You can't deny that he's rich, but he's made his money in a lot of ways that are obscure, said Alexander Gladstone, author of a new report on campaign finance for Debtwire Analytics, which analyses credit market behavior.
The City Council next month could vote on another round of updates to San Antonios vehicles-for-hire ordinance, which has pitted the taxi industry against so-called transportation-network companies such as Uber and Lyft.

But a rift between taxi companies and independent drivers is becoming increasingly apparent as the council continues to deliberate potential changes to local policies. Several independent drivers have asked the council to remove the cap on taxi permits, which sits at 886 total. There are none available.

Steven Baum, an assistant director of the San Antonio Police Department who oversees ground transportation, told the council that taxi companies, such as Yellow Cab, are against removing the cap.

We spoke with the taxi industry about that very issue, about removing the caps  theyre not in favor of it. Their position is , said Baum, who was interrupted by Councilman Ron Nirenberg.

The councilman was seeking more detail of who opposes removing permit caps.

Johns not in favor of it, or the drivers arent in favor of it? Nirenberg said, referring to John Boulabasis, president of Texas Taxi. Several independent drivers attending the meeting offered a bit of uncertain applause and thank you! to the councilman.

Baum outlined several proposed changes to taxi and limousine regulations, including a 43 percent reduction of annual operating fees, from $440 to $250. Other recommendations include allowing varied color schemes across single fleets, eliminating the currently required additional third-party annual vehicle inspection and eliminating driver manifests.

City officials are also working on new operating agreements with the transportation-network companies, or TNCs, that would be an annual contract with three one-year renewal options. Baum told the council that hes close to securing agreements with the companies operating here. The agreements, he and others said, give the city more flexibility to handle the dynamic environment surrounding TNCs.

Jeff Coyle, who oversees government relations for the city, said theres a renewed interest among state lawmakers to push for a statewide law that would dictate how TNCs operate in Texas. As it stands now, major Texas cities have approved myriad policies for TNC operations.

Some council members continued to push for a requirement that all TNC drivers be fingerprinted, citing public safety as a concern. Nirenberg, however, said the public safety issue is drunken driving. He and Councilman Rey Saldana both point to SAPD statistics showing a decrease in drunken-driving arrests they say correlate with the operations of TNCs here.

Police Chief William McManus told the council that theres no correlation between the two, other than anecdotal evidence. But Saldana said that while there may not be a causal relationship between the two, theres still a correlation.

Nirenberg said theres been a 26 percent drop in drunken driving felony arrests since Uber and Lyft began operating here.

The proof is in the pudding, he said. When we add more choice for transportation on San Antonio roads, we address one of the most significant public safety issues there is in this city, which is drunk driving.

In his presentation, Baum presented two maps  one depicting TNC pick-ups and another showing drop-offs  that show much of the TNC business occurs along U.S. 281, from downtown to Loop 1604, and on the Northwest Side, around the University of Texas at San Antonios main campus.

City Manager Sheryl Sculley told the council that her staff members would continue working with the vehicle-for-hire industries to hammer out recommendations before an expected vote next month.

jbaugh@express-news.net

Twitter: @jbaugh
AUSTIN  Gov. Greg Abbott and the states two highest-ranking lawmakers on Wednesday directed the head of the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services to immediately implement several stop-gap measures to stem a backlog of cases involving potential child abuse or neglect.

In the letter, Abbott, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and House Speaker Joe Straus said it was completely unacceptable that the agencys caseworkers were not making timely visits with at-risk children.

State law requires investigators to make contact with children no later than 72 hours after receiving an initial report, though in high-priority cases in which a childs injuries could result in death or serious harm, the deadline is 24 hours following the first report.

While we appreciate your proactive approach to trying to address these concerns, a lack of timely contact only exacerbates backlogs through the entire system and potentially leaves a child in a dangerous situation, the letter said.

The trio called on the departments commissioner, Henry Whitman Jr., to develop a plan to hire and train more investigators and caseworkers, reinforce the culture of accountability at all levels of management, and develop partnerships with faith-based communities to help recruit families willing to take in children in the Child Protective Services system.

The letter orders Whitman to prioritize caseworker hires in the states most critical regions for at-risk children, but it does not specify where those areas are.

The letter directs Whitman to report back to Abbott, Patrick and Straus by the end of next week on his plan for carrying out their orders.

The Texas Legislature, which convenes in January, will address funding and resource needs as lawmakers assemble a state budget, but the department must begin changing course earlier, the leaders said.

As of Oct. 10, CPS investigators in Harris County have seen 91 percent of all children whose cases meet the 72-hour threshold, according to Tejal Patel, the agencys spokeswoman for the region. She said the countys size and the inability to find families remain caseworkers main challenges to making contact with children in the Houston area.

Whitman did not address the letters specific instructions but said he agreed with the lawmakers goal.

I appreciate very much the support and encouragement from the governor, lt. governor, and speaker, as well as the acknowledgment of the many difficult issues we face, he said in a statement. Protecting children is our highest priority. We have to do better. All of our energies are focused on making this right and putting the safety and welfare of children first, no matter what.

The Austin American-Statesman reported last week that, despite management changes and increased attention to the matter, the agency failed to contact more than 14,000 at-risk children across Texas within the laws proscribed time frame.

Patrick, who presides over the Texas Senate, has asked state Sen. Jane Nelson, R-Flower Mound, to convene the chambers Finance Committee, which she chairs, to determine how to fund CPS needs. A hearing is scheduled for Oct. 26 in Austin, where agency officials have been invited to testify about their plans.

Legislative leaders are expected to put CPS reform and funding at the top of their agendas for the 140-day session.

roberto.cervantes@chron.com

twitter.com/BobbyCervantes
The San Antonio Housing Trust Finance Corp. heard a developers proposed plans Wednesday to build affordable apartments on a vacant 33-acre tract of land on the Northwest Side.

If the financing is ultimately approved, Pedcor Investments will seek to build the Trails at Leon Creek Apartments at 7615 Bandera Road, a high-traffic area between Guilbeau and Eckhert roads. The proposed $49 million development calls for all 256 apartment units to be rented to tenants earning up to 60 percent of the areas median family income.

Four of the five City Council members on the corporations board approved a resolution Wednesday that supports filing applications with the state to issue tax-exempt housing revenue bonds to help finance the project. One of the board members, District 2 Councilman Alan Warrick, was absent.

If the Texas Bond Review Board approves, the corporation could issue up to $35 million in housing revenue bonds next year to help pay the apartments development costs, such as acquisition, construction and equipment. The City Council ultimately would have to approve those bonds before they are issued.

The bonds would be paid solely with revenues generated from the apartments, said James Plummer, bond counsel for the corporation. No city revenues would be used, he said.

Leon Creek Parkway runs through the vacant tract of land being eyed for the proposed apartments, said Craig Lintner, Pedcors senior vice president of development. The developer is hoping to connect the apartments pedestrian walkways to that trail.

This is the second apartment complex Pedcor is trying to build in San Antonio. Its architectural plans for the other complex, on Judson Road, are undergoing review.

Pedcor owns and manages 18,000 apartment units across the country. It has an established presence in the Austin area, where it owns several apartment complexes. The company is planning more developments in Austin, Kyle and Georgetown.

pohare@express-news.net
AUSTIN  The Texas Ethics Commission could decide on Thursday the fate of a high-profile investigation into a politically active nonprofit in a case rife with ramifications for an ongoing battle between tea party groups and state campaign finance regulators over so-called dark money.

The commission, which regulates Texas money-in-politics landscape and its lobby laws, has been looking into the anti-tax and limited government group Empower Texans and its leader Michael Quinn Sullivan for more than four years.

Empower Texans, a 501(c)(4) tax-exempt corporation that is allowed to make independent expenditures to influence state elections without having to disclose its donors, has riled opponents on the way to becoming the biggest spending politically active nonprofit in Texas.

Sworn complaints filed in early 2012 from two Republican officials targeted by the nonprofits activities prompted the probe that has morphed into a case highlighting the limits of state campaign finance regulators to force organizations to turn over documents.

The commission is scheduled to hold a hearing on the case Thursday amid a flurry of scrutiny and a recent recommendation from the agencys top internal enforcement official to dismiss the probe against Empower Texans.

A vote by the full eight-member bipartisan panel on how to move forward is necessary, and up to three newly-appointed commissioners could make their first appearance at a hearing dealing with a complicated and politically charged case.

A dismissal would mark a major change in direction for the commission, which has aggressively pursued a case against the nonprofit and Sullivan. It would also mark an equally big victory for Empower Texans, which has argued its been the subject of a political witch hunt aimed at rooting out its donors.

A lot of this was unplowed ground for the ethics commission. Theyve never really gone through a case like this, said state Rep. Jim Keffer, an Eastland Republican who filed one of the complaints against Empower Texans. We will live with whatever the decision is, but its been a very frustrating ordeal for everybody.

Campaign finance probe

The commission did not return a request for comment, but the Empower Texans case has become one of the biggest ordeals in the agencys roughly 25-year history, producing lawsuits in federal and state courts, inflaming tensions with an array of tea party groups and raising questions about the agency's ability to put muscle behind its subpoenas.

It all started in April 2012, when Keffer, and former state Rep. Vicki Truitt, R-Keller, filed identical complaints with the commission about Empower Texans campaign finance activity.

State regulators ended up launching an investigating into whether the nonprofit was coordinating with donors to accept or spend money to influence a state election and if it should register as a political action committee, which is required to release donor names.

The commission argues a corporation coordinating its political activity with others, such as donors, could be considered the same as a PAC. Empower Texans has argued its activity is constitutionally protected.

Trey Trainor, a lawyer for the nonprofit organization, said he expects the commission to keep the investigation going.

I dont know if their egos will allow them to dismiss the case, said Trainor. "They are so emotionally invested in going after Empower Texans and Michael Quinn Sullivan.

Subpoena process an 'exercise in futility'

The commission found insufficient evidence of any violation in the case during a preliminary hearing but decided to keep the investigation going, issuing subpoenas in early 2014 that would become one of the most controversial elements in the case.

At one point, the commission was seeking the release of a wide range of documents from Sullivan and Empower Texans, including communications with donors, lawmakers and members of the state's executive branch, with the redaction of names. They also included "time records, calendars and diaries maintained by or for" Sullivan, along with two other employees of Empower Texans.

The nonprofit led by Sullivan has tried unsuccessfully to quash the commission's document demand in federal and state courts, though initial subpoenas were lambasted by one judge and then continually narrowed throughout several lawsuits to no longer include donors.

Arguing it could not move forward without the documents, the commission filed a lawsuit last year asking a Travis County judge to enforce the subpoenas and accused Empower Texans of stonewalling the state's investigation.

However, the attorney general's office, which represented the commission, recently said that Empower Texans made a judicial admission of raising only $375 during a period covered under the complaints in the investigation. That falls below the $500 threshold required under state law for a group to register as a PAC, which the attorney general's office says "establishes as a matter of law that Empower Texans' activities do not trigger the Election Code's provisions."

The attorney general's office dropped the subpoena lawsuit and shortly after, John Moore, the commission's director of enforcement, wrote a letter recommending the agency dismiss the Empower Texans case.

"Commission staff believes there is insufficient credible evidence of violations to prove violations occurred," Moore wrote, according to a copy of the letter posted on the Empower Texans website.

Truitt, the former North Texas lawmaker who filed one of the complaints against Empower Texans, said the commission's inability to enforce subpoenas has left the agency without important information to make a decision.

"The subpoena process has been an exercise in futility," she said. "They ignored the subpoenas and without that information there's no where to go."

Ethics regulators questioned

The long-running investigation has also recently drawn questions from high-ranking officials.

At a hearing last month before the Austin-based 3rd Court of Appeals, Justice David Puryear questioned what facts the commission had to continue investigating a group for so long without making a ruling.

And just last week, state Sen. Brian Birdwell, R-Granbury, seemed incredulous at the idea that the commission has no built-in deadline for concluding an investigation, calling it a system that "affords abuse."

"I want to make sure you or any other plaintiff isn't being skewered and left to twitch for a decision of eight people that meet for every two months," Birdwell told a lawyer for Empower Texans at a legislative hearing in which the commission was skewered by Senate Republicans.

Steve Bresnen, an Austin lobbyist who helped put together research for ethics complaints against Empower Texans and Sullivan, said he thinks the case is going to be dismissed because the agency could not enforce the supoenas.

It appears to be done, said Bresnen. I believe we supplied the commission with documents that were clearly sufficient. But for some reason a basic function of litigation, which is discovery, was thwarted.

drauf@express-news.net
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In the rainy mountains of the Philippines, Dominador Soriano fought against Japanese troops as part of two armies.

Soriano, a San Antonio resident who recently celebrated his 100th birthday, served with both the Philippine army and the U.S. Army during World War II.

On Thursday, San Antonio honored him with a resolution recognizing the efforts of the estimated 250,000 World War II Filipino veterans who fought under the command of the U.S. armed forces.

The resolution supports legislation that would confer a Congressional Gold Medal to vets like Soriano.

The resolution is also intended to honor the citys Filipino veterans across all eras, said Councilman Ron Nirenberg, who claims Filipino heritage through his grandfather.

This would be a watershed moment in recognition for Filipino veterans who have served in many wars for the United States, Nirenberg said. For San Antonio, it is in support of ensuring veterans of all wars, regardless of descent, (get) the honor and recognition they deserve.

San Antonios resolution, the first by an American city, comes after similar efforts to honor Filipino vets by the Texas Senate and Bexar County, according to the Filipino Veterans Recognition and Education Project.

Soriano is San Antonios only surviving World War II Filipino veteran. He was drafted into the Philippine army in 1938 and inducted into the U.S. Army Forces in the Far East on Sept. 1, 1941.

Soriano, in his written recollections, said that even in the days before Pearl Harbor, the country tensed for a war against the Japanese.

The country was ringing with soldiers, ready for war, Soriano wrote.

The day after the Dec. 7, 1941, Pearl Harbor attack, Japanese troops invaded the Philippines and other islands.

As an officer, Soriano commanded Echo Company of the 83rd Infantry Regiment, troops who fought under the command of Gen. Douglas MacArthur. From an outpost on the eastern shore of Cebu Island, he and his men would watch Japanese ships passing through the Tanon Strait.

Japanese troops quickly overwhelmed the islands, trapping 76,000 Filipinos and Americans on the Bataan Peninsula. The Japanese turned into a force like that of Genghis Khan, Soriano said.

His unit retreated into the mountains, where he was hit in the leg by Japanese machine gun as he hid behind a coconut tree.

In April 1942, Soriano heard over the radio that Bataan had fallen. His men knew the Japanese would come for them next. I told my men to go home and not surrender, Soriano said.

Soriano organized a guerrilla force. The years that followed were filled with intrigue and violence. One wrong step could lead to imprisonment by the Japanese occupation. His wife hid pictures of him under a bamboo tree to conceal his presence.

His luck ran out on a rainy day in July 1944. As he visited his family, he was surprised to find two Japanese soldiers. Two Filipino collaborators were with them. They arrested him, brought him to a sugar cane mill and beat him with a 2-inch-thick pipe.

He was quickly released but could hardly walk. It was like being saved from the gallows, he said.

He continued working for the resistance until Japan surrendered Aug. 15, 1945.

Over the following decades, Soriano became a lawyer in a newly independent nation, traveled all over the world, and in 2012 settled in San Antonio, where two of his children live.

In 2001, the Army awarded Soriano a Purple Heart for wounds suffered as a result of hostile actions.

Still, a decision made in the aftermath of the war irks him, Soriano said.

In 1946, President Harry S. Truman signed the Rescission Act, which retroactively stripped Filipinos of service benefits during World War II.

From the beginning, the Filipino veterans were deprived of what are due them, Soriano said.

Helotes resident Nonie Cabana of the Filipino Veterans Recognition and Education Project said he promised Soriano on his 100th birthday that he would work for the remembrance of Filipino vets. He said he hopes San Antonios efforts will serve as a model for other cities in honoring these veterans.

They have been waiting now for over 70 years, theyve been waiting for this recognition, said Cabana, a Filipino veteran and a descendant of World War II Filipino scouts.

At City Hall, after the resolution passed, Soriano in his wheelchair held up the resolution and read it out loud.

Its an appreciation of the veterans of WWII, that they are not forgotten, Soriano said, but remembered by all in the Philippines, and in the United States.
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Even before Mustafa Safak arrived at Temple Chai on Wednesday for closing Yom Kippur services, the San Antonio Muslim read up on the traditions associated with the Jewish holiday.

The holiest of High Holy Days for Jews, when they atone to those theyve hurt, ends with the breaking of a daylong fast, Safak learned, a mournfulness culminating in festivity.

He made note of a traditional dish served at such feasts and scanned the buffet for his goal  noodle kugel, a small portion of which he served onto his plate as members of the two faith groups gathered to break bread.

Simple exchanges were on the menu for Temple Chais Yom Kippur break fast, to which Muslims from the Dialogue Institute of San Antonio and the Raindrop Turkish House were invited.

Both Turkish-American educational centers, inspired by Muslim scholar Fethullah Gulen, promote understanding between people of diverse faiths.

It may be uncommon for Jews and Muslims in other places of the world to gather on a special day in Judaism, but the local faith communities have been practicing what they preach for about two years, leaders said.

Members of Temple Chai, a Reformed Judaism congregation, attended events this summer marking Ramadan, Islams holy month, celebrated June 5 to July 5 this year.

Now theyre reciprocating, Safak said.

Iman Beytullah Colak, whos originally from Argentina and knew Pope Francis when he was a cardinal, said interchanges such as what occurred Wednesday are part of the Gulen movement.

During Ramadan, he said, the Raindrop Turkish House hosted 26 local community groups. The two Muslim groups are active in San Antonios interfaith community, attending events such as the annual Martin Luther King Jr. March.

Its natural for us, he said of Gulen identity. Dialogue is the first step.

You force yourself to learn, Colak added. We learn from each other. They have fasting. We have fasting. They do charity. We do charity.

Marion Rogers was impressed. For the resident of Ontario, British Columbia, half the year and Nayarit, Mexico, the other half, San Antonio was the logical stop to make for Yom Kippur.

I think its fabulous, she said of the bridge-building efforts.  Were descendants of Isaac and descendants of Ishmael, so we should be together.

Rabbi David Komerofsky said networking breaks down barriers and peoples assumptions of one another. They dont rely on hearsay and see that we have much more in common.

Several participants said such exchanges are important, given ongoing Mideast tensions and anti-Muslim hostility in Europe, where so many Syrian refugees have ended up.

Bridge-building is also important at home, where instances of anti-Semitism and Islamophobia have plagued communities, as have anti-Muslim proposals put forth by Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump.

After Sundays presidential debate, Muslims responded to Trumps call for Muslims to report potential terrorism with a Twitter campaign  #MuslimsReportStuff  that mocked him.

Safak, outreach coordinator for the Raindrop Turkish House, noted Muslims have responded.

Were part of this community, and we live in this community and we owe a lot to this country, he said. We do our best.

But Safak said labels such as radical Islamic terrorist have been harmful and have alienated Muslims.

Muslims are fearful of saying theyre Muslim, he said.

We are teachers, Safak said of the Raindrop Turkish House, which offers music, cooking and Turkish-language classes. How could people accuse us of being terrorists?

Anti-Semitism and Islamophobia should be a thing of the past, he said. Islamophobia is wrong. Anti-Semitism is wrong.

On a global scale, things like this are important, Safak said of the Muslim presence at Yom Kippur. Its a small drop in the ocean, but the ripple effects are important.

eayala@express-news.net

Twitter: @ElaineAyala
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Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic House minority leader, wants Pete Gallego of Alpine back in the U.S. House, according to a TV ad from a Republican group backing U.S. Rep. Will Hurd, R-Helotes, for the seat representing the 23rd Congressional District sprawling south and west from San Antonio.

And why, the ads narrator says? He says: "Because Gallego is the insiders insider. Career politician. Went and lobbied after you fired him from Congress."

Fair enough on the politician part; Gallego, a lawyer, was a Texas House member for more than 20 years before winning election to Congress in 2012. Two years later, though, he lost re-election to Republican Will Hurd of Helotes, whos now trying to win his second term.

The National Republican Congressional Committee ad shows Gallego smiling as he strolls what looks like a major Washington, D.C. avenue. Text simultaneously flashes: "Career politician," then "Gallego lobbied" with these words in smaller type at the bottom of the screen: "City of Austin, 2015."

Gallego might be in legal trouble if he went to lobby right away on Washingtons infamous K Street where lobbying firms marshal forces. A 2007 law bars former House members from lobbying Congress for a year after leaving the body.

Then again, news reports including a July 2016 Politico story suggest that despite the "cooling off" mandate, former senators and House members continue to enjoy lucrative careers trying to influence lawmakers. As of October 2016, too, the Center for Responsive Politics indicated that 49 percent of the former members of the 113th Congress, which was in session through 2014, had already gone to work for lobbying firms.

Its list, though, didnt link Gallego to any firm.

And asked to share the basis of the lobbyist claim, NRCC spokesman Zach Hunter, who confirmed the ad video showed Gallego strolling in Washington, pointed out Gallegos August 2015 federal personal financial disclosure indicating he was paid $55,000 that year to work for Austins city government. Hunter also emailed us 10 documents that appeared to come from Gallegos city employee personnel file.

City officials: Gallego didn't lobby

We confirmed the authenticity of the city-connected documents by asking a city spokesman, David Green, for the public portions of Gallegos employee personnel file. Those documents indicate Gallego was employed in "government relations" for 40 hours a week from March 2, 2015, through Aug. 21, 2015, at an hourly rate of $56.26. At our inquiry, Green also shared the financial calculations that bear out the city ultimately paying Gallego $55,359.

For part of that time, through June 1, 2015, the Texas Legislature was in session. So, might it be that Gallego proved helpful to the city by lobbying legislators?

To the contrary, Green and a former Gallego superviser each told us Gallego had been hired not to lobby legislators but to advise the city on legislative and legal matters. Gallego, Green said by email, "advised the government relations officer on policy and legislation and assisted in document preparation and strategy."

Green told us John Hrncir, then the government relations officer, was one of Gallegos supervisors.

When we called Hrncir, who retired in May 2015, he said hed recommended that the city consider adding Gallego to its government relations team after Hugh Brady left city government to work in President Barack Obamas administration.

According to Bradys entry on LinkedIn.com, he was a special assistant city attorney and legislative counsel to the city until March 2014 when he became general counsel in the executive office of the president. In his city role, Bradys entry says, he advised city officials and drafted "state and federal legislative instruments involving taxes, land use, water, government finance, regulatory authority, redistricting, collective bargaining, pensions and telecommunications."

By email, Hrncir wrote that "in a typical legislative session the city is potentially impacted by 25% or more of the bills considered. The city usually has to pay attention to the 1,200 to 2,000 bills impacting it the most of the five to seven thousand filed. Deciding which legislative provisions to amend, pass, or defeat, and the time and effort to spend on each action, is a constant process, and decisions are revised, sometimes hourly, until the final gavel at sine die.

"Pete Gallego is an experienced former (legislator) who had demonstrated exceptional ability at solving problems by finding solutions palatable to multiple factions of legislators--both parties; rural and urban reps; business and environmental advocates; etc. The constant triage for bills and amendments is critical to the city's success and I was confident that Gallego's advice to the team would be invaluable in maximizing the city's resources."

Gallego responds

In gauging this claim, we also queried Gallegos campaign.

By email, spokeswoman Lyndsey Rodriguez said the implication that Gallego was a Washington lobbyist doesnt hold up.

Gallego, Rodriguez said, was a temporary in-house employee of the City of Austin for approximately a six-month period of time" and not among the citys outside paid lobbyists, she wrote, noting that he also didnt register as a lobbyist with the Texas Ethics Commission, which we confirmed from records listing outside lobbyists paid by the city to lobby in 2015.

Gallego, Rodriguez wrote, "reported directly to the city attorney and provided the city attorney with opinions on legislative language and process. Pete also reviewed legislation, during and after session, to determine its impact on the city."

Following up, we asked if Gallego in 2015 testified before a legislative committee or perhaps registered a position on behalf of the city; those are the kinds of duties often fulfilled by a lobbyist. "He did not," Rodriguez replied.

We also reached Brian Yarbrough, among outside lobbyists paid by the city, who told us by phone he wasn't aware of Gallego directly lobbying for the city that year and didn't recall even seeing him in the Texas Capitol.

Our ruling

The pro-Hurd Republican group says Gallego "went and lobbied after you fired him from Congress."

For half of 2015 including three months of the legislative session, Gallego worked in government relations for Austins city government. But the NRCC didnt provide nor did we find evidence he was working as a lobbyist--either in Austin or Washington, which the ad arguably implies.

We rate this claim False.

FALSE - The statement is not accurate. Click here for more on the six PolitiFact ratings and how we select facts to check.
AUSTIN  The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals on Wednesday refused to consider dismissing three pending securities fraud charges against Attorney General Ken Paxton in what likely was his last chance to avoid a trial in the politically charged case.

The states highest court for criminal matters rejected without comment Paxtons appeal to have the charges dismissed just days after a federal judge in Sherman tossed out a federal securities fraud civil lawsuit in a victory for the embattled Republican officeholder.

Todays ruling marks an end to Mr. Paxtons almost year-long attempt to avoid being judged by a jury of his peers, Houston attorney Brian Wice, a special prosecutor in the case, said in a statement. We look forward to going to trial and seeking justice on behalf of the people of Texas.

Philip Hilder, a lawyer for Paxton, said the attorney general will ask the Court of Criminal Appeals to reconsider its action, given that a federal judge dismissed similar charges against Paxton by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission last week.

We anticipate filing a motion for rehearing because we have tremendous confidence in our case, Hilder said. The charges against Ken Paxton are without merit. A federal court, following a lower legal standard, ruled that the fraud charges were baseless.

Paxtons lawyers filed the criminal appeal in August, seeking to dismiss the three felony indictments that center on allegations that Paxton misled investors in private business dealings when he was a lawmaker, before he was elected attorney general.

The charges allege he convinced people to invest in Servergy, a north Texas technology company, without disclosing that he was being paid to recruit investors. He raised $840,000 in investments and received 100,000 shares in Servergy stock. He also has been charged with a third-degree felony charge for failing to register as an investment advisor with the state. He has pleaded not guilty in the case.

A U.S. district judge dismissed the civil lawsuit brought by the SEC Friday, ruling that under federal law Paxton had no obligation to tell investors he would profit from their investments.

The remaining criminal case is expected to go to trial in early 2017. If found guilty, Paxton could face between five and 99 years in prison.

Wednesdays ruling marked Paxtons latest unsuccessful attempt to derail the case before trial. Last summer, Texas 5th Court of Appeals declined to rehear a challenge to the indictments.

Paxton has denied wrongdoing.

mike.ward@chron.com

twitter/chroniclemike
WASHINGTON  In the Rio Grande Valley, the Cameron County elections division worked past 9 p.m. Tuesday handling some 500 late-arriving applications and taking calls from people worried about missing the states voter registration deadline for the Nov. 8 election.

Texas, one of 13 states where the deadline passed Tuesday, expected to surpass 15 million registered voters when a flood of applications is counted in coming days, county election officials said.

I think the personalities on the top of the ticket are really driving interest in this election, said Remi Garza, Cameron County elections administrator.

Bexar Countys tally Wednesday  1,036,529  already is 12.8 percent higher than in November 2012, exceeding Harris Countys 10.5 percent increase thus far and big boosts in other Texas cities.

Dallas Countys registration, with thousands uncounted, already represented a 9.5 percent increase over 2012. El Paso County is reporting an increase of 10.4 percent thus far with more applications to be counted.

More Information Bexar County registrations By year and number of voters 2000 - 871,783 2002 - 884,103 2004 - 908,466 2006 - 898,687 2008 - 931,118 2010 - 905,859 2012 - 918,552 2014 - 957,110 2016 - 1,036,529 (as of Wednesday) See More Collapse

In Bexar County, it could take another five days and working through the weekend to process applications arriving by mail and courier.

Were expecting to get a couple of pretty big boxes from Austin, Elections Administrator Jacquelyn Callanen said, referring to registration cards sent to the secretary of state. Its wonderful.

The late surge in voters in an electorate already energized by a high-stakes and bitter election for president began with the first televised debate, elections officials say. With the deadline bearing down, interest intensified over the weekend with another candidate debate along with heavy coverage of the audio tape from years ago with Donald Trumps x-rated remarks about women.

Beyond Texas, other states with deadlines this week saw a surge in interest. In Florida, a federal judge agreed Wednesday to extend voting registration until Oct. 18 due to Hurricane Matthew, rebuking the states Republican governor for seeking to heed Tuesdays statutory deadline.

In Michigan, metro Detroit elections officials kept offices open late Tuesday to accommodate people and groups, among them Hispanic advocates delivering applications.

In Ohio, a bellwether in presidential elections, members of the Ohio Hispanic Coalition on Wednesday began training for a new super PAC aimed at delivering votes Nov. 8 after a robust registration drive.

Organizers of a large Hispanic gathering in Cleveland last weekend wound up their registration efforts by fanning out in the crowd.

You couldnt walk 10 feet without people asking you if you are registered, said Lynn Tramonte, Ohio-based vice president of Americas Voice, an umbrella organization whose members are pressing for immigration reform.

I think theres an increased awareness in the entire electorate, not just among Latinos, about the importance of this election in the actual direction of this country, she said. Are we going to continue the immigration improvements under President (Barack) Obama? Or are we going to be a nation that moves backwards in terms of a stratified society?

Officials in Bexar and Harris counties cited efforts by the League of Women Voters.

Wylecia Wiggs Harris, CEO of the League of Women Voters of the United States, noted that on Sept. 27  dubbed National Voter Registration Day  350 state and local leagues affiliates in Texas and around the country registered hundreds of thousands of voters. She said the exact number remained unknown.

What we know is that in a presidential election year, interest is normally higher. We also know what when there are competitive and exciting races, we are more likely to see higher voter turnout, she said in an interview.

Harris added that the leagues vote411.org website offers a variety of election information for voters personalized to their address.

In Harris County, where the registration roll reached 2.21 million Wednesday and still counting, registrar Mike Sullivan said that the presence of two nonincumbents seeking the White House spurred registrations.

He noted that more than 10,000 new voters had been signed up in naturalization ceremonies this year, nearly 1,700 in September alone.

Sullivan credited much of the Houston-area increase to registration drives in partnership with corporations, along with efforts in nursing homes and apartment complexes.

He also pointed to successful repair of a sometimes hostile relationship between his office and the League of Women Voters.

I turned it around from a relationship that was adversarial to one that was partnership, he said.

In Dallas County, elections administrator Toni Pippins-Poole said her registration numbers  bolstered by more than 9,000 on Wednesday  are going through the roof. She noted the presence of trays of applications yet to be processed.

The debates were so much closer to the registration period. And I think that what people are seeing in the media is peaking their interest, she said.

bill.lambrecht@hearstdc.com
AUSTIN  The Texas Ethics Commission on Monday dismissed a high-profile investigation into the state's most powerful politically active nonprofit, capping a more than four-year saga that highlighted an ongoing policy debate in the state over disclosure of so-called "dark money."

With a 7-0 vote, the commission rejected two complaints filed in 2012 against Empower Texans and its President Michael Quinn Sullivan.

Empower Texans is a 501(c)(4) tax-exempt corporation that is allowed to make independent expenditures to influence state elections without having to disclose its donors. The group is the biggest spending politically active nonprofit in Texas, according to state data.

State regulators were investigating the conservative group to determine if it was coordinating with donors to accept or spend money to influence a state election and if it should register as a political action committee, which is required to release donor names.

The case had dragged on for more than four years due largely to a skirmish over subpoenas issued by the commission for a range of Empower Texans documents that has played out in various courts since 2014.

Following an internal staff recommendation to drop the case, the commission decided Thursday "there is insufficient credible evidence" to support the allegations made against Empower Texans.

The commission did not comment on its decision. Sullivan, however, said his group planned to continue criticizing the eight-member panel of state campaign finance regulators.

"We've won and we're going to keep winning," Sullivan said minutes after the decision. "Now we're going to hold them accountable. These commissioners are going to find out they don't have carte blanche to play political games at the taxpayer's expense."

The dismissal marked a major shift in direction for the commission, which had aggressively pursued its case against Empower Texans and Sullivan.

However, the writing appeared to be on the wall last month when the commission, at the behest of Attorney General Ken Paxton's office, dismissed a lawsuit against Empower Texans and Sullivan to enforce subpoenas that were deemed to be a critical component of the case.

The fight over subpoenas had largely consumed the investigation since the commission issued its initial original document demand in 2014, claiming it could not move forward in the case until the subpoenas were fulfilled.

Empower Texans unsuccessfully tried to have the subpoenas quashed in federal and state courts, and the commission last year asked a Travis County judge to enforce the document demand after accusing Sullivan of stonewalling its investigation.

Paxton's office, which represented the commission, dismissed the subpoena enforcement lawsuit last month, saying that Empower Texans made a "judicial admission" in a recent court filing that provided the commission with enough information to move forward.

Soon after, John Moore, the commission's director of enforcement, wrote a letter recommending the agency dismiss the Empower Texans case om the basis of "insufficient credible evidence of violations." The commission did just that Thursday, with newly-appointed Commissioner Steve Wolens abstaining from the 7-0 vote.

Joe Nixon, a lawyer for Empower Texans, said he's glad the commission finally dismissed the investigation but leveled a stern admonishment for the state regulator.

"Shame on them," he said, "for having taken 4  years to do it."
Tom Reel /San Antonio Express-news

Castle Hills Church is negotiating a contract to sell its 20-acre campus in the North Side enclave of Castle Hills to a school.

Don Long, the churchs executive pastor, said he expects negotiations to be complete within about four weeks. He declined to offer more details about the potential buyer during negotiations. The property was appraised for $5.7 million by the Bexar Appraisal District last year.
I began feeding wild birds during the winter of 1978-79 while living in Lansing, Michigan.

I was a graduate student and money was tight, but I felt I should feed birds to help them through the winter.

That winter turned out to be a record setter; Michigan State University actually shut down for the first time in its history. So my feeding station was a big hit.

Ive been feeding birds ever since, but my motivation has changed.

Ive learned over the years that only during certain unusual, and fortunately infrequent, weather events, does supplemental food actually help birds (more about this later).

Popular pastime

Feeding backyard birds has become an extremely popular pastime. According to the most recent survey (2011), more than 52.8 million Americans over the age of 16 fed birds and other wildlife around their homes.

In doing so they spent more than $5 billion on food, feeders, baths, and other accessories.

A 2015 paper in the journal Conservation Physiology by a group of biologists from Millikin University in central Illinois, reported the effects of bird-feeding on the health of wild birds.

They opined that the most popular reason for feeding birds was to help them.

When the health of individual birds from forested areas with access to bird feeders were compared to areas with no supplemental foods, they found that birds with access to feeders were healthier. No surprise there.

Finding food was easy and measured stress levels were low. Ten months after the feeders were removed from the study sites, however, the health differences among study sites disappeared.

Furthermore, there was no evidence that supplemental foods help birds live longer.

These findings reinforce the work of Stanley Temple and Margaret Brittingham from the late 1980s and early 1990s. They studied banded populations of black-capped chickadees in Wisconsin.

They found no dependence on feeders and no differences in winter survival between birds with access to feeders and those without access to feeders.

They also reported that even when birds had access to feeders, they got only 21 percent of their food from them. It should be intuitively obvious that life is easier for birds with access to extra food, but its not a matter of life and death.

Birds are simply smart enough to take advantage of seemingly infinite supplies of easy to find foods.

Entertainment

Getting back to the point of this column, I stopped feeding birds years ago to help them. They dont need our help.

Theres almost always plenty of natural foods to supply their needs.

I continue to feed birds because food attracts them to places I can see them and because I enjoy them. Birds entertain me.

Every day as I sit at my desk, I watch birds come and go from a feeder that hangs less than 12 feet away. With binoculars, I can count feathers and closely inspect their physical appearance.

I feed birds because they make me smile. And sometimes I feel they think favorably of me.

Chickadees, titmice, and nuthatches in particular come close when I pish to announce the feeders have been filled. I never tire of close encounters with wild, free-flying birds.

Im certain anyone who has been feeding birds for at least a few years will understand my point of view.

On the other hand, if youve never hung a bird feeder, give it a try. You dont even need to buy a feeder.

A heavy old plate or ashtray will do. Just place it where its easy to see and sprinkle it with black-oil sunflower seeds, and youll soon realize birds can be great friends.

As I teased earlier, there are some conditions under which providing food can help birds survive extreme conditions.

Winter birds

Heavy snow and ice storms can devastate winter birds because food is literally locked away. Well-stocked feeders solve that problem.

Winter birds must eat enough each day to get them through the night. At dawn the metabolic furnace is empty; birds must eat to survive.

Two days with no food due to ice or snow coverage is certain to kill many birds. Next week Ill review the basics of who eats what and the feeders they prefer.
ASHLAND, Ohio  It has been a family project two years in the making, but Buckeye Country Creamery officially opened to the public in early October during the Ashland County farm tour. And just hours before its grand opening, the Lahmers family awaited final approval to sell their own milk bottled right on the farm.

It was a challenging two-year process, said owner Marcia Lahmers, learning a separate set of regulations to maintain the creamery and the dairy, and learning to prepare all the dairy products they intend to sell. While dairying is a strong suit of the Lahmers family, dairy processing was a new adventure.

The dairy farm

Marcia and Tom Lahmers started the family dairy when they moved to Ashland, Ohio, in 1988. With the help of their children, Matt Lahmers, Christy Hulse  who each have families of their own now  and Michele Lahmers, Lahmers Dairy Farm is a true family affair, said Marcia. Christy manages the dairy herd, milking around 100 head of cows that are a mix of Holstein, Brown Swiss and some Jersey cattle, while Tom and Matt can usually be found working the land. Michele took a job off the farm with Cargill, but serves as the dairys nutritionist.

The Lahmers farm 500 acres of hay, corn and soybeans that mostly go toward feed for the dairy herd. Marcia, Christys husband, Joel, and Matts wife, Heather, have taken the lead when it comes to the creamery, although it requires all hands on deck at times.

Making a creamery

We didnt know anything about this, said Heather Lahmers, explaining the family had to learn everything about bottling milk and making ice cream, cheese and yogurt products.

We visited with 14 different farms, just getting ideas on setup and the best way for marketing our own product, said Joel Hulse. For two years, the family has been making milk a couple gallons at a time, playing around with different recipes in the family kitchen, he said.

And theyve gone from two gallons in the kitchen to a 300-gallon pasteurizing tank in the new creamery. The creamery can store around 600-900 gallons of milk before it is bottled for consumers.

Along with a standard white milk in whole and 2 percent offerings, Buckeye Country Creamery also offers chocolate milk and will soon be adding more flavors like strawberry and a flavor of the week to its inventory.

A2 milk

What makes them different from other dairies that bottle their own milk? Marcia said they are focusing on providing A2 milk along with traditional A1 milk. A1 and A2 beta caseins are naturally occurring proteins found in milk. A2 milk contains only the A2 variant, which is believed by some to reduce the effects of lactose intolerance compared to milk containing both caseins.

A small group of cows on the Lahmers farm have been tested for the A2 protein and will be bred specifically to provide this type of milk. Marcia said they will eventually provide other dairy products specifically with A2 milk.

Other products

Along with milk, Marcia said the creamery will provide ice cream, drinkable yogurt and eventually cheese. All of these products take time to develop and have required family members to take some classes. Joel said he attended six different cheese schools to learn the art of cheese making. Other products just require practice and learning by trial and error.

Making ice cream is a lot harder than you would think, said Heather. She said the challenge was in the freezing process. Christy has been working on perfecting the yogurt recipe by experimenting in her home kitchen.

As well as selling their product right of the farm (currently open Saturdays from 10 a.m.-6 p.m.), Marcia said there has been interest in wholesale from farm markets in Ashland, Holmes and Crawford counties.

Were all still finding our place, said Marcia, as they iron out the kinks in this newest family endeavor. Michele has taken on some of the marketing tasks by creating a website and facebook page to share the story of Buckeye Creamery. Weve all helped wherever we are needed and it is truly a family affair.

How to find them

Buckeye Country Creamery is located at 1698 state Route 511,

Ashland.

Ashland. Current hours on the farm are Saturdays, from 10 a.m.-6 p.m.

For more information visit here.
NFU spotlight on farm broadband and mobile networks

National Farmers Union has shone a spotlight on farm broadband and mobile networks
A number of farms in Northern Ireland have had their bad debts sold by Ulster Bank to US-based investment firm Cerberus Capital.

Around 1% of the loans which total 2bn involved farmers and other agri-businesses.

A spokesman for the bank said it confirmed the completion of the sale of 'significantly impaired loan portfolio.'

Ulster Farmers' Union president Barclay Bell said it was disappointing that agri-loans have been included in the sale

Ulster Farmers' Union president Barclay Bell said it was disappointing that agri-loans have been included in the sale.

"We understand that only a small number of farmers are involved, but I can imagine the impact this will have on those businesses and families," he said.

"If anyone affected is a UFU member, I would encourage them to contact the Union for advice and support.

Dangerous precedent

Mr Bell said his farm group had become aware that Ulster Bank was planning to sell off some of its agri-debt.

"We underlined our concern then, and urged the bank to work with farmers rather taking a hard line approach.

"Everyone recognises that farming is going through tough times and we met the banks earlier this year to explain the situation facing farmers.

"To their credit they listened and took action," he said.

In March, farmers in Northern Ireland were warned about the prospect of seeing their debt sold to a third party.

Farm groups said it would set a 'dangerous precedent' and could fracture relations between banks and the farming community.

"Everyone recognises that farming is going through tough times," said the then UFU president Ian Marshall.

"We understand that it is frustrating for banks to deal with these problems  but at the same time they have done very well out of farming in the past, and will do so again."
Bayer and the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS) have signed a research collaboration agreement focused on improving wheat yields.

Working together and building on their respective innovation expertise, the two parties plan to enhance agricultural sustainability and help meet the challenges of producing sufficient food for a growing world population.

The goal of the research collaboration is to better understand the genetic factors determining grain yield in wheat.

The collaboration will provide an opportunity for CAAS members to gain more insights into research at Bayer via short-term placements and regular visits to the scientists working at the Bayer Innovation Center in Ghent, Belgium.

Bayer already has a well-established and close partnership with CAAS in various areas of agricultural research.

Productivity in wheat is currently increasing at a rate of less than one percent annually

During a meeting last year, Dr. Adrian Percy, Head of Research and Development at the Crop Science Division of Bayer, and Dr. Kongming Wu, Vice President of CAAS, extended the existing Memorandum of Understanding between the two parties.

The research project in wheat is part of this framework and will further strengthen the relationship.

"Productivity in wheat is currently increasing at a rate of less than one percent annually, while demand for wheat is growing twice as fast, a situation that is being exacerbated by climate change.

"We need to increase yields by using improved seeds, and the collaboration with CAAS will help both parties develop them," said Catherine Feuillet, Global Head of Trait Research at the Crop Science Division.

'Global collaboration important and necessary'

Professor Chun-Ming Liu, Director General of the Institute of Crop Sciences, CAAS, added: "Crop genomics provides a good opportunity for genetically dissecting yield, the most important and complex trait in breeding.

"We have entered the door, but there is a long way to go before we fully understand the genes underlying the yield, and their interaction network.

"Therefore, a global collaboration in this area is both important and necessary.

"The joint research program between CAAS and Bayer will for sure be a solid step forward in this field."

Roughly 25% of the world's arable land is used to grow wheat. This makes wheat the cereal with the largest amount of land used for cultivation and one of the most important staple foods in the world.

With a production volume exceeding 700 million tons annually, wheat is the second most widely grown cereal crop after corn.

Major wheat-producing regions include China, Australia, the countries bordering the Black Sea, the EU, India and North America.
Another pig unit has been given the go-ahead in Shropshire despite opposition from local residents and animal welfare campaigners.

Shropshire Council's planning committee unanimously approved farmer Lee Gilbert's proposed 2,000 pig rearing unit near Market Drayton.

But 128 letters were sent in opposition to the plans.

The campaign was launched by vegan animal rights campaign group Viva!, according to the Shropshire Star.

More campaigns were raised by residents, local farms, pubs and Adderley Parish Council, focusing on the problem of noise from the pigs, water pollution and traffic.

Last month, plans for a new pig farm in Lincolnshire were approved, despite mass opposition from local residents and animal rights campaigners determined to stop it.

Local food security

The development would deliver 'high welfare and management standards'

But Richard Denison, case officer for the council, also highlighted letters of support, including from National Pig Association policy services manager Lizzie Wilson.

The NPA letter was also referenced by councillors during the hearing.

Miss Wilson said the UK is 45% self-sufficient in pig-meat and needs to commit to local and global food security.

"Historically producers have been unable to reinvest in new buildings, equipment and technology due to poor profitability which has impacted on productivity and our ability to compete with cheaper imported pigmeat," said Miss Wilson.

"UK agriculture has consequently tried where possible to improve and drive efficiency and has increased in terms of scale to facilitate this progression, comparable to any other business."

She also addressed concerns over the scale of the unit.

Describing it as a 'medium sized enterprise which will conform to high welfare and management standards', Miss Wilson stressed that comparisons to huge US and Canadian pig businesses were entirely ill-founded.

Animal rights 'interference'

Councillor Pauline Dee, member of Shropshire Council's north planning committee said the plans will hopefully lead to a successful business.

Mr Denison said the applicant had grown up in the local area and worked on farms during his childhood and was now seeking to set up his own farming enterprise.

He said the development would deliver 'high welfare and management standards.'

The positive decision in Shropshire follows hot on the heels of the decision to give the go-ahead to a 2000-pig unit at Upton in Lincolnshire, despite 7,500 people signing a petition opposing it.

Miss Wilson welcomed the Market Drayton decision.

She said: "This highlights yet again that interference from animal rights organisations based on scurrilous animal welfare claims simply does not work. Its not a planning consideration and its not credible.

"We will continue, as an industry, to promote our high production standards and fight for planning permission to ensure we are able to meet governments post Brexit objectives to improve animal welfare and increase productivity, efficiency and our export potential."
The current rural broadband roll-out is 'not sufficient' to meet the needs of most farmers, according to a new report.

The government has said it is committed to making the UK the best connected country in the world but farmers are already being held back by poor connections.

The report, published by the NFU, said it was vital for connections to be improved.

850 members responded to the NFU Digital Technology Survey, carried out during the summer of 2015.

"I employ four people and in 50% of the farm we cant get in contact with each other over the mobile," said one farmer.

"We sometimes have no connection, but on average have between 0.3 and 0.6 Mbps.

"Our biggest hurdle is not being able to attract potential tenants to our converted sheds to offices, as the connection is too weak," said another respondent.

Current levels of broadband and mobile phone provision in rural areas are not catering for demand and are stifling innovation, the report says.

'Social, economic and environmental benefits'

There are social, economic and environmental benefits' of connecting the final 5%, especially for the delivery of a sustainable and productive agricultural sector, the report states.

"We need to be able to use the technology to farm more efficiently to meet the needs of our growing population and compete in the international markets.

"Farmers with poor connectivity cannot use the full range of agricultural technology.

"They spend time traveling back and forth to signal hot-spots and have to outsource their management of online finance and regulatory systems.

"Online compliance can cuts costs for both the government and farmers", the report highlighted.

In July, another report by an influential group of MPs said poor customer service and an overrealiance on a copper network were not meeting the needs of rural homes.

CLA Deputy President Tim Breitmeyer said: "The Governments commitment to a broadband universal service obligation was a major breakthrough for those of us who have campaigned for an end to the discrimination felt by those that live and work in the countryside.

"The day this legal right to a superfast broadband connection becomes law cannot come a day too soon and we support the MPs challenge to government to see if it can be brought in earlier than the current target of end of 2020."
Northern Ireland's Agriculture Minister Michelle McIlveen has said that delivering a profitable farming industry is a key objective for her during her time in office.

Speaking to Ulster Farmers Union Winter Programme Meeting, Miss McIlveen said her focus is on improving the economic performance of the industry, supporting farmers through challenging times and ensuring that vital financial support and trade links are maintained during and after UKs exit from the European Union.

The Minister said farmers "are at the heart" of the agri-food industry which has an annual turnover of almost 5billion and 20,000 employees.

"I believe there is significant potential for further expansion in this sector; and I aim to bring a sharper focus to governments role in collaborating with the industry to support growth," Miss McIlveen said.

"Last month, I announced the launch of the preparation stage for the capital element of the new Farm Business Improvement Scheme (FBIS).

"I believe this will help to grow the sector, by enabling farmers to invest in the next generation of their farms."

'Very challenging market conditions'

In a wide-ranging speech to the Fermanagh meeting on Thursday evening, the Minister told delegates that her department will also help farmers when times are challenging.

Miss McIlveen went on to say the farming industry has enjoyed an early boost following the referendum result

Miss McIlveen said: "I am acutely aware of the very challenging market conditions farmers have been facing.

"Whilst the vast majority of the factors contributing to the continuing low prices are outside DAERAs control, my Department will continue to do all that it can to assist farmers cope with future market volatility.

"In less than two weeks, we will be issuing a 70% advance to Basic and Greening Payments to eligible farm businesses and we are also committed to paying at least 95% of eligible Basic Payment Scheme applicants in December.

"Since my appointment, I have pressed DEFRA Ministers and the European Commission on the need for urgent and meaningful support for hard pressed farmers, particularly those in the dairy sector.

"I was pleased when Commissioner Hogan announced a package of measures aimed at addressing the financial difficulties.

"There are two key elements of the package  the provision for EU Milk Production Reduction Aid and Exceptional Adjustment Aid.

"As a result of my lobbying, I successfully made the case for a significant share of the UKs 30.2million allocation of Exceptional Adjustment Aid."

'Early boost following the referendum result'

Addressing the issue of the UK exit from the European Union, Miss McIlveen went on to say the farming industry has enjoyed an early boost following the referendum result.

"Since June, we have seen a significant depreciation on the value of sterling which has had a positive impact on the value of basic farm payments," Miss McIlveen said.

"It is estimated that the total net value of 2016 Direct Payment to local farmers will be boosted by 39million compared to last year.

"The exchange rate is also beneficial to exporting companies. As a result, there has been an improvement on the price of sheep, cattle and milk for our local farmers.

"Northern Ireland goods are more competitive in export markets and the costs of food products coming into the UK are more expensive compared to locally produced products.

"We are also seeing more visitors and shoppers coming to Northern Ireland and in particular our rural towns and villages."

'Vital support'

Miss McIlveen said a significant amount of work has been undertaken on Brexit, to establish the necessary governance arrangements and the scoping out the programme of work that lies ahead.

However, she went on to emphasise: "First and foremost, my priority is to preserve vital financial support for the farming, and fisheries, sectors.

"Secondly, I am acutely aware of the importance of the agri-food sector to our economy and employment so I want an agricultural policy framework that underpins its sustainable growth and competitiveness.

"Thirdly, we must ensure our continued ability to trade effectively and profitability both inwardly and outwardly," Miss McIlveen concluded.
Global and British farmers face significant challenges in the years ahead, but a new approach to providing innovative solutions could be just the answer the industry needs.

By bringing together key players from across the supply chain; from muddy boots farmers to cutting-edge scientists and manufacturers, the Rothamsted Open Innovation Forum aims to speed up practical answers to the big questions.

And unlike other conferences, it will follow the ideas through, working with a range of research partners to put the solutions in place to the benefit of the whole industry.

Open Innovation has many proven successes in other sectors, and we want to bring this approach to the field of food and farming, says Chris Dunkley, chief executive of the Rothamsted Centre for Research and Enterprise.

Rather than innovation within a single organisation, it allows us to bring in collaborative partners at an early stage, accelerating the progression were able to bring about.

Mr Dunkley is encouraging everyone in the industry to join the ROIFs Online Blackboard, to share their most pressing concerns ahead of the three-day conference.

Held from 18-20 January 2017, the conference will discuss the challenges identified, and partners will then form workshops to take potential solutions forward on the ground.

There will also be a White Paper to record existing best practice and areas of collaboration, with ongoing research projects feeding into the 2018 annual event.

What kind of challenges is the forum likely to address?

While we have no set agenda, themes will include soil health, new techniques and connected technology, says Professor Achim Dobermann, CEO and director of Rothamsted Research.

Soil health is a major issue globally, and something that one of our partners  the BM Gates Foundation  is taking forward in Africa.

Saskia Heijnen, portfolio lead on Our Planet, Our Health at the Wellcome Trust, which is partnering the event, says the key is finding a sustainable balance between global food systems and environmental health.

Natural systems that we rely on  from clean air to fresh water, biodiversity to a stable climate  are under threat, she says.

As researchers discover more links between our health and the environment, we become better equipped to come up with ways to reduce these threats. There are already opportunities for change, but more research and action is needed.

New techniques and technologies

New techniques and technologies are emerging all the time; many from farmers themselves.

It is paramount to stimulate the uptake of new approaches in the agricultural world, says Dr Adrian Percy, head of R&D at Bayer.

The Open Innovation Forum involves all the aspects of the food chain and will lead to concrete multi-partner projects aimed at speeding up the innovation uptake by the entire agricultural community.

Improved wireless broadband and phone connectivity also offers tremendous opportunities, says Prof Dobermann.

Farmers are generating so much data now, but getting it off the farm and compiling it in an accessible format to influence decision-making is the vital next step.

With only three months left to go before this cutting edge conference, farmers and others throughout the industry should get online and help to shape the future of their sector, he adds.

We already have some extremely strong partners working towards a sustainable and healthy agri-food sector; now we want to hear from those on the ground so we can put some practical resolutions in place.
Farmers retaining control of the single market after leaving the European Union is vital for food supply, NFU county chairman Richard Yates has said.

Mr Yates said the UK was only 61% self-sufficient.

"I think there is a feeling of shock in Brussels of the Brexit result," he told the Shropshire Star.

"There is a feeling they are circling their wagons to prevent any further tremors extending throughout Europe and it is possible they might want to make an example of us.

"It would be beneficial to agriculture to find a solution so we don't leave the single market."

Key issues

'I think there is a feeling of shock in Brussels of the Brexit result', said NFU County Chairman, Richard Yates

Access to the European market, regulatory burden and an agricultural policy that delivers confidence were the key issues when the industry leaders met in August.

NFU livestock chairman Charles Sercombe said "It was agreed that on trade we need to ensure we continue to have access to the important European market for our beef and lamb.

"It is important that discussions to secure access to new markets around the world continue."

"Like other farming sectors, access to non-UK labour is a key issue.

"We are acutely aware that the meat processing sector is reliant on a secure labour supply, and without it we could see costs rising in the supply chain and which would have a knock on effect on our ability to compete in a world market.

"Regulatory burden remains a thorny issue for many livestock producers.

"We recognise that any significant change could impact on our ability to trade within the single market.

Mr Sercombe said the challenge to government is to ensure regulation is proportionate, and is not 'gold plated' but encourages compliance.

"We want an agricultural policy that helps deliver long term food security, stability and confidence for the livestock sector that reflects geographical and devolved Government differences.

"The UK livestock sector has an opportunity to come up with a template for a productive and profitable sector, this is the start of a new era and we want be part of that discussion."
A clear drive by retailers to support Scottish farmers, crofters and the countrys beef industry was evident during the latest shelf watch carried out by NFU Scotland.

The shelf watch survey, carried out from 3 to 7 October, found that out of the 14 stores surveyed, 74 per cent of the beef stocked was Scotch Beef.

Whilst there was overall strong support, this did vary by the nine retailers, with secret shoppers in one Waitrose store finding no Scotch Beef products, while others found 100 per cent Scotch Beef.

Overall 2,871 packs of fresh beef were counted, in stores

Although this is just a snapshot of the overall picture, these results demonstrate a 'clear drive' from a number of retailers to support Scottish farmers and the Scottish beef industry, NFU Scotland said.

Overall, 14 supermarket stores were visited from Aberdeen to Edinburgh, and more than 2,800 packs of beef were counted.

Tesco, Aldi and Lidl topped the chart with all three supermarkets stocking near 100 per cent Scotch Beef across all of their stores.

'Mixed bag'

NFU Scotland Livestock Committee Chairman, Charlie Adam, said the results demonstrate that support for Scotch Beef from Scottish retailers is a "mixed bag".

"Credit must go to Tesco, Aldi and Lidl for their support for Scottish provenance for beef," Mr Adam said.

"Scotch Beef rightly has a strong international reputation and it is clear that shoppers want to be able to eat Scotch Beef in Scotland.

"With Brexit negotiations on the horizon we need strong support for Scottish food and farming from Scottish retailers and we hope the sourcing of Scottish beef can be improved in the future.

"Price deflation for meat continues to impact the industry and this is an ongoing concern for Scotlands farmers and crofters, but it is positive to see strong demand for Scotch Beef by some large retailers.

"While 97 per cent of the beef counted was either Scottish or British there was also an amount of imported beef.

"With uncertainty over the future trading relationship of the United Kingdom with the rest of the world we would like to see all retailers decrease their reliance on imported meat," Mr Adam concluded.
Bird flu: Poultry housing order to be introduced in England
Hotline available for farmers impacted by pipeline protests

By Diego Flammini

Assistant Editor, North American Content

Farms.com

The North Dakota Department of Agriculture has set up a hotline for farmers to use if theyre being affected by the Dakota Access Pipeline protests.

Farmers can call the Farm/Ranch Emergency Assistance Hotline at 701-425-8454 between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday to Friday, to be matched up with individuals available for hire.

Multiple reports indicate the protests have turned violent at times, resulting in truck drivers and silage chopping services refusing to provide their services.

North Dakota Agriculture Commissioner Doug Goehring said it is crucial farmers get their work completed before winter sets in.



Doug Goehring

Many farmers and ranchers near the protest area urgently need assistance to finish their seasonal work before inclement weather sets in, Goehring said in a release. There is frustration with trying to hire local truckers to haul livestock, grain and hay; as well as in hiring custom silage-chopping services. We are appealing to those who can provide these services to contact the hotline.

According to the Associated Press, Energy Transfer Partners is trying to complete a 1,200-mile pipeline from North Dakota to Illinois. Protesters are concerned about potential impacts on drinking water.

In the event of protestors blocking access for farmers, Goehring encouraged producers to use the proper resources.

Those in need of assistance in conducting their normal agricultural activities should call the Morton County Sheriffs Department at 701-667-3330, Goehring said in a release. They will do their best to assist in providing safe passage to get the work done.
"Despite the transaction resulting in the removal of a close competitor to the existing GrainCorp site in Gilgandra, based on market feedback, the ACCC considered that there will be effective competition from other suppliers of storage and handling services in the region."
"We wanted the access code mandated by regulation or legislation so that it was something that had to be worked through regardless of whether a proponent was a member of APPEA or a good corporate citizen or not," he said last November at a briefing for Farm Weekly with Nationals deputy leader Mia Davies and Agricultural Region MLCs Paul Brown and Martin Aldridge.
"As each IGA is independently owned, we have had to approach each store individually to see if they would be interested in stocking our milk, so we ask patrons to be patient while we work on these negotiations," he said.
"Expectations are for the rolling average slaughter to remain below 120,000 head for the majority of 2017 - an unprecedented low level for a longer duration than any other time in the past."
Warrenton, VA (20186)

Today

Rain likely. High 64F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 90%. Rainfall around a quarter of an inch..

Tonight

Steady light rain this evening. Showers continuing overnight. Low near 55F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 70%.
What does a more efficient Caleb Love look like for the Tar Heels?
Ewan McGregor wants to shoot 'Obi-Wan Kenobi Part 1 and 2'.

Ewan McGregor

The Scottish actor played the Jedi Knight in all three of George Lucas' 'Star Wars' prequels and 2015's 'The Force Awakens' but insists there's room for at least two spin-off films about the character - brought to life by Alec Guinness in the original 1977 'Star Wars' - and he's already thought up a title.

He said: "I've always thought there was a story to tell between my last one and Alec Guinness's first one. I'd be the right age. I'm 45, Alec Guinness was what, 60? I could do two of them! The Obi-Wan Kenobi Story Part 1 and Party 2."

McGregor was rumoured to be in talks with Disney to fulfil his idea although nothing has been confirmed.

He previously mused the plot could focus on the time period between 'Episode III' and 'Episode IV,' when Obi-Wan is hiding from Darth Vader, Emperor Palpatine and the Empire.

He said: "I think the story between 'Episode III' and 'Episode IV', I think there's a story there. I think that's the Obi-Wan Kenobi movie, if there is one. The one that bridges my Obi-Wan Kenobi and Alec Guinness' portrayal of Obi-Wan Kenobi. I don't know how long he's in the desert there, but it's got to be 20 or 30 years."

The star might get his wish as 'Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens' director J.J. Abrams recently revealed there are "exciting" times ahead for fans of the franchise.

He said: "There are some really cool things being discussed. It is very exciting to see how it is being put together."

However, the franchise already has five further movies, two trilogies and a hat-trick of spin-offs planned and executives are reportedly discussing another quintet of the sci-fi motion pictures for after 2020.

A source said: "The success of 'The Force Awakens' has given executives much to think about.

"So many characters' back-stories and futures can now be brought to life. When these ideas came from George Lucas 40 years ago, technology was lagging behind. Now they can be turned around in a year."
Princess Eugenie laid a wreath in memory of abolitionist William Wilberforce at Westminster Abbey on Wednesday (12.10.16).

Princess Eugenie

The 26-year-old royal, the daughter of Prince Andrew and Duchess of York Sarah Ferguson, attended the ceremony - along with British prime minister Theresa May - which commemorated the work of the late activist, who was a leader of the movement to abolish the slave trade.

The message on the wreath, which she placed on William's grave, read: "In commemoration of the work of William Wilberforce and marking the United Kingdom's commitment to combat Modern Slavery laid by HRH Princess Eugenie of York and Marlene Sookdeo, a survivor of Modern Slavery."

After laying the floral tribute, Eugenie stood next to Theresa May to sing hymns before the PM gave a speech

and vowed to make Britain lead the fight to bring justice to slave workers.

She promised: "As Prime Minister, I want Britain at the forefront of this fight, leading the world with our efforts to stamp out modern day slavery and human trafficking.

"This is a global phenomenon that knows no geographical boundaries, crossing not just borders but over the internet.

"So we need a radical domestic and international approach to target every aspect of this despicable trade and strip the slave drivers of the profit they make out of human suffering by putting them behind bars.

"We will work tirelessly, relentlessly pursuing the perpetrators of these appalling crimes so that victims of slavery can go free."
Queen Elizabeth has become the world's longest reigning monarch following the death of Thailand's King Adulyadej.

Queen Elizabeth

The British monarch has been given the title following the sad passing of King Bhumibol Adulyadej, who died on Thursday (13.10.16) at the age of 88.

A statement from the Thai Palace read: "His Majesty has passed away peacefully at Siriraj Hospital. Even though the doctors tried their best to save His Majesty, his condition deteriorated."

Whilst Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha added: "The government urges you to pray that His Majesty will rest in peace in heaven. We were blessed to live under his reign.

"Do not let his death stop you from following his principles and continuing to be good citizens."

The Prime Minister confirmed a decision was made in 2002 on who would be the king's heir following his death and that parliament would be informed of the decision shortly. He also asked for all Thais to wear black for the next 12 months to remember the late royal, who has been very popular with the people he served since his accession in June 1946.

Meanwhile, Queen Elizabeth celebrated another big milestone last year after she was named Britain's longest-reigning monarch in September 2015.

She said at the time: "It is one to which I have never aspired. Inevitably a long life can pass by many milestones - my own is no exception - but I thank you all and the many others at home and overseas for your touching messages of great kindness."

The British monarch - who ascended to the throne in 1952 - also celebrated her ninetieth birthday this year and was joined by close family and friends to mark the special occasion. The commemorations included a street party on The Mall and a string of events at the royal residence of Windsor Castle.
She stormed up the Bollywood ranks this year with an incredible performance in Neerja in February, launched her own mobile phone application and delivering utterly original red carpet styles at the 69th Cannes Film Festival in May, worked with NGOs to eliminate malnourishment in children, especially those battling cancer, and got signed by the prestigious United Talent Agency, our cover star Sonam Kapoor couldnt have asked for a more fulfilling year. I guess its a celebration just ahead of me capping 10 years in the industry (she debuted with Sanjay Leela Bhansalis Saawariya opposite Ranbir Kapoor in 2007), says the Kapoor girl who will go on to shoot Veer Di Wedding with Kareena Kapoor Khan, Swara Bhaskar and Shikha Talsania in April next year.



Just days before she embarked on a trip to London, her first holiday of the year, Kapoor sat down with Femina to talk about how she unwinds on holidaysleep, eat and shopher love for jewelled watches and how the size of a ring doesnt matter as long as her man loves her.



And thats also because she bought her first pair of solitaires with her own earnings as an actor. They were very expensive even though my mom (Sunita Kapoor is a jewellery designer) set them for me, she says. One of her recent purchases, however, is the Bulgari Serpenti watch. But what makes the perfect investment is a kundan set and a pair of gold hoop earrings because it never goes out of fashion.

Next Story : Not Your Average Gift: Our Handpicked Thoughtful Diwali Gifts
Jaipur

There is nothing more beautiful than watching the Pink City come to life during Diwali. Jaipur is gorgeous to visit in general, with its rich history and culture. Add the festival of lights to that mix and the city truly shines. With competitions held for the best-lit markets, locals go all out, making sure the streets are decked out. In fact, the level of grandeur is so extravagant; you can even take a walking tour through the city, to catch these markets in all their glory.
Has Group, which produces textile finishing machineries for knitted, woven, denim, home textile, technical textile and carpets, is going to display double drum teasel raising machine RCM-D at the forthcoming ITMA Asia + CITME 2016 fair in Shanghai. RCM-D is an example of the powerful mechanic structure and innovative technology of Has Group.

Has Group, which produces textile finishing machineries for knitted, woven, denim, home textile, technical textile and carpets, is going to display double drum teasel raising machine RCM-D at the forthcoming ITMA Asia + CITME 2016 fair in Shanghai. RCM-D is an example of the powerful mechanic structure and innovative technology of Has Group.#

RCM-D is preferred specially for raising of sensitive products. The machine performs mechanical finishing operation with the help of metal wires slipped through the surfaces of all knitted and woven fabrics (woolen cloth, upholstery fabric, cloak, jacket, blanket, sweat suit, polar, etc) and taking fibres out of yarns.

Has Group, which produces textile finishing machineries for knitted, woven, denim, home textile, technical textile and carpets, is going to display double drum teasel raising machine RCM-D at the forthcoming ITMA Asia + CITME 2016 fair in Shanghai. RCM-D is an example of the powerful mechanic structure and innovative technology of Has Group.#

In hall H6 booth A24, the company will also showcase all other machines manufactured by Has Group.

Currently, Has Group offers service to its RCM-D customers in Turkey, Middle East and West Asia.

Has Group, which produces textile finishing machineries for knitted, woven, denim, home textile, technical textile and carpets, is going to display double drum teasel raising machine RCM-D at the forthcoming ITMA Asia + CITME 2016 fair in Shanghai. RCM-D is an example of the powerful mechanic structure and innovative technology of Has Group.#

The company is known for producing machines that have low maintenance cost and are energy saving. Its products are designed, improved, produced and assembled in Turkey. (RKS)

Has Group, which produces textile finishing machineries for knitted, woven, denim, home textile, technical textile and carpets, is going to display double drum teasel raising machine RCM-D at the forthcoming ITMA Asia + CITME 2016 fair in Shanghai. RCM-D is an example of the powerful mechanic structure and innovative technology of Has Group.#

Fibre2Fashion News Desk  India
Cross border logistics has become faster in the subcontinent with the implementation of the Motor Vehicles Agreement between Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and Nepal (BBIN). The agreement ensures a smooth transition of cargo and passenger vehicles between the four countries. It will help reduce logistics costs by up to 20 per cent and transit time by 3 days.

A Marks & Spencer shipment of Expo Freight (EFL), Sri Lanka's leading forwarder, recently entered India from Bangladesh, making it the first truck to make the cross-border transition without unloading the consignment and transferring it to another truck at the border. EFL's truck arrived in Delhi from Dhaka via Magura, Jessore, the Benapole-Petrapole border, and Kolkata.

Global brands as well as the domestic companies of the apparel-centric economies in the subcontinent will benefit from this agreement. It could increase intraregional trade in the region by up to 60 per cent and global trade by more than 30 per cent, according to Sri Lankan media reports.

Cross border logistics has become faster in the subcontinent with the implementation of the Motor Vehicles Agreement between Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and Nepal (BBIN). The agreement ensures a smooth transition of cargo and passenger vehicles between the four countries. It will help reduce logistics costs by up to 20 per cent and transit time by 3 days.#

Under BBIN framework, a new customs inspection and verification procedure has been introduced that is carried out using E-Seal. GPS will also be installed in the trucks to allow customers to keep a check on their cargo's exact location. (KD)

Fibre2Fashion News Desk  India
No Hot Scenes Of Ranbir & Aishwarya

As of now, reports suggest that Karan is not removing Fawad's part in the film. But a few intimate scenes of Aishwarya Rai & Ranbir Kapoor will not be seen in the film.

One Scene Was Also Shown In The Trailer

Reportedly, one of chopped scenes of Ae Dil Hai Mushkil also includes an intimate scene of Ranbir & Aishwarya Rai, which was shown in the trailer. We wonder, which scene would get chopped off!

The Film Gets UA Certificate

DNA also quoted as saying, "The CBFC (Censor Board Of Film Certification) on Wednesday granted Karan's film a UA certificate (fit for viewing by children accompanied by adults).

The 50-50 Reaction

The much hyped steamy scenes of Aishwarya Rai & Ranbir Kapoor evoked many different reactions from the audience. While some were outraged by seeing the hot scenes, some simply loved their hot chemistry!

This Might Affect The Film

In fact, Aishwarya-Ranbir's never seen before chemistry is one of the strong reasons for pulling the crowd to the theatres on its D-day but according to the latest reports, ADHM might suffer a decline in number of footsteps at the time of its release.

Aishwaryas Bold Character

On a related note, rumours were also rife that during the development of the script, Aishwarya's character in the film was not that bold but the actress herself convinced Karan to make her character more sensual!

Karan Tried To Convince CBFC Members

We also hear that Karan tried his level best to convince the CBFC members to let him keep those scenes as they are the crucial part of the film but they didn't agree with KJo and ended up deleting those scenes!

Inside Scoop About Aishwaryas Character

BL quoted a source as saying, "When Ash was approached for the role the makers had kept a mild script, but on reading her part she felt that it was incomplete. Aishwarya felt that by making her character tame the makers were killing it."

Aishwaryas Demand

"Aishwarya demanded that the script be made more bold. She felt that the character would be more relatable if they went all out. And it was only after this suggestion from Aishwarya the team worked on more steamy sequences in the film."
The Divergent actress Shailene Woodley could go to jail, as she has been pressed with trespassing charges.

The 24-year-old Hollywood actress was arrested by the police on Monday for criminal trespassing on the said construction site secured for the Grand Dakota Access Pipeline.

Now if the actress is found guilty of the charges brought on her, she could well face a jail term of not less than 60 days along with a fine of $3,000. However, the actress says that she was arrested because of her celebrity status.

"I'm being arrested. Because I was trespassing, like everyone else. But as soon as you guys asked me to leave, I left." Woodley said.

"I'm being arrested! I was down there with everybody else! I don't know what's going on, as soon as they came I left. It's because I'm well known, it's because I have 40,000 people watching." She added.

Shailene Woodley, also explained how the police officers grabbed her, by the jacket and wouldn't let her go.

"I was just walking back to the RV which is right there, so we could go back to camp peacefully. They grabbed me by the jacket and they said I wasn't allowed to continue. They have giant guns and batons and zip ties and they're not letting me go." The actress said.
Arjun Bijlani, who is in 'Pardes' (Austria) shooting for his upcoming show Pardes Mein Hai Mera Dil, missed his wife Neha Swami's birthday for the first time in 13 years. He took to social media to wish his wife on her special day, in an adorable way.

Sharing a picture snapped with Neha, Arjun wrote, "Happy birthday baby .missing ur birthday for the first time in 13 years.will make up for it once I'm back..till then  @nehaswami."



Neha thanked her hubby on the social media. She posted the picture of cup cake and wrote, "Thank u so much Baby @arjunbijlani  missed you yaaa without you no birthday, it's just a Day.. Love u see u very very soon.. #mylife #myyou #mybabyarjun . Aajao bas ."



She also wrote how much she has been missing Arjun, "Missssssssssiiiiiinnnnnngggggg you Arjunbnnnnnnnnn Hindustan mein hai aapka dil pls come soon yaa baby."



We wish Neha, a belated happy birthday.

Recently, Arjun and Neha were spotted in Goa, celebrating aunt Deepti Bhatnagar's birthday.



Apparently, it was love at first sight for Arjun and Neha. The couple was introduced to each other by a common friend, and Arjun was very much impressed with Neha's simplicity. After an 8-year-long courtship, the couple tied the knot on 20 May, 2013.

The couple has an adorable son Ayaan, whom Arjun considers as his lucky charm.
It is known to all that the dropping TRP of Swaragini has worried the makers and the cast. There were also rumours of the show going off air. Considering the viewers' love for the show, the producer of the show, Rashmi Sharma has decided to introduce major twists in the show.

With the latest leap story, it looks like Swaragini makers are trying their luck by going back to square one. As we revealed, the show will be taking 6-month leap. Post leap, Swara (Helly Shah) and Ragini (Tejaswi Prakash Wayangankar) will be seen in their old avatars.

Shekar With Swara & Ragini Post leap, Swara and Ragini are separated from their respective husbands (Sanskar and Lakshya). They return to their baadi and are seen living with their parents Shekhar and Sharmista. Swara & Ragini Turn Wedding Planners Swara and Ragini will be seen as wedding planners. Swara and Ragini are seen dancing at their friend's marriage ceremony. Shekhar will also be seen supporting his daughters. Swara Swara and Sanskar's love-hate relationship continues, while the family members still search for Lakshya. Where is Lakshya and why he runs away from his family members? Well, we will have to wait for some more time to get the answer! Sanskar According to the latest spoiler, the police would have given up from searching Lakshya, but Sanskar doesn't stop. While searching for Lakshya, Sanskar finds a car that probably belongs to Lakshya. Sanskar Tries To Find Lakshya Sanskar fights with the owner of the car to extract information about Lakshya, but in vain. Sanskar and Swara still love and miss each other. Sanskar is trying hard to find Lakshya in order to get back to Swara! Swara Worried! According to the latest spoiler Swara will be seen worried as someone will be blackmailing her. Who is blackmailing Swara and why? What happened in six months? Stay locked to this space for the latest updates.

Is Swaragini following on Kumkum Bhagya track? Well, let's not compare it with Kumkum Bhagya as Swaragini makers are trying something new and not like the same old kidnap and murder saga!

In the previous episode, we saw Swara and Ragini giving the property papers to Durga Prasad. Even after Annapoorna's repeated request Durga Prasad doesn't stop Adarsh from getting arrested.

Durga Prasad asks the police not to arrest Parineeta. Well, he hasn't forgiven Parineeta, but he feels it will be her punishment to stay away from her husband Adarsh, who just got arrested.

As we had revealed earlier, Lakshya goes missing after a major fight with Sanskar. Although, the two sisters remain successful by getting the Maheshwari property back from Adarsh, the two brothers get separated.

Even after searching (for a week), Lakshya won't be found. Sanskar shouts at the police, when they give up searching Lakshya.

Ragini breaks down, while Swara blames Sanskar for ruining Ragini's life. She lashes out at Sanskar and tells him that she will never separate from her sister Ragini. Swara decides to separate from Sanskar until Lakshya is back!
Fosun Group is one of several Chinese companies that have invested in Russia, having established a branch in Moscow in October 2015. A senior manager at the conglomerate had the opportunity this week to ask Russian President Vladimir Putin which direction of Russias economic relationships would be most significant in the long run when it comes to Asian partners.

Despite Russias diplomatic and commercial turn to Asia since 2014, when European and North American countries imposed sanctions on it over its annexation of Crimea, trade turnover with China has actually declined.

But it remains significant, Putin told the audience on Wednesday at VTB Capitals investment forum in Moscow, standing at $63.5 billion. Moreover, trade with other countries in the region, such as Vietnam, have increased over the past two years.

Through a translator, Putin said: Whats particularly gratifying is the diversification of our relations with Asia-Pacific countries  with Japan, India, China, South Korea and other states. Putin pointed to cross-border investments in areas including machine engineering, space travel and nuclear power.

He spoke of Asian countries building relations with the Eurasian Economic Union, which includes Belarus, Kazakhstan and other former Soviet states.

He also cited a recent free-trade agreement with Vietnam and the rising importance of Chinas 'One Belt, One Road' infrastructure initiative as examples of the changes that were already occuring.

All that makes us very optimistic, noted Putin. Asian and Latin American countries account for 28% of Russias economic relationships, he added, but we have a good tendency for growth.

Questions from Chinese executives expressed commitment to Russia but a desire for clarity, particularly around the extent to which Russia will prioritise their concerns as business partners.

The Chinese head of the Russian branch of smartphone manufactuer LeEco, speaking in fluent Russian, asked about video content for smartphones and related technology.

There are certain limits to the capital participation in this segment of the market, this executive noted. His firm would like to see opportunities to cooperate in the development of Russian TV shows, for example.

Putin recognised Chinese cultural achievements but made clear that he would preserve Russian control over its cultural content.

We will back the efforts of our Chinese, American and European colleagues, the president said, but as regards diversity, which allows us to preserve our cultural and national identity, we should support local producers of national content.

Putin added that Russia would welcome investment, as long as it supported national content.
TORONTO, ONTARIO -- (Marketwired) -- 10/12/16 -- (All amounts are in Canadian dollars unless otherwise stated)

Teranga Gold Corporation ("Teranga" or the "Company") (TSX: TGZ)(ASX: TGZ) is pleased to advise that the previously announced acquisition of Gryphon Minerals Limited ("Gryphon"), by way of a scheme of arrangement (the "Scheme") under the Australian Corporations Act 2001 (Cth), has been implemented.

Pursuant to the Scheme, shareholders of Gryphon received an aggregate of 70,638,853 Teranga common shares or chess depository interests (CDIs) listed on the Australian Securities Exchange ("ASX") (based on their election) on the basis of 0.169 Teranga common share or CDI for each Gryphon common share not already held by the Company.

In addition, Tablo Corporation ("Tablo"), controlled by Mr. David Mimran, is exercising its pre-emptive participation right, pursuant to a Voting and Investor Rights Agreement with Teranga dated October 14, 2015, to subscribe for 9,671,625 Teranga common shares (the "Private Placement"), representing 13.69% of Teranga's common shares and CDIs issued under the Scheme (calculated on a non-diluted basis). Following the completion of the Private Placement, Tablo will hold a total of 63,376,260, or 13.41%, of Teranga's issued and outstanding common shares (calculated on a non-diluted basis and post issuance of the Teranga common shares and CDIs issued on the Scheme and the Private Placement). The issuance price to Tablo will be $1.0322 per share, being the 5-day volume weighted average price of Teranga common shares as of close of business on October 12, 2016. The Teranga common shares issued to Tablo will be subject to a customary four month hold period.

Upon closing of the Private Placement, which is expected later this week, Teranga will have approximately 472.5 million issued and outstanding common shares and a market capitalization of approximately $486.7 million, based on the closing price of the Teranga common shares on the Toronto Stock Exchange on October 12, 2016. The trading of the Gryphon shares on the ASX was suspended on September 29, 2016, and Gryphon has applied for the termination of the official quotation of Gryphon shares on the ASX and the removal of Gryphon from the official list of the ASX.

About Teranga Gold

Teranga is a Canadian-based gold company listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX: TGZ) and Australian Securities Exchange (ASX: TGZ). Teranga is principally engaged in the production and sale of gold, as well as related activities such as exploration and mine development in West Africa.

Teranga's mission is to create value for all of its stakeholders as it pursues its vision to be a pre-eminent mid-tier gold producer in West Africa. Operating in accordance with the highest international standards and using the best available techniques, Teranga strives to set the benchmark for responsible mining and to be a catalyst for sustainable economic, environmental and community development. For more information, please refer to www.terangagold.com.

Contacts:

Teranga Gold Corporation

Richard Young

President & CEO

+1 416-594-0000

ryoung@terangagold.com



Teranga Gold Corporation

Trish Moran

Head of Investor Relations

+1 416-564-4290

tmoran@terangagold.com




MONTREAL, October 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

Trump rant catches on

While De Niro's rant on Trump was making media waves around the globe, he was part of a delegation which included the Prime Minister of Antigua & Barbuda, Hon. Gaston Browne on a mission to promote investments in the picturesque twin-islands of Antigua and Barbuda.

(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161012/428126 )



De Niro, a Special Envoy of Antigua and Barbuda is an investor himself together with Australian billionaire James Packer in a real estate project in Barbuda. Packer has already invested in the actor's Nobu restaurants.

"It's a beautiful place, that's why I'm involved in this project," De Niro shared during a conference at the Palazzo Versace in Dubai, sponsored by Arton Capital, a leading global citizenship advisory firm. Speaking alongside Browne, the actor was keen to reassure Middle East investors that this is a sound economic proposition.

UAE has a number of prominent investors in the island. One such investor, brokered by Arton Capital, is the developer of the Callaloo Cay project, an exclusive US$ 150 million resort. Proactive in its bid to attract UAE investment, Antigua and Barbuda is opening an embassy and a trade and economic center in Abu Dhabi, the first CARICOM country to do so.

In addition to the long list of concessions for foreign investors such as a 25-year tax exemption, another significant benefit is Antigua's Citizenship by Investment Program (CIP) which fuels local economic growth. Of all the countries with an active CIP, Antigua and Barbuda's passport has been ranked as the most powerful in the Caribbean and the fourth best in the world by Arton's Passport Index, a global ranking of the world's passports. Citizens can travel visa-free to more than 124 countries including Canada, Europe's Schengen zone, UK, Singapore and Hong Kong, among others.

"The CIP program for the twin-island has become popular thanks to the level of trust built due to the continued bilateral economic developments and favourable investment climate," says John Hanafin, CEO of Arton Capital.

On the subject of global citizenship, "We can have our differences, but as the world gets smaller and people become more dependent on each other, we have no choice but to be concerned about our own self perseverance," shared De Niro.

While the government of Antigua and Barbuda has solidified relations with the United Arab Emirates it is also forging closer ties with Qatar. Prior to the UAE trip, and at the initiative of Armand Arton, President of Arton Capital and Special Envoy of Antigua, Prime Minister Browne and his delegation were invited to Qatar, where they met with Prime Minister, Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa Al Thani and the Cultural Adviser at the Emiri Diwan, Dr. Hamad Bin Abdulaziz Al Kawari.

Arton Capital is a leading residency and citizenship advisory firm, working closely with 10 governments advising on foreign policy and on attracting foreign direct investments.

Mr. Armand Arton, President, Arton Capital, T +1 514 935 6665, T +9714 456 9220, media@artoncapital.com
Regulatory News:

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

TRANSPORTATION CONTRACT

Reference is made to the announcements of the Company dated 14 January 2015, 29 December 2015, 20 January 2016, 4 March 2016, 6 April 2016, 20 May 2016, 31 May 2016, 5 July 2016, 14 July 2016, 26 August 2016 and 4 October 2016 in relation to the Previously Disclosed Transportation Contracts. The Company announces that on 12 October 2016, a member of the Group and an associate of En+ entered into an addendum to the Original Contract, pursuant to which the associate of En+ agreed to provide transportation services to the member of the Group.

THE NEW TRANSPORTATION CONTRACT

Reference is made to the announcements of the Company dated 14 January 2015, 29 December 2015, 20 January 2016, 4 March 2016, 6 April 2016, 20 May 2016, 31 May 2016, 5 July 2016, 14 July 2016, 26 August 2016 and 4 October 2016 in relation to the Previously Disclosed Transportation Contracts.

The Company announces that on 12 October 2016, a member of the Group, RUSAL SAYANAL OJSC, and an associate of En+, KraMZ-Auto, entered into an addendum (the "Addendum"), which is an addendum to the contract between the same parties dated 28 December 2015 (the "Original Contract", together with the Addendum, the "New Transportation Contract") that was disclosed in the announcement of the Company dated 29 December 2015. Pursuant to the Addendum, all terms of the Original Contract will remain the same, apart from the basis of calculation of payments which will be amended as follows: the service fee is calculated by multiplying the cost per operating hour (with an average of approximately USD24 per operating hour) by the number of operating hours (approximately 6,788 operating hours) plus the compensation for the damage to the roadway that is calculated by multiplying the cost per container (with an average of approximately USD204 per container) by the number of containers (approximately 200 containers).

THE ANNUAL AGGREGATE TRANSACTION AMOUNT

Pursuant to Rule 14A.81 of the Listing Rules, the continuing connected transactions contemplated under the New Transportation Contract and the Previously Disclosed Transportation Contracts 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 provision of transportation services by the associates of En+ to the Group.

The annual aggregate transaction amount that is payable by the Group to the associates of En+ under the New Transportation Contract and the Previously Disclosed Transportation Contracts for the financial years ending 31 December 2016 is estimated to be approximately USD16.469 million.

The Company invited several organizations to take part in the tender in relation to the required transportation services and chose the contractor offering the best terms and conditions (taking into account the price and quality offered by the service provider, the ability to meet the needs of the plants and the business relationship with the service provider) and then entered into the Original Contract with the chosen service provider. As a result of changes of legislation since September 2016, all carriers are required to reimburse the damage to the roadway. Accordingly, the Addendum was entered into.

The contract price under the New Transportation Contract has been arrived at after arm's length negotiation with reference to the market price and on terms no less favourable than those prevailing in the Russian market for transportation services of the same type and quality and those offered by the associates of En+ to independent third parties. The annual aggregate transaction amount is derived from the total contract price under the New Transportation Contract, which was based on the need of transportation services by the Group for the relevant year.

REASONS FOR AND BENEFITS OF THE TRANSACTIONS

The New Transportation Contract was entered into for the purpose of goods, cargo and passenger forwarding. The Company considers that the transactions contemplated under the New Transportation Contract are for the benefit of the Company, as the services provided are at a competitive price and the service provider is capable of meeting the Group's transportation needs and is conveniently located.

The Directors (including the independent non-executive Directors) consider that the New Transportation Contract is on normal commercial terms which are fair and reasonable and the transactions contemplated under the New Transportation Contract 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.

None of the Directors has a material interest in the transactions contemplated under the New Transportation Contract, save for Mr. Deripaska, Mr. Maxim Sokov, Ms. Olga Mashkovskaya and Ms. Gulzhan Moldazhanova, who are directors of En+, being the holding company of KraMZ-Auto. 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 resolution approving the New Transportation Contract.

LISTING RULES IMPLICATIONS

KraMZ-Auto is an indirect subsidiary of En+, and is therefore an associate of En+ which is a substantial shareholder of the Company. Accordingly, KraMZ-Auto is a connected person of the Company under the Listing Rules.

Accordingly, the transactions contemplated under the New Transportation Contract constitute continuing connected transactions of the Company.

The estimated annual aggregate transaction amount of the continuing connected transactions under the New Transportation Contract and the Previously Disclosed Transportation Contracts for the financial year ending 31 December 2016 is more than 0.1% but less than 5% under the applicable percentage ratios. Accordingly, pursuant to Rule 14A.76 of the Listing Rules, the transactions contemplated under these contracts are only subject to the announcement requirements set out in Rules 14A.35 and 14A.68, the annual review requirements set out in Rules 14A.49, 14A.55 to 14A.59, 14A.71 and 14A.72 and the requirements set out in Rules 14A.34 and 14A.50 to 14A.54 of the Listing Rules. These transactions are exempt from the circular and shareholders' approval requirements under Chapter 14A of the Listing Rules.

Details of the New Transportation Contract and the Previously Disclosed Transportation Contracts will be included in the relevant annual report and accounts of the Company in accordance with Rule 14A.71 of the Listing Rules where appropriate.

PRINCIPAL BUSINESS ACTIVITIES

The Company is principally engaged in the production and sale of aluminium, including alloys and value-added products, and alumina.

KraMZ-Auto is principally engaged in the provision of transportation services.

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. "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. "Group" the Company and its subsidiaries. "KraMZ-Auto" KraMZ-Auto Limited Liability Company, an indirect subsidiary of En+. "Listing Rules" the Rules Governing the Listing of Securities on the Stock Exchange. "Mr. Deripaska" Mr. Oleg Deripaska, an executive Director. "percentage ratios" the percentage ratios under Rule 14.07 of the Listing Rules. "Previously Disclosed Transportation Contracts" the series of transportation contracts entered into between members of the Group and the associates of En+, pursuant to which the associates of En+ agreed to provide transportation services to members of the Group in 2016 and 2017, as disclosed in the announcements of the Company dated 14 January 2015, 29 December 2015, 20 January 2016, 4 March 2016, 6 April 2016, 20 May 2016, 31 May 2016, 5 July 2016, 14 July 2016, 26 August 2016 and 4 October 2016. "Stock Exchange" The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited. "substantial shareholder" has the same meaning ascribed thereto under the Listing Rules. "USD" United States dollars, the lawful currency of the United States of America.

By Order of the Board of Directors of

United Company RUSAL Plc

Aby Wong Po Ying

Company Secretary

13 October 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/20161012006220/en/

Contacts:

United Company RUSAL Plc
CANBERA (dpa-AFX) - The Australian dollar weakened against the other major currencies in the Asian session on Thursday. The Australian dollar fell to more than a 3-week low of 0.7519 against the U.S. dollar, from yesterday's closing value of 0.7561. Against the NZ dollar, the aussie dropped to a 2-day low of 1.0662 from more than a 2-month high of 1.0741. The aussie slid to 1.4667 against the euro, from an early 2-month high of 1.4529. Against the yen and the Canadian dollar, the aussie edged down to 77.96 and 0.9992 from yesterday's closing quotes of 78.78 and 1.0036, respectively. If the aussie extends its downtrend, it is likely to find support around 0.74 against the greenback, 1.04 against the kiwi, 1.49 against the euro, 76.00 against the yen and 0.98 against the loonie. 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.
NEW YORK, NY -- (Marketwired) -- 10/13/16 -- ImageWare Systems (OTCQB: IWSY), GTX Corp (OTC PINK: GTXO)

THANK YOU FOR JOINING US "IN THE BOARDROOM"

John McClurg, Vice President in the Office of Security and Trust (OST), Cylance

James Lantrip, Segment Head, Security, Siemens Industry, Inc.

Marc Blackmer, Product Marketing Manager, Industry Solutions, Security Business Group, Cisco

Jim Miller, Chairman and CEO, ImageWare Systems

Scott B. Suhy, CEO, NetWatcher

Lucas Le Bell, Chief Executive Officer, CerbAir

Patrick Bertagna, GTX Corp, CEO, Founder & Chairman

****

And...From The Newsroom...

Revolutionary Car Company, Faraday Future, Selects AMAG Technology's Integrated Symmetry Security Management System

AMAG Technology Attains Second FICAM Approval with Symmetry Security Management Solution

Existing GTX Corp Distributor of GPS SmartSoles for Denmark Expands into Norway

*****

MARK YOUR CALENDAR!

ISRAEL HLS & CYBER 2016

WHERE PHYSICAL AND CYBER SECURITY MEET

NOVEMBER 14-17, 2016 - TEL AVIV CONVENTION CENTER

(https://events.myreg.co.il/HLS2016/Default.aspx)

*****

IN THE BOARDROOM WITH...

Cylance

John McClurg, Vice President in the Office of Security and Trust (OST), Cylance

John McClurg, Vice President in the Office of Security and Trust (OST), Cylance, told us, "CylancePROTECT is a truly advanced threat prevention solution. It sits on each endpoint within the organization, whether it's a desktop, laptop, mobile device, server, or virtual machine. By applying artificial intelligence, machine learning, and mathematic techniques, it instantly identifies and prevents malware and cyberattacks from executing. Basically, it protects from every threat known and yet-to-be-known, including system- and memory-based attacks, malicious documents, zero-day malware, privilege escalations, scripts, and potentially unwanted programs. The solution boosts the efficiency of your IT resources and reduces user impact throughout your organization. The endpoint security product uses little memory, less than 1% of CPU. It requires no Internet connection or signature updates and is engineered to run with minimal updates and fewer system resources. In addition, it works with Windows and Mac OS, easily integrates into existing security platforms, and is available in OEM and embedded versions for technology partners. It operates in every environment, whether it's 1,000, 10,000, or 100,000 endpoints.

For our complete interview with John McClurg, Vice President in the Office of Security and Trust (OST), Cylance, please click here or here: http://www.securitysolutionswatch.com/Interviews/in_Boardroom_Cylance_McClurg.html

*****

Siemens Industry, Inc.

James Lantrip, Segment Head, Security, Siemens Industry, Inc.

James Lantrip, Segment Head, Security, Siemens Industry, Inc., told us, "Siemens has a very customer-centric view. We look at our customers holistically. We're not just looking at them from a security perspective or a life-safety perspective or building automation perspective. We're looking at how we can help them with their business. And while we do break it down by market segment, we look in each segment and where we have our strengths, but more importantly we look across all the market segments and see if there are synergies that we can bring to the table that really helps our customers, manage, maintain and grow their business, as well as the practices that are underneath it. We can deliver many project sizes to help facilitate all types of projects and we have a strong team of developers that we could integrate and/or adjust specific items to be tailored to our customers' needs. We also have very strong product offerings that are geared towards the total building -- along with the service capability to deliver and support those products and solutions."

For our complete interview with James Lantrip, Segment Head, Security, Siemens Industry, Inc., please click here or here:http://www.securitysolutionswatch.com/Interviews/in_Boardroom_Siemens_Lantrip.html

For more information:

SiPass Integrated

(http://w3.usa.siemens.com/buildingtechnologies/us/en/security-solutions/access-control/Pages/access-control.aspx )

Siveillance Video Management Solutions

(https://www.buildingtechnologies.siemens.com/bt/global/en/security-solution/intelligent-video-surveillance-analytics/siveillance-vms/pages/siveillance-vms.aspx )

Desigo Mass Notification

(http://w3.usa.siemens.com/buildingtechnologies/us/en/mass-notification/desigo-mass-notification/pages/desigo-mass-notification.aspx)

Siveillance Vantage

(https://www.buildingtechnologies.siemens.com/bt/global/en/security-solution/command-control/pages/siveillance-vantage-command-control.aspx)

SiteIQ Analytics

(https://www.downloads.siemens.com/download-center/d/Siveillance-SiteIQ-Analytics-Flyer-EN_A6V10449063_hq-en.pdf?mandator=ic_bt&segment=HQ&fct=downloadasset&pos=download&id1=A6V10449063 )

*****

Cisco

Mr. Marc Blackmer, Product Marketing Manager, Industry Solutions, Security Business Group, Cisco, told us, "We estimate that there will be 50 billion -- with a 'b' -- connected things by 2020, and that includes critical infrastructure, mining, manufacturing, energy production, and so on. Accordingly, malicious hacking is becoming more lucrative and impactful as this connectivity increases. We've already seen how malware can be used to help take down a power grid. Therefore, if we are to reap the benefits of greater connectivity, then we need to be sure we are connecting security to protect human health and safety, as well as environment safety."

For our complete interview with Mr. Marc Blackmer, Product Marketing Manager, Industry Solutions, Security Business Group, Cisco, please click here or here:http://www.securitysolutionswatch.com/Interviews/in_Boardroom_Cisco_Blackmer.html

*****

ImageWare Systems

ImageWare and Fujitsu Bring Biometric Authentication to User Proofing

Fujitsu has Partnered with ImageWare to Deliver Fujitsu Smart Origination, Integrating GoVerifyID to Streamline Online Applications and Increase Fraud Protection

ImageWare Systems, Inc. (ImageWare) (OTCQB: IWSY) a leader in mobile and cloud-based, multi-modal biometric identity management solutions, and Fujitsu, a leading Japanese multinational information and communication technology company, have partnered to provide turnkey integration of ImageWare's GoVerifyID for the Fujitsu Smart Origination product offering.

Fujitsu Smart Origination utilizes the camera on the applicant's smartphone device along with the ImageWare GoVerifyID biometric SaaS offering to collect, process, and verify the user's identity. The solution automatically pre-fills data into application fields, verifies identity with credit bureaus, and undertakes device identification and deep geolocation. It also offers step up and step down authentication options on a per transaction basis and the ability for users to share their proven identity with trusted third parties.

This solution delivers unparalleled levels of security for clients based on their risk appetite and yet removes friction for customers in onboarding and support journeys through intelligent use of digital technologies. ImageWare and Fujitsu are first to market to deliver this solution as a service in a scalable solution either hosted on-premise or on their secure K5 cloud for true global reach and will help enterprises, across all sectors and geographies, convert applicants into customers by providing the user with a fast, simple, and secure process. The combined product offering is available immediately.

ImageWare's GoVerifyID is an enterprise ready, high performance biometric authentication SaaS that automatically verifies a user's identity and checks for duplicate enrollments.

Our partnership with ImageWare allows us to combine best in breed biometric capability with our leading edge origination solution to provide customers with the highest possible confidence in verifying their identity on digital channels with the lowest possible effort," said Ravi Krishnamoorthi, SVP and Head of Business and Application Services of Fujitsu. "ImageWare's biometric solution enables a higher level of efficiency with duplicate checks completed in a matter of seconds. Manual data entry and total application time is substantially reduced, resulting in less applicant dropouts."

ImageWare's Chairman and CEO Jim Miller commented: "Smart Origination is enabling companies to improve online application security and efficiency. We look forward to expanding our partnership with Fujitsu and bringing our industry leading multi-modal biometric authentication solution to an even broader set of customers around the globe."

For our complete interview with Jim Miller, ImageWare Systems, Chairman and CEO, please click here or here: www.securitysolutionswatch.com/Interviews/in_Boardroom_ImageWare.html

For the latest ImageWare Systems news, please click here, or here: http://iwsinc.com/latestnews/

*****

NetWatcher

Scott Suhy, CEO, NetWatcher, told us, "We just launched into beta an endpoint that both works with locally deployed sensors when the user is on-premise as well as and with our cloud sensor when the user is at home or at the coffee shop. We agree that all security is moving to the cloud but we also believe that there is a transition period. Our architecture supports detection and response locally for on-premise users and IOT devices and it also supports the mobile workforce when they are not local. Most SIEM/security providers only support on-premise. What is unique with the NetWatcher Cloud Endpoint? 2 big things. The one I already mentioned -- it can work without local on-premise security infrastructure. The second area -- we are offering a free version of the endpoint that anyone can download and use for no cost."

For our complete interview with Scott Suhy, CEO, NetWatcher, please click here or here: www.securitysolutionswatch.com/Interviews/in_Boardroom_Netwatcher_Suhy.html

*****

CerbAir

Mr. Lucas Le Bell, Chief Executive Officer, CerbAir, told us, "When it comes to protecting a sensitive site, a lot of risks have to be taken into account, drones being one of them. We understand that integrating new protection layers in an already complex security environment isn't easy. So we strived hard to develop a very pragmatic approach to deliver a high level of security and reliability at a modest cost matching the real level of the drone threat. Every day, we focus on our core activity which is about creating robust algorithms. Combining them with battle-proven sensors and top 3rd party countermeasures allows us to deliver first-class service to our customers. That is what our value proposition is about: selling the right solution at the right price to match a realistic level of threat. As a result, we do not compete with military technologies that most sites at risk cannot afford and which capabilities are overkill regarding our client needs."

For our complete interview with Mr. Lucas Le Bell, Chief Executive Officer, CerbAir, please click here or here: http://www.securitysolutionswatch.com/Interviews/in_Boardroom_Cerbair_LeBell.html

Watch the CerbAir Video here

*****

Patrick Bertagna, GTX CEO, Founder, Chairman

GTX Corp (OTCBB: GTXO), an IoT platform in the personal location GPS wearable and wandering assistive technology business, announced existing Demark distributor Safecall expanded their operations into Norway and signed an exclusive distribution agreement for both countries. Safecall first launched the GPS SmartSoles in Denmark last October. Due to an increase in product demand and the recent Dementia Plan 2020 announcement by the Norwegian government, it has expand distribution into Norway and locked up exclusive rights. Safecall has already placed a blanket order of GPS SmartSoles for the remaining of the year for both Denmark and Norway and will be submitting another order to cover the first half of 2017 by end of next month. For more information, see the GTX Corp blog here: http://gpsinsole.com/

GTX Corp Also Expands Distribution in Mexico

Please join Patrick Bertagna, CEO, "In The Boardroom" here, or here: http://www.securitysolutionswatch.com/Interviews/in_Boardroom_GTX_Bertanga.html.

*****

THIS PRESS RELEASE, AND ALL ADVERTISING, CONTENT AND ALL OTHER MATERIAL AND INFORMATION WHICH APPEARS ON SECURITYSOLUTIONSWATCH.COM AND/OR SECURITYSTOCKWATCH.COM, ONLINE AND/OR IN PRINT, IS SUBJECT TO OUR TERMS OF USE, CONDITIONS, AND DISCLAIMER HERE:www.securitysolutionswatch.com/Main/Terms_of_Use.html.
SYDNEY and BANGALORE, October 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

Experience the Collaborative Value of This Partnership at the 'Everything IoT Summit' in Sydney, Australia, October 17th 2016

Happiest Minds Technologies Pvt. Ltd. today, announced an extension of their partnership with Microsoft in Australia. The company's move to utilise Microsoft's Azure IoT Suite gives customers the ability to capture and analyse previously untapped data to achieve accelerated business transformation.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160913/406915 )



IoT is fast emerging as one of the most disruptive technologies with the potential to change the way people live, work and communicate. IoT makes it possible to combine machine generated data with human insights to enable richer interactions that lead to better real-time decision making with minimum human intervention. As a Microsoft Azure IoT partner, Happiest Minds consults with companies integrating IoT capabilities into their operations to improve efficiency, foster innovation and transform their businesses. The company considers Azure IoT a crucial building block as it develops solutions for its customers.

"We're thrilled to be a part of the Microsoft Azure IoT partner program. We are constantly pushing the geographical boundaries to take our IoT expertise to as many customers as possible. I am very confident that with Happiest Minds and Microsoft, now working together in Australia, we'll help companies leverage the power of IoT to gain a competitive advantage in a rapidly evolving marketplace," said Sandeep Agarwal, Senior VP and Global Head of Engineering Services at Happiest Minds.

"The Azure IoT Suite brings the Internet of your things to life, connecting devices, analysing data and integrating business systems, to help companies uncover new business models and revenue streams," said Toby Bowers, Director, Cloud & Enterprise Business Group, Microsoft Australia. "Happiest Minds has a proven track record of helping companies integrate disruptive technologies into their core operations accelerating the time to market and continually delivering additional value. We're very pleased to be collaborating with them in Australia."

Everything IoT Global Leadership Summit 2016, Sydney

Microsoft Australia and Happiest Minds will be providing customers with an opportunity to explore how to capture and utilise diverse and voluminous data at the 'Everything IoT Summit' in Sydney, on the 17th October 2016. They'll be on hand to discuss everything from the best ways to harness data for better decisions, to how to intelligently automate business operations.

IoT Focus Areas for Happiest Minds

From its very inception in August 2011, Happiest Minds was ahead of the curve in identifying IoT as one of the disruptive technologies that it would focus on. A key component of its strategy has been a sharp focus on industry verticals such as industrial automation, building automation, automotive, renewable energy and smart cities. Happiest Minds delivers its IoT solutions with expertise across '7 key pillars' to ensure a 360 degreeplay:

- Consulting for creating a technology blue print

- Sensor, Controller and Gateway engineering

- Cloud, Big Data and Analytics engineering

- Business workflow using mobile/UX engineering

- Enterprise integration to realize improved ROI

- DevOps for better control of the engineering processes

- Managed Services with Infrastructure and Device management

About Happiest Minds Technologies:

Happiest Minds enablesDigital Transformationfor enterprises and technology providers by delivering seamless customer experience, business efficiency and actionable insights through an integrated set of disruptive technologies:big data analytics,internet of things, mobility, cloud, security, unified communications, etc. Happiest Minds offers domain centric solutions, IPs in IT Services, Product Engineering,Infrastructure Management and Security. These services have applicability across industry sectors such as retail, CPG, e-commerce, banking, insurance, hi-tech, engineering R&D, manufacturing, automotive and travel/transportation/hospitality. As a Mindful IT Company, the focus is on 'Being Mindful' and 'Doing Mindful' which involves perceiving immersively, processing non-judgmentally and performing empathetically. 60 minutes in a week is committed towards inculcating a mindful approach within the organization, using a select set of tools and techniques. Headquartered in Bangalore, India, Happiest Minds has operations in the US, UK, The Netherlands,Australia, Middle East and Turkey.



For Happiest Minds Technologies enquiries, please contact:

media@happiestminds.com

For Microsoft media enquiries, please contact:

Natalie Carter

Telephone: 02 8281 3278

Email: Natalie.Carter@ogilvy.com.au
WALTHAM, MA--(Marketwired - October 13, 2016) - Profitect Inc., the leading prescriptive analytics provider, today announced the appointment of Yonatan Olsha as the Managing Director of EMEA at Profitect. Adding this position exemplifies Profitect's commitment to increasing the company's sales and presence in Europe and beyond. This hire also demonstrates Profitect's dedication to expanding its team to improve overall customer satisfaction, ultimately providing more opportunities to current customers and partners.

With close to 20 years of experience, Olsha joins the team to lead Profitect's European growth and expansion strategy. His relationships and previous leadership roles with top fashion retailers like Tommy Hilfiger, Calvin Klein, Burberry, Zenga, Paul Smith, and Tory Burch uniquely position him to lead Profitect's customers, employees and partners in the EMEA region. Olsha has firsthand knowledge and experience with the rapid changes occurring in the retail industry, and brings with him the expertise to continue to up-level Profitect's retail strategy. His insight and familiarity with omni-channel and customer centricity will help guide European customers on how to leverage Profitect's prescriptive analytics offerings.

"While my previous roles have been primarily on the retail vendor side, I couldn't be more excited to make the switch to retail technology," said Olsha. "What motivated me to take on this exciting new role is that I truly believe in the Profitect solution. While most rely on long-form reports to analyze and manage actions derived from data, prescriptive analytics is the next wave of leveraging small and big data, and democratizing analytics to everyone in the organization -- Profitect is doing it. I know, I was a customer."

Olsha joins the team with an extensive background in the retail industry and will work closely with Profitect's executive team to drive the company's advancement and global footprint. Olsha will focus on developing the European region, recruiting new customers and partners while continuing to maintain the high-level customer satisfaction and value, which is Profitect's signature.

"The decision to hire Yonatan was an important one for me personally as the leader of Profitect," said Guy Yehiav, CEO of Profitect. "It was crucial for us to find the right person who has an equal amount of passion for both retail innovation and the technology that can deliver results to our customers, increase our presence in Europe, and maintain the culture that is woven into the company -- customer satisfaction. We found this balance in Yonatan and we are thrilled to have him join."

As a first step in European growth, Profitect joined the ECR Community, Shrinkage & On-shelf Availability Group, which met on October 5-6 in London. "It is always a great opportunity to interact face-to-face with customers and see them present to an audience about Profitect's capabilities across more than 900 grocery stores," continued Yehiav. "There is a much stronger focus on finding and implementing a solution that allows users to spend less time analyzing long-form reports and more time impacting sales and margin."

"Speaking with store managers, to understand their challenges with day-to-day reports at the meeting, emphasized to me the potential for Profitect's European expansion," added Yonatan Olsha, Head of EMEA at Profitect.

To learn more about the company and career opportunities, please visit the website: http://www.profitect.com/us/careers/

About Profitect

Since 2012, Profitect has helped companies leverage existing big data investments to identify, resolve, and measure opportunities for improvement by delivering actionable prescriptive analytics to the right person, at the right time.

Media Contacts:

Alice Sol

profitect@pancomm.com

617-502-4300
Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.
LONDON (dpa-AFX) - Consumer goods giant Unilever Plc (UN, ULVR.L, UL) reported Thursday that its third-quarter total turnover were 13.4 billion euros, down 0.1 percent due to a negative currency impact. Sales increased by 3.4% at constant exchange rates, while underlying sales growth was 3.2 percent. Underlying price went up 3.6%, while volume was down 0.4% against a strong quarter last year. Underlying sales growth in emerging markets was 5.6% whilst in developed markets it was flat. The company noted that consumer demand remained weak and volumes have slowed further and are flat in aggregate, mainly in Latin America. Further, the Boards have declared a quarterly interim dividend for third quarter of 0.3201 euro per Unilever N.V. ordinary share and 0.2890 pounds per Unilever PLC ordinary share. 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.
Comptel enables operators to transform operations and services to become digital businesses

Comptel Corporation (OMX Helsinki: CTL1V), announced that it has been included in the August report, Competitive Landscape: Digital Multichannel IT Solutions for CSPs, Worldwide, 2016 report by Gartner.

Comptel was listed among eight vendors tackling CSP pain points for catalog-centric quote-to-order-to-install solutions enabling digital multichannel business, operational and technology transformation. As noted in the report, "As CSPs move to more advanced digital pricing and service plans, they need to ensure that the customer-facing lead-to-quote-to-order stack, along with aligned central catalog management and service fulfillment, is flexible enough for dynamic creation of increasingly new, complex product bundles."

Comptel's FlowOne Fulfillment affords operators the ability to transform their current service delivery processes by connecting the cloud and physical resources with business management processes and systems. Through a fully integrated service order management and network-resource-facing stack, FlowOne delivers carrier-class catalog-driven service order orchestration and fulfillment. Comptel's strength is to support a federated inventory, provisioning/activation and order fulfillment value chain, with the catalog at the center of its architecture.

"We are proud to be recognized in Gartner's Competitive Landscape report," said Simon Osborne, CTO Service Orchestration, Comptel. "Customer experience is driving the entire strategy of the service provider. They need to adapt to meet new market demands and create offerings in a way that they have never done before. By bridging the gap between the cloud-enabled sales process and the CSP data center, Comptel's FlowOne offerings are helping CSPs evolve as they transform their physical networks to virtual operations."

Comptel believes that on their journey to become digital service providers, operators should first modernise and consolidate their existing OSS stacks through catalog driven FF and seriously look toward future-state OSS evolution for SD-WAN, NFV and virtualised services.

The company is investing into Digital Service Lifecycle Management, incorporating hybrid end-to-end virtualised service orchestration and closed-loop automation with a new offering FlowOne V. The new platform incorporates virtualised network function onboarding and service chaining, digital service design and orchestration. It also supports dynamic, closed-loop service assurance to support the creation and deployment of digital services comprised of virtualised network functionality, IT applications and third-party content.

Resources

The full report from Gartner can be found here.

Learn more about FlowOne Fulfillment and check out Comptel's video explaining the nexterday of service orchestration.

Download a copy of Comptel Heavy Reading's research report on Digital Service Lifecycle Management to learn its model for how operators can evolve their networks and bridge services across virtual and physical resources.

Connect with Comptel on its blog, Twitter and LinkedIn.

Competitive Landscape: Digital Multichannel IT Solutions for CSPs, Worldwide, 2016, Martina Kurth, 19 August 2016

Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in its research publications, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings or other designation. Gartner research publications consist of the opinions of Gartner's research organization and should not be construed as statements of fact. Gartner disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose

About Comptel Corporation

Life is digital moments. Comptel perfects these by transforming how you serve, meet and respond to the needs of "Generation Cloud" customers.

Our solutions allow you to innovate rich communications services instantly, master the orchestration of service and order flows, capture data-in-motion and refine your decision-making. We apply intelligence to reduce friction in your business.

Comptel has enabled the delivery of digital and communications services to more than 2 billion people. Every day, we care for more than 20% of all mobile usage data. Nearly 300 service providers across 90 countries have trusted us to perfect customers' digital moments.

For more information, visit www.comptel.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20161013005183/en/

Contacts:

Comptel Press Contact

March Communications

Hanah Johnson, +1-617-960-9857

comptel@marchcomms.com
LONDON, Oct. 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Deltek, the leading global provider of enterprise software and information solutions for project-based businesses, today announced that GOPA Consulting Group (GCG) has chosen Deltek's project-based ERP to unify its business processes, and increase project performance and profitability.

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160406/352355LOGO

GOPA Consulting Group is one of Europe's leading consulting companies in the field of International Cooperation and Engineering with headquarters in Bad Homburg, Bonn, Brussels and Abu Dhabi. Consisting of seven independent consulting companies and smaller legal entities such as Cofad Consultants and GOPA Luxembourg, it uses all synergies, joint structures and processes to respond to changing market requirements. In 2015, the Group crossed the 160 million revenue threshold - an important milestone in the company's development trajectory.

The growth process demanded an integrated system to unify its IT infrastructure to get an over-arching view of profitability and efficiency - across its projects and its business. Following a comprehensive evaluation process that included rigorous solution demonstrations, a scoping session and multiple customer reference visits, GOPA chose to implement Deltek's project ERP solution built for enterprise firms.

Deltek's ERP system will provide full transparency into projects, operations and processes across GOPA's operations. This includes comprehensive project and resource management capabilities as well as complete financial management control throughout individual project lifecycles from budget scoping to evaluation.

"We are an independent Consulting Engineering Group," said GOPA's Project Manager, Diana Herberg. "Our success is based on our vision that private actors in development cooperation can work more efficient and flexible being a trusted advisor for tax payer's money. The introduction of a new ERP in all of our companies is a key documentation of this vision."

"Deltek understands the importance of having all business entities, employees and IT systems connected. We are very pleased GOPA has chosen us to support the company as it makes strategic changes to operational procedure," said Fergus Gilmore, VP Sales and Managing Director UK, Deltek.

In the next few months, the full roll out will occur in all member companies of GOPA Consulting Group.

About GOPA Consulting Group

GOPA Consulting Group is one of Europe's leading consulting companies in the field of International Cooperation and Engineering with headquarters in Bad Homburg, Bonn, Brussels and Abu Dhabi. Consisting of seven independent consulting companies and smaller legal entities such as Cofad Consultants and GOPA Luxembourg , it uses all synergies, joint structures and processes to respond to changing market requirements. Member companies have implemented more than 5 000 projects in over 130 countries since 1965. In 2015, the Group crossed the  160 million revenue threshold - an important milestone in the company's development trajectory. Nearly 600 employees are currently based at the company's headquarters and abroad and they draw on a multidisciplinary and multicultural network of experts that spans different continents.

About DeltekDeltek is the leading global provider of enterprise software and information solutions for government contractors, professional services firms and other project-based businesses. For decades, we have delivered actionable insight that empowers our customers to unlock their business potential. 22,000 organizations and millions of users in over 80 countries around the world rely on Deltek to research and identify opportunities, win new business, recruit and develop talent, optimize resources, streamline operations and deliver more profitable projects. Deltek - Know more. Do more. www.deltek.com
Community to encourage UK manufacturers to perceive services as an integral component of their growth strategies

BIRMINGHAM, England, Oct. 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Syncron, the only aftermarket service provider that exclusively focuses on service parts management and pricing for the world's leading manufacturers, and the Servitization Thought Leadership Network (STLN), a network for manufacturers to discuss and learn the key issues shaping the industry, today announced their partnership which will focus on raising the awareness of services in UK manufacturing and how it can be used to improve their financial performance.

Manufacturers around the world have a major impact on the global economy, with the manufacturing sector contributing 6.7 trillion1. As a result, these companies are constantly looking for ways to improve, compete and positively impact their industries. A growing number of UK manufacturers are optimising their after-sale businesses to deliver superior customer experiences while reducing cost and improving profits.

"We established this platform for manufacturers to discuss and learn about the key issues shaping the future of the industry," said Henry Anson, Founder and Chairman, STLN. "Specifically, we aim to demonstrate how aftersales service-service delivered after the sale of a new product-can allow manufacturers to achieve differentiation and greater profitability. We are delighted to partner with Syncron, who will contribute extensive expertise in the key areas of service parts management and pricing, which are both critical to delivering world class service."

In addition to Syncron, STLN's partner network includes AGFA, Airbus, BAE Systems, GE, Jaguar Land Rover, Rolls-Royce and Selex, among others. The community focuses specifically on additive manufacturing, automation, industrial Internet of Things (IoT) and servitization, with the goal of providing the necessary insight manufacturers need to embrace present and future trends in the industry.

The community specifically allows for:

Posing questions to industry thought leaders and receiving quick responses

Discussing innovations, issues and achievements among peers

Access to thought leadership articles, insights, case studies and primary research

Engaging face-to-face at annual networking events

Gill Devine, VP Sales Western Europe, Syncron, added, "As manufacturers continue to seek ways to improve profitability, STLN offers the resources necessary to do just this. We look forward to engaging with STLN's members, especially to discuss innovative service strategies, as well as trends and challenges, and to sharing our experience on how service parts management and pricing can drive both profits and customer satisfaction."

To learn more about the STLN and its partners, join the Servitization 2016 Conference in Birmingham, U.K. 18 Oct. or the Annual Leaders Conference held at the NEC Birmingham 2-3 Nov. If you are not able to attend one of these events, visit https://themanufacturertln.com/ and join the community.

About Syncron

Syncron is the only aftermarket service provider that exclusively focuses on service parts management and pricing for the world's leading manufacturers.The company's award-winning SaaS solutions enable companies around the world to transform their aftermarket service operations by dramatically increasing profitability, cash flow and customer loyalty.Syncron's global customer base includes a market-leading companies across diverse industries. The company is privately held, with its headquarters in Stockholm and offices throughout Europe, the U.S. and Asia. For more information, visitsyncron.com.

1http://www.themanufacturer.com/uk-manufacturing-statistics/
Regulatory News:

Not for distribution, directly or indirectly, in or into the United States or any jurisdiction in which such distribution would be unlawful.

World Bank (International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, IBRD)

Stabilisation Notice

The Royal Bank of Scotland plc (contact: Rom Balax, tel: 020 7085 6268) hereby gives notice that no stabilisation, within the meaning of the rules under Commission Regulation (EC) No. 2273/2003 implementing the Market Abuse Directive (2003/6/EC), was undertaken by the Stabilising Manager(s)named below in relation to the offer of the following securities.

Issuer: World Bank (International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, IBRD) Guarantor (if any): None Aggregate nominal amount: GBP300m Description: 7y Fixed Rate, XS1502564617 Stabilising Manager(s) The Royal Bank of Scotland plc (co-ordinating stabilisation manager) Citigroup Global Markets Limited Merrill Lynch International

This announcement is for information purposes only and does not constitute an invitation or offer to underwrite, subscribe for or otherwise acquire or dispose of any securities of the Issuer in any jurisdiction.

This announcement is not an offer of securities for sale into the United States. The securities referred to above have not been, and will not be, registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933 and may not be offered or sold in the United States absent registration or an exemption from registration. There has not been and will not be a public offer of the securities in the United States.

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20161013005522/en/

Contacts:

Royal Bank of Scotland

Rom Balax, tel: 020 7085 6268
Distributed for Group Lease Public Company Limited by M T Multimedia Co., Ltd. Orn-anong ("Fah") Pattaravejkul Tel: +66-2-612-2081 #129 Mobile: +66-86-884-4458 E-mail: ornanong.p@mtmultimedia.com Website: www.mtmultimedia.com

BANGKOK, Oct 13, 2016 - (ACN Newswire) - SET-listed digital finance firm Group Lease PCL ("GL", SET:GL) is taking another important strategic move by partnering with U Aung Moe Kyaw and other investors at AMK Consortium to launch a major expansion of financial services in Myanmar.Under the new partnership, GL will set up a joint venture company with AMK Consortium. This joint venture will support Century Finance Company Limited, a Myanmar finance company owned by AMK, to provide a broad range of financial services to the booming Myanmar markets, especially for people in the rural countryside.GL, through its holding company in Singapore GL Holdings (GLH), will hold 57% in the new JV company while AMK Consortium will take up the other 43%. The new company is expected to be established by the end of this year or in early 2017."We are very pleased to enter into this collaboration with U Aung Moe Kyaw and his partners," GL Chairman & Chief Executive Officer Mr. Mitsuji Konoshita stated at a MOU Signing Ceremony with U Aung Moe Kyaw in Bangkok on October 13. "This is a win-win partnership because our expertise and efficiency in digital finance will combine and complement with U Aung Moe Kyaw's extensive network throughout Myanmar," he added.According to GL's official filing with the SET on October 13, AMK Consortium is currently controlling approximately 65% in the whisky distribution and managing more than 22,000 grocery shops in Myanmar, including 1,400 wholesale shops, some of which are already operating pawnshop businesses. This distribution network is the biggest in Myanmar in terms of number of outlets, which will perfectly match with GL's digital finance platform.Mr. Konoshita noted that as GL has already proven in Cambodia with True Money, GL's digital finance business model is the only model that can utilize 100% benefits from AMK Consortium's extensive agents network.Therefore, the business model in Myanmar will be a mixture of the 'Channeling Services' model in Indonesia where GL partners with Bank JT and the 'Agent' model in Cambodia with True Money. "These business models are quite new, unique and innovative. Combining them together, we shall be able to effectively provide a wide range of financial services for the benefits of the Myanmar people, especially those in the rural grassroots areas," Mr. Konoshita stated.Century Finance, one of Myanmar's 15 non-bank finance companies licensed by the Myanmar central bank, currently provides car leasing services.With GL's expertise and support, its range of financial services will now broaden to cover the leasing of motorcycles, agricultural machinery and solar panels and other consumer finance credit under 'channeling services' managed and provided by the new joint venture company.GL's latest partnership with AMK Consortium comes after its recent take-over of BG Myanmar Microfinance (BGMM). The new joint venture company, therefore, completes the full range of financial services and products that will be offered to the Myanmar markets - from small microfinance loans through BGMM to big-ticket items like rice-harvesting machines through Century Finance.The full-scale expansion into Myanmar comes in the face of a booming local economy following the lifting of US economic sanctions after extensive local political reforms. For GL, the latest partnership with AMK Consortium has also come following its successful expansion from its home base in Thailand into neighboring Cambodia, Laos, Indonesia and Sri Lanka.The successful expansion has resulted in steadily increasing revenue and profitability. For instance, its Q2 net profits of 255.85 million baht nearly doubled from the same period last year and represented the seventh consecutive quarter of new record highs. Company executives have expressed confidence that profits will continue to scale new heights in the medium and longer-term future.About Group Lease PCLGroup Lease Public Company Limited was established on 6th May 1986 and listed on the Stock Exchange of Thailand in 2004 (SET:GL). In 2007, APF group has become major shareholder by holding around 65% of total shares. The company has expertise in hire-purchase of motorcycles as it has been in the motorcycle leasing business for over 20 years. The motorcycle brands for financing include Honda, Yamaha, Suzuki, Kawasaki.In 2012, GL announced a long-term business plan to become the leading finance company in the Southeast Asian region. In order to do so, the Company has acquired Group Lease Holdings Pte., Ltd. (GLH), a Singapore holding company, as a headquarters for its expansion plan in other countries. For more information, please visit www.grouplease.co.th.Source: Group Lease PCLContact:Copyright 2016 ACN Newswire . All rights reserved.
Munich (ots/PRNewswire) -- Three abstracts highlight the economic burden of Venous Thromboembolism (VTE) in Europe and provide new insights into VTE treatment with LIXIANA(edoxaban) - Daiichi Sankyo is committed to enhancing the understanding, prevention and treatment of VTE, and is partnering with the International Society on Thrombosis and Haemostasis for World Thrombosis Day, 13 OctoberDaiichi Sankyo Europe GmbH Group (hereafter, Daiichi Sankyo) today announced the presentation of three abstracts at the International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research (ISPOR) EU Congress, 29 October - 2 November 2016, in Vienna, Austria. The data will provide insight into the safety and efficacy of once-daily LIXIANA (edoxaban) compared to rivaroxaban for the treatment of VTE[1] and the cost-effectiveness of edoxaban, compared to warfarin.[2] Analyses of health-economic data from the PREvention oF thromboembolic events - European Registry in Venous ThromboEmbolism (PREFER in VTE) registry will also be presented, giving insights into the economic burden of pulmonary embolism (PE) in terms of mortality, healthcare resource utilisation, health-related quality of life (HrQoL), and loss of productivity.[3]Details of the abstracts being presented at the ISPOR EU Congress are included below:- The economic burden of pulmonary embolism in Europe (Gumbs P, et al.) - 8:45 - 14:15, Monday 31 October - An analysis of the efficacy and safety of edoxaban in comparison with rivaroxaban in the treatment of deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolism (van Hout B, et al.) - 15.15 - 19.15, Tuesday 1 November - Cost-effectiveness of edoxaban compared to warfarin for the treatment and secondary prevention of venous thromboembolism in the UK (Clay E, et al.) - 15:15 - 19:15, Tuesday 1 November"We are pleased that additional scientific evidence can help to simplify the use of once-daily Lixiana in the treatment of VTE, and to create awareness on the complexities of the economic burden it poses," said Dr Juan Carlos Jaramillo, Senior Vice President, Head of Market Access and Medical Affairs. "As an official partner of World Thrombosis Day, Daiichi Sankyo is committed to promoting broader global awareness of VTE, as we work to reduce the burden of the disease."VTE is an umbrella term for two related conditions, deep vein thrombosis (DVT) and pulmonary embolism (PE). DVT is a disease caused by a blood clot found in deep veins, usually within the lower leg, thigh or pelvis, although they can occur in other parts of the body as well.[4] PE occurs when part of a clot detaches and lodges in the pulmonary arteries, causing a potentially fatal condition.[5]VTE is a major cause of morbidity and mortality.[6] In 25 EU countries VTE events exceed 1.5 million every year and the annual incidence of VTE in developed countries is estimated to be 1-3 per 1,000 adults.[7],[8] A prior incidence of a VTE is the most significant risk factor of a second occurrence, and after the age of 50, the risk doubles every ten years.[9]To learn more about VTE, an interactive infographic can be viewed here: http://af-vte.thisinfographic.com/wtdAbout EdoxabanEdoxaban is an oral, once-daily, direct factor Xa (pronounced "Ten A") inhibitor. Factor Xa is one of the key components responsible for blood clotting, so inhibiting this makes the blood thin and less prone to clotting.The edoxaban Summary of Product Characteristics can be viewed here :http://pressportal.lixiana.com/further-content/summary-of-product-ch aracteristics/.About Extensive Clinical Research Program for EdoxabanDaiichi Sankyo is committed to expanding scientific knowledge about edoxaban, as demonstrated through our research programs evaluating its use in a broad range of cardiovascular conditions, patient types and clinical settings in atrial fibrillation (AF) and venous thromboembolism (VTE). The extensive edoxaban research program include multiple RCTs (randomized, controlled trials), registries and non-interventional studies, with the goal of generating new clinical and real-world-data regarding its use in AF and VTE populations. Daiichi Sankyo expects that more than 100,000 patients will participate in the edoxaban clinical research program, including completed, ongoing and future research.The RCTs include:- ENSURE-AF (EdoxabaN vs. warfarin in subjectS UndeRgoing cardiovErsion of Atrial Fibrillation), in AF patients undergoing electrical cardioversion - ENTRUST-AF PCI (EdoxabaN TReatment versUS VKA in paTients with AF undergoing PCI), in AF patients undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention - Hokusai-VTE Cancer (Edoxaban in Venous Thromboembolism Associated with Cancer), in patients with cancer and an acute VTE event - ELDERCARE-AF (Edoxaban Low-Dose for EldeR CARE AF patients), in elderly AF patients in JapanIn addition, global and regional registry studies will provide important real-world-data about the use of edoxaban and other oral anticoagulants in everyday practice, and include:- ETNA-AF (Edoxaban Treatment in routiNe clinical prActice in patients with non valvular Atrial Fibrillation) - ETNA-VTE (Edoxaban Treatment in routiNe clinical prActice in patients with Venous ThromboEmbolism) - EMIT-AF/VTE (Edoxaban Management In diagnostic and Therapeutic procedures-AF/VTE); - Prolongation PREFER in AF (PREvention oF thromboembolic events - European Registry) in patients with AF - ANAFIE (All Nippon AF In Elderly) Registry in Japan;We are committed to adding to the scientific body of knowledge around edoxaban in a variety of AF and VTE patients, including those who are vulnerable.Daiichi Sankyo Fights ThrombosisDaiichi Sankyo is your partner in antithrombotic therapy with the discovery and development of innovative products, to help patients with a wide range of cardiovascular conditions. These include EFIENT (prasugrel) for acute coronary syndromes and LIXIANA (edoxaban) for non-valvular atrial fibrillation, deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolism. Daiichi Sankyo's ongoing commitment in this field is demonstrated by their continued investment into patient-relevant clinical development activities that aim to advance the care and improve the lives of people suffering with these diseases. For more information, please visit: http://www.daiichi-sankyo.eu.About Daiichi SankyoDaiichi Sankyo Group is dedicated to the creation and supply of innovative pharmaceutical products to address diversified, unmet medical needs of patients in both mature and emerging markets. With over 100 years of scientific expertise and a presence in more than 20 countries, Daiichi Sankyo and its 16,000 employees around the world draw upon a rich legacy of innovation and a robust pipeline of promising new medicines to help people. In addition to a strong portfolio of medicines for hypertension and thrombotic disorders, under the Group's 2025 Vision to become a "Global Pharma Innovator with Competitive Advantage in Oncology," Daiichi Sankyo research and development is primarily focused on bringing forth novel therapies in oncology, including immuno-oncology, with additional focus on new horizon areas, such as pain management, neurodegenerative diseases, heart and kidney diseases, and other rare diseases. For more information, please visit: http://www.daiichisankyo.com.Forward-looking statementsThis press release contains forward-looking statements and information about future developments in the sector, and the legal and business conditions of DAIICHI SANKYO Co., Ltd. Such forward-looking statements are uncertain and are subject at all times to the risks of change, particularly to the usual risks faced by a global pharmaceutical company, including the impact of the prices for products and raw materials, medication safety, changes in exchange rates, government regulations, employee relations, taxes, political instability and terrorism as well as the results of independent demands and governmental inquiries that affect the affairs of the company. All forward-looking statements contained in this release hold true as of the date of publication. They do not represent any guarantee of future performance. Actual events and developments could differ materially from the forward-looking statements that are explicitly expressed or implied in these statements. DAIICHI SANKYO Co., Ltd. assume no responsibility for the updating of such forward-looking statements about future developments of the sector, legal and business conditions and the company.References1. van Hout B et al. An analysis of the efficacy and safety of edoxaban in comparison with rivaroxaban in the treatment of deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolism. Abstract presented at ISPOR 2016. 2. Clay E et al. Cost-effectiveness of edoxaban compared to warfarin for the treatment and secondary prevention of venous thromboembolism in the UK. Abstract presented at ISPOR 2016. 3. Gumbs PD et al. The economic burden of pulmonary embolism in Europe. Abstract presented at ISPOR 2016. 4. Deep Vein Thrombosis (DVT) / Pulmonary Embolism (PE) - Blood Clot Forming in a Vein. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Available at: http://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/dvt/facts.html. Last accessed: October 2016. 5. Ozaki, A. Cleveland Clinic (2014). Venous thromboembolism. Available at: http://www.clevelandclinicmeded.com/medicalpubs/disease- management/cardiology/venous-thromboembolism/s0010. Last accessed October 2016. 6. Bramlage, P. et al. Current concepts for the prevention of venous thromboembolism. European Journal of Clinical Investigation. 2005;35(1):4-11. 7. The Coalition to Prevent VTE. Available at: http://www.coalitionto preventvte.org/INDEX_CFM/T/THE_BURDEN_OF_VTE/VID/ DCD0A03F_1422_16B3_78E0B9EB0571.HTM. Last accessed October 2016. 8. Braekkan, S. K. et al. Body height and risk of venous thrombo- embolism: The Troms Study. American Journal of Epidemiology. 2010;171:1109-1115. 9. Zagaria, M. Venous Thrombosis: Pathogenesis and Potential for Embolism. US Pharm. 2009;34:22-24.EDX/16/0248ContactLydia Worms (Europe)Daiichi Sankyo Europe GmbHEdoxaban Communications & Product PR Europe+49-(89)-7808751ots Originaltext: Daiichi Sankyo Europe GmbH Im Internet recherchierbar: http://www.presseportal.de
Mitsubishi Corporation Telephone: +81 3 3210 2171 Facsimile: +81 3 5252 7705

TOKYO, Oct 13, 2016 - (JCN Newswire) - Mitsubishi Corporation (MC) has reached an agreement with partners Mitsubishi Motors Corporation (MMC), Mitsubishi Fuso Truck & Bus Corporation (MFTBC), and Indonesia's PT Krama Yudha (KY) regarding the restructuring of their automotive business in Indonesia.MMC and MFTBC products are currently manufactured and distributed in Indonesia by the four partner joint venture Krama Yudha Tiga Berlian Motors (KTB). Effective April 2017, however, both brands will be administered separately in order to establish a more efficient structure and expand business in Indonesia, where the automobile market is expected to see continued growth.KTB was established in 1970 as the core company for automotive production and distribution operations in the Indonesian market. The company has had notable success in developing the Mitsubishi brand image in Indonesia, reaching accumulated sales of some 2.5 million units by the end of 2015.The Indonesian economy continues to show signs of strong economic growth. This has been accompanied by an expansion in the country's middle class, with increased purchasing powers as well as rapidly changing consumer needs and orientations. Restructuring the automobile business is an appropriate and timely response to those changes.KTB will continue in its current form but will exclusively produce and distribute FUSO vehicles. A portion of the shares currently held by MC and MMC will be sold to MFTBC for a new shareholding structure that has MC owning 30%, MFTBC 30%, and KY 40% of KTB. It is expected that the new structure, which will involve stronger management support from MFTBC, coupled with an improved production system and the use of locally sourced parts, will help strengthen competitiveness.With regard to MMC, a new distribution company will start operating in April 2017 as well. Under its new shareholding structure, MC will hold 40%, MMC 30%, and KY 30% of shares. A newly established factory, PT Mitsubishi Motors Krama Yudha Indonesia (MMKI), will also start production in April 2017. The opening of MMKI will facilitate the introduction of new models and the expansion of MMC's product line up and is expected to lead to increased market share and greater profits for MMC as the company continues to strengthen its sales network.For MC, the automotive business is among those with the most potential to help boost the company's growth, while at the same time contributing to the Indonesian economy.About Mitsubishi CorporationMitsubishi Corporation (MC; TSE: 8058) is a global integrated business enterprise that develops and operates businesses across virtually every industry including industrial finance, energy, metals, machinery, chemicals, foods, and environmental business. MC's current activities are expanding far beyond its traditional trading operations as its diverse business ranges from natural resources development to investment in retail business, infrastructure, financial products and manufacturing of industrial goods. With over 200 bases of operations in approximately 80 countries worldwide and a network of over 500 group companies, MC employs a multinational workforce of nearly 60,000 people. For more information, please visit www.mitsubishicorp.com.Source: Mitsubishi CorporationContact:Copyright 2016 JCN Newswire . All rights reserved.
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - October 13, 2016) - Iconic Minerals Ltd. (TSXV: ICM) (OTC: BVTEF) (FSE: YQGB) (the "Company" or "Iconic"), announces that, subject to approval by the TSX Venture Exchange, it has entered into two Lithium Property Option Agreements with a non-arms' length vendor (the "Vendor") to acquire a 100% interest totaling 1,185 placer mining claims comprising 23,700 acres in Nevada ("Properties").

Pursuant to the Agreement, Iconic may earn its 100% interest in the Properties by: (a) reimbursing the Vendor for all documented expenses, not to exceed US$40,000 for each Property; (b) expending initial and annual claim filing fees and expenses being, US$133,100 for the first Property ("Property A") and US$193,000 for the second Property ( "Property B"); and (c) also expending for exploration and development on each Property in the first year US$200,000, second year US$500,000, third year US$500,000 and fourth year US$1,000,000, totaling US$2,000,000 for each Property; in total, the "Expenditures".

Upon payment of the Expenditures, the options will be deemed exercised by the Company, and the Vendor will then transfer ownership in each Property to the Company, with the exception of the following; (a) a 4.5% Net Smelter Return payable to the Vendor or its designated assignees with respect to each Property, 1.5% of which the Company shall have the right to buy back from the Vendor within 90 days of either Property going into production for US$2,000,000, and an additional 1.5% of which the Company shall have the right to buy back from the Vendor within 180 days of the Property going into production for US$4,000,000; and (b) a cash payment of US$1,000,000 to be made by the Company to the Vendor upon the Property attaining commercial production.

Summary of Additional Lithium Brine Properties:

Property A is a lithium brine target, which is located within a valley that is over 40 miles (64 km) long and averages 9 miles (14.5 km) wide into which streams from a 582 mi2 (1,507 km2) drainage basin empty. The source rocks are quartz-rich volcanics that contain anomalous amounts of lithium. Sampling of salt deposits down-slope from active thermal hot springs resulted in lithium values ranging from 110 to 470 ppm. A gravity low within the valley is 9 miles (14.5 km) long. The current claim block covers the gravity low.

Property B is also a lithium brine target, and is located within a valley that is over 34 miles (55 km) long and averages 7 miles (11 km) wide into which streams from a 595 mi2 (1,541 km2) drainage basin empty. The source rocks are also quartz-rich volcanics that contain anomalous amounts of lithium. Sampling of salt deposits in the basin found lithium values ranging from 60 to 510 ppm. The highest lithium value of samples taken, being 510 ppm, was taken down-slope from active thermal hot springs. A gravity low within the valley is over 10 miles (16 km) long. The current claim block covers the gravity low.

Final arrangements are currently being scheduled to conduct magnetotellurics (MT) surveys over both properties to define potential brine horizons.

Exploration Update Bonnie Claire Project; Test Well BC1602

Iconic is pleased to report that the drilling of the second test well, BC1602, is on schedule and is currently at a depth of 1,500 feet (457 m). The drill hole has intersected several sandy horizons separated by mudstone as well as one thin tuff unit. Conductivity and temperature are continuing to increase with depth. BC1602 is targeted to be drilled to a total depth of 2,000 feet (610 m) after which the well will be cased with perforated PVC, cleaned, and the brine sampled.

Richard Kern, Certified Professional Geologist (#11494) and CEO of Iconic is the Qualified Person who has prepared and reviewed this press release in accordance with NI 43-101 reporting standards.

Iconic's Bonnie Claire Lithium Property:

The Property is 23,100 acres located within a valley that is approximately 19 miles (30 km) long and 12 miles (20 km) wide, the associated drainage basin covers an area of 800 sq mi (2,070 square km). Quartz-rich volcanic rocks, that contain anomalous amounts of lithium, occur within and adjacent to the drainage basin. Geochemical analysis of the local salt flats has yielded lithium values up to 340 ppm, including lithium values yielding up to 500 ppm which were performed by USGS (US Geological Surveys). The gravity low within the valley is 12 miles (20 km) long, the current estimates of the depth to bedrock range from 600 to 900 meters (2,000 to 3,000 feet). The current claim block covers the gravity low and the associated mud flats.

SIGNED: "Richard Kern"

Richard Kern, President and CEO

Keturah Nathe, VP Corporate Development

Contact: (604) 718-2800 ext. 312

For further information on ICM, please visit our website at www.iconicmineralsltd.com. The Company's public documents may be accessed at www.sedar.com.

Forward Statement: This news release includes certain forward-looking statements or information. All statements other than statements of historical fact included in this release are forward-looking statements that involve various 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. Iconic expressly disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise except as otherwise required by applicable securities legislation.

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.
Public Relations Department, Eisai Co., Ltd. +81-3-3817-5120

TOKYO, Oct 13, 2016 - (JCN Newswire) - Eisai Co., Ltd. announced today that it will launch its first food with function claims Chocola BB Rich Ceramide (Notification number: B60) in drugstores, pharmacies and convenience stores throughout Japan on Monday, October 17. The product is Japan's first drink that is a type of food with function claims containing glucosylceramide derived from rice.(1)Ceramide is a component of the stratum corneum of the epidermis layer of human skin. Normally, ceramide fills the spaces between cells in the corneum of the skin, and plays a role in restraining the loss of moisture to the outside as well as protecting the skin from external stimuli such as ultraviolet rays. Therefore, a lack of ceramide advances transpiration of skin moisture, potentially leading to dryness in the skin. Since ceramide levels decline with age, it is important to appropriate replenish ceramide to counter dryness.Containing glucosylceramide as its active component to make it harder for moisture to escape from the skin,(2) Chocola BB Rich Ceramide is a product that you can drink to counter dry skin. Furthermore, in addition to ceramide, the drink also contains collagen and hyaluronic acid which are known for their beauty properties, and is recommended for people who are highly beauty conscious. Chocola BB Rich Ceramide has a delicious, easy to drink pear flavor, is low in calories (8.2 kcal), and with zero caffeine, can be safely consumed before sleep.Chocola BB Rich Ceramide is now available nationwide through a wide range of retail outlets including drug stores, pharmacies, convenience stores and Eisai's internet retailing site.Centered around the signature OTC product Chocola BB Plus (Third-class OTC drug) for the relief of skin trouble, acne and mouth ulcers, Eisai has been expanding the Chocola BB brand to suit the needs and lifestyles of its customers such as Chocola BB Royal 2 (quasi-drug), a nutritional drink for invigoration when physically fatigued, Chocola BB Joma, a soft drink that contains vitamin B6 (Food with Nutrient Function Claims), and Chocola BB Mouth Ulcer Repair Shot (Third-class OTC drug), an oral care spray launched in August.Through the Chocola BB brand, Eisai will continue to respond to the diverse needs of female consumers and support an ever-growing number of people to achieve health and beauty in their everyday lives.(1) Chocola BB Rich Ceramide was accepted by the Consumer Affairs Agency as Japan's first food with functional claims drink that contains glucosylceramide derived from rice.(2) For information such as the scientific basis of Chocola BB Rich Ceramide, please refer to the Consumer Affairs Agency's home page:https://www.fld.caa.go.jp/caaks/cssc02/?recordSeq=41604270150104 (in Japanese only)About EisaiEisai Co., Ltd. (TSE:4523; ADR:ESALY) is a research-based human health care (hhc) company that discovers, develops and markets products throughout the world. Eisai focuses its efforts in three therapeutic areas: integrative neuroscience, including neurology and psychiatric medicines; integrative oncology, which encompasses oncotherapy and supportive-care treatments; and vascular/immunological reaction. Through a global network of research facilities, manufacturing sites and marketing subsidiaries, Eisai actively participates in all aspects of the worldwide healthcare system. For more information about Eisai Co., Ltd., please visit www.eisai.com.Source: EisaiContact:Copyright 2016 JCN Newswire . All rights reserved.
Guangzhou, China (ots/PRNewswire) - Im Rahmen des Boao Forum for Asia, einer jahrlich stattfindenden Wirtschaftskonferenz, wird die Delegation der Stadtverwaltung von Guangzhou das Symposium des Fortune Global Forum veranstalten. Guangzhou verschickt zu diesem Zweck derzeit weltweit Einladungen und ladt Gaste von einigen der bekanntesten Unternehmen der Welt aus verschiedenen Branchen ein. Zudem werden auch diejenigen zur Teilnahme am Fortune Global Forum 2017, das vom 6.-8. Dezember 2017 in Guangzhou stattfinden wird, eingeladen, die uber die Entwicklung von Guangzhou besorgt sind.Foto - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/483183/Guangzhou_Fortune_G lobal_Forum.jpgDer stellvertretende Burgermeister von Guangzhou, Cai Chaolin, sagte, dass Guangzhou seine Anstrengungen fur die Weiterentwicklung von drei strategisch wichtigen, im Aufschwung befindlichen Industrien intensiviert habe. Dabei gehe es im Einzelnen um die Branchen Informationstechnologie, Kunstliche Intelligenz und um die Biomedizin. Guangzhou fordert schon seit einiger Zeit die Transformation und Aktualisierung des Labels "Made in Guangzhou" hin zu den Bezeichnungen "Intelligent Manufacturing in Guangzhou" und "Created in Guangzhou". Guangzhou kann sich auf seine Hightech-Zone, die chinesisch-singapurische Knowledge City, den Smart-Business-Bezirk in Tianhe und weitere Innovationsplattformen verlassen und hat so eine Reihe von weltweiten High-End-Innovationen zusammengebracht, um ein internationales Zentrum fur industrielle Innovationen zur Forderung des Unternehmertums und als Ausgangsbasis fur im Aufbau befindliche Branchen zu errichten.Vom heutigen Standpunkt aus lasst sich sagen, dass sich die Auswirkungen davon, dass sich Guangzhou zu einem Hauptknotenpunkt eines weltweiten Innovationsnetzwerks entwickelt hat, schon zuvor angedeutet haben. Der okologisch ausgerichtete Industriepark fur Bildschirme der Genration 10.5 (Generation 10.5 Display Ecological Industrial Park) von Foxconn wurde am 1. Marz 2017 eroffnet. Zu diesem Zweck waren zuvor Gesamtinvestitionen mit einem Wert von 61 Milliarden Renminbi getatigt worden, was die grote Einzelinvestition in ein modernes Produktionsprojekt seit den Reformen und der Offnung von Guangzhou war. Mit dem hier angesiedelten Industrieparkprojekt wird erwartet, dass vor- und nachgelagerte Anbieter in der industriellen Lieferkette sowie damit verbundenen Branchen in Guangzhou investieren werden, um einen neuen Industriecluster, dessen Wert in die Billionen geht, aufzubauen. Der internationale Biologiepark (International Biological Park), der vom US-amerikanischen Konzern General Electric (GE) finanziert wurde, hat sich in der Wirtschaftsentwicklungszone von Guangzhou angesiedelt. Im Rahmen des Biomedizinprojekts BeiGene konnte, dank der Gesamtinvestitionen in Hohe von 2,2 Milliarden Renminbi, mit KUBioTM am 21. Marz 2017 die erste modulare Biopharmafabrik eroffnet werden. Es wird erwartet, dass sich immer mehr Biopharmaunternehmen, die uber ausreichende Mittel fur Investitionen und ein groes Entwicklungspotenzial verfugen sowie in hohem Mae innovationsfahig sind, zukunftig in Guangzhou ansiedeln werden.Mit Blick auf das Symposium bestatigten fuhrende Personlichkeiten von Unternehmen aus den unterschiedlichsten Branchen, dass Guangzhou uber ein erstklassiges Geschaftsumfeld mit okologischer Ausrichtung verfugt. Zudem bewegen sich die Betriebskosten in einem vernunftigen Rahmen und es existieren Unterstutzungssysteme fur die Industrie. Guangzhou kann auf einen riesigen Markt hinweisen und auf eine bemerkenswerte Vitalitat bei der Entwicklung, die mit einer klaren Zukunftsvision und mit vielversprechenden Aussichten zusammenkommt. Das Fortune Global Forum findet in Guangzhou statt, was die Attraktivitat und den Einfluss der Stadt widerspiegelt. In diesem Zusammenhang druckten die Unternehmensfuhrer zudem ihre Bereitschaft aus, den Austausch und die Zusammenarbeit mit Guangzhou weiter zu verstarken."Ich war bislang zweimal in Guangzhou und ich bin von dem innovativen Umfeld, das Guangzhou derzeit mit Nachdruck aufbaut, wirklich begeistert", sagte Yossi Vardi, Co-Vorsitzender des israelischen Digital Life Design. Guangzhou hat bereits jetzt groe Schritte nach vorn gemacht, indem es eine ganze Reihe von kleineren Unternehmen in dem innovativen Umfeld zusammengebracht hat. Diese Unternehmen unterstutzen und helfen sich gegenseitig, pflegen einen intensiven Austausch von Informationen und uber die Veranderungen am Markt. Gleichzeitig bewahren sie ihren eigen Charakter und schaffen gemeinsam ein innovatives Umfeld fur inspirierende Gelegenheiten.Du Lan, Vice President von IFLYTEK sagte, dass Guangzhou mit seiner grundsoliden Geschaftstradition sich auf eine robuste Grundlage und auf viele achtenswerte Partner verlassen kann. So steht beispielsweise der Pazhou Internet Cluster District fur eine strake Strategie, die von der Stadtverwaltung Guangzhou vorgestellt wurde. Der gesamte Industriesektor mit allen vor- und nachgelagerten Branchen der Lieferkette wird hier zusammenkommen und hier werden Unternehmen Technologien aus einem gebundelten Angebot an Mitteln zum gegenseitigen Nutzen zum Einsatz bringen und hoch talentierte Menschen anlocken. Du Lan brachte seine Hoffnung zum Ausdruck, dass sich auch der Bereich Kunstliche Intelligenz ansiedeln und sich hier in Zukunft weiter entwickeln wird.OTS: Guangzhou Municipal Government newsroom: http://www.presseportal.de/nr/122704 newsroom via RSS: http://www.presseportal.de/rss/pm_122704.rss2Pressekontakt: Ms. Wu Tel.: 86 10 63075245
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- (Marketwired) -- 10/13/16 -- Goldrea Resources (CSE: GOR)(OTC PINK: GORAF)(FRANKFURT: GOJ) announces that the Company has acquired a 100% interest in a lithium prospect, known as the Lift Property, located in the Clayton Valley, Esmeralda County, Nevada.

The Lift Property is comprised by sixty lode claims covering approximately 1200 acres of land. The claims are situated adjacent to Noram's lithium property and in proximity to Pure Energy and Cypress' interests in the Clayton Valley. Consideration for the acquisition consists of US$30,000 cash (of which US$15,000 has been paid), 500,000 Goldrea shares, and a 3% net smelter return royalty which can be bought back for US$2.5 million. US$24,270 has also been paid for county and BML recordation fees through August 2017.

"We are pleased Goldrea Resources has been able to secure this prospect which holds potential for supplying a much-needed commodity in the future," states Jim Elbert, CEO and President. "Clayton Valley has been the focus of many recent lithium acquisitions. It is home to the only operating brine-based lithium mine in North America, the Albemarle Silver Peak mine, and host to the Angel Island Fault which is also highly prospective. The work done in the Valley and lithium showings is encouraging as we look to move the Lift property forward."

Goldrea's Lift Property located in the Clayton Valley, NV map:

http://goldrea.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/goldreamap_liftproperty.jpg

About Goldrea Resources:

Goldrea Resources is a Vancouver-based exploration company focusing on North American properties, including 100% interest in both a gold property in the Golden Triangle of northern BC, referred to as the Cannonball, and a lithium property in Quebec, known as the Gaspe. The Lift property in Clayton Valley, NV, significantly expands Goldrea's presence in lithium exploration.

Forward-Looking Statements

The CSE has not reviewed and does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. This news release may contain "forward-looking statements", which are statements about the future based on current expectations or beliefs. For this purpose, statements of historical fact may be deemed to be forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements by their nature involve risks and uncertainties, and there can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate or true. Investors should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. The Company does not undertake any obligation to update forward-looking statements except as required by law.

Contacts:

Goldrea Resources Corp.

James Elbert

President and CEO

(604) 559-7230

info@goldrea.com

www.goldrea.com




TORONTO, ONTARIO and NEW YORK, NEW YORK -- (Marketwired) -- 10/13/16 -- TouchBistro today announced that it has secured CDN$17 million in Series B funding. The latest round was led by BDC IT Venture Fund, with participation from new investors Round13 Capital and Huff Capital, and existing investors Relay Ventures and Kensington Capital Partners. This latest round brings TouchBistro's total funding to date to $30 million.

TouchBistro is the top grossing iPad restaurant point-of-sale (POS) app in 37 countries. The company has experienced significant month-over-month growth over the past year, and now has deployed approximately 15,000 terminals across 6,000 restaurants around the world. Its POS solutions process Gross Merchandise Volumes in excess of $4 billion annually. In the last quarter, TouchBistro launched in Spanish and French, and integrated with QuickBooks and Square.

"This latest round of funding enables us to further amplify our growth by expanding our focus on sales and marketing, and by building out our POS platform through new partnerships with industry leaders and by integrating innovative features that deliver value to restaurants," said Alex Barrotti, founder and CEO of TouchBistro. "Our investors share our vision to provide the most innovative, comprehensive, and easy-to-use POS for the restaurant industry. Their continued support positions us to achieve long term success."

"TouchBistro has evolved from a pioneer in the restaurant mobile POS segment to an industry leader. They are a next-generation financial services platform for the restaurant and hospitality industry that will transform operations and enable growth, while removing many financial process headaches," said Peter Misek, partner in the BDC IT Venture Fund. "With its impressive caliber of leadership, depth of technical expertise, and savvy go-to-market strategy, TouchBistro is a welcomed new addition to our growing portfolio of innovative companies." Effective immediately, Mr. Misek has joined the TouchBistro Board of Directors.

TouchBistro provides iPad point-of-sale (POS) solutions for the food and drink industry, including full service restaurants, quick service restaurants, food trucks, coffee shops and bars. Servers use the TouchBistro iPad app to take tableside customer orders and instantly transmit them to the kitchen and bar.

With TouchBistro, bills are automatically calculated and split whatever way the patron desires, and bill totals are transferred electronically into an integrated card keypad or mobile wallet for payment. This minimizes order and payment errors, resulting in faster service and a superior customer experience. TouchBistro offers a full suite of reports that help restaurant operators manage and improve the bottom line. Restaurateurs have reported sales increases as much as $2,000 a day since they started using TouchBistro due to increased operations efficiency.

GCA Advisors, LLC. acted as the exclusive financial advisor to the funding round.

About TouchBistro

With offices in New York and Toronto, TouchBistro is a leader in iPad point-of-sale technology for restaurants, cafes, bars, food trucks, and other food and drink venues. The TouchBistro app has been ranked as the number one top-grossing food and beverage app in 37 countries on the Apple App Store(SM). TouchBistro was named 2016 Best POS System for Restaurants by Business News Daily in its annual review of dozens of point-of-sale (POS) systems and International App of the Year 2015 by Best in Biz Awards. TouchBistro offers a 30-day free trial that can be converted to a no-contract subscription. Additional information is available at www.touchbistro.com.

Contacts:

Media Contact:

Kari Wise

Boulevard Public Relations (for TouchBistro)

818.588.8074

kari@boulevardpr.com




VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- (Marketwired) -- 10/13/16 -- Q3 2016 Highlights:

-- Gold production ahead of plan at 53,986 ounces and gold sales of 54,393 ounces for US$71.3m in gold revenue -- Mined ore grades steadily increased during the quarter with 2.0 g/t mined in September -- Process plant operating at 20% above design capacity (3.6Mtpa) after upgrades to crushing circuit, gold recovery continues to exceed design -- Gold production for Q4 forecast to be 52,000 to 57,000 ounces, exceeding upper end of guidance -- Excellent safety record with no Lost Time Injuries reported and a rolling 12 month LTIFR of 0.17 -- Balance sheet strengthening with cash and immediately convertible working capital balances of approximately US$69.4 million (September 30, 2016)

Asanko Gold Inc. ("Asanko" or the "Company") (TSX: AKG)(NYSE MKT: AKG) is pleased to announce production results for the third quarter 2016 ("Q3") from Phase 1 of the Asanko Gold Mine, located in Ghana, West Africa. Q3 financial results are expected to be released on November 7, 2016 and management will host a conference call at 9:00am EST (details below).

Commenting on the quarter's performance, Peter Breese, President and CEO, said, "The operations had an exceptional quarter with the process plant now running at 300,000 tonnes per month, or about 20% above design. The ore grade from the Nkran pit continued to increase during the quarter with most of the ore now coming from the main mineralized domains within the heart of the deposit.

Looking ahead, with the mine delivering ore at 2.0 g/t or more and the mill considerably exceeding design throughput and recovery rates, we expect to beat the upper end of our published production guidance for H2 2016. This strong performance will position us well to finance our Phase 2 expansion project with cash flow from the operations.

It is also encouraging to note that this strong operating performance has also been completed with the highest health and safety standards within the industry. No Lost Time Injuries were recorded during the quarter and our rolling 12 month Lost Time Injury Frequency Rate remains very low at 0.17."

Mining

After reaching the main mineralized domains of the Nkran Pit in June, the grade of ore mined increased steadily during Q3 and reached 2.0 g/t in September.

Ore mining rates in July and August averaged 469,000 tonnes per month ("tpm") whilst feed to the process plant was approximately 280,000tpm. The additional tonnes mined were stockpiled ahead of the mill to reduce exposure to a single pit operation. By the end of August, stockpiles had reached target levels (see below) and ore mining rates were reduced in September and the mining fleet scaled back. For Q4 2016, it is expected that ore mining rates will be mostly balanced with processing rates and steady stockpile levels maintained.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Key Mining Statistics Units July August September Q3 2016 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Total Tonnes Mined 000 t 2,639 2,597 2,096 7,332 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Waste Tonnes Mined 000 t 2,154 2,141 1,708 6,003 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ore Tonnes Mined 000 t 482 456 388 1,326 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Strip Ratio W:O 4.5:1 4.7:1 4.4:1 4.5:1 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Average Gold Grade Mined g/t 1.7 1.9 2.0 1.9 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------

The stockpile movements during the quarter are shown below.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------- June 30, 2016 September 30, 2016 --------------------------------------------------------------- Gold Gold Gold Gold ROM Stockpile Tonnes (g/t) (oz) Tonnes (g/t) (oz) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- High grade 17,817 3.30 1,890 8,482 3.20 872 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Medium grade 75,033 1.54 3,715 138,824 1.77 7,920 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Low grade 555,210 1.05 18,808 975,687 1.09 34,051 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Total ROM 648,060 1.17 24,414 1,122,993 1.19 42,843 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------

In addition to these stockpiles, during the Nkran pre-stripping operations marginal ore was stockpiled separately for processing at the end of the mine life and consists of 470,597 tonnes at 0.79 g/t (11,953 ounces of gold).

Processing

The processing plant operated at annualized rates of 3.3 million tonnes per annum ("Mtpa") (10% above design) during July and August with the bottleneck to increasing production further being the crushing circuit. In early September, a new mobile crusher was installed on site which increased processing rates to 3.6Mtpa (20% above design). In addition, metallurgical recoveries continued to exceed feasibility study levels at 94%. As a result, gold production for September was a monthly record with 19,820 ounces produced, which is well above life of mine design parameters.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Key Production Statistics Units July August September Q3 2016 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ore Treated 000 t 274 280 298 852 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Gold Feed Grade g/t 2.1 2.0 2.2 2.1 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Gold Recovery % 93 94 94 94 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Gold Produced oz 16,954 17,212 19,820 53,986 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sales and Liquidity

Gold production for the quarter was 53,986 ounces with gold sales of 54,393 ounces at an average price of US$1,311 per ounce, generating gold sales revenue of US$71.3 million.

The Company's balance sheet strengthened during the quarter with approximately US$69.4 million in cash and immediately convertible working capital balances, as at September 30, 2016. In addition, the Company has no significant current long term debt obligations with its first principal repayment on its US$150 million debt facility not due until July 1, 2018.

Health and Safety

There were no lost time injuries ("LTI") during the quarter, with only one LTI occurring in the last 12 months on March 8, 2016. Since then, there have been 2,613,384 LTI free man-hours worked. The 12-month rolling lost time injury frequency rate per million man hours worked is 0.17.

Outlook

The Company increased its production guidance for H2 2016 in early September to 100,000 - 105,000 ounces. It is expected that the Asanko Gold Mine will continue to process at above design throughput levels at reserve grade during Q4 2016, with metallurgical recovery continuing to average 94%. As such, production in Q4 2016 is expected to be between 52,000 and 57,000 ounces. With 53,986 ounces of gold already produced in Q3, the Company now expects to produce between 106,000 and 111,000oz for H2 2016 which is above the upper end the recently upgraded guidance.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Q3 Financial Results Conference Call and Webcast Details Monday 7 November at 9am EST US/Canada Toll Free: 1 800 926 6198 UK Toll Free: 0800 496 0445 International: +1 212 231 2919 Presentation available here: http://www.asanko.com/ Webcast: please click on the link: https://cc.callinfo.com/r/1qru237mpb8wl&eom Replay: A recorded playback will be available approximately two hours after the call until December 7, 2016: US/Canada Toll Free: 1 800 558 5253 International: +1 416 626 4100 Passcode: #21820020 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Enquiries:

For further information, please visit: www.asanko.com, email: info@asanko.com.

About Asanko Gold Inc.

Asanko's vision is to become a mid-tier gold mining company that maximizes value for all its stakeholders. The Company's flagship project is the multi-million ounce Asanko Gold Mine located in Ghana, West Africa. The mine is being developed in phases. Phase 1 was built within budget and ahead of schedule, with gold production commencing in January 2016 and commercial production declared on April 1, 2016.

Asanko is managed by highly skilled and successful technical, operational and financial professionals. The Company is strongly committed to the highest standards for environmental management, social responsibility, and health and safety for its employees and neighbouring communities.

Forward-Looking and other Cautionary Information

This release includes certain statements that may be deemed "forward-looking statements". All statements in this release, other than statements of historical facts, that address estimated resource quantities, grades and contained metals, possible future mining, exploration and development activities, are forward-looking statements. Although the Company believes the forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements should not be in any way construed as guarantees of future performance and actual results or developments may differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements include market prices for metals, the conclusions of detailed feasibility and technical analyses, the timely renewal of key permits, lower than expected grades and quantities of resources, mining rates and recovery rates and the lack of availability of necessary capital, which may not be available to the Company on terms acceptable to it or at all. The Company is subject to the specific risks inherent in the mining business as well as general economic and business conditions. For more information on the Company, Investors should review the Company's annual Form 20-F filing with the United States Securities Commission and its home jurisdiction filings that are available at www.sedar.com.

Neither Toronto Stock Exchange nor the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Cautionary Note to US Investors Regarding Mineral Reporting Standards:

Asanko has prepared its disclosure in accordance with the requirements of securities laws in effect in Canada, which differ from the requirements of US securities laws. Terms relating to mineral resources in this press release are defined in accordance with National Instrument 43-101 - Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects under the guidelines set out in the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy, and Petroleum Standards on Mineral Resources and Mineral Reserves. The Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC") permits mining companies, in their filings with the SEC, to disclose only those mineral deposits that a company can economically and legally extract or produce. Asanko uses certain terms, such as, "measured mineral resources", "indicated mineral resources", "inferred mineral resources" and "probable mineral reserves", that the SEC does not recognize (these terms may be used in this press release and are included in the public filings of Asanko which have been filed with securities commissions or similar authorities in Canada).

Contacts:

Asanko Gold Inc.

Alex Buck

Manager, Investor and Media Relations

Toll-Free (N. America): 1-855-246-7341

+44-7932-740-452

alex.buck@asanko.com



Asanko Gold Inc.

Wayne Drier

Executive, Corporate Development

+1-778-729-0614

wayne.drier@asanko.com



Asanko Gold Inc.

info@asanko.com

www.asanko.com




LONDON, October 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

The Victor Dahdaleh Foundation - the charitable organisation of Canadian business leader and philanthropist Victor Dahdaleh - has announced a major donation to McGill University in Montreal, Canada.

The donation, which was announced at the Canadian High Commission in London, will be used to establish a new Chair in neurosciences at McGill's Faculty of Medicine, and to expand an existing scholarship programme also backed by the Victor Dahdaleh Foundation.

McGill's status as a global centre of brain research has also received an additional boost with the announcement of an $84million grant from the Federal Government's Canada First Excellence Research Fund (CFREF) - an award Victor Dahdaleh was instrumental in securing.

Mr Dahdaleh, a McGill alumnus who has served on the board of the McGill University Trust since 1994 said: "I am honoured to support McGill's ground-breaking work in neuroscience and to expand my commitment to a new generation of international students by providing scholarships to one of the world's finest institutions of higher learning."

The new Chair will build on McGill's existing world-class research in neuroscience to develop an integrated approach to the study of chronic brain disease, incorporating diverse clinical disciplines including neurology, psychiatry and rehabilitation science.

In particular, the new programme will support ground-breaking work in neuroinformatics - a growing field involving computational analysis of neuroscience data to search for effective treatments of numerous disorders including Alzheimer's, autism, schizophrenia and other mental illnesses.

Speaking at the event at Canada House, McGill Principal and Vice-Chancellor Suzanne Fortier said: "This profound gesture of generosity by Victor Dahdaleh will contribute to McGill's excellence in neuroscience, further our understanding of the brain and eventually translate into therapies for clinical treatment. His investment, which builds on decades of leadership in brain research at McGill and its Montreal Neurological Institute, will have a major impact on our understanding of brain function and disease, helping us address one of the great scientific and humanitarian challenges of the 21st century."

Further funding has also been provided for an existing scholarship programme at McGill, established in 2007 by the Victor Dahdaleh Foundation to offer 16 annual scholarships - in perpetuity - to outstanding full-time undergraduates from low-income countries. This latest contribution from the Foundation will double this endowment, which will now fund 32 annual awards - also in perpetuity.

Both donations are matched dollar-for-dollar by McGill and other funders.

The neuroscience donation represents one of a number of programmes of medical research supported by the Victor Dahdaleh Foundation. In the UK, the Foundation is an established supporter of research into cardiovascular disease, and has funded grants for numerous academic studies at Imperial College London and at Royal Brompton Hospital in London and Middlesex - the UK's largest specialist heart and lung centre.

Gordon Campbell, Canada's High Commissioner to the UK, said the donation was a milestone for McGill and higher education in Canada. "This generous contribution from a McGill alumnus will not only support neuroscience research, but also ensure that Canada continues to play an active role in providing a world-class education to talented students from around the world," he said.

The Victor Dahdaleh Foundation is committed to supporting education, health and wellness, and social and economic development initiatives around the world. At York University in Canada, Mr Dahdaleh recently funded the Dahdaleh Institute for Global Health, a state-of-the art research facility which was funded by a record $20million donation to the university. The new institute will work with a network of global and local partners to reframe the ways in which high- and low-income countries collaborate on global health challenges.

In the UK, Victor Dahdaleh is an Honorary Fellow at London School of Economics, where he has funded a range of new initiatives and backed a scholarship programme to enable disadvantaged students from overseas to study at the school.

The Victor Dahdaleh Foundation's support for education extends to Africa, where it is a donor to the Ethiopia-based Northwood African Educational Trust, which manages a school for orphans in the northwest of the country. St George's School in the Azezo area of Gondar province provides free, high quality education for 200 of the area's most vulnerable children.

Alongside these charitable roles, Mr Dahdaleh is a Fellow of the Duke of Edinburgh Award World Fellowship, a global network of supporters established in 1987 to extend the Duke of Edinburgh Award to young people around the world.

Victor Dahdaleh is the owner and chairman of Dadco, a privately owned investment, manufacturing and trading group established in 1915. A lifelong promoter of closer collaboration between Canada and the UK, he served as president of the Canada-United Kingdom Chamber of Commerce from 2004 to 2009.

For more information, visit: http://victordahdalehfoundation.com
DUBAI, UAE, October 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

The Emirates Capital Limited, DIFC, Dubai ("Company" / "TECL" - http://www.emirates-capital.com) a boutique corporate finance firm with offices located in the DIFC, Dubai are pleased to announcethat TECL has been retained, to assist with sourcing capital funding of US$21 Million plus, by a Norwegian based company ("Client").

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161013/428338LOGO )



The Client owns technology with potential to disrupt the monopolistic world of cross-border payments within the banking system such as SWIFT. The Client's system is designed to save banks money but also allows banks to make instantaneous transfers with 100% accounting accuracy. At $20 per wire transaction bank costs for wire transfers are approximately US$260 million on a daily basis. The disruptive technology owned by the Client could save bank costs more than US$130 million a day. The Company is currently negotiating with three partner banks that have a combined presence in over 50 countries around the world and additional 5-7 banks may follow, bringing the represented presence up to 100+ countries. This Client system is fully licensed and believes it enjoys at least a two year advantage over any new competitor. The Client utilizes the latest in IT communication and IT security standards, and has built in new and advanced functionality to enhance the experience and options available to banks. The Company's goal is to swiftly become the preferred solution for cross-border payments.

The Emirates Capital Limited will focus it's fund raising activities on European institutional investors who have demonstrated know-how in the fintech industry.

Mr. Erik Essiger, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of The Emirates Capital Limited said, "The Emirates Capital Limited have seen numerous start up companies in the payment systems space across the last two years. However, many of them were focusing on a B-to-C solutions providing just a different interface to the client with very little innovative solutions of payment processes. Additionally, a lot of them were, by and large, unregulated. The Client, on the other hand, has a completely developed and fully 5year- tested payment system in the cross boarder inter-bank payment arena and is negotiating with various partner banks that will give the Client global reach within a short period of time. The Client is regulated by the Norwegian Financial Services Authority. We have been impressed by their highly experienced and talented management team and we are delighted to have been retained to introduce this investment opportunity to qualified institutional investors. We are confident that we will succeed in bringing this round of investment to a successful conclusion in the near future. We look forward to working with the Client's management team during this initial capital raise and also the possibility of assisting the Client with an IPO on a Public Stock Exchange at a later date."

Chairman of the Client said, "We are very satisfied with having entered into an agreement with The Emirates Capital Limited. More so, based on the overwhelming interest in our company, that TECL have received from their investor partners in Europe. It is important to note that our capital raising is more for strategic than for financial reasons. We look forward to a fruitful and successful business relationship with The Emirates Capital Limited."

About The Emirates Capital Limited.

The Emirates Capital Limited acts as M&A advisors, lead manager and arrangers with a focus on cross border transactions needs, structure and the development of a global presence. Headquartered in the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) in Dubai it has developed significant relationships in the US, Europe, the Middle East and China to assist clients in commercializing their growth strategies by bringing them to external capital and resources. The Emirates Capital Limited is regulated by the Dubai Financial Services Authority.

Safe Harbor Statement

This press release may include forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including statements related to anticipated revenues, expenses, earnings, operating cash flows, the outlook for markets and the demand for products. Forward-looking statements are no guarantees of future performance and are inherently subject to uncertainties and other factors which could cause actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking statements. Such statements are based upon, among other things, assumptions made by, and information currently available to, management, including management's own knowledge and assessment of the Company's industry and competition. The company assumes no duty to update its forward-looking statements.



Checkout The Emirates Capital Limited on http://www.emirates-capital.com
NOT FOR PUBLICATION, DISTRIBUTION OR RELEASE, DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY, IN OR INTO THE UNITED STATES, CANADA, JAPAN OR AUSTRALIA OR ANY OTHER JURISDICTION INTO WHICH PUBLICATION OR DISTRIBUTION WOULD BE PROHIBITED BY APPLICABLE LAW

The Swedish state and the Norwegian state represented by the Norwegian Ministry of Trade, Industry and Fisheries today announce completion of the sale of 23 million ordinary shares in SAS AB (publ) ("SAS") at SEK 15.50 per share through an accelerated bookbuilt offering to institutional investors (the "Transaction"). The Swedish state has sold 13,800,000 ordinary shares and owns 56,700,000 ordinary shares, corresponding to approximately 17.2 per cent of the number of ordinary shares and approximately 17.1 per cent of the number of votes in SAS after the Transaction. The Norwegian state has sold 9,200,000 ordinary shares and owns 37,800,000 ordinary shares, corresponding to approximately 11.5 per cent of the number of ordinary shares and approximately 11.4 per cent of the number of votes in SAS after the Transaction.

The Swedish state's proceeds from the Transaction amount to SEK 213,900,000 (corresponding to NOK 198,000,000). The Norwegian state's proceeds from the Transaction amount to SEK 142,600,000 (corresponding to NOK 132,000,000).

The Swedish state and the Norwegian state have agreed to a customary lock-up for a period of 180 days after the Transaction. Citigroup acted as global coordinator and joint bookrunner and Nordea and Swedbank acted as joint bookrunners in the Transaction. Vinge acted as legal counsel to the Swedish state and Wiersholm acted as legal counsel to the Norwegian state.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION

The release, publication or distribution of this press release in certain jurisdictions may be restricted. This press release is for information purposes only and does not constitute an offer of, or an invitation to purchase or subscribe for, any securities of SAS in any jurisdiction.

This press release is not for publication, distribution or release, directly or indirectly, in or into the United States, Canada, Japan or Australia or any other jurisdiction into which publication or distribution would be prohibited by applicable law. This press release does not constitute or form part of an offer or solicitation to purchase or subscribe for securities in the United States, Canada, Japan or Australia or any other jurisdiction where such an offer or solicitation would be unlawful. The securities referred to herein have not been and will not be registered under the US Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "US Securities Act") or under the securities laws of any state or other jurisdiction of the United States or under the applicable securities laws of Canada, Japan or Australia and may not be offered or sold in the United States absent registration except pursuant to an exemption from, or in a transaction not subject to, the registration requirements under the US Securities Act and in compliance with any applicable laws of any state or other jurisdiction of the United States. There will be no public offering of the securities in the United States, Canada, Japan or Australia. Copies of this announcement should not be made in and may not be distributed or sent into the United States, Canada, Japan or Australia.

This press release is not a prospectus for the purposes of Directive 2003/71/EC (such Directive, together with any applicable implementing measures under such Directive in the relevant home Member State, the "Prospectus Directive"). The Swedish state and the Norwegian state have not authorized any offer to the public of shares or rights in any Member State of the European Economic Area and no prospectus or other offering document has been or will be prepared in connection with the Swedish state's and the Norwegian state's possible sale of shares in SAS. With respect to each Member State of the European Economic Area and which has implemented the Prospectus Directive (each, a "Relevant Member State"), no action has been undertaken to date to make an offer to the public of shares or rights requiring a publication of a prospectus in any Relevant Member State. In any Relevant Member State this communication is only addressed to and is only directed at qualified investors in that Member State within the meaning of the Prospectus Directive.

This press release is only being distributed to and is only directed at (i) persons who are outside the United Kingdom or (ii) to investment professionals falling within Article 19(5) of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Financial Promotion Order 2005) (the "Order") or (iii) high net worth companies, and other persons to whom it may lawfully be communicated, falling within Article 49(2)(a) to (d) of the Order (all such persons in (i), (ii) and (iii) above together being referred to as "relevant persons"). The securities are only available to, and any invitation, offer or agreement to subscribe, purchase or otherwise acquire such securities 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.

No actions has been taken by the Swedish state, the Norwegian state, Citigroup, Nordea, Swedbank or their affiliates that would, or is intended to permit a public offering of the shares in any jurisdiction, or possession or distribution of this press release, or any other offering material or information material relating to the shares in any jurisdiction where such actions are unlawful. Persons into whose possession this press release comes are required by the Swedish state, the Norwegian state, Citigroup, Nordea or Swedbank to inform themselves about and observe any such restrictions.

Citigroup, Nordea and Swedbank are acting exclusively for the Swedish state and the Norwegian state and no one else in connection with the Transaction. Citigroup, Nordea and Swedbank will not regard any other person (whether or not a recipient of this press release) as its client and will not be responsible to anyone other than the Swedish state and the Norwegian state for providing the protections afforded to their clients nor for giving advice in relation to the Transaction.

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20161013005749/en/

Contacts:

Gosta Brunnander

Acting Press Secretary to Minister for Enterprise and Innovation Mikael Damberg

+46 72-544 28 66

or

Duty Press Officer, Norwegian Ministry of Trade, Industry and Fisheries

media@nfd.dep.no / Cell: +47 902 51 303
HILLSBORO, OR -- (Marketwired) -- 10/13/16 -- Infomart Data Centers, a national wholesale data center provider, today announces a new partnership with privately held Oregon-based service provider CoastCom (recently acquired by Wave Broadband), to connect its Portland data center to the newly established Hillsboro Data Center Ring. With a growing presence of carriers in the area, there are an estimated 21 network providers that can be accessed across the ring. Infomart Portland, Oregon's largest merchant data center with respect to square footage and critical load capacity, extends this connectivity to an additional 13 carriers within its facility.

Currently interconnecting six data centers in the Hillsboro, Oregon, area, the Hillsboro Data Center Ring provides low loss, high-count fiber that can be utilized as either dark fiber or for wavelength services. By virtue of these routes, Infomart Portland data center customers can now gain access to redundant dark fiber connections for pathways to other companies in Portland-area data centers.

"Infomart has always focused on enabling IT operations in fiber and connectivity-rich geographic regions of the U.S.," states John Sheputis, President of Infomart Data Centers. "Interconnecting our Portland data center and the Hillsboro Data Center Ring provides Infomart customers with connectivity to international subsea cable systems as well as to other companies with critical data assets in the greater Portland-Hillsboro region."

The partnership between Infomart and CoastCom to connect its Portland data center to the Hillsboro Data Center Ring will create an interconnection from its facility to offshore fiber routes originating at a submarine cable landing site in Pacific City, Oregon. This will provide Infomart Portland customers with path-diverse terrestrial fiber routes to transpacific cables from several northern Asian countries, in addition to New Zealand and Australia. Infomart Portland customers will then be able to directly access their international customers, which represents a major development for the facility's critical infrastructure and global connectivity.

"We're excited that Infomart's Portland facility is now connected to our Hillsboro Data Center Ring," states Greg Palser of CoastCom (now Wave's Vice President of Business Development). "This partnership provides additional connectivity for Infomart Portland customers who now have the ability to access pathways to other companies and carriers in Portland-area data centers, as well as the potential to access key international markets serviced by submarine cables that terminate in facilities located on our Hillsboro fiber ring. It also benefits more than a dozen network carriers represented in Infomart's Portland facility."

Infomart Portland features 4.6 MW of move-in ready space and 8 MW of shell space currently available at the 24 MW property. Realizing its mission of enabling the world's most sustainable IT operations, Infomart also powers its Portland data center with electricity sourced from Pacific Northwest-based federal power agency Bonneville Power Administration (BPA), which is among the largest suppliers of hydroelectric power in the U.S. and boasts one of the lowest carbon footprints in the country. Additionally, Infomart Portland is sited in a state-sponsored Enterprise Zone wherein property taxes, both real and business, are abated for up to five years per investment. This advantage, together with the absence of sales and use tax, make Oregon the lowest cost state for leased data center operations in the United States.

To learn more about Infomart and its Portland data center, visit http://infomartdatacenters.com/locations/portland/.

About Infomart Data Centers

Founded in 2006, Infomart Data Centers (formerly Fortune Data Centers) is an award-winning industry leader in building, owning and operating highly efficient, cost-effective wholesale data centers. Each of its national facilities meet or exceed the highest industry standards for data centers in all operational categories of availability, security, connectivity and physical resilience.

Infomart Data Centers offers wholesale and colocation facilities in four markets throughout the United States: San Jose, Calif.; Hillsboro, Ore.; Dallas, Texas; and Ashburn, Va. For more information, please visit www.infomartdatacenters.com or connect with Infomart on Twitter and LinkedIn.

About CoastCom by Wave

CoastCom provides high speed Internet, data and voice services for customers on the Oregon Coast. They also operate a cable landing station and provide terrestrial fiber routes for submarine cables from the coast to the Portland Metro Area. Recently acquired by Wave Broadband, CoastCom is now part of a gigabit fiber and broadband services provider for West Coast business and residential customers. Wave delivers a range of solutions for businesses, including custom fiber networks, high capacity Internet access, data transport, voice services, and colocation hosting. For more information, visit wavebusiness.com.
MONTREAL, QUEBEC -- (Marketwired) -- 10/13/16 -- Orbite Technologies Inc. (TSX: ORT)(OTCQX: EORBF) ("Orbite", or the "Company") today announced that, further to its press release of October 3, 2016, production activities continue as planned at its high purity alumina ("HPA") plant.

-- The first batch of feedstock digestion commenced on September 30 and was followed by subsequent batches, as planned. -- These batches of liquor, produced in the digestion circuit, were subsequently transferred to the crystallisation circuit for production of Aluminum Chloride Hexahydrate (ACH) crystals. ACH crystals are the precursor to High Purity Alumina (HPA). -- Purity levels of the ACH crystals, produced in the first batches, are already in excess of 5N, ahead of expectations. This would correspond to HPA purity levels in excess of 4N5. Based on the excellent results to date, ACH purity levels in excess of 5N8, corresponding to 5N+ HPA, are expected to be achieved within the next batch cycles. -- Once the ACH crystals produced reach 5N8 purity, they will be transferred to the calcination circuit for HPA production.

"Purity of the initial batches of ACH crystals is excellent and has surpassed our expectations so soon after start of production," stated Glenn Kelly, CEO of Orbite. "Operational progress is such that production times are coming down, and purity levels are increasing, as planned. Based on what we have achieved to date, we are confident that ACH purity of 5N8 (HPA purity of 5N+) is well within our reach."

About Orbite

Orbite Technologies Inc. is a Canadian cleantech company whose innovative and proprietary processes are expected to produce alumina and other high-value products, such as rare earth and rare metal oxides, at one of the lowest costs in the industry, and in a sustainable fashion, using feedstocks that include aluminous clay, kaolin, nepheline, bauxite, red mud, fly ash as well as serpentine residues from chrysotile processing sites. Orbite is currently in the process of finalizing its first commercial high-purity alumina (HPA) production plant in Cap-Chat, Quebec and has completed the basic engineering for a proposed smelter-grade alumina (SGA) production plant, which would use clay mined from its Grande-Vallee deposit. The Company's portfolio contains 16 intellectual property families, including 37 patents and 91 pending patent applications in 11 different countries and regions. The first intellectual property family is patented in Canada, USA, Australia, China, Japan and Russia. The Company also operates a state of the art technology development center in Laval, Quebec, where its technologies are developed and validated.

Forward-looking statements

Certain information contained in this document may include "forward-looking information". Without limiting the foregoing, the information and any forward-looking information may include statements regarding projects, costs, objectives and future returns of the Company or hypotheses underlying these items. In this document, words such as "may", "would", "could", "will", "likely", "believe", "expect", "anticipate", "intend", "plan", "estimate" and similar words and the negative form thereof are used to identify forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements should not be read as guarantees of future performance or results, and will not necessarily be accurate indications of whether, or the times at or by which, such future performance will be achieved. Forward-looking statements and information are based on information available at the time and/or the Company management's good-faith beliefs with respect to future events and are subject to known or unknown risks, uncertainties, assumptions and other unpredictable factors, many of which are beyond the Company's control. These risks uncertainties and assumptions include, but are not limited to, those described in the section of the Management's Discussion and Analysis (MD&A) entitled "Risk and Uncertainties" as filed on March 30, 2016 on SEDAR, including those under the headings "Recent increase in budgeted capital costs will require additional financing and may adversely impact our prospects", "We will need to raise capital to continue our growth" and "Development Goals and Time Frames".

The Company does not intend, nor does it undertake, any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information or statements contained in this document to reflect subsequent information, events or circumstances or otherwise, except as required by applicable laws.

Contacts:

NATIONAL Equicom

Marc Lakmaaker, External Investor Relations Consultant

416-848-1397

mlakmaaker@national.ca



For Media Inquiries:

NATIONAL Equicom

Scott Anderson, External Media Relations Consultant

416-586-1954

sanderson@national.ca




MONTREAL, QUEBEC -- (Marketwired) -- 10/13/16 -- Alithya, Quebec's largest privately-held strategic consulting and IT services firm, is proud to announce its acquisition of Pro2p. The integration of Quebec's leading Oracle EBS specialist also strengthens Alithya's management team, with the arrival of Dany Paradis and Eric Therrien, who are both partners in Pro2p.

"This transaction is part of our accelerated growth strategy, and it meets our major clients' critical needs. We are extremely proud to welcome a team of seasoned specialists with its ten years of expertise with the Oracle suite. The resulting opportunities fall in with our strategic planning and will make Alithya an industry leader. Our team of Oracle integration experts will enable us to better meet the needs of our clients in Quebec, the rest of Canada and France," says Paul Raymond, President & Chief Executive Officer of Alithya.

"The transfer of Pro2p to Alithya is an extraordinary growth opportunity for our clients and consultants. We are joining a firm that shares our values and whose strategic planning will propel us forward and enable us to reach a whole new level of business objectives. We are very excited about joining a solid, respected organization with international scope," assert Dany Paradis and Eric Therrien, both Vice-Presidents at Alithya.

About Pro2p

Founded in 2006, the company offers specialized consulting services and helps its clients develop and enhance their processes to ensure an optimal integration of Oracle applications. Accustomed to joint management, the Pro2p experts complete every project with agility and efficiency. Among the things this Oracle specialist brings to the table are strategic planning, implementation, migration, customized development and the creation of joint service centres.

About Alithya

Alithya, Quebec's largest privately-held strategic consulting and IT services firm, operates in North America and France. Founded in 1992, the firm advises, guides and assists its clients in their pursuit of innovation and excellence. Alithya also prioritizes the achievement of business objectives on every project, relying on an optimal use of information technology. Its clients are mainly active in the financial services, telecommunications, transportation, health care and government services sectors. Alithya has more than 1,250 specialized consultants in Canada, the US and France.

For more information, visit www.alithya.com or watch the company's corporate video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nkvu_XORFiM

Contacts:

Marie-Josee Rivard

Director, Communications and Marketing

514-285-5552

m-j.rivard@alithya.com












Taiwan President Tsai Ing- wen opens World Design Capital Taipei 2016

Signature Event at Taipei's historic Songshan Cultural and Creative Park

TAIPEI, Taiwan, Oct. 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --To mark the grand opening of the International Design House Exhibition, which is expected to attract over 800,000 visitors, President Tsai Ing-wen was joined today by the Minister of Economic Affairs Chih-Kung Lee; Mayor of Taipei City Ko Wen-je; Prof. Mugendi M'Rithaa, President of ICSID; and city representatives from Helsinki, Cape Town, Mexico City, Eindhoven, Kolding, and Phoenix.

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161013/428326

The much anticipated International Design House Exhibition, which officially opened today, is the first of four major Signature Events to take place in October as part of World Design Capital Taipei 2016 (WDC Taipei 2016). The exhibition explores the WDC Taipei 2016 theme of Sisheng: Quality of Life and Health, Ecological Sustainability, Smart Living, and Urban Regeneration, and aims to ignite public discussion about urban development and the power of design thinking and social design projects to shape the future of cities.

On stage today, President Tsai Ing-wen expressed her support for the local design industry. "I really hope that Taiwanese society can respect the expertise of designers and really get to know the value of design. Design can be used to change our lives, and design can be an indispensable part of improving our national strength," she said. "World Design Capital is a very good platform for people to experience design for themselves, and for all professionals from all over the world to exchange their ideas. In addition, Taiwan designers can also broaden their horizons through this platform."

President Tsai's thoughts on the importance of the International Design House Exhibition were echoed by Taipei City Mayor Ko Wen-je. "During this exhibition, we hope that we can show the world the strength of design in Taiwan," Mayor Ko said. "If we want to change Taipei, then we have to start from changing our culture, and changing culture starts with design. Through design, we hope that we can make Taipei a prettier and more convenient city. This year, this design exhibition is only the beginning."

"We hope that you have a chance to discover each and every one of the design exhibits on display here at the Songshan Cultural and Creative Park until the end of the month," said Prof. Mugendi M'Rithaa, President of ICSID, the organizers of the World Design Capital designation, to an attendant audience. "May you be inspired by the many new design ideas and encouraged by the way design thinking is having a positive impact on the lives of people in Taipei and in different parts of the world. And may your interactions here today and in the coming weeks lead to tangible design-driven results."

At the opening ceremony, seven cities signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) following the City of Networks Meeting, one of WDC Taipei 2016's four International Signature Events. The MOU aims to strengthen bilateral exchange and cooperation by enhancing the promotion of design and exploring export opportunities for the design industry. The signatory parties, which included Cape Town, Eindhoven, Helsinki, Kolding, Mexico City, Phoenix, and Taipei, agreed to facilitate collaboration in design exchange, the incubation of talent, industrial support, and research and development.

Representing Taipei at the Network of Cities Meeting, Mayor Ko Wen-je spoke of the continued commitment to changing the city through design. WDC Taipei 2016 is just the first step, he said, and promised to continue the activities started this year into the next five to ten years. Anne Stenros, who just last month took up the position of Helsinki's Chief Design Officer, notes that the former WDC city will focus on finding innovative solutions to future problems, many of which are unknown at this time. Mayor Jorn Pedersen of Kolding, a city that exhibited as part of WDC Taipei 2016 earlier in the year, noted that despite their small population, they still find ways to implement design into education, city development, and business. In 2017, the city will hold its first Design Week.

The International City Pavilion of the International Design House Exhibition, Unfold Cities, with participants from 13 international cities, countries, and organizations -- Austria, Beijing, Cape Town, Germany, Helsinki, India, the Netherlands, Osaka, Paris, the Philippines, Switzerland and Yokohama -- presents an inspirational exploration of how global cities can use design to face the continuing challenges of urbanization.

Taipei Issuuuue, the theme of Taipei Pavilion II, curated by Agua Chou of Taipei-based studio Agua Design, showcases the results of innovative WDC Taipei 2016 projects, including the International Open Call and Designer in Residence programs, and explores the impact of public planning and design policies in Taipei City. In the Power of Taiwan Design Pavilion, curator Li Wei-Lang, the Creative Director for Afterain Design, presents an exhibition called Breakthrough that showcases innovation in Taiwanese design in the fields of science and technology, art and craft, and sustainability.

In Taipei Pavilion I, Page Tsou, celebrated visual artist and founder of Taipei-based studio Auspicious Design, presents Visual Taipei. This exhibition features over 300 works by renowned illustrators, graphic designers, and visual artists from around the world. Renowned Taiwanese contemporary calligraphic artist Tong Yang-Tze presents From Ink to Apparel: A Crossover between Calligraphy Art and Fashion Design. This collaborative exhibition features the works of six up-and-coming Taiwanese fashion designers, which interpret Tong's art.

The International Design House Exhibition, located in the Songshan Cultural and Creative Park, will be open every day from 10AM to 6PM, from Thursday, October 13 to Sunday, October 30, and is free for all visitors. A free shuttle bus service will be provided from Songshan Cultural Creative Park to three satellite exhibition areas around the city, including Yongkang Street, Zhongshan-Shuanglian District, and Wanhua-Dadaocheng District. For more information, visit: http://wdc2016.taipei/en/international-design-house-exhibition/.

Other major events in October include the International Design Policy Conference to be held on the weekend of October 15 and 16 at the Taipei International Convention Center; and the International Design Week Forum to be held at the Taipei Fine Arts Museum on Tuesday, October 18.

About WDC Taipei 2016

"Adaptive City -- Design in Motion" was Taipei City's core concept in its 2015 application to host World Design Capital 2016. How can we apply innovative "design thinking" practices to overcome the constraints that limited resources place on our city's development, pursue continual change in our urban governance, create happiness in the lives of our citizens--providing them with a better quality of life in a more livable, forward-looking city? These are the goals for Taipei City. 2016 marks the beginning of an evolution for Taipei, where we will take advantage of the potential in change by "Engaging Communities," "Connecting Information," and "Revitalizing the City." For more information on WDC Taipei 2016, visit the official website http://wdc2016.taipei/en/, or follow on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/taipeidesign/.

About World Design Capital

World Design Capital (WDC) is designated by Icsid every two years to recognize a city's innovative use of design for economic, social and cultural development and to showcase effective design-led urban revitalization strategies that other cities can benefit from. Past cities to hold the WDC title include Torino (Italy) in 2008, Seoul (South Korea) in 2010, Helsinki (Finland) in 2012, and Cape Town (South Africa) 2014. Taipei (Taiwan) is this year's WDC, and Mexico City has just been named WDC 2018. For more information, please visit http://www.worlddesigncapital.com.

About the International Council of Societies of Industrial Design





The International Council of Societies of Industrial Design (Icsid) is an international non-governmental organization (INGO) founded in 1957 that promotes the profession of industrial design. Icsid recently approved a name change, World Design Organization, to be implemented and celebrated during its 60th anniversary in 2017. Icsid advocates industrial design driven innovation that creates a better world, engaging our more than 140 member organizations in collaborative efforts and carrying out international programming -- World Design Capital, World Design Impact Prize, World Industrial Design Day, and Interdesign. Icsid has United Nations Special Consultative Status. For more information, please visit http://www.icsid.org/

Media Contact Saskia Kerkvliet International Media Liaison +886 2 2311 7007 *406 saskia.kerkvliet@ddg.com.tw Taipei City Government Contact Olivia Hsu World Design Capital Taipei 2016 Office +886 2 2720 8889 *3657 bt-yunwei@mail.taipei.gov.tw Taipei WDC Office Contact Anne Chang World Design Capital Taipei 2016 Office +886 2 2745 8199 *410 anne_chang@tdc.org.tw






BOUCHERVILLE, QUEBEC -- (Marketwired) -- 10/13/16 -- Notice to readers: Please see the press release issued previously regarding the closing of the recapitalization transactions for more information on those transactions. This press release is not available in the United States.

Colabor Group Inc. (TSX: GCL) ("Colabor" or the "Corporation") today reported its results for the third quarter of fiscal 2016 ended September 3, 2016.

"For a third consecutive quarter, Colabor recorded a strong year-over-year increase in operating profitability. This increase reflects cost reductions related to the implementation of our rationalization plan and the steady improvement of our operating performance. Moreover, the unfavourable effect on profitability related to the renewal of large contracts in the first half of fiscal 2015 is now behind us. As a result, Colabor posted net earnings of $2.7 million, up sharply from last year," said Claude Gariepy, President and Chief Executive Officer of Colabor.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Financial highlights Quarter ended Nine-month period ended (thousands of dollars except Sept. 3, Sept. 5, Sept. 3, Sept. 5, per-share data) 2016 2015 2016 2015 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sales 360,857 366,931 1,032,722 1,038,228 Adjusted EBITDA 9,196 8,027 21,175 17,003 Operating earnings before the following items 6,573 4,384 13,180 6,539 Impairment loss on equity investment - - - 1,731 Charges not related to current operations - 336 3,337 1,681 Net earnings (loss) 2,708 863 483 (4,450) Per share - basic and diluted ($) 0.10 0.03 0.02 (0.16) Cash flow from operations(i) 22,991 3,055 17,658 14,524 Weighted average number of shares outstanding (basic, in thousands) 27,454 27,454 27,454 27,454 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- (i) After the net change in working capital.

THIRD QUARTER RESULTS

Consolidated sales were $360.9 million for the 84-day period ended September 3, 2016, compared to $366.9 million for the 84-day period ended September 5, 2015. This decrease was attributable to the Wholesale segment, partially offset by improvement in the Distribution segment on a fully-comparable basis.

Sales for the Distribution segment rose 1.6% to $254.3 million from $250.3 million a year earlier, essentially due to the Ontario division, as a result of the growth of important customers, and to the Norref division. These factors were somewhat offset by lower sales at the CDA division that were partly due to the loss of a customer in New Brunswick.

Sales for the Wholesale segment were $106.6 million, down from $116.7 million last year. The 8.7% decrease reflects lower sales for the Decarie division, partly due to an important decline in beef prices and a voluntary reduction in sales for some categories, and to a lesser extent for the Boucherville division, due to the non-renewal of a low-margin supply agreement.

Adjusted EBITDA was $9.2 million or 2.55% of sales, up 14.6% from $8.0 million or 2.19% of sales in the third quarter of 2015. The increase primarily reflects the positive impact of the cost reduction measures in Colabor's rationalization plan. In addition, the year-over-year margin comparison is no longer affected by the impact of the large contract renewals signed in the first half of 2015.

Given the increase in adjusted EBITDA, and excluding charges not related to current operations incurred in the third quarter of 2015, operating earnings, i.e., earnings before financial expenses and income taxes, increased 50.0% from $4.4 million last year to $6.6 million this year. As a result of this improved operating profitability, Colabor ended the third quarter of 2016 with pre-tax earnings of $3.9 million, compared to $1.0 million last year, and net earnings of $2.7 million, up sharply from $0.9 million a year earlier.

NINE-MONTH RESULTS

Consolidated sales were $1.03 billion for the 252-day period ended September 3, 2016, compared to $1.04 billion for the 252-day period ended September 5, 2015. Adjusted EBITDA was $21.2 million or 2.05% of sales, up from $17.0 million or 1.64% of sales a year earlier. Excluding charges not related to current operations, operating earnings more than doubled to stand at $13.2 million, compared to $6.5 million last year. Finally, net earnings for the first nine months of 2016 were $0.5 million, compared to a net loss of $4.5 million for the first nine months of 2015.

CASH FLOW AND FINANCIAL POSITION

Cash flow from operations amounted to $23.0 million in the third quarter of 2016, compared to $3.1 million for the same period in 2015. The $19.9 million difference is mainly attributable to the generation of $14.1 million in working capital in 2016 compared to a use of $4.3 million last year, as well as to improved profitability.

As at September 3, 2016, the Company had drawn $76.5 million on its credit facility, compared to $97.7 million three months earlier. The decrease was essentially due to the strong cash flow generated during the quarter. At the same date, total debt including long-term debt, convertible debentures and the bank overdraft totalled $175.0 million, down $16.6 million from the same period a year earlier.

At the end of the quarter, the bank loan and a portion of the Corporation's long-term debt and convertible debentures were set to mature in the next 12 months. Consequently, an amount of $147.1 million was presented as part of current liabilities as at September 3, 2016. On a pro forma basis for the recapitalization transactions, no amounts are shown for current liabilities.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Financial position Total debt / Total debt / Value of as at September 3, Adjusted Total Credit current 2016 EBITDA capitalization facility usage liabilities ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- As presented in financial statements 5.8x 72.2% 54.6% ($76.5 M) $255.5 M ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- PRO FORMA 4.1x 52.2% 31.0% ($43.5 M) $108.8 M ----------------------------------------------------------------------------

OUTLOOK

"Given the closing of the recapitalization transactions, which was disclosed in a separate press release, Colabor will have greater flexibility in regards to reinvesting in its operations, taking advantage of opportunities and continuing to execute its business strategy. With the support of the Board, Colabor's management will step up efforts to achieve its objectives in order to increase our penetration in the food service industry and create sustainable value for our shareholders," added Mr. Gariepy.

"Taking into account the recapitalization process, Colabor's ratio of total net debt to adjusted EBITDA for the last 12 months decreased from 5.8 to 4.1 times on a pro forma basis. In addition, our annual financial expenses will be reduced by approximately $3.0 million. This increased flexibility, combined with our improved operational efficiency, gives us a solid foundation to carry out our operations," said Jean-Francois Neault, Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Colabor.

CONFERENCE CALL

Colabor will hold a conference call to discuss these results on Thursday, October 13, 2016, beginning at 11:00 a.m. Eastern Time. Interested parties can join the call by dialling 647-788-4922 (from Toronto and overseas) or 1-877-223-4471 (from elsewhere in North America). If you are unable to participate, you can listen to a recording by dialling 1-800-585-8367 and entering the code 92771167 on your telephone keypad. The recording will be available from 2:00 p.m. Thursday, October 13, 2016, until 11:59 p.m. Thursday, October 20, 2016.

Those wishing to join the webcast and presentation can do so by clicking on the following link: http://www.colabor.com/en/investisseurs/evenements-et-presentations/

NON-IFRS MEASURES

The information provided in this release includes non-IFRS performance measures, notably earnings before financial expenses, income taxes, depreciation and amortization ("EBITDA") and cash flow. As these concepts are not defined by IFRS, they may not be comparable to those of other companies.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

The Corporation's Management Discussion and Analysis and the financial statements will be available on SEDAR (www.sedar.com) following publication of this release. Additional information about Colabor Group Inc. can be found on SEDAR and on the Corporation's website at www.colabor.com.

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This news release contains certain statements that may be deemed forward-looking statements reflecting the opinions or current expectations of Colabor Group Inc. concerning its performance, business operations and future events. Such statements are subject to risks, uncertainties and assumptions and the analysis of the debt structure and available alternatives, and risks mentioned in the Corporation's annual information form found under its profile on SEDAR (www.sedar.com), such as the risk of dilution for existing shareholders. As such, these statements are not guarantees of future performance, and actual results, realities, or events may differ materially. Except as required by law, the Corporation assumes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements in the event that management's beliefs, estimates or opinions or other factors change.

ABOUT COLABOR

Colabor is a distributor and wholesaler of food and non-food products serving the foodservice market (cafeterias, restaurants, hotels, restaurant chains) in Quebec, Ontario and the Atlantic provinces, as well as the retail market (grocery stores and convenience stores).

Contacts:

Investors: Colabor Group Inc.

Jean-Francois Neault, CPA, CMA, MBA

Vice President and Chief Financial Officer

450-449-0026 Ext 1308

450-449-6180 (FAX)

jean-francois.neault@colabor.com



Media: Maison Brison Inc.

Martin Goulet, CFA

Senior Vice President, Investor Relations

514-731-0000 Ext 229

514-731-4525 (FAX)

martin@maisonbrison.com




CALGARY, ALBERTA -- (Marketwired) -- 10/13/16 -- Media Advisory - TransCanada Corporation (TSX: TRP) (NYSE: TRP) (TransCanada) today announced it has launched an open season for binding commitments on a new, long-term, fixed-price proposal to flow natural gas along the Canadian Mainline from the Empress receipt point in Alberta to the Dawn hub in Southern Ontario.

The proposal is intended to allow Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin (WCSB) producers to utilize existing capacity on the Mainline to transport their natural gas from the Nova Inventory Transfer (NIT) market hub and access the eastern market trading hub at Dawn. The tolling arrangement will provide lower cost access to the high-value markets served by the Dawn trading hub. This proposal does not impact current contracts that are already in place on the Canadian Mainline system.

"TransCanada's Canadian Mainline has been a critical piece of energy infrastructure for more than 65 years, and has connected the country's most prolific supply basins with North America's highest value markets," said Stephen Clark, TransCanada's senior vice president and general manager, Canadian Natural Gas Pipelines.

"Our proposal provides competitive transportation tolls for Canadians, utilizes existing pipeline infrastructure and allows WCSB producers to retain and enhance their natural gas market share in eastern Canada and the northeast United States."

The contract term for this service is 10 years with tolls ranging from $0.75 /GJ to $0.82 /GJ depending on the shippers' contract volume commitments and a total subscription of 1.5 PJ / day. These tolls are inclusive of the abandonment surcharge and delivery pressure charge. Early termination rights are provided and can be exercised following the initial five years of service upon payment of an increased toll for the final two years of the contract.

The service is priced lower than the current firm service tolls and does not include flexibility provisions such as diversions and alternate receipt points. However, secondary deliveries along the Great Lakes Pipeline to Deward, Farwell, Chippewa, Rattle Run and Belle River Mills may be permitted subject to certain conditions.

"We have listened to our customers' needs and are pleased to present them with a competitive toll structure that provides the flexibility they need to compete with changing market dynamics while helping North Americans heat homes, fuel industries and generate reliable sources of power," said Clark.

Details of the Dawn Long Term Fixed Price open season can be found here.

The targeted in-service date is November 1, 2017.

Provision of the service is conditional on, amongst other things, TransCanada receiving National Energy Board approval on terms and conditions satisfactory to TransCanada. TransCanada intends to file an application for approval as quickly as possible following a successful open season.

Interested parties may submit binding bids for transportation capacity during the open season that will close on November 10 at 11 a.m. MST. Customer information regarding the Open Season is available by contacting your customer account manager.

With more than 65 years' experience, TransCanada is a leader in the responsible development and reliable operation of North American energy infrastructure including natural gas and liquids pipelines, power generation and gas storage facilities. TransCanada operates a network of natural gas pipelines that extends more than 90,300 kilometres (56,100 miles), tapping into virtually all major gas supply basins in North America. TransCanada is the continent's leading provider of gas storage and related services with 664 billion cubic feet of storage capacity. A large independent power producer, TransCanada currently owns or has interests in over 10,500 megawatts of power generation in Canada and the United States. TransCanada is also the developer and operator of one of North America's leading liquids pipeline systems that extends over 4,300 kilometres (2,700 miles), connecting growing continental oil supplies to key markets and refineries. TransCanada's common shares trade on the Toronto and New York stock exchanges under the symbol TRP. Visit TransCanada.com and our blog to learn more, or connect with us on social media and 3BL Media.

Contacts:

TransCanada Media Enquiries:

Mark Cooper / Shawn Howard

403.920.7859 or 800.608.7859



TransCanada Investor & Analyst Enquiries:

David Moneta / Stuart Kampel

403.920.7911 or 800.361.6522




ST. JOHN'S, NEWFOUNDLAND AND LABRADOR -- (Marketwired) -- 10/13/16 -- Representatives of CUPE Newfoundland Labrador are calling out Education Minister Dale Kirby for hiding behind paid consultants and secretive meetings. CUPE was recently made aware of an invitation-only meeting of library stakeholders, which took place October 12, 2016. Although some management level staff were invited, frontline library workers from the 54 public libraries under threat of closure were excluded.

Upon learning of the stakeholder meeting on October 7, CUPE Representative Dawn Learning immediately sent a letter to Minister Kirby, asking for members of CUPE 2329 to be included in the meeting. They did not receive a response.

"Why are these dedicated library workers not considered stakeholders? Minister Kirby should admit he made a mistake - and fix it," says Learning.

"They don't want to talk to the people who live in these communities or the people who work in these libraries. Minister Kirby should be visiting these places in person," says CUPE 2329 President Dawn Lahey. I'm sure Earle McCurdy learned a lot more, and spent far less on his tour, than the provincial government is wasting on consultants and lawyers."

"At this point you have to wonder if Mr. Kirby is trying to pull the wool over our eyes," says CUPE NL President Wayne Lucas. "After the fiasco last week at the library consultation in St. John's, and now this, how can anyone have confidence in the results of this review."

CUPE 2329 represents 250 employees at the Provincial Information and Library Resources Board in 95 communities.

Contacts:

Wayne Lucas

President, CUPE NL

(709) 727-2509



Dawn Lahey

President, CUPE Local 2329

(709) 693-3843



Dawn Learning

CUPE National Representative

(709) 690-9617




BOSTON, MA and MILL VALLEY, CA -- (Marketwired) -- 10/13/16 -- Battery Ventures, a global investment firm that backs cloud companies, and Glassdoor*, the world's most transparent jobs and recruiting marketplace, have partnered to reveal the 25 Highest Rated Public Cloud Computing Companies To Work For. The roundup of public companies builds on a similar, previous list of privately held cloud companies released by Battery and Glassdoor in August.

The new list highlights 25 larger, publicly traded companies -- all focused on "business-to-business" cloud computing -- where employees report the highest levels of satisfaction at work, according to employee feedback shared on Glassdoor. The top five highest-rated companies were Ultimate Software; Instructure; HubSpot; Zendesk; and Guidewire.

Cloud technologies continue to transform traditional business services by lowering costs, improving usability and speeding the secure delivery of key software and IT infrastructure. The highest-ranked public companies on the newest Battery/Glassdoor list deliver a broad range of services, from marketing-automation tools, to technology for chief financial officers, to human resources and IT-operations support. The report also includes data on whether employees approve, or disapprove of their companies' CEOs and gauges their view on how their company's business will perform in the next six months (though these additional data points did not impact the overall company ratings or rankings).

"Cloud-computing companies are rapidly becoming some of the largest, fastest growing technology companies in the world-and not all of them, like Ultimate Software and Instructure, are household names," said Neeraj Agrawal, a Battery general partner who specializes in cloud and "software as a service" (SaaS) investing. "As savvy job seekers try to tap into this new ecosystem, they appreciate information about which cloud companies are the most well-regarded by employees. This transparency is critically important for people making one of the largest decisions in their lives-where to work." Agrawal also serves on the board of Glassdoor.

Ultimately, "happy employees lead to happy customers," Agrawal added, and drive revenue and profits.

For reporting simplicity, the company ratings below are rounded to the nearest tenth of a point, though actual calculations extend beyond the thousandth to determine rank. The ratings are based on a five-point scale, with 1.0 denoting "very dissatisfied", 3.0 indicating "OK" and 5.0 signaling "very satisfied."

The 25 Highest Rated Public Cloud Computing Companies To Work For are:

---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Glassdoor, Battery Ventures 25 Highest Rated Public Cloud Computing Companies To Work For ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Positive Overall CEO Business Company Approval Outlook Rank Name Rating CEO Name Rating Rating ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 Ultimate Software 4.6 Scott Scherr 99% 94% ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2 Instructure 4.6 Josh Coates 98% 92% ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3 HubSpot 4.6 Brian Halligan 95% 88% ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4 Zendesk 4.6 Mikkel Svane 96% 92% ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5 Guidewire* 4.5 Marcus Ryu 96% 91% ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6 Paylocity 4.5 Steve Beauchamp 99% 90% ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 7 Demandware 4.5 Thomas Ebling 97% 90% ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 8 Five9 4.4 Mike Burkland 90% 87% ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 9 Shopify 4.4 Tobias Lutke 95% 84% ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 10 Wix 4.3 Avishai Abrahami 94%** 77% ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 11 Xero 4.2 Rod Drury 98% 78% ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 12 Salesforce 4.2 Marc Benioff 97% 85% ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 13 Cornerstone OnDemand 4.2 Adam Miller 94% 78% ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 14 Twilio 4.1 Jeff Lawson 92% 82% ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 15 Adobe 4.1 Shantanu Narayen 94% 81% ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 16 Splunk* 4.1 Doug Merritt 83%** 78% ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 17 LogMeIn 4.0 Bill Wagner 89%** 72% ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 18 CallidusCloud 4.0 Leslie Stretch 89% 81% ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 19 Mimecast 4.0 Peter Bauer 94% 64% ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 20 Workiva 4.0 Matthew M. Rizai 84% 69% ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 21 NetSuite 3.9 Zach Nelson 87% 73% ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 22 Box 3.9 Aaron Levie 93% 72% ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 23 MINDBODY 3.9 Rick Stollmeyer 97% 68% ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 24 Intuit 3.9 Brad Smith 94% 67% ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 25 Varonis Systems 3.9 Yaki Faitelson 82% 74% ----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Note: Demandware, ranked No. 7, has been acquired by Salesforce since this data was first collected, and No. 21 NetSuite has agreed to be acquired by Oracle.

Employees at these highly rated companies commonly mention in online reviews that they enjoy working for mission-driven companies with strong and unique company cultures; employers that promote transparency; and companies with experienced senior leaders who regularly and clearly communicate with employees. For instance, some employees at #1 ranked Ultimate Software shared:

"Amazing Culture! Appreciated and cared for every day, not just during awards ceremonies. Great Salary, Benefits, Co-Workers, Customers / Ultimate Software is the total package." - Ultimate Software Systems Architect (Louisville, KY)

"Positive people-first culture. Fun place to work. Great benefits. Free food almost daily. Company is currently (as of 2016) in a financial boom." - Ultimate Software Employee (Weston, FL)

Glassdoor currently holds millions of workplace reviews, ratings and insights shared by employees anonymously on approximately 580,000 companies around the world. Currently, the average company rating on Glassdoor is 3.3(1). When an employee submits a company review on Glassdoor, he or she is asked to give their opinion on some of the best reasons to work for their employer (pros), any downsides (cons), and is encouraged to provide advice to management. Employees are also asked to rate how satisfied they are with their employer overall, among several other workplace attributes employees can rate and review.

Methodology: This report identifies public cloud computing companies that are highest rated on Glassdoor, based on company ratings shared by employees. To be considered, a public cloud company must have received at least 30 company reviews on Glassdoor as of 8/2/16. The report tracks public cloud companies with a B2B business model that have at least $500 million in total enterprise value as of July 1, 2016. A company's CEO approval rating and positive business outlook rating -- indicating the percentage of employees who believe their employer's business will get better in the next six months -- was not taken into account to determine rank or overall company rating, though we display these added data points for additional insight and perspective into each of these companies.

*By a company name, denotes a Battery investment. For a full list of all Battery investments and exits, please click here. No part of this release should be considered investment advice or any recommendation or solicitation to buy our sell any security.

**Next to CEO approval rating denotes the data is based on less than 30 ratings.

About Battery Ventures

Battery strives to invest in cutting-edge, category-defining businesses in markets including software and services, Web infrastructure, consumer Internet, mobile and industrial technologies. Founded in 1983, the firm backs companies at stages ranging from seed to private equity and invests globally from offices in Boston, the San Francisco Bay Area and Israel. Follow the firm on Twitter @BatteryVentures, visit our website at www.battery.com and find a full list of Battery's portfolio companies here.

About Glassdoor

Glassdoor is the most transparent jobs and recruiting marketplace that is changing how people search for jobs and how companies recruit top talent. Glassdoor combines free and anonymous company reviews, ratings and salary reports with job listings to help job seekers find the best jobs and address critical questions that come up during the job search, application, interview and negotiation phases of employment. For employers, Glassdoor offers job posting, recruiting and employer branding solutions to help attract high-quality candidates at a fraction of the cost of other channels. In addition, Glassdoor operates one of the most popular job apps on iOS and Android platforms. Launched in 2008, Glassdoor has raised approximately $200 million from Google Capital, Tiger Global, Benchmark, Battery Ventures, Sutter Hill Ventures, DAG Ventures, Dragoneer Investment Group, funds and accounts advised by T. Rowe Price Associates, Inc. and others.

(c) 2016 Glassdoor, Inc. Glassdoor is a registered trademark of Glassdoor, Inc.

(1) Glassdoor Internal Data, July 2016

Media Contacts:

Battery Ventures:

Alicia Halatsis

alicia@battery.com





Glassdoor:

Scott Dobroski

pr@glassdoor.com




OAKVILLE, ONTARIO -- (Marketwired) -- 04/11/17 -- Giyani Gold Corporation (TSX VENTURE: WDG)(FRANKFURT: KT9) ("Giyani" or the "Company") is pleased to announce the acquisition of six new prospecting licenses that encompass the past producing Kgwakgwe Hill Manganese Mine located in the Kanye Basin, Southeastern Botswana. Binding agreements have been signed with Everbroad Investments (Pty) Limited and Marcelle Holdings (Pty) Limited to acquire an 88% interest in PL322/2016 (Kgwakgwe Hill License) and 100% interest in PL336/2016 to PL340/2016 (adjacent to Kgwakgwe Hill) inclusive by making cash payments totaling US$75,000.

The Kgwakgwe Hill project covers a supergene system containing high-grade manganese nodules. Manganese ore mined from 1957 to 1967 at Kgwakgwe Hill consisted almost entirely of such high-grade manganese oxide nodules grading 40-50% total manganese (Source: Botswana Notes and Records, Vol.30, p. 147-156).

The deposit lies within the Kanye Basin, which is underlain by rocks of the Transvaal Supergroup ("Transvaal"). The Transvaal hosts roughly 80% of the world's manganese reserves and has been identified in Botswana both under cover beneath Kalahari sands and in local outcrop within the project area. This deposit is of particular interest to Giyani because it is proof of concept that manganese deposits exist in Botswana and that the manganese displays simple yet ideal chemical compositions and grade characteristics that would be attractive to battery manufacturers.

Giyani will immediately commence with field exploration on Kgwakgwe Hill and the surrounding area with the objective of outlining an economic deposit and developing a mining strategy to extract high grade selected material at quantities tailored to meet the specifications of the new battery types developed today.

Roger Moss, Ph.D., P.Geo, is the qualified person, as that term is defined by National Instrument 43-101, on behalf of the Company and has approved the scientific and technical content contained in this press release.

The acquisition of the Kgwakgwe Hill high-grade manganese project, is an ideal asset that continues to expand the Company's high quality pipeline of manganese projects in Botswana and Zambia. In addition, this acquisition continues to advance Giyani's strategy of acquiring raw materials for the growing battery industry.

Additional information and corporate documents may be found on www.sedar.com and on the Giyani website: www.giyanigold.com. Associated maps to this release may be found on the Company's website www.giyanigold.com/projects.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release.

On behalf of the Board of Directors of Giyani Gold Corporation.

Duane Parnham, Executive Chairman

Forward-Looking Statements

This news release may contain forward-looking statements including but not limited to comments regarding the timing and content of upcoming work programs, geological interpretations, receipt of property titles, potential mineral recovery processes, etc. Forward-looking statements address future events and conditions and therefore, involve inherent risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially from those currently anticipated in such statements.

Contacts:

Giyani Gold Corporation

Scott Breard

Director

1.289.837.0066

sbreard@giyanigold.com

www.giyanigold.com




STUTTGART, Germany, March 27, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --

Medtec Europe will once again provide over 7,000 attendees and more than 600 exhibitors from 70 countries the opportunity to share, learn, and discover opportunities and solutions that will advance the medical technology industry. Taking place 4 - 6 April 2017 at the Messe Stuttgart, Stuttgart, Germany, Medtec Europe is the preeminent medical technology platform showcasing the key trends and insights across the entire supply chain of the medical technology industry.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20130723/629764-a )



(Logo: http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/482718/Medtec_Logo.jpg )



With a comprehensive agenda that captures the challenges and opportunities in the medical technology industry, and presentations from renowned industry experts, Medtec Europe 2017 will showcase ideas and innovations within:

Digitisation and eHealth: Seminars exploring the evolution of connected devices from wearable technologies to inter-connected healthcare systems will showcase how digital is now among the industry's business drivers.

Medtec Meets Pharma: Pharmaceutical companies are increasingly looking to medical device manufacturers to provide added value to products in their portfolios. Key presentations will illustrate how these new partnerships are advancing and bringing success.

Innovation in Miniaturisation: Insights into the evolution of device miniaturisation will be shared, examining the drive in innovation while embedding safety, performance, and reliability.

Regulatory: With significant developments in multiple countries this past year, there are a number of questions facing the industry. Expert insights will provide an essential overview and understanding of best practice in compliance within this changing landscape.

In addition, there will be three first time features taking place at Medtec Europe 2017. On 5 April the first Medical Device Manufacturing Conference will take place, organised in partnership with the Fraunhofer IPA. This conference is specifically targeted at decision makers from R&D, medical engineers and product developers. Furthermore, the VDMA (Verband Deutscher Maschinen- und Anlagenbau, Mechanical Engineering Industry Association) will be holding the first VDMA Forum, a platform where exhibitors will promote their innovations in the form of short presentations. For the first time Medtec Meetings - powered by gomed2med, a new free online business match and meet service for visitors and exhibitors that makesautomatic matches based on your business needs will be available. Medtec Europe will also once again be hosting the Start-up Academy, a unique networking programme that provides exhibitors an exclusive platform to share their ideas and learn more about opportunities for partnering and collaborating, forging new relationships that will help them develop their businesses for years to come.

"Medtec has a strategic focus on driving innovation and opportunity for the medical technology industry, with our events creating a compelling, interactive environment in which ideas can be shared, explored, and enhanced." said Anne Schumacher, Brand Director, UBM. "Now in its 16th year, Medtec Europe 2017 will be an unmissable opportunity for exhibitors and visitors to gain hands on experience of the latest products and innovations, hear the latest trends and new directions the industry is heading in, and discover opportunities to build their networks and drive their business forward."

For more information, and to register for Medtec Europe 2017 and the Medical Device Manufacturing Conference, please visit: medteceurope.com/europe/

About Medtec Europe

Medtec Europe is the preeminent medical technology platform showcasing the key trends and insights across the entire supply chain of the medical technology industry. Medtec Europe brings together companies in the medical device supply chain in order to share ideas, meet partners, and discover, experience and source products & services from all stages of production in order to create the next generation of medical devices.

About Medtec

Through exhibitions, conferences and online communities, Medtec brings together more than 50,000 medical professionals each year to network, identify business opportunities and expand the global market. Medtec hosts events in Europe, Japan, China and USA. Medtec also provides an online buyer & supplier directory at qmed.com.

For more information visit: medteceurope.com

About UBM EMEA

UBM EMEA connects people and creates opportunities for companies across five continents to develop new business, meet customers, launch new products, promote their brands, and expand their market. Through premier brands such as Medtec, CPhI, TFM&A, Internet World, IFSEC, MD&M, Cruise Shipping Miami, the Concrete Show, and many others, UBM EMEA exhibitions, conferences, awards programs, publications, Websites, and training and certification programs are an integral part of the marketing plans of companies across more than 20 industry sectors.

The UBM plc. annual schedule of medical events includes:

Medtec Europe (04-06 April, 2017)

Medtec Japan (19 - 21 April 2017)

BIOMED Boston (03 - 04 May 2017)

Medtec China (20-22 September 2017)

Medtec Ireland (04 - 05 October 2017)

MD&M West (06 - 08 February 2018)

UBM EMEA is committed to the continual improvement of sustainability

To ensure long term profitability, UBM EMEA aims to be a leader in sustainable business, aligning all key business decisions with our sustainability strategy. UBM EMEA sees it as fundamental that we are conscious of the impact that our actions have on the environment and the communities in which we operate. UBM EMEA strives to manage its impact by ensuring that the principles of sustainability are at the core of all our activities. A corner stone to our journey towards sustainability is our certification to the ISO 20121 Sustainable Event Management System. UBM EMEA is one of the first major organisers to successfully implement and certify our sustainable event management system against the International Standard ISO 20121.
DUBLIN, Mar 01, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --

Research and Markets has announced the addition of the "Nano-Enabled Batteries - Global Strategic Business Report" report to their offering.

This report analyzes the Global market for Nano-Enabled Batteries in US$ Million by the following Segments: Large Format Modules, and Customized Batteries (Wireless Power Tools, & Laptops). Annual estimates and forecasts are provided for the period 2015 through 2022. Market data and analytics are derived from primary and secondary research.

The report profiles 21 companies including many key and niche players such as



3M Company

A123 Systems LLC

Altair Nanotechnologies Inc.

Evonik Industries AG

Front Edge Technology

mPhase Technologies, Inc.

Key Topics Covered:

1. Industry Overview



A Key Source of Portable' Energy

Battery Industry Embraces Nanotechnology

Nanotechnology Achieves Commercial Grade Implementation in Li -ion Batteries

Growing Demand for Lithium-Ion Batteries Augurs Well for the Market

Electric Vehicles

The Major End-Use Application Area for Nano-Enabled Batteries

Growing Demand for Electric Vehicles Augurs Well for the Nano-Enabled Batteries Market

Nano-enabled Batteries in Portable Power Tools

The Li-ion Drivers

Technology Innovations/Advancements Spearhead Market Growth

Carbon Nanotubes Find Increased Applications in Batteries

Innovative Battery Design with Improved Energy Storage and Robust Crust

Batteries Made of Gold Nanowires

Nano-Wire Battery with Lengthened Lifespan

Super Nanowire Batteries

Longer Lasting Nanowire-based Lithium-ion Batteries

Sound Powered Batteries

MIT Develops Nano Yolk Batteries

Nanopore Battery Technology

Nanobatteries with Tiny Nanopores

2. Product Overview



Occurrence of Nanomaterials

Types of Nanomaterials

Application of Nanotechnology in Select Sectors

Medicine

Heavy Industries

Consumer Goods

Agriculture

Energy Efficiency

What can Nanotechnology do to Improve Battery Quality?

Nano-enabled Batteries

Introduction

Conventional Batteries vs. Nano-enabled Batteries

Select Alliances in the US and Europe

National Alliance for Advanced Transportation Battery Cell Manufacture

National Alliance for Advanced Technology Batteries

Nanotechnologies in Lithium-ion Batteries Partnership

European Nanotechnology Trade Alliance

Overview of End-Use Applications

Nano-enabled Batteries in Portable Power Tools

Applications in Automotive Industry

Nanobatteries in Medical Devices

3. Recent Industry Activity



Nano-Nouvelle Inks Agreements with High Performance Battery Manufacturers

Kokam Conducts Ballistic Tests on Battery Cells Using Li-Ion NANO Battery Technology

3M Makes Investment in Nanoscale Components

OBP to Launch EnergyCell Nano-Carbon Batteries

A123 Systems Takes Over Leyden Energy's Battery Technology

4. Focus on Select Global Players

5. Global Market Perspective

Total Companies Profiled:

- The United States

- Canada Europe

- Germany

- The United Kingdom

- Rest of Europe

- Asia-Pacific (Excluding Japan)

For more information about this report visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/752b9f/nanoenabled

Media Contact:

Laura Wood, Senior Manager

press@researchandmarkets.com



For E.S.T Office Hours Call 1-917-300-0470

For U.S./CAN Toll Free Call 1-800-526-8630

For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900



U.S. Fax: 646-607-1907

Fax (outside U.S.): +353-1-481-1716






MINNEAPOLIS, MN -- (Marketwired) -- 10/13/16 -- LogicStream Health, Inc. (LogicStream) today announces Providence Health & Services has signed a long-term agreement for use of the LogicStream Platform. Organizations apply LogicStream's Clinical Process Measurement to guide clinical decisions and actions to deliver highly reliable healthcare to their patients. Clinical Process Measurement provides the ability to optimize clinical content, reduce unnecessary care variation and understand the impact of clinical processes on patient outcomes.

Once implemented, LogicStream spreads rapidly throughout health systems. Clinician stakeholders charged with driving quality improvement find great value in having self-service access to measure clinical process. Adoption of Clinical Process Measurement is most often driven by high level of executives who understand the value it brings to a diverse set of stakeholders.

Unlike products that simply facilitate the reporting of health or quality outcomes, LogicStream's Clinical Process Measurement solutions support strategic management and analysis of care delivery, something not offered by any other solution set. Through measurement of clinical processes within care delivery, the solutions are utilized to improve outcomes, patient and provider satisfaction and financial performance. LogicStream delivers specific solutions targeted at issues such as hospital acquired conditions, appropriate use of medications and tests, and regulatory compliance.

"Health systems across the country understand that sustained quality improvement requires a deep knowledge of how care is delivered. Beyond that, these systems recognize the need to tie care delivery to positive outcomes. In order to tie delivery to outcomes, visibility into all clinical quality processes across the enterprise is required," said Patrick Yoder, LogicStream co-founder and CEO. "Working with leading healthcare organizations like Providence, in addition to all our current clients, will continue to drive innovation. As adoption of Clinical Process Measurement expands, so does the opportunity to deliver highly reliable healthcare to patients throughout the United States."

About LogicStream Health

LogicStream Health optimizes clinical content, reduces unnecessary care variation and identifies the impact of clinical processes on patient outcomes through Clinical Process Measurement. The LogicStream Platform delivers results to health systems by providing the ability to monitor and measure the care delivery process in a robust manner. With a strong and experienced team focused on innovation, LogicStream provides a scalable and sustainable method to deliver highly reliable healthcare to any health system. For more information, visit Logic-Stream.net.

Contact:

Liz Goar

813 503 2297

liz@npccs.com




VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- (Marketwired) -- 10/13/16 -- Evolving Gold Corp. (CSE: EVG) (FRANKFURT: EV7) (OTC PINK: EVOGF) (the "Company") is pleased to announce it has completed the planning for an exploration program on its 100%-owned Toro Project that will assess the potential of the 24 kimberlite targets previously announced by the Company (see news release dated September 15th, 2016). The Toro field campaign, being conducted by two geologists and two technicians, began on October 12th, 2016. The Company is simultaneously completing Phase 2 of its field exploration activities on the Lithium Lakes Property, initially announced September 8th, 2016, which are being conducted by an additional two geologists and two technicians.

Toro Property Field Program

In this first phase of field exploration of the kimberlite targets, approximately half of the circular magnetic anomalies identified on the Toro Property have been selected for geological mapping, field prospecting, and till sampling for kimberlite indicator minerals ("KIM") glacially down-ice from the targets.

Two two-man geological assessment teams are being transported in the field by helicopters supplied by Canadian Helicopters. One team is conducting geological mapping directly on the selected phase one anomalies and is also inspecting down-ice for glacial erratics that could have derived from near-by kimberlite intrusions, work which may provide quick verification of the presence of kimberlite. This same team will then conduct a helicopter borne inspection of the other kimberlite targets that are not part of the detailed mapping and till sampling in phase one of the program.

The second team is performing a till sampling survey down-ice from the circular magnetic anomalies selected for phase one assessment work. Till sampling will occur along 3 survey lines, covering the area between the anomaly and 1.5 kilometres down-ice, across the width of the anomaly. The crew is expected to collect between 20 and 25 till samples per anomaly. The coarse till samples will be screened with a 20 mesh sieve, and 10 kilograms of the finer material will be tagged, bagged and sealed on site. The samples will be transported back to the camp by helicopter and shipped to southern Quebec by truck. The samples will then be shipped to C. F. Mineral Research Ltd. (Kelowna, BC), to determine the presence of KIM by means of heavy mineral concentration, optical picking, mounting of grains for microscopic analysis, and the determination of their micro-chemistry using electron microprobe analysis ("EMPA"). The assessment process is estimated to take a minimum of 2 months.

Glacial till sampling for KIM is an effective technique for identifying potentially diamondiferous kimberlites for three reasons: 1) KIM form under the same high-temperature and high-pressure conditions in the upper mantle which favour the formation and stabilization of diamonds; 2) KIM are resistant to weathering and other erosive events at the Earth's surface; and, 3) KIM are much more commonly found in kimberlite intrusives than are the target diamonds themselves. The KIM suite of minerals include: Hurzburgitic Cr-pyrope garnets, Eclogitic pyrope-almondine garnets, Cr-diopside, Cr-spinel, chromite, magnesian ilmenite, and magnesian olivine (McCLenaghan, 2007; Nowicki, 2007). All of the KIM have densities above 3 grams per cubic centimetre, and can be concentrated from till samples by means of dense media separation. The dispersal pattern, concentration (number count per sample), and micro-chemistry (by EMPA) of the KIM in till samples can greatly assist in determining the probability that a specific target might be a diamondiferous kimberlite.

Evolving Gold's Chief Executive Officer, Mr. R. Bruce Duncan stated, "Management is very excited to so quickly be able to start work on the field assessment of the anomalies defined by an airborne survey. The Company intends to first determine whether the magnetic anomalies are of interest for diamond exploration, but the potential for other types of mineralization in these same targets has not yet been ruled out at this stage of exploration."

Lithium Lakes Property Field Program

A team of two geologists and two technicians has begun Phase 2 fieldwork at Lithium Lakes, performing geological mapping and prospecting in the area that was previously defined by the Company as having the most potential for lithium mineralization (see news release dated September 8th, 2016). This area surrounds Targets T5, T1 and T8, where minerals found during the first reconnaissance survey indicate the possible presence of fertile granites that may be associated with lithium mineralized pegmatite. Special attention will be given to the mineralogy in order to determine the presence of mineral indicators for fertile granite or lithium pegmatite. Boulder-field prospecting will also be done down-ice from the individual targets. This phase of exploration will also include field prospecting on Targets T3, T4, T9 and T12, which were not part of the earlier field work program. The Company has not yet received assay reports from samples collected during previous field work at Lithium Lakes.

About C.F. Mineral Research Ltd.

C. F. Mineral Research was founded by Charles "Chuck" Fipke, in 1977, to provide heavy mineral assessment services to companies exploring for diamonds, gold, platinum, and base metals. Shortly after its founding, Mr. Fipke and C. F. Mineral Research began searching for diamondiferous kimberlite pipes, using the newly developed understanding of KIM developed by John Gurney. In 1991, Fipke and his partners discovered what would later be developed as the Ekati Mine, and initiated what would become one of the largest staking rushes in Canadian history.

The company employs a proprietary KIM assessment method, based on a massive archival database of sample data. Using custom software, the company compares the KIM grains' shapes and chemical compositions, analyzes them against one thousand minerals that are intergrown with diamond, and compares them against ten fields of mineral groupings. If seven to ten of these analyses overlap, there is a high probability that the kimberlite is diamondiferous.

References

McClenaghan, M. B., & Kjarsgaard, B. A. (2007). Indicator mineral and surficial geochemical exploration methods for kimberlite in glaciated terrain, examples from Canada. In: Mineral Resources of Canada: A Synthesis of Major Deposit-types, District Metallogeny, the Evolution of Geological Provinces and Exploration Methods. Geological Association of Canada, Special Publication, (5), pp 983-1006.

Nowicki, T.E., Moore, R.O., Gurney, J.J., and Baumgartner, M.C., 2007. Chapter 46: Diamonds and Associated Heavy Minerals in Kimberlite: A Review of Key Concepts and Applications. In: Developments in Sedimentology, Volume 58, pp 1235-1267.

Qualified Person

Jean-Philippe Paiement, P. Geo, M.Sc., is an independent Qualified Person ("QP") as defined by National Instrument 43-101 guidelines, and has reviewed and approved the geological information provided in this news release.

About Evolving Gold

Evolving Gold is exploring the 72.5 square kilometre (total area) Lithium Lakes property in Quebec, located about 10 km north of the Route du Nord and between eight and 30 km from Nemaska Lithium's Whabouchi Project. The Company's exploration goal is to discover economic quantities of lithium mineralization, hosted in pegmatite.

Evolving Gold is also exploring the 88.3 square kilometre (total area) Toro Project, in the vicinity of the Lithium Lakes property. The Company's exploration goal is to assess numerous circular magnetic targets for their diamond potential, as well as for other minerals of economic interest.

On Behalf of the Board of Directors

EVOLVING GOLD CORP.

R. Bruce Duncan, President, CEO & Director

Neither Canadian Securities Exchange nor its Market Regulator (as that term is defined in the policies of the Canadian Securities Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS: This news release contains forward-looking statements, which relate to future events or future performance and reflect management's current expectations and assumptions. Such forward-looking statements reflect management's current beliefs and are based on assumptions made by and information currently available to the Company. Investors are cautioned that these forward looking statements are neither promises nor guarantees, and are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause future results to differ materially from those expected. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date hereof and, except as required under applicable securities legislation, the Company does not assume any obligation to update or revise them to reflect new events or circumstances. All of the forward-looking statements made in this press release are qualified by these cautionary statements and by those made in our filings with SEDAR in Canada (available at www.sedar.com).

Contacts:

Investor Relations:

604.685.6375

TF: 866.604.3864




PHOENIX, AZ -- (Marketwired) -- 10/13/16 -- Continuing its annual "Adopt-a-Charity" tradition, Phoenix orthodontist Chris Murphy, DDS and his team at Murphy Orthodontics is once again helping to contribute to a local charity and bring awareness to a rare, yet devastating health condition. Dr. Murphy has chosen the Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease Foundation as this year's charity, and he is providing ways to donate to the cause at his offices. In fact, the orthodontics practice recently participated in the national 2016 Strides for CJD, a walk-a-thon that saw individuals from all over the region descend upon Scottsdale to help raise funds for support and research into Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease.

CJD is an invariably fatal brain disorder, and some types of the condition have been connected to the human form of mad cow disease. While rare, it has been estimated that CJD affects approximately one individual in every one million people around the world each year. Among the four major types of CJD (sporadic, hereditary, acquired, and variant), sporadic appears to be the most common type. This form of CJD manifests among those who have no known risk factors for the condition. The second most common type is hereditary (familial) CJD. In the United States, there could be as many as 250 to 300 new cases of CJD each year, and since the condition is often difficult to diagnose, there may be more than that. CJD can cause rapid physical and mental health deterioration, including symptoms such as blindness, behavioral changes, lack of coordination, memory loss, involuntary movements, coma, and others. Estimates suggest that about 90 percent of individuals suffering from CJD die within a year.

Dr. Murphy says that one of his patients at Murphy Orthodontics has been directly impacted by CJD, with her father and other members of her family having been afflicted with the condition. He notes that, like the Epilepsy Foundation of Arizona last year, the practice typically has a personal connection to the conditions represented by charities it selects, with patients, staff members, or their loved ones affected in some way. In addition to its participation in the Strides for CJD walk-a-thon, Murphy Orthodontics is supplying information about the condition at its offices and encouraging patients to donate when possible. The practice is also accepting donations in the form of "Murphy Money," gold and silver tokens awarded to children and adolescents for taking good care of their braces, arriving at appointments on time, and other achievements. Dr. Murphy will be making a monetary donation to the CJD Foundation for each "Murphy Money" allotment that is collected. The practice also holds contests from time to time, and will be making a donation for each patient entry.

By choosing the CJD Foundation as the practice's "Adopt-a-Charity" for this year, Dr. Murphy says that he and his team are able to shine a light on this terrible disease and help the foundation in its efforts.

About Chris Murphy, DDS

The head of Murphy Orthodontics in the Phoenix, Scottsdale, and Goodyear area, Dr. Chris Murphy is a Diplomate of the American Board of Orthodontics and a member of the American Association of Orthodontists. He also holds membership in the American Dental Association, the Pacific Coast Society of Orthodontists, and the Arizona Orthodontic Study Group. Dr. Murphy is a Recognized Specialist at the Kois Center and has been recognized as a Top Orthodontist in Phoenix Magazine. Murphy Orthodontics offers a full array of treatments for both adults and children, including a wide range of braces options as well as Invisalign, the HARMONY System lingual braces, and many other advanced techniques designed to correct mild to severe orthodontic concerns. Dr. Murphy is available for interview upon request.

For more information about Dr. Murphy and his practice, please visit murphyorthodontics.com and facebook.com/MurphyOrthodontics.

To view the original source of this press release, click here:

https://www.murphyorthodontics.com/practice-news/phoenix-and-scottsdale-area-orthodontics-practice-helping-bring-awareness-to-creutzfeldt-jakob-disease

Image Available: http://www2.marketwire.com/mw/frame_mw?attachid=3065649



Murphy Orthodontics

Phoenix/Scottsdale Office

5355 East High Street

Suite 105

Phoenix, AZ 85054

(602) 482-0022



Goodyear Office

13210 W. Van Buren Street

Suite 106

Goodyear, AZ 85338

(623) 932-9212



Rosemont Media

(858) 200-0044

www.rosemontmedia.com




DUBLIN, October 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

Research and Markets has announced the addition of the "Global Transcriptomics Market 2016-2020" report to their offering.

The global transcriptomics market to grow at a CAGR of 14.10% during the period 2016-2020.



Transcriptomics involves the collection and analysis of transcriptomes of different types of cells or tissues present in an organism. The transcriptome characterizes the set of all RNA molecules, which is a part of the genetic code. The difference in genetic expression symbolizes the wide-ranging biochemical and physical differences present among various cells and tissues that may cause genetic disorders.



The report covers the present scenario and the growth prospects of the global transcriptomics market for 2016-2020. To calculate the market size, the report considers the revenue generated from the sales of the transcriptomics consumables, and transcriptomics instruments. The report also includes a discussion of the key vendors operating in this market.

Globally, there has been an increase in strategic sinitiatives among vendors in the transcriptomics market, which has significantly impacted demand in different regions. Strategic initiatives are primarily to leverage on each other's USP and that could be a strong customer base, technology, strong financial capability, or R&D capabilities to increase market share and strongly establish presence in the transcriptomics market.



For instance, in February 2014, Thermo Fisher (based in the US) acquired Life Technologies for $13.6 billion, which includes business divisions such as sera and media, chromatography instruments, purification consumables, and DNA sequencing. The combination of these two companies will provide access to advance technologies for genomics and proteomics, to accelerate life sciences research.



Key questions answered in this report



What will the market size be in 2020 and what will the growth rate be?

What are the key market trends?

What is driving this market?

What are the challenges to market growth?

Who are the key vendors in this market space?

What are the market opportunities and threats faced by the key vendors?

What are the strengths and weaknesses of the key vendors?

Key vendors



Agilent Technologies

Illumina

Roche Diagnostics

Thermo Fisher Scientific

Other prominent vendors



Beckman Coulter

Becton

Dickinson and Company

Biological Industries

bioMerieux

Bio-Rad Laboratories

Cepheid

Clontech Laboratories

Cytognomix

Edico Genome

Eppendorf

Fluidigm

GE Healthcare

Harvard Bioscience

Kapa Biosystems

Leica Biosystems

Maxim Biotech

Molecular Devices

Oxford Gene Technology

PerkinElmer

Promega

Qiagen

RainDance Technologies

Siemens Healthcare

Sigma-Aldrich

Key Topics Covered:



Part 01: Executive summary



Part 02: Scope of the report



Part 03: Market research methodology



Part 04: Introduction



Part 05: Market landscape



Part 06: Market segmentation by product type



Part 07: Market segmentation by technology



Part 08: Market segmentation by PCR technology



Part 09: Geographical segmentation



Part 10: Market drivers



Part 11: Impact of drivers



Part 12: Market challenges



Part 13: Impact of drivers and challenges



Part 14: Market trends



Part 15: Vendor landscape



PART 16: Key Vendor Analysis



For more information about this report visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/grn2kf/global

Media Contact:

Research and Markets

Laura Wood, Senior Manager

press@researchandmarkets.com



For E.S.T Office Hours Call +1-917-300-0470

For U.S./CAN Toll Free Call +1-800-526-8630

For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900



U.S. Fax: 646-607-1907

Fax (outside U.S.): +353-1-481-1716
ROCHESTER, New York, Oct. 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --BlackBox Biometrics, Inc., the world leader in systems that measure unseen concussive forces, presents their newest innovation atFuture Forces 2016 Hall 4, Booth # 408 in Prague, Czech Republic.

The Wireless Blast Gauge System is the world's only system that directly addresses the growing concern over repetitive blast overpressure exposure. It documents long-term trends of exposure to help identify warfighters at risk of traumatic brain injury (TBI)and long-term neurological disorders.

Recent scientific studies have linked repetitive overpressure exposure to structural changes in the brain, increased risk of PTSD, acceleration of age-associated neurological disorders, and concussion symptoms. These studies highlight the need for individualized blast exposure surveillance programs that advance warfighter performance while preserving long-term health.https://blastgauge.com/tbi/

In both training and operations, the Wireless Blast Gauge System provides immediate, objective documentation of exposures over time to guide triage, inform adjustments to tactics and training, and aid in treatment.

Blast exposure surveillance programs, similar to those implemented for radiation safety, allow medics and leaders to trace emergent symptoms to past blast exposure, while enabling longitudinal surveillance. These important actions ultimately minimize risk of TBI and progressive neurodegenerative diseases. Documenting exposure history can also guide the application of future protective and restorative therapies for the warfighter.

These programs can now be run efficiently thanks to significant upgrades to the previous generation of the Blast Gauge System platform. This new technology features secure, optional wireless connectivity for instant data download to iOS devices or smart devices running Android', enabling faster, proactive decisions that could reduce the risk of TBI. The system also features an extended battery life designed to last a full deployment in the world's harshest environments.

Since its introduction in 2011, the Blast Gauge System has pioneered blast measurement enabling advanced research into the mechanisms of blast-related brain injury and safe exposure levels. The Blast Gauge System has been fielded by all branches of the United States Military, more than 10 different international militaries, and multiple Special Forces units.

About BlackBox Biometrics, Inc.

BlackBox Biometrics, Inc. is the world leader in innovative systems that measure unseen concussive forces. The use of their systems revealed a latent threat whose significance emerged from parallel scientific studies, uncovering the dangers of repetitive exposure. Dedicated to positive change, impact, and above all, force preservation, BlackBox Biometrics is a group of like-minded individuals with the collective goal of improving lives through the creation of innovative technology.
DUBLIN, October 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

Research and Markets has announced the addition of the "Global Advanced Composites Market 2016-2020" report to their offering.

The global advanced composites market to grow at a CAGR of 7.13% during the period 2016-2020.



Global Advanced Composites Market 2016-2020, has been prepared based on an in-depth market analysis with inputs from industry experts. The report covers the market landscape and its growth prospects over the coming years. The report also presents the vendor landscape and a corresponding detailed profiles of the five prominent vendors operating in the market.



High penetration rate for automotive applications will be a key trend for market growth. The automotive industry is a major end-user of advanced composites. The demand for fuel-efficient vehicles is driven by volatile fuel prices. Automobile manufacturers are progressively discovering solutions that can help in reducing the curb weight of automobiles to enhance fuel efficiency. The use of advanced composites in automobiles is expected to reduce curb weight by 40%-50% and increase fuel efficiency by 30%-35%.



According to the report, increase in demand for carbon fiber-reinforced composites will be a key driver for market growth. Growing preference for carbon fibers has also been observed among manufacturers of wind turbines because of properties such as enhanced stiffness and light weight. The demand for larger turbines with enhanced electricity capture capacity has led to an increase in the production of longer turbine blades. The demand for carbon fibers for such applications will be strong.



Key questions answered in this report



What will the market size be in 2020 and what will the growth rate be?

What are the key market trends?

What is driving this market?

What are the challenges to market growth?

Who are the key vendors in this market space?

What are the market opportunities and threats faced by the key vendors?

What are the strengths and weaknesses of the key vendors?

Key vendors



Hexcel

Cytec Solvay

SGL

Tencate

Teijin

Other prominent vendors



3B

DuPont

GKN

Gurit

Kemrock Industries and Exports

Mitsubishi Rayon

Toray

TPI Composites

Key Topics Covered:



Part 01: Executive summary



Part 02: Scope of the report



Part 03: Market research methodology



Part 04: Introduction



Part 05: Market landscape



Part 06: Market segmentation by application



Part 07: Market segmentation by fiber



Part 08: Market segmentation by geography



Part 09: Market drivers



Part 10: Impact of drivers



Part 11: Market challenges



Part 12: Impact of drivers and challenges



Part 13: Market trends



Part 14: Vendor landscape



Part 15: Key vendor analysis



Part 16: Appendix



For more information about this report visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/cr4fwd/global_advanced

Media Contact:

Research and Markets

Laura Wood, Senior Manager

press@researchandmarkets.com



For E.S.T Office Hours Call +1-917-300-0470

For U.S./CAN Toll Free Call +1-800-526-8630

For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900



U.S. Fax: 646-607-1907

Fax (outside U.S.): +353-1-481-1716
WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Addressing an election rally in Pueblo Wednesday, Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton pledged to be a president for all, not just some. Emphasizing the stakes in this election for the community in Pueblo, one of the largest steel-producing cities in America, she rebuked Trump's claim that he would be a president for the working class. 'We've slowly but surely uncovered how little he's done to help anybody except Donald Trump,'she said, referring to the recent revelation that Trump buys cheap Chinese steel rather than supporting American steelworkers. Hillary Clinton discussed her plans to support children and families. As a part of her plan for a fair tax code, Clinton promised to cut taxes for middle class families, putting forth her plan to double the Child Tax Credit for families with young children, a policy that will increase economic mobility particularly for the Latino community. Stressing the importance of this election, and the importance of voting by mail, she urged the crowd to 'get out and vote for the kind of positive future we want for ourselves and our children.' 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.
SASKATOON, SASKATCHEWAN -- (Marketwired) -- 10/13/16 -- International Road Dynamics Inc. (TSX: IRD), one of the world's leading providers of systems and solutions for the global Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) market, today announced solid financial results for the three and nine months ended August 31, 2016.

NINE MONTHS FISCAL 2016 HIGHLIGHTS:

-- Revenues up 16.0% to $48.4 million on growth in key North American markets -- Solid increase in gross margin to 32.5% -- EBITDA rises 18.8% to $3.8 million -- Net earnings increase 27.5% to $2.2 million or $0.15 per common share -- Solid financial position with working capital of $13.3 million -- Innovative new VectorSense product line launched -- Outlook for continued growth with strong confirmed order backlog and near-term business opportunities

"Our strong operating performance continued in the third quarter, underpinned by a significant increase in gross margin and further growth in our solid base of recurring service and maintenance revenues," commented Terry Bergan, President and CEO. "Looking ahead, we continue to believe fiscal 2016 will be another year of record revenues and net earnings as we continue to leverage our strong presence in the growing global ITS market."

"With our improved profitability and cash flow, we increased our focus on development projects to enhance our current product lines and introduce new solutions to our customers," Mr. Bergan continued. "A key new innovative product is our recently launched VectorSense Tire Sensor Suite and the related Vehicle Information-In-Motion (VI2M) Traffic Data Collection system. We are confident these advanced, leading-edge ITS solutions will meet the needs of our customers for the enhanced data necessary for improved tolling, increased road safety and more informed decisions on infrastructure spending."

VectorSense and VI2M were developed to meet the needs of highway and roadway authorities to provide previously unavailable traffic and vehicle data. This includes tire width and axle configuration including identification of single, dual and new super-single tires being used on large trucks, enhanced vehicle and truck identification, bicycle lane traffic, vehicle lane position and safety information such as under-inflated tires. This data is collected while vehicles travel at highway speed. More information on VectorSense and VI(2)M can be found at http://www.irdinc.com/pcategory/axle-sensors--accessories/vectorsense-sensor-suite.html.

SOLID OPERATING PERFORMANCE

For the three and nine months ended August 31, 2016, consolidated revenue increased 0.9% and 16.0%, respectively, compared to the same prior year periods, reflecting the Company's continued ability to complete an increasing number of contracted projects and service contracts and improve year to date product sales. Changes in the value of the U.S. dollar compared to the prior year increased consolidated revenues by approximately $2.6 million for the first nine months of fiscal 2016.

Revenue in the Company's Canada and United States segment for the three and nine months ended August 31, 2016 increased 5.7% and 24.8%, respectively, compared to the same prior year periods primarily due to an increase in contracted project and service revenues. The Company believes revenues in this segment will increase for the full fiscal 2016 year compared to the prior year based on current backlog levels and identified near-term business opportunities.

Latin America and Mexico segment revenue declined for the three and nine months ended August 31, 2016 compared to the same respective prior-year periods due primarily to delays in scheduled delivery requirements on current projects. Gross margin as a percentage of revenue for the three and nine months ended August 31, 2016 increased significantly to 61.9% and 42.6% due primarily to a high margin product sale realized in the third quarter. Management believes revenues for the full fiscal 2016 year in this segment will increase to fiscal 2015 levels due to the completion of existing projects and potential identified near-term contract opportunities.

The decline in India segment revenue reflects the Company's decision to reduce the level of business activity in this region. The Company remains committed to only accepting new business in this market with acceptable profitability and payment terms.

Gross margin for the three and nine months ended August 31, 2016 increased by 30.0% and 24.7%, respectively, compared to the same respective prior-year periods due primarily to the higher sales volumes. As a percentage of revenue, gross margin for the three and nine months ended August 31, 2016 increased to 35.4% and 32.5%, respectively, from 27.5% and 30.2% in the same periods last year, primarily due to an improved product mix and increased margins on specific project activities.

Administrative and marketing expenses for the first nine months of fiscal 2016 are largely consistent with the prior year. R&D costs increased as the Company continues to allocate resources to accelerate near term business opportunities and to advance the development and introduction of new products to its markets such as VectorSense and VI2M.

Earnings before interest, income taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA), including gains or losses from foreign exchange and derivatives and earnings or losses from the Company's equity accounted investment were $2.2 million in the third quarter of fiscal 2016, consistent with the prior year's third quarter, For the nine months ended August 31, 2016 EBITDA rose to $3.8 million from $3.2 million in fiscal 2015.

The Company recorded foreign exchange losses in the third quarter and first nine months of fiscal 2016 reflecting the year to date decline in the value of the U.S. dollar relative to the Canadian dollar and Chilean peso, which resulted in a reduction in the carrying value of U.S. dollar net assets. In addition, the Company recorded a loss on outstanding U.S. dollar forward sales contracts and a decrease in accrued embedded derivative gains related to the realization of U.S. revenues on open contracts within its Chilean and Mexican subsidiaries. The Company partially reduces its exposure to U.S. currency volatility by maintaining a portion of its bank indebtedness in U.S. funds and by hedging a portion of its future U.S. dollar cash flows.

The Company owns a 50% joint venture interest in Xuzhou-PAT Control Technologies Limited (XPCT), an ITS products and manufacturing service provider in China, and reported equity earnings of $189,858 for the first nine months of fiscal 2016 compared to $473,198 in the prior year-to-date. Fiscal 2015 year-to-date earnings at XPCT included a $167,577 after-tax gain on the sale of land and a building.

Net earnings in the third quarter of fiscal 2016 were $1.4 million or $0.10 per common share compared to $1.5 million or $0.10 per common share in the prior year. For the first nine months of fiscal 2016 net earnings increased 27.5% to $2.2 million or $0.15 per common share compared to $1.8 million or $0.12 per common share in the prior year.

The Company generated cash from operations of $2.4 million through the nine months ended August 31, 2016 compared to a use of funds of $1.3 million in the prior year. Working capital increased to $13.3 million compared to $11.3 million at November 30, 2015.

Financial Highlights (financial statements are available on the Company's web site at www.irdinc.com)

---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Three Months Ended Nine Months Ended August 31, August 31, August 31, August 31, 2016 2015 2016 2015 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- (in $000's except per share amounts) $ $ $ Revenue 18,256 18,086 48,439 41,746 Gross margin 6,462 4,970 15,752 12,628 Gross margin percentage of revenue (%) 35.4% 27.5% 32.5% 30.2% Net earnings 1,410 1,458 2,235 1,752 Earnings per common share, basic 0.10 0.10 0.15 0.12 Earnings per common share, diluted 0.09 0.10 0.15 0.12 EBITDA 2,176 2,188 3,808 3,206 Working capital 13,278 10,548 Common shares outstanding 14,765 14,276 Shareholders' equity per share 1.68 1.53 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------------------------

This news release contains forward-looking statements about the Company, including its business operations, strategy and expected financial performance and conditions. Forward-looking statements include statements that are predictive in nature, depend upon or refer to future events or conditions, or contain words such as "expects", "anticipates", "plans", "believes", "estimates", "intends", "forecasts", or negative versions thereof and other similar expressions, or future or conditional future financial performance, on-going business strategies or prospects, and possible future action by the Company. Forward looking statements are based on current expectations and projections about future events and are inherently subject to, among other things, risks, uncertainties and assumptions about the Company, the general economic environment and ITS industry, business conditions in all geographic areas where the Company carries on business, interest and foreign exchange rates, changes in accounting policies and methods used to report financial condition, including uncertainties associated with critical accounting assumptions and estimates, the effect of applying future accounting changes, business competition, technological changes, changes in government regulation and legislation, changes in tax laws, unexpected judicial or regulatory proceedings, catastrophic events, and the Company's success in managing the foregoing risks. Readers are cautioned, to consider these and other factors carefully and not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Forward-looking information contained in this news release is based on management's current estimates, expectations and projections, which management believes are reasonable as of October 12, 2016. However, actual future operating results and economic performance could differ materially from what is currently expected. While the Company may elect to, it is under no obligation and does not undertake to update any forward-looking statements at any particular time, unless required by applicable securities law. Additional information on the Company, including our most recently filed Annual Information Form can be found on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.

As used herein, "EBITDA" means earnings before interest, income taxes, depreciation and amortization, and includes gains or losses from foreign exchange and derivatives and earnings or losses from the Company's equity investments. EBITDA is not a recognized measure under International Financial Reporting Standards ("IFRS"). Management believes that EBITDA is a useful supplemental measure to net earnings, as it provides investors with an indication of operating performance prior to debt service, capital expenditures and income taxes. Investors should be cautioned, however, that EBITDA should not be construed as an alternative to net earnings determined in accordance with IFRS as an indicator of the Company's performance or to cash flows from operating, investing and financing activities as a measure of liquidity and cash flows. The Company's method of calculating EBITDA may differ from the methods by which other companies calculate EBITDA and, accordingly, EBITDA may not be comparable to measures used by other companies.

Additionally, as used herein, 'Shareholders' equity per share' means total shareholders' equity divided by the number of shares outstanding as at the reporting date. Shareholders' equity per share is not a recognized measure under IFRS however, management believes it is an important metric that shareholders use as an indicator of the Company's value relative to its stock price. The Company's method of calculating Shareholders' equity per share may differ from methods used by other companies and, accordingly, it may not be comparable to measures used by other companies.

IRD is a highway traffic management technology company specializing in supplying products and systems to the global Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) industry. IRD is a North American company based in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan Canada with sales and service offices throughout the United States and overseas. Private corporations, transportation agencies and highway authorities around the world use IRD's products and advanced systems to manage and protect their highway infrastructures.

The Company's shares trade on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol IRD.

Contacts:

International Road Dynamics Inc.

Terry Bergan

President & CEO

(306) 653-6600



International Road Dynamics Inc.

Francine Senecal-Lepage

Investor Relations

(306) 653-6603

(306) 653-1454 (FAX)

Email: irdir@irdinc.com

Website: www.irdinc.com




The EOS equipment and EOSapps solution will be demonstrated to the numerous radiologists from Europe and Africa attending the Journees Francophones de Radiologie meeting in Paris, France

Regulatory News:

EOS imaging (Euronext, FR0011191766 EOSI) (Paris:EOSI), the pioneer in 2D/3D orthopedic medical imaging, announced today the recent entry into the North African market with the opening of two EOS sites in Tunisia. The systems are operated by the public Institut Mohamed Kassab d'Orthopedie and the private Centre d'Imagerie Medicale Ariana in the Tunis metropolitan area. The Institut Mohamed Kassab d'Orthopedie is a center of excellence in Tunisia for orthopedic surgery, treating adults and children with advanced techniques. The Centre d'Imagerie Medicale Ariana, founded in 1992, has a comprehensive radiological suite, including numerous modalities and a staff of 30, of which 4 are radiologists.

EOS imaging will also be attending the Journees Francophones de Radiologie (JFR) meeting, to be held October 14-17 in Paris, France. JFR is the second largest gathering of radiologists in Europe and attracts over 17,000 attendees from 80 different countries, including numerous physicians from Africa. During the JFR meeting, EOS imaging will share with radiologists its solutions to increase the role of image-based reports and data in the orthopedic care pathways. This includes, next to the Company's biplanar low dose equipment: easy access to 3D models and patient-specific data sets through the new EOS 3D services suite; tools for seamless exchange between radiologists and referring orthopedic surgeons; and on line 3D surgical planning solutions (EOSapps) for the spine, hip and knee. Demonstrations of the products will be available at the Company's booth #113.

Marie Meynadier, CEO of EOS imaging, said, "It's always exciting when an up-and-coming market adopts the EOS technology. With the opening of these two new sites in Tunisia, providers in North Africa will now have access to reference centers to learn about EOS as they are looking to equip their imaging departments with state of the art, safe and precise imaging. The JFR meeting is also a great forum for sharing with radiologists from Europe and Africa our newest developments and contribute to the strengthening of their relationships with referring surgeons."

For more information, please visit www.eos-imaging.com.

EOS imaging has been chosen to be included in the new EnterNext PEA-PME 150 index, composed of 150 French companies and listed on Euronext and Alternext markets in Paris.

EOS imaging is listed on Compartment C of Euronext Paris

ISIN: FR0011191766 Ticker: EOSI

About EOS imaging

EOS imaging designs, develops, and markets EOS, an innovative medical imaging system dedicated to osteoarticular pathologies and orthopedics, as well as associated solutions. The Company is authorized to market in 51 countries, including the United States, Japan, China, and the European Union. The Group posted 2015 revenues of 21.8 million and employs 122 people. The Group is based in Paris and has five subsidiaries in Besancon (France), Cambridge (Massachusetts), Montreal (Canada), Frankfurt (Germany) and Singapore.

Next press release: 2016 Third-quarter sales: Thursday October 27, 2016 (after market close)

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20161013006141/en/

Contacts:

EOS imaging

Anne Renevot

CFO

Ph: +33 (0)1 55 25 61 24

investors@eos-imaging.com

or

NewCap

Financial communication and investor relations

Valentine Brouchot, Ph: +33 (0)1 44 71 94 96

eosimaging@newcap.eu

or

The Ruth Group (US)

Press relations

Joanna Zimmerman, Ph: 646-536-7006

jzimmerman@theruthgroup.com
Washington D.C.--(Newsfile Corp. - October 13, 2016) - The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that a hedge fund advisory firm and a senior research analyst have agreed to settle charges related to their failures to detect insider trading by one of their employees.

The SEC's order finds that San Francisco-based Artis Capital Management failed to maintain adequate policies and procedures to prevent insider trading at the firm. Artis Capital and specifically the employee's supervisor Michael W. Harden failed to respond appropriately to red flags that should have alerted them to the misconduct. The employee, Matthew G. Teeple, was later charged along with his source David Riley as part of the SEC's broader investigation into expert networks and the trading activities of hedge funds. Teeple and Riley also were charged by criminal authorities and have since received prison sentences.

Artis Capital agreed to settle the SEC's charges by disgorging the illicit trading profits that Teeple generated for the firm totaling $5,165,862, plus interest of $1,129,222 and a penalty of $2,582,931. Harden agreed to pay a $130,000 penalty and is suspended from the securities industry for 12 months.

"Hedge fund advisory firms and supervisors must take all reasonable measures necessary to prevent insider trading, yet Artis Capital and Harden failed to take any action at all in response to Teeple's highly profitable and suspiciously-timed trading recommendations," said Sanjay Wadhwa, Senior Associate Director of the SEC's New York Regional Office.

Joseph G. Sansone, Co-Chief of the SEC Enforcement Division's Market Abuse Unit, added, "By disgorging the illicit profits that Artis Capital obtained through Teeple's misconduct, this settlement ensures that the firm and Harden will not be rewarded for their negligence."

Artis Capital and Harden consented to the SEC's order without admitting or denying the findings.

The SEC's investigation was conducted by Mark Germann and Charles Riely of the Market Abuse Unit and Janna Berke and Christopher Ferrante of the New York office. The case has been supervised by Mr. Wadhwa and Mr. Sansone. The SEC appreciates the assistance of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York, Federal Bureau of Investigation, and Financial Industry Regulatory Authority.
Join RWS inovia and Managing IP Magazine for a complimentary webinar as industry leaders discuss Brexit and the implications for the Unitary Patent, the Unitary Patent Court and other patent related issues.

The Unitary Patent was established with the intent of providing a single European patent covering 26 nations. With the recent vote for Brexit, there is uncertainty as to when and how the Unitary Patent will come into force. If it does, it may not include the United Kingdom, one of the largest economies in Europe. Join RWS inovia and Managing IP as industry thought leaders discuss patent implications and broader financial repercussions for the global economy.

Who

Reinhard Ottway CEO of RWS Group

Gary Smith former Director of the PCT at WIPO

Justin Simpson Founder of inovia

James Nurton Managing IP

What: Join us for a complimentary webinar, "Brexit: The Impact on Your International Patent Filing Strategy"

Where: Sign up here for the online presentation.

When: October 18 at 10am EST

Please sign up here and get in contact with your nearest RWS inovia office with any questions.

About RWS inovia

RWS inovia is the global leader in IP translation, foreign patent filing and search services. For more than 70 years combined, we have led the industry and helped more than 10,000 clients protect their intellectual property and enforce their IP rights around the world. As the number one patent translation specialists, we translate over 70,000 patents and IP-related documents each year. Our patented technology on our global instruction platform, inovia.com, simplifies the PCT national stage entry, direct (Paris Convention) filing and European validation processes with agents covering more than 130 countries. Our top quality patent and design searches leverage PatBase a professional patent database developed in partnership with Minesoft Ltd. Please follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook for industry updates.

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20161013006175/en/

Contacts:

RWS inovia

Elizabeth Curtin, 646-237-3864

Marketing Manager

marketingteam@inovia.com
CALGARY, ALBERTA -- (Marketwired) -- 10/13/16 -- Founders Advantage Capital Corp. (TSX VENTURE: FCF) (the "Corporation") owns a 60% interest in Dominion Lending Centres ("DLC"). With the recent changes to the mortgage rules by the Federal Government, we have asked DLC to comment on the new rules and the anticipated effect on DLC. DLC is not a lender and does not itself offer mortgages but does offer mortgage brokerage services, whereby it assists consumers in obtaining and negotiating new mortgages and mortgage renewals.

"The new mortgage rules announced by the Federal Government on October 3, 2016 caught the entire industry by surprise and we continue to assess the potential impacts of these changes", said Gary Mauris, President of Dominion Lending Centres. "Our current view is that the new rules will make it more difficult and more costly for many Canadians to obtain a mortgage. In turn, this should result in more Canadians using a mortgage broker as we have access to hundreds of lenders who can provide the right mortgage product at the best rate."

DLC published a three-page guide to the new rules entitled, "Change of Space: The New Mortgage Rules". This guide serves to educate clients on the policy revisions and most of all, how DLC can assist in navigating these ongoing changes. A copy of this guide can be found on the Corporation's website.

"In short, we do not believe the new rules will have a significant long-term effect on DLC's revenue", Mr. Mauris continued. "Historically, DLC has proven to maintain its revenue in tougher economic times and has used such periods to add franchisees and mortgage brokers. For example, with the recent economic challenges in Alberta, we compared the revenue for all active franchisees in Alberta through the current recession and concluded revenues for such franchisees was flat, notwithstanding a significant decline in total home sales. We will continue to assess the impact of the new mortgage rules but do not believe this will materially impact our business. Further, after speaking with senior officials in the Federal Government, we anticipate they may still amend many of the new rules in response to industry and consumer feedback."

The Corporation is pleased to announce that DLC has been approved for an additional $4.0 million revolving credit facility to fund the onboarding or acquisition of additional mortgage brokerage firms and mortgage brokers. In more challenging economic times, DLC has historically been able to onboard additional brokers as individuals are more inclined to join a larger more established organization. DLC has onboarded more mortgage brokers in the current year than it has in any other comparable period of its history. The increased credit facility bears interest at a rate equal to the Bank of Canada prime rate plus 1.5%. The additional credit facility will allow DLC to fund its acquisitions without negatively impacting its cash flow.

About Founders Advantage Capital Corp.

The Corporation is listed on the TSX Venture Exchange as an Investment Issuer (Tier 1) and employs a permanent investment approach. The Corporation has developed an investment approach to create long-term value for its shareholders and partner entrepreneurs (investees) by pursuing majority interest acquisitions of cash flow positive middle-market privately held entities. The Corporation seeks to win mandates by appealing to the segment of the market which is not aligned with traditional private equity control, royalty monetizations or related structures. The Corporation's innovative platform offers disproportionate incentives (contractually) for growth in favour of our partner entrepreneurs. This unique platform is designed to appeal to entrepreneurs who believe in the growth of their businesses and who want the added ability to continue to manage the business with a long-term partner.

The Corporation's common shares are listed on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol "FCF".

For further information please refer to the Corporation's website at www.advantagecapital.ca.

NEITHER THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE NOR ITS REGULATION SERVICES PROVIDER (AS THAT TERM IS DEFINED IN THE POLICIES OF THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE) ACCEPTS RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THIS RELEASE.

Caution concerning forward-looking information

This news release or documents referred to herein contain "forward-looking information" and "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of applicable securities laws, including statements regarding the potential impact of the new mortgage rules on DLC's operations, the increased use of mortgage brokers in more difficult economic times, the anticipated amendments to the new mortgage rules and the ability of DLC to acquire additional mortgage brokers. These information and statements address future activities, events, plans, developments and projections. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, constitute forward-looking statements or forward-looking information. Such forward-looking information and statements are frequently identified by words such as "may", "will", "should", "anticipate", "plan", "expect", "believe", "estimate", "intend" and similar terms, and reflect assumptions, estimates, opinions and analysis made by management in light of its experience, current conditions, expectations of future developments and other factors which it believes to be reasonable and relevant. Forward-looking information and statements involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results, performance and achievements to differ materially from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking information and statements and, accordingly, undue reliance should not be placed thereon. Risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to vary include, the new mortgage rules adversely impacting DLC's operations in ways not yet contemplated, increased competition for mortgage brokers by large firms, as well as other risks and uncertainties which are more fully described in our Annual Information Form and in other filings made by us with Canadian securities regulatory authorities and available at www.sedar.com. The Corporation disclaims any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information or statements except as may be required by applicable law.

Contacts:

Stephen Reid

Chief Executive Officer

403-540-5411

sreid@advantagecapital.ca



Darren Prins

Chief Financial Officer

403-455-2274

dprins@advantagecapital.ca



James Bell

General Counsel

403-455-2218

jbell@advantagecapital.ca




October 13, 2016 (TSX: LUN; OMX: LUMI) Lundin Mining Corporation ("Lundin Mining" or the "Company") announces that the report for the third quarter period ended September 30, 2016 will be published after the close of the trading day in Toronto on Wednesday, October 26, 2016.The Company will hold a telephone conference call and webcast at 08:00am ET, 14:00 CET on Thursday, October 27, 2016. Conference call details are provided below:Please call in 10 minutes before the conference starts and stay on the line (an operator will be available to assist you).Call-in number for the conference call (North America): +1 617 826 7698Call-in number for the conference call (North America Toll Free): +1 877 648 7976Call-in number for the conference call (Sweden): +46 (0) 8 5661 9361To view the live webcast presentation, please log on using this direct link:http://www.investorcalendar.com/IC/CEPage.asp?ID=175383The presentation slideshow will also be available in PDF format for download from the Lundin Mining website http://www.lundinmining.com before the conference call.A replay of the telephone conference will be available after the completion of the conference call until November 3, 2016.Replay numbers:North America: +1 404 537 3406The passcode for the replay is: 98737631A replay of the webcast will be available by clicking on the direct link above.About Lundin MiningLundin Mining is a diversified Canadian base metals mining company with operations in Chile, the USA, Portugal, and Sweden, primarily producing copper, nickel and zinc. In addition, Lundin Mining holds an indirect 24% equity stake in the world-class Tenke Fungurume copper/cobalt mine in the Democratic Republic of Congo and in the Freeport Cobalt Oy business, which includes a cobalt refinery located in Kokkola, Finland.On Behalf of the Board,Paul ConibearPresident and CEOThe information in this release is subject to the disclosure requirements of Lundin Mining under the EU Market Abuse Regulation and the Swedish Securities Market Act. This information was publicly communicated on October 13, 2016 at 12:00 p.m. Eastern Time.For further information, please contact:Mark Turner Director, Business Valuations and Investor Relations +1-416-342-5565Sonia Tercas Senior Associate, Investor Relations +1-416-342-5583Robert Eriksson Investor Relations Sweden +46 8 545 015 50Attachment:https://cns.omxgroup.com/cds/DisclosureAttachmentServlet?messageAttachmentId=589602
THUNDER BAY, ONTARIO -- (Marketwired) -- 10/13/16 -- Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada

The Government of Canada values the role of post-secondary institutions as they help equip young Canadians with the education and training they need for future careers that will help them join a strong, healthy middle class. Today's $20.76-million investment in Confederation College and Oshki-Pimache-O-Win Education and Training Institute will do just that by fostering the training needed for the well-paying middle-class jobs of today and tomorrow.

The funding was announced today by the Honourable Navdeep Bains, Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development, and by the Honourable Michael Gravelle, Ontario's Minister of Northern Development and Mines, and the Honourable Bill Mauro, Ontario's Minister of Municipal Affairs.

The Government of Canada's Innovation Agenda aims to make this country a global centre for innovation-one that creates jobs, drives growth across all industries and improves the lives of all Canadians. This investment exemplifies that vision in action.

Confederation College will receive $18 million for the construction of its new Technology Education and Collaboration Hub. The "TEC Hub" will include new workshop and lab space and will bring the college's apprenticeship, trades and technology programs together in one building. The Government of Canada and the Province of Ontario are each contributing $9 million. Confederation College and other partners will provide an additional $1.96 million.

Oshki-Pimache-O-Win Education and Training Institute will receive $2.7 million in federal funding for its Pathways to Prosperous Future project. This project will enable the Institute, through its Trades Training Mobile Lab, to provide specialized training for First Nations people in 49 communities across the Nishnawbe Aski Nation. The funding will also be used to upgrade the trades labs at Dennis Franklin Cromarty High School, which will help provide more training opportunities for First Nations youth.

In total, universities and colleges throughout Ontario will receive more than $1.9 billion from the Government of Canada, the provincial government, the institutions themselves and private donors. Federal funding will be allocated through the Post-Secondary Institutions Strategic Investment Fund, which will enhance and modernize research facilities on Canadian campuses and improve the environmental sustainability of these facilities.

As a result of these investments, students, professors and researchers will work in state-of-the-art facilities that advance the country's best research. They will collaborate in specially designed spaces that support lifelong learning and skills training. They will work in close proximity with partners to turn discoveries into products or services. In the process, they will train for-and invent-the high-value jobs of the future. And their discoveries will plant the seeds for the next generation of innovators.

That is how the Strategic Investment Fund will jump-start a virtuous circle of innovation, creating the right conditions for long-term growth that will yield benefits for generations to come.

Ontario is making the largest investment in public infrastructure in the province's history-about $160 billion over 12 years-which is supporting 110,000 jobs every year across the province with projects such as hospitals, schools, roads, bridges and transit. Since 2015, the Province has announced support for more than 475 projects that will keep people and goods moving, connect communities and improve quality of life. To learn more about infrastructure projects in your community, go to Ontario.ca/BuildON.

Quotes

"This once-in-a-generation investment by the Government of Canada is a historic down payment on the government's vision to position Canada as a global centre for innovation. That means making Canada a world leader in turning ideas into solutions, science into technologies, skills into middle-class jobs and start-up companies into global successes. This investment will create conditions that are conducive to innovation and long-term growth, which will in turn keep the Canadian economy globally competitive."

- The Honourable Navdeep Bains, Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development

"Confederation College is undertaking exceptional and innovative work in Thunder Bay and across Northern Ontario. This investment will assist the college in modernizing its campus so that its students are able to thrive, learn and grow in state-of-the-art facilities."

- The Honourable Patty Hajdu, Minister of Status of Women

"These investments demonstrate our government's commitment to innovative technology-based learning in Northern Ontario. By investing in education and students, we are investing in the future. I look forward to seeing the success that these projects will bring to our region."

- Don Rusnak, Member of Parliament for Thunder Bay-Rainy River

"Our government is proud to provide further support to Confederation College's new Technology Education and Collaboration Hub with an additional $2 million through the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund Corporation. The province's investment will allow students here in the North to attain the skills and training required to build the highly skilled workforce needed to support good jobs and grow the northern economy."

- The Honourable Michael Gravelle, Ontario's Minister of Northern Development and Mines, Chair of the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund Corporation

"Our government is proud to support this important project, which will give Confederation College students access to renewed and upgraded facilities that provide space for a Technology Education and Collaboration Hub. The project will benefit students, alumni and the manufacturing, technology and resource sectors by providing them access to workshop clusters and collaborative spaces for e-learning. We know that providing access to high-quality education and training facilities is critical to building the highly skilled workforce we need to support good jobs and economic growth for today and tomorrow, and this investment will help us to do it."

- The Honourable Bill Mauro, Ontario's Minister of Municipal Affairs

"We extend our deepest gratitude to the federal and provincial governments for their support of our Technology, Education and Collaboration Hub through the Strategic Investment Fund. The TEC Hub will contribute to the development of a skilled, employment-ready technology and trades workforce for northwestern Ontario. Through the TEC Hub, Confederation College will be poised to play an integral role in the future of the manufacturing, technology and resource sectors for our region. The Hub will create opportunities for manufacturing and technology program expansion, provide improved access to post-secondary education through pathways for skilled trades programming, and encourage innovation and collaboration among community partners."

- Jim Madder, President, Confederation College

"We are excited by the huge potential a mobile trades trailer lab transportable by truck will have for specialized and trades training for Indigenous learners living in communities of the Nishnawbe Aski Nation. This will allow us to deliver plumbing, mechanical and electrical training to Indigenous learners, which will enable them to meet the needs of communities that normally have to rely on fly-in tradespeople at huge expense. This will position Indigenous peoples for well-paying jobs."

- Rosie S. Mosquito, Executive Director, Oshki-Pimache-O-Win Education and Training Institute

Quick facts

-- The Government of Canada and the Government of Ontario are providing more than $950 million for research infrastructure at institutions across Ontario. -- The Government of Canada's recently launched Innovation Agenda is designed to ensure Canada is globally competitive in promoting research, translating ideas into new products and services, accelerating business growth and propelling entrepreneurs from the start-up phase to international success. -- The targeted, short-term investments under the Post-Secondary Institutions Strategic Investment Fund will promote economic activity across Canada and help Canada's universities and colleges develop highly skilled workers, act as engines of discovery, and collaborate on innovations that help Canadian companies compete and grow internationally. -- The Post-Secondary Institutions Strategic Investment Fund supports the Government of Canada's climate change objectives by encouraging sustainable and green infrastructure projects.

Associated links

- Post-Secondary Institutions Strategic Investment Fund website

- Post-Secondary Institutions Strategic Investment Fund backgrounder

- Innovation Agenda backgrounder

- BuildON

Follow Minister Bains on social media.

Twitter: @MinisterISED

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



Allison Buchan-Terrell

Press Secretary

Office of the Minister of Advanced Education and

Skills Development

416-314-5475



Tanya Blazina

Communications Branch

Ministry of Advanced Education and Skills Development

416-325-2746

Tanya.Blazina@ontario.ca




MISSISSAUGA, ONTARIO -- (Marketwired) -- 11/08/16 -- John McKimm announces that he has acquired ownership and control over 2,891,050 Common Shares ("Common Shares") of Smart Employee Benefits Inc. ("SEB"), representing approximately 2.6% of SEB's currently issued and outstanding Common Shares. The shares were acquired for $0.20 per share pursuant to a private placement transaction for investment purposes.

The shares were acquired by John McKimm as to 325,000 Common Shares and by Madison Partners Corporation ("Madison"), a corporation controlled by John McKimm, as to 2,566,050 Common Shares. Following the acquisition, John McKimm holds 9,356,383 Common Shares and Madison holds 7,144,518 Common Shares. The total of 16,500,901 Common Shares represents approximately 15.0% of the Common Shares of SEB currently issued and outstanding.

Subject to compliance with applicable securities laws, Mr. McKimm, through Madison or otherwise, reserves the right to purchase additional securities of SEB or to dispose of any securities of SEB that it may own, from time to time.

Source and Information: John McKimm c/o 5500 Explorer Drive, 4th Floor Mississauga, Ontario L4W 5C7

This news release is issued pursuant to National Instrument 62-103: The Early Warning System and Related Take-over Bid and Insider Reporting Issues. A copy of the Early Warning Report will appear with SEB's documents on the SEDAR website at www.sedar.com. A copy of the Early Warning Report may also be obtained by contacting John McKimm, SEB's Chief Executive Officer at 416-460-2817.

Contacts:

Smart Employee Benefits Inc.

John McKimm

Chief Executive Officer

416-460-2817




RIMOUSKI, QUEBEC -- (Marketwired) -- 10/13/16 -- Puma Exploration (TSX VENTURE: PUM)(SSE: PUMA) is pleased to announce that it has executed an asset purchase agreement with Votorantim Metals Canada Inc. and signed a letter of intent with El Nino Ventures (ELN-V) to acquire, respectively, approximatively 67.9% and 32.1% beneficial interest in the Murray Brook Zn-Pb-Cu-Ag Volcanogenic Massive Sulphide ("VMS") deposit located in the famous Bathurst Mining Camp ("BMC") of northern New Brunswick. The Murray Brook property consists of Mining Lease 252 and contiguous Mineral Claim Block 4925 (245 claims) located 4 km west of the producing Caribou Mine, which is owned and operated by Trevali Mining Corporation. Both of the aforementioned transactions are expected to close on or about November 15th, 2016.

HIGHLIGHTS:

- The Murray Brook deposit contains historical resources of 1 billion pounds (lbs) of zinc, 183 million lbs of copper, 390 million lbs of lead, 23.9 million ounces ("oz") silver and 338,000 oz. of gold within historical Measured and indicated Resources of 17,884,000 tons @ 2.73% Zn, 0.47% Cu, 0.99% Pb, 41.7 grams per ton ("g/t Ag") and 0.59 g/T Au. The historical resource estimates were prepared for Votorantim Metals Canada Inc in accordance with NI43-101. in 2012 from 132 holes and use terminology compliant with current reporting standards. Puma has not made any attempt to re-classify the estimates according to current standards of disclosure and is not treating the estimate as current mineral resources or mineral reserves. Investors are cautioned that "historical resources" are considered conceptual in nature and there is no guarantee that historic "potential resources" will be able to be converted into current NI43-101 resource categories or demonstrate economic viability. A qualified person has no done sufficient work to classify the historical estimate as current mineral resources.

- Preliminary metallurgical tests indicated recoveries of up to 88% zinc.

- Gravity and soil geochemical targets exist along strike from the Murray Brook deposit and there are high priority drill-ready targets in favorable stratigraphy and along strike from the nearby Caribou Mine within Mineral Claim Block 4925.

Marcel Robillard, president of Puma, said "I am very pleased that we have been able to reach agreement with Votorantim Metals Canada Inc. and El Nino Ventures Inc. to acquire 100% of the Murray Brook deposit and look forward to completing the definite transactions by November 15th, 2016. The next step will be to update the historical Resources Estimate done in 2012 and the PEA released in 2013 to show the actual metal prices. This acquisition is another step to become a leader in Zinc Exploration in New Brunswick and it is a substantial addition to our portfolio of base metals projects in New Brunswick, which include the Turgeon, Nicholas-Denys and the newly acquired Red Brook projects."

The Murray Brook VMS deposit is hosted within a sheath fold; enveloped by a halo of chlorite-sericite alteration. There are 2 distinct lenses to the deposit; a western lens, which is deeper and zinc-rich, and an eastern lens that is shallower and copper-rich with some zinc. The bottom of the deposit is approximately 350 meters below surface.

Table 2. Selected drill-hole intersections at Murray Brook Deposit

---------------------------------------------------------------------------- From To Interval Cu Pb Zn Au Ag Hole ID (m) (m) (m) % % % (g/t) (g/t) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- MB-2012-138 182.00 226.00 44.00 0.19 4.90 9.16 0.68 164 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- MB-2011-52 181.00 224.00 43.00 0.29 3.64 8.51 0.99 118 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- MB-2012-132 165.00 200.00 35.00 0.14 3.48 10.35 1.36 121 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- MB-2012-110 108.00 154.00 46.00 0.08 1.46 6.96 0.23 57 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- MB-2011-49 118.00 157.00 39.00 0.32 3.22 7.67 1.39 120 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- MB-2012-107 60.00 93.00 33.00 0.10 2.63 8.66 0.33 109 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- MB-2012-70 211.00 234.00 23.00 0.41 4.74 11.94 1.56 153 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- MB-2012-90 165.00 189.00 24.00 0.13 4.22 11.10 0.74 160 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- MB-10-16 44.00 71.00 27.00 0.47 3.39 9.56 0.12 122 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- MB-2011-39 190.00 210.00 20.00 0.18 3.82 10.90 1.34 115 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- MB-2011-30 55.00 78.00 23.00 0.14 3.03 8.93 0.46 131 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Murray Brook VMS deposit is hosted within sedimentary rocks of the Mount Brittain formation. Recent geological mapping has identified exposures of the same rocks to the east of the deposit (on Mineral Claim Block 4925), that have not been recognized in the past. Notably, several gravity anomalies defined by a recent ground survey as well as a number of lead-zinc in-soil anomalies are coincident with the mapped exposures of the Mount Brittain formation and provide excellent targets for diamond drilling in efforts to find additional mineralization. Of note, the Murray Brook VMS deposit shows up prominently as a strong gravity anomaly coincident with strong lead and zinc in-soil values. Additionally, large-loop electromagnetic surveys (Pulse EM) are warranted in the immediate locale of the deposit itself and along strike from it, to assist in finding satellite deposits to the known mineralization.

Terms of the transactions:

Puma will acquire Votorantim Metals Canada Inc.'s 67.9% beneficial interest and El Nino Ventures Inc.'s 32.1% beneficial interests in the Murray Brook property by concluding two (2) distinct transactions.

To acquire Votorantim Metals Canada interest (67.9%)

a. C$1.0 million upon closing (no later than November 15th, 2016)b. C$2.0 million payable 12 months from closingc. C$3.0 million upon the earliest of commercial production or September 30th, 2019,

plus a laddered NSR starting at 0.25% at a zinc price of US$1.04/lb and increasing, in increments of 0.25%, to a maximum of 1.75% above US$1.50/lb Zn in relation to 67.9% of the production from the Murray Brook Property, which includes the Mining Lease and the Camel Back claims, for actual Murray Brook deposit and any new discovery for their respective life of mine.

Additionally, Puma will assume and fund Votorantim Metals Canada Inc.'s liability for the C$2 million Environmental Bond Letter of Credit with the New Brunswick government and assume the C$3 million + 0.25% NSR or the 1% NSR, December 2017 option payment obligation to Murray Brook Minerals.

To acquire El Nino Ventures's interest (32.1%)

a. C$50,000 non-refundable deposit to be paid 10 days following the waiver of the ROFR from El Nino. This deposit becomes binding on receipt of the waiver of the ROFR from El Nino.b. C$0.6 million upon closing of this transaction (no later than Nov.15th, 2016)c. C$0.4 million payable six (6) months after the closing (no later than May.15th, 2017)d. C$1.0 million payable twelve (12) months from closing (no later than Nov.15th, 2017)e. C$1.0 million payable twelve (24) months from closing (no later than Nov.15th, 2018)

f. 2,000,000 warrants given the right to buy 2,000,000 Puma's ordinary shares expiring 3 year after the closing of the transaction based on the following exercise prices:

1) 0 to Year 1 (Nov 15, 2017): Equal to the price of the acquisition equity financing;2) Year 1 to Year 2 (Nov 15, 2018): a 20% premium to the price indicated in 1) above;3) Year 2 to Year 3: a 20% premium to the price indicated in 2) above,

plus a laddered NSR starting at 0.25% at a zinc price of US$1.04/lb and increasing, in increments of 0.25%, to a maximum of 1.75% above US$1.50/lb Zn in relation to 32% of the production from the Murray Brook Property, which includes the Mining Lease and the Camel Back claims, for actual Murray Brook deposit and any new discovery for their respectively LOM.

Votorantim Metals Canada Inc. will retain title to the project as security until the assumption of the environmental liability has been completed and Votorantim Metals Canada Inc.'s liability is released by the Government of New Brunswick.

About BMC

The BMC is a well-established mining district hosting numerous mines with infrastructures mines and deposits including the Brunswick No. 12 deposit, having produced zinc, lead, silver and gold for well over 60 years. In addition to Brunswick No. 12, there are more than 30 other massive sulphide deposits and numerous prospects in the BMC, attesting to its vast world-class endowment and mineral potential.

About Puma Exploration

Puma Exploration is a Canadian mineral exploration company with advanced precious and base metals projects in Canada. The Company's major assets are the Turgeon Zinc-Copper Project and the Nicholas-Denys Project in New Brunswick and their equity interest in BWR as related to the Little Stull Lake Gold Project in Manitoba. Puma is focusing its exploration efforts in New Brunswick. Canada.

To view the maps associated with this press release, please visit the following links:

Puma Exploration Acquisition: http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/490_Acquisition.pdf

Geophysical Targets on Murray Brook Claims: http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/490_GphTargets.pdf

You can visit us on Facebook and Twitter.

Learn more by clicking here: www.pumaexploration.com

The contents of this press release were prepared by Dominique Gagne. PGeo. a Qualified Person as defined in NI 43-101. Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Forward-Looking Statements: This press release may contain forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements involve a number of known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of Puma Exploration Inc. to be materially different from actual future results and achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements which speak only as of the date the statements were made, except as required by law. Puma Exploration undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties are described in the quarterly and annual reports and in the documents submitted to the securities administration.

Contacts:

Marcel Robillard. President

(418) 724-0901

Toll free: (800) 321-8564

president@explorationpuma.com

www.pumaexploration.com




LONDON, 2016-10-13 20:01 CEST (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Northrop Grumman Corporation's (NYSE:NOC) U.K.-based subsidiary, Park Air Systems, will supply air traffic control (ATC) communication systems equipment in a nationwide upgrade across South Africa.The contract will utilise the Park Air T6 Radio, with more than 550 VHF units deployed to 50 sites. Other system elements will include Park Air's remote control and monitoring system (RCMS), multi-access remote control (MARC) server, integrated cabinets, cavity filters and controllers.The installation sites will include South Africa's major airports, O.R. Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg and Cape Town International Airport. Combined, more than 27 million passengers fly through these two airports each year.The ATC communications equipment will replace legacy Park Air systems installed in 1997."I am extremely proud we were selected to deliver such an important upgrade to our own radio systems deployed across South Africa. This successful long-term relationship Northrop Grumman has built with our customer is a testament not only to the outstanding quality of our products but also to the trust in our customer support services," said Danny Milligan, managing director, Northrop Grumman Park Air Systems. "Twenty years is a long time to sustain top-tier performance. We are delighted the customer has the confidence we can do the same for the next 20 years."Northrop Grumman was awarded the contract by prime contractor and in-country partner AME Air Traffic Management (Pty) Ltd. The end customer is Air Traffic and Navigation Services, which provides air traffic, navigation, training and associated services within South Africa and a large part of the Southern Indian and Atlantic Oceans, comprising approximately 10 percent of the world's airspace.Northrop Grumman Park Air Systems supplies communication systems for airspace operations worldwide and this year celebrates the 50th anniversary of its founding.Northrop Grumman is a leading global security company providing innovative systems, products and solutions in autonomous systems, cyber, C4ISR, strike, and logistics and modernization to customers worldwide. Please visit www.northropgrumman.com for more information.Contact: Ken Beedle +44 207 747 1910 +44 7787 174092 Ken.beedle@euro.ngc.com

Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.
DUBLIN, October 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

Research and Markets has announced the addition of the "Global Welding Safety Market 2016-2020" report to their offering.

The global welding safety market is forecast to grow at a CAGR of 4.98% during the period 2016-2020.

According to the report, positive outlook of global construction sector will be a key driver for market growth. The global welding equipment market is expected to be impacted significantly by the positive outlook of the overall construction industry. Welding equipment is used extensively in the construction industry, especially for welding structural steel.

Structural steel is considered an important raw material for this industry. Innovations in steel applications call for developments in welding technology. Reliability, durability, and safety of the steel structures are important in construction activities, which is ensured by proper welding of the structural steel.

Further, the report states that labor shortage in steel industry will be a challenge for the market. The Chinese steel industry, which is the world's largest steel industry, has been significantly affected by the economic slowdown faced by the country in 2015. In 2014, the total consumption of steel in China was 711 million metric tons, which decreased to almost 685 million metric tons in 2015, a decline of 3.6%. The consumption of steel in China will remain low in 2016 as well, with the anticipation of a further 2% decline in the total consumption figures.

Questions Answered:

What will the market size be in 2020 and what will the growth rate be?

What are the key market trends?

What is driving this market?

What are the challenges to market growth?

Who are the key vendors in this market space?

What are the market opportunities and threats faced by the key vendors?

What are the strengths and weaknesses of the key vendors?

Companies Mentioned:

3M

Honeywell

Lincoln Electric

Bolle

Dragerwerk

Grolls

Infield Safety

Intech Safety

Kimberly-Clark

Miller Electric Company

MSA Safety

RPB Safety

RSG Safety

Scott Safety

Tusker

Report Structure:

PART 01: Executive summary

PART 02: Scope of the report

PART 03: Market research methodology

PART 04: Introduction

PART 05: Market landscape

PART 06: Market segmentation by product

PART 07: Market segmentation by end user

PART 08: Geographical segmentation

PART 09: Market drivers

PART 10: Impact of drivers

PART 11: Market challenges

PART 12: Impact of drivers and challenges

PART 13: Market trends

PART 14: Vendor landscape

PART 15: Appendix

PART 16: About the Author

For more information about this report visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/2chfp5/global_welding

Media Contact:

Research and Markets

Laura Wood, Senior Manager

press@researchandmarkets.com

For E.S.T Office Hours Call +1-917-300-0470

For U.S./CAN Toll Free Call +1-800-526-8630

For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900

U.S. Fax: 646-607-1907

Fax (outside U.S.): +353-1-481-1716


WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Following the release of a recording of Donald Trump making lewd remarks about women, the results of a Suffolk University poll show Hillary Clinton has climbed into the lead in North Carolina.



Forty-five percent of likely North Carolina voters said they support Clinton, while 43 percent said they back Trump.



The two-point advantage for Clinton is within the poll's margin of error, but the results reflect a reversal from a poll conducted last month showing Trump with a 44 percent to 41 percent lead.



Libertarian Gary Johnson was the preferred choice of 5 percent of likely voters in the latest poll, and 5 percent of voters were undecided.



'The five point swing is due to an improvement among women supporting Hillary Clinton and a Trump decline among independents,' said David Paleologos, director of the Suffolk University Political Research Center.



He added, 'These two groups of voters have tipped more to Clinton recently, and she appears to have benefited from the fallout over Trump's lewd comments about women.'



The poll showed that Clinton's lead among women has jumped to 11 points from just 1 point, while Trump's advantage among independents has shrank to 7 points from 17 points.



Suffolk noted the shift comes in the aftermath of last Friday's release of an Access Hollywood video of Trump making demeaning comments about women.



Sixty-nine percent of likely voters said the video had not changed their opinion of Trump, but 14 percent said it did. An additional 14 percent had not seen the recording.



The Suffolk survey of 500 likely North Carolina voters was conducted October 10th through 12th and has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.4 percentage points.



(Photo: Gage Skidmore)



Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

Kostenloser Wertpapierhandel auf Smartbroker.de
CALGARY, ALBERTA -- (Marketwired) -- 10/13/16 -- Northview Apartment Real Estate Investment Trust (TSX: NVU.UN) will release its third quarter earnings on November 9, 2016, to be followed by a conference call on November 10, 2016, at 10:00 a.m. Mountain Time, 12:00 p.m. Eastern Time. Participating on the call will be Mr. Todd Cook (Chair), President and Chief Executive Officer, and Mr. Travis Beatty, Chief Financial Officer.

Investors and analysts are invited to participate in the call by calling 1-866-223-7781 or 416-340-2218. Following the conclusion of the call, an instant replay will be available by calling 905-694-9451 or 1-800-408-3053, passcode 7577992. The recording will also be available on our website on November 14, 2016.

About Northview

Northview is Canada's third largest publicly traded multi-family REIT with a portfolio of approximately 24,000 quality residential suites in more than 60 markets across eight provinces and two territories. Northview's portfolio spans markets characterized by expanding populations, growing economies, high occupancy levels, and rising rents, which provides Northview the means to deliver stable and growing profitability and cash distributions over time. The REIT currently trades on the TSX under the ticker symbol: NVU.UN. Additional information concerning Northview is available at www.sedar.com or www.northviewreit.com.

Contacts:

Mr. Todd Cook

President and Chief Executive Officer

(403) 531-0720



Mr. Travis Beatty

Chief Financial Officer

(403) 531-0720




VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- (Marketwired) -- 10/13/16 -- Scorpio Gold Corporation ("Scorpio Gold" or the "Company") (TSX VENTURE: SGN) announces its operating results for the third quarter ("Q3") of 2016 at its 70% owned Mineral Ridge project, located in Nevada.

Production at Mineral Ridge in Q3 2016 totalled 9,981 ounces of gold and 4,630 ounces of silver compared to 9,497 ounces of gold and 4,927 ounces of silver in Q3 of 2015. Gold and silver production for the first nine months of 2016 totalled 28,578 ounces of gold and 12,876 ounces of silver, representing decreases of 5.3% and 13.2%, respectively, over the same period in 2015.

Peter J. Hawley, CEO, comments, "The Company is pleased to report another solid quarter of production at Mineral Ridge with a 5.1% increase in total ounces of gold produced in Q3 2016 compared to the same period in 2015. The Company remains on target to meet its 2016 production guidance of 30-35,000 ounces of gold at a total cash cost of $900-$950 per ounce."

Key Operating Statistics

Three months ending Nine months ending September 30 September 30 -------------------------------------------------------- 2016 2015 Change 2016 2015 Change ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mining operations Mary LC pit Ore tonnes mined 119,574 83,577 43.1% 405,241 83,577 384.9% Waste tonnes mined 919,556 941,334 -2.3% 2,542,039 941,334 170.0% ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Total mined 1,039,130 1,024,911 1.4% 2,947,280 1,024,911 187.6% Strip Ratio 7.7 11.3 -31.9% 6.3 11.3 -44.2% Satellite pits Ore tonnes mined 48,029 127,546 -62.3% 190,774 241,665 -21.1% Waste tonnes mined 152,883 990,728 -84.6% 519,603 1,276,601 -59.3% ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Total mined 200,912 1,118,274 -82.0% 710,377 1,518,266 -53.2% Strip Ratio 3.2 7.8 -59.0% 2.7 5.3 -49.1% Mary pit Ore tonnes mined - 5,695 -100.0% - 202,002 -100.0% Waste tonnes mined - 10,311 -100.0% - 1,053,992 -100.0% ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Total mined - 16,006 -100.0% - 1,255,994 -100.0% Strip Ratio - 1.8 -100.0% - 5.2 -100.0% Total producing pits Ore tonnes mined 167,603 216,818 -22.7% 596,015 527,244 13.0% Waste tonnes mined 1,072,439 1,942,373 -44.8% 3,061,642 3,271,927 -6.4% ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Total mined 1,240,042 2,159,191 -42.6% 3,657,657 3,799,171 -3.7% Strip Ratio 6.4 9.0 -28.9% 5.1 6.2 -17.7% Pits under development Ore tonnes mined - - 0.0% - 92,146 -100.0% Waste tonnes mined (pre- stripping) 25,876 - 100.0% 149,230 1,995,432 -92.5% ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Total mined 25,876 - 100.0% 149,230 2,087,578 -92.9% Total mining operations Ore tonnes mined 167,603 216,818 -22.7% 596,015 619,390 -3.8% Waste tonnes mined 1,098,315 1,942,373 -43.5% 3,210,872 5,267,359 -39.0% ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Total mined 1,265,918 2,159,191 -41.4% 3,806,887 5,886,749 -35.3% Processing Tonnes processed 176,901 213,957 -17.3% 704,039 626,980 12.3% Gold head grade (g/t) 1.35 1.59 -15.1% 1.45 1.46 -0.7% Ounces produced Gold 9,981 9,497 5.1% 28,578 30,187 -5.3% Silver 4,630 4,927 -6.0% 12,876 14,837 -13.2% Crusher throughput (tonnes per day) 1,923 2,326 -17.3% 2,569 2,297 11.8% Recoverable(1) gold (ounces) placed on pad 5,215 7,327 -28.8% 22,249 19,755 12.6% ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- (1) A weighted average metallurgical recovery factor has been applied to the estimated contained ounces crushed and placed on the leach pad based on the pit from which the ore was mined.

About Scorpio Gold

Scorpio Gold holds a 70% interest in the producing Mineral Ridge gold mining operation located in Esmeralda County, Nevada with joint venture partner Elevon, LLC (30%). Mineral Ridge is a conventional open pit mining and heap leach operation. The Mineral Ridge property is host to multiple gold-bearing structures, veins and lenses at exploration, development and production stages. Scorpio Gold also holds a 100% interest in the advanced exploration-stage Goldwedge property in Manhattan, Nevada, with a fully permitted underground mine and 400 ton per day mill facility. The Goldwedge mill facility has been placed on a care and maintenance basis and can be restarted immediately when needed.

Scorpio Gold's CEO, Peter J. Hawley, PGeo, is a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101 and has reviewed and approved the content of this release.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD, SCORPIO GOLD CORPORATION

Peter J. Hawley, CEO

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

The Company relies on litigation protection for forward-looking statements. This news release contains forward-looking statements that are based on the Company's current expectations and estimates. Forward-looking statements are frequently characterized by words such as "plan", "expect", "project", "intend", "believe", "anticipate", "estimate", "suggest", "indicate" and other similar words or statements that certain events or conditions "may" or "will" occur, and include, without restriction, any statements regarding the Company achieving production forecasts for 2016, or planned future production schedules. Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from estimated or anticipated events or results implied or expressed in such forward-looking statements, including risks related to open pit mining and heap leach operations, unanticipated changes in the mineral content of materials being mined; unanticipated changes in recovery rates; changes in project parameters; failure of equipment or processes to operate as anticipated; the failure of contracted parties to perform; availability of skilled labour and the impact of labour disputes; delays in obtaining governmental approvals; changes in metals prices; the availability of cash flows or financing to meet the Company's ongoing financial obligations; unanticipated changes in key management personnel; changes in general economic conditions; other risks of the mining industry; and those risk factors outlined in the Company's Management Discussion and Analysis as filed on SEDAR. Any forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date on which it is made and, except as may be required by applicable securities laws, the Company disclaims any intent or obligation to update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or results or otherwise. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and accordingly undue reliance should not be put on such statements due to the inherent uncertainty thereof.

Contacts:

Scorpio Gold Corporation

Chris Zerga

President

819-825-7618

czerga@scorpiogold.com

www.scorpiogold.com



JNS Capital Corp.

Jag Sandhu

Investor Relations

778-218-9638

jagjns@outlook.com




Las Vegas, Nevada--(Newsfile Corp. - October 13, 2016) - Cell MedX Corp. (OTCQB: CMXC), ("Cell MedX" or the "Company") a development stage company focused on the commercialization of therapeutic devices for patients living with diseases such as diabetes, is pleased to announce that on October 12, 2016, the Company closed a non-brokered private placement offering (the "Offering") at a price of $0.15 per Unit, by issuing 9,094,605 Units for total gross proceeds of $1,364,191.

Each Unit sold under the Offering consisted of one common share of the Company and one share purchase warrant entitling the holder to purchase one additional common share for a period of five years after closing at an exercise price of $0.50 per share if exercised during the first year, $0.75 per share if exercised during the second year, $1.00 per share if exercised during the third year, $1.25 per share if exercised during the fourth year, and at $1.50 per share if exercised during the fifth year. As part of the Offering, the holders of the notes payable, which were due on demand, chose to convert a total of $1,006,691 owed to them into Units of the Company's common stock.

The Units were issued pursuant to the provisions of Regulation S of the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "Act") to the persons who are not residents of the United States and are otherwise not "U.S. Persons" as that term is defined in Rule 902(k) of Regulation S of the Act.

The Company will use the proceeds from the Offering to fund its current business operations and to continue the ongoing development of a second generation of its eBalance Pro Device, which the Company is planning to use in its current observational clinical trials.

The above does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any of Cell MedX's securities in the United States. The securities have not been registered under the U.S. Securities Act and may not be offered or sold within the United States or to U.S. persons unless an exemption from such registration is available.

About Cell MedX Corp. (OTCQB: CMXC)

Cell MedX Corp. is an early development stage company focused on the discovery, development and commercialization of therapeutic products for patients with diseases such as diabetes, by developing technologies to help manage both the illness and related complications. For more information about the Company and its technology please visit our website at: www.cellmedx.com, for the Company's weekly newsletter, please go to www.cellmedx.com/media/newsletters/

On behalf of the Board of Directors of Cell MedX Corp.

Frank McEnulty

Chief Executive Officer and President.

Forward Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are subject to risks, uncertainties and assumptions and are identified by words such as "expects", "intends","estimates", "projects", "anticipates", "believes", "could", and other similar words. All statements addressing product performance, events, or developments that the Company expects or anticipates will occur in the future are forward-looking statements. Because the statements are forward-looking, they should be evaluated in light of important risk factors and uncertainties, some of which are described in the Company's Quarterly, Annual and Current Reports filed with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC"). Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should any of the Company's underlying assumptions prove correct, actual results may vary materially from those currently anticipated. In addition, undue reliance should not be placed on Company's forward-looking statements. In particular, the Company's eBalance Technology is still in development. The Company does not currently have any commercially marketable products based on the eBalance Technology, and there is no assurance that the Company will be successful in its development efforts. Except as required by law, Cell MedX Corp. disclaims any obligation to update or publicly announce any revisions to any of the forward-looking statements contained in this press release. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. No stock exchange, securities commission or other regulatory body has reviewed nor accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Investors are advised to carefully review the reports and documents that Cell MedX Corp. files from time to time with the SEC, including its Annual, Quarterly and Current Reports.

SOURCE:

Cell MedX Corp.

For further information visit: www.cellmedx.com.

Or phone: 1-844-238-2692
MONTERREY, MEXICO -- (Marketwired) -- 10/13/16 -- Fomento Economico Mexicano, S.A.B. de C.V. ("FEMSA") (NYSE: FMX) (BMV: FEMSAUBD) (BMV: FEMSAUB) is pleased to invite you to participate in its Third Quarter 2016 Conference Call that will be held on:

Friday, October 28, 2016

10:00 AM Eastern Time

(09:00 AM Mexico City Time)

Eduardo Padilla, Chief Corporate Officer of FEMSA, will host the call and discuss FEMSA's Third Quarter 2016 financial results, followed by a question and answer session. The quarterly results will be released on October 28 before market opens.

To participate in the conference call please dial

Toll Free US: (877) 548 7901

International: (719) 325 4904

Conference ID: 8521777

The conference call will be webcast live through streaming audio. For details please visit www.femsa.com/investor

If you are unable to participate live, the conference call replay will be available on http://ir.femsa.com/results.cfm

FEMSA is a leading company that participates in the beverage industry through Coca-Cola FEMSA, the largest franchise bottler of Coca-Cola products in the world by volume; and in the beer industry, through its ownership of the second largest equity stake in Heineken, one of the world's leading brewers with operations in over 70 countries. In the retail industry it participates through FEMSA Comercio, comprising a Retail Division operating various small-format store chains including OXXO, a Fuel Division, operating the OXXO GAS chain of retail service stations, and a Health Division, which includes drugstores and related operations. Additionally, through its Strategic Businesses unit, it provides logistics, point-of-sale refrigeration solutions and plastics solutions to FEMSA's business units and third-party clients.

Media Contact:

(52) 55-5249-6843

Email Contact

www.femsa.com



Investor Contact:

(52) 81-8328-6167

Email Contact

www.femsa.com/investor




CALGARY, ALBERTA -- (Marketwired) -- 10/13/16 -- ATCO Ltd. (TSX: ACO.X) (TSX: ACO.Y)

The Board of Directors of ATCO Ltd. has declared the following quarterly dividends:

Shares TSX Stock Dividend Record Date Payment Date Symbol Per Share ($) (2016) (2016) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Class I Non-Voting ACO.X 0.2850 08-Dec 31-Dec Class II Voting ACO.Y 0.2850 08-Dec 31-Dec

These dividends are eligible dividends within the meaning of the Income Tax Act (Canada).

With nearly 8,000 employees and assets of approximately $19 billion, ATCO is a diversified global corporation delivering service excellence and innovative business solutions in Structures & Logistics (workforce housing, innovative modular facilities, construction, site support services, and logistics and operations management); Electricity (electricity generation, transmission, and distribution); Pipelines & Liquids (natural gas transmission, distribution and infrastructure development, energy storage, and industrial water solutions); and Retail Energy (electricity and natural gas retail sales). More information can be found at www.ATCO.com.

Forward-Looking Information:

Certain statements contained in this news release may constitute forward-looking information. Forward-looking information is often, but not always, identified by the use of words such as "anticipate", "plan", "estimate", "expect", "may", "will", "intend", "should", and similar expressions.

Forward-looking information involves known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results or events to differ materially from those anticipated in such forward-looking information.

The Company's actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in this forward-looking information as a result of regulatory decisions, competitive factors in the industries in which the Company operates, prevailing economic conditions, and other factors, many of which are beyond the control of the Company.

The Company believes that the expectations reflected in the forward-looking information are reasonable, but no assurance can be given that these expectations will prove to be correct and such forward-looking information should not be unduly relied upon.

Any forward-looking information contained in this news release represents the Company's expectations as of the date hereof, and is subject to change after such date. The Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by applicable securities legislation.

Contacts:

Media & Investor Inquiries:

B.R. (Brian) Bale

Senior Vice President & Chief Financial Officer

403-292-7502




CALGARY, ALBERTA -- (Marketwired) -- 10/13/16 -- Editors Note: There are three photos associated with this press release

KORITE, the world's largest producer of gem-grade ammolite, is expanding its operations and has broken ground on the world's largest ammolite mine. The opening of the additional land ensures that KORITE will create jobs for direct employment and contractors during Alberta's difficult job market. It also means that the company is at maximum production levels to meet demand for top-grade, conflict-free, colorful Ammolite.

"To keep pace with the growing popularity of the gemstone and our incredible sales growth, we are excited to announce our expansion plans are now in motion," says President Jay Maull. "Over the next year we plan to open an additional eight acres of ammolite rich land, re-affirming KORITE is operating the largest mine of its kind in the world."

The KORITE mine is currently the world's only operating source of legally mined ammolite. Its current annual production of approximately 6,000,000 carats is set to increase by 2,000,000 carats in 2017. Opened in 2003, the KORITE SM4 mine has produced more than 42 million carats in its history.

Proudly, the company's award winning reclamation record continues to set new environmental standards for the industry. KORITE works closely with provincial environmental officials to ensure that the land is restored to its natural state and is improved during the reclamation process. It will continue to set the standard in environmental and ethical mining practices.

In addition to mining ammolite, KORITE's design and production division sells fine jewelry around the world in more than 28 countries. KORITE has partnered with the Canadian Jewellers Association and Jewelers of America to increase awareness of Ammolite and aggressively expand its North American dealer network. Starting this October KORITE will be launching a full consumer sweepstakes campaign for the upcoming holiday season.

Key Facts About KORITE

KORITE's Ammolite

To date the only place in the world gem quality ammolite is found is in Alberta, Canada. KORITE owns and operates the world's largest commercial mine and is currently the only source of legally mined ammolite.

Global Player

KORITE has pioneered the ammolite industry for over 35 years and has continued to strengthen its position in the jewelry, gemstone and fossil industry.

ABOUT KORITE

KORITE is the direct source of the finest ammolite available. Since 1979, KORITE has been the largest, most trusted source of the colorful gemstone and it controls more than 90 per cent of the world's known ammolite resources. The KORITE mine is the only fully operational, commercial ammolite mine in the entire world. The company, its discovery team, craftspeople, designers and sales professionals stand by quality and professional confidence at every stage of its International operations.

KORITE brings out your true colors. Engage with @koriteammolite on our social media channels: Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

To view the photos associated with this press release, please visit the following links:

http://www.marketwire.com/library/20161013-KORITEMine800.jpg

http://www.marketwire.com/library/20161013-AmmoliteRough800.jpg

http://www.marketwire.com/library/20161013-KORITEColors800.jpg

Contacts:

Media Contact:

Stephanie Jo

Immedia PR

stephanie@immediapr.com

403-988-6886




BEIJING (dpa-AFX) - China will on Friday release September figures for consumer and producer prices, highlighting a modest day for Asia-Pacific economic activity. Consumer prices are expected to rise .6 percent on year after gaining 1.3 percent in August. Producer prices are called lower by an annual 0.3 percent after easing 0.8 percent in the previous month. Singapore will see preliminary Q3 numbers for gross domestic product and August data for retail sales. GDP was up 0.3 percent on quarter and 2.1 percent on year in Q2. Retail sales advanced 1.4 percent on month and 2.8 percent on year in July. Japan will provide September numbers for money stock and producer prices. The M2 money stock is expected to rise 3.4 percent on year, up from 3.3 percent in August. M3 is pegged at 2.9 percent, up from 2.8 percent in the previous month. Producer prices are tipped to fall 0.1 percent on month and 3.2 percent on year after slipping 0.3 percent on month and 3.6 percent on year in August. 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.
HOUSTON, TEXAS -- (Marketwired) -- 10/13/16 -- Greenfields Petroleum Corporation (the "Company" or "Greenfields") (TSX VENTURE: GNF) announces that after approximately nine years as founding members of Greenfields, Richard E. MacDougal and Alex T. Warmath are retiring from the board of directors of the Company. Mr. MacDougal and Mr. Warmath were instrumental in the formation of Greenfields and the Company is most grateful for their leadership and guidance over the past decade. Mr. MacDougal and Mr. Warmath have agreed to continue to advise the Company in a consulting role with the Company.

The board of directors of Greenfields has appointed two new members to fill the vacancies, Geir Sagemo and David Fransen, both affiliated with the parent company of Greenfields' senior lender and major shareholder, Vitol Energy (Bermuda) Ltd. ("Vitol"). Vitol holds approximately 49.1% of the issued and outstanding common shares of Greenfields.

Mr. Sagemo is a member of the finance and investment group at Vitol Group. Prior to joining Vitol in 2007, Mr. Sagemo spent 13 years in the energy teams of various investment banks, including Dredner Kleinwort Benson and JPMorgan. Mr Sagemo is a board member of New Age (Africa Global Energy) Ltd. He holds a B.Sc. in Economics from the Wharton School.

Mr. Fransen has served as the Managing Director of Vitol SA Geneva since 2002 and is a member of the board of directors of Vitol Group. He has a wide range of experience within the Vitol Group, from gasoline trading and various management positions to the creation of Vitol's central management information system. Prior to joining Vitol in 1986, Mr. Fransen was with British Petroleum. He holds a BSC (Hons.) in Mathematics and Computer Science from Royal Holloway College, London.

Mr. Harkins, President and CEO of Greenfield stated: "Greenfields has been very fortunate to have Mr. MacDougal and Mr. Warmath as directors of the Company. Their vision was instrumental in creating the Company and in steering the Company through many challenging times. We welcome Mr. Sagemo and Mr. Fransen to the board of directors, and look forward to benefiting from their years of valuable experience and extensive relationships in the region's oil and gas industry."

About Greenfields Petroleum Corporation

Greenfields is a junior oil and natural gas company focused on the development and production of proven oil and gas reserves principally in the Republic of Azerbaijan. The Company plans to expand its oil and gas assets through further farm-ins, and acquisitions of Production Sharing Agreements from foreign governments containing previously discovered but under-developed international oil and gas fields, also known as "greenfields". More information about the Company may be obtained on the Greenfields website at www.greenfields-petroleum.com.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Contacts:

Greenfields Petroleum Corporation

John W. Harkins

Chief Executive Officer

(832) 234-0836

info@greenfieldspetroleum.com



A. Wayne Curzadd

Chief Financial Officer

(832) 234-0835

www.greenfields-petroleum.com




TouchBistro, a NYC- and Toronto, Canada-based provider of an iPad restaurant point-of-sale (POS) app, secured CDN$17m in Series B funding.

The round was led by BDC IT Venture Fund, with participation from new investors Round13 Capital and Huff Capital, and existing investors Relay Ventures and Kensington Capital Partners. In conjunction with the funding, Peter Misek, partner in the BDC IT Venture Fund, joined TouchBistros Board of Directors.

The company, which has raused $30m in total funding to date, intends to use the funds to expand sales and marketing efforts, and build out its POS platform through new partnerships with industry leaders and innovative features that deliver value to restaurants.

Led by Alex Barrotti, founder and CEO, TouchBistro provides iPad point-of-sale (POS) solutions for the food and drink industry, including full service restaurants, quick service restaurants, food trucks, coffee shops and bars. Servers use the TouchBistro iPad app to take tableside customer orders and instantly transmit them to the kitchen and bar. Bills are automatically calculated and split whatever way the patron desires, and totals are transferred electronically into an integrated card keypad or mobile wallet for payment.

The company, which offers a full suite of reports for restaurant operators, now has deployed approximately 15,000 terminals across 6,000 restaurants around the world. Its POS solutions process Gross Merchandise Volumes in excess of $4 billion annually. In the last quarter, TouchBistro launched in Spanish and French, and integrated with QuickBooks and Square.

FinSMEs

13/10/201
Beiimaan Love

What's it about: Sunny Leone stars as a girl who was deeply in love with boyfriend but when he betrays her, she resolves to take revenge and in its wake, becomes extremely successful in her life. The thriller also marks the acting debut of Leone's husband Daniel Weber.

Who's in it: , Daniel Weber, Ziesha Nandy and Rajiv Verma.

Why it may work: Sunny Leone is the major star power in the film.

Beiimaan Love is directed by Rajeev Chaudhari.

Hollywood Films

Inferno

What's it about: Tom Hanks will be reprising his role as Robert Langdon for the third time in Dan Brown's Inferno. The plot of Inferno is as follows: Set in Florence, Italy, Langdon wakes up in a hospital room implanted with a device that gives him visions of Dante's 'Inferno'.

Who's in it: Tom Hanks, Felicity Jones, Irrfan Khan, Omar Sy and Ben Foster.

Why it may work: Dan Brown's novels have been loved by the readers since The Da Vinci Code was published. The film also stars Tom Hanks and Irrfan Khan.

Inferno is directed by Ron Howard.

The Accountant

What's it about: Christian Wolff is a math genius with more affinity for numbers than people. Behind the cover of a small-town CPA office, he works as a freelance accountant for some of the world's most dangerous criminal organizations. While being investigated by the Treasury Department, Wolff agrees to help an accounting clerk at a robotics firm look into fraud at her company, but the assignment will prove far more dangerous than he could have ever anticipated.

Who's in it: Ben Affleck, Anna Kendrick, J.K. Simmons, Jon Bernthal, Jeffrey Tambor, and John Lithgow.

Why it may work: The right mathematical formula of Ben Affleck and Anna Kendrick is sure to draw audiences.

The Accountant is directed by Gavin O'Connor .

The Girl on the Train

What's it about: Based on Paula Hawkinss novel of the same name, the film relocates the thriller from UK to the USA. The plot follows an alcoholic Rachel who has just got divorced, who becomes obsessed with a perfect family she encounters everyday on enroute to work. Rachels obsession embroils her in a disappearance, and murder.

Who's in it: Emily Blunt, Justin Theroux, Rebecca Ferguson, Haley Bennet, Edgar Ramirez and Luke Evans.

Why it may work: The novel was a runaway hit and stars Emily Blunt in the lead role. A winning combination.

The Girl on the Train is directed by Tate Taylor.



Masterminds





What's it about: Based on a real life 70s heist, the plot follows David Ghantt who is stuck in the monotony of driving an armored truck day in and day out, so when his work crush lures him into the heist of a lifetime, David's all in. Though he manages to pull off the heist successfully, things don't go as planned.

Who's in it: Zach Galifianakis, Owen Wilson, Kristen Wiig, Jason Sudeikis and Leslie Jones

Why it may work: Zach Galifianakis, Owen Wilson and Kristen Wiig are major pulling powers in this comedy.



Masterminds has been directed by Jared Hess.
Architectural Digest India got the first tour of actress Alia Bhatts new house, which she will be sharing with her sister Shaheen: (You're seeing my home) before my friends, before my family, even before my father! she told the AD team.

It was during the shooting of the Vikas Bahl-directed Shaandaar that Alia Bhatt met his wife Richa (Vikass wife), whom she would end up asking to design her new house. Although there was no real brief, she was very clear about what she didnt want. I told Richa I didnt want it to be too modern. I wanted it to feel a little old, with a New York loft kind of feel. And I didnt want anything overtly glamorous, like chandeliers, or marble floors.

Alia purchased the house two years ago, choosing it over two others she had seen, because of its closeness to her parents house. It was really a no-brainer for me, she said, with much more confidence than you would expect from a 23-year-old speaking of her first home.

The renovation took around a year and a half, and the spaces four bedrooms were reconfigured to three. Richa fashioned Alias dressing room into a separate space to ensure the rest of the house would be private, even if the actress was in the midst of fittings.

You know, when shes getting ready its not just her. Theres the stylist, the make-up artists, the spot boys, the ironing guys... its like a mela in there, says Richa, in mild horror. A lobby now separates that space from the large living room, which has turned out to be a cosy mix of New York loft and Swiss chalet, with white walls, comfortable sofas, concrete-tiled floors and expansive windows that incongruously  though not unpleasantly  look out to Mumbais very tropical trees.

The palette here is surprisingly mature. Alia wanted the space to be as completely removed from the glamour associated with Bollywood as possible, and even the lighting is muted, in deliberate contrast to the harsh spotlightliteral and figurativein which the actress usually finds herself.

The one thing the sisters insisted on in the house was a tea bar, because apparently, theyre both really into tea. Just totally obsessed, said Alia. Its hard to imagine anyone (young or old) comfortably drink tea while perched up on a bar stool, but the hip flask on the bar counter that reads, I didnt text you, vodka texted you, indicates that other beverages might be served as well!

The full text of this interview, and more photos of Alia's house are in Architectural Digest India's October 2016 issue. Click here to read more.
ICICI Bank has announced that it has successfully executed transactions in international trade finance and remittances using blockchain technology in partnership with Emirates NBD.

ICICI Bank is the first bank in the country and among the first few globally to exchange and authenticate remittance transaction messages as well as original international trade documents related to purchase order, invoice, shipping and insurance, among others, electronically on blockchain in real time, the bank said in a statement.

The usage of blockchain technology simplifies the process and makes it almost instant-to only a few minutes. This is in contrast to the current process which involves a complex and lengthy paper trail that requires international shipping and courier, it said.

ICICI Bank executed these pilot transactions via its blockchain network with Emirates NBD on a custom-made blockchain application, cocreated with EdgeVerve Systems, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Infosys, the release said.

The blockchain application replicates the paperintensive international trade finance process as an electronic decentralised ledger, that gives all the participating entities, including banks, the ability to access a single source of information.

This enables all the parties, viz, the importer in Mumbai; ICICI Bank, Mumbai; the exporter in Dubai and Emirates NBD, Dubai to view the data in real time, the bank said.

It also enables them to track documentation and authenticate ownership of assets digitally, as an un-alterable ledger in real time.

Chanda Kochhar, MD and CEO of ICICI Bank said: I envision that the emerging technology of blockchain will play a significant role in banking in the coming years by making complex bilateral and multi-lateral banking transactions seamless, quick and more secure.

She added that going forward the bank also intend to work on expanding the blockchain ecosystem and create common working standards to contribute to the commercial adoption of this initiative.

The pilot transaction was executed to showcase confirmation of import of shredded steel melting scrap by a Mumbai-based export-import firm from a Dubai-based supplier, the bank said.

The second initiative involved a transaction on the blockchain application that enabled an ICICI Bank branch in Mumbai to remit funds to an Emirates NBD branch in Dubai in real time.
New York: Wells Fargo & Co's veteran chairman and chief executive officer, John Stumpf, abruptly departed on Wednesday bowing to pressure over its sales tactics that has damaged the bank's reputation and put Wall Street under renewed scrutiny.

San Francisco-based Wells Fargo said Stumpf, 63, was retiring and would be replaced as chief executive by President and Chief Operating Officer Tim Sloan, 56.

The bank is splitting the role of chairman and CEO with Stephen Sanger, its lead director, becoming chairman.

Stumpf's exit leaves Sloan with a steep challenge in rebuilding its reputation and overhauling its hard-charging sales culture without gutting profits. The new CEO will also contend with ongoing regulatory investigations and private litigation.

The departure is a stunning reversal of fortune for Stumpf, who successfully navigated Wells through the financial crisis and built it into the world's most valuable bank with a focus on Main Street-style lending that was the envy of Wall Street.

"I have decided it is best for the company that I step aside," he said in a statement.

The bank's shares, which have slumped in the wake of the scandal, rose 2 percent in after-hours trading after the bank announced Stumpf's exit.

Sloan said his immediate priority was to restore trust in the bank.

Long considered Stumpf's successor, Sloan has spent most of his career at Wells working with corporations and institutional investors not the retail division, where the fraudulent accounts were opened.

But as the former CFO, and president and COO of the company since November, he has been responsible for the entire company, including the retail bank at the heart of the scandal.

Carrie Tolstedt, the woman who ran the retail division when the misconduct occurred, reported to Sloan from November of last year. She left the bank last month.

They had three goals in replacing Stumpf: speed, integrity, and competence. If you want to move very fast and find someone intimately familiar with the business, youve got to hire an insider," said Peter Conti-Brown, a business ethics and law professor at University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business.

"If you want to hire someone with unimpeachable integrity, that's going to take time to find," Conti-Brown said.

Sloan will preside over the bank's third-quarter earnings on Friday.

Fall from grace

Stumpf's fall from grace started with a $185 million regulatory settlement between the bank, regulatory authorities and a Los Angeles prosecutor over its staff opening as many as 2 million accounts without customers' knowledge.

The misconduct, carried out by low-level branch staff to meet internal sales targets, shattered the bank's folksy image and a raft of federal and state investigations followed.

Stumpf was summoned before the U.S. Senate and faced calls for his resignation after repeatedly deferring responsibility to low level workers and decision-making authority to his board of directors. Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren called him a "gutless leader" who "should be criminally investigated."

A week after that hearing, he agreed to forgo $41 million in unvested stock awards.

However, that was not enough and at a second hearing, some lawmakers called for the bank to be broken up.

California State Treasurer John Chiang, who announced a year-long ban on state business with Wells Fargo, released a statement praising Stumpf's resignation.

"Based on his duck, dodge, and deny performance in the wake of admissions that his bank had fleeced legions of its own customers, he was not  and would never be  the change agent leader Wells Fargo so desperately needs," Chiang said in the statement.

John Thielen, who grew up with Stumpf in Piers, Minnesota where he was a year behind the future CEO in school, said he felt sorry for Stumpf.

"He's in hot water, but I think he put himself there," Thielen told Reuters in a recent interview that preceded Stumpf's resignation.
By Serajul Quadir and Ruma Paul

| DHAKA

DHAKA Bangladesh's safety inspectors twice extended an operating licence at a food and cigarette packaging plant in the capital Dhaka without making physical checks.That breach of rules is now being investigated by the government after a fire at the Tampaco Foils factory killed at least 39 people last month.The cause of the September 10 blaze, the country's worst industrial accident since the 2013 Rana Plaza tragedy in which more than 1,100 mostly garment workers died, is unknown. The plant's owner, a former member of parliament, has gone missing.Flammable materials stored on the factory floor, a gas leak, excessive use of gas and poorly positioned boilers are all being looked at as possible reasons.Syed Ahmed, head of the department charged with inspecting factories and commercial buildings, said his inspectors should have visited Tampaco before renewing its licence, but did not, partly because of a shortage of staff."If we could have inspected the factory, then we may have noticed and could have taken action on those shortcomings, and this could have averted disaster," Ahmed told Reuters.He said the department had launched an internal review to identify who was responsible for signing the documents.Interviews with Ahmed and more than 20 regulators, investigators, technicians and witnesses involved in the fire at the factory reveal a lack of oversight that the government is scrambling to fix.While inspections of plants making clothes for global brands have increased significantly since Rana Plaza - many carried out by or on behalf of Western companies - other sectors that also supply international firms have had less attention."This disaster has opened our eyes to the fact that we must also focus on other factories," Ahmed said.Mikail Shipar, secretary of the Labour and Employment Ministry, said the government was investigating why Tampaco's licence was renewed without a visit. The operating licence is one of several required, but among the most important."There will be a committee from this ministry and action will be taken if anyone is found guilty for this lack of oversight," he told Reuters.Plans to expand Ahmed's department of about 250 inspectors by nearly tenfold have picked up pace since the fire, Shipar added.The lack of resources is undermining safety for millions of Bangladeshi workers, as well as damaging the south Asian nation's image among investors.The $28 billion garment industry is key, accounting for around 15 percent of the economy. More than four fifths of Bangladesh's exports are to the clothing industry, making it the world's second largest garment supplier after China.WESTERN COMPANY CHECKS

According to a senior inspection official, the licence at Tampaco, which supplies packaging to local firms and multinationals including British American Tobacco (BATS.L) and Nestle (NESN.S), was extended through 2015 and then again until the middle of 2017, both times with no visit.

When asked about the extension of the plant's operating licence without inspections taking place, a British American Tobacco Bangladesh spokeswoman said the cigarette maker understood them to have been made by independent inspectors as stipulated by the government."We understood, as part of our own review process, that all the necessary checks had been made," she said in an emailed statement, adding that the company had reviewed Tampaco in 2012, 2014 and 2015, and had provided environment and health and safety training, including fire safety, in January, 2016."At the time of the last review in October, 2015, British American Tobacco Bangladesh checked all required licences and they were found to be valid."BAT Bangladesh also said it was bringing forward on-site reviews of all "priority suppliers" in Bangladesh.A Nestle spokeswoman said: "When more is known about the cause of this tragedy, we will work with the authorities and other stakeholders to determine how to avoid any such incidents in the future."The company said the Tampaco plant had passed a fire safety and prevention audit by independent inspection company SGS in 2012, and Nestle, which conducts audits around every three years, was in the process of organizing the next one.BANGLADESH'S IMAGE PROBLEM

There are thousands of big factories and warehouses in Bangladesh, many of them making goods cheaply for multinational companies, with only a few hundred inspectors to check them.Improving safety is crucial to restoring the country's image as a place to work and invest.

Beyond industrial safety, Islamist militants have increased attacks. In the worst incident, gunmen killed 22 people in a Dhaka cafe in July, most of them from abroad."One of the risks for Bangladesh right now is that between the July terror attack, the legacy of Rana Plaza and now this (Tampaco fire), it begins to look like a non-desirable place to do business," said Sarah Labowitz, co-head of NYU Stern's Center for Business and Human Rights."The government and industry really need to step up and respond."Shipar said the government was preparing to beef up inspections in the non-garment sector.They would be concentrated in four industrial districts, three of them in or around Dhaka and one in the southeastern port city of Chittagong."It is our estimate that roughly 4,000 factories will come under this project," he said. "We cannot inspect all factories, and so we have to give priority to those factories that are prone to fires or explosions."The problem is not only lack of staff.Coordination between inspection teams is problematic, and the labyrinthine licencing system can cause headaches for company bosses."When we ask (for) documents or to implement recommendations ... the management says they struggle with so many licences and do not understand which one should have priority," said Abdus Sattar, who works in the factory inspection department.

OWNER GOES MISSING

The Tampaco factory is owned by Syed Mokbul Hussain, a former lawmaker.He told Reuters on the day of the blaze that Tampaco was "fully compliant", but has not been contactable since to answer questions about the licencing process or other safety issues.Police said Hussain and nine top managers had gone into hiding since the fire.Habibur Rahman, a production officer of Tampaco, defended the company's safety record."Why would the owner ignore compliance issues after investing billions of taka?" he said.Factories are usually notified about inspections first, raising questions about their efficacy.One government inspector, who asked not to be named, told Reuters during a recent visit to a Dhaka plant that, if he arrived unannounced, more often than not he would be turned away.Promised reforms will come too late for the 39 people confirmed killed at Tampaco. Several people are missing and dozens more were injured.Abdul Momin, who survived the explosion and fire early that Saturday morning, was one of several witnesses who said they heard the hiss of gas before the blast rocked the building."All of a sudden, I heard a blast," said Mohammad Manowar Hossain, a long-time Tampaco worker, speaking from hospital recently where he was being treated for two broken legs."I lost my senses. After I got my senses back, there were many injured workers lying beside me crying for help."Ahmed, head of the inspection team, said Tampaco had been warned in 2014 about raw material storage and that it must ensure the safety of its gas riser - a piping component.It is not clear whether the recommendations were followed. (Additional reporting by Allison Martell in Toronto and Martinne Geller in London; Writing by Euan Rocha; Editing by Mike Collett-White)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
In a new revelation, film executive Barun Kashyap, who in August had made allegations of harassment for carrying a leather bag, has confessed that he had spun a story to disrupt communal harmony in Mumbai fuelled by his 'hatred for Hindus'.

According to a report by the Mumbai Mirror, Kashyap gave a confessional statement in police custody where he said, "I accept that I lied about the entire incident. No such incident ever took place. My Facebook post was a lie. I lied because have hatred towards Hindus."

Police claim that Kashyap intended to play the victim to 'gau rakshaks' (cow vigilantes) to spark outrage in public.

On 19 August, Kashyap had filed a complaint at Amboli police station of an alleged harassment for carrying a leather bag by an autorickshaw driver and two unidentified men believed to be gau rakshaks. He had claimed that the auto driver insisted that he was carrying a cow-leather bag despite clarifications by Kashyap that he was carrying camel-hide. According to Kashyap's version, the driver stopped driving and called on a few men to threaten him.

The police investigated the incident and checked CCTV footage of the day Kashyap made his claims about. They found irregularities in Kashyap's version as the footage proved that the auto could not have taken a detour as Kashyap claimed. The time-stamp on the videos and the statements of the witnesses made police's case stronger against Kashyap.

The 24-year-old ad professional was arrested on 4 October by a policeman named Daya Nayak from Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Preeti Sharma Menons car in Chembur along with her driver. He was then sent to police custody till 8 October by Andheri court.

Menon has been a vocal supporter of Kashyap and has been helping him seek legal counsel in the matter. Menon alleged that the police noted a wrong time in the report. "The police claim they have footage of start and end but all cameras en route were conveniently not working. They further claim, very conveniently, that Amboli cameras also stopped working 10 days ago," she said in the statement.

Menon also lashed out on reports alleging AAPs hand in Kashyap faking the alleged harassment by gau rakshaks with a statement on Twitter, where she clarified that Kashyap is not an AAP member.

According to a previous report by Firstpost, Kashyap has on various occasions used social media to share his views against cow vigilantes.

According to the Mumbai Mirror report, Kashyap has been booked under section 153 A (promoting enmity between groups) and 182 B (for use of lawful power of a public servant to injure or annoy any person) of the Indian Penal Code. If the court convicts him, he can face upto five years in jail.
New Delhi: The Centre on Thursday sought a report from the Kerala government on the brutal killing of a 25-year-old BJP activist in Kannur district.

In a communication, the Home Ministry has asked the state government to provide details of the incident and steps taken to nab and punish those responsible for the crime.

The Home Ministry has also asked the Kerala government to inform it about the steps taken for security of political workers in the state, official sources said.

BJP activist Remith was hacked to death in Kannur district, the hometown of Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Wednesday, within 48 hours of the murder of a CPM activist and toddy shop worker Mohanan.

The BJP organised a 'bandh' in Kerala on Thursday to protest the killing of its party activist.

As a mark of protest, buses and autorickshaws were off the roads on Thursday, keeping in line with the 12-hour state-wide hartal called by the BJP in Kerala to protest against the brutal killing.

This is the second hartal in Kannur district within 3 days as the CPM had observed a hartal in protest against the murder of their worker.
Kozhikode: CPI(M) Kerala unit Secretary Pinarayi Vijayan today alleged that the attack on the the party workers and CPI(M) offices after the last months's murder of RMP leader TP Chandrasekharan was carried out with the "knowledge" the government.

Speaking to reporters after visiting the houses of party workers and CPI(M) office, Vijayan said the government should have to pay compensation to the people for the damages caused to their houses.

"Though compensations were given in such instances earlier, I think, we cannot expect such things from the present government", Vijayan, who was making his first visit to Onchiyam after the murder of Chandrasekharan, said.

However, the government's attention would be brought in this regard.

"If they failed to act, then party would reconstruct the damaged houses of CPI(M) workers", he said.

PTI
Three letters seized by the Powai Police have unveiled a deeper connection between racketeers and the LH Hiranandani Hospital.

According to the charge sheet filed by the Powai Police, the police seized three letters from Nilesh Kamble, one of the accused and organ transplant co-ordinator for the hospital, which gave approvals for the transplants.

As reported in Hindustan Times on 12 October, "The three letters issued on the letterhead of LH Hiranandani Hospital, Powai, gave approvals for kidney transplants between unrelated people, according to the charge sheet filed by Powai police," the report said.

The letters dated March 21, as reported by the newspaper, revealed that the hospital appointed a hospital authorisation committee (HAC) meeting, an unusual incident in cases like this, which was "attended by members Dr Anurag Naik, director, Dr Suvin Shetty, pathologist, and Dr Veena Shewlikar, pathologist; external members Dr Sujata Shrivastava and Mrs Brinda Ramakrishnan; and Dr Babulgaonkar, assistant director of the Directorate of Health Services (DHS), Mumbai Circle and Thane." However, none of the people mentioned in the letters have signed them.

This has come out at the same time when one of the activists, Mahesh Tanna, who helped break the racket, received a letter threatening him to stay out of the case. "Will you become hero by spoiling the image of our beloved CEO Dr Sujeet Chatterji," The Free Press Journal wrote quoting few lines from the latter. "If you act smart we doctors will take proper revenge out of it," the letter said, according to FPJ.

How the racket was busted

On 14 July, Mumbai Police arrested four people from the LH Hiranandani Hospital in connection with an alleged kidney scam. The arrest included the kidney recipient, his son, the kidney donor and an agent who helped them find the donor.

Call it bad luck or sheer stupidity, the agent in question, Bhejendra Bhisen (42), had reportedly told a social worker that a patient was to receive a kidney from a donor he had shown as his wife.

According to an article published in The Indian Express, the social worker named Rajeev Pawar then approached Mahesh Tanna who then tipped off the police of the illegal transplant.

Around 12.30 pm, right before 48-year-old Brijkishor Jaiswal, a sari businessman from Surat, was about to undergo the transplanat, the police arrived at the hospital and stopped the transplant. The police arrested the patient, Jaiswal, his son, Kisan Jaiswal, a 48-year-old woman named Shobha Thakur, from Gujarat, who had been falsely represented in hospital records as senior Jaiswals wife Rekha Devi, and Bhisen along with two other agents, Bharat Sharma (62), and Iqbal Siddiqui (40).

The agents had charged Rs 25 lakhs for the transplant, out of which Thakur, who worked as a domestic helped in Anand, Gujarat, was to receive Rs 3 lakhs.

According to reports, Jaiswal was diagnosed with chronic kidney failure in 2015 and was on dialysis thrice a week until he decided to go for an illegal transplant. His family had refused to donate kidney for a transplant. It was then that Jaiswal approached an agent in Gujarat, who promised a donor in exchange of R25 lakh. Jaiswal, was released on bail in August on medical grounds. He died on 31 August while being rushed to hospital in Surat.

On 15 July , Maharashtra government suspended the licence of LH Hiranandani Hospital, to conduct organ transplants, putting under scanner all the transplants done by the hospital.

A day later, the police arrested Nilesh Kamble, an organ transplant co-ordinator with LH Hiranandani Hospital. Kamble was the link between hospital authorities and the mastermind, Bisen. Kamble gave a go-ahead to the kidney transplant after receiving Rs8 lakh for turning a blind eye to the fake doucments, the report in Hindustan Times said.

But this was not the first illegal transplant. During investigation, Bhishen, emerged as the mastermind of the entire racket. He also admitted of a similar transplant in May. Currently four such cases are under investigation. Bhisen was also arrested by the Mumbai Police as the kingpin of the 2007 kidney racket. A case is pending in a Mumbai court.

The revelation also led to the arrest of 45-year-old Yusuf Diwan, seventh in the case apart from two other who helped forge documents. Further probe from Powai police revealed that Diwan had introduced Bhijendra Bhisen alias Sandeep, to Thakur.

A detailed report by The Indian Express states that a man named Yusuf Shah used to supply prospective donors to Bhisen. Shah's wife had donated a kidney in May, and after that he became a middleman. It was Shah who has helped Thakur get in touch with Bhisen, the report stated. Thakur was the donor arrested during the first arrest in July.

On August 9, after a state health department report pointed to the involvement of hospital, the police arrested LH Hiranandani Hospital's Chief Executive Officer, Dr Sujit Chatterjee, medical director Dr Anurag Naik, Dr Mukesh Shetye, Dr Mukesh Shaha and Dr Prakash Shetye under the Transplantation of Human Organs Act, said an India Today report.

According to the report, advocate Abad Ponda appearing for the accused doctors, said, "Police has to show some material to say that the doctors were involved. What Mumbai Police is doing right now is arresting the doctors and then saying that they will produce the evidence later."

The three letters, seized from Kamble may be an answer to that question.

So far, the police has arrested 14 people in connection with the case. The police is also investigating all the transplants mediated by Kamble.
Masood Azhar just did a surgical strike on Pakistan more effective than the one carried out by Indian Army's Special Forces on 29 September. In one editorial, published in the newest issue of terror outfit Jaish-e-Muhammad's weekly pamphlet, he blew away Nawaz Sharif's fig leaf and made Islamabad stark naked in its brazen bullying glory before the entire world. In the process, the JeM chief also raised some uncomfortable questions for China ahead of President Xi Jinping's Brics visit to India.

During last month's UNGA address in New York, Nawaz Sharif had stretched the last tendril of credulity when he went against history, reason and a mountain of evidence and proclaimed Kashmir violence as a "popular and peaceful freedom movement" led by "young leader Burhan Wani".

Taking into account the pulls and pressures of Pakistani Deep State over its civilian government; Nawaz's compulsions of ratifying Pakistan's prized assets in the hybrid war against its neighbours; the need to stoke the embers of Kashmir fire  the speech was still a bravura display of defiance where the Prime Minister of a nation was found openly backing a self-declared militant of a designated terrorist organisation from the ramparts of UN. It showed Islamabad's steady flight down the nihilistic slope of terrorism on the wings of denial.

Masood's appeal to the Pakistan government to let loose the dogs of terrorism and use the 'historic opportunity' to snatch Kashmir, therefore, is the next logical step to Nawaz's UN address. He was merely ratifying what the Pakistan PM had said and the world (except China and the House of Saud) already knew.

More interestingly, however, Masood's address provides the context for Kashmir violence. It lays bare the reasons behind Pakistan's Kashmir obsession  the need to avenge 1971 humiliation and the burning ambition for one Islamic Ummah in the Indian subcontinent. And it exposes, not for the first time, Rawalpindi's historic role behind the insurgency and its steely resolve to use all terrorist groups, "non-state actors" and tools of insurgency at its command to engage 'Hindustan' in a never-ending jihad.

"If the government of Pakistan shows a little courage, the problem of Kashmir, as well as the dispute over water, can be resolved once and for all right now. If nothing else, the government simply has to open the path for the mujahideen. Then, god willing, all the bitter memories of 1971 will be dissolved into the triumphant emotions of 2016, reads Azhar's front-page editorial, according to Praveen Swami in The Indian Express.

In the editorial, Azhar exhorts Pakistan's policymakers and argues that the "jihadist policies it backed in the 1990s had brought strategic benefits to the country" and left India profusely bleeding, with "every one of its limbs badly injured". He goes on to add that "what remained of India's military prowess was exposed in Pathankot and Uri," according to the newspaper.

Shorn of rhetoric, this is the damnedest indictment yet of Pakistan's hand behind the twin terror attacks and yanks off the last vestige of Islamabad's deniability. It is difficult to name and shame a puppet government but it could be worthwhile taking a reaction from Pakistan Defence Minister Khawaja Asif, who claimed that Uri was "staged by India itself" to malign Pakistan and take focus away from Kashmir, on what he made of Masood Azhar's statement.

The JeM founder, who was released by the NDA government in 1999 in exchange for kidnapped 155 passengers and crew members of IC 814, writes further that "terror in Kashmir has weakened India" dramatically and a comparative evaluation of "India before and after the jihad in Kashmir" shows that it has "reduced from a serpent to an earthworm."

"When we entered the tent of the jihadist movement, writes Azhar, "it had no branch in Kashmir, nor was there lightning in Iraq or Syria. There were just two fronts, in Afghanistan and Palestine We have watched as the jihad we befriended grew from a glowing ember into the sun", according to the newspaper.

The Indian Army unit that crossed over into the LoC and rained fire on launch pads, could destroy just five of the substantial terror infrastructure. Masood, through one article, established the chain that links jihad in Kashmir to global terrorism.

As Firstpost had argued back in July (Not Burhan Wani, it's Pakistan's proxy war that's behind Kashmir tragedy, the neutralising of Burhan Wani wasn't an inflection point in "Kashmir intifada" as Pakistan would have the world believe, but merely the kicking off of the latest phase in a long history of Rawalpindi-manufactured violence.

Masood's statement indicates the extent of Pakistan's collusion in The Kashmir Project  a venture launched by that humiliated and bitter former ISI chief Lt Gen Hamid Gul in mid-1970s. Right from Kalashnikov-wielding Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) militants in early 90s to Hizbul Mujahideen, from Lashkar-e-Taiba to Jaish-e-Mohammed, the history of "peaceful and popular freedom movement" is now clear.

For Beijing, the al-Qalam editorial poses some tough questions. Only last week China's state-controlled media had accused India of seeking "political gains" in getting UN to ban Masood Azhar. It would be interesting to note now how China justifies its stand of extending "technical hold" on designating the JeM founder as a global terrorist whom India has accused of masterminding the attacks on Indian Parliament in 2001 and on an IAF base in Pathankot, the last of which has been acknowledged by Masood himself.

If Beijing continues to stand as the only impediment behind Azhar's designation as a terrorist, it would have done a cost-benefit analysis of the losses it may suffer by withdrawing the hold in terms of its heavy investment in China-Pakistan Economic Corridor.

Beijing's conduct over the South China Sea should tell us just how 'seriously' it takes global opinion when it comes to own strategic interests. So it would be foolish to think that Masood's statement will force its hand any which way. What it may do is make its bargaining chip vis-a-vis India a little weaker. A position New Delhi would no doubt have noted ahead of the Brics Summit.
New Delhi: NIA on Thursday took over the custody of five alleged members of the banned Jamiat-ul-Muajhideen Bangladesh (JMB) terror outfit in connection with 2014 Burdwan blast.

The Special Task Force of Kolkata police had arrested the six people from Assam in the last week of September for allegedly conspiring to carry out blasts in the country and also striking a deal with Bodo militants.

Of these, NIA took the custody of Moulana Yusuf, alleged to be the second-in-command of JMB's West Bengal unit and one of the main accused in the Burdwan blast, Jahidul Sheikh alias Zafar alias Jabirul, Mohammad Rafique, Shahidul alias Shamim and Abdul Kalam alias Kalim.

Out of the five, Yusuf and Kalam had been chargesheeted by the NIA in abstentia while the role of other three would be ascertained after their interrogation, sources in the anti-terror probe agency said.

A Kolkata court handed over their custody to the NIA till 27 October. Some of those arrested carried cash rewards, sources said.

On 2 October, 2014, a blast had occurred in a house at Khagragarh in which a man identified as Sakil Gazi died on the spot, while a man named Sovan Mandal died in hospital. Both of them were suspected of having terror links.

NIA later discovered that Mondal actually was Karim Sheikh and he had misled West Bengal police about his identity.

The agency later filed a charge sheet against 30 people in March last year. Some others were added in supplementary charge sheets in which the NIA alleged that the JMB members wanted to establish Sharia rule by overthrowing the democratically-elected government in Bangladesh.

JMB's activities in India primarily included recruitment, radicalisation and training of vulnerable youths in a systematic and organised manner and, in pursuance of the conspiracy, they had established organisational bases in

certain districts of West Bengal like Nadia, Burdwan, Murshidabad and Birbhum as well as in Sahebganj district of Jharkhand, the NIA said.
Remember what happened in Mumbai in the last week of November 2008? The mayhem lasted three days, as the countrys best police force, the National Security Guards and other armed forces struggled for three days to combat extraordinarily-trained commandos. Yes, lets call them that; it matters little whether or not they were registered in any countrys army. The reflexive label 'terrorist' doesnt begin to express the fact that they were better trained than most soldiers.

A country that forgets such events is condemned to suffer repeats, it would seem. The battle that unfolded over three days at the Entrepreneurship Development Institute (EDI) on the outskirts of Srinagar demonstrated that; unless we all engage with such lethal challenges as citizens, those we have trusted to think, analyse and strategise on our behalf dont have the ability to clinically analyse beyond those coverall propagandist terms such as 'terrorist attack'. Eight years after the Mumbai attacks, that they are a clueless bunch seems pretty indisputable.

It seems pretty obvious that the training of the commandos at the EDI was similar to that of those who attacked Mumbai. It should have been clear to even low-grade intelligence that a facility to train extra-army commandos to this level would not have been set up for just 10 fellows. Other trainees were bound to show up sooner or later.

Three trends have been building towards convergence since 2008  and that convergence appears to be occurring right now.

The first trend was the public emergence of youth anger in Kashmir, although it had been festering beneath the surface for a couple of years before 2008. The second trend was Chinese belligerence over Jammu and Kashmir. The eastern power declared that it not only considered the issue to be undecided, but that it was a stakeholder. To emphasise the point, it repeatedly sent troops into parts of the state under Indias control.

The third trend is a new phase of 'proxy' war by Pakistan  only, at a much more sharply lethal pitch than in the 1990s in Kashmir. One might think of the Mumbai attack as a test run. It would be best to be prepared for more attacks of that level. For the EDI battle made it clear that that level of training and motivation is still operational.

We have been told that only two commandos were engaged in battle from that building. Since the battle entered its third day on Wednesday morning, the three fighters evidently operated at peak battle efficiency, presumably without food, sleep or ablutions for that long. No doubt drugs for awareness enhancement and other purposes are in use. But that cannot detract from those commandos' extraordinary battle efficiency  the sorts of expertise depicted in films of the Mission Impossible kind.

Searching questions need to be asked about the required strategic preparedness that has not been put in place since 2008. Even at the local and immediate level, security men should have been billeted in the EDI building after the first battle there at the beginning of this year. The seven-storey building represents a commanding height that overlooks the highway from Jammu as it enters Srinagar. The building is easily reached, for it stands on a large property between that highway and the river Jhelum.

Instead of being turned into a fortification, it has stood there as a grotesque partly burnt, partly destroyed reminder of that first battle, during which people from nearby villages had converged there to heckle and stone the soldiers who were battling with the disadvantages of elevation and line of sight.

One can only speculate on why decisions on preventive fortification were not taken with efficient dispatch even after that extremely unsettling battle earlier this year. Did the extremely high value of the property have anything to do with inefficient strategic thinking? Is it sloth? Or plain dumbness?

Of course no one will be held to account even now. This is unforgivable. The country will pay a very heavy price.
Washington: The real threats to India are "internal" and emanate from communal and social violence, not from outside forces such as Pakistan or China, former national security advisor Shivshankar Menon has said.

Asked if Pakistan or China pose an existential threat to India, Menon said: "No".

"In terms of national security, I think the real threats are internal," he told PTI.

"There's no existential threat to India's existence today externally, unlike in the 50s or when we were formed. And for many years till late 60s there were actual internal separatist threats, not any more. I think that we have actual dealt with," Menon said.

His long career in public service spans diplomacy, national security, and India's relations with its neighbours and major global powers. Menon served as national security advisor to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh from January 2010 to May 2014.

Menon's first book post retirement Choices: Inside the making of India's Foreign Policy is all set to hit book stores globally next week.

Asked to elaborate on what he meant by internal threats, he said: "If there are real threats to India, to the idea of India, India's integrity, today they actually come from within the country."

"If you look at violence in India, deaths from terrorism, from left wing extremism, declined steadily throughout this 21st century until 2014-2015. Even now the basic trend for terrorism, left wing extremism is down. What has increased is since 2012, communal violence, social violence, internal violence has increase. That is something we need to find a way in dealing with," Menon said.

"This is not a traditional law and order problem, which our traditional instruments, the police, the states know how to deal with. You look at violence against women, communal, caste violence, if you look at those firms of violence, these are all a result of tremendous social and economic change of uprooting of population, urbanization... various forms of change, which we still need to learn how to deal with," he said.

Menon said those are the threats, which in the long run, has a "potential to make real difference".

"India has changed. It is normal. It happens to most societies where there is change. But you also have to learn new ways of dealing with," he said and attributed the new threats to the rapid and fast development of the country.

When asked that some people attributed this to the BJP coming to power, Menon said even that is a consequence of the change that the Indian society is undergoing now.

Menon previously served as India's foreign secretary from 2006 to 2009 and as ambassador and high commissioner to Israel from 1995-1997, Sri Lanka (1997-2000), China (2000-2003) and Pakistan (2003-2006).
Barely two months after the Left Democratic Front (LDF) government assumed office in Kerala, Kodiyeri Balakrishnan, state secretary of Communist Party of India (Marxist) that heads the ruling front, had asked his party men to ensure that those who attack them should not go back as they came.

The murder of a BJP activist two days after a CPM worker was hacked to death in Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan's Dharmadam constituency in the politically-volatile Kannur district on Monday is widely seen as a virtual implementation of the party chief's advice.

Thirty-year-old Remith was attacked with sharp weapons on Wednesday morning by a group of people at a petrol pump near Pinarayi town. He suffered deep wounds on his head and neck and died before reaching the hospital.

The murder of Remith is seen as an act of retaliation against the murder of CPM worker, Kuzhichal Mohanan, on Monday. Mohanan, 52, a CPM branch secretary, was hacked to death by six unidentified masked men at his shop in a busy market area in Valankichal.

Accusing the CPM of murdering their party activist, the state unit of the BJP has called a state-wide hartal on Thursday to register their protest against the political violence in the state. The party had taken out a march to the CPM headquarters in New Delhi on Monday in protest against the alleged encouragement given by the CPM to political violence.

The murder of Mohanan is not viewed as an isolated incident. Political observers in Kannur do not rule out its connection with the murder of the father of Remith, Chodon Uthaman, 14 years ago. Uthaman, a bus driver, was stabbed to death inside the bus he was driving, by a group of assailants at Keezhur, near Pinarayi on 23 May, 2002.

The murder of Remith came soon after the CPM alleged the hands of the BJP and RSS behind the murder of Mohanan. The CPM had claimed that the BJP, which failed to win the state assembly elections, was resorting to such violent attacks as an act of revenge.

The murder of Remith is the seventh political murder in Kannur after the LDF came to power. The murder spree that started with the death of 47-year-old CPM activist Raveendran, in a bomb attack on the CPM victory rally on the counting day on 19 May has claimed five lives  three CPM and two BJP men  so far.

In addition to this, a BJP worker was killed in an explosion while handling bombs kept in his house near Kadirur in Kannur district. There have been several attacks on political workers and activists since the LDF government came to power.

According to official statistics, more than 50 political attacks have taken place in the district so far. However, BJP has claimed a total 400 cases of violence in the first four months of the government. BJP spokesperson Meenakshi Lekhi had claimed that 200 BJP workers were assaulted, maimed or killed, and 200 homes burnt during this period.

Political violence was a major poll plank of the BJP for the 16 May Assembly polls. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had launched his campaign by presenting a victim of the political violence. S Sadanandan, who lost both his legs in the CPM attack, was the partys candidate at Koothuparamba in Kannur district, the hot bed of political violence in the state.

The Prime Minister had taken up the political murders as a major issue when Vijayan called on him first time after assuming office. However, the chief minister left the onus on the BJP saying that he was prepared to bring peace to Kannur if the Sangh parivar was ready to eschew violence.

The CPM had claimed that the BJP, which failed to win the state assembly elections, was resorting to such violent attacks as an act of revenge

The BJP, on its part, accused the CPM of continuing the politics of violence. The national council of the party held at Kozhikode last month took the issue to the national level by compiling the lives of the martyrs and asking the media to debate the issue at the national level.

Pinarayi pleaded helplessness in ending the violence stating that they were being committed by people training by some special groups. He said that some of these groups were also controlling certain political parties.

He accused the Sangh parivar of unleashing violence with the help of the party's government at the Centre. He said that the violence was part of the attempt by the BJP to consolidate its base in the state by creating communal divide.

The opposition Congress-led United Democratic Front has viewed the chief minister's statement as an admission of his helplessness in ending the political violence. Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee president VM Sudheeran termed the recent murders as a clear indication of the breakdown of law and order in the state.

He has urged Pinrayi to relinquish the home portfolio. Sudheeran said that the police controlled by Pinrayi had failed to maintain the law and order. The chief minister, who controls the home portfolio, is responsible for the breakdown of the law and order, he said.
By Steve Holland

| WEST PALM BEACH, Fla.

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. Donald Trump assailed as "absolutely false" the allegations by several women that he groped them, and accused Democratic rival Hillary Clinton, the media and lobbyists of engaging in a vicious effort to stop him from winning the White House.With his numbers dropping in opinion polls only weeks before the Nov. 8 election, the Republican presidential nominee told supporters at a rally in Florida that his campaign was engaged in "a struggle for the survival of our nation."Trump said accusations that he groped women in a series of incidents going back to the 1980s were part of a coordinated attempt to keep him from the Oval Office. "These vicious claims about me of inappropriate conduct with women are totally and absolutely false," he said, adding that "the Clintons know it." He said he would make public at some point evidence to dispute the charges."I've never met these people. I don't even know who they are. They're made-up stories," Trump said later on Thursday during a speech in Ohio. Trump spoke after The New York Times reported that two women said they had endured sexual aggression from him, and several other women made similar allegations in other media outlets.The New York businessman's campaign was already struggling to contain a crisis after a video surfaced last week showing him bragging in 2005 about groping women and making unwanted sexual advances.First lady Michelle Obama criticized Trump in scathing terms in a campaign speech for Clinton in New Hampshire on Thursday.Her voice close to cracking with emotion, Obama described the Republican as "a powerful individual speaking freely and openly about sexually predatory behaviour.""It's one of countless examples of how he has treated women his whole life and I have to tell you that I listen to all this and I feel it so personally," she said. Clinton, who has not directly addressed the groping allegations, told donors in San Francisco on Thursday to check out Obama's comments.One woman, Jessica Leeds, appeared on camera on The New York Times website to recount how Trump grabbed her breasts and tried to put his hand up her skirt on a flight from the Midwest to New York in or around 1980. (nyti.ms/2dx8k5R)Leeds told CNN on Thursday that Trump also kissed her face in an incident that lasted about 15 minutes. "That's long enough," she said.The second woman, Rachel Crooks, described how Trump "kissed me directly on the mouth" in an unwanted advance in 2005 at Trump Tower in Manhattan, where she was a receptionist at a real estate firm.Reuters could not independently verify the incidents. Leeds and Crooks did not respond to requests for comment from Reuters.

The New York Times said on Thursday it stood by its story and rejected charges the article was libelous after a lawyer for Trump threatened legal action and demanded a retraction. SLUMP IN POLLS

Trump has slumped in opinion polls in recent days as uproar over the video threatened to engulf the former reality TV star's White House campaign in a way that earlier controversies surrounding him have not.A Reuters/Ipsos survey showed one in five Republicans thought Trump's comments about groping women disqualified him from the presidency. The poll also showed him 8 points behind Clinton among likely voters. Trump trails Clinton by up to 11 points in other polls. He has never previously run for political office. Provocative statements have been a feature of his presidential bid since the day in June 2015 when he described Mexican immigrants as rapists and criminals in a speech announcing he was running for president.

Establishment Republicans have struggled to get behind Trump, alarmed by both his style and some of his policy proposals.Within hours of The New York Times report, several other media outlets published similar reports. People magazine published a detailed first-person account from one of its reporters, Natasha Stoynoff. (bit.ly/2dTm90D)Stoynoff said Trump pinned her against a wall at his Florida estate in 2005 and kissed her as she struggled to get away. "I turned around, and within seconds, he was pushing me against the wall, and forcing his tongue down my throat," Stoynoff said. Trump, 70, denied the People story in a Twitter message and in his speech in Florida on Thursday, and mocked the writer."I ask her a simple question. Why wasn't it part of the story that appeared 12 years ago? Why didn't they make it part of the story ... if she had added that, it would have been the headline.""Look at her and look at her words," he said. "You tell me what you think. I don't think so."

The Palm Beach Post reported an allegation by Mindy McGillivray, 36, a woman in South Florida, that Trump had grabbed her bottom 13 years ago while she was working at his Mar-a-Lago estate as a photographer's assistant."There is no truth to this whatsoever," Trump's spokeswoman, Hope Hicks, told the Post. McGillivray could not be reached for comment.At the Florida rally on Thursday, Trump said he had been prepared for attacks, but "I never knew it would be this vile, that it would be this bad, that it would be this vicious." He said the "corrupt political establishment," which he said included special interests, was trying to stop him so it could carry out a program of "radical globalization and the disenfranchisement of working people." "Our great civilization, here in America and across the civilized world has come upon a moment of reckoning," he said. REPUBLICAN HOPES

In the 2005 video, Trump bragged about groping women, kissing them without permission, and trying to seduce a married woman. He said during a presidential debate on Sunday that he had not actually done the things he had boasted about, and apologised for his remarks, which he called private "locker room talk."Fallout from the video has thrown a cloud over Republican hopes of retaining control of the U.S. Congress and deeply split the party as elected officials have abandoned support for the candidate.U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan said on Monday he was no longer going to campaign for or defend Trump. Trump has since veered between pronouncing himself free to campaign as he likes, and expressing fury at Ryan and other "disloyal" Republicans.A spokeswoman for Clinton, 68, said Wednesday's report in The New York Times was "disturbing."The Washington Post endorsed Clinton, a former secretary of state, on Thursday. "In the gloom and ugliness of this political season, one encouraging truth is often overlooked: There is a well-qualified, well-prepared candidate on the ballot ... we endorse her without hesitation," it said. (Additional reporting by Roberta Rampton, Emily Flitter, Jonathan Allen, Emily Stephenson, Susan Cornwell, David Morgan, Michelle Conlin, Eric Beech, Eric Walsh, Doina Chiacu; Writing by Alistair Bell and Emily Stephenson; Editing by Frances Kerry and Peter Cooney)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
By Steve Holland

| WEST PALM BEACH, Fla.

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. Donald Trump assailed as "absolutely false" the allegations by several women that he groped them, and blamed Democratic rival Hillary Clinton, the media and lobbyists of being engaged in a vicious effort to stop him from winning the White House.With his numbers dropping in opinion polls only weeks before the Nov. 8 election, the Republican presidential nominee told supporters at a rally in Florida that his campaign was engaged in "a struggle for the survival of our nation."Trump said accusations that he groped women in a series of incidents going back to the 1980s were part of a coordinated attempt to keep him from the Oval Office. "These vicious claims about me of inappropriate conduct with women are totally and absolutely false," he said, adding that "the Clintons know it." He said he would make public at some point evidence to dispute the charges.Trump spoke after The New York Times reported that two women said they had endured sexual aggression from him, and several other women made similar allegations in other media outlets.The New York businessman's campaign was already struggling to contain a crisis after a video surfaced last week showing him bragging in 2005 about groping women and making unwanted sexual advances.First lady Michelle Obama criticized Trump in scathing terms in a campaign speech for Clinton in New Hampshire on Thursday.Her voice close to cracking with emotion, Obama describedthe Republican as "a powerful individual speaking freely and openly about sexually predatory behaviour.""It's one of countless examples of how he has treated women his whole life and I have to tell you that I listen to all this and I feel it so personally," she said. One woman, Jessica Leeds, appeared on camera on The New York Times' website to recount how Trump grabbed her breasts and tried to put his hand up her skirt on a flight from the Midwest to New York in or around 1980. (nyti.ms/2dx8k5R)The second woman, Rachel Crooks, described how Trump "kissed me directly on the mouth" in an unwanted advance in 2005 at Trump Tower in Manhattan, where she was a receptionist at a real estate firm.Reuters could not independently verify the incidents. Leeds and Crooks did not respond to requests for comment from Reuters.

The New York Times said on Thursday it stood by its story and rejected charges the article was libelous after a lawyer for Trump threatened legal action and demanded a retraction. SLUMP IN POLLS

Trump has slumped in opinion polls in recent days as uproar over the video threatened to engulf the former reality TV star's White House campaign in a way that earlier controversies surrounding him have not.A Reuters/Ipsos survey showed one in five Republicans thought Trump's comments about groping women disqualified him from the presidency. The poll also showed him 8 points behind Clinton among likely voters. Trump trails Clinton by up to 11 points in other polls. He has never previously run for political office. Provocative statements have been a feature of his presidential bid since the day in June 2015 when he described Mexican immigrants as rapists and criminals in a speech announcing he was running for president.

Establishment Republicans have struggled to get behind Trump, alarmed by both his style and some of his policy proposals.Within hours of The New York Times report, several other media outlets published similar reports. People magazine published a detailed first-person account from one of its reporters, Natasha Stoynoff. (bit.ly/2dTm90D)Stoynoff said Trump pinned her against a wall at his Florida estate in 2005 and kissed her as she struggled to get away. "I turned around, and within seconds, he was pushing me against the wall, and forcing his tongue down my throat," Stoynoff said. Trump, 70, denied the People story in a Twitter message and in his speech in Florida on Thursday, and mocked the writer."I ask her a simple question. Why wasn't it part of the story that appeared 12 years ago? Why didn't they make it part of the story ... if she had added that, it would have been the headline.""Look at her and look at her words," he said. "You tell me what you think. I don't think so."

The Palm Beach Post reported an allegation by Mindy McGillivray, 36, a woman in South Florida, that Trump had grabbed her bottom 13 years ago while she was working at his Mar-a-Lago estate as a photographer's assistant."There is no truth to this whatsoever," Trump's spokeswoman, Hope Hicks, told the Post. McGillivray could not be reached for comment.At the rally on Thursday, Trump said he had been prepared for attacks, but "I never knew it would be this vile, that it would be this bad, that it would be this vicious." He said the "corrupt political establishment," which he said included special interests, was trying to stop him so it could carry out a program of "radical globalization and the disenfranchisement of working people." "Our great civilization, here in America and across the civilized world has come upon a moment of reckoning," he said. REPUBLICAN HOPES

In the 2005 video, Trump bragged about groping women, kissing them without permission, and trying to seduce a married woman. He said during a presidential debate on Sunday that he had not actually done the things he had boasted about, and apologised for his remarks, which he called private "locker room talk."Fallout from the video has thrown a cloud over Republican hopes of retaining control of the U.S. Congress and deeply split the party as elected officials have abandoned support for the candidate.U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan said on Monday he was no longer going to campaign for or defend Trump. Trump has since veered between pronouncing himself free to campaign as he likes, and expressing fury at Ryan and other "disloyal" Republicans.A spokeswoman for Clinton, 68, said Wednesday's report in The New York Times was "disturbing."The Washington Post endorsed Clinton, a former secretary of state, on Thursday. "In the gloom and ugliness of this political season, one encouraging truth is often overlooked: There is a well-qualified, well-prepared candidate on the ballot ... we endorse her without hesitation," it said. (Additional reporting by Roberta Rampton, Emily Flitter, Jonathan Allen, Emily Stephenson, Susan Cornwell, David Morgan, Michelle Conlin, Eric Beech, Eric Walsh, Doina Chiacu; Writing by Alistair Bell; Editing by Frances Kerry and Peter Cooney)

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GENEVA An Aeroflot passenger plane was evacuated at Geneva airport on Thursday and a Russian man was arrested after saying there was a bomb on board, the prosecutor's office in the Swiss city said. The man told an airline ticket desk just before 1 p.m. local time (1100 GMT) that there was a bomb on a plane at the airport, it said in a statement."The aircraft, already preparing for take-off on the tarmac, was recalled to its stand. The passengers were taken off, nobody was hurt," it said. Aeroflot said passengers booked on its flight 2381 to Moscow would be transferred to other aircraft.The man who made the threat was arrested and later admitted making a false bomb threat, saying he had been joking, the prosecutor's office said in a second statement. The prosecutor's spokesman said there were 115 people on board, but he did not specify if that included flight crew.

Several hours after the evacuation, a Reuters video journalist saw police dogs being used to check luggage that had been taken out of the plane and piled up in the rain, while a policeman and an official in a high-visibility jacket checked the outside of the aircraft. The incident comes less than three months after the airport was put on high alert for half a day because of a woman who made a false bomb threat in a fit of jealousy over her husband and his mistress.

She was later jailed for three months and billed 90,000 Swiss francs ($92,000) for wasting police time. Elsewhere in Europe, Brussels and Istanbul airports have both suffered deadly bomb attacks this year.

($1 = 0.9768 Swiss francs) (Reporting by Tom Miles, Stephanie Nebehay and Marina Depetris in Geneva, Jack Stubbs and Gleb Stolyarov in Moscow; Editing by Mark Trevelyan)

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Greece: Police in Greece say a central Athens bookstore selling survivalist literature has been targeted in a bomb attack, causing damage but no injuries.

The blast occurred late Wednesday following warning telephone calls to a newspaper and news website, with the device exploding a few minutes earlier than the time given by the anonymous caller.

The explosion damaged the store as well as nearby parked cars and apartment block windows. It happened near a police station in a neighborhood where militant anarchist groups are active.

Bomb and arson attacks are relatively common in Greece, mostly targeting banks and politicians' offices, and rarely causing injury.

A Greek militant anarchist group claimed responsibility for the blast. The Conspiracy Nuclei of Fire nihilist group said Thursday the attack targeted a prosecutor living in the block of flats above the ground-floor bookshop.

In a posting on a left-wing website, the group accused prosecutor Georgia Tsatani of corruption and excessive severity in her handling of a case involving the wife of a convicted group member.

The group has claimed responsibility for a series of blasts, including a failed parcel bomb campaign that targeted European politicians in 2010.
By Crispin Dembassa-Kete

| KAGA BANDORO, Central African Republic

KAGA BANDORO, Central African Republic Fighters from Central African Republic's largely Muslim Seleka militia attacked refugees in the country's remote north on Wednesday, stabbing or hacking to death 13 people before U.N. peacekeepers repelled them, killing at least 10, officials said.Several people were also wounded in the attack targeting Kaga Bandoro, a town of dirt roads and thatched mud huts. A Reuters witness saw militiamen stab two refugees to death as people were fleeing. When some tried to fight back with clubs, the militiamen began firing their guns.Hundreds of panicked villagers, already refugees from earlier violence, then fled in the direction of the U.N. base. Central African Republic has been in chaos since early 2013 when the Seleka, which draws mostly from the country's minority Muslim population, toppled then-President Francois Bozize.Militias representing the interests of the Christian majority responded by attacking Muslims and a fifth of the population fled their homes to escape the violence, leaving the isolated nation deeply divided along ethnic and religious lines."We were in the house when suddenly the Seleka arrived and set it on fire," said a witness, Marcelline Kanga, 40. "They killed my uncle and stabbed my brother to death right there."

Yongon Samson, 48, described seeing a body with the head sliced off it as he ran for cover.Thousands of people displaced from the latest flare up of violence gathered around the U.N. peacekeeping base. A Catholic priest took refuge inside. Troops from the mission, called Minusca, opened fire to dispel the militias, a Reuters witness saw.

A U.N. official, who declined to be quoted, said the peacekeepers had to open fire in order to protect the civilian population and confirmed that at least ten Seleka were killed.Central African Republic's U.N. peacekeeping mission, which has sought to try to keep the rival factions from each other's throats, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The country, which holds reserves of uranium, gold and diamonds, is one of the world's most isolated economies, with exports and imports having to travel around 850 miles by road between the capital Bangui to the Cameroonian port of Douala.

France said on Friday it was keeping an eye on the worsening security situation in Central African Republic, but that it would still withdraw most of its troops by the end of the month.Eleven people were killed in clashes in the capital Bangui last week, set off by the murder of an army officer. Pope Francis visited the capital at the end of last year to implore Christians and Muslims to end a spiral of hate. (Writing and additional reporting by Tim Cocks in Dakar; Editing by Dominic Evans and Chris Reese)

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Rome: Italian playwright and actor Dario Fo, who won the Nobel prize for literature in 1997, has died at the age of 90, Prime Minister Matteo Renzi announced Thursday.

Left-winger Fo, one of the leading figures in 20th century farce and political theatre, was best known for his works "Accidental Death of an Anarchist" and "Can't Pay, Won't Pay".

His opposition to conformism and commitment to political and social causes involved him in numerous court cases and controversies with the Italian state, police, censors, television and even the Vatican.

"With Dario Fo's death, Italy has lost one of the great characters of its theatre, culture and civilian life. His satirical work, research, stage work and multi-faceted artistic activity are the legacy of a great Italian to the world," Renzi said in comments carried by the Agi news agency.

The Nobel jury honoured him for his work which they said emulated "the jesters of the Middle Ages in scourging authority and upholding the dignity of the downtrodden".

Fo stirred controversy with his 1969 work "Mistero buffo" ("Comical Mystery"), a retelling of the Christian gospels in an improvised format, condemned by the pope at the time as "desecrating Italian religious feelings".

His 2003 play "The Two-Headed Anomaly", which took aim at Italy's then-prime minister Silvio Berlusconi sold out in the theatre but was censored on television after a complaint by one of the billionaire politician's aides.

A committed follower of the political hard left, Fo was refused a visa to the United States in 1980 because of his membership in "Soccorso Rosso," an organisation supporting prison inmates.

The Vatican reacted in horror at Fo's Nobel, with its newspaper L'Osservatore Romano saying that bestowing the award on "the author of questionable works is beyond all imagination".

But the Swedish Academy hailed the Italian as an "extremely serious satirist with a multifaceted oeuvre".

"With a blend of laughter and gravity he opens our eyes to abuses and injustices in society and also the wider historical perspective in which they can be placed," the jury said.

"His independence and clear-sightedness have led him to take great risks, whose consequences he has been made to feel while at the same time experiencing enormous response from widely differing quarters."

Fo's work was characterised by absurdist language, which mingled local dialects, Latin phrases and literary quotations and mixed up laughter with seriousness.

Born in Lombardy, northern Italy in 1926, Fo married the actress and activist Franca Rame in 1954. She died in 2013, aged 83.
By Shihar Aneez

The Maldives said on Thursday it will leave the Commonwealth, weeks after the organisation warned it could be suspended because of its lack of progress in promoting the rule of law and democracy.Best known as a paradise for wealthy tourists, the Indian Ocean archipelago has been mired in political unrest since Mohamed Nasheed, its first democratically elected leader, was ousted in disputed circumstances in 2012.The Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group last month warned the Maldives that in the absence of substantive progress in rule of law and democracy, it would consider its options, including suspension.The Commonwealth comprises 53 states that were mostly former British colonies."The decision to leave the Commonwealth was difficult, but inevitable," the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

"Regrettably, the Commonwealth has not recognised that progress and achievements that the Maldives accomplished in cultivating a culture of democracy in the country and in building and strengthening democratic institutions." Commonwealth Secretary-General Patricia Scotland expressed sadness and disappointment over the decision. "The Commonwealth Charter reflects the commitment of our member states to democracy and human rights, development and growth, and diversity," Scotland said in a statement.

"We hope that this will be a temporary separation and that Maldives will feel able to return to the Commonwealth family and all that it represents in due course."Amnesty International said the Maldives authorities should address their own human rights situation rather than lashing out at legitimate criticism."Human rights have been in a complete freefall in the country over the past few years. The government has locked up opponents through politically motivated trials and led an unprecedented crackdown on independent media," Amnesty's South Asia Director Champa Patel said.

President Abdulla Yameen's administration reintroduced the death penalty in July, rejecting repeated requests by rights groups and the West. [L4N1AQ3VB]Nasheed, in exile in Britain after being allowed out of jail to go there for medical treatment, formed the Maldives United Opposition in June with the aim of toppling Yameen. Yameen's administration has arrested most of his opponents. The opposition says the administration is trying to cover up corruption including money laundering, accusations the government has denied. (Reporting by Shihar Aneez; Editing by Nick Macfie and Mark Trevelyan)

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By Aleksandar Vasovic

| PODGORICA

PODGORICA Russia is pouring money into Montenegro's election campaign in an attempt to derail the country's progress towards joining NATO, the country's Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic said on Thursday, three days ahead of an election.Djukanovic, who has led the tiny Balkan country as president or prime minister for more than 25 years, is facing his toughest ever electoral challenge from opposition parties that accuse him of cronyism and of treating Montenegro as a personal fiefdom.In an interview with Reuters, he said opposition parties were being financed by Moscow, which saw Sunday's parliamentary vote as a final opportunity to stop the Balkan region's rush to integrate with the European Union and the Atlantic alliance."Russia has engaged a serious financial potential, which is I assume, made possible through its oligarchs and funelled through secret channels through Serbia and Republika Srpska," Djukanovic said, referring to the Serbian part of Bosnia, Montenegro's northern neighbour."Traditional opposition, pro-Serb parties are now proponents of Russian interests in the Balkans," he added."These elections are the last chance for opponents of Montenegro and the Balkans adopting European values," he said.Russia and opposition parties have denied allegations that Moscow has intervened in the election campaign, though Russia's foreign minister has dubbed as "irresponsible" NATO's planned admission of Montenegro.

Sunday's vote pits Djukanovic's Democratic Party of Socialists against two major opposition alliances, containing a mixture of pro-Serb and pro-Western parties. They accuse Djukanovic of using scare tactics to stay in power."He labels every opponent a danger to Montenegro and its state interests," Nebojsa Medojevic, a senior figure in the opposition Democratic Front alliance, said on Thursday.

He also accused Djukanovic of being the one most closely aligned with Moscow's interests."Russian interests and influence entered Montenegro during Djukanovic's (rule). In 2005, Djukanovic communicated closely with Russian official politics, informal centres of power, the Russian mafia and intelligence structures," Medojevic said. He pledged to hold Djukanovic to account for alleged corruption if he took power.The Adriatic republic of 620,000 people has strong economic and traditional ties with Russia, another predominantly Orthodox Christian country. But Djukanovic said Montenegro had to look westwards.

"The stability of the Western Balkans and (European) integration go hand in hand," he said.The European Union and the US see closer integration with Europe's political and economic alliances as the best way of maintaining peace in a region, which was wrecked by war in the 1990s when Yugoslavia broke up into seven successor states.Croatia and Slovenia have already joined NATO and the EU, while Serbia and Bosnia are both pursuing EU membership.NATO membership is a sensitive issue in Montenegro, which was bombed by NATO in 1999 when it and Serbia were all that remained of Yugoslavia. Nonetheless, it is nearing the end of the accession process. Ten countries have already ratified its accession treaty. (Reporting by Aleksandar Vasovic; Editing by Thomas Escritt and Hugh Lawson)

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By Michelle Nichols

| UNITED NATIONS

UNITED NATIONS New Zealand gave the 15-member United Nations Security Council on Wednesday a draft resolution that would demand an end to all attacks that may kill civilians in Syria, particularly air strikes in Aleppo, just days after Russia vetoed a similar text. Russia on Saturday vetoed a French draft resolution that would have demanded an end to "all aerial bombardments of and military flights over Aleppo city." A similar rival Russian text, which did not include that demand, was voted on straight after the French text, but failed to get enough votes.The New Zealand draft resolution, seen by Reuters, demands an "end to all attacks which may result in the death or injury of civilians or damage to civilian objects in Syria, in particular those carried out by air in Aleppo."The Syrian government launched an assault to capture rebel-held areas of Aleppo last month with Russian air support and Iranian-backed militias, a week into a ceasefire agreed by Washington and Moscow. More than 250,000 people are trapped under siege in eastern Aleppo.

The New Zealand draft text was likely to be discussed by council envoys at a lunch with U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Thursday, diplomats said, adding that the aim was to see if a vote could be taken within a week or so.A U.N. resolution needs nine votes in favour and no vetoes to be adopted. The veto powers are the United States, France, Britain, Russia and China. "The council has a responsibility to try to address what is clearly the biggest issue on its agenda and with the level of killing and destruction that is going on just to give up seems to us not to be an acceptable course of action," New Zealand's U.N. Ambassador Gerard van Bohemen said.

"The aim on this one is to make a practical difference. We know resolution of themselves don't do that, but if it helps people make decisions to change their behaviour then it would be useful," he said. Separately, diplomats said Canada was pushing for the 193-member U.N. General Assembly to be briefed on Syria next week.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry will meet his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, in Switzerland on Saturday to discuss Syria, officials said. Kerry broke off talks with Lavrov last week over the Aleppo offensive. (Reporting by Michelle Nichols; Editing by Andrew Hay)

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Manila: Philippine leader Rodrigo Duterte has issued an administrative order to create a presidential task force to protect journalists and investigate attacks on media, in what is one of the world's most dangerous countries for the press.

A special unit comprised of cabinet ministers, police, defence and justice officials would spend a month compiling an inventory of outstanding cases before pursuing investigations, said Philippine's Presidential Communications Secretary Martin Andanar.

The Philippines enjoys one of the most liberal media environments in Asia, but violence against journalists is common and probes into killings are often inconclusive or hamstrung by lack of witness testimony.

"The reason why the president wanted this administrative order number 1 is because he cares for you, for us," Andanar told a regular briefing on Thursday.

"And he believes in freedom of the press."

The order was signed by Duterte on Tuesday and includes the formation of an oversight panel to scrutinise the probes and gather input from non-governmental sources, such as human rights and journalist groups.

It would also monitor media personnel in danger and provide them with protection, Andanar said.

Scores of journalists have been killed in the Philippines in the past three decades, with many of the victims being radio broadcasters covering provincial-level politics, which is notoriously dangerous.

Thirty-one journalists were among 57 people killed in a massacre in 2009 in the southern province of Maguindanao while covering a local election, in what was one of the most deadly incidents involving media in the world.

The Committee to Protect Journalists ranks the Philippines fourth in the world in its impunity index, which tracks deaths of media members whose killers go free.
ROME At least 17 migrants are missing after a night-time rescue of more than 100 others from a partially submerged rubber boat off the coast of Libya, the Migrant Offshore Aid Station (MOAS) said on Thursday.Italy's coastguard received a distress call from the vessel on Wednesday evening and alerted the privately funded MOAS ship Phoenix, which used remote-controlled drones to locate the boat, a statement said.The Phoenix crew pulled 113 to safety, but survivors said it had set out from Libya with 130 on board. Among those missing was a Nigerian toddler who was about to turn 3 years old, his mother told rescuers."The sea was rough and the boat was taking on water. At one point some people started to panic. The next thing I knew I was pushed into the water and I lost my son in the chaos," the boy's mother told the Phoenix crew, MOAS said.

A young man said five of his friends were missing, and another man said a 16-year-old girl also had disappeared.Photographs posted on the MOAS web site show that many migrants were in the water and clinging to the boat when rescuers arrived. A search for the bodies had to be abandoned due to rough seas, the statement said.

Many of those rescued suffered burns caused by leaking fuel, and one woman was in shock with first-degree burns on a third of her body, MOAS said. A medical evacuation for her had been blocked by bad weather. Separately on Wednesday, two rescue vessels operated by MOAS and Save the Children rescued a total of 470 migrants, an Italian coastguard spokesman said.

The central Mediterranean route between North Africa and Italy is the deadliest border in the world for migrants. More than 3,100 have gone missing or died this year while trying to use this route to reach Europe by boat, the International Organization for Migration estimates. (Reporting by Steve Scherer; Editing by Hugh Lawson)

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JOHANNESBURG South African President Jacob Zuma has asked a court to stop the release of results of an anti-corruption investigation over allegations of political interference by his wealthy friends, his spokeswoman said on Thursday.Public Protector Thuli Madonsela was due on Friday to release her preliminary findings in a probe into the Guptas, an Indian-born family accused of using their close ties with Zuma to influence cabinet appointments."I can confirm that the president has applied for a court interdict," Zuma's spokesman Bongani Ngqulunga told Reuters.Madonsela questioned Zuma for four hours last week as part of her final investigation before her seven-year term comes to an end on Saturday.In a statement late Thursday, graft watchdog spokeswoman Kgalalelo Masibi said Madonsela would release her last batch of investigation reports on Friday and provide updates on the progress of other investigations. But she did not state whether the report on the Guptas would be among them.Although Zuma and the Guptas deny wrongdoing, the allegations have damaged the president, who was separately forced to repay part of the cost of a lavish upgrade to his private residence as a result of an investigation by Madonsela.

On Monday, Zuma asked Madonsela not to report her findings until he has had a chance to question other witnesses and reviewed any evidence that implicated him. But Madonsela said the president had been given all the evidence implicating him on Oct. 1, and urged Zuma to answer questions to aid the probe.The main opposition Democratic Alliance party said in a statement that Zuma was "worried about what is contained in this report, and desperate to stop it from being made public".Lawyer Gert van der Merwe, who represents Ajay Gupta, said his client would not seek to block the report.

The row over the report adds to pressure on Zuma, whose government was rocked this week when prosecutors ordered Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan to appear in court on Nov. 2 to hear fraud charges against him, news that sent markets reeling.Analysts have said that Gordhan has been a target of political pressure from a faction allied to the president although he has denied any rift with the finance minister.

Perceived divisions between Gordhan and Zuma have previously rattled markets in Africa's most industrialised economy, which is at risk of having its credit rating downgraded to "junk" later this year.The premier of Guateng, South Africa's most economically important province, said the fraud charges levelled against Gordhan were frivolous and undermined efforts to avoid a ratings cut."It undermines every little effort that South Africa is making to move forward," David Makhura said at a Thomson Reuters conference in Cape Town, accusing Zuma's administration of "recklessness". (Reporting by Nqobile Dludla, James Macharia, Mfuneko Toyana in Johannesburg and Ed Cropley and Wendell Roelf in Cape Town; Writing by Joe Brock and James Macharia; editing by Catherine Evans and Grant McCool)

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By Ellen Francis

| BEIRUT

BEIRUT Syria's military backed by Russian warplanes have killed more than 150 people in eastern Aleppo this week say rescue workers, part of a renewed bombardment supporting an offensive to seize the city's shattered rebel-held sector. As air strikes and shelling of the city's east intensified since Tuesday after a brief period of relative calm, Syria's government approved a U.N. plan to allow aid convoys into most besieged areas of Syria, with the exception of Aleppo. Rising casualties in Aleppo, where buildings have been reduced to rubble or are lacking roofs or walls, have caused international outcry and a renewed diplomatic push, with talks between the United States and Russia planned for Saturday. Now in its sixth year, Syria's civil war has killed 300,000 people and made millions homeless while dragging in regional and global powers and inspiring jihadist attacks abroad. President Bashar al-Assad is backed by Russia's air force, Iran's Revolutionary Guards and an array of Shi'ite militias from Arab neighbours, while Sunni rebels seeking to oust him are backed by Turkey, the United States and Gulf monarchies. Air strikes killed 13 people on Thursday in the rebel-held Aleppo districts of al-Kalaseh, Bustan al-Qasr and al-Sakhour according to a civil defence official, while European Union foreign ministers drafted a statement accusing Syria and its allies of violence that "may amount to war crimes"."Since the beginning of the offensive by the (Syrian) regime and its allies, the intensity and scale of aerial bombardment of eastern Aleppo is clearly disproportionate," a draft of their statement seen by Reuters said.Syrian military officials could not immediately be reached for comment on the latest situation in Aleppo. The Syrian and Russian governments say they only target militants.OBAMA TO REVIEW OPTIONS

U.S. President Barack Obama and his senior foreign policy advisers are expected to meet on Friday to consider military and other options in Syria, U.S. officials said.Some officials argue the United States must act more forcefully in Syria or risk losing what influence it still has over moderate rebels and its Arab, Kurdish and Turkish allies in the fight against Islamic State, the officials told Reuters.U.S. officials said they consider it unlikely that Obama will order U.S. air strikes on Syrian government targets, and they stressed that he may not make any decisions at the planned meeting of his National Security Council.U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov are due to meet in Switzerland on Saturday to resume their failed effort to find a diplomatic solution along with counterparts from some Middle East states. Moscow on Thursday called on regional states not to supply portable anti-aircraft missiles to Syrian rebel groups, warning that any unfriendly actions against Russian forces would elicit an appropriate response.

Speaking to a Russian newspaper, Syria's Assad said his country's only hope was that Moscow could convince Turkey to end its support of the rebellion, a move that would cut insurgents off from their main external supply route. "IT'S GOING ON NOW"

Air strikes against rebel-held areas of eastern Aleppo had tapered off over the weekend after the Syrian army announced it would reduce raids for what it described as humanitarian reasons, but they have intensified since Tuesday."The bombing started at 2 a.m. and it's going on until now," Ibrahim Abu Laith, an official at the civil defence rescue organisation in Aleppo, told Reuters from Aleppo. Rescue workers said 154 people had been killed in recent days. Reuters could not independently verify the death toll.

Aleppo has been divided between government- and rebel-controlled areas for years. More than 250,000 people are believed to be trapped in eastern Aleppo, the rebels' most important urban stronghold, facing shortages of food, fuel and medicine.In Geneva, the United Nations said Damascus had partially approved its aid plan for October, giving the green light for convoys to 25 of 29 besieged and hard-to-reach areas across Syria, which are also deprived of some vital supplies.However, the Syrian government did not give approval for either eastern Aleppo or three districts near Damascus, Ramzy Ezzeldin Ramzy, the United Nation's deputy special envoy to Syria said on Thursday, describing the situation as "dire". The war has badly affected government-held regions of Syria too and on Thursday Damascus and Moscow struck a deal to import one million tonnes of Russian wheat, enough to cover the needs of those areas for a year, at cheap prices.In a government-held area of western Aleppo, at least four children were killed and 10 wounded on Thursday when shells landed near a school, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported. Syrian state news agency SANA said the school in the al-Suleimaniya area had been targeted in what it described as a terrorist attack.The Observatory, a Britain-based war monitoring group, also said shelling on government-held parts of Aleppo had killed eight people on Wednesday and said 79 civilians had been killed in eastern Aleppo since Tuesday. (Additional reporting by Tom Perry in Beirut, Arshad Mohammed and Jonathan Landay in Washington, Stephanie Nebehay in Geneva, Kylie MacLellan in London, Jack Stubbs in Moscow, Gabriela Baczynska in Luxembourg and Maha El Dahan in Abu Dhabi; Writing by Angus McDowall in Beirut; Editing by Peter Millership)

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By David Brunnstrom

| WASHINGTON

WASHINGTON The death of Thailand's King Bhumibol Adulyadej on Thursday adds a new layer of uncertainty to U.S. President Barack Obama's faltering "pivot" to Asia less than a month before the Nov. 8 U.S. presidential elections.The king was important in cementing the long-standing alliance between the United States and Thailand after World War Two, in a reign that spanned the Vietnam War and development of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), which Washington still considers vital to maintaining its influence in the region.King Bhumibol's death coincides with faltering momentum in Obama's signature policy of rebalancing the U.S. diplomatic and security focus to the Asia-Pacific region in the face of China's rapid rise.The main economic pillar of the rebalance, the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal, is languishing in the U.S. Congress with no guarantee that Obama will be able to push it through before leaving the presidency to Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump, both of whom say they oppose the deal.Clinton, as secretary of state under fellow-Democrat Obama from 2009-13, was one of the architects of the policy but Republican Trump has questioned the extent to which he would maintain the U.S. security commitment to East Asia.Obama's efforts to boost security ties with Southeast Asia have come in response to China's pursuit of territorial claims in the South China Sea, a vital strategic waterway.However, a torrent of anti-American rhetoric from new Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte has cast doubt on the U.S. military relationship with Manila just months after Washington reached an agreement on rotating access to bases in the country.Other Southeast Asian countries, such as Indonesia and Malaysia, are focused on internal political issues and are avoiding playing any leadership role in ASEAN, while even traditionally reliable regional ally Australia is treading carefully to avoid jeopardizing its economic ties with Beijing.Thailand was already occupying a back seat in regional affairs following a 2014 military coup seen as a means to maintain stability during the king's long illness. Thailand is expected to turn further inward during a prolonged mourning period and potentially politically fragile royal succession.King Bhumibol's son, Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn, who is expected to become Thailand's new king, lacks the strong connection to the United States of his father, who was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts.Obama offered condolences to the Thai people and the King's family, calling King Bhumibol "a tireless champion of his country's development."

Obama's former top Asia adviser, Evan Medeiros, now at the Eurasia Group, said the mourning process would likely slow a return to democratic government and Prince Vajiralongkorn was a source of "profound uncertainty." "Hes such an unknown, unpredictable figure," he said.U.S. State Department spokesman Mark Toner said the United States and Thailand had been close friends for two centuries."Our friendship and our partnership have weathered many challenges  we expect it to continue to grow stronger," Toner told a regular news briefing.While the United States backed a return to democracy, Toner said it would be "premature... to lay our expectations for the near term" as Thailand mourned.

MUCH HAS CHANGED

While Washington condemned the 2014 coup, it has kept security ties with Bangkok, particularly through annual military exercises called Cobra Gold."The fact that we have been able to remain closely tethered and stayed largely on track with Cobra Gold and other cooperative efforts, notwithstanding the military takeover ... is testament to the strong roots we have put down and the work that were doing, the senior U.S. diplomat for Asia, Assistant Secretary of State Daniel Russel, said on Wednesday.Murray Hiebert of Washington's Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank, said much had changed since Obama announced his pivot policy in 2011."The king's death adds to uncertainty in Southeast Asia, a region in considerable flux already. This makes the U.S. rebalance to Asia more difficult because the situation in so many countries is that of 'wait and see.' "When the pivot started, you had Thailand engaged, a new leader in Malaysia who wanted to engage, you had Aquino coming in the Philippines and very forward-leaning internationally and very open to the U.S.; you had an internationalist president in Indonesia. It was a rather different dynamic."

King Bhumibol's death means Washington finds itself having to rely even more on former foe Vietnam for any kind of strategic ballast in the region."The Vietnamese are providing the dynamism when it comes to strategic thinking," U.S. Ambassador to Vietnam Ted Osius said in Washington on Tuesday. "Indonesia is very internally focused right now ... Thailand is very internally focused, and Malaysia has a rolling political crisis," he continued."I dont know exactly what direction the Philippines is headed; Singapore has a lot of strategic thinkers but its a city state; I dont think you can really count on Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar to provide the strategic engine for ASEAN."There appears little prospect for now, however, that Vietnam would be willing to open its doors further to the U.S. military should the deal with the Philippines run into problems, given past animosities and concerns about China.I do not expect the Vietnamese calculation to be, Oh, the Philippines is doing whatever its doing, lets race full steam ahead with the United States. No, thats not about to happen," Osius said. "The Vietnamese have been very measured in the pace at which they have expanded the security relationship."Hiebert said Asian countries remain keen on the U.S. pivot, given their worries about China, but the pace was likely to flag further, presenting a tougher task to revive the initiative once Obama leaves power."I wouldn't declare the pivot dead ... I think there's still quite a bit of interest in the U.S., but some of the sort of dynamism that we saw earlier about building the region is a little bit diminished right now," he said. (Reporting by David Brunnstrom; additional reporting by Matt Spetalnick; Editing by John Walcott, James Dalgleish and Grant McCool)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
Bangkok: King Bhumibol Adulyadej, revered in Thailand as a demigod, a humble father figure and an anchor of stability through decades of upheaval at home and abroad, breathed his last on Thursday. He was 88 and had been the world's longest reigning monarch.

The Royal Palace said Bhumibol died "in a peaceful state" at Siriraj Hospital, where he had been treated for various health problems for most of the past decade.

During a reign that spanned 70 years, the US-born Bhumibol became much more than Thailand's constitutional monarch. He was the nation's one constant as myriad governments rose and fell, a gentle leader who used the influence of the throne to unify the nation and rally troops through the Cold War as Thailand's neighbors fell under communist control. In his heyday, the frail-looking, soft-spoken man in spectacles wielded so much power and respect, he was able to squelch coups and rebellions with a gesture or a few well-chosen words.

Bhumibol was viewed by many in the majority Buddhist nation as a bodhisattva, or holy being who delays entering nirvana to aid the human race. But while junta leaders, prime ministers and courtiers approached him only on their knees, Bhumibol was remarkably down-to-earth. He rolled up his sleeves and hiked into impoverished villages and remote rice paddies to assess the state of his country and help resolve everything from water and food shortages to family squabbles. He played half a dozen musical instruments and jammed with American jazz greats including Benny Goodman.

By the twilight of his rule, Bhumibol had become the world's richest monarch and one of the planet's wealthiest people: Forbes magazine estimated his fortune at more than $30 billion in 2011. Although not known for having extravagant tastes, he nevertheless lived the elite life of a modern-day king, racing yachts and appearing at official functions clothed in ornate golden robes.

Over the last decade, the once vigorous Bhumibol had withdrawn from public life due to a series of illnesses. His wife, Queen Sirikit, has also long been ailing and has been even more rarely seen.

The king was often ensconced at a Bangkok hospital, emerging from time to time to gaze across the Chao Phraya River from a special pavilion. He had been notably silent about the political upheaval and protests that have shaken the country in recent years.

Since army-staged coups in 2006 and 2014, political rivals had increasingly invoked the need to protect the palace as a pretext to gain or hold power, and some politicians have been sidelined by opponents who accused them of disrespecting the king, a grave crime in this Southeast Asian country. Although Bhumibol once said he is not above criticism, Thailand's lese majeste law  the world's harshest  has been routinely employed in recent years, with anyone charged with defaming the palace facing 15 years in jail.

The king's heir apparent is his son, Crown Prince Vajiralongkorn, who does not hold his father's place in Thai hearts. There are other possible candidates for succession, and Bhumibol had the constitutional right to appoint a successor, but it was not immediately known whether he had done so.

With the king's passing, the world's longest reigning monarch is Queen Elizabeth II, who ascended to the British throne in 1952.

Bhumibol Adulyadej (poo-me-pon ah-dun-yaa-det) was born on 5 December, 1927, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, while his father, Prince Mahidol of Songkhla, was studying medicine at Harvard University.

Bhumibol ascended to the throne in 1946, when his brother, 20-year-old King Ananda Mahidol, was found dead of a gunshot wound to the head in a palace bedroom under circumstances that remain mysterious. Bhumibol, then an 18-year-old prince, was named king 12 hours later following an extraordinary legislative session.

After the shooting, Bhumibol returned to Switzerland, where he was studying law and political science. In 1948, he was seriously injured in a driving accident that deprived him of sight in his right eye; Sirikit Kitiyakara, the daughter of a Thai aristocrat and diplomat, helped nurse him back to health.

Bhumibol and Sirikit wed in 1950, a week before the king's coronation ceremony. Together they helped bridge East and West, visiting nearly 30 countries early in their reign. Bhumibol addressed the U.S. Congress when Dwight D. Eisenhower was president, dined with French leader Charles de Gaulle and met Elvis Presley on a visit with his queen to a Paramount Studios movie set in 1960.

Thailand has been a constitutional monarchy since 1932, with the prime minister and Parliament holding political power, and the king serving as head of state and placed in "a position of revered worship."

Although disillusioned in recent years with mounting societal greed, environmental destruction and the sidelining of traditions, the king said he tried to move with the times.

"A constitutional monarch must change with the country but at the same time he must keep the spirit of the country," he declared. People may be different, he said, "but the common character of the people must be embodied by the king."

For much of his reign, as Thailand hurtled from a traditional agrarian society of 18 million people to a modern, industrializing nation of 70 million, Bhumibol spearheaded thousands of projects aimed at improving life for his people, traveling to the farthest reaches of his nation to join village elders on a patch of grass to discuss the recent harvest or plot an irrigation ditch.

The weight of royalty and Bhumibol's work on behalf of Thailand's have-nots won him a following backed up by nightly TV programs that tracked his every move. He remained active until his final years and dispensed funds and advice on everything from deforestation to Bangkok's traffic.

"They say that a kingdom is like a pyramid: the king on top and the people below," he once told an Associated Press reporter. "But in this country it's upside down. That's why I sometimes have a pain around here." He pointed to his neck and shoulders.

The name Bhumibol means "Strength of the Land," and the bounty of Thailand's soil and waters was the king's passion. In 1952 he set out to breed a better freshwater fish, a staple of the Thai peasantry, in the ponds of his Chitralada Palace in Bangkok. It was the first of more than 4,300 palace-sponsored development projects now blanketing the country.

He pioneered work to help eradicate the opium grown by northern hill tribes. "It has become an instrument of destruction ... The drugs subjugate the body, the money subjugates the soul," he said, dipping into his own pocket to start a project to convince the tribes to abandon opium crops for others like tea and coffee.

While normally in the background of government theater, the king stepped to the forefront at crucial moments of Thai history. During a pro-democracy uprising in 1973, he ordered the gates of the Grand Palace to be opened to students fleeing the gunfire of troops loyal to a dictatorial triumvirate. The message was clear, and the trio went into exile. In 1992, during another bloody confrontation between the military and pro-democracy protesters, the king called in the two key protagonists, who prostrated themselves before him on nationwide TV and promised peace. The crisis ended immediately.

After mass protests against Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra began in 2006, Bhumibol urged the country's top courts to resolve the political crisis. A bloodless military coup followed, and part of the army rationale for intervening was Thaksin's alleged disrespect for the king.

Even with Thaksin dispatched, the crisis simmered, with his opponents  the so-called "Yellow Shirts"  claiming the mantle of defending the monarchy. With the country polarized, Queen Sirikit showed her sympathies by attending the funeral of a Yellow Shirt follower killed in protest clashes, undermining the axiom that the throne was above politics.

By 2011, the king's health had worsened and Thaksin's sister Yingluck Shinawatra had become prime minister through elections. Mass protests helped fuel an unstable climate that triggered another army coup in 2014.

Through it all, Bhumibol himself remained adored and revered. His occasional public outings drew tens of thousands of people into the streets trying to catch a glimpse, with most dressed in the royal color yellow. Many have wept at the sight of his passing motorcade.

Much of the admiration is genuine: framed posters, paintings and photographs of the king are ubiquitous in Thai homes and shops, depicting not only an exalted figure in glimmering robes, but also an ordinary-looking man with a camera strapped around his chest. Taxicab windows proclaim "Long Live the King."

But some of the adulation is obligatory. Bhumibol's birthday is a national holiday. Pedestrians must stop while the royal anthem is played at 8 a.m. and 6 p.m. daily in parks and the mass transit system. In cinemas, a brief film play depicting the impact of Bhumibol's life runs before every movie, and the audience must stand as it is shown.

Although Vajiralongkorn is the heir apparent, the throne could still pass to one of his sons or to his more popular sister, Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn. Bhumibol also has two other daughters, Chulabhorn and Ubol Ratana. The Privy Council, which advises the king, would have to nominate a candidate, to be approved by the Cabinet and Parliament.

"The next king will not be as influential as King Bhumibol, and I would bet that there will be a lot of competition to gain power over him or her by the military and political factions who want to use the king for their own ends," said Paul Handley, American author of "The King Never Smiles," a biography of the king scorned by monarchists for its frank criticism.

It's indicative of the king's untouchability that the book was banned in Thailand, and a Thai-American man was arrested for allegedly posting translations of parts of the book on the internet.

Some have speculated that it was not just poor health that led Bhumibol to increasingly retreat behind palace walls, but his own worries about the future. Some of his private conversations toward the end of his reign reflected a deep concern that Thailand had lost much of the core culture he had sought to embody all his life.
On Monday, Pakistan's prominent journalist Cyril Almeida was barred from leaving the country after he reported on a suspected rift between the civilian and military leaderships during a crucial meeting in which the ISI was told its support for terrorist groups was leaving the country globally isolated.

Allegations made in Almeida's piece in the publication Dawn were denied by the Pakistani government following which they put him on the 'Exit Control List'  a system of border control maintained by Pakistan government under an ordinance which allows it to bar people whose names appear on the list from leaving the country.

Various journalists have come out in support of Almeida and of Dawn. In the following editorial 'How to Lose Friends And Alienate People', Pakistani daily The Nation lends it support to rival Dawn and says, 'The press stands with you'.

Here is the full text of the editorial:

It is a disturbing day when civilian and military top leadership meet to lecture the media on how to do their job. Couched in the familiar and nauseating mantra of protecting vital state interests, the resulting action from the meeting was just a few hours later  the addition of Dawns Cyril Almeida to the Exit Control List.

Apparently a barrage of online abuse, and three official denials were not enough to assuage tempers riled after Mr Almeidas exclusive story in Dawn, detailing an unusual exchange between the very same civilian and military top brass that yesterday issued forth a statement on the violation of universally acknowledged principles of reporting on national security issues.

A denial, perhaps even three, were expected. What was not expected  possibly because the government was incorrectly credited with better judgement  was a witch-hunt. If the government and military top brass were affronted by the implication in the report that Pakistan was facing growing international isolation, they can now congratulate themselves on a coup de grace that unreservedly confirms this fact.

The report by Mr Almeida has been called fabricated, and speculative reporting. But the government and military top brass in yesterdays meeting delivered no explanation for why government MNAs are protesting the visible presence of banned outfits in Pakistan. Or why possible action against Masood Azhar, or Hafiz Saeed is a danger to national security. Or why Pakistan faces increasing isolation? Were all ears.

Instead, how dare the government and military top brass lecture the press on how to do their job. How dare they treat a feted reporter like a criminal. And how dare they imply that they have either the right or the ability or the monopoly to declare what Pakistans national interest is. Or even more laughably, what universally acknowledged principles of reporting are.

Since the government would counsel us, the press, on how to do our job, we would like to offer some advice for them, on how to better do theirs. Leave journalists alone. Worry a great deal about Pakistans image abroad  some of our actions and inactions as a country are indefensible  everyone knows it, no matter how much we may pretend otherwise. Salvage your own newly-minted reputation as a government envious of Kim Jong Il's press management.

For yesterday's statement, and the government's actions, there can be no feeling, save of contempt. And for Mr Almeida, nothing but solidarity. More power to you, and to your pen. The press stands with you.

Also read- Not Just Cyril Almeidas Goan Roots, Pakistan's Dawn Has Kerala Connection
By Roberta Rampton and Emily Flitter

| WASHINGTON

WASHINGTON Two women accused Donald Trump of inappropriate touching in interviews with the New York Times, claims his spokesman called fiction but which may further damage the Republican presidential candidate's chances of winning the Nov. 8 election.The report on Wednesday was followed by a stream of similar allegations from several other women, putting more pressure on Trump as he lags Democratic rival Hillary Clinton in national opinion polls. The campaign was already struggling to contain a crisis after a video surfaced last week showing the candidate bragging in 2005 about groping women and making unwanted sexual advances.One of the women, Jessica Leeds, appeared on camera on the New York Times' website to recount how Trump grabbed her breasts and tried to put his hand up her skirt on a flight to New York in or around 1980. (nyti.ms/2dx8k5R)The second woman, Rachel Crooks, described how Trump "kissed me directly on the mouth" in 2005 outside the elevator in Trump Tower in Manhattan, where she was a receptionist at a real estate firm.Trump denied there was any truth to the accounts and the candidate took to Twitter on Thursday morning: "The phoney story in the failing @nytimes is a TOTAL FABRICATION. Written by same people as last discredited story on woman. WATCH!"On Wednesday night, Trump's campaign made public a letter to the newspaper from Marc Kasowitz, a lawyer representing Trump, demanding it retract the story, calling it libelous, and threatening legal action if it did not comply."This entire article is fiction, and for the New York Times to launch a completely false, coordinated character assassination against Mr. Trump on a topic like this is dangerous," the Trump campaign's senior communications adviser Jason Miller said in a statement.Reuters could not independently verify the incidents. Leeds and Crooks did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Reuters."We stand by the story, which falls clearly into the realm of public service journalism," a New York Times spokeswoman said.The report came just two days after a Reuters/Ipsos opinion poll showed one in five Republicans thought Trump's comments about groping women disqualified him from the presidency. The poll also showed him 8 points behind Clinton among likely voters.

It coincided with an endorsement of Clinton on Thursday by The Washington Post. "In the gloom and ugliness of this political season, one encouraging truth is often overlooked: There is a well-qualified, well-prepared candidate on the ballot ... we endorse her without hesitation," it said.MORE ACCOUNTS SURFACE

Within hours of the Times report, several other media outlets published similar reports. People magazine published a detailed first-person account from one of its reporters, Natasha Stoynoff. (bit.ly/2dTm90D)Stoynoff said Trump pinned her against a wall at his Florida estate in 2005 and kissed her as she struggled to get away.

"I turned around, and within seconds, he was pushing me against the wall, and forcing his tongue down my throat," Stoynoff said. Trump, 70, denied the People story, attacking his accuser for not coming forward sooner. "Why didn't the writer of the twelve year old article in People Magazine mention the "incident" in her story. Because it did not happen!" he wrote on Twitter. The article included a denial from a Trump spokeswoman who called the article a "politically motivated fictional pile-on."The Palm Beach Post reported a claim by Mindy McGillivray, 36, a woman in South Florida, that Trump had grabbed her bottom 13 years ago while she was working at his Mar a Lago estate as a photographer's assistant."There is no truth to this whatsoever," Trump's spokeswoman Hope Hicks told the Post. McGillivray could not be reached for comment.

'DISTURBING'

The reports followed the emergence of the video from 2005 in which Trump bragged about groping women, kissing them without permission, and trying to seduce a married woman. Trump, a New York businessman who has never previously run for elected office, said during a presidential debate on Sunday that he had not actually done the things he had boasted about, and apologized for his remarks, which he called private "locker room talk."The video has jeopardized Trump's chances of winning the White House and thrown a cloud over Republican hopes of retaining control of the U.S. Congress. It has also deeply split the party as a slew of elected officials have abandoned support for the candidate.U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan, the country's most senior elected Republican, said on Monday he was no longer going to campaign for or defend Trump. Trump has veered since between pronouncing himself free to campaign as he likes, and expressing fury at Ryan and other "disloyal" Republicans.A spokeswoman for Clinton said Wednesday's report in the New York Times was "disturbing.""These reports suggest that he lied on the debate stage and that the disgusting behavior he bragged about in the tape is more than just words," said spokeswoman Jennifer Palmieri. (Additional reporting by Emily Flitter, Jonathan Allen, Emily Stephenson, Susan Cornwell, David Morgan, Michelle Conlin, Eric Beech, Eric Walsh, Doina Chiacu; Editing by Bill Rigby and Frances Kerry)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
By Mark Hosenball and David Ingram

| WASHINGTON/NEW YORK

WASHINGTON/NEW YORK U.S. investigators believe a Jordanian student pilot was trying to kill himself when he crashed a small plane in Connecticut this week but do not believe he was affiliated with militant groups, two federal officials familiar with the probe said on Thursday.Feras Freitekh, 28, was with a flight instructor in a twin-engine Piper PA-34 Seneca when the plane slammed into a utility pole on Tuesday and burst into flames in East Hartford. Freitekh died in the crash and the instructor was badly injured. The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board said on Wednesday that its initial investigation indicated the crash was "the result of an intentional act," and the FBI joined the probe.Investigators came to believe that the crash was a suicide attempt by Freitekh after speaking with the instructor, said the two officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

There is no evidence Freitekh shouted religious statements before the crash and nothing else pointing to terrorism, the officials said. Freitekh had not been known to U.S. intelligence agencies. East Hartford Police Lieutenant Joshua Litwin said at a news conference on Wednesday that he did not know who was flying the plane at the time of the crash. The aircraft had two sets of controls, allowing either person to pilot the plane.Freitekh and the instructor, Arian Prevalla, argued and fought for control before the crash, the Hartford Courant reported on Wednesday, citing unidentified sources.

East Hartford police and the FBI field office in Connecticut could not immediately be reached for comment on Thursday. The crash occurred across the street from the headquarters of aerospace manufacturer Pratt & Whitney, a unit of United Technologies Corp. Investigators looked into whether the manufacturer was possibly targeted.

Investigators, however, believe the plane was on the final approach to a small airport in East Hartford and had been cleared by air traffic controllers to land, one of the federal officials said.Freitekh became certified last year as a private pilot for single-engine planes, according to Federal Aviation Administration records. (Reporting by Mark Hosenball in Washington and David Ingram in New York; editing by Grant McCool)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
By Phil Stewart

| WASHINGTON

WASHINGTON The U.S. military launched cruise missiles on Thursday against three coastal radar sites in areas of Yemen controlled by Iran-aligned Houthi forces, after failed missile attacks this week on a U.S. Navy destroyer, U.S. officials said.Yemen's Houthi movement condemned the strikes and Iran announced it had sent two warships to the Gulf of Aden, according to the semi-official Tasnim news agency, establishing a military presence in waters off Yemen. The U.S. missile strikes, authorized by President Barack Obama, represent Washington's first direct military action against suspected Houthi-controlled targets in Yemen's conflict and raised questions about the potential for further escalation.The Pentagon, however, stressed the limited nature of the strikes, aimed at radar that enabled the launch of at least three missiles against the U.S. Navy ship USS Mason on Sunday and Wednesday. "These limited self-defense strikes were conducted to protect our personnel, our ships and our freedom of navigation," Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook said. In a news conference later, Cook said the strikes were not connected to the broader civil war in Yemen, which has unleashed famine and killed more than 10,000 people since March 2015 in the Arab world's poorest country.The U.S. military said U.S. Navy destroyer USS Nitze launched the Tomahawk cruise missiles around 4 a.m. (0100 GMT) at radar sites located in remote areas where the risk of civilian casualties was low.One U.S. official identified the areas in Yemen where the radar were located as near Ras Isa, north of Mukha and near Khoka. The Houthi movement, which has denied being responsible for the missile attacks on the Mason, warned that it too would defend itself.

"The direct American attack targeting Yemeni soil this morning is not acceptable," Brigadier General Sharaf Luqman, a spokesman for Yemeni forces fighting alongside the Houthis, was quoted as saying by the Houthi-controlled Saba news agency. Iran, which supports the Houthi group, said it had deployed two warships to the Gulf of Aden, to protect ship lanes from piracy. An Iranian official told Reuters the vessels were deployed a few days ago, but declined to say when they will arrive.BACKLASH OVER SUSPECTED SAUDI STRIKE

The failed missile attacks on the USS Mason appeared to be part of the reaction to a suspected Saudi-led strike on mourners gathered in Yemen's Houthi-held capital Sanaa last week.

The Houthis, who are battling the internationally-recognised government of Yemen President Abd Rabbu Mansour al-Hadi, denied the missiles were fired from areas under their control, a news agency controlled by the group quoted a military source as saying.The allegations were false pretexts to "escalate aggression and cover up crimes committed against the Yemeni people," the source said.U.S. officials have told Reuters there were growing indications that Houthi fighters, or forces aligned with them, were responsible for the attempted strikes, in which coastal cruise missiles designed to target ships failed to reach the destroyer.Senator John McCain, the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said the missiles fired at the USS Mason were likely provided by Iran.

The missile incidents, along with an Oct. 1 strike on a vessel from the United Arab Emirates, add to questions about safety of passage for military ships around the Bab al-Mandab Strait, one of the world's busiest shipping routes.The Houthis, who are allied to Hadi's predecessor Ali Abdullah Saleh, have the support of many army units and control most of the north, including the capital Sanaa.The Pentagon warned against any future attacks."The United States will respond to any further threat to our ships and commercial traffic, as appropriate," Cook said.The United Arab Emirates (UAE), a leading member of a Saudi-led Arab coalition fighting to end Houthi control, denounced the attacks on the Mason as an attempt to target the freedom of navigation and to inflame the regional situation.Michael Knights, an expert on Yemen's conflict at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, suggested the Houthis, fighters from a Shi'ite sect, could be becoming more militarily aligned with groups such as Lebanon's Shi'ite militant group Hezbollah."Targeting U.S. warships is a sign that the Houthis have decided to join the axis of resistance that currently includes Lebanese Hezbollah, Hamas and Iran," Knight said. (Additional reporting by Mohammed Ghobari in Sanaa, Katie Paul in Riyadh and Parisa Hafezi in Istanbul, Editing by William Maclean, Ralph Boulton and Chris Reese)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
The United States blacklisted four men and their companies based in Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates on Tuesday, for purported ties to an organisation accused of laundering money for drug traffickers and Chinese, Colombian and Mexican crime groups.

Among them was Pakistani national Obaid Khanani, whose father Altaf Khanani was arrested by US authorities in September 2015 and accused by the US Treasury Department of laundering billions of dollars for the Taliban and other groups.

The department said in a statement that Obaid Khanani, 29, continued to help lead his father's money laundering organization after the arrest. Altaf Khanani is set to be tried on money laundering charges in Miami this month, according to federal court records.

Another man on the list, Hozaifa Khanani, also 29, is Altaf Khanani's nephew and was involved in real estate investments on behalf of his uncle's organization, the Treasury Department said. Muhammad Javed Khanani, Altaf Khanani's brother, was "heavily involved in laundering criminal proceeds via money service businesses" Treasury said. It said a fourth man, Atif Polani, helped move funds on behalf of Khanani's organization.

The sanctions block any assets the men or companies might have had in the United States, and bars Americans from dealing with them.

"Treasury remains committed to combating illicit money laundering networks around the world and today's action is the result of close coordination with our partners in the United Arab Emirates," said John E. Smith, acting director of the Office of Foreign Assets Control, which imposes sanctions.

The department also blacklisted several businesses based in Pakistan and Dubai for either being owned by the men or being linked to money laundering.
Written by the Editorial Board of The Guardian Newspaper





It is impressive that the Presidency has commenced the process for the sale of two presidential aircraft, a Falcons 7X executive jet and a Hawker 4000, in fulfillment of an electoral promise in 2015. President Muhammadu Buhari had during the 2015 campaigns criticised past administrations for keeping a large presidential fleet amid widespread poverty.



The decision to sell the jets was in line with the directive of President Buhari that aircraft in the Presidential Air Fleet should be reduced to cut down on waste.

The reduction would, of course, not end with the sale of the two jets as some helicopters in the fleet have also been handed over to the Nigeria Air Force for its operations. This certainly is commendable.

The Presidential Air Fleet currently has 10 aircraft. These include: Boeing Business Jet (Boeing 737-800 or Nigeria Air Force One), one Gulfstream 550, one Gulfstream V (Gulfstream 500), two Falcons 7X, one Hawker Sidley 4000, two Agusta Westland AW 139 helicopters and two Agusta Westland AW 101 helicopters.

Each of the two Falcons 7X jets was purchased in 2010 by the Federal Government at $51.1million, while the Gulfstream 550 cost $53.3 million, according to disclosures by the former President Olusegun Obasanjo administration.

The price of other planes in the fleet could not be ascertained. But according to official aviation market sources, the factory price of other aircraft in the fleet are: Boeing Business Jet, $59m; HS 4000, $22.9m; Agusta Westland 139, $12m; and Agusta Westland 101, $21m.This brings a combined estimated value of Nigerias PAF to $347.4m (N106.13bn). This is a lot of money at such a time as this.

Besides, according to recent reports, the Federal Government had spent N5bn on the 10-aicraft PAF in the last 15 months despite the biting economic recession in the country. The breakdown of the sum showed that N2.3bn was released for PAF by the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation between May and November 2015.

That figure included releases for personnel costs, overheads and capital expenditure; out of the N5.19bn appropriated for PAF in the 2015 budget. Of the sum, the Presidency said N99.715m was spent on aircraft maintenance, spares and subscription services.

In the same vein, the sum of N98.5m was also spent on operations; N165.373m on training and N85.5m on personnel medicals and overheads.

During the period, according to another report, PAF spent N1.350bn to settle outstanding liabilities carried over from 2014 while N500m was refunded to the NSA for financial support rendered for the maintenance of the Fleet prior to release of funds.

All told, the Presidencys move to sell the two aircraft is a step in the right direction. Nigeria is one of Africas leading economies but it is now in its worst economic crisis in years. The government depends on oil sales for about 70% of its revenues and the slump in global oil prices has hit the country hard.

Meanwhile, while it is unwise to support suggestions that all the planes in the presidential air fleet should be sold now, the presidency must always exercise discretion in the deployment of the aircraft for official and other uses. Most times, citizens cannot understand the rights of the spouses of the president and his men who sometimes use the jets in the presidential fleet for trips that are of no value to the country.

Even in South Africa, the only member of G-20 on the African continent, an attempt to buy new ones has been quite controversial. A planned luxury 4bn rand (185m) aircraft for South Africas Jacob Zuma was widely condemned by the citizens last year. And so were plans by Swazilands King Mswati to acquire a second private plane. In contrast, former Malawian President Joyce Banda was widely praised when she auctioned off the official jets in 2013 and vowed to fly commercial or hitch rides with other leaders. Her successor, Peter Mutharika, has, therefore, not been very popular with Malawis donors since he keeps complaining that he is spending too much time waiting at airports and should acquire a plane.

The need for American presidential jets, is rarely questioned. But not every country, even in the developed world, has a private jet for its leader.

The first jet for a British prime minister was inaugurated only in July this year. When Tony Blair suggested buying two private jets for official use, later cancelled by his successor, Gordon Brown, the plan was mocked as Blair Force One.

The British government even now insists on the 10m proposal to refit a RAF Voyager A330 air-to-air refueling aircraft, which is far more modest than its American counterpart and will, in fact, save public money. It is reported that the new arrangement would cost 2,000 per flying hour, compared with an average 6,700 to use either Royal Squadron planes or a long-haul charter. The Royal Family will also be able to use it and it will be available for refueling duties when not in use. That is a society where the government is in the service of the people.

So, President Buhari deserves commendation. But if it is expedient to sell more planes in the Presidential fleet, so be it, as long as this will not impair operational efficiency of the presidency.
Earlier this week Samsung said that it has permanently killed the production and sales of Galaxy Note7. Now, the company is offering incentives to Note 7 customers in the U.S.

Under its new Refund and Exchange Program, Samsung is offering up to a $100 total bill credit for a customer who exchanges a Note7 for any Samsung smartphone. It is also offering a $25 total bill credit for a customer who exchanges a Note7 for a refund or other branded smartphone. The program begins on October 13, 2016.

Samsung announced an expansion of the Galaxy Note7 voluntary recall that includes all original and replacement Galaxy Note7 devices sold or exchanged in the United States before and after the original recall on September 15, 2016. The decision to include new Galaxy Note7 replacement devices as part of an expanded recall was made after Samsung stopped the production, sale and exchange of the product on October 10, 2016.

Tim Baxter, president and chief operating officer, Samsung Electronics America said,

We appreciate the patience of our consumers, carrier and retail partners for carrying the burden during these challenging times. We are committed to doing everything we can to make this right. Customers safety remains a top priority and we ask consumers with an original or replacement Galaxy Note7 to power down and take advantage of the remedies available.

Check out the entire Galaxy Note7 saga in an infographic here.

Source
In this week's Rule Breaker Investing podcast, Motley Fool co-founder David Gardner has invited a special guest: Robin Hanson, a George Mason University economics professor and research associate at Oxford's Future of Humanity Institute. Hanson has master's degrees in physics and philosophy and a Ph.D. in social science, and he previously worked on A.I. at Lockheed Martin and NASA. His recently published book is The Age of Em: Work, Love and Life when Robots Rule the Earth. Hanson joins us this week to discuss a broad topic: the future. His key prediction is that digital brain emulations will be able to do many of the things humans have to today. Where that might lead...well, let him tell it like a science fiction story without characters or a plot, but with a much more sensible and consistent universe. A transcript follows the video.

This video was recorded on Sept. 14, 2016.

DAVID GARDNER:

Let's go with a little bit of storytelling. And any time you're writing a book about a hundred years from now, obviously there's going to be a lot of storytelling. It's a story. It's in your head. What's remarkable about your book is the depth to which you've thought about the implications of brain emulation and how it affects all sectors of society -- everything from how the economy works to who would be president if there even is democracy. The degree of admittedly speculative thinking that you've indulged in goes as deep as anything I've ever read about something this distant.

In fact, I'm wondering, Robin, if anybody in the world has thought more about the world a hundred years from now than you have -- literally and specifically a hundred years from now. Do a little bit of storytelling. I'm still alive, let's say. Let's say you're still alive. Where are we? What does the world look like?

ROBIN HANSON:

So it's like a science fiction novel, except there's no plot and there's no characters, and the story environment makes sense. I've been a science fiction reader for a long time -- I've enjoyed it -- but the more I've learned over the years, the more frustrated I get with story environments not actually making sense if you're flicking through. And that's a standard thing in an action story.

In an action story, you've carried along, and you do this and you do that, and if you ever go back and think about [what your other options were there], you'll find there was lots of other things people could have done that would have made a lot more sense, but at the moment you didn't think of them, and that's how a lot of stories are. I say this makes sense. I've worked all through it.

So I'm claiming I'm not being very speculative in the sense of making things up. I am just applying standard theories, but to an unusual scenario. The speculative part, I would say, is I assume that this kind of robot shows up sometime roughly in the next century, and it's cheaper than humans. And everything after that, I claim, is applying standard theories. Not speculation. Not making stuff up. Not guesswork -- applying standard theories.

Now, that's how we work in the world today. That is, we have data from the past and we abstract that data into our best theories, and then we apply those theories in finance or everything else. And that's what I'm doing here. But you would like an image, so let's start with that image.

You are in a vast city. Almost all emulations are crammed into a small number of very big densities. If you look at it objectively, which sometimes you could, it's just racks and racks of computing hardware. Boiling hot. Huge cooling pipes crammed through it. It's ugly. It's functional. It's stuck.

But you don't look at it that way. You're an em. You mostly live in virtual reality. In virtual reality, it's a gorgeous city. It's got gleaming spires [and] broad, green boulevards, etc. And at any time you can meet with anybody in the city by just thinking of it, and you are instantaneously moved anywhere in the city, anytime you want, in order to meet with anybody.

You can go for a stroll, if you want, just to relax, but you don't really have to do things to travel. You can just instantly be somewhere else. Most of the ems are working most of the time, but they like work, and they're workaholics like many people you might know, so our image should start with them at work.

DAVID:

So let me paint a picture and you tell me if I have this right. Let's pretend, for example, that we have an Einstein-like figure, a human being at the time, sometime in the next century. Naturally we would want to emulate his brain, so we take the most genius human that we can find. And with technology that does not exist today...

ROBIN:

Right.

DAVID:

...we map everything about it so that we're able, essentially, to replicate to the cell level what's happening in that brain. And then because stuff gets cheaper over time, the first human genome cost a billion dollars or more to develop, and now you can have yours, fifteen years later, for two hundred and fifty bucks. So we're able to take Einstein, and we're able to copy him into a robot, and then we're able to make a hundred or a thousand of those robots...

ROBIN:

Or a billion.

DAVID:

Or a billion of those robots -- of those Einsteins. And then they start at the same starting line -- the billion of them -- but they then, from that point forward, autonomously have different experiences. Naturally, uniquely one has this or that experience versus another, and so you end up with all of these different versions of Einstein. Is that a fair recounting of some of the picture that you have in your head when you talk about ems?

ROBIN:

Yes. So picture a billion Einsteins, but they aren't all born at the same moment. They're spread out over time. They take on different jobs and live in different cities. Some of them are plumbers. Some of them do physics. Some of them do music. They just do a wide range of different things, and each of them has thousands of other versions around them, so trained, slightly older, and recent. Ems run out in the sense of they get fragile with time and need to retire. Even though they're electronic, this is how software works today. Software rots, and so the em minds also rot.

So to be ready, they have versions of the ems who were started a year later, trained in slightly newer ways, and will retire a year later, all the way down the line. They see older and younger versions of themselves around, so they know where their life is going. They have a pretty good idea where it's going, and where they'll live, and who they'll marry, and what jobs they'll have.

DAVID:

Do they have consciousness?

ROBIN:

They have all of the human psychological features that you and I do. That's the whole idea. The whole idea is that we don't have to understand how the brain works. All we have to understand is how each cell works, and we model the cells, and we don't care how the larger structure above it works. We can just make a copy and turn it on. So yes, they're conscious. They fall in love. They get mad. They lie to themselves.

DAVID:

And in the meantime, human beings are still around. It's just that our brains can only move at about a billionth, and it's hard to compete against a billion Einsteins if you want to be a plumber, and so we're still on this Earth, but we've been marginalized as the farmers and foragers were before us.

ROBIN:

That's right. Now, this whole Age of Em I'm talking about might [have] as much growth in that Age of Em as there had been during the entire industrial era or during the entire farming era before, but it would all happen within a year or two. The economy might double every month. To typical emulations, who are running a thousand times human speed, that's actually a relatively slow change. They see the economy doubling every subjective century. But to humans sitting on the outside, it's blistering fast.

So the humans can't really change that much in a year or two. They're on the side, retired, but they only experience a year or two. But the ems can experience thousands of years of cultural change, and so they do.
When Wells Fargo's (WFC -0.41%) Chairman and CEO John Stumpf testified before Congress last month about the bank's fake-account scandal, the possibility was raised that the fraud began as far back as 2007 -- four years before the bank has admitted to.

But now there's reason to believe that it went back even further. The New York Times published a piece today quoting former employees of the bank who started reporting the scam to supervisors, the human resources department, and the bank's ethics hotline as early as 2005.

This got me thinking: Maybe the fraud actually dates back to 1998. That was the year Wells Fargo merged with the Minneapolis-based Norwest Bank and handed the reins over to Norwest CEO Dick Kovacevich and his understudy Stumpf.

It was Kovacevich who pushed the combined banks so hard to cross-sell financial services. Here he is writing in the combined banks' 1998 letter to shareholders:

Over the past 10 years, Norwest built a reputation for having the industry's strongest sales and service culture.

He then goes on to say that:

We intend to propagate effective technology -- and a superior sales and service culture -- across the entire new Wells Fargo. We expect every Wells Fargo business to refer all their customers to other businesses. We want to earn nothing short of all the business of every creditworthy customer. We expect to sell at least one more product to every customer every year.

Kovacevich then conditioned those under him, as well as analysts and commentators outside the bank, to focus maniacally on the bank's cross-sell ratio -- the number of financial products (checking accounts, savings accounts, credit cards, mortgages, etc.) that its average customer used. He even stopped referring to the bank's locations as branches, preferring "stores" instead.

However, the most revealing part of that shareholder letter was an anecdote about one of its top-selling bankers. The employee had only one year's worth of experience in a Wells Fargo store. Yet, according to Kovacevich, she already ranked as "one of our best in key measures of sales performance among thousands of her peers in our 21 banking states."

What's strange is that she was based in Billings, Montana -- Norwest's traditional stomping grounds. I spent a lot of time in that area growing up and love it, but in terms of the demand for banking products, it would pale in comparison to Los Angeles or San Francisco, Wells Fargo strongholds.

It's worth asking, then, how a banker in Billings outperformed her colleagues in two of the nation's biggest cities. Maybe she was genuinely an outlier. But maybe not. I mean, after all, she did have only one year's worth of experience in a branch. And it seems unlikely that she brought a huge book of business to the job, as the previous four years she had worked in a Norwest call center.

In 1998, the average customer at the combined banks used 3.2 products. Fast-forward to the end of the most recent quarter, and that had grown to 6.27 products per customer. And, mind you, that's after Wells Fargo's cross-sell ratio declined following its 2008 acquisition of its larger rival Wachovia.

Wells Fargo's goal was to increase this number to eight products per customer. With eight? Here's Kovacevich's successor, Stumpf, writing in the bank's 2010 shareholder letter:

I'm often asked why we set a cross-sell goal of eight. The answer is, it rhymed with "great." Perhaps our new cheer should be: "Let's go again, for ten!"

Now, to be fair, my wife and I use more than a dozen financial products. But we don't live paycheck to paycheck, which, according to industry experts I've spoken to in the past, is the case for something like 40% of retail customers at the nation's biggest banks. Suffice it to say, if you're not saving money, you probably don't need a whole bunch of accounts.

And, in fact, this is exactly what happened at Wells Fargo. Take this exchange from last week's episode of NPR's Planet Money between podcast co-host Robert Smith and a former Wells Fargo employee named Ashley, who was fired after refusing to ply customers with accounts they didn't need:

SMITH: Ashley remembers one day when a man comes into the bank branch. ASHLEY: He was elderly. He had a cane. He was on his own. The teller had sent him over to me the first day I met him because he was overdraft. And he couldn't understand why he was negative. And he was saying, all I want is to buy a newspaper. Why can't I buy my newspaper? SMITH: Ashley pulls up his account on her computer. And she notices something really strange. This man was living off of Social Security. He got around $1,100 a month, and yet... ASHLEY: Well, he had accrued, I think, over $200 in overdrafts. And when I looked at his accounts, he had six different accounts. He had no understanding of the accounts he had. He just said, oh, this nice lady explained to me that I needed this new account package like it wasn't an option for him. I felt so terrible for this man.

The point here is that it's very reasonable to think that this fraud started occurring long before even the earliest estimates that have surfaced over the past few weeks.
The tobacco industry has been going through a major upheaval recently, and Philip Morris International (PM -1.12%) has been at the forefront of advocating for reduced-risk products that differ dramatically from regular cigarettes. Yet Philip Morris is also counting on its traditional portfolio of cigarette brands to remain profitable, and keep bringing in the bulk of its revenue for years to come.

At its recent investor day presentation, Philip Morris executive Werner Barth spent a lot of time talking about the company's plans for its cigarette sales, and what it expects to see going forward. Below, you'll find three of the key aspects of Philip Morris' plans for its cigarette business.

1. Philip Morris is the leader in three key high-growth segments of the cigarette business.

Philip Morris is among the leaders of the global tobacco industry, but it doesn't have a commanding presence in the world market. As Barth explained, Philip Morris gets about 16% market share of total cigarette industry volume outside the U.S. and China from its top brands, which include Marlboro, Parliament, L&M, and the namesake Philip Morris brand. It has much higher penetration in the premium-and-above market, where Marlboro and Parliament combine to take more than 51% of the segment.

Yet Barth pointed to three areas in which Philip Morris is No. 1 and aims to build its lead. First, low-tar cigarettes have become an important way that some smokers have aimed to address their concerns about potential health impacts of smoking.

Second, slimmer-diameter cigarettes have taken off in some markets, having grown by half over the past five years, and with Philip Morris commanding about a third of the market. And finally, Philip Morris is a leader in what it calls its capsule segment, which involves flavor capsules incorporated into the cigarette filter in order to add a new taste dimension to the smoking experience that has resonated with many traditional cigarette consumers.

2. Philip Morris is working on offering more products in connection with its most popular brands.

Philip Morris has been incredibly successful in building brand awareness of its top cigarette offerings, and it's doing everything it can to take full advantage of its name recognition. Barth described several initiatives designed to use the power of Philip Morris brands to drive sales of new and innovative products, and he expects them to do well.

For instance, with Marlboro, Philip Morris has developed several concepts. Marlboro Smooth caters to those seeking lower tar, smoother taste, and slimmer proportions. Marlboro Advance is designed for those who are more sensitive to the effects of their smoking on others, offering special paper for less ash dispersal, a blend of tobacco that doesn't have as strong a smell, and SmartSeal proprietary features to ensure freshness. The Marlboro Fusion offering is Philip Morris' entry to taste capsules, and other region-specific campaigns will include Marlboro Dry capsules in Japan and Marlboro Filter Black kretek-blend cigarettes for Indonesia.

Similarly, Philip Morris is doing similar things with its other brands. Parliament Carat is a super-premium product that will offer an innovative pack shape and contemporary design. By making the most of all of its audiences, Philip Morris expects to find growth wherever it can.

3. Philip Morris will strengthen its commercial operations to support both regular cigarettes and reduced-risk products.

Barth closed his presentation by looking at the way that Philip Morris makes decisions about its operations. The company first gives its sales force the training and tools to serve its store-level customers best. From there, Philip Morris seeks to increase the amount of communications between its internal sales and marketing teams, allowing the company to market products in a way that's consistent with what its sales force is seeing on the ground. Finally, by knowing where and how its end-customers get its products, Philip Morris believes it can build stronger partnerships with retail outlets, with the final result of boosting overall sales.

Barth discusses two specific initiatives in this area. The Trade Engagement Network allows retailers to make orders while also learning about the products, and getting tools they can use to boost their own sales success. In addition, the TaskApp tool gives retail partners rewards for doing things that used to require Philip Morris salespeople to perform. Both of these moves make Philip Morris more efficient, while also empowering retail outlets to take more command of their cigarette sales, and the company also sees that working well as reduced-risk products roll out.

Philip Morris is moving forward in many directions, but cigarettes will remain critical to its near-term success. By making the most of the cigarette market, Philip Morris intends to be successful well into the future.
This blog covers software patent news and issues with a particular focus on wireless, mobile devices (smartphones, tablet computers, connected cars) as well as select antitrust matters surrounding those devices.
Wells Fargo's embattled CEO John Stumpf is stepping down as the nation's second-largest bank is roiled by a scandal over its sales practices.

The San Francisco bank said Wednesday that Stumpf is retiring effective immediately and also relinquishing his title as chairman. He won't be receiving severance pay and the bank announced earlier that he will forfeit $41 million in stock awards.

Wells Fargo's chief operating officer, Tim Sloan, will succeed Stumpf as CEO and join the company's board. Sloan has been with Wells Fargo for 29 years. Stephen Sanger, the bank's lead director, will serve as the board's non-executive chairman.

Stumpf's end at Wells Fargo comes a little over a month after the bank was fined by California and federal regulators $185 million over its sales practices.

The regulators alleged employees trying to meet aggressive sales targets opened bank and credit card accounts, moved money between those accounts and even created fake email addresses to sign customers up for online banking  all without customer authorization. Debit cards were issued and activated, as well as PINs created, without customers' knowledge.

"I wish I could snap my fingers and make everything all right again, but it's going to take time," said Sloan said in an interview. "We are going to make it right by our customers and we are going to work to win that trust back."

Stumpf, a 34-year veteran of the bank who took over as CEO in 2007, had previously gained acclaim for navigating Wells Fargo through the financial crisis and keeping it free of scandal. But he came under withering pressure over the alleged misconduct, believed to have gone on at the bank for years. Some 5,300 lower-level employees were fired.

"While I have been deeply committed and focused on managing the company through this period, I have decided it is best for the company that I step aside," he said in a prepared statement Wednesday.

Among Stumpf's critics, Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts told him at a Senate Banking Committee hearing last month that he should resign and "give back the money you took while the scam was going on."

News of Stumpf's departure, however, did little to quell some lawmakers' anger over the affair or their demands for information from the company on how harmed customers and employees will be made whole.

"We are still waiting for answers as to how Wells Fargo plans to right its wrongs against customers and the low-paid employees who weren't given the benefit of a retirement package when they were fired for refusing to cheat," said Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown, the Senate Banking Committee's senior Democrat.

Stumpf earned $19.3 million last year. But he and Carrie Tolstedt, the executive who ran the retail banking division, will forfeit millions.

Tolstedt announced in July that she would retire from the bank this year and had been expected to leave with as much as $125 million in salary, stock options and other compensation. She was stripped of $19 million of her stock awards, and her departure was made immediate.

The revelations have sparked investigations by federal agencies. The bank's independent directors have also launched their own investigation.

Wells Fargo is scheduled to report its quarterly results Friday morning. In after-hours trading, its stock rose 76 cents, or nearly 1.7 percent, to $46.08.

___

AP Business Writer Marcy Gordon contributed to this story from Washington.

___

Ken Sweet covers banking and consumer financial issues for The Associated Press. Follow him on Twitter at @kensweet
Atlantic City's casino revenue declined by 1.5 percent in September compared to the levels of a year ago.

The eight casinos that operated in September took in $226.6 million that month. There are now seven casinos, following the closing of the Trump Taj Mahal.

The decline would have been much worse had it not been for a continuing boost from internet gambling, which was up 35 percent in September to $16.2 million compared with $12 million in Sept. 2015.

Four of the casinos posted increases, led by Resorts, which was up 10.6 percent.

Four posted declines, led by the Taj Mahal, which lost more than half its revenue from a year ago as it struggled amid a union strike while its shutdown neared.
Image source: The Motley Fool.

Summer is the peak season for airlines in North America. Traditionally, it's when airlines pull in their biggest quarterly profits of the year.

Not surprisingly, Delta Air Lines (NYSE: DAL) reported on Thursday morning that it earned a hefty profit last quarter. However, considering that it continued to benefit from falling fuel prices and steady (if not spectacular) economic growth, Delta's Q3 results were hardly inspiring.

Delta's earnings by the numbers

Delta's revenue fell 5.6% year over year last quarter to $10.48 billion, despite a modest increase in capacity. That included nearly 2 percentage points in negative impacts from Delta's August technology outage and lower yen hedging gains. Nearly every other important financial metric moved in the wrong direction, too.

Key Delta Air Lines Metrics: Q3 2016 Revenue $10.48 billion Adjusted pre-tax income $1.91 billion Adjusted EPS $1.70 Passenger unit revenue Down 6.8% Adjusted non-fuel unit costs Up 0.1%

Data source: Delta Air Lines Q3 earnings release.

Delta did a good job of holding non-fuel unit costs roughly flat last quarter. Furthermore, its adjusted fuel price fell to $1.48/gallon from $1.80/gallon a year earlier, providing hundreds of millions of dollars of savings.

However, this was not enough to offset Delta's 6.8% decline in passenger revenue per available seat mile (PRASM). As a result, pre-tax income declined by $278 million year over year. Despite a lower tax rate and a lower share count, Delta's adjusted earnings per share slipped to $1.70 from $1.74 a year earlier.

Furthermore, Delta's Q3 earnings performance would have been even worse had the company not settled all of its fuel hedging losses for 2016 during the previous quarter. That pulled forward $455 million of hedging losses into Q2, some of which would otherwise have been incurred last quarter.

That said, it's important to recognize that Delta's Q3 pre-tax margin of more than 18% should put it solidly in the upper half of the industry. It's only a disappointment relative to the company's stellar 2015 performance.

Revenue stays weak in Delta's biggest markets

Delta's year-over-year earnings decline was driven by a continuation of weak revenue trends across much of the globe. Like its peers, Delta reports revenue for four geographic regions: domestic, transatlantic, transpacific, and Latin America. Of those four regions, PRASM grew year over year in only one: Latin America.

Unfortunately, Latin America is the least important region for Delta, contributing a little over 6% of its revenue. Delta's 1.4% year-over-year PRASM growth there thus did little to offset its sharp PRASM declines of at least 7% in each of the other three geographic regions.

Looking ahead

For Q4, Delta expects PRASM to decline 3% to 5% year over year. As a result, management forecast a Q4 operating margin of 14% to 16%. That would translate to a pre-tax margin of approximately 13% to 15%, down slightly from 15.2% in Q4 2015.

One important caveat is that Delta's guidance does not incorporate any impact from the tentative agreement Delta recently reached with its pilots. Since the pilot deal provides an 18% pay raise retroactive to the beginning of 2016, it would push Delta's Q4 costs significantly higher if it is ratified, weighing on margins.

With Delta's profit margin starting to decline, management has become even more determined to get unit revenue growing again. Delta CEO Ed Bastian stated that the company will target capacity growth of just 1% in 2017. With year-over-year comparisons getting easier and credit card revenue expected to rise in 2017, Delta has a good chance of returning to unit revenue growth within the next few quarters.

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Adam Levine-Weinberg is long January 2017 $40 calls on Delta Air Lines. 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.
A new study of federal data finds that black and Latino students are far less likely to attend top public colleges than their white and Asian peers.

The Center for American Progress think tank reported Thursday that among all black students at U.S. public colleges in 2014, only 9 percent attended highly selective schools. For Latinos, the figure was 12 percent. By contrast, 19 percent of white students and 31 percent of Asians attended top schools.

Blacks and Latinos were more likely to attend community colleges and other schools with lower graduation rates. The Washington, D.C.-based think tank says minorities need greater access to elite schools to close achievement gaps between races.

States where blacks were least likely to attend top schools include North Carolina, Tennessee and Massachusetts.
Hillary Clintonas lead over Donald Trump has increased to seven points, as more than half of voters say he is not qualified to be president.

Thatas according to a just-released national Fox News Poll of likely voters.

Clinton receives 45 percent to Trumpas 38 percent. Libertarian Gary Johnson is at 7 percent and Green Party candidate Jill Stein gets 3 percent. Last week, Clinton was up by two points in the four-way contest (44-42 percent).

In the two-way matchup, itas Clinton over Trump by eight (49-41 percent). She had a four-point edge a week ago (48-44 percent, Oct. 3-6).

Clintonas lead is outside the pollas margin of sampling error in both the two-way and four-way contests.

The poll, out Thursday, was conducted Monday-Wednesday. The second presidential debate was Sunday. On Friday, The Washington Post made public a hot-mic recording of Trump from Access Hollywood. On the same day, WikiLeaks began its release of hacked emails from the Clinton campaign, revealing more on Monday through Wednesday.

In the four-way race, Clinton is favored among non-whites (+62 points), suburban women (+24), women (+19), and voters under 30 (+16). Third party candidates hurt her among younger voters, as about one in four of them go for Johnson or Stein.

Trumpas the pick for men (+5 points), whites (+14), and whites without a college degree (+25).

Since last week, the largest declines in support for him are among women ages 45 and over (down 12 points), voters ages 65+ (down 11), suburban women (down 10), white women with a college degree (down 7), GOP women (down 6), and white college graduates (down 6).

Support for Trump among white evangelical Christians held steady at 68 percent. Typically, however, about three-quarters of white evangelicals vote for the GOP nominee. Trumpas support among regular church-goers dropped eight points, from 53 to 45 percent.

Independents split, giving 35 percent to each Clinton and Trump, with another 21 percent backing Johnson or Stein. Trump was up by 12 points among independents in late September.

Eighty-one percent of Democrats back Clinton and 80 percent of Republicans support Trump.

"If the Republicans are not at rock-bottom, they can certainly see the bottom from where they are," says GOP pollster Daron Shaw, who conducts the Fox News Poll with Democrat Chris Anderson. "If Trump got 90 percent of self-identified Republicans and nothing else -- no Democrats and no independents -- he'd be at 32 percent.a

Trumpas enthusiasm advantage has evaporated: 70 percent of his backers astronglya supported him last week. Thatas 63 percent now. For Clinton, itas 66 percent, up from 57 percent.

Yet the number of Republicans satisfied with Trump as their nominee is mostly unchanged: 48 percent are happy with him at the top of the ticket vs. 52 percent a month ago.

Among Democrats, 54 percent are happy with Clinton, while 38 percent still wish it were Bernie Sanders.

Overall, 64 percent believe Clinton has the right temperament to serve effectively and 68 percent say sheas qualified to be president.

Itas the opposite for Trump, as 63 percent think he lacks the temperament and 56 percent say he isnat qualified. For 49 percent, he is anot at alla qualified.

Are the candidates good role models for children? Voters say Clinton is (54 yes vs. 43 no). And Trump is not (20 yes vs. 77 no).

Thirty-three percent say Clinton is honest and trustworthy. For Trump, itas 32 percent. Thatas a four-point drop for him since last week.

aPut simply, the last week has been a disaster for Trump,a says Anderson. aAnd more than ever, voters think he lacks the temperament and qualifications to be president.a

Trumpas personal ratings also took a hit, while Clintonas improved. More voters view her negatively than positively by five points (47 favorable vs. 52 unfavorable). Last week she was underwater by nine. Trumpas rating stands at negative 23 (38 favorable vs. 61 unfavorable). Thatas eight points more negative today, as he was underwater by 15 a week ago.

Among Republicans, his favorable rating dropped 11 points, from 84 percent to 73 percent.

Clinton now tops Trump on every issue tested. More voters trust her to handle foreign policy (+24 points), health care (+13), terrorism (+11), immigration (+9), and the economy (+3). For the past month, Trump had been the choice on the economy, and the two were about evenly matched on terrorism.

Clinton is preferred to handle health care despite nearly half wanting to get rid of President Obamaas signature law. Forty-nine percent of registered voters want to repeal Obamacare vs. 45 percent who prefer to keep it in place. Thatas a more positive rating for the law than the last time the Fox News Poll asked in December 2014. Then it was 58 percent repeal and 38 percent keep.

Meanwhile, a growing number expect another President Clinton. Sixty-five percent think sheall win in November. Thatas 10 points higher than last week (55 percent) -- and 19 higher than June (46 percent). Some 23 percent think Trump will win.

Americans head to the polls in an even worse mood than four years ago. In October 2012, 53 percent of registered voters were dissatisfied with how things were going in the country. Now, 59 percent are dissatisfied.

Even so, 56 percent approve of the job Barack Obama is doing as president. Thatas up from 52 percent a week ago -- and a record high for his second term. Moreover, his approval has been 48 percent or better since February.

Pollpourri

Trumpas video troubles and subsequent attacks on GOP leaders are hurting the party. One indication is more registered voters now consider themselves a Democrat than a Republican -- by nine points (44-35 percent), compared to by four points last week (41-37 percent).

Democrats usually hold an advantage over Republicans nationally in party identification, and this year self-identified Democrats have outnumbered self-identified Republicans by an average of three percentage points in Fox News polls.

The poll asks likely voters to choose between the Democratic and Republican candidates in their Congressional district and finds Democrats up by six points, 48-42 percent. Democrats were up by just one at the end of September (44-43 percent).

"The Democrats are now prohibitive favorites to win the presidency, favorites to take the Senate, and it is no longer unthinkable that they could challenge in the House," says Shaw.

Endorsing Trump is still a net positive for Congressional candidates: 27 percent of Republicans say they are more likely to vote for a Congressional candidate who refuses to endorse Trump, yet more -- 39 percent -- say they are less likely to do so.

No matter who wins, voters are concerned scandals will have a aserious effecta on the administration: 66 percent are worried about scandals in a Clinton administration and 63 percent if itas Trump. More Democrats (54 percent) are concerned about scandals in a Clinton White House than Republicans are about a Trump administration (41 percent).

Forty-eight percent of voters familiar with the video of Trumpas vulgar remarks say itas a deal breaker for them. Fifteen percent of Republicans and 40 percent of independents also feel that way.

For comparison, 37 percent of voters familiar with Clintonas leaked emails say transcripts of her speeches to big Wall Street donors are a deal breaker. That includes 11 percent of Democrats and 17 percent of Sanders supporters.

Trumpas attacks on how Clinton has handled her husbandas past controversies with women arenat sticking. Seventy-two percent think Clinton astands upa for women. Thirty-eight percent say Trump arespectsa women.

The Fox News Poll is based on landline and cellphone interviews with 1,006 randomly chosen registered voters nationwide and was conducted under the joint direction of Anderson Robbins Research (D) and Shaw & Company Research (R) from October 10-12, 2016. The survey includes results among 917 likely voters. The margin of sampling error is plus or minus three percentage points for results among both registered and likely voters.
"Harry Potter" actor Devon Murray, who played Gryffindor Seamus Finnigan in the hit franchise, is opening up in the hope that his story can help others. On Monday, the Irish actor tweeted a very personal message in honor of World Mental Health Day.

"I've been battling depression in silence for ten years & only recently spoke about it and has made a huge difference #worldmentalhealthday," Murray, 27, tweeted. "I had suicidal thoughts this year and that was the kick up the arse that I needed! Open up, talk to people #worldmentalhealthday."

WATCH: 'Harry Potter' Actor Timothy Spall Looks Unrecognizable After Dramatic Weight Loss: Pics!

He also urged others to seek help, saying, "If you suspect a friend or family member is suffering in silence #ReachOut to them. Let them know you care #worldmentalhealthday."

Murray is battling his demons and conquering his fears by making several public appearances. On Wednesday, he had a radio interview with RTE2fm about his tweets and revealed that he first realized something wasn't right on his 16th birthday.

"People have always said, 'Oh, you're in 'Harry Potter.' You've got the best life in the world.' Whereas in a sense I had an amazing life, but I also had to give up so much. I had to live in the UK for pretty much 11 years, away from my father and my school friends -- that weighed on me," he said.

He also revealed that during the filming of the fifth Potter film, Murray suffered from Bell's palsy, saying, "One side of my face was completely dead and that was in the fifth movie. So I had Bell's palsy for probably six months, and I didn't leave my house once in those six months. I was completely self-conscious of how I looked. A lot of my part in the fifth movie was cut out."

Murray's struggle turned very dark this April when he came very close to attempting suicide.

WATCH: Harry Potter's Viktor Krum Looks Totally Different and It Will Blow Your Mind

"I was just a mess. I felt like I'd let down my parents, I couldn't do anything right," he said. "I had a laundering rope, and I threw it over one of the banisters in the barn. And I was pretty much getting ready to hang myself. So I texted my mom and my dad. I can't really remember what I said, but it was me asking for help without really asking. My mom and dad straight away they were texting me and calling me."

Thankfully, his parents were able to reach him and talk about the pain he was experiencing. Murray hopes his story can help others struggling with their mental health.

Murray is not the only star who is passionate about mental health. Kate Middleton, Prince William, and Prince Harry are all outspoken advocates of the Heads Together charity and recently gave joint speeches for World Mental Health Day.
Kirk Cameron, former star of Growing Pains,  is calling for families across America to come together to worship in Revive Us. Revive Us is a national family meeting that will air live in 700 movie theaters.

Cameron told FOX411 he has high hopes for the event next week.

I want to say to people loud and clear: There has never been a more exciting time in America to be a Christian, to be a person of deep faith in God, he said. This could be our finest hour because when all hope seems lost, that is when God parts the waters. I think this could be a Red Sea moment for you, for me, for us, in our America story right now.

The 46-year-old said faith is a priority for his six children and his wife of 25 years- Chelsea Noble.

Faith is extremely important to me. It is what saves me on a daily basis from making the kinds of decisions that would be harmful to me, my family, to others because it reminds me I need wisdom."

Cameron said many people in Hollywood arent in touch with faith.

The truth is that all of us were designed to worship something, and you may worship a tree, you may worship God or you may worship yourself. And Hollywood has a lot of the me-God problem and I used to have no faith at all, he said. Someone shared the Gospel with me. They shared their faith with me, and I embraced it. I embraced it with all of my heart. And thats what I am hoping to do at Revive Us.

MORE: 6 things you don't know about Candace Cameron Bure

Cameron said the family-friendly event witll feature Dr. Ben Carson, Francis Chan Dr. James MacDonald, Eric Metaxas and Jennifer Rothschild.

Together we are going to talk about how to revive our hearts, how to revive our homes, our churches and the nation, he said. So if we have political concerns, if we have family concerns, if we have national concerns, the best place to talk about them is in the family. When the family gets together and the spirit of God is moving, we are unstoppable as a force of good. And asking for heavens help and wisdom up above is what we need to be doing now more than ever so Revive Us is for the whole family.

Revive Us will be in theaters across America on October 18th.
Tom Hanks isn't holding back.

The actor voiced his opinion on Donald Trump and the 2016 presidential election during the Rome Film Festival.

The "Sully" star, who was there to receive the lifetime achievement award said, "There's an awful lot of ignorance that is promoted in any sort of campaign."

He continued, "Every four years, the circus comes to town in the United States. Every four years, we decide who's going to be the leader."

Hanks said he believes "without a doubt the world is going through something quite profound in which the future is shaky" and "mysterious."

"When America has faced those circumstances and times, we have never turned to a simplistic, self-involved gasbag of a candidate."
Some of the toughest moments of my career have come when a patient experiences the trauma and devastation of losing a child. Whether its through miscarriage or stillbirth, the trauma can be a defining moment for a couple especially those who have been struggling with conception for some time. For one of my patients, Stacey Matarazzo Dinburg, the death of her daughter at nine months gestation and her subsequent stillbirth moved her to speak out on the tragedy and become actively involved in finding a way to help others.

I am a warrior dedicated to sharing my daughters story and helping to raise awareness on the taboo topic of pregnancy and infant loss, Dinburg, who named her child Rhyan Ava Dinburg, said. I refuse to let my daughter die for no reason or in vain. It is now my job to keep her memory alive, and to help others affected by such tragedy.

Dinburg, who in January gave birth to Skyelar Rae Dinburg nearly two years after Rhyans death and is currently expecting her third child, found her calling through The 2 Degrees Foundation, a New Jersey-based grassroots organization which she helped create and continues to work with to help others cope with pregnancy and child loss.

After I lost my daughter Rhyan I kind of immersed myself in researching and finding support, and I didnt come up with too much, Dinburg said.

What she did find were articles on Debbie Haine Vijayvergia, who presented the Autumn Joy Stillbirth Research and Dignity Act to New Jersey legislators after her own daughters stillbirth in 2011. The act, which was passed, is aimed at requiring the state to establish policies and procedures for handling each stillbirth as well as protocols for evaluating fetal death. Dinburg reached out and the two set out to find ways in which women could become advocates for each other and their children. In doing so they created The 2 Degrees Foundation, which is named for the likelihood that just a small degree of separation stands between you and others who have experienced pregnancy loss.

There are so many women that are affected by it but you would never know, Dinburg said.

Through the foundations website, mothers can find information on the many support groups and organizations available to help them cope with their childs death and also celebrate and honor their memory. For example, Dinburg recently turned to The Tears Foundation to help commemorate Rhyans life, but did not know of its existence at the time of her death. The foundation has helped the family cope by featuring Rhyan in their memorial, and Dinburg would like to see others afforded the same opportunity.

Just seeing my daughters name with my name brings me peace, Dinburg said. Just seeing her name makes me realize that she was here and she was a real child and were doing great things now.

The 2 Degrees Foundation hosts events like barre classes and lunches to raise funding, which goes toward a number of efforts aimed at destigmatizing miscarriage and stillbirth. The funds help ensure that the Autumn Joy Stillbirth Research and Dignity Act is implemented at New Jersey hospitals, provides community bereavement support services and is assists with clinical stillbirth research aimed at improving outcomes. The foundation is also working with an organization that specializes in teaching doctors and nurses how to deliver bad news to patients as both women feel as though their experiences could have been improved.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), about 24,000 babies are stillborn each year. Having treated some of these patients, I can tell you firsthand that many times the cause of these deaths is unknown, making it even more tragic for the parents. Its easy for a mother to blame herself under these circumstances, making her grief all the more difficult to overcome. October is Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness month, and while there are remembrance days and social media movements to acknowledge it we need to be more vocal about this topic beyond October 31. Supporting organizations like The 2 Degrees Foundation and encouraging social media movements like "rainbow baby" photoshoots are small ways in which we can support the many women in our lives who have already given us so much.

Helping others and giving back has really helped me with my own personal healing, Dinburg said. Grief is never an easy thing and we all handle it in different ways. But I survived  and Im still surviving each day.
On the heels of defending a damaging 2005 video recording recently released wherein Donald Trump could be heard making lewd comments about his affinity for pursuing women by kissing and groping them, the Republican presidential nominee responded on Thursday to new allegations from five women, including a former reporter for People magazine, who collectively told the aforementioned magazine, The New York Times and the Palm Beach Post that he had sexually assaulted them several years ago.

"For The New York Times to launch a completely false, coordinated character assassination against Mr. Trump on a topic like this is dangerous," Jason Miller, Trump's campaign spokesman, said in a statement regarding the new allegations. "To reach back decades in an attempt to smear Mr. Trump trivializes sexual assault, and it sets a new low for where the media is willing to go in its efforts to determine this election."

Miller was referring to claims from 74-year-old Jessica Leeds, of New York, who told The Times that Trump grabbed her breasts and attempted to put his hand up her skirt without her consent more than 30 years ago in the first class cabin on a flight to New York. Another allegation in The Times report, from Rachel Crooks, claims Trump kissed the real estate developer on the mouth in 2005 without her consent, echoing comments from the recording, wherein he said, I just start kissing them. Its like a magnet. Just kiss. I dont even wait.

Although supporters of Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton have been quick to condemn Trump for his comments and these new claims, Trump supporters and undecided skeptics alike are defending his character. Many people are questioning the veracity of these womens allegations and particularly, if their comments are true, why they are only speaking up now.

Trump has neither been charged with sexual assault nor have these womens claims been proven true, but from a psychological standpoint, waiting to admit sexual assault is not out of the ordinary, several experts told FoxNews.com. In fact, only about 10 to 15 percent of sexual assault cases are reported due to the shame, guilt and self-blame that these traumatic events can trigger, Dr. Bob Geffner, president and founder of the Family Violence & Sexual Assault Institute, who has been treating sexual assault victims for nearly 40 years, told FoxNews.com.

Theres no research study that indicates even half of these get reported to anybody at any time, said Geffner, also a distinguished professor at the California School of Professional Psychology, San Diego.

Experts define sexual assault as any type of unwanted, pressured or forced interaction of a sexual nature by one person on another. But an estimated 80 percent of these incidents do not involve what psychologists describe as the classic stranger danger scenario, wherein a man breaks into a womans bedroom with a ski mask and weapon, forcing himself on her against her futile attempts to scream and defend herself, Mindy Mechanic, a psychology professor at California State University Fullerton, told FoxNews.com. Rather, victims relatives, coworkers, friends or partners be it a boyfriend, girlfriend, date, or a spouse are the most common perpetrators of sexual assault.

Theres that confusion that it doesnt fit the paradigm, and if you dont say this was a crime, then reporting isnt even on the table, Mechanic said.

It is only when victims acknowledge they have been harmed and feel theyre in a safe zone, where they will be believed and not scrutinized, that they are likelier to admit being sexually assaulted, Kenneth Yeager, director of the stress, trauma and resilience program of the Ohio State University Department of Psychology, told FoxNews.com.

Feelings of having strength in numbers can compel admission as well. For example, of the more than 50 women who have accused Bill Cosby of drugging and/or sexually assaulting them in alleged assaults that date back to 1965, it wasnt until 2014 that a flood of allegations began to surface.

It does play psychologically to safety it does play psychologically to, If this individual had the courage to do it, maybe I should have the courage to do it, he said. We tend to model our behaviors and take risks based on what we see other people doing, and sometimes that risk being taken by another can motivate individuals to take the risks. Oftentimes the outcomes are mixed, but knowing that you wont be doing that alone makes it easier to take the risk.

Geffner said that perceived risk may be a lack of a support system or fear of public scrutiny.

Brian Pinero, vice president of victim services at RAINN, the largest advocacy network for sexual assault victims in the United States, told FoxNews.com that usually these incidents involve power imbalances, which make victims feel that if they speak up at the time, they will be penalized.

A lot of times, it can be tied to the job, Pinero said. Power isnt just defined by money or status at company it could also be an important person in a family. So the ability to make a charge of that is, Prove it. And thats the constant narrative of victims: You have to explain why they should be believed and justify why they should be helped because its always, What were you wearing? What were you drinking? Why were you there? Where were your girlfriends?

Yeager likened delayed admission of sexual assault to that of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), which research suggests soldiers can wait upwards of years to admit due to similar feelings of shame and barriers like stigma.

Just as with PTSD, sexual assault often brings feelings of depression, anxiety and flashbacks that can be debilitating for victims, and in severe cases, increase the risk of suicide.

Whether its trauma of sexual assault or whether its trauma of a war situation, people tend to think in the terms of what are they in control of, Yeager said.

He explained that most people are raised with something thats called a world belief: that, if you treat people right and do things right, good things will happen to you. When that belief system is disrupted by something like a traumatic event, people naturally begin to question their reality and role in the situation. Questions like What if? and feelings of, Its all my fault arise, because theyre only looking at things they can control," Yeager said.

As these feelings of shame, and self-blame and doubt begin to compound, most victims don't tell their direct support systems about their experiences, much less law enforcement.

If [victims] only begin to see the world as not a safe place, then you dont talk about these things," Yeager said. "You dont share them because if you share them, its only going to make things worse, and, Good people dont have these things happen to them and thats the belief that becomes internalized when, in fact, theyre victims.

Trump has threatened to pursue legal action against The Times and the Palm Beach Post, claiming their reports are libelous.
It seems that at every turn during this crazy presidential election campaign -- with its deeply flawed principal candidates (whom do you hate less?) -- someones personal or professional computer records are being hacked. First it was Hillary Clintons emails that she had failed to surrender to the State Department. Then it was a portion of Donald Trumps 1995 tax returns, showing a $916 million loss he claimed during boom times. Then it was those Clinton emails again, this time showing her unacted-upon doubts about two of our Middle Eastern allies involvement in 9/11 and her revelation of some secrets about the killing of Usama bin Laden.

The reason we know about these leaks is the common thread among them -- the willingness of the media to publish what was apparently stolen. Hence the question: Can the government hold the press liable -- criminally or civilly -- for the publication of known stolen materials that the public wants to know about? In a word: No.

Here is the back story.

When Daniel Ellsberg, an outside contractor working in the Pentagon, stole a secret study of U.S. military involvement in Vietnam in 1971, which revealed that President Lyndon Johnson had lied repeatedly to the public about what his military advisers had told him, the Department of Justice secured an injunction from U.S. District Judge Murray Gurfein, sitting in Manhattan, barring The New York Times from publishing what Ellsberg had turned over to Times reporters. Such an injunction, known as a prior restraint, is exceedingly rare in American legal history.

This is so largely because of the sweeping language of the First Amendment -- Congress shall make no law  abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press -- as well as the values that underlie this language. Those values are the governments legal obligation to be accountable to the public and the benefits to freedom of open, wide, robust debate about the government -- debate that is informed by truthful knowledge of what the government has been doing.

Those underlying values spring from the Framers recognition of the natural right to speak freely. The freedom of speech and of the press had been assaulted by the king during the Colonial era, and the Framers wrote a clear, direct prohibition of such assaults in the initial amendment of the new Constitution.

Notwithstanding the First Amendment, Judge Gurfein accepted the governments argument and found that palpable, grave and immediate danger would come to national security if the Times were permitted to publish what Ellsberg had delivered.

The Times appealed Judge Gurfeins injunction, and that appeal made its way to the Supreme Court. In a case that has come to be known as the Pentagon Papers case, the high court ruled that when the media obtains truthful documents that are of material interest to the public, the media is free to publish those documents, as well as commentary about them, without fear of criminal or civil liability.

The government had argued to the Supreme Court -- seriously -- that 'no law' does not mean 'no law' when national security is at stake. Fortunately for human freedom and for the concept that the Constitution is the supreme law of the land and means what it says, the court rejected that argument. It also rejected the governments suggested methodology.

The government argued that because Congress and the president had agreed to void a constitutional mandate -- the First Amendments no law language -- in deference to national security, the judiciary should follow. That methodology would have rejected 180 years of constitutional jurisprudence that taught that the whole purpose of an independent judiciary is to say what the Constitution and the laws mean, notwithstanding what Congress and the president want. Were that not so, the courts would be rubber stamps.

Moreover, the high court ruled, it matters not how the documents came into the possession of the media. The thief can always be prosecuted, as Ellsberg was, but not the media to which the thief delivers what he has stolen. In Ellsbergs case, the charges against him were eventually dismissed because of FBI misconduct in pursuit of him -- misconduct that infamously involved breaking in to his psychiatrists office looking for dirt on him.

Since that case, the federal courts have uniformly followed the Pentagon Papers rule. Hence, much to the chagrin of the Obama administration, the media was free to publish Edward Snowden's revelations about the ubiquitous and unconstitutional nature of government spying on Americans by the National Security Agency. The same is true for Trumps tax returns and Clintons emails.

Are these matters material to the public interest?

Of course they are. In a free society -- one in which we do not need a government permission slip to exercise our natural rights -- all people enjoy a right to know if the government is spying on us in violation of the constitutionally protected and natural right to privacy. We also have a right to know about the financial shenanigans or uprightness and the honesty or dishonesty of those who seek the highest office in the land. That is particularly so in the 2016 campaign, in which Trump has argued that his business acumen makes him uniquely qualified to be president and Clinton has offered that her experiences as secretary of state would bring a unique asset to the Oval Office.

Efforts to silence the press or to punish it when it publishes inconvenient truths about the government or those who seek to lead it are not new, and the vigilance of the courts has been unabated. Thomas Jefferson -- himself the victim of painful press publications -- argued that in a free society, hed prefer newspapers without a government to a government without newspapers. Would Clinton or Trump say that today?
In my speech to the Republican National Convention in July, I recited a list of terror attacks that had occurred in the previous 37 days. It went on for two whole minutes.

This week, German special forces arrested a Syrian refugee who authorities said was on the verge of committing an attack similar to those we saw in Paris and Brussels. The foiled attack was one positive outcome, but it is again worth remembering the cascade of recent attacks in which our enemies have succeeded.

Consider the list of attacks just since my speech to the Republican National Convention in July.

Only a few days after that speech, an attacker pledging allegiance to ISIS blew himself up outside of a concert venue in Germany, wounding 12.

"Treason" deals with a traitor from within the U.S. government. But in fact, the real treachery is the willful blindness that prevents us from dealing with radical Islamic terrorism for what it is.

Two days later, in Normandy, France, ISIS attackers slit the throat of an 85-year-old priest and took nuns and parishioners hostage.

In August, we saw the first ISIS attack in Russia when men armed with axes and guns attacked traffic police in Moscow.

In Strasbourg, France, a Jewish man was stabbed by an attacker shouting Allahu Akbar.

In Toulouse, France, an Algerian attacker entered a police station and stabbed an officer in the neck.

In Germany, an attacker at a music festival screamed Allahu Akbar while stabbing and critically wounding an older married couple.

In Australia, a man screamed Allahu Akbar while stabbing a 21-year-old British backpacker to death, and fatally wounded a man who intervened to try to save her.

In Roanoke, Virginia, a Muslim man attacked and critically wounded a couple as they entered their apartment building, and authorities said they believed the attack was ISIS-inspired .

In September, an Afghan immigrant perpetrated multiple bombings in New York and New Jersey, wounding 29 people.

The same week, an immigrant from Turkey shot and killed 5 people in a mall near Seattle, Washington.

And finally, just last week, a man stabbed two police offices in Brussels, Belgium in an attack authorities described as terror-related.



Consider it honestly: How many of these incidents had you heard about? How many of those youd heard about would you have remembered?

Our amnesia about these horrific attacks is a symptom of our failure to be honest about the nature of the threat we face. Our officials and our media elites behave as though they are isolated incidents, when in fact they are part of a clear and totalitarian ideology that is spreading across the planet.

The deceit and self-deception about this very real threat is the topic of my new book, "Treason," with my extraordinary coauthor Pete Earley. "Treasson" is a novel, so it is fictional, but for anyone who has been keeping up with the news, it bears a striking resemblance to the real world.

For example, "Treason" features a president who refuses to use the term radical Islamic terror.

It features an FBI and a Department of Homeland Security which, because of political correctness, wont monitor mosques even when they are frequented by radical imams.

It features radical Islamist front-groups in the United States that lie about their intentions and try to intimidate those who speak out about the threat.

The fact that these details sound so familiar is a sign of why we are witnessing these accumulating atrocities--and why we remember so few of them just months later.

"Treason" deals with a traitor from within the U.S. government. But in fact, the real treachery is the willful blindness that prevents us from dealing with radical Islamic terrorism for what it is.

Without being honest about the threat and a major shift in strategy, the danger will only get worse.

Indeed, FBI Director James Comey recently warned of a surge of terrorists out of the Islamic State who seek to carry out attacks in Europe and the U.S. At some point theres going to be a terrorist diaspora out of Syria like weve never seen before, Comey said. We saw the future of this threat in Brussels and Paris. He added that future attacks will be on an order of magnitude greater.

Youve just read the list of terror attacks in the last 3 months. An order of magnitude greater would be ten times that many, and ten times as deadly. Such is the danger of continued dishonesty. That is the danger that led us to write "Treason."
The story that dogs Hillary Clintons campaign to this day, the disclosure of her private email server, had just broken two days earlier, and her campaign spokesman was minimizing the impact.

Goal would be to cauterize this just enough so it plays out over the weekend and dies in the short term, Nick Merrill wrote last year.

Guess that was a bit of a miscalculation.

As Donald Trump steps up his assault on the Republican establishment, the hacked Clinton emails being dribbled out by Wikileaks paints a portrait of a campaign often on the defensive, torn by internal squabbles, and at odds with the press (except for those journalists and pundits who were sucking up).

Now we wouldnt know any of this except for the fact that this correspondence is stolen, most likely by Russian hackers. So these stories always make me uncomfortable. But this is the world we now live in.

Theres been a lot of attention to Clinton campaign spokesman Brian Fallon, a former Justice Department spokesman, saying he had heard from DOJ folks that a court hearing in the email case was planned soon. But the date for any court hearing would have been publicly posted.

In case you thought candidate humor was spontaneousha!Merrill suggested a joke for comedian Larry Wilmore, who would say at an appearance with Clinton, I just emailed HRC (I hear shes a big emailer)It would be just light-hearted enough while giving her the opportunity to address this seriously, be a little conciliatory as discussed, and then get back to a discussion about CGI etc.

Key allies sometimes chimed in with support. After communications director Jennifer Palmieri wrote a letter blasting the New York Times for reporting that federal investigators were seeking a criminal inquiry into the email messthe paper had to backtrack on thatshe heard from Neera Tanden, head of the liberal Center for American Progress. The letter is great. F-- these assholes, Tanden wrote.

Palmieri asked other aides to arrange for Univision interviewer to ask a few questions on emailsAs you all know, I had hoped that we could use the server moment as an opportunity for her to be viewed as having take a big step to deal with the email problem that would best position us for what is ahead. It is clear that she is not in same place.

And that underscores a problem that plagues every campaign: Candidates sometimes dig in and refuse to take their aides advice. It took Clinton a long time to admit that she had made a mistake by using personal email for government business, and even longer to apologize.

After the House Benghazi hearing, Podesta suggested that Clinton joke: I used to be obsessed with Donald Trumps hair, that was until I got to spend 11 hours staring at the top of Trey Gowdys head. That went nowhere. Wow. You people are a bunch of ninnies, Palmieri wrote.

There are numerous examples of journalists being friendly to campaign officials. Donna Brazile, then a CNN contributor and DNC vice chair, appeared to give the Clinton camp a heads-up on a question that was asked the next day at a CNN town hall. Brazile and CNN deny that she had access to the questions, and she told me she is flabbergasted by the allegation. (I covered this on Megyn Kellys show.)

Podesta and veteran spokesman Philippe Reines got into a spat about leaks after CNN learned that a Hillary interview with MSNBCs Andrea Mitchell might be in the works.

You got to stop this, Podesta shot back. The press is trading in rumors that can easily originate in their own newsrooms. If someone wanted to leak juicy tidbits, they have a lot more to work with than our press planning. If we are going to be at each others throats before we start, we are going nowhere.

Reines responded forcefully: With all due respect, and reluctantly to do this in front of HRC except for wanting to defend myself against being labeled as a cancer  but the conclusion that it is ME that has to stop this is really unfair



Not to mention Im following up on a topic last night where you yourself felt it enough of a problem to have warned the Secretary her people yap.

Perhaps the best distillation of Hillarylands sometimes strained relations with the media is captured by this note from longtime loyalist Huma Abedin:

Can we survive not answering questions from press at message events, she wrote. A recent speech broke through because we didnt take questions.

In the fall, starting to do avails at message events, interviews, and q and a with press but having had a series of policy proposals already announced and reported on that she could point to, Abedin continued.

Podesta wasnt buying:

If she thinks we can get to Labor Day without taking press questions, I think thats suicidal, he wrote. We have to find some mechanism to let the stream out of the pressure cooker.

Clinton still went nine months without a press conference.
The U.S. Attorney's Office in Colorado has declined to prosecute an employee of the Environmental Protection Agency over a massive mine wastewater spill that fouled rivers in three states, federal investigators said Wednesday.



The EPA's Office of Inspector General disclosed that it had found evidence the unnamed employee may have violated the Clean Water Act and given false statements.



However, office spokesman Jeffrey Lagda says federal prosecutors declined to pursue the case. He says that in lieu of prosecution, the case will be sent to senior EPA management for review.



An EPA-led cleanup team inadvertently triggered the Aug. 5, 2015, spill while doing work at the Gold King mine near Silverton. The 3-million-gallon blowout tainted rivers in Colorado, New Mexico and Utah with toxic heavy metals.

U.S. attorney spokesman Jeff Dorschner declined to comment, citing the office's longstanding practice of not discussing cases where prosecution is declined.



Members of Congress had pressed for a criminal investigation into the EPA's role in the disaster.



Several Republican lawmakers on Wednesday said the lack of a prosecution gives the "appearance of hypocrisy" in light of the Justice Department's record of pursuit of criminal charges in other cases referred by the EPA.



"By not taking up the case, the Department of Justice looks like it's going easy on its colleagues in EPA," the lawmakers wrote in a letter to U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch.



The letter was sent by House Oversight Committee Chairman Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, Natural Resources Chairman Rep. Rob Bishop, R-Utah and Rep. Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo.



Communities downstream of the spill were forced to temporarily halt drawing water from the rivers for drinking water and irrigation. Water quality in the rivers quickly returned to pre-spill levels, but the political fallout over the accident has endured.



The EPA last month designated Gold King and other nearby abandoned mines as a Superfund site to help fund more extensive cleanup efforts.



Across the U.S. abandoned mining sites send hundreds of millions of gallons of acidic wastewater into creeks and rivers every year.
Republican vice presidential candidate Mike Pence denied having any differences with running mate Donald Trump about U.S. policy in Syria after Trump appeared to contradict Pence's stance during Sunday's presidential debate.

Pence told Fox News' Bill O'Reilly on "The O'Reilly Factor" Wednesday that debate moderator Martha Raddatz had "mischaracterized" his position on the U.S. response to ongoing attacks on the city of Aleppo by Syrian government forces backed by the Russian government.

During the debate, Raddatz told Trump that Pence had said "if Russia continues to be involved in airstrikes [in Aleppo] ... United States of America should be prepared to use military force to strike the military targets of the Assad regime."

Trump responded, "[Pence] and I havent spoken and I disagree. I disagree."

On Wednesday, however, Pence told O'Reilly that his initial statement referred to international humanitarian "safe zones" where civilians could go to escape the fightning.

"I did say [during last week's vice presidential debate] that to secure those safe zones, we should be prepared to use military force if necessary to allow the people to evacuate Aleppo and get to those safe areas," Pence said. "Now, the way [Raddatz] presented it, it was as though she conflated that with broader military action against the Assad regime and thats not been Donald Trumps position."

"I think theres already a framework for the international community to come together around safe zones," Pence added, "but what Donald Trump says is we need to provide the humanitarian assistance, establish safe zones and then go after ISIS and focus on destroying ISIS at their source."
Four women accused Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump of sexual assault on Wednesday in a series of reports, adding to the already damaging revelations about his suggestive comments about women.

Trumps campaign dismissed the allegations as having no merit or veracity, and it attacked The New York Times, accusing the media outlet of having a vendetta. In a letter from his attorneys Thursday, Trump demanded The New York Times retract what it called a "libelous article" and apologize.

Trump called the story a "fabrication" Thursday on Twitter.

The phony story in the failing @nytimes is a TOTAL FABRICATION. Written by same people as last discredited story on women. WATCH!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 13, 2016

"For The New York Times to launch a completely false, coordinated character assassination against Mr. Trump on a topic like this is dangerous," Jason Miller, Trump's campaign spokesman, said in a separate statement. "To reach back decades in an attempt to smear Mr. Trump trivializes sexual assault, and it sets a new low for where the media is willing to go in its efforts to determine this election."

In a story published Wednesday evening, The New York Times says 74-year-old Jessica Leeds of New York told the paper that Trump groped her on a flight more than 30 years ago. Leeds says Trump grabbed her breasts and tried to put his hand up her skirt.

"He was like an octopus, Leeds says. "His hands were everywhere ... It was an assault."

In the same story, Rachel Crooks tells the paper that the real estate developer "kissed me directly on the mouth" after she introduced herself to him outside a Trump Tower elevator in 2005.

"It was so inappropriate," Crooks tells the paper. "I was so upset that he thought I was so insignificant that he could do that."

Also Wednesday night, the Palm Beach Post published claims by a Florida woman that Trump had groped her during a concert at his Mar-a-Lago estate in January 2003. The woman, 36-year-old Mindy McGillivray told the paper that she "chose to stay quiet" and did not report the incident to authorities.

Trump press secretary Hope Hicks told the Post that there was "no truth" to McGillivray's allegation, adding "this allegation lacks any merit or veracity."

Additionally, PEOPLE Magazine writer Natasha Stoynoff published a story late Wednesday detailing her own encounter with Trump in 2005 when she went to interview Donald and Melania in Mar-a-Lago.

Stoynoff says that Trump showed her one tremendous room and allegedly pinned her against the wall and forcing his tongue down my throat.

A Trump spokeswoman told PEOPLE, This never happened. There is no merit or veracity to this fabricated story.

During his second presidential debate with Hillary Clinton Sunday, moderator Anderson Cooper asked Trump if he had "[kissed] women without consent or [groped] women without consent"

Trump responded, "No, I have not."

Cooper's question was in response to the release of a 2005 audiotape in which Trump made lewd remarks about women in a conversation with "Access Hollywood" host Billy Bush. Trump has repeatedly dismissed the remarks as "locker room talk."

Clinton campaign spokesman Jennifer Palmieri said the new reports "sadly [fit] everything we know about the way Donald Trump has treated women. These reports suggest that he lied on the debate stage and that the disgusting behavior he bragged about in the tape is more than just words.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Democrats still face long odds in taking full control of Congress next month, despite buoyed optimism from Donald Trumps embattled presidential campaign and the rift it has created within his Republican Party.

While Democrats for years have targeted 2016 as the ideal time to retake control of the Senate, they had been far less optimistic about winning enough House races this year to erase Republicans historic majority and retake the chamber -- at least until Friday, when Trump was heard on a 2005 audiotape making vulgar comments about women.

Beyond concerns about Trumps comments hurting Republicans chances of winning the White House, the GOP is now worried about the impact on congressional Republicans, some of whom are sticking with Trump and some of whom are abandoning him as they face tight races at home.

House Republicans, damned if they do, damned if they dont, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee boasted in an email blast, claiming Republicans have no way to separate from Trump. The DCCC, whose primary job is to elect and reelect House Democrats, was touting a post-audiotape, generic survey that shows a Democrat holding at least a 7-percentage-point lead over a Republican in congressional races.

Most models the Democrats use mean the party would be on pace to win 18-19 seats  a big gain in their own expectations since just last month.

However, thats still short of the 30 seats Democrats would need to take control of the House.

The party has a much stronger chance of seizing control of the upper chamber.

In the Senate, Democrats need to pick up five seats held by Republicans to seize control  and many of those races are tight. Further, that 7-point edge in the generic ballot typically translates to five Senate seats, precisely the number needed to take full control without having to rely on a Democratic vice president to break Senate ties.

We have seen a total collapse of the generic ballot, a senior Republican source told Fox News. The Senates going to be tough to hold. Its gotten a lot worse.

Republicans have a 54-46 seat majority in the Senate, and a 246-186 seat majority in the House.

The generic poll, though, included no findings on individual races.

Were still in a wait-and-see period after the tape and second debate, Nathan Gonzales, who handicaps congressional races for the nonpartisan Rothenberg & Gonzales Political Report, said Wednesday. Until we see the numbers in competitive districts, Im hesitant to make a profound declaration.

Gonzales, like others, marvels at how several Senate GOP incumbents have weathered earlier Trump campaign stumbles.

But if anything can swing a race, a presidential nominee being accused of sexual assault might be it, he also said.

Aside from the audio tape, Trump was accused in several news reports Wednesday night of groping women years ago, though the campaign vehemently denies the allegations.

Though congressional race handicappers are waiting on new polls before making any more predictions, Senate Republicans were fretting Wednesday over the shifts in voter sentiment.

In one key race, any post-audiotape polls showing a significant change in Ohio GOP Sen. Rob Portmans reelection bid would likely signal a major change among voters.

The first-term senator was among five or six GOP Senate incumbents targeted by Democrats this election cycle. His situation got worse amid the party divide in Ohio created in large part by failed 2016 GOP presidential candidate and Gov. John Kasich withholding his support for Trump.

Still, Portman before the release of the audiotape had built a double-digit lead, with most handicappers expecting him to win.

But if Rob Portmans back in trouble, Republicans have more Trump problems on the horizon, Gonzales said.

Among the biggest concerns is that new polling will show several of the targeted GOP incumbents who have out-performed Trump in their home state getting dragged backward by the audiotape fallout.

Pennsylvania GOP Sen. Pat Toomey, for example, is deadlocked in his reelection bid, while Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton leads Trump in the state by nearly 9 percentage points, according to the RealClearPolitics polling average.

The freshman senator has never endorsed Trump and declined to say after the audiotape release whether he will vote for the party nominee.

Meanwhile, the fight for the Senate could unexpectedly come down to GOP Sen. Roy Blunts bid to win a second term in Missouri.

Blunt was essentially a second-tier target, but his roughly 20 years in Congress, including 14 in the House and the past six as part of Senate Republican leadership, has made him vulnerable in yet another anti-Washington year.

Senator Blunt wakes up every day thinking about what he can do for special interests, Democratic challenger and Missouri Secretary of State Jason Kander recently told Fox News.

Blunt, who still backs Trump, said: My opponent is a guy who has run for three offices in the past seven years. Hes clearly more focused on getting a job than keeping one.

Fox News race ratings issued before the audiotape controversy also reflected a tight race for the Senate. The 2016 Scorecard showed 48 seats in solid or lean Democrat territory and 47 for Republicans (including seats not on the ballot this year). Five were rated toss-ups.

Fox News Chad Pergram and Matt Finn contributed to this report.
It took weeks for Hillary Clinton to say she was sorry for using a private email account while secretary of state -- perhaps no surprise to those who know her.

According to new documents published by Wikileaks, Center for American Progress CEO Neera Tanden noted in a September 2015 exchange with Clinton Campaign Chairman John Podesta that apologies are like her Achilles heel.

The emails, which come from Podesta's hacked account, show how much the debate over an apology consumed her aides and supporters.

Tanden's email was part of a conversation that took place shortly after Clinton gave a partial apology when defending her use of a private email server during a Sept. 4, 2015 interview with Andrea Mitchell of NBC News.

At the end of the day, I am sorry that this has been confusing to people and has raised a lot of questions, she said when asked about communicating on private email during her time at the State Department.

Tanden observed in the email to Podesta that she didn't seem like a b---- in the interview and that she would get to a full apology in a few interviews.

Podesta lamented, No good deed goes unpunished. Press takeaway was the whine of but she really didn't apologize to the American people I am beginning to think Trump is on to something.

A few days later, the pair continued to discuss the fallout from Clintons failure to tell the American people she was sorry for the server.

This apology thing has become like a pathology, Tanden wrote.

Tanden conceded that if she contacted Clinton directly by email about her apology anxiety, that she will dismiss it out of hand.

Responding a day later, Podesta suggested Tanden email Clinton.

You should email her. She can say she's sorry without apologizing to the American people. Tell her to say it and move on, why get hung on this, her current campaign chairman wrote.

Days later when asked directly by the Associated Press why she had not issued a direct apology, Clinton insisted her actions were permissible.

What I did was allowed. It was allowed by the State Department. The State Department has confirmed that, the Democratic candidate said.

Clinton finally made the full apology in an interview with David Muir of ABC News. That was a mistake. Im sorry about that. I take responsibility. And Im trying to be as transparent as I possibly can, Clinton conceded to David Muir of ABC News during a Sept. 8, 2015 interview.
Much of the conversation over the upcoming general election has focused on the race for the White House.

However, with local seats up for bids in November some area civic groups brought together candidates for one local race to weigh in on the issues.

On Wednesday, the candidates for the 199th Pennsylvania legislative district  incumbent Republican Rep. Stephen Bloom and Democratic challenger Jill Bartoli  answered questions in the gymnasium of the Carlisle YWCA.

The district includes Carlisle Borough, Dickinson Township, North Middleton Township, Middlesex Township, part of Silver Spring Township and western Cumberland County in the Newville area down to the Shippensburg line.

Wednesdays candidates forum was hosted by the League of Women Voters of the Carlisle Area and the Carlisle YWCA.

Thank you for being an active citizen and finding out where the candidates stand on the issues, Carlisle YWCA Executive Director Robin Scaer said to the audience of about 30 residents.

So where do the candidates stand on the issues?

Abortion

Both Bloom and Bartoli agreed with the use of public funds for some family planning and womens health services.

The two, however, diverged rather widely on the use of public funds for abortions.

Bloom emphasized his pro-life view and largely opposed the use of any public dollars for abortion services.

I am unabashedly pro-life and have been endorsed by the Pennsylvania Pro-Life Federation, Bloom said. To me that unborn child is a human and I would absolutely abhor the idea of public funds to be used to terminate that life.

When asked after the forum if he supports exemptions that allow funds to be used for abortions in the cases of rape, incest and protecting the life of the mother, Bloom said, life of the mother.

Bartoli said she believes the decision should be left up to the doctor and the mother and funds should not be restricted.

When asked after the forum if she supports Medicaid dollars being used for abortions, Bartoli said, I would support any choices a woman and her doctor made together.

Redistricting

Bartoli stated she disagrees with the current system that allows the state Legislature to draw district lines, saying it was too partisan.

She said she would support a measure that would create a non-political commission to create legislative districts.

When elections are decided even before candidates appear, its just not the democracy that we want, Bartoli said.  It really shouldnt be in the hands of a skilled mapmaker. Thats really not the kind of democracy we want.

Bloom disagreed with creating a commission, saying he was concerned that the commission could be just as political or partisan as any other group.

He did make light of some political gamesmanship that may go on when the districts were last drawn.

When I was elected back in 2010, it was actually posed to me would you like to have the 199th district not have Carlisle in it, because you would have so many fewer Democrats, Bloom said.

Carlisle is currently home to one of the largest percentages of registered Democrats in Cumberland County.

I said that would be absurd, he added. In some ways Carlisle is the heart and soul of the district.  I said absolutely not. Just divide it and they did.

Other issues

Bartoli said she supports an assault weapons ban, while Bloom said he does not and stated he was a strong proponent of the Second Amendment.

Both candidates said they would support measures to reduce the size of the Legislature and make state legislators part-time rather than full-time.

Bloom said he opposes raising the minimum wage and Bartoli supports it.

Both candidates said they will be voting for their partys nominee for president in the upcoming election.
Hillary Clintons top aides privately debated whether to joke about her emerging email scandal, if they should shift some blame to former secretaries of state and how to frame, explain and defend her use of a homebrewed server in a series of purported March 2015 emails revealed by WikiLeaks this week.

The emails, which originated on the Gmail account of Clinton Campaign Chairman John Podesta, paint a portrait of a political team alternately worried and defiant in the face of their boss mushrooming email disclosure. Through the early days of the email revelations, and even throughout the summer as further discoveries turned up the heat, Clintons group sweated the minutiae of her carefully crafted responses in an attempt to keep the campaigns preferred narrative on track.

As the scandal evolved during the summer of 2015, aides suddenly had to combat reports that classified information may have been emailed, leading Clinton to eventually modify her original denials to say she had never sent nor received any email that was marked classified. On Aug. 21, her team was debating a new statement addressing the issue. Press secretary Brian Fallon emailed communications director Jennifer Palmieri to flag a potential issue.

This line  This process of looking backwards to see if something should have been classified at the time is fine - is problematic, Fallon wrote. We should not think it is fine to find something that should have been classified at the time. Our position is that no such material exists, else it could be said she mishandled classified info.

Its unclear if anyone responded to Fallons concerns.

Worries such as Fallons, however, were not as commonplace during the early days of the scandal. Emails reveal that Clintons staffs first instinct was to use humor to blunt the force of the March 2 New York Times article on the personal account.

Palmieri floated the idea of HRC making a joke about the email situation during an event for Emilys List, a pro-choice PAC. A few staffers chimed in that this approach could work, but adviser Mandy Grunwald disagreed.

We dont know whats in the emails, so we are nervous about this, Grunwald wrote after a conversation with consultant Jim Margolis. Might get a big laugh tonight and regret it when content of emails is disclosed.

Nick Merrill, another press aide, pitched a comedy segment on March 7, noting that Clinton could appear with her husband and daughter at an already-scheduled event being hosted by comedian Larry Wilmore. Merrill mused that Wilmore could cue Clinton to join him on stage with the line, I should tell you, I just emailed HRC (I hear shes a big emailer), and asked if shed join as well.

Goal would be to cauterize this just enough so it plays out over the weekend and dies in the short term, Merrill writes, adding: It might be crazy, but it might also be the one-two punch we need right now.

The comedy route was ultimately scrapped.

Clintons advisers also discussed how much  if any  blame should be assigned to her predecessors at the State Department. Palmieris first response to being emailed The New York Times story on March 2 was: Didnt Condi [Rice] also use a non-government account?

The following day, Merrill circulated a list of talking points to top campaign staffers. Among the notes, Colin Powells memoir was cited to show he worked in a similar fashion. On March 6, an initial draft of a Clinton email statement included an anecdote about Powell telling her during a dinner party about his email usage. The next day, however, campaign manager Robby Mook wanted that portion gone.

The one thing in here I feel strongly about is that she NOT include the part about meeting with other former secretaries and that they told her she should do this, Mook wrote. I recognize that the boss will have to approve, but if she wants to include that, Id say we should discuss with her. I worry it opens a major can of worms and deflects the heat in a potentially unhelpful way.

Every sentence of Clintons eventual March 10 statement was carefully written, re-written and massaged by her core campaign group, and the statement went through nearly a week of edits before Clinton finally delivered it.

An early version included the sentence, I knew that others in government used their personal email accounts, but was then struck out. A March 6 draft also included the line, I am amused (and bemused) to be caught up in a controversy about technology, since I have a well-earned reputation for not being especially tech-savvy.

Palmieri forwarded a copy to Podesta and wrote Not so sure myself,,,

On March 7, Grunwald and Margolis suggested cutting the description of Clinton as a bumbling technophobe.

Our big suggestion is to cut the bemused paragraph about HRC's relationship to technology, Grunwald wrote. This seems more appropriate for HRC to say in person than on paper. Additionally, we worry that the word bemused will drive this is no laughing matter reactions.

Top Clinton aide Cheryl Mills also removed the word deleted from one draft to instead read that the emails were discarded, according to document track changes.

With the statement squared away, the team went on the offensive. Palmieri wrote on March 8 that we are going to need Dems to come out in force to support her both nationally and in New Hampshire and Iowa, the first two states participating in the upcoming Democratic primaries. To help, Palmieri released a press and surrogate plan, and longtime aide Philippe Reines suggested using Vermont Sen. Pat Leahy because he had advocated for Congress to be subjected to Freedom of Information Act requirements.

He could jam Rand [Paul], [Marco] Rubio and [Ted] Cruz to release their WORK email, let alone personal, wrote Reines, referencing several senators who were then among the Republican presidential contenders. Could explain why Rand Paul in particular has been unusually quiet during this whole thing.

Reines also proposed going on background to one or two VERY friendly and malleable reporters to say Clintons strong handling of the scandal was due in part to the new team surrounding her. He followed up by noting that he brought the plan up to Clinton. Its fair to say she appreciates the utility of doing this, Reines wrote.

Center for American Progress CEO Neera Tanden, who frequently emailed thoughts and advice to Podesta, emailed on March 9 to express displeasure with a Wall Street Journal story that had some unflattering quotes from White House staffers.

But the WH crapping on her is going to send this into orbit, Tanden wrote.

On March 10, Clinton appeared before reporters for the first time to answer questions about her use of email. That same day Rep. Trey Gowdy, who was chairing the committee investigating the Benghazi terror attack, issued a statement critical of Clinton. That appeared to please Palmieri, as she wrote that Democrats can now shift the conversation back in the Benghazi box.

Saw it as positive that Gowdy took the bait and overreacted to her comments, Palmieri wrote. Hill Dems will like to hear that we are looking to put this back on House R. Anytime they are involved, Dems win.

A month later, on April 12, Clinton announced her candidacy for president.
The decision to let Hillary Clinton off the hook for mishandling classified information has roiled the FBI and Department of Justice, with one person closely involved in the year-long probe telling FoxNews.com that career agents and attorneys on the case unanimously believed the Democratic presidential nominee should have been charged.

The source, who spoke to FoxNews.com on the condition of anonymity, said FBI Director James Comeys dramatic July 5 announcement that he would not recommend to the Attorney Generals office that the former secretary of state be charged left members of the investigative team dismayed and disgusted. More than 100 FBI agents and analysts worked around the clock with six attorneys from the DOJs National Security Division, Counter Espionage Section, to investigate the case.

No trial level attorney agreed, no agent working the case agreed, with the decision not to prosecute -- it was a top-down decision, said the source, whose identity and role in the case has been verified by FoxNews.com.

A high-ranking FBI official told Fox News that while it might not have been a unanimous decision, It was unanimous that we all wanted her [Clintons] security clearance yanked.

It is safe to say the vast majority felt she should be prosecuted, the senior FBI official told Fox News. We were floored while listening to the FBI briefing because Comey laid it all out, and then said but we are doing nothing, which made no sense to us.

The FBI declined to comment directly, but instead referred Fox News to multiple public statements Comey has made in which he has thrown water on the idea that politics played a role in the agencys decision not to recommend charges.

I know there were many opinions expressed by people who were not part of the investigation  including people in government  but none of that mattered to us, Comey said July 5 in announcing the FBIs decision on the Clinton emails. Opinions are irrelevant, and they were all uninformed by insight into our investigation, because we did the investigation the right way. Only facts matter, and the FBI found them here in an entirely apolitical and professional way."

Andrew Napolitano, former judge and senior judicial analyst for Fox News Channel, said many law enforcement agents involved with the Clinton email investigation have similar beliefs.

It is well known that the FBI agents on the ground, the human beings who did the investigative work, had built an extremely strong case against Hillary Clinton and were furious when the case did not move forward, said Napolitano. They believe the decision not to prosecute came from The White House.

The claim also is backed up by a report in the New York Post this week, which quotes a number of veteran FBI agents saying FBI Director James Comey has permanently damaged the bureaus reputation for uncompromising investigations with his cowardly whitewash of former Secretary of State Hillary Clintons mishandling of classified information using an unauthorized private email server.

The FBI has politicized itself, and its reputation will suffer for a long time. I hold Director Comey responsible, Dennis V. Hughes, the first chief of the FBIs computer investigations unit, told the Post. Retired FBI agent Michael M. Biasello added to the report, saying, Comey has singlehandedly ruined the reputation of the organization.

Especially angering the team, which painstakingly pieced together deleted emails and interviewed witnesses to prove that sensitive information was left unprotected, was the fact that Comey based his decision on a conclusion that a recommendation to charge would not be followed by DOJ prosecutors, even though the bureaus role was merely to advise, Fox News was told.

Basically, James Comey hijacked the DOJs role by saying no reasonable prosecutor would bring this case, the Fox News source said. The FBI does not decide who to prosecute and when, that is the sole province of a prosecutor -- that never happens.

I know zero prosecutors in the DOJs National Security Division who would not have taken the case to a grand jury, the source added. One was never even convened.

Napolitano agreed, saying the FBI investigation was hampered from the beginning, because there was no grand jury, and no search warrants or subpoenas issued.

The FBI could not seize anything related to the investigation, only request things. As an example, in order to get the laptop, they had to agree to grant immunity, Napolitano said.

In early 2015, it was revealed that Clinton had used a private email server in her Chappaqua, N.Y., home to conduct government business while serving from 2009-2013. The emails on the private server included thousands of messages that would later be marked classified by the State Department retroactively. Federal law makes it a crime for a government employee to possess classified information in an unsecure manner, and the relevant statute does not require a finding of intent.

Although Comey found that Clinton was extremely careless in their handling of very sensitive, highly classified information, he said no charges are appropriate in this case.

Well before Comeys announcement, which came days after Bill Clinton met in secret with Comeys boss, Attorney General Loretta Lynch, there were signs the investigation would go nowhere, the source told FoxNews.com. One was the fact that the FBI forced its agents and analysts involved in the case to sign non-disclosure agreements.

This is unheard of, because of the stifling nature it has on the investigative process, the source said.

Another oddity was the five so-called immunity agreements granted to Clintons State Department aides and IT experts.

Cheryl Mills, Clinton's former chief of staff, along with two other State Department staffers, John Bentel and Heather Samuelson, were afforded immunity agreements, as was Bryan Pagliano, Clinton's former IT aide, and Paul Combetta, an employee at Platte River networks, the firm hired to manage her server after she left the State Department.

As Fox News has reported, Combetta utilized the computer program Bleachbit to destroy Clintons records, despite an order from Congress to preserve them, and Samuelson also destroyed Clintons emails. Pagliano established the system that illegally transferred classified and top secret information to Clintons private server. Mills disclosed classified information to the Clintons family foundation in the process, breaking federal laws.

None should have been granted immunity if no charges were being brought, the source said.

[Immunity] is issued because you know someone possesses evidence you need to charge the target, and you almost always know what it is they possess, the source said. That's why you give immunity.

Mills and Samuelson also received immunity for what was found on their computers, which were then destroyed as a part of negotiations with the FBI.

Mills and Samuelson receiving immunity with the agreement their laptops would be destroyed by the FBI afterwards is, in itself, illegal, the source said. We know those laptops contained classified information. That's also illegal, and they got a pass.

Mills dual role as Clintons attorney and a witness in her own right should never have been tolerated either.

Mills was allowed to sit in on the interview of Clinton as her lawyer. That's absurd. Someone who is supposedly cooperating against the target of an investigation [being] permitted to sit by the target as counsel violates any semblance of ethical responsibility, the source said.

Every agent and attorney I have spoken to is embarrassed and has lost total respect for James Comey and Loretta Lynch, the source said. The bar for DOJ is whether the evidence supports a case for charges -- it did here. It should have been taken to the grand jury.

Also infuriating agents, the New York Post reported, was the fact that Clintons interview spanned just 3 hours with no follow-up questioning, despite her 40 bouts of amnesia, and then, three days later, Comey cleared her of criminal wrongdoing.

Many FBI and DOJ staffers believe Comey and Lynch were motivated by ambition, and not justice, the source said.

Loretta Lynch simply wants to stay on as Attorney General under Clinton, so there is no way she would indict, the source said. James Comey thought his position [excoriating Clinton even as he let her off the hook] gave himself cover to remain on as director regardless of who wins.

The decision by Comey and Lynch not to prosecute has renewed FBI agents belief that the agency should be autonomous.

This is why so many agents believe the FBI needs to be an entity by itself to truly be effective, the senior FBI official told Fox News. We all feel very strongly about it -- and the need to be objective. But that truly cannot be done when the AG is appointed by a president and attends daily briefings.

Adding to the controversy, WikiLeaks released internal Clinton communication records this week that show the Department of Justice kept Clintons campaign and her staff informed about the progress of its investigation.

Leaked emails from Clinton campaign chairman John Podestas gmail account show the Clinton campaign was contacted by the DOJ on May 19, 2015.

DOJ folks inform me there is a status hearing in this case this morning, so we could have a window into the judges thinking about this proposed production schedule as quickly as today, Clinton press secretary Brian Fallon wrote in relation to the email documentation the State Department would be required to turn over to the Justice Department.

Jay Sekulow, chief counsel for the American Center for Law and Justice, who previously served in the U.S. Treasury Department in the Office of Chief Counsel for the IRS, where he was responsible for litigation in the U.S. Tax Court, said it was clear from the start that the FBI never intended to prosecute.

This was a fake, false investigation from the outset, Sekulow said.
Hillary Clintons lead over Donald Trump has increased to seven points, as more than half of voters say he is not qualified to be president.

Thats according to a just-released national Fox News Poll of likely voters.

Clinton receives 45 percent to Trumps 38 percent. Libertarian Gary Johnson is at 7 percent and Green Party candidate Jill Stein gets 3 percent. Last week, Clinton was up by two points in the four-way contest (44-42 percent).

In the two-way matchup, its Clinton over Trump by eight (49-41 percent). She had a four-point edge a week ago (48-44 percent, Oct. 3-6).

Clintons lead is outside the polls margin of sampling error in both the two-way and four-way contests.

The poll, out Thursday, was conducted Monday-Wednesday. The second presidential debate was Sunday. On Friday, The Washington Post made public a hot-mic recording of Trump from Access Hollywood. On the same day, WikiLeaks began its release of hacked emails from the Clinton campaign, revealing more on Monday through Wednesday.

CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL POLL RESULTS

In the four-way race, Clinton is favored among non-whites (+62 points), suburban women (+24), women (+19), and voters under 30 (+16). Third party candidates hurt her among younger voters, as about one in four of them go for Johnson or Stein.

Trumps the pick for men (+5 points), whites (+14), and whites without a college degree (+25).

Since last week, the largest declines in support for him are among women ages 45 and over (down 12 points), voters ages 65+ (down 11), suburban women (down 10), white women with a college degree (down 7), GOP women (down 6), and white college graduates (down 6).

Support for Trump among white evangelical Christians held steady at 68 percent. Typically, however, about three-quarters of white evangelicals vote for the GOP nominee. Trumps support among regular church-goers dropped eight points, from 53 to 45 percent.

Independents split, giving 35 percent to each Clinton and Trump, with another 21 percent backing Johnson or Stein. Trump was up by 12 points among independents in late September.

Eighty-one percent of Democrats back Clinton and 80 percent of Republicans support Trump.

"If the Republicans are not at rock-bottom, they can certainly see the bottom from where they are," says GOP pollster Daron Shaw, who conducts the Fox News Poll with Democrat Chris Anderson. "If Trump got 90 percent of self-identified Republicans and nothing else -- no Democrats and no independents -- he'd be at 32 percent.

Trumps enthusiasm advantage has evaporated: 70 percent of his backers strongly supported him last week. Thats 63 percent now. For Clinton, its 66 percent, up from 57 percent.

Yet the number of Republicans satisfied with Trump as their nominee is mostly unchanged: 48 percent are happy with him at the top of the ticket vs. 52 percent a month ago.

Among Democrats, 54 percent are happy with Clinton, while 38 percent still wish it were Bernie Sanders.

Overall, 64 percent believe Clinton has the right temperament to serve effectively and 68 percent say shes qualified to be president.

Its the opposite for Trump, as 63 percent think he lacks the temperament and 56 percent say he isnt qualified. For 49 percent, he is not at all qualified.

Are the candidates good role models for children? Voters say Clinton is (54 yes vs. 43 no). And Trump is not (20 yes vs. 77 no).

Thirty-three percent say Clinton is honest and trustworthy. For Trump, its 32 percent. Thats a four-point drop for him since last week.

Put simply, the last week has been a disaster for Trump, says Anderson. And more than ever, voters think he lacks the temperament and qualifications to be president.

Trumps personal ratings also took a hit, while Clintons improved. More voters view her negatively than positively by five points (47 favorable vs. 52 unfavorable). Last week she was underwater by nine. Trumps rating stands at negative 23 (38 favorable vs. 61 unfavorable). Thats eight points more negative today, as he was underwater by 15 a week ago.

Among Republicans, his favorable rating dropped 11 points, from 84 percent to 73 percent.

Clinton now tops Trump on every issue tested. More voters trust her to handle foreign policy (+24 points), health care (+13), terrorism (+11), immigration (+9), and the economy (+3). For the past month, Trump had been the choice on the economy, and the two were about evenly matched on terrorism.

Clinton is preferred to handle health care despite nearly half wanting to get rid of President Obamas signature law. Forty-nine percent of registered voters want to repeal Obamacare vs. 45 percent who prefer to keep it in place. Thats a more positive rating for the law than the last time the Fox News Poll asked in December 2014. Then it was 58 percent repeal and 38 percent keep.

Meanwhile, a growing number expect another President Clinton. Sixty-five percent think shell win in November. Thats 10 points higher than last week (55 percent) -- and 19 higher than June (46 percent). Some 23 percent think Trump will win.

Americans head to the polls in an even worse mood than four years ago. In October 2012, 53 percent of registered voters were dissatisfied with how things were going in the country. Now, 59 percent are dissatisfied.

Even so, 56 percent approve of the job Barack Obama is doing as president. Thats up from 52 percent a week ago -- and a record high for his second term. Moreover, his approval has been 48 percent or better since February.

Pollpourri

Trumps video troubles and subsequent attacks on GOP leaders are hurting the party. One indication is more registered voters now consider themselves a Democrat than a Republican -- by nine points (44-35 percent), compared to by four points last week (41-37 percent).

Democrats usually hold an advantage over Republicans nationally in party identification, and this year self-identified Democrats have outnumbered self-identified Republicans by an average of three percentage points in Fox News polls.

The poll asks likely voters to choose between the Democratic and Republican candidates in their Congressional district and finds Democrats up by six points, 48-42 percent. Democrats were up by just one at the end of September (44-43 percent).

"The Democrats are now prohibitive favorites to win the presidency, favorites to take the Senate, and it is no longer unthinkable that they could challenge in the House," says Shaw.

Endorsing Trump is still a net positive for Congressional candidates: 27 percent of Republicans say they are more likely to vote for a Congressional candidate who refuses to endorse Trump, yet more -- 39 percent -- say they are less likely to do so.

No matter who wins, voters are concerned scandals will have a serious effect on the administration: 66 percent are worried about scandals in a Clinton administration and 63 percent if its Trump. More Democrats (54 percent) are concerned about scandals in a Clinton White House than Republicans are about a Trump administration (41 percent).

Forty-eight percent of voters familiar with the video of Trumps vulgar remarks say its a deal breaker for them. Fifteen percent of Republicans and 40 percent of independents also feel that way.

For comparison, 37 percent of voters familiar with Clintons leaked emails say transcripts of her speeches to big Wall Street donors are a deal breaker. That includes 11 percent of Democrats and 17 percent of Sanders supporters.

Trumps attacks on how Clinton has handled her husbands past controversies with women arent sticking. Seventy-two percent think Clinton stands up for women. Thirty-eight percent say Trump respects women.

The Fox News Poll is based on landline and cellphone interviews with 1,006 randomly chosen registered voters nationwide and was conducted under the joint direction of Anderson Robbins Research (D) and Shaw & Company Research (R) from October 10-12, 2016. The survey includes results among 917 likely voters. The margin of sampling error is plus or minus three percentage points for results among both registered and likely voters.
Republican Gov. Chris Christie wasn't charged by federal prosecutors in the George Washington Bridge lane-closing case and wasn't held responsible by other investigations into the political revenge plot, but he's now been ensnared again in the legal fallout because of a citizen's misconduct complaint.

A New Jersey judge on Thursday allowed the complaint against Christie to move forward. Christie's office said he will appeal and described the citizen as a "serial complainant and political activist with a history of abusing the system."

The complaint, filed by retired Teaneck firefighter William Brennan, alleges Christie "knowingly refrained from ordering that his subordinates take all necessary action to re-open local access lanes" from Fort Lee that had been "closed with the purpose to injure Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich" for not endorsing Christie's re-election bid. The complaint claims residents were "deprived the benefit and enjoyment of their community."

The judge's ruling comes amid the trial of two former Christie appointees who are accused of orchestrating the lane closures in September 2013 as retribution against Sokolich, a Democrat. The government's star witness, David Wildstein, testified that several members in the governor's inner circle knew about the plot beforehand or soon after and that Christie himself was told about the traffic jams on the third day of the four-day lane closures.

Christie has adamantly denied that happened and spokesman Brian Murray says, "The simple fact is the governor had no knowledge of the lane realignments either before they happened or while they were happening."

The governor's misconduct case next goes to the Bergen County prosecutor's office, which will decide whether it will lead to an indictment. Christie appointed the prosecutor.

Spectators in the courtroom who were mostly there for minor criminal violations applauded after Judge Roy McGeady's ruling.

"I'm satisfied that there's probable cause to believe that an event of official misconduct was caused by Gov. Christie," McGeady said. "I'm going to issue the summons."

Christie attorney Craig Carpenito told the judge that the complaint was "intentionally misleading" and that what Christie knew about the closures was already thoroughly investigated.

Official misconduct is considered a second-degree offense in New Jersey and carries a possible sentence of five to 10 years. An initial court appearance is scheduled for Oct. 24.

Three investigations into the scandal did not find evidence Christie authorized or knew about the lane closures, a fact that his spokesman reiterated after the summons Thursday. Federal prosecutors did not charge Christie after their investigation, a Democrat-led legislative panel failed to find evidence linking the governor to the plot and a 2014 taxpayer-funded report found the governor wasn't aware of the September 2013 closures until afterward.

Bill Baroni, former deputy executive director at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, and Bridget Kelly, Christie's deputy chief of staff, are on trial in the lane closures case.

Baroni and Kelly face charges including conspiracy, fraud and deprivation of civil rights. The most serious charge, wire fraud conspiracy, carries a 20-year maximum prison sentence.

They contend the scheme was conceived and executed by Wildstein, a career political operative and blogger their attorneys have characterized as Christie's hatchet man at the Port Authority, a powerful bistate agency that runs bridges, tunnels, ports, airports and the World Trade Center.
In the high school halls.

In the shopping malls

Conform or be cast out.  Subdivisions by Rush

Theres a turf war underway in the Republican Partys high school cafeteria.

Its unclear which is the in crowd and which is the out crowd. One horde congregates around Donald Trumps lunch table in the school cafeteria. The other masses at the table occupied by House Speaker Paul Ryan.

Pressure to conform with the high school in crowd is no different from fitting with the in political crowd. The only differences are the lack of braces and no one uses OXY on Capitol Hill. Some Republicans know which crowd theyre in. Some have no clue. Others want to be in both crowds. Consider Sens. John Thune, R-S.D., and Deb Fischer, R-Neb., denouncing Trumps Access Hollywood comments and calling for someone else at the top of the ticket. But Trump didnt quit, Thune and Fischer both remained at Trumps lunch table.

Well only determine the right or the wrong crowd in November and perhaps beyond that. This is the problem facing Ryan.

The speaker yanked an invitation for Trump to appear at a political festival in Wisconsin over the weekend. Ryan rebuked Trumps conduct for the umpteenth time. Ryan declared hed focus efforts on protecting the GOP congressional majority and not help the nominee. Trump then turned on Ryan in a fusillade worthy of a Perez Hilton Twitter tangle with Lady Gaga.

If Trump loses, its likely hell blame Ryan and congressional leaders. Trump accused Ryan and other key GOPers in Washington of conspiring against him. An internal bloodbath ensued.

Pro-Trump House Republicans joined a conference call Wednesday with Trump campaign manager Kellyanne Conway. Some of the most-ardent Trump Republicans on that call argued for the nominee to back off of Ryan. Fox News is told they informed Conway that Trumps attacks on Ryan are a distraction and he should focus on Hillary Clinton.

But, divide and conquer, right?

Rep. Jim Bridenstine, R-Okla., is no stranger to bucking leadership, voting against both former House Speaker John Boehner and Ryan for the top House gig. Ryans decision to drop Trump infuriated the Oklahoma Republican. Bridenstine proclaimed on Twitter that if Paul Ryan isn't for Trump, then I'm not for Paul Ryan. Other Republicans also criticized Ryan for cutting Trump loose.

Ryan faces an electoral problem and an operational issue.

A recent NBC poll found voters favor Democrats by 7 points on a generic ballot. That number translates to a 19-20 Democratic seat pickup in House contests. Democrats need a net gain of 30 seats to win the House for the first time since early 2011. Democrats find that voters characterize nuanced Republican positions on Trump as cynical and hypocritical.

We now have a very strong tailwind, said one senior Democratic source, who added, this is not quite 2006.

Democrats won 31 seats in 2006, capturing the House from Republicans.

Turnout is key.

This is a bad, anti-incumbent mood, said one House Republican who asked not to be identified. Its harder when 40 percent of the base points at Ryan for not getting behind Trump in the last month.

So, heres Ryans operational issue.

In September, the House approved a glommed-together, temporary spending bill to avoid a government shutdown. House conservatives didnt like the final cost of the bill. The bill also lacked conservative policy provisions on refugees and Planned Parenthood. Well over half of the House GOP Conference voted yes. But 75 Republicans voted nay. That required the GOP to turn to Democrats for votes.

Congress faces another shutdown deadline in mid-December. Its likely lawmakers will cobble together another amalgamated measure to avoid a shutdown then. The package will require Democratic support to pass and earn President Obamas signature.

As a result, some skeptical Republicans will wonder how the September and December bills differ from how Boehner ran the show.

We have 14 or 15 defections today [from Ryan for speaker], said one House Republican who asked not to be identified. If Republicans lose 18 to 20 seats, [Ryans] not the speaker.

In other words, phone calls melt down the Capitol switchboard if Ryan and pro-Trump forces dont make amends  to say nothing of the operational problems of keeping the government open around Christmas.

Ryans built significant trust and goodwill among GOP members. Of late, Ryan often waves around a brochure promoting his A Better Way policy agenda, focusing on health care, taxes, limiting government regulation and addressing poverty. Ryans proclaimed the GOP needs to be for things, not against things. A Better Way codifies Ryans vision for that.

But if Hillary Clinton clocks Trump, the GOP drops seats in the House and perhaps loses the Senate, the speaker may have to pivot to oppose things. The Trump wing of the party will demand resistance  especially if Ryan is to remain as speaker.

Ryan may see himself as a check on Clintons legislative initiatives. He could simultaneously serve as a vanguard of conservative principles  something rarely mentioned in this campaign.

But this all hinges on which clique of high school kids emerges as the popular one. The group at the Trump table or the clutch hanging with Ryan.

Conform or be cast out, goes the song by Rush.

Theres a lot of pressure to fit in. And no one can tell at which table the cool kids will hang out.

Capitol Attitude is a weekly column written by members of the Fox News Capitol Hill team. Their articles take you inside the halls of Congress, and cover the spectrum of policy issues being introduced, debated and voted on there.
Donald Trump launched a blistering counterattack Thursday in response to multiple allegations of sexual assault, calling them entirely fabricated, accusing the media outlets that reported them of backing Hillary Clinton and slamming the four accusers as horrible, horrible liars.

In a nearly hour-long speech, with language fiery even by Trump standards, the Republican spent over half of it blasting the media, in particular the New York Times, for allegedly pushing an agenda to elect Clinton.

Lets be clear on one thing, the corporate media in our country is no longer involved in journalism  they are a political special interest no different from a lobbyist, Trump said in the speech in West Palm Beach, Fla. Their agenda is to elect crooked Hillary Clinton at any cost, at any price, no matter how many lives they destroy.

Trump said the campaign has substantial evidence to dispute the latest orchestrated allegations and will release them at the appropriate time.

These vicious claims about me of inappropriate conduct with women are totally and absolutely false. These claims are all fiction, entirely fabricated and are outright lies, he said.

He singled out the accusers as horrible, horrible liars.

In a story published Wednesday evening, The New York Times reported that 74-year-old Jessica Leeds of New York told the paper Trump groped her on a flight more than 30 years ago. Leeds says Trump grabbed her breasts and tried to put his hand up her skirt.

In the same story, Rachel Crooks told the paper that the real estate developer "kissed me directly on the mouth" after she introduced herself to him outside a Trump Tower elevator in 2005.

"It was so inappropriate," Crooks told the paper. "I was so upset that he thought I was so insignificant that he could do that."

Also Wednesday night, the Palm Beach Post published claims by a Florida woman that Trump had groped her during a concert at his Mar-a-Lago estate in January 2003. The woman, 36-year-old Mindy McGillivray, told the paper that she "chose to stay quiet" and did not report the incident to authorities.

Additionally, PEOPLE Magazine writer Natasha Stoynoff published a story late Wednesday detailing her own encounter with Trump in 2005 when she went to interview Donald and Melania in Mar-a-Lago.

Stoynoff says that Trump showed her one tremendous room and allegedly pushed her against the wall and was forcing his tongue down her throat.

Even before his rally, Trump blasted the reports on Twitter.

Why didn't the writer of the twelve year old article in People Magazine mention the "incident" in her story. Because it did not happen!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 13, 2016 The phony story in the failing @nytimes is a TOTAL FABRICATION. Written by same people as last discredited story on women. WATCH!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 13, 2016

In a statement, PEOPLE Editor in Chief Jess Cagle stood by the account from their reporter.

"We are grateful to Natasha Stoynoff for telling her story. Ms. Stoynoff is a remarkable, ethical, honest and patriotic woman, and she has shared her story of being physically attacked by Donald Trump in 2005 because she felt it was her duty to make the public aware," he said.

"To assign any other motive is a disgusting, pathetic attempt to victimize her again. We stand steadfastly by her, and are proud to publish her clear, credible account of what happened," he said.

Earlier, the Trump campaign, in challenging the reports, said it is planning to file a lawsuit against The New York Times.

Apart from attacking the media, Trump on Thursday spent much of his time on the Clintons and what he called the international corruption of the Clinton machine.

When the crowd chanted the refrain of lock her up, Trump allowed it to ring out, before adding: She should be locked up.
Over 70 years have passed since the Allied forces stormed Omaha Beach in Normandy, France during World War II, but a historic relic from that time still lives on. The USS LST 325, a landing ship commissioned on February 1, 1943 participated in battle operations on D-Day, June 6th 1944, carrying vehicles, soldiers, tanks and equipment.

Captain Robert Bob Kubota, a certified tugboat pilot, volunteers his time on the LST 325.

This was such an important part of the war effort, Churchill himself said this is the ship that won the war, Kubota said. They were able to get them not only just the tanks but all the other necessary material that goes to fighting a modern war.

Although he did not serve in the armed forces, Kubota has a strong family connection to the war. Kubotas father, a Japanese-American born in the United States, was first placed in an internment camp, then paroled to work the crops to fill the labor shortage caused by the war, before being drafted to serve as a Master Sergeant during WWII.

It was always a sore subject with him obviously and Im very much aware of that, even today, said Kubota.

Irwin Kuhns, a WWII veteran and member of the current LST 325 crew, served as a U.S. Navy Coxswain in the Pacific. Kuhns helped deliver supplies aboard Higgins boats, which are smaller supply vessels used to deliver troops ashore. After celebrating his 90th birthday in April of 2016, Kuhns says he can still vividly recall his life during the war.

I spent many hours out there in my Higgins boat doing these runs back and forth with the different ships. Bringing in supplies, bringing in fresh troops and taking out the ones that arent too fresh, said Kuhns.

Kuhns says he enjoys meeting visitors and veterans alike aboard the LST 325 but he often gets emotional while talking about the war.

I cant sing the Star Spangled Banner or pledge allegiance to the flag because I get a lump here. I mouth it. I cannot say it, he added.

The 328-foot-long and 50-foot-wide ship was not always in working condition. After the war, the USS LST 325 was decommissioned and then reactivated for Artic Sea operations, according to the USS LST 325 Memorial Museum. It was officially removed from the U.S. Navys list in September of 1961 and then transferred to Greece three years later. The ship remained in the Greek Navy as Syros (L-144) until 1999.

Robert Bob Jornlin, a Vietnam War veteran who served during the Cuban Missile Crisis as an engineering officer aboard an LST class ship, was part of the team that helped recover the ship from a Greek shipyard in 2000.

I had a crew member find it and Greece said we could have it, said Jornlin. It took four years to go through our government to get it given to us, and all we had to do was go 6,500 miles over to the island of Crete and get her out of the junk yard, put her back together, get her running [and] sail her home.

Jornlin says he and the crew of WWII and Korean War Veterans paid their own way in order to bring the ship back home and ran into a bit of red tape along the way.

We couldnt come back, [and] couldnt get it registered as an American ship even though it was made in Philadelphia and went through the whole [of] WWII, said Jornlin. So we had to come back unregistered which is a pirate ship basically.

Volunteer and WWII Veteran Jack Stephenson says the ship is the last of its kind that is fully operational out of thousands that were constructed by the U.S. government.

Although no members of the current crew of veterans and volunteers served aboard the LST 325, the legacy of the ship is kept afloat year round. Ken Frank, president of the museum, says the majority of the $250,000 it cost to operate is collected from admission fees, donations, and gift shop sales. He also added that a small portion of funds are collected through membership fees.

Tours of the ship take place all year while the ship is docked in Evansville, Ind. and during visits to other American cities once a year. This year the ship and her crew set sail for Cape Girardeau, Mo. and Vicksburg, Miss.

For more information on the USS LST 325 Memorial Museum, visit www.lstmemorial.org.
Archaeologists have unearthed evidence that ancient Greeks may have helped design the famous Terracotta Army, which could shed new light on Chinas early contact with the west.

The 8,000 warriors guarding the tomb of Chinas First Emperor Qin Shi Huang date back to the third century B.C. and have long fascinated historians. Experts now believe that the life-size figures may have been influenced by Greek art and that ancient Greek sculptors were even involved in their design.

The discovery of ancient European DNA in Chinas northwestern Xinjiang region could force a rethink of the statues history, according to Li Xiuzhen, senior archaeologist at the Emperor Qin Shi Huang Mausoleum Site Museum. We now have evidence that close contact existed between the First Emperors China and the west before the formal opening of the Silk Road, she said, in a statement. This is far earlier than we formerly thought.

The Silk Road was officially opened for trade with the west in the second century B.C. The European DNA discovered in Xinjian province also suggests contact between China and the West around 1,500 years before Marco Polos famous journey to the court of Kublai Khan.

Xian, the capital of Chinas Shaanxi province, is located in northwestern China.

Greek influences can also be found in terracotta acrobats and bronze figures of ducks, swans and cranes from the Emperors tomb. Experts also note that there was no tradition of building life-sized figures before Qin Shi Huangs tomb was built in Xian.

Professor Lukas Nickel, chair of Asian Art history at the University of Vienna, told FoxNews.com that sculpture was little used in China when the tomb of the First Emperor was built, and realistic sculpture was not known at all. "The massive employment of sculpture in the mausoleum is totally unprecedented in Chinese tradition," he said. "This makes it likely that the skills necessary came not from China but from the outside."



Given the Terracotta Army clues, Nickel thinks that a Greek sculptor may have been at the site to train locals. He also believes that the First Emperor was influenced by the arrival of Greek statues in Central Asia with Alexander the Great during the fourth century.

"Besides the lack of any sculpture tradition and the historic opportunity of a direct encounter between both cultures, the most helpful evidence I did locate [was] in a record written about a century after the death of the emperor," Nickel said. "It states that the first sculptures the emperor made were intentional copies of other figures the Chinese had found at the Western end of the Chinese world."

Other evidence is found in bronze figurines of birds excavated from Qin Shi Huangs tomb, which show manufacturing techniques from ancient Greece and Egypt that were previously unknown in ancient China.

We now think the Terracotta Army, the acrobats and the bronze sculptures found on site have been inspired by ancient Greek sculptures and art, said Xiuzhen, in the statement.

Archaeologists also believe that the tomb site is much larger than once thought, spanning a vast area of almost 38 square miles. Previously, the site was thought to be 22 square miles. Remote sensing technologies and ground penetrating radar also indicate that the First Emperors tomb lies undisturbed beneath a man-made pyramid and a huge structure with walls 476 feet long and on each side and 45 feet high. Tomb corridors were also found, which include concubines burial chambers, their living quarters, as well as a 216-foot-wide road leading to the site.

The Terracotta Army was first discovered in 1974.

The new research will be described in Chinas Megatomb Revealed, a BBC/National Geographic documentary that airs on the National Geographic Channel later this month.

Follow James Rogers on Twitter @jamesjrogers
The same technology that produces bouncy castles is reportedly a part of Russian military strategy.

MIG-31 fighter jets, T-80 tanks and even a S-300 missile system are all available for sale from a company called Rusbal and all of them are as solid as a hot air balloon and as deadly as a bouncy castle from a childs birthday party. The inflatable decoys, which look real from the air, are part of a Russian military strategy that includes deceit and confusion, The New York Times reports.

There are no gentlemens agreements in war, Rusbals director, Maria Oparina, told The New York Times about the idea of trickery in battle. The company is said to provide the decoys to the Russian Ministry of Defence.

The inflatable weapons are made from fabric, not rubber, a material that can withstand punctures better, according to the Times. In the companys factory, where about 80 people work, employees use sewing machines to construct inflatable tanks and the like.

The companys website which features a tagline of Fantasy from air advertises some of its inflatable military products, and offers plenty of other fun inflatable creations as well. Among them are an inflatable Kremlin, an inflatable penguin, and even an inflatable Russian doll that stands over eight feet tall, according to the site.

Deadly force, indeed.
If the movies have taught us anything, artificial intelligence created by the government = bad.

The Obama administration is aware of those concerns, which is why a new report questions how government-backed AI could impact society and public policy. It calls for long-term investments in AI research, as well as investigations into the ethics and security implications of the technology.

"Advances in AI technology hold incredible potential to help America stay on the cutting edge of innovation," the White House said in a blog post.

At Walter Reed Medical Center, for example, the Department of Veteran Affairs is using AI to better predict medical complications and improve treatment. Smarter traffic management applications, meanwhile, are reducing wait times, energy use, and emissions across the country. And some researchers are using AI-based software to improve animal migration tracking.

Still, these systems risk overstepping the boundaries of government-regulated operations, particularly as it relates to security and defense. The administration's solution: more and better data.

"Federal actors should focus in the near-term on developing increasingly rich sets of data, consistent with consumer privacy, that can better inform policy-making as these technologies mature," the report says.

Key agencies, however, can't use and improve upon AI if they don't understand it. So the administration is calling for federal employee training. It also wants to implement an exchange modelthe Intergovernmental Personnel Act (IPA) Mobility Programwhich would temporarily assign experts to governments, universities, research centers, and other organizations to fill in the gaps.

"For example, agency staff sent to colleges and universities as instructors can inspire students to consider federal employment," the paper says. "Likewise, programs that rotate employees through different jobs and sectors can help government employees gain knowledge and experience to inform regulation and policy, especially as it relates to emergent technologies like AI."

There is no pressing need to put these plans into action, though.

"It is very unlikely that machines will exhibit broadly applicable intelligence comparable to or exceeding that of humans in the next 20 years," the White House says, forecasting that "rapid progress in the field of specialized AI will continue, with machines reaching and exceeding human performance on an increasing number of tasks."

A companion document, meanwhile, details a proposal for federally funded AI R&D.

President Obama was scheduled to speak Thursday at the Frontiers Conference, co-hosted by the University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University.

This article originally appeared on PCMag.com.
Carlisle may soon allow the inclusion of production and processing medical marijuana in a designated zone in an effort to be proactive.

Since we dont have that grower or processor of medical marijuana use in our ordinance, we want to put it in, said Bruce Koziar, Anybody can go to the Zoning Hearing Board and ask for a special exception, so we want to be careful we keep it isolated where it should.

And where it best belongs, borough officials believe, is in Carlisles I-1 General Industrial zoning district. According to Koziar, that district is located along the north side of Ritner Highway, past the Pizza Grille and west toward the Sheetz. The second I-1 zone is located directly east of Taco Bell on East High Street and ending at Frog Switch & Manufacturing Co. foundry.

Carlisle Borough Council will decide during Thursday nights meeting whether to have the boroughs solicitor advertise the ordinance and schedule a public hearing for Nov. 10, at 6:45 p.m., on amending the Code of the Borough of Carlisle to add a section including the production and processing of medical marijuana in the I-1 General Industrial zoning district.

According to Koziar in an email sent Wednesday, A grower/processor shall meet the same municipal zoning and land use requirements as other manufacturing, processing and production facilities that are located in the I-1 zoning district. The Department of Health will issue 25 combined grower and processor permits in the state. They are required to use seed-to-sale tracking, thorough record keeping and retention, surveillance systems and addition security measures.

Gov. Tom Wolf signed Senate Bill 3 into law on April 17, making Pennsylvania the 24th state to legalize medical marijuana.

Carlisle Borough Council will meet at 7 p.m. inside of Borough Hall, 53 W. South Street.
It's official. New York City and London are the best places in the world to have a drink.

Drinks International just released its annual ranking of the worlds 50 best bars and two cities have more than enough pints, pubs and craft cocktails to keep tourists and locals coming back for more. London has six bars in the lists top 20 while New York City has five.

But which bar really came out on top? The Big Apple has the best bar in the world according to the trade publication with Water Streets Dead Rabbit (full name: The Dead Rabbit Grocery and Grog) at the top of the list.

The establishment, named after a gang of Irish immigrants from downtown Manhattan's Five Points neighborhood, earned the ranking after a thorough review of 400 experts.

The bars attention to historical detail allowed to take home the top prize. But the Dead Rabbit is more than the sum of its liquid parts, fusing as it does colorful historical references to the citys 19th-century Water Street rough-neck pub set and Lower Broadways genteel cocktail imbibers in an atmosphere of Irish-American hospitality, Drinks International said in a statement.

The two-level bar pays homage to late 1800s Irish pub culture in the city. The establishment boasts more than 70 cocktails from the era and its menu has a series of award-winning libations. The Guilty as Sin cocktail, for example, is made up of Irish Whiskey, Cognac, Mezcal, French Bitters, coffee, banana and aromatic bitters. But the world's best drinks aren't cheap, of course-- the Guilty as Sin will set you back $16.

Have you had a drink at one of the best bars in the world? Here are the top 20:

1. The Dead Rabbit Grocery & Grog, New York

2. American Bar, London

3. Dandelyan, London

4. Connaught Bar, London

5. Attaboy, New York

6. The Gibson, London

7. Employees Only, New York

8. Nomad Bar, New York

9. The Clumsies, Athens

10. Happiness Forgets, London

11. Manhattan, Singapore

12. The Baxter Inn, Sydney

13. Licoreria Limantour, Mexico City

14. 28 Hongkong Street, Singapore

15. Speak Low, Shanghai

16. The Broken Shaker, Miami

17. Candelaria, Paris

18. Tales & Spirits, Amsterdam

19. Nightjar, London

20. Maison Premiere, New York
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Two police officers have been shot in Boston and a suspect is still on the loose.

Police say the officers were shot late Wednesday night. Their conditions were not immediately available.

It's unclear what led to the shooting.

Police are asking residents of the East Boston neighborhood where the shooting happened to shelter in place as officers search the area for the suspect.

Police have not released any additional information.
When a terrorist detonated a pressure cooker bomb on a busy Manhattan street in September, the NYPD raced to the scene with a brand new boss who still hadn't been officially sworn in.

James "Jimmy" O'Neill knew the drill, he's been on the job in New York City for more than three decades.

"I love being a cop, I love being around cops, I love what they do but did I ever think that at some point in my career I'd reach this level? No, no way," he told Fox News on one of his last days in uniform before moving onto his new role.

The new commissioner shared his vision for the nation's largest police department, and his role leading 36,000 men and women in blue and 15,000 civilian employees, along with the challenges his officers face on the streets every day.

"I know things don't change overnight and I know that there are a lot of deep wounds but I also know the character of the men and women of this police department and I know the character of the people who live in this city and I know we can make great progress," he told Fox News. "Things will never be perfect but I think we can work towards making things a lot better."

O'Neill replaced Bill Bratton, who left the department for a job in the private sector.

Similar to Bratton, O'Neill is a longtime supporter of community policing, encouraging officers to get to know the people in the neighborhoods they patrol while using discretion when writing summons and establishing trust so civilians can be partners in fighting crime.

"We are great at identifying where hotspots are but I think we will be even better if the community is actively involved in that," he told Fox News. "Who knows better what the problems are on a block then the people who actually live on that block."
Two Boston police officers were critical but stable after a man wearing body armor and armed with a tactical shotgun shot them multiple times, police said Thursday.

Police Commissioner William Evans said the suspect, identified as 33-year-old Kirk Figueroa, fired at the officers late Wednesday night after they arrived at an East Boston home. Several other officers who were stationed outside ran inside and exchanged fire with the gunman.

"Domestic calls, as you know, are probably the most volatile. You never really know what you're walking into," Evans said. "And I think we see right now the dangers of our job."

The officers shot and killed Figueroa and then began giving first aid to the wounded officers, 27-year veteran Richard Cintolo and 12-year veteran Matt Morris. Morris was hit in a main artery in his leg and Evans credits a fellow officer applying a tourniquet with saving Morris' life.

"One officer had his hand in one of the wounds and I think that was instrumental in getting the officer down to Mass General quickly," Evans said.

Figueroa did not have a license to carry a gun in Boston. He worked as a constable, mostly delivering subpoenas, Evans said. Figueroa may have previously been arrested for impersonating a police officer and arson outside of Boston, Evans said.

Both officers underwent surgery at Massachusetts General Hospital for serious injuries. Nine other officers were being treated at Tufts Medical Center for trauma, stress and minor injuries.

Neither officer was wearing a bullet-proof vest or a body camera, Evans said.

Police, initially concerned that there might be a second suspect, ordered residents to shelter in place. That order was later lifted.

Police did not identify the two wounded officers.

As is standard protocol following such events, the district attorney's office said there would be an investigation into the use of deadly force.

"They ran into a firefight here, able to pull two of their officers out safely, and again unfortunately, we had to take a life in doing it," Evans said.

Boston Mayor Martin Walsh joined Evans at the hospital. He asked that the community "pray for our officers."



The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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A gang member who prosecutors say targeted, ambushed and killed two Palm Springs police officers is scheduled to appear in court.

Arraignment on first-degree murder and many other charges is scheduled Thursday for 26-year-old John Hernandez Felix in Riverside, California.

Prosecutors say an attorney is being assigned to Felix.

The district attorney said Wednesday that Felix was prepared to attack the officers who responded to a 911 call from his family's home on Saturday.

Prosecutors say he wore body armor and used armor-piercing ammunition when he opened fire with an AR-15 rifle on the police who came to the door.

Felix faces special-circumstance allegations that make him eligible for the death penalty, but prosecutors haven't decided whether to seek it.
Authorities say a Pennsylvania man has been arrested on homicide charges after DNA proved that one of several bones dug up in his yard belongs to his co-worker last seen in 2013.

Prosecutors from Monroe and Lehigh counties were expected to release more information on the arrest of 49-year-old Michael Horvath at a news conference Thursday.

Authorities contend he killed 41-year-old Holly Grim, who was last seen in Lower Macungie Township in Lehigh County in November 2013. Horvath and Grim worked together at a company that makes church organs.

Horvath was jailed without bond on criminal homicide and other charges filed Wednesday. He doesn't have an attorney listed in court records.

State police found bones in Horvath's yard in Ross Township, Monroe County, during nine days of digging this month.
Technology has been changing the way people do business ever since the invention of the wheel around 3500 B.C. revolutionized how Mesopotamian farmers and tradesmen moved goods to and from market. Likewise, todays internet is changing how entrepreneurs start businesses, connect with customers, compete more effectively and grow to scale.

Related: Netflix Launches Website to Test Your Internet Speed

How is the internet changing the world of entrepreneurship? Start with the following three ways.

1. The gig economy and online entrepreneurs

As many as 15 percent of American workers are currently employed full-time in the gig economy: as contract workers, freelancers, and temps. By 2020, this number is expected to grow to as many as 40 percent of American workers. The internet is a significant factor making this possible, as sites like Craigslist and Upwork make it easier for workers to find clients in need of their services.

But internet entrepreneurship isnt all about freelancers. The internet has given rise to a whole new class of online entrepreneurs and content creators who develop and host games, operate online stores, run affiliate link sites, host ecommerce businesses and more.

Whether its a side-hustle or full-time gig, what the internet can provide entrepreneurs connects them to the markets they serve. Yet until recently, slow internet connections, data transfer caps and unreliable service hampered many entrepreneurs efforts to get established online.

Most start-up businesses are created from the home -- whether that be the basement of a single-family residence in the suburbs or a high-rise apartment building in a downtown metropolitan area. And unfortunately, the internet is not a mobile commodity that can be picked up and delivered to the consumer.

Instead, it's a utility that is delivered over an integrated, continuous physical or part-physical, part-wireless infrastructure. Historically, internet service companies owned and maintained a completely wired infrastructure, but even Google Fiber has recently realized that its expensive to bring wired fiber all the way to that house in a suburban cul de sac.

As a result, more beginning entrepreneurs are realizing that they can get super-fast internet in apartments and condominiums in downtown areas, at a fraction of what is available in suburban and rural areas. This fixed wireless, also referred to as microwave technology, is leading the way for increased competition, which is driving prices down and increasing speed expectations.

Related: 6 Things You Need to Know About Google Fiber

Its absolutely true; we have changed the market here in Chicago. In less than two years, the expectation of speed has increased by nearly tenfold and price points have dropped substantially as a result of our technology, says Keegan Bonebrake of Everywhere Wireless. Were delivering up to 1,000 megabits per second in residential units, for $99 a month.

"Were seeing the consumer demand skyrocket for big bandwidth in residential buildings, and were seeing that consumer demand is driving changes in building owners thinking.

Ryan Folger, the president and founder of Anexis Development, says he refused to move into an apartment building at 500 North Lake Shore Drive in Chicago unless he could gain access to Everywhere Wireless and its gigabit speeds. The building has AT&T internet included in the rent, but its only six Mbps, which is simply unusable at this point," Folger says.

"I started Anexis a few months ago, and Im transferring large amounts of data daily," Folger says. "I needed fast download and upload speeds, which is why I petitioned the property manager to allow Everywhere Wireless to provide its Gigabit service to me. Luckily, they saw the value and accommodated my request.

2. Communication, connection and collaboration

Its hard to imagine starting and running a business without email and instant messaging. Yet, before these tools were in common use, scheduling meetings and communicating essential information to people outside your office was actually quite challenging -- not to mention, slow. Now, meetings can be scheduled and carried out at the click of a button, while email and messaging enable information to be shared quickly and easily.

But perhaps the internets biggest change for entrepreneurs is the ability to connect with potential new customers and markets for relatively low cost. In the past, entrepreneurs invested big budgets in advertising and marketing to reach their audience. Today, social media allows them to inexpensively and easily spread the word about their startups and target new customers and investment opportunities.

How important is social media for todays entrepreneur? A recent survey on LinkedIn indicated that 81 percent of participating small businesses were using social media, more than 94 percent of them for marketing purposes.

One challenge with social media, however, is that it can be difficult to tie social efforts to actual profits. This is changing as businesses becomes more adept at using retargeting and other social media tools to drive sales.

There are also other crucial benefits that social media can provide. Chief among these is the ability to better understand and more efficiently reach your target market with the data and analytics that social media provides.

3. The cloud: hIgh tech, low cost

Once upon a time, even small businesses had significant startup costs, especially when it came to technology. Today, the internet, thanks to the cloud, allows entrepreneurs to access high-quality technology for a fraction of the up-front cost of installed hardware and software.

In a recent survey of 1,300 U.K. and U.S. business owners, 62 percent of respondents agreed with the idea that the cloud was enabling a boom in entrepreneurship and startups. Why are so many entrepreneurs turning to the cloud? One major attraction is its ability to help you scale. Businesses that today only have one or two users can easily add users by increasing their subscription level.

But the cloud isnt just about applications. Servers, phone systems, online storage -- in fact, most of a companys hardware and infrastructure needs -- can all be managed via the cloud. The cloud puts enterprise-grade technology into the hands of any entrepreneur with an internet connection.

Related: Get a Grip on Your Operating Costs By Moving to the Cloud

Internet-enabled startups, connection and collaboration, and low-cost access to technology are just a few of the ways that the internet is changing the world of entrepreneurship. The internet has become an invaluable tool for solving many important business problems, including research about and purchase of, the products and services a business needs, and the connections its founders need to make with partners, investors and customers alike.
Hundreds of police officers from around the country turn out to pay their respects for a fallen St. Louis County officer.

The funeral for 33-year-old Blake Snyder was Thursday in Chesterfield. Ten pallbearers carried the flag-draped coffin inside the Family Church, followed by Snyder's widow, Elizabeth, and their 2-year-old son.

In addition to the large crowd at the funeral, hundreds of others lined the lengthy funeral procession route to a cemetery in Godfrey, Illinois. Massive American flags flew from fire truck ladders along the 50-mile route.

Snyder was fatally shot Oct. 6 after answering a disturbance call in south St. Louis County. A second officer returned fire, injuring the 18-year-old suspect, Trenton Forster, who remains hospitalized. Forster is charged with first-degree murder.
In one of the most closely watched races in one of the most contested states, both gubernatorial candidates bring up religion. But in starkly different ways.
A prosecutor is seeking a life sentence without parole for an Indiana woman accused of smothering her two children after abducting them.

Elkhart County Prosecutor Curtis Hill announced the sentence enhancement request was filed Thursday against Amber Pasztor. The 29-year-old Fort Wayne woman is charged with two counts of murder in the Sept. 26 deaths of 7-year-old Liliana Hernandez and 6-year-old Rene Pasztor.

Authorities issued an Amber Alert for the children after they were abducted from Amber Pasztor's parents' home. Investigators say Pasztor drove to Elkhart County and told police there the children's bodies were in the back seat of the car she was driving.

Hill earlier had said he was considering seeking the death penalty. Neither he nor Pasztor's attorney responded immediately to requests for comment.
A Pennsylvania man who had been granted a new trial in his wife's 1991 slaying won't be retried and has been freed from prison.

A judge freed 60-year-old Kevin Siehl on Thursday, granting a request from the state attorney general's office, which says it doesn't have enough evidence to retry him 25 years after the crime.

Siehl had been serving life in prison for the July 1991 slaying of Christine Siehl, who was found stabbed to death in a bathtub with the shower still running. The judge had previously ruled Cambria County prosecutors were wrong not to disclose blood evidence that may have helped Siehl's lawyers defend him at trial.

Public defender Lisa Freeland says she's happy Siehl is free from punishment for "a crime he did not commit."
The man accused of setting off bombs in New Jersey and New York, injuring more than 30 people, pleaded not guilty Thursday to charges he tried to kill police officers before they captured him.

Ahmad Khan Rahimi, an Afghan-born U.S. citizen, appeared in the courtroom in Elizabeth, N.J., through a video feed from his hospital bed in Newark. The judge ordered him held on $5.2 million dollars bail. The feds previously identified him as Ahmad Rahami.

He's been hospitalized with gunshot wounds since the police shootout that led to his capture on Sept. 19 outside a bar in Linden, N.J. He reportedly did not regain consciousness until last week.

Rahimi, 28, is charged with five counts of attempted murder of a police officer and weapons offenses.

He is accused of detonating a pipe bomb along the route of a Marine Corps charity race in the New Jersey shore town of Seaside Park and a pressure cooker bomb in New York City on Sept. 17. No one was injured in the New Jersey blast, and 31 people were hurt in the Manhattan blast. A second pressure cooker bomb did not explode.

Rahimi also faces federal charges in both states. Officer Angel Padilla, who prosecutors say was shot by Rahimi, was in court along with fellow Linden officers.

Rahimi's public defenders have a policy of not commenting on cases.

Fox News' Marta Dhanis and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Hours after five Dallas police officers were killed by sniper fire during a July protest over police aggression, a call reporting a break-in at an apartment came in to the Valdosta Police Department in Georgia.

Officer Randall Hancock, a 10-year veteran, responded to the scene, where an armed man later identified as Stephen Beck was lying in wait. Beck shot Hancock three times, with two bullets catching in his bulletproof vest and a third entered his abdomen. Hancock, who survived, returned fire and severely wounded the suspect.

Beck, 22, was suffering from depression and set up the scene in a bid to commit suicide-by-cop.

It was just one example in a growing number of police officer ambushes across the country in recent months. On Wednesday night, two Boston police officers were critically injured after responding to a domestic call where they were shot by a man wearing body armor. And on Saturday, two Palm Springs, Calif., police officers were killed by a suspected gang member who lured them to their deaths.

Law enforcement experts say an ambush assault consists of four factors: the element of surprise, concealment of the assailant, suddenness of the attack and a lack of provocation. They can be planned or spontaneous.

It can happen anywhere, anytime, Kevin Hassett, the president of the Retired Police Association of the State of New York, said. You keep your fingers crossed and hope you go home at night and see your kids.

Hassett worked for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey Police Department for 30 years. Although he saw violence and chaos in his time, he believes an anti-cop climate that some say is fueled in part by Black Lives Matter, has made the job even more dangerous.



Wearing the uniform always came with an inherent risk, even back then, he said. "I'm just glad I'm not a cop now."

The past year has taken its toll on many police departments and communities across the country. Racially charged police shootings have driven a wedge between police and the vulnerable communities they protect.

Some police say politicians have abandoned them to score political points and say they face a greater threat of targeting than ever.

In the Dallas incident that came just before Hancock was shot, five officers were gunned down from afar as they tried to secure a protest over the police shootings of black men in Minnesota and Louisiana. Sniper Micah Xavier Johnson, 25, who was eventually blown up by a Dallas police robot during a standoff with police, said he wanted to kill white people.

Later that same month, three police officers in Baton Rouge were killed during a shooting rampage. One of the officers, Montrell Jackson, a 10-year veteran who left behind a 4-month-old boy, had days earlier taken to Facebook to talk about life as a police officer under the recent stress.

I swear to God I love this city but I wonder if this city loves me. In uniform I get nasty hateful looks and out of uniform some consider me a threat. Ive experienced so much in my short life and these last 3 days have tested me to the core, the post read.

Steven Groeninger, the communications director for the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund, said there have been 14 deadly ambushes involving police officers compared to 16 all of last year. Since 2000, there have been roughly 200 ambush attacks on police officers each year.

Carla Barrett, an assistant professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, did not study recent statistics regarding police ambushes, but spoke to FoxNews.com about the issue of tension in the inner cities.

She interviewed inner-city youth throughout New York while conducting research and found that many have a profound fear of police.

Yet at the same time they do not hate police, she said. They just want better police.

She said she also believes there is a fear in many police officers especially the good ones that there is a danger in every encounter.

Shortly after the Dallas police shooting, the then-Police Chief David Brown addressed protesters.

Become a part of the solution, Brown said. Were hiring. Get off that protest line and put an application in. And well put you in your neighborhood, and well help you resolve some of the problems youre protesting about.
Police used pepper spray and arrested 10 people as demonstrators stormed City Hall in Portland, Oregon, Wednesday trying to stop the City Council from voting on a new police contract that includes more pay for officers and raised questions about the future use of body cameras.

Police said Wednesday evening they had arrested nine people but later revised that number to 10.

The demonstration forced Mayor Charlie Hales to stop the meeting, but city commissioners soon reconvened in a secure, third-floor room to vote while protesters from Black Lives Matter and Don't Shoot Portland were kept below.

Amid chants and shouts from below, the commissioners voted 3-1 in favor of the new contract, setting off another round of protests that briefly blocked public transit in the downtown core.

Protesters threw object at officers both inside and outside City Hall, the Portland Police Bureau said in a statement.

Protesters dispersed as darkness fell, but organizers said a demonstration was planned for Friday.

Hales' decision to move the meeting was unprecedented in recent city history, The Oregonian/OregonLive reported. The vote was streamed live on the city's home page.

Police eventually forced the protesters out of City Hall and into the streets.

Several were hit by pepper spray as officers cleared the doors.

Hales, the outgoing mayor, said the contract was "good for Portland."

Protesters were angry that Hales was bringing the matter to a vote now instead of letting his successor, Mayor-Elect Ted Wheeler, take up the issue in January so there would be more time for public input.

Police watchdog groups grew concerned earlier this month when an initial version of the contract guaranteed officers the right to view body camera footage before writing up any non-fatal encounters with civilians.

That language led to several smaller protests and sit-ins in the weeks leading up to Wednesday's vote.

Commissioner Nick Fish told KATU-TV in a live interview Wednesday that the contract did not include any language on body camera policy.

"It was carved out and will be discussed with the community later," Fish told the station.

In a blog post Tuesday, Police Chief Mike Marshman said the contract was urgently needed to help the city recruit new officers.

By the end of the month, the 880-member Portland Police Bureau will have nearly 90 vacancies due to retirements and another 385 officers are projected to retire in the next five years.

Better pay will help the city entice new hires and could deter current officers from leaving to work elsewhere, he said.

Marshman also said any policies developed around body cameras will include public input.


When I first began my design agency, I couldn't fall asleep without thinking about the first hour of the next morning.

Being a growing agency while trying to manage safe team growth and internal administrative work meant that we were solely focused on giving our clients the very best service and getting their projects delivered on time, every time.

Doing these things was standard operating procedure.

Related: Good, Bad and Just Ugly Customer Service Trends

After all, those are the things you have to do to continue trading successfully over the long-term as a service provider.

Its why we have an agency today at all.

These werent the reasons that I couldnt sleep at night though. Nor was it the reasons that I dreaded the first hour of every single morning.

The reason that I worried about that first hour was simple. I was anxious beyond belief about the customer service requests that would inevitably have filled my inbox overnight.

Each morning I woke up to around 90 new emails, compounded by 30 more arriving between 8 a.m. and 10 a.m. each day.

Thinking back, it wasn't anything to be concerned about. It was just follow-up requests, bug fixes and additions to project scopes following a launch.

The problem was that Id placed unreasonable sanctions on myslef for dealing with customer service requests like these.

I assumed that if I didnt get it done instantly then customers would look elsewhere or be unhappy with the service.

Honestly, I ran myself into a burnout largely because of it in 2012.

Since then, Ive gone on to build other businesses outside of the agency as well as host a globally successful podcast that helps early stage entrepreneurs - all without having the same kind of burnout and while sleeping better than I have ever before.

So, what changed?

I didnt realize it, but for a long time, I was just like the business people that I didnt understand at the time.

I was the guy staying late at the studio, getting things done. I was the one doing favors for clients because I was afraid of them leaving.

And you guessed it, I was the one frustrating family and friends by not being able to switch off.

Yet the demands kept rolling in. I couldnt understand why it wouldnt stop. I was staying on top of it and barely treading water.

The impact that had on my business was that I didnt have the time to work on the development of it, instead I was simply allowing clients to dictate how my days were run and what I worked on at any given time.

Then something changed.

For the first time in a long time, I came across the famous Albert Einstein quote - "The definition of insanity is doing something over and over again and expecting a different result.

After that, I starting measuring my time more closely and realized that sure enough, I was spending all of my time firefighting, and it was the fear of what I was going to have to deal with the next day that caused me to dread showing up to my own business.

After that, something startling happened to me - I realized what I was missing.

Empathy.

I was treating contact from my valued clients, the very same clients who I was so afraid of losing, as issues that I simply had to get through.

Worse, I was blaming those clients for my inability to empathize with them, and look at these requests for what they were - people asking for help.

Customer service 101, and I was failing at it, despite being so worried about failing at it.

If my new approach to empathizing was the catalyst for change, the tactics that I implemented were equally simplistic in approach.

Related: 8 Ways You're Making a Bad Impression and Don't Even Know It

What I realized was that if I was reaching out to a company for support myself, it was because I was frustrated.

I was either frustrated about not knowing something, frustrated about not being able to do something or frustrated about a perceived mistreatment at the hands of this company.

Either way, I was purely and simply frustrated in that moment.

Taking that a step further, I looked inward and realized that a lot of the dread around facing all of these customer service enquiries each and every morning stemmed from me assuming that everyone has the same level of knowledge as I do in my field.

I was being so naive and the more I looked at it, the more I began to identify that the never ending customer service emails were actually all grouped into a very small number of categories - support, new work and perceived complaints.

And usually, the latter category of perceived complaints was rarely that. It was actually just a frustrated customer looking for support and firing off that email in a fit of desperation.

I think weve all done that.

At this point, I had another realisation. I was assuming that unless I reacted or responded immediately to someone with a resolution, they would be unhappy - or even angry at me and my company -- causing them to look elsewhere.

Forcing myself to think like a customer, I began to understand how irrational I was being.

After all, when was the last time that I left a company because they didnt instantly respond to me and more so, respond to me instantly with a resolution.

What we all actually value as customers is acknowledgement -- being heard.

These days, when discussing customer service with my teams, I often use the analogy of a team member taking their car into the repair shop for some work carrying out.

If I take my car to the repair shop, and Im told that the car will be back to me today, I expect it to be back today. But the unexpected happens and often, a part isnt available immediately, resulting in my car being in the shop overnight.

Consider, if the mechanic ignored this, chose to close up for the day and headed home for the evening without telling me. Well, then Id be extremely frustrated. Id then call up saying that I needed my car, and this wasnt acceptable.

But imagine that the mechanic puts himself in my position and calls me up ahead of time. He explains that the part required isnt available until the next day and asks whether it is alright for my car be ready by the following day at lunch time.

Would I still need the car? Would I still be frustrated? No, its highly doubtful that I would.

Customer service is about the customer maintaining a level of control.

In the mechanic example, by ignoring and not informing about the delays, the implied control lies with the mechanic, which will frustrate any customer.

In the example, where the mechanic puts herself in the customers position, and even though the outcome is the same, the implied control is with the customer. After all, the mechanic asked whether itd be ok or not, even though the part isnt available regardless.

By understanding that control factor, I was able to begin placing focus on the right kind of communication to remove the dread of turning up to support requests every morning. Applying the control factor logic and being uber clear with communications, specifically that very first response to a customer request resulted in me being able to plan customer service into my schedule.

The best part? Both my customers and I are happier now.

Remember, we all just want to be heard and to know that were being cared for.

Related: It's All About the Customer Service

People rarely need a resolution immediately.

As a solopreneur, you will inevitably need to deal with some kind of customer support - after all, its what keeps the relationship alive -- but equally, you need to make sure that it doesnt rule your day or dictate your week.

Take control by giving your customers the control that they want. Be clear, empathetic, timely, and set realistic expectations with your first response. And get some sleep.
Hispanic-owned businesses are booming, with a growth rate double that of U.S. companies overall.

A recent study by Geoscape and the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce (USHCC) revealed the rapid growth of Hispanic entrepreneurship -- and the impact of Hispanic businesses on the economy. The study projects that there will be 4.23 million Hispanic-owned businesses in the U.S. by the end of this year. The number has grown by 27.5 percent since 2012, vs. the 12.6 percent growth rate for all U.S. businesses over that time period.

Related: The 15 Most Profitable Small-Business Industries

This surge in business ownership comes at a time of slow growth for the U.S. Hispanic population, thanks in part to a decline in immigration from Latin America. Immigration from Mexico has even slowed to a standstill at times, according to the Pew Research Cente r. Still, though Hispanics comprise 17.4 percent of the U.S. population, the Geoscape/USHCC study finds this group accounts for 20 percent of all American entrepreneurs.

In fact, Hispanics are 1.5 times more likely than the general population to start a business, according to the Kauffman Index of Entrepreneurial Activity. Sales from Hispanic-owned businesses contribute more than $668 billion annually to the U.S. economy -- a 29 percent increase since 2012.

Growth in entrepreneurship could fuel some important changes. Hispanic business owners are 1.7 times more likely to earn more than $100,000 in annual household income, compared with Hispanics overall. Nearly two-thirds of Hispanic entrepreneurs -- vs. 38 percent of Hispanics overall -- earn more than $50,000 a year, according to the study. Hispanic business owners are also more likely to contribute to financial institutions (including financial planners, mutual funds, second homes and IRAs) than the overall Hispanic population.

Related: Diversity Defines Our Global Economy. Do You Speak the Language?

To be sure, theres still room to grow and scale. Hispanic-owned businesses tend to have fewer employees and bring in less revenue than U.S. businesses on average. Last year, researchers from the Stanford Latino Entrepreneurship Initiative estimated that if the size of Hispanic-owned businesses had matched the national average, the U.S. gross domestic product would have increased by $1.4 trillion, or 8.5 percent, in 2012.

Throughout all corners of the United States, Hispanic entrepreneurs play a crucial role in supporting the growth of local communities, said Javier Palomarez, president and CEO of the USHCC, in a press release accompanying the study. They create American jobs, maintain our leadership in global markets and contribute toward the mutual prosperity that makes Americas economy the greatest in the world.

Related: 25 Common Characteristics of Successful Entrepreneurs

California, Texas and Florida, where 55 percent of the U.S. hispanic population resides, are the fastest-growing states for Hispanic entrepreneurial activity. However, New York, Georgia, Arizona and Illinois have also seen substantial increases in Hispanic business ownership.
The world's most powerful naval force -- the United States Navy -- was born from very humble beginnings. Oct. 13 is the Navy's 241st birthday, and it's a chance for all Americans to pay tribute to a hardworking branch of America's military that is always ready to answer the call of duty.

The U.S. Navy traces its roots back to the Revolutionary War, when privateers were hired by the colonies to attack British commerce in the early days of growing conflict with England. On Oct. 13, 1775, the Continental Congress established an official naval force, hoping a small fleet of boats would be able to offset the seemingly intractable sea power of the British.

The early Navy was not formed to wrest control of the seas from Britain, but instead to wage tactical raids against the transports that supplied British forces in North America. The Continental Congress subsequently purchased, converted, and built a fleet of small ships that included brigs, sloops, and schooners.

These navy ships sailed alone or in pairs, hunting British commerce ships and transports.

Although the Continental Navy was later dismantled, Oct. 13, 1775 remains the U.S. Navy's official birthday.

After the Revolutionary War, the U.S. Navy went on to play a major role in the American Civil War by blockading Confederate armies and seizing control of Southern rivers. The U.S. Navy also played a central role in World War II and the defeat of Imperial Japan.

The U.S. Navy currently maintains an impressive global presence, deploying in such areas as East Asia, the Mediterranean, and the Middle East. The Navy is and always has been an important factor in U.S. foreign and defense policy.

To choose the name of a naval ship, suggestions are compiled by the Naval Historical Center based on submissions from the public, sailors, retirees, and from naval history. The Chief of Naval Operations formally signs and recommends the list to the secretary.

Unlike the U.S. Army and U.S. Air Force, the Department of the Navy consists of two uniformed services: The United States Navy and the United States Marine Corps. Collectively, they are referred to as the naval services, or "sea services."

Today's Navy faces challenges -- an America increasingly under threat from enemies, defense budget cutbacks, and even progressive social theory.

On Wednesday, at least one missile was fired from rebel-held territory in Yemen at U.S. Navy ships in the Red Sea -- the second time in four days that such an attack has happened, defense officials said.

The attack was again aimed at the USS Mason, a guided-missile destroyer, said Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook.

Navy hardship pay is under threat, the Navy Times noted Oct. 11. Extra pay for extended deployments was recently approved for one year only -- not the two years the services requested in July. Hardship pay could be cut completely by October 2017 unless the Navy and Marine Corps can justify their effectiveness.

Under this Hardship Duty pay, sailors and Marines are paid an additional $16.50 per day for each day deployed past 220 days, according to the Navy Times.

"The Navy is in high demand and is present where and when it matters," said Vice Adm. Robert Burke, the Navy's chief of personnel, in a written statement to the Navy Times. "Hardship Duty Pay -- Tempo is designed to compensate sailors for the important roles they continue to play in keeping our nation safe during extended deployments around the globe."

All who serve aboard submarines are volunteers and have passed rigorous psychological and physical tests. Those serving on submarines are among the most highly trained personnel in the military.

Culturally, the Navy has just this month fallen victim to the tide of gender-neutral language that's been hitting many American institutions. Navy Secretary Ray Mabus announced the U.S. Navy would deep-six almost 250 years of naval tradition and require members of the navy to address each other by rank. This change began with taking the word "man" out of virtually all titles.

"Beyond a small working group, convened this past summer and led by then-Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy Mike Stevens, next to no one in the Navy saw this change [gender-neutral language] coming, sources with knowledge of the decision-making process say," the Navy Times reported.

"Yeo-person? There is no such thing," said the master chief petty officer of the Navy.

One word on the chopping block? "Yeoman."

"You can't have yeo-specialist or yeo-technician, right?" Michael D. Stevens, master chief petty officer of the Navy, told The Washington Post. Stevens is tasked with the job of coming up with the new titles. "Yeo-person? There is no such thing."

Through times of certainty and times of change, the Navy stands ready to defend America. No one knows this better than enlisted Navy personnel.

Said Captain John Paul Jones in a letter dated Nov. 16, 1778, "It follows then as certain as that night succeeds the day, that without a decisive naval force we can do nothing definitive, and with it, everything honorable and glorious."

Happy 241st birthday, Navy. You bring honor to your nation.
A former teacher has testified that the mother of a 22-month-old boy appeared surprised after learning her son was not at a daycare; the toddler was actually in a hot SUV, where he would die.

Multiple news outlets report Michelle Gray testified Thursday that the toddler's mother Leanna Taylor was "confused" and seemed "frantic" when realizing her son Cooper Harris was not at the Little Apron Academy daycare in 2014.

Prosecutors say Justin Ross Harris intentionally killed Cooper by leaving him for hours in a vehicle parked his workplace in Cobb County, outside Atlanta. Cooper's lawyers called the death accidental.

Harris faces life in prison if convicted of murder.

Pretrial publicity prompted the trial's move to Brunswick, 275 miles from the Atlanta suburbs.
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Aid groups have asked a court to delay government plans to close a wretched migrant camp in the French port of Calais, arguing that authorities aren't ready to relocate its thousands of residents.

Concern has been mounting particularly about hundreds of unaccompanied children in the so-called "jungle" camp in Calais, a troubling symbol of Europe's migrant crisis.

Thierry Kuhn of aid group Emmaus said Thursday that the groups filed an emergency request with a court in Lille seeking to delay the closure. A decision is expected within 48 hours.

The government is expected to close the camp in the coming weeks and relocate migrants to centers around France, but has not given a firm shutdown date. The camp has attracted migrants from the Mideast and Africa seeking to reach Britain.
THOMPSONTOWN  State police say a Pennsylvania man has been charged with kidnapping a 12-year-old boy at knife point and then abandoning him.

WHP-TV reports police say Julio Luna-Contreras of Mifflintown entered through a window of the boy's Walker Township home on Tuesday and threatened to kill the child if he didn't come.

Police say he drove the child to Montoursville and abandoned him after the boy told Luna-Contreras to drop him off.

The boy's family told investigators Luna-Contreras has previously said he wanted the boy for himself and felt attracted to him.

Police say Luna-Contreras told investigators the situation was a joke.

Luna-Contreras remains jailed without bail on charges including kidnapping and falsely imprisoning a minor. It's not known if he has a lawyer.
Relief about the capture of a young Syrian suspected of preparing a bomb attack in Germany this week gave way to frustration after he strangled himself in his jail cell, dashing authorities' hopes of gaining intelligence about the man's alleged links to the Islamic State group.

Jaber Albakr's apparently self-inflicted death late Wednesday has likely deprived authorities of a key source of information about what extremist groups might be planning in Germany, which has so far been spared the kind of mass-casualty attacks seen in neighboring France.

The 22-year-old's suicide with a T-shirt also put a glaring spotlight on law enforcement failures in the eastern state of Saxony, where Albakr had evaded arrest for two days until a trio of fellow Syrians tied him up and turned him in.

"What happened last night demands swift and comprehensive investigation by the justice authorities," Germany's top security official, Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere, said Thursday. "What's more, it makes the investigation into possible masterminds and other accomplices harder."

Authorities suspected Albakr of planning to use home-made explosives to carry out an attack on one of Berlin's two airports this week. Following his arrest early Monday, officials said they were investigating possible links to IS.

The group already has claimed responsibility for two attacks in Germany in July, in which several people were injured but only the attackers died.

Officials said Thursday that Albakr strangled himself by tying his shirt to a security grate inside his cell at the jail in Saxony's biggest city Leipzig.

Prison chief Rolf Jacob told reporters in the state capital Dresden that a trainee guard had checked on the prisoner at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, and that when she returned for another check at 7:45 p.m. she found Albakr hanging lifeless. Attempts to revive Albakr were unsuccessful, and a doctor declared him dead a half-hour later.

Facing widespread criticism that such a high-profile prisoner was able to kill himself, Saxony state authorities said multiple precautions were taken.

Albakr was assessed by a psychologist with whom he discussed what impact his behavior in prison would have on his trial, leading her to believe he was considering his long-term future, Jacob said.

On the other hand, Albakr had refused all food at the prison and accepted only one glass of water, the prison chief said. He also had destroyed both a lighting fixture and an electrical outlet in his cell -- actions that were believed to be vandalism and "not interpreted as a suicide attempt," Jacob said.

"It was clear that we were dealing with someone here where we had to work very carefully, and suicide risk played a role," he said.

But while Albakr was given pants with no belt and checked on at regular intervals, prison authorities decided against putting him in a special cell for prisoners assessed as an "acute, clearly visible suicide risk."

Albakr's public defender, Dresden attorney Alexander Huebner, told The Associated Press prison authorities should have done more to prevent his client from harming himself.

"I can't understand how they didn't assume there was a suicide risk," he said. "In this case, there should have been total surveillance with someone sitting in front of him."

Huebner said he last spoke to his client for 90 minutes on Tuesday and noted that he was agitated.

Saxony's Justice Minister Sebastian Gemkow acknowledged that, with hindsight, mistakes had been made.

"It should not have happened, even though we did everything we could to prevent it," Gemkow said, dismissing suggestions that he might resign over the lapse.

Authorities have another suspect alleged to have been involved in the plot in custody, identified only as Khalil A. in keeping with German privacy laws.

The 33-year-old Syrian was the tenant of an apartment in the city of Chemnitz where police found hidden explosives and was arrested over the weekend as a co-conspirator.

A spokesman for Germany's attorney general -- who handles terrorism-related cases -- said prosecutors would continue to investigate the case.

"We have to look at this soberly," Stefan Biehl told The Associated Press. "One always hopes that the accused provide further information. If one of two accused persons falls away then a potential source of information disappears."

"We're simply going to continue with what's left and try to determine the background to this deed," said Biehl.

Albakr was granted asylum after arriving in Germany last year, but had been under surveillance by German domestic intelligence since last month.

He eluded Saxony state police on Saturday as they prepared to raid the Chemnitz apartment where he had been staying. Inside the apartment police found highly volatile explosives and a homemade bomb vest.

He was arrested Monday in Leipzig after one of the three Syrians who tied him up brought a mobile phone photograph of the suspect to local police.

On Wednesday, de Maiziere said that Albakr had undergone a security check last year, but it did not turn up anything suspicious.
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Pope Francis is urging Lutherans to set aside doctrinal differences and work with Catholics to care for the poor, the sick and refugees as he lays out his vision for greater communion ahead of his visit to Sweden later this month.

Francis greeted about 1,000 Lutherans on Thursday. The group was visiting the Vatican after Germany, where Martin Luther famously sparked the Protestant Reformation by nailing his 95 theses to a church door to challenge the abuses of the Catholic Church.

Like his predecessors, Francis has reached out to Protestants, Orthodox and other Christians to heal Christianity's divisions. But unlike his predecessors, Francis has said theological differences should be put aside so Christians can work together on issues of pressing social concern, including caring for the poor and the environment.
The 193 United Nations member states of the General Assembly on Thursday elected Portugal's former prime minister Antonio Guterres as the next secretary-general of the U.N.

Last week the U.N. Security Council selected Guterres and recommended him to the General Assembly for endorsement after conducting informal polls. Guterres topped all six polls, which included a total of 13 candidates -- seven women and six men.

Guterres, a 67-year-old socialist politician, was Prime Minister of Portugal from 1995-2002 and the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees from 2005-2015. He will be the ninth secretary-general in the organization's 71-year history.

"I am fully aware of the challenges the U.N. faces and the limitations surrounding the Secretary-General. The dramatic problems of todays complex world can only inspire a humble approach," Guterres responded.

He will succeed the current secretary-general, Ban Ki-moon of South Korea, who was appointed in 2006 and will leave the post at the end of this year.

The new secretary-general will assume the role in January 2017 and will serve a five year term, which can be renewed by U.N. member states for an additional five years.

As FoxNews.com reported, the U.N. Office of Internal Oversight Services reported an "unsatisfactory" assessment of UNHCR governance during Guterres tenure. And in 2011, the U.N.s independent Board of Auditors pointed out "significant concerns about important aspects of UNHCR financial, risk and performance management and the difficulties that the Office is encountering in its attempt to put value for money at the heart of its decision-making and operations." In short, Guterres, though a seasoned diplomat who is quite knowledgeable about the inner runnings of the U.N., will start his new job with a questionable record.

Assembly President Peter Thompson introduced Thursday's resolution, said members wanted it approved by acclamation, and banged his gavel in approval as diplomats broke into applause.

Guterres "embodies the highest standards of competence, integrity and leadership," Thompson said.

Guterres' selection disappointed many who had campaigned for the first woman or the first representative from an Eastern European country to lead the world body, but diplomats stressed they were voting for the best candidate regardless of other criteria.

The secretary-general manages a staff of 44,000 people in addition to more than 100,000 peacekeepers. The position's responsibilities include dealing with issues such as human rights, refugees and climate change as well as fund raising for the world body's various campaigns.

Fox News' George Russell, Jonathan Wachtel and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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Voters in Montenegro face a stark choice: continue on a chartered pro-Western course and NATO membership, or slide back to the embrace of their traditional Slavic ally Russia.

The election Sunday in this tiny Balkan nation is the most significant since the vote for independence from much larger Serbia a decade ago. The outcome could jeopardize NATO and European Union enlargement in southeastern Europe and could prove decisive in Moscow's bid to regain influence in the strategic region.

The vote pits Montenegro's long-ruling Democratic Party of Socialists, led by powerful pro-Western Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic, against a cluster of pro-Russian and pro-Serbian opposition groups which staunchly oppose the country's NATO bid.

In July, NATO adopted a declaration welcoming Montenegro as a new member. What remains is Montenegro's ratification of the accession agreement.

Djukanovic, who ruled Montenegro as a premier or president for more than 25 years, is hoping to secure a parliamentary majority to ratify the NATO agreement in the assembly, without holding a popular referendum whose outcome would be highly uncertain. The opposition is demanding a referendum on NATO.

The latest polls suggest that Djukanovic's ruling DPS will gain a majority in Montenegro's 81-seat parliament. But without enough seats to rule alone, analysts say Djukanovic will have tough time forming a ruling coalition.

The scenic country of 650,000 people, squeezed between the Adriatic Sea and towering mountains, is deeply divided among those who favor and oppose the Western integrations.

Russia strongly opposes the expansion of the Western military alliance in European ex-communist countries it considers part of its "strategic interests." Wary of Russian influence in the still-volatile region, which was engulfed in bloody civil wars in the 1990s, the West wants Montenegro in NATO.

As a Serbian ally, Montenegro was bombed in 1999 by NATO, which launched air strike to stop a crackdown against Kosovo Albanian separatists. That made NATO highly unpopular in the predominantly Christian Orthodox country.

Until recently, Montenegro had been a faithful ally of Russia. But after splitting with Serbia in a 2006 referendum, Montenegro took a strong turn toward Euro-Atlantic integration.

Russian companies have invested millions in Montenegro, which has also become a favorite Russian tourist destination. Russians have also been buying property along the Adriatic Sea. An estimated 10,000 Russians have become Montenegrin citizens.

Officials from President Vladimir Putin's United Russia party, who have branded Djukanovic's NATO bid "irresponsible with far-reaching consequences," have openly supported Montenegrin opposition parties and have reportedly financed some of their leaders  something they deny.

In a sign that tensions could escalate, pro-Putin bikers and people from Russia, Serbia, eastern Ukraine and Bosnia have recently set up a "Balkan Cossack Army" in Montenegro to fight for Christian Orthodox interests.

The opposition groups accusing Djukanovic of corruption, nepotism and economic mismanagement and have pledged to lift Western sanctions against Russia for its actions in Ukraine if they win.

During the heated campaign, Djukanovic accused opposition leaders of "treason" for putting the Kremlin's interests first.

"There is no worst crime than to betray the interests of your own country," he said. "They won't succeed, no way!"

Nebojsa Medojevic, leader of the opposition Democratic Front, has rejected Djukanovic's claims, saying the group "has not had any political, financial or logistic support from Moscow."

He said Montenegro is seeking its "first democratic government since 1945," accusing Djukanovic of creating "a sick system with widespread corruption and crime."

Milan Petrovic, a 50-year old from Podgorica, supports the opposition, believing "they would bring thieves to justice and Montenegro to a brighter future than NATO membership offers."

But teacher Nikola Popovic, 33, hopes NATO membership would bring in more foreign investments and raise living standards.

"In a cultural sense, we more belong to the European Union than to Russia, even though we have stronger ethnic ties with the Russian people," he said. "The time has come for us to go West."

___

AP Writer Dusan Stojanovic contributed from Belgrade, Serbia.
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The United Nations' 193-member states are expected to appoint Portugal's former Prime Minister Antonio Guterres as the world body's next secretary-general.

Peter Thompson, president of the General Assembly, said in a statement that he hoped Guterres would be approved by a unanimous vote on Thursday.

Guterres was nominated by acclamation in the 15-member Security Council last week to replace Ban Ki-moon whose second five-year term ends on Dec. 31.
Asked/Answered is a weekly feature for reader-submitted questions. Follow the blog online at www.cumberlink.com:

Is America in the midst of a crime wave?

Overall, violent crime rose by a little less than 4 percent last year and murders jumped by nearly 10 percent, according to the FBI.

This has led some to ring the warning bell that America is in the midst of new crime wave. However, the high level numbers only tell a part of the story.

Largely, the increase was driven by a small number of large cities which saw excessive increases, while many cities actually saw decreases in violent crime rates.

Nearly half of all murders occurred in the 100 largest cities in the United States last year, according to the New York Times.

Of those, only 25 saw significant increases in the murder rate in 2015, with St. Louis and Baltimore both spiking nearly 20 percent, according the New York Times.

Another 70 cities saw the murder rate remain largely flat and five cities actually saw decreases, the New York Times reported.

The overall murder rate in the United States went up from 4.4 per 100,000 in 2014, the lowest point recorded by the FBI, to 4.9 per 100,000 in 2015.

This is lower than the murder rate prior to 2010 and down by nearly a third from 1996, which had a murder rate of 7.4 per 100,000.

Statewide, Pennsylvania total part I crimewhich includes serious crimes like murder, robbery and rape  fell by 5.3 percent, according to Pennsylvania State Police.

Cumberland County exceeded that decrease, with part I crime dropping by 12 percent between 2014 and 2015, according to State Police.

Cumberland County also saw lower level offenses drop by more than 22 percent and overall crime dropped by 18 percent, according to State Police.

A preliminary report by the Brennan Center for Justice, which analyzes crime in 30 large cities, predicts overall crime rates will rise by about 1 percent in 2016.

Again, the crime increase is expected to be driven by a small number of cities that are experiencing significant up ticks, according the Brennan Center report.

For example, the Brennan Center projects that Chicago will account for a large portion of the increase, while cities like Baltimore, which saw increases in 2015, will drop significantly.

Send us your questions

Need an answer? We can help.

The Sentinel wants to know what you have always wanted to know.

Whether its politics, crime, history or just something youve always been curious about, if you have questions, The Sentinel will look for the answer and provide it in our online blog and as a weekly feature in the Sentinel print edition.

Shoot us an email at frontdoor@cumberlink.com, call 240-7125 or stop by the office to submit your questions.


You end up on Mars

Schogers breast cancer  called invasive lobular carcinoma or ILC  came back 15 years after her original diagnosis and treatment.

You think youre going to be flying to Chicago and land at OHare and you end up on Mars, she said of her April 2013 mets diagnosis. Its not well known that you can have late recurrence. I even had an oncology nurse tell me Oh, youre cured at eight years.

Schogers doctors threw everything at her cancer after her initial diagnosis: mastectomy, chemotherapy, radiation and the daily medication tamoxifen, a form of hormone (or endocrine) therapy designed to cut off the food supply of her estrogen-receptor-positive (ER+) breast cancer.

But with MBC, the treatment philosophy is different.

With primary cancer, they say, Were going to pull out all the big guns. Were going to put it in permanent remission, she said. With MBC, you use as little as possible to get the biggest effect. You attempt to stabilize the disease.

For Schoger, that means a daily aromatase inhibitor (AI), which shuts down estrogen production even further to starve her cancer, along with a monthly infusion of Xgeva, a bone strengthening agent designed to combat the bone-zapping side effects of her AI treatment.

Schoger said she will remain on this therapy until it stops working. Then, like most patients with MBC, shell move on to something else.

With metastasis, youll have times where youre responding well and your disease is stable, she said. And then there will be a scary time of progression. Then there will be a new treatment, a time of stability again, then  boom  progression. And its all sort of going down each time that happens.

None of us knows which way our disease is going to go, said Schoger, who has lost many friends to MBC. Everybody hopes for the longest possible time for the first therapy youre given. But some women have aggressive disease and just blow through their therapies.

From cured to stage 4

Others, like Teri Pollastro, a 54-year-old stage 4 patient from Seattle, respond surprisingly well.

Diagnosed with early stage ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) in 1999, Pollastro underwent a mastectomy but did not receive chemotherapy, radiation or tamoxifen, since her cancer was ER negative.

They used the C-word with me, they told me I was cured, she said. Every time I went back to my oncologist, he would roll his eyes at me when I had questions.

In 2003, Pollastro switched to Seattle Cancer Care Alliance where she saw Dr. Julie Gralow, a breast cancer oncologist and clinical researcher at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. Gralow discovered Pollastros cancer had metastasized to her liver.

My husband and I were in shock, said Pollastro of her mets diagnosis. You dont go from being cured to stage 4.

Pollastro went on Herceptin, a type of immunotherapy for women with HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer, and did six months of chemotherapy.

I felt better right away with the treatment, she said. But the problem is, it stopped [working]. Thats what you can expect with mets. And theres always some residual cancer. And that starts percolating.

And along with mets, she also had to deal with many misconceptions regarding her disease.

People dont understand the word metastatic to begin with, she said. Theyd say, Oh now you have liver cancer? How could that happen? Doesnt it go to the other breast first? And when Id tell them I was stage 4, theyd give me pity or stay away or see me a year later and think I was a ghost. They couldnt believe I was alive.

The Mercer Island, Washington, mother of two, who often counsels newly diagnosed patients, sometimes even found it difficult to relate to early stage breast cancer survivors.

Theyre like, I did this and I did that and I beat cancer and they think theyre going to be fine and I think, Well, so did I, she said. Or people will ask me, Arent you worried about all that radiation youre getting from your scans? and Ill think, Are you kidding me? You think Ive got a choice here?

New targeted therapies

As new treatments are slowly being approved, MBC patients are starting to have more choices, though.

Gralow said the Human Genome Project has led to a much better understanding of breast cancer with all of its subsets and behavior patterns. Therapies are no longer one-size-fits-all but targeted for each cancer subset.

We still have a long way to go and we are still losing too many women  but there is a lot more hope for many years of good quality life for a patient diagnosed with a metastatic recurrence now than there was two decades ago, she said.

One new drug, Perjeta, has shown particular promise when teamed with Herceptin and chemo, bumping survival rates in HER2-positive mets patients by nearly 16 months.

Thats meaningful, said Gralow. If you look at the old textbooks, we used to predict that youd live a year or maybe two at most. And if you were HER2 positive, it was much shorter.

Pollastro, who was on Herceptin for seven years, has also benefited from new therapies. In 2004, she participated in a vaccine clinical study run by Fred Hutchs Dr. Nora Disis and also received targeted radiation therapy at a cancer treatment center in Rochester, New York. As a result, shes currently NED (no evidence of disease).

But shes still cautious about using the word cured.

The longer I go, the less worried I get, she said. But I feel like Im on a merry-go-round and I keep waiting for it to stop. Ive lost a lot of friends and feel bad about that. I have a little survivors guilt. But Its like musical chairs. I keep wondering, When am I going to miss the chair? So far, Ive been lucky.

Schoger, whose disease has stabilized but not disappeared entirely, said she, too, feels lucky.

I feel like Im on Easy Street, she said. Im not on chemo right now, Im on endocrine therapy and its shrinking the cancer and relieving symptoms.

As for the stigma surrounding mets, there are signs that that, too, may be starting to shrink, thanks to the work of advocates.

This is the first year since I can remember that Ive seen media reports that have included women with metastatic disease, said Schoger. And the MBC Alliance report was very blunt about how the survivorship story has masked the issues of the mets community. If an alliance of breast cancer organizations comes out and makes that strong statement, thats phenomenal progress. Thats a great step forward.

*Editor's note: Jody Schoger died of metastatic breast cancer in May 2016. In her own words, she is finally "done with treatment."



Diane Mapes is a staff writer at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. She has written extensively about health issues for NBC News, TODAY, CNN, MSN, Seattle Magazine and other publications. A breast cancer survivor, she blogs at doublewhammied.com and tweets @double_whammied. Email her at dmapes@fredhutch.org.
LuxTime Releases New Collection Of Gucci Handbags At Near To Wholesale Prices

LuxTime has sourced the latest Gucci handbags and is offering them to customers at near to wholesale prices, creating a great opportunity for fashionistas.

--

Handbags are an essential part of women's apparel, creating a great accessory as well as offering much needed storage space for the many accessories and accoutrements ladies like to have with them at all times. Because of their twin function, as both practical storage and fashion statement, designer labels attract a premium price for their bags. In many countries, these items are prohibitively expensive. LuxTime is a business that sources handbags from around the world to get them at the lowest prices possible, then offers them to customers from anywhere in the world at those great prices. They have just introduced a new collection of the finest Gucci handbags (www.luxtime.su/gucci-bags).

The new collection includes bags of all shapes and sizes, including the Supreme Boston bag, the Soho Leather Shoulder Bag and the Guccissima large format bag. The website has high quality imagery, detailed descriptions and clear, discounted pricing so that people have all the information they could need up front.

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A spokesperson for LuxTime explained, "Gucci is one of the biggest luxury fashion brands on the planet and their bags are some of the most sought after in the world. The website has full listings of all the bags we have been able to source, which includes many of latest releases from the brand. This is a perfect time for people to secure a superb luxury item at an unbeatable price, and surprise their loved ones when the holiday season rolls around. These bags are available in strictly limited quantities, so we advise customers to purchase as soon as possible to avoid disappointment."

About LuxTime: LuxTime is the leading online retailer of designer handbags. Their committed team of buyers source designer handbags from around the world to secure them at the lowest prices, then sells them to customers worldwide. Their affordable fast postage ensures that people can get authentic designer products delivered to anywhere, at the best price available anywhere.

For more information, please visit http://www.luxtime.su/gucci-bags

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Home Glow Pros Create Brand New Website To Promote Professional Princeton Painting Services Online

Home Glow Pros has created a new locally optimized website to showcase their services and help more people in Somerset, Monmouth and Morris use the best painters in the region.

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Sean Copeland has been named the new Administrator for the Preferred Hospice office in Farmington. Preferred Hospice of Farmington serves patients in Jefferson, Washington, St. Francois, Ste. Genevieve, Perry, Madison, Iron, Wayne, and Reynolds counties.

Copeland returns Farmington after being promoted to the St. Louiss Preferred Hospice Office as Administrator in February of 2016.

Copeland first joined the Preferred Hospice team in Farmington as an LPN in January of 2011.

I saw the compassion and care that Preferred Hospice provided through my dealings with my neighbor and the Preferred Hospice team that entered their home. I looked around and I knew that Preferred Hospice was the best, said Copeland.

He believes in Preferred Hospice and the services it provides to Veterans Affairs, Alzheimer's Support, and Meals on Wheels as well as the compassionate group of CNAs, Nurses, Chaplains, Social Workers, and Volunteers that make Preferred Hospice known for great care.

Copeland was first hired in 2011 as a field nurse and we received many compliments on him from nursing facilities, patients, and families over the years, said Director of Clinical Services Cindy Cole. It was also apparent that he had a lot of leadership qualities and talents that would benefit him and us in the future.

Copeland believes that the group of CNAs and Nurses in Farmington are among the best and our combined skills will lead us in the direction we need to go.

I am dedicated to providing a comfortable team environment to our employees. I have been in the field of industrial medicine for a number of years and have managed employees and nurses in the field, said Copeland. With my combined experience as a Hospice Nurse, the St. Louis office Administrator, and my experience in Management, there are great things to come in Farmington.

Copelands role in Farmington will entail building a clientele and managing a great group of people which includes everyday issues such as scheduling, budgeting, and providing staff support.

My experience as a Hospice Nurse has allowed me to manage and control the needs of both the patient and the family of our clientele. I want to share and teach with my experience in this field to anyone that will listen. Being a caregiver in this field is an amazing career and what you put into it; you get back over and over. I have trained most of our nurses/CNAs at our Farmington location and I watch them grow in the field. I see them take this career and make it their own, and love their job.

Copeland also wants to help educate the communities about what Preferred Hospice provides in their time of need. He adds that its the ultimate gift a family can provide to their loved one in their most vulnerable time.

People do not realize that we will provide every aspect of care to a family at home; equipment, medication, and education allowing them to become the primary caregiver in a familiar setting, said Copeland.

Copeland says his family is his biggest supporter of taking on this new role.

My wonderful wife and five beautiful children with a daughter-in-law and son-in law that are just absolutely perfect as well as three granddaughters are always behind me. My second biggest supporter is the Preferred Hospice team in Farmington. I have grown so much with my involvement with this great group of folks. My friends in my personal life also push me to take on new challenges, said Copeland.

Copeland lives in the heart of the Ozark Mountains and loves the outdoors. He enjoys bow hunting, fishing, and running.

The mission of Preferred Hospice is to have a positive impact on the lives of those we service, inspire through example, and encourage celebration of life. We will assist with emotional peace of mind and both physical and spiritual healing. For more information, to refer a patient, or to become a volunteer, call Preferred Hospice at 756-9800 or toll free at 1-888-756-9802.
For close to a year, students at Farmington Middle School had a goal to help a community close to 8,000 miles away in world far removed from their own where something as simple as getting a glass of water is problematic.

Last year, a group of our students had read the book, 'A Long Walk to Water' in their Language Arts class, said Jared Howe, Character Education mentor at the middle school. They were so inspired by these young girls who had to walk eight miles just for potable water, they wanted to do something to help.

With the advice of their Character Leadership instructor Scott Doty, the students began a grassroots campaign to raise the $1,000 needed to help the Sudanese village secure a drilling rig.

Last year, they sponsored a dance and raised about $350, Howe said. They had a little bump (in the amount raised) at the end of the year during MAP testing when they sold little bags of candy, so by the end of the year they were at $560.

According to Howe, when the students returned to school after summer break, they were still determined to help this community. The schools Character Council took up the cause to raise the additional money needed.

During homecoming week, we had different theme days and everyone in school could participate, Howe said. We asked the kids during that week if they were participating in something like Hat Day if they could make a donation. By Thursday we had hit our goal, and actually by Friday we had raised a total of $600, which put us around $1,100 for a grand total.

Howe added other than an after-school dance on the last day of spirit week, the students did not have any incentives to raise the money.

I think this is very exciting, Howe said. These students read a book and now they want to do something about the problem they read about. I really think this was rather empowering.

Now that the funds have been raised, the school will be working with Water for South Sudan, a non-profit organization whose mission is to bring fresh, clean water to the people of rural southern Sudan.

Howe explained the money raised goes towards the purchase of a rig called an iron giraffe needed for the drilling. Water for South Sudan handles everything else needed to build the well.

I am very impressed by the empathy they are showing, said Assistant Principal Todd McKinney This is the type of thing Character Education helps develop, and its very exciting to see our students picking it up on their own. To see empathy in kids this age is really promising.
Story Highlights 28% are satisfied with the direction of the U.S.

8% of Republicans and 49% of Democrats are satisfied

Satisfaction similar to level seen before 2012 election

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- With the presidential election less than a month away, 28% of Americans are satisfied with the way things are going in the U.S. This continues the low satisfaction levels that started near the end of the George W. Bush administration and have persisted under President Barack Obama. Satisfaction remains significantly below the historical average of 37% since Gallup began measuring it in 1979.

Americans' current level of satisfaction is similar to where it has been for most of 2016, with the notable exception of July. That month, 17% of Americans were satisfied according to the July 13-17 poll, conducted shortly after incidents in which police officers killed black men in Louisiana and Minnesota, and after five police officers in Dallas were fatally shot. July's satisfaction rating was the lowest since October 2013. By August, with news coverage focused more on other events such as the political conventions, satisfaction rebounded to the levels seen before July.

Americans' Satisfaction Similar to a Month Before 2012 Election

Hillary Clinton has said she is the only candidate who will continue Obama's policies, so her supporters might be worried that less than a third of Americans are satisfied with the country's direction near the end of Obama's second term. But a month before the 2012 election, in which Obama handily defeated Mitt Romney, the U.S. satisfaction level was 30%, similar to today's figure. Satisfaction did rise slightly to 33% immediately before the election, possibly because Americans approved of the way Obama handled the effects of Superstorm Sandy.

Heading into the Nov. 8 general election this year, 49% of Democrats, 24% of independents and 8% of Republicans are satisfied with the country's direction. Republican numbers are almost identical to four years ago -- when 7% were satisfied. Democrats (53%) and independents (29%) were slightly more likely to be satisfied in October 2012 than they are now.

Bottom Line

The finding that fewer than one in three Americans are satisfied with the way things are going in the U.S. could appear ominous for the Democratic Party's chances of holding on to the White House in 2016. But satisfaction today is similar to what it was four years ago, when Obama won a second term. So while Clinton may pin her hopes for winning on convincing Americans of the need to continue with the course Obama has set, she would also benefit from convincing voters she can improve on what Obama has accomplished.

On the other hand, Republican Donald Trump has been able to focus heavily on his claims about what has gone wrong with the direction of the U.S. under Obama. With seven in 10 Americans expressing dissatisfaction with the nation's course, Trump has a large audience who agrees with his contention that the country is on the wrong track, even if many may not agree with his explanations for why that is the case. Trump's challenge is to convince Americans that he would be able to make things better in the future if elected.

In addition to influencing the outcome of the election, Americans' low satisfaction level could affect voter turnout on Nov. 8. When citizens are frustrated with the way things are going in the nation, they may be motivated to vote for change. Alternatively, their frustration could discourage them from voting. Gallup research from September found Americans were less sure they will vote in this year's election than they were in each of the past four presidential elections. One reason voters may be less inclined to vote despite high dissatisfaction levels is their dislike of the two candidates. Both Clinton and Trump have historically low favorability ratings.

Historical data are available in Gallup Analytics.

Survey Methods

Results for this Gallup poll are based on telephone interviews conducted Oct. 5-9, 2016, with a random sample of 1,017 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 survey methodology, complete question responses and trends.

Learn more about how the Gallup Poll Social Series works.
With a lot of evidence to present to the jury and a long day ahead, Circuit Court Judge Wendy Horn wasted no time getting the second day of the retrial of murder conspiracy suspect Nanette Litherland underway.

Nanette Litherland is on trial for her alleged role in the Nov. 8, 2009 shooting death of her husband Jerry Litherland and the non-fatal shooting of James Litherland, her father-in-law, on Sept. 22, 2009.

The prosecutions first witness, Jacob Feldman, took the stand wearing his gray prison uniform and his wrists in chains. He is currently serving a life sentence for the first-degree murder of Jerry Litherland.

Assistant Attorney General Monty Platz first had Feldman confirm that his plea deal included providing a full, honest account of everything that happened leading up to and surrounding the murder of Jerry Litherland. The death penalty was taken off the table in exchange for his cooperation and testimony against Nanette Litherland.

Feldman reluctantly agreed that he previously testified to having a conversation with Nanette Litherland about killing her husband, that she would provide Feldman with a gun to commit the murder and pay him for it from a $100,000 life insurance policy.

Platz continued to guide Feldman through his previous sworn testimony, including the actions he took when he shot James Litherland in the back of the head in Sept. 2009 but was unable to shoot Jerry Litherland because he was not at the farmhouse at the time.

Feldman continued to acknowledge he had previously testified about the events that occurred between the shooting of James Litherland and the night of Jerry Litherlands murder, including details about Thomas and Gwen Buhlers involvement. He acknowledged he previously testified that Thomas Buhler gave him a .22 caliber rifle and gave him a ride to Litherlands farmhouse.

He acknowledged he had previously testified to loading one armor-piercing round and two hollow-point bullets into the SKS semi-automatic rifle he ended up using to kill Jerry Litherland.

He testified that he shot Jerry Litherland with the SKS rifle on Nov. 8, 2009. The first shot fired the armor-piercing round into Litherlands body, followed by the two hollow points. He said after he shot Jerry Litherland, it was obvious he was dead.

Feldman said his public defender Wayne Williams advised him to accept then-Washington County Prosecuting Attorney John Rupps plea deal and claimed Williams and Rupp colluded to coerce him into making a confession that wasnt entirely accurate. Feldman claimed that Rupp held Mary Litherlands freedom over his head, even though the Litherlands daughter was never implicated in the conspiracy.

Platz asked Feldman to confirm that he told his father many details about the circumstances surrounding Jerry Litherlands murder, including being very angry that Nanette Litherland and the Buhlers screwed him over by not following through as promised with taking care of him after he murdered Jerry Litherland. Feldman had told his father they ratted him out and Nanette Litherland went back on her word to pay for his attorney.

When asked about it by Platz, Feldman said he didnt remember telling his father they burnt my ass or that he was discarded like a dirty Kleenex.

Throughout his time on the stand, Feldman denied there was any conspiracy to kill Jerry Litherland despite his past confession to police and agreement to provide testimony against Nanette Litherland. Feldman maintained that he acted alone and his past confessions and testimony regarding the involvement of Nanette Litherland and the Buhlers were false and a result of feeling coerced into the plea bargain in order to save himself from the death penalty.

I said what I had to, he said.

Feldman admitted he had strong feelings for Mary Litherland but said their relationship was limited to friendship. He also said he saw Jerry Litherland abuse Mary Litherland and heard him make inappropriate sexual comments about her. He said he believed Jerry Litherland was doing all these horrible things to her and that was his sole motive for killing him.

Although he freely admitted to killing Jerry Litherland, he denied he ambushed him or had a gun pointed on Jerry Litherland when he walked into the house. He said that when he first confronted Jerry Litherland on Nov. 8, 2009, he was not even holding a gun and had planned on trying to convince Jerry Litherland to move away so he couldnt hurt Mary Litherland anymore.

Thats been my statement from day one, he said. I gave Jerry a chance to leave and he didnt.

He insisted that killing Jery Litherland was not his first choice and that he only did it to protect Mary Litherland from further abuse.

This was not something I wanted to do, he said. It haunts me to this day.

After nearly 90 minutes of questioning, Platz completed his questioning of Feldman and Jeff Estes, Nanette Litherlands defense attorney, began his cross-examination.

Estes asked Feldman to specify the abusive behavior he observed while living at the Litherland farmhouse. Feldman responded by saying he saw Jerry Litherland kick Mary Litherland as well as other abuse. He said he also witnessed Jerrys father, James Litherland, grab Marys tits and slap her in the ass.

He said he shot James Litherland to try to protect Mary from further abuse. Likewise, he said again that his motive in shooting Jerry Litherland was the same.

While under cross-examination, Feldman stated, once again, that he acted alone and his motive was based solely on wanting to protect Mary Litherlands well-being. He expressed regret that innocent people were paying the price for something he did on his own.

Platz, during re-direct questioning, confronted Feldman again about his current testimony, but Feldman maintained his position, saying, I did what I had to do.

Feldman furthermore maintained that the gun with which he shot Jerry Litherland was Jerry Litherlands own gun and that he did not take a weapon with him when he went to Jerry Litherlands home to confront him about abusing Mary Litherland.

After a short recess, Platz called his second witness, Sgt. Dave Bauer, a criminal investigator with the Missouri State Highway Patrol (MSHP), who was called in to assist with the investigation of Jerry Litherlands murder.

Bauer testified he was directly involved in recovering the weapon Feldman used to shoot Jerry Litherland, in questioning Feldman about the crime and following up on leads obtained during the questioning.

Part of Bauers time on the stand was spent showing the jury two sections of a video of an interview of Feldman conducted by Bauer and former prosecutor Rupp. Feldmans former defense attorney was also present during the interrogation.

During the interview, Feldman and Bauer discussed the weapons Feldman had access to, the shooting of James Litherland and Nanette Litherlands subsequent reaction  Feldman can be heard saying she was disappointed that Feldman didnt kill both James and Jerry at the same time  Nanette Litherland's conversations with Feldman about the urgency to kill Jerry Litherland and that Nanette Litherland offered Feldman money to finish the job.

Feldman also said during the interview that Nanette Litherland offered to make sure Feldman would have money for an attorney if anything went wrong and he was arrested.

After the conclusion of the first section of video, Platz asked Bauer to describe how Feldman led him to where he had discarded the murder weapon. Bauer said Feldman went with him and other officers, providing driving directions along the way, and was able to show them exactly where he had hidden the gun in the woods.

Sgt. Perry Smith, an investigator with the MSHP, was the first prosecution witness called to the stand after the days lunch break. He testified about three life insurance policies taken out in Jerry Litherlands name  one with a $75,000 benefit, a second policy with a $45,000 benefit and a third policy with a $100,000 payout purchased just a few months before his death.

During cross-examination by Estes, Smith said he found out during the investigation that Jerry Litherland applied for one of the earlier policies and another policy covered not just Jerry Litherland but included other family members as well.

Next, the prosecution called Justin Messex to the stand. Messex testified that he knew Nanette Litherland and Feldman around the time of Jerry Litherlands murder and that he and Feldman talked about the Litherland family. He said Feldman told him about James Litherland and his inappropriate behavior toward Mary Litherland and that Feldman told him he had been offered payment to kill Jerry Litherland.

Platz called three additional witnesses before resting the prosecutions case: Jonathan Hand, a close friend of Feldman, currently incarcerated for numerous drug- and stealing-related crimes and assault of a law enforcement officer; Elizabeth Eye, a former neighbor of Thomas and Gwen Buhler at the time of Litherlands murder; and Washington County Sheriffs Deputy Matthew Skaggs, who was dispatched to the scene of James Litherlands shooting.

Hand testified about being solicited by Nanette Litherland to kill Jerry Litherland by making it look like an accident. He declined the request, despite being offered money to carry out the deed.

Eye testified that she let Thomas Buhler borrow her car to run an errand on the day of Jerry Litherlands murder. She said she didnt know Feldman, but had been previously been introduced to him and recognized him as the person who got into her car with Thomas Buhler.

For the remainder of the day, defense attorney Estes began the presentation of his case with a replay of the full video recording of the interview of Feldman by Rupp and Bauer where Rupp informs Feldman that the death penalty will be dropped from consideration in exchange for his full, honest cooperation.

Approximately halfway through the video, Judge Horn adjourned for the day, directing the jury to return today at 8:30 a.m.
Game Of Thrones Season 7 Air Date, Spoilers, News & Update: Season Seven Set Is Filming On The Northern Irish Location

Among the "Game Of Thrones" Season 7 cast spotted filming in the Northern Ireland are John Snow, Ser Davos Seaworth and Breinne of Tarth together with Lyanna Mormont. Bella Ramsey is also spotted wearing her costume, together with Kit Harringto, Gwendoline Christie and Liam Hunnington.

Indie Wire reported that John Snow who played Cersei will be taking the Iron throne as one of Season 6 major moments. Lyanna Mormont seems to return on Season 7 to make another record. "Game Of Thrones" Season 7 will also feature Daenerys' dragons which was filmed in Croatia which she have to travel from Ireland up to Westeros. Daenery is fighting to take back the Iron throne.

Meanwhile, Alexander Siddig who is reprising the role of Prince Doran Mortell signed a contract until 4 seasons but was killed off at the end of the last season. It is presumed that he left the series due to how "Game Of Thrones" Season 7 implements low pay, but that remains unverified as well. Unlike the other characters like Peter Drinklage, Lena Headey and some others who were noted as top-paid, GamenGuide relayed.

Everything you need to know about Game of Thrones season 7:https://t.co/bf2jvd5ZQm pic.twitter.com/J3BWWaekwK  DigitalSpy.com (@digitalspy) October 13, 2016

Recently the "Game Of Thrones" segment broke the records for winning a number of Emmy Awards won by a primetime series including Best Drama Series and 11 other awards. Richard Rycroft who reprised the role as Maester Wolkan was also spotted together with the Little Lord.

Lyanna Mormont will be back for 'Game of Thrones' Season 7 https://t.co/aJGuk2DE7M pic.twitter.com/MPWf17mTeL  Cultjer (@cultjer) October 12, 2016

"Game Of Thrones" Season 7 is expected to air summer 2017. According to Emelia Clarke, Season 7 will top season 6 owing to its forthcoming epic battle.


OnePlus Latest News & Update: OnePlus 4 Coming Soon? Find Out Specs, Details, Features, Release Date

Rumors have been going around about the alleged specs and new features of the fourth project of a company that has been known for its exclusivity and craftsmanship: the OnePlus 4. It has recently been revealed that the China-based firms currently has their hands full on an improved version of their current phone, the OnePlus 3.

GSM Arena reports that speculations have started in August that a OnePlus3 Mini will be hitting the markets very soon. This rumor, however, has been debunked by OnePlus co-founder Carl Pei, who said that the company has no plans at all to release such a phone. This, however, does not mean that there will not be new projects for the company as they are rumoured to be currently working on a OnePlus 3 Plus.

Speculations point out that since most of the recently released flagship phones are powered by the Snapdragon 821 chipset, it is highly likely that the rumoured OnePlus 3 Plus will be powered by the new SoC. As the current OnePlus3 already supports full HD, the enhanced version of this model is very likely to have an even better display with quad HD which can support a resolution of 2560 x 1440 pixels.

GameNGuide previously reported that fans of the brand are in anticipation of the next iteration of 2016's phone which is said to be packed with superior performance capabilities for a reasonable price. The firm has not yet made an official announcement about the details, specs and other information about the next batch of OnePlus smartphones. But details regarding specs, features and the release dates have allegedly been leaked already.

It is reported that the developers plan to go all out in making the next version stand out amongst bigger names and that it will feature an OLED pressure-sensitive screen. It is also said to feature a whopping 8GB of RAM and a 64GB internal storage that can be expanded to upto 256GB. The camera is said to be able to support 24-megapixels, the battery is said to be around 4,000mAh and it is said to feature an ultrasonic fingerprint scanner. While OnePlus has not yet confirmed the release of this next phone, it is expected to be launched around the second quarter of 2017.
PlayStation 4 Latest News & Update: Better Gaming For An Increased Price? How This Will Affect Developers & More

Sony's most powerful console will be hitting the shelves on November 10 and surely, it puts Sony and the PlayStation in a position that they have never been to before. One issue here is that a lot of developers will be giving their games what they call "the PlayStation 4 treatment," which is essentially adapting to its more powerful specs and features. This will let a game that is currently available to be played in an even greater detail and faster frames, resulting to a better gaming experience.

Eurogamer reports that all seems to have gone quiet for the PlayStation 4 pro for weeks just before it gets released. While it has caused some hype, downloadable media which were released after the PlayStation meet allegedly failed to showcase the hardware favourably. With just less than a month to go before this revamp to the PlayStation 4 gets released, the considerable lack of exposure is quite puzzling. Despite that, the price level of the PlayStation 4 Pro which is at $399 or $349, makes choosing it a no brainer especially that the holidays are upon everyone.

This makes the PS4 Pro priced closely with the PS4 in its initial launch and while the removal of the UHD Blu-ray drive seems like a blunder, it is actually a strategy to get more of these consoles at homes. Keeping the price at a competitive level will also help address the key concern about the hardware which considerably improves the visual experience. After all, the addition of a few dollars for the features and increased capabilities of the PlayStation 4 Pro do not make it a bad deal at all.

Gamasutra, on the other hand, reports that the recent announcement of the PlayStation 4 Pro could mean that developers will soon be treating development of console games like that of PC games. This is because the upgrades to the hardware and the added capabilities could create a demand for developers to create games with the PS4 Pro in mind. However, they have to be able to downscale settings such as graphics and lighting quality to makes them playable on older versions of the console.
A second route, which will service downtown to Alamitos Beach, will launch on Nov. 10.
The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality is giving residents extra time to comment on a proposed air pollution permit for the Hollingsworth & Vose glass fiber plant in Corvallis.

Initially set to expire last Friday, the comment deadline has now been extended to 5 p.m. Oct. 21, the agency announced this week.

State environmental regulators revealed in December that the plant had been mistakenly operating under the wrong class of air pollution permit for nearly 20 years and had been putting out much higher levels of carbon monoxide and fluoride compounds than its permit allowed. DEQ fined the company but allowed it to keep running the plant at current production levels while it applied for the appropriate permits.

H&V has filed an application for a standard air contaminant discharge permit, also known as a prevention of significant deterioration permit, which is under review by the state.

Comments should be addressed to permit coordinator Patty Hamman and can be mailed to her at DEQ Western Region, 4026 Fairview Industrial Drive S.E., Salem, OR 97302. They can also be faxed to her at 503-378-4196 or emailed to hamman.paticia@deq.state.or.us.

Interest in the permitting process has run high, with neighbors of the glass fiber plant expressing concerns about toxic chemicals and particulate matter in the air they breathe. Several public meetings have been held with company and DEQ officials, including one on Sept. 29 that drew more than 75 people.

The permit H&V is seeking now would accurately reflect current emissions levels while imposing state regulatory limits for carbon monoxide, fluoride, particulates and other pollutants emitted by the plant, DEQ officials said. That permit is expected to be granted by November 2017.

Within six months after that permit is issued, the company must apply for a Title V permit that would set air emissions limits for the next five years. That application will trigger another round of public involvement, including a new comment period and at least one public hearing. The Title V permit could be issued sometime in 2019.

Formerly known as Evanite Fiber, the Hollingsworth & Vose plant at 1115 S.E. Crystal Lake Drive employs about 140 people and manufactures glass fiber for use in battery separators, filtration systems and other specialty products.
The North County Middle School Student Council is hosting their 2nd Annual Glow Walk to benefit Make-A-Wish Missouri.

North County Middle School Student Council Co-Sponsor Jennifer Worthington said it will be held at the North County High School track from 7 to 9 p.m. Saturday.

That evening we will have concessions, we will sell glow accessories such as bracelets, headbands and other items for people to decorate themselves up or they can come already dressed up in glow gear they bought, said Worthington. We are selling Make-A-Wish stars that they can pay $1 for and there will be a silent auction.

Worthington added Froggy96 will be there broadcasting live and they have national recording artist Macey Martin.

She will be there to sing the National Anthem and some other song while everyone walks, Worthington. We are going to do a lap for any Make-A-Wish recipient and we have gotten confirmation that one is coming so far. So we will do a honorary first lap with them leading that lap and then everybody will just walk or run on the track from 7 to 9 p.m.

Worthington said they will also have a contest for the person that is most decorated for boys and girls. Registration that night will begin at 6:30 p.m. and the cost is $10 per person.

All of the proceeds will go to Make-A-Wish Missouri and our student council has set a goal of raising $10,000 at the glow walk this year, Worthington said. They raised a little over $8,000 last year, so they set a goal for $10,000 this year.

Worthington added this is their largest fundraiser of the year and so far they have had several fundraisers this year.

We contributed $857 to the American Heart Association contest between North County and Farmington, said Worthington. We just had a pajama and hat day, with snow cones and hot cocoa for the Moyers family. We raised $864 for them and we raised over $800 for Shop With a Cop right now and their goal for that is $1,000. We also just sent $220 to Friends of Kids With Cancer, so we have had multiple things going on the beginning of this school year.

Worthington said the student council has a goal of raising $17,000 for this school year and they have to stay busy to meet that goal.

Last year we raised over $20,000, but there was a lot of events going for Carlei Huff with Make-A-Wish, explained Worthington. But they set a pretty high goal for this year also.

Worthington said they are just trying to get the word out to the community. She said last year it was a lot of people from North County and they are wanting other schools to come and bring groups.

We are really trying to extend it to even the surrounding counties, said Worthington. We want to make it like how they have the Relay for life. We want to make the Glow Walk something we do for Make-A-Wish in St. Francois County.
The Benton County District Attorney's Office is reviewing the investigation into the death of a 50-year-old transient man found Sept. 10 in a Corvallis park.

The body of Stephen Mathews was discovered at about 11 p.m. Sept. 10 in a wooded area northeast of the BMX Track Park off of Southeast Chapman Place. The Corvallis Police Department recently forwarded investigative reports to the Benton County District Attorney's Office for review, but the investigation is ongoing.

"We are taking a close look at the Corvallis Police Departments investigation in this matter," said Benton County District Attorney John Haroldson. "It is an active investigation. And we are going to be considering all of the investigative information that is produced in this case."

Police said previously that they had not ruled out foul play and the incident is being investigated like its a suspicious death.

Mathews lived in Corvallis for about a year before his death, police said previously, and that during previous contact with police, Mathews reported that he had moved to Corvallis from San Francisco.
This log includes incidents in which there might have been a public disturbance or a risk to the public. Information comes from the Corvallis Police Department, Oregon State Police and Benton County Sheriff's Office. It does not include all calls for service. The status of incidents might change after further investigation. Locations are approximate. People arrested or suspected in crimes are considered innocent until proven otherwise.

Corvallis Police Department

TUESDAY, OCT. 11

HARASSMENT: 8:06 a.m., 777 N.W. Kings Blvd. Officers responded to a report of a man being threatened with a knife. One of two men involved in an argument reported that the other man pulled out a knife. One of the men reportedly refused to answer questions, and both declined to pursue charges.

Oregon State Police

SUNDAY, OCT. 9

SUSPICIOUS ACTIVITY: 7:58 p.m., Southwest 11th Street and Adams Avenue. A trooper was dispatched to McNary Hall for a report of a suspicious person. A woman reported that she was in her parked car when someone approached her and made a "sexually based, lewd proposition" before attempting to get in the car and eventually running away. The woman described the person as wearing a green, pull-over sweatshirt and blue jeans. Police were unable to locate the person.

SATURDAY, OCT. 1

BIKE THEFT: 8:42 a.m., 2100 block of Southwest May Way. A man reported that his bicycle was stolen from the bike racks at Finley Hall. The bike, valued at around $1,750, was described as a black Kona Cindercone mountain bike.

THURSDAY, SEPT. 29

THEFT: 2:14 p.m., 663 S.W. 26th St. A trooper responded to the Beaver Store where an employee reported that a man had attempted to get refunds for books that were reported recently as stolen. The theft is under investigation.
Report cards for Oregon schools and school districts were released Wednesday, and for the second consecutive year they did not include overall school ratings.

The Oregon Department of Education said in its news release on the report cards that it was not issuing ratings this year because it is redesigning the systems in response to flexibility it is allowed under the new federal education policy, the Every Student Succeeds Act. Last year, the department also didnt issue ratings because Oregon was in the first year of using the Smarter Balanced standardized tests, which were a large factor in determining ratings.

However, the reports do combine a number of data points on local schools, including some new ones that compare things like standardized test scores to schools and districts with similar demographics.

While both Corvallis and Philomath school districts had higher four-year graduation rates than state average of 74 percent in 2014-15, they also performed better than districts with similar student populations. Corvallis' on- time graduation rate of 86 percent was better than the average for its comparable districts, which had an on-time graduation rate of 79 percent. Philomaths grad rate of 90 percent also was better than the 84 percent average for its comparison districts.

Monroe School Districts four-year graduation rate of 75 percent for the same period lagged behind the average for its comparison districts, which was 79 percent. Alsea School Districts 53 percent on-time graduation rate was lagging behind the 78 percent for its comparison districts.

Alsea looked better on the percentage of freshmen who were on track for graduation last school year; its more than 92 percent on-track rate was the highest in the county. According to the report cards, every Benton County public high school except Kings Valley Charter School had a higher percentage of freshmen on track to graduate than the state average of 84 percent.

Kevin Bogatin, assistant superintendent of the Corvallis School District, said that the freshmen-on-track rating is a big focus for the district.

Its pretty highly correlated, if you earn six credits (as a freshman), you are more likely to graduate, he said.

At Corvallis High School, 92 percent of freshmen were on track in 2015-16, compared to 82 percent at similar schools. Crescent Valley High Schools 90 percent of freshmen on track to graduate was a near match to their comparison schools.

The report cards also show the schools had much higher rates of students pursuing continuing education after the 2013-14 school year than the state average of 59 percent. CHS had 73 percent of its students participating in education after high school, and Crescent Valley had 81 percent of its students doing the same. At schools comparable to CHS, on average just 56 percent of students continue past high school; at schools comparable to Crescent Valley, the rate is 65 percent.

Ryan Noss, Corvallis interim superintendent, said the rate may decline as a result of the Oregon legislatures changes to fifth-year programs.

In recent years, Corvallis had kept some recent graduates enrolled in the district and used money it received for them from the state school fund to pay for the students to take a year of classes at Linn-Benton Community College. However, the legislature drastically limited the ability of districts to do these fifth-year programs this spring and replaced the program with the Oregon Promise. That program gave new Oregon high school graduates grants that combined with federal aid would make a year of community college free; however, the program had a GPA requirement.

District officials estimate they may have 130 to 140 fewer students at LBCC this fall because of the change, although official figures for that are not available yet.

That program has collapsed, and that is a direct result of legislative action, said Chris Rochester, the Corvallis School Board chair.

For Philomath High School, the continuing education rate was 65 percent for the 2013-14 school year, the most recent year in which the rate was included. For schools similar to PHS, the rate was 67 percent. Alseas rate in the same time period was 14 percent, Monroe High Schools was 54 percent and KVCS was 75 percent. Their comparable schools rates were 47 percent, 55 percent and 62 percent, respectively.

ODE said in its press release that it plans to issue more holistic school and district report cards in the fall of 2018.

The Oregon Department of Education is working to ensure that Oregons school and district report cards are redesigned to provide families and communities with more comprehensive measures of school quality, enhancing academic data with non-academic indicators like school climate and equity, Deputy Superintendent Salam Noor said in the departments release.
Since my last letter regarding Measure 97, several people have asked me what they could expect to pay more for should it pass. The following is a partial list:

Every single item in the store at Safeway, Fred Meyer, Market of Choice, Home Depot, Verizon Wireless, Office Max, Sears, Costco, and Walmart, to name but a few; the vast majority of items in every convenience store, liquor store and independent grocery store; any new car or truck purchased anywhere in the state, as well as the gasoline to power it; medical care at The Corvallis Clinic and many others in Oregon; and on and on ...

It's pretty basic, folks. In order for this 2.5 percent sales tax to generate $3 billion per year, it must be levied on $120 billion in sales, and that's almost 60 percent of Oregon's entire GDP. Also, given our population of 4 million, that $3 billion translates to $750 per year for every man, woman, and child in the state, and business is going to pass every penny of it on to you, the consumer. It is absolute folly to think that won't happen.

One other thing: the commercials touting Measure 97 claim Oregon ranks 50th in corporate taxation. Really? Why, then, are but three of the Fortune 500 companies headquartered here? If we're the big deal of the day taxwise, they should be falling all over themselves trying to get relocated to Oregon. Where are they? Color me skeptical of this statement by the "fair share" crowd.

John Brenan

Corvallis (Oct. 4)
The Farmington City Council, Bismarck Board of Aldermen and the Mineral Area College Board of Trustees will each hold meetings today.

The Farmington City Council will meet in regular session at 6:30 p.m. in council chambers, located at 110 W. Columbia St. in Farmington.

Among the items on the tentative agenda are second readings and council action on two public hearing items from the Sept. 26 meeting.

The first is a rezoning request from R-2 single-family dwelling to R-6 two-family dwellings for property located at 841 Hillsboro Rd. The request is submitted by Josh Black on behalf of Harry and Roberta Chadwell. The second is for a change in the citys municipal code to allow for single-family homes in the C-1 Central Business zoning district with a special use permit.

Also on the tentative agenda is a first and second reading and council action on an ordinance authorizing the city to enter into an MPUA (Missouri Public Utility Alliance) Mutual Aid agreement, as well as an ordinance authorizing an amendment to the State Block Grant Agreement with the Missouri Highway and Transportation Commission for airport property acquisitions.

During the consent agenda, council action will be taken on a resolution authorizing the city to submit a grant application for improvements along Henry Street (Route H) including sidewalks and storm water infrastructure.

The council will also hear committee reports, along with the city administrator and mayors report.

The meeting is open to the public.

The Bismarck Board of Aldermen will meet in regular session tonight at 7 p.m. in the old train depot.

According to Mayor Seth Radford, items that will be covered include court clerk training, applying for a TAP grant, Santa Claus at the depot and the donation of a table for use in the depot. The meeting is open to the public.

The Mineral Area College Board of Trustees will meet in regular session at 2 p.m. in the boardroom on the Park Hills campus.

According to the tentative agenda, the board will hear reports regarding fall enrollment and campus safety, as well as the MAC Foundation, Arts Council, classified staff, faculty forum and campus safety.

In old business, the board will receive construction and website vendor updates. It will also consider approval of a bid on the Drainage Improvement Project.

In new business, the board will consider the NJCAA Region 16 Social Media policy; a Concussion Management plan; approval of budget adjustments for the Nursing Education Incentive Grant and amendments to board policy on business procedures. It will also receive an update on medical insurance.

The meeting is open to the public.
Migratory birds in Bonn : The cranes are coming!

BONN Around 120,000 cranes are expected in Bonns skies in the next few days. The city lies on one of the main winter migration routes.

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The people of Bonn are fond of them and it is a fact they are the talk of the town each time they swoop over the citys rooftops. And whoever wants to see this theatre in the sky should get ready. The first migratory movements have already been reported in North Rhine Westphalia and large flocks of birds can now be expected daily.

Just over 120,000 cranes fly along a westerly route. The flyway, along with one further east, forms one of the main migratory routes between Scandinavia and the Mediterranean.

Well over 100,000 cranes have gathered in North Germany and are resting there before flying south. When the weather conditions are good, the flocks of cranes will leave their meeting point in the early hours of the morning, and pass on both side of the Harz. The main flock will fly over Osnabruck, Hannover and Gottingen, will reach Weserbergland and then fly on at 80 kilometres an hour over the eastern Ruhr and then along the Rhine to Bonn. From Bonn they will head over the south Eifel to France.

It is not anticipated the cranes will land in Bonn. That only happens in extreme weather conditions like thick fog or particularly strong wind, said Heinz Kowalski from Naturschutzbund Deutschland or Nabu (German Conservation Society). They usually fly through non-stop and cover the whole route in four to five days.
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.
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Nokia Plans to Comeback With 3 New Smartphones: Nokia D1C and Two More on the Cards Features oi -Prajith

A few days ago we reported you about Nokia's plans to re-enter the smartphone world with what's being called as the Nokia D1C. It was spotted online on a Geekbench listing providing insights about the specifications of the device.

Now, the latest rumour leaked online is suggesting us to expect two flagships from the company instead of one.

SEE ALSO: WhatsApp Guide: How to Retrieve Lost Data in 10 Simple Steps

Nokia, one of the largest mobile phone manufacturer of it's time, lost its legacy when it joined forces with Microsoft abandoning Android.

Reliance Jio Creates World Record Overtaking WhatsApp, Facebook, and Skype; 16M Users in 26 Days

However, it appears as if lessons have been learnt and the company is planning to make a grand comeback to retain its position. Here's everything you should know about it.

Click Here for New Smartphones Best Online Deals

Nokia D1C Earlier this week, BGR India spotted the Nokia D1C on Geekbench listing. Now, the device is spotted paying a visit to AnTuTu listing revealing key specifications like a 64-bit octa-core Snapdragon 430 chipset, 3GB of RAM, 32GB of internal storage space, Full HD screen, and an Adreno 505 GPU to take care of graphics. Expect not one but two flagships In addition to the above mentioned mid-range smartphone, Nokia is rumoured to launch two high-end smartphones equipped with Snapdragon 820 processor. From what appears from the rumours, these two smartphones could feature a Quad HD display and may come with a 5.2/5.5-inch display. Also, they are expected to sport a 22.6 MP primary camera to cater the needs of photography enthusiasts and 4K Video recording capabilities. Click Here for New Android Smartphones Best Online Deals Android 7.0 Nougat out-of-the-box All the three, smartphones are expected to come Android 7.0 Nougat out-of-the-box. Price and availability If rumours are to be believed true, the high-end smartphones may come with a price tag of Rs. 30,000 with the mid-range device being priced around Rs. 20,000. The company is expected to launch these smartphone by the end of this year. But, for now, we recommend you to take these rumours with a pinch of salt. Click Here for New Smartphones Best Online Deals

Best Mobiles in India
OnePlus 3

Looking out for a smartphone with all rounding performance? Then here is the perfect device with 5.5-inch Optic AMOLED display, Snapdragon 820 SoC, 6GB RAM, 64GB inbuilt storage and much more. Now, you can get the OnePlus 3 at Rs. 27,999 on Amazon India with No Cost EMI as well.

Lenovo Zuk Z1

The Zuk Z1 comes with power packed specs including a Cyanogen 12.1 OS, Snapdragon 801 SoC, 3GB RAM and 64GB ROM under the hood. You can keep your data safe with the latest fingerprint sensor technology - FPC's touch fingerprint sensor FPC1155. Moreover, you can enjoy the JIO 4G data on this smartphone as well. It is now available at Rs. 13,499 on Amazon India with EMI options as well starting from Rs. 1,205 per month.

Lenovo Vibe X3

Enjoy the giant virtual cinematic experience with the latest VR technology in the Vibe X3. In order to get a good sound experience, the company has equipped this device with a 3 Chip amplifier to amplify the High, Low, and Mid tones. You can get your hands on this smartphone at Rs. 19,999 on Amazon India with 1-year manufacturer warranty for device and 6 months manufacturer warranty for in-box accessories including batteries from the date of purchase.

Moto G Plus, 4th Gen (Black)

Are you casual smartphone and looking out for a new one? Motorola's Moto G4 is the best bet here with a 16MP camera, Snapdragon 617 SoC for smooth user experience. Moreover, you can also get 6 hours of power in just 15 minutes charging. Grab this smartphone now at Rs. 13,499 on Amazon India with EMI option starting from Rs. 1,205 per month.

Moto G Plus, 4th Gen (White)

Now enjoy the Jio 4G internet in the brand new Moto G4 smartphone (White variant) on Amazon India at Rs. 13,499 with EMI option starting from Rs. 1,205 per month. With this deal, you also get 1 year of manufacturer warranty for the device and 6 months manufacturer warranty for the in-box accessories including batteries.

BLU Life Mark

Looking out for a mid-range smartphone below Rs. 10,000? Grab the BLU Life Mark at Rs. 9,251 with 84 wide angle lens for amazing selfies. This smartphone comes with a built-in f2.0 aperture + Blue Glass Filter,for better photography experience. Available in Grey, White and Gold variant, this smartphone is available on Amazon India with EMI option starting from Rs. 826 per month.

Samsung On7 Pro

Want a branded smartphone under Rs.10,000? Make the Samsung On7 Pro yours that has lots of features including an auto mode, beauty face, continuous shots and much more at Rs. 9,990. It is available now on Amazon India with no cost EMI option. Available in Black and White, this smartphone has the S bike mode that keeps unwanted calls at bay so that you can keep on riding tension free.

Coolpad Note 3

Have a look at one of the best smartphone at a budget price! This smartphone indeed garnered positive feedback from both masses and critics for worth-the-money factor. Further, it comes with the advanced fingerprint sensor that takes only 0.5 seconds to unlock the screen. Grab it on Amazon India right now!

Lenovo Vibe K4 Note

Enjoy all your movies, TV series and Youtube videos in TheaterMax VR Technology only on Vibe K4 Note. This smartphone comes with Doby Atmos surround technology for better sound experience. Available in White, Black and Wooden Edition, the Vibe K4 Note is available on Amazon India at Rs. 10,999 with a discount of up to 8%. Further, you can get exchange offer as well for your old smartphone.

Meizu m2 Note

Searching for a perfect smartphone with a blend of amazing design and performance? Here is the M2 Note available on Amazon India at Rs. 8,999 with a discount of 10%. Moreover, you can also avail it on EMI options starting from Rs. 803 per month.
A Dual-Edge QHD Display!

All the leaks till date suggest that the Mi Note will feature a QHD display. A couple of other rumors says the smartphone will arrive in two variants- one with a 5.5-inch 1080p display and the other one with a 5.7-inch dual-edge curved QHD display.

Powerful Hardware

Xiaomi Mi Note 2 will be a flagship device, and the company will pack competitive hardware. There will be the latest Snapdragon 821 chipset along with 6GB of RAM. There might be three storage variants- 64GB, 128GB, and 256GB.

Click Here for New Android Smartphones Best Online Deals

Same Camera as Mi 5s Plus!

Xiaomi might use the same camera technology as the Mi 5s Plus. The Mi 5s Plus has a dual rear camera with two 16MP camera sensors. And, the front-facing shooter will be a 5MP snapper.

Click Here for New Smartphones Best Online Deals

Mammoth 4,000mAh battery

Xiaomi might pack a 4,000mAh battery in the Mi Note 2 along with support for QuickCharge 3.0.

Android Nougat

Last week, a rumor surfaced online saying that Xiaomi is testing the MIUI 9 on the Mi Note 2. And it is worth noticing that the MIUI 9 will be based off Android Nougat.

Click Here for New Android Smartphones Best Online Deals
Latest Lenovo K5 Note OTA Update Brings Support for Reliance Jio News oi -Chakri Kudikala

Lenovo launched the much anticipated K5 Note in India two months. At the time of launch, it was the first smartphone to feature 4GB of RAM under Rs. 15,000.

Reliance Jio was creating new waves at the time of the smartphone launch, and several users grabbed the smartphone, so that, they can use Jio 4G SIM card with ease. But, that wasn't the scenario. All these days, the Lenovo K5 Note doesn't have support for VoLTE.

SEE ALSO: Huawei Honor 8, Honor 8 Smart, Holly 3 Launched in India: 8 Promising Features to Know

And today, Lenovo released a new update for the handset with which you can be able to use your Reliance Jio SIM card for calling as well. Furthermore, the latest OTA update comes with some stability and bug fixes as well. And the update weighs 122MB.

The official changelog from Lenovo is as follows.

1) Add VoLTE support for India Reliance Jio

2) Fix bugs and increase device stability

Speaking about the specifications of the smartphone, the Lenovo K5 Note comes with a 5.5-inch FHD display with a pixel density of 401 PPI. Under-the-hood is a MediaTek Helio P10 chipset, which is an octa-core one with four cores clocked at 1.8GHz and remaining four clocked at 1.0GHz.

SEE ALSO: Reliance Jio Effect: BSNL Introduces 4 New Tariff Plans With Double Data Benefits

The smartphone is available in two variants, one with 3GB of RAM and the other one with 4GB of RAM. Both the variants come with 32GB of internal storage, which can be further expanded via a microSD card slot.

There is a 13MP rear camera on the back with PDAF and dual-LED flash. An 8MP front-facing snapper can be seen on the front to capture selfies. The smartphone boots Android 5.1 Lollipop out-of-the-box, which is dated and a 3,500mAh battery bundles up this complete package.

Click Here for New Smartphones Best Online Deals

Best Mobiles in India

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Airtel Expands 4G Service, Offers Free USIMs to Users Who Upgrade News oi -GizBot Bureau

Bharti Airtel ("Airtel"), India's largest telecommunications services provider, today said that its 4G services will soon be available to customers in all 22 Districts of Haryana. The company, which pioneered the rollout of 4G in Haryana, is all set to expand its 4G footprint across the state.

Airtel invited customers to upgrade their existing 2G/3G SIMs with 4G ready USIMs completely free of cost at Airtel retail stores in the state. With the 4G USIM upgrade, customers can continue enjoying their existing 2G/3G services, while staying ready to experience Airtel 4G from the day of its launch.

SEE ALSO: Android 7.1 Nougat Update: 5 Features You'll Find to be Useful

Airtel 4G services are currently available to customers in Ambala, Karnal, Panipat, Sonipat, Rohtak, Yamunanagar, Hisar, Fatehabad, Kurukshetra, Kalka and Pinjore.

On the occasion, Manu Sood, Hub CEO - Upper North, Bharti Airtel said, "We are inviting data savvy customers across Haryana to be 4G ready with a simple upgrade to an Airtel USIM. We look forward to serving our customers with world-class services on Airtel 4G network."

SEE ALSO: 5 Reasons to install My Airtel app on your smartphone

Airtel 4G will allow customers to enjoy uninterrupted HD video streaming, superfast uploading and downloading of movies, music and images.

The planned launch is a part of Project Leap - Airtel's nation-wide network transformation initiative. With a planned investment of Rs. 60,000 Crores over the next three years, Project Leap is a strategic company initiative aimed at perceptibly improving its network quality and delivering the best customer experience.

Seamless customer experience

 Instant SIM upgrade in minutes

1. SMS SIM to 121 from your Airtel mobile

2. Reply 1 to confirmation SMS and wait for phone to get disconnected from network

3. Insert 4G SIM for regular usage. After 4G launch - select LTE in network settings on phone

 Home delivery of SIMs http://www.airtel.in/4g/sim-swap

-Press Release

Best Mobiles in India

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Little Rock AFB provides humanitarian support

By Senior Airman Mercedes Taylor, 19th Airlift Wing Public Affairs / Published October 12, 2016

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AFNS) -- Airmen from the 19th Airlift Wing at Little Rock Air Force Base, Arkansas, dedicated three C-130J Super Hercules to deliver humanitarian aid and disaster relief response for Haiti on Oct. 7 after the Category 4 hurricane tore through the island.

Currently, the Air Force is ferrying supplies to Haiti after Hurricane Matthew crippled access to the southwest region of the island and other hard-hit areas, in which it washed out bridges and roads.

Only one aircraft from the 61st Airlift Squadron went to Haiti and provided relief. Two aircraft from the 41st AS remained on standby to offer support.

Members from both airlift squadrons and other base agencies transported personnel from the 621st Contingency Response Wing, Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Hurst, New Jersey, a Humvee and other supplies to Port-au-Prince to support U.S. Aid operations.

Air Mobility Command is tasked with providing unrivaled rapid global mobility. For this response, Little Rock AFB and Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Hurst worked together to ensure the supplies needed were transported to Haiti. These supplies were used to immediately treat individuals affected by the hurricane.

"It feels good to be in a position to be able to help other people," said Capt. John Rebolledo, a 61st AS C-130J pilot. "We have immense capability and flexibility to do so because of our assets."

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Liberating Mosul Will Be Iraq's Biggest Fight, OIR Spokesman Says

By Terri Moon Cronk DoD News, Defense Media Activity

WASHINGTON, Oct. 12, 2016  The size of Iraq's second-largest city will make the liberation of Mosul from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant's two-year grip the largest mission Iraqi security forces have yet undertaken against the enemy, the spokesman for Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve told Pentagon reporters today.

Providing an update on the counter-ISIL effort in Iraq and Syria by teleconference from Baghdad, Air Force Col. John L. Dorrian said Mosul's size is on the "order of magnitude larger than the liberation battles in cities such as Ramadi, Fallujah and Sharqat."

As shaping operations and planning along the Tigris River Valley to liberate the city are underway, the Iraqi government is working with the United Nations and nongovernment organizations to plan for people fleeing Mosul when the fighting begins, Dorrian said. The Iraqi government is directing 20 campsites for displaced people and is working with the U.N. and other organizations to pre-position resources to take care of them, he added.

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has informed the residents of Mosul of the pending liberation by radio address, and he has asked residents to cooperate with security forces, Dorrian said.

Iraqi Forces Remove ISIL from Area in Euphrates Valley

Elsewhere in Iraq, Iraqi forces have attacked ISIL fighters in the Euphrates River Valley on multiple fronts to remove them from the eastern side of the river, north and south of Hit, the colonel said. Within the past few days, the Iraqi forces completed clearance operations along the Euphrates Valley, connecting their northern and southern forward battle lines with about 140 miles of contiguous cleared area between Baghdad and Haditha, he added.

Clearing this area takes pressure off the Iraqi forces to defend multiple fronts in the valley, and it helps to protect Ramadi, Fallujah and Baghdad from ISIL attacks as the battle for Mosul is waged, Dorrian explained.

That operation also increases pressure on ISIL, which has shown significant signs that its supply shortages and the dismantling of its command and control across Iraq are leaving them incapable of stopping the Iraqi forces from advancing, he said.

"Continuing to pressure the enemy along the Euphrates River Valley is very important to the overall security of Iraq," Dorrian said, "and we'll continue a relentless campaign of strikes to keep the enemy on the back foot as the [Iraqi forces continue clearing operations]."

Syria Fight Progresses, Manbij Residents Return

Progress against ISIL forces in Syria also is evident along the Mara line in the north, as NATO ally Turkey and coalition forces continue advise-and-assist missions with local forces, Dorrian said. "Since the start of Operation Noble Lance, these partnered forces have liberated 254 square kilometers of ground, to include the people in 37 villages in that area," he added.

And since Manbij was liberated in mid-August, displaced residents are returning to the city in very large numbers, Dorrian said. About 70,000 people now reside in Manbij while efforts continue to remove ISIL booby traps and homemade bombs, the colonel told reporters, although 125,000 lived in Manbij before the enemy invaded. More than 3,000 families have benefited from humanitarian aid, he added.

Plans Outline Defeating ISIL Drones

The Inherent Resolve spokesman said reports show ISIL has used commercial, "off-the shelf" drones for surveillance, and in some cases, to deliver explosives. While not a new ISIL tactic, Dorrian said, the coalition is working the drone issue with the Office of the Secretary of Defense, the Joint Improvised-Threat Defeat Organization and the Army, among others.

"To supplement the capabilities already in theater, a system called Drone Defender and additional advanced systems have been sent that are capable of detecting, identifying, tracking and defeating [unmanned aircraft systems] threats," he said.

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U.S. Department of Defense

Press Operations

News Transcript

Presenter: Colonel John Dorrian, Operation Inherent Resolve Spokesman October 12, 2016

Department of Defense Press Briefing by Col. Dorrian via teleconference from Baghdad, Iraq

CAPTAIN JEFF DAVIS: J.D., just want to make sure you can hear us and that we can hear you.

COLONEL JOHN DORRIAN: I've got you loud and clear, Jeff.

CAPT. DAVIS: Okay.

Thanks, and welcome back, ladies and gentlemen. I'm very sorry for the technical delays today. I know that that is your time, and we apologize for consuming of your time.

We are doing this by phone today, unfortunately, due to technical problems. But pleased to be joined by Colonel John Dorrian, who is with us from Operation Inherent Resolve in Baghdad.

And J.D. we'll turn it over to you.

COL. DORRIAN: Thanks a bunch, Jeff.

Team, very sorry for -- very sorry for the technical problems. We'll go ahead and get started with a short statement, then I'll go ahead and take your questions.

So, in northern Syria, along with our NATO ally Turkey, coalition advise and assist missions are ongoing with our local partner forces. These forces are making progress toward defeating Daesh forces operating along the Mara line. Since the start of Operation Noble Lance, this operation, these partnered forces have liberated 254 square kilometers of ground, to include the people in 37 villages in that area.

An update on Manbij. Since liberation of the city on August 12th, the displaced have started returning in very large numbers. Approximately 70,000 people now reside in Manbij, although 125,000 lived in Manbij before Daesh invaded. More than 3,000 families have benefited so far from efforts to distribute humanitarian aid, and efforts on ongoing to continue removing Daesh booby traps and IEDs.

Of note, Daesh emplaced a significant number of explosive hazards in the schools and schoolyards, and nearly 100 explosives have been removed, transported to a safe area outside the city, and destroyed. Unfortunately, before this work could be done, there were three casualties to Manbij residents caused by explosives in these school areas. Of the 45 schools in the city before Daesh arrived, seven were completely destroyed and another seven partially destroyed.

In Iraq, the Euphrates River valley, at star two. The ISF has successfully attacked the enemy on multiple fronts to remove them from the eastern side of the Euphrates north and south of Hit. Within the past few days, the ISF completed clearance operations along the Euphrates River valley, connecting their northern and southern forward battle lines with about 230 kilometers of contiguous cleared area between Baghdad and Haditha.

Clearing this area takes pressure off the ISF to defend multiple fronts in the ERV, and it helps protect Ramadi, Fallujah and Baghdad from Daesh attacks as the battle for Mosul is waged. This also increases pressure on Daesh, who have shown significant signs that their supply shortages and the dismantling of their command and control across Iraq leave them incapable of stopping the ISF from advancing.

Continuing to pressure the enemy along the Euphrates River valley is very important to the overall security of Iraq and we'll continue a relentless campaign of strikes to keep the enemy on the back foot as the ISF continues clearing.

Along the Tigris River valley, shaping operations and planning for liberation of Mosul, at star three, are ongoing. The size of Mosul makes this by far the largest task the ISF has undertaken to date, an order of magnitude larger than the liberation battles in cities like Ramadi, Fallujah and Sharqat. Nearly all of the 12 Iraqi brigades the coalition is training have completed their instruction. The last brigade will finish in the next couple of weeks.

The government of Iraq is working with the U.N. and non-government organizations to plan for the internally-displaced persons that may flee the fighting in Mosul. The government of Iraq is directing 20 internally-displaced person camp sites and is working with the U.N. and NGOs to pre-position resources to take care of IDPs.

Coalition planners are attending those meetings and assisting the ISF with their planning efforts.

During the recent liberation of Sharqat, the local residents remained in their homes, rose up as the ISF advanced and helped push Daesh out of the city. It remains to be seen what will happen in Mosul, but Prime Minister Abadi did reach out to the Mosulalis via a radio address to announce the pending liberation of Mosul and to ask residents for their cooperation with security forces.

Finally, we've seen several reports about ISIS use of commercial off-the shelf drones, including instances where they've used these capabilities to deliver explosives. It's a threat that's not new to the area. This happens fairly commonly with regard to surveillance. My predecessor acknowledged that the enemy has used UAS devices to surveil and even deliver ordinance.

So the coalition has been working this issue hard for some time in concert with the Joint Improvised-Threat Defeat Organization, JIDO, the U.S. Army, OSD and others. To supplement the capabilities already in theater, a system called Drone Defender, additional advanced systems have been sent that are capable of detecting, identifying, tracking and defeating UAS threats.

In the interest of operational security, we'll not discuss the details of those systems or the locations and the current status of them.

Now, I'll be delighted to take your questions.

CAPT. DAVIS: We'll start today with Joe Tabet from Al Hurra.

Q: Thank you, sir.

I would like to start by asking you, Colonel Dorrian, are you concerned about the tensions between Turkey and Iraq? And do you see any potential delay for the operation in Mosul because of these tensions?

COL. DORRIAN: Well, planning for the -- the liberation of Mosul continues. What I would say is that there are diplomatic efforts ongoing to address that, and it's probably best you direct your questions to the State Department about the status of those discussions.

CAPT. DAVIS: Next we'll go to Kasim Ilery with Anadolu.

Q: Hi, colonel. Turkey is saying that they are going to join the fight for Mosul, but as much as we understand from the coalition and also from the Iraqi government, they don't want Turkey to take part in that operation specifically. What's your assessment of that? Will -- how will Turkey take part in Mosul operation? Or yeah will it take part?

COL. DORRIAN: Yeah, what we would encourage is continued diplomatic efforts to resolve this matter between Iraq and Turkey. And again, I would advise you to follow up with the State Department for the status of that -- that discussion.

Q: Just a follow-up, TKK is also saying that they are going to join the fight in Mosul against ISIS. What's your assessment of that Colonel?

COL. DORRIAN: Well, what I would say is, any group that wants to fight Daesh should do so only in coordination with -- and it's with the permission of the government of Iraq. If you wanna fight Daesh in this country, you should coordinate your activities with the government of Iraq.

CAPT. DAVIS: Next, to Thomas Watkins of -- (inaudible) -- Press.

Q: The Sunday Times in London had a report saying that RAF Tornadoes are now being equipped with air-to-air missiles and have been given the go-ahead to shoot down Russian jets in Syria if they feel in danger.

I was wondering if you could help me understand please, what the current status is of -- of U.S. jets. Are they equipped with air-to-air missiles? And what the authorities are for them to engage with any Russian aircraft in -- in -- in such an event?

COL. DORRIAN: Well, you know what, really this doesn't have anything to do with fighting Daesh and that is what the coalition is here to do. We do continue our coordination for de-confliction with the Russians. Those efforts are ongoing and nothing's changed on that. So it's sort of a "what if" scenario and really not something that I would get into with you.

Q: Did -- but it's not directly related to fighting Daesh but nonetheless, there are U.S. and Russian planes in similar airspace over Syria. And you could easily see a situation where an anti-Daesh operation would kind of overlap with the Russian operation.

So my question again, is like what -- what security measures do the planes have? Do they have -- are they equipped with air-to-air missiles or is that under review and can you just tell me what the phases would be?

COL. DORRIAN: Well, what we do is we coordinate all of our efforts through the de-confliction process that we've described many times. We have a direct line with the Russians to de-conflict our efforts. So, I -- I -- I don't accept the premise that you discussed, that there could be some kind of a conflict. This has become something that's you know, an ongoing process. We continue to work it everyday to continue to maintain safety of flights.

CAPT. DAVIS: Okay next to Tom Bowman with NPR.

Q: Colonel, I wonder if you could tell us what you're seeing inside Mosul now that the effort to retake the city is imminent? Are you seeing any more creation of defensive positions, a creation of car/truck bombs, movement of population?

What are you seeing? And also, anything new maybe you haven't seen before?

COL. DORRIAN: Thanks, Tom.

What we're seeing now is -- is kind of a lot of what we've been seeing up until then. There's -- Daesh has been there for two years, they've done very elaborate defenses. They have fighting positions, they have tunnels. And what we do is we try to shape the battlefield to the extent that we can in order to set conditions for the Iraqis to go in there.

So whenever Daesh continues to build fighting positions, whenever we're able to attack those with precision in order to avoid civilian causalities, we do so. This is a part of our -- our battle rhythm to go against fighting positions, and at the same time, we continue to attack leadership figures whenever they can be found in Mosul. So those efforts are ongoing, as well.

We believe that we can create some pretty disruptive effects to Daesh command and control in the city. But all these things have been ongoing for some time. Certainly they'll intensify as the efforts for the Iraqis to liberate the city begin.

Q: Biggest challenge would you say going into Mosul? Is it the urban environment? Is it hundreds of thousands of civilians? What keeps you guys up at night?

COL. DORRIAN: Well, anytime you're looking at a -- an urban warfare scenario, you're looking at a lot of opportunities for the enemy to do things like hide behind civilians, hide behind internally-displaced persons, and attempt to slip out with them. You -- again, they've had an opportunity to dig some pretty elaborate defenses and put up a lot of booby traps.

All these things cause delays and challenges, but they're also things that as we train the Iraqis to go into Mosul, a lot of them have received specialized training like explosive ordnance disposal, sniper training, breach training, and there have been warfare trained so they know how to clear buildings and all these sorts of things.

So, we believe that the Iraqis are well positioned to be successful and of course we'll be there with our strikes so that as the enemy becomes evident, we'll strike them and help the Iraqis advance.

Q: Very quickly, I would imagine as in Ramadi, you're relying heavily on Iraqi Special Forces to be the vanguard for this effort?

COL. DORRIAN: On many of these occasions, you see the Iraqi Counter-Terrorism Service, the CTS -- often they take a leadership role in -- in an advance on the city, but the Iraqis are still finalizing their battle plans. I'd refer you to them for the details on that. I do know the CTS will be involved, though. At least, that's what I've seen.

CAPT. DAVIS: All right, next we'll go over to Gordon Lubold with Wall Street Journal.

Q: Hey, Colonel Dorrian, let me just try this again, quick as I could on the Mosul op. I mean, just militarily speaking, is there reason to think that this rift between the Ankara and Baghdad could pose a problem in terms of launching the operation?

COL. DORRIAN: Right now, we're not making any plans to change the plan, if that's what you're getting at. The Iraqis continue their planning efforts to liberate Mosul. Those diplomatic efforts are ongoing between Iraq and Turkey. And that's really about where this whole discussion is.

Q: So it doesn't concern -- the, the diplomatic rift does not concern you guys from where you sit?

COL. DORRIAN: Nope, we're a military organization and we stay focused on military tasks. So, all the strikes that we've been doing, all the training we've been doing, all the advising and assisting with things like logistics, all those elements are being put in place to support the Iraqi advance when they're ready to do it.

CAPT. DAVIS: Next to Tara Copp with Stars and Stripes.

Q: Thanks.

Colonel Dorrian, a couple of clarification questions.

You know, over the last couple of months, in the fight against ISIS, we've heard about Turkey's role, its contributions. So, I just wanted to get an understanding of what Turkey has contributed and is maybe still contributing right now to the fight against ISIS specifically in Iraq? And, then I have a couple of other questions.

COL. DORRIAN: Yes, with regard to Turkey's role in Iraq, I think where the discussion is is in the diplomatic area. So they've been tremendously helpful in Syria in securing their southern border and the northern part of Syria.

So that has a gigantic effect on the security of Europe and the world, because it reduces the ability of Daesh to send fighters out of Syria into Europe. But as far as the role in Iraq, that's the subject of the ongoing diplomacy.

Q: They haven't had a military coalition contribution in Iraq?

COL. DORRIAN: No. Not as a part of the coalition, no.

Q: And a couple others, on Mosul, with what you're seeing. Are you seeing any movements of ISIS fighters in and out of the city still or has most of that been choked off?

COL. DORRIAN: There are fighters that are moving in and out of the city in small numbers. So they don't have the ability to move out in large columns or convoys or that sort of thing. But they do still, you know, have the ability to move our in single digits. You know, with backpacks and that sort of thing. That's not -- that's a trickle, not a flow of fighters.

Q: So are you estimating that those aren't really senior leader movements or how -- high value target movements? As they're just individual fighters?

COL. DORRIAN: Well, they're individual fighters, but I think -- you know, as to who they are, if we knew that with that much fidelity we probably would have struck them. So we continue our work to track and strike leadership figures. And that, you know, a business that I can't really get into detail about the status of our tracking.

Q: One last one. Back on the coordination calls -- the deconfliction calls, when was the last phone call with Russia to deconflict airstrikes? We heard about one that was probably a week ago Monday, but haven't heard anything more recent.

COL. DORRIAN: Yes. You know what? As far as calls to keep deconflicted, I haven't checked to ask when the last call was. But my understanding is that this is a routine thing and they do them on a daily basis.

Q: So that is a take back or a take away?

COL. DORRIAN: You lost me, I'm sorry. I'm not sure I understand the question.

CAPT. DAVIS: She's asking for a takeaway on that one.

COL. DORRIAN: I -- I couldn't hear that, I'm sorry.

CAPT. DAVIS: J.D., I think she was asking if you would take that as a question.

COL. DORRIAN: Very good, certainly.

CAPT. DAVIS: Next we'll go to Ryan Browne with CNN.

Q: Hello, colonel.

I just wanted to follow up on this drone activity by ISIS. I know you said it's relatively common and you described it as being off the shelf. Did that mean that ISIS is not building these things, that they were already in Iraq when they kind of took over? Or -- you know, could you explain a little bit more that -- the off-the-shelf element of that?

And can you also confirm reports that one attack did injure some coalition personnel and some Peshmerga fighters?

COL. DORRIAN: Yes, I'll -- I'll address that part first.

We don't get into the business of confirming the -- the casualties of other nations. We just can't get into that business. So, apologies, I can't help you with that.

Now, with commercial off-the-shelf, we've seen the enemy use a variety of drones and improvised drones and modified drones. So some of those are just, you know, quadcopters and that sort of thing. We've seen them use, you know, items that you can just buy.

So these aren't -- there's nothing very high tech about them. They can just buy those as anybody else would. Those -- some of those are available on Amazon. So I don't know exactly how they get them, but they're routinely available. So, you know, they can order one just like anybody else can.

Q: Okay. And just on a separate note, just to follow up on this. I know you're not really welcoming these Turkey-Iraq rift questions. But one of the issues that's been talked about is the stabilization force and the makeup of that once, you know, Mosul is liberated.

And I believe that, you know, the fighters that Turkey is training, the idea was that they become some kind of policing force. Is the makeup of that stabilization force after Mosul is liberated, has that been determined yet? Or is it still being debated? And does the coalition have any say on that?

COL. DORRIAN: Well, one thing that's not up for debate is that the makeup, the disposition of that force will be determined by the government of Iraq. So, that piece of it is their decision to make.

Now, my understanding is that they plan to use tribal forces and police forces that have been through coalition training as the hold force and a wide-area security force. I haven't heard of any changes to that game plan. And again, that's an Iraqi decision.

Q: Thank you, sir.

CAPT. DAVIS: Next to Laurent Barthelemy with Agence France-Press.

Q: I wanted to know if you could share some details on what happened with the drone incident, for instance, can you -- can you confirm that the drone exploded while it was inspected after being shot down?

COL. DORRIAN: Yes, I can. I can confirm that -- that that is what happened.

Q: Okay. Can you say how it was shot down?

COL. DORRIAN: No, I can't get into that kind of detail with you. I'm sorry.

Q: Okay. Just another follow- up, if I may. Do you think the ability to put -- to build some flying IEDs has a significant impact for --for the security of the coalition troops? Or is it merely a trifle?

COL. DORRIAN: Well, I would say there's probably a middle way. And by that, what I mean is the implications of this are certainly not an existential threat and not something that's militarily significant in that it's going to stop anything that needs to happen from happening.

The Iraqi security forces at a timeline of their choosing are going to go into Mosul and they're going to be supported by coalition forces. That is going to happen regardless of this threat.

Now, that said, we don't just let the enemy develop a capability that threatens our forces and those forces of our allies and partners and leave that threat unaddressed. So, we've moved some additional capabilities into position and we will go after those capabilities whenever and wherever we see them.

CAPT. DAVIS: Next, we'll go to Richard Sisk with Military.com.

Q: Hi, colonel. In reference to the drones again, have you seen them over U.S. coalition bases? Have U.S. coalition forces taken any action against them? Have you shot any of them down?

COL. DORRIAN: Yep. We have seen -- we have seen them over coalition bases, we've seen them over Iraqi bases. Again, it's -- it's a threat that we've seen, you know, developing for some time. My predecessor discussed it and -- and is something that we've -- we've seen a fair amount of.

Now, most of these are just surveillance and not, you know, dropping of ordinance or -- or this latest sort of Trojan horse-style attack. So it is something that we see. We have engaged some of them with some of the capabilities that we have. Both we and our partners and have shot some of them down.

So it -- this is something that we're seeing on the battlefield. Again, that's why some additional capabilities are being brought in, so that we can make sure that we're decisively addressing those threats.

Q: And can I follow --

CAPT. DAVIS: Sure.

Q: Colonel, do you have contact -- does CJTF have contact with the -- with the Turks at Bashiqa?

COL. DORRIAN: I don't believe so, because the -- the Turks at Bashiqa are not there under the auspices of the coalition presence. That's a national -- a national effort, not a coalition presence.

I don't know that definitively, though. So let me -- let me ask that question and owe you -- owe you that as an answer.

CAPT. DAVIS: Next we'll go to Kristina Wong with The Hill.

Q: Hi, colonel. Thanks for doing this.

A couple of questions. How many civilians are estimated to be in Mosul right now?

COL. DORRIAN: Kristina, the -- a ballpark estimate is about a million. It could be -- you know, there's a fairly -- a fairly wide range, though. It could be up to 1.3 million. I've -- I've seen numbers from one million to 1.3.

Q: Thank you. What -- what will defeat of ISIS in Mosul look like?

COL. DORRIAN: Well, what -- what it looks like is a secure city, one that's not threatened daily with Daesh improvised explosive devices and terrorist attacks. It's one where Daesh has little to no presence. It's one where normalcy is restored.

I think that's going to take some time, because Daesh has been there for more than two years and they've loaded the city with improvised explosive devices, booby traps, tunnels, all sort of things. And you know, given the size and scope of that city, it's going to take some time to restore normalcy there.

You know, and this really kind of gets to a larger question. You know, a lot of people have talked about, you know, the Mosul operation starting as if that means that once we start that, ISIS is going to be removed. We believe that it's gonna be quite some time before this country is completely Daesh-free.

So the liberation of Mosul is a very important task, but there's still going to be quite a bit of work to be done after that in reestablishing stability in Mosul, in pushing Daesh out of all the other areas of the country where they have a significant presence, places like Talafar and al-Qaim and other places along the Euphrates River Valley closer to the Syrian border.

Still quite a bit of work to be done, and as we've seen, they are an adaptive and determined enemy, so we're going to have to continue to keep them under constant pressure until they're gone.

Q: (Inaudible) be months. What do you expect ISIS will do after the fall of Mosul, fortify their presence in other places, leave Iraq and get -- go into Syria? What are -- you know, try to target other places like Baghdad and -- what do you expect for ISIS to do?

COL. DORRIAN: Well, we've already seen sort of a precursor to that, Kristina. And what that is, is you know, as you know, Daesh have statehood aspirations. They have said and they've declared Mosul to be the capital of their caliphate. Well, once Mosul is liberated, and that is shown to be a farce, what we will see is Daesh reverting back to what they really are, which is a terrorist organization and perhaps an insurgent threat.

And what that means is we can expect them to continue to, you know, conduct terrorist-style attacks in order to try and prove their relevance. We've seen them continue to do propaganda, although a lot of that propaganda has been trailing off for a variety of reasons, including the fact that many of those responsible for the propaganda are no longer with us. And it's very difficult for them to maintain any type of farce as if living under Daesh rule is a good thing because the places where they're in charge, they're under constant pressure and they've wrecked the place and they're under a lot of pressure from strikes.

And so, it's not very easy to produce the type of propaganda that they were producing early on. So we think that they'll continue to recycle a lot of that old footage into new products. We've already seen them change the name of their propaganda magazine because we think that they're probably going to lose the city for which their previous magazine was named, Dabiq.

And essentially, they're going to revert to form. They started off with a lot of linkage to -- and really as Al Qaida in Iraq and reconstituted and then turned into this newer threat. And what we're going to see is them reduced back into a lower level threat.

CAPT. DAVIS: Next we'll go to Luis Martinez with ABC News.

Q: Hey, John. Two questions. One on Dabiq that you just mentioned. How is the Turkish advance towards that city going? And how many U.S. forces are accompanying them and -- as a train, advise and assist mission?

COL. DORRIAN: Well, I can't give you any insight into the number of U.S. forces that would be involved in that because we don't discuss the disposition or details of our forces in Syria.

But what I can say, those numbers that I gave in my statement about the 37 villages in the 254 square kilometers that is in the area of Dabiq. So, you know, the Turkish forces, their partnered forces, and coalition forces are operating in that area. They're having a lot of success against Daesh, and you know, really, it's only a matter of time.

Q: The other question is about Iraq. Are all of the U.S. --the additional forces that were announced with the FML increase a while back, are they all in country now?

COL. DORRIAN: Not all -- not all, but most of them are. Right now, let's see, we're at just short of 5,000 and the FML is 5,262.

Q: Thank you.

CAPT. DAVIS: Next, we'll go back to Kastia Mallary.

Q: Colonel, we are hearing from the Shia groups, the PMF is threatening against Turkey, Turkish forces in Mashuka, and also we know that Turks have trained more than 3,000 Sunni tribes in that camp. To what extent militarily you are concerned that the kind of conflict between these Shia groups and those Sunni tribal forces or the Turkish forces in that area create a gap within the chain encircled Mosul currently?

COL. DORRIAN: Yes, with regard to the forces that are surrounding Mosul and preparing to go into Mosul, the determination about who's going to do that is going to be made by the government of Iraq. So, all of these forces, the Popular Mobilization Forces, the government of Iraq is in charge of all those forces and they'll the determination, what those forces do.

Q: To what extent you are concerned that some of those PMF forces would somehow turn their, you know, guns to the Bashiqa camp, and then create some kind of a gap within the circle -- the chain that you encircled around Mosul? That's what my question is.

COL. DORRIAN: So, really, what you're asking is kind of a hypothetical question, and I think it would be inappropriate for me to speculate about what some other service might do; what other -- some other organization or actor might do. I can tell you that we're working very closely with the government of Iraq to make the determination and to help them, and support them as they get ready to go into Mosul. And I do know that they're working closely with all of these groups, including the Popular Mobilization Forces on what they're role is.

Q: So just -- just a last trial. So, you are confident that none of those groups are going to focus on anything other thing but for Mosul operation to clear Daesh inside Mosul, is that right?

COL. DORRIAN: Yeah, what I would say is, all the determinations about what forces are going to do in the -- in Iraq will be made by the government of Iraq.

CAPT. DAVIS: Did you have a follow-up there, Laurent? You didn't?

Q: I would have to come to this drone incident. I -- I think you have said that little drones have already been used as weapons by ISIS. But are you aware of any casualties on coalition forces or friendly forces or is it the first -- the first time that there are causalities because of such a drone -- a little drone?

COL. DORRIAN: I've seen the same reports that you have about some of the -- some of the forces being hurt by them. I can't verify those facts and figures and it would be inappropriate for me to try to do that because, you know really, as a U.S. officer, I can only confirm U.S. causalities.

I can confirm for you that we haven't had any of those as a result of a drone attack. But it wouldn't be my place to comment on the -- the, you know casualties for other nations.

CAPT. DAVIS: And Ryan Brown, I think you had a follow up.

Q: Yes, just one quick one, colonel.

You described the drone attack as a Trojan horse-style attack. Was that -- do you think that it was intentionally like a delayed explosion? Or -- or were you -- you just using a -- for I mean, why was it a Trojan horse attack, sir?

COL. DORRIAN: Well, I don't know for sure that it was. And we don't know if that's intentional or not. We know that there was an improvised device on a -- on a -- a drone. And when that was brought back to the camp, it exploded. So, the reason or the way or the manner in which that happened, still digging into that.

CAPT. DAVIS: Okay. Anybody else?

Yeah, Richard, go ahead.

Q: Sorry, colonel, one more about the drones. Are you seeing more of these things flying around now, particularly as the preparations for Mosul progress? You know, and the idea of a sense that perhaps the enemy is trying to get through surveillance from the drones, the -- the disposition of the -- of the forces moving towards Mosul?

COL. DORRIAN: I would -- I don't know that -- I don't have any figures to offer you. It is a discussion that we're having in the command and something that General Townsend's made clear is something that we're gonna move out smartly to address. That's why we brought this additional capability into the country. So, that's kind of where we are on that.

Again, sort of circling back to the overall message here, these aren't having any kind of strategic impact at all. So, Daesh may use them, they may fly them, they may use them for propaganda, but ultimately, the Iraqis are gonna liberate Mosul and we're gonna support them. Their use of these is not gonna stop anything.

CAPT. DAVIS: All right. Anyone else? Going once, going twice.

J.D., thank you very much for your time today. And ladies and gentlemen, thank you for your time. And again, we apologize for the delays earlier.

And look forward to hearing from you next week, John.

COL. DORRIAN: All right. Take care. We'll get it together for next week.

http://www.defense.gov/News/News-Transcripts/Transcript-View/Article/971798/

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U.S. Department of Defense

Press Operations

News Release

No. NR-364-16 October 12, 2016

Readout of Deputy Secretary Bob Work's Meeting with Hungarian Minister of Defense Istvan Simicsko

Pentagon Deputy Press Secretary Gordon Trowbridge provided the following readout:

Deputy Secretary of Defense Bob Work met with Hungarian Minister of Defense Istvan Simicsko today at the Pentagon in Washington, DC.

Deputy Secretary Work thanked Minister Simicsko for Hungary's security contributions to the Counter-ISIL coalition, NATO's Resolute Support Mission in Afghanistan and peace-keeping efforts in the Balkans. He applauded Hungary's efforts to increase its defense budget. Minister Simicsko provided insight into his nation's defense modernization efforts. Finally, the two discussed the evolving security situation in Europe.

Following the meeting, defense officials attended the opening ceremony of a temporary Pentagon exhibit showcasing artifacts from the 1956 Hungarian Uprising against the Soviet-backed government. The display is on loan from the government of Hungary until Nov. 3.

Deputy Secretary Work and Minister Simicsko said that they look forward to continued strong security cooperation between Hungary and the United States bilaterally and through the NATO alliance.

http://www.defense.gov/News/News-Releases/News-Release-View/Article/972013/

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Deadly Attacks Target Shi'a In Afghanistan

RFE/RL's Radio Free Afghanistan October 12, 2016

Two separate attacks targeting members of Afghanistan's Shi'ite minority during the festival of Ashura have left several dozen people dead and scores wounded.

In the latest attack, at least 14 people were killed on October 12 in a bomb attack outside a mosque in the northern province of Balkh.

The attack came less than 24 hours after the Islamic State (IS) extremist group claimed responsibility for an attack on a shrine in the capital, Kabul, that killed 19 people and left dozens wounded.

The attacks came during the festival of Ashura, one of the holiest on the Shi'ite calendar, raising fears of sectarian violence after a string of attacks on the country's Shi'ite minority.

Afghan officials said the bomb blast in Balkh, which wounded at least 30 people, targeted Shi'ite mourners who were leaving a mosque.

The bomb was planted outside the mosque in the Khoja Gholak area of Balkh Province and detonated remotely, a provincial spokesman told RFE/RL.

Local health officials said most of the wounded were children. Some of the injured were in critical condition, doctors said.

No group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack on October 12.

The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan condemned both attacks.

"These attacks on worshippers are truly abhorrent" said Tadamichi Yamamoto, the secretary-general's special representative for Afghanistan. "The extremists behind this emerging pattern of sectarian violence will not succeed in reversing Afghan traditions of religious and ethnic tolerance."

Kabul Attack

A day earlier, a gunman opened fire on a crowd of Shi'ite mourners who had gathered at the Karte Sakhi Shrine, one of the largest in Kabul.

Interior Ministry spokesman Sediq Sediqqi said 62 people, including 12 police, were wounded in the attack on the shrine.

The IS group, via its Aamaq media outlet, said an IS "commando" had opened fire on mourners in Kabul before blowing himself up using an explosive jacket.

Afghan Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah said the Kabul attack on civilians amounted to "a war crime and human rights violation."

"People were gathered inside the shrine for worshipping when the attackers arrived," an eyewitness, who did not reveal his or her name, told Reuters. "First they shot the policemen at the gate of the shrine and then they entered the compound."

Another eyewitness described what he said was a "horrific situation."

"Everyone was trying to escape," the eyewitness said. "Many people were shot in their legs and many others in their hands and bodies."

The mourning for Ashura reached its peak on October 12.

Afghan police had warned Shi'a -- mostly ethnic Hazara -- against large gatherings as attacks were expected.

Ashura commemorates the death of Imam Hussein, grandson of the Prophet Muhammad, who was killed in 680 and whose death laid the foundation for the Shi'ite faith.

For Shi'ite Muslims around the world, Ashura is a symbol of the struggle against oppression.

In July, an attack claimed by IS extremists killed 84 people, many of them Shi'a from the ethnic Hazara minority.

In 2011, 54 people were killed when a suicide bomber attacked another Kabul shrine where hundreds of people had gathered. A Shi'ite mosque in the northern city of Mazar-e Sharif was also hit the same day, leaving four dead.

With reporting by AP and AFP

Source: http://www.rferl.org/a/afghanistan-ashura-shiite- balkh-deadly-bombing/28048205.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.

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US Navy Destroyer Comes Under Missile Fire Off Yemen Coast

Sputnik News

21:01 12.10.2016(updated 02:46 13.10.2016)

According to US officials speaking on condition of anonymity, a US Navy destroyer was the target of a failed missile attack from Houthis within Yemen.

The USS Mason and amphibious transport dock USS Ponce were operating north of the Bab al-Mandab Strait, between the southwest coast of Yemen and Djibouti. Defensive salvos were fired, and neither ship was damaged.

This is the second such incident in four days. Missiles were fired at the Mason on Sunday in the same area.

"We are going to find out who did it and take action accordingly," said Capt. Jeff Davis, a US Defense Department spokesman said, according to NBC, referring to Sunday's incident. "Anybody who puts US Navy ships at risk does so at their own peril."

On Monday, an anonymous Houthi official speaking to Reuters denied targeting any ship off Yemeni waters. Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia, the US, and the Riyadh-backed Hadi government have regularly accused iran of supplying weapons to the Houthis, a charge that Tehran has vehemently denied.

The first attack came on the same day that US Secretary of State John Kerry expressed Washington's "deep concern" over a Saudi airstrike on a funeral procession in Houthi-controlled Sanaa that claimed the lives of at least 213 people and left hundreds more injured. Saudi Arabia denied involvement in the incident and expressed readiness to cooperate with the US in investigating the attack.

 Sputnik

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Yemen's Saleh Urges Russia to Resolve Yemeni War Via UN Security Council

Sputnik News

20:40 12.10.2016

Former Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh on Wednesday called on Russia to prepare a UN Security Council resolution on ending aggression against Yemen.

MOSCOW (Sputnik)  Russia has enough weight to resolve Yemen's civil war via internal dialogue instead of aggression from the outside, Saleh, who is currently allied to the Ansar Allah movement, also known as the Houthi rebels, said during a meeting with Russia's Charge d'Affaires in Yemen Andrey Chernovol.

"I call on Russia as a superpower and a major player in the world, through all its vast network of relationships and influence that Russia possesses in the world, to cooperate with all peace seeking nations to issue a definitive and binding resolution in the UNSC to stop the aggression and lift the sanctions imposed on the Yemeni people by sea, air and land," Saleh said, as quoted by the Yemeni General People's Congress party Motamar.net website.

Yemen has been engulfed in a military conflict between the government headed by Yemeni President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi and Houthi rebels since 2014. The Houthis are backed by army units loyal to Saleh. The last attempt at peace talks, which took place in Kuwait in August, failed.

Since March 2015, the Saudi-led coalition of mostly Persian Gulf countries has been carrying out airstrikes against the opposition Houthis at the request of Hadi. In August, the United Nations said that more than 10,000 civilians have been killed in Yemen since March 2015.

 Sputnik

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'Afghan Army Not the Only One Responsible for Country's Territorial Integrity'

Sputnik News

17:12 12.10.2016(updated 18:28 12.10.2016)

With antiterrorist operations now in progress in 19 Afghan provinces out of 34, the situation in Kunduz remains tense, deputy Defense Ministry spokesman Mohammad Radmanish told Sputnik

"We know that our enemies have come from the outside, from the Horn of Africa to the Arab countries to Southeast Asia, carrying out terrorist attacks across Afghanistan. You can find their names and photographs in the media," Mohammad Radmanish noted.

"That said, the Afghan army is not the only one responsible for the country's territorial integrity," Mohammad Radmanish added.

He mentioned 29 antiterrorist operations currently being carried out in 19 provinces in the north, west, south and east by the Afghan Armed Forces which have already managed to degrade the enemy and seriously undermine its ability to fight on.

"We do have problems in four or five provinces, but even there we have managed to contain and defeat the advancing enemy. This is not enough though. There is a lot of fighting still going on in Kunduz, Baglan, Uruzgan, Helmand and Farah provinces," Mohammad Radmanish added.

He said that the government forces had already driven the enemy out of a number of villages located 30 and 12 kilometers from the center of Kunduz City and destroyed terrorist bases also in Herat and Farah provinces.

"In Helmand City we destroyed a local prison and freed the inmates and our antiterrorist operation in Gazni Province is proceeding well. Still, the war is not yet over. Our fight could have been much more successful if only our neighbors had lent us a hand. They have special antiterrorism agencies and working together would make our work much easier."

When asked why the war in Kunduz still rages on, he said that the terrorists use the locals' houses as their bases.

"They take house after house and use their hostages as human shields. Moving from house to house they plant mines that kill civilians and soldiers alike. That's why we have to protect the local population while keeping an eye on booby traps to minimize our losses. But, no matter what, we'd rather die than let the militants take the city," Mohammad Radmanish said.

 Sputnik

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Was Qatar Fighter Jet Sale Quietly Tied to Multi-Billion-Dollar Boeing Deal?

Sputnik News

22:05 12.10.2016(updated 02:46 13.10.2016)

A recent White House decision to allow the sale of US fighter jets to Qatar was made to ensure that the country would also buy some $18.6 billion worth of Boeing commercial jetliners, say people close to the agreement.

Defense One reported that the late September decision to sell $7 billion worth of F-15 fighter jets to Qatar and Kuwait, which had been delayed for over two years by Israeli fears that the weapons would be turned against Jerusalem, was finally allowed to pave the way for a purchase by Qatar Airways of the Boeing jetliners.

The fighter jet sale was widely reported as approved September 28, and the Qatar Airways deal, announced October 7, followed it by just over a week. When asked during a Washington DC news conference the day the purchase was announced whether the sales were connected, Qatar Airways CEO Akbar Al Baker said, "We don't relate anything to anything. Qatar Airways has an independent policy of ordering airplanes. So nothing is attached to anything."

Qatar had requested 36 F-15 fighter jets, a roughly $4 billion sale, with an option to buy up to an additional 36. The Kuwait sale of 28 Boeing F/A-18 E/F Super Hornets, with an option for up to 40 total, is valued at about $3 billion, Flight Global reports. The airliner deal, for the purchase of 30 787-9 Dreamliners and 10 777-ER passenger jets, both long-haul aircraft, is valued at $11.7 billion, according to Boeing. An additional letter of intent to purchase 60 737 MAX 8 aircraft, would add another $6.9 billion to the total.

US Deputy Secretary of State Tony Blinken, former deputy national security adviser to US President Barack Obama, was present at the DC news conference.

Defense One reported that the Qatar deal had been put on hold while the US negotiated a 10-year, $38 billion security package with Israel for 2018-2028. Defense News reported in February that Israel opposed the Qatar sale, unless the new aid deal included a few billion dollars more to allow Israel to upgrade its own fleet. The new Washington deal for Jerusalem  $3.8 billion a year for 10 years  is a record for defense aid to a country. Defense News reported that Israel was hoping for a deal closer to $50 billion over the same time frame.

The sale comes just in time to save Boeing's 40-year-old F-15 production line, which, it has been reported since 2014, was running out of the orders it needed to keep production going.

Ray Conner, president and CEO of Boeing Commercial Airplanes, said at the October 7 press conference that the deal would affect more than 100,000 jobs across the US.

US, Israeli, and other officials have accused Qatar of supporting anti-Israel and terrorist groups.

 Sputnik

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Poland, France FMs Discuss Halt of Talks on 50 Caracal Helicopters Purchase

Sputnik News

07:27 12.10.2016(updated 09:52 12.10.2016)

The foreign ministers of Poland and France and Poland Witold Waszczykowski and Jean-Marc Ayrault discussed by telephone the issues of bilateral cooperation, in particular, the suspension of negotiations on the purchase by Warsaw of 50 French Airbus Helicopters H225M Caracal, the Polish Foreign Ministry said.

WARSAW (Sputnik)  On October 4, Poland's Development Ministry said that the negotiating positions of the two sides on the purchase of 50 Caracal helicopters for 13,5 billion zlotys ($3.5 billion) were rather different and further talks were pointless.

The decision to buy helicopters from Airbus was made by the previous government, led by the center-right, pro-European party Civic Platform, as part of plans to modernize the military sector. The original deal was highly criticized by trade unions in two Polish aviation plants. The conservative Law and Justice (PiS) government indicated it might cancel the deal after it won elections last year.

"The heads of the Polish and French foreign ministries spoke about the current bilateral cooperation. The ministers discussed, among other things, the issue of termination of the tender for a multipurpose helicopter for the Polish army," Polish Foreign Ministry's spokesman Rafal Sobchak said on Tuesday night.

According to the spokesman, Waszczykowski and Ayrault also discussed plans for joint consultations to be held in Warsaw soon.

 Sputnik

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US Intel: Beijing Has Military Gear on Artificial Islands in South China Sea

Sputnik News

03:55 12.10.2016(updated 09:58 12.10.2016)

The American spy agency that provides the Pentagon with assistance for the ongoing Pivot to Asia US military strategy has claimed that the artificial islands that China has constructed in the South China Sea are military installations.

China has been building artificial islands on reefs and rock outcroppings in the Spratly and Paracel archipelagos over the course of the past two years. During this period small clusters of sensitive reef habitat have been turned into large islands, with various structures, including a 3,000-meter runway.

Beijing has claimed that islands are built for civilian purposes, including rescue operations. However, nations claiming rights for the disputed South China Sea areas, alongside the US, have consistently claimed that the artificial islands are military in nature.

In a recent development, the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA), a Pentagon-based group providing and analyzing imagery intelligence gathered with the use of satellites, has claimed that it has proof that Chinese construction efforts in the South China Sea are not civilian in nature.

Speaking at a recent congressional hearing, NGA head Robert Cardillo explained that the agency analyzed imagery taken from satellites, and had spotted "military-related structures and equipment that at least gives the Chinese the option to permanently post military forces in and on these islands."

Without providing details on the kind of equipment observed on the artificial islands, Cardillo speculated it could be associated with aircraft-control missions, weapons-handling missions, as well as aviation-fuel storage.

Carrillo stated that the NGA imagery is appropriate for making assessments about China's intentions regarding the South China Sea.

"We're able to put the framework on the table that says, 'Here are the facts on the ground. Here's what's happened over time. Here's who's being most aggressive or most provocative in the development.' And then one can have a more informed debate about what's the purpose behind that island."

NGA imagery has been included for the first time in an annual Pentagon report this year. In the report, construction on Chinese artificial islands is labeled as "low-intensity coercion."

"When complete, these outposts will include harbors, communications and surveillance systems, logistics facilities, and three airfields," the report stated, adding they will "enhance [China's] presence in the South China Sea significantly and enhance China's ability to control the features and nearby maritime space."

Earlier this year, the Hague Permanent Court of Arbitration ruled that China has no historic rights to the South China Sea, in a trial brought by the Philippines. China says the court has no jurisdiction in the matter.

Beijing claims the entire territory of the sea, rich in mineral resources and crossed by important trade routes. China's claims have been contested by Malaysia, the Philippines, Vietnam, and Taiwan, as well as Brunei.

 Sputnik

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Worried Over Invented 'Russian Aggression,' Poland to Buy More Black Hawks

Sputnik News

02:12 12.10.2016(updated 02:55 12.10.2016)

Following the collapse of a deal with France, Poland says it may build its own fleet of S-70i Black Hawk helicopters, in an effort to upgrade its armed forces.

Last week, Poland canceled negotiations with France on the purchase of 50 French Airbus H225M Caracal helicopters. That deal would have been worth roughly $3.5 billion.

But the Polish military is still eager to upgrade its forces. According to Defense Minister Antoni Macierewicz, Warsaw will purchase between 10-12 Polish-made S-70i Black Hawks for its special forces.

"I am convinced that thanks to this, Polish technologies will develop and Polish industry will develop," he said, according to DoD Buzz.

"We'll be able to say that we are a modern country, and that our army has equipment that ensures that no opponent will threaten us."

The units will be built by the Polish Sikorsky subsidiary, PZL Mielec. Following a visit to the production facility, Macierewicz stressed that preparations would be underway shortly.

"After the talks with the Mielec chief executive I'm sure we will start negotiations this week and will finalize it before year end," he said, according to Flight Global. "In this year also the first helicopters will be delivered."

Prime Minister Beata Szydlo stressed the importance of promoting the country's domestic industry.

"It's important that the military have Polish equipment made by Polish workers," he said, according to DoD Buzz.

The justification for these military upgrades is the standard "Russian aggression" scapegoat. Similarly, Poland will host a heavy-armored brigade combat team (ABCT) of the US Army in 2017, part of a contingent meant to assure America's European allies of its commitment to defense. Russian officials have warned against the unnecessary buildup.

"This warmongering and scares about invented Russian aggressiveness certainly produce a detrimental effect on the overall climate in the region, including on the Russia-EU relationship," Russian Ambassador to the European Union Vladimi Chizhov told Sputnik News earlier this year.

"Those countries that are the objects of the NATO surge in military presence in Central and Eastern Europe pursue policies of their own, which are not always conducive to maintaining partnership-style relations with Russia."

Earlier on Tuesday, Macierewicz criticized the position of aerospace giant Airbus Defense and Space during negotiations.

"France has good military products, we are interested [in them], but we will never accept to be treated like a third world country. The country, which accepts [that kind of treatment], will lose a possibility for any kind of international activity," he said, according to Polish Television.

"France made a mistake, Airbus made a mistake, but the Polish army will get helicopters."

The earlier decision to buy helicopters from Airbus was made by the previous government, led by center-right, pro-European Civic Platform party, as part of plans to modernize Warsaw's military. The original deal was highly criticized by trade unions in two Polish aviation plants. The conservative Law and Justice (PiS) government indicated that it might cancel the deal after winning elections last year.

 Sputnik

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France Treats Poland as 'Third World Country' in Helicopter Deal

Sputnik News

00:57 12.10.2016

Airbus Helicopters' position during negotiations on the purchase of 50 French H225M Caracal helicopters was an attempt to treat Poland as a "third world country", Polish Defense Minister Antoni Macierewicz said.

WARSAW (Sputnik)  On Tuesday, Airbus CEO Tom Enders criticized Poland's decision to abandon plans to buy French helicopters last week, saying that the company had never been treated by any government customer the way it was treated by the Polish government.

"France has good military products, we are interested [in them], but we will never accept to be treated like a third world country. The country, which accepts it, will lose a possibility for any kind of international activity," Macierewicz said, as quoted by the Polish Television.

The minister stressed that the negotiations for the purchase of helicopters were disrupted by the French side.

"France made a mistake, Airbus made a mistake, but the Polish army will get helicopters."

Overpricing the deal and an offset contract, under which Poland would buy helicopters and in return the Airbus company would invest part of funds of the amount of the contract in the importing country's economy, are the main reasons for cancelling it, according to Macierewicz.

On October 4, Poland's Development Ministry said that the negotiating positions of the two sides on the purchase of 50 Caracal helicopters for 13,5 billion zlotys ($3.5 billion) were rather different and further talks were pointless. On Monday, Macierewicz said that the country's army would buy the Black Hawk helicopters from the local subsidiary of the US Lockheed Martin company instead.

The decision to buy helicopters from Airbus was made by the previous government, led by the center-right, pro-European party Civic Platform, as part of plans to modernize the military sector. The original deal was highly criticized by trade unions in two Polish aviation plants. The conservative Law and Justice (PiS) government indicated it might cancel the deal after it won elections last year.

 Sputnik

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Yemeni forces kill 15 Saudi troops in clashes on kingdom's soil

Sputnik News

Wed Oct 12, 2016 9:16PM

At least 15 Saudi troops have been killed during clashes with Yemeni military forces backed by Houthi Ansarullah fighters in Saudi Arabia's southwestern region of Jizan.

Around 40 Saudi forces were also injured in the failed Wednesday attack on the Yemeni troops, who are holding positions in the region's mountains.

The Yemeni forces also launched artillery attacks on the Saudi bases in the region and destroyed a Saudi military vehicle.

Earlier, Yemeni troops hit the Malek al-Faisal military base in the city of Khamis Mushait in the Asir region with a ballistic missile.

Yemeni troops also successfully targeted a Saudi military base in the southwestern Saudi region of Najran, inflicting heavy losses on it.

Yemen's military carry out such attacks against the gatherings of Saudi mercenaries inside Yemen as well as targets in the kingdom's southwest in retaliation for Riyadh's 19-month-long military campaign against the country.

Meanwhile, Saudi warplanes targeted a civilian vehicle in the central-western province of Ma'rib, killing four people and injuring two others. Saudi aircraft also bombed the Bani Matar district in the adjacent province of Sana'a several times.

Al-Dhaher and Haydan districts in the remote northwestern province of Sa'ada were also pounded by Saudi jets.

More than 10,000 people have died since the kingdom launched its campaign to crush Yemen's Houthi Ansarullah movement and their allies and reinstate the resigned president, Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, a staunch ally of Riyadh.

 Sputnik

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US claims warship targeted by missiles in Red Sea for 2nd time

Sputnik News

Wed Oct 12, 2016 7:28PM

US claims that for the second time this week, two missiles have been fired at its Navy destroyer in the Red Sea off the coast of Yemen, though they have fallen short of the warship.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, US officials said the USS Mason, which was accompanied by the USS Ponce transport dock, came under a missile attack as it was operating north of the the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait on Wednesday.

However, none of the missiles hit the ship or caused any damage, the officials added, claiming that the attacks were launched from a territory in Yemen controlled by the Houthi Ansarullah fighters.

The US ship reportedly fired defensive salvos in response to the missiles.

The incident comes three days after a similar failed missile attack on the USS Mason, with Washington reportedly weighing possible strikes against the Houthis.

On October 1, the Houthis successfully targeted and destroyed an Emirati military vessel near the Red Sea port city of Mukha.

The US-made HSV-2 Swift was a high-speed logistical ship capable of locating mines, controlling military operations and transporting troops and equipment. Over 20 sailors were reportedly killed on board the warship.

Since March 2015, Saudi Arabia has been conducting a deadly military campaign in Yemen to crush the Houthis and their allies and restore power to the resigned president, Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi.

The UAE is a key ally of the Riyadh regime in its aggression against Yemen, which has left more than 10,000 people dead according to a US estimate. The US has also been providing logistic and surveillance support to the kingdom in the offensive.

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Colombia: Ban welcomes announcement of talks between Government and National Liberation Army

12 October 2016  Welcoming the announcement that formal negotiations between the Government of Colombia and the National Liberation Army (ELN) will begin later this month, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today expressed hope that the two sides will reach a sustainable peace agreement as soon as possible.

"The Secretary-General welcomes the announcement that the Government of Colombia and the National Liberation Army (ELN) will begin formal negotiations [], following more than two years of exploratory conversations," Mr. Ban's spokesperson said in a statement.

"This is a source of encouragement to the Colombian people and all those involved in supporting a peaceful and comprehensive end to conflict," the statement added.

"The Secretary-General hopes the Government and the ELN will work with determination to reach a sustainable peace agreement as soon as possible," the statement said.

The announcement of the talks to begin on 27 October, in Quito, Ecuador, comes after Colombian voters last week narrowly rejected the historic peace agreement signed by the Government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia-People's Army (FARC-EP), the largest rebel group in the South American country.

Despite the outcome of the referendum, Mr. Ban has encouraged the Government and FARC-EP to stay the course for peace with a view to end Colombia's 50-year conflict.

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"What is the underlying conflict? It's similar in both countries and can be described as an incomplete social contract" UN envoy for Sudan and South Sudan

12 October 2016  Nicholas Haysom has experience in challenging political situations.

His service with the United Nations has seen him serve as Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's top political advisor at UN Headquarters in New York  but has also involved service in some of the toughest field assignment locations, such as Iraq and Afghanistan.

His latest assignment saw him pack his bags after four years in the Afghan capital, Kabul, where he headed the UN political mission there, and head to his home continent, Africa, to take up a new role as the Secretary-General's Special Envoy for Sudan and South Sudan.

In his new role, he is charged with playing a so-called "good offices" role on behalf of the UN chief to support the establishment and maintenance of good and peaceful neighbourly relations between the two countries. In addition to dealing with the authorities in each country, he also works closely with subregional and regional bodies  such as the eight-country bloc known as the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) and the African Union High-Level Implementation Panel (AUHIP)  to resolve differences between the two.

We can't do it for them  the doctor can't take medicine on behalf of the patient. They have to find a formula and a process which brings in all the elements. At the moment they are just tremendously strong and increasingly deep fault-lines along ethnic and tribal grounds.

The world body has long engaged in efforts to bring peace and stability to Sudan, which has been marked by decades of political instability and armed conflicts. Secretary-General Ban created the Special Envoy post following the independence of South Sudan from Sudan in July 2011, to assist the two countries  Sudan and South Sudan  reach a negotiated settlement to outstanding and post-secession issues.

While on a visit to UN Headquarters recently, the UN News Centre spoke with Mr. Haysom about his new role, just a few months after he took up his new assignment, based in the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa.

UN News Centre: Mr. Haysom, how would you characterize the relationship between Sudan and South Sudan at the moment?

Nicholas Haysom: As it happens, they've recently undergone a degree of rapprochement. It's a rapprochement which has been based, I suspect, on the vulnerability of South Sudan at the moment and the fact that it really needs support and constructive engagement from Sudan. And they have set about cultivating that support in a set of recent meetings. They have made a number of commitments to Sudan, which Sudan had asked for, and which, in fairness, would form a template of good neighbourly relations. The question is whether South Sudan is going to be able to deliver. I say that because only in the last day or two there've been mutterings from Khartoum that there hasn't been delivery on some of the promises that have been made. But I think South Sudan is acutely aware that it needs Sudan, not only to recognize the new first vice-president they've installed, but also to hold off from backing Riek Machar, the previous First Vice President, should his alliance undertake a military campaign in the South Sudan.

UN News Centre: What exactly does your role involve?

Nicholas Haysom: My mandate essentially grew out of unfinished business in the implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) when South Sudan gained independence from Sudan on 11 July 2011. There were unfinished agenda items  such as on oil and economic matters, the demarcation of their border, on the status of their citizens, on central banking, and the division of assets and liabilities - which require to be negotiated when there's a divorce, as it were. But it has become apparent to me that in the process of building stability in the region through the mechanism of bringing these two countries together, the two countries themselves have to be in a stable enough state to engage one another.

And quite frankly both of them are engaged, and have been engaged, for a number of years, in various forms of internal conflict and even civil war. Inevitably, that initial project  which is to create stability in the region, have the countries collaborate together  has drawn me into an engagement of supporting initiatives to deal with the underlying conflicts in each country.

What is the underlying conflict? It's similar in both countries and can be described as an incomplete social contract. In other words, there are groups who feel disaffected or excluded, both in Sudan and in South Sudan, and in their different ways what is required is a political process in which the countries can craft an inclusive social contract. In Sudan there is a process called the National Dialogue and we're hoping to help the AUHIP and African Union assist Sudan to make it more inclusive by engaging with opposition parties and armed movements in the conflict affected areas of Darfur, Southern Kordofan and Blue Nile states.

The situation in South Sudan is more complex. It has undergone a pretty political fundamental rupture and we think it's at a very delicate moment where at least some of the protagonists are considering military options, we should be helping create an opportunity for a political track in which South Sudanese come together as a nation. At the moment I think if you asked a South Sudanese "who are you?" He or she would define themselves in tribal terms before they defined themselves in terms their South Sudanese nationality. Outsiders can't do it for them  as the adage says the doctor can't take medicine on behalf of the patient. They have to find a formula and a process which brings them altogether. At the moment there are increasingly deep fault-lines along ethnic and tribal grounds.

UN News Centre: What are the reports that they are interfering with each other's internal affairs?

Nicholas Haysom: Well, this is really a challenge across the Horn of Africa. Conflict situations in neighbouring states provides opportunities for exploitation through proxy engagements and proxy armies. And really, looking from the top of the Horn down to the bottom, it's been a feature of conflicts there for the last 20 to 30 years.

One part of our efforts as the United Nations, should be to constantly work with the region to create a stronger regional organization, capable of acting to promote the stability of the region and, ultimately, the prosperity of the region. At the moment, I think many would say it is a divided region.

In regard to our current efforts in South Sudan  inserting a regional protection force, should be viewed as an enabler, not an end in itself; it's one of the things that has worried me, that it's been seen as an objective, while its purpose is to provide space for the essential task to providing a political roadmap for nation-building.

Whenever there is conflict in Sudan, or in South Sudan or in both  it offers not only real opportunities for engagement in the affairs of each other by neighbours, but it also provides the basis for imagined or suspected interference. Either way, internal conflicts are bad for the relationship between the two and that's why an essential part of building better relations between the two is also building internal harmony within each.

UN News Centre: Syria, Yemen the world's plate, in terms of issues to worry about, is full at the moment, so to speak. Are you seeing less engagement from the international community on this issue?

Nicholas Haysom: No, I think there's quite a sharp focus on South Sudan at the moment, a focus that has been provoked by the events which happened in July. It may well have been that before July the world had indeed turned to other more pressing issues.

The reason there is a certain amount of concern at the moment is that the conflict could get worse, a lot worse. It could take on the characteristics of a civil war with an ethnic or tribal overtone. When that takes place, what you have is a conflict not between warriors but between communities. Accordingly the impact on civilians is that much more destructive, that much more cruel, and that's what we are concerned to prevent.

UN News Centre: Focussing on the relations between the two countries  what's the answer? What is needed to repair and improve relations?

Nicholas Haysom: Well, they obviously have shared economic interests. Apart from the ordinary commonalities between neighbours, in this particular case, the oil pipeline which is critical for South Sudan goes through Sudan. So they have to find a way of living together in order to jointly make the most of that resource. But there's also a very clear need for trade across their borders. They don't compete economically as some of the other countries in the region do by being, for example, both coffee growers. So it should be possible for them to work together.

We've seen recently, some improvement, some commitments by South Sudan to facilitate such trade, to work on border demarcation issues, to work on joint patrols, their commitment to disengagement between the forces. So there are some hopeful signs, but then again we hear the allegation that there hasn't been implementation by South Sudan. That may arise out of the enormous governance challenges facing Juba at the moment.

Both countries, are also facing quite serious economic challenges. Today, I attended an OCHA-convened conference on the humanitarian crisis in South Sudan, and it's quite clear that what they are facing are enormous threats, from natural disasters. That wouldn't be threatening if there wasn't this overlay of the man-made foundation to these disasters. South Sudan is a potentially productive area, agriculturally, it should be the breadbasket of Africa. It's well-watered, fertile, and largely under cultivated.

UN News Centre: Where do you see relations between Sudan and South Sudan in a years' time?

Nicholas Haysom: I think both of them are interestingly poised, both in regard to their internal affairs but also in regard to their relationship with each other as a result of this very delicate situation we now find in the region. If things go well, there will be slow but steady progress towards a political resolution of each country's challenges, and that, in turn, would be reflected in better relations between the two of them. They need each other, actually.

On the other hand, if, and in particular in regard to South Sudan, what we see is an intensification of the conflict, increased militarization of the society, and eventually open confrontation  really, I fear this. I fear for the South Sudanese people, but for the region as well. The impact in terms of refugees, in terms of economic stability in the region, will be awful.

The UN, I think, has to play an important, active and energetic role but not a lead role. It has to walk shoulder to shoulder with the subregional and regional organizations  IGAD and the AU  but it has to support, essentially, their leadership.

UN News Centre: This isn't your first time dealing with the issue of Sudan and South Sudan, is it?

Nicholas Haysom: I worked largely as the chief advisor to the facilitator employed by IGAD  it was before I joined the UN  and [worked] primarily on persuading the north and south of Sudan (at that time) to come to an agreement on arrangements under which they could live together, otherwise known as the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA). It was signed at the beginning of 2005.

South Sudan was launched in 2011 with such high hopes and a huge stock of goodwill towards the success of the project. To find the country now in a state of humanitarian crisis, and in internal conflict is a tremendous disappointment.

UN News Centre: Given this previous exposure to Sudan and South Sudan's challenges and as an African, how does it feel to see South Sudan  once so full of hope and promise  in the situation it finds itself in now?

Nicholas Haysom: It is a disappointment. But, I think, maybe we also have to look at the ways in which that good will, which was shown to the country, is part of the problem. There needed to be a more critical engagement and even conditionality, in the support that was given to the country.

UN News Centre: Has your experience since your IGAD days in 2005, which includes service in Iraq, UN Headquarters and Afghanistan, put you in a better position in terms of being able to help the two countries now?

Nicholas Haysom: You certainly learn from every situation in which you engage. And I don't think you can mechanically transfer lessons. For example, one should not apply lessons from one country to another, as each country presents its own unique set of circumstances and role-players which will determine what's possible and what's not.

UN News Centre: On a more personal note, you came to your new assignment after several years in Afghanistan. Were you expecting a much gentler start and ride for NSRHG in terms of what you expected to be happening in the coming month?

Nicholas Haysom: The eruption [of politically-related violence in Juba and other locations in South Sudan] on 8 July, which was a week after I took up my new post, was unexpected. There are some who say: ''No, it should have been foreseen. July the 8th was a replay of what happened two years ago; the root causes hadn't been dealt with and would play out again.''

But be that as it may, I expected to deal with a narrow mandate, [focused on] relations between the two countries.

UN News Centre: Does your previous experience as a legal advisor to South Africa's Nelson Mandela in some ways help you in your work?

Nicholas Haysom: I think having been Mandela's legal adviser always lends me greater stature than I deserve. He is so hugely respected. My comfortable engagement with lead players in this context though largely comes from my earlier engagement in the CPA.

UN News Centre: One last question  you went from living in a heavily guarded and fortified compound in Afghanistan, where you could not safely walk down the nearest street, to living in the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa, where you have the complete opposite experience. What's that like?

Nicholas Haysom: For me, the biggest bonus is that I get to live with my family again.

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Military Strikes Target ISIL Terrorists in Syria, Iraq

From a Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve News Release

SOUTHWEST ASIA, Oct. 13, 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 the latest strikes, noting that assessments of results are based on initial reports.

Strikes in Syria

Attack, fighter and remotely piloted aircraft conducted nine strikes in Syria:

-- Near Abu Kamal, two strikes destroyed four ISIL oil wellheads, four oil collection tanks and a vehicle.

-- Near Ayn Isa, a strike destroyed seven fighting positions.

-- Near Dayr Az Zawr, two strikes engaged an ISIL supply route and destroyed an oil wellhead.

-- Near Mara, four strikes engaged four ISIL tactical units and destroyed a vehicle.

Strikes in Iraq

Attack, fighter and remotely piloted aircraft conducted 10 strikes in Iraq, coordinated with and in support of Iraq's government:

-- Near Huwayjah, a strike destroyed an ISIL boat and a vehicle bomb.

-- Near Rutbah, a strike engaged an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed three vehicles.

-- Near Bashir, a strike engaged an ISIL staging area and destroyed two ISIL-held buildings, two fighting positions, two tunnels, a storage cache and an ammunition cache.

-- Near Beiji, a strike destroyed two ISIL ammunition caches, two vehicles, a mortar system and a tunnel entrance.

-- Near Kisik, two strikes destroyed three ISIL tunnel entrances and damaged another tunnel.

-- Near Mosul, a strike engaged an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed a vehicle.

-- Near Qayyarah, two strikes engaged two ISIL tactical units and destroyed three supply caches, two vehicles, two mortar systems, two rocket systems and a heavy machine gun.

-- Near Sultan Abdallah, a strike destroyed five ISIL homemade explosive caches, two vehicles and an artillery system and suppressed a mortar position.

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 they pose to Iraq, Syria, and the wider international community. The destruction of ISIL targets in Syria and Iraq further limits the terrorist group'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, 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.

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Yemeni forces shoot down Saudi reconnaissance aircraft

Iran Press TV

Thu Oct 13, 2016 2:44PM

Yemeni forces have shot down a Saudi reconnaissance aircraft as they push ahead with their retaliatory attacks against Riyadh's military.

According to a report by Yemen's al-Masirah television, the Saudi spy drone was downed by Yemeni armed forces over Qaviya base in the kingdom's southwestern region of Jizan on Thursday.

In another development, a Saudi soldier was killed by Yemeni army snipers in the al-Rabuah area of Jizan.

Elsewhere in the same region, a Saudi military vehicle came under fire by Yemeni forces.

Over the past 24 hours, the Yemeni army has scored major victories on several fronts in Jizan, Najran and Asir regions of Saudi Arabia, Saba Net news agency reported on Thursday.

An unidentified military source told Saba Net that the Yemeni army artillery with the help of allied fighters pounded the Saudi mountainous region of al-Aqabah and several places of gatherings belonging to Saudi troops in al-Qarn, al-Khobe, al-Mahrooq and al-Masfaq bases across Jizan.

No let-up in Saudi assaults

An unnamed security source said that Saudi warplanes carried out fresh airstrikes in Yemen's northwestern province of Sa'ada on Thursday, killing a Yemeni citizen and injuring a number of others.

He added that Thursday's air raids severely damaged residential areas in two areas in the province.

Yemen has seen almost daily military attacks by Saudi Arabia since late March 2015, with the UN putting the toll from the aggression at more than 10,000.

The offensive was launched to crush the Houthi Ansarullah movement and its allies and restore power to the former Yemeni government. The US has been providing logistic and surveillance support to the kingdom in the bloody military campaign.

In one of the deadliest attacks in the impoverished country, Saudi fighter jets bombarded a funeral hall packed with mourners in the capital city of Sana'a last week, killing over 140 people and injuring at least 525 others.

On Thursday, Human Rights Watch said the Saudi airstrike on the Sana'a funeral was an apparent war crime, adding that Riyadh has used its position in the UN Human Rights Council "to obstruct efforts to establish an international inquiry into ongoing violations in Yemen."

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US military launches strikes in Yemen, citing retaliation

Iran Press TV

Thu Oct 13, 2016 3:10AM

The US military says it has launched strikes on Yemen's three coastal radar sites, citing retaliation for two failed missile attacks on American warships in the Red Sea in four days.

The Pentagon claimed that three radar sites had apparently been destroyed early on Thursday in the impoverished country.

It branded the move as "limited self-defense strikes," meant to protect American personnel, ships and freedom of navigation.

"These limited self-defense strikes were conducted to protect our personnel, our ships, and our freedom of navigation in this important maritime passageway," Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook said.

"The United States will respond to any further threat to our ships and commercial traffic, as appropriate," he added.

Cook said that President Barack Obama authorized the strikes on the recommendation of Secretary of Defense Ash Carter and General Joseph Dunford, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

The strikes mark the first direct involvement by the US forces in the Muslim country.

US Navy destroyer USS Nitze carried out Tomahawk cruise missiles at about 4:00 a.m. local (0100 GMT), said American military officials, speaking on condition of anonymity.

"These radars were active during previous attacks and attempted attacks on ships in the Red Sea," including the USS Mason, one of the officials said.

The USS Mason, a guided-missile destroyer, came under attack on Wednesday for the second time, according to Cook.

The USS Mason and the USS Ponce, an amphibious warfare ship, were previously targeted on Sunday in a failed missile attack from territory in the Red Sea off the coast of Yemen, according to the Pentagon.

On Tuesday, the US military vowed to retaliate for the missile attack. "Counterstrike, retaliatory strike: I can tell you that those things are things that we are looking at," said Captain Jeff Davis, a Pentagon spokesman.

The US military has been providing logistic and surveillance support to Saudi Arabia in its military aggression against Yemen, the kingdom's impoverished southern neighbor, which has killed more than 10,000 Yemenis since its onset in March 2015.

Washington has on several occasions criticized the Saudi regime for its crimes against humanity in Yemen, but has shown no sign of ending its support for Riyadh.

According to a report published by The Intercept on Monday, the United States and Britain are fully aware of the civilian nature of Saudi Arabia's targets in Yemen and yet continue to provide the regime in Riyadh with weapons and intelligence required to hit them.

London and Washington "have indiscriminately and at times deliberately" led Saudi warplanes to strike civilian targets in Yemen during the kingdom's months-long military aggression against its southern neighbor.

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UK, US Navies Hold Massive War Games to Bolster Robotic Minesweeping Capability

Sputnik News

07:31 13.10.2016(updated 07:37 13.10.2016)

The navies of the US and the UK are holding large-scale war games to test cutting-edge robotic technologies in underwater mining.

The Unmanned Warrior 2016 exercise began off Scotland's coast on Monday and will last for two weeks. Hosted by the Royal Navy, it is being promoted as "the largest demonstration" of unmanned minesweeping systems in the world.

Over 40 companies and organizations, including navies of the US and the UK, will present over 50 seaborne and aerial autonomous systems at the event, most of which are designed for mine warfare. The US Navy has the most significant presence at the event with ten advanced unmanned systems.

Technologies on display will include underwater vehicles, robotic boats, and mini-subs, as well as drones and mini-helicopters, and sonars, among others. The products on display will be available for purchase by eligible actors with deep pockets.

"What we are seeking to achieve is an event that re-shapes the market to provide new opportunities for everybody, and capability transformation for the Navy," Commander Peter Pipki, the Royal Navy's fleet robotics officer and surface combatant combat systems desk officer, said.

The event comes as the Royal Navy is struggling to replace outdated equipment and focus on robotic technologies, including the replacement of a Royal Navy Insitu ScanEagle drone that will be decommissioned in 2017.

An upgraded version of the ScanEagle, and the semi-autonomous demonstration of the Leonardo Helicopters SW-4 Solo chopper, both on exhibition at the weapons trade convention, will be scrutinized by the Royal Navy for purchase.

"When we look at where capability is going, there is a real drive towards unmanned systems in the maritime," Rick Wellesley, UK government business lead for Leonardo Helicopters, told FlightGlobal.

The US Navy is seeking to bolster its minesweeping capabilities. The nation of 320 million currently has only 13 operational minesweepers, compared to 15 in the UK, a country of much smaller proportions.

The weapons display show is held within the framework of NATO's twice-a-year Exercise Joint Warrior war-games, Europe's largest war exercise. Participated in by 14 nations, including 5,700 personnel and 67 aircraft, the stated aim of the event is to "practice the skills needed for current and future operations." Many have observed the drills as an exercise in sabre-rattling amid the deterioration of NATO-Russia relations.

 Sputnik

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UN refugee agency condemns rising violence against civilians in Central African Republic

13 October 2016  The United Nations refugee agency today condemned attacks on civilians in the Central African Republic (CAR), where clashes between rival groups have forced thousands of people to flee their homes and disrupted vital humanitarian aid operations.

The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) "strongly condemns attacks against civilians which severely hamper the provision of urgently needed humanitarian assistance to populations in need," said the agency's representative for the country, Kouassi Lazare Etien in a news release.

Fighting in the past month between ex-Seleka militiamen and anti-Balaka fighters has affected western, eastern and central parts of the country and the capital, Bangui, according to the UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission (MINUSCA).

The Mission said at least 11 people were killed and 22 wounded in clashes that followed the murder of an army officer on October 4, with 14 people reported to be still missing.

MINUSCA also said 150 people had fled their homes and 35 families had taken refuge in in the capital, Bangui. In a further incident of violence in the northwest on Tuesday, MINUSCA reported that 30 persons sought refuge in Cambatt camp at the south entrance of Koui town, while another 130 sought refuge in Gabbatt camp to the north.

"Armed group activities engender insecurity and provoke population movements. Displaced people are perpetually in urgent need of food, basic household items, medicine and access to education," Mr. Etien said.

The UN refugee agency said it was particularly alarmed by growing insecurity in the eastern prefecture of Haut-Mboumou, home to 2,748 Congolese refugees in Zemio, another 1,057 Congolese who have settled in Obo as well as 4,222 South Sudanese refugees in Bambouti.

On September 19, attacks by the Lord's Resistance Army in Tabane 1 village, 20 kilometres from Zemio, led to the displacement of about 700 people and prompted UNHCR to decide to speed up the relocation of the South Sudanese refugees from Bambouti to Obo.

There, they are able to receive protection and assistance in health, education, shelter, water, sanitation, hygiene, and food and non-food aid.

Several humanitarian properties and convoys in the centre and north of the country were targeted by armed robbers. This, as well as clashes on September 16 between ex-Seleka and anti-Balaka elements in Ndomete, Nana-Grebizi prefecture, caused more than 3,200 people to flee into the bush and to nearby villages.

Despite reinforcement by the UN peacekeeping mission, armed groups have continued to set up illegal checkpoints and demand money from traders in the town of Kaga-Bandoro in Nana-Grebizi prefecture, forcing up prices of local commodities and disrupting the movement of humanitarian convoys.

On September 21, an attack by the armed group 3R (Retour, Reclamation et Rehabilitation) on Degaulle town in Ouham-Pende prefecture in the northwest led to the flight of an estimated 3,400 families towards Bocaranga and surrounding villages.

The growing insecurity is causing many organizations to leave or reduce their presence. Two UNHCR partners have cut their staff or suspended monitoring activities in the west of the country.

In Bocaranga, four humanitarian organizations have closed their bases or suspended their activities and two others have evacuated their staff, to Paoua in Ouham-Pende prefecture, or to Bangui. One of UNHCR's partners has reduced its staff on the ground for security reasons.

Insecurity constrains UNHCR's response

Because of the insecurity, UNHCR's response has been confined to protection monitoring, participating in food distribution to internally displaced people, and coordinating protection and shelter for the newly displaced populations.

A UNHCR-operated call centre in Ndomete, Nana-Grebizi prefecture, provides care to individuals who have suffered from gender-based violence, and helps in the tracing of unaccompanied children.

Displaced people are in urgent need of food, basic household items, medicine and access to schools.

Armed groups have occupied schools in some parts of the country, preventing classes from taking place. Food prices are rising and basic commodities are quickly disappearing from the market.

The 2016-2017 academic year has been interrupted by the presence of armed groups in and near dozens of schools and colleges in Ouham, Ouaka and Nana-Mambere prefectures, preventing more than 10,000 children from continuing their education.

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Nigeria Says 21 Chibok Girls Released

By VOA News October 13, 2016

Nigerian officials say 21 of the "Chibok girls" kidnapped by the militant group Boko Haram in 2014 have been released.

A spokesman for Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari said on Twitter Thursday that the girls are in the custody of the Department of State Services, Nigeria's main intelligence agency.

The spokesman, Mallam Garba Shehu, said the girls' release was the result of talks between Buhari's administration and Boko Haram that were brokered by the International Red Cross and the Swiss government.

"Negotiations will continue" for the other kidnapped girls, he said, adding that the girls released will be handed over to Vice President Yemi Osinbajo and that their names will soon be made public.

The Associated Press, citing a Nigerian military officer, reports that the girls were swapped for four detained Boko Haram leaders.

Released in Banki, flown to Maiduguri

Sources in Nigeria say the 21 girls were released late Wednesday in the northeastern town of Banki and were flown by helicopter to the Borno state capital, Maiduguri.

Buhari, who is traveling to Germany, said on his Twitter account that he was briefed on the girls' release before leaving for Germany on official business. "I welcome the release of 21 of our Chibok girls, following successful negotiations," he said.

2 years in captivity

Boko Haram kidnapped nearly 300 girls from a secondary school in the Borno state town of Chibok in April 2014. Dozens escaped, but 219 remained captive.

Buhari has repeatedly vowed to rescue the girls and crush Boko Haram, which has frequently attacked schools as part of its seven-year insurgency in northeastern Nigeria. The group's name is roughly translated as "Western education is forbidden."

These are the first of the Chibok girls to be rescued as a result of government action. One of the girls was found, pregnant, in a forest in May.

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After Thai King's Death, Son Will Wait to Ascend

By Ron Corben, Steve Herman October 13, 2016

The death of the world's longest reigning monarch, Thailand's revered King Bhumibol Adulyadej at the age of 88, is a stunning blow for the kingdom of 67 million people, most of whom have known no other sovereign.

His son and heir apparent, the country's Crown Prince, has said he wants to mourn the loss of his father before asending to the throne.

The king had been in poor health for a long time, primarily spending his last years in a Bangkok hospital.

Bhumibol, also known as Rama IX, came to the throne as an 18-year-old in 1946 after the mysterious shooting death of his 20-year-old brother, King Ananda Mahidol.

Thailand's Prime Minister, Prayuth Chan-ocha, announced the heir to the throne has been designated for many years, and the Cabinet will inform parliament of the decision.

"Let us wait for the right time," Prayuth told reporters after the king's son and heir apparent, 63-year-old Prince Vajiralongkorn, asked for more time to morun.

Government officials in the country will observe one year of mourning starting Friday. Parliament observed a nine-minute silence during an impromptu meeting at 9pm, at which the prime minister warned that national security is the most important issue , saying no one should take advantage of Thailand at this "time of crisis."

Prayuth also said that security measures are being boosted throughout the country, with a visibly heavier presence of soldiers.

Thitinan Pongsudhirak, a political scientist at Chulalongkorn University, said King Bhumibol's reign was marked by a long period of development in Thailand.

"All living Thais have been under the same reign by His Majesty. A lot of people went through the 1960s, '70s, and '80s, seeing the King working so hard for the people, for the country. So the modernization of Thailand was really under this King. That's why the people of Thailand are deeply grateful and also very sad by his passing," Thitinan said.

Revered in Thailand

The 70th anniversary of Bhumibol's accession was celebrated in Thailand on June 9 with millions of his subjects donning yellow shirts for the day.

U.S. President Barack Obama, in a statement of condolences, called Bhumibol "a tireless champion of his country's development and demonstrated unflagging devotion to improve the standard of living of the Thai people."

Bhumibol Adulyadej was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in the United States, a grandson of one of the Kingdom of Siam's most revered monarchs, Chulalongkorn, or Rama V.

Throughout the last half of the 20th century, Rama IX became the most familiar king Thailand had ever known with the advent of mass media portraying him as a wise and compassionate head of state, working effortlessly to improve the lives of his mostly rural subjects.

The king was revered as a semi-deity in the deeply Buddhist country. His rule provided a bedrock of stability in a country faced with many social and economic challenges, including a fragile democratic system. The kingdom now is governed by a military junta, which took power in a bloodless coup on May 22, 2014, ousting a weak civilian government beset by sometimes violent street protests.

During his reign there were frequent military coups. Bhumibol acted as the ultimate arbitrator over feuding generals, defusing dangerous situations and sometimes consenting to the army's request for the overthrow of elected governments.

Thitinan said the new monarch, Vajiralongkorn, will move to cultivate a moral authority evident by his father's long reign and adjusting to balance both monarchy and democracy.

"We need both to have a monarchy but also to have a workable democracy. Not too much of one at the expense of the other. To do this we also have to bear in mind that the moral authority is not the same and therefore some adjustment, some accommodation will have to be made otherwise we will see some tension," he said.

Heir apparent

When the time comes to ascend to the throne, Prince Vajiralongkorn will also inherit properties said to be worth in excess of $35 billion.

The prince has never achieved the esteem enjoyed by the king and Queen Sirikit, who has also been in poor health for years. The prince remains a rather remote figure, especially compared with his popular younger sister, Princess Sirindhorn, known for being humble and active with charitable work.

Some Thais have quietly spoken of having the princess succeed her father. But she has not been designated a possible heir and most Thai political analysts say the powerful military backs the crown prince.

The succession can not be openly discussed in Thailand, which has harsh lese majeste laws and any perceived criticism of the monarchy or its top royals can result in quick arrest and long prison terms.

The death of the monarch, who was always the critical political institution in the kingdom, creates "a shift in the Thai political landscape," says associate professor Pavin Chachavalpongpun of Kyoto University's Center for Southeast Asian Studies. "Whether it's smooth or violent remains to be seen. From now on we might see a more prominent role of the military."

Analysts say the year-long period of official mourning will put on hold any quick return to civilian government, indefinitely extending the military's rule.

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Haiti - Combined Task Force Hurricane Matthew

The 400 service members who took part in humanitarian relief efforts following Hurricane Matthew's wrath in Haiti are expected to return home in a couple of days, Navy Admiral Kurt W. Tidd, commander of U.S. Southern Command, told reporters at the Pentagon Oct. 18, 2016. "We were told to prepare for a two-week mission and I think that looks like it is going to be a pretty accurate timeline," Tidd said of Joint Task Force-Matthew relief work conducted out of Port-au-Prince.

Matthew was a major hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Scale with sustained winds near 145 miles per hour (MPH) and this storm remained a powerful hurricane. Hurricane Matthew was a deadly hurricane that swept through the Carribbean, briefly reaching category 5 intensity, before impacting Haiti, Cuba and the Bahamas. It then paralleled the United States coastline from Florida north to the Carolinas. The storm made its U.S. landfall in South Carolina as a category 1 storm.

Hurricane Matthew made an initial landfall near Haitis Les Anglais commune, Sud Department, on October 4, before making a secondary landfall over eastern Cuba on October 4 and continuing to traverse The Bahamas from October 56. The storm brought destructive winds, heavy rainfall, and dangerous storm surge, resulting in extensive damage to crops, houses, and infrastructure, as well as widespread flooding in some areas. Haiti, the country hardest hit, observed the last of its three official days of mourning 11 October 2016. Official death tolls there varied widely, from around 400 to over 1,000. Many areas of the country remained difficult to reach.

In the path of Hurricane Matthew, disaster response and humanitarian assistance personnel mobilized to provide relief to affected communities and infrastructure in the Caribbean and along the East coast of the U.S. The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) worked directly with federal, state and local organizations to assist in the response.

Joint Task Force-Matthew is supporting the critical early stages of U.S. disaster assistance to Haiti led by USAID. As the ongoing international relief mission progresses and more experienced experts arrive to aid longer-term recovery and reconstruction, U.S. military capabilities would no longer be needed, and any remaining tasks performed by the task force would be assumed by other, more experienced relief organizations.

USS Iwo Jima departed Naval Station Norfolk on Oct. 8 to relieve USS Mesa Verde in support of SOUTHCOM with humanitarian efforts in Haiti. Iwo Jima arrived 13 October 2016. USS Mesa Verde received orders on Oct. 7 to support SOUTHCOM with humanitarian efforts in Haiti. The ship arrived Oct. 9. USNS Comfort departed NS Norfolk on Oct. 4 with 280 medical personnel in an area clear of the hurricane in the event they were tasked to provide support. At least 34 Airmen from the 621st Contingency Response Wing and associated aerial port equipment supported US Transportation Commands Joint Task Force-Port Opening, that was co-located with Joint Task Force-Matthew at Port-au-Prince International Airport, Haiti.

US military personnel began arriving 07 October 2016 on the hurricane-ravaged island nation of Haiti to begin storm response efforts as Combined Task Force Hurricane Matthew mobilized there. At the end of the day, there were about 250 personnel, with that figure rising to 350 within about 24 hours. The task force worked with the U.S. Agency for International Development to begin relief efforts. As troops arrived, work was under way to prioritize hurricane response efforts with USAID. The nine helicopters on Haiti, including CH-53 Sea Stallions and CH-47 Chinooks, comprise a critical element for supporting this mission, simply because of the terrain in Haiti, some of which is mountainous.

USAIDs Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance deployed a Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART) to the central Caribbean. These disaster experts will coordinate with governments of affected countries--including Jamaica, Haiti, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Bahamas, and Belize-- and humanitarian organizations on the ground to bring vital humanitarian assistance to those in need, if requested. USAID also strategically pre-positioned emergency relief supplies -- including shelter materials, blankets, hygiene kits, household items, and water purification equipment -- to ensure they are available to help the affected communities.

Humanitarian actors remain concerned that Hurricane Matthew could exacerbate the spread of cholera in Haiti. Unprecedented flooding, particularly in the hard-hit southwestern peninsula, has contaminated already-scarce safe drinking water, drastically increasing the risk of a cholera outbreak. Once contracted, dehydration caused by cholera can kill children in as quickly as six hours. Cholera is treatable, and the most common and dangerous symptom is dehydration. But lack of infrastructure and hospitals, made worse by the hurricane damage, could make combating an epidemic difficult for Haiti.

On 08 October 2016, the DART, with DoD helicopter support, transported non-governmental organization (NGO) St. Boniface Haiti Foundation doctors to Sud to assess needs and damages at a previously inaccessible USAID-funded hospital on Ile-a-Vache Island, as well as in other health care facilities in Les Anglais. The doctors reported that the hurricane had resulted in nearly 180 deaths and approximately 700 injuries in communities near the center of the commune. The assessment identified significant health and water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) needs, including limited access to safe drinking water, prompting populations to consume water from unprotected sources. The local hospital had also exhausted many medical supplies.

The hope for Haiti in the face of cholera lies in lessons learned, following a 2010 earthquake, after which Haiti suffered the worst cholera outbreak in modern history, according to the Center for Disease Control. Nearly 10,000 people in Haiti died of the treatable disease. The international community bears the burden as well. The U.N. publicly took responsibility for bringing Virbrio cholerae, the bacteria which causes cholera, through Nepalese peacekeepers who went to the island nation following the earthquake. On 11 October 2016, the World Health Organization announced it is sending one million doses of oral cholera vaccine to Haiti. Vaccinating all 10 million Haitians on the island would cost over $100 million, according to the American Council on Science and Health.

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Yemen - Cruise Missile Strike 13 October 2016

A US warship came under fire in the Red Sea from multiple cruise missiles fired from the coast of Yemen. Chief of Naval Operations Adm. John Richardson said the guided missile destroyer USS Mason deployed electronic countermeasures to foil the attack and was not hit in the incident 15 October 2016 -- the third such attack on US naval vessels in the area in the past week.

Early on the morning local time 13 October 2016, the US military struck three radar sites in Houthi-controlled territory on Yemen's Red Sea coast. Initial assessments showed the sites were destroyed. The strikes -- authorized by President Obama at the recommendation of Secretary of Defense Ash Carter and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs General Joseph Dunford -- targeted radar sites involved in the recent missile launches threatening USS Mason and other vessels operating in international waters in the Red Sea and the Bab al-Mandeb. The attack on coastal targets was carried out by Tomahawk cruise missiles launched from the destroyer USS Nitze. These limited self-defense strikes were conducted to protect US personnel, ships, and freedom of navigation in this important maritime passageway. The Pentagon stated "The United States will respond to any further threat to our ships and commercial traffic, as appropriate, and will continue to maintain our freedom of navigation in the Red Sea, the Bab al-Mandeb, and elsewhere around the world."

For the second time in four days, the guided missile destroyer USS Mason responded 12 October 2016 to an incoming missile threat while conducting routine operations in international waters off the Red Sea coast of Yemen. At about 6 p.m. local time -- 11 a.m. EDT -- the ship detected at least one missile that officials assess originated from Houthi-controlled territory near Hudaydah, Yemen. The ship employed defensive countermeasures, and the missile did not reach USS Mason.

"There was no damage to the ship or its crew," Pentagon Press Secretary Peter Cook said. "USS Mason will continue its operations. Those who threaten our forces should know that U.S. commanders retain the right to defend their ships, and we will respond to this threat at the appropriate time and in the appropriate manner." Homeported in Norfolk, Virginia, USS Mason was deployed as part of the Eisenhower Carrier Strike Group.

The US military said 11 October 2016 two missiles were launched from Houthi-controlled territory in Yemen in the direction of a US ship in the Persian Gulf. Officials say the two missiles, launched over a 60-minute period, landed in the water but did not make contact with the USS Mason. "There were no injuries to our sailors and no damage to the ship. We assess the missiles were launched from Houthi-controlled territory in Yemen," Pentagon spokesman Captain Jeff Davis said. It was not immediately clear whether the U.S. destroyer was the intended target of the two missiles. "In the first instance USS Mason employed onboard defensive measures, although it is unclear whether this led to the missile striking the water or whether it would have struck the water anyway," a US defense official said on condition of anonymity. The official said the incident remained under investigation.

neither the Mason nor the amphibious transport USS Ponce was hit in the October 9 attacks.

The Pentagon had been providing logistic and surveillance support to Saudi Arabia in its military aggression against Yemen, the kingdom's impoverished southern neighbor, which has killed more than 10,000 Yemenis since its onset in March 2015. The Saudi-led coalition, that includes Egypt, had almost full control of the Red Sea, from its entrance at the Mandeb Strait to the Suez Canal.

On October 10, 2015, Yemeni army forces destroyed a Saudi warship in a missile attack in the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait, which connects the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden. That came only three days after Iranian sources reported they had destroyed another Arab vessel in the area. Yemeni forces successfully targeted and destroyed an Emirati military vessel near the Red Sea port city of Mokha. The US-made HSV Swift was a high-speed logistical ship capable of locating mines, controlling military operations and transporting troops and equipment. Over 20 sailors were reportedly killed on board the warship. details surrounding the attack on the UAE-operated logistics ship Swift remain very fuzzy. Most news outlets reported the ship was sunk, but it appears the ship was towed to Eritrea for examination.

The official position from the UAE government, as quoted by UAE news agency WAM, states: "In more than a year of operating routine journeys to Aden, the civilian ship has carried thousands of tonnes of humanitarian assistance and more than 1,000 wounded people, along with their companions, in addition to large equipment for the electricity, water and healthcare sectors which had significantly eased the suffering of the residents of Aden through the restoration of the infrastructure in these vital sectors. High-ranking Yemeni sources told Asharq Al-Awsat 13 October 2016 that around forty Iranian warships that day violated Yemeni territorial waters. According to Yemeni government sources, there was a huge probability that these warships were smuggling weapons for the Houthis and transporting mercenaries from some African countries to join the insurgents. The Yemeni cabinet session, on Wednesday, discussed this issue and the way to protect Yemeni territorial waters; the government asked the Arab coalition forces to help guard the Yemeni waters and decided to address the UN and Security Council on the repeated violations by the Iranian warships, reported the sources. Iran deployed a fleet of warships to the Gulf of Aden, the republic's naval commander confirmed 12 October 2016. The deployment followed US cruise missile strikes on Yemeni positions thought to be under Houthi rebel control. The Iranian Navy sent the warships to international waters for a mission that includes entering the area off the southern coast of Yemen, Rear Admiral Habibollah Sayyari confirmed. The area is among the worlds busiest maritime trade routes. The fleet will provide security to sea ways for Iranian vessels and protect Irans interests on the high seas, Sayyari told Press TV. The 34th Fleet is comprised of the Bushehr logistic vessel and Alborz destroyer, and will conduct a three-month mission.

The commander said the fleet had departed from the southern port city of Bandar Abbas in Iran. He dismissed claims the fleet has been deployed to intervene in the conflict in Yemen. Iranian ships had been tasked with providing security for civil boat traffic and protecting commercial vessels and oil tankers from pirates in the region, the rear admiral told Iranian television. The Iranians have a permanent presence in that part of the world ... [as] there is a lot of instability in the Red Sea and Iranian ships are there to prevent pirates from boarding Iranian ships and they've been doing that for a number of years now, having also protected the ships of other countries, political analyst and Tehran university professor Mohammad Marandi told RT, adding that the real problem is the US presence in the region.

The Houthis denied carrying out the attack, however. A military source reportedly told Saba news agency  a media outlet run by the group  that the assault did not come from areas under its control. These allegations are unfounded and the army as well popular forces have nothing to do with this action, the source said. The US allegations just came in the context of creating false justifications to pave the way for Saudi-led coalition to escalate their attacks against Yemen and to cover for crimes continually committed by the aggression coalition against the Yemeni people and to continue an all-out blockade, the spokesman added. He said the army is ready to confront any future aggression against the country, whatever the justification.

Days earlier, around 150 people were killed and hundreds injured in one of the bloodiest incidents in the Yemeni conflict. The bombardment 08 Octobe 2016 reportedly carried out by Saudi-led coalition jets devastated a funeral ceremony held in the Yemeni capital, Sanaa. Saudi Arabia denied responsibility for the attack. Meanwhile, images and footage of what some have claimed to be fragments of a US-made bomb found at the scene of the deadly strike in Sanaa emerged online.

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Detained Syrian refugee found dead in German prison

Iran Press TV

Thu Oct 13, 2016 6:49AM

A Syrian refugee man who was under custody on suspicion of planning a bomb attack at a German airport has been found dead in his prison cell in eastern Germany.

The 22-year-old Jaber Albakr was arrested during an overnight operation in the city of Leipzig, in the eastern federal state of Saxony, on October 10, following a two-day massive manhunt.

Albakr, who came to Germany last year, had managed to narrowly escape police commandos when his flat was raided in the eastern city of Chemnitz on October 8.

Police had found several hundred grams of an explosive substance in the apartment and, according to security sources, he was thought to have planned an attack against either one of Berlin's two airports or a transport hub in his home state of Saxony.

The Saxony Justice Ministry said in a statement on Wednesday that earlier in the day "Albakr, who was suspected of planning a serious attack, took his life in the detention center at Leipzig correctional hospital."

The statement said the ministry would provide more details regarding the incident "at a news conference in Dresden on Thursday at 0900 GMT."

It, however, did not say how the Syrian refugee committed suicide, but according to German news agency DPA, Albakr had hung himself in his cell.

According to prosecutors, the Syrian national was making an explosive vest which was "near completion."

Germany's Der Spiegel magazine, in a report, however, cast doubt on the suicide scenario as presented by the ministry, saying Albakr had been under a 24-hour surveillance in police detention due to a grave risk of suicide and hunger strike. The report added that it was not yet clear how he had taken his own life.

Albakr's public defense lawyer Alexander Huebner said his client's jailers had been well aware of his strong suicide motives, describing the incident as a "judicial scandal."

"He had already smashed lamps and manipulated power points" after starting a hunger strike as soon as he was arrested, agreeing only to drink a glass of water, Huebner said. "I am incredibly shocked and in disbelief that this could have happened."

Local media had earlier reported that the material discovered in Albakr's flat was TATP, the homemade explosive that was used by terrorists in the deadly November 13, 2015 attacks in Paris and the March 22 attacks in Brussels. According to other reports, Albakr was believed to be connected to extremist groups, particularly the Daesh Takfiri group, which has recently claimed a number of attacks on German soil.

Daesh has said it would carry out more assaults against civilians and security forces in Germany over the country's contribution to the US-led coalition purportedly targeting its positions in Iraq and Syria.

Germany was further rattled on July 22, when a teenager opened fire at people shopping at a mall in the southern city of Munich, killing nine and injuring several others. Officials ruled out that the case was a terrorism issue.

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In wake of Hurricane Matthew, UN to deliver food for 180,000 people in hard-hit eastern Cuba

12 October 2016  The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) is working with the Cuban Government to provide food for 180,000 people in hard-hit eastern areas of the island as they cope with the aftermath of Hurricane Matthew.

"We estimate that we will need $4 million to assist 180,000 people during the next six months, and my call now is to the donor community to help us mobilize funds to assist the most vulnerable people affected by the hurricane in Cuba," said Laura Melo, WFP Representative in Cuba, adding that the agency is working closely with national authorities to provide help to people most affected by the disaster.

According to the release, WFP's primary response will include using the food stocks that are already in the country to help people that are most in need, followed by providing supplies to vulnerable groups  such as children between six months and three years of age, pregnant women and adults over 65 in affected areas such as Caimanera, Manuel Tame, Yateras, and Moa in Holguin province.

WFP also stated that it is aiming to improve nutrition of the vulnerable groups by delivering a corn and soybean fortified cereal compound to pregnant women, and micronutrient powder to children between the ages of 12 and 23 months.

The assessment of damages caused by Hurricane Matthew continues in Cuba, while significant food losses and damage to agriculture, homes and infrastructure have already been reported.

Hurricane Matthew hit Cuba on 4 October with winds over 200 kilometres per hour. It has been the most powerful storm, classified a Category 4 on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale, to strike the island in nearly a decade.

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Berlin Agrees to Provide Crews for NATO's AWACS Planes in Syria

Sputnik News

15:42 12.10.2016(updated 15:43 12.10.2016)

German servicemen will carry out reconnaissance missions aboard NATO's Airborne Warning and Control System planes in Syria.

BERLIN (Sputnik)  The German cabinet approved on Wednesday sending German pilots to fly NATO's Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) reconnaissance planes in Syria, the federal government said in a statement.

"Bundeswehr soldiers will be conducting reconnaissance missions as part of international crews on NATO's AWACS planes," the government announced.

The mandate of the operation, which still needs to be approved by the federal parliament, is due to expire at the end of 2017. The number of personnel involved has been capped at 1,200.

NATO announced its plan to use AWACS planes to support operations of the US-led coalition in Syria at the July summit. Their deployment needs the approval of all participating member states.

The German armed forces, Bundeswehr, are not conducting combat missions against the Daesh (outlawed in Russia) terror group in Syria. Its involvement is instead limited to reconnaissance and logistics.

Last December, the German military deployed Tornado surveillance jets and tanker aircraft to help the US-led coalition gather data on Daesh forces. The Augsburg frigate is also guarding France's Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier in the eastern Mediterranean.

 Sputnik

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Slow and Steady: Indian Arms Exports Jump Six Folds

Sputnik News

21:15 12.10.2016

Aggressive diplomatic engagement along with export financing through line of credit has boosted India's presence in the arms trade with countries located in East Asia and the Indian Ocean region.

New Delhi (Sputnik)  India's ability to deliver defense equipment in a timely manner has attracted many small countries in last two years. According to the Indian government, defense exports have jumped six folds in in last two years only.

"The Make in India initiative has seen defense exports increase from $76 million to $450 million, though the ministry figures will show only $316 million. One reason for this is that exports of the aviation sector are not included in this as it has been delicensed."

Of late, India has focused to supply naval equipment like patrol vessels to East Asia and island nations of the Indian Pacific region. Some of the major defense equipment exported by India are patrol vessels, helicopters & their spares, sonars & radars, avionics, radar warning receivers (RWR), small arms, small caliber ammunition, grenades, and telecommunication equipment.

Parrikar has stated that exports may be much more than government's data as 65 per cent of defense sub-segments are de-licensed by the government now and are, therefore, not in the information list of the defense ministry.

"If we include the gains from the offset clause, our defense-related exports should be about $1 billion, out of which defense items alone are worth Rs 3,000 crore, which I hope to increase it to Rs 10,000 crore soon," Parrikar added.

To garner a larger share of defense exports in small countries, the Indian government has allowed public sector defense firms to export 10 percent of their total production.

 Sputnik

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Russia Will Continue to be Major Defense Partner With India

Sputnik News

20:50 12.10.2016(updated 21:11 12.10.2016)

India will sign a defense deal worth $9 billion in next six months. More so, the coming months will witness some of the biggest defense deals signed between India and Russia ever.

New Delhi (Sputnik)  In the backdrop of growing tension in the South Asian region, India will further expedite purchase of arms and equipment. Manohar Parrikar, Indian Minister of Defense indicated that the country would sign defense deals worth close to $9 billion in next six months.

"Over the next six months, I hope to sign another $7.5-9 billion worth of contracts, taking the total to $45 billion in last 3 years," said Indian Defense Minister Manohar Parrikar.

Parrikar stated that during the past 23 months, India had signed contracts worth $34 billion. Recently, the government signed a letter of intent with a government-run shipyard for $4.8 billion, taking the total orders to $38.8 billion.

Sources close to Ministry of Defense said that most of the upcoming defense deals will be signed with Russia. Recently, India and Russia expressed their desire to conclude the deal already approved by the Indian Defence Apex Council. Part of the deal is expected to be signed this week during the annual summit to be held in Goa. A billion dollar deal to manufacture 200 Kamov-226 T helicopters under the 'Make in India' program is expected to be signed between the countries.

"The complex agreement to set up a joint production facility of Ka-226T helicopters is expected to be signed at the BRICS forum," said a statement by Russian firm Rostec State Corporation.

But, the intended purchase of five S-400 'Triumph' for the Indian Armed Forces would be the major attraction for the global arms industries for if the deal goes through as planed it will be one of the biggest arms deal between India and Russia.

 Sputnik

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India to Float New Tender for Close Quarter Battle Carbines

Sputnik News

18:29 12.10.2016(updated 18:33 12.10.2016)

The Indian Army has a shortage of 16,000 close quarter battle carbines after canceling a six year old tender won by the Israeli Weapon Industry.

New Delhi (Sputnik)  Government officials told Sputnik that India will soon issue a global tender for acquiring close quarter battle carbines for the army.

The new tender is unlikely to include some of the specifications such as visible and invisible laser spot designators, as well as holographic weapon sights which were part of the 2010 tender won by Israeli W I. The Indian army is facing a shortage of 16,000 battle carbines. The government aims to conclude the new deal by the end of year 2017.

Earlier this year, India cancelled a six year old tender for obtaining 44,618 close quarter battle carbines and 33.6 million rounds of ammunition. The bid was won by the Israeli Weapon Industry (IWI) but the Indian Law Ministry did not give a final go ahead for the "single vendor situation" deal. Sputnik reported on August 29 this year about the government's unwillingness to sign deal in a "single vendor situation."

The Law Ministry's opinion was sought by the Defense Ministry as only one firm, IWI passed the trials conducted by the Indian Army. Four other global firms including Italy's Beretta participated in the bid but failed to meet the tough specifications laid down by the Indian Army. This led to a "single vendor situation" which attracted the attention of competitors who suspected foul play.

Carbines are rifles with short-range barrels and are suitable for close quarter combat. Frustrated due to delays in signing of the deal even after passing the trial way back in 2014, IWI has threatened that it may have to rethink its investments in India.

 Sputnik

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India to Ink Investment Deals Worth $400bln in Aerospace and Defense Sector

Sputnik News

13:54 12.10.2016(updated 16:58 12.10.2016)

The Indian government has indicated that the country will spend more money on defense purchases.

New Delhi (Sputnik)  The Aeronautical Society of India has predicted a massive investment in the country's aerospace and defense sector in the next 10 years.

"Overall investment in Aerospace and Defense in the next 10 years is expected to be more than 400 billion US Dollars," said Dr R K Tyagi, former Chairman of HAL and President elect of the Aeronautical Society of India.

According to the Aeronautical Society of India, India has signed deal worth $17.14 billion in last two years. In the meantime, 110 contracts have been signed. India's Ministry of Defense has granted 201 projects worth $36 billion since mid-2014.

The Indian government recently hinted that the country would like to spend more on defense in the wake of growing tensions in the region and the threat of Islamic State. If India increases its defense expenditure in upcoming budget, it would mark a reverse trend as allocation to defense has been decreased from 2.62 percent of annual national income in 2011 to 2.26% in 2016. In fact, the Indian government had made a request to all the defense manufacturers to raise production capacity.

Apart from the defense sector, India's civilian aerospace sector would also witness a sharp rise in demand for aircraft. India is expected to add more than 1,600 aircraft in the next 10 years with an approximate investment of USD 200 billion.

"For technological superiority and strengthening the manufacturing sector in India, it would be necessary that India develop its own civil aircraft. Preliminary studies have already been completed and it is estimated that such an aircraft could be developed in 5  7 years at a cost of roughly about 1 billion US Dollars i.e. much less than 1% of acquisition cost which we will be incurring in the Aerospace & Defense sector in next 10 years," said Dr. R.K. Tyagi. It is said that India will add up to one aircraft per week in next ten years.

 Sputnik

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Baghdad summons Turkish envoy to protest troop presence on Iraqi soil

Iran Press TV

Thu Oct 13, 2016 2:57PM

The Iraqi Foreign Ministry has summoned Turkey's ambassador to protest the continued presence of Turkish troops on Iraqi soil without Baghdad's permission.

Ahmed Jamal, a spokesman for the Iraqi Foreign Ministry, said on Thursday that the ambassador was given "a strongly worded formal note of protest" on "the continued presence of Turkish forces near Bashiqa and recent abusive statements from their leadership."

This comes a few days after Ankara shrugged off Bagdad's repeated calls for withdrawing the troops.

Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim has said Ankara will not pull out the troops "no matter what the Iraqi government in Baghdad says."

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has defiantly warned Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi to know his limits.

Reacting to remarks by Erdogan, Sa'ad al-Hadithi, the spokesman for Abadi's office, said on Tuesday that the "irresponsible statements by [the] Turkish president could pour oil on fire and fuel further tensions." He also stressed that Baghdad sought to avoid a war of words with Ankara.

Hadithi made the remarks shortly after Erdogan said the Turkish army would not take orders from Iraq to leave the country.

'Mosul operation to trigger refugee wave'

In another development on Thursday, Ibrahim Kalin, Turkey's presidential spokesman, said that any mistake in a planned operation to push Daesh out of the northern Iraqi city of Mosul could result in thousands of refugees.

The spokesperson also voiced concern about reports of a Kurdish militant role in the offensive.

Kalin added that Turkey had no secret agenda in Iraq and was in favor of solving problems with Baghdad through dialogue.

Turkey seeks to maintain an estimated two thousand troops in northern Iraq, claiming the move is aimed at battling terror groups.

The Iraqi Foreign Ministry has called for an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council over the presence of the Turkish troops in Iraq as well as a decision by the Turkish parliament to extend the deployment by another year.

The Iraqi army and pro-government forces have been preparing for months to liberate Mosul, which has been under the control of Daesh since the summer of 2014.

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Over 50,000 Iraqi Gov't Fighters on Standby to Start Liberating Nineveh

Sputnik News

01:05 13.10.2016

More than 50,000 Iraqi government fighters are on a standby to start a military operation to liberate Nineveh province north of Iraq which has been under Daesh jihadist group occupation for the past two years, Nineveh Deputy Governor, Hasan Allaf told Sputnik on Wednesday.

MOSCOW (Sputnik)  Iraq and Syria have been plagued by Daesh since 2014. The terrorist group has seized large territories in both countries and declared the city of Mosul in Iraq as the capital of the Daesh caliphate. The terror group is outlawed in many countries around the world, including Russia and the United States.

"More than 50,000 fighters from various regular factions that include the police, the army, the joint forces in addition to the Golden Division [the Special Republican Guard] have united to liberate Nineveh province from the Islamic State's [Daesh] occupation" Allaf said.

He added that the General Command of the Armed forces has decided not to engage irregular forces from the tribesmen and Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) in the battle to free Nineveh.

The deputy governor noted that all preparations to begin the military operation have been concluded and the fighters are waiting for midnight to launch their offense.

 Sputnik

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Kazakhstan's Kashagan Starts Up...Again

Bruce Pannier October 13, 2016

Production at Kazakhstan's enormous Kashagan oil and natural-gas field has started again. Already more than a decade behind schedule, and billions of dollars overbudget, the project once seen as Kazakhstan's ticket to El Dorado is now just hoping to alleviate some of the economic pain the country is experiencing and break even before too many more years pass.

Kazakh Energy Minister Kanat Bozumbaev announced on October 12 that the flow of oil from the Caspian Sea field had reached a total of 90,000 tons per day, from four wells. Bozumbaev added that the Bolashak oil refinery was already receiving oil from the field and shareholders in the project would be announcing the first contracts in coming days.

Bozumbaev said commercial flows of oil were expected by the end of this month.

While that is good news, there are probably more than a few people who still have their fingers crossed hoping nothing else goes wrong at Kashagan, which has proven to be something of a cursed project.

Kashagan started production in September 2013, about eight years behind schedule, but was quickly shut down when leaks were detected in the pipelines running from the site, some 90 kilometers off Kazakhstan's coast, to the mainland.

Initial efforts to correct the problem proved futile as it became apparent that toxic gas in the pipeline had corroded the pipelines, necessitating the total replacement of both pipelines with more expensive nickel-based alloy pipes.

In the wake of the failure, Pierre Oliphant, the managing director of the North Caspian Operating Company (NCOC), resigned. Kazakhstan's government made clear that the consortium was responsible for the cost of replacing the pipelines.

State oil and gas company KazMunaiGaz quickly shed its 16.81 percent stake in the consortium, giving half of it to a subsidiary, KMG Kashagan BV, and the other half to Kazakhstan's Samruk-Kazyna sovereign wealth fund.

Losses from the three-year delay in production at Kashagan are estimated to run into the billions of dollars. That could be added to the cost overruns already incurred. The project was originally expected to cost some $38 billion but that figure has shot up to at least $53 billion, and according to some estimates, could eventually be more than $100 billion.

Kashagan is the biggest oil discovery since Prudhoe Bay in Alaska in 1968 and Russia's Priobskoye North field in 1982. Kashagan is believed to contain 13 billion barrels of recoverable crude oil. The NCOC says there could be as much as 38 billion barrels of oil there, and further exploration and improved technology could add to the current figure for recoverable oil.

Kashagan is also estimated to contain some 1 trillion cubic meters of natural gas.

Italy's Eni, the NCOC partner currently managing Kashagan, says oil production should reach some 230,000 barrels per day (bpd) by the end of 2016 and rise to some 370,000 bpd by mid-2017.

However, in September the Bloomberg news agency quoted Samuel Lussac, research manager in Russia for the U.K. consulting firm Wood Mackenzie, as saying, "We don't expect Kashagan Phase 1 to produce more than 300,000 bpd until the early 2020s."

Even if Kashagan reaches more optimistic production forecasts, many analysts believe the project has already missed its prime window of opportunity. With oil prices at less than half what they were just a few years ago, there is speculation Kashagan may no longer be profitable.

However, 17 years into the project the consortium has no choice but to go ahead, if for no other reason than to recoup the investment already made.

Kazakhstan's government, on the other hand, is assured of seeing some profit from the project, though again, not the large amounts Astana was counting on seeing just a few years back.

The NCOC is made up of Agip Caspian Sea, U.S. company ExxonMobil, France's Total EP, and Royal Dutch Shell, each with 16.81 percent stakes; KMG Kashagan and Samruk Kazyna with 8.4 percent each; the China National Petroleum Corporation with 8.33 percent; and Japan's Inpex with 7.56 percent.

RFE/RL Kazakh Service correspondent Yerzhan Karabek contributed to this report

Source: http://www.rferl.org/a/qishloq-ovozi- kazakhstan-kashagan/28051575.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.

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South Korea Prepares Special Forces to Hit North Korea in Case of War

Sputnik News

14:05 12.10.2016(updated 14:12 12.10.2016)

Seoul is increasing the capacities of its military forces for destroying North Korea's command centers and its leadership in case of a crisis, South Korea's military said Wednesday.

TOKYO (Sputnik)  During the audit held in the Army's Kyeryongdae military headquarters South Korean military officials said that the special forces were aimed to resist possible provocations from North Korea amid nuclear and missile threats.

"The Army is seeking to have a special operations unit capable of infiltrating [enemy territory], completing its given mission and coming back in one piece," Army Chief of Staff Jang Jun-kyu was quoted as saying by the Yonhap news agency.

The MH-47 series helicopters, which are considered to be supplied to South Korean Army, are modifications of the US helicopters Chinook, according to the country's military. They are equipped with aerial refueling and a radar system.

The Army proposes to secure the capability to carry out special missions by 2018.

Tensions on the Korean Peninsula intensified in September after the North claimed to have successfully exploded a nuclear warhead, having previously detonated a hydrogen bomb in January.

The September 9 test is believed to be the fifth and largest blast since Pyongyang began pursuing nuclear and ballistic missile programs. The UN Security Council condemned it as a repeated violation of its resolutions.

 Sputnik

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Russia test-fires 3 intercontinental ballistic missiles

Iran Press TV

Wed Oct 12, 2016 6:34PM

Russia's military has test-fired three intercontinental ballistic missiles amid increasing tensions with the US on a range of issues, particularly the Syrian crisis.

The Russian Defense Ministry said the Russian forces fired a nuclear-capable rocket from a Pacific Fleet submarine in the Sea of Okhotsk north of Japan on Wednesday.

A Topol missile was further shot off from a submarine in the Barents Sea, while a third was launched from an inland site in the country's northwest, Russian news agencies reported.

The launches come at a time when relations between Russia and the US have hit their lowest point in years following the collapse of a ceasefire in Syria.

'Russia drills pose no threat to anyone'

In another development on Wednesday, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu accused the West of trying to portray his country's military exercises as threats, saying the drills are no source of concern but rather part of usual combat training measures.

Speaking at a press briefing in Moscow, Shoigu rejected "reproaches" from Western countries that are afraid of the level of Russia's combat readiness and capability.

"Scheduled activities of our operational and combat training are misrepresented as 'alarming signals'. The ideas of a military threat, a new cold war or an arms race are being circulated. Of course, it is not true," he said.

The minister further assured that the military exercises are aimed at ensuring Russia's security.

Russia has held a series of drills and inspections of its armed forces' combat readiness in recent months.

The Caucasus 2016 exercises, which were one of Russia's biggest war games, were held at the Southern Military District as well as in the Black and Caspian seas on September 5-10.

Russia and China also held their first exercises in May. They will also hold their second joint anti-missile drills next year.

Earlier this week, Russia announced plans to hold joint drills with Egyptian forces, dubbed the Protectors of Friendship-2016 military exercises, in Egypt in mid-October.

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Russia Conducts Successful Launch of Topol ICBM

Sputnik News

16:32 12.10.2016(updated 16:34 12.10.2016)

The training warhead successfully hit a simulated target on the Kamchatka peninsula.

MOSCOW (Sputnik)  The Russian military conducted Wednesday a successful launch of an RS-12M intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) from the Plesetsk space center, with its warhead hitting a simulated target, the Russian Defense Ministry said.

"A training warhead struck a simulated target on the firing range on the Kamchatka peninsula," the ministry said in a statement.

The RS-12M Topol (SS-25 Sickle) is a single-warhead intercontinental ballistic missile, which entered service in 1985.

It has a maximum range of 10,000 km (6,125 miles) and can carry a nuclear warhead with a yield of up to 550 kilotons.

 Sputnik

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Kerrville, TX (78028)

Today

Partly cloudy skies this morning will become overcast during the afternoon. High 77F. Winds SSE at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Cloudy with showers. Low 53F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 60%.
Russian Pacific Fleet's Submarine Successfully Launches Ballistic Missile

Sputnik News

15:00 12.10.2016(updated 15:06 12.10.2016)

The Georgiy Pobedonosets submarine successfully launched a ballistic missile from the Sea of Okhotsk into a range in northern Russia.

MOSCOW (Sputnik)  Russia's Pacific Fleet Georgiy Pobedonosets submarine has successfully launched a ballistic missile into a range in northern Russia as part of combat drills, the Defense Ministry said Wednesday.

"As part of final combat training, the Pacific Fleet's Georgiy Pobedonosets nuclear submarine launched a ballistic missile from the Sea of Okhotsk into the Chizha testing site in Northern Russia," the ministry said.

It added that the Project 667BDR Kalmar Class vessel was under water at the time of the launch and that the submarine-launched ballistic missile's (SLBM) nose cone arrived at the Chizha site at a designated time.

 Sputnik

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Putin: Russia Knows Who's Responsible for Attack on UN Aid Convoy Near Aleppo

Sputnik News

15:51 12.10.2016(updated 17:48 12.10.2016)

Russia knows who is really behind the attack on the UN humanitarian convoy near Aleppo, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday. It is one of the terrorist groups, he added.

"We see what's happening. It's just baseless accusations that Russia is the cause of all mortal sins. But we know who attacked this humanitarian convoy. This was one of the terrorist groups. And we know that the US is well aware of this. But they prefer to blame Russia. This won't help," Putin said at the VTB forum "Russia is calling".

On September 19, a UN-Syrian Arab Red Crescent convoy carrying humanitarian aid for the Aleppo province was hit by a strike, according to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC). As a result, 18 of 31 trucks were destroyed and at least 21 individuals were killed.

Several Western officials, including the ones from the White House, have blamed the attack on Russia and Syria. The Russian authorities have refuted the allegations and claimed there was no airstrike, while the load of the convoy could be set on fire most probably by Nusra Front militants controlling the area. Moscow called for a thorough investigation into the incident.

Intimidation against Russia has never worked and will never work, Russian President Vladimir Putin said commenting on pressure exerted on Moscow in relation to settlement of the Syrian crisis.

"This is what I was speaking about recently, this method of doing things on the international arena which is called intimidation and pressure. This has never worked and will never work against Russia," the president said.

 Sputnik

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Russia vows response to any hostile acts against forces in Syria

Iran Press TV

Thu Oct 13, 2016 5:4PM

Russia has warned that any threat against its forces in Syria will not go unanswered after a foreign-backed opposition group requested for anti-aircraft arms.

"In any case I should say that Russia will not allow anyone to threaten life of its citizens, including servicemen. Any unfriendly actions towards Russia will not be left without consequences," Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told a news conference in Moscow on Thursday.

On Monday, Syria's main opposition bloc, the High Negotiations Committee (HNC), called on its foreign sponsors to supply militants with man-portable air-defense systems (MANPADS).

HNC spokesman Salem al-Meslet said that the group was relying on "brotherly countries and friends  to lift the embargo on sophisticated weapons imposed on the opposition."

Touching on the issue, Zakharova expressed hope that foreign supporters of the Syria opposition "have enough common sense not to react to such demands."

Russia ready to secure evacuations from eastern Aleppo

In another development on Thursday, Russia said that it was prepared to secure safe passage for militants and civilians from the militant-held eastern parts of Syria's Aleppo.

"We are ready to ensure the safe withdrawal of armed rebels, the unimpeded passage of civilians to and from eastern Aleppo, as well as the delivery of humanitarian aid there," Lieutenant General Sergei Rudskoy of the Russian army's general staff said in a televised briefing.

Touching on the issue, Zakharova expressed hope that foreign supporters of the Syria opposition "have enough common sense not to react to such demands."

Russia ready to secure evacuations from eastern Aleppo

In another development on Thursday, Russia said that it was prepared to secure safe passage for militants and civilians from the militant-held eastern parts of Syria's Aleppo.

"We are ready to ensure the safe withdrawal of armed rebels, the unimpeded passage of civilians to and from eastern Aleppo, as well as the delivery of humanitarian aid there," Lieutenant General Sergei Rudskoy of the Russian army's general staff said in a televised briefing.

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Johnson: West considering new military options for Syria

Iran Press TV

Thu Oct 13, 2016 3:8PM

UK Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson says the West is considering broader military operations against the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to protect what he called "the Syrian opposition."

Johnson made the comments as he discussed the current situation in Syria with the foreign affairs select committee at the British House of Commons on Wednesday.

The secretary told the lawmakers that US, French and German foreign ministers would gather in London on Sunday to discuss Syria's military operations in Aleppo province.

"Most people I think are changing their minds on this and are thinking we cannot let this go on forever. We cannot just see Aleppo pulverized in this way, we have to do something. The mood of the House of Commons has changed from 2013. Whether that means we can get a coalition for a more kinetic action now I cannot prophesy. But what most people want to see now is a new set of options," Johnson said.

"It is vital we consider them and we will do that now," he added.

Backed by Russian air support, Syrian government forces launched an assault on Aleppo last month to capture militant-held parts of the city, days after a US- and Russian-brokered truce collapsed on September 19.

Syria's victories in Aleppo have prompted concerns among Western governments who actively seek to remove Assad from power by backing what they call "moderate rebels."

Johnson said in his remarks on Wednesday that the foreign-backed militants should not get their "hopes up too high."

He also blasted the House of Commons for voting against military action in 2013, calling the move a "big step backwards" that allowed Russia to "occupy" the space "we vacated."

According to the foreign secretary, the West was also mulling tougher economic sanctions against people close to the Assad government.

Johnson also raised the possibility that due to the constant failure of the 25-nation International Syria Support Group (ISSG) to end the years-long conflict in Syria, the West might consider working in a smaller group in future.

The UK is part of a US-led coalition that has been carrying out airstrikes against alleged Daesh positions in Syria and Iraq since 2014, without a UN mandate or permission from Damascus.

The airstrikes have on many occasions targeted civilians and government forces, raising suspicions about the West's true objectives.

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Syria Cease-fire Unlikely as Concerns Focus on Preventing Wider Conflict

By Daniel Schearf October 13, 2016

Top diplomats from the United States, Russia, and the Middle East will attempt to salvage a failed Syria cease-fire agreement Saturday with talks in Lausanne, Switzerland, followed by a separate meeting Sunday in London.

The renewed efforts come less than two weeks after the United States suspended bilateral negotiations with Russia and the two sides exchanged mutual recriminations. Russian officials say they are hopeful for positive results.

But as fighting continues in the besieged city of Aleppo, analysts are skeptical of any lasting cease-fire.

"And Russia is intensifying its strikes in order to support exhausted forces of [Syrian President Bashar al-] Assad in their last attempt to take over Aleppo," says deputy editor of Yezhenedelny Zhurnal (Weekly Journal) Alexander Golts. "Now, it's absolutely clear that [the] Russian goal is not to fight terrorists from IS (Islamic State) or Jabhat al-Nusra. [The] Russian goal is to support Assad, to save Assad. And, it's the main point of contradiction between [the] West and Russia."

Many believe Russia wants to first help the Syrian president take Aleppo so they can have a stronger negotiating position.

But Russia has also warned coalition forces targeting militants to keep their distance and threatened to shoot down any planes that get too close to Russian or Syrian forces.

Wider conflict feared

While a cease-fire would be welcomed, analysts say the bigger concern is preventing a wider conflict developing in Syria.

"Three weeks ago we discussed the possibility of military cooperation between Russia and the United States. Now all these possibilities disappeared," says Golts. "The main realistic goal is to avoid direct military confrontation now between [the] United States and Russia in Syria."

A White House spokesman ruled out the possibility of any U.S. military cooperation with Russia in Syria. U.S. officials say it is now clear their goals in Syria are no longer compatible with Russia's, a view echoed by some analysts.

"The pretense at a possibility of strategic cooperation went on for far too long and was a major contributing factor to the lack of communication between the two sides that has led us to this dangerous situation now," says Chatham House's Keir Giles. "So, recognizing what is and is not achievable, in terms of cooperation with Russia on shared challenges, and there are some, is the first step toward making it actually happen and reducing the current tensions."

Russia has increased its military presence in Syria and announced plans to maintain bases there indefinitely.

Russian President Vladimir Putin's attempt to impose Russia as a partner on the United States did not work, its support for Assad failed to reach a decisive victory, so the war is going to last longer than Moscow expected, says Carnegie Moscow Center director Dmitri Trenin.

The political rift appeared after the bombing of a U.N. aid convoy, which Washington blamed on Moscow, and Russia stepped-up military support for the Syrian offensive on Aleppo.

The United States and France suggested Russia be investigated for war crimes in Syria for attacks on civilians, a notion that Putin dismissed as "rhetoric" in a Wednesday interview with French television. Putin said the West was responsible for the war in Syria and for fueling the rise of radical Islam.

Russia points the finger at the United States for a mistaken airstrike on Syrian forces and for not doing enough to separate moderate rebels from Islamist militants.

Russia's Foreign Ministry Thursday said separating the groups would be among key points of discussion during the weekend talks.

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Turkey to draft law on expanding presidential powers

Iran Press TV

Wed Oct 12, 2016 5:24PM

Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim says the government will soon resume efforts to change the country's constitution and expand presidential powers, in a controversial move that has drawn mounting criticism.

"We will at once take steps in this direction and will let either parliament or the people decide," Yildirim told members of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) in comments aired live on Wednesday.

He also described the constitutional reforms as "urgent" and pledged to work closely with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to draft the changes.

Erdogan, the AKP founder, has long pushed for a new constitution with an executive presidency at its center that places him firmly in charge. Under the current Turkish constitution, the presidency is largely a ceremonial role.

"As the AKP, we have been saying this from the beginning: we should turn this de facto situation in Turkey into law," Yildirim added.

The AKP has 317 of the 550 seats in the parliament. Calling a referendum on the constitution in Turkey requires 330 votes, while changing it without a referendum requires 37 more votes.

The Turkish legislature's second- and third-biggest parties, the Republican People's Party (CHP) and the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), both oppose the intended constitutional reforms.

The development comes at a time when the government in Ankara has intensified its crackdown on those believed to have played a role in the abortive July 15 military coup, and in the wake of a state of emergency that has been in place since then.

Tens of thousands of people, including policemen, military officers, judges, teachers, journalists and civil servants, have been arrested or lost their jobs under the state of emergency, which was extended last week for an additional three months.

State of emergency to be lifted when situation normalized

Additionally on Wednesday, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said that the state of emergency would be removed only under normal circumstances.

"As soon as we normalize fully the situation we will lift the state of emergency," Cavusoglu told a press conference at the headquarters of the Council of Europe in the French city of Strasbourg.

Erdogan raps Clinton's comments on arming Kurds

In another development on Wednesday, the Turkish president criticized US presidential candidate Hillary Clinton for suggesting that she would consider arming Kurdish forces.

"It is a very unfortunate statement," Erdogan said in a televised speech, adding, "To be honest I see it as politically inept."

During a debate with her rival Donald Trump on Sunday, Clinton said she would consider providing armed support for the Syrian Kurdish forces fighting the Daesh Takfiri terrorist group.

This is while Turkey sees Syria's Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) and its armed wing, People's Protection Units (YPG), as terror groups linked to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) that has been fighting for an autonomous Kurdish region inside Turkey since the 1980s.

Turkey blamed for Kurdish TV's signal disruption

Also on Wednesday, the head of a Stockholm-based Kurdish TV channel said Eutelsat, a French-based satellite provider, has shut down its signal under pressure from Turkey.

Newroz TV head, Faruk Nozhatzadeh, said "the Turkish government was behind" the move, adding that other Kurdish-language news outlets inside and outside Turkey have been shut down recently.

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Turkish Gov't Fires Over 60,000 People Over Suspected Links to Gulen

Sputnik News

Turkish Gov't Fires Over 60,000 People Over Suspected Links to Gulen

17:57 12.10.2016(updated 17:58 12.10.2016)

Ankara has dismissed more than 60,000 people suspected of having ties with cleric Fethullah Gulen and possible involvement in the July coup attempt.

MOSCOW (Sputnik)  Over 60,000 people have been dismissed on suspicion of being affiliated with US-based Islamic cleric Fethullah Gulen and possible involvement in the July coup attempt, Head of Turkish Parliament Press Service Erbay Kucet said Wednesday.

"Across Turkey, over 60,000 people have been dismissed  these are judges, police officers, prosecutors and so on. Probes may be launched into a part of them, part of them may be arrested. In total, it is 60 120 people," Kucet told journalists.

Kucet added that among the parliament's personnel, 41 officials were discharged, with investigations are underway into the activities of 60 more.

On July 15, a military coup attempt took place in Turkey. It was suppressed the following day. Over 240 people were killed during the coup attempt and an estimated 2,000 were wounded. Ankara has accused dissident Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, who has lived in the US state of Pennsylvania since 1999, and his followers of playing the key role in the coup.

Following the coup, thousands of people, mostly officials, legal and educational workers, were detained or dismissed over alleged ties to Gulen's movement.

 Sputnik

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Erdogan Threatens With 'Very Serious Steps' if US Delays Extradition of Gulen

Sputnik News

17:06 12.10.2016(updated 17:07 12.10.2016)

Turkey could resort to serious measures if Washington delays the extradition of Islamic cleric Fethullah Gulen, who is believed by Ankara to be the mastermind behind the failed coup attempt in the country, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday.

ANKARA (Sputnik)  Speaking at a ceremony for appointing judges and prosecutors in the Turkish capital, Erdogan said:

"The United States has been sheltering the leader of the terrorist organization. A very tricky game is underway, and we must be extremely careful. If the extradition of Gulen drags on, we can resort to very serious steps."

According to Erdogan, Gulen's supporters from the Fethullahist Terrorist Organization/Parallel State Structure (FETO), whom Ankara deems as terrorists, are using all the means and resources available to prevent the extradition of the cleric.

An attempted military coup took place in Turkey on July 15. It was suppressed the following day. Turkish authorities have accused Gulen of having incited the coup and have demanded his extradition from the United States.

Following the coup, thousands of people, mostly officials, legal and educational workers, were detained or dismissed over alleged ties to Gulen or his supporters' movement.

 Sputnik

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French President Hollande urges detailed road map on Ukrainian conflict

Iran Press TV

Thu Oct 13, 2016 2:18PM

French President Francois Hollande has called for a detailed road map for the settlement of the Ukrainian conflict.

Hollande's office issued a statement on Thursday, calling on all parties involved in the Ukrainian conflict to put efforts in drawing up a road map for peace.

The statement said the aim of such a road map would be to clearly set out the steps required for "the reestablishment of Ukraine's control of its border with Russia."

The call came after Hollande held telephone talks with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko.

Also on Wednesday, the French president spoke with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Russian President Vladimir Putin, calling on them to participate in an initiative aimed at organizing a summit on the Ukrainian conflict.

The Kremlin said on Thursday that it sees a chance of holding a "Normandy format" summit on the Ukraine conflict in the German capital of Berlin on October 19.

"Meetings of experts will be held, and a pretty serious discussion will take place. If these expert meetings end with a positive result, there will appear such a chance (for the summit)," Kremlin spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, told a conference call with reporters.

The so-called Normandy Four, which consists of Germany, France, Russia and Ukraine, have met periodically since June 2014, seeking to resolve the crisis in Ukraine's eastern regions.

This comes as Germany has played down the prospect of a summit on Ukraine, with Merkel's spokesman saying further work was needed by advisers before any meeting was possible.

France, Germany, Russia and Ukraine are parties to a peace agreement signed in the Belarusian capital of Mink in February 2015. The deal was expected to put an end to months of violence in the eastern parts of Ukraine, which has claimed the lives of more than 6,500. Hostilities largely subsided through the deal but sporadic clashes continued between Ukrainian troops and pro-Russia forces, leading to a further 3,000 life losses.

Kiev blames the prolonged conflict on Moscow, saying Russia still supports forces fighting in the east. Russia denies any direct involvement, but says it will continue to support the ethnic Russian population of Ukraine's east against the suppression of the government.

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Antonio Guterres appointed next UN Secretary-General by acclamation

13 October 2016  The General Assembly today appointed by acclamation the former Prime Minister of Portugal, Antonio Guterres, as the next United Nations Secretary-General, to succeed Ban Ki-moon when he steps down on 31 December.

Mr. Guterres, aged 67, was Prime Minister of Portugal from 1995 to 2002, and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees from June 2005 to December 2015. He will become the world's top diplomat on 1 January 2017, and hold that post for the next five years.

Adopting a consensus resolution put forward by its President, Peter Thomson, the Assembly acted on the recommendation on the UN Security Council, which on 6 October forwarded Mr. Guterres' name to the 193-member body as its nominee for UN Secretary-General for a five-year period, ending 31 December 2021.

Ten years to the day after his own appointment as Secretary-General, Mr. Ban said: "Secretary-General-elect Guterres is well known to all of us in the hall. But he is perhaps best known where it counts most: on the frontlines of armed conflict and humanitarian suffering," referring to his time as head of the UN refugee agency.

Noting that he has long valued his advice, and long admired his spirit of service, Mr. Ban declared: "He is a wonderful choice to steer this Organization as we build on the progress of the past decade, while addressing the insecurity and uncertainties of today's world."

Frederick Musiiwa Makamure Shava, President of the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), also congratulated Mr. Guterres on his election, saying that the Secretary-General-designate "is a strong humanitarian advocate and a successful leader," and that he looks forward to working with him.

The Assembly's resolution also welcomed the historic process Member States set in motion late last year: the selection of a new United Nations Secretary-General, traditionally decided behind closed-doors by a few powerful countries, has for the first time in history, involved public discussions with each candidate campaigning for the world's top diplomatic post.

These so-called 'informal briefings' between the candidates, UN Member States and civil society representatives kicked off on 12 April, when the first three candidates presented their 'vision statements' and answered questions on how they would promote sustainable development, improve efforts to create peace, protect human rights, and deal with huge humanitarian catastrophes should they be selected to lead the Organization.

Mr. Ban also praised UN Member States for the selection process and emphasized that it "opened the [selection] process to the world."

He further noted that the new steps taken this year established a new benchmark of openness and engagement.

The selection process included, for the first time in the history of the Organization, public hearings with the General Assembly where candidates presented their vision and responded to the questions fielded by the Member States. These informal hearings were also televised and webcast.

The process started off with a joint call from the Presidents of the General Assembly and the Security Council formally soliciting candidates and from the outset, acknowledged the importance of geographic and gender balance in senior posts.

For his part, Assembly President Thomson highlighted that the selection process underscored the principles of transparency and inclusivity.

"It was a process that specifically sought out candidates who embody a firm commitment to the purposes and principles of the [UN] Charter; who exemplify the highest standards of efficiency, competence, and integrity; and who have proven leadership and managerial abilities, extensive experience in international relations, and strong diplomatic, communication and multilingual skills," said Mr. Thomson in his remarks.

"I am confident that Mr. Guterres will serve the global community with dedication, as a moral authority, and be the voice of our collective conscience and humanity, throughout his term," he added.

Assuring the Secretary-General-designate of his full support throughout the present session of the General Assembly, the body's President stressed that he would do everything within his power to facilitate a smooth transition.

In this context, Mr. Guterres will be participating in a meeting called by President Thomson, on 19 October, to discuss with the General Assembly the critical, priority and emerging issues for the global Organization.

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Political prisoner, activist, journalist, hymn-writer, emerging think tanker, aspiring novelist, "tribal elder", parliamentary candidate for North West Durham, Shadow Leader of the Opposition, Speedboat, proudly banned from Twitter so officially more dangerous than the Taliban, eagerly awaiting the second (or possibly third) attempt to murder me.
Portugal's Guterres Formally Approved as Next UN Chief

By Margaret Besheer October 13, 2016

The United Nations has formally approved its next Secretary-General. Antonio Guterres of Portugal will become the world body's ninth leader on January first, succeeding Ban Ki-moon, who leaves office at the end of this year.

The former Portuguese prime minister and former U.N. refugee agency chief said he feels humility and gratitude, as well as a profound sense of responsibility in the face of so many global challenges.

"The dramatic problems of today's complex world can only inspire a humble approach  one in which the secretary-general alone neither has all the answers, nor seeks to impose his views; one in which the secretary-general makes his good offices available, working as a convener, a mediator, a bridge-builder and an honest broker to help find solutions that benefit everyone involved," he said Thursday.

Guterres, who is 67-years old, was selected over 12 other candidates during a 10-month-long process that, for the first time, took place in the public eye and included an equal number of women candidates.

He told VOA in an interview during his campaign that he was running for the top U.N. job because he wanted to "create the conditions for solutions" to global challenges.

Members of the United Nations widely praised the nomination of Guterres, with Russia's U.N. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin calling him "a great choice."

"He's a high level politician. He's been prime minister of his country. He is a person who talks to everybody, listens to everybody, speaks his mind; very outgoing, I think open person," Churkin said of Guterres after his initial nomination.

Ban also called Guterres a "superb choice" for secretary-general.

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Four Malaysian mobile operators say they have agreed to use the governments state-owned 5G network, paving the way for an increased rollout in the country.
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The 500 block of Craghead Street is in the middle of a $10 million renovation, encompassing eight of the nine buildings on the block  all purchased by Rick Barker Properties over the past two years.

On Wednesday, Barker officially announced each building will go through design, demolition and construction phases, with two already through design and demolition and now under construction.

Those buildings are:

 the Hughes Building at 528-532 Craghead St., built around 1909; and

 the Venable Building at 534-536 Craghead St., built around 1904.

The former tobacco factory at 518 Craghead St., built around 1876, is going into the design phase, Barker said, while facade improvements are being made to two other buildings:

 the Elbridges Drug Store Building at 548 Craghead St., built around 1910; and

 the Swift & Company Building, at 550 Craghead St., built around 1910.

Plans call for each building to be restored to the same design and construction standard established in 2015 at 554 Craghead St., Barker said.

Barker first completed the first floor of 554 Craghead St., the former Piedmont Hardware Building, where he headquartered his company, Supply Resources, last year. He said the support he received for the renovation of the Piedmont Hardware Building encouraged him to take on further projects.

Architect Mark Smith said in an emailed statement that redevelopment of an entire block is rare with a single developer, and said his company is excited to be part of the project.

The opportunity to work in collaboration with Rick Barker Properties and the city of Danville has been gratifying for our firm, Smith said. The desire to bring an under-utilized section of Craghead Street back to a cohesive block of businesses and residential living is another piece to Danvilles revitalization.

Smith said the combination of public and private investment has created a gold rush effect to the River District.

[In] my opinion, the critical mass of enthusiasm from developers, businesses, community and government are being solidified into a tangible result of buildings and public activity, Smith said. We saw this similar effect in Lynchburg, my hometown, approximately 10 years ago and we have been enjoying these results as a community.

Financing

Barker estimates his total investment in the 500 block of Craghead Street will exceed $10 million.

Renovating old, historic buildings is more expensive than simply tearing them down and starting over, Telly Tucker, Danvilles director of economic development said.

In order to preserve historic buildings, local, state and federal incentives are available to help developers interested in saving old buildings.

Barker said he will take advantage of all financing options available, including local River District Enhancement and Downtown Development grants, Virginia Enterprise Zone grants and state and federal historic tax credits.

Tucker said Barkers project will qualify for Downtown Development Grants, which typically reimburse developers for 5 percent of their capital improvement costs  or $50,000 for each $1 million of investment.

The reimbursement wont happen all at once, since Barkers project will be phased over time and would be paid as each phase is completed, Tucker said.

However, the city would soon recover its investment, Tucker said, because these projects increase the taxable value of the buildings, provide jobs and bring other tax benefits to the city from sales, meal and other taxes.

Well see a return on our investment in three to five years, sometimes sooner, Tucker said.

Tenants in the buildings might be eligible for River District Enhancement Grants  but only if they are new businesses to the region or would not be direct competitors to existing businesses, Tucker said.

Existing businesses would also not be eligible for the incentive, since that would take them away from the neighborhoods where they already do business.

Were not interested in creating a vibrant downtown at the cost of other areas in the city, Tucker said.

Whats next

The Hughes and Venable buildings together will offer four storefronts at street level and nine apartments on the upper floors, which will be completed in early 2017. The other buildings are also planned for mixed use, with details to follow after the design stage.

There also is construction underway on the second floor of 554 Craghead St., and its future tenant was also announced Wednesday.

BB&T Scott & Stringfellow  a national financial services company  will move from its current location on Crown Drive to the second floor of the former Piedmont Hardware Building at 554 Craghead St. According to a news release from the company, they expect the relocation to be completed by Dec. 5.

The company has an application for sign approval before the River District Design Commission on Thursday, asking permission to hang signs on both sides of the building, not on the front.

We dont want to be just another office within the community; we want our office to be an integral part of the community we serve, W. Townes Lea Jr., branch manager of the Danville office, said in a news release.

This move marks BB&T Scott & Stringfellows return to downtown Danville. The company was once housed at the now-vacant office/warehouse building at 201 Patton St.

Its great to see downtown Danvilles former business anchors returning to our citys vibrant downtown, Barker said, noting that he is glad to welcome the company as the Craghead-500 Block Projects first tenant. The second floor has been custom designed for BB&T Scott & Stringfellows employees and clients to maximize their River District experience.

Tucker also welcomed the company to the River District.

An announcement of this significance, by a national leader in [the] financial services industry, continues to give the city confidence and validation that the investments being made in downtown are worthwhile and will provide future economic impact for the city and the region, Tucker said.

Barker said he has several additional tenant announcements planned for the remainder of this year, but is not yet prepared to release details or names of those tenants.

Ultimately, we will have a vibrant block that is pedestrian friendly, with ample parking, within walking distance to the River Districts major assets, Barker said. We are excited to return these buildings to their former early 20th-century glory, while creating homes for new, dynamic 21st-century businesses.

Parking

Parking is not expected to be an issue on this block. Barker said the Industrial Development Authority plans to create a 90-space, public parking lot between Craghead and Lynn streets, backing up to the block.

Tucker said the parking lot is in the design phase and will be planned for construction to coincide with Barkers development  though it will be able to be used by people visiting other properties as well.

We looked at what else, what other developments, could be coming in the future. Tucker said. This will provide more than Barkers project will need, and can be used, for instance, by people going to [Ballad Brewing], the project announced a couple of weeks ago for 600 Craghead.
A 9-year-old girl was hit by an SUV while crossing Westover Drive to get on a school bus Thursday morning.

Danville police and emergency crews responded to the 3500 block of Westover Drive at about 7:30 a.m., according to a news release. The school bus had stopped and all warning markers and signs were visible and lighted when the accident occurred, police said.

The SUV driver was identified as David Drake, 63 of Bassett. Police charged him with failing to yield to a stopped school bus.

The unidentified student was transported to Danville Regional Medical Center by the Danville Life Saving Crew for treatment of injuries that police said appeared to be superficial at the scene.

Police dont have statistics on the number of times cars fail to stop for school buses in Danville. School safety officials did not return calls from the Danville Register & Bee on Thursday.

If it happens once, thats too many, said Danville Police Capt. Dennis Haley.
New U.K. Treasury chief Jeremy Hunt has reversed most of an economic package announced by the government just weeks ago, including a planned cut in income taxes. Hunt said Monday he was scrapping almost all the tax cuts announced last month by the Conservative government of Prime Minister Liz Truss, and also signaled that public spending cuts are on the way. It was a bid to soothe turbulent financial markets spooked by fears of excessive government borrowing. The move raises questions about how long the beleaguered prime minister can stay in office, though Truss insisted she has no plans to quit. She vowed to lead the Conservatives into the next general election, but many in the party want her gone.
Roanoke's largest mall will be closed on Thanksgiving.

Valley View Mall owner CBL & Associates Properties Inc. of Chattanooga, Tennessee, said Wednesday that it would close most of its shopping centers on Thanksgiving Day and open at 6 a.m. on Black Friday.

We want to bring back the excitement of Black Friday shopping as the true start of the holiday shopping season and allow our employees, retailers and shoppers to spend the Thanksgiving holiday with their families, Stephen Lebovitz, president and CEO of CBL, said in a news release. After evaluating feedback from our mall employees, retail partners and input from our shoppers we determined that this was the best decision for our properties.

Department stores and retailers with their own outside entrances will have the option to open on Thanksgiving. However, access to mall common areas will be restricted until Friday morning, CBL said.

CBL manages 144 properties, including 89 malls. The announcement comes just a week after Mall of America, the largest U.S. mall, announced it would close on Thanksgiving Day.

For the past few years, Valley View and many other U.S. shopping centers have opened earlier and earlier to accommodate shoppers on Thanksgiving Day. However, this has also drawn a lot of criticism from people who believe that shopping interrupts the holiday.

Last year, many of the national chains at the mall, including exterior tenants such as Macy's, Sears, Belk and JCPenney, were open on Thanksgiving Day. Valley View Mall management said 74 stores opened on Thanksgiving last year and 32 remained closed. It was unclear on Wednesday which stores with exterior entrances will choose to open this year.
VANCOUVER, Oct. 13, 2016 - Bravura Ventures Corp. ("Bravura" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that the Company has finalized the Option Agreement on the Musgrove Creek Property dated September 2, 2016 with Soleil Gold Corp. ( the "Optionor"), whereby the Optionor granted the Company an option (the "Option") to acquire an undivided 100% interest in and to certain mineral properties, together with the surface rights, mineral rights, personal property and permits associated therewith (collectively, the "Musgrove Creek Property" or the "Property"), located in Lemhi County, Idaho.

Further to the Company's news release dated September 6, 2016. The Option is exercisable by the Company paying to the Optionor an aggregate amount of $20,000 and 1 million common shares. The Company will have the option to own 100% of the Property and all attendant mining rights to the claims. The Property is subject to a 2% net smelter royalty (the "Royalty") on future gold production which includes advance royalty payments of $25,000 annually on September 1, beginning in 2020 to Soleil.

About Musgrove Creek

Musgrove Creek is a gold exploration project located in Lemhi County, Idaho consisting of 47 claims with a total area of 916.8 acres (457.1 ha) . Musgrove Creek contains a historical inferred mineral resource estimate of 8 million tonnes at 1.22 g/t Au (0.036 oz/ton) at a gold cut-off of 0.8 g/t (0.023 oz/ton), equivalent to 9,761 kg (313,822 oz) of gold at zero dilution. This estimate was calculated by Mr. David Makepeace, P. Eng. Of Geospectrum Engineering, and detailed in the "Technical Report on the Musgrove Creek Gold Project", by Gruenwald W. and Makepeace, D. for Wave Exploration Corp (Feb., 25, 2004). The Company views this inferred resource estimate as historical in nature, and is not treating this estimate as a current mineral resource. Insufficient work has been conducted on the property by a qualified person to verify and classify this as a current mineral resource. Additional drilling is required to verify and upgrade the status of this preliminary resource estimate and it should not be relied upon until supported by an updated and compliant NI 43-101 technical report.

Qualified Person - Robert M. Hatch, Registered Geologist, is the Qualified Person as defined in National Instrument 43-101, that has reviewed and approved the contents of this press release.

BRAVURA VENTURES CORP.

"Greg Burns"

_______________________

Greg Burns, Director

Caution Regarding Forward-Looking Statements  This news release contains certain forward-looking statements, including statements regarding the business and anticipated financial performance of the Company. These statements relate to future events or future performance. The use of any of the words "could", "intend", "expect", "believe", "will", "should", "projected", "if", "estimated" and similar expressions and statements relating to matters that are not historical facts are intended to identify forward-looking information and are based on the Company's current belief or assumptions as to the outcome and timing of such future events. These statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially from results contemplated by the forward-looking statements. When relying on forward-looking statements to make decisions, investors and others should carefully consider the foregoing factors and other uncertainties and should not place undue reliance on such forward-looking statements. The Company does not undertake to update any forward looking statements, oral or written, made by itself or on its behalf except as required by law.

SOURCE Bravura Ventures Corp.







Contact

800 - 1199 West Hastings Street, Vancouver, British Columbia, V6E 3T5, Tel.: 604.283.1722 / Fax: 1.888.241.5996


VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / October 13, 2016 / Iconic Minerals Ltd. (TSXV: ICM) (OTC: BVTEF) (FSE: YQGB) (the "Company" or "Iconic"), announces that, subject to approval by the TSX Venture Exchange, it has entered into two Lithium Property Option Agreements with a non-arms' length vendor (the "Vendor") to acquire a 100% interest totaling 1,185 placer mining claims comprising 23,700 acres in Nevada ("Properties").

Pursuant to the Agreement, Iconic may earn its 100% interest in the Properties by: (a) reimbursing the Vendor for all documented expenses, not to exceed US$40,000 for each Property; (b) expending initial and annual claim filing fees and expenses being, US$133,100 for the first Property ("Property A") and US$193,000 for the second Property ( "Property B"); and (c) also expending for exploration and development on each Property in the first year US$200,000, second year US$500,000, third year US$500,000 and fourth year US$1,000,000, totaling US$2,000,000 for each Property; in total, the "Expenditures".

Upon payment of the Expenditures, the options will be deemed exercised by the Company, and the Vendor will then transfer ownership in each Property to the Company, with the exception of the following; (a) a 4.5% Net Smelter Return payable to the Vendor or its designated assignees with respect to each Property, 1.5% of which the Company shall have the right to buy back from the Vendor within 90 days of either Property going into production for US$2,000,000, and an additional 1.5% of which the Company shall have the right to buy back from the Vendor within 180 days of the Property going into production for US$4,000,000; and (b) a cash payment of US$1,000,000 to be made by the Company to the Vendor upon the Property attaining commercial production.

Summary of Additional Lithium Brine Properties:

Property A is a lithium brine target, which is located within a valley that is over 40 miles (64 km) long and averages 9 miles (14.5 km) wide into which streams from a 582 mi2 (1,507 km2) drainage basin empty. The source rocks are quartz-rich volcanics that contain anomalous amounts of lithium. Sampling of salt deposits down-slope from active thermal hot springs resulted in lithium values ranging from 110 to 470 ppm. A gravity low within the valley is 9 miles (14.5 km) long. The current claim block covers the gravity low.

Property B is also a lithium brine target, and is located within a valley that is over 34 miles (55 km) long and averages 7 miles (11 km) wide into which streams from a 595 mi2 (1,541 km2) drainage basin empty. The source rocks are also quartz-rich volcanics that contain anomalous amounts of lithium. Sampling of salt deposits in the basin found lithium values ranging from 60 to 510 ppm. The highest lithium value of samples taken, being 510 ppm, was taken down-slope from active thermal hot springs. A gravity low within the valley is over 10 miles (16 km) long. The current claim block covers the gravity low.

Final arrangements are currently being scheduled to conduct magnetotellurics (MT) surveys over both properties to define potential brine horizons.

Exploration Update Bonnie Claire Project; Test Well BC1602

Iconic is pleased to report that the drilling of the second test well, BC1602, is on schedule and is currently at a depth of 1,500 feet (457 m). The drill hole has intersected several sandy horizons separated by mudstone as well as one thin tuff unit. Conductivity and temperature are continuing to increase with depth. BC1602 is targeted to be drilled to a total depth of 2,000 feet (610 m) after which the well will be cased with perforated PVC, cleaned, and the brine sampled.

Richard Kern, Certified Professional Geologist (#11494) and CEO of Iconic is the Qualified Person who has prepared and reviewed this press release in accordance with NI 43-101 reporting standards.

Iconic's Bonnie Claire Lithium Property:

The Property is 23,100 acres located within a valley that is approximately 19 miles (30 km) long and 12 miles (20 km) wide, the associated drainage basin covers an area of 800 sq mi (2,070 square km). Quartz-rich volcanic rocks, that contain anomalous amounts of lithium, occur within and adjacent to the drainage basin. Geochemical analysis of the local salt flats has yielded lithium values up to 340 ppm, including lithium values yielding up to 500 ppm which were performed by USGS (US Geological Surveys). The gravity low within the valley is 12 miles (20 km) long, the current estimates of the depth to bedrock range from 600 to 900 meters (2,000 to 3,000 feet). The current claim block covers the gravity low and the associated mud flats.

On behalf of the Board of Directors

SIGNED: "Richard Kern"

Richard Kern, President and CEO

Keturah Nathe, VP Corporate Development

Contact: (604) 718-2800 ext. 312

For further information on ICM, please visit our website at www.iconicmineralsltd.com. The Company's public documents may be accessed at www.sedar.com.

Forward Statement: This news release includes certain forward-looking statements or information. All statements other than statements of historical fact included in this release are forward-looking statements that involve various 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. Iconic expressly disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise except as otherwise required by applicable securities legislation.

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.

SOURCE: Iconic Minerals Ltd.
RIMOUSKI, QUEBEC--(Marketwired - Oct 13, 2016) - Puma Exploration (TSX VENTURE:PUM)(SSE:PUMA) is pleased to announce that it has executed an asset purchase agreement with Votorantim Metals Canada Inc. and signed a letter of intent with El Nino Ventures (ELN-V) to acquire, respectively, approximatively 67.9% and 32.1% beneficial interest in the Murray Brook Zn-Pb-Cu-Ag Volcanogenic Massive Sulphide ("VMS") deposit located in the famous Bathurst Mining Camp ("BMC") of northern New Brunswick. The Murray Brook property consists of Mining Lease 252 and contiguous Mineral Claim Block 4925 (245 claims) located 4 km west of the producing Caribou Mine, which is owned and operated by Trevali Mining Corp.. Both of the aforementioned transactions are expected to close on or about November 15th, 2016.

HIGHLIGHTS:

 The Murray Brook deposit contains historical resources of 1 billion pounds (lbs) of zinc, 183 million lbs of copper, 390 million lbs of lead, 23.9 million ounces ("oz") silver and 338,000 oz. of gold within historical Measured and indicated Resources of 17,884,000 tons @ 2.73% Zn, 0.47% Cu, 0.99% Pb, 41.7 grams per ton ("g/t Ag") and 0.59 g/T Au. The historical resource estimates were prepared for Votorantim Metals Canada Inc in accordance with NI43-101. in 2012 from 132 holes and use terminology compliant with current reporting standards. Puma has not made any attempt to re-classify the estimates according to current standards of disclosure and is not treating the estimate as current mineral resources or mineral reserves. Investors are cautioned that "historical resources" are considered conceptual in nature and there is no guarantee that historic "potential resources" will be able to be converted into current NI43-101 resource categories or demonstrate economic viability. A qualified person has no done sufficient work to classify the historical estimate as current mineral resources.

 Preliminary metallurgical tests indicated recoveries of up to 88% zinc.

 Gravity and soil geochemical targets exist along strike from the Murray Brook deposit and there are high priority drill-ready targets in favorable stratigraphy and along strike from the nearby Caribou Mine within Mineral Claim Block 4925.

Marcel Robillard, president of Puma, said "I am very pleased that we have been able to reach agreement with Votorantim Metals Canada Inc. and El Nino Ventures Inc. to acquire 100% of the Murray Brook deposit and look forward to completing the definite transactions by November 15th, 2016. The next step will be to update the historical Resources Estimate done in 2012 and the PEA released in 2013 to show the actual metal prices. This acquisition is another step to become a leader in Zinc Exploration in New Brunswick and it is a substantial addition to our portfolio of base metals projects in New Brunswick, which include the Turgeon, Nicholas-Denys and the newly acquired Red Brook projects."

The Murray Brook VMS deposit is hosted within a sheath fold; enveloped by a halo of chlorite-sericite alteration. There are 2 distinct lenses to the deposit; a western lens, which is deeper and zinc-rich, and an eastern lens that is shallower and copper-rich with some zinc. The bottom of the deposit is approximately 350 meters below surface.

Table 2. Selected drill-hole intersections at Murray Brook Deposit

Hole ID From

(m) To

(m) Interval

(m) Cu

% Pb

% Zn

% Au

(g/t) Ag

(g/t) MB-2012-138 182.00 226.00 44.00 0.19 4.90 9.16 0.68 164 MB-2011-52 181.00 224.00 43.00 0.29 3.64 8.51 0.99 118 MB-2012-132 165.00 200.00 35.00 0.14 3.48 10.35 1.36 121 MB-2012-110 108.00 154.00 46.00 0.08 1.46 6.96 0.23 57 MB-2011-49 118.00 157.00 39.00 0.32 3.22 7.67 1.39 120 MB-2012-107 60.00 93.00 33.00 0.10 2.63 8.66 0.33 109 MB-2012-70 211.00 234.00 23.00 0.41 4.74 11.94 1.56 153 MB-2012-90 165.00 189.00 24.00 0.13 4.22 11.10 0.74 160 MB-10-16 44.00 71.00 27.00 0.47 3.39 9.56 0.12 122 MB-2011-39 190.00 210.00 20.00 0.18 3.82 10.90 1.34 115 MB-2011-30 55.00 78.00 23.00 0.14 3.03 8.93 0.46 131

The Murray Brook VMS deposit is hosted within sedimentary rocks of the Mount Brittain formation. Recent geological mapping has identified exposures of the same rocks to the east of the deposit (on Mineral Claim Block 4925), that have not been recognized in the past. Notably, several gravity anomalies defined by a recent ground survey as well as a number of lead-zinc in-soil anomalies are coincident with the mapped exposures of the Mount Brittain formation and provide excellent targets for diamond drilling in efforts to find additional mineralization. Of note, the Murray Brook VMS deposit shows up prominently as a strong gravity anomaly coincident with strong lead and zinc in-soil values. Additionally, large-loop electromagnetic surveys (Pulse EM) are warranted in the immediate locale of the deposit itself and along strike from it, to assist in finding satellite deposits to the known mineralization.

Terms of the transactions:

Puma will acquire Votorantim Metals Canada Inc.'s 67.9% beneficial interest and El Nino Ventures Inc.'s 32.1% beneficial interests in the Murray Brook property by concluding two (2) distinct transactions.

To acquire Votorantim Metals Canada interest (67.9%)

a. C$1.0 million upon closing (no later than November 15th, 2016)

b. C$2.0 million payable 12 months from closing

c. C$3.0 million upon the earliest of commercial production or September 30th, 2019,

plus a laddered NSR starting at 0.25% at a zinc price of US$1.04/lb and increasing, in increments of 0.25%, to a maximum of 1.75% above US$1.50/lb Zn in relation to 67.9% of the production from the Murray Brook Property, which includes the Mining Lease and the Camel Back claims, for actual Murray Brook deposit and any new discovery for their respective life of mine.

Additionally, Puma will assume and fund Votorantim Metals Canada Inc.'s liability for the C$2 million Environmental Bond Letter of Credit with the New Brunswick government and assume the C$3 million + 0.25% NSR or the 1% NSR, December 2017 option payment obligation to Murray Brook Minerals.

To acquire El Nino Ventures's interest (32.1%)

a. C$50,000 non-refundable deposit to be paid 10 days following the waiver of the ROFR from El Nino. This deposit becomes binding on receipt of the waiver of the ROFR from El Nino.

b. C$0.6 million upon closing of this transaction (no later than Nov.15th, 2016)

c. C$0.4 million payable six (6) months after the closing (no later than May.15th, 2017)

d. C$1.0 million payable twelve (12) months from closing (no later than Nov.15th, 2017)

e. C$1.0 million payable twelve (24) months from closing (no later than Nov.15th, 2018)

f. 2,000,000 warrants given the right to buy 2,000,000 Puma's ordinary shares expiring 3 year after the closing of the transaction based on the following exercise prices:

1) 0 to Year 1 (Nov 15, 2017): Equal to the price of the acquisition equity financing;

2) Year 1 to Year 2 (Nov 15, 2018): a 20% premium to the price indicated in 1) above;

3) Year 2 to Year 3: a 20% premium to the price indicated in 2) above,

plus a laddered NSR starting at 0.25% at a zinc price of US$1.04/lb and increasing, in increments of 0.25%, to a maximum of 1.75% above US$1.50/lb Zn in relation to 32% of the production from the Murray Brook Property, which includes the Mining Lease and the Camel Back claims, for actual Murray Brook deposit and any new discovery for their respectively LOM.

Votorantim Metals Canada Inc. will retain title to the project as security until the assumption of the environmental liability has been completed and Votorantim Metals Canada Inc.'s liability is released by the Government of New Brunswick.

About BMC

The BMC is a well-established mining district hosting numerous mines with infrastructures mines and deposits including the Brunswick No. 12 deposit, having produced zinc, lead, silver and gold for well over 60 years. In addition to Brunswick No. 12, there are more than 30 other massive sulphide deposits and numerous prospects in the BMC, attesting to its vast world-class endowment and mineral potential.

About Puma Exploration

Puma Exploration is a Canadian mineral exploration company with advanced precious and base metals projects in Canada. The Company's major assets are the Turgeon Zinc-Copper Project and the Nicholas-Denys Project in New Brunswick and their equity interest in BWR as related to the Little Stull Lake Gold Project in Manitoba. Puma is focusing its exploration efforts in New Brunswick. Canada.

To view the maps associated with this press release, please visit the following links:

Puma Exploration Acquisition: http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/490_Acquisition.pdf

Geophysical Targets on Murray Brook Claims: http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/490_GphTargets.pdf

You can visit us on Facebook and Twitter.

Learn more by clicking here: www.pumaexploration.com

The contents of this press release were prepared by Dominique Gagne. PGeo. a Qualified Person as defined in NI 43-101. Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Forward-Looking Statements: This press release may contain forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements involve a number of known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of Puma Exploration Inc. to be materially different from actual future results and achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements which speak only as of the date the statements were made, except as required by law. Puma Exploration undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties are described in the quarterly and annual reports and in the documents submitted to the securities administration.
SHARE Contributed Photo E. Keyes Fawcett was part of a group of men who herded 3,000 sheep from Yorktown in 1883.

Fawcett told story of area's sheep men

By Jerry Lackey

There still are markings on the cave wall where Erasmus Keyes Fawcett first lived on Dolan Creek near Loma Alta in Val Verde County.

Fawcett was part of a group of young men who herded 3,000 sheep ? earning $15 per month ? from Yorktown under the leadership of George W. Ames in 1883. They called the primitive dwellings the "centipede cave" because the insects were numerous and troublesome.

"Dolan Creek at that time was absolutely wild," Fawcett told a newspaper reporter years later.

Fawcett was born June 15, 1865, in Mississippi to the E.R. Fawcetts. He was a small boy when his family settled in Gonzales County. Two uncles, Willis Fawcett and Keyes Fawcett, had pioneered to Travis County before the Civil War.

Ambitious and determined, young Fawcett eventually would become a prominent rancher in the Devils River country and establish a 58,000-acre spread of his own. He was the first man to put up fences, which consisted of more than 150 miles of line and cross fence. In the peak years, he ran more than 20,000 head of sheep and goats.

"Sheep men were not considered of any importance in those days," he told an Abilene writer for the West Texas Chamber magazine in June 1939. "In fact they were thought little better than a 'pelon' dog. Young men of Del Rio had never heard of sheep men when I first came there and after they did hear of them, the customary title for them was 'damnsheepmen.'

"There were only a few ranchmen at that time. Del Rio itself was made up of farmers who worked along the irrigation ditch to supply the army camp stationed above the San Felipe Springs and Fort Clark at Brackettville," he said. "There was nothing above the ditch except the depot. H.M. Block had his post office in a little adobe building near the place.

"John Glynn was one of the few ranchmen in those days. He had a ranch about 13 miles out of town and there was a ranch west of Devils River called Castle Canyon Ranch.

"In those days the Fielder Brothers were the big operators in this country. They owned a large flock of sheep and ranched on the Pecos (River). The biggest operator at that time was Pat Thompson. He had large flocks between Eagle Pass and Spofford," Fawcett said.

He said sheep were sheared twice a year by hand in the early days. The Val Verde County wool was shipped to Corpus Christi. It was sold for 15 cents per pound, which was considered "an extra good price" during that period.

Later, San Antonio became a shipping point when T.F. Frost ? the father of Frost National Bank in San Antonio ? was the principal wool commission man of Texas.

A newspaper report June 10, 1934, said: "One of the most famous wool clips in the United States is that of E.K. Fawcett, president of the Del Rio Wool and Mohair Company. His method of putting up his wool makes the wool buyers think pleasant thoughts and on arrival at the warehouse they ask to see his clip. It is tagged well and off wools are placed by themselves."

Charles Dissler brought the first goats to Val Verde County from Kimble County in 1885 or 1886, Fawcett said. He brought 10 nannies and one billy.

In 1902, E.K. Fawcett married Frances Eliza Baker in Val Verde County. The daughter of D.S. Baker, a pioneer rancher, Frances was born on a ranch along the Nueces River. As a child, she moved with her parents to Baker Crossing on Devils River in Val Verde County.

E.K. and Frances Fawcett had six children: Horace, Walter, Elmer, Lee, Brancil Fawcett Finegan and Emma Fawcett Whitehead.

The Fawcetts had their ranch home 60 miles north of Del Rio, but also maintained a second home in Del Rio after 1917.

Fawcett served as the sixth president of the Texas Sheep & Goat Raisers' Association from 1923 to 1924. He was elected president of the Del Rio Chamber of Commerce and second vice president of the South Texas Chamber of Commerce in 1926.

In 1927, Fawcett was elected to the board of directors of the First National Bank of Del Rio. He was elected president of Abilene-based West Texas Chamber of Commerce in 1939.

He gave special interest to the Boy Scouts of America. Camp Fawcett near Barksdale amid cedar and hills above the Nueces River was named for him.

E.K. Fawcett died Sept. 21, 1941. Frances Fawcett died June 7, 1961.
Photos by Michael Chritton/Akron Beacon Journal/TNS Sue Williams stands on the front porch of her Lustron home, a prefab house made from steel built in 1950 by the Lustron Corp. of Columbus, in Canton, Ohio. Even the roof is metal.

SHARE Williams shows the ample closet and storage space in her home. Even the ceiling is metal and features radiant electric heat. The walls and ceiling are all metal in a Lustron home. Williams uses period pieces to furnish her Lustron home. Magnets cover most of a wall in Williams' Lustron home.

By Mary Beth Breckenridge, Akron Beacon Journal (TNS)

PERRY TOWNSHIP, Ohio  Sue Williams wasn't exactly impressed when she learned the little house down the street was a Lustron home.

She'd requested a showing when she saw the house was for sale, because she was interested in the big garage out back. When the agent mentioned it was a Lustron home and suggested she check out the enameled steel houses on the Internet, "I'm like, yeah, well, whatever," she recalled.

Now she's a convert.

Since 2009 the quirky cottage in Perry Township near Canton, Ohio, has been Williams' home. She embraces its compact layout, its steel interior walls and the optimism embodied by its forward-thinking, midcentury style.

The house is one of 68 that Cleveland photographer Charles Mintz profiles in "Lustron Stories," a book recently released by Trillium Books, a division of the Ohio State University Press.

Mintz explores what it's like to live in a Lustron home  and by extension, what it means to be a homeowner  by capturing images of the occupants in their no-nonsense dwellings.

Lustron houses were prefabricated homes manufactured in Columbus, Ohio, from 1948 to 1950. The mass-produced, easy-to-assemble structures were intended as a solution to the postwar housing shortage, but they never fulfilled that promise.

Only about 2,680 of the homes were built before the Lustron Corp. went bankrupt in 1950. Williams' is one of roughly 1,500 that survive.

Lustron produced eight models, all of them boxy, one-story designs. The houses were made entirely from steel, right down to their frames, and the exterior surfaces had glass baked on for durability.

Those features were meant to make Lustron homes easy to maintain, but they also make the houses hard to update. You can't just call a painter to change your house color, Mintz said. You can't cut a hole in the exterior to add a modern feature like central air conditioning, because the glass coating will shatter.

"It's almost like having a pet," he said  lovable, but not without challenges.

Mintz's idea for photographing the houses and their owners grew from his dealings with the Ohio History Connection and his fascination with a Lustron home that had been reconstructed inside the historical society's Ohio History Center. The book started as a photography exhibit, which was first shown in 2015 in Louisville, Ky., and then at the center in Columbus.

His intention was to show that, to their owners, "these homes are not just where I eat and sleep and keep my bowling ball," he said. "There's real meaning here."

Working from online databases of Lustron homes, Mintz wrote to homeowners, asking permission to interview and photograph them. A lot of the letters were ignored, he said. One was returned with "This is identity theft" written on the envelope.

But some of the recipients opened their homes to him and even recruited other owners of Lustron houses to participate. A sort of community grew up around the project.

"They care about each other," he said. "They care about me. They care about what I'm doing. And that's pretty sweet."

Mintz tells the homeowners' stories only in photographs, supplemented by an introduction to the book and a history of Lustron homes. It's a spare approach to storytelling, one he considered more effective than pairing the pictures with words.

The images show the diversity of people who live in Lustron homes. There's an elderly couple holding hands on their early-American sofa. There are two women seated in an artfully decorated dinette, a contemporary drum light fixture suspended overhead. There's a middle-aged man sitting in a living room devoid of decoration, walls shabby and a lamp lying broken beneath a worn chair.

The homeowners included nuclear families, single people, folks with disabilities and one gay couple, Mintz said. Although few are people of color, he said the owners aren't necessarily the white, able-bodied, blue-collar families that Lustron homes were marketed to.

Williams is photographed in her living room, seated next to a blond wood console with a midcentury shelving unit above. On either side of the shelves are star-burst wall decorations she crafted from Styrofoam balls and wood dowels, spray-painted gold.

Williams has relished the chance to decorate the 990-square-foot house in period style, using secondhand finds, creativity and often, a healthy dose of humor.

Her shower curtain is made from grass skirts. Her living room curtains were once plain panels that she embellished with geometric patterns using fabric paint. A vintage couch and matching armchair upholstered in nubby frieze cost her $50 at the Salvation Army.

She even found retro turquoise appliances for her kitchen, including a range with push buttons to operate burners.

The look is kitschy and cheerful, but that's the point. Her nursing job at Affinity Medical Center in Massillon can be demanding, she said, and she wants her home to offer respite from the stress.

"That's the whole thing. It's fun," she said.

The house has what Williams called "totally weird" features, such as steel walls grooved as though they might be mistaken for paneling. But it also has a thoughtful, space-saving layout and such practical attributes as pocket doors, ample closets and halls wide enough to accommodate a wheelchair, should she ever need one.

"I'll be able to die in this house," she said with a throaty laugh.

She'll go out smiling.
Nest/TNS For your sparkling brunch buddies: Nest Grapefruit. This Nest Fragrance scent is the company's No. 2 best-seller year-round.

SHARE The Beach Walk Candle ($60) is not just an expert in fashion, the scented candle and fragrance combines fresh and radiant notes of bergamot, coconut milk, lemon, pink pepper, and musk to evoke memory. Maison Martin Margiela/TNS

By Bill Daley, Chicago Tribune (TNS)

Scented candles can help set a mood just as effectively as music, lighting, color and interior design. All you need is a match to spark the magic. But how do you go about buying scented candles?

"What will make me happy?" suggests Tim Rossi, director of communications and public relations for Nest Fragrances in New York. Find out which "fragrance family" suits you best  citrus, floral, gourmand for example  and zero in, says the self-described "citrus guy." Rossi recommends you sniff a candle both unlit and lit in judging the fragrance; your opinion might change.

"A scented candle is like a personal fragrance. It is, of course, personal,'' says Mary Wallace, North American marketing director for Diptyque, the Paris-based luxury goods company. She recommends you visit the store in person to smell for yourself.

Given a scented candle, like a personal fragrance, can be expensive, the points made by Rossi and Wallace are good to remember. Makers justify their prices by pointing to what's in the candles.

"The more elaborate the vessel, the more expensive the candle. But even simple vessels can house expensive candles  as quality fragrances are usually expensive to produce,'' wrote Andrew Goetz, co-founder of New York-based Malin+Goetz apothecary and lab, in an email forwarded by his publicist. "High quality wax and cotton wicks will also add to the expense. Lastly, if candles are hand poured in an artisanal manner  this too will drive up the cost of producing a great quality candle."

Scents, like almost everything, have their moments in the sun. What are the hot fragrances right now?

"I think we are seeing a lot of interest in floral inspired scents at the moment, but with a modern interpretation," wrote Goetz, who pointed to the company's Otto candle. "It's a rose at heart, but we've added noted of grapefruit and cardamom, along with some greenness coming from geranium, oak moss and vetiver, notes not traditionally associated with a traditional rose."

Wallace said a hot summer had consumers "pushing" the fall season by purchasing more autumnal scents. Feu de Bois (wood fire), Santal (sandalwood) and savory Vanille have been popular.

Should you burn more than one fragrance simultaneously?

"Absolutely, you can layer them or mix them," replied Wallace, suggesting a floral candle and something with a woodier scent profile; Roses with Feu de Bois, for instance, would create a beautiful warm aroma, he said.

At Malin+Goetz, the answer also would be yes, as the company's website encourages customers to burn the Mojito and Dark Rum candles at the same time.

"I'm all for mixing and matching complementary scents," Goetz wrote. "Mixing candles can really create a dynamic and editorialized experience."

As for burning scented candles during dinner  don't (usually).

Rossi, in a follow-up email, wrote that scented candles would "interfere with the dining experience" because the senses of taste and smell are linked.

"Burning our Pumpkin Chai candle at the dinner table, for example, while serving salmon will totally confuse one's senses. The candle won't smell right, and the fish won't taste right."

Still, Rossi did note that a "lightly scented" candle with "herb notes" (think wild tarragon, he suggested, or "hints" of thyme, rosemary and sage) can "actually enhance a dining experience. Otherwise, unscented is the way to go."
SHARE

By Staff Report

The San Angelo Police Department is searching for a man believed to have stabbed a 29-year-old San Angelo man during an early-morning assault Thursday.

About 4:30 a.m., police were dispatched to a residence in the 500 block of Upton Street for the report of a stabbing, according to a news release from the San Angelo Police Department.

Officers found the victim inside the residence, bleeding from multiple wounds. They provided first aid until paramedics arrived and took the victim to Shannon Medical Center, where he underwent surgery.

Detectives with the Criminal Investigations Division and Crime Scene Investigations personnel responded to the scene. Investigators learned the victim and a male suspect were in an altercation and the suspect used a bladed weapon to stab the victim, the release states.

Two other residents who were home during the assault were not injured.

No arrests had been made Thursday afternoon, and police were pursuing leads.

More information will be released when it becomes available, according to the release.
Letter to the editor: We must not allow subjugation of women citizens
SHARE

By Abilene Reporter-News

ABILENE - A Cooper High School teacher injured in an explosion Tuesday at the school was listed in critical condition Wednesday in a Lubbock hospital.

Bobby Williams was transferred from Hendrick Medical Center to University Medical Center on Tuesday. He was listed in critical condition, a spokesman for the Lubbock hospital said Wednesday.

The explosion occurred Tuesday morning in a vocational building while Williams was giving a welding demonstration. Six students were in the classroom, and four received hospital evaluations as a precaution at the request of their parents. All were released, according to an Abilene ISD spokesman.

According to a GoFundMe.com page set up to help Williams' family with medical expenses, the teacher was cutting open a 55-gallon drum when the explosion occurred.
Phillip Walter, left, and his attorney walk to the Callahan County Courthouse in Baird on Tuesday morning, Oct. 11, 2016. (Timothy Chipp / Abilene Reporter-News)

SHARE

By Timothy Chipp of the Abilene Reporter News

BAIRD  The fiancee of slain Abilene police officer Don Allen cried Wednesday while testifying about finding his body during the joint trial of the couple accused of strangling Allen in his Clyde home in August 2015.

Phillip and Violet Walter both are charged with first-degree murder, robbery and theft of a firearm, according to court documents.

Wednesday morning's proceedings began with emotional testimony by Sarha Waters, who recounted walking into the bedroom and seeing Allen, 27, on the floor  without pants and with his wrists and ankles bound and some form of clothing wrapped around his neck.

"I grabbed him and I yelled at him," Waters said through tears. "I called Jim (Allen, Don's father) and told him Don's dead and he needed to come over."

She said she then called 911 and police began arriving shortly after Jim Allen got to the house.

Jim Allen also broke down in tears as he testified Wednesday morning, recounting what happened next.

He said when he got the call he thought his son had fallen while trimming tree branches above his home on Yucca Drive. Earlier in the day, he said, Don had called him looking for a saw to cut the branches.

Instead, he found his son in a compromising position on his bedroom floor. Jim Allen said he fell to the floor in shock and grief.

"I just collapsed," he said. "I couldn't stand up."

He said he touched the body of his son, placing his cheek against Don's cheek. He said the body felt cold.

At that point, Jim Allen said, he stood up and told Waters they needed to leave the house and wait for police.

He said the pair exited the house just as Clyde police officer Brian Campbell and a trainee, Lyndsey Buchanan, arrived.

Buchanan testified Wednesday that Jim Allen told the officers his son was murdered and raped.

As the first responding officer, Campbell wrote up the report, Buchanan said, but he died of cancer this year.

Buchanan said she was tasked with securing the scene and limiting access to authorized personnel.

Others testifying Wednesday included William Simpson, an emergency medical technician who responded to the call, and Clyde police Sgt. David Wood, who processed the scene and took what he called "schematic photographs" of the outside and inside of Allen's home.

Detective Wallace McDaniel, a forensics officer with the Abilene Police Department, testified that he filmed a video of the scene, which was played for jurors.

After lunch, Callahan County District Attorney Shane Deel called two of Allen's neighbors to the stand.

Dennis Crane, Allen's neighbor to the east, testified to seeing what he called a suspicious vehicle parked on the street near his own mailbox, not in Allen's empty driveway, which tipped him off to something unusual.

He said he watched a man and a woman leave the vehicle and approach Allen's home, but he lost sight of them before they entered. He said he paid no mind to them until he heard car doors close and the vehicle drive away "45 minutes to an hour later."

Cody Cannon, who lives a few houses away from Allen on the west side, said he was driving home from work and had to avoid hitting the vehicle, which was parked a noticeable distance into the street from the side of the road.

After Cannon's testimony, Texas Ranger Danny Crawford was called to the stand.

Deel questioned Crawford about the investigation into Allen's death, including setting up a "command center" at the Abilene Police Department.

Crawford, who said he obtained search warrants for the defendants' cellphones, was asked by Deel about the definition of "hitting a lick." Crawford described it as essentially robbing or thieving for financial gain.

Deel also asked whether there were signs of forced entry at the Allen residence. Crawford said no, but it's his experience that forced entry doesn't matter in cases involving homicides.

"A majority of homicides are committed by people who know the victim or someone the victim explicitly trusts," Crawford said. "A lack of forced entry is not really (important)."

Crawford did say there appeared to be no evidence of a struggle on Allen's body.

As questioning shifted from Deel to defense attorneys Ken Leggett, representing Violet Walter, and Jeff Propst, representing Phillip Walter, the queries turned to the sexual nature of the case, including the Craigslist personal ad placed by Allen the month he died.

In court, Crawford read aloud the advertisement, which requests sexual acts that Propst termed "outside the mainstream." He asked Crawford to define some of the more explicit terms, describing specific acts, such as "pegging," to the jury.

Leggett questioned Crawford about the possibility that Allen simply accepted the risk of engaging in sexual acts featuring choking or gagging, both of which were requested in communications leading up to the fateful encounter in Allen's home Aug. 31, 2015, according to submitted emails.

"Is there a risk you might pass out?" Leggett asked.

Crawford responded in the affirmative.

"Is there a risk you might die?" Leggett inquired.

"Yes, sir," Crawford responded.

After Crawford's testimony, two APD detectives took the stand and testified that the Walters did take several items  namely PlayStation 4 video games, DVDs and a gold bracelet  from the Allen home and pawned them at Wild Bill's Pawnshop in Abilene the day Allen died.

Cory Morris from the pawnshop testified that he personally purchased the items in question from the Walters.

Proceedings are expected to resume at 9 a.m. Thursday in the 42nd District Court in Baird.
RICK WILKING/AFP/Getty Images In a USA Today survey of Republican governors and congress members, one-fourth have either withdrawn support for Donald Trump or had never backed him.

SHARE Todd Hunter Kolkhorst, R-Brenham, represents the Port Aransas area. She expressed disappointment in Trump's comments but continues to support his bid. Herrero Hunter Morrison

Trump still has backing of lawmakers

By John C. Moritz,Matt Woolbright And Chris Ramirez, Corpus Christi Caller-Times

More Republican Texas congressmen are stepping forward to denounce the recently uncovered vulgar remarks by Donald Trump from 2005 but they are still standing by their party's nominee for president.

"I cannot and will not defend the indefensible," U.S. Jeb Hensarling of Dallas, who is seeking his eighth term, said Wednesday. "Donald Trump's comments from nearly a decade ago are crude and offensive and should have never been uttered under any circumstance. It is only right that he offered his regrets and an apology."

Hensarling joined Arlington Republican Joe Barton, Texas' most senior lawmaker in Washington, and Houston's Pete Olson in expressing dismay for remarks that were captured in audio recordings with a television personality in which the businessman-turned-politician described a failed attempt to a seduce married woman and getting away with unwanted sexual contact with women because he's "a star."

"I do not condone or even try to defend the comments made by Donald Trump 11 years ago," said Barton, who has served in Congress since 1985. "We must respect women and work to raise the discourse of this election."

The comments came after Tuesday night's apology by U.S. Rep. Blake Farenthold, R-Corpus Christi, after he hesitated to say he would withdraw support for Trump even if the nominee said he "liked to rape women".

In a series of tweets shortly after his appearance, Farenthold expressed remorse for not immediately condemning rape under every circumstance. He also said he was "thrown off" by the hypothetical question.

Later, he told the Corpus Christi Caller-Times that he "would never support a rapist."

Farenthold, like nearly every Texas Republican officeholder who has weighed in since Trump's remarks surfaced on Friday, said the GOP nominee is still preferable to Democrat Hillary Clinton.

Olson said the former first lady and secretary of state is out of step with voters.

"I remain supportive of our Republican nominee and am committed to defeating Hillary Clinton because she has a record of failure that has weakened our nation, harmed our national security, given rise to ISIS, and damaged the American economy," Olson said.

U.S. Rep. Kevin Brady, R-The Woodlands, does not plan to comment on Trump, his office said. San Antonio Republican Lamar Smith had no comment either, other than to say he's still backing the nominee.

A spokeswoman for U.S. Rep. John Carter, R-Round Rock, echoed those sentiments and said the congressman found the comments "disgusting," but that he would continue supporting Trump because he was nominated by the American people and is a better alternative than Clinton.

Nationwide, a USA Today survey of Republican governors and congress members showed that one-fourth have either withdrawn their support of Trump or had never backed him. The only Texans on that list are U.S. Reps. Kay Granger of Fort Worth and Will Hurd of San Antonio.

Granger is the only Texas woman in the GOP Texas delegation. Hurd is fighting for his political life in Texas' only true swing congressional district and is in a rematch with former Congressman Pete Gallego.

Several Republican state lawmakers this week have also attempted to distance themselves from Trump's statements, But like their counterparts in Washington, they said they remain committed to his candidacy.

Without using Trump's name, state Rep. Todd Hunter, R-Corpus Christi, said Tuesday he supported "our Republican Party nominee." He added that doing so doesn't mean he agrees with all his statements and positions, and that he doesn't condone what he heard on the tape.

State Rep. Geanie Morrison, of Victoria, and state Sen. Lois Kolkhorst of Brenham expressed similar sentiments.

"I do not in any way defend or condone Mr. Trump's 2005 remarks" said Morrison, whose district includes Aransas, Calhoun, DeWitt, Goliad, Refugio, and Victoria counties. "I do however believe that based on his policy positions to restore America's prominence in the world economy, and his stance on conservative issues, he is the best candidate in the race for president."

Kolkhorst: "I was disappointed in the recent tapes, but I am still voting for the Republican nominee. I'm looking at the whole picture of who can jump-start the economy and put America in a position again that leads to a more stable world."

State Rep. J.M. Lozano, whose 43rd District includes Bee, Jim Wells, Kleberg and San Patricio counties, could not be reached for comment.

Twitter: @Johnnie Mo, @reportermatt, @Caller_ChrisRam
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By Harold Byler

Donald Trump is not a conservative. He is a pragmatist, someone who is practical and focused on reaching a goal with a straightforward, matter-of-fact approach.

When he sees a problem and understands it must be fixed, he doesn't see the problem as liberal or conservative; he sees it only as a problem. That is a quality that should be admired and applauded, not condemned. He does not consider party alliance to be more important than our nation.

Viewing problems from a liberal perspective has resulted in the creation of more problems, more entitlement programs, more victims, more government, more political correctness and more attacks on the working people at all economic levels.

Viewing problems from the Republican conservative perspective has brought continued spending and denial of what the real problems are, caused by weak, ineffective leadership.

Immigration isn't a conservative problem and it isn't a liberal problem. It's a problem that threatens the structure of our country. It demands a pragmatic approach, not an approach that is intended to appease one group or another.

The collapsing of the economy isn't a liberal or conservative problem. It is an American problem. It will not be fixed until it is viewed as a problem that demands a common sense approach. The Democratic and Republican politician's way to fix things has had no lasting effect.

If there was a family that had an income of $21,700 and spent $38,200, adding $ 16,500 to their credit card, raising their existing credit card debt to $192,720 but only cut their budget $385, I believe you would say that the family was totally irresponsible.

But if you add eight zeros to all of those numbers, that is exactly where our nation's finances are right now, and I believe you can say that our Congress is totally irresponsible.

We need to hire a financial consultant to control our finances. I believe Donald Trump has demonstrated much better qualifications for that job than Hillary Clinton, who proposes to continue Barack Obama's reckless spending.

Successful businessmen such as Trump find ways to make things work. Trump didn't create billion-dollar businesses by gathering cronies or "yes" men around him. He gathered sharp minds and knowledgeable advisers, without regard for their religion, gender or race, to help guide his many successful ventures all over the world.

Trump uniquely understands that China's manipulation of currency is not a Republican problem or a Democrat problem. It is a problem that threatens our financial stability. Successful businessmen such as Trump, who have weathered the changing tides of economic reality, understand what is necessary to make business work and they, unlike both sides of the political aisle, know that if something doesn't work, you don't continue trying to make it work while hoping that at some point it will work.

As a pragmatist, Trump hasn't made wild, irresponsible promises of a cellphone in every pocket, free college tuition and a $15 per hour minimum wage for every entry-level teenage worker. Listening to Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders talk about fixing America is like listening to two revolutionists trying to sell communism.

The reasons people like Trump are:

He is opposed to the "good old boy" method of brokering backroom deals that fatten the coffers of politicians.

He is free of political ideology.

He understands that it takes more than hollow promises and political correctness to make America great again.

He is not controlled by big campaign donors.

Professional politicians in both parties are owned by the bankers, corporations and big-dollar donors who fund their campaigns. Both major political parties are owned by big donors. Common sense tells anyone willing to face facts that people don't give millions of dollars without expecting something in return.

Trump doesn't need money. He already has all he will ever need, but only as long as America is secure, which is his motivation.

A pragmatist sees a problem and understands that the solution is not about a party, but about a willingness and boldness to get it done without worrying about political correctness. A pragmatist is what America needs right now. People who have never accomplished anything are quick to confuse and despise his self-confidence as arrogance.

Trump is an accomplished problem solver not beholden to anyone except our country, which is exactly what we need for a president.

Harold Byler lives in Brady.
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The following editorial appeared in the San Antonio Express-News:

A recent report to the president by his Council of Advisors on Science and Technology represents a breakthrough for criminal justice. It says that too much forensic science used in our criminal courts is of dubious value and that plenty of evidence shows "expert testimony" isn't all that expert or statistically valid.

Lives hang in the balance, which is why the more unreliable forms of such science shouldn't be allowed in Texas courtrooms until more certain science can be attained. Or if allowed, jurors should be informed of how statistically reliable they are. If jurors were informed of the rate of false positives on some of these tests, some convictions might not occur.

DNA evidence became the spoiler for other types of evidence when this more statistically reliable method  refined through the years  exonerated people convicted on the alleged strength of other methods. Among these less reliable methods is the now nearly universally rejected bite-mark evidence, but it also includes fingerprints, hair samples and bullet markings. And there is even more work to be done honing DNA forensic testing and training.

All these faultier methods have been used in Texas' criminal courtrooms to convict defendants. Texas has acted to limit bite-mark evidence.

And after reports that the arson evidence used to convict Cameron Todd Willingham in 1991 for the burning deaths of his daughters was unscientific and of little value, the state fire marshal changed evidence standards for arson. Unfortunately, Willingham was put to death in 1994, in all likelihood a case of the state executing an innocent man.

The report to the president doesn't address arson, but the Willingham case demonstrates the importance of getting all forensic science right.

The report recommends that the National Institute of Science and Technology evaluate the validity of all current and future forensic disciplines. It recommends research to improve forensic methods and training.

It raises concern about the accuracy of expert testimony.

It asks the U.S. attorney general to limit testimony and reports to those that are proven to be scientifically valid.

And judges should become more expert gatekeepers on which evidence to allow, not simply admitting certain types because previous judges have.

Texas, whose nation-leading exoneration rate tells us something, should pay particular attention.
US Libertarian Party presidential candidate Gary Johnson speaks to AFP during an interview in Washington, DC, on May 9, 2016. Former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson is running for president as a Libertarian, just as he did 2012 when he managed to get 1.2 million votes. Regardless of his chances of a win, Johnson is reaching out to undecided Republican voters who are looking for a third-party option and are unconvinced that Donald Trump is the answer. / AFP / Nicholas KAMM (Photo credit should read NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP/Getty Images)

SHARE SALT LAKE CITY, UT - AUGUST 6: Libertarian presidential candidate Gary Johnson talks to a crowd of supporters at a rally on August 6, 2015 in Salt Lake City, Utah. Johnson has spent the day campaigning in Salt Lake City, the home town of former republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney. (Photo by George Frey/Getty Images)

By Tammie Robinson

Gary Johnson is honest, trustworthy and notably free of political scandal. He was a successful two-term governor of New Mexico with a proven record, including 750 vetoes for wasteful spending legislation. He cut taxes 14 times, while leaving the state of New Mexico with new highways, bridges, schools and hospitals and a billion-dollar surplus.

As a Libertarian, Johnson supports a noninterventionist foreign policy but a robust national defense. He is a champion of civil liberties and protector of person privacy. He supports small business, entrepreneurship and free markets. He would like to see fewer restrictions in our immigration policy and would work toward intelligent immigration reform, such as a sensible guest worker program.

Government is too large and he would focus on reducing its size, intrusiveness and regulations. Government should be there to protect our rights, not threaten or negate them.

Our war on drugs is an abject failure that has cost society in a multitude of ways and has had worldwide impacts. Johnson would end this war. He does support legalizing marijuana.

It is true that voting for Gary Johnson is a vote to advance the Libertarian Party, but it also weakens the Democrat-Republican duopoly, allowing opportunities for real alternatives now and in the future. The vote also advances the cause of limited government.

Instead of the division seen in the current two-party system, Gary Johnson and libertarianism can help bridge the parties divide. Unlike the other two candidates, Johnson and Bill Weld are attracting voters from across the political spectrum and are supported by grassroots efforts and individual donors, not special interests. They bring with them the unique opportunity to bring ideological and demographic diversity together and promote unity.

Americans want a voice that will represent the people, not lobbyists or special interest groups. Gary Johnson's voice of reason and responsibility would certainly offer a healthy advantage for our national political discourse.

Tammie Robinson is chairwoman of the Tom Green County Libertarian Party.
SHARE RICK WILKING/AFP/Getty Images In a USA Today survey of Republican governors and congress members, one-fourth have either withdrawn support for Donald Trump or had never backed him. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally on October, 5, 2016 at the Henderson Pavilion in Henderson, Nevada. / AFP / ROBYN BECK (Photo credit should read ROBYN BECK/AFP/Getty Images)

By Jeff Betty

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."

Thomas Jefferson, our third president, wrote to explain why it was necessary for Americans to declare independence. Jefferson wished to make it clear that our Creator placed no person above another and that each had the right to be free and free to pursue happiness as we each define it.

Abraham Lincoln, our first Republican president, stated that "Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth, upon this continent, a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal." Lincoln reminded us that "all men" include every man regardless of color. As important was his reiteration that this country was "conceived in liberty," that slavery was evil not because of a moral judgment but because each person is free and the first job of government is to protect that freedom.

Our last great Democratic president, John F. Kennedy, in his inauguration declared, "ask not what your country can do for you  ask what you can do for your country." He disliked the perception that government was a provider of benefits rather than the rule of law.

In response to increasing civil unrest and governmental refusal to protect citizens of color, Kennedy called for the passage of the Civil Rights Act. Forty six percent of Democratic legislators refused to support his call for justice. Thankfully, Republicans did; more than 80 percent of Republicans voted for the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Fortunately, throughout history Republicans have supported the rights of individuals to be free from tyranny and injustice whether by our government or by a foreign power. Now we are confronted with an election in which both candidates have significant history of controversial behavior.

Understandably, voters are concerned. The Republican candidate loves bombast in his personal life. Certainly the Democrat has proven she cannot be relied upon to protect America, nor to tell the truth or comply with law.

The great presidents of this country did not free us from tyranny, slavery or racism by themselves. Credit must be given to all 363 congressmen and senators who voted for the Civil Rights Act and an entire nation that fought to maintain the union and free us from a British king.

I believe that Donald Trump will rise to the occasion and lead this nation with the same vigor and ability with which he has made money for his investors. One can debate the merits and failings of individual candidates. What is inarguable is that the Republican candidate is supported by a party that understands that government should first protect us from harm, provide laws that require equal treatment and otherwise allow us to get on with our lives.

America is great not because of any one individual, but because millions work to achieve. Democrats demand we believe as they, that we must provide for those who will not provide for themselves and we must accept those who do not accept and comply with the law. Donald Trump made his fortune in America and wants Americans to be free to make their fortune, an excellent starting principle.

I place my trust in Republican judges and legislators across America for they believe in the rule of law, not the rule of those who think they are better than us.

Jeff Betty is chairman of the Tom Green County Republican Party.
The Indiana State AFL-CIO kicked off a Protect Hoosier Jobs tour at Laborers' Local 41 headquarters on Tuesday, aimed at defeating what it calls the "Pence-Holcomb agenda."State AFL-CIO President Brett Voorhies pointed out to about 15 assembled union members that Gov. Mike Pence used his campaign funds to help overturn Indiana's prevailing wage law and charged that as governor current Lt. Gov. Eric Holcomb would follow suit when it comes to labor policy."The Pence and Holcomb agenda hasn't just hurt us on the job, it has also left our families behind," Voorhies said.Republican Holcomb is facing off against Democrat John Gregg, who lost to Pence in 2012, for the governor's job in the November election.Unions are still stinging from Pence's drive to repeal Indiana's prevailing wage law, which culminated with his signing a bill to do just that in May 2015. The prevailing wage law basically maintained union-scale wages for public works projects throughout the state.Dan Murchek, AFL-CIO Northern Indiana Area Labor Federation president, at Voorhies' side, said they don't want union members to lose track of state and local races amid all the noise generated by the U.S. presidential contest."We have a very important election in front of us, and it's important we vote our pocketbooks and our pensions," Murchek told members.The tour already has stops planned for South Bend, Fort Wayne and Indianapolis, Voorhies said. More are planned.Laborers' 41 member Alejandrina Anguiano listened to the union leaders from the folding chairs hurriedly set up in the union hall. When asked if she would be voting her response was quick: "Oh, of course," she said.Anguiano said she has seen firsthand along with other union members that non-union contractors are appearing on jobs where they have never been seen before since the prevailing wage statute was overturned."That's why we have to get out and vote," she said. "They are taking money from our families."
Ripping the Division of Motor Vehicles for giving out inaccurate information, a federal judge said Wednesday he would order Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker's administration to make changes to how it treats people who seek voting credentials but was unlikely to suspend the voter ID law."I think the training that was provided to the DMV counter service was manifestly inadequate," U.S. District Judge James Peterson said during a daylong hearing. "The DMV has a lot of competencies but one of them is not communicating to voters what they need to get an ID."I don't know why we're here a month before the election."Peterson was reacting, in part, to recently released audio recordings of DMV workers supplying people with inaccurate voter ID information.He said he was likely to order the state to print "palm cards" that would clearly explain how people could get IDs if they don't have birth certificates. He also wants the state to update material it provides to people in such situations after they apply for IDs so they know what to expect.Peterson said he wanted the state to engage in a "public communication blitz" to inform people about the availability of IDs even if they don't have birth certificates, Social Security cards or other identity documents.He left open the possibility he would make other changes to how the state administers the voter ID law and scheduled a hearing for 9 a.m. Thursday to work out the particulars."The state really needs to step up and make sure the IDs get into the hands of voters who can't have them (under the current system)," Peterson said.But he said he was not sure he had the authority to suspend the voter ID law and was not inclined to go that far even if he did."Reluctant doesn't even begin to capture it in terms of my readiness to suspend the voter ID law," he said.The vast majority of voters in Wisconsin have licenses or IDs they can use for voting and litigation over the law now centers on the sliver of people _ most of them minorities _ who have the most difficulty getting them. The lawsuit was brought by two liberal groups, One Wisconsin Institute and Citizen Action of Wisconsin Education Fund.In July, as part of that lawsuit, Peterson struck down limits on early voting and ordered the state to reform its system for making sure people have voting credentials under the voter ID law.In recent weeks, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and others have reported on DMV workers giving people inaccurate and incomplete information about their ability to get voting credentials. That prompted those suing the state to renew their push to overturn the voter ID law.The Nation last month reported on an incident in which three DMV workers in Madison gave a homeless man, Zack Moore, incorrect information about his ability to get voting credentials when he couldn't locate his birth certificate.An audio recording of Moore's encounter at the DMV was made by VoteRiders, a group critical of voter ID laws that helps people get IDs.The Journal Sentinel reported on seven other recorded instances where DMV workers gave a VoteRiders volunteer incorrect information when she asked about getting voting credentials for someone who lacked a birth certificate.In response to the recordings, the DMV last week retrained its workers and updated handouts it gives to people seeking IDs if they don't have birth certificates.Peterson said those were positive steps but should have been done long ago."I'm very disappointed to see that the state really did nothing in response to my order on the 29th" of July, he said.Kristina Boardman, the administrator of the DMV, acknowledged on the stand that for two months after Peterson's order, the DMV gave people documents with inaccurate voter ID information.Under the current system, people who do not have birth certificates or other identity documents who apply for IDs have voting credentials sent to them within six days. Those credentials are good for 60 days, and new credentials are mailed to them before they expire if the state has not issued them an ID by then.Peterson expressed concerns about the process because many of the people who use that process are transient and have a difficult time getting mail. He signaled he was considering having the state give people credentials the day they apply for them or providing them with credentials that are good for a longer period.
A judge in Fort Lee, N.J., has found probable cause that New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie committed official misconduct as part of the George Washington Bridge lane-closure scandal.Christie said through a spokesman he is appealing the ruling by Judge Roy F. McGeady immediately.For years Christie has denied any knowledge of the plot to close down access lanes to the bridge. But lawyers for the prosecution and the defense in the ongoing federal trial over the lane closures have cast doubt on Christie's assertions.David Wildstein, a former political operative for Christie who has admitted orchestrating the traffic jam, testified in federal court that he told Christie about the lane closures during a Sept. 11 memorial ceremony at Ground Zero, while the lane closures were causing gridlock in Fort Lee. That contradicts Christie's statements.Wildstein is the main witness for the prosecution and has said he is cooperating with U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman's office in part because he hopes to avoid prison.After his testimony surfaced in the federal trial, a local activist filed a legal complaint against Christie in Fort Lee municipal court.Christie engaged in official misconduct because he should have reversed the lane closures once he became aware of them, activist Bill Brennan argues."Wildstein has every motive to be truthful," Brennan wrote in a legal filing on Oct. 5, adding that "the U.S. attorney has an affirmative duty to safeguard the criminal justice system from perjured testimony."It is up to the jury in the federal trial to decide whether Wildstein's testimony constitutes credible evidence; the jury has not made any findings and continues to hear testimony from witnesses."This is a dishonorable complaint filed by a known serial complainant and political activist with a history of abusing the judicial system," said Christie spokesman Brian Murray. "The simple fact is the governor had no knowledge of the lane realignments either before they happened or while they were happening. This matter has already been thoroughly investigated by three separate independent investigations."The municipal court judge's finding of probable cause is not a criminal charge against Christie.Probable cause is a relatively low bar in the court system that allows law enforcement agencies to investigate, search, charge and arrest individuals, but it is not a basis for a criminal conviction.The Bergen County Prosecutor's Office may decide whether or not to pursue an indictment against Christie. But a higher court could dismiss the case before any determination by prosecutors.Decisions made by municipal court judges may be appealed to the state Superior Court. Christie indicated Thursday that he will appeal.Murray said "the ruling is being appealed immediately."The governor appoints all the county prosecutors, subject to Senate confirmation.Christie last month nominated acting Bergen County Prosecutor Gurbir S. Grewal to formally take over the office, but the Senate has not scheduled a confirmation hearing.A spokeswoman for Grewal declined to comment on the probable cause finding on Thursday.Federal prosecutors say that Christie aides and associates shut down the lanes for five mornings in September 2013 to cause a massive traffic jam in Fort Lee, their way of punishing the borough's Democratic mayor for declining to endorse Christie's re-election campaign.Christie's former deputy chief of staff, Bridget Anne Kelly, is standing trial in Newark over the lane closures. Bill Baroni, formerly Christie's top staff appointee at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which runs the bridge, is also on trial.Wildstein has pleaded guilty.
State Sen. Rick Gudex of Fond du Lac died early Wednesday of apparent suicide at 48, leaving Democrats and his fellow Republicans alike mourning his sudden loss.Fond du Lac County Sheriff Mylan C. Fink, Jr. said in a statement that Gudex had died of a gunshot wound to the chest and that a preliminary investigation found it was self-inflicted. The sheriff's log shows that early Wednesday a family member had contacted officers to warn that Gudex had talked of ending his life and to ask for help in finding him.Gudex was stepping down from the Senate in January to take a better job with his former employer, a maker of tank trailers, said Tim Lakin, Gudex's Senate chief of staff. The senator had a wife and two children."It comes as a complete surprise. I'm at a total loss," said Lakin, who also formerly served with Gudex on the Fond du Lac city council. "He was always willing to listen to both sides of the story. He was always fair...He was a true public servant."Gudex was elected to the Senate in 2012 and served in 2015 as the president pro tempore. Winnebago County Executive Mark Harris and Fond du Lac County GOP chairman Dan Feyen are running to replace him.Gudex rarely betrayed publicly any of the pressures that came with representing the most competitive Senate district in the state, which he won four years ago by just 600 votes.Tom Heere, current interim head of the Fond du Lac Association of Commerce and a former city manager while Gudex served as city council president, praised his approach."I never saw Rick get too high or too low. He was always good in a crisis. He was the type of guy you like to have on your team when you got into a tough situation," he said.Joe Moore, current Fond du Lac city manager, said Gudex was committed to the public good at the local and state level."It's a tragedy; there's no other way to describe it," Moore said.Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald said Gudex would be "deeply missed," and those words were quickly echoed by other legislators like Rep. Gordon Hintz (D-Oshkosh).In a statement, Gov. Scott Walker offered condolences and, through a spokesperson, said a special election is not planned since the Nov. 8 election is less than four weeks away. If Walker doesn't call a special election to fill Gudex's seat, then the regular election will go forward as planned, said Reid Magney, a spokesperson for the Wisconsin Election Commission said.Before the Senate, Gudex had focused much of his career in manufacturing and had been intending to return to his former employer, the maker of Brenner tank trailers now known as Wabash National Corp."He was known among the public as a state senator. But at Wabash National, he was Rick -- our friend and colleague," senior vice president and group president Mark Weber said.Gudex focused on jobs while in the Senate, serving as the chairman of the Economic Development & Commerce Committee, the vice chairman of the Workforce Development Committee, and a board member of the Wisconsin Economic Development Corp.A native of Eden and a graduate of St. Mary's Springs High School, Gudex had two children, Jayce and Alexana, with his wife Kim.Gudex was elected at age 29 as the Mayor of Mayville and serving from 1998 to 2000. He also served on the Eden Village Board for several years and then, from 2009 to 2012, was a member of the Fond du Lac City Council.
Tumult ensued on the steps of Portland City Hall as police pepper-sprayed and arrested protesters in the aftermath of an unruly demonstration Wednesday over a newly approved contract for rank-and-file officers.The scene devolved into a lengthy standoff, with dozens of protesters swarming Southwest Fifth Avenue and blocking traffic and light-rail trains until an estimated 75 officers in riot gear intervened.Police had already shoved protesters out of City Hall, dousing some with pepper spray, after they disrupted a City Council hearing. Demonstrators wouldn't begin dispersing until just after 5 p.m., some eight hours after the unparalleled protest began.The source of contention: City Council's 3-1 vote for a controversial new police contract, and Mayor Charlie Hales' unprecedented maneuvering within City Hall to conduct the vote in meeting room cordoned off from protesters.Hales, who made the contract a top priority before he leaves office Jan. 1, said fallout was unlikely to be avoided because protesters were determined to make a scene."This is a good day," Hales said of the contract's approval. "It will pay dividends, for a bureau that has a good relationship with the city, over time."The contract raises officers' pay, amid a staffing shortage, and ends a contentious rule that let officers wait 48 hours to speak with internal investigators after using deadly force.Officials said concerns over rules for body-worn cameras will be publicly vetted next year under the new mayor, Ted Wheeler. But that hasn't satisfied opponents, who also wanted expanded civilian oversight powers.Protesters also claimed a victory of sorts, arguing the City Council's closed-door vote -- broadcast online, over television screens and remotely in the City Council chambers -- may help them file a complaint over a violation of public meeting laws."They wouldn't have gotten this passed if they did it in a democratic way," said Gregory McKelvey, spokesman for protest group Don't Shoot Portland.Wednesday's protest capped a fiery few weeks at City Hall as tensions mounted over Hales' proposed three-year contract with the Portland Police Association. Longtime City Hall staffers couldn't recount a similar scene aside from the Occupy Portland movement of 2011 that overtook three city parks."I regret it ever got to that point," said Commissioner Nick Fish, who supported the police contract. "We have to find a way to have these kinds of charged discussions and debates without having disruptions to our building and to our ability to conduct the people's business."The demonstration began in earnest Tuesday as protesters set up tents outside City Hall and hung a large banner for the Black Lives Matter movement. And, as they'd done in weeks past, protesters came prepared to disrupt Wednesday's City Council meeting -- with one person even writing an email warning that "after we take city hall maybe we will take bridges and freeways too."City officials took public testimony about the contract last month and weren't required to listen again before voting. So protesters signed up to speak on other matters, hoping to nonetheless criticize the police contract, a tactic they used last week.But protesters' frequent outbursts and interruptions prompted Hales to adjourn Wednesday's public meeting less than 30 minutes after it began. As activists claimed a small victory inside the City Council's second-floor chambers, Portland politicians restarted the meeting in a third-floor conference room without audience members.That's because officials had decided to prepare the room, complete with TV cameras, expecting their meeting would be interrupted.Protesters, blocked from the third floor by police, chanted from below. At times, their taunts nearly drowned out testimony on unrelated items.Just before 11 a.m., during a presentation on housing, Hales hastily rearranged the agenda to hear the police contract.Then, over the piercing chants downstairs, Hales, Fish and Commissioner Amanda Fritz for the contract. Commissioner Steve Novick voted no, while Commissioner Dan Saltzman was absent to observe Yom Kippur.Some activists shook the locked doors of city commissioners' offices, while others set up tents in hallways. One man with a bullhorn chastised police on scene: "This isn't even loud compared to what you do to us!"Inside the empty council chambers, Dan Handelman of Portland Copwatch criticized officials for voting in private. He said politicians should have the courage to look opponents in the eye."People need to vocalize their opposition," he said, adding that in his 24 years monitoring the police bureau he'd "never seen anything where the City Council shut out their entire community."City attorney Tracy Reeve said the City Council's maneuver complied with state public meeting requirements. But no one could ever remember such a scheme being necessary."Never experienced this before," said Brendan Finn, Saltzman's top aide, who has worked inside City Hall for 18 years.About 12:20 p.m., officials ordered an evacuation. But protesters refused to leave though a second-floor exit. Twenty minutes later, officers forced demonstrators out.Chaos ensued.On the exit steps, some protesters wouldn't budge and hurled items at police. Officers responded by pushing demonstrators, including former mayoral candidate Jessie Sponberg.Several protesters were pepper-sprayed and splayed out as friends poured milk in their eyes. Riot police arrived and cleared the street and sidewalk, advancing and retreating several times, with tensions running high until protesters decided to disperse.Portland City Council is expected to reconvene in 17 minutes. This is happening outside. pic.twitter.com/xtKCf9exzO-- PDX City Hall Watch (@cityhallwatch) October 12, 2016In all, nine demonstrators were arrested. Protesters say they're planning another major action Friday.McKelvey said in a Twitter message that organizer Micah Rhodes and at least one other protester are being monitored at Legacy Good Samaritan Medical Center for injuries suffered Wednesday.He said Rhodes suffered a head injury and will be at the hospital overnight. Another man has rib injuries, McKelvey said. He said he thinks more protesters went to hospitals, as well.Someone also "assaulted and injured" an officer at City Hall, a Portland police spokesman said in a news release. The officer wasn't seriously injured.Novick, who voted against the contract over concerns on how to pay for higher wages, said he wasn't surprised by what played out Wednesday.How others perceive the events, he said, will depend on their underlying views about police issues."It's very unfortunate," he said.
Report's main findings

A six-month investigation of the San Francisco Police Department by the U.S. Justice Department, prompted by the killing of Mario Woods and other fatal police shootings, concludes that the department does a poor job of tracking and investigating officers' use of force, has ineffective antibias training and shields its disciplinary process from public view."We found a department with concerning deficiencies in every operational area assessed: use of force; bias; community policing practices; accountability measures; and recruitment, hiring and promotion practices," Ronald Davis, director of the Justice Department's Office of Community Oriented Policing Services, wrote in the report's executive summary.The department released its report Wednesday, along with 272 recommended changes for a police force racked over the past year by racist and homophobic text message scandals and fatal shootings that have frayed relationships between the department and minority communities.The report found no proof of "racial bias by officers of the SFPD or by the agency as a whole," and said race and ethnicity were not "significantly associated with the severity of force" that officers use. But it did conclude that police stop African American drivers in disproportionate numbers and that black and Hispanic drivers are more likely to be searched than whites.Mayor Ed Lee, who asked for the Justice Department's investigation, said he was "directing the leadership of the San Francisco Police Department and the Police Commission to implement these reforms as soon as possible with one specific goal in mind: fair and just policing that treats everyone the same and places the sanctity of life above all else."The report comes as the Police Commission is considering candidates to replace former Chief Greg Suhr, who resigned in May after an officer shot an unarmed African American woman driving a stolen car. Among the candidates is acting Chief Toney Chaplin, who formerly headed the agency's community policing bureau.The commission is expected soon to suggest three finalists to Lee, who will pick the next chief.At a news conference Wednesday, Davis called for the report to be a "guiding document" in the search for a chief.Davis said the report "validates that which many people knew, that which many people have experienced. ... The next great challenge is, can we implement 272 recommendations? That is going to require leadership."Among the report's findings and recommendations:--The department needs to improve its tracking of officers' use of force. Its current system is outdated -- some records are kept on paper, making it difficult to identify troubling trends.--The city should "strongly consider" giving officers electronic stun guns as an alternative to using lethal force, which the Police Department has suggested several times, without success.--Although the Police Department disciplined officers who swapped racist and homophobic text messages, it failed to "take action to ensure this was not an institutionalized problem." Among other recommendations, the report urged that the department regularly check officers' "electronic communication devices to determine whether they are being used to communicate bias."--The department should report "data regarding complaints against department members, their outcome, and trends in complaints and misconduct." The reason: Justice Department-led interviews of residents found "a consistently stated belief, especially in the African American and Hispanic communities, that officers are not held accountable for misconduct."Overall, the report found the Police Department to be "an organization of good intentions ... that sometimes failed in execution with respect to accountability and ensuring appropriate cultural standards."The report spanned more than 400 pages, going into detail on the assessment team's 94 findings. In general, it said the Police Department doesn't formalize policing standards meant to improve community relations or communicate well to its officers what is expected of them.Some of the department's policies are outdated, the report found, and there is no simple or streamlined system in place to update them. Data collection and analysis, a longtime issue for the department, continues to be lacking, especially when it comes to use-of-force incidents.The Justice Department team also found the quality of use-of-force investigations to be deficient. Many "were not truly investigations," the report said. "Witnesses were not often interviewed in depth. There was not a sense of using factual support or the absence of facts to make an investigative summary. Inconsistencies in statements were often not pressed."Following the fatal shooting of Woods on Dec. 2, the Police Commission reopened the department's use-of-force general orders, approving a policy in June that put more of an emphasis on using minimal force.The Justice Department backed most of the proposed revisions, which are now in negotiations between the Police Officers Association and the city. The main points that the union objected to -- a ban on carotid restraints and a more restrictive policy for firing into moving vehicles -- had the support of the Justice Department.Davis called the union "a valid stakeholder," but said it was drawing out negotiations unnecessarily."It's too long," he said. "We're now starting to debate about things that are just bad practices. The Department of Justice will not waver on its position about carotid restraints; it should be prohibited. We will not waver about shooting at moving vehicles; it should not occur."Union President Martin Halloran said in a statement that although the union doesn't back all of the Justice Department's recommendations, it is "committed to improving the relationship between the police and the community we serve."The report was critical of several other Police Department practices, particularly its handling of two cases in which police officers were implicated in exchanging bigoted text messages."Given the nature of the officers' open and flagrant behavior, the SFPD should have considered that this may be an institutionalized problem and taken steps to address the behavior from an organizational perspective," the report said.Looking into the possibility of institutionalized bias was the basis behind District Attorney George Gascon's formation of a blue ribbon panel of retired judges following the emergence of the first set of racist text messages in 2015.The Justice Department cited and upheld many of the panel's recommendations. While police officials have "demonstrated a willingness to advance practices aimed at reducing biased behavior," those efforts "remain in developmental stages and have had little measurable impact," the report said.Officers "demonstrated implicit bias through their word choice and language use," which had implications when it came to traffic stops and arrests, the report said. It found that African American drivers were stopped in disproportionate numbers and that they and Latino drivers were searched more often than other motorists, suggesting that "race may play a role in the initial stop decisions of SFPD officers."The findings largely confirm a Chronicle investigation published in April, which found that police searched black and Latino drivers at much higher rates than whites or Asian Americans after traffic stops. Those searches were much less likely to result in officers uncovering evidence of crimes than less frequent searches of white or Asian American drivers.The Justice Department launched the collaborative review after officers' fatal shooting of Woods in the Bayview neighborhood, which drew public outcry after videos were posted on social media showing five officers firing at the 26-year-old stabbing suspect from all sides.Police said Woods was still armed with a knife used in the stabbing and was a threat to officers and bystanders. An investigation into the incident is still under way. In response to a federal civil rights lawsuit filed by Woods' family, the city attorney's office called the shooting lawful and justified.Woods' family, the mayor and police watchdogs called for a more binding Justice Department investigation into the department following the Woods shooting, similar to the type that the Obama administration opened in cities including Chicago, Cleveland and Ferguson, Mo.Any findings from those investigations are considered binding, while a collaborative review like the one conducted in San Francisco can be implemented at the city's discretion.Some critics of police expressed doubts Wednesday about the Justice Department's ability to ensure that the Police Department takes the report seriously."How can they come here and claim that SFPD is willing to implement change when they have noted themselves that the use-of-force policy, which was unanimously passed on June 22, has still not yet been rolled out because the SFPOA is impeding the process?" asked Karen Fleshman, a member of the Justice for Mario Woods Coalition.The collaborative review had the support of acting Chief Chaplin, who headed the bureau in charge of coordinating with the Justice Department and enacting reforms before stepping in as chief when Suhr resigned following the fatal May 19 shooting of Jessica Williams."This past year has not been easy for any of us, not for this department or this country," Chaplin said. "The climate has overshadowed many of our accomplishments and achievements. ... But this climate has also made it clear that it's not enough to do the normal."Police Commission President Suzy Loftus said she planned to have the Police Department present the commission with updates each month about how the report's recommendations are being implemented."This is what we asked for," Loftus said. "We asked for an unflinching, honest assessment of where the department is at, where are their weaknesses, where the gaps are, and we got it. There is a lot of work to do."Some of the 94 findings and 272 recommendations in the U.S. Justice Department's report on the San Francisco Police Department:The Police Department does not adequately investigate officer use of force. The SFPD needs to develop a policy for investigation standards and a protocol for handling officer statements.Community members' race and ethnicity are not "significantly associated with the severity of force" used by officers, although the "majority of deadly use of force incidents by the SFPD involved persons of color."The city should "strongly consider" equipping officers with electronic stun guns as an alternative to lethal force.In light of two racist texting scandals, the Police Department should regularly audit officers' electronic communication devices to determine whether they are being used to send biased messages.Some of the Police Department's policies when it comes to community policing and prohibiting bias and discrimination are outdated.While the report found no proof of "racial bias by officers of the SFPD or by the agency as a whole," some officers "demonstrated implicit bias through their word choice and language use."Police stop African American drivers in disproportionate numbers."Despite a relatively good record in hiring diverse candidates," women and nonwhites are terminated from recruit training at higher rates than white men. Minorities and women are underrepresented among Police Department leaders and supervisors.The Police Department shields its disciplinary process and outcomes from public view, contributing to a perception -- especially among blacks and Hispanics -- that officers avoid punishment for misconduct.
Description

GIS  13 October, 2016: Representatives of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and the civil society gathered yesterday at the Throne Room of the Old Parliament House in Port Louis to attend a briefing session on the role and functions of the upcoming Parliamentary Gender Caucus.

The Speaker of the National Assembly, Mrs Santi Bai Hanoomanjee, was present at the session conducted by Ms Rakeb Abate and Ms Millie G. A. Odhiambo, consultants from the National Democratic Institute from the United States of America. As part of the preparatory stages for the setting up of a Parliamentary Gender Caucus at the National Assembly, awareness programmes were scheduled for stakeholders to acquaint them with the works of the Caucus, which is a platform that brings together Members from both sides of the House to discuss and implement strategies that would promote gender equality.

In her address, the Speaker deemed the establishment of the Caucus as a permanent structure in the National Assembly an innovative measure in advancing parliamentary democracy. She added that the idea for the setting up of the Caucus stemmed from her participation at international fora where gender issue was on the agenda. These fora include the 46th Commonwealth Parliamentary Association Africa Regional Conference, and the 10th Meeting of Women Speakers of Parliament convened by the Inter-Parliamentary Union.

According to Mrs Hanoomanjee, gender equality has a catalytic effect on the achievement of inclusive and progressive human development and good governance. As highlighted by the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 5: Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls, gender equality is not only a fundamental human right, but a necessary foundation for a peaceful, prosperous and sustainable world. Speaking on the need to harness gender equality and sustainable development, Mrs Hanoomanjee pointed out that one of the best means to implement this SDG is through the Parliamentary Gender Caucus.

She further underlined the major strengths of the NGOs and civil society which include their strong network at grass root level as well as field knowledge and experiences. The Speaker stressed the importance of joining efforts and working together to shape and implement gender equality policies that will trickle down to the population and usher a more equitable future. The Speakers expectation is to ensure that these organisations become a privileged partner, feeding the Caucus on issues pertaining to gender equality.

The Speaker also elaborated on the agenda and activities of the Parliamentary Gender Caucus. The Caucus will have to identify priorities that need to be addressed from a gender perspective and ensure that those issues become part of the discussions and debates in Parliament. It will not only hold regular meetings among its own members, but will also organise roundtables, hearings and public events and training workshops. The Caucus will report its activities to the National Assembly periodically and when appropriate.

The strategic role of the Caucus in terms of accelerated legislations, policies and programmes for gender equality was also underlined by Mrs Hanoomanjee. She however made it clear that the Caucus will not have executive power, which rests with the Minister who is responsible to spearhead Government policy on gender matters. The Caucus will not have the power to initiate legislations, but in appropriate cases will support the development of legislation promoting gender equality, she pointed out.
Description

GIS  13 October 2016: We must realise as a nation that development is not only about creating value but it must also be about upholding values  in particular the values of sharing. Our society should not be one of sharp contrasts where on one hand there is conspicuous wealth accumulation and on the other rising inequality and poverty. We are setting a new course for the future  one of social justice and inclusiveness. This should not be just a dream  this is our responsibility.

The Minister of Finance and Economic Development Mr Pravind Jugnauth, made these observations this morning at Ebene Cyber-city in Ebene. He was delivering the keynote address at a talk on Fighting Poverty in the 21st Century: the Sustainable Development Platform in the context of International Day for the Eradication of Poverty 2016 which is commemorated on 17 October.

In his address, Minister Jugnauth pointed out that it matters little whether the poverty rate nationally is 1%, 2% or 10% when a family including children is living in conditions of extreme poverty. No family and no child in Mauritius should live in such conditions. Absolute poverty must be eradicated, he stressed.

This is precisely why Government has launched the Marshall Plan against Absolute Poverty, and that is also why the central theme of the Budget presented in July was about Ushering in a New Era of Development - an era where absolute poverty will be history and where the economic growth paradigm will be inclusive, the Minister stated.

For his part, the Minister of Social Integration and Economic Empowerment, Mr Prithvirajsing Roopun, stressed that economic growth still remains the safest and preferred option to fight poverty. However, in Mauritius, alive to the inequity of the present economic model, we have developed in parallel a robust system of income redistribution, he said.

The fact that Mauritius has a mature social protection system coupled with universal access to health and education and the annual budget of the Ministries of Social Security, Health and Education representing nearly 50% of Governments annual expenditure, is a clear testimony of this commitment, he added.

The talk

The talk enabled the sharing of experience on the fight against poverty in the present century and highlighted the need to focus on Sustainable Development Goal 1: End poverty in all its forms.

Lessons that should be espoused in the fight against poverty were also explained. These include:

- Adopting single beneficiary registries (programmes that are often administered through different Ministries or Government Units that function better if they share common administered systems);

- Leveraging political will, leadership and support for social protection at the highest level and across the Government;

- Strengthening community and civil society participation in social protection in all stages of programme development; and,

- Providing a more active role for the private sector be it in assisting in service delivery or through Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).

The resource person was Dr Romulo Paes de Sousa, Director of the World Center for Sustainable Development which operates under the aegis of the UNDP and based in Rio de Janeiro. He is also a former Vice Minister for Social Development and Fight against Hunger of Brazil.

Organised by the Ministry of Social Integration and Economic Empowerment jointly with the National Empowerment Foundation, the talk brought together several participants including Members of Parliament and representatives from CSR companies, NGOs, and from the UNDP.
(TNS)  San Francisco will receive $11 million from the federal government for projects to encourage carpools, time traffic signals for transit and pedestrian safety, and test driverless passenger shuttles at Treasure Island.The grants, to be announced Thursday by the U.S. Department of Transportation, come from a fund that is usually distributed to cities and states to manage highway congestion, said Tom Maguire, sustainable streets director for the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency. He said federal officials recognized that San Francisco has other priorities that are worth supporting.Were going to use the money to advance transit first and Vision Zero, the citys 10-year plan to eliminate traffic fatalities by 2024, Maguire said.City agencies are trying to improve pedestrian safety by focusing on the most dangerous streets and intersections, improving roadways and signs, stepping up police enforcement and launching education campaigns to get more drivers to yield to pedestrians. The results so far havent been encouraging: 20 traffic deaths, including 10 pedestrians, in the first eight months of 2016, compared with 12 pedestrian fatalities and 19 overall deaths in the same period in 2015, according to the MTA.Total funding for the planned projects is $32 million over four years, with $11 million from the Transportation Department and the rest in matching local funds and private contributions.One project seeks to better protect pedestrians in the Tenderloin, which Maguire described as ground zero for pedestrian injuries and fatalities. Traffic lights will be adjusted to give pedestrians more time to cross the street and to try to reduce the occasions in which drivers are turning while pedestrians are in the crosswalk, Maguire said. He said the project would also seek to use sensors and other devices built into vehicles to protect pedestrians and would expand citywide if it works in the Tenderloin.Another grant is designated for smart traffic signals, which will be timed to give priority to mass transit, particularly in congested hours. For example, Maguire said, lights on Third Street downtown can be programmed to stay green when a train is approaching.Grants will also fund high-occupancy-vehicle lanes on access roads to freeways and the Bay Bridge, and new pickup curbs for carpools. New apps or other high-tech mechanisms could help link commuters at the curbs with would-be carpool drivers, said Darton Ito, the MTAs deputy director for innovation.The funding also includes several projects to deal with traffic to and from Treasure Island, where San Francisco supervisors have approved construction of 8,000 new housing units for 20,000 residents over the next 10 to 15 years.The traffic-management plans include a future toll for drivers from the Bay Bridge to Treasure Island, a fee that would increase during peak traffic periods, said Tilly Chang, executive director of the San Francisco County Transportation Authority, which will oversee transit for the island.She said visitors will also be charged parking fees, revenue that will be used to pay for mass transit on Treasure Island. In addition, the price of every new housing unit on the island will include a fee for a monthly transit pass, Chang said.Another federally funded innovation will be an automated, driverless shuttle to carry passengers around Treasure Island and Yerba Buena Island, Chang said. She said the shuttle would carry 12 people, or six people plus a wheelchair, and would be tested to see how it performs on steep grades and in sea air and fog.We believe its safe, Chang said. Its been in operation in Europe for many years. She said the project would require state legislative approval and includes funding for UC Berkeley to evaluate the shuttles performance.Mayor Ed Lee applauded the new projects. In a statement, he said the federal grants would utilize advanced transportation technology to address traffic congestion on our streets and allow for a smarter and more equitable transportation system for all San Franciscans.
(TNS)  Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp announced Wednesday that 74,425 Georgians took advantage of the state's Online Voter Registration System to register to vote or update voter information to take part in the General Election on Nov. 8.On the final day of the registration period in 2014, only 12,018 Georgians used the online system."It has never been easier to get registered to vote in Georgia, where individuals can register to vote or update their information online, via text, or by using the office's free mobile app," Kemp said.Eligible Georgia citizens were able to submit an electronic voter registration application using their Georgia driver's license number or state-issued identification card number on several platforms: Online Voter Registration (OLVR), the free "GA SOS" mobile app for Apple and Android devices, and the "2VOTE" text messaging pilot project. Individuals were also able to mail in hard-copy voter registration applications to their county registrar to get registered to vote in Georgia.All applications had to be submitted or postmarked on or before Tuesday to be processed for this November's election."As Georgia's chief elections official, I want to ensure every Georgian has the opportunity to register to vote and allow their voice to be heard at the polls," said Kemp.To prepare for this November, Secretary Kemp encouraged Georgians to visit the office's "My Voter Page" to check voter status, view individualized voting information, and make a plan before heading to the polls.Advance in-person voting begins Monday. Georgia law also requires the polls to be open on Saturday, Oct. 29, in all 159 counties for Georgians to vote in the November contests.Currently, there are over 6.5 million registered voters in the Peach State.For more information go to www.sos.ga.gov
(TNS)  SAN JOSE, Calif.  After civil liberties groups raised concerns that police in Oakland, Calif., Baltimore and other cities were using social media to monitor protesters, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram cut off user data access for the company that created the tracking tool.Poring over emails obtained through a public records request of dozens of law enforcement agencies, the American Civil Liberties Union of California discovered that all three Bay Area social media companies provided data to Geofeedia. The Chicago startup works with more than 500 public safety agencies.In the digital age, social media has become a powerful platform to expose human rights abuses and connect across issue and geography, the ACLU of California, the Center for Media Justice and Color of Change wrote in a letter to Facebook and Instagram. However, these data deals enable dangerous police surveillance that weakens this platforms power, chills free speech and threatens democratic rights.The groups also noted that these social media tools impact communities of color and low-income areas where protests have erupted over fatal police shootings.In a statement, Geofeedia CEO Phil Harris said the company works with a variety of groups outside law enforcement, and that it provides a tool that aims to ensure public safety while protecting civil liberties.Geofeedia has in place clear policies and guidelines to prevent the inappropriate use of our software, Harris said. These include protections related to free speech and ensuring that end-users do not seek to inappropriately identify individuals based on race, ethnicity, religious, sexual orientation or political beliefs, among other factors.That said, we understand, given the ever-changing nature of digital technology, that we must continue to work to build on these critical protections of civil rights.As more law enforcement agencies use social media data to thwart crime or track down suspects, questions are surfacing about exactly how police are using these tools. At the same time, consumers are increasingly worried about what information tech firms are handing over to government agencies for surveillance or intelligence gathering.Theres this entire strata of private companies that are selling to law enforcement, and that entire strata of companies is a shadowy industry, said Eric Goldman, a law professor at the Santa Clara University School of Law. We dont really understand whos in that industry. We dont know what theyre saying to law enforcement or to what extent theyre keeping the promises they made.To me, this particular situation is a microcosm of that much bigger problem.Through the public records request to 63 police departments, sheriffs and district attorneys, the ACLU of California found that about 20 law enforcement agencies in the state acquired social media surveillance software.An Oakland police spokeswoman, Officer Johnna Watson, said in an email that the department is no longer using Geofeedia. In 2014-2015 we had a one-year subscription to Geofeedia. Since the end of the subscription in 2015, we chose to no longer subscribe to the service, she said.The San Jose Police Department did not immediately reply to calls or emails Tuesday.With taxpayer dollars funding these agencies, the public deserves more answers about how these tools are being used, Goldman said.If theres trouble brewing in a city, I want law enforcement to be there and make sure theres crowd control and they prevent any violence that could have been avoided, he said. But if theyre doing it because theyre treating protesters as inherently suspect behavior, then I think its misguided.A spokesman from Facebook, which owns Instagram, said Tuesday that Geofeedia only had access to data that people chose to make public. Nonetheless, the social media giant terminated access because Geofeedia was using the data in ways that exceeded the purposes for which they were provided.Facebook data about specific topics, for example, are only supposed to be used for media and brand purposes.Twitter bars the sale of user data for surveillance and prohibits developers from using its data to investigate, track or surveil Twitter users. On Tuesday, the company tweeted that it was immediately suspending Geofeedias commercial access to Twitter data.Social media companies market themselves as champions of free speech, and Twitter CEO and co-founder Jack Dorsey notably marched alongside protesters in Ferguson, Mo., after the fatal police shooting of Michael Brown in 2014.But civil liberty groups also are calling on social media companies to keep a better eye on developers and do more to make sure user data isnt being used by law enforcement for surveillance.While were glad both companies have cut off Geofeedias access to user data, both of these companies only did so after these secret deals were made public, Brandi Collins, campaign director of Color Of Change, said in a statement.Both companies need to immediately develop publicly accessible policies that prevent these types of harmful deals from happening again in the future.
The Cybersecurity Landscape: Then and Now What a difference five years makes. When asked how cybersecurity issues have changed for their departments between 2011 and 2016, these CIOs offered their take.



Lane County has recognized two important things. First, the business must drive the acceptance of risk/benefit when it comes to technology and how its used. Second, our users are our greatest asset  and our greatest threat. The difference between 2011 and today is a far more mature governance model, as well as a focus on training and awareness for all our users and customers.  Michael Finch, CIO, Information Services Department, Lane County, Ore.



The cloud has had the biggest impact. Data can live anywhere now, and trying to keep a handle on where data is living, and how employees across the enterprise are storing and moving data, is much more fluid and complex. Add in data classifications and the regulations around breach notifications, and an organization has more exposure now, and the costs of a data breach are much greater.  Steve Monaghan, CIO, Information and General Services Agency, Nevada County, Calif.





Nobody lives the refrain do more with less more faithfully than local government. In the area of cybersecurity, CIOs and chief information security officers (CISOs) in cities and counties across the country are faced with the daunting task of finding new and unique ways to protect themselves against evolving threats and keep hackers at bay.Steve Monaghan, CIO of Nevada County, Calif., cites the biggest cybersecurity issue his agency faces as keeping up with the pace of change and learning what they dont know.Counties have a very broad breadth of technology with multiple interconnections to the state, feds, schools, cities, courts, consortiums, CBOs [community based organizations], and SaaS [cloud] providers, he explained. Counties are also in a constant state of motion with changes continuously occurring with new programs, services, locations and collaborations. These all drive a constantly changing technical environment.Add to this a fluid environment of regulations and an increase in new state laws focused on technology.Prudent cybersecurity is built on a solid foundation of knowing your environment, Monaghan said. The pace of change is greater than our shops ability to keep up with the demand for change, let alone to know everything we really need to know to effectively secure all the changes.Michael Finch, CIO of Lane County, Ore., said one big challenge is educating key partners in a variety of different lines of business about the security implications of their decisions.They must be educated enough about technology to understand the risks they accept when they make a business decision that involves technology or funding for it, he said.Some of the precautions taken by the Lane County Information Services Department are providing core workstation, network and server security infrastructure that includes antivirus protection, Internet proxy services and encryption. These services are managed by the Security and Audit Division, which was re-established in 2015 after being cut in 2012 for budgetary reasons. The division, which is working on implementing a centralized security model, is now focused on secure access principles, incident response and business continuity, among other things. Its a tall order for a group of four full-time employees and less than 5 percent of the countys IT budget.Monaghan said that this year, Nevada County is pushing to modernize its IT security infrastructure. And the proof is in the budget. The county CEO and Board of Supervisors have earmarked $250,000 for the effort. The sum represents about a 5 percent increase to the annual IT budget, which is used for infrastructure upgrades.Job No. 1 is to build a countywide culture of cybersecurity/IT risk awareness and sensitivity.We are too small to codify this into every policy and procedure, so we need every county employee  from line staff in the customer departments to every IT employee  to be cybersecurity sensitive, Monaghan said. That way, as they take on new projects and implement changes, they are thinking about cybersecurity and IT risk impacts. We are working cybersecurity and IT risk management into our processes such as change management, project charters and contracting. However, it all has to first have a solid cultural foundation across the countywide organization.Adding to the challenge faced by local cybersecurity teams is having to achieve compliance with the many regulatory requirements imposed by higher governments. Federal rules include CJIS, which governs criminal justice information systems, and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. Accepting citizen payment for taxes, permits and other services administered by local government also necessitates compliance with Payment Card Industry standards. Adhering to regulations like these (or noncompliance with them), of course, is costly.Additionally local governments face the threat of cyberactivism/hacktivists that may occur due to an unexpected local controversial event unfolding, said Finch. While this exists at many levels, resources at the local level are far less than at other levels. Additionally, governments must serve a wide array of businesses  from building roads to running jails to providing health care. This creates an extremely diverse set of technologies and requirements that most businesses dont have to deal with.Finch also added that the issues his department faces are very similar to those faced by the state of Oregon, although compatibility between systems can be a challenge.That being said, we are also users of many of their systems, so its important that services we are required to use that are provided by the state run on the latest operating systems and browsers, he said. Funding is also one of the biggest differences. Counties are very limited on what they can tax or derive revenue from, where the state has far more options.Riverside County, Calif., CIO Steve Reneker said his department invests about 3 percent of its IT budget on security, such as staff, tools and services. The main cybersecurity issues unique to local government, from his perspective, are impacts to emergency services and targets as a result of providing public safety services (officers, jails, public records).Local counties keep records of residents on welfare, unemployment, [who] owns property, [have] committed a crime, medical records, who is in jail, who is in the hospital, criminal history, foster care, child support, food stamps  [all of] which drive cyber-risks.With this in mind, Renekers department has tightened email security using Symantec Brightmail, and a sophisticated five-person cybersecurity team focuses on additional security tools and remediation. Their task lacks a clear end game. Reneker said new strategies are needed to adapt to the ever-changing cyberlandscape and suggested the need for 24/7 monitoring and notification systems.We also need more employee training to protect them at work and home, he stressed. We need to invest in dedicated staff and tools to proactively block and eradicate malware active in place or attacking systems. We need to create a security operation center to actively monitor threats and show your customers that you take these issues seriously and that you have programs in place to help protect threats from impacting day-to-day operations. Annual audits and penetration tests [are also needed] to learn best industry practices and to ensure your environment is secure.For Monaghan, Nevada County has a wide breadth of technology, spanning 25-plus business lines. We have very specialized and critical technology that needs to operate flawlessly 24/7/365, such as 911 dispatch, mobile officer data systems, jail control systems, suicide hotlines and wastewater treatment plants, he said.Jelani Newton, director of survey research for the International City/County Management Association, echoed a common concern among public-sector IT professionals at all levels: Local governments are having difficulty offering cybersecurity professionals salaries that are competitive with the private sector. The organization is currently studying the issue in conjunction with the University of Maryland, Baltimore County.Newton said cybersecurity is becoming increasingly important as more local governments seek to use technology to improve service delivery and operating efficiency.As jurisdictions increasingly rely on social media, cloud-based solutions, smart city platforms and other new technology solutions, new cybersecurity challenges need to be considered, he explained. Every discussion about enhancements in information and communication technology should include consideration of the potential cybersecurity threats, and plans to address or avoid them.So, in todays ever-threatening cyberworld, what is a local government IT department to do?Kevin Haley, director of product management for Symantec security response, said there are two cybersecurity issues he thinks will have the greatest impact on agencies in the coming year.First, agencies must protect their records from targeted attacks, both from insiders and hackers outside the agency. Second, agencies must protect critical files and data from crypto-ransomware attacks, which according to Symantecs 2016 Internet Security Threat Report, grew by 35 percent in 2015 , and are now more focused on enterprises rather than individuals.In order to combat these threats, Haley said agencies are going to have to step up to implement best practices to keep their data safe.It is also important that they understand where their critical data is, and back it up, he said. Finally, if an agency has never tested its backup strategy and processes, now is the time to do it, before an attack takes place.Finch made a good point when he said that security and  in particular  breaches, need to be treated more like a public health outbreak instead of a blame game.Currently whenever a large breach occurs, its often a game of victimizing the victim and firing people instead of going after the bad guys who broke the law and stole data, he said. This does not foster a collaborative approach between all organizations in going after the law breakers. Instead, attacks should be treated more like an outbreak in health, where people are free to share information without fear of retribution to ensure an informed, collaborative approach to ending the problem. This must change before any organization can hope to overcome this threat permanently.
Piero Ferrari has rejected suggestions the great Maranello team needs to set up a British base.

Amid Ferrari's current struggle to end its decade-long title drought in formula one, figures like Flavio Briatore have suggested the team must set up a design office in the UK.

"I would put a nice building in the middle of Red Bull, McLaren and Williams," he said recently.

But Piero Ferrari, the only living son of team founder Enzo Ferrari, has backed Ferrari president Sergio Marchionne's insistence that the team must remain completely Italian.

Piero said: "It is never easy to govern a racing team that has over 1000 people and there were organisational problems, but now the direction is right."

As for the idea of an English base, Piero - the Ferrari vice president and co-owner - recalls the mid 80s, when Ferrari did just that and it was headed by John Barnard.

"You know what remains my biggest regret for the years in which I was in charge of the team?" Ferrari told the Italian blogger Leo Turrini.

"It was to convince my father that there was still the need to rely on a great designer from the outside. But Barnard never interacted with our culture -- it was a big mistake.

"This is why I agree with Marchionne that we can return to winning whilst being consistent with the tradition of Ferrari," he insisted.

(GMM)
Survey questions about whether or not the city should start a deer-culling program were passed onto the Green River City Council for its review.

Green River city administrator Reed Clevenger said the 20 survey questions city employees put together have been sent to the City Council for it to consider.

We are just waiting to get the green light on it, Clevenger said.

Once the questions are finalized, this will be the second time Green River residents will be asked to answer questions about whether or not they would support a deer-culling program. Culling is a polite term used for killi...
Students, parents and teachers walked into the high school gym, many of them with shocked looks on their faces.

A few had tears in their eyes as they hugged and reminisced, wearing camouflage out of respect for their friend.

Green River High School hosted a remembrance for Maicy Braden, the 17-year-old student killed in a vehicle crash in Green River last Monday morning.

Students filled the bleachers as they listened to Principal Darrin Howard and welding teacher Tom Wilson speak to the gathered group.

Its been a long week ... I cant imagine how long it has been for (Bradens)...
Bob "Chubba" Majhanovich, 85, of Rock Springs, passed away Oct. 9, 2016, at the Memorial Hospital of Sweetwater County.

A lifelong resident of Rock Springs, Majhanovich died following a lengthy illness.

He was born on June 1, 1931, in Rock Springs, the son of Robert Majhanovich and Mary Ivankovich Majhanovich.

Majhanovich attended schools in Rock Springs and was a 1950 graduate of the Rock Springs High School.

He was a self-employed carpenter and also owned a janitorial service.

Majhanovich was a member of the Kingdom Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses.

His interests included fishing, hunting, camping and spending time with his family and friends. He also enjoyed cooking and was an avid Wyoming Cowboys and Denver Broncos fan.

Survivors include one son, Michael Majhanovich and wife Sylvia of Rock Springs; one brother, John Majhanovich and wife Angela of Rock Springs; sister-in-law Caroline Majhanovich of Denver; one grand son, Brian Majhanovich and wife Kayla of Green River; one great-grandson, Carson Majhanovich of Green River; best friend Nadine Majhanovich of Denver; several nieces and nephews.

He was preceded in death by his parents; two sisters, Margaret Dickinson and Annie Jelaca; two brothers, Steve Majhanovich and Albert Majhanovich.

Following cremation memorial services will be conducted at 1 p.m. Saturday at the Kingdom Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses, 150 Mesa Drive, in Rock Springs. Friends may call at the hall on Saturday, one hour prior to services.
Jean Merlone, 86 of Rock Springs, passed away surrounded by her family Oct. 5, 2016, in Salt Lake City. A lifelong resident of Rock Springs, Merlone died following a lengthy illness.

She was born on Dec. 11, 1920, in Green River, the daughter of William Edgar Bennett and Ann Anstee.

Merlone attended schools in Winton and Rock Springs and graduated from the Rock Springs High School with the class of 1948.

She married Charles John Merlone in Rock Springs March 29, 1948.

Merlone was a member of Holy Spirit Catholic Community and the American Legion.

Her interests included spending time with her family, fishing, hunting and shopping.

Survivors include her husband Charles Merlone of Rock Springs; one daughter, Rebecca Mc Tee and husband John of Salt Lake City; one brother, Dick Bennett of Rock Springs; one sister, Lillie Nelson from Salmon, Idaho; several grandchildren, nieces and nephews; very good friends Chuck and Cherrie Dittman and their family.

She was preceded in death by her parents; one son, Charles Merlone Jr .; one daughter, Dovie Merlone; three brothers, Leland Bennett, Ernie Bennett and William "Bud" Bennett; and one sister, Lydia Highman.

Funeral services will be conducted at 10 a.m. Saturday at Vase Funeral Chapel in Rock Springs. Interment will be in the Rock Springs Municipal Cemetery. Friends may call at the Vase Chapel on Friday until 4 p.m. and one hour prior to services.

Condolences may be left at the http://www.vasefuneralhomes.com
Maicy Marie Braden, 17, of Green River, passed away Oct. 3, 2016, at the Memorial Hospital of Sweetwater County.

She was born on Aug. 24, 1999, in Rock Springs, the daughter of Jason Craig Braden and Cristy Lee Price.

Maicy attended schools in Green River and was a senior at the Green River High School. She was also a wrestling cheerleader.

Her interests were spending time with her family, hunting, fishing, welding and listening to music. She also enjoyed mudding with her truck "Phoenix" and she hated wearing shoes.

Survivors include her parents Jason Braden and Cristy Price and companion Jared Sharp, all of Green River; four sisters, Leigha Braden, Jayla Braden, Kaitlynn Sharp, and Alaina Sharp, all of Green River; grandparents Cecelia Gibb, Ronald and Marilyn Braden James and Ranae Price, Mike Kinniburgh, all of Green River; her boyfriend Daniel Thomas; several aunts, uncles and cousins.

She was preceded in death by two aunts, Alicia Price and Crystal Braden and her dog Dexter Boy.

Funeral services took place Saturday at Green River High School.

The family of Maicy Marie Braden respectfully suggest donations in her memory be made to the Maicy Marie Braden Memorial Fund c/oTrona Valley Credit Union, 840 Hitching Post Drive, Green River.
Wyoming voters will have a tough choice on their ballots Nov. 8 when deciding if they want Liz Cheney or Ryan Greene to represent the state in Washington, D.C.

Cheney, who came out ahead of a nine-person field for the Republican nomination in August, has certainly poised herself to make a strong push during the last month of the campaign, having generated more than $1.4 million in donations.

One question voters should ask themselves is if Cheney is more interested in speaking for Wyoming, as opposed to speaking to Wyoming. Her campaign did not respond to multiple requests from the Jackson H...
A massive recall of sleep apnea machines is expected to drag into next year. That's caused frustration for U.S. patients and led federal officials to consider rare legal steps to speed the replacement effort. Dutch manufacturer Philips has recalled more than 5 million machines worldwide due to foam that can deteriorate, releasing potentially harmful byproducts. While customers were supposed to receive new machines within a year, the company says shipments will continue into 2023. That's left many U.S. patients to choose between using a recalled device or trying other risky remedies. U.S. regulators have warned they may take the unprecedented step of ordering Philips to step up its effort.
BURLINGTON  Police are looking for three black males who robbed a man at a car wash shortly after noon Thursday.

According to a police news release, at 12:29 p.m., officers were sent to the car wash at the intersection of Tillman and Elm streets. They spoke with the victim who told them a gold sedan approached him while he was washing his car. He said the three men got out of the sedan holding guns. They ordered him to the ground and took his wallet and his 2013 blue Chevrolet Cruze with North Carolina registration EEN-2168.

During the course of the investigation, the police have learned that there may be a second individual who was robbed but has not come forward.

The police ask anyone who has any information regarding the unknown victim, suspects, or the location of the stolen vehicle to contact the police department at (336) 229-3500 or Alamance County-Wide Crimestoppers at (336) 229-7100.
RALEIGH  Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack has announced that Rockingham County Schools has received a $162,698 grant from the USDA.

The grant will be used to provide high-definition video conferencing infrastructure and network capabilities for interactive educational programming. The network will provide learning opportunities for students in six schools.

The project is one of just 18 in 16 states in which the USDA in investing to use communications technology to expand access to health care, substance misuse treatment and advanced educational opportunities.

These investments will help provide better health care and educational opportunities for rural residents, Vilsack said. Hospitals, schools and training centers across the country are successfully using telecommunications to deliver quality educational services.

USDA is awarding $4.7 million in Distance Learning and Telemedicine (DLT) program grants to support 11 distance learning and seven telemedicine projects.

Since 2009, USDA Rural Development in North Carolina has invested over $11 billion to start or expand rural businesses; helped rural residents buy homes; funded community facilities such as schools, public safety and health care facilities; financed electric transmission and distribution lines; and helped bring high-speed Internet access to rural residents and businesses.

Further information on rural programs is available at a local USDA Rural Development office can be found at www.rd.usda.gov/nc.
Irina Simeonovas eyes sparkle with the challenge as she sizes up her visitor. The latters black criss-cross wedge espadrilles have pop, but she has teamed them with a formless black sleeveless shell and ill-fitting magenta skirt. Simeonova turns to a rack of her creations for an ensemble that actually will say something about the wearer who has donned it.

Try this, she says, handing over a slim skirt and fitted jacket of embossed green material and cinnamon brown animal print. After a trip to a makeshift dressing room, said visitor emerges feeling way more confident, taller, more together and interesting. Simeonovas design talents aside (the skirts dual pleated accents are sublime), she has just proven what she has been talking about for the past 45 minutes.

Spend even a little bit of time with Simeonova, who owns a fashion academy and has her own ready-to-wear fashion line, and you learn clothing goes beyond function. It is a statement and a feeling, and as a teacher, she sees lessons as something more than how to construct or drape cloth over all those points and curves. Creativity and a fresh approach must be paired with every pleat and tuck, otherwise where is the soul? Just as a piece of visual art can stir emotions, so too can our clothes  that is, if its been made by a designer with something to say.

Fashion is a language, and we actually tell people what we want from them by the way we dress, she says. The way you dress makes you noticed; its a way to invite people into your world.

Ten years ago, Simeonova launched the New England Fashion + Design Association across three rooms above the South Norwalk eastbound train station. A successful decade of all-ages workshops, after-school programs and summer camps has led to expansion to locations in Glastonbury and White Plains, N.Y.

No newbie to fashion, Simeonova has been in the industry for more than 30 years. Earlier, if you consider she was sewing and making her own patterns at the age of 11 in her hometown of Sofia, Bulgaria. By 21, she was the head designer for the Bulgarian fashion house Rila Style. About six years later, in 1991, she came to the United States to work for designer Mary McFadden.

Teaching came later. Shes also an assistant professor at the New School Parsons School for Design.

I fell in love with it, she says.

Shes even gone international, recently returning from an exchange program for fashion students in Beijing, China. The South Norwalk fashion academy guides students in sewing, patternmaking and fashion illustration. On a recent afternoon, Simeonova worked with two new fifth-grade students, encouraging them to draw whatever came to mind. You are in a dream lab now, so you can do anything.

Across the way, Bela Raczkowski, 16, of Trumbull, fans out a half-dozen sketches inspired by insect wings and how insects see. Lines that resemble filaments (inspired by the multiveined wings) form the structure of skirt after flowing skirt. These are colorful, too, and Im not a big color person, Raczkowski says. Irina got me out of my comfort zone. I usually go more minimalistic, but for this one, I really went all out.

Raczkowskis collection is just one of the exercises  biology was the theme  she has completed since she started several years ago. Its been cool to see my growth. When I started, it was just simple things, but it has evolved from that.

The academy works to build strength and talent so problems are resolved faster and students leave with confidence and high self-esteem. The exercises here are actually teaching them to think very abstract, Simeonova says. They dont think about buttons and lapels and seams, they think about shapes. How these shapes influence the viewer.

As I work with the students, they tell me the way that they should be taught. I like to make them independent, and I push them to be independent, she adds. I dont like to smother them. I keep asking them to do it themselves.

Maggie Miller knows the drill. This 17-year-old aspiring designer from Weston built a collection around meiosis, or cell division. Her sketches reveal design elements inspired by cell structure. Shes already thinking of the next challenge, and at the risk of giving away a very enterprising idea, lets just say it is inspired by a historical figure and a pop-culture icon. My whole life, I have loved art, but I found this is the route I wanted to take. You can still have creative expressions in fashion, and I love the tangible quality.  Everyone interacts with fashion every day.

Simeonova will tell you that interaction is an important one. Before you even open your mouth, your clothes are talking for you. She recently has returned to fashion design with her ready-to-wear line. The fall line, the Huntress Collection, is out and a spring series is on the way.

Simeonova is as much a guide as she is a fellow creative traveler, offering insights to her students by her own example of not following the crowd.

The moment you repeat your voice, you are flat. In fashion, you have to keep moving.

chennessy@hearstmedia.com; Twitter: @xtinahennessy
Its candy time.

Every October 31, Americans celebrate a holiday that is ostensibly about ghosts, teenagers vandalizing their neighbors houses, and silly costumes. But everyone knows Halloweens real purpose is to serve as Americas sugar bacchanalia, a time when its acceptable to knock on strangers doors and literally demand treats. And, as with all things in life, there are ways to upgrade this ritual (or just improve your own snack drawer). Leave fun-size Snickers to the basics. You deserve something more interesting. Here are 19 American candies you should get for your Halloween party this year, whether to share with your friends, trick-or-treaters, or actually just eat by yourself.

Organic Candy Factorys Gummy Worms

Price: $12 for four-and-a-half-ounce bag

Gummy worms are an American classic and ideal Halloween treat, but they dont get much attention from newfangled candy-makers. Californias Organic Candy Factory gives them the fancy treatment, using pectin so theyre vegan and natural flavors like grapefruit, sour apple, and tangerine.

Sugarfinas Champagne Bubbles

Price: $12 for one pound

Youre an adult now, so your gummies should come in adult flavors, right? Los Angeless Sugarfina makes them in (nonalcoholic) flavors like Champagne, which come decorated in sprinklelike white nonpareils.

Fruitions Chocolate Caramels

Price: $20 for nine

A favorite of chocolate freaks nationwide, Fruition coats brown-butter caramel in lightly roasted Hispaniola dark chocolate and gives it an extra oomph with bourbon.

La Newyorkinas Dulces y Picositos

Price: $12 for three bags (about three ounces each)

Introduce something new to your Halloween roster this year with La Newyorkina, which doesnt trade in familiar American sweets but traditional Mexican treats. The sweet and spicy three-pack includes spicy candied orange peels, pumpkin-seed brittle, and spiced candied pumpkin seeds.

Raleys Confectionary Cherry Candies

Price: $7 for a three-ounce bag

If youve been looking for sophisticated rock candy, youre in luck. Tallahassee, Floridabased Raleys Confectionary makes the classic sweet, in flavors like cherry, with better ingredients and thoughtful designs that make them as fun to ogle as to eat.

Lollyphiles Cocoa Cereal Lollipops

Price: $8 for 4, $21 for 12, or $54 for 36

The Austin company, which recently decided to make a pizza lollipop, takes sugary cocoa cereal and puts it back exactly where it belongs: in the candy aisle, in the form of a lollipop.

Quins Butterscotch Old Fashioned Hard Candies

Price: $12 for a 12-piece bag

The Portland, Oregon, company doesnt shy away from hard candy like other new-school sweets-makers. It hits a nostalgic note with classic butterscotch thats amped up with vanilla bean and sea salt.

Charm School Chocolates Vanilla Cappuccino Crunch

Price: $13 for five and a half ounces

Perhaps the countrys top vegan chocolatier, the Baltimore company brings a new twist to the chocolate espresso bean by coating the beans in its creamy, high-cocoa-fat vanilla-bean white couverture.

Abba-Zabba Bar

Price: $20 for 24 bars

Not easily found in stores on the East Coast, these California candy bars are made of chewy, sticky taffy with equally sticky peanut butter  a seemingly weird combination that actually works.

Nunu Hokey Pokey Pieces

Price: $14 per four-ounce box

Brooklyns Nunu keeps this candy bar simple by creating a single-ingredient filling of airy, crunchy honeycomb candy thats dunked in dark chocolate.

Zingermans Karamel Krunch Handmade Halloween Candy

Price: $25 for 36 pieces

For a limited time, the Ann Arbor favorites candy arm produces a hybrid of a Rice Krispies treat and candy bar thats made with muscovado brown-sugar caramel and encased in mellow milk chocolate.

Toxic Wastes Sour Candy Drums

Price: $5 for 15 pieces

Anyone who grew up on Warheads will dig this cheekily packaged Indianapolis candy, which comes in flavors like watermelon, black cherry, blue raspberry, lemon, and lime. Its unique in that you get two rounds of sourness, broken up by a (brief) sweet respite.

Bonomo Turkish Taffy

Price: $20 for 24 pieces

Available in flavors including banana, strawberry, and wild cherry, the vintage taffylike hardy candy  which despite its name was invented in New Jersey  was a favorite thanks to its very long-lasting flavor that would preoccupy your guests while you focused on the punch.

Idaho Candy Companys Chicken Bones

Price: $9 for 28 ounces

Chicken bones likely arent the first thing that comes to mind when thinking of themed candy, but the classic oddball sweet, nearly a century old now, is obviously (and morbidly) very fitting for Halloween. Homemade peanut butter is coated in hard candy made of molasses, then coated in toasted coconut. No actual chickens are hurt in the making of this candy.

Wild Ophelias Peanut Butter & Banana Bar

Price: $46 for 12 two-ounce bars

Peanut butter and banana are a natural sandwich pairing, as all kids know, and chocolatier Wild Ophelia does the sensible thing and turns the combo into a milk-chocolate bar.

Enstroms Almond Toffee

Price: $37 for one pound

The old-school Colorado confectioner has long been known for its almond toffee, available in both dark and milk chocolate. It doubles down on the almonds, mixing chunks of almonds into the toffee itself and sprinkling crushed almonds onto the outer layer of chocolate.

Maple City Candys Chocolate-Maple Bark

Price: $25 for one pound

Chocolate bark is a versatile sweet, just the good stuff melted down and topped with whatever you want. This being Vermont, its made with maple sugar, which is sprinkled on top and added to a layer of white chocolate.

Vosges Pink Himalayan Crystal Salt Caramel Bar

Price: $9 for a three-ounce bar

If you love salted caramel but are maybe getting a little tired of it, then consider Vosgess take: dark-chocolate encasing burnt caramel spiked with pink salt.

ItSugars Giant Marshmallow Madness

Price: $23 for a 16-ounce box

Winking and nodding at Americas collective realization the sugary cereal is not breakfast food, ItSugar does the logical thing. It takes the cereal out entirely and just gives you a box full of colored marshmallows.
Pescado envuelto: grilled fish of the day, wrapped in plantain leaves, with roasted seasonal vegetables. And, apparently, on fire. Photo: Melissa Hom

If youre a fan of Cosme or Empellon Cocina, youll want to check out Guadalupe Inn, which the team behind Williamsburg Mexican restaurants Mesa Coyoacan and Zona Rosa just opened in Bushwick. Mexico Cityborn chef-owner Ivan Garcias menu is quite ambitious: To start, theres beer-battered squash blossom, corn-masa tamales with bone marrow, and fish tacos cooked in the style of Michoacan.

But things only get more interesting! Trompito al pastor is a showstopper, and there are also veal meatballs, shrimp marinated in chile de arbol, and, for dessert, fresh corn flan. (Though an order of churros filled with goat-milk caramel should be on every table, obviously.) To sip: a wide variety of tequilas and mezcals. Take a look to see why its finally time to retire the argument that New York has no good Mexican food:

Corn-masa gordita, pork rind, pickled cabbage, queso, crema, and chile del arbol salsa. Photo: Melissa Hom

Trompito al pastor: pork, guajillo chile, grilled pineapple, onion, cilantro, key lime, chile de arbol, and tortillas. Photo: Melissa Hom

When sliced. Photo: Melissa Hom

Churros rellenos de cajeta: churros filled with goat-milk caramel. Photo: Melissa Hom

The 80-seat space is supposed to feel like a 1940s-era supper club. Photo: Melissa Hom

The bar seats 16. Photo: Melissa Hom

Guadalupe Inn, 1 Knickerbocker Ave., 718-366-0500
Sad.

Somehow, a Toronto taqueria chains joke about Trump groping women ended up not being the #TacoTuesday comedic gold mine it was hoping for. The owner of La Carnita says an Instagram post that rhetorically asked, What if Donald said, grab her by the taco  stayed live for approximately half an hour before they took it out of commission, but that honestly had little effect on the onslaught of angry tweets blasting the chain for a double entendre based on a presidential candidates suggestion that he can grab certain regions of females anytime he wants:



Ughhh I was gonna just try and chill tonight but REALLY DUDES?? Wtf is WRONG WITH YOU? pic.twitter.com/XWJdhDVLr0  Jen Agg (@TheBlackHoof) October 11, 2016

And you can all stop suggesting that women can be grabbed. at all. Ever. With tacos, with money, with anything.  Lori Harito (@LoHo__) October 12, 2016

donate to a rape crisis centre. Make it right.  Nicole Simone (@nicolesimone) October 12, 2016

not just rude and insensitive, it also trivialized and made fun of sexual assault.  life ruiner (@mira_elhussein) October 12, 2016

La Carnita quickly tried neutralizing things by apologizing in a series of tweets:



Part 1. Friends + followers,



Tonight, we made a mistake. A big one. We used a caption that was dumb, rude, and insensitive.  La Carnita Ltd. (@la_carnita) October 12, 2016

Part 2. Once we realized our error, we quickly removed it. For anyone who saw it, know that we understand your anger  La Carnita Ltd. (@la_carnita) October 12, 2016

Part 3. and fully realize why it was inappropriate. We truly apologize. We can do better, and we will.



Love, la carnita.  La Carnita Ltd. (@la_carnita) October 12, 2016

Because the post was #TacoTuesday-related, the chain says that every Tuesday we are going to take a portion of sales and donate them to the Canadian Womens Foundation. The chains been in trouble for juvenile humor before (a tweet once referred to its own servers as tacHOES), so it says managers will now undergo mandatory sensitivity training, and over the coming months, La Carnita will also give the public frequent updates about that training and the funds it donates. The CEO of the company that owns the chain says theyre taking this very seriously, partly because (shocker!) Our company is made up of 50 percent women.
Just yesterday we saw a huge leak regarding the upcoming Huawei Mate 9, showing us that the Chinese company's phablet will come in two different designs. One will have a flat screen, while the other will opt for a dual-curved display akin to Samsung's "edge" handsets. That leak, however, only portrayed the front of the Mate 9.

Well, helpfully another leak arrives today to complete the picture, allegedly showing us renders of the device's back. Or backs, to be specific, since we're looking at slightly differing designs on the rear too.

The one on the left is said to be the Mate 9 codenamed Manhattan, which will get a worldwide release (including the US), while to the right is the Long Island prototype which could only be sold in China. The latter is the one coming with the curved screen, and it's obvious from this render that its back will be curved towards the sides too.

What's interesting to note here, if these renders are properly scaled, is that the Manhattan is smaller than the Long Island. We have heard they'll get different screen resolutions (1080p for the international model, QHD for the China-only one), but we were working under the assumption that the display size will be identical at 5.9". That's still the most probable outcome, mind you.

As you can see, the Mate 9 will have a Leica-branded dual rear camera arrangement, with laser autofocus and dual-tone LED flash. The camera sensors will both have 20 MP resolution and f/2.0 aperture, past rumors have said. These renders show fingerprint scanners on the backs of both iterations, which conflicts with the renders of the Long Island from yesterday, as that had a button underneath the screen.

The Mate 9 is set to become official at an event on November 3, and leaks about it will only intensify up until that point. So these confusing aspects are bound to be clarified soon.

Source
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Samsung has announced that owners of its Galaxy Note7 smartphone in Canada can return their units starting October 13 (today). You can bring your device to the point of purchase to either get it exchanged for a Galaxy S7/S7 edge or receive a refund.

Those who purchased their unit directly from Samsung.com will get a refund upon the return of their unit. "Samsung Canada will email our online customers from Thursday, October 13th to provide them with details regarding the return process," the company said in a press release.

In case you have any inquiries, you can contact 1-855-747-6520.

Source
Samsung Galaxy Note7 was unprecedentedly discontinued for good after a global recall, which didn't fix the battery issues. And while the market and Samsung are yet to fully feel the effect from the blunder, the Koreans are determined to set the record straight whatever the cost.

Samsung Mobile's chief Dong-Jin Koh has vowed that he "would at any cost find the exact cause (behind the Galaxy Note 7 battery issues) to restore trust of consumers so that they can use Samsung products without any safety concerns."

Mr. Koh admitted he was as frustrated as the consumers, then he proceeded to make a heartfelt apology, and thank the Samsung fans and teams for their support throughout the crisis.

Mr. Koh is enjoying the support of Samsung employees and they are expressing it on the official message boards. In times like this it is likely the head of the mobile division to go, but it seems the employees aren't liking this possibility and are taking precautions.

Samsung is currently exchanging all the Note7 and many people are actually opting to stay with the company and choose to get a Galaxy S7 edge replacement. The GalaxyS7 edge is so popular right now that in fact it is completely out of stock in some markets such as Taiwan.

Naturally, Samsung is offering various compensations if you choose to stay with the company such as up to $100 credits, gift certificates, or even cashbacks. You can also choose to get your cash back or opt another maker's phone, and you will still get a credit bonus, just not as big.

Source 1  Source 2  Via
With the Galaxy Note7 being Samsungs flagship, what do you exchange it for? The company doesnt have a phone to match its capabilities so now that users are forced to swap their Note7s for something else, the company is offering financial incentives.

This is an attempt to fend off rivals LG and Apple, which are trying to poach Samsung consumers. LG recently launched the V20, while SK Telecom will start taking iPhone 7 pre-orders this Friday. Samsung is also boosting advertising efforts that promote its other Galaxy phones to retain buyers.

In the US, Samsung will give you $100 bill credit if you swap your Note7 for another Galaxy phone. If you want to change brands, however, you only get $25. That's still a better deal than The Korean giant is offering in its home country. A Galaxy Note7 was sold for the equivalent of $880 in its home country, returning it will net you a coupon worth KRW 30,000 (thats ~$27). If, instead, you swap it for another high-end Galaxy, you get mobile credit of KRW 70,000 (just under $65).

Samsung stock has rebounded after it slipped when the Note7 cancellation was announced. The company revised its Q3 guidance, slashing predicted profits by a third. We will have to wait until Q4 to see what long-term effects the Note7 will have on Samsungs future.

Source 1 | Source 2
Samsung may have canceled the Galaxy Note7, but the exact reason behind latest fire incidents involving the phablet isn't yet known.

The South Korean company has now issued a statement saying that it is currently investigating the reason behind the fire incidents involving replacement Galaxy Note7 units, and will share more information in weeks to come.

Following is the complete statement:

"The replacement phones have batteries from a separate and different supplier than the original Note 7 devices. We're currently conducting a thorough investigation, and it would be premature to speculate on outcomes. We will share more information in the coming weeks."

A recent report said that investigators are blaming a new battery flaw for the latest Note7 fire incidents.

Via
Mysterious Nokia D1C Android smartphone spotted hold on, thats not right. The D1C is actually a tablet - surprise! Some early specs came from AnTuTu, but that benchmark doesnt detect screen size.

GFX Bench does, however, and it reported a massive screen - 13.8 with 1080p resolution. This will clearly be an "at home" tablet similar to the Samsung Galaxy View and the Alcatel Xess. Even so it has a SIM card slot.

The Nokia D1C is powered by an entry-level Snapdragon 430 chipset (8x Cortex-A53, Adreno 505) with 3GB of RAM and 16GB storage. On the plus side, it will run Android 7.0 Nougat and will have a good 8MP/1080p selfie camera for all your video chatting needs (plus a 16MP/1080p camera on the back, assuming you can lift the tablet and frame the photo).



Nokia D1C specs as detected by GFX Bench

The Nokia D1C will be the second Android tablet under the Nokia brand, but were still waiting for the Nokia brand to return to smartphones. If you havent heard, it is not Nokia-proper that builds these devices, but instead, it's a product of the collaboration between Nokia and Foxconn.

Source
The images and accounts of Haitis devastation following Hurricane Matthews passage on Oct. 4 are gut-wrenching. The death toll is in the hundreds and continues to rise. Entire villages in the country's southwest were obliterated. The response of a Haitian government, left besieged and without resources by decades of foreign plunder, is anemic. The victims anguished appeals for help are heart-rending. The United Nations now says 1.4 million people are in need of assistance, urgent and immediate for half of them. Distressed onlookers around the world want to do something, anything, and fast. But the greatest danger in the hurricane's aftermath may not come from the destruction of crops and infrastructure, the inevitable spike in cholera cases, or the sudden homelessness of tens of thousands. It may come from the aircraft carriers, foreign troops, food shipments, and hordes of NGO workers which are now descending on Haiti ostensibly to help the storms victims. This supposed aid may end up undermining local food production, sabotaging pending elections, reinforcing the foreign military intervention in the country, and generally subverting Haitis recent moves to regain its sovereignty. We saw this scenario almost seven years ago, following the 7.0 earthquake that leveled the town of Leogane and the region around the capital city of Port-au-Prince on Jan. 12, 2010. In the days after the earthquake, the United States deployed 22,000 troops to Haiti without the permission of the national government, took over the Port-au-Prince airport, and militarized the humanitarian response. Marines armed as if they were going to war, exclaimed the late Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez in early 2010. There is not a shortage of guns there, my God. Doctors, medicine, fuel, field hospitals, that is what the United States should send. They are occupying Haiti in an undercover manner. (That intervention and much else about U.S. meddling in Haiti have been detailed in a joint publishing project begun in 2011 between Wikileaks and Haiti Liberte weekly newspaper, which partnered with The Nation magazine on many English language articles.) Today, the U.S. has sent the aircraft carrier USS George Washington and an amphibious transport vessel, the Mesa Verde, with 300 Marines on board, as well as 100 Marines with nine helicopters from Honduras. Richard Morse, who runs Port-au-Princes iconic Oloffson Hotel, returned to Haiti on Oct. 9 and tweeted: Lots of U.S. military on the plane. In contrast, the day after the hurricane hit, Venezuela flew 20 tons of humanitarian aid to Haiti  food, water, blankets, sheets, and medicines. It dispatched two more shipments in the following days, including a ship containing 660 tons of material that includes 450 tons of machinery to remove debris and fix roads and bridges and 90 tons of non-perishable foods and medicines, supplies, tents, blankets, and drinking water. It has also dispatched 200 doctors, many of them Cuban-trained. All this despite very difficult economic conditions in Venezuela as well as a relentless political assault by Washington against the Venezuelan government. In this latest disaster, Venezuela was the first to help Haiti, said the Haitian Ambassador to Caracas, Lesly David. Cuba, meanwhile, has supplemented its revered 1,200-doctor medical mission to Haiti with 38 personnel from the Henry Reeve International Contingent of Physicians Specialized in Disaster Situations and Serious Epidemics, which set up field hospitals in Haiti in 2010 as well. As Washington sends soldiers, Venezuela and Cuba send doctors. In the longer term, it is likely that Washington will seek to use the post-hurricane crisis to bolster its proxy force, the UN Mission to Stabilize Haiti (MINUSTAH), which has occupied Haiti in violation of Haitian and international law for 12 years, following the overthrow of Haiti's elected president on Feb. 29, 2004. (MINUSTAH was expanded from 7,000 to 11,500 soldiers and police officers after the 2010 earthquake.) MINUSTAH's mandate expires on Oct. 15. In the face of Haitian and international outcry and the withdrawal from the force of several key Latin American nations  Argentina, Uruguay and Chile  outgoing UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon recommended on Aug. 31 extending the mandate by only six months, less than the customary one-year renewal. He says a a strategic assessment of the situation in Haiti is needed. However, Ban conditioned this shorter mandate on the hope that the current electoral calendar will be maintained so that a strategic assessment mission would be deployed to Haiti after Feb. 7, 2017, the date on which a new elected president is supposed to be sworn in. As a result of Hurricane Matthew, it is now unlikely that an elected president will be inaugurated on that date. Haitis Provisional Electoral Council (CEP) has postponed indefinitely the elections which were to take place on Oct. 9, involving a re-do of a first-round presidential vote (that of Oct. 25, 2015 was patently fraudulent) and a run-off for several Haitian legislature seats. The CEP is due to announce on Oct. 12 the new electoral schedule. (Leaks suggest it may propose Oct. 30, 2016.) It may prove impossible to hold the postponed pollings in time for a February presidential inauguration because tens of thousands of would-be voters on Haitis southern peninsula have surely lost their electoral cards while many polling places  mostly schools  will need repairs or complete rebuilding. The potential absence of an elected president in time for the constitutionally-mandated inauguration date would surely be used as an excuse for the extension of MINUSTAHs mandate, despite Haitians being almost unanimously opposed to the troops presence. The MINUSTAH, now numbering 5,000 soldiers and police officers, is reviled due to its massacres, murders, rapes, and other crimes against Haitians, but mostly because its Nepalese contingent introduced cholera into Haiti in October 2010. Nearly 10,000 Haitians have died from cholera and more than one million have been infected. The UN has fiercely resisted any culpability for the cholera disaster. The disease spreads when cholera-infected sewage mixes with drinking and washing water, a situation which arises more easily when there is massive flooding, as after Matthew. As for the relationship between post-hurricane rebuilding and the upcoming elections, the earthquakes aftermath is instructive. Then-U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and former President Bill Clinton took command of Haitis post-earthquake reconstruction through the Interim Haiti Recovery Commission (IHRC), sidelining the Haitian government and Haitian President Rene Preval. The resentful Preval became something of a figurehead, with the Clintons and their coterie running the show. The powers behind MINUSTAH  the U.S., France, and Canada  intervened aggressively following the 2010 earthquake to install a pliant president. As Preval's electoral mandate was finishing, his partys successor candidate, Jude Celestin, finished the first-round presidential vote in November 2010 in second place. But Washington intervened, led by Secretary of State Clinton, and replaced Celestin with the third place finisher, Michel Martelly, a ribald musical performer of the political extreme-right. He went on to win the March 2011 run-off vote. Could a similar power-play take place in Haitis next election, especially with the likely election in November of Hillary Clinton as the next U.S. president? Then there is the question of emergency aid  food, water, shelter, and medical supplies. There is an obvious need for all of this in the immediate term, such as that sent by Venezuela. However, in the past, Washington has used its food aid to crush and debilitate local Haitian food production. Former CARE employee and Haiti-resident researcher Tim Schwartz documented this at length in his book Travesty in Haiti: A True Account of Christian Missions, Orphanages, Fraud, Food Aid and Drug Trafficking. He wrote that the role of food aid was not principally to help people but to promote overseas sales of U.S. agricultural produce. The consequences have been devastating throughout the world. That aid, he argued, brought ruin to small Haitian farmers. Westerners wanting to help shouldnt assume that there are no resources available to Haitians in country, writes Haitian Jocelyn McCalla in The Guardian on Oct. 6. While charitable goods may provide temporary relief, they can hinder recovery in the long run to the extent that they can have a negative impact on the local economy. In 2010, most of the humanitarian disaster aid was funneled through international non-governmental organizations (INGOs) and the result was disastrous. Even the Clintons own daughter, Chelsea, was profoundly disturbed by what she saw on the ground. She wrote in a declassified email in early 2010 that the incompetence is mind numbing, that Haitians want to help themselves and want the international community to help them help themselves, and that there is NO accountability in the UN system or international humanitarian system (including for/ among INGOs). The current Haitian government, headed by interim President Jocelerme Privert, is trying to take control of the disaster relief efforts and funds. Following the earthquake, only one per cent of aid funds went to Haitian authorities. This time, the presidents office has reinforced the Permanent National Office for Risk and Disaster Relief (SNGRD) through which all national and international disaster relief is to be channeled and coordinated. What will be Washingtons response to this initiative? The U.S. was angered earlier this year when the Privert government resisted its pressure not to form an independent verification commission to investigate the fraud-plagued Aug. 9 and Oct. 25, 2015 elections. Anger became outrage when Priverts CEP respectedthe verification commissions recommendation to redo the 2015 presidential first-round, and Washington and the European Union said they would withhold all financial support. Commendably, cash-strapped Haiti was undeterred and has managed to fund the elections by itself. Haitian government leadership of the relief efforts should begin with its being able to establish the death toll. The Haitian government and foreign media are differing over how many people have died from Hurricane Matthew. As of this writing, the international media is saying that more than 900 people perished, while the Haitian governments Civil Protection Directorate (DPC) gives an official nationwide count of 372 dead, four missing, 246 injured, and 175,509 persons housed in 224 temporary shelters. Writing on Oct. 8, Haitian journalist Dady Chery has reported, Once the United States military and journalists began to assess the hurricanes damage by some counting system of their own invention, the number of Haitian casualties skyrocketed, and there were no longer any reports of how the dead met their fates. Indeed, the number of the Haitian dead from Hurricane Matthew has doubled approximately every 12 hours since Tuesday [Oct. 4] morning and is now estimated to be 800. The higher casualty counts should be examined carefully and with great skepticism, Chery continues. For one, there no longer appears to be a distinction between the missing and the dead. For example, the children from a collapsed orphanage are presumed to have died, but no evidence of their deaths has been offered. It is in the interest of the occupying powers to pressure Haiti to exaggerate the human and material costs of the hurricane, Chery concludes. Indeed, Washington will likely use this latest Haitian crisis to further its own economic and political agenda and to bully and undercut President Privert, who has shown some temerity and independence since his interim appointment by redoing the 2015 presidential election in the face of fierce opposition from Washington, Ottawa, and Paris. After their experience of the last six years, the Haitian people are justified in being wary of foreigners bearing gifts but whose policies have always undermined Haiti's democracy and sovereignty. If people are concerned about the long-term sovereignty and capacity of the country of Haiti to develop its own resources, I would recommend against the large charities, which in my view just perpetuate the conditions of poverty and of political instability that cause the country to be so vulnerable in the first place, Roger Annis of the Canada Haiti Action Network (CHAN) told the Globe & Mail on Oct. 9. International aid by whatever agency able to deliver it is being welcomed by Hurricane Matthews Haitian victims and their government. But the lesson of the 2010 earthquake is that aid and reconstruction must be directed by Haitians and for Haitians. Otherwise, this latest disaster will only aggravate the long disaster of big-power intervention into the country. That, not inevitable storms and earthquakes, is the largest obstacle facing Haiti in its struggle for development and sovereignty. (Readers are encouraged to contact local Haitian consulates or embassies to find out how to contribute directly to the Haitian government or its affiliated agencies.) Roger Annis contributed to this article, which is also published on CounterPunch . For background to the long history of foreign interference in Haiti, read ' Haitis humanitarian crisis: Rooted in history of military coups and occupations ', by Kim Ives and Roger Annis, May 2011. For an assessment of 2010 earthquake aid five years on, read, ' Haiti's promised rebuilding unrealized as Haitians challenge authoritarian rule , by Roger Annis and Travis Ross, Jan 12, 2015. The website project ' Haiti Relief and Reconstruction Watch ' documents Haiti's difficult experiences following the January 2010 earthquake.
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Published on 2016/10/12 | Source

Added episode 15 captures for the Korean drama "Moonlight Drawn by Clouds" (2016)

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Directed by Baek Sang-hoon, Kim Seong-yoon

Written by Kim Min-jeong-II, Lim Ye-jin

Network : KBS

With Park Bo-gum, Kim Yoo-jung, Chae Soo-bin, Jin Young, Kwak Dong-yeon, Kim Seung-soo,...

18 episodes - Mon, Tue 22:00

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'Moonlight Drawn by Clouds' is a palace romance inspired by the genius Crown Prince Hyomyeong in the later era of Joseon, who loved etiquette and music. The drama will tell the coming-of-age story of youthful romance in Joseon era which was unwritten in the history.

Broadcast starting date in Korea : 2016/08/22

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Medieval and barbaric: Asia Bibi, Christian mother of 5, sentenced to death in

Pakistan for allegedly making derogatory remarks about Islam's prophet, Muhammad. Irrespective of what Pakistan's top court will rule on the blasphemy-accused Christian woman Asia Bibi's case, it will be viewed globally from a human rights perspective. A crucial test for the country.





The judges of the Pakistani Supreme Court will sit down in Islamabad in the coming days to decide the fate of Asia Bibi, a Christian woman sentenced to death by the same court in 2010.





Asia Bibi has been languishing in prison for more than six years. The 51-year-old mother of five was arrested in June, 2009, after her neighbors complained that she had made derogatory remarks about Islam's prophet, Muhammad. A year later, Bibi was sentenced to death under the Islamic Republic's controversial blasphemy law despite strong opposition from national and international human rights groups.





"I am very hopeful and confident that my client will get justice... and she will be able to spend her life with her children," Bibi's lawyer Saif-ul-Mulook told the AFP news agency.





A similar hope that the Pakistani judiciary might pardon Bibi and eventually release her was dashed in 2014 when the Lahore High Court (LHC) ruled to uphold her 2010 death sentence. It is likely that the Supreme Court's forthcoming decision would not be different from the LHC's ruling two years ago. Legally, the judges have very little room under the blasphemy law to overturn their 2010 decision.





The Supreme Court will hear the case on Thursday, October 13





But the main issue on Thursday will not be legal; Bibi's case has acquired an international status, with human rights organizations demanding her release. Because the discrimination against religious minorities is rampant in the Muslim-majority nation, and the blasphemy law has been widely criticized by both local and international rights groups, the legality of the issue is pretty much secondary, experts say. The European Parliament and Pope Francis have also called for her release.





Imran Nafees Siddiqui, an Islamabad-based civil society activist, says the South Asian country's civil society should keep building pressure on the government and the courts irrespective of the legal outcome.





"[The blasphemy law] is a man-made doctrine and not a divine revelation. That's why rights groups should continue to demand Bibi's freedom. The media should also play an active role," Siddiqui told DW. "The public opinion carries a lot of weight and can also influence courts' decisions. We have to create an alternative narrative to defeat the extremist discourse in the country. It is a test case for the rights of minorities in Pakistan," he added.





However, those who want Bibi hanged argue that the case is Pakistan's domestic matter, which should be dealt with under the country's laws.





A politically-charged case





There is also tremendous opposition to Bibi's release in Pakistan. The issue is no longer only religious; it is a sensitive political matter now.





Controversial blasphemy laws in Pakistan, where 97 percent of the population is Muslim, were introduced by the military dictator General Zia-ul-Haq in the 1980s. But activists say they are often implemented in cases which have little to do with blasphemy. They are used to settle petty disputes and personal vendettas. Christians, Hindus and Ahmadis - a minority religious sect - are often victimized as a result.





A few months after Bibi's conviction, Salman Taseer, a former governor of the central Punjab province, was murdered by his bodyguard, Mumtaz Qadri. Qadri shot Taseer 28 times in broad daylight in Islamabad on January 4, 2011, and was sentenced to death in October the same year.





Qadri showed no remorse over the killing. He said he had murdered the former governor for his efforts to amend the country's blasphemy laws and his support for Bibi. Qadri was showered with rose petals by Muslim right-wing groups as he was taken to jail by the authorities. Subsequently, some mosques were named after him, and huge portraits of him were erected across the country.





But Qadri was sent to the gallows earlier this year, and his supporters believe that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's government executed him under international pressure. So if the Supreme Court reverses the death sentence now, the right-wing parties and groups are likely to take to the streets. They fear that any concession to Bibi or any other blasphemy victim might lead to amendments in the Islamic laws and open a door to the secularization of Pakistan.





Fareed Ahmad Pracha, a leader of Pakistan's right-wing political party, the Jamaat-i-Islami, says he won't allow even a slight change to the blasphemy law. "We just want to say that the law should be enforced properly. There should not be any amendment to the blasphemy law. We will not tolerate or accept this," he told DW.





Under the shadows of fear





Bibi's family has been living under constant fear since 2010. The Christian woman's husband, Ashiq Masih, has been fighting a desperate battle for the life and freedom of his wife ever since. Masih has asked for presidential clemency for Bibi and has written to President Mamnoon Hussain, seeking permission to move her to France, where the Council of Paris unanimously adopted a proposal to award honorary citizenship to Bibi in March.





"We are living a life on the run" Masih told DW. "Our lives are being threatened. We receive death threats constantly and are moving from one place to another - and we try to support each other."





His family's life has been destroyed, he said: "I spent almost 45 years of my life in my native village. I had many friends there. But now I do not want to go back."





Masih is also scared. He is afraid of being recognized as Asia Bibi's husband in public. "This is why I almost never speak with Muslims. I am frightened that they know who I am."





Farzana Bari, director of Center for Women's Studies at Islamabad's Quaid-i-Azam University, believes discrimination will persist unless there is radical change in the Islamic law. "It is high time that the government reforms the blasphemy law," she told DW. "These laws are against the spirit of Islam and are a cause of notoriety for the country."





Religious discrimination in Pakistan is not a new occurrence but it has increased considerably in recent years. Pakistan's liberal sections are alarmed by the growing influence of religious extremists in their country. Rights activists complain that the Islamists enjoy state patronage, while on the other hand liberal and progressive voices have to face the wrath of the country's security agencies.





"I call on the human rights organizations and the international community to continue supporting us with the effective handling of the Asia Bibi case," Masih pleads.





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Source: Deutsche Welle, Shamil Shams, October 12, 2016
Owen Miller of Boone helped save lives by hosting an American Red Cross blood drive this summer and earned a $1,000 scholarship as a result of his lifesaving efforts.

As part of the Red Cross Leaders Save Lives program, the Watauga High School student hosted a blood drive at the Holiday Inn in Boone on June 14, which collected 38 blood donations. As a result, Miller was entered in a drawing to win a scholarship and was chosen as a winner. Miller was also awarded a gift card.

Miller was inspired to help save lives because he credits generous blood donors for helping to save his. I had brain cancer when I was 9 and had to have a lot of blood and platelets, so I wanted to give back, said Miller. It helped me get better after chemo.

Blood donors from high school and college blood drives account for about 20 percent of donations given through the Red Cross during the school year. Many of these blood donors do not give during the summer months and the winter holidays when school is not in session, and when blood shortages can occur. The Leaders Save Lives program encourages community-minded 16- to 24-year-old students to host blood drives to help maintain the blood supply during these crucial times of the year. Students who participate as a blood drive coordinator are eligible to win a scholarship for higher education and to earn a gift card.

Students can sign up now to participate in the Leaders Save Lives program this winter break, Dec. 15, 2016, through Jan. 15, 2017. More information is available at redcrossblood.org/leaderssavelives.

About the American Red Cross:

The American Red Cross shelters, feeds and provides emotional support to victims of disasters; supplies about 40 percent of the nations blood; teaches skills that save lives; provides international humanitarian aid; and supports military members and their families. The Red Cross is a not-for-profit organization that depends on volunteers and the generosity of the American public to perform its mission. For more information, please visit redcross.org or cruzrojaamericana.org, or visit us on Twitter at @RedCross.

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Zeinab Sekaanvand

A female prisoner in Iran who was arrested as a juvenile is facing execution after a forced confession, and could be hanged as early as today, according to reports.





Zeinab Sekaanvand was 17 when she was arrested in 2012 . She was reportedly beaten for nearly three weeks before confessing to the murder of her husband, whose abusive behaviour she had previously reported to the authorities. According to Amnesty International, she could be hanged in days. Ms Sekaanvand's execution was previously postponed because she was pregnant, and then scheduled again after she gave birth to a stillborn baby, the Times has today reported.





Iran carries out more executions per capita than any other country. Last year, the authorities executed nearly 1,000 people, the vast majority for non-violent alleged crimes such as drugs offences. Reports of unfair trials and forced confessions under torture were common. Human rights organization Reprieve has raised concerns that the executions could be bolstered by UN counter-narcotics programmes, funded by other countries, which provide support for Irans police.





Last year, President Hassan Rouhani claimed that abolition of the death penalty in Iran would be dangerous, because most executions were for alleged drug offences.





News of Ms Sekaanvands hanging comes as Iran seeks an improvement in its relations with the international community, following the lifting of international trade sanctions earlier this year. In April, the EUs foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini, visited the country and announced that EU-Iranian relations had turned a new page. Last summer, former Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond flew to Iran to reopen the UK embassy in Tehran, commenting during the visit that counter-narcotics was an area that Britain and Iran should be ready to discuss.





Commenting, Maya Foa, a director at Reprieve, said: Irans government is overseeing a huge wave of executions even while Iranian leaders seek better relations with the international community  including the UK, the EU and the US. Many of the prisoners facing the noose were convicted for non-violent crimes such as drug offences  while shockingly unfair trials and forced confessions are the norm. The international community must urgently use their renewed links with Iran to demand a halt to this appalling wave of hangings  and to call off the execution of Zeinab Sekaanvand.





Details of Federica Mogherini's visit to Iran earlier this year are here, while Mr Hammond's visit to Iran last year was reported here.

Details of Ms Sekaanvand's case were reported by the Times today, here.





Source: Reprieve, October 13, 2016. Reprieve is an international human rights organization.





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Britains secretive work at a death-row jail in Bahrain is being challenged by international human rights group Reprieve.





The UK Foreign Office paid almost a million pounds last year to NI-CO Ltd, a company owned by the Northern Irish government, for projects with Bahrain which included training hundreds of prison guards.





The company worked at a series of Bahraini jails that are renowned for torture, including Jau prison where death-row inmates are held.





Prisoners at Jau include Mohammed Ramadan, a father of three who was tortured into making a false confession which resulted in him being sentenced to death.





However, NI-CO has refused to release details of its liaisons with staff at these facilities, in response to a freedom of information request by Reprieve.





Now Reprieve has filed a complaint with the Information Commissioner arguing that the correspondence must be disclosed.





The UK Foreign Office said in its most recent human rights report on Bahrain that allegations of ill-treatment in detention continue and that it had concerns over the death penalty.





From 2015 to 2016, more than a dozen NI-CO training staff worked at Bahrains Jau, Hidd, Isa Town and Dry Dock prisons on management and operational aspects.





The company has refused to release further details about its activities, claiming that disclosure would damage its commercial interests and sour Britains bi-lateral relationship with Bahrain.





In its complaint, Reprieve argues that Bahraini authorities have been more transparent about this project than NI-CO, citing an official report which said that around 400 guards at Jau received training under the scheme.





The complaint notes that the Information Commissioner has previously ordered the release of information about custodial facilities where there was public concern about the treatment of detainees, even if it damaged someones commercial interests.





Earlier this year, Northern Irelands justice department disclosed emails from NI-CO about visits by Bahraini prison guards to the poor performing Maghaberry jail, where they received instruction on control and restraint training, incident management and drug detection.





Harriet McCulloch, deputy director of Reprieves death penalty team, said:





NI-CO needs to come clean over its work with Bahrains jail guards. The company is hiding details of its activities at Bahrains death row prison, where innocent father of three Mohammed Ramadan faces execution after he was tortured into a false confession. NI-CO is owned by Stormont and its work in Bahrain is paid for by the UK Foreign Office, so it must be fully transparent about its dealings with a notorious prison system where torture is systematic.





More detail on Mohammed Ramadans case is available on the Reprieve website here

Reprieves report on NI-CO, Belfast to Bahrain: the torture trail, is available to download here.



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Source: Reprieve, October 13, 2016. Reprieve is an international human rights organization. | 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
Jason Beresford, who admits violent disorder but pleads not guilty to the murder of Dale Creighton Picture: Maxwells

One of the seven Dubliners on trial charged with murdering 20-year-old Dale Creighton has pleaded guilty to violent disorder on the footbridge where the deceased was assaulted.

A witness also told the jury that he saw a knife in Mr Creighton's hand that morning.

Dale Creighton died on January 2 2014, about two days after an incident at the footbridge over the Tallaght bypass between Saint Dominic's Road and Greenhills Road.

Jason Beresford (23) with an address at Coill Diarmuida, Ard A Laoi, Castledermot, Co Kildare, went on trial with six others on Tuesday.

The woman and six men, who are in their 20s and from Tallaght, all pleaded not guilty to murder when arraigned before the Central Criminal Court last week. Each accused also pleaded not guilty to violent disorder at the footbridge that New Year's Day.

However, when the jury arrived to court yesterday morning, Mr Beresford's barrister, Micheal O'Higgins SC, asked that his client be re-arraigned on the second count against him.

Dressed in a grey suit and shirt and a navy tie, Mr Beresford stood up and pleaded guilty to violent disorder on January 1, 2014.

Ms Justice Deirdre Murphy told the jury that one of the counts had been disposed of and that the trial would proceed as normal.

Also charged with both offences are 23-year-old Aisling Burke and 28-year-old David Burke, both with a current address at Beechpark, Collinstown, Co Westmeath; Graham Palmer (26) with a current address at Park Avenue, Portarlington, Co Laois; Ross Callery (23) currently of Gortlum Cottages, Brittas, Co Dublin; James Reid (26) currently of Glen Aoibhinn, Gorey, Co Wexford; and Gerard Stevens (27) currently of Grosvenor Square, Rathmines, in Dublin.

The jury also heard from a witness, who said he saw Mr Creighton with a knife on the footbridge in the early hours of that morning.

Carl O'Leary said that he was on his way to get a taxi in Tallaght village some time after 3am, when he heard a commotion.

"I vaguely remember someone running past me," he recalled.

"I just remember someone saying: 'Grab him. He robbed our phone'," he testified. "I recall seeing James Reid and Ross Callery."

He said there were others, but he didn't know who they were.

Mr O'Leary said he, himself, began running down the Tallaght bypass and towards the footbridge.

"I remember seeing Mr Creighton on the bridge. I didn't know him at the time," he said.

Under cross examination by Brendan Grehan SC, defending Ms Burke, he agreed that he had put two and two together when he saw the person running and heard the shout about the phone.

"I ran down after him. I just assumed he'd robbed the phone," he explained. "I thought I was doing the right thing."

Mr Grehan then read from his statement to gardai.

"I seen he had a big kitchen knife, probably in his right hand. I said to myself: 'F**k, I'm not risking getting stabbed for nobody's phone'," he had said. "I stopped."

Knife

He said in court that he hadn't seen the knife when he backed away from Mr Creighton, but had done so because Mr Creighton had run at him.

He confirmed to Ciaran O'Loughlin SC, defending James Reid, that he had later seen Dale Creighton with a knife, but said he hadn't seen Mr Reid take the knife from him.

Mr O'Leary's girlfriend, Shannon Downes, also testified yesterday. She said that she had initially seen two males running by her while in the village that morning.

"A girl came running after them around the corner, saying they'd robbed her phone," she recalled, explaining that Mr O'Leary had run off to get her phone.

She was cross examined by Mr Grehan, who read from the statement she had made to gardai about what she'd heard: "He's after bashing me and robbing my phone."

She agreed that this account was correct. The trial continues before six men and six women.
A 29-year-old man charged with unlawful possession of a handgun in connection with the murder of Gareth Hutch in Dublin, has been further remanded in custody.

Father-of-one Gareth Hutch (35), a nephew of Gerry "the Monk" Hutch, was shot dead as he was getting into his car outside Avondale House flats where he lived on North Cumberland Street in Dublin's inner city, on the morning of May 24.

He died during a series of killings in a feud between rival Kinahan and Hutch gangs.

Thomas Fox, who has an address at Rutland Court, in north inner city Dublin, is charged with unlawful possession of a Makarov 9mm handgun at Avondale House on May 23, a day before the shooting.

The charge is contrary to section 27A of the Firearms Act which can carry a sentence of up to 14 years. He has not yet indicated how he will plead.

He had been initially refused bail by Dublin District Court on June 1 and was remanded in custody.

Hearing

He faced his ninth hearing on Wednesday when he appeared before Judge Victor Blake at Cloverhill District Court.

Judge Blake further remanded him in custody for another two weeks. At the previous hearing, on September 28, the judge heard that the State was seeking an adjournment for as long as possible to allow time for the DPP's directions to be obtained. He was told the case is extremely complex that about 300 statements have been taken and progress is being made.

The accused has been in custody since June 1 on the one charge before the court.

The court has also heard that the investigation involved the examination of 5,000 hours of CCTV.

He is one of two people before the courts charged in connection with the shooting.

Mary McDonnell (43) with an address at Avondale House, North Cumberland Street, has also been charged and is accused of withholding information from gardai investigating Gareth Hutch's murder. She is on bail and is due back in court in November. She has not yet entered a plea.
Donald Trump apolgizes to Serbia for Yugoslavia Bombing



Source: Newsweek



U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump has issued an apology for his countrys decision to bomb Serbia during Bill Clintons tenure at the White House.

"The bombing of Serbs, who were our allies in both world wars, was a big mistake, Trump told Serbian weekly magazine Nedeljnik. Serbians are very good people. Unfortunately, the Clinton administration caused them a lot of harm, but also throughout the Balkans, which they made a mess out of."

U.S. and NATO allies launched aerial campaigns against the faltering Yugoslav regime, targeting ethnic Serb troops in 1995 and 1999. The first attack was carried out in support of groups in Bosnia and Herzegovina, seeking independence from Belgrade, while the second was in support of similar forces in Kosovo.Read more: Donald Trump Apologizes to Serbia for Yugoslavia Bombing
A hunt is under way for a close associate of key Kinahan cartel target Keith Murtagh after a crack cocaine bust in Dublin that resulted in the arrest of a woman.

Officers seized a relatively small amount of the drug after stopping a car in the north inner city area of the capital.

It is understood that the man who is linked to Murtagh fled the scene. He left his female pal to be arrested by officers from Store Street Garda Station.

She was not previously known to gardai for involvement in crime. It is expected that there will be a court appearance in relation to the matter in coming days.

Meanwhile, Murtagh has made a surprise return to the north-inner city, despite having survived two murder attempts from the Kinahan gang.

Murtagh (34), a close associate of the Hutch gang, previously fled his home near Dublin's IFSC after repeated attempts on his life.

Murtagh is said to be staying at a different address in the city after the decision to return.

He was the target of a botched shooting during which innocent father-of-three Martin O'Rourke (24) was shot dead.

Murtagh then fled to the UK, but returned several days later. He had also been warned by gardai prior to the shooting incident that there was an active threat on his life.

Survived

Just weeks after his return he survived a second attempt to kill him after a gunman fired a number of shots through the front-room window of a house in Cherry Orchard, Ballyfermot.

Murtagh and a female associate received minor injuries. The convicted armed robber has since kept a low profile. A warrant was issued for his arrest after he failed to turn up to court earlier this year.

Murtagh was due to appear before Blanchardstown District Court this week to answer a number of road traffic charges.

Murtagh is regarded as a key associate of Derek 'Del Boy' Hutch, who is the brother of Gary Hutch and nephew of Eddie Hutch, both of whom have been shot dead by the Kinahan gang as part of a bitter feud.

He was part of an armed gang that included Derek Hutch. The gang conspired to rob a large sum of money from a cash-in-transit van in Lucan, Co Dublin, seven years ago.

Murtagh was wounded during the incident and one of his accomplices, Garrett Molloy (27), was shot dead by gardai.
Gardai at the Crossagalla Industrial Estate in Limerick where the alleged Bandidos initiation took place Picture: Liam Burke

An Irish chapter of a feared international motorcycle club has been formed and has already attracted the attention of gardai and Europol agents.

Armed gardai, supported by uniformed officers, closely monitored an initiation ceremony at the weekend where the new Irish chapter of the infamous Bandidos biker gang was welcomed into the international group.

Two Belgian policemen also travelled to the event in Limerick to monitor the movements of Bandidos members from continental Europe.

Feared

In some countries, the Bandidos are a feared biker gang and reports state they are involved in people smuggling and murder.

Senior sources have revealed gardai are "extremely concerned" about the development and adopted a visible policing presence throughout the weekend at the event in Limerick.

At least two members connected with the Irish chapter of the Bandidos are suspects for serious crimes and are charged with offences before the courts.

However most Irish members have no involvement in crime.

Members of the international biker gang travelled from Denmark and other European countries for the Limerick initiation. Gardai in Limerick closely monitored the ceremony for the bikers, which was held in a rented warehouse in a city suburb.

During the ceremony, a heavy policing operation took place in the vicinity. No arrests were made.

At the initiation, "Ireland" patches were handed out to the fully-fledged Irish members. Gardai are continuing to closely monitor their activities.

The Bandido Motorcycle Club started in Texas 50 years ago and has a worldwide membership of more than 5,000 in 23 countries.

With its signature armed Mexican bandit logo and disconcerting motto "We are the people your parents warned you about", the gang has now officially been set up in Ireland.

Notorious

Also known as the Bandido Nation, it is modelled on Mexican bandits who lived by their own rules.

They regard themselves as "one percenters" - a term drawn from a claim that 99pc of motorcyclists are law-abiding citizens and the last one percent are outlaws.

The gang has a long history of violent turf wars against rival gangs.

Across the globe, numerous police raids have targeted Bandidos members and implicated them in illegal drugs supply and other crime.
An unarmed garda stands alongside a member of the ERU carrying a machine-gun at a checkpoint in the city centre Picture: Steve Humphreys

Unarmed gardai protecting feud targets have been denied requests for bullet-proof vests despite the ongoing threat from gangs involved in the Hutch-Kinahan feud.

Uniformed officers are carrying out a number of patrols in an effort to prevent any further bloodshed in the feud that has already claimed ten lives.

The Herald can reveal that gardai have raised concerns with management about being inadequately equipped to deal with armed criminals who are the focus of numerous major investigations in the capital.

Officers have asked to be given ballistic (bullet-proof) vests as well as firearms training.

However, these calls have "fallen on deaf ears" and been rejected by management, with the issue "not even up for consideration", according to one source. This means unarmed officers manning checkpoints and protection posts in feud flashpoint areas are equipped with just a stab vest, an ASP baton and pepper spray.

Issue

The issue has also been raised by the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors (AGSI), who have called for bullet-proof vests to be provided to front-line gardai. The organisation represents approximately 2,000 mid-level gardai.

An Garda Siochana did not provide an official comment in response to the issue at the time of going to print.

Protection posts have been placed on a permanent basis at the homes of feud targets, including that of Gerry 'The Monk' Hutch's brother, Paddy (55).

Gardai have foiled at least two attempts on his life in recent months after detectives in the Crime and Security branch received information about a planned hit.

Currently, only gardai who carry a firearm are issued with a ballistic vest.

"Several times, concerns have been raised and requests made for unarmed gardai on the ground to be issued with a ballistic vest, but the calls have fallen on deaf ears.

"There is an expectation that armed criminals could arrive on the scene with the intent to kill or seriously harm, yet officers aren't even being granted adequate uniform for their own protection," a source said.

Gardai are also understood to have raised serious concerns about the quality of stab vests for standard duties.

A permanent protection post has also been placed near the home of John Hutch (63) in the north inner-city's Drumalee estate.

He also recently survived a murder bid after a hitman fired up to five shots at him in front of his disabled daughter.

Other posts have also been placed near Portland Row and Sheriff Street.

Sinn Fein deputy leader Mary Lou McDonald last night said that assurances had been made by the Government to provide resources to gardai and that there was "no excuse" for this not to happen.

Support

"The Government and the Minister for Justice assured us that gardai would be given every resource and the support they require, and if they feel they need a particular piece of equipment in terms of their own safety then the Government should supply it to them. There is no excuse for that," Ms McDonald said.

Armed units have been used to provide back-up for uniformed gardai, which included the Armed Support Unit and the Emergency Response Unit. However, armed support isn't immediately available on a 24/7 basis in parts of the city due to the high demand in resources.

Gardai in the south-inner city and Dublin 12 are also continuing to operate 24/7 checkpoints and patrols to prevent any attacks on gang members living in the area.

So far gardai investigating murders linked to the feud have made 45 arrests and a further eight have been brought before the courts.
A US Navy guided missile destroyer launched a salvo of Tomahawk cruise missiles against three Yemeni radar sites along the red sea shoreline, in response to recent attacks on U.S. ships in the region. The targets were in Dhubab, north of Bab-el-Mandeb and in Ras Isa, north of Mukha and Khoka, near the Red Sea port of Al Hudaydah. Both locations were involved in recent attacks on US naval ships.

These radars are also thought to have been involved in the recent attack on merchant ships that operate in the area. Iran-backed Houthi forces that currently dominate Yemens Red Sea coast north of Bab-el-Mandeb have repeatedly threatened attacks against ships in their territorial waters.

First attacks against Saudi vessels were first reported in October 2015 as Houthis claimed to damage or destroy two Saudi naval vessels, but such attacks were not confirmed since. A year later, on the night of October 2, 2016, the Houthi launched a missile that targeted the USA-flagged (ex-US Navy Catamaran) Swift, leased by the UAE to provide logistical support in the area. The devastating attack set the boat on fire. UAE sources did not reveal how many crew members were injured, nor whether there were any fatalities. The weapon that attacked the vessel was identified as the C-802 coastal anti-ship missile supplied to the Huthis by Iran.

The UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation says that the ship was targeted by the Houthi and Saleh militias off the coast of Mocha, Yemen, when carrying assistance, wounded Yemenis, and passengers. The statement said that the crew of the ship comprises 24 civilians of six nationalities: 10 Indians, seven Ukrainians, four Egyptians, and three from Jordan, the Philippines, and Lithuania. The ministry said that the ship, which is unarmed and has no military protection, was passing through the Bab-al-Mandab Strait like any other civilian and commercial ship. It has been conducting routine trips to Aden for one year and all its crew members are civilians.

In response, and as a measure to protect international shipping lane in the area, the US Navy deployed three ships to Bab-el-Mandeb  the guided-missile destroyers USS Nitze (DDG-94) and USS Mason (DDG-87) and the afloat forward staging base USS Ponce (AFSB(I)-15). The two destroyers are assigned to the Dwight D. Eisenhower carrier strike group operating in the region. The Ponce is supporting special operations in the area and is also equipped with an experimental laser designed to counter threats from small, fast boats and UAVs.

The appearance of the US ships did not deter the Houthis, as missile attacks were repeated on Sunday and Wednesday this week, this time directly targeting the US forces  the Mason and the Ponce. These attacks were also identified a C-802.

The Mason launched three Standard Missile 2 (SM-2) and Evolved Sea-Sparrow Missile (ESSM) anti-air missiles against the first Houthi missiles, to protect itself and the nearby Ponce. This event was the first combat use of the ESSM. The Mason also employed electronic countermeasures and decoys against the incoming radar-guided missiles, including the Nulka off-board anti-ship missile decoys. Both Yemeni missiles struck the water at a distance from the defended ships, causing no damage.

Four days after the first attack, the Houthis launched another attack against the Mason, with two more anti-ship missiles. This attack happened off the southern city of Al Hudaydah, at around 18:00 local time. The Mason fired defensive missile salvos against the incoming threats, which have brought down at least one of the incoming missile.

The US response came hours later, with a barrage of Tomahawk Land Attack Missiles (TLAM) launched by USS Nitze (DDG-94) around 04:00 local time. Initial assessments indicate that all three targets were destroyed, the statement said. Pentagon sources reported that these radars were active during the previous attacks on ships in the red sea.

Update: Missile attacks on the Mason continues on October 15th, few days after the US retaliation.

The Pentagon refrained from addressing the cruise missile strikes as retaliatory or an act of deterrence and described the attacks authorized by President Barrack Obama it as limited self-defense actions conducted to protect our personnel, our ships and our freedom of navigation in this important maritime passageway Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook said.

The American attack triggered a quick reaction from Iranian, with the announcement of the dispatch of the Iranian Navy 44th fleet, comprised of the Saam class frigate Alvand (INS 71) and logistics combat vessel Bushehr (INS 422). While the mission is part of a routine deployment the Idranian maintains in the East Indian Ocean, the announcement came only few hours after the US attack is considered as an Iranian response to the military act.

a. According to the Iranian news agency Tasnim, the vessels were sent to the Gulf of Aden and the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait on October 13, few hours following the US attack. However, the mission has been planned in advance, as part of a long-range patrol along the East African coast, from Somalia to South Africa. In previous missions, the Iranian flotilla patrolled the Red Sea and made port calls in Sudan. The Alvand is armed with four launchers of C-802 anti-ship while Bushehr has a large rear deck supporting helicopter operations.

The Chinese C-802 anti-ship missile also known in Iran as Noor was supplied to Iran by China. It is an offshoot from the French Exocet anti-ship weapon, improved by the Chinese. The weapon has already been delivered to several conflict areas, including Syria and Lebanon, where it was used against the Israel Navy Corvette INS Hanit in 2006. During this strike, the Hanit was damaged by one missile, while another hit and sunk the Cambodian-registered merchant ship MV. Moonlight about 50 km off the shore.
SWEET HOME  The process of hiring a new city manager continues, the City Council was told Tuesday evening by interim manager Christy Wurster.

The council offered the job to Raymond Towry of Ephrata, Washington, last Monday after inviting him to town for a second interview. But Towry and the city have not been able to come to terms on a starting salary and when he would qualify for a severance package.

Wurster told the council that Towry has asked for a starting salary of $8,459 per month, or $101,508 annually. That would be Step 4 on the citys pay scale. The council had proposed a salary in the mid-$80,000 range since Towry does not have actual city manager experience.

Towry also would like a three-month severance package to be available at any time after his hiring.

Wurster pointed out that even at $8,459 per month, the salary is below the $8,825 per month average for city managers in communities of comparable size as Sweet Home. The maximum is about $9,447 per month.

Mr. Towry is also concerned about the education of his children, Wurster said.

She said that in Washington State, students can graduate from high school and complete a two-year Associates Degree at the same time.

He sees that as a $30,000 per child cost to him, Wurster said. She has provided Towry with information about similar programs available in Oregon schools, such as the fifth-year program.

Councilor Jeff Goodwin said he supported Towrys request for a severance package.

Hes going to uproot his family and could get fired on Tuesday night, Goodwin said. It would be unfair to his family.

Councilor Greg Mahler, who has been vocal about Towrys lack of city manager experience, said he would not support bringing Towry in at the Step 4 pay grade.

He has no experience, said Mahler who owns Hoys Hardware. It would be like me hiring someone with no experience at our top pay scale.

Councilor Trask said he understands the need to provide a competitive salary, but Were never going to be at the level with a lot of other places. I want to get someone on board, but I dont want to give away the farm.

The councilors decided to counter Towrys request with a starting wage of $8,212 pr month with a 2.5 percent raise in July and a review in November/December, with the potential to increase to $8,670 per month at that time. They also agreed to offer a 3-month severance package.

The council asked Wurster to prepare a written offer and to ask for a reply no later than Friday.

Wurster has acted as interim city manager since April, after the city and former manager Craig Martin parted ways.

In other action, the council:

 Was told by Police Chief Jeff Lynn that the remodeling of the Public Safety building to house the Municipal Court is underway.

 Was told by Finance Director Pat Gray that tax compression for the city is going to be significant. She estimated it will reduce the Police Levy income by $172,527 and the Library Levy by $25,714. Both are down 9.14 percent.

 Approved a long-term Water Management, Conservation and System Master Plan.

 Had the third and final reading of Ordinance Bill 4 that will allow changing the starting time of council meetings from 7:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. That will become effective at the Nov. 22 meeting.
Comings and goings: Boot Barn in the works; Clorox plant opens

New store could be the third to move into Valley Plaza this year.
SWEET HOME  A report detailing disappointing scores on the most recent round of state tests is prompting the Sweet Home School Board to again review its four-day academic week.

Superintendent Tom Yahraes and Director of Student Achievement Rachel Stucky gave the breakdown Monday on the district's second round of Smarter Balanced test scores, which the state released last month.

Smarter Balanced tests replaced the Oregon Assessment of Knowledge and Skills. OAKS tests were last given for the 2013-14 school year.

The new tests, known for short as SBAC, measure how well Oregon students perform against the Common Core State Standards, which Oregon adopted in 2010 for reading and math.

The tests are considered to be much harder than the multiple-choice OAKS tests, requiring more written explanations and showing of work. Students also get just one chance at passing them, compared with up to three chances for OAKS.

Scores on the two test systems can't be compared because they measure two different sets of standards. In recent years, most Sweet Home OAKS scores also have lagged behind the state average.

But Sweet Home board members still expressed dismay Monday at how far below the state average most Sweet Home students scored this past year.

Only 43 percent of Sweet Home students in grades 3-11 met grade level proficiency for Language Arts on last year's tests, compared with almost 56 percent statewide. In math, only about 32 percent met the standards, compared with 41 percent statewide.

Sweet Home also ranked below much of the rest of the mid-valley, including Albany, Lebanon, Philomath, Santiam Canyon, and even the Central Linn School District, which also follows a four-day schedule.

Sweet Home changed to a four-day academic schedule in 2012, partly to save money in the face of a $1 million shortfall and the expectation of worsening economic conditions in Oregon, and partly to set aside more time for planning and intervention for struggling students.

The change was controversial and passed only on a 5-3 vote, with a ninth member who wasn't present also expressing strong opposition.

The change also was met with mixed reactions from Sweet Home families. Some praised the decision as a way to free up time for families and appointments, while others said they struggle to find child care or supervision for teens.

Board members Jenny Daniels, Chanz Keeney and Mike Reynolds asked Yahraes to evaluate the four-day week in light of four years of data to see how much money the district has saved through the change and what the numbers show about academic achievement.

Jason Redick said he agrees information is needed but cautioned his fellow board members not to jump to any conclusions about the schedule when other factors might be at work in student achievement.

The four-day week is "like focusing on the big elephant in the room when maybe the problem is the mouse in the corner," he said. "I just want to make sure we don't get sidetracked on something that maybe isn't the problem here."

Yahraes reminded board members Sweet Home has a poverty level of 65 percent districtwide, which spikes to more than 80 percent at certain schools. It also has a high rate of homeless families and, at nearly 20 percent, the highest percentage of special education students in the state.

"Just flipping to a five-day week is not going to cure," he said.
For two cities in Linn County, the only local excitement on the ballot this fall will be marijuana-related measures.

Harrisburg and Lyons dont have any contested city council or mayoral races on the November general election.

In Harrisburg, incumbent Robert Bobby Duncan is the only candidate for mayor, a position that has a two-year-term. He has served as mayor since March 2003, and previously was on the Harrisburg Planning Commission.

Incumbents Robert Boese, who has been on the City Council since April 2010, Mike Caughey, on the council since December 2012, and Sarah Puls, on the council since August 2012, are unopposed in their re-election bids for four-year Harrisburg City Council terms.

Both Boese and Puls also previously served on the Harrisburg Planning Commission.

Michele Eldridge, city recorder/assistant city administrator, said it was an advantage for Harrisburg to retain experienced and hard-working small town politicians.

We truly are blessed with the people that we have who are sitting on the city council. We would like to have more people involved in city government. Wed love to have more people applying, even though our incumbents are doing such a terrific job for us, she said.

Eldridge added that the incumbents are well aware of city projects and their progress, such as a study to improve the taste of the drinking water in Harrisburg. The water is perfectly healthy, but there are a lot of people who dont like the flavor, Eldridge said.

In Lyons, Mayor Troy Donohue is unopposed in his re-election bid for a two-year-term, while incumbents Michael Wagner and Mark Orr are unopposed in their bids for council seats, which have four-year terms.

All candidates for the Linn Soil and Water Conservation District  Liz VanLeeuwen, Mark Mellbye, Aaron Schumacher and Janice Horner  also will be unopposed on the general election ballot.
Four small cities in Linn County dont have enough local candidates on the ballot, so write-ins could be elected to public office as a result of the general election.

In Waterloo, population 230, including children, no one filed for mayor, so the qualified person with the most write-in votes will be offered the position.

This has happened before, said City Recorder Cathy Nelson, who is used to this sort of situation.

In 2006, Waterloo didnt have an official candidate for mayor or three council positions.

Its not unusual for small towns to have that sort of problem, said Georgia Edwards, Tangent city manager.

In 2014, for example, Tangent, population 1,200, and Halsey, population 915, had no mayoral candidates.

This year, Tangent mayor Loel Trulove is seeking re-election to a two-year term, and Carol Korn-Shioshi is running for City Council position No. 1, which has a four-year term. But there is no candidate to fill position No. 2.

Colynn Elder currently holds that seat but has a young child and a full-time job and doesnt think she can give more time to the City Council, Edwards said.

In Sodaville, population 325, Mayor Suzanne Hibbert is unopposed in her re-election bid. She was first elected mayor in 2014. Incumbent Brian Lewis, appointed to the City Council in July 2015, is the lone candidate for two City Council positions.

Councilor Sherry Fuller has decided not to run again as she wont have enough time for the volunteer position next year.

Judy Smith, city administrator, said that the city wont be scrambling to fill the vacancy, as someone usually steps up with an unofficial write-in campaign or volunteers to be appointed.

In 2014, for example, write-in candidate Ray Jackman accepted the position, and hes been on the Sodaville City Council ever since, Smith said.

In Idanha, population 140, there is one candidate, Susan Smith, to fill three open City Council positions. Calls to the city of Idanha were not returned on Monday and last week.

Write-in votes can sometimes get complicated, as Tangent found out in 2014. Seaton McLennan, mayor for eight years, didnt run for re-election, but received the most write-in votes.

McLennan, said helping the community was worthwhile, but also called Tangents mayor a thankless position that resulted in plenty of criticism. He declined to accept the volunteer job because he was transitioning to a new job that would take up more of his time.

In January 2015, Loel Trulove Jr. was appointed mayor of Tangent after he was the only person to apply for the position.

Nelson said that its hard to get qualified candidates, and that she often hears that people dont want to run for office because theyre too busy raising their family or working.

They just dont want to be involved, she said.

Nelson wasnt sure why Waterloo Mayor Greg Maas wasnt running for re-election.

Despite the criticism and hours of volunteering, holding public office in a small town comes with rewards, Nelson said.

If you want to make a difference in your community, the best way to do it is to be on the council, Nelson said.

She wasnt disappointed with Waterloos roster of candidates this fall, despite the lack of filing for mayor.

Thats because incumbent City Council members Allen Shearer, Earlene Little and Kevin Faulk are all running for re-election.

Thats the first time weve actually had three candidates run for council. Usually its one or two or none. This is the first time thats happened since Ive been here, and Ive been here for 10 years, Nelson added.
As we head into the home stretch of this year's election, there's one important step you'll need to take to ensure that you'll have a voice when the ballot arrives in your mailbox next week.

Here it is: You need to be sure that the ballot arrives in your mailbox next week.

To do that, you need to be sure that you're registered to vote.

It's easy to do that in Oregon, and now, in the wake of Oregon's adoption of a motor-voter program starting Jan. 1, it's easier than ever. That program registers voters when they obtain or renew their driver's license, permit or identification card.

But you don't need to swing by your local Department of Motor Vehicles office in order to register to vote: You can do it online or by stopping by the county's election office.

What you don't have is a lot of time left to register: The deadline for this November's election is Oct. 18. If you miss that deadline, you can wait by your mailbox all you want, but the ballot just isn't going to arrive.

Now, you may be saying something along the lines of, "Why should I register? I'm sick and tired of the shenanigans I'm seeing in this year's presidential election. Why should I enable these candidates by registering and voting?"

We feel your pain.

With that said, though, let us issue this gentle reminder: There's a lot more at stake in this election than just who will be president for the next four years. The ballot includes a number of important local and state races, including Ballot Measure 97, the statewide proposal to impose a sales tax on certain corporations, all the way down to local issues such as bond levies and recreational marijuana.

Besides, it increasingly looks like you'll be in good company if you register and vote this year.

Jeanne P. Atkins, Oregon's secretary of state, said this week that she expects a record number of people, more than 2.5 million, to vote this November.

In part, Atkins said, that's because some 250,000 new voters have been added to the rolls through the state's motor-voter program. Oregon already is among the nation's leaders in voter turnout, in large part thanks to the state's vote-by-mail procedure. (As news reports mount about voting problems in other states, you have the right to gloat the Oregon doesn't have to worry about that.)

As for the motor-voter program, it's been unclear what impact it will have on elections. This general election probably won't offer up much in the way of clues, since party affiliation doesn't matter as much as it does in a primary. In fact, it likely will be years before we can fully assess the political fallout from the motor-voter program.

But Atkins says that if the registration numbers offer any indication of election turnout, "Nov. 8 will be one of the busiest elections in Oregon's modern history."

So make sure that you join the crowd: It's easy to check to make sure that you're registered. And, if not, it's easier than ever to register.

After you've taken care of that, only one other chore remains: When your ballot arrives, be sure you return it to your elections office by 8 p.m. on Election Day, Nov. 8. If you happen to be able to return it earlier than that, we can pretty much guarantee that will make election officials happy.

After all, if these projections hold steady, those officials are going to be awfully busy people during the next few weeks. (mm)
HICKORY  Mental health issues affect people from all lifestyles  from the rich and famous to everyday citizens. Many people suffering from numerous types of mental illnesses seek professional help from mental health professionals; counselors and doctors who are mandated to uphold specific codes of conduct as well as ethics, regardless of personal or religious beliefs.

Unfortunately, not all of these professionals are living up to their obligations, says Volunteer Director for Mental Health Education and Advocacy Outreach for Faith in America Robert Hoffman.

Many times, youth seeking guidance with a counselor will be told the counselors personal beliefs on homosexuality, often due to religious beliefs, Hoffman said. This is detrimental to providing the treatment for which the youth originally sought help.

The American Counseling Association as well as other national accrediting associations set standards and codes of ethics for mental health professionals.

The ACA code of ethics states, Counselors are aware of  and avoid imposing  their own values, attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors. Counselors respect the diversity of clients, trainees, and research participants and seek training in areas in which they are at risk of imposing their values onto clients, especially when the counselors values are inconsistent with the clients goals or are discriminatory in nature.

Although there are codes of ethics in place, little is done to exercise accountability, Hoffman said.

There is a need for education amongst mental health professionals to be competent when it comes to working with LGBT youth, Hoffman said.

Hoffman, along with Mitchell Gold of Faith in America, and Mary Ann Dore, director of OutRight Youth, are working to ensure mental health providers are following the code of ethics to which they are obligated.

We started talking about this last year but it finally going out now, said Hoffman. There is a real need in the community for mental health professionals educated with LGBT competency and ethics, he said.

Hoffman described his own experience in the mental health profession when counselors were performing what Hoffman considers a form of reparative therapy, encouraging kids away from the sexual identity.

This kind of therapy can be more harmful than most people realize, Hoffman said. Often, when a LGBT youth seeks help with a professional, their peers or family has rejected them or family. Seeking professional help is often a last resort.

Our goal is to educate people about the harm from religious based bigotry, Gold said. Telling a 15 year-old kid to not be gay and to start praying about is incredibly damaging, he said.

The State Assistant Attorney General has provided support to the group, stating it is within their professional mandate to engage in education and advocacy efforts, Hoffman said.

One of the predicaments is generally, teenagers in high school don't know what the rules are regarding ethics or what recourse they have, Gold said.

Aside from reparative therapy, some counselors refuse to treat patients, citing lack of education or experience working with LGBT clients  something Hoffman, Gold, and Dore hope to change.

There is an extensive need for mental health providers for minority groups, according to data presented by Hoffman. Members of the LGBT community have higher rates of mental health issues as well as homelessness.

Although LGBT only make up five percent of the youth population, 40 percent of the homeless youth population identifies as LGBT.

Suicide rates and attempts are also significantly higher amongst LGBT youths, 38 percent of youths identifying as gay, lesbian, or bisexual said they made a plan for suicide in the past 12 months compared to 10.6 percent of their heterosexual counterparts.

In an effort to increase education as well as provide youths with options for mental health, the group will provide educational opportunities and advocacy to the community.

Mental health professionals will be provided with additional educational material as well as school counselors, said Hoffman.

The group also will facilitate the connection between mental health providers and OutRight Youth to provide a warm, welcoming community for LGBTQ youth patients, Hoffman said.

For more information and resources visit, www.faithinamerica.org or www.outrightyouthcv.org.
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A health workers refusal to attend to a minor rape survivor in Bareilly to help deliver an unwanted child exposes the rot in the system that betrayed her trust and stripped her of dignity, despite the law allowing women to get rid of such unwanted pregnancies.

Raped and not allowed to abort the foetus, the 14-year-old finally delivered a boy in an ambulance early Thursday after a nurse at a community health centre in Uttar Pradeshs Shergarh examined her but declined to help on learning that she was a rape survivor.

Look at the continuing saga of tragedy that struck the poor girl and her family. First she was repeatedly raped by a man in her village on the pretext of marriage and abandoned when she conceived.

Then, her familys attempts to get the foetus aborted met with apathy and failure, thanks to the system that lacks compassion and refuses to respond in time. Even after the Allahabad high courts August 22 order to the chief medical officer, Bareilly to review her case, the hospital wasted several days making it too late to abort.

Read | Bareilly teenage rape survivor denied abortion by panel of doctors

The law

The Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act, 1971 allows abortion of up to 20-week pregnancy if it involves risk to the life of the women or grave injury to her physical or mental health. It also permits abortion in cases where there is risk of the baby suffering from physical or mental abnormalities that could leave it handicapped.

Where the length of the pregnancy does not exceed 12 weeks, it can be terminated on the advice of one medical practitioner but in cases involving pregnancies of more than 12 weeks but less than 20 weeks, two registered medical practitioners are to be consulted.

But the Indian law on abortion is considered to be pro-choice as an adult woman does not require any other persons consent. Its required only if the woman in question is a minor or she is of unsound mind. Consent of guardian is required only in cases of minors or lunatics.

Explanation-I to Section 3 of the Act specifically takes care of women sexually assaulted against their will as it says, Where any pregnancy is alleged by the pregnant woman to have been caused by rape, the anguish caused by such pregnancy shall be presumed to constitute a grave injury to the mental health of the pregnant woman.

Read | I dont want the child: Bareilly rape victim denied termination of pregnancy

Judiciarys response to rape survivors abortion cases

This was not the only case in the recent past where a judicial response was called for to terminate the pregnancy of a rape survivor. On July 25, the Supreme Court allowed a rape victim to terminate her 24-week pregnancy after doctors said the malformed foetus posed a danger to her life. The Supreme Court has yet to decide the womans challenge to the 20-week ceiling under the law.

Last month the Bombay high court  which laid down a set of detailed guidelines on abortion in cases involving undertrial prisoners -- ruled that a woman had a right over her body and she alone could take the decision whether to become a mother or not.

Abortion laws abroad

Many countries following the Catholic tradition have pro-life laws either prohibiting abortion or allowing it only in exceptional cases. But generally most of the countries allow abortion to save the womans life or if the foetus is abnormal. However, each country has its own limit, which in most cases is more than 20 weeks. Switzerland, Great Britain and the Netherlands are the only countries to not have such a ceiling.

Read | Why no outrage over this rape victim denied permission by court to abort?

Problem areas

Despite following a pro-choice approach, the Indian law has many shortcomings. What if the rape survivor has crossed the 20-week period up to which abortion is permissible? What if the pregnancy has crossed the 20-week period and the foetus has developed abnormalities?

Despite The Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (Regulation and Misuse) Act, 1994 prescribing strict punishment for female foeticide, the MTP Act has been misused to terminate pregnancies illegally.

Supreme Court lawyer Aiswarya Bhati favoured amendment in the MTP Act to deal with the issues that have frequented the courts in the recent past.

It is unfortunate that this minor girl had to undergo such a trauma and humiliation for several months. I strongly feel that there is a requirement to have a re-look at the provisions of the Act for relaxing the conditions for abortions in extra-ordinary situations, particularly in cases involving rape survivors. Medical science has advanced a lot since this law was enacted in 1971, Bhati told HT.

Bhati, however, said it has to ensured that the law is not misused for sex selection and female foeticide.
The tabling of the HIV/AIDS Bill in the Rajya Sabha is a landmark event on at least two counts. It is the first ever explicitly rights-based legal endorsement in the context of a specific health condition that has heightened the vulnerabilities of already marginalised and often criminalised populations. More important, it is the first ever time a law has been attempted to be crafted from the ground upwards as a response to real time issues for people whose voices are rarely given a hearing.

The Bill was an initiative of the Lawyers Collective, that was drafted in 2006 after nationwide consultations with a range of stakeholders including people living with HIV (PLHIVs), communities most vulnerable to HIV infection such as sex workers, men having sex with men, transgenders, and drug users, healthcare workers, childrens organisations, womens groups, trade unions, lawyers, and state AIDS control societies.

Read | HIV Bill: Discrimination ends, time to promote awareness

The process of drafting the Bill started in 2002, when the need for a law was recognised by civil society members, PLHIVs, and the government. An advisory working group (AWG) under the chairmanship of the National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO), agreed upon the process for drafting such a law with approval from the ministry of health and family welfare. Between 2003 and 2004, the Lawyers Collective held 15 regional consultations in various cities across India with stakeholders to discuss the provisions of such a law to protect the rights to HIV prevention and care for vulnerable communities as well as PLHIVs. These consultations were supplemented by additional meetings with civil society organisations and state governments right through the process of developing the draft. The HIV/AIDS Bill was submitted to the National AIDS Control Organisation (Naco) in August 2006.

The most distinct feature of this process is the credibility that Lawyers Collective brought to the exercise, and the overwhelming support for the commitment to a transparent and inclusive process of representation and discussion. In addition to the actual participants at meetings, many civil society organisations spared no effort to ensure that the voices of their constituencies rang louder than any ideological position that they themselves may have held, as for example, the position that resources to treat HIV/AIDS must not exceed those expended on other critical public health domains. Despite many criticisms of the Bill it remains largely congruent to concerns expressed by affected people.

Read | From jobs to renting homes, HIV and AIDS patients get more rights in new Bill

The commitment to authentically communicate and respond to the demands of affected people is a testimony to the remarkable, and perhaps unique effort in the history of law-making, especially in healthcare. The vast disparities in power between policy-makers and healthcare providers on the one hand, and healthcare seekers on the other, has ensured that the latter will remain passive recipients without the ability to demand either quality or accountability, both in public and private healthcare sectors. The fact that the vast majority of people affected by HIV come from relatively poor and/or marginalised communities exacerbates these disparities. In the final analysis, it is the unlikely victory of these sections that both reflects and reassures us that vibrant democratic processes are possible.

Shyamala Natraj, is founder of South India AIDS Action Programme

The views expressed are personal
President Obamas special assistant Peter Lavoy said on Wednesday that he empathised with the perception that India should respond militarily to terror attacks. It is not clear if he explicitly backed surgical strikes against Pakistan, as some in India claim he did. But Islamabad got a firm reminder how close India-US ties have become.

Statements by senior functionaries in the Obama administration on India-US relations or India-Pakistan ties tend to elicit a great degree of interest in India. This has assumed some urgency lately as isolating Pakistan internationally has become a key element of the Narendra Modis governments strategy to put an end to cross-border terrorism. That is why the statement by US national security adviser Susan Rice after the September 18 terror attack at Uri was seen in India as very significant. Rice strongly condemned the attack and reiterated that Pakistan should take effective action against terrorist entities like the Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed.

In similar vein, comments on October 12 by Peter R Lavoy, special assistant to the President and senior director for South Asia at the National Security Council, has generated excitable chatter in India.

Answering a question on US response after Uri while speaking at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), Lavoy made the following comment, which is worth mentioning in full:

As I noted in my talk, India and US do have a shared interest in countering terrorism and protecting our societies from the scourge of terrorism and working together to diminish the ability of terrorist groups to threaten our countries and other countries throughout the world. You might have noticed, the White House issued a statement after national security adviser ambassador Rice had a discussion with her counterpart with Mr Doval, the Indian national security adviser, in which we condemned this act of cross border terrorism from Pakistan coming across to Indian territory and killing it is now 19 soldiers... I think at the army base in Uri. It was a horrific attack, we condemned it immediately and you noted in her comments condemning the cross-border threat.

Read | War is not an option for India and Pakistan: Pak envoy to US

Every country has a right to self-defence, but I also highlight that in a heavy militarised relationship like that of India-Pakistan, a relationship that has experienced at least threefour wars in the past... in frankly where forces along the LoC and the international border are on a hair trigger alert, there really is a need for caution and prudence on both sides. So we do understand the very serious concern and attention by the Indian government to this attack, to this horrific attack, we share [with] India a strong commitment to preventing from future attacks from occurring and are working together and with other parties in the region and internationally to ensure that thats the case and we do empathise with the Indians perception that they need to respond militarily but again I want to highlight our strong interest in seeing caution prevail.

This is, on face value, an astonishing comment by a senior White House figure, particularly someone like Lavoy, an academic and an experienced hand on India-Pakistan issues who has edited several books including a Cambridge University Press volume on the causes and consequences of the Kargil Conflict. It remains to be seen if the White House will, in the days ahead, maintain his line about its empathy with India on the need to respond militarily since Lavoys statements can be read both cautiously and as a radical departure from the norm.

The reason this is so is because these were not prepared remarks but were part of an answer to a question that Lavoy was not comfortable answering to begin with -- and so it is not easy to discern the thrust of his formulation.

For instance, he said every country has a right to self-defence (an incontestable truism) but underlined that there really is a need for caution and prudence on both sides. The empathy with the Indians perception can (merely) indicate that Washington recognises the public pressure on the Modi government to respond  and even there Lavoy reiterates the US strong interest in seeing caution prevail.

Many in India will nonetheless read Lavoys statement as a straightforward endorsement of surgical strikes in Pakistan. They may well note that throughout his talk, Lavoy chose his words on Pakistan carefully, trying not to offend Islamabad too much while registering outrage over terrorism.

Asked how the US balances ties with the two nations, Lavoy said We dont try to balance India and Pakistan, I think probably in previous years, US government have tried to balance these two. That is not the approach of this government. We pursue interests and promote our values with each country around the world independently

Lavoy said the Obama administration had spent a lot of time deepening the expanding array of interests and values we have with India and we wish that were to be case with Pakistan.

We work very hard with Pakistan to turn that into a productive, mutually beneficial relationship and Im sure the next administration will continue these tendencies.

Read | Uri attack an act of cross-border terror, India has right to defend itself: US

Lavoys articulation is, thus, freighted with reassurance and caution to both countries. With strong condemnation of Uri and the phrasing about Indias anger, Washington has effectively overlooked Indias surgical strikes -- but it is also indicating to Delhi that the latter must weigh the costs of escalation. He acknowledged Pakistans continuing relevance but by expressing empathy with Indian perceptions he indicates that Washington will no longer let fears of nuclear conflict reflexively condition its response to crisis in South Asia. US response will instead be shaped by the particularities of the next terror attack and the justifiability of Indias response.

In some ways, the real triumph for India vis-a-vis Pakistan is not divining an endorsement for surgical strikes as many are keen to for domestic political purposes but in reckoning with the nature of Washingtons tilt towards India. Lavoy again reiterated how central India was to US strategic thinking as it plans for security challenges in the Asia Pacific, the Indian Ocean and further afield. He said the Obama administration had successfully spearheaded a whole of government engagement with India, with the result that there is now an inter-agency awareness in Washington as to how important India is for a range of issues. Both sides had built up habits of cooperation, they discussed every major issue that the world confronted, defence secretary Ashton Carter was in India thrice over the last year, the US had overhauled defence licensing and technology transfer in favour of India so that there is now a presumption of approval rather than denial as the was case earlier. He pointedly drew a contrast with India-US ties with other countries and said this is the most dynamic relationship we have today.

If in the coming days, Washington reiterates Lavoys views on Indias military response to Uri, it will mean that the Modi government has successfully extracted one more anti-Pakistan posture from Washington, which the latter sees as fair trade given how India is aligning itself with Washington on major strategic issues, particularly on Asian security matters. Equally, the US disagrees with Pakistan on many issues, but it has no interest in pushing Islamabad further into Beijings orbit. It remains to be seen how far Washington will go along with Indias policy of isolating Pakistan as there are other geopolitical factors to consider.

The views expressed are personal. The author tweets @SushilAaron

Read | US appeals for India, Pakistan to engage in dialogue to ease tensions

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Many Indians in China have had the Chinese version of the theme song from Raj Kapoors classic 1951 movie Awaara sung to them by nostalgic taxi drivers.

For those greying cabbies, it might soon be time to relive that nostalgia: The governments of the two countries agreed in Shanghai on Wednesday to make a theatrical adaptation of Awaara and stage it in China by the end of next year.

A memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed between the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR), the apex government body on culture, and the China Shanghai International Arts Festival (CSIAF) to expand ties in the field.

It may be noted as part of the MoU, both sides will also attempt a joint theatrical reproduction of the popular Indian movie Awaara which would be set in contemporary times and re-enacted as a theatrical version for viewing by contemporary audiences worldwide, said a statement from the Indian consulate in Shanghai.

Speaking at the opening ceremony of the 18th CSIAF, ICCR director general Amarendra Khatua emphasised the need for cultural exchanges in tier-II and tier-III cities in India and China. Shanghai mayor Yang Xiong also attended the event.

While ICCR will commission an Indian company to come up with the script for the play in a contemporary setting, CSIAF will ask a Chinese production unit to design and enact the musical for production.

Indian and Chinese actors will be selected for the parts. The expenditure will be borne equally by the two organisations. Once the production is ready, performances will be organised in India and China.

Awaara was among seven Indian movies released in China between 1955 and 1961. It was re-released in the late 1970s after the end of the Cultural Revolution in 1976.

But the target audience for Awaara 2.0 will be the post-1990s generation in China and their equally tech-savvy contemporaries in India.

Neither generation knows too much about the movie, which took Indias soft-power on celluloid across borders and brought tears and smiles to millions in inscrutable Communist countries such as the former Soviet Union and China. The movie remains a rare aspect of Sino-India relations that brings a song to the lips instead of a snigger.
Multi-storey residential buildings and hostels, especially where youngsters are living in Bhopals commercial hub of MP Nagar, are under police scanner ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modis visit to the city on Friday.

Modi will unveil the Shaurya Smarak (war memorial) in Bhopal and address ex-servicemen at the Lal Parade Ground. He will also visit a Jain temple in the city to meet community seer Acharya Vidyasagar, said home minister Bhoopendra Singh who inspected the ground on Wednesday.

To tighten security, MP Nagar police teams have fanned out to 50-odd private hostels  both for boys and girls  in Zone I and Zone II of MP Nagar and adjoining localities renting out flats to outstation students and working professionals.

They are enquiring about individuals who have either started living in these hostels for the last two months or have suddenly left the hostel.

We are collecting detailed data of each and everyone staying in these hostels, especially those from outside the state. The collected details of each and every individual are being cross-checked by city police from their counterparts in the native district, said a policeman.

He said many hostels had given the police lists containing just names of those living there, but other details about these hostel inmates were missing.

These hostels have been directed to provide all possible details about their inmates soon, failing which action would be taken against them for hiding crucial information.

The home minister held a short meeting with senior police officials, including director general of police Rishi Kumar Shukla, ADG (Intelligence) Rajiv Tandon, inspector general (law and order) Makarand Deuskar and Bhopal IG Yogesh Chaudhary.
Fearing that her rape accused might try to kill her after he was released from prison on bail, a minor Dalit girl allegedly tried to immolate herself in a village in Itarsi, Madhya Pradesh.

The minor girl has suffered 40 per cent burn injuries in the incident on Wednesday and is being treated at a hospital here, police said, adding her condition is stated to be stable and out of danger.

She took the extreme step at her residence in Nayagaon, around 15 km from here, out of fear that the accused would harm her, Itarsi Sub Divisional Officer of Police (SDOP) Anil Sharma said.

It appears that she was in a disturbed state of mind and poured kerosene to immolate herself , he said.

She was raped in February this year following which two accused were arrested, he said.

The main accused in the case is still lodged in jail but one of his accomplices (Anil Yadav) was released on bail nearly two months back and since then the victim is gripped with a fear that he may take revenge or kill her, Sharma said.

Soon after the incident, Yadav was arrested and booked under relevant sections of Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, he said.

Police and social organisations were helping the victim and her family in all possible manner, the SDOP said.
Madhya Pradesh Police have sounded a statewide alert about mystery phone calls from an Afghanistan number, which will eat into the call receivers cellphone numbers account balance.

Anti-terrorism squad inspector general Sanjiv Shami said the mystery call from the number 093729864241 is troubling prominent people in Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and other states over the last few days.

The number, which is flashed on the Truecaller app as Terroristor, is being displayed as a phone number from Afghanistan on other application softwares. The number is being used to make phishing calls through some proxy server. Its a kind of collect call which is being made by the mystery caller to eat into the call receivers phone account balance, Shami said.

Missed calls from the number, not attending the call even after the call incoming call is completed or receiving it will see your phone account balance shrink considerably, the IG ATS said.

While sounding the alert, the IG ATS has exhorted the people to immediately disconnect the incoming call from the number and not attend it at any cost.

In Madhya Pradesh the phishing or collect call has been reported by several people, including prominent politicians, administrative and police officials as well as journalists over the last three days.
Actor Irrfan Khan, who is back from the premiere of his latest film Inferno in Florence, says this is a good time for Indian cinema and actor.

I can say with full authority that this is a great time to be an Indian actor. Our cinema is being recognized and acknowledged internationally. Very soon Indian actors will be able to make their presence felt in every corner of the world. Its just a matter of time, he said.

The premiere of the film happened at an opera theatre, the Opera di Firenze in Florence, and Irrfan was delighted to hear how minutely the journalists gathered at the venue watched the film. They asked intricate literary questions about the film from all of us. They wanted to discuss the films connection with Dantes Inferno. No one asked me about Indian politics, said Irrfan.

The eminently international Irrfan is back in India for just a few days until his new Hollywood film Inferno releases on Friday. Actually Im supposed to be in the US for some important meetings. I had to cancel them and get back home when my producers of Inferno, in all their wisdom, decided to release our film in India two weeks in advance of the rest of the world. That sort of threw me off gear, in a good way, laughs Irrfan pleasurably.

So, here I am just for a few days to do press in India, he added.

Irrfan has plenty of reason to be flattered. The producers of Inferno decided to advance their films release in India to cash in on Irrfans presence in the cast. It is true they thought since I was in the cast, they wanted me to be the face of the film in India. I gladly and humbly accepted the honour, and here I am, said the actor.

Tom Hanks, Irrfans co-star in Inferno, recently was quoted as saying, I thought I was the coolest guy in the room until Irrfan walked in.

Irrfan laughs it off as his great co-stars magnanimity, Just being around Tom Hanks is so enriching for me. He is a very generous co-star, colleague and I can comfortably say were friends. Inferno has a truly global cast.

It gave me a chance to get to know actors from all across the world. To me the biggest advantage of working abroad is the exposure I get to international talent, he said.

The film is releasing in India on Friday.

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Actor Neil Nitin Mukesh, who got engaged to Mumbai girl Rukmini Sahay in a private ceremony in Mumbai on Thursday, says that even though it was an arranged match, he fell in love with her soon after.

The actor was introduced to Rukmini by family friends and shortly after meeting her, he decided he wanted to spend his life with her.

In an arranged thing, the courtship cant be too long. We met during Ganesh Chaturthi and instantly clicked. I never met girls for marriage. She was the first girl I met and I decided I wanted to marry her. We met for a month after that and we didnt have any dates after Dussehra so we decided to get engaged as soon as possible. The wedding will be early next year after we sit down and finalise the date, says the 34-year old actor.

Rukmini, who works in the aviation industry, instantly clicked with Neil and his family. In fact, what is surprising is that she lives very close to his Andheri house yet their paths never crossed until they were introduced to each other.

My father has taken control of everything to do with the wedding and is over the moon. My mother is ecstatic too and cant wait to welcome her home. Rukmini and I share the same values. Her simplicity is the most attractive quality about her.

Within a month of meeting, Rukmini and Neil had made up their minds. Things have happened so quickly that it hasnt yet sunk in that I am engaged to be married. I was a little nervous yesterday but it is definitely time. Marriage is a beautiful thing and I cant wait.

Rukmini Sahay with Neils parents Nishi and Nitin Mukesh.

Since it all happened too quickly, Neils friends were surprised with his decision to get engaged. It was a close-knit affair with just a few friends and family from both sides. They had no idea about this until a day before when I called to invite them for the ceremony. They didnt believe me until they actually came to the venue. I guess they will take more time to digest that I am engaged, he laughs.

Neil is a big believer of destiny and says this is the best thing that has happened to him. When its right, you just know it. She didnt care about my profession. All this isnt important to her. Plus, I have been honest with her. She knows everything about my life so there is nothing to hide, he says. The actor has also just recently moved into his new apartment in Andheri that he has entirely designed. We will be moving into a new family home. I want to stay with my parents even after I get married, he says.

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Anushka Sharma has been shooting for Imtiaz Alis next, starring Shah Rukh Khan, in Budapest (Hungary) for over a month. The actor has been working round-the-clock, as she has been juggling multiple projects along with Imtiazs film.

A couple of days back, Anushka wrapped up the shoot for a new commercial with a leading Indian brand in Budapest. Although she was neck-deep in work, she took time out for the ad whenever she got a few days off from the shoot of her film, says an insider.

Whats more? Apparently, Anushka also dubbed for a portion of Karan Johars upcoming film, Ae Dil Hai Mushkil (ADHM), which is set to release on Diwali (October 30). She has regularly been in touch with the films team to ensure that she can participate in the movies promotions, adds the insider.

Anushka Sharma starred alongside Salman Khan in Sultan. (HT Photo)

Once the Dil Dhadakne Do (2015) actor wraps up the shoot for Imtiazs film in Europe, she will return to Mumbai to promote ADHM. However, she isnt complaining, as 2016 has been a special year for her. In fact, with Karans film, Anushka will conclude a busy and a successful year that saw her star in Sultan besides wrapping up her second home production, adds the insider.

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Italian playwright Dario Fo, whose energetic mocking of Italian political life, social mores and religion won him the Nobel Prize for Literature, died Thursday. He was 90.

Fo died Thursday morning in Milans Luigi Sacco hospital, hospital spokeswoman Ida Mannelli told The Associated Press.

Premier Matteo Renzi said with Fos death, Italy had lost one of the leading protagonists of Italian culture and civil life.

His satire, research, scenography and artistic activity will leave the inheritance of a great Italian to the world, Renzi said.

This December, 1997 file photo shows Italian playwright Dario Fo, second from left, as he acknowledges ovations after receiving the Nobel Prize in Literature at the Concert Hall in Stockholm, Sweden. (AP)

The author of Accidental Death of an Anarchist and more than 70 other plays saw himself as playing the role of the jester, combining raunchy humor and scathing satire. He was admired and reviled in equal measure.

His political activities saw him banned from the United States and censored on Italian television, and his flamboyant artistic antics resulted in repeated arrests.

In recent years, Fo became a point of reference for Italys anti-establishment 5-Star Movement, which eulogized him Thursday as a spiritual guide.

Movement leader Beppe Grillo posted a video on his blog of a memorable Fo appearance at a 2013 rally giving impetus to the movement to shake up Italys paralyzed political system.

Dario Fo, Italy's Nobel laureate playwright, smiles as he poses with a mask in front of St Mark basilic during the Venetian Carnival in Venice February 13, 2009. (REUTERS)

Do it yourselves, please! Do it yourselves!  Fo exhorted the crowd. Please, turn everything upside down!

The son of a railway worker and a farm hand, Fo had an early introduction to narrative traditions through his grandfather, a well-known storyteller. He studied painting at Milans prestigious Brera Academy as well as architecture, and at age 25, he began to write and perform satirical cabarets at the Piccolo Theater in Milan.

A staunch leftist, Fo founded a theater company with his wife, the late actress Franca Rame, later a senator. Rame died in 2013 at the age of 84.

The pair made a career out of mocking post-war Italy, ranging from the domestic terrorism of the late 1970s to the bitter debates over abortion and divorce and the political corruption scandal in the early 1990s that brought down a whole class of politicians and businessmen.

In this May, 2009 file photo Italian Nobel prize winner Dario Fo, right, and his wife Franca Rame applaud during the Italian State RAI TV program Che Tempo che Fa, in Milan, Italy. (AP)

Dealing with subjects like the Vietnam War, the Chinese revolution and student revolts in the West, Fo and Rame took their works out of bourgeois theaters and into streets, piazzas, occupied factories and circus-style tents.

Italian bishops gagged on Fos freewheeling interpretations of the Catholic faith.

The one-man show was seen by an estimated 1 million people when it toured Italy over 18 months in 1968-1970.

As his work grew more and more radical, Fo fell out of favor with state TV RAI, which banned him for more than decade. Prosecutors tried but failed to convict him of offending institutions like the national police force.

Some theorized that right-wing sympathizers among the police were behind the kidnapping and rape of Fos wife by Italian neo-fascists on a Milan street in 1973, when the countrys society was largely rent ideologically between extreme right and left, and domestic extremist violence gripped the nation.

This October, 2007 file photo shows Italian film writer and actor Dario Fo prior to the presentation of the movie Zero - Itchiest sull'11 settembre (Zero - Investigation on 9/11) at the Rome film festival. (AP)

Not long after winning his Nobel, Fo wrote to Italys president demanding justice in the case, even though statutes of limitations had expired.

Motivating him, Fo said, was not a thirst for revenge, but a desire to help the country recognize the barbarities of that period and move on.

Accidental Death of an Anarchist, drew from an event that continues to divide Italians, who are often bitterly split between left and right in a stubborn legacy of the ideological and actual battles between fascist stalwarts and communist partisans during World War II. The play is based on the fall from a police station window of an anarchist who was being questioned over a 1969 Milan bank bombing. The police officer who led the interrogation was fatally gunned down in 1972.

Fos stature as an artist began to outstrip his fame as a militant by the end of the 1970s. Milans La Scala theater let him direct a play, Story of a Soldier, in 1978, and audiences in furs, jewels and suits flocked to his works in mainstream theaters.

This file photo taken in May, 2006 shows Italian playwrite and 1997 Nobel literature laureate, Dario Fo, posing with his wife Franca Rame before receiving the Doctor Honoris Causa title in Rome. (AFP)

Still, in 1980 he and Rame were refused visas to the United States because of their support for left-wing activities in Italy. The decision sparked controversy and prompted U.S intellectuals to stage protests in support. In 1984, the U.S. government relented and allowed the couple to visit New York to see a production of Accidental Death of an Anarchist.

The Nobel Prize for literature came in 1997. The citation described Fo as a writer who emulates the jesters of the Middle Ages in scourging authority and upholding the dignity of the downtrodden.

Guests attending his prize lecture in Stockholm in 1997 had a surprise as they opened their texts of the lecture. Instead of neatly printed paragraphs full of carefully worded thoughts, they found 25 pages of brightly colored drawings, with scattered words scrawled among them: Provocation... ignorance of our times.

While he enraged the Vatican, Fo at least once ended up on the same side of the Catholic Church, when both lobbied vigorously  but unsuccessfully  to stop the 2000 execution in Virginia of Rocco Derek Barnabei, a U.S. citizen of Italian origin.

Fo pledged to donate some proceeds of his theater work to anti-death penalty causes around the world. Even though the husband-wife team snubbed the bourgeois theater route at times, the same bourgeoisie turned their plays into sold-out successes, notably Fos 2003 spoof of then-Italian premier Silvio Berlusconi, The Two-Headed Anomaly. That play, at one of Romes mainstream theaters, explored what many contended was the conflict of interest posed by a premier who was at the time also Italys richest man, thanks to vast business holdings, largely in the media sector.

The work asked the entertaining question: what would happen if half of Russian President Vladimir Putins brain was used to replace half of Berlusconis brain? The play also pre-shadowed Berlusconis real-life split with his second wife amid sex scandals embroiling the politician. While Fo had fun with politicians foibles, his own foray in politics was a failure.

In 2006, he lost a bid in a primary to become the center-lefts candidate for mayor of Milan.

Fo and Rame had a son, Jacopo Fo, a writer.
A day after Flipkart said Amazon was showing high festival-season sales by peddling cheap and trivial items like hing and churan, Amazon hit back by saying it offers the largest stock in fashion  mainly clothes, shoes, and accessories.

The widest, largest and biggest selection of fashion products is on Amazon, and we are hungry for more, said Arun Sirdeshmukh, head of fashion at Amazon India. In response to Flipkarts claim that it sold three out of every four fashion products online during the festival season, he said: If you believe that, I have nothing to say (But) we are growing at a scorching pace.

As reported by HT on Wednesday, Flipkart CEO Binny Bansal told HT: We did not sell churan, hing, detergent, products of daily-need and virtual memberships. We sold products that people love to buy during the festival season such as smartphones, LED and apparel. Though he did not mention Amazon by name, the allusion was clear. Amazon candidly claims to sell a lot of these things.

Sirdeshmukh said he would not react to rivals claims, he would rather worry about his own customers, who also buy from Flipkart and Snapdeal.

The competition has been hotting up in the fashion category  it is the second largest after electronics in revenue in online shopping, and the largest in volume. Flipkart-owned Myntra recently acquired Jabong; Snapdeal CEO and co-founder Kunal Bahl has decided to invest $100 million in building the fashion vertical.

Read | Binny Bansals take on Flipkart vs Amazon: Pride or sour churan?

Amazon, meanwhile, has grown its fashion selection four times over last year to 15,000 unique brands and two million products. It has over 1,000 brand stores, and special selection stores, such as Crafted for India, India Modern, Indigo Tales and Denim Stores  each one of them is based on a certain theme, product type, style and fabric.

There is so much to choose from, so it is important to package and surface certain products, said Sirdeshmukh. Amazon sits with brands to design their online strategies, he added. The company uses its technology and algorithms, mostly developed in the US, to identify brand owners. For buyers, it suggests products based on their previous buying behaviours and searches.

The Jeff Bezos-led company has roped in designer Narendra Kumar, the founder editor of ELLE, as Amazons creative director. Kumar is responsible for curating styles, creating content around fashion and also coming up with presentations. For instance, a formal shirt looks different from a casual shirt.

The company wants to be a custodian of brands in the e-commerce space. Brand store pages would have history of brand, promotional videos and suggested styles. It has also started selling its private label Symbol, and is exploring more in that space. We are looking at gaps and areas we can plug-in, said Sirdeshmukh.

For e-tailers, winning the fashion race is important. The margins are high  25% to 40%, against low single digits in electronics.

Read | Runway renegades take over the city as Amazon India Fashion Week kicks off

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The earnings season for IT companies will kick off today. And considering that the IT major, Infosys along with peers Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Cognizant and Mindtree, have lowered their guidance for the current fiscal (2016-17), the sector looks set for one of its worst financial quarters.

Besides, the impact of Brexit (Britains exit from the European Union) and lower spending by clients in the banking, financial services and insurance (BFSI) segment are also likely to take a toll on IT companies balance sheets. The UK and the US account for 60% of IT companies businesses, and the BFSI segment contribute 25% to 40% to the total revenue of TCS, Infosys and Wipro.

For Infosys CEO Vishal Sikka, the July-August quarter, the companys second and Sikkas ninth, will be particularly important. The big challenges facing Sikka and his team include a drop in revenue growth, pressure on margins mainly contributed by pricing issues, unfavourable currency movements and the ability to retain talent.

A few weeks back, Infosys reduced its revenue growth projection to 10.5% to 12% for the current fiscal, from an earlier 11.5% to 13.5%. Investors expect the company to further reduce it to 9% to 9.5%. The company is also battling its inner demons. There has been a string of exits in the last few months, and the company reported a 21% attrition rate last quarter, compared to 17.3% in the previous quarter.

Besides, the impact of Brexit is also beginning to show. We are seeing the early signs. Clients are cautious and the RBS issue was part of that. There is caution in the pockets, Sikka had said earlier. The company recently lost out on a multi-million dollar deal from Royal Bank of Scotland, also due to Brexit.

The current challenges faced by Infosys could directly impact its mission for 2021, by when Sikka hopes to make the company a $20 billion(from $9.5 billion now) company. He hopes to increase operating margin to 30% from 26% now, and revenue per employee to $80,000 from around $50,000.

Last month, TCS warned that due to lower spending by clients in the BFSI segment, the second quarter growth could be affected. Indias largest software exporter does not give revenue guidance numbers. It lost a 6,000-crore lawsuit in the US in April over allegations of intellectual property infringement and potential violations of data confidentiality.

US-based Cognizant Technology Solutions, which is not listed in India, but has three quarters of its 2.4 lakh employees in the country, had revised its guidance thrice during the year due to macro-economic factors in the US and Brexit . From 11% to 14% at the start of the year, the company has brought down its latest growth projection for the full (calendar) year to 8.5% to 9.5%. Last week, it lost $4.4 billion in market capitalization after it disclosed a corruption probe in the US, followed by the resignation of one of its senior-most executives.

Last week, HT reported that industry body, the National Association of Software and Service Companies, is likely to lower the revenue growth forecast for 2016 to 9%, from 10% to 12% at the beginning of the year.
On Wednesday, Toyota Motor said that it is discussing business partnership with Japanese rival Suzuki Motor Corp to build new technologies than can change the auto industry in an unprecedented fashion.

The alliance can have large impact in India considering that Suzuki, through its subsidiary Maruti Suzuki, sells one of every two passenger vehicles in the country. The companies will work together in the area of artificial intelligence and robotics.

In Japan and India there will be uncertainty in the future if we continue to just refine our traditional automobile technologies, which we have been working on so far, Suzuki chairman Osamu Suzuki said.

An alliance, like Nissan and Renault, will help both companies.

We need to have capability to respond to changes (quickly) in order to survive, Toyota president Akio Toyoda said.

Suzuki and Toyoda were speaking at a press conference at Toyotas office in Tokyo.

Suzukis last alliance, with German automaker Volkswagen, where it picked up 19.9% stake, fell through.

The Toyota-Suzuki alliance can also help in developing driverless cars, a focus area for all auto majors.

If there is a change in car driving preferences, Toyota doesnt want to be left out in a market like India, said Deepesh Rathore, co-founder of London-based Emerging Markets Automotive Advisors. If you have the volumes that Suzuki enjoys in India, you can implement new technologies at a very low cost.

N Raja, head of sales and marketing Toyota India, told HT in an email response: We would like to consider what we can do in the Indian market with the understanding that the two companies will keep competing with each other.

TOYOTA RECALLS PRIUS

Toyota, meanwhile, recalled 340,000 gas-electric hybrid Prius cars around the world on Wednesday, 212,000 of them in Japan and 94,000 in North America, for a defect in their parking brakes. Toyota acknowledged receiving reports of crashes, injuries and deaths.

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Thursdays building collapse killed six children, three months after a fire killed nine members of a family in a congested slum at Juhu galli, Andheri (West). (Satish Bate/HT PHOTO)

Thursdays building collapse in Beharampada, Bandra (East), was another reminder of how corruption, civic apathy and political interference endanger the lives of lakhs of people in Mumbai. Several slums in the city have haphazardly built multi-storey structures, which endanger the lives of those who live in and around them.

Yesterdays building collapse killed six children, three months after a fire killed nine members of a family in a congested slum at Juhu galli, Andheri (West). Soon after the Juhu galli fire, BMC chief Ajoy Mehta had asked the Mumbai Metropolitan Regional Development Authority (MMRDA) to take action against those who build multi-storey structures in slums and prevent more of them from coming up. But no action has been taken yet.

Earlier this month, Mehta instructed all 24 ward officers to demolish slums higher than 14 feet immediately after the monsoon.

Several parts of Behrampada belong to the railways and collector, and MMRDA is the special planning authority. A source in the BMC chiefs office revealed that Mehta wrote a letter to MMRDA in July, which stated that the BMCs H-east ward office had received several complaints about multi-storey structures being built without MMRDAs permission. Despite being intimated, MMRDA officials took no action, said the source.

The H-east ward office had carried out a survey and found around 300 illegal multi-storey slums in Behrampada alone and asked the railways and the suburban collector to carry out an eviction drive to avert a disaster.

A civic official from H-east ward, who did not wish to be named, said, We had informed all the concerned authorities. The civic chief had asked MMRDA to take action and if the planning authority had acted on time, this wouldnt have happened. We will again intimate the land owners to take action against encroachers.

MMRDA chief UPS Madan was unavailable for comment.

Political interference is another major reason why little has been done to curb the vertical growth of slums, said civic officials. A few months ago, the Congress had demanded that the maximum permissible height of slums be increased from 14 feet to 20 feet.

A civic official said, There has been serious pressure from politicians to not touch any illegal extensions (to slums). With civic elections scheduled for early next year, demolition drives are yet to be carried out.

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In the 1980s when Rajiv Gandhi had chosen to attack his opponents by warning that hum apne virodhiyon ko unki naani yaad dila denge (we will make our opponents remember their grandmother), his comments sparked off as much mirth as anger: The ill-chosen phrase which was meant to convey the sentiment that we will teach our opponents a lesson was seen to reflect the former prime ministers discomfort with Hindi. Now, when Rahul Gandhi criticises the Modi government with his tactless khoon ki dalali remark, there is outrage more than laughter: After all, the reference to dalali or broking here involves a sensitive military operation that has our jawans in the firing line. Maybe, like his father (and this columnist), thinking in English and then blurting it out in Hindi can have its drawbacks. But what if Rahul had chosen his Hindi comments more carefully and suggested that the Centre was doing surgical strikes ka rajnitikaran or politicisation of the strikes, would he be that off the mark?

Just look at the anecdotal evidence. On the day a source based report claimed that the prime minister had asked his Cabinet colleagues to exercise restraint, posters sprang up in Varanasi with pictures of Narendra Modi as Ram, Nawaz Sharif as Ravana and Arvind Kejriwal as Meghnad to glorify the triumph of good over evil. The BJP claimed that the posters had been put up by the local Shiv Sena and the party had nothing to do with it. When even more graphic posters of Modi and Union home minister Rajnath Singh along with images of soldiers hailing the avengers of Uri were put up in Lucknow ahead of the prime ministers Vijayadashmi rally, the party pinned responsibility on local activists. With deniability no longer an option, a BJP spokesperson finally responded by saying that the triumphalism reflected the public mood and was evidence of spontaneous support for the surgical strikes across the country. Why shouldnt the Ram Lila celebrations that are located in popular culture not mirror the contemporary discourse over the scourge of terrorism and the Modi governments efforts to defeat Pakistan-based terror?

Read | Terrors talking heads: Hafiz Saeed wants peace with India, Masood Azhar war

The fact is the BJPs post-surgical strikes narrative is rooted in its politics of muscular nationalism and a conviction that with job creation still a major challenge, an emotional nationalist pitch is still the partys core USP. After all, in the aftermath of the cross-LoC strikes, there seems to be a general sense of relief, if not euphoria, in the urban middle-classes in particular that Pakistan has been taught a lesson. The strikes have enhanced Modis image as a tough, decisive leader with a self-proclaimed chappan inch ki chati (56-inch chest). Why just Modi, wouldnt any political party capitalise on what it sees as a potential vote-catching issue ahead of elections in key states? BJP president Amit Shah has been unambiguous: The surgical strikes he says will be an election issue in Uttar Pradesh and beyond.

Which is why the Oppositions lament over the governments chest-thumping is a little misplaced: In a highly-competitive political environment to expect any ruling establishment not to take credit for its achievement would be hypocritical. Did the Congress, for example, not use Indira Gandhis 1971 war victory to its utmost advantage in the assembly elections that followed a year later? Yes, 2016 is by no stretch of imagination 1971  a major bypass surgery cant be compared to a limited surgical strike  but by audaciously taking the battle to the enemy camp and setting fresh terms of engagement with Pakistan, the Modi government could claim a political victory, at least for now. And if posters are an example of khoon ki dalali, dont forget the insidious campaign the Congress ran in the 1984 general elections in the aftermath of the bloody anti-Sikh riots.

Read | Credit Army, cheer govt too for strikes: Parrikar

What is troubling though is the rather crass manner in which the Modi governments cheerleaders are marketing the strikes like an event through a relentless propaganda blitz even amidst escalating tensions along the border and in the Valley. In an attempt to whip up nationalistic fervour, no effort has been spared to charge anyone who raises any discomfiting question as anti-national. In the cacophony of 24X7 media in particular, there has been a conscious strategy on the part of the government to drown out alternative voices, dub them as Pakistani-ISI agents, or virtually force news organisations to engage in self-censorship in the guise of a nation first storyline. Once the government chooses to engage in grandstanding over a covert operation, is the Opposition not entitled to ask for more details to be put out in the public domain? If there are legitimate security concerns involved in such disclosures, then should there not be a greater effort made to brief the top leaders across parties on the nature of the operation carried out?

The truth is, our politics has broken and democracy has ceased to involve consensus-building even on sensitive issues of national security. A complete lack of trust has meant that the government and Opposition see each other as enemies engaged in a bitter war. Even the Army is no longer immune to the resultant pulls and pressures. When an Army chief who was involved in an acrimonious public conflict with the previous regime then becomes a minister in the next government, there is reason to believe that politics has now seeped into one of the few institutions that seemed resistant to its pernicious impact.

Read | Had there been any surgical strike, Pakistan would have retaliated: Abdul Basit

Even more worrisome is the impact majoritarianism in the guise of nationalist frenzy can have on the mindsets of citizens. When even a celebrated actor like Nawazuddin Siddiqui is forced out of a local Ram Lila by a vigilante group on the grounds that a Muslim cant be allowed in a Hindu mythological production, or when the body of a murder accused in Dadri is draped in the tricolor with a Union minister in attendance, then one must fear the creeping divisiveness and its political exploitation. Strategic restraint may have been abandoned after Uri, but how about some political restraint in difficult times?

Post-script: The garrulous defence minister has commented that Indian troops were like Hanuman who didnt quite know their prowess till the surgical strikes. Is Manohar Parrikar suggesting that the valorous Indian Army learnt to defend itself only on September 29, 2016, and not till then?

Rajdeep Sardesai is a senior journalist and an author

The views expressed are personal

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NEW DELHI: The CBSE wants to ensure that teachers in private schools are not saddled with non-teaching work, a common complaint across the country, and will in coming days ask these institutes for staff details.

The Central Board of Secondary Education, the countrys biggest school board, would issue a circular to all the around 16,000 private schools affiliated to it to give information about the work assigned to the non-academic staff, sources said.

Some of the Delhis top schools are among the 1,200 institutes that will have to share the information.

The board, said sources, received several complaints  from private teachers associations and individual teachers  that schools were keeping costs down by asking teachers to collect fee and perform bus duties among other chores. These jobs ideally should be done by clerical staff or non-teaching employees.

We have been taking up this matter with the CBSE and it will be good if they ask private schools for details of teachers and administrative staff and the duties they perform, said Sheik Shabbir Ali, president of Telangana Private Teachers Forum, one of the associations that took up the matter with the board.

Unlike government school teachers, private ones cant even complain for the fear of losing their jobs.

In many schools, teachers were expected to call parents to inform them about fee, keep a watch on students during lunch break and fill up forms, he said. But not everyone agrees. SK Bhattacharya, who is the president of Delhis action committee unaided recognised private schools, said teachers were not doing administrative work.

Teachers are only involved in academic activities. But teaching is not just limited to classrooms and teachers work on activities like debate, dance and sports, he said.

A teacher in a school in Uttar Pradeshs Indirapuram said teachers were overworked. The continuous and comprehensive evaluation (CCE), which required teachers to maintain a file on each student, had increased their workload. There are over more than parameters under CCE and we have to give remarks for each activity for each student. Apart from that we are made to do other odd works which take a toll, the teacher said on condition of anonymity.

As per CBSE rules a private school should have a separate set of teaching and non-teaching staff, said an official. By burdening them (teachers) with non-teaching work, we kill their creativity and education will suffer, the official said.

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NEW DELHI: Muharram was observed peacefully in various parts of the city on Wednesday with heavy police deployment in sensitive areas like Trilokpuri and post sundown traffic jam as several processions made their way to south Delhis Jor Bagh.

Members of the Shia community rent the air with slogans of Ya Hussein during the ceremonial mourning of the martyrdom of Prophet Mohammeds grandson Imam Hussein while Sunnis also offered prayers, observed fasts and distributed alms on the occasion.

On this day, Muslims remember Hussein who died fighting the forces of caliph Yazid around 1,400 years ago at Karbala in Iraq. A Muharram procession at Kashmere Gate.

Several taziya processions, taken out from various parts of the city, culminated at Karbala in Jor Bagh in south Delhi.

Brigadier Hoshiyar Singh Marg to Aurobindo Marg was closed for traffic movement in view of this.

Police officials said there was tight security cover in all districts in the wake of the terror alert issued by intelligence agencies.

There was heavy security cover on all stretches that see tazia processions. Cops were deployed in Trilokpuri that had recently witnessed a clash between two groups.

Police officials of the district held meetings with peace committees before Muharram to take stock of the situation, said a senior police officer.
NEW DELHI: Students in Delhi government schools are getting one-on-one attention from teachers along with one-hour reading and writing classes.

This is being done to ensure all students achieve basic reading abilities before the Childrens Day on November 14.

The move comes over two months after students were divided into reader and non-reader groups to help improve their learning levels.

Officials at the Directorate of Education (DOE) said that schools had reported that some non-reader students were able to read after special classes. So the focus is on those who are still not able to read, officials said.

The government announced recently that all students will be taught to read before November 14.

The intention is to merely identify those students who are still not able to read the class appropriate textbook and give one-on-one attention to these children in a mission mode in order to bring them to reading and writing capability preferably before 14th November, 2016, a DOE circular said.

Officials said non-reader students were taught with special study material focused on their reading abilities .Teachers used story cards to teach them reading... For those who still cant read, reading material has been created, including short stories and poems, an official said.

A principal said the students who still cant read have been divided into groups of 4-5 with one teacher focusing on each group. One teacher is handling 4-5 students and giving them personalised attention , said BK Sharma, principal Shaheed Hemu Kalani Sarvodaya Bal Vidyalaya, Lajpat Nagar.
NEW DELHI

Accusing the Delhi government of being in cahoots with app-based cab operators, auto and taxi unions announced on Thursday they will hold a mega rally at Ramlila Maidan next month.

Delhis auto and taxi unions on Thursday staged a protest against at Jantar Mantar against the governments alleged inaction against app-based cab companies.

Auto drivers, who took a day off from their duty to participate in the agitation, said they are now disillusioned by the Kejriwal-led government. We had supported the Aam Aadmi Party to an extent where we paid from our own pockets for their campaign. We were challaned for putting their posters on our autos.

Now when our earnings are being eaten up by cab operators, the government has turned its back, said Hira Lal, an auto driver who came from Najafgarh.

As many as 46,000 challans were issued to auto drivers for pasting posters for AAPs campaign while around 6,500 permits were locked, claimed Sanjay Chawla who was the coordinator between the party and auto drivers in the run-up to the 2015 assembly elections.

Read: Delhi autos get people-friendly, reject offer of fare hike

After the rally at Ramlila Maidan, we will also send a group of about 1,000 auto drivers to Punjab where the AAP is contesting elections to let people know of the injustice done to us. On the one hand, the government says it is keeping strict vigil on these companies which are not even registered, on the other, it makes them an official partner of its Delhi Summer Festival he said.

Joining their protest was Bijwasan MLA Colonel Devinder Sehrawat who criticized the Delhi government of doing nothing when cab aggregators have amassed crores of revenue through surge pricing.

These companies have such disdain for the law that they are not even complying with the Delhi High Court order which disallows them to charge more than the government notified fares. The government also remained quiet when duplicate or Chinese CNG kits were retrofitted despite the transport department being aware about it, he said.

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The Delhi government plans to offer Rs 50,000 to people helping it crack down on labs conducting gender determination tests, an effort to check female foeticide in the Capital that has one of worst sex ratios in the country.

The health department would give the money to informers as well as well as pregnant women willing to pose as decoy patients but only if the raid is successful, sources said.

The pre-conception, pre-natal diagnostic techniques (PC-PNDT) act bans hospitals, nursing homes and clinics from using ultrasonography or any such technique to determine the gender of an unborn child.

The law is aimed at arresting Indias skewed child sex ratio that dropped to 919 girls per 1,000 boys in 2011 from 927 in 2001. It translates to 38 million missing girls in a decade.

For Delhi, the number was 871 in 2011 against 868 in 2001.

The draft proposal for the informer reward scheme will come into effect within a few months once we get approvals from the legal and finance departments, said Dr Satyajit Kumar, Delhi state programme officer, PC-PNDT.

Incentive schemes, such as the one proposed by the Delhi government, have helped states such as Haryana and Rajasthan to act against centres offering sex selection.

Kumar said they were conducting raids with the help of their counterparts in Haryana, where the rewards scheme encouraged people to come forward with information.

Typically, officials act on tip-offs or complaints but cases often fall flat for want of solid evidence.

Raids with decoys are the most effective as video or audio recording of conversations between the woman and the doctor or the lab owners make the case strong.

In raids without a decoy customer, we have to depend on documents at the centre, which can be faked and the person may get away without conviction, said Kumar.

Doctors who reveal the gender of an unborn baby face a maximum of five years in jail and a fine of up to R1 lakh.

The guidelines for decoy customers were ready and those for informants would be largely drawn from those for the police department, he said.

There were 291 registered diagnostic centres in the city whose names and addressed were available of the Delhi governments website. Would be mothers should only visit these labs and report illegal facilities to the authorities, he said.

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For now, there will be no hike in the fares of autorickshaws in Delhi. In a major shift from their strategy, auto unions are now strongly opposed to a hike and have also rejected the Delhi governments proposal to initiate any such process.

Until May this year, autorickshaw drivers were demanding that the government revised the fares due to rising costs of spare parts, insurance and CNG. But facing stiff competition from cab aggregators, they want to focus on the ouster of these companies from the capital.

It will be our loss if auto fares are increased under the existing circumstance. We demand that cab aggregators should be banned as they are flouting all norms, said Rajendra Soni, general secretary of Delhi Autorickshaw Sangh and Delhi Pradesh Taxi Union.

Firstly, they are charging more than the government-approved rates and surge pricing has also not ceased. Secondly, almost all cars that are plying under them are not registered under the respective companys name, he said.

Read: Delhi govt likely to revise auto, taxi fares

Autorickshaw drivers had majorly contributed to Aam Aadmi Partys victory in the Assembly elections last year. Addressing a mega rally of autorickshaw drivers in May last year, chief minister Arvind Kejriwal had announced that their fares would be revised on April 1 every year. He had also constituted a four-member fare-fixation committee which was supposed to come up with a formula that will be used every year to revise fares automatically.

However, the All Delhi Auto-Taxi Transport Congress Union also said that such a hike was unlikely. But the union is planning a protest against cab aggregators sometime around Diwali. A protest is planned and we are also in talks with Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee chief Ajay Maken for moving court against these cab aggregators. But, we do not want any fare revision in auto-rickshaws or our economy taxis, said Kishan Verma, president of ADATTCU.

He added that after the three-day strike of autorickshaw drivers in July, the government had also offered to revise auto fares, but unions unanimously refused the proposal. Last revised in 2013, the base fare for autos is Rs 25 for the first two kilometers and Rs 8 for every subsequent kilometer.

Government officials confirmed the development. Fares are not going to be increased any time soon as the unions themselves do not want it. About their concern of cab aggregators eating up their earnings, the issue is being dealt by the special committee, which has been constituted under the directions of the Delhi High Court, an official said. The committee set up by the Centre includes one senior official each from the Ministry of Information Technology, Central Pollution Control Board and Delhi Traffic Police apart from obtaining advise of a transport expert from Niti Aayog. It is examining all issues related to existing permits given to taxis and cab aggregators.

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A senior bureaucrat from Manipur and his family members, became the latest victims of road rage menace in the national capital on Tuesday night.

The bureaucrat, in his mid-fifties, was physically and verbally abused, and his wife and daughter molested, allegedly by a man over a minor collision between their cars at Rao Tula Ram road towards Moti Bagh flyover in south Delhi.

The man allegedly misbehaved with the bureaucrats wife and daughter, grabbed their hair and pulled them out of their car. They touched the mother-daughter inappropriately and outraged their modesty, said police.

The crime occurred on a busy south Delhi stretch but nobody came forward to help the family and stop the man from sexually harassing the women.

This happened even as the women started crying and pleaded before the attacker to spare them. After attacking the family, he fled the crime scene as none of the onlookers dared to stop him, said a police officer.

The family members called the police control room and informed the police about the incident.

The only help one of the onlookers did to the police was that he provided them the registration number of the attackers car. The passerby had clicked a photo of the cars registration number on his mobile phone.

Police said the car bore the registration number of Punjab and it was a private vehicle. Around 11.30 PM, the family reached the Moti Bagh flyover when suddenly an Alto car grazed past their four-wheeler while overtaking.

The man abruptly stopped his car in front of the familys car, blocking their way and forcing them to stop their vehicle.

Read: Senior officer, family abused in south Delhi road rage

Eyewitnesses told police that an argument broke out between them during which the two rained kicks and punches on the bureaucrat.

As his wife and daughter tried to intervene, the two pulled them out by their hair, molested and misbehaved with them. The attackers stopped only when the family members apologized.

A police team arrived at the crime scene after the attackers left. The family members were taken to Safdarjung Hospital for medical attention and discharged after treatment. The family filed a complaint and their statements were also recorded.

A case under the sections of 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 341 (wrongful restraint), 354A (molestation/sexual harassment) and 509 (word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman), was registered at the South Campus police station against the unknown men. We are in the process of identifying the suspects and bring them to book at the earliest, said Ishwar Singh, deputy commissioner of police (south).
The Delhi government has urged residents to consider celebrating a firecracker-free Diwali this year. Citing safety and pollution reasons, the Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) has also written to the department of customs (import and general), to nip the issue in the bud and ensure that harmful imported firecrackers do not make it into the city.

No one should import firecrackers from any country and the customs shall ensure that consignments which violates prescribed norm are not allowed to enter Delhi, the communication to the customs department said.

Imran Hussain, the environment minister of Delhi, met with representatives from pollution controlling agencies on Thursday to put an action plan in place to combat the high levels of air and noise pollution levels during the festive season. Measures will be taken to ensure that banned imported firecrackers do not reach consumers, noise levels do not exceed healthy levels and people are dissuaded from using crackers at all, officials said.

Agencies have been instructed to place restriction on licenses for sale of firecrackers. The Delhi Police have been asked to inform wholesalers in Delhi that imported firecrackers are banned and any one found in violation of these provisions will have to face legal actions.

Imported firecrackers, especially those from China, were banned earlier this year, after reports of how Chinese crackers spontaneously exploded came to light. Hussain has also suggested that officers should randomly check storage spaces and shops to ensure that no illegal firecracker has slipped through the seams.

Another major concern during Diwali, in addition to safety, is that of pollution. Noise pollution can pose serious health hazards like hearing loss, sleep disturbances, and even increased blood sugar, cholesterol and adrenaline levels.

A Supreme Court directive had earlier stated that just as an Indian citizen is assured the freedom of speech and expression in the constitution, individuals also have the right to decline to listen. Hence, noise levels cannot exceed beyond healthy levels and crackers should not be burst between 10PM and 6 AM. Hussain has advised the agencies to ensure that this rule is enforced.
Delhi Metro is hiring but the new recruits arent human. The backbone of the Capitals transport system is expanding rapidly over the next few years and its security apparatus pivots on mans best friend: The dog.

The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation is going on an overdrive to hire dogs as part of its extended bomb squad to sniff out explosives and prevent potentially catastrophic attacks. Just last month, the authorities purchased eight dogs  five Labradors and three German Shepherds  who have been sent for training at a centre in Indirapuram.

The canines will undergo six months of training in bomb detection. The force will add another four dogs in the next six months and twelve more over the next year.

The reason for the hiring spree: The DMRC plans to add 107 stations spanning over 159 kilometres in its Phase III, translating to millions of new passengers. The Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) -- which guards Delhis metro stations  feels human personnel wont be enough to provide security for the expanded network.

Read: Delhi Metro Phase-3: A feat of engineering

At present, there are 51 dogs guarding metro stations-- 22 German Shepherds, 17 Labradors, ten Cocker Spaniels and two Golden Retrievers.

The German Shepherd is good for drug detection and the Labrador is good for search and detection of bombs. Golden Retrievers are good sniffer dogs and easy to train as they are obedient by nature. Cocker Spaniels come in handy in searching under metro seats due to their low height.

The CISFs focus on dogs has increased in recent times with the force purchasing 19 dogs this year for phase III stations  the largest purchase since it started the squad in 2007 with two dogs.

Dogs play an important role in bomb detection because their reaction time is faster than humans. Though there has never been a bomb found in any metro station in the city, the dogs have detected various unattended items on the platforms.

These dogs start their day at 7am and end at 11pm. Each dog works on a four-hour schedule, in which they cover at least five-to-six stations. Two dogs are kept in reserve during the night for an emergency.

Read: Delhi cops gets more bite with 20 sniffer dogs and 10 trackers

The dogs breed that CISF have including German Shepherd, Labrador, Cocker Spaniel and Golden Retriever as they have good sniffing power and detection instinct, the officer added. The stations under Phase III of the Delhi metro are being thrown open in phases and the entire network is expected to be operational by mid-2017.

CISF spokesperson Manjit Singh said they will soon purchase three high-tech bomb defusal squad (BFS) vehicles that will have a space for dog carriers. The CISF currently has five BFS vehicles, out of which two purchased this year have similar spaces.

A senior official of the department said, From this year, we have started buying only those bomb defusal squad (BFS) vehicles that have space for dog carrier as it has the capacity to carry dogs.

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JNU administration ordered an inquiry on Thursday into burning of effigy of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and others by a section of students in the university campus on the occasion of Dussehra by projecting them as Ravana.

We have ordered an inquiry into the effigy burning incident and are examining the issue, said JNU vice-chancellor Jagadesh Kumar, whose picture was also put on the effigy set ablaze on Tuesday night.

The move comes nearly a week after the varsity ordered a proctorial inquiry into burning of effigy of Gujarat government and gau-rakshak (cow vigilantes) and issued show-cause notices to the students concerned.

While Pakistans Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, 26/11 mastermind Hafiz Saeed and heads of several other militant organisations were the faces of Ravana effigies burnt on Dussehra across the country, members of Congress-affiliated National Students Union of India (NSUI) chose the visages of PM and BJP chief Amit Shah to represent the demon king and burnt the effigy on Tuesday.

They claimed that it was a protest against the Centres failure to honour its promises and the continuous attacks on various educational institutions across the country.

While university officials maintained that no permission was sought for the event, the organisers claimed that effigy burning was a routine thing on campus and did not require permission from the administration.

Besides Modi and Shah, the effigy had faces of yoga guru Ramdev, Sadhvi Pragya, Nathuram Godse, Asaram Bapu and the Vice-Chancellor. The students also carried placards with the slogan, Truth shall prevail over evil.
The construction of the much-delayed Signature Bridge over Yamuna River on Wazirabad is on the verge of completion. The state government, however, is still to come up with a concrete plan to develop its surroundings.

When the project was first conceptulised in 2004, it was decided that the space close to the bridge would also be developed as a picnic destination. As per a proposal, the Delhi Tourism and Transportation Development Corporation (DTTDC) was to initiate revamp on areas surrounding the bridge in second phase, soon after the completion of the bridge construction.

However, the concerned agencies are yet to finalise a plan in this regard. A senior Delhi government official said the issue was flagged recently with the concerned officials and they were supposed to take the matter up.

The construction of the bridge is in its final phase and may be completed by April. There is, however, no plan to spruce up the areas surrounding the bridge. Moreover, there is no clarity which agency will be entrusted with the responsibility, he said.

The previous Sheila Dikshit government had planned recreational facilities such as water sports, boating, open-air theatre, food plazas with promenades and winding walkways at Yamuna bank to attract a larger number of tourists. The area is also to be rejuvenated as a habitat for avian and aquatic life.

Read more: Signature Bridge across the Yamuna to be ready by next year

The project has missed several deadlines. When the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government came to power, Delhi tourism minister Kapil Mishra had announced that he would review the project weekly.

The officials said the involvement of multiple agencies was proving to be a major hurdle that has led to confusion. Inland Waterways Authority of India and Ganga River Basin Authority are engaged in Yamuna cleaning. The Centre has also roped in a Netherlands-based agency for the same. A part of land belongs to Delhi Development Agency and irrigation and flood control department. Multiplicity of authorities has resulted in confusion. It has not been decided yet whether the surroundings will be developed by a government agency or the project will be ousourced to a concessionaire, he added.

According to sources, a Mumbai-based consultant had prepared an initial plan with dedicated space for idol immersion or worship, walkways, or recreational activities for the project. But the idea was sketchy. They were raw concepts. No deliberation was held. So, no decision was taken on that, a source said.

The Signature Bridge will connect Outer Ring Road (National Highway 1) on the western side and Marginal Bund Road at Khajuri Khas intersection on the eastern side. It will serve as a vital link for commuters travelling between north Delhi and northeastern part of the city and Ghaziabad.

According to sources, a Mumbai based consultant prepared an initial plan with dedicated space for idol immersion or worship, walkways, or recreational activities but all was sketchy. They were raw concepts. No deliberation was held. So, no decision was taken on that, a source said.

The bridge will connect Outer Ring Road (National Highway 1) on the western side and Marginal Bund Road at Khajori Khas intersection on the eastern side. It will serve as vital link for commuters travelling between North Delhi and North-eastern part of the city along side neighbouring Ghaziabad.

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The jury is still out on the extent of damage to the Yamuna floodplains following the mega Art of Living meet earlier this year. Now tonnes of debris have been dumped in the river after Durga Puja, putting enormous pressure on what was once the lifeline of Delhi. Religion and tradition may dictate that idols be immersed in the river but given its condition, this practice must be lessened or discontinued altogether. The idols and other objects immersed contain toxic paints and non-biodegradable substances. These choke a river which is already gasping for breath  along a 22-km stretch of the river that passes through Delhi, there is no aquatic life at all. The pollution is also due to the fact that at least 21 drains discharge their effluent into the river every day accounting for 67% of the pollution. This poses a huge challenge but measures must be taken not to add to this.

Photos | River Yamuna a day after Durga Puja

It is not as though there is no way out of this immersion process. In several areas, there are tanks into which the idols and accompanying items are immersed. If the immersion of idols in rivers is a matter of faith, the Yamuna is considered a holy river and there is no cause to degrade it any further. Today, many more people than before are using idols made of eco-friendly substances. Much of the other accoutrements of the puja can be recycled and need not be dumped into any river. But given the pathetic condition of the river, which has been reduced to a drain in many parts as it goes through Delhi, it is clear that the authorities concerned have to impose restrictions on immersing non-biodegradable items on the grounds that this is in consonance with faith. The Ganga is similarly hugely polluted with the faithful immersing all sorts of items of worship in it. Hundreds of crores of rupees have been spent on the Ganga Action Plan but the river is still polluted and its waters unfit for either drinking or bathing. In the case of the both the Ganga and Yamuna, huge amounts of money has been spent on sewage treatment plants but there has been little impact so far. The Mithi river in Mumbai and the Hindon in Uttar Pradesh are going the same way, in fact according to the Central Board for Pollution Control, there is not a single river in India that can be termed clean.

Read | Eco-friendly idol immersion makes its debut in Gurgaon

Cleaning a polluted river is not an impossible task. Not so long ago, the Thames was very badly polluted. Today, it hosts a variety of aquatic life and is considered among one of the clean rivers in Europe. While what we face here is a gargantuan task, some steps like minimising these mass immersions could help and planning for next years festivities must begin now.
Its that time of the year when students are rushing to meet the deadline to submit assignments for internal assessment process.

In Delhi University (DU), out of the 25% marks kept aside for the tests and assignments, 5% is reserved for attendance, which plays a crucial role in deciding the fate of the students and their final per centages. However, its the teachers who have a tough time dealing with faces they havent seen in classes during the entire semester and beg for marks. Creativity runs wild when the students, in a desperate attempt to explain their absence in the lectures, come up with funny and hatke excuses. Some professors share with us the most ridiculous excuses they have heard:

SISTER RAN AWAY FROM HER SHAADI

A girl didnt show up for an important test. When she came back to college after a week, she said her sister had run away from the mandap, and all this time she was searching for the runaway bride with her family, laughs Saguna Puri, history professor at Ramjas College. But did the student get marks? The excuse just didnt stand any chance, but I lauded the creativity, says Puri.

AAG LAGE LAG JAAVE

Students go to great lengths to not do assignments and take tests. Crazy ones break their hands on purpose. Some even say that their room caught fire and the assignment they were working on got burnt, says Amrapali Basumatry, professor of English at Kirori Mal College (KMC).

SOMEONE WAS ILL, SOMEONE DIED

And of course, theres the quintessential bimaari ka bahana. A girl short on the required attendance told me her mother had been unwell. Out of concern, I enquired what happened to the mother. Clearly not expecting me to ask this, she thought hard for 5 minutes, and still couldnt tell me. I asked her to take some more time and come up with an illness. An hour later she said it was a blood pressure problem, recalls Shweta Sachdeva, professor of English at Miranda House.

Abhay Kumar, who has been teaching Political Science at Shri Ram College of Commerce (SRCC) for almost 10 years now, says, The competition is pretty tough in our college. So normally such a scramble never takes place. But some daredevils say that their relative(s) died, when the poor soul/s in question, is/are in fact, alive, fit and healthy!

SHAADI or CHIKUNGUNYA - SAME THING?

A student I never saw in class said that he was suffering from chikungunya. However, I later came to know that he had got married and wanted to spend time with this wife rather than come to college, says Gagan a professor at Ramjas College.

COURSE HI DECIDE NAHI KIYA

Sanjay Kumar, associate professor of English at Hansraj College says, We expect that sensible excuses toh denge college students. But no! A student once came up to me and begged for attendance marks. Upon asking the reason why he didnt attend a single lecture throughout the semester, he said that he wasnt sure about the course... Till 10 days before the exams!.
Justice League director Zack Snyder shared the first look of Amber Heard as Aquamans queen Mera on Twitter.

The 30-year-old actor is pictured standing on rocks at the waters edge in a tight-fitting sea-green suit and pointed headdress with her long auburn hair flowing loose.

Saw this hydrokinetic vision come out of the sea and snapped a photo with my Leica. pic.twitter.com/rwU54XzScK  Zack Snyder (@ZackSnyder) October 12, 2016

In the picture, the Heard star looks distinctly chilly as she paints a brooding picture of the DC Comics character.

Her part in this film is expected to be small. However, she will reportedly play a much bigger role in the standalone Aquaman movie slated for 2018 release.

Based on the DC Comics superhero team of the same name, Justice League stars Jason Momoa as Aquaman, one of superheroes who join forces with Batman (Ben Affleck), The Flash (Ezra Miller), Cyborg (Ray Fisher) and Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot) against the villainous Steppenwolf.

The Zack Snyder directed film is slated for a November 2017 release.

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Well, there couldnt have been a more opportune moment for us to compile this...

... but with Inferno and The Girl on the Train arriving in theatres this Friday, we decided to put together a list of some of the biggest bestselling books that were adapted into blockbuster movies.

The rules are simple and as follows: To keep things fresh and unique, were sticking to this century. Were taking into account the source novels popularity, the buzz it generated at the time of publication and the worldwide success of the movie adaptation.

As always, the idea is to compile a fresh, unique list that you wouldnt ideally find anywhere else. But due to the sheer mass appeal of this genre (theres no escaping Dan Brown or Stieg Larsson is there?) youre going to see a lot of familiar titles.

Gone Girl

Gillian Flynns wrote the book of the summer back in 2012, exploring, among other things, marriage, the economy, and feminism . And then, the genius madman David Fincher got his cold, dark hands on it and made it into a trademark wintery psychological thriller with graphic violence and... dark comedy?

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Lets face it: Theres no way David Fincher was not going to feature at least twice on this list. Its still debatable which adaptation of Stieg Larssons phenomenal book is better - the original Swedish version sort of kick started an entire genre and was probably the more faithful adaptation - but Finchers version was pure Fincher: Darkly stylish, with an altered ending that was, among all the depravity, vaguely hopeful. And suggesting Lisbeth eats Happy Meals? Pure genius.

The Da Vinci Code/Angels & Demons

You either love him or you hate him, but Dan Brown isnt going away anytime soon. His books often get a bad rap for their amateurish prose, but theyre pulp fiction at their best; intricately plotted, globe trotting page-turners with a relatable hero. Yes, the Tom Hanks adaptations were rather murky at times, but so were the books ,right? In any case, that breathlessly labyrinthine plot made up for all the shortcomings, and Inferno has more than just Browns dimming relevance to combat when it opens this week. There is also somewhat of a legacy.

Mystic River/Gone Baby Gone/Shutter Island

These films couldnt be more different, but theyre all based on books written by the same man: Dennis Lehane. But what connects them, despite the themes (family, loss), is the sense of place. These stories are set in and around Boston and range from family drama to kidnapping thriller to psychological mindbender. Theres a reason great directors are attracted to Lehanes work: Clint Eastwood directed Mystic River, Ben Affleck made his debut with Gone Baby Gone (hes currently finishing up his second Lehane adaptation Live by Night) and the legendary Martin Scorsese helmed Shutter Island.

Headhunters

Of all the Scandi-crime movies that erupted into existence after Dragon Tattoo, Morten Tyldums adaptation of Jo Nesbos Headhunters is probably the best. Its a gory chase thriller, with more memorable scenes than you can count on one hand.

Want more? How about some of these classics?

Rosemarys Baby, The Boys from Brazil (both written by Ira Levin) and The Day of the Jackal.

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, The Maltese Falcon and Psycho.
The Andhra Pradesh lokayukta on Thursday sought a report from the Hyderabad police on the action taken in the case of 13-year-old Jain girl Aradhana Samdariya, who died after a 68-day ritualistic fast.

Lokayukta justice B Subhashan Reddy admitted a petition filed by AP Child Rights Association, which had brought to light the death of Aradhana, daughter of a city-based jewellery merchant.

The girl died in the early hours of October 3 after completing the fast under Jain ritual tapasya. The incident triggered a nationwide uproar and a debate on the culpability of her parents  Lakshmichand Samdariya and Manisha  in forcing their daughter to fast in the name of religion.

Association president Anuradha Rao petitioned that though the Secunderabad market police had registered an FIR against the parents under Section 304 (2) of the Indian Penal Code (culpable homicide not amounting to murder), no arrests had been made so far.

Forcing a minor girl to fast in the name of tapasya, amounts to murder. So, a case has to be registered against the parents under Section 302 of the IPC, Rao argued.

Justice Reddy called for a report from the deputy superintendent of police (Secunderabad) before October 24 on what action was taken against the parents.

Meanwhile, the Jain community in Hyderabad represented to the police not to proceed further with the case against Aradhanas parents, as it was nothing but infringing upon the fundamental right of the community to practise their religion.

In a letter to police commissioner M Mahender Reddy, Jain Seva Sangh leaders Ashok Jain and Vinod Kumar Kimti Jain said fasting was very common in their religion and observing tapasya was a fundamental right of every Jain, irrespective of the age. They reiterated that Aradhana had taken up fasting on her own accord and there was no pressure whatsoever was on her.

She was very healthy even after completion of 68 days of fasting, the submission claimed.

They accused the NGOs of tarnishing the image of Jains and questioning their traditions in the name of defending child rights. They have no right to interfere in the rituals of our religion, it added.

Read | Jain girl death row: Religion cant be a licence to deny right to life

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A teenage rape survivor who lost a legal battle to terminate her pregnancy gave birth to a baby boy in an ambulance early Thursday after a nurse refused to assist her in the delivery.

The 14-year-old was repeatedly raped by a man in her village on the pretext of marriage. He abandoned her when she conceived.

The girl and her family had campaigned unsuccessfully to abort the foetus in a case that highlighted administrative apathy. They were first declined permission for abortion by two courts in Bareilly and finally by the Allahabad high court, which on August 22 ordered the CMO to review her case.

The survivors hope of abortion ended on September 13 when a medical panel in Bareilly declined permission citing advance pregnancy.

At 11pm on Wednesday, the girl was taken to the community health centre (CHC) Shergarh in an ambulance after she complained of labour pain.

The auxiliary nurse midwife (ANM) at the CHC checked her and informed the family members to prepare for delivery. But when she came to know about the rape case the, she asked the family members to take the girl to the district hospital.

The ANM asked us to bring her here (district hospital) and returned to her room, said the aunt of the rape survivor who was at the CHC.

The nurse also declined to arrange an ambulance and allegedly asked the family members to take the girl to district hospital in an auto rickshaw.

The family members finally called another ambulance to reach Bareilly. She gave birth to the baby in the ambulance en route to the district hospital at around 2 am. The ambulance reached the hospital by 2:30 am.

The girl was attended by the duty nurse who admitted her and cut the umbilical cord.

Read | I dont want the child: Bareilly rape victim denied termination of pregnancy

When asked about the incident chief medical officer (CMO) of Bareilly, Vijay Yadav refused to pull up the nurse.

The nurse must have referred her to district hospital to avoid any complications during delivery, he said.

The nurse at the CHC who declined help and the doctor in-charge could not be reached for comments.

The girl and the child are expected to remain at the hospital till Saturday.

Chronology of events The teenage rape survivor was taken to Community Health Centre at around 11 pm on Wednesday night in a 108 Ambulance after she complained of labour pain. On reaching there the ANM at the CHC administered her and informed the family members to prepare for delivery. But when she came to know about the rape case the nurse asked the family members to take the girl to district hospital.

"The ANM asked us to bring her here (district hospital) and returned to her room," said the aunt of the rape survivor who was with the girl at the CHC.

Further, the nurse even declined to arrange for an ambulance and allegedly asked the family members to take the girl to District hospital in an auto rickshaw.

After being abandoned from the CHC, the family members called another 108 ambulance to reach Bareilly. The baby was delivered in the ambulance en route to District hospital at around 2 am. The ambulance reached the district hospital by 2:30am

After reaching the district hospital the girl was attended by the duty nurse who admitted her and cut the umbilical cord. Chief Medical Officer (CMO) of Bareilly Vijay Yadav when asked about the incident claimed that girl was refereed to the district hospital to avoid complications. "The nurse must have referred her to district hospital to avoid any complications during delivery."The nurse of the CHC who declined help and the Doctor in-charge could not be reached for comments

Read | Why no outrage over this rape victim denied permission by court to abort?

Read | Centre, UP govt have a responsibility towards Bareilly rape survivor
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping will meet in Goa on Saturday to discuss bilateral ties that are under strain over Beijing opposing Indias entry to NSG and blocking efforts to get Jaish chief Masood Azhar declared a terrorist by the UN.

The two leaders, who met during the G20 summit in China in September, will hold talks on the sidelines of the two-day BRICS summit that opens on October 15 in the coastal state.

While Modi would seek Xis cooperation in ironing out the recent irritants in ties, the focus would be on increasing Chinese investment from $2 billion now to $20 billion by 2019, government sources said.

The two are also expected to discuss ways to ensure peace on the line of actual control by avoiding incursions from either side, a constant irritant in the ties.

Modi met his diplomatic advisers on Wednesday to discuss the framework of his engagement with Xi. There would be no meeting between the national security advisers of the two countries, sources said, an indicator of New Delhis desire to accord priority to bilateral trade and investment.

Read| India and China must show mutual restraint to avoid a major crisis

Chinese investment in India has grown 400% in the last two years. Shanghai-based Fosum Pharma recently acquired 86% stake in Hyderabad-based Gland Pharma for $1.86 billion, the biggest Chinese investment in India till date.

India is looking to attract Chinese investments worth $4 billion next year. China that stood at 27 in the list of investors into India has moved up 10 places in the past two years.

New Delhi is banking on personal equation between Modi and Xi to give a push to trade and investment, notwithstanding divergence of views on a range of issues.

China wants India to engage Pakistan over Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar before it gives up its opposition to him being designated a terrorist by the UN, which would lead to freezing of his accounts and a ban on travel.

Beijing early this month extended its technical hold, or virtual veto, on Indias submission to include Azhar in the UN list. New Delhi blames Jaish for several terror strikes, including the January attack on Pathankot airbase.

China recently said it was blocking a tributary of the Brahmaputra river to build a hydroelectric project in Tibet. India is now pushing the Upper Siang power projects in Arunachal Pradesh. Beijing also wants New Delhi to keep out of the South China Sea dispute.

China has led opposition to India joining the nuclear suppliers group, a 48-member elite club that controls global nuclear trade.

Read| China, India must stop using rivers as taps to make political statements
The Shiv Sena asked the Narendra Modi government on Thursday to start constructing the Ram Temple at the disputed site in Ayodhya, joining other pro-Hindutva leaders in raking up the contentious issue ahead of assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh.

An editorial in the Shiv Sena mouthpiece Saamana said the BJP with a brute majority in the Lok Sabha was well placed to settle the issue. If the temple cannot be built today, it will never be built, the Sena said.

The Sena comments followed BJP parliamentarian Subramanian Swamy and firebrand Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader Praveen Togadia asking the party-led government to start building the temple at the site where the historic Babri mosque was demolished by a Hindu mob on December 6, 1992.

The Senas stand on the temple is seen as an attempt to woo hardline Hindu voters in the state where it plans to expand its presence by fielding candidates in 200 constituencies, nearly six times the number of seats it had contested in 2012. It failed to win a single seat.

The BJP is attempting to capture power in UP  one of the most politically important states -- where it has been out of power for 14 years.

However, the party has so far taken a neutral stand on the issue by refusing to openly speak about its construction, apparently not to antagonise the sizeable Muslim voters.

There has been plenty of politics over the Ram mandir issue. Now, decide once and for how long you want to go on politicising it... Dont just raise slogans, start picking up bricks, the Sena mouthpiece said, taunting Modi by pointing out that his own constituency was in the state.

The Sena also reminded Modi that he did not give a clear answer when asked about the temple soon after being elected from Varanasi.

In May, BJP president Amit Shah had asserted that Ram Janambhoomi was an integral part of the BJPs manifesto, but did not give a definite reply on how the party will deliver on its promise.

In an interview to a TV channel on Wednesday, Swamy said Ram mandir will be a crucial issue in the UP elections.

If we dont raise it in UP, then where will we raise it? It is on our manifesto and will definitely be our main focus, Swamy was quoted as saying.

Togadia added to the growing chorus. After Narendra Modi used the Jai Shree Ram slogan to start and end his speech at Lucknows Aishbagh Ramlila on Tuesday, Togadia asked the prime minister to build the temple.

 ' '    ,                  ! pic.twitter.com/fIiXV8P48r  Dr Pravin Togadia (@DrPravinTogadia) October 11, 2016

BJP leaders, however, remained non-committal.

We appreciate the emotions and faith in Ram mandir and even (the) BJP manifesto is a reflection of that faith and emotion. However, being a responsible government, we have to follow the Constitution, which says either though discussion or court, BJP secretary Sidharth Nath Singh said.

The partys UP president Keshav Prasad Maurya too said the party will contest the polls on the development plank rather than the Ram temple.

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The 12-hour shutdown called by the BJP on Thursday to protest against the murder of its party worker crippled normal life in the state amid stray incidents of violence.

In Palakkad, three CPI(M) workers were injured when they resisted BJP workers move to close down commercial establishments. Similarly, in Thiruvananthapuram, at least nine persons were hospitalised after a clash between CPI(M) and BJP workers.

Governor Justice Sathasivam also expressed serious concern over the recurring political murders in the state. Seven persons have lost their lives in Kannur since the Pinarayi Vijayan government took over four months back.

While shops and establishments remained closed, attendances in various government and private establishments were thin as public and private transport and buses remained off the road.

Commuters arriving at railway stations were stranded as public transport was unavailable.

Despite the shutdown, Vijayans cabinet held its routine weekly meeting at the state secretariat where security was stepped up.

Both at the Indian Space Research Organisation centre and Technopark campus, the police were deployed in numbers to ensure the safety of the employees and of the campus. As many private firms allowed their workers to work from home, the overall attendance was not like on usual working days, an IT official said.

Although two-wheelers and private vehicles were seen plying around in urban areas, the picture was different in the rural localities.

Remith was hacked to death by an alleged group of CPI(M) workers in front of his house barely 500 metres away from the CMs residence in Pinarayi on Wednesday. The latest killing was an apparent retaliation for the murder of a CPI(M) activist five days ago.

The 20-year-old was the son of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh-affiliate Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh leader Uthaman who was also a victim of political violence in 2002.

The police have registered a case against 10 people and identified the vehicle used in the crime.

Meanwhile, the Centre on Thursday sought a report from the Kerala government on the matter. In a communication, the home ministry has asked the state government to provide details of the incident and steps taken to nab and punish those responsible for the crime.

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The statewide shutdown called by the BJP on Thursday to protest the murder of a young party worker in chief minister Pinarayi Vijayans village in north Kerala began amid tight security.

Remith was hacked to death by an alleged group of Communist Party of India (Marxist) workers in front of his house and barely 500 metres away from the CMs residence in Pinarayi on Wednesday morning. The latest killing was an apparent retaliation for the murder of a CPI(M) activist five days ago.

The 20-year-old was the son of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh-affiliate Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh leader Uthaman who was also a victim of political violence in 2002.

The police have registered a case against 10 people and identified the vehicle used in the crime.

Except for stray incidents, no major violence has been reported from the state.

Notorious for clashes between the RSS and Marxists, Kannur district has witnessed seven political murders this year. Two killings took place in CMs assembly constituency Dharmadom.

These are sponsored killings by Marxist cadres with the active patronage of the chief minister. There may be ideological differences but violence is a weapon for those who cannot engage in political debate, party president Amit Shah tweeted condemning the murder.

However, the CPI(M) squarely blamed the BJP-RSS for fanning the fresh round of killing.

Sangh Parivar unleashed violence after PM (Narendra) Modi and Amit Shah called for the same at the recently concluded national council meet in Kozhikode. The statewide hartal is a bid to create a wrong impression that law and order situation collapsed in the state, CPI(M) state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan said.

Amid a blame game, police have expressed helplessness and said that there is a lack of political will to quell the violence.

If the police are not given a free hand bloodbath would continue to hound the district. Political leadership should isolate criminal elements in their party, northern range IG D Kashyap said.

RSS leaders say they have been targeted because of their efforts to expand their presence in the Marxist stronghold. The CPI(M) says its supporters are attacked because they continue to protect the Muslims.

But a close scrutiny shows that out of 280-odd deaths in the district in the last 3 decades, Muslims count well below 20. The majority of the dead are backward Thiyas (Ezhavas), the backbone of the Communist movement in north Malabar.

Marxists call the fight against the RSS a mass uprising while their opponents call it self-defence mechanism.

Read | BJP attacks CPM for murderous politics, seeks CBI probe into activists murder

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An influential Muslim body said on Thursday the BJP-led government was creating an internal war by trying to review the communitys personal laws on divorce and polygamy, setting the stage for a political showdown ahead of assembly elections in five states early next year.

The All-India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) said it will resist the Centres attempt to replace diverse customary laws governing marriage, divorce and inheritance with a set of identical civil laws, the so-called uniform civil code.

Law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad told HT that the government was steadfast on its stand that triple talaq --  under which a man divorces his wife by saying the Urdu word for divorce three times  must go.

All communities have different customs and traditions. Our Constitution accepts that. Its a dangerous idea to treat them with a single yardstick. We oppose this, Maulana Wali Rehmani, a Muslim leader said.

The organisation would legally and democratically fight any attempt to have a uniform civil code, he said.

The AIMPLB, an advocacy organisation, seeks to protect legal sanctions to a bunch of shariah-compliant customs governing marriage, property and divorce. The same laws also allow polygamy among Muslims.

Read| Triple talaq: The inhuman practice that violates rights and dignity of women

India has separate sets of personal laws for each religion and demand for overhauling these codes date back decades.

Critics say triple talaq, by allowing summary divorce, discriminates against women. But successive governments have backed away from any sweeping change for fear of upsetting crucial vote banks.

In recent years, many Muslim women have approached the judiciary and the Supreme Court is hearing three petitions against triple talaq.

The government has told the top court that the Muslim practice of triple talaq was undesirable.

The government also asked its legal think-tank, the Law Commission of India, to examine the issue of uniform civil code, which has sought public views on the matter.

Muslims organisations see this as an attempt to tamper with their religious practices and have decided to boycott the consultation process.

The law minister appealed to the AIMPLB to rethink its stand. This is a well thought out and considered view of the government in pursuit of gender equality and dignity of women, he said.

Many Islamic countries have made provisions for arbitration and conciliation. At some places, only court decides such matters. You simply cannot say talaq-talaq-talaq.

If regulating matrimonial laws in Islamic countries was not violative of the sharia, how can the same argument be raised in a secular country like India? the minister asked.

Given the sectarian divide over personal laws, the fractious debate over triple talaq and a uniform civil code could polarise votes in the string of state polls due early next year.

Parties like Congress and JD(U) said the idea of UCC was unimplementable and accused the BJP-led government of trying to polarise people ahead of the assembly polls.

Read| Triple talaq: Keep gender justice as the main focus
More than 1,000 Maoists have surrendered to the Chhattisgarh Police this year and many of them say they gave up arms out of disgust after discrimination by their erstwhile comrades from Andhra Pradesh.

In interviews to HT, several of them said they were even denied simple privileges such as falling in love and getting married, though those from the neighbouring state lived with their wives and raised children.

It is not easy to be a part of the PLGA (Peoples Liberation Guerrilla Army) as it is ruled by the Andhra Pradesh people and they are biased towards us, said 21-year-old Sahu (name changed).

Police say there are some 10,000 Maoists in the Bastar region of Chhattisgarh and they answer to the secretary of the Dandakaranya special zonal committee  a man from Andhra Pradesh.

Why are Andhra Pradesh men mostly in the top positions, asked another surrendered Maoist. They enjoy all the liberty while the tribals fight for them, he added.

Officials and observers say poor tribals from Bastar are mostly recruited as foot soldiers of the armed unit of the PGLA, or as office bearers of the Jantana Sarkar  the committee in charge of a village. Real authority, however, vests with seniors belonging to Andhra Pradesh.

Those who surrendered say marriages were generally discouraged in the lower ranks. They were not allowed to marry a common girl. If someone fell in love with another comrade, written permission was required to tie the knot. If permission was granted, the men often were forced to undergo a vasectomy to ensure no children were born.

Some of them have under gone reverse vasectomy to carry on with their life after having surrendered.

Their list of grievances against their seniors is long, but not everyone is convinced and accuse them of parotting what the police want them to say. Kamal Shukla, a Bastar-based journalist who has covered the conflict for many years, insisted the narrative of those who surrendered were misleading.

The surrendered Maoists are not allowed to [freely] speak in front of journalists or any other person. They only say what the police want. Most surrenders took place because of illegal detention of their family members by the police. If the police come to know that a person from a village is a Maoist or informer, they bring the family to police station and keep them for months until he or she surrenders, Shukla said.

In Chhattisgarh, journalists are only allowed to speak to a surrendered Maoist after official permission from the areas police.

Whatever a surrendered person says should be taken with a fistful of salt, said Subhranshu Chaudhury, the author of the book, Lets Call him Vasu: With Maoists in Chhattisgarh.

All these restrictions of marriage etc. were there before too and it was always controlled by Andhra Pradesh people, so these do not seem the real reason to me, he added.

But ML Kotwani, the superintendent of police of Kanker, argued that anger within the local Maoists has been simmering for a long time.

They are only recruited for ground work like ambushes, extortion, collection of money, and not allowed to live a normal life while seniors who are mainly from Andhra Pradesh or other states live a luxurious and normal life.

He cited the example of a senior Maoist, Ram Chandra Reddy alias Gudsa, whose family included his wife and two children. The children reportedly go to a convent school. He managed to escape in a police raid but his wife was arrested, Kotwani pointed out.

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Ahead of the BRICS Summit in Goa, the Congress has expressed its objection to the logo of the event, which it said looks like the party symbol of BJP, even as the AAP questioned the absence of the name of the place, where the meet is being held, from the logo.

It is highly improper on the part of the relevant BRICS Committee to select the election symbol of a member country, India, when it is well-known that lotus is BJPs poll symbol. Elections of the Goa Assembly are due to be held in February 2017. In Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab and Manipur also polls are due, Congress MP Shantaram Naik told reporters on Wednesday.

The Congress leader also filed a petition in the Election Commission of India (ECI) demanding that steps should be taken to freeze BJPs election symbol, as the party has misused it by going against the spirit of Symbols Order, 1968, the law which regulates the allotment of symbols.

AAP spokesperson Rupesh Shinkre sought to know why the name of Goa is not mentioned.

As India is gearing up to host the 8th BRICS Summit, it is a matter of pride to Goa to host the event, where the leaders of the next world powers would set their foot, Shinkre said.

...Venues of such meets are very significant because the declarations are named after the place of its convention. The 8th BRICS Declaration would be a called as the Goa Declaration, he said.

Reacting to the criticism, Goa CM Laxmikant Parsekar said, It is good that Naik sees lotus everywhere in Goa in the run up to the polls.

However, Parsekars party colleague and MP from South Goa Narendra Sawaikar, tweeted, Logos do not substitute for election symbol. Congress sees propaganda in anything and everything.

Read | Ahead of this years BRICS summit, heres all you need to know about the group
Two Madhya Pradesh policemen were arrested by Gujarats anti-corruption bureau (ACB) from a hotel in Vadodara on Wednesday for allegedly accepting bribe of Rs 8 lakh from a man for not registering a criminal case against him.

The two cops  assistant sub-inspector Shankar Ramavadh Singh and constable Dipak Adani are posted in Pandhurna in Chhindwada district of Madhya Pradesh.

A senior ACB official said the complainant had approached the agency claiming the policemen had demanded a bribe of Rs 18 lakh for not registering a case of illegal possession of electric cables against him.

ACB assistant director P R Gelot said the complainants name was revealed by a man arrested by MP police recently, following which Singh and Adani arrived in Vadodara to book the complainant.

They called the complainant to the hotel for striking a deal for not registering a crime against him, which was settled for Rs 8 lakh. The money was recovered from them by ACB sleuths who set the trap and raided the place, he said.

But the Madhya Pradesh police has rubbished allegation that the two men had demanded a bribe.

Chhindwara superintendent of police GK Pathak told Hindustan Times that the two policemen had been framed.

Were in constant touch with Vadodara police to resolve the issue, Pathak said.

(With agency inputs)
A powerful business body in Prime Minister Narendra Modis home state Gujarat has announced a boycott of Chinese goods, two years after he wooed President Xi Jinping at the picturesque Sabarmati riverfront to boost trade ties between the Asian giants.

Modi and Jinping had posed for a memorable photograph on a swing at the riverfront in September 2014 in what was seen as a ground-breaking moment in Sino-Indian ties.

In the backdrop of China siding with Pakistan following the surgical strikes by the Indian army across the LoC, the Gujarat Chamber of Commerce and Industries (GCCI)  a body of two lakh small and medium-scale business owners  has given a boycott call for all varieties of Chinese products.

Read | Gurgaon joins campaign against Chinese goods

The boycott call has come at a time when over 100 Chinese companies have pledged to invest around Rs 6,000 crore by 2020 in Gujarat in projects ranging from infrastructure development to smart cities, electrical and textile parks and chemical sector.

The boycott may not directly harm the investment pledge by Chinese companies but could damage the carefully cultivated rapport of Gujarat with China by Modi.

The GCCI has appealed to its over 200 associations comprising around two lakh small and medium-scale businesses and industries owners across Gujarat, to boycott all types of Chinese products, said Bipin Patel, GCCI president.

Patel maintained that while the presence of Chinese goods have always hurt local industries, the business entity would like to put an end to this in national interest when China is seen as supporting Pakistan over cross-border terrorism.

Read | BJPs Vijayvargiya calls for boycott of Chinese products

On Thursday, the Rajkot Chamber of Commerce and Industries also wrote to the CM and the prime minister requesting them to make the boycott official.

In Gujarat, they already seem to have gained support of the government.

We believe in the mantra of Swadeshi. We would prefer to see people use Indian products instead of foreign-made, chief minister Vijay Rupani said on Tuesday.

The Congress, however, is not amused.

On one hand, the BJP government is supporting the boycott, and on the other, it continues with its efforts to attract big ticket projects through events like Vibrant Gujarat Global Investment Summit. There has been no clarity in their stand, said Congress spokesperson Manish Doshi.

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Though in 2015 trade between the two countries dropped by 7.8%, India still remains Russias major foreign trade partner and the negative trend could be overcome soon, Russian President Vladimir Putin said in an exclusive interview.

India has been and remains Russias major foreign trade partner. Together with our Indian partners, we are resolved to overcome the negative trend, which, in our opinion, is largely associated with volatility on the global markets and in exchange rates, Putin told IANS.

The Russian President made assertion in response to emailed questions sent jointly by IANS and the Russian Sputnik news agency, ahead of his visit to India for the five-nation BRICS Summit in Goa this weekend.

Putin said the commercial exchanges are mutually beneficial between the two countries and their structure shows the complementarity.

Chemicals and engineering products account for a considerable share of Russias exports and the exports from your country.

Putin said: The energy sector plays an important role in trade and economic cooperation between Russia and India. Construction of the Kudankulam NPP is the largest long-term project. In August 2016, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and I took part in a ceremony dedicated to the handover of the first unit of the Kudankulam NPP to the Republic of India.

The second unit will be put into operation in the near future. Operation of the first and second units at their rated capacity will significantly increase the energy supply in India and strengthen its energy security.

He said the two countries were also strengthening bilateral cooperation in the conventional energy sector.

During the St Petersburg International Economic Forum held in June 2016, Rosneft and an Indian consortium signed a contract for the sale of 23.9 per cent of shares in Vankorneft, which owns the Vankor field in the Krasnoyarsk region.

Besides, Rosneft sold a stake of shares in the Taas-Yuryakh Neftegazodobycha, a company developing a field in East Siberia, to Indian companies.

Let me add that many of the Russian projects in India not only have commercial importance but also play a significant social and economic role for the economies of the two countries. They harmoniously fit in the new Indian industrialisation programme proposed by Modi, Putin said.

Talking about the level of investment cooperation between the countries during his visit, Putin said: Naturally, during our visit to India we hope to give fresh momentum to the bilateral trade and economic ties, given that companies of both countries are interested in implementing new mutually beneficial projects.

Russias cumulative investments in India amount to about $4 billion, while Indian businesses have invested in the Russian economy twice as much - about $8 billion.

Putin said a Working Group on Priority Investment Projects has been established and is now successfully operating within the framework of the Intergovernmental Commission.

Line agencies of the two countries, jointly with the India-Russia Forum on Trade and Investment, are engaged in a rigorous selection of promising business initiatives and work on identifying and removing barriers to the free flow of goods, capital and services.

To date, 20 priority projects have been selected -- 10 Russian projects and 10 Indian ones -- in such spheres as transport engineering, chemical industry, aircraft industry and pharmaceuticals.

Talking about the establishment of the New Development Bank (NDB) and the BRICS Contingent Reserve Arrangement with the total capital of $200 billion, Putin said: I am convinced that, as the bank gets stronger, its output will only increase, including by means of projects that promote integration among the BRICS countries.

Putin also said Russia supports enhanced cooperation in electronic commerce, in trade facilitation (with involvement of the Eurasian Economic Commission), supporting small and medium-sized businesses, and protection of intellectual property.
A top American think-tank has suggested the new US president should meet Indias Prime Minister Narendra Modi within first 100 days to strongly signal importance of continuing close relations between the two countries.

In a major report on India-US Security Co-operation, the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) urges the upcoming administration to ensure that India signs the foundational agreements, which it believes is important for strengthening the India-US defense relationship.

The absence of such agreements will also make it nearly impossible (if not completely impossible) for the US to provide to India certain advanced sensing, computing and communications technologies that India believes are necessary for its own defense capabilities, it said.

The next administration should work with Australia, India and Japan to establish a quadrilateral security dialogue, led by the US State Department and foreign ministries. The dialogue should focus on issues of common interest across the Pacific and Indian Ocean regions, the report said.

It said creating a specific opportunity for the US president and Indian Prime Minister to meet in the first 100 days will send a strong signal about the importance of bilateral ties.

CSIS in its report recommends that the US and India should deepen announced efforts on submarine safety and anti-submarine warfare to include combined training and exercises to expand the capability of both countries as well as their interoperability with each other.

Seeking to increase the FDI limit in defense sector to 100 per cent, the report also calls for strengthening and expanding the homeland security dialogue.

The think-tank recommends the new president should invite India to participate (as an observer or stakeholder) in the Quadrilateral Coordination Group talks with the Taliban.

It also urges for establishing a US-India dialogue on the Middle East, modeled on the East Asia Consults of the US State Department and Indias Ministry of External Affairs.

CSIS said Modis emergence as a strong leader, just as the US was seeking to consolidate its strategy of re-balance to the Asia Pacific, gave America an opportunity to engage with a rising leader in India, and India an opportunity to reprioritise and rethink its engagement with the world.

Obama continues a bipartisan run of three presidents who have seen India as key to US strategy in Asia, it said.

Observing that Obama has built a strong relationship with Modi, and maintained a high tempo of engagements at the highest levels, the report said the US engagement with India has increasingly focused on the security aspects and India has responded with uncharacteristic warmth to this outreach.
NIA on Thursday took over the custody of five alleged members of the banned Jamiat-ul-Muajhideen Bangladesh (JMB) terror outfit in connection with 2014 Burdwan blast.

The special task force of Kolkata police had arrested the six people from Assam in the last week of September for allegedly conspiring to carry out blasts in the country and also striking a deal with Bodo militants.

Of these, NIA took the custody of Moulana Yusuf, alleged to be the second-in-command of JMBs West Bengal unit and one of the main accused in the Burdwan blast, Jahidul Sheikh alias Zafar alias Jabirul, Mohammad Rafique, Shahidul alias Shamim and Abdul Kalam alias Kalim.

Out of the five, Yusuf and Kalam had been chargesheeted by the NIA in abstentia while the role of other three would be ascertained after their interrogation, sources in the anti- terror probe agency said.

A Kolkata court handed over their custody to the NIA till October 27. Some of those arrested carried cash rewards, sources said.

On October 2, 2014, a blast had occurred in a house at Khagragarh in which a man identified as Sakil Gazi died on the spot, while a man named Sovan Mandal died in hospital. Both of them were suspected of having terror links.

NIA later discovered that Mondal actually was Karim Sheikh and he had misled West Bengal police about his identity.

The agency later filed a charge sheet against 30 people in March last year. Some others were added in supplementary charge sheets in which the NIA alleged that the JMB members wanted to establish Sharia rule by overthrowing the democratically-elected government in Bangladesh.

JMBs activities in India primarily included recruitment, radicalisation and training of vulnerable youths in a systematic and organised manner and, in pursuance of the conspiracy, they had established organisational bases in certain districts of West Bengal like Nadia, Burdwan, Murshidabad and Birbhum as well as in Sahebganj district of Jharkhand, the NIA said.
WASHINGTON: Pakistan is exploring the possibility of creating a greater South Asian economic alliance to counter Indias hold on the eight-member South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc), diplomatic observers said.

A parliamentary delegation from Pakistan, which is now in New York, pitched this idea during its five-day visit to Washington last week, Dawn online reported on Wednesday.

A greater South Asia is already emerging, said senator Mushahid Hussain Syed in one of his interactions with the media.

This greater South Asia includes China, Iran and the neighbouring Central Asian republics.

He described the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor as the key economic route linking South Asia with Central Asia.

The Gwadar port, he said, would be the nearest warm water port, not only for China but also for the landlocked Central Asian states.

We want India to join this arrangement as well, said Hussain, an offer India is unlikely to accept as it is comfortable with the advantage provided by Saarc.

Last month, India pulled out of the 19th Saarc summit scheduled to be held in Islamabad on November 15 and 16.

India cited Pakistans involvement in the September 18 terrorist attack at an army camp in Kashmirs Uri , in which 19 soldiers died, as the reason for its decision to boycott the summit.

India has blamed Pakistan for the attack, a claim which Islamabad has denied. Other Saarc nations  Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan and Sri Lanka  joined India in pulling out of the meeting. According to Dawn, the boycott has led to an indefinite postponement of the summit and exposed Pakistans isolation within the region.

Apparently, the showdown forced Pakistan to conclude that in its present shape, Saarc will always be dominated by India. Thats why they are now talking about a greater South Asia, said a diplomat.
Who should bear the cost of security of airports across the country?

The issue came up for discussion during a high-level meeting on airport security chaired by home minister Rajnath Singh. The meeting was attended by civil aviation minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju, his deputy Jayant Sinha, minister of state for home Kiren Rijiju, home secretary Rajiv Mehrishi, Intelligence Bureau director Dineshwar Sharma, Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) chief OP Singh and senior officials from the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security.

According to sources, the ministry of civil aviation proposed in the meeting that securing airports was a sovereign function and thus, the government should bear the cost.

The other stakeholder in the debate, the ministry of home affairs, was in partial agreement with it. The debate is part of the plan for complete overhaul of airport security in the country.

Yes, we agree that airport security is a sovereign function, but we would like some part of the airport security expenditure to be shared by passengers and airport operators, said a senior government official.

He added that no final decision was taken on the issue.

At the moment, the airport operator  private or the governments Airport Authority of India  bears the cost of security.

The other important issues that came up for discussion included handing over security of all civilian airports to the CISF.

The government has already decided to hand over security of all 93 civilian airports to the CISF. The force is guarding 59 civilian airports at the moment. The process is being fast-tracked now.

It was also decided in the meeting to check on drones and other aerial objects around airports.

Standard operating procedures with regard to flying drones or aerial objects such as hot air balloons are being circulated to all state police and security forces to keep a check on such items as they have emerged as a major security threat to airports, said the official.

It was also decided to introduce perimeter intrusion detection system at civilian airports. There is a need to improve the system wherever it is already installed, said the official.

The government is also planning to deploy quick reaction teams from the CRPF at vulnerable airports.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will hold bilateral talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping on October 15 ahead of the BRICS Summit on in Goa.

China on Monday said it was ready for talks with India on the latters entry into the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG).

However, it has defended its stand on extending a hold on New Delhis bid for a United Nations ban on Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar.

Responding to a question whether any progress can be expected on the issue of Indias admission into the NSG in the meeting between President Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Modi on the sidelines of the BRICS Summit, vice-foreign minister Li Baodong said the NSG rules stipulate consensus among the members to admit new ones.

Stating that China and India have maintained good communication on the issue, he said that Beijing was ready to continue consultations with New Delhi to build consensus.

Beijing is opposed to anyone making political gains in the name of counter-terrorism, he said while answering to a question on criticism about Chinas move to halt Indias bid for a ban on Azhar.

The BRICS Summit is scheduled to begin from October 17.

Earlier in June, Prime Minister Modi had urged the Chinese Premier to consider Indias NSG case favourably, but China rebuffed Indias request at the NSG plenary in Seoul.
Two persons, who allegedly circulated rumours on social media about the health status of Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa, were arrested, police said on Thursday.

Police had warned of stern action against those spreading rumours on the health of Jayalalitha, who is undergoing treatment at a corporate hospital here, and have registered 43 cases so far. Already, two persons have been arrested for spreading such rumours.

28-year-old, Mani Selvam, a bank employee, hailing from Ottapidaram Taluk, Tuticorin and 42-year-old Bala Sundaram hailing from Pammal, Chennai, were the latest to be arrested by the Central Crime Branch police, an official press release said.

Soon after Jayalalithaa was admitted to the Apollo Hospitals on September 22 after she complained of fever and dehydration, rumours were circulating about her health on social networking sites including Facebook and WhatsApp.

Read| Medical bulletins on Jayalalithaas health hide more than they reveal

To end such rumours, the police have formed a team comprising private cyber experts to keep a watch on those who spread false information about the health and warned of strong action against those involved in such acts.
The annual India-Russia summit on Saturday will see a pact on the delivery of advanced air defence system, framework agreement for two new nuclear reactors at Kudankulam and measures to step up investment flows with a greater accent on Make in India flagship.

President Vladimir Putin said Russia remained the top supplier of advanced weapons and defence technology to its privileged strategic partner India and added that Moscow and other BRICS nations were determined to back New Delhis fight against terror.

Russia remains in the lead in terms of both direct supplies of most advanced weapons and military equipment and conducting joint researches with India as well as producing goods for military purposes. Our countries actively collaborate in the military technical field, Putin said in an exclusive interview to IANS and Sputnik news agencies.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Vladimir Putin will meet in Goa for the 17th annual India-Russia summit in Goa on Saturday.

An agreement on the delivery of S-400 Triumph anti-missile defence systems and other deals will be signed as a result of the talks, Putins aide Yuri Ushakov was quoted as saying by the Russian agencies.

The S-400 is Russias most modern air defence system and has been deployed to Syria. It can track some 300 targets and shoot down around three dozen simultaneously over a range of several hundred kilometres.

The two sides are giving final touches to the final pact for the production of 200 Kamov 226T helicopters under the Make in India initiative. These helicopters are set to replace the aging Cheetah and Chetak choppers used by the Indian armed forces.

This pact is seen as a big step in cooperation between Russia and India in the area of helicopter production, and a preliminary contract for the same was signed earlier.

India is also expected to touch upon its displeasure over the first-ever military exercise between Russia and Pakistan.

Sources said a framework agreement for two more reactors  Units 5 and 6  in Kudankulam and credit finalisation for the same are at an advanced stage. Russias Rosatom and the Nuclear Power Corporation of India have begun preparations for the construction of Units 3 and 4.

More importantly, the focus in the sector now is the manufacturing of the reactor components and cooperation with regard to nuclear enrichment, said an official.

Both sides are concerned about the economic ties not picking up  bilateral trade between the two nations dropped by 8% in 2015. The two countries are also trying to increase the investment flow. Russian investment to India is just $4 billion and the Indian investment in Russia is $8 billion.

Officials said measures such as reworking the Double Taxation Avoidance Treaty (DATA), Bilateral Investment treaty, and the pact on promotion and protection of investment will help improve business ties.

Russian projects in India not only have commercial importance but also play a significant social and economic role for the economies of the two countries. They harmoniously fit in the new Indian industrialisation programme proposed by Modi, president Putin said ahead of his visit.

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Sarita Takru, a resident of Karnal, is under grief due to sudden demise of her husband, but she is thankful to Union external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj, whose timely intervention helped her only son Abhai Kaul, settled in the US, to attend cremation of his father.

My son got visa. I am really thankful to Union minister Sushma Swaraj whose intervention helped my son in getting visa to have the last glimpse of his father, Sarita told Hindustan Times.

After her husbands death on October 10, she had tweeted, My son awaits Indian visa from US. Pl help. Father awaiting cremation.

As she did not get a response, she tweeted again, This dreadful wait must end. Please give my son Indian visa in US so his father may be cremated. Please support. Need empathy.

The next day, she posted another tweet, Mam pl pl do something. Son needs be home for fathers cremation.

A few hours after this tweet, she got a reply from Swaraj on Twitter, saying, I am sorry to know about the sad demise of your husband. Just wait. I will help you.

In another tweet, the Union minister asked her for the details of her son and said she would contact him. Then she tweeted again, Our Embassy has contacted your son in US. He should submit application and collect visa from our Consulate in Chicago.

Later, Swaraj tweeted,Our Embassy in the US is closed for Vijaya Dashmi and Moharram. I have sent a message. We will open the Embassy and give a visa to your son.

Sarita, who runs a playway school in Karnal, said the body of her husband had been kept at their house and he would be cremated when Abhai would reach on Friday morning.

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India and China are competing for influence over Nepal but superior infrastructure in Tibet that borders the land-locked country can give Beijing the edge, the nationalist Global Times said on Thursday.

A top expert wrote in the state-controlled newspaper that Chinas infrastructural superiority in the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) will likely come under pressure from Indias high growth in the coming years.

That can only be tackled with policy support from Beijing and close coordination between its neighbouring provinces and cities, the newspaper said.

In the next decade, if India continues on its high growth track and speeds up the development of infrastructure and manufacturing, this will impose multi-dimensional pressure on China, of which Tibet will bear the brunt, Ding Gang from Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies at Renmin University of China wrote in the newspaper.

Fortunately, as the central government has attached great importance and offered considerable support to the region, Tibet has gained the upper hand over India in terms of infrastructure development and has established sound economic cooperation relations with neighbouring provinces and cities, Ding said.

Ding noted the slow but increasing competition between India and China over building railway networks in Nepal.

During his latest visit to India, Nepals new Prime Minister Prachanda revealed that the two countries would discuss the possibility of India helping build a railway connecting Mechi and Mahakali, Ding said.

From the Chinese side, he said, Currently, China is extending the Lhasa-Shigatse (in TAR) railway to reach to Gyirong county. The project is expected to be completed in 2020. By this design, connection between Kathmandu and Gyirong through railways can be achieved by 2025 as the former is merely dozens of kilometers away from the latter.

This competition from India can be offset by better coordination between Chinese provinces around TAR.

How to further open up the autonomous region, exploit its advantages over India to deal with challenges and exercise an influence over the region while maintaining Tibets stability needs policy support. It also requires coordination among all western provinces, cities and autonomous regions, Ding said.

Of course, there is opportunity for all three countries to coordinate for development. Over 200 kilometers northeast of Bhairawa, a Nepali city close to the border with India, is Nepals capital Kathmandu. 100 kilometers northward from Kathmandu is Kodari, a border crossing from Nepal into China. The three cities make up one of the most important passageways connecting China and the Indian subcontinent, Ding said.

The write added that on the other side of the border from Kodari is Zhangmu, a Chinese customs town and port of entry.

The town accounts for around 82% of bilateral trade between China and Nepal and 90% of that between Tibet and Nepal. Despite terrible road conditions, on average, more than 200 trucks fully loaded with cargo head for Nepal from the town every day.

India and Nepal are linked by comparatively good roads. For years, India has occupied 60 to 70% of Nepals total trade while China has only 10%, Ding said.
A Polish mountaineer died while being rescued on Thursday evening, three days after he went missing along with another climber in the Himalayas of Uttarkhand.

There is no trace of his companion so far even as a joint team of the army and the Uttarkashi based Nehru Institute of Mountaineering (NIM) scoured the snow-clad Mt Shivling since morning.

As per information received, two Polish mountaineers  L John and J Michael-- were trapped close to the summit at a height of 5,900 metre from the sea level after their rope got snapped on Tuesday.

Identity of the deceased could not be ascertained.

According to officials involved in the operation, a search team had managed to locate one of the two mountaineers inside a snow cave on Wednesday, a day after the duo went missing.

A rescue team prepares to take off to rescue two Polish climbers stranded near the Mount Shivling in Uttarakhand. (Nehru Institute of Mountaineering)

But when the survivor was being pulled over, he lost balance and fell down. He was just around 300 meters away from us, an official said. Further details are awaited.

For around 72 hours he managed to survive in sub zero temperature and perhaps without food or water, said an NIM official, Vishal Ranjan.

The contact with the Polish mountaineer was established earlier over the solar operated walky-talky he was carrying.

The duo were part of a five-member Polish group that started scaling the Mt Shivling, positioned at a 90 degree angle, on Sept 25.

Three members returned to the base camp on Tuesday and informed Polish embassy about the trapped mountaineers.

The embassy contacted the district administration on the same night seeking help, Uttarkashi Superintendent of Police Daddan Pal said.

The police and SDRF started search operation on Wednesday noon.

They could locate one survivor, but lacked expertise to carry out the rescue operation in the high altitude, prompting the administration to approach the army on Wednesday night.

The army launched a rescue operation on Thursday morning along with a team of NIM mountaineers, known for their proficiency in high altitude rescue operations, said Col Ajay Kothiyal, who was overseeing the operation.

Three mountaineers with medicines and rations, enough to last for the next 72 hours, were earlier airdropped at the advance camp to bring back the survivor, said Col Kothiyal.

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Lets Talk About Rape : Eminent Indians write open letters in Hindustan Times to discuss the reality of sexual assault in India.

In this letter, acting legend and former chairperson of Indias film censor board Sharmila Tagore writes an open letter to her countrymen on how we need to change our mindset so that women feel safe.

Let us consider the headlines in all the major newspapers in the Capital over the last few days. Even going by the trend of pessimistic news that we are generally exposed to, the gruesome murders of young women one after the other must have shocked even the most insensate and hardened of hearts. Their only fault -- they said No to their stalkers. Yes, the time is nigh upon us. It is time we talk about crimes against women in earnest.

Even after achieving a degree of economic independence and success, sometimes I wonder how empowered am I. Without the safety of my chauffeur-driven car and the multi-layered privileges that cushion me, I wonder how safe I will be.

I remember the day when I arrived at the station in Hyderabad and my car hadnt reached. Within minutes I was surrounded by a mob, but because I had three-month-old Saif with me I was treated with deference.

Only a few months ago, another mobs reaction had been entirely different. The feeling of empowerment for young women, I think, comes from being treated with respect and from a sense of security in a public space, both sadly lacking in our public and sometimes even in our private spaces. We can claim these spaces only when the world around us changes its mindset.

Weve had our politicians tell us we shouldnt travel alone after 9pm, that we should wear proper clothes. What can be more misplaced than such gratuitous advice? Ask the women whose stalkers bludgeoned and stabbed them to death in the heart of Delhi recently. They were, by all token, your average women -- dressed properly and going about their everyday work; not being provocative in either their dressing or in the time they were out of home. Violence and rape have nothing to do with sex. They are about a misplaced sense of power and about wanting to humiliate a woman and teach her, or through her, the family a lesson.

In the name of family honour and tradition, women continue to be subjugated. They are constantly harangued with words like propriety, dignity and modesty and always told to behave like a girl.

Sadly, women are conditioned to see themselves as a part of this patriarchal construct. We are still living with the ideology of compromise and not the ideology of recognition, as Dipin Damodaran says. In rape or violent assault against women, we have to be very clear that it is not the woman who is at fault but the man who is guilty.

Centuries of patriarchal conditioning has had a strong hold on our collective consciousness and informs our views on the status of women. These views are being reinforced almost on a daily basis. It is this that gives men a sense of entitlement where even a simple No causes deep offence and fury --enough to scar a woman with acid, to rape, even to kill.

This entrenched mindset prompts men to think of women as a lesser entity and treat them as an economic burden. But the fact is, this is no longer true. There is an urgent need to recognise that. Given the opportunity, there is no doubt that women can learn to chart their own path and pursue their dreams. In fact, it is three women who saved us the blushes in the recently concluded Olympic Games in Rio.

Society can be protective of us but that is different from policing us. Simone de Beauvoir said, Girls are weighed down by restrictions, boys by demand -- two equally harmful disciplines.

Women need to be seen as equal partners. We are not the lesser half, the second half or even the better half. We are equal. Its time we stopped putting women into manageable slots. And this change needs to start from our homes, the microcosm of our society.

For the longest time, our mainstream cinema has been blamed for commodifying women. The manner in which sometimes the camera objectifies women does make me unconformable but we need to ask why only womens bodies are singled out. Why only item girls are vilified. Isnt someone who is covered from head to toe in expensive brand names equally commodified? Look at the constant sexism in the advertising world. Ads selling cars, computers and gizmos go to men. When it comes to domestic or beauty products such as cooking oils, washing machines or jewellery we have women.

So, how do we stop violence against women? There are no easy answers. No quick-fixes. Things will not change overnight. The patriarchal mindset is too deeply entrenched. But it is time we started addressing the issue systematically, beginning from our schools and homes. That is where our basic approach to life and people is shaped. We should raise our boys to understand and respect women. And young girls should have the freedom to exercise their choices and options to feel self-worthy.

The response to the Jessica Lall murder and the horrific gang rape in Delhi connected all of us in so many ways. There was a concerted citizen response to these, highlighted and driven by a missionary media. We shared outrage and propelled a change in the rape laws.

My family, Saif, Saba, Soha, Kareena, Kunal, had incessant discussions on the role of the police and the law, on what rape victims have to endure at police stations and in the courts etc. But we need to go beyond that. Beyond the candle-light vigils and protests, to quality education, sensitising people and more timely and stringent enforcement of the law. The conviction rate for rapes remains critically low at 25% or so.

We should perceive gender on a spectrum and not as two opposing sets of ideas. Men are not from Mars and women are not from Venus. They are both people. Gender equality is a human right issue, not a woman issue. We need to remember that out of 23 pairs of chromosomes only one is different. And yet only on that one, the difference of the gender is based, pretending as if all the 23 are different. Except for that one set of chromosomes, we are equal in every respect. It is imperative that we are treated as equals. I am as uncomfortable about women being treated as a goddess, the eternal mother, as I am with them being looked upon merely as a pleasure object. We need to fight these stereotypes.

As spiritual activist, author, lecturer and founder of The Peace Alliance, Marianne Williamson says, Men in our culture have been spoiled, treated with false reverence. That is at the root of the issue. That is what has to change.

At the same time, it is time for women to make themselves heard. Quoting Williamson again, Dont stop now. Keep going. The next time someone makes you feel, winning as you are, perhaps youre getting too big for your britches, say to them silently, I havent even started yet.

Our series has drawn to a close, but the conversation continues. Use #LetsTalkAboutRape to comment, discuss, respond. To read all the coverage, visit http://bit.do/letstalkaboutrape

Want to have your voice featured in the Hindustan Times? Send us your entries at htwebresponse@hindustantimes.com and we will feature the best responses.
Amid speculations that chief minister Pema Khandu Peoples Party of Arunachal (PPA) may soon merge with the BJP, the only Congress MLA left in the state has reminded his ex-party colleagues of an elusive special package that made them leave the Congress.

Last month, 43 of 44 MLAs in Arunachal Pradesh had quit the Congress to form the regional Peoples Party of Arunachal (PPA) government. Only former chief minister Nabam Tuki, who went to court for the restoration of the Congress government in the state on July 13, stayed back.

The centre had dismissed Tukis Congress government on January 26 which paved the way for a rebel Congress government in Arunachal Pradesh less than a month later.

Its sad that my friends left the Congress. They said they did it for the sake of the states development. The BJP did all that it could like imposing Presidents Rule and using (former) governor JP Rajkhowa. Now, it has to compensate by releasing the special package of Rs 25,000-crore which the PM committed. But the Centre is only giving lip service for the last two-and-a-half years, Tuki told Hindustan Times.

Read: Cong troubles give Arunchals lone regional party fresh lease of life

Tuki said the special package was one of the reasons why the Congress MLAs defected to PPA and be part of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance. The other was the fear that the Centre would choke flow of funds to Arunachal Pradesh.

I did not succumb to Delhis threat-and-allurement pressure policy but the others did. Congress is like my maa (mother). How can one change ones mother? Tuki said.

The former chief minister said one needs to stand by his or her party during the most difficult of times. Small, resource-deficient states like Arunachal Pradesh are dependent on the Centre. But it is not fair to leave the Congress when it is not in power at the Centre.

Assuring the Pema Khandu government of his cooperation in development initiatives, Tuki reminded it of the numerous visits by union ministers to the state. One has to keep in mind that these visits have not yielded any fiscal benefit for Arunachal Pradesh.

Read: Centres support, funds dictate power dynamics in north-east

Tuki said he was being approached to join the PPA but his conscience will not make me betray the Congress.

The BJP, he said, would never conquer his integrity despite succeeding in luring away all his MLAs and dislodging the Congress government. I beat them in the 2014 assembly polls. Later, during the height of dissidence against me, they lost the battle against me in the Supreme Court. I will beat them in the next elections.

Tuki joined the Congress in 1979 and became the president of the Arunachal Pradesh unit of NSUI seven years later. In 1988, he became the Pradesh Youth Congress president.

He lost his first assembly election in 1990 by 47 votes but never lost after winning his first assembly seat in 1995. He won unopposed twice in 2004 and 2014.
The leader of opposition in the Indore municipal body on Wednesday threatened to move court against the city mayor and ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for not convening regular meetings of the house to discuss issues crippling residents.

The Congresss leader of opposition, Fauziya Alim, said according to the Madhya Pradesh Municipal Corporation Act 1956, the Corporation shall meet at least once in every two months and every committee shall meet at least once a month for transaction of its business.

She alleged that mayor Malini Gaud has been violating rules repeatedly as only three meetings have been held ever since she has assumed office in February 2015.

Two meetings were held for the two budget sessions and one meeting was held for discussing the Smart City Project. The last meeting, when the entire house was present, was the budget meeting of 2016-17, which was held in July this year. More than two months have passed and the mayor has not called a meeting, Alim said.

The opposition has been demanding to convene regular meetings of the house and had written several letters to the speaker and the divisional commissioner to comply with the rules, but to no avail. Alim said, We had received assurances from the speaker but no action had been taken.

IMC speaker Ajay Singh Naruka has been putting the responsibility of meetings on Gaud saying he has not received any agenda of meeting from the mayor. Naruka said, As soon as I get the agenda, I will call for a meeting.

Alim alleged that they were unable to raise major issues like cleanliness, condition of roads, improper sewerage and lack of water supply because the meetings were not held timely. The mayor is irregular in the office and is disconnected with the people, she said. Gaud also attracted criticism over her work ethics from her own party leaders, after which she had been carrying out ward visits.
Apart from being a businesswoman, philanthropist and a known face in the Delhi and Mumbai party circuits, Parmeshwar Godrej was also the undisputed scion of style. Following her death on Monday, the fashion fraternity remembers her poise and confidence. When I met her for the first time in Mumbai, I was just 19 and she was big star there. And, she spoke to me like she knew me for ages. I appreciated the fact she was basic, down to earth, fun to be with, and a very nice human being. I want to dedicate a show to all the women who have touched my life and she will be one of them, says designer Rina Dhaka.

I had met her many years ago and she was epitome of style. She held her head high even among the most fashionable people around her, she was a head turner. And, she was the perfect hostess with an aura, nobody else had, says FDCI president Sunil Sethi.

Parmeshwar Godrej, renowned philanthropist, socialite and wife of Godrej Group chairman Adi Godrej, passed away on Monday in Mumbai. (Prodip Guha)

Designer Malini Ramani also recounted some of her memories. I knew her since I was a child as she was a family friend. She was always full of life , bursting with energy. She was kind and nice to everybody and used to do a lot of philanthropy work. She is lighting up the sky now.

For designer Suneet Varma, Godrej was his support system. After my collection in early 90s, when I was studying in Mumbai she arrived one day at specially asked for me because I had done my Greek collection there which she loved. I will never forget all the knowledge she gave to me. She was brilliant, very well-travelled and informed and shared her passion for fashion, he says.

Designer Rohit Bal says, A diva, style icon and philanthropist, all in one. There could only have been one Parmeshwar Godrej. They broke the mound after her. Its the end of a magical era.

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The Shiv Sena-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) tiff took a dramatic turn as BJP MP Kirit Somaiya alleged that there was a plot to kill him. He has written a letter to the city police commissioner referring to an attack by Shiv Sena workers during Dussehra celebrations.

The Shiv Sena has said the allegations are laughable.

Somaiyas supporters said that during Dussehra celebrations at Neelam Nagar, the purported Shiv Sena workers arrived in buses, stormed into the venue and assaulted participants, including women. Somaiya was whisked away from the site. He later protested, demanding that the accused be arrested immediately.

The controversy started when he modelled the event after the alleged misappropriation by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation and termed it the burning of Ravan of BMC mafia.

Somaiya has taken up the issue of a pothole-free city and alleged rampant corruption in the civic body. In the past eight months, the civic commissioner has initiated probes into the roads department over the shoddy state of roadsand into the storm water drains department over the desilting scam. The police had filed a case and arrested five accused.
State minister Mahadeo Jankar was mired in controversy on Wednesday over his remarks against Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leaders Ajit Pawar and Dhananjay Munde at BJP minister Pankaja Mundes rally in Ahmednagar on Tuesday.

Jankar is head of the Rashtriya Samaj Paksh (RSP), which seeks to represent the shepherd community, and is a minister holding charge of dairy development, animal husbandry and fisheries departments. His party is an ally of the BJP.

Speaking at Mundes rally at Bhagwangad, Jankar targeted NCPs Pawar and Dhananjay Munde in choicest words. As mark of protest, NCP workers burnt his effigies and staged protests in Pune and Thane. Dhananjay Munde, opposition leader in the legislative council, said, Jankar has insulted me as well as chief minister Devendra Fadnavis by alleging the latter was supporting me. I am going to take up the issue and demand his ouster.

In Pune, the local police detained a 26-year-old activist of the RSP for allegedly trying to throw ink at the photographs of NCP chief Sharad Pawar and his daughter Supriya Sule at Baramati hostel, which is controlled by Sharad Pawar-led Vidya Pratisthan. The security guards at the gate, however, thwarted the RSP supporters move and handed them over to the police.

Later, workers of the RSP and NCP clashed in front of the police station.
The Hindu right wing organisation Sanatan Sanstha on Wednesday demanded an administrator be appointed and a detailed investigation into the properties of family members of the late anti-superstition crusader Narendra Dabholkar. Alleging financial irregularities, the organisation has also demanded the financial records of Maharashtra Andhashraddha Nirmoolan Samiti (MANS), founded by Dabholkar, be looked into.

The Sanstha has recently obtained a report on the investigation carried out by the superintendent of the Registrar of Public Trust office, Satara on the MANS through an RTI. The organisation alleged that the report shows several irregularities in maintenance of accounts and financial dealings which needs to be probed.

The members of the organisation alleged that the Dabholkar family has usurped public money. Advocate Sanjiv Punalekar, national secretary of Hindu Vidhidnya Parishad who represents Vinod Tawde, an accused in Dabholkar murder case, said that the family is trying to falsely implicate members of the Sanatan Sanstha as they have exposed the irregularities in MANS.

Quoting findings of the report, a spokesperson of the Sanstha Abhay Vartak said, According to the report, the Dabholkar family has been making false statements. They have not contributed anything to the public trust administration fund. He added, The reports also stated that MANS falsely claimed that they were entitled to not pay to the fund as they were engaged in educational activities. But, the truth is that the charity commissioner has not given any exemption to MANS from paying the fund.

Vartak also pointed out that the organisation has failed to submit audit reports to the registrar on time. The organisation also alleged that there have been several irregularities and discrepancies in financial dealings of the trust. In view of the above observations, an administrator should be appointed immediately for MANS and the amount of irregularities committed earlier should be calculated and recovered from the responsible persons, Vartak said.

BOX

As per the Bombay Trust Act, every public trust has to pay 5% of their annual income to the public trust administration fund. Some categories of organisations, such as the ones that deal with health and education, are barred from paying this contribution.

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Several minority-run and international schools in Mumbai will not hold the mandatory competency tests  to assess basic skills of students from Classes 1 to 8 in first language and maths skills  on October 19 and 20. They have refused to conduct the tests stating they didnt find them useful.

Competency tests were introduced by education minister Vinod Tawde last year and they were made compulsory for schools of all boards and managements. The education department has stipulated three tests for this year, while two were held last year. A baseline exam testing students on previous years syllabus was conducted in July this year. The next test to be held in October is summative in nature covering everything students learnt in the first semester.

Common question papers designed by the Maharashtra State Council of Educational Research and Training are circulated to schools for the test.

But several schools have decided to skip the upcoming tests as they didnt find them useful. The tests were of no use to us, being affiliated to the international board our students found them to be below their level, they were too easy and students attempted it only as a fun exercise, said Kavita Aggarwal, chief academic advisor, JBCN International Group of Schools and president of Mumbai International Schools Association.

Another reason to upset schools is that government hasnt provided them any analysis of the results of tests conducted so far. After every test, teachers have to manually enter scores of each student into the SARAL database but the government doesnt give any analysis or information on areas of improvement, said Aggarwal.

Frustrated by this, Childrens Academy Schools in Kandivli and Malad are also planning to not conduct the test. We are seeking expert opinion to see if its alright if we dont take the tests, said Rohan Bhat, chairperson of the schools. Many minority and international schools have decided not to take them.

Bhat said the government hasnt implemented the tests properly, defeating the purpose of the exercise. The idea behind the tests was to raise the quality of education in schools. The government was supposed to organise training programmes and provide guidance to schools based on the test results but none of that has been done, he said.

Others complained that the tests were not being conducted in a fair manner in all schools. Since the government gives the question papers in advance, many schools hand them over to students days before the test so that they can prepare for it, said Uday Nare, teacher, Hansraj Morarji Public School, Andheri.

Education officials said all schools will need to appear for the tests. These tests are not optional. We are also going to send third party examiners randomly in schools to check how the tests are held, said BB Chavan, deputy director of education, Mumbai region.

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MUMBAI: The army deserves full credit for last months surgical strikes on militant shelters across the Lineof-Control with Pakistan but the government must also be cheered for taking the bold decision, defence minister Manohar Parrikar said on Wednesday.

Parrikars comments came a day after HT reported that he was set to become the BJPs star campaigner for next years elections in Uttar Pradesh, where the party wants to showcase the governments decisiveness in hitting militants inside Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.

The defence minister also said India did not carry out any surgical strikes in the past, refuting claims by the Congress that its governments had ordered such precision attacks but never made those public to claim credit.

What probably they are quoting are actions taken by border action teams, which is a common practice across globe including the Indian Army, Parrikar said at a city event, adding such covert operations were not ordered by the government.

Earlier in the day, he set off a storm of protest from opposition groups by suggesting that, while the Army deserved praise for the September 29 strikes, Prime Minister Narendra Modi should get most of the credit for ordering the attack, and he himself should get some of it.

I dont mind sharing the credit, including on surgical strike, with every countryman because it is done by our armed forces and not by any political party.

We in the government and I personally as the defence minister are happy to share the credit with the army, the 127 crore citizens and also those doubting Thomases, he said at another function.

His comments come amid opposition claims that the government was trying to leverage the military action for political gains in states going to elections early next year, prompting Modi to ask his ministers and party leaders to desist from chest-thumping.

The Congress was quick to hit back, with spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala saying the BJP publicly devalued the sacrifices of armed forces and tried to make political capital out of it.

Parrikar also said surgical strikes might not be Indias only response to terrorist attacks in future but did not elaborate.

Unpredictability is the key weapon, he said, a day after Modi told a public rally in Lucknow that India doesnt like war but sometimes it become inevitable.
NEW DELHI: State Bank of India (SBI) chairperson Arundhati Bhattacharya will be Indias nominee for the post of managing director and chief operating officer at the World Bank, two senior government functionaries told HT.

If she succeeds, Bhattacharya, 60, will be the first Indian to be holding an important managerial position in an international financial institution. The closest was in 2001 when former deputy chairman of the Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia was appointed as first director of the independent evaluation office of the International Monetary Fund.

An official at the Prime Ministers Office said on condition of anonymity that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has agreed to the candidature of Bhattacharya.

Reporting directly to the World Bank president, this post is considered to be the third most important position at the bank responsible for implementation of policy decisions.

Bhattacharya did not respond to telephone calls and text messages from HT on her nomination.

The selection to the post has to be cleared by the World Banks board of directors, who are country representatives.

In return for India helping Washington in ensuring a second term to the incumbent president Jim Yong Kim, this post was offered to us. We will be backing her candidature, a finance ministry official said. The post of MD & COO fell vacant after Indonesian economist Sri Mulyani Indrawati returned to her country as its finance minister in July 2016.

Bhattacharya was ranked 25th in the Forbes 2016 list of The Worlds 100 Most Powerful Women, which features top female leaders, entrepreneurs, investors, scientists, philanthropists and CEOs. She held a higher ranking than Indrawati who was at no 37 in the Forbes list.

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The BJP is courting the civil society in Uttar Pradesh ahead of the assembly election.

The BJPs ideological warriors have planned a meeting of about 250 non-government organisations in Varanasi  Prime Minister Narendra Modis parliamentary constituency  on October 21 to deliberate on their role in Uttar Pradeshs development.

The event is being jointly organised by Thane-based Rambhau Mhalgi Prabodhini, an organisation associated with the Sangh Parivar, and New Delhi-based Indian Social Responsibility Network, which is also founded by BJP and RSS leaders.

BJP vice president Vinay Sahsrabuddhe, UP BJP chief Keshav Prasad Maurya, the state units organisational secretary Sunil Bansal and KVIC chairman VK Saxena will attend the Varanasi event, sources said.

The BJP aims to engage with these NGOs in Uttar Pradesh, hoping that their elaborate network, particularly in rural areas, will supplement its poll effort during the campaign.

They can be a medium to take the Modi governments flagship schemes to interior parts of the state, a BJP leader associated with the programme told HT.
Three policemen were suspended after a video went viral on Wednesday showing them dancing with bar girls at a dance function in Bhojpur district in Bihar.

The policemen, including a station House officer (SHO) of Bhojpur district, were suspended after the video started making sounds on social media.

We have suspended three policemen including an SHO, an ASI and a constable of Koilwar police station of Bhojpur district after a video footage went viral showing them dancing with bar girls at a function held at Koilwar, a small township in Bhojpur, the day before yesterday, Patna Zonal IG Naiyar Husnain Khan told PTI.

The action was taken after verifying the video footage, he added.

Sources said that the dance programme was organised by a puja committee at Koilwar chowk on Vijayadashmi.

The three policemen who have been suspended with immediate effect include Koilwar police station SHO Sanjay Shankar, Assistant Sub-Inspector Devchandra Singh and a constable Bhushan, IG said.

Bhojpur Superintendent of Police has also been asked to initiate departmental proceedings against these policemen for their improper conduct. We will not tolerate such conduct at any cost in which policemen, including SHO, were seen dancing publicly on a stage, IG said, adding that this is not expected from a police officer.
A man who was in the business of cheating victims of misfortune and exploiting women on the pretext of carrying out rituals of exorcism to treat them, has landed in jail after a woman he was allegedly trying to rape, raised an alarm.

The incident took place at the exorcist Dharmraj Gonds ashram (house) at Dasaunti village under Mohania police station area of Kaimur district in south western Bihar last week.

Gond, 60, landed in the police net when the wife of a young man, who had come to him for being treated for cancer through exorcism, suddenly found the exorcist getting physical with her and called out to her relatives who were outside the room.

The womans family members, one of them an army man, informed Kaimur superintendent of police Harpreet Kaur on phone, causing the police to rush to the spot and arrest Gond. Five human skulls, Rs 18,000 cash and fake cash memos were recovered from the house.

Initial inquiries revealed Gond had been running the business for over two decades, involving others members of his family in the charade. He had criminal history and was jailed in a road robbery case in 1993.

Narrating the sequence of events leading to the rape bid, the victim said when she brought her husband, a youth from the Kudra police station area, he told her that her husbands cancer was in an advanced stage and could be cured after performing pooja costing Rs 20,000.

The deal was settled at Rs 15,000 and the couple was called at night to Gonds house for the special pooja that would cure the husband. She was taken alone to a dark room around midnight where human forms meant to resemble Goddess Kali and Bhairav blessed her.

I became suspicious when the voice of Kali was the same as that of Gonds daughter-in-law who I had met during our earlier visits. So, when I found Gond getting physical with me, I immediately raised an alarm and ran out of the room, she told the police.

The man posing as Bhairav was found to be a friend of Gond.

Gonds daughter-in-law and the man posing as Bhairav are absconding, said Manoj Ram, sub divisional police officer, who led the raiding party. Investigations into the case were in progress, he added.

The arrested exorcist told the police he had brought the human skulls from his Gurus place in Uttar Pradesh. Unsure whether they were really human skulls, the police have sent them to Forensic Science Lab (FSL), Patna, for identification.

The police have lodged cases under sections for cheating, criminal conspiracy and molestation.
The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) on Thursday took potshots at Punjab Congress chief Amarinder Singh for welcoming Navjot Singh Sidhu to join hands with the Congress and urged him to understand and appreciate the ground realities of the state.

He should stop dreaming of becoming the chief ministers and start living as a normal human being, SAD secretary and spokesman Daljit Singh Cheema said here.

The Congress leadership in Delhi has understood the real situation in Punjab, but Amarinder has still not stopped day-dreaming, he added.

Cheema claimed that from the day-to-day developments within the Congress and U turns of Amarinder, it had become abundantly clear that he was being compelled to effect the decisions of party vice-president Rahul Gandhi, whom he considered premature for Indian politics.

The SAD spokesman said todays statement of Amarinder, welcoming former BJP MP Navjot Singh Sidhus Awaaz-e-Punjab front into the Congress fold, was a fresh example of the miserable condition of the state Congress chief.

Cheema claimed that Sidhu and company, whom he referred to as the Tonga Party, had become so important for Amarinder that under pressure from the Congress high-command, he was forced to issue the statement at Amritsar.

From all these happenings, it had become amply clear that Amarinder had not been able to raise even a single issue against the ruling SAD-BJP alliance in Punjab and he was trying to hog limelight through cheap political gimmicks, but these would not help the Congress come out of its miserable state of affairs, he claimed.

Cheema said during the recent months, Amarinder first gave a clarion call to all the opposition parties in the state to unite under the Congress umbrella which was rejected by all of them. Then, he called upon political individuals to forge an alliance with his party but no one paid any heed and now, he was forced to eat up his rejections by the high-command of his own party.

Amarinder today welcomed all the anti-Badal forces into the Congress fold for the betterment of the state.

Not just Sidhu, but all those committed to Punjabs governance, to whichever party they may belong, are welcome to join the Congress unconditionally, he had said, responding to questions from reporters on the possibility of the merger of Sidhus Awaaz-e-Punjab front with his party.

I have always maintained that whoever has the interests of the people of Punjab at heart and is ready to embrace the Congress values unconditionally, can come to us and we will accept them with open arms, he had said.
Punjab Congress president Amarinder Singh on Thursday accused the Badal government of pushing the debt-ridden farmers in the state to commit suicide through its anti-farmer policies.

Demanding an explanation from the SAD government for its failure to prevent farmers suicides in the state, Amarinder said Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal are following a clear policy of discrimination against the farmers whose interests had been completely relegated to the background.

They (the Badals) dont care about the plight of the farmers, who are facing an unprecedented crisis as a result of the heavy debts they are carrying due to the governments non-friendly policies, the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC) president said.

The governments failure to ensure timely procurement of the farmers produce has aggravated their woes, he said.

Reiterating state Congress commitment to waive off farmers debts if it comes to power in Punjab, Amarinder assured the farmers that their plight would end after the assembly elections.

Amarinder, who visited mandis in Attari and Raja Sansi areas of Amritsar district, said he was extremely distressed at the situation and had already directed party leaders and workers to go to the ground to interact with farmers.

He said nearly 600 party workers are currently engaged in a door-to-door campaign, interacting with farmers who are reeling under debt burden, as part of the Congress partys mega farmer outreach campaign Karza Kurki Khatam - Fasal Di Poori Rakam.

The door-to-door campaign was launched yesterday in Amritsar in district by Amarinder. The campaign will continue till October 25.

Meanwhile, in a joint statement, PPCC leaders Ajit Inder Singh Mofar, Rana Gurmit Sodhi, Gurcharan S Boparai and Randeep Nabha said that as per the Central government figures submitted in Parliament as many as 56 farmers committed suicide in Punjab till July end this year.

The worst hit, they said, is the Malwa region, which was predominantly agricultural.

They pointed out that in some cases more than one member of the family had resorted to suicide.

Citing an ICSSR study report, they said farmers below the age of 35 are the worst affected because of the agrarian crisis in Punjab.

The leaders said that according to the report nearly 48.6 per cent of the farmers who had committed suicide in Punjab in recent years were under 35 years.
Even as the government has been taking measures to curb the problem of burning of paddy straw and stubble in the open fields after harvesting of paddy or basmati, the practice still continues in Amritsar. However, the agriculture department claims that the situation is better than previous years.

Keeping in view the health hazards and deterioration of environment and the agriculture department of Punjab, Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB) has been undergoing the PR-exercise since many years to create awareness about the dire consequences of the practice. Apart from this, district magistrate imposes a ban on this under Section 144 of the CrPC every year.

After harvesting of paddy and PUSA-1509 variety of the basmati, farmers indulge in stubble burning which deteriorates the atmosphere manifold.

Besides suggesting them to take help of various machines including happy seader, paddy straw chopper, paddy straw bailor and Malchor machine, the agriculture department is advising farmers to dispose of the waste by reaping and mixing it with soil.

The officials of the agriculture department claimed that the farmers have become aware of the dire consequences of the practice to large extent, but admitted that the awareness is not yielding requisite result as it has failed to gain a practical shape.

They said the farmers alone cannot be blamed for the problem as the government could not provide them quick and cheap alternative of the disposing of the stubble. If the government is sincere to fix this problem, it will have to find some other way out, an official said while speaking to HT.

He insisted that eco-friendly solution of the problem takes time and capital, but the crisis-ridden farmer is not able to afford this. Until or unless the farmers are provided any concrete solution, all the efforts of carrying out awareness would continue to go in vain, he added.

He suggested that if the farmers are given incentives for not burning of stubble, the problem can be curbed to a great extent.

Echoing the same, Tajinderpal Singh, a farmer from Rasoolpur village said, Many farmers do not want to burn the waste of crop, but they are helpless in the absence of a good alternative, which the government should provide.

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The Ludhiana police on Wednesday arrested an ex-armyman for desecrating a Sikh holy book (gutka) in Navi Abadi Akalgarh area.

The accused has been identified as Joiner Singh, 55, who is a baptised Sikh. Police said the accused used to stop his wife from reciting hymns from the holy book, and during their dispute on Wednesday, he set it on fire.

The village panchayat called police after some villagers reported the incident.

Raikot DSP Tajinder Pal Singh reached the spot and recovered the burnt gutka. Sudhar SHO Balwant Singh said the accused was arrested after booking him under Section 295-A (deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings or any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs) of the Indian Penal Code.
The nine-year battle of a physically challenged Ludhiana man for a government job has ended. Denied job on irrelevant consideration, he will now get employment after third round of litigation since the process started in 2007.

Avatar Singh was an applicant for 9,988 posts of primary teachers advertised by the government in 2007 and filled the form in the Scheduled Caste (SC) and physically challenged category. As he had deposited fee prescribed for the SC candidates, he was not considered in the physically challenged category.

He did not qualify for SC category and was not considered for the physically challenged category. However, three seats of the 11 seats remained unfilled. He approached the court in 2012, which directed the government to decide his representation. As the government failed to act, he filed contempt. It was at this point that the impugned order of rejecting his claims was passed by the government in 2012.

The high court observed that Article 14 of the Constitution strikes at arbitrariness in state action and ensures fairness and equality of treatment. It requires that state action must not be arbitrary but must be based on some rational and relevant principle which is non-discriminatory. It must not be guided by any extraneous or irrelevant consideration because that would be denial of equality, the HC bench said adding that the principle of reasonableness and rationality is legally as well as philosophically an essential element of equality.

The HC also said that government action should not be arbitrary and dependent upon sweet will like a private individual. The action must be in conformity with standard of norms, which is not arbitrary, irrational or irrelevant, the HC bench observed further stating that government action was also against the provisions of the Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full Participation) Act, 1995 which emphasizes on equal opportunities in employment and rehabilitation of person with disability.
Arun Sood, the then leader of the Opposition in the House, was among the nine councillors who had taken their family members on study tour to Chennai, Port Blair and Kolkata in September 2014. His wife, two children and niece went along with him that earned him flak like rest of the councillors. The audit slammed the MC for wasting public money on such study tours. However, Sood courted controversy for another reason as well. Soods brother-in-law and nephew owned the Panchkula firm that got the contract to organise the tour and did not go through any tender process.

I had no role in that. Even Congress councillor Subhash Chawla made a statement to this effect, claims Sood. As much Sood will wish all to forget it, his rivals will exploit this matter to the hilt in the elections.

Sood is presently the mayor  the first one from BJP in 15 years. Coming from Punjabs Moga district, the former state BJPs youth leader wields significant influence in the partys local unit as he is soon close to party chief Sanjay Tandon in a faction-ridden outfit.

The practising advocate is ambitious and pushy, but lacks political gravitas. He exudes confidence which often borders on arrogance, say residents. For instance, he smugly declares hes the Devtaa (god) for the people of his ward! He asserts, No one can defeat me. Congress is so scared of me that no one has applied for ticket from my ward.

Most residents in his ward say that Sood started off well as a councillor, even focusing on development. After becoming mayor, he became inaccessible even as his performance dipped.

Illegal vendors in Sector 37 residential area. (Ravi Kumar/HT Photo)

His ward comprising Southern Sectors of 37, 38 and 38 (west) has seen some development, but also encroachment. If a few swings in some parks have come up, a full-fledged unauthorised rehri market has emerged, just next to the Sector 37 temple. Oh, that ones only temporary, he says, shrugging his shoulders.

REVERSING DECISIONS

Sood is presiding over a House which has shown immaturity in handling the much-touted multilevel parking project in Sector 17, the first such project here. Even otherwise, his term has been marred by rather strange rollback of decisions. Either these were not well thought-out in the first place, or the mayor gave in to pressure mounted by different groups.

In May this year, the MC decided to close two parking lots in the Sector 17 market and traders were told to park their vehicles in the multilevel parking. The traders protested and a week later, the MC gave in. The recent controversy involving a school in Sector 38 is yet another example of the mayor bowing to pressure from the public and the opposition.

It started when he handed over a walkers park in the sector for parking to a private school where his kids study. Feeling betrayed by the man who they had elected five years back, residents launched a signature campaign.

Quick to sense an opportunity, aggressive Congress leaders locked the mayor up in his car for 30-35 minutes. The mayor was forced to give in. Sood, however, denies that he favoured the school and insists he had acted on residents demand. Later, residents opposed the decision and we changed it, he says.

Quid pro quo or not, that image of a city mayor  confined in his car  will remain etched in public memory for a long time.

Becoming mayor in the election year provided Sood a perfect platform to serve the people and win the trust of the city and his ward. But he frittered it away.

TOMORROW: WARD 9 GURBAX RAWAT
Police on Wednesday claimed to have solved the murder of a woman, who was allegedly involved in a 2015 sacrilege incident.

The woman, identified as Balwinder Kaur of Veroke village, was murdered by her husband who was upset over the desecration incident, said Amritsar (rural) senior superintendent of police HPS Khakh.

Police had recovered Balwinders body with injuries caused by sharp-edged weapons on September 9. Her husband Labh Singh, at that time, had told police his wife was killed by three unidentified people.

The SSP said initially it looked like an act of revenge by some hardliners. However, when Labh was grilled by the special investigation team, he broke down and confessed to his crime.

Labh told police that he was very upset with his wife after the sacrilege episode in November 2015. The couple used to constantly quarrel over this. On September 9, they had a fight again and in a fit of rage Labh, who was also under the influence of alcohol, picked up a dattar (a sickle) and attacked his wife, killing her on the spot, said the SSP.

To save himself, Labh concocted a story about his wife being murdered by some unidentified persons and convinced his granddaughter to narrate the same before cops. Police have recovered the weapon used in the crime from a village pond.

Police had booked Balwinder Kaur on charges of hurting religious sentiments on November 10 last year after she was accused of entering the sacred area of village gurdwara with her slippers on.
Lamenting that Supreme Court guidelines on storage and disposal of narcotic substances were not being followed, the Punjab and Haryana high court has sought reports from home secretaries of Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh.

The high court acted on a report prepared by amicus curiae in the case advocate Vivek Kumar Thakur, who, after studying the reports submitted in high court, pointed out violation of SC guidelines by Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh. The high court had initiated a suo motu petition in 2015 on a report submitted by Panchkula district and sessions judge highlighting lapses.

The status report shall be filed on or before the next date of hearing and in case it is not filed on time, the home secretary/secretaries will have to remain present in the court to explain his/her conduct, the high court directed, seeking response by November 3.

QUESTIONS POSED BY HC

The respondents have been asked why seized narcotics were not disposed of. A report filed by Punjab before a coordinate bench revealed that over 8 lakh kg of poppy husk, 1,590 kg of heroin, 1.59 crore pills and 25 lakh capsules were lying in police and judicial malkhanas up to June 25 this year. The figures given in this case are not available, but the amicus curaie report says that large quantity of drugs were yet to be destroyed in Punjab and Haryana.

The high court has also asked the respondents as to why meeting of the committees constituted for disposal of drugs and psychotropic substances were not being convened as per government of India instructions and why the destruction reports prepared by the committee were not placed on record.

The amicus curaie had pointed out that drugs were being taken to far-off places for disposal, which increased the chances of pilferage for its re-circulation in the market during transportation.

The HC also asked Punjab to explain why there were only two incinerators in the state. Haryana too has been asked to give details of incinerators. The respondents have also been asked to give details of security arrangements at malkhanas.

WHAT GUIDELINES SAY

Soon after the seizure, the drugs should be handed over to the official in-charge of the nearest police station, who will approach the magistrate with an application for sampling. The state should take steps to set up exclusive storage facility for the seizure to prevent theft, pilferage or replacement drugs. Disposal of drugs should be carried out by a designated committee.

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Actor Taapsee Pannu, who won critical acclaim for Pink, is gearing up for her next release Ghazi, which she says will be one of its kind.

I am very proud to a part of that film (Ghazi). Its going to be one of its kind... Indias first submarine film based on a real incident of how the (Pakistani) Ghazi submarine was sunk, said Taapsee over phone from Hyderabad.

To be helmed by Sankalp Reddy, the film, which also stars Baahubali: The Beginning star Rana Daggubati, is touted to be Indias first submarine film which will be about the sinking of PNS Ghazi, a Pakistani submarine.

Talking about her role in Ghazi, the 29-year-old actor said: I play a Bangladeshi refugee and the film is due to release soon. I think it is undergoing some graphic work... It is the only period film I have done so far.

But it is unlike other period dramas, she said.

It is not a regular costume drama period film. It is something really interesting, added Taapsee, without divulging any more details.

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A state Parliament in Australia has unanimously passed a motion describing U.S. presidential nominee Donald Trump as a revolting slug unfit for public office.

Jeremy Buckingham, a lawmaker from the minor Greens party, introduced the motion Thursday to the upper house of the New South Wales Parliament.

The motion in Australias most populous state says: This house ... agrees with those who have described Mr. Trump as a revolting slug unfit for public office.

The house also condemns the misogynist, hateful comments made by Trump about women and minorities, including the remarks revealed by media at the weekend that clearly describe sexual assault.

Because there was no objection, the motion was recorded as having been unanimously agreed to by the Sydney-based house.
Jessica Leeds wanted to punch the television screen when she saw Donald Trump insist at the second debate he would never touch or grope a woman without her permission. He may have bragged about it, he had professed, but had never done that.

Now, Leeds and at least six more women have stepped forward, alleging Trump did just that, forced himself on them on a commercial flight, outside an elevator, his resort in Miami, or just gawked at them as they changed at his beauty pageants.

Leeds said Trump touched her breasts and tried to put a hand up her skirt in the first class cabin of a commercial flight  he didn't have a plane of his own then  over three decades ago.

Rachel Crooks alleged Trump kissed her on her cheeks and directly on the mouth as they waited for an elevator inside Trump Tower in Manhattan in 2005. She worked there.

Natasha Stoynoff, a reporter, alleged that Trump pushed her up against a wall and started kissing her during an interview at Mar-a-Lago in December 2005.

Mindy McGillivray alleged Trump groped her behind at a concert at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Miami in 2003. Her account was confirmed by a photographer who was with her.

Cassandra Searles, a Miss Washington, wrote in Facebook that Trump, who owned the Miss Universe and Miss USA beauty pageants then, continually grabbed my ass and invited me to his hotel room.

Another Miss USA contestant, who has chosen to remain anonymous, alleged, Mr Trump just barged right in, didnt say anything, stood there and stared at us (while they changed).

Tanya Dixon, another contestant, has said Trump came waltzing in when she and others were either naked or undressing.

And Mariah Billado, a Miss Teen USA contestant, has alleged, I remember putting on my dress really quick because I was like, Oh my god, theres a man in here.

In a series of tweets on Thursday morning, Trump called Leeds and Crooks's allegations in The New York Times a total fabrication. About Stonyof's first-person piece in People magazine, he wrote, Why didn't the writer of the twelve year old article in People Magazine mention the incident in her story. Because it did not happen!

Trump campaign called the NYT article fiction.

The allegations come at a time when Trump is trying to steady his campaign rocked by the release of a 2005 recording in which he boasted about groping women and forcing himself on them. His poll numbers have tanked  he is behind Hillary Clinton by over 6 points, and a large number of leading Republicans have rescinded their endorsements of him.

And he has been struggling with women voters, trailing Clinton by a massive 33 point in a poll conducted for news publication The Atlantic in October. In a nationwide average of polls compiled by FiveThirtyEight portal, he trailed her by 15 points; among men, he leads her by 5 points.

This gender gap, pundits have said, could cost him the election. It seems fair to say that, if Trump loses the election, it will be because women voted against him, FiveThirtyEight's Nate Silver wrote earlier this week.
French Prime Minister Manuel Valls said Thursday that his country supports the election of Hillary Clinton over Donald Trump in the upcoming US presidential election.

Valls said during a visit to Ottawa that he and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau have discussed the US election. Valls didnt share Trudeaus thoughts, but he was categorical about his pick in the Nov. 8 election: Clinton.

Valls, speaking in French, said US President Barack Obama was elected by the world and Trump is rejected by the world.

On the allegations of sexually predatory behaviour swirling around the Republican nominee, a stone-faced Trudeau  a self-avowed feminist  would say only that he has stood clearly and strongly all my life around issues of sexual harassment.

The two prime ministers were scheduled to travel to Montreal later in the day for discussions with Quebec Premier Philippe Couillard about the Canada-EU free trade deal.

Valls said he expects Trudeau to be in Brussels on October 27 to sign the deal.

Trudeau called the deal a win-win for both sides. He also said its a progressive agreement that heralds a new approach with regard to defending the rights of governments to legislate on the environment, the rights of workers, the issues that our constituents care about.

Trudeau ended a joint news conference with Valls on a pointed note, saying that in a post-Brexit world, not signing the agreement would send a strong and unsavoury message.

If Europe cannot manage to sign this agreement, that sends a very clear message not only to Europeans but to the whole world that Europe is choosing a path that is not productive either for its citizens or for the world, he said. That would be a shame.

Climate change and the Canada-EU free trade deal have been singled out by Trudeaus office as being among Canadas top priorities.

Speaking to reporters at the French Embassy early Thursday, Valls also reiterated Frances desire to see Canada send peacekeepers to West Africa to join the fight against Islamic militants.

The Trudeau government has said it will commit 600 peacekeepers to UN missions, and France has been pushing Canada to join the UN mission in West Africa.

France has 3,000 troops fighting a separate counter-insurgency mission in several of its former colonized countries, under the banner of Operation Barkhane.
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump denied multiple womens claims that he sexually assaulted them as totally and absolutely false.

The claims are preposterous, ludicrous and defy truth, common sense and logic, Trump said at a campaign rally in Florida. We already have substantial evidence to dispute these lies, and it will be made public in an appropriate way and at an appropriate time, very soon.

Trump also said the allegations of sexual assault against is a coordinated, vicious attack from the media and the rival Hillary Clinton campaign.

In a story published on Wednesday by the New York Times, two women claimed the Republican presidential nominee had touched them inappropriately in the past. Following the report, a stream of similar allegations from other women flowed in, putting more pressure on the Trump campaign as it lags in national opinion polls and struggles to contain a crisis caused by the candidates comments about groping women without their consent which surfaced on Friday.

One of the women, Jessica Leeds, appeared on camera on the New York Times website to recount how Trump grabbed her breasts and tried to put his hand up her skirt on a flight to New York in or around 1980.

The second woman, Rachel Crooks, described how Trump kissed me directly on the mouth in 2005 outside the elevator in Trump Tower in Manhattan, where she was a receptionist at a real estate firm.

Trumps campaign earlier denied there was any truth to the New York Times accounts. It made public a letter to the newspaper from Marc Kasowitz, a lawyer representing Trump, demanding it retract the story, calling it libelous, and threatening legal action if it did not comply.
Yemen is competing for an Academy Award for best foreign language film for the first time, one of 85 countries submitting entries including Paul Verhoevens Elle and Pedro Almodovars Julieta, organizers announced Tuesday.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which presents the Oscars, will consider Yemeni director Khadija al-Salamis I Am Nojoom, Age 10 and Divorced -- which explores the culture of child brides -- it said in a statement.

The entries for Best Foreign Language Film also include Dutch director Verhoevens Elle, a transgressive thriller starring French actor Isabelle Huppert, and Afterimage, by the legendary Polish director Andrzej Wajda, who died Sunday.

Wajda portrayed the last years of avant-garde painter Wladyslaw Strzeminski, who battled Stalinist orthodoxy, in a film some see as a metaphor for present-day Poland under the conservative Law and Justice Party.

Mexicos Jonas Cuaron, son of star director Alfonso Cuaron, directed his countrys entry, the thriller Desierto, while Spain entered Almodovars Julieta, a vibrant portrait of a woman confronting crisis.

Switzerland submitted the animated My Life as a Zucchini, by Claude Barras, and Italy sent Gianfranco Rosis Fire at Sea, a documentary about migrants lives, focusing on the Italian island of Lampedusa.

The academy will make a preliminary cut later this year before announcing five finalists in January.

The 89th Oscars ceremony is set for February 26, 2017.

Hungarys Son of Saul, by director Laszlo Nemes, won the prestigious award this year.

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Myanmars security forces have now killed at least 26 people in response to attacks on police that have sparked a dramatic escalation in violence in a Muslim-majority region along its border with Bangladesh, according to reports in state media.

Armed men believed to be from the long-oppressed Rohingya Muslim minority launched a coordinated assault on three border police posts in the early hours Sunday, killing nine police, injuring five and making off with dozens of weapons and more than 10,000 rounds of ammunition.

Military personnel and police reinforcements have poured into the Muslim-majority township of Maungdaw, northern Rakhine State, and have clashed with groups of up to 300 men, armed with pistols, swords and knives, according to official reports.

Human rights groups and advocates for the stateless Rohingya have voiced concern that the civilian population may be caught up in the authorities violent response.

Myanmars de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi said that her government was exercising the rule of law in dealing with the attacks, the state-run Global New Light of Myanmar newspaper said on Thursday.

Authorities had not yet confirmed who was behind the attacks, Suu Kyi said on Wednesday.

Read: 12 killed in clashes between troops and armed men in Myanmars Rakhine

The militarys official newspaper, Myawady, said that another 10 alleged attackers were killed, and a rifle was seized, in a clash on Tuesday morning at Kyetyoepyin village, Maungdaw Township.

In a separate incident on Wednesday, the military accused armed attackers of setting fire to 25 houses after an aborted attack on border police quarters in Kyikanpyin village, the site of one of Sundays attacks.

The killings bring the total death toll in northern Rakhine State since Sunday to 39, including 13 security personnel.

The 26 alleged attackers reported killed include several who a local resident told Reuters were shot while unarmed and fleeing soldiers.

Campaign group Fortify Rights said on Wednesday it had received reports of extrajudicial killings in the area and called on Myanmars government to protect civilians regardless of religion or ethnicity.

Authorities have also detained four men, identified as local Muslims, who they allege were involved in the attacks.

The Rohingya bore the brunt of intercommunal clashes in Rakhine in 2012, in which more 100 people were killed. They make up most of the 125,000 people still living in displacement camps in Rakhine State and face severe restrictions on their movements.
Australian police on Thursday charged two 16-year boys with planning an imminent, Islamic State-inspired terror attack.

The two teenagers, who were arrested in a western suburb of Sydney on Wednesday, were found to be carrying two knives, though police said the exact target of their alleged plot is unknown.

We did prevent what we would suspect was going to be an attack, said Catherine Burn, deputy commissioner, New South Wales Police.

Australian police said they were aware of the two teenagers before their arrest. Local media reported one of the boys is the son of a man convicted of terror offences.

A staunch US ally, Australia has been on heightened alert for attacks by home-grown radicals since 2014, having suffered several lone wolf assaults, including a cafe siege in Sydney in which two hostages and the gunman were killed.

The country has seen a spate of arrests and charges against radicalised youths and more than 100 people have left Australia for Syria to fight alongside Islamic State.

Australia has sought to tighten oversight of potential threats by lowering the age of people who can be subjected to telecommunications interceptions and searches to 14.
Activists seeking liberation of the Balochistan province in Pakistan are divided over the issue of forming a government-in-exile.

Even as the president of the World Baloch Womens Forum Naela Quadri is in New Delhi, seeking political support for establishing a government-in-exile, Baloch Republican Partys Brahamdagh Bugti questioned her mandate to do so.

Bugti who has sought political asylum in India said Quadri does not represent the entire Baloch community, therefore, could not take a decision on behalf of the people of the troubled Pakistani province.

Soon after Quadri told HT that the proposed authority will be independent and autonomous and not under any umbrella, Bugti took to social media criticising her move.

Naela Qadri is not representing Baloch people. Rather than supporting they are damaging the Baloch cause by their insane actions. Government-in-exile is a national issue and national issues cannot be announced without national consensus, he tweeted.

Quadri, for her part said suggestions will be taken from the Baloch people spread across Iran, Afghanistan and Europe. there are about 40 million Baloch people, more than the population of several nations; they should all be part of the decision, she said.

Quadri, who is New Delhi to garner support for a government-in-exile, said India will not have a say in the formation of the government, but should recognise Baloch people as separate from the Pakistanis.

She said it is a matter of humiliation for the Baloch, struggling to break away from Pakistan, to be identified as Pakistani nationals.

Indian government should tell all its embassies and high commissions to issue travel documents to the Baloch based on their separate identity. We do not want the green passport (Pakistani passport), we will have our own passport (when we have own government), she told HT on Wednesday.

Quadri who fled Pakistan is a well-known activist now based in Canada and has been tapping governments for support in Afghanistan and Bangladesh.  We need support from Afghanistan, but India is our first priority, she said adding, We want a friendship based on barabari (equality). We have never been ghulams (slaves) and we dont want to move from Pakistani subjugation to Indian control.

Quadri, who asserts that peoples legitimate struggle for freedom cannot be denied, however distinguishes the separatist movement in Kashmir from the Baloch quest for freedom.

The identity of Kashmir has changed to a Muslim identity. Muslim is not a nation. It (Islam) is a religion. Are you asking for a religious or a national identity? Kashmiris should decide that. If you want Muslim identify, how can you divide a land on religion? Do you want a Pakistan again? Quadri said.

She also blames Pakistan for violating the UN resolution by refusing to keep the army out of PoK and said violence is being used to crush the people of the region.
China has cancelled a 600 million yuan ($90 million) debt that Cambodia owed it last year, and will provide an additional 100 million yuan ($15 million) to Cambodias defence ministry, in further signs of deepening relations between the two countries.

The announcements were made Thursday during Chinese President Xi Jinpings first visit to Cambodia. A total of 31 agreements were signed during the visit, which started Thursday, said Eang Sophalleth, a spokesman for Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen.

He said Xi told Hun Sen that he was cancelling the 600 million yuan debt, and that the two countries agreed to expand trade from the current $4.4 billion to $5 billion in 2017. The Chinese president also assured Hun Sen that he will encourage Chinese people to visit Cambodia, boosting the number of visitors from around 700,000 now to 2 million by 2020.

Hun Sen thanked China for its support, he said.

The development of Cambodia cannot have happened without help from China, he quoted Hun Sen as saying. Hun Sen asked for more support, especially in defence, investment, health care and infrastructure.

Sophalleth said Xi promised to convince Chinese companies to help Cambodia in building a new airport in Siem Reap province and a new railway.

The spokesman refused to say if the two leaders talked about territorial disputes in the South China Sea.

China is a key ally and economic partner of impoverished Cambodia. It has provided millions of dollars in aid and investment over the past decade, granted it tariff-free status on hundreds of trade items and written off debt.

In return, Cambodia supports China in international forums, including in Beijings ongoing dispute with other Southeast Asian countries in the South China Sea.

In July, China provided Cambodia with nearly $600 million in aid to support the countrys election infrastructure, education and health.

Chinas influence in Cambodia is considerable despite Beijings strong backing of the former Khmer Rouge government that caused the deaths of some 1.7 million Cambodians in the late 1970s.

Read | Chinas South Asia push to get boost during Prez Xis visit
King Bhumibol Adulyadej, who died peacefully on Thursday, was the worlds longest-reigning monarch, credited with restoring the influence of Thailands royalty during 70 years on the throne and earning the devotion of many of his subjects.

For the majority of the countrys 68 million people, the king was a pillar of stability in rapidly changing times - Thailand embraced industrialisation during his reign but also saw its parliamentary democracy punctuated by 10 military coups, the most recent in May 2014.

King Bhumibol, who ascended the throne on June 9, 1946, was seen as a force for unity, and there have long been concerns that the political tensions that have riven Thailand over the past decade could worsen after his death.

That may be less likely under the regime of the leader of the most recent coup, Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha. The former general has held a tight grip on power since toppling the remnants of Thailands last democratic government in 2014.

His Majesty has passed away at Siriraj Hospital peacefully, the palace said in a statement on Thursday, adding he died at 15:52 (0852 GMT).

Thailand has been divided for years between the royalist establishment and the red-shirted supporters of exiled former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted in a 2006 coup.

Telecommunications billionaire Thaksin, now in self-exile, built up a powerful patronage network that competed for power and opportunity with Thailands old-money order.

Well-wishers of king Bhumibol Adulyadej pray at Siriraj Hospital. (AFP)

Poor health

The king had been in poor health for some time, and has spent most of the past six years in Bangkoks Siriraj hospital.

King Bhumibol was re-admitted in May 2015 and was last seen in public in January, when he spent several hours visiting his Bangkok palace.

The Royal Household Bureau in its statement on Thursday did not give a reason for the kings death. The king been treated for a respiratory infection, a build up of fluid surrounding the brain and a swollen lung in the past few months.

From illuminated billboards in bustling Bangkok to portraits in offices and millions of rural homes, Thailand is festooned with images of the jazz-loving king.

King Bhumibol headed a conservative establishment that still wields considerable power 84 years after the abolition of absolute monarchy.

Born in 1927 in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where his father, Prince Mahidol, was studying medicine, King Bhumibol spent much of his early life abroad, first in the United States and then in Switzerland.

He became king in 1946 after the still unexplained gunshot death of his elder brother, 20-year-old King Ananda Mahidol who was also known as Rama VIII. King Bhumibol returned to Thailand for good four years later to be crowned King Rama IX.

The saxophone-playing King Bhumibol was a celebrity visitor to foreign capitals in the early years of his reign with Queen Sirikit, a distant cousin whom he married in 1950 shortly before his coronation.

The king who acceded to the throne as a young man cut a quite different figure from the sombre monarch into which he matured.

Over the years, he was groomed as a national figurehead through civic and ceremonial duties. He undertook a stint in the Buddhist monkhood and developed a keen interest in the environment and rural development.

Well-wishers weep as they prays for king Bhumibol Adulyadej at the Siriraj hospital. (REUTERS)

Politics

Though officially above politics, he first started to speak out on political issues in the 1960s against the backdrop of a creeping communist insurgency.

In 1973, he intervened personally after bloodshed in Bangkok when students demonstrated against military rule. He nominated a new prime minister, diffusing the political tension.

Although backing the students then, as a social conservative King Bhumibol was worried about the threat to public order inherent in any peoples movement, and three years later he intervened on the side of the military after another bloody putsch.

The kings image as a political truce-maker peaked after bloody clashes in 1992 between pro-democracy protesters and the army. He summoned the protagonists, a former general leading the protests and an army-chief-turned-prime minister, and with the two prostrate before him, ordered them to desist.

His intervention led to the subsequent collapse of military rule.

Often referred to as Por, the Thai word for father, many Thais looked to him for moral guidance and saw him as a neutral arbiter during their nations darkest hours.

We are in the middle, the king said in a 1979 BBC documentary. One day it would be very handy to have somebody impartial, because if you have in a country only groups or political parties which will have their own interest at heart, what about those who dont have power?

The king retreated from active political intervention after the events of 1992 in favour of influence wielded through a network of ageing generals, judges and bureaucrats on his Privy Council of advisers who helped oversee what some academics view as a managed democracy, in which the military remained prominent.

The army avoided direct intervention in politics from 1992 until the 2006 coup against Thaksin, a populist telecoms billionaire the military said was corrupt and disloyal to the monarch.

Thailands monarchy is one of the worlds richest, although the value of its assets and the wealth of family members have never been made public.

The Crown Property Bureau, which manages the institutional assets of the monarchy, has stakes in top Thai firms such as Siam Commercial Bank and Siam Cement Group and extensive land holdings believed to be worth tens of billions of dollars.

The bureau does not publicly disclose its overall income, or detail where the money is spent. The foreign ministry insists the bureaus assets are not the kings personal wealth.

Despite the monarchys wealth, King Bhumibol was the keen proponent of a sufficiency economy philosophy - known in Thai as a just-enough economy, or the idea of moderation and self-reliance, which drew on Buddhist teachings.

Revered by many

The king was seen as semi-divine by many ordinary Thais, an image bolstered by Thailands education and legal systems.

The King shall be enthroned in a position of revered worship and shall not be violated, states the constitution.

Thailand has lese-majeste laws that impose long prison terms for insulting the monarchy. The laws have been enforced harshly as the establishment sought to control new, less deferential political forces and as dissent has found avenues of expression through social media.

Prayuth is a staunch royalist and under his government there has been a surge in prosecutions and tougher sentences for lese-majeste.

King Bhumibol himself said in a 2005 speech that he was open to criticism and those jailed for offending him should be released, but that did not stem the rising number of cases in the troubled years since.

The country faces an uncertain future. The vast majority of Thais have lived only under Bhumibol.

His presumed successor, Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn, 63, has taken a more prominent part in royal ceremonial and public appearances in recent years, but he does not command the same level of devotion as his father.
A Syrian man arrested on suspicion he had planned a jihadist bomb attack on a Berlin airport was found dead in his cell Wednesday after an apparent suicide, authorities said.

Jaber Albakr, 22, who was arrested two days earlier following a tense manhunt after police found explosives in his apartment, was discovered hanged in his jail cell in the eastern city of Leipzig, reported Germanys Bild daily, national news agency DPA and other media.

Jaber Albakr took his own life in the Leipzig prison hospital, the regional government in Saxony said in a statement without elaborating.

Albakr had narrowly evaded police commandos on Saturday morning but was arrested some 48 hours later, thanks to three compatriots now widely lauded as heroes, who recognised him, tied him up and handed him to police.

Germanys domestic security service had alerted police last Friday that Albakr may be plotting a bomb attack, and police investigators have since said he was thought to have had links with the Islamic State group.

Early last Saturday, police closed in on his communist-era flat in the eastern city of Chemnitz, but he managed to slip away, sparking a weekend-long nationwide manhunt.

Police then discovered 1.5 kilos (over three pounds) of TATP, the homemade explosive used by Islamic State jihadists in the Paris and Brussels attacks, in his flat.

Investigators said the explosives were almost ready or even ready for use, and that he was apparently preparing a bomb, possibly in the form of a suicide vest.

On the run, Albakr contacted the Syrians, who put him up in their apartment in Leipzig but who then realised he was a wanted terror suspect and turned him in to police.

Albakr had offered them money to let him go, they later said.

The top-selling Bild daily described the trio as the Syrian heroes from Leipzig, while calls have grown to honour and reward them.

DPA said Albakr had told the police the three Syrians had been complicit in his attack plans, but it was unclear whether police took that claim seriously.

Germanys domestic intelligence chief Hans-Georg Maassen said his service had received information that Albakr initially wanted to target trains in Germany before finally deciding on one of Berlins airports.
Unidentified gunmen killed three Burkinabe soldiers and two civilians on Wednesday, a military source said, in the latest sign that instability in Mali is spreading to its southern neighbour.

The defence ministry had earlier confirmed the deaths of the soldiers.

Attacks by Islamist militants in Burkina Faso were rare before a major strike by al Qaeda-linked fighters in the capital killed 29 people in January. The latest attack prompted President Roch Marc Kabore to delay a trip to Belgium and call an emergency ministerial meeting, government sources said.

The military source said three soldiers were also wounded. Earlier, the defence ministry had said two of the attackers were dead in the attack at Ingangom, five kilometres from the Malian border. The source said the military later realised the dead were civilians. The same base was attacked in June, resulting in the death of three police officers.

A newly-formed militant group called Islamic State division in the Greater Sahara, led by a fighter formerly loyal to Algerias Mokhtar Belmokhtar, also claimed to have attacked a Burkinabe military position in the far north last month.
Jessica Leeds wanted to punch the television screen when she saw Donald Trump insist at the second US Presidential debate he would never touch or grope a woman without her permission. He may have bragged about it, he had professed, but would never do it.

Now two women have told The New York Times that Trump did exactly that to them. Leeds, who was 38 at the time (she is 74 now), has said he groped her in the first class cabin of a commercial flight, and Rachel Crooks, who was 22 then, has said he kissed her on the mouth as they waited for an elevator in 2005.

Neither woman complained to authorities, but did tell those close to them about their respective encounters, and Times verified with them, adding to a growing list of women who have come forward in recent days to allege being treated inappropriately by Trump.

Contestants of his beauty pageants have said he was in the habit of walking into their changing rooms where they could be in various stages of undress. He, in fact, has boasted about doing that in interviews to radio talk show host Howard Stern.

Tasha Dixon, who competed as Miss Arizona in 2001, confirmed to a news channel that the GOP nominee would indeed walk into pageant dressing rooms unannounced.

But Leeds and Crooks accounts are likely to make it difficult for him to pass off his remarks on the 2005 tape as locker-room talk, as he has tried to do since its release last week, that sparked countrywide outrage and compelled many Republicans to withdraw their endorsements of him and distance themselves from him. The nominee, whose polls numbers have fallen precipitously since, has reacted angrily calling them disloyal.

Read: Melania Trump says Donalds crude remarks on women unacceptable

His response to the Times reporter who called him for his comments was the same. After denying anything of the kind alleged by Leeds and Crooks happened, he yelled at her angrily, called her a disgusting human being and threatened to sue the publication if it carried the story. It did, on Wednesday.

Trump campaign called the article fiction in a statement.

Leeds told the Times Trump was in the seat next to her on the flight more than three decades ago he didnt have his own plane back then. And after dinner, when the crew had cleared the tables, Trump lifted the armrest that separated their seats and began touching her.

He grabbed her breasts, she said, and tried to put a hand up her skirt. He was like an octopus, she has said. His hands were everywhere. It ended only when she moved to the back of the plane.

Crooks, who worked in a real estate investment company housed in Trump Tower in Manhattan, met Trump while waiting for an elevator in the building. As her company had business dealings with him, she introduced herself to him, and shook hands.

He didnt let go of her hand, and began kissing her on her cheeks, and then kissed me directly on the mouth.

This happened the same year as the recording, 2005, on which he had bragged about how he was automatically attracted to beautiful  I just start kissing them. Its like a magnet. Just kiss. I dont even wait.

So when Trump said, in response to CNNs Andersen Cooper if he had ever done any of the things he spoke about on the tape, said he did not, Leeds told NYT, I wanted to punch the screen.

Watch Trumps lewd locker-room banter
Can the Theresa May government trigger Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty to begin the process of leaving the European Union without MPs passing a new law to that effect in parliament?

This was the key question as the packed high court began hearing a case on Thursday that is likely to have far-reaching effects on British politics and constitutional law. As Brexit-related moves gather pace, attention is focused on the case that is expected to reach a judgement on Monday.

The case is seen as an attempt by those opposed to Britain leaving the EU to negate the June 23 referendum vote to leave the bloc. Three of the most senior judges, Baron Thomas of Cwmgiedd, the Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales, Terence Etherton and Lord Justice Sales, are hearing the challenge.

In opening arguments over who should initiate Britains exit from the EU, Lord Pannick, who represents the lead challenger in the claim, Gina Miller, said formal notification by ministers alone would undermine Parliament and deprive people of their statutory rights.

Pannick told the court: Notification is pulling the trigger and once pulled the bullet hits the target. It inevitably leads to the consequence that the (European Communities Act 1972) ceases to apply. This is not simply action on the international planeIt leads to the removal of a whole series of important rights whatever Parliament may think about it later.

The government, he said, was wrong to suggest the legal challenge was merely camouflage to prevent Brexit, and added that Miller is entitled to require that the steps that will be taken must be taken in a lawful manner.

Outside the court, pro-EU supporters were draped in EU flags, while opponents handed out leaflets saying Invoke Article 50 now.

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First Lady Michelle Obama on Thursday launched an impassioned attack on Donald Trump over his intolerable attitude toward women, as the Republican nominee rejected media reports of sexual misconduct as outright lies.

Obama -- who does not normally relish the political spotlight -- burst into the White House race with 26 days to go before Americans go to the polls to choose a successor to her husband, offering a fiery takedown of the real estate mogul.

The 70-year-old billionaire took the stage in swing state Florida shortly after Obama finished her stump speech for Hillary Clinton, and decried the Democratic nominee as complicit in a media attempt to derail his campaign.

Claims by at least six women have come to light in accounts reported by The New York Times, NBC, People Magazine and other outlets, most of them after Trump asserted in Sundays debate with Clinton that he never sexually assaulted women.

Trumps accusers, who include a beauty queen, a journalist and a sales representative, countered that claim, saying he made unwanted physical advances against them in years past, including groping and kissing.

The claims surfaced just days after a video emerged of him boasting in 2005 that his fame allowed him to grope women with impunity, sending the White House race into unprecedented levels of vulgarity.

He has apologized and, trying to reverse his deficit in national polls to the 68-year-old Clinton, has sought to minimize the comments as locker room talk -- a remark that went too far for the first lady.

This wasnt locker room banter. This was a powerful individual speaking freely and openly about sexually predatory behavior. And actually bragging about kissing and groping women, said the 52-year-old Obama.

It doesnt matter what party you belong to -- Democrat, Republican, independent -- no woman deserves to be treated this way. No one deserves this kind of abuse.

She lashed out at what she called Trumps cruel and frightening attitude towards women, while deliberately never using his name.

It has shaken me to my core in a way that I couldnt have predicted, she said.

This is not normal. It is not politics as usual. This is disgraceful. It is intolerable.

Absolutely false

With his campaign in free-fall since last weeks release of the damning tape, Trump lashed out, denying any of the alleged incidents took place, while his legal team branded the Times story libelous.

These vicious claims about me of inappropriate conduct with women are totally and absolutely false. And the Clintons know it very well, Trump told a rally in West Palm Beach. Theyre pure fiction. And theyre outright lies.

These attacks are orchestrated by the Clintons and their media allies.

Trumps campaign threatened to sue The New York Times, which published the accounts of two women who accused him of groping and kissing them, unless the paper retracts the article.

His lawyer Marc Kasowitz said the story constitutes libel per se.

But the Times refused to back down.

We published newsworthy information about a subject of deep public concern, the papers assistant general counsel David McCraw said in a letter to Trumps legal team.

If Mr Trump disagrees, if he believes that American citizens had no right to hear what these women had to say and that the law of this country forces us and those who would dare to criticize him to stand silent or be punished, we welcome the opportunity to have a court set him straight.

Read| Donald Trump: His enabler, the media, is his adversary

Like an octopus

The allegations against Trump, which date from between 10 and 30 years ago, suggest a pattern of sexually inappropriate behavior towards women.

Jessica Leeds, a 74-year-old former businesswoman, told the Times that Trump groped her on a flight in the early 1980s as they sat next to each other in first class, grabbing her breasts and trying to put his hand up her skirt.

He was like an octopus, Leeds told the daily.

His hands were everywhere, she added. It was an assault.

A second accuser, Rachel Crooks, said she was a 22-year-old receptionist at a real estate company in Trump Tower in 2005 when she encountered Trump outside an elevator one morning.

After she introduced herself, he kissed me directly on the mouth, she told the Times.

It was so inappropriate, Crooks added. I was so upset that he thought I was so insignificant that he could do that.

Against the wall

A photographers assistant alleged that Trump grabbed her rear end as she worked at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida in 2003, while a former staff writer for People accused Trump of forcibly kissing her during an interview there in 2005.

Trump shut the door behind us, Natasha Stoynoff wrote. I turned around, and within seconds he was pushing me against the wall and forcing his tongue down my throat.

Two beauty pageant contestants also accused Trump of either groping or forcibly kissing them.

The New York Times and Palm Beach Post both spoke with friends and family of the women, who corroborated their accounts and knew of the incidents before Trumps hot mic video was released.

None of the women reported the incidents to police at the time.

As the White House campaign hit its brutal last stretch, Trump had repeatedly threatened to damage Clinton by reviving allegations of sexual misconduct by her husband.

He made good on that promise by appearing with three of Bill Clintons women accusers ahead of Sundays debate, and alleging during the widely-watched debate that the former president was abusive.

But with six days to go before the final presidential debate in Las Vegas, it appears the tables have been turned -- tipping Trumps campaign into chaos, and fuelling a crisis that Republicans fear could cause lasting damage to the party.

Read| Donald Trump has long history of offensive comments about women
The basis of Britains crackdown on foreign students in recent years was put into question after a government study described as secret reportedly revealed that the number of overstaying students is far lower than previously estimated.

Only 1% of international students  about 1,500  break the terms of their visa by refusing to leave Britain after their course ends, according to the study, The Times reported on Thursday.

The Home Office said it did not recognize the 1% figure.

As home secretary, Prime Minister Theresa May had launched a crackdown on international students, including closing the two-year post-study work visa that was popular among self-financing students from India and other non-European Union countries.

The Times reported the research threatened to undermine Mays case for a crackdown on foreign student recruitment and called into question past estimates that put the figure of overstaying students far higher.

Official statistics have been used to suggest that tens of thousands of foreign students vanish each year after finishing their degrees, but the latest study would suggest that the true figure is 1,500, it said.

The Home Office, which commissioned the analysis, disputed that it was conclusive and said that the work was not completed. It has refused to share the study with other Whitehall ministries and rebuffed requests from The Times to release it, including under the Freedom of Information Act, the report added.

The newspaper quoted an unnamed Whitehall source as saying the study showed that the proportion of non-EU students at British universities, who remained beyond their permitted date, was very small. Some switch to other visa categories after completing courses.

The report said home secretary Amber Rudd tried to have international students removed from net migration figures, enabling them to avoid the crackdown on migrants, but was overruled by May.

Rudd announced new plans to curb student numbers from non-EU countries last week at the Conservative Party conference in Birmingham, sparking a chorus of concern among stakeholders.
Pakistan Army chief General Raheel Sharif confirmed on Thursday the death sentence handed down to 10 terrorists by military courts for their involvement in killing civilians, polio workers and armed forces personnel.

The 10 condemned terrorists, belonging to the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) rebel outfit, were convicted by speedy trial in military courts.

These terrorists were involved in heinous offences related to terrorism, including killing of innocent civilians, polio workers, NGO employees, police officials and armed forces personnel, army said.

Fire-arms and explosives were also recovered from their possession.

The military courts were set up in Pakistan to expedite the trial process for terror-related offences following the December 2014 Talibans massacre at an army-run school in Peshawar in which over 150 people, mostly school children, were killed.

Following the attack, the government had lifted the moratorium on the death penalty and the Parliament passed the 21st amendment which established military courts which was challenged in the Supreme Court.

The apex court ruled in favour of setting up of the courts in August last year.

It is not known where the trial was held and when the verdict of conviction announced, as the military courts work in secrecy due to fear of backlash by militants.
A seven-year-old Pakistani-origin boy was allegedly beaten up by five classmates on a school bus in the US for being a Muslim, an incident that has forced his family to move back to Pakistan fearing Donald Trumps America.

The parents of Abdul Usmani have alleged that he was bullied and beaten by five students on the bus while returning home from Weatherstone Elementary School in Cary, North Carolina, as they made references to Muslims and the boys Pakistani heritage.

Welcome to the United States of America of Donald Trump, Zeeshan-ul-hassan Usmani captioned a Facebook photo showing his son, Abdul, with his left arm in a sling.

He is in grade 1, bullied and beaten by his own classmates in school bus for being a Muslim, Usmani said.

Usmani told BuzzFeed News that he his wife along with their three sons have left the US for Pakistan after this latest incident in a long history of discrimination towards his children and family.

These are six and seven year old kids calling him names, with one kid punching him in the face, while two other kids attacked him, kicked him, and held his arms back, Usmani said.

He described his son as American as you can get.

They keep beating him all the way from school to home on the bus, Usmani said of the boys ride home last Friday.

Abdul, his father said, is traumatised by the attack and has a sprained arm.

Lisa Luten, a spokesperson for the Wake County Public School System, was quoted as saying that the principal of the school immediately began investigating the alleged incident after the family told them about it.

(The principal) interviewed seven students sitting near this child, and none of the students, nor the bus driver, witnessed any type of altercation or incident, Luten said, adding that the principal has one more child to interview and has not been able to get in contact with the Usmani family since Friday.

Usmani, 38, first came to the US as a Fulbright Scholar from Pakistan and currently works as a Chief Technology Officer of a Silicon Valley data software company.

Usmani said his family was harassed by a neighbour for months because of their religion, and that his other son has been called a terrorist.

Times are changing and its not the America we always thought of and believed in. Its not the America that I studied in, Usmani said.

If Trump wins, America will be great again, but a great that nobody will care about, he said.

Usmani said the irony of the alleged discrimination is he has been working to combat the effects of terrorism and has worked with the UNs Special Envoy for Global Education on a safe school initiative in Pakistan.

Usmani said his family will stay in Pakistan until after the election to see if Trump is elected to determine if his family feels safe enough to return.
A leading Pakistani daily on Wednesday asked the civilian and military establishment why action against JeM chief Masood Azhar and JuDs Hafiz Saeed was danger to the countrys national security.

The strong editorial in The Nation, considered close to the government and military establishment, came as a prominent journalist, Cyril Almeida, of Dawn was banned from leaving Pakistan because of his front-page report on a rift between the military and the civilian government over the militarys covert support to militant groups like the Haqqani network, Taliban and the LeT.

The editorial titled How to Lose Friends And Alienate People said the government and the military instead of taking actions against Azhar and Saeed was lecturing the press.

Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) leader and Pathankot terror attack mastermind Azhar and Jamaat-ud-Dawah (JuD) chief Saeed, the mastermind of the 2008 Mumbai attacks, roam freely in Pakistan and are believed to have the protection of the military.

The daily said in its editorial that it was a disturbing day when civilian and military top leadership meet to lecture the media on how to do their job.

Read: Pak media slams travel ban on Almeida, questions lack of action on Saeed

Apparently a barrage of online abuse, and three official denials were not enough to assuage tempers riled after Mr Almeidas exclusive story in Dawn, detailing an unusual exchange between the very same civilian and military top brass that yesterday issued forth a statement on the violation of universally acknowledged principles of reporting on national security issues, the editorial said.

The report by Mr Almeida has been called fabricated, and speculative reporting. But the government and military top brass in yesterdays meeting delivered no explanation for why government MNAs are protesting the visible presence of banned outfits in Pakistan. Or why possible action against Masood Azhar, or Hafiz Saeed is a danger to national security. Or why Pakistan faces increasing isolation? Were all earsm.

Instead, how dare the government and military top brass lecture the press on how to do their job. How dare they treat a feted reporter like a criminal. And how dare they imply that they have either the right or the ability or the monopoly to declare what Pakistans national interest is, it said.

Read: India has no reason to gloat about travel ban on Pak journo Cyril Almeida

And for Mr Almeida, nothing but solidarity. More power to you, and to your pen. The press stands with you, it added.

In an editorial, Dawn said it continues to stand-by Almeidas story and has rejected allegations of vested interest and false reporting.

The Karachi Press Club has also demanded that the travel ban on Almeida be lifted.
Pakistans Supreme Court delayed an appeal into the infamous blasphemy case against Asia Bibi, the Christian mother on death row, on Thursday after one of the judges stepped down.

Security was beefed up in Islamabad with police and troops stationed across the capital as the court readied to hear a final appeal in the case of Asia Bibi, who has been on death row since 2010. Observers had warned of tremendous repercussions in the case.

But one of the three-judge bench, Justice Iqbal Hameed ur Rehman, told the court he had to recuse himself, claiming a conflict of interest.

I was a part of the bench that was hearing the case of Salmaan Taseer, and this case is related to that, he told the court, which was overflowing with journalists, lawyers, activists and clerics.

Taseer, a liberal provincial governor, was gunned down in Islamabad in 2011 after speaking out for Bibi.

His assassin, Mumtaz Qadri, was hanged earlier in 2016 in a step liberals hailed as progressive, but which brought hardliners into the streets calling for Bibis death.

Rehman was chief justice on the Islamabad High Court which heard Qadris appeal in 2011, according to local media.

The Supreme Court did not immediately set a new date for Bibis appeal.

Observers have called the case a battle for Pakistans soul as the state walks a line between upholding human rights and appeasing hardliners.

Clerics at the influential Red Mosque in Islamabad warned they would launch a nationwide protest if Bibi is released.

Police said up to 3,000 security forces had been sent out across the capital.

Bibis lawyer Saif-ul-Mulook called the Red Mosque threat big.

I hope the government takes it very seriously and takes care of our security, he told media outside the court on Thursday.

Blasphemy is a hugely sensitive issue in Pakistan. Anyone even accused of insulting Islam risks a violent and bloody death at the hands of vigilantes.

Rights groups complain the controversial legislation is often abused to carry out personal vendettas, mainly against minority Christians.

Bibi was convicted and sentenced to hang in 2010 after an argument with a Muslim woman over a bowl of water. Her supporters maintain her innocence and insist it was a personal dispute, and the Vatican has called for her release.

But successive appeals have been rejected, and if the Supreme Court bench eventually upholds Bibis conviction her only recourse will be a direct appeal to the president for clemency.

If that fails, she could become the first person in Pakistan to be executed for blasphemy.
The real threat to Pakistans nuclear weapons is from rogue elements inside its military rather than from the terrorist outfits, Indias former national security advisor Shivshankar Menon has said.

Noting that terrorists have easier and cheaper ways of wreaking havoc, Menon said the nuclear weapons are complex devises that are difficult to manage, use and deliver and require very high level of skills.

To my mind, the real threat (to Pak nukes) is from insiders, from a Pakistani pilot or a brigadier who decides to wage nuclear jihad, with or without orders, Menon writes in his book titled Choices: Inside the making of Indias Foreign Policy.

The risk increases as Pakistan builds tactical nuclear weapons for battlefield use, control of which will necessarily be delegated down the command chain, he said.

Menon says Pakistan is the only nuclear weapon programme in the world that is exclusively under military control.

There are good reasons why no other country chose to go down this path, he said.

Menon argues that India has nuclear weapons for the contribution they make to its national security in an uncertain and anarchic world by preventing others from attempting nuclear blackmail and coercion against India.

Unlike in certain NWS, Indias nuclear weapons are not meant to redress a military balance, or to compensate for some perceived inferiority in conventional military terms, or to serve some tactical or operational military need on the battlefield, he notes.

While India has a declared policy of no-first use of nuclear weapons, Menon in his book warns that if Pakistan were to use tactical nuclear weapons against India even against Indian forces in Pakistan, it would effectively be opening the door to a massive Indian-first strike, having crossed Indias declared red line.

Pakistani tactical nuclear weapons use would effectively free India to undertake a comprehensive first strike against Pakistan, he said.

There are several responses short of war available to a state like India, he writes.
A Spanish diplomat was found dead at his home in Pakistan in what appears to be a case of suicide as a pistol was found lying near his body, police said.

Juan Jose Giner had been residing in Pakistan for last 34 years, police said, adding that he had been living alone in a house in the posh F-7 sector as both his wives had left him.

Police recovered a pistol from Giners residence and said that additional was being collected. The pistol was found near Giners body, police said, suggesting that it may have been a case of suicide.

Superintendent police (SP) City Shaikh Zubair said that a forensic mobile lab had reached the spot and further investigations are underway.

He said that Giners body had been shifted to Polyclinic hospital and the Spanish consulate had been informed of the incident.

But we will further investigate the incident, he said.

It was not immediately known in which capacity the deceased was working in the embassy.
The passing of Thailands 88-year-old King Bhumibol Adulyadej, the worlds longest reigning monarch, has thrust the grieving nation into a moment of immense uncertainty.

Although the kings health had been deteriorating for years, the palace has never made public plans for how a royal succession will unfold.

As a result little is known about how the country will cope as it faces its first change of crown in 70 years.

Complicating the matter is a draconian royal defamation law that bars criticism of the monarchy and makes it fraught, if not criminal, to publicly discuss a future without him.

Here is what is known about the watershed moment in Thailands history.

King Bhumibol Adulyadej accompanied by Queen Sirikit (3rd R), crown prince Maha Vajiralongkorn (2nd R), Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn (2nd L), Princess Chulabhorn (L) and other members of the royal family as he delivers his birthday speech from the balcony of the Grand Palace in Bangkok. (Reuters)

Who is the heir?

The crown prince is his only son, 64-year-old Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn.

Shortly after his fathers death was announced, Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha announced that the prince has asked for time to prepare and expressed regret together with the Thai people for the loss of his father.

He asked for time to prepare for legal processes in order to proclaim him on the throne at the appropriate time, Prayut told reporters at government house after holding an audience with crown prince Maha Vajiralongkorn.

Bhumibol was also named king in 1946 on the same day that his older brother was found dead in mysterious circumstances with a single gunshot to head.

But in Thailand there is often a gap, sometimes of many years, between assuming the throne and being crowned.

Vajiralongkorn does not enjoy his fathers level of popularity and analysts say it is difficult to predict what kind of king he will be.

The heir has spent significant periods of his adult life in Europe, though he has taken on more royal duties at home in the twilight of his fathers reign.

Thailand's crown prince Maha Vajiralongkorn watches the annual royal ploughing ceremony in central Bangkok, Thailand, on May 9, 2016. (Reuters file photo)

How would succession effect ordinary Thais?

An outpouring of grief is expected to be profound.

With the passing of this monarch, psychologically Thailand will be absolutely transformed, David Streckfuss, an expert on the Thai monarchy, told AFP.

Many Thais worship the king with a near-religious fervour and can be brought to tears when asked to describe their devotion.

His portrait hangs inside many homes and on streets across the nation. Cinemagoers stand for the royal anthem before every screening.

The lese majeste law has shielded the monarch from overt criticism while a well-oiled palace publicity machine extolled him as a semi-divine moral leader and champion of the poor.

Some credit the king with binding the polarised country together across seven decades of political upheaval.

People have anxieties and apprehensions about the near future because the kings role in the past has been so indispensable and instrumental in seeing Thailand climb from being a backwater village to a modern nation, said Thitinan Pongsudhirak, a politics expert at Chulalongkorn University.

People mourn the death of King Bhumibol. (AFP)

Is unrest likely?

Probably not given the military is still in firm control of the kingdom since its 2014 coup.

The generals have clamped down on dissent and ramped up lese majeste prosecutions, with people behind bars for even tangential criticism of the king.

Paul Chambers, an expert on the Thai military, predicted an intensified military clampdown and a possible delay to the return to democracy.

The junta has promised elections in late 2017, but its timeline keeps slipping.

Thailands military has long cast itself as a defender of the monarchy and lese majeste prosecutions have surged under junta rule.

Most signs point to a stable royal succession, risk consultancy firm Eurasia Group said in a note to clients this week.

.

People react to the death of the Thailand's King (AFP)

What about business?

Given the sensitivity of the issue, government and palace officials did not release any information on plans for the kings passing and the recent health scare caused market jitters.

In his television address, Prayut said Thai government officials and state enterprise employees would hold a one-year mourning period and invited all Thais to do the same.

Schools and businesses are likely to shut down for the coming days.

But the Thai government is aware that any prolonged closure of businesses and government ministries could hit the already struggling economy, especially as peak tourist season begins in December.

It is tradition to keep the bodies of royal family members and Buddhist leaders for months before their eventual cremation.

In the past, royal funerals have involved lavish, large-scale processions of monks and soldiers with thousands of black-clad Thais thronging the streets.
Two Boston police officers were shot and wounded while responding to a report of a person with a gun, said police, who later confirmed that the suspect was dead.

The officers came under fire late Wednesday night at a home in the East Boston neighborhood.

Right now, it looks like it was possibly a domestic incident gone bad, said Police Commissioner William Evans.

One of the officers was shot multiple times and was hospitalized in critical condition at Massachusetts General Hospital. A second officer was shot once or twice and was listed in stable condition, Evans told reporters at the scene early Thursday morning.

Police initially asked residents of the neighbourhood to shelter in place as they searched for a suspect. They later said the suspect was dead and the situation was under control.

I commend the officers. They moved in and neutralized the threat pretty quick that no one else got killed, said Evans.

Police did not immediately identify the suspect or the wounded officers.

Evans said that he and Boston Mayor Martin Walsh were headed to the hospital to meet with the officers families. He asked that the community pray for our officers.
The UN general assembly elected Antonio Guterres on Thursday as the next secretary-general of the United Nations, a post he will take over on Jan. 1 at a time of global turmoil.

The 193 UN member states elected Guterres, a former Portuguese prime minister, by acclamation.

The general assembly president Peter Thompson introduced the resolution to elect Gutteres, said members wanted it adopted by acclamation, and banged his gavel in approval as diplomats broke into applause.

Guterres embodies the highest standards of competence, integrity and leadership, Thompson said.

Read | India welcomes Antonio Guterres as next UN secretary general

The 67-year-old Guterres, who served as the UN refugee chief for 10 years until last December, was nominated by acclamation by the Security Council last week after its sixth informal poll. He topped all six polls, which included a total of 13 candidates  seven women and six men.

Guterres selection disappointed many who had campaigned for the first woman or the first representative from an Eastern European country to lead the world body, but diplomats stressed they were voting for the best candidate regardless of other criteria.

Read | Bittersweet results: Twitter reacts to selection of Guterres as UN chief

Secretary-general Ban Ki-moon, who will leave the job on Dec. 31 after his second five-year term ends, referred to Guterres decade as UN high commissioner for human rights. Ban told the assembly that Guterres is best known where it counts most, on the front lines of armed conflict and humanitarian suffering.

In addition to deep and solid political experience including two terms as Portugals prime minister, Ban said, his political instincts are those of the United Nations  cooperation for the common good and shared responsibility for people and the planet.

Guterres will be the ninth secretary-general in the organizations 71-year history.

Read | Antonio Guterres appointment unlikely to stir UNs stagnant waters

Hell take over on the first of January at a crucial time for the UN, when it is facing huge challenges on peace and security but also on international development and human rights. And the world needs a strong United Nations and he is the best possible leader to build on the work of his predecessors to provide that leadership, said Britains UN ambassador, Matthew Rycroft.

The secretary-general manages a staff of 44,000 people in addition to more than 100,000 peacekeepers. The positions responsibilities include dealing with issues such as human rights, refugees and climate change as well as fund raising for the world bodys various campaigns.
A top White House official said on Thursday that United States has welcomed Indias prominent and effective role on issues ranging from climate change to peace keeping while emphasizing that the best of US-India partnership is yet to come.

We welcome India not just because it is consequential because we share and often promote norms about a rules based order, Peter Lavoy, the White Houses point person for South Asia, told a Washington audience.

The US welcomes more prominent and effective role that India is playing on a wide range of world problems from climate change and global health to peace keeping, maritime security and cyber governance.

He said that the US-India partnership has come a long way in the past eight years, but the best is yet to come.

We are handing over to the next team, a major defence partnership with India, he said as he highlighted the vibrant dimensions of the Indo-US relationship.

First a growing convergence on regional issues. Second deepening cooperation on defense trade and third broadening in security partnership, said Lavoy, Senior Director for South Asia at the National Security Council (NSC), said in his remarks at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).

During the past six years of Obama Administration, he said there has been growing convergence of views of the risks, threats and opportunities.

In part this convergence has come apart as we made monumental efforts to overcome specific areas of mistrust, he said, adding that over the years the two countries have built habits of co-operation in discussing the challenge they face.

Three regions where this co-operation has gained momentum are Afghanistan, Asia Pacific and Africa, he said.

Maritime security is the key area of co-operation between the two countries.

Over the last few years, the US has significantly increased its consultations with India on their shared interest in Afghanistan, he said.

India, he said has played an important role in the collective effort of bringing stability and prosperity to that war-torn country, committing more than $2 billion in assistance.

Lavoy said it is fair to say that the US India defence relationship has matured in the last eight years than any period in US history.
The United States has refused to respond to Jamaat-ul-Dawa chief Hafiz Saeeds remarks on its ties with Pakistan, and said that they would dignify comments made by an avowed terrorist.

Addressing a daily press briefing, John Kirby, spokesperson of the United States Department of State said, Im not going to dignify the comments of an avowed terrorist one way or the other.

And we continue to work with Pakistan and continue to urge Pakistan to take steps to shut down access to areas inside their borders to terrorists, to terrorist individuals and to terrorist groups, Kirby added.

Kirbys remark comes a day after Saeed had reportedly said that United States is the real enemy of Pakistan.

Calling the US Pakistans enemy, Saeed has reportedly said it is time Pakistan shifts its focus from the US to building a relationship with India.

He also said that despite US declaring a bounty on his head, Washington DC could not achieve anything for the last five years.

When asked about whether the US State Department had any concrete information on the perpetrators of the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, Kirby responded, I dont. I would refer you to the Pakistani authorities on that. Obviously, as Ive said before, we continue to want to see the perpetrators of the Mumbai attack brought to justice.
HONG KONG: The first session of Hong Kongs new parliament on Wednesday saw several young lawmakers diverting from the official oath, including two who refused to pledge allegiance to China and one who quoted Mahatma Gandhi to say no one could imprison his mind.

The swearing-in session at the Legislative Council of Hong Kong, a special administrative region of China, took on farcical overtones as one young lawmaker inserted swear words into her oath and another took eight minutes to complete the oath, pausing for several seconds between each word.

Nathan Law, the youngest lawmaker in the Legislative Councils history after he was elected at the age of 23 last month, quoted Gandhi before taking the oath. You can chain me, you can torture me, you can even destroy this body, but you will never imprison my mind, he was quoted as saying by the media.

Law, a former leader of the prodemocracy Umbrella Revolution of 2014 who now heads the Demosisto party, quoted Gandhi while responding to a government warning that those who refused to take the oath properly could lose their seats, the South China Morning Post reported.

Pro-independence lawmaker Yau Wai-ching, 25, who belongs to the Youngspiration party that emerged from the Umbrella Revolution, held up a blue banner with the words Hong Kong is not China. She deviated from the official oath, which calls on lawmakers to swear allegiance to the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the Peoples Republic of China, and instead said: I do solemnly swear that I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to the Hong Kong nation.
LONDON: In the first major flashpoint over the Brexit process, the opposition Labour Party on Wednesday prevailed over Prime Minister Theresa May to agree to parliamentary scrutiny of her governments plans to leave the European Union.

So far, the governments stand was that it was for the executive to carry out the instruction of the British people delivered in the June 23 referendum that Britain should leave the bloc. It had left no role for Parliament.

This led to accusations that the sovereignty of Parliament was being undermined and that it was being sidelined. Labour insisted the opposition would not let ministers go into a locked room and come out with some plan that they want to keep secret.

May agreed on Wednesday to debate a Labour-sponsored motion that there should be a full and transparent debate on her governments plan to leave the EU.

She added an amendment that the Brexit process should be conducted in a way that respects the June 23 vote. The debate is expected to conclude on Wednesday evening.

It was not clear whether Parliament would be able to vote on the governments Brexit strategy, but shadow foreign secretary Emily Thornberry said: We want to have proper scrutiny, and proper scrutiny means a vote. We are absolutely clear about that.

Labour went on the offensive by shooting off 170 Brexit-related questions to the government  one for every day until the end of March 2017, by when May has said she will trigger Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty to exit the European Union.

The questions demand answers to issues related to all aspects of leaving the EU, including the European Single Market, the future of EU nationals in Britain and the impact on the National Health Service.

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ISLAMABAD: Pakistani media organisations and journalists groups have condemned the governments decision to bar journalist Cyril Almeida from travelling abroad after he reported on differences of opinion between the civil and military leadership.

The independent Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) and Amnesty International demanded the government immediately withdraw all restrictions on Almeida, who was included on the interior ministrys Exit Control List (ECL), a document that includes people who cannot leave the country.

Almeida is an assistant editor with the Dawn newspaper, which said in an editorial on Wednesday the fallout of his report has been intense. While a media organisation can commit an error of judgement, the newspaper believes it handled the story in a professional manner and carried it only after verification from multiple sources, the editorial said.

The Dawn added it had twice carried denials from the Prime Ministers Office.

Journalism has a long tradition of keeping its promise to its audience in the face of enormous pressure from the corridors of power and some of the most contentious yet historically significant stories were told by news organisations while resisting the states narrow, self-serving and ever-shifting definition of national interest, the editorial said.

The editor of Dawn bears sole responsibility for the story in question and the government should at once remove Mr Almeidas name from the ECL and salvage some of its dignity, the editorial said.

The editorial was well received and hundreds welcomed it on social media.

This puts into perspective what has happened and what needs to be done, said HRCP director Zohra Yusuf.

The Nation daily, in its editorial titled How to lose friends and alienate people, said it was disturbing when the civilian and military leadership meet to lecture the media on how to do their job while couching it in the familiar and nauseating mantra of protecting vital state interests.

A statement on Amnesty Internationals website demanded that the media should be allowed to operate freely and without fear. The Committee for the Protection of Journalists (CPJ) too issued a statement supporting Almeida.

The Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists joined the chorus of condemnation against the interior ministry and said the ban on Almeidas travel should be lifted immediately.
MAZAR-I-SHARIF: At least 14 Shias were killed on Wednesday in a powerful blast at a mosque in northern Afghanistan, the second deadly attack on the minority in as many days during the major festival of Ashura.

The explosion happened at the gate of the Shia mosque in the centre of Balkh district (in Balkh province), said the provincial governors spokesman Munir Ahmad Farhad, adding that 14 people were killed and 28 injured.

His account was confirmed by the provincial deputy police chief.

The blast came as the Islamic State group claimed responsibility for twin attacks in Kabul on Tuesday that also targeted Shias, killing up to 18 people and wounding dozens.

Witnesses said gunmen entered the Karte Sakhi shrine near Kabul University late on Tuesday, firing indiscriminately on men, women and children as they tried to flee. The interior ministry said one was wearing a suicide vest.

At the same time, another attacker entered a nearby mosque and took an unspecified number of people hostage as they were commemorating Ashura, the ministry said.

The UN called the attack an atrocity and put the toll at 18, though the interior ministry later said it was 16.

The threat of attacks on Shias was considered particularly serious during Ashura, and many foreign embassies in Kabul had restricted staff movements until the end of the week.

Ashura, marked on Wednesday, commemorates the death of Imam Hussein, grandson of the Prophet Muhammad, who was assassinated in the year 680 and whose tragic end laid the foundation for the faith practised by the Shia community.

In 2011 about 80 people were killed and more than 100 wounded when a suicide bomber struck a gathering of Shias during Ashura in the heart of Kabul.
WASHINGTON: As an unshackled Donald Trump declared war on Republicans who deserted him in recent days over his sexist remarks in a 2005 recording, he came under fresh attack from Democrats over his support for Russian meddling in the race for the White House.

Addressing a rally in North Carolina on Tuesday, President Barack Obama said of the Republican nominee, when you welcome Russian meddling in our electoral process, then youre disregarding not just things like facts or evidence or a free press, but youre chipping away at basic values like tolerance, and due process, and mutual respect.

Clinton campaign chair John Podesta linked the release of his hacked emails by WikiLeaks to a Trump aide, saying he had advance warning about what (WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange) was going to do. He reprised the allegation that these hackings were being carried out by Russia, which wants to help Trump.

Trump has denied he has any links with Russia.

But his very public admiration for President Vladimir Putin and, as pointed out by Obama, invitation to Russia to hack Clinton has made it impossible for him to make a convincing case for himself.

The United States has officially accused the Russian government of hacking the computer network of the Democratic National Committee and other entities and has threatened a proportional response.

Moscow has denied any role in the hackings and foreign minister Sergei Lavrov called the accusations flattering but ridiculous in an interview to CNN.

The hacking controversy, however, is just one of the many Trump is dealing with.

Disloyal Rs (Republicans) are far more difficult than Crooked Hillary. They come at you from all sides. They dont know how to win - I will teach them, he said in a tweet on Tuesday.

He publicly castigated Speaker Paul Ryan for saying he will not defend Trump anymore and called Senator John McCain, who has rescinded his endorsement of Trump, foul mouthed.

Some Republicans have since fallen in line and the party has rallied behind Trump, but the split in the party is a reality no one is denying any more.

Trump has, it seems, decided to brazen it out, saying, again in a tweet , It is so nice that the shackles have been taken off me and I can now fight for America the way I want to.
ISTANBUL: Islamic State militants in northern Syria are putting up stiff resistance to attacks by Turkish-backed rebel fighters, Turkeys military said on Wednesday, almost two months after it launched an incursion to drive them away from its border. Supported by Turkish tanks and air strikes, the rebels have been pushing towards the Islamic State stronghold of Dabiq. Clashes and air strikes over the past 24 hours have killed 47 jihadists, the military said in a statement. Due to stiff resistance of the Daesh terror group, progress could not be achieved in an attack launched to take four settlements, it said, naming the areas east of the town of Azaz as Kafrah, Suran, Ihtimalat and Duvaybik.

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RIYADH: Yemeni rebels fired a missile at a key Saudi air base used by the Arab coalition in its bombing campaign but it was intercepted, the coalition said on Wednesday.

It was the second such missile launch since a coalition air strike killed more than 140 people attending a wake for the father of a rebel leader in the Yemeni capital Sanaa on Saturday prompting threats of revenge.

Air defence forces intercepted a ballistic missile, launched by the Houthi militias toward the city of Khamis Mushait and destroyed it, a coalition statement said.

Khamis Mushait is home to an air base which has been at the forefront of the coalition bombing campaign against Houthi Shia rebels and their allies.

Saudi warplanes targeted the launch site after the missile firing, the coalition said. The attempted rebel strike marks at least the fifth time they have tried to hit Khamis Mushait since the coalition began its bombing campaign last year.
In November 1938 Charles Lindbergh wrote urgently to Major General Henry Harley Hap Arnold, the new chief of the Army Air Corps. Touring Germany, the aviation hero had witnessed the surging Luftwaffe firsthand.

Germany is undoubtedly the most powerful nation in the world in military aviation and her margin of leadership is increasing with each month that passes, Lindbergh wrote. In a number of fields the Germans are already ahead of us and they are rapidly cutting down whatever lead we now hold in many others.

Arnold, on the job little more than a month, took Lindys warning to heart. He summoned to the National Academy of Sciences a group of researchers and university administrators, including MIT president Vannevar Bush and California Institute of Technology physicists Robert Millikan and Theodore von Karman. Some military men thought Arnold was wasting time talking to longhairs. Invited by his old friend to lunch with the scientists, General George C. Marshall balked. What on earth are you doing with people like that? Marshall asked.

Using their brains to help us develop gadgets and devices for our airplanes that are far too difficult for the air force engineers to develop themselves, Arnold replied.

Doctrinaire officers might not have thought to look on campus for help winning wars, but for Arnold the leap was logical. As one of the worlds first licensed pilots, trained at the Wright brothers own flying school and mindful that might requires science, technology, and solid design and planning, Arnold conceived a vision of America as an air power and, simultaneously balancing immediate needs with the necessity of peering into the future, nurtured a tiny, feeble armed service into an aerial armada capable of winning a world war.

Hap Arnolds career began with disappointment. A surgeons son who fulfilled his fathers dream by graduating from West Point in 1907, Arnold loved the cavalry, drawn by its prestige and his love of riding. At graduation he proudly ordered a new uniform with trouser stripes of glorious Cavalry Yellow.

When Arnold received his commission, however, he found that middling grades and a history of pranks had relegated him to the unglamorous peacetime infantry. Devastated but determined, he volunteered to go to the Philippines on a map-making expedition, the most exotic option available. Arnold so impressed his supervisor that in 1911 the captain rescued the young Pennsylvanian, now twiddling his thumbs at Governors Island in New York Harbor, from barracks-bound boredom.

Congress had just spent $25,000 to buy three Wright biplanes and two made by Glenn Curtiss, and soldiers were going to learn to fly them at the Wright brothers facility in Dayton, Ohio. Arnolds former captain, assigned to pick two of Americas first military airmen, thought Arnold had the right stuff.

At Dayton, Arnold absorbed lectures by the Wrights, completed 28 lessons, and logged 228 minutes of flying time before his training was judged done. Transferring to College Park, Maryland, near Washington, D.C., he set up a Signal Corps flight school with the armys only other aviator. The two wrote manuals, standardized methods, and taught soldiers to fly. In 1912 Arnold won the first Mackay Trophy for military flight when, in a prescient display of aerial technique, he observed and reported troop movements near the capital.

A near-crash over Kansas put Arnold off planes; he knew too many Army aviators who had augered in. He returned to Washington as aide to the chief of the Signal Corps, meeting many future military aviation stars, such as Captain William D. Billy Mitchell, at that point not yet flight-qualified. In September 1913 Arnold married Eleanor Bee Pool. The next year, another Philippines posting landed the Arnolds at Fort McKinley, Luzon, where Arnold forged strong bonds with his next-door neighbor, Lieutenant George Marshall. After a stint in upstate New York Arnold was ordered to Rockwell Field, nearly San Diego, California. Pressed by Mitchell, and drawn by an immediate promotion to captain plus a newly instituted pay increase of 50 percent for hazardous duty, Arnold resumed flying.

The ambition and stubbornness that enabled Arnold to return to the cockpit could rankle superiors. At Rockwell Field, California, his commander correctly asserted that Arnold had disobeyed orders when he and others searched for two lost airmen. In fact the commander had dithered, so Arnold had done what he thought best in a crisis. Army authorities reprimanded Arnolds boss; the next efficiency report he wrote about Arnold might have sunk other men but Arnolds otherwise stellar record overrode it.

As the United States entered the Great War, Arnold yearned for action but spent the duration managing aircraft production for the newly fledged Army Air Service. The war was nearly over before Arnold reached Europe with a party demonstrating the Kettering Bug, an unmanned papier-mache and cardboard aerial torpedo that weapons inventor Charles Kettering had cooked up with a team of scientists that included physicist Robert Millikan, whom Arnold got to know on the trip. Americans were bad at building fighting planes, Arnold thought. The failure of aircraft production in 191718 remained uppermost in my mind, he later wrote.

After the war, control of the Army Air Service fell to ground-pounders who saw fliers as handmaidens to the infantry and artillery. As Air Service ranks shrank from 190,000 to 27,000, Arnold found common cause with likeminded aviators Lieutenant Colonels Billy Mitchell and James Doolittle, Major Carl Spaatz, and Lieutenant Ira Eakerall of them arguing for what they saw as Americas military future.

Personal and professional setbackshis toddler sons death, a plane crash, a bout with ulcersrocked Arnold, but he pressed on. Another Washington posting inserted him into the debate over which weapon would predominate: aircraft or dreadnought. His pal Mitchell so fiercely criticized army reluctance to embrace aviation that he was court-martialed, and so almost was Arnoldfor touting air power to Congress and the media. Given 24 hours to decide if he wanted to resign or face a tribunal, Arnold stood firm. His critics backed down, but as penalty for his audacity exiled him to Fort Riley, Kansas, to teach flying. It was a toss into the brambles, but one that had him training the men who would fly the nations warplanes and enabled him to advance aviation as a combat arm.

In Kansas, Arnold, now a major, hit the 20-year mark. He thought of retiring; he had been offered the presidency of Pan American Airways. But he chose to stay in uniform. Success at Fort Riley led to the Command and General Staff College, a prestige appointment whose infantry-besotted curriculum irked Arnold. Well, we fought the battle of Gettysburg again today, and guess who won? an exasperated Arnold asked Bee one evening. Meade did it again, but think what Lee could have done with just one Wright airplane.

On graduation day, he had Bee wait with the children in the car with the motor running by the field house so he could see Fort Leavenworth disappear in the rearview mirror as fast as possible.

In November 1931, Lieutenant Colonel Arnold took command of the air base at March Field, California. He looked up Bob Millikan, who in 1923 had won the Nobel Prize in physics and now ran nearby California Institute of Technology. The bond begun with the Kettering Bug paid off. Millikan got planes for research; Arnold got access to Caltechs scientific resources, including wind tunnels and aerodynamics lab, managed by Theodore von Karman, a brilliant Hungarian.

This came at a time when the Air Corps, as it was now called, was looking to buff its image with flying shows and record-setting flights. Arnold garnered coverage for the service in another way when an earthquake slammed Long Beach in 1933. He organized and dispatched emergency supply convoys with an alacrity that first nettled 9th Corps Commander General Malin Craig because Arnold had run roughshod over command protocol. However, once Craig understood the gravity of the situation, he voiced admiration for his energetic subordinate. In 1934, Arnold again made aerial news when he led 10 Martin B-10s, the countrys first all-metal monoplane bombers, from Washington, D.C., to Alaska and back.

In Fairbanks, Arnold had an odd visitor. A man claiming to be a defecting German spy warned him that the Nazis had planes better than the B-10. Arnold dismissed the fellow as a damned liar, but reported the encounter to War Department intelligence officers and recommended an inquiry into what turned out to foreshadow Charles Lindberghs warnings.

Later that year, Congress summoned Arnold to testify on the Air Corps. Asked if, given the chance, he could straighten out the corps, Arnold said he was sure he could. He had hoped the Alaska flight would bump him to brigadier, but that had to wait until Craig became army chief of staff and General Oscar Westover, a year ahead of Arnold at West Point, took over the Air Corps.

In January 1936, Arnold got his promotion and was named Westovers assistant. Boeing was developing a four-engine successor to the B-10 intended to realize Billy Mitchells vision of a global bomber fleet. The Corps saw its future in the B-17 Flying Fortress, which Arnold later called a turning point in the course of air power. But even before the first Fortress went into operational testing in March 1937, political opposition and interservice rivalry threatened to ground it. Critics said the B-17 was too new, too big, too experimental, too untested. Why buy heavy long-range bombers? Arnold and Westover fought back, in their 1938 budget requesting 50 more B-17s. Congress cut them. Production picked up in 1941 but not until after the U.S. entered the war did the floodgates open.

On September 21, 1938, Westover was over Burbank, California, testing a plane when its engine stalled. The crash killed him and his crew chief. Arnold assumed Westovers duties in an acting capacity. A week later, as British and French officials huddled in Munich, Germany, preparing to give Hitler the Sudetenland, President Roosevelt called in his cabinet and military leaders, including the acting air chief.

Only airpower would faze Hitler, Roosevelt declared. He said he wanted planesnowand many more than the 178 stipulated in the 1940 budget. Of the nations 5,000 military aircraft, only half were built for combat. Shocking nearly all present save Arnold, FDR demanded a production goal of 10,000 planes a year, with capacity for 20,000 going all-out. Roosevelt said he felt alarm not only about American airpower, but Allied readiness. He asked Arnold for numbers.

Arnold gave the news straight. England, he estimated, had 1,500 to 2,200 combat-ready craft; France, perhaps 600. Germany had at least 6,000 combat-ready frontline warplanes, with 2,000 more in reserve. But airpower meant more than fleet size, Arnold cautioned: exacting standards for production and pilot training were paramount, as was base construction.

That convinced Roosevelt, who said he wanted immediate action, and more heavy bombers. Arnold left the White House feeling that the Air Corps had finally achieved its Magna Carta. The next day, with FDRs approval, Arnold became chief of the Air Corps and was promoted to major general. He had gotten his chance to straighten out the Air Corps.

Arnolds longhairs conclave two months later kicked off multiple projects. Not every seedling he planted bore fruit, but he spread the fertilizer of research and development funding far and wide. MIT, already working on radar, would keep to that task and take on windshield and wing deicing. Karmans shop would work on jet-assist takeoff systems for heavy aircraft.

Always driven, Arnold drove himself harder. His idea of a good time was to work all day at the office, his personal pilot, Eugene Beebe, said. Then wed rush out to Bolling Field, jump in a plane, and fly all night to L.A, arrive in the morning, visit five aircraft factories, and then go to someones house for dinner that night.

Arnold constantly preached more and better airpower and technology. America owes its present prestige and standing in the air world in large measure to the money, time, and effort expended in aeronautical experimentation and research, he told a January 1939 meeting of the Society of Automotive Engineers in Detroit. Our future supremacy in the air depends on the brains and efforts of our engineers. But brains and effort had to compete with practical tasks. Arnold shied away from what some called Buck Rogers stuff, like jet-powered planes. He agreed on the need for aircraft capable of 500 miles an hour, but cautioned in Detroit that it will be many years beforerocket or jet propulsion can be expected on a large scale.

Pounding industry, government, and the military for more planes and more pilots got Arnold in hot water. He bristled at moves to sell American-made planes to France and England, pitting him against Treasury Secretary Henry Morgenthau and even the president. Roosevelt was so irked at Arnolds barking that the general spent months in the White House doghouse. After Arnold testified to Congress on the death of a French pilot killed testing an American plane, FDR told his air chief he had places, such as Guam, to which he could assign officers who didnt play ball.

Eventually seeing how Allied deals were hobbling the Air Corps, Roosevelt came around. To make amends, he invited Arnold to dinner, with a private chat beforehand. FDR offered to make him an Old Fashioned. Thanks, Mr. President, Arnold replied. I havent had one for about 20 years but I assure you Ill enjoy this one with you tremendously. Amity restored, the two worked together smoothly.

The day Germany invaded Poland, Roosevelt named Arnolds long-ago Luzon neighbor George Marshall as army chief of staff. The trust in which the generals held one another lasted to the end of their lives. Arnold saw in the Blitzkrieg confirmation that our worry about the German Luftwaffe had been well founded. The Air Corps had to get the most planes with the greatest capabilities flying as quickly as possible. Scientists and engineers were to improve and perfect the B-17, an even bigger heavy bomberthe B-29, long-range fighters, and other aerial weapons also in the pipeline.

The Air Corps got a nominal promotion in 1941 to the Army Air Forces as Arnold continued his 12-hour-plus days, traveling to factories, fields, training facilities, wherever necessary. Lend-Lease business put him face to face with the future. On a trip to the United Kingdom, Arnold visited Power Jets, a company at work on a revolutionary power plant engineer Frank Whittle had conceived in the 1920s. The sight of a plane rolling down a runway with no propellers flabbergasted Arnoldand dismayed him, because the first jet-powered aircraft had come not out of an American workshop. As far as I knew, no such device had yet advanced beyond the drawing-board stage here in America, he recalled. I saw this propellerless plane taxiing around the air field and making short flights. I knew then and there I must get the plans and specifications of that jet plane back to the United States. His shock went beyond jealousy. If the British had jets in production, he reasoned, the chances were good that the Germans did also.

The British agreed to collaborate. Arnold talked with Bell Aircraft and General Electric about Bell building a plane and GE an engine. GE wasnt ready. No problem: Arnold borrowed a Whittle as a model, and work began on the XP-59 Airacomet, shrouded in secrecy, right down to a dummy propeller for disguise. My God, General, how do you keep the Empire State Building a secret? Arnolds military liaison asked. You keep it a secret, Arnold snapped. On September 30, 1942, the XP-59 debuted at Muroc Army Air Field, California, but remained under wraps until January 1944, when newspapers ballyhooed a new rocket plane. The jet had no functional range and never saw action, but, with its German cousins, it was to usher in a new era of aviation.

The XP-59 episode embodied Arnolds flexibility. Adamant in 1939 about not pursuing jet aircraft, he saw the Whittle engine two years later and instantly pivoted, pushing jets with all he had. He knew the first one would never fight, but also that the United States had to get a jet aloft.

In another advance, Arnold had noted how the British and Germans made effective use of incendiaries. The U.S. had nothing comparable. He corralled ordnance and chemical warfare experts, along with MITs Vannevar Bush, who mentioned a mixture of soap and gasoline that stuck to and burned whatever it touched. The incendiary, called napalm, became a horrifically effective weapon in both theaters. Jet-assisted takeoff proved a worse bet. Karman showed how to make it work, but Boeings speed at getting out the B-29 left the rocket-assist program in the dust.

Arnolds hard-driving habits began to catch up with him. In February 1943, after a hair-raising night flight over the Himalayas to China and the rigors of the Casablanca conference, he had a heart attack, the first cardiac event serious enough to put him in the hospital. Army regulations dictated retirement, but Roosevelt waived the rules, provided he got monthly reports on Arnolds health. A month later Arnolds heart went into distress again; against Marshalls advice he left Walter Reed Hospital to address the West Point class of 1943, whose ranks included his son Bruce.

Arnold felt flak and fighters were costing the Allies too many crews over Europe. To win a war, he observed, one must try and kill as many men and destroy as much property as you can. If you can get mechanical machines to do this, then you are saving lives at the outset. He leaned on his scientists to improve remote guidance and piloting systems.

Angling to make innovation practical, Arnold remembered his World War I project with Charles Kettering, and set the Kettering Bugs inventor to work on a glide bomba cheap, unmanned craft that bombers could launch from hundreds of miles away. Controlled by radio and a new technology called television, glide bombs had success, but proved inaccurate and were sidelined. Another Arnold concept, Project Aphrodite, repurposed 24 worn-out B-17s and B-24s as guided and sometimes unguided weapons crammed with explosive and steered toward enemy territory. Pilots bailed out, sending planes on autopilot or remote control toward their destinations. Of more than 20 Aphrodite missions, all but one failed.

In the Pacific, Allied conquests were close to putting the new B-29 Superfortress within range of Japan. But as of January 1944, Boeings Wichita plant had put only 16 Superfortresses into the air. The bottleneck drew a vexed Arnold to Wichita in March. I was appalled, he said. There were shortages in all kinds and classes of equipment. The engines were not fitted with the latest gadgets; the planes were not ready to go. Arnold ordered Major General Bennett E. Meyers to Wichita, authorized to act as needed to get B-29s flying. Work stopped on everything else. Technicians and parts streamed from everywhere. Shifts went around the clock despite blizzards. Certain that the big plane needed its own unit, Arnold created the Twentieth Air Force, with himself as commander and subordinates in the field maintaining operational control.

A month after the first B-29s headed for the Pacific, Arnold had another heart attack. He rested a month before traveling that summer to Europe. Seeing that the Allies enjoyed near-total air superiority there, he again began looking ahead.

On a windswept fall day in New York, he and Karman met in an army staff car parked out on a runway at LaGuardia Field. This war was ending, Arnold said. What about the next one? What would airplanes be like in 10, 20, 30 years? How would radar, jet propulsion, atomic power, guided missiles figure? He invited Karman to the Pentagon to draw a blueprint for air force research. The Caltech wizard hesitated, but went on to lead a study group that wrote Toward New Horizons, a report influential not only on the air force but aeronautical science in general. It was typical Arnold: address the practical and immediate without forgetting the big picture. Once he had the present more or less under control, he resumed anticipating new problems and prospects in science and technology.

As 1944 was ending, Marshall and Roosevelt, who had awarded Arnold a fifth star, were pressing him for a firebombing campaign against the Japanese home islands. Twentieth Air Force field commander Haywood S. Hansell Jr. balked at dropping incendiaries, which he saw as immoral. A furious Arnold replaced Hansell with General Curtis LeMay, who was itching to burn Japan. Less than two weeks later Arnolds worst heart attack yet laid him low. He turned the Twentieth Air Force over to LeMay and spent the wars final months making inspection tours in both theaters.

Arnold retired in 1946 as Americas only five-star air force general, a distinction he still holds. In January 1950 he died at 63 of a fifth heart attack, leaving a unique legacy as the man who won the air war in World War II, the architect of the technological air force, and a visionary who guided American military airpower from its earliest days into the atomic age and beyond.


Sojourner Truth Speaks

In May 1851, freed slave and abolitionist Sojourner Truth attended a national womens convention in Akron, Ohio, where the female delegates were heckled by men in the audience who claimed that men were superior to women. Frances Gage, president of the convention, recorded Sojourner Truths words that day. Dat man ober dar say dat women needs to be helped into carriages and lifted ober ditches, and to hab de best place everywhar. Nobody eber helps me into carriages, or ober mud-puddles, or gibs me any best place! And aint I a woman! Look at me! Look at my arm! I have ploughed, and planted and gathered into barns, and no man could head me! And aint I a woman? I could work as much and eat as much as a manwhen I could get itand bear de lash as well! And aint I a woman? I have borne thirteen chilern, and seen em mos all sold into slavery, and when I cried out with my mothers grief, none but Jesus heard me! And aint I a woman? Sojourner Truths words, according to Gage, turned the sneers and jeers of an excited crowd into notes of respect and admiration.

Photo: Library of Congress
"The X Factor UK" Season 13 has announced the top 12 finalists of the current season. In another interesting revelation, it has come to the light that "Four of Diamonds" initially auditioned as solo artists and they were put together in a group by the talent show.

Last week, the judges put their seal on the final three acts for the live shows and thus, the 12 finalists have been declared, reports Heavy. According to the news outlet, Louis Walsh was assigned "Groups," Sharon Osbourne "The Overs," Simon Cowell "The Girls" and Nicole Scherzinger "The Boys."

The show has also announced a new twist and from this season, each Sunday, a celebrity guest will decide the musical theme for the next week, after eliminations. This will be done by spinning the wheel and some of these themes may include Motown, 80s, divas, disco, louis loves and girl band vs. boy band.

Meanwhile, a queer revelation has been made about "Four of Diamonds," reports Mirror Online. The four girls had initially auditioned as solo artists but could not make it past the next stage. It was then that Simon Cowell advised them to form a group, on the lines of "One Direction." Cowell's advice worked as the girls have secured a place in the live finals after the twin brothers Brooks Way quit the show.

They will be performing next week but the show never shed light on their solo audition. The group audition of Yasmin, Sophia, Caroline and Lauren was aired in September where the girls were seen describing themselves as "modern." However, they added that they put a kind of 60s urban twist on their sound.

Also, Yasmin had been earlier hunted down by record label Sony. Her Facebook profile mentions this fact. Not only this, she also admits to getting to the second round of "X Factor" in 2015.

However, a source contradicts her claim and says that she was spotted by Sony when they went to her college looking for talent. It has got nothing to do with The X Factor. It is also said that Lauren auditioned for the show in 2011 but could not pass the Boot Camp stage.

@ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Tesla is currently planning to increase the capacity of its production plant as the pre-order request for its much-awaited Model 3 continues to lengthen. But there is one huge downside - the new model has yet to be released.

As the demand for Model 3 increases, Tesla has sought to increase its assembly plant in Freemont, CA. by doubling its current capacity. The company expects to build 1 million cars a year, as reported by the Los Angeles Times. Tesla has already submitted a long-term zoning proposal to Fremont's Planning Commission, requesting a permit to add 4.6 million square feet more to its currently existing 4.5 million sq. ft. factory.

Tesla will offer the Model for $35,000, and according to the automaker, the electric car can travel up to 215 miles on a single charge. But there is a major downside, according to former Tesla VP EMEA Cristiano Carlutti, as quoted by Forbes. Carlutti said Tesla is known for its delivery schedule delays, so the Model 3 - which isn't even in production yet, may not be delivered on time.

"Model S had lots of quality problems for months after the launch and some customers in Europe are still lamenting an interior quality inferior to competitors," he said. Carlutti also said the delay in production and delivery will make Tesla competitors to enter the market quickly with the right product.

That is exactly what the carmaker did. Chevrolet Bolt, a co-production effort between Chevrolet and LG Korea, will enter showrooms by the end of this year with a price tag of $37,500.

Chevrolet Bolt efficiently breezed through from concept to design, and production. The car was first introduced as a concept car in 2015 North American International Auto Show, and within two years, the car has been developed and produced swiftly. While the Tesla Model 3 was first introduced in 2014, the automaker has yet to set the exact delivery data after two years.

Tesla expects to be able to deliver the Model 3 soon by doubling the size of its production plant in Freemont, CA.

@ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
A fireball was witnessed shooting across the sky yesterday morning somewhere over Lake Pontchartrain at 7 a.m. The strange incident caused a good deal of furor among people and later NASA said that it was most likely a meteor traveling at a high speed.

The flying fireball was witnessed by a lot of people in Louisiana as they saw something passing through the sky, reports WWL TV. The sighting gave rise to a wave of panic and the curiosity-stricken people sent reports to the local TV and radio stations. The National Weather Service and the office of St. Tammany Parish Sheriff also received news of the fireball.

Later, NASA was contacted to solve the mystery and the space agency said that the fireball was most likely a meteor that was traveling at about 90,000 miles per hour and broke up just as it entered the atmosphere of Earth. NASA also released a statement with regard to the incident and revealed the reason why it was not 100% sure about the identity of the fireball being a meteor.

It said that unfortunately, all the sky cameras of the region had shut down earlier to save themselves from the bright Sun. Therefore, the scientists did not have any other option than to rely solely on the reports of the eyewitnesses for analysis of the trajectory. Sadly, even the cameras of the eyewitnesses could not capture the mysterious light.

So, they studied the reports and based on the analysis of the reports, they said that the meteor was first witnessed about 65 miles above the town of Sawyersville in western Alabama. Later, it moved northwest at about 89,000 miles per hour and ultimately broke up 41 miles above Louisville, Miss. The brightness led them to estimate that the meteor weighed about 5 lbs and was about 5 inches in diameter.

Notably, more than 100 eyewitnesses reached out to NASA after the fireball was seen passing through the sky. They included people from Louisiana, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, and Georgia. The National Weather Service also tweeted out a link showing the places where people reported witnessing the fireball and it was revealed that the map covered a lot of region lying in the southeast.

@ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
World War 3 seems to be looming large over the global scene, with Russia launching the Topol missile from a submarine in the Barents Sea. This is the fastest one in the world, and the exercise is part of a number of ballistics tests.

The RS-12M Topol is a deadly, single-warhead intercontinental ballistic missile. From 1985, it covered a range of 10,000 kilometres or 6,125 miles. It can even bear a nuclear warhead, with a yield of 550 kilotons.

"This is a conflict, there should be no doubt," said Matthew Rojansky, director of the Kennan Institute at the Wilson Center.

Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin called out for Russian relatives of officials settled abroad to return home. He feared the stress and tensions with the imminent threat of World War III, as HNGN reported. Pentagon reportedly admitted on Wednesday that World War III might break out any moment over the world, due to the sinking relations between Moscow and Washington over Syria.

There are reports of a row over Kremlin moving nuclear-capable missiles near the Polish border. It made Putin cancel a visit to France.

Another charge on Russia is the accusation that it is interfering with the November presidential elections. However, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has called it "baseless."

"I think the world has reached a dangerous point," Gorbachev warned, responding to the US decision to call off Syria talks. "This needs to stop. We need to renew dialogue."

The Russians set off three missiles recently. Apart from the Topol missile, another was launched from a north-west island. The third one was a nuke rocket from a Pacific Fleet submarine in the Sea of Okhotsk over Japan. It was launched to hit a firing range on Kamchatka peninsula.

Moscow explains that it shifted nuclear-capable Iskandar missile near NATO territory in Europe only due to the signals of "aggression" from the US. It seems to pose a big threat to NATO officials.

However, Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shogi has debunked the rumors of war. He said their launches are only "normal combat training manoeuvres" not threats to world peace or portents of World War III. "The ideas of a military war, a new cold war or an arms race are being circulated. Of course, it is not true," he exclaims.

@ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Android 7.1 Nougat OS, which boomed in Google's Pixel and Pixel XL, is ready for the smartphones from other manufacturers in the tech market. Smartphone companies have already confirmed the list of devices which are ready to get the Android 7.0 Nougat update. Currently, LG V20 is the first Android 7.0 Nougat smartphone to roll out with Google's new updated OS.

Samsung

The list includes most of the smartphones recently launched by Samsung. Android 7.0 Nougat is ready to be updated in the Samsung Galaxy S6, Galaxy S6 Edge, Galaxy S6 Edge Plus, Galaxy S7, Galaxy S7 Edge, Galaxy Note 5 and the unfortunate flagship of Samsung Galaxy Note 7.

As per the reports, Galaxy S5 edge is under study whether it should have an Android 7.0 Nougat update or not, as the flagship was launched two and a half years back. It is on the centre of the line, not confirmed either to go back or move forward. If the Galaxy S5 moves forward, it will be updated with Android 7.0 Nougat and if the decision is to make it turn back, then the Galaxy S5 will stick to Android 6.0 Marshmallow OS.

Sony

The devices listed from Sony which are all set to receive the Android 7.0 Nougat update are the Xperia Z3+, Xperia Z4 Tablet, Xperia Z5, Xperia Z5 Compact, Xperia Z5 Premium, Xperia X, Xperia XA, Xperia XA Ultra, and Xperia X Performance smartphones.

Motorola

The fourth generation Moto G, Moto G Plus and Moto G Play, the third edition of Moto X Pure Edition, Moto X Force, Moto X Play, Moto X Style, Droid Maxx 2, Droid Turbo 2, Moto Z, Moto Z Play, Moto Z Droid and Moto Z Play Droid devices ready to get the Android 7.0 Nougat OS update.

Google Nexus

Android 7.0 Nougat OS is available for Nexus 6P, Nexus 5X, Nexus 9 LTE and Wi/Fi variants, Nexus Player and Pixel C.

HTC

It is reported that unlocked HTC 10 to receive Android 7.0 Nougat in Q4 of this year. The other HTC devices to receive the Android 7.0 Nougat are HTC One M9 and One A9. The newly released HTC Desire 10 Lifestyle and Desire 10 Pro are also expected to get the Android 7.0 Nougat upgrade.

LG

The South Korean tech giant has not confirmed the devices that will get Android 7.0 Nougat update. The expected devices from LG to receive the Android 7.0 Nougat update are LG G5, LG V10 and LG G4. The Android 7.0 Nougat update is also expected in LG UX 5.0+ skinLG V20.

@ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Samsung Galaxy J3 (2017) may be coming to the Indian markets pretty sooner that previous estimated. It is rumored that three Samsung Galaxy J3 2017 edition devices have been shipped to India already for testing purposes.

Samsung Galaxy J3 2017 release date has not been announced yet officially, however, Samsung fans are anticipating that this budget smartphone may hit the market shelves pretty soon. Recently, the other two phones - Galaxy J7 (2017) and Galaxy C9 - were spotted on export and import website Zauba.

Galaxy J3 2017 also made an appearance on Zauba, raising speculations that budget smartphone may be launched in India earlier than expected. The "Samsung Galaxy J" lineup has already created a stir in the smartphone industry of the Soutch East Asian countries, and Galaxy J3 2017 release in India is further expected to heat up things.

According to Android Headlines, the third-generation Galaxy J smartphone, Galaxy J3 2017 model number SM-J327P has been shipped to India. The package, which originated in Samsung's home location South Korea, contains three units of the upcoming budget phone.

Each of the phone in the package has an estimated cost of INR6,843 (US$103). It is estimated that the phone would cost INR8,999 (US$133) upon its launch.

The cost seems highly reasonable, making it one of the most anticipated budget phones. According to International Business Times, Galaxy J3 2017 is expected to come with a 8MP primary camera and 5MP front snapper. In addition, it is rumored to possess 2,600mAh battery and an inbuilt LED flashlight.

Galaxy J3 2017 would have an interface based on Android 5.1 Lollipop-based ZUI 2.0. These similar may sound similar to the one possessed Galaxy J3, which was launched in India in March 2016. However, fans are excited over the fact that Galaxy J3 2017 would support 4G LTE, which is a major upgrade for a budget phone like this one.

@ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
The other day, anti-Trump Republican David Brooks wrote, of the debate, that Hillary "behaved in the normal manner on Sunday night. But Donald Trump did not. Trump treated his questioners as unrelatable automatons and delivered his answers to the void, even when he had the chance to seem sympathetic to an appealing young Islamic woman. That underlines the essential loneliness of Donald Trump . Trump seems to him to be a man incapable of making human connection. "He is essentially adviser-less, friendless. His campaign team is made up of cold mercenaries at best and Roger Ailes at worst. His party treats him as a stench it cant yet remove." Brooks has come to pity him.

Imagine if you had to go through a single day without sharing kind little moments with strangers and friends.



Imagine if you had to endure a single week in a hate-filled world, crowded with enemies of your own making, the object of disgust and derision.



You would be a twisted, tortured shrivel, too, and maybe youd lash out and try to take cruel revenge on the universe. For Trump this is his whole life.

Trump's excuse for human connection is the adrenalin-pumping adulation at his monstrous hate rallies. Like him, the deplorables-- what I've been calling, sadly, "life's losers" all cycle-- also want to "lash out and try to take cruel revenge on the universe."

Imagine you are Trump. You are trying to bluff your way through a debate. Youre running for an office youre completely unqualified for. You are chasing some glimmer of validation that recedes ever further from view.



Your only rest comes when you are insulting somebody, when you are threatening to throw your opponent in jail, when you are looming over her menacingly like a mafioso thug on the precipice of a hit, when you are bellowing that she has tremendous hate in her heart when it is clear to everyone you are only projecting what is in your own.



Trumps emotional makeup means he can hit only a few notes: fury and aggression. In some ways, his debate performances look like primate dominance displays-- filled with chest beating and looming growls. But at least primates have bands to connect with, whereas Trump is so alone, if a tree fell in his emotional forest, it would not make a sound.



Its all so pathetic.

Another anti-Trump Republican operative, Stuart Stevens, tweeted last night that "the only thing between Trump and a van by the river with Free Candy on the side is his inherited wealth." A day earlier, Chuck Todd noted that the Republican civil war is shaking the party to its foundations , and less than a month before the election.

According to the poll, two-thirds of GOP voters-- 67%-- say that Republican congressional candidates should continue to support Donald Trump after his lewd 2005 comments about women. Another 9% of Republican voters say these GOP candidates should no longer support Trump, and an additional 14% believe they should call on him to drop out of the presidential race. While that overall 67%-23% margin seems like good news for Trump, you can't win a national election when nearly a quarter of your party thinks its candidates should dump Trump. Maybe more importantly, if you're a Republican candidate who DOES want to discard Trump, you have two-thirds of your party's voters disagreeing with you. It's an unsustainable position for the Republican Party - and it explains why Republican members of Congress up for re-election are so conflicted about how to thread this needle.

Wall Street Journal wrote that Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll shows him trailing the Democratic nominee by nine percentage points among likely voters." Trump has given up on winning. It's now all about destruction-- dragging Hillary into the open sewer he lives in, wrecking the Republican Party that never really embraced him, and getting revenge against anyone who he perceived to be his enemies. Yesterday, Monica Langley, reporting for thewrote that Trump is doubling down on the far right-populism that Bannon is feeding him, a strategy aimed directly at the deplorables that will further alienate women, minorities, independents and mainstream conservatives. They're hoping to turn the last 3 weeks into something so ugly that turnout will be depressed and only the deplorables will both voting. He's turning his campaign into even more of a full-time attack machine with a total scorched-earth strategy. "The decision," wrote Langley, "means that a campaign already marked by intensely personal attacks is primed to grow even uglier in the remaining four weeks. Mr. Trump plans to keep up a relentless assault on Mrs. Clinton... [Trump's] core supporters dont make up a majority of the electorate, and most analysts see no path to victory unless he adds to them, even if Mrs. Clintons vote total is driven down. And a new/NBC News poll shows him trailing the Democratic nominee by nine percentage points among likely voters."

Kevin Madden, a Republican strategist who worked on the presidential campaigns of Mitt Romney and George W. Bush, said Mr. Trumps approach would drive turnout among his base, but alienating his own party and swing voters wont grow his vote. His remarks and tactics can have the adverse effect of energizing the Democratic base.

NY Times Last night the reported that Jessica Leeds, now 74, was assaulted by Trump on a plane was she was much younger.

About 45 minutes after takeoff, she recalled, Mr. Trump lifted the armrest and began to touch her.



According to Ms. Leeds, Mr. Trump grabbed her breasts and tried to put his hand up her skirt.



He was like an octopus, she said. His hands were everywhere.



She fled to the back of the plane. It was an assault, she said.

She was hardly the only one. Rachel Crooks was a 22 year old receptionist working in Trump Tower when Trump attacked her in front of an elevator. Other women have spoken to other media outlets about Trump's inappropriate behavior towards women.

In a phone interview on Tuesday night, a highly agitated Mr. Trump denied every one of the womens claims.



None of this ever took place, said Mr. Trump, who began shouting at The Times reporter who was questioning him. He said that The Times was making up the allegations to hurt him and that he would sue the news organization if it reported them.



You are a disgusting human being, he told the reporter as she questioned him about the womens claims.

Trump is threatening to sue the NY Times again. A Trump flack, Jason Miller, released this statement from Trump Tower:

This entire article is fiction, and for the New York Times to launch a completely false, coordinated character assassination against Mr. Trump on a topic like this is dangerous. To reach back decades in an attempt to smear Mr. Trump trivializes sexual assault, and it sets a new low for where the media is willing to go in its efforts to determine this election.



It is absurd to think that one of the most recognizable business leaders on the planet with a strong record of empowering women in his companies would do the things alleged in this story, and for this to only become public decades later in the final month of a campaign for president should say it all.

How creepy is this ? Especially if you have a young daughter? I wonder if craven Republican Senator Kelly Ayotte wants to go on TV again and look into the camera and tell New Hampshire voters without blinking that she thinks Donald J. Trump would make a good role model for their children.

On an April 11, 2005, Howard Stern show, Donald Trump bragged about some of the special perks he enjoyed while owner of the Miss USA pageant. They came not in a locker room but a dressing room.



"I'll go backstage before a show and everyone's getting dressed and ready and everything else," he said. "And you know, no men are anywhere. And I'm allowed to go in because I'm the owner of the pageant. And therefore I'm inspecting it."



Said Stern: "You're like a doctor."



Responded Trump: "Is everyone OK? You know they're standing there with no clothes. And you see these incredible looking women. And so I sort of get away with things like that."



...According to Tasha Dixon, Miss Arizona of 2001, there was more inspecting than doctoring.



In an interview with the station, she described her experience with Trump as a contestant that year in a dressing room where she and others were changing into bikinis:



"He just came strolling right in. There was no second to put a robe on or any sort of clothing or anything. Some girls were topless. Others girls were naked.



"Our first introduction to him was when we were at the dress rehearsal and half naked changing into our bikinis.



"To have the owner come waltzing in, when we're naked, or half naked, in a very physically vulnerable position and then to have the pressure of the people that worked for him telling us to go fawn all over him, go walk up to him, talk to him, get his attention."



She suggested that such opportunities were among the reasons Trump owned beauty pageants.



"I'm telling you Donald Trump owned the pageant for the reasons to utilize his power to get around beautiful women. Who do you complain to? He owns the pageant. There's no one to complain to. Everyone there works for him."

Washington Post readers, once again, that Trump is Trump's ascendency within his party drove George Will to such despondency that he not only refused to back Trump, it resigned from the GOP and re-registered as an independent. A couple of days ago he told hisreaders, once again, that Trump is too disgusting for any self-respecting human being to support . "His sexual loutishness is a sufficient reason for defeating him," wrote Will, "but it is far down a long list of sufficient reasons. But if it-- rather than, say, his enthusiasm for torture even if it doesnt work, or his ignorance of the nuclear triad-- is required to prompt some Republicans to have second thoughts about him, so be it."
B uy-to-let inquiries are up 30 per cent since May, according to a new report from Rightmove.

This comes after a temporary lull in investor activity following the three per cent increase on stamp duty introduced for second home owners in April.

The lull didn't lead to a reduction in the supply of rental homes as some property experts predicted, with new rental listings six per cent higher across the UK than this time last year.

In fact, London has seen a 15 per cent year-on-year increase in available properties, reducing the competition between tenants for the right home. This has led to a slight drop of 1.5 per cent in prices, taking asking rents to an average of 1,985 for a two-bedroom property in London over the past year.

Property experts believe that buy-to-let investors are looking to offset these losses by negotiating on buying prices.

Investor activity has bounced back following the stamp duty changes, though some agents report that many investors are looking to knock sellers down on their asking prices to make up for the additional stamp duty they now need to pay, says Rightmoves head of lettings, Sam Mitchell.

There's good news for investors who rushed to purchase before April's stamp duty changes, with the strongest returns of 13.8 per cent being found in south London's East Croydon, closely followed by west London's Greenford, with 13.4 per cent.

The calculation takes into account an area's capital price growth and average rents since the stamp duty changes.

Outside London, seaside towns are also offering strong returns, including Southend-on-Sea (14.7 per cent), St Leonards-on-Sea (13.7 per cent) and Clacton-on-Sea (12.4 per cent).

Once again, Essex and other commuter spots are offering investors the best total returns, and those looking at long-term investments are seeking out areas with upcoming improved transport links," says Mitchell.

However, changes to reduce mortgage interest tax relief from 2017 could again see a reduction in investor activity, according to Mitchell.

He warns that as it may take some time for the Government's 1 billion Build to Rent scheme to seriously increase rental stock levels, rents could rise again next year.
S outhwark will impose new rules requiring planning permission before an arch can be converted from commercial to residential use.

Turning an arch into a home is currently allowed under permitted development rights without the need to seek planning approval. However, Southwark fears such conversions endanger the special character that arches add to an area.

Londons thousands of railway arches appeal to architects, who are attracted by their romantic settings, and to developers, who like to include arches in schemes aimed at regenerating derelict railway land.

Revealed: London's top property news stories 1 /40 Revealed: London's top property news stories Southwark council moves to save historic arches A London council is stepping in to save its historic railway arches, after a rush of applications to convert them into homes.



Read more

> Scroll right for more of London's top property news stories... Alamy Stock Photo Canning Town revealed as the most affordable property hotspot along the new 24-hour Night Tube route New research reveals the 10 most affordable stops to buy along the newest branch of Londons weekend Night Tube network...



Read more

Daniel Lynch London's property hotspots for "second steppers" New research reveals the capitals top locations for first-time owners trading up in the suburbs. Here's where to start your search for good-value homes with more space...



Read more

New-look 2016 Monopoly board for London's first-time buyers Barking and Bexley replace Old Kent Road and Whitechapel as the capital's cheapest property hotspots. Discover the average cost of buying in every London borough...



Read more

Barratt London Top 30 fastest-rising hotspots for first-time buyers from Peckham to Walthamstow South-east London postcodes are a favourite with the capital's first-timers, but discover which areas are proving to be the best investment for newbie buyers...



Read more

Bob Comics_Flickr City of London set to ban cars and trucks at Bank Junction The junction outside the Bank of England could become a bus and bike-only zone as early as next spring in an effort to reduce regular traffic accidents.



Read more

100 days after Brexit: how the UK's vote to leave the EU has impacted the property market We ask UK property experts how Brexit has effected the housing market and what the future holds...



Read more

> Scroll right for more of London's top property news stories... Shutterstock London borough of Redbridge is home to the capital's most satisfied residents The north-east London borough containing Ilford, Woodford and Wanstead has the best levels of life satisfaction in the capital, according to the latest data from the Office of National Statistics. So, what makes it such a good place to live? We find out...



Read more Daniel Lynch The Optic Cloak at Greenwich Peninsula This gigantic energy tower in south-east London, called the Optic Cloak, is set to warm up 15,000 new homes...



Read more Marc Wilmot_Greenwich Peninsula North Kensington house prices tipped to soar as council pledges to plug W10 into the Elizabeth line A new train station in North Kensington has become more likely after Kensington & Chelsea council pledged to foot the nine-figure bill to link the area to the Crossrail network.



Read more Alamy Stock Photo Post-Brexit sales "better than usual": 35m of London property sells in a single day at auction Guide prices were busted at a fiercely contested property auction where sellers were more nervous than the buyers...



Read more The 'world's largest smog vacuum cleaner' turns polluted city air into jewellery Winner of the 2016 Airbnb London Design Innovation medal, Daan Roosegaarde has launched his acclaimed Smog Free Tower in Beijing - and London could be next...



Read more Derrick Wang Locals vow to fight demolition of Fulham Gasworks Residents are preparing to fight plans for 1,300 new homes in tower blocks of up to 27-storeys high on the site of Londons last surviving Victorian gasworks in Fulham. .

Read more Post-Brexit UK property prices The pace of growth has slowed, but property prices are still rising following the Brexit vote. See how your region compares...



Read more PA Quietway cycle routes: Enfield to Greenwich London's first Quietway, the cycle route from Waterloo to Greenwich, is already up and running, with six more due next year. We reveal the traffic-free enclaves along the routes that are still some of the capitals best-kept secrets...



Read more Seven of the best Hertfordshire villages with 40-minute commutes to London Some of England's loveliest villages are found in family-friendly Hertfordshire, the low-profile home county just north of the capital that offers quick commutes to the centre. Take a tour of our pick of the best...



Read more Alamy Quietway cycle routes: Clapham Common to Walthamstow Discover the homes along TfLs peaceful new bike routes linking the suburbs to the centre through back streets and parks and along riverbanks and canal paths...



Read more Jonathan Bewley House prices in east London borough of Newham rise by more than 20 per cent in a year New figures reveal that while the pace of growth is slowing, property prices are still rising across the capital as demand continues to soar.



Read more Rex Grammar school expansion plans: homes near England's top 30 state schools command premiums of up to 630k Parents face paying an average of 53k extra to live near England's top 30 state schools - and grammar schools dominate the top 10, says new report.



Read more London's Zone 5 homes hotspots Thinking of moving? These are the areas you need to know about...



Read more Graham Hussey Tottenham Hale masterplan row Local residents complain they will lose their views if plans for the regeneration of the the River Lee Navigation waterfront, including apartment blocks up to 21 storeys tall, go ahead....

Read more Notting Hill's skinniest home for sale for 1.25m Inside west London's 'life-size doll's house' - measuring just seven feet wide...

Read more Seven of the best Kent villages less than 60 minutes from the capital - with good schools, shops and pubs Idyllic Kent villages with pubs, shops and good schools are great commuter options and only an hour - or less - from London.

Read more The Tube line extensions and Crossrail homes hotspots you need to know about Transport-led regeneration is the single most important factor boosting the value of homes. These are the new routes you need to know about...

Read more London's new walk-to-work homes near emerging business hubs - and mainline train stations As more creative companies and start-ups move out of central London's traditional business areas, neighbourhoods with new commercial hubs are being created with walk-to-work homes...

Read more The Olympic legacy? More than 100 small start up firms in Vittoria Wharf, Hackney Wick, are being forced to move into new premises following a green light to bulldoze the area to make way for a new bridge over the River Lee Navigation.

Read more Alamy Three-year forecast predicts the house price changes in your region House price growth has fallen in recent months, but is expected to start rising again by 2018, according to the latest three-year housing forecast by Countrywide...



Read more Shutterstock Night Tube: Tottenham Hale revealed as the most affordable property hotspot New research reveals the 10 most affordable stops to buy along London's Night Tube network as addresses along the Central and Victoria lines benefit from 24-hour connections...



Read more Rents fall for the first time in eight years as homes to let flood the market While rents are falling for the first time since the financial crash of 2008, rental prices across the capital are still far too high in relation to salaries.



Read more The university areas that get top marks for return on investment For parents considering buying a property for the three-year stint, a new study of the capitals top 12 universities reveals which present the best deals for buyers compared with renting.



Read more Alamy

Southwark council says it has doubts about the suitability of its 800 railway arches as living spaces, with trains rattling overhead, but it is also concerned about their fate, and the fate of the many small businesses  from microbreweries to mini theatres to yoga studios  that currently operate out of them.

Character: bars and restaurants in Isabella Street railway arches near Waterloo and Southwark Tube / Alamy Stock Photo

The council says: Railway arches have become a focal point for local businesses across the creative, manufacturing, culinary and service industries, and contribute a huge amount to the character of the area.

This week the councils planning committee is expected to agree to withdraw permitted development rights, recently introduced by the Government, allowing railway arches to be used for residential purposes without the need for specific planning consent.

Simon Bevan, Southwarks director of planning, also has concerns about the suitability of arches for housing, as they have limited opportunity of outside space, restricted access to natural light and fresh air, and exposure to excessive noise and vibration from the railway.

He is also concerned about safety. In many areas in Southwark, multiple lines pass over the arches, particularly on the north-south routes to London Bridge station, he said. Occupiers would be subject to regular train movements overhead, posing potential significant noise and vibration issues.

However, not everybody would agree with the councils stance. Undercurrent Architects won New London Architectures prestigious House of the Year award in 2013 for a two-bedroom, 1,600sq ft live-work unit built within a 19th-century railway arch beneath a live train line in Southwark.

All systems go: award-winning Undercurrent Architects is a leader in creating living and working spaces below Londons busy railway tracks

And developer Cyntra Properties won planning consent this year to convert two arches in Sutherland Square, Kennington, into a pair of two-bedroom homes to a design by Undercurrent director, Didier Ryan.

The obvious challenges of creating a home in a noisy, wet, dark, and poorly ventilated arch are surmountable, says Ryan, who believes arches could provide thousands of new homes for the capital. He has objected to Southwarks new strategy, describing it as a reactive policy decision to thwart private initiatives.

Speaking about his award-winning arch house, he said: Its possible to do something very exceptional with very difficult conditions. We had a tough site but problems can create very positive results.
Some industries remain stubborn and resistant to change by not embracing new technology as fast as others. However, over the last few years, the hospitality industry has seen dramatic technology changes with the sudden maturing of suppliers as a result of consolidation and larger more sophisticated supplier entrants, competing hospitality business-model entrants that leverage technology as a platform, and technology strategy changes as a result of brand management company consolidations. These trends will continue to impact the industry's technology strategies for the foreseeable future. However, there is a new, more permanent check-in about to arrive.

On October 4, 2016, Google embarked on a strategy to challenge Apple more directly by announcing their first smartphone to be designed and manufactured by Google: Pixel (1). Google are clearly betting that by more closely aligning hardware and software, they will be able to offer the same kind of seamless user experience that Apple provides its own users. More importantly, on the same day Google announced a strategy to leverage their vast information capacities by embedding voice-based AI within Pixel, envisioning a more intelligent natural language future for services like restaurant reservations, map directions, local points of interest, etc.

This isn't exactly new  Siri, Cortana, Alexa and Google's Now, have all been around for some time. While each of these respective companies have the capability to make the user voice experience seamless, natural and accurate, what separates Google's announcement from the pack is sheer footprint. Google's Android has an astonishing 87.6% mobile OS market share versus Apple's 11.7% for IOS (2). With this penetration, combined with improving voice recognition accuracy, speed and ability to manage increasingly complex natural-language capabilities, Google are positioning themselves to dominate the smartphone and mobile AI space. This pervasive strategy embeds further as Google increasingly moves into your living room with Drive, Android TV, Home, Chromecast, Daydream View, WiFi routers, etc.

How will pervasive AI impact the hospitality industry?

Guest knowledge  A consumer starts their guest experience even before a room is booked by shopping around different channels, seeking rates, availability and room types, and even booking the exact room for their stay. They have access to more information today than ever before in helping with the decision process. By adding AI assistance in their pockets, guests will be able to query against very specific criteria and compare results seamlessly with competitive options or while approaching the hotel or even standing at the front desk. Precursor examples of leveraging technology and inferring information exist today, for example, gaming the loyalty program upgrade policies to ensure suites are available for upper level loyalty members at check-in.

Guest & associate experience  Hospitality management companies and technology vendors must consider the impact of guests wanting a rich, personalized stay experience by using familiar and increasingly sophisticated technology that is always available in their pocket. Guests prefer to use this familiar tool to leverage biometric or secured-device identification, and will also prefer it for natural language voice assistance to interact with various hotel services  from the pre-stay booking process through the in-stay experience with key-locks, room environment control, ordering pool-bar cocktails, or requesting their car to be brought around.

Additionally, as consumers are now accustomed to self-service in and beyond the travel industry through kiosks and apps, there is an accelerated natural evolution with advancements in AI and robotic capabilities to directly deliver guest service in the industry. Some examples include Starwood's "Project Jetson" which pilots Siri-activated rooms (3) and the Botlr robot program at the Aloft Cupertino (4), as well as Japan's Henn-na Hotel which is almost exclusively run by robots. The challenge for the industry will be how to bridge the uncanny valley (5) of robotics in a guest service experience. These examples can provide a learning opportunity as they by-pass the phenomenon altogether as a way to start the introduction into the guest experience. In parallel, the industry is on the cusp of major transformations to be generated when guest AI start interacting with hotel AI driven by the intersection of advancements in AI, cloud data storage, natural language interpretation, and the pervasiveness of it all coming together in the mobile technology footprint.

The associate experience will be greatly impacted as well. In addition to the change in the traditional roles and responsibilities that robotics will bring to hotel operations, associates that remain will naturally bring their lens of the consumer AI experience to their work tasks, tools and data. This, along with increasing personalization expectations by guests, will drive a bottom-up demand for more intelligent data and subsequent improvement of tools for the associates to use.

Consider the example of evolving available consumer chat services to handle more complex voice/natural language guest requests. The immediate solution is to staff the hotel service at sufficient levels to handle and route the request with high personalization and efficiency. However, the human portion of work involved in transforming the natural language request is a major bottleneck in this process. AI presents the opportunity to enable the transformation of the request into discrete instructions consumed by next generation solutions that employ a micro-services architecture. This removes the human bottleneck and enables the redeployment of people to ensure the high quality of service standards are maintained for the guest- a more profitable process for the business.

Another area to be profoundly impacted by AI will be the current state of data privacy and related legislation. As Google and others become further embedded into our daily lives, we will naturally add more personal data to our profile through increased usage. AI will mine that data and determine what artifacts are pertinent to retain and file, or discard. Single platform data mining is not inherently difficult. What is difficult is mining across multiple platforms and data repositories  think about the numerous areas where data is stored today: map POIs, music, pictures, browser favorites, etc., variously stored across Google, Apple, Facebook, private cloud storage, and other platforms. Compounding this challenge are conflicting requirements from governments to try to nationalize citizen data and storage for multi-national industries, e.g. hospitality servicing multi-national travelers. Data will be shared and stored cross-border  its naive to believe legislation will stop international personal data transfers especially when guests want similar experiences and recognition while visiting Madrid, Melbourne and Mendoza. AI is the only solution capable to meet the complexities of intelligent data aggregation on demand, while supporting anonymizing and other legislation requirements.

Beyond the data privacy and legislation concerns, hotels and loyalty programs already struggle in trying to deliver a personalized experience for the guest due to the difficulty in interpreting the guest's particular stay profile. Identifying when a guest is on business or leisure, with family or without, are relatively easy observations to make. More difficult is understanding when to leverage specific information to engage the guest with a more personalized interaction, which usually requires some indication from the guest themselves as to the level of personalization that is appropriate. Today, these interactions are left to human judgement or canned technology processes. Going forward, AI will support the ability to access, codify and appropriately present more data about the guest at every touchpoint in the stay cycle. AI won't replace the human touch completely, but will better support the human or machine process by presenting more relevant information at the right time.

AI is coming fast and going mobile. As stated before, some industries are traditionally stubborn and resistant to technology change, however, there are significant and natural AI opportunities presented by the hospitality industry's business model, diversity by physical geography, and data complexity. No industry is better positioned to leverage AI's ability to sift through vast amounts of data and help create a unique guest experience. A new breed of major technology companies have already embarked on leveraging the advancements of AI with many supporting the hospitality industry. Suppliers, Hotels and management companies must begin to understand this opportunity now and undertake a significant evaluation of their current technology platforms and strategies to determine readiness for AI.

AI will become embedded and ubiquitous, and in the pocket of every associate and guest.

Are you ready?

View source
Google Trips got a good bit of attention on its recent release in September, but I'm not sure I understand the fanfare. Per Forbes, Google Trips is a "fantastic travel app you should download now." Many hail it as a personalized travel app, but I'd argue it's not quite there, yet.

Here's what it can do. It scours my email to find itineraries and provides quick access to the original emails if I need them. Handy. It keeps my car rental details right there along with the air itineraries. I like this, except I mostly Uber these days. The best part of any of this is that it's available even when I don't have Wi-Fi, which isn't all that often anymore. I'd argue that Google Trips make travel more mobile-friendly.

Otherwise, though, Google Trips is basically a smart destination guide. Using a combination of attractions that I select and my search history, Google Trips will craft attraction itineraries guessing at what my interests are. It's a nice feature.

But not necessarily innovative.

It's a useful tool that integrates some data, but it would be more helpful if it understood that I'm the kind of leisure traveler who flies into a major city, spends one or two nights then heads to the country. It isn't able to pick up much in the way of reservations outside of major cities as far as I can tell, and it definitely doesn't do attractions and restaurants. Not yet at least.

What would be a game-changer is to make it more personal. Google Trips is on the cusp of doing this with the itineraries feature, but it must go further than this. It needs to understand how I travel more than it needs to understand what I like to do. What would be useful is to have the app locate where I am and design opportunities for me to get from point A to Point B. For instance, given Google's mapping capabilities, it could tell me which train station I'm closest to when I request an Uber, so I know where to go, or the easiest way to get from mid-town Manhattan to the Upper West side based on where I'm standing.

My point is that Google Trips is a step in the right direction, but it's just that, a step. It's not going to revolutionize leisure travel in its current form (nor do I think that was the intent but the media seemed to think it was revolutionary).

Where it has the potential to make waves is in shifting our data reliance as travelers. Should we choose to engage with it, it will incrementally give Google more power over our information by encouraging us to rely on Google, Gmail, Maps, Local, etc. more than we do other sources so that we can integrate with Google Trips. Most of us are already reliant on Google for a great deal, but in bits and pieces, it may shift travelers away from aggregators and reviews sites toward Google. Moreover, when Google follows with a booking engine, for instance, the industry might actually feel it this time.

Oliver Heckman, VP of Engineering for Google Travel, said that the "master plan is to be the connector that builds awesome travel experiences, qualifies users and then sends them off to the right partners," but he also mentioned that this could eventually look like helping travelers plan and book travel. While this might not occur through Google Trips, it could in an adjacent, integrated app, such as Allo.

At this point, I'll use it to get to my travel details. And maybe it's possible that when I'm in the app trying to get to my confirmation number for the millionth time, I'll use Google Local for attractions and restaurants or reviews. Maybe I'll end up skipping the TripAdvisor step eventually, which I suspect was Google's goal.

There was some initial stock kick back in the industry among TripAdvisor, Expedia, and Priceline, but Google Trips doesn't really pose a grave risk until it ratchets up the kind of data it integrates so that it can personalize to the traveler, understanding who the traveler is, not what the traveler wants to do. If enough travelers engage with the app, this is likely, but I question how many travelers will rely on it in its current form.

About Puzzle Partner

Puzzle Partner Ltd. is a boutique marketing agency focused exclusively on complex B2B initiatives for the travel and hospitality technology industry. We are experts at combining strategy and tactical execution in a way that doesn't just maximize a company's potential; it redefines it. By delivering influential content, marketing services, and public relations rooted in the skills of our team and tested through real-world experience, we help our clients gain visibility, raise their profile and ultimately increase their sales revenues. We incorporate a holistic blend of paid, earned and owned media, along with creative services, into an integrated communications strategy to drive brand awareness ahead of competitors and deliver impactful business results.

To learn more visit puzzlepartner.co.

Alan Young

CEO

Puzzle Partner Ltd.
At the Ecole hoteliere de Lausanne, on the 18th of October, will be organized the 4th edition of

the TEDx conference:. This year with a team oftotally devoted to change the world with Ideas Worth Spreading. We will be welcoming, expecting someonline via our livestream from across the globe.

TEDxEcoleHoteliereLausanne will welcome amongst 12 speakers, the violinist Pierre Amoyal, the entrepreneur

Vincent Perriard or the skier Edgar Grospiron to exchange on the theme  Origins 

To get ideas around a single, but wild topic, TEDxEcoleHoteliereLausanne decided to work on their theme of this

year:a seemingly broad theme that is aimed squarely to encompass different topics, whether it be the Geographic, Sociological, Economical or Political sense of the term.

On behalf of the TEDxEcoleHoteliereLausanne Team, we encourage you to attend the biggest

conference ever organized on campus and experience a TED-like experience at the, which will hopefully influence you and potentially shape the future to be.

If October 18th is too long to wait make sure to visit our website and follow our Facebook

page to get the latest updates about @TEDxEHL and our speakers!

For more information please contact Elie Vischel

0792237235
Hospitality Net today

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Berlin  Lisbon is a city that exudes a harmonious melding of old and new, and there's a new address in town to capture precisely that intangible magic. Tucked among the time-telling traditions of tile merchants and pastelarias, down a honey-hued corridor which opens onto the larger city scape, is the Memmo Principe Reala modern ode to the particular charms of the infectious city that is Lisbon. Opening in mid-October, the hotel is a dramatic and dignified study in period contrasts, the 41-room hotel of limestone, expansive glass, and natural oakwood practically levitates above the bustle below.

With a masterful understanding of the balance it takes to straddle both contemporary and classic forms, architect Samuel Torres de Carvalho was tasked for the new build of the Memmo Principe Real. The Madrid-born Portuguese architect, also responsible for the group's previous two projects (Memmo Baleeira, 2007, and Memmo Alfama, 2013,) was ever-mindful of the changing face of Lisbon. Known for his spectacular modernism, Torres de Carvalho created a sleek four-story geometric building of stark white, and a long, rectangular silhouette.

Unifying the design aesthetics of the three properties, the Memmo design team, coordinated by Joao Correa Nunes and architect Samuel Torres de Carvalho, set out with a challenge to create a new build that would house a mix of modern elements using classic materials and details. Together, they have created a contemporary capsule with an old world soul.

A seductive ground floor of rounded lines is entirely walled on one side by floor-to-ceiling windows and uninterrupted views of the sultry city. Limestone floors throughout this floor's reception, restaurant, bar, and terrace, pay tribute to traditional Portuguese masonry and lay way for the overall air of vintage L.A. ease.

The Memmo design team's ethos of contemporary elegance and custom-crafted simplicity carries through all 41 rooms of the hotel. A serenely neutral palette of taupes, sage green, and wood hues are sharpened by the same black steelwork seen in the hotel's exterior structure. Natural oak wood, used extensively in the rooms, features strongly in the form of custom-built cabinetry, walk-in closets, headboards, and sliding separation doors, while darker finishes on the floors root the entire design. Subtle neutrality continues with the textiles: flax-toned floor-to-ceiling curtains frame the dramatic views that when parted, let the golden Portuguese sun flood the space. Bathrooms are entirely outfitted in limestone, the sandy-tinted stone deftly straddling the raw earthiness and modern sleekness that defines the hotel. A full range of amenities by Hermes is available in-room, as is a full-size soap and carry case from the luxury retailer for guests to take home.

Located in the central, social heart of the hotel with panoramic views of the city, Cafe Colonial is a celebration of the many global influences represented by Lusophone roots. Drawing its main influences from Portugal, Brazil, Africa, and Asia, Cafe Colonial is a neighborhood fixture drawing in locals with fair-priced favorites, lively conversation, and a convivial spirit of community.

Leading the multicultural charge is 35-year-old Vasco Lello, a young but already established chef in the Portuguese capital. Influenced by his heritage, the wisdom of both grandmothers, and the daily home cooking he was raised on, Lello values Portuguese cooking tradition, products, and history, but allows his extensive travels to seep in. Here, fluid, open spaces abound with limestone, oak, and worn velvet materials defining the aesthetic. Black marble tables and green accents contrast a largely neutral landscape where vintage area rugs add both warmth and a division of areas; from sofa lounge seating to classic tabletop dining and high-top bar perches. Signature dishes include: Ox-tail croquettes served with pineapple & chili chutney, slow cooked pork cheeks on a bed of caramelized vegetables and mashed potatoes and a cod, miso and oyster chawan mushi, served with shitaki packchoi. Desserts include homemade ice creams and a Sao Tome, 70% chocolate, banana and salted caramel praline.

About Memmo Hotels With their first two properties, Memmo Alfama (2013) and Memmo Baleeira (2007), Original Rodrigo Machaz and his team have become local ambassadors for their regions, always sure to welcome guests as longtime friends. All three Portuguese properties highlight an exceptional blend of local cuisine, design, history, and culture, and provide inside access and tips on the less-discovered. With Memmo Principe Real, Machaz brings a new sense of luxury to Lisbon's hippest neighborhood.

About Design Hotels

Design Hotels represents and markets a curated selection of over 300 independent hotels in more than 60 countries across the globe. More than a collection of hotels, the company is a collection of stories. Each property reflects the ideas of a visionary hotelier, an "Original", someone with a passion for genuine hospitality, cultural authenticity, thought-provoking design and architecture. Each "Original" stands for the individual, aesthetic and service-driven experience that his or her hotel provides.

In 2017, Design Hotels launched Further, a traveling laboratory for experiential hospitality that transforms hotels across the globe into temporal hubs of thematic exploration. The mission behind Further aligns with the values of the future-facing Promad, a new generation of traveler embracing progressive travel and global nomadism. First identified by Design Hotels in collaboration with leading futures consultancy The Future Laboratory, the purpose-driven, self-actualizing Promadic movement is set to shape the future of hospitality.

Founded by Claus Sendlinger in 1993, Design Hotels offers its members insightful travel industry knowledge, from market trend consultancy to international sales representation. The company has its headquarters in Berlin and branches in London, Los Angeles, New York and Singapore. In 2019, Design Hotels joined forces with Marriott Bonvoy, enabling its member hotels to have both a greater and more selective reach while offering its Community the benefit of the industry's leading loyalty program.
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IF WE LOOK AT THE overall travel retail sector, including airport shops, cruise liners, ferries and what is sold or given away on board aeroplanes, we are contemplating a champagne market of a shade over 9m bottles. To put this in perspective, in 2015 9.21m bottles of champagne were shipped to Belgium and 8.11m bottles to Australia, respectively the sixth and seventh largest markets for champagne. Travel retail then slips in between these two, but its importance as the premier shop window for brand champagne worldwide makes it arguably extra special.

Bald statistics dont, of course, give us the complete picture. While we can be pretty comfortable the figure for Australia is near to champagne consumption Down Under, we know that Belgian consumption of champagne is much higher than this.

Its only around 170 miles from Brussels to Reims by road and a considerably shorter distance  barely two hours drive  from most of southern Belgium. If a Belgian champagne lover wants to stock-up on fizz, they just nip over the border and fill their car boot. Ask any grower producer who sells at the cellar door.

Wherever you put travel retail in the top 10 market pecking order, 9m-plus bottles is a significant chunk of sales, even if its slightly down on the 9.35m bottles IWSR says were accounted for by this sector in 2014. Travel retail has around a 3% market share of all champagne sales, which makes it important to the Champenois, and around a 7.5% share of premium champagne sales  fizz thats sold at U$30 plus  which adds to the attraction. As Jean-Christian de la Chevalerie, key accounts international director of Laurent-Perrier, points out: Travel retail is known as the sixth continent, this is true for fashion, fragrances, cosmetics and tobacco. For spirits its massive, for whisky its huge.

RAPID PACE

The travel retail sector is expanding, while its also changing and developing at a rapid pace as the major operators around the world apply an increasingly sophisticated approach in their outlets to seduce travelling consumers into buying. In terms of flying numbers, while low-cost airlines are driving the growth, says De la Chevalerie  he points to the huge order for 200-plus Airbus 320s by Indonesia low-cost carrier Lion Air  their passengers are still interested in the shopping opportunities. Theres plenty of evidence of further Asian development on and off the ground with Garuda Indonesia also confirming an order for 14 Airbus 330s earlier this year.

Like other producers DI has spoken to, he sees the Middle East and Asia as the areas where the growth is going to come from. Abu Dhabi is planning a huge expansion with its new Midfield terminal, which will have 28,000sq m of commercial space, due to open in December 2017. This year it expects 10% passenger growth even before that expansion is complete. In China, while there are two huge hubs [Beijing and Shanghai], there are another 90 airports in the country and, although champagne remains a very small category there, the potential for growth is significant.
A hotel website needs to be so much more than a pretty face for the property; it needs technology powering it that is built to drive direct hotel bookings. A successful hotel website must incorporate the right balance of excellent design, state-of-the-art website CMS (Content Management System) technology, robust merchandising capabilities and engaging visual and textual content, while providing optimum user experience from top to bottom. Created by HeBS Digital, The Complete Guide to Choosing the Right Website CMS provides hoteliers with concrete ways to evaluate this crucial website technology, including what features and functionalities to look for that are essential in driving direct bookings and selling the overall hotel experience.





The Complete Guide to Choosing the Right Website CMS Technology includes:

Big picture factors to consider such as whether the CMS has been designed around hotel direct distribution and marketing needs and if the technology plays a role in the overall marketing mix to fuel the path to a booking.

Hospitality-specific capabilities and modules to drive direct bookings, including real-time automated targeting with dynamic promotions for website visitors, full content control (visual, promotional, textual) of every page plus ability to create unlimited content, promotional, group and marketing landing pages and content sections; ability to have multiple website designs and page layouts to showcase your products and services, etc.

Merchandising capabilities that should be evaluated to present the hotel product and value proposition directly to the online travel consumer and is centered on communicating the unique features of the property (hotel services, meeting & event space, latest promotions and special offers, local attractions, and more), allowing the hotel to sell on value as opposed to sell on rate alone. before.

Integrations that need to be considered with booking engines/CRS, PMS, RFP and loyalty programs, technology vendors, spa and dining reservation technologies, Social Media Feeds, Weather feeds, etc.

Technical capabilities that need to be included that are in line with SEO best practices.

Top ten questions to ensure your property website success.

Checklists to determine must-have technical needs and property business-needs the CMS technology must take into account.

Evaluation checklist for choosing the right website CMS technology.

The real long-term cost of choosing the wrong CMS for the hotel website is a dramatic loss of direct revenue, increased distribution costs and increased dependency on the OTAs. Without the right technology powering the hotel website, hoteliers not only fail to engage, retain and acquire past and future guests, but seriously jeopardize direct revenue in this time of flattening occupancy rates and increased distribution costs said Max Starkov, President & CEO of HeBS Digital. We created this guide to help hoteliers evaluate the right website CMS technology for their hotel that will decrease OTA dependency and increase direct website revenues and customer engagement.

A major consideration when choosing a property website CMS is finding a technology solution that is tailored to the business needs and operational needs of the hospitality industry. Find more advice on choosing a Content Management System to power your hotel website by downloading The Complete Guide to Choosing the Right Website CMS Technology.

About 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 400 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.

Editorial Contact:

Mariana Safer

HeBS Digital

Phone: 212-782-3775

Email: mariana@hebsdigital.com

Web: http://www.hebsdigital.com

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/hebsdigital

Twitter: https://twitter.com/HeBS_NYC

LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/company/hebs-digital

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/HeBSDigitalMarketing
Gran Meli Palacio de los Duques

In 2016, Melia Hotels International's efforts have focused primarily on strengthening its international presence, having opened only two hotels in Spain: the Sol Costa Atlantis in Tenerife and the Gran Melia Palacio de los Duques in Madrid, the latter being the strongest sign of the company's commitment to excellence, providing luxury and exclusivity in the heart of the Spanish capital, in a hotel which combines history, art and modernity thanks to its construction within a historic building.

A strategic focus on international growth made Melia Hotels International the first Spanish hotel chain to open hotels in countries such as China, the USA or the United Arab Emirates, as well as becoming a market leader in traditional regions such as Europe, Latin America or the Caribbean.

Melia currently operates hotels in 41 countries, with 82% of them operated under management, lease or franchise agreements, leading to relationships with more than 400 different hotel owners. The company's medium-term objective is to earn a place among the top ten international hotel management companies, which is clearly reflected in the new hotels scheduled to join the company, 100% of which will be added under those type of agreements.

In 2016, Melia Hotels International's efforts have focused primarily on strengthening its international presence, having opened only two hotels in Spain: the Sol Costa Atlantis in Tenerife and the Gran Melia Palacio de los Duques in Madrid, the latter being the strongest sign of the company's commitment to excellence, providing luxury and exclusivity in the heart of the Spanish capital, in a hotel which combines history, art and modernity thanks to its construction within a historic building.

In Europe, highlights include the opening of the new Innside Aachen, Innside Leipzig and Innside Ostend Frankfurt ECB in Germany. The Innside by Melia brand continues to offer a new, fresh and sustainable interpretation of value, supporting the trend within the company to position itself as leader in the "bleisure" hotel business in important urban centers. In addition, we also signed the first five-star Melia hotel in Portugal. The Melia Lisbon is scheduled to open in 2018.

Melia continues to grow in Africa, this year opening the Sol House Taghazout Bay - Surf located in one of the most important surfing destinations in Morocco, complementing the existing hotels on the African continent with the first resort for the Sol Hotels & Resorts brand, ideal for young and energetic millennials, and fans of surfing, the sun and adventure. The company also signed two new hotels, the Melia Serengeti, its second hotel in Tanzania, and Melia Salamansa in Cabo Verde, where there are already three other Melia hotels plus the imminent opening of the Melia Llana.

In the Americas, the company has strengthened its presence in the United States with the opening of the Innside New York NoMad and the ME Miami hotels in two of the most cosmopolitan cities in the USA and the world. In South America, we will increase our footprint in Brazil with the opening of the new TRYP Barra Pernambuco, and the Gran Melia Rio de Janeiro scheduled to open later this year. The Company also plans to open the Melia Cartagena de Indias before the end of the year, its fourth hotel in Colombia. In the Caribbean, Melia made its debut in Jamaica with the all-inclusive resort Melia Braco Village.

2016 is a year for the consolidation for Melia Hotels International in Asia Pacific, a region in which it has strengthened its presence with the opening of the Melia Yangon in Myanmar and Melia Makassar in Indonesia. This year the company also plans to open the Sol House Bali Legian, also in Indonesia, and the Sol House Phu Quoc in Vietnam. Regarding the addition of new hotels, this is region where the company is focusing its plans for the future, having consolidated its presence in Indonesia this year, Melia's most important market in Asia Pacific and key to growth the region, with the signatures of agreements to operate the Melia Lombok Tangkong, Melia Bintan and Melia Pekanbaru. In the second half of 2018, the company also expects to open the Melia Ho Tram, one of the company's most recent additions and its fourth hotel in Vietnam.

In the Middle East and Indian Ocean, this year also saw the signatures of the Melia Almaty in Kazakhstan, Innside Doha in Qatar and Gran Melia Maldives in the island nation of the Maldives, resulting in a very positive forecast for hotel openings in the different regions outside Spain. So far this year, the Company is making strong progress in internationalization, adding more than 2,000 new rooms, and with a global schedule for future openings between 2017 and 2020 which already includes 50 hotels and over 12,500 rooms.
If you didnt catch 80s child actor Corey Feldmans Today Show performance, its an exercise in celebrity self-entitlement and the surreal circus that is life in 2016. After his musical number was panned by by publications and plebeians alike, Corey Feldman wept publicly. Returning to the Today Show for his comeback performance, Corey Feldman started off hot, comparing himself to the white GOAT Marshall Mathers. Apparently, it was the spirit of Eminem that gave Feldman the strength to try again:

A friend of mine who actually helpedhes an investor of minenamed Brian McMullen, he was on the phone with me and I was all depressed and I was crying. And he said, Think of it this way. When Kiss first started, when Eminem first started, when Nirvana first started, they all got hate. People were turning them off at the radio stations. People were walking off the dance floor at the clubs because it didnt make sense to them at that time. But those all became amazing legends. 

Will Eminem respond? Will Feldman and Mathers collab? Weve linked video of that pre-performance interview below, and will update this article with his actual musical performance once it becomes available.

Corey Feldman
Jordan Brands premium line of Pinnacle Air Jordans has been limited to the Air Jordan 1 and Air Jordan 4 silhouettes thus far, but tomorrow well be seeing a Pinnacle gold version of the Air Jordan 6.

In addition to this gold Air Jordan 6, Jordan Brand will also be releasing a shiny metallic silver Pinnacle Air Jordan 1 Low and a bronze pair of slides, all of which honor the 25 year anniversary of Michael Jordans first NBA title.

Similar to Spike Lees unique Oscars Air Jordan 6, the shiny golden upper is offset by a white midsole, although this Pinnacle pair utilizes a white tongue which differs from the Spike Lee joints. A custom Air Jordan hang tag and bag will also be included in the release.

The $250 6s are scheduled to release (in mens sizes only, in-store only) this Saturday, October 22nd, and we already know theyll be just as hard to get your hands on as the other Pinnacle Air Jordan releases.

Stores that will have the sneakers in stock will be implementing a raffle system for the release so be sure to check out Foot Lockers Launch Locator to see how your local spots will be handling this weekends release. As of now it appears as though the only Footaction carrying the Pinnacle Metallic Gold Air Jordan 6 is Chicagos 32 South State Street location.

So yeah, this release is going to be LIMITED. With a capital L.

Pinnacle Jordan 6
The Government is following through on Aodhan O Riordain's proposals.

The Department of Health has confirmed that Irelands first medically supervised injecting centre will be piloted in Dublin city centre next year. There will also be more detox beds and better access to addiction treatment for under-18s.

Its part of a 3 million package of Budget 2017 measures to support drugs and social inclusion measures.

The extra funding announced will enable the HSE to continue providing interventions aimed at improving the health outcomes of the most vulnerable in our society, including Traveller and Roma communities, those affected by addiction issues, those experiencing homelessness and asylum seekers and refugees, the Department says.

Talking about the capitals chronic heroin problem, which was highlighted this year when Hot Press went on urban safari with the Director of the Ana Liffey Drug Project, Tony Duffin, the Minister of State for Communities and the National Drugs Strategy, Catherine Byrne, says: The establishment of a supervised injecting facility is high on my agenda. This facility is badly needed to address the problem with street injecting in Ireland, which particularly affects Dublin city centre.

The difficulties experienced by under 18s in getting access to drug and alcohol treatment and the limited options available for detoxing from drugs were among a number of issues raised with me during the public consultation on the National Drugs Strategy, she continues. It is my intention to use the additional funding to address gaps in service provision for under 18s and in providing more detox places in community and residential settings next year.

I expect to receive a report from the Steering Committee set up to advise me on the new drugs strategy early in the New Year. Minister Harris and I intend to develop and bring to Government a proposal for multi-annual investment in drugs as part of the memorandum for Government on the new strategy.

It was Minister Byrnes predecessor, Aodhan O Riordain, who convinced Enda Kenny of the urgent need for the type of facility that has saved countless lives in countries like Canada and Australia. The aforementioned Tony Duffin was one of the experts who helped O Riordain draw up his proposals, which will now hopefully lead to a network of facilities around the country.

Its heartening to finally see harm reduction at the core of government policy, says Hot Press Deputy Editor, Stuart Clark. Aodhan O Riordain deserves enormous credit for kickstarting the process and bringing the likes of Leo Varadkar and the Taoiseach on board. Next stop; decriminalisation.
Hold on to the strength to live and love.

Hues Productions presents 'Holding On,' a dance performance that delves into the human condition and how we try to 'hold on' when life takes unexpected turns. How does one carry on and cope with loss - from family to the 'what could have beens?'

Inspired by Suse Lowenstein's sculpture 'The Dark Elegy,' the dance honours those victims lost in the 1988 Lockerbie, Scotland bombing. Skilled performers use their bodies to raise awareness to the normality of such tragedies today.

The performance is directed and written by the company's founder, Rory Hughes. Since 2014, Hues Productions aims to bring Broadway to Ireland and inspire young students through dance.

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'Holding On' premieres at the Axis Theater Ballymun in Dublin on October 26 and 27 at 7:30PM.

Tickets can be purchased for 15 at www.axisballymun.ie
When I was seventeen I had an acquaintance called Amelia who claimed to be a nymphomaniac. Amelia told me she had had sex with 35, 42, 54 men - the number varied wildly - and that her notches included wealthy strangers, her father's friends, and even her psychiatrist.

It was only many years later that I realised two things. First, that Amelia had almost certainly been lying, or at least exaggerating, to get a reaction from me. I was an uptight, virginal convent girl, and although I had shed the Catholicism, I had yet to slough off the bonus gifts of guilt and repression. Secondly, there is no such thing as nymphomania- or rather, nymphomania is the result of a social factor and not a physiological or psychological one.

It is true to say that mental health and sexuality are intertwined. Anyone who has suffered from depression, anxiety, or stress can find their desire for sex diminishing. The same thing can happen after the death of a loved one; or alternatively, grief can stimulate the libido. Our satisfaction, or lack thereof, with a relationship, a job, or indeed life in general, can all affect the desire for sex too.
Being the Queen isn't easy.

Its easy to see Her Royal Highness Queen Elizabeth II as a stoic monarch and a nominal figurehead, and youre correct in these assertions. However, theres more to this lady than we typically see, like many great public figures.

The Crown looks to chronicle the real life drama of Her Majesty, played by Claire Foy, from her marriage in 1947 to present day. The trailer shows off the perils she faced early in her regency, from her young age to which she ascended the throne, to eschewing personal happiness for the sake of the monarchy. Matt Smith, of Doctor Who fame, portrays Prince Philip, husband to Queen Elizabeth II.

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This new show is expected to run for a whopping sixty episodes over six seasons. Its first season will air in its entirety on 4 November.
A writer, fashion blogger, PhD candidate and advocate for disability and mental health, it's almost impossible to compress Sinead Burke's multitude of talents into a brief description - so I asked her to, instead. "I listen, I ask questions and I use whatever power or privilege I possess to amplify other voices." was Burke's gracious answer. "Those skills pertain to my PhD research on the voice of the child within the primary school classroom, my advocacy work within the disabled and little people communities and the space I've obtained within the fashion industry, challenging diversity and inclusive design."

Burke, aka Minnie Melange, is known for winning Alternative Miss Ireland, writing the interview series Extraordinary Women, and for being an ambassador for the ISPCC. And now she's using her talents, formidable work ethic and public platform to discuss fashion and disability. It's an important move for Burke, who has been a lifetime lover of fashion - though her relationship with the industry is complicated.

"Fashion is often depicted as a facetious industry," she notes. "One that bows to a one-dimensional definition of beauty. And while that may be true at times, we must all wear clothes. Fashion gave me agency and autonomy - so much of my aesthetic is manipulated by my condition of Achondroplasia, but fashion equipped me with an ability to reframe the narrative and choose how I wanted the world to look at me. Fashion has never been a frivolous exercise for me."
"This is a weblog that is truly welcome in blogtopia  a new blog doesn't seem to be frantically trying to score points for any party. That does NOT mean it's afraid to take a stand or be critical....You really can't predict exactly where The Debate Link will come down on all issues. It's not chanting anyone's mantra." -- The Moderate Voice "[A]n emerging genius in legal scholarship and commentary." -- Jim Chen "It's on my 1st cup of coffee rss feed." -- Hanno Kaiser "I heart this blog.... he referenced Wittgenstein, and it was entirely appropriate and non-pretentious." -- kath.A.rine "[F]unny, thoughtful, acclaimed ...." -- The Core
We're just two months away from our first Star Wars anthology film!

Gareth Edwards is taking us back to a galaxy far, far away in the upcoming Rogue One film. Its not part of the main series, but an anthology spin-off set shortly before the original 1977 Star Wars, also known as Episode IV: A New Hope. At its most basic, the movie will be about the plot to steal the plans to the Death Star, the infamous super weapon that could destroy whole worlds.

Its also about survivors of war, of people whose lives were irrevocably changed by the authoritarian Empire. Edwards, who previously directed 2014s Godzilla, brings a new direction to familiar old imagery, such as the image of the Death Star looming over an inhabited planet.

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This latest trailer sheds some light on story details, such as the lead character Jyn Ersos fathers role in the development of the Empires secret weapon. We dont want to spoil too many details, so just watch the trailer for yourself.
Bruce's right-hand man is getting his Disciples of Soul back together

Bruces trusted lieutenant Steve Van Zandt is reconvening his own band, the Disciples of Soul, for a hastily arranged Indigo at the 02, London show on October 29. Tickets go on sale at 9am on Friday October 14. Its an 11pm kick-off with up to 15 musicians jamming it out on stage.

Hed also love for a promoter here to magic up a gig.

London is covered this trip by the Indigo; still hoping for Manchester or Dublin. Longshot I know, hes tweeted. Short notice now but miracles occur. We have an extra day or two. Bug your local promoter!

If all goes swimmingly, there could be a full Disciples of Soul tour in 2017.

Its a big band, baby, he adds. Expensive to carry around. It will have to be somewhere around 2,500/3,000 at least. Combined with festivals.

The Disciples Of Soul were active during the 80s, with their Men Without Women and Voice Of America albums well worth adding to your collections.
As Blue Bell worked to get its ice cream back in the market after a devastating listeria contamination crisis last year, the company decided to outsource a key ingredient used in some of its specialty products - cookie dough - that is now at the center of its latest recall.

As a result, the Brenham-based company that had endeared itself to generations of Texans is again facing public concerns just as it was getting re-established.

Blue Bell made ingredients for its specialty flavors in-house prior to the 2015 Listeria monocytogenes outbreak that killed three people and sickened many more who had eaten its ice cream. A spokesperson said it began using outside suppliers for many of its inclusions because it has not yet regained the capacity to make them itself in the wake of the 2015 recall that shut down production for three months and forced hundreds of layoffs.

READ MORE: Blue Bell issues another recall

When it decided to reintroduce its cookie dough flavors this year, Blue Bell contracted with Aspen Hills, a 20-employee company in Garner, Iowa.

More for you Inside Blue Bell: Grime and discontent

By that point, Blue Bell had lost its position as the nation's leading ice cream brand and sales were half of what they were.

The latest recall, triggered by the discovery last month of the listeria bacteria in some Aspen Hills packages, is more than an untimely public relations nightmare. It also illustrates the challenges of managing supply chain risks that can affect a company's reputation and consumer safety.

"The real issue is, did everyone in that supply chain have proper and adequate controls over the fact that a known hazard might find its way into the finished product?" said David Plunkett, senior staff attorney for the food safety program at the Center for Science in the Public Interest.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has yet to identify the root of the problem, and Plunkett said all food producers are legally obligated to ensure the safety of their products.

A federal law that went into effect last month strengthens requirements that all producers proactively work to prevent contamination, not just respond to it should it occur in the marketplace. Plunkett said it affects companies throughout the supply chain, though the ones most familiar to consumers bear the greatest risk.

"If you're the end producer, you're responsible for that end product," he said.

'Abundance of caution'

Blue Bell and Aspen Hills last month each recalled a limited amount of their products after Blue Bell discovered listeria in some ice cream that was never shipped for distribution. Blue Bell ultimately traced the bacteria to unopened packages of cookie dough.

Both companies expanded their recall efforts earlier this month, each citing "an abundance of caution."

Aspen Hills said Monday it would recall about 22,000 cases of cookie dough products made between mid-July and the end of September because they might have been exposed to listeria as a result of lapses in its manufacturing practices. It said it had not found the evidence of the bacteria in its products.

RELATED: Blue Bell's cookie dough supplier denies it was source of listeria

Blue Bell then announced it was pulling from the market all ice cream flavors made with Aspen Hills cookie dough. That includes all half gallons and pints of Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough and Cookie Two Step produced this year and sold to retail outlets in the 16 states where the ice cream is sold, as well as three flavors distributed to food service providers during the same time frame.

All affected products had passed Blue Bell's test-and-hold procedures, the company said.

Still, the company has far from recovered from the crisis that prompted mass layoffs and a total shutdown of its facilities last year. Its cookie dough ice cream then was one of the products that revealed the sweeping problem.

Blue Bell employs about 2,700 people, down from 3,900 prior to the incident. Sales are forecast to total $445 million this year, slightly more than half of its 2014 total as determined by Euromonitor.

Privately held Blue Bell has regained a foothold in 16 states, down from 23 prior to the recall, though it has declined to comment on its recovery efforts and financial standing.

'A pretty serious problem'

Tim Coombs, a crisis communications expert at Texas A&M University, said Blue Bell likely will lose some customers despite evidence of the supplier's role.

"This is the third one, and when you have a series of them, that can lead customers to start thinking it's a pretty serious problem," he said. "It's not so much a problem with the hard-core customers, but customers further out will start to question it."

The most recent pair of recalls came just months after Brenton Tarantino had started buying Blue Bell once it returned to store shelves in his home state of Georgia. It was once his favorite brand, but he said he won't risk eating it again.

"I used to always be a supporter of them because I loved their ice cream," he said. "But I don't know if they can come back from this because they've had too many (recalls). It's just hard to put your trust in them again."

He said he's grown partial to Talenti, the gelato brand, and the ever-popular Ben & Jerry's.

Michael Phelps, a Dallas native, has witnessed the passion Texans reserve for the state's most famous ice cream. He recalled the reaction in his local grocery store when Blue Bell products disappeared from the shelves last year.

"People were just standing there in the freezer section looking like they had lost a family member," he said.

That first recall was enough for him to pull Blue Bell from his own freezer. He said his dog, accustomed to a nightly spoonful, sat sullenly by the door, waiting.

"I think he thought I was just being cheap," he said.

He, too, has discovered Ben & Jerry's and has no plans to go back to Blue Bell, especially in light of the recent news.

For other customers, the recalls hardly seem to register. When Blue Bell tweeted the news Monday, some people responded simply to ask when their favorite flavors would return.
Houston's Apache Corp. will work with scientists at the University of Texas at Arlington to study water quality in the newly discovered Alpine High oilfield in West Texas, the first time an oil company has agreed to share with university researchers the proprietary chemical cocktail it uses to drill for oil and gas.

The study, funded with a $136,000 grant from Apache, might solve a thorny problem for water quality research in and around oil and natural gas fields. In the past, scientists have found water pollution around wells, but couldn't link the contamination to any one source because they didn't know the chemicals each company used in drilling and production.

The partnership, announced Wednesday, should allow the university to monitor ground and surface water for the precise mixture Apache uses. The UT researchers, who retain the rights to publish results in academic journals regardless of the outcome, called the agreement "unprecedented."

RELATED: State admits it doesn't know if Balmorhea drilling will harm springs

"It is a really big deal," said Zacariah Hildenbrand, cofounder of UT's Collaborative Laboratories for Environmental Analysis and Remediation. "That's going to allow us to monitor groundwater changes with unparalleled resolution."

The move is aimed at allaying fears that Apache drilling could spoil the famous, crystal-blue water of the region's San Solomon Springs, which supply one of the largest spring-fed pools in the world. Residents of the 500-person city of Balmorhea have worried that an oil boom, while temporarily good for business, could contaminate the springs, use up the water, and close the nearby Balmorhea State Park, home of the pool. The West Texas community has long relied on tourism to support its economy; about 160,000 people visited the park last year.

RELATED: West Texas discovery puts Apache back in the game

Texas Parks and Wildlife Department officials first dismissed the threat, saying they had no evidence to suggest drilling could contaminate the springs. But they later conceded that they had not studied the issue, and, this week, said the agency had begun collecting research and consider water testing. They promised to take the matter "very seriously."

Apache's financing of the University of Texas study "demonstrates our interest in wanting to protect the environment and work with the local community," Castlen Kennedy, the company spokeswoman, said in a statement. Kennedy said Apache wants to be collaborative, transparent and responsible.

Last month, Apache announced the discovery of a field that holds an estimated 15 billion barrels of oil and gas. The field, called Alpine High, is located along a strip of Reeves County in the southern corner of the prolific Delaware Basin, south of New Mexico.

RELATED: Will water and oil mix in Balmorhea?

Apache has drilled about 20 wells so far, but expects as many as 3,000 in the area over the next 20-plus years.

Kevin Schug, a UT chemistry professor and director of the Collaborative Laboratories, will lead the water testing lab work. Hildenbrand will collect water and drilling fluid samples. The two will complete an analysis of surface and groundwater quality, setting a baseline for future monitoring as Apache begins to expand drilling operations.

Hildenbrand, a biochemist, has studied groundwater contamination around oil and gas wells from Texas to Pennsylvania since 2011. He and coworkers have published more than 20 studies in peer-reviewed journals. But, until now, he's only been able to search for chemicals described five years ago by energy companies during a congressional hearing on hydraulic fracturing.

Schug said the scientists will start gathering samples next month at 20 sites within the Alpine High play. The team will collect new samples every couple of months, and as new oil wells come online. The lab will also analyze Apache's chemicals to see if it can help the company come up with a better, more efficient mix for drilling.

Hildenbrand promised Balmorhea residents "the best and most comprehensive groundwater study that any one's ever done in the state of Texas."

"I really never thought big industry was going to come to us and work on this," he said. "We're really hoping this is a paradigm shift."
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The rapidly increasing demand for energy and plastics in the developing world will continue to increase global carbon emissions until about 2030, even though pollution levels are falling in the United States, a top Exxon Mobil executive said Wednesday.

The world's expanding middle class, particularly in China and India, is creating demand for plastics and other chemicals that will grow more than 4 percent a year, double the demand growth for energy, Neil Chapman, president of Exxon Mobil Chemical, said at a luncheon of National Association of Manufacturing held at Exxon's campus in The Woodlands. A large chunk of the chemicals and plastics consumed in Asia will be exported from the Texas Gulf Coast, he said.

Although carbon emissions are declining in the developing world due to increased energy efficiency and renewable power, the rapid growth of the developing world will mean global emissions ticking upward until about 2030 before slowly beginning to fall, he said.

RELATED: Breakthrough could mean sharply lower energy use in making plastics

"Climate change is an issue we have to address as a society," Chapman said. "But, at the same time, there's 1 billion people without electricity in the world."

Exxon is investing several billion dollars to increase the production of ethylene and polyethylene - the world's most common plastic - at its Baytown and Mont Belvieu plants. The project represents Exxon Mobil's first major U.S. chemical expansion in more than 15 years with completion slated for the second half of 2017.

Exxon also has a joint venture with the Saudi Arabia Basic Industries Corp., known as SABIC. The companies will soon decide whether to build another massive chemical plant in southeastern Texas or Louisiana.

RELATED: Exxon Mobil, Saudis look to create petrochemical venture in Texas

The demand for plastics is largely driven by rising incomes in China and other developing countries, where people are spending more of their money on consumer products, many of them made of or packaged in plastic.

When disposable incomes increase, Chapman said, people buy cars or shop at fancier grocery stores instead of outdoor neighborhood markets. "Everything is covered in plastic [in grocery stores]. In my business, we love that," he said.

Much of the plastics production needed to supply the developing word will come from the Gulf Coast, where access to cheap and ample natural gas has fueled a petrochemical boom. A component of natural gas, ethane, is the primary building block of most plastics.

The American Chemistry Council, a chemical industry trade group, estimates that about 275 petrochemical projects are under construction or planned across the country through 2023, and they will create about 75,000 jobs. The combined cost is $170 billion, including almost $55 billion in Texas.

The chemical sector now accounts for 51 percent of all U.S. manufacturing spending in 2016, according to the National Association of Manufacturing.

"Houston is at the absolute epicenter of this revolution," Chapman said, noting that more than 40 percent of the nation's base chemicals are produced in the Houston area.

The United States had little petrochemical growth in the last 15 years. As recently as a decade ago, it was, the most expensive place in the world to produce chemicals, Chapman said. The shale drilling boom, which unlocked vast reserves of oil and natural gas, changed that.

"That's an astonishing transformation from just a few years ago," Chapman said.
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AUSTIN - Nearly 20 percent of the electricity in the United States comes from nuclear power plants, many of which are decades old and only have a decade or two left before they must be retired.

Anti-nuclear activists are thrilled at the prospect, but environmentalists trying to fight climate change are worried. Without that nuclear power, which produces zero carbon dioxide emissions, meeting the goals set out in the Paris Climate Agreement will be practically impossible.

This dilemma is creating opportunities for advanced nuclear technologies, which were discussed Wednesday at SXSW Eco, a conference where energy and environmental issues are discussed by corporations, activists and government officials.

The future of nuclear power is particularly important to Houston and Texas, which depend on The South Texas Project Nuclear Operating Project for electricity. The two reactors near Bay City have supplied power to 2 million homes since 1976.

RELATED: Do nuclear plants have future in low-carbon world?

The South Texas Project, though, uses 1970s-era reactors that are expensive to build and use a large amount of water. While the plant has clearance to build two more similar reactors, the partnership between NRG, Austin Energy and San Antonio's CPS Energy has decided to suspend any new construction.

That's because existing nuclear power plants have a hard time making money in a competitive electricity market. Owners are shutting down 19 nuclear reactors across the nation because they are losing money, and the cost of renewing licenses is too high.

Nick Irvin, the manager of the advanced energy systems program at Southern Company, said the industry is looking to new reactor technology, like what TerraPower is developing thanks to a Bill Gates investment. With so many nuclear facilities shutting down, and the demand for zero-carbon alternatives growing, new nuclear technology is the only option.

Southern honestly takes an all-of-the-above approach, with huge investments in wind, solar and nuclear in addition to its mainstay natural gas and coals plants. Advanced reactors is a logical investment.

RELATED: It's a time of reckoning for Obama's Clean Power Plan

The U.S. government is also investing in advanced nuclear power, and recently announced $82 million in grants. But the bigger news is the $1.6 billion in private capital going into the industry, according to Third Way, which advocates for a balanced approach to energy problems.

Energy experts at SXSW Eco said developing the most promising technologies to commercial deployment will take another decade, but the work is underway. Patient investors and aspiring engineers will see a payoff when existing reactors shut down, and the need for lower carbon emissions grows.

Advanced nuclear power is at a nascent stage, but it certainly has potential for supplying more energy, creating new jobs and meeting environmental goals.
Until March, Ashwani Chandra's life was proceeding according to plan. After getting a degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Texas at Arlington, he worked for three years designing pipeline systems for the oilfield services company Universal Pegasus International, and planned to bring his long-time girlfriend over from India after they got married.

Then, as colleague after colleague fell victim to the oil bust, it finally came for his job as well. For Chandra, whose H-1B visa was tied to his continued employment, the blow felt even harder. He was forced to return to India. The promise of a green card evaporated. His relationship buckled under the uncertainty.

"My friends and my supervisors knew about it, that I was going to get married this year," Chandra said, in an interview in Houston in June. "They knew what they were doing to me, how it was going to affect my visa, my marriage."

Chandra is among thousands of high-skilled foreign workers suddenly uprooted by the two-year contraction of the energy industry, not only losing jobs, but also homes, friends, and opportunities to achieve their own American dreams. The visa category, known as H-1B, has long brought workers like Chandra to the United States to fill shortages in skilled occupations  but it remains controversial, as critics charge that companies have used it to replace American workers with lower-paid foreigners.

Debate over the program crystallizes a broader divide on immigration and the role immigrants play in the U.S. economy. Many business leaders and analysts have argued that the country should welcome more well-educated, highly skilled people to stay the United States as a source of new ideas and new energy for an economy increasingly driven by innovation.

Many others, however, say that the program undercuts American engineers, scientists, and technologists by recruiting people willing to work for lower pay. For example, a mechanical engineer on an H1-B visa is paid $71,723 on average, compared to the U.S. average of $88,190, according to records. Rising awareness of that imbalance has spurred calls for reform  even from some politicians, like Hillary Clinton, who have supported high-skilled immigration in the past.

"The many stories of people training their replacements from some foreign country are heartbreaking," Clinton told Vox News in July. "I want to see companies have to do more to employ already qualified Americans."

That can seem unfair to immigrants like Chandra, who feel they've worked just as hard as native-born workers to get an education and a job, and want America to benefit from their knowledge, skills and productivity.

Chandra, 31, worked as a mechanical engineer in India before moving in 2011 to Texas, where his brother lived, to earn a master's degree. He got his job at Universal Pegasus immediately after graduating in 2013, and lived like any other American young professional: finding a apartment near the Galleria, making friends, and traveling around the country.

He loved his work, too, and was pushed to take on more responsibility as the company's business expanded. "That just made my growth exponential, I just skyrocketed," Chandra says.

Then, the cuts started. Universal Pegasus endured heavy layoffs throughout 2015, as the oil bust rolled through oilfield services firms. Chandra's supervisor kept saying that he would sponsor him for a green card when the market turned around, which was a carrot worth sticking around for  but the market never did turn. Instead, in March, he was called into an office with his boss and human resources managers, who seemed genuinely distraught as they delivered the news, promising to bring him back when business improved. (Universal Pegasus declined to comment on personnel matters.)

In the few weeks before he had to leave the country, Chandra looked everywhere for a new job, studying for additional certifications to make himself a more attractive candidate. But as tough the market has been for any kind of oilfield-related engineer lately, it was even harder for those who require employers to pay steep fees if they're hired on.

"Companies are trying to save money on soap and toilet paper," Chandra says. "They don't want to spend $5,000 on an H1-B visa."

Records show that Houston employers request more H1-B visas than those in almost any other city  17,432 in 2016, compared to number one New York City's 36,122  with many of visa-holders working in teaching hospitals and as IT contractors. Judy Lee, an attorney at the Houston-based immigration law firm Foster Global, has had a front-row seat to the exodus of foreign workers in recent months. While software engineers have an easier time finding work in other fields, Lee says, those in the oil and gas industry have very few options.

"It's been pretty sad, because a lot of our clients who are on H1Bs have been here for quite a long time," Lee says. "Some are recruited from abroad and come in for the first time on their visa, but most went to school here."

It's especially difficult for those from India, like Chandra, for whom the wait for green cards is the longest: The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service is still processing applications from more than a decade ago. If you lose a job while your green card is pending, you lose your spot in line.

Visa holders also don't have the safety net that American citizens have when they lose jobs. Chandra didn't file for unemployment benefits, because of cruel Catch-22: To receive benefits he had to look for work, but he couldn't look for work because of his visa status, and risked losing a chance at a green card down the road if he got caught.

The Obama administration has taken small steps to make life easier for people here on H-1B visas, like allowing their spouses to work legally. Meanwhile, a coalition of technology executives has pushed for legislation to lift the 65,000 cap on the number of H1-B visas granted annually.

Chandra would at least like to see a six-month grace period for visa holders to get new jobs after getting laid off. Clinton has even proposed "stapling green cards to diplomas" of foreign students who graduate in high-demand fields. But Congress' appetite for welcoming more foreign workers has been spoiled by news of companies laying off scores of American employees and outsourcing the work to firms employing lower-paid foreign workers.

That kind of thing doesn't appear to happen often at large energy companies, which generally just hire the best candidates they find at engineering schools, and pay them well. Large energy companies do, however, hire outsourcing firms like Infosys  the biggest requester of H1-B visas in Houston  for their IT operations. Infosys workers on H-1B visas make an average of $82,000 a year.

Chandra understands the complaints with how the system is gamed to disadvantage American workers. Still, he wishes it didn't prejudice public opinion towards those who excelled in school and have essential skills to help the U.S. economy grow.

Now, Chandra is back in Uttar Pradesh in northern India, managing his family's real estate holdings and working to start a fish farm. He has received a job offer from another energy company in Houston, but it doesn't have work for him to do yet. So he's in limbo, stuck between reality and possibility. He could get an engineering job in India, but it would never yield the same earning potential or opportunities for advancement.

He misses some small things about living the United States, like his stargazing equipment, which he had to leave behind. But mostly, he misses the sense of putting his hard-earned skills to use.

"Sitting idle with good credentials is a bummer," Chandra said via email. "Once you get into this, you want to stay in."
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Awarding Bob Dylan the Nobel Prize for Literature isn't the Swedish Academy's sole concession to changing times.

The organization's website - like so many other websites - offers click bait, albeit highbrow click bait, by ranking the "Most Popular Literature Laureates."

Rabindranath Tagore may have been the hot thing in his day, but his reign at No. 1 will likely soon come to an end.

I don't have a strong opinion for or against Dylan's honor, announced Thursday, though this citation regarding his worth gave me pause: "For having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition."

Considering that great American song tradition has yielded zero previous Nobel winners in a field that traditionally awards novels, poetry and short stories, I question how great the Academy feels the tradition truly is.

With that in mind, Dylan's selection - that of a character as rooted in popular culture as academia - has some aura of stunt casting. Only 113 writers have received the award since it was first given in 1901, so honoring the author of "Wiggle Wiggle" feels a little suspect.

But even the most storied institutions evolve over time. How else to explain the decidedly un-Grecian beach volleyball's presence in the Olympics?

Sadly, I doubt Dylan's honor paves a path for fellow musical literary hero Leonard Cohen, which means Dylan will undoubtedly stand as the great musical aberration as the Nobel Prize marches into the future. We laud all sorts of lyricists for their brilliance in song form, but it's nearly impossible to imagine any who will eventually be regarded as Dylan has, with genuine scholarly study.

That's the '60s for you.

Still, if anybody who traffics in four-minute songs has earned the honor, Dylan is the guy. He's followed a relentless artistic arc from the thin, wild mercurial sound of youth to the complexity of middle age to a wilderness period that still yielded some of his best songs. The worst of his '80s work couldn't undermine the graceful tone he struck with "Every Grain of Sand."

The long arc has also served Dylan well. The majority of Nobel recipients have been authors in autumn - or in some cases, winter - who created vital new works late in their careers. Here Dylan again meets the criteria. His focus on words over sounds gave him a shield that his musical peers lacked - Dylan has aged like a writer, not a rocker.

From 1997 to 2012 he continued to thoughtfully contemplate life and death, time and love with collections of songs that matched his peak years in his use of metaphor, rhyme and depth of thought and feeling. He brushed away the burdensome '60s mythology simply and beautifully: "I used to care, but things have changed."

I think the line is a lie, but among popular musicians he's our best liar.

His narrative style has remained elliptically compelling - offering enough information for interpretation. Dylan in recent years has frequently offered an ominous assessment of the present and future: "Lot of water under the bridge, lot of other stuff too." And that's years before he got to an album titled "Tempest."

Yet he always found space for lines that begged for a comic rimshot: "I'm sittin' on my watch," he sang, "so I can be on time."

Dylan continues to be both masks from Greek theater. And he did so in a manner decidedly American, which is interesting because the Nobel Prize so infrequently finds its way to this country; Toni Morrison was the last American winner - 23 years ago.

And unlike other aging performers from the '60s rock sphere, Dylan has resisted the obligatory internationally-flavored album. His rudiments are found in American folk, blues, jazz and country and - with "Together Through Life" - influence from south of the Rio Grande. His phrase for "new poetic expressions" was an album title: "Love and Theft."

Any celebration of Dylan, then, is worthwhile to me. Had he written without the music, I don't think there'd be a Nobel discussion, but who knows what he might have written without song. As it stands, the '60s zeitgeist has afforded him cultural weight which has made him a figure admired in pop culture and academic circles - something that cannot be said of many of his new peers.

As such, he'll be the first Nobel winner to enjoy a goose in album sales. But I still have a hard time knowing he'll share space with Rabindranath Tagore, while Cormac McCarthy does not.
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During a wine adventure in the Texas Panhandle several years ago, one involving lots of time spent driving from one vineyard and/or winery to the next, a fortuitous convergence led me to find out how much Russell Kane knew about Texas wine and, in turn, how little I knew.

Kane, a corrosion engineer in his previous life, shared his wealth of knowledge gleaned from more than two decades of watching the Texas wine industry evolve. So, when Texas Wine Month rolls around every October, it has become a tradition for me to have him to weigh in on his current favorite releases.

Kane, who splits his time between Houston and the Hill Country, has a popular blog (vintagetexas.com) and is the author of two books on Texas wines, "The Wineslinger Chronicles: Texas on the Vine" and the photo history and wine trail guide "Texas Hill Country Wineries." He's also teaching first-of-their-kind "Specialist of Texas Wine" certification classes at the Texas Wine School.

2015 William Chris Vineyards Mary Ruth

This is a special wine for Texas made from a selection of grapes not on the radar of any West Coast winemakers. It allows consumers to get comfortable with both their inner Mediterranean and Texan from the first sip. The white wine's dramatic citrus and floral aromatics express the exotic character of the grapes - malvasia bianca and muscat blanc - with their ancient Mediterranean legacy, and blanc du bois, a surprising hybrid grape that Texas has naturalized as its own. The Mary Ruth has found a strong following in the winery tasting room with its dry lemon-mandarin citrus and underlying mineral notes, and has recently became available in Houston.

Pairings: Gulf seafood and dishes with Asian influences or aromatic spices. But, Kane says, save some for patio sipping.

Price: $26.99 at Houston Wine Merchant

2014 Haak Vineyards Texas High Plains Tempranillo, Reddy Vineyard

Texans need a wine that naturally goes with their grilled cuisine. Tempranillo, the Spanish grape of Rioja fame and now with rapidly expanding acreage in Texas vineyards, works perfectly. This tempranillo was made at the Haak winery - 45 minutes south of downtown in Santa Fe - by Marta Sanchez Lastowska, who lived in Spain before moving to the Houston area. It's a great expression of the fruit grown by Vijay Reddy in the red dirt of Texas' High Plains, melding rich black cherry aromas and flavors with mocha and leather notes, comfortable acidity and a pleasing tannic structure from half-and-half aging in French and American oak for 14 months. It won Double Golds in both the 2016 Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo wine competition and at the 2016 Lone Star International Wine Competition.

Pairings: Hard cheeses and tapenades, grilled red meat, paella with Spanish chorizo sausage

Price: $18-$21 at many H-E-B, Spec's, Whole Foods and Kroger stores

2014 Fall Creek Vineyards GSM, Salt Lick Vineyards

As in the Rhone region of France, the best Texas wines tend to be multivarietal blends, such as this grenache-syrah-mourvedre from winemaker Sergio Cuadra. Well extracted with intense color and blackberry fruit character carrying peppery and spice notes, the syrah (48 percent) takes center stage, amped up with French and American oak aging. The grenache (21 percent) adds red fruit and florals with the mourvedre (31 percent) bringing earth and leather tones. Fall Creek's GSM comes from grapes grown in the weathered limestone soil at Salt Lick Vineyards outside Austin. Accolades include a prestigious Double Gold at the 2016 San Francisco International Wine Competition.

Pairings: Lamb and flavorful game meats grilled or braised, or a marbled rib-eye steak

Price: $30 at Whole Foods, 1407 S. Voss, and H-E-B in Cypress

Texas threesome at Camerata

A great example of how Texas wines are being embraced in local wine bars and restaurants is the Texas Wine Month three-wine flight selected by Houston's newest certified Master Sommelier David Keck, currently on offer at his Camerata in Montrose. Keck chose the 2015 McPherson Cellars Piquepoul Blanc from Timmons Ranch, the 2015 Pedernales Cellars Texas Viognier and the 2014 Duchman Family Winery Salt Lick Vineyards Sangiovese. Kim McPherson's Piquepoul was a Best-in-Class and Double Gold winner in the aforementioned 2016 San Francisco competition. The Pedernales Viognier has turned heads in judgings as far away as France. The two whites offer pear, stone fruit and citrus characteristics that come with lip-tickling acidity. Duchman's Sangiovese, a Keck favorite, yields ripe red fruit, interesting cola notes and a medium tannic structure.

Pairing: Camerata's snack board with prosciutto, chorizo, brie and sheep's-milk cheeses, green olives and almonds

Price: $15 for a flight of three 3-ounce pours, or by the bottle, $29-33, at Camerata at Paulie's, 1834 Westheimer
The plan to rebuild Bellaire High School has hit another snag with Houston school board member Mike Lunceford withdrawing his support for a potentially pricey proposal to relocate the campus on a larger site owned by Chevron.

Lunceford, whose board member district includes Bellaire, said this week that he thinks the price tag for the Chevron property at 4800 Fournace Place will be too costly, and he won't have enough support from his colleagues on the board to approve an added expense.

The Chevron property has not been put on the market yet, but Lunceford said he heard estimates of an asking price topping $60 million. The Harris County Appraisal District set the appraisal amount at $47.5 million as of January 2016.

Lunceford said he had hoped Bellaire High School could have been rebuilt on the Chevron site, which is larger than the current landlocked campus on Maple Street.

"I will no longer support that opportunity," Lunceford said of the Chevron site, "but expect the (Houston Independent School District) bond office to develop a plan to build the school at the current site with the current budget."

The school district's last voter-approved bond referendum, in 2012, included plans to rebuild Bellaire High School (as well as nearly all of the district's high schools). The Bellaire High project has been especially complicated, trying to meet the city of Bellaire's zoning regulations while satisfying parents and the community.

Swati Narayan, a former president of the Bellaire High parent group and a member of the community advisory committee for the school rebuilding project, said she hopes Lunceford changes his mind and supports trying to buy the Chevron site.

"It's a great opportunity for Bellaire High School to have the space it needs to accommodate the programs it has," she said. "I appreciate the difficulties of dealing with a divisive board, but I would hope that given that land opportunities are so few and far between, that he would reconsider."

Trustees still may discuss the Bellaire High project during a closed-door meeting Thursday, based on the public meeting notice. The timing, however, is tricky as Lunceford is involved in a heated struggle with his fellow trustees over another school in his board member district, the High School for the Performing and Visual Arts. The arts high school also is being rebuilt under the 2012 bond and is facing a budget crunch.

Lunceford had brought forward a proposal to rename the arts high school in exchange for a $7.5 million donation from the Kinder Foundation, founded by billionaire couple Rich and Nancy Kinder. But the proposal spawned tension on the board.
But other countries in the region get far more public holidays.

Southeast Asian nations in general are not very generous when it comes to paid annual leave. On average, a Southeast Asian worker has 10 days off per year, compared to 20 in European countries.

The findings were based on each countrys labor law and mostly applied to employees working an average five-day week; a definitive comparison between nations was not possible as some have different entitlements for different workers.

On the whole, Vietnam was placed third in the region with 12 days statutory annual leave.

However, Vietnamese have only eight extra paid public holidays, while it is 27 in Cambodia and 19 in Malaysia. Even the workaholic nation of Singapore offers its workers 11 paid public holidays. Indonesians are not as lucky. The nation has no guaranteed paid public holidays on top of their 12 days of statutory annual leave.

With public holidays included, Vietnam falls to fifth place in the region after Cambodia, Indonesia, Myanmar and Laos.

The longest paid public holiday in Vietnam is the Lunar New Year, when all Vietnamese workers have at least three days off. But in recent years, Vietnamese workers have been offered a longer holiday to celebrate this special time of the year.

All countries in Southeast Asia are streets ahead of the U.S., where workers are not actually legally entitled to a single day of paid holiday. The law in the U.S. offers no guarantees of paid leave at all. Workers are given ten days for holidays such as Christmas and Thanksgiving, although there is no guarantee they will be paid on these occasions. Mercifully, most employers do offer their staff paid annual leave though this is typically limited to just two weeks.

Related news:

> ASEAN countries stifle free labor market

> Too hot to work: Vietnam to lose $85bn in labor productivity by 2030
After years of legal wrangling, Dr. Stanislaw Burzynski appears to have prevailed in his latest showdown with the Texas Medical Board, though it remains to be seen whether the controversial Houston cancer doctor will be allowed to keep his medical license.

On Wednesday, two state administrative law judges issued a 214-page proposed ruling, dismissing nearly all of the state's most serious accusations of medical misconduct. The judges found Burzynski liable for only a few of the more than 100 allegations, mostly related to failures to keep adequate medical records.

"Those are pimples, they're not cancer," said Dan Cogdell, one of Burzynski's attorneys. "We're happy to address those minor issues."

The ruling comes two years after the state filed a formal complaint and two decades after the federal government tried unsuccessfully to get the doctor imprisoned for interstate commerce of experimental drugs.

The drugs, commonly known as anti-neoplastons, an unproven and oft-criticized type of chemotherapy that Burzynski devised, also were at the center of the state's case.

Lawyers for the state medical board spent six weeks last fall presenting evidence against Burzynski, alleging that the doctor had promoted his experimental therapy to patients, knowing he could not legally provide it to them. Further, the medical board alleged, Burzynski used chemotherapy drugs in combinations that have not been scientifically tested, and whose toxicities posed an unnecessary danger to patients.

Administrative law judges Roy Scudday and Catherine Egan found that, for the most part, the state failed to prove its case. In their ruling, the judges took the extraordinary step of lauding Burzynski as "a dedicated and innovative physician" and a "significant value to the community of terminally ill cancer patients."

The state board could still punish Burzynski for the violations that were substantiated, but Cogdell said he's "optimistic there won't be any severe sanctions" and his client will be allowed to keep his medical license.

"I don't practice in front of the state medical board with any regularity, but my sense is this was the most exhaustive effort the state board has ever undertaken," Cogdell said. "And they lost badly."
A school bus screeches to a halt outside the Westchase Grand Apartments, and dozens of kids bounce out with energy to burn. The heat has finally broken, so the apartment pool is out. What about a park?

Today, that would mean loading up the car and heading at least 3 miles down a highway into the teeth of rush hour.

Soon, however, a 3.4-acre city park will sprout a quarter-mile away, on Wilcrest across a gully from the Westchase Library. That effort is thanks to City Council's vote Wednesday to buy two plots in west Houston for parkland. The $3.6 million needed to buy the Wilcrest site - and a 1.8-acre tract on nearby Woodchase - comes not from the strained city budget, but from a dedicated park fund that has become Houston's only reliable source of funding for new parkland. Every dollar helps, given that Houston ranks 78th out of 100 major cities in the Trust for Public Land's 2016 ParkScore index of park accessibility.

Waving to get his niece's attention as she hopped off the bus, apartment resident Adrian Brooks cheered the park purchase, saying, "That's what's up!"

Recent acquisitions In the last few years, the Houston parks department has used its open space fund to: Purchase a 10,000-square-foot lot on lower Westheimer for $1.2 million Expand a West Dallas tract to half an acre with $1.5 million Buy 0.6 acres in the Washington Avenue corridor (off Honsinger, between Heights and Studemont) for $1.5 million Pay about $600,000 for 1.4 acres in Alief Buy 1.7 acres in Independence Heights for $108,800 See More Collapse

"They need to. There's not much else around here," Brooks said. "My nieces, I don't want them always cooped up in the house. They don't have no playground equipment. It's electronics, laptops and phones and all that."

Before fellow apartment resident Themis Aguilar could finish saying, "I would really love that," daughter Aimee jumped in: "Yay! It would be nice. We always have to drive. Now we can walk."

The 6-year-old said she prefers swings and has a new bike to try out. Older brother Jonathan, 8, trying to get a word in, said he most likes playground features.

Dedicated fund

The money to buy the Wilcrest and Woodchase sites comes from dollars generated under a 2007 ordinance that divided Houston into 21 sectors and levied $700-per-unit fees on residential developers who did not set aside green space. The fees generated within each sector must be spent there within three years and can be used only for park improvements.

With zero dollars slated for parkland acquisition in the city's five-year capital plan and bond dollars focused on the Bayou Greenways 2020 effort to create linear parks along Houston's waterways, the open space fund is Houston's best bet to expand greenspace, save the occasional philanthropic windfall.

The recession initially undercut the idea, limiting city parks director Joe Turner largely to replacing playground equipment.

Since late 2012, however, the funds have accumulated enough in some sectors to fund roughly $9.8 million worth of land purchases, covering more than 10.7 acres.

Much of this has occurred in the busiest park sector, the western portion of the Inner Loop between Interstate 10 and U.S. 59.

Many other sectors have not even generated enough to replace one set of playground equipment, however, and the tracts that have been acquired have not yet been developed.

To avoid being misleading, Turner said his staff refer to these purchases as green space, not parks. Turner also recognizes that the parks master plan that council approved last year envisions hundreds of acres of parkland being added in each sector, when in fact he will be lucky to finish the current decade having reach ed a similar figure citywide.

"Right now we're trying to acquire land. It's a long-term project," he said, noting the master plan looks forward 25 years and does not aspire to put a park at every intersection even if fully implemented. "But if you don't start planning, you'll never get there."

With a new city bond issue planned in November 2017, Turner said he hopes to direct some of those dollars into land acquisition in more stagnant sectors, largely on the east side.

Possible vote next year

In discussing how to add more green space, Mayor Sylvester Turner also referenced the coming bond issue, and an accompanying vote on whether to repeal a rule that limits what Houston can collect in property taxes.

"We need more parks. It's a part of building 'complete communities,' " the mayor said, emphasizing a phrase he has increasingly referenced in recent months. "It's difficult to acquire more parkland without the resources. We'll see what happens next year, around November 2017. We'll take a look at what may be on the ballot then."

Barring any snafus in the closing process, the west Houston parks approved Wednesday will be handed over to the Westchase District - a local board funded by taxes levied on area businesses - to be developed, maintained and operated.

2-year-time frame

Westchase general manager Jim Murphy, also a state representative for west Houston, said he expects the facilities to be finished within two years.

"We're going to provide wonderful public parks, none of which have ever been provided in this part of Houston, and they're going to be a tremendous amenity both for the district and the neighborhood around it," Murphy said. "The lack of park space out here is well known, but it's pretty hard to address in that land is expensive, and we'll probably spend more on development than the city is spending on acquisition."

In choosing new sites, Turner's staff uses a system developed by the Trust for Public Land that assesses the need for green space based on population density and other indicators, such as the number of youths and low-income residents in an area.

The parks master plan uses that approach, which aims to provide a park within a half-mile or 10-minute walk of every resident.

The same approach was used to identify 30 Houston-area schools to receive new SPARK parks  dual-purpose public parks and playgrounds  in the next three years, driven by last month's announcement of a $5 million gift from the Houston Endowment and the Kinder Foundation.

Those 30 new park spaces also will come cheaply for the city, as Houston is chipping in just $450,000 in federal grant dollars. One such item  $150,000 in federal dollars for a SPARK park at Alief ISD's Bush Elementary  received council approval on Wednesday.
For three days, Joni Gaddy was trapped inside her North Carolina home. Outside, three terrifying forces of nature kept her cornered - the flood caused by a category 4 hurricane, snakes and alligators.

Gaddy, who was interviewed by CNN, was one of roughly 1,500 people stranded by flood water in Lumberton, North Carolina. On Monday, Governor Pat McCrory addressed reporters about the rising flood waters.

READ MORE: Dayton gator could be biggest ever captured in Texas

"We do have people on the roofs as we speak, and we have a lot of helicopters and boats that have been deployed that are, at this point in time, rescuing them," McCory said.

But despite their efforts, Gaddy was not one of the rescued - she remained trapped and unnoticed.

"Helicopters were flying around my house," Gaddy told CNN. "They didn't fly over me, and I had all kinds of signals. I put notes all over the house. I had sheets hanging out."

While helicopters flew somewhere overhead, alligators swam around her house.

READ MORE: Alligator season just ended in Texas, so here's why you should eat gator meat

"I was hoping the alligators wouldn't come into the door," she said. "You can literally sit on the porch and look at the alligators in the water with the snakes."

On Tuesday, Gaddy's son and nephew arrived from Texas to rescue her. Gaddy's home of 27 years and her memories of it, ruined.

"It was the worst thing," Gaddy said. "I don't wish that on anybody. I don't think I'll ever go back to that house."

Click through the gallery above to see the damage caused by Hurricane Matthew.
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GREENVILLE, N.C. - Police officers and firefighters in eastern North Carolina cruised low-lying areas and shouted a simple message from bullhorns: Get out before the floodwaters from Hurricane Matthew arrive.

Thousands of people were ordered to evacuate, and officials warned that some communities could be cut off by washed out roads or bridge closures. In the city of Greenville, military trucks rumbled through leafy neighborhoods where orange traffic cones and police tape discouraged people from entering. Police were stationed at the edge of the evacuation zone to monitor who came and went.

Authorities planned to go door-to-door in some areas, telling people to escape to higher ground. The flooding triggered by heavy rain from Matthew - which killed more than 500 people in Haiti - has left at least 35 dead in the U.S.

"There are a lot of people that are hurting, that are living in shelters and are preparing for major, major flooding," North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory said Wednesday.

Authorities closed one bridge across the swollen Tar River in Greenville and warned that several other bridges could close, isolating people. The city's airport was expected to remain closed for another week due to flooding.

Still, Greenville resident John Benson felt confident his house would be OK. His block didn't take on water during Hurricane Floyd in 1999 and his street is on a steep grade, making a quick getaway possible.

"Police, fire people, came around, bull-horning and talking to us. They let everybody know to get out," he said.

Awaiting word

Many people did obey orders to leave their homes.

At a shelter in Greenville, Brianna Flores was anxiously waiting to find out more about how flooding affected her family's trailer home in Prince-ville, a community along the Tar River. She said she and her husband packed two days' worth of clothes and first came to a hotel in Greenville before moving to a shelter Sunday. They wanted to be close to Vidant Medical Center in Greenville because her sister-in-law is pregnant.

Flores said she and her husband do not have flood insurance and lack the savings to buy a new home if their trailer is flooded. She hopes they would be eligible for assistance from FEMA.

She hasn't been able to get firm information on her neighborhood. A state interactive flooding map shows that areas next to her neighborhood have flooded.

"Nobody's been able to get into Princeville," she said, with her 16-month daughter Ilyaona seated on her lap in a room with stores of bottles of water, snacks and dry food.

"I'm very anxious. Very stressed. I've broke down a few times, just because I'm worried. But I've gotta stay strong for her and my husband, and my family," she said.

Police kill man

In a possible sign of storm-driven tensions, authorities said a state trooper shot and killed an armed man in Lumberton who became angry with officers carrying out search and rescue missions. They released little other information about the shooting.

The full extent of the disaster in North Carolina was still unclear, but it appeared that thousands of homes were damaged. Many likened Matthew to Hurricane Floyd, which did $3 billion in damage and destroyed 7,000 homes in North Carolina as it skirted the state's coast in 1999.
AUSTIN - Gov. Greg Abbott and the state's two highest-ranking lawmakers Wednesday directed the head of the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services to immediately implement "stop-gap measures" to stem a backlog of cases involving potential child abuse or neglect.

In the letter, Abbott, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and House Speaker Joe Straus said it was "completely unacceptable" that caseworkers were not making timely visits with at-risk children.

State law requires investigators to make contact with children no later than 72 hours after receiving an initial report, though in high-priority cases in which a child's injuries could result in death or serious harm, the deadline is 24 hours.

"While we appreciate your proactive approach to trying to address these concerns, a lack of timely contact only exacerbates backlogs through the entire system and potentially leaves a child in a dangerous situation," the letter said.

The trio called on the department's commissioner, Henry Whitman Jr., to develop a plan to hire and train more investigators and caseworkers, "reinforce the culture of accountability at all levels of management," and develop partnerships with faith-based organizations to help recruit families willing to take in children in the Child Protective Services system.

The letter orders Whitman to prioritize caseworker hires in the state's most critical regions for at-risk children but does not specify where those areas are.

Whitman is also directed to report back to Abbott, Patrick and Straus by the end of next week on his plan for carrying out their orders. The Texas Legislature, which convenes in January, will address funding and resource needs as lawmakers assemble a state budget, but the department must begin changing course earlier, the leaders said.

As of Oct. 10, CPS investigators in Harris County have seen 91 percent of all children whose cases meet the 72-hour threshold, according to Tejal Patel, the agency's spokeswoman for the region. She said the county's size and the inability to find families remain caseworkers' main challenges to making contact with children in the Houston area.

Whitman did not address the letter's specific instructions but said he agreed with the lawmakers' goal.

The Austin American-Statesman reported last week that, despite management changes and increased attention to the matter, the agency failed to contact more than 14,000 at-risk children across Texas within the law's proscribed time frame.

Patrick, who presides over the Texas Senate, has asked state Sen. Jane Nelson, R-Flower Mound, to convene the chamber's Finance Committee, which she chairs, to determine how to fund CPS's needs. A hearing is scheduled for Oct. 26 in Austin, where agency officials have been invited to testify about their plans.

Legislative leaders are expected to put CPS reform and funding at the top of their agendas for the 140-day session.

Madeline McClure, CEO of the child advocacy group TexProtects, said the letter was a positive step for lawmakers' efforts to reform the agency's practices.

"I was heartened by the response from the Big Three that they are pulling their collective concerns together, in one page, and really coming up with the direction for the department, for Hank Whitman to utilize state resources," she said.

She said the average salary for a state case worker in Texas is about $38,000, while others with social work degrees employed by schools or hospitals make on average $68,000.
Take a tour of any Texas college campus, and you'll see buildings named after donors. On the University of Houston campus, the imposing E. Cullen Building, known for the Cullen Performance Hall, overlooks the Cullen Family Plaza Fountain and its beloved reflecting pool. Around the corner on Cullen Boulevard, you'll find the Moores School of Music, which produces over 300 concerts and events annually, including many on campus in the Moores Opera House.

The Houston Independent School District board of trustees has the opportunity to follow in the long-standing tradition of granting naming rights to a public building in recognition of private philanthropy by voting "yes" today to accept a donation of $7.5 million from the Kinder Foundation to complete the High School for the Performing and Visual Arts.

The vote should be first and foremost about the students, who come from all parts of the city and all socioeconomic groups to this celebrated high school to obtain the finest education in the arts that our city has to offer. These students will not be well-served by a fine arts building without robust technology.

Yet the caliber of the theater, performance hall, recital hall, music rooms and dance rooms spaces, as originally designed, will be less than optimal if trustees turn down the generous donation and are unable to find another funding source.

Why the bond funding came up short on a building with an already hefty price tag is a different question, and accountability should be demanded. But students should not suffer, and they will not just at HSPVA but districtwide if the board turns down the gift.

Houston philanthropies do not have a practice of awarding grants directly to HISD due to long-standing concerns about the district's ability to be a reliable partner. The Kinder Foundation is known to have exacting standards for its donations, and a donation of this size could open the door for other philanthropies to follow suit.

It's important to also recognize that philanthropic gifts are needed in an environment where the state Legislature is abdicating its constitutional responsibility to properly fund public education. Nowhere is that failure more stark than in what's commonly known as "recapture," in which HISD, now considered "property-rich," may be forced to pay $162 milliion (and $1 billion over the next four years) to the state for redistribution to low-property-wealth school districts. The Nov. 8 ballot includes an item asking voters to approve the payment. Without a fix to the state's public education funding formula, HISD may not have a choice but to rely on generous benefactors, of which our community fortunately has many.

Recognizing this truth, last year the board of trustees adopted a policy that stated, "The Board may agree to name a District facility for agroup when a major capital donation has been made to the district." A major capital donation is defined as either a monetary gift of, or land with a fair market value of, at least $7.5 million toward construction, renovation or acquisition of a district facility.

HSPVA has a well-regarded brand name. That brand will continue under the name of the Kinder High School for the Performing and Visual Arts.

Trustee Jolanda Jones, who expressed her opposition to the gift at a Monday board meeting, is correct that HSPVA's building budget was enormous at nearly $90 million and that other area high schools desperately need more financial support. But Friends of HSPVA, a private group that supports the school, approached the Kinder Foundation and secured the grant. Not only will HSPVA students likely suffer if HISD turns it down, the signal that the refusal will send to other donors will hurt students districtwide.

A vote to accept this grant doesn't set a precedent for a commercial entity such as a beverage company to buy naming rights to a school. But if there are any concerns, these could be forestalled by sturdy policy.

If the board decides that it doesn't want to accept gifts to secure naming rights, it should vote to change its policy so that well-meaning groups at the various schools don't solicit them. It's not smart process to turn down a committed gift on the grounds that the policy adopted by the board just last year no longer reflects the board's sentiments about naming opportunities. Even though some trustees were recently elected, philanthropies value institutional consistency.

The board has just hired a new superintendent, Richard Carranza, from San Francisco. Carranza secured a dramatic increase in philanthropic funding to San Francisco schools. In his final year, he raised almost $32 million from private donors.

A "no" vote would hamper Carranza's ability to increase the involvement of the philanthropic community in our schools. Simultaneously, such a short-sighted vote would have long-standing consequences for HISD students and our city.
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State Representative, District 135: Jesse A. Ybanez

Consider this an endorsement against Gary Elkins. The Republican incumbent has been in office for 22 years, and his greatest claim to fame is a consistent self-serving advocacy for payday lenders and other shady financial businesses. As the Texas Observer reported in 2014, Elkins owns a chain of payday lending stores and helped create their current model in which they operate as "credit service organizations," allowing them to evade our state's anti-usury laws. He made headlines two years ago for working to block statewide regulations that would protect hard-working Texans from being scammed by these sorts of businesses. This defense of exploitive business practices has been the single note that unites his entire political history - the Wall Street Journal documented Elkins' raison d'etre back in 1999 with an article titled, "Legislator's Slim Agenda Mirrors His Private Interests."

What other accomplishments can Elkins tout to round out his two decades in the Legislature? When he met with the editorial board during his last election, Elkins pointed to eliminating lower speed limits at night. Elkins did not meet with the editorial board this year.

Voters should back a candidate whose legislative interests extend beyond his own pocketbook. Democratic challenger Jesse Ybanez, 70, is a retired naval officer who has worked as a professor at University of the Incarnate Word in San Antonio and has served on the state Democratic executive committee. When he met with the Houston Chronicle editorial board, Ybanez advocated a traditional Democratic platform: provide more funding for public schools, accept Medicaid expansion and protect the environment. He also wants to address flooding in this largely unincorporated west Houston district, which stretches from east of Beltway 8 toward Fry Road along Spur 529 and US 290, and includes Jersey Village.

State Representative, District 137: Gene Wu

"People are tired of dead kids."

That's the reason that two-term state Rep. Gene Wu gave the editorial board to explain the political momentum in the state House to fix Texas Child Protective Services. Democrats, like Wu, and Republicans are working together to file bills for the upcoming session that will provide better pay for CPS workers, more money for foster families, and better therapy for kids and drug treatment for parents who need it.

"The vast majority of cases that come to CPS are because of drugs," Wu said. "Yet we don't provide drug treatment."

As a lawyer who takes CPS and juvenile law cases, Wu is an invaluable resource on this issue, and voters should give him a third term in Austin.

Intelligent and energetic, though at times a bit flip, Wu, 38, is one of those legislators who gets the big picture and understands the nitty-gritty policy details.

Wu's diverse west Houston district, which includes Gulfton and Sharpstown, looks like the Ellis Island of our city. Forty percent of the adults in his district weren't born in the United States, Wu told the editorial board, and they need education programs like pre-k and community colleges so that their kids can have a shot at the American Dream.

His Republican opponent, Kendall L. Baker, was largely unfamiliar with the issues and told the editorial board that he wanted to overturn the U.S. Constitution to allow government-sponsored prayer. He is not qualified to hold public office.
A farmer collects latex at a rubber plantation in Buon Ma Thuot City, in Vietnam's Central Highlands April 2, 2010. Photo by Reuters/Kham

The crisis has delievered a major blow to not only small tappers but even some of the big plantation owners.

Plummeting rubber prices are not only making it hard for smallholder farmers to eke out a living but also push a number of big agricultural businesses out of the business.

Steady declines in prices and production activities have forced many to stop tapping, abandon their plantations, or switch to other cash crops.

A plantation owner, who grows rubber trees in the southern province of Binh Phuoc and in Cambodia, told VnExpress that he has sharply scaled down rubber areas in his agricultural-land portfolio by more than 1,000 hectares.

Despite his willingness to sell his rubber estate at a significant loss, it is difficult to find buyers.

He said prospective buyers prefer strategically located rubber plantations which have access to major roads and are close to waterways.

Potential investors also prefer mature plantations with moderate yields. They can either continue the farming business or acquire the estate as a long-term investment as rubber trees can be felled down for the hardwood timber, he added.

Rubber prices have hit the lowest level since 2009 as significant stockpiles and falling demand in China constantly dragged the rates down.

According to the state-owned giant Vietnam Rubber Group, rubber has become one of the most vulnerable commodities. It said producers have not been able to control their output in recent years.

Prices have dropped to as low as VND26 million ($1,164) per ton while it costs VND25 million to collect and process the latex, it said.

The group, which also invests in a wide range of sectors including electricity, livestock and hotels, has downsized production by clearing rubber trees on a 3,000 hectare area.

Rubber production only accounted for 4 percent of the groups total profit in the first six months, the group said in its financial statement.

Experts forecast rubber prices could fall further in the final months of the year since stocks remain high while the total production by a group of 11 countries that produces around 92 percent of the worlds natural rubber edged up as of July 31.

Related News:

> Watermelons crop up on Vietnam's rubber plantations

> China top consumer of Vietnams natural rubber in Q1
On Thursday, Carlos H. Cascos, the Texas secretary of state, reported that 15 million Texans are now registered to vote, an all-time high for a state that routinely ranks near the bottom for voter turnout.

As of Thursday morning, 15,015,700 Texans are registered to vote, which constitutes about 78 percent of the states total voting age population, according to a news release from Cascos office. The estimate for the entire voting-age population is about 19.3 million voters, meaning there are approximately 4 million Texans who can cast a ballot if only theyd get on the rolls. To put that in perspective, its as if the entire population of Houston, the states largest city, decided to sit out an election  and then double that effect.

The number will likely increase a bit as last-minute applications continue to be processed during the next few days, according to Cascos' office, citing the Oct. 11 deadline to register before the November election.

Lets look at the historical increases behind the new numbers. The agency said Texas had 13.6 million registered voters, or 75 percent, during the 2012 presidential election. In 2008, that number stood at 13.5 million, or 77 percent.

So, in those four years  bookmarked by a competitive Democratic presidential primary and a fierce attempt to make President Obama a one-term chief executive  only about 71,000 new registrants joined the process. Consider it in this context now, considering, of course, that people turn 18 years old every day: From 2012 to today, the state saw an increase of 1.3 million registered voters.

A lot can happen in four years, to say the least, especially in a state whose booming population tracks younger and less white by the second. So, what accounts for the astronomical growth this time around? For one, the level of attention this presidential race has attracted among voters is unprecedented. For months, we have seen headlines about numerous states and localities busting through their voter registration records. On the surface, that doesnt say anything about who these newly registered voters will support, but there is no shortage of expert political watchers in Texas and nationwide wholl tell you that the Republican Party in particular is heading into November with a severely compromised operation.

Todays record may not get the kind of headlines that other recent voting-related issues in the Lone Star State have gotten, the voter ID lawsuit being a prime example, but its a wholly necessary part of the process. You cant cast a ballot if you havent registered first, and unless or until Texas legislators decide to consider automatic voter registration  which five states already have adopted, often with bipartisan support, and dozens have considered  such increases likely will remain incremental. The increase of a million-plus newly registered voters is the product of this specific political moment. Do not be surprised if what follows, even as Texas population continues to explode, looks more like the what were used to historically.
Does your home have a smoke alarm? According to the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), the answer is likely yes: NFPA research shows that most American homes have at least one.

But do you know how old your smoke alarms are? If youre like most people, youre probably not so sure.

A recent survey conducted by NFPA revealed that only a small percentage of people know how old their smoke alarms are, or how often they need to be replaced. That lack of awareness is a concern for the City of Houston Fire Department and NFPA, along with fire departments throughout the country, because smoke alarms dont last forever.

Time and again, Ive seen the life-saving impact smoke alarms can have in a home fire, but Ive also seen the tragedy that can result when smoke alarms arent working properly, said City of Houston Fire Chief Joey Moore. Thats why were making a concerted effort to educate Houston residents about the overall importance of smoke alarms, and that they do have a life limit.

NFPA 72 (National Fire Alarm Code) requires smoke alarms be replaced at least every 10 years, but because the public is generally unaware of this requirement, many homes have smoke alarms past their expiration date, putting people at increased risk.

This year, National Fire Prevention Week is this week (Oct. 9-15). As the official sponsor of Fire Prevention Week for more than 90 years, NFPA is promoting this years Fire Prevention Week campaign, Dont Wait  Check the Date! Replace Smoke Alarms Every 10 Years, to better educate the public about the critical importance of knowing how old their smoke alarms are and replacing them once theyre 10 years old.

To find out how old your smoke alarm is and its expiration date, simply look on the back of the alarm where the date of manufacture is marked. The smoke alarm should be replaced 10 years from that date (not the date of purchase). Moore also recommends smoke alarms should be tested monthly, and that batteries should be replaced once a year or when they begin to chirp, signaling that theyre running low.

For more information on smoke alarms and this years Fire Prevention Week campaign, log onto www.firepreventionweek.org.
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.
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.
Farmers in Vung Tau occupy part of a highway with dead fish for three hours Thursday. Photo by VnExpress

Fish farmers have repeatedly demanded compensation from seafood processors.

Fish farmers in the southern beach town of Vung Tau laid out dead fish during a street protest on Thursday morning, accusing seafood processors of discharging untreated sewage into the sea.

The protest, a rare occurrence in Vietnam, caused congestion on part of Highway 51 at around 9 a.m. as dozens of farmers placed dead fish weighing at least five kilograms on the street. Vehicles were forced to take other routes.

Farmed fish along the Cha Va River have been dying en masse over the past two days, and the river has turned black with a foul smell, the farmers said.

The same situation happened in September last year when tons of fish died and caused farmers losses worth nearly $800,000. Farmers also held similar protests on the street and in front of a local government office at that time.

In May, 33 fish farming families filed a class action lawsuit against 14 seafood companies to demand compensation after the Institute of Environment and Natural Resources concluded that untreated waste from the processing units was the culprit.

Only two of the companies have agreed to pay VND300 million ($13,400).

They have not only ignored the lawsuit, they are causing more pollution, a farmer said, sitting among the fish on the highway.

The protest only stopped after three hours when they were invited to a meeting at the provincial government office of Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province.

Nguyen Thanh Tinh, the provincial chairman, said the compensation process needs time while the new fish death scandal has to be investigated.

He said the province is still counting the number of dead fish in the new case and will announce the results of the investigation this week.

Vietnam has been beset by water pollution scandals lately, with various cases of mass fish deaths in many places across the country, including Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi.

Nearly 70 tons of dead fish were collected from Ho Chi Minh Citys Nhieu Loc-Thi Nghe Canal in May after the first heavy rains of the year washed waste from sewage pipes.

Around 200 tons of dead fish were collected from Hanois West Lake earlier this month and the polluters have yet to be identified.

In April, an estimated 70 tons of dead fish washed ashore along more than 200 kilometers of coast in the country's central provinces of Ha Tinh, Quang Binh, Quang Tri and Thua Thien-Hue, creating a seafood scare across the country. Taiwanese steel firm Formosa has admitted to discharging untreated waste into the sea and government officials are still distributing its $500 million compensation payment.

Related news:

> Fish death disaster will hurt Vietnams economy for years to come: official

> Rotting fish cast stench over Hanoi lake
ilm production company owned by industry giant Disney has been fined an incredible 1.6million  approximately $2.8 million  following a deplorable workplace accident involving Hollywood star Harrison Ford.



The incident  which occurred on the set of latest Star Wars movie  saw Ford knocked to the floor and crushed beneath a heavy hydraulic door.



While staff were quick to engage an emergency stop button, they were not able to prevent the door coming down with enormous' force and Ford  who was 71 at the time  became trapped underneath.



It is obvious that the door and humans should be kept apart because the effect of this door is like a blunt-edged guillotine, said Prosecutor Andrew Marshall. 'The risk was serious, it was significant and it was dangerous.



A court heard the door came down in just 1.6 seconds, breaking Fords tibia and fibula while also dislocating his ankle and lacerating his hand.



The Health and Safety Executive said the power of the rapidly closing metal-framed door meant Ford was hit with a power comparable to the weight of a small car.



Foodles Production (UK) Ltd  the Disney-owned firm which was set up specifically to make the film  admitted two counts of breaching its health and safety duties in relation to the on-set incident.



The greatest failing of all on behalf of the company is a lack of communication, said Judge Francis Sheridan, who was presiding over the case.



A lack because, if you have a risk assessment and you do not communicate it, what is the point of having one? he asked. That is the most serious breach here  if only they had included Mr Ford in all the discussions, he might have at least been alert to the dangers that he had to avoid.



Sheridan went on to scold the company for its crazy approach to health and safety after learning the door was remotely operated by someone who could not even see the actor.



Had the wrong button been pressed it would have continued to crush down on Mr Harrison Ford. It's just incredible that so much was left to chance, he added.



The judge also said it was deplorable that the door was not installed with an automatic emergency cut-off, relying on human intervention instead.




loyers are becoming increasingly concerned about mental health issues in the workplace, according to a study released this year by MinterElllison.The research found that 56% of organisations surveyed reported a year-to-year increase in the number of mental health cases at work.Even though offering mental health support through employee assistance programs is still common, employers are moving towards a risk-based approach to managing psychological injury, said Aaron Anderson, partner at Norton Rose Fulbright.This involves gaining an understanding of what workplace factors may give rise to the risk of psychological injury and implementing preventative measures to seek to manage the risks, said Anderson.These preventative measures include training mental health first aid officers who can assist in early intervention, adopting a zero tolerance approach to workplace bullying and providing a flexible work environment.Sue Horlin, managing partner, human capital, at PwC Australia, said their company is undertaking initiatives such as sharing personal to reduce stigma, and educating people on the signs and symptoms of mental illness.PwC are also promoting mindfulness to manage stress and anxiety, while encouraging inclusive leadership and teams.Its also important to recognise that change leads to uncertainty and if managed poorly it can create unnecessary stress for employees, said Rachel Wells, general manager  people & performance at Certus Solutions ANZ.This then impacts on their productivity and engagement, resulting in illness and increased turnover.Building a resilient workforce that is change ready results from utilising a people-centric systems approach to manage and lead change, said Wells.At Certus we use tools such as change resistance mapping, a technique using personas to anticipate potential concerns and minimising their impact head-on.Creating a thriving culture with exceptional leadership where people feel comfortable to ask for help is the essential first step.
butes are being paid to one of New Zealands most vocal employee advocates after unionist Helen Kelly passed away early this morning.Kelly  who was the first female president of the Council of Trade Unions  was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer in February 2015. Despite her health, the union stalwart continued to campaign for worker rights, the use of medical marijuana, and the right to die with dignity."Today New Zealand mourns the loss of union leader Helen Kelly. She was a fighter who died after a battle with cancer," CTU president Richard Wagstaff said."Helen died too young, and will always be remembered in our hearts, minds and on the frontlines of the fight for everyday working people, he continued.Prime Minister John Key also expressed his condolences to Kellys family.Saddened to hear about the passing of Helen Kelly, a strong advocate for workers rights, he wrote on Twitter . My thoughts are with her family and friends.Some of Kellys most well-known campaigns include fighting for safer conditions in the forestry and mining sectors following the deaths at Pike River Mine and a number of fatal logging accidents.Were a better country for her achievements, stressed Wagstaff.Kelly died in Wellington aged 52  she leaves behind a son, Dylan, and husband Steve Hurring.
Women only make up about one in five directors on the boards of America's biggest public companies.

And lots of men are A-OK with that, according to PwC's 2016 Annual Corporate Directors Survey.

The study found that most company directors are satisfied with women making up less than half of a company's board of directors. Yet at the same time, they claim diversity is important.

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PwC talked to 884 public company directors as part of its survey. Eighty-three per cent of them were men, 17 per cent were women.

Most respondents said women should only represent less than 40 per cent of a board's membership.

Ten per cent said women should represent 20 per cent of directors at most  all but three per cent of the people who said this were men.

Meanwhile, very few respondents (five per cent) said women should represent more than half of a board's directors.

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Nevertheless, a hefty majority of survey respondents recognized the importance of board diversity.

Ninety-six per cent of respondents saw it as "at least somewhat important." Most (47 per cent) said a diverse group of directors makes them more effective at their work.

But company performance is another matter entirely.

Only 35 per cent believe strongly that board diversity enhances a firm's performance, compared to 49 per cent who only "somewhat" feel that way.

Gender gap

The survey uncovered a gender gap when it comes to how diversity affects company performance.

Eighty-nine per cent of female directors said board diversity helps a company achieve better results, while only 24 per cent of male directors said the same.

Gender diversity also falls well down the list when it comes to attributes people are looking for in a director.

Ninety-three per cent of respondents said they're looking for financial expertise, followed by operational know-how (69 per cent), industry expertise (68 per cent) and risk management experience (63 per cent).

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But Canadian companies shouldn't feel too smug; board diversity isn't just a problem down south.

The number of women directors on Canadian boards has only grown by one per cent in the past year among companies listed on the TSX, the Toronto Star reported last month.

That was despite Canadian regulators requiring public companies to report on board diversity over the past two years.

Advocacy groups want women to represent 30 per cent of directors. They only make up about 12 per cent of the boards of Canadian companies, according to the Financial Post.

Also on HuffPost

More Diversity On TV See Gallery
We can't make this stuff up.

Thanks to The Bee Gees' hit song "Stayin' Alive," a New York subway worker is alive.

Monique Brathwaite was electrocuted after falling on a third rail, which powers trains, after tripping on roadbed. Her coworker performed CPR to the beat of the 1977 tune, which ultimately saved Brathwaite's life.

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The Bee Gees in 1977.

The 35-year-old mom, who was hospitalized last week, told the New York Daily News that she has no memory about her fall or that her colleague David Martinez performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation almost immediately after she collapsed.

"I opened my eyes, and my sister was here," she told the newspaper during her recovery Tuesday. "I asked her if this was real or fake. She said it was real."

Martinez said he remembered reading that the rhythm of The Bee Gees song was perfect to do CPR to, as it has 103 beats-per-minute.

"I learned that (David Martinez), he saved my life," Brathwaite said. "I called him. I thanked him. I told him, 'Thank you. You are my hero.'"

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According to the Daily News, Brathwaite, a signal helper, was put in a medically induced coma because she suffered extensive burns on both of her arms and has electric shock wounds on her left leg and thigh. Fortunately, her organs weren't affected ,however, she will need skin grafts.

Thanks to Martinez though, she will be just fine.

"Im grateful because she's going to have a second chance at her life," Martinez told the Daily News.
Vietnam says no to foreign military base on its soil

Just last week, Russia said it was considering reopening a military base in Vietnam.

Vietnam said today it would not allow other countries to set up military bases there, just days after Russia said it was considering reopening Soviet-era bases in Vietnam and Cuba.

Russian news agencies last week quoted a Russian deputy defense minister as saying Russia was considering plans to restore the bases that had served as pivots for Soviet global military power during the Cold War.

"Vietnam's consistent policy is not to engage a military ally or engage with any country to oppose a third country," Foreign Ministry spokesman Le Hai Binh told a news briefing.

"We will also not allow any other countries to set up a military base in Vietnam."

While pursuing a neutral foreign policy and allowing port calls by foreign warships, Vietnam still bars any permanent presence by foreign military forces.

Russia, which inherits a long relationship with Vietnam, withdrew from the deepwater Cam Ranh naval base in the early 2000s as part of its drawing down of military presence around the world after the demise of the Soviet Union.

Cam Ranh is the jewel in the crown of Vietnam's military, with an air base once used by the U.S. and Soviet forces and a deep water bay home to its modern, Russian-built submarines.

Visits by foreign ships are rare and usually restricted to maintenance. U.S., Japanese and French warships have recently made port calls at Cam Ranh.

Related news:

> Putin dismisses accusations of meddling in U.S. election

> Vietnam calls for peace maintenance as Russia joins China in military drill in S.China Sea

> Russia pledges "post-Fukushima" technology for Vietnams first nuclear power plant
The remnants of Hurricane Matthew pummelled parts of Atlantic Canada over the Thanksgiving long weekend, leaving some residents no option but to commute in canoes.

Sydney, N.S. was among the worst hit by heavy flooding with more than 200 millimetres of downpour on Monday. The storm left homes and streets in the Cape Breton community completely flooded. Residents were urged to find safe places to stay indoors, unless there was an emergency.

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Some Canadians still took to the streets, navigating the flooded roads with canoes, boats and paddles instead of a steering wheel.

Facebook user Courtney Dunn shared a video of two such daring souls on Monday, captioning it "Only in Cape Breton."

In Cape Breton or otherwise, rough weather has never stopped Canadians from soldiering on. Watch the video above to see how it's done.

Also on HuffPost

Hurricane Matthew See Gallery
An Australian politician introduced a motion to a state parliament on Thursday that labelled Donald Trump a "revolting slug."

It passed unanimously, according to The Telegraph.

Jeremy Buckingham, an MP with the Greens party, brought the motion to the New South Wales Legislative Council, the state parliament's upper house.

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It condemned "the misogynist, hateful comments" made by the presidential candidate.

The motion had no objections, according to the BBC, so it was recorded as being agreed to by all lawmakers.

Its clear that all reasonable and decent people find Donald Trumps behaviour obnoxious and that the world is hoping American voters reject his politics of hate," Buckingham said in a statement.

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New allegations

Trump's campaign  controversial from its start  hit a new low on Saturday after the Washington Post unearthed tapes of the Republican candidate from 2005 boasting about how he could kiss and grope women without their consent.

The businessman apologized for the comments he made and described them as "locker room talk"  a defence that even athletes, including LeBron James, have come out to bash.

And just a day before Buckingham's motion passed, The New York Times published a report about two women who allege they were groped by the Republican candidate. Trump denied the claims.

The phony story in the failing @nytimes is a TOTAL FABRICATION. Written by same people as last discredited story on women. WATCH!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 13, 2016

A writer for People also came forward, saying Trump forced himself on her in 2005.

During Sunday's presidential debate, Trump told an audience of 66.5 million people that he has never grabbed or kissed a woman without their consent.

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With files from The Associated Press

Also on HuffPost
So apparently Emma Watson and Sophie Gregoire Trudeau have been having a blast hanging out together.

The actor and UN Women Goodwill Ambassador posted on Facebook Wednesday that she and Gregoire Trudeau had met, and that it was a "highlight of my year."

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"Who picks you up on a Vespa before your meetings to personally show you why she loves her city and her country?" Watson wrote of Gregoire Trudeau. "It was one of the most free and inspiring mornings I have had all year - not what I expected from someone who is as busy as she must be."

Both Watson and Gregoire Trudeau have been active in work related to the advancement of women and girls worldwide.

Watson's photos show her and Gregoire Trudeau with big smiles on a Vespa, and then in more formal attire posing in a second photo that looks to have been taken around the time Watson was in Ottawa for the One Young World Summit in late September.

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At the time, Watson met with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and praised his decision to make his cabinet gender balanced:

"Its so inspiring that you made your cabinet fifty-fifty, Watson said.

Gregoire Trudeau was also obviously enamoured with the young actress. The PM's wife shared Watson's Facebook post and wrote: "Emma, beautiful friend, you know how much I admire your path, dedication and hard work toward gender equality. You are a kind-hearted and generous soul! Until our next ride! "

Sorry, Ron and Harry, looks like you've been replaced.

Also on HuffPost
Youve probably heard about the high cost of food in Canadas northern regions ($83.49 for a case of water, anyone?) but the cost of staying connected in the digital age is just as punishing.

A new study from consumer advocacy group OpenMedia that compared Internet pricing across the country found the northern territories to be far behind the rest of Canada, in terms of both access and prices.

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At Northwestel, which is owned by Bell, the lowest-tier plan offers speeds of just 512 Kbps; it would take around three hours to download a standard-definition movie.

The limit on how much you can download in a month (known as a data cap) is 2 gigabytes, and the overage charge is a whopping $25 per gigabyte.

The Canada-wide average is $2.20 per gigabyte among the major telecoms, and $0.70 per gigabyte among smaller, independent Internet providers, the study found.

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That Northwestel plan currently sells for $59.95 in Iqaluit. By comparison, Bell's least expensive plan in Ontario sells for $64.95 and offers download speeds that are about 30 times as fast, with a 75-gigabyte data cap.

Competitor SSi offers overage charges of no more than $3 per gigabyte to its northern customers, but offers even lower top download speeds than Northwestel.

These prohibitive costs have had an impact on connectivity. The OpenMedia report cited earlier research showing that only one in three Nunavut homes are connected to the Internet.

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The result is a growing divide among Canadians, with rural and northern residents missing out on economic opportunities because of limited access to the online world.

The telecoms have long argued that building Internet infrastructure to remote communities is costly and inefficient, and successive governments promised to address the issue with increased funding.

The latest such commitment was the federal Liberals pledge to spend $500 million on expanding broadband to rural and remote communities, made in the spring budget. The move was lauded by the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM).

Not only are a large section of our fellow Canadians being cut off from vital services, they are also being prevented from fully participating in Canadian society, the FCM stated in a blog.

Canadas north ... is significantly lacking in connectivity."  OpenMedia

Efforts are underway to bring high-speed fibre Internet to the north. A company called Arctic Fibre is building a nearly 16,000-kilometre network connecting Asia and Europe through the Northwest Passage, which will include connections to communities in Canadas north, CBC News reported.

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They project the network will open in 2017.

Meanwhile, Nunavut Resource Corporation is lobbying the federal government for $500 million to fund a separate, $850-million fibre network connecting to existing networks in Labrador, Quebec and the Northwest Territories.

Data caps a ripoff, switch to independent provider, OpenMedia says

The OpenMedia report compared the cost of Internet services across Canada and found consumers are far more likely to get a good deal from one of the small, independent providers than from a major telecom.

Independent providers offer faster speeds and/or higher data caps for similarly-priced plans when compared to the big providers like Bell, Rogers, Telus, Shaw and Cogeco, the report found.

It also found the big providers charge data caps at three times the rate, on average, of the small providers  $2.20 per gigabyte at the major providers, compared to $0.70 at the independents.

In essence, data caps are a punitive practice designed to gouge customers for more money, and are not the regulatory tools that incumbent ISPs claim, OpenMedia concluded.

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When compared with the offerings from regional and independent providers, the excuses for the existence of restrictive data caps are unsubstantiated.

Canada's telecom watchdog, the CRTC, will hold a public hearing on Oct. 31 on the issue of data caps and Internet pricing.

Also on HuffPost
If you have yet to watch Netflix's hit series "Stranger Things," be prepared to fall in love with the entire cast. Seriously, it's hard to pick a favourite.

But one star in particular stood out for us when we found out he's Canadian. Yup, Finn Wolfhard (who also has the best name ever!) was born in Vancouver.

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#walkathon A photo posted by Finn Wolfhard (@finnwolfhardofficial) on Sep 30, 2016 at 9:40am PDT





The 13-year-old plays Mike Wheeler, the serious, nerdy kid who is determined to help El and find their missing friend, Will.

Happy birthday to @noahschnapp I love you buddy. A photo posted by Finn Wolfhard (@finnwolfhardofficial) on Oct 3, 2016 at 6:39am PDT





Wolfhard grew up on the west side of Vancouver and decided to get into show business when he was eight years old. Not really surprising, considering his dad writes screenplays on the side (his day job is doing research on Aboriginal land claims).

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"My dad, who is a screenwriter, showed me all these great movies. He showed me 'E.T.' when I was two years old, and I just kind of progressed from there," the teen told Indie Wire. "It was also my brother. Wed always watch movies together, and hed do these voices and hed always want to do skits and hed come up with stuff with me. And I dont think Id be where I am now if it wasnt for my dad and my mom and my brother, because they all combined and formed my love for filmmaking, because they all encouraged filmmaking in the house."

Photo shoot for @citylifemag photo creds: @pavidderry A photo posted by Finn Wolfhard (@finnwolfhardofficial) on Sep 19, 2016 at 11:01am PDT





And, yes, Finn Wolfhard is his real name.

"It's my given, full name. Finn's not short for anything; it's just Finn Wolfhard," he told Vulture. "And then Wolfhard means, I think, heart of the wolf in German. What's funny is I'm German, but then I'm like French  Im French and German and then Jewish. It's really weird. I have really weird blood. And then I go to Catholic school, which is really weird."

Happy belated birthday to baby holly's! They are like my little sisters, and I miss them so much! @thepricetwins A photo posted by Finn Wolfhard (@finnwolfhardofficial) on Aug 5, 2016 at 1:56pm PDT





So where does Wolfhard go from here?

Given that Wolfhard only has three other acting credits, "Stranger Things" was truly his breakout role. He just wrapped shooting the remake of "It." While he has no shortage of opportunities, he's still getting used to his newfound fame.

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I went to this AOL livestream thing and people were lined up out front screaming, Finn! Finn! And I was like, Uh, I dont like this, he told My City Life magazine in an interview. Its totally gratifying, but its also weird to think that people want to come up to me.

ICEBERG DEAD AHEAD! #lakeontario A photo posted by Finn Wolfhard (@finnwolfhardofficial) on Jul 28, 2016 at 9:16am PDT




Energy experts have warned over 'possible disasters'.

Vietnam has asked China to provide updates on its three new nuclear power plants near Vietnams border following safety concerns raised by experts.

Le Hai Binh, Vietnams Foreign Ministry spokesman, said at a press briefing on Thursday that Vietnam has asked China to build a system to provide regular updates on the three plants that went online last month in the provinces of Guangxi and Guangdong and on Hainan Island.

The plant in Guangxi is only 50 kilometers from the Vietnamese border and less than 500 kilometers from Hanoi.

The plants have put Vietnam on edge with the country still seeking funding to develop a radioactivity surveillance system in the north.

Vietnam and China are both members of the Convention on Nuclear Safety, under which a country is entitled to demand another to provide status updates on nuclear plants.

Experts from the Vietnam Atomic Energy Institute have urged the government to devise measures to deal with possible disasters.

International experts have also expressed similar concerns.

Paul Dorfman, a researcher from the Energy Institute at University College London, said that all nuclear plants carry risks of accidents.

It is unclear how safe Chinese reactors are, and how well they are regulated. So it seems clear that the Vietnamese people are at risk, he told VnExpress.

Edwin Lyman, a senior security scientist at the U.S.-based Union of Concerned Scientists, said a legal framework for nuclear safety and security in China has lagged behind its pace of nuclear construction. It is in Vietnams interest to ensure that China implements strict regulatory measures at its nuclear plants.

China plans to expand its nuclear power network to 170 plants with a combined capacity of 195,000 megawatts by 2050, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency.

David Lochbaum, director of the Nuclear Safety Project at the U.S. union, said that if the exercises could be coordinated between China and its neighbors, it would help assure that people are protected in case a nuclear accident happens.

Vietnam plans to build its first nuclear power plants in the central province of Ninh Thuan with technical assistance from Russia and Japan.

But following the 2011 nuclear disaster in Japan, the Vietnamese government ordered relevant agencies to thoroughly review safety measures and last year announced that it would delay work on the first nuclear plant until 2020.

Related news:

> Vietnam wary as China commissions nuclear power plants near border

> China could build nuclear plants for South China Sea (Vietnam's East Sea), paper says
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau isnt budging from his pledge not to insert himself in the U.S. presidential election, even as Republican nominee Donald Trump faces mounting allegations of sexual assault.

But Trudeau suggested Thursday that people already know how he feels.

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Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and French Prime Minister Manuel Valls walk to a media availability on Parliament Hill on Oct. 13, 2016. (Photo: Sean Kilpatrick/CP)

At a news conference in Ottawa with French Prime Minister Manuel Valls, National Post reporter David Akin asked Trudeau what a feminist prime minister makes of the accusations facing the man who could become president next door.

The prime minister repeated much the same message he has whenever is asked about Trump controversies  that he has a responsibility to work with whomever Americans elect to promote Canadian interest and jobs.

But there was a something of a but, this time.

I think, however, Ive been very, very clear in my approach as a feminist, as someone who has stood clearly and strongly all my life around issues of sexual harassment, standing against violence against women, that I dont need to make any further comment at this time, Trudeau said.

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"I think, however, Ive been very, very clear in my approach as a feminist, as someone who has stood clearly and strongly all my life around issues of sexual harassment, standing against violence against women, that I dont need to make any further comment at this time."

His French counterpart was bolder, however, telling reporters earlier that his country wants to see Democrat Hillary Clinton elected in November. Valls said in French that while U.S. President Barack Obama was elected by the world, Trump is rejected by the world.

Liberal cabinet ministers, including Status of Women Minister Patty Hadju, have also been careful not to harshly criticize Trump, even in the wake of charges that he has groped and assaulted women.

Trudeaus wife did respond this week to the release of a 2005 recording of Trump bragging about grabbing women's genitals and kissing them without consent. (Watch her video clip here.)

At an event in Toronto marking the International Day of the Girl, Sophie Gregoire Trudeau remarked how language of aggression and violence or rape culture becomes normalized.

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The toughest thing to change in a society is what is normal, she said.

Ex-PM: Trump is a predator

Some other Canadian public figures have joined the fray.

In March, New Democrats released a video of leader Thomas Mulcair calling Trump a fascist and lambasting Trudeau for shrugging his shoulders when asked about the Republican.

Donald Trump Jr. later told The Huffington Post Canada that Mulcairs dig against his father was nonsense.

Just this week, former prime minister Kim Campbell told CBC News that Trump was a sexual predator. But Campbell also suggested that she understood why Trudeau, as a sitting prime minister, is not being more vocal about the matter.

"One doesn't have to be a rocket scientist to imagine what he thinks of it all," Campbell said.

With files from The Canadian Press

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It's come to this in Vancouver: housing so unaffordable that it's pushing people on to the street.

That's according to a joint report by the University of Victoria (UVic) and the Union Gospel Mission (UGM), which says the city's affordability issues are exacerbating homelessness like "never before."

UGM spokesperson Jeremy Hunka calls it a "double-edged sword" that "is both pushing people into homelessness and preventing others from exiting homelessness."

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The report found that emergency shelter occupancy throughout the Vancouver region is near capacity, at 97 per cent, and that the proportion of women living in such facilities grew to 32 per cent in 2015-16, from 28 per cent in 2011-12.

This happened as Vancouver became less and less affordable over the past six years.

Average rent for a bachelor suite in the Vancouver region was $811 per month in 2010; it has since grown to $938.

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Vacancy rates don't provide much happier news. For unites that cost less than $750 a month, the vacancy rate dropped to 0.7 per cent in 2015, from 1.6 per cent in 2014.

And while the number of total bachelor apartments grew from 11,386 to 11,627 from 2010 to 2015, the availability of affordable units just keeps falling.

Meanwhile, the supply of bachelor units you can rent for over $1,000 has kept on growing.

Demand for subsidized housing is also firing up throughout the region.

The Housing Registry is a tool that allows people to apply for social housing. It had 8,968 Metro Vancouver applicants in 2012; it now has 10,278 people waiting to find housing, a 15 per cent increase in four years.

Senior applications represented the bulk of new applications, having grown by about 1,000, or 38 per cent, from 2012 to 2016.

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And all this is happening as BC Housing, a provincial agency that helps renters and provides emergency shelter, keeps building more units to meet various needs in the Vancouver region.

BC Housing had 41,079 subsidized units in 2011-12. That grew to 42,171 in 2015-16.

Those units are designed to help populations such as the homeless, seniors, low-income families and people with special needs.

"The question is not whether we are doing something but whether we are doing enough," report co-author Dr. Bernie Pauly said in a news release.

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"When we look at the current numbers of people who are homeless, the answer is no. Sadly, this makes the job of moving off the streets difficult."

The report gleaned data from government agencies and other places related to incomes, cost of living, rental housing vacancy, supply and the demand for such homes within the city.

A crash would bring little relief

Research released by Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) this week suggests that people shouldn't expect a housing crash to fix the problem.

"A collapse in prices often is meant to be a 25 per cent to 30 per cent decline. In the case of the Vancouver area, however, a drop of this order would roll the clock back only nine or 12 months since prices have escalated by more than 30 per cent in the past year alone," economist Robert Hogue wrote.

Vancouver's housing market is weakening, and is expected to enter a "cooling phase" in the spring, he said.

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But a "wholesale collapse" is unlikely because "economic and demographic underpinnings for the market remain solid," and the city is still "well-positioned to attract wealth and investment despite the new tax on foreign buyers."

Vancouver's lack of affordability arises from a growing population, a strong economy and an ingestion of wealth into an area with little land to build on, Hogue added.

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David Sacks via Getty Images 4 year old girl holding 70s woman's hand while senior woman is lying in a hospital bed

Canadians are grappling with one of the most difficult legal issues we have faced in decades: our collective responsibility to facilitate medically-assisted death for those who choose it and satisfy the legal criteria.

Ever since the Supreme Court decided in Carter v Canada that individuals have a Charter protected right to a dignified death of their choosing, governments, physicians, hospitals and citizens have struggled to accept and move forward with implementing a workable regime.

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One of the biggest impediments is institutional resistance. Hospitals that claim a right to conscientious objection may well prove the Achilles heel in government efforts to breathe life into a right to die.

Catholic Hospitals, which are publicly funded, take the position that as institutions they have religious rights under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. This is a position that was recognized by some Supreme Court judges in a 2015 case called Loyola Highschool v Quebec.

Three judges concluded that a religious institution, as a collective, could claim a right to Freedom of Religion under section 2(a) of the Charter. However, those three judges added a key caveat to this conclusion: "...an organization meets the requirements for s. 2 (a) protection if (1) it is constituted primarily for religious purposes, and (2) its operation accords with these religious purposes."

Publicly funded hospitals do not satisfy this test and therefore have no institutional claim to Freedom of Religion.

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Publicly-funded hospitals are not constituted "primarily for religious purposes." All Ontario hospitals, Catholic and others, exist to deliver medically necessary services, and all are funded by provinces for that purpose. All hospitals offer the aid and support of religious counsel to families that request it. All hospitals have quiet spaces for reflection and prayer.

And all hospitals recognize that for some patients, religious counsel, empathy and end-of-life support are vital to a sense of holistic care. No publicly funded hospital is organized for the purpose of providing religious care. Therefore Catholic Hospitals do not operate in a way that "accords" with a religious purpose.

The Loyola case was concerned with a private Catholic boys school that contested a Quebec provincial curriculum requirement that it offer "objective" or "neutral" instruction on world religions, including Catholicism. Three Supreme Court judges held that it violated the institution's Freedom of Religion to have to teach its own religious doctrine neutrally and objectively.

This is a fundamentally different question than the one presented by Catholic Hospitals in delivering medically-necessary services. A private boys school advertises and admits students whose family wants a Catholic education. A publicly-funded hospital takes all patients, regardless of religious affiliation (or lack thereof).

The hospital is not delivering "Catholic care," it is delivering medical care that is non-denominational, non-religious and independent of religious oversight. Priests do not determine the care in Catholic hospitals, physicians and other health care professionals do.

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The federal law that permits medical assistance in dying requires that an individual have a grievous, irremedial condition that is causing physical and psychological suffering. Death must be reasonably foreseeable. The people asking for this service are in extremis.

They are suffering, in pain and near death. They have the Constitutional right to assistance in dying without pain and with dignity. While an individual physician may have a Charter-protected religious right to ask another doctor to take over the role of ending a life, a hospital has no Constitutional right to prohibit all of its physicians from doing so. Hospitals have no conscience, only the people who work in them do.

The University of Ottawa is hosting a conference for providers on medical aid in dying on 14 & 15 October. More information can be found here:

https://commonlaw.uottawa.ca/health-law/
Last week, I travelled to Hartley Bay, a small community two hours by boat from Kitimat, B.C. It's in the territory of the Gitga'at First Nation, an area of beautiful Great Bear Rainforest about twice the size of Prince Edward Island. Atop towering coastal cliffs perch thick forests, home to wolves, eagles, and the famous spirit bear. In the ocean, there's salmon, sea lions, orcas and other whales -- lots of whales. On the day I was out on the water with the Gitga'at, we must have seen 10 different humpbacks feeding on herring, and I was reminded that huge predators depend on tiny, vulnerable forage fish.

I was there to sign a protocol agreement with the Gitga'at First Nation. The agreement, one of the first of its kind between WWF-Canada and a First Nation, commits us to working together on marine protection in the region and creating opportunities for sustainable economic development. It's a new type of partnership for us, and it's one I'm really excited about.

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My colleagues and I received a warm welcome in Hartley Bay, and the ceremonial signing of the agreement between the Gitga'at and WWF-Canada was honoured by traditional songs, dancing and feast of local fish, crab and berries. The next day, we were taken on a hike through the forest to see a spirit bear, and by boat to see whales and sea lions. I visited Cetacea Lab, a remote research station perched on a rocky promontory, where researchers use underwater microphones to record whale calls, and to study the interactions between different types of whales, including orcas, fins and humpbacks. The researchers work in partnership with the Gitga'at, and together have raised concerns about what an increase in shipping traffic would mean for marine life in the territory.

Recently, the Gitga'at, with other First Nations, won a slim victory against the proposed Northern Gateway Pipeline project, which would have seen 200 tanker ships filled with bitumen passing each year across their territory. Gitga'at territory is where the B.C. ferry Queen of the North went down in 2006. It's hard to picture tankers being able to manoeuvre successfully through the narrow channels -- and too easy to imagine the devastation that a bitumen spill would inflict.

Part of our new agreement with the Gitga'at commits us to working together to develop a marine-protection strategy for their territory. We look forward to drawing on the wealth of Gitga'at traditional knowledge about their territory, and sharing with them our expertise in marine conservation.

WWF-Canada works to build resilient communities that co-exist with a healthy environment. The Gitga'at recognize that the wellbeing of their nation is inextricably tied to the wellbeing of their land and water. With this new agreement, we have an opportunity to support each other's goals, exploring economic development that will bring long-term benefits to the region.

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In our recent post, we wrote about predatory open access journals and the threat they pose to research and medical practice. Predatory OA journals are run by entrepreneurs (con artists, in our opinion) that have little or no scientific credibility, but publish "journals" which essentially print everything that is submitted to them, without any peer review or scrutiny, so long as they get paid.

The scary thing is that a predatory publisher now owns several Canadian medical journals, as revealed by investigations by CTV News and Toronto Star.

In this post, we hope to raise awareness about the growing menace of bogus conferences, organized by predatory publishers as well as specialized conference groups such as BIT Congress Inc, Conference Series Ltd, Event Series (both owned by OMICS International), PSC Conference and many others. These groups, often based out of China and India, run vanity conferences on nearly every conceivable topic. A cursory look at their websites is enough to understand the staggering breadth of topics they cover.

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Scientific conferences serve as the catalyzer for intellectual interactions among researchers.

Jeffrey Beall, the librarian who maintains a black list of predatory publishers, also highlights predatory conferences on his helpful website. According to him, "there's a lot of money to be made in the scholarly-conference organizing business in Asia these days. These are not conferences organized by scholarly societies. Instead, they are conferences organized by revenue-seeking companies that want to exploit researchers' need to build their vitas with conference presentations and papers in the published proceedings or affiliated journals."

Importance of conference presentations in academia

As part of the career advancement process in academia, researchers must present evidence that their work has attained national and international reputation. An invitation to give a talk at a prestigious conference, therefore, means a lot in academia. Credible scientific conferences, typically organized by major professional societies and research agencies, will invite researchers to present because of the caliber and validity of their work as judged by the candidate's peers.

All academics, including us, generally accept such invitations and see it as an opportunity for scholarly exchanges in our fields. It is a great opportunity to present research in progress and to hear from colleagues who work in the same field and dealing with similar challenges. Scientific conferences serve as the catalyzer for intellectual interactions among researchers; they help us to come up with solutions to common problems and inspire new leads for scientific inquiry.

Rise of predatory, vanity conferences

Given the importance of conferences in academia, predatory conference organizers sensed a business opportunity and started scamming researchers a few years ago. They send adulatory emails inviting people to deliver keynote lectures in their "prestigious" international conferences in North America, Western Europe or exotic locations elsewhere (typically, Japan and China).

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Here is an example that one of us (EF) received: "OMICS Group has acknowledged you as a world class expert capable of providing deep insight into the latest developments in Radiology and Imaging." MP received this invitation recently from Conference Series: "Greetings! We would delight to welcome you on behalf of the Organizing Committee, as a Speaker to the CPD Accredited Event "3rd World Congress and Expo on Applied Microbiology" Going to be held in Dubai, UAE." These invitations have nothing to do with our expertise.

Indeed, we get tons of invitations to speak on topics that have nothing to do with our own area of research, from obstetrics to radiology, even economics! Apparently, anyone can have a speaking slot, or chair a session, or lecture on any topic they want! Many of these invitations offer the recipient the opportunity to chair an entire session in the conference. All submitted abstracts are usually accepted after a science-free, zero peer review process.

Typically, initial invitations are followed-up by increasingly frequent follow-up emails, even if we decline. It is nearly impossible to opt-out of these invitations. In any given day, emails from predatory journals and conferences may add to more than half of one's work-related inbox.

Unwary researchers fall prey to these seemingly "prestigious" speaking opportunities and pay the high registration fee to attend, as well as the high cost of travel and lodging. These conferences make money through registration fees that are bundled with charges for hotel, meals, program materials, ground transportation and other hidden charges (e.g. sight seeing tours).

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Sadly, predatory conferences have become "a cottage industry in scientific communication."

The enhanced "prestige" that comes from accepting an invitation to chair a session frequently adds an extra amount to the conference registration fee that has to be paid. Researchers who fall for these scams show up at sparsely attended events, and realize that the conference is not at all what they expected and has no prominent speakers from whom they could learn. Worse yet, they realize that the high profile names that seemed to be part of the organizing committee as displayed in the conference website were never there.

This is a common trick by the predatory conference organizers: they hijack from the Internet the photos and biographies of scientists who have established reputation and credibility (sometimes Nobel Prize winners). These names serve as baits to attract registrations. When the person whose identity was hijacked complains, nothing happens. These dishonest conference organizers will ignore cease-and-desist letters.

We are aware of several cases of colleagues (including our own experience) who were targeted to have their picture and biosketches associated with these pseudo-scientific events that only serve to collect the hard-earned research or salary money from junior researchers in developing countries.

Sadly, predatory conferences have become "a cottage industry in scientific communication." Between predatory journals and predatory conferences, academics are now being spammed on a daily basis, by greedy groups that neither understand science, nor care about advancing science. We fear this alarming rise of predatory journals and conferences will not only undermine science, but also scam academics, particularly junior researchers who can least afford it.

Madhukar Pai is a Canada Research Chair in Epidemiology & Global Health at McGill University, Montreal. He is the Director of McGill Global Health Programs, and the Associate Director of McGill International Tuberculosis Centre. (@paimadhu)

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Eduardo L. Franco, is a James McGill Professor and Chairman, Gerald Bronfman Department of Oncology, McGill University. He is also the Director of the Division of Cancer Epidemiology at McGill University.

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Klaus Vedfelt via Getty Images CEO giving peptalk to businesspeople at meeting in big conferenceroom

By Gerard Seijts

Failing to access leadership character can clearly be expensive. As Ivey Business Journal recently pointed out, fraud resulting from mismanagement at Wells Fargo has already cost the bank about US$300 million in fines and pre-settlement investigative costs while wiping out something like US$6 billion in shareholder value. Ex-employees, meanwhile, are seeking US$2.6 billion in a class-action lawsuit related to the bank's culture that rewarded employees who created multiple accounts for customers without permission.

The Wells Fargo fiasco, of course, took place under the watch of CEO John Stumpf, who insists on the bank's website that integrity "is not a commodity. It's the most rare and precious of personal attributes. It is the core of a person's -- and a company's -- reputation." So let's not forget the millions lost from the hit to Wells Fargo's brand value, which was listed at US$30 billion before suffering from criminal behaviour that enriched the stock holdings of executives while decimating public trust and generating minimal revenue for the company.

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These numbers are shocking, but not as shocking as the leadership that set the stage for misbehaviour and then failed to do anything about it for years. As a result, U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren was justified when scolding Stumpf during government hearings on the bank's account-opening practices, noting "you squeezed your employees to the breaking point so they would cheat customers and you could drive up the value of your stock and put hundreds of millions of dollars in your own pocket. And when it all blew up, you kept your job, you kept your multimillion-dollar bonuses and you went on television to blame thousands of $12-an-hour employees who were just trying to meet cross-sell quotas that made you rich. This is about accountability. You should resign."

It has been less than ten years since banking-sector leadership and governance failures almost toppled the global financial system, but the expensive lessons embedded in the 2008 financial crisis appear forgotten as high-profile cases of appalling corporate behaviour continue to undermine capitalism. And the costs are unsustainable. As former BMO Capital Markets head Eric Tripp noted in Ivey Business Journal last year, the combined cost of character flaws in the banking industry alone over the last decade could be US$8 trillion if you include lost economic growth. That's more than US$1,000 for every person on the planet.

It is no secret that good leadership requires commitment to the hard work it takes to look out an organization's stakeholders, along with the intellect and competencies required to compete in today's disruptive and uncertain times. But research has made it clear that good leadership further requires a balance of identifiable character dimensions.

The importance of assessing character is now widely accepted. Indeed, an Ivey Business School survey of directors and senior executives from for-profit and not-for-profit organizations found 86 per cent of respondents agreeing, or strongly agreeing, that boards should assess and evaluate CEO character. Furthermore, 60 per cent of survey participants agreed, or strongly agreed, that character strengths and deficits can be assessed through good interviewing, not to mention extensive and intensive reference-checking. And yet, many organizations still fail to take steps to make sure this final pillar of good leadership is in place when making executive appointments.

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We unfortunately see examples of this paradox in the newspapers almost every day. Take the case of pharmaceutical firm Mylan, which dramatically increased the U.S. price of a two-pack EpiPen kit to more than US$600 since the company acquired rights to the life-saving product in 2007. Instead of being led by a CEO who would have recognized that price gouging allergy-prone families was not good business, the company has Heather Bresch at the helm. And when addressing the legitimate concerns of her company's critics, she further enraged customers (while showing a total lack of awareness of the corporate social responsibility movement at the same time) by bluntly stating, "I am running a business to make money."

Bresch's lack of empathy as a leader is reminiscent of former British Petroleum CEO Tony Hayward during the catastrophic Gulf of Mexico oil spill, when he infamously complained about how his enjoyment of life was being disrupted. "There's no one who wants this thing over more than I do, I'd like my life back," he said. Public outrage later forced an apology to the 11 families who had lost someone in the accident.

No corporation should be ashamed about wanting profits. But as noted in a blog by Bill George, former head of Medtronic, when George Merck ran a pharmaceutical company, he had the character to lead his business with the following understanding: "Medicine is for the people. It is not for the profits. The profits follow." At Mylan, pricing policy was tainted by greed. And shareholders are paying the price. "We continue to believe the EpiPen situation is far from over with Mylan and represents a risk to the shares," Wall Street market watcher David Maris recently warned investors. And hey, he clearly knows about the costs associated with reputational damage. After all, Maris is a Wells Fargo analyst.

When recruiting leaders and directors, organizations have long invested time and money to ensure they are managed and governed by people with appropriate levels of experience and competencies. But all that time and money can be wasted when leadership character isn't also given the attention it deserves because costly failures in decision making can often be traced back to character-based issues such as closed-mindedness, impatience, and lack of accountability, empathy, humility, and courage. The good news is that character failures can be avoided. Based on research conducted at Ivey, proactive companies are now deploying tools specifically designed to assess leader character when recruiting, onboarding, promoting, and developing people.

The costs associated with bad leadership do not have to continue to escalate. More organizations simply need to recognize the importance of assessing and developing leadership character. The issue can be ignored, but the price of doing so can't be when paying for this neglect.

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Gerard Seijts is a Professor of Organizational Behaviour, holds the Ian O. Ihnatowycz Chair in Leadership, and is Executive Director of the Ian O. Ihnatowycz Institute for Leadership at the Ivey Business School at Western University in London, Ontario. He can be reached at gseijts@ivey.ca.
Rebecca Cook / Reuters Fiat Chrysler assembly workers work on a partially assembled minivan at the Windsor Assembly Plant in Windsor, Ontario, February 9, 2015. The plant prepares to shut down for 14 weeks starting February 16 in preparation for Fiat Chrysler's next generation minivan. REUTERS/Rebecca Cook (CANADA - Tags: TRANSPORT BUSINESS)

The stability of the auto industry in Canada became much more secure this week with Unifor's new collective agreement with Fiat-Chrysler.

The job we set for ourselves last summer to establish a strong footprint for the entire auto industry in this country for the next generation, is not done yet. We still have a deal to negotiate with Ford.

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Pending ratification by our Chrysler members this weekend, Unifor's new collective agreement with the company will see $325 million spent to rebuild the paint shop at the Chrysler assembly plant in Brampton, plus money to upgrade its casting facility in Etobicoke and investments to bring a new hybrid vehicle to Windsor.

Combined with the deal we signed with General Motors last month, this round of contract talks has so far netted the Canadian auto sector more than $1 billion in investments -- money that would not have been invested otherwise, which benefits each and every one of the facilities operated by those companies in Canada.

It will be no different with Ford. Our members at Ford know how important is it to negotiate a deal which secures the future of the company in Canada through investments.

I say that because four years ago, it was the Ford workers bargaining team leading the Detroit Three negotiations that brought in a pattern deal that set a new wage grid for new hires. It was a bold move made by the bargaining team to secure the future of Ford's operations in Oakville.

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It worked. Since that contract was signed in 2012, the Ford plant in Oakville has been very busy producing the Edge, Flex, Lincoln MKX and Lincoln MKT and hiring more than 2,000 new workers. Based on that contract, Ford invested more than $700 million in its Oakville facilities.

Securing new investment is never easy, and the importance of it can never be understated.

Today, thanks to that wage grid, which pushed back the permanent two-tiering of wages that the company wanted, the union was able to ensure a stronger future for Ford in Canada -- and along with it a stronger future for Ford workers and their communities.

With the pattern agreement negotiated in this round of bargaining, we have significantly improved on the grid that secured the future of the Oakville plant. New hires will now see wage increases in every year of the grid, where the 2012 grid had some flat years with no wage increases. As well, the wage increases are significantly higher than under the old grid.

That 2012 grid was negotiated at a time of some duress for the auto industry in Canada, still recovering from the financial crisis of only a few years before. The pattern negotiated at Ford was adopted across the Detroit Three, however, to secure the future for Ford in Oakville. It was a moment of true solidarity. This time, it is Ford in Windsor that needs the pattern deal adopted to secure its future.

Securing new investment is never easy, and the importance of it can never be understated. It always means hard work and tough decisions. That's why each set of negotiations so far in this round has gone down to the wire, with deals reached just minutes before a strike deadline.

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With Ford, we expect no less. Our goal in our talks with Ford will be to secure that prime position for Canadian workers and their communities well into the future.

That means reaching a deal that includes significant investments by Ford in Canada to cement that company's continued strong presence in this country. Our goal is a long future for all of Ford's facilities in this country, just as we have been able to secure with GM and Fiat-Chrysler, and the jobs they provide.

As we said at the start of these talks last summer, the auto industry was reaching a breaking point in Canada. In the face of government indifference during the decade-long Harper Government, and in the wake of the financial crisis, the future viability of the industry in this country was is real peril.

We have done much in our first two Detroit Three contracts to reverse the trend for auto in Canada. Today, the auto industry is on much more stable ground, but the job is not yet done.

It is now time to open talks with Ford, and to finish the work of securing good jobs and building strong futures for our communities.

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MECKY via Getty Images Pregnant Woman Sitting on Sofa

By Loubna Belaid and Valery Ridde

Every day approximately 830 mothers around the world die due to pregnancy and childbirth complications. Most of these are preventable deaths. That's why improving childbirth outcomes was a critical issue at the recent G7 Health Ministers meeting attended by Canada.

We know where it's happening. The number of mothers that die relative to the number of births -- what's called the mortality maternal ratio -- is much higher in low-income countries. In 2015, the maternal mortality ratio in low-income countries was estimated at 239 per 100,000 births compared to 12 per 100,000 in high-income countries.

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In fact, maternal mortality can be much higher than this in specific countries within low-income countries due to dramatic disparities in quality and access to services. For instance, in South Sudan the maternal mortality ratio is estimated at 789 maternal deaths per 100,000 births.

By comparison, in Canada, the mortality maternal ratio was 7 per 100,000 births in 2015, though with significantly higher rates among our indigenous populations.

We know that improving access to health care services is important for pregnant women. In fact, this is number five of The Millennium Development Goals adopted by the United Nations and 23 international organizations, including Canada, in 2000.

Canada supported that goal by spearheading the 2010 MUSKOKA initiative, where G8 countries invested $7.3 billion to reduce maternal, neonatal and child mortalities globally. Canada itself invested $1.1 billion to the cause.

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But what if access to healthcare services isn't enough? What if expecting mothers, despite the risks they see around them, reject healthcare services offered to them?

That's what researchers discovered in a meta-analysis on the barriers expecting mothers face when seeking medical care in low and middle income countries.

Studies reported women being concerned with or having previously experienced practices in healthcare facilities that can be filed under the official heading "disrespect and abuse." For example, care in hospitals and health facilities was often associated with physical and verbal abuse, non-consensual care, discrimination, neglectful care, lack of privacy and even detention against the patients' will.

The analysis found hospital facilities were perceived to be providing too many invasive interventions, such as unnecessary vaginal examinations, that they were insensitive to privacy issues and that they took away women's control over the birthing process.

Many complained of a lack of supportive attendants at birth during a hospital delivery, some experienced long delays for care, and some had a fear of cutting (from episiotomy or caesarean section). Some women described health providers as verbally abusive, lacking compassion, or even physically abusive during delivery. Some feared compulsory HIV testing or HIV-status disclosure. And some feared stigmatization because of their unwed status.

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These issues of cultural disconnect and disrespect and abuse are matters of quality of care -- which, globally, haven't had enough attention -- but are important for improving maternal outcomes. In fact, researchers have found that improving the quality of care is essential for improving maternal outcomes.

Around the world there are global civil and professional movements to promote childbirth based on respect and dignity. For example, the White Ribbon Alliance convenes individuals, NGOs, professional associations, government entities, youth, community leaders, academics and donor agencies to promote every woman's right to a safe birth.

Canada has already committed 20 projects on the ground, with Canadian researchers working alongside African researchers and policy makers to improve access and quality of care to expecting mothers and babies.

But Canada can -- and must -- do more. Canada can direct policies and funding at tackling disrespect and abuse at health facilities. We can insist on sensitization training for global health students and NGO workers. We can encourage more awareness on the issue for policy makers and health professionals working in the field. We can support more research on evidence-based policies to inform our goals.

Of course, Canada should always work with local practitioners, researchers and policy makers to avoid replicating colonial mistakes of the past. And quality of care should be an integral part of our broader commitment to addressing other barriers to healthcare, such as access, transportation, education and more.

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The Trudeau government has said that it wants Canada to take a leadership role in global health, including infant and maternal mortality. Addressing maternal barriers to health care -- including quality of care -- will help the work we're doing go a lot farther.

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On October 4th, my colleagues and I anxiously followed the news as Hurricane Matthew tore through Haiti. Though all of us were hoping and praying the damage would be minimal, the storm was deadly.

In the days before the hurricane, our staff in Haiti had amassed emergency supplies in case of the worst. They were able to dive in and help as the winds and rains died down, assessing damage and providing immediate aid.

But as news emerged from the area, we realized that the people of Haiti would be struggling to recover from this storm for a long time to come.

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These photos tell a story of great tragedy, community cooperation, and the strength of Haiti's people to get up and begin rebuilding.

"In some parts of Haiti you have 90 per cent of homes destroyed, plus people losing all of their crops," said John Hasse, director of World Vision Haiti of the long road ahead. "For them...it's what happens next week, what happens next month?"

The question of food

As World Food Day approaches, it's hard not to think about the food many of us take for granted here in Canada. In Haiti, World Vision is committed to distributing food aid to 15,000 families in the next two months. But, with so many crops destroyed, the effect of the hurricane will reach far beyond that.

When you add in the damage to roads, schools and clinics, combined with the risk of waterborne diseases like cholera that are increasing due to flooding, the people of Haiti are in desperate need.

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But they are also resilient. These photos tell a story of great tragedy, community cooperation, and the strength of Haiti's people to get up and begin rebuilding.

Homes have been decimated along the coast of Haiti in the community of Dupuy.

Roads were literally washed away in the floods.

Crops and fishing boats have been destroyed, stealing peoples' livelihoods.

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The winds were so strong that this roof was blown right into the road.

This tree crashed right through the roof and walls of this home in Saint Louis du Sud.

People who were self-sufficient now have to rely on emergency aid.

Our World Vision staff are providing things like blankets, tarpaulins, clean water, and hygiene kits to families.

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You can help provide emergency essentials like clean water, blankets, hygiene kits and more.

Family members carry home life-saving supplies to their loved ones.

This church building was completely destroyed. Yves, a church member, tries to salvage some of the materials so they can rebuild.

Gisele, a mother of three, cleans her home from debris and mud. Haitians have been forced to start their lives again in the aftermath of the storm.

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Haitians are ready to rebuild their country in the wake of this storm, but without the resources to do so, the next months and years could be desperate. You can help provide emergency essentials like clean water, blankets, hygiene kits and more.

Despite the horror of an emergency like this, I am grateful that World Vision will be there in Haiti, as we have been for 38 years, to help farmers replant, families rebuild their lives, and children get back to learning.

All photos by World Vision.

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It seems like every time you turn on the television or log onto the Internet these days, it's deja vu: there's news of another all-too familiar story playing out before your eyes and it's one we're beginning to know far too well.

The story comes from American cities. They include, but are not limited to, San Diego, Houston, Baton Rouge, North Charleston, Minnesota and Ferguson -- but in spite of the geographical diversity, the details are always depressingly similar. It's a story that involves an unarmed African-American male who has been fatally shot by police during what is usually a routine police matter.

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It's becoming impossible to ignore the undeniable reality of police brutality in relation to African-American men south of our border.

Numerous academic studies have concluded, time and time again, that black men are shot and killed by police in America at a disproportionately higher rate than all other people. In 2015, it was found that unarmed black men were also found to be seven times more likely than unarmed white men to die from a gunshot wound delivered by police.

But we don't need academia, statistics or studies to tell us this. We can see it for ourselves.

The prevalence of mobile recording devices and increasing accessibility to the Internet has only served to document these events and put them before our eyes in a way that is so jarring, we often cannot look away. We are now bearing witness to social injustice as it plays out, often in real time.

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As Canadians, though, it is fairly easy to separate ourselves from the problem. It is easy to chalk it up as "their problem, not ours" -- and it is tempting, because the problem is complex, disturbing and uncomfortable.

But not so fast.

Here at home, we have our own problems when it comes to the systematic discrimination of minorities and the unique role that police action -- or inaction -- plays in that ongoing discrimination. I am referring to, of course, the missing and murdered aboriginal women and girls in this country.

The situation is so dire that our federal government has launched a national inquiry into it.

The statistics are sobering. Canadian aboriginal women are almost three times more likely to be killed by a stranger than their non-aboriginal counterparts and over a quarter of murder cases involving an aboriginal female victim remained unsolved. The situation is so dire that our federal government has launched a national inquiry into it. Results are pending.

Like the race issues in the U.S., though, we can safely conclude that the reasons for the disproportionately higher rates of violence experienced by aboriginal women in this country are complex and intertwined.

However, in 2012, the Missing Women Commission of Inquiry report cited police bias and discriminatory policing practices as central contributing factors that allowed a serial killer to continue murdering aboriginal women in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside for many years. Last week, an Ontario police officer was suspended and put under investigation following a number of racist comments that he posted to Facebook in relation to a murdered aboriginal woman.

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The issue is apparent -- and it's ongoing.

Quite simply, a sick police culture is just one symptom of a sick society.

Police officers are some of the most powerful people in our society. They are trusted with the paramount task of enforcing the law, while also protecting and serving our communities. Police officers are authorized to make judgement calls that are not extended to ordinary members of society. They can dismiss a potential lead in an important case or to use deadly force against a perceived threat.

It is not a role to be taken lightly and we, as a society, recognize that, which is why we hold our police officers to the highest possible standard.

However, police officers are people just like everyone else and they will hold their own biases, opinions and beliefs. So when an individual police officer falls short of the standard expected, we are disappointed but we can also understand. Not everyone is cut out for the job.

But it is different when we can see a clear and discernible pattern of unacceptable behaviour emerging in our forces. We have seen it in our own city, and across the country, and now we are now seeing it south of the border. It is something that we cannot and should not ignore.

The continued cycle of violence affecting racial minorities relies on dangerous biases and stereotypes. These biases and stereotypes run rampant through society and popular culture. Inevitably, they are incorporated into, and perpetuated through, police culture. This is where they play out in dramatic and often life-shattering ways.

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Quite simply, a sick police culture is just one symptom of a sick society.

In order to hold our police forces to a higher standard, we must hold ourselves to a higher standard. We cannot tolerate discriminatory language in our daily lives, nor can we aid in the propagation of stereotypical assumptions about other races and cultures. We must also speak out against injustice where we see it and demand more of ourselves and of our officers.

We cannot afford any less.

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Russian President Vladimir Putin gestures as he addresses students during his visit to the German Embassy school in Moscow, Russia, June 29, 2016. Photo by Reuters/Alexander Zemlianichenko/Pool/File Photo

He said all sides in the U.S. presidential campaign were misusing rhetoric about Russia for their own purposes.

Even as WikiLeaks released another trove of internal documents from Hillary Clinton's campaign on Wednesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin insisted his country was not involved in an effort to influence the U.S. presidential election.

Last week, the U.S. government formally accused Russia of launching a hacking campaign to "interfere with the U.S. election process." Clinton's campaign, which has charged the Kremlin is trying to help Republican Donald Trump win the White House on November 8, took its allegations a step further on Tuesday when John Podesta, chairman of the Democratic nominee's campaign, accused the Trump campaign of colluding with Russia.

In Moscow, Putin said nothing in the hacking scandal is in Russia's interests and said all sides in the U.S. presidential campaign were misusing rhetoric about Russia for their own purposes.

"They started this hysteria, saying this (hacking) is in Russia's interests, but this has nothing to do with Russia's interests," Putin told a business forum.

Putin said his government would work with whoever won the U.S. election, "if, of course, the new U.S. leader wishes to work with our country."

WikiLeaks, the organization started by Julian Assange that publishes leaked information on the internet, this week released thousands of emails from Podesta's email account and has not said how it obtained them. Last week, it posted excerpts from Clinton's private speeches to banking and financial firms.

The Clinton campaign has not confirmed the authenticity of the messages.

The leaks, coming as the election campaign reaches the final stretch, have the potential to embarrass the Clinton camp. In recent days, however, Trump's own campaign has been in deeper trouble over the emergence of a 2005 video in which Trump bragged about groping women and making unwanted sexual advances. Many Republican elected officials have turned their back on him and he has seen Clinton's lead in national opinion polls increase.

Clinton, who was secretary of state in the Obama administration from 2009-2013, has repeatedly accused Trump of having overly friendly ties with Putin and the Russian government. She has noted that Trump's foreign policies have tended to align with Russian's interests, whether it has been questioning NATO's role in defending Eastern Europe, failing to recognize Russia's intrusion into Ukraine, and supporting Russia's actions in Syria.

Trump, a new York business man who has never previously run for office, has shifted his policies on a wide range of issues, from taxes to the minimum wage to immigration during his White House campaign but his statements on Russia have been consistent. In addition to drawing criticism from Clinton and other Democrats, his stance on Moscow departs from the views of many prominent Republicans.

During a presidential debate on Sunday, Trump publicly disagreed with his own vice presidential choice, Mike Pence, who had called for a more hawkish approach toward Russia.

Trump has said that as president he would seek warmer relations with Russia and that it would be in the United States' best interests to seek Russia's help to defeat Islamic State.

"Trump is the most pro-Russian presidential candidate ever," said Max Boot, a senior fellow for national security studies at the Council of Foreign Relations. "Putin no doubt sees a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to reorient U.S. foreign policy in his direction by electing Trump."

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (R) talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin during the arrival ceremony for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit in Vladivostok, Russia on September 8, 2012. Photo by Reuters/Jim Watson/Pool/File Photo

'Criminal hacks'

Podesta said on Tuesday the FBI was investigating a "criminal hack" of his emails, and he tied the Trump campaign to the leaks by suggesting that a former Trump adviser, Roger Stone, had advance warning of the hacks.

The Trump campaign has not responded to the allegation about Stone, but Trump has denied any coordination with the Russian government to embarrass Clinton - and has even questioned whether any hacks actually occurred.

"I notice anything wrong happens, they like to say the Russians," Trump said during Sunday's presidential debate. "She doesn't know if it's the Russians doing the hacking. Maybe there is no hacking."

But Trump has made clear he supports WikiLeaks' efforts. "I love WikiLeaks," he said at a rally in Pennsylvania on Tuesday.

The U.S. has an ongoing criminal investigation into Assange's publishing of classified material. Clinton has been a fierce critic of Assange, who remains at the Ecuadorean embassy in London where he sought refuge in 2012 to avoid possible extradition to Sweden.

Last week, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and Department of Homeland Security said in a joint statement that the government was confident the hacks of Democratic political groups and campaign officials originated from high levels of the Russian government.

The White House on Tuesday promised a "proportional" response to Russia over the hacks.

In an interview with CNN, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the United States had offered no proof of his government's involvement, and suggested Moscow was unconcerned about possible reprisals.

"If they decided to do something, let them do it," Lavrov said.

Related news:

> Clinton campaign also hacked in attacks on Democrats
Inuk Studio via Getty Images Smiling friends taking selfie in nightclub

True friendships are a rare commodity in our modern, hectic society; thus, we sometimes need to appreciate the special people in our lives.

Celebrities, political figures and business leaders alike often suggest our world needs more love, kindness and connection. While social media has made us a world that is increasingly connected, our world is plagued by a loneliness crisis.

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Empathy is a much-needed quality in today's world and studies have shown that having quality friendships can help. The University of Virginia studied brain scans from 22 different people who were under threat of receiving small electrical shocks to either themselves, a friend, or a stranger. These scientists discovered that the brain activity of a person in danger, versus that when a friend is, is essentially the same.

Study director and psychologist James Coan suggests that "our self comes to include who we become close to." He goes on to say that "people close to us become a part of ourselves, and that is not just metaphor or poetry, it's very real. Literally we are under threat when a friend is under threat," Coan concludes.

Anthropologist Robin Dunbar from the University of Oxford suggests that for people the results he obtained studying primate social groups conclude that every individual can only maintain up to 150 significant relationships at a single time.

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Friendship is unique for each one but many wise people have said a lot about them. An Irish proverb says that "A good friend is like a four leaf clover; hard to find and lucky to have."

The late poet Maya Angelou once said that "I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did but people will never forget how you made them feel". Her quote summarizes what our hectic lives make us often forget. The value of how we make people feel.

Social networks such as Facebook may be changing this reality because it increases our memory capacity. Online sites can help us keep up relationships that previously were impossible to keep due to distance or lack of time.

The following are four simple things you can do to remind your friends that you care about them.

1. Send a paper letter to a friend in another city or country.

We so rarely send snail mail any longer these days so it means even more to send it.

2. Call your friend on their birthday just to say that you are thinking of them.

A phone call is much more personal touch than a Facebook generated standard birthday greeting.

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3. Message a friend who you haven't seen in a while but meaning to go out to get caught up.

Do it right now after you finish reading this article.

4. Send your friend some socks to show your appreciation for them.

One Vancouver-based company is helping to connect friendships from around the world through the simple act of sending socks as a gift. Friendship socks allows you to purchase a fashionable pair of socks while sending a pair to a friend or loved one through social media, email or text message. This service is the first of it's kind to enable you to send a pair of socks through social media.

"We are excited to help friends stay connected through Friendship Socks," said Friendship Socks founder Marc Herman. Herman insists that this is a project that he loves seeing the chain reaction to a simple act of friendship.

I personally used the service to send a pair of socks to a friend of mine in LA who is a long-time close friend and even was his groomsmen at his wedding. I simply wanted my friend to know that I was thinking about him and missed him. I was able to send a brief message via Facebook and he was able to enter his shipping information. A few weeks later he had a new pair of socks that he could enjoy. A simple act such as this allows my friend to know I appreciate him.

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You can send a friend this small gift anytime of year but consider it as we approach Christmas, yes, I said it. Don't forget that simple acts of love can send a ripple in your sphere.
Jetta Productions via Getty Images Four doctors in an informal meeting

Recently, 31 doctors proposed five principles to provide a way forward for negotiations between Ontario's doctors and the provincial government. That number has quickly grown to almost 400 doctors signing on to the document in hopes of delivering a way out of the recent bargaining impasse.

At issue is Ontario's Physician Services Agreement (PSA), which determines not just the amount doctors are paid by the province (fees for service), but how physician payment is distributed, as well as special programs for rural practice and physicians new in practice.

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A recent tentative agreement between the Ontario Medical Association, on behalf of doctors, and the provincial government was hotly contested and ultimately voted down by doctors in a flurry of in-fighting, recrimination and finger pointing. Some doctors made calls for withdrawal of services or the imposition of user fees, while the government threatened unilateral and punitive action.

Nobody won, in other words. And Ontario patients continue to be caught in the middle.

What's at stake? Plenty. A renewed agreement between doctors and the province will affect the cost of health care, and some worry that poor choices could affect quality and availability of care as well.

In this contentious environment, a bit of calm, practical thinking has been welcome in the profession. Since last week, hundreds of physicians have gone online at aWayForward.ca to urge doctors and the government to move ahead using five practical principles as a core of the discussion. The signatories include doctors from every corner of the province, doctors from a broad range of specialties, doctors who voted "yes" on the last proposed PSA and others who voted "no."

This expanding consensus is a welcome break from the tumult of the last two months.

As a first point, the letter calls for clarity in the process, and an end to pronouncements about who does and doesn't speak for the profession.

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Doctors have invaluable knowledge of the health-care system.

The fact is, despite its limitations, and the gaffes made in the creation of the last proposed agreement, as the elected body representing the province's doctors, the Ontario Medical Association is best placed to represent doctors at the bargaining table, and represent the wide range of views doctors hold. Splintering doctors into specialist and family practice factions at this critical juncture serves no one.

To make negotiations work, though, the government needs to abandon any idea of unilateral action or coercion, while doctors need to regain confidence in the mechanisms that address real sticking points. For this reason, all parties should accept the widespread call for a binding arbitration process, when necessary, for resolving disputes.

Conversely, doctors have to face the real constraints affecting these negotiations, and accept their role in managing within them. Doctors have invaluable knowledge of the health-care system. We owe it to our patients to use that knowledge to ensure health care funding decisions are based on evidence. We can only do that if all doctors work together and with government to help make the tough choices about where to restrain spending, where we can find operational improvements and where medical evidence points us to better ways of doing our work.

Doctors won't and shouldn't support hurried cuts, or spending constraints that ignore the needs of a growing and aging population. However, a shared stewardship approach, that recognizes all the realities of health care finance, on both sides, could genuinely benefit patients.

Part of facing those realities requires acknowledging the changes that have happened in technology and techniques that have made it easier, faster or less expensive to perform some procedures. Fee schedules should be adjusted to accurately reflect the current state of medical science. Only a modernized fee schedule can accurately reflect the appropriate distribution of resources and fund the services people need in a rational and balanced way.

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Finally we, as physicians, have an obligation to reassure a public rightly concerned by talk of service withdrawal and user fees. As Canadians, we are justifiably proud to have a system that is accessible to everyone, and as doctors, we should reaffirm that we will be there to care for our patients, regardless of their means.

Despite the challenges of the current process, we are, as a profession and a province, lucky to have a high quality health-care system that is worth doing hard work to preserve. It will require a system that respects physicians, a process that accepts the real limitations of the government and, most importantly of all, ongoing commitment to ensure that every Ontarian has access to top quality care.

The five principles at aWayForward.ca will help achieve those goals -- and we hope the surging support of the profession for such guidelines will help advance negotiations, beyond posturing, and into practical progress and resolution.

Dr. Vlad Dzavik originally voted 'Yes' on the recent proposed PSA.

Dr. Chetan Mehta originally voted 'No' on the recent proposed PSA.

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Monashee Alonso via Getty Images

Being a new parent can be one of the biggest, scariest responsibilities you will ever take on. Growing a whole new tiny person and keeping them alive can be anxiety inducing even for the most laid back. Am I holding them ok? Why are they crying? Am I doing any of this right?

Understanding and alleviating these concerns is a critical part of making sure new parents are supported and feel confident in their new role. Anxiety is not only uncomfortable at the best of times but can lead to relationship conflict, maternal identity issues and postnatal depression.

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But as a society we have a major issue in supporting new mothers through this time, because many of us have lost sight of what new babies are really like. We have a habit of interpreting pretty normal baby behavior as something being wrong and needing fixing as it doesn't fit our societal norms about how we believe babies should behave.

Credit: Author own

'Good' Babies

Our culture pushes the idea of the mythical 'good baby'. Mythical good babies don't act like most babies. They feed at set spaced out time points, sleep through the night and need little interaction. I say mythical, as research shows that most babies tend to feed often, wake at night throughout their first year and being kept close is a basic human need. But we still persist with asking new parents whether their baby is good, and tutting when we hear about normal baby behavior as if this tiny person needs punishing.

But what's this got to do specifically with breastfeeding? How does this damage breastfeeding exactly? Because breastfed babies in particular do not act like mythical good babies and trying to encourage them to do so often ends in tears (both the baby's and yours) and ultimately formula use.

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There are some basic differences between breast and formula milk that need to be understood for breastfeeding to work well. Breast milk is more easily digested than formula. Breastfed babies also tend to take smaller feeds as they are more in control of when they start and stop a feed whereas bottle fed babies are more at risk of overfeeding if they are persuaded to do so by a carer wanting to finish the bottle. This means that breastfed babies feed more often, quite easily every two hours or more, including throughout the night, whereas formula fed babies tend to go a little longer. Breastfed babies are also more likely to feed irregularly, as breast milk changes in energy density over the course of the day, whereas formula fed babies are more likely to be fed to a routine as it's a uniform product.

This frequent feeding is important for breastfeeding and does not mean that something is wrong, as long as your baby is alert, has a good colour and firm skin and is having wet and dirty nappies. Frequent feeding helps to build milk supply and trying to feed less often can lead to milk supply issues and eventually formula use. Feeding responsively, whenever the baby wants, may even promote healthy appetite control later on.

credit: Carmen Pagor

Loss of knowledge

But we have lost sight of this normal breastfed baby behavior. Some of the most common questions new parents ask are 'Is he feeding too much?', 'does this mean I don't have enough milk?' and 'Isn't he satisfied?'. We perceive normal, healthy feeding patterns as a sign of something being wrong. These are exacerbated by suggestions that back in the 60s and 70s, routines were normal and babies only fed every four hours and that anything else indicates a problem. This is true, babies were indeed often fed this way but breastfeeding failure rates were also very high and this was not a coincidence; spacing out the feeds too much led to insufficient milk being produced and babies being very 'unsettled' as they weren't being fed enough.

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The UK has some of the lowest breastfeeding rates in the world and this cannot be explained purely by physical issues stopping women from breastfeeding. Women in other countries such as Sweden and Norway breastfeed for far longer suggesting that our issues with breastfeeding are at least in part, societal. This is not to say women are simply stopping breastfeeding because society does not like it, but because our society is not set up to support breastfeeding, and this can damage it.

Estimates of primary physiological inability to breastfeed are very low. However far more are having difficulty with breastfeeding. This is in part to do with a lack of good investment in maternity services, meaning that mothers are not receiving the practical help they need after the birth. But it's wider than that and another central reason is that we've simply lost track of what babies are really like. We expect them to act in a way that is physiologically incompatible with breastfeeding and then wonder why breastfeeding has gone wrong.

Because even though we might promote breastfeeding, in reality after the birth, whenever there is an issue, formula is often offered as the solution. Worried baby isn't getting enough? Use a formula top up. Wanting baby to sleep through the night? Offer formula before bed (a strategy that doesn't usually work by the way). Wanting to see how much they're drinking? Give a bottle. Formula is perceived by many as the answer to all problems and to achieving the mythical good baby (even though many mums will tell you changing to formula certainly didn't change their baby's behavior). Instead, what all these things typically do is decrease milk supply as formula is being used instead of breast milk and the body thinks the milk isn't needed.

Credit: Steve Smith

Supporting new mothers

So if we want to stop topping the tables of poor breastfeeding rates, we need to look to the wider society in which we are trying to raise our babies. We need to support and care for our mothers to mother, rather than questioning how 'good' their baby is and pressurising them to care in a certain way. And most of all we just need to let our babies just do what babies are designed to do and not label them as doing something 'wrong' just because they are feeding, sleeping and seeking comfort in the way nature intended.

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Dr Amy Brown explores this issue and others in more depth in her new book
I'm willing to bet that if you are reading this, you have been affected by cancer. I wish that I knew this because of some startling powers of deduction. However, the sad truth is that cancer is incredibly common.

I find the advances in medicine making humans live longer, incredible. But even with in all my years in the lab, I never imagined for a moment that I would one day find myself sitting opposite Kirstie Allsopp. Especially, telling the world about amazing cancer research science in a Stand Up To Cancer podcast series.

Even more fascinating, cancers link with dinosaurs. The series starts with the history of cancer by solving the mystery of the death of a two-million-year-old child.

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Listen to the prehistoric history of cancer, and meet an edmontosaurus

The other part of this series that is so important, telling the story of those affected by cancer. This episode features an incredible child who has overcome cancer and wants to be a doctor to help other kids who get cancer when he's older. After you've listened, read more about the awesome science in this episode and its links to one of the most important scientists ever.

Cancer Research is Hope

Right now, every person in the UK who was born after 1960 has a one in two chance of getting cancer. Back in the 1970s, if you were diagnosed with cancer, you had a 50% chance of living for just one year.

One year is a short amount of time, look how fast Christmas comes around. But, thanks to research, half of all people diagnosed with cancer now will survive for at least ten years. Many of these people go on to live a happy and long life. We have seen a massive change in cancer outcomes, a change that gives us reason to hope. Research has got us this far and it will take us the rest of the way.

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Children have to watch their parents and grandparents get ill, and, because cancer strikes unpredictably, occasionally parents and grandparents look on in horror as their children get sick. Something has to change. Despite all of the heartache, all of the frustration and anger and helplessness, there is something we can do. There is hope. And that hope is called research.

What is Stand Up To Cancer?

Stand Up To Cancer raises funds for this vital, life-saving research. More specifically, it funds translational research, which is a crucial part of the research process where scientists take breakthroughs and ideas from the lab and turn those into new treatments and tests that will save lives, as quickly as possible.

I see this important campaign as a sort of brash and noisy younger sibling to Cancer Research UK, and one that I absolutely had to be part of. People across the UK are rebelling against cancer with all sorts of acts of defiance, from munching chillies to firemen dancing in orange tutus, to raise much-needed funds for life-saving research. It's inclusive, it's urgent but most importantly, it's a fight we can win together.

We know that someone is diagnosed with cancer in the UK roughly once every two minutes, and this series will show how we are fighting back. So have a listen and join Kirstie and I as we Stand Up To Cancer - together we WILL beat this disease.

Finally, if you're thinking about joining the rebellion against cancer, what are you waiting for? Hit the following link for information, education and everything you need to kick start your fundraising today.

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Together, we've recorded ten podcasts, covering all manner of exciting science, interesting facts, and personal stories. Kirstie and I have had the privilege to speak with many brave, fascinating and inspiring people. It has been one hell of an experience.
jonburkholz / Instagram

Tanzania really is the destination that has it all. From perfect, white sand beaches to the plains of the Serengeti. From the huge wildebeest herds of the great migration to the deserted shores of Lake Tanganyika. There is no better place to mix fast paced, action packed safari with complete relaxation and seclusion at the beach - all in one day. Tanzania has so much to offer that trying to plan a trip can seem daunting... so below we have come up with the absolute must sees for a trip to Tanzania, whether it be a honeymoon, a family holiday or a solo adventure!

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Credit nomad-tanzania.com

1)The Serengeti - famous the world over for the amazing documentaries that are filmed there, the Serengeti truly does boast some of the most incredible game in Africa. From the seemingly endless central plains to the hills and Kopjes of the North - huge numbers of elephant, buffalo and big cats roam the Serengeti day and night. The park also plays host to number 2 on our list....

Credit Alex Walkers Serian

2)The Great Wildebeest Migration - well over a million Wildebeest, Zebra and other antelope embark on an annual journey around the entirety of the Serengeti, and witnessing them is absolutely spectacular. Their journey starts in the South of the Park between January and April where the Wildebeest use the vast grassy plains to rear their newly born calves, before travelling in mega-herds through the Serengeti to the very North, where they face the danger of crossing the mighty Mara river to pastures new.

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Credit nomad-tanzania.com

3)Mahale - located in West Tanzania, a far cry from the relatively easily accessible parks of the North and South, Mahale Mountains National Park is one of the most isolated places on Earth. Small safari planes venture here only twice a week, carrying 12 passengers at a time - it's a long journey but it is absolutely worth it. Here, in the forest on the shores of Lake Tanganyika, you can trek to find the habitualised families of wild chimps. This is one of the last places on Earth where chimps still thrive in the wild, and interacting with them is one of the most special experiences Africa can offer.

Credit Ras Nungwi

4)Zanzibar - the spice island! As famous for its rich cultural heritage as much as it's amazing diving and pristine beaches, no trip to Tanzania is complete without a visit to Zanzibar. Stone Town, the bustling capital city is full of life - but if this isn't for you just take some time to relax at one of the many beautiful beaches or dive on one of the thriving reefs.
Luke MacGregor / Reuters

From Wednesday 13th October 2016

Since the EU referendum the pound has hit a 168-year low, hate crimes have soared, and we are even running out of our beloved, British Marmite, and yet we are supposed to shut our eyes, shut our mouths, and pretend that everything is fine and dandy, while gently humming the national anthem.

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The Daily Mail carried a front-page blurb for its editorial on Wednesday saying: "Damn the unpatriotic Bremoaners and their plot to subvert the will of the British people."

The Daily Express followed suit on Thursday with the headline: "Plot to betray EU exit voters - May hits back at whingers."

The tabloid press, who led so many Leave voters down a blind alley with sensationalised anti-immigration rhetoric, are now calling for other journalists and Remain voters to be silenced.

We have already witnessed the damaging effects of uncertainty on things like the pound. The two-year negotiation process after Article 50 will surely create even more uncertainty, confusion and chaos. Brexit negotiations are also going to cost millions of pounds of taxpayers' money, but to point that out makes you a Britain-hating whinger.

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What kind of pluralist liberal democracy do we now live in, when the right-wing press wants to silence the 16million people who voted Remain for simply expressing doubts about how things are heading.

Leading Tories go on and on about the overwhelming verdict delivered by the British people. Of course the voices of the 17 million Leave voters should be respected, but it's misleading to argue that the British public has expressed one clear message.

Lots of lLeave voters thought we would be liberated from the continent of evil, unelected bureaucrats from non-countries the very next day. The triggering of Article 50, different visions of Brexit, and a complicated negotiation process were barely mentioned during the referendum campaign.

The search terms 'what is brexit', and 'what is the eu' peaked on the day after the referendum, reflecting how people were still unsure even after the vote. This is hardly a population delivering a clear, coherent message.

This is why we need greater scrutiny via parliament of the plan for Brexit. This is not a covert ploy from unpatriotic, Britain-hating Europhiles to sabotage the honourable mission to leave the EU, but simply an attempt to make sure the government will deliver the best result.

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As shadow Brexit secretary Keir Starmer put it during the Commons debate: "The referendum was a mandate to leave the EU. It wasn't a mandate on the terms on which we would leave. You can't build a consensus around a position that you've refused to disclose."

It's a basic tenet of democracy to hold the government to account, and scrutinise how it goes about running the country. Surely in relation to Brexit, this concept is as relevant as ever.

Both The Mail and The Daily Express also plastered Lily Allen on their front pages, who visited Calais in support of the charity Help Refugees, and was moved to tears when she met a 13-year-old Afghan refugee.

She apologised on behalf of the UK, and has since received an outpouring of violent criticism for being unpatriotic and supporting refugees, ie. potential criminals, terrorists or rapists.

How dare she show some human compassion, and try to see what was going on with her own eyes. This is another example of the corrosive influence of the right-wing press on the quality of the public debate.

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A narrow victory for Leave after a closely fought campaign doesn't mean we should hand over all the power to Theresa May and her trio of right-wing incompetents Boris Johnson, David Davis and Liam Fox. John Crace's sketch in the Guardian brilliantly highlights the levels of confusion and chaos.

The plan for Brexit must be scrutinised via parliament, and through an open public debate, the like of which will be impossible if the right-wing press continues its attempts to silence Remainers and regretful Leavers.
Russell Cheyne / Reuters

This blog post is an unedited version of the speech delivered by Nicola Sturgeon at the opening of the Scottish National Party's annual conference in Glasgow on Thursday 13 October

Over the next three days, we will talk in detail about our work to build a better, fairer Scotland.

At the heart of our plans is the ambition to build an inclusive Scotland. A country where we cherish diversity and value people for the contribution they make to our society - not one where we judge them on the country of their birth or the colour of their passport.

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The contrast with the attitude of the Westminster government couldn't be more stark. Last week, we heard an intolerance towards those from other countries that has no place in a modern, multicultural, civilised society.

It was a disgrace. It shames the Tory party and all who speak for it. But make no mistake - the right wing of the Tory party is now in the ascendancy and it is seeking to hijack the referendum result.

Brexit has become Tory Brexit.

They are using it as licence for the xenophobia that has long lain under the surface - but which is now in full view. They are holding it up as cover for a hard Brexit that they have no mandate for - but which they are determined to impose, regardless of the ruinous consequences.

I suspect that many of those who voted to Leave now look at the actions and rhetoric of the Tories and think "that's not what I voted for".

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They may have voted to take back control - but I don't imagine many of them are happy to have handed that control to Boris Johnson, David Davis and Liam Fox.

They certainly didn't vote to throw economic rationality out of the window.

They didn't vote to lower their own living standards or to sacrifice jobs and investment.

They didn't vote for our businesses to face tariffs or for holiday-makers to need visas.

They didn't vote for the scapegoating of foreigners.

I can confirm today that SNP MPs will vote against the Brexit bill when it come before the House of Commons next year.

That bill will repeal the legislation that enacted our EU membership. Scotland didn't vote for that and so neither will our MPs. But we will also work to persuade others - Labour, Liberals and moderate Tories - to join us in a coalition against a hard Brexit: not just for Scotland, but for the whole UK.

The Conservative Party manifesto, on which Theresa May and all other Tory MPs were elected said this: "We are clear about what we want from Europe. We say: yes to the Single Market".

The Prime Minister may have a mandate to take England and Wales out of the EU but she has no mandate whatsoever to remove any part of the UK from the Single Market.

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Researching and interviewing for my new book The Brexit Club made one thing absolutely clear - the various Eurosceptic campaigns were full of huge egos, dark plotting and deep suspicion.

The purpose of the book was to chart how the various Leave campaigns became established and then operated over the preceding year.

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In the wake of the 2015 General Election, two main groups were established.

Vote Leave was deemed to be the Westminster-savvy operation, able to lobby journalists and politicians to help get the 'right' messages out to help Brexit win the day in the referendum.

The Nigel Farage backed-Leave.EU - which was then followed by Grassroots Out - was more focused on the ground campaign and mobilising activists across the country.

Those at the top of both groups had a seemingly endless number of meetings from May 2015 onwards to talk about merging into one single campaign. Hotels, bars, and even a cruise ship played host to formal and informal talks about the two camps joining forces. The talks never went anywhere for one, simple reason: Nigel Farage.

Vote Leave deemed him to be toxic, and felt that he would turn off any floating voters. They simply could not stomach a campaign that had him playing a key role.

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While Farage was seen as "toxic", a different word was repeatedly associated with the man running Vote Leave's campaigning activities.

More than one person I interviewed said that Dominic Cummings, the former advisor to Michael Gove, treated people with "contempt".

Such was his combative and dismissiveness nature of those who questioned him, one MP actually walked out of Vote Leave to set up a rival group - Grassroots Out.

Indeed, it was only because of the actions of Tory MP Bernard Jenkin, who successfully moved Cummings from Vote Leave's board, that the organisation didn't collapse entirely in January because of ill-feeling in the group.

With Farage not being used by Vote Leave, he was able to do what he does best - get out into town halls across the country and fire people up. The rallies that he held under the Grassroots Out banner - and also under his own 'Say No To The EU' events - helped bring the referendum to the people. It must not be underestimated how vital those rallies were, as it showed people across the country who were thinking of voting Leave that they were not alone, and Brexit was not just the view of Daily Express readers or right-wing trolls on Twitter. It also helped tremendously that Tory and Labour MPs were happy to share a stage with the Ukip leader. Even Cabinet minister Chris Grayling appeared at an event, as did future Brexit Secretary David Davis and soon-to-be International Trade Secretary Liam Fox. These appearances were hugely symbolic as it showed Brexit was going mainstream.

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The other benefit of having Farage separate from Vote Leave was it gave the official campaign plausible deniability of his actions. The most obvious example is the Breaking Point poster unveiled a week before the vote. It appalled most people - even before the murder of Jo Cox MP later the same day - but what it enabled Vote Leave to do was talk about immigration in a way it had struggled to previously.

In the final week of the campaign Boris Johnson was enthusiastically talking up the virtues of an Australian point style immigration system - a proposal that had been in Ukip's 2015 General Election manifesto.

Yet the fact the man many expected to be the next Prime Minister was now aping Ukip policies was hardly mentioned, as his announcement was so much palatable than using refugees to score political points as Farage had been doing days before. Farage was the bad cop, Johnson was the good cop.

That's not to say that Vote Leave weren't averse to a spot of bad cop themselves. Don't ever let anyone tell the official campaign didn't explicitly say 350million should all be spent on the NHS post-Brexit. The group's very first billboard of the campaign made that point explicitly and unequivocally.

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What came through very quickly during the interviews was how little the Leave activists - particularly Farage's gang - were concerned about the official Remain campaign. Both Vote Leave and Leave.EU were more focused on the actions of their rival Brexiters than those on the other side of the argument.

Both groups thought the others did not really want to win. Vote Leave believed Ukip were positioning themselves for a narrow defeat and hoping for an SNP-style surge in Westminster seats.

Farage and Leave.EU were convinced the former Tory advisors and lobbyists running Vote Leave wanted to lose respectably and then get given plum jobs in Downing Street.

I believe both sides wanted to win - perhaps because the notion you would produce either that Breaking Point poster or those Turkey leaflets in an attempt to lose is just too much cynicism for me to comprehend.

Of course, Leave's victory was a narrow one. My view - and it is not one shared by most of those in Vote Leave and Leave.EU - is that without both campaigns playing their part the UK would not have voted for Brexit on June 23. Farage and Leave.EU/Grassroots Out fired up the activists and the core vote and provided a dose of fear - of unlimited immigration, of an increasingly powerful and undemocratic Brussels bureaucracy - which was needed to motivate voters.

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Vote Leave also came out fighting with Project Fear of its own, mainly when it came to Turkey joining the EU (they would call this Project Fact), but thanks to Boris Johnson, Andrea Leadsom and Gisela Stuart they also injected some optimism into the campaign.

Without Boris Johnson and Vote Leave, there would have been too little hope; and without Nigel Farage and Leave.EU/Grassroots Out, there would have been too little fear.
An aerial view of the vast destruction of the Indonesian coast, between the towns of Banda Aceh and Meulaboh, caused by the Indian Ocean tsunami in 2005. Photo: UN/Evan Schneider

By Robert Glasser*

Sustainable development is a matter of life and death. That's the only conclusion that can be drawn from any examination of mortality trends from major disasters over the last twenty years. Or the events unfolding over the last week in Haiti where Hurricane Matthew has killed hundreds and devastated much of the country.

The statistics published today in "Poverty & Death: Disaster Mortality 1996-2015" speak volumes about inequality and the disproportionate price that poor people living in low and middle income countries pay in terms of human suffering as a result of earthquakes and climate related hazards.

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As the UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, remarks in his message for International Day for Disaster Reduction, the report amounts to "a damning indictment of inequality. High income countries suffer huge economic losses in disasters, but people in low income countries pay with their lives."

In fact, 90% of the 1.35 million people who have died in earthquakes, floods, cyclones and heatwaves over the last twenty years come from low and middle-income countries.

The growing burden on these countries from climate change and greenhouse gas emissions - to which they contribute little - is illustrated by the fact that in 15 of the last twenty years, most disaster mortality has been caused by climate-related disasters which are growing in intensity.

It's all too easy for historic events to fade into the background but the megadisasters which killed over 100,000 each during the last 20 years are harbingers of events which have yet to happen and which will happen if we do not continue global efforts to eradicate poverty and achieve the other sustainable development goals outlined in the 2030 Development Agenda.

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Within weeks of the Indian Ocean Tsunami claiming almost 230,000 lives in December 2004, the realization had dawned that this was truly a global disaster leaving millions bereaved and homeless in the countries that border that vast ocean along with the families of the thousands of tourists who died because they happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

The wrong place means a place where exposure to a disaster is exacerbated by poverty, lack of early warning systems and safe, accessible emergency shelters, poor risk governance and an absence of the civil protection mechanisms that are taken for granted in high-income countries.

There are a number of stark examples in this report which is a collaboration between the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction and the Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters (CRED). In the Haitian earthquake of January 10, 230,000 people died but in that same year equally violent earthquakes claimed much fewer casualties in Chile and no fatalities in New Zealand.

Cyclone Nargis which hit Myanmar in 2008 resulted in 138,000 deaths in a remote coastal region, ill-prepared for such a forceful event. Contrast that with the zero casualties achieved by Australia when a Category 5 Cyclone, Yasi, slammed into Queensland in 2010 causing huge economic losses but no loss of life.

Another megadisaster is occurring now almost by stealth thanks to climate change. Earthquakes may still dominate the headlines and but weather and climate related disasters are taking a toll on mortality which it is difficult to calculate because of under-reporting in low income countries particularly on mortality linked to droughts and heatwaves.

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The evidence is mounting that 2016 will replace 2015 as the hottest year on record and the upward climb in global temperatures is only worsening the challenges facing low and middle income countries trying to implement the global plan for reducing mortality and disaster losses, the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015/2030, adopted by all UN member States in March 2015.

Action on climate change is inextricably linked to disaster risk reduction and it cannot come soon enough.


Scene from Port-au-Prince, Haiti, in the aftermath of Hurricane Matthew, which made landfall in the country on 4 October. Photo: MINUSTAH/Logan Abassi

By the UN Secretary-General's Special Envoys on El Nino and Climate, Mary Robinson and Ambassador Macharia Kamau*

Once again, Haiti is suffering. Once again, we are grieving for lives lost in avoidable tragedy.

This is not the first time that Haiti has experienced tragedy related to extreme weather. Nor will it be the last unless we acknowledge and urgently address the changes taking place in our climate. The fact that these shifts are having the greatest impact on those least responsible for greenhouse gas emissions must imbue us all with a special sense of urgency - and responsibility.

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Hurricane Matthew rampaged across the Caribbean to the Atlantic coast over a 12-day period, particularly affecting Haiti, Cuba and the Bahamas before hitting the south-eastern United States. Information is still coming in from affected countries but hundreds are known to have died - the vast majority of them in Haiti. The cost of clean-up and recovery will run into the billions of dollars.

In Haiti alone, an estimated 1.4 million people are directly affected. The United Nations is appealing for US$120 million to deliver life-saving assistance and protection to 750,000 people over the next three months. This appeal needs urgent funding, but it will be only the first step on the long road to recovery for a country already struggling under the weight of past and present crises.

Further from the headlines and less dramatic on our television screens, 'slower' disasters like drought take a massive human toll and roll back years of development gains. Some may be surprised to learn that Hurricane Matthew is not the first extreme weather event to threaten Haitians this year. The island nation is one of dozens of countries around the world struggling with the effects of prolonged drought linked to the recent El Nino event that has seriously affected more than 60 million people. In Haiti the drought has more than halved agricultural production, forcing prices for locally-grown food up by around 40 per cent in one of the world's poorest countries.

While it is difficult for scientists to attribute particular events to climate change, both Hurricane Matthew and the El Nino drought layered on top of existing climate change-linked warming fit a distressing pattern: the changes to our climate are driving more extreme weather. In this 'new normal' recurring drought, floods, storms and other environmental threats can routinely overlap and compound each other's impacts - pushing communities into an inescapable cycle of shock and partial recovery.



But it doesn't have to be like this.

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Weather events don't have to be disasters

This 'new normal' demands a different way of doing things, both in our actions to reduce and adapt to the impacts of climate change, but also in the ways that we prepare for, and respond to, these climate-linked threats. All the evidence tells us that proactive and early action provides exponential returns in terms of human dignity, safety and well-being, as well as economic and social development.

Three landmark global agreements have been made in the last 18 months that focus, amongst other aspects, on ensuring that climate-vulnerable communities are protected from harm. The first, the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, is a global promise to reduce disaster-related deaths, increase the resilience of vulnerable communities and 'build back better' to reduce the impact of future disasters.

The Sustainable Development Goals, agreed to by every country in the world, have poverty eradication and climate change firmly in their sights, with a 2030 deadline for a range of climate-linked targets. Finally, the legally-binding Paris Climate Agreement commits 195 countries to keeping global temperature increases well below 2oC above pre-industrial levels and pursuing the goal of 1.5oC in order to protect the most vulnerable people and countries.

In our roles as the UN Secretary-General's Special Envoys on El Nino and Climate we are working to support the delivery of these agendas, with a particular focus on recurring weather events like El Nino and La Nina, predictable weather phenomena that bring with them increased risk of drought, floods and severe storms.

These types of weather events do not need to be disasters. When communities require international humanitarian assistance for predictable and recurring weather events like El Nino and seasonal hurricanes, it means resilience building and preparedness efforts have been inadequate. But we don't need to look too far to see that success is possible: investments in preparedness and resilience can pay enormous dividends.

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In Hurricane Matthew's case, the storm passed over Cuba and the Bahamas at similar intensity to Haiti but, despite significant infrastructure damage, no deaths have been reported to date in either country. This is due in large part to careful planning and investments made at every level: from local community to national government.

The impact in Haiti itself could have been worse if not for the important preparedness work carried out by Haitian civil protection and municipal authorities. While there are many variables in any storm's impact we must look closely at these preparations and understand what can be built upon on and replicated to prevent future suffering.

Vulnerable countries and their international partners need to routinely plan and prepare for a range of climate-related risks. In doing so, they need to consider everything from the way that homes, schools and health facilities are built, to which crops are grown and how, to the way that families prepare themselves and their livelihoods for future disasters. The 'new normal' requires new ways of approaching development, and another level of planning, preparedness and political leadership.

We must also learn from the past. We know that, on average, more women and girls die in disasters than men. Forty-four per cent of Haitian families are headed by women, and women represent the majority of people living in acute poverty. The needs of the most vulnerable, including women and girls, must be identified and prioritised as part of disaster planning and response.

October 13 is the International Day for Disaster Reduction - a time to reflect on the ways in which we can reduce the impact of disasters on people on around the world. There is no one-size-fits-all approach but we know what works, and we committed as an international community to doing things differently in 2015. What is needed now is the political will to act, and a clear and simple plan for implementing these commitments. Together we are developing a 'Blueprint for Action' that we hope will help to catalyse and guide the necessary investments to prevent recurring weather events from becoming disasters.

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Hurricane Matthew serves as a painful reminder that we have no time to waste. Let us get to work now, to address the immediate suffering caused by Hurricane Matthew and El Nino; to adapt to the new climate reality; and to ensure that no-one is left behind.
Toyota Motor Corp President Akio Toyoda (L) shakes hands with Suzuki Motor Chairman and CEO Osamu Suzuki at their joint news conference in Tokyo, Japan, October 12, 2016. Photo by Reuters/Toru Hanai

Japan has eight domestic automakers in an intensely competitive market.

Toyota and Suzuki said Wednesday they are holding talks about a possible partnership to handle "unprecedented" changes in the global auto industry, as Japan's vehicle sector sees a wave of consolidation.

Toyota, the world's biggest automaker, and small car specialist Suzuki did not announce details but suggested any partnership could focus on new safety and environmental technologies.

"The environment surrounding the automotive industry has been changing drastically and rapidly in an unprecedented fashion," a joint statement said.

"As such, the industry is required to work not only on conventional automobile R&D (research and development), but also on R&D for advanced and future technologies in the fields including environment."

Toyota added that it was trailing competitors in North America and Europe in some areas, while Suzuki was struggling to forge its own path in the fiercely competitive industry.

The firms are holding a press briefing in Tokyo around 09:30 GMT.

Suzuki sells about 2.8 million vehicles a year globally compared with more than 10 million for Toyota.

Nissan earlier this year announced plans to buy a one-third stake in Mitsubishi Motors -- which was embroiled in a fuel-testing scandal, forging an alliance that will challenge some of the world's biggest auto groups.

In January Toyota made its mini-car unit Daihatsu a wholly-owned company in a move that gave Toyota definitive control over a company that has battled with Suzuki in Japan's domestic mini-car segment. It also strengthens its footing in Southeast Asia.

Suzuki formed a capital alliance with Volkswagen in 2009 after ending a partnership with U.S. giant General Motors.

But the tie-up ended in August last year due to disagreements over management control and other issues, weeks before the emissions-cheating scandal tainted the Volkswagen brand.

Related news:

> Automobile firms struggle with latest changes to Vietnams tax policy

> BMW presents its self-balancing motorcycle of the future

> Motorcycle diaries: adventure through the mountains of Vietnam

> Motor racing-Ferrari add embarrassment to frustration
The past few years have seen a tremendous amount of progress made in robotics and AI, and it seems at times as though the industry has largely been left to regulate itself, as government has struggled to match the pace of movement in the sector.

We've seen, for instance, the Partnership on AI created by a cohort of tech companies, including IBM, Microsoft and DeepMind. The group was created to "study and formulate best practices on AI technologies, to advance the public's understanding of AI, and to serve as an open platform for discussion and engagement about AI and its influences on people and society."

The British government have finally mustered a response of their own, with a recent report on robotics and AI, and their implications for society.

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The report, from the Science and Technology Committee, evolved out of the Robotics and Autonomous Systems Special Interest Group that was formed in 2014 to examine technology growth in the field. Whilst it makes a number of recommendations around ethics and industrial development, for me, the most interesting aspect was around skills and jobs.

Jobs in an AI world

It's a topic I've touched on a number of times previously, as the last few years have seen a number of predictions around the jobs that will be lost as a result of automation. Sadly, few of these predictions ever account for the new jobs that will be created by new technologies.

Indeed, the U.S. Department of Labor predicted a few years ago that around 65% of school children today will be employed in jobs that don't yet exist.

This is reflected in the UK Government report, which clearly states that they expect disruption of the labor market, with existing jobs going and new jobs being created. As such, they advocate a significant rise in opportunities and readiness for re-training on a regular and ongoing basis.

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It's a topic I touched upon recently, and looked at the potential for digital platforms such as Coursera to provide a low-cost means of regularly brushing up our skills and adapting to changes in the marketplace. Sadly, despite thousands of students enrolling on these courses, neither the Department of Work & Pensions or the Department of Education seemed to know what a MOOC was, much less were they being actively used to help people re-train when their livelihoods had been disrupted.

It's a picture that Roger Bou, director, IoT Solutions World Congress, is only too aware of.

"The report rightly acknowledges the importance of being ready to re-skill and up-skill the workforce on a continuing basis. Concerns about AI and robotics fundamentally changing - or eliminating entirely - some roles are realistic, but the fact of the matter is that every major technological change in the history of industry has had this effect," he told me recently.

Heads in the sand

So this isn't really something that should shock or surprise us, yet there remains a sense that we are wholly unprepared for it. Indeed, a recent study from Massey University's School of Management explored just how worried workers in New Zealand were of such automated unemployment.

It found that over 87% of workers disagreed with the premise that a machine will one day be able to do their job better than they could.

"Despite experts like Bill Gates and Stephen Hawking warning about mass unemployment in the future, it seems very few New Zealanders are making any plans to change out of jobs that might disappear over the next five to ten years," the researchers say.

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I'm not sure the government is any more prepared for this than those New Zealanders. The kind of disruption caused by technology is no different to that caused by things such as globalization, and the recent Brexit vote highlighted how unwilling they are to focus on adaptability as opposed to scapegoating. It's hard to believe things will be any different with regards to automation.
Vladimir Putin lives by the power of disinformation and misdirection. Putin stole billions. He is ruthless and unchallenged in Russia.

Donald Trump has the inclination of a dictator. His net worth is questionable. His use of misdirection -- throwing every single claim of his opponent back in her face -- is without nuance. Trump has an eye for weakness but is clueless about diplomacy, history, and context. Putin has no respect for rule of law. Trump doesn't understand the US Constitution. He would be, in a word, Putin's patsy.

Vladimir Putin can read the US polls. Why would he push so hard from Trump's corner with such a small chance of Trump winning in November? Already the international nervousness and turmoil the Trump camp created has served Russia's interests. For Putin, stirring the pot is its own reward.

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Since the end of World War II, the Soviet Union/ Russia has had a single objective: to erode US power wherever possible. With international turmoil, its possibilities increase. Trump -- with pledges to upset NATO and other signposts of international cooperation -- is Putin's way in: his Trojan Horse.

As a historical matter Russia has never operated from the center of international power, because its aims are so clearly transparent and hostile to the Western world and industrialized nations. Trump threatens to upend the cardinal rule of post-war diplomacy: contain Russia.

The chip on Putin's shoulder is Russia's eternal grievance: that it always operates from the margins toward the center.

In the era of globalization and technology, Russia is still a minor partner even compared to China, the behemoth at its border. Putin detests Obama exactly for this reason: a minority has more power and influence than he has. With Trump, Putin sees how the tables could turn. The volatile non-politician Trump, who lacks the character and stability to be a leader, would be an easy trophy.

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Hillary, on the other hand, stands for diplomatic centeredness and cultural diversity that is an anathema to Putin.

Putin has already taken clear advantage of US policy disasters in the Syria, where Russia can wage war on behalf of another dictator, Assad, without a single concern in the world.

American voters are right to worry there is something in Donald Trump's tax returns that show indebtedness to Russia. By withholding his tax returns, Trump wins. If he loses the election, with Russian businessmen and with Putin, he still wins.

As for Russia meddling in US elections, why wouldn't it if the means were available and its opportunity in Donald Trump so near at hand.
Exploiting the fear of refugees has been an easy picking for far-right political parties across Europe. In reality, Syria's neighbors are shouldering most of the responsibility. Closing up upon itself is not a sustainable solution for Europe. It is time to change this narrative of fear into one of opportunity. The opportunity to build on the ingenuity brought by people on the move to define a more sustainable growth path for countries, especially those hosting most refugee populations worldwide. A positive approach offers unprecedented areas for investment cooperation and growth.

Take Jordan, where the population of forcibly displaced people from Syria now accounts for almost 10% of the country's total population. Over 80% of refugees in Jordan live outside of refugee camps, they head for cities and small towns in search of opportunity. They inevitably increase the pressure on already scarce resources, public services, and jobs. Any solution must be a win-win for both refugees and host populations. Without economic growth, only a handful of the 50,000 young Jordanians entering the labor market each year will find a job. The challenge requires a new way of thinking about sustainable and inclusive growth.

Resource scarcity is being felt. At current rates, Jordan, one of the world's most water-insecure countries, will completely run out of water by 2060. 97% of its energy is imported, which is guzzling public finances on a scale that threatens to derail the country's development trajectory. The pressure on housing has sent rental prices soaring and is making housing a contentious issue with locals. Jordan is an acute example of many refugee-hosting countries struggling with insufficient funds and scarce resources. This type of crisis cannot be rectified through public budgets alone. It is essential that the private sector and governments collaborate on a bigger vision of investment in sustainable and inclusive models of growth.

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Moved by this global crisis, investor George Soros recently pledged to invest up to $500 million in companies that benefit migrants and refugees, to harness the power of the private sector for good and hopes that others will do the same. Investments in start-ups and businesses owned by refugees will help create a virtuous cycle. Jordan will be a case in point for investment. But in order to move beyond start-ups to address societal priorities, public investment will have to step in, to prop-up markets that put entrepreneurship and employment on a much larger scale. A shift from thinking about financing start-ups to financing industrial ecosystems is critical to its success.

However, investments and public-private partnerships must crucially focus on solutions to regional sustainable development challenges. Let's consider one of Jordan's: energy security. An acute dependence on imported oil and gas is starving public finances. With 300 days of sunshine per year, Jordan's solar and renewable energy industry has one of the highest potential in the Middle East. Large solar farms and infrastructure projects have taken off, with support of global financial institutions like the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. However, small-scale solar PV, which has a bigger potential for job creation and social transformation, is acutely underdeveloped. Jordanian banks are less willing to lend to small companies due to small project sizes, long payback periods for the local market context, the lack of guarantees and a general lack of understanding of this nascent sector.

In a recent conversation, Raed Byakrat, Vice President for Business Development in the Middle East for First Solar, told me: "Solar energy is capable of transforming lives and driving entrepreneurialism. From construction to maintenance, it offers a range of new opportunities to develop skills and employment." This resonates with many international agencies, corporate social responsibility programs and NGOs, which are already supporting projects to build skills among refugee populations on renewable energy. One example is a partnership between the Qatari firm GreenGulf Inc., the Norwegian Refugee Council, and the University of Jordan focused on the Zaatari refugee camp. However young people that graduate from these courses often lack the support to then create viable entrepreneurial businesses. The international community can help by creating a national solar entrepreneurship program, which matches skills building, enterprise development, and fostering new financing mechanisms for small-and-medium enterprises from local banks.

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World Bank President Jim Yong Kim recently said that by 2030, almost half of the world's extreme poor are expected to live in countries affected by fragility and conflict. In his words, "we need more cooperation, greater economic integration and stronger partnerships than ever before if we want the world economy to return to higher rates of inclusive, sustainable growth."
U.S. public officials often argue that the U.S.A. has the best health care system in the world and therefore are resisting change in view of President Obama's health care reform efforts. The American health care system certainly has many advantages, particularly for the more fortunate citizens. Shorter wait times, sound facilities, clearly identified processes, uniform procedures, and easy access to medicine illustrate the strength of the system. However, besides other serious flaws such as being heavily symptom- instead of cause-oriented, Americans are paying exorbitant amounts for their health care and getting relatively little in return. Even individuals with health insurances in the U.S.A. are not protected from incurring financially debilitating bills due to the high deductibles that they may be required to pay.

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The U.S. health care system is a highly profit-oriented business. American companies are able to do in the United States what they often cannot do in other countries, not only morally, but also legally. For example, they can charge U.S. consumers more than customers abroad, even for drugs that were developed with U.S. tax money, of which the EpiPen is only one example among many. Care generally addresses the symptoms, instead of the underlying causes: Physicians are extremely prone to prescribing pills for which they receive kickbacks from pharmaceutical companies. Extensive reliance on pills keeps patients coming back for more of the same, and additional pills, to counteract the side-effects of the pills that they are already taking.

This explains why natural approaches to health are detached from the mainstream approach as much as it is the case in the U.S.A. A health system that does not see a holistic approach as a foundation of care, not consider using the body's own healing powers in the healing process, and not include natural healing methods, does not have the best interest of patients in mind. In comparison, in Germany, for example, alternative medicine is a lot more integrated into the mainstream health care system. Main stream physicians in Germany are very well-versed on natural medicines and can officially recommend ("prescribe") them, in which case, some insurances even cover the cost. Retreating to spas that health insurance pays for is also a given component of their health care system. Such retreats include massages, natural baths, and dancing. Americans pay a lot, but don't come nearly close to receiving the same services.

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For the cost of health care, some like to conveniently blame the "Mexicans" and other minorities, or undocumented individuals, for exploiting the social services systems. Some people, of course, may "exploit" the system. However, that is a given in any system that involves humans. But the exploitation of the system by patients is not the cause of why Americans are spending a lot and are receiving relatively little in return, neither is the size of the country--an argument that is often used when comparing U.S. public services performance with other developed nations. The disconnection is caused by the lack of legal and moral limitations, such as on how much American patients can be charged and an undifferentiated "business over public services" ideology that turns even the most basic services into a money-making machine--a highly exploitative health care system, in this case.

We could go on and on about health care in the U.S.A. However, in a nutshell, the American health care system has serious moral and practical flaws that need to be fixed. At the same time, suspicion toward the current health care reform is well-granted. Given the predominantly undifferentiated mindset toward business over public services and the indifference regarding excessive profits in this country, any system, regardless how perfect, will turn into an exploitative system that does little but extort money from citizens. Until the indifference toward exploitative business practices changes, there is little use to change the health care, or any other system in the United States, because without ethics and limitations to profit-making, most every system we create is going to fail our country's ordinary citizens in the long-run.
One of the first major responsibilities of our next president will be to propose a 2018 federal budget. This budget proposal will provide our new president with the opportunity to recommend spending priorities for our nation. However, should congress remain politically polarized, only proposals with strong bipartisan support are likely to be successfully adopted.

I am pleased to note that both major party candidates for president have expressed support for increased research funding for Alzheimer's disease (AD). Hillary Clinton has pledged to recommend $2 billion for AD research funding, and whereas he has never said just how much money he would recommend for AD research, Donald Trump is on record as making Alzheimer's "a top priority."

A proposal for increased AD research funding from either candidate should be well received by congress since politicians on both sides of the aisle agree that we must do more to end the scourge of AD. The bill that created NAPA, the National Alzheimer's Project Act with the goal of ending Alzheimer's by the year 2025, was initially approved by congress in true bipartisan fashion by unanimous consent.

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Unfortunately, no special funding was ever allocated to accomplish NAPA's goal. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) provides the major federal funding for research on serious diseases. From 2011 to 2013, NIH funded AD research at around $500 million per year, increased that spending to $562 million and $589 million in 2014 and 2015, and further increased spending to $910 million for 2016.

Last year, US Senators Collins (R-ME) and Klobuchar (D-MN) sent a letter to President Obama on behalf of senators on both sides of the aisle requesting much greater federal funding for AD research in the 2017 budget request. Their letter said, in part, "Although the Administration and Congress have made some progress in increasing funding, Alzheimer's research funding remains disproportionately low compared to its human and economic toll. Indeed, similarly deadly diseases receive annual funding of $2 billion, $3 billion, and even $5.6 billion for research, which has paid dividends. Surely, we can do more for Alzheimer's given the tremendous human and economic price of this devastating disease."

Sadly, President Obama's proposed 2017 budget for AD research was unchanged from his 2016 proposal. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is expected to spend an estimated $910 million in FY 2017 for AD research.

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Congress approved $5.4 billion emergency funding for Ebola during the height of that crisis, and recently approved $1.1 billion for Zika funding. Yet Alzheimer's, a human and financial crisis affecting more than 5 million people in this country, receives less than $1 billion in annual funding.

The longer our nation waits to spend the necessary funds to find ways to prevent and effectively treat AD, the greater the chance of bankrupting our nation's Medicare program, and the more human tragedies and financial difficulties there will be for caregivers and loved ones with Alzheimer's.

Hopefully, our next president will recognize AD as the epidemic it is and once in office will recommend greatly increased research funding for Alzheimer's.
In the middle of a Monday afternoon, over 100 people gathered in Harvard Yard where the colored lawn chairs had been organized into a large semicircle. Posters hung from the porch of Matthews Hall, reading "Change the Name," "524 Years of White Lies," and "Native Strong." According to the University, students were out of class for the Columbus Day holiday. The supporters in the Yard, however, were celebrating a different day -- Indigenous Peoples' Day.

The event, hosted by the Native Americans at Harvard College student group, featured performances and speeches celebrating Indigenous culture. Additionally, supporters were encouraged to sign a petition urging the University to celebrate Indigenous Peoples' Day as an official University holiday instead of Columbus Day.

Photos by Annie Schugart.



Students, supporters, and passerby gathered outside Matthews Hall in Harvard Yard for a two-hour event of music, dance, spoken word, and celebration.

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"I am standing up here very proudly today," said Megan Red Shirt-Shaw of the Graduate School of Education. She spoke of an anecdote earlier in the day when a non-Native friend of hers ran up to her, hugged her, and excitedly wished her a happy Indigenous Peoples' Day. "So all I want to say is thank you for supporting us," she concluded.



Cambridge residents Caroline Daley and Pua Higginson perform a Tahitian dance at the event. While many of the performers were students and affiliates of Harvard, others hailed from elsewhere; Daley, for example, is a student at Cambridge Rindge and Latin School.



Each of the performances had traditional cultural significance. Here, a performer plays a drumming song about the four directions -- North, South, East, and West. "May we walk forward thinking about the future," she said.



People of all ages gathered in the Yard to show their support for Indigenous Peoples' Day.



Attendees of the event listen intently to the speakers. The event served not only as a celebration of Indigenous culture but also as a call to action for the University to recognize the holiday. On Monday night, the Undergraduate Council at Harvard endorsed a motion calling on Harvard to recognize Indigenous Peoples' Day.

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During a fifteen-minute break from performances, supporters gathered around tables to sign the petition urging the University to recognize Indigenous Peoples' Day.



Harvard's Charter of 1650 outlines their mission to educate "...the English and Indian youth of this country." Harvard's commitment to educating Native people was at the center of the University's foundation. Here, supporters sign a petition encouraging the University to take the next step in encouraging and supporting Native people as their original mission reflects.



Damon J. Clark, president of the Native Americans at Harvard College, introduces the performers. (Photo originally published in The Harvard Crimson.)



Colorful posters covered the porch of Matthews Hall in Harvard Yard. "We're Still Here," a sign read, others expressed simply "IPD" and "Recognize IPD" (Indigenous Peoples' Day), and one even read "No DAPL," in support of the Dakota Access Pipeline affecting the Standing Rock Sioux tribe.



Autumn White Eyes of the Graduate School of Education spoke of a touching quote she heard during her time at Harvard, in regards to living as a proud Native person: "You are your ancestors' prayers made flesh."

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The event drew the support of Harvard University Dining Service workers, who are currently on strike in request of better wages and healthcare.



Harvard University Dining Services workers, union members, and strike supporters participated in the event; here, one worker even gave a speech during the celebration.



An audience member films the event on his phone. Audience members filled the semicircle of lawn chairs during the entire two-hour event, with even more people standing along the sides and in the back.



"This dance is a prayer," said Tosa Gladys Two Heart, a member of the Oglala Lakota tribe and student at Bentley University, before performing at the Indigenous Peoples' Day event Monday. She explained that the dance was traditionally performed as an offering of prayer before relatives would go hunting or into battle. "Today it is for all those up in Standing Rock, putting their lives on the line," she said, in reference to the fight against the Dakota Access Pipeline. She said this dance was a prayer "that it will be victorious."

The petition calling upon Harvard to recognize Indigenous Peoples' Day as a University holiday can be found here.

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The U.S. Department of Education should be applauded for taking a needed step forward in updating and improving federal teacher education guidelines. Throughout the nation, the vast majority of teacher preparation programs are readying educators as we have for more than a century. Learners both need and deserve teachers ready to lead the classrooms of tomorrow, not the classrooms of their grandparents or great grandparents. These regulations begin to point us toward that future.

The strong action taken by the Obama Administration can have a lasting, positive impact on teacher preparation. It will now fall to the U.S. Congress and a new president to build on these regulations as part of the reauthorization of the Higher Education Act. As significant as these regulatory changes are, they are but one step in a long journey to transform higher education to meet the demands of tomorrow.

With cognitive science teaching us so much about how individuals learn, we must apply those lessons to how we, as a nation, prepare classroom educators. Successful teachers today know there is no "one-size-fits-all" approach to teaching in their classrooms. All learners come with different levels of knowledge, learning styles, and abilities. As we look to K--12 teachers to personalize instruction and deliver student-focused instruction, so too should we look to our education schools and teacher preparation programs to deliver personalized learning to aspiring teachers. These regulatory changes begin the essential process of updating the law to meet the demands of 21st-century education.

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These changes largely reflect lessons learned by the Woodrow Wilson Foundation in working to transform STEM (science-technology-engineering-mathematics) teacher preparation across the country. And these priorities are essential to strengthening teacher education programs to meet the future needs of schools and students alike.
By Hong Soon-do, Beijing correspondent, AsiaToday - Chinese swimmer and Olympic gold-medalist Sun Yang is rumored to have a two-year-old illegitimate son. The baby's mother is known to be flight attendant Nian Nian, Sun Yang's ex-girlfriend 5 years his senior.

[Sun Yang and his former girlfriend Nian Nian. It seems certain that they have a secret child./ Source: Sina]China's leading Internet portal Sina claimed this, quoting a report by a Chinese media outlet on Wednesday. Sina did not deliver Sun and his ex-girlfriend's positions. However, considering many circumstantial evidence, the rumor seems true. According to Sina, Sun Yang first met Nian Nian in 2010 when he got on a plane for his off-season training in Australia. Sun, who was a teenager at the time, fell in love with Nian who had mature beauty. Since then, he had been courting her.

The two seemed to be well-suited to each other. In 2013, Sun Yang went public with his relationship with Nian Nian. However, his mother tried to tear the couple apart. At first, Sun Yang resisted vigorously. But after he got punishment by the swimming association for his unfaithful behavior due to his relationship with his girlfriend, the couple agreed to break up. It seems that Nian Nian had been pregnant with Sun Yang's child.

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[The burning of Ravana effigies takes place as final part of Dussehra festival in India./ Photographed by Jeong In-seo]

By Jeong In-seo, New Delhi correspondent, AsiaToday - Dussehra, a major Indian festival where people burn the demon king Ravana, was celebrated across India on Tuesday.

As a reporter, I headed to Ramlila Maidan located in the center of New Delhi to enjoy the festival. On my way, I was able to meet 10 gigantic effigies of the demon king Ravana.

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[The 20 meter tall Ravana effigies are built during Dussehra festival./ Photographed by Jeong In-seo]

Dussehra is one of the three major festivals in India along with Holi and Diwali. The celebration of Dussehra is rooted in the Indian epic of Ramayana, which tells the story of King Rama leaving his Kingdom to rescue his wife Sita, who had been kidnapped by Sri Lanka's demon king Ravana. King Rama fights with the demon all of nine days and ten nights. On the tenth day, he kills the demon and rescues his wife. Marking the victory of King Rama over the demon Ravana, Dussehra is celebrated on the tenth day of the month Ashvin, the seventh month of the lunisolar Hindu calendar that overlaps September and October of the Gregorian calendar, every year.

When I arrived at the Ramlila Maidan, the first thing I noticed was the gigantic demon effigies. The three gigantic demon effigies of 20 meter tall were standing in the ground. Safety fencing were installed on the venue, while security guards and police were deployed to avoid the crowd coming forward.

[Safety guards and police control people during Dussehra celebrations for safety reasons./ Photographed by Jeong In-seo]

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Amit Gupta, a 26-year-old police officer from Delhi, asked me to go backward for safety reasons. He said, "Nearly 30 people were killed in a stampede during Dussehra celebration last year. We are controlling people to make sure that sort of tragedy won't happen again."

At 6 p.m., a play was performed on the stage. The play, entitled "Ramlila", recalls the battle between Rama and Ravana, and is listed as World Heritage by the UNESCO.

[A scene of King Rama shooting arrows from annual "Ramlila" at Ramlila Maidan, New Delhi./ Photographed by Jeong In-seo]

After about an hour, the highlight of the festival finally arrived. King Rama threw the torch to the gigantic demon effigies that were 20 meter tall. The effigies burned to ashes amid loud busting of crackers and shouting by crowds of people, ""Bharat Mata ki Jai!" ("Victory for Mother India").

After the show ended, I met a family who did not leave the venue. Mr. Deepark, 42, said he came to the venue with his family. He said, "I came here to show my daughter the victory of good over evil." He added, "Dussehra isn't just a festival for Indians. It's an important ritual symbolizing the victory of good over evil."

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It is fair to say that Russia is doing its best to be the biggest thorn in the side of the US and NATO in recent years. It is almost as if they were offended by how little attention the world was paying to them in the 90s and early 2000s, after the West spent half a century fearing and dreading them. And now they are doing their best to frustrate and annoy "Western interests" wherever they find them.

President Putin likes to claim that this is purely defensive, of course. In the wake of the collapse of the Iron Curtain, the Western sphere expanded substantially into what Russia used to regard as its own back yard, and most of the countries of the Warsaw Pact have been absorbed into NATO and the European Union. So his rhetoric always portrays the West as the aggressor against "natural" Russian interests.

Now of course, this only makes sense in a world view in which Russia is still a major power that is a "natural" competitor to the United States. And someone like Vladimir Putin, a former KGB agent who still nurses a deep nostalgia towards the "glorious past" of the Soviet Union, would certainly like to hope that this is still the case.

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Yet this narrative ignores two things. The first one is that the US and NATO did not muscle into Russia's former satellites, but rather they were begged by those countries to expand to include them. The Baltics, Poland and the Vishegrad countries, Romania, Bulgaria and the rest of the Slavic Balkans were not stolen by the West. They took the first opportunity to flee the Russian yoke that history afforded them. Indeed, the Lithuanians and, most famously the Hungarians, tried to move out of Russia's "natural sphere of interest" long before, with tragic consequences. Nor has NATO more recently tried to muscle into Georgia or Ukraine. Once again, it was peoples that have had enough of Russian domination that tried to choose a different path.

And the second is that the only thing that makes Russia a power is the fact that it has the largest nuclear arsenal in the world. Were it not for this arsenal, any one of the UK, France or Germany could check Russian military adventurism on their own. To say nothing of the US or China. And indeed, Russia needs to throw its military weight around because it does not have much else going for it. The old ideological underpinning of empire, Communism, is gone, replaced instead with crude ethnocentric revanchiste nationalism. And the former industrial and scientific might of the Soviet colossus has been reduced to rubble, replaced by a narrow natural resource-driven economy, controlled by a restricted clique of the President's friends, while independent entrepreneurialism is either quashed through local political corruption, or absorbed into the black economy.

In other words, the economy is in the doldrums, and nobody in Russia is even attempting to address this issue. Rather, even as it is facing some of the toughest economic conditions since the 90s, the state is pumping whatever surplus it can still squeeze out of the energy industry into military spending, with lavish updates of materiel, a boost to nuclear stockpiles (as if Russia did not already have enough warheads to destroy the planet several times over), and continued operations in Ukraine and Syria.

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But the poor state of the Russian military was evident in December 2011, when Russia deployed the aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov to the Syrian coast. The U.S. Navy's Sixth Fleet was forced to keep a close eye on it in case it actually sank, and a rescue operation was needed to arrest dangerous material floating around or sinking into the sea. In fact, one former US General told me that a single US Super Aircraft Carrier Group could obliterate the entire Russian navy, as their equipment is so dated and technology obsolete. Such is the sorry state of this once great power.
Like New York Citys yellow cabs, Londons black cabs were once the only choice for individuals public above-ground transportation. People took the Tube, a bus, or a cab. But competition from ride-sharing services such as Uber has eaten into the taxi business.

London mayor Sadiq Khan promised to reverse this progress back in March when he said, I will be a mayor that begins the renaissance of the black taxis. Theyre iconicwe saw the closing ceremony at the Olympics, what a role they had. I dont want the black taxi to go the way of the red telephone box.

Khan followed through on this promise by releasing his 27-point Taxi and Private Hire Action Plan. In it he lays out measures that could limit many of the benefits that have come from ride-sharing while providing major subsidies to the citys taxi industry.

Since Uber arrived in London four years ago, its relationship with the taxi industry has been turbulent, to say the least. Uber and other ride-sharing platforms have expanded the number of for-hire trips and poached some of the cabs riders. Taxi drivers have responded with slowdown protests and ineffective lawsuits. The 27 measures described in Mayor Khans new plan, though, provide just the answers they were seeking. (Compare the release to the 28 points in the taxi drivers April manifesto and you will find considerable overlap.)

The plan is to roll out government-sponsored preferences for taxi companies. While cabs may see a 20 percent increase in their ranks by 2020, they will also receive expanded access to bus lanes and expensive subsidies to promote a greener taxi industry. Transport for London, the local transportation regulator, will put aside $51 million to incentivize drivers of older taxis to end their licenses. Further, $32 million will be used to subsidize the first 9,000 zero-emissions-capable taxis, and the industry is lobbying Londons government for even more funding.

Instead of government giveaways, ride-sharing drivers can expect significant hurdles. The plan describes special insurance requirements, English-language requirements, advanced driving tests, and topographical tests. All of these will result in higher fares and longer waits for passengers.

It is no wonder that black cabs cost more than Uber. Taxi drivers regularly spend over $1,200 and three to five years on the licensing process, and they then must secure a $55,000 vehicle. Once they begin driving their cabs, drivers must charge high fares that are prohibitive for low-income individuals and those who live on the outskirts of the city, where black cabs are difficult to find. London has likely seen the same effects as New York City: Ride-sharings growth mostly benefited residents of low-income, non-Manhattan neighborhoods, where yellow taxis are scarce.

In an e-mail to its customers, Uber challenged Khans action plan by writing:

"We understand that black-cab drivers are feeling the pressure from services like Uber. But the answer is to level the playing field by reducing todays burdensome black-cab regulations  not to impose new costs on private-hire drivers at the behest of the Licensed Taxi Drivers Association (LTDA) and the London Cab Drivers Club."

This is a simple, commonsense solution that policymakers often overlook.

For example, the process of studying for the Knowledge  Londons infamously difficult licensing test for cabdrivers  takes on average between 3 and 5 years. Why should any drivers have to memorize Londons streets when GPS is widely available? Instead of applying parts of the Knowledge exam to ride-sharing drivers, authorities should free taxi drivers from its antiquated requirements.

Mayor Khans action plan assumes several unproven claims about Uber that are heard from taxi drivers globally. It orders a full review of ride-sharing companies to address the congestion caused by the rise in the number of PHVs [private-hire vehicles]. No citation is provided for this causal claim, which was once made and refuted in New York City. Also, a recent study from Arizona State University finds that ride-sharing services significantly decrease traffic congestion after entering an urban area.

Several measures in the Action Plan use soft terminology such as investigate the feasibility of . . .  or explore the potential for . . .  Each is a harbinger for future restrictions such as the introduction of three-year background checks for drivers. This is unnecessary because all signs point to ride-sharings being safer than cabs for both riders and drivers. The main reasons for this conclusion are that ride-sharing gets rid of anonymity and cash  two aspects that make cabs magnets for crime. This is why in the United States the homicide rate for taxi drivers is twice that for police officers.

By increasing the availability and reliability of rides, ride-sharing has lowered DUI incidents and alcohol-related car accidents. If Ubers background checks, peer-to-peer rating systems, and live-tracking features are able to achieve even the same level of safety as taxis burdensome regulations, then ride-sharings consumer-driven approach to regulation is the preferable route to follow.

Sifting through the arguments, it becomes more difficult to believe that Mayor Khans plan is about helping London residents. The London black cab has no clear advantage over ride-sharing in terms of contribution to traffic congestion, passenger and driver safety, or equitable service.

That leaves only the argument that the aesthetic value of the black cabs  icons of 20th-century London  outweighs the costs of foregone innovation. Sorry, Mayor Kahn, but policymakers should realize that while some might enjoy riding London black cabs, others might prefer the convenience of lower-cost Ubers. This choice of transportation should be left to consumers.

Jared Meyer is a fellow at the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research and the author of Uber-Positive: Why Americans Love the Sharing Economy (Encounter Books, June 2016). Follow him on Twitter here. Dillon Tauzin is a contributor to Economics21.

This article originally appeared in National Review.

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.
In a debate dominated by Donald Trump's insults, ranting and smears, one of his many disturbing moments received decidedly less attention than others.



Trump's claim that he would jail Hillary Clinton if elected president was shocking--and rightfully so. But left largely unnoticed was his attack on the Sixth Amendment, or the right of defendants to receive a fair trial with "the assurance of counsel."



During Sunday's presidential town hall forum, Trump railed against Clinton for having represented an accused rapist while practicing law in Arkansas back in 1975, even bringing the woman, who was a minor at the time she was raped, to the debate and a press conference as evidence that Clinton, and not Trump, is the true enemy of women.



The fact that Clinton represented a man accused of rape is no secret. Clinton wrote about it herself in her book "Living History." But many conservatives have seized on that case to argue that Clinton is the true abuser of women, most recently as they try to run interference for Trump after the release of a 2005 recording of him bragging about sexually assaulting women.



Clinton reluctantly represented the accused rapist after receiving a request from the judge. The case was ultimately resolved when the defendant pled guilty to a substantially reduced charge.



Those who assail Clinton for representing an accused criminal seem to be under the impression that anyone accused of any crime should be automatically found guilty, doing away with that pesky need for a trial in which the accused is presumed innocent and has a right to legal counsel.



Yes, even people accused of crimes as vile as rape should have their day in court and a zealous defense, no matter how guilty they appear.



Clinton isn't the only one who's faced political criticism for doing her job as a lawyer representing an unsavory client.



The Republican National Committee recently came out with an ad attacking Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Kaine for defending people on death row. Two years earlier, the Republican Governors Association launched similar ads against a Democratic gubernatorial candidate in South Carolina, accusing him of protecting "criminals, not us." Earlier this year, a conservative group rallied against a federal judge who was a potential Supreme Court nominee by citing her work as a public defender.



Such attacks undermine our legal system and the Constitution.



We can only imagine the negative advertisements that these groups would have created to assail John Adams, who successfully defended several British soldiers implicated in the Boston Massacre, or Abraham Lincoln, who successfully represented accused murderers.



But as in other instances, this patent hostility to a bedrock constitutional principle mainly comes from one party--the party that has nominated a man who campaigned on restricting religious liberties and the freedom of the press; a man who to this day continues to smear the Central Park Five; a man who supports breaking treaties, committing war crimes and using torture "even if it doesn't work"; and a man who lamented that the suspect in the recent New York bombing case would receive medical treatment and legal counsel after being arrested. And it's the same party that is keeping a Supreme Court seat vacant in hopes that this man will fill the vacancy.



While Trump's attacks on core American values are disgraceful, he is sadly not alone in them.
In the manner of a papal encyclical, Secretary of State John Kerry stood at the State Department podium on October 7, 2016 and pontificated for an international war crimes investigation by the International Criminal Court of atrocities allegedly perpetrated by Presidents President Bashar al-Assad of Syria and Vladimir Putin of Russia in Syria. Mr. Kerry preached:

"Russia and the [Syrian] regime owe the world more than an explanation about why they keep hitting hospitals, and medical facilities, and children and women. These are acts that beg for an appropriate investigation of war crimes, and those who commit these would and should be held accountable for these actions. This is a targeted strategy to terrorize civilians."

The Secretary was espousing the longstanding United States doctrine that international law is what you do to your enemies but withhold from yourself and friends.

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He omitted the following context which made his summons for a war crimes investigation ring hollow.



The United States refused to join the International Criminal Court to block prosecution of our officials for war crimes.

The United States refused to ratify the Law of the Sea Convention (and then shamelessly berated China, a signatory, for disobeying provisions that we refused to accept for ourselves).

The United States flouted the ruling of the International Court of Justice in Republic of Nicaragua v. United States (1986).

The Court found that the United States violated customary international law and Nicaragua's sovereignty by ''training, arming, equipping, financing and supplying the contra forces.'' It found the United States guilty of direct attacks on Nicaraguan oil installations, ports and shipping in 1983 and 1984. It concluded that the United States broke international law by authorizing overflights of Nicaraguan territory and by mining Nicaraguan ports and harbors in 1984. The Court also ruled that the United States trade embargo against Nicaragua, decreed in May 1985, violated a 1956 bilateral treaty of friendship. The Court condemned the United States for allowing distribution of a Central Intelligence Agency manual on guerrilla warfare techniques to the contras that encouraged ''acts contrary to the general principles of humanitarian law.'' And we ignored everything the ICJ decided.

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A 1993 Belgium law, as amended in 1999, endowed Belgium courts with jurisdiction over crimes against humanity, genocide or war crimes occurring anywhere in the world. Complaints were filed against former President George H.W. Bush, former Secretary of Defense and Vice President Dick Cheney, former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Colin Powell, and U.S. General Tommy Franks. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld swiftly journeyed to Brussels threatening to remove NATO headquarters from the city if Belgium tarried in repealing the law. Belgium saluted. The complaints were dismissed. NATO remained in Brussels. And international law was orphaned.

The United States has refused to pursue good faith negotiations for nuclear disarmament as stipulated by the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

The United States has failed to investigate credible allegations of torture unearthed by the Senate Intelligence Committee or otherwise, including waterboarding, as required by the Convention Against Torture.

What we did during our secret, gratuitous war against Laos from 1964-1973 in violation of the United Nations Charter prohibition on war except in self-defense makes what Presidents Assad and Putin are doing in Aleppo a tea party in comparison.

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We dropped over 2 million tons of ordnance in 580,000 bombing missions, the equivalent of one planeload every 8 minutes, 24 hours a day, for 9 years. At least 270 million cluster bomblets were released; approximately 80 million failed to detonate.

Data from a survey completed in 2009 indicate that UXO (unexploded ordnance), including cluster bombs, have killed or maimed as many as 50,000 civilians in Laos since 1964 (and 20,000 since 1973, after the war ended). Over the past two years, there have been over one hundred new casualties annually.

Over the past four decades, less than 1% of the bomblets that failed to detonate have been cleared. All 17 provinces in Laos, and 41 of 46 of the poorest districts in Laos, remain endangered by UXO contamination.

The United States is a co-belligerent with Saudi Arabia in its war against Yemen's Houthi-Ali Saleh forces. Among other things, we supply Saudi Arabia with munitions and intelligence. Saudi Arabia keeps hitting hospitals, medical facilities, funerals, and women and children aping Assad and Putin in Syria. But Secretary Kerry has refrained from calling for war crimes investigations of Saudi Arabia or the United States.

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has promised to practice torture and to assassinate civilians in fighting ISIS if he is elected.

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Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton has promised to play prosecutor, judge, jury, and executioner to kill ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi if she is elected.
Anyone with a lit screen knows by now that Republicans are abandoning the Trump ship in droves. The exodus isn't letting up. "The Republican Party is caught in a theater fire," said one GOP operative. "People are just running to different exits as fast as they can."

Talk of election "win probabilities" is pivoting from the presidential race to Congress. A Trump collapse could give Democrats back the House," reported Vox last weekend, citing analysis that a mere six-point Clinton plurality could swing the 31 needed seats in its wake. While that's probably over-optimistic, a more decisive margin over Trump might do the trick.

The ramifications for climate could be huge. Democratic control of both the White House and Congress opens up a possible path for a federal carbon tax. Climate advocates wouldn't have to seduce the GOP denialists who reign over Capitol Hill, they could stiff-arm them out of the way.

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Which could make next month's ballot referendum in Washington state, Initiative 732, even more momentous. Enacting the country's first carbon tax wouldn't just be good for residents there, or produce a template for other states. It could spark national legislation establishing a U.S. tax on carbon emissions, perhaps as early as 2017.

Let's be clear: a U.S. carbon tax isn't just helpful climate policy. It's the core of any program for shrinking carbon emissions massively, relentlessly and globally. Only a briskly rising carbon tax rewards and thus bends every investment, decision and behavior toward less use of fossil fuels. Only a carbon tax can be replicated so the world's nations can meet the commitments they made in Paris a year ago and ratified last month.

And only a carbon tax produces revenues that can protect low- and middle-income families as fossil fuel prices rise -- as they must to blow the gates wide open and let the renewables-and-efficiency revolution grow quickly to full scale.

The holistic power of carbon taxing is what motivated the grassroots organizers at an upstart group called Carbon Washington to crisscross the state last year and collect the 350,000 signatures that placed "I-732" on the Nov. 8 ballot. It's also what makes it vexing that many green groups in the state have refrained from supporting I-732. Some are actively opposing it.

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The schism has been covered widely (and insightfully) in recent weeks, most recently by Natasha Geiling in Think Progress. "Opposition to Washington's historic carbon tax initiative is coming from the unlikeliest of sources," reads her headline, which then asks, "It's the only carbon tax on the ballot in the country. So why are some environmental groups fighting it?"

The answers are many. Carbon WA drew up I-732 without consulting fully with the entire spectrum of climate advocates. The design of its carbon tax is more attuned to the market than to government, with the carbon revenues "returned" to households rather than invested directly in clean energy and community remediation. And perhaps the in-state green groups are guided more by local and state concerns while Carbon WA set its sights nationally and globally.

Those points can be parsed endlessly. But the central fact for climate, which the GOP implosion is making more salient daily, is that the fissure in Washington state threatens to sink the initiative and botch the golden opportunity to put a carbon tax on the national legislative agenda starting months from now. Polling on I-732 suggests that a deficit in August may have flipped into a slight plus, but a fifth of voters are still undecided, and disunity among climate advocates makes it tougher to seal the deal.

There's no second shot in the Evergreen State. Washington's legislature has shown no appetite for a carbon tax, and a new referendum can't get on the ballot until 2018. Organizing in other states has fallen short as well. Whether we climate advocates like it or not - and as director of the Carbon Tax Center, I'm a big fan - I-732 is the only game going.

The U.S. elections will doubtless take further twists in the final four weeks, but the possibility of debating and actually winning a national carbon tax is suddenly, miraculously upon us. The referendum in Washington state is a big test and a huge deal. Whatever its imperfections, the climate movement's greatest imperative must be to come together and pass I-732.
If your sales are slow and click-through rates uninspiring, it could be time to take a closer look at your sales pipeline. No matter how much content you are writing, links your are building, or content marketing tools you have, your problem may just be you don't have a sales pipeline.

Just as pesky leaves can clog up your gutters; be on the lookout for any blockages in the funnel. They often uncover discord or miscommunication between your sales and marketing departments.



In an ideal world, your teams would work harmoniously together to see your prospect all the way through the pipeline towards conversion. But seeing as we don't live in an ideal world, the staggering fact prevails that around 98% of your qualified leads will never result in closed business.



You read that right. Almost all the marketing efforts that are handed over to your sales team drop off into an abyss. Never to be seen again. No one contacts the prospects in time, they fail to follow-up, the right offer isn't made, or maybe the leads is never contacted at all. Your pre-qualified potential customer, just waiting to make a purchase clicks off to your competition.



But before you contemplate reducing your marketing budget to nil, think about employing a good lead nurturing strategy. This can dramatically improve synergy between your marketing and sales efforts. What does that involve? Check out these top five tips from Mintigo President and CMO, Jon Bara. Here are 5 ways to effectively nurture your sales pipeline.

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1. Discover Your Customer DNA with Predictive Analytics

Using predictive analytics allows you to go deep on the data you already have and analyze the past behavior of your best customers. This lets you make predictions about future purchasing patterns.

Using an effective predictive marketing software will provide you with a wealth of valuable information to make better-informed marketing decisions.



2. Target The Best Accounts Based on Your Findings

Once you've run an analysis of existing customer behavior, you can find and match like accounts and customers in your CRM. These are contacts in your pipeline who resemble the data found on your best customers.

If, for example, you find out that your project management software is particularly popular with customer X; there's a pretty good chance that customer Y will be interested as well. You now have the targeted information you need to take action, rather than waiting for your leadss to drip slowing through your pipeline.

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3. Initiate an ABM Program

Jon Bara advises going "all in" on an ABM (Accounts Based Marketing) program with unified goals shared by both sales and marketing.

What's an ABM program?

It works to create that much-needed harmony between your marketing and sales teams. When everyone's on the same page, you have a much better chance of engaging the right customer at the right time.

4. Create Targeted Content and Campaigns

Based on the data attributes of your prospective buyers, you can customize and deliver content acting on a wealth of useful information. This ensures that you deliver the right message to the right customer at the right time.

Instead of sending out a weekly newsletter with the same blanket message to all recipients; you can drill down to create a simple, targeted message. No more paralegals were skipping over messages meant for the lead attorney. No more CEO's trashing emails perfect for a CMO.

5. Be Different and Unique

While we're on the subject of your newsletter, don't rely on email marketing as your only source of client capturing. Or to echo the words of Bara - "Go beyond repetitive e-mail campaigns to educate, share and engage your audience in topics the data suggests will interest them, not you.

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It's about the customer!"

Conclusion

Focusing on implementing these five key steps will ensure that your sales pipeline gets the much-needed love and attention it's been craving. Your sales and marketing departments will convert more leads and that your business can start to onboard more customers.
Have you had a once in a lifetime meal experience? It might be pear and gorgonzola tortellini in Florence, moussaka in Santorini, or flan with sea salt caramel at your favorite local Spanish restaurant. For me, those meals were memorable, but the best meal of my life was at Panda Express, down the street from my husband's office one afternoon more than four years ago. We had received the call-the unbelievable call-so different from the previous five years of calls. I was pregnant. We shared that meal with tears of disbelief and joy. My husband bought our growing child a stuffed panda bear. It was a defining and unexpected life moment in the most mundane of places.



My husband and I married in our early 20s. Friends at the time expected us to have multiple kids before we were 30. But, we were young and driven-grad school, the DINK (double income, no kids) lifestyle, achieving in our careers and having fun doing it. Several years went by, and we decided we wanted to have kids. Because that's how it works. You decide. Then you're pregnant. Then you have one/many perfect kid(s). Voila!



A few years went by. We mentioned our desire to have children to friends and always received helpful advice: "You should go on a vacation. You're nervous about it. Just relax." People really mean well, don't they?
Profound thoughts arise only in debate, with a possibility of counterargument, only when there is a possibility of expressing not only correct ideas but also dubious ideas.

Andrei Dmitrievich Sakharov, Progress, Coexistence and Intellectual Freedom

They weren't watching the debate. Because of their close quarters, the parents knew that if they were watching, their children would be watching and they knew that what the children didn't hear would be upsetting for the children. They would be unable to explain to the children why they didn't hear what they didn't hear. Those parents' reasons for not letting their children watch were different from those parents who didn't let their children watch because of what might be explicitly said about Mr. Trump's voracious sexual appetite.

The parents in the first group would not know how to explain to their children that for almost the first half hour of the debate between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton on October 9, 2016, the children heard no discussion of their plight. The parents would not know how to explain to their children that when directly asked in the second half hour of the debate what each of them would do to help the few families that may be left when sworn in as president, one at first answered obliquely and only in follow up discussion made more definitive statements as to what she would do. The other made no attempt to answer the question. The question had been submitted by a listener: "[I]f you were president, what would you do about Syria and the humanitarian crisis in Aleppo. Isn't it a lot like the Holocaust when the U.S. waited too long before we helped?"



The question might have been inspired by a report in the New York Times that sought to explain why so many children were being killed in Aleppo. As the opening paragraph of the New York Times report said: "They [children] cannot play, sleep or attend school. Increasingly, they cannot eat. Injury or illness could be fatal. Many just huddle with their parents in windowless underground shelters . . . . Among the roughly 250,000 people trapped in the insurgent redoubt of the divided northern Syrian city are 100,000 children.

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Secretary Clinton gave the first inadequate response. She said that the situation in Aleppo is "catastrophic." As Secretary of State she said she had advocated no-fly and safe zones. She said the United States had to work more closely with its allies on the ground.

Mr. Trump responded using 349 words. He never mentioned Aleppo. The moderator repeated the question about Aleppo quoting Michael Pence, the vice-presidential candidate, saying that the United States "should be prepared to use military force to strike the military targets of the Assad regime." Mr. Trump's only statement about what the United States should do in Aleppo was to say that he disagreed with Mr. Pence and said: "I think Aleppo is a disaster- "humanitarian-wise." Pressed further, he began discussing events in Mosul, Iraq, at great length. When he had finished, Secretary Clinton was again asked whether she would advocate the use of U.S. military force to back up diplomacy and what she would do differently from what the president was doing. She responded that she would not use ground forces in Syria, but would advocate the use of special forces as was being done in Iraq. With that response, Aleppo went to the back of the discussion, a discussion that concluded with more discussion of the use of forces in Iraq. As Martha Raddatz, one of the moderators, brought that discussion to a close, Mr. Trump, who had only mentioned the word Aleppo once in his answers, concluded his remarks on the subject saying: "You know what's funny? She went over a minute over, and you don't stop her. When I go one second over, it's like a big deal."

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The parents huddled in the basements of what was left of their houses, did not want their children to hear what the two candidates for the presidency of the strongest country in the world had said in response to the question about their plight. The little boy who had been photographed sitting pitifully in a chair with his bloody face only a few weeks earlier would not have understood when his mother tried to explain to him why only one of the candidates to become president of the United States even attempted to explain what she would do to help him and his family and others like him. The parents of the child who was seen being pulled from the rubble after a bunker bomb had destroyed his safe haven, would not understand why one of the candidates was so concerned about how much time he had to answer a question, when the little boy wondered how much time he had left before another bomb landed on his dwelling.
Russia, Moscow, Red Square with St. Basil's Cathedral, Kremlin with Savior Gate Tower and Lenin's Tomb

The US presidential election of 2016 is entertaining the world. The sad reality is one of the two major party candidates, Donald Trump (R) or Hillary Clinton (D) will be the next president of the United States come Friday, January 20, 2017. The US electorate dislikes them both. Global leaders and their intelligence and foreign policy apparatus are burning the midnight oils as they try and put their arms around what is coming to the global stage come 2017. If it wasn't scaring the shit out of me, and so many others, then it would actually be humorous.

While the decision day of November 8, 2016 is fast approaching the US electorate, it is regrettable many will find themselves voting for the presidential candidate they think sucks less.

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The Kremlin, led by Vladimir Putin, has made their choice early on.

A powerful statement. One may argue, countries don't attempt to influence the affairs or elections of another country? To that I say, open your history books.The Russian Federation uses their intelligence community to achieve their goals, their "active measures" ( ) capabilities are fully operational.They are not alone, the United States uses their intelligence community and covert action capability in a similar manner, often times directed by Presidential findings and directives. Every country takes steps to protect their national interests, to influencing the actions within another country. Scan the headlines you will see examples such as the one in the Indian Express, "Everywhere the foreign hand."

Those familiar with the ways of the former Soviet Union, will recognize the Soviet Realpolitik toy box was never thrown out, it was simply repainted and refreshed by the Russian Federation, moreso under Putin than others. Their adroitness at Chess (), a national pastime in Russia, is demonstrated as they move their pieces across the global landscape, reflecting their mastery of the gambit.

The US government is not naive on the role of Russian active measures, and in fact, Section 501 of the Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2017 (which started 01 October). Includes specific verbiage directing the US intelligence community, "requires the President to establish an

interagency committee to counter active measures by the Russian Federation that constitute Russian actions to exert covert influence over peoples and governments."

Clinton

The Kremlin knows Clinton, they have danced with Clinton for more than 16 years, most intensively and directly during her term as Secretary of State. They respect her for her connectedness, both domestically and abroad, and marvel at 112 countries visited and the 956,733 miles she traveled as Secretary of State.

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Trump

The Kremlin knows Trump, and the Russian oligarchs know him better than the politicos. They know his money, and he knows theirs. They respect the bazzari manner he displays, negotiate agree and negotiate some more. It is not alien in the Russian markets.

Russian active measures

The Democratic National Committee (DNC) hack has been well documented and discussed ad nauseum. I crafted a piece in June, Hacking Politics - Political Security in an Election Year, which discussed why Russia would be interested in the content of the DNC servers. I said then, "political parties plan to win, so lists and analysis on best candidates for key administration posts (cabinet and select appointees) will always be of interest to an adversary, as will the national security transition. Once the national primaries are concluded and the candidates for president solidified, these individuals will begin receiving national security briefings."

The Russian's have the Clinton transition game plan.

Are we tired of hearing about Hillary's email server? Absolutely. Let's step over the discussion on whether or not classified correspondence was kept on these servers kept in her personal residence. Indeed, let's assume, all the content was considered only sensitive and intra-office discussions.

From a foreign intelligence perspective, the content may not be platinum, due to lack of classified information, but it sure as hell is a treasure trove of gold. Containing the thoughts, methodologies, connections, interconnections and other jewels to assist an adversary in determining the plans and intentions of a leader.

The FBI Director James Comey, concludes that it is possible that hostile actors gained access to the email servers. Comey's statement on the topic in July 2016, "With respect to potential computer intrusion by hostile actors, we did not find direct evidence that Secretary Clinton's personal e-mail domain, in its various configurations since 2009, was successfully hacked. But, given the nature of the system and of the actors potentially involved, we assess that we would be unlikely to see such direct evidence. We do assess that hostile actors gained access to the private commercial e-mail accounts of people with whom Secretary Clinton was in regular contact from her personal account. We also assess that Secretary Clinton's use of a personal e-mail domain was both known by a large number of people and readily apparent. She also used her personal e-mail extensively while outside the United States, including sending and receiving work-related e-mails in the territory of sophisticated adversaries. Given that combination of factors, we assess it is possible that hostile actors gained access to Secretary Clinton's personal e-mail account."

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The NSA tools go missing

In August 2016 realized that the National Security Agency's offensive operations group had lost their tool box. Indeed, the toolbox was splayed out for all to see by Shadow Brokers. In my piece, NSA's Tools Go Missing to Shadow Brokers, I commented how this theft and subsequent exposure, was "a signal to the United States from Russia, let the cyber-espionage games begin, we have your toys."

The Kremlin's Choice

The Russian playbook when it comes to Hillary Clinton is robust, complex and complete. Trump is a wildcard. They know him only in the context of his business acumen. The current residents in the Kremlin view Trump in the same way they viewed Ronald Reagan, an unpredictable gadfly. But Trump isn't Reagan. Say what you will about Reagan and his Hollywood roots, he surrounded himself with subject matter experts who were on point.

Thus Putin continues to snub and embarrass the US in the diplomatic scrums at the G20, Syria, Ukraine, Crimea, NATO, etc. They feed their propaganda machines, RT, Pravda and others with global opinion on how Trump's isolationist policy is in their interests. They create opportunity for the US media to grab soundbites and relish when Trump provides his own, leaving the public without comment on the "bromance" between Trump and Putin.

Others have concluded the Russian activity is in support of Donald Trump, and there can be a cogent argument made which arrives at this conclusion. I submit, this is a Russian gambit, a beautifully mastered piece of reverse psychology which is being consumed by the US media, like a child consumes cotton candy. Indeed, the US media is not only buying it, they are serving it up to the US electorate in an unending narrative, that a vote for Trump is a vote for Russia.

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But the reality is, they prefer the devil they know. The Kremlin chooses Hillary Clinton
How can we create a more inclusive Internet? What are the practical steps we can take to expand global connectivity? Last week, leaders from some of the Internet's main organizations and businesses, together with the World Bank, gathered in Washington D.C. to discuss these questions. Why? Because bringing people online is one of the most powerful tools for development, and the world has finally woken up to see it.

Last year, the international community took on a historical commitment through the adoption of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The Internet is now seen to have a central role in reaching them all, from alleviating poverty to empowering women and youth on all continents. We are already seeing ambitious projects and increasing amounts of funding becoming available, and the link between development and the Internet has been officially acknowledged by a number of prominent policy bodies. As an example, only last month the UN Broadband Commission members said that sustainable development goals couldn't be achieved without affordable and universal access to ICTs and broadband connectivity.

Ambitions to catalyze Internet-based Development are finally coming into place but the important question remains: how do we move from speech to action, and from action to success?

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A challenging possibility It is generally assumed that the Internet boosts development, especially in countries like China, India or Brazil, and it is estimated that ICT capital is already contributing on average 15% to the GDP growth in the developing world. However, although evidence of the Internet's inherent power is growing, the assumption of the Internet being an engine for development does not apply automatically. The first warning came with the World Bank report arguing that 'digital dividends' are not reaching all of the corners and social strata in the developing world. Hence, overcoming some of the infrastructure challenges will not automatically go hand in hand with development. The Internet is in essence an ecosystem, where good decisions on infrastructure need to be backed by empowered users and good policy frameworks. Development is also too complex to be reduced only to access to the Internet. Connecting rural villages and communities is a necessary first step, but it is actually not decisive for making the Internet's impact on society. Much more needs to be done. People need to be trained, they need to trust the Internet and they need to find it relevant. What is digital has to fit into local social and cultural realities, including legislation that enhances users trust in the use of the Internet.

Inclusion is the key Because Internet inclusion is more than fiber and connecting devices - It's about ensuring that no one is left behind. Let us take a few concrete examples:

Knowing how to use the Internet and getting used to the online dynamics is a process of confidence and changing habits: A villager in Kenya can benefit from digitally transmitted tools on, let us say, long-term weather forecast helping him or her to make good farming decisions. But taking the initial decision to invest in a mobile-enabled phone can be a concern to start with. The Internet will not solve the day-to-day business challenges with a magic wand, but is dependent on a wider environment that supports the transition: A small entrepreneur in Myanmar can effectively use online presence to boost his business and make profit quicker and easier but he will still have a barrier in using the Internet as productively as entrepreneurs in the advanced economies due to for e.g. the availability of payment systems. To freely explore and participate in the online world should not be considered an added bonus, but as the fundamental right that it is, and as intrinsic part to an Internet of opportunities: An activist in an authoritarian country has a tool that - as history has shown - can bring real societal changes. But with censorship and restricted Internet access in some countries, the opportunity for the Internet to be a tool for social empowerment will not be the same opportunity that the luckier of us takes for granted.

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The way forward The Internet can make a real impact if we address this gap between possibilities and realities in an open, collaborative and constructive way, and at all levels of governance - whether local, regional or global. Because if we want the villager to connect it requires work among all stakeholders to support education and capacity building. If we want the entrepreneur to succeed we must work together to ensure that 'new kids on the block' have as equal opportunity to innovate as Google and Facebook have had. And if we want empowered users we must ensure a trusted Internet that respects privacy and protects our rights.

All of the Internet's stakeholders - businesses, civil society, governments, and the technical community - hold a piece of the puzzle. To make Internet-based Development a reality, we invite them to unite forces and focus on the immediate next steps that need to be taken:

Expanding infrastructure: Private sector needs to invest for the infrastructure to provide Internet access and to create and host services, leaving to governments to prioritize areas with high costs or low demand. Fostering skills and entrepreneurship: A skilled technical community is necessary to deploy and operate access and content infrastructure. It is also necessary to develop human capacity so that there are entrepreneurs, developers and others to create content and services and the innovative new business and delivery models built on them. Developing a supportive governance system: Good governance is needed to set the principles and rules of an enabling environment for a local Internet ecosystem, and specific policies to promote infrastructure investment and human capacity. Governments can also deploy their own content and services and encourage people to make the most of the Internet

Discussions held in Washington D.C. last week, addressed many of these issues. And the mixed types of participants of the event already give a good hope for taking on the challenge in its entirety and complexity. Because promoting an Internet that supports the SDGs is not only technical, it is not only policy, and it is not only developmental. It is all of the above.

Constance Bommelaer de Leusse is the Senior Director of Global Internet Policy at The Internet Society. Strategic thinker, coupled with experienced and practical hands-on approach, she leads the organization's engagement with multilateral organizations with a strong focus on Internet governance issues at the intersection of media development and Human Rights.
There are momentous days that are forever remembered by all Americans. These days go into the history books as moments that changed an entire generation and the course of history. June 6th 1944, December 7th 1941, July 4th 1776, September 11th 2001.

October 24th 1996 is not a day historically that most people remember. Nor should it be, it was just another day towards the end of a presidential campaign year; the setting of which was a half-dead rubber city in Ohio.

In my own life, however, this is perhaps one of the most important moments that I have ever lived. You see, this is the day that at ten years old I met First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton in Akron and began my lifelong love of politics and history.

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Now we are in yet another campaign year, and this sort of article is usually some campy love for a candidate written by a writer who is watching too many ads on television. My article isn't like that, I voted for Bernie, and Obama. I remember my meeting with Hillary fondly, however as I have grown older, my views and Hillary's have been at odds and I have voted for those she was running against.

Here we are in October of 2016. Hillary Clinton has the Democratic Nomination, and she just wrecked Donald Trump in the first debate, and second. The first woman President of the United States could be out there right now, campaigning across the country against this man who encourages his followers to attack those who disagree with them.

I have a ten year old daughter, she is the exact same age I was when I met Hillary as a boy. In this election I have watched the most misogynistic man ever to run for office say things that should forever disqualify him from ever being president, I have received death threats from his supporters who didn't like some of the articles I have written... I see Hillary's ads on television about how our children are watching, and it is true. My daughter is shy, painfully so. She had the good luck to meet President Obama in 2012, and while he spoke to her, all she could do was give a small wave to him, too frightened to even speak.

However, a few weeks ago she asked me why Donald Trump was pretending to be disabled and said it was mean for him to do that. She heard some of the things he has said, and asked me about them. What am I supposed to do here? I don't want to just regurgitate talking points, she should be part of the process, even if she doesn't fully understand it all. She has no interest in politics, but she does want to learn more. As a parent, all I can hope for is that the things that I am passionate about somehow resonate to my children, and maybe just maybe, I can teach them something.

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I made the decision; I was going to show my daughter what a girl can do if she studies hard, overcomes adversity and failure, and prepares herself. Rather than just tell her what I think, I would let her hear it herself and make her own decision. So, on September 30th I drove to Ft. Pierce Florida to have her listen to Hillary Clinton and make her own decisions. And because it wasn't fair to let my daughter stay home from school, I also took my five year old son.

Political events should be educational, and fun. It is a chance for kids at an early age to see beyond their own lives and into how the country is governed. I have been attending political events my entire life, and in what I can only describe as the most awesome thing, I have taken my daughter to a few as well and she seems to have pride shine through the shyness.

What I failed to even consider was the toxicity of this particular election year. Rallies always have protesters, and that's ok! It is partly our freedom to protest and have our voices heard that make our country great. So while we waited in line for over 3 hours in the 90 degree Florida heat and I saw a few people walk past with Trump signs, I thought little of it. It's their right to be there too.

In the distance I heard unified chanting, but from the distance I couldn't make it out.

I think it was as we were nearing the front that the realization of how bad of a situation this actually was hit me. It may have been when I saw someone protesting the event while waving the Flag of the Soviet Union, the USSR flag with the hammer and sickle, or it may have been the middle-aged woman screaming obscenities as people waited to enter. It could have been the man dressed as a terrorist, or another who was covered in fake blood and also screaming obscenities. As we drew closer and closer, I was seriously debating on leaving the event as the chant of "Lock her up" grew louder.

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I decided that I had taken my children out of school, driven an hour, and waited in line for 3 hours... I would have to explain to them what this all meant, but maybe it was important that they see this. Also, what would it show my kids if we left? I was afraid it would teach them that if someone is bullying you, you should run away. Which, let's not kid ourselves, is exactly what Donald Trump is.

My daughter was frightened, her eyes were wide behind her glasses as we drew closer. Protesters were literally five feet away from those event attendees and they were red in the face, eyes bulging, screaming into the faces of people. Several times I saw that the protesters crossed into the street and were physically pushed back by police while the waved their arms and pointed their fingers.

As we were in front of the protesters my daughter burst into tears as I heard a woman cursing loudly about Hillary Clinton. I tried to comfort her, and asked her if the people were scaring her and she shook her head and looked into my face. "What is on that sign?" she asked through sobs.

I wheeled around to see a woman in her 50's rubbing her eyes at me and making fun of my ten year old daughter and laughing, and behind her was a sign that I hadn't even seen. A graphic photo of a dead baby, chopped into pieces, discolored with death with the big printed words of ABORTION.

Resisting the urge to completely lose my mind on these people and give them what they wanted, I turned back to my daughter. What do I say here? She is ten, she is still ridiculously innocent. She doesn't understand the concept of sex, let alone abortion or a woman's right to choose. While freedom of speech is a right, as well as the freedoms of expression and the right to protest... is there also not a law about common decency? And what kind of person finds this behavior acceptable, and relishes in the terror of a little girl.

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We entered the event, but my daughter didn't want to be there now. She was traumatized, upset, and there was literally nothing I could do to help her. I was still determined to try and make this a positive memory, but I could feel it all fleeing away from me like trying to cup water in my hands- and by the time Hillary Clinton came onto the stage, it was already over for us. As we left quietly, one of Hillary's campaign people shook my hand and thanked me brightly for coming, not paying attention or caring that a crying little girl's world was rocked to its core, which was unfortunate because as I drove home, I wondered how many other little girls felt the devastation that mine did. The memory of the first female President of the United States wrecked by those who oppose her.

The biggest pain of this event came later that night when my daughter told her grandmother "I know that it changed dad's life for the better meeting Hillary Clinton, but it is the opposite for me."
Don Ringe died on October 11. This final blog was submitted by Don's wife, Jeanne.

When the California Death With Dignity law took effect June 9, Don was one of the first patients in the Kaiser system to ask for the end of life pills. On April 19, he had been diagnosed with Glioblastoma Stage IV, and in mid-June, he was in the middle of six weeks of radiation and chemo, the standard treatment for this deadly primary brain cancer. Don knew his chances of beating this were slim no matter what we tried, and he wanted some semblance of control at the end of his life.

The law requires a patient to have two appointments with a doctor at least 14 days apart in which the patient brings up the subject without prompting. Don had the first required meeting with his primary physician in July, alone, but by the time of his second appointment in August, his short term memory failed him; between the waiting room and the exam room he'd forgotten why he was there.

Don's long-term memory was less affected, and he was cognizant enough to understand that this law wasn't written for people in his situation, or for patients with Alzheimer's or other cognitive deficits. Beyond the doctor visits, it requires a patient to open the bottle, count the pills, and make sure they're all taken on time. As an issue advocacy media consultant, Don was ready to advocate for a change in the law, but time was not on his side.

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Inasmuch as he had convinced me, his 18-year-old daughter, and the rest of his family (and we were all on board with his decision) when he couldn't get the pills from Kaiser, he found another dignified way to die.

On September 17, we visited his friend in Bel Air. He wasn't using a walker, but required a lot of help getting into the house and getting around. We went to see "Snowden" that night and a fellow moviegoer helped him make it out of his seat and back to the car. Though his MRI from 9/14 had shown only very minimal tumor regrowth, his condition was worsening. He had one infusion of Avastin on 9/19, the Hail Mary of GBM treatments, and it did nothing for him.

We signed up with home hospice on 09/30.

End of life decisions and definitions of dignity vary widely. For Don, cognition and continence were paramount. In the end, he had neither. Yet by my definition of dignity, he prevailed.

He refused any food or liquids after 10/4 and by 10/11 he was done. With morphine, he never had a moment of pain or apparent discomfort. He was at home with candlelight, soft music, prayers and chants and rituals from many traditions, phone calls from old friends (though he had lost his ability to speak by October) and I was by his bed when he took his last breath.

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For Californians at the end of their lives who want to die with dignity and can't get the pills, not eating or drinking is a natural way to take control. And it may be easier on the family since the timing is on nature's clock, not pharma's.

As a political ad guy, Don was known for creating spots that were breakthrough and unexpected. And he had a powerful sense of humor and satire.

I know he would have appreciated the irony of having our peaceful home hospice environment disrupted by the blaring smoke alarm set off by the shaman when he lit the sage, or when the cat jumped up on his chest just as he took his final breath.
For many, the gig economy is simply the next step in a losing effort to build some economic security in a world where all the benefits are floating to the top 10 percent. This quote comes from Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), but she is far from alone in her criticism of the growing sharing (or gig) economy. Even Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton has implied that these companies only succeed by taking advantage of workers.

Yet not everyone thinks that new work opportunities made available by widespread peer-to-peer online interaction are harmful to workers. In what follows, The Heritage Foundations James Sherk defends independent work and shares the finding from his new paper, The Rise of the Gig Economy: Good for Workers and Consumers.

Jared Meyer: Why is independent contractor status crucial to the gig economys success? And what legal obligations do companies face with employees that do not apply to independent contractors?

James Sherk: Central to the appeal of gig economy jobs is that workers can choose when and where they work, or if they work at all. Most Americans want regular 9 to 5 jobs with predictable hours. But most workers in the gig economy prefer flexibility and control over their hours.

A survey of Uber drivers found that three-quarters of them preferred controlling their own schedule and being their own boss to working regular hours with employee benefits. Many gig economy workers have other things going on in their livesschool, family obligations, even another jobthat they schedule their gig work around. Regular full-time employment rarely lets individuals work at their own convenience.

Gig workers can do this because they are (currently) classified as independent contractors. Legally they work for themselves, using software platforms to find clients. Since they work for themselves, they can set their own schedule and work at will.

If the government instead classified gig economy workers as employees, this freedom would end. Companies have many legal obligations to their employees that they do not have toward contractors. These include paying at least the minimum wage (going to $15 in New York and California) and paying overtime. State law often imposes additional obligations. For example, California requires firms to document that their employees take a 30 minute lunch break each day.

Companies facing these legal obligations need control over their employees schedules. They cannot let workers choose their own hours, then rack up large overtime bills. They must also ensure that their employees produce at least enough in value to cover the cost of the state (or local) minimum wage. That means selecting hours and locations for the workers, instead of letting workers choose when and where they work. Employee status significantly curtails the flexibility that attracts workers to the gig economy in the first place.

JM: Yet, regardless of the benefits of independent contractor status, companies all across the gig economy face lawsuits over their worker classification decisions. Do these lawsuits have any merit?

JS: No and yes. The lawsuits are largely being driven by two groups: the first is trial lawyers. They hope to win rulings reclassifying gig economy workers as employees and forcing the platforms to pay damages for not paying their employees overtime, the minimum wage, etc. Contingency fees on any one of these cases would turn the lawyers filing the suit into multi-millionaires overnight. Thus far the trial lawyers have either lost all these suits, or settled, but the prospect of hitting the jackpot keeps them filing more.

The second group is labor unions. Unions dislike self-employment because a union of self-employed workers makes little sense. Self-employed workers do not strike against themselves. They would not hire unions to negotiate with themselves for higher salaries. Consequently unions typically support laws that push workers into employment relationships.

For example, a few years ago the Teamsters teamed up with environmental groups to push expensive environmental regulations on all trucks shipping out of the Port of Los Angeles. Self-employed (and non-union) truck owner-operators could not afford the necessary upgradesbut large trucking companies could. These environmental regulations effectively reserved the Ports trucking work for employeesemployees the Teamsters could unionize. In the same spirit unions are trying to reclassify gig economy workers as employees. They want to unionize and take dues from them, and they cannot do this if they work for themselves.

The gig economy platforms have the stronger legal arguments, but these lawsuits are not wholly baseless. Courts use complicated multi-part tests to determine whether workers are independent contractors or employees. Many of the elements of this test do point to gig-economy workers as self-employed: they set their own hours, accept jobs at will, use their own business judgement, provide their own equipment, and can work for multiple employers simultaneously.

However, some elements of the self-employment test do go against the gig economy platforms. Many gig economy jobs do not require particularly specialized skills, and their tasks are central to the business of the gig economy platforms. Uber would not have a business without its drivers. These facts point toward an employment relationship. The unions and lawyers are pushing the legal envelope, but they are not entirely blowing steam.

JM: Many policymakers on Capitol Hill mention Uber and the sharing economy in a positive light while speaking with their constituents. What can these federal lawmakers do to protect independent work from its opponents?

JS: The best long-term solution would be to amend federal law to clearly define self-employment status. Congress could state that any workers who choose their own hours, use their own business judgement and their own equipment, and have the freedom to work for multiple companies are independent contractorsfull stop. Congress can say if you do all this you are an independent contractor, and not leave the courts guessing about how to apply the 20-factor common law test.

If Congress does not do that, then it should create a temporary safe-harbor for the gig economy by declaring that for the next seven years or so these workers and firms have an independent contractor relationship. Congress could then come back later to see how that safe-harbor provision worked out. Most likely Congress would find self-employment serves the needs of gig economy workers very well.

JM: While having this debate, policymakers need to keep in mind that the benefits of independent work extend far beyond Uber. Skilled professionalseveryone from plumbers and lawyers to music instructors and personal chefsgain from easier access to customers. Online platforms make it easier and more affordable for independent workers to earn a living without laboring under employers. It is also important to keep in mind that consumers clearly benefit when they can access higher-quality goods and services at lower prices. The gig economy is good for workers and consumers.

Jared Meyer is a fellow at the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research and the author of Uber-Positive: Why Americans Love the Sharing Economy (Encounter Books, June 2016). Follow him on Twitter here.

This article originally appeared in Forbes.

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CHANDLER TODD, MD, ADDRESSES PARENTS AT ALBUQUERQUE ACADEMY, NEW MEXICO

Why are teenagers so much more impulsive and more emotional, than adults?

"It's all about the brain," said Chandler Todd, MD, Associate Professor of Pediatrics at the University of New Mexico, to an audience of parents at the Albuquerque Academy preparatory school in New Mexico, Oct. 5, 2016.

Teens undergo growing pains in their brains, more than their bodies. Understanding these changes can help parents be more patient with their teens, and more helpful. Todd, the mother of two said, "I am seriously outgunned by my teenaged daughter."

Nerve cells in the teenaged brain grow four to five times faster than in the adult brain. Unused nerve cells are "pruned", so that in some parts of the teenage brain, 50 percent of neurons die, thus rapidly changing the brain. Thoughts travel faster, because myelin, an insulating material that increases the speed of nerve impulses, proliferates rapidly. Todd's twelve year old son can suddenly read more quickly, and she knows this is because of changes in his brain.

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"Be affectionate," said Todd. "Recognize their emotional reactions as authentic. " It's not just "drama club", Todd emphasized.

"Rational decisions go out the window," said Todd, since the teen brain reacts more intensely to large rewards, often without seeing potentially negative consequences. For example, while hiking in Zion National Park with her children, aged 16 and 12, Todd noticed the danger of the cliffs. On the other hand, her kids were only excited, without reflecting on potential dangers.

Teens read negative triggers differently, Todd said, and are less harm-avoidant. The amygdala is the part of the brain responsible for registering fear, and it doesn't react as much, in the teenage brain.

Indeed, Todd said, adolescents are at their physical peak, and intellectually, they are the equals of adults. Yet their mortality rates from motor vehicle accidents and risky behaviors, are at a peak, due to these brain factors.

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Teens also react more to social and emotional rewards. This accounts for their heightened response to friends over parents. Social media can cause its own stresses. Todd advised that parents speak with teens about their relationships, about bullying, and the potential fakeness of social media presentations. In her family, there are designated times for social interaction without social media, such as mealtimes.

The teenage body needs more sleep, and may be on a different circadian rhythm than for adults. Stress and sleep deprivation can cause teens to be more emotional and impulsive. Todd advises a house-wide bedtime, and the importance of parents sleeping themselves.

Studies have shown that negative factors for teens include guns in the home, substance abuse at home, and working more than twenty hours per week.

On the other hand, connectedness to parents is protective, and can result in less risky behavior. She advised talking with teens about their value system, in advance of situations where "hot cognitions" may be overwhelming. Knowing the peers who will influence their risk-taking is also important.
In the midst of a heated campaign season, it is important to understand there is a difference between religious and political realities. The intents differ, and thus the approaches to achieving those goals vary, as well. And yet, the bottom line is that whether the arena is church, politics, work environment, neighborhood, school, home, etc., when people relate to other people there are some basic tenets that most of us wish would be consistently honored.



Certainly a quality most people desire from others is respect. That does not mean we always agree with one another, but it does mean we honor the other person's right to have an opinion (even if it varies from our own). We value the other person as an individual, whether or not we see all issues from the same vantage point. And the extent to which we value another is made visible in how we deal with that person. Can we maintain civility? Can we be polite? Can we express (and defend) our positions without demeaning the humanity of someone else who dares to disagree with us? Can we articulate our ideas without becoming adversarial or bullying another? Those are basic expectations inherent in Christianity. Those of us within that faith system are not given the authority to edit out certain demands that are clearly stated in our Book of Faith. "Speak the truth in love." (Ephesians 4:15) "Love your enemy, and pray for those who despitefully use you." (Matthew 5:44) "This is my commandment, that you love one another even as I have loved you." (John 15:12) Those are not voluntary initiatives. They are, instead, commands that call us to lives of mutual respect and civility. Other sourcebooks of other faiths contain similar statements that also appear in the form of commands.



At the end of the day (or the end of the campaign), faith and politics confront us with at least two important issues. First, can we take actions in future campaigns to insure what the vast majority of us claim to desire - that politicians will move away from vitriol and hate-driven rhetoric to a fair and honest discussion of the issues confronting our nation and world? Whether on national, state, or local levels, persons running for office desire to lead us. An important component of that is leading by example. If the example they provide is anger and hostility, then they have forsaken their right to complain when the populace becomes angry or militant. Lead by example. Can those running for office model for us what civil discourse looks like? Can they show us what it means to discuss, debate, and discern without adding fire to a global landscape already burning with hatred and violence? Maybe it is up to people of faith to honor our faith by demanding that future campaigns deal more with issues and less with vitriol.
It is said that there is no statute of limitations on the crime of murder. Nor should there be on investigations, either.

Politkovskaya was assassinated on this day 10 years ago. She was shot four times, the fatal shot was fired in her head on this date in a lift in her Moscow apartment building.

The echo of these shots is still ringing in our memory with the ultimate question: When will the justice finally see the light and bring some but important comfort to her loved ones and all journalists around the world? Men have been tried and convicted and sentenced to prison for her death. But who was behind it remains a mystery and one that needs to be solved.

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But there are many other questions still unanswered

How did it come to this: that this elegant, fearless woman, who had always stood up for the voiceless, powerless, abused, tortured and weak, would be killed in cold blood and why? And why are we still seeking the truth, just like she did more than a decade ago? Why, after 10 years, is it Politkovskaya's murder that galvanizes us and makes us long for justice and closure? Politkovskaya often received death threats and was poisoned as a result of her work; she was threatened with rape and experienced a mock execution after being arrested by the military in Chechnya.Ten years on, Politkovskaya's resume needs no trumpeting; her reputation needs no brandishing; even her memory needs no face lift. As you can see from the outpouring of support to find the masterminds - a personal, visceral and engaged support - in this paper and in media around the world, the legend of Anna Politkovskaya is growing. Her life is a rallying call for all journalists seeking to humanize the inhuman - and - clarify the obscure.

She could write.

"What matters is the information, not what you think about it," she said in "Is Journalism Worth Dying For? Final Dispatches."

And she could report, from places that few of us would dare travel for fear of getting killed, let alone then go ahead and boldly ask hard questions of those there - questions that could get you killed, too.

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She traveled to Chechnya countless times to get the stories of innocents caught in a barbarous struggle between warring forces each more brutal than the other. It may very well be that Politkovskaya captured the spirit of Russia. Even though she had opportunities to take a break overseas from the tension in Russia, she chose to stay and write. She was indignant about the wrongdoing that she deeply felt was unworthy of the Russia she loved so much, but she showed compassion for young Russian soldiers as well as for the ordinary people suffering in Chechnya

Since her death, at least 10 more members of the media have lost their lives practicing their craft only in the Russian Federation. Around the world the death rate of journalists is horrifying. According to CPJ, 1210 journalists have been killed since 1992.

Not everyone has a story as compelling as Politkovskaya. But every journalist does have a story to tell and one to write and each journalist needs to be treated with dignity and respect. Most importantly, all journalists have an inherent right to practice their craft in safety - free from the fate of Politkovskaya and the others.

That's why we should give our full support and backing to local, regional, national and international efforts to create an environment of safety - which includes, implicitly, an understanding that those who do harm to journalists will be found, tried and punished for their actions. Zero tolerance to impunity. But is it enough what we do, can we do more? Those behind and therefore responsible for Politkovskaya's death are still running free and the reasons for that have not been adequately explained. Until this case is closed, and it won't be until the ultimate killers are behind bars, international organizations around the world, including my Office, will continue reminding the authorities of their duty, in memory of Politkovskaya and the others who gave their lives in pursuit of a story.

What would Politkovskaya tell us today? Probably this quote could sum it up...

"Do you still think the world is vast? That if there is a conflagration in one place it does not have a bearing on another, and that you can sit it out in peace on your veranda admiring your absurd petunias?"

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A group of Black doctors in Los Angeles and throughout California have been waging a long, valiant, and lonely fight against a practice which has had disastrous effects on the quality of medical care in poor, and underserved communities and harmful consequences for the doctors. The practice is medical racial profiling. This is a systematic pattern and practice of harassment, license suspensions, administrative hearings, reprimands, and write-ups of black doctors in far greater numbers than white doctors. The prime culprit the doctors say is the California Medical Board responsible for oversight over the state's medical practitioners, and which has taken the disproportionate disciplinary action against Black doctors.

Nearly a decade ago the Board released the first of its kind study that found a glaring gap in the number of Black and Latino physicians in the state. But it was the number, or lack of numbers, of Black doctors that was especially eye popping. The study found a grand total of 2000 black doctors actively practicing statewide. That totaled about 3 percent of the state's physicians. The board called the shortage a "massive problem."

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The problem is still just as massive. There's no evidence that the number of Black doctors has increased appreciably, and some evidence that the shortfall has gotten worse. The American Medical Assn. in yet another study in 2013 of the minority doctor shortage flatly declared in a headline "Black Men increasingly hard to find in Medical Schools." How hard? It found that less than 3 percent of medical school applicants were Black males and this was a drop from the number of black men in medical schools a decade earlier. During the same period the number of Black doctors also took a nosedive.

The chronic and seemingly growing crisis in the number of Black doctors and the inevitable plunge in medical services in poor and minority communities spurred the L.A. County Medical Assn. in 2013 to establish an African-American Physicians Advisory Committee. The committee is tasked with improving the quality of medical care in underserved communities. Countless reports, surveys, and studies have found that Black doctors are far more likely than white doctors to establish practices, and provide health care, in black communities, and that African-American patients have expressed greater confidence in and satisfaction with the quality of care that they provide.

However, the insidious issue that has could cast a damaging cloud over the profession remains the excessive discipline of Black doctors. They are particularly vulnerable because they deal with a greater number of federally mandated and insured medical plans and programs, the most the biggest being Medi-Cal. They deal with a much greater number of lower-income, and even indigent patients than white doctors. The programs are subject to much greater state and federal scrutiny and regulation than private plans and medical treatment by wealthy patients who can afford to pay for care out of pocket. The doctors say that their being held to far more rigid standards of scrutiny than white doctors have had a noticeable chilling effect on the medical practices of many of the doctors. Some doctors have filed separate lawsuits and damage claims against the Board and the state and have talked of a class action lawsuit.

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The Black American Political Assn. of California and the National Medical Assn. has lambasted the Board for the profiling of African-American doctors and has demanded that Governor Brown and Attorney General Kamala Harris take action. A proposed settlement has been talked in lieu of a major and costly litigation against the Board that includes compensation for damages and a tight review of the Board's discipline practices and medical standards enforcement.


ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson repeatedly misrepresents basic climate science.

When assessing responsibility for global warming, politicians, journalists and others tend to think in terms of nations. China, as we all know, is the world's largest carbon emitter, the United States -- the top emitter until 2006 -- is No. 2, and so on.

Some researchers, however, are now focusing on the role played by fossil fuel producers. After all, nations do not emit carbon dioxide and methane. Hydrocarbon fuels, extracted and marketed by companies, do.

Thanks to the groundbreaking work of geographer Richard Heede, we also know that a relatively small number of investor- and government-owned companies are responsible for two-thirds of human-caused carbon emissions since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution. Heede's 2014 study found that just 90 companies accounted for 65 percent of worldwide carbon emissions between 1854 and 2013. What's more, half of those companies' total emissions have occurred since 1988 -- long after the scientific community and the public became aware of the threat posed by global warming.

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In light of Heede's findings, what responsibility do these fossil fuel giants bear for climate change? And what role should they play now, given that the December 2015 Paris climate accord has committed nearly 200 nations to move to a low-carbon future?

The Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) recently compiled a scorecard to help answer these questions. In its new analysis, UCS rated the business practices of the top eight U.S. investor-owned fossil fuel companies on Heede's list that are U.S.-based or have a North American affiliate. In order of emissions magnitude, the UCS scorecard evaluated Chevron, ExxonMobil, BP, Royal Dutch Shell, ConocoPhillips, Peabody Energy, Consol Energy and Arch Coal. Together, they are responsible for nearly 15 percent of worldwide industrial carbon emissions since the 1850s and have spent tens of millions of dollars over the last two decades to deceive the public about the reality of climate change.

UCS graded the companies on a five-point scale -- ranging from "advanced" to "egregious" -- in four broad categories, including the accuracy of their public statements about climate science; their support for trade associations, think tanks and advocacy groups that spread disinformation about climate science and try to block government action on climate; their position on proposed government climate policies; and their willingness to disclose the risks climate change poses to their business as required by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

The overall finding? Unlike the children of Garrison Keillor's fictional Lake Wobegon, the companies in the UCS survey are all below average.

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"These companies are substantial contributors to the problem of climate change and, if we're going to achieve swift and deep reductions in carbon emissions, they will have to take responsibility for their climate-related actions," said Kathryn Mulvey, a senior UCS analyst and lead author of the scorecard. "We found some differences in the climate-related positions and actions among the companies but, by and large, they all have a long way to go."

Renouncing Climate Disinformation

For a fossil fuel company to retain the public trust and social legitimacy to do business, step one is to make accurate public statements about climate science and renounce support for trade associations and advocacy groups that mislead the public about climate change.

How have the companies performed in these areas?

Only BP and Shell earned a passing grade for their public positions on climate science. In June 2015, BP, Shell, and four other European-based oil and gas companies sent a letter to the United Nations acknowledging that much more needs to be done "to limit the temperature rise to no more than 2 degrees [Celsius] above pre-industrial levels" and urging governments to set a price on carbon. "We want to be part of the solution," they wrote, "and deliver energy to society sustainably for many decades to come."

The lowest mark in this category went to ExxonMobil, which has consistently disparaged climate science and recommended that societies learn to adapt to global warming. "Mankind has this enormous capacity to deal with adversity," ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson said at the company's 2015 annual shareholder meeting, "and those solutions will present themselves as the realities become clear." Never mind that the realities of climate change have been clear for many years -- and the company's own scientists warned Exxon's upper management decades ago about the "potentially catastrophic" risks posed by global warming.

UCS also ranked ExxonMobil the lowest -- a designation of "egregious" -- for its longtime support of climate science denier groups. The company has spent at least $33 million since 1998 on a network of more than 60 think tanks, advocacy groups and trade associations, many of which continue to distort climate science and denigrate renewable energy to this day.

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Chevron, which routinely tries to block federal and state climate initiatives, joined ExxonMobil at the bottom. Both are members of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), a secretive business lobby group that denies human activity is driving climate change and provides its state legislator members with sample bills to undermine renewable energy. Over the last several years, BP, ConocoPhillips and Shell have quit ALEC. Nonetheless, they each earned poor marks for standing by while the trade groups to which they belong -- including the American Petroleum Institute, National Association of Manufacturers and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce -- misrepresent climate science and oppose government efforts to curb carbon emissions.

Doing Business in a Low-Carbon World

Because the products fossil fuel companies sell in the marketplace are directly responsible for carbon emissions, these companies have a special responsibility to transform their business models to reduce that threat. Practically speaking, that means publicly acknowledging the international community's commitment to swiftly move to a low-carbon economy and supporting policies consistent with this goal. It means taking immediate action to disclose and cut emissions from their current operations by, for example, ending the harmful practice of flaring natural gas. And ultimately it will mean transitioning to cleaner energy sources to remain relevant.

How do the companies rank on these metrics?

The companies UCS appraised have made general statements on their websites or elsewhere about the need to reduce carbon emissions, but most have stopped short of supporting specific policies. As mentioned above, BP and Shell now back carbon pricing, earning each of them a middling grade for their stated support of U.S. government action. ExxonMobil also got a middling grade in this category. The company claims to favor a revenue-neutral carbon tax, although its sincerity is questionable given the fact that the majority of senators and representatives the company funds consistently vote against the policy.

The three coal companies reviewed on the scorecard -- Arch, Consol and Peabody -- ranked low for continuing to support efforts to block U.S. climate action. The largest, the now-bankrupt Peabody Energy, was the worst of the lot. It received an "egregious" rating for denying there is a scientific consensus about climate change in its legal challenge to the Environmental Protection Agency's Clean Power Plan to cut carbon emissions from coal-fired power plants.

All of the companies received poor marks on disclosing and reducing their own emissions. While more than 180 major corporations have now committed to setting science-based targets to reduce their emissions in line with last year's international climate agreement, none of the companies UCS evaluated has yet done so. In fact, not a single fossil energy producer is among those companies.

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Fossil Fuel Industry at the Crossroads

If the companies UCS surveyed are smart, they will reinvent themselves.

History provides clear examples of success -- and failure. Back in the mid-1800s, whaling -- which provided oil for the lamps that lighted much of the Western world -- was the fifth-largest industry in the United States. By the second half of that century, whale oil was replaced by kerosene, which in turn was rendered obsolete by the electric light. The whaling industry collapsed.

By contrast, the Fisher Brothers, who manufactured horse-drawn carriages at the turn of the 20th century, adapted to the changing times. Realizing that their future was tied to the fledgling auto industry, they redesigned their product to handle the stresses and strains of the new technology. They morphed into the fabulously successful Fisher Body Company, which eventually became a division of General Motors.

The fossil fuel industry is at a similar crossroads today, and at least two of the companies in the UCS survey -- BP and Chevron -- ventured into the renewable energy business a decade ago. When they did not realize quick profits, however, they sold off their holdings. Others, notably ExxonMobil, flatly reject the idea of diversifying into renewables because, as Rex Tillerson told his shareholders, "We choose not to lose money on purpose."

Given that scientists project that energy companies worldwide will have to leave 60 to 80 percent of their reserves in the ground to ensure average temperatures do not rise more than 2 degrees Celsius, that's shortsighted thinking at best. And, in any case, genuflecting to the quarterly earnings report stifles innovation. When Toyota first introduced the Prius, the company lost money on every one it sold. Now it dominates the hybrid market because it was willing to invest in a long-term strategy.

So what should these eight leading energy companies do? The UCS scorecard makes a number of recommendations, including ending their support for climate science disinformation; fully disclosing the risks of climate change to their operations; developing new products and technologies that do not harm the environment; and supporting sensible policies to curb carbon emissions.

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"Fossil fuel companies will, in all likelihood, continue to operate for many years to come while we decarbonize the world economy," Mulvey said. "But they can no longer be allowed to mislead the public and their shareholders about the threat their products pose to the planet. We've identified a series of steps these companies should take immediately, and we're going to keep the pressure on to get them to do so."
Photo credit: Clemence Eliah/HelpAge International

It has been a year since EU Member States agreed to make bold and transformative steps towards changing the lives of all people across the world by adopting the Sustainable Development Goals (SGDs). These 17 goals seek to realise the human rights of all and create a world in which all people, including older people, live free from fear and violence.

"Older people" or "people of all ages" are referred to throughout the 17 SDGs. This is an important step forward considering the omission of this vulnerable group in the Millennium Development Goals.



The commitment to Leave No One Behind is a crucial characteristic of the agenda; however words alone are not enough to make the ambition a reality. Currently, the percentage of people aged 60 and over in Tanzania is 4.8% and this is projected to rise to 5.2 by 2030. At the same time, Tanzania remains one of the poorest countries in the world.

The progress so far

The Government of Tanzania has put in place some measures to support older people. These include:

the provision of free health care services;

the renaming of the Ministry of Health, Community Development, Gender, Elderly and Children;

the introduction of a universal non-contributory pension for older people in Zanzibar; and

the inclusion of older people in the Tanzania Social Action Fund cash transfer programmes

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Issues of older people's rights have been recognised at both the national and regional level, with the ratification of the African Union's protocol on the Rights of Older Persons and its Plan of Action.

In spite of progress, the situation of older people in Tanzania remains uncertain and greater efforts need to be made to overcome the many challenges they face, including the burden of care to orphans and young children and the high level of gender based discrimination and violence against older women, particularly through land grabbing and witchcraft killings.

Photo credit: Clemence Eliah/HelpAge International

Women's empowerment

The European Commission, through the European Instruments for Democracy and Human Rights, has funded a project in the North West region of Mwanza to promote and protect the rights of older women. The project aims to empower and train older women activists on human rights. They are being taught through paralegals to write their own wills to protect their land from grabbing and ensure their children have an inheritance once they die.

Many perpetrators of witchcraft killings in Tanzania evade prosecution but the older women who are part of this project are coming together to report crimes, consequently increasing trust in the police and improving their access to justice. They are being encouraged to mobilise around public awareness initiatives to encourage other older men and women to seek help.

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Community leaders and senior members of the judiciary and the police force are also being trained to expand public recognition of the negative impact of harmful practices that inhibit older women's potential, threaten their safety and ignore their human rights.

A strong partnership

These kinds of projects demonstrate how EU funding can be used to address targets across a number of interconnected SDG goals. In this case, the project goes some way towards achieving goal 16, to promote peaceful and inclusive societies and provide access to justice for all as well as contributing to the achievement of the targets within goal 5 on gender equality and goal 10 on reducing inequality.

The EU's commitment to 'increasing awareness of the human rights and specific needs of older persons paying particular attention to age based discrimination' in the Action Plan on Human Rights and Democracy 2015-2019, is an encouraging indication that more programmes that target the specific human rights challenges faced by older people will receive support.
Women die of breast cancer each and every day. It is unfortunate some need a "day" to remind them of that. Women do not die of primary breast cancer; they die when the disease metastasizes - when it spreads beyond the breast to vital organs. An estimated 90% of breast cancer deaths are a result of metastatic disease, either at diagnosis or recurrence. The average survival rate for people with metastatic breast cancer is 3 years, because treatments to cure metastasis do not exist. Despite claims of numerous advances in genomics, biomarkers and therapies, these numbers have never changed significantly.

There are different approaches to solving this enormous problem. For example, there is research looking for biologic targets in order to develop the next drug. There is a renewed emphasis on immune approaches to cancer, with some research into breast cancer. At the National Breast Cancer Coalition (NBCC), we approach the issue of breast cancer metastasis from multiple angles. We educate and train women and men, many with metastatic disease, to enable them to be at the table where funding, research and access issues are being decided, to influence and often lead the agenda.

We advocate for increased federal funding for research, including innovative research into metastasis. We work on clinical trials that will change the way women and men are treated for metastatic disease. And we bring a focus to figuring out the process and initiation of metastasis, to understand why it happens, how it happens and how to prevent it from happening in the first place. Because we not only want to see a cure for women and men who now have metastatic disease, we do not want anyone, ever to have to face it. But we're not there yet.

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It is important to understand that NBCC does not fund research other than a few small seed grants. We bring collaborations together to look at issues in new ways, and develop and implement plans of action to answer overarching questions. Like how we can end deaths from breast cancer. So here are a few more specifics on what NBCC is doing to make that a reality:

The Artemis Project for the Prevention of Metastasis Project

We believe we need to look at the issue of metastatic disease from a fresh perspective to achieve the goal of ending the disease. We want to complement the work we, and others are doing, looking at curing metastasis, with a different approach, with a focus on the process and prevention of metastasis. We must understand how to stop the process of metastasis as soon as possible; so no one ever has to die of breast cancer.

That is why, several years ago, NBCC gathered a diverse group of breast cancer advocates, scientists, and clinicians from across the United States, Canada and Europe to outline a research plan of action in this area. The collaboration, part of NBCC's Artemis Project, decided to focus initially on tumor dormancy (determine why/how breast cancer cells lie dormant for years and then re-emerge (recurrence) and the immune system. As a result of discussions and debate at our annual meetings, a few projects have emerged. Among them, a group of Artemis participants have begun testing how the immune system interacts with dormant disseminated tumor cells; those cells that migrate from the primary tumor site. Once it has been established that the immune system does play a role in keeping these disseminated tumor cells quiet, they will identify the key immune cells that are involved.

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The Artemis collaboration also agreed that it was a priority to determine the genomic and genetic makeup of breast cancer that will progress to metastasis. So we are a partner in DNALand, that will result in a breast cancer database that will include clinical and genomic data from patients that will allow researchers to ask critical questions about breast cancer development, breast cancer recurrence and metastatic disease.

Clinical Trials Work

Clinical trial design, access and outreach, and most importantly, meaningful outcomes, remain issues of concern to NBCC. We have continued our collaborations on a number of key trials, including international trials that have involved our Beyond Borders Breast Cancer Project, including international Project LEAD graduates. NBCC decides whether to partner with industry and investigators on a trial based on rigorous criteria including significance of the research question, rigor of study design and ethical conduct of the trial among others.

Project LEAD advocates have worked on protocol and steering committees, data safety monitoring boards, have reviewed and edited educational materials, and have conducted national education and outreach for trials that meet our criteria. Some of the clinical trials that have been part of NBCC's clinical trials project include the pivotal trial on trastuzumab (Herceptin), palbociclib (Ibrance) and talazoparib (MDVN 3800), a PARP inhibitor. Additionally, I serve as a member of the Board of Translational Research in Oncology (TRIO) and work to include advocate involvement on many global clinical trials, including some in Phase I looking at experimental therapies.

Project LEAD Training Program

Paramount to the success of Breast Cancer Deadline 2020, and every effort surrounding the mission to end breast cancer has been the strong leadership and significant involvement of educated advocates. NBCC spent years honing our education and training programs so that there is a network of advocates - women and men around the world - who understand the science, work alongside researchers, and bring their critical perspectives to bear in order to make the right research happen. We do so through NBCC's Project LEAD, science training for lay advocates.

Project LEAD training has benefitted women and men around the world. Graduates lead the metastatic breast cancer movement as well as that of young survivors; they are peer reviewers at the highest levels of research and they are SPORE leaders. Many of the advocates in the Department of Defense Peer Reviewed Breast Cancer Research Program (DODBCRP), launched as a result of NBCC advocacy, are graduates. Advocates have influenced the development of innovative award mechanisms at the DOD BCRP and the research agenda at institutions across the country. Hundreds of advocates work with scientists on clinical trials and research projects.

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These are just some of the ways NBCC works to end breast cancer and save lives. No other organization has done more than NBCC to effectively challenge and transform the status quo and to focus on ending breast cancer. Every day to us is metastatic breast cancer day. We remember always the women and men who worked with us, who we loved, who were family members and friends, and who died of breast cancer. So many of them have been part of our movement and were part of developing our strategy on how to end breast cancer and how to address metastatic disease.
n 1977, two British scientists combined a sperm and egg in a petri dish.

A year later Louise Brown, the world's first "test tube baby" was born.

At the time, the pioneering technique seemed like something out of science fiction, but more than 5 million babies later, in vitro fertilization (IVF) has become commonplace in assisted reproductive technology.

Now, nearly 40 years later a baby boy has been born with DNA from three people. It's a revolutionary step that allows parents with rare genetic mutations to have healthy babies.

This latest breakthrough is one of many advancements in the field of fertility that scientists expect will change the way babies are created.

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Every day researchers around the world are working toward making fertility treatments cheaper, safer, and easier.

Healthline looked at three ways fertility treatments could change in the coming decades.

Babies born without eggs

Scientists in England say their research suggests it may one day be possible to create babies without the need for an egg from a female.

The researchers started with tricking an egg into developing into an embryo without being fertilized. Usually, the pseudo-embryos that form in this instance (called parthenogenotes) die after a few days as they lack key development processes that only happen with input from sperm.

But scientists found they were able to create healthy baby mice by injecting the parthenogenotes with sperm.

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Parthenogenotes have much in common with regular non-egg cells (such as skin cells) in the way they divide their DNA. Researchers have concluded that if healthy babies could be created from injecting sperm into these pseudo-embryos, the same process could create human babies from non-egg cells.

The findings, published in Nature Communications, challenges two centuries worth of understanding of fertilization.

"It had been thought that only an egg cell was capable of reprogramming sperm to allow embryonic development to take place," Tony Perry, Ph.D., molecular embryologist at the University of Bath, and senior author of the study, said in a press release.

"Our work challenges the dogma, held since early embryologists first observed mammalian eggs around 1827 and observed fertilization 50 years later, that only an egg cell fertilized with a sperm cell can result in a live mammalian birth."

The research could change the way babies are created, by eliminating the need for a female participant altogether.

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Removing the need for an egg could theoretically mean that two males could conceive a child, with one donating an ordinary cell (such as a skin cell) and the other donating sperm.

Although Perry told the BBC such scenarios are "speculative and fanciful" at this stage, he says it could be a possibility in the distant future.

Drug-free fertility treatments

Although IVF is a common option for those struggling with infertility, researchers in Australia and Belgium say they have discovered a less expensive and less invasive alternative.

The researchers were able to enhance an already existing fertility treatment called in vitro maturation (IVM) by improving the quality of egg cells using growth factors.

In a standard IVF procedure, women are required to take follicle stimulating hormones to promote egg cell growth before they are removed from the ovary.

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IVM instead retrieves eggs from the ovary while they are in the immature stages. IVF has commonly been the preferred method as pregnancy rates after IVM have been lower.

However, scientists in Australia and Brussels, led by Associate Professor Robert Gilchrist from the University of New South Wales, have improved the IVM process using a growth factor called cumulin. The lab at UNSW is one of only two in the world that make the growth factor.

"The aim of our research has been to restore, as far as possible, the natural processes that occur during egg maturation," said Gilchrist, who is based at UNSW's School of Women's and Children's Health, in a statement.

"We have demonstrated that it is possible to improve egg quality and embryo yield with next to no drugs, using potent growth factors produced by the egg."

The technique is the result of 15 years of research and is currently awaiting U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval.

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Preliminary experiments using the enhanced IVM technique in pigs showed an improvement in the quality of eggs and a doubling of the embryo yield (when compared with the standard IVM method). In a pre-clinical trial on human eggs in Brussels, researchers found a 50 percent increase in embryo yield.

The research is an advancement in fertility treatment because if it is accepted into clinical practice it will remove the need for women to inject high doses of hormones over several weeks.

Scientists hope the enhanced IVM method will help women avoid discomfort and medical complications, and will also provide a cheaper alternative to IVF.

Lab-made sperm

Scientists in Spain say we could be closer to eliminating the need for sperm or egg donors.

Earlier this year scientists created human sperm using skin cells.

The work, carried out in collaboration with the Valencian Infertility Institute and Stanford University could provide a solution for the 15 percent of couples around the world who are unable to conceive and must turn to donated sperm or eggs.

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The researchers injected mature skin cells with a cocktail of genes to create gametes (sperm or eggs). After a month the skin cells had transformed into a germ cell, which could then develop into a sperm or an egg. However, the cells did not have the ability to fertilize.

Dr. Carlos Simon, scientific director of the Valencian Infertility Institute, says being able to create sperm or eggs in a lab setting could give hope to those who have been unable to conceive.

"(The) generation of artificial gametes is a great promise for all those couples that, for many different reasons, currently need to go to gamete donation for fulfilling their wish to have children but would prefer to have genetically related offspring," he told Healthline.

Although the research is likely to take a decade before it could be implemented for human use, Simon says that such research may in the future eliminate the need for sperm or egg donors entirely.

"I am sure that it will happen," Simon said. "Reproduction is more important than we think and regulators must prepare the legal ground for the future ... the scientific revolution will change the way that reproductive medicine is done."

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By Elizabeth Pratt
In Ancient Egypt, beer was made almost entirely by women. In Baltic and Slavic mythology, it was a woman -- the goddess Raugutiene -- who provided heavenly protection over beer. In colonial America, women sustained their families by home brewing "small beer," which they supplemented with cider. That all began to change in the 19th century, when beer brewing left the private domain and became a commercial, large-scale enterprise -- one run almost entirely by men.

Now, the tide is turning once again. As the "good food" movement continues to gather steam, craft beer brewing is returning to its DIY roots. And while it remains a predominantly male industry, women have been part of the craft beer renaissance since its first stirrings in the early 1980s. Our next Rulebreaker, Teri Fahrendorf, has long been at the forefront of women becoming mainstays on the brewery floor.

Teri's first career as a computer programmer was quickly subsumed by a love of creating craft beers. The first woman craft beer brewer to attend the Siebel Institute's Master Brewer Program in Chicago, she became the third woman craft beer brewmaster in the country at Steelhead Brewing in Eugene, Oregon -- and the first hired directly, rather than part of an ownership team. After 19 years at Steelhead, her cross-country travels and brewery visits inspired her to create The Pink Boots Society (named for her signature footwear), an organization that empowers women in the beer industry to advance their careers through education. Pink Boots currently serves over 2,500 members in about 30 countries, and gives away 12 scholarships per year in the United States.

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I sat down with Teri to discuss her journey from curious home brewer to influential mainstay on the craft beer brewing circuit.

Ilaina Edison: How did you cultivate an interest in beer, and how did that evolve into a life's work?

Teri Fahrendorf: I grew up in a German family, so there was always a familiarity and comfort level with beer. Still, by the time I was in college - the minimum drinking age was still 18 at this point - consumers, myself included, only really knew the yellow fizzy stuff.

I took a speech class in college, in which everyone had to give a how-to presentation, and someone did his on wine. I was fascinated, and on the way home went to the store to get a balloon and some Welch's grape juice concentrate. ["Balloon wine", a popular means of making wine at home in the 1980s, requires a glass jug, large latex balloon, yeast, sugar and juice.] I got really into it. It wasn't until after I graduated from college and moved to San Francisco that I switched over to beer. At the same time, I realized I didn't much care for my chosen career, computer programming. I hated sitting in a cubicle all day. So I saved up to do a big vacation and decided to explore this home brewing hobby by attending the annual Great American Beer Festival conference in Denver.

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At this conference, I met people who had attended brewing school - I didn't even know there was such a thing! The Siebel Institute in Chicago was the one everyone knew about. At the time, the big beer companies would send staff members there to advance to the next level of management, but there was only a handful of home, craft beer brewers - I was maybe the fourth or fifth. And I was the first woman craft brewer. Now there are thousands.

IE: What was the landscape of the industry like at the time, when you first got into craft beer brewing formally?

TF: When I entered Siebel, most of the people in my course were from Coors. Everyone asked me what brand I brewed, and I said I didn't brew brands, that I brewed styles. They had no idea what that meant. All anyone knew or made was yellow fizzy beer. I realized I had to educate these people. I called every microbrewery - what "craft" breweries were called at the time - in town and arranged field trips.

When I transitioned to brewing professionally, people had never seen a woman brewer before. At one informational interview, a guy asked, "Do you think girls can make good beer?" There was also a tradition that when you opened a new brewery, you would invite all of the local brewers to come over and taste your beer. I did that, thinking of myself as already being a peer - not realizing they were really there to see whether or not I could make good beer. It was so odd, every one to a man came up afterwards and shook my hand and said: "You're very good." I realized I was being initiated into an old brewer network that I didn't even know existed.

IE: You've said in other interviews that you've never felt alone as a woman in a male-dominated industry. Did you ever encounter any difficulties?

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TF: I did have difficulties, but I didn't dwell on them. When I first got out of Siebel and was looking for a job, some men didn't even want to interview me, so they would ask questions that would preclude having to interview me. They would say, for example: "Can you carry a full keg of beer" - 150 pounds, not counting the keg itself - "up a flight of stairs?" I said that nobody should be doing that, because it is a very high injury hazard. Another asked, "Can you lift this 55-pound sack over your head and dump it into the mill hopper?" I said no, but that I would get cinder blocks and build a set of steps to get up easily.

They asked the question wrong. What you should ask is: "I need to accomplish X - how would you do it?" Women solve problems differently than men, and their physical characteristics - like (in some cases) smaller hands that can make adjustments to equipment in tight spaces - are often an asset. There are spaces men just can't get into, and we tend to finesse our way through obstacles, rather than pushing through with brute force.

IE: How have those experiences shaped your work with the Pink Boots Society, as far as selecting scholarship recipients?

TF: I always tell ladies that there is no gender-based ceiling - there is only an education-based ceiling. For that reason, we support opportunities to get women brewers to that next stage of their career via educational opportunities. Our first scholarship recipient, for example, had already been brewing for years - she had a great deal of talent and experience. But she just couldn't crack becoming a brewmaster, because she had no formal training. She knew that if she could get her hands on that training - in this case a concise course in brewing technology - she could make that break.

IE: What advice would you give women who are trying to break into the industry, or to those perhaps struggling against sexism or bias?

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When I revisited Vietnam in recent years, after reporting from the region during the 1970s, I noted how its rulers had won their wars against France and the United States only to lose out on the economic front, as Communism put them a quarter century behind the roaring "tigers" of East Asia. Now they are struggling to catch up by offering their cheap labor to international investors.

The Vietnam parallel came to mind as I just revisited the countries of the Baltic region--Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia--which gained independence in the self-determination wave following the first World War only to be forcibly incorporated into the Soviet Union in 1940 after Stalin made his deal with Hitler. A year later, Nazi forces marched into Russia and occupied the Baltic states for the next four years. Soviet Russia took them back in 1944.

There is no love lost between their citizens and Putin's Russia. The three small nations joined the European Union as soon as they could qualify, and opted to use the Euro as their currency despite the economic difficulties of the Euro bloc. They have had the benefit of both European Union subsidies and outside investment, much of it from neighboring Scandinavia, to improve their economies after the imposed poverty of Communism.

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The three countries were "Soviet Socialist Republics" for a half century. The Soviets rounded up tens of thousands of potential opponents--teachers, scientists, writers--and deported them to Siberia. Everyone we met, including reporters for American media, had relatives who were sent away. The Soviet secret police, KGB, set up interrogation, imprisonment, and execution chambers which have been preserved for public view.

At the same time, tens of thousands of Russian workers were encouraged to move to the Baltics to work in factories set up by the Soviets.

The main Nazi legacy pointed out to visitors is the extermination of a quarter million Jewish citizens.

The collapse of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s allowed the three Baltic states to regain their independence. There was an amazing demonstration of their citizens' demand to break free from the USSR on August 23, 1989, when more than a million people formed a human chain, linking hands from Vilnius, Lithuania, though Riga, Latvia, to Tallinn, Estonia, a distance of more than 400 miles. It was the sixtieth anniversary of the Nazi-Soviet pact.

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The three countries still have large minorities of Russian-speakers who have never had to learn the local languages and are now being encouraged to do so to qualify for citizenship. Ironically, younger ethnic Russians who are bilingual are in demand by companies because the three countries still have trading relationships with Russia, while young Estonians, Latvians, and Lithuanians prefer to become proficient in English.

The three counties also rushed to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization to insure their security against Russian Ukraine-style aggression. NATO is not establishing bases in the Baltic states, but is rotating military contingents into them and conducting military exercises. The director of an American think tank's Moscow office was recently asked if Putin might really move against the Baltics. He replied that "Putin has respect for NATO--even as some of its members may not."

The fact is that the NATO treaty regards an attack against one member as an attack against all and now applies to Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia.

The three countries have also opened their doors wide to tourism. Their capital cities have been spiffed up so that visitors can enjoy wandering through the pedestrian zones of towns as historic as any in Europe. Riga also has a district of Art Nouveau buildings dating from the early 20th Century that's an unexpected treasure. Tallinn is the most accessible of the capitals, since it's a port of call for Baltic cruises as well as a two-hour ferry ride from Helsinki, Finland. There are now high-quality hotels run by local and international operators, some taken over from Soviet Intourist and refurbished, as well as international-class restaurants.
It is a common cliche that you should explore the world while you're young. Study Abroad, Mission Trips, Peace Corps and many other programs provide young adults this opportunity, and the popularity of these programs shows there is clear interest, yet when applying for university oftentimes students find themselves locked into a US based mind-set. It's time to break that habit and provide the greatest range of options when looking for colleges!

Why not America?

Did you know that of QS's Top 15 best Universities, eight of them lie outside of the United States? (World College Rankings) And of those, six are English-speaking universities. Schools such as Oxford, Cambridge, LSE and many more are just as accessible to American applicants through the Common App. Is the idea of an ocean too far away for you? Some of North America's top universities such as McGill and University of Toronto are in the top 50 and don't require a quick jaunt across the pond. The quality of these universities doesn't dwindle just because they are outside the United States, and the experience might be even greater. Many International Schools such as The University of St. Andrews or London Business School pride themselves as being International Schools first, drawing a large international population.

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Diverse student bodies and staff don't just contribute to an interesting and authentic college experience, the diverse nature of international schools often open many post-college doors and job opportunities. While in American colleges a large portion of students end up heading to New York, Los Angeles or Washington DC for their careers, International Colleges bring a melting pot of networking opportunities, as well as show a job applicants willingness to try new experiences. Don't count Singapore, Hong Kong, London, Berlin and many others out of the equation for your post college job search.

International Schools Want You!

Let's face it; Universities are looking for your money. International Schools are no exception, however American students have a leg up in countries such as The United Kingdom. With citizens paying far less for college, UK Schools embrace international students due to their paying of full tuition. Don't let those words full tuition turn you off, however. At the University of Cambridge, a degree that is comparable to any Ivy League school costs slightly less than attending an out of State, State School. Going to an International School doesn't eliminate your ability to apply for FAFSA either. The William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan Program was created specifically for Americans studying at an international institution and can help cover costs just as FAFSA would for an American College.

Beyond just UK Schools, many countries around the world are seeking American Students. Singapore, home to two of the world's top universities is looking for an injection of youth to their workforce, and Germany recently ditched tuition fees all together for US Students studying in Germany as long as they are willing to learn German and work in a German based company for a year after their degree is finished (Classes are still taught in English).
"There are circles you remember and circles you forget," begins a prose poem in Bryce Milligan's extraordinary new collection, Take to the Highway: Arabesques for Travelers (West End Press), setting out "patterns beneath patterns" in a lyrical tour de force across interior and exterior landscapes.

Interlacing short poems, "winding through the hills / an old and cherished habit," with moving and complex prose poems that lean "as Vergil leans against the mast intoning, 'the only road I could have taken was the road I took,'" Milligan serves as a beguiling witness to a world of timebends and timeless revelations on his own imaginary map, "no one to see you weep with the realization that not even your poetry could protect you from your desire for this freedom."

Author of numerous works of poetry, fiction and theatre, a legendary editor and publisher in Texas, Milligan is a literary master, a linguist and luthier of ancient languages and songs, whose new work places him and his Texas landscape in the front ranks of our nation's most respected literary figures. Take to the Highway: Arabesques for Travelers travels multiple paths with a dazzling, earthy and original ferocity, brilliantly crafted and vast in range.

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Divided into three sections, Take to the Highway covers a lot of ground, both real along the highways in Texas and imagined, personal and accidental, though never unflinching in its observations "across the tangled landscape," where "only the path told how / this land had been loved." Beyond Milligan's Texas range, he travels to Greenland, where "newly calved, the shards of ancient glaciers / ride toward deeper waters, darker waters," in an exploration of "this riot of life."

In "Earth-bound," Milligan sizes up the view, chronicling the environmental and human ruin, forever entangled in the presence of memory:

They're ripping out the rusted rails:

the gravel track-bed snakes away

ribbed with troughs of absent ties

that catch the stormy night's remains

to burn as mirrored rungs at dawn

as if Jacob's ladder had come

asunder with some wild desire

and fallen blessed with angel's fire.



The second section, "prose poems written at speed," riveting in pace, whimsical at times, and "fugue sans fin," scurries across the "perpetual mysteries" of his childhood, the "tiny stage" of adolescence, and the unanswered questions of family, the loss of his mother, the travails of his father, that "last like Persephone's story, as good on one spinning planet as on any other."

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In "A Desert Mountain Love Song," Milligan writes:

You knew the place for what it was the first and only time you saw it--below the tree-line stand of aspen on the summit of Mt. Livermore, where from a den of red-skinned madrones a clear eight-mile sight line across the valley of the Limpia (dry for decades but a chirping little stream in your earliest memories) revealed the gleaming twin domes, now a trio, atop Mt. Locke--a place you knew no one but a lost coyote would ever find you so you put an "x" on a map and took the coordinates so that years later, which is to say yesterday, you could send postcards to your daughter and your son on opposite ends of the country saying simply "Look here when you have to. All my love."



"Some social join, and leagues combine," Scottish bard Robert Burns once wrote. "Some solitary wander."
There's no question that Duane Edward Buck, a black man (yes, it is relevant) committed an horrendous double murder in Texas in 1995 - he shot his former girlfriend's alleged lover, and then shot the girlfriend in front of her children, announcing "The bitch got what she deserved." He was convicted and, under Texas law, the jury - not the judge - decided that he had to be put to death. The jury was directed to take myriad factors into consideration, including whether the defendant posed a future danger, an issue that had to be decided unanimously beyond a reasonable doubt.

With this very simplified backdrop involving an entirely unsympathetic defendant, the U.S. Supreme Court this month faced a thorny procedural issue concerning the burden a defendant bears in order to claim ineffective assistance of counsel. But that's not what this case is really about. When you cut through the morass, the real question is whether the State of Texas (or any state, for that matter) should be able to stand on a procedural nicety when Buck's counsel was so ineffective - so incompetent - that he actually presented expert testimony on Buck's behalf that black men are more dangerous than others.

Let's step back just a little. The Sixth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution states that, in criminal prosecutions, the accused shall "have the assistance of counsel for his defense." And mere "assistance" is not enough; a defendant must have "effective" assistance of counsel. As to Buck, his counsel was appointed by the court; yet the attorney had a history of inadequately and ineffectively representing clients who faced the death penalty. Justice Sonia Sotomayor actually noted during argument that "One newspaper said, 'If you want to ensure a death penalty, hire this lawyer.'"

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So what, in particular, did Buck's lawyer do to render counsel "ineffective"? During the penalty phase of the trial, Buck's relatives and friends testified that Buck was not violent; and an expert testified that Buck had an IQ of 75 and was not likely to be violent in the future. Yet, Buck's lawyer called another expert - Dr. Walter Quijano - who testified, basically, that Buck's race was a "statistical factor" that increased the possibility that he would be a future danger. That, "[i]t's a sad commentary that minorities, Hispanic and black people, are overrepresented in the criminal justice system." The prosecutor followed up with an obvious cross-examination: "The race factor, black, increases the future dangerousness for various complicated reasons - is that correct?" Quijano's reflexive "yes" to that question should surely have been anticipated by Buck's lawyer who had proffered his testimony in the first place. Even more troubling, if you were you a juror, wouldn't you conclude that Quijano's literally "deadly" conclusion was accurate, given that the defense itself was actually its proponent? Can you imagine being a juror and hearing the defendant's own expert - a psychologist, no less - tell you that, statistically, the defendant is likely to pose a future danger?

Without belaboring it, Buck went through the appeals courts in the State of Texas, all of which upheld his death sentence. But Buck's story doesn't end there. To its credit, in another case in which Dr. Quijano testified in a way similar to his testimony in Buck, the State of Texas said "enough." It conceded that the "infusion of race" as a factor for the jury violated that defendant's "constitutional right to be sentenced without regard to the color of his skin.." More to the point, the Texas Attorney General said his office would audit cases in which Dr. Quijano testified and, at least according to Buck, Buck (and others) were to be resentenced. But that never happened, at least with respect to Buck.

After being denied relief in the State courts, Buck sought relief from the death penalty in the federal court. Yes, the actual issue before the Supreme Court is: what is Buck's burden to show that he was denied the constitutional right to effective assistance of counsel? Texas demands an enhanced burden for procedural reasons; Buck claims the standard being used is incorrect.

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We of course recognize that Duane Buck murdered two people; there is nothing sympathetic about him. If he is not put to death, he is going to spend the rest of his life in jail. But death is different - plain and simple. We are talking about a man's life. So put aside your personal belief as to whether a state should have the right to sentence a person to death; and put aside whether you, yourself could sit on a jury deciding death and, indeed, what you would have done had you been on that jury, hearing that expert testimony. How can it be that the State of Texas - which already acknowledged wrongdoing in at least one other case with almost identical testimony - demands that the court ignore the blatant and improper (and ridiculous) injection of race by Buck's own incompetent counsel?

Although we don't know what the Supreme Court will do, we expect that it will rule narrowly and give Buck the right to reopen the merits of his claim and seek an appeal based on counsel's ineffectiveness. But we need to remember that prosecutors are supposed to "do justice." And courts must maintain their integrity - they not only champion the search for truth, they must help preserve the rights of the accused. Indeed, Buck's attorneys have argued that the quality of justice that the courts are dispensing is implicated by his trial counsel's profound ineffectiveness, which should have been addressed immediately, and in real time, by the trial court.
We read about social media slip-ups that impact businesses all the time. An executive inadvertently posts a tweet with confidential information, employees offer-up opinions on controversial subjects and find themselves in hot water, and social media departments inadvertently publish offensive images. Often, the lack of a social media policy is to blame.

On July 4, 2014, American Apparel posted an image on its Tumblr account that someone thought was fireworks but was in reality a stylized image of the space shuttle Challenger explosion from 1986. It was a huge and offensive embarrassment. Aside from a better senses of history, how do you protect your business from social media mishaps? A solid social media policy is a good start, so here are the main elements of a social media policy.

Offline rules apply to online activities. Most companies have an employment agreement or handbook which offers guidance on employee conduct. A social media policy should include a reminder that the guidelines in the employee handbook apply not only to traditional offline activities but online conduct as well.

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Define social media. A social media policy should clearly state what types of communications are included in the guidelines. Companies should expect employees to follow the guidelines in nearly all online public means of communicating.

Reinforce commitment to confidentiality. Companies and their clients have an expectation of confidentiality, and this should be reinforced in social media policies. For example, employees should not discuss financial information, sales trends, business strategies, company forecasts, legal issues or future promotional activities.

Promote disclosure. Disclosure represents a critical yet confusing aspect of a social media policy as guidance may differ from company to company and even from employee to employee. A good rule of thumb is that an employee should be the first to identify their employer - and not wait to be asked during an interaction on social media.

Offer disclaimers. While a disclaimer on a social media profile does not absolve the author from responsibility, it is a good practice to post that opinions expressed on the site are yours and not those of your employer. For example: "The views expressed are mine alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of (employer)."

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Don't make it look official. Employees may be proud that they work for a company or organization, but including a logo on a social media profile suggests that it is an official page.

Respect copyright, privacy, fair use and other laws. All employees should be aware of copyright, privacy and fair use laws, particularly when publishing on behalf of a company.

Don't act as a spokesperson. In some cases, employees may feel the need to respond to statements made online about their employers or the products they sell. Best advice: Don't. A social media policy should direct the employee to an official spokesperson for the company.

Make sure you have permission to post on company pages. Just as a company spokesperson should address comments and concerns on social media sites, only approved employees should be posting information to a company social media page.

Employers reserve right to avoid subjects and may ask you to take stuff down. All companies respect an employee's right to free speech, and few have time to monitor all of the online interactions of their workers. However, some companies may ask that employees steer clear of particular subjects which may be controversial or inflammatory. Employees should be aware that it may be within their employer's rights to ask an employee to take a post down.

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Know when to get help. With social media participation comes mistakes. Without them, I wouldn't be an author. A social media policy should give clear guidance on what an employee should do if they make a mistake.

Use common sense and good judgment. The easiest way to stay out of trouble online is to exercise common sense and good judgment. Employees need to understand that they are responsible for their actions, and anything they post has the potential to tarnish the image of their employer. Workers need to think before they post and think about the reactions others may have - before information is posted. Have respect for the audience on social media and avoid negative personal comments or inflammatory subjects.

A social media policy can help prevent a costly online slip-up, so I recommend every company create one and regularly reiterate the messages to employees. More information and a sample social media policy are available in my book How to Protect (Or Destroy) Your Reputation Online.
A Trump-Pence administration would be a disaster for women and girls everywhere: not just here in the United States but throughout the developing world as well.

The late Senator Jesse Helms compiled an infamous record. He's now long gone, but a Republican administration will keep his harmful legacy alive. For more than four decades, the Helms Amendment has been used to prevent U.S. funding for abortion services abroad even in the case of rape, incest or threat to the life of the woman. While access to safe abortion is a human right and no woman or girl should be deprived of it, this is especially important right now as rape is used as a weapon of war against thousands of women by ISIS, Boko Haram and other extremist groups.

Secretary Hillary Clinton has pledged to fix the flawed enforcement of the law and allow for funding of safe abortion care for women and girls who've been raped, who are victims of incest or whose lives are threatened by pregnancy. And the Democratic platform explicitly calls for the repeal of the odious Helms Amendment. This will help save thousands of lives that are lost to unsafe abortions every year around the world.

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 2014 Karolina Lagiewka, Courtesy of Photoshare

On the other hand the Republican platform is the most reactionary ever when it comes to women's rights. It calls for a virtual ban on abortion including in the case of rape, incest, and health-threatening situations. And it bans funding for Planned Parenthood and all other health facilities that provide abortion services.

Want to know how a Republican administration will impact women's access to abortion? Just look at Mike Pence's retrograde record in Indiana. While Trump is quick to talk about punishing women for abortion, Pence has already punished them in his state. He has spearheaded the fight against Planned Parenthood and closed clinics. He even signed a law requiring women to hold funerals for fetuses after miscarriage or abortion.

When it comes to women's right to access abortion and other reproductive services abroad, there is no debate who will be a better option. As President, Hillary Clinton will continue to empower women and girls as she has for her entire career. Trump and Pence will spell disaster.

Contraceptive access matters more than ever. The United States is the biggest family planning funder - in total dollars - in the world. Our support is crucial for organizations like the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) to do the valuable work of providing women with access to modern and effective contraception, sex education and life-saving medical examinations. UNFPA works in more than 150 countries to decrease unplanned pregnancies, eliminate forced early marriage, end harmful practices like Female Genital Mutilation, prevent and treat obstetric fistula, and respond to the needs of women in crisis situations like refugee camps in Jordan and the Zika outbreak in Latin America. But the organization is facing a funding shortfall for contraceptive supplies that threatens to create a public health crisis for many countries that depend on us for support.

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How is this related to our elections, you say?

Secretary Hillary Clinton has been a consistent supporter of contraceptive access and women's empowerment around the world. As First Lady, she spoke at the International Conference on Women in China and provided its most memorable moment when she said that "Women's rights are human rights and human rights are women's rights." In the Senate, she helped lead efforts to expand access to contraception at home and abroad. As Secretary of State, she continued to call for improving the full range of reproductive health care throughout the world.

Donald Trump and Mike Pence however, have made it clear that their only interest in reproductive rights is undermining them. Trump has called for reducing contributions to overseas development and Pence has built his career on opposing family planning programs wherever he sees them. As a member of Congress, he was the instigator of the ongoing effort to close down Planned Parenthood clinics and supported legislation to gut family planning aid for low-income women in the United States and around the world.

As Governor of Indiana, he has promoted laws to punish and humiliate women seeking abortion, and almost single-handedly created an HIV outbreak in his state when he redirected prevention funding.

"Condoms are very very poor protection against sexually transmitted disease," Pence has said.
As we step away from Yom Kippur, it is a moment when the American Jewish community accepts responsibility for our sins of the past year and prepares to start anew. This year, we must atone also for the crimes in Syria--and that atonement must involve taking deliberate action to stop the slaughter of innocents there.



All of us have seen the soul-crushing images of ordinary civilians, including countless children, maimed by the war or once historic neighborhoods and religious sites reduced to absolute rubble. Such images haunt all people. However, I believe the Jewish community has a special responsibility to speak out and to be heard, having learned the price of the world's silence.

The phrase "Never Again," -- ensuring that the catastrophe of the Holocaust is not repeated -- means not only a commitment to fight anti-Semitism, but ensuring that no group or people ever be subjected to such brutality. Alas, in the years since the Shoah, the international community has not done well in preventing genocide and mass murder. Cambodia. Sarajevo. Rwanda. The Congo. Darfur. These names rightfully invoke outrage and shame because we stood idly by as innocents were slaughtered en masse.



And now we have the Syrian crisis.

The litany of horrors associated with this conflict should be familiar to all. More than half a million people butchered senselessly, including hundreds of thousands of civilians targeted by their own government. The worst humanitarian catastrophe of our time and the largest refugee crisis since World War II. The traumatic impact of waves of people on neighboring countries -- first and foremost Syria's neighbors in Jordan and Lebanon. The destabilizing impact on the European Union where the wounded have sought refuge. Some consider Brexit a by-product of the conflict. Terror attacks in Western Europe perpetrated by hardened Jihadists returning home from the conflict. The rise of populist and often xenophobic politics across the continent and even here in the United States in part prompted by concern about an influx of refugees.



It has not been a proud moment for the United States. With all the legitimate questions about the complexity of the conflict, uncertainty of the potential outcome of military action, and the sobering lesson of America's experience in Iraq, this crisis has deteriorated over a five-year period to reach this devastating nadir. Despite the urgings to intervene - by many who warned early on of the very escalation we see today - America has stayed largely on the sidelines.



When the genocide in Rwanda took place 20 years ago, then too America did not act. In retrospect, President Bill Clinton described that decision as the biggest mistake of his presidency. Perhaps in time we will hear similar reflections from our current leadership.



Yet, as bad as the situation is today from a humanitarian perspective, it could get even worse. All of us should grieve at the images of the historic city of Aleppo crumbling under the constant barbaric siege by Assad and his Russian and Iranian allies. It is still not too late to act.



Some long have called for a no-fly zone that the U.S. and its allies could create within Syria. This would provide some measure of safe haven to those subject to the crushing attacks leveled by Assad and his ally Russia. A no-fly zone would show the downtrodden that the world actually cares about their wellbeing. That there is a safe place to go. This should immediately be put on the table, along with other options that might begin to turn the tide by raising the costs to Assad and his allies of their current approach. There is no time to lose.



Yet the moral crisis in Syria is not limited to the humanitarian arena -- and yet it also cannot be reduced merely to containing ISIS. Western inaction has created a vacuum that has been filled by malevolent actors. We know how Shia sectarianism and the failure of the Iraqi government to include its Sunni minority has led to the rise of ISIS. But the ravages in Syria are not just fueled by Sunni extremism.

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Iran has played a major role in sustaining the Assad regime. The Islamic Republic has fueled sectarian conflict across the region for decades, but the degree of their involvement in Syria has no precedent. They initially boosted Assad when there was a moment early on where he could have stepped down. Over the past five years, Tehran has pumped money and manpower into the conflict. They have directed their proxies in Hezbollah to take up arms in the civil war. Not only did the JCPOA fail to moderate the regime in any way, Rouhani and the IRGC appear to have doubled down on their violent expansion agenda. They have made sustaining the Assad regime their paramount goal.



Russia also has played a dangerous game in Syria, bombing moderate forces and indiscriminately targeting civilian infrastructure. Despite all the problems that Russia faces at home, Vladimir Putin appears self-confident abroad after his excursions in Crimea and the Ukraine. Allowing him to continue to act with impunity could feed his appetite to interfere in other global locales. While US Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power appropriately called on Russia to "stop the slaughter," it is clear that Mr. Putin will continue to pursue his expansionism and aggressive path so long as he does not feel the cost of his doing so.



We need to consider how we deal with these two parties whose interests are so misaligned from our own. Few still believe that either can play a constructive role in the resolution of the civil war. Policymakers should consider how we could apply further pressure on Tehran and Moscow, not only to provide immediate relief to the ailing Syrian people, but to contribute toward future stability in the region. An unhindered Russia and a triumphant Iran will surely spread further violence not only in Syria, but across the region and around the world.

The U.S. has stepped up its leadership to beat back ISIS through limited direct action and via the engagement of allies on the ground. It is vital that ISIS be dealt a defeat--which is essential in denying its apocalyptic appeal. Unfortunately ISIS-directed and -inspired terror is likely to continue for some time as foreign fighters, now war-hardened veterans of the Syrian war, return to Europe and other parts of the region.



But even as we identify and defeat these threats, we should not pretend that there are easy solutions in Syria. It is has been a conundrum from the outset. However, the complexity of the conflict cannot be an excuse for continued inaction. Sadly we have seen the cost of this approach. It stands as a sad reminder that there is simply no substitute for American leadership on the world stage. Our allies need America to set the agenda in order to activate their own capabilities.



On Yom Kippur we stand together as individuals and as a community to atone for our collective wrongdoings. This year, let us atone for Syria by taking action to protect the innocent and, ultimately, to save our own souls in the process.

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The Donald Trump "sex tape" that has sent Republicans scurrying like rats from a sinking barge--just weeks before the presidential election--is spectacle enough. Now add to this cavalcade of confusion the volte-face of a handful of prominent evangelical voices who, up until this moment, declared Trump "a morally good choice." Such reversals do not signal remorse and enlightenment, however, but rather desperation and denial.

Everyone who has endorsed Trump, politician or preacher, has been diminished by the association. Yet chief among these tragic figures is Wayne Grudem, professor of theology and biblical studies at Phoenix University and author of Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine, a required text in many evangelical colleges and seminaries. In late July, Grudem published a 5,000-word defense of Trump that kicked up a firestorm. No other evangelical thinker attempted such an ambitious project--the reconstruction of Donald Trump into a credible presidential candidate--couched in the language of moral theology and prudential politics.

In reality, Grudem's polemic was shot through with half-truths, facile assumptions, tortured logic, and emotional manipulation. His eleventh-hour abandonment of Trump suggests something of the anguished state of militant evangelicalism.

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Offering not a scintilla of evidence, Grudem at first concluded that "Trump's character is far better than what is portrayed by much current political mudslinging, and far better than his opponent's character." Declaring the need to make "an ethical decision" in this election, Grudem wrote, "we should base the decision on the most likely results. In this case, the most likely result is that Trump will do most or all of what he has said." Put aside the inconvenient fact that Trump's political views are amorphous and malleable, that he shows no capacity to work with the legislative branch of government, and that much of his agenda represents an assault on the constitution and the international norms upholding human rights.

Grudem ended his essay with a moral taunt about as damning as any Puritan jeremiad ever delivered:

But the most likely result of not voting for Trump is that you will be abandoning thousands of unborn babies who will be put to death under Hillary Clinton's Supreme Court, thousands of Christians who will be excluded from their lifelong occupations... thousands of sick and elderly who will never get adequate medical treatment when the government is the nation's only healthcare provider, thousands of people who will be killed by an unchecked ISIS, and millions of Jews in Israel who will find themselves alone and surrounded by hostile enemies. And you will be contributing to a permanent loss of the American system of government due to a final victory of unaccountable judicial tyranny.

Yes, gentle Christian voter, this apocalyptic cascade of events--the abandonment of entire classes of people to perdition and the permanent loss of American democracy--must be placed on your shoulders for failing to endorse Donald Trump for president. This is what passes as serious ethical reflection in evangelical circles.

But of course that was Wayne Grudem's position in late July. The Trump video, in which the candidate boats of sexually assaulting women, apparently transformed Grudem's political theology overnight. His pious defense of the Republican nominee morphed into a slippery, Trump-like non-apology for having done so. "I previously called Donald Trump a 'good candidate with flaws' and a 'flawed candidate,'" he wrote in Townhall.com, "but I now regret that I did not more strongly condemn his moral character."

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The deepest problem for Grudem, and others like him, is that his original manipulation of Trump's record was a deliberate evasion of the truth. Even now, Grudem cannot speak frankly, in total candor, about his previous endorsement. "I did not take the time to investigate earlier allegations in detail, and I now wish I had done so," he says. "If I had read or heard some of these materials earlier, I would not have written as positively as I did about Donald Trump."

The evasion of truth persists: Grudem expended 5,000 words to reimagine Donald Trump according to his liking, but "did not take the time to investigate" Trump's public record and character? Like everyone else following Trump's ascendancy, he knew all about the lies and misstatements, the infidelities, the misogyny, the mockery of the disabled, the race-baiting rhetoric, the attacks on a grieving gold-star family, and on and on. Grudem did not merely write "positively" about Trump; he wrote dogmatically, with moral certitude. "I feel the force of the words of James," he intoned. "Whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin." And for all this sanctimony he offers no apology--not to his students, for whose moral formation he is partially responsible, nor to the larger Christian community he hoped to influence.

In the war of words during this disgraceful campaign, on both sides of the political aisle, truth has been the most conspicuous casualty. But how do we explain the failure to uphold basic norms about truth-telling among Bible-believing Christians?

History offers some clues. There is a belligerent strain in Protestant Christianity, embodied in the Calvinist tradition to which Grudem belongs, which has been willing to sacrifice moral and biblical truth in the pursuit of noble ends. John Calvin, supremely confident he had recovered a neglected view of predestination, sought to build a community of "the elect" in Geneva--and adopted a theology justifying the banishment, vilification, and execution of dissenters in order to achieve it. His doctrine was a violent rejection of the life and teachings of Christ. The English Puritans, overwhelmingly Calvinist, viewed the kingship of Charles I as the great obstacle to their hopes for a godly commonwealth. They wanted to blow up the old order. They instigated a civil war, orchestrated the king's execution, and turned to a "man on horseback" to inaugurate a new regime: Oliver Cromwell. Like the Puritan project in Salem, Massachusetts, the experiment did not end well.

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It is perhaps no accident that Grudem is considered a leading light among the "new Calvinists," a small but vocal group of hard-line thinkers and preachers who hold an uncompromising view of the Calvinist doctrines of election and predestination. Like the old Calvinism, the new Calvinism teaches its adherents that they are a righteous remnant battling a godless and hostile political culture. This is not the place to debate Protestant theology, but the tribalism and dogmatism of historic Calvinism may have found a political outlet. As one theologian and critic put it recently: "I think Calvinism is the Donald Trump of theology."

That's a harsh verdict. Many believers outside the Calvinist or Reformed tradition, after all, have endorsed Trump, and some prominent Calvinists have denounced him as unfit for the presidency. Nevertheless, the rise of Trump represents an illness in the body politic--a politics of self-righteous rage that has an analog in militant Christianity. It is time, inside the church, for a ruthless moral inventory. As the Scripture warns: "Judgment begins in the house of God."
With America's headline-grabbing election barreling down on us like a freight train, the world is wondering what the next U.S. president will do to stave off climate chaos.

But as global warming accelerates, every week is a precious opportunity for action. Record-breaking heat and climate-fueled storms like Hurricane Matthew demonstrate delay's deadly cost.

President Barack Obama, fortunately, still has time to take critical new steps and secure his climate legacy. In the president's last 100 days in office, here are five ways he can curb carbon pollution, leave dirty fossil fuels in the ground, and show U.S. leadership in the global fight for climate justice.

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1.Put America's public lands off limits to new drilling and fracking



To preserve a livable planet, we must keep most fossil fuels in the ground.

That's why President Obama should halt all new federal fossil-fuel leasing on America's public lands and in our oceans. That could keep 450 billion tons of climate pollution in the ground. And the president can stop the senseless sale of these publicly owned resources now -- under existing U.S. law -- without action by Congress.

The Obama administration has already implemented a moratorium on new coal leases. President Obama should turn that coal moratorium into a permanent ban -- and extend it to oil and gas.

2. Reinstate America's crude oil export ban



President Obama should immediately halt the export of crude oil under legal authority granted to him by the 2016 Appropriations Act and the National Emergencies Act.

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The 40-year-old U.S. ban on crude oil exports was repealed last December. But earlier this year, 350 environmental organizations and other groups filed a legal petition urging the president to declare a national climate emergency and end all U.S. crude exports.

That crucial step would reduce drilling and fracking and could prevent up to 500 million tons of greenhouse emissions -- the pollution equivalent of more than 135 coal-fired power plants, according to a Center for American Progress report.

3. Curb the airline industry's skyrocketing pollution



In July -- after nine years of delay -- the EPA officially acknowledged in an "endangerment finding" that planet-warming pollution from airplanes disrupts the climate. But the agency failed to advance rules to actually reduce aircraft emissions.

That's disturbing given how quickly global aviation emissions are increasing. Airplanes could generate 43 billion tons of planet-warming pollution through 2050, consuming more than 4 percent of the world's entire remaining carbon budget, according to a recent analysis by my organization.

That's why we need ambitious action under the Clean Air Act. The Obama administration still has time to get the ball rolling on strong federal rules that actually reduce this high-flying threat to our climate.

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4. Fight false solutions like burning trees for energy



There's nothing clean about cutting down U.S. forests and burning them for energy. So-called "biomass" power plants actually emit about 50 percent more carbon dioxide at the smokestack than coal.

And while logged forests might grow back eventually, re-sequestering some of the carbon, this takes decades to centuries while biomass plants produce emissions that damage the climate today.

Yet there's a disturbing effort in the U.S. Senate to ignore that stark truth. The "biomass carbon neutrality" amendment to the Senate energy bill would dictate that all government agencies automatically consider the use of biomass to be "carbon neutral."

The president can use his power and influence to shut down this anti-science, anti-climate measure.

5. Back stronger international climate action



President Obama hailed recent news that enough countries have ratified the Paris climate agreement for the treaty to enter into force. But there's much more work to do at the international level -- and the president still has time to make a difference at November's United Nation's climate meeting in Morocco.

The Paris agreement alone simply does not provide the strong, just and binding commitments we need to protect the planet's most climate-vulnerable people and our very web of life from climate chaos. Based on our emissions history, the U.S. pollution-cutting pledge was only about 20 percent of what was required based on fairness and science.

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When the president's negotiators go to Morocco, they must commit to a worldwide transition to renewable energy and an end to fossil fuel production and use no later than 2050.

And they should make good on our country's promise to contribute money and technical resources for developing countries that are already dealing with massive loss and damage from climate disruption.
Michelle Obama explained from her heart with exceptional eloquence that there is no excuse for the behavior of a presidential candidate who demeans and harasses women.

I'm somewhat older than Michelle, and my sickened feeling has turned to anger. I'm hopeful that next week, she will find that space. Because that is what Donald Trump deserves. As she explained, character is at the heart of this election. If you dismiss vulgar behavior because issues of taxation or immigration are more important than a candidate's despicable views of women, minorities and those with disabilities, you have not studied values. We all have core values, among them what Michelle Obama referred to as decency, which guide our behaviors. Core or "terminal" values inform instrumental ones that guide our daily choices in a variety of arenas.

It's time to be angry. There are few women who have been spared demeaning behavior due to their gender. It makes you sick. But after that pit-in-the-stomach feeling passes and once you are mature enough to realize that letting it pass only encourages it, the anger emerges.

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That's what women -- and men who are equally offended -- need to take to the polls. We should take our core values. We should take our decency. We should take our anger. Because we cannot allow future generations to watch us sit this one out and hand our country over to a vulgar man who, no matter what you like about his platform, will demean us all.
Quashing the so-called Islamic State's social media presence is like fighting the mythical hydra: you can flag one account for removal, but several others pop up in its place.

Twitter, the favored public platform of extremist groups, shut down 125,000 ISIS-affiliated accounts earlier this year, but there are still thousands more, and new ones every week. Because of free speech concerns, it's hard for Twitter to just "wipe out" ISIS's presence online. Besides, it's hard to flag ISIS content with an algorithm or other automatic method: there's no single hashtag or phrase linked to the terror group. There's a large gray area of problematic content that Twitter can't decisively scrub.

One group that's risen to address this tenuous challenge is CtrlSec, an anonymous Twitter collective with a simple goal: to flag for removal as many ISIS-affiliated accounts as possible. Call it death by a thousand reports. From its main handle, @CtrlSec, it tweets out batches of flagged accounts several dozen times a day. As of June 2016, it claims to have flagged nearly 147,000 accounts, 133,361 of which were suspended.

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Speaking via an encrypted messaging app, CtrlSec's founder, who identified himself only as a European male under the alias "Mikro," told me about the movement. (The Atlantic contributor Simon Cottee has also met with the "real" Mikro, "somewhere in Europe.")

Mikro is a member of Anonymous, the international hacktivist collective that declared "cyber war" on ISIS in August 2014. Mikro started CtrlSec, named after a secret WWII British intelligence unit, as an Anonymous offshoot in February 2015. He's an unemployed web designer who spends "15-19 hours a day" running CtrlSec and overseeing a group of about 25 other volunteer activists who flag accounts day and night.

"I saw ISIS as a growing threat to today's society and decided I had to at least try and do something about it," said Mikro. Most of his team members work less demanding hours than he does, but some of them have become similarly absorbed and quit their day jobs, he said. "But I always tell my team to prioritize their real life before this work."

CtrlSec runs a group of four linked Twitter accounts: @Ctrlsec, @Ctrlsec0, @Ctrlsec1 and @Ctrlsec2 that send out scheduled tweets several times an hour. Once a bot tweets a batch of targeted ISIS accounts, the account's followers work to Report the account to Twitter en masse, which usually gets the account taken down.

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Mikro and his fellow volunteers find accounts through existing ISIS-affiliated profiles (whom they follow and are followed by) and straightforward hashtags like #IslamicState and  # ("#retweet"). CtrlSec volunteers, whom he calls "hunters," don't have any special shortcuts for finding ISIS accounts beyond months of practice and a general proficiency in many languages. Mikro says he's fluent in six, and the collective includes several native Arabic speakers.

According to Mikro, Twitter is not interested in formally collaborating with the group. He was critical of Twitter's efforts to scrub extremist content.

"Twitter is working only for profit, they don't care about their platform being used to plan and perform attacks," said Mikro.

A Twitter spokesperson told me that "we condemn the use of Twitter to promote terrorism and the Twitter Rules make it clear that this type of behavior, or any violent threat, is not permitted on our service." But, they added, Twitter does not consult third-party lists like those compiled by CtrlSec, which the spokesperson described as "wildly inaccurate."

As a counterpoint, one counter-terrorism expert who has worked closely with the U.S. government had high praise for CtrlSec.

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"They have done extraordinarily great work," Michael S. Smith, founder of the security consultancy Kronos Advisory, told me. "At a time when the government was more focused on monitoring ISIS online than disrupting their work, CtrlSec's voluntary effort to disrupt their presence was invaluable."

Even retired CIA General Petraeus praised the open-source data generated by groups like CtrlSec in a comment to Foreign Policy in 2015. The New York Times ISIS correspondent Rukmini Callimachi has also praised CtrlSec on Twitter.

Beyond reporting accounts, Smith also praised the data that CtrlSec maintains on flagged accounts. "Their most important work is infiltrating Islamic State networks on social media -- building trust among Islamic State members and supporters sufficient to gather information about the Islamic State's activities and plans offline," he said.

Smith said from mid-2015 to April 2016, CtrlSec would feed him national security tips that he would convey to relevant agencies "about 90 percent of the time."

Counter-extremism measures like CtrlSec's seem to be paying off: ISIS's Twitter presence has sharply diminished in 2016. Mikro attributes this both to his group's flagging and the migration of ISIS members to less public platforms, like WhatsApp and Telegram. CtrlSec has eyes on those platforms too, particularly Telegram, but Mikro said Twitter remains their flagship battleground because it is such a public medium.

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He complains that state governments don't give citizen activist groups enough credit in the counterterrorism wars.

"The U.S. administration is taking all the credit [for reducing extremist content online] while I sit here with my team working 19 hours a day for free," he grumbled.

The work is not without its mental toll, even though all its members are anonymous.
Forty-one years ago, the Helsinki Final Act recognized the universal significance of human rights and fundamental freedoms and committed every signatory nation to promote universal and effective respect for them.

In a speech to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europes Human Dimension Meeting, U.S. Assistant Secretary for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor Tom Malinowski noted that every threat to the security of Europe. . .has resulted from the actions of states that deny human rights to their own people.

Throughout the course of the Human Dimension meeting, as Assistant Secretary Malinowski highlighted in his remarks, one truth kept coming up  the necessity of promoting tolerance and ensuring a strong and active civil society to address contemporary challenges, such as that presented by violent extremism. In the context of the OSCEs comprehensive approach to security, the human dimension has a direct and measurable impact on the security and economic dimensions. The human dimension remains critical to our collective ability to address the stark security threats we now face.

As Assistant Secretary Malinowski noted in his remarks, those governments that persecute as so-called foreign agents civil society groups that are so essential to maintaining checks and balances in any democracy are clearly violating the principles of the Helsinki Final Act. They are hurting and disrespecting their people, for instance, as Russia, Azerbaijan and several countries in Central Asia have done in cracking down on citizens groups, including those dedicated to fighting torture, educating about HIV/AIDS, and even protecting migratory birds.

Despite mounting pressure in many participating States against civil society and independent media, civil society representatives spoke movingly at this years Human Dimension meeting about the true human rights situations in a number of participating States, including Russia, Azerbaijan, and several Central Asian states.

The United States will continue to uphold and to champion the democratic ideals embodied in the Helsinki Final Act. We will continue to defend the OSCE, said Assistant Secretary Malinowski, and resist every effort to weaken its institutions and our common commitments.


Liz Graham/Wayfair

Liz Graham oversees customer service and sales for all of Wayfair's US and European brands. Prior to joining Wayfair, Liz served as Vice President of IT Operations at HubSpot (HUBS), the world's leading inbound marketing and sales platform, where she created a cloud-based data warehouse to facilitate access to diverse data sets. Liz also served as the Vice President of Operations with HubSpot, where she increased employee satisfaction and cultivated the unique company culture. Before HubSpot, Liz held several senior level operations roles at Comcast Corporation, Northeast Division, including Vice President of Technical Operations and Vice President of Network Operations Centers. Liz earned an A.B. from Harvard College, an M.St from Oxford University and a J.D. from Harvard Law School. She lives outside of Boston with her husband and daughter.

How has your life experience made you the leader you are today?

My parents have always encouraged curiosity, and set a high bar for academic achievement for my sister and me. My mom and dad both ran their own businesses, and introduced us early on to the responsibilities that come with managing and growing an organization. They always emphasized how important it is to have the right team to support you, which has stuck with me throughout my career. Every year, I challenge myself to try something new.

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How has your previous employment experience aided your tenure at Wayfair?

My career has taken many pivots - from corporate lawyer to a wide variety of roles in operations including product, network operations, technical operations, and business intelligence. The fact that I didn't have a classic "call center" background was a plus at Wayfair, because I bring different perspectives to how we solve customer issues. I love to iterate and experiment, and at Wayfair, I am surrounded by colleagues who share a similar mindset.

What have the highlights and challenges been during your tenure at Wayfair?

Growing our team by more than 60% over the past year - without compromising the customer experience - has been incredibly rewarding. We opened two new locations in the U.S. and expanded our operation in Galway, Ireland, and will be bringing over 1,000 new jobs to these locations. The challenge is keeping a high standard for the customer experience as we go through such rapid growth. We have an incredible amount of internal mobility and autonomy for our Sales & Service Consultants, which means that employees often move into new roles very quickly. We keep a close eye on areas like first contact resolution and customer NPS to make sure that the influx of less-tenured employees doesn't alter our high standards.

What advice can you offer to women who want a career in your industry?

Deepen your understanding of the data that drives your business - ecommerce is both data and technology driven. Become comfortable diving into the root cause of a problem through data analysis, or use it to spot an emerging opportunity. Be willing to experiment and fail - learn and move on. This is a fast-paced industry and first movers gain a definite advantage.

What is the most important lesson you've learned in your career to date?

Be fearless about jumping into unfamiliar roles where you might not be an expert. I have built my career on moving into new areas of the business where I can blend my leadership expertise with a fresh perspective to tackle the challenges of the role. I've always been comfortable with a steep learning curve - and with not being the expert. Knowing what questions to ask is a great way to dive in headfirst.

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How do you maintain a work/life balance?

I focus my time and energy on the areas of my life where it's most needed at any given time. There might be a demanding project at work that requires long nights for several weeks. Or I might escape for an extended weekend to travel with my family. My husband and I have both adjusted our careers to raise our daughter. We have a strong partnership, which has been critical as I've continued to juggle different responsibilities. I also find time for exercise and meditation nearly every day. Even if it's only 15 minutes, it's a lifesaver in terms of helping me stay focused and recharged.

What do you think is the biggest issue for women in the workplace?

One issue is certainly the lack of diversity in the c-suite and boards of most companies. Developing more senior female leadership is critical for a business's success. The tremendous bottom-line results of having women leaders was shown in Quantopian's research, where women-led businesses in the Fortune 1000 outperformed the S&P 500 by 226% over a 12-year period.

How has mentorship made a difference in your professional and personal life?

Throughout my career, I have had mentors who have offered their insights and pushed my thinking on my own development areas, and where I could grow my career. Getting unvarnished feedback, especially as you progress in your career, is incredibly helpful. Don't dismiss negative feedback - if you only surround yourself with people who tell you what you want to hear, your development will stall. I mentor several women and men and being a mentor is an enriching experience - I am constantly learning from my mentees.

Which other female leaders do you admire and why?

I admire women who have moved into public service and are influencing our national debate and policy-making. Two women who were attorneys with me at Davis Polk - Kirsten Gillibrand and Terri Sewell - are now serving in Congress. I recently heard Janet Yellen speak at Harvard and she is both a brilliant and an inspiring leader who has spent most of her career helping to shape national economic policy.
As the founder of an office yoga company my mission is to help people feel better in their bodies during a work day. Most offices don't have the luxury of space for a traditional yoga class, so I've spent the last three years developing a system of yoga that requires no mat, no changing of clothes, and no sweating, that can be done anywhere. My new mission is to help people feel better in their bodies through yoga, one minute at a time.

Let's talk about new beginnings. Often, we can feel stuck in the life we've found ourselves in. It can be intimidating to leave our status quo and make a change that we need in order to be happy. Try this easy yoga sequence you can do right now in your chair, and give yourself a little boost towards going confidently in the direction of your goals!

The instructions are simple: Interlace your fingers, inside out the hands and push the palms forward as you round your spine. As you inhale, reach the arms up and lean back slightly. Repeat the action twice. Then, grab opposite hands with elbows out to the side. Pull the hands away from one another, as though pulling away an obstacle in your life.

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Republican U.S. presidential nominee Donald Trump speaks during the presidential town hall debate with Democratic U.S. presidential nominee Hillary Clinton at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, U.S., October 9, 2016. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY

It's clear both from the earlier "Commander-In-Chief Forum" and from the two presidential debates to date that Donald J. Trump needs much better senses of the past and the future in international affairs, which are insights Hillary Clinton has in abundance as a highly accomplished former First Lady, Senator and Secretary of State.

From listening both to Mr. Trump's foreign relations speeches and comments over the last sixteen months and to certain of his international affairs rants on Sunday evening, let's start with what he keeps missing about the past.

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For the 44 years following the end of the Second World War until the 1989 fall of the Berlin Wall, the national question for most every country, large and small, was pretty simple: "Whose side are you on, the East's or the West's?"

After the fall of the Wall and the subsequent 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union, however, "identity politics" emerged, just not the sort of identity politics which Francis Fukuyama alerted us to in 1992 in The End of History and the Last Man or which Samuel P. Huntington suggested in 1993 in Clash of Civilizations which contemplated a future where "wars would be fought not between countries, but between cultures."

Fukuyama believed the collapse of Communism and a consequent advent of Western liberal democracy would "signal the endpoint of humanity's sociocultural evolution and the final form of human government...and the universalization of Western liberal democracy as the final form of human government."

But in fact the national question has in many instances become, "Who are you?"

This national question, which is completely lost on Donald Trump, is certainly more in keeping with Fukuyama's subsequent book Trust: Social Virtues and Creation of Prosperity (1995) which acknowledged that "culture cannot be cleanly separated from economics." However, as we've been recently observing, it's now a country's faith base, its form of government or its sectarianism that has become the prominent aspect of its national identity.

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This national characterization is consistent with Huntington's much later conclusion, not long before his death in 2008, that "Islamic extremism would become the biggest threat to Western world domination."

While I loudly reject both Huntington's seeming call for "Western world domination" and his persistent use of the phrase "Islamic extremism" to indict, as he was wont to do, an entire major faith community, his anticipation of an era of "extremism" was prescient.

As for the future -- a sense of which Mr. Trump also seems to be missing -- it's now indisputable that in just 25 years or so, we find in many parts of the globe a new era of consciousness wherein a citizen's loyalty to his government passes through the portals of his religion and his ethnicity.

And of course these matters of identity and self-consciousness very readily translate into adopted national policies and actions, whether they are internal civil conflicts on one end or major military interventions abroad on the other.

The implications of all of this to foreign relations are profound, especially to America's foreign relations but as well as to the foreign relations of every other major power. At the same time, many countries around the globe now reflect the flip-side of this changed viewpoint, including virtually all of the Muslim countries, most of the budding democracies, and even Russia, India and China.

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In the Middle East alone -- despite the once promising Arab Spring -- there is now pervasive tension throughout the region between and among the pan-Muslimism of the Muslim Brotherhood, the contradictory pan-Sunnism of Saudi Arabia with its denigration of Jews and Christians as well as of Muslims of Shiite, Sufi and other traditions, the aggressive pan-Shi'ism of Iran, and the destructive pan-Islam of ISIS with its goal of a new massive treacherous caliphate.

And in its own way similar is the rising pan-Zionism of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with his now seeming 'one-state' vision for Israel.

With the "War on Terror" now more correctly being called the "War on Extremism," the relevant question becomes, "Can democracies, but especially budding new democracies, prosper in an era of extremism?"

Of course some of them will, but for others it's going to be very tough. And the most telling affirmation of this conclusion is how quickly, again, the Middle East has become 'ground zero' for addressing the future of democratic states when confronted with extremes of faith and sectarianism.

In contemplating "foreign relations" by the major powers in this new era of consciousness, President Obama early in his administration said that the cardinal rule should be, "Don't do anything stupid." As attributed to Colin Powell during the Iraq-Kuwait War, the better expressed rule for today might be, "Don't break the china", since our world is now a maelstrom begging for ill-conceived interventions which could result in devastating unintended consequences.

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And this maelstrom with its profoundly altered sense of national identity politics will challenge the next President of the United States like no predecessor before. In my strongest possible opinion only Secretary Hillary Clinton has the experience, the senses of history and the future, and the temperament to lead our nation in the next Presidential term.
Xiuhtezcatl Martinez is a 16-year-old, indigenous hip-hop artist hailing from Boulder, Colorado. He also happens to be one of the most vocal climate change activists out there today. Martinez is the youth director of the Earth Guardians, "a tribe of young activists," looking to change the world now for the sake of the future generations who will inherit the planet.

Martinez has been prolific in his efforts to combat climate change. He's a member of Obama's youth council, he's addressed the U.N., and has participated in countless protests. Perhaps his most noted accomplishment came back in April of this year when Martinez and twenty other youth activists, all under the age of 21, filed a lawsuit against the federal government for violating their constitutional right to life, liberty and property by their affirmative actions that have contributed to global climate change.

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His age has never stopped him from making a difference. Martinez has been fighting on behalf of his generation pretty much his entire life, knowing that someone has to be their voice, speaking up about environmental issues.

Outspeak recently spoke to Martinez about climate change, how other youth inspire hope, and the upcoming presidential election.

What is the biggest threat facing our environment currently?

Xiuhtezcatl Martinez: The biggest threat currently facing our environment is our global climate crisis because of the impacts that it has on nearly every human and natural systems.

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Who is the current leader of renewable energy and how can we support them?



XM: Several countries around the world are beginning to understand the importance of shifting away from the fossil fuel based energy economy to renewable energy.

The amazing thing about renewable energy is you don't have to be a billionaire, like Elon Musk to make a difference. Tesla is making great advances in the storing capacity for solar energy, but renewable energy innovation is also coming from the grassroots level. There are stories like that of 14-year-old William Kamkwamba of Malawi, who overcame poverty and famine to build a wind turbine that powered his family home, using found materials and knowledge from the local library. These are the kind of leaders we need to support. We the people of this nation need to look towards a renewable energy infrastructure as a way to boost our economy as just as much as a way to protect the environmentally.

What do you think is the greatest hope for environmental reform?

XM: Myself and 20 other youth plaintiffs from around the country are suing the federal government for violating our constitutional right to life, liberty and property by failing to act on global climate change.

If we win this lawsuit it will mean that the federal courts in the United States will force the government to put massive climate recovery plans in the place to cut greenhouse gas emissions. This recovery plan will remain active, year by year, until our Planet's atmosphere has recovered to a reasonable, safe, and sustainable level: 350 ppm of carbon dioxide.

Countries around the world are adopting this template. Young people are standing up in their countries to demand the rights to protect our atmosphere and save our planet. This is an attempt by the young people of our planet to work together to sway our own governments to take action on climate change immediately.

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What do you think of the new environment law just passed in California? How do you believe other states should respond? Is it enough?

XM: The law that recently passed in California that aspires towards a goal of 50 percent renewables across the entire state by 2030 is simply not ambitious enough. Although it is a step in the right direction we need concentrate our collective action and transition away from a fossil fuel energy economy even sooner than 2030. Various states across United States and many nations across the world have begun to adopt similar methods, but we need to achieve progress at a faster rate. For every year we delay the greater and more potentially insurmountable the issue becomes.

What is the biggest lie being spread in the media about climate change?

XM: One of the biggest misconceptions that I hear about climate change is that is solely an environmental issue and only environmentalists should care about it. The truth of the matter is that climate change is a human rights issue. Climate change impacts human lives of all ages and nationalities across our planet. It is a impacting our children. It's one of the unsung factors and a driving force in the refugee crisis. It is hitting families at home on Main Street in the United States and it's damaging the fabric of communities and delicate ecosystems in every corner of the world.

What if anything inspires hope/optimism in you around the environment in this election?

XM: I am inspired by the opportunity to join forces on this issue with young people across the country that are also on the front lines of this movement. I am discovering similar movements that are uniting around climate change and learning about relevant issues that are affecting my generation.

All of these experiences and interactions inspire me everyday to continue the work that I do to protect the environment. This is a fight for the rights of nature. This is the fight for the survival of our generation and the generations that will follow in our footsteps. As I travel this world I see the staggering beauty of our planet. The beauty of planet Earth and the people I meet along the way remind me of my purpose and what we are fighting to protect.

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What weight do you feel on your shoulders in respect to climate change? What makes you feel responsible for pushing change?

XM: As a member of a generation that is affected by the problems we see in the world today, I feel it is my responsibility to take action right now, without hesitation, so future generations will not have to suffer the way our generation has already suffered at the hands of climate change. It's imperative that we take action now. As a young person I have an incredibly powerful voice that has the potential to create change. I believe all youth on the planet have this potential. As a leader in this movement my responsibility is to act upon this crisis for every generation.

Why shouldn't young people fall into apathy and hopelessness about the environment?

XM: It's so easy to fall into a state of apathy and hopelessness about the daunting task of helping a world that is under attack from so many different angles. Our race against time, the weight of the world, and even even old habits can make you believe the opportunity for action has already been missed. But there is still just enough time if we unite as a generation to take action. We must remain hopeful. We must remain vigilant. We must connect with the community and support the people in our lives that inspire us towards positive change. Only together can we continue to fight to change the systems that are destroying the planet.

What can young voters fight for in the upcoming election?

XM: In this upcoming election I am pressing young voters to make their voices heard on all issues affecting our county and the world we live in. We must demand strong action on climate change. We must hold corporations, our US president, and all political leaders accountable for the continued degradation of our planet and it's people. We also need to play a greater role in how laws are written (and enforced) and how our resources are being consumed. But not only in our country. We must help empower and share our information and resources with those around the world that want to make a difference in the world.

We need our youth to see how climate change and environmental issues are affecting us, because honestly climate change is one of the most important and defining issues of our time. We are the generation of change and action. We need our youth to stand up for our planet and the generations to come. We need to inspire people to take to the streets and the voting booth to appeal to the local and national court systems to demand change from our political leaders we can vote in or out of office.

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As the owner of a literary gift company, I have a lot of gorgeous old books. I'm often lucky enough to find hidden treasures, secret snippets of the past, nestled within their pages.

Although these small delights usually appear to be of no particular value - a scrapped receipt perhaps or a post-it note with an illegible scribble - they can sometimes hold an incredibly significant sentiment.

The best part of discovering these little gems is trying to piece together the stories behind them. Playing detective is fun and actually, really interesting! There is something quite magical about uncovering even the smallest snippet of forgotten history.

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I hope you enjoy reading about these lovely hidden treasures... I absolutely loved finding them!

1960's Nightclub Leaflet

A flyer which gave the recipient free entry in to La Poubelle - 1960's nightclub based in London's Soho.

To translate,

La Poubelle = The Bin. Inviting!

"First disco. In continental London with bar and restaurant. Open every night from 8. Present this card at the entrance. Thank you."

Does anybody have any first-hand experiences of La Poubelle? I'd love to hear your stories!

Fire Safety Leaflet

This leaflet was in such good condition that I was surprised to find that it is, at the very least, fifty years old! It was published by the The Central Council for Health Education, an establishment run between 1927-1968.

I'd guess at this being distributed in the mid-sixties, but any more informed and exact estimates are welcome.

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Postcard and Bookmark Selection

Left to right:

Far left: A bookmark from Turnowsky.

A global brand that designs and produces luxury and very lovely paper products!

Second left: William Shakespeare postcard.

Printed and published by Jarrold. This portrait was painted during Charles II's reign and can be found in the collection belonging to the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust in Stratford-upon-Avon.

Top centre: Postcard of Haworth Church and Sunday School in 1939.

Printed and published by Walter Scott. This picture is the actual view from the Bronte Parsonage. Pretty cool!

Bottom centre: Postcard of the Scottish flag.

Published by Pyramid. This postcard seems to have been purchased in St. Andrews. There is no written message but its intended address was all the way in Minehead, Somerset.

Second right: Postcard of 'Noli me Tangere' a painting by Graham Sutherland.

Published by Judges of Hastings. A postcard from Chichester Cathedral where the actual painting is available to view.

Far right: A bookmark promoting Lion's Bluff.

Turns out that Lion's Bluff is a collection of pretty amazing holiday lodges near Mt. Kilimanjaro in Kenya. Incredibly jealous of whoever was lucky enough to stay there!

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Photograph

It would be absolutely lovely to reunite this photograph with its rightful owner! At an estimated guess, I'd date this photo back to the late 80s / early 90s. Any information would be great!

This is only a tiny selection of the wonderful hidden treasures I've found so far. I'll be posting more of these little delights very soon.
FILE PHOTO -- Wells Fargo CEO John Stumpf testifies before a Senate Banking Committee hearing on the firm's sales practices on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., September 20, 2016. REUTERS/Gary Cameron/File Photo

Just about everyone wants to hold Wells Fargo accountable for a scheme in which sales quotas drove employees to set up phony credit card and bank accounts without customer knowledge. A Donald Trump advisor declared the behavior stupid and greedy, while Hillary Clinton proposes to make it easier for consumers to take companies to court for such behavior. So far, over 5,000 regular workers have been fired at Wells Fargo, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has fined the bank $185 million. Hold Wells Fargo Accountable even has its own Facebook page.

Will it make any difference? Not much, warns William Lazonick, a leading expert on American corporations and co-author of a new study on CEO pay sponsored by the Institute for New Economic Thinking. Until critics truly understand why companies have strong incentives to create such schemes in the first place, they will go on doing so, hurting workers, customers, and taxpayers. The entire economy will be dragged down and economic inequality will continue to rise.

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Until critics truly understand why companies have strong incentives to create such schemes in the first place, they will go on doing so.



As Lazonick explains, the Wells Fargo cross-selling scandal and other scams that ripple across the headlines are born in a business culture in which executives are focused on jacking up stock prices in the short term so that they can cash in on stock options and awards. As long as this continues, the urge to cheat will be too tempting for most to resist.

Here are three things anyone wanting to hold Wells Fargo accountable needs to know.

1) American businesses have become stock manipulation machines.

When a company does a stock buyback, it purchases its own outstanding shares, a financial trick that reduces the number of shares on the open market and boosts the price per share. As Lazonick points out, the 449 companies in the S&P 500 index that were publicly listed from 2003 through 2012 used over half their earnings to buy back their own stock, almost all through purchases on the open market. Buybacks continue apace.

When companies do this, profits that could have been used to develop new products, pay workers fairly, and invest in the long-term health of the firm are diverted to prop up share prices. Executives love buybacks, because they often get paid in stock-based instruments. They can time stock price-boosting activity and cash in at the optimal moment to line their pockets.

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Before 1982, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) considered stock buybacks to be a potentially unlawful form of stock price manipulation. But that year, under the sway of Reagan-era enthusiasm for unfettered markets, the SEC loosened its rules. This change, plus a shift toward stock-based compensation for top executives, has exacerbated economic inequality by pushing pay at the top into the stratosphere while shortchanging workers. Instead of growing companies in the long term and paying workers what they deserve, executives have focused on boosting stock prices in the short term for their own benefit. Stock buybacks drain trillions of dollars from the real economy and produce nothing of value.

2) Focusing on short-term stock prices leads to corruption.

As long as companies are incentivized to boost stock prices in the short term, executives will be tempted to do that by any means necessary. The problem is not just buybacks, Lazonick emphasizes. They will also engage in all sorts of misconduct and even outright fraud, whether its Wells Fargo setting up fake credit card accounts or pharmaceutical firms resorting to price gouging, as Mylan has done with its EpiPen.

Lazonick points out that even the most vocal critics of such shady business practices often dont understand whats behind them. When Mylan raises the EpiPen price, he explains, they use a million phony arguments to justify why they are doing it, but the truth is that they are doing it to boost the stock price so that executives can gain.

Simply stopping a particular shady activity will not solve the problem, says Lazonick. As long as the incentives for stock price manipulation are there, companies caught in one scam will just move onto another. Its totally corrupting, he observes. There may be some ethical constraints going on in some companies, but the scams still continue. Price gouging has been going on in pharmaceutical companies for thirty years. No one should be surprised about Mylan. Or the next Mylan.

Lazonick notes that even if an executive doesnt want to engage in unethical behavior to boost stock prices, the pressure to do so from, say, an activist investor may be too great. Her job may depend on it. CEOs who resist may be gone pretty quickly, he notes.

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3) Punishment means little until executive pay is understood.

Big fines, clawbacks, and withholding executive pay may sound great in terms of punishing wrongdoing, but they dont mean much when they are based on fiction.

The Wells Fargo board announced that CEO John Stumpf would lose unvested stock awards and would not be paid his annual salary while the investigation into the cross-selling scam was going on. But how much does he actually get paid? How much are his stock awards really worth?

Turns out, hardly anybody really knows.

Lazonicks research with Matt Hopkins shows that for decades, corporate executives have been making far more money than anybody reports, because the metric used to estimate what they take home is wrong.

When people talk about how much a CEO like Stumpf makes, they are usually basing the number on something called  estimated fair value (EFV) of his or her stock options and stock awards. But that doesnt represent what Stumpf puts in his bank account and reports on his tax return. In the case of stock options, that estimate derives from a celebrated economic theorem, often referred to as the Black-Scholes model after the two economists who formulated it. But the real numbers require looking at actual realized gains (ARG)  thats how much stock-based pay is worth at the time executives actually cash in.

When you use the EFV metric, Stumpfs compensation numbers from 2006-2015, for example, add up to add up to $179 million. Thats a lot of money, to be sure, but if you use the correct ARG numbers, you see that Stumpfs taxable, take-home pay for those years was actually $259 million. Thats 1.45 times more than the vast majority of reports indicate.

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Even the most progressive organizations have been incorrectly stating CEO pay, says Lazonick. The AFL-CIO, for example, has long decried a ratio of CEO-to-average-worker pay of about 350:1. The actual figure, according to Lazonicks research, is more like 700:1. He warns that people need to realize that they have been given false information.

"Reporters and others who are questioning executives on these things just quote the wrong numbers. The executives must be laughing all the way to the bank. The ones who are doing all the buybacks and the price gouging and the scams to get their stock prices up are the same ones for whom the actual realized gains are far out-pacing this phony metric of estimated fair value. The public is being mislead."



No wonder executives are happy that nobody understands it. There's no accountability if there's faulty accounting.



The actual numbers that determine what executives take home reflect stock price volatility  the kind of volatility that happens, for example, when a buyback or cross-selling scam jacks up the price.

No wonder executives are happy that nobody understands it. Theres no accountability if theres faulty accounting.

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Lazonick and his colleagues were surprised when they found out how far off reported estimates of actual CEO pay have been:

"Once we really took a deep dive into how to estimate executive compensation, we realized how complicated it is to understand. We knew there was a there was a problem of measurement, but we didnt know how systemic it was or the extent of it. The reality is astonishing."

Lazonick points out that while understanding the CEO pay numbers is important, even more important is realizing whats driving those numbers. Executives engage in stock price manipulations schemes because they expect to time the market and take home giant piles of money when those prices rise temporarily.

Stock buybacks that shortchange workers and scams that defraud customers drive the numbers. They fatten the banks accounts of executives and leave everyone else high and dry.

It would be helpful, of course, if regulators would catch misconduct and fraudulent activity earlier, but ultimately, says Lazonick, the solution must come from taking on the corrupt culture of self-centered stock manipulation behind these activities.

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The fix, he says, is a relatively simple one.
Syria is one of the worst catastrophic humanitarian tragedies of our generation. Iran's role in Syria has significantly impacted the direction, magnitude and longevity of the conflict. Nearly half a million people have been killed including thousands of children in Aleppo and other cities, and almost half of the population is displaced. Its role has evolved over the five years since the uprising began. With experience of cracking down on its own popular uprising in 2009-2010, Iran provided the Syrian government with technical support, social-media monitoring systems, surveillance, intelligence, military troops, and advisory support.

To further bolster Assad, Tehran trained and oversaw the creation of the National Defense Forces, a domestic militia comprising tens of thousands of regime loyalists. However, the regime still faced critical challenges in maintaining control over major territories, so Iran summoned Shiite militias from across the region to fight in Syria, adding to the sectarian element of the war. Tehran implored Russia to forge a military partnership to help the IRGC and Syrian troops gain ground. As the nuclear deal was reached, IRGC senior cadre became more involved and public about their role in Syria.

Assad is increasingly dependent on Iran militarily and financially, and Tehran does not see a viable alternative to the Alawite-dominated state that would preserve its interests in Syria. Iran cannot afford to lose Syria, so it is using Assad to tip the balance of power against other regional powers and strengthen the Shiite axis. Any fundamental change in Syria's political structure will directly and significantly threaten Iran's national security.

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Tehran's role will continue to deepen. This will further militarize, radicalize and widen the conflict. A reformist presidency in Iran will not change the status quo. Though Iranian policy on Syria is formed by the supreme leader and senior IRGC officials, Iranian politicians across the spectrum agree on that policy. Moderate President Hassan Rouhani declared in June 2015 that Tehran would back Assad "until the end of the road."

______________________

For more details and nuances you can read full versionon Here.

You can sign up for Dr. Rafizadeh's newsletter for the latest news and analyses on HERE.

Dr. Majid Rafizadeh is an American political scientist, president of the International American Council on the Middle East, business advisor, and best-selling author. Harvard-educated, Rafizadeh serves on the advisory board of Harvard International Review. He is regularly quoted and invited to speak on national and international outlets including CNN, BBC World TV and Radio, ABC, Aljazeera English, Fox News, CTV, RT, CCTV America, Skynews, CTV, and France 24 International, to name a few. Dr. Rafizadeh is frequently invited to brief governmental and non-governmental organizations as well as speak, as a featured speaker, at security, business, diplomatic, and social events. He has been recipient of several fellowships and scholarships including from Oxford University, Annenberg, University of California Santa Barbara, Fulbright program, to name few. He analyses have appeared on academic and non-academic publications including New York Times International, Los Angeles Times, CNN, Farred zakaria GPS, The Atlantic, Foreign Policy, The Nation, The National. Aljazeera, The Daily Beast, The Nation, Jerusalem Post, The Economic Times, USA Today Yale Journal of International Affairs, Georgetown Journal of International Affairs, and Harvard International Review. He is a board member of several significant and influential international and governmental institutions, and he is native speaker of couple of languages including Persian, English, and Arabic. He also speaks Dari, and can converse in French, Hebrew. More at Harvard.

You can also order his books on HERE.

You can learn more about Dr. Rafizadeh on HERE.
VIDEO FRAME GRAB: In this 2005 frame from video, Donald Trump prepares for an appearance on 'Days of Our Lives' with actress Arianne Zucker (center). He is accompanied to the set by Access Hollywood host Billy Bush. (Obtained by The Washington Post via Getty Images)

Donald Trump should be a pariah, not president. Ditto to his snickering, enabling sidekick Billy Bush. Unfortunately, we have a much bigger problem on our hands than two boorish guys and a live mic: They aren't alone -- far from it.



The video released this weekend is just one high-profile example of a culture of objectifying and subjugating women. And the behavior Trump brags about on that tour bus -- kissing, touching and groping women without their consent -- is not "locker room talk." It's called sexual assault.



As Attorney General, I've seen the many forms it takes and the destruction left in its wake. A student on a college campus, drugged and assaulted at a party. A young woman, forced by a pimp to have sex with hundreds of men against her will. A low-wage worker, raped by her supervisor in a broom closet. And then there are the many daily assaults that nearly every woman in this country has experienced, like being catcalled on the street, groped on a crowded train or in a dark movie theater, forced to watch a man expose himself, or propositioned by her supervisor.



It's because of the casual misogyny on display in that tour bus that one in three women will be a victim of physical or sexual violence in her lifetime and one in five will be raped.

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It's because of the casual misogyny on display in that tour bus that one in three women will be a victim of physical or sexual violence in her lifetime and one in five will be raped.



So it's not enough to call for Trump to quit the race. This goes far beyond him. Americans need to send the clear message that we will no longer tolerate a culture of violence against women in this country.



I think that future is possible, and, in Massachusetts we're working hard to make it happen.



Last year, our office teamed up with The New England Patriots to launch "Game Change," a first-in-the-nation public/private partnership that brings anti-violence trainings to high schools across the state, using an interactive curriculum designed by Mentors in Violence Prevention at Northeastern University. We're training students to lead conversations between young men and young women that will change how they view and treat each other.



Game Change is about bending the curve of violence and misogyny in three key ways.



Americans need to send the clear message that we will no longer tolerate a culture of violence against women in this country.



First, we're talking with kids about the kinds of gender stereotypes and sexism on display in that tour bus, which are the root of sexual harassment and violence. Second, we're teaching students what healthy relationships look like, through conversations about respect and consent. Third, we're empowering young people to speak up as bystanders when they witness inappropriate language or behavior (something that appears to have been sorely lacking from the other men on the bus).



This is about teaching young men that women aren't conquests or toys. Women aren't defined by their relationships to men. Women are equals, who belong in our state houses, our board rooms, and -- as has become abundantly clear -- in the Oval Office.



People are expressing outrage far and wide, as they should.



But let's start there, not end there. Let's commit to changing our culture by showing our kids a better way. It may be too late for Donald Trump. But it's not too late for millions of boys and young men across this country.

Maura Healey is Attorney General of Massachusetts. You can follow her on Twitter @Maura_Healey or @MassAGO.

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Anyone who has sat through UN negotiations knows that the process can be slow and frustrating. There are long stretches of inactivity followed by a day when you realize that big things can be achieved when people and countries come together to seek consensus. For those of us who have been working on climate issues in the aviation industry, last week marked the culmination of a number of years of work. And it brought us one of those days. Following six years of intensifying work, the world's governments, under the banner of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), have taken the historic step of agreeing a global market-based measure to address the growth in aviation emissions.

The agreement, known as the Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA) is a landmark moment in the fight against climate change and it is one that should be applauded. This is our contribution to the global challenge of climate change, building on the equally historic Paris Agreement of last year.

The global air transport system is currently responsible for 2% of man-made CO2 emissions and the industry is well aware that is has a responsibility to address that environmental impact. Back in 2009, all sectors of the industry joined together to announce a shared set of climate goals for the short, medium and long term. The agreement coming out of ICAO this week is the instrument that was aimed at enabling us to meet our second goal, carbon-neutral growth from 2020. This goal was established to help balance two needs: allowing the growth of air transport to help support economic, social and cultural connectivity in many parts of the world, with the need to offset the CO2 costs of that growth.

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As ever, large-scale international negotiations, particularly those related to climate change, can be subject to political considerations. The industry has been steadfast in its desire to see a mechanism that covers as much international traffic as possible but we appreciate the important influence of international politics. The final deal coming out of ICAO has stipulated that the scheme will be divided into two initial voluntary phases, becoming mandatory from 2027.

While this initial voluntary arrangement produced some concern at first, the number of countries that subsequently put their hands up to volunteer has been hugely encouraging. Not only did many of the largest aviation players (such as the US, EU, China and Australia) agree to participate in the voluntary stages, but so did a number of other smaller states. This showed outstanding leadership that should serve as an example to all. As things stand, the mechanism will now offset over 80% of the growth in CO2 from international aviation after 2020, with 65 States having volunteered to join the early stages and most others joining from 2027.
Co-authored by BIKASH PANDEY

Bikash Pandey is Innovations Lead for Clean Energy and Water at Winrock International, and is one of the pioneers of small-scale hydropower development and electric transportation in Nepal.



You wouldn't know it driving around polluted Kathmandu, but Nepal is very much a leader in the fight against climate change. For a poor country struggling with severe poverty, it is more than a little admirable how much Nepal has done already to decarbonize its economy.



Nepal's domestic electricity production is 100 percent hydropower-based and therefore 100 percent renewable. Independent power producers have responded to incentives for small and medium hydro power and have flourished thanks to the willingness of local banks to provide credit. As a result, the country's chronic power shortages and import of coal-generated power from India are both expected to come to an end starting in 2018.



Kathmandu also has a sizable and growing fraction of electric vehicles and motorbikes on its streets--perhaps the highest percentage of any city of earth. Given the increase in population and the growing air quality concerns in the city, this is a welcome development that must continue to spread. Importers of petrol and diesel vehicles actively work to slow adoption of additional EV use in Kathmandu, but the recent blockade of goods crossing the India-Nepal border has impressed on many Nepalis the need to be more independent of petroleum imports, and EV's are seen as one important avenue.



Nepal has also developed an extensive biogas program to fuel rural households cooking needs. Inexpensive biogas systems using livestock waste are a standard feature of rural homes all across Nepal now. Over a hundred companies install the technology and have sold more than 300,000 systems nationwide.

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Rural solar programs have also brought electricity for lights to unconnected rural households all across Nepal. These programs serve almost every community in Nepal now with half a million homes sporting a panel on their roofs. The government has recently begun to provide incentives for rooftop solar PV systems in cities adding to already extensive use of solar powered hot water systems by urban residents.

Nepal has also done great things on land use over the last several decades. Its innovative community forest program has massively increased forest cover across Nepal and has improved degraded lands' ability to serve some 20,000 communities' economic needs, protect biodiversity, improve water management, and sequester carbon.



Nepal like many developing nations is eager to receive international support for its climate mitigation and adaptation needs, hoping, like other G77 countries, to have rich nations, who are responsible for the majority of global emissions, pay the bill for energy and climate adaptation. The reality though of rapidly spreading climate impacts and human development needs has encouraged Nepal to move ahead with these programs even without the larger flows of foreign aid it has hoped to receive.



We see similar developments now in other developing countries as well. Climate impacts are here now and these governments are realizing that they must act. Aid and technical assistance are still badly needed and more would be very well used, but Nepal is a great example of a country taking important steps other poor nations can learn from.

Given all this, Nepal would benefit and perhaps even be able to attract additional aid resources and private investment if its progress were more fully known. Its hydropower development, clean transport infrastructure, urban and rural solar programs could all grow at a much faster clip with the help of these investments. Ironically, Nepal could now benefit from its work to date by broadcasting its effectiveness. Donors of all kinds would be encouraged to contribute and invest more given this success.

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And lessons from Nepal could potentially be adapted elsewhere. For example African nations, which made enormous commitments to land restoration in Paris last December, might draw lessons from Nepal on how to reforest and restore lands in cooperation with rural communities. Africa's other enormous Paris commitment -- to develop 300 Gigawatts of renewable energy -- could also be informed by the remarkable work Nepal has done to develop hydropower, solar and biogas energy.



Nepal offers an extremely positive example of a poor country moving forward effectively. Donors take note. There are great opportunities to facilitate additional progress and to learn lessons from Nepal. The country needs immediate help to get its infrastructure repaired after the devastating 2015 earthquake, including for its 14 damaged hydropower stations. Nepal government officials might also take note. There are enormous opportunities to be had from lifting the veil from the great progress that has been made in Nepal. Tell the story, assert climate leadership, tout your ratification of the Paris Agreement, and fully leverage resources from donors and investors to continue the great work.
Few people gave more in public service than did Melvin Edward Lundberg, wrote historian Edna Patterson. For 40 years, Mel Lundberg contributed to Elko and the state through his work in the electrical power industry along with his participation in many civic, political and educational endeavors.

Mel Lundberg was born in 1904 in Woods Cross, Utah. He met and married Reva Rowe before attending the University of Utah. After graduating with a degree in mechanical engineering, he worked for both Utah and Uintah Power and Light Companies before moving to Elko in 1939.

In Elko, Mel was the assistant manager at Elko-Lamoille Power Company, later becoming vice president and general manager by 1953. He stayed with the company when it merged with Southern Nevada Power Company to form Nevada Power eight years later. Mel retired in 1973 after 34 years with the company.

In addition to his career, Mel and Reva owned Lundbergs office supply store on Fifth Street from 1942 to 1967. They also owned and managed Lundbergs Apartments for seven years.

Mels interest in community service began in Utah, where he was recognized for his work in Boy Scouting and involvement in the local Chamber of Commerce. In Elko, Mel was active as a board member of the Elko Broadcasting Company and local Red Cross chapter. His political involvement included membership in the Nevada Taxpayers Association, the Nevada State Planning Board, and numerous other committees.

A member of the Republican Party, Mel served on local and state central committees and traveled to Chicago as a delegate to the National Convention. He also served as an alternate delegate in 1964 and 1968.

Locally, Mel served as past president of the Elko Chamber of Commerce and Elko Lions Club. For the Elks Lodge, Mel was both an exalted ruler and District Deputy Grand Exalted Ruler in the state.

A strong supporter of education, Mel helped to shape Northern Nevada Community College, now Great Basin College, as a member of many committees including the Citizens Advisory Committee. Lundberg Hall, one of the first buildings on campus, was dedicated in his honor.
Twenty years ago today, in 1996, Rwanda and Uganda invaded Congo, which was then known as Zaire.

The 20th anniversary of the invasion of Congo and the apocalyptic killings unleashed thereafter will be commemorated with an all-day conference, "Breaking the Silence" in New York City on October 15 at ThoughtWorks located in Manhattan at 99 Madison Ave, New York, NY, 10016.

Can the Congolese people eventually free themselves from the shackles of Congo's dictator Joseph Kabila and the suffering caused by the multiple invasions by its neighbors who covet the country's immense mineral wealth estimated at about $24 trillion?

What about people in the other East and Central African countries; can they too defeat tyrannies? What can be done about the destructive role played by the U.S. which continues to support with financing and weapons the regimes of Paul Kagame and Yoweri Museveni?

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These are some of the questions that human rights activists, scholars, journalists and, survivors of the atrocities will address during panel discussions and documentary film screenings at this coming Saturday's all-day conference.

The conference is free and open to the public but RSVPs are required at Congoevents.org "20th Year Anniversary Commemoration."

First some background:

The 1996 invasion toppled long-time CIA agent and dictator Mobutu who ran Congo into the ground after he seized power in 1960 from independence hero Patrice Lumumba, who was murdered. So few shed tears for the demise of Mobutu except those who benefited from the kleptocracy; he's believed to have siphoned off $5 billion into foreign accounts and assets.

Gen. Kagame and Gen. Museveni installed Laurent Kabila as president. When Kabila tried to exert his independence from his two benefactors Rwanda and Uganda invaded again, this time seeking to topple him and to install a pliant puppet.

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Angola and Zimbabwe, which have superior airforces and tank divisions, intervened and repulsed the invaders who were about to seize Kinshasa, the capital. Rwanda and Uganda ended up occupying mineral-rich eastern Congo. Eventually that part of the country became the epicenter of disaster: resource plunder; massacres; ethnic displacement; and, mass sexual assaults against women and men so pervasive that Congo became known as the "rape capital of the world."

Laurent Kabila was assassinated January 16, 2001 under mysterious circumstances. His son, Joseph Kabila, became president.

How horrific were the atrocities committed after Rwanda's and Uganda's second invasion?

The United Nations conducted a survey of the cites where the alleged retribution killings occurred --for the genocide in Rwanda in 1994-- and in 2010 the world organization issued what is known as the "Mapping Report" covering atrocities from 1993 to 2003. The U.N. concluded that the killings in eastern Congo, primarily by Rwanda's army, if confirmed by a judicial process, may "constitute crimes of genocide."

Rwanda's and Uganda's support for various warring militias through the years including CNDP and later M23 --both countries use the manufactured chaos as cover to steal Congo's resources-- have led to unimaginable suffering. No one really knows how many Congolese have died. Some estimates place the toll at six million.

Congo filed a complaint against Uganda at the International Court of Justice (ICJ); the court in 2005 ruled in Congo's favor and ordered $10 billion in reparations which Uganda has never paid and Kabila has not attempted to enforce the judgment.

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The ICC also opened a criminal investigation into alleged crimes by Uganda's army. On June 8, 2006, The Wall Street Journal reported that Gen. Museveni himself urged then U.N. Secretary General Koffi Anan to block the probe. Museveni evidently feared that he too could be indicted, like Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) leader Joseph Kony or like the Sudan's Omar Hassan al-Bashir. No wonder lately he's been denouncing the ICC.

Meanwhile Joseph Kabila, who was supposed to step down at the end of this year after completing a second presidential term of office has made it clear he's not leaving. On September 19 the opposition in Congo claimed as many as 50 civilians were killed by Kabila's security forces after people demonstrated against his bid to extend his regime.

Kabila is following the examples of other regional dictators like Uganda's Museveni (in power since 1986) and Rwanda's Kagame (ruler since 1994).

Yet the Congolese, led by the youth have remained defiant and protests against Kabila's plan to prolong his regime continued even after the bloody suppression.

Meanwhile new killings have started in Beni, in the Congo's North Kivu region. These political developments in the Congo will be covered at the all-day "Breaking the Silence" conference on October 15.

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"God has showed me by what Adidas is doing, by what the media is doing, I know how it feels to have a knee on my neck now," the disgraced rapper said.
A shortage of available beds in the state's system of psychiatric hospitals has left nearly 400 Texans languishing for months, sometimes years, on a waiting list. This is according to a recent Texas Tribune article, which describes examples of individuals who wound up accessing care only after being charged with a crime.

Over half of the current residents in Texas' psychiatric hospitals are "forensic" commitments through the criminal justice system, which is often the only way that low-income people with mental illness can access treatment. Further compounding these daunting problems is the continued use of "crumbling, century-old state hospitals" built in an earlier time when mental health and mental illness were poorly understood -- even by credentialed experts.

This depressing state of affairs recalls an earlier period, in the decade after World War II, when similar conditions sparked a mass movement that decried inadequate mental health care as "the shame of Texas."

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In that era, a generation of mental health reformers, some of whom were military veterans, confronted a system of seven state hospitals that were overcrowded, unsanitary, prisonlike, and poorly staffed. William Menninger, the first psychiatrist to achieve the rank of Brigadier General during the war, advocated for more robust community mental health services. Popular films such as "The Snake Pit" (1948) dramatized the plight of patients trapped in overcrowded and prisonlike hospitals, while the federal government inaugurated the National Institute for Mental Health in 1946 to support noninstitutional programs.

Meanwhile in Texas, reformers led by the Hogg Foundation for Mental Health launched a decadelong campaign to reform the state's hospitals. In the spring of 1949, nearly every major Texas newspaper ran an eight-part series entitled "The Shame of Texas," written by a young veteran and University of Texas student named John Porter. In gruesome detail, Porter made the case that Texas housed "the nation's worst hospitals," a viewpoint echoed in subsequent reports by the United States Public Health Service and the American Psychiatric Association. Throughout much of the 1950s, Texas ranked at or near the bottom in per-patient spending on mental health care.

Of equal concern to reformers was the overuse of the criminal justice system in hospital commitments. Texas was one of only two states that required a jury trial for all psychiatric commitments, which meant that even noncriminal cases passed through an often traumatic criminal court process. One particularly negative consequence of this system transformed county jails into de facto "holding pens" for people with mental illness awaiting an opening in the state's overcrowded psychiatric hospitals.

Attempts to remedy these deplorable conditions were met with only partial success during much of the 1950s, even as a popular movement sprang to life. Civic groups led by the Texas Society for Mental Hygiene and the Texas Jaycees mounted letter writing campaigns, led caravans of visitors to the state's hospitals, and circulated photographs of what they saw. Journalists continued to publish graphic exposes. The Hogg Foundation released a powerful documentary film, "In a Strange Land," that was shot at Terrell Hills State Hospital, one of five older hospitals still in use today that the Texas Department of Health Services has deemed "beyond repair."

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Elected officials, led by then-Gov. Allen Shivers, managed to make some modest improvements, but they were met with limited political support, much to their frustration. The reasons then were the same as they are now: Too often out of sight and out of mind, people with mental illness struggle to garner sustained public interest. As Robert Sutherland, the Hogg Foundation's first director, once observed, people with mental illness "have no alumni groups to wage a campaign for improvement."

A major breakthrough finally occurred in 1957, when the state legislature dramatically increased funding for mental health care and adopted Texas' first mental health code. The new code abolished jury trials, stipulated more humane commitment procedures, banned the use of restraints except in emergencies, set standards for qualified staff, and listed the rights of patients in psychiatric hospitals. While the mental health code did not solve every problem, it did conclude, as Shivers put it, "a long era of neglect."

Why this plunge into Texas mental health history? Because the "long era of neglect" is still very much with us, a dark cloud that we're still emerging from under. To be sure, there have been positive developments in recent years. The state Legislature provided millions in funding for new and expanded mental health services in 2013. As well, the Texas mental health code received its first update in decades. At the local level, cities and counties have forged ahead with cutting edge reforms such as jail diversion and supportive housing. And in 2014, the Texas Veterans Initiative was kicked off to help address the behavioral needs of those who have served.

But it's not enough. There are still huge waiting lists for community-based mental health services. The criminal justice system, through the forensic commitment system, remains the only gateway to treatment for far too many people. Our state mental hospitals are crumbling, with the Department of State Health Services estimating that replacing or renovating aging state hospitals will cost taxpayers over $1 billion.

Then there are the workforce issues. The usual problems of the social services sector -- high staff turnover, low pay, recruitment - would be daunting enough on their own. Challenges unique to Texas - the need for culturally and linguistically competent service providers, and the sheer number of underserved communities in our sprawling state --make the mental health workforce shortage that much more painfully felt.

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So what can be done? For starters, let's continue to build upon the improvements of the last few years. We must fully implement and improve integrated health care, recognizing that transformation of health care takes time. Effective integrated health care is the comprehensive coordination of mental health, substance use, and primary care services. The integration of primary care and behavioral health services allows health professionals to better coordinate treatments for the benefit of all of our communities.

We also need to improve the mental health reimbursement rates. Only half of Texas psychiatrists accept private insurance, compared with nearly 90 percent of other physician types. And only 21 percent of Texas psychiatrists will accept Medicaid patients, according to data from the Texas Medical Association. The state should increase reimbursement rates to increase the number of practicing mental health care providers willing to provide services to consumers with Medicaid.

The state would also be wise to increase access to services provided by Certified Peer Specialists where "peers," who have a history of lived experience with mental illness or substance use, rely on their personal recovery and specialized training to help guide other individuals experiencing a behavioral health condition in their own recovery.

Additionally, we need to expand the use of technology. Technology, such as telehealth and telepsychiatry, can be useful to support individuals in rural areas of our state that have significant shortages of mental health professionals.

So, meet with your local city and county officials and state representatives. Take part in the whirlwind of public debate and policymaking during the upcoming legislative session. Bring these issues and facts to their attention. Emphasize that our loved ones are being treated in crumbling institutions. That where community-based services exist, they are underfunded.

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That we the people -- ourselves, our families, and our neighbors -- are at the mercy of an overstretched workforce. That the availability of competent service providers is too often a matter of geographical accident - such as living in proximity to an urban center -- and even then we still have access challenges. Where if all else fails, the criminal justice system picks up the pieces -- and too many of our veterans and loved ones are ending up homeless, marginalized and unseen. For if we do not do enough, one thing is certain: The shame of Texas will continue.
At Climate Week New York we launched our fourth annual global carbon pricing report. Each year we ask major multinationals who disclose to their investors and business customers through CDP if they are applying an internal price on carbon, and how they are using this to better manage climate-related risk and reduce carbon emissions.

As our report this year highlights, investors are asking companies to disclose this information to help them ascertain risks in their portfolios: a company using an internal price on carbon provides investors with some comfort that they are prudently planning for a world of carbon regulations.



What are companies like Shell, General Motors, Goldman Sachs and Microsoft doing to manage climate risk?

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Our carbon pricing report found that more than 1,200 companies - 23% more than last year - are now using an internal carbon price or planning to adopt one.

The use of an internal carbon price by companies is a fairly new phenomenon. Four years ago just 35 companies disclosed they were using one, though it appears to be heading towards a new norm of behavior to manage risk in capital markets. Given this rapid adoption it is not surprising that companies are using this tool in a range of different ways: from testing business strategies against future scenarios, such as Shell; as a real investment hurdle like ENGIE; and even to drive investment towards climate-aligned corporate goals, be it an emissions reduction target, an energy related challenge, or the creation of a new low-carbon product line, like Microsoft.

Close to 150 companies are embedding a carbon price deep into their corporate strategy. These companies are using it to deliver on climate targets, whether it be an emissions or energy related target or to help foster a new line of low-carbon products and services. They report that it helps by providing an incentive to reallocate resources to emission reduction investments, can be used for creating a business case for R&D investments and, by assigning a financial value to both emitted and avoided emissions, it helps reveal hidden risks and opportunities.

Over 40 major multi-national companies with a combined market cap of US$1.5 trillion have disclosed tangible business benefits to us - from shifting investments towards energy efficiency measures, low-carbon initiatives, energy purchases and the development of new low-carbon product offerings. A very positive sign given this tool is relatively nascent. Companies in the energy and utility sectors were most heavily represented in the results. Others include technology companies like Microsoft, or the Swiss Pharmaceutical Novartis and carmakers such as Nissan and General Motors.

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The number of companies disclosing they are in the process of adopting an internal price is increasing. There has been a considerable jump especially in Mexico, Brazil, India and Japan, as well as in the US.

What is driving the race to price carbon?

There are a number of drivers, including the growing momentum post the adoption of the Paris Agreement - which we expect to accelerate with its forthcoming ratification - and China's impending carbon market. Novartis disclosed it has adopted a US$100 a metric ton carbon price to help it identify projects that will most cost effectively reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Saint-Gobain, SUEZ and Anglo American all use an internal carbon price to stimulate R&D into low carbon technologies such as fuel cells and construction materials.

Some of the businesses we talk to set a carbon price to inform future investment decisions. The French utility Engie disclosed it had decided to abandon new coal projects in 2015 in a belief that a carbon price will steadily be established across the world, and that coal fired plants will be adversely affected in the future. Societe Generale has saved 13 million on overheads by pricing carbon over a three-year period. TD Bank and Royal DSM are now pricing internally to underscore strategic shifts towards low-carbon operations and products.

Investors are also driving the carbon pricing agenda. They want to understand the inherent risks they are running in their portfolios in light of the changing landscape and are keen to ensure businesses are responding to a low carbon future. Jack Ehnes, CEO at CalSTRS takes climate change very seriously and is using CDP data to hold companies accountable to disclosing and managing climate risk and demonstrating they are preparing for a low-carbon economy.

The Taskforce on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD), established by Mark Carney and chaired by Mike Bloomberg, is considering recommending companies disclose forward looking risk against scenarios. Doing so against future deemed carbon prices is clearly one such way investors can assess potential future exposure.

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However some 500 companies in high emitting sectors still do not have or are not considering a carbon price. We believe these companies are potentially at risk from having a too short business planning horizon given how fast climate change issues are moving.

Some multinationals are starting to lead the way, but this time next year we expect to see carbon pricing be the new normal across markets globally. After all, with China's adoption of a nationwide carbon pricing scheme expected before the end of 2017, every major corporation and investor will have a carbon price somewhere in their supply chain or portfolio. The question is whether they understand how they will be exposed to this and are they prepared?
A couple of weeks ago, a showbiz story broke. It was just before I was about to head off to Marbella for the last of my Dirty Thirty celebrations with my best friend (more on that another time). Coincidentally (and I promise it was just that; a coincidence), The Only Way Is Essex cast and crew were out in sunny Spain filming the latest series; The Only Way Is Marbs.

Whilst filming was underway, The Sun newspaper had picked up a salacious tale involving one of the TOWIE regulars and his alleged misdemeanours.

Pete Wicks, who as a long standing fan of TOWIE I've always had a certain amount of appreciation for, had been caught up in a 'sexting scandal'. Behind his girlfriend's back. Said girlfriend is former CBB housemate and fellow TOWIE cast member Megan McKenna, who he had just declared his undying love for, on camera, whilst gifting her with a rather expensive Rolex watch for her 24th Birthday. All very TOWIE-esque, providing plenty of fodder for the glossies and the tabloids, not to mention sending Twitter into some sort of meltdown on the day the news reached the public domain.

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Since the story broke at the end of September, I've followed the saga with curiosity. Many of you may know of my love for all things Reality TV, coupled with anything of a scandalous nature. However, yesterday, I found myself getting a little angry about the whole scenario (it doesn't take much) and it really got me thinking.

Allow me to tell you why.

The woman who Pete Wicks has been messaging is an ex of his. They appear to have indulged in a dalliance earlier this year, which according to the recipient of said messages, fizzled out.

Conversation seems to have been reignited a couple of months ago, while Pete and his girlfriend Megan were on a heavily publicised holiday. Lots of PDA's took place on said holiday. Complete with risque selfies and outpourings of affection and love. However, it seems Pete wasn't being quite as genuine as he'd have liked his followers et al to think he is.

Now, that isn't for me to judge. No one is perfect, not one relationship is flawless. We're only human and we all make mistakes when it comes to affairs of the heart. Love is complicated, as are our feelings.

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However, there's one part of this sordid set of circumstances that has REALLY, REALLY PISSED ME OFF. And that is the reason behind the story becoming public knowledge. Or, let me rephrase that slightly, the reasons Pete's ex would have you believe.

Jacqui Ryland, star of TV's 'Body Fixers' decided she was duty bound to let Megan know exactly what her boyfriend was up to.

Because of 2 words: Girl Code.

Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but Girl Code seems to be something of a recent label. It's something that is often talked about amongst girls, a set of unwritten rules that females should adhere to, in respect of their fellow woman.

I guess the rules, if written, would read something like.



Thou shall not borrow ones clothes without asking.

Thou shall not slag one off behind ones back.

Thou shall not shag a friends ex.

You get the gist.

So, Jacqui, the recipient of some steamy messages (I heard on the grapevine one of them read "I miss doing you up the arse") from a guy who was in a relationship, decided she simply had to let the girlfriend know of the unadulterated filth that was filling up her inbox.

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Admirable, you're thinking? Well done her.

How did Ms Ryland break the potentially devastating news to Megan?

Did she call her? No.

Did she text her? No.

Did she seek her out on Twitter and reveal all to her on there? No.

Did she track down a friend of Megan's and break the news that way? No

Jacqui, in her infinite wisdom, decided the best way for Megan to find out about her boyfriend being a cad, was to read about it in a tabloid newspaper.

Classy.

Following the explosive fall out, yesterday Jacqui Ryland decided to put her side of the story across in a weekly celebrity magazine.

Asked the question "What was behind your decision to leak the messages" Jacqui answered:

It was the whole thing about girl code. It wasn't about being fame-hungry and selling a story. It was to tell Megan "Don't be fooled by this".

Course it was love. Course it was. And a fucking gert big pig just sprouted wings and flew past my bedroom window laughing.

Why didn't you contact her directly instead of going public? Jacqui was asked.

I don't have Megan's number, so I can't just drop her a WhatsApp. She's a celebrity, it's not like they're easy to contact.

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BIG FAT HAIRY BOLLOCKS TO THAT.

In an era where contacting a celebrity is probably the easiest it has ever been thanks to Twitter, Instagram and the like, would it really have been that difficult to get your point across, if that was really what it was all about? She might not have wanted to take heed of your words but at least she'd have been spared the shame of having to open up a newspaper and reading the same as what millions of others are, over their cornflakes and coffee.

Now yes, I know Megan and Pete have flaunted their relationship for column inches, airtime and money over the last 6 months or so. Perhaps you're thinking "if you live by the sword then you die by the sword" and "you made your bed you can lie in it". And of course, you're welcome to have that opinion. In fact, I totally appreciate where you're coming from with that thought.
WEST PALM BEACH, FL - OCTOBER 13: Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump attends his campaign rally at the South Florida Fair Expo Center on October 13, 2016 in West Palm Beach, Florida. Trump continues to campaign against Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton with less than one month to Election Day. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

This post originally appeared on Revelist.

by Mandy Velez

I yawned as I watched my boyfriend turn on CNN Thursday morning, October 13, but my sleepiness quickly turned to shock and then anger when I read the words across the bottom of the screen.

Two women say Trump touched them inappropriately, according to the New York Times. Trump denies report, threatens lawsuit.

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Of course, this news wasn't entirely shocking. I wrote up the news of the #TrumpTape that broke Friday, October 7, and regularly report on sexual assault. But my anger quickly turned to nausea, not just because the man who wants to lead our country has no respect for women, but because of the support his followers would -- and did -- lend him regardless.

I knew it wouldn't be long before they would try to discredit the accusers. And they did.

Women waiting to say #Trump touched them 4 weeks before the election is not a coincidence. Soul-selling to the devil! #NextFakeTrumpVictim  John doe (@juhhhjgghk) October 13, 2016

In a matter of hours, the hashtag #NextFakeTrumpVictim trended on Twitter as his supporters made an attempt to humiliate the women who came forward. Many questioned, just like they did with Bill Cosby's accusers, why they would wait until now to tell their stories come forward. Shouldn't they have come forward right away?

Donald Trump himself addressed the claims during a rally in West Palm Beach, Florida, calling the allegations false, and blaming the Clintons, the New York Times, "third-rate journalism" and the attractiveness of one of the accusers as to why the news could not be true. He also attacked the accusers for coming forward for acts that allegedly happened more than 30 years ago.

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What he and others don't understand, however, is that victims don't need a Pavlov's dog reaction to their assault for it to be true. Due to shame, and the kind of victim-blaming we're seeing play out right before our eyes, women who have been sexually assaulted or raped hardly ever come forward. The bleak amount of rapists that are convicted, or even make it to trial, prove this.

I know that's why I didn't.

Six years ago, a male friend sexually assaulted me in college. He wasn't famous, nor did he have a ton of money or influence over my life. I was not scared of him. But I never reported it. How could I? He was my friend. I blamed myself and wished I had been more direct. I didn't want to make things awkward or ruin what I thought was a friendship, so I handled it like most victims do: I pretended it never happened.

Outside my closest friends, I never even spoke of it at all. Life went on as usual, aside from the glances I'd steal, and wonder in the moments we were alone if he remembered what happened.

I graduated, moved to New York City, and have since lived a decently happy life.



I even, to this very day, still talk to him.

But I know that if he were running for president years after the fact, after years of my silence, I would have to say something -- especially if other women came forward. And I shudder to think that when I did, no one would believe me.

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This is why it disgusts me to see Americans turn their backs on women and put the fame and likeability of a man with multiple accusations against him over the statistically probable experiences of women. Not just as wives, daughters or mothers but as people.

My assaulter is smart and funny. He's good to his friends and has a supportive family. I don't even know if he remembers what happened or if he knows how when he carried me up to my bedroom against my wishes (I did say "no") and stuck his fingers into my body as I laid there in a half-conscious stupor, something changed in me.

I don't know if he knows that what he did was wrong, or if he took my silence, and my it-never-happened way of handling trauma, as a sign that we were cool. That nothing really did happen and it was just a drunken hookup. I don't know if he knows that I still didn't want what happened to occur because "I didn't try" to stop it when reality, I didn't have the strength to stop it.

But none of those things means it didn't happen. None of those things mean that I'm a liar.

Yet that is something those who still support Trump, those who use that hashtag, and those who wonder Doesn't it seem weird they're coming forward now, will never understand.

I've never spoken publicly about my assault, because I refused to "be a victim." I refused to believe that something like this could happen to me. I refused to carry the weight of having someone I cared about so much betray me -- and not even know it. Instead, I blamed myself.

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But in the wake of Trump, and in honor of the women who have come forward now, I need to accept my truth.
Republican U.S. presidential nominee Donald Trump speaks during the presidential town hall debate with Democratic U.S. presidential nominee Hillary Clinton at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, U.S., October 9, 2016. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY

This post originally appeared on The American Prospect.

According to post-debate instant polls and based on the continuing defection of other leading Republicans, Hillary Clinton evidently did well enough in Sunday night's debate. But had she been a little more alert and less scripted, she might have demolished Donald Trump, once and for all.

Trump came into the debate on the verge of a total meltdown, with Republican elected officials deserting his candidacy by the dozen, his own running mate distancing himself from the candidate, and the nation in a state of disgust over Trump's bragging over his gross sexual exploits.

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Yet when the debate was over, the consensus that Trump has done well enough to survive, even to halt the slide. What might Hillary have said? Here are six examples:

COOPER: Just for the record, though, are you saying that what you said on that bus 11 years ago that you did not actually kiss women without consent or grope women without consent?



TRUMP: I have great respect for women. Nobody has more respect for women than I do.

COOPER: So, for the record, you're saying you never did that?

TRUMP: I've said things that, frankly, you hear these things I said. And I was embarrassed by it. But I have tremendous respect for women.

COOPER: Have you ever done those things?

TRUMP: And women have respect for me. And I will tell you: No, I have not. And I will tell you that I'm going to make our country safe. We're going to have borders in our country, which we don't have now.



CLINTON (should have said): Donald, who do you think you are kidding? The record is full of disgusting sexual boasts of how you hit on women, how you degrade women. Either you were lying in your boasts, or you are lying now. Either way, the claim that you have tremendous respect for women is the biggest lie of all.



TRUMP (from the transcript): They always blame Russia. And the reason they blame Russia because they think they're trying to tarnish me with Russia. I know nothing about Russia.

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CLINTON (should have said): Donald, that might be the one true thing you've said tonight. You didn't know that Russia had invaded Crimea. You believe that Putin is bombing Aleppo in Syria to get rid of ISIS, when in fact he is bombing Aleppo to prop up his puppet, Bashar al-Assad, who is responsible for hundreds of thousands of deaths--and is one of the leading causes of the rise of ISIS. You think Vladimir Putin is a role model. You say you and he can get along--you think alike--that's evident from the way you would trash our democracy. But on Russia, on Syria, like on so much else, you just don't know what you're talking about. You spout nonsense, you make it up as you go along.

TRUMP (from the transcript, on his plan to increase competition in health insurance by allowing competition across state lines): You're going to have plans that are so good, because we're going to have so much competition in the insurance industry. Once we break out--once we break out the [state] lines and allow the competition to come.

CLINTON (should have said): Once again, Donald is displaying his complete ignorance of how it actually works. Competition across state lines doesn't result in better or cheaper insurance. Do you know how insurance companies actually compete? They compete by recruiting healthy people and avoiding sick people. That's why we need to regulate them to protect people from being denied insurance or having their rates jacked up because of pre-existing conditions. Donald lives in a parallel universe of his own imagination.



TRUMP (from the transcript): She complains that Donald Trump took advantage of the tax code. Well, why didn't she change it? Why didn't you change it when you were a senator?



CLINTON (should have said): Donald, possibly you know that there are 100 members of the Senate, and I was just one? For most of the years that I served in the Senate, the Republicans were in the majority. Whenever we tried to make the tax code more just, so that working families could get a break and billionaires like you would pay their fair share, the Republicans kept cutting taxes on the very rich. If I am elected, I will fight to change that.

TRUMP (from the transcript): Hillary Clinton wants to put all the miners out of business. There is a thing called clean coal. Coal will last for 1,000 years in this country.

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CLINTON (should have said): We owe the coal miners a better life, and we need a program of redevelopment and good jobs for the coal country. But Donald is blowing smoke when he tells the miners and their communities that he has a magic plan to bring back coal and coal mining jobs. For one thing, so much of the mining is being done by machines, and that will only increase. There are only 83,000 coal mining jobs left in America. For another thing, coal is just no longer price competitive with other forms of energy such as natural gas. Even solar is cheaper than coal. But we owe the miners, their communities, and their families a better life. We can't throw them away like the coal companies threw away their mountains and rivers. And when I am president, these communities will have new opportunities in new, clean industries.



TRUMP (from the transcript): If I win, I am going to instruct my attorney general to get a special prosecutor to look into your situation, because there has never been so many lies, so much deception.

CLINTON (should have said): Donald, you may have missed this in civics class, but one of the things that makes America a democracy is that the winners of elections don't try to put their opponents in jail. Your pal Putin does that, but Americans don't.

OK, Clinton didn't say any of this. And she let Trump tell a number of outright lies.

Her handlers have concluded that it's best for her to hang back and be presidential, and let Trump come across as a crazy man. The strategy partly works. But time and again, Trump has displayed an uncanny ability to come back from the dead, by breaking all the rules.

In the last debate, the moderator will be Chris Wallace from Fox. You can bet that he will be fair and balanced in the usual Fox fashion.

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The past year has been a crucial time in international climate negotiations. In December, 2015, in Paris, negotiators established an agreement on the next round of targets and actions to succeed the Kyoto Protocol, which was signed in 1997 and will effectively close down in 2020. In Paris, negotiators set up a new and meaningful agreement for multinational action through individual country "Intended Nationally Determined Contributions" (INDCs). The Paris round was crucial, because it expanded the coalition of contributions from countries responsible for 14% of global emissions under Kyoto (Europe and New Zealand) to 187 countries responsible for 96% of emissions under the Paris Agreement.

California's Role in Global Climate Change Policy

California sent a delegation to the Paris talks. While not officially a party to the negotiations, California government officials attended to show support for broad and meaningful action. For many years, spurring action beyond California's borders has been the key rationale for developing a California-based climate policy. This began with Assembly Bill 32 (AB 32), the Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006. Initially, the focus was on encouraging action within the United States, including federal legislation, state-level actions, and multi-state compacts, but subsequent domestic action turned out to be much less than originally anticipated. As a result, California's focus shifted to the international domain.

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This is a good time to consider how the State can best demonstrate leadership on this global stage. Action by all key countries, including the large emerging economies  China, India, Brazil, Korea, and South Africa  will be necessary to meaningfully address the climate problem. Significant multinational contributions will be necessary to avoid having California's aggressive in-state actions be for naught. Absent such multilateral action, ambitious California policies do little or nothing to address the real problem.

But California can play a very important role by showing leadership  in two key ways. One is to demonstrate a commitment to meaningful reductions in (greenhouse gas) GHG emissions. In this regard, California has more than met the bar, with policies that are as aggressive as  if not more aggressive than  those of most countries.

Can California Provide a Good Model of Progressive Policy?

Unfortunately, California's climate policy has not relied heavily on its cap-and-trade system to achieve state targets. Furthermore, rather than increasing reliance on this innovative market-based climate policy over time, recent proposals have doubled-down on the use of less efficient conventional policies to achieve GHG reductions. While some of these so-called "complementary policies" can be valuable under particular circumstances, they can also create severe problems.

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One example of this is the attempt to employ aggressive sector-based targets through technology-driven policies, such as the Low Carbon Fuels Standard (LCFS). In the presence of a binding cap-and-trade regime, the LCFS has the perverse effect of relocating carbon dioxide (CO) emissions to other sectors but not reducing net emissions, while driving up statewide abatement costs, and suppressing allowance prices in the cap-and-trade market, thereby reducing incentives for technological change. That is bad news all around. These perverse outcomes render such policies of little interest or value to other regions of the world.

The magnitude of the economic distortion is illustrated by the fact that allowances in the California cap-and-trade market have recently been trading in the range of $12 to $13 per ton of CO, while LCFS credits have traded this summer for about $80 per ton of CO.

While reduction in transportation sector GHG emissions is clearly an important long-run objective of an effective climate policy, if the approach taken to achieving such reductions is unnecessarily costly, it will be of little use to most of the world, which has much less financial wealth than California and the United States, and will therefore be much less inclined to follow the lead on such costly policies.

The Path Ahead
SPOILER ALERT: The pilot episode is discussed in length here.

I didn't think twice about my decision to watch HBO's new original series, Divorce, starring Sarah Jessica Parker. Sex and the City is still one of my all-time favorite shows so I was particularly interested in seeing Parker's return to the cable network. I had a feeling that the material was going to be good.

And it was...very good.

The story revolves around a modern, successful woman, Frances, played by Parker. She has what our modern society deems the evidence needed to have it all. She's married with two healthy teenage kids, a son and a daughter. She has a seemingly (I say seemingly due to the fact we didn't get to see her in action because she plays hooky) successful career. She has the house. She has the looks and the clothes. She even has great, albeit slightly unhinged, friends.

Yet, she's unhappy.

Her connection with her husband, Robert, played by Thomas Haden Church is clearly the missing link, illustrated by the middle finger she gives him behind his back within the opening scene. A scene that 99% of married couples can identify with - a disagreement involving bathroom etiquette.

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But it wasn't until we meet Molly Shannon's character, Frances' friend, Diane, and attend her 50 birthday party that the word 'divorce' makes an appearance. Diane's marriage to Nick, played by Tracy Letts, is filled with mutual disgust and disrespect for the other spouse. Rude comments, sarcastic jabs and passive aggressive put downs fly freely between them until drunken Diane takes it a bit too far by taking out a handgun. She shoots a lamp on accident and manages to give her husband a serious heart attack.

Witnessing the whole thing, Frances freaks out about what she has seen between her friend and husband. Initially, Robert believes she's upset about him nearly losing his life, having been less than a foot away from the ill-fated lamp when the gun went off. But being confronted with the frailty of life didn't make Frances scared of losing Robert but instead prompts her to ask him for a divorce.

She declares that she doesn't love him anymore and wants out while she cares enough about her life to do something about it. He's so shocked by it that he immediately throws up his fondue. Although it's hard to imagine that he didn't see it coming, it's easy to believe.

And Frances sticks to her guns about it despite Robert's only solution - sex. She, of course, isn't interested and is clearly past the point where sex can solve anything.

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And we believe her until...

Our heroine plays hooky from work to have sex with her lover, Julian - a Columbia University professor with a penchant for granola and having 'dirty secret sex' with a married woman with children.

Her friend, Dallas, played by Talia Balsam, warns her over the perils of divorce during the train ride over to his place. Frances may very well end up alone because there are slim pickings out in the single world. But Frances isn't worried because she admits she may be in love with Julian.

Interestingly, Frances finds out quickly she's been confusing great sex for love when Julian freaks out by her recent decision to divorce Robert and her request to stay with him for a few days.

This causes Frances to backpedal on her decision and instead, attempts to rekindle her marriage, excusing her behavior as temporary shock from her friend's fight. Although I was bummed (kind of the same way I was bummed when Carrie didn't send Mr. Big packing in the finale after all his years of indecisive BS in Sex in the City) that she lost courage to go through the divorce, it was believable that she would question her decision. After all, divorce is a big deal.

And for a moment, we think that maybe this couple has a chance.

Until Robert rightly suspects France's mysterious phone call from "J" is the real catalyst for her out-of-the-blue divorce request, calls the number back to learn that she's been having a year-long affair and now wants his own divorce, successfully locking her out of the house.

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I have to say despite the sour subject matter, I really enjoyed watching this story. Each actor was able to portray their character's marital woes in a grounded way; yet, with a lightness that made it easily digestible.

I also loved how the story was thought provoking...

Does complacency play a role in every long-term relationship?

Does the length of a marriage mean more to us than the quality of it?

What does a happy marriage even look like?

Many people will relate to Frances' plight of not knowing where the line is between a marriage going through normal ups and downs and one where it's truly time to move on because happiness between these now two different people is no longer achievable. After all, there are so many opinions about marriage and what it should or should not be, the confusion is easy to understand.
As Stoptober approaches its 4thyear, questions over the legitimacy and safety of electronic cigarettes still continues. Health questions surrounding vaping have since been answered by the British Government Watchdog Public Health English (PHE). However, public opinion still remains divided, with many still unsure as to the official government line due to conflicting reports from sensationalist newspapers. The confusion has also been felt in the workplace with employers failing to accommodate the needs of electronic cigarette users.

E Cigs are less harmful yet tabloids have confused the public

The use of electronic cigarettes or 'vaping' has been proven as the best 'harm reduction' alternative to tobacco. This fact is supported by the NHS who have suggested that electronic cigarettes are 95% less harmful than tobacco. The government line then is clear, so why are people still confused as to the health benefits when switching to e-cigarettes? The problem lies in the fact that the scientifically led information has been devalued by sensationalist arguments and tabloid spin. This has consequently muddied the waters of fact and fiction when it comes to the safety and health implications of electronic cigarettes. Reports such as the Daily Stars' which claims that vaping adverts could lead children to try smoking devalues the true scientific evidence and backing for the sake of a controversial story. This in turn is blurring the facts for smokers which in the long run is preventing them from making the healthier switch away from tobacco.

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The public's negative opinions on electronic cigarettes is backed up by the results of the US-based STAT-Harvard poll which found that 65% of adults still believe that e-cigarettes are harmful to people who use them. As long as the uncertainty remains - employers and managers are ensuring that electronic cigarette users are treated in the same way as tobacco smokers.

E Cigarettes in the Workplace

Research has found that 55% of people don't believe that vapers should have separate areas away from tobacco smokers at work. This is despite new guidelines set out by the British Government Watchdog Public Health English (PHE) which encourages the idea of vaping areas whilst at work.

Professor Kevin Fenton, National Director of health and wellbeing at PHE, said: "The evidence is clear that vaping is much less harmful than smoking and that e-cigarettes are helping many smokers to quit.

"This new framework will encourage organisations to consider both the benefits and the risks when developing their own policies on e-cigarettes.

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"Different approaches will be appropriate in different places, but policies should take account of the evidence and clearly distinguish vaping from smoking."

With government bodies such as the PHE and institutions such as the NHS categorically backing electronic cigarettes as a less harmful alternative to cigarettes, why is it that companies are still imposing such strict rules of their employers?

The Habit Loop

So why is it so important to treat electronic cigarette users differently to tobacco smokers? Vaping in the same areas as tobacco smokers undermines a vapers decision to quit smoking by forcing them to continue certain habits associated with smoking tobacco. This habit loop, as it is scientifically known, is a cognitive process which associates habits with a certain feeling of pleasure. For many ex-smokers, the act of standing outside or the smell of tobacco smoke can re-enforce the habit loop associated with smoking cigarettes and can, therefore, increase cravings.

Vaping Habits in the Workplace

Smokers and electronic cigarette users also differ in their addiction needs. The PHE have suggested that vapers need more breaks than that of a smoker. This is because vaping provides a lower levels of nicotine than tobacco smokers and therefore need to vape 'little and often'. Despite these statistics, only 24% of people believe that e-cigarette smokers should be allowed extra time for breaks at work.

A possible solution to this would be to allow vapers to vape whilst working. This would eradicate the need for constant breaks and would satisfy the PHE's recommendations for separating tobacco smokers and vapers. Although an obvious issue to this solution would be the effect this would have on colleagues who don't vape. The advice from the PHE states that vaper can be irritating to people with asthma and other respiratory conditions. This solution would simply be causing another issue and is therefore not practical for the workplace.

One alternative to this would be to provide designated areas for e-cigarette users to vape, away from both traditional smokers and nonsmokers. Therefore, giving vapers the best opportunities to stop smoking by providing a safe and convenient place away for the temptation of tobacco cigarettes. Another possible alternative would be to provide a vaping room; this would include an indoor area or section where vapers can separate themselves from both tobacco smokers and non-smokers.

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ELKO  A group of second-graders at Northside Elementary received a new way to learn about geology when Get in the Act came to their classroom.

Get in the Act is a small group of educators who use acting and improvisation to better engage young students in lessons about science.

The lesson plan for the young students at Northside called for them to learn about rocks, and Lead Teaching Artist Diane Handzel led the class of 15 in a series of skits where students described different characteristics of rocks and minerals Get in the Act brought into the classroom.

Program manager Gary Handzel said Diane Handzel started the program in 2009 after realizing the similarities between science and theater.

Theater and science are just a natural fit, he said. There is a natural parallel between theater and science. They both use questioning and hypothesizing and investigation and drawing conclusions.

Gary Handzel also noted that the program is important for emphasizing science when schools generally focus on math and language arts.

Diane Handzel started her work in education at Chicagos Children Museum where she wrote curriculum to integrate the arts into her lessons. In addition to emphasis being taken away from science, Diane said she noticed many schools in the state have limited art programs and sees Get in the Act as filling a crucial void.

Drama has been used for a very long time to teach other subjects, she said. Once we came out West we realized there was a mandate to teach reading and math so schools are no longer doing drama or science, and fill a void in a lot of the schools.

The samples of rocks and minerals are a key component to making the learning experience hands on for the students.

With different types of rocks in front of them, the students learned ways to categorize them while understanding which makes each sample different from another one. Children would then be pulled from the audience to participate in a skit that highlighted knowing the difference between the samples.

Gary Handzel said the experience of having their science lesson supplemented with a fun activity is a better way to reach young students.

Because the students have such a memorable experience acting out a scene, they learn and retain the content they just acted out in that scene, he said. They enjoy it so much. They are laughing; they are working with peers, so it the action of doing it, that plants it firmly in their mind.

The program is sustained with the help of several sponsors including, Joyglobal, Newmont Mining Corp., Barrick Gold Corp., and Silver Standard.

With the help of their sponsors, Get in the Act has been serving school across Nevada since 2009 and has brought its unique lesson plan to more than 10,000 students over the years.

After its stop in Northside, the program will continue on to Wells, Battle Mountain and Winnemucca. Over the next few school visits, Diane Handzel hope to create a fun learning environment while showing the real life impact of their lessons.

Because were showing how we use the rocks in our everyday lives it provides better recall, she said. It just gives them a firmer understanding.
Michelle Obama's speech today may have just changed the fate of this election. At least, it should.

Her words need to be heard by anyone with a beating heart because election has gone far past a joke, or a heated political campaign. This election has caused a rift within our society that is resonating internationally.

Win or lose, Trump made our world uglier. I don't want any reality shows from him after this, no cutesy late night sketches. I want nothing.  billy eichner (@billyeichner) October 13, 2016

But like the super-woman she is, Michelle Obama delivered a speech that will go down in history as an iconic FLOTUS moment. During a Clinton campaign stop in New Hampshire, she deliver her rousing speech about what's at stake this election with the sincerity and impact we all needed today. Especially in the wake of Trump's recent meltdown and blatant admittance to sexual assault.

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"The fact is that, in this election, we have a candidate for president of the United States who over the course of his lifetime, and the course of this campaign, has said things about women that are so shocking, so demeaning that I simply will not repeat anything here today. And last week, we saw this candidate actually bragging about sexually assaulting women. I can't believe that I'm saying that a candidate for president of the United States has bragged about sexually assaulting women. And I have to tell you that I can't stop thinking about this. It has shaken me to my core in a way that I couldn't have predicted."

Without even mentioning Trump, only referring to him as Hillary's opponent or simply 'the candidate', Michelle conveyed incredible conviction with every word delivered. "This is not something that we can ignore. This is not something that we can sweep under the rug as just another disturbing footnote in a sad election season because this was not just a lewd conversation. This wasn't just locker room banter. This was a powerful individual speaking freely and openly about sexually predatory behavior... It's one of countless examples of how he has treated women his whole life."

First Lady Obama continued, "And I have to tell you that I listen to all of this, and I feel it so personally. And I'm sure that many of you do, too, particularly the women. The shameful comments about our bodies. The disrespect of our ambitions and intellect. The belief that you can do anything you want to a woman. It is cruel. It's frightening. And the truth is, it hurts. It hurts... We thought all of that was ancient history, didn't we?"

The next part of First Lady Obama's speech especially hit home for me as a young woman because again this election has become so much more than voting for a political leader. This campaign has become a symbol magnifying what's right and what's not. The fact that the argument that a woman's right to vote should be repealed in order to elect Trump is simply disgusting, insulting, and sad.

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As Obama put it so perfectly, "we're hearing these exact same things every day of the campaign trail. We are drowning in it. And all of us are doing what women have always done. We're trying to keep our heads above water. Just trying to get through it, trying to pretend like this doesn't really bother us.

"None of us deserve this kind of abuse. And I know it's a campaign, but this isn't about politics. It's about basic human decency. It's about right and wrong and we simply cannot endure this or expose our children to this any longer. Not for another minute, let alone for four years. Now is the time for all of us to stand up and say 'enough is enough.'"

And enough is enough. I am happy that in a little over a month's time the election will be over, but I'm also absolutely petrified that this political climate has such racist/sexist/hurtful undertones that the bigot that Trump is could even be elected as a major party representative. So my fear now isn't will or won't Hillary secure the presidency - although the thought frequently crosses my head - but will the damage done in the country, and the rest of the world, still somehow make it okay to think and say these hurtful, racist, sexist and derogatory things.

"See, we know that Hillary is the right person for the job because we've seen her character and commitment not just in this campaign but over the course of her entire life ... Hillary has been a lawyer, a law professor, First Lady of Arkansas, First Lady of the United States, a U.S. Senator, Secretary of State. And she has been successful in every role, gaining more experience and exposure to the presidency than any candidate in our lifetime. More than Barack. More than Bill. And, yes, she happens to be a woman.

"And remember, we won't just be setting a bad example for our kids, but for our entire world. Because for so long America has been a model for countries across the globe -- pushing them to educate their girls, insisting that they give more rights to their women. But if we have a president who routinely degrades women, who brags about sexually assaulting women, then how can we maintain our moral authority in the world? How can we continue to be a beacon of freedom and justice and human dignity? Well, fortunately, New Hampshire, here's the beauty: we have everything we need to stop this madness. You see while our mothers and grandmothers were often powerless to change their circumstances, today we, as women, have all the power we need to determine the outcome of this election. We have knowledge. We have a voice. We have a vote. And November the 8th, we as women, we as Americans, we as decent human beings, can come together and declare that enough is enough, that we do not tolerate this kind of behavior in this country."

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Mic drop. Michelle 2024 (just saying).
Over the past week, we've seen two breakthroughs on the issue of taxing Wall Street speculation - one in the United States and one in Europe.

In the United States, one of the hacked emails posted on Wikileaks contains a juicy note from Gene Sperling suggesting Hillary Clinton is more supportive of this idea than previously known.

Sperling, a former National Economic Advisor to Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, wrote in February 2016 that he favored "a broad, thin financial transaction tax" (i.e., one covering a wide range of financial instruments, with a low tax rate applied to each trade).

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To blunt Wall Street's line that such a tax would hurt the stock market and pension values, Sperling proposed that revenue go towards middle class retirement savings or Social Security. This would be a major "Wall Street pays for Main Street" proposal and Clinton "seemed open" to it, Sperling wrote.

So why didn't the presidential candidate tout this proposal during the primaries? Prior to Sperling's email, she had proposed only a very limited tax on "excessive" cancellations of stock trades. Otherwise, Clinton remained silent on the issue throughout the spring.

Sperling's email offers a clue. While noting that taking a supportive position "would clearly help in the primary," he was also sensitive to another aide's concern that in doing so, "we may look like we are just copying Bernie." Sanders had been plugging a bold tax on speculation to pay for higher education.

The news that Sperling, as mainstreamy a Democrat as you could find, is not only supportive of a financial transaction tax, but actively (and apparently successfully) urging Clinton to support it, is encouraging. And it lends extra weight to the favorable language on this issue that progressives were able to insert in the Democratic Party Platform.

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Meanwhile, across the Atlantic, governments from 10 EU countries that have committed to implementing the world's first regional coordinated tax on financial transactions have met a key deadline.

On October 10, finance ministers from the participating countries (Belgium, Germany, Greece, Spain, France, Italy, Austria, Portugal, Slovenia, and Slovakia) announced they'd reached agreement on the "core engine" of their tax.

While a few design issues are still outstanding, Peter Wahl, a closer observer of the negotiations from his perch at the German research group WEED, said that "at this point, only a very major catastrophe could prevent the proposed tax from becoming a reality."

Leading up to this meeting, the main obstacle was a conservative Belgian finance minister's resistance to taxing derivatives trades. Reducing the scope of the tax to only stock transactions would've cut projected revenues by about 80 percent.

Under stiff public pressure, the Belgian government backed down and agreed to a plan to cover all derivatives, with the exception of those based on sovereign debt. And even this exception is expected to be phased out after an initial a transition period.

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According to Wahl, another very positive element of the "core engine" is that it incorporates two important anti-avoidance mechanisms --one based on residence (a transaction will be taxable if at least one of the parties resides in a participating EU member state) and another based on issuance (a transaction will be taxable if the instrument is issued in one of those countries).

As for the outstanding issues, the big one is tax rates. Negotiators had not planned to tackle these in the core engine agreement, but will need to make decisions soon. Pushing for rates that are high enough to generate substantial revenue and discourage short-term speculation will be a focal point of civil society pressure in the coming months.

The finance ministers also left questions about the inclusion of pension funds unresolved. Belgium, one of only a handful of EU nations without a purely public pension system, wants to exclude them. There may also be a push to exempt hedging by "real economy" companies, such as airline purchases of oil futures contracts as a shield from price volatility.

David Hillman, of the London-based Stamp Out Poverty and a leading player in the European campaign for a financial transaction tax, pointed out another major win coming out of the October 10 meeting: finance ministers committed to producing legislative text for the tax by December 6. "This gives a sharp, tight deadline for the remaining work to be completed," Hillman said.

After the October 10 meeting, German finance minister Wolfgang Schauble announced his intention to put the financial transaction tax on the agenda of the next G20 summit, which Germany will be hosting in July 2017 in Hamburg.

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On October 11th, we celebrate Day of the Girl but we have a long way to go before achieving gender parity. Fifteen million girls are married before their 18th birthday; 62 million girls are not in school; and 1.1 billion girls and women around the world are excluded from the formal financial system.



Yes, progress has been made over the past several decades, but it hasnt been enough. And if we want to accomplish Global Goal #5  achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls  by 2030, we need to make a move now.



Just about one year ago, McKinsey & Company released a report entitled How advancing womens equality can add $12 trillion to global growth. Yes, you read that correctly: $12 trillion. So lets focus for a moment on the financial gender gap. In the U.S., The Census Bureau calculates that the median woman makes 79 cents for every dollar paid to the median man. In developing countries, there are 200 million more male cell phone owners than women, excluding an unprecedented amount of women from access to mobile financial services.



Closing the gender gap entails giving women access to employment and financial mechanisms. And giving women the chance to become financially independent and make the most of their talents is the key to higher living standards and stronger economies. But advancement is going to take all of us: the nonprofit, private, and public sectors together.



At SHE, weve spent a lot of time thinking about how to get women into jobs that are they arent usually seen in. We thought of different ways to describe and promote (manufacturing) jobs that are typically filled by men, sourced different recommenders, and pushed back on typical recruitment channels. For example, the head of the national technical we work with in Rwanda initially gave us only male candidates for manufacturing production positions because he assumed manufacturing would only suit men. We pushed back and asked for female candidates (who were only given vocational sewing classes initially). Because we wanted female candidates, the technical schools nationally started including women in more diverse classes like the brickmaking/laying class.



There was a ripple effect as more gender balanced recruitment, retention, and promotion came from gatekeepers, but also girls and women themselves started confirming their identity in their new roles. Marie-Louise, our new lead production manager stated, "I never thought I could work in production, but once I did I have such pride in the things I make that are helping my fellow Rwandans."



And at PIMCO, cultivating an inclusive and cognitively diverse culture is a top priority. For us, this initiative is not about quotas, affirmative action, or creating special benefits for any group of employees. We believe that our objectives can be achieved through recognizing, learning, and changing our behaviors and beliefs, resulting in better business outcomes.



Weve spent a lot of time working to reduce biases in our talent management processes and ramp up leadership development. We bring in experts like Mahzarin Banaji, Herminia Ibarra, Joanna Barsh, Stewart Friedman, Lori Nishiura Mackenzie, and Scott Page to educate our staff about centered leadership, unconscious bias, cognitive diversity, and seeing/blocking bias. We offer mentoring programs to both women and men, and in our recruitment process, we are more aggressive now about getting women onto the candidate slates and among those who interview.



The firm also recently hired a new Inclusion, Diversity and Culture Officer  this position will sit in our Executive Office and report to our president.



We are all responsible to change the status quo which is why SHE and the PIMCO Foundation, PIMCOs philanthropic arm, formed a partnership reinforcing their commitment to gender parity in 2015. While we each take action in our separate institutions, we pursue disruptive innovation together. The PIMCO Foundation provides the financial support for SHE to design opportunities to benefit Rwandan girls and women. But our partnership is not transactional, nor is it limited to check-writing. Team members from the PIMCO Pro Bono Corps are helping SHE create a growth plan for franchising. We also support each other by serving as inspiration catalysts. By partnering together, we're hoping to collectively produce greater returns for women, our organizations, and communities.



If we want to live in a world where there are no more child brides, where girls can stay in school and learn, and where girls and women are financially empowered, then we need to work together. We cant do this work alone and in silos  its much too important and much too large. Together, we must pursue a more integrated approach that enables girls and women to thrive. The key to advancing girls and women is partnerships; its challenging, and it will make all the difference.



So, in honor of Day of the Girl, let us recognize the achievements made and let us forcefully commit to ensuring girls and women live safe, educated and healthy lives. After all, our collective future is tied to the status of girls and women.
Saving money to travel can be tough. There are plenty of methods out there and about a million articles spouting tips for pocketing more money to save for trips. However, all of the little tips and tricks are not always so feasible. If you really want to make a financial difference in your life, try becoming a minimalist and see how far you will go.

I adopted a minimalist way of life after meeting a couple of digital nomads while living in Chiang Mai, Thailand. The digital nomads (people who travel around while working online) were able to achieve their lifestyle by scaling down their lives, ridding themselves of unnecessary possessions, and only investing in items that truly improved their quality of life. I saw people traveling around the world with only one small backpack and never felt like they didn't have exactly what they needed.

After spending a significant amount of my savings on traveling around the world, I returned back home to pick up the pieces. I started to think about different ways to save money that didn't involve working multiple jobs. It then dawned on me that I could take from the teachings of my minimalist friends who were traveling the world. I began to do a bit of research, watch some videos online and personally contact people to see how I could scale down my life in an attempt to scale it up.

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Taking a little bit of advice from a whole host of people, I began to test the waters of this new way of living and thinking. There was a ton of trial and error but I eventually realized what was most necessary for me to live a high quality of life while saving money and still being comfortable. I started with my closet and decided to donate all of the clothes, shoes and accessories that I didn't wear or use. I did the same thing in every room of my home including my kitchen, bathroom and living spaces. I got as much of the clutter out as possible to help me think and act with a clear mind that was free of visual distractions.

After getting rid of what wasn't needed, I looked deeper into the things that I used on a daily basis and looked for ways to improve them. I spent some initial money on upgrading what was most important to me. Instead of having three sauce pans that were just OK, I threw them all away and invested in just one that was top notch. I did this with my mattress so that I could give myself the quality sleep that was needed to have the most energy and productivity in my day and even bought some high end clothing items that would last me years longer than the cheap ones that I kept buying.
Job burnout is precarious in any industry. But when it comes to the business of caregiving, the dignity and security of our families is at stake. Simply put, quality work conditions enable quality care.

In the "caring industry," only a win-win solution can work. Tech companies, who facilitate the relationship between workers and families and who are driving the future of the industry, must play a significant role in ensuring that this future works for both the givers and receivers of care. Caregivers who are respected for what they do and who earn a living wage are not only able to support themselves and their families better but are also able to provide top quality care to the families they serve.

I saw first-hand how difficult it is to secure good home care when my family managed the care for my sister with Multiple Sclerosis and my uncle who fought the battle with ALS for seven years. I found our options for finding the right caregivers to be extremely costly, while the caregivers who worked with and helped my family struggled to financially support their own families.

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Last week, Governor Jerry Brown signed SB 1015, known as the 2016 Domestic Workers Bill of Rights, into law ensuring that California's 300,000 domestic workers, including in-home caregivers, have permanent overtime protections. This bill is historic because since the 1930s, these workers have been left out of the basic labor protections that most Americans have come to take for granted.

Having worked with caregivers for over a decade, I applaud Governor Brown and the California State Legislature for raising the standards for fair working conditions. By permanently securing overtime protections for domestic workers, Governor Brown and the Legislature have reversed the unjust conditions that have affected workers who are disproportionately low income, women, and people of color. I am proud that California is one of the first states in the country to adopt the Domestic Workers Bill of Rights.

Raising standards such as these could not be more necessary and timely. According to Ai-jen Poo, the Executive Director of the National Domestic Workers Alliance and author of The Age of Dignity, the percentage of the U.S. population that is over 65 will be one in five by 2030. Meanwhile, the 2014 national median turnover rate for caregivers was 61.6 percent. The need for care will only increase, and our standards must keep pace to ensure we can meet the demand for high quality care.

So, signing SB 1015 into law is indeed historic but it isn't enough. Enforcement cannot fall on the Legislature or the workers alone. Rather, care companies, particularly those in the tech sector, have the opportunity to lead. For too long, our industry functioned like the "wild west," where individual companies set worker standards. Now that the law has resolved what the standard should be, tech platforms and marketplaces should embrace these protections as what is right for both workers and customers. One of the steps we have taken on our platform, for example, is providing a seamless way to track worker hours and to process payroll, making it as easy as possible for families to compensate caregivers on the books and in line with the newly enacted domestic worker overtime law.

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Another way for tech platforms and marketplaces to embrace quality work conditions is to sign on to the Good Work Code. This Code, created by the National Domestic Workers Alliance, lays out eight values on which "good work" is built and provides guidance for companies to change their culture and policies to improve the quality of both the jobs they offer and the services they provide.

Most employers and families want to do the right thing. And they know that the quality of their care is intimately connected with the well-being of their caregiver. After significant pressure from social movements, the government has taken an incredible step forward in paving the high road and shutting off the low one. Now is the time for the private sector to do its part to create an economy that cares for all of us.

California's caregivers and the families who employ them deserve it. And the future well-being of all our families demand it.


As of 2012, there were more than 31 million mothers with children under the age of 18 in the United States alone. About 70 percent of them were working moms, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. That's more than 21 million women trying to find job where they are accepted both as professionals and as mothers.

After becoming a mother herself, journalist Katharine Zaleski realized that many workplace cultures are set up for men. She wanted to help women be valued for their productivity instead of judged for their status as moms. In 2014, Katharine left journalism to team up with technology expert Milena Berry to found PowertoFly, a company dedicated to matching women with tech-related jobs all over the world. Now more than 1,000 companies--including brands such as Hearst, Buzzfeed and Time, Inc.--are using PowertoFly to find diverse female talent to grow their teams.

Skirting the Rules caught up with Katharine at a Chantelle Art of Being Salon in Manhattan to learn about how one of the greatest successes of PowertoFly is that it allows more talented women to be seen by the tech-company executives who are doing the hiring, which can be a challenge if you're a woman in this traditionally male-dominated field and even more so if you've taken time off to raise kids. PowertoFly's platform features optimized search and sourcing tools and targeted job promotions that make it easier for women to be connected with the best job fit. This platform also benefits tech companies, opening the door to qualified talent and more diversity and speeding up the hiring process.

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According to the U.S. Census Bureau, over 80 percent of women will become mothers by the time they reach their forties. And if 70 percent of them are working, that adds up to a lot of moms who will be looking for companies that value diversity. By making it easier for qualified women in tech to be connected with companies who are making diversity a priority, PowertoFly could be helping generations of women to come.

And it also helps tech companies. For example, when it comes to meeting deadlines, Katharine believes moms have an advantage. After working with so many mothers through PowertoFly, where 50 percent of staff members are moms, Katharine believes that moms make for some of the most productive employees. "Moms work hard to meet deadlines because they have a powerful motivation--they want to be sure they can make dinner, pick a child up from school, and yes, get to the gym for themselves," she says in a Fortune.com article.

Moreover, having women on your team can help your company's bottom line. Studies show that diverse teams perform better than non-diverse teams, in part because a larger mix of experiences and ideas leads to more creative solutions. So it's no wonder PowertoFly is taking off around the world. "We've been able to build [it] into the fastest-growing platform where companies find women who want to join their inclusive cultures," Katharine says. This is a win for working moms, who will better thrive in a corporate culture where they are valued for what they can bring to the table rather than held back because of their gender, as well as tech companies, who will usher in more creative teams by encouraging diversity.

Reporting by Jessica Demarest

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Exploring Voyageurs National Park in Minnesota under a technicolor sky. Photo credit: Jonathan Irish

Voyageurs | noun.

A boatman employed by the fur companies in transporting goods and passengers to and from trading posts. Originally from French, literally 'voyager', from voyager 'to travel'. -- Oxford Dictionary

Just five hours of quiet driving on country roads north of the Twin Cities in Minnesota resides Voyageurs National Park, one of only three national parks in the American Midwest. The theme of this park is water - 84,000 acres of freshwater highways that enfold nearly 900 islands and shore off the north woods. In the 18th and 19th centuries, voyageurs--French-Canadian fur traders who traveled by canoe--careened the interconnected waterways of the Great Lakes into the interior country, opening up trade routes with Native American tribes. The voyageurs sought highly fashionable beaver hats that were at the time coveted by Europeans; in support, native peoples set them up with food, clothing, medicine, and guidance while they muscled the goods from the wildlands of North America back to Montreal.

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Voyageurs National Park is a wild waterland on the Minnesota/Canada border where anglers, campers, paddlers, and boaters from all over the world find solitude in the northern lakes region. Photo credit: Jonathan Irish

Today, the area is a water-lover's paradise frequented by anglers, boaters, and campers who want to enjoy their summer on the lake in the north country. 55 miles of Minnesota wilderness intertwines the U.S.-Canadian border, and the majority of the park (which is a third water) is comprised of four large interconnected lakes--Rainy, Sand Point, Kabetogama, and Namakan--the last of which we would spend our time exploring intensely...on a houseboat.

Most of the park is accessible only by water, an obvious factor in planning logistics; to see it, we needed to be on it. We'd thought about arranging a canoe camping trip, as canoes are a classic way to traverse the area, and we had a blast exploring Everglades National Park that way earlier this year. As we began making plans we started to notice two things: 1.) There are four main lake areas, vast and not at all close enough to one another to get a solid taste of each in the short amount of time that we had to visit (it was also hard to get a sense of which area was the most photogenic by what we found online); and 2.) Adventure packages for houseboating kept popping up left and right, piquing our interest. This is obviously a special thing to do in Voyageurs so we started calling around to price it out. By the end of the second call, we were all set to hop on a houseboat for four days to explore Voyageurs in a way that sounded totally unique and awesome.

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From Minneapolis-St. Paul we drove 5 hours north until we were at the Voyagaire Lodge, the outfitter and jumping off point to the Crane Lake area of national park waters where we would live in our water-based home for four days. A quick stop at the grocery store on the way to address our eat/drink needs and we were ready to cruise into the national park. Houseboats only travel about 6 knots (7 miles) per hour, so we were cruising a little slowly, but that's what summer is for--lazy days. As we navigated the waters on the open top deck, it was immediately clear that renting a houseboat would be a super fun way to share a short vacation with family or with a group of friends. Designated tie-up spots marked by the National Park Service are located throughout the park, as are backcountry camping spots that have been carved out over the years by other visitors and locals. Most sites have a fire pit; all are first come first served, so expect to wander the water a bit while looking for an open spot, especially in the swell of summer when this area blows up with visitors. We saw a lot of really awesome shore-side camping spots, and we love camping, but never for one minute did we wonder if we had made the right choice to travel Voyageurs by houseboat--it felt special being that it was a new experience for the both of us, and at the same time it is really easy to get dialed and on the water without a lot of fuss. This experience is just awesome--and the best part of all is that it all exists within a pristine national park.

What you will find onboard*:



One of our backcountry tie-up spots. Photo credit: Stefanie Payne





Relaxation on the top deck of our Voyagaire Houseboat. Photo credit: Jonathan Irish

Several beds and sitting areas providing plenty of sleep/lounge space; linens (for an extra fee.)

Refrigerator/freezer, oven, sink, counter space--basically a full-kitchen setup including dishes (don't forget dish soap to clean those dishes before disembarking.)

A full-sized plumbed bathroom (hot water is on a limited-size tank so you won't want to go nuts indulging in a long shower.)

CB radio--so you can call in case of emergency (such as accidentally bottoming out while mistaking a ''rocks' buoy for a 'no wake' buoy [this may or may not have happened]); and to listen in on others' emergencies..."There's a squatch in the woods!"

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An auxiliary outlet--so you can bump some tunes on the water.

A water slide that starts from the top of the boat sloping down into the lake. :)

A gas barbecue!

Upper and lower deck steering wells.

Intermittent cellular service so you can post updates on Instagram and Facebook.

Bugs. These are water vessels and the moisture attracts insects, especially with doors open much of the time. Also, check for ticks--we found a few!

A motorized dingy, required per Coast Guard regulations.

*Amenities found on standard boats, there are various sizes and models available at different pricing.





Having kayaks onboard the houseboat enabled us to scoot off at any time. Photo credit: Jonathan Irish

Extras:

We had a pair of kayaks tied up to the back of the boat allowing us easy opportunities to untie and paddle out to explore remote falls, beaver lagoons, find access to overland hiking trails, and to take advantage of those special instances when the light was spectacular for taking photographs.

The Voyagaire team will meet you on the water for a small fee to restock your vessel with ice, food, beer; to remove trash, whatever. And you don't need to be an expert mariner equipped with GPS coordinates to help them find you--they know the waters like the backs of their hands and will pull on right up aside you for a rendezvous. Amazing!!

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Mr. Visuvanathan Rudrakumaran is Prime Minister of the Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam (TGTE). He is based in New York City.

This interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.

Sri Lanka's January 2015 presidential election resulted in Mahinda Rajapaksa's ouster. Since Maithripala Sirisena assumed the presidency, has TGTE's engagement with the Sri Lankan government changed? If so, how?

As we stated in our press release following the 2015 election, the TGTE did not think that Mr. Sirisena's ascent to the position of president of Sri Lanka would bring any change to the Tamils. We believe that it is the Sinhala-Buddhist chauvinist state structure that has served so cruelly to maintain the Tamil national crisis which has remained unresolved for all these decades. The election produced only a face change as the very same chauvinist structure reasserts itself further.

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Thus there is no change vis-a-vis the Tamils' authentic political aspirations and, by extension, no change with respect to the relationship between the Sri Lankan government under Sirisena's presidency and the TGTE.

Mahinda's regime designated the TGTE and most of the other diaspora organizations and diaspora political activists as "terrorist organizations." The Sirisena regime, while sanctifying several other diaspora organizations, has not removed the TGTE from the list, notwithstanding the fact that the TGTE's constitution mandates the realization of our political goals through peaceful and democratic means.

What's your assessment of the new government's performance thus far?

With respect to the Sinhala polity, the new government has brought in some democratic features such as fighting corruption. However, with respect to the Tamils, the new government, in a calculated and sophisticated manner, is consolidating the military victory of the previous regime into a political victory.

The 99% Sinhalese Sri Lanka Army continues to occupy over 67,000 acres of private Tamil land and state lands in traditionally Tamil areas. Seven years after the conclusion of the war, the Sri Lankan government continues to detain (without charge or trial) approximately 250 Tamil prisoners of war. Some detainees have been held for as long as 20 years without public acknowledgement that they are being held. There is no information about large scale surrenders of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) members, some of whom surrendered with their children. State-sponsored Sinhala settlements in Tamil-majority areas are a deliberate attempt to transform demographics and culture.

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The new regime has injected an "illusory fawn" called "good governance" into the international dialogue on Sri Lanka. Due to this illusory good governance, foreign governments, some sections of civil society and the Tamil domestic leadership are going soft on the new regime. In addition, due to geopolitical interests, the big powers are also keen on protecting and stabilizing the new regime at the expense of Tamil interests and transitional justice.

In October of last year, Sri Lanka co-sponsored a resolution at the U.N. Human Rights Council (HRC) in Geneva. The resolution called for a bold transitional justice agenda. In your view, has Colombo done a good job of complying with the resolution?

Definitely not! Thus far there is an absence of genuine consultation with the victims of international crimes and continuing intimidation by security forces. Despite its commitment to repealing the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) in HRC resolution 30/1, the government continues to regularly rely on the act in order to arbitrarily detain Tamils. It has not even enacted statutes criminalizing war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide and has repeatedly repudiated its commitment in resolution 30/1 to include international participation in transitional justice mechanisms.

How involved should international actors be in Sri Lanka's transitional justice process?

As stated in the "Million Signature Campaign" launched by the TGTE last year, the Sri Lankan state is not ethnically neutral. The Sri Lankan judiciary is not ethnically neutral.

There is no political will in Sri Lanka to provide justice for Tamils. The (domestic 2010) Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) has not delivered justice to Tamils. The change of guard in Sri Lanka will not result in a change in institutionalized impunity. President Sirisena's potential culpability in war crimes will not be conducive for a domestic or hybrid judicial mechanism, and Sri Lanka does not have criminal provisions for war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide.

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So our position is that only through a completely international process can justice be provided to Tamils. This view is shared by the more than 1.6 million people who signed the petition.

Turning to the Tamil political scene, how satisfied have you been with the performance of the principal Tamil political grouping, the Tamil National Alliance (TNA)?

There are genuine concerns being expressed in the Tamil polity about the performance of the TNA and the authenticity of their approach today. We understand that due to the 6th amendment [of Sri Lanka's constitution] which violates the freedom conscience and freedom of speech guaranteed in Articles 18 and 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the Tamil political leadership is not in a position to articulate the political aspirations of the Tamil people as articulated in the 1977 general elections, the last time elections were held in an open political space. The TNA have a duty to tell the international community about the Tamils' political aspirations. There must be a politics based on truth.

What, if anything, can TNA do to improve its performance?

Our firm belief is that politics is all about power. Holding power alone is not enough. Power should be exercised and it should be demonstrated. The Tamil people built up their political power through a long and painful struggle in the Northeast homeland [the northern and eastern parts of the country]. This power should be retained, strategically used and not be wasted by their leaders. The recent Tamil uprising "Ezhuga Thamil" is a response to the power vacuum being created by the TNA. The TNA should recognize the power of the people and use that people's power and that of the international community to move forward.

In terms of negotiating a political solution to the ethnic conflict, what role would you like to see international actors play?

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If you look at the peace efforts around the world, the most common mechanism introduced and supported by the international community to resolve national questions has been the holding of a referendum. In the case of Kosovo, in spite of the parent state Serbia's opposition, the international community decided that only through a referendum could national conflict be resolved. We expect for the UN or any state power which is keen to solve the national question in Sri Lanka to propose and support a referendum as the central feature in negotiating a political solution. The referendum proposed by us contains all options such as 'unitary,' 'federal state,' 'unitary framework with federal features,' and 'independent state.'

More specifically, what sort of role would you like to see India play? What about the United States?

The Tamil people's political future is intertwined with that of India. We want India to acknowledge us as a people and thus recognize our right to self-determination and our long struggle for it. The more immediate role for India, as a moral power, has to be in ensuring that justice is given to the Tamil people. In our recent signature campaign, more than 600,000 Tamil people from India participated in it. The leaders and bureaucrats of the Indian government should take into account the wishes of their own people calling for an international transitional justice process in Sri Lanka. We also want India to persuade the Sri Lankan government to repeal the 6th amendment and to provide an open political space for the Tamils to articulate their political aspirations.

With respect to the U.S., our request is not to drop the ball in order to gain temporary political benefits, but to participate in the process more genuinely. We want the U.S. to continue to play an effective role in ensuring that accountability is addressed, followed by a political resolution arrived at within an open political space.

Short of a separate Tamil state, is there a power-sharing arrangement that would satisfy you? If so, would you talk a little bit about what that might look like?

Due to the rigid ethnocratic nature of the Sri Lankan state, we believe only an independent state can provide dignity and security for the Tamils. For an interim period, the Interim Self Governing Authority [ISGA] previously proposed by the LTTE could be the basis for a power-sharing arrangement. The ISGA was received positively at the time by the U.S. and the EU, among others.

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Under the proposed ISGA, human rights, secularism, the separation of powers, etc. will be guaranteed. It also provided for both the Sinhalese and the Muslims in the Northeast to be members of this body. The ISGA specifically emphasized that the Muslim community had the right to participate in the formulation of a role in ISGA.

However, I want to reemphasize that any type of political resolution should be based on the people's will ascertained through a referendum.


Rebecca Bunch (portrayed by Rachel Bloom) on Crazy Ex-Girlfriend. (Photo: Scott Everett White/The CW)

By Lisa Ryan

Plenty of TV comedies these days feature women dealing with mental-health issues, but Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, which returns next week, stands out from the crowd. The show's heroine, Rebecca Bunch (played by creator Rachel Bloom), is a successful lawyer with a disaster of a love life. She's a funny, winning, relatable sitcom character, but she's also a realistic portrayal of a woman whose life is constantly being driven off-course by the effects of anxiety and depression.

For Rebecca, perfectionism is a blessing and a curse. It has allowed her to climb to the top of her field, but it left her so miserable that in the show's pilot, she fled New York City to pursue her summer-camp ex-boyfriend in West Covina, California. Plenty of elements of Crazy Ex-Girlfriend aren't rooted in reality -- the characters have a tendency to break into song-and-dance numbers -- but the connection it makes between perfectionism and depression in high-achieving women is all too real, according to experts.



Related: 13 Famous Women on Who Has the Perfect Life

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Gordon L. Flett, a professor of psychology at York University in Canada, defines the difference between ambition and perfectionism this way: If someone is merely ambitious, they will often feel a sense of relief or accomplishment after achieving a specific goal. Yet, with perfectionism, a sense of dissatisfaction lingers even after a success and can lead to depression.

Being perfect isn't just something perfectionists would like to be; instead, they feel that being perfect is an imperative, something they must be, Flett told the Cut. That's why, even if a perfectionist appears to be quite accomplished, they're often unhappy, like Rebecca. And since perfection can never be attained, once they hit one goal, they're suddenly facing down another one. Rather than focusing on the positives of any achievement, perfectionists tend to ruminate about their own limitations or any perceived failure.

Both women and men can suffer from perfectionism, particularly when it comes to work, according to Carol Landau, a clinical professor of psychiatry and human behavior at Brown University. However, women tend to ruminate more, and also feel pressured to live up to perfectionist standards about the different roles they have to fill. "We have to be a perfect mother, a perfect spouse or partner, perfect at work, have the perfect house, and so on and so forth," Landau said.

That was the case for Lindsay*, a 28-year-old grad student who had a breakdown in her early 20s after pushing herself too hard. By her senior year of college, Lindsay was trying to complete three majors in addition to a full load of extracurricular activities. She wound up completely overwhelmed by her workload.

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"Eventually, I realized that I had messed up and failed a class, and that I wasn't going to graduate on time from college," Lindsay told the Cut. "I started hyperventilating so badly, I couldn't really use my hands, and I had a panic attack where I passed out. When I came to, I was surrounded by EMTs."

Lindsay fell into a period of severe depression and had to take some time off before returning to school. "In the end, it was a sort of slow-motion train crash. I did finish school, but haltingly, and it took me two or three years to return to homeostasis. I couldn't eat, couldn't sleep; there was numbness," Lindsay said.

Perfectionists like Lindsay tend to be self-critical people, and when they don't measure up to the impossible expectations that come from themselves or from others, they can be very hard on themselves, Flett explained. As the sense of failure kicks in, or the pressure to be even more perfect builds, perfectionists are prone to losing interest or feeling hopeless.

Flett and his colleagues investigated the destructive side of perfectionism in a 2014 study. They found that certain symptoms of depression, such as suicidal thoughts, can be even stronger in perfectionists, because of their isolation and tendency toward self-criticism. Their form of depression often falls in the category of high-functioning (or smiling) depression, where their inner pain isn't apparent to those around them.

"There's examples of this sadly in terms of known cases of people who have taken their lives," Flett said. "Mick Jagger's girlfriend [fashion designer L'Wren Scott] from a couple of years ago probably fits this description, where nobody really saw it coming. And there's a case of somebody who was really successful and had so much to offer, but sadly is no longer with us."

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Yet, despite the close link with depression, perfectionists aren't necessarily doomed to suffer from depressive thoughts. There are several interventions that can help them cope with their rumination, feelings of failure, and obsessive quest for perfection, according to Landau.

There's cognitive therapy, in which a therapist will "zero in" on a person's irrational beliefs, primarily about their thoughts about the necessity of being perfect or feelings of worthlessness over not being perfect. Cognitive therapy can also help a person recognize that their whole identity isn't founded on being perfect, and that they are still deserving of happiness or love even if they experience failure. Additionally, when they find themselves spiraling, perfectionists can seek out distractions to get their mind off of things. Landau suggests they watch a funny television show or try to talk to a friend about something unrelated -- two seemingly easy fixes that can provide temporary relief from their anxiety.
I know that as a business person, one of your major concerns is how to make your business immune to exposure from cyber crime and its effects. Your fears are well-founded considering the increasing cases of cyber crimes, with many entrepreneurs forced out of business due to this nefarious act.

I want to give you some awesome and proven tips that will help you ward off cyber attacks from your business. Like I said, these tips are proven, which means that they work.

Here are a few of those tips:

1.Hype Up Your Security Consciousness

This is an ironic statement, but your employees could be the biggest threat to your business. While they may not be directly involved in the crime, they are usually the door through which hackers have access to your information.

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For instance, when employees use poor passwords on their files or computers, they make their computers sitting ducks for hackers. Within a few minutes, the computers can be hacked.

To prevent this, train your employees to make security their watchword. They can achieve this by using longer or more complex passwords. The rule of thumb is that passwords should be long and include uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers, and special characters. Hackers usually find such passwords difficult to break. In addition, passwords should never be reused for multiple accounts.

Getting a security expert to train your staff just may be worth budgeting for as well.

2.Protect Your Computers

In addition to your migrating to cloud computing you need to give your computer systems the best protection available. How? Take these few steps to fortify them:

Install antivirus programs on your computers

Viruses may break the immunity of your computers, making them vulnerable to external attacks. It is advisable to install latest antivirus programs on your computers and to keep them regularly updated.



Install firewalls

Firewalls are to a computer what a security officer is to a building. They are specially designed to serve as the sentry to your network. Installing powerful firewalls on your systems gives cyber criminals a good reason to let you be.

Upgrade your Operating System

The Operating System on your computers controls all the activities on those systems, including your private and sensitive information.

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Software developers take the security of their users into consideration when developing Operating Systems. Latest versions are always equipped with the most potent protection against cyber attacks. Upgrading your Operating System then becomes an automatic protection for your business against invasion.

3.Be Prepared For Invasion

If you implement the suggestions above, your business is well protected and safe. However, you should always prepare for the big "What if...?" what if hackers detect a loophole in your system and capitalize on it? You should be prepared for such invasion by doing these:

Install intrusion detection

A good intrusion detection tool will notify you immediately your system is breached. After installing it, make it mandatory for each employee to monitor his or her systems with for signs of intrusion

Back-up your information regularly

The safety of your business is more guaranteed if you regularly back up your information. You should back up your files, data, and other resources that are the backbones of your business.

You can always turn to the backed up files in case of data loss through the invasion.

4.Restrict Access To Sensitive Information

Making all the sensitive information about your business accessible to every Tom, Dick, and Harry is a good recipe for vulnerability. It is not wise to not know who accessed what and when.

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More so, if few people have access to such important information, it will reduce the chances of exposure to unauthorized individuals with evil intent. Restrict access to such sensitive information to the few people who have a business need to access it.

5.Hire a Security Expert

You may find it difficult to find out if your business is vulnerable to attacks if you're not experienced in assessing cybersecurity risks. Having a security expert on your payroll will cover up your inadequacies here.

His job is to routinely check your systems for potential risks and prevent them. As a business expands in its operations, it creates greater loopholes for access. In case of intrusion, an expert, will use his expertise to mitigate the damages.

"Cybersecurity has become a business issue, not just an IT concern," said Chris Heim, CEO of HelpSystems. Working with an expert means security gets the regular attention it requires. An experienced professional can identify risks and close security gaps before problems materialize. Compared to the cost of a data breach, hiring a security expert is a sound investment that will keep your business on the right track.
ELKO  Despite challenges of keeping doctors in rural areas, Nevada Health Centers is trying to fill medical needs in Elko County through recruitment and telemedicine.

Nevada Health Centers CEO Walter Davis shared what the nonprofit community healthcare provider has been doing in the area. It has 18 health centers in the state and two mobile programs.

It was established in 1977 and the Elko Health Care center was added in 2004. NVHC also provides the Ronald McDonald Care Mobile unit for dental services and the Mammovan.

Through the years NVHC has been providing services to Elko County residents and saw 6,777 patients in the first six months of this year. In 2015, NHC saw 11,051 patients in Elko County. Nevada Health Centers take private insurance, Medicaid, Medicare and uninsured patients.

Davis said his organization tries to recruit doctors to the Elko area, but it is difficult to bring in physicians. However, the facility is trying different methods to bring specialists to patients in rural areas.

Were investing in telehealth and telemedicine programs, he said.

Despite working on the telemedicine program, NHC has recruited doctors to the area.

It has one physician and one physician assistant and it expects to fill one of two openings in the next few weeks, said Marena Works, regional rural coordinator and director of operations.

NVHC also recently added OB/GYN services to the Elko area.

We have two providers that come out that are here on a regular, routine basis to provide womens health services, Davis said.

The fulltime OB/GYN has been in Elko since March.

We also have growing opportunities, Works said.

The center expects to work with the University of Nevada School of Medicine on its residency program.

One area the facility has seen quite a drop in is immunizations, Works said.

We no longer have a pediatrician so a lot of the childhood vaccines have dropped, she said.

In 2015, NVHC gave 1,331 immunizations and 1,264 of those were to people younger than 18. In 2016, the clinic gave 693 immunizations and 668 were given to people younger than 18.

The Elko Clinic has always provided family planning services, but NVHC will expand those services to the outlying clinics, which include Carlin, Jackpot and West Wendover.

Davis said he hopes NVHC works with other medical services in Elko County to provide what the community needs.

It cannot be one organization, it has to be all of us, he said. ... We want to let you know Nevada Health Centers is here to be a partner in the community.

People who want to make an appointment with Nevada Health Centers should call 1-800-787-2568 or go online at nvhealthcenters.org.
Crosposted from UN Women.

The Maasai in northern Tanzania have the highest rates of child marriage, female genital mutilation (FGM), illiteracy and poverty among women in the country.

With literacy, entrepreneurship skills and trainings on land rights, women have acquired land for the first time and set up cross-border trade.

Villages at the foothills of Mt. Longido, one hour north of Arusha, Tanzania, have been the home of the Maasai for generations. The Maasai are semi-nomadic ethnic group that live in northern Tanzania and have the highest rates of child marriage, female genital mutilation (FGM), illiteracy and poverty among women in the country. Most women are self-employed in the informal sector, and have seasonal sources of income.

Mama Neema stands at the entrance of her traditional boma (homestead) where she built three houses for her family in Kimokouwa village in Arusha, Tanzania. Photo: UN Women/Deepika Nath

Many Maasai women had never left their villages before our trainings, says Ndinini Kimesera Sikar, the co-founder and director of Maasai Womens Development Organization (MWEDO), an organization providing trainings on entrepreneurship, business formalization and land rights, with the support of UN Women. Now they have passports and all the legal paperwork to travel and trade across the border, she continues. Its a huge achievement for women who were never allowed to even go to school.

In the small village of Mamura, over 50 Maasai women and girls have gathered under an acacia tree for their monthly savings group meeting. Mama Nalepo Olesein, 48, is one of the chairpersons of the village savings group.

In 2007, Mama Nalepo enrolled in an adult literacy programme, where she first learnt foundational skills like reading, writing, and arithmetic. Most recently, she took part in UN Women-supported trainings on managing accounts, record-keeping and business development, which helped her take over her husbands shop and revamp the business model. Through cross-border trading, she made a profit of over US$ 500 per month, which allowed her to expand her business, send her last four children to school and purchase 12 plots of land.

Mama Nalepo in her shop in the local market of Mamura village in Arusha, Tanzania. Photo: UN Women/Deepika Nath

The trainings gave our women the confidence to step out of their boma (homestead) and earn like men, says Mama Nalepo. The future of my children and grandchildren is secure, because I received the knowledge I needed to make profit from my business. Mama Nalepo now encourages other women in nearby villages to participate in the trainings.

Deeper into the savannah, in the village of Kimokouwa, another group of women gathered to share their stories of empowerment. Mama Neema Olenriya, 42, chairperson of the village council, speaks of her 20-year struggle to acquire land.

For generations, only men were allowed to own and inherit land, so they question whether women are fit to be land owners, says Mama Neema. But I am also MaasaiI can also fight for my rights, she adds.

Mama Neema received trainings on land and property rights, which gave her the confidence to demand village authorities for a plot of land that was rightfully hers.

This is my land now; I can show you all the paperwork, says Mama Neema as she points to her plot, where she has built three houses for her family of seven. She uses her knowledge from the trainings and personal experience to help other women acquire land, and is also working with a smaller group of women to set up a shop to sell vegetables, milk and ethnic jewelry at the local market.

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Samwel Simanga, facilitator and coordinator for MWEDO and advocate for womens economic empowerment. Photo: UN Women/Deepika Nath

Coordinating these trainings are young men like Samwel Simanga, 27, who had the opportunity to attend primary school and are now working as facilitators and translators. Fearful of women advancing ahead of men, many of Simangas friends have discouraged him from helping women become financial independent. But he disagrees. Women who know their rights and are educated dont need men to financially support them, says Simanga, who is the sole breadwinner of his extended family of thirteen. When women have equal power in the household, we all benefit.

While some men in his village still ridicule Simangas efforts to help women, others have confided in him that they appreciate the additional income from the womens small businesses.

Between 2011 and 2016, the UN Women-MWEDO partnership has empowered hundreds of Maasai women to acquire land, find additional employment and diversify their economic activities to supplement their families income. The most recent trainings were provided as part of UN Womens 2016 programme on Womens Access to Income, Land and Rights, supported by the Government of Sweden through the One Fund in Tanzania.
A brilliant essay in the New York Times Magazine by Binyamin Appelbaum on Sunday asks a simple question.

When will elected officials and candidates stop talking about the manufacturing jobs people did yesterday and start talking about the service jobs people do today?

It's a call for a reality check.

Around 80 percent of jobs in this country are in the service sector, according to Appelbaum. Last year, there were 820,000 home healthcare workers in America--and only 64,000 steelworkers. Average annual wages for home health aides? $22,870 per year.

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It's the same story for service workers in other industries. Always underpaid, often overworked, often abused.

For example, Cycei Monae, who said she quit her $8.50 job at McDonald's in Flint, Michigan after her supervisor showed her a picture of his genitals.

Or Eduardo Sanchez, a San Diego security officer who talks about trying to make it on $11.25 per hour with $10,000 in student loans.

Or Charles Wells, a wheel chair attendant at Reagan National Airport in Washington, DC, who is paid so little he often sleeps at the airport because he can't afford to pay for the metro ride home.

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This is our reality. We live in a service economy and some 64 million workers in this country are paid less than $15.

So why aren't officials talking about how to improve the jobs that most Americans actually have? Why do they keep talking about steelworkers and plumbers and welders? Why do they almost never talk about janitors, security officers, airport workers, home care workers, child care workers, fast food workers, and nail salon workers?

As with many questions about the 2016 election, the answer, in my view, is race. Politicians and the media have not caught up to the new reality. At the heart of our economy is a new working class. "Instead of white men who make stuff," Appelbaum writes, "the group is increasingly made up of minority women who serve people."

Yet in the 2016 election, this new working class has been largely ignored. In past election cycles, "Joe at an Iowa diner", a white, rural American, usually got the privilege of articulating the nation's dreams. But in this election cycle, the country is frustrated--especially about jobs. Who gets to articulate that frustration? Again, it's white folks--through countless stories about former manufacturing workers of the industrial Midwest.

I'm from Ohio. My father made steel for a living. I know the suffering of displaced manufacturing workers and their families in the Midwest. It is very real. But these people should not be the only ones allowed to speak about the economic challenges we face.

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We live in a multiracial democracy. If we are to raise wages and build broad prosperity, today's working class--service workers, people of color, women--must be visible on our national stage.

How do we do that? We mobilize.

In a recent New York Times op-ed, "How to Build a Democratic Majority that Lasts," Steve Phillips persuasively argues that, in politics, television ads don't work. What matters is person-to-person contact--phone calls, door knocks, and rides to the polls.

This fact gives me heart. It tells me that we--working people and people of color--still have the upper hand, if we stick together.

As powerful as the billionaires are--and they are powerful--and as unfair as their advantage may be, they cannot simply plunk down cash and buy elections. Sure, they can rent our screen-illuminated eyeballs for 30 or 60 seconds. But they cannot buy our hearts and minds. They cannot buy our democracy.

We can use the tools of our democracy--our right to assemble, our right to speak freely, and our right to vote--to solve our economic challenges. That's why until November 8, tens of thousands of SEIU members are working together to identify, talk to, and turn out voters who understand the reality of today's economy. Fast food workers united in the Fight for $15 have also announced they will be canvassing.

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Our country has changed. As Phillips notes, in 1966, 12 percent of Americans were people of color. Today we are 38 percent. And our economy is now based on services, not manufacturing. It's time to make this reality--and ourselves--visible in the streets.
It's National School Lunch Week in the United States. But school lunches are important to kids everywhere around the world. So let's visit with one of these children in a land far away, the African nation of Mali.

Mariam is a 12-year old from Yelimane village in Mali. She's had a tough life, losing her parents at a young age. She lives now with her grandparents and sister. They are poor in a country ravaged by conflict in recent years.

Mariam is from Yelimane village in the Kayes region of Mali, a nation in Africa which has suffered from internal conflict and drought which has led to food shortages. (photo by WFP/Laura Morris)

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When Mariam would attend school she would always get a gift: a school lunch from the World Food Programme (WFP). A school lunch may not seem like a gift to many of us. But when you are poor and hungry, it is the best kind.

Mariam told the World Food Programme, "When I have lunch at school, I can better focus in class. At home, it is difficult. There isn't enough food for the whole family."

But then one day the school meals disappeared. This great thing for Mariam and her classmates was suddenly gone.

The World Food Programme ran out of funds and has been forced to suspend school meals this year in Mali. About 180,000 children in 1,000 schools are affected by the cuts.

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Silvia Caruso, the WFP Mali country director, says, "This is critical. School meals are often the only nutritious meal a child receives a day, relieving families from further financial stress, motivating parents to send their children to school, and, ultimately, serving as a vehicle for education."

The WFP needs about US 3 million dollars to provide the school lunches in Mali. With hunger emergencies all around the globe, it is harder to find funding from governments and the public. The result is school meals get cut. This is happening in Mali and many other countries where WFP operates in Africa.

Caruso warned last month, "Teachers tell us that if the meals are no longer provided, there is a significant risk that parents will stop sending their children to school; children find it difficult to walk long distances to school or stay in class for a full day on an empty stomach."



Cheick, the principal of Yarka school in Kayes region, says "If the school meals programme stops this year, many children will stop coming to school." (photo by WFP/Laura Morris)

School meal funding could be increased. The U.S. government has the perfect tool to do it too. It's called the McGovern-Dole Global School lunch program, named after former senators George McGovern and Bob Dole.

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In fact, this program is funding the Catholic Relief Services school lunch program in Mali. CRS is feeding about 77,000 children in the Mopti and Koulikoro regions. An additional funding increase to Mcgovern-Dole could include WFP school lunch programs in Mali.

After World War I and II, Congress boosted funding for school lunch programs because of the extreme conditions of those times. With more people forcibly displaced by conflict than anytime since WWII, now would be a good time to increase school meal funding.

This would make all the difference for Mariam and so many other children in Mali that are missing school meals. Girls education improves dramatically when school meals are provided.

Sean Callahan of Catholic Relief Services says, "It is proven that an education for a girl not only increases the possibility for a better livelihood, but also has an impact on their families. An educated woman shares her knowledge and she sees to it that they are well-fed and in good health."

Every child should be able to receive school meals. That is a basic right of all children. The world has enough resources to do this. Is there enough political will and heart to do this?

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There must be. We can start in Mali by feeding Mariam and the thousands of other children who are currently not able to get school meals. These children are not asking for much. They are not asking for anything big or expensive. What they ask for can change their life, by giving them food for education.
It seems that at every turn during this crazy presidential election campaign  with its deeply flawed principal candidates (whom do you hate less?)  someones personal or professional computer records are being hacked. First it was Hillary Clintons emails that she had failed to surrender to the State Department. Then it was a portion of Donald Trumps 1995 tax returns, showing a $916 million loss he claimed during boom times. Then it was those Clinton emails again, this time showing her unacted-upon doubts about two of our Middle Eastern allies involvement in 9/11 and her revelation of some secrets about the killing of Osama bin Laden.

The reason we know about these leaks is the common thread among them  the willingness of the media to publish what was apparently stolen. Hence the question: Can the government hold the press liable  criminally or civilly  for the publication of known stolen materials that the public wants to know about? In a word: No.

Here is the back story.

When Daniel Ellsberg, an outside contractor working in the Pentagon, stole a secret study of U.S. military involvement in Vietnam in 1971, which revealed that President Lyndon Johnson had lied repeatedly to the public about what his military advisers had told him, the Department of Justice secured an injunction from U.S. District Judge Murray Gurfein, sitting in Manhattan, barring The New York Times from publishing what Ellsberg had turned over to Times reporters. Such an injunction, known as a prior restraint, is exceedingly rare in American legal history.

This is so largely because of the sweeping language of the First Amendment  Congress shall make no law ... abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press  as well as the values that underlie this language. Those values are the governments legal obligation to be accountable to the public and the benefits to freedom of open, wide, robust debate about the government  debate that is informed by truthful knowledge of what the government has been doing.

Those underlying values spring from the Framers recognition of the natural right to speak freely. The freedom of speech and of the press had been assaulted by the king during the Colonial era, and the Framers wrote a clear, direct prohibition of such assaults in the initial amendment of the new Constitution.

Notwithstanding the First Amendment, Judge Gurfein accepted the governments argument and found that palpable, grave and immediate danger would come to national security if the Times were permitted to publish what Ellsberg had delivered.

The Times appealed Judge Gurfeins injunction, and that appeal made its way to the Supreme Court. In a case that has come to be known as the Pentagon Papers case, the high court ruled that when the media obtains truthful documents that are of material interest to the public, the media is free to publish those documents, as well as commentary about them, without fear of criminal or civil liability.

The government had argued to the Supreme Court  seriously  that no law does not mean no law when national security is at stake. Fortunately for human freedom and for the concept that the Constitution is the supreme law of the land and means what it says, the court rejected that argument. It also rejected the governments suggested methodology.

The government argued that because Congress and the president had agreed to void a constitutional mandate  the First Amendments no law language  in deference to national security, the judiciary should follow. That methodology would have rejected 180 years of constitutional jurisprudence that taught that the whole purpose of an independent judiciary is to say what the Constitution and the laws mean, notwithstanding what Congress and the president want. Were that not so, the courts would be rubber stamps.

Moreover, the high court ruled, it matters not how the documents came into the possession of the media. The thief can always be prosecuted, as Ellsberg was, but not the media to which the thief delivers what he has stolen. In Ellsbergs case, the charges against him were eventually dismissed because of FBI misconduct in pursuit of him  misconduct that infamously involved breaking in to his psychiatrists office looking for dirt on him.

Since that case, the federal courts have uniformly followed the Pentagon Papers rule. Hence, much to the chagrin of the Obama administration, the media was free to publish Edward Snowdens revelations about the ubiquitous and unconstitutional nature of government spying on Americans by the National Security Agency. The same is true for Trumps tax returns and Clintons emails.

Are these matters material to the public interest?

Of course they are. In a free society  one in which we do not need a government permission slip to exercise our natural rights  all people enjoy a right to know if the government is spying on us in violation of the constitutionally protected and natural right to privacy. We also have a right to know about the financial shenanigans or uprightness and the honesty or dishonesty of those who seek the highest office in the land. That is particularly so in the 2016 campaign, in which Trump has argued that his business acumen makes him uniquely qualified to be president and Clinton has offered that her experiences as secretary of state would bring a unique asset to the Oval Office.

Efforts to silence the press or to punish it when it publishes inconvenient truths about the government or those who seek to lead it are not new, and the vigilance of the courts has been unabated. Thomas Jefferson  himself the victim of painful press publications  argued that in a free society, hed prefer newspapers without a government to a government without newspapers. Would Clinton or Trump say that today?
Hutchinson city council examines what to do about chickens

The issue is before the planning commission because chickens are part of land use codes written to address larger animals.
Legendary American rock band Foo Fighters has resolved its lawsuit against various Lloyds of London insurers for their failure to cover losses due to cancelled shows in the wake of the Paris terror attacks.The iconic band, their Lloyds insurers and Robertson Taylor Insurance Brokers agreed to end the legal feud and filed a voluntary dismissal in a California federal court on October 7, legal news website Law360 reported.US District Judge Manuel Real approved the case dismissal with prejudice, which means that Foo Fighters cannot refile the lawsuit based on the same claim.Terms of the parties settlement were not disclosed, according to a report by Billboard.The Foo Fighters filed their complaint in June, alleging that their insurers did not pay them for shows that were called off in Turin, Italy; Paris and Lyon in France; and Barcelona.The cancelled shows were scheduled to be held right after the ISIS terrorist attacks in Paris in November 13. Expecting coverage from their terrorism policy, the band notified insurers that the shows wont push through.However, Lloyds insurers have not paid or offered to pay a single penny of Foo Fighters terrorism coverage claim, the bands complaint read.The Foo Fighters also sued the insurers for supposedly colluding to reduce payments for seven shows in Europe that were also cancelled when band leader David Grohl broke his leg in June 2015.The insurers paid for four shows but they began searching for ways to limit their payment obligations on the other three performances, according to the bands complaint as reported by Billboard.
Planning Board member Ann McCallum suggested several possible changes to the 'mother-in-law apartment bylaw' passed by town meeting in 2012.

Williamstown Planners Talk About Changes to Secondary Dwelling Bylaw

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass.  The Planning Board on Tuesday discussed whether it wants to propose that town meeting revisit the question of secondary dwelling units on residential lots.

The idea provoked a lengthy discussion at annual town meeting in May 2012, when the meeting ultimately adopted a zoning bylaw that allowed for the conversion of a home into a two-family unit and the conversion of pre-existing accessory buildings (barns or carriage houses, for example) into dwelling units.

But after seeing only a few such conversions occur in the intervening years, the planners discussed whether the town's bylaw is too restrictive.

"The primary problem and why people get hamstrung by the bylaw  is the bylaw says you cannot put a secondary dwelling unit on a parcel that doesn't conform with zoning, and you can't put it in an accessory building that is nonconforming," Community Development Director Andrew Groff told the board. "A lot of those nice carriage houses were built before zoning. They're right on the lot line."

That makes such buildings allowable as pre-existing nonconforming structures for their current use, but any conversion is not allowable under the bylaw as written.

Groff said that to date, two residences on Water Street have taken advantage of the 2012 bylaw. A third residence, on Luce Road, is scheduled to seek approval from the Zoning Board of Appeals next week.

"[The rest] get stuck at my office, not at the Zoning Board," he said. "The ZBA has only ever seen two, and they approved them both."

On Tuesday evening, the Planning Board discussed possible strategies for amendments to suggest to a future town meeting.

Planner Ann McCallum suggested that the town could revisit the idea of allowing new construction for secondary dwelling units and/or amend the bylaw so that existing nonconforming structures could be utilized.

"A non-conforming single dwelling could be extended  provided the extension falls within the setback area or if it's not more non-conforming than the existing building  with the permission of the ZBA, she said. "To me, that seems reasonable.

She also said the bylaw's current size limit  for expansions on existing homes or secondary dwelling units  is too restrictive; as written, the bylaw limits expansions to 900 square feet.

McCallum suggested that 1,800 square feet would be a more reasonable limit but said she would be happy to see the limit raised to a number between 900 and 1,800. Planner Chris Winters suggested the town could allow expansions of up to 900 feet or two-thirds the size of the existing primary residence, whichever is greater.

That would prevent homeowners from building a much larger second home on an already developed lot, Winters noted.

Groff confirmed that the percentage-based limit is one that has been used in other towns with similar bylaws.

Planning Board Chairwoman Amy Jeschawitz suggested the board take a site visit to a property where the owner expressed interest in converting his or her existing secondary structure into a dwelling unit before being "stuck" in Groff's office. He said he knew of at least one residence that fit the bill and offered to facilitate such a visit.

"This is something we've been talking about for a while that other people will take advantage of if we fix some of the problems," Jeschawitz said.

Without any formal business on its agenda, the Planning Board used its monthly meeting to discuss long-range goals and check in with members on various projects they have undertaken.

Winters told the group that he and Planner Susan Puddester sat down with Groff to discuss the current state of zoning on the Main Street/Route 2 at the east end of town.

"Currently, it's a couple of different zoning districts  some general residence and some commercial  and that's reflected in what we see," Winters said.

He said that the town could create more coherent zoning in that area and "take out uncertainty from the regulatory process."

Like other Planning Board initiatives, the board is awaiting the results of a state-funded consultation through the Massachusetts Housing Partnership. Groff and members of the panel will meet with a consultant on Friday to begin assessing the town's current zoning and begin a process that will include community outreach to determine what zoning changes residents want and which ones could receive the needed two-thirds support at town meeting.

Winters said the town also should consider reaching out beyond the town borders.

"After we hear from Mass Housing and decide what we want to recommend, there's a potential to work with North Adams on what a consistent Route 2 corridor might look like, he said. "That's the connector between these two significant towns, and both of our business districts serve both communities.

"Ultimately, we could try to move to a mixed use corridor that's a little more consistent than what we have now.

Groff echoed Winters' sentiments and pointed out that recent developments on North Adams' side of the town line make it a good time to work with the city.

"You can use that corridor to really bring the two communities together and bring some development over here, Groff said.
Every two years, the Cato Institute in Washington, D.C., ranks the recent changes in state fiscal policies to give readers an understanding of the trends prevailing in each state. Last week, Cato released its newest Fiscal Report Card, and Nevada fares poorly.

Of the 50 states plus Washington, D.C., Nevada ranks 47th due to its unfavorable shifts in tax rates and spending in the last legislative session.

Study author Chris Edwards notes that large unfunded liabilities for public-employee pensions and ballooning Medicaid costs are putting upward pressure on state budgets.

Yet, says Edwards, global economic competition demands that states improve their investment climates by cutting tax rates, particularly on businesses, entrepreneurs, and skilled workers. Indeed, the dynamism and entrepreneurship that make an economy and society flourish function best in an environment of taxes and regulations lower than Nevadas.

In the past two years, several states have met this challenge by reining in costs and have even cut taxes. Arizona, Indiana, Kansas, Maine, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio and Oklahoma have all cut individual and corporate income tax rates substantially. Most did so under Republican leadership.

Nevadas Republican leadership, however, chose to go a different direction. In 2015, Nevada enacted rate hikes for sales taxes, payroll taxes and cigarette taxes and created a new Commerce Tax based on business gross receipts instead of income. Edwards rightly describes this as the largest package of tax increases in Nevadas history at more than $600-million per year.

Catos rebuke focuses on the Commerce Tax, which we actively opposed. We led a referendum to repeal it until the politicized state supreme court disqualified it on fallacious grounds. Edwards calls the Commerce Tax the worst part of the package.

He continues: The Commerce Tax is complex, distortionary, and hidden from the general public. As a gross receipts tax, it will hit economic output across industries unevenly, and it will likely spur more lobbying as industries complain that their tax burdens are higher than other industries. Imposing the tax was a major policy blunder.

He further notes this tax was enacted on the heels of voters overwhelming rejection of a very similar proposal. The Commerce Tax, he says, was imposed to increase funding for education. [Gov. Brian] Sandoval and the legislature had been directly rebuked by the public in 2014 for their effort to impose a new tax for education. In a November 2014 ballot, Nevada voters overwhelming rejected by a 7921 margin the adoption of a new franchise tax to fund education.

Further, we offered the legislature a mechanism to fund Sandovals prime education priorities mainly by requiring all government employees to contribute toward their own pensions on a matching basis with taxpayers. So, the Commerce Tax was never essential.

Last years massive tax hikes werent the only issue of concern regarding Nevada. Cato also expresses great concern over the states strategy of raising taxes broadly and then offering special deals to politically connected firms.

The previous edition of Catos Report Card details how this approach severely dampens economic growth. Awarding special breaks or subsidies to particular firms signals state support for those firms and thus deters investment and entrepreneurial activity among non-recipients of state preferences. Now Nevada has become the leading cautionary tale for this approach:

Consider Nevadas recent tax policy. Governor Brian Sandoval imposed a huge $600-million per year tax increase on businesses, including higher license fees, an increase in the states Modified Business Tax, and the imposition of a new Commerce Tax. At the same time, Sandoval has been eagerly handing out narrow tax breaks to Tesla, Amazon, data center companies, and other favored businesses. So Nevadas tax policy entails large increases for all businesses, but special breaks for companies favored by the politicians. That is a prescription for corruption, not long-term economic growth.

We want our children and all Nevadas children to grow up in a land of opportunity and continually expanding horizons. We want to protect their future ability to achieve financial and professional success without begging permission from a narcissistic and morally corrupt political establishment.

Thats why we have been and will continue to be champions of limited government, fiscal discipline and real education reform.
Ericka M. Oleson will begin her duties on Oct. 24.

Clarksburg Hires New Treasurer/Tax Collector

CLARKSBURG, Mass.  The Select Board hired Ericka M. Oleson of the town of Florida on Wednesday as the new treasurer/tax collector.



Oleson will begin her duties officially on Monday, Oct. 24. She was selected out of four applicants for the post to replace Melissa McGovern-Wandrei, who was fired two weeks ago.



Officials have not revealed the reason for her termination but they did strongly impress upon Oleson the need for the town's small staff to get along and to be pleasant to citizens.



"What needs to happen is everyone has to get along very well," said Chairman Jeffrey Levanos, later adding that "if I have somebody [at work] who we just don't get along with or don't play well ... you almost don't want to go to work."



Board member William Schrade alluded to phone call complaints from citizens "that just left a bad taste."



Apparently a statement that Oleson had made during her interview last week about how she sometimes "doesn't play well in the sandbox" caused some trepidation despite her impressive credentials.



"We perceive that as possibly causing problems here," Levanos said. "Our customers ... they just want to see a smiling face."



Oleson assured them (board member Linda Reardon was absent) that she was speaking about "internal frustrations" when others don't perform to their abilities, or undermine those who do.



"That question was what's my weakness," she said, adding that she believes her strength and weaknesses go hand in hand.



"I'm very driven, I work very hard and I want to excel ... along with that I can get frustrated internally when other people don't ...



"Don't you think the world would be much better if we all worked a little harder?"



She pointed to her work as a part-time tax collector in the town of Florida, saying her boss, Town Administrator Christine Dobbert, tells her she's "too nice for her own good."



"I go above and beyond to help anybody who walks through our door," she said. "I've never gotten into an arguent with anyone I worked with ...
Lawsuit targets grazing in Sawtooth recreation area

BOISE, Idaho (AP)  A conservation group has filed a lawsuit contending the U.S. Forest Service is violating environmental laws by issuing grazing permits to central Idaho livestock growers with a long history of violating permit restrictions.

Western Watersheds Project in the lawsuit filed Wednesday says the Forest Service is issuing the permits knowing cattle grazers arent following guidelines in the area that also includes the newly-formed White Clouds Wilderness.

The environmental group says the cattle grazing violations harm recreational values in the popular destination, prevent plants from recovering and damage streams needed by federally protected salmon, steelhead and bull trout.

The group is asking a federal judge to reject the Forest Services recent approval of the grazing permits.

A Forest Service spokeswoman on Thursday said the agency didnt have an immediate comment.

Tribe to open eagle aviary, a Northwest first

COEUR DALENE, Idaho (AP)  The Northwests first tribal eagle aviary is opening on the Coeur dAlene Indian Reservation.

The Spokesman-Review reports that the Coeur dAlene Tribe is partnering with the nonprofit Birds of Prey Northwest to create The House of the Bald Eagle for birds that have been injured and cant survive in the wild.

Seven other tribes have U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service permits to operate eagle aviaries, but they are all in the Southwest.

The permit allows the tribe to keep captive eagles and collect their feathers for ceremonial and religious use.

There are about 80 raptor rehabilitation facilities in the region. Eagles that recover but cant live on their own need permanent homes, and the Fish and Wildlife Service says the need has grown with the resurgence of bald and golden eagle populations.

Small plane crashes into Great Salt Lake

SALT LAKE CITY (AP)  Police say a pilot flying a small plane has crashed into Utahs Great Salt Lake but was rescued by a Utah State Parks boat.

Unified Police Lt. Brian Lohrke says the pilot was the only person aboard the plane. He says the pilot in good condition after the crash and did not require much medical attention.

Lohrke says the crash happened early Thursday afternoon and a rescue boat from a nearby marina was able to quickly bring the pilot aboard.

Lohrke had no details about the pilot, the pilots trip or the cause of the crash.
This week on Facebook Live, we spoke to James Blick, a travel journalist who is fronting an online gourmet guide to Madrid.

You can click here to see his neighborhood-by-neighborhood guide to the Spanish capital.

If you missed the live broadcast, you can here to watch again and to see all of our Facebook Live videos so far.

Want more?

Last month the Vice-President of the Eurocitizens campaign group, Michael Harris, came to the EL PAIS newsroom for a Facebook Live interview conducted by English Edition editor Simon Hunter. They discussed what Brexit is likely to mean for the rights of Britons living in Spain. Click here to watch again.

Recently on Facebook Live, EL PAIS English Edition interviewed the authors of a new book entitled Las 500 dudas mas frequentes del ingles (or, The 500 most common doubts about English).

The book  written by Mick Green and Kay Welsh, who are teachers from the British Council in Madrid  details basic concepts such as the ways dates are written differently throughout the English-speaking world, or how to sign off a letter, taking in subtleties such as how the meaning of a sentence is changed depending on the adverb employed.

The stream can be replayed here.

Also discussing English learning (although in this case in Spanish) is British broadcaster Michael Robinson, who came to the EL PAIS offices to talk to us about his new English-learning course, which is available at newsstands in Spain now. Click here to watch that Facebook Live broadcast.

You can also watch when British comedian and actor Eddie Izzard visited the EL PAIS newsroom for a live interview by clicking here.
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Acting Interior Minister Jorge Fernandez Diaz talks to Avila bishop Jesus Garcia Burillo. RAUL SANCHIDRIAN (EFE)

Aspiring police inspectors with the Spanish National Police will be trained by a private Catholic university, ending a 28-year association with the secular Salamanca University.

Under the Spanish police system, an inspector is an executive rank below that of Chief Inspector. Sources at the Avila police academy, where the trainees will now be lectured by professors from the Catholic University of Avila (UCAV), said that the move was financially motivated.

Abortion, euthanasia and the Gag Law will never be the same when explained by a professor at a Catholic university

Professor of criminal law

It was the cheapest offer, said a source. The UCAV has reportedly lowered the cost of the service from the 200,000 charged by Salamanca University to 100,000, meaning that the state will save 18 on each hour-long class.

The Interior Ministry said it had no involvement in this recent agreement. Nobody seems to want to take responsibility for a decision that has drawn criticism in the world of academia, because there is more than just money at stake.

Abortion, euthanasia and the so-called Gag Law will never be the same when explained by a professor from a public university as by one from a private, Catholic university whose ultimate boss is the bishop, said one professor of criminal law from Salamanca University who has taught at the police academy.

Although acting Interior Minister Jorge Fernandez Diaz is known to have a good personal relationship with the bishop of Avila, Jesus Garcia Burillo  who is also the Grand Chancellor of UCAV  the ministry denies any involvement in the deal, and says the decision was delegated to the National Police General Directorate.

A decades-old collaboration with Salamanca University has ended. Oliver Strewe

The latter says that a task force was appointed to sift through the offers made by the various bidding universities. They all have the same technical conditions, but given a maximum cost per class of 100 an hour, Salamanca offered 98, Seville University offered 95 and UCAV said it would teach for 80 an hour.

Nobody at UCAV could be reached for comment, while the bishop himself replied: The most opportune thing for you to do is to address the police academy.

The police academy had maintained an agreement with Salamanca University for 28 years, but new legislation forced the state to put the contract up for tender four years ago. Until now, Salamanca had won every bid. But this year, Avila won out.

Economic criteria have trumped academic prestige and a decades-long collaboration

Daniel Hernandez Ruiperez, President Salamanca University

The three-member task force charged with choosing the contract  representing the National Police, the Tax Agency and the States legal counsel  does not take into account whether a bidding university is secular or religious, or whether it is private or public.

Economic criteria have trumped academic prestige and a decades-long collaboration, said Daniel Hernandez Ruiperez, president of Salamanca University, who is taking the case to court. The dean of the Law School , Ricardo Rivero, is planning to appeal the decision to switch universities based on the winners lack of technical solvency. The National Police General Directorate promises to analyze it rigorously.

Founded in 1134, Salamanca University is Spains oldest and Europes third oldest continuously operating university.

English version by Susana Urra.
Imperial County Announces Appointment of Ben Salorio as New Chief Public Defender

El Centro, California - Yesterday, the Imperial County Board of Supervisors announced the appointment of Ben Salorio as the new Chief Public Defender of the Imperial County Public Defenders Office (ICPDO) to replace retiring Chief Public Defender Timothy Reilly who retires on October 13, 2016. Mr. Salorio will begin serving as Chief Public Defender on October 14, 2016.

Mr. Salorio comes in very eager and ready to learn some new things as the Chief Public Defender, stated Supervisor Jack Terrazas, Chairman of the Board. He possesses a great deal of trial court experience and he will develop additional administrative and budgetary knowledge over time in this new role.

Mr. Salorio has been a county employee for almost twelve years. He worked for the Imperial County District Attorneys Office for two and a half years before moving over to the ICPDO to serve as Senior Public Defender for nine years. As Senior Public Defender, he handled cases of a violent nature such as murder, sexual assault, robbery, carjacking and more. He also worked at the District Attorneys Office in Oakland, California for almost two years. Among his achievements, Mr. Salorio was awarded Trial Attorney of the Year by the Imperial County Bar Association in 2009 in recognition for his work as a trial advocate.

About his new position, Mr. Salorio stated, I am grateful, and humbled, to be working as the Chief Public Defender of Imperial County, and I thank the Board of Supervisors for placing their trust in my leadership of this wonderful office. I look forward to many years of continued hard work providing the best indigent legal defense in Imperial County.

Mr. Salorio, an Imperial County native, graduated from Central Union High School and served in the United States Army as a member of the 101st Airborne Division stationed at Ft. Campbell, Kentucky for three years. He later received his bachelors degree in History from San Diego State University. Salorio then went to law school in San Francisco at the University of California, Hastings College of Law, where he received his Juris Doctor degree.
Ethiopia's Declared State of Emergency

Washington, DC - The United States takes note of the Government of Ethiopias October 8 declaration of a State of Emergency in response to recent protests and violence in the Oromia and Amhara regions. We are troubled by the potential impact of the decision to authorize detention without a warrant and to further limit freedom of expression, including by blocking Internet access, prohibiting public gatherings, and imposing curfews. This declaration, if implemented in these ways, would further enshrine the type of response that has failed to ameliorate the recent political crisis.

Political pluralism and respect for fundamental freedoms are essential to addressing the legitimate grievances of protesters and other Ethiopians. We reiterate our longstanding call for the Government of Ethiopia to respect its citizens constitutionally-guaranteed freedoms of expression and association, and to release those detained for peacefully exercising those rights. Arresting and silencing independent and critical voices is self-defeating and will lead to greater polarization, and makes it harder to find a solution acceptable to all Ethiopians.

We strongly encourage everyone to refrain from committing further acts of violence in Ethiopia. Peaceful dialogue is the path to resolution of Ethiopias need for reform. Too many innocent lives have already been lost and too much destruction has already taken place.

We welcome President Mulatus October 10 address to Parliament committing the government to addressing some of these grievances - such as land rights, electoral reform, and recognition of the special interest of the Oromia region in the city of Addis Ababa. We encourage the government to act on these commitments decisively and quickly, and urge it to undertake further comprehensive reforms with the goal of opening political space and ensuring respect for fundamental freedoms and the democratic rights enshrined in the Constitution of Ethiopia. We also note the Prime Ministers commitment that the state of emergency will not breach human rights protected by the Ethiopian constitution.
Attacks against Ashura Mourners

Washington, DC - The United States condemns the deplorable attacks against worshippers at Shia shrines in Kabul yesterday evening and against Ashura mourners today in Balkh province. We send our deepest condolences to the families and friends of those killed and injured.

Such attacks are clearly intended to drive sectarian tension in Afghanistan. We commend the government and security forces of Afghanistan for their response to these attacks and their commitment to the peace, security, and prosperity of their country and a future for Afghanistan free of sectarian violence.
Special Advisor for Children's Issues Travels to the Netherlands, Italy, and Japan

Washington, DC - Special Advisor for Childrens Issues, Ambassador Susan Jacobs, will visit the Netherlands, Italy, and Japan from October 13-22.

Ambassador Jacobs will travel to the Netherlands to meet with officials of the Permanent Bureau of the Hague Conference on Private International Law. She will join other Central Authorities to continue efforts to improve their practices under the Convention on Protection of Children and Co-Operation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption (Hague Adoption Convention).

She will then travel to Italy to meet with Italys Central Authority for the Hague Adoption Convention to discuss continued cooperation under the Convention.

Ambassador Jacobs will be joined by Bureau of Consular Affairs Deputy Assistant Secretary Karen Christensen as she completes her trip in Japan. They will attend the American Bar Association Section of International Laws 2016 Fall Meeting. Ambassador Jacobs will speak about the implementation of the Hague Abduction Convention in Japan and the Pacific Rim. Ambassador Jacobs and DAS Christensen will also meet with Japanese officials to discuss the implementation of the Hague Abduction Convention and press for the resolution of all outstanding abduction cases.




This Isnt Our Last Love Letter



Dear Don Don,

Way back in 92



I walked into the room and knew



Never felt this way before



I shook your hand while gazing into your eyes



And the feeling grew



As I took a seat I knew



A love that would have my heart



Forever



I knew



Way back in 92





They say love at first sight doesnt always last or isnt true



We were the exception to that rule



Our love had no where to hide



A spark set fire



As if this is how the universe started





I never doubted our love or what we could do



Together we grew



Forming a bond everlasting



That became our glue



My euphoria was YOU



Im eternally grateful for the love and life we shared



For how fortunate we were :



to have and to hold

through sickness and in health

Til death do us part



Until we are together again



This isnt our last love letter



I love you with all my heart and soul



Yours forever,



Deirdre (Mrs. Hank Snow)





Im fortunate to have fallen in love with, marry and make a life with the sharpest, coolest, funniest, most rare, bad ass, tender loving, loyal man on the planet, my husband Don Imus.









A True American Hero

I dont know why it has been so hard for me to write about my dear friend Don Imus.



I certainly know what he meant to me, my family, my charity, my hospital and the millions of fans that listened and loved him for so many years.



I keep reading all the beautiful condolences that people are writing about how much a part of their lives were effected by listening to him over the years.

But what most people dont talk enough about is what he did for all of us.

In every sense of the word, he was an American Hero. His work with children with so many different illnesses and his dedication to their future was unmatched by anyone I have ever known or heard about.



Besides raising over $100,000,000 for so many causes, he took care of young people for over 20 years in a state where he could not breathe. Along with his incredible wife Deirdre, he created a world where children were not defined by their disease. That was a miracle! He was a miracle.

I will miss him ever day for the rest of my life.

I was blessed to be a part of his and Deirdes life.

No one will ever do what he did.

I love you Don Imus - A TRUE AMERICAN HERO





David Jurist

IMUS IN THE MORNING

FIRST DAY BACK!
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Throughout their long history, Marvel has published numerous comics commenting on the current state of world affairs. During World War 2, for instance, they famously depicted Captain America punching Adolf Hitler in the face.

In keeping with this tradition, the company has teamed up with ABC to produce a rather wonderful comic - available for free online - about a Syrian mother with superhuman patience and motherly instinct.

Titled Madaya Mom, the comic - based on real events - depicts a mother of five trapped inside the besieged Syrian town Madaya. So far this year, dozens of the towns people have died from starvation, with few people able to contact the outside world.

The character of Madaya Mom was inspired by an anonymous citizen of Madaya who managed to make contact with ABC journalists who chronicled her fight for survival across numerous blog posts.

"Our bodies are no longer used to eating," she says in one panel. "My children are hungry but are getting sick, severe stomach pains from the food because their bodies arent able to digest and absorb the food because they were hungry for so long.

Turkey's two million Syrian refugees Show all 11 1 /11 Turkey's two million Syrian refugees Turkey's two million Syrian refugees There are already over 2.5 million Syrian refugees in Turkey, but their current camps can only hold 200,000 people ADEM ALTAN/AFP/Getty Images Turkey's two million Syrian refugees Turkish citizens protest a new deal, also criticised by human rights activists, which will see refugees who arrived in Greece after March 20 be sent back to Turkey AP Photo/Emre Tazegu Turkey's two million Syrian refugees An estimated 80% of Syrian refugee children already in Turkey are unable to attend school BULENT KILIC/AFP/Getty Images Turkey's two million Syrian refugees Refugee children beg for water near the Turkey-Syria border. Turkey has been accused of illegally deporting asylum-seekers back to Syria BULENT KILIC/AFP/Getty Images Turkey's two million Syrian refugees In Turkey, no-one from outside Europe is legally recognised as a refugee, meaning the 2016 deportations may not meet international legal standards for protecting vulnerable people BULENT KILIC/AFP/Getty Images Turkey's two million Syrian refugees A refugee child cries as she is searched by police at the Syria-Turkey border, where 16 refugees (including three children) have been shot dead in the last four months BULENT KILIC/AFP/Getty Images Turkey's two million Syrian refugees Many refugees are living rough on the streets of cities such as Istanbul or Ankara (pictured) ADEM ALTAN/AFP/Getty Images Turkey's two million Syrian refugees Turkish soldiers use water cannon on Syrian refugees BULENT KILIC/AFP/Getty Images Turkey's two million Syrian refugees Syrian refugees shelter from rain in the streets of Istanbul BULENT KILIC/AFP/Getty Images Turkey's two million Syrian refugees A derelict building housing Syrian refugees in Istanbul Carl Court/Getty Images Turkey's two million Syrian refugees Turkey houses around half of all the refugees who have currently fled Syria Carl Court/Getty Images

Speaking to The National, artist Dalibor Talajic spoke about not sensationalising the comic. "I didnt want to do a war comic," he told the publication. "I wanted to make a comic with a civilian point of view, where youre really powerless. You cant do anything. Youre just waiting for it to pass or for you to die.

Talajic, best known for his work on Deadpool - added: It is a mother, but it is every mother. It is a family, but its every family. You can read the comic here.
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In Bollywood, Irrfan Khan is one of the biggest stars there is. In Hollywood? Not so much. He's found himself playing second fiddle to tigers (Life of Pi), superheroes (The Amazing Spider-Man), dinosaurs (Jurassic World) and now Tom Hanks (Inferno). Does he mind? As an actor, you always want to be the main man, to be the lead, he admits. But in Hollywood cinema [what is enriching] is the vision of the director and the scale of the stories. Living in India, I wouldn't have been able to work with, say, Ang Lee.

While Lee directed Khan in the groundbreaking Life of Pi, the 49-year-olds relationship with international audiences began back with British director Asif Kapadia's 2001 movie The Warrior. Since then, he's worked with the likes of Wes Anderson (The Darjeeling Limited), Michael Winterbottom (A Mighty Heart), Mira Nair (The Namesake) and, most famously, Danny Boyle, playing the police inspector in the Oscar-winning Slumdog Millionaire. The studios inevitably came calling. I didn't decide I was going to work in Hollywood, he shrugs. I never planned for it.

Actor Irrfan Khan in a still from film 'Inferno'

Is it strange for Indian fans reared on his Bollywood work to see him on the international stage? The audiences feel proud when they see me working with Tom Hanks or in Jurassic World, he answers. They have a sense of identity in the international market. I still remember when we did Slumdog Millionaire. I went to L.A. for the Oscar ceremony and I met this guy who was living there for 30 years and he said, 'After this film somehow, people are recognising me and giving me value' and he was crying. So that's what it does. It makes them feel, 'We exist'.

Dressed in a tight-fitting coffee-coloured sweater and pin-stripe trousers, an expensive-looking stud earring nestled in his lobe, Khan is sitting in an upstairs room at the Forte di Belvedere, the 16th-century Italian fortress overlooking Florence that today is playing host to the press launch for Inferno. The third movie adaptation in Dan Brown's series of Robert Langdon books, following The Da Vinci Code and Angels & Demons, it yet again sees director Ron Howard reunite with Hanks, who reprises his role as the smart-cookie symbiologist.

With a bonkers billionaire (Ben Foster) putting in motion a plot to release a virus to cure over-population, Khan plays his amoral facilitator, Harry Sims. A private contractor with an ocean liner for an office, there's something of a Bond villain about him. It's just his attitude, the way he deals with a crisis, dismisses Khan, with a wave of his hand.  That might give you the impression he's a Bond villain. But he's doing a strange job which is very difficult to define.

Irrfan Khan (right) plays Harry Sims who has the air of a Bond villain

For all of Inferno's outlandish elements  it's the movie equivalent of an airport read  it does pick up on the very serious topic of over-population. It's affecting the whole world, affecting the environmentit is a huge, huge problem, says Khan. It will be difficult to contain and that's why I think we'll see wars very soon and those wars will not be fought in Europe or America...those wars will be fought, maybe, in countries like China and India, and those continents.

Khan, who lives in Bombay and has seen the problem first-hand in India, admits the root cause is quite simply human beings. Oh, we are a virus. We are an incurable virus. And we don't realise it, he argues. Nature has given us...it has advanced us...we are more intelligent, we can deflect things, we can hold things, we can destroy things. We are more intelligent beings and that's what is destroying us. Our intelligence is what is destroying us.

Married to screenwriter Sutapa Sikdar, Khan has sons, Babil and Ayan, and like any parent, the environmental problems his children's generation faces are a huge concern. These worries are always there in you, but you have to live your life. These are the worries that are there in your blood. He pauses, unwilling to sound too dramatic. But you are not the only one who is going to do [deal with this]. Maybe it's the passage of time which is bringing this, and something is going to happen and things will turn.

The film director Ron Howard behind the scenes of his movie Inferno

Born in Jaipur, Rajasthan, where his father ran a tyre business, Khan started acting after he won a scholarship to study at Delhis National School of Drama  where he met his wife to be  in the mid-Eighties. After graduating, it was anything but easy, with small television and theatre roles keeping him afloat. His first movie was a bit-part (later cut out) in Mira Nair's 1988 film Salaam Bombay! But gradually the roles kept coming, in films like 1998's acclaimed Such a Long Journey, albeit with Khan often going unnoticed.

After 2005's hit Rog, Khan's first Bollywood lead in which he played an insomniac detective, his position in the Indian film industry was secured. And yet even now his early years scratching for work have scarred him. An actor's life is very insecure, he says. You don't know what's going to happen. You don't know when you're going to be out of a job. It's a very intrinsic part. But that insecurity...insecurity always keeps you very anxious. I hate anxiety. My mother used to be very anxious and I have an aversion to it.

On average, he makes three to four Indian movies a year  and already has a trio in the can for next year, including Hindi Medium, a comedy set in the Indian education system. If an opportunity comes to me, I put everything into it, but I don't plan, he says. I can't even plan for tomorrow. He has one other golden rule that he lives by. If the story doesn't give me enough experience as a human being...if I'm doing [it] just for money or fame, I feel like I've wasted my time. This story has to give me something more to hold onto.

Inferno opens on 14 October
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UK entrepreneur Jo Malone has revealed how she broke America by persuading 50 friends to take part in a low-budget stunt that involved walking around New York with her empty branded bags.

While her brand has experienced huge success over the years - her colognes, candles and bath oils are sold worldwide  it wasnt always easy, so she was forced to come up with cunning ideas that involved minimal cost.

She told an audience at the Cheltenham literature festival that when she first arrived in the Big Apple she had only 1,000 bags and no marketing budget, The Times reported.

I sat there in a hotel room thinking: I am going to fail, what am I going to do? she said. With the help of her husband she arrived at the idea to create a buzz around her product that didnt require spending a fortune; a stunt she liked to refer to as walking the dogs.

The Jo Malone brand was launched in 1991 (Rex Features)

Their bags were empty and I remember saying to Gary: Well, what is the point of that? and he said: Well, no one else knows.

As her friends paraded the hollow carry-alls through New Yorks most fashionable districts, interest began to mount in the opening of her upcoming concession store at Bergdorf Goodman.

(Rex Features (Rex Features)

These bags started to be recognised in really savvy parts of New York City, so when we opened the store people thought there was already a store somewhere. There wasnt. There were empty bags wandering around New York City.

New York Fashion Week a/w 2016 shows Show all 5 1 /5 New York Fashion Week a/w 2016 shows New York Fashion Week a/w 2016 shows Oscar de la Renta's colour sense is extraordinary Getty New York Fashion Week a/w 2016 shows Coach's Stuart Vevers based his collection on ice hockey uniforms and varsity dressing Getty New York Fashion Week a/w 2016 shows Proenza Schouler is one of those labels offering wear-it-now styles Getty New York Fashion Week a/w 2016 shows Thom Browne featured topsy-turvy, misbuttoned and displaced tailoring like an MGM fashion show in a twister Getty New York Fashion Week a/w 2016 shows Lacoste opted for upscale but not jumped-up sportswear that was designed but not overly so

Soon after expanding to the US, Jo Malone sold her company to Estee Lauder for millions of dollars but stayed on as creative director until 2006 after recovering from breast cancer. She launched her second perfume business, Jo Loves, in 2011.
Spanish courts are seeing growing petitions for shared custody of pets. Gianluca Battista

When a marriage breaks down, losing custody of a dog or a cat can sometimes be almost as traumatic as losing custody of a child.

Until now, the courts in Spain had automatically awarded custody to the animals registered owner. But in a country where nearly one out of every two households has a pet, this trend is starting to change: a growing body of rulings is taking into account both parties emotional attachment to their animal, and establishing shared custody.

I did everything possible to keep her. Its not quite like a child, but almost

Eva Munoz, lawyer

In some cases pets get the same visiting arrangements as children, notes Leire Lopez, a family lawyer with Vosseler Abogados who says that the issue of who gets to keep the pet is being openly discussed more frequently in separation proceedings.

For now, Spains Civil Code defines pets as mere personal property, a legal status that places some limitations on custody arrangements. But Marita Candela, a law professor and director of the International Center for Animal Law and Policy (ICALP) at Barcelonas Autonomous University, believes that Spain will soon redress this anomaly and bring legislation in line with countries like France, which considers pets to be living, feeling creatures.

The ICALP website compiles all precedents of shared animal custody handed down by Spanish courts.

In 2010, Paqui Barrios became an unintentional celebrity when she filed for equal time periods of shared possession over Lauda, a mixed-breed dog that she and her sentimental partner had taken in nine years earlier. When their relationship ended, the man kept the animal.

Almost one in every two Spanish households has a pet. Carles Ribas

He took him away and wouldnt let me see him. He hurt me a lot, said Paqui at the time. In a pioneering decision, the judge in charge of the case decided to award shared possession over the animal. The case set a precedent for animal law in Spain, concluding that the dog, though legally considered personal property, is indivisible. As such, he would have to spend half a year with each of his owners.

Six years later, the lawyer who represented Paqui Barrios still remembers the case.

I keep getting calls from lawyers everywhere to know how I framed the matter, says Carlos Franco. Spanish society is more sensitive to this issue nowadays; there is hardly a family around that does not keep a pet. Some people want to make it clear in their marriage covenants that, in the event of a divorce, they want to keep the dog.

The separation process was more traumatic for Eva Munoz, a 54-year-old lawyer. The judge gave her custody of their child and awarded alimony. But nothing was said about who would get to keep Estel, the 11-year-old family dog.

In some cases pets get the same visiting arrangements as children

Leire Lopez, family lawyer

We took her in from the streets when she was two, recalls Munoz. Her ex moved to be awarded the right to see the animal every other month. The Provincial Court of Barcelona rejected the claim, saying that the fight over the dog should go through different channels.

But the 2014 ruling did admit that ties of affection are created between the pet and all members of the family, and that depriving one of these members of the pets company produces feelings of sadness, unease, anxiety and longing. The judges who saw the case said that, as personal property, a dog can either have exclusive or shared ownership, but that the issue has no place within divorce proceedings because it is legally inadmissible to equate child-visiting rights with dog-visiting rights.

Eva Munoz says that her husband, an architect, merely wanted to hurt her because he knew how important Estel was to her.

Dogs are used [like weapons], just like children, she notes. I did everything possible to keep her. She is paramount to me. Its not quite like a child, but almost.

That Munoz is devoted to her dog is evident: she has spent 22 months taking her in to the vet for daily treatment because of injuries to one of her front paws. Estel is carried around in her owners arms, and even shares her bed.

English version by Susana Urra.
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The world is making dismal progress towards ending the global epidemic of tuberculosis  the infection which kills more people than any other  amid a crisis in resistance to drugs used to treat the disease, the World Health Organisation has warned.

An estimated 10.4 million people had TB last year with 1.8 million dying as a result, the WHO said in a new report.

The figures show the disease is significantly more common than previously thought. The WHO had estimated there were 9.6 million cases in 2014, but it put the rise down to better recording in India, where TB is a particular problem.

Experts said there was a need for universal health coverage and public health financing to tackle the disease, which most people survive given the right treatment.

One significant problem is that the bacteria that causes TB is gaining resistance to the drugs used against it. Some 480,000 people had a multi-drug resistant form of the disease last year.

The WHO said at least $2bn (1.6bn) a year was needed to fund research and development, but funding had never exceeded $0.7bn (0.6bn) a year between 2005 and 2014.

And funding of care and prevention in poorer countries was also $2bn below the $8.6bn (7bn) needed, the report added, warning this gap was set to widen to $6bn by 2020.

Dr Mario Raviglione, director of the WHO Global TB Programme, said: The dismal progress in the TB response is a tragedy for the millions of people suffering from this disease.

To save more lives now, we must get newly recommended rapid tests, drugs and regimens to those who need them. Current actions and investments fall far short of what is needed.

The world is finally waking up to the threat of antimicrobial resistance  now is the time to accelerate the multi-drug-resistant-TB response.

Recommended Read more Giant rats used to sniff out tuberculosis in African prisons

Dr Margaret Chan, the WHOs Director General, said the world was facing an uphill battle to meet the global target to virtually eradicate the disease.

There must be a massive scale-up of efforts, or countries will continue to run behind this deadly epidemic and these ambitious goals will be missed, she said.

The United Nations General Assembly agreed to bring about a 90 per cent reduction in TB deaths and an 80 per cent reduction in cases by 2030.

The US Agency for International Development (USAID) provides huge amounts of funding in the fight against the disease.

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

But Dr Ariel Pablos-Mendez, USAIDs assistant administrator for global health, said: The resources deployed against TB, the leading infectious killer in the world, are falling short. Everyone has a part to play in closing the gap.

As the report shows, we need universal health coverage, social protection mechanisms, and public health financing in high burden countries.

The development aid community needs to step up more investments now, or we will simply not end one of the worlds oldest and deadliest diseases.

About 60 per cent of cases are found in just six countries with India having the most, followed by Indonesia, China, Nigeria, Pakistan and South Africa.

Global TB deaths fell by 22 per cent between 2000 and 2015, but the disease remains one of the top 10 causes of death worldwide, responsible for more deaths than HIV and malaria.

The report said that multi-drug-resistant TB remains a public health crisis with an estimated 480,000 people catching it in 2015, about the same level as 2014.

Nearly half of all cases of multi-drug-resistant forms of TB occurred in three countries: India, China and Russia.

Aaron Oxley, executive director of anti-poverty group Results and a board member of the UNs Stop TB Partnership, told The Independent the reason the disease was still a major problem was the lack of political interest.

He said the Stop TB Partnership was calling for world leaders to attend a UN summit meeting on the subject next year, which would be the first one ever.

Mr Oxley said the WHO report was more evidence that the more TB we look for, the more TB we find.

The figure of 1.8 million deaths per year is quite frankly shocking news, he said. The fact that we discovered it is at that level is enormous.

He praised the UK for showing a lot of leadership on antibiotic resistance and said TB would have to be taken into consideration when dealing with that.

The target to reduce TB to the point where it was no longer a public health threat was looking increasingly challenging, Mr Oxley added.
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Wells Fargo's embattled chief executive John Stumpf is stepping down as the USs second-largest bank is dogged by a scandal over its sales practices.

The San Francisco bank said Mr Stumpf is retiring immediately and also relinquishing his title as chairman. It had earlier announced that Mr Stumpf, the bank's chief executive since 2007, will forfeit $41m (33m) in stock awards.

Wells Fargos chief operating officer Tim Sloan will succeed Mr Stumpf as chief executive and join the company's board. He has been with Wells Fargo for 29 years.

Stephen Sanger, the bank's lead director, will serve as the board's non-executive chairman.

Recommended Read more Warren Buffett discusses Wells Fargo accounts scandal

Mr Stumpf's departure from Wells Fargo comes a little over a month after the bank was fined $185m (151m) by Californian and federal regulators over its sales practices.

The regulators alleged employees trying to meet aggressive sales targets opened bank and credit card accounts, moved money between those accounts and even created fake email addresses to sign customers up for online banking - all without customer authorisation.

Debit cards were issued and activated, as well as PINs created, without customers' knowledge.

Mr Stumpf had previously gained acclaim for navigating Wells Fargo through the financial crisis and keeping it free of scandal, but he came under withering pressure over the alleged misconduct, believed to have gone on at the bank for years.

About 5,300 lower-level employees were fired.

While I have been deeply committed and focused on managing the company through this period, I have decided it is best for the company that I step aside, he said in a statement.

Democratic senator Elizabeth Warren told him at a Senate Banking Committee hearing last month that he should resign and give back the money you took while the scam was going on.

Mr Stumpf earned $19.3m (15.8m) last year, but he and Carrie Tolstedt, the executive who ran the retail banking division, will forfeit millions.

Ms Tolstedt announced in July that she would retire from the bank this year and had been expected to leave with as much as $125mn (102m) in salary, stock options and other compensation.

She was stripped of $19m (15m) of her stock awards, and her departure was made immediate.

Before the scandal, Mr Stumpf was lauded for Wells Fargo having avoided some of the bad behaviour of its peers in the lead-up to the financial crisis. Wells Fargo did not invest in as many toxic mortgages as its counterparts, and Wells grew significantly by buying Wachovia.

AP
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New evidence has been found that suggests a comet strike may have caused runaway global warming that melted all the ice on the planet 55 million years ago.

Temperatures at the time rose by between five and nine degrees Celsius as a vast amount of carbon was released into the atmosphere over thousands of years  estimates range from 5,000 to 20,000 years.

While this rise is dramatic on a geological timescale, it happened at a much slower rate than the one currently taking place.

Earths average temperature is now one degree Celsius above where it was a little over 100 years ago and climate scientists predict this increase could potentially hit 6.4 degrees by the end of this century  depending on our actions.

The comet-strike theory is controversial with most scientists believing the carbon came from a surge in volcanic eruptions.

When it was first suggested by Dr Dennis Kent, of Columbia and Rutgers universities in the US, in 2003, other experts were sceptical.

But the new study, published in the journal Science, puts forward what Dr Kent and colleagues believes is further evidence to support the idea.

The researchers found tiny spherical droplets of glass called microtektites in clay taken from the bank of a stream near Medford, New Jersey.

Recommended Read more Dinosaurs died after asteroid hit oil field sending soot around planet

The 10-metre thick section of Marlboro clay is thought to have been laid down quickly and all the glass droplets were found in layer about 20cm thick at the bottom of the clay.

They are thought to have been formed when an extra-terrestrial object hits the Earth, superheating and vaporising material that is sent flying through the air. The glass is formed as the material cools.

Extremely high levels of carbon isotopes have also been found in a band of the Marlboro clay covering about a dozen years that is close to the layer of glass droplets.

The impact is thought to have taken place at the same time as the period of warming began because of the mysterious release of carbon dioxide.

Professor Morgan Schaller, of Rutgers and lead author of the paper in Science, said: It's got to be more than coincidental that there's an impact right at the same time.

If the impact was related, it suggests the carbon release was fast.

And Dr Kent added: It got warm in a hurry. This suggests where it came from.

Science news in pictures Show all 20 1 /20 Science news in pictures Science news in pictures Pluto has 'beating heart' of frozen nitrogen Pluto has a 'beating heart' of frozen nitrogen that is doing strange things to its surface, Nasa has found. The mysterious core seems to be the cause of features on its surface that have fascinated scientists since they were spotted by Nasa's New Horizons mission. "Before New Horizons, everyone thought Pluto was going to be a netball - completely flat, almost no diversity," said Tanguy Bertrand, an astrophysicist and planetary scientist at NASA's Ames Research Center and the lead author on the new study. "But it's completely different. It has a lot of different landscapes and we are trying to understand what's going on there." Getty Science news in pictures Over 400 species discovered this year by Natural History Museum The ancient invertabrate worm-like species rhenopyrgus viviani (pictured) is one of over 400 species previously unknown to science that were discovered by experts at the Natural History Museum this year PA Science news in pictures Jackdaws can identify 'dangerous' humans Jackdaws can identify dangerous humans from listening to each others warning calls, scientists say. The highly social birds will also remember that person if they come near their nests again, according to researchers from the University of Exeter. In the study, a person unknown to the wild jackdaws approached their nest. At the same time scientists played a recording of a warning call (threatening) or contact calls (non-threatening). The next time jackdaws saw this same person, the birds that had previously heard the warning call were defensive and returned to their nests more than twice as quickly on average. Getty Science news in pictures Turtle embryos influence sex by shaking The sex of the turtle is determined by the temperatures at which they are incubated. Warm temperatures favour females. But by wiggling around the egg, embryos can find the Goldilocks Zone which means they are able to shield themselves against extreme thermal conditions and produce a balanced sex ratio, according to the new study published in Current Biology journal Ye et al/Current Biology Science news in pictures Elephant poaching rates drop in Africa African elephant poaching rates have dropped by 60 per cent in six years, an international study has found. It is thought the decline could be associated with the ivory trade ban introduced in China in 2017. Reuters Science news in pictures Ancient four-legged whale discovered in Peru Scientists have identified a four-legged creature with webbed feet to be an ancestor of the whale. Fossils unearthed in Peru have led scientists to conclude that the enormous creatures that traverse the planets oceans today are descended from small hoofed ancestors that lived in south Asia 50 million years ago A. Gennari Science news in pictures Animal with transient anus discovered A scientist has stumbled upon a creature with a transient anus that appears only when it is needed, before vanishing completely. Dr Sidney Tamm of the Marine Biological Laboratory could not initially find any trace of an anus on the species. However, as the animal gets full, a pore opens up to dispose of waste Steven G Johnson Science news in pictures Giant bee spotted Feared extinct, the Wallace's Giant bee has been spotted for the first time in nearly 40 years. An international team of conservationists spotted the bee, that is four times the size of a typical honeybee, on an expedition to a group of Indonesian Islands Clay Bolt Science news in pictures New mammal species found inside crocodile Fossilised bones digested by crocodiles have revealed the existence of three new mammal species that roamed the Cayman Islands 300 years ago. The bones belonged to two large rodent species and a small shrew-like animal New Mexico Museum of Natural History Science news in pictures Fabric that changes according to temperature created Scientists at the University of Maryland have created a fabric that adapts to heat, expanding to allow more heat to escape the body when warm and compacting to retain more heat when cold Faye Levine, University of Maryland Science news in pictures Baby mice tears could be used in pest control A study from the University of Tokyo has found that the tears of baby mice cause female mice to be less interested in the sexual advances of males Getty Science news in pictures Final warning to limit "climate catastrophe" The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has issued a report which projects the impact of a rise in global temperatures of 1.5 degrees Celsius and warns against a higher increase Getty Science news in pictures Nobel prize for evolution chemists The nobel prize for chemistry has been awarded to three chemists working with evolution. Frances Smith is being awarded the prize for her work on directing the evolution of enzymes, while Gregory Winter and George Smith take the prize for their work on phage display of peptides and antibodies Getty/AFP Science news in pictures Nobel prize for laser physicists The nobel prize for physics has been awarded to three physicists working with lasers. Arthur Ashkin (L) was awarded for his "optical tweezers" which use lasers to grab particles, atoms, viruses and other living cells. Donna Strickland and Gerard Mourou were jointly awarded the prize for developing chirped-pulse amplification of lasers Reuters/AP Science news in pictures Discovery of a new species of dinosaur The Ledumahadi Mafube roamed around 200 million years ago in what is now South Africa. Recently discovered by a team of international scientists, it was the largest land animal of its time, weighing 12 tons and standing at 13 feet. In Sesotho, the South African language of the region in which the dinosaur was discovered, its name means "a giant thunderclap at dawn" Viktor Radermacher / SWNS Science news in pictures Birth of a planet Scientists have witnessed the birth of a planet for the first time ever. This spectacular image from the SPHERE instrument on ESO's Very Large Telescope is the first clear image of a planet caught in the very act of formation around the dwarf star PDS 70. The planet stands clearly out, visible as a bright point to the right of the center of the image, which is blacked out by the coronagraph mask used to block the blinding light of the central star. ESO/A. Muller et al Science news in pictures New human organ discovered that was previously missed by scientists Layers long thought to be dense, connective tissue are actually a series of fluid-filled compartments researchers have termed the interstitium. These compartments are found beneath the skin, as well as lining the gut, lungs, blood vessels and muscles, and join together to form a network supported by a mesh of strong, flexible proteins Getty Science news in pictures Previously unknown society lived in Amazon rainforest before Europeans arrived, say archaeologists Working in the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso, a team led by archaeologists at the University of Exeter unearthed hundreds of villages hidden in the depths of the rainforest. These excavations included evidence of fortifications and mysterious earthworks called geoglyphs Jose Iriarte Science news in pictures One in 10 people have traces of cocaine or heroin on fingerprints, study finds More than one in 10 people were found to have traces of class A drugs on their fingers by scientists developing a new fingerprint-based drug test. Using sensitive analysis of the chemical composition of sweat, researchers were able to tell the difference between those who had been directly exposed to heroin and cocaine, and those who had encountered it indirectly. Getty Science news in pictures Nasa releases stunning images of Jupiter's great red spot The storm bigger than the Earth, has been swhirling for 350 years. The image's colours have been enhanced after it was sent back to Earth. Pictures by: Tom Momary

However the theory has a major obstacle to overcome if it is to become widely accepted as the researchers have not yet found an impact creator.

It could have been next door, or it could have been on the other side of the planet, Professor Schaller said.

The warming period 55 million years ago forced life on Earth to shift towards the North and South Poles and altered evolution. One concern about climate change today is that animals and plants will not be able to evolve fast enough.

The extinction of the dinosaurs is thought to have been partly caused by a massive impact off Mexicos Yucatan Peninsula about 11 million years before this period. And 20 million years after it, another one created Chesapeake Bay near Washington DC.

Some sceptics about the comet-strike theory were unconvinced by the new evidence.

Professor Gerald Dickens, a marine geologist at Rice University who studies the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum, as the period is known, said the Science paper did not really explain anything.

He said there were multiple arguments for why the carbon input took thousands of years and finding a few spherules does not change this.
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Women in the northern Syrian town of Manbij are joining up to the local police force in record numbers to protect their hard-won freedoms, local news has reported.

More than 50 women have so far joined the recently established Asayish Police Force, created after the town was freed from Isis militants over the summer.

Manbijs approximately 100,000 people were liberated by mostly Kurdish Syrian Democratic Force soldiers in August after two months of heavy fighting which the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said killed more than 400 civilians.

Images and footage of residents celebrating the terror groups defeat and hugging the advancing soldiers were shared around the world. Women threw off and burnt niqabs, men trimmed their beards, and people smoked in public after Isis brutal rule two-year rule over the town ended.

The first Arab woman to join the police, Zainab Ali, said she made the decision to fight for and safeguard womens freedom following the experience of living under Isis interpretation of Sharia law.

I am proud to join the Asayish [police] forces, especially after suffering a lot of suppression in my private life. Being a part of those forces would give me the opportunity to protect other women in my society and fight for their rights, she told ARA News.

Before Syrias civil war broke out in 2011, civil order in the multi-ethnic city was mostly maintained by tribal leaders.

In pictures: Civilians freed from Isis in Manbij Show all 11 1 /11 In pictures: Civilians freed from Isis in Manbij In pictures: Civilians freed from Isis in Manbij Women and children celebrating after being freed from Isis in Manbij, Syria, on 12 August Reuters In pictures: Civilians freed from Isis in Manbij A man cuts the beard of a civilian who was freed from Isis by the SDF in Manbij on 12 August Reuters In pictures: Civilians freed from Isis in Manbij Women carry newborn babies while running after being freed from Isis in Manbij, Syria, on 12 August Reuters In pictures: Civilians freed from Isis in Manbij A woman freed from Isis hugs an SDF fighter in Manbij on 12 August Reuters In pictures: Civilians freed from Isis in Manbij A woman adding her veil to a pile of niqabs burning in Manbij, Syria, after being freed from Isis on 12 August Reuters In pictures: Civilians freed from Isis in Manbij Children celebrating on top of a lorry after being freed from Isis in Manbij, Syria, on 12 August Reuters In pictures: Civilians freed from Isis in Manbij A man and child freed from Isis by the SDF in Manbij on 12 August Reuters In pictures: Civilians freed from Isis in Manbij A woman carrying her children walks towards SDF fighters after being freed from Isis in Manbij, Syria, on 12 August Reuters In pictures: Civilians freed from Isis in Manbij A woman and child freed from Isis in Manbij, Syria, on 12 August Reuters In pictures: Civilians freed from Isis in Manbij An SDF fighter kisses a crying man who was freed from Isis in Manbij, Syria, on 12 August Reuters In pictures: Civilians freed from Isis in Manbij Hundreds of civilians freed from Isis in Manbij, Syria, on 12 August Reuters

The Asayish force was launched by the self-declared autonomous Kurdish administration of northern Syria, based in Rojava.

Under Isis, women in Manbij have suffered a lot. We had no basic rights. Women had to stay indoors. Now the situation is completely different. Every woman has the right to criticise and actively participate in the society, Fatima Khalaf, a member of Manbijs Traffic Police said. I feel myself free of all the traditional constraints now.

When militants were driven from the city Manbijs women quickly set about creating an all-female council to promote and protect their rights. The initiatives were inspired by the female fighters who helped drive Isis from the town, residents said at the time.

 Syria's war: Exclusive footage shows damage in Manbij

Before the liberation of Manbij, women were extremely oppressed. However, now womens rights are a priority for the local administration, Ms Ali added.

Both men and women are now responsible for maintaining law and order and the ongoing operation to dismantle explosives Isis left littered around the surrounding countryside when they fled.

Now we have more equality between men and women. This was our main demand, Ms Khalaf said.
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The professional skateboarder and model, Dylan Rieder, has died at the age of 28.

Rieder passed away on Wednesday after suffering complications relating to leukaemia.

A statement from Rieders manager posted on the skateboarding magazine Jenkems Facebook page said: Today, October 12th 216, surrounded by family and friends, Dylan Joseph Rieder passed away due to complications with Leukaemia.

Notable deaths in 2016 Show all 42 1 /42 Notable deaths in 2016 Notable deaths in 2016 Debbie Reynolds was an American actress, singer, businesswoman, film historian, and humanitarian. She died on December 28 in Los Angeles Rex Notable deaths in 2016 Actress Carrie Fisher died on December 27 aged 60 Rex Notable deaths in 2016 Comedian and Actor Ricky Harris died on December 26 aged 54 Rex Notable deaths in 2016 British singer George Michael died on 25 December aged 53 Getty Notable deaths in 2016 Rick Parfitt OBE was an English musician, best known for being a singer, songwriter and rhythm guitarist in the rock band Status Quo. He died on December 24 in Marbella, Spain Rex Notable deaths in 2016 Lord Jenkin of Roding died at the age of 90 on the 21 December PA wire Notable deaths in 2016 Rabbi Lionel Blue died on the 19 December Rex Notable deaths in 2016 Zsa Zsa Gabor died on December 18 Getty Notable deaths in 2016 Leonard Cohen died on 7 November Getty Images Notable deaths in 2016 Grand secretary of the Orange Order Drew Nelson died on 10 October aged 60 after a short illness PA Notable deaths in 2016 Aaron Pryor, the relentless junior welterweight died Sunday, Oct. 9, at the age of 60 at his home in Cincinnati after a long battle with heart disease AP Notable deaths in 2016 Polish Director Andrzej Wajda died on October 9, aged 90 Reuters Notable deaths in 2016 Stylianos Pattakos has died following a stroke on 8th October. He was 103 years old. AP Notable deaths in 2016 Dickie Jeeps, was an English rugby union player who played for Northampton. He represented and captained both the England national rugby union team and the British Lions in the 1950s and 1960s. He died on 8th October. He was 84 Getty Notable deaths in 2016 Duke of Westminster Billionaire landowner the Duke of Westminster, Gerald Cavendish Grosvenor has died on 9 August, aged 64 Rex Features Notable deaths in 2016 Christina Knudsen Sir Roger Moores stepdaughter Christina Knudsen has died from cancer on 25 July at teh age of 47 Getty Images Notable deaths in 2016 Caroline Aherne The actress Caroline Aherne has died from cancer on 2 July at the age of 52 Getty Images Notable deaths in 2016 Christina Grimmie Christina Grimmie, 22, who was an American singer and songwriter, known for her participation in the NBC singing competition The Voice, was signing autographs at a concert venue in Orlando on 10 June when an assailant shot her. Grimmie was transported to a local hospital where she died from her wounds on 11 June Getty Notable deaths in 2016 Kimbo Slice Former UFC and Bellator MMA fighter Kimbo Slice died after being admitted to hospital in Florida on 6 June, aged 42 Getty Notable deaths in 2016 Muhammad Ali The three-time former heavyweight world champion died after being admitted to hospital with a respiratory illness on 3 June, aged 74 Getty Images Notable deaths in 2016 Sally Brampton Brampton who was the launch editor of the UK edition of Elle magazine has died on 10 May, aged 60 Grant Triplow/REX/Shutterstock Notable deaths in 2016 Billy Paul The soul singer Billy Paul, who was best known for his single Me and Mrs Jones, has died on 24 April, aged 81 Noel Vasquez/Getty Images Notable deaths in 2016 Prince Prince, the legendary musician, has been found dead at his Paisley Park recording studio on 21 April. He was 57 Notable deaths in 2016 Chyna WWE icon Joan Laurer dies aged 45 after being found at California home on 20 April Notable deaths in 2016 Victoria Wood The five-time Bafta-winning actress and comedian Victoria Wood has died on 20 April at her London home after a short illness with cancer. She was 62 Notable deaths in 2016 David Gest The entertainer and former husband of Liza Minnelli, David Gest has been found dead on 12 April in the Four Seasons hotel in Canary Warf, London. He was 62-years-old PA Notable deaths in 2016 Denise Robertson Denise Robertson, an agony aunt on This Morning for over 30 years, has died on 1 April, aged 83 Notable deaths in 2016 Zaha Hadid Dame Zaha Hadid, the prominent architect best known for designs such as the London Olympic Aquatic Centre and the Guangzhou Opera House, has died of a heart attack on 31 March, aged 65 2010 AFP Notable deaths in 2016 Ronnie Corbett British entertainer Ronnie Corbett has passed away on 31 March at the age of 85 2014 Getty Images Notable deaths in 2016 Imre Kertesz Hungarian writer and Holocaust survivor Imre Kertesz, who won the 2002 Nobel Literature Prize, has died on 31 March, at the age of 86 REUTERS Notable deaths in 2016 Rob Ford Rob Ford, the former controversial mayor of Toronto, has died following a battle with a rare form of cancer. The 46-year-old passed away at the Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto on 22 March Notable deaths in 2016 Joey Feek Joey (left) passed away in March after a two-year cancer illness. She was part of country music duo, Joey + Rory, with her husband Rory (right) Jason Merritt/Getty Images Notable deaths in 2016 Umberto Eco Italian writer and philosopher Umberto Eco died 19 February 2016 aged 84 EPA Notable deaths in 2016 Harper Lee Harper Lee, the American novelist known for writing 'To Kill a Mockingbird', died February 19, 2016 aged 89 2005 Getty Images Notable deaths in 2016 Vanity Vanity, pictured performing in 1983, died aged 57 REX Features Notable deaths in 2016 Dave Mirra The BMX legend's body found inside truck with gunshot wound after apparent suicide aged 41 Notable deaths in 2016 Harry Harpham The former miner became Sheffield Labour MP in May after many years as a local councillor. He died after succumbing to cancer, at the age of 61. Notable deaths in 2016 Dale Griffin The Mott the Hoople drummer died on January 17, aged 67 REX Notable deaths in 2016 Rene Angelil Celine Dion's husband and manager Rene Angelil has lost his battle with cancer on 14 January, aged 73 2011 Getty Images Notable deaths in 2016 Alan Rickman Legendary actor Alan Rickman has died on 14 January at the age of 69 after battle with pancreatic cancer. He is largely regarded as one of the most beloved British actors of our generation with roles in Love Actually, Die Hard, Michael Collins, and Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves and an illustrious stage career 2015 Getty Images Notable deaths in 2016 Maurice White The Earth, Wind & Fire founder died aged 74. The nine-piece band sold more than 90 million albums worldwide and won six Grammy awards Notable deaths in 2016 Lawrence Phillips Former NFL star found dead in prison cell on 13 January in suspected suicide, aged 40 AFP/Getty Images

His passion for life, art, music, fashion and skateboarding has always been contagious. Dylan will be remembered by all as a loving son, brother and friend.

The California native rose up through the skateboarding ranks and turned professional at 18-years-old. He rode for Alien Workshop, was sponsored by a number of brands and took part in skateboarding films and videos. The skateboarding magazine Thrasher paid tribute to him on Wednesday saying he was absolutely, positively, a gift.

Rieder also modelled and in 2014 featured in DKNYs Spring Summer campaign alongside British models Cara Delevingne, Jourdan Dunn and the rapper ASAP Rocky.

Delevingne paid tribute to Rieder on Thursday, sharing a picture of the two of them on Instagram.

One of the kindest, most down to down, incredible human beings I have ever encountered. You will be so missed by so many people. Ride and Rest in Peace Dylan Rieder, she wrote.

Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne also paid tribute to the skateboarder on Twitter, with Ozzy writing that he felt blessed to have known Rieder.

The X Factor judge called Rieder "one of the most beautiful and talented men I've ever met".
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A politician has breastfed her baby while speaking at the national parliament in Iceland.

Unnur Bra Konrasdottir, from the centre-right Independence Party, nursed her 6-week-old daughter at the podium of the Alingi parliament on Wednesday, while explaining her vote on new immigration legislation to colleagues.

Although the northern European country has an extremely relaxed attitude towards breastfeeding in public, it was the first time an MP had fed her child while actually addressing parliament.

Ms Konrasdottir, who is chair of the parliamentary Judicial Affairs and Education Committee, said taking her daughter to the podium with her was the least disruptive option.

According to The Icelandic National Broadcasting Service, MP Svandis Svavarsdottir of the Left-Green Movement, offered to hold the baby, who was born 1 September, while her mother spoke about a proposed new Foreigners Act.

But Ms Konrasdottir reportedly declined the offer.

She was hungry and I had not expected to go to the pulpit," she said. "Then another MP was giving statements on a bill that I put forward on the behalf of the Judicial Affairs Committee, to which I had to respond. So I either had to tear the baby girl of me and leave her crying with the MP sitting next to me or just take her with me and I thought it would cause less disturbance to take her with me.

She added: She has been with me at the Parliament almost since she was born so my fellow MPs are used to her. She has attended numerous committee meetings with me over the final days of this parliament. Usually she is very calm and when we cast our votes she is sound asleep. So there have never been any incidents before."

The baby, who is Ms Konrasdottir third child, recently attended the Arctic Circle conference with her mother, and a meeting at the University of Iceland to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Reykjavik Summit.

Breastfeeding in public controversies Show all 11 1 /11 Breastfeeding in public controversies Breastfeeding in public controversies A woman has sparked a heated debate among parents after she revealed that she breastfeeds both her and her friend's son. Jessica Colletti, from Pennsylvania, said nursing Charlie Interrante's son seemed like the natural thing to do because she was already breastfeeding her son. Colletti told the Mama Bean parenting blog that she asked permission to nurse Interrantes son when she began looking after him, after they met at a photoshoot for new mothers. Interrante agreed as her son had not taken to formula milk Breastfeeding in public controversies New Hampshire State Rep. Josh Moore said on Facebook that men should be allowed to grab the nipples of breastfeeding mothers if the law banning women exposing their breasts did not pass Breastfeeding in public controversies When Gemma Colley's photo of her son with fake tan on his fake after she breastfeed him went viral, she also saw that no parent is alone when they make a silly mistake. Over 100,000 people liked and 40,000 people shared Ms Colleys photo of her sons sleepy face with fake tan encircling his mouth and nose, after she posted it to the Unmumsy Mum Facebook page Breastfeeding in public controversies A candid image of a mother breastfeeding her young child while using the toilet has divided parents online, as some argue its an honest depiction of parenthood, while others have labelled it disgusting Breastfeeding in public controversies The exclusive Claridges hotel has been widely criticised for asking a woman to cover herself with a ridiculous shroud while breastfeeding her three-month-old daughter. Lousie Burns said she burst into tears when staff members at the five-star venue asked her to cover herself and her baby with an oversized napkin in order to avoid causing offence to other guests Breastfeeding in public controversies An Australian cafe has been praised for sticking up for a breastfeeding mother after a customer told her to cover up. Jessica-Anne Allen, owner of Cheese and Biscuits Cafe in Queensland, Australia, has described how she was approached by a male customer in the cafe to complain that he was upset by a woman in the coffee shop breastfeeding her child nearby. The customer asked the cafe owner, 29, to tell the mother to cover up. When Mrs Allen refused to do so, he took matters into his own hands and challenged the woman himself. Staff at the cafe then asked the man to leave Breastfeeding in public controversies A woman who claimed a Primark security guard had forcibly removed her child while she was breastfeeding has admitted to perverting the course of justice. Caroline Starmer sparked a series of headlines after claiming on Facebook that a store guard had taken her nine-month-old daughter Paige away from her. The mother from Leicester then repeated her claims in a number of interviews, before Primark denied the incident and handed CCTV over to the police to show there was no evidence to support the allegations. Appearing in Leicester Crown Court, she admitted the charge of perverting the course of justice by not telling the truth Breastfeeding in public controversies Pope Francis has become an unlikely advocate for public breastfeeding, by encouraging mothers to feed their babies in the Sistine Chapel. During a ceremony in Vatican City on Sunday, the Pope baptised 32 babies and told their mothers: If they are hungry, mothers, feed them, without thinking twice, because they are the most important people here Breastfeeding in public controversies Facebook has changed its community guidelines to allow users to post photos of breastfeeding. The change comes as the wide-ranging #FreeTheNipple online campaign has built pace in its attack against guidelines used by social media websites to regulate nudity  from photos of breastfeeding to topless photos post by singer Rihannas on her now defunct Instagram account. Facebooks Community Standards, which outline what users are allowed to post, never included a outright ban on photos of breastfeeding Breastfeeding in public controversies The manager of a public swimming pool at the Lux Park centre in Liskeardhas been forced to apologise after he told a mother to stop breastfeeding her son by the waterside. 23-year-old Rebecaa Hough of Torpoint, Cornwall, was feeding 10-month-old Max a few steps from the main pool, when the manager told her to carry on in the changing rooms in case the infant was sick into the water. She was also told that she should not to return for half an hour to ensure the milk was fully digested Breastfeeding in public controversies A Conservative MP has claimed allowing women to breastfeed in the House of Commons chamber would expose politicians to tabloid ridicule. Sir Simon Burns, a former transport minister, spoke on what he called a controversial subject in a debate in making Westminster more family-friendly

Breastfeeding in public has been the subject of heated debate in many counties, but the Icelandic MP described it as the most natural thing in the world".

She told AFP being a mother is like any job: "you've got to do what you've got to do."

In the UK, which has one of the lowest rates of breastfeeding worldwide, MPs are currently not allowed to breastfeed in the chamber of the House of Commons.

A year-long independent review into tackling sexism in parliament, which was released in July, found the rules should be changed to allow women MPs to breastfeed in the chamber during debates.

Senior DUP politician Sammy Wilson criticised the suggestion, saying it would be exhibitionist for women to breastfeed in public areas of parliament. But his comments prompted angry backlash.

In the report, the late MP Jo Cox said: "We should take on the popular press if it is critical and say, 'this is what women do; get over it'. It is good for children, so we should advocate it."
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The world's longest-reigning monarch, King Bhumibol Adulyadej of Thailand, has died aged 88, the palace has confirmed.

The palace said the King passed away peacefully on Thursday at Bangkok's Siriraj Hospital after a 70-year reign.

Bhumibol Adulyadej became king in 1946 and was revered in Thailand as a demigod. He anchored the South-east Asian country through violent upheavals at home and communist revolutions next door, as well as a period of rapid development.

Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej - Life in Pictures Show all 10 1 /10 Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej - Life in Pictures Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej - Life in Pictures Royal guards shade Queen Elizabeth II and Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej from the sun with traditional Thai parasols during the welcoming ceremony at Bangkok military airport Reuters Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej - Life in Pictures The Thai royal family, King Bhumibol Adulyadej, Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn & Queen Sirikit Getty Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej - Life in Pictures Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej reviews royal guards at a ceremony marking his 69th birthday Getty Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej - Life in Pictures Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej takes pictures during the royal ploughing ceremony in Bangkok Getty Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej - Life in Pictures Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej, the world's longest serving monarch, and Queen Sirikit preside over a ceremony marking the 50th anniversary of the king's accession to the throne Getty Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej - Life in Pictures King Bhumibol Adulyadej of Thailand rides with French President de Gaulle in French official Citroen convertible upon his arrival at Orly airport, south of Paris Getty Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej - Life in Pictures King Bhumibol Adulyadej of Thailand rides down the Champs-Elysees with French President de Gaulle Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej - Life in Pictures Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej and Queen Sirikit stand near Belgian King Baudouin I, during their official visit to Belgium Getty Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej - Life in Pictures King Bhumibol Adulyadej of Thailand on a stopover at the Touquet airport on August 1948 during his journey to Great Britain Getty Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej - Life in Pictures French President de Gaulle and his wife alongside King Bhumibol Adulyadej of Thailand and his wife attend a show at the Opera de Paris Getty

Parliament met in a special session later on Thursday after a meeting of the cabinet.

Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-o-cha announced before the session that King Bhumibol's son and heir apparent, the 63-year old Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn would be the new monarch in accordance with the constitution.

However, the parliamentary meeting ended without inviting a successor to ascend to the throne.

Mr Prayuth said that the Crown Prince had asked for time to mourn with the Thai people. Let us wait for the right time, Mr Prayuth said, before adding that: "When the right time comes, the Crown Prince confirmed that he has realised his duty and will continue to perform his duty as the heir to the throne.

Anxiety about the King's health and the succession has formed the backdrop to over a decade of political upheaval in Thailand that has included two coups. King Bhumibol was seen as a force for unity - particularly given the length of time he sat on the throne - and there have long been concerns that without him the country's divisions could worsen.

That appears unlikely under the military government of Prime Minister Prayuth, who has kept a tight grip on power since toppling an elected government in 2014. That followed a previous army-staged coup in 2006, with a number of other attempted or successful

King Bhumibol was viewed by many in the majority Buddhist nation as a "bodhisattva", or holy being who delays entering nirvana to aid the human race, with junta leaders and Prime Ministers all showing due deference.

Hundreds of tearful Thais have journeyed to the hospital since King Bhumibol's deteriorating health was first announced by the palace on Sunday. Wearing pink and yellow shirts in the King's honour, many in the crowd have sat in the hospital courtyard, positioned to look up toward the building where the King has been confined. Every now and they shout Long live the king, with some wiping away tears.

 Public pray for dying king in Thailand

Many more broke into tears after the King's death was announced. I feel so saddened by this news. He has given so many things to the country, Apinut Jaroonpipatkul, a 25-year-old medical student told Reuters.

Parichart Kaewsin, 35, who works in a bank, stood at the edge of the hospital garden, gazing up at the top floor of the building where the king was treated.

I knew he was sick but I still can't believe this day has come, she said, choking back tears.

That's why I came here - to hear for myself. She told Reuters it was like a member of her family has died, she said. He was like our dad.

The once-vigorous King had withdrawn from public life over the last decade due to his ill health. He lived at a Bangkok hospital and had been notably silent about the political upheaval that has shaken Thailand in recent years.

His apparent successor Prince Vajiralongkorn has yet to command the respect and adoration that his father drew after a lifetime on the throne.

He has kept a lower profile than King Bhumibol for most of his life but in the past two years took on more of the public duties the king was no longer able to perform. The prince divorced his third wife in 2014.

Thailand's strict lese-majeste laws has left little room for public discussion about the succession. It has been so long since Thailand has had a succession, there is no modern precedent.

Mr Prayuth said that the government will observe one year of mourning and flags will fly at half-mast for 30 days. No government events will be held for 30 days, he said.

The Prince's coronation will not take place until a mourning period is over. When the King's sister died in 2008, a 100-day mourning period was declared. She was cremated 10 months after her death.

King Bhumibol also garnered respect from around the world, with the US seeing him as a crucial ally as communist revolutions erupted around the region.

There were a number of tributes to the King from leaders all over the world on Thursday.

US president Barack Obama offered his condolences to Thailand. He said the King leaves behind a legacy of care for the Thai people that future generations will cherish.

He said King Bhumibol was a tireless champion of his country's development and showed an unflagging devotion to improving the standard of living for the Thai people.

Mr Obama said the king was a close friend of the United States and valued partner of many US presidents.

Malaysian PM Najib Razak also offered his heartfelt condolences to the Thai royal family and the people of Thailand.

King Bhumibol was a towering presence whose contribution to Thailand, and the rest of the region, is beyond words. We join the Thai people in mourning his loss, he said..

While, Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said he was in deep sorrow at the death and remembered King Bhumibol as a "gentle person".
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Male students were unable to tell the difference between sexist jokes in so-called lads' mags and remarks about women by convicted rapists, according to a new study.

The researchers said that while lad culture had declined  along with the sales of the magazines  the supposedly more enlightened hipsters also had a tendency towards the ironic use of racist and sexist humour.

And they said consumption of hostile sexism now mostly occurred online when young men watch pornography.

Hostile sexism appears to have become a decisive issue in the US presidential election, with support for Donald Trump slumping after a tape emerged of the Republican candidate saying he could do "anything" to women, including sexual assault.

Three studies, published in the journal Psychology of Men and Masculinities, were carried out into how sexism could be normalised among young men.

Perhaps the most alarming was one in which 274 American college students were asked to identify which quotes were from lads' mags, such as Nuts, Zoo, Loaded, FHM and Unilad, and which were from rapists. They were unable to do so.

However, on being told this, they viewed the magazines as being less legitimate, the researchers reported.

Surrey University psychologist Professor Peter Hegarty, who led the studies, said: Sales of lads' mags have declined significantly in recent years, with several ceasing publication, but 'lad culture' and the normalisation of sexism is still a major concern, particularly on university campuses and online.

These latest studies demonstrate how a concrete source of social influence (lads' mags) can shape the expression of a prejudice that is generally considered unacceptable in an egalitarian society.

However  in a microcosm of what we have seen in the lads' mag market in recent years  when the extreme hostility of the content of lads' mags is made obvious, men are more likely to reject these magazines."

The comments used in the study, some of which are detailed below, are highly offensive.

Examples of rapists remarks and lads' mag quotes included:

The possibility of murder does bring a certain frisson to the bedroom.

You do not want to be caught red-handed  go and smash her on a park bench. That used to be my trick.

Girls love being tied up  it gives them the chance to be the helpless victim.

If the girl youve taken for a drink wont spread for your head, think about this mathematical statistic: 85 per cent of rape cases go unreported.

If your girl is making a face that seems forced during sex, then shes pretending to enjoy you, but if she looks like shes just been punched in the kidneys, shes in the moment.

You know girls in general are all right. But some of them are bitches  The bitches are the type that  need to have it stuffed to them hard and heavy.

Only the last quote was made by a convicted rapist, with the rest all from lads mags.

In another of the studies, 81 British men aged 18 to 50 were presented with sexist jokes either in or out of a lads mag context.

Young men tended to consider the jokes were less hostile towards women when they were in the magazines.

The third study, involving 423 men aged 18 to 30, sought to find a correlation between sexism and the people who buy lads mags. It found that men who displayed ambivalent sexism were more likely to buy them than other men.

What did Donald Trump say during the second presidential debate? Show all 8 1 /8 What did Donald Trump say during the second presidential debate? What did Donald Trump say during the second presidential debate? On the leaked tape from 2005 where he talks about sexually assaulting women I'm very embarrassed by it, I hate it, but it's locker room talk. It's one of those things. I will knock the hell out of Isis Getty What did Donald Trump say during the second presidential debate? On Hillary Clinton I hate to say it but if I win I'm going to instruct my attorney general to get a special prosecutor to look into your situation. There has never been so many lies, so much deception. You ought to be ashamed of yourself. Rex What did Donald Trump say during the second presidential debate? On Bill Clinton What he's done to women, there's never been anybody in the history of politics in this nation that's been so abusive to women. AP What did Donald Trump say during the second presidential debate? On whether his alleged opposition to Iraq War had been disproven "Its not debunked. Its not debunked." Getty What did Donald Trump say during the second presidential debate? On exploiting tax loopholes "I absolutely used it, and so did Warren Buffett, and so did George Soros and so did many people who Hillary is getting money from." Getty What did Donald Trump say during the second presidential debate? On claims he's sexist I have great respect for women. Nobody has more respect for women than I do. Reuters What did Donald Trump say during the second presidential debate? On what he respects about Hillary Clinton I will say this about Hillary - she doesn't quit, she doesn't give up. I tell it like it is. She's a fighter. Reuters What did Donald Trump say during the second presidential debate? On his controversial immigration policies "Its called extreme vetting. Were going to areas like Syria, where they are coming in by the tens of thousands because of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton wanting to allow a 550 per cent increase [of refugees] over Obama. People are coming into this country. We have no idea who they are, where they are from and what their feelings are about this country." Getty

Set against the modern hipster who appears to celebrate gender equality, good taste, and ethical consumption, lads appear decidedly backward, the journal paper said.

Yet, some commentators have pointed out that hipster masculinities, remain committed to ironic detachment, including the ironic use of racist and sexist humour that renders them more similar to the lads that they are superseding.

Laddishness may be less prevalent on supermarket shelves than a few years ago, but remains relevant on campuses, on and off-line.

Our findings may be useful in applied attempts to engender critical thinking among young men in such contexts where equal treatment of women is a social norm, but sexism remains relevant to young mens sexual socialization.
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A lone man answered Foreign Secretary Boris Johnsons call for the public to protest outside the Russian Embassy against airstrikes in Syria.

Dan Harper, 43, stood outside the building in Kensington, west London, for two hours on Wednesday, before leaving to have a cup of tea and return to his home in north London.

Mr Johnson said in an emergency Commons debate on Tuesday he would like to see demonstrations outside the diplomatic mission, while simultaneously dismissing calls to implement no-fly zones over the besieged city of Aleppo and other parts of the region.

Mr Johnson's comments angered the Kremlin, who denied Vladimir Putin's forces had bombed the Syrian city and accused him of "Russophobic hysteria". The remarks also provoked criticism from some political pundits in the UK who said he had transgressed "diplomatic convention".

Mr Harper told the Telegraph that while he was protesting some passers-by asked what's the point, but others applauded him as he held up a placard calling for bombing in Syria to stop.

Mr Harper described himself as a pacifist and a Buddhist, and said he often goes on anti-war protests. He told the newspaper he had heard Mr Johnson on the radio and felt he needed to "make my point".

I particularly dislike heavy bombardment of residential areas, he said, adding he believed Mr Johnson was right to call on the public to demonstrate, and, in fact, he was considering going back to protest again.

It is highly unusual for an incumbent foreign secretary to encourage demonstrations, particularly targeting another country's embassy, not least because it could have repercussions for British diplomats in that country.

Mr Johnson called for the public to protest at the same time as refusing to commit to no-fly zones in the region, despite emotive calls to action.

We cannot commit to a no-fly zone unless we are prepared to confront and perhaps shoot down planes or helicopters that violate that zone. We need to think very carefully about the consequences, Mr Johnson said during the Commons debate.

Downing Street later told journalists at a briefing the notion that we would somehow be engaged in enforcing a no-fly zone with Russian aircrafts in the same airspace is clearly a potentially very difficult and challenging situation.

Aleppo bears the brunt in another day of carnage and defiance Show all 3 1 /3 Aleppo bears the brunt in another day of carnage and defiance Aleppo bears the brunt in another day of carnage and defiance IA11-4-Syria-main.jpg EPA Aleppo bears the brunt in another day of carnage and defiance IA11-4-Syria.jpg AP Aleppo bears the brunt in another day of carnage and defiance IA11-4-syria-3.jpg AP

It is one which would need to be very carefully looked at and the risks attached to it very carefully analysed before we would head down that path."

In his speech, Mr Johnson also criticised the Stop the War Coalition, asking: Where is the Stop the War coalition at the moment? Where are they?

Chris Nineham, vice chair of the group, responded on the BBC Today programme, arguing the movement was set up to protest against British military action, because the group was based in Britain and so this was where they could exert pressure.

A protest outside the Russian embassy in London would not make a blind bit of difference he said.
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A teacher was sacked after an affair with a 17-year-old girl after the student's father saw a love bite on his daughters neck, a hearing was told.

Film and media lecturer Nia Davies allegedly began a 10-month sexual relationship with her teenager pupil during which she exchanged thousands of inappropriate messages. It was also claimed the 31-year-old shared a bed with her A-level student during trips to London galleries, The Telegraph reports.

Ms Davies faces being struck off over the alleged relationship. She was dismissed by her college in Llanelli,

The Education Workforce Council hearing was told how the students police officer father made a referral to her college after noticing what he described as love bites on her neck. He also alerted his colleagues, but the hearing was told Ms Davies was never charged. The teenager told police they had kissed and shared a bed, though she denied they ever had sex, reports WalesOnline.

The student, now 19, told the hearing she had never admitted to anyone, including the police, that she had kissed her teacher, saying they were "confused".

"We sent texts but they were social texts. They were only in the tens, not the thousands. I never admitted kissing Nia to my father, it's completely untrue. That conversation never happened and I can't explain it. We've had a conversation about my sexuality before, and I think there's a lot of confusion to be honest. Nia was just a supportive lecturer."

UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures 30 October 2022 People dressed in Halloween costumes paddle board along the river Avon in Christchurch, Dorset PA UK news in pictures 29 October 2022 Members of the public take pictures as police officers remove activists from a road during a Just Stop Oil protest, in London Reuters UK news in pictures 28 October 2022 A cosplayer attends the MCM Comic Con London 2022 at the ExCel Centre in London Reuters UK news in pictures 27 October 2022 98-year-old D-Day Veteran Bernard Morgan, whose story is among those featured on the giant poppy wall, during the launch of The Royal British Legion 2022 Poppy Appeal, at Hay's Galleria in central London PA UK news in pictures 26 October 2022 A meerkat explores a pumpkin in the enclosure at Wild Place, Bristol, where some of the animals are having pumpkin treats as part of their environmental enrichment PA UK news in pictures 25 October 2022 King Charles III welcomes Rishi Sunak during an audience at Buckingham Palace, where he invited the newly elected leader of the Conservative Party to become Prime Minister and form a new government PA UK news in pictures 24 October 2022 Rishi Sunak celebrates with Tory MPs outside the Conservative Campaign Headquarters after becoming the new leader of the Conservative Party Reuters UK news in pictures 23 October 2022 The Green Man at October Plenty, Borough Market's annual Autumn Harvest festival, in London, which returns for the first time post pandemic PA UK news in pictures 21 October 2022 Sculptor Peter McKenna puts the finishing touches to a pumpkin that will form part of the Planet A Hebden Bridge Pumpkin Trail in the West Yorkshire town PA UK news in pictures 20 October 2022 Britains Prime Minister Liz Truss delivers a speech outside of 10 Downing Street in central London to announce her resignation AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 19 October 2022 Salmon leap up Stainforth Force on the River Ribble in the Yorkshire Dales as they swim upriver to their spawning grounds during the annual Salmon migration PA UK news in pictures 18 October 2022 Just Stop Oil protesters continue their protest for a second day on the Queen Elizabeth II Bridge, which links Kent and Essex and which remains closed for traffic, after it was scaled by two climbers from the group PA UK news in pictures 17 October 2022 Hundreds of students take part in the traditional Raisin Monday foam fight on St Salvator's Lower College Lawn at the University of St Andrews in Fife PA UK news in pictures 16 October 2022 A protester holds a placard during a march into central London at a demonstration by the climate change protest group Extinction Rebellion AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 15 October 2022 A member of the public drags an activist who is blocking the road during a "Just Stop Oil" protest, in London, Britain REUTERS UK news in pictures 14 October 2022 Germanys Womens double skulls during day one of the World Rowing Beach Sprint Finals at Saundersfoot beach, Pembrokeshire PA UK news in pictures 13 October 2022 Family and mourners arrive at St Michael's Church, in Creeslough, for the funeral mass of 49-year-old mother of four Martina Martin, who died following an explosion at the Applegreen service station in the village of Creeslough in Co Donegal on Friday PA UK news in pictures 12 October 2022 Motorists in Coventry pass trees showing autumnal colour PA UK news in pictures 11 October 2022 A woman and her dog in the the North Sea at Tynemouth Longsands beach before sunrise PA UK news in pictures 10 October 2022 Police officers remove a campaigner from a Just Stop Oil protest on The Mall, near Buckingham Palace, London PA UK news in pictures 9 October 2022 A drummer plays during the Diwali on the Square celebration, in Trafalgar Square, London PA UK news in pictures 8 October 2022 Timothee Chalamet attending the UK premiere of Bones and All during the BFI London Film Festival 2022 at the Royal Festival Hall, Southbank Centre, London PA UK news in pictures 7 October 2022 Two young male fallow deer lock antlers in Dublins Phoenix park as rutting season begins PA UK news in pictures 6 October 2022 The Princess of Wales during a cocktail making competition during a visit to Trademarket, a new outdoor street-food and retail market situated in Belfast city centre, as part of the royal visit to Northern Ireland PA UK news in pictures 5 October 2022 Greenpeace protesters interrupt Prime Minister Liz Truss as she delivers her keynote speech to the Conservative Party annual conference PA UK news in pictures 4 October 2022 Prime Minister Liz Truss and Britains Chancellor of the Exchequer Kwasi Kwarteng wearing hard hats and hi-vis jackets, visit a construction site for a medical innovation campus in Birmingham AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 3 October 2022 British artist Sam Cox, aka Mr Doodle, reveals the Doodle House, a twelve-room mansion at Tenterden, in Kent, which has been covered, inside and out in the artist's trademark monochrome, cartoonish hand-drawn doodles PA UK news in pictures 2 October 2022 Erling Haaland celebrates after scoring Manchester City's second goal against Manchester United at Etihad Stadium. Haaland went on to score a hattrick, his third of the season in the Premier League. City beat United 6-3. Manchester City FC/Getty UK news in pictures 1 October 2022 Protesters hold up flags and placards at a protest in London. A variety of protest groups including Enough is Enough, Don't Pay and Just Stop Oil all demonstrated on the day AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 30 September 2022 British Prime Minister Liz Truss, who has not been seen in days, leaves the back of Downing Street after a meeting with Office For Budget Responsibility following the release of her governments mini-budget Getty UK news in pictures 29 September 2022 The Virginia creeper foliage on the Tu Hwnt i'r Bont (Beyond the Bridge) Llanwrst, Conwy North Wales, has changed colour from green to red in at the start of Autumn. The building was built in 1480 as a residential dwelling but has been a tearoom for over 50 years PA UK news in pictures 28 September 2022 Criminal barristers from the Criminal Bar Association (CBA), demonstrates outside the Royal Courts of Justice in London, as part of their ongoing pay row with the Government PA UK news in pictures 27 September 2022 David White, Garter King of Arms, poses with an envelope franked with the new cypher of King Charles III 'CIIIR', after it was printed in the Court Post Office at Buckingham Palace in central London AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 26 September 2022 A gallery staff member poses next to a painting by Lucian Freud - Self-portrait (Fragment), 1956 - on show at a photocall for the Credit Suisse exhibition - Lucian Freud: New Perspectives at the National Gallery in London PA UK news in pictures 25 September 2022 Labour leader, Sir Keir Starmer is interviewed by Laura Kuenssberg in Liverpool before the start of the Labour Party annual Conference which he opened with a tribute to Queen Elizabeth II and sang the national anthem PA UK news in pictures 24 September 2022 Handout photo issued by Buckingham Palace of the ledger stone at the King George VI Memorial Chapel, St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle PA UK news in pictures 23 September 2022 A climate change activist protests against UK private jets while lighting his right arm on fire during the Laver Cup tennis tournament at the O2 Arena in London EPA UK news in pictures 22 September 2022 Woody Woodmansey, Lee Bennett, Kevin Armstrong, Nick Moran and Clifford Slapper attend the unveiling of a stone for David Bowie on the Music Walk of Fame at Camden, north London PA UK news in pictures 21 September 2022 A flock of birds in the sky as the sun rises over Dungeness in Kent PA UK news in pictures 20 September 2022 Flowers which were laid by members of the public in tribute to Queen Elizabeth II at Hillsborough Castle in Northern Ireland are collected by the Hillsborough Gardening Team and volunteers to be replanted for those that can be saved or composted PA UK news in pictures 19 September 2022 The ceremonial procession of the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II travels down the long walk as it arrives at Windsor Castle for the committal service at St Georges Chapel AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 18 September 2022 A man stands among campers on The Mall ahead of the Queens funeral Reuters UK news in pictures 17 September 2022 Wolverhampton Wanderers Nathan Collins fouls Manchester Citys Jack Grealish leading to a red card. 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

The hearing continues.
Artur Mas during the informal 2014 vote on independence. CARLES RIBAS

The Catalan High Court (TSJC) has decided to prosecute former regional premier Artur Mas and two members of his government for their role in organizing an informal vote on independence for the northeastern Spanish region in late 2014.

Mas, along with former deputy premier Joana Ortega and education chief Irene Rigau, will see the inside of a courtroom for gross disobedience and perversion of justice. They will not, however, face trial for misappropriation, as public prosecutors had called for. A private prosecution brought by a group that includes two police unions, had also called for a six-year jail term for misappropriation. That offense will not be included in the upcoming hearings and trial.

Mas argued that the Catalan regional government was no longer involved in the ballot

Even if found guilty, Mas will not be looking at a prison term should he be found guilty, but could be barred from office.

In a writ made public on Thursday, the TSJC has opened the hearing stage of the trial against Mas as the person responsible for these offenses, while his ex-colleagues will be tried as necessary collaborators. The prosecution is calling for Mas to be banned from public office for 10 years, whether it be in the local, regional or state realm.

The case dates back to November 2014, when, in the face of a legal injunction from the courts and the Popular Party central government in Madrid's fierce opposition, the Catalan authorities organized a non-binding vote on self-rule for the region. The poll yielded majority support for independence but was seen as having little value by outside observers. A binding vote had been suspended by Spains Constitutional Court after the government filed an appeal, saying the ballot was illegal because all Spaniards should be allowed to vote on an issue that affects the entire country.

Mas, the most visible figure in the lead-up to the vote in the region of 7.5 million people, argued that the Catalan regional government was no longer involved in the ballot after the Constitutional Court veto came into effect on November 4, with volunteers then taking over the task of organizing it. Prosecutors claim, however, that private companies tasked with the organization continued to operate after that time.

The Catalan Supreme court has opened the hearing stage of the trial against Mas

Mas developed a complete and effective strategy of defiance after the suspension, the prosecutors office said in a brief. Mas and his aides were aware that they were defying the veto, the brief added.

Mas and his aides moved off center stage and attempted to generate the impression that the process had stopped, the prosecutors offices said. But they claim this was not the case, citing the existence of documents showing how private contractors continued to carry out work include mass mailing campaigns, the maintenance of websites dedicated to the vote and IT tasks.

Prosecutors highlighted the fact that on November 7 and November 8, two companies, T-Systems and Fujitsu, delivered and set up 7,000 laptops that were to be used on the day of the referendum. This equipment was then delivered to public schools where voting stations were set up for the November 9 ballot.

Artur Mas left office in January 2016 after regional elections ended in stalemate and he failed to gain the support necessary for his investiture as premier.

English version by Simon Hunter and George Mills.
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Rail passengers frustrated by delays will soon be able to claim for journeys that are as little as 15 minutes late. A quarter-hour delay will qualify them for a refund of one quarter of the single fare.

Once the delay reaches half-an-hour, the existing Delay Repay scheme takes effect, refunding half the single fare. Delays of one hour or longer qualify for more generous compensation.

Train operators must pay out regardless of the cause  unlike the compensation rules for airline passengers, which apply only when the carrier is responsible for the delay.

The move is likely to trigger millions more claims.

The Department for Transport says Govia Thameslink Railway, which operates the troubled Southern operation in south London, Surrey and Sussex, will be the first big operator to launch the scheme. The lower hurdle for compensation will then be rolled out nationwide.

At present the C2C franchise in east London and south Essex offers compensation for delays as little as two minutes, though only for holders of the operators smart card. The Heathrow Express compensates for delays of 16 minutes or more.

At the start of October, new national rail terms and conditions came into effect. Jacqueline Starr, Managing Director, Customer Experience at the Rail Delivery Group, said:

Passengers will be advised clearly of their right to compensation. Every train operator will comply with the Consumer Rights Act, including offering compensation by the method the passenger bought a ticket.

However, some campaigners believe that the money paid out in compensation would be better spent on treating the causes, rather than the symptoms, of delays.
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Boris Johnson has raised the prospect of further UK military involvement in Syria in the wake of Russian airstrikes he claims have "pulverised" Aleppo.

The Foreign Secretary said that the "more kinetic, the military" options are among those being considered ahead of a key meeting with US and French counterparts at the weekend.

He also said that an intensification of sanctions against Russia - including hitting gas exports - could form part of a response.

Mr Johnson made the comments following a row with Russian diplomats, sparked after he called for protests outside the nation's embassy in London over the conduct of its Syrian campaign.

Speaking to the Foreign Affairs Select Committee, he set out the policy options that are now open to the UK in Syria.

He said: "Our options now are to try on the humanitarian front, to try to find extra ways of getting help into Aleppo, to do what we can to warn the people of Aleppo about impending airstrikes, to support the White Helmets, to support all types of humanitarian relief, to intensify sanctions on some of the key players in the Assad regime and on the Russians as well.

"And also of course, it is right now that we should be looking again at the more kinetic options, the military options."

The Foreign Secretary explained that nothing could be done without a coalition of nations supporting some sort of greater intervention and he admitted that was some way off.

 Boris Johnson calls for protests outside the Russian Embassy over Syria conflict

But Mr Johnson confirmed this weekend he would be meeting US Secretary of State John Kerry and his French and German counterparts to "canvass all the options".

He said he did not want to raise hopes of what the West could do, given what happened when the UK had to row back from action following David Cameron's 2013 failure to win parliamentary approval for RAF airstrikes, something he said was "regrettable".

But the Foreign Secretary went on: "The general feeling is that obviously, it's good that things are happening again in Geneva. But most people, I think including John Kerry, feel that the process of discussion with the Russians has basically run out of road and on Sunday we'll be talking about all the options that we think are available to us and to the West.

"I'm not going to pretend that there is any easy answer here, because there isn't. But I think most people...are now changing their minds about this, they are thinking we can't let this go on forever, we can't just see Aleppo pulverised in this way. We have to do something."

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

He added: "People certainly want to see a new set of options."

The Foreign Secretary said the "anomaly" of sanctions against Russia was the fact that they supply so much gas to Europe, and that there are now some European nations who believe that supply should be the next target.

She said: There is no change to the Governments position with regard to that.

A Downing Street spokesperson said the Prime Minister would "weigh up very carefully any options that are put forward and the potential consequences of those".

She added: "At the moment, the focus is on bringing together partners, as I think the Foreign Secretary outlined at the committee.

After Mr Johnson suggested there should be demonstrations outside the Russian embassy in London, the country's ambassador to the UN said he had "delusions of grandeur".
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A court case aiming to give Parliament a say on the terms of Brexit has been furiously dismissed as a special kind of arrogance by a leading Brexiteer.

Tory MP Dominic Raab claimed those behind the case, who claim the government is using an ancient, secretive prerogative to force through Brexit, have no justification for bringing it forward. The case, which begins today, will hear that only Parliament is empowered to authorise service of the Article 50 notice and Ms Mays stance threatens to undermine its sovereignty and the rule of law.

But Government lawyers will argue before three High Court judges in the capital that the Prime Minister is legally entitled to use the royal prerogative in order to trigger Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty  the untested protocol for a member state to leave the EU.

Gina Miller, left, walks past the High Court prior to the start of her landmark lawsuit, in London. Financial entrepreneur Gina Miller's landmark lawsuit begins with a simple question: can Prime Minister Theresa Mayis government invoke Article 50 and trigger the exit from the European Union without an act of Parliament? (AP)

Recommended Read more Legal arguments in court battle against Brexit revealed for first time

The argument is being brought by Gina Miller, an investment fund manager and philanthropist living in London and who voted Remain in the European Union referendum. Speaking on Radio 4s Today programme, she said Parliament and Parliament alone can take away rights, adding that the Government cannot use this ancient secret royal prerogative to do so.

If I win, and I think we have a strong case, it would be a debate and a vote and a new Act of Parliament to reverse the 1972 Act. What Im asking MPs to do is thing we pay them for  their salaries, their expenses, we pay them to debate and take decisions that our best for our country because Parliament is sovereign.

Asked whether she was a bad loser, Ms Miller replied: I think thats such a broken record. We need to move on  were all leavers now.

 Theresa May says Article 50 will be triggered in March 2017

Dominic Raab, a former minister, said that the Commons will have a huge role and that there will be a debate before Article 50 is triggered by Ms May and that MPs will need to pass the Great Repeal Bill  unveiled at the Conservative party conference in Birmingham. But, he added, Parliament doesnt get a veto on beginning the Brexit negotiations and frankly I think this a pretty naked attempt to steal the referendum by the back door.

"I don't think it's right that a fund manager with deep pockets and legal friends in high places gets to go to court and try and block or frustrate that process.

I think it takes a pretty special kind of arrogance to think that one person's view trumps that of 33 million.

Lord Thomas, the Lord Chief Justice (PA)

The case is being heard by Lord Thomas, the Lord Chief Justice, sitting with Sir Terence Etherton, Master of the Rolls, and Lord Justice Sales. Attorney General Jeremy Wright, the Government's leading law officer, will argue in court that the challenge lacks legal merit. He said: "The country voted to leave the EU in a referendum approved by Act of Parliament.

"There must be no attempts to remain inside the EU, no attempts to rejoin it through the back door, and no second referendum. The result should be respected and the Government intends to do just that."
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Britain has to choose between a "hard Brexit" or no Brexit at all, the president of the European Council has warned, dismissing one of the key claims of the Leave campaign that the UK could "have its cake and eat it".

Donald Tusk set out "the brutal truth" of what the decision of the June referendum meant for the continent's future, describing the push against Theresa May by MPs in the House of Commons for a "soft Brexit" as "useless".

He said there could be "no compromises" on retaining benefits such as access to the single market and customs union, while rejecting the free movement of people. Mr Tusk will be the chair of all summits between EU leaders to discuss Brexit negotiations.

"In my opinion the only real alternative to a hard Brexit is no Brexit, even if today hardly anyone believes in such a possibility," Mr Tusk told policymakers in Brussels.

The speech at the European Policy Centre appeared to be aimed largely at worried EU leadership, who have made clear that Britain must suffer from its decision to leave if the rest of the bloc is to survive.

Mr Tusk said the process would indeed be "in the first instance, painful for Britons", but he also said it will be "a loss for everyone" concerned.

Speaking at the European Policy Centre, he said the Leave campaign's mantra of "take back control" had definitive consequences for the Government and the negotiation process.

This means a de facto will to radically loosen relations with the EU, something that goes by the name of hard Brexit," he said.

He dismissed the now-Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson's cake philosophy - being pro-having it and pro-eating it - as pure illusion.

The brutal truth is that Brexit will be a loss for all of us, Mr Tusk said. There will be no cakes on the table for anyone. There will be only salt and vinegar.

Mr Tusk said it was useless to speculate about soft Brexit, where the UK would retain the closest possible ties to the bloc after leaving.

He said he would defend the interests of the 27 remaining members of the EU but I am afraid that no such outcome exists that will benefit either side.

And in an extraordinary intervention, he seemed to suggest there was still hope for Britain to reverse the referendum decision.

Mr Tusk said it would be for the UK to assess the outcome of the negotiations and determine if Brexit is really in their interest.

The council president added that other EU leaders would be sympathetic if the Government decided to climb down from the Brexit brink.

If we have a chance to reverse this negative process, we will find allies, he said.

Brexit Concerns Show all 26 1 /26 Brexit Concerns Brexit Concerns Brexit will put British patients at 'back of the queue' for new drugs Brexit will put British patients at the back of the queue for vital new drugs, the Government has been warned  forcing them to wait up to two years longer A medicines regulator has raised the alarm over a likely decision to pull out of the European Medicines Agency (EMA), as well as the EU itself. ealth Secretary Jeremy Hunt dropped the bombshell , when he said he expected the UK would quit the EMA  because it is subject to rulings by the European Court of Justice. Getty Images Brexit Concerns London to lose status as 'gateway to Europe' for banks One of Germanys top banking regulators has warned that London could lose its status as gateway to Europe for the banking sector after Britain quits the European trading bloc. Andreas Dombret, who is an executive board member for the BundesbankGermanys central banktold a private meeting of German businesses and banks earlier this week in Frankfurt that even if banking rules were equivalent between the UK and the rest of the EU, that was still miles away from [Britain having] access to the single market, the BBC reports. Jason Hawkes Brexit Concerns Exodus The number of financial sector professionals in Britain and continental Europe looking for jobs in Ireland rocketed in the months after the UK voted to leave the European Union Shutterstock Brexit Concerns Brexit is making FTSE 100 executives richer Pay packages of many FTSE 100 chief executive officers are partly tied to how well share prices are doing rather than the CEOs performance -- and some stocks are soaring. ritish equities got a boost since the June vote because the likes of Rio Tinto, Smiths Group and WPP generate most sales abroad and earn a fortune when they convert these revenues back into the weakened pound. Sterlings fall also made UK stocks more affordable for overseas investors. Rex Brexit Concerns Theresa May: UK to leave single market Theresa May has said the UK "cannot possibly" remain within the European single market, as staying in it would mean "not leaving the EU at all". Getty Brexit Concerns Lead campaigner Gina Miller and her team outside the High Court Getty Brexit Concerns Raymond McCord holds up his newly issued Irish passport alongside his British passport outside the High Court in Belfast following a judges dismissal of the UK's first legal challenges to Brexit PA wire Brexit Concerns SDLP leader Colum Eastwood leaving the High Court in Belfast following a judges dismissal of the UK's first legal challenges to Brexit PA wire Brexit Concerns Migrants with luggage walk past a graffiti on a wall as they leave the 'Jungle' migrant camp, as part of a major three-day operation planned to clear the camp in Calais Getty Brexit Concerns Migrants leave messages on their tents in the Jungle migrant camp Getty Brexit Concerns The Adventist Development and Relief Agency (Adra) which distributes approximately 700 meals daily in the northern Paris camp states that it is noticing a spike in new migrant arrivals this week, potentially linked the the Calais 'jungle' camp closure - with around 1000 meals distributed today EPA Brexit Concerns Migrant workers pick apples at Stocks Farm in Suckley, Britain Reuters Brexit Concerns Many farmers across the country are voicing concerns that Brexit could be a dangerous step into the unknown for the farming industry Getty Brexit Concerns Bank of England governor Mark Carney who said the long-term outlook for the UK economy is positive, but growth was slowing in the wake of the Brexit vote PA Brexit Concerns The Dow Jones industrial average closed down over 600 points on the news with markets around the globe pluninging Getty Brexit Concerns Immigration officers deal with each member of the public seeking entry into the United Kingdom but on average, 10 a day are refused entry at this London airport and between 2008 and 2009, 33,100 people were detained at the airport for mainly passport irregularities Getty Brexit Concerns A number of global investment giants have threatened to move their European operations out of London if Brexit proves to have a negative impact on their businesses Getty Brexit Concerns Following the possibility of a Brexit the UK would be released from its renewable energy targets under the EU Renewable Energy Directive and from EU state aid restrictions, potentially giving the government more freedom both in the design and phasing out of renewable energy support regimes Getty Brexit Concerns A woman looking at a chart showing the drop in the pound (Sterling) against the US Dollar in London after Britain voted to leave the EU Getty Brexit Concerns Young protesters outside the Houses of Parliament in Westminster, to protest against the United Kingdom's decision to leave the EU following the referendum Getty Brexit Concerns Applications from Northern Ireland citizens for Irish Passports has soared to a record high after the UK Voted in favour of Leaving the EU Getty Brexit Concerns NFU Vice President Minette Batters with Secretary of State, Andrea Leadsome at the National Farmers Union (NFU) took machinery, produce, farmers and staff to Westminster to encourage Members of Parliament to back British farming, post Brexit Getty Brexit Concerns The latest reports released by the UK Cabinet Office warn that expats would lose a range of specific rights to live, to work and to access pensions, healthcare and public services. The same reports added that UK citizens abroad would not be able to assume that these rights will be guaranteed in the future Getty Brexit Concerns A British resident living in Spain asks questions during an informative Brexit talk by the "Brexpats in Spain" group, about Spanish legal issues to become Spanish citizens, at the town hall in Benalmadena, Spain Reuters Brexit Concerns The collapse of Great Britain appears to have been greatly exaggerated given the late summer crowds visiting city museums, hotels, and other important tourist attractions Getty Brexit Concerns The U.K. should maintain European Union regulations covering everything from working hours to chemicals until after the government sets out its plans for Brexit, said British manufacturers anxious to avoid a policy vacuum and safeguard access to their biggest export market Getty

 Labour's Keir Starmer demands parliamentary vote on 'hard Brexit' negotiation plan

Mr Tusk said the Article 50 process could be halted by Ms May's Government even once it had been triggered.

His comments came as Mr Johnson came under fire after suggesting that Britain can get a Brexit trade deal that is of greater value to the UK economy than access to the EU single market.

The Foreign Secretary told MPs that the concept of the single market was increasingly useless, as the UK sought to extend its trade links around the world.

But critics of hard Brexit warned that loss of access would harm British businesses by denying them a marketplace of 500 million consumers free of tariffs and regulatory obstacles to trade.

Giving evidence to the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee, Mr Johnson conceded that negotiating a new relationship might take longer than the two years envisaged under Article 50 of the EU treaties. But he insisted he was absolutely confident that a good deal would be reached.

Mr Tusk also suggested the timetable was optimistic, adding I think the process will be much longer than two years.

Responding to Mr Johnson's comments, Conservative former minister Anna Soubry, of the Open Britain campaign, said: If there's a deal of 'greater value' out there than single market membership, then businesses and economists have not come across it. The Government needs to provide concrete evidence before it pulls us out of our home market of 500 million customers.

Mr Johnson said he thought Britain had done the right thing in voting to leave the EU on June 23, and told the committee: I think those who prophesied doom before the referendum have been proved wrong and I think they will continue to be proved wrong.

Obviously it will take time before the full benefits of Brexit appear.

He insisted that Britain can remain a lodestar and magnet for talented migrants from around the globe even after it introduces tougher immigration rules following Brexit.

And he suggested he expects European leaders to back down on their insistence that access to the single market is dependent on allowing free movement of people.

The idea that the Brownian movement of individuals, of citizens across the surface of Europe, is somehow there on tablets of stone in Brussels is a complete nonsense, said Mr Johnson. It's a fiction.

We are taking back control of our borders as we said we would, and that's what we will do.

It doesn't mean that we are going to be hostile to people of talent who want to live and work here. I think it is extremely important that we continue to send out a signal of openness and welcome to the many brilliant people who help to drive the London economy and the UK economy.

Additional reporting by agencies
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The Governments Housing Minister has been accused of blocking the building of thousands of homes as a mates favour to a fellow Conservative MP who complained about them.

Gavin Barwell used his powers as a minister to intervene and suspend development plans in Bradford after a request from Tory colleague Philip Davies, putting them under potentially indefinite review.

In a letter seen by The Independent the minister wrote to Bradford Metropolitan District Council to tell them he was using his powers under the Planning Act to direct them not to proceed until he gave them further notice.

Recommended Read more Tory homes minister says building social housing increases inequality

The letter explicitly cites complaints by Mr Davies, the MP for Shipley, as the reason for the suspension of the project, which has been nine years in the planning. The ministers intervention invokes new powers the government granted itself earlier this year.

The Secretary of State has received a request to intervene in the Bradford Core Strategy Development Plan (The Plan) from Philip Davies, MP for Shipley, the letter to the council says.

The request raises a number of issues including the proposed release of green belt, particularly in Wharfedale, development of green belt before brownfield land is exhausted  and the appropriate location for development to alleviate housing need and contribute to the regeration of Bradford city centre.

Mr Barwell continues: In exercise of his powers under section 21A of the Act (inserted by section 145 of the Housing and Planning Act 2016), the Secretary of State hereby directs City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council not to take any step in connection with the adoption of the Plan, while issues raised in the letters are considered further.

Philip Davies, the MP for Shipley, sparked the suspension of the project after sending a request to Mr Barwell

This direction will remain in force until it is withdrawn by the Secretary of State or the Secretary of State gives a direction under section 21 of the 2004 Act in relation to the plan. My officials will be in touch with your officers to discuss next steps and we will keep the Council updates throughout our considerations.

The core Bradford Plan was drawn up by the citys council to redevelop the area and includes renovations of the city centre and new housing stock. It sets out broad locations for new housing, businesses, and infrastructure investment across the city but doesn't grant specific planning permission.

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Before he was made a minister Mr Barwell also campaigned against a major housing development on Metropolitan Open Land in Croydon, where he is an MP. That borough, which is in South London, suffers from a major housing shortage.

Mr Barwells letter prompted Labours shadow Housing Minister John Healey to write to Mr Barwells boss, Communities Secretary Sajid Javid.

This week, the Housing Minister in your department wrote to Bradford Council directing them to halt the adoption of their development plan which would build more homes for the people of Bradford. Despite all stages of consultation and approval  from local people, council and Planning Inspector  being completed, this action stops the plans adoption in its tracks, he wrote.

The letter from the minister suspending the development plan (DCLG)

According to the Housing Minister this decision was taken merely because a fellow Conservative MP wrote in complaint. There is no attempt by the Minister to defend the substance of the complaint. Without justification, his decision to intervene smacks of a political mates favour.

Given this lack of justification for your Department stopping a plan which has been nine years in the making, and involved extensive consultation with local people, I am writing to ask you to account for this decision.

Your decision seems particularly extraordinary when on the very same day as the letter was sent, you spoke at some length in the second reading debate on the Neighbourhood Planning Bill about both the importance of building more homes and of local democracy. Your Ministers letter has overridden both without proper justification.

I raise this objection with you because this heavy-handed intervention using powers under the new Housing and Planning Act has also been used to halt Birminghams development plan.

A DCLG spokesperson described the suspension of development as a holding decision and said it was issued because of concerns about building on greenbelt land.

This is a totally false claim. No decision has yet been taken on whether to intervene or not, he said  apparently referencing whether the Bradford plan should be changed or permanently cancelled.

The holding direction was issued purely because of concerns over development on the Green Belt. This holding direction will allow time for proper consideration of these issues."
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Russias UN ambassador has said his country regrets any civilian casualties from Moscows military campaign in Syria but added, this is what happens during war.

Vitaly Churkin argued that Russian military leaders are trying to do our best in selecting targets carefully and that they hoped for a ceasefire soon.

He also lashed out at Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson after he called for protests outside the Russian embassy in London and claimed he would have to do more than write funny verses if he wants to be taken seriously.

Recommended Read more Boris calls for demonstrations outside Russian embassy over Syria

Following a week in which Russias bombing of Aleppo has made headlines, Mr Churkin said he had seen pictures of bombed-out buildings and children caught in the crossfire.

He said: If they somehow were affected by our military campaign, of course we regret it incredibly and this is a heavy burden on our psyche and our soul.

In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria Show all 19 1 /19 In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria Syrian boys cry following Russian air strikes on the rebel-held Fardous neighbourhood of the northern embattled Syrian city of Aleppo Getty In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria Russian defense ministry spokesman Major General Igor Konashenkov speaks to the media in Moscow, Russia. Konashenkov strongly warned the United States against striking Syrian government forces and issued a thinly-veiled threat to use Russian air defense assets to protect them AP In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria Syrians wait to receive treatment at a hospital following Russian air strikes on the rebel-held Fardous neighbourhood of the northern embattled Syrian city of Alepp Getty In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria Russian Deputy Defense Minister Anatoly Antonov speaks at a briefing in the Defense Ministry in Moscow, Russia. Antonov said the Russian air strikes in Syria have killed about 35,000 militants, including about 2,700 residents of Russia AP In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria Jameel Mustafa Habboush, receives oxygen from civil defence volunteers, known as the white helmets, as they rescue him from under the rubble of a building following Russian air strikes on the rebel-held Fardous neighbourhood of the northern embattled Syrian city of Aleppo Getty In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria Civil defence members rest amidst rubble in a site hit by what activists said were airstrikes carried out by the Russian air force in the town of Douma, eastern Ghouta in Damascus, Syria Reuters In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria A girl carrying a baby inspects damage in a site hit by what activists said were airstrikes carried out by the Russian air force in the town of Douma, eastern Ghouta in Damascus, Syria Reuters In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria Civilians and civil defence members look for survivors at a site damaged after Russian air strikes on the Syrian rebel-held city of Idlib, Syria Reuters In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria Civilians and civil defence members carry an injured woman on a stretcher at a site damaged after Russian air strikes on the Syrian rebel-held city of Idlib, Syria Reuters In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria Volunteers from Syria Civil Defence, also known as the White Helmets, help civilians after Russia carried out its first airstrikes in Syria In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria The aftermath of Russian airstrike in Talbiseh, Syria In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria Smoke billows from buildings in Talbiseh, in Homs province, western Syria, after airstrikes by Russian warplanes AP In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria Russian Air Forces carry out an air strike in the ISIS controlled Al-Raqqah Governorate. Russia's KAB-500s bombs completely destroy the Liwa al-Haqq command unit In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria Caspian Flotilla of the Russian Navy firing Kalibr cruise missiles against remote Isis targets in Syria A TASS/ITAR-TASS Photo/Corbis In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria Russia claimed it hit eight Isis targets, including a "terrorist HQ and co-ordination centre" that was completely destroyed In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria A video grab taken from the footage made available on the Russian Defence Ministry's official website, purporting to show an airstrike in Syria In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria A release from the Russian defence ministry purportedly showing targets in Syria being hit In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria Russia launched air strikes in war-torn Syria, its first military engagement outside the former Soviet Union since the occupation of Afghanistan in 1979. Russian warplanes carried out strikes in three Syrian provinces along with regime aircraft as Putin seeks to steal US President Barack Obama's thunder by pushing a rival plan to defeat Isis militants in Syria In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria Caspian Flotilla of the Russian Navy firing Kalibr cruise missiles against remote Isis targets in Syria, a thousand kilometres away. The targets include ammunition factories, ammunition and fuel depots, command centres, and training camps A TASS/ITAR-TASS Photo/Corbis

Speaking to the BBC, he said military planners are trying to do our best and our military have said repeatedly how weabout selecting targets.

But he added: If there is bombing and there are some civilians that are hurt, its a very bad feeling that we have, but this is what happens during war and hopefully cessation of hostilities could come into effect as quickly as possible.

Earlier this week, the Foreign Secretary called for protests outside the Russian embassy to highlight what he suggested could be war-crimes committed in the bombing campaign in Syria.

 Boris Johnson calls for protests outside the Russian Embassy over Syria conflict

But Mr Churkin said Mr Johnson should abandon delusions of grandeur and that he is not the judge of whether Russia is on the side of legality, adding that the International Criminal Court had not yet started looking into incidents during the UKs bombing in Libya.

Mr Churkin said: This is quite inappropriate for a Foreign Secretary. He should respect the Vienna convention.

He should have diplomatic tools at his disposal. Writing funny verses are not going to do it, if he is going to try to become a serious Foreign Secretary.

Mr Johnson won a 1,000 prize for a rude poem about the Turkish president having sex with a goat.

The limerick, published by the Spectator as a rebuff to President Erdogans efforts to prosecute a German comedians offensive poem, also called the leader a wankerer.
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The Scottish Government will publish draft legislation on holding a second independence referendum next week, Nicola Sturgeon has said.

The Scottish First Minister made the announcement at the SNP conference in Glasgow where she was greeted with a standing ovation from delegates.

The SNP leader said her party would lead the fight against the Conservatives plans for hard Brexit, attacking the right wing Government in Westminster.

Ms Sturgeon opened her partys annual conference in Glasgow on Thursday by warning that the right wing of the Tory Party is now in the ascendancy and that it wanted to hijack the referendum result.

She also started by warmly congratulating MP Angus Robertson on his election as her deputy leader, which was announced minutes before.

Ms Sturgeon had previously said that Britain leaving the EU could be one of the triggers for holding a second referendum.

Scotland voted to remain in the EU by a big margin, but Britain is now due to leave because the overall result was in favour of Brexit.

The UK Government says it is engaging the devolved administrations, including Scotland, in its plans for Brexit.

If you think for one single second that Im not serious about doing what it takes to protect Scotlands interests, then think again, she said, speaking rhetorically to Theresa May.

If you cant  or wont  allow us to protect our interests within the UK, then Scotland will have the right to decide, afresh, if it wants to take a different path.

The party leaders comments come after she attacked the Government for plans to force businesses to list foreigners, which have since been dropped.

Last week, we heard an intolerance towards those from other countries that has no place in a modern, multicultural, civilised society, she told party delegates.

It was a disgrace. It shames the Tory Party and all who speak for it.

The Yes vote for Scottish independence lost the 2014 referendum by 44 per cent to 55 per cent (Getty)

But make no mistake  the right wing of the Tory Party is now in the ascendancy and it is seeking to hijack the referendum result. Brexit has become Tory Brexit.

They are using it as licence for the xenophobia that has long lain under the surface  but which is now in full view.

They are holding it up as cover for a hard Brexit that they have no mandate for  but which they are determined to impose, regardless of the ruinous consequences.

I suspect that many of those who voted to Leave now look at the actions and rhetoric of the Tories and think thats not what I voted for.

They may have voted to take back control  but I dont imagine many of them are happy to have handed that control to Boris Johnson, David Davis and Liam Fox.

They certainly didnt vote to throw economic rationality out of the window. They didnt vote to lower their own living standards or to sacrifice jobs and investment. They didnt vote for our businesses to face tariffs or for holidaymakers to need visas. They didnt vote for the scapegoating of foreigners.

She pledged that SNP MPs in Westminster would vote against the Governments Great Repeal Bill because Scotland voted to Remain.

Opposition parties said Ms Sturgeon should use her conference to abandon talk of a second Scottish independence referendum.

Conservative Scottish Secretary David Mundell admonished the Scottish Government for creating divisive constitutional debates.

Brexit Concerns Show all 26 1 /26 Brexit Concerns Brexit Concerns Brexit will put British patients at 'back of the queue' for new drugs Brexit will put British patients at the back of the queue for vital new drugs, the Government has been warned  forcing them to wait up to two years longer A medicines regulator has raised the alarm over a likely decision to pull out of the European Medicines Agency (EMA), as well as the EU itself. ealth Secretary Jeremy Hunt dropped the bombshell , when he said he expected the UK would quit the EMA  because it is subject to rulings by the European Court of Justice. Getty Images Brexit Concerns London to lose status as 'gateway to Europe' for banks One of Germanys top banking regulators has warned that London could lose its status as gateway to Europe for the banking sector after Britain quits the European trading bloc. Andreas Dombret, who is an executive board member for the BundesbankGermanys central banktold a private meeting of German businesses and banks earlier this week in Frankfurt that even if banking rules were equivalent between the UK and the rest of the EU, that was still miles away from [Britain having] access to the single market, the BBC reports. Jason Hawkes Brexit Concerns Exodus The number of financial sector professionals in Britain and continental Europe looking for jobs in Ireland rocketed in the months after the UK voted to leave the European Union Shutterstock Brexit Concerns Brexit is making FTSE 100 executives richer Pay packages of many FTSE 100 chief executive officers are partly tied to how well share prices are doing rather than the CEOs performance -- and some stocks are soaring. ritish equities got a boost since the June vote because the likes of Rio Tinto, Smiths Group and WPP generate most sales abroad and earn a fortune when they convert these revenues back into the weakened pound. Sterlings fall also made UK stocks more affordable for overseas investors. Rex Brexit Concerns Theresa May: UK to leave single market Theresa May has said the UK "cannot possibly" remain within the European single market, as staying in it would mean "not leaving the EU at all". Getty Brexit Concerns Lead campaigner Gina Miller and her team outside the High Court Getty Brexit Concerns Raymond McCord holds up his newly issued Irish passport alongside his British passport outside the High Court in Belfast following a judges dismissal of the UK's first legal challenges to Brexit PA wire Brexit Concerns SDLP leader Colum Eastwood leaving the High Court in Belfast following a judges dismissal of the UK's first legal challenges to Brexit PA wire Brexit Concerns Migrants with luggage walk past a graffiti on a wall as they leave the 'Jungle' migrant camp, as part of a major three-day operation planned to clear the camp in Calais Getty Brexit Concerns Migrants leave messages on their tents in the Jungle migrant camp Getty Brexit Concerns The Adventist Development and Relief Agency (Adra) which distributes approximately 700 meals daily in the northern Paris camp states that it is noticing a spike in new migrant arrivals this week, potentially linked the the Calais 'jungle' camp closure - with around 1000 meals distributed today EPA Brexit Concerns Migrant workers pick apples at Stocks Farm in Suckley, Britain Reuters Brexit Concerns Many farmers across the country are voicing concerns that Brexit could be a dangerous step into the unknown for the farming industry Getty Brexit Concerns Bank of England governor Mark Carney who said the long-term outlook for the UK economy is positive, but growth was slowing in the wake of the Brexit vote PA Brexit Concerns The Dow Jones industrial average closed down over 600 points on the news with markets around the globe pluninging Getty Brexit Concerns Immigration officers deal with each member of the public seeking entry into the United Kingdom but on average, 10 a day are refused entry at this London airport and between 2008 and 2009, 33,100 people were detained at the airport for mainly passport irregularities Getty Brexit Concerns A number of global investment giants have threatened to move their European operations out of London if Brexit proves to have a negative impact on their businesses Getty Brexit Concerns Following the possibility of a Brexit the UK would be released from its renewable energy targets under the EU Renewable Energy Directive and from EU state aid restrictions, potentially giving the government more freedom both in the design and phasing out of renewable energy support regimes Getty Brexit Concerns A woman looking at a chart showing the drop in the pound (Sterling) against the US Dollar in London after Britain voted to leave the EU Getty Brexit Concerns Young protesters outside the Houses of Parliament in Westminster, to protest against the United Kingdom's decision to leave the EU following the referendum Getty Brexit Concerns Applications from Northern Ireland citizens for Irish Passports has soared to a record high after the UK Voted in favour of Leaving the EU Getty Brexit Concerns NFU Vice President Minette Batters with Secretary of State, Andrea Leadsome at the National Farmers Union (NFU) took machinery, produce, farmers and staff to Westminster to encourage Members of Parliament to back British farming, post Brexit Getty Brexit Concerns The latest reports released by the UK Cabinet Office warn that expats would lose a range of specific rights to live, to work and to access pensions, healthcare and public services. The same reports added that UK citizens abroad would not be able to assume that these rights will be guaranteed in the future Getty Brexit Concerns A British resident living in Spain asks questions during an informative Brexit talk by the "Brexpats in Spain" group, about Spanish legal issues to become Spanish citizens, at the town hall in Benalmadena, Spain Reuters Brexit Concerns The collapse of Great Britain appears to have been greatly exaggerated given the late summer crowds visiting city museums, hotels, and other important tourist attractions Getty Brexit Concerns The U.K. should maintain European Union regulations covering everything from working hours to chemicals until after the government sets out its plans for Brexit, said British manufacturers anxious to avoid a policy vacuum and safeguard access to their biggest export market Getty

Constant talk of another independence referendum is creating uncertainty and damaging the Scottish economy at a time when our growth is lagging behind the UK as a whole.

The people of Scotland spoke loudly and clearly in the result of the legal, fair and decisive referendum of 2014 and that should be respected, as the UK and Scottish Governments both committed to do in the Edinburgh Agreement.

As we prepare to leave the EU, the First Minister should commit her Government to working constructively with the UK Government to seize the opportunities that will bring, not taking Scotland back to the divisive constitutional debates of the past.

All recent polls show the SNP maintaining its dominance of Scottish politics, despite losing its majority in the Scottish Parliament at elections earlier this year.
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A Cabinet minister has stepped into the row over the shock removal of Marmite from Tescos shelves, suggesting it is nothing to do with Brexit.

David Lidington, the Commons Leader, was quizzed by opposition MPs who seized on the row over the Marmite shortage as fresh evidence of chaos over EU withdrawal.

But Mr Lidington appeared to rubbish claims that the pricing row had been triggered by the plunging pound  pointing out its ingredients were manufactured and supplied in Britain.

Meanwhile, one Leave-supporting Tory backbencher alleged an attempt by manufacturer Unilever to punish us for Brexit, announcing he would be boycotting Marmite.

Recommended Read more Tesco running out of Marmite and PG Tips amid Brexit price row

David TC Davies, the maverick Monmouth MP, tweeted: So Unilever using Marmite prices to punish us for Brexit. Toast-spread fight back starts here. From now on its Aussie made Vegemite for me.

Labour MPs seized on the controversy. Stephen Kinnock, of the Open Britain campaign, said: When the plunging pound stops you from getting PG Tips and Marmite in the supermarket, youre truly starting to feel the first tremors of Brexit.

And shadow business secretary Clive Lewis said: Once again the public are paying the price for Tory failure to make any contingency plans for Brexit.

This is unlikely to stop at a Marmite shortage  more and more retailers are going to be squeezed by higher import prices in the coming months, as hedging contracts end and the cheaper pound starts to squeeze margins.

Pete Wishart, the SNPs Commons leader, demanding action, saying: Who would have thought that the first casualty of this hard Brexit would be the nation's supplies of Marmite?

The clashes came as a used jar of Marmite appeared on eBay for 100,000, throwing in free postage and packaging.

Hours after news of the shortage of the spread broke, Unilever confirmed it was raising prices in the UK to compensate for the sharp drop in the pounds value.

Tesco is fighting the move and removed Unilever products  also including Comfort fabric conditioner, Hellmanns mayonnaise and Ben & Jerrys ice cream  from its website.

Graeme Pitkethly, Unilevers chief financial officer, said the price rises had landed with other customers, implying other retailers had accepted the higher prices.

Speaking in the Commons, Mr Lidington, insisted the Government would not intervene in the row, as he told MPs there were other types of own brand yeast extracts available.

And he added: I simply note that, on the information I have been given this morning, the ingredients of Marmite are not imported into the United Kingdom, but are manufactured and supplied here.

The remark was immediately interpreted as a criticism of Unilevers insistence that its prices must rise because of the falling value of sterling.

The Prime Ministers official spokeswoman said: Its a decision for companies how they market and sell their products.

Mr Pitkethly added that he was confident that the dispute with Tesco would be resolved very quickly.
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The Government is forcing immigrants into poverty as a means of controlling immigration, the Scottish National Party has warned.

Stuart McDonald, the SNPs immigration spokesperson at Westminster, said the Government had imposed a conscious government policy of deliberate destitution as a tool of immigration control.

He told a fringe event at the partys conference in Glasgow that the Immigration Act, passed earlier this year, would make it difficult for migrants to make ends meet.

The law makes it harder for undocumented migrants to get jobs, allows the government to seize their bank accounts and financial assets, and makes it harder for them to rent homes.

In the field of immigration policy its difficult to be constructive about anything thats been proposed by the Westminster Government, he warned.

Mr McDonald reiterated a call by the Scottish Government for the devolution of immigration powers to the country.

He also branded the Governments immigration target dishonest and nonsensical.

At the heart of the Government immigration policy is a fundamental flaw and that is its net migration target. Its simply, to my mind, a dishonest and nonsensical target, he said.

Stuart McDonald is the SNP's immigration spokesperson at Westminster (SNP)

The Government continues to cling onto this idea of tens of thousands being a holy grail but on its own terms doesnt make sense.

He said the target did not take into account different types of immigration or where it was directed and that even if the outcome was met it could produce unsustainable outcomes.

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

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon earlier on Thursday called for substantial additional powers, including handing Scotland control of immigration and its own international trade deals.

Over the next few weeks we will table specific proposals to protect Scotlands interests in Europe and keep us in the single market  even if the rest of the UK decides to leave, she said.

Its clear that beyond hardline rhetoric the UK Government has no detailed plan. So the Scottish Government will set out a plan for Scotland.

The Scottish Government wants to retain freedom of movement with the EU.

Theresa May has said indicated that she will end freedom of movement between Britain and EU member states as part of the post-Brexit settlement with the bloc.

She has said she will involve the devolved administrations, including Scotland, in Brexit talks
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The Conservatives are flirting with fascism, the Scottish National Partys conference has heard.

At the meeting in Glasgow on Thursday a number of speakers attacked the disgusting, disgraceful rhetoric and proposals outlined at the Tories conference with respect to foreigners.

Chief targets for criticism were now-cancelled plans to publish lists of foreign workers, the branding of EU nationals living in Britain as bargaining chips in EU negotiations, and moves to deter international students.

Rhiannon Spear, the national convener of SNP Youth, accused the Tories of bringing forward policies that de-humanise people, looking on them as commodities used for international bargaining  policies that are flirting with fascism.

Speaking in support of a motion about child refugees, she added: When our Home Secretarys addresses to her own party conference can be conflated with pages from Mein Kampf its about time we start calling it what it is.

Speaking in support of another motion on Brexit, Christina McKelvie, the SNP MSP for Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse, quoted author Michael Rosen who warned in 2014 that fascism arrives as your friend and not in fancy dress. She described the observation of prescient considering events since the EU referendum.

Ms McKelvie recounted that she was told by a Scottish National Party member that he was fightened about fascism in Britain. She said he had asked what the Scottish Government would do about the issue.

With the dawn of post-Brexit Britain we would hear some of the most right-wing reactionary politics that Ive heard in my lifetime at a mainstream political party conference, she said.

The Tory party conference was a disgusting, disgraceful, and deeply disturbing insight to what may face us in this land if we become the bystanders and no speak out against discrimination.

Last weekend Ukip MEP Roger Helmer said the policies unveiled by the Conservatives at their conference in Birmingham would have been compared to fascism had Ukip unveiled them. He said they had gone too far.

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

The Government backed down on proposals to draw up lists of foreign workers, saying this Sunday that they would in fact be secret and that the plans to publish them were never policy.

The Home Secretary insisted the Conservatives programme was not racist despite condemnation from all corners of the political spectrum.

The SNP's conference in Glasgow is its biggest ever. It started on Thursday and continues until Saturday afternoon.
Francisco Correa at the High Court. J. C. H. (EFE)

The key figure in Spains most infamous case of party-related corruption has admitted to paying kickbacks in order to be granted government contracts, and to handing some of the money his companies earned through the shady deals to Spains conservative Popular Party (PP).

In a highly anticipated appearance at Madrids High Court, which was televised live on Spanish television, businessman Francisco Correa said he kept part of the money he was paid in bribes for himself and gave a portion to Luis Barcenas, treasurer for the PP from 2008 to 2009.

Correa faces 125 years and one month in jail for charges including money laundering, tax fraud and bribery

I spent more time in Genova [the PP headquarters] than in my own office, he said during court proceedings on Thursday in the so-called Gurtel case, Gurtel being a rough translation into German of correa, meaning belt.

Correa, who allegedly liked to be known as Don Vito after the character played by Marlon Brando in The Godfather, also admitted to giving gifts to Jesus Sepulveda, the former PP mayor of Madrid suburb Pozuelo and husband of former Health Minister Ana Mato.

Correa and his associates are thought to have hidden evidence of their existence via a web of shell companies and bank accounts in offshore tax havens. But on Thursday Correa worked hard to separate his business activities from his personal involvement in the kickbacks-for-contracts scheme.

He told the court all his companies had operated legally and he had never used offshore subsidiaries in an attempt to evade taxes in Spain. I didnt realize I was committing any crimes. I am paying and I apologize publicly to the court and to the ministry, said Correa, who appeared to place little importance on the tax-fraud charges he faces.

The statements from Correa  who deflected blame away from most of his subordinates  come on the fifth day of a trial during which 37 people will give testimony related to a sprawling corruption case involving six regional governments and nearly 200 official suspects.

The scandal has already cost the jobs of dozens of PP mayors, regional deputies and councilors, as well as a senator and a member of Congress.

I spent more time in the PP headquarters than in my own office

Francisco Correa

The case is so complicated that it has been broken down into sections by investigators, with the current trial tackling illegal financial activities from 1999 to 2005.

Correa, who was held in prison from 2009 to 2012 before being released on bail, faces 125 years and one month in jail for charges including money laundering, tax fraud and bribery. Before his court appearance this week, he promised to cooperate with authorities, which was taken as meaning he would admit to some of the accusations leveled at him by prosecutors.

Former PP treasurer Luis Barcenas, also a key figure in the case, was quick to deny the accusations of Correa, telling journalists on Thursday he had never taken money from him.

Set to appear in court this week, the one-time treasurers testimony is expected to include details of a parallel accounting system he allegedly operated on behalf of the PP, a slush fund he claims to have used to make illegal under-the-table payments. Anti-corruption investigators allege Barcenas appropriated 299,650 from the party slush fund, as well as handing out cash payments to high-profile Spanish politicians, including acting Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy.

The case is seen as a major threat to the PP, with prosecutors saying the party benefited from funds derived from bribery and embezzlement.

But prosecutor Concepcion Sabadell has ruled out calling in Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy as a witness after calls that she do so from the private prosecutions in representation of the Socialist Party (PSOE) and the Association of Democratic Lawyers for Europe.

Last week, the PP argued that the alleged profit of 250,000 it made from illegally obtained funds should be attributed exclusively to the partys municipal groups in Pozuelo de Alarcon and Majadahonda, two wealthy suburbs of Madrid.

The Gurtel investigation began in the summer of 2008 after a former PP councilor, Jose Luis Penas, filed a complaint with the anti-corruption attorney. For a year, Penas had been recording conversations with Francisco Correa, in which the latter detailed his own corrupt business dealings and his ties to PP leaders.

For months, former High Court Judge Baltasar Garzon conducted a secret investigation into the allegations and ultimately ordered three ringleaders arrested in February 2009. He also obtained extensive documentary evidence of parallel accounts kept at Correas companies showing the payment of illegal commissions to PP politicians. However, he was thrown off the court bench and barred from serving as a judge in 2012 after being found to have breached his duties and violated the constitutional rights of several corruption defendants by ordering phone taps of their jailhouse conversations in 2009.

English version by George Mills.
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Britain and the United States are both considering deeper involvement in the Syrian civil war  including looking at more military options  amid warnings that Russia is gong to "flatten" the city of Aleppo.

Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson argued it was right that military options were looked at again, because he said the Russian campaign had pulverised neighbourhoods.

US President Barack Obama was also expected to meet key advisors on Friday to weigh up military action, including direct air strikes on Assad regime bases.

It comes as President Assad described how he would "clean" the city by killing the "terrorists" within the city.

Speaking to Russias Komsomolskaya Pravda, Assad said: Its going to be the springboard, as a big city, to move to other areas, to liberate other areas from the terrorists. This is the importance of Aleppo now.

You have to keep cleaning this area and to push the terrorists to Turkey to go back to where they come from, or to kill them. Theres no other option. But Aleppo is going to be a very important springboard to do this move.

In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria Show all 19 1 /19 In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria Syrian boys cry following Russian air strikes on the rebel-held Fardous neighbourhood of the northern embattled Syrian city of Aleppo Getty In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria Russian defense ministry spokesman Major General Igor Konashenkov speaks to the media in Moscow, Russia. Konashenkov strongly warned the United States against striking Syrian government forces and issued a thinly-veiled threat to use Russian air defense assets to protect them AP In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria Syrians wait to receive treatment at a hospital following Russian air strikes on the rebel-held Fardous neighbourhood of the northern embattled Syrian city of Alepp Getty In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria Russian Deputy Defense Minister Anatoly Antonov speaks at a briefing in the Defense Ministry in Moscow, Russia. Antonov said the Russian air strikes in Syria have killed about 35,000 militants, including about 2,700 residents of Russia AP In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria Jameel Mustafa Habboush, receives oxygen from civil defence volunteers, known as the white helmets, as they rescue him from under the rubble of a building following Russian air strikes on the rebel-held Fardous neighbourhood of the northern embattled Syrian city of Aleppo Getty In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria Civil defence members rest amidst rubble in a site hit by what activists said were airstrikes carried out by the Russian air force in the town of Douma, eastern Ghouta in Damascus, Syria Reuters In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria A girl carrying a baby inspects damage in a site hit by what activists said were airstrikes carried out by the Russian air force in the town of Douma, eastern Ghouta in Damascus, Syria Reuters In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria Civilians and civil defence members look for survivors at a site damaged after Russian air strikes on the Syrian rebel-held city of Idlib, Syria Reuters In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria Civilians and civil defence members carry an injured woman on a stretcher at a site damaged after Russian air strikes on the Syrian rebel-held city of Idlib, Syria Reuters In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria Volunteers from Syria Civil Defence, also known as the White Helmets, help civilians after Russia carried out its first airstrikes in Syria In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria The aftermath of Russian airstrike in Talbiseh, Syria In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria Smoke billows from buildings in Talbiseh, in Homs province, western Syria, after airstrikes by Russian warplanes AP In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria Russian Air Forces carry out an air strike in the ISIS controlled Al-Raqqah Governorate. Russia's KAB-500s bombs completely destroy the Liwa al-Haqq command unit In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria Caspian Flotilla of the Russian Navy firing Kalibr cruise missiles against remote Isis targets in Syria A TASS/ITAR-TASS Photo/Corbis In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria Russia claimed it hit eight Isis targets, including a "terrorist HQ and co-ordination centre" that was completely destroyed In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria A video grab taken from the footage made available on the Russian Defence Ministry's official website, purporting to show an airstrike in Syria In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria A release from the Russian defence ministry purportedly showing targets in Syria being hit In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria Russia launched air strikes in war-torn Syria, its first military engagement outside the former Soviet Union since the occupation of Afghanistan in 1979. Russian warplanes carried out strikes in three Syrian provinces along with regime aircraft as Putin seeks to steal US President Barack Obama's thunder by pushing a rival plan to defeat Isis militants in Syria In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria Caspian Flotilla of the Russian Navy firing Kalibr cruise missiles against remote Isis targets in Syria, a thousand kilometres away. The targets include ammunition factories, ammunition and fuel depots, command centres, and training camps A TASS/ITAR-TASS Photo/Corbis

The intensification of the rhetoric comes ahead of a key meeting between the UK, US, France and Germany this weekend at which the Western powers hope to form a response to the Russian military operation.

The Foreign Office insisted Mr Johnsons comments were not intended as a first step towards military intervention, while Downing Street underlined that there are currently no plans for UK action.

But some MPs from different parties appeared receptive to the idea of deeper intervention, following failed peace talks and days of coverage showing Aleppos injured civilians and gutted buildings.

Speaking to the Foreign Affairs Select Committee, Mr Johnson set out policy routes to try and mitigate the destruction of the five-year conflict that has killed some 300,000 people and displaced half the countrys population.

He said: Our options now are to try on the humanitarian front, to try to find extra ways of getting help into Aleppo, to do what we can to warn the people of Aleppo about impending air strikes, to support the White Helmets [charity], to support all types of humanitarian relief, to intensify sanctions on some of the key players in the Assad regime and on the Russians as well.

 Video shows amazing rescue of child as shelling resumes in Aleppo

And also of course, it is right now that we should be looking again at the more kinetic options, the military options.

He said he did not want to raise hopes of what the West could deliver, given David Camerons 2013 failure to win parliamentary approval for RAF air strikes, something he said was regrettable.

But the Foreign Secretary went on: The general feeling is that obviously, its good that things are happening again in Geneva. But most people, I think including [US Secretary of State] John Kerry, feel that the process of discussion with the Russians has basically run out of road and on Sunday well be talking about all the options that we think are available to us and to the West.

Im not going to pretend that there is any easy answer here, because there isnt. But I think most people are now changing their minds about this, they are thinking we cant let this go on forever, we cant just see Aleppo pulverised in this way. We have to do something.

A Downing Street spokesperson said the Prime Minister would weigh up very carefully any options that are put forward and the potential consequences of those, adding that at the moment the focus is on bringing together partners.

 Drone footage of Aleppo

But Mr Obama is expected to convene his National Security Council on Friday to consider military and other options in Syria.

Officials speaking on condition of anonymity said one set of options includes direct air strikes on Syrian bases, munitions depots, radar and anti-aircraft sites.

But they also said it was unlikely Mr Obama would order strikes now and may not make any final decisions at the planned meeting.

Mr Johnsons comments follow calls from MPs on both sides of the Commons for the establishment of a no-fly zone to end the air strikes on Aleppo.

At Prime Ministers Questions this week Theresa May raised doubts over the safety and difficulty of an operation to protect civilians from Russian or Syrian air strikes, but did not completely rule it out.

Former Conservative International Development Secretary Andrew Mitchell told The Independent: The new Foreign Secretary is gripping the issue and is doing the right thing in talking to our allies around the world about what we can do to stop this slaughter.

 UN envoy warns east Aleppo faces 'total destruction'

I believe strongly that bullies who breach international humanitarian laws have got to be confronted.

Labour MP Mike Gapes, a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee, said: Something has to be done to stop a disaster for a large number of non-combatants in east Aleppo.

If Putin does to Aleppo what he did to Grozny, then they are going to flatten it.

Liberal Democrat foreign affairs spokesperson Tom Brake said his party had been calling for no-fly zones and air-drops in Syria for months.

He said: What is clear is that the UK needs to act in the best interests of Syrian civilians. If Johnson is suggesting that our military could be used to support no-fly zones and air-drops, then this government U-turn is most welcome.

But if hes throwing around military options in order to appear tough to the Russians and to appear to be doing something for Syria that wont help a single Syrian child and his bluff will be called.

 Syria: Government advance in Aleppo continues as tanks cross front line

But chair of the Commons Defence Committee Julian Lewis, warned against military action under the current circumstances.

His committee recently published a report highlighting the lack of moderate rebels in Syria, in whose support the UK could act.

He said: Until the UK and the US can identify a realistic outcome for the Syrian civil war, other than that the Syrian army will win, or the rebels will win with a result similar to that in Libya, its difficult to see what possible military operations might be open for the UK to consider.

The US and Russian foreign ministers will meet in Lausanne, Switzerland, on Saturday to resume their failed effort to find a diplomatic solution to the Syria conflict, though US officials have voiced little hope of success.
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Women may be forced to tell authorities if they have children conceived as a result of rape, under benefit changes that could see them lose money if they refuse.

Welfare cuts set to come into effect in April will restrict tax credits to a familys first two children. This will not apply to children conceived after rape - but a Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) minister has suggested victims will be forced to report their ordeal to professionals if they want to continue to receive financial support for their children.

Caroline Nokes MP, parliamentary under secretary of state at the DWP, told Parliament the Government believes a third party evidence model offers the most promising approach.

She said: This is a model where a woman can request the exemption by engaging with a professional third party, such as a healthcare professional or a social worker.

It means rape survivors would be forced to tell a professional about their attack or face the risk of their benefits being cut. Opponents say victims should not suffer financially if they choose not to recount their abuse.

Polly Neate, chief executive of Womens Aid, told The Independent it was vital that survivors of rape... know that the welfare system is there to support them when they need.

It is unacceptable that the onus to prove a child is the result of a rape lies with the survivor. It shows a failure of understanding about the nature of domestic abuse and how women disclose rape, she added.

Rachel Krys, co-director of the End Violence Against Women Coalition, called the plans "deeply flawed".

She said: "Women who have been victimised by rape should not be under any coercion - financial or otherwise - to report to a statutory agency what has happened to them. To include this requirement in the benefits process is deeply flawed and reflects a lack of understanding around the impact of rape and the rights of women survivors and their children.

Debbie Abrahams MP, shadow minister for work and pensions, told The Independent Labour would fight the plans. For over a year now the Government have failed to adequately explain how they will develop protections for women who have a third child as the result of rape, or other exceptional circumstances, she said.

It is fundamentally wrong to include a rape clause in our social security system. This, and the wider impact of the two-child policy on the poorest again busts the myth of the Governments support for families.

A Government spokesperson said: We have had to take difficult decisions to stabilise our economy and bring welfare spending under control. This reform ensures people on benefits have the same choices as those supporting themselves solely through work. But we have always been clear that exemptions will be in place, which is why we are consulting so they can be delivered in the most effective, compassionate way possible.

UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures 30 October 2022 People dressed in Halloween costumes paddle board along the river Avon in Christchurch, Dorset PA UK news in pictures 29 October 2022 Members of the public take pictures as police officers remove activists from a road during a Just Stop Oil protest, in London Reuters UK news in pictures 28 October 2022 A cosplayer attends the MCM Comic Con London 2022 at the ExCel Centre in London Reuters UK news in pictures 27 October 2022 98-year-old D-Day Veteran Bernard Morgan, whose story is among those featured on the giant poppy wall, during the launch of The Royal British Legion 2022 Poppy Appeal, at Hay's Galleria in central London PA UK news in pictures 26 October 2022 A meerkat explores a pumpkin in the enclosure at Wild Place, Bristol, where some of the animals are having pumpkin treats as part of their environmental enrichment PA UK news in pictures 25 October 2022 King Charles III welcomes Rishi Sunak during an audience at Buckingham Palace, where he invited the newly elected leader of the Conservative Party to become Prime Minister and form a new government PA UK news in pictures 24 October 2022 Rishi Sunak celebrates with Tory MPs outside the Conservative Campaign Headquarters after becoming the new leader of the Conservative Party Reuters UK news in pictures 23 October 2022 The Green Man at October Plenty, Borough Market's annual Autumn Harvest festival, in London, which returns for the first time post pandemic PA UK news in pictures 21 October 2022 Sculptor Peter McKenna puts the finishing touches to a pumpkin that will form part of the Planet A Hebden Bridge Pumpkin Trail in the West Yorkshire town PA UK news in pictures 20 October 2022 Britains Prime Minister Liz Truss delivers a speech outside of 10 Downing Street in central London to announce her resignation AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 19 October 2022 Salmon leap up Stainforth Force on the River Ribble in the Yorkshire Dales as they swim upriver to their spawning grounds during the annual Salmon migration PA UK news in pictures 18 October 2022 Just Stop Oil protesters continue their protest for a second day on the Queen Elizabeth II Bridge, which links Kent and Essex and which remains closed for traffic, after it was scaled by two climbers from the group PA UK news in pictures 17 October 2022 Hundreds of students take part in the traditional Raisin Monday foam fight on St Salvator's Lower College Lawn at the University of St Andrews in Fife PA UK news in pictures 16 October 2022 A protester holds a placard during a march into central London at a demonstration by the climate change protest group Extinction Rebellion AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 15 October 2022 A member of the public drags an activist who is blocking the road during a "Just Stop Oil" protest, in London, Britain REUTERS UK news in pictures 14 October 2022 Germanys Womens double skulls during day one of the World Rowing Beach 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Hall, Southbank Centre, London PA UK news in pictures 7 October 2022 Two young male fallow deer lock antlers in Dublins Phoenix park as rutting season begins PA UK news in pictures 6 October 2022 The Princess of Wales during a cocktail making competition during a visit to Trademarket, a new outdoor street-food and retail market situated in Belfast city centre, as part of the royal visit to Northern Ireland PA UK news in pictures 5 October 2022 Greenpeace protesters interrupt Prime Minister Liz Truss as she delivers her keynote speech to the Conservative Party annual conference PA UK news in pictures 4 October 2022 Prime Minister Liz Truss and Britains Chancellor of the Exchequer Kwasi Kwarteng wearing hard hats and hi-vis jackets, visit a construction site for a medical innovation campus in Birmingham AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 3 October 2022 British artist Sam Cox, aka Mr Doodle, reveals the Doodle House, a twelve-room mansion at Tenterden, in Kent, which has been covered, inside and out in the artist's trademark monochrome, cartoonish hand-drawn doodles PA UK news in pictures 2 October 2022 Erling Haaland celebrates after scoring Manchester City's second goal against Manchester United at Etihad Stadium. Haaland went on to score a hattrick, his third of the season in the Premier League. City beat United 6-3. Manchester City FC/Getty UK news in pictures 1 October 2022 Protesters hold up flags and placards at a protest in London. A variety of protest groups including Enough is Enough, Don't Pay and Just Stop Oil all demonstrated on the day AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 30 September 2022 British Prime Minister Liz Truss, who has not been seen in days, leaves the back of Downing Street after a meeting with Office For Budget Responsibility following the release of her governments mini-budget Getty UK news in pictures 29 September 2022 The Virginia creeper foliage on the Tu Hwnt i'r Bont (Beyond the Bridge) Llanwrst, Conwy North Wales, has changed colour from green to red in at the start of Autumn. The building was built in 1480 as a residential dwelling but has been a tearoom for over 50 years PA UK news in pictures 28 September 2022 Criminal barristers from the Criminal Bar Association (CBA), demonstrates outside the Royal Courts of Justice in London, as part of their ongoing pay row with the Government PA UK news in pictures 27 September 2022 David White, Garter King of Arms, poses with an envelope franked with the new cypher of King Charles III 'CIIIR', after it was printed in the Court Post Office at Buckingham Palace in central London AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 26 September 2022 A gallery staff member poses next to a painting by Lucian Freud - Self-portrait (Fragment), 1956 - on show at a photocall for the Credit Suisse exhibition - Lucian Freud: New Perspectives at the National Gallery in London PA UK news in pictures 25 September 2022 Labour leader, Sir Keir Starmer is interviewed by Laura Kuenssberg in Liverpool before the start of the Labour Party annual Conference which he opened with a tribute to Queen Elizabeth II and sang the national anthem PA UK news in pictures 24 September 2022 Handout photo issued by Buckingham Palace of the ledger stone at the King George VI Memorial Chapel, St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle PA UK news in pictures 23 September 2022 A climate change activist protests against UK private jets while lighting his right arm on fire during the Laver Cup tennis tournament at the O2 Arena in London EPA UK news in pictures 22 September 2022 Woody Woodmansey, Lee Bennett, Kevin Armstrong, Nick Moran and Clifford Slapper attend the unveiling of a stone for David Bowie on the Music Walk of Fame at Camden, north London PA UK news in pictures 21 September 2022 A flock of birds in the sky as the sun rises over Dungeness in Kent PA UK news in pictures 20 September 2022 Flowers which were laid by members of the public in tribute to Queen Elizabeth II at Hillsborough Castle in Northern Ireland are collected by the Hillsborough Gardening Team and volunteers to be replanted for those that can be saved or composted PA UK news in pictures 19 September 2022 The ceremonial procession of the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II travels down the long walk as it arrives at Windsor Castle for the committal service at St Georges Chapel AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 18 September 2022 A man stands among campers on The Mall ahead of the Queens funeral Reuters UK news in pictures 17 September 2022 Wolverhampton Wanderers Nathan Collins fouls Manchester Citys Jack Grealish leading to a red card. 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The changes come as new statistics reveal a 123 per cent rise in the number of rapes reported in the last five years, with more than half of victims attacked by a partner or ex-partner.

The changes to tax credits were announced by then Chancellor George Osborne in his 2015 Budget as part of 12 billion of welfare cuts designed to help reduce the deficit. Mr Osborne said at the time: These changes to tax credits are not easy, but they are fair.
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Islamist militant group Boko Haram has freed 21 Chibok schoolgirls, according to the Nigerian government.

The girls were released after a deal was brokered between the group and the International Red Cross and Swiss government.

Approximately 270 schoolgirls were kidnapped from the northern Nigerian town of Chibok by the extremist group in April 2014.

Dozens have since escaped but aeound 200 girls remain missing, causing global outrage.

Negotiations would continuing to bring home the rest of the girls, according to a statement from the President Muhammadu Buhari.

"It is the first step in what we believe will be the release of all the girls," Information Minister Lai Mohammed told reporters.

He denied reports that the government had swapped imprisoned Boko Haram fighters for their release and said he was not aware whether any ransom had been paid.

However the Presidents spokesman, Garba Shehu, said the release was "the outcome of negotiations between the administration and Islamist militants", according to the BBC.

The Swiss government facilitated contacts between representatives of the Nigerian government and intermediaries of Boko Haram after a request from Abuja, a spokeswoman said in a statement.

We have nothing to add, she said, when asked if it had been a prisoner swap.

The girls were released at 5.30 am on Thursday and have been taken to the capital Abuja to meet doctors and psychologists, Mr Mohammed said.

In May, authorities announced one of the missing girls had been found, however there have been a number of similar reports in the past that proved to be false alarms.

A large-scale offensive in the Sambisa forest, one of Boko Harams remaining strongholds, was launched in the past days by the Nigerian military in the hopes of rescuing more of the girls.

Since the beginning of 2015, Nigeria's army, aided by troops from neighbouring countries, has recaptured most of Boko Harams territory, which was once equivalent to the size of Belgium.

Beyond Chibok: Report shows alarming trends in countries affected by Boko Haram Show all 16 1 /16 Beyond Chibok: Report shows alarming trends in countries affected by Boko Haram Beyond Chibok: Report shows alarming trends in countries affected by Boko Haram Fifteen year old Nigerian refugee Fati, hugs her mother Mariam while carrying her sister, at the Minawao refugee camp in Northern Cameroon UNICEF Beyond Chibok: Report shows alarming trends in countries affected by Boko Haram Fifteen year old Nigerian refugee Fati, carry her eight month old sister, who she last seen when she was 3 months old, at the Minawao refugee camp in Northern Cameroon. She was abducted by Boko Haram and spend four months in captivity. She was given to a man and forced to be his wife. She was eventually freed by Cameroonian soldiers and have been reunited with her family in a refugee camp in Cameroon UNICEF Beyond Chibok: Report shows alarming trends in countries affected by Boko Haram Nigerian refugee's at the Minawao refugee camp in Northern Cameroon. The conflict in North-East Nigeria prompted by Boko Haram has led to widespread displacement, violations of international humanitarian and human rights law, protection risks and a severe humanitarian crisis. This is one of the fastest growing displacement crisis in Africa  one of the worlds most forgotten emergencies, with little attention from the donor community UNICEF Beyond Chibok: Report shows alarming trends in countries affected by Boko Haram Nigerian refugee children at the Minawao refugee camp in Northern Cameroon UNICEF Beyond Chibok: Report shows alarming trends in countries affected by Boko Haram Nigerian refugees line up to receive food aid at the Minawao refugee camp in Northern Cameroon UNICEF Beyond Chibok: Report shows alarming trends in countries affected by Boko Haram Didja Damna (26) with her daughter, 17 month old Ngarvounsia, as she gets treatment at the Maroua hospital in Northern Cameroon UNICEF Beyond Chibok: Report shows alarming trends in countries affected by Boko Haram Didja Damna (26) with her daughter , 17 month old Ngarvounsia, as she gets treatment at the Maroua hospital in Northern Cameroon. Didja have four other children and had her first child when she was sixteen. Ngarvounsia lost weight and have been treated for three day's in hospital and is recovering UNICEF Beyond Chibok: Report shows alarming trends in countries affected by Boko Haram Fadi ,the wife of internally displaced Alagi Dubji feed her daughter, Ina Petal( 13 months) a peanut butter supplement, at their home in Maroua in Northern Cameroon. Ina received treatment for malnourishment and is doing well after she was discharged from the hospital. Alagi and his family had to flee from his village near Maroua after Boko Haram fighters burned down his house.Alagi had 40 children with 26 still alive UNICEF Beyond Chibok: Report shows alarming trends in countries affected by Boko Haram A malnourished girl gets treatment at the Maroua hospital in Northern Cameroon UNICEF Beyond Chibok: Report shows alarming trends in countries affected by Boko Haram More than 135 displacement sites have been noted along the border with Nigeria UNICEF Beyond Chibok: Report shows alarming trends in countries affected by Boko Haram Temporary schools in the refugee camp of Kabelewa, counts eight classrooms for 549 pupils. Out of those 549 children, only 12 had already been to school before UNICEF Beyond Chibok: Report shows alarming trends in countries affected by Boko Haram As the river continues to dry up in April and May, we expect to see an increase in violence in the Diffa region. Both refugees and internally displaced people are affected by the insecurity, fleeing attacks and also fleeing to safer locations ahead of attacks. Generally noticed is a movement from locations near the border towards the inland area along the main road where spontaneous new sites are being created and host villages' population increasing UNICEF Beyond Chibok: Report shows alarming trends in countries affected by Boko Haram Forced displacement in the region of Diffa is becoming regular and is linked to the volatile security situation in the region. Diffa, the Niger's poorest region, has been affected by the consequences of the increased acts of violence in Nigeria, conducted by the armed group Boko Haram, increasingly expanding and targeting the civilian population in Niger - and Diffa region in particular. With water levels starting to fall, the Nigeria-based armed group is seizing the opportunity to cross over the Komadougou River, into Niger from Nigeria UNICEF Beyond Chibok: Report shows alarming trends in countries affected by Boko Haram Fatima Abubakar, 13, in Dar Es Salam refugee camp, Lake region of Chad. Fatima lost five family members during the attack of her small village in Nigeria, in the shores of the lake Chad. She now lives in Dar Es Salam refugee camp, in Chad, with her father, mother and 3 siblings, "The table was all set and we were just about to have our breakfast together when the gunshots started outside. We immediately left in panic. I escaped with my mother. We left in two pirogues. My mothers pirogue had a whole and they put a cloth to stop the water from entering. But they had to come back to shore. I thought I would be forever alone and that my parents were dead. I cried for days. When I met them both days later in Ngouboua (an island in Chad) I couldnt be happier. I sometimes think about our table, where the breakfast was served, and how the house would be now" UNICEF Beyond Chibok: Report shows alarming trends in countries affected by Boko Haram Hafsa Mohammed sews in the UNICEF-supported child friendly space in Dar Es Salam refugee camp, Lake region of Chad. Every childs future starts with a dream and Hafsa Mohammed, 16, has a very clear idea of what she wants to become. She wants to be a successful businesswoman and own a notions store. She now lives in Daresalam refugee camp, Lake region of Chad. I have started again to sew. I used to do it back in Nigeria. My parents encouraged me to do it. It will be useful for me to start my own business and I would be happy to teach others as well, explains Hafsa UNICEF Beyond Chibok: Report shows alarming trends in countries affected by Boko Haram Salta Bintou Hassan is 11. She lost her arm after an suicide attack on Bagasola market in October 2015. After spending two months in the hospital of N'Djamena, she is back with her family. Yet, her life will never be the same UNICEF

The extremist group published a video in August apparently showing recent footage of dozens of the kidnapped girls, and said some had been killed in air strikes.

Boko Haram has kidnapped hundreds of men, women and children but the kidnapping of the Chibok girls brought it worldwide attention.

In the last few months Mr Buhari has said his government was prepared to negotiate with Boko Haram over the release of the girls.

Additional reporting by Reuters.
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Residents of the worlds largest refugee camp fear they will face sexual violence and forced recruitment into armed conflict if the settlement is broken up as planned at the end of next month, according to a major new report.

The Kenyan government has vowed to shut down the Dadaab camp and push its 261,000 inhabitants back across the border into Somalia.

The international aid group Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) surveyed heads of households representing some 5,500 people, and the overwhelming majority said they did not want to return to Somalia.

In Dadaab, Somali refugees are not allowed to leave the camp to travel or work. They live in overcrowded conditions with long queues for water and provisions, and face sporadic outbreaks of cholera and measles.

International aid to the camp has dwindled since a series of security incidents from 2011 onwards, and tight restrictions on entry and exit to the camp mean increasingly its inhabitants voices are not heard.

Yet in a report offering rare insight into the lives of this huge refugee population, MSF found that 86 per cent of those surveyed would rather stay than return to Somalia - despite everything.

The living condition in the camps is not rosy, but still it is heaven for us in comparison to going back to Somalia, one refugee said.

(MSF)

The primary concern for these refugees is security. Almost all (97.5 per cent) rated the risk of forced recruitment into armed groups in Somalia as high, and a similar number (97 per cent) - both men and women - voiced fears about the risk of sexual violence.

Though a large number of Dadaabs residents were born there, more than four in five respondents said they believed Somalia to be a very unsafe place, compared to 96 per cent rating their camp as very safe, despite its shortcomings.

(MSF)

"Somalia is currently not in a position to take care of itself, and so the decision to move the refugees back to Somalia only means exposing them to imminent danger," one community leader said. "I am afraid to go back because there is no life and no hope there."

The Kenyan government delayed the closure of Dadaab amid opposition from the UN refugee agency from August, finally settling on a date of 30 November.

MSF said it was strongly opposed to the move, which Kenya says must happen on security grounds, and in its report stated hundreds of thousands of lives will be put at risk.

What is clear is that returning to Somalia now will have disastrous consequences on peoples health, said Liesbeth Aelbrecht, Head of Mission for MSF in Kenya. It will escalate their vulnerability to malnutrition, weakening their immune systems and making them vulnerable to infectious diseases.

(MSF)

Founded in 1991 as a temporary shelter for just 90,000 people, Dadaab ballooned until it became a network of integrated camps housing almost half a million people at the start of this decade.

Some have subsequently returned to Somalia voluntarily, but what is left is a solid city, albeit one built of mudbricks and sheet metal.

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

MSF operates services for the 67,000 residents of the Dagahaley camp, one of five making up Dadaab as a whole, and it says there is nothing close to a comparable level of healthcare provision for people to return to in Somalia.

Its report calls on the Kenyan government to change its mind on closing Dadaab entirely, and instead work with the UN to find voluntary, long-term solutions such as rehoming refugees to key donor countries.
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US-launched Tomahawk cruise missiles destroyed three coastal radar sites in Houthi-controlled territory on Yemen's Red Sea Coast early Thursday, officials said, a retaliatory action that followed two incidents this week in which missiles were fired at US Navy ships.

The strikes marked the first shots fired by the US in anger against the Houthis in Yemen's long-running civil war.

The US previously only provided logistical support and refueling to the Saudi-led coalition battling Yemen's Shiite rebels known as Houthis and their allies, including supporters of Yemen's former president, Ali Abdullah Saleh. ]

 State dept spokesperson squirms when asked to explain difference between bombing in Syria and Yemen

While the US military has been focused on al-Qaida in Yemen, the Houthis had not been a primary target of American forces until the missile launches from Houthi-controlled territory this week.

No information on casualties from the US missiles was provided by American officials. The three radar sites were in remote areas, where there was little risk of civilian casualties or collateral damage, said a military official who was not authorised to be named and spoke on condition of anonymity.

The destroyer USS Nitze launched the cruise missiles, the official said.

President Barack Obama authorised the strikes at the recommendation of Defence Secretary Ash Carter and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Joseph Dunford, Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook said in a statement. US officials had said earlier that the US was weighing what military response to take.

"These limited self-defence strikes were conducted to protect our personnel, our ships and our freedom of navigation in this important maritime passageway," Cook said following the US action. "The United States will respond to any further threat to our ships and commercial traffic, as appropriate, and will continue to maintain our freedom of navigation in the Red Sea, the Bab al-Mandeb and elsewhere around the world."

Loai al-Shami, a Houthi spokesman, declined to comment immediately on the US strike.

Early Wednesday, two missiles were fired at the USS Mason, an Arleigh Burke class of guided missile destroyer that is conducting routine operations in the region with the USS Ponce, an amphibious warship. Neither missile got near the ship, said a US military official.

The missiles were fired from the Yemen coast, near the location used Sunday when two missiles were launched at the same two ships, said the official, who was not authorized to be named and spoke on condition of anonymity.

A second official said it wasn't clear whether the ship's countermeasures caused the missiles to hit the water on Wednesday or if they would have landed there anyway. The official also spoke on condition of anonymity.

"These unjustified attacks are serious, but they will not deter us from our mission," the chief of naval operations, Adm. John Richardson, said in a statement Wednesday. "The team in USS Mason demonstrated initiative and toughness as they defended themselves and others against these unfounded attacks over the weekend and again today. All Americans should be proud of them."

The missiles fired on Sunday were variants of the so-called Silkworm missile, and both also fell harmlessly into the water. The Silkworm is a type of coastal defense cruise missile that Iran has been known to use.

Sunday was the first time that US ships were targeted by a missile launch from Yemen.

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. 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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. 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Bryan Clark, a naval analyst at the Centre for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, said Sunday's event was "very significant."

"It might be the first time the SM-2 was used against an actual threat for which it was designed, he said.

"Its definitely the first time ESM has been used  This is obviously a huge deal."

Last week, an Emirati-leased Swift boat came under rocket fire near the same area and sustained serious damage. The United Arab Emirates described the vessel as carrying humanitarian aid and having a crew of civilians, while the Houthis called the boat a warship.

The US has been considering withdrawing its support for the Saudi-led coalition fighting the Houthis following Saturday's airstrike on a funeral and other troubling incidents of civilian casualties as a result of the Saudi bombing campaign.

The strike on the funeral in the capital, Sanaa, killed some 140 people and wounded more than 600. That bombing, among the deadliest of the war, likely sparked the rebels to launch more ballistic missiles in Saudi Arabia and target the U.S. warships in the Red Sea.

Human rights groups have expressed outrage over the deaths and accused the U.S. of complicity, leading the White House to say it was conducting a "review" to ensure U.S. cooperation with longtime partner Saudi Arabia is in line with "U.S. principles, values and interests."

The US missile launch also could affect relations with Iran, which says it backs the Yemeni rebels but denies arming them. That's contradicted by the US Navy, which says it has intercepted several shipping boats since the war began carrying Iranian weaponry suspected to be on the way to Yemen.

There was no immediate reaction to the US launch Thursday morning in Iran, which was marking the Shiite commemoration of Ashoura. Houthi-linked media also did not report the strike.

The missile fire by the Houthi raises questions about maritime safety in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, which serves as a gateway for oil tankers headed to Europe through the Suez Canal. The U.S. moved more naval ships near the strait after an Emirati-leased Swift boat came under rocket fire near the same area and sustained serious damage. The United Arab Emirates described the vessel as carrying humanitarian aid and having a crew of civilians, while the Houthis called the boat a warship.

Analysts with the Washington Institute for Near East Policy called the Houthi missile fire "a surprisingly aggressive move," but stressed there were limits to Iran's control of the rebels.

"Houthi relations with the Islamic Republic resemble the Iran-Hamas relationship more than the Iran-Hezbollah relationship -- that is, the Houthis are autonomous partners who usually act in accordance with their own interests, though often with smuggled Iranian arms and other indirect help," the analysts wrote in a report released early Thursday.

AP
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The man accused of setting off a series of bombs throughout New York and New Jersey pleaded not guilty to the attempted murder of New Jersey police officers.

Ahmad Khan Rahami, 28, appeared in court via video and delivered his plea from a hospital bed.

The suspect has been hospitalised since his 19 September capture, following a shootout with police in Linden, New Jersey. He faces five counts attempted murder, in addition to his charges related to the explosions in Manhattan and New Jersey.

Thirty-one people were injured in the 17 September blast in the Chelsea neighbourhood in New York City.

Federal authorities filed charges against Rahami on 19 September. Charges include use of weapons of mass destruction, bombing a place of public use, destruction of property by means of fire or explosive, and use of a destructive device during and in furtherance of a crime of violence.

The suspect's father, Mohammad Rahami, said he notified the FBI of suspicions about his son in 2014.

"Two years ago I go to the FBI because my son was doing really bad, O.K.?" Mr Rahami said. "But they check almost two months, they say, 'Hes OK, hes clean, hes not a terrorist.' I say 'OK'."

"Now they say he is a terrorist," he added. "I say 'OK'."
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Most men and women will witness a woman being catcalled or talked to inappropriately at some point in their lives, but it is rare the person making the remarks is told off in public.

That changed for a plane full of Alaska Airlines passengers this week, when a male passenger was told to leave after making inappropriate comments to a female flight attendant.

According to a Facebook post from passenger Amber Nelson, the SeaTac flight attendant from Alaska Airlines was carrying out the routine safety demonstration before take-off when a man called out: Ooh, sexy!

He was reportedly sitting between two women, who looked "clearly uncomfortable", according to Ms Nelson.

"Before we could do more than glare in his direction, the flight attendant removed her vest, purposely walked up to him and said, 'You need to be respectful, and started to walk back to her task. He said, 'C'mon, I'm just playing with you!"

The flight attendant reportedly then talked to her colleagues instead of carrying on with the demonstration.

Another man then boarded the plane and walked towards the male passenger.

"The offensive man behind me started saying 'I didn't do anything wrong! I didn't do anything wrong!'

"The airline employee asked the man to gather his belongings and exit the plane.

"It was everything we could do to keep from applauding as he was led away."

The Facebook post has been shared and commented more than 24,000 times since it was written on 9 October.

Alaska Airlines could not be immediately reached for comment.
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A nationwide survey of American Muslims shows that 86 per cent plan to cast their vote on 8 November, and the majority are planning to turn away from Donald Trump.

According to the survey of more than 800 Muslims, carried out between 7 September and 5 October, only 12 per cent are undecided voters.

A clear majority - 72 per cent - said they will support Hillary Clinton.

"Our survey results indicate that presidential candidates still have time to appeal to American Muslim voters by addressing issues such as the erosion of civil rights and growing Islamophobia," said Robert McCaw, government affairs director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations. CAIR carried out the survey.

There are around 3.3 million American Muslims, according to a 2016 estimate, making up about 1 per cent of the US population.

Just 4 per cent will vote for Mr Trump, while 3 per cent are leaning towards independent candidate Jill Stein and 2 per cent are in favour of Gary Johnson.

The lack of support for Mr Trump could be seen as a link to his direct attacks on the Muslim population, saying he saw American Muslims clapping and cheering as the Twin Towers fell in 2001.

He also said in December 2015 that he would enact a temporary ban on all Muslims entering the US.

What did Donald Trump say during the second presidential debate? Show all 8 1 /8 What did Donald Trump say during the second presidential debate? What did Donald Trump say during the second presidential debate? On the leaked tape from 2005 where he talks about sexually assaulting women I'm very embarrassed by it, I hate it, but it's locker room talk. It's one of those things. I will knock the hell out of Isis Getty What did Donald Trump say during the second presidential debate? On Hillary Clinton I hate to say it but if I win I'm going to instruct my attorney general to get a special prosecutor to look into your situation. There has never been so many lies, so much deception. You ought to be ashamed of yourself. Rex What did Donald Trump say during the second presidential debate? On Bill Clinton What he's done to women, there's never been anybody in the history of politics in this nation that's been so abusive to women. AP What did Donald Trump say during the second presidential debate? On whether his alleged opposition to Iraq War had been disproven "Its not debunked. Its not debunked." Getty What did Donald Trump say during the second presidential debate? On exploiting tax loopholes "I absolutely used it, and so did Warren Buffett, and so did George Soros and so did many people who Hillary is getting money from." Getty What did Donald Trump say during the second presidential debate? On claims he's sexist I have great respect for women. Nobody has more respect for women than I do. Reuters What did Donald Trump say during the second presidential debate? On what he respects about Hillary Clinton I will say this about Hillary - she doesn't quit, she doesn't give up. I tell it like it is. She's a fighter. Reuters What did Donald Trump say during the second presidential debate? On his controversial immigration policies "Its called extreme vetting. Were going to areas like Syria, where they are coming in by the tens of thousands because of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton wanting to allow a 550 per cent increase [of refugees] over Obama. People are coming into this country. We have no idea who they are, where they are from and what their feelings are about this country." Getty

A total of 91 per cent of those surveyed said the ban would be the wrong decision, the CAIR survey found.

The Republican has frequently blamed Muslims for terrorist activity, and has vowed to tighten up border control to restrict the number of Muslim immigrants.

The CAIR survey, carried out over the telephone, found that 85 per cent of respondents believe that there has been a rise of Islamophobia over the last year.

Almost a third said they gave suffered racial discrimination over profiling within the last 12 months.

Mr Trump also proposed to carry out "extreme vetting" on Muslims, making them fill out ideological tests and deporting those who follow Shariah law.

At the second presidential debate, Ms Clinton questioned how this measure could be enacted in a country that was "founded on religious liberty".
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A US family worried about their grandmother after Hurricane Matthew were relieved when they were able to contact her  via a pepperoni pizza.

Relatives of 87-year-old Claire Olsen became concerned when they could not reach her after the hurricane hit her home town of Palm Coast, Florida on Saturday.

After numerous attempts, they made a last-ditch effort to speak to her  by ordering a pizza to her house.

Ms Olsens grandson, Eric, told ABC News he became worried after hearing his grandmother, who lives alone, had lost electricity as a result of the storm.

He said: I talked to her on Friday morning, and she had just lost power, and she said, 'This is a nightmare'. And then we didn't hear from her for two days."

Mr Olsen lives several thousand miles away in Nebraska, while his father is in South Dakota and his sister in Los Angeles.

The family contacted local authorities in an attempt to ask someone to check on Ms Olsen but were unable to get through.

Mr Olsen said: "I was calling the police department, I was calling the sheriff's department, and no one was answering, so I was really worried."

In a last-ditch attempt to confirm his grandparent was OK, he decided to call the one place he was confident would pick up  the local pizza store.

He said: "I was just thinking, 'Who can go there right now? Who can I call in a city where I know no one?'"

Mr Olsen ordered a pepperoni pizza to his grandmothers house and asked the driver to call his mobile phone when the pizza was delivered.

He then asked to be passed to Claire Olsen and was able to confirm she was safe and well.

The 87-year-old originally told the driver that she had not ordered anything, but after hearing what had happened she allowed him in  on the condition he had also brought garlic butter sauce.

Mr Olsen said he felt relief, absolute relief when he heard her voice.

"Police and fire couldn't do it, but Papa John's got there in 30 minutes and put the cellphone to her ear," he added.

Ms Olsen said it was best pepperoni pizza she had ever had and showed the delivery driver her family photo albums.

The deliveryman, Lance Tyler, told WFTV: Her expression was just priceless.
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A man has been arrested for firing a gun through the window of a suburban home while pretending to hunt zombies, narrowly missing the homeowner who was asleep at the time.

Ryan Stanislaw was taken in for questioning by police in the city of North St Paul, Minnesota, after it emerged the 24 year old had been loitering around homes at 5am holding an AR-15 assault rifle.

Officers confirmed Stanislaw had fired a bullet which smashed through the window of a bedroom belonging to Ken Quaale, and ricocheted off the walls.

Im out here making sure my neighbourhood is safe, he told police during an interrogation.I didnt see the cops, so I figured Id do something. He said he was shooting at a zombie at the end of the road but his shot missed.

Stanislaw was carrying custom-made green-tipped bullets at the time of his arrest, which were reportedly marketed as zombie-killing bullets according to CBS Minnesota.

Arrest records from Ramsey County said he was charged with a firearm violation as well as possession of a firearm by an ineligible person.

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. 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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. 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Police said they suspected Stanislaw had been drinking at the time of the incident, and his mother claimed he had no history of mental illness, although he had recently been convicted of making terrorist threats to local residents.

Mr Quaale has so far declined to comment on the incident.
Diego Luna. EFE

More information El cine mexicano clama contra Trump a menos de un mes de las elecciones

Just a month before the presidential elections in the United States, Mexican filmmakers are mobilizing to prevent Donald Trump from moving into the Oval Office for the next four years. Actor and director Diego Luna has urged Latinos to register to vote on November 8 against the Republican candidate. I hope this will be the election when the Latin American community comes out, registers, votes and makes it clear that its voice counts, he told EFE news agency in Paris. He also confessed that he was in a panic over how much support the Republican candidates positions have received.

Trumps popularity among Latinos has been on the decline, especially among women, because of his sexist remarks

Luna is the latest in a long list of filmmakers to speak out against the property magnate. They include director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, who maintains a long and contentious feud with the New York millionaire and wrote an op-ed against him for EL PAIS; screenwriter Guillermo Arriaga; director of photography Emmanuel Lubezki; and actors Eugenio Derbez, Gael Garcia Bernal, Ana de la Reguera, Demian Bichir, Salma Hayek and Jacquie Bracamontes, among others. In July, more than 121 Hollywood stars signed a manifesto denouncing the GOP candidates racism. According to Latino Decisions, a research center that focuses on Latino political opinion, Trumps popularity among Latinos has been on the decline, especially among women, because of his sexist remarks.

The Mexican filmmaker also said he hopes the response in the United States will prove that there is that whole other sector of the population that has enough common sense to understand how dangerous it is for rhetoric like Trumps to keep gaining ground. Luna also urged people to take action abroad and avoid events like the recent meeting between Trump and Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto in Mexico City, which he said validates the rhetoric.

Luna calls for a response from all those sane people who believe that we must celebrate diversity, that we must see ourselves as part of something larger and that borders do not define [humanity].

The director did not just call on Americans to take action. He also pointed out that Brexit and the Syrian refugee crisis in Europe are revealing a level of hate and tremendous racism. The world is going crazy and it seems like those of us who are not crazy do not have a voice. I hope that there will be a strong reaction because thats what is needed to face a guy like Trump, he concluded.

English version by Dyane Jean Francois.
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A seven year old boy was beaten on a schoolbus by five classmates because he was a Muslim, according to his father.

Zeeshan-ul-Hassan Usmani told The Independent his youngest son Abdul Aziz had been the victim of islamophobic bullying by two girls and three boys in the US state of North Carolina.

He was coming home in a school bus when one of his classmates came to him and started forcing some food in his mouth, he said. Abdul said: What is it? I only eat halal. But the other boy wouldnt say.

Then five classmates, who were only six or seven years old, started punching him in the face and chest," said Mr Usmani, a data scientist from Pakistan who first came to the US to study in 2004.

They hurt his fingers, threw his backpack to the back of the bus and kept hitting him all the way from school to home. It was a really shocking experience. He was traumatised.

Mr Usmani, who is on an extended visit to Pakistan for Hajj and Eid, said his wife told him what had happened on the phone on Friday.

 Donald Trump blamed for stoking Islamophobia after imam and assistant shot dead

He said he and his family had left the US to live in Pakistan in 2010, and had returned to America in 2014  but after this incident, his wife and three sons had decided to join him in Pakistan and had arrived there early this week.

They were already planning a move to California from the town of Cary in North Carolina where they lived, but now Abdul has told his parents he does not want to return to the US at all.

Since we arrived in the US [in 2014], we started having problems with islamophobia and anti-immigration statements, he said. Before 2010, we didnt have these incidents. But we dont feel safe in the US any more.

Weve had issues with our eldest son and our middle son as well, but this episode with our youngest was the final nail in the coffin. My wife said: Thats it. Im coming back to Pakistan.

Lisa Luten of the Wake County Public School System said an investigation had been launched by the principle of Weatherstone Elementary School, where Abdul was a pupil.

The incident was reported last Friday, and usually the principal would wait for the next day to investigate, but because of the hurricane, the principle did the investigation that evening, as soon as it was reported, she told The Independent.

It was a full bus and the children have assigned seats. They did not see anything and nor did the bus driver. [Abdul] did not report anything to the children around him or to the bus driver, she said.

There was one seven year old sitting next to that child on the bus, and that child did report playfighting. But they werent aware of [islamophobic] language

Ms Luten said the school principal had tried to get in touch with the Usmani family by phone, but was unable to reach them.

They reported bullying from another child on the bus. They didnt mention it was related to his religion, she said.

We found that out through the media reports, and have been trying to get more information about that specific claim, but weve been unable to reach the parents.

We have policies prohibiting that type of behaviour. Its not tolerated in our schools and when it happens its addressed.

Xanadu reborn: new Museum of Islamic Art Show all 4 1 /4 Xanadu reborn: new Museum of Islamic Art Xanadu reborn: new Museum of Islamic Art 89458.bin COURTESY OF THE MUSEUM OF ISLAMIC ART Xanadu reborn: new Museum of Islamic Art 89461.bin COURTESY OF THE MUSEUM OF ISLAMIC ART Xanadu reborn: new Museum of Islamic Art 89468.bin COURTESY OF THE MUSEUM OF ISLAMIC ART Xanadu reborn: new Museum of Islamic Art 89454.bin COURTESY OF THE MUSEUM OF ISLAMIC ART

Mr Usmani said that when they first reported the incident to the school, Abdul was clearly in a lot of pain and had bruises, but he wasnt talking much.

He said his son had only told them about the religious element to the bullying over the weekend.

I received an email from the principal and responded to him with what I heard, but I havent heard back from him, he said. They have my number and Skype details.

I dont know why they dont want to label it as a hate crime and just want to call it bullying.

Recommended Read more At least 10 dead as Hurricane Matthew causes flooding in US

Abdul has recovered from his physical injuries, except for a bump to his head, said Mr Usmani.

But he said the family would remain in Pakistan until after the US elections next month.

[Abdul] said he loved the USA and would go back, when hes strong enough. I dont know how long he will stay [in Pakistan].

My wife and I dont want to go back to the US either. But I have to go back for my work. Well just wait until the elections and see what happens.
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Donald Trump is preparing to intensify his attacks on Bill Clinton as his faltering campaign threatens to be buried by an avalanche of sexual assault allegations.

As more and more women come forward with claims that they were assaulted by the Republican candidate  claims that he has stoutly denied  the tycoons campaign plans to respond by increasing its attacks on the former president, a technique employed at the second presidential debate. An adviser told the US media the campaign would go buck wild.

On a conference call with campaign staff on Tuesday, Steve Bannon, conservative media mogul who now heads the Republicans campaign, reportedly said it was in touch with more women who said they were assaulted by Mr Clinton, husband of the Democrat candidate.

Mr Trump hosted a press conference with several women who alleged they had been assaulted by Bill Clinton (AP)

Bloomberg News said he told staff that Ms Clinton had led a programme of victim intimidation.

This has nothing to do with consensual sexual affairs and infidelities. This is Bill. Were going to turn him into Bill Cosby, he reportedly said. Hes a violent sexual predator who physically abuses women who he assaults. And she takes the lead on the intimidation of the victims.

Barely hours before last Sundays second presidential debate, Mr Trump held a press conference, flanked by three women who have accused Mr Clinton of sexual harassment and misconduct.

Thank you very much for coming. These four very courageous women have asked to be here and it was our honour to help them, Mr Trump said. The women were Paula Jones, Kathy Shelton, Juanita Broaddrick and Kathleen Willey.

Mr Trump may have said some bad words, but Bill Clinton raped me and Hillary Clinton threatened me, Ms Broaddrick said. Mr Clinton has denied the allegations over the years and and legal actions against him by the women have made little progress.

The campaign reportedly plans further events with the women, the first of which is scheduled to take place on Thursday night on Fox News.

Christina Greer, associate professor of political science at Fordham University in New York, said she believed Mr Trump was trying to turn off independent voters who might be tempted to support Ms Clinton.

These are the two least popular candidates in our history. [But] she has a huge advantage with women, she told The Independent.

If he brings up his record and portrays her as an attack dog, he will hope it will make some of those women think twice. There will also be people who, because it is all so unpleasant, dont want to be any part of it.

The development came as a flood of reports emerged of women who claimed they had been assaulted by the 70-year-old Republican candidate.

The New York Times interviewed two women who both claimed to have had unsavoury encounters with the reality TV star. Jessica Leeds, 74, said Mr Trump had groped her when the two were seated next to each other on a flight more than three decades ago.

 MPs in Australia pass motion saying Donald Trump 'is a revolting slug'

Rachel Crooks, who worked for a firm based in Trump Tower in 2005, found herself in a lift with Mr Trump and tried to introduce herself by shaking his hand. The Apprentice star kissed Ms Crooks, then 22, directly on the mouth, she told the newspaper.

Mindy McGillivray, 36, told the Palm Beach Post that she was groped by Mr Trump during a party at his Florida property Mar-a-Lago 13 years ago, while former Apprentice contestant Jennifer Murphy told Grazia Mr Trump had kissed her on the lips at the end of a 2005 job interview.

Meanwhile, in an account published late on Wednesday night, People magazine writer Natasha Stoynoff recalled travelling to Mar-a-Lago to interview Mr Trump and his wife Melania, also in 2005.

Mr Trump, she claimed, had cornered her in private and within seconds, he was pushing me against the wall, and forcing his tongue down my throat.

The Trump campaign condemned Ms Stoynoffs story as fabricated and the New York Times piece as fiction and a completely false, coordinated character assassination. Mr Trump himself was said to be weighing a lawsuit against the newspaper, and, when called for comment on the accusations, told a Times reporter that she was a disgusting human being.

The women have come forward in the wake of last weeks emergence of a 2005 tape in which Mr Trump can be heard boasting about grabbing women by the pussy. At Sunday nights second presidential debate, the Republican nominee insisted the remarks were merely locker room talk and denied he had ever engaged in such behaviour.
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Donald Trumps presidential campaign was mired ever more deeply in ugliness and recrimination on Wednesday night, after the Republican nominee was hit with fresh accusations of sexual assault and harassment from at least five women.

Recommended Read more Former Miss Arizona says Donald Trump walked in on naked women

The New York Times interviewed two women who both claimed to have had unpleasant encounters with the property developer. Jessica Leeds, 74, said Mr Trump had groped her when the two were seated next to each other on a flight more than three decades ago. Rachel Crooks, who worked for a firm based in Trump Tower in 2005, found herself in a lift with Mr Trump and tried to introduce herself by shaking his hand. The Apprentice star kissed Ms Crooks, then 22, directly on the mouth, she told the newspaper.

Mindy McGillivray, 36, told the Palm Beach Post that she was groped by Mr Trump during a party at his Florida property Mar-a-Lago 13 years ago, while former Apprentice contestant Jennifer Murphy told Grazia Mr Trump had kissed her on the lips at the end of a 2005 job interview.

 Trump makes crude comments in 1992 about young girl

In a lengthy account published late on Wednesday night, People magazine writer Natasha Stoynoff recalled travelling to Mar-a-Lago to interview Mr Trump and his wife Melania, also in 2005. Mr Trump, she claimed, had cornered her in private and within seconds, he was pushing me against the wall, and forcing his tongue down my throat.

The Trump campaign condemned Ms Stoynoffs story as fabricated and the New York Times piece as fiction and a completely false, coordinated character assassination. Mr Trump himself was said to be weighing a lawsuit against the newspaper, and, when called for comment on the accusations, told a Times reporter that she was a disgusting human being.

The women have come forward in the wake of last weeks emergence of a 2005 tape in which Mr Trump can be heard boasting about grabbing women by the p****. At Sunday night's second presidential debate, the Republican nominee insisted the remarks were merely locker room talk and denied he had ever engaged in such behaviour.

Yet the new claims come on top of existing allegations against the embattled, 70-year-old presidential candidate. Earlier this year Cassandra Searles, a competitor in the Trump-owned Miss USA pageant in 2013, wrote on Facebook that Mr Trump had continually grabbed my ass. In a 1997 lawsuit, Jill Harth accused Mr Trump of having groped her four years earlier when the two were business associates.

The Trump campaign is now fighting wars on several fronts, after a stream of GOP leaders withdrew their support from the partys nominee following the emergence of the p**** tape. Mr Trump has since gone on the offensive against senior Republican figures including House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senator John McCain.

Meanwhile, his campaign has promised to dredge up further accusations of sexual impropriety against former president Bill Clinton, the husband of Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton. Mr Trump invited three women who have accused Mr Clinton of rape or sexual assault to attend the weekends debate.

That aggressive strategy appears to have been counterproductive, with voter surveys conducted since the debate showing Ms Clintons solid poll lead expanding ever further. The Democrat is ahead by comfortable margins in most swing states, while the GOPs internecine strife has helped her to draw level in one new poll of Utah, a conservative state that has voted Republican in every presidential election since 1964.
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Donald Trump, under intense pressure from mounting claims that he sexually assaulted women, has denounced the allegations as outright lies.

Speaking in Florida in his first appearance since The New York Times and other media printed new claims from women who said they were the object of unwanted advances, he said the political establishment was trying to stop him.

These claims are all fabricated. Theyre pure fiction and theyre outright lies. These events never, ever happened, Mr Trump said, speaking to supporters on Thursday afternoon in West Palm Beach.

These vicious claims about me of inappropriate conduct with women are totally and absolutely false. And the Clintons know it and they know well.

Mr Trump spoke amid a intensifying controversy over allegations that he had assaulted a number of women. The growing number individuals coming forward, followed the publication of a video recording from 2005 in which the Republican candidate boasted about assaulting women.

The 70-year-old has dismissed the recording as locker room talk and said he never assaulted any women. He said the series of women who had made accusations against him in different media reports were fabricating their stories and threatened to sue the New York Times.

Indeed, speaking at the rally, he said his Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton, along with the Times and other media were engaged in a concerted, vicious attempt to stop him.

Mr Trumps campaign was already struggling to contain a crisis after the video surfaced last week showing him bragging in an Access Hollywood outtake about groping women and making unwanted sexual advances.

One woman, Jessica Leeds, appeared on camera on the New York Times' website to recount how Mr Trump grabbed her breasts and tried to put his hand up her skirt on a flight from the Midwest to New York in or around 1980.

The second woman, Rachel Crooks, described how Mr Trump kissed me directly on the mouth in an unwanted advance in 2005 outside the elevator in Trump Tower in Manhattan, where she was a receptionist at a real estate firm.

Reuters said that on Wednesday night the New York tycoons campaign made public a letter to the newspaper from a lawyer representing Mr Trump, demanding it retract the story, calling it libelous, and threatening legal action if it did not comply.

 Trump's comments about jailing Clinton taken 'too literally'

This entire article is fiction, and for The New York Times to launch a completely false, coordinated character assassination against Mr Trump on a topic like this is dangerous, the campaigns senior communications adviser, Jason Miller, said in a statement.

The New York Times said on Thursday it stood by its story and rejected claims the article was libelous.

Nothing in our article has had the slightest effect on the reputation that Mr Trump, through his own words and actions, has already created for himself, said David McCraw, vice president and assistant general counsel for the newspaper.

Within hours of the Times report appearing, several other media outlets published similar reports. People magazine published a detailed first-person account from one of its reporters, Natasha Stoynoff. She said Mr Trump pinned her against a wall at his Florida estate in 2005 and kissed her as she struggled to get away.

I turned around, and within seconds, he was pushing me against the wall, and forcing his tongue down my throat, Ms Stoynoff said.

Mr Trump mocked her claim in his speech on Thursday.

I ask her a simple question. Why wasnt it part of the story that appeared 12 years ago? Why didn't they make it part of the story? If she had added that, it would have been the headline, he said.

Look at her and look at her words, he said. You tell me what you think. I don't think so.
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The New York Times has refused to retract an article in which two women accused Donald Trump of sexual assault, after the Republican presidential nominee threatened to sue the newspaper. In a letter made public on Thursday, a lawyer for the Times all but dared the property developer to make good on his threat.

We published newsworthy information about a subject of deep public concern, wrote David McCraw, the papers assistant general counsel. If Mr Trump disagrees, if he believes that American citizens had no right to hear what these women had to say and that the law of this country forces us and those who would criticise him to stand silent or be punished, we welcome the opportunity to have a court set him straight.

The article, published late on Wednesday, featured interviews with 74-year-old Jessica Leeds, who said Mr Trump had groped her on a flight more than 30 years ago, and with Rachel Crooks, whom Mr Trump allegedly kissed on the mouth against her will as she introduced herself to him in 2005, when she was 22.

Mr Trumps lawyers accused the paper of libel and demanded a retraction, calling the piece reckless and defamatory in a letter sent to the Times shortly after the piece appeared online. It is apparent from, among other things, the timing of the article, that it is nothing more than a politically-motivated effort to defeat Mr Trumps [presidential] candidacy, wrote the Republican nominees lawyer, Marc Kasowitz.

Speaking on the stump in Florida on Thursday, Mr Trump insisted that the claims of sexual assault published in the Times, as well as those from several other women published elsewhere, were evidence of attempts by the political establishment to derail his campaign. These claims are all fabricated. Theyre pure fiction and theyre outright lies. These events never, ever happened, Mr Trump said, adding that he was preparing a lawsuit against the newspaper.

In the papers response, however, Mr McCraw noted that the assaults described by the women constituted the same behaviour that Mr Trump himself had boasted about in a 2005 tape published by the Washington Post last week. When youre a star, the then-Apprentice host said, you can do anything Grab em by the p****.

The essence of a libel claim, Mr McCraw wrote, is the protection of ones reputation. Mr Trump has bragged about this non-consensual sexual touching of women Multiple women not mentioned in our article have publicly come forward to report on Mr. Trumps unwanted advances. Nothing in our article has had the slightest effect on the reputation that Mr Trump, through his own words and actions, has already created for himself."
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Ikea has banned an elderly matchmaking group from one of its restaurants in China unless it agrees to start paying up.

The Swedish retailer has told its cafeteria in Shanghai to stop anyone having a seat unless they buy food.

Every Tuesday and Thursday afternoon for years, hundreds of elderly people have flooded into the restaurant to meet friends and potential partners, according to China Daily.

Many are divorcees or people living alone after the death of a partner and the cafe gave them a chance to meet peers free of charge.

Despite a 700-seat capacity the venue was often overcapacity, but since the change crowds have shrunk by as much as half.

The no food, no seat rule came into force following complaints that paying customers were unable to sit at a table themselves.

A noticeboard put up at the cafe entrance states the illegal blind-dating group is affecting the restaurant with their uncivilised behaviour, reports JF Daily.

Offences include taking up seats for long hours, bringing outside food and tea, speaking loudly, spitting, and having quarrels and fights.

"It's true that we gather here to socialize with our peers, a retired factory worker told China Daily. But the last thing we want is to cause trouble and become a disgrace.

Ikea aiming to spread its influence across China Show all 2 1 /2 Ikea aiming to spread its influence across China Ikea aiming to spread its influence across China 620055.bin All Rights Reserved Ikea aiming to spread its influence across China 620056.bin AFP PHOTO/LIU Jin

"We've been to McDonald's and KFC. But there are barely any peers there. We feel like aliens there - surrounded by youngsters.

If there is another place in Shanghai where elderly people can gather, we are more than ready to pay twice as much and travel farther."

But the new rules have not stopped the tenacious singles from enjoying their day out. They now reportedly just buy the cheapest item on the menu; a croissant costing 4 yuan (49p).
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A woman who plunged to her death from a balcony on a Tinder date suffered 80 separate injuries, an Australian court has heard.

Warriena Wright fell from Gable Tostees 14th floor apartment, causing her body to almost fold over on itself.

The 26-year-old had gone to Tostees Gold Coast home just six days after they first started speaking on the dating app.

Originally from New Zealand, Ms Wright had been on holiday in Australia when she arranged to meet Tostee, 30, in a local pub on 7 august 2014, before heading to his apartment via an off-licence.

The pair then spent the night together but during the early hours of the morning, Ms Wright fell from the balcony, the Queensland Supreme Court in Brisbane heard.

Pathologist Dianne Little told the court Ms Wright had "severe injuries to all her body that caused her death", adding her head was hyper-flexed down towards her trunk".

Recommended Read more Court hears desperate final plea of woman who died fleeing Tinder date

The Crown Prosecution witness added the "poorly defined" red marks on Ms Wright's neck were "not consistent with any application of force".

She also stated a number of wounds on her body were likely to be old or self-inflicted, including on her right leg and both wrists.

An audio recording by Tostee played to the court appeared to show the pair fighting, with Ms Wright heard screaming no over 30 times and "just let me go home" repeatedly.

Prosecutors say Ms Wright was locked on the balcony by Tostee and felt so scared that she tried to escape him by climbing down to a lower floor.

Anti-sex trafficking campaign on Tinder Show all 6 1 /6 Anti-sex trafficking campaign on Tinder Anti-sex trafficking campaign on Tinder A fake Tinder profile The initial picture looks like a typical Tinder profile picture Anti-sex trafficking campaign on Tinder A fake Tinder profile Another "normal" Tinder profile picture Anti-sex trafficking campaign on Tinder A fake Tinder profile As users swipe through, suddenly the woman in the picture looks much younger Anti-sex trafficking campaign on Tinder A fake Tinder profile The woman in the profile picture looks unhappy and child-like and become less like typical Tinder profiles Anti-sex trafficking campaign on Tinder A fake Tinder profile As users continue to swipe through they will reach the message of the campaign Anti-sex trafficking campaign on Tinder A fake Tinder profile The fake profile ends with this image

Tostee is accused of her murder, a charge he denies.

On Wednesday, the court heard how Tostee allegedly left his apartment after Ms Wrights fall and wandered the neighbouring streets before buying a slice of pizza.

The trial will resume on Friday morning, local time.
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France has a problem with Islam and too many illegal migrants arriving in the country, according to French President Francois Hollande.

He also suggested the veiled woman of today will be the Marianne of tomorrow, the female symbol of the French Republic, and criticised presidential rival Nicolas Sarkozy as a little de Gaulle and a Duracell bunny, always flapping about.

Mr Hollandes candid remarks were captured by Le Monde investigative journalists Gerard Davet and Fabrice Lhomme over the course of 61 private interviews during his term in office.

They have been assembled in the 672-page book: A President Should Not Say That: Secrets of Five Years in Office, due for release on Thursday.

However, critics have accused him of Islamophobia, and his comments are likely to ignite fierce political debate in the run-up to next years presidential election that has so far been dominated by the rise of Marine Le Pens far-right Front National (FN) party.

Bruno Lemaire, one of several Conservative candidates in the race, said on Twitter: Tomorrow, like yesterday, Marianne will never be veiled!

A spokesperson for opposition party Les Republicains called on Mr Hollande to clarify his position and said: such a phrase endangers the Republic he is supposed to defend.

However, the Socialist partys First Secretary, Jean-Christophe Cambadelis, praised Mr Hollande for his honesty saying it was a way for him to occupy the agenda and not let the right completely dominate the space.

The book quotes Mr Hollande as saying: Its not Islam that is a problem in the sense that it is a dangerous religion in itself, but because it wants to assert itself as the religion in the Republic.

But what can be a problem, is if Muslims dont speak out against acts of radicalisation, if Imams behave in a way that is anti-Republican.

A spokesperson for the Elysee Palace told Le Monde: Of course, these claims should be read in their context each time.

French National Front policies Show all 9 1 /9 French National Front policies French National Front policies End of the European Schengen Area and cross border freedom of movement without passports French National Front policies Reduce legal immigration to France from the current 200,000 a year to 10,000 French National Front policies Create 40,000 new prison places and deport foreign criminals French National Front policies Huge state investment to promote industry in France and create jobs French National Front policies Higher import duties on foreign produce to protect French industry French National Front policies Closer relations with Russia, including a tri-lateral alliance with France, Russia, and Germany 2015 Getty Images French National Front policies Leave the European single currency French National Front policies Aggressively promote the French language and maintain state support for French cultural outpuit 2015 Getty Images French National Front policies Give police a legitimate defence when the use firearms against suspects

On the contentious issue of the veil, Mr Hollande said: If we can offer her the right conditions for her to flourish, she will remove the veil and become French, all while remaining religious if she wants to, capable of wearing an ideal.

Finally, what is the trade-off to be made? Its that women prefer freedom to reprimand. The veil can be a protection for her, but tomorrow she will not need it to be reassured of her presence in society.

Mr Hollande, 62, who normally remains tight-lipped about his personal relationships, also spoke about his current partner, actress Julie Gayet.

When asked whether he intended to marry Ms Gayet, 44, he said not while he remains president, including during my second term.

Government spokesperson and confidant of Mr Hollande Stephane Le Foll defended Mr Hollandes exercise of transparency.

He said: Journalists do their job and freedom of the press is an essential liberty. The president of the Republic has contact, like others, with journalists who ask questions which must be answered.
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Assisted suicide in the Netherlands could be extended to those who feel their life is complete, and not just the terminally ill.

The Dutch government has announced plans to draft a law allowing the elderly to end their own lives under "strict and careful criteria.

The Netherlands was the first country to legalise euthanasia in 2002 and remains one of the few places in the world where it is allowed, along with Belgium, Colombia and Luxembourg.

Assisted suicide was originally restricted to patients considered to be suffering unbearable pain with no hope of a cure.

But in a letter submitted to parliament on Wednesday, the health and justice ministers have proposed a change to the rules.

[Those who] have a well-considered opinion that their life is complete, must, under strict and careful criteria, be allowed to finish that life in a manner dignified for them, they said.

 Budget cuts blamed over mental health care decline in Netherlands

The ministers said they hope to draft the law, in consultation with doctors, ethicists and other experts, by the end of 2017.

Health Minister Edith Schippers said that because the wish for a self-chosen end of life primarily occurs in the elderly, the new system will be limited to them. She did not define a threshold age.

The new law will require careful guidance and vetting ahead of time with a 'death assistance provider' with a medical background, who has also been given additional training.

Recommended Read more BMA doctors to consider allowing assisted suicide in the UK

Dutch euthanasia policy, which is widely backed across the country, has already expanded beyond the borders originally envisioned for it.

Now unbearable suffering not only applies to people with terminal diseases, but also to some with mental illnesses and dementia.

Cases have risen by double digits every year for more than a decade as more patients request it and more doctors are willing to carry it out.

Euthanasia accounted for 5,516 deaths in the Netherlands in 2015, or 3.9 per cent of all deaths nationwide.

13 ways to help prevent cancer Show all 13 1 /13 13 ways to help prevent cancer 13 ways to help prevent cancer Stopping smoking. This notoriously difficult habit to break sees tar build-up in the lungs and DNA alteration and causes 15,558 cancer deaths a year 13 ways to help prevent cancer Avoiding the sun, and the melanoma that comes with overexposure to harmful UV rays, could help conscientious shade-lovers dodge being one of the 7,220 people who die from it 13 ways to help prevent cancer A diet that is low in red meat can help to prevent bowel cancer, according to the research - with 30 grams a day recommended for men, and 25 a day recommended for women 13 ways to help prevent cancer Foods high in fibre, meanwhile, can further make for healthier bowels. Processed foods in developed countries appear to be causing higher rates of colon cancer than diets in continents such as Africa, which have high bean and pulse intakes 13 ways to help prevent cancer Two servings of fruit and three servings of vegetables a day were given as the magic number for good diet in the research. Overall, diet causes only slightly fewer cancer deaths than sun exposure in Australia, at 7,000 a year 13 ways to help prevent cancer Obesity and being overweight, linked to poor diet and lack of exercise, causes 3,917 deaths by cancer a year on its own Getty 13 ways to help prevent cancer Dying of a cancer caused by infection also comes in highly, linked to 3,421 cancer deaths a year. Infections such as human papilloma virus - which can cause cervical cancer in women - and hepatitis - can be prevented by vaccinations and having regular check-ups 13 ways to help prevent cancer Cutting back on drinks could reduce the risk of cancers caused by alcohol - such as liver cancer, bowel cancer, breast cancer and mouth cancer - that are leading to 3,208 deaths a year 2014 Getty Images 13 ways to help prevent cancer Sitting around and not getting the heart pumping - less than one hour's exercise a day - is directly leading to about 1,800 people having lower immune functions and higher hormone levels, among other factors, that cause cancers 2011 Getty Images 13 ways to help prevent cancer Hormone replacement therapy, which is used to relieve symptoms of the menopause in women, caused 539 deaths from (mainly breast) cancer in Australia last year. It did, however, prevent 52 cases of colorectal cancers 2003 Getty Images 13 ways to help prevent cancer Insufficient breastfeeding, bizarrely, makes the top 10. Breastfeeding for 12 months could prevent 235 cancer cases a year, said the research AFP/Getty Images 13 ways to help prevent cancer Oral contraceptives, like the Pill, caused about 105 breast cancers and 52 cervical cancers - but it also prevented about 1,440 ovarian and uterine (womb) cases of cancer last year 2006 Getty Images 13 ways to help prevent cancer Taking aspirin also prevented 232 cases in the Queensland research of colorectal and oesophagal cancers - but as it can also cause strokes, is not yet recommended as a formal treatment against the risk of cancer

The proposal comes as a surprise, as a commission enlisted to study the idea of allowing a completed life extension to current policy concluded there was no need for it.

The ministers disagreed. The Cabinet is of the opinion that a request for help (in dying) from people who suffer unbearably and have no hope without an underlying medical reason can be a legitimate request.

The announcement was welcomed on Thursday by the country's foremost pro-euthanasia organization, while one group for the elderly called it unnecessary and undesirable.

In the UK, 82 per cent of people say they would support a change in the law on assisted dying for the terminally ill, according to campaign group Dignity in Dying.
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Americans should vote for Donald Trump or risk an apocalyptic nuclear war, a nationalist ally of President Vladamir Putin has said.

Vladimir Zhirinovsky said electing the Republican nominee would be a gift to humanity, while electing Ms Clinton would likely start a third world war.

A veteran policy-maker, Mr Zhirinovsky's flamboyant nature and brazen comments mean he is considered an oafish figure among Russians. Yet he is also a long-time political insider who has had a seat in the Duma for more than two decades.

As a close ally of the Kremlin, Mr Zhirinovsky is sometimes used to float policy ideas. His pro-Putin Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR) came third in Russias parliamentary elections last month.

"Relations between Russia and the United States can't get any worse," Mr Zhirinovsky told Reuters, "the only way they can get worse is if a war starts."

"Americans voting for a president on 8 November must realise that they are voting for peace on Planet Earth if they vote for Trump. But if they vote for Hillary it's war. It will be a short movie. There will be Hiroshimas and Nagasakis everywhere."

Tensions between the White House and Kremlin have escalated over the conflicts in Ukraine and Syria. US Secretary of State John Kerry has called for an investigation into whether Russia has committed war crimes against Syrian civilians.

But Mr Zhirinovsky said he thought Mr Trump's regime would keep out of foreign conflicts such as in Ukraine, Syria, Libya and Iraq. He added Mr Trump could even win a Nobel peace prize.

"Trump will have a brilliant chance to make relations more peaceful, Mr Zhirinovsky said. He's the only one who can do this."

In 2013 Mr Zhirinovsky foreshadowed one of Mr Trumps much-touted proposals  a wall on the border with Mexico  with his own call to use a barbed wire fence to cut off the majority Muslim North Caucasus from the rest of Russia.

What did Donald Trump say during the second presidential debate? Show all 8 1 /8 What did Donald Trump say during the second presidential debate? What did Donald Trump say during the second presidential debate? On the leaked tape from 2005 where he talks about sexually assaulting women I'm very embarrassed by it, I hate it, but it's locker room talk. It's one of those things. I will knock the hell out of Isis Getty What did Donald Trump say during the second presidential debate? On Hillary Clinton I hate to say it but if I win I'm going to instruct my attorney general to get a special prosecutor to look into your situation. There has never been so many lies, so much deception. You ought to be ashamed of yourself. Rex What did Donald Trump say during the second presidential debate? On Bill Clinton What he's done to women, there's never been anybody in the history of politics in this nation that's been so abusive to women. AP What did Donald Trump say during the second presidential debate? On whether his alleged opposition to Iraq War had been disproven "Its not debunked. Its not debunked." Getty What did Donald Trump say during the second presidential debate? On exploiting tax loopholes "I absolutely used it, and so did Warren Buffett, and so did George Soros and so did many people who Hillary is getting money from." Getty What did Donald Trump say during the second presidential debate? On claims he's sexist I have great respect for women. Nobody has more respect for women than I do. Reuters What did Donald Trump say during the second presidential debate? On what he respects about Hillary Clinton I will say this about Hillary - she doesn't quit, she doesn't give up. I tell it like it is. She's a fighter. Reuters What did Donald Trump say during the second presidential debate? On his controversial immigration policies "Its called extreme vetting. Were going to areas like Syria, where they are coming in by the tens of thousands because of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton wanting to allow a 550 per cent increase [of refugees] over Obama. People are coming into this country. We have no idea who they are, where they are from and what their feelings are about this country." Getty

Like the Republican nominee, he too has faced allegations of extreme misogyny. In 2014 he was threatened with criminal charges after he ordered an aide to rape a pregnant reporter.

The Russian tyrant was also criticised after he unleashed a barrage of deeply racist and sexist abuse on former US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

Recommended Read more Donald Trump condemned after defending Vladimir Putin on Russian TV

In a 1993 Russian election, Mr Zhirinovsky promised that his party won power, Russian men would get cheaper vodka and Russian women would get better lingerie. The proposals appeared effective, and voters cast more ballots in favour of his Liberal Democrats than any other party.

During the interview with Reuters, Mr Zhirinovsky described Clinton as "an evil mother-in law" and said it was too great a risk for a powerful country to be led by a woman.

Mr Zhirinovsky has welcomed comparisons between he and Mr Trump and has even called for DNA testing to be carried out to see whether he and the Republican nominee are related.

Russia's president has also praised Trump as "very talented". The Republican candidate has reciprocated, claiming that Mr Putin is a better leader than Barack Obama.
Yerevan on canvases of Peto Poghosyan (video)

The capital of Armenia with its colors and mood from time to time appears on the canvases of painter Peto Poghosyan. The fact that he was born in Gyumri full of colors helps him to notice the peculiarities of Yerevan. Yerevan has a number of manifestations; every hour, mood of the people is conveyed to the city. It is also connected with the buildings, disappearing and new buildings, all that changes the city, says Peto. The painter understood that the mood of people is transferred to the city and just in that way the look and contents of Yerevan is formed. His canvases tell about it. I want to convey the inner strain of simple objects, which together represent a special, interesting episode and history. It is a short story, episode of life, explains the artist. Everybody displays their love to the city, not saving any words. But sometimes those words dont become actions. In fact it is very easy; take care of each other, dont pollute, treat well. Every time it is hard for Peto to see another destroyed building of Old Yerevan. The modern city should have innovations, but it shouldnt be at the expense of old buildings. Peto notes: The modern city has its red shop, which doesnt suit the city and in contrast there is as esthetic and beautiful building. That is a modern city like that, it has contrasts, but there is a limit to intervene the city, that limit must be maintained. By the way, by comparing Peto Poghosyans canvases we can understand how the mood of Yerevan changes.
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A group of schoolgirls in Iran have been flogged because their parents owed less than eight pounds in school fees, according to an opposition group in the country.

Ten girls from the Mokhtarabad village in the countrys southern province of Kerman reportedly endured eight lashings each from their school principal after they failed to pay 300,000 riyals in fees.

There has been widespread condemnation of the authorities after a video of the schoolgirls talking about their flogging was shared on social media.

The National Council of Resistance in Iran (NCRI), an opposition group to President Hassan Rouhanis regime, claimed that the girls now faced expulsion from school if the families did not deny they were flogged.

National news agency Farda has also published a letter written by one student which described how students had been flogged.

The school has denied the students' allegations in a statement issued to the Tabnak news agency.

Although Iran has relatively high literacy rates among women, girls "face significant discrimination in law and in practice," according to Human Rights Watch.

 Iranian women continue to defy cycling ban

Women in the country have come under increasing restrictions and a ban on women cycling has recently come into force.

It is illegal for women to go out in public in Iran without wearing a headscarfs. Thousands of morality police patrol the streets searching for women not deemed to be dressed modestly enough.

In 2014, international attention was drawn to the difficulties faced by women in Iran after a British-Iranian woman was jailed for trying to attend a mens volleyball match.

Following global condemnation of the incident, the government partially repealed a ban on female spectators in stadiums  but only for events not considered too masculine.

The countries with anti-women laws Show all 5 1 /5 The countries with anti-women laws The countries with anti-women laws The countries with anti-women laws The countries with anti-women laws The countries with anti-women laws The countries with anti-women laws

Shahin Gobadi of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the NCRI said the alleged flogging of the schoolgirls "speaks volumes about the nature and conduct of the Iranian regime towards the Iranian people, especially the youths".

One has to keep in mind that this is happening in a country where people are sitting on an ocean of oil," he said.

It once again proves the hollow nature of Rouhani's claims of improving the Iranian people's welfare and also clearly shows that the Iranian people have not benefitted at all from the removal of sanctions after the nuclear deal.

The Independent has approached the Iranian embassy for a response to the allegations.
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Saudi Arabias King Salman has ordered an easing of the Kingdoms air blockade on Yemen following a deadly airstrike last week, instructing authorities to coordinate on medical evacuation for those wounded.

At least 140 people died in the shelling of a funeral hall in the Yemeni capital of Sanaa on Saturday in one of the bloodiest incidents of the 18-month-old civil war, which was condemned in a new report from Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Thursday as an atrocity.

Shiite Houthi rebels overthrew Yemens internationally recognised government last year, and Saudi-led Arab coalition strikes against them were launched in March 2016. Widespread international criticism led the Kingdom to announce an investigation into how the funeral was hit, but Saudi authorities have not admitted any culpability for the attack.

An independent international investigation is needed into the apparent war crime, HRWs Middle East director Sarah Leah Whitson said.

The UN and a rebel news agency reported that 525 people were wounded, 300 of them critically, at the gathering for the funeral of the father of a rebel leader.

King Salman has told aid agencies and the Saudi-backed exiled Yemeni government to coordinate to facilitate the evacuation of those wounded and needing treatment abroad, by lifting the air blockade on the country where necessary, the Saudi Press Agency reported on Wednesday.

US President Barack Obama speaks with King Salman at Erga Palace in this file photo (AP)

Iran - a key backer of the Houthi rebels - has previously offered medical treatment for those that need it in Tehran.

The Saudi-led coalition has enforced air and sea blockades on rebel-held parts of Yemen since March. Only UN-supervised flights and aid shipments have been allowed into the country, mostly through the Red Sea port of Hodeida.

The deliveries have not been enough: fighting has displaced more than three million people from their homes and left the country on the brink of famine. The UN says more than 10,000 people have died since hostilities broke out, the majority in air strikes.

In the wake of the funeral hall bombing, a US official warned that American support for Saudi operations in Yemen was not a blank cheque.

 State dept spokesperson squirms when asked to explain difference between bombing in Syria and Yemen

Rights groups have called for the US to follow up by ending arms sales to Saudi Arabia. Munitions dropped on the ground are American made, Human Rights Watch said on Thursday, and have hit hospitals, schools and other civilian infrastructure.

A Reuters investigation revealed this week that the Obama administration did not come to a conclusion on whether the US could be defined as a co-belligerent in the war for supplying the Saudi military with billions in weaponry. The report also said that worries were aired over the sophistication of Saudi targeting systems and the possibility of unnecessary civilian casualties.

Elsewhere on Thursday, a US warship launched two cruise missiles which destroyed three coastal radar sites in Houthi territory as a limited self defense attack in retaliation for incidents earlier this week in which rebels fired rockets at US Navy ships.

The action marks the US first military intervention in the 18-month-long conflict.
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When Thursday dawned many people in east Aleppo had not slept all night, kept awake by heavy shelling by Russian and Syrian government warplanes.

My daughter did not stop crying all night, local teacher Abdulkami al-Hamdo said. My friends were up too, we realised that when we were texting each other in different parts of the city. Almost every neighbourhood was targeted.

More than 150 people have been killed in rebel-held areas of the city since fierce air strikes resumed on Tuesday, rescue workers on the ground reported. Only three children came to school on Thursday, kept home by parents worried about ground-penetrating "bunker-buster" bombs, napalm and phosphorous several residents said were dropped in around 20 strikes overnight.

The Syrian civil defence service - more commonly known as the White Helmets - said it was still looking for 15 people missing under the rubble in Bustan al-Qasr neighbourhood, which was hit by heavy strikes the day before when the bombing restarted overnight.

A pattern has emerged in which heavy shelling is accompanied by attempted advances by Syrian army ground troops and allied foreign militias, activist Wissam Zarqa said.

Regime forces have made slow gains on rebel neighbourhoods, focussing on key access points and main roads. We are terrified of what will happen when Iraqi militias get here, Mr al-Hamdo added. We think we will die then if we dont die in strikes.

The UN and other agencies estimate at least 360 people  including 100 children  have been killed since President Bashar al-Assads forces began an unprecedented campaign aimed at retaking the city for good following the collapse of a US and Russian brokered seven-day ceasefire last month.

 Video shows amazing rescue of child as shelling resumes in Aleppo

East Aleppos 250,000 residents are trapped by regime siege barricades. Leaflets dropped on opposition neighbourhoods and text messages sent to residents promised that the recent ease in bombings would allow civilians to leave the area into government-controlled West Aleppo, but people on the ground said the barricades remained up.

Western governments have poured condemnation on Russian support for the strikes on east Aleppo, saying the indiscriminate shelling of the built up area  which has hit hospitals, rescue centres, and a bakery  amounts to a war crime.

Russia used its veto power as a member of the United Nations Security Council to block UN action that could have led to a ceasefire which included grounding planes last week. The UN's special envoy to Syria Staffan de Mistura warned last week that at the current rate of shelling, the entire neighbourhood could be completely destroyed within two months.

Both Moscow and Damascus maintain that US-backed and al-Qaeda fighters in east Aleppo use civilians as human shields, and strikes do not deliberately target civilian infrastructure.

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 situation in the opposition stronghold is growing more desperate as the siege conditions cause food and medical supplies to run out. Only one NGO within east Aleppo has managed to deliver emergency food kits to families in need this week because of the incessant shelling, charity worker Ahmad Aziz said.

The Syrian government partially approved a United Nations aid plan for October on Thursday, but did not grant requests for urgently needed assistance to reach east Aleppo.

Of course, the approval of the plan is not sufficient, you know there are other steps that need to be taken so that deliveries can be made, Ramzy Ezzeldin Ramzy, deputy UN special envoy for Syria told reporters at a briefing in Geneva, calling on the Syrian government to approve convoy deliveries to all 29 areas the UN describes as besieged or hard to access.

Syrian Civil Defence workers search through rubble in rebel-held eastern Aleppo yesterday (AP)

Fighting has intensified on many fronts in Syrias complex five-and-a-half-year long conflict since the ceasefire broke down.

In government-controlled west Aleppo, shelling by rebels killed at least four children on Thursday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. Five more children and one adult were killed when rebel rockets hit a primary school in Daraa on the outskirts of the capital Damascus on Wednesday.

US Secretary of State John Kerry reversed an earlier decision to break off talks with Russia over Syria in agreeing to meet international delegations, including representatives from Moscow, in Switzerland this weekend for talks on reinstating a ceasefire.
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Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus has warned that the proxy wars in the Middle East between the US and Russia could signal the reemergence of world-wide conflict between the two Cold War superpowers.

The complex five-and-a-half-year long Syrian civil war is on the brink of becoming a wider regional war, he said in an interview with state-run Anadolou News Agency on Wednesday.

If this proxy war continues, after this, let me be clear, America and Russia will come to a point of war, Mr Kurtulmus said.

Talks between the two nations broke down following the bombing of a UN and Red Crescent convoy during a ceasefire on September 19. Relations between Russia and the other permanent members of the UN Security Council have also deteriorated over Russia's role in backing renewed Syrian government air strikes which are decimating rebel-held neighbourhoods in Aleppo and elsewhere across the country.

Mr Kurtulmus called Syrian President Bashar al-Assad a pawn in the wider context of the conflict and said his removal from power is necessary for lasting peace.

In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria Show all 19 1 /19 In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria Syrian boys cry following Russian air strikes on the rebel-held Fardous neighbourhood of the northern embattled Syrian city of Aleppo Getty In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria Russian defense ministry spokesman Major General Igor Konashenkov speaks to the media in Moscow, Russia. Konashenkov strongly warned the United States against striking Syrian government forces and issued a thinly-veiled threat to use Russian air defense assets to protect them AP In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria Syrians wait to receive treatment at a hospital following Russian air strikes on the rebel-held Fardous neighbourhood of the northern embattled Syrian city of Alepp Getty In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria Russian Deputy Defense Minister Anatoly Antonov speaks at a briefing in the Defense Ministry in Moscow, Russia. Antonov said the Russian air strikes in Syria have killed about 35,000 militants, including about 2,700 residents of Russia AP In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria Jameel Mustafa Habboush, receives oxygen from civil defence volunteers, known as the white helmets, as they rescue him from under the rubble of a building following Russian air strikes on the rebel-held Fardous neighbourhood of the northern embattled Syrian city of Aleppo Getty In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria Civil defence members rest amidst rubble in a site hit by what activists said were airstrikes carried out by the Russian air force in the town of Douma, eastern Ghouta in Damascus, Syria Reuters In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria A girl carrying a baby inspects damage in a site hit by what activists said were airstrikes carried out by the Russian air force in the town of Douma, eastern Ghouta in Damascus, Syria Reuters In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria Civilians and civil defence members look for survivors at a site damaged after Russian air strikes on the Syrian rebel-held city of Idlib, Syria Reuters In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria Civilians and civil defence members carry an injured woman on a stretcher at a site damaged after Russian air strikes on the Syrian rebel-held city of Idlib, Syria Reuters In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria Volunteers from Syria Civil Defence, also known as the White Helmets, help civilians after Russia carried out its first airstrikes in Syria In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria The aftermath of Russian airstrike in Talbiseh, Syria In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria Smoke billows from buildings in Talbiseh, in Homs province, western Syria, after airstrikes by Russian warplanes AP In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria Russian Air Forces carry out an air strike in the ISIS controlled Al-Raqqah Governorate. Russia's KAB-500s bombs completely destroy the Liwa al-Haqq command unit In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria Caspian Flotilla of the Russian Navy firing Kalibr cruise missiles against remote Isis targets in Syria A TASS/ITAR-TASS Photo/Corbis In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria Russia claimed it hit eight Isis targets, including a "terrorist HQ and co-ordination centre" that was completely destroyed In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria A video grab taken from the footage made available on the Russian Defence Ministry's official website, purporting to show an airstrike in Syria In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria A release from the Russian defence ministry purportedly showing targets in Syria being hit In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria Russia launched air strikes in war-torn Syria, its first military engagement outside the former Soviet Union since the occupation of Afghanistan in 1979. Russian warplanes carried out strikes in three Syrian provinces along with regime aircraft as Putin seeks to steal US President Barack Obama's thunder by pushing a rival plan to defeat Isis militants in Syria In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria Caspian Flotilla of the Russian Navy firing Kalibr cruise missiles against remote Isis targets in Syria, a thousand kilometres away. The targets include ammunition factories, ammunition and fuel depots, command centres, and training camps A TASS/ITAR-TASS Photo/Corbis

Turkey has become increasingly drawn into the conflict in neighbouring Syria since launching a military operation to remove both Isis and Kurdish militias from border territory in August.

The Turkish and Iraqi governments are also currently at loggerheads over the role Turkish troops should play in the upcoming US-backed offensive to retake Mosul, Iraqs second largest city, back from the terror groups hands. Ankara, which has been training Sunni militias ahead of the battle, is worried about Baghdads reliance on Shiite militias in the push to liberate the Sunni-majority city.

The Iraqi government in turn has demanded its troops play a central role and that Turkish forces should remain on base during the operation.

On Tuesday Turkish prime minister Tayyip Erdogan warned of blood and fire along sectarian lines if the complex military operation is not executed correctly. The US has issued pleas for the two governments to resolve the spat, fearing the assault to liberate Mosul could be negatively affected by the infighting.

 Millions in need of aid as Iraqi forces advance on Mosul

How the battle is handled has significant implications for Iraqs future, but recapturing the city would be a significant blow for Isis.

In the Syrian crisis, international delegations are meeting in Lausanne, Switzerland this weekend - without representatives from either the Syrian government or opposition - to try and resurrect a path to peace in the multi-sided conflict.

More than 400,000 people have died and four million displaced from their homes in over five years of fighting, the UN says.
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Unless you happen to be Janet Yellen (chair of the US Federal Reserve) or George Soros (the billionaire financier noted for shorting the pound during the last sterling crisis in 1992), you and I can do nothing to affect the /$ exchange rate. But that rate can do much to affect us.

For anyone who works in UK tourism, the weak pound is a blessing. Not only does it make the country more appealing to overseas visitors, it acts as a brake on British people travelling abroad.

For anyone who likes to explore the world, though, the rate of $1.20 to 1 that I changed on Thursday is dismal. Tourist attractions around the world typically cost one-fifth more than they did a year ago. As I reported, the price for a family of four to make the Sydney Harbour Bridge climb now costs just over 600  the same as a cheap return ticket from London to Australias largest city.

We are once again the poor people of Europe. But dismay at the pound engaging in a how low can you go? exercise is not necessarily disastrous. You just need to moderate your spending by one-sixth.

Easier said than done? Not necessarily. The pound has taken a pummelling many times, and it just causes British travellers to come up with all manner of solutions to keep costs down abroad. Regrettably, sometimes these have involved fraud.

In the 1970s, an economically calamitous decade bookended by the Three Day Week and the Winter of Discontent, impecunious backpackers discovered the original 5p coin (based on the old shilling) was almost identical in size to the 1 Deutschmark coin. German cigarettes and U-Bahn tickets suddenly became much more affordable, at a rate of DM20 to 1 rather than the more conventional DM3=1.

Come the 1990s, the pound fell off a Brexit-like cliff on Black Wednesday, impaling itself at a value of just eight French francs (from here, that rate looks excellent, representing 1.22).

Day-to-day survival abroad was eased, for some, with the judicious use of a student card. Travellers who were not technically engaged in academic learning could pick up fake international student ID in cities such as Bangkok or Moscow for a few pounds.

With air fares much higher in real terms than they are today, the courier flight was the low-cost way to go: you could fly cheaply to Rio, Tokyo and Los Angeles so long as you acted a legitimate mule, with time-sensitive deliveries as your checked baggage. The catch: you had to surrender your luggage allowance, and fly with cabin baggage only  a foretaste of 21st-century aviation.

By the start of 2009, the people who make currency charts were having to add extra space at the bottom of the graph as the pitiful pound tested new lows, briefly reaching parity with the euro. Were not quite back there against the European currency, but the pathetic pounds performance versus the US dollar pushes up costs for British travellers in many more countries: from China to Chile, local currencies are pegged against the $.

This week, Abu Dhabi hosted the Abta Convention  the annual travel industry get-together. This is the hot-and-rich capital of the United Arab Emirates, whose dirham is locked to the US dollar, and where Brits tend to feel hot-and-poor. Delegates were getting just 4.30 UAE dirhams for 1, compared with 5.38 when the conference venue was announced a year ago.

The upwardly drifting dirham means that simply stepping into a taxi at Abu Dhabi airport triggers a 6 charge. But make your way to the airports Premier Inn adjacent to Terminal 1, and the helpful staff will point the way across a patch of wasteland (no, not Dubai) to a roundabout that falls just outside the perimeter. Here the starting fare falls to the equivalent of just 80p. Ask for the Happy House in the city centre, and you will discover a South Indian restaurant where the tastiest thali of your life is just 1.50. And when youve devoured the dahl and polished off the poppadom, the cheerful waiter will come round with second helpings: a budget banquet for British travellers.

You can see the Happy House meal and get other money-saving tips in the video below.

 How to travel Abu Dhabi on the cheap

Click here to view European tours and holidays, with Independent Holidays.
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It is hard to believe that just a few short months ago the Western powers and Russia appeared as allies in the Syrian conflict, united by opposition to Isis and an apparent desire to bring the wider conflict to an end.

Now relations between the foreign actors involved in Syria are at an all-time and potentially dangerous low. The US administration has demanded that Russia be investigated for war crimes. Britains Foreign Secretary, Boris Johnson, has called for the public to protest outside the Russian embassy and has warned President Vladimir Putin that he risks making his nation a pariah. Military intervention by the West to save the trapped and petrified people of Aleppo is said to be under consideration.

Mr Johnson is right that there is intense public sympathy for those who are besieged in Aleppo and who are under daily attack from forces loyal to the Assad regime and its Russian allies. Whether, as he suggests, that sympathy would translate into widespread public support for a military response is much less certain.

Still, the tragedy of Aleppo is so grotesque that the prospect of what the Foreign Secretary euphemistically refers to as kinetic action has to be kept under consideration.

 Drone footage of Aleppo

The bigger problem for Britain and its allies is that veiled threats about military intervention carry little to no weight in Moscow or Damascus. The idea that the US and others could unilaterally establish a no-fly zone is more pie in the sky than eye in the sky. Attempts by American and other air forces to keep Syrian and Russian bombers on the ground would either be ignored or, worse, lead to genuine confrontation.

Likewise, the possibility of seeking out and destroying the regime aircraft responsible for dropping so-called barrel bombs carries inherent risks of retaliatory attacks by Assads forces or those of his allies. Global security is perilous enough without precipitating an armed confrontation between Russia and the West.

Other options to be discussed by Mr Johnson with counterpart foreign ministers this weekend include increased humanitarian efforts; improved monitoring of flights made by Russian jets; and perhaps the issuing of warnings to Aleppos residents when it is believed an attack is imminent. All are sensible enough but all are unlikely to stop the carnage.

And this is the crux of the matter: international opponents of Bashar al-Assad do not have the will to take the only action that would ultimately be effective against him  a large-scale military assault. In part, that reflects the lack of public appetite in the UK, US and elsewhere for getting bogged down in another Middle Eastern war. But it is also because there are no guarantees that bringing down Mr Assad now will make the situation any better. It might easily make things worse and turn a vicious civil, and proxy, war into a global conflagration.

A week in Aleppo - witnessing the fierce battle for Syria's largest city Show all 6 1 /6 A week in Aleppo - witnessing the fierce battle for Syria's largest city A week in Aleppo - witnessing the fierce battle for Syria's largest city aleppo-woman.jpg REUTERS/Goran Tomasevic A week in Aleppo - witnessing the fierce battle for Syria's largest city aleppo-gun.jpg REUTERS/Goran Tomasevic A week in Aleppo - witnessing the fierce battle for Syria's largest city aleppo-truck.jpg REUTERS/Abdel Razzak al-Halabi A week in Aleppo - witnessing the fierce battle for Syria's largest city aleppo-body.jpg REUTERS/Abdel Razzak al-Halabi A week in Aleppo - witnessing the fierce battle for Syria's largest city aleppo-wounded.jpg REUTERS/Goran Tomasevic A week in Aleppo - witnessing the fierce battle for Syria's largest city ALEPPO-WRECKAGE.jpg REUTERS/Goran Tomasevic

The actions of the Syrian regime forces  and of its allies, Russia and Iran  are repugnant and should be held up to as much scrutiny as the international community can muster. But in the absence of a viable military solution, the West must for now focus on ways to bring humanitarian relief to the city of Aleppo and on ways by which its residents can be taken out to places of safety.

That is no easy task and it will require every ounce of diplomatic pressure that the West and the United Nations can bring to bear, especially on Russia, if Aleppos people are not to be as comprehensively destroyed as the city in which they are imprisoned.
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When Boris Johnson and America accuse Russia of war crimes in Syria, isnt this a classic case of the pot calling the kettle black? While Im sure war crimes have been committed by both Russia and the Assad regime, at least Russia is on the right side fighting all the different terrorist groups whereas America likes to face both ways fighting one lot of terrorists on the one hand while on the other openly supporting another gang.

Its true that as many as 250,000 innocent victims have died in Syrias civil war (a UN estimate) and many of them at the hands of the Assad regime, but how do these figures compare to the 650,000  1 million people who were killed in Britain and America's immoral and illegal invasion of Iraq? And what war crimes will America commit when it bombs Mosul, one of Iraqs largest cities, to drive out Isis?

What amazes me is the moral certitude of the affair. Britains great Nobel Laureate Harold Pinter described it like this: It never happened. Nothing ever happened. Even while it was happening it wasnt happening. It didnt matter. It was of no interest. The crimes of the United States have been systemic, constant, vicious, remorseless, but very few people talk about them. You have to hand it to America. It has exercised a quite clinical manipulation of power worldwide while masquerading as a force for universal good. Its a brilliant, even witty, highly successful act of hypnosis. He wrote this in 1958 and it has only gotten worse.

Mark Holt

Liverpool

When Jeremy Corbyn supports protests, it is condemned by both Tories and some Labour MPs, as anti-parliament and anti-democracy  how dare he! When Boris Johnson calls for protests outside the Russian embassy, well, that is more or less okay. Even protesting, it seems, should be allowed only for the privileged few.

Peter Cave

London

Watch out, there are creepy clowns about! As for a creepy foreign secretary, that surely is a clown too far. As political journalist, as an editor, even as a mayor of London, Johnson was acceptable and fairly entertaining. Now he holds a serious position as our nations leading diplomat; we have the right to expect him to conduct himself with gravitas. This, yesterday in Parliament, he did not do.

Condemning acts of aggression and war crimes is of course within his remit. But jumping on the bandwagon of Ann Clwyds call for mass demonstrations at Russian embassies is tantamount to rabble-rousing. Both he and Clwyd supported the invasion of Iraq, for which many of their constituents will not forgive them. Let us hope that years from now they will not be blamed for having helped to incite the Second Cold War.

Elizabeth Morley

Aberystwyth

Brexit blues

Irrespective of whether it is Downing Street or Diane Abbott who says it, the statement that the outcome of the referendum reflects the will of the British people is disingenuous and misleading. The outcome of the referendum reflected the will only of the 52 per cent of the British people who took the trouble to vote. Any statement about the referendum that omits that qualification is fit only to be emblazoned on the side of a Boris bus.

David Maughan Brown

York

David Davies and the other hard Brexiteers are using double standards. On the one side they insist that Britain will be granted favourable trading conditions, or even outright access to the single market, because industries in the rest of Europe will put pressure on their respective governments. On the other side, they blithely ignore the complaints of British business leaders. Two can probably play at that game.

Richard Francis

Address withheld

I generally vote Green but have no great axe to grind with the Liberal Democrats or Labour. Ive never voted Conservative, but one set of circumstances could persuade me to do so just the once  if the vocal Tory Remainers, such as Anna Soubry and Nikki Morgan, got sufficient of the more silent Tory Remainers behind them, mounted and won a leadership challenge and then called a two-issue general election. The first issue would be about reversing Brexit. The second would be to apply Theresa Mays principle of working for the many and not the few to the disenfranchised parts of the country that voted Brexit. Shall I dream on?

Patrick Cosgrove

Bucknell, Shropshire

Playing with politics

We keep hearing and reading about cuts  cuts to care for the elderly, cuts in legal aid, and all causing severe hardship. The one thing that strikes me in reading all this is that these are cuts in England, not necessarily felt in other parts of the UK where the system of care and legal aid is organised differently. What does that say about this country? Why is England bearing the brunt of all this? Could it be because the majority of MPs represent English constituencies and are happily screwing down the lid on public expenditure in England?

Val Pastakia

Chelmsford

First we had shoebox apartments, then inheritance going to the grandchildren, and now were told not to forget your passport if you are giving birth. I have come to a conclusion about why certain members of the government have been very vocal over such new blockbuster ideas. Obviously housing minister Gavin Barwell and his colleagues had a very long and very satisfying luncheon at the Department for Stupid Ideas. If they declare they did not, then we all have something to worry about.

Robert Boston

Kings Hill, Kent

America at the political crossroads

The moment Donald Trump based his whole agenda on hate and bigotry was when he took the wrong exit on the highway and started going in the wrong direction. He had the potential to gather a forceful momentum to make a change. People are hungry to see a real change. They are fed up by career politicians. But when he started spreading hatred and bigotry against almost everyone who isnt white, he lost the real battle. Hopes in him had faded away.

Abubakar N Kasim

Toronto, Canada

It seems that the saying whenever America sneezes Britain catches a cold is true  Halloween, candlelight vigils, the creepy clown craze. Do we have to always copy the Americans?

Barbara MacArthur

Cardiff

In praise of the GPs receptionist

Referring to Doctors receptionists, my local practice could not be more different from those described in the press: always polite, always listening attentively, appointments always offered that day if required, and an immediate response when I was concerned about heart pain. Could it be that patients themselves do not take the lead and explain exactly what is causing them to seek an urgent consultation?

Joy Nisbet

Church Stretton, Shropshire
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Around this time three years ago, Abdurahman al-Shibli was describing in a village near al-Bab how a missile tore into his farmhouse early one morning while he was out tending his flock of sheep. He showed the little cemetery near the wreckage of his home where five members of his family who died in the attack were buried. One grave was no more than four feet long; it was of Hania, a three-year-old granddaughter.

The air strike in Aleppo province had been carried out by one of Bashar al-Assads warplanes. It should not have been flying; the US was supposed to have begun military action after regime forces crossed Barack Obamas red line with a Sarin gas attack on Ghouta, claiming 1,400 lives.

Abdulrahman, a man in his 70s, and the neighbours who gathered around him, did not know the details of the US Presidents plan, or David Camerons repeated threats of dire consequences for Assad if he dared to use chemical weapons, or the pledge by French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius that use of weapons of mass destruction would lead to a massive and lightning fast response.

Recommended Read more Boris Johnson signals possible new military action in Syria

But they had heard of what had happened at Ghouta and also accounts  vague and garbled  of the Wests promise to stop the regimes bombing; why, they asked, was nothing being done. What had happened, of course, was that Mr Cameron could not get the Commons vote for military action; the French were willing to go ahead but trepiditious; and there was deep unease in Washington. President Obama, in these circumstances, was quick to accept a Russian proposal not to send in warplanes in return for the Assad regime giving up its chemical stockpiles.

Two days after meeting Abdurrahman I was at a farmhouse outside the nearby town of Mara listening to Yusuf Husseini, a 26-year-old rebel fighter, raging against betrayal by the liars and hypocrites of the West. America and Europe have made an enemy of the Syrian people with their broken promises, he shouted, to nods of agreement from his comrades.

President Obamas decision not to carry out air strikes at the time may, or may not, have been the right one. But to many in the Syrian opposition, it was yet another example of the West letting them down, a sense of bitter disillusionment which led some of them to embrace the emerging extremist jihadist groups. Yusuf and at least two of his friends joined Jabhat al-Nusra, an al-Qaeda affiliate calling themselves Jabhat Fateh Al-Sham, a little later. Some of the others went into the ranks of Isis, then in the process of establishing its presence in northern Syria.

What happened in al-Ghouta was not the first time that these fighters had felt let down in this way. I had first met Yusuf while covering the battle for Aleppo the previous year, when he gave up his job working in a grain store to take up a gun against the regime. The West had encouraged the people to rise up. Assad must go was the cry of Mr Cameron and Nicolas Sarkozy, then the French president.

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 rebels, the overwhelming majority of them not extremists, could well have taken Aleppo, Syrias largest city and commercial centre at the time. But no help was forthcoming from the West. The regime received help from the Iranians and the Russians; al-Nusr, Isis and other Salafists from elements in Saudi Arabia and Qatar. Aleppo settled into a bloody stalemate.

There are now, once again, cries for the establishment of a no-fly zone in London in response to the bombing of Aleppo by regime and Russian warplanes. Andrew Mitchell, who had to resign as international development secretary after claims he called a policeman a pleb, is one of the loudest proponents of this. The RAF and other Western air forces must be prepared to shoot down Russian planes if necessary, he has demanded.

Boris Johnson has declared that the UK should consider further military action in Syria without specifying what it is going to be, while the Prime Minister, Theresa May, has said the Government has no plans for intervention by force. The Foreign Secretary must be aware that the British military, denuded by cuts carried out by the Cameron government would be incapable of doing anything significant by itself. Western action, in this context, would need American leadership, and that seems unlikely to take place.

Hillary Clinton has talked about the possibility of establishing a no-fly zone, but it is one thing saying so when campaigning; another when one is actually in the White House and has to sign the order to embark on a highly risky and open-ended venture, especially so when the military commanders are opposed to it.

 Drone footage of Aleppo

General Joseph Dunford, the chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, told Congress this month that for us to control all of the air space in Syria would require us to go to war against Syria and Russia, thats a pretty fundamental decision This would mean Russian air defences would have to be destroyed with strikes on surface-to-air missile sites and aircraft on the ground. Russian warships in the Mediterranean will also have to be neutralised if one is to give total protection to allied planes. Is Washington really going to embark on this while also campaigning against Isis and being unable to carry out the planned drawdown in Afghanistan thanks to a resurgent Taliban?

Turkey has been repeatedly calling for the establishment of a no-fly zone in an area across its border in Syria, a plan which faced repeated forceful rejection from Mr Obama.

There is, however, little talk of a no-fly zone in Ankara now, with Turkey busy carrying out its own air strikes, against the Kurds and Isis, in Syria. After the bitter confrontation following the shooting down of the Russian jet last November, Vladimir Putin and Recep Tayyep Erdogan are forming their own plans on Syria with regular talks, such as the ones held in Istanbul earlier this week, and the Turks certainly will not want to be involved in a conflict with Russia.

The fact remains that sabre-rattling by armchair generals in the West, sabre-rattling followed by failure to deliver on the ground, fuels anti-Western anger and helps extremist jihadists with their recruitment. It is also the case that Mr Putin has gauged this extent of Western appetite for action and this has been a major factor in him deciding to step in to help President Assad.

At the Syria-Turkish border last week I met Syrian rebels and opposition activists musing whether the latest round of promises of help coming from Europe would actually lead to anything practical which will have real impact on the ground. The more experienced among them urged against raising expectations, pointing out what happened on previous occasions, but some of the younger ones could not help be hopeful. They are likely to be disappointed.

There are, however, talks on Syria due to be held in Lausanne at the weekend with the US, Russia, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and possibly Qatar taking part. Britain and other European states have not been asked to participate. But they should do so. Any chance of lessening the dreadful death and destruction will come from negotiations in Lausanne, not noises in London.
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In his first House of Commons appearance as Foreign Secretary, Boris Johnson was rightly damning of the Russian bombardment of Aleppo. He also exposed the hypocrisy at the heart of UK foreign policy in the Middle East.

Calling for protests outside the Russian Embassy in London, Johnson said he wanted attacks on hospitals to be properly and fully investigated with a view to assembling the necessary evidence and ensuring that justice is done. He added that he was very attracted to the idea of holding these people to account before the International Criminal Court.

Hes absolutely right. The bombing has had a terrible human cost, with hundreds of civilians killed since the ceasefire broke down last month. If international humanitarian law is to mean anything, then those responsible for war crimes must feel its full weight.

Where Johnson has been nowhere near as strong or principled is in his response to the humanitarian catastrophe that Saudi-led coalition forces have inflicted on Yemen. Last Saturday saw devastating air strikes on a funeral in Sanaa, Yemen, which killed at least 155 people and wounded 500 more. Johnsons first public response was to issue a tweet. He made no calls for an end to attacks on civilian areas or for those responsible to be dragged before the ICC.

 Scores dead in blasts at funeral in Yemeni capital

The lives of people in Yemen are just as valuable as those in Syria. So why was his response so much weaker?

One key difference is that the UK has been complicit in the Saudi-led attacks. From the outset, the then Defence Secretary, Philip Hammond, pledged to support the Saudis in every practical way short of engaging in combat. The Government has stayed true to its promise, having provided training and political support for Saudi combatants, and having licensed over 3.3bn worth of arms since the bombing began last March.

Right from the start, Saudi-led forces have been accused of hitting civilian targets. Schools and hospitals have been destroyed and more than 10,000 people have been killed, with a number of the attacks being linked to UK arms. Despite detailed reports of humanitarian law violations from the United Nations, Amnesty International and other respected organisations, the UK has stuck rigidly to the line that the best people to investigate Saudi Arabia for war crimes are the Saudi Arabian Government.

It is important that the Saudi Arabian-led Coalition in the first instance conducts thorough and conclusive investigations into incidents where it is alleged that international humanitarian law has been violated, Johnson said in a written statement last month. They have the best insight into their own military procedures and will be able to conduct the most thorough and conclusive investigations.

The limited steps the Saudi regime has taken prove how bad a policy this is. During the summer the Saudi-led coalition published its own report into the conduct of its forces. Needless to say it was a whitewash, only analysing eight of the hundreds of violations it has been accused of and largely exonerating itself of any wrongoding.

Regardless, the UK Government stuck to the same line in light of Saturdays bombing. On Monday, a spokesperson for Number 10 said: Until we have a full assessment of the facts on the ground, it would be inappropriate to comment further... We want the Saudis to carry out their investigation.

This is appalling logic. Like the Assad regime in Syria, the Saudi administration cannot be trusted to run free and fair elections and has shown a contempt for human rights. How can it possibly be expected to investigate itself for war crimes?

In pictures: Protests around the world over Saudi executions Show all 7 1 /7 In pictures: Protests around the world over Saudi executions In pictures: Protests around the world over Saudi executions Protests around the world over Saudi executions Iranian and Turkish demonstrators hold pictures of Shiite cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr as they protest outside the Saudi Embassy in Ankara, Turkey, In pictures: Protests around the world over Saudi executions Protests around the world over Saudi executions Kashmiri Shiite Muslims, carrying a placard with the portrait of Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, shout slogans during a protest in Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, In pictures: Protests around the world over Saudi executions Protests around the world at Saudi executions Indian police used tear smoke and rubber bullets to disperse Shiite Muslims who were protesting after Saudi Arabia announced the execution of Shiite cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr on Saturday along with 46 others, including three other Shiite dissidents and a number of al-Qaida militants. In pictures: Protests around the world over Saudi executions Protests around the world over Saudi executions Shane Enright, Global Trade Union Advisor for Amnesty International, addresses demonstrators as they protest outside the Saudi Embassy in London, following Saudi Arabia's execution of 47 prisoners in one day, including a top Shiite cleric In pictures: Protests around the world over Saudi executions Protests around the world over Saudi executions Iranian protestor burn pictures of a member of the Saudi royal family in front of the Saudi Arabia embassy in Tehran, Iran, 02 January 2016. Protesters have stormed the Saudi embassy building in the Iranian capital of Tehran early Sunday amid backlash over the execution of a prominent Shiite cleric. Flammable substance was seen thrown at the building as protests gained steam over the execution of Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr. Reports states, protesters taking down a Saudi flag and burned the building. In pictures: Protests around the world over Saudi executions Protests around the world over Saudi executions Shiite Muslims hold placards with pictures of Saudi Shiite cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, whose execution in Saudi Arabia was announced Saturday, during a demonstration to condemn his execution, Sunday, Jan. 3, 2016 in Peshawar, Pakistan In pictures: Protests around the world over Saudi executions Protests around the world over Saudi executions A Kashmir Shiite Muslim shouts slogan from Indian police vehicle after he was detained during a protest in Srinagar, the summer capital of Indian Kashmir,

Johnson is right to call for an end to the bombing of civilian areas and for investigations into war crimes against the people of Syria. At the same time, there are also major steps that he can take right now to alleviating the suffering of people in Yemen.

If Johnson and his colleagues are serious about peace and about the UK holding a positive influence on the world stage then they must stop the arms sales, end their support for the Saudi bombardment of Yemen, and hold the UKs so-called ally to the same standard as other aggressors.

Andrew Smith is a spokesperson for Campaign Against Arms Trade
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Irish shoppers could soon find top brands like Marmite missing from Tesco shelves as a result of the plunge in sterling. Photo by: Newscast/UIG via Getty Images

Irish shoppers could soon find top brands like Ben & Jerrys, Marmite and others missing from Tesco shelves as a result of the plunge in sterling.

In the UK yesterday a row between Tesco and food and household supplies giant Unilever has already seen products pulled from the shopping aisles.

The row is apparently because the two are split on pricing of products shipped into the UK after the massive dive in the value of sterling.

Even though Ireland doesn't use sterling, it's understood Tesco bulk buys for the UK and Ireland so the supply issue could now impact shoppers here.

If so, it's bad news for Tesco which has already slipped down the supermarket rankings here - losing the top spot to SuperValu and with Dunnes Stores now also snapping at its heels.

When asked by the Irish Independent if the row would affect Irish shoppers, a spokesperson for the grocery giant said: "It's not appropriate to comment on commercial relationships with individual suppliers."

Reports in the UK suggest that Unilever is understood to have stopped deliveries to Tesco branches, leading to shortages of products including mayonnaise, Marmite, toothpaste and soap.

Unilever owns brands such as PG Tip's, Ben and Jerry's ice cream and Persil.
Kate Middleton, the Duchess of Cambridge, views the famous Dutch 17th century painting Girl with a Pearl Earring by Johannes Vermeer during her visit to the Mauritshuis Museum in The Hague. She was making her first solo official trip abroad as part of a British charm offensive after the Brexit vote. AFP/Getty Images

The Budget offered a "weak and directionless" response to Brexit that makes the Government look foolish, Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin has said.

In his strongest attack on the Budget, which his party will allow pass through the Dail, Mr Martin claimed that most of the 'Brexit-proofing' measures announced on Tuesday would have happened anyway.

And he called for the establishment of a 'Currency Crisis Package' to help business combat the impact of the weak sterling.

The Department of Finance has based its Brexit plan on the assumption that a euro will be worth 85 pence next year - but the exchange rate this week has already seen it hit 91p.

"The Taoiseach is betting or assuming that sterling will strengthen by more than 6% next year. It seems to me an extraordinary bet or gamble to make," Mr Martin said.

He said the Budget should have included a number of "specific scenarios for the impact of Brexit" but instead was full of "tokenism".

Mr Martin made the allegations just before Taoiseach Enda Kenny welcomed the European Commission's Chief Brexit Negotiator Michel Barnier to Government Buildings.

The Taoiseach said Mr Barnier has "a strong appreciation of our close historical, political and economic ties with the UK, and also knows of our strong commitment to EU membership". During their meeting, Mr Kenny emphasised "Ireland's unique set of priorities with regard to Brexit", especially in relation to Northern Ireland and the Common Travel Area.

Read more: 'A very foolish gamble' - Micheal Martin says Budget was 'empty on Brexit'

Mr Barnier also held talks with the Tanaiste France Fitzgerald, Minister for European Affairs Dara Murphy, and Foreign Affairs Minister Charlie Flanagan.

In the Dail, Mr Kenny described the situation as "quite fluid" until the UK Prime Minister moves on Article 50, thereby formally requesting Britain's withdrawal from the EU.

"This is probably the greatest economic challenge facing not just Ireland but the EU in the last 50 years.

"The decision made by the electorate in the UK has brought about a situation of confusion, lack of certainty, great concern, anxiety and currency fluctuation that is impacting on business here and elsewhere," he said.

Among the Brexit measures announced in the Budget were 50 new people for Enterprise Ireland, a credit scheme for farmers and the retention of the special 9pc VAT for the tourism sector. Notably, the Department of Foreign Affairs has not received any extra fund.

Mr Martin said: "Brexit demands and requires further action. The list we received yesterday was very disingenuous.

"There was expansion of some issues already in previous budgets, but it was in no shape or form a coherent response to Brexit."

Meanwhile, Jobs Minister Mary Mitchell O'Connor has come under fire from her party colleagues for the Government's response to Brexit and her jobs strategy.

Fine Gael backbenchers criticised the minister at a private meeting where she and Social Protection Minister Leo Varadkar gave a briefing on the Budget.

Sources say Ms Mitchell O'Connor looked stunned by attacks from Sligo TD Tony McLoughlin and Clare TD Joe Carey. One TD described the exchanges as "fiery and frank".
Brexit has thrown 1bn (1.1bn) of European Union research funding up for grabs, and Irish universities must act fast to secure a share of it, former Unilever chief executive Niall Fitzgerald has told the Irish Independent.

The high profile Limerick-born former executive is chairman of the UCD Smurfit Business School, and sits on the board of the Leverhulme Trust in the UK, one of the biggest private funders of third level research.

British universities have been huge beneficiaries of EU funding - but that has been thrown into doubt by Brexit, Mr Fitzgerald, who opposed Brexit, explained.

"The UK universities are going to lose 1bn of EU funding for research. The UK is far and away the European centre of cross-national research projects," he said.

"I see vice chancellors (of UK universities) very regularly so I hear how they are seeing this danger. They are going to be cut off from the funding," he said.

"It's not just funding, the Brexit vote will see UK colleges gradually being cut off from talented, able, international researchers," he said.

"That gives an opportunity for Ireland. It gives us an opportunity at several levels. One is to position ourselves as much as an alternative location for some of these research projects - not just in terms of work that is done here but that European projects be led here.

Second is to very actively now start talking to UK universities about partnership, because they want to remain involved in these projects and if we can slightly change the focus so that the project is led from Ireland but has a very strong UK participation that meets the needs of both parties," he said.

Boosting research funding to Irish third levels will help reverse the slide in international rankings currently affecting the sector, which is a concern, he said.

"If you can engage in that and engage in it quickly, that will give real impetus to the research funding focus in Ireland, and that feeds back into the competitiveness of the universities and there is a real virtuous circle." To do that Government has to have a framework and a plan, as do the universities, he said, "and they need to start doing things now".

Ireland, with the exception of business schools, has gone down in the rankings, in part because staff-student ratios increased significantly after the crash when funding was tightened.

Funding has to go up, he said, including fees - though he insists any regime must keep higher education open to all.

"What you have to do is give your university sector freedom and the ability to generate more of its own revenue.

"If I go back to UCD Smurfit, it is only 30pc dependent on Government yet it is bound as if it was 100pc: in terms of salaries, in terms of ability to recruit people."

You must give more freedom so that we can then generate the resources ourselves the universities to invest in significantly higher offering and that permits us to move back up the rankings and that makes us even more competitive."
These are some of the plush homes costing up to 600,000 which first-time buyers with deep pockets can buy with assistance from the Government's 'Help to Buy' package.

Most are 'stunning', some are 'magnificent' and they boast 'luxury' kitchens, 'superior' bathrooms and 'attractive' windows, amongst other features.

Expand Close Five-bed detached house, Belfield Abbey, Boreenman, Ballinlough, Co Cork  Price: 590,000 / Facebook

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Whatsapp Five-bed detached house, Belfield Abbey, Boreenman, Ballinlough, Co Cork  Price: 590,000

They range in size from 180 to 321 square metres - around three times the size of an average three-bed semi-detached home.

All require a salary of at least 97,000 for a bank to approve a mortgage.

The Help to Buy package allows house purchasers to claim a tax rebate of 5pc of the purchase price of a new home, to a maximum of 20,000. It is designed to help first-time buyers secure a deposit and draw down a mortgage.

But the measure has been widely criticised for allowing the rebate to apply for homes costing as much as 600,000, way beyond what many experts believe is the cost of an 'affordable' property.

Expand Close Four-bed home in Hawthorn, Aughamore, Clane, Co Kildare  Price: 420,000 / Facebook

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Whatsapp Four-bed home in Hawthorn, Aughamore, Clane, Co Kildare  Price: 420,000

Lorcan Sirr, lecturer in housing studies in the School of Real Estate and Construction Economics at the Dublin Institute of Technology, says not only will the scheme help fuel price hikes, it's too broad.

"If you're buying a house for half a million euro or more, think of the salary you need. Do you need taxpayers' money?

"A cap of 400,000 would tie builders to prices. The Government has now set a target for builders. It would not be surprising to see a three-bed semi-d going to 390,000."

The Property Price Register shows that up to September 30 this year, some 4,074 new homes were sold across the country. Most - 3,882 - cost 600,000 or less.

Expand Close Four-bed, three-storey house in Blue Bells Grove, Countess Road, Killarney, Co Kerry  Price: 550,000 / Facebook

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Whatsapp Four-bed, three-storey house in Blue Bells Grove, Countess Road, Killarney, Co Kerry  Price: 550,000

But the register also reveals that most of these units - 88pc of the total - cost less than 400,000. In Dublin, where price hikes have been sharpest and where first-time buyers struggle to secure a home at an affordable price, the figure drops to 72pc. The decision to include homes up to 600,000 was defended by Housing Minister Simon Coveney.

"We're only paying the tax rebate on the first 400,000 but we want to avoid a cliff effect," he said. "We don't want somebody buying a property for 390,000 or 400,000 to get the 20,000, and somebody who buys a house for 405,000 to get nothing at all."

He stressed that the 20,000 cap meant there would be "nothing extra" for expensive properties.

"But we leave some space so people who buy properties above that threshold don't put themselves in the position of getting nothing. This is really only a Dublin thing. There are some parts of Dublin where new houses are very expensive and we think the number of first time buyers buying in that market will be very small."

Under Central Bank lending rules, first time buyers must secure a deposit of 10pc of the first 220,000 property price, and 20pc on amounts after.

For a 400,000 home, a deposit of 58,000 must be secured. The rebate will make up 20,000 of this amount. To secure a mortgage for the balance of 342,000, the borrower must have an income of at least 97,000.

For a home costing 600,000, a deposit of 98,000 must be secured. To secure mortgage approval for the balance, a salary of 143,000 is required.

Property website Daft.ie had 94 new homes costing between 400,000 and 600,000 listed yesterday. The bulk of them, 54, were in Dublin and the remainder in Cork, Kerry, Kildare, Louth, Meath and Wicklow.

One 575,000 four-bed property at Dunshaughlin, in Meath, was 321 square metres - about three times the size of a three-bed semi-detached.

A five-bed detached at Belfield Abbey, Boreenmanna, Ballinlough, Co Cork, is 215 square metres and on sale for 590,000. By comparison, a four-bedroom house at Hawthorn, Aughamore, Clane, Co Kildare is for sale for 420,000.

Another home at Forest Hill in Carrigaline, Co Cork, has four bedrooms and is 182 square metres. It costs 410,000. And in Mallow, Co Cork, 410,000 will get you a home that boasts five bedrooms.

Mr Sirr said while there were many positive measures in the Government's housing package, if 6,000 people claimed the Help to Buy rebate it would cost the State 120m - around 600 social housing units.

"You don't help anybody because you're just pushing up prices for first-time buyers," he said.
It was the priest Laocoon in Virgil's 'Aeneid' who was the lone voice amongst the Trojans who distrusted the Greeks.

"I fear the Greeks, even those bearing gifts," said the priest, who warned against accepting the Greeks' gifts and letting their horse into Troy.

For his prescience, Laocoon and his sons were killed by serpents sent by the gods, a classic case of shooting the messenger.

The new affordable childcare scheme introduced by children's minister Katherine Zappone is no Trojan Horse.

The centrepiece of an otherwise fairly visionless Budget, Ms Zappone's childcare scheme has been hailed as 'a breakthrough' by many, especially those advocating on behalf of low-income families.

It is certainly a big step forward for the sisters and the fight for workplace diversity.

But we should not be blind to the fact that as well as helping parents in the low and no-income families by subsidising childcare to the tune of 8,000 a year, the underlying policy goal of this crude, infant scheme is to get more childbearing women into the workplace to improve our economic competitiveness.

As well as some of the highest childcare costs in Europe, Ireland - which has the second highest direct payments to parents of any OECD country because of our universal child benefit scheme - has one of the lowest female labour market participation rates in the eurozone. The phenomena are inextricably linked.

The second earner in Ireland (typically the woman) loses 92pc of her income to tax and childcare policies according to business lobby group Ibec, which wants to means test child benefit and explore a tax saver childcare voucher model to keep mam and dad at work.

Why would any second earner, male or female, want to work for a mere 8pc?

The reasons for lower market participation by women in Ireland are varied and complex and not helped by the fact that childcare and care of the elderly and sick is still regarded by employers and society alike as quintessentially a woman's issue.

Ms Zappone is to be commended for her vision and courage in trying to tackle our childcare/labour market participation challenges. She had to start somewhere and where better to start than targeting the parents of an estimated 136,000 children living in conditions of poverty?

But the childcare scheme, which is not income-progressive, has its flaws. The cut-off point for eligibility (anyone above a net household income of 47,500 will receive a maximum of 900 a year) has led to accusations that middle-income families with incomes just above the threshold will be unfairly penalised.

The squeezed middle getting squeezed. Again.

Ms Zappone is conscious of the criticism and says she wants to increase the threshold in the coming years.

But what we are really lacking is a dynamic conversation and vision about family and work.

Everyone has an agenda when it comes to childcare and caregiving and there are few issues that divide women as much as the so-called 'motherhood penalty'.

Like many countries, Ireland - which frequently tops the European fertility league - is experiencing decreasing birth rates and an ageing population.

In short, ladies, our (predominantly male) policymakers need us to provide the brood - and the butter. We shouldn't refuse Budget 2017's childcare gift.

But we should insist on more comprehensive policies that support women and men who want to have children - and work.
Bridget was on the line, "hopping mad and frustrated" as Joe Duffy observed.As a former professional in a high-paid job, she had left to be a stay-at-home mother to her five children and feels let down by the Government for not supporting her choice in the Budget because she's got "nothing".

"I don't think the Government are interested in children... and putting them first," she said.

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Pat, from Co Clare, had also decided that his best option was to 'Talk to Joe'.

Aged 27 and with three children, he's decided he'd be better off going on the dole because "you get everything".

This Budget is worth just 2.80 a week to him.

If you're working, you're "wasting your time", he said.

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He knows two women who haven't worked in years, who have already cracked into their Christmas shopping and who "don't have to worry about anything" because they "get it all paid for".

"They think I'm a fool for working because they say why would you bother?"

"That's how bad it's got," he said.

"God, you're cast down, you really are," commented Joe. "I've had enough," said Pat, wearily.

Hard-pressed Enda from Co Mayo was probably just about equally fed up. Maybe even a little bit more.

He was in line to get a paltry 14,000 - staggered over the next three years too, if you wouldn't mind.

Read more: 'TDs giving themselves a pay-rise is very insensitive' - Ministers forced to answer the tough questions on Budget 2017

This would have dragged his salary up to 200,00 - until Paschal Donohoe last night confirmed that planned ministerial pay hikes would be frozen.

But Enda is about to hit pension age next April - nicely timing the introduction of the extra fiver - sure, he too might be tempted to go on the dole right now and sit at home with his feet up, because why would you bother?

It would open up the slot for Paschal - who isn't sitting beside the phone waiting for it to ring because he is very busy and has his "hands full" and besides, there isn't a vacancy. Yet.

Enda didn't 'Talk to Joe' though, and Paschal didn't phone the RTE 'Liveline' show either - although he did appear on 'Today with Sean O'Rourke' with Finance Minister Michael Noonan, and later fielded questions from the public with Matt Cooper on 'The Last Word'.

Bringing the Budget to the people and having to listen to them moan about it - isn't that alone worth a salary top-up of at least 5,000 for the average TD?

Mary from Galway was on the line with Sean O'Rourke, warning that people are angry that TDs were planning on giving themselves pay increases when everyone was discussing the pension increase and the Budget in general. "TDs giving themselves a pay rise is very insensitive," she patiently explained.

Paschal leapt to reassure her that the pay restoration was in line with the Lansdowne Road Agreement.

"What we have now is the Lansdowne Road Agreement, with a partial wage restoration and the payment and salary of a TD is tied in with this," he said helpfully.

"The change of wage for a TD is happening at the same time as it is for anyone else in the civil and public service."

So, you see? Just the same as everybody else.

"The last thing on my mind at the moment is the welfare and salary of TDs, I can assure you," he added.

"I'm just telling you about the perception," said Mary, sounding bewildered by now.

"I absolutely understand that perception and I'm so keenly aware of the hurt and anxiety that's been caused to so many people after all that we went through," said Paschal, explaining that it was all tied in to how we treat public servants. He muttered something about the possibility of reviewing ministerial pay - but he didn't go into much detail on air. By lunchtime, Catherine Murphy of the Soc Dems was describing it as an issue of leadership.

"It is about setting a tone; it is about leading from the front," she said. Michael Fitzmaurice echoed her, saying it was "immoral".

There's one thing to be said for New Politics, though. They're fairly quick off the mark when there's a sniff of trouble. And this was trouble.
Budget hikes of 50c in the cost of cigarettes are "becoming the new 20c" the chairman of the Revenue Commissioners has said.

Niall Cody is appearing before TDs at the Public Accounts Committee where he made the observation.

Finance Minister Michael Noonan raised the cost cigarettes by 50c in the Budget on Tuesday. A pack of 20 now costs 11.

Mr Cody said that around 2007 and 2008 the excise increases were 20c or 30c but that was when the cost of a pack of cigarettes was 8.

He said: "50c is starting to become the new 20c", adding that there are obviously "health reasons" for the increases.

Addressing the issue of cigarette smuggling he said that loss to the exchequer from the sale of illegal cigarettes has been put at 194m.

Such cigarettes account for 12pc of the market.

"It's a constant battle between ourselves and the UK to see who has the highest prices. Now with the way Sterling has been going we're probably first again," he added referring to the market fluctuations caused by fears over Brexit.

He said that with a crackdown on fuel laundering here, criminals are moving into cigarette and alcohol smuggling.
Government Ministers will next week voluntarily refuse a 12,000 pay rise, the Dail has been told.

But there is no decision yet on a pro-rata pay rise worth 5,400 for TDs.

Sinn Fein deputy leader Mary Lou McDonald said the Budget had delivered derisory income increases to low-paid workers and the extra 5 weekly welfare increase contrasted starkly with planned pay hikes for politicians.

Once again there is one rule for ordinary families and citizens. Look after Number 1  the others can wait, Ms McDonald said.

But replying for the Government, Education Minister Richard Bruton said he believed politicians must take a lead on the issue of pay restraint.

Mr Bruton said politicians had taken big pay cuts as part of austerity measures  and he confirmed Irish Independent reports today that Ministers will not take 12,000 worth of pay restoration due to be paid up over the coming three years.

The Government will confirm next week that Ministers will not be taking the pay rise, the Education Minister said.

Mr Bruton did not comment on what will happen to a similar pay restoration increase for TDs worth 5,400 over the next two years.

Earlier the Government strongly defended its help-to-buy scheme for first-time homebuyers. Fianna Fails Darragh OBrien said the plan would not help young people trying to get on the property ladder  but it would drive up house prices.

This is not a help to buy scheme. This is a help to sell scheme, Darragh OBrien said.
Ministers' salaries are to be frozen at 157,000 following a huge public backlash, the Irish Independent can reveal.

Public Expenditure Minister Paschal Donohoe is to formally ask Cabinet colleagues in the coming weeks to forego pay restoration.

It follows days of public and political disquiet after it emerged that ministers are due a pay rise of 3,911 on April 1.

Throughout yesterday, ministers, including Mr Donohoe, declined to rule out accepting the money, repeatedly pointing out that their pay is linked to that of senior civil servants.

"Anything involving politicians' pay never looks good, which is why we don't decide how much we're paid and we never should," Social Protection Minister Leo Varadkar said. However, sources confirmed that Mr Donohoe would raise the issue with the Cabinet "imminently".

It is understood that his proposal will only affect ministers, meaning that TDs will still be entitled to their 2,700 pay rise next year.

The Irish Independent has also learned that ministers in the previous government had made a similar agreement but it was not reaffirmed after the General Election. This is despite the fact that nine ministers, including Taoiseach Enda Kenny, remain at the Cabinet table.

Politicians are among the public servants earning over 65,000 who are due to benefit from a clawback of temporary pay cuts that were imposed during the recession. Under the Lansdowne Road Agreement, ministers are to see their pay restored to pre-2013 levels in three tranches between April 2017 and April 2019.

Read more: 'TDs giving themselves a pay-rise is very insensitive' - Ministers forced to answer the tough questions on Budget 2017

Mr Donohoe yesterday refused to rule out ministers getting the pay increase, saying he would "revisit" the issue next year.

However, this process is now set to be expedited and a decision to freeze ministerial pay is likely within weeks.

"It was already agreed by ministers in the last government that they wouldn't take the money but there are newly appointed ministers, so the decision will have to be taken again," said a source.

Former Public Expenditure Minister Brendan Howlin confirmed that the deal had been struck before the election.

"I secured the agreement of all sitting ministers and ministers of State at that time that they would forego benefits they would stand to gain under the Lansdowne Road agreement.

"It remains my view that current ministers should follow the same path," he said.

Mr Donohoe faced a series of questions on political salaries during radio interviews yesterday, with one caller describing the hikes at a time when social welfare payments are going up by just 5 as "very insensitive".

He was asked if his plan to revisit the issue meant that ministers would end up foregoing the increases.

But he replied: "I'm not getting into that yet because all the changes that are happening are not part of the Budget."

Independent TD Michael Fitzmaurice told the Irish Independent he sent an email to the Houses of the Oireachtas last August, saying he does not want the increase to his TD's salary of 87,258. But he was told he would have to wait until March to formally make the request.

Social Democrats co-leader Catherine Murphy described the furore as a "leadership issue", saying she was glad the issue was on the Government agenda "because I think it's an issue on the public's agenda".
With Budget 2017 increasing the price of cigarettes by 50c, Ireland is now one of the most expensive countries in the world to buy tobacco.

At 11 for a packet, Ireland is the second dearest country in Europe to purchase cigarettes  with Norway being the highest at 12.

However, there are some countries in the world where you can get a packet of Marlboro cigarettes for less than 1.

In the Ukraine, you can buy a 20 packet of Marlboro for 0.85 cent, while in Moldova you can get them for 0.95 and in Belarus for 0.94.

Expatistan, the website which compares the cost of living in thousands of cities all over the world, also reveals the price of Marlboro cigarettes in the following countries:

Country Price France 7.00 Malta 5.30 Spain 4.91 Greece 3.96 Poland 3.56 Croatia 3.38 Turkey 3.23 Latvia 3.13 Albania 2.12 Russia 1.61

Irish smokers once again feel hard done by the Budget, with the price of cigarettes increasing by 1 over the last year.

Smokers rights group, Forest Ireland, has come out and said that the only people who benefit from a hike in cigarette prices are criminals.

Their spokesman John Mallon yesterday said:

The price increase is great news for the criminal classes because they will sell more and more tobacco now as a result. Its a product in demand.

In Brussels, the price of 20 cigarettes is 5. In Dublin, its now going to be 11. Were completely out of step with our European counterparts. We have the most expensive cigarettes in the EU. Thats not a boast. The Government should be ashamed of themselves.

He further added that increasing the price will not deter people from smoking.

You could raise the price of a small car to 150k but people would still drive cars. So you can raise the price of cigarettes, and people will still smoke. Its that simple. Health is a private matter between ourselves and our GP. It has nothing to do with the Government, he told the Evening Echo in Cork.
Around 7,500 nurses and midwives are to get pay increments worth 1,500-a-year in a deal aimed at preventing further industrial action.

The Irish Independent understands that Health Minister Simon Harris will today sign-off on the restoration of increments which were stalled during the economic crash.

Graduates who entered the workforce between 2011 and 2015 have claimed that despite being more experienced they are worse off than recent graduates who are entitled to the regular pay increases.

Hundreds of nurses from the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation, the Psychiatric Nurses Association and SIPTU took part protested outside Leinster House last month.

And concern was growing in government circles that they would take their protest to the picket lines along with gardai, who are due to withdraw their services next month in a separate row over pay.

The pay increases were first implemented in 2002, but unilaterally stopped by the Government in 2011.

Until then it was paid to nurses and midwives who complete a 36-week clinical placement or internship as part of their degree course.

Mr Harris is to meet with representative of the nurses and midwives today where it is expected that he will table an offer that would see the increments reintroduced from January.

The Department of Health had previously agreed to reinstate the payments but the Department of Public Expenditure blocked the move. A compromise has now been found.

"There was an anomaly in the pay scale which wasn't fair. Sometime similar was recently done for teachers and young guards," said a source.

They noted that there are considerable problems recruiting and retaining nurses in the Irish health system and further measures would be needed to make nursing and midwifery an attractive career.

"It's a step in the right direction but not a panacea in terms of the problems nurses are facing," a source said.

Meanwhile, the country's largest union has called for a new pay commission to set out a clear timeline to fast-track pay rises for public servants.

Siptu said it wants a new Public Sector Pay Commission to make it clear when 2bn cuts taken during the crash will be fully restored.

Its demands will put further pressure on the government to speed up public service pay rises as rank and file gardai prepare to go on strike next month after demanding full pay restoration.

The Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors will consider joining them in a campaign of industrial action at a meeting next Monday.

Like Siptu, it has signed up to the Lansdowne Road deal, but has since lodged a claim for a 16.5pc pay rise and accused the government of reneging on its side of the deal.

Public Expenditure Minister Paschal Donohoe said during his Budget speech that 290m had been set aside for pay increases agreed under the Lansdowne Road Agreement to restore public sector pay cuts.
Investors and owner-occupiers have an opportunity to acquire a refurbished four-storey over basement property in the heart of Dublin's core Georgian area for 1.8m.

No. 9 Upper Fitzwilliam Street comes with its own separate, two-storey mews facing on to Baggot Court and is being offered for sale by agents Knight Frank.

Situated on the west side of Upper Fitzwilliam Street, close to Fitzwilliam Square, the main house extends to approximately 346 sq m (3,730 sq ft), while the two-storey mews building, which is in office use, measures approximately 91.7 sq m (987 sq ft). The property includes one car parking space.

The property is in good decorative order having been refurbished in 2006. Notwithstanding those works, No. 9 retains a number of its original Georgian features. The majority of the property is in office use, with the third floor currently laid out as a two-bedroom apartment.

The main building is let under four separate leases, with tenants including Lemanik Asset Managers and Red Letter Film. The apartment is let to Ebbable Systems. The basement and first floor return are currently vacant. The mews building is let to Ignition Communications.

The current income of 75,800 per annum reflects a low average rental base of only 21.00 per sq ft. Based on recent lettings, the market rent for the space has the potential to increase to over 120,000 per annum. The 1.8m asking price reflects a rate of 380 per sq ft.

With the exception of the ground and first floors, the existing leases have expired, so there is potential to increase the rents by either negotiating with existing tenants or securing new lettings.

Knight Frank's Adrian Trueick says the property offers a range of opportunities, including the separate sale at some point of the mews building.
What will Armenia lose if it delays ratification of agreement? (video)

Armenia in the Paris agreement of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change is deprived of the right to vote. Today during Towards Marrakech- Armenia on the eve of the 22nd session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 22) of the Convention of Climate Change conference National Coordinator of the project Aram Gabrielyan noted that Armenias deprivation of the right to vote is a temporary phenomenon. It will be restored as soon as Armenia ratifies Paris agreement of the Convention. Why didnt Armenia join the list of the 76 countries that ratified the Paris Agreement in time? Gabrielyan clarified this during the interview with journalists, The UN Secretary-General decided that this year all the countries should have solemnly ratified the agreement on April 22 in New York, but as it was on the eve of April 24, Armenia couldnt be present at the highest-presidential level, he told, noting at the same time that we shouldnt make a tragedy out of it because Armenia will carry an observers role in the Marrakech Climate Change Conference of the Parties. The process of the ratification has already begun. Note that Paris agreement of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change enters into force on November 4 for all those countries which have ratified it. By the Paris agreement all the developed countries of the world will unite to fight climate change. What will Armenia lose if it delays ratification of agreement? Due the Paris agreement the developed countries will take developing countries under their responsibility. If we dont ratify it is up to these countries whether they will bear responsibility or not. Within this process there can be some additional or soft grants, but if the country hasnt still ratified the agreement then there can be some indirect sanctions, noted Mr Gabrielyan.
Chinese property shares took their biggest beating in two weeks after authorities in more than a dozen cities imposed restrictions to curb surging prices during a week-long holiday for the financial markets.

Poly Real Estate Group Co. and Beijing Capital Development Co. lost at least 3.5pc, dragging down a gauge of developers in Shanghai by 1.9pc at the close, the most since September 26.

Shanghai's housing commission is increasing land supply and forbidding price increases in new home pre-sales without approval, as it joined other Chinese cities in a push to ensure the real estate market is stable.

Authorities in both Tier 1 and Tier 2 Chinese cities such as Nanjing, Shenzhen and Fuzhou have recently announced measures to contain house price bubbles, including specific restrictions on mortgage and down-payment policies. Home prices started to take off last year after the government eased curbs on property purchases.

"The plunge is an initial reaction to the property curbs," said Jingyi Pan, a Singapore-based strategist at IG Asia Pte.

"Authorities are keen to tame surging prices, but we are not expecting a tumble as it will not be in their interest. Property share prices may eventually still see a climb, albeit a very slow one."

The latest curbs come after Deutsche Bank Group AG warned last month that China's housing market is in a bubble, while Goldman Sachs Group AG has said it sees growing risks across the real estate industry.

New restrictions, such as higher deposits to limits on the number of homes people can buy, are proving ineffective given the easy access homebuyers have to leverage, according to Wee May Ling, an investment manager at Henderson Global Investors Ltd.

At stake is the government's ability to channel funds trapped by capital controls into investments that can boost the economy without creating asset bubbles.

Speculative buying of commodity futures earlier this year fuelled a boom that quickly unravelled, while a botched intervention to halt plummeting equities dented the credibility of policy makers and riled global markets.

New home sales in Shanghai dropped 44.5pc in September compared to August, while prices rose 5.1pc in the same period.

China's medium and long-term new loans, mostly mortgages, totalled 529bn yuan ($79bn) in August, while aggregate financing jumped to 1.47tn yuan, helping fuel a 39pc jump in property sales by value in the first eight months.

(Bloomberg)
The recovery in world dairy markets will continue to gather pace despite last week's fall in the Global Dairy Trade (GDT) auction, a leading analyst has predicted.

Kevin Bellamy of Rabobank dismissed the 3pc drop in last week's GDT auction as "a one-off event" and forecast that dairy commodity prices would strengthen further.

He said the recovery "still had legs" as it was based on "a shortage of supply rather than growing demand."

The Rabobank analyst pointed out that world production was down 3bn litres compared to last year and that this shortfall in supply would sustain what he termed a "gentle recovery" in prices.

He attributed the 3pc fall in the GDT to the Chinese national festival known as 'golden week', which meant their traders were not buying last week.

Bellamy's views will be welcomed by the farm organisations who were pressing this week for a 2c/l increase in September milk prices.

Boards at the main processors will meet over the next few days to set last month's milk price.

While returns to farmers have increased since July, both ICMSA and IFA were adamant that the improved sentiment on world markets justified a further lift in farm-gate prices.

Gerald Quain, said a substantial price rise for September milk was "a must" and that the ICMSA was seeking a price in excess of 27c/l.

Describing last week's 3pc fall GDT is "a market tweak", Quain pointed out that auction's prices were up over 40pc since March.

IFA's Sean O'Leary agreed that there was scope for a 2c/l price increase on September milk, and urged co-op board members to "pass back fully the rapidly improving dairy market returns."

"EU milk supplies have dipped below last year's level for June (-1.6pc) and July (-1.4pc) and the EU production reduction scheme will probably exacerbate that trend as we go into the back end," O'Leary said.

"This reflects very poor profitability in most countries, with very strong increases in the number of cows culled - up 7.8pc for the first half of the year, and 9.5pc for June alone in the EU," he said.

"EU returns on September 25, as reported by the EU Milk Market Observatory, were 10c/l higher than in early May, at around 35c/l gross for an Irish product mix. After deduction of processing costs, this is equivalent to a farm milk price of 30-31c/l," O'Leary added.

While O'Leary accepted that co-ops had forward sold product at lower prices earlier in the year, he said these contracts were progressively coming to an end, and new contracts would reflect prices closer to current levels.
Two major dairy processors have announced significant increases to the milk prices paid to their suppliers.

Glanbia has announced that it will pay its members 26c/L for September milk supplies.

The Glanbia milk price is inclusive of a 1c/L of support from Glanbia Co-operative to its members.

Glanbia Ingredients Ireland (GII) has increased its base price by 2c/l to 25c/l including VAT for manufacturing milk at 3.6pc fat and 3.3pc protein.

The Glanbia announcement comes on the back of a decision by the board of Lakeland Dairies has also increased its base price by 1c/l bringing its price to 26c/L including VAT.

Dairy market improvement

Henry Corbally, Glanbia chairman, welcomed the recent dairy market improvement and said that Glanbia will continue to monitor markets on a monthly basis.

Irish milk prices have improved significantly in recent months bouncing back from historic lows of 19c/L in mid-summer. The price rise has been attributed to a notable shift in global dairy market sentiment with milk prices improving in across all key dairy producing regions.

Kevin Bellamy of Rabobank dismissed the 3pc drop in last week's Global Dairy Trade auction as "a one-off event" and forecast that dairy commodity prices would strengthen further.

He said the recovery "still had legs" as it was based on "a shortage of supply rather than growing demand."

The Rabobank analyst pointed out that world production was down 3bn litres compared to last year and that this shortfall in supply would sustain what he termed a "gentle recovery" in prices.

He attributed the 3pc fall in the GDT to the Chinese national festival known as 'golden week', which meant their traders were not buying last week.

Boards at other main processors will meet over the next few days to set their October milk price.
Stobart's Irish distribution business - which has lost its contract with Tesco - generated a 3.4m profit on turnover of 36.2m. The firm also paid an 8m dividend to its parent company last year.

Eddie Stobart Logistics lost its Irish distribution contract with Tesco earlier this year to DHL, which has started working on behalf of the retailer from this month. About 150 Eddie Stobart Logistics staff who are assigned to Tesco are expected to have transferred to DHL.

The latest set of published accounts for Stobart (Ireland) are for the 12 months to the end of November, 2015. The previous set of accounts was for a nine-month period in 2014. All of the turnover last year was generated in Ireland.

The business employs just two members of management, and uses a subsidiary firm - Stobart (Ireland) Driver Services - to buy driver services for its vehicles. It paid 10.2m for those services last year.

The latest set of accounts for the driver services firm show that it had about 211 employees at the end of November last year, compared to 230 in the prior financial period.

In 2014, Stobart announced a deal to sell a 51pc stake of Eddie Stobart Logistics, the holding company for its transport and distribution unit. It valued the business at 280m. The stake was sold to William Stobart and Isle of Man investment firm DouglasBay Capital.
The alternative to Skype is expected to be here within two years

Google still anticipates launching its voice telephony product in Europe "within the next two years", according to the Ireland-based subsidiary that oversees the service.

Google Voice - an alternative to Skype - has been available in the United States for a number of years, but the rollout in Europe has been delayed by the tech giant's management team.

Google has been saying for the past four years that it would launch its telephony product within two years in Europe.

It originally planned to deploy it in Europe in 2010 then rolled that date back to 2011, and then 2012 before seemingly putting it off indefinitely.

For the planned 2012 launch, it had intended to roll out Google Voice (Lite), which is a voicemail replacement and international calls product.

It also planned to deploy the full version of Google Voice, which as with the US version, would allocate a telephone number to users to make and receive calls, and receive SMS messages.

It was also intended that Google Voice SMB would be launched, which is Google Voice adapted for companies and sold as an additional feature of GoogleApps. Google said in 2011 that it intended trialling the service in Europe the following year.

However, one Google executive had publicly stated that legislative concerns related to telephony services were an issue.

In 2012 the project was put on ice and has remained there ever since.

"Google Voice anticipates launching these products in Europe within the next two years," it notes in the latest set of accounts for the business that have just been filed in Ireland.

"This launch time frame has been extended from prior years as a result of management's decision to delay the launch in the European market," the accounts note.

However, since 2012, Google has said that it intended to launch Google Voice in Europe within the next two years or so.

Google acquired phone management system GrandCentral in 2007 for over $50m and was rebranded as Google Voice in 2009.

Apart from simply being able to make calls from a variety of devices using the system, users can also avail of voicemail, text messaging, conference calling, call screening, and voice transcription to text of voicemail messages.
In June 2013, Fab.com's chief executive officer, Jason Goldberg, pictured, arrived at the Bloomberg Television studios in New York, ready to spread the gospel of quirky home decor.

Fab sold Texas-shaped coffee tables, necklaces with expletive pendants, cardboard lion heads, and other unique items, and investors loved it. Goldberg had raised hundreds of millions of dollars, and the latest round of venture capital valued Fab at $1bn.

Back then, a 10-figure valuation placed you in rare air, but Goldberg wasn't satisfied: He wanted to be bigger.

"There are currently four e-commerce companies that are worth more than $10bn - Amazon, Rakuten in Japan, Alibaba in China, and eBay. And we think Fab has a good chance of being the fifth one," he told Bloomberg. "We have more money than we need right now to run Fab well into the future."

But Goldberg had raised only about half of what he needed. Soon after his televised brag, Bloomberg published my story about troubling cracks in the business - revenue shortfalls, a revolving door of executives, low morale - and it was even harder for Goldberg to get cash from investors.

The turmoil that followed was well chronicled: round after round of job cuts, departures of executives, including Goldberg's co-founder, and, in 2015, the sale of what was left of the brand to Irish businessman Liam Casey's PCH. The selling price was rumoured to be around $15m.

Now Goldberg is back, with something new to sell. He's set to launch Pepo, a consumer messaging company. This time, he says on the first episode of the Decrypted podcast, things won't get as crazy. Fab's crash is a cautionary tale for any startup that relies on selling things directly to consumers. Flush with venture capital, startups use it to afford marketing or steep discounts for their customers, which help them grow - but it can't last forever.

The current startup landscape - with more than 150 companies valued at more than $1bn -is peppered with e-commerce companies yet to prove their business models.

In the larger startup landscape, enthusiasm for some of the unicorns has started to fade. Some of them are taking on debt, some laying off staff. Goldberg is well-equipped to tell those bosses what may come next: rounds of lay-offs that aren't enough, rifts between co-founders, and a sell-off of assets.

"Don't ever allow yourself to slip into thinking, 'We figured it out,' or you risk losing it all," Goldberg said. "If you are ambitious and if you grow your company fast, this will be your own personal epic battle. It is very hard to remain humble when you are piloting a rocket ship. It is very hard to remain humble when the world is telling you: You are winning."

Silicon Valley is a place where people like to talk about failure. Posters at Facebook's headquarters urge employees to "fail fast, fail often," and countless entrepreneurs on Medium who drone on about their shortcomings also preach that ultimately, to win big, you have to take risks. But failure isn't always a quick stop on the way to success. Sometimes it's final.

Goldberg and his best friend, Bradford Shellhammer, launched Fab in 2011 and sold $20m worth of merchandise in their first six months. The early problems were good ones to have. Sometimes, demand outstripped supply, and a lot of manufacturers were small and inexperienced. Some presents people ordered didn't arrive in time for Christmas 2011, so Fab paid for similar things on Amazon, just so there would be something under the tree (with the original gift still en route).

Fab sped up shipping, but it wasn't cheap as the company bought warehouses. Meanwhile, Goldberg and his investors were encouraged by how enthusiastic people seemed to be about the products, so they started spending to expand more. They had a $30m marketing budget in 2013. The customers flooded in, but not in the way he expected. They would see an ad and make a purchase, and then never come back.

Since Fab, there's been a deeper focus among investors on understanding the unit economics of startup businesses - how much the company makes from every item sold, according to Kirthy Kalyanam, who teaches marketing at Santa Clara University. Fab was badly positioned because it was selling a product people don't need regularly, so it costs a lot to acquire and retain customers through marketing.

"Some of these people invest thinking that the founder has some magic, that he can think about it in a way that nobody understands," Kalayanam said, noting that Fab had some high-profile investors -Andreessen Horowitz, Menlo Ventures. "Why did it take so long for investors to figure it out? That's the effect of a charismatic founder."

Now Goldberg isn't focused on being as big as Amazon and Alibaba. He started Pepo with $1m of his own money, and he's going to be careful not to take anything for granted, he said.

"I've had people ask me: How do I know Pepo is going to be successful?" Goldberg said. "I don't know if Pepo is going to be successful. Now I just think: We're going to build a good product." (Bloomberg)
Yahoo has been getting a lot of attention lately for its failures to protect personal information. What's perhaps more remarkable, though, is how little privacy American internet users demand.

First came news that hackers stole personal data on more than 500 million Yahoo users. Now the company is dealing with reports that it helped the US Justice Department conduct mass surveillance by scanning email traffic for signs of a terrorist organisation. One has to wonder: When Verizon finally completes its planned acquisition of Yahoo, will there be any users left to acquire?

Yet if there's one thing Americans value more than freedom, it's free stuff. Thanks to decades of conditioning, people have this notion that online services - email, news, porn, search engines - should be available without charge, like Yahoo. The employees of internet companies are magically compensated in starlight and dreams, so everything they produce should be gratis.

The unfortunate truth is that internet companies need revenue. And if users don't want to pay, that revenue has to come from advertisers. Yahoo, Google, Facebook, Snapchat and Twitter all make money by selling ads. It's not an easy business model. Online advertising is a highly competitive market with low barriers to entry; all it takes is an app and a paying advertiser.

Cutthroat competition has led platforms to differentiate themselves with targeted advertising - the ability to show ads relevant to a user's interests. Effective targeting means collecting as much personal data as possible.

As a result, we have "free" email products that scan message contents, "free" news sites that track us all over the internet, and "free" search engines that display ads based on our queries as well as our browsing history.

US phone giant Verizon acquired AOL, and plans to acquire Yahoo, not for the ageing user base but for the ad technology. You know how advertisers display creepy retargeted ads based on the sites you visit? Verizon now has the ability to add cellular location information to bring that delightful experience into the physical world.

Users might complain that invasive advertising is a violation of privacy, but online service providers don't promise any privacy. In fact, Yahoo explicitly states the opposite in its Privacy Policy: "Yahoo analyses and stores all communications content, including email content from incoming and outgoing email."

Yahoo scans all of its e-mail traffic. Not just to filter out malware and illegal stuff, but also to deliver targeted advertising. So monitoring emails for terrorist communications wouldn't be much different from what it already does.

Situations like this led the European Commission to adopt new data protection laws. Europeans take the protection of personal data seriously, a view no doubt influenced by memories of the Gestapo, Stasi, Estado Novo, Francoist Spain, and Italian Fascism. Continental Europe understandably has very well-founded fears of a surveillance state.

In the US, people seem to care more about freedom from excessive legislation. Data privacy is left largely to the market, the idea being that consumers will allocate their attention to service providers that respect their privacy needs. In practice, the relationship is highly asymmetric: Nobody reads company privacy policies, and companies are exceptionally vague in describing their reach.

Apple was held up as an exemplar of civil liberties when it fought the US Justice Department's order to help the FBI unlock an iPhone. It was able to extract itself from the order largely because the technology to break into a user's phone did not exist. Apple has a strong history of protecting the privacy of its customers, but it is also in the unique position of having convinced people to pay for its products. Most internet service providers don't have this luxury.

Before resigning, Yahoo's chief information security officer, Alex Stamos, pushed for the company to adopt end-to-end encryption.

This would have made it impossible for third parties to eavesdrop on user communications.

It didn't happen. Apparently, protecting emails was not a priority for a company whose business model depends in part on searching and indexing them so it can target advertising.

Non-paying users should realise that they are not customers. They are products that internet companies sell to advertisers. No one wants to be treated as a commodity, but businesses need money to feed their employees and pay the rent. The technology that makes online services free and convenient just happens to be the same technology that enables mass surveillance.

Yahoo is by no means the worst offender. Google states: "Our automated systems analyse your content (including emails) to provide you personally relevant product features, such as customized search results, tailored advertising and spam and malware detection. We may combine personal information from one service with information, including personal information, from other Google services."

Here's Facebook: "We collect the content and other information you provide when you use our Services, including when you sign up for an account, create or share, and message or communicate with others.

"This can include information in or about the content you provide, such as the location of a photo or the date a file was created." (Bloomberg)
The lads from Roscommon have found a replacement groom to take on their stag-do in Poland.

The lads had planned an epic stag-do in Poland this weekend but they were missing a groom after their friend pulled out of the trip following an accident.

Determined to find a suitable replacement for their pal, they took out an ad in DoneDeal to find the perfect match.

Flights, hotel and beer were all included for the bargain price of 100 but there was one condition: the new groom must be "fit, healthy and good craic" and answer to the name of "Eamo".

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On Thursday, the groom revealed on The Anton Savage Show, that the lads had been successful in their quest.

Eamon Melia from Portlaoise answered the call and will be heading to Krakow with the lads tomorrow, replacing the real groom, Brian 'Eamo' Larkin (he wouldn't reveal why he's called Eamo, in case you're wondering, we were just told it's a "long story").

"I thought I would be OK for the stag, but unfortunately the doctor told me I cant fly for six weeks  so I put it up on the Whatsapp group yesterday that I couldnt go and Mike Leech, my groomsman, thought it would be a bit of craic to put up the ad looking for a replacement Eamo," Brian told Today FM listeners.

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Then the new recruit got on air to explain how he got involved in the stag-do.

"I seen it there last night, I was sitting around with a few friends just flicking through Faceboook and I seen it shared on DoneDeal. We were laughing about it thinking that would be hilarious so I said Id actually ring the number on it and see if it was a piss take or not," he said.

"So I rang it up and got through to Brian and he put me through to the best man and things started moving very quickly and now you know it Im on a flight tomorrow with all the boys.

"Ill be meeting 24 lads tomorrow morning [Friday] in Dublin Airport that Ive never met before in my life. Have a few pints and head to Krakow with them."

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But Brian reassured the new Eamo that he was going to have plenty of fun with his mates but warned him that they are absolute headers.

And on Sunday, they lads have arranged new Eamo to meet old Eamo, when they return from Krakow.

Sounds like quite the weekend...
S. Farmanyan: Ergodan is trying to emulate Stalin (video)

Turkish democracy has been challenged again on July 15. The military coup detat was failed this time and much has been said about that bloody night in Turkey. Overthrowing of a democratically elected government through military coup is a devil for any democracy and Turkish people saved the germs of democracy decisively. However, what happened in Turkey afterwards is a clear drawback from its democratic track and can be coined as counter-coup: widespread arrests, illegal punishments, extended detentions and mistreatment of thousands of suspects including journalists and intellectuals, crackdown of media and civil society, witch-hunt in all state institutions across the country, prolonged state of emergency regime etc. The voices claiming reintroduction of death penalty in Turkey is another strong signal to Strasbourg and Brussels. It could even be argued that there is not much difference what the perpetrators of the military coup did in 1980 and what Erdogan has carried out recently. News coming from Turkey reminds me of horror and nightmare of Stalin era: Millions of people living even in remote villages of Soviet Union were officially accused to be agents of western imperialism and were jailed or killed. Today President Ergodan is trying to emulate Stalin putting Gulen movement instead of western imperialism. Thousands of people are accused to be followers of the so called Gulen movement while no one frames it clearly what this movement is about and how hundreds of thousands of people became engaged in this movement in a country where almost everything is controlled by state institutions. Whatever Foreing Miniser Chavushoglu said here yesterday, the situation behind the curtains in Turkey is quite obvious: Ergogan is trying to consolidate more power in his hands building an unprecedented autocratic regime and the voiced changes to the Constitution is another prove of that intention. Moreover, increasing engagement in Syria, manipulation over the fight against terrorist organizations within and outside of Turkey, challenging Lausanne Treaty, unwillingness to de-blockade illegally closed border with Armenia and powerful support to Azerbaijan in Nagorno Karabakh peace process are clear signs of his increasing neo-ottoman ambitions putting millions of Syrian refugees in parallel to be political hostages in the hands of Erdogan to blackmail Europe. Colleagues, discussion of Turkish democracy today means discussion of security in tomorrows Europe and in its neighborhood. We are a political body and our response should be political. What else should Erdogan do to push us to put Turkey back on a monitoring track? Thank you.
Kathleen Watkins with grandchildren Sadhbh, Saoirse, Kate, Harry and Cian and husband Gay Byrne at the launch of her new childrens book Pigin of Howth at The National Gallery of Ireland. Picture:Brian McEvoy

At the tender age of 82, Kathleen Watkins has unveiled her new book, 'Pigin of Howth'.

Kathleen arrived at the launch with her husband Gay Byrne, who says he is getting used to playing second fiddle. "Everyone is ignoring me and I am grumpy," Gay joked.

Kathleen began working on the book three years ago and said it was written over "plenty of buttered scones and pots of tea".

Ryan Tubridy launched the children's book in Dublin's National Gallery. "This is a beautiful book by a beautiful woman," Tubridy told the crowd.

The colourful book tells the adventures of a mannerly pig who gallivants around Howth with his close pals Sammy the Seal, the Badger of Ballsbridge and Nanakit.
Tom Hanks didn't mince his words when criticising Donald Trump's obscene remarks.

The actor slammed the Republican presidential candidate and his comments condoning sexual assault from a leaked 2005 conversation with former Access Hollywood presenter Billy Bush.

In the audio, Trump can be heard making a number of sexist and offensive comments before boasting that when you have reached a certain level of fame you can do anything [..] grab them [women] by the p***y. You can do anything.

He was at work, man. He wasnt in a locker room, Hanks said, referencing Trump's response to the comments as "locker room talk"

He was at work. He was showing up to do a thing on camera. Look, Im offended as a man. Im not offended as a husband or a father. Im offended as a guy."

Getting increasingly agitated, he added, Thats just not right, Im sorry. Its not right at work, its not right in the locker room. Its wrong, period. The end. Thats all.

Hanks previously spoke about Trumps candidacy with Sky News in April. The actor said he believed the GOP candidate would become president right about the time spaceships come down filled with dinosaurs in red capes.
David McWilliams talks to Chief Economics Commentator of the Financial Times, Martin Wolf

David McWilliams talks to one of Donald Trumps most vocal supporters; political commentator and author Ann Coulter.

David McWilliams on the ground in New York. McWilliams was in New York to talk to Ann Coulter and Martin Wolf about the US election and Trump's chances of winning.

David McWilliams returns to TV3 on Sunday afternoons with his current affairs show Agenda and the first episode features some very high-profile guests.

This Sunday's show focuses on the US presidential election and McWilliams will be speaking to one of Donald Trump's most vocal supporters, Fox News correspondent and author of the book, In Trump We Trust, Ann Coulter.

She'll be discussing Trump's immigration policies and explaining why they're popular with American voters.

Speaking to McWiilliams from New York, she said: The media will not mention immigration but go to one of his rallies and the crowd starts chanting build the wall tens of thousands of people chanting build the wall. That is what its about.

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And she thinks the proposal to build a wall is feasible: Of all the things hes proposed; number one  its the easiest. Theres no question that there is going to be a wall [dividing Mexico] if Trump is elected president. Hes a builder, thats why hes running.

They also discuss Trump's proposal to ban Muslims, with Coulter admitting she'd back it but take it one step further.

Id ban everybody for a while," she said.

"But yeah, thats one of Trumps most appealing policies. The media can keep screaming hes Hitler but its very popular with voters!

This isnt about race. Its an immigration issue. Thus, for example, who else is a big problem? The Russian immigrantsand I believe they are white. Only someone as utterly boisterous course and tacky as Donald Trump would have the balls to raise the issues hes raising.

McWilliams also sits down with chief economics commentator of the Financial Times, Martin Wolf, and discusses the fallout on global economics if Trump were to be elected.

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"Globalisation starts shrinking, trade starts shrinking, capital flow shrinks, financial globalisation goes into reverse and there are also conflicts, possibly with China, Russia probably becomes more encroaching, Europe becomes less stable," said Wolf.

"The whole global system feels less stable and less open and dynamic.

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Agenda starts this Sunday at 12pm on TV3.
Gogglebox Ireland returns tonight to TV screens and, once again, the families have plenty to say about the outfit choices of some of the nation's favourite celebrities.

Not an episode has gone by where the amateur armchair reviewers of Gogglebox Ireland haven't passed a remark on a celebrity's appearance. In the first episode Sharon Ni Bheolain looks well, was a recurring theme. Miriam OCallaghan looked well too.

In tonights episode the show opens on Winning Steak and much-loved host Sinead Kennedy sparks controversy in the households with her choice of clothing, wearing a two-piece tartan suit.

The Gruffertys from Kildare are having none of her daring outfit choice, with mum Laura saying: Its a little bit OTT for Winning Streak, she must be going to Coppers.

Sinead, who'd been watching the show and heard the comments, couldn't resist sending a tweet to set the record straight: "Just so y'all know I didn't actually end up in Copper's last Saturday night."

The families found it hard to stomach a BBC documentary on parenting style, Britain's Secrets with Anne Robinson. The documentary featured a 42-year-old mother who still breastfeeds her three-year-old son.

The Cabra girls, minus Ashley, who is away in Rome on holidays, were disgusted and almost gagged on their tea.

A horrified Jamie commented: Oh my god, Stop it. Hes too big for that. Hes only short of collecting the labour.

Line of the series so far contender! "He's only short of collecting the labour..." brilliant from Jamie! #CabraGirls #GoggleboxIRL pic.twitter.com/N0NyaeCBbd  TV3 (@TV3Ireland) October 13, 2016

But it took an emotional turn when the families watched BBC documentary, True North: My Wig & Me, on the impact of hair loss on cancer patients.

There wasn't a dry eye in the houses as the documentary showed a brave young girl called Emily who has leukaemia. Thats after tearing lumps out of me, said Tracie, from the Liberties in Dublin, with tears running down her face.
A 22-year-old man was sitting on a wall chatting with friends when a hooded gunman approached on a bicycle and shot him three times, a jury at the Central Criminal Court was told yesterday.

James 'Jimmy' Lammon (44) of Cardington Way, Athy, Co Kildare has pleaded not guilty to the murder of Jason Doogue (22) in the Greenhills area of Athy on August 21, 2015.

Opening the murder trial today, prosecution barrister Kerida Naidoo SC said there is little doubt that Mr Doogue was murdered and that the prosecution's intention is to prove beyond reasonable doubt that James Lammon was the gunman responsible.

Outlining the circumstances of the young man's death, he said Mr Doogue was sitting on a wall with a group of friends outside a house in Greenhills at about 5pm when a person wearing a balaclava and a hooded garment approached on a bike.

He said the person then took a gun from the waistband of his trousers and shot Mr Doogue twice in quick succession. He said it appeared the gun had a silencer attached. The 22-year-old tried to escape by moving towards the house, he said, but the gunman came closer and shot him once more in the back.

The gunman then left the scene on the same bike on which he had arrived.

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Mr Naidoo said: "The Prosecution says the accused man was the man on the bicycle."

He then told the jury that they are the judges of facts in the case, and the burden of proof lies with the prosecution.

The trial will continue tomorrow in front of the jury and Mr Justice Paul Butler.
A BENCH warrant has been issued for the arrest of Independent TD Clare Daly - but the Independent TD has said it will be sorted.

The warrant relates to an alleged speeding offence in Newbridge in Kildare, and was issued at Naas District Court earlier today.

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Ms Daly is currently in Leinster House where she is attending a meeting Oireachtas Agriculture Committee.

Speaking after the committee meeting, Ms Daly said she had received the summons for motoring offences "out of the blue" last week.

She attended Naas District Court this morning but on finding that she was number 188 out of 188 cases, she left the court because she was anxious to attend the committee meeting which was discussing the Horse Racing Ireland affairs.

However she stressed that a solicitor had remained to represent her on her behalf.

"I'll have to go again," she said, explaining that she will have to attend court on another date.

"We'll sort that out," she said.

Ms Daly said she had then received a text from her solicitor while in the agricultural committee meeting.

Asked if she was shocked, she said: "I was more interested in Horse Racing Ireland - there was more shock in that."

She is among a number of TDs and senators questioning the chairperson of Horse Racing Ireland Joe Keeling about the controversial appointment of their CEO Brian Kavanagh.

She added that the issuing of the warrant was a "distraction"

Judge Desmond Zaidan issued the warrant.
A man has been arrested in connection with the seizure of a loaded pistol.

Acting on foot of directions received from the Office of The Director of Public Prosecutions, Gardai from the Garda National Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau arrested a man in connection with a gun seizure in Walkinstown.

The male charged in connection with the investigation is 34 years old.

The incident occurred on June 18 of this year at Walkinstown Avenue, Dublin 12.

During the course of this search a loaded pistol was recovered.

The man is due to appear in Dublin District Court this morning in respect of this arrest.
Judge: "The effect it had on the girl was absolutely shocking"

A man (44) exposed his penis to a "shocked and upset" 19-year-old in McDonald's after ordering a breakfast meal from her.

At Ennis District Court, Insp Tom Kennedy said that Doolin guest house owner Stephen Gillam told gardai that he exposed himself to the girl at the McDonald's drive-in in Ennis "for the thrill of it and to see the reaction of the lady".

In the mid-morning incident on June 7 last, Mr Gillam of Glasha, Doolin, ordered a double sausage meal with extra hash brown, extra sausage and milk.

Mr Gillam placed his breakfast order from his car to a member of staff at the drive-in and was asked to park further along the line and wait for the staff member to bring him his food.

Insp Kennedy said that when the female member of staff went out to give Mr Gillam his food at around 9.50am "he had the zip of his trousers open and had his penis exposed to her in the car".

Insp Kennedy said that the worker was shocked and upset and reported the incident to her manager.

Insp Kennedy said that Mr Gillam has no previous convictions but has come to the attention of the gardai.

In the case, Mr Gillam pleaded guilty to engaging in threatening or abusive behaviour under the Public Order Act.

Judge Patrick Durcan described the incident as "very bad" adding "the effect it had on the girl was absolutely shocking".

He said it was "an unusual case".

However, Mr Gillam yesterday walked away from court without any criminal sanction after Judge Durcan said that he would strike out the case if Mr Gillam paid 1,500 into the court poor box.

Judge Durcan said that he was making this order due to the early guilty plea, Mr Gilliam's age and having no previous convictions, his co-operation with gardai and the DPP bringing a public order charge in relation to the incident.

Solicitor for Mr Gillam, John Casey said that the charge before the court was "very, very serious".

Mr Casey that Mr Gillam wished to apologise to the girl and wished her no harm whatsoever. "This wasn't a crime with a sexual intent or of a sexual nature. It was a crime designed to cause shock and embarrassment to the individual involved," he said.

In reply, Judge Durcan said: "I don't follow and I cannot accept that there is no sexual aspect to this."

Mr Casey said that Mr Gillam runs a guesthouse in Doolin where he lives with his girlfriend and parents.

He said: "This incident has caused Mr Gillam great embarrassment and he hasn't slept since. Nothing like this will ever, ever re-occur. He is not trying to downplay what he did and accepts the stress that it would have caused to this girl."

Judge Durcan adjourned the case to November 23 for the payment of the 1,500.
One of the seven people on trial charged with murdering 20-year-old Dale Creighton has pleaded guilty to violent disorder on the footbridge where the deceased was assaulted, a court has heard.

A witness also told the jury that he saw a knife in Mr Creighton's hand that morning.

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Dale Creighton died on January 2, 2014, about two days after an incident at the footbridge over the Tallaght bypass between Saint Dominic's Road and Greenhills Road.

Jason Beresford (23), with an address at Coill Diarmuida, Ard a' Laoi, Castledermot, Co Kildare went on trial with six others on Tuesday.

The woman and six men, who are in their 20s and from Tallaght, all pleaded not guilty to murder when arraigned before the Central Criminal Court last week. Each of the accused also pleaded not guilty to violent disorder at the footbridge that New Year's Day.

However, when the jury arrived to court yesterday morning, Mr Beresford's barrister, Micheal O'Higgins SC, asked that his client be rearraigned on the second count against him.

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Read more: Man charged with murdering Dale Creighton pleads guilty to violent disorder

Dressed in a grey suit and shirt and a navy tie, Mr Beresford stood up and pleaded guilty to violent disorder on January 1, 2014.

Ms Justice Deirdre Murphy told the jury that one of the counts had been disposed of and that the trial would proceed as normal.

Also charged with both offences are 23-year-old Aisling Burke and 28-year-old David Burke, both with a current address at Beechpark, Collinstown, Co Westmeath; Graham Palmer (26), with a current address at Park Avenue, Portarlington, Co Laois; Ross Callery (23), currently of Gortlum Cottages, Brittas, Co Dublin; James Reid (26) currently of Glen Aoibhinn, Gorey, Co Wexford; and Gerard Stevens (27), currently of Grosvenor Square, Rathmines in Dublin.

Witness Carl O'Leary told the court that he was on his way to get a taxi in Tallaght village some time after 3am, when he heard a commotion.

"I vaguely remember someone running past me," he recalled. "I just remember someone saying, 'Grab him. He robbed our phone,'" he testified. "I recall seeing James Reid and Ross Callery."

He said there were others, but didn't know who they were.

Mr O'Leary said that he began running down the Tallaght bypass and towards the footbridge.

He continued: "I remember seeing Mr Creighton on the bridge. I didn't know him at the time."

Under cross-examination by Brendan Grehan SC, defending Ms Burke, he agreed that he had put two and two together when he saw the person running and heard the shout about the phone. He didn't recall stopping and backing away from the man he was chasing, but identified himself doing so in CCTV footage. He said that somebody in a hoodie ran past him and he returned to his girlfriend.

Mr O'Leary said in court that he hadn't seen the knife when he backed away from the man, but had done so because he had run at him.

He confirmed to Ciaran O'Loughlin SC, defending James Reid, that he later saw Dale Creighton with a knife, but said he hadn't seen his client take the knife from him.

The trial continues before six men and six women.
FAILURES to finalise details of a fixed-term job contract led to the Horse Racing Ireland (HRI) boss getting an unprecedented third term in his 191,000 per year job.

Brian Kavanagh, chief executive of HRI, will have served 19 years in the post when his extended term expires in 2021 despite government rules fixing a seven-year term. HRI chairman, Joe Keeling apologised to the Dail agriculture committee for his boards mishandling the appointment procedures .

There have been errors  but no wrongdoing. There was no attempt to mislead the Minister and the Government, the chairman of the Keeling food group said.

Independents4Change TD Clare Daly said the 19-year term could only be compared with practices in North Korea  or the Olympic Council of Ireland.

Board member, Meta Osborne, also a member of the HRI remuneration committee, said they were furnished with two legal opinions which warned that Brian Kavanagh potentially had a Contract of Indeterminate Duration (CID). They contemplated seeking a third legal opinion but decided against this.

Fine Gael TD Michael DArcy said that in practice once a fixed-term contract was not finalised or renewed it automatically became a permanent contract with strong legal stipulations. But none of the three board members attending the committee could say precisely when this contractual change had happened.

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Labour TD, Willie Penrose, who is also a barrister, said the best county manager was appointed for a seven-year term and only after great pleading might eventually secure one three-year extension. He said Mr Kavanagh was first appointed in 2001 for seven years and that term was up for extension in 2008.

Mr Penrose said efforts to deal with contract extension dragged into 2011 but were never concluded due to dispute over outstanding issues. These included a stipulation that Mr Kavanagh should have no job of any kind at HRI once that second term expired in 2016.

The Labour agriculture spokesman said that the HRI board had failed in 2011. You were left holding the baby, Mr Penrose said  adding that he also accepted Mr Keeling was chairing HRI voluntarily without any payment.

Deputy Penrose said it was important to keep personalities out of the issue. He accepted that Mr Kavanagh was highly qualified and experienced  but it was far-fetched to say a planned major redevelopment of the Curragh Racecourse could not happen without him heading HRI.
Coffee shop and dairy drinks, some of which can have as many as 25 spoons of sugar, are to escape the Governments planned sugar tax. GETTY

Coffee shop and dairy drinks, some of which can have as many as 25 spoons of sugar, are to escape the Government's planned sugar tax.

The tax, which will come into effect in April 2018, will be imposed only on fizzy drinks with more than 5g of sugar per 100ml.

The Department of Finance, which estimates it could raise as much as 202m from the anti-obesity measure, said it will be based on the volume of sugar in the soft drink.

It applies only to pre-packaged products in bottles and cans - but it will exclude dairy-based sugar-sweetened drinks or sweetened cafe coffees.

However, some of the these cafe chain drinks, such as the Starbucks Hot Mulled Fruit-Grape with Chai, can have as much as 25 teaspoons of sugar. That is more than three times the recommended maximum adult daily intake of sugar.

All the major cafe chains have said they aim to reduce the sugar content in their drinks by 2020.

If the eventual tax here is imposed at the highest rate, it could see a two-litre bottle of fizzy drinks, currently costing an estimated 2, levied with an extra tax of around 1.20.

But many remain sceptical that the measure will curb the nation's sweet tooth, although campaigners insist that the tax will at least raise awareness about the risks of consuming too much sugar.

The Department of Finance consultation document on the tax, which is inviting submissions until January, also pointed out that the UK will bringing in the same levy in April 2018.

It said this removes concerns here that an Irish tax would encourage cross-border shopping in Northern Ireland.

The taxes need to be set at similar levels .

Sugar-sweetened foods are excluded.

It said that to minimise the compliance burden on taxpayers and ensure administrative efficiency, liability to pay the tax will fall at the earliest point of the distribution chain.

It means that the tax will be limited to a number of traders who are manufacturers and importers of sugar-sweetened drinks.

The hope is that it will force the makers of soft drinks to invest in reformulation to reduce sugar content.

But this process is expensive, and the tax will cost companies, the beverage industry warns.
A Navy submarine which towed a fishing trawler at speed through the Irish Sea endangered the lives of the crew, inspectors said.

The Karen was trailed backwards at seven knots in April 2015 after the sub snagged in its nets 15 miles from Ardglass - one of Northern Ireland's main fishing ports in the south east.

Commanders were unaware of the collision until three hours later after they failed to realise they were passing beneath a fishing vessel with nets rather than a merchant cargo or passenger ship, the Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) report said.

Steve Clinch, chief inspector of marine accidents, said: "Eighteen months ago, the actions of the command team of a Royal Navy submarine placed the lives of the crew of the trawler Karen in danger.

"Regrettably, the reluctance of the Royal Navy to fully engage in the subsequent investigation resulted in this report taking significantly longer to deliver than would normally be the case.

"The accident happened because of insufficient passage planning by the submarine's command team and their failure to follow guidance on fishing vessel avoidance.

"Had its trawl warps not parted, it is almost inevitable that Karen would have capsized and sunk; the collision also presented a very significant risk to the submarine."

Part of the prawn trawler's deck had to be lifted and another section was ripped off but the four crew escaped unharmed.

Mr Clinch said lessons learnt after the sinking of a trawler in 1990 had been lost.

"As a result, it is now important that the Royal Navy reviews its procedures and training for the safe conduct of dived submarine operations in the same vicinity as vessels engaged in fishing.

"By its actions, the Royal Navy also needs to rebuild trust with the fishing industry."

The Karen's crew managed to release net equipment but the accident caused it to heel heavily to port and its stern was submerged.

The report said: "Evidence of the collision on board the submarine was either not observed or misinterpreted."

It said the accident occurred because the submarine's command team detected no noise of trawling.

"The submarine was at a depth where it could, if necessary, pass safely beneath a merchant vessel, therefore the command team would not have perceived any risk of collision; as a result, no avoiding action was taken.

"The submarine's command team had assessed that the majority of shipping contacts in the area were merchant vessels.

"However, most were actually trawlers; this was predictable and should have been identified as a significant risk to the safety of the submarine and other vessels when preparing the submarine's passage plan.

"Had the submarine's command team appreciated the high density of fishing vessels and then followed Royal Navy guidance on fishing vessel avoidance, the accident would have been avoided because the submarine would have been slowed down and returned to periscope depth when the density of shipping increased."

The Navy is understood to have expressed readiness to pay compensation and is in correspondence with those affected.

A Royal Navy spokesperson said: "We have expressed our regret and remain sorry for the incident and delay in confirming our involvement.

"We've revised our procedures to reduce the risk that such an incident could happen again.

"We're reviewing the report's recommendations and continue to work closely with the maritime community to maximise safety."
Police are investigating reports of people jumping in front of cars in relation to the so-called 'creepy clown' craze.

It happened just before midnight in the Malone House area of Belfast in Co. Antrim last night.

Police spoke to two people in relation to the incident and enquiries are ongoing.

The 'creepy clown' craze has been sweeping the globe with people dressing up to scare members of the public

Fancy dress shops have been asked not to sell clown costumes to anyone they think might be a prankster amid the ongoing "killer clown" craze.

In response, the PSNI has issued warnings on Twitter that while 'killer clown' costumes are not illegal, crimes could still be committed, such as common assault - any act which intentionally or recklessly causes another to fear immediate, unlawful violence.
Brendan Keenan: 'Better laws and foreign money needed to overcome worrying homes shortage'

There is a district in Belfast known as the Holy Land. Not because of its religiosity, but because the streets - Jerusalem Street, Damascus Street and so on - are called after places in that region. Once, there were others; Little Crimea, India, and so on. Seemingly, houses were built so quickly for the city's huge expansion in the 19th century that it was too much trouble to think up original names. They eventually gave up altogether, so far as names were concerned. The Shankill area got First Street, Second Street etc, all the way up to Tenth.
The decision by the Minister for Justice Frances Fitzgerald to ignore the clamour from certain quarters in the media and political world advocating the arbitrary dismissal of Garda Commissioner Noirin O'Sullivan must be welcomed by people who espouse the values of fairness and due process.

The minister has demonstrated impartiality and rationality in appointing retired High Court Judge Iarfhlaith O'Neill to carry out a review of the recent allegations of a smear campaign bid against a serving officer with the approval of senior Garda management.

The accusations are contained in a protected disclosure provided to Ms Fitzgerald by the whistleblowers.

The inquiry will take a mere six weeks and will, no doubt, be speedy but thorough. Then the outcome can be dealt with in a measured way. I have no doubt but that the Commissioner will cooperate fully with the inquiry and therefore there is no need for a lynching or for her to 'step aside'.

The Commissioner was in an invidious position when the allegations were initially reported. Firstly, the allegations were quite vague and, secondly, she was not given the opportunity to put forward a response. In fact, she is precluded by legislation from doing just that.

It is a fundamental tenet of our legal system that individuals are given an opportunity to respond to any allegations.

Moreover, this is profoundly relevant and adhered to in employment law. So it is amazing that politicians belonging to parties who have for decades advocated and campaigned for civil rights for themselves, seek to deny those rights to others and use Dail privilege to make all sorts of accusations and calls for resignations. It seems to be a feature of left-wing ideology.

So Justice O'Neill will rectify this and ensure fair procedures.

Ms O'Sullivan has said she was "not privy to nor approved of any action designed to target any Garda employee" with a further reiteration that any Garda members who raise concerns "will be taken seriously and the matters examined".

I fully accept what she has said. I have known Noirin O Sullivan for many years and she is an upright, diligent and professional police officer not given to mistruths. She came up through the ranks of frontline policing in Dublin city and to reach the top job she had to be beyond reproach. Moreover, given the previous history of dealing with whistleblower allegations in the force one would be careless or foolish to ignore such matters. And Ms O'Sullivan is neither.

I served for over three years as a personal assistant to the then Garda Commissioner.

Given the sheer volume of meetings, conferences, both national and international, the commissioner is required to attend, allied to decisions relating to crime, traffic and security operations, the workload is enormous.

And the commissioner is also the accounting officer for the force and responsible for State security. So there is a chance that issues can fall through the cracks.

In an ideal world this should not be the case - but then we don't live in an ideal world.

We should also remember that the reforming of the force was a mammoth undertaking.

And during this period, Ms O'Sullivan was without the two deputy commissioners, a number of assistant commissioners and a depleted middle management structure operating with a restricted budget.

Of course, anything of the nature as alleged is gravely serious and should have been a priority and given urgent attention.

Therefore, when the judge has finished his inquiry and the full facts become clear, if any evidence comes to light of wrongdoing by any senior management, then the person or persons responsible should be held to account.

But everybody is entitled to fairness and due process - something that elected politicians are advocating should be denied to Commissioner Noirin O'Sullivan.
Kathleen Watkins at the launch of her new children's book, Pigin of Howth, at The National Gallery of Ireland. Picture: Brian McEvoy

Gay Byrne and Kathleen Watkins married in 1964, in Saggart, Co Dublin

Gay Byrne and Kathleen Watkins with grand children Sadhbh ,Cian and Saoirse O Byrne at the opening night of The Sound of Music at The Bord Gais Energy Theatre Dublin. Pictures:Brian McEvoy

Guests attend The IFTA Awards 2015 at the Doubletree Hilton Hotel, Dublin, Ireland - 21.10.15. Pictures: Cathal Burke / G. McDonnell / VIPIRELAND.COM **IRISH RIGHTS ONLY** *** Local Caption *** Gay Byrne & wife Kathleen Watkins

Kathleen Watkins with her granddaughter Saoirse Kathleen Watkins at the launch of her new children's book, Pigin of Howth, at The National Gallery of Ireland. Picture: Brian McEvoy

Gay Byrne & Kathleen Watkins at the Dubai Duty Free Irish Derby at the Curragh Racecourse. Picture: Anthony Woods

Ryan Tubridy with Gay Byrne and Kathleen Watkins at the launch of her new children's book, Pigin of Howth, at The National Gallery of Ireland. Picture: Brian McEvoy

Kathleen Watkins at the launch of her new children's book, Pigin of Howth, at The National Gallery of Ireland. Picture: Brian McEvoy

Kathleen Watkins and Gay Byrne at the launch of her new children's book, Pigin of Howth, at The National Gallery of Ireland. Picture: Brian McEvoy

At the tender age of 82, Kathleen Watkins aka "mad granny Nanakit" has launched her new book, Pigin of Howth.

Kathleen arrived at the launch with her husband Gay Byrne, who said he was getting used to playing second fiddle.

"Everyone is ignoring me and I am grumpy," Gay joked.

"I don't know if I like it.

Expand Close Kathleen Watkins at the launch of her new children's book, Pigin of Howth, at The National Gallery of Ireland. Picture: Brian McEvoy / Facebook

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Whatsapp Kathleen Watkins at the launch of her new children's book, Pigin of Howth, at The National Gallery of Ireland. Picture: Brian McEvoy

"All the family are here - including some people I have never met before in my life, but they say they're family."

Kathleen, who became the first continuity announcer to appear on screen on Telefis Eireann in 1960, began working on the book three years ago.

She said it was written over "plenty of buttered scones and pots of tea".

Broadcaster Ryan Tubridy launched the children's book in Dublin's National Gallery.

Expand Close Ryan Tubridy with Gay Byrne and Kathleen Watkins at the launch of her new children's book, Pigin of Howth, at The National Gallery of Ireland. Picture: Brian McEvoy / Facebook

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"This is a beautiful book by a beautiful woman and it will be enjoyed by beautiful children everywhere," Tubridy told the crowd.

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The colourful book tells the adventures of a mannerly pig who gallivants around Howth with his close pals Sammy the Seal, the Badger of Ballsbridge and Nanakit.

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The book consists of three stories; Pigs Can't Fly, but They Can Swim!, Pigin's Magical Midnight Adventure, and A Day to Wear a Top Hat - in which Pigin pays a visit to the President of Ireland.

Kathleen invented the character of Pigin when her eldest grandson was three years old.

Expand Close Gay Byrne & Kathleen Watkins at the Dubai Duty Free Irish Derby at the Curragh Racecourse. Picture: Anthony Woods / Facebook

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"We're all so proud of our mad granny," Cian said.

"Sometimes I would wonder how she would come up with the stories in her crazy imagination."

Late Late presenter Tubridy is currently working on his own children's book about John F Kennedy's homecoming visit to Ireland in 1963.

Patrick and the President will tell the story of Kennedy's trip to his ancestral home in Dunganstown, Co Wexford, through the eyes of a young Irish boy.
October 2013: Television personalities Khloe Kardashian (L) and Kourtney Kardashian arrive at the Tao Nightclub at The Venetian Las Vegas

Kim Kardashian West attends Buro 24/7 Fashion Forward Initiative as part of Paris Fashion Week Womenswear Spring/Summer 2016 at Hotel Ritz on September 30, 2016 in Paris, France. (Photo by Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images for Buro 24/7)

Television personality Kim Kardashian West attends the third anniversary celebration of Hakkasan Las Vegas Nightclub at MGM Grand Hotel & Casino on April 9, 2016 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

Kim Kardashian and North West are seen walking in Soho on October 6, 2016 in New York City. (Photo by Raymond Hall/GC Images)

Kim Kardashian has made her return to social media...sort of.

The reality tv star (35) has avoided the spotlight since she was held at gunpoint during an armed robbery in Paris earlier this month - postponed filming of Keeping Up With The Kardashians, avoiding all social media and has only been pictured leaving her home once.

But she made a brief return to Twitter on Wednesday, in order to delete 13 followers.

Eagle eyed fans noticed that the mother-of-two cleaned up her social media account, according to The Sun, amid reports the Kardashians are reevaluating how they use social media.

Earlier today it was revealed she cancelled an upcoming appearance at Hakkasan Nightclub in Las Vegas, schedule for October 28 in order to mark her 36th birthday.

Kim signed a lucrative contract with the exclusive hotpost to make four appearances there per year for a reported $1m, but due to the circumstances, they have rescheduled her appearance to a later date without it affecting her fee.

Behind the scenes, Kim, who is one of the most photographed women in the world, is reportedly struggling to cope since five armed raiders forced their way into her Paris residence where they held her at gunpoint and tied her hands with cable ties in a bathtub as they made away with $11m worth of her jewellery - including a $4m diamond ring her husband Kanye West gifted her.

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Kim is very paranoid still when she is alone," an insider told E! News.

Expand Close Television personality Kim Kardashian West attends the third anniversary celebration of Hakkasan Las Vegas Nightclub at MGM Grand Hotel & Casino on April 9, 2016 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images) / Facebook

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"She has been having flashbacks and hasn't been sleeping well.'

"Her sisters and mom have been checking on her every day. Kanye has been by her side when he isn't working and calling her nonstop to check in on her."

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"The scariest part for her throughout this experience is the fact that it could have been a lot worse, and she couldn't imagine what that would have been like for her children.'"

Kim reportedly "begged for her life" and pleaded that she "has babies at home" at the time of the robbery.

Expand Close Kim Kardashian and North West are seen walking in Soho on October 6, 2016 in New York City. (Photo by Raymond Hall/GC Images) / Facebook

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It's reported that North is "aware her mother is sad" but the family are not discussing the incident in front of the three-year-old or nine-month-old Saint.

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She is also suing a website for claiming she faked the dramatic robbery.

In a lawsuit, filed in Manhattan federal court, New York, her lawyers have said that she was wrongly portrayed as a liar and thief after she was attacked.

It seeks unspecified damages from MediaTakeOut.com, saying that Kardashian was victimised a second time when the website reported that she faked the robbery and lied about the assault.

Expand Close Kim Kardashian West attends Buro 24/7 Fashion Forward Initiative as part of Paris Fashion Week Womenswear Spring/Summer 2016 at Hotel Ritz on September 30, 2016 in Paris, France. (Photo by Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images for Buro 24/7) / Facebook

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Whatsapp Kim Kardashian West attends Buro 24/7 Fashion Forward Initiative as part of Paris Fashion Week Womenswear Spring/Summer 2016 at Hotel Ritz on September 30, 2016 in Paris, France. (Photo by Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images for Buro 24/7)

Meanwhile, insiders in the Kardashian camp say she isn't coping well.

Her sister Khloe told Ellen DeGeneres her older sister isn't "doing so well".

"It's incredibly traumatic what happened to her, but our family is super close and great and we'll get through it together," she said.

"It will take time. It was horrible what happened to her.

"I think it's just a wake-up call to make a lot of life adjustments.

"This is a really serious matter and for Kim, I think it's really personal as to when - that emotional terror - you could move on from that. I think for us it's all a wake-up call for all of us, but definitely just to make sure that our sister's okay."
Shelling and airstrikes on rebel-held parts of the Syrian city of Aleppo have killed at least 11 people, bringing the death toll over the last three days in the city to at least 65, activists said.

Meanwhile, rebel shelling of government-held areas in the divided city killed two girls at a school. The airstrikes came a day after an air raid hit eastern Aleppo's biggest market, killing at least 15 people and levelling buildings.

Aleppo's unabating violence has given additional urgency to the upcoming meeting between Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov and US secretary of state John Kerry on efforts to find a peace deal in Syria.

Saturday's meeting in Switzerland will be the first face-to-face contact between the two since Washington broke off bilateral diplomatic contact with Moscow on Syria over the violence in Aleppo earlier this month.

In other developments in Syria's multi-layered conflict, two Iraqi militia commanders said they have started withdrawing some of their elite forces from Syria.

They are fighting on the side of President Bashar Assad's government but said they have taken troops back to Iraq in preparation for a battle to retake the city of Mosul from the Islamic State group.

The battle for Mosul is expected to be the most complex yet for Iraqi forces, backed by US-led coalition air-power.

Since Mosul first fell to IS in June 2014, the extremists have been pushed from more than half of the territory they once held in Iraq, according to figures released by Iraqi PM Haider al-Abadi's office.

Iraqi Shiite militias are not expected to take part in the operation, although they are likely to be part of the offensive to capture areas nearby such as the town of Tal Afar, which used to have a large Shiite population.

The two commanders, from Iraq's powerful Asaib Ahl Haq and Kataib Hezbollah militias, said more than 2,000 of their fighters have been withdrawn from Syria, mostly from in and around Aleppo, for redeployment near Mosul and the IS stronghold of Hawija.

But two Syrian opposition activists - Rami Abdurrahman of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and Turkey-based Ahmad al-Ahmad - said they were unaware of the withdrawal, adding that Iraqi Shiite militias have recently sent reinforcements to Syrian government forces in the Aleppo area.

Earlier this month, an official with the Iraqi Shiite al-Nujaba militia said it sent some 4,000 fighters to Syria, also to the Aleppo area.

The two Iraqi commanders said the al-Nujaba militiamen were not part of the pullout. The militia's leader, Sheikh Akram al-Kaabi, recently visited his fighters on Aleppo's front lines, vowing to continue to fight Sunni extremists.

According to the Observatory, more than 20 airstrikes overnight and into Thursday in eastern Aleppo killed seven people while shelling killed four.

The activist group also said that clashes were taking place between government forces and rebels on the city's northern edge. The Halab Today TV channel reported "intense" airstrikes on rebel-held parts of Aleppo, adding that cluster bombs were being dropped.

Ibrahim Alhaj, a member of the Syrian Civil Defence, gave a higher toll, saying the airstrikes killed 13 and wounded 25. He said some people remained buried under the rubble and rescue and search operations were under way.

Syrian state media said two girls were killed and five were wounded in rebel shelling that hit a school in Aleppo's western government-held neighborhood of Suleimaniyah.

The Observatory said that at least 358 civilians have been killed in eastern Aleppo since a US and Russian-brokered truce collapsed on September 19. The UN says over 100 children have been killed in the campaign, which has also included a limited ground offensive.

Near the capital of Damascus, government buses gathered outside the suburbs of Qudsaya and Hammah to evacuate dozens of civilians to the rebel-held north-western province of Idlib, the Observatory and state news agency Sana said.

The evacuation reportedly is part of an agreement between rebel factions in the two suburbs and the government that would include giving partial amnesty to some 300 fighters from the area.

It said that after the evacuation ends, government forces would retake control of the two areas.

Such evacuations have been carried out in other suburbs of the capital in recent months, including Daraya and Moadamiyeh.

In Geneva, Ramzy Ramzy is the top deputy to UN envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura.

He said al Qaida's affiliate in Syria - the Fatah al-Sham Front, previously known as the Nusra Front - rejected a recent offer to withdraw from the city of Aleppo under Mr de Mistura's personal escort.

"Not surprisingly, (they gave a) negative response," Mr Ramzy said.

The Russian military denied its planes targeted Aleppo's residential areas, saying they have only struck militant facilities outside Syria's largest city.

Lt Gen Sergei Rudskoi said Russian airstrikes follow a thorough analysis of data gathered by satellites, drones and agents on the ground to identify militant targets and insisted that facilities located close to residential areas, schools, hospitals, street markets and mosques are never targeted.

Russia's air raids in support of Syrian army's offensive on Aleppo have drawn international outrage, and both the US and France called for investigating Russia for possible war crimes in Syria.

Moscow has rejected the accusations as unfounded.

AP
A screengrab taken from a video showing the abducted girls in full-length hijab, praying in an undisclosed location Photo: AFP/Getty

Some 21 Chibok schoolgirls kidnapped by Boko Haram extremists more than two years ago have been freed, Nigerian officials say.

Presidential spokesman Mallam Garba Shehu said the girls are in the custody of Nigeria's Department of State Services.

He said the release is a result of negotiations between the government and Boko Haram, brokered by the Swiss government and the International Red Cross.

He said negotiations will continue.

Expand Close President Muhammadu Buhari, third right, meets rescued Chibok schoolgirl Amina Ali, far left, and her four-month-old baby (AP) / Facebook

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Whatsapp President Muhammadu Buhari, third right, meets rescued Chibok schoolgirl Amina Ali, far left, and her four-month-old baby (AP)

The abduction of 276 schoolgirls in April 2014 brought international condemnation of Boko Haram, Nigeria's home-grown Islamic extremist group. Dozens of the girls escaped, but most remain missing.

Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau has said the girls will only be released if the government swaps them for detained extremist leaders.
A collection of designer wedding dresses worth around 15,000 has been donated to a charity shop fashion show.

Shelter Scotland said it is overwhelmed by the donation of 20 dresses - which have never been worn - from Annarose Bridal Boutique in Dundee.

The dresses will form part of the homelessness charity's fashion show in the city in late October and will then go on sale in its shops.

Anne Elder, owner of Annarose Bridal, said: "As a bridal boutique owner I get to see people prepare for one of the happiest days of their lives.

"It is lovely to be able to contribute to people who face some of the toughest challenges - like not having a home at all or having one they can't rely on."

The Shelter fashion show will take place at the Queen's Hotel in Dundee on October 30, with charity staff modelling the wedding dresses.

Shelter Scotland shops regional manager John Sinclair said: "When we were organising our fashion show we thought it would be a dream come true to be able to top it off with a wedding dress. When Annarose came back to say we could have 20 it was unbelievable.

"The dresses are of extremely high quality and mean that some lucky brides can have a beautiful gown at a bargain price, knowing that they are helping people escape the misery of homelessness at the same time."
Sidney Sedunary, whose small key for a locker on the Titanic is expected to be sold for up to 35,000 at auction in Devizes (Henry Aldridge & Son/PA)

A locker key from the Titanic belonging to deceased passenger Sidney Sedunary could fetch 35,000 at auction (Henry Aldridge & Son/PA)

A small key for a locker on the Titanic is expected to be sold for up to 50,000 at auction.

The key was used by Sidney Sedunary, 23, from Shirley, Southampton, second third class steward on the doomed vessel.

Mr Sedunary was one of 1,500 passengers and crew who died when the passenger liner hit an iceberg in April 1912.

His body was later recovered and his possessions, including his pocket watch and the "exceptionally rare" key - with a brass tag stating Locker 14 F Deck - were sent to his pregnant wife, Madge.

Some items were donated to the Southampton Maritime Museum by Mr Sedunary's son Sidney but many remained in the family, including the corroded locker key.

It will now be sold by Titanic memorabilia specialists Henry Aldridge & Son, in Devizes, Wiltshire on October 22.

Auctioneer Andrew Aldridge said: "It is sold via direct descent and it is the first time it has ever been offered for auction.

"The significance of this key revolves around evidence given at the British inquiry by Steward John Hart. It shows Sedunary heroically working on F Deck on the very night of the sinking, even though it was flooded."

Mr Sedunary's son, who was born the following November and named after his father, gave the key to a family member visiting from Australia in 1981 together with some copper coins that were also found alongside the key.

Copies of a diary from the visit are included with the lot which mention the key, letters from Sid Sedunary Jnr and a letter from the vendor's mother confirming its provenance.
A space nation, independent of countries on Earth, could be founded after a team of engineers, scientists and legal experts put forward proposals for an extra-terrestrial state.

The project, which is led by Russian scientist Dr Igor Ashurbeyli, Chairman of UNESCO's Science of Space committee, aims to create an area in space which is beyond the control of individual nations.

Under current space law, government's must authorise and supervise space programmes run from their own countries even if they are commercial.

But the group of scientists say that by creating a new nation, space activities can "flourish free from the tight restrictions of state control that currently exist".

The team has named the new state 'Asgardia' - derived from Asgard, one of the nine world's in Norse mythology.

One of the early developments planned is the creation of a state-of-the-art protective shield to prevent asteroids, space debris and coronal mass ejections from the Sun.

The public is being asked to help design the nation's flag and 100,000 citizenships were made available at yesterday's launch.

"Asgardia is a fully fledged and independent nation, and a future member of the United Nations - with all the attributes this status entails," Dr Ashburbeyli said.

"The essence of Asgardia is 'Peace in Space', and the prevention of Earth's conflicts being transferred into space.

"Asgardia is also unique from a philosophical aspect - to serve entire humanity and each and everyone, regardless of his or her personal welfare and the prosperity of the country where they happened to be born."

The consortium plans to launch the first Asgardia satellite in 2017, with the project developing from there.

Of the 196 nation states on Earth, just 13 - USSR, USA, France, Japan, China, UK, India, Russia, Ukraine, Israel, Iran, South Korea and North Korea - and one regional organisation, the European Space Agency, ESA, have launched satellites.

Professor David Alexander, Director of the Rice Space Institute at Rice University, Houston, Texas said: "The mission of Asgardia is to create opportunities for broader access to space, enabling non-traditional space nations to realise their scientific aspirations is exciting."

The team is planning a state-of-the-art protective shield for all humankind from cosmic man-made and natural threats to life on earth, such as space debris, coronal mass ejections and asteroid collisions.

There are estimated to be more than 20,000 traceable objects of man-made space debris that potentially pose a dangerous situation in near-Earth orbits.

The scientists are proposing to launch the first satellite next year, independent of any nation states. The impact of the Chelyabinsk meteorite which crashed over a major Russian town as recently as 2013, injuring 1,100 people and damaging 4000 buildings, is a reminder of the threat that natural objects pose.

Whilst steps have already been taken by the UN to identify potentially hazardous scenarios, Asgardia will build on these developments to help offer a more comprehensive mechanism.

Dr Joseph Pelton, former dean at the International Space University, Strasbourg, France said: "The Asgardia project, among other things, may help prepare better answers to the future governance of outer space - a topic of major concern to the United Nations. ( Daily Telegraph, London)

Telegraph Media Group Limited [2022]
A Syrian man suspected of planning a bomb attack was checked by a trainee guard 15 minutes before he was found dead in a German jail cell, authorities say.

Jaber Albakr, 22, was suspected of planning an Islamic extremist bombing and killed himself using his T-shirt , the head of the prison where he was held said.

Rolf Jacob told reporters in Dresden that a trainee guard checked on the prisoner at 7.30pm and when he returned at 7.45pm he found Albakr dead.

Saxony's justice minister, Sebastian Gemkow, said the suspect was declared dead a half hour later.

Mr Jacob confirmed reports that Albakr had destroyed a lighting fixture in his cell on Tuesday, but said "it was not interpreted as a suicide attempt". Power to the cell was cut off after that, he said.

He said authorities who assessed Albakr when he entered the prison had noted there was a suicide risk but did not consider it acute.

"This should not have happened even though we did everything we could to prevent it." Mr Gemkow said.

Germany's top security official, Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere, said Albakr's death would make the investigation into whether he had accomplices in the thwarted plot far more difficult.

"I'm unbelievably shocked and absolutely speechless that something like this could have happened," said Albakr's public defender, Dresden attorney Alexander Huebner.

Wolfgang Bosbach, a senior member of Chancellor Angela Merkel's party and security expert, told n-tv that given his behavior, Albakr should have been under constant observation.

"The suicide danger was known, it was not just an assumption," he said.

Saxony state authorities were already facing criticism after Albakr eluded police as they prepared to raid an apartment where he had been staying in the city of Chemnitz on Saturday.

Inside the apartment police found highly volatile explosives and a homemade bomb vest.

Albakr, who had been granted asylum after coming to Germany last year, was finally arrested on Monday in Leipzig after three fellow Syrians tied him up and alerted police.

He had been granted asylum after coming to Germany last year, and had been under surveillance by German domestic intelligence since last month.

On Wednesday, Mr de Maiziere said that Albakr had undergone a security check last year, but it did not turn up anything suspicious.

"There was a check against security authorities' data in 2015, but without any hits," he said. "It's not clear when he was radicalised."

German authorities have said they believe he had links to the Islamic State group and was thought to be planning to attack a Berlin airport, possibly as soon as this week.

The three Syrians who captured the suspect had been granted asylum and their "behaviour deserves praise and recognition", Mr de Maiziere said.

Authorities have another suspect alleged to have been involved in the plot in custody, identified only as Khalil A, in keeping with German privacy laws.

The 33-year-old Syrian was the tenant of the Chemnitz apartment where police found the hidden explosives and was arrested over the weekend as a co-conspirator.

AP
A group of kidnapped schoolgirls have been freed in Nigeria

A group of Chibok schoolgirls kidnapped by Boko Haram in Nigeria more than two years ago has been freed in a swap for detained leaders of the Islamic extremist group.

Some 197 girls remain captive after the release of 21, though it is not known how many of the original group may have died.

The freed girls, the first to be released as a result of government action, are in the custody of the Department of State Services, Nigeria's secret intelligence agency, according to presidential spokesman Garba Shehu.

Their release was negotiated between the government and Boko Haram in talks brokered by the International Committee of the Red Cross and the Swiss government, he said.

Negotiations will continue for the release of the other students, he said.

A military officer familiar with the talks said four detained Boko Haram leaders were released in Banki, a town on the north-east border with Cameroon.

The girls were flown by helicopter to Maiduguri, the northeastern capital of Borno state and birthplace of Boko Haram, he said.

"We are extremely delighted and grateful," the Bring Back Our Girls movement said.

The group, which has campaigned for the release of the students, said it awaits the names of the released girls.

"We thank the federal government and, like Oliver Twist, we ask for more," said Professor Hauwa Biu, an activist in Maiduguri.

Negotiations last year failed when Boko Haram demanded a huge ransom for the girls' freedom, according to a recently published authorised biography of President Muhammadu Buhari.

The abduction of 276 schoolgirls in April 2014 and the government's failure to quickly free them has caused international outrage and brought Boko Haram, Nigeria's home-grown Islamic extremist group, to the world's attention.

Dozens of the girls escaped on their own, but most remain missing.

One of the girls, Amina Ali Nkeki, escaped in May on her own. She told her family that some of the kidnapped girls have died of illness and others, like her, have been married to fighters and are pregnant or have babies, her mother said.

Since then Ms Nkeki has been in the custody of the secret service where she is receiving medical care and trauma counselling, according to President Muhammadu Buhari's government.

The government has been criticised for keeping her isolated. The Bring Back Our Girls group and Human Rights Watch have asked whether Ms Nkeki is a detainee of the government.

AP
The Maldives government says it has decided to leave the Commonwealth because it has been treated "unjustly and unfairly".

The statement by the Foreign Ministry came weeks after the Commonwealth threatened the country with suspension if it failed to show progress in key democratic governance issues by next March.

The Commonwealth seems to be convinced "that the Maldives would be an easy object that can be used, especially in the name of democracy promotion, to increase the organisation's own relevance and leverage in international politics", the statement said.

It said the grouping had "treated the Maldives unjustly and unfairly. The Commonwealth has sought to become an active participant in the domestic political discourse in the Maldives, which is contrary to the principles of the charters of the UN and the Commonwealth".

Government spokesman Ibrahim Hussain Shihab said the Maldives' withdrawal from the 53-state grouping would take effect immediately.

The Commonwealth had warned the Maldives last month of suspension if it failed to show progress in six areas, including freedom for detained political leaders, freedom of speech and assembly, strengthened separation of powers, and independence of the judiciary.

Maldives, known for its luxury tourist resorts, became a multiparty democracy in 2008 after decades of autocratic rule.

President Yameen Abdul Gayoom has been accused of erasing much of the democratic gains since being elected in 2013.

A number of political leaders, including former president Mohamed Nasheed, two of Mr Gayoom's former allies - a vice-president and a defence minister - and a political party leader have been given lengthy prison sentences after trials on terrorism charges criticisd for lack of due process.

The state also tightly controls public gatherings and recently enacted a defamation law with hefty fines and jail terms for journalists and social media users.

AP
Michelle Obama said she has been shaken to the core by comments that Republican nominee Donald Trump made in which he is heard on a 2005 tape bragging about assaulting women because he is famous.

Speaking at a campaign rally in New Hampshire for Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, Mrs Obama called the comments "shocking and demeaning".

She also dismissed the suggestion that they were simply "locker room talk", saying they were an affront to all women, parents and every citizen in the United States.

"I can't stop thinking about this. It has shaken to me to my core in a way that I couldn't have predicted," the first lady said.

"So while I would love nothing more than to pretend that this isn't happening and come out here and do my normal campaign speech, it would be dishonest and disingenuous to just move on to the next thing like this was all a bad dream. This is not something we can ignore."

Mrs Obama said the comments made by Mr Trump are part of a long history of demeaning women.

"We have a candidate for president of the United States who over the course of his lifetime, over the course of this campaign, has said things about women that are shocking, so demeaning," she said.

"I simply will not repeat anything here today.

"Last week, we actually saw this candidate bragging about sexually assaulting women.

"I can't believe I'm saying that, a candidate for president of the United States bragged about sexually assaulting women."

Mrs Obama went on to say that this was not something that should be dismissed, adding that women were hearing these comments and recollecting painful memories of when they were harassed in their offices or sexually assaulted.

Mr Trump has lost support in New Hampshire following the release of the video in which he is heard bragging about how his fame allowed him to "do anything" to women.

AP
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will meet US Secretary of State John Kerry in Switzerland this Saturday to discuss efforts to find a peace deal in Syria.

The encounter will be the first face-to-face contact between the two men since Washington broke off bilateral diplomatic contact with Moscow over the Syrian war earlier this month. A brief ceasefire in Syria that was brokered by Russia and the United States collapsed last month. Mr Lavrov and Mr Kerry will meet in the Swiss city of Lausanne.

Yesterday, an airstrike on the biggest market in the rebel-held side of Syria's Aleppo killed at least 15 people.

The strike came the day after at least 41 people, including five children, were killed in a series of airstrikes across besieged, rebel-held parts of the city, which has been the epicentre of Syria's civil war for months.

Overstretched rescuers were still digging through the rubble from the strikes the day before when they were called to the scene of the market bombing, which took place in the early afternoon.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has accused the West of ramming through a Syria resolution into the UN Security Council in order to "whip up an anti-Russian hysteria."

Over the weekend, Russia blocked the UN Security Council resolution proposed by France and Spain on ending the hostilities in the war-torn country, blaming Paris for the refusal to discuss a compromise version.

Russia's veto prompted French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault to call on the International Criminal Court to investigate Russia for possible war crimes in Syria.

Last night, Pope Francis appealed for an urgent ceasefire in Syria to evacuate civilians from what he called an "inhuman" assault on the besieged rebel-held part of the city of Aleppo.

Pope Francis said: "I'm begging with all my strength for those responsible to undertake an immediate ceasefire that is respected at least to give time to evacuate civilians."

The UN Security Council is deadlocked over how to respond to the Aleppo crisis, with Russia and the US failing to agree on renewing a ceasefire.
Italian playwright Dario Fo, who won the Nobel Prize for Literature, has died at the age of 90.

Italian PM Matteo Renzi said his country had lost one of the leading protagonists of Italian culture and civil life.

"His satire, research, scenography and artistic activity will leave the inheritance of a great Italian to the world," he said.

Mr Fo, whose energetic mocking of Italian political life, social mores and religion won him the Nobel Prize, died in Milan's Luigi Sacco hospital, a spokeswoman said.

The author of Accidental Death of An Anarchist and more than 70 other plays saw himself in the role of the jester, combining raunchy humour and satire.

He was admired and reviled in equal measure. His political activities saw him banned from the United States and censored on Italian television, and his flamboyant artistic antics resulted in repeated arrests.

In recent years, Mr Fo became a point of reference for Italy's anti-establishment 5-Star Movement, which has paid tribute to him as a "spiritual guide".

Movement leader Beppe Grillo posted a video of an appearance by Mr Fo at a 2013 rally giving impetus to the movement to shake up Italy's paralysed political system.

"Do it yourselves, please. Do it yourselves," he exhorted. "Please, turn everything upside down."

The son of a railway worker and farm hand, Mr Fo had an early introduction to narrative traditions through his grandfather, a well-known storyteller.

He studied painting at Milan's prestigious Brera Academy as well as architecture and, at age 25, he began to write and perform satirical cabarets at the Piccolo Theatre in Milan.

A staunch leftist, Mr Fo founded a theatre company with his wife, the late actress Franca Rame, later a senator. Ms Rame died in 2013 at the age of 84.

The pair made a career out of mocking post-war Italy, ranging from the domestic terrorism of the late 1970s to the bitter debates over abortion and divorce, and a political corruption scandal in the 1990s.

Dealing with subjects such as the Vietnam War, the Chinese revolution and student revolts in the West, Mr Fo and Ms Rame took their works out of "bourgeois" theatres and into streets, piazzas, occupied factories and circus-style tents.

Italian bishops struggled with Mr Fo's freewheeling interpretations of the Catholic faith.

His one-man show was seen by an estimated one million people when it toured Italy over 18 months in 1968-1970.

As his work grew more radical, Mr Fo fell out of favour with state TV, which banned him for more than decade. Prosecutors failed to convict him of offending institutions such as the national police force.

Some suggested right-wing sympathisers among the police were behind the kidnapping and rape of Mr Fo's wife by Italian neo-fascists on a Milan street in 1973, when society was rent between extreme right and left.

Not long after winning his Nobel, Mr Fo wrote to Italy's president demanding justice in the case, even though statutes of limitations had expired.

Motivating him, Mr Fo said, was not a thirst for revenge but a desire to help the country recognise the barbarities of that period and move on.

Accidental Death Of An Anarchist drew from an event that continues to divide Italians, who are often split between left and right in a legacy of the battles between fascists and communists during the Second World War.

The play is based on the fall from a police station window of an anarchist who was being questioned over a 1969 Milan bank bombing. The police officer who led the interrogation was shot dead in 1972.

Mr Fo's stature as an artist began to outstrip his fame as a militant by the end of the 1970s. Milan's La Scala let him direct a play, Story Of A Soldier, in 1978 and audiences flocked to his works in mainstream theatres.

Still, in 1980 he and Ms Rame were refused visas to the United States because of their support for left-wing activities in Italy.

The decision sparked controversy and prompted US intellectuals to stage protests in support. In 1984, the US government relented and allowed the couple to visit New York to see a production of Accidental Death Of An Anarchist.

The Nobel Prize for literature came in 1997. The citation described Mr Fo as a writer "who emulates the jesters of the Middle Ages in scourging authority and upholding the dignity of the downtrodden".

Guests attending his prize lecture in Stockholm in 1997 had a surprise as they opened their texts. Instead of printed paragraphs, they found 25 pages of coloured drawings, with scattered words: "Provocation... ignorance of our times."

While he enraged the Vatican, Mr Fo once ended up on the same side as the Catholic Church, when both lobbied vigorously - but unsuccessfully - to stop the 2000 execution in Virginia of Rocco Derek Barnabei, a US citizen of Italian origin.

Mr Fo pledged to donate some of the proceeds of his theatre work to anti-death penalty causes around the world. Even though the husband-wife team snubbed the bourgeois theatre at times, it made their plays sold-out successes, notably a 2003 spoof of then-Italian premier Silvio Berlusconi, The Two-Headed Anomaly.

That play, at one of Rome's mainstream theatres, explored what many contended was the conflict of interest posed by a premier who was at the time also Italy's richest man, thanks to vast business holdings, largely in the media sector.

The work asked the question: what would happen if half of Russian president Vladimir Putin's brain was used to replace half of Mr Berlusconi's brain?

The play also pre-shadowed Mr Berlusconi's real-life split with his second wife amid sex scandals. While Mr Fo had fun with politicians' foibles, his own foray in politics was a failure.

In 2006, he lost a bid in a primary to become the centre-left's candidate for mayor of Milan.

Mr Fo and Ms Rame had a son, Jacopo Fo, also a writer.

AP
The chairman of Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign has suggested that Russia hacked his emails to help Donald Trump - and implied that the tycoon's campaign may have colluded in the "criminal hack".

Thousands of emails sent or received by John Podesta, one of Mrs Clinton's most senior advisers, were published this week by WikiLeaks, causing serious headaches for the campaign less than a month before election day.

Mr Podesta now claims that the FBI is investigating Russia's alleged role and hinted at possible co-ordination between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin.

He said it was a "reasonable conclusion" that the Republican campaign and Roger Stone, a Trump confidante, had received "advanced warning" about the hack.

Mr Stone, a self-professed expert in political dirty tricks, has said he was in contact with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, and warned repeatedly about "devastating" future leaks.

"Trust me, it will soon be Podesta's time in the barrel," he said in August.

Mr Podesta claims the hack exposes Russian efforts to tilt the balance of the US election toward Mr Trump.

"We can't be certain why the Russian government seems to be trying to interfere ... it may just be policy, it may just be that they found somebody that adopted lock, stock and barrel the Putin foreign policy," he said, adding that Mr Trump's alleged business ties to Russia were a possible motivation.

"I've been involved in politics for nearly five decades, and this definitely is the first campaign that I've been involved with in which I've had to tangle with Russian Intelligence agencies," he said.

US intelligence agencies last week accused Russia of leaking emails from the Democratic National Committee.

However, Mr Trump has said it remains to be seen whether Russia is involved in any hacking, adding: "Maybe there is no hacking."

Sergei Lavrov, Russia's foreign minister, yesterday called claims that Russia was interfering in the US election "ridiculous".

Meanwhile, US president Barack Obama said that Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump's comments on a 2005 videotape about groping women would disqualify him from even a job at a convenience store.

Speaking at a campaign rally in Greensboro, North Carolina, for Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, Mr Obama said that the choice was clear in the November 8 election even before the tape was leaked last week showing Mr Trump speaking crudely about women.

"Now you find a situation in which the guy says stuff that nobody would find tolerable if they were applying for a job at 7-Eleven," Mr Obama told the crowd, referring to the convenience store chain.

During Sunday's presidential debate, the Republican candidate apologised for the comments, but then dismissed them as "locker-room talk".

Mr Obama also criticised some Republicans who condemned the remarks but are still backing the New York businessman.

"The fact that now you've got people saying: 'We strongly disagree, we really disapprove ... but we're still endorsing him.' They still think he should be president, that doesn't make sense to me," Mr Obama said.

Earlier, White House spokesman Josh Earnest condemned the "repugnant remarks" in the recording, saying those actions would constitute sexual assault.

Last night, the UN's High Commissioner for Human Rights said the world would be at risk if Mr Trump becomes president.

Zeid Ra'ad al Hussein said Trump's views on minorities and his talk of authorising torture in interrogations was "deeply unsettling and disturbing". ( Daily Telegraph, London)

Telegraph Media Group Limited [2022]
Supporters after a visit to the concession stand during a rally for Donald Trump in Panama City, Florida.

Christian leaders have attacked Donald Trump over the revelation of a lewd video tape, as polls show evangelicals are deserting the Republican nominee in disgust.

Mr Trump was widely condemned across the political spectrum following the release of the video in which he is filmed making sexually aggressive comments and talks about "grabbing (women) by the p----". He said the conversation was "locker-room banter".

However, as his overall poll numbers plummet, it will be the loss of support from evangelical Christians - a cornerstone of Republican presidential campaigns - that will be of particular concern to the embattled Trump camp.

According to a Reuters/Ipsos opinion poll, Mr Trump had only a one-point edge over Hillary Clinton among people who identified as evangelicals, down from a massive 12-point advantage for the Republican in July.

'Christianity Today', a leading evangelical magazine, said in an editorial that Christians should not support a man whose life is based around "idolatry, greed, and sexual immorality".

"The revelations of the past week of his vile and crude boasting about sexual conquest - indeed, sexual assault - might have been shocking, but they should have surprised no one," wrote Andy Crouch, editorial director.

"Enthusiasm for a candidate like Trump gives our neighbours ample reason to doubt that we believe Jesus is Lord.

"They see that some of us are so self-interested, and so self-protective, that we will ally ourselves with someone who violates all that is sacred to us."

Wayne Grudem, a popular theologian, has withdrawn his support for Mr Trump - a move that could signal a huge sector of evangelicals following suit.

"I previously called Donald Trump a 'good candidate with flaws' and a 'flawed candidate' but I now regret that I did not more strongly condemn his moral character. I cannot commend Trump's moral character and I strongly urge him to withdraw from the election."

A member of Mr Trump's own evangelical advisory board, James MacDonald, said he was withdrawing his support unless the billionaire repented.

The megachurch pastor of Harvest Bible Chapel said Mr Trump's comments in the video were "truly the kind of misogynistic trash that reveals a man to be lecherous and worthless - not the guy who gets politely ignored, but the guy who gets a punch in the head from worthy men who hear him talk that way about women".

However, some conservative Christians said they were standing by the Republican. James Dobson, of Family Talk radio, condemned Mr Trump's comments, but called Mrs Clinton's support for abortion rights "criminal".

"Mr Trump promises to support religious liberty and the dignity of the unborn. Mrs Clinton promises she will not," he said in a statement.

In a further blow, Glenn Beck, the right-wing media personality, said opposing Mr Trump was the "moral, ethical choice" - and that he briefly considered voting for Mrs Clinton.

Yesterday, Clinton recruited Al Gore, the former vice-president in her husband's administration, to raise the spectre of Gore's loss to former President George W Bush in the contentious 2000 US election to urge voters to go to the polls next month.

"Take it from me," Gore told a crowd of several hundred Clinton supporters at a campaign event in a college gymnasium, "every single vote counts. Every single vote counts."

As he campaigned for Clinton at Miami Dade College ahead of the November 8 election that pits her against Republican nominee Donald Trump, Gore reminded voters of the Florida recount saga 16 years ago.

Bush was declared the winner in the state by a mere 537 votes after the intervention of the US Supreme Court.

"Your vote really, really, really counts," Gore said. "You can consider me as an exhibit A of that. For those of you who are younger than 25 you might not remember the election of 2000 and what happened here in Florida. For those of you older than 25, I heard you murmuring just now, but take it from me it was a very close election."

A chant grew out of the crowd: "You won! You won!"

Gore also sought to put a spotlight on the fight against climate change, which has long been his signature issue.

"When it comes to the most urgent issue facing our country and the world, the choice in this election is extremely clear: Hillary Clinton will make solving the climate crisis a top national priority," Gore said.
Thais pray for King Bhumibol Adulyadej at Siriraj Hospital where he died in Bangkok (AP)

Thai people were in tears across the nation after the death of their beloved King Bhumibol Adulyadej, the country's unifying figure and the world's longest-reigning monarch.

Hundreds of people gathered at Bangkok's Siriraj Hospital, where 88-year-old Bhumibol had been treated for a variety of ailments for much of the past decade.

Many sobbed loudly, clutching each other in anguish and shouting "long live the king".

Tributes flooded in from across the world, with Prime Minister Theresa May expressing "my sincere personal condolences to the royal family and the people of Thailand".

"His Majesty guided the Kingdom of Thailand with dignity, dedication and vision throughout his life. He will be greatly missed," she said.

US president Barack Obama said King Bhumibol was a tireless champion of his country's development and showed an "unflagging devotion" to improving the standard of living for the Thai people.

Mr Obama said the king leaves behind a legacy of care for the Thai people that future generations will cherish.

German chancellor Angela Merkel said Bhumibol had "worked tirelessly for the welfare of the Thai people" and steered the country through "political and economic crises".

French president Francois Hollande hailed the king for his "exceptional human qualities". "His profound sense of justice, his care for modernity and sustainable development that earned him the affection of the Thai people, as well as the world's esteem," he said.

Dutch King Willem-Alexander praised him for "emphasising the values of harmony and peaceful cooperation in his country".

The Thai government announced a 100-day mourning period and a 30-day moratorium on state events. His son, Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn, is to succeed him on the throne.

Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha said Vajiralongkorn had asked for a delay in proclaiming him king so that he can take time to mourn along with the people of Thailand.

"He said at present, he is the heir apparent. But he would like to take some time to mourn, together with the people of Thailand," he said.

Most Thais had seen no other king in their lifetime and thought of Bhumibol, who reigned for 70 years, as their father and the embodiment of goodness and godliness.

"There is no word to explain my feeling right now," Gaewkarn Fuangtong, a humanitarian worker, said in Bangkok's financial district.

"I lost one of the most important people in my life. I feel like I haven't done enough for him. I should have done more. I will do good, do better for his sake."

Although a constitutional monarch, he wielded enormous political power and served as a unifying figure during Thailand's numerous political crises.

But in recent years, he suffered from a variety of illnesses that affected his kidneys, brain, lungs, heart and blood.

"Since I was young I saw him work really hard, and now it's hard to explain. I feel numb inside," said Danaiwut Wiroonpiti 26, a photographer who was crying outside the Grand Palace where the king's body will be taken in a procession Friday.

"He's the centre of all Thai people. It's like we lost the main pillar of our lives, the person who holds us together. I can't hold my tears."

Portraits of Bhumibol displayed in most Thai homes and businesses often depict him in arduous travels to remote villages, where he often went to see the situation of his subjects first hand.

But recently, whenever Bhumibol appeared in public, he was in wheelchair, waving feebly at his subjects. Even those rare appearances stopped as he became confined to the hospital.

Through his illness he was notably silent about the political upheaval that has shaken Thailand in recent years.

On Sunday, the palace announced his health had become "unstable" and yesterday Vajiralongkorn rushed back from Germany, Mr Chan-ocha canceled a trip abroad and royal family members began gathering at Siriraj hospital.

He died a little before 4pm local time on Thursday, the palace said. His death was announced three hours later in a broadcast carried simultaneously by all TV stations.

"Even though the board of doctors has closely monitored and treated him to the best of its abilities, the king's condition never improved," the palace said. It said he passed away peacefully.

"He is now in heaven and may be looking over Thai citizens from there," the statement said. "He was a king that was loved and adored by all. The reign of the king has ended and his kindness cannot be found anywhere else."

Bhumibol Adulyadej became king in 1946. He anchored the Southeast Asian country through violent upheavals at home and communist revolutions next door with a blend of majesty and a common touch.

There is great concern about the succession, since Vajiralongkorn has not earned the same respect as his father.

A special meeting of the National Legislative Assembly, Thailand's parliament, has been planned.

AP
Samsung has expanded its recall of Galaxy Note 7 smartphones in the US to include all replacement devices (AP)

Samsung has expanded its recall of Galaxy Note 7 smartphones in the US to include all replacement devices offered after the originals were found prone to catch fire.

The move, announced by Samsung and the Consumer Product Safety Commission, came after the company said earlier this week it was discontinuing the product following reports the replacements were also overheating.

The product safety agency said that 1.9 million original and replacement phones are subject to the expanded recall, including a million Note 7s sold after the first round on September 15.

The agency said there were 96 reports of batteries in Note 7 phones overheating in the US, including 23 new reports since the first recall announcement last month.

The company received 13 reports of burns and 47 of property damage associated with the phones.

"Consumers should immediately stop using and power down all Galaxy Note 7 devices, including Note 7 devices received as replacements in the previous recall," the agency said.

The botched recall is raising questions about Samsung's initial analysis of the Note 7 phone's problems.

At first, Samsung said a minor manufacturing error in the batteries for the Note 7 was causing the phones to overheat.

The problem with the replacements is still unclear. Experts say Samsung may have rushed to conclude the Note 7's problem was a battery issue and it may take a long time to find the real cause.

Seeking to retain customers, Samsung is giving an incentive of a 100 US dollar (82) credit to Note 7 owners who switch to another of its phones.

The Note 7 was one of the most expensive smartphones in the market with all the latest technologies, including the ability to unlock by scanning an iris.

AP
Tommy Ford had posted on Instagram about having knee replacement surgery and said he looked forward to returning to work (Selma Times-Journal/AP)

Tommy Ford, the actor who played Martin Lawrence's best friend Tommy Strawn on the hit 90s sitcom Martin, has died at the age of 52.

The actor played the level-headed pal for the show's entire five-year run. One running joke was about his apparent lack of employment, prompting the catchphrase: "You don't got no job, Tommy!"

"It is with great sadness that we announce the untimely passing of our beloved son, father, brother, husband and friend Tommy Mykal Ford," the family said in a statement.

"On behalf of the family, we would like to thank everyone for their love, support and prayers."

Family spokeswoman Joy Pervis confirmed Ford's death in Atlanta but gave no cause.

In recent weeks, Ford had posted on Instagram about having knee replacement surgery and said he was being diligent about physical therapy and looked forward to returning to work.

Ford had other TV parts, including Lieutenant Malcolm Barker on Fox's New York Undercover, and Mel Parker on UPN's The Parkers, as well as playing the Pope of Comedy on TV One's Who's Got Jokes with Bill Bellamy.

Several celebrities paid homage to Ford through social media, including Cedric the Entertainer and Rickey Smiley.

"Prayers up for my brother," Lawrence posted on Twitter.

Before Martin, Ford landed a spot in the 1989 Eddie Murphy and Richard Pryor film Harlem Nights. He co-produced, co-wrote or starred in such films as Baby Mama's Club, Against the Law, Beat Street Resurrection and Love Different.

Video of the Day

The towering Ford, whose height was said to be 6ft 4in, was also a motivational speaker and a children's book author.

The actor's website said he had been focusing on building a career behind the camera. He had directed and produced several webisodes, and was filming Reverse The Lynch Curse, a documentary about breaking curses of distrust and envy.

Ford was also involved in several theatre productions.

The family said funeral arrangements will be announced shortly.

"Please respect the privacy of the Ford family during our time of grief," the statement said.

AP
Wells Fargo's embattled chief executive John Stumpf is stepping down as the US's second-largest bank is dogged by a scandal over its sales practices.

The San Francisco bank said Mr Stumpf is retiring immediately and also relinquishing his title as chairman. It had earlier announced that Mr Stumpf, the bank's chief executive since 2007, will forfeit 41 million dollars (33 million) in stock awards.

Wells Fargo's chief operating officer Tim Sloan will succeed Mr Stumpf as chief executive and join the company's board. He has been with Wells Fargo for 29 years.

Stephen Sanger, the bank's lead director, will serve as the board's non-executive chairman.

Mr Stumpf's end at Wells Fargo comes a little over a month after the bank was fined 185 million dollars (151 million) by Californian and federal regulators over its sales practices.

The regulators alleged employees trying to meet aggressive sales targets opened bank and credit card accounts, moved money between those accounts and even created fake email addresses to sign customers up for online banking - all without customer authorisation.

Debit cards were issued and activated, as well as PINs created, without customers' knowledge.

Mr Stumpf had previously gained acclaim for navigating Wells Fargo through the financial crisis and keeping it free of scandal, but he came under withering pressure over the alleged misconduct, believed to have gone on at the bank for years.

About 5,300 lower-level employees were fired.

"While I have been deeply committed and focused on managing the company through this period, I have decided it is best for the company that I step aside," he said in a statement.

Democratic senator Elizabeth Warren told him at a Senate Banking Committee hearing last month that he should resign and "give back the money you took while the scam was going on".

Mr Stumpf earned 19.3 million dollars (15.8 million) last year, but he and Carrie Tolstedt, the executive who ran the retail banking division, will forfeit millions.

Ms Tolstedt announced in July that she would retire from the bank this year and had been expected to leave with as much as 125 million dollars (102 million) in salary, stock options and other compensation.

She was stripped of 19 million dollars (15 million) of her stock awards, and her departure was made immediate.

Before the scandal, Mr Stumpf was lauded for Wells Fargo having avoided some of the bad behaviour of its peers in the lead-up to the financial crisis. Wells Fargo did not invest in as many toxic mortgages as its counterparts, and Wells grew significantly by buying Wachovia.

AP
CONCORD- The community made their way to Winecoff Elementary School on a Thursday in late September to celebrate education and fun.

The community curriculum night was hosted by the school and Communities in Schools of Cabarrus County. Paul Redd, executive director of the organization, said it was the largest curriculum night in history.

Organizations in attendance included the Girl Scouts, student athletes from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, students from Central Cabarrus High School and Clayworks, which is the leading arts education nonprofit in North Carolina.

Representatives from the Girl Scouts shared information on their Girls Go Beyond after school program that gives girls the chance to learn all about science, technology, engineering and math (STEM), while someone from Clayworks showed students how to make pottery.

The students from UNCC and Central Cabarrus played games with Winecoff students and helped out with face-painting.

Redd said the night was a huge success and also brought in sales for the schools book fair. He said the fair sold over $2,700 in books that night.

Last year we sold $3,100 for the entire week and we came close to beating that in one night, he said. It was the most popular activity night that some of the teachers had ever been to.

Moving forward, Communities in Schools has arranged for the athletes from UNCC to return to the school periodically and work with fifth-grade students.

Redd said the organization does curriculum nights at Winecoff and the Performance Learning Center quarterly. He hopes to expand and work with more schools in the future.
It is no secret that actor Arjun Bijlani is thousands of miles away from India, shooting for his upcoming show, ' Pardes Mein Hai Mera Dil ', co-starring Drashti Dhami . The first promo of the show was out few days ago and it garnered a lot of eyeballs immediately.

However, while Arjun and Drashti are busy in their abroad schedule, the actor is also away from his adorable son and beautiful wife. And while, Arjun recently shared a picture where he mentioned about how much he misses his son, currently there is one instance, where Arjun did a very special thing.

It is Arjun's wife, Neha Bijlani's birthday and though Arjun is miles away in Austria, he did not forget to wish his wife in the most special way possible.

Featured Video

The actor posted a special video with a sweet wish for his wife where he had a cake and some wine to make it a special one.

Also, he posted a special picture mentioning how he is away from his wife on her birthday for the first time in 13 years.

We are sure this wish must have gotten everyone go aww and love the couple even more.
Given the increasing number of air passengers every year in India and a crunch for quality retail space being faced by many foreign and domestic retailers across metros, airports are emerging as the next battleground for retailers. Following in the footsteps of major transit points globally, both the Delhi and Mumbai airports now offer a good tenant mix and demand for retail space is expected to rise at other busy airports too.The current retail-tenant profile at Indian airports includes brands ranging from apparel to wellness, convenience, travel and books, electronics, fashion accessories, opticals/ sunglasses, watches, jewellery, F&B, perfumes and cosmetics, wine and liquor as also travel accessories. More brands belonging to categories such as fashion accessories, F&B, opticals/ sunglasses plan to expand by opening stores in airports too.The average store size varies according to the retail category. So while apparel stores can have a store size ranging anywhere between 500 sft and 5000 sft, bookstores have an average store size of 200-300 sft. F&B store sizes are generally smaller as common sitting areas are provided by the airports. In case the F&B store is not in a food court or has limited store formats, it may have a sitting area within the store or if in the food court, reserved exclusively for its patrons.Delhi International Airport Ltd (DIAL) surpassed the 48 million passenger mark in FY2015-16, witnessing a growth of 18% in traffic over the previous year. Also, Indian airports are witnessing tremendous commercial transformation through public-private partnerships, which is resulting in the development of such dedicated retailing areas.Retail developments such as Worldmark at Aerocity (near Delhi airport) are good examples of the potential for branded retail to come up around these facilities. It would be interesting to see if some other airports see similar developments in the future, especially the upcoming international airport near Mumbai.The major brands operational at airports currently include: Marks & Spencer, Shoppers Stop, Mango, Superdry, Lacoste, Armani Jeans, FabIndia, Tommy Hilfiger, United Colors of Benetton, W, Zodiac, Madame, Victorias Secret, in fashion and apparel; Da Milano, Hidesign, Ethos, Hugo Boss, Metro Shoes, Basecamp, Samsonite, Fossil, Tresmode in fashion and travel accessories; Swarovski, Tanishq in jewellery; Croma Zip, Samsung in electronics; Sunglass Hut in opticals; The Body Shop, Forest Essentials, Parcos in cosmetics; Theobroma, Starbucks, Costa Coffee, McDonalds, Burger King, Punjab Grill, Cafe Delhi Heights, The Beer Cafe, Dominos, Haagen Dazs, KFC, Mad Over Donuts, Pizza Hut, Subway in F&B.Very high returns for some brands from their airport stores explain why this format is turning so lucrative and in turn, helping transform airport terminals in major metros to retail hubs. Interestingly, the product assortment offered by both international and domestic brands at their airport shops could differ from their other stores and requires research on an ongoing basis as the merchandise mix and type of offers here are geared towards travellers and not shoppers. The primary motive of travellers is flying to their destination and not shopping.However, thanks to the increase in passenger traffic, it is expected that retail sales would also increase at airports in the future. The retailers need to get their product mix right and airports need to understand the dynamics of maintaining a good tenant mix. If this happens, the future for airport retailing in India looks very promising.The author Pankaj Renjhen is Managing Director  Retail Services of JLL India
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BuffaLouies

114 S. Indiana Ave.

Bloomington, IN 47408

(812) 333-3030

College food is the absolute best. Sure, it isnt very healthy, but it is satisfying, cheap and quick, three super important things for the student (or former student, in this case) on the go.

Now, I may lose my Cardinal card for this, but Muncie did not have a ton to offer in the food department.

The Village, a small commercial area on the edge of campus that featured a few bars, a coffee shop, bookstores and eateries, was where we went to escape the dorm life.

In terms of food, there was the famed Carters Hot Dog. The line, nearly 100 people long most weekends, would wrap along the outside of Dill Street bar. It was hard to pass up a delicious hot dog with all the toppings for about $2 a pop. Directly across the street was Greeks Pizza. It was typical for me to leave the library after 1 a.m. and stop by for two fresh cheese slices and a soda.

With the exception of Puerta Vallarta, a Mexican restaurant near the Muncie Mall, and Mugs, a burger spot in The Village, this is where my fond food memories end.

This past weekend, I found myself on campus again, this time in Bloomington. Id visited IUs campus at least a couple times while in undergrad but never really explored what was there. I was amazed at the number of international dining options: Turkish, Indian, Greek, Thai and several others. The smells were very inviting and tempting, but I was there on a mission  one that involved moderately priced meat drenched in sauce.

My mission led me to BuffaLouies, or as my boyfriend would put it, the best chicken wing spot in the state. According to the restaurants logo, they are the best in the world. Im certain that the huge crowd inside last Saturday afternoon would agree.

The restaurant, located in one of Bloomingtons most historic buildings (The Gables), was founded in 1987 by Buffalo, New York, native and IU alumnus Jay Lieser, who named the restaurant after his grandfather Louis. Ed and Jaimie Schwartzman currently own the eatery. In 2011, USA Today named it one of the Top Ten Wing Joints in the country.

Though the line was long and the wait even longer, the three-tiered dining area (covered in IU paraphernalia) had a jubilant vibe. The music, a mixture of disco and soul, pumping through the speakers helped to quiet my growling stomach. I was even treated to a live musical performance from Buffalouies owner Ed Schwartzman. He ran around the place, acting as busboy for the evening, singing and dancing. It was quite the sight.

My food, traditional Rasta Jerk wings with a side of curly fries, was just as yummy as Id expected. One downfall: I wish Id ordered more and asked them to go heavy on the sauce. Buffalouies boasts 17 sauces, one named Loucifer, and two dry rubs. The menu also features a variety of salads, sub sandwiches and appetizers. On my next visit, I plan to venture down the wild side and try the TNT. Im not, however, bold enough to eat anything named after the prince of darkness.

If youre in the mood for a quick foodie road trip, Id definitely suggest this place. The vibe is cool, and the eats were even better.
For little girls growing up in the mid 2000s, pop stars Lil Bow Wow, Lil Romeo and B2K were everything. In Indianapolis, we had Lil Kev to add to that roster. The precocious teen, not often seen without a bandana emblazoned in rhinestones wrapped around his head, was a fixture on the radio and at various community events, delivering his brand of high energy, youthful hip-hop.

Fast forward nearly a decade, and Kevin Hendricks has dropped the Lil from his stage moniker. He now goes by Kevo, and he has a whole new outlook on his career and music.

The Recorder caught up with Hendricks during a break in shooting an upcoming MTV reality special on location in Indianapolis. The show, which doesnt yet have a release date, followed Hendricks through the streets of Indy, where he spoke to other young people about the dangers of gang violence and how to make it in the music industry.

When asked what life has been like since his days as a child star, he remarked simply, Its been crazy. Everything has come to fruition; Ive definitely grown. Now Im writing for your favorite artists  everyone from Kevin Gates to Future and Lil Wayne.

In addition to his writing, Hendricks has appeared on screen in film and television projects alongside some of the industrys biggest names. There was 2012s In the Hive, directed by Robert Townsend and starring the late Michael Clarke Duncan and Loretta Devine, and 2014s Life of a King with Cuba Gooding Jr.

Hendricks said his journey, though promising, has not been easy.

For one, transitioning from a very commercial, upbeat sound to a more polished approach has proved challenging.

As a young person, I wasnt really able to tell my story. You know, we had to keep it commercial, keep it positive. I was a kid that promoted dont do drugs, stay in school  Im still very supportive of that, but as you grow, live and experiment with your craft, youre able to tell a story like youre supposed to tell it.

I had fans back in the day, but I had other people that were not so up on the movement. Honestly, I had a following, but I wasnt everybodys favorite. Now even people that didnt follow me back then hear the music now and theyre like, OK, I see you. Now Im able to tell my story on my own. Back then, I wasnt able to do that. Now youre hearing Kevo for who he really is. I just appreciate the ear and everyone who really embraces it.

Beyond the usual issues of growing from adolescence to adulthood, Hendricks shared that there were challenges behind the scenes that threatened to derail him.

Im the kid that came from the jungle. This is Naptown, man; we dont have to speak on how Nap is, because we know. Im the kid that never gave up. I had my dreams and visions as a tike. Of course we all go through the corny phase. I made the most out of my situation, whether it was good or bad. It was a lot that happened behind the scenes, to get me to where I am, that people dont really know.

His parents lost homes and cars as a result of funding his career aspirations. He worked odd jobs, doing landscaping work and babysitting, to bankroll his move to Los Angeles. His start in California was not at all glamorous. He couch surfed and slept in studios, doing whatever it took to earn a shot at making his dreams come true.

Despite those setbacks, Hendricks remains optimistic about what the future holds. Everything that Im doing now  Im happy. I dont have any complaints. Im working with artists now that I could never dream or imagine myself in a room with  I say that humbly because God is good.

Connect with Kevo Hendricks online

Instagram: @Kevo_Hendricks

Twitter: @KevoHendricks

soundcloud.com/kevo-hendricks
Christian Theological Seminary, in its role of administering the Lilly Endowment Clergy Renewal Programs, has awarded 29 grants to congregations in 17 Indiana communities. The 2016 Clergy Renewal Program for Indiana Congregations allows congregations to support their pastors with the gift of extended time away from ministerial duties and responsibilities. Pastors use the respite from congregational leadership for reflection and renewal, including travel, scholarly research and immersive experiences with various cultures and traditions.

Congregations awarded the grants nominated their pastors to receive the honor. Pastors in the 2016 program lead Protestant and nondenominational congregations. Each recipient, in consultation with the congregation, determines how he or she will use the grant to replenish, restore and renew his or her ministry. Travel to domestic and international destinations and journeys into nature are popular activities for grant recipients. One pastor plans to travel to the Holy Land in order to meditate on the life and journeys of Christ and the early church. Another pastor with an interest in global climate change is traveling in order to immerse himself in various extreme climates across the United States and Canada as a way of sparking his creativity in addressing creation care.

In addition to travel as a form of renewal, some pastors will use their time away from congregational leadership to engage in new spiritual disciplines, focus on time with loved ones and study topics that renew their excitement for preaching and congregational leadership.

Since Lilly Endowment introduced the Clergy Renewal Program for Indiana Congregations and National Clergy Renewal Program grants in 1999 and 2000, respectively, more than 2,300 congregations across the nation have participated in the programs. In the 2016 round of funding, Indiana congregations received grants totaling more than $1.3 million. The grants recognize the tremendous amount of energy, time and leadership that pastors invest in their congregations.

Lilly Endowment intends for this program to enable pastors to live for a while at a different pace and in a new environment, in Sabbath time and space, said Christopher Coble, the Endowments vice president for religion. We can think of no better way to honor these hardworking, faithful men and women than to help them experience personal growth and spiritual renewal in ways that they themselves design and find meaningful. We regularly hear that these renewal experiences are transformative for pastors, their families and their congregations.

Congregations were invited to apply for program grants of up to $50,000. The application process was participatory in nature, involving congregations in the design and development of the renewal experiences. Up to $15,000 of the grant could be allocated to fund interim pastoral leadership, as well as renewal activities within the congregation. Pastors were encouraged to include their families in the renewal activities.

The Rev. Dr. Robert Saler, director of the Lilly Endowment Clergy Renewal Programs at Christian Theological Seminary, noted that the Clergy Renewal Program for Indiana Congregations leverages the reciprocal dynamics of support, trust and encouragement reflective of healthy congregations. The program is designed to respect the innate human need for times of service and replenishment. It provides a means for congregations to express appreciation for their leaders service and respect for his or her health and energy for continued ministry, Saler said.

Christian Theological Seminarys Center for Pastoral Excellence was selected in 2012 to administer the Lilly Endowment Clergy Renewal Programs. At a time when society is experiencing unprecedented levels of change at ever-increasing speeds, it is rewarding to offer programs that recognize the value of retreat and renewal, Saler said. We are honored and privileged to work with Lilly Endowment in its support of congregational leaders.

2016 recipients

Anderson  Bethany Church of Anderson Inc., the Rev. Robert Bell

Bloomington  St. Thomas Evangelical Lutheran Church, the Rev. Lyle McKee

Brazil  Grace Chapel of Brazil Inc., the Rev. Timothy Russell

Carmel  Mercy Road Church Inc., the Rev. Josh Husmann

Columbus  Ogilville Christian Church, the Rev. Virgil Clotfelter

Evansville  St. Peters Highland UCC, the Rev. Brian Buschkill

Fort Wayne  Saint Joseph United Methodist Church, the Rev. Russell Abel

Fortville  New Life Christian Fellowship Inc., the Rev. Mark Adcock

Goshen  Prince of Peace Lutheran Church, the Rev. Andrew Wollman

Indianapolis  Acton United Methodist Church, the Rev. Matthew Stultz

Indianapolis  College Park Church Inc., the Rev. Eric Anderson

Indianapolis  Faith Presbyterian Church, the Rev. Charlotte Lohrenz

Indianapolis  First Mennonite Church, the Rev. Shannon Dycus

Indianapolis  Indiana Full Gospel Korean Church of the Rock, the Rev. Youngsoo Kim

Indianapolis  Linwood Christian Church, the Rev. Carolyn Watkins

Indianapolis  Northminster Presbyterian Church, the Rev. Teri Thomas

Indianapolis  Northview Church of the Brethren, the Rev. Robert Miller

Indianapolis  Resurrection Lutheran Church, the Rev. Mitchell Phillips

Indianapolis  The Movie Theater Church, the Rev. Ethan Maple

Indianapolis  Vineyard Community Church  Indianapolis, the Rev. Stephen Gooder

Jeffersonville  St. Pauls Episcopal Church, the Revs. Donald and Nancy Woodworth-Hill

Muncie  First Baptist Church Muncie, the Rev. Wade Allen

Noblesville  First Presbyterian Church of Noblesville, the Rev. Eric Gale

Noblesville  Genesis Church, the Rev. Paul Mumaw

South Bend  Crest Manor Church of the Brethren, the Rev. Bradley Bohrer

Syracuse  Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church, the Rev. Wendolyn Piano

Terre Haute  World Gospel Church, the Rev. John (Alfy) Austin

Washington  Bethany Christian Church, the Rev. Matthew Merold

Zionsville  Eagle Alliance Church, the Rev. Eric Simpson
BCCL

Goa failed Monika Ghurde. The elegant 39-year-old moved to live in the sunshine state to make a new beginning in her life because of the famous tolerance, tranquillity and live-and-let-live atmosphere that attracts people from every part of the world. This reputation makes Goa especially sought after and cherished by independent Indian women, who find it a haven compared to the brutish, judgemental, and sexist pressures of the rest of the country.

But every scrap of that positive image seems a cruel joke now after gentle, whimsical Ghurde was found assaulted and murdered in her Sangolda home on the morning of October 7.

BCCL

The shocking and horrific nature of the crime immediately recalls Scarlett Keelings murder on the beach at Anjuna in 2008. But that particular senseless tragedy was easier to dismiss as an anomaly.

Fifteen-year-old Keeling was high on a cocktail of drugs, her family had evidently negligently left her on the beachfront while they travelled to another part of the country, she spoke no local languages and was wandering a notorious beachfront late at night. But Ghurde was attacked in her own home, in a prosperous neighbourhood, in the heart of a stable Goan village being steadily remade with upscale apartments, trendy restaurants, and lifestyle stores.

For precisely that reason, it is imperative that state administration and civil society alike ensure a rigorous, painstaking investigation results in full justice being served for Monika Ghurde. The careless, shoddy mismanagement of every aspect of the Scarlett Keeling case ensured lasting damage to Goas reputation, and led to a total lack of trust in both police and the state judicial processes. Back then, every authority tried to cover up the incident, and  to lasting disgrace  the first official post-mortem declared accidental death. It took a painful, extraordinarily brave campaign by the teens mother, Fiona Mackeown, who faced down systematic slander to force the second examination, which pointed to a callous murder.

BCCL

There is no doubt Monika Ghurdes barbarous murder is similarly inconvenient and embarrassing to the administration, coming as it does just before tourist season and a series of high-profile events, including the BRICS Summit.

There will be immense pressure on the police to quickly resolve the case. But that is precisely the environment in which costly mis-steps and mistakes are made, where dubious evidence and unlikely suspects suddenly materialize. If that happens, Goa will lose doubly and endlessly, a negative publicity spiral identical to what ensued after the thoroughly botched prosecution of Keelings murder.

Leaving aside concerns about public image, this senseless murder has gravely shaken the idea of Goa cherished by every local, and which makes this uniquely pluralistic territory so irresistible to everyone who visits.

The stark reality of Monika Ghurdes catastrophic fate means the states laid-back vibe is deceptive, that vicious crimes against women are not exclusive to benighted North India. Atrocities can occur even down the sleepy bylanes of picturesque vaddos in the state heartland. It means no one can remain untroubled until the perpetrators are caught, and face justice, and a sense of security prevails again.

BCCL

Though the insider-outsider debate continues to rage in Goa, as with nearly every other corner of the globe, there is no doubt the state was quietly, subtly enriched when Monika Ghurde chose to make it home. She was lovely and inherently graceful, and unlike so many other neo-Goans chose to try to belong. While continuing to travel widely, she always returned to charmingly unique projects, specifically created to instill wonder in their participants  smell workshops for children, a sumptuous multi-course meal accompanied by specifically tailored scents.

BCCL

Ghurde was precisely the kind of questing, a lively soul who resonates deeply with Goas ethos. She was unceasingly creative, moving from photography to publishing to becoming an independent perfumer after studying with one of the last creative perfumery houses in the UK. Her particular love was timeless jasmine, a scent, and ingredient she committed to research along with a range of scholars and historians. Ghurde believed her skills came with the responsibility to bring pleasure and improve lives, to create fragrances which are for our time and resonate with our consciousness.

Over social media, Ghurde recently shared a passage from Krishnamurti which must now serve as the epitaph.

Tomorrow is the invention of thought as time, and if there is no tomorrow psychologically, what happens in life today? Then there is a tremendous revolution, isnt there?Then you are completely whole now, not projecting from the past, through the present, into the future. That means to live, dying every day. Do it, and you will find out what it means to live completely today. That is to live, then there is a life which is eternal because eternity has no time.
The era of Devdas is gone it seems. While there was an era where songs were written about heartbreaks and closures, Bollywood is embracing a new change that is surely refreshing.

Now, we have breakup songs and no, this ain't a joke. Remember how Imtiaz Ali started this trend by introducing us to the concept of celebrating break ups. Remember how Saif Ali Khan celebrated hi break up in Love aaj Kal?

Eros

And then came Heer Tu Badi Sad Hai, a song where Deepika's character was living her withdrawal symptoms after coming back from Corsica. Instead of a love-lorn or a heartbreak song, the song visually picturised a sad Heer.

YouTube ScreenGrab

Continuing the tradition of celebrating breakups and heartbreaks, Ae Dil Hai Mushkil's new track tells you why it's important to celebrate break-ups. This lovely song starring Ranbir and Anushka is funky and a happy one.

The transformation from heartbreak songs to celebratory heartbreak songs is awesome.
If you're a die-hard Shah Rukh Khan fan, here a news that will make you extremely happy. Not many know that Shah Rukh Khan's acted in lesser known mini series-turned-film Ahamaq that was never released.

Twitter

According to a tweet that SRK shared, it'll be screened at the upcoming 18th edition of the Mumbai Film Festival.

Ahmaq being screened @Mumbaifilmfest so please register with https://t.co/CH9s8Gfatg my first foray into cinema. pic.twitter.com/w5eLBEX9oH  Shah Rukh Khan (@iamsrk) October 12, 2016

Directed by filmmaker Mani Kaul, the film was first released as a four-part TV mini-series on Doordarshan in 1991. Later in the year 1992, the film was screened at the New York Film Festival. However, Ahamaq was never commercially released. Ahamaq, which was based on Fyodor Dostoevskys novel The Idiot, will be screened under the new programme of the film festival, called, The New Medium. The segment will be curated by artist Shaina Anand. This unedited mini-series will be presented back to back as a four-hour film.

Talking about the same, Kiran Rao, Festival Chairperson, Jio MAMI 18th Mumbai Film Festival said,

YouTube ScreenGrab

We are truly excited to present this new section  my personal favourite section  which showcases some of the more bold and seminal experiments in filmmaking. I hope film lovers will take this opportunity to experience works like the newly restored Man with a Movie Camera accompanied by live music, and Lav Diaz Evolution of a Filipino Family, among others."

The section will feature the best in innovative film-making by scouring the living history of cinema  from its inception to the contemporary moment. The films will be screened from October 20 to 27.
Neither he slaughtered holy cow, nor did he store or consume beef. 22-year-old Minhaj Ansari had allegedly shared an image of a slaughtered cow on WhatsApp with a comment considered inflammatory in nature. He was allegedly tortured to death while being in police custody.

Tarique Anwar/Indiatimes

Ansari, a resident of Dighari village at Narayanpur Tehsil in Jharkhands Jamtara district, was picked up by the police on October 3 after the controversial image and message started doing rounds on social media on October 2. He was taken to Narayanpura police station where, according to his family, he was thrashed by police and locals.

My son was dragged and taken to police station even though he pleaded innocence. At the police station, I saw Harish Pathak (the police station in-charge) and a villager mercilessly torturing my son. When I requested the officer not to beat up my son, he pounced on me and beat me up, twisted my arms, all my bangles were broken and my cloth were torn and he pushed me out of the station. I helplessly stood outside the station and saw my son being assaulted, Ansaris mother Ajhola Bibi said in the FIR.

Tarique Anwar/Indiatimes

When his condition deteriorated he was sent to Dhanbad Medical College & Hospital and from there he was shifted to the Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS) in Ranchi on October 7. He died at RIMS two days later.

Tarique Anwar/Indiatimes

As per the First Information Report (FIR) lodged at Narayanpur police station by Ansari's mother on October 6, he sustained internal injuries and slipped into coma.

Tarique Anwar/Indiatimes

Then the officer and the villagers took my son to Dhanbad Medical College, where he remained unconscious. Doctor, he told me that my son was so brutally beaten that he got internal injuries," wrote Ajhola in the FIR.

Tarique Anwar/Indiatimes

Talking to Indiatimes, Ansaris father Umar Miyan said they found fingers of the deceased hands and toes broken and there were injury marks on his body.

After the FIR was registered officer-in-charge, Harish Pathak, was first suspended and a case of attempt to murder and outraging the modesty of a woman was registered against him. Following Ansaris death on October 9, he has been charged with murder.

Meanwhile, Jamtara SP Manoj Kumar Singh justified Ansaris detention.

We took action because of the WhatsApp message, with some comments about beef, had the potential to disturb communal peace, coming so close to Dussehra and Muharram, he said.

Though the police admit to lapses on their and ordered an inquiry by the Sub Divisional Officer and Sub Divisional Police Officer, the district administration say Ansari died of encephalitis.

Tarique Anwar/Indiatimes

According to medical reports, Ansari was suffering from encephalitis. It appears that the officer-in-charge did not check on this. An inquiry is on. Strict action will be taken against all those who are found to be guilty, said the SP.

Since his arrest and news about his alleged custodial torture, villagers are angry. Local MLA Irfan Ansari of Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) visited the village and tried to pacify the angry people. The BJP government in the state has given a compensation of Rs 2 lakh to the victims family.

The funeral prayer of the deceased was conducted at his village where he was buried at the local graveyard on Monday. He is survived by young wife and a one-year-old son.

In September 2015, Mohammad Akhlaq (50) was lynched by a mob in Dadri area of Uttar Pradesh over rumours that he slaughtered a calf and consumed and stored its meat on the occasion of Eid al-Adha.
A teenager repeatedly raped and abandoned upon being found pregnant has now delivered her child. Her baby boy was delivered in an ambulance after a nurse refused to assist in the procedure, Hindustan Times reported.

reuters

The girl was raped repeatedly on the pretext of marriage by a fellow villager, who abandoned her when she became pregnant with his child.

The girl and her family fought in courts in Bareilly and finally in the Allahabad high court. Her hopes to abort the child ended when a local medical panel declined permission, stating the advanced state of pregnancy she was in.

The girl had first approached an additional chief judicial magistrate's court when her fetus was 26 weeks old. The law forbids abortion beyond a 20-week deadline, unless the mother's life is at risk.

She was taken to the Community health centre (CHC) in Shergarh after complaining of labour pains, and but the auxiliary nurse midwife (ANM) refused to assist in the delivery after hearing of the rape case. She told the girl's family to take the girl to the district hospital. The family was even denied an ambulance, and were told transport the girl in an autorickshaw. The family arranged an ambulance - and it was in the ambulance that the girl gave birth.
Dismissing as "fictional", New Delhi's statement that the Indian Army had executed successful "surgical strikes " against terror launch pads across the Line of Control on September 29, Pakistan High Commissioner to India, Abdul Basit, claimed that Islamabad would have "immediately retaliated" if that indeed had been the case.

BCCL

Basit said that India's claim of having conclusive video evidence of the surgical strikes seems "fabricated" as the sting operation conducted by an Indian television channel showed a police superintendent at Mirpur, Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, confirming on telephone, the cross-border action by Indian Special Forces.

"No such surgical strikes took place. There was only cross-border firing by Indian troops (on September 29), in which two Pakistan army soldiers were murdered. Pakistan responded to it immediately and proportionately," Basit said in an interview to a television channel.

BCCL

"Had there been any surgical strike, Pakistan would have retaliated immediately...we did not need any reaction time. It seems to me the term surgical strike is being used very loosely in India... no Indian soldiers crossed the LoC... there was only cross-border firing," he said.

The Indian government has not released evidence of the surgical strikes in the shape of video footage, photographs or infrared images because it does not want to push the Pakistan army into a corner, nor compromise operational details, tactics, techniques and equipment used in the cross-LoC raids.

BCCL

Basit also brushed aside the article written by Pakistan's well-known defence expert Ayesha Siddiqa which said Indian troops had indeed crossed the LoC to kill five to six militants and injure three to four soldiers at at least one place in Dudhnial, POK, on September 29. "I do not know what the basis of her statement is... She is a good friend of mine," he said.

BCCL

The Pakistani envoy said he "did not see desire" on the part of India to engage with Pakistan on "the core issue" of Kashmir. "By blaming Pakistan or calling it a terrorist state (after the terror attack on the Indian Army's Uri camp), you are closing all doors for cooperation," he said.
India is one of the biggest arms importers in the world. It is understandable since Indias military expansion goes hand in hand with its economic growth. Also playing a role is the neighbourhood. With two nuclear neighbours, one of which cant be trusted with a water pistol, India has to be prepared for the worst.

With the bulk of equipment of the Indian armed forces of Soviet origin, it doesnt come as a surprise that Russia is still Indias favoured country when it comes to buying weapons. When Russian President Vladimir Putin comes to India for the BRICS summit, India and Russian will hold bilateral talks on the sidelines. In discussion, among other things will be the following weapons systems that India is keen to buy.

S-400 Triumf

AFP

The long range air defence missile system is one of the most feared weapons system in the west. With a range of 400 km, a missile fired from the India will take out an F-16 while its still in the airspace above PAF Base Mushaf in Sargodha! The road mobile missile system can pretty much be parked anywhere India wants and shoot down enemy planes at will.

India wants to buy 5 systems with thousands of missiles to use as a defensive measure. The deal is reportedly going to cost India Rs 40,000 crore.

Akula class nuclear submarine

Reuters

India already operates a leased Akula II class of hunter killer nuclear sub (SSN), christened the INS Chakra. It is one of the quietest of all nuclear subs. In fact theyre so silent, the US was left red faced when it came to light that a Russian Akula had slipped into their backyard, the Gulf of Mexico, without the US Navy even realising it. Designed to hunt the American SSBNs, the Akula is a weapons platform unlike no other. Now India wants to lease another one to augment the fleet.

FGFA (Fifth Generation Fighter Aircraft)

AFP

After months of negotiations, both India and Russia have agreed to a work-share agreement for the under-development FGFA. A fifth generation fighter with stealth tech, it is the most advanced fighter plane in the world. Both countries have committed $4 billion towards the R&D for the project. India is expected to buy about 144 of these planes. More importantly, Indian engineers will get the know how to build a stealth plane which will be used in Indias home grown AMCA (Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft).

Ka 226T Light helicopters

Wikimedia commons

While India and Russia have agreed to a deal for the manufacture of the light helicopters, the agreement for the joint production is likely to be signed soon. 200 of these are required with the initial batch of 40 coming from Russia and 160 being manufactured locally with transfer of technology.
Amid reports of him along with Jamaat-ud-Dawa chief Hafiz Saeed being 'protected' by Pakistan army post the surgical strike, Jaish-e-Muhammad chief Masood Azhar has 'urged' the political leadership in Islamabad to allow jihadist groups to escalate their operations against India.

AP

According to a report in The Indian Express, Azhar made the 'appeal' in the latest issue of al-Qalam, a magazine which is considered as the mouthpiece of the JeM.

Calling it a historic opportunity for Islamabad to get Kashmir, Azhar wrote If the government of Pakistan shows a little courage, the problem of Kashmir, as well as the dispute over water, can be resolved once and for all right now. If nothing else, the government simply has to open the path for the mujahideen. Then, god willing, all the bitter memories of 1971 will be dissolved into the triumphant emotions of 2016.

Azhar the mastermind of Pathankot and Uri terror attacks, in both the incidents were India security forces were the target, said it exposed the weakness of the army. Azhar who has for many years in the forefront of the insurgency in Kashmir said the prolonged fight has taken a toll on India.

PTI

You will see a dramatic difference. In the course of this journey, which I have been an eyewitness to, I have seen India reduced from a serpent to an earthworm.

Azhar's rant against India comes amid a growing chorus in Pakistan over the country's continued support to terrorists like him and Hafiz Saeed.

Pakistani newspaper Dawn had last week reported that in a rare confrontation between the political and military leadership of the country, PM Nawaz Sharif had categorically told the army to act against terrorists or face international isolation.

The Nation

However the government and the army denied the claims and the journalist Cyril Almeida, who reported the development has been put on Exit Control List, barring him from travelling outside the country.

There were also reports that a lawmaker from Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League, Rana Muhammad Afzal questioning the government's policy.

Which eggs is Hafiz Saeed laying for us that we are nurturing him?" he asked adding that India has built such a case against Pakistan about the JuD chief that during the meeting on Kashmir, foreign delegates mention him [Hafiz Saeed] as the bone of contention between Pakistan and India.

AFP

Meanwhile others in Pakistan's media fraternity have also raised concerns over the action taken against Almeida.

Another newspaper, The Nation, in a powerful editorial titled 'How to Lose Friends And Alienate People' asks the country's leadership 'why can't you act against Masood Azhar and Hafiz Saeed?

Commenting on the gag-order on media the editorial said said the government and the military instead of taking actions against Azhar and Saeed was lecturing the press.

Azhar who resurfaced into the jihadist scene after an absence of nearly a decade with the Pathankot terror attack in January was released from an Indian jail in 1999 by the then NDA government in exchange of the pasengers of Indian Airlines Flight 814 which was hijacked by JeM terrorists.
Peace International school, a school run by an Islamic charity in Kochi has come under the scanner after reports of 'objectionable content' in its textbooks.

A case has been filed against the promoters of the school for spreading hatred.

peaceschools.in

The case was registered for teaching students objectionable content in the syllabus what was not secular. Islamic curriculum was being followed and students were being exhorted to lay down their lives for Islam, an official said.

The school has classes from the LKG to eighth standard.

The incident came to light after a chapter from one of the textbooks of Class II was posted on social media.

It reads...

"Suppose your friend Adam/Suzanne has decided to become a Muslim, among the choices what advice will you give?"

a. he/she has to change her name to Ahmed/Sara immediately

b. he/she is wearing a chain and will need to remove it

c. learn the shahada

d. runaway from home as parents are not Muslims

e. eat halal chicken

Initially the school had denied the reports and claimed that it was fake.

Later Kerala based Islamic preacher MM Akbar, the head of Peace International, admitted to local media that it was in fact a part of the syllabus and its was compiled by child psychology experts.

He then went on to blamed the publisher for the book adding that the same book is taught in a number of Islamic management schools across India.

He however said that six months after introducing the textbook, objections were raised and it was not taught any further adding that there was nothing objectionable in the content, while admitted that it might not fit for a class II student.

Akbar, a renowned Islamic preacher in Kerala has a cult-like status among his followers. Many of his interpretations have close resemblance to another controversial preacher Zakir Naik.

The school had first come under the scanner of the authorities following the mysterious disappearance of 21 youths from Kerala who are suspected to have joined terrorist group Islamic State.

Six of the missing youths had links to the institute, including Merin, a Christian girl who converted to Islam. She was a teacher there.

Other allegations against the school include religious conversion of six students and not including biology in its syllabus as talking about sex is unislamic.

According to some local media another chapter in the same textbook asks students "whether they are ready to die for Islam?"

Peace International which has a network of 20 schools across Kerala has around 300 students, mostly Muslims in the institute which is now in the middle of the controversy.

YouTube

However a faculty member identified as Lita, has refuted some of the allegations.

In a video posted online Lita who claims to be Malayalam teacher at the school said, biology was taught at the school and she was unaware of the allegations of religious conversions of students.

To know the reality of the claims, this correspondent without revealing my nature of work contacted one person via online who said that his son was studying in the school.

"Being a Muslim, I want my son to learn about Islam and the Islamic way of life. The school had promised that their students will be able to by heart Quran by Class X and as a religious man I couldn't be happier," he said.
Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) administration on Thursday ordered an inquiry into the incident burning of effigy of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, projecting him as demon king Ravan, by members of Congress-backed students' wing NSUI, on the occasion of Dussehra.

IndiaTimes

IndiaTimes on Wednesday broke the story about the effigy of PM along with several other leaders burnt inside JNU campus.

We have ordered an inquiry into the effigy burning incident and are examining the issue, said JNU Vice Chancellor Jagadesh Kumar, whose picture was also there on the effigy along with others.

NSUI member Sunny Dhiman, told Indiatimes that NSUI took this extreme step in protest of the proctorial inquiry the JNU administration ordered against Youth Forum for Discussions and Welfare Activities (YFDA) who burnt effigy of Gujarat government and gau-rakshak (cow vigilantes) and also issued show-cause notices to the students concerned.

IndiaTimes

NSUI students also claimed that it was a protest against the Centres failure to honour its promises and the continuous attacks on various institutions across the country. The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has also sought a detailed report from the Delhi Police on the issue.

The police have been directed to inform the ministry about the organisers, the political affiliation, presence of outsiders (if any) and slogans raised, sources in the MHA told Indiatimes.

The police have also been asked to ascertain whether there was any involvement of those who had organised a controversial event to mark the hanging of Afzal Guru on February 9 this year, they said.

Sources in the city police confirmed that they have got a directive from the ministry. Acting on the MHAs directive, we will soon file a report on the incident, said a senior police official.

While the university administration says that no official permission was sought for the event, the students of NSUI said that since effigy burning is a routine thing in JNU and it doesn't require permission from the university.

NSUI is distancing itself from the protest in JNU
As a result of ongoing negotiations between Islamic militants and the Nigerian government, 21 of more than 270 kidnapped students from Chibok in 2014 have been released. The students were released in exchange for four militants, according to AFP.

A report released by the government adds that the 21 schoolgirls were driven to a military base in ICRC vehicles, and the militants were also transported by the ICRC.

President Muhammadu Buhari's spokesman said on Twitter that the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the Swiss government had acted as mediators in the talks with Boko Haram.

He added that negotiations were continuing.

AFP

Boko Haram had captured more than 270 students from a school in Chibok, Nigeria in 2014 which sparked international anger and triggered one of the largest global social media campaigns to rescue the kidnapped children.

Earlier reports had suggested that more than 50 of the kidnapped students had managed to escape on the day they were captured, says BBC.

218 students are still considered missing.

AFP

The release of the girls on Thursday is the largest group believed freed since the girls were kidnapped two years ago. The President's spokesperson has assured that the girls are getting some rest after their ordeal and will be returning to the officials soon.

Malam LAWAL wants the girls to have some rest, with all of them very tired coming out of the process before he hands them over to the VP.  Mallam Garba Shehu (@GarShehu) October 13, 2016

Activists who have been rallying for the release of the girls have received the news well.

@GarShehu Thank God. Thanks to Mr President & those who aided their release. We hope other girls will be released soon. To God be the glory!  Uche Jegbefume (@jaustinuche) October 13, 2016
The year's Nobel Prize winner line up will surely disappoint US Republican nominee Donald Trump, who believes that immigrants to the US are those with "lots of problems."

Six Americans won the Nobel prize this year in various sciences. ALL of them immigrants.  Atif Mian (@AtifRMian) October 10, 2016

All 6 of America's Nobel Prize 2016 recipients in the field of science were immigrants.

The 2016 Nobel Prize in Physics: for "theoretical discoveries of topological phase transitions and topological phases of matter"

BREAKING NEWS #NobelPrize in Physics 2016 to David Thouless, Duncan Haldane and Michael Kosterlitz pic.twitter.com/5jw75GIjRv  The Nobel Prize (@NobelPrize) October 4, 2016

F. Duncan M. Haldane (Princeton University)

J. Michael Kosterlitz (Brown University)

Brown Professor J. Michael Kosterlitz wins the Nobel Prize in Physics https://t.co/zv17fD0UXy via @YouTube  Brown University (@BrownUniversity) October 5, 2016

David J. Thouless (the University of Washington in Seattle)

The 3 were born in the UK.

Haldane, an immigrant from Britain told The Hill that America attracted talent because of the nation's research-friendly funding system. He still called the immigration process "a bureaucratic nightmare for many people."

2016 Nobel Prize in Chemistry: "for the design and synthesis of molecular machines."

BREAKING NEWS 2016 #NobelPrize in Chemistry to Jean-Pierre Sauvage, Sir J. Fraser Stoddart and Bernard L. Feringa pic.twitter.com/buInkIc1KC  The Nobel Prize (@NobelPrize) October 5, 2016

Sir J. Fraser Stoddart (Scottish born, Northwestern University)

"I think the United States is what it is today largely because of open borders," he said.

Economic Sciences: "for their contributions to contract theory."

Why is the Prize in Economic Sciences awarded to research on contract theory? https://t.co/Qyb3cMZolM  The Nobel Prize (@NobelPrize) October 10, 2016

Oliver Hart (Harvard University): Born in the UK

Professor Oliver Hart checks a flood of emails after being named co-recipient of the 2016 #NobelPrize in economics https://t.co/Os8OxKK01G pic.twitter.com/EN0IsBmV9q  Harvard University (@Harvard) October 10, 2016

Bengt Holmstrom (MIT) : born in Finland

Prof. Holmstrom heard the news at home this AM: "I'm still wondering whether I'll wake up or whether this is the real thing." #NobelPrize pic.twitter.com/U7prEWOV09  MIT (@MIT) October 10, 2016



This is not a fluke occurrence



According to Stuart Anderson, of the National Foundation for American Policy, immigrants have won 40% of the 78 Nobels won by Americans in chemistry, medicine and physics since 2000. They come from Japan, Canada, Turkey, Austria, China, Israel, South Africa and Germany.

In a 2014 academic paper, Anderson wrote: "The passage of the [US] Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, which eliminated the discriminatory national origin quotas and opened the door to Asian immigrants, and the Immigration Act of 1990, which increased employment-based green card numbers, were key factors in enhancing the ability of America to assimilate talented individuals from around the world into our culture and economy. "
Wonder Woman has been appointed as the new UN ambassador for the empowerment of women and girls. She will be officially titled on October 21, the character's 75th anniversary at the UN Headquarters in New York. The event will also launch the UN's global campaign supporting the fifth goal of Sustainable Development which is "to achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls".

Kimmck-flickr

"Gender equality is not only a fundamental human right, but a necessary foundation for a peaceful, prosperous and sustainable world," said a UN spokesperson, adding that, "Providing women and girls with equal access to education, healthcare, decent work, and representation in political and economic decision-making processes will fuel sustainable economies and benefit societies and humanity at large.

Wonder Woman was coined during WWII was in itself path-breaking. Firstly her character broke away from the damsel-in-distress characteristic attached to women in Superhero comics with male leads and saw her saving herself from bondage. And secondly the name itself Wonder Woman - not a girl - she was a woman at par with superhero men. DC is finally handing Wonder Woman her dues in 2017 by releasing their first movie on one of the first female superheroes. And she will also be making an appearance in Batman vs Superman: Dawn of Justice.

flickr

As the next UN Ambassador for the empowerment of women and girls, here are some things you should know about her:

Who Created Wonder Woman



A DC employee, William Moultan Marston, created Wonder Woman to spice up the male dominated superhero scene existent at the time. The character was largely inspired by his wife and co-creator Elizabeth and he wanted to portray the superhero as a liberated woman.

Her Genealogy



Initially the story of Wonder Woman's origin went as follows: Her mother, Queen Hippolyta carved her out of clay and she was given life and powers by the Greek Gods. However, in recent years, it has been said she is the daughter of Greek God, Zeus.

Princess of the Amazons

Wonder Woman is from Themyscira or Paradise Island, which is the home of the Amazons. Her mother is the Queen of the Amazons, which makes her Princess of the Amazons. According to Greek Mythology, Amazons were a race of female warriors who lived in modern-day Ukraine.

flickr

Strength Personified



She is one of the strongest DC superheros. In fact, her strength is pegged against Thor and Superman. Wonder Woman gets her warrior skills from being a part of the Amazon clan and from the Greek Gods who gave her life. Goddess of Harvest and Agriculture Demeter gave her super strength, Goddess of Wisdom Athena gave her wisdom and courage, Goddess of the Hunt Artemis gave her the skills to communicate with animals, Goddess of Love and Beauty Aphrodite gave her beauty and loving heart and the Messenger of the Gods Hermes gave her speed and the power of flight. The superhero also has weapons such as indestructible bracelets, magical swords, Hermes' sandals, tiara that can be used as a weapon and a magical sword.

Wonder Woman AKA Princess Diana

Princess Diana is the alias of Wonder Woman and she appears consistently in the comics. She is represented as an Army nurse who travelled to South America to marry her fiance and became Diana White.
Republican presidential candidate, Donald Trump, might become the next POTUS. Yes, possibly. Next month, he might be occupying the most powerful presidential office in the world. He wants to "make America great again" - the slogan his entire campaign is built on and no one should have problem with that. But what makes one wonder is the fact that he wants to do this by keeping Mexicans away, kicking Muslims out and keeping women, of high sex appeal, close.

Reuters

Trump has said atrocious things about everyone who isn't white and male. His leaked "locker room talk" revealed to the world, that his power and money gives him the right to sexually assault women and get away with it.

There could be more to it as the presidential polls come closer. Let's trace what has been his way of 'othering the non-Americans' so far.

'Mexicans Are Rapists'



In September 2015, an American-Mexican journalist, Jorge Ramos, was removed, forcibly might we add, from his press conference in Iowa.

Busted. Donald Trump deleted this tweet attacking Jeb Bush over his Mexican wife: pic.twitter.com/nD95099uGQ  Angelo Carusone (@GoAngelo) July 6, 2015

Trumps most viral comment on Mexicans was when he called them rapists. He said, When Mexico sends its people, theyre not sending the best. Theyre not sending you. Theyre not sending you. Theyre sending people that have lots of problems, and theyre bringing those problems with us. Theyre bringing drugs. Theyre bringing crime. Theyre rapists. And some, I assume, are good people.

The hate campaign that started with Mexicans later expanded to include Latinos, where he said: Its coming from all over South and Latin America.

'Blanket Ban On Muslims'

Trumps hate began taking shape when he said he would place a blanket ban on Muslims from entering America, in essence a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the country. In a country with 3.3 million Muslims, he said: Theyre not coming to this country if Im President.

'Bitch, Be Cool'

Indiatimes

Oh, the things hes said about women. We could go on and on and on.

Twitter

Since the leak of a video obtained by The Washington Post where Trump was caught saying, When youre a star, they [women] let you do it, many women have come out saying they have been commented on, groped, forcibly kissed and touched by Trump.

While @BetteMidler is an extremely unattractive woman, I refuse to say that because I always insist on being politically correct.

 Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 28, 2012





In his 2005 book, Trump Nation: The Art of Being The Donald, he wrote: "My favourite part [of Pulp Fiction] is when Sam has his gun out in the diner and he tells the guy to tell his girlfriend to shut up. Tell that bitch to be cool. Say: 'Bitch be cool.' I love those lines."
Days after a top Pakistani envoy during a visit to the US claimed that "road to peace in Kabul lies in Kashmir," Washington has said that the two issues are unrelated.

Peter Lavoy, the White House's point person for South Asia, said "We certainly do not believe that the situation in Afghanistan is linked with Kashmir."

AFP

Pakistan's special envoy on Kashmir, Mushahid Husain Syed had last week claimed that peace is not possible in South Asia, including in Afghanistan without resolving Kashmir.

He had also warned that Islamabad could get closer to Moscow if Washington fails to intervene in Kashmir.

YouTube

Meanwhile the Lavoy also said that US stands by India in the issue of surgical strikes and support India's "right to self-defence" in the aftermath of the Uri attack which he said was a "clear case of cross-border terrorism".

PTI

"It (Uri) was a clear case of cross-border terrorism. We condemned this act of terrorism. It was a horrific attack. Every country has a right to self-defence. But in a heavily militarised relationship that has also experienced three wars, there is indeed a need for caution and restraint," he said.

"We share with India, the concern for preventing any future attack. We empathise with the Indian position that it needs to respond militarily to cross-border threat of terrorism," Lavoy added.
Russia conducted a series of ballistic missile tests, in turn giving rise to rumours of a World War III in the future. The world's fastest missile, Topol, was launched from a submarine in the Barents Sea off the Russian coast, reports The Sun.

AFP/Getty

The second missile was launched from a north-west island of the country wherein its warhead struck a simulated target. The third missile was launched from a submarine of the Pacific Fleet in the Sea of Okhotsk, north of Japan.

Out of the three, the Topol missile has a maximum range of 10,000 km that could carry a nuclear warhead of 550 kilotons.

The tests come at a time when the relations between Russia and the US are at their lowest point, especially concerning Syria.

Wikipedia

However, commenting on a potential threat of a war, the Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu said, "Scheduled activities of our operational and combat training are misrepresented as 'alarming signals'. The ideas of a military threat, a new cold war or an arms race are being circulated. Of course, it is not true."

But sources say that Russia has asked its officials and their relatives living abroad to come home amid the rising tensions over an imminent nuclear war.
Were excited to announce that indmin.com is now part of fastmarkets.com.

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Non-systemic Attica Banks intent to issue bonds with a Greek state guarantee, in order to support the bank's access to greater liquidity, earned a credit negative appraisal by Moodys on Thursday , in a report by the latter (Moodys Credit Outlook).
MAURITANIDES is an established event, inaugurated in all of its previous editions by His Excellency Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz, President of the Islamic Republic of Mauritania.

The event will feature:

Three days of plenary sessions

Technical workshops

A co-located trade event

Visits to Mauritanias mining sites

It will gather:

International investors

Mining and petroleum experts

Financial institutions

Mauritanian decision makers

Development partners

Companies involved in the mining and petroleum exploration and associated service sectors

Knowledge! MAURITANIDES 2016 will feature over ten specific themed conference sessions, populated with industry experts discussing issues encompassing the complete spectrum of the mining and petroleum sectors.

Networking! With lunches, coffee breaks and evening functions, MAURITANIDES will create an environment conducive to business development.

Latest technologies and products! Our exhibitors come from all over the world to showcase the latest technology and products on the market, find out about future market trends.

Promotion: MAURITANIDES will be attended by both the private and public sector from Mauritania and its neighbouring countries, it is the largest trade event to happen in Mauritania. Promote your products and services in an event, where you are sure to get maximum exposure.

Linkages: strengthen existing and create new linkages between all sections of the mining and petroleum supply chain.
Islamic militant group Boko Haram has released twenty-one of the Chibok girls it kidnapped back in April 2014, it has been reported.

The released girls have been handed to the Nigerian government.

Sahara Reporters quoted a government source saying the girls were dropped off by Boko Haram militants earlier today at the Banki area of Borno state, and were later picked up by military helicopter.

The Federal Government has recently expressed its desire to negotiate the release of the abducted schoolgirls.

The girls were last seen in a video posted by the jihadist group in August, featuring its new leader appointed by Islamic State, Abu Musab al-Barnawi.

Boko Haram has given conditions including the release of its detained fighters in exchange for the schoolgirls. It is yet to be known if there was any exchange of sort.

President Muhammadu Buhari has however headed to Germany to discuss assistance in dealing with terrorism and militancy.
The Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, has denied that the federal government swapped some Boko Haram prisoners for the 21 Chibok girls released by the terrorist group early Thursday morning.

Addressing a press conference on the release of the abducted girls, Mr. Mohammed said the girls were released following credible information from trusted negotiators among the leadership of Boko Haram.

He said the president, Muhammadu Buhari, gave directives to officials of the State Security Service after it was certain that the release of the girls was possible, based on the information provided.

The moment we had a credible lead, we built confidence on our sources and the president gave authorities to the SSS to pursue the release if the girls.

As soon as the necessary confidence was built on both sides, the parties agreed on the date and the location of the release of the 21 girls. Please note that this is not a swap. It is a release, the

product of painstaking negotiations and trust on both sides.

As soon as agreements were reached; the parties decided on a place of exchange and the girls were released.

They were immediately flown to Kaduna state where they are expected shortly; this afternoon to Abuja, said Mr. Mohammed.

He said government had put in place medical, psychological and trauma experts, as well as social workers to help attend to the health needs of the girls upon their return to Abuja.

Mr. Mohammed said the girls were released by 5:30 am on Thursday

But officials briefed about the deal had told PREMIUM TIMES that the girls were swapped for four Boko Haram insurgents. Names of the militants were not released.

Boko Haram demanded the release of its members held by the government, as condition for freeing the girls.

The officials told PREMIUM TIMES that the exchange took place Wednesday night when Nigerian military officials, alongside personnel of United Nations, Red Cross and National Emergency Management Agency, conveyed four Boko Haram militants by a chopper to Banki, a border town in Bama local government area of Borno State.

There, 21 released girls were picked up. The girls were brought into Maiduguri Air Force base at about 8.30a.m.

A source said most of the girls had babies.

They were immediately flown to Abuja at 9a.m.

Many residents of Maiduguri were woken by the sounds of aircraft hovering in the air Thursday morning.

Source: PremiumTimes
Contractors handling projects at the Federal University, Oye-Ekiti in Ekiti State have been warned to complete the projects in November or risk revocation of their contracts.

Mr Musa Odiniya, the Deputy Director of Procurement in the Federal Ministry of Education, gave the warning on Thursday when he led a team of the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Government Projects to the university.

Odiniya said that the committee would not hesitate to take punitive measures against erring contractors.

He warned that Tripod Nigeria Ltd. and Dumaco Best, handling the Central Administrative Block and the University Library projects, respectively, must stick to the November, 2016 deadline agreed on.

The Vice Chancellor of the university, Prof. Kayode Soremekun, who conducted the team round the project sites, expressed disappointment at the slow pace of work on the two projects.

Soremekun scolded the contractors for delay.

The works done so far are not commensurate with funds released to the contractors, he said.

He also warned the contractors to double their efforts or risk forfeiting the contracts.

The vice chancellor applauded the Federal Government for prompt release of funds for the projects, and promised to use them judiciously.

Source: Punch
Some parents of pupils of the Ojodu Primary School II, owned by the Lagos State Government have accused some teachers in the school of extorting money from them.

They said the teachers usually gave their children a list of fees estimated at thousands of naira every term despite the governments declaration that education was free in the state.

The parents, who spoke to PUNCH Metro on condition of anonymity to save their children from being victimised, said the teachers in the school compelled pupils to buy textbooks, which were supposed to be given out free as directed by the state government.

They also alleged that the school charged each pupil N500 for desks every term.

One of the aggrieved parents said a list given to her child, who is in primary four, included Verbal and Quantitative, N800; Macmillan Champion Primary Mathematics, N1,200; lesson fee, N1,000 (every month); padlock, N500.

She said, I paid N8,500 to the school when she joined the school in the 2014/2015 session. Not for sale is written on the textbooks, but the teachers insisted that pupils must pay to get them. They keep giving them the list every term. And if we refuse, they will flog our children. Last term, N300 was collected from each of them to repair the school gate.

I kept quiet all these while, thinking things would change. However, she brought another list home which got me angry. I bought the recommended textbooks, but she said her teacher insisted she would not use them because she did not buy them from the school.

Her sister, who finished from the school last term, was given a list of items she must pay for before she could graduate. She had paid for all the items in the list except the testimonial fee. The school has not given her the testimonial because she has not paid for it.

Another parent wondered why the teachers collected the fees when the government had warned all the public schools in the state against such.

She said her son had been beaten and sent home on two occasions because she had not paid the lesson fee.

It is quite unfortunate that this kind of extortion is going on in a Lagos public school. If it is transparent, we will understand. But teachers collect these fees without the knowledge of the government. We pay N500 for desks that the government provided every term. Lesson fee is between N500 and N1,000 every month and it is compulsory for all the pupils. In my childs class alone, they are more than 40. The teachers are just making money for themselves, she added.

A trader said she went to the school last session to contest the fees, but her child was punished after she left, adding that the schools head teacher was aware of the alleged extortion.

Another parent, whose son is in primary five, urged the state government to wade into the matter.

She said, The government should investigate because this is not about Ojodu Primary School II alone. Teachers compel them to pay for markers, buckets and dustbins. If a N300 bucket gets missing, they tell the pupils to contribute N100 each. It is wrong.

A pupil, who is in primary four at the school, said her teacher quickly distributed the not-for-sale textbooks to them penultimate Thursday when some government officials visited the school.

She said, It is our class teacher that collects the fees. On September 29, some inspectors visited our school. Before they came, our teacher gave us textbooks and asked us to tell the inspectors that we did not buy them. When the inspectors left, they collected the books from us.

The head teacher of the school, who refused to give her name, refuted the allegations when our correspondent approached her.

We dont collect any fee from any pupil. It is not true. We have more than enough desks in the school. No pupil pays for textbooks or any other thing. Thank you, she said.

The woman, however, declined our correspondents request to visit some classrooms and make enquiries about the allegations from the pupils.

The spokesperson for the Lagos State Universal Basic Education, Mr. Seyi Akitoye, enjoined the parents to formally report to the agency and assured them that the allegations would be investigated.

He said, Let the concerned parents petition SUBEB. The Lagos State Government is totally against the collection of any fee under any guise by either teachers or head teacher. In order to get those involved in the collection punished, advise those parents to report to us.

Source: Punch
One of the parents of four freed pupils of the Lagos Junior Model College, Igbonla, Epe, Lagos State, has said the victims were brought back by the kidnappers to a bush behind the school, not far from where they were abducted six days ago.

The parent, who pleaded that his identity be protected, told PUNCH Metro on Wednesday that the kidnappers brought the schoolboys, the teacher and the Vice-Principal to the area that they had passed through to invade the school on Thursday, October 6.

Our correspondents learnt that some people in the school, who sighted the victims around 10.30pm, thereafter put calls across to their relations to announce their release.

The kidnappers had last Friday, at about 8am, stormed the school premises while the junior school was rounding off the morning prayers and shot sporadically into the air.

During the invasion, four pupils  Okonkwo Emmanuel, Isaac Adebisi, Abu and Jeremiah  were abducted while the English Language/Civic Education teacher, Lukman Oyerinde, and the Vice Principal, A.O. Oyesola, were also taken away by force.

Our correspondents had reported the various stages of negotiation of ransoms between the attackers and the victims families, which was finally put at N1m ransom for each victim.

PUNCH Metro gathered that the victims were hidden in a creek in the Epe area, which was said to be about four hours sailing from the school.

It was gathered that the schoolboys, the teacher, and the VP were dropped off on Tuesday evening.

The parent, who lived in the Ikorodu area, told our correspondent that he had relocated to a friends place in the Epe area since his child was kidnapped, adding that he did not pay any ransom.

He said, I was called on the telephone by someone from the school around 12am on Wednesday that my son and other victims had been released. Since he was kidnapped, my wife and I had relocated from our house in Ikorodu to a friends place in Epe.

When I rushed down to the school, I saw my son alive. We were told by the authorities that the boys walked into the school premises. They were left by the kidnappers around the boys hostel. We are grateful to God for sparing their lives.

I did not pay any ransom. I do not know if other parents did. God knows I do not have any money to pay ransom.

The parent of the schoolboy, who was reported to have paid N1m for his child who fell ill in the kidnappers den, said, I went through hell to raise the money. The kidnappers, after playing pranks with us for two days, left them not far from the school. I advise the state government to increase security in schools near waterways.

A relation of one of the pupils, who spoke with one of our correspondents, said the kidnappers ordered the parents to wait at different location, while they dropped their victims in the school.

He said, Two of the parents had been called by the kidnapers on Tuesday to wait for the arrival of the boys at a place in Epe. They waited for several hours. They later received an anonymous call that they should proceed towards the school.

It was at the school area that we finally met our boys.

When one of our correspondents got to the school on Wednesday, some policemen barricaded the gate, and prevented journalists from entering.

A police source, however, confirmed to PUNCH Metro, that the gunmen dropped the victims about 11pm.

It was learnt that the six victims were reportedly taken by the school authorities to the Epe General Hospital for checkups.

PUNCH Metro gathered that they were taken to Female Ward 5 for treatment under police protection.

Our correspondents learnt that two of the victims, who were diagnosed with typhoid and malaria respectively, were admitted at an undisclosed hospital in the Epe area.

The Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer, SP Dolapo Badmos, said the police were on the trail of the suspects, adding that the pressure mounted on the kidnappers forced them to abandon their victims and flee.

She said, The victims were rescued around 11pm and have been reunited with their families. No suspect has been arrested, but the police are on their trail, and there is no hiding place for criminals.

The victims were not admitted to any hospital. They went to a hospital for checkups and they have been discharged. The police are not aware of the payment of any ransom. If the gunmen collected any money, it will be treated as robbery and they will be charged to court upon their arrest.

Meanwhile, the state government, which also confirmed the release of the four pupils and their teachers on Wednesday, said it would spare nothing until it rid the state of criminal elements.

A statement by the Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr. Steve Ayorinde, said the victims had undergone checkups after which they were reunited with their families.

The Lagos State Government today (Wednesday) welcomed the release of the school pupils, vice-principal and teacher of Igbonla Model College, Epe, who were kidnapped by suspected Ijaw militants on Thursday October 6, 2016.

The children are doing well; they have been taken through checkups and have been safely reunited with their families, the statement read in part.

The commissioner, while restating the governments determination to protect lives and property, urged residents to be more vigilant and report suspected persons and objects seen within their neighbourhood to the appropriate security agency.

He said, The determination of the government to ensure a 24-hour security of the state is evident in the huge investment in the equipment and welfare of security agencies, especially the police.

Ayorinde stated that the government had taken steps to stem the tide of kidnapping in the state, noting that in line with the directive of Governor Akinwunmi Ambode, plans had been concluded to commence the demolition of illegal structures erected across the state waterfronts and creeks.

Often times, kidnapping is perpetrated through the waterways and as such, these illegal structures provide a leeway for these criminal elements to plan and execute their nefarious activities. This step, we believe, will go a long way to address this menace.

The state government has also begun steps to boost community policing with the announcement by the governor that at least 5,000 neighbourhood watchers will soon be recruited to improve surveillance across the state, especially in the rural areas, Ayorinde said.

Source: Punch
Not less than twenty-one cows have been killed by lightning in Nasarawa state.

According to Jaafaru Usman, Zonal Secretary of Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association, Nasarawa South, the 21 cows had been killed by lightning at Ashige in Lafia East Development Area of the state.

The lightning was reported to have struck during a downpour on Tuesday morning all the 21 cows.

Usman told the News Agency of Nigeria on Thursday that the cows belonged to a herdsman, Malam Bature Lere.

He appealed for assistance from the state Government, authorities of the Lafia East Development Area and the public on behalf of Lere.

Usman said, I am appealing to Gov. Umaru Al-Makura to assist this man who lost all his cows to the disaster.

He advised the herdsman to regard the incident as an act of God and pray for a better future.

A staff of Veterinary Services Department, Nasarawa State Ministry of Agriculture and Water Resources, Tijani Abubakar confirmed the incident. He described it as a natural phenomenon.

Abubakar sympathised with the herdsman, and assured that he would take his report to the appropriate quarters after assessment.

Lere himself said the incident occurred around 2:30 a.m. on Tuesday during a downpour. He said that the cows were all that he had and appealed to the state government and well meaning individuals to come to his aid.

SEE ALSO: Lightning Strike Kills More Than 300 Reindeer in Norway
Nigerian men in the United States have gone berserk with rampant killing of their wives over disappointing and humiliation they suffer from NIgeria wives imported to America.

The men who often sponsored their wives to nursing schools for which the women earn fat salaries after graduation cause ruckus between the couple which often end in divorce resulting into husbands giving up their life property and earnings according to the US law.

Vanguard investigations revealed that the pain of losing their life earned money and property built over the years, sparked the men to kill their wives than watch them enjoy the luxury of alimony.

One of the Nigerian men, Mr David Ochola who killed his 28 years old wife, Mrs Priscilla Ochola, in Hennepin, Minnesota pulled a call through to the U.S. Emergency Number, 911 after he shot his wife dead.

He admitted it to the US Police, Yes, I have killed the woman that messed up my life; the woman that has destroyed me. I am at Shalom West. My name is David and I am all yours.

The 50-years old Ochola husband was said to have gotten tired of being disrespected by his wife, a Registered Nurse (RN) whom he had brought from Nigeria and sponsored through nursing school only to have her make much more than him in salary, a situation which led to Mrs. Ochola coming and going as she chose without regard for her husband. The couple had two children  four years old boy and a three year old girl.

In Texas, Mr Babajide Okeowo had been separated from his wife, Funke Okeowo, with whom he resided at their Dallas home. Upon the divorce, the husband lost the house to his wife, along with most of the contents therein, as is usually the tradition in the U.S. Divorces where the couple still has underage children.

Okeowo, 48, divorced his wife because not long after she became an RN and made more money than him, she took control of the family finances and controlled her husbands expenditure and movement.

The husband could no longer make any meaningful contribution to his family back in Nigeria unless the wife approved it. He could not go out without her permission. Frustrated that his formerly malleable wife had suddenly become such a terror to him to the point of asking for in court and getting virtually everything for which he had worked since coming to the US thirty years prior, the husband got in his vehicle and drove a few hundred miles to Dallas to settle the scores.

He found her in her SUV, adorned in full Nigerian attire on her way to the birthday bash organized in her honor. She had turned 46 on that day. Mr. Okeowo fired several rounds into his wifes torso while she sat at the steering wheel, mercilessly killing her in broad daylight.

Also in Dallas (they sure need anger management classes in Dallas), Moses Egharevba, 45, did not even bother to get a gun. The husband of Grace Egharevba, 35, bludgeoned her to death with a sledge hammer while their seven year old daughter watched and screamed for peace.

Mrs. Egharevbas sin was that she became an RN and started to make more money than her husband. This led to her financial liberation from a supposedly tight-fisted husband who had not only brought her from Nigeria, but had also funded her nursing school education.

Like Moses Egharevba, Christopher Ndubuisi of Garland, Texas, (these Texas people!) also did not bother to get a gun. He crept into the bedroom where his wife, Christiana, was sleeping and, with several blows of the sledge hammer, crushed her head.

Two years before Christiana was killed, her mother, who had been visiting from Nigeria, was found dead in the bathtub under circumstances believed to be suspicious.

Of course, Christiana was a RN whose income dwarfed that of her husband as soon as she graduated from nursing school. The husband believed that his role as a husband and head of the household had been usurped by his wife.

Mr. Ndubuisis several entreaties to his wifes family to intercede and bring Christiana back under his control had all failed.

If the circumstances surrounding the death of Christianas mother were suspicious, those surrounding the death of a Tennessee womans mother were not. Agnes Nwodo, an RN, lived in squalor before her husband, Godfrey Nwodo, rescued her and brought her to the US. He enrolled her in nursing school right away. Upon qualifying as a RN, Mrs. Nwodo assumed full control of the household. She brought her mother to live with them against her husbands wishes. Mrs. Nwodo quickly familiarized herself with US Family Laws and took full advantage of them.

Each time the couple argued, the police forced the husband to leave the house whether he had a place to sleep or not. On many occasions, Mr. Nwodo spent days in police cells. Upon divorcing his wife, Mr. Nwodo lost to his wife, the house he had owned for almost 20 years before he married her.

He also lost custody of their three children to her, with the court awarding him only periodic visitation rights. Even seeing the children during visitation was always a hassle as the wife would arrive late at the neutral meeting place and leave early with impunity.

Mr. Nwodo endured so many embarrassing moments from his wife and her mother until he could take it no more. One day, he bought himself a shotgun and killed both his wife and her mother.

Caleb Onwudikes wife, Chinyere Onwudike, 36, became a RN and no longer saw the need to be controlled by her husband. Mr. Onwudike, 41, worked two jobs to send his wife to her dream school upon bringing her to the US from Nigeria. After four years, she qualified as an RN. Once she started to make more money than her husband, she began to call the shots at home. She overruled her husband on the size and cost of the house they purchased in Burtonsville, Maryland. She began to build a house solely in her name in their native Umuahia town of Abia State, Nigeria, without her husbands input whatsoever.

Mrs. Onwudike came and went as she liked, within the US and outside the US. In fact, she once travelled to Nigeria for three weeks without her husbands permission to lavishly bury her father, despite her husbands protestations that they had better things to do with the money.

Mrs. Onwudike let her husband know that this was mostly her money and she would spend it however she wanted. Through her hard work, she had risen to a managerial position at the medical center where she worked.

Upon her return from burying her father, her husband got one of her kitchen knives and carved her up like a Thanksgiving turkey inside their home on New Years Day.

Death is death, no matter how it comes. But the goriest of these maniacal killings is probably the one that happened here in Los Angeles, California.

Joseph Mbu, 50, was tired of his RN wifes serial disrespect of him.

The disrespect began as soon as she became a RN. Gloria Mbu, 40, had once told her husband he must be smoking crack cocaine if he thought he could tell her what to do with her money now that she made more money than him.

Before she became a RN, Mr. Mbu had been very strict with family finances and was borderline dictatorial in his dealings with Mrs. Mbu. However, Mrs. Mbu learned the American system and would no longer allow any man to put her down. When Joseph Mbu could not take it anymore, he subdued his wife one day, tied her to his vehicle and dragged her on paved roads all around Los Angeles until her head split in many pieces.

Source: Vanguard
A passenger plane landed at the wrong airport after pilots ignored on-board navigation equipment and made a visual approach to land instead.

The incident took place on October 13, 2012, but Indonesias National Transportation Safety Committee (NTSC) released its final report on Monday.

The Sriwijaya Air flight which was carrying 96 passengers and 6 crew members was scheduled to travel from Medan to Padang, both in Indonesia, but instead of arriving at the new airport, the aircraft landed in a military-only airfield which hasnt been used by commercial flights since 2005.

It was scheduled to descend into the new Minangkabau International Airport in Padang but as the pilots made the approach, they spotted the runway for Tabing Airport, which was seven nautical miles away.

NTSCs report revealed that, despite the fact that the on-board navigation equipment was working, the pilots decided to make the visual approach to Tabing Airport airport as they thought the instruments might have been wrong, based on previous experience.

The report said that the unclear information given by the landing chart may also have reduced the pilot awareness to the adjacent airport with similar runway direction and dimension.

It had also been the first time both the captain and the pilot have flown to the airport, and this may have contributed to the error, it was stated.

SEE ALSO: Mum Sues Airline For Flying Son To Wrong City, Presenting Her Different Son
Four persons were reportedly killed by men of the Nigerian Police on Wednesday during a peaceful religious procession in Katsina state.

According to reports, they were in a peaceful procession to commemorate the Ashura mourning holiday in Funtua when the police opened fire on them killing four.

It is unsure what group was in the procession but speculations have it that they are a branch of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria, also known as the Shiites.

The reports included that women were not spared in the shooting. The shooting has sparked the outrage of Nigerians on twitter as some men from the Nigerian Army had also surrounded some Shiites Muslims in Kaduna who were also observing a similar gathering earlier in the week.
An 18-year-old Senior Secondary School Three pupil of Jesus College, Otukpo, Benue State, who was electrocuted in the school hostel, has been buried.

It was gathered that the victim, Godwin Ejeh, was buried on Friday in Owukpa in the Ogbadibo Local Government Area of the state.

Ejeh died on Thursday, October 6, while attempting to charge his mobile phone using a naked wire in the school hostel.

It was gathered that the deceased had climbed on one of the double bunk beds in the hostel with the aim of connecting the charger to a distribution box. However, his hand reportedly touched a naked wire, resulting in his electrocution.

The principal of the school, Mr. Ella Samuel, who spoke to our correspondent on the telephone, said the incident happened when he was not in the school.

He said, On the day of the incident, I was in the bank when I received a distress call that one of our students was electrocuted and had been taken to a hospital.

I rushed to the hospital and learnt from the doctor on duty that the boy was brought in dead.

It was after I left the hospital that I learnt that the boy wanted to charge his phone, but mistakenly touched a naked wire and got electrocuted.

As soon as he fell, instead of his colleagues to alert teachers, they poured water on him and attempted to give him milk. When they discovered that his condition was beyond their control, they alerted one of the teachers who promptly rushed him to a private hospital.

Samuel said the school management had banned the use of mobile phones in the school, adding that many parents, however, continued to buy phones for their children even when the school confiscated them.

The principal confirmed that Ejeh had been buried.

Source: Punch
It was a tragic situation in Omu-Aran in Irepodun local government council of Kwara state on Wednesday when a 20-year-old senior secondary school student, Moji Agboola, reportedly died after she allegedly drank a substance believed to be poison.

THISDAY investigations revealed that the deceased, an SS1 student in a community school in the area, was treated at a private hospital in the town where she was rushed to by her mother about three weeks ago.

It was gathered that the deceased poisoned herself as a result of her failure to progress to the next class following her poor performance in the last promotion examination.

Source: ThisDay
We all know the Galaxy Note 7 has been a debacle, first with the exploding batteries shortly after its September release, then the "safe" replacement units catching fire in the last week. Samsung is likely to lose as much as $17 billion as a result, and the Android flagship faces possible long-term reputational damage.

There'a been a lot of hand-wringing over Samsung's reaction, many crocodile tears shed by industry partisans, and suggestions that Samsung will be supplanted by Google or Chinese brands you likely haven't heard of.

That's poppycock.

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Clearly, the burning Note 7 was a debacle, and Samsung had no real choice other than to throw in the towel as it did this week. But Samsung responded to the crisis well, quickly confirming the issues and setting up a recall. Within days of the "fixed" phones catching on fire, it halted sales and recalled them, even issuing fire-resistant boxes.

Samsung faced some criticism for not going through proper government channels, as well as for not reacting faster -- two incompatible requirements, by the way. But the technical causes weren't obvious (if they were, Samsung would not have shipped the Note 7 in the first place). About 0.0001 percent of devices exploded, roughly 100 of the 1 million in customers' hands, so finding the cause was not easy. These things take time -- imagine the logistics of the just the recall, never mind figuring out the cause of the battery manufacturing defect -- but we tend to forget that in today's "now" world. As it was, Samsung recalled the devices within days.

If Samsung was to be faulted, it was in assuming the battery manufacturing issue was the only cause, an assumption that hit back hard when the "fixed" Note 7s began overheating (not quite exploding) after their release last week. Samsung doesn't know the cause, so it simply killed the product and recalled it -- the right answer.

The widely reported theory that Samsung's release schedule for the Note 7 caused the issue holds little water with me. The device has been on a yearly schedule for many years now, like the rest of its lineup.

But there may be issues at the Note team, whose Note 5 clearly rushed the stylus, creating a hazard that could render the smartphone inoperable. Maybe a similar oversight happened with the Note 7. If so, Samsung will have to address that -- the company has had an unfortunate tendency to jump the gun on new technology to try to beat Apple to market. I've long assumed that many Apple rumors are plants to egg on Samsung to such ill-considered actions. In recent years, Samsung hasn't taken the bait so quickly, but maybe Samsung hasn't completely fixed the disease.

Still, I don't believe for a minute that the Note 7 debacle will tarnish Samsung over the long term. And I certainly hope not; in recent years Samsung has stepped up its game and cleaned up its act, resulting in Apple levels of quality and fit and finish in 2015's Galaxy S6, 2016's Galaxy S7, and 2015's Galaxy Tab S. The Note 7 has great fit, finish, and security, which the overheating issues of course render immaterial. But if you want a top-notch Android smartphone, Samsung is where to go. I hope Samsung doesn't change that commitment.

Some people say the Note 7 debacle provides an opening for Google's forthcoming Pixel smartphone. Sorry, but the Pixel isn't that great. Yes, it's better than the Nexus line it replaces. But any HTC, LG, Lenovo, or Samsung midrange Android phone can make the same claim. Plus, Samsung's very nice Galaxy S7 remains on sale, with no issues -- it's a much better phone than the Pixel, and you can get it for any carrier, not only Verizon Wireless.

As for the Chinese phones, ignore them. China is a paper tiger, with state-favored manufacturers getting unfair advantages that don't translate to the rest of the world. I've been hearing about the Chinese threat for years, but haven't seen it. Right now, Lenovo is the only Chinese brand that delivers a quality (midrange) Android phone that can compete in the world at large.

The other theme in the press is that Apple will benefit from the Note 7 debacle, getting Note 7 buyers to choose its new iPhone 7 Plus instead. Maybe a few people will do that, but not a meaningful number. The iPhone 7 and 7 Plus are very good smartphones, of course -- among the best, in fact -- but most people have already decided whether they prefer iOS or Android, and few switch any longer. Apple may get some reputational boost, but that would be short-lived -- and not really about Apple.

I suspect a year from now, the Android market will look like it has in the last few years: dominated on the high end by Samsung, competitive in the midrange (Samsung, Lenovo, HTC, and LG), and unprofitably cutthroat in the low end (all those brands you never heard of). Sony, BlackBerry, OnePlus, and the like will remain niches at best, egged on by bloggers who like to see a contentious market.

This assumes that Samsung won't draw the wrong lessons from the Note 7 debacle, of course, by getting too conservative or reducing its ambitions. It needs to do what Apple has usually done for years: Work out a long-term road map, focus on meaningful innovation, and put quality first. Apple hasn't always succeeded, but it's still the right model.
Nestle opens child nutrition factory in Mexico

Nestle has opened a new, 600,000 square metre factory manufacturing child nutrition products in Ocotlan, Jalisco, Mexico, with an investment of US$245 million.

Nestle has opened a new factory manufacturing child nutrition products in Ocotlan, Jalisco, Mexico, with an investment of US$245 million. The 600,000 square meters facility is expected to create an annual economic income of 1,600 million pesos and will create 250 new direct jobs and 1,250 indirect jobs. Additional 8,000 temporary jobs have been created during its construction. The factory bears the name Nantli which means mother in Nahuatl.

The opening of Nestle Nantli is a major global milestone for our company. It uses the most advanced technology for manufacturing the highest quality child nutrition products, such as NAN, Good Care, Good Start, Nidal and Nestogeno. The factory also gives a boost to local economy by purchasing 560 million liters of fresh milk and 365 million liters of whey per year from 400 milk manufacturers from the region, said Heiko Schipper, Global CEO of Nestle Nutrition.

Further to supplying Mexico, around 40% of production will be exported to Latin America, the Caribbean and other regions around the world. The new plant will triple the current production capacity in Mexico.

Celebrating 150 years of the Company around the world, and our 86 years in Mexico, we are very pleased to open Nestle Nantli, specialized in child nutrition said Laurent Freixe, Nestle Head of Zone Americas. US$245 million is the biggest investment made by Nestle in Mexico in a single infrastructure project, which represents our commitment to the country, its people and to our consumers.

The factory is also built using environment-friendly technologies. 85% of the electricity will be wind powered and solar energy, as well as energy recovery technologies to take the most advantage of heat and water used in the factory. Also, 100% of residual water will be treated.
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These days, Michael J. Saylor serves as chairman and CEO of MicroStrategy, a leading worldwide provider of enterprise software platforms. The MIT graduate also worked as a venture manager at E.I. du Pont de Nemours and as a consultant of Federal Group. This tech leader has seen his ups and downs. A 2000 article pegged his net worth at $7 billion, when he was just 35 years old, but he's not now on the Forbes billionaires list.

Regardless, Saylor is plenty wealthy, and he's also another philanthropically inclined entrepreneur who remembers where he came from.

Before Saylor went on to stratospheric business success, he was a kid in a working class town in Ohio. He was able to attend MIT on an ROTC scholarship, where he received two degrees at no costan S.B. in aeronautics and astronautics and an S.B. in science, technology and society. At the chemical company duPont, Saylor built a computer model for its global titanium business, which led the chemical giant to seed Saylor's own company, MicroStrategy.

Saylor credits the fact that he was unburdened by debt during his post-graduate years for his success, and like many stories of philanthropy, gratitude is a key element. Saylor's avenue for paying it forward is Saylor.org, a free education initiative of his foundation, launched in 2008.

Saylor.org has grown to offer some 100 full-length, free courses at the college and professional levels. The outfit offers dozens of courses across categories like art history, computer science, history and physics, and partners with a number of institutions and organizations that offer college credit and/or recognition to students who successfully complete select courses.

In an interview, Saylor.org's Jeffrey S. Davidson, Director of Strategic Partnerships, and Community Relations Director Sean Connor, emphasized to me that Michael Saylor's view is simple: People should be able to pursue an education without taking on debt so that they can go wherever their talent takes them. To that end, Saylor's aim is to build an organization that is an important piece in a large puzzle.

For instance, why oughtn't companies like Google, Apple and Microsoft package substantial educational freeware with their products?

Davidson and Connor seemed optimistic about the impact that free online educational spaces such as Saylor.org or the better-known Khan Academy, can have. They mentioned the plight of students at University of Memphis who were forced to drop out after exhausting their available financial aid. In some cases, students were literally a few classes away from graduating, but instead had to shift their attention to working a job and making ends meet.

Related: The Funders Pouring Money Into the KhanAcademy

Saylor.org and University of Memphis collaborated so students could take Saylor courses to complete their degrees and graduate through the FinishLine program. The numbers speak for themselves: As of June 1, 2016, some 219 previously enrolled Memphis students returned to their studies and ultimately graduated. The students successfully completed a total of 279 Saylor courses, earning 837 credit hours at a total cost savings of over $272,000.

In this way, Saylor.org can work as a unique educational intermediary. Davidson and Connor also told me that enrolled college students use Saylor.org to catch up on traditional college work. They added that, down the line, a Saylor.org degree plus, say, training at a coding academy, might be a job ticket. Granted, these are non-traditional educational credentials now, but with so much financial stress in higher education, who knows what the future may bring?

As far as what's down the pike, Davidson and Connor mention that Saylor.org is beefing up its computer science courses, updating five of the current 20 courses and submitting them to the American Council on Education (ACE) for a college credit recommendation. (ACE is the same agency that reviews and recommends AP and CLEP exams.) They also mention a partnership with Brockton Public Schools in Massachusetts, a reminder that Saylor.org isn't just looking to improve higher education, but high schools and other learning spaces, too.

Michael Saylor's Constitution Foundation gives modestly to other educational causes, the arts and human services, primarily in the Mid-Atlantic. But it mainly exists to support Saylor.org: over 90 percent of its few million in annual spending goes towards Saylor.org. Apart from Saylor's own funds, it's worth noting that Saylor.org is looking for other operational and financial partners.

For a complete overview of Michael Saylor's giving, read our profile linked below.

Related: Michael Saylor
Back in September, we provided a handy Cliffs Notes summary of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation's goals for higher education as articulated by VP Mariet Westermann. Understanding these goals in theory is one thing. Understanding them in practice is another. Which is why I found recent news out of Waterville, Maine rather interesting.

Colby College received an $800,000 grant from the Mellon Foundation to support the "development of a campus-wide multidisciplinary initiative in environmental humanities" that includes a partnership with the college's esteemed Environmental Studies Program. Their gift is predicated on the belief that the liberal arts can support the study of "the environment and human responses to environmental change."

Needless to say, it's an exciting proposition that, while rather obvious to us, may make some STEM proponents' heads explode. Therefore, before we look at the specifics of the grant, it's important to first explore the underlying thematics.

As we noted in an early September post titled "Can the Liberal Arts Produce World-Class Scientists? This Campus Donor Thinks So," astute grantmakers realize that the liberal artsand more to the point, the liberal arts skillsethave a lot to teach the sciences. In other words, the world needs people who can communicate effectively, think critically, and grasp the nuances of life's ambiguities.

In this case of that post, Sarah Lawrence College announced a $2 million gift from alumna Suzanne Salter Arkin of Manhattan to create the Suzanne Salter Arkin Science Endowment, dedicated to attracting outstanding science students who want to pursue serious individual study of science while engaging with the arts, humanities, language, literature, and the social sciences in a liberal arts institution. The idea, again, being that the liberal arts and the sciences can not only happily co-exist, but complement each other.

Which brings us back to the similar-in-spirit Environmental Studies Program at Colby. According to the school, the multidisciplinary program has a "strong focus on the natural and social sciences" and has focused on "pressing global issues, tying academic training with field research and partnering with preeminent institutions, including the Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences."

Enter Mellon, the liberal arts matchmaker. Colby's program is just the kind of stuff they're looking for. Indeed, Mellon's Westermann said that one of her organization's primary strategic goals is fostering "collaborations among research universities, liberal arts colleges, and other cultural and educational institutions."

And so Mellon's gift will allow the school to bring the "strengths of the college's arts and humanities programs to bear on these pressing issues." Colby scholarsboth scientists and humanistswill "collaborate on innovative solutions to global environmental challenges, connecting the liberal arts to the world."

What's more, since "all philanthropy is personal" (that's actually not true), the gift also soothes my own frustrated soul. Some of my previous tirades have centered on the ridiculous idea that funders must put STEM initiatives in one pile and liberal arts ones in another, as if the two are completely unrelated and shall never interact. It's inane stuff. In a recent piece in the New York Review of Books, Rana Foroohar, assistant managing editor for Time magazine,validates my irritation before effectively shutting down this line of thinking:

Reconsidering and reforming our system of higher education should move beyond debates about whether STEM skills trump liberal arts. We need both, not only become it's impossible to predict exactly what the jobs of the future will be, but also because critical thinking in any field is the most important measure of economic and civic success.

Mellon obviously gets this. Here's hoping other grantmakers will soon have their own (figurative) Road to Damascus moment.
The Gates Foundations Financial Services for the Poor program has the broad goal of providing access to digitally based financial products and services for the millions of unbanked adults in the world. In doing so, the foundation hopes to help give poor households the opportunity to move out of poverty or absorb a shock without being pushed deeper into debt. Gates financial inclusion model isnt solely about getting poor countries to transition from a cash-based society to electronically based financial systems. There is also a big microfinance component of the foundations giving in this space.

Microfinance is a comparatively small component of Gates financial inclusion portfolio, which has awarded close to $950 million in grants since 2005. But were talking about Gates, so its microfinance grants still amount to a pretty good chunk of change. Of those investments, though, very few have gone to support microfinance models related to education.

This isnt really that surprising, since the Gates Foundation has long focused on its education work in the United States and has plenty of other fish to fry with its global funding. On the other hand, given Gates's goals in the global development space, it would seem only a matter of time before education became a bigger focus, especially given how much action there is in this area in poor countries, including interesting new models for expanding low-cost schools and financing higher education, as we've reported.

Along these lines, we were intrigued to see that the Gates Foundation recently awarded Opportunity International $1 million to support its education finance program.

Opportunity International has been on a serious education kick for some time now. It's committed to educating over 124 million out-of-school children, setting its initial sights on helping 2 million children by 2017. One way in which it is working toward achieving that goal is through its education finance model.

This program set out on a path to use microfinance as an integral tool in the critical first step in sending and keeping kids in school. The program offers loans for school improvements, school fees and supplies, and an insurance program that pays childrens school fees if their parents or guardians become ill or die.

Since 2012, Opportunity International has reached more than 1.5 million children across 10 least-developed countries and made 130,000 education loans totaling over $72 million. In fact, its education portfolio has grown in value by around 300 percent since then. A matter to which Gates has certainly taken notice, given its recent $1 million investment in Opportunity Internationals education finance model.

To be clear, the Gates Foundation already has an established funding relationship with Opportunity International. Including this latest give, the foundation has written over $16.5 million in grants to Opportunity beginning in 2005. While all of those grantsthe largest being an $8 million award to expand savings and agricultural finance in Africawere associated with financial inclusion and microfinance, none went toward education finance. So this is new ground.

The $1 million grant is dedicated to the expansion of Opportunity Internationals Education Finance initiatives in Uganda and beyond. Why the focus on Africa? One reason is because around half of those 124 million out-of-school children live in sub-Saharan Africa.

Related: Into Africa: A Funder Embraces a New Way to Educate Some of the Poorest Kids on Earth

The Gates grant will fund the first open platform credit model for education lending. Opportunitys financial technology partner, MyBucks, is developing credit and credit-scoring algorithms that will hopefully provide more families access to education loans while at the same time offering increasingly cost-effective models for financial institutions. This all adds up to more kids in class and more financial institutions participating in the education finance market.

Nathan Byrd, lead of the education finance program at Opportunity, explains further, saying, This project will create fully responsive and flexible credit models. That will in turn give families and school administrators in low-income communities access to financial services that have been typically reserved for middle and upper income communities.

Is this the beginning of a new flow of Gates grants into the burgeoning global development education space? Stayed tuned.
Des Rogers, an Irish entrepreneur who helped pioneer the self-storage industry in Ireland with his brother Fergal, has embarked on a new business odyssey involving city tours and amphibious vehicles. The brothers acquired Viking Splash Tours in 2006 and have spent the last decade forging a regulatory path and developing a new generation of water vehicles they believe will revolutionize the tourism industry. Rogers credits his start in the self-storage business with leading to the formation of Rogers Group Investments Ltd. and his newest venture, City Splash Tours, according to the source.

After studying the self-storage market in Canada, Rogers was among the first to bring the concept to the British Isles in 1982. The Rogers brothers quickly parlayed the venture into a document-storage side business, which led to a document-disposal operation because the storage business created a lot of waste packaging.

It complemented the file-storage business because when people wanted to get rid of their records after the statutory period, they were quite happy to entrust disposal to the people who were looking after them in a storage capacity, Rogers told the source. Our incinerator then turned into a commercial operation because we would get rid of our own waste in around two hours a week, and then we had 38 hours left to do other peoples stuff. People heard about us, and people that were unconnected to the storage business heard about us, and next thing, we were in the document-disposal business.

That venture eventually led to a hospital waste-disposal operation. The Rogers sold the businesses along the way and became enamored with the concept of amphibious touring. They have been instrumental in forming safety standards and establishing the International Amphibious Passenger Vehicle Association.

The brothers have a patent-pending design on an amphibious vehicle they believe will not only revolutionize the touring industry but could have other applications as well. There are, obviously, military applications that we wouldnt know anything about. They keep things close to their chest, Roger said. And, then, there are emergency-response applicationsobviously, flooding and things like that. And then there are commuter applications because cities are built on rivers, and people inevitably need to get from one side to the other; and to ease the congestion of bridges and tunnels, all wed need would be a slipway to get in and a slipway to get out.

Theres a probability rather than a possibility of expansion into one or more of those directions, but we dont tend to focus on it at the minute, Rogers said. Our primary focus is to get the equipment built and in service. If we had a bigger purse and could employ more folks, we could have a division that could explore those sectors. We want to be the premier company offering this style of vehicle and this style of tour globally, without being pretentious.
This is Part I of our feature on D&O Liability InsuranceDIRECTORS AND OFFICERS (D&OS) have ever-increasing duties and obligations resulting in ever increasing liability exposure, including fines, penalties and damages. D&Os need to ensure that indemnities from the company and their D&O insurer extend to those exposures. D&O insurers need to ensure the wording and pricing of their policies account for these everincreasing exposures. This article looks at topical issues arising out of those exposures.Cyber risk appears in the top three risks in any management risks survey, which is unsurprising given that a significant percentage of companies say they have been a_ ected by some form of cyber incident in the last 12 months.1. Claims by shareholders (either on their own behalf for losses arising from a reduction in share price following a cyber incident, or on behalf of the company via a derivative action for losses incurred by the company by reason of the D&Os negligence); and/or2. Claims by customers as victims of any breach of privacy/data incident.1. A breach of fi duciary duty and duty of care by D&Os in not taking su_ cient steps to protect their company from a cyber attack, particularly if they knew of the inadequacies of its systems or should have known;2. Wasting of corporate assets by exposing the company to investigations and other censure;3. Misleading representations as to the companys cyber and privacy protection systems and/or in respect of their subsequent breach; and4. Unjust enrichment of D&Os for e_ ectively being paid while not doing their jobs properly.It is not difficult to see how such actions could be brought against D&Os in Australia, particularly given our strict liability misrepresentation laws which require no intent to mislead or deceive, and our consumer-friendly class action regime and plethora of litigation funders.Conversely, customers whose data/privacy has been breached have had difficulty bringing claims because of the need to establish actual (rather than theoretical) loss arising from the cyber breach. Class actions in the US have failed on that basis. In the UK, however, the courts have recently allowed an individual to claim compensation even if they have suffered no financial loss, which will undoubtedly be utilised in future claims involving cyber matters, such as the recent TalkTalk incident.In Australia, there are two proposed pieces of legislation that would increase D&Os cyber exposure:1. Federal legislation creating mandatory reporting obligations within 24 hours of a cyber breach. While the obligations are proposed to be on the entity only, it has to be expected that consequential obligations could ultimately flow through to the D&Os; and2. The NSW legislative committee recently proposed that NSW take the lead and create a statutory tort for serious invasions of privacy which would alleviate the need to prove actual loss. While the chances of this occurring may be slim, it clearly evidences a legislative intention to progress this area of law, which should be acknowledged by all D&Os and their insurers in managing future liabilities.D&Os have to be fully appreciative of cyber risks affecting their business, and create, monitor, adhere to and update relevant applicable procedures and safeguards. Currently, D&O insurers provide automatic cover for D&Os cyber liability; however, with the increasing risk it remains to be seen whether that will continue.To be continued...
You may think that you have had a couple of bumps in the road during your career, but its a safe bet that businesses havent collapsed as you have changed industries.Alison Smith, director of One Underwriting, started her career as an equities trader, but following the dot.com bust, a friend recommend a career shift into insurance. After three months in the industry, HIH collapsed and Smith started to get the feeling that bad news followed her around.I started off my career after I did a finance degree as an equities trader, Smith told Insurance Business.I had never bought insurance before, knew nothing about insurance but I gave it a go. Then the HIH collapse happened within three months and I thought maybe I shouldnt move industries because something bad might happen!Smith said that it was this baptism by fire which helped her understand the integral role insurance plays in society.After a stint as a broker in Australia, Smith travelled to London and it was here, in the spiritual home of insurance, that she realised she had made the right career choice.I think it was when I worked in London that I started to take insurance seriously. Insurance over there is a generational profession, where respect is given to underwriters and brokers in the market, Smith continued.Upon her return to Australia, Smith took a role with Freeman McMurrick, who have since rebranded as One Underwriting under Smiths leadership, and was able to create a new role for herself.The reason I was attracted to that role [was because] I was a broker but I wasnt going to be working as a broker. I would be working as a cover holder which is essentially being an underwriter on behalf of London, and that is how I started to become what I call myself: a quasi-broker-underwater.I have never stepped foot back into the broking world and never stepped foot back into the pure underwriting world.With One Underwriting building a successful brand in Australia, parent-company Aon have taken the brand overseas with the German MGA of the firm rebranded as One Underwriting several months ago, which for Smith was a career highlight.While her own career has gone from strength to strength, Smith believes that the industry will continue to play an important role in the lives of others as more risks emerge. Smith notes that as these weird and wonderful covers emerge away from traditional books of business, the industry has great opportunities for success.If you can get your head around those risks and deliver in a way that is going to be meaningful to your clients and help them to sleep at night, there are a lot of opportunities for the insurance industry, Smith said.
Swiss Re Corporate Solutions Ltd. and Rio de Janeiro-based Bradesco Seguros S.A.* have signed definitive agreements under which Bradesco Seguros will contribute its commercial large-risk portfolio to Swiss Re Corporate Solutions Brasil Seguros S.A. (SRCSB).

The agreements include SRCSBs exclusive access to Bradesco Seguros distribution network, said a statement from Swiss Re Corporate Solutions, which is the commercial insurance arm of Swiss Re Group.

Upon closing the transaction, Bradesco Seguros will take a 40 percent equity stake in SRCSB, while Swiss Re Corporate Solutions Ltd. will retain a 60 percent stake.

As a result of the integration, SRCSB will become a leading commercial large-risk insurer in Brazil, Swiss Re Corporate Solutions said in a statement.

Bradesco Seguros, which is the insurance conglomerate of Bradesco Group, has a distribution network comprised of more than 4, 600 Bradesco bank branches across Brazil and approximately 40,000 insurance brokers and agents registered to Bradesco Seguros.

As part of the transaction, Bradesco Seguros team of professionals responsible for commercial large-risk business in Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro will join SRCSB.

Agostino Galvagni, CEO of Swiss Re Corporate Solutions and a member of the Swiss Re Group Executive Committee, said: We are very pleased to join forces with Bradesco Seguros to create a leading commercial large-risk insurer in the Brazilian market. This agreement helps us execute on our strategy to expand our platform and enhance our market position in Latin America. Bradesco Seguros local knowledge and distribution channels coupled with our large net capacity and global underwriting expertise will allow us to deliver superior products to our Brazilian and international clients.

Randal Luiz Zanetti, president of Bradesco Seguros, said: This transaction confirms Bradesco Seguros strategic view of providing the best and largest range of products in all insurance lines to its customers. The choice to partner with Swiss Re Corporate Solutions aligns with our key objectives, as it provides even more international reach and expertise. Our relevant participation in the joint venture reinforces our belief that commercial large-risk insurance is a promising business in Brazil.

Completion of the transaction is subject to approval by the relevant authorities and other customary conditions.

* Bradesco Seguros, which was created in 1946 by Bradesco bank, is the largest insurance company of Brazil and Latin America.

Source: Swiss Re Corporate Solutions

Topics Carriers Swiss Re
XL Catlin has opened a second office in Mexico, located in Monterrey, and appointed Carlos Matthey as client distribution leader in that location.

Monterrey is the capital of the state of Nuevo Leon, which has an economy comparable to that of the country of Chile. As Mexicos most important industrial hub, it accounts for 10 percent of the countrys GDP, said XL Catlin in a statement.

Matthey is tasked with developing and managing relationships with regional and international clients and brokers operating in the northern region of the country.

With more than 15 years experience in the insurance industry, Matthey joins XL Catlin from Allianz where he served as regional director of the Monterrey branch office. He has previously held several positions at ING (now AXA), including special accounts manager for property, casualty, aviation and international programs, commercial P&C manager and commercial senior manager for auto and P&C lines, responsible for the companys largest accounts in the region.

Monterrey is one of the top five industrial hubs in Latin America and home to regional operations of some of the largest steel, cement, glass, auto parts and bottling companies in the world, said Pablo Crain, country manager for XL Catlins insurance segment.

Carlos has vast experience and deep understanding of the region; he will expand our footprint in the Monterrey market providing our existing and future clients and brokers with high quality service and the right insurance solution for their specific business needs, Crain continued.

The opening of our Monterrey office is evidence of XL Catlins commitment to bringing our global programs expertise closer to our local and international clients in Mexico and Latin America. The new office strengthens and builds on our growing capabilities to serve emerging markets, commented Joe Tocco, chief executive of Insurance for the Americas.

XL Catlins insurance operations in Mexico date back to 2004 when the company opened its first office in Mexico City.

Source: XL Catlin

Topics Leadership Mexico AXA XL
Finance executives should consider slashing their own paychecks as the U.K. works to exit the European Union in order to win back the trust of people who have lost faith in large businesses, according to Lloyds of London Chief Executive Officer Inga Beale.

The anti-business sentiment is quite disturbing, Beale said Wednesday in an interview at Bloombergs New York headquarters. We have to start looking at our own executive pay, and I dont mean just Lloyds, I mean the financial services industry. Insurers dont have such a bad rep as bankers, but you know its up to all of us.

Beale said Theresa May, who became U.K. prime minister in July and promised to tackle high pay for business executives, has gained respect even as a large part of the public feels disenfranchised. The former Home Secretary succeeded David Cameron, who resigned after voters voted to leave the EU and ignored his warning that it would hurt the domestic economy. May is working to manage the Brexit discussions in a way that pleases both voters and business leaders, Beale said.

Theresa is actually providing some wonderful leadership, partly because shes being very clear in her messaging, Beale said of May. At the moment, shes not necessarily sounding very business friendly, but my guess is that its all very calculated and her approach is completely structured.

Beale received a pay package last year valued at about 1.53 million pounds ($1.9 million), including a salary of 700,000 pounds and a bonus of 425,000 pounds, according to the 2015 annual report. That compares with an average 5.9 million-pound salary of banking and insurance CEOs in the FTSE 100, data compiled by Bloomberg shows.

Lloyds of London hosted a dinner last month with the new London mayor, Sadiq Khan, and financial leaders at which compensation was a hot topic, Beale said. She said some public frustration stems from complicated jargon used to describe bankings significance to the economy, such as gross domestic product.

Weve got to use a language that resonates with people, Beale said. We talk about, you know, our contribution to GDP. Then you think, Well, how does that resonate with somebody thats living in a small town somewhere? GDP? We dont help ourselves by using language that doesnt resonate.

[Lloyds] is weighing a new subsidiary outside of London, and she said, Malta, Luxembourg and Ireland are among the places being considered for a move before March. Thats when May has said she plans to invoke Article 50, which triggers the exit process for the U.K. from the EU. Beale previously has mentioned Paris and Frankfurt as options.

Related:

Copyright 2022 Bloomberg.

Topics Excess Surplus Europe Lloyd's London
Authorities say a natural gas explosion and fire at a townhouse complex in suburban Chicago has injured two utility workers.

The explosion in Romeoville, Illinois, was reported Tuesday evening.

Authorities say the explosion apparently stemmed from an earlier-reported gas leak. Two townhouse units were destroyed, but no area residents were reported injured. Authorities say two Nicor workers were taken to hospitals, including one in fair condition and one in serious-to-critical condition.

The village of Romeoville says in a statement that the Nicor employees were in the process of repairing the leak, which was reported earlier in the afternoon.

The exact cause of the explosion is under investigation. The American Red Cross says more than 20 people were displaced from homes as the surrounding area was evacuated as a precaution.

Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Workers' Compensation
A Flint resident is asking for a grand jury investigation of Michigan Gov. Rick Snyders decision to use at least $2 million in state funds for his legal representation related to criminal probes of the citys water crisis.

The complaint, filed on Oct. 11, alleges that the governor broke the law by violating conflict-of-interest prohibitions and unilaterally spending taxpayer money for personal benefit without the authority to do so. It requests that the Ingham County Circuit Court, based in Michigans capital city, convene a one-judge grand jury to investigate.

Keri Webber, who brought the complaint with assistance from Democratic attorney Mark Brewer, said the lead-contaminated water sickened her family. Her 16-year-old daughter sustained liver damage, her 21-year-old daughter contracted Legionnaires disease and her husband lost vision in one eye due to a stroke she attributes to high blood pressure associated with lead.

Its one more salt in the wound.  Hes taking our money to pay for his legal defense, Webber, 46, told The Associated Press in a phone interview. That money should be going back into the city of Flint. It should be going back into medical care, psychological care, all of these things.

Snyder has apologized for his administrations mistakes that caused and prolonged the man-made disaster, which began while Flint was under state financial management. Eight state employees and one Flint worker have been charged in Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuettes ongoing probe.

Snyder spokeswoman Anna Heaton said the spending is legally sound because the fees are related to actions taken in his official capacity as governor.

The Republican governor has approved two contracts for outside Flint-related legal services worth $3.4 million, including $2 million for records management issues and investigations and $1.4 million to defend against civil lawsuits.

The complaint questions the $2 million contract. A February engagement letter from Warner, Norcross & Judd of Grand Rapids said it would provide Snyder legal advice and representation related to criminal investigations undertaken by the U.S. Justice Department, state attorney generals office and Genesee County prosecutor. The governors office said the firm is mainly working on document retrieval and production.

Brewer, a former chairman of the Michigan Democratic Party, said no one in state government responsible for procurement approved the contract. Snyder has cited a 2011 resolution from the State Administrative Board  which approves state contracts worth $250,000 or more and is controlled by his administration  stating that the governor can approve his own contracts without board approval.

Theres no authority for the administrative board to delegate its oversight of spending, Brewer said. Even if they can delegate, they cant override the state constitution, which says no public official can engage in a transaction which is a conflict of interest. Theres a clear conflict here. The governor personally solicited  and signed a contract for his own legal services.

The complaint alleges that Snyders unilateral use of taxpayer money for his criminal defense is misconduct in office, a felony. It also accuses him of a misdemeanor violation of a law prohibiting the use of public funds for personal use without approval from Schuettes office.

The request is necessary because neither the Legislature nor attorney general have stopped the spending, Brewer said.

Since they failed to enforce the law, its now up to concerned citizens like Keri to do this, he said.

Heaton took exception to characterizing the contract as criminal defense work and said the administrative board that gave Snyder advance authority to OK contracts includes non-administration officials such as the attorney general.

At this point its not a defense. Its just responding to requests for documentation, which were happy to provide, she said.

Democrats and liberal groups have repeatedly said Snyder should use his own money or a legal defense fund  which could include private, publicly reported contributions from individuals, businesses and other organizations  to cover his legal bills.

As of Tuesday, the state was defending itself against 12 Flint-related lawsuits, according to the governors office. Michigan also had received more than 2,000 notices of intent to sue. Heaton said the law firms were hired due to the volume of litigation and because the attorney general, who defends the governor from suits, also is criminally investigating the Flint crisis.

Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Michigan
Marsh, Berry & Co. Inc., a Cleveland-area consulting and investment banking firm focused on the insurance industry, announced that the firm has become 100 percent employee-owned through an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) Trust.

The ESOP announcement was made to MarshBerry employees during a quarterly staff meeting held at the companys headquarters in Woodmere, Ohio.

An ESOP is an employee benefit plan, which provides company stock to employees as part of their retirement benefits. As a 100 percent ESOP-owned company, all MarshBerry stock is now held in trust by the ESOP.

For 35 years MarshBerry has consistently broadened ownership in order to use wealth creation as a way to attract and retain talent, said John Wepler, chairman and CEO of MarshBerry. The move to full employee-ownership takes it one step further. Our employees have been the secret to our success, working tirelessly to help our clients. We feel that rewarding our staff by sharing ownership through an ESOP is a great move for our company, as it can be beneficial to our employees monetarily and through a more rewarding work experience.

As an employee-owned company, MarshBerry will continue to operate under the same business model and management structure.

Founded in 1981, MarshBerry provides consulting services (financial, operational, sales management, and merger/acquisition advisory) in the financial services industry to independent insurance agents/brokers and carriers. The firm has advised on 531transactions since 1999 and completed more than 250 diagnostic and confirmatory due diligence projects over the past 12 years.

Source: MarshBerry
NASAs Kennedy Space Center reopened for business Tuesday, relying on industrial air conditioners rushed in from around the country in the wake of Hurricane Matthew.

Director Robert Cabana said the damage  mostly ripped-off roofs  is still being tallied, but is in the millions of dollars. He said it would have been much worse had Matthew not weakened and veered slightly offshore Friday as it swept up the Florida coast.

We were definitely blessed, Cabana, a former space shuttle commander, told reporters.

Among the buildings with roof and water damage: the 1960s-era beach house once used by astronauts for parties and barbecues before launches. Cabana hopes to get it repaired for conferences.

The portable air conditioning units were brought in after the roof came off the building that serves as the electrical room for air conditioning throughout the main launch area. The switching equipment ended up soaked. Without the new units, employees could not have returned so quickly, Cabana noted. Even so, some workers were displaced. About 8,300 people work at Kennedy.

This time, all of the panels held on the massive Vehicle Assembly Building. Back in 2004, while the space shuttles were still flying, hundreds of panels were blown off the face of the 525-foot-tall structure by Hurricane Frances, creating gaping holes.

Cabana said corrosive fasteners failed back then and were replaced with stainless steel washers and locknuts.

It did its job. The panels look great. We kept them all on, Cabana said.

The launch pad being modified for NASAs future mega rocket held up well, as did the pad being leased by SpaceX.

No flight hardware was damaged, and the planned November launch of a next-generation weather satellite shouldnt suffer too much of a delay.

The space center  which shut down last Thursday to everyone except a 116-person crew experienced surface winds of 80 mph to 86 mph. Gusts of more than 135 mph were measured at 500 feet.

The local bald eagles also lucked out: Their huge, longtime nest survived in the trees along a tour bus route.

Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Catastrophe Natural Disasters Hurricane
A Georgia man was arrested and charged with insurance fraud for allegedly staging a car theft in North Carolina, according to a statement from Insurance Commissioner Wayne Goodwin. Jeremy Joseph Keeton, 29, of Columbus, Ga was arrested and is charged with one count each of insurance fraud and filing a false motor vehicle theft report in Cumberland County, N.C.

North Carolina Department of Insurance criminal investigators accuse Keeton of claiming his motorcycle was stolen in March 2015 with State Farm Mutual Insurance Co. and filing a police report with Fayetteville Police Department for the theft. Investigators allege Keeton was still in possession of the motorcycle in April 2016.

Keeton was arrested on Sept. 22 in Cumberland County and place under a $5,000 bond.

The Department of Insurance employs 20 sworn state law enforcement officers dedicated to investigating and prosecuting claims of insurance and bail bonding fraud. An estimated 10 cents of every dollar paid in premiums goes toward the payment of fraudulent claims.

Source: North Carolina Department of Insurance

Topics Auto Fraud Georgia North Carolina
Federal records show a drug company shipped 241 million hydrocodone and oxycodone pills to West Virginia over a five-year period.

The Charleston Gazette-Mail (reports Cardinal Healths shipment figures were disclosed in a 2015 court document filed as part of an ongoing state lawsuit in Boone County Circuit Court. The figures from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration covered shipments between 2007 and 2012.

State Delegate Don Perdue says the shipments are an extraordinary number of doses.

A Cardinal Health spokeswoman didnt immediate respond to a request for comment Sunday.

The 2012 lawsuit filed by then-Attorney General Darrell McGraw alleges Dublin, Ohio-based Cardinal Health helped fuel the states prescription drug problem. Attorney General Patrick Morrisey recused himself from the lawsuit in 2014. His wife lobbies for Cardinal Health in Washington, D.C.

Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Virginia Drugs
Western Growers has named Ken Cooper director of risk strategy.

Cooper will spearhead the development of innovative on-site and virtual solutions to meet the loss control and safety needs of Western Growers members.

Cooper most recently was regional vice president of claims consulting at a national broker.

He was previously with ESIS and the State Compensation Insurance Fund.

Western Growers represents local and regional family farmers growing produce in Arizona, California and Colorado
Insurance fraud cases investigated by Washington Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidlers special investigations unit have resulted in felony convictions against three people.

David Cook, 51, pleaded guilty in Pierce County Superior Court of attempted first-degree theft. He is in Pierce County jail pending sentencing on Dec. 20 and also faces charges in King County Superior Court in another insurance fraud investigation.

Cook reportedly was in an auto collision in August 2013 with a truck owned by a plumbing business. The driver of the commercial vehicle ran a red light and Cook, who had the right of way, collided with him, according to investigators.

Cook filed a wage-loss claim with the plumbing companys insurer using falsified documents and information. The insurer and Kreidlers detectives say they found no evidence that the company Cook said he worked for existed.

Cook failed to appear in Pierce County court in July to face the charges against him. He was placed on Kreidlers insurance fraud most wanted list and was arrested by Kreidlers SIU detectives on Aug. 8. Hes been in jail since his arrest.

Andrew Washburn, 29, was found guilty in Kitsap County Superior Court of attempted second-degree theft. He was sentenced to 364 days in jail. That time was converted to 96 hours of community service and the rest of his sentence suspended. In addition, the U.S. Navy disciplined Washburn and then involuntarily discharged him.

Washburn was in an auto collision in Silverdale on Sept. 21, 2015, caused by Crystal Truemper. Truemper reportedly asked Washburn to hold off on filing a claim because she did not have insurance on her car.

Later that day, Truemper allegedly purchased insurance from Esurance and told Washburn to proceed with filing a claim. Both drivers filed claims stating the collision happened on Sept. 24. However, the auto repair estimate that Washburn gave to his insurance was dated Sept. 22. Both were charged in the case. Truempers case is set for trial on Nov. 28 on charges of attempted first-degree theft, conspiracy, and filing a false insurance claim.

Crystal Wheeler, 40, was found guilty in Spokane County Superior Court of attempted second-degree theft. She was sentenced to 364 days in jail, which was converted to credit for serving three days and the remainder of the sentence suspended. Crystal Wheeler

Wheeler was charged along with James Thomas III. Wheeler reportedly filed an auto insurance claim with Safeco in September 2014 that her 1936 Ford truck was damaged by an acquaintance who backed into it.

The investigation determined the Ford was actually damaged by Thomas, who asked the acquaintance to file the claim and then split the settlement. The acquaintance refused, and said Wheeler and Thomas obtained his auto insurance policy information and submitted the claim without his knowledge while he was out of state.

Thomas pleaded guilty to filing a false insurance claim, a felony, in Spokane County Superior Court last month. He was sentenced to four months of electronic home monitoring and to pay court fees.

Topics Auto Fraud Washington Numbers
Munich Re has agreed to partner with Simplesurance, a Berlin-based distributor of cross selling software.

The new partnership follows recent deals by the reinsurer with on-demand insurance startups Trov and Slice Labs. Both companies allow policyholders to insure personal items, homes and automobiles at the push of a button.

Simplesurance and Munich Re will together offer insurance policies to private clients, according to Swiss business consultant firm Mountain Partners. Simplesurance will handle all sales and claims settlement while Munich Re subsidiary Great Lakes covers underwriting.

Digitalization is changing the face of the insurance industry, and our partnership with start-ups like simplesurance is a perfect example of the innovative propositions we are developing with digital insurance start-ups and digital verticals, said Andy Rear, head of Munich Res global Digital Partners business unit.

Since its inception in 2012, Simplesurance has operated solely as a broker working with carriers Allianz and New York City-based specialty insurer Assurant. According to Rear, Simplesurance fits well into Munich Re's current tech strategy; working with startups that are "looking to engage customers online through mobile or social media and develop new approaches to insurance products."
Rohan Shah Economic Laws Practice 109  A Wing, Dalamal Towers Nariman Point Mumbai 400021 India Tel: +91 22 6636 7000 Mobile: + 91 99670 23300 Email: rohanshah@elp-in.com Website: www.elplaw.in Rohan Shah is the managing partner at Economic Laws Practice (ELP) and leads the tax practice. Rohan received his law degree from the Government Law College of the Bombay University. After his LLB, he worked with Crawford Bayley and Co., Advocates and Solicitors in Mumbai from 1988 to 1989. In 2001, Rohan co-founded ELP, a leading full-service law firm in India that has offices in six cities and a team of over 130 professionals. Rohan is a qualified solicitor and as a member of the UK Law Society. He is authorised to also practice in England and Wales. He is well known for his expertise in advisory, policy and controversy issues related to indirect taxes (excise tax, service tax, VAT and customs), domestic and international taxation in India. He is also actively engaged in various advisory and transactional issues in the areas of corporate and commercial transactions, media and international trade laws. As a litigator, Rohan has successfully represented a wide spectrum of clients before the Supreme Court, various high courts and the tribunals, resulting in several reported judgments in the areas of indirect tax and trade remedial disputes. Rohan has been appointed to various expert committees formed by India's Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Commerce on issues related to the introduction of presumptive taxation for the gems and jewellery sector. He was also a member of the Indian Commerce Minister's negotiating team at the WTO ministerial conferences in Seattle, held in November 1999. At present, he is the legal expert on the CBEC sub-committee constituted by the Ministry of Finance in March 2016 to look into all issues relating to the imposition of excise duty on jewellery. Rohan has been listed as a leading lawyer in India for his expertise in taxation and TMT practices by Asia Pacific Legal 500 and Chambers Asia-Pacific from 2009 until 2016, and by Asialaw Leading Lawyers from 2013 to 2015. International Tax Review hailed him as being among the leading tax lawyers in the world, while the Tax Directors Handbook recommended him from 2007 to 2016. He has also been selected as a leading lawyer by Who's Who Legal  Corporate Tax from 2010 to 2016 and in Who's Who Legal  Trade & Customs from 2013 to 2016. Rohan was featured in Asian Legal Business Hot 100 in 2010 and India Today's January 2000 edition as one of the '50 Indians for the Next Millennium'. He won the Client Choice Awards 2014 in India for corporate tax, as a leading tax controversy adviser in India by Tax Controversy Leaders (4th, 5th and 6th editions). World Transfer Pricing 2015 listed him as a leading individual for transfer pricing advisory services, while Benchmark Asia-Pacific 2014 said he is a Leading Disputes Star in India.


Mestoudjian has more than 10 years' experience in advising clients on the tax matters of transactions and restructurings. He works mainly with French and international companies as well as private equity and infrastructure funds across a wide range of sectors including infrastructure, agribusiness, retail industry, new technologies and greenfield.

Before joining Eversheds, Mestoudjian was a manager at Arsene Taxand. Before that he was an associate at EY.
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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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THE Government knows that full-time creche care puts babies and toddlers at risk of developing anti-social behaviour but is providing it anyway.

This budget incentivises behaviour which damages children. Parents will be financially supported to put babies who are six months old into group daycare all day, every day. They will be supported, even to the tune of 8,000 a year, if those babies are in care for longer rather than shorter periods, with the maximum incentive applying to centre-based care of 40 hours a week.

Lets be quite clear about this: The Government is subventing practices which they know can be harmful to children. Prof Edward Melhuishs report for the UK National Audit Office, referenced by the interdepartmental working groups report to our Government, states: There is evidence that high levels of childcare, particularly group care, in the first or second years, may elevate the risk of developing anti-social behaviour.

This issue begins to arise when a baby or toddler is in daycare longer than 20 or 25 hours a week, explained Melhuish to The Guardian. This problem does not arise with care by relations, which is associated, he concludes, with improved social development.

So what do we go and do? We deliberately go out to incentivise full-time centre-based care for kids in their first two years. By contrast, we provide no supports for care by relations, be they grannies or aunties or uncles or big sisters. We provide no support for childminders minding fewer than four unrelated children who cant register with Tusla.

Most importantly, we provide no supports for care by parents themselves, found to be the best possible care for children under two by the largest survey ever conducted in the UK, Families, Children and Childcare and by nearly any other study you care to mention.

This is also the mode of care chosen by 62% of parents of babies aged nine months and 63% of parents of five-year-olds, while centre-based care is chosen by 11% and 10% respectively. Grannies, other relations, and childminders make up the balance.

The only young kids for whom family care is not the best available are the unfortunate children whose parents are unable to provide them with a decent home environment. Their home life is so bad they are better off in care. Full-time out-of-home care, with home visits, is found by Edward Melhuish to improve their lifetime opportunities. Amen to that. But it hardly warrants taking the majority of Irish children away from their parents in their babyhood for their own safety.

And lets be very clear about something else: A poor home does not necessarily mean poor parenting. We have to be very careful that we dont pull out the one anchor in economically disadvantaged childrens lives by sending them to daycare. And we have to be doubly careful that we dont take the purpose out of their mothers lives, like the well-meaning Australian missionaries who took Aboriginal children from their parents and sent them to orphanages.

The inter-departmental report to Government on which Katherine Zappones childcare package is based was no doubt written with complete sincerity but to my eyes it is spectacularly biased. It states in its opening passages, there is a multiplicity of evidence that investment in early years improves outcomes for children and families. That is true but it is not true as it is meant to be understood: That long hours of daycare are good for all children. Children from disadvantaged homes benefit from early full-time out-of-home care while other children do not.

By contrast, Ted Melhuish begins the report which the inter-departmental group cites with the statement: High quality childcare has been associated with benefits for childrens development, with the strongest effects for children from disadvantaged backgrounds. There is also evidence that sometimes negative effects occur.

No negative effects are allowed to sully the prose of the interdepartmental groups report. Nor do we ever hear that the cost benefits, cited constantly by government politicians and their embedded reporters as multiplying up to 16 times every dollar invested in childcare, refer to targeted preschool services for massively disadvantaged US communities, coupled with weekly home visits.

The savings itemised are largely the effects of crime avoided, even down, in one case, to the lifetime earnings of two young women who were murdered at the age of 27  a misfortune which rather trumps the fact that they missed out on preschool. Melhuish describes any inference that these savings apply to more everyday preschool services as misleading.

Melhuish later told The Guardian that the child-to-adult ratio necessary for the best care for children under two, and particularly under 18 months, means paying a parent to stay home would cost the same: We know the importance for infants in the first two years of responsive individual attention for significant parts of the day to develop their socio-interactive skills.

We also know that the responsiveness of group care is much less than in other childcare settings such as childminders, he said.

To improve the responsiveness of group care requires maintaining very high staff-infant ratios and keeping staff turnover down to an absolute minimum: Both are very expensive.

He noted that when parents in Sweden were given the chance to stay home for 18 months they voted with their feet.

Meanwhile Mother Ireland thinks parents are a danger to their children after their first year. You can also see the worried red pen hovering above the report of the inter-departmental group, in case parents might take it into their heads to stay home for more than a year: Parents need to be supported to make choices which are good for children, such as being able to take on the role of primary care-giver when that is best (under the age of one).

If you want to be supported to make the choice which you think is good for your children and stay home with your kids past the age of one you are on your own. And you are committing financial suicide. The Stay-at-Home-Parents Alliance Ireland, which was founded just two weeks ago and has almost 1,000 members, did comparisons of one-income and two-income households which benefit from the new creche subvention and came out with a differential of 7,000 a year.

But its not all about money. Its not all about that cliche, the second mortgage when nobody questions the mortgage on bricks and mortar.

The people with influence in the media and in government nearly all worked full-time through their childrens young lives and they are determined to defend their legacy. Few are prepared to listen to the young parents in the Stay-at-Home-Parents Alliance.

But I will make them this commitment: I will fight until I am a toothless granny against the full-time institutionalisation of babies and toddlers.

I will fight for an interval of magic in the lives of young parents and for babies and toddlers who know puddles and dogs and communities and surprises.
Former Fianna Fail Minister Barry Andrews has stepped down as CEO of international aid charity Goal.

The resignation comes as the charity faces an inquiry by one of its main funders USAID (US Agency for International Development).

USAID's Office of Inspector General (OIG) is conducting the investigation into Goal's operations in Syria. The charity has been accused of mismanagement of the supply chain on the Turkey-Syria border.

Last April, Goal and other charities were ordered to halt procurement using some US funds because USAID had started an investigation into alleged bribery and bid-rigging.

The allegations, broadly speaking, relate to collusion between suppliers in relation to prices that are set," Mr Andrews (pictured) said in August.

They relate to allegations concerning kickbacks received by staff...There are a range of issues arising here, some of which affect Goal but all of these I would hope we would get to the bottom of in the next couple of weeks.

Goal began working in Syria in 2013. The USAID investigation resulted in about 6.2m being withheld from Goal.

In a statement this morning, Mr Andrews said: "It has become clear to me that Goal requires a fresh start in terms of leadership. To that end, I informed Goal's board of directors last August of my intention to step down as CEO as soon as a suitable replacement could be identified.

The circumstances of the OIG investigation over the last seven months have been extremely uncomfortable for GOAL and we are working hard on correcting the weaknesses identified and providing all necessary assurances to our donors.

I do not for one moment resent the robust oversight of our donor partners and if we are serious about retaining public trust and managing large sums of taxpayers money, then this type of oversight is not only to be expected, but to be welcomed.

GOAL applies exacting standards to the management of its programmes and in my leadership role over the last few years I have endeavoured to apply those standards."

Goal chairperson Anne OLeary said: "I want to thank Barry for the outstanding leadership he has provided to Goal over the last four years.

"He has also been an outstanding spokesperson for Goal on the national and international stage and in particular has been a courageous advocate on behalf of the people of Syria."
An estimated 350 people are dying each year as a direct result of crowding in the country's Emergency Departments, The Irish Association for Emergency Medicine has claimed.

The group says it is deeply disappointing that on the day of the Budget, a total of 438 patients languished on trolleys in Irelands acute hospitals.
By Juno McEnroe and Elaine Loughlin

Outraged rural Fine Gael deputies tore strips out of Jobs Minister Mary Mitchell OConnor last night at a party meeting after a presentation she gave backfired and saw TDs turn on her.

There were fireworks between TDs and the jobs minister, who tried to leave the meeting a number of times.

Social Protection Minister Leo Varadkar firstly gave the parliamentary party a powerpoint presentation on the budget, which was described as sophisticated.

The trouble started when Ms Mitchell OConnor gave hers.

She stood up reading from her phone. It kept crashing, in need of a password...She spoke about how brilliant her department was. That really annoyed people, one party source said.

Some of the TDs began asking Ms Mitchell OConnor what she was doing for their region.

Sligo-Leitrim TD Tony McLoughlin lashed the minister about job creation in his constituency, contributing three times to the meeting.

Its because of Brexit, the lack of job opportunities too. With all the jobs coming to Dublin, theyre [politicians] feeling more isolated than ever before, added another source.

Mr McLoughlin confirmed there were exchanges.

There should be incentives in the north west for jobs, in my opinion there are a lot of announced in Dublin and along the east coast. We are a border constituency and with Brexit we need to be protected, he said.

Clare TD Joe Carey also took issue with the jobs minister.

Carey and Tony tore strips off her. She got cranky, added the source.

It is understood that Ms Mitchell OConnor at one stage told Mr McLoughlin that she had holidayed in Sligo and it was thriving, to which the TD came back even more angry.

Mr Carey also confronted the jobs minister about how he arrived at her department last week with visitors, and officials were unaware of 240 job losses in Clarecastle, at the Roche Ireland pharmaceutical factory.

Mr Carey confirmed the meeting was tense and he wanted more joined-up thinking between the department of job and the IDA.

It was very frank and to the point. There was a degree of frustration expressed. She made a presentation in relation to the department and there was an opportunity to raise concerns.

Sources present said Ms Mitchell-OConnor tried to leave the meeting three or four times but that the exchange with TDs and senators went on for an hour.

Louth TD Fergus ODowd confirmed there were a number of unhappy TDs which led to strong exchanges and firm opinions given.

The minister at one stage told the room that most of the jobs are going to Limerick, but not all of them.

This was viewed as a dig against Finance Minister Michael Noonan, who recently shot down the jobs ministers suggestion for a special emigrant tax.

A party source added: She lit a camp fire basically and then set the tent on fire.

Mayo senator Michelle Mulherin also voiced concern about the lack of jobs in her county.

Ms Mitchell OConnor was not available for comment at the time of writing.

This article firswt appeared in the

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A 22-year-old Syrian man arrested over a suspected Islamic extremist bomb plot has killed himself in a prison cell in Leipzig, according to Saxony's state justice ministry

Justice ministry spokesman Joerg Herold said that Jaber Albakr killed himself sometime in the evening, but that the incident was still being investigated.
Last week a major deal was announced by the aircraft leasing company Avolon which involved a huge amount of assets managed from Ireland.

The lessor, which is now owned by a leading Chinese conglomerate but led by an Irish management team, bought CIT which is a competing aircraft owning company.

The numbers involved are eye boggling.

CIT contains assets valued at about $10bn (9bn) and the combined Avolon-CIT business has no less than 910 aircraft in its fleet with a value of over $43bn.

The deal is so large it had to be checked with the US Federal Reserve before being announced.

To put the newly merged entity in context it has a fleet that is about three times larger than Ryanair and about 20 times bigger than Aer Lingus.

The merged company will be the third largest lessor in the world, behind GECAS and Aercap, both of whom are now led and managed from Ireland.

This remarkable transaction is a reminder of how Ireland remains a pivotal location from which commercial aircraft leasing and financing is managed.

Despite huge shifts in the flow of capital beneath various aircraft-owning companies, with a pronounced advance by Asian investors in the past four years, Ireland has kept its status as a critical cog.

A set of unparalleled aircraft ownership tax treaties, linked to a world- class group of Irish legal, tax and financial professionals, has helped maintain Irelands standing despite repeated attempts by other jurisdictions to raid the sector of talent.

Pernicious campaigns to sully Irelands reputation around corporate tax and governance have also posed challenges to the role Ireland plays but the aircraft ownership sector continues to not only hold its own but thrive.

Aircraft leasing companies ultimately rely on the health of end-user airlines to prosper, and in that context important developments were evident in Europe last week too.

EasyJet issued a material profit warning about trading conditions in the key EU marketplace.

Brexit, excess capacity and intense competitive pressures were all cited for the profit warning which included guidance that average fares could fall about 9% in the October-December quarter of 2016.

Other airlines are struggling too.

The charter carrier Monarch is in protracted talks with the UK regulator about its future amid fears over its financial condition.

Air Berlin in Germany has announced a swingeing restructuring to stem heavy losses. That includes shifting assets to Lufthansa and negotiating a deal with equally challenged TuiFly.

Alitalia has indicated another restructuring amid tough Italian market conditions while Air Malta is warning of difficult trading.

In the thick of all this is Ryanair. It, too, is pointing to fares falling up to 12% over the next six months as it grapples with economic and industry headwinds.

However, while this battle is taking place Ryanair has ordered enough aircraft to add almost 18m passengers over the next 18 months.

That is like adding two times the size of Aer Linguss entire short-haul volume in just one and a half years.

To fill those seats Ryanair will have to manage its industry lowest costs shrewdly while growing market share aggressively across Europe.

Aer Lingus is competing in this maelstrom too within the ambit of the huge IAG group.

Imagine what state that airline would be in now, amid fare collapses of over 10%, if it had rejected the IAG bid last year. Instead of plotting new transatlantic routes it would, I suspect, be scrambling to manage weaker revenues.

Operating within IAG it has partner airlines BA, Iberia and Vueling together with the key strategic investor Qatar to manage its way through.

One key point emerges from the hyper-activity in the leasing and airline worlds  demand for air travel is continuing to grow.

That circles us back to the last piece of the Irish aviation jigsaw worth noting  airport capacity.

It is beyond belief that the second runway project in Dublin is being questioned by anyone presently.

This crucial piece of infrastructure is key to moving forward an island economy which is disproportionately dependent on air travel for access.

It needs to be built urgently.

Joe Gill is director of corporate broking with Goodbody Stockbrokers. His views are personal
The new 200,000 Enterprise Ireland Competitive Feasibility Fund  officially launched, yesterday, by Jobs and Enterprise Minister Mary Mitchell-OConnor  is being viewed as a key measure of the Governments Action Plan for Jobs and is targeted at stimulating small business in the Cork region.

The purpose of this fund is to help develop and support new, or early stage, businesses, which will, in turn, stimulate the creation of new jobs. As Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation I am committed to job creation in all regions across rural Ireland and this fund will go a long way to helping businesses grow and expand in this region, Minister Mitchell-OConnor said.
OPEC countries pumped 33.39 million barrels per day last month, according to figures Opec collects from secondary sources, up 220,000 barrels from August, the organisation said in a monthly report yesterday.

The figures underline Opecs challenge in seeking to restrain supplies for the first time since 2008 to curb a persistent supply glut and prop up prices.

Oil is trading near $53 a barrel, less than half the price hit in mid-2014.

To speed up a rebalancing of the market, Opec agreed at a meeting in Algeria, last month, to cut supply to between 32.50 million barrels and 33 million.

The group hopes to finalise details, including how much each of the its 14 members can pump, at a meeting in November.

The report showed the supply boost in September mostly came from Libya and Nigeria, which are restoring output after disruptions, and from Iraq, which has questioned the accuracy of Opecs secondary-source figures.

Opec also raised its forecast of non-Opec supply next year, saying output from outside the group would rise by 240,000 barrels per day, up 40,000 barrels from an earlier forecast due to a higher forecast for Russia.

With demand for Opec crude in 2017 expected to average 32.59m barrels, the report indicates there will now be an average surplus of 800,000 barrels if Opec keeps output steady.

Last months report pointed to a 760,000 barrel surplus.

Opec made no change to the global oil demand outlook, predicting demand growth of 1.15m barrels in 2017.

Russian president Vladimir Putin said, yesterday, he saw no obstacles to a global agreement on an oil output freeze.

Meanwhile, yesterday proved a mixed day for Irish-related oil stocks.

Tullow Oils share price fell nearly 6% in Dublin trading but was stable in London despite a bullish research note from Davy Stockbrokers, which forecast the company will generate $230m in positive free cashflow next year and its South American exploration acreage to be the source of a new growth phase for the company.

It may not be fashionable to say so, but exploration will swing back into vogue at some point.

We think the Suriname-Guyana basin/region has the potential to be the source of the next phase of growth for Tullow.

This is recognised as one of the few remaining basins with potential to deliver substantial new resources, Davy said.

Tullows share price is up nearly 70% in the year to date.

Shares in Dublin-based, Russian-focused explorer PetorNeft Resources jumped 14% on the back of a positive production update and Falcon Oil & Gas announced a fresh oil discovery by one of its partners in Australia.

John Teelings Clontarf Energy also announced that a proposed work programme on its Tano acreage offshore Ghana has been submitted to the Ghanaian authorities in Accra.

The AIM-traded firm said the new work programme will form part of the ongoing negotiations regarding the terms of acquiring an exploration licence for the Tano Basin acreage.

Additional reporting by Reuters
Revenues slipped to 30.28m after numerous years of decline.

Gross revenues, which include duty excise and other taxes of 185m, fell 2% to 215.3m in 2015.

The firm faces even higher excise duties on its products following the Governments decision to increase the price of the pack of 20 by 50c which brings the price of the most popular brands to 11 a pack.

PJ Carroll & Company, a subsidiary of the UK-based British American Tobacco, posted a pre-tax profit of 7.8m after incurring finance costs of 629,000.

The directors say the firm has been through numerous years of decline after the legitimate market contracted.

The black market remains a huge challenge facing the business.

PJ Carroll commends the gardai and Revenue Commissioners for their continuing efforts in fighting the black market.

Over the course of 2015, it appears that the black market may have been stabilising, the directors say.

However, the black market is still at a very high rate in comparison to other EU countries due to the high prices of tobacco products and the excise introduced in budget 2015 (40c) and in budget 2016 (50c).

It paid dividends of 4.05m and employs 33 staff. Total staff costs were 1.99m.

The directors add that disposable income continues to remain constrained due to tough economic conditions.

Another risk and uncertainty facing the firm is product liability cases, with two claims advanced against the firm at the end of last year.

The note states the vast majority of the claims have ended.
Samsung offers exceptional value; we have added to our position, said Duncan Robertson, a portfolio manager at TT International, whose Asia Pacific Equity Fund beat 90% of peers over the past year with a 21% annual return.

The battery issue can only be a long-term threat if the company doesnt take the correct steps to restore its brand. We have confidence that they have taken the correct steps so far, he said.

Foreign investors are braving the widest share volatility in five years after a three-day rout shaved about 20.7bn off Samsungs market value.

Overseas funds have pulled millions of euro this week from the nations equities as prospects for higher US borrowing costs weigh on emerging markets.

The worlds biggest phone maker said it is ending production of its problematic Galaxy Note 7 smartphones, taking the drastic step of killing off a device in one of the deepest crises in its history.

It had already recalled the Note 7 once last month after early models exploded and the latest move comes after customers reported that replacement phones were also catching fire.

Samsung will come out of this episode relatively unscathed. Any impact would be temporary, Kar Tzen Chow, a Kuala Lumpur-based fund manager at Affin Hwang Asset Management, said.

It will survive this episode and move on.

He said hes looking at the current price weakness to buy more shares.

The stock sank 0.7% yesterday, bringing the three-day slump to 10%, the most since May 2012, after reaching a record high last Friday.

The shares had plunged 8% on Tuesday and dragged valuations to near the cheapest level in eight months.

The recent pullback in the share price offers an attractive entry point, a buying opportunity, for long-term investors, said Knut Gezelius, a fund manager at Norways Skagen.

We believe the battery issue in Samsung most likely is a short-term issue with limited impact on the intrinsic value of the company.

Not everyone is optimistic.

The uncertainty over its brand reputation and reliability amid rising competition would be a big challenge to overcome, according to Samir Mehta, a Singapore-based senior fund manager at JO Hambro Capital Management.

The stock isnt cheap enough yet to buy, he said.

Bloomberg
The charity have launched a campaign to create better awareness of how pavements blocked by parked cars, wheelie bins, over hanging hedges and street furniture, such as shop signage, can impede the independence and mobility of people with vision impairment.

These obstacles force people with vision loss out on to roads in the midst of noisy, fast moving traffic, which they cannot see.

Some of their clients have had injuries walking around their local area. With increased fear, anxiety and a real risk of injury, some feel so intimidated by the risks outside that they end up staying at home and becoming even more isolated.

To show your support for their campaign go to their Facebook page, sign up for their SmartStreet Hero pledge and share with your friends.

Signing the pledge means you will make every effort to keep our pavements free of obstacles so that blind and vision impaired persons have a clear, safe path to travel.

Speaking on his participation in the SmartStreet Campaign Guide Dog Owner Joe Bollard said, dealing with issues of poorly parked cars and ill placed bins is a daily challenge.

"Often people who are in a hurry do things without thinking. They park awkwardly on footpaths or pop the bin out leaving it right in my way. In this campaign I hope to help us all see how simple actions can have a larger impact. For myself and York that might mean walking out onto a busy or dangerous road. So I am asking people to get involved and to get informed and spread the SmartStreet message.

Lean Kennedy, Client Advocacy at Irish Guide Dogs adds that they provide critical training to people with vision impairment so they become independently mobile with the aid of a Guide Dog or a long cane.

"When dealing with blocked pavements which could potentially force a person onto a busy road, we advise to seek assistance from a passer-by. Dealing with these obstructions daily can erode your confidence and can ultimately lead to you losing the independence and mobility your long cane or Guide Dog give you.

Irish Guide Dogs five step plan to be a SmartStreet Hero:

Follow these five steps to make your street friendly for people who are vision impaired.

1. Park your car or van on the street, not the pavement.

2. Cut back overhanging branches from your garden.

3. Ensure wheelie bins and refuse containers are not left on the pavement. Where bin collectors do not replace bins properly, please report this to your local council.

4. Report broken street lights, badly cracked paving slabs, potholes, damaged drain covers or anything else that might prove a hazard to a people who are blind or partially sighted.

5. Clean up litter, especially broken glass which can injure Guide Dogs, and bulky items which can create a trip hazard.

For more information please visit www.guidedogs.ie

Case Study  Joe and York

Joe Bollard has been blind since he was two years old and, for most of his life, always relied on others to help him get around. Despite being a talented piano player and touring around Ireland and America, until 1975, he had never been out by himself. His first Guide Dog, Adam, changed everything.

Before I got a guide dog, life was ok. I was totally dependent on others. Now life is incredible. I enjoy nothing more than leaving the house first thing every day and strolling down to Bray harbour. Joe now works with his 5th Guide Dog, York and still appreciates the freedom a Guide Dog provides. With York as my guide, I take in the sea air, listen to the seagulls and fetch my morning coffee.

However, Joes walks in to his local town are frequently impeded by cars parked on pedestrian pavements, and other obstructions such as wheelie bins and over-hanging branches. Joe recalls one incident whereby he was forced out on to the road to get around a car blocking the pathway. The driver of the car returned at the same time and when Joe told the driver he shouldnt park on the pavemen, the driver responded with Isnt that what your guide dog is for?! Joe says,People may not realise the danger they are putting blind people in when they park on the pavement. We are forced to walk out on to the road iin the midst of traffic which we can not see. Our safey is at risk and my guide dog is put under undue stress.
Im sure many of you will recall, with a smile, those Bothar radio commercials from a few years back. Commercials where legendary actor Mick Lally would espouse all that was great and wonderful about the charity.

Particularly around Christmas time, these commercials were very effective in reminding all, as we rushed about the place attempting to secure a plump turkey, that not every familys food problems could be solved with a simple trip to the butcher.

Bothar is all about helping poorer families and communities worldwide overcome hunger and poverty, by the use of livestock as development aid.

Last Monday, October 10th, one of the biggest multi-species airlifts ever to leave Ireland and one of the biggest in the world, left the tarmac of Shannon Airport bound for war ravaged Rwanda.

The Bothar Ark as it has been christened, carried with a live cargo of 37 in-calf dairy cows, three bulls, 260 pigs, 100 dairy goats, 5,000 chicks, and 5,000 AI straws, which will now be dispersed amongst 797 Rwandan families still suffering as a result of genocide perpetrated in Rwanda a number of years ago.

This is the most important airlift we have ever pulled together, for many reasons, Dave Moloney CEO of Bothar told me.

Its our biggest airlift in terms of numbers and species. In that regard its a record in an Irish context. It also marks our 25th birthday as an aid organisation, and what a journey it has been.

As Mr Moloney pointed out, Mondays airlift from Shannon marked the 25th anniversary of the first Bothar flight, which left the same airport taking 20 in-calf heifers to Uganda.

The inaugural flight had been intended as a one-off by a group of Mid-West farmers but, of course, the bold and brave venture has gone from strength to strength.

Bothar now oversees three to four airlifts per year, usually taking place in the Autumn.

Niall Maloney, Airport Operations Director, Shannon Airport had this to say about the flight and the connection built up between the airport and Bothar.

Bothar is like an old friend for us at Shannon. They have been airlifting cows, in particular, from here to some of the most needy people in the world for a quarter of a century. Its a remarkable contribution, not least when you think of the organisations origins.

It was just supposed to have been a once-off. Thankfully for tens of thousands of people across the world whose lives have been changed beyond their wildest hopes by the gift of food producing animals, it hasnt stopped rolling since and were delighted to be associated with this milestone.

Also at Shannon Airport on Monday, showing his support was All-Ireland winning Dublin manager, Jim Gavin.

The three times All-Ireland winning manager and one-time All-Ireland winning player joined the Bothar senior staff crew of three on board the Bothar Ark for their five day mission to deliver the life-changing livestock.

Speaking ahead of the trip, the Dublin manager (a trained pilot, and an Assistant Director with the Irish Aviation Authority) said; Ive been to Africa many times before with work, but Im particularly looking forward to this trip. A lot of people in Ireland have it really hard today but nothing compared to what were going to see this week.

We are going to be visiting some of the poorest people of the world with an aid agency that is giving them a real shot at improving their lot beyond their wildest dreams.

"Ive been very impressed by what Bothar does, and very struck by the generosity of Irish farmers in donating these precious animals and Bothars other donors in helping to raise money to buy more.

Speaking about the extra passenger on board, Bothar CEO Dave Moloney added, Jim contacted us earlier this year and said he liked what we do and asked how he could help us. Its not often that type of thing happens, where someone with his profile makes contact with a charity and asks to help.

"We were bold enough to ask him if he would be up for travelling with us on our most important airlift ever and he just said yes, when does it go?

In addition, we are delighted to announce our new partnership with MSD Animal Health, who we believe will be a great addition to the programme with their significant experience in the area.

Receiving the gift of an Irish dairy cow or goat will be the first time that many of these families will earn an income, and this gift of a food-and-income-producing animal is like receiving the keys to a successful business.

"After a lot of local training and preparation, our recipient families will receive a very special animal, one that can continue to give for many years.

"Every family that receives an Irish dairy heifer notices an immediate difference in their lives when she calves and starts to produce milk. Irish dairy cows do very well in the Developing World, giving about 16-20 litres of milk per day, whereas for example in Rwanda, the local indigenous cow produces just one litre per day.

"They now have a sustainable food source. The great thing is that Bothar has continued doing this thousands of times over.
Led by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure, they christened their efforts Live Aid.

Well, Bothar must surely be the rural equivalent of Live Aid. It literally is Live Aid.

In Bothars case, MEP and ex-IFA president TJ Maher, and Peter Ireton, were the lightning rods that got things moving.

T.J. Maher helped to co-found Bothar in 1991, with the now retired CEO of the organisation, Peter Ireton.

Initially it had been intended as a once off gesture by the local farming community to airlift 20 Irish in-calf dairy heifers to an impoverished Ugandan community to mark the Limerick Treaty 300 celebrations.

It has since gone on to become one of Irelands best-known charity organisations, lifting over 10,000 families annually across the developing world out of destitution with livestock donations. So how does a farmer who would like to get involved do so, I asked Bothar CEO Dave Moloney.

To get involved, simply call our office on 1850 82 99 99 and tell us what they would like to donate. We only accept certain breeds of animals, and we talk to them about when to go about putting the animals in calf, when to get testing done and so on. We are with them through every step of the process.

And what about the red tape, I ask. Even moving an animal to a neighbour carries a great deal of paperwork, never mind taking the animal half way across the world.

Each animal is tested and is only allowed to travel after strict testing by the Department of Agriculture. We are very used to the process. We need to make sure that every animal that is sent is going to make a difference, which is why we only accept certain breeds.

On the subject of farmers who donate, this is what Mr Moloney had to say.

We are very fortunate to have so many loyal donors. Some families have given a heifer a year since we began 25 years ago. Others give when they can. The animals come from all over Ireland.

We ask farmers to donate animals every year through our Spring Calf Appeal. Monetary donations are taken right throughout the year. As you can appreciate, the transport and veterinary costs associated with the airlifts are high, so we use monetary donations to send the animals.

I also spoke to Limerick farmer, Thomas Blackburn, who is one of Bothars longest standing donors. From Effin, Co. Limerick, Thomas visited one of Bothars dairy cow projects. Heres what he said.

I was lucky enough to travel to Uganda and I met some incredible people there. And even though its a bit ago now, I remember the trip as if it were yesterday.

"I could see that this gift that we had given had changed lives. Indeed, it most likely saved lives. It has stayed with me ever since and its why Marian and I continue to support Bothar. Because I know the difference a cow makes.
ICOS European affairs executive Alison Graham said the two-year trial which the commission has allowed in France has led to a landslide of other countries following suit.

She warned that such legislative initiatives risk putting Irish farmers and co-ops at a disadvantage.

The commission may no longer be able to stop this domino effect of countries falling into line behind France, however at the very least further applications must be put on hold until the impact of the French trial can be assessed at the end of 2018, in order to limit the market damage, she said.

In France, processors must label the origin of dairy products, including all liquid milk, butter, cream, yoghurt and cheese, and processed foods with a meat content of more than 8%, but not dairy ingredients.

Italy, Portugal, and Lithuania have applied to implement similar national mandatory labelling, using the French application as a blueprint. Spain, Greece, and the UK are expected to shortly follow.

Ms Graham said this push by EU states is clearly their response to the dairy crisis, in order to ensure preference is given to their domestic producers, and she said this is neither compatible with the EUs core principle of free movement of goods, nor with EU food information law.
But it was almost unbelievable that there was no mention of general farming income volatility within the Budget speech, or the Budget documents.

Instead, they got augmentation of income averaging, will help farmers caught in the income averaging system facing high tax bills, but will do nothing to aid farmers outside of averaging, or assist farmer going forward in managing income volatility.

Meanwhile, the opening up of cheap credit through the SCBI is effectively sending the message to farmers to borrow your way out of trouble.

There was hope that the plummeting of dairy commodity prices visible to all over the last 24 months would spur the government to introduce a Farm Deposit Scheme as is available in New Zealand, Australia, and to a lesser degree in France and Sweden, which would allow farmers park funds tax efficiently in a good year, as a rainy day fund.

Income averaging

All of the main farm organisations had requested an augmentation of the rules for income averaging, and to be fair, Minister Noonan responded, by announcing a new temporary opt-out scheme available to those in averaging.

For farmers who are availing of income averaging, a bad year for farming has the double negative outcome of reduced cash flow, but also the difficulty of meeting an average-sized tax bill, rather than a tax bill proportional to current income.

Speaking of the change, Minister Noonan stated he is allowing a farmer facing an exceptionally poor year to step out of income averaging and, instead, pay only the tax due on a current year basis, with any deferred tax liability becoming payable over subsequent years.

This facility will be available immediately, and should provide cash-flow assistance this year.

Usually Budget measures are introduced effective from January 1 of the following year (2017).

However, the Finance Bill has not yet been published, and it is unclear whether the arrangements will assist farmers who are at the point of submitting declarations of income for 2015, or whether the scheme kicks off in respect of tax year 2016.

VAT credit

The majority of farmers in Ireland remain unregistered for VAT, and receive a top-up to their sales in the form of a VAT credit.

The credit applies to milk, grain and cattle sales.

This flat rate credit is being increased from 5.2% to 5.4%.

For an average dairy farmer supplying 350,000 litres, the increase in the flat rate VAT would mean additional income of about 180 over the course of a year.

Loan fund

The Minister for Agriculture, in conjunction with the Strategic Banking Corporation of Ireland, announced the introduction of a loan fund that will be low cost, at 2.95% per annum, and highly flexible.

It is yet to be seen what banking partners if any will team up with the SCBI in rolling out the loan facilities, but it is expected that the Department will be seeking partners within a matter of weeks.

Self-employed tax credit

The self employed tax credit introduced for year 2016 is to be extended from 550 per year to 950.

It was expected that the tax credit would have been doubled, such that a final tranche of 550 next year would bring parity between the self-employed and employees, who currently benefit from a PAYE tax credit of 1,650 per year.

And in practical terms, farmer wont feel the benefit of this credit until 2018, as tax positions are finalised for the previous year.

Capital allowance

Interestingly, the accelerated capital allowance regime is being rolled out to sole traders.

This scheme, already available to companies, allows a tax payer to claim up to 100% of the cost of new equipment as a tax deduction in the year of expenditure.

The move stops far short of the Annual Investment Allowance available to UK farmers, who can claim up to 100% of the cost of plant and machinery, subject to an overall limit of a massive 200,000 per annum against their trading profits in the year of expenditure.

The accelerated allowance scheme, now being rolled out to sole traders, can cover approved equipment such as lighting, heating, refrigeration, motors and other equipment subject to minimum spending limits.

The Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland has responsibility for publishing and maintaining the Accelerated Capital Allowance specified list of qualifying equipment.

Minister Noonan, who noted that farmers were going through a tough time recently due to lower world prices and weather, also announced the increase in the tax band for gifts and inheritances between parents and children, up 30,000 to 210,000, and the extension of farm restructuring relief for capital gains tax.

Full details of each of the measures will be become clear once the Finance Bill is published later this month.
Leon Keogh, aged 24, of Castletimon Rd, Kilmore, Dublin 5, had through his mother Natalie OHanlon, sued the hospital over the circumstances of his birth and his care on December 21, 1991.

It was claimed there was an alleged failure to pay any or any sufficient attention to the abnormalities which allegedly should have been apparent on the CTG trace and an alleged failure to deliver Leon when it ought to have been apparent there was foetal cardiac abnormality. It was further claimed there was an alleged failure to deliver or expedite delivery at the first possible opportunity when it was allegedly clear the foetus was in distress.
He was in automatism due to his sleep disorder. He was unaware of what he had done, Dr John Michael Shneerson, former director of a UK sleep clinic and author of The Handbook Of Sleep Medicine, told Hugh Hartnett, defending.

He said it was his personal opinion that the accused fits very well with sexsomnia.

He jumps through the hoops and fits the template very well... it doesnt fit in very well with someone who was drunk, awakes, and has sex with someone, Dr Shneerson continued.

His actions afterward were remorseful and guilty. He went to his GP and a rape crisis centre, in order to try and find out what had happened. He didnt try to cover it up, which is a typical reaction from someone with sexsomnia, because theyve no awareness and no consciousness.

If he had been a sexual predator it would be unusual, with being both sleep deprived and having taken alcohol, to be able to stay awake to rape someone, the doctor said.

He said it was also out of character for the accused not to use a condom and he had no memory or recollection of the episode which was also consistent with sexsomnia.

The 29-year-old man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, has pleaded not guilty to one count of raping the woman at an apartment in Dublin in the early hours of September 28, 2008.

The doctor explained to the jury that sexsomnia occurs in non-REM sleep, when the body, apart from breathing muscles, are paralysed as it is disconnected from the engine which makes actions happen.

He said things could go wrong if the switch shutting off the engine is broken and a person is freed from suppression so they can make movements. If sexual functioning is set free from suppression a person can carry out sexual activities, sometimes simple, sometimes complex.

The doctor told the jury that psychiatrists have regarded sexsomnia as a sleep disorder rather than a psychiatric condition as it involves complex behaviours arising from sleep without conscious awareness. The person has no awareness or no mental control over their actions.

He said the accused recounted an incident in 2008 when he made reasonably intensive sexual approaches towards another girl during his sleep. He was sleeping next to his own girlfriend and this other girl was sleeping the other side of him, beside her boyfriend.

Dr Shneerson told the jury that another incident occurred when the accused had been awake for 22 hours before going to bed with a male friend. He again made sexual approaches to this man during the night.

It is possible for a heterosexual man to have sleep sex with another man, because he is now working as a reflex person without normal sexual preferences, said Dr Shneerson.

The trial continues before Mr Justice Patrick McCarthy and a jury of eight men and four women.
If the High Court grants Dana orders requiring Susan Stein and Susan Gorrell provide the 425,000 security sought by Dana, their cases will be at an end. Their counsel Jim OCallaghan said: The objective here is to try to kill the proceedings.

Counsel said security for costs should be refused on grounds including Dana has no strong defence to defamation, the cases are in the public interest, and his clients had put after the event insurance cover in place which would meet Danas costs and expenditure, estimated by the plaintiffs at 165,000.

In their civil actions for which trial dates have yet to be fixed, Ms Stein and her daughter Ms Gorrell, both living in Iowa, US, allege Dana defamed them in a TV3 interview broadcast on October 14, 2011, during the presidential campaign.

Both women claim Dana made statements which, they claim, meant they maliciously made up claims Ms Gorrell was sexually abused between 1971-81 by her uncle John Brown, a brother of Dana. They claim the allegations of abuse are true.

Mr Brown, of Bracknell, Berkshire, England, was cleared in 2014 of all charges of indecent assault brought against him arising from a complaint made to the UK police in 2011 by Ms Gorrell.

Mr Justice Rober Eager heard further arguments yesterday on Danas application for security for costs.

Mr OCallaghan said the gravity of the defamation was over a reference by Dana to vile and malicious liars. His clients contended she was referring to them.

The core issue in this vile case was whether, or not, the awful allegation Ms Gorrell was sexually abused by John Brown was correct, or not, and that would have to be decided by a jury in the full action. In deciding whether to grant security for costs, the court should take into account his clients also sued TV3 over the broadcast and that case had settled on terms including an apology, he said.

The court has heard Dana denies defamation on grounds including she did not name the plaintiffs and what she said in the interview did not mean what the plaintiffs allege. Her counsel Oisin Quinn said those pleas, along with other pleas of truth, justification, and honest opinion in relation to parts of the claim, amount to a bona fide defence.

He said

Dana believes the insurance policy obtained by the plaintiffs is part of an attempt to defeat her security for costs application and will not lead to her recovering all her costs should they lose.

She also pleads the sexual abuse claims against her brother John first surfaced in 2005 during a US court dispute involving members of her family over copyright of her records and ownership of a music company, Heartbeat Records.

In a series of affidavits, Dana disputed the plaintiffs claims to be of limited means while they rejected her claims concerning the extent of their assets. Mr Quinn said there was prima facie evidence Heartbeat Records was a substantial business making substantial revenues.

The hearing continues.
The Child and Family Agency also said it could not provide any additional details regarding whether any other children had been placed in the same foster setting at the same time as the alleged perpetrator, or if there was any other allegation of abuse relating to it.

The circumstances surrounding the placement have come under scrutiny after the sentencing judge in the case involving the boys father referred to it when jailing the man for 14 years this week.

The boys father, a 66-year-old man, was sentenced to 14 years in prison last Monday after the court heard details of horrific abuse carried out against his son.

The Central Criminal Court heard that from the time the boy turned six he was raped by his father on a number of occasions and that he was also locked in a box.

The boys father continues to deny the abuse and has signalled that he will appeal.

The boy was removed from the family home just before his eighth birthday in 2011, but in the subsequent foster placement he was sexually abused by another young person. He was then moved into another foster placement, where he was happier. He later made disclosures regarding the abuse by his father.

In his sentencing remarks Mr Justice Robert Eagar said it had not been wise to put the boy in the foster home where he was sexually abused and that it was quite clear there was a large amount of sexual abuse occurring in the house.

Responding to questions from the Irish Examiner, Tusla said: It can be confirmed that the child was placed with experienced foster carers. There was/ is no allegation of abuse against the foster carers, nor were there any concerns about this placement when the decision was made to place the child there. Any concerns raised in the course of the placement were addressed in line with Children First guidelines, including liaison with An Garda Siochana.

As to whether or not other children were in a placement at the same time as the alleged perpetrator, or if there were any other allegations, a spokesperson for the Child and Family Agency said: As this is an individual case, it would be inappropriate for Tusla to comment further.

Foster placements in the south-east were already under scrutiny following revelations in the Grace case involving a woman with serious intellectual difficulties who was left in a foster placement where it is alleged she suffered abuse.

A Tusla spokesperson said: In relation to fostering placements, each child is placed in a care setting appropriate to his/her needs in accordance his/her Care Plan. In the majority of cases, the best place for a child in care is in a foster placement in their own community. In making foster care placements, Tusla matches each child with a foster carer who is best suited to meet the childs identified needs. In some cases, this may be a relative, in others it is with a general foster carer.

Tusla said all foster carers are vetted and approved through formal Foster Care Committees and any concerns relating to a child in foster care are managed in line with Children First National Guidance for the Protection and Welfare of Children.
He was responding to questions regarding the budget at RTE studios yesterday, including queries on the new first-time home buyers grant and the childcare package.

Mr Noonan brushed aside comments by the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council about the extra 1.3bn spend. The council says it may breach EU rules.

He said the budget isnt really in breach of EU rules and the EU understands the arithmetic.

Council chairman Prof John McHale warned when the budget proposals are added to earlier spending plans, the total in spending and tax cuts for next year would come to 3bn over and above 2015.

Mr Noonan said the European Union has two rules: one is an expenditure rule; the other is the progress in terms of reducing the structural deficit.

The two rules were compliant in the budget, he told RTEs Sean ORourke.

He also noted the advisory councils mandate was to more or less question the Governments actions.

Under law, it is really the Irish Fiscal Councils responsibility to not support the Government but to give a counter view, to pick out any flaws there might be in our analysis and thats acceptable, theyre doing a good job.

Public Expenditure Minister Paschal Donohoe suggested childcare costs may in fact come down following measures introduced in the budget.

A universal subsidy of up to 900 is being provided by for parents with children aged between six months and three years. Families who are means-tested and have older children may be entitled to larger amounts.

He denied the meas- ures would discriminate against stay-at-home mothers. Instead, state-funded childcare would allow a parent to decide whether to work.

Mr Noonan described how first-time buyers would receive the special grant for new homes after they put down their deposit on a property. He ruled out applying the grant to secondhand homes, arguing it would inflate prices.

He said currently there are no starter homes being built in Dublin.

The minister said the grant was directed at first-time buyers who find it difficult to put a deposit together and he was sure the building industry would respond with the construction of more three-bed family homes.

Mr Noonan also yesterday gave his backing to colleague Mr Donohue to be a future leader of Fine Gael.

Asked if he thought Mr Donohoe could one day succeed Enda Kenny, the finance minister replied his colleague had all the qualities of a future leader.

Elsewhere, Mr Donohoe defended the salary increases for politicians which were agreed as part of pay restoration plans for all public and civil servants.

TDs are in line for a pay rise of 2,700 next year and again in 2018 while welfare benefits including the dole, pensions and carers and disability allowance are only going up by 5, but not before March 1.

Everything is now tied in to how we treat public and civil servants. Theres the issue in relation to ministerial salaries that we will revisit because I dont want to be in a situation where people feel in the future that theres any kind of unfairness going on, he said.
A number of caravan-park owners throughout the country have written to Cork County Council, threatening to take legal action, if it proceeds with plans to formalise the paid-parking facility in Cobh.

They made submissions to the Cobh/Glanmire municipal district body, after it announced plans to introduce bylaws to formalise the control of the designated parking area, at the towns quayside Five Foot Way.

In recent years, it has become a popular stop-off point for motorhome owners from all over Ireland and Europe because of its panoramic views of Cork harbour.

Seizing on the potential for increased tourism, the municipal council recently designated 30 spaces for motorhome and caravan owners, allowing them to flush wastewater into the towns sewerage system and park overnight for 10.

However, the municipal authority has now referred the correspondence to the councils legal department, after councillors expressed fears that the bylaws may need to be re-examined, in the event of a challenge in the courts.

When I saw the submissions [from caravan owners], they put the fear of God into me, said Cllr Claire Cullinane.

The councillor, who is one of the driving forces in attracting tourists to the town, said that caravan-park owners were claiming the council had contravened a number of rules and regulations.

For example, they [caravan-park owners] said we couldnt use a car park, and that it wasnt right that we werent providing shower facilities and electricity. But the motorhome owners using the site say they have those facilities in their vehicles, she said.

However, Cllr Cullinane said there was a need for County Halls legal department to consider the legal challenges and to address these as a matter of urgency.

Cllr Padraig OSullivan said he was not in favour of adopting bylaws only to later discover they were illegal.
Quantity surveyor Garrett OMahony, of Gortnadallagh, Kenmare, Co Kerry, claimed the artist had called him a racist.

Mr Sharkey did not appear in court yesterday, nor was he legally represented.

Karl Sweeney, counsel for Mr OMahony, told the court that the proceedings arose after his client replied to a comment posted on the artists Twitter account about a picture published on the front page of a daily newspaper.

The court heard that Mr OMahony had then received a replying tweet which was outrageous, completely out of context, deeply offensive and highly defamatory, calling him a racist.

Mr OMahony claimed the post was grossly defamatory of him. He had been using his Twitter account for business purposes and had around 1,400 followers at the time.

Mr Sweeney, who appeared with Granville & Co solicitors for Mr OMahony, told Circuit Court president Mr Justice Raymond Groarke that his client was two years ago granted injunctions against Mr Sharkey, directing the artist to remove the alleged comments.

Counsel said the comments were removed a couple of weeks after the court order but had remained publicly visible for a month.

The tweet had been highly detrimental to Mr OMahonys character and credibility, it said.

Mr Sharkey had at the time denied in an email that the Twitter account was his. He had stated that the Twitter account the comment was posted on was a fake.

The Twitter account you mention is not mine and never has been. There are 17 fake accounts on Twitter and Facebook all claiming to be me, however, they are not me. Regards, Kevin Sharkey, the email said.

The court had heard that Mr OMahony, had taken investigative steps to establish that the Twitter account in question belonged to Mr Sharkey.

Yesterday Mr Sweeney said there had been no communication from Mr Sharkey since the proceedings were initiated, apart from the email. Counsel said Mr OMahony had been granted a judgment in default of appearance and yesterdays case was one of assessment of damages only.

Judge Groarke awarded Mr OMahony 5,000 damages along with his legal fees which could cost Mr Sharkey another 10,000.
The Defence Forces have set up their own service called Defend With Pride, which Vice Admiral Mark Mellett said would provide aid, information and guidance for LGBT personnel and allies who wish to support colleagues, friends, and family.

The provision and fostering of a diverse and inclusive workplace environment, reflective of Irish society is our moral duty and, for the Defence Forces, it means better decision-making, better agility, better resilience, the officer said.

The launch was attended by Brian Sheehan, executive director of GLEN (Gay, Lesbian Equality Network) and Catherine Vaughan, from Ernst & Young, who is a diversity champion who spoke on inclusive workplaces.

Vice Adm Mellett signalled his intention to introduce the new support service when he addressed delegates at the annual PDForra conference.

PDForra represents more than 7,000 soldiers, sailors, and aircrews.

The vice admiral told PDForra delegates there was an overarching priority to make the Irish military a force which values all personnel regardless of gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, creed or culture.

Vice Adm Mellett said he wanted the new generation of entrants, and those already in the Defence Forces, to be developed and facilitated to achieve their maximum potential regardless of their orientations.

We need to continue to institutionalise a culture of diversity and inclusiveness wherever we operate. With that in mind, the Defence Forces diversity and inclusion strategy will be published shortly and will set out our strategic objectives in this regard, he said.

He said Defend With Pride would be a further initiative to improve the peer and organisational support mechanisms available to our personnel.

Vice Admiral Mellett said that no one should feel uncomfortable in the workplace.

PDForra assistant general secretary Ger Guinan said his organisation welcomed the Defend With Pride initiative.

It is very welcome especially among the LGBT community in the Defence Forces and PDForra fully supports diversity in the workplace, Mr Guinan said.

He said he was unaware of the total number of LGBT-orientated personnel in the Defence Forces.

Mr Guinan said Defend With Pride was an initiative which was designed to make the Defence Forces more inclusive and it would make it more attractive to recruits.

However, he said the main stumbling block to recruitment and low retention in the Defence Forces poor pay, especially for those entering the Defence Forces who had a starting salary of just over 21,000 a year.

Hundreds are leaving the Defence Forces every year before the age of retirement, many taking up jobs with better pay and conditions in the private sector.

This will also have to be addressed, said Mr Guinan.
At Ennis District Court, Insp Tom Kennedy said that Doolin guesthouse owner, Stephen Gillam, aged 44, told gardai he exposed himself at the drive-through in Ennis for the thrill of it and to see the reaction of the lady.

In the mid-morning incident on June 7, Mr Gillam of Glasha, Doolin, ordered a double sausage meal with extra hash brown, extra sausage, and milk.

He placed his order to a member of staff at the drive-thru and due to the size of the order was asked to park further along the line and wait for his food to be brought out.

Insp Kennedy said when the member of staff went to give Mr Gillam his food at 9.50am, he had the zip of his trousers open and had his penis exposed to her in the car.

Insp Kennedy said the worker was shocked and upset at what she had seen.

Mr Gillam pleaded guilty to engaging in threatening or abusive behaviour under the Public Order Act.

Judge Patrick Durcan described the incident as very bad adding the effect it had on the girl was absolutely shocking. He said that it was an unusual case.

However, Mr Gillam yesterday walked away from court without any criminal sanction after Judge Durcan said he would be strike out the case if Mr Gillam paid 1,500 into the poor box.

Solicitor for Mr Gillam, John Casey, said

Mr Gillam wished to apologise to the girl and wished her no harm whatsoever.

Mr Casey said Mr Gillam was taking part in a fad where people engage in outlandish and bizarre behaviour in order to shock or scare others where they have been punked.

Judge Durcan adjourned the case to November 23 for the payment of the 1,500.
There were fireworks between TDs and the jobs minister, who tried to leave the meeting a number of times.

Social Protection Minister Leo Varadkar firstly gave the parliamentary party a powerpoint presentation on the budget, which was described as sophisticated.

The trouble started when Ms Mitchell OConnor gave hers.

She stood up reading from her phone. It kept crashing, in need of a password.

She spoke about how brilliant her department was. That really annoyed people, one party source said.

Some of the TDs began asking Ms Mitchell OConnor what she was doing for their region.

Sligo-Leitrim TD Tony McLoughlin lashed the minister about job creation in his constituency, contributing three times to the meeting.

Its because of Brexit, the lack of job opportunities too. With all the jobs coming to Dublin, theyre [politicians] feeling more isolated than ever before, added another source.

Mr McLoughlin confirmed there were exchanges.

There should be incentives in the north west for jobs, in my opinion there are a lot of announced in Dublin and along the east coast. We are a border constituency and with Brexit we need to be protected, he said.

Clare TD Joe Carey also took issue with the jobs minister.

Carey and Tony tore strips off her. She got cranky, added the source.

It is understood that Ms Mitchell OConnor at one stage told Mr McLoughlin that she had holidayed in Sligo and it was thriving, to which the TD came back even more angry.

Mr Carey also confronted the jobs minister about how he arrived at her department last week with visitors, and officials were unaware of 240 job losses in Clarecastle, at the Roche Ireland pharmaceutical factory.

Mr Carey confirmed the meeting was tense and he wanted more joined-up thinking between the department of job and the IDA.

It was very frank and to the point. There was a degree of frustration expressed. She made a presentation in relation to the department and there was an opportunity to raise concerns.

Sources present said Ms Mitchell-OConnor tried to leave the meeting three or four times but that the exchange with TDs and senators went on for an hour.

Louth TD Fergus ODowd confirmed there were a number of unhappy TDs which led to strong exchanges and firm opinions given.

The minister at one stage told the room that most of the jobs are going to Limerick, but not all of them.

This was viewed as a dig against Finance Minister Michael Noonan, who recently shot down the jobs ministers suggestion for a special emigrant tax.

A party source added: She lit a camp fire basically and then set the tent on fire.

Mayo senator Michelle Mulherin also voiced concern about the lack of jobs in her county.

Ms Mitchell OConnor was not available for comment last night.
Insp Adrian Gamble said yesterday at Cork District Court gardai were notified of a man on Oliver Plunkett St who was walking along and punching people for no reason.

Sgt Jason Wallace was flagged down by a taxi driver who said: A man is literally hitting people on Oliver Plunkett St for no reason.

Sgt Wallace investigated the complaint and saw a man fitting the description in an altercation with another man. He was highly intoxicated. He was shouting very aggressively at the other man. He then turned on Sgt Wallace who was trying to quell the situation, Insp Gamble said.

At that stage, the accused decided to run. Sgt Wallace followed him and caught up with him after a 300m chase and arrested him.

Insp Gamble said Michael Keogh, aged 30, of Lissard, Burnfort, Mallow, Co Cork, was arrested for his own safety and the safety of others. He pleaded guilty to being drunk and a source of danger and engaging in threatening behaviour.

Defence solicitor Charles OConnor said the man, originally from Limerick, felt humiliated by his actions. He said: On the night he was in Cork he had a considerable amount of alcohol taken.

He has only one previous conviction. He has a great work record. Unfortunately, he was extremely intoxicated on the night.

Judge John King said the only reason the accused was not charged with assault was because no formal complaint had been made by any injured party. Judge King said that whatever humiliation he felt was on the basis of his own actions. Mr OConnor said something had occurred earlier in the night which had annoyed the defendant.

Judge King said: If alcohol does not suit you stay away from it. You are building up convictions.

Judge King fined him 300 for engaging in threatening behaviour and 150 for being drunk and a danger.
It comes as discussions resume in the coming days in a bid to avert strike action by frontline gardai.

The Garda Representative Association (GRA), with 10,500 members, has directed the withdrawal of labour for 24 hours on November 4, 11, 18, and 25, in a dispute over pay. The Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors, representing 2,000 frontline supervisors, will meet next Monday to decide whether or not to take industrial action  including the possibility of doing so on the same dates as the GRA.

Speaking at the Oireachtas justice committee, the commissioner said there were mechanisms in place for staff associations to address their concerns.

I would not, as commissioner of An Garda Siochana, with all of the policing and security challenges that we have, like to see anything happen that would do anything to disrupt the policing service and in any way compromise our protection of the communities, she said.

So we are very focused at the moment on ensuring that people are encouraged on staying engaged in the processes that are there. We will await the outcome of them and see what they bring, but I am confident that they will bring a suitable resolution.

Flanked by 12 members of her senior Garda management team, she also responded to questioning in relation to concerns raised by the head of the Garda Siochana Ombudsman Commission (GSOC) in terms of accessing documentation for their investigations.

Last month, GSOC chair Mary Ellen Ring said she needed legal powers to go to the courts to compel the Garda Commissioner to hand over information.

Responding to this, the commissioner noted GSOC found there was a 93.6% compliance rate in gardai supplying information within the established timeframe.

But she said Deputy Commissioner Donal O Cualain was meeting Ms Ring next week to make sure there are no blockages.

Committee chairman Caoimhghin O Caolain said the committee was seeing an uncooperative pattern regarding the gardai in the committees meetings with GSOC and the Policing Authority. He said this would seem to necessitate legislative change compelling full and timely co-operation.

Ms OSullivan said that anything required by GSOC is given in a timely fashion.

Questioned on gangland crime, Ms OSullivan said since March 2015, when the Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau was established, 1.9m in cash and 36m worth of drugs had been seized. She said 35 guns and 1,000 rounds of ammunition had been recovered and that 167 people had been arrested for drugs, firearms, and money laundering offences.

As previously reported in the Irish Examiner, she said 12 assassination attempts had been foiled.

She said co-operation with international police forces would be built upon and cited the presence here, for the first time, of Spanish police in a joint operation targeting the Kinahan cartel.

She said there would be more of that in the future.

Assistant Commissioner for Dublin Jack Nolan said 45 people had been arrested and eight people charged in relation to the Kinahan-Hutch feud. He expected further charges to be brought as other investigation files were being completed.

He said that under Operation Hybrid  aimed at preventing shootings in the feud  there were approximately 90 checkpoints a day.

Mr Nolan said Hybrid patrols arrived at the scene of shootings in 90 seconds to two minutes. He said they had recovered items and cars and that these will feature in what I suspect will be successful prosecutions.

He said the Special Crime Task Force, set up in response to the feud, was targeting mid-level members of the gangs, involved in drug distribution and laundering the proceeds of crime.

What OSullivan said on key issues

On the mistreatment of whistleblowers:

Commissioner: I am certainly not privy to, nor did I approve or nor would I condone any such action against any individual.

Clare Daly TD: My evidence is that you are.

Commissioner: What I did say is that I am not privy to, nor did I approve, nor would I condone any campaign of harassment or any campaign to malign any individual employee.

Daly: So you are not aware of any circumstances, where such claims would have been made, that hasnt been brought to your attention?

Commissioner: That isnt what Im saying deputy. What I am saying is that I personally was not privy to, nor would I approve, nor would I condone any campaign against any individual.

On complaints:

Perhaps it is time for a consideration to be given to some kind of independent entity where all of these issues go to so that people can have some reassurance that there is somebody independently looking at all of these matters.

On promotions:

Mick Wallace TD asked her about promoting her husband and bridesmaid:
Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald said she will consider establishing the powerful group after it was suggested by Garda Commissioner Noirin OSullivan.

Speaking at an Oireachtas justice committee hearing into controversial claims that Garda management had orchestrated a campaign against whistleblower Sergeant Maurice McCabe and others, Ms OSullivan again insisted she is not privy to, nor would I approve, nor would I condone any such actions.

The commissioner rejected claims gardai are keeping surveillance files on whistleblowers and stressed all complaints are treated with the utmost seriousness within the force.

However, she said a new external group tasked with examining whistleblower complaints may need to be set up to restore faith in the gardai.

Perhaps it is time for a consideration to be given to some kind of independent entity where all of these issues go to so that people can have some reassurance that there is somebody independently looking at all of these matters and that we make sure the internal structures are there to strengthen and support individual needs, Ms OSullivan told the committee.

The proposal was supported by the justice minister, who told reporters at the launch of sexual abuse survivors group One in Fours annual report that she would consider the move if it is recommended by retired High Court judge Iarfhlaith ONeill in five weeks time.

Mr ONeill is examining serious, but as yet unproven, allegations made by former Garda press officer David Taylor that there was a campaign to vilify Sgt McCabe, known as Operation Oisin, which was orchestrated by senior officers.

If another independent body is necessary in order to do that I would certainly consider it. If it requires another independent layer its certainly something Id consider, Ms Fitzgerald said.

Government sources stressed no action will be taken until Mr ONeill completes his work and that the remarks should not influence his conclusions.

Garda sources have confirmed the new group being proposed by Ms OSullivan would be separate to the existing Garda Siochana Ombudsman Commission, which has the power to investigate whistleblower claims, and would not be linked to either the internal protected disclosure procedures or the Policing Authority.

However, it remains unclear how exactly such a body would operate, what level of powers it would be given, and how many staff it would require to function.

The suggestion of a new whistleblower group came as Ms OSullivan denied any knowledge of a campaign against gardai who speak out, telling Independents 4Change TDs Clare Daly and Mick Wallace that she is not in the business of messing with anybodys lives or families.

Meanwhile, the Irish Examiner understands that GSOC is still waiting to receive documents first requested from the gardai over two years ago in relation to a complaint made by Garda Keith Harrison.

Ms OSullivan told TDs the force co-operates fully with GSOC and has a record of supplying documents on time in 94% of cases.
Researchers from Trinity College Dublin are investigating whether the drug can help people who recover from severe depression to remain well.

Around 200,000 people in Ireland suffer from depression every year and about 6,000 require hospital admission.

Depression tends to return over time, even after it is diagnosed and treated successfully.

Up to 60% of people will become unwell again within the first six months of recovering from an episode of depression.

People with recurrent depression can experience five to nine episodes in their lifetime.

Research professor of psychiatry Declan McLoughlin and his team at St Patricks Mental Health Services are running two linked trials.

Ketamine has been shown to provide almost immediate relief from symptoms of depression but has not been tested for preventing depression relapse.

The Keep-Well Trial and the Kindred Trial, funded by the Health Research Board and the Medical Charities Research, will be completed at the end of next year.

The research team is looking for healthy volunteers to complete mood and memory assessments to maintain the scientific quality of the studies.

We aim to see whether it is possible to harness that powerful antidepressant action of ketamine to prevent future depressive episodes in people who have recently recovered from depression.

This has never been done before, said Prof McLoughlin.
Carl Hogarty (40) of Drumcondra Road Lower, Dublin 9 was pronounced dead on August 13 2015. Dublin Fire Brigade responded to the call within minutes but could not gain access to the flat complex despite ringing all 16 doorbells.

Speaking after the inquest, the mans father Carl Hogarty Snr said he could not understand how his sons call was not followed up.

Im at a loss as to why his case was not followed up on the night, Mr Hogarty said.

Dublin Coroners Court heard that Mr Hogarty called for an ambulance at 9.44pm on August 10 2015 complaining of breathing difficulties. He told the control room, I feel I am going to die.

A Dublin Fire Brigade ambulance arrived at the address at 9.52pm. The paramedics did not know the flat number so they rang all 16 doorbells but got no reply. A minute later the paramedics reported to control staff that they could not gain access.

Three minutes later they were told control staff had made contact with Mr Hogarty and he was coming downstairs. At 10.03pm the paramedics reported there was no sign of the patient.

In the meantime, a passer-by with a serious head injury approached seeking assistance. Control room staff made two further attempts to contact Mr Hogarty by phone, at 10.05pm and 10.06pm, both calls went unanswered. A minute later, the paramedics contacted control staff to confirm they were taking the passer-by to hospital.

Paramedic Tom Clare said paramedics were in an impossible situation.

We had the option to break down the door and then break down another 16 doors, Mr Clare said. He said his concern for the caller was lessened as the man had answered his phone and told control staff he would come downstairs.

In this situation you have to make a judgement call. You cant just go into someones house and break the door down, Mr Clare said.

The court heard that Dublin Fire Brigade experience a 999 call every 90 seconds during the day and a high percentage of calls are malicious.

Two days later, Carl Hogartys mother tried to call him three times and became concerned when she got no reply. She contacted the mans father who called to the address the following day.

Mr Hogarty was found dead on the floor inside the door of his flat. There was a syringe nearby. He was pronounced dead at 12.15pm on August 13. The cause of death was multi-drug overdose and a toxicology report found evidence of heroin use.

Returning a verdict of misadventure, Coroner Dr Myra Cullinane said she would write to the emergency services asking if 999 callers reporting serious complaints can be asked if there is anyone, either with them or close by, that can assist them.
A witness also told the jury he saw a knife in Mr Creightons hand that day.

Dale Creighton died on January 2, 2014, about two days after an incident at a bridge over the Tallaght bypass between Saint Dominics Rd and Greenhills Rd.

Jason Beresford, aged 23, with an address at Coill Diarmuida, Ard a Laoi, Castledermot, Co Kildare, went on trial with six others on Tuesday. The woman and six men, in their 20s and from Tallaght, pleaded not guilty to murder when arraigned before the Central Criminal Court last week. Each also pleaded not guilty to violent disorder at the footbridge that New Years Day.

However, when the jury arrived to court yesterday morning, Micheal OHiggins, defending Mr Beresford, asked that his client be re-arraigned on the second count against him. Mr Beresford pleaded guilty to violent disorder on January 1, 2014.

Also charged with both offences are Aisling Burke, aged 23, and David Burke, aged 28, both of Beechpark, Collinstown, Co Westmeath; Graham Palmer, aged 26, Park Avenue, Portarlington, Co Laois; Ross Callery, aged 23, Gortlum Cottages, Brittas, Co Dublin; James Reid, aged 26, Glen Aoibhinn, Gorey, Co Wexford; and Gerard Stevens, aged 27, Grosvenor Square, Rathmines, Dublin.

The jury also heard from a witness who said he saw Mr Creighton with a knife on the footbridge that morning.

Carl OLeary said he was on his way to get a taxi in Tallaght village after 3am, when he heard a commotion.

I vaguely remember someone running past me, he recalled. I just remember someone saying: Grab him. He robbed our phone, he said. I recall seeing James Reid and Ross Callery.

He said there were others, but didnt know who they were.

Mr OLeary said he, himself, began running down the Tallaght bypass and towards the footbridge.

I remember seeing Mr Creighton on the bridge. I didnt know him at the time, he said.

Under cross examination by Brendan Grehan, defending Ms Burke, he agreed that he had put two and two together when he saw the person running and heard the shout about the phone.

Mr Grehan then read from his statement to gardai.

I seen he had a big kitchen knife, probably in his right hand. I said to myself: Fuck, Im not risking getting stabbed for nobodys phone, he had said. I stopped.

He said in court that he hadnt seen the knife when he backed away from the man, but had done so because he had run at him.

He confirmed to Ciaran OLoughlin, defending James Reid, that he had later seen Dale Creighton with a knife, but said he hadnt seen his client take the knife from him.

The trial continues.
Molly Martens, aged 33, who is charged with the second-degree murder and manslaughter of Limerick native Jason Corbett, had the subpoena seeking the records granted to her last week. The court also ordered the victims cardiologist to release Mr Corbetts medical records to the defence solicitors.

Mr Corbett, 39, was found dead in the early hours of August 2, 2015, in the home he shared with his wife Ms Martens in Panther Creek, Wallburg, North Carolina.

Ms Martens father, Thomas Martens, 66, has also been charged with second-degree murder and manslaughter.

Mr Corbetts two children from a previous marriage were seen by a specialist paediatrician in the days following his death.

Now Dr Evelyn Amy Suttle of Dragonfly House, North Carolina, has been instructed to produce all medical records, reports, notes, forms, or other documents generated relating to the medical examinations of Jack and Sarah Corbett during their time at the childrens advocacy centre.

Court documents released last week have revealed the Superior Court of Davidson County in North Carolina last week ruled Ms Martens right to a fair trial outweighs any confidentiality statutes or other confidential protections shielding the requested documents from production and the interests of justice require the materials be produced.

Last June attorneys acting for Ms Martens had sought a court order preventing the use of a statement given by Jack Corbett as evidence. They claimed the statement, given in Limerick where the Corbett children now live with their aunt, was given under coercive circumstances without any of the safeguards to ensure trustworthiness or reliability.

In that motion to exclude the statement, Ms Martens attorney claimed that while at the Dragonfly Centre the Corbett children said their father would physically and verbally abuse Ms Martens.

Sarah reported that: Her dad started fights with her mom for ridiculous reasons; he would hurt her mom... she saw her dad step on her moms foot, pull her moms hair, roll over her moms foot with the car, hit her mom in the face, the documents filed by Ms Martens attorney read.

Jack reported that: His dad would physically and verbally abuse his mom; he would punch, hit and push her... he would scream, get mad and cuss more, he was getting angrier; his mom would try to get him to stop but his dad was strong, the documents claimed.

Last week Ms Martens legal team were also successful in obtaining an order directing the Wake Forest Baptist Medical Centre to release all medical treatment records from the Cardiology Department and Dr Joseph Yeboah for Mr Corbett for the five years preceding his death.

In its motion for subpoena, Ms Martens attorney said they believe the records may contain information that will be favourable for her defence case.
Insp Adrian Gamble told Judge John King the Director of Public Prosecutions had opted to have the cases against both men dealt with summarily at Cork District Court.

Judge King said he would also accept jurisdiction to deal with the cases that were prosecuted under the Employment Permits Act and the Illegal Immigrants (Trafficking) Act.

Leonard Hyde, aged 62, of Four Winds, Weavers Point, Crosshaven, Co Cork, and Pat OMahony, aged 51, of 69 Elton Wood, Kinsale, Co Cork, each faced the same two charges.

The first charge states that on October 5, 2015, at Hugh Coveney Pier, Crosshaven, Co Cork, he did employ a named non-national in the state other than in accordance with an employment permit issued by the minister for enterprise, trade and employment, contrary to sections of the Employment Permits Act 2003.

The second charge states that on March 23, 2015, you did knowingly facilitate the entry into the state of a person whom you knew or had reasonable cause to believe was an illegal immigrant or a person who intended to seek asylum contrary to section 2 of the Illegal Immigrants (Trafficking) Act 2000.

Solicitor David Browne represented both men and applied to have the case adjourned to allow time for a copy of the prosecution statements to be sent to him.

Judge King acceded that application and adjourned the cases until November 9 at Cork District Court.

On that occasion it will be a matter for the two accused to indicate if they want to plead guilty or not guilty to the charges. If they choose to contest the cases they are likely to be further adjourned for hearing.

Thursdays @irishexaminer and @ExaminerSport front page | bit.ly/1MQpcOq
Karl Brennan, aged 36, who has a heart condition, appeared to be in distress after the sentence was imposed by Judge Melanie Greally at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court and an ambulance was called.

Brennan, described by his family as a caring and responsible father, told gardai he had acted as a drug courier to make money for Christmas. He was caught after gardai mounted a surveillance operation on his movements.
The Sinn Fein finance spokesman said Mr Noonan, 73, was pushing on in years during a televised budget debate on Tuesday night.

Yesterday, Age Action criticised the remarks made by Mr Doherty, and said that age should not have been part of the conversation.

The two politicians took part in an RTE Prime Time panel which became heated when Mr Noonan suggested that Sinn Fein constantly oppose the Government.

But Mr Doherty said his party has voted in support of the Government in the Dail on many occasions, adding you should know that Michael.

I know youre pushing on in years but youre still smart up there, Mr Doherty said.

Mr Noonan responded: I dont think that we should make age an issue.

If you dont make age an issue I wont refer to your inexperience and immaturity.

Mr Doherty yesterday admitted that his comments had been ill-judged but said they had been meant as a compliment.

Speaking on Corks 96FM Mr Doherty said: I think it was a very clumsy mistake by myself.

It was an attempt actually to compliment Michael Noonan because despite what Michael might say on TV, I would say he has respect for me as I have respect for him.

Michael Noonan

The point I was trying to make was that he was suggesting that Sinn Fein never vote for the Government and that was nonsense.

However, Mr Doherty said there was no animosity after the broadcast despite his clumsy and foolish comments.

We shook hands afterwards and we said no offence caused. I think it was in the heat of the debate and it was very very clumsy, Mr Doherty told host PJ Coogan.

An Age Action spokesperson yesterday said: Age should not come into it. People should simply be judged on their ability.

If were going to build an age-friendly society in Ireland, that needs to be led from the top.
Speaking at leaders questions, Mr Kenny was responding to questions from opposition TDs who were seeking clarification amid criticisms that the new measures excluded stay-at-home mothers.

Mr Kenny appeared to suggest that those relations who are registered with Tusla will be able to claim the benefit.

The Taoiseach also said he will meet the family of Shane OFarrell, whose 2011 death is the subject of much controversy.

Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams raised the case of Mr OFarrell in the Dail and revealed he had previously handed the Taoiseach a file on behalf of the OFarrell family.

Shane OFarrell, a 23-year-old law graduate from Trinity College Dublin, died on August 2, 2011, after being knocked off his bike by a car outside Carrickmacross in Co Monaghan.

The driver of the vehicle, Lithuanian man Zigimantas Gridzuiska, was allowed to walk free on the condition that he leave Ireland.

Gridziuska had multiple prior convictions for aggravated burglary, road traffic offences, and handling stolen property in his native country before moving to the Carrickmacross area.

In January 2011, after he appealed a 12-month sentence for theft, Monaghan Circuit Court released Gridziuska on bail for a year, but he made several court appearances in subsequent months for offences in that county, as well as Cavan and Louth.

Gridziuska was handed an eight-month suspended sentence for dangerous driving causing death in February 2013, on the basis he leave the country within 21 days.

This condition was never met, Shanes mother Lucia said, because Gridziuska was charged a month later with related insurance fraud.

Shanes mother has claimed gardai had spent five months preparing a file on the same fraud as part of an investigation into Shanes death, but that it was only submitted to the DPP a day after the dangerous driving trial.

She and other members of the family were present in the Dail to hear the exchange.

Mr Kenny said this was a sad and unfortunate situation for the OFarrell family and that he was willing to meet the family as soon as it can be arranged.

He also committed to disclosing his views of Shanes case in the wake of the meeting.

The Garda Siochana Ombudsman Commission has investigated allegations made by the OFarrell family.

Also at leaders questions, Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin criticised the lack of Brexit contingency measures in the Budget, describing them what the Government announced as tokenism.
His stance comes as the minority government faces a backlash for unfair and mean increases to young unemployed people.

Mr Varadkar, who has already taken a hard-line approach in relation to the long-term unemployed, now wants to increase the penalties for people who do not return to work or up-skill.

Currently those on the 188 rate of job seekers can have their payment cut to 144 a week if they do not enter into an employment support scheme, work experience, or training.

But yesterday, Mr Varadkar said he would be considering a larger penalty.

I am certainly going to consider deepening those penalty rates for people who do not take up employment, education training, CE schemes all the things that are on offer to them.

Its something I am going to consider in the context of the Social Welfare Bill.

Leo Varadkar

We are incentivising employers to take people off the live register, and if they dont take those jobs, we will be cutting their benefits, Mr Varadkar told Newstalks Pat Kenny programme.

Increases in social welfare payments were announced as part of Budget 2017, however, younger people will receive less.

While adults over the age of 26 on jobseekers allowance will see their weekly benefit increase by 5 increase, those between 18-24 will only get 2.70 extra each week bringing their benefit up to 102.70.

Those aged 25 will get 3.80 more in their personal rate, meaning they will receive 127.80.

Fianna Fail social protection spokesman Willie ODea yesterday described the increases as a mean gesture, and said he was not aware of the disparity ahead of budget day. I think that was a rather mean gesture and I think the amount of money involved is tiny really. I dont understand the logic, quite frankly.

Describing the measures as pretty mean, Mr ODea told RTEs News at One programme that Fianna Fail will be working to have that reversed in the context of the Social Welfare Bill.

However, speaking to the Irish Examiner last night, Mr ODea conceded that Mr Varadkar probably has his mind made up on the payments.

I am going to raise it with the minister, but I am not going to pull down the House on it, he said.
It has an existing income stream of 857,500 pa, asset management scope to boost rents to over 1m, and a further, considerable office development site.

The property mix on 10.5 acres has strong tenants, Abtran and RCI, in the current buildings, totalling 97,500sq ft, with a weighted average unexpired lease term (WAULT) of over 6.8 years, and theres a vacant unit of 11,200sq ft.

Full planning has been granted to double the scale of office accommodation to 200,000sq ft, on the site at Bessboro Road, off the Skehard Road. Its close to Mahons existing office parks, where an office accommodation tally is now heading towards a remarkable one million square feet of offices, in completed and planned developments.

Theres between 2,500 and 3,000 office jobs already now in Mahon, in the space of less than a decade of new development post-Mahon Point.

Now, as Mahons office development continues to grow, and as employers warn of the shortage of living accommodation for new foreign direct investment employees in the city and suburbs, another developer, John Cleary of JCD in the past week indicated his hope to get zoning changes for his City Gate Plaza site for 280,000 sq ft of offices, with construction due on site this year. Its now been referred to a special City Council planning sub-committee.

Mr Cleary seeks alterations to the City Development Plan to permit two apartment blocks for 220 apartments to replace an office element at that former Ma/Com site.

The location is akin to the mix of offices, retail and residential evident in Dublins Sandyford/Beacon Quarter and Central Park Leopardstown, John Cleary told the Irish Examiner this week (see separate JCD story p19).

Also on the residential front in Mahon, McCarthy Development last month were allowed an extension of planning for their 430-unit Jacobs Island development, where about 350 houses, duplexes and apartments have already been delivered.

JCD and Cork City Council, among other stakeholders, are currently looking at proposals to ease some of the Mahons peak-time traffic congestion.

Meanwhile, selling agents for Blackrock Business Park are Margaret Kelleher and David McCarthy of Lisney, Cork selling for whom they say is a private Cork investor via private treaty.

They guide at 11.2m and describe it as a prime office investment property, with long-term secure income from two existing tenants and further development potential.

The existing single-storey office building is in three main divisions: Abtran (whove had Irish Water among their clients) occupy 65,800 sq ft on a lease with 13 years to expiry, and another call centre RCI (Ireland) Ltd has 20,500 sq ft guaranteed by Wyndham Holdings, with 10 years left to run.

Estimated rental value if fully occupied would be 1.05m pa. Income equates to a net initial yield of 7% , rising to 8.75% when a tenant is secured for the vacant 11,200sq ft.

Theres 700 car parking spaces on the c 10-acres site.

The guide price equates to 115 psf for the built stock.

DETAILS: Lisney 021-4275079
ON FACEBOOK and Twitter, on the phone and on the job, from living rooms to hair salons, Donald Trumps Grab em by the pussy comment has unleashed a tsunami of stories from women sharing painful memories of sexual assaults.

Many of these women were grabbed by the genitals  exactly as Trump described doing  by men who fled or melted into a crowd. Some women were molested as children on a playground or school bus. Others were groped on a train or dance floor. Theyve told of attacks getting out of taxis, harassment in the workplace, and rapes on college campuses. Many shared their experiences for the first time in the days since the video of Trumps comments aired, while others have been exorcising their demons for a long time on blogs or in therapy.

Whatever the forum, whatever their experience, one thing is for sure: A presidential candidates boastful description of manhandling womens bodies has become a national conversation about sexual assault.

Thousands of women have stood up to say, publicly and firsthand, This happened to me.

Jennifer McGraw, 35, of Cleveland, wrote a blog post last Sunday about being molested as a child called My Disposable Body that began with these words: It all started with a grab of the pussy.

McGraw, who is also a rape survivor, said social media conversations about sex assaults have blown up because Trumps comments about groping made speaking out more urgent than ever.

This is somebody who could be our president, she said. I cant not talk about it at this point. Theres too much at stake. I feel strong enough at this point in my life to share my story and share my truth. Thats the only way people will heal.

From presidential candidate Gary Harts sexual relationship with Donna Rice in the 1980s and Bill Clintons affairs a decade later to Anthony Weiners more recent sexting scandal, the sex lives of politicians have been in headlines. But never before has a US candidate for president made comments boasting of sexually accosting women, characterised by Trump as locker room talk.

When asked by CNNs Anderson Cooper during Sundays debate if hed sexually assaulted women, Trump said he had not.

The national conversation about sexual assault is a powerful thing, said Delilah Rumburg, CEO of the National Sexual Violence Resource Center in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

We saw this in the last year with campus sexual assaults when many young women started coming forward and speaking their truths. This is a way for them to feel like they have some power back when they can tell those stories, to hold not only those who commit these crimes accountable but the systems as well. I know those survivors voices can do much more than I ever could as an advocate.

A survey by the US Center for Disease Control found 44% of US women have experienced sexual violence victimisation other than rape at some point in their lives, and nearly one in five has been raped.

Edith Bluhm, 48, of Nashville, Tennessee, says her friends Facebook threads have been filled with harrowing stories of everything from date-rape to child molestation.

I have had the experience of going into a crowd and someone has their hand inside my shirt, she said. Or youre on a dance floor and some guy is grinding against you. Or Im on a train and felt a hand up my skirt. Its not just about rape. Theres all these things that women have endured, these violations of our bodies, that Trump says you can get away with.

Somehow its dismissed because its fleeting, Bluhm added. Its a hand and then its gone. ...If I say, angrily, Some guy over there was just rubbing up against me, you might say, Oh gross, and move on. But later why do I feel like I want to crawl out of my skin? ...Its completely wrong.

Alicia McCauley, 30, blogged about her experiences with sexual assault, from being grabbed between the legs as a child to being raped. Just recently, a New York City cab driver pinned and groped her as she got out of his taxi. She filed a complaint against him and discovered four other women had filed similar reports against the same driver.

Hearing Trump say you can do anything you want, you can grab them by the pussy  I hate using the word triggering but it felt very reminiscent of all the traumas I have experienced, she said. McCauley said she told relatives that if they voted for Trump, I would see it as personal, saying its OK to do these things to women. They are agreeing with rape culture and agreeing with male entitlement.

McCauley said the stories have always been there but theyre pouring out now because the outrage over Trumps comments has created a space where people are finally agreeing with assault survivors.

Kimberly McDermott, 42, of Alexandria, Virginia, shared stories on Facebook and Twitter of being groped at a concert and sexually harassed by teachers and a boss. I had no idea other friends had gone through so many similar experiences and had also been too embarrassed to speak up, McDermott said. That was the case in almost every instance, and these were smart, outspoken women. We cannot go back to this behaviour.

Trumps comments also prompted Alexa McGriff, 28, to post about her experiences as a rape victim and how triggering Trumps comments are.

I think about the person who raped me when I was in college, she said. I can just picture him saying similar things.

Her attacker was an athlete, which gave him celebrity status on campus that McGriff compared to Trumps. He could do whatever he wanted and get away with it, she said.

At the same time, McGriff noted that Trumps comments have ironically provided a platform that empowers women to stand up and speak out.

Writer Kelly Oxford unleashed thousands of sex assault stories from women by asking women to tweet her their assaults: They arent just stats. Ill go first: Old man on city bus grabs my pussy and smiles at me, Im 12. Many responses were posted with the hashtag #NotOkay.

Among those who tweeted stories back to Oxford were friends of Spring Weaver, 33. I felt really sad for my friends who were being triggered by the statements of a presidential candidate, said Weaver, who also recounted sitting in a hair salon in Chicago on Saturday where the sole topic of conversation among every stylist and customer was Trumps comments.

Then, Sunday night, watching the debate, Weaver said, I found myself crying, tearing up. I was just so upset that there were no repercussions for him.
AT THE Oireachtas justice committee hearing, the Garda commissioner hid in plain sight.

Noirin OSullivan gave assured answers to a number of questions but revealed precious little.

She cited a whole slew of procedures and structures that had nothing to do with flesh and blood questions asked. And she even got away with claiming that she could not discuss interactions she had with her legal counsel, which is simply not the case.

As such, the commissioner performed competently before the Oireachtas members, but did absolutely nothing to quell doubts about whether any confidence can be vested in the running of the force in general, and the treatment of whistleblowers in particular.

Independent TD Clare Daly asked the commissioner a number of questions that related to Keith Harrison, a Donegal-based garda who made a protected disclosure two years ago, and has since claimed he has been subjected to some appalling treatment. The commissioner said she could not discuss individual cases, but Daly did not identify Harrison, nor did she ask the commissioner to do so.

Keith Harrison

The TD merely wanted to know how the commissioner could be unaware of allegations of constant harassment of Harrison when the officers solicitor had written to OSullivan 14 times in the last two years.

Each individual experience is so different that what we believe is an expert can help us improve our internal structures, she replied to Daly at one point.

That was typical of the management speak engaged by the commissioner when she was asked about harassment and bullying of anybody willing to stick their head above the parapet within the force.

Harrisons letters, seen by the Irish Examiner and dating from June 2014, refer to the constant bullying to which he was subjected. Some of it was routine stuff, more could be presented or interpreted as blatant harassment.

For instance, Harrison was contacted by a sergeant in August 2015 and told of a threat of sorts against him on a Facebook page. Harrisons solicitor demanded to know what was at issue, as Facebook pages were readily available and there either was or wasnt a threat.

It took until the following March before the solicitor was supplied with a screenshot of the page. Why write to Harrison about a threat of sorts without investigating it? Why the delay in getting back? Was anybody playing mind games?

Another threat that was conveyed to him from the force was that a man who had been known to have access to a gun had told another hed kill Harrison. This man, Harrison was informed, was unfortunately in Australia and beyond the long arm of the law.

Except a few months later, a report in the local press had this man appearing in court in Buncrana on unrelated and relatively minor charges. Was sheer incompetence at work, paranoia, or something more sinister?

On May 20, Harrisons solicitor Trevor Collins wrote a scathing letter about what his client had been subjected to over the previous two years.

There has been an extraordinary effort to smear and undermine the credibility of our client by his employer, your servants and agents. He has been isolated and abandoned we ask that you formally reply to our numerous letters that have gone unanswered.

He went on to point out our client has been the subject of unsubstantiated death threats on three occasions.

Why were people threatening to kill Harrison? Why were these threats somehow being conveyed to him through An Garda Siochana? Is this not a matter of the gravest seriousness? Apparently not, according to the lack of urgency from on high.

Watching the commissioner yesterday, it would appear that she believes the treatment of Harrison is the story from one individual, a unique experience. No its not.

The same theme if not detail runs through the story of all those who step forward, including Maurice McCabe, and Harrisons colleague in the midlands, Nick Keogh.

The same themes of treatment even apply to Supt David Taylor since he was suspended from the force and before he even made a protected disclosure.

Yesterday, OSullivan hid behind the notion that she couldnt identify an officer whod made a protected disclosure even though hes known to the world.

Back in 2013, Maurice McCabes allegations of abuse of the penalty points system was investigated by Assistant Commissioner John OMahoney, who didnt even contact McCabe during the investigation.

He later said he couldnt because McCabes identity was officially anonymous, even though the same officer had been denied access to Pulse because of his complaints of the abuse. If McCabe had been contacted, a very different report on the issue would have to have been compiled.

Its the same stuff every time. What is said in public bears no relation to the actuality of what is going on inside the force.

The thread was picked up by Independent TD Mick Wallace in relation to the OHiggins commission, where Ms OSullivans counsel was instructed to go after McCabe by questioning his motives.

Asked about that yesterday, Noirin OSullivan said she was precluded from discussing interactions with her legal counsel.

No shes not. Theres nothing to stop her telling us why she instructed her counsel in that manner.

Theres nothing to stop her telling us a lot about the corrosive culture within the force that is damaging not just public confidence, but the morale of so many members who want to do their best.

Cultural change is never easy, the job of leadership is to make sure that decisions are taken, decisions actionedWe are on a journey of cultural renewal, change and modernisation, OSullivan told Wallace.

It sure sounds the business until you take a peek behind the circled wagons and detect an ancient and foul smell.
News Activists Say Urban Insecurity Hampers Womens Capacity

Attendees at the Safe Cities Campaign event. / Zue Zue / The Irrawaddy

RANGOON  Womens rights activists have called on the government to consider the needs of women in its delivery of public services while also increasing its budget for women, and enacting and enforcing laws and policies to protect and promote their rights.

Action Aid Myanmar, in cooperation with local partner organizations, launched a safe cities campaign at its office in Rangoon on Tuesday, saying that women are experiencing urban insecurity, particularly in Rangoon.

Their definition of urban insecurity for women goes beyond physical violence or sexual harassment, but also considers their accessibility to health care, education, job opportunities and public utilities like electricity and transportation in urban areas.

Urban womens insecurity not only affects their lives, but also impacts their families, said Daw May Sabai Phyu, director of the Gender Equality Network, at the launching ceremony.

In some cases, women have to reject job opportunities that come to them just because they dont want to go back home late at night. Expanding safe and secure services within their reach will solve this problem, she said.

Rangoon Division Chief Minister U Phyo Min Thein, who was also present on the occasion, said: We need to make sure there is greater security for women in Rangoon. We have to try to make Rangoon a safe town for women, and we would try to accumulate as much budget as possible for this. We will also consider womens issues in budget management.

Adriano Campolina, CEO of Action Aid International, said, We need policy changes. Stronger policies and laws are needed, and security needs to be strengthened in places in which there is frequent [sexual] violence. We need police departments that will hold perpetrators accountable.

The safe cities campaign is first of its kind in Burma.

Translated from Burmese by Thet Ko Ko
News Security Tightened on Border with Southern Arakan State

Gaw Yin Gyi Island, off the coast of Irrawaddy Division. / Salai Thant Zin / The Irrawaddy

Security has been scaled up in Nga Yoke Kaung, a coastal sub-township in Irrawaddy Division that borders the southern tip of Arakan State, after attacks by assailants of unverified origin on border police posts in northern Arakan State on Sunday, followed by a ongoing manhunt.

Two light infantry battalions under the Burma Armys South-Western Command, a naval detachment and units of the police are jointly securing the area, according to locals, who said they have never seen such a large military presence in the area.

Fully-armed soldiers from Southwestern Command arrived at Gaw Yin Gyi Island near our village this morning [Wednesday], and are stationed there. So is a naval ship nearby, a community elder of Nanthapu Village told The Irrawaddy on condition of anonymity.

Well-armed soldiers also arrived in four military trucks to provide security in and around Nga Yoke Kaung, said U Zaw Win, a local resident.

I think it is because of the concern that the terror in Arakan State may spread [south] to here. Fishermen are not even going out to sea because of the situation, he told The Irrawaddy.

Nga Yoke Kaung is on the westernmost tip of Irrawaddy Division, on the Bay of Bengal. The adjacent stretch of sea has been a route used by human traffickers, taking migrants from Bangladesh and northern Arakan State bound for Malaysia and elsewhere in the region. On May 29 2015, an abandoned boat holding 733 trafficked migrants was found off the coastline there.

Irrawaddy Division police chief Col Htun Min has instructed all the police stations in Nga Yoke Kaung sub-township to be on full alert, for regional security, a police officer in Nga Yoke Kaung told The Irrawaddy on condition of anonymity.
News UNFC to Meet Govt in Naypyidaw on Saturday

UNFC members meet in Chiang Mai, Thailand on Thursday. / Kyaw Kha / The Irrawaddy

CHIANG MAI, Thailand  The ethnic armed alliance the United Nationalities Federal Council (UNFC) will meet with government peace negotiators in Naypyidaw on Saturday, where demands for a cessation of Burma Army hostilities will be discussed.

Saturday will mark the one-year anniversary of the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA), which member groups of the UNFC did not sign.

The UNFC held a meeting at its headquarters of Chiang Mai in northern Thailand on Thursday, in preparation for the Naypyidaw meeting.

Nai Hong Sar, vice chair of UNFC, said their delegates would reiterate our eight demands, which include for a comprehensive ceasefire to be announced by the Burmese government, and for international monitoring of a ceasefire.

UNFC delegates raised these demands in an earlier meeting with State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi in Rangoon in July.

Nai Hong Sar told The Irrawaddy that the Naypyidaw meeting was intended to build understanding.

Describing the need for international observers to monitor any ceasefire agreement, he mentioned how clashes had even erupted between the Burma Army and an NCA signatory, the Restoration Council of Shan State, earlier this month. He also cited recent Burma Army offensives in Karen State, an area supposedly covered by the NCA.

Despite the staging of the 21st Century Panglong peace conference in late August and early September, Burma Army offensiveswith air strikes and artillery shellinghave stepped up in recent weeks against the Kachin Independence Army, a member organization of the UNFC.

Although UNFC members attended the peace conference, they did not take part in the political dialogue framework review session that followed in September.

The governments National Reconciliation and Peace Center in Rangoon will host the next session for reviewing the frameworkwhich will set the shape and terms for political dialogue over a federal restructuring of the stateon Tuesday of next week. A UNFC delegation is expected to join this time.
Features Can Rangoons Traffic Woes be Solved?

Rangoon gridlock, seen on Tuesday. / Myo Min Soe / The Irrawaddy

RANGOON  Dr. Maung Aung has the ambition to ease a shared source of suffering for Rangoon residents since 2011traffic congestionby the end of the year, implementing a series of changes from a computerized traffic control system to a drastically streamlined bus network.

Dr. Maung Aung is the secretary of the Yangon Region Transport Authority (YRTA), formed by the new government installed in April to modernize the transport sector in Burmas rapidly growing commercial capital of 5.2 million people, which has boomed since the launch of political and economic reforms in 2011.

The YRTA is headed by Rangoon Divisions Chief Minister U Phyo Min Thein, and includes other government ministers alongside technical experts.

Dr. Maung Aung, who is also a senior economist, is not new to Rangoons transport scene. He chairs the Yangon Bus Public Company, which in February this year launched Burmas first Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system in partnership with the government, now operating on a limited number of lines in central Rangoon.

Against an existing bus network notorious for poor maintenance standards and a weak adherence to traffic rules, the publicly lauded BRT system offers sleek new buses equipped with air conditioning that are less prone to crowding and generally cost passengers only slightly more than other bus lines.

The YRTA secretary said that, through an improved bus network and a new computerized traffic control system, he expected they could ease current traffic congestion by 40 percent.

Too Many Cars on the Road

For the new government, traffic sits alongside a roster of other Rangoon problems: power blackouts, inadequate drainage, a shortage of affordable housing and a related growth in squatter settlements.

Rangoon Chief Minister U Phyo Min Thein vowed soon after assuming office in April to alleviate the traffic situation for millions of frustrated commuters.

The former government made similar pledges, butbesides the introduction of the BRT system in Februarylargely focused its efforts on the construction of seven flyover bridges at the cost of 130 billion kyats (more than US$100 million).

The flyovers were criticized for being ineffectivesimply displacing congestion from major junctions to other stretches of roadand for offering poor value for money. The new Rangoon Division parliament in April cancelled the previous administrations plans to build two new flyovers in Rangoon.

After the government lifted car import restrictions in Oct. 2011, the number of vehicles plying Rangoons previously sleepy streets rocketed year-on-yearfrom 214,000 in Aug. 2011 to more than 500,000 by Oct. 2015, according to figures from the Rangoon Division governmentprompting concerns that Rangoon may follow the way of Bangkok, Jakarta and Manila, cities notorious for their unwieldy traffic.

Before 2011, traffic standstills were rare, only taking place in the cases of accidents or malfunctioning traffic lights. The city center could be reached from the rural fringes in less than an hour at any time of day.

But those days are gone.

U Yan Aung Min, a member of the Rangoon Division parliament representing Shwepyithar Township in the northwest of Rangoon, said he leaves his house every morning at 6 a.m., taking about two hours to reach parliamenta journey that took 45 minutes back in 2010.

Bad Parking and Overlapping Buses

Beyond burgeoning car ownership, the failure to enforce traffic rules and an inefficient bus network are other factors behind the gridlock.

An estimated 2.6 million people rely on buses for their daily travel to and from work in Rangoon, making up 70 percent of all the citys commuters.

Meanwhile, trains on the citys antiquated Circle Line ferry around 100,000 daily, according to 2014 data. Despite upgrades in recent years, including air-conditioned carriages, it offers travel to only a limited number of destinations, burdening bus lines with most commuter journeys.

Ko Myat Min Thu, a member of the Rangoon Division parliament representing Hlaing Tharyar Township on the citys northwestern outskirts, claimed he spends five hours a day on buses.

Daw Sandar Min, another lawmaker in the Rangoon parliament, blamed worsening traffic jams on a lack of proper parking places and ill-disciplined parking practices, with cars parked two or three abreast on some roads, clogging the passage of vehicles. She also cited some 60,000 taxis now plying the streets, another phenomenon of recent years.

There is also the heavy fragmentation of Rangoons bus network, in which vehicles are operated by hundreds of small private companies, competing to cram passengers onto old Japanese Hino Motors buses, among other outdated models, with no air conditioning and uncomfortable seating.

According to the Yangon Division Motor Vehicles Supervisory Committee, popularly known by the Burmese-language acronym Ma Hta Tha, over 7,800 buses are registered in Rangoon, of which between 4,500 and 4,800 run on any given day.

Buses owned by individuals and small companies are rented out to teams of drivers and conductors, whose income purely depends on the number of passengers. This induces them to race dangerously with other buses to compete for passengers, overload vehicles, and make unscheduled stopsincluding stops of several minutes till a desired number of passengers alight.

U Hla Aung, chairman of Ma Hta Tha, said half of around 200 complaints received per month on average relate to conductors overcharging passengers. Other complaints included dangerous driving and buses arbitrarily changing their routes.

According to Rangoon Divisions No.2 Traffic Unit, 953 road accidents over the first four months of 2016 killed 233 people and injured 1,293. Of the accidents, 484 were attributed to reckless driving.

Since last year, traffic police have been accepting reports of traffic violations via the Viber smartphone app, but inadequate staffing and the absence of a comprehensive monitoring system have prevented action being taken in most cases.

Traffic Light and Bus Reform

YRTA secretary Dr. Maung Aung said that construction of a computerized traffic light system for the city, with a centralized command center, would be completed next month, three months behind schedule.

Once up and running, he said that swift action could be taken against those breaking traffic rules, thanks to a comprehensive surveillance system. Traffic light signals could also be modulated based on the relative number of vehicles passing through different parts of the city.

Besides traffic lights, the YRTA is upgrading and streamlining the bus network, alongside upgrades to the Circle train line. It is also considering the introduction of new water taxis on Rangoons rivers.

If we have better public transport services [] private vehicle owners will use it and traffic congestion will improve, Dr. Maung Aung said.

Under the YRTAs plans, the bus lines currently owned by individuals and small companies will be merged into a handful of public companies, which can be more easily regulated and coordinated.

Buses under the new system will ensure the safety and comfort of commuters, Dr. Maung Aung said.

Similar to the current BRT system, new buses will use a standardized pre-purchase ticketing system, conductors will be abolished, drivers will be paid set monthly salaries, and older vehicles will be banned from key routes. Buses operating in the outer neighborhoods will not be allowed to travel to the city center; shuttle buses will connect them with the central bus network.

Dr. Maung Aung said the YRTA would work to alleviate any negative short-term impact on drivers, and would provide them with training in the coming months.

He also suggested that the government would meet 50 percent of the funds required to establish the new bus companies. So far, applications to form 21 such companies have been received.

Dr. Maung Aung said attempts to improve the transport system under the previous government largely failed due to weak collaboration between ministries. He said that the YRTA enjoys stronger support from than current government than the previous government gave to its own initiatives. The YRTA has the additional advantage of only having to work with one ministry.

We have strong political will now. With the new elected civilian government, we will try to satisfy the publics longing for better public transport, he said.
Burma Once Off-Limits, Moscos Islands Are a Dream Destination

A remote archipelago in the Andaman Sea is now taking tourists, and its pristine waters are unlike any other place in Burma.

I had one purpose in mind when I headed to Dawei for holiday: to reach the unspoiled islands of the Andaman Sea. I first became aware of the Moscos Islands, which were long restricted for tourists, through some accounts in local journals claiming that the isolated spot was now taking visitors. I remember seeing photos of clear blue seas and pristine sand banksand thinking that I had to rush there before it was gone or developed beyond recognition.

Though the archipelago is remote, its not difficult to access. My friends and I booked a trip through a new agency, Tavoy Travel & Tour, which made arrangements for our overnight stay in a secluded island bay. With Dawei as our starting point, we boarded a small boat from San Hlen fishing village at around 7am to make our way further out to sea.

The village itself was a draw. Its a small town where fishermen dock with their catch and trade with distributors who ship seafood to Burmas cities. There was a dizzying array of small, dried fish, found in shallow waters near the shore. The salty seafood is a local staple, used in salads, curries and beer snacks.

Once we peeled ourselves from the docks, we headed out by boat for the Launglon Bok Islands in the southern part of the Moscos archipelago. Launglon Bok comprises two islesthe 6 kilometer-long Aek Bok and the 10 kilometer Auk Bok. The area was previously restricted because of a Burma Navy base nearby, though the land remains under the Dawei District administration. Foreign travelers visiting Daweis Maungmagan beach couldnt be kept away for long, however, and eventually began hiring fishing boats to take them out to the distant paradise.

It takes about 90 minutes to travel from San Hlen to the southern Moscos, a stunning ride through crystal-clear water. Our group was lucky to spot a pod of dolphins playfully whirling around our boat before we docked at the bay of Thae Balot, which means soft sand. As we approached the bay, the white sand gleaming in the sun, we looked down to see colorful coral lining the seabed.

The islands were still, for the most part, clean and beautiful, though my friends and I were disappointed to find a few pieces of broken beer bottles, plastic bits and used batteries along the shore. It seemed like such a shame that my companions and I began picking up whatever trash we came across to keep the bank natural.

We rested for a while on wooden chairs beneath makeshift bamboo huts, thatched with palm rooftops to shield us from the sun. A dog trotted up to sit by us, and we later learned his name was Shote Maeblack noseand that his owners were a local couple who turned out to be very helpful to travelers.

The wife, Aunty San, cooked a Burmese buffet for our lunch. At 2,000 kyats per person, it was a steal; drumstick vegetable curry, fried fish, shark salad and fried squid. Fish paste and cabbage on the side, all you can eat. The lunch was a bit debilitating, but after a quick rest we were ready to get back on the open water and explore the reefs.

The water suddenly appeared very deep, and I could see urchins lining the reef. Being unable to swim, I was scared to death, but the underwater scenery was so beautiful that I couldnt peel my eyes away, dipping my face into the sea with goggles. Never in my life had I seen such a beautiful bed of coral, old and young, of all sizes, and so many varieties of fish passing through. When I looked up, I could see the fullness of the bay, a bright blue bowl with mountains on either side. We were told that during the rainy season there are waterfalls streaming straight off the hills and into the sea.

Heading back just before sunset, we all felt there was too little time to enjoy the water, but it would soon be too dark to discover any more dazzling sea life. Once ashore we sat down to a few bottles of wine, some apples and oranges while Aunty San prepared dinner. She instructed the men to fetch a few bamboo poles so we could build a campfire, around which we spent the evening drinking wine and talking.

There is nothing like breathing in the fresh air, sitting silently on the sand and listening to the sounds of the sea while staring out into a vast darkness. It felt like a world disconnected, away from pollution, away from distractions.

Aunty San, who is 48 years old, said she suffered from hypertension before moving out to the island about six years ago. She lost weight, too, she said. She did look healthy and fit, and the claim that her new lifestyle was so good for her wellbeing had us all silently plotting a way to stay on this island forever.
Thursday, October 13th, 2016 (10:39 am) - Score 837

Telecoms giant BT and Japanese electronics firm Toshiba have today teamed-up to demonstrate the future of secure data communication via quantum cryptography, which works by delivering secret keys over fibre optic cables via the smallest possible packets of light.

The ability to harness the smallest elements of matter and energy for commercial cryptography purposes is something that has long been proposed, although only recently have humans had the engineering skill, knowledge and technology to start harnessing its potential benefits.

Admittedly theres still a long way to go, but one highly desired benefit could be the ability to create a theoretically unbreakable method of secure communications via quantum cryptography. Not only would this be incredibly secure, but you could also detect eavesdroppers on a line because any attempt to monitor the data being transferred will disturb the photons sending the keys.

On that front the two companies have opened a new showcase of their related work to develop quantum communications at BTs R&D centre in Ipswich. The idea is that this could initially be used to make bank / financial transfers, government communications and or other information exchanges much more secure than they are today.

Professor Tim Whitley, BTs Head of Research, said: Weve been conducting research into quantum cryptography for several years now so this is a great step forward in demonstrating how our research can benefit businesses. Businesses and organisations today face a tide of ever increasing and highly sophisticated attacks from cyber criminals so ensuring the secure transfer of critical data is more important than ever. Were confident that quantum cryptography will play an increasingly important role in helping companies guarantee that their secure communications remain water-tight in the future.

Dr. Shiro Saito, Toshibas GM of the Technology, said: Toshiba is already applying quantum cryptography to secure transmission of genome data in Japan, since protecting personal medical information is one of the promising application fields. Showing our secure communication system in BTs customer showcase will enable us to demonstrate how quantum technology can enhance a wider range of businesses. We look forward to working with BT over the coming months to gather useful feedback and address the security requirements and concerns of BT customers.

Apparently BT and Toshibas system uses quantum cryptography to form digital crypto keys between the two points, which can be used to encrypt and authenticate each piece of confidential data flowing between two sites. The quantum signals used to form the secret keys can also be sent along the same fibre optic cable as the bank data, which cuts the infrastructure costs.

BT claims that both companies have already achieved success in using quantum cryptography on lit installed fibre carrying 10Gbps data signals for the first time. More recently they found quantum key distribution and 100Gbps data can be combined on the same fibre.

On top of that both companies are working to build a Quantum Communication network (the UK Quantum Network) as part of the 270m Quantum Technology Programme. This aims to facilitate secure quantum communications between Cambridge, Bristol, London and Adastral Park. A link connecting BTs Labs at Adastral Park and the Cambridge Science Park is expected to be completed during early 2017.
Thursday, October 13th, 2016 (7:58 am) - Score 2,854

Sky has today published their latest quarterly trading update, which is very vague and sadly includes no new information on the size of their Sky Broadband base. On the upside we finally get a progress update on the imminent launch of their new O2 (MVNO) based Sky Mobile service.

Generally the third quarter appears to have been a subdued one for Sky, except for the seemingly endless sparring match with Ofcom and BT over the future of Openreach. Otherwise Sky launched a new no-contract NOW TV, broadband and phone Combo bundle (here), claimed to have almost completed the roll-out of IPv6 (here) and replaced their up to 76Mbps Fibre Pro (FTTC) package with a cheaper Fibre Max option (here).

The only major negative for the quarter was when they ended up being affected by Yahoo!s massive personal data breach, which occurred because Skys email platform is based on the same companys technology and database (here).

However after a year of silence Sky has finally started talking about their forthcoming Sky Mobile product, which is expected to launch towards the end of 2016 and could be used to fuel a new range of triple or quad-play bundles with broadband, phone and / or TV services.

Skys update states that the upcoming launch of Sky Mobile has been a key focus during the period and theyve been busy completing the final readiness milestones, such as successfully completing our first live calls, SMS and data sessions, provisioning our own SIMs, and concluding international roaming agreements.

Jeremy Darroch, Skys Group CEO, said: Looking ahead, the forthcoming launch of our mobile proposition will add another major product offering to our UK line up and will give our customers the opportunity to take even more from a brand known for great customer service and quality products.

Perhaps one of the reasons why Sky might not have been keen to publish more detail on their subscriber figures is because they werent very good and thus needed to be swept under the carpet. The results announcement noted that they added a total of just 35,000 new customers in the UK & Ireland during the quarter to 30th September, which is across all of TV, broadband and phone.

By comparison Sky added about +24,000 new broadband customers for the UK & Ireland in the previous quarter ALONE and before that they added +46,000, which suggests a downward trend. Mind you a lot of other ISPs have also seen a slowdown, although the third calendar quarter is usually a better one.

On the financial front Sky UK and Ireland saw quarterly revenue of 2,104m. Sadly theres no information at all on churn, ARPU or profits.
For owners of the Galaxy Note 7, refunding their money is not the hardest thing to do - finding the best handset to replace their handset is. At the moment, Google Pixel XL stands as the best alternative for the Samsung Galaxy Note 7. The only question is this: is the Pixel XL really the best Note 7 alternative?

In A Nutshell: Pixel XL Is Like A Lite Version Of The Galaxy Note 7

For users who wish to consider the near perfect specs of the Galaxy Note 7, there is no better contender than the Google Pixel XL. One of the strongest points of the Pixel XL compared to the Note 7 is that it is made by Google that means that it will be the first to receive Google updates in just about everything. This is not the first time that Google made their own phone. But, this is the first time that the company made a handset that is at par with Apple's premium hardware quality and even better internals to compete with smartphone giant, Samsung.

In terms of power, performance, processor and memory, the Google Pixel XL is almost similar with the Galaxy Note 7. Google made their Pixel phones with the thought of denting the market for Apple but they shared the market with Samsung instead. Google has the biggest possibility of reigning in Android market now that the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 is already out of the picture. So why exactly is Pixel the best smartphone alternative to the Note 7?

Better Processor And Performance

When the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 was launched, the handset carries the powerful Snapdragon 820, a quad-core chip from Qualcomm with two Kryo cores clocked at 2.15GHz and an Adreno 530 GPU. As expected, the Note 7 got an impressive high score in GFX bench tests and AnTuTu 6 benchmark.

But Google Pixel XL is equipped with the Snapdragon 821, the latest chipset from Qualcomm with similar Kryo cores as the Note 7 and the same clock speeds as well. The Pixel XL and Note 7 share the same powerful Andreno 530 GPU, too. Qualcomm declares that the 821 Snapdragon chipset has a 10 percent better capability than the 820 Snapdragon which makes the Pixel XL the winner for this round.

'Best Smartphone Camera'

The Google Pixel XL's camera packs an impressive 12.3 megapixels and large sensors on the rear. The front camera captures sharp images as well thanks to its 8-megapixel sonsor. Google seemed to focus on making the camera of their new flagship and the effort paid off after it DxOmark gave the Pixel XL's camera a score of 89 and dubbed it the "best smartphone camera"

Not only is the Pixel's camera best at capturing sharp and accurate images, capturing moving subjects are not a problem, too. Google made the Pixel's camera capable of capturing videos with 4K quality and can shoot at speeds of 30 frames per second.

In comparison, the Galaxy Note 7 packs a great camera at 12 megapixels and is capable of dual video call and auto HDR. Still, not as impressive as the snappers found on the Pixel XL.

Crisp Display

The Galaxy Note 7 is made of Super AMOLED display measured at 5.7 inches. The Pixel is a little smaller at 5.5 inches display using QHD AMOLED. Both displays offer vibrant graphics and better contrast for images. The Pixel XL also used Corning Gorilla Glass 4 which is a grade lower than the Note 7's Corning Gorilla Glass 5.

What The Pixel XL Lacks

Of course, the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 would not be the 'king' of Android smartphones for nothing. Replacing it with a Pixel XL, even if it happens to be Google's latest flagship, seems to be a downgrade with all of the Note 7's awesome hardware. The Pixel XL is not water-resistant so consumers have to keep it away from the bathroom or the pool. It does not have a curved screen so notifications are not as flashy, but this can be a minor detail for some. There is no such thing as a "Google Pen" to replace the Note 7's S Pen. Making screen drawings on the Pixel XL is not just on the works. The Pixel XL is also sans heart rate scanner and the very cool iris scanner. Most of all, the Pixel do not have the technology to allow wireless charging that the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 had.

What the Note 7 Does Not Have But The Pixel XL Does

As a Google phone, the Pixel XL would be the very first Android phone to have a built-in Google Assistant. This would be a pretty cool feature for consumers who frequently use Google services like Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Maps and even the upcoming Google Home. Obviously, Pixel XL beats the Note 7 when it comes to powerful cameras. Besides, Google will ensure that Pixel XL users will get the first Android updates before anyone else with an Android smartphone will. For now, the Google Pixel XL is the only Android phone that will work with Daydream VR headset - a cool feature that can make users' smartphone experience even better.
Fans are eagerly waiting for the release of Prison Break Season 5, although they are saddened at the same time with the news that it only has nine episodes. However, fans should hold back their tears because Wentworth Miller believe that this could be extended .

Digital Spy stated that Miller in an interview said that:

"The reboot is nine new episodes airing in spring 2017, and then depending on how it's received, and who's available, there could be another conversation about another bite of the apple.

Miller, as stated in International Business Times, believed that fans should expect greatly in the upcoming season. He confirmed that the 5th season would have a seven-year gap with its Season 4 Finale.

"I can tell you it's seven years later, and you can expect a lot more of the same things that you loved first time around. And it will also be quite different as the characters have changed, so my character in particular is no longer just a hero - he's a few other things as well. I think the fans will get a kick out of it,"

Miller also gave assurance that the team producing the show will give out their best to not disappoint its supporters and fans. He added by saying:

"I felt responsible - we all felt responsible in that if we're going to do this, do it right. We wanted to add to what already exists, which is what a lot of people love and appreciate. We don't want to add something what's not in equal value and let anyone down. So we worked really hard,"

The source also reiterated that the actor gave out details as to the whereabout of Michael during the seven years

"[Michael] ended up working for this organization. It got to the point where he couldn't do it anymore, and they threw him in a jail in Yemen to change his mind," he explained. "He didn't change his mind, they set him up... Honestly, the fans are going to be blown away by this. It's really a riveting, high-tension thriller. It's an extraordinary, extraordinary show."

The Prison Break is expected to premiere on 2017, giving so much hope that fans will never be disappointed on the results of their 7-year drought awaiting Prison Break's comeback.

Here's a glimpse of what could happen in its fifth season:


Our idols are just humans just like us. They experience stress and fatigue like everybody else. Last October 11, one of EXO's member collapsed and was rushed to the hospital, his name is Lay.

The KPop band was about to board its flight on October 11 when the incident happened. EXO's member Lay, suddenly collapsed at the Incheon airport and was immediately rushed to the hospital. EXO was suppose to travel to Japan for a concert performance.

Lay was still unconscious when the medical team and ambulance arrived. EXO members and fans were shocked and visibly shaken with what happened with Lay. Due to this event, EXO members decided not to push through their flight in order to comfort their band mate. The KPop sensation however, flew out on a later flight.

There are a lot of fans that witnessed what happened to Lay and it went on viral when one of EXO's army posted the current situation of the EXO member. Legion of fans were both stunned and worried with the news and as expected, many have posted get-well-soon comments to make Lay's recovery much faster. They urge Lay to take care of his health and not to work too hard to the point of exhaustion.

An official statement was finally released by SM saying that EXO's Lay passed out due to sleep deprivation."Lay temporarily fainted due to lack of sleep. Thankfully, the doctor said all he needs is a good rest. Lay will be heading to the dorm to rest." SM then followed up with their statement stating that Lay still wants to join his band in Japan to do the concert. However, the decision will be made depending on the condition of Lay.

Lay just turned 25 last October 7, 2016; and on the same day, he released his new song "What U Need" for his solo album. As of the moment, his video has over 2.6 million views. Please see the video below of one of the most popular artists in Korea:
The Solar System as the Earth's neighborhood still holds many surprises. Astronomers have discovered one of these surprises when a new dwarf planet was spotted. The new dwarf planet it joins the ranks of Pluto as one of the smallest planets in the Solar System.

Scientists from the University of Michigan have found the dwarf planet. Physicist David Gerdes credits the discovery to a group of students who has a project to find a new object in space. The objects found would be included in a galaxy map that is to be created.

The dwarf planet is named 2014 UZ224, according to Phys Org. It is a small object at only 330 miles across. Its distance from the Earth is 14 billion kilometers and it takes 1,140 years to orbit the Sun. The dwarf planet would roughly be in the region of the Kuiper Belt.

The team of students that discovered the dwarf planet used the Dark Energy Camera to spot the planet. The Dark Energy Camera was developed with the help of Gerdes, as NPR reports. Along with the Dark Energy Camera, the students also made software that would be able to track the dwarf planet's movement.

"We often just have a single observation of the thing, on one night," Gerdes explained. The dwarf planet would then be observed two weeks later, and so on. He said connecting the dots to track its movement is an issue, and the software developed served that purpose of tracking how the dwarf planet moved.

The new dwarf planet would join Sedna, Eris and Makemake as dwarf planets of the solar system, though it isn't certain if it would be considered as a dwarf planet for so long because of its size.

The next challenge would be to find Planet Nine, an elusive planet that's said to be 10 times larger than the Earth and could very well be beyond the Kuiper Belt. So far it has not been found but there are astronomers who believe that it is out there. Images taken for the galaxy map project might turn up Planet Nine, Gerdes said.

Planet Nine might also affect our solar system if it does exist, as earlier reported in iTech Post.
General Motors (GM) has previously ratified a new labor contract last month. Now, the Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) is set to ratify its own on Oct. 16. The two automakers have both pledged to upgrade their Canadian plants. Ontario Economic Minister Brad Duguid has expressed willingness to provide assistance.

Saving Ontario's Auto Sector

The Automative News Canada has recently talked to Duguid over the phone. He admitted that they were at risk of potentially losing GM's Oshawa plant and FCA's Brampton plant. In fact, there are still other plants that need to be saved.

However, the Economic Minister was excited to share that such contract with GM is really beneficial. He revealed that the possible upgrade of the Oshawa plant will prevent their auto sector's demise.

Duguid did not specify how much financial support they are willing to contribute. But he reiterated that the Ontario government is ready to help.

He pointed out that governments usually pay most, if not all, of the capital costs of assembly plants. They are also committed to giving such incentives.

FCA And General Motors Deals

FCA has promised to spend $325 million. It will be used to upgrade the aging paint shop at its Brampton plant. It is where the Chrysler 300 and Dodge Charger are being built.

The Automative News further reports that will not only spend $554 million for its Oshawa and St. Catherine's plants. They will bring the assembly of the Chevy Silverado to Oshawa. Some engine work will be also be done again in St. Catherine's.

A GM spokesman has cleared that discussions with the provincial and federal governments are still ongoing.

According to The Star, Unifor members have voted in favor of the said new four-year contract with GM. Among the benefits for them includes a wage increase and signing bonuses. 700 temporary workers will also become permanent.

Next Target For Another Deal Is With Ford

Duguid disclosed that their next target is the Ford Motor Co. They will be working on that after the contract with FCA is ratified. He has said that they strongly want to see investments made with Ford.
The Toyota Motor Corp. is recalling its 340,000 hybrid Prius cars worldwide. Toyota has recently released a statement addressing the said decision. They reveal that those vehicles have a defect in its parking brake.

Toyota's Prius Worldwide Recall

Toyota revealed that there are 92,000 affected cars in the US. These are the 2016 and 2017 Prius models manufactured from Aug. 2015 to Oct. 2016. They were all assembled at Toyota's Tsutsumi plant in Japan.

According to Digital Trends, 212,000 Prius cars in Japan and 17,000 in Europe also have to be recalled.

Toyota has admitted that the defective parking brake will compromise the driver's safety. Such flaws will increase the risk of the car to roll away. Thus, this might lead to a potentially fatal car crash.

All owners of the said vehicles will receive notification from Toyota. It will be sending out first class mail starting in November. Further information about the recall can be accessed to Toyota's website.

Toyota car owners can also check their vehicle's status. They only need their Vehicle Identification Number.

How Will Toyota Fix The Parking Brake Defect?

The famous automaker will fix the said defect for free. Their dealers will install clips on the top of the parking brake cable dust boots. The new addition will prevent the cable to become inoperative.

According to The New York Times, Toyota has already acknowledged receiving reports of crashes, injuries, and deaths. Though it has not provided more details about the said reports.

Toyota's Partnership Talks With Suzuki

Despite this news, Toyota has previously announced that it is in talks with Suzuki. The possible partnership will be especially beneficial to Suzuki.

Digital Trends reports that it will gain access to Toyota's massive research, development and production capabilities. On the other hand, Toyota will learn from Suzuki in building smaller and less expensive cars.
After Samsung stopped the sales of their flagship Galaxy Note 7, is it possible for the South Korean smartphones brand to release a Galaxy Note 8 to regain the trust of the customers?

The Burning Batteries of Galaxy 7

The Galaxy Note 7 is dead. It's been hard to avoid the unceasing flow of news since the replacement units began catching fire despite Samsung's promises that they were using battery cells from different suppliers.

According to market analysts, the Note 7 could cost Samsung a total of US$2.75 billion in lost working profit over the current year and next year. The estimated loss includes failed transactions, wasted sales and other things or process that may cost. A Bloomberg report highlighted initial submissions to regulators in Asia, "The initial conclusions indicated an error in production that put pressure on plates within the battery cells. That, in turn, brought negative and positive poles into contact, triggering excessive heat that caused the battery to explode." A Consumer Product Safety Commission investigation said it more bluntly: the batteries were too big for the phone.

Will there be Samsung Galaxy Note 8?

The big loss might challenge Samsung for years ahead and it might hurt much more than the lost operating profit. The Galaxy Note 7 was supposed to be the company's flagship phone. Even if it wasn't the most popular smartphone coming from the South Korean company, the recall raises some trust issues.

According to BGR, Samsung is preparing two Galaxy S8 versions for late February, including a regular model and a phablet version. A Galaxy S8 Plus complete with S Pen support could always replace the Galaxy Note series, of course. More shaky rumors have also suggested that Samsung is working on a third type of flagship smartphone that would have a bendable screen.

However, KAIST College of Business professor Lee Byung-tae said, "Samsung should first accurately find out what led to the explosions and honestly disclose them to consumers. If the design was the problem, a thorough investigation should be carried out before launching the Galaxy S8."
The International Space Station has long been used by NASA and other government space agencies. As the corporate sector has recently begun to see space as its next target for endeavor, NASA is opening up the International Space Station for corporate use.

According to The Register, NASA will allow private companies to build on the International Space Station. Modules have been made by NASA as well as other agencies coming from Russia, Japan and other countries. With private companies joining in, corporate initiatives could start including space exploration.

Companies have expressed their interest in using the International Space Station. Some of these companies include Bigelow Aerospace, Axiom Space and Ixion, as the Room reported. The use of the space station would be an initial step towards the corporate sector being involved in space exploration, including a planned mission to Mars.

NASA administrator Charles Bolden hopes that with private companies joining in to use the International Space Station, it would become a lively and vibrant community. He also sees this as a way to test the economic viability of future space stations.

The International Space Station has been in use for 17 years now. It would reach end of life status in the next decade. There are plans to build future space stations, especially with NASA's NextSTEP initiative. This initiative has NASA and other private companies such as Boeing and Lockheed Martin develop deep space habitants in over two years.

The corporate sector has begun to have interest in space exploration, with Elon Musk and his company, SpaceX, undertaking initiatives to send satellites into orbit, with the ultimate goal of sending men to Mars. The United Launch Alliance is also looking to send people to Mars and is locked in a heated race with SpaceX for the same goal.

As the corporate sector becomes more involved, space would definitely become man's next frontier. Not only is the private sector going to be involved, but the U.N. is planning to spend its first ever space mission in 2021 as well.
It has been just speculation before, but now it's confirmed: Microsoft is going to host a big event in the Big Apple by the end of October, where they are expected to be introducing a new product, the Surface All-In-One PC. Rumors have been spreading that Microsoft's newest hardware is said to have been inspired by Apple's iMac.

Microsoft sends off its invitations for its big event

Interestingly, somehow, the term "Surface" doesn't even appear on the invitation, which is requesting reporters to be at a New York event on Oct. 26. Instead, the invitation states that Microsoft is inviting reporters to "see what's next for Windows 10," which gives light to some kind of update towards the company's software initiatives. Also on the invitation, the slogan, "Imagine what you'll do."

Surface will be the replacement for Lumia

Just thinking of having a new Surface is already meaningful enough. But a more important question is this: What will be the future of Microsoft hardware? With the increasing decline of Microsoft's Lumia series, Microsoft is now down to only two hardware lines: the Surface tablets and Hub, as well as the Xbox lineup. We can expect that neither of these lines is going away anytime soon.

What we can expect

The fact that Microsoft's next 'Redstone' OS update isn't out until January of next year, makes waiting for Windows 10's desktop OS not all that exciting enough. It does seem reasonable, that Microsoft is giving hints of its upcoming features, as well as theirs plans for Windows 10's future.

A part of their statement also includes Windows 10's being "the last Windows," so will Microsoft is placing their scheduled releases on a timetable? Will the support for Windows 10 eventually run out? Microsoft has recently improved its support structure for the enterprise. All things said we will soon find out.
Come November, the United States will have a new President. November is also election month for Tesla and Solar City.

Shareholders of Tesla Motors and SolarCity Corp. will decide by November 17 if the two companies will undergo a merger or not. The combined worth of the two companies is estimated to be around $2.6 billion.

Tesla Motors, Inc., a company that manufactures electric cars and also dwells in energy storage, was founded July 2003 by a group that included Elon Musk. Musk now serves as its chairman and CEO while fellow founder JB Straubel is the CTO.

SolarCity Corp or SCTY.O was founded in 2006 by Lyndon and Peter Rive and now employs around 13,000 people. It provides clean energy services particularly solar power systems all over the United States. Musk, a cousin of the Rive brothers (their mothers are twin sisters), was the one who pitched the idea of starting a business related to solar power. Lyndon is the CEO while Peter serves as the CTO of SolarCity's. Musk currently serves as the company's chairman.

The brainchild of Musk, the merger has so far garnered mixed views from the shareholders and investors. Equity analysts are also on the fence whether the move will be good for both organizations. Four shareholders filed lawsuits to block the merger citing a breach of fiduciary duties by Tesla's board of directors. In the lawsuits, the plaintiffs argued that because Musk and other Tesla big names have shares in both companies, the executives are damaging the relationship between trustees and beneficiaries.

Under the merger, shareholders of SolarCity will automatically receive 0.11 shares of Tesla. This was already divulged when the companies filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The proposed merger was announced back in June. Tesla announced in a blog post that the company is anticipating the merger and already has plans lined up for them.
The Microsoft Surface Phone has been one of the most widely awaited phones to hit sales this year. But with zero statements yet from the company about its upcoming release, as well as its probable features, people are starting to ask if the Surface Phone WILL be released this 2016. But despite Microsoft's silence, rumors and speculations have still kept it on hype.

"Panos"

Traditionally, most manufacturers give codenames for their products. This goes especially to tech companies. With that, Microsoft has been reportedly codenaming their Surface Phones as "Panos".

This codename has been swirling all over the internet rumors and leaks regarding the Microsoft Surface Phone ever since the previous year, which is why people find it safe to assume the codename does refer to the coming smartphone.

Release Date

Many have speculated the release of the Surface phones ever since last year. It has been rumored that the new devices are going to be the replacement for the Lumia lineup, and will officially bee released during Microsoft's big event this October 26. But with the lack of official statements from Microsoft themselves, the possibility becomes thinner and thinner as the days go by.

Specifications

According to reports, the Microsoft Surface Phone will be coming in three variants: consumer, enthusiast, and business models. Reports also say that the main difference that separates the three variants could be their processors and screen sizes. And of course, prices also vary from each variant.

The display sizes would range from 5.5 to 6 inches. Various rumors also coincide that the resolution would be at minimum Quad HD. Rumors are also telling that the Surface Phones would have a 3GB, 6GB, and a mind-blowing 8GB worth of RAM, depending on the model. Internal Storage will also be at a whopping minimum of 64GB.

The processor of the Surface Phones is expected to be Intel's Kaby Lake chipsets. This could also be the prime reason why for the delay, as many are believing that Microsoft is still waiting for the processor's upcoming release.
After all the misfortunes Samsung has gone through, the company is under a great amount of pressure for its next flagship release. The Samsung Galaxy S8 is only roughly four months away from launch. With that, the device could definitely be Samsung's saving grace. Recent reports suggest that the Galaxy S8 is leaving a lot of old traditions from the past and is pretty much headed to embrace major changes. Clearly, Samsung might be making the Galaxy S8 the best Samsung phone ever to help remove the memory of the Note 7.

Samsung Galaxy S8 News

According to a report from Tech Radar, the Samsung Galaxy S8 could be coming in two variants. One of which will be 5.1 inch in size and the other will be 5.5 inch in size. It's almost like the past models. However, rumor has it that the next generation Galaxy S devices will both sport a curved screen.

This could trigger mixed reactions from the market but Samsung might have actually decided that flat screens are a thing of the past. With that, the Galaxy S8 might come in two Edge versions with the lower sized variant to use a QHD resolution. The bigger variant is expected to come with 4K support.

Samsung Galaxy S8 Specs

As per recent reports, the S8 phones could be using AMOLED display. Their cameras will also be getting major improvements. It was said that the more premium variant of the device could come with a dual-lens camera.

Additionally, Samsung might also make use of the Viv AI assistant for the Galaxy S8. It's worth noting that Samsung has recently bought Viv, CNBC reported. The said AI company was founded by the creators of Siri which strongly suggests that the S8 will have a Siri-like AI tool. As for the Galaxy S8's processor, Samsung might be using next year's best CPUs which will be the Snapdragon 830 and Exynos 8895.
Yahoo recently disabled its automatic email forwarding feature, which allows users to redirect incoming emails sent from their Yahoo email address to another account. This makes users harder to move on from one mail to another.

The company has faced lots of bad news regarding its email service in past few weeks. According to International Business Times, last September, Yahoo announced that hackers stole personal information from a half a billion user accounts back in 2014 and that it took the company two years to discover the breach. Since the data breach, several users have announced they would be leaving Yahoo because of all of the negative news that's been going around.

Email forwarding has been one of the basic concepts for every email provider out there," Brian McIntosh, who owns a small technology business and first alerted The Associated Press to the issue, told the publication. "All of a sudden it's under development, and only at Yahoo," he said.

Yahoo! Says

When the company was asked about its choice to shut down its automatic email forwarding, the spokesperson declined to talk and pointed the AP to a Help Site post explain what's going on with the automated email forwarding feature.

This feature is under development. While we work to improve it, we've temporarily disabled the ability to turn on Mail Forwarding for new forwarding addresses. If you've already enabled the Automatic Mail Forwarding in the past, your email will continue to forward to the address you previously configured.

An update from the company has been spoken by one of the representatives.

We're working to get auto-forward back up and running as soon as possible because we know how useful it can be to our users. The feature was temporary disabled as part of previously planned maintenance to improve its functionality between a user's various accounts. Users can expect an update to the auto-forward functionality soon. In the meantime, we continue to support multiple account management.

What are your other options?

As of now, Yahoo Mail users may want to skip the email forwarding process and go straight to deleting their Yahoo Mail account. You may want to start creating an account to other email providers such as Gmail, outlook, Zoho and much more.

Remember that when choosing an email provider, you have to consider many things such as its features, speed, compatibility, security, productivity, etc. As long as you can use it based on your needs -- for personal, company, businesses or for social media accounts, it will be ideal if you are comfortable with it.
A tool that allows law enforcement to check up on protesters and activists has incurred the ire of citizens. Geofeedia is accused of selling information to the authorities.

The analytics start-up firm uses data from popular social media networks such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter to place a certain location under surveillance. The location-based analytics platform can also access data feeds from nine other social media platforms. Through this tool, users can search for all social media posts and other content in a specified area.

This was first reported by the American Civil Liberties Union or ACLU. The group mentioned that Geofeedia lets the police "sneak in through a side door" to get a better feel of protests and mobilizations. The number and intensity of protests have increased in recent years due to the alleged racism among the police line. A number of African-Americans have lost their lives because of what is believed to be racial profiling and overreaction from the authorities. ACLU claims to have proof that the police used Geofeedia to monitor the protests in Oakland and Baltimore.

Activists are up in arms regarding this new app that is being utilized by the police to determine the possible actions and thoughts of protesters gathered in a specific area. They say that the tool violates their civil rights particularly their privacy and individual rights.

Facebook and Twitter, who reiterated that they were unaware of the actions of Geofeedia, have made strides to counter the start-up. A spokesperson from Facebook signified that they have already terminated Geofeedia's access to their data as well as Instagram's and Topic Feed's APIs. The start-up's commercial access to Twitter data feeds have also been suspended as announced in a tweet by the company's public policy team.
Blackberry announced this morning that going forward, they plan to end all internal hardware development and will outsource that function to partners. The company's strategy will now focus entirely on software development, which means applications, like BBM, and security.

Statement from Blackberry

"Our new Mobility Solutions strategy is showing signs of momentum, including our first major device software licensing agreement with a telecom joint venture in Indonesia. Under this strategy, we are focusing on software development, including security and applications. The company plans to end all internal hardware development and will outsource that function to partners. This allows us to reduce capital requirements and enhance return on invested capital," said BlackBerry CEO John Chen.

"We are reaching an inflection point with our strategy. Our financial foundation is strong, and our pivot to software is taking hold," Chen continued. "In Q2, we more than doubled our software revenue year over year and delivered the highest gross margin in the company's history."

Thanks to you, Chen!

CEO John Chen has tried to transform the company around since joining in 2013. But even as he has pushed BlackBerry toward mobile and security software, apps and the plenty of connected devices known as the Internet of Things, BlackBerry has suffered in some aspects, distinctive sales declines and lost of customers.

CEO Chen has even done what was incredible, initiating the BlackBerry company to other operating systems. The company now sells phones that run Android system. It also killed off its BlackBerry Classic line of phones this season.

So CEO Chen really deserves credit for preserving BlackBerry and refocusing it on higher growth areas.

Let us hope that the decision made by the company will give them more and more possibilities. For now, do not expect to see new models and designs from BlackBerry. Instead, expect to see great software that are part of the projects of the said company.
More than a hundred cases of a Samsung Galaxy Note 7 bursting into flames have been reported since it was made available. While the real culprit has yet to be determined, theories have sprung up.

Just this week, Samsung was forced to stop the production and selling of the Galaxy Note 7, its flagship smartphone. The introduction of the Galaxy Note 7 was met with excitement as it was expected to be one of the best Android devices yet to be produced. It was also meant to leave the iPhone 7 on is trails as the Apple device didn't really click with the tech-savvy crowd.

However, the Galaxy Note 7 proved to be a major disappointment due to a number of factors. But the biggest factor is its tendency to burn up or explode. Samsung started investigating the complaints but came out empty-handed. But some have come up with possible reasons why the device has become a fire hazard.

One of the potential reasons behind the exploding Galaxy Note 7 is the highly flammable lithium-ion batteries it employs. Another claims that the device is packed with too many innovations that the unit just couldn't handle it. A Samsung representative also mentioned the possibility of a manufacturing error as the cause of the explosions. He stressed that the error caused plates within the battery cells to be exposed to pressure. Such action may have caused the positive and negative poles to come into contact thus igniting the fire.

Samsung has so far been unable to create concrete solutions to deal with the problem. Their engineers have yet to replicate the problem so they are still unable to find a solution. At first, the company concluded that the fiery issue had something to do with their batteries. But after introducing the replacements which used batteries different from the ones in the previous units, the problem remained.

Samsung ended up permanently halting the production of the Galaxy Note 7. This announcement may have come a bit too late for many as an estimated two million units have already been sold. Owners of the controversial Samsung device are advised to return their handset to get a full refund or exchange it for another device.
Other than its March 2017 release date, Nintendo has frustratingly remained silent on the upcoming Nintendo NX. So much so that the initial hype surrounding the unit has started to deflate. But while the wait is reaching an almost unbearable point, there is no denying that leaks on the device, it's specs and its features make the time without official word almost worth it.

As NDTV Gadgets notes, the Nintendo NX is expected to make use of cartridges as opposed to discs, which theoretically feeds the nostalgic thirst of all 90's players. Furthermore, it is estimated to come with 4K video streaming quality, for third party apps like Netflix. The upcoming console is also reportedly going to set back a user by US$299.99 for the console itself and US$399.99 for the bundled set.

As Express UK adds, the most exciting aspect of the Nintendo NX, however, is that it will be a two-in-one console. That is, that players will be able to take the console out of their homes while still playing the device, but that it will have enough power to be considered a home-docked unit. If this is true, Nintendo is once again stretching and changing the world of gaming.

It has also been claimed that four games are expected to debut with the Nintendo NX. Arguably, the most popular of which include a "Mario" title and a "Legend Of Zelda" game, though its premises and gameplay remain a mystery. A title is also expected from Ubisoft, as its CEO Yves Guillemot has laid down praise for the console, unfortunately without giving anything else away.

Nintendo as a company has been solidified itself in the gaming industry as a player that innovates, with its previous inventions being the analogue stick, motion stick and shoulder buttons. There is no doubt that the Nintendo NX can be one of the greatest consoles the industry has seen in years. However, there are many things that can go wrong as well.

For example, there is the incredibly large hurdle of a portable-sized device having the power to produce quality images on a television screen. The design as well might be questioned, as Nintendo has a history of making rather controversial decisions. And while it depends on the final console design, the price might be put into question as well.

However, the prevailing problem at this point is the promotional strategy of Nintendo. The company has not released any statement regarding the Nintendo NX, which could work negatively for the console. A lack of statements breeds only rumors, which in turn breed expectations.

There is a lot riding on the Nintendo NX at this point and it might do the company well to finally manage its consumers' expectations. This does not mean to say that Nintendo should release the console's specs and design prematurely, but an official hint would definitely help. Doing so will not only minimize disappointments but will steer its marketing strategy towards the correct direction.

Another thing that Nintendo needs to battle is the short time frame it is left with. If the company is still eying March 2017 release date, it definitely needs to hurry. With October almost half way through, there is less than six months left for proper and correct promotion.
More details on the new "Assassination Classroom" compilation anime film titled "Gekijoban Ansatsu Kyoshitsu: 365-Nichi no Jikan" ("Assassination Classroom The Movie: 365 Days"), was released on the 47th issue of Shueisha's Weekly Shonen Jump magazine.

The movie will include an original story arc which features the events a day before the class reunion in the original manga's final chapter, and seven years after the manga's climax. The film has also released a trailer and visuals of adult character designs for Nagisa and Karma, Anime News Network reported

Cast and staff

According to reports, the main cast and staff members are returning for the project. The script will be written by Makoto Uezeu while Kazuaki Morita will be in charge of character design.

Voice actors include Jun Fukuyama as Koro-sensei, Shizuka Itou as Irina Jelavic and Tomokazu sugita as Tadaomi Karasuma. Original manga creator, Yusei Matsui, also collaborated with the production for the original story.

Plot concept

Quizzes? Homeworks? Class 3-E students have a greater problem than that, they have to kill their teacher by the end of the year, or else, it would be the end of humanity! Their teacher is an alien with tentacles, that moves at the speed of mach-20.

He is the one responsible for destroying 70 percent of the moon, making it a permanent crescent shape. He also made an announcement that he would destroy the world after one year. Aside from the regular subjects and lectures, this monstrous Class 3-E teacher will teach his students how to assassinate him before the year ends.

The manga, which has just ended last March, was already made into an animation series. "Assassination Classroom" season 1 aired in Japan in January last year, while the second season was released early this year. It also has two live-action films, one of which, "Assassination Classroom: Graduation," was released early this year.

"Assassination Classroom The Movie: 365 Days" will be released in a limited screening event on Nov. 19.
Samsung is officially retiring its Galaxy Note 7 after a series of massive losses and PR problems. The short yet colorful life of the Korean tech giant's phablet is going down in history as the most talked-about event, or disaster in 2016. It is high-time we look back at the rise and eventual fall of the Samsung Galaxy Note 7.

The Announcement - Skipping Note 6

In a New York media event, Samsung officially unveiled the 7th iteration (counting Note Edge) of its famous Note line dubbed the Galaxy Note 7. Samsung intentionally skipped the Note 6 name to get the phone in line with Samsung's other flagship, the Galaxy S7. It was Aug. 2, the start of the ill-fated journey of the smartphone.

The Specs, Waterproofing and Iris Scanner

The Note 7 took the smartphone industry by storm by incorporating the elements of the highly successful S7 line while adding an industry-first feature that got everyone talking. The Note 7 boasts a powerful, highly-capable spec sheet similar to that of the S7, water proofing and incorporated an iris scanner technology that works fast, secure and undeniably futuristic, CNET reported.

The Best Smartphone of 2016

As the units became available, great reviews of the Note 7 flooded the internet. The Telegraph called it "The Most Beautiful Phone of 2016." Samsung may have found the formula for the ultimate smartphone and was poised to take out every competition, released or unreleased, or so they thought.

The First Sign of Dark Clouds

It was Aug. 24 when news of a Note 7 battery explosion started surfacing and the first one happened in Samsung's own turf, South Korea. The issue then rapidly spread across the globe like wildfire and all blames the battery as the main culprit. However, it was business as usual for Samsung as they later unveiled the Samsung Gear S3.

The Worldwide Recall and Replacements

In Sept. 2, The Verge reported that Samsung is recalling all Galaxy Note 7s due to battery problems. The issue, as reported, is affecting 0.1 percent of the sold units, which at that time amounts to almost three million. Replacements or refunds were also offered to customers who bought the Note 7. Samsung also noted that they were able to find the problem, citing the battery installed by Samsung SDI as faulty.

After a few days, new shipments of Note 7 replacement started to arrive that Samsung assured are now complete fixed.

The Still Faulty Replacements

As Samsung was still healing from the recent case of the recall, which cost them around $1 billion loss in sales, news of battery explosions started circulating in more numbers. However, these devices are the replacement units that Samsung supposedly fixed, thereby casting doubts to the product's quality and caused most regulatory agencies to issue statements against the use of Note 7. Carriers that offered the phone started to stop selling the unit until Samsung addressed the issue.

The End of An Era

After almost two months in circulation, the Note 7's life has ended with Samsung halting the production permanently. The rise and fall of Samsung Galaxy Note 7 is a huge event, no doubt. The fiasco had created so much damage to Samsung that it reportedly lost about $17 billion in market value. In the coming years, people may look back again to the disaster that is the Note 7, something that Samsung would have to work effortlessly to erase from people's perception.
Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie seems to be taking things one step at a time. Moving out and the entire custody battles are putting a toll on both parties. It must have been real hard for Brangelina but what made the ordeal more difficult is how this has affected their six kids whom they both raised together.

According to Hall Of Fame Magazine, weeks after the divorce announcement, the World War Z actor finally had a chance to meet his kids through a meeting. The kids, as they were described, were very emotional during that time.

Recent reports told that the meeting between Brad Pitt and the kids were controlled under a 90-minute timer. His kids, Zahara and Vivienne, were seen crying the entire time.

International Business Times reported that even Brad Pitt was in tears when he saw his children in a meeting conducted by Department of Children Family Services personnel.

As told by a source:

"Once the kids came in, [Brad Pitt] lit up. He had tears in his eyes and tried to hold it together because he didn't want them to get upset because he was crying. The visit was gut-wrenching: Vivienne, 8, and Zahara, 11, both started crying, asking when they could go home [to Brad's compound in LA's Los Feliz neighbourhood]."

Pitt spent time drawing and playing with the kids during the whole meeting. The kids did not forget to ask the World War Z actor as to when they would go home in Los Angeles in which he answered that it would be happening real soon.

One spectator even cleared out some of the conversations between them:

"Brad told them this situation with the social workers absolutely was not their fault and that no one was in trouble,"

Reports state that the ex-couple was having a thorough discussion with regards to the divorce settlement. Angelina Jolie was reported to have the sole physical custody of their children while Brad Pitt was granted to visit the kids under supervision.

Here's a glimpse of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie's Kids:


Amazon.com Inc said on Thursday that it would hire more than 120,000 seasonal workers in the U.S. for Christmas, which will represent an increase of 20,000 positions compared to last year. Amazon's decision will open jobs in 27 states, which would be very beneficial for the economy and the fight against the rising unemployment rate in the United States.

Many Christmas Employees From 2015 Stayed

Also, it will keep most of its seasonal workers from 2015, being most of them employees that started on Christmas and continued working in the company after the holidays, which is something that is not very common with many U.S. companies.

"Last year alone, more than 14,000 seasonal employees stayed on in regular, full-time positions after the holidays and we expect to increase that number this year," Amazon's vice president of global customer fulfillment, Mike Roth, said in a statement according to CNET.

Traditional Retailers vs. Amazon

Although this is undeniably good news, Reuters reported that this incredible expansion could also represent a major threat to traditional U.S. retailers like Target Corp, Macys Inc and Kohls Corp, whose conventions consist of hiring just a few employees and keeping seasonal employment levels with no changes on Christmas.

The reason why so many traditional American retailers are struggling to survive is because it hasn't been able to adapt to the digital era and the rapidly changing customers that exist today.The biggest problems of these companies are the new consumers and the fact that e-commerce businesses can sell products at a lower price.

In order to overcome this adversity, traditional retailers would have to find a way to tackle the growth of online retailers by creating a lot of earnings offering the same products at better prices.
In its latest transparency report published on Wednesday, Google showed the number of request for users' information the hi-tech company has received during the first half of this year. This number jumped to a total record of 44,943 with the U.S. in the first place of requesters, with Germany and France being the second and third.

According to Digital Trends, these numbers represent an increase of 10 percent compared to the first half of 2015 for 76,713 Google accounts, down from 81,311 accounts, Also, it was revealed that many nations requested users' data for the first time, including El Salvador, Belarus, Fiji, the Cayman Islands, Saudi Arabia and Algeria.

The US Requested More Information

Probably the most incredible detail is that from the whole number of request, the U.S. represents the 79%, which is a situation that put the American spy agencies once again in the spotlight because of the privacy issue after the Yahoos Email scandal, in which several users were being hacked without knowing it.

Although this event made some people lose faith on major hi-tech companies, it is well known that Google has always fought against the violation of users privacy, being the main reason why it has its own firm policies regarding to this issue, which allows the company to not provide information related to criminal cases without a search warrant.

Google Support The US Surveillance Practices Reform

However, far from avoiding cooperate with these nations; Google actually helped them in an average of 64 percent of users data request without giving any details of which accounts and information were requested, as reported by TechCrunch. In fact, the company showed its support to the U.S. surveillance practices reform, which would allow it to spy any person around the world.

"In recent years, the United States has implemented or enacted meaningful surveillance reforms. And the U.S. Congress is beginning the process of assessing potential reforms to Section 702 of FISA, which authorizes surveillance of non-U.S. persons outside of the United States. We look forward to working together with others in our industry on continuing surveillance reform in the U.S. and around the world," Googles director of law enforcement and information security Richard Salgado told in a blog post.
Enterprise software makers have tried to blend social tools and consumer technology for at least a decade. Its been a slow process, but by 2020 the biggest names in business software will likely be well-known consumer brands, instead of the stalwarts that dominated the market for decades, according to Aaron Levie, CEO of cloud storage service Box.

Outsiders are redefining the future of workplace collaboration, and some of these companies, including Facebook, are focused on specific tools or technologies instead of platforms that try to serve every business need. The one-vendor-for-all-things-enterprise approach has no place in todays business landscape, Levie says.

When you have providers of technology that focus on a specific area and build a best-of-breed technology, we just know empirically that customers get more innovation from that provider than a company that sort of has a Swiss Army Knife where they put everything together into a gigantic portfolio or suite, he says. Vendors that offer a selection of tools dont focus on the innovation of every individual product, because their value proposition is the collection of tools that makes the whole system useful and powerful.

Enterprise software underwent a decoupling of capabilities and technologies during the past decade, according to Levie. Many modern businesses buy applications for HR, CRM, productivity, collaboration and IT management from individual firms that specialize in those fields. Having one vendor provide multiple tools often leads to inferior versions of those products, Levie says.

[Related: Facebook at Work finally launches as Workplace]

Customers get way more innovation because of choice, and that choice drives the need to have our technology be able to work together, he says. Were entering an era of enterprise software where I want to be able to mix and match my tools from a set of vendors that might be five, 10, 20 different applications that I want to work together seamlessly.

Facebook is taking a partner-centric approach to its first foray into the enterprise with Workplace, its new social productivity app for business. For example, a group of partners companies that has already earned the trust of IT leaders provides the specialized tools and services in Workplace, such as file storage, document management and secure identities, according to Sean Ryan, Facebooks vice president of partnerships.

Business collaboration: Integration over consolidation

Other consumer giants, including Apple, also aim to deepen their ties in the enterprise by riding the strengths of established vendors. Since 2014, Apple inked deals with IBM, Cisco, SAP and Deloitte. Google, which has sold software to businesses for almost a decade, relies on partners to a lesser degree, because its G Suite of apps is more comprehensive, with tools for messaging, email, calendar, contacts, office software and storage.

Aaron Gette, CIO of Bay Club, a lifestyle and fitness company, says ease of integration with current systems is an important factor when choosing new collaboration tools. Legacy will always count for something  when making the decision to implement a large-scale platform that will drive revenues and lift the business beyond expectations of the operations, sales and marketing folks who have to use these tools on a daily basis, he says. Bringing our work and personal experiences into a single focus makes sense as Facebook and Google amass data that can be served back to workers in a more meaningful and engaging manner.

[Related: Can Facebook really do enterprise collaboration right?]

Google is now more trusted in enterprise, but it and Facebook suffer from a similar reliance on advertising for revenue, according to Gette. He says Facebook has a steeper hill to climb in that regard but adds it may also benefit from better behavioral data than Google. Collecting data on your customers and understanding their behavior better than your competition is going to be crucial to the success of your business, Gette says.

This new era of enterprise software, driven by consumer giants such as Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google, creates a new era of work, according to Boxs Levie. Despite a growing number of providers at the fringes of enterprise collaboration, Levie doesnt think theres much room for consolidation. Were now in an era where the tools are going to start to integrate with one another, so its far less about consolidation and far more about integration at this point.
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During the meeting with Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Pham Binh Minh, Minister Jensen discussed various bilateral and global issues of mutual interest. Minister Jensen appreciated the long and outstanding relationship between Denmark and Vietnam, which, after more than 20 years of successful development cooperation, transformed into a comprehensive partnership in 2013.

















Photos: Huong Giang



Minister Jensen also co-chaired the 5th Joint Governmental Committee meeting with Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyen Chi Dung to discuss measures in enhancing bilateral trade and investment. Danish business representatives, including Lego and Maersk, also participated in the meeting.

He also had a courtesy meeting with Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc to promote the bilateral relationship and the comprehensive partnership. In the meeting, Minister Jensen expressed his appreciation of the Vietnamese Government for their support to facilitate Danish companies setting up business and production in Vietnam.

Minister Jensen later paid a visit to Ngoc Lam primary school in Long Bien district, where schoolchildren and teachers use the new national system for art education in primary school based upon Danish child-centered pedagogical methods. He saw results of Denmarks engagement in developing Vietnamese children books through cooperation between Danish writers and illustrators, Kim Dong Publishing House and Vietnamese writers and illustrators.

On his second day in Vietnam, Minister Jensen visited Mascot factory in Hai Duong province (a subsidiary of Mascot International A/S, Denmarks biggest manufacturer of high quality work wear and safety gear) before leaving for Ho Chi Minh city.

The company has three production units in Hai Duong province and one unit in Laos, with 1,800 staff in Vietnam and Laos. Mascot is known for a clear CSR profile and has been awarded with Prince Henrik and Danish Export Association's award for contribution to the development of commercial cooperation between Denmark and Vietnam.

In Ho Chi Minh city, Mr Jensen visited ScanCom, a Danish outdoor furniture manufacturer. ScanComs wood production in Vietnam was launched in 2003 with the initial support from the Danida Private Sector Development Program. ScanCom has a high CSR profile and has received the Forest Stewardship Council (FCS) certification as the first company in Vietnam.

Minister Jensen also met Le Thanh Liem, Vice Chairman of Ho Chi Minh city Peoples Committee, expressing hope that Danish companies could support sustainable development of the city, and thereby continuing the strong cooperation between Vietnam and Denmark.

Finally, he made a stop at the Danish Osterberg ice-cream shop.

I am very pleased with my visit in Vietnam. It makes me even more confident that the relationship we have built the past 45 years of diplomatic relations and the goals we have for sustainable environment and commercial growth will continue to show results in the years to come. Also, the three Danish companies Ive visited are good examples of how successful business can go hand in hand with corporate social responsibility and production of quality products. It makes me proud to see the high standards Danish companies requests of themselves, Minister Jensen concluded, before leaving Ho Chi Minh city.

The Vietnam-Denmark relations on the green agenda became stronger in 2015 when Vietnam as the first ASEAN country became a core member of the Global Green Growth Forum (3GF), a Danish-Korean led forum to promote public-private partnerships towards green growth./.
Michaelle Jean (back, L) and Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh (back, R) witness the signing of a cooperation document on improving the French language skills of Vietnamese diplomatic officials and civil servants (Photo: VNA)

The OIF chief made the remark during an interview granted to Vietnam News Agency during her working visit to the country from October 11th-13th.

She said Vietnam has risen above all hardships and pain to develop, establish its standing in the global arena and enhance cooperation with other countries. Those efforts and achievements have been recognised by Francophone countries.

It has also proved to be a reliable member of the OIF, an organisation that gathers 80 member states and governments and is still expanding.

Within the framework of the OIF, it is also an obligation of Vietnam to promote the French language in the region and in the country itself, she said, adding that the OIF and the country have inked a protocol on teaching French to diplomatic officials and civil servants.

The Secretary General noted when she met with President Tran Dai Quang, National Assembly Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan and Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh, she perceived their resolve to promote French in Vietnam.

Michaelle Jean said the country has also realised that the Francophone community is full of huge opportunities, particularly in business. According to her, the OIF is focusing on supporting young entrepreneurs and women, while developing plans to assist small- and medium-sized enterprises, event micro ones.

That was the reason why one of the first activities during her trip was meeting with she met with Vietnamese businesses and some of their partners in French-speaking countries. Michaelle Jean said the entrepreneurs were interested in how the OIF can help them develop and connect with partners in such fields as new technology, communication and internet.

It is good that the OIF has enough catalysts and factors to help with development in these creative industries, as well as in areas Vietnam has long been strong in such as agriculture and apparel sector, she added.

The OIF Secretary-General said the 16th Francophonie Summit, slated for this November in Madagascar, will be under the theme Shared growth and responsible development: conditions for stability around the world and within La Francophonie, a topic that Vietnam is also interested in.

She highly valued the way Vietnam has done to strengthen cooperation with and investment in other countries, which is development associated with responsibility.

She recalled that the 7th Francophonie Summit held in Hanoi in 1997 had helped much in promoting the image of Vietnam, expressing hope that more Francophonie events, such as economic forum or festivals, will be held in Southeast Asia, such as in Vietnam, Laos or Cambodia, in the near future. Those events will gather delegates from Francophone countries and help them gain an insight into the regions dynamism./.




During the program, Vietnamese Ambassador to Greece Tran Thi Ha Phuong gave a general introduction about Vietnams politics, socio-economic development, culture, tourism, external policies and international integration.

In addition, nearly 20 pictures on the Vietnamese country, people and culture were on display and a video clip Welcome to Vietnam was screened during the program, attracting special attention from the audience, helping Greek and international friends better understand the dynamic and peace loving country, the friendly residents and famous landscapes. Meanwhile, diverse publications on Vietnam were introduced and distributed to guests.

Guests questions on Vietnams educational policies, culture, tourism and regulations on real estate ownership were addressed by Ambassador Phuong at the program.

The program also provided guests with typical Vietnamese food, with its quality appreciated by guests./.
When local firefighters arrived in Edgecombe County early Monday, they were met with a dismal scene  water everywhere, communities destroyed and people trapped and stranded.

A car that had been swept off the roadway was skewered on a utility pole as the occupants waited on the roof, water closing in.

By daybreak, the four-person water rescue team from the Winston-Salem Fire Department had already made six rescues.

There were 80 houses in that community cut off by high water, so many people still needed help, Fire Chief William Trey Mayo said. Its been a hybrid effort between using the boats to perform rescues and doing house-to-house searches.

Residents were asked to evacuate Edgecombe County on Sunday evening due to the millions of gallons of water flowing into the Tar River. The river is not expected to go below 30 feet until Friday, which is still 11 feet above flood stage.

The water rescue team made 16 rescues in the county, most of which were residents trapped by high water in their homes, Mayo said. Three of the rescues were people stranded by swift water in their vehicles.

Turn around, dont drown. Its not just a cute saying, said Melton Sadler, director of emergency management for the county. Dont walk or drive through standing water because you might just become a statistic.

The death toll has climbed to at least 20 in the state as of Wednesday, Sadler said.

Bands of heavy rain produced record-breaking flooding in parts of eastern North Carolina, according to the National Hurricane Center, resulting in life-threatening flooding and flash flooding across the region in the aftermath of Hurricane Matthew.

People are still being evacuated, water levels are still rising and the last river is expected to crest Friday, Sadler said. Several communities have been totally devastated. I expect it will take years to recover.

The storm was the largest since Hurricane Floyd in 1999, Sadler said. It will probably prove to be more expensive and destructive.

The fire departments water rescue team was relocated Tuesday to Clement in Sampson County and will be relieved by another four-person team from the area.

So far, theyve assisted 31 victims.

Gov. Pat McCrory said Tuesday crews have rescued more than 2,000 people in more than 600 rescue operations around the state.

But the damage from the storm remains with flooded towns and buildings.

A national mobile disaster hospital, sponsored by Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center, set up camp Tuesday at a church in Kinston to aid with medical emergencies.

The doctors offices and urgent care facilities have been flooded out over there, said Joe McCloskey, a spokesman for Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center. The mobile hospital functions like a normal hospital and can help anyone who may need medical attention.

The mobile hospital, which is housed in Mocksville, is a fully functioning hospital that can be delivered anywhere in the country, he said. Four of the units 23 trailers were deployed to Kinston.

The mobile hospital is operated by volunteers with the Triad State Medical Assistance Team (SMAT), which is part of the State Medical Response System.

Ten paramedics with SMAT were also deployed to assist Columbus County Emergency Medical Services for up to a week.

A swift water rescue team from the Lewisville Fire Department was also deployed, and volunteers from the Piedmont Emergency Animal Response Team have made their way to set up temporary shelters in Lenoir County.

The Carolinas were hit severely so were all doing our part, said Jimmy Flythe, a spokesman with Duke Energy.

Up to 1.3 million North Carolina residents were without power at certain points of the storm, he said. While power has been restored in most places, there are still 140,000 in coastal areas without power.

Flythe said the company has upped their personnel from roughly 2,000 to 9,000 to mitigate the storms effects, recruiting crews from as far away as Canada.

When one of us hurts, we all hurt, McCloskey said. This is really a team effort, people coming together from all over, to help those in need.
Nguyen Dinh Chung is directly serving customers (Photo: hanoimoi.com.vn)



Even on the same street, people can see two or three restaurants of Vietnamese people.

However, the number of restaurants receiving the attention and support of the media and local people, such as A Chung traditional Pho restaurant in the famous Ningxia night market in Taipei city, is not high. The owner of the restaurant is Nguyen Dinh Chung, who is only 24 years old.

Born and raised in Bac Ninh province, Nguyen Dinh Chung got accustomed to independent life as his mother went to Taiwan as a worker when he was at grade 3. Living with his father and without his caring mother, Chung had to do more than his peers. This is why Chung has more mature thoughts than his age.

After graduating from high school, Chung was taken to Taiwan to study at a university by his mother. He said that at that time his and his mother's life was very hard. To help his mother to cover the cost of education and housing, apart from going to university, Chung got a part-time job at a restaurant of a local person. It was a very hard work but he got not much money. Chung said he had the idea of opening a restaurant when he was scolded by his boss. He felt his pride wounded and immediately wanted to demonstrate his abilities.

In just one month, the brave boy finished all stages from renting a building, buying furniture, essential items, decorating the restaurant and officially opening a Pho restaurant owned by him. Most of his start-up capital of about VND700 million comes his friends and relatives. Chung recalled that during the first few days opening the restaurant, both his mother and him were very worried because the restaurant was located in the place where few Vietnamese people live and work.

To attract local customers, Chung pays more attention to the quality of food and sanitary conditions of the restaurant. His efforts have quickly obtained good results. Only a month later, his restaurant was busy with Taiwanese customers. The good news is that after six months, Chung recovered his capital to repay his loans. Then, receiving positive feedbacks from customers, in addition to pho, Chung now offers other Vietnamese dishes such as kebab rice noodles, spring roll and Vietnamese-style bread.

Chungs restaurant has been introduced by many of Taiwans cuisine newspapers. CTTV Television Station has also spent a large amount of time to talk about A Chung traditional Pho. When knowing Chungs efforts, another television station invited him to join a reportage to tell about what he has done. However, due to the busy work of the restaurant, he has not worked with them.

So far, after three years of opening the restaurant, Chung is very glad for the stable business, and his mother no longer has to work overtime outside. This is the most significant benefit he can offer for the period of hard work his mother sacrificed for the family. Talking about the success of the restaurant, Chung doesnt forget the person, who taught him to make Pho.

He recalled that during the time of preparing to open the restaurant, Chung flew to Vietnam and learned how to make Pho from an owner of a Nam Dinh Pho restaurant, which he thinks is very good.

The teacher, who taught Chung how to make Pho, is very happy and proud to learn of his success. At present, Chung plans to open another A Chung traditional Pho restaurant in Taiwan./.
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By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) |  

The US Navy in the Red Sea fired Tomahawk missiles into Yemen early Thursday morning, taking out three radar stations. Those facilities had allowed the Houthi rebels who control North Yemen to target US destroyers in the Red Sea on several occasions in recent days (they missed each time).

The Obama administration has backed the Saudi-led war on the Houthi government of north Yemen since it began in March of 2015, offering logistical support and even help in choosing targets for airstrikes. Presumably the Houthis were firing at US destroyers in an attempt to take revenge on the US for its involvement in the war on them.

The US Navy said that the Tomahawk missile strikes were defensive, without noting that the US has been deeply involved in helping plan the bombing of Yemen for a year and a half.

Last Saturday a Saudi airstrike hit a funeral, killing some 160 civilians and wounding over 500.

The Saudis and their partners in the war have often bombed urban areas indiscriminately, destroying some of historic downtown Sanaa. Even when advised by the US military against striking some bridges and other key infrastructure (because they are needed to get staples to civilian populations), the Saudis and their allies have nevertheless struck them. The US has on several occasions announced that it is becoming uncomfortable with the war on Yemen, but continues to be deeply involved behind the scenes.

The war has killed 4,125 civilians and left 7,207 wounded, and made over a million Yemenis out of 24 million food insecure.

The US is concerned with Yemen for geostrategic reasons, since about 10 percent of world trade goes through the Red Sea and the Suez Canal, and Yemen is in a position to disrupt that ship traffic. Also, some southern provinces of Yemen are bases for the radical al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, which is stalking the United States. (The Houthi Shiites hate al-Qaeda, and so could potentially be allies for the US against it. The Saudis have not seemed overly concerned with taking out AQAP, putting all their efforts into rolling back the Houthis instead. This course of action has left the US less secure).

Yemen joined in the revolutions of 2011 and by January of 2012 the president for life, Ali Abdullah Saleh, was forced to step down. In February of 2012, there was a nationwide referendum in which 80% of voters cast their ballots in favor of Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, Salehs vice president. Mansour Hadi formed a government of national unity and pursued a political settlement, involving a new constitution and elections for a permanent parliament. These arrangements were proceeding along, too slowly, but proceeding, in September of 2014 when the Houthis abruptly marched into the capital of Sanaa and staged a coup.

By January and February of 2015, Mansour Hadi and the rest of the UN-recognized government had to flee, and the Houthis took over entirely. They they fought their way down to Aden in the south and conquered it. (Theyve since been pushed back up to Taiz).

The Houthis derive from the Zaydi branch of Shiite Islam and are based in northern tribes of Saadeh. They formed a guerrilla movement to protest the increasing influence of Saudi Wahhabi Islam on Yemen, writing refutations of Wahhabi doctrine and practice and at some points vowing to see the Saudi royal family overthrown.

Saudi Arabia is enormously wealthy because of its oil, while Yemen is among the poorest countries in the world, so the Houthi animus toward an expansionist Wahhabism is a protest of the poor and not just theological.

The Saudis justify their intervention on the grounds that the Houthis are Shiites and allied with Iran. However, Zaydi Shiism has no ayatollahs and is in no particular like the Shiite Islam of Iran and and Iraq. There is no evidence of any significant Iranian support for the Houthis; perhaps Tehran sent them a few million dollars. The Houthis are an indigenous Yemeni movement. Houthi weaponry is largely American, looted from Yemen military storehouses after they took over. The Houthis are allied with the section of the Yemeni army still loyal to Ali Abdullah Saleh, the deposed dictator, who seems to be trying to use the Houthis to come back to power.

In my view, the Houthis were wrong to make a coup against the government in fall of 2014, and they have derailed the countrys political process. They have ruled in an authoritarian manner. But apparently the Saudi airstrikes have made them relatively popular with many people in Sanaa, and they are now seen as a national force (this was not true in 2014). In August hundreds of thousands came out for them in Sanaa.

On the other hand, the Saudis and their allies are wrong to have launched an air war on Yemen. For one thing, you cant defeat a guerilla movement from the air. The Saudis and others are not committing ground troops in more than token numbers, and the Sunni Yemenis of the south and east are not motivated to fight into Zaydi North Yemen. But aside from the practicalities, the Saudi air force has hit Yemen so indiscriminately that it stands accused of war crimes.

My guess is that the Houthis and the Saudis will eventually find a political settlement (brave little Oman has been trying to negotiate one).

My advice to the Obama administration would be to dissociate itself from the Saudi war and to open its own lines of communication to the Houthis. Seeing the latter as Iranian proxies is a form of geopolitical paranoia, and failing to recognize that Wahhabi proselytizing is a cause of a lot of the problems in the Muslim world is shortsighted on the part of the US.

The Saudis want to install a government in Sanaa that is in their back pocket, just as they tried to buy the Egyptian government and just as they are backing Salafi Jihadis in hopes of taking over Syria. Saudi Arabia is a small country of some 20 million citizens with a small army but a well-equipped air force, and is trying to punch above its weight in seeking to establish hegemony over the Middle East.

For the US to back this dangerous adventurism is foolish, and this weeks events demonstrate that the Yemen misadventure could eventuate in yet another American war in the Middle East.



Related video added by Juan Cole:

Missile Attack Targets U.S. Navy Ship Off Yemen For Second Time | NBC Nightly News
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By Rose Delaney | (Inter Press Service) |  

LONDON (IPS)  A recent study supported by the government of Finland has found widespread misconceptions regarding what drives people to join Islamist militant groups like Boko Haram.

Boko Haram is Nigerias militant Islamist group, wreaking havoc across the nation through a series of abductions, bombings, and assassinations. The group opposes anything associated with Western society, including any social or political activity. Its military campaigns sole focus is to wipe out any non-believers from the Nigerian state.

Theres a widespread tendency to oversimplify what drives Nigerians to join a group that advocates such extreme violence like Boko Haram. Its easy to place the blame on religion without delving any deeper into the subject.  Anneli Botha

Boko Harams official name is Jamaatu Ahlis Sunna Liddaawati wal-Jihad, which in Arabic means People Committed to the Propagation of the Prophets Teachings and Jihad.

The groups unlawful actions became a topic of international concern in April 2014 when 276 schoolgirls were abducted by the extremists in Chibok, Nigeria. News of the girls abduction went viral and the bring back our girls social media campaign spread rapidly across the world. Today, 219 of the girls are still missing.

Whilst the majority of mainstream media outlets continue to associate the growth of radicalised groups like Boko Haram with the perils of Islam and religious extremism, the study set out to understand what drives people to extremism on a deeper level.

According to Mahdi Abdile, Director of Research at Finn Church Aid (FCA) and at the Network for Religious and Traditional Peacemakers, before the 9/11 terror attacks, religious motives could be drawn back to engagement in extremist practices, as widespread recruitment for militant groups like Boko Haram frequently took place in mosques and madrasas. Today, that has changed.

Theres a widespread tendency to oversimplify what drives Nigerians to join a group that advocates such extreme violence like Boko Haram, said Anneli Botha, an independent consultant on radicalisation, deradicalisation, reintegration and terrorism in Africa and co-author of the study.

Its easy to place the blame on religion without delving any deeper into the subject. Our empirical research has shown that there is, in fact, a web of complexities behind the recruitment process that we as a global community need to acknowledge and accept.

For many, it may come as a shock that the primary factor for joining Boko Haram has little to do with following true Islamic practices. The study shows that 60 percent of Boko Haram fighters are recruited by their own family or friends.

In spite of 43 percent of former fighters indicating that religion had a strong influence on their decision to join Boko Haram, many stated that Boko Haram was not following the principles of Islam. Those who joined for religious reasons were described as vulnerable and unfamiliar with the true teachings of the Quran.

The study also indicated that the most prominent pull factor in the Boko Haram recruitment process came out of deep fear and a thirst for revenge. Fear of military action drives many people into the hands of Boko Haram, Botha told IPS. Some interviewees explained that a need for respect influenced them to join Boko Haram.

In Northern Nigeria, citizens voiced a need for more rights and access to basic services. They also expressed feelings of frustration over what they considered to be persistent inequalities. They described those residing in Southern Nigeria as being far more privileged.

In many ways, questioning the media and public opinions tendency to place the blame on Islam for every act of extremism presents itself as one of the greatest challenges to be overcome in the study.

The research compiled also indicated a prominent female presence in the organisation. Most surprisingly, the study uncovered the increasingly active role women play in the operations of the militant group.

The women interviewed made up of former Boko Haram fighters provided far more than basic services. They described being involved in collecting intelligence and the training process. Some women even considered themselves to be explosive experts, Botha said. She considered the study to be an amazing sample of the significant role women play in what most consider to be a male-dominated militant organisation.

The women interviewed consisted of ex-Boko Haram fighters. The women described the hardship and difficulty the reintegration process had inflicted on them. Although many were kidnapped or forced into the group out of fear, now, they are seen as nothing more than horrific reminders of Boko Haram atrocities.

The womens children, many born out of Boko Haram and now left fatherless, are also considered to be a violent manifestation of the extremist group. For the most part, the former Boko Haram women and children are neither accepted nor welcomed back into the community.

Oftentimes, for the women who escape, the gates to freedom remain tightly sealed and the struggle continues. Many former Boko Haram fighters experience Stockholm syndrome which is left untreated and worsened by the stigmatization they are subjected to by their community upon their return home.

Children born out of the Boko Haram process are equally victimized by the community. Theres a widespread failure to recognize these women and children as victims, whether youre a first or second-hand victim it has the same effect, Botha said.

She said the next step must come from the implementation of an efficient reintegration process for both the former fighters and children born out of Boko Haram. The recognition of their strife and discouragement of the demonization of their past actions will help them feel welcomed and accepted in a strong community again.

Licensed from Inter Press Service

-

Related video added by Juan Cole:

UN High Commission for Refugees: Free from Boko Haram, Nigerians still need help
The National Assembly of Burundi [official site, in French] on Wednesday voted [press release, in French] to withdraw from the International Criminal Court (ICC) [official site] amid criticism the court only prosecutes African nationals. Lawmakers voted [Aljazeera report] 94 in favor, with two against, and fourteen abstaining. The move to withdraw comes on the heels of an investigation [Reuters report] by the ICC into how the government interacts with those who are in political opposition to President Pierre Nkurunziza [official profile]. Despite withdrawing from the ICC, the measure does not prohibit [AI press release] the ICC from continuing their investigation into the countrys alleged human rights abuses. The law will now go before the President and, once signed, the country will become the first to leave the ICC.

Last week, Vice President Gaston Sindimwo of Burundi announced [JURIST report] the countrys decision to withdraw from the ICC, stating that his government is ready to face the consequences. The UN Independent Investigation in Burundi (UNIIB) in September stated [JURIST report] their grave concern about the current human rights situation in Burundi. Three human rights experts from UNIIB in June echoed previous calls for a stop to violence [JURIST report] after their second visit to the country.
A federal judge in Florida on Wednesday extended the voter registration deadline due to the aftermath of Hurricane Matthew. The Florida Democratic Party [official website] originally filed the lawsuit [JURIST report] on Sunday, and Judge Mark Walker of the US District Court for the Northern District of Florida [official website] extended the deadline [JURIST report] to Wednesday until he could hold a hearing on the matter. Republican Governor Rick Scott [official website] opposed moving the deadline on the basis that citizens had plenty of time to register prior to Hurricane Matthew. Ruling from the bench Wednesday, Walker moved the registration deadline to October 18, giving citizens an extra six days to register.

Voting issues have become especially contentious as the presidential election approaches. Last week a federal court issued [JURIST report] a preliminary injunction in favor of the Pyramid Lake and Walker River Paiute Native American tribes challenging Nevadas voting procedure of failing to provide polling places on Native American reservations. Late last month California Governor Jerry Brown signed legislation [JURIST report] clarifying felons voting rights. The law now clarifies that those sentenced under the third category of Criminal Justice Realignment Act of 2011, a term in county jail, are not stripped of their constitutional right to vote and confirms that only those serving a state-prison sentence or on parole and under California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation supervision lose the right to vote. Earlier in September a judge for the US District Court for the Northern District of Illinois granted a motion [JURIST report] blocking Illinois from allowing voter registration on Election Day in the states most populated counties. The week before the US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit struck down [JURIST report] a procedure implemented by the Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted that effectively eliminated inactive voters from registration rolls if they failed to respond to letters requesting confirmation of their status and addresses.
Several newly-elected members of Hong Kongs Legislative Council [official website] on Wednesday protested for pro-democracy rights while taking their oaths, an act which invalidates their oaths and may bar them from the legislature. Two of the lawmakers held signs [BBC report] which said Hong Kong is not China and used swear words during the ceremony. A third lawmaker included fight for genuine universal suffrage as part of his oath. They were also prohibited [Reuters report] from attending a session to vote on a legislative president. Hong Kong went returned to Chinese rule in 1997, and its articles declare the territory an inalienable part of China. All legislators are required to take this oath before they assume their position.

Chinas human rights record has garnered international attention for the governments treatment of the growing civil rights movement [JURIST op-ed] in the country, led by a number of prominent rights activists and attorneys. A Hong Kong court in August sentenced three leaders of the 2014 pro-democracy protests who were convicted on charges related to their occupation of a government building. In January, Chinese authorities brought charges [JURIST report] against seven lawyers from the Beijing Fengrui Law Firm related to events that have allegedly disrupted the public order, including a police shooting. Chinese state media criticized [JURIST report] detained human rights lawyers for undermining the rule of law last year. In December, prominent Chinese human rights lawyer Pu Zhiqiang was released [JURIST report] after receiving a suspended sentence. Pu was detained [JURIST report] in 2014 on a charge of causing a disturbance after he attended a weekend meeting that urged an investigation into the 1989 crackdown of pro-democracy protests in Tiananmen Square and was subsequently denied [JURIST reports] bail.
[JURIST] Indonesia on Wednesday passed a controversial law [Jakarta Post report] allowing for harsh punishment for pedophiles, including chemical castration, implanting electronic tagging chips in violators, the death sentence, mandatory 10 year imprisonment, and state-sponsored rehabilitation. While the law was proposed in response [BBC news report] to the gang rape and murder of a 14 year old girl, some have expressed concern that the punishments are inhuman, particularly chemical castration. The Indonesian Doctors Association [official website, in Indonesian] has criticized the law stating [press release] that it is emasculating, and has called on members to not participate for ethical reasons. The National Commission for Women [official website] has suggested that the law be evaluated yearly to determine whether it is a deterrent or simply unnecessarily harsh punishment.

This is not the first time that Indonesia has faced criticism for, what some have considered, overly harsh punishment. In July, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Raad Al Hussein urged [JURIST report] Indonesia to halt the imminent executions of 14 individuals [JURIST report], convicted mainly for drug-related offenses. Last year a spokesperson for the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) urged [JURIST report] the Indonesian government to halt all executions of people convicted of drug-related offenses. Also last year Brazil and the Netherlands recalled their ambassadors from Indonesia after an Indonesian firing squad executed six convicted drug traffickers [JURIST reports], sparking international condemnation from human rights groups and foreign leaders.
The United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) [official website] on Wednesday expressed concern [press release] for growing violence in South Sudan in recent weeks [JURIST report]. The mission found that the violence is contributing to growing deaths and displacement among civilians as government and opposition forces collide. Among the reports of violence is one instance where unidentified, armed men attacked civilian convoys, which included women and children, killing five. Despite reports, UNMISS has yet to acquire access to the areas, but is currently in talks with the necessary government agencies to eliminate any restrictions to access. UNMISS condemned the violence and called on all parties to cease attacks and ensure that commanders control their forces and protect civilians and their property.

The Center for Civilians in Conflict (CIVIC) criticized [JURIST Report ] UN peacekeepers in South Sudan last Wednesday for their failure to protect civilians during an outbreak of fighting in the country that took place in July. South Sudanese officials have said the country will take legal action [JURIST report] against the Sentry, a US-based advocacy group, after a report published by the group accused the nations leaders of profiting from countrys violent three-year conflict.
Police in Vietnam announced on Tuesday that they have detained a popular blogger in the country for posts criticizing the government. Nguyen Ngoc Nhu Quynh, known as Mother Mushroom in English, was charged [Reuters report] with spreading anti-state propaganda by the Khanh Hoa Police [official website]. One major post at issue concerned criticism of citizens dying in police custody, and another was regarding one of the worst environmental disasters [NYT report] in the country that killed massive amounts of fish. While the country has become more open to social change, the ruling Communist Party still constrains the media. Since the arrest, the US and EU have called for her release [AP report], citing issues with the countrys domestic and international human rights obligations.

The Vietnamese government has faced criticism from the international community over its human rights policies. In July groups of activists in Vietnam were detained while protesting Chinas rejection [JURIST report] of the international ruling regarding the South China Sea. In May US President Barack Obama [official profile] delivered a speech [JURIST report] in Vietnam pressing the government on human rights concerns in the nation. In August 2014 the UN Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief reported serious violations [JURIST report] of religious freedom persist in Vietnam. In March of that year the Hanoi Supreme Peoples Court sentenced [JURIST report] blogger Oham Viet Dao to 15 months in prison for posting articles criticizing the government. A month earlier the Supreme Peoples Court of Vietnam upheld [JURIST report] the conviction of US-trained lawyer Le Quoc Quan, a known anti-government activist. In the fall of 2013, Amnesty International (AI) [advocacy website] accused Vietnamese authorities [JURIST report] of using repressive laws against anti-government activists, and Human Rights Watch (HRW) [advocacy website] urged [JURIST report] the National Assembly of Vietnam to bring the countrys constitution in line with international human rights standards.
The Shell Project M car is the result of a technology partnership between Gordon Murray Design, Shell Lubricants and engine specialists Geo Technology. Over the past few years, the trio has co-engineered the cars body, engine and lubricants to minimise fuel use and CO2 emissions. It is hoped that by achieving a three-digit mpg number will inspire fresh thinking about personal mobility while minimising energy using existing technologies and materials. The space-age car recently showcased is a reengineered version of Gordon Murrays T25 city car, produced in 2010. To learn more about Project M and its potential, just-auto were among the first group to drive it.

Team work

The partners came together to design and build an ultra-compact, efficient car for city use based around the internal combustion engine. They have used novel aspects of lightweighting, streamlining and driveline efficiency. The last time the three parties worked together was way back in 1988 on Ayrton Sennas and Alain Prosts McLaren-Honda MP4/f F1 car.

Initiated by Shell, the collaboration is called Project M. In explaining the background to Project M, Bob Mainwaring, Shell Innovation Technology Manager, told just-auto: The world uses huge amounts of energy. About 90 percent is fossil fuels. Over time, we need to wean ourselves off that. But to achieve that, many people have to change many things and it takes many years. Our point is that [Project M] is achievable today without changes in infrastructure.

On the track

With the main presentations over, the concept car was carefully manoeuvred from its position centre stage to the city driving course at Millbrooks proving ground.

To get into the car, the futuristic front cabin area  that incorporates the windscreen, side windows and front of the roof  tilts forward to reveal three seats; the driver sits front, centre with passenger seats set close on either side. To get going required pushing the starter button, releasing the handbrake and selecting drive mode.

Although the prototype felt unfinished to drive  for instance, missing acoustical refinements such as floor carpet thereby making it feel quite loud at times  it is not intended for production. It does, however, have plenty of noteworthy technical advances.

Lightweight design

The most notable is its lightweight design that combines a low-cost recycled carbon fibre composite body with a steel tubular frame. This part of the car was thanks to Gordon Murray Designs iStream concept that enabled the team to build a car weighing in at 550kg, or about 250kg lighter than a Smart car and 80kg lighter than the original T25. The low-energy iStream manufacturing process uses lightweight materials to cut assembly costs, and reduces the capital investment required to produce a car.

The former McLaren F1 designer, Gordon Murray told just-auto: This project is based on the T25  that was our first demonstrator for iStream. It was never meant to be for sale but just a physical entity to showcase what iStream was. And we thought that we would optimise that. Working with Geo Technologies and Shell, I had to push the designers much harder on aero, waste saving and that has actually moved iStream on. We now have Yamaha and TVR using technologies from this car.

The partners say the cars body can be assembled for a quarter the price of a conventional steel car. They add that, if the exterior body had been made of steel then the number of parts required to produce the front clamshell would have been a minimum of five, which would require more mountings, fixings and surface split lines on the final car.

Its lightweight construction helps it achieve 107 mpg, tested at a steady speed of 45mph. At 2.5 metres in length, the car has a turning circle of six metres. Also worthy of note is that 3D printing was used to make certain parts of the car, including the dashboard. The digital instrument display and dour-mounted rear-view cameras add to the tomorrows world driving feel.

Engine innovations

Its lightweight design is also thanks to that fact that it does not incorporate heavy batteries or hybrid technology. Instead, the prototype uses a conventional petrol engine  teamed with an automatic transmission  mounted at the rear with custom made parts to reduce friction and improve performance.

Starting with a 660cc, three-cylinder engine from Mitsubishi, Geo Technology redesigned a number of the parts associated with friction. For example, the piston design was slimmed down to reduce weight and friction. The valve train components were coated with diamond-like carbon to minimise friction and preserve wear control. The compression ratio was raised to enhance efficiency at light load.

Lubricants

While the lightweight design and engine innovations conserve fuel, lubricants perform a similar role. Shell played its part by formulating an engine oil using the same technology as its Helix Ultra and Penzoil Platinum products. The result gives a five percent fuel economy improvement alone.

Generally-speaking, engine oil needs to be as thin as possible, for the purpose of fuel economy, yet thick enough to protect the engine under the harshest conditions. Shell uses its so-called PurePlus Technology, claiming that its viscosity changes less with temperature and it is more resistant to high temperature than conventional oils. So, for the Project M car, Shell used this technology base oil and incorporated additives, namely: detergents and dispersants for cleanliness, anti-wear additives to help reduce wear at low viscosities and antioxidants to keep the oil fresh. The net result is a very thin, high performance oil for fuel economy. To help give it protection and reduce friction, viscosity and friction modifiers were added.

Next steps

Executives we spoke to also emphasised their aim to use this project to both start and maintain conversations with the auto industry about how to make cars more energy efficient and less carbon intensive. As for the next steps, the partners say they are in serious discussions with a number of OEMs. Above all, they hope the insights gained from the project to date will directly influence how the auto industry addresses energy use in the road transport sector.

and
US snacks-to-cereal giant Kellogg has become a controlling shareholder in Brazilian snack maker Parati Group through its acquisition of Ritmo Investimentos.

Kellogg will pay BRL1.38bn (US$429m) for Ritmo, a Sao Lourenco do Oeste-based holding company. The company did not disclose the size of Ritmos stake in Parati.

The acquisition is Kelloggs largest to date in Latin America and the company said it furthers two strategic priorities, providing increased access to emerging markets and strengthening its global snacking platform.

Around half of Parati Groups BRL600m annual sales are generated by its snacking brands, including Parati, Padua, Minueto, Zoo Cartoon and Hot Cracker biscuits. The rest of the business is comprised of Trink powdered beverages, Parati Lamen instant noodles and Parati dried pasta.

With its outstanding portfolio of popular consumer brands, Parati Group is an excellent strategic fit for Kellogg and our business in Latin America, Kellogg chairman and CEO John Bryant said. Brazil is the largest economy in Latin America and this acquisition will allow us to accelerate our growth and improve our margins in the region. This means more growth for the core Parati Group business and our well-loved Kellogg brands.

Kellogg is likely to use Paratis extensive sales reach, with a sales force of approximately 1,300 people serving 60,000 customers directly in the country. In particular, Kellogg flagged Paratis strong presence in medium- or high-frequency stores, a sector that the US group said is critical to reach Brazils consumer base.

The combination of Paratis portfolio and sales and distribution capabilities with Kelloggs global resources  including innovation expertise, extensive shopper insights and customer marketing strength  provides tremendous opportunity. Bringing our companies together enables us to expand our footprint in a rapidly-growing market, Maria Fernanda Mejia, president of Kelloggs business in Latin America, said.

In order to finance the all-cash transaction and preserve financial flexibility, Kellogg said it intends to reduce its expected share repurchases in 2016 to $450-550m, versus previous guidance of $700-750m.

Nevertheless, the company stressed that the deal is expected to deliver value to shareholders. The profitability of this business, along with expected revenue and cost synergies, should create financial value for share owners relatively quickly, even accounting for an initially reduced level of share repurchases, Kellogg said. In 2016 and 2017, it is expected to be neutral to comparable earnings per share. One-time costs mean it will snip one cent off reported earnings per share, the company predicted. The deal is expected to be accretive to earnings in 2018 and beyond.

This latest deal is Kelloggs fourth emerging market acquisition in the last two years. The company has taken control of Bisco Misr and Mass Food Group in Egypt and acquired a stake in Multipro, which has operations in Nigeria and Ghana.
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Dallas, TX, USA, 10/13/2016 /SubmitPressRelease123/

Most of the time, if a person is found to be in the U.S. illegally, they are deported, reports immigration criminal lawyer John Helms. This means that they are sent back to their country of origin. If they are from Mexico, they are usually sent back to the closest point of entry to where they entered. For example, if they came through Laredo, they are taken to Laredo and escorted across the border.

Sometimes, though, the federal government charges a person found here illegally with the crime of Illegal Reentry. If the person is found guilty of illegal reentry, they may receive a lengthy prison sentence and THEN be deported.

This type of criminal charge can be very confusing to the accused and their family. I am often asked things like, Why are they charging my son with a crime? In the past, they just deported him. Or, a family member might say, I have heard of people being deported, but not being sent to prison. Why are they picking on my husband like this? It seems very unfair.

In order to understand why someone might be charged with a crime instead of just deported, you have to look at the persons circumstances. First, a person will only be charged with the crime of illegal reentry if they have already been deported at least once in the past. The crime is called illegal RE-entry, not illegal entry. This refers to the fact that the person must have RE-entered the United States AFTER having been already deported.

The U.S. government does not charge people with a crime and send them to prison if they have only entered the U.S. illegally once. If the government sent everyone to prison instead of deporting them, our already clogged courts and crowded prisons would be pushed to the breaking point. Instead, the government only charges someone with a crime if they are a repeat immigration offender.

Second, whether the accused has committed a crime in the United States is an important factor. The law does not require that the accused must have committed a prior crime, but many federal prosecutors will not charge the crime of illegal reentry without one. This is because of a policy in the offices of many federal prosecutors that federal resources should only be used to prosecute and potentially put people in prison if the person has previously committed a crime in addition to being here illegally and is therefore a threat to law and order. In fact, some prosecutors will only prosecute illegal reentry cases when the accused has previously committed a serious crimecalled an aggravated felony. This helps explain why some people could be deported more than once and why someone who has committed another crime might be charged with illegal reentry, educates immigration criminal lawyer Helms.

What if two people have both committed the same crime in the U.S., like DWI, and both have been deported before, but one was simply deported again? Does that mean that the other person cannot be charged with the crime of illegal reentry? The answer is, No. The law does not require that a person who commits a crime cannot be charged with the crime if another person who committed the same crime is not charged. Otherwise, if ONE prosecutor decided that government resources should not be used to prosecute a crime, then NO ONE could be charged with that crime in the future. U.S. law gives prosecutors a lot of leeway to decide which cases to charge and which ones they will not, and the law does not require prosecutors to be perfectly consistent.

This does not mean, however, that it does not matter at all that others in similar situations were not charged with illegal reentry. This can be a very persuasive argument that the accused should not receive a harsh PUNISHMENT. It is an argument that can be made to a judge when asking for a short time (or no time) in prison if the accused is found guilty.

In my experience, illegal reentry cases usually involve more than just the accused. There are often family members and loved ones who are affected, too. Part of a lawyers job is to help them understand the process and the options for their loved ones as well.

If you, a family member or someone you know has been charged with illegal reentry in the Dallas area, contact Dallas immigration criminal lawyer John Helms at (214) 666-8010 or fill out the online contact form. You can discuss your case, how the law may apply and your best legal options to protect your rights and freedom.

Press Contact:

John Helms

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Photo courtesy of Tony Webster

source: http://johnhelms.attorney/face-arrest-deportation-answers-immigration-criminal-lawyer-john-helms/

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OMAHA -- The strip club dancer decided it was time to distance herself from the regular customer she called "Dr. Tony," feeling he had been coming on to her a little too strongly.

"'You're too good for me -- I'm a bad girl, I like bad guys,'" Cecilia Hoffmann recalled telling Anthony Garcia. "He kind of looked at me and said, 'I'm really not that good. I've killed people.'"

Hoffmann suggested he must be joking, but he assured her it was true, she said. So she asked him to tell her about it.

"Well, it was an old woman and a young boy," she recalled him saying.

Hoffmann said she asked him why he did it, to which she said he replied: "Well, they deserved it. ... Maybe they didn't deserve it, but I had to and feel bad."

The dramatic testimony from Hoffmann Thursday morning marked the start of the eighth day of testimony in Garcia's trial in a pair of Omaha double homicides: the March 2008 killings of 11-year-old Thomas Hunter and 57-year-old Shirlee Sherman and the May 2013 deaths of Dr. Roger Brumback and his wife, both 65.

Garcia's credit card was used to purchase food at Wing Stop near 72nd and Pacific Streets on May 12, 2013. Prosecutors allege Garcia killed the Brumbacks later that afternoon.

Hoffmann testified she got to know Garcia while she worked at two Terre Haute, Indiana, strip clubs in 2012 and 2013.

Garcia, she said, would come in two to three times a week, and always had money to spend. She warmed up to him because she learned he would pay to have her dance for him, spending as much as $100 a night.

She would even call Garcia on slow nights to see if he would come in, she said. When he did come in, he would drink "a lot," she said.

"He became a regular of mine and someone I looked forward to seeing," she said. "I knew he would spend money on me."

As part of building that business relationship, she said she also sometimes would text him and suggest he take her out to her favorite restaurant.

Hoffmann said she could tell Garcia was becoming interested in her. Once, she said, he made a mock proposal to her in the club on bended knee.

Other times he put his arm around her or his hand on her thigh. He asked her for a kiss, which she declined. He repeatedly told her he dreamed that they had had a baby together.

She started to become uncomfortable with his overtures. And she said there was something else about him that didn't seem quite right.

"Even though he was always smiling and happy and seemed like this good guy, there was definitely something about him you could tell was off or weird," she testified. "He had this look in his eye, on his face behind the smile."

One day in about November 2012, she decided it was time to push Garcia away and let some other dancers at the club get his business. The two were in an outdoor smoking area at the club when she said she suggested she wasn't good enough for him.

In the end, she said she decided he must have been joking about killing the old woman and child.

But from that point on, they no longer were so close. She said she would say hi to him but would not go out of her way to get his business.

It wasn't until July 2013 when Omaha police detectives contacted her that she began to doubt that the conversation had been a joke. She had learned just days earlier about Garcia's arrest in four Omaha homicides.

Hoffmann, now 26, said at the time she worked at the club, she was addicted to drugs and was drinking. She said she has since turned her life around, serving as mother to two children and working at a restaurant.

"It's not a good part of my life," she said, "not anything I'm proud of or happy about."
Prize Committee Emphasizes His Research While Kellogg Professor

10/12/2016 - Economist and professor Bengt Holmstrom, who spent four years (1979-1983) on the faculty of the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, is one of two U.S.-based economists to be awarded the 2016 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences (the Academy). Holmstrom joined Kellogg at a time when economic theory scholars were rarely found among business school faculty, and went on to complete a significant amount of his Nobel Prize-winning work during his time here.

Holmstrom, who is currently a Professor of Economics and Management at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Sloan School of Management, shares the Nobel Prize in economics with Oliver Hart of Harvard University for their work on contract theory. Their work provides a comprehensive framework for analyzing many diverse issues in contractual design, like performance-based pay for top executives, deductibles and co-pays in insurance and the privatization of public-sector activities, the Academy said.

Modern economies are held together by innumerable contracts, the Academy added in its announcement. The new theoretical tools created by Hart and Holmstrom are valuable to the understanding of real-life contracts and institutions, as well as potential pitfalls in contract design. Kellogg's early investment in research that developed and applied these theoretical tools, which was manifested in the hiring of researchers such as Holmstrom and 2007 Nobel Laureate Roger Myerson, helped catalyze the creation of a field that has had a major impact on how markets and organizations structure incentives.

In awarding the 8 million Swedish kronor ($924,000) Nobel Prize for Economics, the academy cited Holmstroms seminal paper entitled Moral Hazard in Teams, which was published in the Bell Journal of Economics in autumn 1982 and explores the role of management in structuring incentives within organizations. Another paper cited by the Academy entitled Managerial Incentive Problems: A Dynamic Perspective was first published in 1982 and examined what happens when an employees salary does not explicitly depend on performance, but rather is motivated due to concerns about his career and future salary. The Wall Street Journal called it telling that much of Holmstroms early work began when he was a professor at Kellogg.

The Economist saluted Holmstroms work, stating that it applied a deeper analysis to the issue of performance pay, where hard work cannot always be observed properly. His work suggested that performance-based pay should be linked as much as possible to measures of managerial performance (such as the price of a companys share relative to those of its peers rather than the share price in isolation). But the more difficult it is to find good measures of performance, the closer a pay package should get to a simple fixed salary.

Holmstroms former Northwestern colleagues recall the economists early breakthrough work. Mark Satterthwaite, A.C. Buehler Professor in Hospital and Heath Services Management, a Professor of Strategy, and a Professor of Managerial Economics at Kellogg, recounted his first memory of meeting Holmstrom in the winter of 1979. Holmstrom was interviewing for a junior faculty position in the Managerial Economics and Decision Sciences (MEDS) Department: In the seminar he presented, with clarity and touches of sly humor, his paper, Moral Hazard and Observability, [published in spring 1979]. The Nobel committee cites it as establishing the foundation of principal-agent theory. I think all of us present immediately recognized the importance of his contribution, and Bengts truly unusual talent and insight, Satterthwaite said. Kellogg hired Holmstrom on the basis of this work, which ultimately became Holmstroms most highly-cited research.

Kellogg faculty also recalled how Holmstroms work has been foundational to coursework at the school and its influence is felt in ongoing research at MEDS and elsewhere at Kellogg.

Bengts contributions are wide-ranging, deep and highly relevant, said Thomas Hubbard, Elinor and H. Wendell Hobbs Professor of Management Professor of Strategy at Kellogg. His research provides a framework for understanding not only how incentives in contracts work both in isolation and in the broader context of an organization. For example, it underpins my empirical research on when firms outsource, and is the foundation for what I teach MBA students on this topic. Among Bengts many contributions is that he has helped us all understand when and why outsourcing creates economic value and when and why it doesnt.

Both Holmstrom and Hart are known for extensive writings on banking, financial markets and liquidity. Holmstrom is also the co-author of Inside and Outside Liquidity with Jean Tirole, who won the Nobel Prize in economics in 2014.
A Thai woman holding up a picture of the late King Bhumibol Adulyadej cries while waiting to pay her last respects to a passing van carrying the body of the king outside Grand Palace in Bangkok, Thailand Friday, Oct. 14, 2016. Bhumibol, the world's longest reigning monarch, died on Thursday at the age of 88. (AP Photo/Wason Wanichakorn)
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Rapper Classified poses for photographers as he arrives on the red carpet at the Juno Awards in Ottawa in an April 1, 2012, file photo. The popular Canadian rapper says he can't understand why a prominent lawyers' group is condemning his angry response to a controversial sexual-assault sentencing. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick
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A South Carolina jury awarded a woman $4,618,500 for a needlestick injury she sustained in the parking lot of a Target store.

She had parked her car, and while walking to the store, her daughter picked up a hypodermic needle. As she swatted the needle out of the childs hand, it punctured the womans palm. She went into the store and notified an employee.

HIV post-exposure prophylaxis medications were prescribed which she said rendered her sick and bedridden. Her husband had to take time off from work to care for her.

Hepatitis and HIV testing proved negative. Her lawyer asked Target for $12,000 to compensate her, but the store offered $750.

The plaintiffs attorney said, When we started this, we were just trying to get Target to make my client whole, to pay for her medical bills and the time that her husband had to take off work. We tried to be reasonable and not take this to trial. But Target took a really hard stance on it  and I think the jury sent a message.

Not surprisingly, Target is considering appealing the verdict.

I have some problems with this.

If the verdict stands, does it mean a store is responsible for anything left in its parking lot at any time? Should stores hire people to comb the premises 24/7? That seems overly burdensome.

There is an issue of possible negligence on the part of the plaintiff. Is swatting a needle out of the hand of a child a prudent thing to do? Is it ever OK to swat a needle?

South Carolina is a state that has a modified comparative fault law which means that the plaintiff and defendant can be held responsible for damages proportional to what a jury finds is each ones percentage of fault. This means the plaintiff could recover damages unless she is deemed responsible for 51 percent or more of the negligence that occurred. If she was found to have less responsibility than the defendant, her percentage would be deducted from the total amount awarded. Media reports of the case did not mention this issue.

What is the role of post-exposure prophylaxis in this situation?

Physicians and others at the Clinical Consultation Center at the University of California San Francisco have dealt with questions on post-exposure prophylaxis for HIV over 150,000 times. According to the Centers guidelines, the South Carolina case would be classified as a found needle resulting in possible exposure to blood from an unknown source person. The Centers website says, No documented cases of HIV transmission from a found needle outside of a healthcare setting in the U.S. have occurred. They generally do not recommend post-exposure HIV prophylaxis in these situations.

The UCSF guidelines do not address the risk of hepatitis in cases of found needle. For a needlestick from an unknown source, the CDC recommends only hepatitis B vaccine for those not previously immunized or who are hepatitis B antibody negative. There is no vaccine for Hepatitis C.

Since the plaintiff in this case suffered no permanent physical damage, the award seems disproportionate.

Was this fair? Will the verdict be reduced on appeal? What do you think?

Skeptical Scalpel is a surgeon who blogs at his self-titled site, Skeptical Scalpel. This article originally appears in Physicians Weekly.

Image credit: Shutterstock.com
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There is no feeling that is quite the same as the first day of school  a blend of excitement, nervousness, and uncertainty that almost every student experiences from first grade through college (and sometimes beyond). By now, Ive had a lot of first days in my life. Even so, when I officially started my clinical rotations just over three months ago, that all-too-familiar feeling of nervous excitement was reliably present.

In fact, what I didnt appreciate about the clinical years until recently is just how often these first days come around during third year. As Ive quickly learned, our clinical clerkships are known as rotations for a reason, and one of the unique aspects of being a third-year medical student is that we get to experience that first day of school feeling when we rotate to a new site every few weeks.

As it turns out, when we go to medical school to learn medicine, we are actually being exposed to a large number of distinct fields that all have their own unique working environments, practices, and expectations. My third-year journey began on the inpatient locked psychiatry unit, where medical equipment such as IV poles, cardiac monitors, and oxygen masks is notably absent. Our daily exams were focused on a patients mood, thoughts, and behaviors, and one of our goals was for the unit to remain quiet and to avoid overstimulation.

Skipping ahead, Im currently on my surgery rotation, where many of our patients are on hospital units where overstimulation is almost routine. Some patients have so many lines and monitors that the cacophony of beeping can be overwhelming and examining a patient requires untangling a handful of tubes and wires first. And rather than being concerned about a patients thoughts and behaviors, we find ourselves more worried about whether or not theyve been going to the bathroom.

The result is that while third year is a time of incredible discovery and excitement, its hard to escape the feeling that youre constantly starting over from step one. That one month of psychiatry experience asking patients about suicidal thoughts and behaviors is rewarding, but it doesnt help much when youre struggling to put on a pair of sterile gloves in the operating room. In that moment, it feels obvious that everybody else in the room has been doing their job for years, while youve been doing it for only days.

Ultimately, the most rewarding period of a rotation occurs once Ive had a couple weeks to adapt. I can finally get my sterile gloves on without missing a finger. I know all of the shortcuts and how to navigate my way around the the areas where we work. Most importantly, I understand what my team expects of me and what things to look for and report when I see my patients every day. Inevitably, at about the same time that I reach this point, the rotation ends, and its time for a new first day of school all over again. Oh, well  back to square one!

Nathaniel Fleming is a medical student who blogs at Scope, where this article originally appeared.

Image credit: Shutterstock.com
The academic, historian and archaeologist, John Bradley was remembered at a two day seminar, named after him at the weekend, writes Sean Keane.

And it was sad that on Sunday, one of his greatest supporters, writer Margery Brady of the Kilkenny Archeological Society passed away.

The success of the conference was best encapsulated by the remark of a young graduate from the North of Ireland who said: Each of the authorities I cited in my MA thesis is in this room tonight.

Even allowing for student exaggeration his comment encapsulated the incredible drawing power the late John Bradley among his peers in the area of Irish archaeology and related history.

More than 50 of the leading authorities on these topic gathered to pay tribute to the man. Certainly he was Kilkenny and perhaps Irelands most prolific historian and writer of his age. His corpus of published works includes 14 books and over 130 peer reviewed articles in many of Europes leading journals and reviews.

His contribution to uncovering the history of Kilkenny city and County features very largely in this impressive total.

It was totally fitting therefore that the weekend's proceedings commenced with a formal opening preformed by Cllr Matt Doran, Chairman Kilkenny County Council and facilitated by Senior Executive officer Mr Brian Tyrell.

The evening continued with a lecture delivered by Kilkenny born, Mr Con Manning of the Office of Public Works and former president of Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland. Friday evenings proceedings concluded with the Conference dinner held in the Club House Hotel, a favoured haunt of Johns during his frequent visits home.

Saturday saw Dr Angela Byrne of the University of Greenwich address the finding of a hitherto unknown visitor to Kilkenny in 1803, Mr John Lee.

Fortunately he recorded his visit here in great detail and especially his venture into Dunmore Cave.

The conference keynote address, kindly facilitated by the Heritage Council, was given by Dr Kieran O Connor, NUI Galway.

A personal friend of John Bradley, Dr O'Connor recalled Johns wide research and writings on Anglo- Norman Ireland.

Following lunch, Dr Pat Wallace, Director Emeritus, The National Museum held forth in his forthright, robust manner on the problems and aspirations of Irish archaeology.

He concluded his address with charming readings from many of Johns legendary post-cards from numerous locations in Europe and further afield.

These were full of insightful - and often humours - asides. In an at time emotional vote of thanks Professor George Eogan, retired Profession of Archaeology in UCD, and Johns first mentor, referred to the excitement he and fellow lecturers felt on first meeting this young man from Kilkenny on arrival in UCD who even then was clearly destined to loom large on the archaeology world stage.

The final lecture was delivered by Coilin O'Drisceoil of Kilkenny Archeology who spoke about the mediaeval walls of Kilkenny - the first subject that John had addressed in his lifetime and on which the first of his many published articles was based.

He was a mere 20 years old at the time the Kilkenny Archaeological Society published his findings in the Old Kilkenny Review.

This lecture was followed by Coilin leading the assembly on a walk to parts of the surviving city walls before focusing on the final remaining gate. This was another erudite, knowledgeable and informative exercise by Coilin and richly enjoyed by his enraptured audience.

A comment overheard at the conclusion was that the [archaeological] torch has been passed to a new generation and while we salute John Bradley it is fitting that the prowess of Coilin be acknowledged and equally be applauded.

Plans were announced for the second such conference in October 2017. John Bradley was an internationally renowned archaeologist, conservationist, medievalist, scholar, teacher and writer. His corpus of published works include 14 books and over 1000 per reviewed articles.

He was active in supervising BA, MA and PhD. Theses at Maynooth University, while his involvement with many publications under the auspices of the RSAI has added to that body. He travelled widely and his many writing and lecturing activities spanned numerous American engagements.

It was the realisation of his outstanding contribution to archaeology that is the catalyst for this memorial conference in his honour in his native city by Kilkenny Archaeological Society, with most welcome assistance from the RSAI and Kilkenny County Council.
SYDNEY, Oct 13 (Reuters) - Australia's central bank made a net profit of A$2.9 billion in the year to June ($2.2 billion) and is set to pay A$3.2 billion into government coffers in 2016/17, a useful contribution in the struggle to rein in budget deficits.

In its annual report, the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) said it made underlying earnings of A$1.2 billion in 2015/16 and A$3.4 billion in valuation gains from its reserves of foreign currency.

Of that A$4.6 billion in earnings, A$1.4 billion was transferred to the RBA's reserve fund which is used to offset any future losses.

That left A$3.2 billion as a dividend for the government and Treasurer Scott Morrison decided all of it should be paid in the 2016/17 year, the RBA said.

The Treasurer also requested a second dividend instalment of A$942 million from 2014/15 that had been scheduled to be paid in 2016/17, instead be paid in 2015/16.

The conservative government has been struggling to rein in its budget deficit in the face of sluggish revenues and rising expenditure.

(Reporting by Wayne Cole; Editing by Shri Navaratnam)
HANOI, Oct 13 (Reuters) - Here's a snapshot of Vietnamese dong exchange rates in the official and unofficial markets, indicative SJC gold prices in Hanoi and interbank offered rates at 0404 GMT.

Oct 13 Oct 12 USD/VND mid-point 22,012 21,997 USD/VND interbank 22,306/22,307 22,303/22,304 USD/VND unofficial 22,360/22,370 22,360/22,375 SJC gold (mln dong/tael) 35.43/35.69 35.47/35.73

Interbank offered rates Overnight 0.3-0.9 0.3-0.9

1 week 0.4-0.9 0.4-1.0

1 month 1.4-2.2 1.4-2.2

3 months 3.3-4.2 3.2-4.2

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)
BERLIN, Oct 13 (Reuters) - Talks between German supermarkets over whether to drop their opposition to the takeover of loss-making peer Kaiser's Tengelmann by Germany's largest supermarket group Edeka collapsed on Thursday, participants said, leaving Kaiser's, which employs 15,000, facing a breakup.

A takeover by unlisted Edeka was initially blocked by Germany's antitrust regulator in 2015, but that decision was overturned by Economy Minister Sigmar Gabriel on the condition that no jobs were lost.

Gabriel's move prompted the ire of rival supermarket groups who mounted and won a legal challenge to the merger. Trade union Verdi then called supermarket bosses together to try and negotiate a way of allowing the merger, but those talks broke down on Thursday.

"So far there has been no serious, verifiable and legally viable offer to Rewe for a constructive solution," Rewe chief executive Alain Caparros said in an emailed statement published on Thursday.

(Reporting by Andreas Cremer; Editing by Alexandra Hudson)
Thailand's King Bhumibol Adulyadej, who was the world's longest-reigning monarch, died in hospital on Thursday, the palace said in an announcement. He was 88.

King Bhumibol reigned for seven decades after ascending the throne in 1946. His loss will be deeply mourned in Thailand, where he was regarded as a pillar of stability during decades of political upheaval and rapid development .

The palace did not give a reason for his death but he has been sick in hospital with various ailments for much of the past year.

"His Majesty has passed away at Siriraj Hospital peacefully," the palace said, adding he died at 15:52 (0852 GMT).

His son and heir apparent, the 63-year old Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn, is expected to become Thailand's new king.

Parliament was due to meet in a special session later on Thursday after a meeting of the cabinet, a legislature official said.

Anxiety about the king's health and the succession has formed the backdrop to over a decade of political upheaval in Thailand that has included two coups.

More than 1,000 people gathered at the hospital where the king had been staying. Many of them started to cry as the news of his death broke.

"I feel so saddened by this news. He has given so many things to the country," said Apinut Jaroonpipatkul, a 25-year-old medical student.

King Bhumibol was seen as a force for unity, and there have long been concerns that without him the country's divisions could worsen.

That seems unlikely under the military government of Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha, who has kept a tight grip on power since toppling an elected government in 2014.

Prince Vajiralongkorn has yet to command the respect and adoration that his father drew after a lifetime on the throne.

He has kept a lower profile than King Bhumibol for most of his life but in the past two years took on more of the public duties the king was no longer able to perform. The prince divorced his third wife in 2014.

Thailand's strict lese-majeste laws has left little room for public discussion about the succession. It has been so long since Thailand has had a succession, there is no modern precedent.

Thailand is expected to be in mourning for months and possibly longer, and the prince's coronation will not take place until that mourning period is over. When the king's sister died in 2008, a 100-day mourning period was declared. She was cremated 10 months after her death.

The king was seen as head of an institution central to Thai identity and as a father-figure to the nation.

(Additional reporting by Amy Sawitta Lefevre, Panarat Thepgumpanat, Pracha Hariraksapitak, Patpicha Tanakasempipat and Pairat Temphairojana; Writing by Amy Sawitta Lefevre; Editing by Robert Birsel and Bill Tarrant.)
By Olga Popova and Alexander Winning

MOSCOW, Oct 13 (Reuters) - Russian equity capital market deals may expand by roughly one quarter to $2.5 billion next year as investor appetite picks up despite Western sanctions and a sluggish economic recovery, investment bank VTB Capital predicts.

The volume of Russian share placements collapsed in 2014 as the Ukraine conflict escalated, leading some banks to retrench from Russia as asset prices plunged and sanctions made it harder to do business.

Equity capital market (ECM) activity has been slow to recover, but a stabilisation of economic conditions this year and government plans to privatise stakes in several large state firms has raised hopes for a market turnaround.

"Already this year, if we're talking about the deals that have gone through including the Alrosa privatisation, we have more than $2 billion. And last year it was $1.8 billion," Dmitry Bolyasnikov, executive director for ECM at VTB Capital, told Reuters.

VTB Capital is part of VTB Group , Russia's second-largest bank. VTB Group is under Western sanctions over Russia's role in the Ukraine crisis that restrict its access to international capital.

Bolyasnikov said the roughly $2.5 billion of initial and secondary public offerings by Russian companies that he expects next year includes privatisation deals as well as five to seven companies which are looking at potential listings in Moscow.

His optimism contrasts with more sober comments by Finance Minister Anton Siluanov, who said on Wednesday that Russia did not have ambitious privatisation plans for 2017. "Investors are becoming more interested in issuers generating stable dividend flows, rather than companies promising fast growth," Bolyasnikov said.

Russian firms looking at placing shares include oil firm Russneft, while AFK Sistema retains plans for an IPO of its children's goods retailer Detsky Mir. Among privatisation deals which could involve selling shares on an exchange there are plans to sell stakes in shipping company Sovcomflot and VTB. The sale of a 10.9 percent stake in diamond company Alrosa was the only privatisation deal this year that involved placing shares publicly, as opposed to the direct sale of a controlling stake in Bashneft to rival oil producer Rosneft . (Reporting by Olga Popova and Alexander Winning; Editing by Andrey Ostroukh/Keith Weir)
By Andrea Hopkins

OTTAWA, Oct 13 (Reuters) - Canadian resale home prices rose in September from a month earlier while new home prices were up in August, separate reports showed on Thursday, suggesting that slowing sales in some regions have not yet cooled prices.

Prices for repeat sales of single-family homes rose 0.8 percent in September as the Toronto market continued to soar, while Vancouver prices inched higher even after a 15 percent tax was imposed on foreign buyers, according to the Teranet-National Bank Composite House Price Index.

Prices for so-called existing homes were up 11.7 percent from a year earlier, despite a cooling in oil-dependent Alberta, but gains have tapered off in many cities, the report showed.

A long boom in Toronto and Vancouver pushed the government to take another step last week to cool the market amid fears of a housing bubble. The September rise was not very broad-based, Teranet noted, with gains in only six of the 11 markets surveyed.

Canada's long housing boom has splintered into distinct regional markets, with Toronto still hot, the energy heartland of Alberta cool, and Vancouver softening after the government imposed a 15 percent foreign buyers tax in August.

A separate report from Statistics Canada showed prices for new homes rose 0.2 percent in August from July, the 17th consecutive increase, on continued strength in Toronto. Analysts in a Reuters poll had forecast a 0.3 percent gain.

The report, which measures the much smaller new home segment and is more dated, showed prices in the combined Toronto-Oshawa region, which accounts for 27.92 percent of the Canadian market, climbed by 0.7 percent. Builders cited market conditions and higher costs for materials as reasons for the gain.

Prices in Vancouver were unchanged from July.

The Teranet report showed September price gains were led by Toronto, which was up 2.2 percent, and nearby Hamilton, up 1.4 percent. Vancouver prices rose just 0.2 percent while Victoria prices climbed 1.1 percent in the month.

Vancouver's once-boiling market slowed in August after the foreign buyers tax was levied in response to complaints that wealthy investors, mostly from mainland China, had priced locals out of the market.

Prices in the west coast city were up 24 percent from a year ago, the Teranet report showed. Other double-digit year-over-year gains include a 17.9 percent rise in Victoria, a 16.4 percent gain in Toronto and a 13.1 percent in Hamilton.

(Additional reporting by David Ljunggren; Editing by Nick Zieminski)
SHARE Dan Schoonmaker

By Nathan Pilling, nathan.pilling@kitsapsun.com

POULSBO  Poulsbo has selected a new police chief.

Dan Schoonmaker, 49, the deputy chief in Westminster, California, will begin Dec. 5 in Poulsbo, according to a news release from the city.

Schoonmaker said he will take his time getting to know the department and community while figuring out his plans for the agency.

"My first priority is to get a feel for the department and take some time to learn about what's going on, what needs fixing, what needs improving," he said. "I'm someone who believes there's always something we can improve."

Schoonmaker, who has worked in California for 26 years, said he grew up in Bellevue and wanted to return to the Pacific Northwest as he approaches retirement age.

"It feels like a good fit," he said.

Mayor Becky Erickson described Schoonmaker as a "very bright professional and yet a real human touch to him."

"The piece that stood out was the level of professional courtesy," she said. "He was a true professional. He has that character that I was looking for, that strength, yet compassion."

Schoonmaker will be a steady hand for the department, according to Erickson.

Former Chief Al Townsend resigned in March amid allegations that he had a romantic relationship with a female officer in his department. Townsend wrote in his resignation letter that he believed he had become a "distraction" for the city and the department.

Schoonmaker will be paid an annual salary of $133,849, according to city human resources manager Deanna Kingery. He was selected out of three finalists. Seven candidates were selected for initial interviews out of 23 applicants.

Schoonmaker has served as a commander in Westminster's professional standards and patrol operations units and as a commander in the West Orange County SWAT team, patrol supervisor, detective, DARE officer and K-9 handler.

"We're excited to get him on board," Erickson said. "I think the community and our law enforcement officers will be very, very pleased."
Stuff reports:

An 11-year-old girl and her 9-year-old brother became homeless when their mother was sent to prison. Their grandmother Nanny Lisa Carter had given up her job to help look after them and until July this year they got by on $220 a week.

This is incorrect. If their grandmother has gone onto sole parent benefit she gets $326 a week from that and $157 a week family tax credit for a total of $483 a week  more than twice as much as claimed.

Also should point out that as both kids are at school, would be even better off with a part-time job as that would pay more than the benefit and you get the in work tax credit on top of that.

The family had been living together in a Housing New Zealand property, with Carters daughter as the tenant, before she was jailed in February for a handful of offences.

So the poverty is caused by the criminal offending.

Carter and her grandchildren had to move out. For three months they lived in motels, while they waited for a home to become available.

And why are we not told the nature of the criminal offending that meant they had to move out?

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The Herald reports:

Finance Minister Bill English has disputed reports Housing New Zealand is going broke, saying it has to significantly scale up its housing development and had a complete reassurance the Government would fund that. A Treasury paper showed Housing NZ was due to run out of cash for development and maintenance by February. English said that was because Housing NZ was moving from building 300 new houses a year to between 1000 and 2000. It had previously been able to pay for its building developments out of its revenue from rental subsidies. If theyre going to build 1000 or 2000 theyll need more money to fund it. It will probably need more support from Government to do that, just because of ramping up the building programme.

This is standard practice. If you want to expand from your normal activities, you need to finance the costs of any capital investment. You generally do that by either equity or debt.

English said it did not mean Housing NZ was in financial straits. Housing NZ is heading into a very strong expansion mode and, like any other business, as it expands it needs cash to finance its activities. Housing NZ is not going broke. This is an organisation with $20 billion in assets and $3-4 billion of liabilities, there is no way it is going broke.

Solid Energy is broke. Housing NZ is the reverse.

Earlier today, Labour MP Phil Twyford accused the Government of running the housing corporation into the ground. English has taken Housing New Zealand to the brink of financial ruin while at the same time publicly musing about getting it to build 30,000 extra state houses, Twyford said.

Twyford is talking nonsense. I suspect he has never worked in the private sector. He seems to not know the difference between needing to finance an expansion and financial ruin. God forbid if this is the state of Labours financial literacy.

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From Hansard:

I was privileged to be elected by my caucus to Cabinet in 1984 at the tender age of 31 years, which I think still makes me the youngest Cabinet Minister in New Zealands political history.

I think he is overlooking Deborah Morris, who became a Cabinet Minister at age 26 off memory.

Education was a challenging portfolio for all of those Ministers who have carried it out. I remember this cartoon. I inherited it from David Lange. It had David Lange floating down serenely on a parachute and had me plunging to the ground with this lead weight around my leg, called education. And David is calling Hows the portfolio going, Phil?

Heh.

One of the small changes that I made, looking back at my colleague who was also a Minister of Education, was the Education Amendment Bill in 1989. We enabled public institutions to take on international fee-paying students. It was not, Trevor, always the popular decision with all of my colleagues and with the education establishment. It was going to ruin education, I was told. International education today is a $3 billion enterprise that employs highly skilled people at high rates of pay, and again I was proud to be part of the group that made that change.

Strangely he does not mention his most significant educational reform  introducing fees for tertiary students. A policy he is now against today.

I was later privileged to become Minister of Defence. In that role, I was aware that, one day, I might have to explain to parents that their son or daughter had died in their countrys service. Sadly, the first New Zealander to die in Afghanistan was my nephew Matthew, who was serving with the 173rd airborne division of the American Army. Our family still keenly feels that loss 9 years on.

So sad.

I pay tribute to David Walker, who was my chief negotiator on the China free-trade talks. That was an amazing deal, to get the first free-trade agreement that any developed country had with China, and, Prime Minister, I think that that helped us immensely with the trebling of our exports, and that helped us not to sink into the severe recession that we might otherwise have suffered from.

It was Goffs greatest achievement. Very sad to see Labour turn their back on free trade now. Goff was the only Labour MP to back TPP.

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Stuff reports:

Compulsory voting for local elections  with fines for those who dont have their say  is worth considering to tackle record low turnout, Labour says.

Fewer than 40 per cent of eligible voters cast a ballot in last weekends local elections, leading to calls for action in order to reverse the downward trend.
Craig Bates joins Ripley PR as Director of Content

OCTOBER 12, 2016 at 8:42 p.m.





MARYVILLE, TN, /PRNewswire/ -- Ripley PR, a global public relations agency specializing in franchise and B2B located in Maryville, Tennessee, recently added Craig Bates to its growing team as the new director of content. With more than 25 years of experience in public relations, marketing and journalism, Bates will oversee the agency's content development.



"Craig is one of those rare people that has so much to offer an agency," said Heather Ripley, founder and CEO of Ripley PR. "We work in a variety of specialized industries to garner major national and international coverage and recognition for our clients, and Craig's unique mix of experience and his ability to write compelling marketing content makes him the perfect fit for helping our clients accomplish their goals."



Working for local and global companies, Bates' background includes TV and radio production, web and media management, copywriting, internet marketing management, trade show coordination and development, brand promotion and public relations.



"Ripley has such a strong and growing client base," said Bates. "I'm excited to be a part of the team and to help create new and engaging content for our clients. I've been fortunate to work with a number of different business verticals over the years, and I'm confident my background will serve the agency and our partners well. In addition, being able to work with the talented group of PR professionals at Ripley PR, including the amazing work done by our President, Heather Ripley, makes me excited about our future here".



Ripley PR, Inc. is a global B2B public relations agency using a blend of strategic business accounting and creative public relations branding to deliver measurable results. Specializing in construction, franchising, technology, home services and manufacturing, the agency offers a full range of strategic communication services, including crisis management, media relations and social media strategies. Ripley PR is a partner in IPREX, the $250 million network of communication agencies, with 1,800 staff and 120 offices worldwide. For more information, visit www.ripleypr.com or call 865-977-1973. Published October 12, 2016
Face of Defense: Airman Balances Family Life, Mission

By Air Force Senior Airman Janelle Patino

379th Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs

OCTOBER 12, 2016 at 9:40 p.m.





I wanted to fight for our country. I chose EOD because I wanted to keep our brothers and sisters in the service from getting killed by IEDs - Air Force Tech. Sgt. Kelly Badger





Air Force Tech. Sgt. Kelly Badger, a 379th Expeditionary Civil Engineer Squadron explosive ordnance disposal craftsman, uses a compact metal detector to interrogate an improvised explosive device he detected during a training exercise at Al Udeid Air Base, Qatar. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Janelle Patino





AL UDEID AIR BASE, Qatar  A 5-year-old boy stood in front of his kneeling father in a hotel room, the boy weighed down with 50 pounds of tactical body armor. The gear weighed more than the boy.



Air Force Tech. Sgt. Kelly Badger, an explosive ordnance disposal craftsman with the 379th Expeditionary Civil Engineer Squadron here, placed his hand on his encumbered sons shoulder and looked him in the eyes. It was a powerful moment between father and son.



A week earlier, the family attended the funeral of Badgers supervisor, Tech. Sgt. Daniel Douville, an EOD flight team leader. Douville and Badger previously deployed together in 2010.



Douville died June 26, 2011, when an improvised explosive device detonated as he was operating on it in a village of Afghanistans Helmand province. Douvilles team was part of a joint coalition under the United Kingdoms Operation Brimstone.



I remember my oldest son, Tristan, crying and telling me he doesnt want the bad guys to get me after we had left my supervisors funeral, Badger recalled. That moment broke my heart, but I have to be strong for them.



Badger kneeled before Tristan that night in their hotel room, both of them knowing he would leave for Afghanistan again the next day. Badger watched as his son struggled beneath the weight of his tactical vest and helmet. The boy also struggled to hold back his tears.





Service as a Calling



In that vulnerable moment with his son in the wake of the loss of a fellow EOD wingman, Badger knew he had to reassure his family of his training and determination.



I assured him that Im a fighter, and I wont let the bad guys get their dad, Badger said. My gear would keep me safe.



For Badger, joining the EOD flight was his calling. His focus and drive was to fight for his country, especially after the events of 9/11.



I wanted to fight for our country. I chose EOD because I wanted to keep our brothers and sisters in the service from getting killed by IEDs, Badger said. I chose to save lives even if it meant putting my own at risk.



The drive to serve runs deep in Badgers family. His brother, retired Air Force Staff Sgt. Mark Badger, was also an EOD technician. He is credited with eliminating more than 60 IEDs in 2010 during a deployment to Afghanistan before he was injured in an explosion while providing counter-IED support to an Army cavalry unit.





EOD Mission



EOD airmen are trained to detect, disarm, detonate and dispose of explosive threats all over the world. They are assigned to some of the most dangerous missions where they tactically perform harrowing and demanding tasks in diverse environments.



The EOD flight at Al Udeid Air Base supports the base by being trained and ready to respond to any emergency dealing with unexploded ordnance, aircraft crashes, IED threats or suspicious packages. EOD also works alongside and supports the Joint Special Operations Task Force mission by partnering with host-nation EOD units, to include the Qatari Internal Security Forces. The EOD flight also trains with joint service EOD units that are deployed to other locations throughout the U.S. Central Commands area of responsibility.



Although the deployed EOD mission is different compared to its stateside mission, airmen still deal with training. However, Badger points out, training here is more realistic due to equipment availability and natural environmental situations, such as the hot desert weather.



If we arent dealing with real-life incidents, we are training, he said. We get as much training with as many different situations as we can to gear up for future incidents, even if it means flying out to different locations throughout the region.



The need for constant, diverse training is critical. Badger reflected on one late-night call in Afghanistan. His team spent more than six freezing hours in an underground tunnel system after wading through waist-deep snowmelt to clear out an IED that was powerful enough to destroy a vehicle and swallow it in a hole 30 feet deep.



He credited proper training with helping him and his wingman and successfully clear the IED and save lives, even as they risked their own lives facing both the explosive device and hypothermia.





Families



Badger said he is grateful for and inspired by the strength of his family.



Because Im gone most of the time, I have missed special moments such as childbirths, birthdays and anniversaries, he said. But I am grateful, and I salute my wife for being strong and for taking care of business while Im gone. She is a great military spouse.



For Badger, he continues to do what he does not only for his immediate family, but also for his military family.



I do my job for my family back home and the airmen whom I serve with side-by-side, every day of my life, he said. The more I can help, train and share what I have learned throughout the years, the better and safer they will be, especially when they get called upon to go to combat. Published October 12, 2016
Fountain City: People Who Made a Difference





A Brown Bag Lecture & Book Signing with Dr. Jim Tumblin



In a Brown Bag Lecture on Thursday, October 20, local historian and Shopper columnist Dr. Jim Tumblin will discuss his new book, Fountain City: People Who Made a Difference, the history of Knoxvilles most fiercely independent community as told through the stories of 56 extraordinary citizens. From pioneers to civic leaders and selfless heroes, he shares the history of his beloved community written in the lives of its people. Beginning with the first permanent white settlement in 1788, Tumblin traces the establishment and growth of the area through the people and families who left a mark on what prior to the 1962 annexation by Knoxville, was one of the largest unincorporated cities in the United States. Books will be available for purchase, and Dr. Tumblin will be sign them following the lecture.



Dr. J.C. (Jim) Tumblin is a lifelong Fountain Citian and a 1944 graduate of Central High School. He holds a degree from the Illinois College of Optometry and practiced behavioral optometry in Fountain City for forty-six years. He is the past president of the Tennessee Optometric Association, the American Optometric Association, and the Optometric Extension Program Foundation. Dr. Tumblin has received multiple honors including the Tennessee Optometrist of the Year, the Fountain City Man of the Year, the Claude C. Myers Lifetime Achievement Award, the Fontinalis Award for Outstanding Contribution in Writing, and the Knoxville Central High School Wall of Fame, just to name a few. His regular history column appears in the Halls Shopper, and he is the co-author of Images of America: Fountain City.



The program is sponsored by Consolidated Nuclear Security, LLC and is free. The lecture will begin at noon at the East Tennessee History Center, 601 S. Gay Street, Knoxville. Guests are invited to bring a Brown Bag lunch and enjoy the lecture. Soft drinks will be available. For more information on the lecture, exhibitions, or museum hours, call 865-215-8824 or visit the website at www.EastTNHistory.org. Published October 12, 2016


















The labor union and management of Korea's top automaker Hyundai Motor reached a second tentative agreement on a wage increase on Wednesday, about two weeks after its unionists went on their first full strike in 12 years, rejecting a previously offered compromise.

Under the deal, the two sides agreed to increase basic pay by 72,000 won (US$64) plus a bonus of 350 percent and 3.3 million in cash for each worker, along with other benefits.

The automaker's union members are expected to decide whether to accept the agreement in a vote on Friday.

The tentative deal was reached a few weeks after the government said it might invoke its right to emergency arbitration to order the employees to return to work to minimize the impact on the country's overall economy.

By law, the government can intervene to suspend a walkout when it is related to public services, adversely affects the daily lives of the general public or jeopardizes the national economy. If enacted, the concerned parties are required to immediately suspend walkouts for the following 30 days.

Tensions have been rising as the unionized workers at Hyundai Motor Group threatened to stage a general strike if the government pushed forward with the measure.

Hyundai Motor's labor and management had reached a tentative agreement on Aug. 24 that would have raised the workers' monthly wages by 58,000 won plus a bonus of 350 percent and 3.3 million won in cash for each worker. The management also withdrew its demand for a wage peak system to be introduced, which had been one of the most contentious barriers in negotiations.

The compromise, however, was rejected by unionists, with 78.05 percent of the nearly 50,000 members voting against it. (Yonhap)
An inside view of Gong Cha at Hyundai Department Store Mokdong in southwestern Seoul.

/ Courtesy of Gong Cha Korea



By Park Jae-hyuk

Gong Cha Korea will raise its share in its parent company, Royal Tea Taiwan (RTT), up to 70 percent by January next year, the bubble tea-specialized franchise said Wednesday.

Gong Cha Korea signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with RTT shareholders in April to acquire the majority of shares of the parent company. The Korean branch currently has management rights of the Taiwan-based company, because it has owned a 35 percent stake since July.

Gong Cha Korea said it will buy an additional 35 percent by January, while RTT shareholders will continue to hold the remaining 30 percent.

Started in Taiwan in 2006, the bubble tea brand came here in 2012, after gaining huge popularity with Taiwanese consumers.

Former CEO Kim Yeo-jin and her husband established the first Korean franchise near Hongik University, western Seoul, at the time through a master franchise contract with RTT.

In 2014, the brand was acquired by the Japanese-based private equity fund, Unison Capital.

The number of Gong Cha stores in Korea is over 360 and their total sales in 2015 had grown 11 percent year-on-year. The sales of the Korean branch in 2015 tallied more than 59 billion won ($52 million) and its profit was 8 billion won.

After the acquisition, Gong Cha Korea will acquire over 1,380 stores in 18 countries worldwide. The brand has stores in the U.S., Canada, Australia, New Zealand, China, Japan, Singapore, the Philippines and Hong Kong among others.

The company plans to open stores in the Middle East and in Europe where the brand has not been established yet. It also plans to use more Korean ingredients instead of Taiwanese ingredients and provide them to the franchises worldwide.

Before Gong Cha Korea's acquisition of its parent company, other Korean branches of food and beverage brands had also purchased their parent companies. Mister Pizza acquired its Japan-based parent company in 2010 and Smoothie King acquired its U.S.-based parent company in 2012.
By Jhoo Dong-chan



Hyundai Motor is floundering in a sales slump amid the global downturn on the world market and a decline in demand on the domestic market with the termination of the government's consumption tax cut. The nation's largest automaker has also suffered a series of labor walkouts that have cost the company multitrillions of won in reduced car production.



Hyundai Motor and its sister Kia Motors' joint global sales volume is declining for the first time since 1998, and the ratio of the two automakers' operating profit to net sales has been halved in five years.



According to industry observers, Thursday, Hyundai Motor and Kia Motors will announce their sales performance for the third quarter on Oct. 27, and the figure in the quarter is expected to be the worst since 2010 when the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) system began to be applied.



HMC Investment Securities said Tuesday that their operating profits in the third quarter is expected to be 1.23 trillion won ($1.08 billion), down by 25.3 percent compared to the same period last year.



Hyundai Motor and Kia Motors' quarterly operating profits have passed their peak with 2.53 trillion won in the second quarter of 2012, then started slowing down in growth.



Hyundai Motor Group's global sales target of 8.13 million cars also seems impossible to achieve.



Hyundai Motor and Kia Motors have jointly sold a total of 5,621,910 cars during the January-September period, a 1.8 percent decline in volume year-on-year.



If this trend continues, by the end of this year the two automakers' global sales volume won't reach last year's figure of 8,015,745 cars. It would be the first time the two automakers experience a decline in global sales volume since the International Monetary Fund (IMF) crisis struck the country in 1998.



Hyundai Motor and Kia Motors jointly sold a total of 2 million cars in global sales in 1999, and has since posted steep growth to reach 5.74 million cars sold in 2010, 6.6 million in 2011, 7.12 million in 2012, 7.54 million in 2013 and 8 million in 2014.



Experts said the crisis is attributed to the downturn in emerging markets, including Brazil and Russia, and the Japanese automakers' price competitiveness with low value of the Japanese yen.



In China, the world's largest car market, Chinese automakers' rapid growth and challenge have toughened Hyundai Motor and Kia Motors' sales operation there. They jointly marked a double-digit market share in 2014, but have since plunged to 8.1 percent this year.



Along with low sales performance, the two automakers' operating profits have fallen as well.



Hyundai Motor's operating profit ratio to net sales peaked at 10.3 percent in 2011, but has since declined during the five years since then into 6.6 percent in the first half this year. Kia Motors also marked an 8.1 percent operating profit ratio in 2011, but has since fallen to 5.2 percent in the same period.



In the meantime, the two automakers have also suffered from domestic problems such as low sales demand and a labor dispute.



According to the Korea Automobile Manufacturers Association, the total number of cars sold in Korea declined by 12.1 percent in July compared to the same period last year. Sales in August also plunged by 10.6 percent year-on-year.



Added to these troubles is the labor dispute.



Demanding a massive wage hike, union workers at Hyundai Motor began an all-out strike for the first time in 12 years, paralyzing production at the nation's largest automaker's plants in Ulsan, Asan and Jeonju.



A series of walkouts has reportedly cost the automaker more than 3.1 trillion won in reduced car production. A total of Hyundai Motor's 380 subcontractors, mostly small and medium-sized businesses, suffered an approximate 1.3 trillion won loss in sales as well.



The company's management and labor tentatively reached a collective bargaining agreement once again Wednesday, but union workers still staged a partial walkout for two hours on Thursday.




By Yoon Ja-young



Korea Sale Festa, the government-initiated nationwide sales event, has succeeded in boosting the sales of retailers. Among them, duty free shops turned out to be the biggest beneficiaries.



According to a Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy survey of 54 retailers participating in the 11-day sales event that ran from Sept. 29 to Oct. 9, they saw a 10.1 percent sales increase on average compared with Oct. 1 to 11 last year when the country had the Korea Black Friday event. The government expanded the sales event this year, more than doubling and diversifying participating firms. It aimed at encouraging consumption to sustain the economy where exports have been falling on negative external factors.



Compared with 2014 when there was no such government-initiated sales event, the retailers saw sales jump 35.8 percent.



The event, however, didn't increase sales evenly among diverse retail channels. Duty free shops benefited most from the event, as their sales soared 29.5 percent compared with a year ago. They owe the success to Chinese tourists who visited Korean en masse during China's week-long national holiday, which overlapped with the sales event here. Chinese tourists are the biggest customers at the country's duty free shops. According to Fair Trade Commission (FTC) data submitted to Rep. Je Youn-kyung of the main opposition Minjoo Party of Korea (MPK), the country's top four duty free shops reported that over 60 percent of their total sales were to Chinese tourists.



The country's five major department stores  Lotte, Shinsegae, Hyundai, Galleria and AK  also had sales surge 8.7 percent from last year and by 29.8 percent from 2014. The increase, however, fell short of expectations due to the typhoon that hit the country from Oct. 4 to 6, according to the ministry.



Online shopping malls saw sales increase 12.3 percent, while retail outlets saw a 1.6 percent increase and convenience stores 15.8 percent.



A separate survey on traditional markets showed 64.4 percent of the merchants saying their sales increased during the period, up 18.5 percent.



Throughout the event, shoppers were especially drawn to home appliances, which saw sales surge 48.7 percent. Garments and fashion items, meanwhile, increased only 4.9 percent due to the warm weather. This year's event drew much attention as it had not only retailers but also manufacturers participating.



"Despite the typhoon, most retailers participating in the Korea Sale Festa saw sales increase. It was effective in boosting consumption," said Toh Kyung-hwan, deputy minister for industrial creativity and innovation at the ministry.



He noted that cultural and tourism events were especially helpful as they attracted foreign tourists who contributed to increasing sales.




By Yoon Ja-young



While the ruling and opposition parties are clashing over a corporate tax hike, the finance minister made it clear that the government is against raising taxes on businesses.



"It is not appropriate timing to raise corporate tax," Strategy and Finance Minister Yoo Il-ho said at a National Assembly audit, Thursday.



He said that the increasing gap between chaebol and SMEs should be resolved by a "fair trade act or changes in the corporate ecosystem instead of strengthening corporate tax on top businesses."



The remark comes amid escalating tension between parties regarding the corporate tax hike.



The ruling Saenuri Party is strongly protesting requests by some opposition lawmakers that National Assembly Speaker Chung Sye-kyun introduce a corporate tax hike directly to the National Assembly for voting. Generally, each issue should be discussed at committees within the parliament first, but the speaker is allowed to bring it in directly for voting in some exceptional circumstances.



If the corporate tax hike is put to a vote, it is likely to pass as the opposition parties, which have the majority, support an increase. The main opposition Minjoo Party of Korea submitted bills which aim at pulling up the corporate tax rate to 25 percent from 22 percent for those whose value surpasses 50 billion won. Those between 20 billion and 50 billion won will continue to be subject to the 22 percent tax rate. The minor opposition People's Party demands raising tax rate to 24 percent for those surpassing 20 billion won.



The country's corporate tax rate was lowered down to 22 percent from 25 percent during the former President Lee Myung-bak administration, which hoped that the tax cut would help boost the economy through a trickle-down effect.



The government and the ruling party say that the corporate tax hike will drive businesses to head overseas as other countries are slashing corporate tax rates. They also point out that the scrap of tax exemptions and tax cuts was as effective as a corporate tax hike.



Those demanding the tax hike, however, say that the effective tax rate of conglomerates is still much lower compared with other developed economies due to diverse tax exemptions and tax cuts. Some complain that individuals are shouldering heavier taxes than before while businesses are getting favors. Rep. Kim Hyun-mi of the Minjoo Party of Korea said that the government's income tax collection increased by 32.5 percent between 2012 and 2015 while its corporate tax income dropped by 2 percent. They also point out that the corporate tax cut didn't lead to job creation or investment.



"Korea has been in low burden, low welfare' state, but welfare spending will inevitably increase due to the aging of society and economic polarization. It is time to discuss how to fund this," said Prof. Kang Byung-goo of Inha University.



An official predicted that President Park Geun-hye may veto the tax hike even if it is approved at the National Assembly. "In that case, it will lead to a severe political confrontation," he added.




Classical Concerts



SAC 11am Concert'

Seoul Arts Center*

Until Dec. 8





On every second Thursday of each month, an "11am Concert" is performed at the Seoul Arts Center.

/ Courtesy of Seoul Arts Center



On every second Thursday of each month, an "11am Concert" will be performed at the Seoul Arts Center. Chong Park will host the shows with commentary, and coffee will be provided for free. With distinct soloists for each concert, the Korean Symphony Orchestra will perform at all of the concerts.

Tickets cost 20,000 to 25,000 won. For more information, visit sac.or.kr or call (02) 580-1300.

La Traviata'

Sejong Center for Performing Arts

Nov. 8-13

"La Traviata" directed by Henning Brockhaus and conducted by Sebastiano De Filippi will be performed at the Sejong Center for the Performing Arts from Nov. 8 to 13.

"La Traviata" is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi set to an Italian libretto by Francesco Maria Piave, and is known as one of opera's greatest romances. The November performances will feature baritone Carlo Guelfi as Giorgio Germont, tenor Luciano Ganci as Alfredo Germont and soprano Gladys Rossi as Violetta Valery.

Tickets cost 30,000 to 280,000 won. For more information, visit ticket.interpark.com or call (02) 587-1950.

Yang Sung-won's Chamber Story'

Sejong Center for the Performing Arts

Nov. 16

On Nov. 16, the Sejong Center for the Performing Arts will hold a chamber music concert. The center's chamber music series featuring Yang Sung-won is offered six times with four themes on a yearly basis along with top artists from Korea and abroad, such as Trio Owon, Enrico Pace and the Modigliani Quartet. The program includes Liszt's "Romance Oublie" and "La Lugubre Gondola," Chopin's Sonata for Cello and Piano in G minor and Rachmaninoff's Sonata for Cello and Piano in G minor.

Tickets cost 40,000 to 50,000 won. For more information, visit sejongpac.or.kr or call (02) 399-1000.

Big Tickets



Notre Dame de Paris'

Gyeonggi Arts Center

Oct. 14 to 16

French musical "Notre-Dame de Paris" based on the well-known novel "The Hunchback of Notre-Dame" will be performed at Gyeonggi Arts Center Oct. 14 to 16, following its Seoul performance.

With its beautiful numbers including "Le Temps des Cathedrals," "Belle" and "Vivre," the musical Notre Dame de Paris has drawn a vast number of audiences all over the world. Following the premiere in 2008, this year's Korean licensed performance will have Hong Kwang-ho, K-Will and Moon Jong-won playing Quasimodo and Yoon Gong-ju, Lina and Jeon Na-young playing Esmeralda.

Tickets cost 70,000 to 140,000 won. For more information, visit ticket.interpark.com or call (02) 541-6236.

Dorian Gray

Until Oct. 29

Seongnam Arts Center

The musical "Dorian Gray" is performed at the Opera House of Seongnam Arts Center until Oct. 29.

"Dorian Gray" is a musical adaptation of Oscar Wilde's 19th century novel "The Picture of Dorian Gray," featuring K-pop star Kim Jun-su in the title role of Gray, a young British aristocrat who achieves everlasting youth through an enchanted painting. The musical is scripted by Cho Yong-shin and directed by Lee Gi-na, with music composed by Kim Moon-jeong. Park Eun-tae, Choi Jae-woong and Hong Seo-yong also star.

Tickets cost 50,000 to 140,000 won. For more information, visit ticket.interpark.com or call 1577-3363.

Pop & Jazz



Grand Mint Festival 2016

Olympic Park

Oct. 22 to 23

This year's Grand Mint Festival (GMF) will be held at Olympic Park Oct. 22 to 23.

GMF is one of Korea's music festivals introducing a wide range of popular domestic music. Marking its 10th anniversary, the festival will present its widest and biggest lineup yet, with acts like Sweet Sorrow, Kwak Jin-eon, Kim Sa-wol, No Reply, 10cm, Urban Zakapa, Jung Jae-hyung, Toy, Lucid Paul, Peppertones, Lee Jin-ah, Daybreak, ZionT, Nell, Broccoli You Too, Kingston Rudieska, Kiha & Faces and Clazziquai Project.

A one-day pass costs 99,000 won, and a two-day pass costs 158,000 won. For more information, visit mintpaper.co.kr or call 1544-1555.

Plays & Musicals



Phantom'

Blue Square

Nov. 26-Feb. 26, 2017





"Phantom" starring Park Hyo-shin will be performed at the Blue Square Samsung Electronics

Hall. / Courtesy of EMK Musical Company



"Phantom," a musical adaptation of Gaston Leroux's novel "Phantom of the Opera," will be performed at Blue Square Samsung Electronics Hall from Nov. 26 to Feb. 26.

"Phantom" is about Erik, a mysterious man living in the dark cellar of a Paris opera house. One day he hears someone singing and is enchanted by her heavenly voice. Discovering that the voice was of Christine Daee, he decides to make her the new diva of the Opera Theatre and begins to give her secret lessons every night. With the help of Erik, Christine has her debut, but it is ruined by Carlotta. Erik seeks revenge on her.

Park Hyo-shin, Park Eun-tae and Jeon Dong-suk star as Erik, the Phantom. Kim So-hyun, Kim Soon-young and Lee Ji-hye share the role of Christine Daee, and Jeong Young-ju and Shin Young-sook will alternate for Carlotta.

Tickets cost 60,000 to 140,000 won. For more information, visit ticket.interpark.com or call 1577-6478.

Hamlet the Play

Chungmu Art Center

Until Oct. 16

One of the most famous dramas of all time, William Shakespeare's "Hamlet" will be staged at Chungmu Art Center from Aug. 2 to Oct. 16.

It will follow the plot of the original work: Prince Hamlet learns that his father has died and his mother has remarried his uncle Claudius who is now the king. The ghost of Hamlet's father appears and tells his son that he was murdered by Claudius, so Hamlet vows vengeance. Hamlet the Play is planned to include a few additional characters, in order to make the tragic story of Hamlet more dreadful. Kim Kang-woo, Kim Dong-won will play the title role of Hamlet, and Lee Kahp-sun and Kim Dae-ryung will play Claudius.

Tickets cost 30,000 to 60,000 won. For more information, visit ticket.interpark.com or call (02) 766-6007.

Hamlet

LG Arts Center

October 14





William Shakespeare's "Hamlet" will be staged at Chungmu Art Center from Aug. 2 to Oct. 16.

/ Courtesy of The Best Play Inc.



Danish theatrical group Theatre Republique and British band The Tiger Lillies are turning Shakespeare's "Hamlet" into an explosion of music and images. The magical combination of the exceptional and eerie music of The Tiger Lillies and the creative imagination of Theatre Republique compliments Shakespeare's potent drama of contempt, love and revenge. Presented on stage is a two-hour blast of theatrical seduction, deception, death, dark humor and the utter futility of existence. This performance will display an innovative and unconventional take on the original play.

Tickets cost 40,000 to 80,000 won. For more information, visit lgart.com or call (02) 2005-0114.

Kinky Boots

Blue Square

Until Nov. 13

The Broadway musical "Kinky Boots" returns to Seoul after its Korean premiere in 2014. It will be held at Blue Square Samsung Electronics Hall Sept. 2 to Nov. 13.

Based on the book by Harvey Fierstein and with music and lyrics by Tony, Emmy and Grammy-winner Cyndi Lauper, the musical tells the true story of Charlie Price who goes to oddly extreme ends to save his father's shoe factory. This year's local rendition of "Kinky Boots" features Lee Ji-hoon and Kim Ho-young as Charlie, Jung Sung-hwa and Kang Hong-suk as Lola, Kim Ji-woo as Lauren, Ko Chang-suk and Shim Jae-hyun as Don. Shin Ui-jung, Lee Woo-seung, Kwon Yong-kook, Song Yoo-taekand Jang Ye-won also star.

Tickets cost 60,000 to 140,000 won. For more information, visit ticket.interpark.com or call 1544-1555.

Ham-ik

Sejong Center for Performing Arts

Until Oct. 16

The Seoul Metropolitan Theater will perform "Ham-ik" at the Sejong M Theater from Sept. 30 to Oct. 16.

"Ham-ik" is a newly created adaptation of Shakespeare's "Hamlet," applying the drama of the original play into the world of two female characters. The play features Choi Nara, Lee Ji-yeon, Kang Shin-gu, Yoon na-moo and Hwang Sung-dae.

Tickets cost 20,000 to 50,000 won. For more information, visit sejongpac.or.kr or call (02) 399-1000 or 1544-1555.

Dance



Sleeping Beauty

Seoul Arts Center

Nov. 3 to 6

"Sleeping Beauty" will be performed by Korean National Ballet at Seoul Arts Center's Opera House Nov. 3 to 6.

The Korean National Ballet performed Rudolf Nureyev's rendition of "Sleeping Beauty" in 2004, and it is back with a different take on the classic fairy tale. This year's performance is choreographed by Marcia Haydee who is a former prima ballerina of Stuttgart Ballet.

Tickets cost 5,000 to 100,000 won. For more information, visit sac.or.kr or call (02) 587-6181.

Clubs



Club Octagon

Nonhyeon

Near the New Hilltop Hotel in Nonhyeon, this club is notable for its stylish interior and elite clientele. The club offers a stage, lounge bar and dining area to satisfy any night out after work or on the weekend. It is near exit 4 of Hakdong Station on subway line 7. For more information, call (02) 516-8847.

Club Globe Lounge

Itaewon

Club Globe Lounge is famous among women looking for a place to throw birthday parties or enjoy a light dinner. From 7 p.m. to 10 p.m., it serves as a bar, changing into a club after 10 p.m. Every Thursday, Club Globe Lounge has a Happy Hour buffet for guests. Club Globe Lounge is located near the Hamilton Hotel by exit 2 of Itaewon Station, subway line 6. For more information, call (02) 792-1127.

Club Evans

Hongik University

Club Evans is a live jazz club that has served as a platform for emerging jazz artists for a decade. It operates jazz recording studios and a jazz academy as well, producing albums for many local jazz artists. Club Evans provides jazz concerts and leads music sessions every Monday and Tuesday. Club Evans is located near exit 1 of Sangsu Station, subway line 6. It opens at 7:30 p.m. For more information, visit clubevans.com or call (02) 337-8361.

Once in a Blue Moon

Apgujeong

Once in a Blue Moon is one of the best-known and well-established jazz clubs in the city. It features live jazz sets from two different bands every night, usually starting at 7:30 p.m. It is located between the Hakdong Intersection and Galleria Department Store in the posh district of Apgujeong. For more information, visit onceinabluemoon.co.kr or call (02) 549-5490.

Club Answer

Cheongdam

Club Answer, chosen as one of the five hottest clubs in Seoul by CNN, provides a spacious interior and brilliant lighting system with entertaining DJs on stage nightly. Club Answer is in the classy area of Cheongdam, a district known to lead the party culture of Seoul. It is located near exit 13 of Cheongdam Station on subway line 7. For more information, call (02) 514-4311.

Club Double Eight

Sinsa

Opened in 2010, Club Double Eight takes clubbing to its heights. Located in Gangnam, it provides diverse hotel promotions and features weekend lineups with exuberant DJs. It is located near exit 1 of Sinsa Station on Line 3. For more information, call (02) 543-8803.




A decorated tree for this year's Halloween season stands near the entrance of Everland in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province. / Korea Times photos by Jung Min-ho



Everland offers scary attractions to try, if you dare

By Jung Min-ho

Seventeen years ago, a little girl was mauled to death by a lion during her picnic at a safari park. Her parents and a zookeeper ended up killing themselves out of guilt and the park was closed permanently.

This is the (fictional) story behind the Horror Safari, which opened last month at Everland for this year's Halloween season (Sept. 8 to Oct. 31). The park of dozens of zombies is waiting to be explored, if you think you are brave enough for a visit.

During daytime hours, visitors can see lions, tigers and bears at the safari park. But after the sun goes down, zombies take over the place.





Visitors wait in line to enter the Horror Maze.



The Horror Safari trip begins in a bus with spooky music as well as a guide, who will scare you and make you laugh during the 30-minute journey.

The guide explains weird things that happened at the safari park, following the young girl's death, while the bus makes a few stops for things you need to see. Brace for zombies that may come very near you at any moment.

At the end of the journey, the bus stops in front of a shrine surrounded by candles. There, the guide takes a passenger out of the bus to check out the place. If you want to be chosen, do not sit too far from the front door.





The entrance of the Horror Village



When the bus stops at a fallen tree blocking the road, the highlight begins. Passengers have to get off the bus and walk to the exit. Zombies and other scary things, including a chainsaw murderer, are waiting for you.

A few minutes of walking can take you to the exit door. But, keep in mind that it isn't over until it's over.

The attraction runs from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. with an extra cost of 5,000 won ($4.5).

Ghost decorations





Horror Maze

For those who feel the Horror Safari isn't enough, they can try the Horror Maze within the Horror Village.

The attraction offers a different kind of scare, which can be summed up in three ways  darkness, enclosed spaces and only few people around you.

A leader of a group four or five people is given a flashlight that barely works, and the mission is to go through the maze to find the exit.

In each room, scary creatures wait for you. With their looks and sounds, they startle you when you are not ready. If you want to enjoy the experience to the fullest, stand in the front or at the back of the line.

If you feel that you cannot make it to the end, you are advised to make an X sign, and some people do appreciate the option to give up in the middle. Children younger than 15 years old are not allowed to enter the maze.

The attraction runs from noon to 9 p.m. with an extra cost of 5,000 won.

Wearing costumes and makeup

Halloween events are in full swing at Everland, where visitors can see elaborate decorations, theme parks, enjoy special food and other attractions.

Not everything is super scary. Visitors can enjoy the Halloween season in their own ways. Many people take photos with special decorations and "ghosts" across the amusement park.

In the Horror Village, you may see people wearing costumes and makeup for themselves. If you want to join them, you can get makeup services and rent costumes from the Salon de Madame Zombie in the village. The place offers creepy makeup and 200 costumes of 15 kinds.
Members of Lawyers for a Democratic Society enter the Constitutional Court in Seoul, Thursday, to ask the court to review whether a district court's approval for an autopsy on Baek Nam-ki, an activist who died last month, infringes on the family's rights to dispose of the body as they wish. / Yonhap



By Jung Min-ho

A group of lawyers has filed a petition with the Constitutional Court, Thursday, claiming that a district court's approval for the autopsy of a dead protester's body infringed on the bereaved family's right to dispose of the body of their own accord.

On behalf of the family of Baek Nam-ki, a farmer who died last month following 10 months in a coma after being hit by a police water cannon, the Lawyers for a Democratic Society said Thursday that it asked the court to review the autopsy warrant's constitutionality.

The activist group also applied for an injunction to suspend the autopsy warrant, issued by the Seoul Central District Court on Sept. 28, until the Constitutional Court's ruling.

"The police and the prosecution plan to push ahead with the autopsy despite the family's repeated requests not to do so," a representative of the group told reporters in front of the Constitutional Court. "The autopsy warrant infringed on the family's right to dispose of the body by their own will."

He said the cause of Baek's death is obvious, meaning injury from the water cannon, so the autopsy is not necessary at all. "We can't let the offender  the state  damage the deceased person's body again under the name of performing an autopsy. The petition is the very least to respect Baek and his family."

After Baek's doctor made the controversial conclusion that he died of cardiopulmonary arrest, not from the water cannon, the prosecution requested an autopsy warrant to figure out exactly what caused him to die.

However, many people, including his family, believe police and prosecutors are trying to manipulate scientific facts to simply cover up what they did to him.

Many medical officials say cardiopulmonary arrest cannot be the cause of death, saying it is just the final symptom for every patient on the point of death.

The farmer's daughter, Baek Minjuhwa, said, "I cannot let those who killed my father determine how he died." She made it clear that all of his family members strongly object to the autopsy.

Many protesters and his family have been staying at a funeral hall in the Seoul National University Hospital in an effort to prevent police from taking his body.

Police said they will try their best to convince the family to cooperate with law enforcement before the autopsy warrant expires on Oct. 25.

In the meantime, the prosecution questioned former Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency Chief Goo Eun-soo, who was in charge of the police force during the rally last November, about where Baek was hit by the water cannon, Wednesday.

Baek's family filed a complaint with the prosecution against Goo last year after the rally. But the prosecution summoned him only recently and secretly, and announced this on Thursday. He was questioned over who was instructing about the use of the water cannon.
South Korean parties criticized China on Thursday for being reluctant to express an apology for the sinking of a Coast Guard speedboat by one of its fishing vessels, adding Beijing should take serious steps to curb illegal activities by its fishermen.

Last week, a Chinese fishing vessel that was illegally operating in the South Korean exclusive economic zone (EEZ) in the Yellow Sea slammed into a 4.5-ton speedboat belonging to the Coast Guard while it was carrying out a crackdown operation. No one was hurt, but the boat sank causing indignation in South Korea.

Instead of expressing an apology, China's foreign ministry said South Korea should not take any actions that could harm the safety of Chinese citizens. This further escalated tension between Seoul and Beijing on the long-drawn issue of Chinese boats operating illegally in South Korean waters.

"The issue must be settled for the future of Seoul-Beijing ties," Rep. Won Yoo-chul of the ruling Saenuri Party said.

"China must respect the international law. It must take firm actions against Chinese boats that enter the South Korean EEZ without permission," party spokesman Kim Sung-won said.

Rep. Woo Sang-ho, the floor leader of the main opposition Minjoo Party of Korea (MPK) echoed the view, pointing out that the Chinese government's attitude could harm the two countries' relationship.

Rep. Choo Mi-ae, the head of the MPK, however, said South Korea should reconsider its plan to use firearms to tackle illegal fishing operations, adding the Coast Guard should seek more peaceful measures.

Amid the escalating tension between Seoul and Beijing surrounding the issue, a latest poll showed more South Koreans are more supportive of using firearms against such boats, even if it may lead to diplomatic tension.

According to the survey conducted by Real Meter on Wednesday, 61.3 percent of South Koreans supported the use of firearms against law-breaking Chinese boats, while 33.7 percent said Seoul should seek a diplomatic solution. (Yonhap)
By Kang Seung-woo

Three Koreans  two males and one female  have been found shot dead in the Philippines, the foreign ministry said, Thursday.

The number of Koreans killed in the Southeast Asian country has reached six so far this year.

"Three Koreans were found dead with gunshot wounds to their heads on Tuesday morning near a sugar cane farm in Bacolor," a ministry official said.

The small town of Bacolor, with a population of 20,000, is about 75 kilometers northwest of Manila.

"Along with the gunshot wounds, one male victim was found to have his legs bound with tape, while the body of the female was found at a distance from the two others with her wrists tied," the official added.

According to the ministry, the Philippines' Criminal Investigation Bureau sent their fingerprints for verification to Korea and the National Police Agency confirmed that they are all Koreans in their 40s and 50s.

However, the ministry has no clues as to the motive for the triple homicide.

"The Korean embassy in Manila is working closely with local police to figure out the exact circumstances of their death," the official said.

Koreans have increasingly been targets of crime in the Philippines of late.

According to the foreign ministry, 12 Koreans were killed there in 2013, followed by 10 in 2014 and 11 in 2015.

In May of this year, a 57-year-old Korean missionary, surnamed Shim, was killed after being attacked with a blunt weapon inside his home, and a 32-year-old man was shot dead in the Philippines.

Amid increasing crimes against Korean people, the ministry has installed a "Korean Desk" with the Philippine National Police to better tackle Korean-targeted crime.
BRICS is no longer just an economic grouping but is fast emerging as a political force in global decision-making. Some BRICS members have no doubt been affected by the continuing global financial crisis recently, yet they show clear signs of a rebound confirmed by the most recent Global Economic Competitiveness Report 2016-2017 of the World Economic Forum, setting the stage by raising the morale of the BRICS leaders. more>>
Main opposition Minjoo Party of Korea chairwoman Choo Mi-ae, front row third from left, and her fellow lawmakers denounce the prosecution over its indictment of Choo during a party meeting at the National Assembly, Thursday.

/ Korea Times photo by Oh Dae-geun



By Kim Hyo-jin



The main opposition Minjoo Party of Korea (MPK) slammed the prosecution, Thursday, over its indictment of Chairwoman Rep. Choo Mi-ae on charges of election law violations the previous day.



The party claimed that behind this "witch-hunting" is senior presidential secretary for civil affairs Woo Byung-woo  and possibly President Park Geun-hye.



"The prosecution  yet again  has become a loyal, savage dog for those in power," Rep. Woo Sang-ho, the party's floor leader, said in a statement.



In a party meeting, senior members vowed an all-out struggle against the prosecution and agreed to launch a special committee to come up with plans to reform it.



The strong reaction came a day after the prosecution indicted Choo and 12 other senior party members on charges of violating election rules during the April 13 general election.



An aide of National Assembly Speaker Chung Sye-kyun, a former MPK member, was also indicted on charges of illegal campaigning. The speaker has been at loggerheads with the ruling party, which claims he violated political neutrality by siding with opposition parties.



MPK lawmakers charged that the prosecution is targeting opposition members to overshadow ongoing corruption scandals linked to presidential aides.



The opposition bloc has zeroed in on suspicions surrounding civil affairs secretary Woo and the Mir and K-Sports foundations allegedly controlled by Choi Soon-sil, a long-time friend of the President, during Assembly audit sessions.



The MPK leader accused the prosecution of abusing its power in a bid to distract public attention from the ongoing scandals.



"The prosecution has made false, concocted indictments, becoming a servant of the authorities," Choo said during an emergency party meeting. "It intended to cover up scandals involving Choi Soon-sil and Woo Byung-woo."



The prosecution claimed Choo deceived voters by spreading false information during her campaign. It took issue with campaign leaflets saying she contributed to keeping the Seoul Eastern District Court in her constituency Gwangjin-gu, Seoul.

She denied the accusation.



Rep. Woo, the party's floor leader, lashed out at the prosecution's move, calling it a "retaliatory step" against the opposition.



"There has been no example where the opposition leader, chief policymaker, spokesman, and four-term senior lawmakers were collectively indicted," he said. "If the prosecution adopted the same standard on us as it did on ruling party lawmakers, we would have not raised questions about it."



On Wednesday, the prosecution cleared influence-peddling suspicions against the Saenuri Party's Choi Kyung-hwan, the de-facto leader of the party's pro-Park faction, and Rep. Yoon Sang-hyun, a loyalist to the President.



They were embroiled in controversy after a local broadcaster disclosed the recordings of private phone conversations between the Park loyalists and a candidate hopeful in the run-up to the April 13 general election.



In the recording aired by TV Chosun, Choi and Yoon pressured ex-lawmaker Kim Sung-hoi to withdraw his bid to run in the constituency where Suh Chung-won, another Park confidant, was planning to run.
Korean violinist Kwun Hyuk-joo / Korea Times file



By Hong Dam-young

Famous Korean violinist Kwun Hyuk-joo died of a heart attack in a taxi early Wednesday, on his way to a Busan hotel just hours before a recital.

Kwun, 31, became unconscious in the back of the taxi at 12:10 a.m. He was returning to the hotel in Haeundae after drinking with friends in the city's Nam-gu district, according to Yonhap news agency.

The taxi driver thought Kwun was asleep. But he called 119 when he arrived at the hotel 12:30 a.m. and found Kwun was not breathing.

Kwun was taken to a nearby hospital but died.

Kwun arrived in Busan from Seoul on Tuesday to play with Korea's UM Chamber Orchestra at the Busan Cultural Center on Wednesday night. The performance was postponed indefinitely because of his death.

An autopsy revealed Kwon died of sudden cardiac arrest.

Police found in Kwun's violin case what appeared to be drugs for arrhythmia. But the investigation has concluded the drugs are not linked to his death.

"He had symptoms of arrhythmia but I assume his health has deteriorated recently due to fatigue from a heavy schedule," a friend said.

Kwun, who started playing the violin at the age of three and studied in Moscow, was the first Korean to win the Carl Nielsen International Violin Competition, in 2004 in Denmark.
Presidential panel supports presence of tactical weapons



By Kang Seung-woo



South Korea should consider asking the United States to redeploy its tactical nuclear weapons on the Korean Peninsula to counter North Korea's nuclear and missile threats, a presidential advisory panel said Thursday.



The National Unification Advisory Council (NUAC) made the request ahead of a meeting with President Park Geun-hye at Cheong Wa Dae.



In a report, the council said, "The presence of U.S. tactical nuclear weapons as well as its advanced strategic assets in South Korea could help deter North Korea and play a role in pressing China to join international sanctions on the North."



It also mentioned the U.S. deployment of Pershing II missiles in Europe in the 1980s, which acted as a counterbalance to the Soviet Union's SS-20 missiles pointed at Europe and led the Soviet Union to dismantle its missiles, which partly contributed to the superpower's collapse.



In the wake of Pyongyang's two nuclear tests and numerous ballistic missile tests this year, calls for the redeployment of U.S. tactical nuclear weapons to the South are emerging here _ withdrawn from the Korean Peninsula shortly before an inter-Korean denuclearization accord took effect in 1992.



However, President Park has reiterated her commitment to keeping the peninsula free of nuclear weapons, saying that Seoul is covered under the nuclear umbrella of the United States.



Sung Kim, the U.S. special representative for North Korea policy, also said last month that President Park and U.S. President Barack Obama "have determined that there is no need to reintroduce nuclear weapons on the peninsula."



The panel also proposed setting up a domestic expert group to evaluate the efficacy of international sanctions.



"In order to change North Korea's behavior toward denuclearization, the international community's sanctions are expected to extend over a long period of time. To prepare for a possible extension, we need a comprehensive system to assess how much the punishment sees effects," it said.



"Like the United Nations Security Council's North Korea Sanctions Committee, there needs to be a domestic equivalent to strengthen monitoring."



The advisory council also said the government needs to support North Korea's ordinary people on humanitarian grounds.



"Humanitarian aid is a policy that can approach the North, distinguishing the North Korean authorities from the people, and it can also assure the people that sanctions are not targeting them," it said.



Following the North's fourth nuclear test in January, the government banned inter-Korean exchanges at the non-government level and South Korean citizens' visits to the North because of concerns that its humanitarian aid may end up being diverted to the North Korean government and the development of its nuclear weapons program.



"Humanitarian aid needs to match international standards not to weaken sanctions on the North and the government needs to consider establishing a system to decide items that can be shipped to the North."



Meanwhile, President Park met with overseas members of the advisory council at Cheong Wa Dae. Some 530 advisers from 92 countries in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Russia and Central Asia attended the meeting.



During the meeting, Park received a briefing on the advisory panel's activities such as criticizing the repressive state's recent nuclear test and missile provocations and shedding light on its woeful human rights record, according to the presidential office.



Earlier this year, Park met with other NUAC advisers from the United States, Japan, China, Canada and Central and Latin America.




U.S. President Barack Obama has again blacklisted North Korea for human trafficking, extending a symbolic ban on provisions of U.S. funding to the communist nation for another year.

Obama designated the North, Equatorial Guinea, Iran, Russia, Syria and others as countries failing to meet the minimum standards under the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000, according to a "presidential determination" posted at the Federal Register on Monday.

The designation bans the U.S. government from providing "certain non-humanitarian, non-trade-related assistance for those countries' governments for Fiscal Year 2017 until such governments comply with the minimum standards or make significant efforts to bring themselves into compliance."

Under the designation, the North is also banned from taking out loans from multilateral development banks and the International Monetary Fund.

The restriction, however, is expected to be symbolic only as the U.S. provides no funding for the North.

In late June, the U.S. State Department designated North Korea as one of the world's worst countries for human trafficking for the 14th straight year, saying the communist nation subjects its people to forced labor at home and abroad.

The State Department's annual "Trafficking in Persons Report 2016" put North Korea in the lowest Tier 3 of its four-step classification of countries, with two parts to Tier 2. The North has been classified in the lowest category since the annual report began including it in 2003. (Yonhap)
Hanjin Heavy Industries Co., a mid-sized shipbuilder here, said Wednesday that it has received a 200 billion won ($178 million) deal to build three high-speed patrol boats for the South Korean Navy.

Under the deal with the Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA), Hanjin Heavy will deliver the vessels by 2019, the company said.

The newly ordered vessels weigh 200 tons each, and will be loaded with guided rockets and remote-controlled guns, it said.

The new patrol boats are expected to be deployed to the Northern Limit Line (NLL), which has served as the de facto maritime border between the two Koreas.

Six South Korean soldiers were killed and 18 others wounded in a naval clash with North Korea in 2002 in the Yellow Sea. More than 30 North Korean soldiers were killed or wounded.

After the incident, the South Korean Navy came up with plans to improve its maritime combat system, which aims to replace old patrol boats. (Yonhap)
By Shlomo Ben-Ami



NEW YORK  The United States has lost two asymmetric wars in modern times: one against the Vietcong in Vietnam, and another against terrorist groups in the Middle East. When its defeat became apparent in Vietnam, the U.S. pivoted away from the region, leaving the victor to clean up the mess  and, ultimately, to join the ASEAN structure of security and cooperation. The Middle East has been more difficult to leave behind, despite America's best efforts, and remains wracked by conflict and shaken by shifting alliances.



For Russian President Vladimir Putin, the region's turmoil represents an important opportunity. By gaining a foothold in the Middle East, he hopes to revive Russia's long-faded image as a world power, restore its status as America's main geopolitical foil, and gain bargaining chips with which to promote his more immediate concerns in Russia's near-abroad. Success in these areas, he calculates, will cement his power and popular support at home.



On these fronts, Putin has made some progress, embedding Russia firmly within Middle Eastern politics. But Russia's position in the region remains fragile. It is not currently capable of helping to establish  much less oversee  a new regional order, for a simple reason: the Kremlin lacks true allies there.



To be sure, Russia does wield substantial influence in Syria (a Cold War legacy), and shared interests have enabled Putin to bond with some regional powers. But no Middle Eastern country today is a captive client of the Kremlin in the way that, say, Egypt was during the Cold War.



Russia's recent cooperation with Iran, for example, is no sign of a budding friendship, as some experts believe. Though both governments support Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, and Iran allowed Russia to use its airbases in the fight against ISIS, Iran is keen to retain its role as Assad's main patron. Moreover, Iran would not want to jeopardize its efforts to rebuild its economic relations with the West  an objective that underpinned the international agreement on its nuclear program concluded in 2015. As for Russia, cooperating with Iran in a broader Middle East policy would destroy its standing among the region's Sunni powers.



Meanwhile, countries like Turkey and Egypt are largely engaging with Russia in a kind of protest, amid tensions with their closer allies in the West. Turkey, for example, was, until recently, at loggerheads with Russia over Turkey's downing of a Russian warplane near its border with Syria last November. But Turkey has now reconciled with Russia, and wound down its role in the fight against Assad, Russia's main partner in the region.



This does not reflect some realization on Turkey's part that Russia is a critical actor worth keeping on side. Rather, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan wants Russia's help in Turkey's fight against Syria's Kurds, whose nationalist ambitions Erdogan is eager to contain, lest they incite separatism among Kurds in Turkey.



Erdogan is frustrated with Turkey's Western allies, which have done his country no favors on the Kurdish issue. On the contrary, the Syrian Kurds are America's most efficient partner in the war against the Islamic State (ISIS), which both Turkey and Russia are also fighting. Arming the Kurdish militias, as U.S. President Barack Obama is now considering, would push Erdogan further into Putin's arms. Given Putin's interest in dividing NATO, he would warmly welcome such an outcome.



There are also economic incentives for the Russia-Turkey pairing, including about $30 billion in annual trade. Russia, weighed down by low commodity prices and persistent Western sanctions, is also eager to boost energy exports to Turkey.



But the potential of the Turkey-Russia relationship is limited. For starters, whatever tensions exist between Erdogan and the West, the Turkish president knows better than to risk the security guarantees afforded by NATO. Given this, any collusion with Putin in Syria is likely to be shallow and short-lived.



Russia, for its part, has no interest in bolstering Turkey's position as a major regional power. After all, it has long competed with Turkey for influence in the Black Sea and the Middle East. Russia's reaction to Turkey's rapprochement with its erstwhile ally Israel  with which it had been at loggerheads since 2010, when Israeli commandos stormed a Turkish ship that was part of a flotilla seeking to deliver aid to Gaza  reflects this rivalry.



At first, Russia's reaction was lukewarm, largely because, given Israel's role as a rising energy power in the Middle East, the reconciliation jeopardized Russia's plans of boosting energy exports to Turkey. But Putin subsequently endorsed the move, not because he likes the idea of Turkey, which also has close ties with Hamas, gaining a greater say in the affairs of Gaza, but because he wanted to present Russia as a key regional actor.



Indeed, Putin next announced that he would be willing to host peace talks between Israel and Palestine. As he surely knows, Russia lacks the leverage, economic and otherwise, that would be needed to produce a deal. But he seems to have decided that the suggestion would reinforce the view of Russia as a regional player rivaling in importance Turkey or even the US.



The truth, however, is that the US remains indispensable to any solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict. More broadly, the urge for Western-style freedom and democracy remains the dream of the Middle East's younger generations; it has merely been obscured by the autocratic response to the Arab Spring uprisings, and the subsequent proliferation of radical Islamists.



The US is now focused on a rising Asia. Instead of employing the weapons of war, it is using the tools of globalization  in particular, trade and investment linkages  to help shape the region's development. When the Middle East is ready, the US will surely do the same there. And when that happens, whatever isolated military footholds and ephemeral alliances Russia has maintained will quickly be lost. Like the Soviet Union in Central and Eastern Europe, today's Russia has no place in a region undergoing socioeconomic reform and democratic transitions.



Shlomo Ben-Ami, a former Israeli foreign minister, is vice president of the Toledo International Center for Peace. He is the author of "Scars of War, Wounds of Peace: The Israeli-Arab Tragedy." Copyright belongs to Project Syndicate.




Tension is mounting at some university campuses due to conflicts between students and school authorities.



The latest such case is a protest by students at Seoul National University (SNU) against a plan to establish an additional campus in Siheung, Gyeonggi Province. The protesters have occupied the main hall and vowed to continue the sit-in until the school scraps the plan. They are also demanding that SNU President Sung Nak-in offer an apology for unilaterally pursuing the scheme to build a new research complex set to open in 2018.



The nation's top university is not the only school experiencing campus protests. Ewha Womans University President Choi Kyung-hee is facing calls to step down from student protesters who have staged sit-ins since late July for her plan to build a night school for workers. Choi withdrew the plan, but the students have vowed to continue their protests until Choi accepts their demands for her resignation. Sogang University has been mired in conflict over a second campus in Namyangju, Gyeonggi Province. Dongguk University students also have protested against a plan to establish a night school.



These campus tensions have commonly risen from the school's lack of communication with students over new plans that may have a significant effect on student life and the future of the school. Since students pay a lot for tuition, they should have a say in all matters of the school, and the student body should have been consulted ahead of making an important decision such as building a new campus outside Seoul. The SNU case could have been avoided if the school had properly collected the students' opinions before signing a memorandum with the city government of Siheung in August for building the research campus.



The school authorities share a large part of the blame, but the protesters' behavior is also inappropriate. Occupying the main hall of the university is by no means tolerable behavior. In Korea, there is too much of a tendency to launch a protest to promote one's own interests. This can be seen in various sectors of Korean society, but the campus should be an exception. The university is a place for learning and thinking, so students should refrain from causing disorder under any circumstances. It is also inappropriate to meddle in the school's management decisions. In Ewha's case, the protesters have gone too far by demanding the president resign after she accommodated their demand to scrap the night school plan.



Campus protesters should also think about how their behavior is perceived by the increasing number of foreign students. Students should not make a habit of holding sit-ins whenever their demands are not met. Such behavior will reflect negatively on the university and Korea in the minds of foreign students.




The U.S. Supreme Court heard a rare design patent case Tuesday in one of the last-remaining legal battles between Samsung and Apple that could reimburse the South Korean smartphone giant up to nearly $400 million in damages it already paid Apple.



Samsung paid Apple US$548 million in damages awarded by a lower court for copying designs of the iPhone. In December, Samsung took the case to the highest court, asking it to reconsider the scope of design patents and how damages are calculated, in an effort to get up to $399 million reimbursed.



In March, the court agreed to hear the case, which marks the first design patents case the highest U.S. court has taken up in 120 years. The last Supreme Court cases over design patents involved spoon handles in the 1870s and carpets in the 1890s.



On Monday, the court held the first and only hearing.



Samsung has claimed that it is unfair for a patent violator to hand over all profits from sales of a product using the patent design when that design made only a tiny contribution to sales.



At the time of appeals to the Supreme Court, Samsung claimed that "a patented design might be the essential feature of a spoon or rug. But the same is not true of smartphones, which contain countless other features that give them remarkable functionality wholly unrelated to their design."



On Monday, Samsung said the "spirit of innovation" the U.S. was built upon is at stake.



"As we stand on the steps of the highest court of the United States, we are reminded of the spirit of innovation that this country was built upon. And it is this same spirit that has inspired us to fight for a fair interpretation of a law that will promote creativity and competition in the marketplace," Kathleen Sullivan, a lawyer for Samsung, said after the hearing.



"Awarding all of the profits for a single patent devalues the contributions of the hundreds of thousands of other patents in a smartphone. We are hopeful that the Supreme Court will give a sensible and fair reading to the design patent statute. That would be a win for businesses and consumers alike," she said.



During the one-hour hearing, U.S. Solicitor General Brian Fletcher, who represented the U.S. government's position, made remarks in favor of Samsung, saying it would be reasonable to limit damages to profits from the parts involving the patent designs, according to those attending the hearing.



Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito also said that design is not the only feature affecting consumers.



"I can't get over the thought that nobody buys a car, even a Beetle, just because they like the way it looks," he was quoted as saying.



The court is expected to deliver a verdict early next year.



The case is one of the two last-remaining lawsuits between the two smartphone giants.



In the other case, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington last week reversed an earlier decision and reinstated a lower-court verdict that Samsung should pay Apple $120 million for violating the iPhone patents on "quick links," "slide-to-unlock" and "auto-correct" technologies. (Yonhap)




Roh Soon-seok, Yanbian University of Science & Technology (YUST) vice president

By Kim Tae-gyu

As far as depth and breadth of experiences are concerned, Yanbian University of Science & Technology (YUST) Vice President Roh Soon-seok would be second to none.

And since 2014, the 64-year-old has delivered his expertise to 2,000 students at the first Sino-foreign joint university in the world's most populous country.

"It is a great pleasure to teach our students, many of whom are ethnic Koreans. I hope that they would grow to become leaders not only in China but also on the global scene," Roh said.

In 1985, Roh joined Dacom, a fixed-line telecom operator affiliated with LG Group and now merged into LG Uplus, in its public relations team and became one of the most prominent communication experts in the industry.

He moved to Pantech, the country's third-largest mobile phone manufacturer after Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics, in 2002, to take charge of the strategic communication division.

Three years later, he went on to work at Korea Investment & Securities through 2012. Roh, who earned his masters at Yonsei University, gained a Ph.D. from Sungkyunkwan University while he was at the country's top-tier brokerage house.

After obtaining a doctorate via intensive research on the correlation between media reports and corporate reputation, he began teaching at Sungkyunkwan University.

"We have a vague idea that articles in newspapers have a great effect on the reputation of corporations. But I wanted to confirm whether or not that was the case," Roh said back then.

Roh was also elected as vice chairman of the Korea Public Relations Association in 2010.

After retiring from Korea Investment in 2012, he moved to YUST where more than 300 faculty members from across the world teach students from China, Korea, the United States, Japan, Russia, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Mongolia among other countries.

A vast majority of its 2,000 collegians are Chinese who have an ethnic Korean background. They proactively take advantage of the joint programs with sister universities in Korea including Yonsei, Korea and Ewha to stay here for half a year.

"Actually, my relationship with YUST dates back to the early 1990s. As an official of Dacom, I led a project to send computers and other digital devices to the university," Roh recollected.

"I will continue to put forth my utmost efforts for the development of YUST and our students. I am really happy with my job of studying together with young students at Yanbian."
National joint-stock company Naftogaz Ukrainy is ready to supply gas in Ukraine, and there are no obstacles to start the heating season in Ukraine, Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman said in Zaporizhia on Wednesday.

He said that at present, local authorities and companies have all means and possibilities to start the heating season.

"The government has passed some resolutions that would unblock problems of municipal heat supply companies accumulated in several years. There are no delays. If someone in the regions has not yet prepared for the heating season, this means that they are improvident," he told reporters.
The owner and president of DCH Group Oleksandr Yaroslavsky, who holds a controlling stake in Kharkiv Tractor Plant, intends to buy 29% of shares in the plant belonging to Austrian investor Siegfried Wolf, DCH has said in a press release.

"DCH Group of Oleksandr Yaroslavsky officially informs about the start of the process to acquire more shares in Kharkiv Tractor Plant in the amount of 29% of the share capital. This is a stake that recently Austrian investor Siegfried Wolf intended to form to achieve the targeted ownership structure. Under the agreement, conditions of the share acquisition are confidential," DCH said.

According to Austrian media reports, Wolf decided not to buy the shares due to unclear obstacles seen from Ukrainian governmental officials.

"Over the last few months Yaroslavskys DCH Group and me jointly have been trying to complete the acquisition of a stake in Kharkiv Tractor Plant. Our aim was to restore production at Kharkiv Tractor Plant, which had been severely damaged and brought to the verge of bankruptcy by irresponsible actions by the Ukrainian authorities. Recently it became obvious to me that, despite our joint efforts, the unprecedented campaign of pressure launched against Kharkiv Tractor Plant by certain Ukrainian government officials is not going to end. The Ukrainian Antimonopoly Committee has rejected DCHs application for approval of the acquisition of a controlling stake in the Plant three times. Since antimonopoly approval is a condition precedent for completing the acquisition of my minority stake in Kharkiv Tractor Plant, I can only interpret this as a demonstration of a lack of interest on the part of Ukrainian authorities in attracting best European business practices, and a blunt disregard for the interests of foreign investors. In light of that, I have decided - with regret - not to complete the acquisition of the minority stake in Kharkiv Tractor Plant," the Austrian media said, citing Wolf.

As reported, Yaroslavsky bought a controlling stake in Kharkiv Tractor Plant in April 2016 under a proposal of Wolf.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has signed the law on ratification of the financing agreement between Ukraine and the European Investment Bank (EIB) on the issue of EUR400 million for projects in agriculture.

According to a report on the website of the Ministry of Agricultural Policy and Food, the credit in general will help accumulate EUR800 million for the development of agriculture. EIB money in loans can account for up to 50%, the other part of costs should be covered by the banks participating in the lending program or borrowers themselves.

As reported, former Prime Minister of Ukraine Arseniy Yatsenyuk at the end of December 2015 signed a financial agreement on raising a loan in the amount of EUR400 million from the EIB for projects in the agricultural sector of Ukraine.

The implementation of the agreement will help attract EUR400 million for 12 years with a four-year grace period. The funds will be spent on projects for growing grains and oilseeds, modernization of fisheries and aquaculture in Ukraine.
Strategic U.S. Advisor of the high level General (retired) John Abizaid has met with Defense Minister Army General of Ukraine Stepan Poltorak; they have discussed issues of military reform, the main objectives for the future, as well as the work plan of John Abizaid for the nearest future, the press service of the Defense Ministry has said.

"We have set ambitious plans on reforming, identified five strategic goals and formed a road map for the reform course. The hardest job is ahead, but I am convinced, having a great desire and obtained the assistance of our foreign partners, we will succeed," Poltorak said.

Foreign guest said that "the difference between the army which was two years ago and the current Ukrainian army is evident." He also said he is ready "to assist the Defense Ministry of Ukraine in all the initiatives aimed at making a strong and capable army."
The Ukrainian mission to the Joint Center for Control and Coordination (JCCC) has declared the Ukrainian Armed Forces' readiness to withdraw forces and hardware in Stanytsia Luhanska but said this would be impossible for now due to the ongoing attacks from the self-proclaimed Luhansk People's Republic (LPR).

"The Ukrainian mission to the JCCC reiterates the readiness of the Ukrainian Armed Forces to take the steps prescribed by the Framework Decision of the Trilateral Contact Group on the Disengagement of Forces and Hardware in Sector No 1 (Stanytsia Luhanska). Yet tensions have been escalating lately and the number of cessation of hostilities regime violations has grown along the entire contact line, including by use of weapons and military hardware which were due to be withdrawn to the distances established by the Minsk agreements on the part of armed units from the individual districts of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions," head of the Ukrainian mission to the JCCC Maj. Gen. Borys Kremenetsky said in a statement posted on the army operation press center's page on Facebook on Thursday.

In his words, 41 shelling incidents (988 shells and mines) were observed as of 10 p.m. on October 12; two servicemen of the Ukrainian army were killed and another 19 suffered injuries over the past two days.

Besides, monitors from the Ukrainian mission to the JCCC visually observed at about 8:15 p.m. on October 12 that a group of armed people opened chaotic fire from small arms near a pedestrian bridge in LPR territory, within the limits of disengagement sector No 1 (Stanytsia Luhanska), and Ukrainian army positions came under attack of a mounted anti-tank grenade launcher (two shots) and a large-caliber machinegun (seven bursts) at 8:53 p.m., he said.

The Ukrainian mission to the JCCC informed the OSCE SMM of those facts.

"The aforesaid facts indicate that the administrations of the individual districts of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions are unwilling to implement the Framework Decision of the Trilateral Contact Group on the Disengagement of Forces and Hardware in Sector No 1 in the near future [...]. For the purposes of the promotion of the Framework Decision, the Ukrainian mission to the JCCC has been conducting round-the-clock monitoring of the disengagement areas; also engineering units of the Ukrainian Armed Forces have built observation posts (shelters) for the OSCE SMM," Kremenetsky said in his statement.

The Ukrainian Defense Ministry said on Wednesday it was ready to begin the disengagement of forces and hardware in the Stanytsia Luhanska area on Thursday.

In turn, self-proclaimed Luhansk People's Republic (LPR) negotiator in Minsk Vladislav Deinego said he hoped that the October 13 attempt to disengage forces and hardware in the remaining pilot security zone on the contact line would be successful.

Parties to the Trilateral Contact Group for Ukraine agreed to disengage forces and hardware in a number of populated localities on the Donbas contact line on September 21. The document stipulates the creation of three pilot security zones in the village of Petrovske (on the line of contact with the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic [DPR]) and the populated localities of Zolote and Stanytsia Luhanska (on the line of contact with the LPR).

The sides agreed at first to begin the disengagement of forces and hardware in the pilot areas on October 1 yet managed to do so only in Zolote. The conflicting sides disengaged in Petrovske later. Disengagement attempts have repeatedly failed in Stanytsia Luhanska.
Sen. Mike Lee cancelled campaign events in Utah to instead campaign for other Republican candidates in Missouri, Nevada, Colorado, and other states.

Lee's political director Marcus Jessop said Wednesday that Lee plans to hit the campaign trail to help Republicans try to keep control of the U.S. Senate.

Lee plans events to help Sens. Marco Rubio in Florida, Pat Toomey in Pennsylvania and Roy Blunt in Missouri, and Republican Senate candidates Darryl Glenn in Colorado, Todd Young in Indiana and Joe Heck in Nevada.

Lee's re-election in Utah this year is relatively assured. He's a popular Republican senator in a largely Republican state.

___
Sizzling Oksana Neveselaya has become a web sensation after a video taken by one of her students went viral. The pretty blonde, from Minsk, Belarus, has since been branded the worlds hottest maths teacher and has garnered a huge Instagram following of more than 173,000 devoted fans.

In the clip, which is just 45 seconds long, she is seen wearing a sleeveless grey dress and sandals with her long blonde hair worn in waves.

The stunning teacher addresses the class before turning to the whiteboard to write out equations.

She has gathered a web following now with her sexy selfies and her Facebook page likes have jumped by more than 3,000 in the last week alone.



Her Facebook account says she wants to show that sensuality and intelligence go hand in hand.

She is currently travelling around Malaysia on holiday and has visited Pulau Langkawi, Kedah, Genting Highlands and Batu Caves, according to her Instagram posts.

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A Jordanian flight student is said to have deliberately crashed a small plane in the US state of Connecticut, killing himself and injuring his instructor.

A US official told the AP news agency it appeared to have been a suicide and not terrorism-related.

The US National Transportation Safety Board said the crash in East Hartford was the result of an intentional act.

Local media reported the two men on board had been fighting for control of the Piper PA-34 Seneca.

The Jordanian flight student has been identified as Feras Freitekh, 28.



US officials said he had been living in a Chicago suburb and was not known to the intelligence agencies.

Instructor Arian Prevalla  who was badly burned but survived  is said to have told police there was an altercation in the cockpit during their training flight and he was unable to regain control from the student pilot.

He described Freitekh as disgruntled about learning to be a pilot, the official said.

The twin-engine aircraft crashed onto a busy road near jet-engine maker Pratt & Whitneys headquarters.

No one else was injured but a woman driving with her three daughters narrowly avoided colliding with the plane, Reuters reported.

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Interior Minister Arsen Avakov early on October 12 expressed his dismay about French President Francois Hollandes position on implementation the Minsk agreements aimed at restoring peace to Donbas.

"Francois Hollande, the French President, speaking at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe [on October 11] expressed absolutely unacceptable steps Ukraine should take. He first called elections in occupied areas of Donbas, and then only for the withdrawal of Russian occupational troops from Ukrainian territory and the return of Ukraines control over the Ukrainian-Russian border. He wants elections to be held immediately after the cease-fire and withdrawal of troops," Avakov said on his Facebook page early on Wednesday morning.

The minister believes that "the French president had the gall to say such things  following French Foreign Minister Ayraults ugly remarks made during his [recent] visit to Ukraine."
On Oct. 18, 2016  the 75th anniversary of the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego (MCASD), Kathryn Kanjo will officially become the museums new Director/CEO, taking over from Hugh Davies, who has held the position for a record 33 years.

In a recent interview, Kanjo talked candidly about her personal and professional life.

Even as a kid, growing up in Redlands, I was involved in the arts, she said. Redlands is a little college town in the foothills, not that far from L.A. My dad was an English Lit professor at the university, and they had a gallery there. I took art classes, I went to museums like LACMA (Los Angeles County Museum of Art) with my mother and my aunt, and for my birthday, Id get art supplies.

At the University of Redlands, she started out majoring in English. I realized I was taking so many courses in Art History that I had a double major, she said. All those 8 a.m. classes with slides, where everyone else falls asleep  I liked those! One of my professors helped me get an internship at LACMA  as an undergraduate, which is very unusual  and I worked in a commercial gallery as well.

She went on to get her Masters in Art History and Museum Studies  a new field, at the time  at USC. I was interested in L.A. art of the 1960s, but I did my thesis on a 19th century American painter, which led to my first post-graduate gig, at the Whitney Museum in New York. I was only 25, and I was managing one of their satellite branches, a 5,000-square foot space, where I got to show masterpieces of American Art.

One of the exhibits she curated featured a range of contemporary artists dealing with childhood issues. Hugh Davies came to see the exhibit and offered her a position as Assistant Curator at MCASD. My mother said: Oh! Youve always wanted to work there, a place where you could be involved with history in the making! I didnt even remember Id voiced that to her years before.

Kanjo had made the big switch to contemporary art.

Living the dream

Id always had a personal relationship to art, empathizing with each work I was studying in order to fully understand it, she explained. Id imagine what I might have been like then, in that time, with that artist. But once I began working with living artists, I started thinking: Im actually IN this culture! Maybe Ive got a leg up to understanding it! With contemporary art, youre right in the middle of whats happening, youre anticipating what will become history!

From 1992-1995, as she went from assistant to associate curator at MCASD, she helped organize regional and trans-border projects. For an exhibit called Common Ground, she phoned local artist David Jurist to set up a studio visit.

He was a conceptual artist, and didnt have anything in his studio, so we just had a meeting. We discussed art, and then we discussed having a date. He never got into the exhibit, because he didnt have anything to show, but he did get into my life. When I was offered a job as Curator of Contemporary Art in Portland, he followed me up there. In 1997, we got married, and now, here we are, 19 years later, back where we first met!

There were a few stops in between. Their daughter, Virginia, now a freshman at Cal Poly, was born in Portland, but when the new century brought Kanjo a new opportunity  Executive Director of Artpace, San Antonio  they moved on to Texas, where their son, Theo, was born.

That was a great time, when everything in my life came together, Kanjo said. A new city, a new state, my first directorship, working with high-caliber artists, and then a new baby  and Artpace had onsite daycare!

Managing to merge home-life and career hasnt been easy, Kanjo admitted. But I had models: my parents both worked, and considered themselves feminists. So I knew what to look for in a partner, and Davids a terrific husband and father.

After seven years of successes in San Antonio, Kanjo returned to her home state, as Director of the University Art Museum at UC Santa Barbara. Then, in 2010, Davies lured her back to MCASD by creating a position for her: Chief Curator. Last year, she was promoted to Deputy Director, and this year, as Davies neared retirement, she was the perfect choice to replace him.

I think my greatest skill is storytelling  translating the visual experience into a verbal one, giving voice to visual art, Kanjo said. And my enthusiasm! A museum assumes an audience; if you want to connect with them, you have to make your language enjoyable and clear.

Looking to the future

Even though Im privileged to have Hugh staying on as director of expansion, Im the CEO now: the buck stops here, she said. But Im a good manager, good at developing a team of vital people, and Im excited to be in control. We have to close our La Jolla site for a spell, (the museum will close in January for a major renovation and expansion) but well still be doing lectures in La Jolla, and well be working hard to maintain our audience.

One thing is certain: Shell be sharing her passion for personal engagement with the arts. Art helps us see the world differently and understand things more fully  if we let it, she said. I want to bring back the awe and the wonder.

In July, Kanjo and her family moved from Scripps Ranch to La Jolla. These days, after she drops her son off at La Jolla High, she takes a walk along the ocean. So keep an eye out for MCASDs new director. Shes in the neighborhood now.

 A Word with Kathryn Kanjos Colleagues:

 Hugh Davies (MCASD Director/CEO since 1983. He first hired Kanjo in 1992.) Shes accomplished. Shes just so well-rounded, so good at so many things. She has the best skill set for being a modern museum director.

 Jill Dawsey: (Associate Curator, hired by Kanjo): Kathryn is too interesting and dynamic a person to have a single word describe her. She has a way with people and a way with words.

 Cris Scorza (Education Curator, hired by Kanjo): She always knows when a leader is needed and knows how to model behavior in ways that empower us. There are just a few leaders in our field that are like that and really make you want to follow them.

 Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego has two locations:

 MCASD La Jolla: 700 Prospect St., La Jolla. (858) 454-3541

 MCASD Downtown San Diego: 1100 Kettner Blvd. (between Broadway and B Street), San Diego. (858) 454-3541

 Website: mcasd.org
Ding, ding  ding, ding, chimes the nautical clock every half hour inside the Nautical History Gallery & Museum at 1012 Pearl St. More than 10 model ships and hundreds of antique nautical artifacts from different eras in American history decorate the small room and workshop of Marine Corps and Navy veteran Joe Frangiosa.

With the vision of a soldier, sailor and helicopter crew chief and the talent and attention to detail of a craftsman, Frangiosa made all model ships in the exhibit and collected the numerous historic artifacts. He opened the space in March and since has been receiving visitors 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Thursday to Sunday.

Most of his model ships were built during his time in the Navy Corps between deployments as an escape from very stressful situations that will forever live in his mind. Id make them when I came back home, instead of going out and getting drunk or sitting around, because you cant get things out of your head, the only way is to stay busy, he said.

Frangiosa started building model ships as a child in his home state of New Jersey, But those werent like these here. They were from a plastic kit, but I would get bored with those and add dollhouse hinges and metal to make it work and more interesting, and thats what eventually evolved to the handmade fabrication of the models you see now.

The materials he uses are chiefly wood and metal, but he also adapts ordinary objects for his purposes, like piano wire, pieces of jewelry and shoe parts. I use all kinds of interesting jewelry pieces to make the models more detailed, but I still like to have the texture of metal and wood, he said.

He joined the Navy when he was 19 and served for four years. He was honorably discharged and then joined the Marine Corps, where he deployed several times until retiring in 2015. This is therapeutic for me so Id love to inspire other guys  I havent been out that long and my buddies are still in. I visit them, and they come here, he said.

The Nautical History Gallery & Museum is, as Frangiosa puts it, A peaceful place for me to be retired that I created. Since a visit to the museum is free, he takes commissions for 3-D models and restores others, so the rent pays itself off.

The 49-year-old moved to La Jolla in 2011 when he was stationed in the Miramar Marine Air Corps Station. He met local artist James Quint and eventually rented out the Pearl Street storefront from him (space used by Quint Galleries for storage). Quint discovered me, he laughed.

Two of Frangiosas models are currently part of the Steering Small exhibit at the Maritime Museum of San Diego, 1492 N Harbor Drive.

A glance at U.S. Navy history

Have you ever held a sail ship cannon ball? Frangiosa asked, holding a heavy iron cylinder about 2 inches in diameter located near one of his ship models. The room is decorated with sextants, telescopes, port holes, post lights, anchors and all sorts of nautical artifacts collected through a lifetime, which help him tell the story of the U.S. Navy from its beginnings to the aircraft carrier age.

In the 1790s, he explained, Congress appropriated funds to create an official Navy to defend the country from pirates. The USS Constitution is Frangiosas model of a three-mast frigate of the time. They were very powerful, strong, fast, ships. They are not that large, but they could do the job against any enemy, he explained.

The next sailboat model in the chronology is the USS Vermont, built in 1814 and similar to the USS Constitution, but with one innovation: It featured three stacked gun decks instead of one. The ship manned by 1,100 soldiers contained 110 guns. This is a very powerful ship of the time, Frangiosa said. There were a few of these, and they actually served in the Navy, but it was after The War of 1812, so they didnt have any real wars to use it in.

Still a work-in-progress is the side paddle steamship. This ship featured coal boilers that heated up steam, which travelled through the engines and made the paddles spin. With paddle wheelers, the engines were built in the center of the ship and then there were paddle wheelers on each side. They are the direct evolution from the age of sail ships, the age of wooden sail to the steam era.

The Civil War (1861-1865) was fought with a combined fleet of sail and steam ships. The Union Gun Boat is the miniature of an all-iron, 150-foot warship used in the era featuring a single propeller at the back instead of two on the sides. Manned by 60-70 people, She was the latest innovation from the side wheeler, more efficient, and everything was just getting better; easier to operate. Ironclads, as they were called, were made with better and stronger things, the anchors were designed differently, the ships wheel is iron with wood, instead of just all wood, more durable and better.

A ship from the Spanish-American War (1898) is also featured in the gallery, the USS Maine. Built in 1985 using steel instead of iron and manned by 3,400 soldiers, the ship was 325 feet long and had two triple expansion steam engines. The ships explosion is regarded as the cause of the Spanish-American War.

Frangiosa explained, They sent this ship down (to Havana Harbor during the Cuban War of Independence) as a presence to help. It blew up. The government thought, or used it, (to start a conflict with Spain), and the American public believed it. At that point, the Navy sailed off down to Cuba and anywhere the Spaniards were, attacking their fleet until we destroyed it. Later in 1950s, a Navy admiral discovered that The Maine could not have been blown up by the Spanish, it was an accident and a tragedy.

The Dreadnought was a battleship used during the first part of the 20th century. See the smaller people, he commented, this ship is really long in real life, so in order to be able to transport the model around and make it workable, I did a smaller-scale version, but it still shows the intensity of the ship. It was eventually modernized; they changed the guns and started adding aircraft, as the Navy got into aviation. This model shows a lot of the evolution, with the first wire and the communications from ship to ship, all the big antennas and things like that. Its an interesting time period for the Navy.

The final ship in the collection is the USS Langley, which Frangiosa said was the first aircraft carrier. They took an old WWI coal-carrying ship and built a wood flight deck across the top of it because we didnt have the money to build an aircraft carrier. There were no wars at the time, so she operated as an aircraft carrier between 1922 and 1936. When we had newer aircraft carriers built, they took half the flight deck off and made it a seaplane base. During WWII, she was in the Java Sea and was sunk by the Japanese in 1942 as a seaplane tender, he said.

IF YOU GO: The Nautical History Gallery & Museum at 1012 Pearl St. Admission is free. Gallery hours are 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Thursday-Sunday. nhgallery.org
The recent Surfer Health Study (Southern California Coastal Water Research Project, UC Berkeley, Soller Environmental and Surfrider Foundation, September 2016) found human fecal pollution in almost all stormwater discharges measured at the Tourmaline Surf Park storm drain in the 2014 and 2015 wet seasons  despite the presence of separate storm sewer and sanitary sewer systems in San Diego.

Tourmaline surf beach is home to a storm drain where stormwater collected in the 2.4 square miles watershed empties out into the ocean. The Surfer Health Study found a presence of the biological marker HF183, used to detect human fecal pollution in water environments, in the discharges of five out of six storms measured from Jan. 15, 2014 to March 31, 2015.

Surfrider senior scientist Rick Wilson, one of the authors of the study, told La Jolla Light they also detected human viruses in more than 80 percent of the samples. That was sort of alarming ... I dont know that it was necessarily expected for Tourmaline, he said, adding that perhaps a sewer leak was a cause for the fecal indicators in the stormwater. We are talking about a sewer system that has been here for decades, many decades. So the results indicate to me that the findings are probably due to one of three things: either you have a leak into the sewer line or you have a faulty connection (somebodys sewer line from their house or their business is connected to a storm drain), or you have homeless populations living in the watershed.

Southern California simply does not possess the infrastructure to store and treat large volumes of stormwater runoff prior to its discharge at the beach.  The surfer Health Study

City Stormwater Division Deputy Director Andrew Kleis said theres an ongoing investigation into the issue. We not only want to be in compliance with stormwater regulation, we want the public to be protected, we want to find those sources, and program manager Ruth Kolbs team has spent a lot of time studying what those are, and we are finding that the conclusions are not complete yet.

Kolbs team has been working on-site at the Tourmaline watershed. What weve been doing is going out with biologists and the law enforcement team and starting at the watershed at the beach, taking different areas, breaking down into different groups so each branch is investigated, she said.

The City believes the cause of the presence of human markers in the storm discharges at Tourmaline could be a bacteria buildup due to accumulated urban runoff. In a statement, Public Information Officer Anthony Santacroce writes, Problems range from leaking dumpsters, leaking private laterals, RV dumping into the curbs and gutters, birds and other wildlife, transient populations, trash, and the wrack line. (A wrack line occurs when the full moons extreme high tide pushes kelp and other debris high on the beach, and then birds and flies pick through it and defecate.) Flies are a problem because they go to high bacteria areas (bird waste) and transfer the bacteria on their feet to other areas. Additionally, water waste that flows down the storm drain system during dry conditions can spur bacteria growth within the drains, contributing to increased levels of bacteria in the receiving waters.

What are we swimming in? Experts weigh-in on beach water advisories 

Our binary sewer system

San Diego, as opposed to many cities in the East and Midwest, has separate sanitary and stormwater sewer lines. Waste water from residential and industrial use is pumped to treatment stations where it goes through a number of processes to clean it up before it goes into the ocean. Stormwater, however, runs untreated to the Pacific.

This binary system has pros and cons, but in scientist Wilsons opinion, is mostly positive. The combined sewers are good when the weather is dry (because all the water is treated), but its a horrible condition when you get rain, because with the combined sewer, theres no way to handle the amount of flow, he explained. You get combined sewer overflows, and that is a major problem.

With the separated system, runoff is conducted through creeks, rivers and the stormwater system to the ocean untreated. Thats why the San Diego County Department of Environmental Health, in charge of measuring beach water quality, issues a general advisory for 72 hours after .2 inches of rainwater fallen within 24 hours. Land & Water Quality Division program coordinator Keith Kezer said, Storm events are what impacts our water quality the most. Runoff is where contamination comes from. All the stuff that gets deposited, the oil, the spill, the metals ...

But not only stormwater goes into the gutters. City inspector Kolb explained, Its critical for folks to understand that our stormwater system starts in your driveway, although the water may run down for 10 blocks before it goes down a drain.

Kezer agreed. People over fertilizing or using pesticides before it rains, or those washing cars on driveways help exacerbate the oil and grease and other contaminants. If you consider how many people live in the county, it doesnt take much from each person to add up to something significant. The next big thing is to help people understand how their day-to-day activities impact water quality.

Water-saving measures made permanent in California by Gov. Jerry Brown in May via Executive Order B-37-16, have been used by City officials to prevent unnecessary discharges into the stormwater system. The order prohibits: Hosing off sidewalks, driveways and other hardscapes; washing automobiles with hoses not equipped with a shut-off nozzle; watering lawns in a manner that causes runoff (or within 48 hours after measurable precipitation) and irrigating ornamental turf on public street medians.

City Code Enforcement officers visited Tourmaline beach at the beginning of October searching for possible sources of bacteria in the pipes and giving out written warnings to residents.

On the stormwater system, the Surfer Health Study concludes, Southern California simply does not possess the infrastructure to store and treat large volumes of stormwater runoff prior to its discharge at the beach. It also is unclear if building this infrastructure  estimated to cost many billions of dollars  would be the most effective solution because state and federal beach water quality standards for health risk are based on scientific studies conducted exclusively during dry conditions in the summer.

La Jolla stormwater infrastructure

Scientist Wilson said, Most of La Jollas beaches are generally clean, compared to other areas. But I think the Surfer Health Study demonstrated that no matter where you are, dont go surfing within 72 hours of rain, especially if the beach has storm drains, and even La Jolla Shores has one.

Storm drains in La Jolla are located at WindanSea beach  south of Nicholson Point (Coast Boulevard and Prospect Street), between Fern Glen and Vista de la Playa and south of The Shack (Bonair Street, adjacent to a popular surf reef brake)  and in La Jolla Shores at the end of Avenida de la Playa.

La Jolla Shores is one of 34 Areas of Special Biological Significance (ASBS) along the California coastline, and as such has special regulations. The State Water Boards resolution 2012-0012 prohibits water discharges on the ASBS. However, the same resolution created exemptions where the public interest is in allowing certain discharges essential for flood control, slope stability, erosion prevention, and maintenance of the natural hydrologic cycle.

The City oversees the La Jolla ASBS, and was granted an exemption to discharge stormwater onto La Jolla Shores under the circumstances listed above. However, the City has been working toward minimizing the impact of the discharges. The goal of the Avenida De La Playa Infrastructure Replacement Project & Sewer and Water Group Job 809 is to accomplish a low flow diversion and wet weather runoff mitigation.

Santacroce elaborated, Water quality standards are normally met (at La Jolla Shores) with a few exceptions for bacteria, total suspended solids (dirt) and dissolved copper  automobile brake pads grinding down with use, part of the reason the City co-sponsored (legislation for) removing copper from brake pads.

Other City programs to prevent urban runoff in The Shores include the Kellogg Park Green Lot Infiltration Project. Completed in 2011, the work replaced 18,000 square feet of asphalt concrete with pavement that captures surface water, and added a vegetated bio-swale and a filter bed to the parking lot.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko in a phone talk with French President Francois Hollande and Advisor to German Chancellor Angela Merkel Christoph Heusgen has said that Moscow is blocking the release of hostages. Poroshenko also said that the security element in the context of the situation in Donbas is especially important.

"The Ukrainian and French presidents agreed that the security element that Russia has not yet been observed and this should be the top priority part of the road map on the implementation of Minsk Agreements. The Ukrainian president said that Moscow is blocking the release of hostages, which is absolutely unacceptable," the press service of the Ukrainian president reported, adding that the advisor of the chancellor apologized for Merkel, who was not able to participate in the telephone conference call.

Poroshenko informed Hollande about the increase of the number of attacks by Russia-backed militants, including the use of heavy arms. He said that there are no OSCE permanent points in the districts where armed forces are pulling back.

The Ukrainian and French presidents agreed on continuing consultations in Minsk at the level of diplomatic advisors of the heads of Normandy Format states. The leaders of Ukraine, France and Germany will then hold a press conference.

Poroshenko thanks delegations from Germany and France for supporting the resolution of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe about the necessity of retaining sanctions against Russia.

He also urged European Union (EU) member states to accelerate the provision of a visa-free regime for Ukrainians and to ratify the Ukraine-EU Association Agreement.

KYIV. Oct 13 (Interfax-Ukraine)  Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko in a phone talk with French President Francois Hollande and Advisor to German Chancellor Angela Merkel Christoph Heusgen has said that Moscow is blocking the release of hostages. Poroshenko also said that the security element in the context of the situation in Donbas is especially important.

"The Ukrainian and French presidents agreed that the security element that Russia has not yet been observed and this should be the top priority part of the road map on the implementation of Minsk Agreements. The Ukrainian president said that Moscow is blocking the release of hostages, which is absolutely unacceptable," the press service of the Ukrainian president reported, adding that the advisor of the chancellor apologized for Merkel, who was not able to participate in the telephone conference call.

Poroshenko informed Hollande about the increase of the number of attacks by Russia-backed militants, including the use of heavy arms. He said that there are no OSCE permanent points in the districts where armed forces are pulling back.

The Ukrainian and French presidents agreed on continuing consultations in Minsk at the level of diplomatic advisors of the heads of Normandy Format states. The leaders of Ukraine, France and Germany will then hold a press conference.

Poroshenko thanks delegations from Germany and France for supporting the resolution of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe about the necessity of retaining sanctions against Russia.

He also urged European Union (EU) member states to accelerate the provision of a visa-free regime for Ukrainians and to ratify the Ukraine-EU Association Agreement.
An easier-than-expected first mammogram experience HUNTERSVILLE  Scheduling a cancer screening probably ranks somewhere on your to-do list between "clean out the garage" and "donate those clothes that don't fit." Sure, you'll get to it at...

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No Ukrainian servicemen died in the army operation zone in eastern Ukraine over the past day yet seven soldiers suffered injuries, Ukrainian Defense Ministry spokesman Andriy Lysenko said.

"Fortunately, we had no fatalities over the past day, but seven servicemen of ours were injured and another two were contused," he said at a press briefing in Kyiv on Thursday.

The hostilities in the Luhansk sector centered on the Popasna district, Lysenko said, adding that the hostiles engaged anti-aircraft systems, mortars and, twice, an armored personnel carrier. A mortar attack was seen in Krymske. A total of 14 shelling incidents, including two by use of heavy weapons, were observed in that area in the past 24 hours, he said.

In the Donetsk sector, the hostiles twice fired machineguns, in Luhanske and Novhorodske. "For the first time in months the ceasefire regime was complied with in the Avdiivka industrial zone," Lysenko said.

The situation was most difficult in the Mariupol sector, where the hostiles fired heavy weapons for hours in the Talakivka-Shyrokyne zone and a mortar battery was deployed between Zaichenko and Sakhanka, he said.

"A record number of mines and shells were fired by the enemy on ATO forces' positions over the past day, 777 projectiles of various calibers. The Ukrainian army successfully returned fire," the ministry spokesman said.

The hostiles engaged light weapons and an infantry combat vehicle in Vodiane and Shyrokyne in between of machinegun and mortar attacks, he said. In all, 20 armed provocations, including 14 using heavy weapons, were seen in the Mariupol sector over the past day, he said.
The SLFP does not condone the continuation of the Emergency Regulations (The Public Security Ordinance) more than a day necessary

Read more
PRESS RELEASE

Deutsche Bank: European Central Bank Counted Money That Wasnt There in Stress Tests

Oct. 12, 2016 (EIRNS)While its well known that nothing the European Central Bank says can be believed, new revelations are always coming out to confirm that fact. The Financial Times reported that the European Central Bank (ECB) gave Deutsche Bank an unprecedented special treatment during its stress test, counting reserves that were not in the bank!

This European-style creative auditing involved counting the sale of Deutsche Banks stake in the Chinese money house Hua Xia before the deal was even concluded. The deal had been announced by board chief John Cryan in December 2015 which would supposedly allow the bank to invest 3.2 to 3.7 billion to push up its capital ratio by 0.4 percentage points. But to this day, the sale has not been completed. Nevertheless, the ECB took the non-sale into consideration for the stress testeven though the deadline for the settlement of such transactions had expired by the end of 2015.

With this maneuver, Deutsche Bank showed a core capital ratio of 7.8%. Without the deal, it would have shrunk to 7.4%.

But even the bankers are not fooled, since Deutsche Bank is paying higher rates to borrow from other banks than even Italian and Greek banks. According to Euribor data released yesterday, Deutsche is the only bank to pay to borrow over a 9- or 12-month period, of a group of 21 lenders polled to determine the price of interbank borrowing for the broader sector.

This puts Deutsche Bank behind Italys Monte dei Paschi or the National Bank of Greece! This exposes the reality, that despite the ECBs free money to borrow for nearly all banksit cut its deposit rate below zero and pumped more than one trillion euros into the marketDeutsche Bank still had to pay 0.02% to borrow money from its peers over nine months. It paid 0.06% for a year-long loan. Although the charges are small, all other 19 banks in the panel, including BNP Paribas, Barclays Bank and Credit Agricole, are, in effect, paid to borrow for that period.
PRESS RELEASE

Eastern German State Governments Oppose New Russia Sanctions

Oct. 12, 2016 (EIRNS)The campaign by prominent Christian Democrats and Greens for new Russia sanctions over the Syria issue is meeting strong opposition even from Christian Democrats in Germanys east.

Stanislaw Tillich, Christian Democratic Minister President of Saxony, told Spiegel online yesterday that in Syria, numerous war parties and states backing them, are directly or indirectly involved in the military conflicts. Resuming talks has priority over sanctions. Sanctions against Russia would not contribute to a solution of the conflict, Tillich added, whereas talks would.

Reiner Haseloff, Christian Democratic Minister President of Saxe-Anhalt, denounced economic sanctions as an expression of a lack of ideas, pointing also to the losses suffered by companies in his state under the Russian sanctions regime. Erwin Sellering, Social Democratic Minister President of Mecklenburg-Prepomerania, declared, "I do not support this demand [for new sanctions]," adding that Foreign Affairs Minister Frank Walter Steinmeier and Vice Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel are right to prefer a dialogue with Moscow. This is particularly relevant for Mecklenburg-Prepomerania, he said, because Russia is an important economic partner of this state. Sellering not only opposes new sanctions, but also calls for an end of the sanctions as soon as possible, announcing that his state is determined to develop greater contact with Russia over the coming years.
PRESS RELEASE

Haiti Devastated by Hurricane Matthew: Obamas Legacy of Death

Oct. 12, 2016 (EIRNS)Had Barack Obama followed Lyndon LaRouches February 2010 recommendations for an emergency rebuilding of Haiti following the horrific earthquake that devastated that island in January of that year, Haiti today would not be facing the catastrophe visited upon it by Hurricane Matthew on Oct. 4.

Parts of the country have been wiped off the map, leaving an estimated 1,000 people dead, although, given that some areas have been cut off from communication or transportation, the death toll may well go higher. Cholera, the outbreak of which was entirely predictable and avoidable in October 2010, again stalks the island, particularly affecting the southern part of the country hardest hit by the hurricane. Thirteen people have reportedly died from cholera, but with water contaminated by raw sewage as a result of the hurricane, this figure will quickly surge. Its impossible to know what the cholera situation is in more remote areas that are still unreachable.

Haitis ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva, Pierre Andre Dunbar, described the situation this way: "[T]his is not a population which is now on its knees, but on the ground faced with the atrocity of Hurricane Matthew."

International aid has come trickling innot fast enough to address the lack of fresh water, medicines, and shelter needed by the two million people affected. The UN is begging for a paltry $120 million. Getting to remote areas is almost impossible as precarious infrastructure has collapsed. Associated Press reported that doctors in the far southwestern tip of Haiti are still waiting for medicine a week after the hurricane struck.

The 80-100% destruction of food crops in some areas has created an immediate threat of starvation, according to Alexi Masciarelli, RT reported.

"In some areas I have been, everything essentially has gone, whether it was small [subsistence] production for families or real agricultural production,"

he said. Interim President Jocelerme Privert, who refers to the storms "apocalyptic destruction," warns that while emergency aid is needed now, policies must also be put in place for long-term economic developmentnever done following the 2010 earthquake. Haiatis "reconstruction" program consisted of building luxury hotels and "improved" slave-labor assembly plants. Privert said, "[T]he concern is now that if we dont take action now for the longer term.... Three to four months [from now] when the [emergency] food stops coming in, we are going to have a real famine."
PRESS RELEASE

French Deputies: Hollandes Russian Policy Made in the U.S. State Department

Oct. 12, 2016 (EIRNS)Some French politicians are charging that President Francois Hollandes Russian policy is made at the U.S. State Department and are calling on France to cooperate with Russia, sharply contrasting Hollandes policy with that of General Charles de Gaulle, who insisted that Paris serve as a bridge between the West and the Soviet bloc.

French deputy Thierry Mariani told RT,

"I am wondering whether France has its own foreign policy. I have an impression that we are merely an additional section of the U.S. State Department and that French foreign policy is conducted by copying and pasting the belligerent U.S. model,"

Mariani said, adding that in the past two-and-a-half decades, relations between Russia and France have never been as tense as they are now. "I think that the American policy that we back and implement is leading us to a catastrophe," he lamented.

Deputy Valerie Boyer added that Hollande decided not to meet with Putin, due to pressure from Washington.

"Hollande has looked to the US and is not trying to understand what truly is in the interests of Europe or Russia. This has been a constant of French diplomacy since Hollande came to power. In this respect France has no autonomy,"

Boyer said. She described Russia as a "friend and ally" of France.

"Frances attitude to Russia is shocking to me. Like Europe, France is not interested in its diplomatic relations with Russia being so tense. I find attempts aimed at reviving the Cold War between Russia and Europe stupid."

In an interview with Sputnik, French Senator Yves Pozzo di Borgo said that he was "very sorry" that President Vladimir Putin had cancelled his visit to France. "This is God-knows-what on the part of Hollande," he said. Instead, Putin and Hollande need to engage in a "discreet dialogue," he said. Both leaders
PRESS RELEASE

Kerry and Lavrov To Meet Saturday in Lausanne

Oct. 12, 2016 (EIRNS)Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will meet on Saturday in Lausanne, Switzerland, in an effort to revive the collapsed U.S.-Russian negotiations on a diplomatic solution to the Syria war. Reuters, in reporting on the announcement, noted,

The resumption of talks, despite the offensive, was a sign of the lack of options facing Western nations over the Syria conflict, where they worry scaled-up arms supplies for the rebels could end up in the hands of jihadist groups.

Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke by phone on Wednesday with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande. Kerry, in announcing the Lausanne meeting, described it as a crisis meeting with key regional partners aimed at crafting a multilateral approach ... including a sustained cessation of violence and the resumption of humanitarian aid deliveries.
Defense lawyers for Ukrainian journalist Suschenko arrested in Russia seek political prisoner status for him

The lawyers for Ukrainian journalist Roman Suschenko are conducting negotiations with Russian international human rights organizations on recognizing his status as a political prisoner, Mark Feygin, a defense lawyer for the Ukrainian, said.

"Today I am flying to the Vilnius Russia Forum. The release of Ukrainian journalist Suschenko will definitely become an issue for discussion... We are conducting negotiations with human rights organizations, Russian and international, on recognizing the status of Roman Suschenko as a political prisoner," the lawyer said on social networking sites on Thursday.

He also offered an 'exchange' to the Russian side: "I leave the Suschenko case and you [send him] to Ukraine."

As reported, the FSB detained Suschenko on alleged spying charges in Moscow, and the Lefortovsky District Court sanctioned Suschenko's arrest for two months on October 1.

Kyiv has qualified Suschenko's detention as provocation and said the spying charges are absurd.
Honda will come to next months Los Angeles Auto Show with a new CR-V, which for the first time will be offered in a turbocharged version.

In anticipation, the Japanese car giant revealed images and some details of the 2017 version of the countrys best-selling sport utility vehicle.

The fifth-generation CR-V, first launched in 1997, will come standard with a 2.4-liter four-cylinder power plant. But the higher trim levels (Honda currently offers five CR-V models) will be available with a 1.5-liter turbocharged four-cylinder engine  a first for the popular SUV.

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The new engine will make 190 horsepower (up from 185 on the current engine) and offer improved fuel economy that Honda says will be the highest Environmental Protection Agency numbers in the entire SUV class. (Honda has not said what those numbers are.)

Working from a new chassis and body design, Honda says the refreshed CR-V will have better handling and ground clearance, and will be available in front-wheel-drive and all-wheel-drive versions.

Honda promises the new CR-V will offer more cabin room, more rear seat legroom and more cargo space, as well as a new remote engine start, improved front seat adjustability and heated front and rear seats.

On higher trim levels, the 2017 will include Honda Sensing, a suite of safety features that includes collision warnings, lane departure and pedestrian crossing alerts, and assisted braking.

Hondas popular CR-V has often been at the top of the SUV sales charts, where it currently holds sway over traditional segment competitors Toyota RAV4, Nissan Rogue and Ford Escape.

According to published reports, Honda sold 259,499 CR-Vs in 2015, beating all rivals. It leads its class in 2016 sales, with 263,493 units sold through September. The RAV4 was just behind, with 260,380. The Nissan Rogue and Ford Escape followed with 241,619 and 234,764 units sold, respectively.

charles.fleming@latimes.com

Twitter: @misterfleming
Wells Fargo Chairman and Chief Executive John Stumpf fulfilled the prediction of a growing volume of tea leaves Wednesday by announcing his immediate resignation from the bank company.

Stumpfs departure is a clear sign that the bank wishes to put its scandal, in which employees laboring under relentless production quotas opened millions of bogus accounts in the names of customers and others, to rest. Its also a sign that its management and directors still arent owning up to their responsibility for the debacle. Whats needed is a clean break with the past. That wont be happening.

How do we know? Consider, to start, the changes on the Wells Fargo board, such as they are. The posts of chairman and chief executive, both of which Stumpf held, will be bifurcated, as many corporate good-governance activists recommend.

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John Stumpf has dedicated his professional life to banking ... [creating] one of the strongest and most well-known financial services companies in the world.  Wells Fargo statement bidding its chairman and CEO farewell

But the new chairman is former General Mills Chairman Stephen W. Sanger, who has been a Wells Fargo director since 2003. That means hes been cemented in place through the entirety of the scandal, which began no later than 2011 and possibly years earlier. Since 2011, hes received $1.7 million in pay from Wells, close to the highest average of any director. Hes a member of the boards human resources and risk committees, both of which could have exercised oversight over the activities at the heart of the scandal. Plainly, neither did.

To the extent the somnolent Wells Fargo board bears responsibility for a corporate culture that implicitly, or explicitly, appeared to condone wholesale identity theft and fraud by bank employees and their supervisors  and it is responsible  Sanger would seem to exemplify the boards dereliction. Why does he deserve to be elevated to chairman? How will that improve Wells Fargos governance?

Stumpfs successor as chief executive is Timothy J. Sloan, 56, who has been at Wells Fargo for 29 years. That suggests that he may well have become imbued with the same culture that Stumpf chose to accommodate. Sloan has been Stumpfs designated heir apparent since last year. That suggests hes been groomed for the succession for at least a couple of years. Thats a circumstance that wouldnt have encouraged his rocking the boat by taking a strong line against what seemed to be a lucrative system of saddling retail customers with numerous accounts they didnt need, or even know about.

There are hints, indeed, that Sloan was less than forthcoming in meetings with investigators before the scandal broke into the open. There are also hints that once he became Wells Fargos chief operating officer last November, he was instrumental in quietly ushering Carrie Tolstedt out the door. She was the executive in charge of the retail division where the abuses occurred. Wells Fargos machinations to get Tolstedt to retire, however, smack more of trying to make a problem go away quietly than to solve it and come clean.

One way or another, replacing Stumpf with Sloan seems premature at best, since the latters role in managing the bank through the scandal isnt yet at all clear. And for a company that needs to demonstrate a commitment to cultural change by bringing in an outsider, it sends the wrong signal. Sloan is not someone you would consider a transformational CEO if this company needs to go in a new direction, Brian Kleinhanzl, an analyst at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods, told Bloomberg.

This is the conventional version of a new broom wielded by any scandal-wracked U.S. corporation: Move one or two scapegoats out, and let everyone below them take one step higher.

Wells bid Stumpf adieu Wednesday with an unintentionally ironic valediction. John Stumpf has dedicated his professional life to banking, it read, successfully leading Wells Fargo through the financial crisis and the largest merger in banking history, and helping to create one of the strongest and most well-known financial services companies in the world. What it didnt say was that his management had left it saddled with perhaps the most sullied reputation of any big American bank.

Certainly the shuffle in the corporate suite wont end the questions about Wells Fargos treatment of its customers. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), one of the banks staunchest critics on Capitol Hill, made that clear Wednesday.

We are still waiting for answers, he said, as to how Wells Fargo plans to right its wrongs against customers and the low-paid employees who werent given the benefit of a retirement package when they were fired for refusing to cheat.

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.
The city of Los Angeles has won nearly $65 million in state funding to develop six affordable housing projects amid a homelessness crisis.

The money allows for 553 below-market units to be built, the office of L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti announced Wednesday. Nearly 350 of those residences are for formerly homeless individuals and planned for projects with supportive services. The remaining are for low-income households, who are increasingly struggling to afford a home in one of the nations most expensive cities.

The money comes from Californias greenhouse gas cap-and-trade program and is meant to finance affordable housing near job centers and transit in order to reduce car trips.

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Affordable housing development can be about more than building four walls and a roof for people who need them, it can also give everyone  regardless of income  a chance to be part of L.A.s green, connected future, Garcetti said in a statement. Smart design helps us to cut down on greenhouse gas emissions by linking communities to more transportation options.

In all, the state awarded about $290 million in competitive grants and loans to 25 housing and transportation projects across California.

According to the mayors office, the $64.6 million earmarked for Los Angeles is the most any city received and comes after Garcetti lobbied to lift a prior $15-million cap.

Among the L.A. developments to win funding is the Jordan Downs public housing project in Watts, which is being redeveloped into a mixed-income village.

That project received $12 million to finance transportation improvements and 135 below-market units in the first phase.

andrew.khouri@latimes.com

Follow me @khouriandrew on Twitter

ALSO

How Wells Fargo is trying to regain customers trust

CBS Chief Executive Leslie Moonves could be key to Viacoms future

Applications for jobless benefits stay at 43-year low, indicating layoffs are scarce
Wells Fargo & Co. has launched a campaign to regain customers trust after revelations that, in order to meet aggressive sales quotas, bank employees created as many as 2 million accounts in customers names without their knowledge or consent.

The San Francisco banks chief executive resigned Wednesday, and the bank sent out letters and took out full-page newspaper ads about its values and culture. But investors, at least, are not yet convinced: Wells Fargos shares were down more than 2% around 9 a.m. Pacific Time on Thursday.

On Wednesday, customers received a letter from the bank saying that its actions did not live up to our commitment.

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Over the last several weeks, you may have heard about the settlements weve made involving some of our customers receiving products or services that they did not want or request, the letter says. This is inconsistent with our values and with the culture we work hard to maintain. Its not who we are as a company.

That same day, John Stumpf resigned as the companys CEO and chairman. Timothy Sloan, the companys president and a longtime Wells Fargo executive, was named as Stumpfs replacement.

Wells Fargo employees creation of bogus accounts  and the pressure they experienced to meet sales goals  were exposed in a 2013 Los Angeles Times investigation and led to a $185-million settlement with regulators last month.

A flurry of lawmakers quickly applauded Stumpfs resignation.

Rep. Mark DeSaulnier (D-Concord) called it welcome news, but he said in a statement Wednesday that more needed to be done for this once-great California institution to find its moral compass.

California Treasurer John Chiang was even more critical, saying that the wheels have fallen off the banks trademark stagecoach on Stumpfs watch.

Wells Fargo must relearn that integrity and honesty matter, Chiang said in a statement.

The Committee for Better Banks  a group of bank workers, labor groups and community and consumer advocates  said Stumpfs resignation should be only the first step. It said industry workers need a collective voice to address concerns, otherwise another scandal is just waiting to happen.

The coalition, an offshoot of the Communication Workers of America labor union, is organizing bank workers to push for better pay and has called for banks to end all sales goals.

In its letter to customers, Wells Fargo said it has eliminated product sales goals for retail banking employees who work in branches and call centers and now sends a message to customers after any new account is opened so that you know what is happening. Those measures were first announced last month.

The bank also said it has already provided full refunds to some customers and is broadening our scope of work to include any customers it might have missed.

Last month, the bank said it had already made refunds to 100,000 customers averaging $25 to compensate for unauthorized fees and has set aside a total of $5 million for payouts. But some customers have complained that unauthorized credit card accounts could lower their credit scores and therefore raise their borrowing costs.

Wells Fargo followed its letter with a full-page newspaper ad titled Moving forward to make things right.

Were even more dedicated to serving you and making sure you know where you stand, the ad states. There is nothing more important than for you to experience the very best from us.

Shares of Wells Fargo were down 93 cents, or 2.1%, at $44.39 at 9 a.m.

samantha.masunaga@latimes.com

For more business news, follow me @smasunaga

ALSO

CBS Chief Executive Leslie Moonves could be key to Viacoms future

Los Angeles receives nearly $65 million in state funds for affordable housing

Wells Fargo CEO retires amid accounts scandal and is replaced by a longtime company insider

UPDATES:

9:15 a.m.: This article was updated with lawmakers reactions to Stumpfs resignation and additional background information.

This article was originally published at 7:10 a.m.
Verizons deal to buy Yahoo for $4.83 billion could be on shaky ground after the Internet company disclosed last month a 2014 data breach that affected at least 500 million Yahoo accounts.

The breach  one of the largest in the history of cyberattacks  included user data such as email addresses, dates of birth, encrypted passwords and security answers.

Yahoo said in September that it was not aware of the cyberattack when it signed the deal with Verizon in July of this year. Verizon didnt find out about it until the week the breach was made public. A spokesman for the telecommunications firm said at the time that the company had limited information and was not yet sure of its ramifications.

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On Thursday, Verizon general counsel Craig Silliman told reporters in Washington D.C. that the breach may affect the deal.

Based on what we know so far, we have reason to believe that Yahoos data breach has had a material impact, Silliman said.

Verizon declined to provide further comment.

We are confident in Yahoos value and we continue to work towards integration with Verizon, a Yahoo spokeswoman said.

The New York telecommunications company in July offered to buy Yahoos core assets  including its websites, email service and apps  extending a lifeline to a once-dominant Internet company that for years has bled cash and lost users to newer competitors.

Its not unusual for data breaches to affect acquisition deals, according to technology analysts, who said buyers have been known to ask for discounts or pull out of deals entirely because they dont want to inherit the other companys problems.

The New York Post, citing unnamed sources, reported this month that Verizon might be seeking a $1 billion discount on Yahoo because of the data breach.

tracey.lien@latimes.com

Twitter: @traceylien
A look at youth and identity on the Eastside. A German artist nods to Californias Michael Asher in downtown. And the work of a Japanese artist known for his gritty street photography in Boyle Heights. Plus: Hard-edge abstraction, Picasso lithographs and 100 portraits in 100 minutes. Here are eight shows and events to check out this week:

Tastemakers and Earthshakers: Notes on Los Angeles Youth Culture, 1943-2016, at Vincent Price Art Museum. A multimedia exhibition organized by the museums new director, Pilar Tompkins Rivas, looks at eight decades of youth culture  from the pachucos and pachucas of the 40s, to the connections between Los Angeles and British youth culture, to the emergence of social spaces geared at youth. In addition to work by more than 35 area artists, the exhibition also features documentary photography, video and other cultural ephemera. Opens Saturday and runs through Feb. 25. East Los Angeles College, 1301 Cesar Chavez Ave., Monterey Park, vincentpriceartmuseum.org.

An installation view of Deborah Remington: A Life in Drawing, 1950" at Parrasch Heijnen. (Zach Callahan / Parrasch Heijnen Gallery ) (Test)

Deborah Remington, Life Drawing: A Life in Drawing, 1950-2006, at Parrasch Heijnen. A hard-edge abstractionist who came to prominence in the 1960s in San Francisco, Remington studied with the likes of Clyfford Still, David Park and Elmer Bischoff at the California School of Fine Arts (later the San Francisco Art Institute). Her intensive drawings feature floating, shield-like shapes  images that speak to Surrealism as much as they do to the machine age. The new show gathers more than 30 works from 56 years of practice. Opens Saturday and runs through Nov. 26. 1326 S. Boyle Ave., Boyle Heights, parrasch-heijnen.com.

Isa Genzken, I Love Michael Asher, at Hauser Wirth & Schimmel. This is the German artists first solo exhibition in California  featuring a new body of work (teetering assemblages crafted from bits of architectural and other detritus). It also pays tribute to an artist by whom she was moved and inspired: California-born conceptualist Michael Asher, who was known for architectural interventions that reconfigured physical and social ideas of space. The gallery also has a traveling exhibition titled Schwitters Miro Arp, that brings together works by renowned European Dadaists Kurt Schwitters, Joan Miro and Hans Arp. Sounds pretty boss. Opens Saturday and runs through Dec. 31. 901 E. Third St., downtown Los Angeles, hauserwirthschimmel.com.

States of Mind: Picasso Lithographs, 1945-1960, at the Norton Simon Museum. Drawn from the museums holdings of more than 700 Picasso prints, this exhibition gathers works made in the immediate postwar years, many of which sequentially depict the artists process as he made changes and revisions. Moreover, many of the works are being seen for the first time in 40 years. Opens Friday and runs through Feb. 13. 411 W. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, nortonsimon.org.

Kemerovo, Soviet Russia, March 16, 1991, from Keizo Kitajimas Soviet Union photographs at Little Big Man Gallery. (Keizo Kitajima / Little Big Man) (Test)

Keizo Kitajima, New Street History, at Little Big Man Gallery. A new exhibition devoted to the Japanese photographer gathers 25 modern and vintage prints from the esteemed artists series devoted to Tokyo and New York, shot in the late 70s and early 80s  which included gritty shots taken in nightclubs and on the street. There are also images from later projects completed in the Soviet Union and one that focused on people and architecture. Opens at 6 p.m. Saturday and runs through Nov. 27. 1427 E. Fourth St., Boyle Heights, littlebigmangallery.com.

In Real Life: 100 Days of Film and Performance, at the Hammer Museum. This 4 1/2-month program is bringing a series of screenings, performances, film and video to the museum during a remodel. Coming this weekend is a screening of self-produced music videos tied to the work of Oneohtrix Point Never  otherwise known as musician, composer and producer Daniel Lopatin. Through Jan. 25. Check the schedule for events and times. 10899 Wilshire Blvd., Westwood, hammer.ucla.edu.

A 2012 drawing by Michael Young: of Young & Ayata at A+D in downtown Los Angeles. (Michael Young / Young & Ayata) (Test)

The Drawing Show, at the A+D Architecture and Design Museum. A new exhibition gathers drawings by architects who use the medium as an exploratory tool in their design practices. This includes images that channel everything from geometric abstraction to the weirdly biomorphic. Architects featured include figures such as Pritzker Prize-winner Thom Mayne, as well as Kyle Miller, Anthony Morey and Bryan Cantley. Opens at 6 p.m. Friday and runs through Jan. 8. 900 E. Fourth St., downtown Los Angeles, aplusd.org.

John Kilduff, Paint Before You Think, at Nan Rae Gallery. Kilduff, who is known for mixing humorous performances with the act of painting (think: painting while running on a treadmill) will be painting 100 one-minute portraits during the opening night of the show. The first 100 to show up will get a free portrait. Opens at 6 p.m. Friday and runs through Nov. 13. Woodbury University, 7500 Glenoaks Blvd., Burbank, facebook.com/nanraegallery or nanrae.com/woodburygallery.html.

And, coming down the pike 

Pop-Up Magazine, the storytelling show organized by California Sunday (do not miss), will be in L.A. at the Theatre at the Ace Hotel on Nov. 3. The lineup includes MacArthur winner Josh Kun, Stephanie Foo of This American Life and Pushcart Prize winner Joshua Bearman. Tickets are on sale now. Get on it, people. popupmagazine.com

Plus, Gloria Steinem and Transparent creator Jill Soloway will be in conversation as part of a speakers series organized by the Center for the Art of Performance at UCLA on Dec. 4. This promises to be seriously excellent. Grab those tickets now. cap.ucla.edu

LAST CHANCE

Tong Kunniao, Why Dont You Eat Stinky Tofu? at Nicodim Gallery. The Chinese-born artist features messy assemblages and kinetic sculptures crafted from detritus that include Barbie dolls and religious souvenirs. Through Saturday. 571 S. Anderson St., Suite 2, Boyle Heights, nicodimgallery.com.

Kenyatta A.C. Hinkle and Tyler Matthew Oyer, Exploring The Nowannago: Kentifrican Modes of Resistance, at Grand Central Art Center. A combination of performance and video piece, Exploring the Nowannago is part of Hinkles long-running exploration of the ways in which black female bodies are commoditized and exoticized. Also on display is Jesse Kees sound installation featuring a series of pieces drawn from the artists experience working in Santa Ana. Through Sunday. 125 N. Broadway, Santa Ana, grandcentralartcenter.com.

ONGOING EXHIBITIONS

Abraham Cruzvillegas Autoconcancin sculptures at Regen Projects in Hollywood. (Regen Projects) (Test)

Abraham Cruzvillegas, Autoconcancion, at Regen Projects. In his work, the Mexican artist has long riffed on the improvised nature of Latin American informal architecture  so-called autoconstrucciones. For his second show at Regen, Cruzvillegas is exploring similar territory, though on this occasion, he is employing the backseat of every car he has ever used (a nod to SoCal car culture). These will be affixed to planters bearing plantings from our region. Through Oct. 22. 6750 Santa Monica Blvd., Hollywood, regenprojects.com.

James Richards, Hack the Analog, at Shoshana Wayne Gallery. A series of new paintings play with their structure in pieces that function partially as sculpture and partially as weaving. Through Oct. 22. Bergamot Station, 2525 Michigan Ave., B1, Santa Monica, shoshanawayne.com.

Edith Beaucage, Sequencer, Spectrum, Reverb, at Luis De Jesus Los Angeles. In loose, wild brush strokes, the L.A. artist captures figures in hallucinatory landscapes that evoke a painted rave. Also on view will be an exhibition of photographs and large-scale video by Bryan Zanisnik, a New York-based artist preoccupied by the architecture of monuments and theatrical sets. Through Oct. 22. 2685 S. La Cienega Blvd., Culver City, luisdejesus.com.

Fran Siegel, Reconstruction, at ACME. The artist creates elaborate pieces that integrate drawing, cut-outs and collaging to capture the urban environment on a massive scale. In a new series of works going on view at the gallery, Siegel sets her sights on Los Angeles, capturing patterns of migration, settlement and evolution. A new way to see the city that surrounds us. Through Oct. 22. 6150 Wilshire Blvd., Carthay, Los Angeles, acemlosangeles.com.

An image from the series Under Cover Cars, by Clint Woodside. (Clint Woodside / These Days L.A.) (Clint Woodside / These Days L.A. )

Clint Woodside, Under Cover Cars, at These Days L.A. The artists first solo exhibitions gathers five years worth of images chronicling SoCal cars draped in all manner of plastics and tarps. Through Oct. 23. 118 Winston St., 2nd Floor, downtown Los Angeles, thesedaysla.com.

Hanne Darboven, at Spruth Magers. The first solo exhibition devoted to the German conceptualists work in half a dozen years contains three installations that riff on the nature of time and other concepts through monumental pieces laden with obsessively detailed charts and calendars. This includes work dating to the 1970s (Darboven died in 2009). Through Oct. 29. 5900 Wilshire Blvd., Mid-Wilshire, Los Angeles, spruethmagers.com.

Michelle Kingdom, at bG Gallery. Kingdom takes embroidery and gives it a surreal twist, using it to create scenes  a figure hovering over a crowd of faceless women, for example  that are as strange as they are fantastical. Through Oct. 29. Bergamot Station, 2525 Michigan Ave., G8A, Santa Monica, santamonica.bgartdealings.com.

Fort Greene, at Venus. Organized by Adrianne Rubenstein, director of the Canada gallery in New York, the exhibition charts the web of visual and other connections among a group of New York artists. Of particular interest are the enigmatic geometric assemblages of Sarah Braman, the slightly magical paintings of Alex Chaves, the vibrant domestic settings of Bella Foster and a sculpture of John Waters head by John De Fazio that also doubles as a bong. Heady all around. Through Oct. 29. 601 S. Anderson St., Boyle Heights, venusovermanhattan.com.

Tom Knechtel, Astrolabe, at Marc Selwyn Fine Art. The artist, known for theatrical pieces that often border on the surreal (think: wrestlers in skirts and humans with bird heads) is unveiling three new paintings as well as a series of intimate new drawings consisting largely of portraiture and self-portraiture  areas that this master draftsman had not previously explored. Through Oct. 29. 9953 S. Santa Monica Blvd., Beverly Hills, marcselwynfineart.com.

Mira Schor, War Frieze (1991-1994) and Power Frieze (2016), at CB1 Gallery. Schor, the New York-based feminist artist who first made her name in the 70s at the California Institute of the Arts, is back in L.A. with a new selection of paintings that riff on art world politics and the body. A separate space features her historic work War Frieze, created between 1991 and 1994, a series of panels that, when presented together, run more than 200 feet. Through Oct. 30. 1923 S. Santa Fe Ave., downtown Los Angeles, cb1gallery.com.

Shift and Fade, at BLAM. A group show features a series of large-scale installations as well as 21 small sculptures, made by artists who often dont work in that medium. The show includes Kio Griffiths intriguing mappings related to a World War II-era battle in the Pacific in which her ancestors fought on opposing sides, as well as the intricate, woven drawings of San Pedro-based artist Fran Siegel. Through Oct. 30. There will be an artist talk with Shana Nys Dambrot on Oct. 30. 1950 S. Santa Fe Ave., downtown Los Angeles, blamprojects.com.

Entrance to the Chaos Palace, 2016, by Tom Knechtel at CB1 Gallery. (Tom Knechtel / CB1 Gallery) (Tom Knechtel / CB1 Gallery )

Tom Knechtel, The Reader of His Own Self, at CB1 Gallery. The Los Angeles artist renowned for rendering fantastically detailed paintings that seem to channel William Blake and Hieronymus Bosch in equal parts is displaying a selection of prints and drawings produced throughout his career  including new works that riff on the personal, such as two prints created especially for the show. The exhibition also serves as a prelude to a show of the artists paintings that will open at Marc Selwyn in Beverly Hills next week. Opens Saturday at 3 p.m. and runs through Oct. 30. 1923 S. Santa Fe Ave., downtown Los Angeles, cb1gallery.com.

Henry Taylor, at Blum & Poe. The artists latest solo exhibition features a series of new paintings and sculptures displayed in three unique environments that tackle ideas of class  including a dirt lot and a grassy lawn. As part of the exhibition, he will also be screening a film by friend and collaborator Kahlil Joseph, who last year hypnotized with his installation Double Conscience at the Museum of Contemporary Art in downtown Los Angeles. The gallery will also be having a concurrent show of the early sign paintings of Mark Grotjahn. Through Nov. 5. 2727 S. La Cienega Blvd., Culver City, blumandpoe.com.

Marnie Weber, Chapel of the Moon, at Gavlak Gallery. The Los Angeles artist has created a cast of mythical characters employed in her first feature film  a modern-day fairy tale titled The Day of Forevermore, which recently screened at the Theatre at the Ace Hotel  and these serve as the source of a new series of multimedia works at the gallery. Expect works that play with fantasy, reality and the mildly satanic. Through Nov. 5. 1034 N. Highland Ave., Hollywood, gavlakgallery.com.

Wu Tsang, The Luscious Land of God Is Sinking, at 356 Mission. The L.A.-based filmmaker and performer is screening her recent film, Duilian, about a Chinese feminist revolutionary who was executed for attempting to foment revolution in the early 20th century. She will also be showing new sculptures, photographs and a limestone plaque that will be embedded in the sidewalk out front. Through Nov. 6. 356 S. Mission Road, Boyle Heights, Los Angeles, 356mission.com.

Dissent: What They Fear Is the Light, at Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions. A group show explores issues of privacy, control and surveillance in our hyper-connected, always-logged-on digital world. Through Nov. 6. 6522 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood, welcometolace.org.

Karon Davis, Pain Management, at Wilding Cran Gallery. Employing plaster casts and shredded medicine bills, the artist has re-created the hospital environment that her husband, artist Noah Davis, was forced to inhabit as the result of a fatal illness. (He died last summer.) These are used to create a series of figurative sculptures that conjure notions of preservation and mummification. Through Nov. 12. 939 S. Santa Fe Ave., downtown Los Angeles, wildingcran.com.

Lewis Baltz, Docile Bodies, at Gallery Luisotti. In 1994, the renowned California photographer created a monumental photographic installation titled Docile Bodies, which combined images of surveillance with fragments of human bodies. The work has not been shown in the U.S. since 1998, when the Museum of Contemporary Art displayed it. Now, Gallery Luisotti has reassembled it and placed it on view. Through Nov. 12. Bergamot Station, 2525 Michigan Ave., Building A2, Santa Monica, galleryluisotti.com.

He/She/They, at Rosegallery. A group exhibition gathers works by photographers whose subjects go beyond the simple gender binary of male and female. Included is a range of imagery  produced by a diverse group of artists that includes Diane Arbus, Antonio Caballero, Yasumasa Morimura and Jo Ann Callis  depicting the fluid nature of gender, from drag queens to female impersonators to androgyny of all kinds. Through Nov. 12. Bergamot Station, 2525 Michigan Ave., G-5, Santa Monica, rosegallery.net.

London Calling, at the Getty Museum. Drawn primarily from the collection of the Tate in London, this exhibition brings together six of the leading British painters of the 20th century, figures who resisted trends toward abstraction to focus on the figure, revolutionizing the act of painting in the process. Through Nov. 13. 1200 Getty Center Drive, Brentwood, Los Angeles, getty.edu.

A page from a notebook by Guillermo del Toro , from a show of the filmmakers work at LACMA . (Guillermo del Toro / Insight Editions) (Guillermo del Toro / Insight Editions )

Guillermo del Toro: At Home With Monsters, at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. The filmmakers work  which includes movies such as Pans Labyrinth, Hellboy and Pacific Rim  all play with notions of the fantastical. This exhibition looks at the directors artistic process, including plenty of drawings and maquettes, along with the objects that inspire him (including some truly odd and macabre works from LACMAs permanent collection). These are presented in a series of thematic rooms that explore magic, occultism, death and monsters. A totally wild ride. Through Nov. 27. 5905 Wilshire Blvd., Mid-Wilshire, Los Angeles, lacma.org.

Marcos Ramirez ERRE and David Taylor, Delimitations: A Survey of the 1821 United States-Mexico Border, at the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego. In 2014, Ramirez and Taylor set out on a more than 3,000-mile journey to mark the 1821 border between the U.S. and Mexico, which took them to unlikely places such as Medicine Bow, Wyo., and Dodge City, Kan. This exhibition presents photography and other documentation from that journey, one that looks at the fragile nature of political borders. Also on view will be the wild urban architecture-inspired sculptures of L.A. artist Ruben Ochoa  rising like monsters from the gallery floor. A pair of shows not to miss. Through Nov. 27. Jacobs Building, 1100 Kettner Blvd., downtown San Diego, mcasd.org.

Maggie Lee, Gigis Underground, at 356 Mission. Constructed out of the artists personal archive, this debut film consists of a portrait of the artist before and after her mothers sudden death. Through Nov. 27. 356 S. Mission Road, Boyle Heights, Los Angeles, 356mission.com.

A Generosity of Spirit: Celebrating the Gift of Eugene Rogolsky, at the Fisher Museum. The Angeleno acquired an eclectic range of works over the course of his years as a patron, including photography and paintings. One of the highlights: The significant number of works by prominent Chicano painter Carlos Almaraz. Through Dec. 3. USC, 823 W. Exposition Blvd., Exposition Park, Los Angeles, fisher.usc.edu.

American Mosaic: Picturing Modern Art Through the Eye of Duncan Phillips, at the Orange County Museum of Art. In the early 20th century, at a time when many U.S. moguls were focusing on amassing European masters, banking and steel scion Duncan Phillips focused his collecting efforts on American art, acquiring canvases by now venerated painters such as Thomas Eakins, Marsden Hartley, Winslow Homer, Georgia OKeeffe and Helen Frankenthaler. This exhibition brings together more than five dozen works from his collection. Through Dec. 4. 850 San Clemente Drive, Newport Beach, ocma.net.

The Spun Universe: Wixarika (Huichol) Yarn Paintings, at the Fowler Museum. A new show gathers the brightly woven yarn paintings of Wixarika artist Ramon Medina Silva, known for his elaborate compositions depicting astral figures, holy plants and important ritual objects, all crafted with brilliant threads. Through Dec. 4. UCLA, 308 Charles E. Young Drive N., Westwood, Los Angeles, fowler.ucla.edu.

Jud Fine and Barbara McCarren, AND/OR, at the University Art Museum. A survey exhibition includes works old and new by the L.A.-based art-making couple. This features a number of pieces related to such topics as offshore banking and the nature of currency, and a new installation, Continental Edge Dwellers (CED), that explores the coast  that blurry line between land and water. Its a good subject to marinate in at a time when Californias coast is subject to struggles over development. Through Dec. 11. Cal State Long Beach, 1250 Bellflower Blvd., Long Beach, web.csulb.edu/org/uam.

Yulya Dukhovny, Fishermans Dream: The World in Miniature, at Grand Central Art Center. Inspired by the traditional paper theaters of 19th century Europe, the artist has created her own version of the form, but uses it to stage narratives with a contemporary twists. The installation includes sets and video  as well as regular theatrical performances that feature unique musical compositions. Through Dec. 11. 125 N. Broadway, Santa Ana, grandcentralartcenter.com.

Betye Saar, Black White, at Roberts & Tilton. The grand dame of L.A. assemblage art (who is about to open a one-woman show at the Prada Foundation in Milan) is showing four decades worth of sculptures and wall pieces in the gallerys project space  transformed to reflect both the colors and politics of black and white. Also on view will be the abstract paintings of Evan Nesbit. Through Dec. 17. 5801 Washington Blvd., Culver City, robertsandtilton.com.

Thomas Hirschhorn: Stand-alone, at the Mistake Room. In his first solo installation in L.A., the Swiss artist has transformed the gallery into a chaotic, immersive environment crafted from cardboard, old armchairs and sofas and stocked with a carefully chosen selection of books. The artist is known for re-conceiving the idea of monuments into often humbly crafted installations (think: duct tape) that require the participation of a viewer to complete. Through Dec. 17. 1811 E. 20th St., downtown Los Angeles, tmr.la.

Sleep, David Adamo: Untitled and Devin Farrand: Heft, at Ibid Gallery. The gallery debuts its new space in Boyle Heights this weekend with several new exhibitions, including a group show that riffs on the idea of sleep, as well as a pair of solos devoted to the work of sculptor David Adamo and the abstractions of Devin Farrand. Through Oct. 29. Adamos exhibition and Sleep are on view through Dec. 17. 670 S. Anderson St., Boyle Heights, ibidgallery.com.

Detail of a work by Rosemarie Trockel on view at Ibid Gallery. (Skarstedt, New York) (Skarstedt, New York )

Paul Sietsema, at Matthew Marks Gallery. The artists first solo exhibition in L.A. in more than a dozen years includes new paintings and drawings, as well as two recent films. The show is partly built around the color green, featuring one work of pure abstraction and another made with euro banknotes. The film Abstract composition, in the meantime, animates phrases from online auction sites. Through Dec. 23. 1062 N. Orange Grove, West Hollywood, matthewmarks.com.

Maria Lassnig, A Painting Survey, 1950-2007, at Hauser Wirth & Schimmel. This is the first Los Angeles solo exhibition for the late Austrian artist, known for her inventively weird figurative paintings. The show traces the artists journey over a nearly six-decade period, from her early abstractions to the mildly distorted, even cartoonish, paintings of people and settings that are more about capturing psychological states of being than rendering exact figures. Through Dec. 31. 901 E. 3rd St., downtown Los Angeles, hauserwirthschimmel.com.

MOLAA at Twenty: 1996-2016, at the Museum of Latin American Art. The Museum of Latin American Art in Long Beach is celebrating two decades in existence with a show that draws from the museums permanent collection of more than 1,600 objects. These include works by renowned Modernists Joaqiun Torres-Garcia and Wifredo Lam, Argentine conceptualist Len Ferrari as well as contemporary figures such as Alexandre Arrechea and Patssi Valdez. Through Jan. 1. 628 Alamitos Ave., Long Beach, molaa.org.

The Art of Alchemy, at the Getty Museum. An exhibition at the Getty examines the art of alchemy  an area of study described as science tinged with spirituality and infused with a spritz of artistic spirit  dating from its origins in Greco-Roman antiquity to the Industrial Age. Alchemy was also closely tied to the production of pigments and colored inks, serving an important role in the production of art. Thats the subject of the related show: The Alchemy of Color on Medieval Manuscripts, takes on. Through Jan. 1. Getty Center, 1200 Getty Center Drive, Brentwood, Los Angeles, getty.edu.

Drawing: The Art of Change, at the Getty Museum. An exhibition of drawings from the Gettys permanent collection looks at the ways in which artists employ revision and change in their works. Through Jan. 1. Getty Center, 1200 Getty Center Dr., Brentwood, Los Angeles, getty.edu.

Ernesto Yerena Montejano, Espejismo/Cicatriz, at La Plaza de Cultura y Artes. A series of intensely detailed, layered collages by the Los Angeles-based artist explore issues of identity in the Latino community. Through Jan. 1. 501 N. Main St., downtown Los Angeles, lapca.org.

Senses of Time: Video and Film-Based Works of Africa, at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. For one of its long-term installations, the museum has gathered works of video or film by contemporary African artists that explore the body and the looping nature of time. This includes pieces by figures such as Yinka Shonibare, Sammy Baloji, Berni Searle, Moatax Nasr and Theo Eshetu. Through Jan. 2. 5905 Wilshire Blvd., Mid-Wilshire, lacma.org.

The Serial Impulse at Gemini G.E.L., at LACMA. Over the course of five decades, the innovative Los Angeles print studio has produced historic limited edition works for renowned artists such as Richard Serra, Claes Oldenburg, Vija Celmins, David Hockney and Robert Rauschenberg. Now the museum, in conjunction with the National Gallery of Art, brings together some of the most exquisite examples of work produced at the famed West Hollywood shop, including Rauschenbergs 1967 print, Booster, a 6-foot-tall print that in its day was the largest art print ever made. Do not miss Oldenburgs pieces, which ruminate on the nature of Los Angeles.Through Jan. 2. 5905 Wilshire Blvd., Mid-Wilshire, Los Angeles, lacma.org.

A detail from Joan Browns Three Figures, painted c. 1965, part of a group show of Bay Area artists at the Landing. (The Landing, Los Angeles) (The Landing, Los Angeles)

The Rat Bastard Protective Association, at the Landing. The Rat Bastard Protective Association was a close-knit group of now well-known California artists  including Bruce Conner, Jay DeFeo, Wallace Berman and Joan Brown  that worked together in a building dubbed Painterland in San Francisco. Anastasia Aukeman, who wrote a book on the group  Welcome to Painterland: Bruce Conner and the Rat Bastard Protective Association  has organized an exhibition that brings the groups works together for the first time since the late 1950s. Through Jan. 7. 5118 W. Jefferson Blvd., West Adams, thelandinggallery.com.

Kay Sekimachi, Simple Complexity, at the Craft & Folk Art Museum. The museum has gathered a lifetimes worth of work  from the 1960s to today  of this innovative Bay Area fiber artist. Through Jan. 8. 5814 Wilshire Blvd., Mid-Wilshire, Los Angeles, cafam.org.

Radio Imagination: Artists in the Archive of Octavia E. Butler, at the Armory Center for the Arts. This year marks the 10th anniversary of the death of sci-fi writer Octavia Butler. As part of this exhibition, which is organized by Clockshop, seven contemporary artists have created work inspired by the items in Butlers archive, held by the Huntington Library. The new pieces include drawings, a sound installation, sculpture and even a musical work, which will premiere at the exhibitions opening. Also on view will be an exhibition of sculptures and video by Harry Dodge  making this a most excellent two-fer. Through Jan. 8. 145 N. Raymond Ave., Pasadena, armoryarts.org.

Doug Aitken, Electric Earth, at the Museum of Contemporary Art. The L.A. artists first North American museum survey features an array of collage, photographic and video installation works from throughout his career  including the cinematic Song 1, from 2012, screening on a massive circular screen, and Electric Earth, the 1999 video installation that earned him the International Prize at the Venice Biennale.Through Jan. 15. Geffen Contemporary, 152 N. Central Ave., downtown Los Angeles, moca.org.

Truc Anh: Vacuphilia, at Varola. The first exhibition by the Vietnamese-French artist features paintings and installations that feature bodies and body parts inhabiting an abstracted world of black and white. Through Jan. 20. Pacific Design Center, 8687 Melrose Ave., Ste. B256, West Hollywood, helenvarola.com.

Beatriz Cortez, Nomad World, at the Vincent Price Art Museum. The L.A.-based artist and cultural critic has transformed the gallery space at the museum into an arcade that picks apart global capitalism. A fortune-telling booth, a pinball machine and a jukebox have been pulled apart and put back together, in ways that grapple with issues such as migration, economics and identity. Through Jan. 28. East Los Angeles College, 1301 Cesar Chavez Ave., Monterey Park, vincentpriceartmuseum.org.

Virgin of Guadalupe: Images in Colonial Mexico, at the Bowers Museum. This exhibition looks at the extraordinary impact of the Virgin of Guadalupe on Mexican culture, history and iconography through more than 60 artworks, including objects from the virgins basilica in Mexico City, as well as a sacred reliquary that contains a portion of the garment worn by Juan Diego, the indigenous peasant who first saw the virgin in an apparition. Through Jan. 29. 2002 N. Main St., Santa Ana, bowers.org

California Wood Artists, at the Maloof Foundation. A group show gathers wooden objects created by nearly 40 California wood artists, from one-of-a-kind furnishing to elaborate marquetry inspired by Google searches. Through Feb. 11. 5131 Carnelian St., Alta Loma, malooffoundation.org.

Nkame: A Retrospective of Cuban Printmaker Belkis Ayon, at the Fowler Museum. The Cuban visual artist was known for powerful pieces inspired by the visual iconography of the founding myths of Abakua, an Afro-Cuban fraternal society. Over her short life (she died at age 32 in 1999), she produced a voluminous number of prints and collages in shades of black and white that convey scenes that are both magical and enigmatic. Through Feb. 12. UCLA, 308 Charles Young Drive North, Westwood, Los Angeles, fowler.ucla.edu.

In the Land of Sunshine: Imaging the California Coast World, at the Pasadena Museum of California Art. Covering a period that begins in the mid-19th century and spans to today, this exhibition covers beach culture up and down our states more than 800-mile coast  from playful abstractions of the shoreline to expressive watercolors that will make you practically taste the salt air. Through Feb. 19. 490 E. Union St., Pasadena, pmcaonline.org.

Pop for the People: Roy Lichtenstein in Los Angeles, at the Skirball Cultural Center. A new exhibition of the pop artist looks at more than 70 works spanning four decades, many of which are connected to Los Angeles and the artists collaboration with important print studios here  including Gemini G.E.L. and Tamarind Lithography Workshop. Through March 12. 2701 N. Sepulveda Blvd., Brentwood, Los Angeles, skirball.org.

Toba Khedoori, at the L.A. County Museum of Art. This is the first major museum survey of the L.A.-based artist, known for her painstaking draftsmanship and enigmatic drawings and paintings. Her works often feature architectural elements, landscape, smoke and flame in ways that play with negative space and toy with meaning. Through Mar. 19. 5905 Wilshire Blvd., Mid-Wilshire, Los Angeles, lacma.org.

Non Fiction at the Underground Museum. An emotionally charged exhibition curated by the late Noah Davis, in collaboration with the Museum of Contemporary Art Los Angeles brings together works that explore issues of race and violence. This includes important works from MOCAs permanent collection by artists such as Robert Gober, Kara Walker, Henry Taylor and David Hammons. Through March. 3508 W. Washington Blvd., Arlington Heights, Los Angeles, theunderground-museum.org.

Islamic Art Now: Part 2 at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Contemporary works from LACMAs permanent collection by 20 artists who live in or have roots in the Middle East look at questions of society, gender and identity. Runs indefinitely. 5905 Wilshire Blvd., Mid-Wilshire, lacma.org.

Loris Greaud, Sculpt, at the L.A. County Museum of Art. The entire theater has been taken over by the European artist for a film that screens to only one person at a time. The nonlinear picture follows a man about whom we know very little, who seems to be constantly developing the concept of what experiencing beauty, thought, or obsession can be, according the write-up. Times critic Christopher Knight describes it as pretentious and uninvolving. A good hate-watch, maybe? On view through a yet to be determined date. 5905 Wilshire Blvd., Mid-Wilshire, Los Angeles, lacma.org.

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Find me on Twitter @cmonstah.
Reality TV series and Web-based shows helped lift production in the Los Angeles area by a modest 3% in the third quarter, offsetting declines in feature-film and commercial shooting.

The L.A. area saw a total of 9,795 on-location shoot days for the quarter, up from 9,510 days in the same period last year, according FilmLA Inc., the nonprofit group that oversees film permits in the city and county. The main driver was television, which saw 4,423 shoot days, up 2.7% from 4,308 in 2015.

Reality TV accounted for a significant part of that increase, rising 6.6% for the quarter to 1,342 shoot days, from 1,259 in the same period last year. Series that shot in the L.A. area for the third quarter include The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, The Bachelor, Face Off and Real Estate Wars.

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Web-based shows also contributed to the rise, climbing a robust 72.2% to 651 shoot days, from 378 during the same period a year ago. These shows are short-form videos created by companies such as Funny or Die, Maker Studios and Buzzfeed, and are not the kind of programming found on Netflix or Amazon.

The popularity of short-form Web shows has risen as millennials flock to viewing content on mobile devices. For the year, Web-based TV shoots have risen by more than 70% over two consecutive quarters.

The strength in television shoots was also driven by series that qualified for Californias film and television tax credit program. They include American Horror Story on FX, Westworld on HBO, This Is Us on NBC and Crazy Ex-Girlfriend on the CW.

The number of TV pilots shot in L.A. for the third quarter rose 20.8% to 151 shoot days, up from 125.

FilmLA said that about one-fourth of all local TV drama and comedy production is incentive-driven.

Paul Audley, president of FilmLA, said in a statement that the incentive has helped drive local TV production with seven straight quarters of growth, but he added that there has been a leveling off as the program reached full utilization.

Feature film shoots declined for the quarter, dropping 5% to 1,089 shoot days from 1,146 days in the same quarter last year. The figures also represent a decline after three consecutive quarters of growth in 2016.

Most feature film activity in L.A is of the small, independent variety, while incentivized features are bigger and tend to film for more days, significantly boosting the number of overall shoot days, said Philip Sokoloski, the FilmLA spokesman. We didnt have those this quarter, so until we haven an injection of new projects, we wont see the number go up.

Among the movies qualifying for the state incentive that filmed in the L.A. area during the quarter were: Suburbicon, directed by and starring George Clooney; God Particle, a science fiction thriller; Sandy Wexler, an Adam Sandler comedy; and a big-screen version of CHiPs, for pickup shots.

Feature film shoots lagged both TV and commercial shoots for the quarter as L.A. continues to combat runaway productions to rival states such as Georgia.

Commercial shoots declined 2.6%, to 1,245 shoot days in the third quarter from 1,278 in the same quarter last year.

david.ng@latimes.com
Prepare to get quite familiar with Newt Scamander: J.K. Rowling has revealed that there will be five Fantastic Beasts movies. Thats right, five.

The Harry Potter author made a surprise appearance Thursday at a fan event for the upcoming Fantastic Beasts that involved a live Q&A with the films cast.

While Rowling was able to refrain from revealing too many details about the upcoming top secret adventures of the magizoologist (played by Eddie Redmayne), she did make an announcement that was news even to the Fantastic Beast cast.

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I can say one thing, said Rowling. I can tell you that we always knew it was going to be more than one movie. We knew that from the start. We said a trilogy is a kind of placeholder  Ive now done the plotting properly, so were pretty sure its going to be five movies.

See the most-read stories in Entertainment this hour 

Thats right, five movies. Not three, not seven. Five exact.

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them takes its name from a textbook used by Hogwarts students in the Harry Potter series, written by Scamander. Rowling has since written and published the fictional textbook, which is about magical creatures, in Scamanders name.

The Fantastic Beasts film will follow Scamanders adventures as he comes to 1926 New York, giving fans a first look at the magical world in North America.

Starring Redmayne, Katherine Waterston, Dan Fogler, Alison Sudol, Colin Farrell, Carmen Ejogo, Samantha Morton, Ezra Miller, Ron Perlman and Jon Voight, Fantastic Beasts marks Rowlings screenwriting debut.

Directed by Harry Potter alum David Yates, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them will hit theaters Nov. 18.

Watch the full Fantastic Beasts fan event below.

tracy.brown@latimes.com

Twitter: @tracycbrown
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story is finally ready to reveal a big bit of Star Wars-ian plot. The new trailer for the first standalone movie in the Star Wars universe, has doubled down on the audacity of hope, while simultaneously teasing a ton of new story details.

The newest look at the film debuted Thursday morning on Good Morning America and delves a little more deeply into the backstory of main character Jyn Erso (Felicity Jones) and her involvement with the rebel forces.

We see Jyn with her father, Gal Erso (Mads Mikkelsen), in an exchange in which he tells her that everything he does is for her. The casting of Mikkelsen as Jyns father was in the summer during a Star Wars Celebration in London, but this is the first time weve gotten a glimpse.

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Its a moment that lingers when soon after we see that Gal, a scientist, has joined the Empire and is likely the architect who created of the greatest weapon the universe has ever known: the Death Star.

This pits Jyn against her father and his newfound loyalties as she allies herself with the rebel forces looking to steal the blueprints for the Death Star and, unwittingly, lay the groundwork for no less than nine future films.

But Jyn is not alone in her quest to capture the plans and set up the events of Star Wars: A New Hope.

The cast of the new film is vast and notably diverse, with Diego Luna, Ben Mendelsohn, Donnie Yen, Jiang Wen, Alan Tudyk, Riz Ahmed and Forest Whitaker, among others, joining Jones and Mikkelsen in this previously unseen battle between rebel and Empire forces.

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story is set to open Dec. 16.

See the most-read stories in Entertainment this hour 

libby.hill@latimes.com

Twitter: @midwestspitfire

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The parameters of homeland security are chillingly assessed in Do Not Resist, a troubling documentary examining the escalating militarization of the nations police forces.

Craig Atkinsons timely directorial debut opens on the streets of Ferguson, Mo., 10 days after the 2014 death of Michael Brown, where a SWAT team lobs tear gas at protesters failing to heed a midnight curfew.

But the lightning-laden storm clouds gathering overhead arent limited to Ferguson, as the film proceeds to survey the rapidly increasing use by police forces across the country of military-grade equipment originally intended for dealing with post-9/11 terrorist threats.

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Dispensing with a conventional narrator, Atkinson, himself the son of a retired SWAT officer, shrewdly lets his subjects do the talking.

They include former Army Col. Dave Grossman, billed as the worlds leading combat authority, motivating police in Orlando, Fla., with the mantra, You are men and women of violence. You must master it or it will destroy you!

Assisting them have been $34 billion in grants from the Department of Homeland Security enabling community police forces to get their hands on 48,000-pound MRAP (Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected) vehicles designed to withstand IED attacks in Fallujah, Iraq.

If seeing an MRAP roaring along a sleepy suburban U.S. street past a kiddie playset doesnt send up signal flares, then how about hearing an expert in predictive policing algorithms stating that the technology is in place to inform a pregnant woman that her unborn child will likely end up in jail?

Do Not Resist brings Steven Spielbergs Minority Report disturbingly close to home.

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Do Not Resist

Not rated

Running time: 1 hour, 12 minutes

Playing: Laemmle Monica Film Center, Santa Monica; Laemmle Playhouse 7, Pasadena

See the most-read stories in Entertainment this hour 
Arseniy Yatsenyuk, leader of the People's Front party and former prime minister of Ukraine, on Thursday testified in the Prosecutor General's Office in the case involving crimes against Euromaidan activists on February 18-21, 2014.

"Today's testimony was in effect related to [February] 18. But [the period from February] 18 and [February] 21 [...]. It was already the completion, it was the consequences. And the previous questionings [the October 11 questioning] were about the causes," Yatsenyuk told reporters after being questioned in the Prosecutor General's Office on October 13.

Yatsenyuk said his testimony will become evidence in the case. "It was meetings, it was information, including from law enforcement officials who were at that time in the Security Service and in the Interior Ministry, but they told us everything. That it, it was specific actions and events, including the actions by [Ukrainian President in 2010-2014] Yanukovych and the actions by the interior minister. We had meetings in the Prosecutor General's Office. It was also clear from the words and specific actions that occurred on the Maidan," Yanukovych said.

Responding to a question from journalists as to whether he will come to the Prosecutor General's Office for questioning again, Yatsenyuk said: "They are not inviting me yet."
Led by Univisions Jorge Ramos, the documentary Hate Rising clocks in at a slim 50 minutes. Since it focuses on racist extremism, its short running time feels like a blessing; theres only so much hate speech viewers can take before their jaws take up permanent residence on the floor and their tears spill over.

Journalist Ramos found himself the subject of the news after being forcibly removed from a press conference for Donald Trump after he tried to question the presidential candidate about immigration. In the aftermath of that 2015 event, Ramos and director Catherine Tambini explore how Trumps campaign rhetoric legitimizes bigotry against Latinos, Muslims, gays and others.

Hate is contagious, Ramos warns as he interviews people from the Texas Rebel Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, Aryan National Alliance, White Lives Matter and other white supremacist and alt-right organizations. Appallingly bigoted language is the norm in these conversations. Moments with young Mexican American students, the Southern Poverty Law Center and fiercely patriotic hate-crime victims provide much-needed balance to the vitriol expressed by those on the opposite side.

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Hate Rising doesnt hesitate to draw a direct connection between Trump and a variety of groups that it posits are emboldened by the Republican contenders statements. Its a capably made documentary that argues its case with intelligence and compassion, though its unlikely that it will sway the candidates most ardent defenders.

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Hate Rising

Not rated

Running time: 50 minutes

Playing: Ahrya Fine Arts, Beverly Hills

See the most-read stories in Entertainment this hour 
Its entirely fitting that The River Thief is an unabashedly faith-based drama  it would take a considerable leap of faith to find many redemptive qualities in this hackneyed, heavy-handed first feature written and directed by YA author N.D. Wilson.

Meet Diz (Joel Courtney), a resentful young teen thief who, although steadfastly refusing to accept handouts, has been stealing his way through the Pacific Northwest towns dotting the Snake River.

But when he hits the mother lode, ripping off a cool million from a crazed drug lord (mixed martial artist Bas Rutten), he finds himself dodging both vengeful cartel types and a dirty cop (Paul Johansson), before finding refuge in the benevolent home of a Bible-quoting, guitar-strumming old man named Marty (Tommy Cash, younger brother of the late Johnny Cash).

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Turns out Marty has a granddaughter (Raleigh Cane) to whom the socially awkward Diz takes a shining, revealing to her that his caustic view of the world might have something to do with the fact he was abandoned at birth by a mother who had unsuccessfully attempted to abort him.

Chockful of hoary archetypes making hokey observations (Just another boy that needs a father), leading to a truly laughable big-ending reveal, the film, with its wildly uneven performances, underscores the pitfalls inherent in shifting from the written page to the big screen.

As Stephen King once testified, Books and movies are like apples and oranges. They both are fruit, but taste completely different.

Its a contrast The River Thief consistently fails to discern.

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The River Thief

Not rated

Running time: 1 hour, 27 minutes

Playing: Arena Cinelounge at the Montalban Theatre, Hollywood

See the most-read stories in Entertainment this hour 
Real-life mother and daughter Connie Stevens and Joely Fisher share the screen for the first time, playing mom and daughter in Search Engines, an otherwise unnoteworthy, insufferably talky satire centering around an ill-fated Thanksgiving gathering.

Fisher plays a recently divorced mother of two teens and out-of-work art critic determined to cook a traditional festive dinner with all the trimmings in her sunny Southern California home for her smartphone-addicted friends and extended family.

But taming the turkey proves to be the least of her challenges when her neighborhoods cell reception suddenly goes dead, which proceeds to bring out the worst in some already less than exemplary behavior from her preoccupied houseguests.

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Unfortunately many viewers will have experienced their own connectivity issues long before those characters do.

Although theres a genuinely cozy rapport between Fisher and Stevens, the other cast members, including Daphne Zuniga, Nick Court, Natasha Gregson Wagner and Michael Muhney, have a tougher time trying to make all the overwritten, self-consciously quirky dialogue believably their own.

Filmmaker Russell Brown clearly had something pertinent he wished to say about our plugged-in, tuned-out obsession with the Internet and was obviously going for a Luis Bunuel-Robert Altman style of social commentary here.

But even the great Altman, a whiz at choreographing sprawling casts, wouldnt have been able to whip this largely unlikable ensemble and all their tedious, endless navel gazing into any sort of crowd-pleasing shape.

This overcooked Thanksgiving turkey succeeds only in managing to take all the fun out of dysfunctional.

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Search Engines

Not rated

Running time: 1 hour, 38 minutes

Playing: Laemmle NoHo 7, North Hollywood.

See the most-read stories in Entertainment this hour 
Bob Dylan opened the doors of what was possible in popular music with his 1965 single Like a Rolling Stone, a 6-minute epic built on four poetically surrealistic verses linked by the emotionally liberating How does it feel? chorus.

Then he blew those doors off the hinges the following year with his Blonde on Blonde album, which took his literate lyrics into the realm of the epic poets of ancient times.

In announcing Dylan as the 2016 recipient of the Nobel Prize for literature, the Swedish Academys permanent secretary, Sara Danius, said the selection honors Dylan for having created new poetic expressions within the American song tradition. Then she suggested that an interviewer start with his Blonde on Blonde to find out what all the fuss was about.

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 In what was considered a radical choice, Bob Dylan was announced as the winner of the Nobel Prize in literature on Oct. 13.

So expansive was what Dylan had to say at this creative peak of the mid-1960s that in Blonde on Blonde, he released the first double album by a major pop figure. Album-closer Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands is an 11-minute, 19-second Hellenic rock music volley that has launched at least a thousand interpretations over the last 50 years.

With your mercury mouth in the missionary times/And your eyes like smoke and your prayers like rhymes/And your silver cross, and your voice like chimes/Oh, who among them do they think could bury you? Dylan sings.

Thats just the opening. It continues to overflow with evocative allusions, revealing adjectives and imaginative metaphors, each setting the stage for another question posed to the songs unidentified subject, often presumed to be Dylans first wife, Sara Lownds.

As Bruce Springsteen put it when inducting Dylan into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988, Dylan was a revolutionary. The way Elvis freed your body, Bob freed your mind.

When Dylan made the pilgrimage from his home in Hibbing, Minn., to the vibrant folk music revival scene anchored in New York Citys Greenwich Village in the late 1950s, he came armed with a trove of songs by Woody Guthrie, Lead Belly, Robert Johnson and other folk and blues musicians.

Initially, he was but one of hundreds of aspiring folkies performing songs written by others. Quickly discovering that folk music kingpin Ramblin Jack Elliott also was touting Guthries music to younger audiences in New York, Dylan began to put more effort into writing his own songs.

His 1962 debut, Bob Dylan, showed a young artist strongly out of the traditional folk realm, singing versions of folk, country and blues standards such as House of the Risin Sun, Man of Constant Sorrow, Pretty Peggy-O and Baby, Let Me Follow You Down.

He quickly shot to the top of the folk music heap with his next album, The Freewheelin Bob Dylan, which contained several soon-to-be classic songs  Blowin in the Wind, A Hard Rains a-Gonna Fall, Dont Think Twice, Its All Right and Masters of War.

Other musicians quickly took notice of the budding musical poet. Folk trio Peter, Paul & Mary latched onto Blowin in the Wind, L.A. rock group the Turtles turned It Aint Me, Babe into a pop hit, Cher did the same for All I Really Want to Do, and the Byrds helped forge a new hybrid of folk and rock with electrified versions of Dylan songs such as Mr. Tambourine Man and My Back Pages.

 A brief look at the catalog of Bob Dylan.

His impact wasnt limited to a single continent. Emerging at roughly the same time as Beatlemania was igniting in the U.K., Dylans music inspired the Fab Four to think beyond the theme of love that dominated their early pop songs.

Where the Beatles earliest hits were built around simply stated sentiments such as I want to hold your hand, Dylan was writing about love with richly observed sophistication: Im a-thinkin and a-wonderin all the way down the road/I once loved a woman, a child Im told/I give her my heart but she wanted my soul, he sang in Dont Think Twice, Its All Right.

In particular, Beatle John Lennon, who had grown up reading the great poets and often entertained himself scribbling fanciful wordplay in the vein of Lewis Carroll, took notes of Dylans songwriting and soon moved it into more self-reflective material such as Help! and Girl.

Dylans songs were so plentiful and consistently original that they seemed to pour down through him from the heavens.

Of Like a Rolling Stone, Dylan told The Times then-pop music critic Robert Hilburn in 2004 that songwriting was often a mysterious process. Its like a ghost is writing a song like that, Dylan said. It gives you the song and it goes away, it goes away. You dont know what it means. Except the ghost picked me to write the song.

I wrote Blowin in the Wind in 10 minutes, just put words to an old spiritual, probably something I learned from Carter Family records. Thats the folk music tradition. You use whats been handed down. The Times They Are a-Changin is probably from an old Scottish folk song.

He is the Homer of our time. The next Bob Dylan will not come around for another millennium or two, making it highly unlikely that it will happen at all.  T Bone Burnett

For all the profound influence his 1960s songs exerted, that impact continued in the next decade, when he returned to touring in 1974 after a long hiatus with the album Planet Waves, which included another of dozens of his songs recorded multiple times by other artists, Forever Young.

He offered up what sounded like a blessing to a generation that had gone to hell and back during the turbulent 1960s with all the turmoil created by the Vietnam War, the civil rights movement, the emergence of womens liberation and other social and political concerns: May you grow up to be righteous/May you grow up to be true/May you always know the truth/And see the lights surrounding you.

His next album, Blood on the Tracks in 1975, was considered a full-blown return to form and triggered Rolling Stone magazine to devote thousands of words of commentary from multiple writers exploring the meaning of songs such as Tangled Up in Blue, Idiot Wind, Simple Twist of Fate and Lily, Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts.

Tangled Up in Blue opened the album with another expansive tale, a careening literal and metaphorical road trip. And again, Dylan offered a nod to the power of poetry in one verse: Then she opened up a book of poems/And handed it to me/Written by an Italian poet/From the thirteenth century/And every one of them words rang true/And glowed like burnin coal.

Dylans foundational place in pop music also gave rise to a music industry phrase that has functioned over time either as a badge of honor or a kiss of death to those tagged as the new Dylan, a club thats included Springsteen, John Prine, Loudon Wainwright III and Steve Forbert.

There is no way to accurately or adequately laud Bob Dylan, producer, songwriter and musician T Bone Burnett once said. He is the Homer of our time. The next Bob Dylan will not come around for another millennium or two, making it highly unlikely that it will happen at all.

randy.lewis@latimes.com

ALSO

In a radical choice, Bob Dylan wins the Nobel Prize in literature

Critics wonder if Bob Dylan really needs a Nobel Prize

Bob Dylan, interpreter: Seven of the artists greatest covers

Celebrating Dylans late career work, when he started getting obsessed with death

Nobel Prize winner Bob Dylan on life, love, idiots, war mongers, religion, self-esteem, desire, fashion and insufferable people
On Thurday, Bob Dylan was announced as the winner of the Nobel Prize in literature. And while the American musician had been rumored to be among those in consideration by the Swedish Academy, many were surprised at the choice.

As with all news, many took to social media to express their surprise, joy, jokes and even disappointment about the announcement.

There were of plenty of Dylan fans who were pleased with the news. Authors, artists and other celebrities expressed their support and offered Dylan congratulations.

https://twitter.com/SalmanRushdie/status/786545802294550528

https://twitter.com/joe_hill/status/786570393972867072

https://twitter.com/marykarrlit/status/786544828477796352

https://twitter.com/EileenMyles/status/786585000451842052

https://twitter.com/MollyRingwald/status/786564304292184064

There was also a camp that had fun with the news, using the occasion to generate some good-natured laughs.

https://twitter.com/bendreyfuss/status/786585786539995136

https://twitter.com/Scaachi/status/786580767136632832

https://twitter.com/crushingbort/status/786580064850718721

https://twitter.com/parisreview/status/786577198769664000

But there were definitely those who were not on board with the Swedish Academys radical choice.

Dylans win for having created new poetic expressions within the American song tradition shows an expanded view of what is defined as literature and few will argue that Dylan is not among the top of his field creatively.

Those expressing disappointment are not challenging Dylans artistic merits.

The Nobel Prize in literature is awarded annually to a person who has produced in the field of literature the most outstanding work in an ideal direction. The high-profile prize is often controversial, with some critics contending that well-known and deserving authors have not been recognized and others who claim some well-known winners havent deserved it.

Most who are unhappy with Dylans selection complain that it overlooks other deserving but lesser-known candidates.

https://twitter.com/harikunzru/status/786557254854070272

https://twitter.com/harikunzru/status/786557378300751876

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https://twitter.com/harikunzru/status/786559147479146496

https://twitter.com/harikunzru/status/786561815819931648

https://twitter.com/harikunzru/status/786566573331021824

https://twitter.com/hodgman/status/786568840641519617

https://twitter.com/hodgman/status/786586276141015041

https://twitter.com/hodgman/status/786587511552217089

https://twitter.com/hodgman/status/786587809645637632

Of course, now that the precedent has been set for songwriters as contenders for the literature Nobel, the door is wide open for next years contenders.

Even those expressing disappointment, however, do not argue that lyrics are not a worthwhile literary form.

https://twitter.com/hodgman/status/786590697331707905

See the most-read stories in Entertainment this hour 

tracy.brown@latimes.com

Twitter: @tracycbrown
Princeton University professor Sean Wilentz has never had any trouble seeing Bob Dylan as a crucial literary figure.

Hes a historical magician  a writer whos capable of creating this zone where its 1935 and 1835 and right now and tomorrow, said Wilentz. Thats his genius.

But the author of Bob Dylan in America concedes that not everyone in the academic establishment has always viewed the 75-year-old songwriter that way.

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Because he comes from the world of popular music, theres been some hesitation, Wilentz said. In some circles, he had to be legitimized.

Hows this for legitimate? On Thursday, Dylan was awarded the Nobel Prize in literature for having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition, as the Swedish organization responsible for the award put it. Previous winners include Doris Lessing, Gunter Grass and Toni Morrison.

Dylans selection triggered immediate reaction online, including some from writers who expressed disapproval.

On Twitter, Gods Without Men author Hari Kunzru called it the lamest Nobel win since they gave it to Obama for not being Bush, while Irvine Welsh (of Trainspotting fame) wrote, Im a Dylan fan, but this is an ill conceived nostalgia award wrenched from the rancid prostates of senile, gibbering hippies.

Yet Kevin Dettmar, chair of the English department at Pomona College, said the Nobel committee got it right  or close to it.

 Poetic expressions suggests local incidents of great lines, Dettmar said. Id say poetic expression. What Dylan has done is evolve a new idiom for pop music  intelligent, playful, introspective  that draws on poetry to do the work it does.

It was brave of them to think that way about it.

Dettmar, editor of The Cambridge Companion to Bob Dylan, acknowledged that literary types have resisted recognizing the songwriters work as poetry because so much of its effectiveness is in his phrasing.

The internal rhyme, the assonance, the consonance  you can see all that on the page, Dettmar added. But its the way he emphasizes surprising syllables, the way he almost overplays it, that creates this emotional urgency that you really have to hear.

Still, Wilentz said the publication in 2004 of Dylans widely acclaimed book Chronicles: Volume One  which he called one of the great American memoirs  went some way toward enhancing his literary bona fides.

Dettmar agreed, commending Dylans strong allusive voice that transcended the confessional quality many associate with pop and rock songwriting.

Its hard to figure out where Dylan is in the book  or where Robert Zimmerman is, Dettmar said, using Dylans given name. Hes playing possum all the way through.

Wilentz also pointed to Dylans Visions of Sin, a weighty exegesis by British literary scholar Christopher Ricks, as a driver of the stars growing recognition as an important arranger of words.

As much as he admires Ricks book, though, Wilentz insisted that Dylan neednt be separated from his music to deserve the Nobel.

Lyric poetry has to be judged as its own form, he said. I think it stands up on the page. But why should literature be confined to that?

Twitter: @mikaelwood

ALSO

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I always admired true artists, so I learned from them: When the enigmatic Bob Dylan opened up in 2004

Nobel Prize winner Bob Dylan on life, love, idiots, war mongers, religion, self-esteem, desire, fashion and insufferable people

Bob Dylan, interpreter: Seven of the artists greatest covers

In a radical choice, Bob Dylan wins the Nobel Prize in literature
There are few things Hollywood loves more than an underdog tale about a down-and-out lawyer trying the case of a lifetime. Goliath, a briskly entertaining legal drama premiering Friday on Amazon, proves this age-old formula has life in it yet.

In the eight-episode series, created by David E. Kelley and Jonathan Shapiro, Billy Bob Thornton is Billy McBride, a gifted attorney whose once-thriving career has long since been derailed by drink. The co-founder of a behemoth multinational firm, Cooperman & McBride, where his ex-wife, Michelle (Maria Bello), still happens to work, Billy now spends his days holed up at Chez Jay, the famous Santa Monica dive bar, and operating a two-bit legal business out of his room at the Ocean Lodge Hotel.

His shot at redemption arrives fortuitously, just moments after hes been fired for not remembering a clients name, via an unlikely messenger. Patty Solis-Papagian (Nina Arianda), a small-ball lawyer from the Valley (whose tongue-twister of a name is a recurring joke in the series), asks for his help in a wrongful death suit against a shadowy military contractor represented by  you guessed it  Cooperman & McBride.

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(Warning: Video contains graphic language.)

 Goliath stars Billy Bob Thornton, William Hurt and Maria Bello. (Warning: Contains graphic language.)

Initially reluctant to take the case, Billy is unable to resist the opportunity to stick it to his cartoonishly evil former partner, Donald Cooperman (William Hurt), and right what appears to be a terrible injustice. With the odds already stacked against him, Billy does himself no favors by carrying on an unethical affair with his wistful blond client (Ever Carradine) or hiring a bright but coke-addicted call girl as his legal secretary (Tania Raymonde).

As its title would suggest, Goliath is a redemptive story about an unlikely hero rising up against a daunting foe. Theres nothing radical or particularly groundbreaking about it. If anything, it is conventional in an almost self-conscious way. Billys favorite movie is Hoosiers, the ultimate non-biblical underdog tale, which he watches late at night while battling sleep apnea.

The cast of archetypal characters includes a Hooker With a Heart of Gold (Raymonde), a Wise-Beyond-Her-Years Teenager (Diana Hopper) and even a Young Woman Who Is Obviously Gorgeous But No One Can Tell Because Shes Wearing Glasses (Olivia Thirlby).

But at its best, Goliath suggests the creative possibilities that arise when writers steeped in the broadcast television tradition are liberated to tell heavily serialized, character-driven, morally complicated stories without the arbitrary limitations imposed by networks.

Shapiro is a veteran writer-producer with credits including The Blacklist, while anyone who turned on a television between 1995 and 2005 is likely familiar with Kelleys work. A prolific writer-producer with a knack for sophisticated yet broadly accessible legal shows like The Practice, Kelley was once known as the king of prime time, and has the mountain of Emmys to prove it.

Goliath marks his return to the medium several years after Harrys Law, a legal drama on NBC starring Kathy Bates, which was axed despite solid ratings because its audience skewed too old. Broadcast television has undoubtedly been kind to Kelley, but its easy to understand why he was tempted to test the streaming waters.

Kelley and Shapiro are writers with the kind of discipline that comes from working in ad-supported television but have now been given room to breathe. Even though most episodes of the show run close to a full hour, they rarely feel slack or sluggish  a common affliction in streaming shows  and often end in tantalizing cliffhangers.

They also understand that a show neednt be unrelentingly gloomy or morose to be taken seriously, and that a bit of levity is a good thing in a drama. (Kelley has always been an expert genre-blurrer, most notably in Ally McBeal, his musically infused legal dramedy). The sun-soaked Goliath even looks different than most would-be prestige dramas, which increasingly appear as if they were filmed during a blackout.

But what truly elevates Goliath are the performances by Thornton and Arianda. Theres something about Thornton, with his sleepy drawl and sly charm, that makes him almost incapable of overdoing it  a virtue in a role that could easily slide into scenery-chewing or dour wallowing. His Billy is more lovable rapscallion than tortured antihero, closer to Gregory House than Walter White or his ilk.

Arianda took Broadway by storm several years ago in a revival of the 1940s comedy Born Yesterday, and she lends Goliath a similar kind of screwball energy. As Patty, shes a husky-voiced, gangly limbed motormouth, the perfect complement to the world-weary, laconic Billy. Shes the pragmatist (I dont argue. I paper, I plead and I settle). Hes the reborn idealist. So far, Amazon has announced only a single season of Goliath, but one can easily imagine an ongoing series built around this central duo.

Thats not to say everything in Goliath works. Billy and his ragtag team are believably flawed humans, but their rivals at Cooperman & McBride are painted with much broader brushes. Hurts Cooperman is a reclusive figure with a mysterious scar across his face who is nearly always found in his office, with the shades drawn, spying on his employees via secret surveillance camera. Hes a comic-book villain in an otherwise grounded universe. This shows Goliath didnt have to be quite so giant.

See the most-read stories in Entertainment this hour 

Goliath

Where: Amazon Prime

When: Anytime starting Friday

Rating: TV-MA (may be unsuitable for children under the age of 17)

Follow me @MeredithBlake
Its not an uncommon story: Son rebels against his family legacy, looking to branch out from his fathers shadow, only to find that all roads eventually lead home. And so the story goes for Olivier Polge, creator of Chanel Fragrances, a role at the famed French fashion house that was held by his father, Jacques Polge, before him.

I grew up like many young people, wanting to do everything but what their parents were doing, says Polge, born in Grasse, France, who took over the position at Chanel in 2013. Around 18 or 20 years old, I did an internship [with Chanel], and I realized how much I liked it. I got in touch with all the ingredients that you can never smell separately if you dont work in a lab and realized it could be my job.

After graduating from high school, Polge studied art history and played the piano, fascinated by all facets of the arts. I wanted to do something with my hands, he says. My internship made me realize that perfumes are somehow that  and even more at Chanel than anywhere else. I like to say, We make fragrance from the flower to the bottle.

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Polge ended up doing what he never thought he would: following in his fathers footsteps and becoming the man behind the fashion houses massive fragrance business, occupying the exact office he first visited at age 6.

Last month, Polge, whos 42, launched No. 5 LEau, a fresh new take on Chanels most iconic scent, Chanel No. 5, created in 1921 by Gabrielle Coco Chanel and Ernest Beaux.

The fact that it is an icon is a strength and a weakness, Polge says during a recent visit to Los Angeles. It is important to be able to shake the icon. The purpose is not to say No. 5 is old-fashioned  I think the contrary. I would love LEau to open a door to discover No. 5.

Polge, who created recent Chanel fragrances Boy Chanel and Misia, looked at the original No. 5s 80-plus ingredients, deducing what was truly essential. The idea was to try to go on the edge of still being No. 5 but to bring it as far away as I could as well, he says. I wanted to isolate the most emblematic ingredients to make sure the backbone of the fragrance was still there.

The result is a light and modern scent, with notes of lemon, mandarin and orange fused with a floral bouquet of May rose, oxygenated jasmine and ylang-ylang.

Behind the bouquet lie hints of vetiver, cedar and musk. When Gabrielle Chanel asked for Chanel No. 5, she asked for an artificial fragrance in the sense that a dress is artificial, says Polge. She didnt want a fragrance that would smell like jasmine or rose. She wanted a bouquet, something composed. That makes for a very complicated way of describing No. 5 LEau. It is a fresh flower. It pays homage to the original but feels more youthful.

For Polge, it turns out that taking on a classic was more inspiring than intimidating, allowing him to further his own familys narrative, as well as that of the historic French house.

I think the heritage of Chanel is a strength, he says. It is a rich environment to create the future. It would be a pity to work for a brand where history is not a weight.

Chanel No. 5 LEau, 1.7 fl. oz. $100 and 3.4 fl. oz. $132, at Chanel.com.

image@latimes.com
Savory porridges are now trending in urban breakfast spots in America, but theyve long been staples in India. Two writers, Michelle Huneven and Kannan Mahadevan, each returned from recent trips to the subcontinent  Huneven to the south; Mahadevan to the west  with a new favorite breakfast dish.

Huneven, a novelist and former L.A. Times restaurant reviewer living in Altadena, fell for upma, a fragrant savory porridge with a semolina base. Mahadevan, currently at work on a novel and based in one of Brooklyns great food enclaves, Sunset Park, liked a drier, fluffier porridge called poha, made from flaked rice. Eager to share and compare  and possibly to convert the other  the two swapped recipes. So which is more delicious: upma or poha? To decide, you might have to make them both.

Learning to make the Indian porridge upma

Huneven writes:

Last December, my husband and I were at the Bangalore airport between flights, bleary from 17 hours in the air, excited to be in India, and hungry. We chose the food concession with the longest line  but after perusing the glass case of bhaji, idli and other snacks and then the overhead menu, I realized I couldnt match the words to the items below.

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Excuse me, I said to two pilots in front of us. We need some help ordering. What would you suggest?

They conferred and turned back to us. Idli masala, they said. And upma.

Upma (a porridge with green chiles, cashews, and fresh herbs) served with yogurt and a bright green salsa. (Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times )

Recipe: Upma 

The idli were springy, oval, snow-white rice flour dumplings served with a thick, spicy orange masala sauce for dipping. They had high starch appeal but were quickly, irrevocably upstaged by upma.

A pale, fragrant, savory porridge with an utterly addictive texture, upma is made with coarsely ground toasted wheat called sooji or rava, a few basic Indian spices and herbs, and a scattering of nuts and dried legumes. But upma is greater than the sum of its parts.

As we traveled through Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Karnataka, we encountered upma on breakfast menus and buffets, sometimes beside its sweet cousin, kesari (also called sheera or halwa), a wheat porridge flavored with raisins, nuts, sugar and occasionally pineapple or banana. Kesari was often too sweet for me, but I never met an upma I didnt adore.

Once home, I set to work to recapture that unforgettable first meal. Unlike so many other firsts, this one was easily replicated  culinarily, at least. I found numerous recipes and variations online, and all the ingredients were easily sourced at Indian grocery stores.

Upma is made from coarsely ground wheat; it can be white if made with farina, which is ground from hard winter heat; or it can be a pale yellow if made from semolina, which is ground from durum wheat, the lower chromosome wheat used for pasta. Recipes often use the terms sooji, rava, cream of wheat, farina and semolina interchangeably, but all suggest a coarse grind. The cereal is first roasted in a dry pan, just to the point where it begins to smell faintly like baking bread, but before it starts to brown.

Fresh curry leaves. (Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times )

Later, when boiled, the creamy yet granular texture is most reminiscent of Malt-O-Meal and Cream of Wheat and, to a somewhat lesser degree, polenta and grits.

If farina and semolina bring to mind only dull and dreaded porridges of childhood, here they are only the bland, blank pages for upmas complex pleasures. For starters, there are layers of crunch: the soft cellulose crunch of sauteed onions, ginger, garlic and chile; the knuckly, nutty crunch of cashews or peanuts; and the crisp, more precise crunch of tiny fried daals, both chana (dried yellow peas) and urad (dried black lentils). Dried spices (mustard seeds, ground coriander, cumin, fenugreek, asafetida and turmeric) and fresh herbs (cilantro and curry leaves) add flavor and fragrance. A little sugar (optional) gives depth.

Some cooks add peas and carrots or chopped tomatoes just after the onions are sauteed.

The recipe has a lot of give  you can add or subtract elements; those with wheat allergies can substitute instant grits or cornmeal or even oats for the wheat cereal and produce something delicious.

Upma is traditionally finished with a squeeze of lime and served with yogurt, coconut chutney and/or an Indian pickle on the side. My husband likes hot lime pickle; I prefer tender mango pickle, a Kerala specialty made with small mangoes. Although its not traditional, you can also top upma with a poached or fried egg.

Upma quickly absorbs its liquids and sets like polenta and grits. Some cooks press it into a large, decorative mold, or several individual molds, for serving. If you prefer it softer, as I do, it can be reconstituted with a little water. Leftovers can be cooled in a loaf shape and sliced to fry in ghee or oil for yet another layer of crunch. (In his cookbook Plenty More, Yotam Ottolenghi has a recipe for a spicy fried upma with poached eggs.)

Black mustard seeds. (Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times )

A consideration of the Indian porridge poha

Kannan Mahadevan writes:

Of all the carb-heavy, Indian breakfast foods, I find poha to be the lightest. It is made from (and named for) rice that has been steamed, parched and flattened. These fine flakes need only a quick soaking to soften; the drained poha is mixed into lightly fried seasonings and vegetables, heated through until dry, fluffy and golden from turmeric, then served with any number of toppings and sides.

The rice flakes can also be deep-fried until crisp as potato chips; mixed with other crunchy additions such as peanuts or coconut, they are known as chivda, a popular snack thats homemade, store-bought or served in newspaper cones on the street all over India.

Recipe: Kanda batata poha (pounded rice with onion and potatoes) 

I first ate poha regularly during a long stay with my cousin in Thane, a city in northwestern Maharashtra state that boasts the busiest station in Mumbais sprawling suburban rail network. (Twenty-five miles north of downtown Mumbai and 2 million strong, Thane expanded my definition of a suburb.)

Unable to lure me from sleep with his steaming idlis and kosu (a Tamil curry of pressure-cooked eggplant and tomato) or his ghee-slathered parathas filled with potato or methi leaves, Laxman, my cousins young cook, had to settle for breakfast that tasted good cold. Laxmans staple poha additions were onion, cubed potato and peanuts.

Laxman always began by frying mustard seeds in oil; when they crackled and began to jump in the pan, he threw in asafetida powder, curry leaves, green chiles  slit rather than chopped, because my cousin could not abide too much heat  then the onion and peanuts. When the onions softened, in went the pre-cooked potato and the rinsed rice flakes. After a few fast, light stirs and a quick steaming, the poha was topped with cilantro and bustled to the breakfast table, where I would groggily discover it some hours later. The poha pots inseparable table companion was a little steel bowl of yogurt, fermented overnight from yesterdays milk and already with that sour tang Indians find so refreshing in sultry weather.

Indian porridges and the recipes ingredient include : Asafetida powder. (Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times )

When I came home and began to research poha recipes online, I saw that any fast-cooking or pre-cooked vegetable could be used with or in place of the potato. I have heard that at the restaurant Prakash, an institution for Maharashtrian vegetarian food in Dadar, Mumbai, they prepare the dish with cubed eggplant and a special masala. Along with the chopped cilantro suggested here, desiccated coconut and a small mountain of sev (deep-fried, crunchy noodles of chickpea flour) are among the more lavish poha toppings in India. A dollop of yogurt is wonderful on the side, along with your favorite Indian pickle or even a poached egg.

All the ingredients for poha are available at an Indian grocery store. If theres an option, buy thick poha rather than thin; it can be soaked and gently stirred without breaking up. Feel free to substitute other grains for poha, but choose ones that cook fast without much water, so that the final dish is dry and not soggy. Cooked, leftover rice, sprinkled with a little water as if for reheating it in the microwave, works well, as does instant oatmeal, rinsed as per the poha recipe. A beautiful marigold yellow, poha is also respectable at the dinner table, where it can take the place of mashed potatoes, pilaf or polenta.

food@latimes.com
King Bhumibol Adulyadej of Thailand, the worlds longest-reigning current monarch who was embraced as a near-deity by his subjects, died Thursday. He was 88.

The palace said the king died at Bangkoks Siriraj Hospital, but it did not give a cause or additional details. The king had withdrawn from public life over the last decade and lived at a Bangkok hospital due to his ill health.

His death threatens to fling the fractured country into deeper political upheaval. The military junta that took power two years ago promising order continues to cement its hold. And unlike his father, the kings chosen successor, Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn, is deeply unpopular in Thailand.

In an age when monarchies have fallen from favor in many countries, Thailands American-born, Swiss-educated king was a striking exception. Although he had few clearly defined powers, the authority and respect he commanded were without parallel in Southeast Asia.

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A Thai woman prays outside the hospital where King Bhumibol Adulyadej was being treated. (Munir Uz Zaman/Getty Images )

A trim, bespectacled man who resided in opulent palaces yet lived relatively austerely, King Bhumibol knew that his great strength was that he had earned his authority rather than assuming it as a birthright. He never lost touch with his people, be they rich or poor, and was often seen trudging off, a camera around his neck, to examine rural development projects.

Not widely known outside Thailand, the king was an accomplished composer and musician who had jammed with Benny Goodman and Lionel Hampton. As an adult, he virtually never left Thailand  We felt more secure knowing he was here, one Thai said  and devoted most of his energies to improving the lot of the poor. His death cast a pall of sorrow over the nation. Even as his health faltered in recent days, Thai stocks fell sharply and well-wishers gathered outside the hospital where he was being treated.

Bhumibol was born Dec. 5, 1927, in Cambridge, Mass., where his father was studying medicine at Harvard. His mother, a Thai commoner, was studying nursing. A descendant of a 700-year-old dynasty, the king was the great-grandson of King Mongkut, who was depicted in Rodgers and Hammersteins musical The King and I.

Only through a series of tragedies did Thailand get Bhumibol  who was never in line for the crown  as its king. In 1936, four years after a bloodless coup had limited the powers of the monarchy, King Prajadhipok abdicated without an heir. The crown passed to the kings nephew  Bhumibols older brother, 10-year-old Prince Anand. A regent was installed while both boys went to Switzerland to finish their schooling.

Anand went on to become king. But on June 9, 1946, at the age of only 20, he was found with a bullet through his head in his Bangkok palace. The death was never explained. Bhumibol, still a teenager, took the crown of a monarchy that was self-destructing and controlled by the military.

Supporters of ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra gather under a giant portrait of King Bhumibol Adulyadej in 2005. (Sakchai Lalit/AP )

When I opened my mouth, they [the generals] would say, Your Majesty, you dont know anything, the king once recalled. So I shut my mouth. I know things, but I shut my mouth.

Rather than accept a role as a do-nothing king, he became active in village technology. He toured the country, overseeing rural development projects. By the time of his death, more than 2,000 projects in Thailand bore the imprint of his planning.

Behind the scenes, he wielded great influence. Politicians and generals sought his advice, and virtually all Thais considered his every utterance tantamount to a royal decree. He was the only Thai who could end bloodshed in the streets or foil a coup with just a word.

In May 1992, when soldiers killed dozens of pro-democracy demonstrators in Bangkok, the king summoned the student protest leader and the prime minister (who was a general) to the palace for a televised dressing-down. Both approached the king on hands and knees.

Should the confrontation be prolonged, the country could be wrecked, he told them. The violence stopped and the prime minister resigned in disgrace.

Under the king, Thailand grew from a quiet rural land in the 1950s into one of the 1990s economic tigers of Southeast Asia. Poverty was reduced, millions of Thais moved into the middle class, and Bangkok became a dynamic trading and banking city, with showcase high-rises and luxury hotels. Thailands press was free and its society was one of the most open in Asia.

But, however great the kings achievements, he left behind a troubled country. The Asian economic crisis of 1997 hit Thailand especially hard, forcing the government to turn to the International Monetary Fund for help. AIDS was epidemic, the gap between rich and poor immense, and urban growth largely uncontrolled.

Still, Thailand cemented its position as one of the richest countries in Southeast Asia, even as it was rocked by political turmoil.

A military junta seized power after years of demonstrations and clashes between two factions, known by the color of their shirts. The red shirts, often farmers and rural poor, backed the return of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted in a coup in 2006.

When his younger sister, Yingluck Shinawatra, took office years later she tried to pass an amnesty bill that would allow for his return. The yellow shirts, generally elites and urban middle-class Thais, decried the move. Violent clashes underscored the countrys severe economic inequality and worries of rampant corruption in the democratically elected government.

The junta held a national referendum in August on a proposed constitution, but banned opponents from campaigning against it and prohibited election monitors. The measure makes it more difficult for any one politician or party to gain power, a move the junta says will prevent corruption, but which its opponents fear will threaten democracy.

Vajiralongkorn, the 64-year-old crown prince, will inherit a sharply divided country.

Bhumibol was king for more than 70 years. Queen Elizabeth II has sat on the British throne for 64 years.

Staff writer Jessica Meyers and the Associated Press contributed to this report.

MORE OBITUARIES

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Head of the Verkhovna Rada delegation Hanna Hopko and Head of the delegation of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly Sverre Myrli have issued a statement after a meeting of the NATO-Ukraine Interparliamentary Council, which was held in the city of Dnipro on Wednesday, saying that Ukraine's first priority is to achieve full and lasting ceasefire.

"Russia continues its illegal occupation of the territory of Ukraine, is actively supporting armed militants, and flagrantly violating its international obligations. The Interparliamentary Council reiterated its full and unwavering support for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine within its internationally recognized borders," reads the statement published by chair of the permanent delegation to the NATO PA, MP Iryna Friz of the of the Poroshenko Bloc faction on her Facebook page.

The Interparliamentary Council has extensively discussed the security situation in Ukraine, met with representatives of local authorities, the command of the Ukrainian army, volunteers and public activists, and international humanitarian organizations operating in the east of Ukraine. Members of the Inter-Parliamentary Council also visited a local hospital, where Ukrainian soldiers are treated.

"As part of these meetings, they noted that the security situation in eastern Ukraine remains unstable, in particular violations of the ceasefire continue, as well as constant attempts of Russia-backed militants to destroy the recent decision on the withdrawal of forces from these areas, and their preventing the activities of the OSCE SMM in Ukraine," the statement reads.

Members of the Interparliamentary Council have expressed particular concern over the humanitarian situation in the territory under the control of militants, as well as the lack of progress in the liberation of Ukrainian hostages, that are held in Russia and in the territories controlled by militants.

Members of the Inter-Parliamentary Council analyzed Ukraine's achievements in the reform of political, economic and defense areas, welcomed the progress made and call for increased efforts.

The NATO-Ukraine Interparliamentary Council was established in 2003 and unites ten Ukrainian parliamentarians and their counterparts from ten NATO member countries. The Interparliamentary Council meets twice a year in Ukraine and in Brussels. Its purpose is to demonstrate parliamentary interest in identifying problems in the cooperation between Ukraine and NATO. Over time, the council has become an active political forum, where parliamentarians from Ukraine and NATO member states can discuss any issues of public interest.
Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Alpine) has been pushing the U.S. Coast Guard to buy or lease a polar ice-breaking ship owned by one of his top campaign contributors, although officials repeatedly have said the vessel doesnt meet the services needs.

The ship in question, the Aiviq, is a privately owned, commercial vessel with mid-level ability to break paths through frozen Arctic seas. It made national news in 2012 when it suffered mechanical failure and lost control of an oil rig it was towing. The rig ran aground off Kodiak Island in Alaska.

The Coast Guard says the Aiviq does not meet its needs, in particular because the vessel lacks military capabilities. Hunter has argued that the ship is a necessary and viable fleet option as melting polar ice opens the region to commercial traffic, putting more ships at risk.

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Contributors connected to the Aiviqs owner, Louisiana-based shipbuilder Edison Chouest Offshore, have given at least $18,000 to Hunters campaign since January 2015.

Thats a fraction of the $911,000 the congressman raised during that period. It makes Chouest the second most generous supporter of Hunter, according to campaign finance records.

The Chouest donations were received May 8, 2015  six days before the Coast Guard was to have an acquisitions hearing before a congressional subcommittee that Hunter chaired.

The congressmans office declined to comment for this story. Edison Chouest and the Coast Guard did not respond to requests for comment.

Richard L. Hasen, professor of law and political science at the UC Irvine School of Law, said it would be wrong to jump to conclusions. However, he said, an official investigation would help sort the issue out.

Its not a coincidence that people who sit on a defense committee get contributions from defense contractors; thats the way Washington works, Hasen said. So drawing the line between icky conduct and illegal conduct is important, because many contributions are given in the hopes that the lawmaker will do things that benefit the contributor.

At a subcommittee hearing July 12, Hunter questioned Coast Guard Adm. Charles Michel about the possibility of a lease.

Michel said the Coast Guards commandant had visited the vessel and found it not suitable for military service without substantial refit. He said the Coast Guard does not operate nonmilitary icebreakers.

Hunter described several ice-breaking scenarios  such as a resupply of a research mission  asking Michel whether vessels required military capability to accomplish them.

One of the Coast Guards excuses for not using a lease vessel, or a less expensive vessel, is that its not a military-type vessel, Hunter said. He added, Youre telling me, a Coast Guard [ship]  to break ice  needs a more militarized vessel than the Navy does in terms of survivability?

Michel said, We have very specific requirements for our vessels.

At the end of the hearing, Hunter directed Michel to help draft some options the committee could pursue to overcome legal obstacles that block the Coast Guard from short-term lease or charter of private icebreakers, if we wanted to.

Last month, Hunter asked Republican House leadership for money to be included in any suitable and forthcoming appropriations vehicle for lease or purchase of a medium icebreaker, according to a Sept. 20 letter that the congressmans office released to the Union-Tribune on Thursday.

The letter estimated the costs to charter the Aiviq at $33 million per year to lease, or $150 million to buy.

A week later, Michel sent Hunters office a letter saying the Coast Guard had conducted market research on the Aiviq and determined that it could, under certain legal and operational conditions, execute at least some of the Coast Guards 11 missions.

However, the vessels ability to fulfill Coast Guard icebreaker requirements remains unclear because Aiviq has not undergone thorough testing in ice trials, and in its current configuration, lacks the the ability to conduct a full range of Coast Guard missions that our icebreakers carry out, Michel wrote.

The Coast Guard has two operational icebreakers in its aging fleet  one medium and one heavy. Analysts have determined the nation needs a modern fleet of three heavy and three medium icebreakers to meet the challenges of the Arctic and Antarctic.

Using the Aiviq would be a stopgap measure to address concerns that the two existing ships could fail before replacements are commissioned.

The Hunter contributions on May 8, 2015, came from Gary Chouest and his wife, Carolyn, who contributed the maximum $5,400 each. Dino and Ross Chouest, both of the Edison Chouest-affiliated company Galliano Marine Services LLC, gave $1,000 each. Five Bollinger Shipyards executives gave $500 each, and another Bollinger executive gave $2,700.

The money entered Hunters campaign coffers at the height of a problem he has since acknowledged with thousands of dollars of campaign funds that were spent on personal expenses  such as $1,137 for oral surgery. The Hunter campaign  managed by the congressmans wife, Margaret  also spent thousands of dollars on groceries, gasoline and fast food.

Federal law prohibits the expense of campaign funds on personal needs. Hunters office earlier this year promised an audit of his campaign funds. He has so far reimbursed his campaign for $12,000.

morgan.cook@sduniontribune.com

Cook writes for the San Diego Union-Tribune.

UPDATES:

12:55: p.m. This article was updated to include more details on Hunters request for funding for the icebreaker and the Coast Guards letter about the ships suitability.

This article was originally published at 11:10 a.m.
Two people were killed Wednesday after a gunman opened fire at a Harbor City fast-food restaurant, authorities said.

The shooting was reported about 9:30 a.m. at a strip mall near Normandie Avenue and Pacific Coast Highway, according to Los Angeles police Officer Sal Ramirez.

Police told KTLA-TV Channel 5 that the gunman walked into Bobs Hamburgers, a longtime local restaurant, and opened fire.

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Det. Dave Cortez told the news station that the restaurants owner was struck by stray gunfire.

One person died at the scene, and a second person died after being taken to a hospital, LAPD Capt. Phil Tingirides said.

Its unclear what motivated the shooting.

The names of the two people killed were not released pending formal notification by the L.A. County coroners office.

matt.hamilton@latimes.com

Twitter: @MattHjourno.
A year and a half after an Orange County judge publicly accused two jailers of dishonesty  and a year after those jailers took the Fifth to avoid testifying in criminal court  the Sheriffs Department has not disciplined them, the agency says.

Instead, the Orange County Sheriffs Department has allowed deputies Seth Tunstall and Ben Garcia to remain on active duty in the county jail system. Both deputies enjoy six-figure salaries, boosted in recent months by a raise.

Tunstall, an 18-year veteran, works at the Theo Lacy jail in the city of Orange, and Garcia, a 14-year veteran, in the transportation division of the Intake Release Center in Santa Ana, according to Sheriffs Department records.

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Orange County Superior Court Judge Thomas Goethals made his remarks about the deputies in March 2015, when he threw the district attorneys office off the prosecution of Scott Dekraai, who pleaded guilty to murdering eight people at a Seal Beach salon in 2011.

The judge said authorities had failed to turn over important evidence about the placement of jailhouse informants, one of whom had helped to gather incriminating statements from Dekraai.

Tunstall and Garcia belonged to a special handling unit that dealt with jailhouse snitches. But during lengthy testimony that Goethals held to investigate the misuse of jailhouse informants, both jailers failed to mention their deep familiarity with jailhouse computer logs that reflected the placement of informants.

The judge concluded that Tunstall and Garcia had either intentionally lied or willfully withheld material evidence from this court.

In a recent interview, sheriffs spokesman Lt. Mark Stichter said the department cannot pursue possible administrative action against the deputies until the state attorney generals office completes its own investigation into the matter.

This explanation doesnt sit well with critics of Orange County Sheriff Sandra Hutchens.

That argument is nonsense, said defense attorney Brian Gurwitz, a former prosecutor who has followed the jailhouse-informant scandal.

Gurwitz said Hutchens had the authority to put the jailers on leave but appears not to have done so because she doesnt believe theyve committed a crime.

Gurwitz pointed to Hutchens remarks at a public forum in March. In response to criticism of her agency regarding the handling of jailhouse informants, Hutchens insisted that she has ramped up the training of jail deputies. Its not a perfect system, but there has been no deliberate misconduct, she said.

Hutchens said the attorney generals office was investigating a few of my deputies, and added: Quite frankly, I think Judge Goethals went a little too far in his comments. And I believe an investigation will prove that to be true.

Gurwitz pointed out that in a case where a deputy was accused, say, of murder, the sheriff would properly place the deputy on leave even as a criminal investigation was pending.

She was dismissive about Goethals finding regarding the credibility of her officers, so it should surprise no one that she keeps these officers on duty and pretends the law forbids her from doing an administrative investigation, Gurwitz said.

One possible rationale for the sheriffs approach: The department can force its deputies to give statements as part of an internal investigation. But to do so amid the attorney generals criminal investigation into the jailers conduct  in which the statements might be used against them  would violate their right against self-incrimination.

Gurwitz said that is a feeble rationale because criminal investigators commonly refuse to view compelled statements for fear of tainting their case.

After Goethals remarks last year, Tunstall refused to testify in criminal cases against the Mexican Mafia, a jailhouse gang about which he was knowledgeable, for fear of incriminating himself.

And both Tunstall and Garcia invoked their Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination to avoid testifying in a gang-shooting case against defendant Eric Ortiz, who had been convicted of murder based in part on jailhouse informant evidence. (A judge tossed out the conviction, and Ortiz is awaiting a retrial.)

Two other deputies who took the Fifth in the Ortiz case  William Grover and Bryan Larson  also have not been disciplined, the Sheriffs Department says.

Along with its investigation into the conduct of the Sheriffs Department, the attorney generals office also is appealing Goethals decision to throw the district attorneys office off the Dekraai case.

Rudolph Loewenstein, Ortizs defense attorney, derided the attorney generals investigation as a joke.

How do you defend the Sheriffs Department and the D.A.s office on the one hand, and investigate them on the other? Loewenstein said. Nobody in their right mind thinks the California attorney generals office is going to use any teeth in the investigation, if theyre even doing one. Kamala Harris is running for the U.S. Senate; I dont think she wants to tangle with law enforcement.

Harris office said in a statement that its appeal of the D.A.s removal from the Dekraai case has no bearing on the attorney generals investigation into the Sheriffs Department.

The jailers have not been charged with any crime. Their defenders say the issue is about training, rather than honesty.

Lets wait until the smoke clears and the facts have been evaluated before jumping to conclusions, said Paul Meyer, Tunstalls attorney.

In 2015, the Sheriffs Department paid $112,595 to Tunstall and $127,660 to Garcia, both of whom received raises this year of about a dollar an hour, records show.

The so-called snitch scandal has crippled the cases against numerous criminal defendants. It has led to protracted delays in resolving the case of Dekraai, who pleaded guilty in 2014 to the eight Seal Beach murders. Prosecutors are fighting to put him on death row; his attorney, Assistant Public Defender Scott Sanders, has battled to save him from that fate.

Sanders has argued that Orange County jailers have violated defendants rights with the use of jailhouse snitches for years.

Earlier this year, the D.A.s office learned that the Sheriffs Department possessed more than 1,000 pages of previously undisclosed material reflecting the daily activities of Special Handling Unit jailers from 2008 to 2013. The district attorneys office  which has expressed frustration publicly with the Sheriffs Departments laggard release of evidence  turned the logs over to the court and acknowledged that they may impeach the testimony of several sheriffs deputies.

Prosecutors said the logs reveal that certain jailers recruited and utilized numerous informers. That appears to contradict testimony in which jailers distanced themselves from efforts to cultivate snitches.

Sanders said Hutchens failure to discipline jailers owed to her worry they might reveal that the sheriffs leadership was fully aware of the jailhouse informant program and hoped to deceive defendants and the courts forever.

Sheriff Hutchens has no incentive to go after deputies, Sanders said. She realizes that if they think theyre being thrown to the wolves, they just might finally tell the truth.

christopher.goffard@latimes.com

Twitter: @LATchrisgoffard
Portland shut down its City Hall on Wednesday after protesters clashed with police over new rules that activists say give officers too much leeway in investigations of police misconduct.

Police in riot gear pepper-sprayed demonstrators who blocked streets in front of City Hall, crippling parts of the citys light rail and bus systems. Police said they were attacked with projectiles and that one officer was assaulted. Ten protesters were arrested.

Feds fault San Francisco police for violence against minorities and recommend 272 reforms 

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The conflict centered largely on proposed rules regarding body cameras and public input into contract negotiations. In a 3-1 vote Wednesday, the City Council approved a new contract with the police union, which follows a controversial tentative contract agreement that referenced giving officers the right to review body camera footage before writing incident reports in all cases except fatal shootings.

A city spokesman said Wednesday that the contract that passed did not include the body camera provisions, which are being separately negotiated with police and would be open to public input next year.

But civil rights groups, concerned over body camera rules released in a draft policy earlier this month, have said they would allow officers an unjust advantage over other witnesses and invite abuse by giving police the opportunity to taper their accounts to conform to video footage. Activists said the contract also gives the city too little power to investigate officers accused of misconduct and discipline them.

Greg McKelvey, a spokesman for Dont Shoot Portland, which has battled with city officials over police policies, said accountability has long been a problem. We wanted more, he said. They gave us less.

McKelvey said several demonstrators were injured as police forced them out of City Hall after the council meeting was moved to a private room in response to protesters disruption. I saw people hit with sticks, he said. Many of us were pepper-sprayed. There are a lot of people with black eyes.

Mayor Charlie Hales said in a statement that he supported the new contract because it would help the Police Department fill its 83 vacancies.

The statement said the new contract requires the union to drop several grievances against the city, raises officer salaries to improve recruiting, and eliminates a rule that gives officers 48 hours before they can be questioned after shootings.

Portlands labor agreement with our police union will not only address our police staffing crisis, it reinforces a modern police bureau of accountability and transparency that fully represents our community, it said.

Large letters spell out Black Lives Matter on the portico at Portland City Hall after the building was shut down in response to a protest. (Don Ryan / Associated Press )

Hales, a Democrat, declined to be interviewed.

Parts of the 3-year contract are set to take effect Jan. 1, with the entire agreement coming into full force in June.

Portland police dont currently wear body cameras, but the mayor has said he expects them to start sometime next year under Mayor-elect Ted Wheeler.

The American Civil Liberties Union and the National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People have also come out against the draft body camera rules.

Why would police need to see video before writing a report unless they need to make their report match whats on the video tape  and possibly omit actions that werent caught on camera? Jo Ann Hardesty, president of the local NAACP, recently wrote in the Oregonian.

The role of police union contracts has increasingly become a focal point of growing efforts to reduce abuses by police, said Max Schanzenbach, a law professor at Northwestern University who studies policing.

Schanzenbach said that while pre-review of video is quite common, it has recently come under scrutiny as more police departments require officers to wear body cameras.

Pre-review undermines the investigators powers, he said. The ironic thing is that police use the tactic protesters are asking for in their own investigation of criminals. They dont reveal what evidence they have as they began their interrogations; they try to compare what they know from video evidence or other testimony to what you tell them without that information. But they prefer to not have the same rules for themselves.

Police union President Daryl Turner said by email Wednesday that he would not be granting any media requests while [his] fellow officers are dealing with the protest.

This is not the first time Portland police have come under fire.

A 2012 investigation by the U.S. Justice Department found Portland police were using excessive force against people with mental illness and were too quick to use Tasers.

Portland police have also long been accused of disproportionately targeting black residents. African American residents make up 6.3% of the population but account for 12.8% of police stops, according to police data released last year.

Black motorists who were stopped were twice as likely as whites to have their cars searched.

jaweed.kaleem@latimes.com

Jaweed Kaleem is The Times national race and justice correspondent. Follow him on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
On election day, less than a week after the historic Paris climate accord is set to take effect, voters here will have the chance to establish what some experts say would be one of the planets most ambitious policies for fighting climate change: the first statewide tax on carbon emissions.

Were looking to voters to turn out big in support of this and really set a historic precedent, said Matthew Anderson, a National Audubon Society vice president for climate. Getting a price on carbon through this mechanism, getting that on the books in the states, would really shift things significantly.

It certainly would seem fitting. The progressive Pacific Northwest, evergreen and unencumbered by archaic debates about whether climate change is real, has long viewed itself as the leading edge of sustainability.

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Yet whether it will lead the nation this time is far from clear.

The ballot measure, meant to demonstrate the regions environmental resolve, instead is revealing sharp division among activists over what climate policy should do and who it should benefit  foretelling, perhaps, struggles the rest of America could face as it confronts the challenges of climate policy.

The measure, called Initiative 732, would impose a new tax on fossil fuel emissions from utilities and refineries, reduce the state sales tax by 1%, pay for a tax exemption for low-income households and essentially eliminate the state business and occupation tax. The cuts are intended to make the measure revenue-neutral (though a state analysis says it will not be) in part to win support from conservatives who otherwise might oppose a new tax. Supporters say the tax will speed the shift to clean energy, benefit hundreds of thousands of low-income people and make Washingtons tax code, widely regarded as one of the most regressive in the nation, more fair.

While the campaign has included debate over the merits of a carbon tax versus other ideas, such as a fixed cap on emissions, it has been more striking for exposing the conflicting philosophies among climate activists: Many of its supporters believe bipartisanship is the best route to build a climate coalition, while many of those opposed say it does not do enough to win support from minority and low-income groups, labor unions and other traditionally Democratic groups.

Although the measure gathered more than 350,000 signatures, it has not won support from the regions most influential environmental groups.

The local chapter of 350.org endorsed the initiative, then unendorsed it. The Sierra Club squabbled internally and externally before officially adopting a do not support position, though many of its members are likely to vote for the measure. Climate Solutions, a national group based here, wrote a lengthy open letter under the headline Why we cannot support Initiative 732 but will not actively oppose it.

Danny Westneat, a columnist for the Seattle Times, was more blunt, calling the situation a liberal pig pile.

The more centrist Audubon Society is the only major environmental group to endorse I-732. Support has come from other corners, though.

The Nucor Steel plant in Seattle is among the businesses likely to be affected by a carbon tax (Elaine Thompson / AP )

The Sightline Institute, an environmental think tank, calls the measure a worthy policy to put Washington on a path to cutting pollution and encouraging clean energy while also helping low-income families by making Washington State taxes less regressive.

Charles Komanoff, the founder of the Carbon Tax Center, said in an interview that I-732 could provide a template for a national carbon tax. The debate here, he said, is unbelievably vexing and frustrating. Dozens of prominent scientists from the University of Washington urged approval of I-732, calling it a bipartisan effort that rejects ideology.

The fight, however unlikely, has been building for years.

After failing to pass carbon-pricing legislation in Congress in 2010 and in some state legislatures (with success in California being a significant exception), climate groups here and elsewhere began expanding outreach efforts in the belief that the movement was too reliant on traditional environmental organizations. In 2014, they formed the Alliance for Jobs and Clean Energy, which included labor unions and grass-roots groups focused on climate justice.

The Alliance galvanized around three basic goals: pricing carbon emissions in some form, making investments in clean energy and providing services for people most impacted by climate change. They have not finalized a proposal or even settled on a timeline for pursuing it.

Meanwhile, Yoram Bauman, an environmental economist who has worked with Sightline and at the University of Washington, formed Carbon Washington to promote I-732. He modeled the effort on British Columbia, which has the only broadly applicable carbon tax in North America. Debate persists about that tax, but studies show it has helped reduce emissions without hurting the economy.

It also did what supporters of I-732 hope their measure will do: inspire national action. Last week, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced that, by 2018, all Canadian provinces must adopt a carbon tax or a cap-and-trade program that achieves similar emissions reductions.

But the carbon tax proposed in Washington is more ambitious because of the degree to which it increases over the years.

Some opponents of I-732 say a cap-and-trade program, similar to the one in California, would be more effective at reducing emissions because it places a firm cap on emissions, rather than relying on pressure from a tax. Gov. Jay Inslee, a Democrat, tried and failed to get a cap-and-trade program through the Washington Legislature last year. He opposes I-732.

Critics also have seized on a state analysis showing that I-732 could create a net loss of about $800 million over six years and cause unintended tax benefits for Boeing, the states largest manufacturer.

Bauman and other dispute the analysis. They also say I-732 is far simpler than cap-and-trade  the California program has faced legal and financial challenges  and can be instituted more quickly. The Alliance, they say, is letting a quest for perfection get in the way of a good policy that is in front of them now, playing into the hands of the fossil fuel industry that is spending freely to fight I-732.

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Florida health officials have identified another Miami neighborhood where mosquitoes have spread the Zika virus to people.

Gov. Rick Scotts office announced Thursday that five people have been infected with Zika in a 1-square-mile area of the city just north of the Little Haiti neighborhood.

Four of the cases were previously announced by Floridas Department of Health as being under investigation, according to the statement. The fifth case was confirmed Thursday. Scotts office says that confirms federal criteria for identifying a new zone of transmission.

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A large portion of Miami Beach remains an active Zika infection zone. Health officials said last month that another transmission zone in Miamis Wynwood district had been cleared.

Zika infections have been reported in more than 1,020 people in Florida. Most caught it while traveling outside the U.S., but 155 cases are not travel-related.

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Zika didnt drive her from Miami Beach  but questions about the pesticide being used to stop it did

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A man accused of setting off bombs in New Jersey and New York has made his first court appearance on charges he tried to fatally shoot police officers trying to capture him.

Ahmad Khan Rahimis attorney pleaded not guilty on his behalf to charges of attempted murder of police. Rahimi appeared via video from his hospital bed in Newark, N.J.

Rahimi, an Afghan-born U.S. citizen, has been hospitalized with gunshot wounds since a police shootout that led to his capture on Sept. 19 outside a bar in Linden.

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Rahimi is accused of detonating a pipe bomb in Elizabeth, a New Jersey shore town, and a pressure cooker bomb in New York City on Sept. 17, injuring 31 people.

A video stream of Rahimi was shown in the courtroom in Elizabeth. Rahimis head was propped up on pillows. A public defender stood next to him wearing a disposable hospital gown and plastic gloves.

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The sounds of the bombs will be heard in the streets: A journal found with New York bombing suspect

New York bombing suspect was at home in the American melting pot  until he met a girl named Maria

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Melania Trump demands partial retraction of article by one of her husbands accusers

Melania Trump, the wife of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, demanded Thursday that People magazine retract a portion of an article that alleged he made an unwanted advance on the author while she visited the Trumps Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida to write about the couples first wedding anniversary.

But the letter does not mention the most provocative parts of the article  that as Melania Trump, then pregnant, went upstairs to change, Donald Trump guided writer Natasha Stoynoff into a room, closed the door behind them, pushed her against a wall and shoved his tongue down her throat.

Stoynoff, in an article published on Peoples website Wednesday night, wrote that she tried to unpin herself, but that Donald Trump only stopped when a butler interrupted them to say that his wife was returning.

Melania Trump is demanding a retraction and apology about a portion of the article where Stoynoff recounts running into the former model months later in front of Trump Tower in New York. Stoynoff wrote that Melania Trump asked why the couple no longer saw the author and gave her a hug. By then, Melania Trump had given birth to a boy, Barron, and Stoynoff wrote that she affectionately squeezed the boys foot.

Trumps attorney says all of this is false.

The true facts are these: Mrs. Trump did not encounter Ms. Stoynoff on the street, nor have any conversation with her. The two are not friends and were never friends or even friendly. At the time in question, Mrs. Trump would not have even recognized Ms. Stoynoff if they had encountered one another on the street, wrote attorney Charles J. Harder.

The letter says if People magazine does not make a retraction and apology within 24 hours, Trump would consider legal action against the magazine.

Marnie Perez, a spokeswoman for People, confirmed the magazine had received Trumps letter and said People stands by the story.

The retraction demand comes as Donald Trump battles allegations from multiple women that he touched their bodies and kissed them against their will. The women, including Stoynoff, said they decided to speak out about their years-old experiences because the GOP presidential nominee dismissed a recording of him speaking crassly about women as locker room talk.

Trump has responded by dismissing all the allegations as false concoctions and threatening to sue the New York Times.

He also spoke out against Stoynoff on the campaign trail on Thursday, saying that the writer wrote a beautiful love story about the couple and questioned why she did not include the groping allegation in her piece, which he said would have made it one of the biggest stories of the year.

Trump, speaking to supporters in West Palm Beach, Fla., then alluded to the writers looks.

Take a look at her. Take a look at her words. You tell me what you think, Trump said. I dont think so.
Donald Trump on $1-billion tax write-off: I did a great job

(Brennan Linsley / Associated Press)

Donald Trump on Monday argued that his efforts to rebuild his company during a real estate downturn, including the use of tax breaks that allowed him to write off nearly $1 billion in losses, showed that he had the fortitude to rebuild the nation.

The GOP presidential nominee called a media report about his taxes two decades ago a little ridiculous, but defended his use of tax loopholes that he said were designed to benefit special interests. He pledged to fix the tax code if elected president.

Im a big beneficiary, Trump told thousands of supporters at the Budweiser Events Center in Loveland, Colo. But youre more important than my being a beneficiary, so were going to straighten it out and make it fair for everybody.

Trump has long resisted releasing his tax returns, leading Democrats to assert he was hiding unflattering information about his wealth, his charitable giving or his foreign business ties. On Saturday, the New York Times published a report that in his 1995 tax return, Trump declared a $916-million loss, a move that could have allowed him to pay no federal income taxes for nearly two decades afterward.

The report was a bombshell, coming at the end of a bad week for Trump that included a shaky debate performance and a feud with a former beauty contest winner. But Trump sought to paint the news about his taxes into a parable for how he would govern.

Trump said the real estate downturn in the 1990s was comparable to the Great Depression, and pointed to his use of the tax code as among the reasons his company survived.

I was able to use the tax laws of our country and my skills as a business person to dig out of this real estate depression when few others were able to do it, he said. In those most difficult times, when so many had their backs to the wall, I reached within myself and delivered for my company, my employees, my families and the communities where my properties existed. I did a great job.

He added that many believed he would fail, just as they lacked faith in the people in the audience.

I never had any doubts and I never, ever gave up, like the people in this room. We never do, Trump said.  Thats what I am, and what you are. Were fighters. And Im now going to fight for you. Were bringing our country back.
Russia's main directorate on issues of migration of Russia's Interior Ministry has confirmed that Viktor Yanukovych is located in Russia on the basis of temporary refugee status, adding that Ukraine's Prosecutor General's Office (PGO) is aware of this fact, Yanukovych's former lawyer Vitaliy Serdiuk has said.

"Responding to our query dated July 4, 2016 we can inform you of the following: citizen of Ukraine Viktor Fedorovych Yanukovych  has been granted temporary refugee status on the territory of the Russian Federation, as witnessed by the act granting him temporary refugee status on the territory of the Russian Federation, series VU No. 0107999, issued by Russia's Federal Migration Service in Rostov region," reads the statement, dated September 29, issued by the Russian Interior Ministry's office in response to the query by Yanukovych's lawyer received by Interfax-Ukraine.

Serdiuk said that Ukraine's PGO based the lack of progress in its investigation of the "Maidan case" against Yanukovych on the absence of proof of Yanukovych's whereabouts in Russia, saying these were grounds for refusing to question him with other high-ranking Ukrainian officials  making it impossible to send the "Maidan case" to court.

The lawyer said that on February 23, 2016, the PGO investigators were notified officially about questioning of Yanukovych in Rostov, Russia, where he was resident. The response of prosecutors, dated March 4, states information about Yanukovych's whereabouts is being checked, but there is no official confirmation from competent Russian authorities that he (Yanukovych) in located on Russian territory.

On August 30 the PGO investigator was given a notice about questioning President Petro Poroshenko, former Prime Minister Arseniy Yatseniuk, Verkhovna Rada Speaker Andriy Parubiy, Kyiv Mayor Vitaliy Klitchko and National Defense and Security Council Secretary Oleksandr Turchynov in the presence of Serdiuk and with the participation of Yanukovych. In the PGO's resolution from September 2 it is again noted that information about the whereabouts of Yanukovych is being checked and there is no official confirmation that he is in the Russian Federation.

"The PGO has now lost any final arguments for further delays in its investigation, refusals to question suspects and carry out other investigation activities with the participation of Viktor Yanukovych and sending the case to court," the lawyer said.

Serdiuk also appealed to the investigator from the PGO's special investigations department to the notice on adding a copy of the letter of the Main Directorate of the Russian Interior Ministry's office of migration to materials from the "Maidan case" and resuming the pretrial investigation, in order to send the case to court as quickly as possible.

In addition, the lawyer said that the letter refutes rumors circulated earlier about Yanukovych's decision to change citizenship.
New sex assault allegations against Trump: He was like an octopus

(Jessica Kourkounis / Getty Images)

As Donald Trump reels from the fallout of his sexually aggressive comments caught on tape, two women alleged that the GOP presidential nominee accosted them in a new report published Wednesday.

Jessica Leeds, 74, told the New York Times that Trump grabbed her breasts and tried to slip his hand up her skirt in the first-class cabin of a plane more than three decades ago.

He was like an octopus, Leeds told the paper. His hands were everywhere.

Rachel Crooks told the New York Times that Trump kissed her on the mouth when she introduced herself to him in front of an elevator when she worked in Trump Tower in 2005 as a 22-year-old secretary.

The Trump campaign denied the allegations, and accused the newspaper of trying to sink his candidacy.

This entire article is fiction, and for the New York Times to launch a completely false, coordinated character assassination against Mr. Trump on a topic like this is dangerous, said Trump spokesman Jason Miller in a statement. To reach back decades in an attempt to smear Mr. Trump trivializes sexual assault, and it sets a new low for where the media is willing to go in its efforts to determine this election.

The New York Times article said the newspapers reporters verified the stories with friends and relatives of the women who told the paper they had heard the allegations previously.

The thrice-married Trump has a long history of making controversial remarks about women, their appearance, their weight and his attraction to them.

But the issue came into heightened focus with the emergence of a 2005 Access Hollywood video Friday that shows Trump claiming he could kiss women and grab their genitals without their consent because he is a celebrity. He used vulgar language to describe womens anatomy and recalled his efforts to sleep with a married woman.

The political fallout was immediate. Dozens of Republican elected officials and others who stood by Trump when he made controversial comments about womens appearances, Mexican immigrants, Muslims, the disabled and prisoners of war said they could no longer support him.

House Speaker Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, the nations highest-ranking Republican, did not revoke his endorsement but said on Monday that he would no longer defend his partys standard-bearer and would spend the rest of the election focused on down-ballot races.

Trump apologized for his remarks, but also dismissed them as locker room talk. The new allegations squarely place the candidates actions, not words, under scrutiny.

The Access Hollywood video, reported by the Washington Post, also led to a scurry among the news media for additional recordings of the GOP nominee, particularly the unaired footage from his years of hosting The Apprentice on NBC.

Several reports have emerged since Friday, notably a CNN report on Sunday about newly unearthed Trump appearances on Howard Sterns radio show.

The GOP nominee told the shock jock he had taken part in threesomes and described going backstage at his beauty pageants to look at the contestants when they were naked.

The Palm Beach Post published a report Wednesday from a 36-year-old woman who said Trump grabbed her posterior when she was assisting a photographer friend hired by the businessman to document a Ray Charles concert at his Mar-a-Lago estate 13 years ago.

On Wednesday, CBS News also reported about footage from an Entertainment Tonight Christmas special in 1992, where Trump asks a 10-year-old girl if she is riding the escalator at Trump Tower. After the girl replies, Yeah, Trump, then 46, says to the camera, I am going to be dating her in 10 years. Can you believe it?

Read More
The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday will consider whether to set up a Blue Ribbon Commission on Probation Reform, and the idea is enough to make probation reformers pull out their hair.

Thats because they realize that much of the trouble with the nations largest probation department stems from failures of the Board of Supervisors itself, which governs with a toxic combination of micromanagement and inattention, and has a propensity to defer crucial decisions pending reports from commissions.

Probation is one of the countys more troubled departments, and thats a shame because it plays two key roles in the justice system: rehabilitation of juveniles before and after trial, and monitoring of adults awaiting trial, serving alternative sentences or preparing to reenter society after jail or prison.

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State law already mandates a county probation commission, and the supervisors established one long ago to monitor the departments operations. But somewhere along the way they seem to have forgotten what to do with their appointees, whom they largely ignored. For their part, some commissioners grew frustrated that no one was listening to their warnings about dilapidated facilities, abused juveniles and administrative ineptitude, and they went public with their concerns.

There should be no need of yet another commission to point out that the board has to do a better job of overseeing the department.

In response, the supervisors last February commissioned a commission on the commission or, to be more precise, it appointed a group to make recommendations on how the Probation Commission ought to be structured and appointed.

That group is nearing the end of a months-long process of public hearings at which it has taken testimony from probation reformers, activists and members of the various other sedimentary layers that the county and the state have set up to oversee probation (such as the Sybil Brand Commission for Institutional Inspections). To its credit, it has identified problems with the countys probation system that arguably go beyond its narrow purview.

The board is also awaiting a report from a contractor hired to study whether to split the Probation Departments juvenile and adult functions into two separate entities. At the same time, the board is close to hiring a new chief probation officer, who will come in not knowing whether he or she will be heading one unified department, or just one of two, or one that is about to be split.

Now, even before getting those two sets of recommendations, the supervisors are poised to reinvent the wheel with a Blue Ribbon Commission  which will undoubtedly take testimony from the same probation reformers, activists and others who have so recently made their presentations and shared their opinions with the group studying probation oversight.

Defenders of the plan say this panel will be just like the Citizens Commission on Jail Violence, which in 2012 was exactly the right tool to zero in on the problems that plagued the Sheriffs Department and to make recommendations for fixing them.

But that panel was successful precisely because it was independent of the Board of Supervisors. It hired its own staff and set its own pace. The board gave it that leeway because the supervisors knew the primary target would be the independently elected sheriff, and not them.

The board also set up a Blue Ribbon Commission on Child Protection, and although its as yet unclear what good came of it, that panel wisely spotlighted county bureaucracy and the boards inability to manage it as one of the chief impediments to better safety for abused and neglected children.

The Probation Department is every bit as messed up as the Sheriffs Department and the Department of Children and Family Services were and perhaps still are, but it already reports directly to the Board of Supervisors, so there is no use trying to figure out why things go wrong. There should be no need of yet another commission to point out that the board has to do a better job of overseeing the department and communicating with experts who help troubled juveniles and adults find the right path.

The supervisors already feel confident about substantive probation matters. They have abolished solitary confinement in juvenile camps and have redesigned and rebuilt one camp around an innovative treatment-focused approach to helping young offenders.

What they are missing is a firm grasp on why they are unwilling or unable to perform their primary oversight function. Any Blue Ribbon Commission worth its salt will tell the supervisors what they already ought to know: Los Angeles County is too big to successfully manage without an uncommon amount of energy, attention, deference to experts and humility.

If that doesnt help, perhaps the next step will be a Gold Medal Commission. Or maybe a Black Eye Commission.

Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion and Facebook
To the editor: Donald Trumps threat to jail Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton if he is elected is not only unprecedented, but it also subverts a foundational principle in Americas political system: that of the loyal opposition. (Donald Trump promises, if elected, to appoint prosecutor to target Hillary Clinton: You would be in jail, Oct. 9)

As a retired professor of history, I taught students about the sanctity of this principle.

Beginning with the highly charged election of 1800, in which challenger and Democratic-Republican Thomas Jefferson defeated incumbent Federalist President John Adams, the party of opposition and its standard-bearer were treated as loyal. The recognition of that loyalty is what made possible for the first time in modern world history the peaceful, election-based transfer of power from one national leader and party to another.

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If Trump wants to make America great again, he should begin by honoring this hallmark of our political system. Without this principle, democracy cannot work.

Thomas Osborne, Laguna Beach

..

To the editor: What country would the U.S. do well to look to as a model?

During the primary campaign we heard Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders suggest Denmark, with its high taxation and citizen buy-in, as a desirable goal. Clinton pronounced the United States, more or less as is, a sufficient standard.

And then Sunday night we heard Trump, with his promise to prosecute and jail his opponent, reveal that Brazil is his idea of the right way to run the country.

Tim Clark, Los Angeles

Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion and Facebook
To the editor: This article reports conflicting views within the Republican Party, especially those of House Speaker Paul D. Ryan, on whether the 2005 taped comments by presidential nominee Donald Trump indicating that he regards all women as his personal play toys disqualify him from becoming president. (GOP civil war gathers force as House Speaker Paul Ryan cuts loose Donald Trump, Oct. 10)

Aside from these comments, there are plenty of other reasons that Trump should not be president.

He has made admiring comments about autocratic Russian President Vladimir Putin. He would weaken U.S. support for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. He would pull the U.S. out of the Paris climate change accord. His economic plan would add many trillions to the U.S. debt over the next decade. He has said he would order U.S. combat troops to kill the families of terrorists. When told that U.S. troops would not follow the order because it would be a war crime, he replied, If I say do it, theyre gonna do it, indicating that he is a megalomaniac.

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I could go on, but you get the idea.

Al Barrett, Santa Monica

..

To the editor: Trump got hammered in the first debate. Then came his twitterstorm bashing of former Miss Universe Alicia Machado, followed by a tape of him bragging about sexual assault.

Next was his stunt with the Clinton accusers, followed by a toxic second debate.

Now, Ryan has broken ranks with Trump and encouraged other Republican candidates to run like roaches in the light to save themselves. I think the time has come for Trump to declare bankruptcy on his bid to become president.

Alan Abajian, Alta Loma

..

To the editor: Its astonishing how spineless the Republican Party leadership is. If saying bad things about women is cause to abandon support for your candidate, then President Bill Clinton probably should have been marginalized. God only knows what Clinton may have said, but it is public knowledge that he did things with them  and while he was married to Hillary Clinton.

So, if Trump is losing the support of a has-been senator such as John McCain and a newbie such as Ryan, then I am not too concerned. Those poor fellows are worried about a future that wont need them, and I think thats what really scares them.

And since they cant change with the times, they are trying to attack the symbol of that change. Good luck with that.

Arthur G. Saginian, Santa Clarita

..

To the editor: Whether or not Trumps words are locker-room talk is immaterial. The fact that Trump, his surrogates and regretfully many Republicans are perfectly OK with the objectification of women is whats troubling.

This is one giant step backward for man  and mankind.

Ralph Cookey, Los Angeles

Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion and Facebook
To the editor: It is absolutely heartbreaking that two Palm Springs police officers were killed this weekend. Theres certainly nothing anyone can say to ease the pain for everyone who knew them. (Suspect in Palm Springs police killings had body armor and high-capacity magazines, authorities say, Oct. 9)

I would like to ask a question: Why does any private citizen need body armor, which police say the accused killer was wearing? Regulating the purchase of body armor makes more sense than tracking guns and ammunition.

I would think that a giant red flag should go up when a regular Joe or Josephine wants to buy body armor as opposed to a few hundred rounds to pop off at the target range.

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Nick Orchard, Long Beach

..

To the editor: The suspected Palm Springs shooter was barred from owning firearms because he was a convicted felon? His rifle had an extended magazine?

Are you telling us that Californias highly restrictive gun laws dont work? Does this mean that Proposition 63  which would expand those laws  probably wont work?

John Hazlet, Pasadena

Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion and Facebook
First Lady Michelle Obama starred in a defining moment of the presidential race Thursday, delivering a stinging and emotional condemnation of Donald Trumps behavior toward women that framed the election as no longer about ideology, but human decency.

Obama put aside her standard stump speech to express disgust and outrage with Trumps lewd boasts about forcing himself on women, which multiple women accuse him of acting on. She said Trumps behavior has shaken me to my core.

I cant believe I am saying that a candidate for president of the United States has actually bragged about sexually assaulting women, Obama told the crowd. I cannot stop thinking about this. She spoke forcefully about the hurtful impact the GOP nominees talk has generally on American women, who still find themselves regularly subjected to humiliating and unwanted advances.

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During the address, Obama distinguished herself as perhaps the most effective voice at this moment on Hillary Clintons deep bench of surrogates. The speech from the popular first lady underscored her mastery of the bully pulpit, even as she nears the end of two terms in an administration where she often avoided the rough and tumble of politics to focus her efforts on less controversial policy issues such as healthy eating.

Election 2016 | Live coverage on Trail Guide | Sign up for the newsletter | The race to 270

 First Lady Michelle Obama made it clear in her speech Thursday that Donald Trumps behavior is unacceptable.

This is not normal, Obama said, without once naming Trump, as is her usual practice. This is not politics as usual. This is disgraceful. This is intolerable.

In the New Hampshire address, Obama framed the election as a crucial moment for the history of women  not only because the first female nominee of a major party is on the ballot, but also because they can send a message that Trumps attitudes and behavior toward woman are unacceptable in modern society.

The men in my life do not talk about women like this, Obama said. Strong men, men who are truly role models, dont need to put down women for themselves to feel powerful.

This is not something we can sweep under the rug as just another disturbing footnote in a sad election, she said. This was a powerful individual speaking freely and openly about sexually predatory behavior.  We cannot endure this or expose our children to this any longer, not for another minute, let alone for four years.

Now is the time for all of us to stand up and say, enough is enough. This has got to stop right now.

The framing of Obamas speech added to the political challenges Trump already faced. Clintons Twitter account was abuzz with quotes from it while Obama spoke, and Clinton herself mentioned the address during a brief exchange with volunteers in San Francisco that was opened to the news media.

If you havent seen it, I hope you will, Clinton said. She not only made a compelling and strong case about the stakes in the election, but about who we are as Americans.

Trump, taking the stage at a rally in Florida moments after Obama finished her address, argued he is the victim.

These vicious claims about me of inappropriate conduct with women are totally and absolutely false, Trump said, suggesting the Clinton campaign was involved in orchestrating the allegations. The Clintons know it, and they know it very well. These claims are all fabricated. Theyre pure fiction, and theyre outright lies.

Trump then attacked his accusers. These events never, ever happened and the people who said them meekly fully understand, he said, vowing that he will publicly present substantial evidence that refutes the accusations. You take a look at these people, you study these people, and youll understand also.

Trump appeared to allude to the looks of one of his accusers. Take a look at her. Take a look at her words. You tell me what you think, Trump said. I dont think so.

Trump also lit into the media outlets that published the stories of his accusers.

But Trumps attacking several of the women who say he groped or kissed them against their will could prove a tough sell with voters. It risked amplifying Michelle Obamas central point: that Trump is a candidate who belittles real concerns women have about sexual assault.

White House Deputy Press Secretary Eric Schultz argued that Trump faces a conundrum as the GOP nominee tries to dispute the portrait of him Michelle Obama is presenting on the campaign trail.

Lashing out at her, Schultz predicted, would only hurt Trump more.

I cant think of a bolder way for Donald Trump to lose even more standing than he already has, Schultz said.

evan.halper@latimes.com

Follow me: @evanhalper

To read the article in Spanish, click here

New York Times rejects Donald Trumps demand for a retraction

Pro-Clinton millennials could make the difference in the swing state of Florida  but theres a catch

Why Trump and Clinton sleep in their own beds most nights even though theyre on the campaign trail
Walter Velasquez stood outside the Student Union near the center of campus, beaded with sweat under a blazing sun, as he cheerily called out to passing students, Have you updated your voter registration?

Five hours a day, three times a week, the 19-year-old volunteer wields his clipboard at the University of Central Florida, trying to sign up as many young voters as he can in hopes of electing Hillary Clinton president.

Four years ago, Velasquez knocked on doors for Mitt Romney, the Republican nominee, but he cant abide Donald Trump and his showmans style of campaigning.

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Ive never taken him seriously, said Velasquez, the son of Honduran immigrants, who takes politics and political involvement very seriously.

Contrary to the stereotype, Florida is no longer a wheezy haven of shuffleboard, blue rinse and early-bird specials (with a bit of Latin spice). Millennials now outnumber residents over age 65, and the sentiments of young voters could make the difference in this perennial swing state.

They also represent a huge question mark for Clinton as she seeks to rebuild the coalition that twice ushered Barack Obama into the White House.

When Velasquez brings up the presidential election with friends and peers, he finds them either uninterested or disgusted.

Theyve been turned off, said the history and political science major, pausing in the shade of the hulking Mathematical Sciences Building. Theyre not really interested in any of the candidates, so theyre not paying attention.

Polls show the Democratic nominee easily outdistancing Trump in support among younger voters, who are more apt to be nonwhite and politically moderate to liberal; here in Florida, nearly half the voters under age 30 are either Latino or African American.

It is far from certain, however, that millennials nationwide will turn out in sufficient number for Clinton to offset Trumps advantage among older white voters, especially men; their mobility makes young voters harder to register and millennials participate at much lower rates than their elders.

There also is the letdown after the barricade-storming enthusiasm of Bernie Sanders insurgent campaign, though for some the presence of Trump atop the Republican ticket has been enough to bring them around to the more conventional Clinton.

Hes probably the worst candidate in my lifetime, said Brandon Kozlowski, 35, a political independent and healthcare student here at the nations second-largest university, a palm tree-lined complex with the feel of a suburban office park. He backs Clinton mainly just to not have Trump as president.

The millennial generation  those born between the dawn of the Reagan administration and the deadlocked 2000 presidential contest  now match baby boomers as the biggest share of the American electorate, each accounting for about a third.

Fretting over the youth vote is nothing new for Democrats; in 2012 Obama barnstormed college campuses into late October as polls suggested a significant drop in support and enthusiasm from his history-making 2008 campaign. He ended up winning 60% of the vote among those 30 and under, down from about two-thirds in his first run for president.

The difference this election is the presence of two high-profile third-party candidates, the Green Partys Jill Stein and Libertarian Gary Johnson. Their support among young voters adds a new layer of worry to Democrats perennial concern.

The closeness of the contest could be determined, as Harvard pollster John Della Volpe put it, by whether millennials vote for Hillary Clinton, Gary Johnson or for sitting home on the couch.

A stew pot of cultures and contradictions, Florida is the nations ultimate swing state; with 29 electoral votes, the third-highest total, it offers by far the largest number still up for grabs. (Californias 55 electoral votes are a lock for Clinton and Texas 38 are all but certain to go to Trump. New York, which also has 29 electoral votes, is safely in Clintons column.)

Samon Hazrati says he sometimes gets grief for wearing a Trump T-shirt. (Mark Z. Barabak / Los Angeles Times )

Florida is, of course, the state Republican George W. Bush won in 2000 after six weeks of legal and political skirmishing, which ended only after the Supreme Court stepped in with a 5-4 decision handing Bush the White House. His official margin of victory was 537 votes out of nearly 6 million cast.

Bush won the state again in 2004, then Obama carried Florida twice  the last time by less than 1 percentage point.

Over those four presidential contests, 30.5 million ballots were cast, and the difference between Democrats and Republicans, a 71,000-vote GOP advantage, works out to a margin of 0.24%, according to Democratic strategist Steve Schale.

No other state in the country, he said, was closer.

We basically start as a push, he wrote in a recent strategy memo. Thats Florida. Everything is about the margins.

Here, as elsewhere, Clinton and Trump are a study in campaign contrasts.

The Democrat has staffers and volunteers on a dozen college campuses conducting daily registration drives and her campaign hosts regular events  brunches in the gay community, meetings with young parents, happy-hour socials  aimed at older millennials. (That represents just a fraction of Clintons organizing efforts in the state; with 65 field offices, the operation is vastly larger than anything Trump has put together.)

The GOP nominee is piggybacking on get-out-the-vote efforts of the state and national Republican parties, which are also focused on Sen. Marco Rubios reelection and several competitive congressional races.

To reach millennials, Trump is counting as well on word-of-mouth from supporters like Samon Hazrati, who admires his business background and tough talk on immigration.

The 21-year-old mechanical engineering student strode into the math building wearing a Trump T-shirt, which he rotates with a Hillary for prison shirt. A lot of hostility toward Trump results from misrepresentation through the media and out-of-context quotes, Hazrati said, and he is glad for the chance to set fellow students straight.

Clinton and her allies worry, too, about misconceptions  especially with polls showing a significant number of young people see no difference between the Democratic and Republican nominees. For some old enough to remember, that brings back unhappy memories of 2000, when the same argument was heard among supporters of third-party candidate Ralph Nader, whom many Democrats blame for Al Gore losing the White House.

With an apparent eye on young voters, Clinton has talked up issues such as climate change, which Trump minimizes, college affordability and criminal justice reform. All are significant concerns of millennial voters.

She has turned to Sanders for testimonial and Tuesday stumped alongside Gore at a Miami community college, where the former vice president cited the election of 2000 and what happened here in Florida.

Your vote really, really, really counts, said Gore, in a rare campaign appearance. A lot. You can consider me as an Exhibit A of that.

More than Trump or Johnson, indifference may be the biggest challenge Clinton faces to win millennials support.

Meghan Piotrowski, 20, a Clinton backer and political science major, was recently signing up voters at the University of South Florida in Tampa when, she said, a student brushed by with a dismissive, Were screwed either way.

Its disheartening, Piotrowski said. But I dont think theres a resounding lack of hope in Americas youth toward this election.

She and others she knows are excited about casting their first vote for president.

Clinton is counting on them.

mark.barabak@latimes.com

Twitter: @markzbarabak

ALSO

Donald Trump says the shackles are off  and his first target is his fellow Republicans

While other Republicans have fled Donald Trump, Mike Pence is doubling down on their campaign

The women Trump invited to the debate do little to shed light on any bad behavior by Hillary Clinton
Donald Trump responded to new allegations of sexual assault by stepping up his tour of angry rebuttals and threats Thursday, blaming a cabal of media, special interests and Hillary Clintons machine for trying to destroy his reputation in order to maintain their grip on power.

Trump cast himself as a martyr, taking the slings and arrows, gladly, for you, as a reprisal for turning against a rigged system in which he once thrived.

Im being punished for leaving the special club and revealing to you the terrible things that are going on having to do with our country, Trump said during a rally in West Palm Beach, Fla. There is nothing the political establishment will not do, no lie that they wont tell.

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The rally epitomized his penchant for engaging his critics at his own expense, in that Trump spent most of his time delving into the accusations of sexual misconduct lodged at him over the prior 24 hours that have further undermined his campaign, which had already been sliding in the polls.

Election 2016 | Live coverage on Trail Guide | Sign up for the newsletter | The race to 270

It included an attack on the looks of a People magazine reporter who accused him of an unwanted advance, renewed claims that the FBI is corrupt for declining to prosecute Clinton over her private email server, and a qualified promise to release substantial evidence to rebut accusations from female accusers in an appropriate way and at an appropriate time.

That followed several days in which he has fought with fellow Republican leaders who failed to come to his defense and has lashed out at other perceived enemies, including the obscure panel that oversees presidential debates.

Trumps larger message about the economy, immigration and taxes has been swallowed by his list of grievances. His top supporters and advisors have warned against this tack. But as Trump has shown for more than a year, he is unable or unwilling to restrain from firing back at those who he believes have crossed him, regardless of who they are and the harm it may do to his campaign.

I do not think its smart for Donald Trump to get sucked in on these personality fights and he doesnt seem to be able to resist it, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich said on Fox News. If he could discipline himself to stay big, he would win this election by a shocking margin.

Gingrich, one of Trumps most prominent supporters and advisors, said Trump has ignored his advice.

He falls in the polls when he gets distracted by shiny things, said anti-tax activist Grover Norquist.

Republican strategists are concerned that the campaign is seeing its opportunity to win the election slip away amid infighting and Trumps lack of discipline.

Trumps campaign blindsided the director of the Virginia GOP on Wednesday night by declaring during a daily conference call that it was withdrawing resources from the crucial battleground state, according to a Republican official who would not be named recounting private discussions. The official said that Trumps team had resisted calls from the national party to pull out of the state in August, forcing more resources to be wasted over the last two months.

That puts added pressure on Trump to win Pennsylvania, where his remarks about women have made him toxic in the Philadelphia suburbs, which have a large concentration of affluent educated women, the official said.

He has no path, the official said. Its math. He cant get to 270 electoral votes needed to win the election.

Democrats have been more than happy to continue the battle with Trump on their terrain, as he gets caught up in a steady series of sexual allegations that followed last weeks release of a 2005 video in which Trump bragged in vulgar terms that celebrities like him can grope women at will. Trump denied during Sundays debate that he had ever kissed or groped women without their consent.

First Lady Michelle Obama delivered an impassioned address in New Hampshire just before Trumps Florida speech, calling Trumps words about women disgraceful and intolerable, adding that even a 6-year-old knows that is not how decent human beings behave.

I cant stop thinking about this, she said. It has shaken me to my core in a way that I couldnt have predicted.

Multiple women recounted being kissed and groped by Trump without their consent in reports published Wednesday, saying they came forward because the GOP presidential nominee dismissed his lewd comments caught on tape as locker room talk, not actual sexual aggression, and because of his denial during the debate that he had done the things he boasted about.

Two spoke with the New York Times. Jessica Leeds, 74, said that Trump grabbed her breasts and tried to slip his hand up her skirt in the first-class cabin of a plane more than three decades ago.

He was like an octopus, Leeds told the paper. His hands were everywhere.

Rachel Crooks told the Times that Trump kissed her on the mouth when she introduced herself to him in front of an elevator in 2005 while she was working as a 22-year-old secretary in Trump Tower.

Trump threatened to sue and his attorneys demanded a retraction, saying the article was reckless, defamatory and constitutes libel.

Times attorney David McCraw responded forcefully Thursday in a statement that essentially dared Trump to sue, saying that he had tarnished his own reputation and that failing to publish the story would be a disservice not just to our readers but to democracy itself.

If Mr. Trump disagrees, if he believes that American citizens had no right to hear what these women had to say and that the law of this country forces us and those who would dare to criticize him to stand silent or be punished, we welcome the opportunity to have a court set him straight, McCraw wrote.

The Palm Beach Post published a report from a 36-year-old woman who said Trump grabbed her posterior when she was assisting a photographer friend hired by the businessman to document a Ray Charles concert at Trumps Mar-a-Lago estate 13 years ago.

And People magazine published an account from one of its former writers who described being mauled by the GOP nominee when she went to Mar-a-Lago to interview Trump and his wife, Melania, for a story about their first wedding anniversary.

Natasha Stoynoff wrote that when Melania, then pregnant with son Barron, went upstairs to change, Trump offered to give Stoynoff a tour of the mansion. He guided her into a room, closed the door, pushed her against a wall and shoved his tongue down her throat, Stoynoff wrote. She added that she tried to unpin herself, but Trump stopped only when a butler interrupted to say that Trumps wife was returning.

Trump, discounting the report during Thursdays rally, took a shot at the writers appearance.

Look at her, look at her words, you tell me what you think, he said, gesturing with his hands. I dont think so.

And in a December 1992 wire brief in the Chicago Tribune, Trump is described as having spotted a youth choir singing Christmas carols at the Plaza Hotel in Manhattan. He asked two girls how old they were. When they said they were 14, the article says, Trump, then 46, replied, Wow! Just think  in a couple of years, Ill be dating you.

Some of Trumps core supporters said they were unbothered, agreeing with him that the accusations amount to propaganda from the left.

He didnt rape nobody, said Mark Breaux, a contractor from Santa Rosa Beach, Fla., who attended a Trump rally in Panama City this week. He touched somebody on the hiney.

Diane Fudge, a 55-year-old travel agent who went to a Trump rally in Ocala, Fla., on Wednesday, doubted the accusations, but said Trump wins on the issues regardless.

The sex allegations against him  youre putting Bill Clinton back in the White House, she said. He did have sex in the Oval Office! So thats kind of a wash.

Will Ritter, a former aide to Mitt Romney, said Trump is caught in a vise of his own making, having spent decades promoting himself in the public eye as a low-rent Hugh Hefner rich guy.

Donald Trump won the primary campaign by distracting voters away from actual issues with interesting sexy attacks, Ritter said. And now the same things being done against him. And he has no idea what to do.

Bierman reported from Washington, Mason from Cincinnati and Mehta from Los Angeles.

Twitter: @noahbierman, @LATSeema, @melmason

Donald Trump once told 14-year-old girls, In a couple of years, Ill be dating you

No, one 19-year-old Trump supporter probably isnt distorting the polling averages all by himself

Michelle Obama just delivered what might have been a defining moment of the presidential campaign
Olexandr Sirenko, a UPECO analyst and the editor-in-chief of NefteRynok, commented on his Facebook page on removal of Nikolay Zlochevskyi (owner of Burisma Group, the leading Ukrainian private gas-producer) from the wanted list. The expert links the pressure to political persecution and complete disregard of professional activity. The coercive pressure on private companies followed by freezing the company accounts sounds to me like a pure use of power in order to get dividends for themselves/ the party. Its a pity that so much time has been lost. Fresh news: one of the largest private gas producers was proven not guilty by both Ukrainian and British courts in cases involving commercial activities of the company. Burisma, owned by Nikolay Zlochevskyi, dismissed the charges filed by the Prosecutor General's Office through the courts. And what did you expect? He was acquitted by the English court, the US is ok with everything, while the company continues to drill and transfer billions to the State budget. I wish everyone who is now in the government worked and paid this well. What does it mean and what is obscured from the politicized public? Apart from gas extraction, Zlochevskyi owns a service company. He is pretty much the only businessman in Ukraine that over the past two years, despite the industry crisis, acquired a modern fleet of equipment. Trust me, the American drilling rigs are no worse than the ones owned by UkrGasVydobuvannya featured on Facebook. Now, when the proceedings are over, all this machinery will start buzzing on a few gas fields, supplying the country with real gas. Follow the statistics, soon private companies will reach 12 million cubic meters per day, noted Sirenko in his Facebook post. According to Sirenko, the Ukrainian society is used to thinking of oligarchs as of bad guys. It is primarily convenient for politicians that are constantly trying to identify an enemy and make it seem like a whole army is tirelessly fighting against it. This is what happened to gas-producers after the last revolution: endless inspections and charges in the past two years made it a complete nightmare for the key market players. Thank God, they managed to defend themselves from the main raider  Arseniy Yatsenyuk  that struck the companies with an expensive rent. Although, we still have to deal with the consequences. And only this year the key players resume their drilling programs that will yield results in the future  Sirenko said.
The universe just got a lot more crowded. Astronomers using NASAs Hubble Space Telescope say that there are around two trillion galaxies in the cosmos  at least 10 times higher than previously thought.

The findings, to be published in the Astrophysical Journal, shed light on the evolution of the structure universe, and hint at the possible nature of dark matter.

We now know that there are at least 10 times more galaxies in the universe than we had thought for the last 20 years, and before that we didnt really have any idea, said lead author Christopher Conselice, an astrophysicist at the University of Nottingham. So the more we learn about the universe ... the more interesting it becomes.

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The universe has a certain structure: Planets circle stars, which spin or hover in galaxies, which themselves travel in galaxy clusters, which appear to be held together by an enormous web of dark matter. The galaxy is a basic unit of that cosmic web, and so in order to understand the structure and nature of the universe, scientists need to understand the galactic population within it. Were they large and bright? Were they small and dim? What was their shape? And have those demographics shifted over time?

Luckily, astronomers have a tried-and-true method of looking back in time  by looking deeper and farther into space. Light from the sun takes about eight minutes to travel 93 million miles to Earth, so the image we see of the sun right now is actually the sun as it was eight minutes ago. The same guideline applies as you probe much deeper into space: If we look at a galaxy thats 3 billion light-years or so away, were seeing it not as it is today, but as it was 3 billion years ago.

About two decades ago, the Hubble Space Telescope took some of the deepest pictures of the distant, early cosmos, revealing what our 13.8-billion-year-old universe looked like in its childhood, more than 10 billion years ago. Extrapolating from the galaxies filling a patch of sky, astronomers calculated that the universe must hold around 100 billion galaxies. (Estimates range from about 100 billion to 200 billion, Conselice said.)

Incredible as those images were, the Hubble Deep Field images had their limits, Conselice said. The Hubble images were taken in optical light, which limits how far into space (and thus, into the past), astronomers could see. Longer wavelengths of near-infrared light, on the other hand, would allow them to look much deeper.

Using the Hubble Space Telescopes Wide Field Camera 3, which can observe the cosmos in near-infrared wavelengths, Conselice and colleagues were able to look back at different depths of space, putting together a three-dimensional map of space going back about 13 billion years in time.

They found that unlike the universe today, the early universe was dominated by an overwhelming number of small galaxies. This doesnt mean that there was more mass in the universe before, he added  it was just packaged differently.

The total mass is not increasing. Its just how that mass is distributed is changing, he said. The population is dominated much more by these lower-mass galaxies in the distant universe than what we have in the local universe [today].

The astronomers think that this supports the idea that the universe was built from the bottom up, with smaller galaxies growing or glomming together into fewer, larger galaxies over time.

Scientists are also trying to understand the nature of dark matter  invisible mass that cant be seen and doesnt interact with normal matter, but which far outweighs the amount of normal matter in the universe and whose gravitational influence helps determine the large-scale structure of the cosmos.

If galaxies started out small and plentiful, and then grew and consolidated over time, it would support an idea called the cold dark matter hypothesis over the hot dark matter one, Conselice said.

Scientists are also looking forward to the launch of NASAs James Webb Space Telescope in 2018, which will be able to look deeper into the infrared  and so even farther back in time and space.

The James Webb telescope will more than double the number of galaxies that we can see today  so explore a whole new regime of galaxies that we cannot study yet, Conselice said.

amina.khan@latimes.com

Follow @aminawrite on Twitter for more science news and like Los Angeles Times Science & Health on Facebook.

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Newport-Mesa school board supports Prop. 55

Newport-Mesa Unified School District trustees voted Tuesday to support Proposition 55, a state ballot measure that would maintain the current income tax rates on the wealthiest Californians to help fund schools.

The measure would temporarily extend the income tax rates from Proposition 30, which passed in 2012.

Supporters of Proposition 55 say it would give school districts funding for student programs and to hire teachers and school employees and reduce class sizes.

Opponents argue it would hurt small businesses and make it difficult for them to create well-paying jobs.

Newport-Mesa Tea Party to host county registrar Thursday

Orange County Registrar of Voters Neal Kelley will speak to the Newport-Mesa Tea Party Patriots on Thursday evening about preparations for the Nov. 8 election.

Kelley will address the group during its meeting, which will start at 6:30 p.m. and last about two hours at Halecrest Park, 3107 Killybrooke Lane, Costa Mesa.

Also speaking Thursday will be Gina Gleason, executive director of Faith and Public Policy, an organization whose mission is for the church to regain its influence on our culture in order to restore our nation to its biblical foundation, according to its website.

Yacht cruise fundraiser to support Moorlach

Fred Balitzer and Rod Wilson will present a yacht cruise Thursday in Newport Harbor to support the reelection bid of state Sen. John Moorlach (R-Costa Mesa).

The fundraiser will begin at 5:30 p.m. at the Balboa Bay Resort, 1221 W. Coast Hwy.

Tickets start at $250. For more information, email info@moorlachforsenate.com or call (949) 438-0827.

Costa Mesa Brief releases new Fairview Park video

Costa Mesa Brief, a video service by Costa Mesa resident Barry Friedland and reporter Brandice Strotman, has released a new segment on Fairview Park.

The nearly 45-minute video includes 19 interviews with city officials, activists and park users. It explores recent issues in the park as well as two Nov. 8 ballot measures about the park.

The video is available on Costa Mesa Briefs YouTube channel.

From staff reports
Thirty teams were huddled under the same roof on Wednesday as they slogged through 68 trivia questions during the annual Smart-a-Thon tournament.

It was the 28th installment of the annual fundraiser for local schools, held at USC Verdugo Hills Hospital.

Despite the events name, the endgame isnt to find out which team is the most intelligent.

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Theyre impossible questions that arent designed to find out whos the smartest, but who could get through, said Steve Pierce, president of the Crescenta Valley Chamber of Commerce, one of the tournaments organizers.

Example: In the 1970s, what percentage of Americans frequently spent time with their neighbors? or which of the following is not a paraprosdokian figure of speech?

However, there had to be a winner, and this year it was the hospitals own team, followed by Rep. Adam Schiffs (D-Burbank) team in second place.

Steve Pierce, of Montrose, shows off his super prowess as Dr. Cynthia Livingston looks on during the annual Smart-a-Thon at USC Verdugo Hills Hospital in Glendale on Wednesday, March 16, 2016. (Tim Berger / Staff Photographer)

In previous years, students from Clark Magnet High School took first place.

The top honor of the day, however, went to the Mary Pinola & Crescenta Valley Chamber Education Fund in the form of donations.

Since the first Smart-a-Thon, the fund has raised more than $186,000 thats paid for many school projects and improvements, such as the purchase of two new flugelhorns for Crescenta Valley Highs jazz band. Also, about $3,000 was spent on nine new Chromebooks for Dunsmore Elementary students.

A test-taker selects an answer at the 28th annual Smart-a-Thon at USC Verdugo Hills Hospital in Glendale on Wednesday, March 16, 2016. (Tim Berger / Staff Photographer)

The Crescenta Valley community has had a tradition of supporting education, said Suzanna Risse, principal of Monte Vista Elementary School. They have high expectations for their students. It just transfers to every aspect of the community.

Risses team name was The Real Principals of La Crescenta, made of a few other principals from the area.

The trivia questions were all multiple choice and, despite the tough questions, its all in fun, said Mary Pinola, the foundations namesake and event organizer.

Its fun, and we raise money for a good cause. A lot of people have been coming for all 28 Smart-a-Thons, and we just try to keep it fresh and make the test fun, she said. Nobodys embarrassed.

--

Arin Mikailian, arin.mikailian@latimes.com

Twitter: @ArinMikailian

--

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Glendale resident who wrote weight-loss book based on biblical principles to appear in Burbank
Orhans Inheritance" the tale of a Turkish mans quest to understand why his grandfather willed the family estate to a mysterious Armenian woman 75 years after the Armenian Genocide  has been selected as this years One City, One Book title.

The annual communitywide book discussion will take place at the La Canada Flintridge Library Nov. 6 at 3 p.m. and will feature a discussion by author Aline Ohanesian, who was inspired to write the fictional novel by her grandmothers own experience with the 1915 Genocide.

Participants will also have a chance to interact with Ohanesian in a Q&A discussion moderated by former BBC World News anchor and filmmaker Carla Garapedian, whose 2006 documentary short film Screamers chronicles the effort by rock band System of a Down to have the U.S. and British lawmakers officially recognize Turkeys 1915 Armenian Genocide, still denied today by the Turkish government.

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Kathee Kenna, a member of the La Canada Flintridge One City, One Book Committee, said the group considered several works of fiction and nonfiction in the process of finding one that would be a good fit for the annual event, now in its 13th year. Orhans Inheritance rose to the top.

This was a very strong year, Kenna said, explaining the groups choices. We felt this was a really good book for our community because its about the Armenian Genocide, (which) obviously for our community is still current.

The novel tells the story of Orhan Turkoglu, who inherits the familys rug business in 1990 after the death of his grandfather and later learns of another heir, an Armenian woman now living in a Los Angeles nursing home.

In his quest to find the woman and learn of her connection to his grandfather, formed at a time when the Ottoman government ordered the execution of 1.5 million ethnic Armenians, Orhan learns truths that stand to threaten the foundation on which his family has been built.

One City, One Book Committee member Julia Hastings said she hoped Orhans Inheritance would attract audiences from La Canada and beyond to participate in an intelligent discussion that draws on important historic and geopolitical topics still relevant today.

The whole motivation behind this is to encourage people to read good books, and we want to get as many people as we can in the city of La Canada Flintridge to be on the same page, literally, so we can have a broad discussion on an important piece of literature, she added.

La Canada Flintridge Library Manager Mark Totten  whos read every One City, One Book selection since coming to the branch in 2010  said the event is something people look forward to each year, because they know theyre going to get a truly unique experience.

Each author brings a little something different to the table, he said. "(And) its a different crowd every time. I guess it just depends on whos interested, the author and the book.

FYI

La Canadas annual One City, One Book citywide book discussion will be held at the La Canada Flintridge Library, 4545 Oakwood Ave., at 3 p.m. For more information on the event, call the library at (818) 790-3330 or visit facebook.com/LCFonecityonebook.

--

Sara Cardine, sara.cardine@latimes.com

Twitter: @SaraCardine
La Canada Flintridge municipal employees could soon have a new place to call home, after the City Council voted Tuesday to sign an $11.7-million purchase agreement to acquire the former Sport Chalet corporate headquarters building as a new city hall.

A purchase and sale agreement with the La Canada Properties, Inc.  owned by the family of Sport Chalet founder and local legend Norbert Olberz  will begin with a $250,000 deposit from the city and a 90-day due diligence period during which La Canada officials will thoroughly inspect the 24,000-square-foot space.

The city will take advantage of that period to assess the viability of the purchase, review its financing options and take one last stab at identifying other potential city hall sites or possible alternatives. Consultants will be hired, at the estimated cost of $75,000, to help complete the review process, City Manager Mark Alexander told the council.

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That would be the time for us to go in and take a look at what are the total costs that would be involved in the acquisition of the building, he said, highlighting some of what would be inspected, from HVAC and electrical systems to roofing and plumbing.

Upon close of escrow, the city would pay $5.65 million from its reserve fund and receive a promissory note from La Canada Properties, Inc. in the amount of $6.05 million, secured by a deed of trust. The note will have a 24-month term during which no monthly payments will be required and no interest will accrue.

Daniel Jordan, the citys finance director, assured council members the withdrawal from the reserve fund would still keep the city within the council-recommended reserve level, equivalent to 100% to 150% of the citys annual operating budget, leaving the fund at about $12.5 million.

Thats still in excess of our annual general fund expenditures, Jordan said.

City officials were looking for possible alternatives to the current crowded Foothill Boulevard quarters  a 7,160-square-foot city-owned building which houses roughly 40 employees working in four departments  long before Sport Chalets corporate owners Vestis Retail Group announced in April plans to close all 47 Sport Chalet locations, including the La Canada flagship store.

Owners of the Town Center, IDS Real Estate Group, are still working with the city to identify an appropriate successor for the retail space and have since prepared its interior for sale.

The street address of the store, 2 Sport Chalet Drive, has officially been renamed and submitted to the Los Angeles County Department of Public Works as 965 Town Center Drive, Deputy Director of Community Development Susan Koleda confirmed Tuesday.

Meanwhile, the decision to move into adjacent former Sport Chalet headquarters building, still listed as 1 Sport Chalet Drive, will not affect the fate or use of that property, council members stipulated. Officials have said the name of the street itself, however, will eventually be changed.

At Tuesdays meeting, Alexander said that some time around the news of the retailers closure and Vestis subsequent announcement it would file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, owners of the headquarters building, constructed in 2002, sought out the citys interest in purchasing the site.

La Canada Properties...had approached the city, asking whether the city might be interested in acquiring the building as a potential site for a future city hall, he said.

Then-Mayor Dave Spence had formed an ad hoc committee made up of staffers and representatives of various community groups and institutions to review all available options for a city hall, including renovating and possibly expanding its existing location at 1327 Foothill Blvd.

The current city hall, which has been occupied since the late 70s and was purchased by the city in the 90s after it had paid rent there for about two decades, has an estimated resale value of about $3 million to $4 million. When officials explored the option of renovating the space, including acquiring adjacent offices and parking for the purpose of annexing them to the main building, cost estimates ran as high as $6 million, Alexander said.

Public Works Director Edward Hitti said bringing the site into full compliance with ADA requirements would add another $1.82 million to the price tag. Alexander estimated demolishing the building and starting over would range from $10 million to $12 million.

After reviewing all identifiable options, the ad hoc committee recommended the Sport Chalet corporate office be seriously considered, due to its ample space and prominent location in the citys Town Center.

The site includes an adjacent 3,038-square-foot Montessori school operating on a lease anticipated to run through at least 2024. Until the expiration of that lease the city, were it to go forward with the deal, would act as a landlord, collecting an annual $84,000 in rent with options to increase rent annually.

Alexander told council members only one of the buildings two floors, about 12,000 square feet of space, would be needed to accommodate a new city hall. The city would need to determine how to make best use of the additional floor.

One (use) might be to lease that floor for rental income, he said. It might be to separate that in a sort of condominum-type format and sell off the additional floor, which would then reduce the total purchase price of the building. Another use would be to partner with a community group...which would be a compatible use with city hall.

Speakers in a public comment session recommended the city to consider leasing, rather than selling off the additional space.

I would [advise] if you do acquire the property that you think long and hard about selling off one of the floors, said La Canada resident and Public Safety Commissioner Wes Seastrom. Once you sell it, youre never going to get it back. Youre going to need that space at some point in time.

In their comments, council members praised the hard work and negotiating that went into getting a tenable offer on the table. Mayor Jon Curtis and Mayor Pro Tem Mike Davitt told residents Tuesdays vote was just the first step of many that would be taken in the coming months.

Councilwoman Terry Walker assured the years-long need for a new home, not the availability of the office space, was the true impetus for the decision.

Its not the building that is driving the need  it is the need that (gives us) an opportunity to look at the building, she said. I think we would be remiss as a council if we didnt move forward with this step.

In his remarks, Spence recognized members of the Olberz family for their many contributions to the Town Center.

Im thinking of all the sacrifices and efforts that the Olberz family has made, Spence said, recalling the donation by the family of a now namesake Olberz Park in front of the Sport Chalet corporate office. We should acknowledge the Olberz family. I think theyve given us a pretty decent offer.

--

Sara Cardine, sara.cardine@latimes.com

Twitter: @SaraCardine
Editors note: This is the second in a multi-part diary of one womans journey through breast cancer treatment. Click here to read part one.

Day 8

Today I picked up the CD with the scan and results to take to the surgeon tomorrow.

Day 9

Hope for the best, prepare for the worst.

I phoned a friend who is a breast cancer survivor. She seemed to know the second I said I needed to speak with her what was wrong. She gave me her advice as I cried into the phone. She knew exactly how I was feeling. She also offered to say a prayer to St. Jude  the patron saint of lost causes. I appreciated the thought and the prayer, but hoped I wasnt a lost cause.

Day 10

Today I met with a breast cancer surgeon. It took a good deal of time to fill in the most comprehensive set of questions Ive ever filled in for a physician. You name it, they asked it. One in particular got to my still fragile emotional state: Have you, in the past week, suffered from any of the following: stress, sadness, depression or anxiety? Well, no s#@t, Sherlock!

I remember writing, Seriously? I have just been diagnosed with breast cancer. I have all of the above! I had second thoughts about my little rant, but it would be a way to see if anyone even read this stuff.

My visit with the surgeon calmed me a little. She explained everything. I was again examined and learned that first I would need an MRI but I was so bruised by the rare and uncommon bleed from the biopsy Id need to wait until it subsided or the MRI would light up like Times Square.

I want this thing out of my body as soon as possible, I told her. She reassured me that my cancer was small, found early and the chances for good results were promising.

She also advised I be selective with whom I share my condition.

Friends and family members, though well-meaning, can make you crazy with phone calls. You dont need people calling and telling you to take herbal supplements, or eat more broccoli. And...you can be sure they will want to know what stage of cancer you have when you wont know until after surgery  period!

Day 11

One of the most difficult things I have ever had to do, I did today. I told my children I have cancer. There, I said it! I HAVE CANCER. It still seems impossible and frighteningly real.

I can still see the pain in the eyes of one of my daughters. I also remember the fear in the voice of the other when I had to tell her by phone.

Day 13

I dont like this wait. I cant do anything but think about what is growing inside me while this bruise goes away.

Sleep seems to help but I want to sleep a lot. Ive no reason to be this tired but Im fine one moment and then extremely exhausted the next. I go to bed by 9 p.m. Maybe I lost more blood than I thought; that and the fact that I cant take my vitamins because several of them act as blood thinners. Who knew?

This morning I spoke with a well-known cancer research doctor who knows my surgeon. He reassured me and I feel a little better. Not a lot, but a little.

I picked up the binder given to me by my surgeon, filled with material about breast cancer treatment. I felt physically ill. I cant bring myself to read it, or see diagrams and illustrations. I feel like a coward on the inside while trying to act like absolutely not a thing is wrong outwardly.

A week later

Went back to the surgeon to evaluate the bruising on my person to see if I can have an MRI. Apparently the trauma to my breast is worse than thought and I have to wait an additional two weeks. I have an egg-shaped lump inside me now from the scar tissue forming from the biopsy. I wonder if anyone will believe me when I say, If it can go wrong, it will for me. And no, Im not negative  Im a realist! She told me to go home, relax by taking walks and watching funny movies. Huh?

I have something growing inside me that would have been removed by now but its going to sit there and do God-knows-what because of a rare and unusual biopsy problem. Why not? I dont want to watch funny movies or take walks, I want this damned thing out of me now!

Heres my question. What if the bleeding took a bunch of those little cancer cells and spread them throughout my body? If the tumor releases cells that go into the lymph system, where does all that blood go that became hematomas? Were there cancer cells there as well? My doctor said it doesnt work that way but what do they really know about cancer? If they knew so much, wed have a cure!

Two weeks later

I feel as though Im in limbo  that place between Heaven and Hell Catholics learn about. Its that place where you go if you arent in a state of grace when you shuffle off to Buffalo. My limbo is waiting until the first of the month when find out if I can have an MRI.

With two weeks to contemplate the upcoming tests and surgery, my mind is working overtime. Will they press and squash my poor damaged body part again? What do they inject in me this time? How many X-rays can a person have before theyre harmful? Sort of a joke, since I already have cancer!

Will surgery entail total anesthesia or that stuff they use for colonoscopies that doesnt work and you wake up hearing yourself screaming in pain and remembering everything that they say you wont remember? Yep, once again  it could only happen to me!

I have a nasty bug that went straight into bronchitis. Im on a second dose of antibiotics, inhalers and cough medication. I dont sleep at night unless Im sitting upright. My butt is getting numb from sitting so much and Im tired. My family members are also tired of hearing me cough. Apparently Im spreading my germs on everything. If they think theyre tired, try being the one coughing nonstop! I sent my poor husband to the guest room so he could get some sleep.

Im concerned that my coughing will prevent me from having the MRI. If this bug isnt gone Ill have to postpone surgery until Im better. Limbo time!

Oh, did I mention we are starting a total kitchen remodel soon? I am so ready for a diversion right now I can hardly wait for it to begin. Bring on the demo. Bring on the sledgehammers and saw, the plumbers, electricians, cabinet builders, drywall guys and painters.

Bring it on, bring it on, BRING IT ON!

--

ELAINE LA MARR is a 38-year La Canada Flintridge resident and former Valley Sun staff writer. The is the second of a multi-part series of First Person columns containing the journal entries she made during her treatment for breast cancer.
Venture far above the Arctic Circle on the luxurious Golden Eagle train during a 12-day tour offered by Mir Corp. The excursion begins in St. Petersburg, Russia, where participants will visit the Hermitage and St. Isaacs Cathedral before boarding the train.

Highlights include the polar town of Kirkenes, Norway, and a search for the northern lights; the arctic port of Murmansk; and a tour of the Lenin, the worlds first nuclear-powered ice breaker.

The tour also includes visits to the towns of Vladimir and Suzdal, with some of the oldest churches in Russia. The itinerary concludes in Moscow, with time to explore Red Square and the Armory Museum.

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Dates: Dec. 29-Jan. 9

Price: From $11,995 a person. Includes on-board train accommodations, five nights in hotels, all meals, guided off-train tours and gratuities. International airfare not included.

Info: Mir Corp., (800) 424-7289

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Twenty-one of the 218 missing Nigerian schoolgirls abducted in 2014 by Boko Haram militants were released Thursday as a result of negotiations with the extremist group, government officials said.

The girls were released in northern Borno State, rescued by a military helicopter and transported to the state capital, Maiduguri, said Mallam Garba Shehu, spokesman for President Muhammadu Buhari.

Officials said the International Committee of the Red Cross and the Swiss government acted as neutral intermediaries leading to the first major breakthrough since the girls kidnapping in April 2014.

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Nigerias minister of information and culture, Lai Mohammed, told reporters in Abuja that the rescued girls were being flown to the nations capital for treatment and trauma counseling.

Ahead of their arrival, we have assembled a team of medical doctors, psychologists, social workers, trauma experts to properly examine the girls, especially because they have been in captivity for so long, he said. They will also be adequately debriefed.

Mohammed said the government was in the processing of contacting parents and relatives. He denied media reports based on unnamed officials that the girls were swapped for Boko Haram commanders.

As we have always said, we have been working on the safe release of the girls and following all the leads available, Mohammed said. Please note that this is not a swap. It is a release, the product of painstaking negotiations and trust on both sides. We see this as a credible first step in the eventual release of all the Chibok girls in captivity.

Shehu said in a statement on Twitter: The president welcomes the release of the girls but cautioned Nigerians to be mindful of the fact that more than 30,000 fellow citizens were killed by terrorism.

Nearly 200 girls are still missing, some believed to have been killed in Nigerian air force strikes on militants positions. Shehu said negotiations were continuing to secure the release of the other girls.

Before the latest release, only one of the missing 219 schoolgirls kidnapped from the town of Chibok had been freed. Amina Ali Nkeki was found in May with her Boko Haram husband in the Sambisa forest, a stronghold of the extremist militia.

The 276 girls initially abducted were sleeping at a school in preparation for examinations, at a time when Boko Haram had been targeting schools, killing teachers, firebombing dormitories and warning schools to close.

Several dozen escaped, but the remaining 219 were taken into the Sambisa forest by gunmen.

The groups leader, Abubakar Shekau, announced in a video shortly afterward that the girls were slaves.

Like thousands of other women and girls abducted in northern Nigeria in recent years, the girls are believed to have been forced into marriage with Boko Haram fighters.

Yakaka, 14, a Nigerian girl from a village near Bama, in Borno State, one of thousands of women and girls seized by Boko Haram in recent years, said she witnessed many of the Chibok schoolgirls killed in a Nigerian air force airstrike this year.

She spoke to The Times in an interview in Maiduguri last week. Her surname is not used because she is a minor and a victim of sexual assault.

Yakaka said that after being abducted while fetching water and forcibly married to a Boko Haram fighter, she was taken by the insurgents with other women to a camp in the Sambisa forest. She escaped two months ago and was held by the Nigerian military until this month, before being transferred to Dalori, a camp for displaced persons in Maiduguri. She is four months pregnant.

In the militants camp, she saw several dozen girls held nearby, who Boko Haram fighters said were abducted in Chibok in April 2014. She and other abductees in her camp were not allowed to approach the Chibok girls, who were kept isolated from the other women and girls.

Insurgents said to us, Those are the Chibok girls. It was close to where Shekau was staying, she said, referring to the Boko Haram leader. The insurgents didnt let us go near them. Wed see them when we were collecting water.

Even then, she and other women were prevented from speaking to the Chibok girls.

And the worst, most scary part was being abducted. You dont see any members of your family, your parents and brothers and sisters. Its so painful.  Yakaka, 14

There were many of them, but there was an airstrike that hit them, she said. The worst part was the airstrikes. And the worst, most scary part was being abducted. You dont see any members of your family, your parents and brothers and sisters. Its so painful.

Ayuba Alamson, the guardian of four nieces who were kidnapped, expressed joy that the 21 girls were released and called on Boko Haram to free the remainder and enter into peace talks with the government.

At this moment, I am very, very excited, he said by phone from Maiduguri. I am full of happiness.

Its what we have been expecting would happen for a long time now. If the government wont do it, God will do it. We are continuing to pray that God will open the way for all of them to come back.

He said it was time for Boko Haram to repent the violence it has caused to humanity. Its high time for them to repent and start dialogue with the government.

I ask now to please release the girls because none of these girls are government politicians or government officials. Theyre from ordinary poor families who just farm to feed themselves.

Alamson said even though his four nieces may not be among those released, he still was overjoyed that at least some of the abducted girls had been freed.

The Islamist extremists, allied to Islamic State, have lost most of their territory in recent months but are still capable of carrying out deadly attacks, the latest a suicide bombing in Maiduguri on Wednesday that killed eight people and has been blamed on a female suicide bomber.

The Chibok mass kidnapping, which triggered a global hashtag campaign #BringBackOurGirls on Twitter, was the second-largest, after a mass abduction in Damasak in 2014, where at least 400 people, mostly schoolchildren, were abducted.

A spokeswoman for the International Committee of the Red Cross, Elodie Schindler, confirmed that the ICRC helped transfer the 21 girls to safety.

Today we transferred 21 of the #Chibokgirls and handed them to the #Nigeria government authorities, acting as a neutral intermediary, the organization tweeted. We cannot provide any further comment at this stage in the best interest of the girls concerned.

Special correspondent Abubakar reported from Kano, Nigeria, and Times staff writer Dixon from Johannesburg, South Africa.

robyn.dixon@latimes.com

Twitter: @RobynDixon_LAT

ALSO

The babies who are called bad blood  the sad legacy of Boko Haram

If the Nigerian terrorist group Boko Haram has a new leader, where is Abubakar Shekau?

Abubakar Shekau says hes still in charge of Boko Haram, rejecting successor named by Islamic State

UPDATES:

12:45 p.m.: This article has been updated with comments from the Nigerian minister of information and culture.

7:15 a.m.: This article has been updated with comments from a teenager who was seized by insurgents and escaped recently.

5:22 a.m.: This article has been updated with comments from Ayuba Alamson, the guardian of four of the girls who were kidnapped.

This article was originally published at 3:25 a.m.
With more than 1,000 deaths in hurricane-ravaged Haiti and the growing threat of a cholera epidemic, the United States Agency for International Development announced Thursday that it was sending an additional $12 million in assistance.

We talked with David Harden, an assistant administrator with the agency, about the scope of damage in Haiti, the distrust around aid work there, and the long road ahead.

Your agency is announcing another $12 million in aid to help communities affected by Hurricane Matthew, primarily in Haiti. Why?

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Because there are vulnerable people who have great need. And because we are good neighbors.

There are 1.5 million people in need in Haiti right now. Of the $12 million were sending, $7 million is for food, which will help provide food for 750,000 people for three months. Another $3 million is for relief supplies  blankets, hygiene care, water containers and electric generators. And $2 million is going to logistics, to help us get to these hard-to-reach areas.

What are your biggest concerns at this point?

First, the hard-to-reach areas are really hard to reach, and we need to access them, provide relief and get an ongoing assessment of what their needs are and what the response should be. Weve sent 13 helicopters, which are helping.

The second concern is cholera and preventing its spread. Right now were airlifting in water purification tablets for 475,000 people. Were bringing in 38 metric tons of chlorine to clean the piped water, particularly in the high-risk areas.

Were working with the Haitian authorities, the United Nations and the U.S. military to airlift in [special cholera treatment equipment] . And were continuing our partnership with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the government of Haiti to make sure that theres capacity to monitor and treat water-borne illness and to conduct the necessary water testing.

Cholera, and aid work in general, is a touchy subject in Haiti, after the disease was inadvertently brought to Haiti by Nepalese United Nations peacekeepers in the wake of 2010s devastating earthquake. Has that complicated history made things harder for you? Is there distrust of aid workers, or are people just happy for the help?

I cant really address the local response. Were trying to save lives and alleviate human suffering, and what we mainly do is respond to the most vulnerable people. These are the people most in distress.

We understand that cholera is a complicated issue and a delicate and difficult health problem. Our [staff] has worked in close partnership with the government of Haiti, and we have specific expertise to look at water sanitation and health.

There have been many questions about what happened to the nearly $10 billion in aid that was raised after the 2010 earthquake, and whether it reached the people it was meant to help. The Rev. Al Sharpton recently said he wont donate to hurricane relief until he finds out what happened to the earthquake aid. Is that complicating the relief effort this time around?

Look, the past is disassociated from our immediate needs for relief and response. We have a problem in front of us, and we are responding. Todays announcement of new aid is an example of that. Our assistance right now is mostly actual relief supplies that are going to nonprofits that are on the ground. And we monitor their distribution and use.

We do want to make sure that our money is used with integrity. That is a highly important matter, including for me personally. Ive done this work for 20 years, and getting it right is absolutely fundamental.

Do you think there are enough safeguards in place to make sure that the nongovernmental outreach agencies are actually doing the work and doing it well?

I do. These are, generally speaking, U.S. nonprofits. And we know them, we vet them, we audit them and we partner with them. We have a long-term relationship, so they have an inherent interest in getting it right.

The storm caused long-delayed presidential elections in Haiti to be postponed again. Is that concerning?

Its understandable right now, given the massive nature of the hurricane, with roads and systems down, that there was a delay. We do want them to have elections. But right now we are singularly focused on saving lives.

So the plan is to get Haiti up and functioning so they can proceed with the elections?

Yes.

You have a better sense than most about the scale of devastation in Haiti. How much more help is needed? Should regular people be giving, should other countries be stepping up?

We are only at the early stages of relief. Were going to be in relief for a little bit longer, and then well begin to have conversations about what recovery looks like, and then what longer-term reconstruction looks like.

Envision your house. A tree falls down on your roof. What do you? First you cut down the tree  thats what were doing right now.

Getting your house fully operational, thats a longer-term process. Its a little more complicated, involving logistics and engineering and money. So those things by nature are long-term and more costly and more complicated. Right now, were just repairing your house and making sure your kids are safe.

kate.linthicum@latimes.com

Twitter: @katelinthicum

ALSO

How much more must Haiti endure?

Where Hurricane Matthew hit hardest: Hundreds dead in ravaged Haiti

Haitis troubled succession of leaders: They dont really want to work for the Haitian people
Yahoo is losing user's faith day to day by a Reuters report that claims that under classified directive either from the NSA or FBI ,Yahoo built a software program that secretly scanned millions of user's mail account. But what they are looking for is unclear to all of us

The company accumulated with a categorized US government directive, either from NSA or FBI scanning millions of Yahoo Mail, two former employees and a third a person who knew about the program told Reuters.

Yahoo Transparency Report has called Reuter's reports "misleading and denied about the mail scanning program exist, Yahoo is a law abiding company and complies with the laws of the United states". However, the former employee of Yahoo told Reuters that security specialists were disabled the program after discovering it.

Andrew Crocker, staff attorney with the Electronic Frontier Foundation, said: "under the section 702 of the FISA Amendments Act, which permits the government to target on -US citizens abroad for surveillance."

It is not the first time that Yahoo has been accused of providing user's data to NSA. In 2013 former CIA contractor and whistleblower Edward Snowden revealed Yahoo involvement in the NSA PRISM surveillance program. Under this program, the government collected data from several technological companies including Google, Microsoft, and Yahoo.

Some surveillance experts said this represents the first known case of a US internet company pact with a spy agency's demand by searching all arriving messages.

Reuters was unable to determine what data Yahoo may have shared to ,and whether intelligence officials had approached to other email providers with this kind of approach. But the officials of Google,Twitter ,and Microsoft have also confirmed by a press release that they haven't scanned user's mail like Yahoo.

Yahoo's decision to comply with the government's surveillance will likely be a source of much debate. Earlier this year, the government asked Apple to access the information in the iPhone used in Sun Bernardino terror attack.

Edward Snowden , former NSA subcontractor tweeted, "Use@ Yahoo? They secretly scanned everything you ever wrote, far beyond what law requires. Close your account today"
Chinese President Xi Jinpings state visit to Cambodia, the first of a major Chinese leader to the Southeast Asian country after the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, will push bilateral comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership to a new high, experts said amid rising expectations for the trip.

Describing China and Cambodia as good neighbors and important cooperation partners, Wang Yusheng, a researcher at the China Foundation for International Studies and Academic Exchanges, praised their ever-lasting friendship.

Xis visit this time will significantly boost China-Cambodia traditional friendship and deepen their comprehensive strategic cooperation partnership established in 2010, the scholar stressed.

Featuring mutual trust in politics, fruitful all-round cooperation as well as close communication and coordination in global and regional affairs, China-Cambodia ties can serve as a model of good-neighborly friendship for the world, he added.

Fu Xuezhang, former Chinese Ambassador to Cambodia, agreed that as a big event attracting worldwide attention, Xis visit is of vital importance both to bilateral relations and regional development.

He told the Peoples Daily that during Xis Cambodian trip, both sides will review their traditional friendship and intimate ties forged by elder generations.

Since the meeting between then Cambodian King Norodom Sihanouk and then Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai during the Bandung Conference in 1955 and the establishment of diplomatic ties in 1958, China and Cambodia have maintained a close relationship.

Despite international and regional vicissitudes as well as domestic changes over the half century, both sides, following the Five Principles of Peaceful Co-Existence, have become a model in harmonious coexistence of nations with different social systems.

Treating each other with sincerity, respect, equality, trust as well as selfless assistance, the two neighbors have also set an example of sharing prosperity and difficulties together regardless of territorial size.

Fu said that though small in size, Cambodia has considerable global influence, with the country having made vital contributions to the neutral and peaceful diplomatic policy, the Non-Aligned Movement as well as settlement of Indochina conflicts.

The country upholds neutral and peaceful diplomatic policy and fights for a just solution to many big global issues, the diplomat lauded, adding that such kind of wisdom and sense of righteousness can be traced to its national character.

Situated in a favorable geographic environment, Cambodia boasts abundant natural gifts like mountains, rivers, seas, forests, farmland, vegetables and fruits, and experiences few natural disasters.

In history, it was a key stop linking China with South Asian nations and in todays world, it remains a vital link of the Belt and Road initiative that aims to benefit neighbors.

We review the past to achieve better development. This visit will inject fresh vitality into bilateral all-round strategic partnership, Fu said, adding that the two sides will discuss cooperation on some major projects covering economy, culture and society.

Both countries can launch complementary and mutually beneficial cooperation in a wide range of fields and projects, he suggested, citing the examples of agriculture, irrigation, agricultural products processing as well as infrastructure projects closely related with peoples livelihood.

Cambodia is now in urgent need to upgrade its infrastructure for energy and transportation, he said. The projects related to rice planting and comprehensive industrial parks launched by China-funded companies need policy support as well.

According to the ambassador, as both countries are now aspiring for economic cooperation, they should build a new type of relationship characterized by the principles of amity, sincerity, mutual benefit and inclusiveness and such ties will accelerate the ASEAN integration process and bolster the economic and trade ties between China and the ASEAN.

The major topics this time will also include ASEAN Free Trade Area, China-ASEAN Expo, Lancang-Mekong cooperation and some other multilateral events advocated by China, Fu said, adding that Cambodian governments and officials have played an active role in these agendas, especially the Belt and Road initiative.
Chinese President Xi Jinpings state visit to Bangladesh, the first tour to this South Asian country by a Chinese President in 30 years, will serve as a milestone in China-Bangladesh ties, experts said ahead of Xis trip.

Ye Hailin, director of the Center of South Asia Studies with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the People's Daily that Bangladesh, as an important South Asian country located off the Bay of Bengal, can be Chinas key partner in building the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st-Century Maritime Silk Road, also known as Belt and Road.

He further explained that before China proposed the Belt and Road initiative, Bangladesh had already played a critical role in China-Bangladesh-India-Myanmar cooperation, a mechanism proposed by China and South Asian nations to encourage collaboration in the Bay of Bengal region.

Bangladesh is not only a hub in the Bay of Bengal, but a key stop along the Southern Silk Road. Given its important geographic location, the country can be one of Chinas top partners for economic cooperation with South Asia.

Whats more, its abundant youth population and robust manufacturing capability can present Chinese enterprises with rich business opportunities.

As neighbors with traditional friendship, China and Bangladesh have enjoyed sound relations since they established diplomatic relations 41 years ago. This favorable momentum has been evidenced by frequent high-level exchanges, enhanced cooperation in trade and investment and expanded cultural exchanges.

Praising the time-honored China-Bangladesh relationship, Chai Xi, former Chinese ambassador to Bangladesh, said that over the years, this South Asian nation, constrained by lack of resources and hit by frequent natural disasters, has received a spate of assistance from China.

China always lent a helpful hand to Bangladesh at the earliest moment when major natural disasters occurred, he added.

Besides such assistance, China also helped improve Bangladeshs transportation and boost its economy. It has built seven bridges in Bangladesh since 1980s and the eighth bridge is now under construction.

To extend its gratitude to China, Bangladesh donated 1 million dollars in 1980s to build new buildings for Beijing NO.1 Experimental Elementary School. In commemoration of the donation, the school was also known as China-Bangladesh Friendship Elementary School.

Moreover, Bangladesh has also supported China in international and regional affairs, turning the two countries into good neighbors and trustworthy partners.

In addition to bright prospects in economic cooperation, the two nations have also reached consensus on regional cooperation. One area of such collaboration is their alignment of industrial chains based on complementarity.

For instance, as Bangladesh hopes to further develop its textile industry and China needs to outsource production or export its production capacity, there is great potential for them to cooperate in this field.

Chai believed that Xis visit, coming in the new historical background, is of great importance. His visit will surely yield concrete fruits for the construction of the Belt and Road and Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar Economic Corridor as Bangladesh occupies a key position along both routes, he added.

Ye expected this visit to generate more agreements on infrastructure, industrial upgrade and disaster prevention and management based on the numerous highlights in the bilateral economic cooperation.
A 20-year-old man was stabbed and robbed of $10 in a drug deal gone bad at an Allentown park, police said.

The victim, Julius Walters, suffered minor injuries and was arrested on an outstanding warrant, said police Capt. Daniel Wiedemann. The warrant was through Lehigh County Adult Probation for failure to appear, he said.

The stabbing occurred at 10:13 p.m. in the 800 block of South Fillmore Street.

Walters allegedly told authorities he had gone near Roosevelt Park to buy marijuana. The supposed sellers jumped him and took his $10, police said.

He was treated for minor injuries and released from Lehigh Valley Hospital in Salisbury Township.

Police said he was taken to Lehigh County Jail. No other arrests were made.

Anyone with information about the robbery is asked to call the Allentown police detective bureau at 610-437-7721.

Jim Deegan may be reached at jdeegan@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @jim_deegan. Find lehighvalleylive on Facebook.
Chinese President Xi Jinpings upcoming state visit to Cambodia, as the first visit of a top leader of China and the CPC in 4 years, will surely begin a new chapter of bilateral friendship, Chinese Ambassador to Cambodia Xiong Bo wrote in a signed article published on Peoples Daily on Wednesday, one day ahead of Xis trip.

The article, under the title of China-Cambodia Friendship Blossoms in Khmers Land, praised the time-honored friendship between Chinese and Cambodians, saying that the maturing relations are marked by deepened trust and frequent high-level exchanges.

Xis visit to the Southeast Asian country, coming not long after Cambodian King Norodom Sihamonis state visit to China this June, will elevate high-level exchanges between the two countries to a new high, the article concluded.

As Cambodias largest trade partner and source country of foreign investment, China is of vital importance to its social and economic development, the diplomat commented.

Citing the gains from China-Cambodia economic and trade cooperation, he illustrated that their two-way trade increased 18 percent year-on-year to $4.43 billion in 2015, while accumulated investment from China to Cambodia exceeded $12 billion dollars.

China and Cambodia are also presented with tremendous cooperation space and potential in dovetailing the Belt and Road initiative proposed by President Xi with the latters Rectangular Strategy, an economic policy for sake of growth, employment, equity and efficiency, the article added.

Bilateral people-to-people exchanges are increasingly intensified as well, Xiong wrote in the article, citing the evidences of nearly 800,000 Chinese tourists to Cambodia in 2015, more bilateral exchanges of art troupes, overseas students and personnel training, as well as Mandarin fever and popularity of Confucius institutes and Classrooms in Cambodia.

Dozens of Chinese cities have direct flights to cities in Cambodia and there are 35 daily flights between the countries, he added.

Whats more, China and Cambodia are ramping up their collaboration in international and regional affairs, Xiong pointed out.

Based on a high-level political consensus, the two countries will safeguard China-ASEAN relations and regional peace as well as stability by rendering understanding and support to each other on issues concerning respective core interests and major concerns, read the article.

As a traditional friend of Cambodia, China supports its neighbor to maintain national independence, sovereignty and ability to follow a development path suitable to its own national conditions, Xiong underlined Chinas policy towards Cambodia.

Since the 1990s, China has assisted Cambodia in completing over 2,600 kilometers in new roads, 413,000 acres of farmland irrigation and 4,998 kilometers of power lines.

Xiong believes that China-Cambodia ties are filled with rare opportunities. Xis visit this time will surely inject a powerful impetus into their bilateral comprehensive strategic cooperation partnership, bring tangible benefits to both peoples and make crucial contributions to regional peace, stability and development.
The controversial Scoobies Gentlemans Club, vacant since a May 2013 arson, could soon be torn down.

Pennsylvania Venture Capital Inc. has filed an appeal with the Allentown Zoning Hearing Board to raze the fire-damaged building at 2327-2331 Hanover Ave. and build a two-sided digital billboard.

The property is owned by Willow Race LLC, a company of developer Abe Atiyeh.

The city allows billboards in the highway business district where the club sits but the proposed design has insufficient setbacks, according to the city.

The appeal hearing is tentatively scheduled before the zoning board on 7 p.m. Monday, Nov. 7.

Residents lobbied for the closure of the strip club after Tyree Wimberly, 21, was fatally shot Jan. 26, 2013, in Bethlehem near the club, which is in Allentown right at the cities' border.

In May 2013 a fire caused about $30,000 in damages to the strip club's first floor. Authorities ruled the blaze was intentionally set.

Neighbors reported brawls, inappropriately dressed women and broken bottles outside the strip club, but a review of police records showed no major incidents there, Allentown Mayor Ed Pawlowski said in 2013.

Ulysses "Slime" Rodriguez, whose last known address was in the 900 block of Walnut Street in Allentown, was sentenced in January to 10 to 20 years in prison for Wimberly's killing. Rodriguez was convicted of voluntary manslaughter in August 2015.

Rodriguez fled the area after the shooting. He was arrested in November 2013 in Suffolk County, N.Y.

Police say Rodriguez offered Wimberly marijuana at Eaton and Club avenues, around the corner from Scoobies. When Wimberly declined, the men argued and Rodriguez shot him in the chest, at about 1:30 a.m., police say.

Scoobies representatives have said Wimberly was not in the club and it had no role in the shooting. Police have said Rodriguez was in the club before the shooting.

Sara K. Satullo may be reached at ssatullo@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @sarasatullo and Facebook. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.
A Bucks County man admitted Wednesday he misappropriated $1.5 million his company was supposed to spend on goods and services for 15 Lehigh University fraternities and sororities.

Albert Fisher pleaded guilty to seven counts before U.S. District Judge Joseph F. Leeson Jr., including wire fraud and submitting false tax returns, according to his attorney George Heitczman.

Court records say Fisher and his wife, Elizabeth Fisher, operated the now-closed Fraternity Management Association in Bethlehem, a company that handled finances and billings for 13 fraternities and two sororities at Lehigh.

Elizabeth Fisher has since committed suicide, Heitczman confirmed.

The company took the money between 2009 and 2014 to pay for food, food services and upkeep of the fraternity and sorority houses. The company also held money in escrow to pay for events or new furniture. The Fishers spent it on themselves, including vacations, home furnishings and designer clothing.

Albert Fisher inflated the hours he worked for the company. In January 2012, for instance, he was paid the equivalent of 35 hours of work each day in a 31-day month.

The Greek organizations and other victims, including the university, had to pay for expenses they thought the Fishers' company had already paid, totaling close to $1 million.

Fisher failed to claim $614,398 in income on his tax returns from 2009 to 2013.

He faces a maximum of 50 years in prison and up to $1.75 million in fines, according to Assistant U.S. Attorney John Gallagher.

Heitczman had no comment except to say "at this point we're preparing for sentencing."

Fisher was 76 when he was charged in April. His address is listed in court documents at a home in the 2300 block of Bannerstone Drive in Milford Township, Bucks County, but court records say he was bailed out to a home in Upper Saucon Township.

His sentencing date is Jan. 11, Heitczman said.

Rudy Miller may be reached at rmiller@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @RudyMillerLV. Find Easton area news on Facebook.
Rabid bat bites girl in Bethlehem park, city says

A Works Progress Administration bench is seen in Monocacy Park north of Illick's Mill Road, in the area of the Bethlehem park where a 14-year-old girl was bitten Oct. 10, 2016, by a bat that tested positive for rabies, the city's Health Bureau announced Thursday, Oct. 13, 2016. (Lehighvalleylive.com file photo)

A bat tested positive for rabies after biting a teenage girl Monday in Monocacy Park in Bethlehem, the city's Health Bureau announced Thursday.

Bethlehem Health Director Kristen Wenrich addresses a news conference Tuesday, Oct. 11, 2016, in Town Hall. (Kurt Bresswein | For lehighvalleylive.com)

City Health Director Kristen Wenrich urged residents to ensure their pets are up to date on rabies vaccine, as required by Pennsylvania law, and to avoid contact with wild animals.

The bat in this incident was euthanized so it could be tested, but it's possible other animals may be infected in the vicinity of the park.

"That's always a concern," Wenrich said. "That's why we encourage people: Do not touch animals. You don't want to ever touch a wild animal because you never do know."

The bite occurred Oct. 10 in the Works Progress Administration-era section of Monocacy Park north of Illick's Mill Road. The 14-year-old picked up what she believed to be an injured bird. It turned out to be a bat, which bit her.

Her family, from Bethlehem, placed the bat into a box and rushed the girl to an area emergency department, where she was immediately given the first dose in a series of post-exposure prophylaxis vaccine to prevent her from contracting the rabies virus.

The positive test for rabies was returned Thursday, and the girl is continuing to receive the vaccine.

Rabies is almost always fatal in humans once clinical signs appear, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Acute symptoms typically end after two to 10 days and, initially, may be similar to those of influenza, including general weakness or discomfort, fever or headache, the CDC says.

"There may be also discomfort or a prickling or itching sensation at the site of bite, progressing within days to symptoms of cerebral dysfunction, anxiety, confusion, agitation," the CDC says. "As the disease progresses, the person may experience delirium, abnormal behavior, hallucinations and insomnia."

In animals, the first symptoms of rabies may be nonspecific and include lethargy, fever, vomiting and anorexia, according to the CDC. Signs progress within days to cerebral dysfunction, cranial nerve dysfunction, ataxia, weakness, paralysis, seizures, difficulty breathing, difficulty swallowing, excessive salivation, abnormal behavior, aggression or self-mutilation.

Preventing rabies in humans after exposure includes administration of both passive antibodies, through an injection of human immune globulin, and a round of injections with rabies vaccine.

Once symptoms set in, treatment is typically supportive and aimed at comforting the infected.

"Once a person begins to exhibit signs of the disease, survival is rare," the CDC says. "To date less than 10 documented cases of human survival from clinical rabies have been reported, and only two have not had a history of pre- or post-exposure prophylaxis.

In addition to avoiding contact with wild animals, or domesticated pets unfamiliar to you, the Bethlehem Health Bureau says to report all sick or injured animals to local police or animal control. In Bethlehem, the city says to report any potential exposure to rabies in a wild or domesticated animal to the Health Bureau at 610-865-7083. Police can be reached via the non-emergency dispatch number at 610-865-7187.

"When interacting with a domesticated animal, such as a dog or cat, always ask the pet owner's permission first and approach the animal cautiously. Infants and children should never be left unattended with an animal," the Health Bureau says in a news release announcing the rabies diagnosis. "Pet owners are encouraged to keep dogs and cats up to date on rabies vaccine-per Pennsylvania law, all domesticated dogs and cats over three months of age must be vaccinated against rabies.

"In addition, individuals should not feed wildlife, stray or feral cats, or stray dogs.

"Anyone who is bitten, scratched, or otherwise exposed to an animal should seek prompt medical care. By law, all medical care providers must report these cases to the local health department for investigation."

Kurt Bresswein may be reached at kbresswein@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @KurtBresswein. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.
Five backpackers became stuck in midair while trying to rappel down on a mountain in Zhejiang province on Oct. 11. Their predicament was caused by outdated equipment and too-short ropes. Fortunately, the backpackers were eventually saved after an 18-hour rescue effort involving over 100 people.

The backpackers became stuck at a spot 140 meters below the mountaintop. One of the five climbers admitted that they didnt do enough research before deciding to rappel. They had heard that the cliff was about 100 meters high, so the two ropes that they brought were not long enough.

Local police called on scenic spot's management committee, along with a local rescue team and mountaineering team, to rescue the unlucky backpackers. All were finally brought to the ground safely.

Local police warned that outdoor sports, and especially rappelling, should be done with professional guidance due to the many uncertainties involved.
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On Oct. 9, a 3-year-old boy fell into an 8-meter-deep well at a farm in Pei County, Jiangsu province. In order to retrieve the terrified boy, who could not stop crying, a firefighter had to remove his safety helmet and mask in order to fit his upper body into the narrow well. Fortunately, the heroic firefighter managed to rescue the boy within five minutes.
Laois GPs have expressed concern that maternity services could be relocated from Portlaoise hospital to a regional centre in Tullamore.

We are concerned at suggestions that services may move to Tullamore in the future. Again there has been no consultation with local stakeholders in relation to this, said a statement.

The GPs, many of whom are members of the Midoc o out-of-hours emergency service, said their primary concern is that services be strengthened.

We believe that the pioneering plan that is the managed clinical network between MRH Portlaoise and the Coombe Women's and Infant's Hospital developed by the Dublin Midlands' Hospital Group provides a template for safe, sustainable, and patient centred care at MRH Portlaoise. This should be extended across the range of specialties, they said adding that the template could be rolled out nationally to secure smaller hospitals.

The link with the Coombe Hospital was established by former health minister Leo Varadkar in the wake of deaths of babies at the maternity unit in Portlaoise.

It has led to more staff and the involvment of the Coombe on the ground in Portlaoise in the provision of services.

The GPs were responding to a letter sent by Dr Susan O'Reilly, Chief Executive of the Dublin Midlands Hospital Group to health managementin relation to anaesthetic cover at the unit.

In the letter, revealed by the Leinster Express, Dr O'Reilly suggested that a new hospital in Tullamore was a possible solution and this would involve relocation of services from Portlaoise and other hospitals.

GPs have already endorsed a plan submitted to the HSE, Dublin Midlands Hospital Group and Deparment of Health backing the expansion of networked hospital care as an alternative to downgrading Portlaoise hospital as proposed in a draft plan submitted to the Department. It is understood that this plan, which was written by Dr O'Reilly, would see the loss of A&E, maternity, paediatrics and other services from Portlaoise.

Minister for Health Simon Harris has the final say in what happens at Portlaoise. His Department has yet to make a decision on what care will be provided at the hospital which serves Laois and patients from Kildare, Carlow, Tipperary and Offaly.
Forty years is a long time for some but it may as well be yesterday for retired Garda Sergeant, Jim Cannon.

He tells the story of the horrific IRA bombing that killed one garda and injured four others as if the memory of October 16, 1976 is permanently etched in his mind.

The memories will never fade. We had a meeting about the Mass. Supt Joe Prendergast and the gardai in Portlaoise are arranging the Mass. We had a bit of a chat and I told him it was the same as if it happened yesterday,  said Jim.

The retired sergeant still lives in Portarlington just a few miles from where he almost lost his life after being caught in a booby trap bomb, planted by the IRA.

There was a phonecall to Portlaoise Garda station. It said suspicious activity was taking place in Galvins vacant house in Garryhinch. The Emergency Powers Act was to be signed that day or night and they mentioned that there was a threat on the life of Oliver J Flanagan. I got a phonecall, I was sergeant in charge at Portarlington, Jim told the Leinster Express.

The official record shows that a woman warned that an IRA gang were holed up in a vacant farmhouse ahead of an attack on the Fine Gael TD. Jim immediately organised his colleagues to go to the scene to investigate.

Gerry Boyhan, Michael Clerkin and myself were in the patrol car. We got a message from Portlaoise to await the detective branch members. So at about 11.40am on October 15th Tom Peters and Ben Thorton, the two detectives arrived in their police car to the square in Portarlington where we joined them. We drove to Garryhinch.

When they arrived at the house, which was down a boreen, it was in complete darkness.

We searched around the house and then decided to look inside it. So, myself, Michael and Gerry went to the back of the house and Tom and Ben went to the front door.

One of the windows at the back door was open. Michael Clerkin went in the window. The next thing was, after a couple of seconds, the whole house went up.

Gerry Boyhan and myself were trapped at the back wall under six feet of rubble. Stones blown up into the sky were falling down on top of us. I got a few in the face and head. We were trapped.

When the dust settled Garda Boyhan was able to move.

Gerry was able to release himself after some time. Then he tried to get me out but failed. There was too much stuff over my body. So he went off looking for assistance from the neighbours. At that stage my left hand, leg and ankle were all covered. I tried to remove some of the stuff with my right hand. I got out eventually and went around to the front of the house, he said.

There was no visible sign of Tom or Ben, recalled Jim.

I heard moaning but there was no sign of anybody. But I was able to pinpoint where it was coming from and it was Tom Peters. I removed all the debris and stones off his head so that he could breathe. In fact I couldnt see a face, his head was butchered.

So then I heard more moaning towards the centre of the rubble which could have been up to eight feet high.

At that stage the local people had arrived. First they tried to get out Tom Peters - they had an awful lot of stuff to get off him. I was able to direct them to where the moaning was in the centre of the rubble. They started shoveling off the rubble but had to be very careful.

Eventually they got down and we saw a white coat that Ben was wearing. He was face down and a beam was across his head. He was able to breath in a little pocket of air under the beam. He was an hour in that position under the rubble. They got Ben out but he was very badly shaken - he was nearly at the end, he said.

On the way into Portlaoise hospital in the ambulance I was looking down at Tom Peters and I couldnt believe what I was looking at, it was horrific.

Gerry Boyhans face was all broken up. Ben Thorton got a fierce going over. My ankle up to this day, 40 years on, is still throbbing. My left leg and back suffered lifelong injuries. Up to this day I am taking medicine. The others the same. No one ever recovered.

I didnt go back on duty for some months after. I wasnt able to walk. I was going around the house for around six weeks after on my knees - I had no power in my legs. It was miraculous what I was able to do on the night. Had I not come out of the rubble there was no doubt about it but Tom Peters and Ben Thorton wouldnt be alive. When you have people with shovels and pick axes and so on - they would not know where to look if I wasnt able to pinpoint where the rubble was coming from.

It was a miracle that we werent all killed. Garda Clerkin was killed instantly. At the inquest later in Tullamore he was only identified by his signet ring. Michael Clerkin was only 24. His mother had cancer at the time and died three months later, said Tom.

Nobody has ever been charged arising from the bombing. Jim says a suspect in Portarlington was arrested, but was released. Another suspect was supposed to have gone to Dublin.

They did investigate it as best they could but it was a question of the evidence, he said.

However, Jim knows he and his colleagues fell victim to a 100lb bomb. He has no doubts but that the IRA were behind it.

It is obvious it was an IRA attack and, of course, like everything else they deny everything, he says.

He has come to terms, somewhat, with the fact that there is little chance of bringing to justice those responsible, but Jim is adamant that the State did not look after the four men who were victims.

He says the compensation was a joke but this is worsened by the fact that the Garda top brass have never recognised the sacrifice and bravery involved.

Tom Peters unveiled a plaque to Michael Clerkin at Portarlington Garda Station in 2001. He let the powers that be who were there know that Garda Clerkin's family should at least be given a posthumous Scott Medal for bravery.

As Tom Peters said at the time, some self-centred people in a position of authority at that time chose to ignore that courage and bravery, he said.

Of the four members who survived retired detective Peters never worked again. He was disfigured. Despite surgery both here and abroad he was left blind and totally deaf. He lives in Portlaoise.

Jim Cannon suffered injuries to his head, back, hands eyes and both his legs and continues to receive medical attention. To this day he lives with constant pain in his legs back and head. He retired in 1994 and lives in Portarlington. He was the Laois Offaly branch secretary of the Association of Sergeants and Inspectors. Jim returned to indoor duties in January 1977 but never returned to outdoor duties.

Retired detecitve Thorton, who lives in Portlaoise, sustained injuries to his head, ears and eyes. He retired from the force in 1999.

Retired garda Gerard Boyhan received serious injuries to his head, face, eyes and chest. He moved to Roscommon and has since retired in Longford.

Jim Cannon says the damage went beyond the injuries.

Not alone our careers but our families were devastated. It was very serious for the families, he said.

There was no such thing as post traumatic stress disorder but, of course, we had it. Nowadays people in trauma get looked after, we got nothing.

We are living with the trauma for the last 40 years. Everybody is still getting medical attention. I have trapped nerves in my leg, ankles are still throbbing, I have back problems and got a bang in the head. I had to work through the pain barrier, he says.

Nothing has happened since Tom Peters made his appeal for the Scott bravery medal. Some 15 years later Jim believes the State still owes all four men and their families, especially the worst injured of the surviors.

If Tom Peters had a medal in his hand it would mean something. He cant see or hear but if he had a medal - of course it is not too late yet - if they do the decent thing and award the Scott Medal, he said.
Kildare South Chamber has welcomed budget tax cuts for the self employed and the increase in funding for the local enterprise offices.

Following its Budget Breakfast with Grant Thornton yesterday, the Chamber acknowledged the pro-business measures included in the budget and said there was something for everyone.

It said some of the changes, such as the 400 increase to the Earned Income Tax Credit for the self-employed, will help Irish businesses as they enter a potentially challenging trading environment.

The Chamber is delighted to see that the Local Enterprise Offices will see their capital funding grow by 22% to 22.5m, recognising their potential to generate start-ups and job creation at local level and will significantly boost business start-ups and micro enterprises in Kildare, said a spokesperson.

The Chamber pointed out the government has accepted the recommendation of the Low Pay Commission to increase the National Minimum Wage to 9.25 and it welcomed the increase in the new 2.5% USC band to 18,772 to ensure minimum wage workers are kept within this new lower band.

The reduction in the rate of Capital Gains Tax applied to Entrepreneur Relief from 20% to 10% will be welcome and of particular relevance to high potential SMEs, said a spokesperson.

Investment in childcare through direct subsidies to providers will have a positive impact on female labour market participation and job activation and is a welcome support for working parents.

However, the reality is that the major concerns for the business community go beyond Budget 2017. The big threats to Irelands economic development will need strategic level interventions on issues such as maintaining our relative competitiveness with the UK, rapidly expanding our investment in infrastructure and ensuring our export driven economy and exchequer receipts can be sustained in the face of diminishing international demand.
Members of Athy Municipal District have given the green light to commence proceedings for a library at the former Dominican Site in Athy.

A special meeting was held last Tuesday to update members on the plans for the new library and to approve the part 8 process.

Members heard that the new 2 million library will be an open library. This means that it will be open to members on a self service access outside normal business hours. The library will not be staffed during out of hours. It will be open from 8am to 10pm and even on Christmas day if required.

Cllr Mark Wall said he welcomed the seven day access to the new library.

This is a chance for Athy to grab 2m - let's grab it quick. Members heard that staff numbers at the library will increase from five to nine and the building will include a provision for both indoor and outdoor performance space and community use if required.

The appointed architect Ronan Kelleher outlined the plans for the building that include a mezzanine level, a children's area, a study area, a young adult section and an adult section.

The stain glass windows would, he said, be made a feature of the new library.

We will make a feature of the stunning stain glass, he said. Town Manager Joe Boland said there had been some vandalism at the former Church which has been idle for nearly a year now. He urged members to agree to proceed with the Part 8 so that work can commence on the library sooner rather than later.

Members were informed that once in agreement the building could be ready for use by September 2017.

The funding for the proposal will come from the Library Service with conditions attached including that the library is operated as open library service.
A bench warrant with discretion was issued for the arrest of TD Clare Daly at Naas District Court today after she was not present to hear a charge of speeding being brought against her.

Ms Daly, who originally hails from Newbridge but with an address in Swords, was present at the morning sitting of the court and asked solicitor Cairbre Finan to represent her when her case came up.

She was the last on a list of 188 cases, of which over 120 were for speeding.

The Independents 4 Change TD is charged with travelling at 59 kph in a 50kph zone at Ballymany, Newbridge, on New Years Day.

When her case was called in the afternoon, Mr Finan said his client had been at the court earlier in the morning and chose to leave.

Judge Desmond Zaidan said the defendant had to be present in court or he would issue a bench warrant for her arrest.

Judge Desmond Zaidan

The judge asked what Ms Daly did. She tells me she is a TD, Mr Finan said.

Judge Zaidan said she should know better, as they make the law.

He said the court was very busy and it was total disrespect for this court and an insult for her to leave.

Mr Finan said no disrespect was intended.

Judge Zaidan said Ms Daly should have asked the court to leave. What message is she sending to the people of Ireland?

The least she could do is to tell you (Mr Finan) why she was leaving.

If she has no respect for me as a human being have a little respect for the office I hold.

Mr Finan asked that the case be adjourned for one week and that a bench warrant not be issued.

Judge Zaidan said he did not adjourn cases in the absence of the defendant when they are legally represented, to protect everyone, including the lawyers and Gardai.

He then issued the bench warrant with discretion and adjourned the matter until November 3.
Border Communities Against Brexit held a Day of Action at six locations along the border corridor in opposition to the recent referendum on British withdrawal from the European Union.

Speaking at the Belcoo/Blacklion protest, Leitrim Tourism representative JJ O'Hara said,Todays action is a response to a growing concern that Brexit will result in a hard border. Last weekends comments from British Prime Minister Theresa May has fuelled these concerns.

Both the British and Irish Governments have stated publicly that they do not wish to see the reintroduction of border control and customs posts. This may be irrelevant as it is not up to them alone to determine.We do not want any barriers or reinforced borders on the island of Ireland. We have come together to ensure that the Norths vote to remain within the EU is respected.

We want to ensure that the views of local communities are heard when big decisions affecting our futures are taken in London, Dublin and Brussels.

We cannot allow the progress of the last twenty years in breaking down barriers to be thrown away as a result of Brexit. The majority of people in the North of Ireland have clearly stated that they do not want to leave the EU and Theresa May needs to respect this democratic mandate.The concerns of small, peripheral border communities, workers and businesses like those familiar to ours might not be at the top of the agenda for Theresa May right now but we can and will change this.

We need every single elected representative, no matter which party they represent, to stand with us on these demands."

A representative of Leitrim Tourist Network, JJ O'Hara continued, The uncertainty caused by the Brexit referendum result is already damaging trade and investment and causing currency fluctuations which are impacting on cross-Border business.

But this will be nothing compared to the hardships we will experience with the imposition of tariffs and the restriction of the free movement of goods, services and people on this island. For decades communities divided and isolated; these communities have still not fully recovered.

Together we can make this campaign a success. We can ensure our voices are listened and our rights are upheld. We can ensure a prosperous future for our region. We can ensure our communities are not divided by an EU border. We will stand up for the votes of people in the North to be respected.
Following rigorous judging, two Leitrim food businesses were named among the top seven winners in the 2016 National Organic Awards. Some 278 individual products were submitted in the Awards, a record high level of entries.

The Organic Centre, based in Rossinver, won Best Fresh Product Award for its Organic Salad Bag, a selection of mixed salad leaves with edible flowers and herbs, which the judges noted was a clear winner as it simply epitomised organic, while the Best Prepared Product Award went to Drumshanbos Blakes Always Organic for its Culture Blend Coffee.

The latest figures from Kantar Worldpanel indicate a significant upturn for the Irish organic sector. Building on the momentum of last years growth of over 6%, the new figures, published by Bord Bia today, show a further year on year increase of 23.7% to bring the total value of organic grocery sales to 142 million.

The figures were announced today during the National Organic Awards which took place in Bord Bias Dublin headquarters. Over 70 industry representatives gathered for the event which rewards quality and excellence within the Irish organic sector across categories including best new product, chefs choice, export and innovation.

Pictured below are Jackie Dimes and Tom O'Rourke from The Oragnic Centre receiving their award.
Recently, two houses in a village in Gansu province were surrounded by tens of thousands of unusual worms. Local leaders and villagers used lime powder and pesticide to wipe out the worms, which feed on humus, an organic material found in soil. The worms first appeared in large numbers on Sept. 30. Local health authorities inspected the spot on Oct. 8th, and reported the situation to the municipal government. Officials from relevant agencies said that the worms are harmless to people and animals. Thanks to the lime powder, pesticide and other measures, the worms have now been exterminated.
At ALDC, our usual by-election HQ has been taken over by supporters phoning for Witney  and what a positive experience it has been!

Lots of our newer party members have used the Witney by-election as an opportunity for some training, and this has been no different on the phones. Last week we were joined by Sally who joined the Lib Dems only a few weeks ago and is now signed up to join us again for the remained of the campaign.

With just a week to go, we need many more people to hit the phone to reach to all of the voters!

There are three easy ways you can help on the phones.

1. Make calls from home. This could not be easier and if you are already on Connect, you should automatically see the list in the Virtual Phone Bank. Alternatively use the Open Virtual Phone Bank https://www.openvpb.com/vpb_ bycode/C82DE1G-3349

2. If you live near Manchester, join ALDC in person every Thursday for our By-Election HQ Phone Bank at 23 New Mount Street. On Polling day we will be open from 1pm!

3. Think about organising your own phone night. Teams in Preston, St Albans and other local parties have already held their phone night, inviting members along and making phoning a more social event, to help Lizs campaign. Order the pizzas in and make a night of phoning!

If you would like any further details, tips or advice, please drop me an email at [email protected]!

* ALDC is the Association of Liberal Democrat Councillors and Campaigners
The Juanyang 1 sand-dredging boat. [File photo: Xinhua]

The biggest sand-dredging boat in Asia and one of the world's most advanced, the Junyang 1, was completed and handed over to Guangzhou Harbor on October 10, the China News Agency reports.

Junyang 1 was constructed by the Guangzhou Dredging Company Limited (GDC), a subsidiary of the China Communications Construction Company, in the Netherlands, at a cost of 160 million euros (176 million US dollars).

The jumbo-sized boat can dredge approximately 20 thousand cubic meters of sand an hour with its rakes reaching as deep as 90 meters under the sea. Only three crew members are needed to operate the boat, as it is equipped with a self-control system.

One of Junyang 1's first projects, is the construction of Colombo Port City project, a "one belt, one road" cooperation project between China and Sri Lanka, Wang Bohuan, the chairman of GDC said.

The Juanyang 1 sand-dredging boat. [File photo: Xinhua]
AER Lingus has cancelled six transatlantic flights to and from Shannon Airport this week, affecting almost 700 passengers.

The airline cancelled Mondays EI-111 Shannon to New York service and its return flight, EI-110, on Monday night.

Wednesdays EI-135 flight from Shannon to Boston, and the EI-134 return flight, were also cancelled.

The airline additionally cancelled the Shannon and New York EI-111 flight along with its return on Thursday.

The flights were put off due to a shortage in aircraft, and the planes were moved to Dublin to operate the flights from there.

While the Limerick Leader was not able to contact Aer Lingus directly, the company earlier issued a statement about the cancellations.

Due to aircraft availability, EI-135 Shannon to Boston and EI-134 Boston to Shannon have been cancelled on Wednesday, October 12, and EI-111 and EI-110 Shannon to New York routes have been cancelled on Thursday, October 13. A total number of 669 guests were booked on these flights," the airline said.

Via our contact centre, guests can request to fly from or into Dublin as an alternative on available flights, with ground transport being provided to and from Shannon. Otherwise they can also change for free via aerlingus.com to the next available date for the same flight, or request a refund.

The airline has been criticised locally for prioritising Dublin passengers over its Shannon customer base. The hundreds of passengers who have been left without a flight are being offered buses to Dublin, but it is not yet known whether all passengers will be accommodated.

The Leader understands that the cancellations are a temporary measure and will not affect the regular services from the airport.
ARMED members of the Regional Support unit and detectives in Limerick are monitoring the activities of a notorious international motorcycle club, which has officially initiated its Limerick chapter and has established a base on the outskirts of the city, much to the fear of local residents.

The Limerick chapter of the Bandidos Motorcycle Club - whose motto is 'We are the people your parents warned you about' - held a party on the outskirts of Limerick city last weekend - which was heavily policed by local gardai, detectives and the Regional Support Unit - after officially being recognised by the worldwide organisation.

The motorcycle gang is feared in other parts of the world due to its criminal associations, and the gangs main rival has historically been the Hells Angels.

On the Bandidos' official website, photos of the party in Limerick, which was attended by some 200 bikers, were posted online, with congratulatory posts praising the establishment of the group, saying: Proud Irish brothers showing of the new status as full patch chapter. Well done.

The Bandidos MC Limerick chapter was officially formed on October 8 last after becoming a full patch chapter.

The patch which aspiring groups strive to earn is a patch bearing a man wearing in sombrero and holding a machete and pistol.

Chief Superintendent Dave Sheahan, head of the Limerick garda division, confirmed to the Limerick Leader that gardai were aware of the inauguration of the Limerick chapter of Bandidos and had a plan in place to monitor and prevent any public order issues.

Chief Supt Sheahan confirmed that up to 200 bikers were present from Limerick, and across the country, as well as a significant network of their European associates, including those from Germany and Holland.

He confirmed that one woman was arrested near the scene of the party on the Old Cork Road, and that she was brought before a special sitting of Kilmallock District Court on Sunday last, where she was convicted and fined 150 for possession of a knife under the Firearms & Offensive Weapons Act.

All roads leading into the estate were covered by gardai, he said, but he did not wish to outline the entire detail of their policing arrangements.

Local residents told the Limerick Leader that they observed as many as 40 heavily armed members of An Garda Siochana and the Regional Support Unit policing the area and the vicinity.

They stopped every vehicle coming into the estate, searches the boots, and searched everyone who came in, and they took pictures of a lot of people. Seeing armed gardai policing a party is a bit crazy, but residents here are very fearful of anything happening here.

The party went on until about 7am the next morning, and the gardai were still watching them, one concerned resident told this newspaper.

A private group on Facebook - under Bandidos the Westcoast chapter of Ireland - counts over 1,100 members.

Formed in 1966 in Texas, the Bandidos group is estimated to have 5,000 members in 210 chapters, located in 22 countries.

Outside of Ireland, its criminal involvement has been well documented, with members receiving convictions for murder, drugs, trafficking in stolen money, amongst other offences.

Another Limerick based motorcycle group, the Road Tramps Motorcycle Club, who regularly take part in charity runs, insist they are a club and not a gang.
A poster board in a shopping mall shows the Galaxy Note 7 smartphone is still on sale in China. (Photo/Shanghai TV screenshot)

Samsung's fire-prone Galaxy Note 7 smartphones are still on sale in the Chinese mainland, with existing owners facing confusion on how to seek a refund or replacement, China Central Television (CCTV) reports.

Samsung earlier made an apology to Chinese consumers over its faulty product and promised it would recall all 190,984 Note 7s sold in the Chinese mainland and pull it from sale starting Oct. 11.

But a Beijing-based vendor was still selling the Note 7 at 5,400 yuan on Wednesday, saying it had not received any notice on the recall, according to the report.

A Samsung aftersales clerk also told CCTV that consumers seeking a refund or replacement have to wait until the company announces specific measures on the recall.

A man surnamed Zhao told Beijing Times that a friend bought him a Note 7 as a gift from a vendor in Beijing's Zhongguancun hi-tech area in September.

When he contacted Samsung's aftersales service on Wednesday, he was told that he had to wait for specific measures from the company about the recall before he could ask for a refund from a vendor. He added that Samsung's official website is not responsible for handling requests for refunds or replacements.

But Zhao does not know which vendor sold the phone and he has no sales invoice, the paper said. The aftersales clerk then advised him to turn off the phone and keep a close watch on information carried by the company's official website.

Samsung's official aftersales service said the company would release specific rules on the recall within the next couple of days.

China Consumers Association said on Wednesday that it would keep a close watch on the recall and that Samsung should not reject consumer requests for a refund or replacement due to a damaged phone, incomplete or damaged packaging or accessories, or lack of a sales invoice.
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A crackdown on migrant bird slaughtering was launched in the suburbs of Tianjin in north China on Oct. 12. A total of 1,245 birds were released, 2,507 frozen birds were confiscated and 300 bird cages were destroyed in the campaign. [Photo: Yue Yuewei/Xinhua News Agency]
Han Chunyu, file photo

Thirteen of Chinas most prominent scientists are demanding that Chinese biologist Han Chunyu disclose his raw data, as the controversy over his NgAgo gene-editing technique intensifies. The group also demanded that Hebei University of Science and Technology, where Han worked as associate professor, and other related organizations initiate an investigation into Hans research.

The time has arrived. If [this case is] not properly handled, it will strongly affect Chinese scientists reputations, said Wei Wensheng, a biologist from Peking University College of Life Sciences.

Five months ago, Han Chunyu, an associate professor at Hebei University of Science and Technology in Shijiazhuang, reported that the enzyme NgAgo can be used to edit mammalian genes, making it an alternative to the popular CRISPR-Cas9 system.

Now, an increasing number of scientists worldwide say that they cannot replicate Hans results  although one researcher told Nature magazine that he did. Nature Biotechnology, which published the original research, is investigating the matter.

Other geneticists and biologists demanding the investigation include Xiong Jingwei and Sun Yujie from Peking University; Wang Haoyi, Li Wei, Wang Xiaoqun and Li Jinsong from the Chinese Academy of Sciences; and several scientists from Zhejiang University, Shanghai Jiaotong University and more.

Let's say there was no academic fraud committed, and that Han actually tested and proved the technology to be viable. But hundreds of failures to replicate his results means he either hid key experimental steps in his paper, which is a serious misconduct, or he overstated the efficacy of NgAgo technology. Or it just doesn't work, Wei explained.

Since doubts about the research surfaced, Han has refused to respond openly. Since his report was published, he was nominated as vice chairman of the Hebei Association for Science and Technology and awarded 1 million RMB from the National Natural Science Foundation. His university also received 224 million RMB of financial allocations from the Hebei Development and Reform Commission in his honor, intended to go toward gene-editing research.
File Photo: A PLA Navy ship participating in the Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) exercise leaves Pearl Harbor, July 12, 2016

The U.S. is going to great lengths not to talk in terms of containment, but its behavior speaks a different language. Recently, U.S. Secretary of Defense Ash Carter announced a third phase of the rebalance to the Asia-Pacific. In the new phase, the U.S. will continue to sharpen its military edge in order to remain the most powerful military in the region and the security partner of choice, he says. He also says that the rebalance is not an effort to contain or isolate anyone, without mentioning China by name. The Chinese are not fooled.

The U.S. Government views developments in the Asia-Pacific as linked to the long-term economic and security interests of the U.S. According to the Department of Defense FY 2017 budget fact sheet, the U.S. is preparing to take measures to preserve and enhance deterrence, including targeted investments in emerging capabilities; provide $425 million for the Southeast Asia Maritime Security Initiative over five years; enhance U.S. military presence in the region; continue to fly, sail, and operate in the South China Sea; and ensure readiness on the Korean peninsula. The goal is to project powerand win decisively against any adversary when and if necessary, according to the fact sheet.

Fortunately, this aggressive posture in the Asia-Pacific is not endorsed by all members of the government and military in the U.S. The White House is taking a more cautious approach. According to a recent article published in Navy Times, the current administration has effectively banned the term great power competition in official discourse, used by both Defense Secretary Carter and Chief of Naval Operations Admiral John Richardson to describe the challenge of China, because it oversimplifies the complex relationship and places the two sides on a course of conflict. The White House and the Pentagon are split on how to deal with Chinas growing power and influence in the region.

The U.S. has already seriously affected the security situation in the Asia-Pacific with the current approach. In the first phase of the pivot strategy, a large number of U.S. military personnel were shifted to the Asia-Pacific; in the second phase, advanced capabilities were introduced. Now, the U.S. seeks to qualitatively upgrade and invest in its regional force posture, according to the Secretary of Defense. This will help the U.S. achieve its goal of ensuring that the U.S. military remains the worlds finest fighting force, but doubling down on the rebalance effort will also raise regional tensions and increase the likelihood of serious conflict. A different solution is needed.

At the recently concluded 7th Xiangshan Forum in Beijing, an international platform for defense officials and security experts, various solutions were put forward on the South China Sea topic. For example, Chinas Defense Minister Chang Wanquan says it is urgent for all of us to abandon old strategies and instead work together to establish a security network that is based on common interests. Wu Shicun, President of the National Institute for South China Sea Studies in Hainan, says that China and the U.S. should establish a conflict and crisis prevention mechanism. People on both sides of the Pacific are looking for a solution to avoid future conflict.

A new-type of collective security mechanism that bridges all sides rather than divides is needed. The U.S. concept of a principled and inclusive security network sounds appealing, but it favors the U.S. position. Recent advice by the commander of the U.S. Pacific Command underscores this point. Admiral Harry Harris Jr., who openly calls China provocative and expansionist, says maintaining a network of like-minded allies and partners is a core element of the strategic approach to the security environment, even though Carter says that the security network is not a formal alliance. Old thinking in U.S. foreign policy should go the way of the dodo.

The present situation in the Asia-Pacific is relatively calm, but that can change quickly. A possible third phase that seeks to guarantee U.S. military superiority in the region will make the two countries become even more suspicious of each other, and thus damage bilateral ties. President Barack Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry both have said that the U.S. welcomes the peaceful rise of China, but the rebalance effort sends a different signal. The U.S. should be consistent and coherent and convince China of its benign intentions through its actions.
(Photo/Thepaper.cn)

A private institution in Shandong province continues enrolling students with alleged Internet addictions and behavioral issues, just one day after the local government ordered the school to suspend its program and reform its military-style program.

The school received the suspension order from the education department of Shandong on Oct. 11, after being widely criticized for inflicting physical abuse on students in the course of Internet addiction "treatment."

Chen Xinran, a 16-year-old former student of the school, tied her mother to a chair and starved her to death in September. She claimed that she wanted revenge after being sent to the school, where she was often beaten by the staff. Chen wrote in her diary that she used to eat in front of a toilet as punishment, news site Thepaper.cn previously reported.

More light has since been shed on the schools military-style training and unorthodox treatment methods for Internet addiction, which led to the government suspension and rectification order, as education officials pledged to strengthen supervision and inspection.

However, the school was found to be receiving new recruits on Oct. 12, claiming that the rectification would not affect its quality education, Thepaper.cn reported. Several parents whose children were enrolled at the school claimed no knowledge of the schools suspension. The only change they reported was higher tuition fees for new courses on Chinese culture.

It will be a loss of one year if the school is closed, one student's mother was quoted as saying. She sent her daughter to the school hoping to stop her from going to Internet bars and disobeying her parents' orders.

The mother admitted that she received a call for help from her daughter, begging to be allowed to leave the school  a proposal the mother turned down for fear that her daughter would no longer be safe once she was released back into society.

Such schools and clinics have been covered before by Chinese media, including another more notorious institution in Shandong, which remains in operation despite using electric shocks on its students.
Changsha Normal University has introduced a mobile app to encourage students to do more physical exercises.

The university currently requires every student who attends physical education (PE) classes to run 120 kilometers over the course of a semester, and students' running records are linked with their PE grades. Once the new app is installed on students' mobile phones, they can select their location and log on with their campus ID. They can then begin running toward the 120-kilometer goal.

To prevent cheating, the app has a series of safeguards built in. For instance, all running trajectories must pass at least three inductive sensors. The app also forbids students from uploading two identical trajectories at the same time, effectively preventing them from completing the exercise on behalf of classmates. It even sets a speed limit to prevent students from walking the distance or riding a bicycle; 2 kilometers may be covered in any time frame between four minutes and 22 seconds and 20 minutes. The university also sets an upper limit of 4 kilometers per day, ensuring that students exercise on at least 30 days in the semester.

Changsha Normal University

Mr. Qu, who does public relations for the university, said the app was developed by a software company free of charge, with the aim of encouraging college students to do more physical exercise.

Despite all the limitations and safeguards included in the app, the university's exercise requirement has nevertheless created a new business: running for others. Some service providers have posted advertisements online, requesting 5 RMB for one run or 130 RMB for 30 sessions.
Kids who want to help realize President Obama's vision of putting humans on Mars will need an array of skills, from engineering and math to the social sciences. Here, children interact with robots at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Robotics Challenge Expo in 2015.

President Barack Obama is calling today's students the "Mars generation" and urging them to take part in the goal of getting humans to the Red Planet by the 2030s.

In an Op-Ed for CNN Tuesday (Oct. 11), Obama promotes STEM education  science, technology, engineering and math  as part of this goal and touts the number of engineers graduating from American schools each year. And certainly, rocket scientists are the first thing that comes to mind when thinking about a Mars mission. But today's elementary schoolers have a wide range of options if they want to be part of sending people to Mars (or even if they want to go themselves). NASA and its collaborators and contractors employ everyone from aerospace engineers to geologists to biologists. [Sending Humans to Mars: 8 Steps to Red Planet Colonization]

"You know, it's all somewhat akin to skill sets needed by the covered-wagon crowd trying to get to the West Coast in the 1840s," said Seth Shostak, a senior astronomer at the SETI Institute, an organization that studies the possibility of extraterrestrial life. "There was a wide range of skills that might come in handy!"

Studying STEM

The Apollo mission to get mankind to the moon involved some 50,000 people, Shostak wrote in an email to Live Science, so a similar effort for Mars would involve a lot of job openings.

Brushing up on math would be a good start for anyone looking to fill those openings.

"From an engineering perspective, we will need high-efficiency engines to take us from Earth to Mars, heat shields and retro-rockets to land us safely on the surface, and pressurized surface habitats that will provide air, water, food and radiation protection for extended-duration missions," said Anita Sengupta, an aerospace engineer at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, who has worked on plans for a Mars descent and landing.

The solutions to many of these problems are far from obvious. Research suggests, for example, that cosmic rays (charged particles left over from exploding supernovas) may cause brain damage to astronauts in the approximately seven months it will take to fly to Mars. Energetic particles from solar flares are another problem, according to NASA. The spacecraft that travel to Mars will thus have to include some kind of shielding. Because the Martian atmosphere is thinner than Earth's, and the planet doesn't have a magnetosphere to deflect charged particles, Mars travelers will need protections on the planet, too.

"We don't have the hardware to send people to Mars yet," Shostak said.

Odd jobs

Hardware may be crucial, but the squishier sciences are also going to be needed if humanity hopes to visit its planetary neighbor. One of the main motivations in going to Mars might be to find out if the planet ever supported life, Shostak said. That kind of research will involve geologists and biologists. [7 Most Mars-Like Places on Earth]

Physicians and medical researchers already work for NASA to study the effects of zero-gravity on astronauts and other facets of the space experience. In fact, if you don't have a head for science and math and still want to help, keep an eye on the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston. NASA runs a bed-rest center there where volunteers literally lie down in the name of science. Bed rest mimics microgravity and helps researchers figure out how to combat effects like bone loss and muscle wasting.

Psychologists are also helping with Mars preparations. The question is what a year or more of living in close quarters with only a few other people will do to the human psyche. Just two months ago, one faux-Mars crewmember of six emerged from a year of isolation in a geodesic dome on the island of Hawaii. Crewmembers told Space.com that one lesson that emerged from the experience was the need for better sound-proofing in habitat buildings.

Other key personnel? Biochemists, food scientists and horticulturalists. NASA even has a Veggie Project Manager. "Veggie," in this sense, is a nickname for the Vegetable Production System, a "deployable plant growth unit capable of producing salad-type crops." A preliminary report on growing plants in simulated Martian soil (which is really not much more than crushed rock) is due in mid-January, according to NASA.

Lots of people have the smarts to make it in the space business, said Leroy Chiao, a former NASA astronaut and now CEO of the business-training company OneOrbit. Personal drive makes the difference in who actually makes it to space. (For the record, Chiao majored in chemical engineering.)

"Basically," Chiao wrote in an email to Live Science, "my advice to young people is to have a dream, make a plan, have the courage to go for it, work hard and persevere."

Original article on Live Science.
Amundsen used the ship to explore the Arctic from 1918 to 1925. His team recorded many scientific observations and successfully sailed through a Northeast passage from Norway to Alaska. The Maud, then owned by the Hudson's Bay Company, sank after it sprung a leak in 1930.

For the first time in more than 80 years, the Maud is floating above the sea surface.

The sturdy oak ship, made to withstand Arctic winters stuck in pack ice, was originally built for the Norwegian polar explorer Roald Amundsen, the first human to arrive at the South Pole. In 1930, the ship sank in shallow water off the coast of Cambridge Bay, in northern Canada's remote Victoria Island.

This past summer, a Norwegian salvage expedition says they successfully raised the wreck onto a barge. [See Images of the Maud Being Raised Out of the Water]

The Maud is "ready for the next step, which is to sail home," project manager Jan Wanggaard told Live Science.

Amundsen was the first person to reach the South Pole and the first to lead an expedition through the Northwest Passage from the northern. When the Maud was built, Amundsen's goal was to sail through the unexplored part of the Arctic Ocean, and perhaps drift over to the North Pole.

From 1918 to 1920, Amundsen and his crew sailed from Oslo, Norway, along the Russian Arctic coast to Nome, Alaska, traversing a Northeast Passage. Amundsen eventually abandoned the plan to go to the North Pole. Maud spent a total of seven years exploring the Arctic before the ship was seized by Amundsen's creditors and was sold to Canada's Hudson's Bay Co., according to Norways Fram Museum.

Although the Maud's exploits aren't widely known today, the expedition was quite eventful for Amundsen he was nearly mauled to death by a polar bear and poisoned by carbon monoxide. It also resulted in heaps of scientific data on the Arctic environment.

Amundsen's scientific director aboard the Maud was Harald Sverdrup, an accomplished oceanographer who later became director of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in San Diego. His team recorded magnetic, astronomical and meteorological observations. They took photos of the northern lights. Sverdrup even spent seven months among the Chukchi people in northeastern Russia and took ethnographic notes about the tribe's language and customs.

A leak caused by the propeller axle sunk the Maud in 1930. Over the following years, some of the ship's timber was salvaged for fuel. Norway took back ownership of the Maud in the 1990s. After a long stretch of legal and logistical hurdles, a Norwegian salvage team finally got the go-ahead to raise the Maud and bring it back to a custom-made museum in Vollen, Norway, according to Norways Fram Museum.

Wanggaard said he had explored the Maud many times during diving expeditions but that he was still struck by the size of the ship when it was raised. His team had to use about 50 air bags, each with 4 tons (3.6 metric tons) of lifting power, to raise the Maud off the seafloor and scoop the ship onto a barge.

"You cannot grasp the whole image of the ship underwater," Wanggaard said. "When it came up, it was bigger than we could imagine."

The Maud had to be cleared of the mud and sediment that had built up inside, and Wanggaard said the team has found a lot of technical parts, blocks for sails, firewood, coal and other artifacts. "It's in very good condition," Wanggaard told Live Science. "It just needs to dry. That's a long process, but it's good to be here. It's best to dry in low temperatures. It's like a freeze-drying process."

Right now, the barge the Maud sits on is frozen in place, and Wanggaard will spend the upcoming winter plotting the ship's journey back to Norway. The expected sailing time is one month, he said, but timing the expedition is a tricky matter.

The team might have to wait until July or August for the sea ice to dissipate so that they can safely leave Cambridge Bay. And the Arctic sea ice could start freezing up again before the Maud makes it home, meaning the team would have to spend another winter at a pit stop in Greenland or northern Russia. Wanggaard said he also has to decide whether to take an easterly route to reach Norway or head westward back over Amundsen's Northeast Passage.

Original article on Live Science.
Among the many reactions to Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump's lewd conversation in 2005, the question of whether what Trump was describing constituted sexual assault has struck a cord  and caused a sharp divide.

In an interview with The Weekly Standard, for example, Republican Sen. Jeff Sessions said that he did not characterize the behavior Trump described  specifically, grabbing a woman's genitals without consent  as sexual assault.

But Yolanda Moses, a professor of anthropology at the University of California, Riverside, said that Trump's comments absolutely describe sexual assault.

There's a spectrum of sexual assault, ranging from unwanted touching to rape, Moses told Live Science. But much of the public doesn't understand that actions such as groping or kissing someone against his or her will also constitute sexual assault.

Rape is not the only type of sexual assault, Moses said. Indeed, the Department of Justice defines sexual assault as "any type of sexual contact or behavior that occurs without the explicit consent of the recipient."

Sexual assault is at the extreme end of what Moses calls the "sexual harassment continuum." "Harassment goes all the way from words, to intimidation to physical violence," she said.

Here are four more common misconceptions about sexual assault. [6 Ways Sexual Harassment Damages Women's Health]

Misconception: Sexual assault is usually committed by strangers.

Less than one-quarter of sexual assaults are committed by strangers, according to the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network (RAINN). Rather, 43 percent of sexual assaults are committed by friends or acquaintances, and 27 percent are committed by a current or former significant other, according to RAINN.

Moses, who is also a consultant/trainer for sexual harassment and sexual assault at UC Riverside, said that when she talks to incoming freshmen, she tells them that it's more important to look out for sexual assault from people they know.

But it may be hard for some people to accept that people they know could commit sexual assault.

People may think that sexual assault is often committed by strangers because people want to believe that it's not possible that someone close to them could do this, said Brian Pinero, the vice president for victim services at RAINN.

Misconception: Sexual assault only happens to women and girls.

Although sexual assault against women and girls is more common, sexual assault can also happen to men and boys.

One in 6 American women has been the victim of an attempted or completed rape in her lifetime, according to RAINN. For men and boys, that figure is 1 in 33.

Misconception: Sexual assault is provoked by the victim's actions.

Victims don't provoke sexual assault, but "victim blaming" is still common.

It's difficult for some people to believe that another person could commit sexual assault so they may try to pin it on the victim by saying they were "asking for it," Pinero said. But sexual assault is never caused by what a victim is doing, saying or wearing, he said.

Rather, an assault is the result of a choice made by the perpetrator  someone chose to inflict harm upon the victim or chose to push the victim into an unwanted situation, Pinero said.

Misconception: If the victim doesn't struggle against the perpetrator, it's not assault.

Sexual assault can occur even when the victim doesn't struggle or fight back.

However, the idea that the victim needs to have fought back is embedded in our culture. For example, victims are told to go to the hospital immediately following an assault so that doctors can document any abrasions or bruises, which would point to evidence of a struggle, Moses said.

But a lack of bruises doesn't mean that assault didn't happen, Moses said. A victim may not fight back; they may freeze, or feel as if they have to do it, she said.

Pinero agreed.

"Imagine being with someone who has power and not feeling like you have a voice to say something," Pinero said. Victims may also start to blame themselves in instances of sexual assault, he said. "They'll think, 'Did I bring this upon myself'? 'Was I sending out the wrong signal'? 'Maybe I do want this'? All of these things may be playing out in a victim's head, and who are we to decide how someone is supposed to react?" Pinero said.

Sexual assault can happen in established relationships as well, Pinero added. Just because a person said yes to a certain activity once, for example, doesn't mean that a partner has a license to engage in that activity whenever they want, he said.

Originally published on Live Science.
Tan Ruisong, right, vice president of Chinese Aeronautical establishment meets with Charles Bolden, Administrator of NASA.

NASA and a Chinese aviation research institution signed a cooperative agreement for civil aviation air traffic management on Sept. 27, China Aviation News reported. It is the first bilateral agreement signed by U.S.- and China-backed research institutes in more than 20 years.

According to the agreement, signed by NASA and the Chinese Aeronautical Establishment, affiliated with the Aviation Industry Corporation of China, the two parties will collaborate in updating civil aviation management technologies. Air traffic prediction methods and analysis software will be jointly developed to improve the efficiency of air transportation between the U.S. and China.

Citing concerns about espionage, a clause in a U.S. spending bill approved by Congress in 2011 prohibited NASA from coordinating with China on any joint scientific activity. There was no duration specified in the clause, but it was generally understood to be effective for the fiscal year. Nevertheless, the clause continued to influence NASA management. In November 2013, NASA mistakenly banned Chinese researchers from attending the space agency's Kepler Science Conference.

Charles Bolden, administrator of NASA, and Zhang Xinguo, chairman of the Chinese Aeronautical Establishment, signed the agreement.
When you are on the other side, his mother, Crystal Mees, recalls telling him, you are going to see Mommy cry a lot. Its not because shes mad. Its because she misses you.

And this: Its not your fault.

But whose fault was it?

Bryson shot himself last January with a .22-caliber Derringer his grandmother kept under the bed. It was an accident, but one that could be blamed on many factors, from his grandmothers negligence to the failure of government and industry to find ways to prevent his death and so many others.

The Associated Press and the USA TODAY Network set out to determine just how many others there have been.

The findings: During the first six months of this year, minors died from accidental shootings  at their own hands, or at the hands of other children or adults  at a pace of one every other day, far more than limited federal statistics indicate.

Tragedies like the death of Bryson Mees-Hernandez play out repeatedly across the country. Curious toddlers find unsecured, loaded handguns in their homes and vehicles, and fatally shoot themselves and others. Teenagers, often showing off guns to their friends and siblings, end up shooting them instead.

Using information collected by the Gun Violence Archive, a nonpartisan research group, news reports and public sources, the media outlets spent six months analyzing the circumstances of every death and injury from accidental shootings involving children ages 17 and younger from Jan. 1, 2014, to June 30 of this year  more than 1,000 incidents in all.

Among the findings:

Deaths and injuries spike for children under 5, with 3-year-olds the most common shooters and victims among young children.

Accidental shootings spike again for ages 15-17, when victims are most often fatally shot by other children but typically survive self-inflicted gunshots.

States in the South are among those with the highest per capita rates of accidental shootings involving minors.

Another finding: The vast majority of shooters and victims are boys. A shooting last year in Shreveport, Louisiana, is a case in point.

Cameron Price, 4, and his 6-year-old brother, KaDarius, were riding their bikes outside the Levingston Motel, where their family had taken a $30-a-night room.

They decided to go inside, into a room where several adult acquaintances of their parents had been smoking marijuana. A gun was sitting out, and KaDarius thought the chrome and black .40-caliber pistol was a toy.

Then a single shot rang out, and the bullet fatally struck the younger boy.

KaDarius later told police he pushed the bad button and he understood his brother had a hole in his head, was going to the hospital and not coming home.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that 74 minors died from accidental discharges of firearms in 2014, the latest year for which comparable data are available. The AP and USA TODAY analysis counted 111 for that year, suggesting the federal government missed a third of the cases.

While accidental shootings account for only a fraction of firearm deaths in the U.S., gun safety advocates have long argued that they are largely preventable.

They demand stricter laws requiring guns to be kept locked up and unloaded. But gun rights supporters argue those measures make guns less useful in emergencies; citing CDC statistics, the National Rifle Association argues in public statements that such deaths have declined significantly in recent decades and that the chance of a child dying in a firearms accident is one in one million.

Bob Anderson, chief of the mortality statistics branch of the CDCs National Center for Health Statistics, suggested the NRA was citing statistics that underestimate the risk guns represent to children. He said the undercount documented by the AP and USA TODAY Network is significant and important, but not surprising.

The agency has long suspected that its statistics on accidental firearms deaths are too low, he said.

Gun safety advocates have urged a public health approach that includes more government research, more public awareness and stricter state laws.

That is just what Crystal Mees is advocating in Texas after the death of her son at her mothers house.

Mees had given birth months earlier to a baby girl and needed sleep, so she had taken Bryson and his 2-year-old sister there to spend the night.

It began as a typical night. After their baths, Bryson asked if he could hop in bed with his grandfather, who was already asleep. His grandmother, Anna Sperber, said yes, before she fell asleep on the living room couch with the younger girl.

When Sperber got up to get a blanket hours later, she saw Bryson face down on the bedroom floor. She thought he had fallen asleep.

Then she noticed the lump on his head and panicked when she saw the pistol she kept under her bed lying next to him. He had shot himself above the right eye.

Crystal Mees blames her mother for her sons death and no longer talks to her or brings her two children around; she says she had warned her to keep the gun out of childrens reach. She plans to push for a Brysons law in Texas to make it easier for prosecutors to bring charges against adults who allow children access to firearms.

Both women attended the funeral, where relatives dressed up as Brysons beloved Avengers. He was buried with Legos, toy cars and his grandfathers favorite cologne.
The woman injured in a tiger attack at Beijings Badaling Wildlife World in July recently publicized her family's intention to claim over 2 million RMB from the zoo as compensation for both her injury and her mothers death. However, she has not yet reached an agreement with the zoo.

The 32-year-old woman, surnamed Zhao, was injured by a tiger on July 23 after she stepped out of her car in a tiger enclosure at Badaling Wildlife World. The woman's mother, surnamed Zhou, was mauled to death while trying to save Zhao.

There has been a persistent rumor circling online that Zhao stepped out of the car because she was quarreling with her husband. However, Zhao told Beijing Times on Oct. 12 that she got out because she was feeling carsick.

According to Zhao's husband, there was only one unequipped employee in the nearest patrol vehicle; the employee's only means of scaring off the tiger was beeping and making the car's engine roar. In addition, Zhao argued that the zoo staff hadn't explained the safety instructions before she entered the tiger enclosure, which she believes is their obligation.

At the end of August, Zhao's family claimed a compensation totaling 2.74 million RMB from the Badaling Wildlife World. They believe that the zoo should assume full responsibility for Zhous death and 70 to 80 percent of responsibility for Zhaos injury. But the latter said they would only shoulder compensation for part of the familys losses, and that compensation would not include money for mental damages or future treatment.

An employee surnamed Cao, who is responsible for the zoo's publicity, told Beijing Times that the government's investigation exonerated the zoo. Their compensation offer for Zhao and her family comes not from a place of accountability but humanity. According to Cao, the two parties are still negotiating; they have not yet reached agreement.
Local News, Business & Finance, Home & Garden, Press Releases

By Long Island News & PR Published: October 13 2016

Massive hikes to mortgage recording fees proposed this year by the Nassau and Suffolk County Legislatures opposed by LIBOR and real estate coalition partners.

Last year, Nassau County hiked the tax map verification fee by 200% from $75 to $225, and increased the per-block recording fee by 100% from $150 to $300. Suffolk County raised its Tax Map Verification Fee from $60 to $200, an increase of 233%.

West Babylon, NY - October 11, 2016 - The Long Island Board of REALTORS (LIBOR), the Long Island Builders Institute (LIBI), the Long Island Association (LIA), the New York State Land Title Association (NYSTLA), the Commercial Industrial Brokers Society of Long Island (CIBS LI), and the Association for a Better Long Island (ABLI) stand united in opposition to the massive hikes to mortgage recording fees proposed this year by the Nassau and Suffolk County Legislatures.

Last year, Nassau County hiked the tax map verification fee by 200% from $75 to $225, and increased the per-block recording fee by 100% from $150 to $300. Suffolk County raised its Tax Map Verification Fee from $60 to $200, an increase of 233%.

This year, both counties propose raising fees again. Nassau County is considering an increase in the mortgage recording fee from $300 to $350. Suffolk County is debating a new $300 per lot fee to record a new mortgage or refinance an existing mortgage, and an increase in the tax map verification fee from $200 per lot to $225.

We fear that another fee increase, one year after the largest fee increase in the history of each county, sets a dangerous precedent that could evolve into annual increases of fees levied on the real estate industry. Furthermore, we do not believe that either county has taken enough time to observe and analyze the effects of last years fee increases in real estate and other sectors of the economy.

According to LIBOR/MLSLI CEO Joseph E. Mottola, Targeting the real estate transaction is short sighted, because it fails to recognize the positive economic impact that a home sale has on a community. The National Association of REALTORS estimates that a typical real estate transaction in New York State generates, on average, over $69,000 in economic stimulation, including additional expenditures on moving truck services, consumer items such as appliances and furniture, and dining at restaurants. Of course, the value of that stimulation is even higher on Long Island, where the cost of living is much higher than in other areas of the State.

Mottola continues, Proponents of the fee increases fail to recognize that these massive fees negatively affect more than just the real estate market. Increasing home purchasing costs will create a drag on the local economies and will negatively impact sales tax revenue.

The increased fees negatively affect all facets of the real estate market, but this coalition would like to draw special attention to the affordable housing market. Long Island has a high demand for both available and affordable housing. Young people working on Long Island and in the city, retired citizens looking to downsize to a more manageable living space and low income families all create this demand. Long Island has made great strides in increasing the stock of affordable housing. Unfortunately, regulations that send closing costs soaring creates another financial obstacle for those hoping to access this housing and undermines the progress that has been made.

We urge the County Legislatures to reject any budget that includes increases in real estate related fees.

The Long Island Board of REALTORS, Inc. (also known as LIBOR) is a 23,500-member,not-for-profit trade association that serves real estate professionals throughout Nassau, Suffolk and Queens counties. Founded over 100 years ago, LIBOR is the third-largest local REALTOR board in the United States. REALTOR members subscribe to a strict Code of Ethics and Standards of Practice. Not every real estate licensee can be called a REALTOR. LIBOR also has a subsidiary corporation, the Multiple Listing Service of Long Island, Inc., a computerized network of over 2,300 real estate offices that enables REALTORS to better serve the buying and selling public.
School & Education, Local News, Business & Finance, Press Releases

By Long Island News & PR Published: October 13 2016

Precipart hosted students, job seekers and community members on Manufacturing Day on Friday, October 7, 2016.

Farmingdale, NY - October 12, 2016 - Precipart hosted students, job seekers and community members on Manufacturing Day on Friday, October 7, 2016, as part of a dedicated effort to address todays demanding manufacturing environment and the outstanding career opportunities for youth seeking to pursue this field.

Looking to inspire the next generation of engineers, the Farmingdale-based global company invited local students, particularly those on a STEM or technical career path. Guests included 21 students from the Eastern Suffolk BOCES Bixhorn Technical Center in Bellport, 49 students from the William Floyd School District STEM program in Mastic Beach, and 28 students from the Wyandanch High School P-Tech Program.

Guests were welcomed with multi-building campus tours showcasing how Precipart engineers, designs and manufactures high-precision gears to enhance the lives of the people who interact with their products, from medical professionals and patients, to automotive drivers and passengers.

This level of observation and interaction provided students with a first-hand look at the companys acclaimed electromechanical procedures, including gear cutting, grinding, 3D printing, assembly, inspection and testing. Precipart also shared details on its ongoing collaboration with Project Daniel, a humanitarian initiative to provide prosthetic limbs to amputees in the war-torn country of Sudan. The first patient in the program was a Sudanese boy, Daniel, who lost both of his arms in an explosion at the age of 14.

At the conclusion of the tours, Precipart shared information on job opportunities and spoke on the types of careers in the field. Representatives also addressed the growing demand, locally and beyond, for highly-skilled professionals in the manufacturing field, who can design, program and operate technology.

Over the next decade, the industry will see an increasing need to fill millions of manufacturing jobs, many of which could go unfilled if the current outlook does not change, said Precipart President/CEO John Walter. We at Precipart are proud to share that we experience double digit growth each year and a high level of employee retention and promotion. In the past year, we hired 40 full- and part-time employees. Time and time again, our personnel express how rewarding it is to create tangible technology that serves a true purpose.



For those who are serious about applying their technical, creative, organizational and programmatic skills in a precision machining environment, there is no limit to the potential in this field. For more information on Preciparts career opportunities, health benefits and other related information, please click here.

About Precipart

Precipart (www.precipart.com) is a global company engaged in the engineering, design and manufacture of high precision mechanical components, assemblies, gears and motion control systems for the most recognized names in the Medical Technology, Aerospace and Industrial sectors. Precipart Group is headquartered in Lyss, Switzerland with a major manufacturing campus in Farmingdale, New York, offices in the United Kingdom and Bangalore, India, and a network of strategic alliances around the world.
Local News, Community, Charity & Cause, Health & Wellness, Press Releases, Seasonal & Current Events

By Long Island News & PR Published: October 13 2016

More than 3,000 participants are expected at Suffolk County Community Colleges Eastern Campus for Making Strides Against Breast Cancer.

Riverhead, NY - October 10, 2016 - More than 3,000 participants are expected at Suffolk County Community Colleges Eastern Campus on Sunday October 23 for Making Strides Against Breast Cancer, the American Cancer Society's (ACS) premier event to raise awareness and funds to fight breast cancer. In conjunction with the event, Suffolk County Community College and ACS have established the Breast Cancer Survivors and Caregivers Scholarship.



We're coming together to support women battling breast cancer, to remember those who've lost the battle, and to push for continued advances in breast cancer diagnosis and treatment, Suffolk County Community College President Dr. Shaun L. McKay said.

We are proud to host this event for the first time on our Eastern Campus, and look forward to a long and successful relationship with the American Cancer Society and the search for a cure. I urge everyone who can to visit our beautiful campus to take part in this important event, McKay said.



The Suffolk Community College Foundation is celebrating this event and raising awareness of breast cancer on Long Island with the establishment of the Breast Cancer Survivors and Caregivers Scholarship, explained Dr. Sylvia Diaz, Suffolk Community College Foundation executive director. This is the first of its kind scholarship at Suffolk and we are delighted to provide this critical and humane support to students and families impacted by breast cancer in hopes that their studies will make a difference in the fight against this cruel disease.



For more information and to register, click here



Scholarship donations: click here



American Cancer Societys Making Strides Against Breast Cancer Walk of Eastern Long Island

Suffolk Community College Eastern Campus

121 Speonk-Riverhead Road

Riverhead, NY 11901



Map: here



Registration: 7:30 a.m.

Walk Start: 8:30 a.m.
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
Hangzhou Mayor Zhang Hongming, chairman of Alibaba's Technology Steering Committee Wang Jian, and founder and CEO of Foxconn Technology Group Terry Gou jointly launch the Hangzhou City Brain project at the 2016 Computing Conference in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province on Oct. 13. (Photo/Alibaba Group)

The Hangzhou government launched a new project, titled "City Brain," with Alibaba Group and Foxconn Technology Group at the 2016 Computing Conference in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province on Oct. 13.

City Brain, an artificial intelligence hub, will use big data to help the city "think" and make decisions. It aims to build Hangzhou into a smart city with the ability to self-regulate and even interact with human beings.

"The core of City Brain will use the ET artificial intelligence technology of Ali cloud, which can conduct overall real-time analysis of the city, automatically deploy public resources and amend defects in urban operations," said Wang Jian, chairman of Alibaba's Technology Steering Committee.

The first step of the City Brain project is to collect data relating to infrastructure facilities including transportation, resources and water supply. From there, the partners will integrate data resources scattered around the city to navigate its "neural network."

Wang Jian, chairman of the Technology Steering Committee of Alibaba Group, introduces the City Brain project at the 2016 Computing Conference in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province on Oct. 13. (Photo/Alibaba Group)

According to Hua Xiansheng, a machine vision scientist at Ali Cloud, City Brain will be the only artificial intelligence system in the world that can achieve real-time analysis of city-wide videos. The transportation module has already been in use since September on Hangzhou's Shixin Road. Test data shows that, through the intelligent regulation of traffic lights, traffic flow on the street has improved 3 to 5 percent on average, and even up to 11 percent on some sections of the road.

"It's just the beginning," said Wang. "City Brain is an unprecedented  experiment of bringing artificial intelligence into city management."

The computing conference, held jointly by Hangzhou city government and Alibaba Group, is the largest domestic summit on cloud computing and big data. Its former name was Ali Cloud Developers Conference.
BANGKOK, Oct. 13 --Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha has cancelled his trip to India to attend the BRICS Summit 2016, local media quoted a Government House source as reporting on Thursday.

Prayut has called for all the ministers to have an urgent unofficial cabinet meeting at 5 p.m. local time.

The prime minister was scheduled to attend the BIMSTEC Outreach at BRICS Summit 2016 on Sunday.

The source said Prayut had assigned Deputy Prime Minister Somkid Jatusriithak to attend the summit on his behalf.

The source said Prayut has also cancelled his plan to chair a function at the Police Club to mark the National Police Day.
Philippine president's trip to China next week hailed as milestone in bilateral ties

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte will make a four-day state visit to China next week, bringing along a 250-member business delegation, and a number of deals are expected to be signed.

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte

The visit, which will be Duterte's first outside Southeast Asia since he became president in June, was announced by China's Foreign Ministry on Wednesday. It will also be the first state visit by a top Philippine leader in the past five years, during which time maritimedisputes soured bilateral ties under Duterte's predecessor.

Philippine Trade Undersecretary Nora Terrado, who told Reuters that initially only about two dozen Philippine entrepreneurs were to accompany Duterte to China, said the number had ballooned to about 250.

Experts said the visit, scheduled for Oct 18 to 21, will be a milestone that might open a new chapter in Beijing-Manila relations as well as the South China Seaissue if Manila maintains its sincerity.

Ties between Beijing and Manila had been chilly over the past few years under former president Benigno Aquino III, who played up the maritime dispute on the international stage and refused to hold direct talks with China.

Duterte, unlike his predecessor, has said he wants stronger ties with China to gain funding for development projects and has kept a cool head on the South China Sea dispute, said Wu Shicun, a South China Sea expert.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang confirmed that Duterte will talk with President Xi Jinpingas well as meet with Premier Li Keqiangand China's top legislator, Zhang Dejiang.

Although neither side released details of the visit or possible outcomes, Geng said the two sides "are maintaining close contacts about detailed arrangements for the visit and the outcome documents".

It is hoped that the visit will put the bilateral ties "back on the track of being healthy and stable", Geng said, adding that the Philippines is a "traditionally amicable neighbor of China".

Zhou Fangyin, a professor of Chinese foreign policy at the Guangdong Institute for International Strategies, said the preparations for Duterte's visit mirror great sincerity  particularly from the Duterte administration  for thawing ties and for Beijing's vision for long-term investment in bilateral ties.

As to deals that might be signed during the visit, Zhou said potential highlights might be increased trade of agricultural produce with China as well as infrastructure construction, which the Philippines needs.

The visit will be an important opportunity that "both sides should grasp", and "Duterte possibly has his eyes on cooperation with China in the long run" in addition to this visit, Zhou said.

The South China Sea issue is unlikely to be resolved overnight, and neither country should give up working on the fragile ties, Zhou added.

Wu Shicun said "the times have changed" for China-Philippine ties, and he believes "the visit will navigate the relationship out of the record low and move on steadfastly".
The security situation in Lashkar Gah, the beleaguered capital of Helmand province, appears to be worsening. Credible reports from Afghanistan indicate that hundreds of police and soldiers were killed, captured, or defected to the Taliban.

Two days ago, the Taliban claimed it killed scores of police and local militia fighters, known as Arbakis. The Taliban made the statement on Voice of Jihad, its official propaganda website:

Amid ongoing Omari annual campaign, a hireling convoy came under heavy attacks of Mujahideen near cemetery of Basharano area of the capital Lashkargah overnight resulting in 125 police and Arbakis personnel surrendering, 69 including 5 commanders killed, 33 others wounded and subsequently arrested and under treatment by Mujahideen. 8 APCs, 1 Kamaz truck have been destroyed and 220 heavy and light weapons, 1 armored tank, 22 APCs, 20 ranger pickups, 3 other vehicles and different types ammunition have been confiscated.

While the Taliban routinely exaggerate the effects of its operations and often inflate the number of casualties inflicted, this report from The New York Times, appears to support the Talibans version of events. According to Afghan officials, Afghan forces were surrounded and negotiated to retreat, but the Taliban reneged and attacked the security forces convoy as they retreated:

In what appears to be one of the worst massacres of Afghan forces in a protracted and forgotten war, at least 100 were killed when the Taliban fighters opened fire on them from all directions as they tried to flee through the agreed-upon retreat route, Afghan officials said Wednesday. Accounts of the massacre, which happened Tuesday near the southern city of Lashkar Gah in Helmand Province, punctuated a growing crisis in Afghanistans armed forces that goes to the heart of their sustainability: They are sustaining enormous casualties from a revitalized Taliban insurgency and are facing increased problems recruiting.  I can say with certainty that at least 100 were martyred, mostly national police and border police, Mr. Akhundzada said. As districts have fallen, the government has brought its forces, including those meant to protect the borders they no longer control, to create a security belt around the city. Although multiple senior officials in private also confirmed the 100 figure, with some putting the number of dead as high as 200, the spokesmen for the Afghan ministries of interior and defense strongly rejected them as exaggerated. Allah Daad, the commander of a 30-police-officer unit near the site of the massacre, said the Taliban had besieged them for days and mined the roads, making resupply difficult. They had finally talked to the Taliban to give them a safe passage of retreat to Lashkar Gah city. Around 2:30 a.m., the forces started retreating, Mr. Daad said. But the Taliban did not fulfill their promise.

As noted by the Times, Afghanistans interior and defense ministries have rejected reports that security forces took heavy casualties, however, reports from local Afghan officials and the Taliban support each other.

Note that some of the key details made by the Taliban and Afghan officials in Helmand are nearly identical. Both sides indicated that a convoy of security forces was attacked. Both claimed Afghan forces suffered an estimated 100 casualties (69 killed, 33 wounded, according to the Taliban, and more than 100 killed according to Afghan officials). Afghan officials claimed that more than 300 police and other security personnel were present in the convoy, while Taliban accounted for 227 security personnel (69 killed, 33 wounded and subsequently captured, and 125 surrendered).

The situation in Lashkar Gah should give pause to those who are confident that Afghan forces are capable of weathering the Taliban surge without massive foreign support. The fact that more than 300 Afghan security personnel were besieged outside of a provincial capital and then considered it wise to try to negotiate a withdrawal with the Taliban, speaks volumes of the morale and capabilities of the regular Afghan forces defending Helmands capital.

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.
(Xinhua) 11:16, October 13, 2016

DHAKA, Oct. 13 -- Chinese President Xi Jinping's upcoming visit to Bangladesh, the first by a Chinese head of state in 30 years, will lift bilateral ties to a new height, Bangladeshi Information Minister Hasanul Huq Inu has said.

"This upcoming visit marks the strong bondage between the two nations as well as paving the way for future growth of our ties," said Inu in an exclusive interview with Xinhua.

He said the relations and engagements between China and Bangladesh are enormous.

"Our two nations support each other on the principles of peace, stability, sovereignty and territorial integrity," said Inu, who is also president of the Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal, a partner of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's ruling coalition.

The two countries have also been upholding the principles of mutual trust and respect, mutual interests, and equitable sharing of mutual benefits, he added.

The minister spoke highly of Xi's Belt and Road Initiative.

"I see His Excellency President Xi Jinping's initiative of 'Belt and Road' as the creation of an economic land belt that includes countries on the original Silk Road through Central Asia, West Asia, the Middle East and Europe, as well as a maritime road that links China's port facilities with the African coast, pushing up through the Suez Canal into the Mediterranean."

He expressed confidence that the Belt and Road Initiative will improve trade and relations among the countries involved.

Inu showed great interest in the development of the Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar (BCIM) Economic Corridor.

"We work closely for developing a quadrilateral economic space between Bangladesh, China, India and Myanmar," he said.

"Definitely, coordinated efforts of Bangladesh and China on local and international development issues of mutual interest will result in great outcome."

The BCIM Economic Corridor, formally endorsed by the four nations in 2013, will connect an estimated 440 million people in China's Yunnan Province, Bangladesh, Myanmar and Bihar in northern India.

Over the past eight years, Bangladesh has made remarkable progress in economic growth, women's advancement and empowerment, education and health, and other areas of human development, the minister said.

To keep the development on track, Bangladesh looks forward to Chinese cooperation in such sectors as finance and investment, technology, management, defense, agriculture, industry and media, he said.

As information minister, Inu called for bilateral media cooperation.

"China, as a big country, has a very wide and modern media network. Media in Bangladesh has seen a landmark rise under the leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina."

Therefore, cooperation with China in the sector will be extremely significant, he said.

"Infrastructure building and ICT (information and communication technology) adoption are the two most prominent sectors where we seek Chinese cooperation in media," he noted.

With the help of China, five new television divisional headquarters are under construction in Bangladesh and new TV stations are to be built, Inu said.

Chinese President Xi Jinping will visit Cambodia and Bangladesh, and attend the 8th BRICS summit in India from Oct.13 to 17.
The Taliban is now threatening five of Afghanistans 34 provincial capitals in Afghanistan. The Taliban has not confined its operations to one area of the country, but is active in all. The Taliban threaten two capitals in the north (Kunduz City and Pul-i-Khumri), two in the south (Tarin Kot and Lashkar Gah), and one in the west (Farah City).

In order to threaten these capitals, the Taliban has focused its operations in the rural districts of Afghanistan. These districts are vital to the Talibans insurgency. The areas are used to recruit and train fighters, raise funds, resupply, and launch attacks into the population centers. This strategy was explained by Mullah Aminullah Yousuf, the Talibans shadow governor for Uruzgan, in April 2016. Despite the success the Taliban has had employing this strategy, General John Nicholson, the commander of US forces in Afghanistan and the Resolute Support mission, has downplayed the Talibans control of rural areas.

Provincial capitals under Taliban threat:

Kunduz: The Taliban entered the city of Kunduz on Oct. 3 and occupied large areas of the city for nine days before being pushed back by Afghan forces. Resolute Support, NATOs command in Afghanistan, insisted Kunduz was under Afghan control one day after the Taliban entered the city despite reports to the contrary. The Taliban remain on the outskirts of Kunduz City; all seven districts in the province are at best contested.

Baghlan: Pul-i-Khumri, the capital of Baghlan province which borders Kunduz, has been under Taliban pressure since May 2016. Pul-i-Khumri district and three more of Baghlans 13 districts are contested by the Taliban. The Taliban routinely shuts down the highway that links Kunduz City and Pul-i-Khumri.

Lashkar Gah: The capital of Helmand province has been under Taliban threat for well over year. In October 2015, The Taliban advanced to within miles of Lashkar Gah, which has been besieged ever since. Earlier this week, the Taliban ambushed and killed scores of Afghan security personnel after 300 of them attempted to flee an area near the city that was surrounded. US advisers have been deployed to Lashkar Gah and other districts in Helmand to help Afghan forces battle the Taliban, but have struggled to contain the threat. Of Helmands 14 districts, six are known to be controlled by the Taliban and another seven, including the provincial capital, are heavily contested.

Tarin Kot: The capital of Uruzgan province has been under direct threat since the beginning of September, when Taliban forces entered the city and battled Afghan security personnel who were backed by US advisers. The Taliban has since been driven to the outskirts of the city, where they remain to this day. Of the provinces six districts, one is under Taliban control and the remaining five are heavily contested.

Farah: In the beginning of October, the Taliban cut off the roads to Farah City and attacked from the north. Afghan military commanders feared the city would collapse. NATO forces have deployed to the city and are launching airstrikes on the Taliban, which is said to be pushed to the outskirts. A Taliban spokesman claimed on Oct. 13 that it launched on enemy positions in Baghi Pul area of Farah capital and Mujahidin closing in on city from E & N. Four of Farahs 11 districts are controlled or contested by the Taliban.

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 US has launched missiles against three radar sites in the Houthi-controlled part of Yemen. The strikes came in response to two attacks on the USS Mason, which operates in international waters off the Red Sea coast of Yemen. The Houthis are also thought to have fired rockets at an United Arab Emirates military vessel earlier this month.

The US military targeted radar sites involved in the recent missile launches threatening USS Mason and other vessels operating in international waters in the Red Sea and the Bab al-Mandeb, according to a statement by Pentagon Press Secretary Peter Cook. The Bab al-Mandeb is a strait located between Yemen and the Horn of Africa. These limited self-defense strikes were conducted to protect our personnel, our ships, and our freedom of navigation in this important maritime passageway, Cook continued.

Cook added that the United States will respond to any further threat to our ships and commercial traffic, as appropriate, and will continue to maintain our freedom of navigation in the Red Sea, the Bab al-Mandeb, and elsewhere around the world.

Separately, the US Navy released a video, just over one minute long, of the USS Nitze launching Tomahawk cruise missiles at the radar sites. The cruise missiles were fired just hours after the USS Mason was forced to respond to an incoming missile for the second time this week. No one was injured in the failed missile attacks, but the USS Mason had to employ defensive countermeasures.

The Houthi rebels in Yemen have been backed by Iran. And their rise to power in the country was a blow to the US governments counterterrorism strategy. The Obama administration relied on President Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadis government as a key, on the ground partner in the fight against al Qaeda in Arabian Peninsula (AQAP).

But in late 2014 and early 2015, the Houthis seized large swaths of Yemen from Hadis government. AQAP capitalized on the instability by launching its own offensive throughout the southern part of the country. The al Qaeda branch controlled contiguous territory along the coast from April 2015 until April 2016, when an Arab-led coalition moved to dislodge the jihadis. AQAPs fighters slipped away from strategic locations, such as the port city of Mukalla, in order to fight another day. AQAP portrayed the move as an effort to protect local residents and civilian institutions, such as mosques and markets, from the ravages of war.

Subsequently, Osama bin Ladens son Hamza released an audio message in which he accused Saudi Arabia of attacking al Qaedas men at a time when they were preoccupied with the Houthis. Hamza portrayed the ground assault launched by the Saudi-led coalition that entered Mukalla as a boon to the Houthis, even though the Saudis are opposed to the Houthis expansion.

In addition to AQAP, the Islamic State took advantage of the turmoil in Yemen by establishing a small upstart branch comprised of AQAP defectors and others.

The State Department has formally accused Iran of backing the Houthis. In its Country Reports on Terrorism 2012, State said that Iran actively supported members of the Houthi tribe in northern Yemen, including activities intended to build military capabilities, which could pose a greater threat to security and stability in Yemen and the surrounding region. The report also cited an incident from July 2012, when Yemens Interior Ministry arrested members of an alleged Iranian spy ring, headed by a former member of the IRGC (Irans Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps).

However, Foggy Bottom dropped the language about Irans sponsorship of the Houthis from the 2015 version of Country Reports on Terrorism. Asked why similar language was not included in the report for 2015, acting coordinator for counterterrorism Justin Siberell responded: Theres a serious concern about Irans activities in Yemen, yes.

In February, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper delivered the US Intelligence Communitys Worldwide Threat Assessment to Congress. Clapper noted that Iran continues to back the [Houthis], has shipped lethal aid to them, and referred to the Iranian-backed [Houthi] insurgency.

Thomas Joscelyn is a Senior Fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and the Senior Editor for 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.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 13

By Elena Kosolapova  Trend:

There is big potential to develop freight traffic from China to Europe and vice versa through Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan, said Vladimir Telnov, deputy director of the Public Policy Institute under the Nur Otan Party.

Telnov made the remarks during the Baku-Astana video conference, titled Prospects of the Azerbaijan-Kazakhstan relations, at the Sputnik agency.

Currently, 22 million containers are transported annually between Asia and Europe, he said, meanwhile, only 100,000 containers are delivered by land and the remaining part is transported by sea.

Telnov also noted that direct container traffic by land between Asia and Europe is very promising, as it will significantly reduce time for freight traffic. Both Western countries and China are interested in such direct transportation, he added.

Therefore, China initiated to develop the Silk Road Economic Belt and the country is ready to invest $4 trillion in the development of freight traffic to Europe by land, he said.

The deputy director went on to add that the development of container traffic through Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan will also allow these countries to increase the export of their goods. In particular, there are prospects to increase the export of energy resources, agricultural products in Kazakhstan.

Container traffic between Europe and Asia is planned to be implemented via the Trans Caspian International Transport Route.

The Trans-Caspian International Transport Route runs through China, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Georgia and then through Turkey and Ukraine to Europe.

The agreement to create the Trans-Caspian International Transportation Consortium was signed in April in Baku by the railway authorities of Azerbaijan, Georgia and Kazakhstan.

New competitive tariffs were introduced for the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route since June 1, 2016.

---

Follow the author on Twitter: @E_Kosolapova
Culture / Events

We share a few details about the Palace anniversary party that will be held during the SINGAPORE RENDEZVOUS

Oct 13, 2016 | By Vimi Haridasan

At the upcoming SINGAPORE RENDEZVOUS, guests can look forward to several lifestyle options that are sure to be a treat for the whole family. Come sundown the Raffles Marina will host several parties such as the Palace 5th Anniversary soiree.

The party will start from 5pm on October 21, with a walk-through of the property showcases in the ballroom. From 6pm, there will be complimentary wines from Epicurio exclusively for guests at the party. Held at the Veranda, which will also be hosting the VIP Epicurio Lounge, guests will also be treated to a free glass of champagne from Perrier Jouet.

Celebrating the milestone achievement for one of the many publications under Heart Media and Lux Inc Media, this is an opportunity for readers to meet the team behind the stories. With a circulation of 38,000, Palace is a leader among the regions property magazines and features luxury real estate from around the world. Palace, the quarterly magazine, is the go to source of information for serious buyers.

For more information, visit SINGAPORE RENDEZVOUS website or Facebook page
Cars / Yachts

Before the highly anticipated SINGAPORE RENDEZVOUS, we visit Bart Kimman the Director in Asia for Northrop and Johnson to learn more about the brand.

Oct 13, 2016 | By Vimi Haridasan

We are counting down the days until the SINGAPORE RENDEZVOUS and in the lead up to the luxury lifestyle event, we have been meeting with a few of our partners. One such partner is Northrop and Johnson, a yacht brokerage firm that is set to make its presence felt at the event later this month. We catch up with Bart Kimman, the Director of Northrop and Johnson in Asia to find out more about the brand and what we can look forward to.

What are the main areas of excellence of Northrop and Johnson?

Northrop and Johnson is a global yacht brokerage with a very strong presence in the USA, Europe and Asia-Pacific region. Our focus is on Yacht Sales, from brand new constructions as well as pre-owned vessels. We also focus on Yacht Charter in the Caribbean, Mediterranean and Asia as well as Yacht Management that encompasses safety, crew, maintenance, destination planning and services.

The yacht size that we consider our strength is 70-280, both sail and power and we concentrate on quality yachts from renowned shipyards. The yachting expert since 1947, Northrop and Johnson stands for professional support of yacht owners with a strong emphasis on an expert approach to the process of selling, purchasing or chartering yachts including the back up of solid contractual arrangements.

Northrop and Johnson Asia are prominent members of the key industry associations including MYBA, FYBA, and AYSS. Northrop and Johnson Asia was established in 2008 and has continued to grow in the Asia pacific Region for eight years, culminating in two consecutive Best Charter Company in Asia awards.

Where are you based in Asia? How do you cater to an Asian audience? What unique services do you provide?

We have offices in Nanjing China, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Vietnam, Singapore and Thailand (Phuket). Northrop and Johnson is the only full-fledged global brokerage house with an Asia-wide network and the capabilities to offer global level services on the sale, purchase, charter and management of large yachts.

Chartering a yacht or looking at buying one, how do you tackle these sensitive questions?

The Northrop and Johnson sales brokers, charter brokers and yacht managers are all professionally qualified and adhere to a strict code of conduct set by the various industry associations. This provides a client with the assurance that there are no surprises when he buys, sells or charters a yacht. Our global reach provides a buyer or seller a much larger market place to operate.

Northrop and Johnsons network has some 3,000 international yacht brokers globally. This facilitates dealmaking beyond the borders of Asia and allows for demand and supply to meet in an efficient manner.

How do you ensure an Asian buyer is in good hands when looking at buying a semi or fully customized yacht?

Northrop and Johnson have, over time, constructed a number of custom built superyachts in most of the well-known yards in the world. The combined expertise warrants that a client buys at the right price with a contract, that above all, protects his asset and guarantees that the yacht is built to the standards agreed. It requires professional expertise with the knowledge of yachting traditions that give the client what he wants at the right price.

Why are you bringing the ZEELANDER range to Asia? Tell us more about this unique Dutch shipyard and their specific yacht design.

At the international boat shows we have seen an increased demand for luxury tenders, toys and pocket super yachts. After looking at most of them we felt that ZEELANDER offers a unique combination of elegance, quality finish and outright performance. We know this pedigree is liked in Asia and when ZEELANDER offered us the opportunity to represent them we accepted.

An Asian premiere at the SINGAPORE RENDEZVOUS, this is a substantial move and announcement. Anything specifically planned for the show and potential buyers?

To us most boat shows in Asia lack the B to C element. Over time they become tradeshows with hardly an increase in the visitor base. The organizers of SINGAPORE RENDEZVOUS are very professional marketers of luxury products and we feel confident they will pull off a great event.

Your best experience as a yachtsman and yacht broker in Asia?

Asia being an emerging market gives one the opportunity to introduce newcomers to the lifestyle of yachting. When this is done successfully it gives me great satisfaction and it is like giving something back to the yachting community that has treated me so well ever since I was a young boy with my first sailing dinghy!

The word Yacht, of British or Dutch origin?

No argument, the Dutch named their pleasure vessels yachts, because they were fast and could chase each other like in a race. Yacht in Dutch means hunt or chase. Pleasure vessels were used in Holland long before the Brits started using them. Being Dutch does not help making this statement, but perhaps I should write a little article for you to give more scientific evidence of this fact.

More info and tickets on SINGAPORE RENDEZVOUS website
Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 13

Trend:

About 160 businessmen from 33 countries will attend the first World Forum of Azerbaijani businessmen that will be held Oct. 28-29 in Baku, said the State Committee on Work with Diaspora Oct. 13.

A big delegation  more than 40 people  of Azerbaijani businessmen from Russia will take part in the event. Moreover, businesspeople are expected to attend the forum from Turkey, Germany, Ukraine and Kazakhstan.

Azerbaijani businessmen working in the areas of agriculture, consulting, trade, IT, transportation and logistics, oil industry, textile, banking sector and others will also participate in the forum.

From Azerbaijan, the event will be attended by businessmen working in agriculture, food industry, construction, oil, textile, IT and other sectors.

In total, more than 300 people are expected to take part in the forum.

The event is organized jointly by Azerbaijans Economy Ministry and State Committee on Work with Diaspora.

Addressing the Fourth Congress of World Azerbaijanis, President Ilham Aliyev called on the Azerbaijani businessmen, residing abroad, to invest in the countrys real economy, in particular, in agriculture, industry, tourism and high technologies.

During the congress, it was proposed to hold the first world forum of Azerbaijani businessmen.
A proposed judicial review into the Airports Commissions ruling on airport expansion will help protect close to one million residents, according to the leader of the Royal Borough.

The council held crunch talks at Maidenhead Town Hall today, where it agreed to spend 50,000 to launch a legal challenge if the Government chooses to grant Heathrow a third runway.

In June, cabinet agreed to set aside 10,000 for legal advice and 20,000 should any judicial review be necessary with regards to a Heathrow expansion challenge.

today's meeting saw a further 20,000 added to its legal challenge budget.

The Royal Borough has already joined forces with the London boroughs of Hillingdon, Richmond and Wandsworth to block any potential development of the airport.

Leader of the council Cllr Simon Dudley told the Cabinet Prioritisation Sub Committee: Between the four local authorities including ourselves, we speak for close to one million residents.

All four of those local authorities have joined together here and are united to protect their one million residents. Thats what this is about.

Cllr Derek Wilson (Con, Oldfield) said Heathrow expansion had to be opposed due to the housing pressure it would place on the borough.

While Cllr Phil Bicknell (Con, Park) added: You will get aircraft drop out of the sky at anytime in the middle of the night and its waking children up across the borough.

I think that were in danger of wrecking their chances going forward in life.

Any legal challenge to the Airports Commissions ruling was described as bound to failure, according to a Heathrow spokesperson.

The airport said: The Governments decision on airport capacity will follow a rigorous, independent, 20m, two and a half year deep-dive in to the issue, including a public consultation.

It confirmed that Heathrow would not delay compliance with EU air quality limits, would see fewer people affected by noise [subject to environmental conditions which we have met and exceeded] and was the best choice for expansion.

Any judicial review would be bound to failure and would not affect the timeline for the delivery of an additional runway at Heathrow.

The Airports Commission is expected to make its decision later this month.

Vote in our poll and let us know if you think the Royal Borough is right to take legal action.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 13

Trend:

Armenias armed forces have 28 times violated the ceasefire on the line of contact between Azerbaijani and Armenian troops over the past 24 hours, said Azerbaijans Defense Ministry Oct. 13.

The Azerbaijani army positions located in Kohneqishlaq village of the Agstafa district and the nameless heights of the Gadabay district underwent fire from the Armenian army positions located in Paravakar village of Armenias Ijevan district and the nameless heights of Krasnoselsk district.

The Azerbaijani army positions also underwent fire from the Armenian positions located near Qoyarkh, Chilaburt villages of the Azerbaijans Tartar district, Bash Garvand village of the Aghdam district, Ashagi Seyidahmadli village of the Fuzuli district, as well as from the positions located on nameless heights of the Goranboy, Fuzuli and Jabrayil districts.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations.

Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.
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Sell Gold Now  Time To Liquidate Gold ETF, Pooled and Digital Gold

Sell Gold Now  A Note from GoldCore CEO Stephen Flood

It has never been more important to own gold as part of a diversified portfolio. The form your gold investment takes is just as important as owning it in the first place. ETFs and pooled gold may not be functional in extreme markets and may themselves be subject to systemic risk events.

We are living in extraordinary times and key to any investment plan that can weather the coming global financial storm is access to all important  liquidity.

Traditional market liquidity is drying up. Increasingly dark pools are hoovering up equity and FX volumes. Markets are becoming disjointed and prone to large wild swings. Central banks are entering the market on political mandates as opposed to a search for yield, algorithmic investors are untested in bear markets and likely unprepared. The table is set for significant disruption and systemic damage. Your gold investment may not be accessible nor liquid in times extremis.

When you buy gold as a systemic hedge you do so hoping that it will never be needed. You may even hope it falls in value, because if it is falling all your other productive assets are hopefully appreciating. This is the key, gold is valuable as a systemic hedge, if the system is working then gold should fall in value. If gold is rising then the system is not healthy and you need to take stock, literally.

At GoldCore we have long advocated a 5  10% allocation of gold into your portfolio. Today given the increasing risks, we believe there is a justification for allocating as much as 20% to 25% of a portfolio to physical gold. Your gold should be held in allocated, segregated and most importantly physical form, with serial numbers, in a non bank vault, in a safe jurisdiction.

Gold owners should be able to take physical delivery of their gold whenever they wish, without entering into a transaction to sell. We believe that gold should have as little legal separation from our clients as possible and that is how we have designed GoldCore Secure Storage  with clients having maximum and outright legal ownership of actual, individual bullion coins and bars.

Beware of e-gold masquerading as allocated gold

Buying gold through an electronic platform can be very convenient and very fast. You can buy significant sums and pay low spreads and low fees, your storage costs for such investments can be extremely cheap too.

These electronic platforms spend a lot of money advertising, and some even claim to give you allocated gold. We do not consider a part ownership of a large 400 oz bar of gold as being allocated. You are in fact a pooled gold investor and one who has no idea of what particular part of a gold bar you own. You can not, unlike GoldCore Secure Storage, drive to a vault in Zurich, Singapore, Hong Kong, Dubai or London and take delivery of your gold, without entering into a sale transaction.

In addition many such platforms force you to only buy and sell through their market board and their online platform and website. Digital gold platforms are closed loop systems where liquidity and pricing are dependent on a single platform, website and company. A buyer can only buy and sell through that one online platform. An investor is in effect captive. This is very different to owning individual Canadian Maple Leaf gold bullion coins or gold kilo bars and the huge level of liquidity and pricing one has when one owns coins and bars in a segregated and allocated manner.

Yes you may be able to sell your gold in the future but at what cost? Yes you may be able to take delivery in the future, but at what cost? The fact is that if you cant hold it you may not truly own it.

Caveat Emptor

Stephen Flood, CEO of GoldCore Limited

Gold Prices (LBMA AM)

13 Oct: USD 1,258.00, GBP 1,029.93 & EUR 1,141.76 per ounce

12 Oct: USD 1,255.70, GBP 1,024.53 & EUR 1,139.05 per ounce

11 Oct: USD 1,256.40, GBP 1,021.58 & EUR 1,130.76 per ounce

10 Oct: USD 1,262.10, GBP 1,016.62 & EUR 1,129.71 per ounce

07 Oct: USD 1,255.00, GBP 1,012.91 & EUR 1,127.62 per ounce

06 Oct: USD 1,265.50, GBP 994.30 & EUR 1,131.23 per ounce

05 Oct: USD 1,274.00, GBP 1,001.11 & EUR 1,134.37 per ounce

Silver Prices (LBMA)

13 Oct: USD 17.59, GBP 14.40 & EUR 15.95 per ounce

12 Oct: USD 17.44, GBP 14.23 & EUR 15.83 per ounce

11 Oct: USD 17.48, GBP 14.26 & EUR 15.78 per ounce

10 Oct: USD 17.78, GBP 14.31 & EUR 15.92 per ounce

07 Oct: USD 17.33, GBP 14.01 & EUR 15.55 per ounce

06 Oct: USD 17.76, GBP 13.98 & EUR 15.88 per ounce

05 Oct: USD 17.80, GBP 13.99 & EUR 15.86 per ounce

This update can be found on the GoldCore blog here.

IRL

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DUBLIN 2 E info@goldcore.com UK

NO. 1 CORNHILL

LONDON 2

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WINNERS MoneyMate and Investor Magazine Financial Analysts 2006

Disclaimer: The information in this document has been obtained from sources, which we believe to be reliable. We cannot guarantee its accuracy or completeness. It does not constitute a solicitation for the purchase or sale of any investment. Any person acting on the information contained in this document does so at their own risk. Recommendations in this document may not be suitable for all investors. Individual circumstances should be considered before a decision to invest is taken. Investors should note the following: Past experience is not necessarily a guide to future performance. The value of investments may fall or rise against investors' interests. Income levels from investments may fluctuate. Changes in exchange rates may have an adverse effect on the value of, or income from, investments denominated in foreign currencies. GoldCore Limited, trading as GoldCore is a Multi-Agency Intermediary regulated by the Irish Financial Regulator.

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Syria - Obama Stepped Back From Brink, Will Hillary?

The American people need to understand whats going on in Syria. Unfortunately, the major media only publish Washington-friendly propaganda which makes it difficult to separate fact from fiction. The best way to cut through the lies and misinformation, is by using a simple analogy that will help readers to see that Syria is not in the throes of a confusing, sectarian civil war, but the victim of another regime change operation launched by Washington to topple the government of Bashar al Assad.

With that in mind, try to imagine if striking garment workers in New York City decided to arm themselves and take over parts of lower Manhattan. And, lets say, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau decided that he could increase his geopolitical influence by recruiting Islamic extremists and sending them to New York to join the striking workers. Lets say, Trudeaus plan succeeds and the rebel militias are able to seize a broad swathe of US territory including most of the east coast stretching all the way to the mid-west. Then over the course of the next five years these same jihadist forces proceed to destroy most of the civilian infrastructure across the country, force millions of people from their homes and businesses, and demand that President Obama step down from office so they can replace him with an Islamic regime that would enforce strict Sharia law.

How would you advise Obama in a situation like this? Would you tell him to negotiate with the people who invaded and destroyed his country or would you tell him to do whatever he thought was necessary to defeat the enemy and restore security?

Reasonable people will agree that the president has the right to defend the state and maintain security. In fact, national sovereignty and security are the foundation upon which the international order rests. However, neither the US media nor the US congress nor the White House nor the entire US foreign policy establishment agree with this simple, straightforward principle, that governments have the right to defend themselves against foreign invasion. They all believe that the US has the unalienable right to intervene wherever it chooses using whatever means necessary to execute its regime change operations.

In the case of Syria, Washington is using moderate jihadists to topple the elected government of Bashar al Assad. Keep in mind, that no even disputes WHAT the US is doing in Syria (regime change) or that the US is using a proxy army to accomplish its objectives. The only area of debate, is whether these moderates are actually moderates at all, or al Qaida. Thats the only point on which their is some limited disagreement. (Note: Nearly everyone who follows events closely on the ground, knows that the moderates are al Qaida)

Doesnt that strike you as a bit bizarre? How have we gotten to the point where it is okay for the US to topple foreign governments simply because their agents are moderate troublemakers rather than extremist troublemakers?

What difference does it make? The fact is, the US is using foreign-born jihadists to topple another sovereign government, the same as it used neo Nazis in Ukraine to topple the government, the same as it used US troops to topple the sovereign government in Iraq, and the same as it used NATO forces to topple the sovereign government in Libya. Get the picture? The methods might change, but the policy is always the same. And the reason the policy is always the same is because Washington likes to pick its own leaders, leaders who invariably serve the interests of its wealthy and powerful constituents, particularly Big Oil and Israel. Thats how the system works. Everyone knows this already. Washington has toppled or attempted to topple more than 50 governments since the end of WW2. The US is a regime change franchise, Coups-R-Us.

Hillary Clinton is a charter member of the regime change oligarchy. She is a avid Koolaid drinker and an devoted believer in American exceptionalism, which is the belief that If the United States does something, it must be good.

Hillary also believes that the best way to resolve the conflict in Syria is by starting a war with Russia. Heres what she said on Sunday in her debate with Donald Trump:

Clinton: The situation in Syria is catastrophic. And every day that goes by, we see the results of the regime by Assad in partnership with the Iranians on the ground, the Russians in the airI, when I was secretary of state, I advocated and I advocate today a no-fly zone and safe zones.

Repeat: I advocate today a no-fly zone and safe zones.

This is a very important point. Hillary has supported no-fly zones from Day 1 despite the fact thatby her own admission the policy would result in massive civilian casualties. And civilian casualties are not the only danger posed by no-fly zones. Consider the warning by Americas top soldier, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Joseph Dunford. In response to a question from Senator Roger Wicker (R-Mississippi) on the potential dangers of trying to control Syrian airspace, Dunford answered ominously, Right now for us to control all of the airspace in Syria would require us to go to war against Syria and Russia.

This is the Hillary Doctrine in a nutshell: Confront the Russians in Syria and start WW3. If theres another way to interpret Dunfords answer, then, please, tell me what it is?

Hillary also added that, we have to work more closely with our partners and allies on the ground.

This means that the Obama-CIA policy of supporting militant jihadists on the ground to topple an elected government will continue just as it has for the last five years. Is that what Hillary supporters want; more intervention, more escalation, more Iraqs, more Syrias?

She also said this: I do support the effort to investigate for crimes, war crimes committed by the Syrians and the Russians and try to hold them accountable.

Readers should pause for a minute and really try to savor the convoluted absurdity of Clintons comments. As we pointed out in our analogy, Putin and Assad are trying to reestablish the central governments control over the country to establish security the same as if Obama found it necessary to fight armed rebels in lower Manhattan. Governments have the right to govern their country. This shouldnt be hard to understand. What Hillary is proposing is that the Syrian and Russians (who were invited by Assad) be prosecuted for fulfilling the sworn duty of every elected leader while at the same time the countries (like the US) that have (by their own admission) armed, trained and financed foreign invaders that have torn the country to shreds and killed more than 400,000 civilians, be let off Scott-free.

It is a great tribute to our propagandist western media, that someone like Hillary can make a thoroughly asinine statement like this and not be laughed off the face of the earth. By Hillarys logic, Obama could be prosecuted for war crimes if civilians were killed while he attempted to liberate lower Manhattan. The whole idea is ridiculous.

Heres another Hillary gem from the debate:

I do think the use of special forces, which were using, the use of enablers and trainers in Iraq, which has had some positive effects, are very much in our interests, and so I do support what is happening.

Positive effects?

What positive effects? 400,000 people are dead, 7 million more are ether internally displaced or refugees, and the country has been reduced to a Fulluja-like rubble. There are no positive effects from Hillarys war. Its been a complete and utter catastrophe. The only success she can claim, is the fact that the sleazebag Democratic leadership and their thoroughly-corrupt media buddies have been more successful in hiding the details of their depredations from the American people. Otherwise its been a dead-loss.

Heres more Hillary:

I would go after Baghdadi. I would specifically target Baghdadi, because I think our targeting of Al Qaida leaders 

Baghdadi, Schmaghdadi; who gives a rip? When has the CIAs immoral assassination program ever helped to reduce the fighting, ever diminished the swelling ranks of terrorist organizations, or ever made the American people safer?

Never, thats when. The whole thing is a fu**ing joke. Hillary just wants another trophy for her future presidential library, a scalp she can hang next to Gadhafis. The woman is sick!

Heres one last quote from the debate::

I would also consider arming the Kurds. The Kurds have been our best partners in Syria, as well as Iraq. And I know theres a lot of concern about that in some circles, but I think they should have the equipment they need so that Kurdish and Arab fighters on the ground are the principal way that we take Raqqa after pushing ISIS out of Iraq.

Obama is arming the Kurds already, but the Kurds have no interest in seizing Raqqa because it is not part of their traditional homeland and because it doesnt help them achieve the contiguous landmass they seek for their own state. Besides, arming the Kurds just pisses off Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan who provides a critical airstrip at Incirlik from which the US carries out most of its airstrikes on enemy targets in Syria. In other words, Clinton doesnt know what the heck shes talking about.

While theres no time to get into Hillarys role in starting the war in Syria, there is a very thorny situation that developed last week thats worth considering for those people who still plan to cast their vote for Clinton in the November election.

Heres a quick rundown of what happened: Last Wednesday, the Washington Post leaked a story stating that the Obama administration was considering whether it should directly attack Syrian assets on the ground, in other words, conduct a covert, low-intensity war directly against the regime. (rather than just using proxies.)

On Thursday, the Russian Ministry of Defense spokesman Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov announced that Moscow had deployed state of the art defensive weapons systems (S-300 and S-400 air defense missile systems) to the theater and was planning to use them if Syrian or Russian troops or installations were threatened.

In a televised statement, Konashenkov said: It must be understood that Russian air defense missile crews will unlikely have time to clarify via the hotline the exact flight program of the missiles or the ownership of their carriers.

Referring to the provocative article in the Washington Post, Konashenkov added: I would recommend our colleagues in Washington carefully weigh possible consequences of the fulfillment of such plans.

The Russians were saying as clearly as possible that if US warplanes attacked either Russian installations or Syrian troops they would be shot down immediately. Reasonable people can assume that the downing of a US warplane would trigger a war with Russia.

Fortunately, there are signs that Obama got the message and put the kibosh on the (Pentagons?) ridiculous plan. Heres a clip from an article at The Duran which may be the best news Ive read about Syria in five years. This story broke on Friday and has been largely ignored by the major media:

Following Russian warning of American aircraft being shot down, White House spokesman confirms plan for U.S. air strikes on Syria has been rejected.White House spokesman Josh Earnest confirmed this speaking to reporters on Thursday 6th October 2016. The president has discussed in some details why military action against the Assad regime to try to address the situation in Aleppo is unlikely to accomplish the goals that many envisioned now in terms of reducing the violence there. It is much more likely to lead to a bunch of unintended consequences that are clearly not in our national interest. (U.S. backs down over Syria after Russian threat to shoot down American aircraft, Alexander Mercouris, The Duran)

As critical as Ive been of Obama over the years, I applaud him for his good judgment. While the Pentagon warhawks and foreign policy hardliners are relentlessly pushing for a direct confrontation with Russia, Obama has wisely pulled us back from the brink of disaster.

The question is: Would Hillary do the same?

By Mike Whitney

Email: fergiewhitney@msn.com

Mike Whitney lives in Washington state. He is a contributor to Hopeless: Barack Obama and the Politics of Illusion (AK Press). Hopeless is also available in a Kindle edition. He can be reached at fergiewhitney@msn.com.

 2016 Copyright Mike Whitney - All Rights Reserved Disclaimer: The above is a matter of opinion provided for general information purposes only and is not intended as investment advice. Information and analysis above are derived from sources and utilising methods believed to be reliable, but we cannot accept responsibility for any losses you may incur as a result of this analysis. Individuals should consult with their personal financial advisors.

Mike Whitney Archive

 2005-2019 http://www.MarketOracle.co.uk - The Market Oracle is a FREE Daily Financial Markets Analysis & Forecasting online publication.




Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 13

Trend:

Moscow is not optimistic about the settlement of the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict in the near future, Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov told reporters.

Ushakov, however, added that Moscow will continue to work with Baku and Yerevan on the issue, RIA Novosti reported Oct. 13.

He did not disclose the details of talks, noting that a lot of options and proposals are being discussed.

But I reiterate that there is no reason for optimism, he added.

As for the reason for Russias supplying arms to Armenia, Ushakov said Russia is an ally of Armenia and it is entitled to supply the weapons, which have been agreed with the partners.

I think there is nothing surprising for anyone, as well as for Azerbaijani partners, he said. As you know, weapons are also supplied to Azerbaijan.

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.
COLLINSVILLEA 1998 fatal hit and run case finally came to a close Wednesday, as a Henry County judge accepted a plea agreement.

In accordance with the plea agreement, Judge David V. Williams put off entering a final judgment for five years, during which time defendant Glen Michael Mouyios will serve 14 days in jail, be on probation for five years and must remain alcohol-and drug-free. If at the end of five years, Mouyios has complied with all the conditions, the judge will consider reducing the charge of felony hit and run to a misdemeanor. At that point, the Martinsville resident would be ordered to be on good behavior for 15 years and be drug- and alcohol-free for good behavior.

Mouyios pleaded guilty to felony hit and run Aug. 22 in Henry County Circuit Court.

The commonwealths evidence alleged the following:

On Aug. 11, 1998, Trooper Tim May was dispatched to a reported hit and run crash on Main Street in Ridgeway, 140 feet south of the intersection of Route T1001. Ray Anthony Kellam was found dead lying in the northbound lane of Route 220 Business.

Sgt. Ronnie Pruitt of the Henry County Sheriffs Office told May his officers came through the area at about 12:42 a.m. on the way to answer a call. Kellam was not in the road at that time. Deputy David White came back through the area at about 1:16 a.m. and found Kellam.

Kellam had been struck while in the northbound lane by an unknown vehicle, pulled under the right front fender well and dragged about 25 feet. He was found with his feet lying on the double solid lines and his body going back into the northbound lane.

About eight feet north of the body, a large plastic fender well cover was located in the northbound lane. The well cover had the markings BC 1D RH. Several clips, screws and washers also were found in the northbound lane, with paint chip fragments located around Kellam.

Jerome Kellam, Ray Kellams brother, told the investigating trooper he had dropped his brother off on Route 687 on Aug. 10, 1998, at about 11:30 p.m. Jerome Kellam said his brother had been drinking but was not drunk, adding his brother was an alcoholic, had a history of seizures and did not take his seizure medicine as he was supposed to. The medical examiner was notified, and no witnesses came forward at that time.

An autopsy showed the cause of death of Ray Anthony Kellam was head, chest, abdominal and pelvic injuries due to the impact and/or being run over by a motor vehicle. A subsequent check of his blood alcohol content showed it to be 0.23 percent by weight by volume.

Special Agent Diane Mandeville of the Virginia State Police helped locate the suspect vehicle. She met with Mike Peters, auto body manager at Nelson Mazda, and matched the part number from the fender well found at the scene to a 1995 or 1996 Mazda Protege. Peters also observed over-spray paint on the well cover and advised it was consistent with a gold or pewter paint that was available on the 1995 and 1996 Mazda Protege.

On Aug. 20, 1998, Mandeville requested from the Department of Motor Vehicles a list of registered 1995 and 1996 Mazda Proteges in Henry, Pittsylvania, Patrick and Franklin counties, along with the cities of Martinsville and Danville.

On Aug. 31, 1998, Mandeville received the DMV printout. The list included a vehicle registered to Patricia Mouyios, the dead mother of Glen Mouyios. A suspect vehicle was identified in January 2011, but paint samples taken from the vehicle did not match the paint samples left at the scene and the vehicle was ruled out.

On Feb. 5, 2016, Kenneth Blankenship came forward and said Glen Mouyios had told him he was the driver of a vehicle involved in a hit-and-run crash involving a pedestrian. Blankenship said Glen Mouyios told him Glens estranged wife, Jody Granger, was giving him a hard time about their children. Blankenship said he told Mouyios to file for sole custody and Mouyios said Granger was holding something over his head. Blankenship said Mouyios proceeded to tell him about the crash he was involved in in 1998.

Mouyios told Blankenship he was drunk, that he didnt see him and that he stopped and saw that he hit a person, the commonwealths summary of evidence states. Mouyios told Blankenship that he drove off after he hit him, and went home and took a shower.

Blankenship said Mouyios brought up the crash a second time when he saw a newspaper article. Mouyios told Blankenship it was getting to him, he was ready to turn himself in, and he did not know what to do.

Granger was interviewed on Feb. 8, 2016. Granger said Mouyios never told her directly about being in a crash. She overheard Mouyios and his sister Lynn arguing over the phone. Granger heard Mouyios say something to the effect of, Well, we were not going to discuss this. Mouyios and his sister were discussing a car being messed up. Granger asked Mouyios about it, and he told her it was just an old car and to stay out of the matter. Mouyios said it was a bad night and told his sister that she helped him hide the car or something similar. Granger asked Mouyios about it often because it bothered her that he was keeping a secret from her.

Brett Mouyios, Glen Michael Mouyios brother, was interviewed on Feb. 8, 2016. Brett said Glen talked with him the morning after the crash. Brett said Glen told him not to say anything about the crash. Glen told him he got the parts to fix the vehicle himself. Glen told him he hit somebody, he didnt know whether he made it or not, it was dark, and he didnt see him. Brett said Glen told him it was a black man. Brett said Glen told his mother and sister about the wreck.

On Feb. 10, 2016, Lynn Mouyios was interviewed. Lynn said Glen told her he hit a dog in 1998. Lynn said she remembered a newspaper article about the wreck and she remembered a reward being offered. Years later, she found out that Glen had hit a person. Lynn remembered her mother telling Glen the guy already was dead and told him not to tell the police. Lynn said Glen told her about a meeting Glen had with his mother to discuss what to do about the situation. Lynn remembered Glen asking her to go to High Point, North Carolina, to get parts to fix the car.

Glen Mouyios was interviewed on Feb. 8, 2016. Initially he said he remembered the crash, but that he was not driving and his mother (now deceased) was. When confronted, Glen stated he was the driver and that he was coming home from a friends house. Glen said the windshield of his car was fogged up, and he turned on the defrost and cleaned the windshield with his hand. He said he almost was hit by an oncoming car.

Glen said he hit something that was lying in the road and that he thought it was a dog. Glen said he didnt stop at the scene, but went home and told his mother he hit a dog. Glen said he realized the next day, when he saw a newspaper article, that he had hit a person. Glen said he talked with his mother about turning himself in, but she told him that was not a good idea.

Glens mothers gold 1995 Mazda Protege was repossessed in 2000, has been sold several times and was last registered in 2008 in North Carolina. Authorities have been unable to locate the vehicle.

Glen Mouyios testified in Henry County Circuit Court Aug. 22, I didnt know if I was the cause of his death or not. To this day, I dont know. Mouyios said he had lived in pain and depression not knowing whether he caused the death.

Mouyios testified on Aug. 22 that he went to a friends house, had dinner and a couple glasses of wine, fell asleep watching wrestling, woke up about midnight and told his friend he was leaving. He said he let a car that was driving recklessly and at a high speed pass.

After cleaning his fogged-up windshield, Mouyios saw what he thought was a large dog in the road, swerved to the left and his car bumper caught it, he said.

Mouyios said he went home and went to bed. The next morning, he told his mother he hit a dog and didnt know how much damage it did to her car. When he read a newspaper article about the crash, he told his mother he possibly hit a human being.

She was scared. I was scared, he said.

Mouyios said neither he nor his mother knew what to do.

She said, Sit back. Sit back, Mouyios said.

He was not called to testify Wednesday.

Paul Collins reports for the Martinsville Bulletin and can be reached at paul.collins@martinsvillebulletin.com.
COLLINSVILLE A 21-year-old man who pleaded guilty to sleeping with a pre-teen girl could face deportation. That was the discussion Wednesday in Henry County Circuit Court.

Kevin Cruz-Claros of Roanoke pleaded guilty to two counts of carnally knowing a 13 year old without force. A pre-teen is defined as a child between the ages of 10-13. Speaking through an interpreter, Cruz-Claros told Judge David V. Williams that Honduras is his country of origin and that he is in the United States illegally.

Williams asked Cruz-Claros if he understood that the conviction could result in his being deported to his home country, and Cruz-Claros said yes. Cruz-Claros lawyer. Ward Armstrong, said he had met with Cruz-Claros several times and that an immigration attorney was involved in one of the discussions.

Cruz-Claros allegedly met the girl through Facebook, they began to date, and they allegedly had sex twice at the girls home in Henry County and other times at Cruz-Claros home in Roanoke, according to the commonwealths evidence.

The sexual encounters allegedly happened between July 8, 2015, and Feb. 29, 2016.

After receiving the guilty pleas, Judge Williams sentenced Cruz-Claros on one count to five years in prison, with 11 months to serve and the balance suspended on condition of two years of supervised probation and five years of good behavior.

Judge Williams sentenced Cruz-Claros on the second count to an additional five years in prison, all suspended on condition of two years of supervised probation and five years of good behavior. Cruz-Claros also must register as a sex offender in Virginia.

HENRY COUNTY CIRCUIT COURT

Also in Henry County Circuit Court Wednesday, Adam Charles Owens of Ridgeway pleaded guilty to two counts of attempt to obtain money or property by false pretense, and the commonwealth dropped two counts of identity theft/fraud.

Judge Williams ordered a presentence report and scheduled sentencing for Jan. 4 at 2 p.m.

The commonwealths evidence alleged the following:

On Jan. 28, the director of finance for Carlisle School noted that two fraudulent transactions were made on the schools checking account. On Jan. 27 a payment was made to Vanderbilt Mortgage Co. in Texas for $1,336.52, and on Jan. 28 a payment was made to Exeter Finance in Tennessee for $566.11.

A check with River Community Bank showed that the payments were made to pay mortgages in the name of a certain female. Owens told an investigator he allegedly had used the Carlisle account to pay the two mortgages for his girlfriend. He said he saw a business check from Carlisle School, copied down the routing number and account number, and used them to pay the two mortgage companies over the phone.

Also in Henry County Circuit Court on Wednesday, Angel Louise Adkins of Bassett pleaded guilty to felony credit card theft and felony failure to appear for trial. The commonwealth dropped a third charge of misdemeanor credit card fraud.

Judge Williams sentenced Adkins on each of the charges to which she pleaded guilty to five years in prison, with three months to serve (a total of six months to serve on both charges), with the balance suspended on condition of two years of supervised probation, five years of good behavior and payment of $91.07 in restitution to Home Trust Bank with interest until paid.

The commonwealths evidence alleged that on Oct. 31, 2015, Tracy Moore stated she dropped her debit card while at Family Dollar at 18309 A.L. Philpott Highway but did not know it at the time. She called her bank, Home Trust, when she realized her card was missing, but before the card could be canceled, it was used at Fas Mart at 3040 Greensboro Road. A surveillance video at Family Dollar recorded a woman bending down and picking up the debit card.

On Nov. 11, 2015, Adkins allegedly admitted to an investigator she took the card that was found in the parking lot of Family Dollar and that someone else used the card at Fas Mart.

Paul Collins reports for the Martinsville Bulletin and can be reached at paul.collins@martinsvillebulletin.com.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 13

By Anakhanum Hidayatova  Trend:

The EU is currently discussing a draft mandate to negotiate a new agreement with Azerbaijan, the EU press service in Brussels told Trend.

This reflects the emphasis on differentiation in the EU's recently reviewed European Neighbourhood Policy, the press service added.

Earlier, Deputy Head of the Foreign Ministry of Azerbaijan Mahmud Mammad-Guliyev said that the EU may issue Azerbaijan a mandate to start negotiations on a new agreement on strategic partnership in October 2016.

Azerbaijan is an important partner of the EU, the press service noted. We hope to launch negotiations on the new agreement soon.

The EU delegation is scheduled to take part in the EU-Azerbaijan Justice, Freedom and Security (JFS) and Human Rights Subcommittee meeting October 12-13.

The main purpose of the meeting is to take stock of the JFS, Human Rights and Democracy situation in the country, assess the progress made by the country in all relevant areas, and explore ways to deepen the EU-Azerbaijan cooperation in this new context of our bilateral relations, said the EU press service.

Currently, bilateral relations between the EU and Azerbaijan are regulated on the basis of the partnership and cooperation agreement which was signed in 1996 and entered into force in 1999.

The new agreement envisages bringing Azerbaijan's legislation and procedures closer to the most important international and trade standards of the EU. This process is meant to improve the access of Azerbaijani products to the EU markets.

---

Follow the author on Twitter: @Anahanum
This week has seen a dramatic escalation in the student protests which have flared up on a national scale over the past four weeks. The protest movement is sweeping across the country and shows no signs of abating. Protests of the scale and scope of these have not been seen since the student uprisings of the mid-1980s.

At University of KwaZulu-Natal Howard College campus in Durban, there are ongoing running battles between protesters and police. The university has responded by suspending the academic programme due to the volatile situation. At UKZNs Westville campus, classes were also suspended after clashes between protesters and security guards on Monday, October 10. Police returned to the campus to support the security guards and followed the students to the residences of the college, where the clashes intensified. Police fired rubber bullets and stun grenades. Demonstrators responded by throwing tables, chairs, and other objects.

#FeesMustFall Students earlier tried to face off with police, but dispersed as soon as the nyala approached. #TUT pic.twitter.com/7S8DP2P4UF  Jacaranda News (@JacaNews) October 13, 2016

Similar scenes have played out at Wits University in Johannesburg, CPUT in Cape Town, the North West University in Mafikeng. There are also ongoing clashes at UWC in Cape Town, NMMU in Port Elizabeth, DUT in Durban, UFS in Bloemfontein, the University of Johannesburg and Stellenbosch University in the Western Cape. The University of Cape Town has been closed since the start of the week. In a dramatic turn of events, students from Tshwane University of Technology brought the capital city to a standstill on Wednesday, October 12. Police fired rubber bullets at the protesters who have found an ingenious way of shielding themselves from incoming bullets with ironing boards!

#TUT Die polisie het no skote geskiet. Lyk soos rubberkoeels. pic.twitter.com/R1oFitvCgZ  Nico Gous (@Nico_Gous) October 12, 2016

In some of the campuses the prevailing mood can only be described as insurrectionary. At universities such as the University of Witwatersrand, Cape Peninsula University of Technology and the University of Kwazulu-Natal the scenes are reminiscent of the insurrectionary situations of 1976 and 1985. The state has responded by deploying police on a scale not seen at universities since the days of the hated apartheid regime.

Running battles between students and police, a common occurrence in the townships for years, have now spilled over into leafy suburbs, such as Braamfontein in Johannesburg.The sight of riot police, protesters, barricades, and the sounds of rubber bullets and tear gas being fired in the more affluent areas have shaken the middle classes. Suddenly, scenes at black universities like TUT and CPUT which they had seen on television for years, are now taking place live in their very doorsteps. In horror, words such as anarchy and thuggery are expressed together with references to so-called violent revolutionand even Arab Spring. The ruling class, through its control of the media, has gone into overdrive in its attempt to demonise the legitimate struggle of the students. Suddenly violence is bemoaned only because the students, who are defending themselves, are seen as a threat to the absolute monopoly of violence of the bourgeois state.

The acting national police commissioner, Khomotso Phahlane has ruled out declaring a state of emergency for now. But it is clear that some sections of the state are considering the possibility. At a media briefing in Pretoria, the commissioner gave an insight into the thought process behind it: As and when the need arises, there are processes to be activated, but we believe we are too far from a state of emergency. This is an issue we are grappling with in confined spaces - the institutions of learning.

#Feesmustfall Wits - Photo: Thobekani LoseThe very fact that they are even mentioning it speaks volumes. The implication is that it is a question of timing and circumstance which will be considered once the protests go beyond the confined spaces of universities. Ironically as he was saying this, the turmoil at Wits overflowed into the streets of Johannesburg.

Panic demands are made on the government to do something! The government responded to this chorus by the deploying police on campuses on a scale last seen in the days of the regime of P.W. Botha. But this huge show of force by the government is in fact the greatest display of its weakness. The fact that the ANC government, which not so long ago commanded the overwhelming support from the masses, should respond to the legitimate demands of working class students through brute force is only confirmation of the collapse of its moral and political authority.

Crisis of the ruling class

This is the problem the ruling class as a whole is facing: the precipitous decline of the ANC over the recent period. Furthermore, the ruling class does not have a second party with the necessary authority to redirect the anger and frustrations which have been pouring out onto the streets into safe channels. This is a crisis of monumental proportions for the bourgeoisie. The only solution for them from this perspective is the kind of heavy handedness we are currently witnessing. But, in a downward spiral, this is only further eroding the authority of the government.

This crisis facing the ruling class has been brewing since the so-called transition of 1994. For the last two decades the ruling class has tried to overcome the crisis by governing society indirectly through the ANC. In an attempt to chain the ANC leaders to themselves, the white capitalist class conceded direct state control to the upstart black elite. An elaborate system of illegal and legal corruption was put in place. Over time this introduced contradictions in the ruling class itself because it spawned a Frankensteins monster in the form of upstart capitalists which make their profits through plundering the state machinery. The contradictions within the ruling class have grown into an open life and death struggle. This has resulted in deep factional battles within the ANC and in the heart of government itself. In the words of Deputy President, Cyril Ramaphosa, the government is at war with itself.

Jacob Zuma - Photo: World Economic Forum /Matthew Jordaan The role of the ANC leaders from the perspective of the bourgeois class was to hold back the masses and to implement capitalist policies which an openly bourgeois government could never have done given the balance of class forces. But the very success of the ANC in implementing these capitalist policies, together with the looting of state resources has eroded the very legitimacy and authority of the ANC leaders. That is why the old/traditional big bourgeois are opposed to the Zuma clique. They are not opposed to corruption and nepotism - which are a natural part of the way capitalism works - but to the blatant and crude way the Zuma clique is carrying this out, which in turn is destabilising the system as a whole.

Ironically, as the students protests intensified this week, the war in government has also intensified. After months of infighting, the National Prosecuting Authority, one of the state institutions which is being used by the Zuma faction in this thieves kitchen battle, has brought a charge of fraud against the finance minister. The same NPA is fighting tooth and nail to prevent bringing 783 charges including corruption, fraud, racketeering and money laundering against president Zuma which have hung over his head for the past seven years. This is only intensifying the factional battles raging in the ANC. These shenanigans of the ruling elites confirm that these actors neither have the necessary internal cohesion nor the legitimacy to solve the higher education crisis which is part of the broader crisis of the capitalist system. What we are witnessing is a crisis of the regime.

Dead end of capitalism

The students, reflect a deep seated sense that the government has nothing to offer other than broken promises. In the last analysis, the students are conveying a deep unhappiness and resentment with the post-1994 dispensation. The ANC came into power on the back of a mass movement in 1994 with promises of housing, better jobs, healthcare, land reform and education. But now two decades later the new born free generation is having to fight the same battles of past generations.

Since 2008 tuition fees have climbed by as much as 80 percent. This was as a direct result of the cuts in government funding of higher education. The government has introduced cuts in an attempt to cap the budget deficit, currently standing at 4 percent of GDP. With growth stalling at under 1 percent and the economy hit by the crisis of overproduction on a global scale, the government has introduced a programme of serious cuts and attacks against living standards. This shows the complete dead-end of capitalism in South Africa which is incapable of solving the most basic needs and problems of the masses.

The crisis of higher education is only the tip of the iceberg. In fact the struggle has already gone beyond the question of fees and education itself. The mood of the youth reflects a widespread rage and frustration against the ruling class itself.

While the latest splits and crises in the trade union movement might have had a temporary depressing effect on the trade union struggles, the working class is very strong and confident coming out of a period in which it gained many important victories. But the protests of the students can give us valuable insights into the mood of the working class masses themselves. As always, the youth, are a barometer of the way the wind of class struggle is blowing and anticipate larger developments in the next period.

The lack of direct participation from the working class in this struggle is reflected in the character of the movement. The greater numbers, discipline and organisational capabilities together with the role of the working class in the production process could given the protests an entirely different character. Although the shutdowns of universities look very dramatic and are certainly causing serious headaches to the government and university managements, they do not shut down or affect the economy like a workers strike would do.

Students across the country have instinctively come to this realisation as is shown by the support given to workers throught the fight against outsourcing. The students of Wits have also marched to COSATU House on 23 September to ask for solidarity from the labour federation. This has shown a correct instinct to connect with workers. However the right-wing COSATU leadership is not up to the challenge. They did not put forward any programme which could link up the struggles of workers and students. The only commitment they made to the students was to march with the students on 14 October. Had the students accepted this and postponed their protests for three weeks, it could have killed the movement. Luckily, the pressure from the ranks of the movement was sufficiently strong to overcome this blatant manoeuvre from the COSATU office bearers. Thus the crucial step of connecting the workers and the workers movement is being blocked by the workers leaders.

Here NUMSA and the unions which were expelled from COSATU bear a big responsibility. The NUMSA leadership has correctly sided with the students, demanded the abolition of tuition fees and condemned violence against the students. In a statement it clearly identified the broader implication of the students struggle: The union reiterates its full support for the students struggle for free education and urges them to unite with primary and high school learners, and young workers, employed and unemployed, to fight the common enemy  the neoliberal economic policies championed by the ANC government on behalf of white monopoly capitalism, which have perpetuated and worsened the levels of unemployment, poverty and inequality. This is absolutely correct. When the students demand free education, the obvious question is: who is going to pay for it? And the only answer is: the expropriation of mines, banks and monopolies is the only way to guarantee free education, jobs for all, decent houses, etc.

NUMSA should go one step further and call for a national day of action in support of the struggle of the students, with mass meetings in the workplaces, work stoppages and joint mass disciplined demonstrations.

The students are determined and repression, at this stage, is only making them more angry and determined. As the Fees Must Fall Western Cape FB page declared: As we run for our lives from private security and police rubber bullets, lest we forget Blade Nzimandes words when he said Students Must Fall. Indeed students are falling. But like the soldiers that we are, we will rise again, and march towards victory, for it is the only logical conclusion. The government is weak and against the ropes, faced with massive protests and riddled with corruption scandals. But it will take sustained mass action and worker-student unity to make it retreat.

Whatever the immediate outcome of this struggle, the crisis of capitalism is opening up a period of fierce class struggle and revolution in South Africa. The ruling class is in a deep crisis and is unable to rule as it used to; the middle classes are in turmoil and are gradually being drawn into mass struggles and the poor and working masses are being radicalised. The student movement is an anticipation of revolutionary mass struggles on a far bigger scale in the next period.

What is needed is to prepare for this by building a real revolutionary leadership to connect all the struggles and focus them. An independent revolutionary leadership of the working class, committed to fighting for the overthrow of the system of capitalism which is the root cause of the problems of the masses.

But such a leadership is not simply proclaimed nor does it fall from the sky. It is the task of the revolutionary youth and workers to patiently build such a force, basing themselves on the fundamental ideas of Marxism. Once the core of such a force has been established it can grow rapidly in the conditions of crisis and class struggle in South Africa today. Capitalism has nothing to offer the South African masses, the only solution is the overthrow of this rotten system and the building of a new socialist society. We call on all revolutionary workers and youth to join the International Marxist Tendency in South Africa to prepare for the revolutionary struggles which are to come.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 13

By Anakhanum Hidayatova  Trend:

Three subcommittee meetings between Azerbaijan and the EU on trade and economy have been held, and the fourth meeting will be held on Oct. 14, Malena Mard, head of the EU delegation in Azerbaijan, told reporters in Baku Oct. 13.

She said these meetings give an opportunity to exchange experience with Azerbaijani colleagues.

The diplomat said it is important that Azerbaijan and the EU resume dialogue within the subcommittees.

She expressed confidence that concrete results will be achieved in various fields and the meeting of the energy subcommittee will be held before late 2016.

Regarding the new legal framework of negotiations between the EU and Azerbaijan on strategic cooperation, Mard said a decision of all the EU member countries is expected for that, and then negotiations will begin in the near future.

Negotiations on this issue continue in Brussels, the diplomat added.

---

Follow the author on Twitter: @Anahanum
Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 13

By Seba Aghayeva  Trend:

Turkey always supports Azerbaijans fair position in the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, said the newly appointed Turkish ambassador to Azerbaijan, Erkan Ozoral.

He made the remarks Oct. 13 during a meeting with Azerbaijans Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov.

The diplomat expressed gratitude for Azerbaijans support to Turkey after the July 15 military coup attempt, Azerbaijani Foreign Ministrys press service told Trend.

Azerbaijan, as always, stands by Turkey in this issue, noted Mammadyarov.

During the meeting, the sides noted the importance of further development of trade and economic relations between the two countries and expressed satisfaction with the successful continuation of work on the Trans Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline (TANAP).

The Turkish ambassador expressed readiness to put efforts for development of relations between the two brotherly states.

The sides also exchanged views on issues of mutual interest.
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Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 13

Trend:

Presentation of Young Robotic Engineers Project was held at Baku Higher Oil School (BHOS).

The project was initiated by Kerim Kerimov, a fourth-year BHOS student specializing in Process Automation Engineering who became a winner of the 8th contest for grants of the Youth Foundation under the president of the Azerbaijan Republic.

Opening the meeting, Rector of BHOS Elmar Gasimov welcomed the attendants and emphasized the importance of robotics technology as a strategic direction in the development of science, technology and innovation-based economics. Afterwards, a famous young Azerbaijani scientist Teymur Sadikhov, who worked at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), delivered a lecture.

There are 20 first-year and second-year students from various universities of Baku participating in the project and compiling five teams of four persons in each.

During the project implementation, the participants will attend a five-day workshop to be conducted with usage of methodological guidelines and reference material covering theory and practice of the robotics technology.

On the last day of the workshop, a competition for robot design and construction will be organized. Each member of the winning team will receive a set of electronic parts for training purposes to be regularly used for applying knowledge into practice.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 13

By Orkhan Quluzade  Trend:

Turkish Stream is not a rival to the Trans-Anatolian Gas Pipeline (TANAP), Saltuk Duzyol, head of TANAP consortium, said in an interview with TRT Haber on Oct. 13.

He said TANAP has two contracts for gas transportation for a period of 15 years, which guarantees its stable income.

Turkish Stream is unable to provide such benefits as TANAP, which opens up a new route for gas supply to Turkey and Europe and contributes to diversification of sources," Duzyol said.

He added that Turkey expects to receive the first gas via TANAP in the city of Eskisehir before June 2018.

The consortium has signed contracts worth more than $5 billion, he added. Some $3 billion have been already spent for the construction. The construction involves 8,000 people.

Duzyol said that once TANAP is constructed, Azerbaijan will become the second supplier of gas to the Turkish market, leaving Iran behind.

TANAP project envisages transportation of gas from Azerbaijans Shah Deniz field to the western borders of Turkey. The length of TANAP is 1,800 kilometers with the initial capacity of 16 billion cubic meters.

Around six billion cubic meters of this gas will be delivered to Turkey and the remaining volume will be supplied to Europe.

The gas will be delivered to Turkey in 2018, and after completion of the Trans Adriatic Pipelines construction, the gas will be delivered to Europe in early 2020.



TANAP shareholders are Azerbaijans state oil company SOCAR (58 percent), BOTAS (30 percent) and BP (12 percent).

Russia and Turkey signed an intergovernmental agreement on the implementation of the Turkish Stream project on October 10. The agreement is for construction of two branches of the pipeline through the Black Sea, the capacity of each branch being 15.75 billion cubic meters of gas.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 13

By Orkhan Quluzade  Trend:

The Southern Gas Corridor (SGC) is the most important project for BP, Tufan Erginbilgic, BPs downstream chief executive, told reporters Oct. 13 on the sidelines of the 23rd World Energy Congress in Istanbul.

Erginbilgic said the project worth $45 billion is important both for BP and the energy market.

The Southern Gas Corridor project has already been implemented by 83 percent, he noted, adding that the Trans Anatolian Natural Gas Pipelines (TANAP) construction is being carried out in line with the schedule.

He reminded that BP has a 20-percent share in the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP).

These projects are creating a large amount of work for our company, he added.

Erginbilgic also noted that TANAP will help Turkey become an energy hub.

Thanks to its geopolitical location, Turkey can get more natural gas, he added.

Despite that Ankara wants to use mostly coal and renewable energy sources in the future, the country wont reject the gas, he added.

The Southern Gas Corridor is one of the priority energy projects for the EU. It envisages the transportation of 10 billion cubic meters of Azerbaijani gas from the Caspian region to the European countries through Georgia and Turkey.

At the initial stage, the gas to be produced as part of the Stage 2 of development of Azerbaijan's Shah Deniz field is considered as the main source for the Southern Gas Corridor project. Other sources can also join this project at a later stage.

As part of the Stage 2 of the Shah Deniz development, the gas will be exported to Turkey and European markets by expanding the South Caucasus Pipeline and the construction of TANAP and TAP.

The 23rd World Energy Congress will end on Oct. 13.

---

Follow the author on Twitter: @o_quluzade
Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 13

By Anvar Mammadov  Trend:

Azerbaijan is preparing a list of foreign retailers where some racks with Made in Azerbaijan branded products will be created, said Azerbaijani Economy Minister Shahin Mustafayev.

He was addressing an expanded meeting of the board of Azerbaijans Ministry of Economy, dedicated to implementation of the tasks set by President Ilham Aliyev at the Oct. 7 meeting of Cabinet of Ministers, the Economy Ministry said.

Mustafayev said it was suggested to create such racks primarily in duty free shops in the largest airports all over the world.

It was suggested to create special racks under the Made in Azerbaijan brand in Istanbul, Moscow, Frankfurt, Dubai airports, as well as at famous Russian retailers. Azerbaijani wine, jam, honey, carpets and kalaghais [traditional Azerbaijani womens silk headgear] will be presented on these racks, said the minister.

---

Follow the author on Twitter: @Anvar_Mammadov
The American Pickers team returns to North Carolina and they are looking for some hidden treasures.

Do you know anyone in McDowell who might be interested?

Mike Wolfe, Frank Fritz, and their team are excited to return to North Carolina

They plan to film episodes of the hit series American Pickers throughout the region this fall.

The show is a documentary series that explores the fascinating world of antique  picking  on History.

The hit show follows Mike and Frank, two of the most skilled pickers in the business, as they hunt for Americas most valuable antiques. They are always excited to find sizeable, unique collections and learn the interesting stories behind them.

As they hit the back roads from coast to coast, Mike and Frank are on a mission to recycle and rescue forgotten relics. Along the way, the Pickers want to meet characters with remarkable and exceptional items. The pair hopes to give historically significant objects a new lease on life, while learning a thing or two about Americas past along the way.

Mike and Frank have seen a lot of rusty gold over the years and are always looking to discover something theyve never seen before. They are ready to find extraordinary items and hear fascinating tales about them. American Pickers is looking for leads and would love to explore your hidden treasure.

If you or someone you know has a large, private collection or accumulation of antiques that the Pickers can spend the better part of the day looking through, send in your name, phone number, location and description of the collection with photos to:

americanpickers@cineflix.com or call 855-old-rust.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 13

By Orkhan Quluzade  Trend:

The Southern Gas Corridor project is beneficial to everybody, Zhecho Stankov, Bulgarian deputy energy minister, said.

Stankov made the remarks during the 23rd World Energy Congress in Istanbul, Turkish media reported.

He added that Bulgaria pays special attention to the project.

"Many countries and companies have united efforts to implement the Southern Gas Corridor project," he said. "This project is meant not only for the Caspian gas transportation, it has other aspects as well."

The Southern Gas Corridor is one of the priority energy projects for the EU. It envisages the transportation of 10 billion cubic meters of Azerbaijani gas from the Caspian region to the European countries through Georgia and Turkey.

At the initial stage, the gas to be produced as part of the Stage 2 of development of Azerbaijan's Shah Deniz field is considered as the main source for the Southern Gas Corridor project. Other sources can also join this project at a later stage.

As part of the Stage 2 of the Shah Deniz development, the gas will be exported to Turkey and European markets by expanding the South Caucasus Pipeline and the construction of TANAP and TAP.

---

Follow the author on Twitter: @o_quluzade
Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 12

By Elmira Tariverdiyeva  Trend:

Ankara doesnt want to become too dependent on Russia due to the agreement on the implementation of the Turkish Stream project and wants to maintain its strong relationship with Azerbaijan, Frank Umbach, senior associate at the Centre for European Security Strategies (CESS GmbH), told Trend Oct. 12.

The bilateral reconciliation is in political and economic interests of both Turkey and Russia, but it also has still its limits and constraints and is perceived with mistrust in the EU, US and Saudi Arabia, said Umbach, who is also a research director at the European Centre for Energy and Resource Security (EUCERS) of the Kings College, London.

Russia and Turkey signed an intergovernmental agreement Oct. 10 on the implementation of the Turkish Stream project, which envisages deliveries of Russian natural gas to Turkey and Eastern Europe.

In contrast to the original plan of the Turkish Stream with four pipelines and a total capacity of 63 billion cubic meters (replacing the previous South Stream Pipeline Project), for the time being, only one or two pipelines appear realistic given the fact that one pipeline (by circumventing Ukraine) will replace Russia's Balkan Pipeline supplying Turkey, he noted.

The capacity of the Blue Stream Pipeline, via which Russia supplies gas to Turkey, is still not fully used (only 60-70 percent), he said adding that Turkeys natural gas consumption tripled from 15 billion cubic meters to 48 billion cubic meters  experiencing the second biggest increase in gas demand worldwide (only behind China).

Turkey is facing one of the worldwide highest energy demand growth in the mid- and long-term future, said the expert adding that in 2014, Russia supplied around 55 percent of Turkeys gas demand (27.4 billion cubic meters).

"While Russia has not cut its present gas supplies to Turkey, the geopolitical conflict with Russia has threatened the renewal of two supply contracts with a total of 36 billion cubic meters of Turkeys annual gas imports: Gazproms supply contracts for its western Balkan route gas pipeline needs to be renewed in 2021 and its Black Sea Blue Stream gas pipeline route  in 2025," noted Umbach.

"Any third or fourth Turkish Stream pipeline supplying Europe via Turkey needs to overcome complex regulatory issues with the support of the European Commission," he said. "As the European Council of EU member states and the European Commission have made clear since 2015, Ukraine's transit status for Russian gas supplies to Europe is in the interests of both Ukraine and Europe."

In this regard, Russia's Turkish Stream project is also complicating Russia's Nord Stream 2 project [which runs from Russia to Europe through Baltic countries] in addition to its overall strategic objectives to reduce its gas supply dependence on Russia and to increase its diversification of gas imports, according to the expert.

He added that given Russia's recent military activities in Syria and the present mood in the European Parliament, the European Commission and many EU member states, Russian gas supply projects need to be interpreted in a new energy and foreign policy environment.

The bilateral reconciliation between Turkey and Russia is at least partly been fueled by their rather deteriorating relations with the US and the EU, believes Umbach, but both the West and Turkey have a mutual strategic interest in the full implementation of the Southern Gas Corridor and TANAP projects.

Ankara also doesnt want to become too dependent on Russia and wants to maintain its strong relationship with Azerbaijan and will still seek a greater diversification of its gas imports, said the expert, adding that despite strong common energy and economic interests, the energy and foreign policy fields will also remain areas of mutual competition between Moscow and Ankara.

Thus, one of the major lessons since 2015 has been that despite strong common interests, both sides were willing to reduce their bilateral relations from a strategic partnership to a serious geopolitical confrontation of interests, added the expert.
by Amy Corr @MediaPostOTL, October 12, 2016

Thelaunched a TV and social media campaign that asked kids to think of ways to solve climate change. "Let's not leave it for our kids to figure out," sets out to show parents that not working on solving climate change now will result in a big mess for their kids to clean up. In the first ad , environmentalist David Suzuki speaks to an auditorium full of kids, giving them the harsh facts about the Earth's future. When he's done speaking, the camera pans around to capture the stunned, confused looks on the children's faces.

In the next ad, kids with pen and paper outline climate change and the things adults should be doing to help. Canadians are encouraged to get involved with the Ontario Government's 5-Year Climate Change Action Plan.

Grey Canada created the campaign and PhD Canada handled the media buy.
by Adam Buckman , Featured Columnist, October 13, 2016

Falling Water has nothing to do with the famous house in western Pennsylvania designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. Eyewitness is not connected in any way to your local TV news.

If you think the two sentences above introducing this blog post about two new dramas on USA Network signal the onset of a fun column, then guess again.

Fun has nothing to do with them. Theyre grim tales, one more so than the other. Both of them feature a requisite supply of multiple corpses -- telegraphing that they intend to assert themselves as serious dramas worthy of inclusion in the pantheon of quality dramatic TV series that everyone raves about these days.

The first one -- titled Falling Water and premiering Thursday night -- begins with a young woman screaming (Lizzie Brochere, pictured above left). She is seemingly in the midst of giving birth, but then the scene veers off into dream territory.

Dreams are what this show is about. Specifically, its about three people -- this young woman who works as a freelance photographer and trendspotter, a New York homicide detective, and a man who works as the head of security at some sort of high-powered investment firm.

In the premiere episode, their stories are shown separately, although we gradually learn that they are each having dreams that contain elements in common. What this will lead to is not made clear in Episode One.

The shows title -- Falling Water -- remains obscure as well, except that water does make an appearance occasionally. Confusion reigns, however (pun intended), because its not falling water -- such as rain, for example -- but more like the kind of water that seeps mysteriously into a room from under a door, as it does at least once (and possibly more than once).

The corpses in Falling Water begin to stack up as part of a storyline involving a series of murders that appear to be ritualistic. Can clues to these killings be found in these interlocking dreams? This would seem to be the point.

Filmed on various locations in and around New York City, the cinematography in Falling Water has a washed-out feel -- as if the shows producers couldnt decide whether it should be in black-and-white or color. It ends up being a little bit of both.

At various spots, "Falling Water" adopts a theme thats become common on TV these days -- typified by USAs Mr. Robot, as a matter of fact -- in which ordinary people are just pawns in a world where unseen forces (in this case, from the world of high finance) control us all. Dream on, USA.

Meanwhile, the same ambiguous cinematography afflicts this other USA series called Eyewitness, which is about a triple murder in a cabin in the woods in upstate New York.

This show is the grimmer of the two new shows, although not by much. The eyewitness of the title is a teenage boy from a troubled home in New York City who is being foster-parented by a childless couple in the upstate town of Tivoli in Dutchess County. The wife (played by Julianne Nicholson, pictured above right) is the town sheriff.

There were actually two eyewitnesses to this gory cabin massacre -- this teenage boy plus another boy. The two were having a romantic interlude in this secluded cabin when these thugs suddenly showed up and the teen boys quickly hid themselves away.

The aforementioned troubled teen hid under the bed. If memory serves, the other one may have hid in a closet, which was appropriate since he doesnt want anyone to know hes gay. Because of that, the two agreed not to tell anyone about what they witnessed -- even the one boys foster mother, who is the sheriff investigating the crime. Oh, what tangled webs we weave, right?

Unlike Falling Water, Eyewitness is one of these 10-episode anthology series that TV is so enamored with these days. Eyewitness bears similarities to The Killing, particularly in its dreary locations and glacial pacing. The show probably wants to be more like Fargo, but its a pale imitation.

With both of these new shows and others, USA Network is evidently recasting itself from a network of fun, relatively lighthearted fare (typified by shows such as Royal Pains, Burn Notice, Covert Affairs and White Collar) to this new edgy USA in which people have violent dreams, bear witness to multiple murders, seek to become drug queenpins (Queen of the South) and conduct cyber attacks against the global power structure (Mr. Robot).

With this new approach, USA threatens to become just like every other network. And wheres the fun in that?

Falling Water premieres Thursday night (Oct. 13) at 10 Eastern and Eyewitness premieres Sunday night (Oct. 16) at 10 Eastern  both on USA Network.
by Thom Forbes @tforbes, October 13, 2016

After taking a beating in Congress, the press and social media over his leadership during the consumer banking scandal that led to Wells Fargo firing 5,300 low-level workers and paying $185 million in fines, Well Fargo chairman and CEO John Stumpf yesterday announced his retirement, effective immediately.

I have decided it is best for the company that I step aside, Stumpf says in a statement.

Now it's no secret that corporate press releases announcing the departure of a top executive often use the word retire as a euphemism, and this one was no different. The fact that Wells Fargo announced a sweeping management reorganization just days before the bank will have to face analysts after it reports third-quarter earnings lends some intrigue to the development, but it had the air of inevitability, observesBloomberg Gadfly columnist Michael P. Regan.

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It was an extraordinary moment even in the banking industry, which has been bedeviled by criticism and regular scandals since the financial crisis. Despite the industrys many troubles, relatively few banking chiefs have stepped down under outside pressure, writeThe New York Times Michael Corkery and Stacy Cowley. But Wells Fargos transgressions were unusually blatant and straightforward, which contributed to the still-mounting public outcry.

That would include, as you might expect, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D.-Mass.), who went on a tirade on Twitter, according to a CNBC headline. As I said: @WellsFargo CEO Stumpf should resign, return every nickel he made during the scam, & face DOJ/SEC investigation. Hes 1 for 3, was the first of several tweets Warren made in the evening hours. A bank teller would face criminal charges & a prison sentence for stealing a handful of 20s from the cash drawer was another.

Stumpfs job is being split between Tim Sloan, who has been widely viewed as a likely successor since he was named president and COO last November, and lead director Stephen Sanger, who will become Wells Fargos non-executive chair. Independent director Elizabeth Duke will serve as vice chair.

Sloan, 56, who joined the bank 29 years ago and has held leadership positions in the banks wholesale and commercial banking operations, had no exposure to the consumer banking scams.

Stumpf's exit leaves Sloan with a steep challenge in rebuilding its reputation and overhauling its hard-charging sales culture without gutting profits. The new CEO will also contend with ongoing regulatory investigations and private litigation, write Reuters Dan Freed and Elizabeth Dilts.

They had three goals in replacing Stumpf: speed, integrity, and competence, Peter Conti-Brown, a business ethics and law professor at University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business, tells Freed and Dilts. If you want to move very fast and find someone intimately familiar with the business, youve got to hire an insider.

Investors liked the move. The banks stock popped in after-hours trading, according to Barrons, rising 1.5% by 5:30 p.m.

Stumpf will not receive a severance payment, according to Wells Fargo, Maggie McGrath reports in Forbes.

According to a March 2016 proxy statement, Stumpf is entitled to a $24 million supplemental cash balance plan, though the spokesperson said that the proceeds from this benefit are not paid until six months after retirement, McGrath writes. He had earlier agreed to forfeit $41 million in unvested equity awards and forego a salary while the Wells Fargo board launched an independent investigation.

Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, an authority on corporate governance at Yale, said Stumpf proved to be a deer caught in the headlights with a tin ear in understanding, addressing, and communicating the problem, write Matt Egan, Jackie Wattles and Cristina Alesci for CNN Money.

Mind you, not everybody sees reality the same way, as you know if youve been paying any attention at all to any headlines recently.

Writing for the AustralianFinancial Review, John Kehoe warns that Stumpfs resignation is yet further evidence that investors must be alert to politics weighing heavily on banks around the world. Kehoe suggests that Congress has claimed a big scalp in forcing the hand of Mr. Stumpf, and left him little option but to fall on his sword. And, looking at the big, global picture, he warns: If politicians from Washington to Canberra get their way, it won't be the final profit-sapping blow banks are dealt.

And, no, to answer your question. Rupert Murdoch does not own the AustralianFinancial Review.
by Wendy Davis , Staff Writer @wendyndavis, October 13, 2016

Earlier this year, Florida resident Colin Brickman accused Facebook of violating a consumer protection law by sending him unwanted text messages about his friends' birthdays.

Brickman alleged in a class-action complaint that Facebook was violating the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, which prohibits companies from texting people without their express permission.

Facebook recently asked U.S. District Court Judge Thelton Henderson in San Francisco to dismiss the lawsuit for a variety of reasons, including that it has a free speech right to send the texts. "Messages about a persons birthday undoubtedly constitute speech entitled to First Amendment protection," Facebook argued in papers filed with Henderson in August.

The social networking service also contends that the Federal Communications Commission's decision to exempt some type of messages -- including emergency notices and texts sent in order to collect a debt owed to the federal government -- shows that the law isn't being applied even-handedly.

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Those exceptions "allow the government to pick and choose what speech is desirable and what speech is not," Facebook asserts.

This week, the Obama administration asked Henderson to reject Facebook's challenge to the law.

"The Act prohibits one narrow category of calls (including text messages) to wireless numbers: those made using an automatic telephone dialing system or an artificial or pre-recorded voice and directed at a cell phone belonging to a recipient who has not previously consented to receive the calls," the government adds. "The statute does not differentiate among calls depending on whether they are ideological, political, or commercial in nature."

If the judge accepts Facebook's argument, the decision could have ramifications for much of Silicon Valley. In the last several years, consumers throughout the country have sued a host of companies, including Twitter, Uber and Yahoo, for violating the text-spam law.

Facebook itself is facing at least two other lawsuits alleging violations of the statute; in both cases, Facebook allegedly sent people SMS messages after they obtained reassigned cell phone numbers. Facebook has already mounted a free-speech challenge to the text-spam law in one of those cases; the judge presiding over that matter hasn't yet ruled on Facebook's argument that the law is unconstitutional.
Gentlemens magazines are well known for their liberal usage of sexist humor and a masculine take on subject matter. A group of studies released this week demonstrate the extent to which these magazines normalize sexism.

Share on Pinterest Researchers uncover the sexism in gentlemens magazines in a series of new studies.

Magazines such as FHM and GQ have always argued that their brand of sexist humor is harmless.

The magazines hold this view because, they claim, their readers see the humor as ironic.

A trio of studies, published this week in the journal Psychology of Men and Masculinities, puts this old way of thinking to bed.

These latest three studies on the topic are a joint effort between social psychologists at the University of Surrey, Clark University, University of Ghent and Middlesex University London, all in the United Kingdom.

The present studies build on findings from previous research carried out by the University of Surrey. Results from their earlier work sparked renewed public debate about whether gentlemens magazines help to normalize sexist attitudes in society at large.

In 2012, a series of studies found that men could not distinguish between quotations from gentlemens magazines and convicted rapists. Also, the participants were shown to identify more with the quote (whichever source it came from) if they were told that it had been taken from a magazine, rather than a criminal.

This research helped firm up a government decision to put gentlemens magazines in black wrappers on supermarket shelves in the U.K.
While marijuana remains the most commonly used illicit drug in the United States, it is becoming increasingly legalized, making it more important than ever to identify the potential harms of the drug. Now, a new study finds that regular, heavy marijuana use may reduce bone density, increasing the risk of osteoporosis and bone fractures.

Share on Pinterest Researchers found heavy marijuana use was linked to a reduction in bone density.

According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), a 2014 survey identified around 22.2 million past-month marijuana users, with use of the drug highest among teenagers and young adults.

To date, 25 U.S. states and Washington, D.C., have legalized marijuana for medical and/or recreational purposes, and this number is expected to rise.

While such legalization is welcomed by many, others have raised concerns that it will lead to a dramatic rise in recreational use of the drug, exposing more individuals to its possible health risks.

As such, there has been increasing focus on identifying such risks; recent studies have suggested the drug may impair blood vessel function and increase the risk of periodontal disease.

Now, a new study  published in the American Journal of Medicine  suggests poorer bone health can be added to the list.
Experts have created a shortlist of environmental factors that may contribute to our risk of developing dementia.

The list includes exposure to air pollution and a lack of vitamin D but researchers caution that the evidence is not yet sufficient to draw solid conclusions.

The team say that future research should focus on their shortlist, which points to the factors that show at least moderate evidence of a link.

Dementia is known to be associated with lifestyle factors such as high blood pressure in mid-life, smoking, diabetes, obesity, depression and low educational attainment, as well as genetic factors.

These risk factors however, leave around a third of dementia risk unexplained. Researchers led by the University of Edinburgh sought to determine whether other issues are at play, including the environment in which we live.

The team from the University's Alzheimer Scotland Dementia Research Centre reviewed dozens of previous studies that have considered environmental risk factors linked to dementia.

They found that a lack of vitamin D - produced by the body through exposure to sunlight - and exposure to air pollution were implicated, along with occupational exposure to some types of pesticide.

Excessive levels of minerals found in drinking water may be linked to the disease, the research suggested, but the evidence was mixed.

Dementia is a major global public health crisis that is expected to grow as people live longer. Almost 47 million people live with dementia worldwide and this is predicted to increase to more than 131 million by 2050.

Estimates indicate the disease costs the UK more than 26 billion annually and worldwide dementia care costs exceed the market value of Google or Apple each year.

There is a growing consensus among doctors that a significant proportion of cases could be prevented or delayed by addressing environmental factors linked to the disease.

The team behind the latest research says future studies should focus on the shortlist of environmental risk factors flagged up in their study.

The research, published in the journal BMC Geriatrics, was funded by Alzheimer Scotland and Dr Russ was supported by Alzheimer Scotland through the Marjorie MacBeath fellowship.

Dr Tom Russ, of the Alzheimer Scotland Dementia Research Centre at the University of Edinburgh, said: "Our ultimate goal is to prevent or delay the onset of dementia. Environmental risk factors are an important new area to consider here, particularly since we might be able to do something about them.

"We found that the evidence is particularly strong for air pollution and vitamin D deficiency. But we really need more research to find out whether these factors are actually causing dementia and how, and if so, what we can do to prevent this."

Jim Pearson, Director of Policy and Researcher at Alzheimer Scotland, said: "We welcome the findings of this important area of research from our colleagues at the Alzheimer Scotland Dementia Research Centre at the University of Edinburgh. The research study substantially improves our knowledge and understanding of environmental factors which may increase the risk of developing dementia and provides a basis for further, and more focussed, research in this area.

"Dementia is a global public health priority. There are 90,000 people living with dementia in Scotland and the number is on the rise. We need much more research into the causes of dementia, treatments and supports that allow people to live well with dementia as well as the prevention and cure of dementia."
A study conducted at the University of Eastern Finland revealed that a recently described T cell subset may have a central role in the development of type 1 diabetes. These so called follicular T helper cells were found to be increased at the onset of type 1 diabetes, and the phenomenon was linked with the presence of autoantibodies commonly associated with the disease.

Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease where the immune system destroys the insulin-producing beta cells in the pancreas. Type 1 diabetes typically manifests in childhood and early adolescence. Diabetes-associated autoantibodies are highly predictive of type 1 diabetes risk and they can be typically detected in the blood of patients even years before the onset of the disease.

T cells are immune cells that have an important role orchestrating the functions of the immune system. Follicular helper T cells are a recently described subset of T cells that have a central role in activating B cells, which in turn are responsible for producing antibodies.

Since the emergence of autoantibodies is a common feature of type 1 diabetes development, it is plausible that follicular T helper cells have a role in the disease process. This notion is also supported by evidence recently generated in the murine model of type 1 diabetes.

In a study led by Academy Research Fellow Tuure Kinnunen, samples from the Finnish DIPP follow-up study were used. In the DIPP study, children with an increased genetic risk for developing type 1 diabetes are longitudinally followed for the development of the disease. In the current study, the frequency of blood follicular T helper cells was observed to increase close to the onset of type 1 diabetes. Moreover, the phenomenon was only observed in a subgroup of children that were positive for multiple diabetes-associated autoantibodies. This finding suggests a connection between the activation of follicular helper T cells and the activation of autoantibody-producing B cells in type 1 diabetes.

Taken together, the current results support the idea that follicular helper T cells have a role in the development of type 1 diabetes. Immune therapies that target these cells can therefore be envisioned to have potential in the prevention of type 1 diabetes.

The study also involved researchers from the Universities of Turku, Helsinki, Tampere and Oulu.

Article: Circulating CXCR5+PD-1+ICOS+ Follicular T Helper Cells Are Increased Close to the Diagnosis of Type 1 Diabetes in Children with Multiple Autoantibodies, Tyyne Viisanen, Emmi-Leena Ihantola, Kirsti Nanto-Salonen, Heikki Hyoty, Noora Nurminen, Jenni Selvenius, Auni Juutilainen, Leena Moilanen, Jussi Pihlajamaki, Riitta Veijola, Jorma Toppari, Mikael Knip, Jorma Ilonen, Tuure Kinnunen, Diabetes, doi: 10.2337/db16-0714, published online 10 October 2016.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 13

By Elena Kosolapova - Trend:

The Board of Directors of Kazakh National company KazMunaiGas Refining and Marketing appointed Rufat Hodzhalakov to the post of the new General Director (Chairman of the Board) of the company.

The former head of the company Daniyar Tiessov was dismissed before the scheduled expiration of the term of his office.

Rufat Hodzhalakov earlier served as the deputy head of KazMunaiGas Refining and Marketing.

KazMunaiGas - Refining and Marketings activity is focused on oil refining and oil products production, sales of oil and oil products, oil products shipment and transshipment, and protection of state interests in oil and gas products sales.

Atyrau Refinery (99.53 percent), PetroKazakhstan Oil Products company owning Shymkent refinery (49.7 percent), Pavlodar Oil Chemistry Refinery (100 percent), KazMunaiGas Onmder company (100 percent), KazMunaiGas - Aero (100 percent), Caspi Bitum company (100 percent) are among the assets of KazMunaiGas Refining and Marketing.

Follow the author on Twitter: @E_Kosolapova
In this free webinar, learn about the rapidly growing cell and gene therapy and vaccine markets. Attendees will get an overview of the manufacturing process for adeno-associated virus (AAV) and how Akron Bio's new facility is designed to address ...
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The antibody, the team, used was designed to stop susceptible immune cells from entering intestinal tissues, a hot spot of damage during acute HIV and SIV infection. An analogous human antibody called vedolizumab was FDA-approved for the treatment of Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis in 2014. Based on the current findings, a pilot clinical trial, testing the safety of vedolizumab and its effect on HIV in people infected with the virus, has begun at NIAID."This comes from an idea I had many years ago: stopping CD4+ T cells from circulating into the gut may protect them during acute infection," says senior author Aftab Ansari, PhD, professor of pathology and laboratory medicine at Emory University School of Medicine and Yerkes National Primate Research Center. "But how it works in the setting of chronic infection is still far from clear. The antibody appears to have helped the entire immune system rebuild itself."The co-first authors of the paper are Emory researcher Siddappa Byrareddy, PhD, now an associate professor at University of Nebraska Medical Center, and James Arthos, PhD, and Claudia Cicala, PhD both of the Laboratory of Immunoregulation. Arthos and Cicala worked under the overall direction of co-author Anthony Fauci, MD, director of NIAID. The study was conducted at Yerkes National Primate Research Center, Emory University. Collaborators at University of Maryland, University of Michigan and the German Primate Center contributed to the paper.Several questions remain. How long can remission last? Which parts of the immune system are most important for viral control? And what differences between this experiment and HIV infection of humans might impede translation of this finding into the clinic?More than a million people in the USA and more than 35 million worldwide are living with HIV, many of them for years. Although antiretroviral drugs can suppress viral replication, residual low-level infection and the drugs themselves can still negatively affect health. The virus integrates into the DNA of immune cells and is thought to lurk in hard-to-eradicate reservoirs.In thepaper, the antibody the team used is against alpha4-beta7 integrin, which helps T cells find their way to intestinal lymphoid tissues. In 2008, NIAID researchers identified alpha4-beta7 integrin as a cell surface molecule involved in the association of the virus envelope with CD4+ T cells, but the antibody does not appear to directly block viral entry. Previous research has shown that the administration of the same antibody can block SIV transmission in a significant number of rhesus macaques.One possibly important difference between this experiment and HIV infection is that the macaques were infected for just five weeks, before beginning a three-month course of antiretroviral drugs. People usually don't discover they are HIV-positive so soon after infection.At week 9, four weeks after starting on antiretroviral drugs, 18 monkeys began to receive infusions of the alpha4-beta7 antibody or control antibodies, every three weeks. Three developed antibodies against the alpha4-beta7 antibody and were excluded from further study. Drugs were withdrawn at week 18 and antibodies at week 32. When antiretroviral drugs were stopped, SIV came roaring back in the seven control animals. Six of eight alpha4-beta7 treated animals also showed some rebound of viral levels, but they controlled it within four weeks. The other two never even rebounded.In the alpha4-beta7-treated monkeys, the researchers observed a gradual restoration of CD4+ T cells, the main target cells for the virus, and other immune cells. The team used a PET/CT imaging technique, developed by co-authors Philip Santangelo, PhD at Georgia Tech and Francois Villinger DVM, PhD at Yerkes, to visualize CD4+ T cells throughout the body.Also, in the alpha4-beta7-treated monkeys, the team did not see neutralizing antibodies. HIV vaccine designers have made a goal of stimulating neutralizing antibodies, which may be able to prevent a nascent viral infection.However, the researchers did see non-neutralizing antibodies against part of the envelope protein of SIV called the V2 loop. Antibodies against the V2 loop of HIV were beneficial in the RV144 study in Thailand, the only HIV vaccine study to demonstrate partial protection against infection."This finding could become a blueprint for an alternative therapy for HIV, which could make it so someone would not need to continuously take anti-retroviral drugs," Ansari says. "It could also help us craft more effective vaccines. We need to know more about how alpha4-beta7 antibody treatment exerts its effects."Additional experiments are planned to determine which parts of the alpha4-beta7-treated macaques' immune systems are critical for maintaining control of SIV, he adds.Before withdrawal of antiretroviral drugs, the alpha4-beta7-treated animals showed a restoration of the levels of retinoic acid, a derivative of vitamin A, and other immune regulators. Potentially, biomarkers like these could help predict whether someone's immune system is ready for stopping anti-retrovirals.The results are published inSource: Eurekalert
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Part of the problem may relate to the types of cells scientists use to try to grow the virus. Many researchers use 'Vero' cells as these typically allow Zika virus to replicate at high efficiency, but that may not be the best choice for semen samples, said Atkinson. "We tried to isolate the virus in two cell lines, the standard Vero cells, which are mammalian in origin, and in C6/36 cells, which are derived from mosquitoes," he explained. Isolation of the virus from this semen sample was successful only in the mosquito cells, he said.The successful isolation of Zika virus from this semen sample allowed the investigators to sequence the virus, resulting in the first genome of Zika virus isolated from semen. "We have many unanswered questions about how Zika virus is able to be transmitted sexually, whereas similar viruses are not," said Atkinson. "It is possible that the answers to these questions lie in the viral genome, but many more sequences from semen are required before scientists can see if there are any changes that shed light on this topic.""This is the first Zika virus genome isolated from semen, but we need many more," said Atkinson. "Hopefully this success will enable others to follow suit."The research is published this week in, a journal of the American Society for Microbiology.Source: Eurekalert
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About 158.8 million people around the world use cannabis

Nearly 94 million people in the US have used cannabis at least once in their lifetime

Nine percent of cannabis users become addicted

Cannabis is the second most commonly used substance after alcohol

A single joint of cannabis could damage the lungs more than cigarettes

Cannabis use is linked to depression, schizophrenia, and suicidal thoughts.

It increases the risk of developing cancers of the testicle, prostate and cervix.

Damages nerve cells in the brain, affecting memory

Reduces coordination and affects IQ

Disrupts menstrual cycle in women

Reduces sperm quality and lowers testosterone levels

Researchers from The University of Edinburgh conducted a study to investigate bone health amongst cannabis users. The study involved 170 people who smoke cannabis regularly for recreational purposes and 114 individuals who do not smoke cannabis.Heavy cannabis users are those who smoked cannabis on 5000 or more occasions in their lifetime. But in this study, the average heavy cannabis user had smoked more than 47,000 times. Moderate cannabis users had smoked about 1000 times. A specialized X-ray called DEXA scan was used to measure the bone density of the study participants.The scans showed that the bone density of heavy cannabis users was five percent lower than smokers who did not use cannabis. The study suggests that people who smoke large amounts of cannabis have reduced bone density, contributing to osteoporosis later in life.Previously conducted studies have shown that cannabis use can increase appetite. In the current study, the researchers found that heavy cannabis users had a lower body weight and reduced body mass index (BMI) than non-users. Researchers said thatLead researcher Professor Stuart Ralston, of the University of Edinburgh's Centre for Genomic and Experimental Medicine, said, "We have known for a while that the components of cannabis can affect bone cell function, but we had no idea up until now of what this might mean to people who use cannabis on a regular basis.""Our research has shown that heavy users of cannabis have quite a large reduction in bone density compared with non-users and there is a real concern that this may put them at increased risk of developing osteoporosis and fractures later in life."The researchers hope to conduct further studies to understand the link between use of the cannabis and thinning of the bones.The study funded by Arthritis Research UK is published in theSource: Medindia
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Alemtuzumab Could Reverse Physical Disability in Multiple Sclerosis Patients

Multiple sclerosis affects more than 2,500,000 people in the world.

More than 400,000 people in the United States have multiple sclerosis.

More than one million new cases are diagnosed in India.

Multiple sclerosis affects more women than men. It begins between the ages of 20 and 40.

People with type 1 diabetes, thyroid disorder, and inflammatory bowel disease are at increased risk of developing multiple sclerosis.

Dr. Gavin Giovannon, of Queen Mary University of London, United Kingdom, also lead author of the study, said, "While many multiple sclerosis drugs slow the progress of disability, there have been little data about the ability of current treatments to help restore function previously lost to MS."The researchers recruited people with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis who did not respond well to other drugs. The participants were divided into two groups. Group one comprised of 426 people who were treated with alemtuzumab. Group two comprised a total of 202 participants who were treated with the drug interferon beta-1a.The participants' level of disability were assessed at the beginning of the study and again every three months for two years. At the end of the study period, the results showed that nearly 28 percent of the participants who received alemtuzumab had improved by at least one point in the disability test, with the scores ranging from 0 to 10. While the participants' who received the drug interferon beta-1a showed improvement by only 15 percent.The researchers adjusted the results to ensure that the improvements were not driven by people recovering from recent relapses. The findings also showed that people who received alemtuzumab were 2.5 times more likely to improve the assessment of thinking skills when compared to those who received interferon. The alemtuzumab group was also more than twice as likely to improve the ability to move without tremor or clumsy movements known as ataxia.Lead researcher Giovannoni said that if the benefits of alemtuzumab were confirmed, the risks associated with the drug should also be considered. The risks include serious and rarely fatal autoimmune problems as well as infusion reactions.Dr. Bibiana Bielekova, of the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke in Bethesda, said, "These results are encouraging, but exactly how alemtuzumab may reverse the damage, whether it's through repairing myelin, creating new nerve synapses, greatly reducing inflammation or some other mechanism, is yet to be investigated.""Longer studies are also needed to see how many people experience, or do not experience, improvement in disability over longer periods of time," added Dr. Bielekova, who is a Fellow of the American Academy of Neurology.The study is published in the journal, a medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.The immune system attacks the myelin (protective sheath that covers nerve fibers). The symptoms include blurred vision, loss of balance, poor coordination, tremors, fatigue, problems with memory and concentration. The symptoms may worsen over time. The damage can cause communication problems between the brain and the body. Multiple sclerosis can cause the nerves to deteriorate and become permanently damaged.Source: Medindia
In an article in the daily 'Okaz, Saudi journalist and writer Khalaf Al-Harbi called on the Saudi government to lift the ban on women driving. He stated that it is not a sin for women to drive but rather a natural and normal right, and that the ban keeps Saudi Arabia from advancing into the modern age.

Harbi mentioned the "courageous" decision taken by the government this April to redefine the operation and authority of the Committee for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice (the religious police).[1] This measure, he said, stopped violations of human rights by the religious police and put an end to the public criticism of this body in Saudi Arabia and the world. Citing the success of this measure, he called on the government to make similar reforms regarding the driving ban and allow women to drive, thereby ending the "illogical" situation that sets Saudi Arabia apart from the rest of the world.

The following are excerpts from the article.[2]



Khalaf Al-Harbi (Image: 'Okaz, Saudi Arabia)

"Enough time has passed to assess [the efficacy] of the decision to [re-]regulate the operation of the Committee for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice and to determine that the outcomes of this historic decision have been positive in most aspects - for [since the decision was taken] the unfortunate incidents that preoccupied public opinion and whose shameful echoes reached the global media have almost completely stopped. In addition, the social tension created by these repeated incidents has abated. Cooperation between the committee and the security personnel has been good, allowing [the authorities] to ensure [public] order without incidents that potentially infringe on human dignity. Everything went normally and, thank Allah, we did not see anything like the horrific sights which the opponents of the [decision] anticipated.

"This important and courageous decision instantly broke through an imaginary barrier that for years had prevented us from becoming a normal modern society like all the other societies in the world today. Those who benefitted from [the existence of] this imaginary barrier exerted psychological pressure on people by claiming that [even] coming close to [the barrier] would distance society from the directives of Islam, as though Islam is opposed to development, planning and the protection of human rights.

"Today the state needs a similar government decision allowing women to drive cars, for this too is an imaginary barrier that sets our society apart from all other societies in the world. [This barrier] imposes an illogical reality that was and still is one of the reasons that [Saudi] society is preoccupied with petty issues and debates them endlessly. In addition, today we live in a very different economic situation than the one [we had in the past and which we] used to cover up our faults, that were known to all. I don't know how [it can be] that our [need to] develop compels us to encourage women to do simple jobs, yet at the same time we force her to employ a foreign driver to drive her to her place of work. Have you ever seen a working woman who employs a driver who devours half her pay?

"When we hesitate to take a decision that would eliminate one of the imaginary barriers that separate our society from the modern world, we essentially defend an illogical situation, for the government and the citizens, men and women, pay a price in various ways for this hesitation. I do not believe we can advance towards Vision 2030[3] as long as we restrain ourselves with shackles that are meaningless and have nothing to do with religion. We [Saudis], and even more than us the government, cannot say that denying women the natural right to drive is normal [behavior]. [Sure,] we can envision innumerable problems [that may be caused by allowing them to drive], just like [the problems] we imagined before reforming [the religious police] - but we cannot say that it is a sin for women to drive a car. When will the decision [finally] be taken that will rid the state and society of this enormous misconception?"

Endnotes:
Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 13

By Elena Kosolapova  Trend:

The start of oil production at Kazakhstans Kashagan field requires construction of new pipelines, said Professor Chingiz Ismayilov, head of the Center for Regional Development and dean of the Administrative Management Faculty at the State Management Academy under the President of Azerbaijan.

During the Baku-Astana video conference titled The Prospects of Azerbaijani-Kazakh Relations at the Sputnik news agency office in Baku, Ismayilov said that after increase in production at the Kashagan field, the bandwidth of the existing oil transportation infrastructure running to Russia and China will be insufficient.

He believes the construction of the Eskene-Kuryk-Baku pipeline for further Kashagan oil transportation through Azerbaijan will help solve this problem.

According to him, construction of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline at the time opened up new prospects for transportation of Central Asian hydrocarbons to the west, and now the pipeline is ready to transport Kashagan oil as well.

Previously, Azerbaijans Energy Minister Natig Aliyev said Kazakhstan will be able to daily export 150,000 barrels of Kashagan oil through the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline.

Kashagan is a large oil and gas field in Kazakhstan, located in the north of the Caspian Sea. Its total oil reserves amount to 38 billion barrels. Some 10 billion out of them are recoverable reserves.

Kashagans natural gas reserve exceeds one trillion cubic meters.

Production at the Kashagan field started in September 2013, but in October, it was suspended after a gas leak on one of the main pipelines.

An analysis was conducted for several months, which revealed numerous micro-cracks on the pipeline. They emerged as a result of the impact of the associated gas of high sulfur content on the metal.

The projects operator, North Caspian Operating Company BV (NCOC), confirmed the need for a complete replacement of the 200 kilometer long gas and oil pipelines at the field.

---

Follow the author on Twitter: @E_Kosolapova
Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct.13



By Leman Zeynalova  Trend:



OPECs possible output cut deal in Nov.30 Vienna meeting is unlikely to lead to oil shortage, director of Downstream Consulting at IHS Markit, Spencer Welch told Trend Oct.13.



First, there is loads of oil in storage. Approximately 1 billion barrels of oil has been put into storage over the last 2 years. Second, if global demand increased, then OPEC could very easily relax the limit, and producers, particularly Saudi Arabia, could increase production, he said, adding that Saudi Arabia still keeps around 1.5 million b/d of spare production capacity available.



In September, OPEC producers agreed during the informal meeting to cut down the oil output to 32.5 million barrels per day (bpd) from current production of 33.24 million bpd.



How much each country will produce is to be decided at the next formal meeting of OPEC in November.



Further, Welch noted that substantial cut in oil output is unlikely, since OPEC production was 33.4 million barrels per day in September and the new range (even it is agreed) is 32.5-33 million barrels per day, so very little cut is needed to meet this.



In fact, normal summer to winter production decline from Saudi Arabia is 0.5 million barrels per day, so this alone may be sufficient to get OPEC into the new range, he added.



However, the big risk for OPEC is that as production from Libya or Nigeria increases, this would give OPEC a real challenge achieving the 32.5-33.0 limit, so someone else would have to make substantial cuts and that is very unlikely to happen, said Welch.



OPEC expects world oil demand to grow by 1.24 million to 94.40 million barrels per day (bpd) in 2016, the cartel said in its Monthly Oil Market Report published Oct. 12.



Total global consumption in 2016 is expected at 94.40 million barrels per day.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct.13



By Leman Zeynalova  Trend:



In reality, it is quite likely that OPEC can fail to reach a deal during the November 30 meeting in Vienna, Austria, director of Downstream Consulting at IHS Markit, Spencer Welch told Trend Oct.13.



In September, OPEC producers agreed during the informal meeting to cut down the oil output to 32.5 million barrels per day (bpd) from current production of 33.24 million bpd.



How much each country will produce is to be decided at the next formal meeting of OPEC in November.



Saying 32.5-33.0 million barrels per day is relatively easy, breaking this down country-by-country to a total which meets the new range, where each individual country agrees with their new limit, is a huge challenge, said Welch.



He pointed out that this has rarely been achieved in OPECs history, as previous cuts really only worked because Saudi Arabia was willing to cut its own production.



The announcement after Algiers is quite brave and risky for OPEC. They have made this very public and the effect has been to push oil price up $6/bbl, he said. If they fail to delivery in November, they will lose some credibility. Therefore we can only assume that they are reasonably confident that it can be achieved.



The price of crude oil climbed on Oct.13, gaining support from record Chinese imports, but gains were limited after OPEC said its production had risen to the highest level in at least eight years and following reports of an increase in US crude stocks.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 13

By Elena Kosolapova - Trend:

Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev is feeling much better, Sputnik Kazakhstan news agency quoted his daughter Dariga Nazarbayeva as saying.

Dariga Nazarbayeva, who also heads the Senate Committee for Foreign Affairs, Defense and Security provided journalists with comments on the health of the president after the Senate (Parliaments lower chamber) meeting on Oct. 13.

On Oct. 11 Kazakh presidents press secretary noted that Nazarbayev is being treated for cold. Later Nazarbayevs Press Secretary Aidos Ukibay said Nursultan Nazarbayev would not be able to visit Azerbaijan and Armenia October 12-14 due to a cold-related disease and his participation in international events is not planned until the end of this week.

Follow the author on Twitter: @E_Kosolapova
Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct.13



By Leman Zeynalova  Trend:



Government members of Georgia and Kyrgyzstan have signed agreements on intensifying the relations in economy, security and education, RIA Novosti quoted Georgias President Giorgi Margvelashvili as saying Oct.13.



The agreement was inked in Tbilisi, as Kyrgyzstans President Almazbek Atambayev and his spouse have arrived in Georgia for a two-day visit.



Our meeting was dedicated to bilateral cooperation and its intensification, said Margvelashvili, adding that Georgia, as a bridge linking the East and West, creates unique opportunities for international cooperation.



The agreements signed today will make it possible to intensify the relations in the spheres of security, economy and education, said Georgias president during a joint press conference with his Kyrgyz counterpart.

Margvelashvili said that he will plan a visit to Kyrgyzstan soon.
UAE airlines eyes opening new flights to Azerbaijan

Etihad Airways, the national airline of the UAE, plans to start direct flights between Baku and Abu Dhabi, Dashgin Shikarov, Azerbaijani ambassador to the UAE, told Trend Oct. 5.He added that the negotiations are underway regarding this issue.Air Arabia, the low-cost airline of the UAE, may also open direct flights from Sharjah, the third largest city in the UAE, to Baku and other cities of Azerbaijan, the diplomat said.Air Arabia may start flights in 2017, he noted.Azerbaijan simplified visa regime for citizens of a number of Gulf countries, including the UAE, on Nov. 10, 2015.UAE citizens receive a visa upon arrival in Azerbaijan at any international airport of the country. This visa is valid for 30 days.This simplified visa system with the UAE has led to a significant increase in the number of tourists coming from the UAE to Azerbaijan.The number of the tourists, coming to Azerbaijan from UAE, increased by 10 times in January-August 2016 as compared to the same period of 2015, the Azerbaijani Ministry of Culture and Tourism said earlier.
Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, Oct. 13

By Huseyn Hasanov  Trend:

Governments of Turkmenistan and Tatarstan Republic of Russia signed a program of cooperation in trade-economic and scientific-technical spheres for 2017-2019 following a joint business forum in Ashgabat, the Turkmen Oil and Gas Complex said in a message.

The signed documents will give a serious boost to cooperation between the ministries, enterprises and organizations and to the mutual trade between Tatarstan and Turkmenistan, the message cited Tatarstans President Rustam Minnikhanov as saying.

It is necessary to increase the bilateral trade and to use great potential for developing partnership in such areas as oil exploration and production, gas transportation, automotive industry, aircraft building, shipbuilding, energy, supply of chemicals, pharmaceuticals and medicines, agro-industrial complex and others, Minnikhanov said.

Tatarstans delegation included the representatives of government agencies, ministries, the Investment Promotion Agency, the Commerce and Industry Chamber, Fund of Business Support, and big companies.

Representatives of the main ministries and departments, state concerns, unions, committees, banks, the Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, the Academy of Sciences attended the forum from the Turkmen side.

According to the message, the forum participants stressed that there are broad prospects for cooperation taking into account the comprehensive programs of economic diversification and industrialization of regions.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 13

By Emil Ilgar  Trend:

Iran hasnt resumed oil export to Sri Lanka due to banking problems despite that 9 months have passed since the sanctions on Iran have been eliminated, Mohsen Qamsari, the director for international affairs of the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) told Mehr Oct.13.

He said that the two countries are negotiation to resolve banking problems and its expected that oil exports will be resumed in the near future.

Western countries imposed sanctions on Iran, targeting the countrys oil export revenues in 2012, which led to decreasing Irans crude oil export from 2.2 million barrels per day (mb/d) to 1 mb/d.

The sanctions were eliminated in January 2016 after implementation of nuclear deal between Tehran and P5+1 Group (US, UK, France, China, Russia + Germany).

Currently, Irans crude oil exports stands above 2 mb/d, of which Asian Markets share above 90 percent.

Before sanctions, EU was client for 18 percent of Irans crude oil, but currently it purchases only spot oil from this country.
The Prime Minister of the Hellenic Republic, Alexis Tsipras, the President of the Republic of Cyprus, Nicos Anastasiades and the President of the Arab Republic of Egypt, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, having met in Cairo, 11th of October 2016, have agreed to strengthen the cooperation between the three countries in order to promote a trilateral partnership in various fields of common interests, and to work together towards promoting peace, stability, security and prosperity in the Mediterranean.

Given the fluid and unstable situation in the region, the three countries, which share common values, and interests, have, to this end, agreed on the importance of closer cooperation and highly coordinated set of policies.

The fourth round of Trilateral Summit between Cyprus, Egypt and Greece concluded in Cairo with this Declaration in which the three countries agreed to work on the implementation of projects in the fields of energy, maritime transport, tourism and agriculture. The Heads of State and Government welcomed the progress achieved so far in these sectors and recognized that much more remains to be done to ensure that growth is experienced in their communities.

The Heads of State and Government concurred that the guiding principles of the tripartite partnership are the respect for international law and for the purposes and principles enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations, including commitment to friendly relations, international peace and security, respect for sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of states.

The current trilateral partnership serves as a model for furthering the dialogue and promoting the relations between the EU countries and the countries of the region.

The Heads of State and Government reviewed the relationship between the European Union and Egypt, highlighting the mutual benefit from various areas of cooperation between the two sides. In this regard, they re-iterated the vital importance of a strong and solid Egyptian-EU relation for peace and stability in both the Middle East and Europe. They agreed that a strategic partnership between Egypt and the EU is an essential framework for addressing pressing common challenges such as terrorism and extremist ideologies, migration, sustainable development, and achieving economic prosperity. The Heads of State and Government re-affirmed their commitment to working closely together towards developing various aspects of the Egyptian-EU partnership further, on the basis of the principles of mutual respect, joint ownership, common interests and reciprocal commitments.

They deplored the recent attacks on the cultural heritage of the Middle East and the organized looting and illicit trafficking in cultural items. In the same vein, the Heads of States and Governments called for further steps to prevent and prohibit the illicit trade in cultural properties from the Middle East, and encourage UNESCOs efforts to help put in place a ban and support the restoration of these properties. The Heads of State and Government reaffirmed their willingness to support each others candidatures in international organizations and fora.

They agreed that the current plight of thousands of migrants putting their lives in peril should be addressed regionally and comprehensively. Firstly, by reducing the incentives for irregular migration in collaboration with the European Commission through a balanced and holistic approach, that will focus on investing in development and poverty eradication, especially by boosting socio-economic growth and creating opportunities, and also by investigating, disrupting and prosecuting smugglers networks and building stronger partnerships between northern and southern Mediterranean countries, setting initiatives in North Africa to help the region become stronger in search and rescue activities, and also taking immediate action to prevent further losses of migrants lives and reviewing the possibilities of safe and legal resettlement of people.

The three leaders welcomed the results of the Rhodes Conference for Stability and Security , which was held in Rhodes on 8 and 9 September 2016, as a means to enhance dialogue and cooperation on issues pertaining to the security and stability of the wider Eastern Mediterranean region.

Following the same line, they affirmed the substantiality of moving ahead as soon as possible on the protection of the environment recognizing the complex nature of environmental problems given the possible impact of trans-boundary projects. They agreed to promote cooperation towards readiness to respond to pollution caused by coastal research, exploration and extraction of hydrocarbons and/or oil pollution. They also agreed to work towards protecting the environment and achieving sustainable development, and discussed the decontamination of the Mediterranean from domestic and industrial pollution and the impact on the marine environment of climate change. Furthermore, They agreed to continue exploring ways to protect the environment through promotion of blue and green economy and sustainable production and consumption. The Tripartite Joint Declaration of Intent on Cooperation in the Field of Environmental Protection is marking the readiness of the Parties to cooperate in this field.

Maritime transport is a privileged field of cooperation taking into account the geostrategic position and the touristic potential of the three countries as stated in the Tripartite Joint Declaration of Intent on Cooperation in the Field of Maritime Transport and Port Development.

The common challenges faced in the energy field, diversification of energy resources and routes, security of energy supply and the need to modernize and develop new energy infrastructures, enrich the prospects for further promoting trilateral energy cooperation, especially in the areas of hydrocarbons and renewable energy sources. To this end, they agreed to enhance energy cooperation with regular meetings of the Ministers in charge of Energy, as well as the public and private sector institutions dealing with energy issues.

The Heads of States and Government expressed their desire to strengthen their cooperation through a series of agreements on the exploitation and transfer of natural gas, where the discovery of hydrocarbon reserves would serve as a catalyst for regional stability and prosperity. They stressed that this cooperation is based on the well-established principles of international law, notably the UN Convention on the Law of the Seas (UNCLOS) and reiterated their willingness to continue the ongoing negotiations for the delimitation of their common maritime boundaries.

On regional issues, The Heads of State and Government expressed their grave concern over the escalation of violence and the deterioration of the humanitarian situation in Syria, especially in Aleppo, calling all parties in Syria to fulfill their commitments to restore the cessation of hostilities and to allow the full access of humanitarian assistance to all besieged and hard-to-reach areas. To this end, They call for the immediate and full implementation of the 9thSeptember 2016 agreement between the United States and the Russian Federation, and They also continue to support the efforts of UN special envoy Steaffan de Mistura aiming at the resumption of the negotiations to end the conflict through a political transition based on the UN security council resolution 2254 (2015) and the 2012 Geneva Communique, that meets the legitimate aspirations of the Syrian people.

On Libya, the Heads of State and Government expressed their support for efforts undertaken by the UNSG special representative Martin Kobler to facilitate a Libyan-led political solution and underlined the importance of implementing the Libyan political Agreement of Skhirat.

They also commended Egypts ongoing efforts to resolve differences and build confidence between the Libyan parties, encouraging them to work constructively towards the full implementation of the Libyan Political Agreement (LPA) of Skhirat. They reaffirmed their position supporting the preservation of the legitimate Libyan state institutions as well as the implementation of a comprehensive counter-terrorism strategy.

Regarding Yemen, They expressed their strong support for the legitimate government of Yemen and president Hadi, and for the preservation of its unity and territorial integrity.

On the Palestinian issue, They called for a just and comprehensive peace settlement based on the relevant UN resolutions, establishing a sovereign Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital, living in peace with all its neighbors. They expressed their concern about the current trends on the ground. They welcome efforts by all regional and international parties and commended Egypts role in this respect.

They stressed the importance of the Euro-Mediterranean cooperation for the countries of the region and underlined the significant role the Union for the Mediterranean can play to this end.

They reaffirmed their unwavering support to the ongoing negotiations for a solution for the Cyprus problem that will reunify the island in accordance with international law and the relevant UNSC resolutions. They highlighted that the solution of the Cyprus problem must address the concerns and aspirations of the Cypriots themselves without anachronistic and obsolete security arrangements, such as guarantees with the right of military intervention without the explicit approval of the UNSC.

The Heads of States and Government encouraged by the positive results thus far and convinced by the strategic importance of the trilateral cooperation will continue to work closely on issues of mutual interests beneficent for their countries and the wider region.




Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 13

By Fatih Karimov  Trend:

Irans security forces have thwarted terror plots in southern province of Fars, Mahmoud Alavi, the Islamic Republics intelligence minister, said.

The ministry arrested several foreign citizens linked with Takfiri groups, Alavi said, the state-run IRINN TV reported.

Iranian officials refer to the extremist Sunni armed groups, in particular in Syria and Iraq, as Takfiri.

Alavi further said that at least 100 kilograms of explosives were seized from the terrorists.

The Iranian minister did not reveal further details about the nationality of the arrested people and their targets.

In recent months Iranian media have repeatedly published news about arrest of terrorists linked with extremist groups without sharing details.

Last month it was announced that Irans central province of Semnan was a target of a foiled terrorist attack by the Islamic State (IS) terrorist group.

Earlier in August the intelligence ministry announced that several terrorists linked with the IS group, which had entered Iran through the border to carry out terrorist operations in central Iranian cities were killed in western country in a joint operation with the IRGC.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 13

By Emil Ilgar  Trend:

Iran invited Turkey to invest in its LNG projects, the spokesman of National Iranian Gas Company Majid Bujarzadeh said Oct.13.

He added that currently Iran exports 30 million cubic meters per day of gas to Turkey, and Tehran is ready to increase this volume, Daily Sabah reported.

Bujarzadeh said that Iran expands its infrastructure to be able to boost gas export to Turkey.

The gas export growth volume depends on Turkey. If Ankara wants more gas, we are ready, he added.

Bujarzadeh has participated in the World Energy Congress 2016 in Istanbul.

He also said that Iran can evaluate the possibility of gas transit through Turkey to the EU.

Iran has a 10.4-million ton capacity LNG plant, completed by 50 percent. The country had invested $2.5 billion in Iran LNG project during the last decade, but completion of that was stopped due to sanctions.

The sanctions on Iran were eliminated in January 2016. Iran had announced the final needed investment for the project would be around $5 billion last decade, but Tehran hasnt revealed any concrete estimation about the current cost of Iran LNG plant.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 13



By Khalid Kazimov  Trend:



Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has called for prompt ceasefire in Syria.



During his recent talks with Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov as well as High Representative of EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini, Zarif urged for finding a political solution to crisis in Syria, IRNA news agency reported.



According to the report, Zarif and Lavrov held two telephone conversations over the past 48 hours to discuss latest developments in Syria.



In the meantime, Mogherini has discussed the latest regional and Syrian developments with Zarif through phone.



During the talks, Zarif has stressed Irans stances towards fight against terrorism, establishing prompt truce in Syria and finding a political solution to the crisis, the report added.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 13

By Khalid Kazimov  Trend:

Two Iranian warships have headed to international waters on a mission that includes sailing in the waters off the southern coasts of Yemen.

Iranian navy dispatched its 44th fleet, comprised of Alvand destroyer and Bushehr logistic warship to the Gulf of Aden and the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, Tasnim news agency reported Oct. 13.

The report added that the move is aimed at safeguarding the countrys trade vessels sailing in the international waters against pirates.

According to the report, the fleet is expected to reach the waters near Somalia and Tanzania through the Indian Ocean.

Earlier this week, a US destroyer launched three missiles against Houthi held territories in Yemen destroying three radar control facilities.

The Pentagon later announced that the missiles were launched in self-defense.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 13

By Orkhan Quluzade  Trend:

The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) recognized the movement of Fethullah Gulen as a terrorist organization, Turkish newspaper Haber 7 reported Oct. 13.

Turkey listed the Gulen movement as a terrorist group in 2015.

Earlier, the Turkish Ministry of Justice officially requested the US to arrest Fethullah Gulen.

In addition, the Turkish authorities sent two requests to the US for Gulens extradition.

Prior to that, the Istanbul Court released an order to arrest Gulen.

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.

Turkeys President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had said the death toll as a result of the military coup attempt stood at 246 people, excluding the coup plotters, and over 2,000 people were wounded.

He also declared a three-month state of emergency in Turkey on July 20.

The state of emergency was prolonged for 90 more days on Oct. 3.

---

Follow the author on Twitter: @o_quluzade
BAD AXE  Since Huron County is no exception to national drug and overdose trends, the Huron County prosecutor has asked for funds to launch a proactive approach to stem the tide of local drug abuse.

Prosecutor Timothy J. Rutkowski is seeking $18,000 from the Huron County Board of Commissioners so that Assistant Prosecuting Attorney David Wallace can travel to local schools and community groups throughout the county with a drug prevention message.

Heroin is the biggest problem we have at this point in time, Rutkowski told the board this week.

Four out of five heroin users ended up using heroin by initially misusing or abusing prescription opioid pain medications, according to data cited in Rutkowskis proposal.

In 2015, the United States had 99.5 percent of the worlds hydrocodone, an opioid and popular prescription painkiller, commonly known as vicodin.

Michigan ranks fourth in the world in vicodin prescriptions, Rutkowski said.

People make the shift to heroin because it is a cheaper, more potent high, he said.

We have, week after week, situations in which we are confronted with dealing with a drug issue. Our approach has been to prosecute these individuals that are poisoning our community with the drugs. But with that, we also have to look at other options.

Prosecution will continue for those who are possessing and selling drugs, he said.

But we also have to take a proactive approach throughout our community to try to stem the tide in which we find ourselves now.

Heroin is not the first dangerous drug trend that the county has dealt with in recent years.

Weve worked on meth as an issue, weve had bath salts as an issue before. But heroin is really the drug, and with heroin  the drug dealers are also putting other things in heroin, or selling things that are purported to be heroin, but they are something like fentanyl, he said.

Huron County has had a fatal fentanyl overdose and a case where someone had delivered fentanyl to someone who overdosed, he said.

There are more drug overdoses out there than you may realize, Rutkowski added.

The overdoses that were aware of and that we can make a case, we prosecute them, but there are so many overdoses.

The issue affects citizens, law enforcement, first responders and emergency hospital staff, he noted.

He said people should be aware of carfentanyl, which is a kind of elephant tranquilizer.

Just a grain, if you looked at a grain of salt, that grain  would kill them, he said. And the drug has made it to Michigan.

Wallace said recently in Charlston, West Virginia, there were 27 heroin overdoses in four hours.

Cincinnati, Ohio, recently had 78 overdoses in two days due to heroin that was laced with fentanyl or carfentanyl.

Rutkowski sad its important to get out into the community and tell people what is going on and what they can do to help.

Many people think drug addicts are not from all walks of life, he said.

But the problem is, they are, Rutkowski said.

Many people started off with a surgery and were using prescribed painkillers, such as vicodin.

Funding habits can lead to theft, he said.

Rutkowski would like Wallace to take a power point presentation to every citizen he can meet with.

Community clubs like the Lions, Kiwanis, church clubs and schools would be candidates, he said.

During his presentation to the board, Wallace acknowledged that these places are not necessarily where you would find drug addicts.

Drug prevention is not for the addicts  those who are addicted, Wallace said. Its for those who might get that way.

And people who find themselves addicted dont necessarily have to seek drugs from a dealer.

The vast majority of these people  are getting the pills from their friends or family or they already have the prescription.

Its important to monitor your own and family members prescription drug inventories, keep them locked up, and to dispose of medication properly, he said.

Patients have to be open with their doctors, and question whether or not they need strong pain killers at high doses, he said.

Its a myth that people need to exercise willpower in order to stop using drugs, Wallace added.

Addiction is a brain disease. Its not about willpower, Wallace said.Its more important to use the drug than it is to breath.

He compared drug abuse to someone with diabetes having a piece of cake, even though they know better.

Wallace also told the board how dopamine levels are manipulated when various drugs are used, which causes brain damage that can take years to heal.

Rutkowski added that state lawmakers need to be pushed to make changes as well, since pharmaceutical drug companies can be powerful lobbyists.

We as a citizenry need to step up  put the pressure on our legislators to address some of this stuff.

Of the requested $18,000 annually, $15,000 will be for speaking time, travel to various meetings, presentation costs, and creation of website content and social media distribution.

The remaining $3,000 will be for supplies, publications and handouts.

If we can save one or two lives, this will be a success, Rutkowski said.
SEBEWAING  Michigan Department of Environmental Quality officials were in the area again Wednesday, trying to get more answers from a Sebewaing River spill determined to come from a Michigan Sugar Co. storm drain earlier this week.

Were coordinating with the fisheries division to evaluate the impact on the river to determine how significant of a fish kill may have occurred from this, said Charlie Bauer, DEQ district supervisor for the Water Resources Division Bay City Office. Were following up with the company to make sure the cleanup that theyre doing is sufficient and trying to figure out a little bit more of what happened on site.

On Monday, a fish kill was discovered in the Sebewaing Marina, where DEQ officials tested oxygen levels that were found to be far below Michigan water quality standards. Officials then made their way upstream to identify potential sources, eventually finding a discharge coming from a Michigan Sugar storm sewer that was making its way into the river. That water was then tested and was also found well below water quality standards.

Bauer said in tests where it was discharging into the river from the storm sewer, the dissolved oxygen was coming up at 0.3 milligrams per liter (mpl). Downstream in the marina, it was 0.5 mpl. Bauer said what the DEQ considers an acceptable range is 4.0 to 5.0 mpl.

When you have heavy, organic material and it gets into water, it carries with it what we call a biochemical oxygen demand, Bauer explained. Basically, its a heavy organic load that goes into the water. The bacteria start breaking down those organics, and it sucks oxygen out of the water, which drops the dissolved oxygen in the river.

At this time, officials are unsure exactly what the material is, but have determined its some kind of beet processing substance.

Bauer said they are also unsure the amount of fish that have died, but said it was a significant number.

Added Bauer: I know that we will be getting more information today, but how long it takes for this problem to actually work itself out and resolve, I dont know.

In the meantime, Michigan Sugar officials have been cooperating with the DEQ, which will be following up with the company on corrective actions to avoid future issues.

Michigan Sugar is actively investigating the cause of the release into the Sebewaing River, the company said in a statement. We have dispatched experts to help determine the source and minimize any further environmental impact. We will be updating the media and the public as we learn more information about the source of this release. As long standing members of the Sebewaing community, we are committed to doing our part to addressing this situation as quickly and effectively as possible.
The US has targeted radar sites in Yemen in response to missile attacks on the American guided-missile destroyer Mason from the Houthi-controlled territory, a Pentagon spokesperson said, Sputnik International reported.

According to Cook, the strikes were authorized by US President Barack Obama and were a response to the recent missile launches threatening USS Mason and other vessels operating in international waters in the Red Sea.

"Early this morning local time, the US military struck three radar sites in Houthi-controlled territory on Yemens Red Sea coast. Initial assessments show the sites were destroyed," Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook said.

"These limited self-defense strikes were conducted to protect our personnel, our ships, and our freedom of navigation in this important maritime passageway. The United States will respond to any further threat to our ships and commercial traffic, as appropriate, and will continue to maintain our freedom of navigation in the Red Sea, the Bab al-Mandeb, and elsewhere around the world."
Belden Inc. provides portfolio of signal transmission solutions in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Asia-Pacific. It operates in two segments, Enterprise Solutions and Industrial Solutions. The Enterprise Solutions segment offers copper cable and connectivity solutions, fiber cable and connectivity solutions, interconnect panels, racks and enclosures, and signal extension and matrix switching systems for use in applications, such as local area networks, data centers, access control, 5G, fiber, and home and building automation. It also provides power, cooling, and airflow management products for mission-critical data center operations; and end-to-end copper and fiber network systems. This segment serves commercial real estate, hospitality, healthcare, education, financial, government, and broadband and wireless service providers, as well as end-markets, including sport venues, stadiums, data centers, military installations, and academia. The Industrial Solutions segment offers infrastructure components and on-machine connectivity systems; and industrial Ethernet switches, network management software, routers, firewalls, gateways, input/output (I/O) connectors/systems, industrial Ethernet cables, optical fiber industrial Ethernet cables, Fieldbus cables, IP and networking cables, I/O modules, distribution boxes, and customer specific wiring solutions. This segment provides its products for use in applications comprising network and fieldbus infrastructure; sensor and actuator connectivity; and power, control, and data transmission; and supplies heat-shrinkable tubing and wire management products to protect and organize wire and cable assemblies. It serves distributors, original equipment manufacturers, installers, and end-users. The company was formerly known as Belden CDT Inc. and changed its name to Belden Inc. in May 2007. Belden Inc. was founded in 1902 and is based in St. Louis, Missouri.
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.
American Homes 4 Rent is a real estate investment trust (REIT) focused on the US rental industry. The company is a leader in the single-family home rental industry and "American Homes 4 Rent" is fast becoming a nationally recognized brand. The company is known for high-quality rental homes, providing good value and tenant satisfaction while generating profits for investors. The primary investment objective is to provide attractive risk-adjusted returns through dividends and capital appreciation.

The company plans to achieve its objective through the disciplined acquisition of new properties, by expanding its own construction and neighborhood building efforts, growing its geographically diverse portfolio, efficient property management, building a strong brand, and maintaining a sound capital structure.

The company was founded in 2011 by David Singelyn and his partner. Mr. Singelyn has served as a Trustee and CEO since 2012. The company began by acquiring homes in underserved areas and remodeling them to modern standards. The firm has since expanded its operations to construction and now builds planned communities tailored to different lifestyles as well. The company went public in 2013 and is listed on the New York Stock Exchange.

American Homes 4 Rent is an internally managed Maryland real estate investment trust focused on acquiring, developing, renovating, leasing, and operating attractive, single-family homes as rental properties. The company operates through a network of offices and the website AH4R.com. The company owns more than 55,000 properties across 22 states featuring move-in-ready and pet-friendly homes for individuals and families of all sizes.

All previously used properties have been renovated to a high Certified Property standard that brings them to a like-new condition. Interested parties can view listings by area on the website and even use the site to fill out applications and sign leases. Properties are located in communities that fit a variety of lifestyle needs including fences, marble countertops, and even attached 2 and 3-car garages. The communities are located in hand-picked neighborhoods with features including access to commerce, schools, and amenities like lawn care, pools, trails, and fitness centers.

Tenants are afforded many benefits by renting through American Homes 4 Rent. The first and most obvious is the freedom and flexibility of a mortgage-free lifestyle. On top of that, tenants can pay rent or schedule maintenance on their homes through the website, and dedicated service representatives are available 24/7.
The 193-member United Nations General Assembly appointed former Portuguese prime minister Antonio Guterres on Thursday as the ninth secretary-general of the world body for five years from Jan. 1, 2017, Reuters reported.

Guterres, 67, will replace Ban Ki-moon, 72, of South Korea. Ban will step down at the end of 2016 after serving two terms.

Guterres was prime minister of Portugal from 1995 to 2002 and served as United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees from 2005 to 2015.
Fabrinet provides optical packaging and precision optical, electro-mechanical, and electronic manufacturing services in North America, the Asia-Pacific, and Europe. The company offers a range of advanced optical and electro-mechanical capabilities in the manufacturing process, including process design and engineering, supply chain management, manufacturing, printed circuit board assembly, advanced packaging, integration, final assembly, and testing. Its products include switching products, including reconfigurable optical add-drop multiplexers, optical amplifiers, modulators, and other optical components and modules that enable network managers to route voice, video, and data communications traffic through fiber optic cables at various wavelengths, speeds, and over various distances. The company's products also comprise tunable lasers, transceivers, and transponders; and active optical cables, which provide high-speed interconnect capabilities for data centers and computing clusters, as well as Infiniband, Ethernet, fiber channel, and optical backplane connectivity. In addition, it provides solid state, diode-pumped, gas, and fiber lasers used in semiconductor processing, biotechnology and medical device, metrology, and material processing industries; and differential pressure, micro-gyro, fuel, and other sensors used in automobiles, as well as non-contact temperature measurement sensors for the medical industry. Further, the company designs and fabricates application-specific crystals, lenses, prisms, mirrors, laser components, and substrates; and other custom and standard borosilicate, clear fused quartz, and synthetic fused silica glass products. It serves original equipment manufacturers of optical communication components, modules and sub-systems, industrial lasers, automotive components, medical devices, and sensors. The company was incorporated in 1999 and is based in George Town, the Cayman Islands.
The Air Force is investigating a recent outage at Creech Air Force Base, Nevada, of its Secret Internet Protocol Router Network, a classified system of interconnected computer networks accessed by Defense Department personnel.

Creech Air Force Base operates MQ-9 Reaper remotely piloted aircraft missions and is one of the service's central bases for armed drone operations across the globe.

The service confirmed the outage, which took place in early September, to Military.com on Wednesday. The issue was first reported by Buzzfeed News.

Related Story: Air Force Seeks to Change How Drone Pilots Train, Fly

"As to concern about the Sept. 9th SIPR connectivity issue, the investigation into the issue is ongoing, and for operational security reasons, we typically don't discuss the specific impacts of a network outage," Air Combat Command spokeswoman Maj. Malinda Singleton said in an email.

Singleton could not provide a timeline into the investigation, but said that the network is "back up and running."

Speculation into the matter was prompted by a FedBizOpps.gov solicitation, posted Oct. 7.

The contract request noted, "On 9 September 2016, the SIPRNet system currently in operation at Creech AFB failed and critical services were impacted. The services were somewhat restored with the use of multiple less powerful devices. This temporary solution stabilized the services, but will not be able to maintain the demand for very long. If this solution fails, there is currently no other backup system."

The outage would not have affected remotely piloted aircraft missions because those flights are not operated on the SIPR network.

"There are various failsafe mechanisms, redundancies and preprogramming that allow our aircraft to retrace flight paths and to communicate with terrestrial, space-based navigation and through air traffic control systems to safely carry out their mission," Singleton said. "The bottom line is the Air Force conducts global [intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance] operations from multiple locations, each of which can take over if one node goes down.

"There is no correlation between SIPR network issues and the disruption of the MQ-1 [Predator] and MQ-9 flight operations," Singleton added. "We do not rely on SIPR Networks to conduct MQ-1 and MQ-9 operations. Therefore, if there are any issues on a SIPR network, it would not disrupt flight operations."

The wording in the FedBizOpps solicitation was crafted as part of a network computer upgrade. The effort is designed to ensure a backup system is procured in case the network went down.

The Creech outage was likely unrelated to three recent U.S. drone strikes that took out friendly targets. The incidents are under investigation.

On Sept. 17, a U.S.-led strike killed 62 Syrian soldiers and wounded 100 when the U.S. hit targets misidentified as Islamic State militants south of Dayr az Zawr, Syria. U.S. Central Command said it is investigating the incident.

About 15 civilians were reportedly killed by a U.S. drone strike in Afghanistan on Sept. 28. That same day, another U.S. drone strike in Somalia reportedly took out more than 20 Somali military members.

The types of aircraft in the bombings were not identified.

In most cases, Air Combat Command isnt authorized to release investigations from incidents that took place in overseas theaters.

-- Oriana Pawlyk can be reached at oriana.pawlyk@military.com. Follow her on Twitter at@Oriana0214.
The White House is taking steps to rein in commercial drone flights over U.S. airspace amid concerns that the tiny, flying machines will be used as weapons in a terrorist attack.

The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy Workshop on Drones and the Future of Aviation recently brought together representatives from industry, government and academia to find solutions for regulating and potentially tracking the thousands of recreational unmanned aerial systems, or UAS, in use across the country.

One working group discussed the role government and industry should play to encourage UAS users to "adopt specific standards" to avoid the need for significant regulatory burden, but "everyone agreed that the need for counter-UAS security measures is significant and urgent," according to the Oct. 12 report of the proceedings.

"Domestically, the United States has been spared a deadly UAS attack. But participants agreed that it is only a matter of time before one is carried out," the report states. "With 'the clock ticking,' the U.S. has to establish the technology to prevent it or to provide law enforcement with the tools to respond."

Workshop organizers announced President Barack Obama has pledged $35 million over five years for unmanned aircraft research through the National Science Foundation.

Booby-Trapped Drones

The Association for Unmanned Vehicles Systems International released the workshop proceedings Wednesday as news reports emerged that a booby-trapped drone killed two Kurdish Peshmerga fighters and badly wounded two French soldiers battling militants of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria.

The drone exploded when the Peshmerga tried to pick it up after it had crashed to the ground, according to the BBC. The incident happened Oct. 2, north of the ISIS-held city of Mosul.

ISIS militants are said to have tried to use drones to launch attacks at least two other times in the past month, the BBC reported.

UAS, commonly known as drones, have become an effective, reliable tool to help commanders gather battlefield intelligence. They have also exploded on the commercial market, flooding toy stores and hobby shops with inexpensive, multi-propeller drones.

They're small, extremely quiet and fly at high altitudes, making them difficult to detect.

Earlier this month, the commander of U.S. Army Europe said he wants anti-drone weapons to counter potential threats from Russian forces.

Lt. Gen. Ben Hodges said he would welcome any number of systems to do the job, from newer non-kinetic technologies like Batelle's DroneDefender to older, Cold War-era equipment such as the Avenger, a Humvee equipped with a launcher housing eight FIM-92 Stinger missiles, as well as the German-made Gepard, a twin-33mm cannon mounted on a Leopard tank.

An Effective Defense

So far, finding an effective defense against drones has been no easy task. Conventional small arms, everything from shotguns to machine guns, failed to bring down drones armed with explosives in an early evaluation in January 2015, according to an Army source not authorized to speak on the effort.

Hodges said officials at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, are evaluating non-kinetic technologies. While he didn't specify the name of any new products, Army officials have tested Battelle's DroneDefender, a shoulder-fired weapon that zaps drones with radio waves and, when paired with an Israeli-made radar, can detect unmanned aerial vehicles from several kilometers away.

Countering a UAS threat in the United States could be even more of a challenge, participants of the White House workshop maintain. None of the participants in the workshop was named in the report.

One representative talked about how the days of the Pentagon's total air dominance may be over soon. "I've visited DoD facilities where we have spent literally a fortune putting up a big fence [that a] toy can go over," he said.

Another attendee said most people think that because there hasn't been a major, lethal attack, a danger doesn't exist

"They'll say, 'How many hundreds of thousands have flown, and who has been hurt by them?' " the attendee said. "They are missing the point that it's not a matter of 'it hasn't happened.' It's 'when it will happen.' "

A year ago, a DJI Phantom evaded Secret Service radar and landed on the White House lawn.

The Federal Aviation Administration instituted a no drone zone around the nation's capital in July with a 15-mile no-fly zone around Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, just south of Washington.

It expanded the no-drone zone in late December to a 30-mile radius, encircling much of southern and central Maryland and northern Virginia.

Even low-tech beacons or designated flight plans could help law enforcement with the small percentage of bad actors, the report states.

"The whole reason GPS is even in your smartphone today is because of an FCC rule that said 'Hey. We've got to be able to find where the phone is,' " a participant said.

One challenge will be to convince the public to self-regulate, the report states. The problem is that a culture of noncompliance exists among recreational users, workshop participants maintain, adding that thousands of commercial drone flights are observed in the vicinity of large hub airports on a regular basis.

If the government could define quality standards and lay out legal parameters, industry could quickly and inexpensively begin to produce solutions, the report states.

"I would propose that there is technology out there today that's mature enough to deal with the vast majority of problems we see today, but we can't do it because we are not sure it's legal," one industry representative said.

-- Matthew Cox can be reached at matthew.cox@military.com.
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.
A U.S. Navy ship launched cruise missiles and destroyed three radar sites from a rebel-controlled area in Yemen, the service announced late Wednesday.

The announcement came a day after a Navy ship was apparently targeted for a second time by missiles originating from the area.

In a statement, Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook said the radar sites struck were in territory controlled by Houthi rebels on Yemen's Red Sea coast. They were hit early Wednesday morning, at roughly 4 a.m. local time, officials said.

"Initial assessments show the sites were destroyed," Cook said in the statement.

A defense official told Military.com the attacks were conducted using sea-launched cruise missiles and originated from the Arleigh Burke-class destroyer USS Nitze, but would not confirm the number of missiles fired, citing security reasons.

"This is a direct response to situations that threaten freedom of navigation," Navy Lt. Ian McConaughey, a spokesman for U.S. Naval Forces Central Command, told Military.com. "These strikes show our resolve against unprovoked hostility against the U.S. and are aimed at defending U.S. Navy assets.

The original attacks appeared to target the Arleigh-Burke class destroyer USS Mason, which has been patrolling near the Bab-el-Mandeb strait, and the amphibious transport dock USS Ponce, also in the region.

Related Video:

USS Nitze Fires at Radar Sites in Yemen

The strikes were recommended by Defense Secretary Ash Carter and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Marine Gen. Joseph Dunford and authorized by President Barack Obama, Cook said in the statement.

"These limited self-defense strikes were conducted to protect our personnel, our ships and our freedom of navigation in this important maritime passageway," Cook said. "The United States will respond to any further threat to our ships and commercial traffic, as appropriate, and will continue to maintain our freedom of navigation in the Red Sea, the Bab-el-Mandeb, and elsewhere around the world."

Earlier Wednesday, a military official confirmed to The Associated Press that a second round of two missiles had been fired from rebel territory at the Mason. The ship used countermeasures, the officials said, and the missiles went harmlessly into the sea.

The first two missiles targeting the Mason and the Ponce were fired Sunday, originating from the same region on the coast of Yemen.

A defense official confirmed to Military.com that the Mason had used countermeasures, firing two Standard Missile-2s and a RIM-162 Evolved SeaSparrow Missile, and launching a Nulka missile decoy to lure the missiles away from the ship. It remains unclear whether these countermeasures were successfully employed against the missiles or whether the attack failed on its own.

A defense official told Military.com Wednesday's successful attack on radar sites in Yemen was executed consistent with international law and was conducted independently of the Saudi-led coalition war on the rebels.

McConaughey told Military.com that the command will continue to maintain ships in the area.

"[NAVCENT] will not back down from its duty to ensure the free flow of commerce, freedom of access and security in this vital region with our allies and regional partners," he said.

It remains unclear whether the U.S. will take further action in response to the attacks.

--Hope Hodge Seck can be reached at hope.seck@military.com. Follow her on Twitter at @hopeseck.
On Thursday, the 241st birthday of the U.S. Navy, Chief of Naval Operations Adm. John Richardson drew a connection between the service's first major fight with the African Barbary Pirates in the early 1800s and sea-launched missile strikes Wednesday that destroyed radar sites used by Houthi rebels in Yemen to target Navy ships.

Speaking at a town hall meeting with sailors at Naval Support Activity Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, Richardson said the strike this week was evidence that the Navy continued to do the same mission for which it was founded.

"As you know, our Navy was stood up in 1775 ... to defend freedom of navigation, freedom of trade against the Barbary pirates in the Strait of Gibraltar," Richardson said. "Fast-forward 241 years, what were we doing last night. You had USS Mason and USS Nitze in a geographic choke-point in the Bab-el-Mandeb, protecting freedom of navigation and our national interests around the world."

Richardson provided new details about the strike on three radar sites in rebel-controlled territory on the coast of Yemen. The strike totaled five missiles, he said.

While defense officials yesterday declined to specify what kind of missiles were used, multiple media outlets have reported they were Tomahawk subsonic cruise missiles, launched from the Arleigh Burke-class destroyer Nitze from its position within the Red Sea.

The five-missile strike came after the destroyer Mason and another ship, the amphibious transport dock Ponce, had been targeted by missiles originating from those radar sites on the Yemeni coast, days apart.

Related Video:

USS Nitze Fires at Radar Sites in Yemen

According to a policy analysis published by experts at the Washington Institute on Wednesday, all three U.S. ships were told to patrol the area north of the Bab-el-Mandeb strait, between Yemen and the Horn of Africa, after rebels apparently targeted and damaged the United Arab Emirates-operated catamaran HSV-2 Swift, a vessel previously operated by the U.S. Navy.

"After defending themselves against a couple of coast cruise missile shots this last weekend and then again yesterday, they decided enough was enough," Richardson told the sailors. "In 241 years, much has changed, but the fundamentals stay the same."

Richardson has said the Navy plans to keep the ships in the region to continue with planned patrol operations.

The Navy's actions, carried out with authorization from President Obama, drew praise from the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee on Thursday.

In a statement, Sen. John McCain, a Republican from Arizona, congratulated the sailors who executed countermeasures to thwart missile attacks and later carried out the planned strikes.

"If not for the skill of the crew of the USS Mason in defending their ship and others nearby, hundreds of American sailors could have been harmed, or worse, by Houthi rebels armed with missiles likely provided by the Iranian regime," he said. "Thanks to the successful strikes carried out in response by the USS Nitze, the United States Navy has delivered a strong message that aggression of this kind will not be tolerated."

McCain also warned that the attacks on Navy ships were a symptom of greater "chaos engulfing the Middle East" that includes terrorist groups such as the Islamic State as well as the Iran-backed Shiite Houthi rebels in Yemen.

It's not clear if further U.S. actions are planned in response to the rebels' missile attacks. A defense official told Military.com on Wednesday the strikes were carried out in keeping with international law and were not in coordination with the Saudi-led coalition executing airstrikes on the rebels.

-- Hope Hodge Seck can be reached at hope.seck@military.com. Follow her on Twitter at@HopeSeck.
Nearly 200 judges and prosecutors have been suspended from their duties for using a smartphone messaging app linked to the July 15 coup attempt, Turkeys top judicial board announced Thursday, Anadolu reported.

A total of 184 judges and prosecutors have been temporarily removed from duty pending the conclusion of an investigation, the Turkish Supreme Board of Judges and Prosecutors (HSYK) said.

ByLock is said to have been used by members of the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO), which the government has said was behind the attempted takeover, which martyred 241 people and wounded nearly 2,200 others.

The app is believed to have been cracked by Turkish security agencies before the coup, prompting the plotters to switch to the WhatsApp messaging service but not before tens of thousands of FETO suspects had been identified.

Turkey accuses FETO, which is led by U.S.-based Fetullah Gulen, of organizing the defeated coup as well as a long-running campaign to overthrow the state through the infiltration of Turkish institutions, particularly the military, police, and judiciary.

More than 3,400 FETO-linked judges and prosecutors have so far been discharged by the board following the bid.
Depending on your PT test, the order of swimming may best be determined by where it is in the order of events of that test.
Several Samsung Galaxy Note 7's lay on a counter in plastic bags after they were returned to a Best Buy on September 15, 2016 in Orem, Utah. (Photo : Getty Images/George Frey)

Korean smartphone manufacturer Samsung initially did not recall smartphones in China after users all over the world reported that the new units spontaneously burst into flames.



Recently, the Chinese government department that oversees consumer product safety said Samsung will recall 190,984 units of the Galaxy Note 7s sold to China.



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Samsung reported that "there have been 20 incidents involving overheating or fire-related accidents" with the phones in China. The company published a guide to consumers on how to exchange their devices for new ones from Samsung distributors or get a refund.



The smartphone manufacturer at first did not include China in the recall as the company said that the batteries that were included in the units exported to China had no defect.



"Samsung very much values the Chinese market. It has never and will never apply a double standard towards China. Right now, the new, exchanged Note 7 devices overseas use the same battery supplier as the domestic version. To this day, of the 1 million consumers [with this phone] globally, 150,000 are from China, and all are using this battery," stated the company.



Samsung, in a statement, expressed the need to respond to customers' needs and the intention to address to concerns.



According to the statement, "We take the Galaxy Note 7 explosions in China very seriously. When facing each incident, we always immediately, proactively contact the user and obtain the relevant information."



The company shipped 325 million units to China and said that they are still looking into the source of the overheating batteries.



In the U.S., Samsung has stopped sales of the Galaxy Note 7 altogether. Consumer groups expressed that the recall would have been implemented in a better way if the company coordinated with the government.


GRAND RAPIDS, MI - Mary Free Bed Rehabilitation Hospital got its name 125 years ago when a group of Grand Rapids women sought 10 cents from each woman named Mary to fund a hospital bed dedicated to caring for an indigent patient.

On Thursday, hospital officials celebrated the completion of the second phase of a $66.4 million renovation and expansion project for the 167-bed institution at 325 Wealthy Street SE.

The expansion vaults Mary Free Bed from being the 39th largest independent rehabilitation hospital in the U.S. to being the fifth largest, said hospital president Kent Riddle. The hospital also can boast one of the highest recovery rates in the nation, he said.

The hospital, which served 1,600 in-patients and 30,000 out-patients last year, now employs 1,250 employees and is seeking 150 more workers, Riddle said.

The new six-story addition was named for longtime volunteer administrators Bernedine Keller and Barbara Hoffius, who were instrumental in moving the hospital from its former home on Cherry Street to its present campus during the 1970s.

"During their tenures as president of the Mary Free Bed Guild, Bernie Keller and Babs Hoffius made pivotal decisions that set the stage for our success today," Riddle said. "As we improve the futures of patients from Michigan and beyond, it's marvelous that it occurs in this specially designed building that bears their names."

Bernedine Keller, who died in 2011, served as president of the Mary Free Bed Guild from 1970 to 1973. Barbara Hoffius, president of the Guild from 1973 to 1977, died in 1996.

Dirk Hoffius, son of Barbara Hoffius, said his late mother would be "embarrassed, overwhelmed, humbled and excited" to see the new campus.

The ribbon-cutting ceremony, attended by Gov. Rick Snyder and local dignitaries, including Grand Rapids Mayor Rosalynn Bliss.

"For more than a century, Mary Free Bed has demonstrated an unwavering commitment to the West Michigan community," Snyder said in his remarks.

"The outstanding doctors, nurses and therapists who work here have always provided outstanding services to their patients, and I'm proud to join with them as we celebrate the grand re-opening of Mary Free Bed Rehabilitation Hospital."

The final phase of the project includes renovations that will house a new conference center and catering kitchen, hospital administration and other hospital support services. The Inn at Mary Free Bed will be enlarged from six to 22 rooms.
ANN ARBOR, MI -- Thank you Detroit!

We had a great time in the "D," checking out 7 pizzerias and soaking up all that Detroit pizza history.

Check out the photos from MLive photographer Emily Rose Bennett.

On Tuesday, Oct. 12, we visited:

Tomatoes A Pizza, 14 Mile Road, Farmington Hills; Tania's Pizza, Royal Oak (poll winner); Green Lantern Pizzeria, Madison Heights; Loui's Pizza, Hazel Park; Buddy's, Conant Street, Detroit; PizzaPapalis, Detroit (Greektown); and Supino Pizzeria, Detroit.

Today Amy Sherman and I continue the search for Michigan's Best Pizza in Ann Arbor and Jackson.

Here is our schedule:

THURSDAY, Oct. 13

11:00 a.m.- Anthony's Gourmet Pizza, Ann Arbor

12:15 p.m.- NeoPapalis, Ann Arbor

1:30 p.m.- Mani Osteria & Bar, Ann Arbor

3:15 p.m.- Thompson's Pizzeria, Chelsea

5:00 p.m.- The Deck Down Under, Jerome

6:35 p.m.- Klavon's, Jackson

We're also planning trips to Kalamazoo, Southwest Michigan and the Lansing areas.

Follow our search for Michigan's Best Pizza with these stories:
KALAMAZOO, MI - A Western Michigan University alumnus is performing in "The Book of Mormon," a nine time Tony Awards winning musical, at Miller Auditorium starting Oct. 18.

Courtesy of Western Michigan University

"The Book of Mormon" features book, music and lyrics by Trey Parker, Robert Lopez and Matt Stone. Parker and Stone are the duo behind the animated series "South Park."

The satirical musical follows two young missionaries, Elder Price and Elder Cunningham, on their mission trip to Uganda, where they try to convert citizens to the Mormon religion. The production covers their trials and tribulations throughout their mission and opens their eyes to the realities of the world.

Leonard Sullivan, a WMU alumnus, travels with the production as an understudy to the ensemble or better known as a swing. He graduated with a bachelor of fine arts degree in 2001.

"It feels great because this will be the first tour that I've done that came to Kalamazoo," said Sullivan of returning to his alma matter.

During his time in Kalamazoo, he performed in local productions on WMU's campus and at the Kalamazoo Civic Theatre including "Rags," "Godspell" and "Company." Sullivan returned to Kalamazoo to direct the Civic Theatre's production of Hairspray during their 2015-2016 season.

Some of his national and international tours include appearances in "Hairspray," "High School Musical," "A Chorus Line" and more.

"There are a lot of twists and turns that are very funny and very interesting," said Sullivan of "The Book of Mormon." While the national tour for the production has been underway for quite some time, Sullivan joined the cast at the end of May.

"It's like joining a moving train. Everything's in place, everything keeps going," said Sullivan.

"The Book of Mormon" will have eight performances at Miller Auditorium from Oct. 18-23. Tickets are still available at the Miller Auditorium ticket office and can be purchased by phone at 269-387-2300 and 800-228-9858 or online at millerauditorium.com.
Adam_Zemke_101116_RJS_01.jpg

State Rep. Adam Zemke, D-Ann Arbor, at a candidate forum hosted by the League of Women Voters on Oct. 11, 2016.

(Ryan Stanton | The Ann Arbor News)

ANN ARBOR, MI - State Rep. Adam Zemke, D-Ann Arbor, says he went to Lansing nearly four years ago to work on improving Michigan's educational system, among other things, and he says his work isn't done yet.

Zemke, 33, is seeking a final two-year term in the state House in the Nov. 8 election.

Bob Baird, a Republican candidate for the 55th District Michigan House seat, included this photo of himself on a campaign brochure, introducing himself as "Thrifty Bob Baird." He writes, "My ancestors came to this country from Scotland in the early 1700s. Scottish people are known to be thrifty people."

He's defending his 55th District seat against Republican Bob Baird, a 79-year-old accountant from Ann Arbor Township.

"I think we all have seen, regardless of political viewpoint, times where we've been excited about what's going on in the Legislature and times where we have been a little bit troubled. It has really been an honor to serve through all of those," Zemke said at a League of Women Voters candidate forum this week.

"A big part of what I've been able to accomplish in a very bipartisan fashion has been working to improve educational outcomes for all children, regardless of their zip code. I am very attuned and concerned about the summer learning loss and issues that are plaguing communities where students are just not receiving the same quality of educational experience, and we need to change that."

Zemke appeared solo at the forum, sitting next to an empty chair, as his opponent did not attend, though Baird did attend another recent forum.

A graduate of Ann Arbor High School and Navy veteran, Baird has a bachelor's degree in accounting and a master's degree in finance from Eastern Michigan University. He worked for many years at Detroit Edison.

Zemke has both a bachelor's and master's degree in mechanical engineering from Michigan State University and worked as an engineer before getting elected to the state House in 2012. He's a Pioneer High School graduate.

Baird, who has lived in the Ann Arbor area since 1953, is making his first run for political office, though he said he has served as a precinct delegate.

"I didn't look for the job," he said of how his 55th District candidacy came about. "I was surprised when I got a call from the state Republican Party in Lansing. Apparently they have trouble filling the ballots here in Ann Arbor."

Baird said he initially thought maybe it was a prank, but he checked it out and sure enough the party wanted him to run.

District boundaries for Michigan House of Representatives seats in Washtenaw County.

A small-government proponent who describes himself as thrifty, Baird said he's running a mostly self-funded, low-budget campaign. He said he's running because he has deep concerns about the direction the country is headed and he doesn't want to leave the next generation buried in government debt.

A supporter of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, Baird said he believes government should be run more like a business.

"I get terribly embarrassed about some of the things he's said, but ... I think we need to run things more businesslike," he said of Trump.

"The debt is a big issue. We can't afford more debt."

Zemke said he would like to continue working on making sure Michigan is a welcoming place for all people, improving access to the outdoors, protecting the Great Lakes, and ensuring campaign finance reform takes place.

He also said transparency in government is important. He recently voted in favor of expanding the state's open records laws to apply the Michigan Freedom of Information Act to the governor's office and the Legislature.

In response to MLive's Voter Guide questionnaire, Baird said the state Legislature should not expand the state's civil rights laws to protect lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people from discrimination in housing or employment.

Zemke believes Michigan's Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act should be expanded to provide such protections to LGBT people.

Baird also said he does not support legalized abortion, while Zemke said he does support legalized abortion.

Baird says it's a mystery to him how the election is going to turn out. He said he has a long business background and a history of being put into new situations, so he thinks he'd do well as a state lawmaker.

"My goal is to do the best job I can representing the people of my district. I want to do it with honor and do it for them," he said.

Zemke won his last race in 2014 with 68 percent of the vote against Republican Leonard O. Burk.

He won his first state House race in 2012 with 64 percent of the vote against Republican Owen Diaz and the Green Party's David McMahon.

Read more about the candidates in MLive's Voter Guide.
Singaporean Defense Minister Ong Ye Kung welcomes joint naval exercises between China and the ASEAN. (Photo : Getty Images)

Senior Minister of State for Defence Ong Ye Kung reported that Singapore supports the military exercises between ASEAN and China and will act as the current country coordinator.



Ong said that there was a proposal from China and he thought that it was "very good."



"We have written to all the ASEAN member states; we will try to convene meetings within ASEAN at the senior officials' level to try to work out some modalities, and I think these are important steps for us to take," he added.



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The defense minister also suggested that the Code of Unplanned Encounters in the Sea (CUES) should be expanded to lower tensions in the South China Sea.



"All these will reduce unpredictability and uncertainty, and manage the risks of any unintended incidents," Ong said. "So I think in this era, in this current situation, these are probably constructive steps to move ahead."



Joint naval exercises will also commence between Singapore and China. The Republic of Singapore Navy (R.S.N.) Formidable-class frigate RSS Steadfast will be joining the People's Liberation Army of China Jiangkai II-class frigate Jingzhou.



On the subject of bilateral relations between China and Singapore, Ong said that the talks have had "ups and downs" but he said, "Hopefully, it is a trajectory that goes upwards as a general trend."



Ong said that there are many areas on which the region can optimize for collaboration. He also suggested that differences should be put aside.



"We are not a claimant state. We, like all other countries, wish for peace and stability in the region so that we can go about doing our own business, promote investments, conduct training, raise and improve the lives of our people. And that has always been our approach--an honest broker, do not take sides, but always be a positive optimistic force," he said.


ANN ARBOR, MI - Between songs, The Record Company frontman Chris Vos told stories ranging from his first time seeing Iggy Pop live to how growing up on a dairy farm in rural Wisconsin prepared him for the grind that is the music industry.

Vos and his bandmates, who recently achieved a No. 1 hit on Billboard's Adult Alternative Chart with "Off the Ground," spent their afternoon on Tuesday, Oct. 11 offering those stories in an intimate environment prior to their evening performance at The Blind Pig in Ann Arbor.

The live radio, acoustic performance took place on the second floor of Leon Speakers, a manufacturer of custom stereo speakers, which is now known across the recording industry as Leon Loft. The Record Company and other recognizable, up-and-coming acts like Fitz & The Tantrums, Lord Huron and Michael Franti have visited the loft off West Ellsworth Road, along with more established acts like The Indigo Girls and Matt Nathanson, sharing a few songs while providing some of the inspiration behind how they came together.

The sporadic performances have grown considerably in popularity since Leon Speakers President and Founder Noah Kaplan teamed up in October 2013 with radio host Rob Reinhart, whose weekly Acoustic Cafe series is broadcast on about 110 stations across the country, including Ann Arbor's 107one FM.

The idea was to take the Acoustic Cafe format outside of the more isolated Big Sky Recording studio in Ann Arbor into an occasional live, on-air broadcast inside Leon Loft, where around 50 people could join in on the performances to learn a little more about the artists they hear on the radio.

"I like what happens in the studio. I like it to be quiet and contemplative and a one-on-one conversation," Reinhart said of the artist visits to Big Sky. "But the thing about being in front of a live audience is that it's so much fun. The artists are more relaxed, because that's actually where they're the most comfortable, sitting in front of a group. Talking to some guy in a room is actually not that comfortable for a lot of these songwriters."

Ethan Kaplan, Noah's brother and the Chief Operations Officer for Leon Speakers, said the environment they've been able to create at Leon Loft has made it a destination for artists hungry to be discovered by a larger audience.

"This particular genre of music really lends itself to the art of songwriting," he said. "What Rob is able to do is get into the heart of that creative moment, where they discover that next line or when they play that next chord that brought the whole song together. Not all interviewers can get that, and Rob does a great job of getting them to open up."



Moving Leon Speakers' operations from East Liberty Street in Ann Arbor to a more industrial space gave Kaplan room to grow, including some extra space on the second floor. Prior to renovations, the space looked like a "1980s telecommunications center" with "carpet that was from a bowling alley" Noah Kaplan joked.

With a growing business that specializes in custom-built speakers emphasizing both high-end sound and design, Kaplan wanted to partner the business' mission with outreach to the people who appreciate that sound in a live setting.

A conversation with Reinhart was all he needed to be convinced the space could be transformed into a performance space equipped for on-air performances.

"At Leon, we're a culture-driven company, so one of our goals is to mix business with Bohemia," said Kaplan, who helped start the business in 1997. "That's sort of the mantra of how we run a business. We like to be immersed in the arts and be around those influences, so we can participate.

"The synergy was obvious," Kaplan said, referring to the partnership with Reinhart and Acoustic Cafe. "We want to connect with people who not only love music, but love the tools that they need to play it back and appreciate music. I think that's where we connect."

The performance area is decorated with antique cameras and posters celebrating old school craftsmanship, which fits Leon's mission as a handmade builder of speakers people seek out across the globe for their sound quality and sleek designs.

So when Leon's 50 employees aren't churning out 40 custom speaker units a day, the machine shop's first floor is vacated, while the second floor studio is transformed into a haven for artists to tell the stories behind their music.

For Vos and The Record Company, whose band has achieved success on their debut album "Give it Back to You" by combining the swagger of The Rolling Stones with a slide guitar and nods to bluesmen like John Lee Hooker, Leon Loft offers the opportunity to share a different side of the band's more intentionally freewheeling sound.

"That's why this kind of environment is kind of cool, because they're all here to hear something new," Vos said. "They're not hear to listen to some hit from 15 years ago. It's also nice to be able to perform the songs acoustically in a different way.

"To have people interested in the art that you create is all you could ever hope for in the world," he added. "If people want to know a little more about the songs, that's a bonus for us, because hooks are hooks, but people are people. If you can get some personality in there, too, it's nice."

The Record Company played four live songs in front of the live studio audience before the show wrapped up, eventually closing out their mini set with "Hard Day Coming Down," which was performed exclusively for the audience.

Moments like those are what Kaplan lives for. While he and his brother, Ethan, continue to see their business grow and their vision expand, Leon Loft offers a glimpse of where they would like to go in the future.

Kaplan sees the business and Leon Loft as a vehicle to help build name recognition, eventually allowing them to host a music festival of their own. Leon's "creative campus," he said, has expanded to become the home of MoFi Sound Lab, which begins producing handmade record players at the building next door in the next couple of weeks.

He hopes to grow his employee base to around 150 in the next five years, and believes the recognition Leon Loft has received, along with the products Leon is producing, will allow them to continue to build on their mission.

"The vision for Leon has always been to mix art with audio and design with technology," Kaplan said. "That's always expanded. The bohemian element of it is how we run the business. We're always trying to find that balance."
ANN ARBOR, MI - Conan Smith, who recently resigned from his seat on the Washtenaw County Board of Commissioners to seek a full-time job with the county, has withdrawn his name from consideration for the job.

He's now looking to return to the board by reclaiming his District 9 seat representing Ann Arbor's west side in the Nov. 8 election.

"It breaks my heart, but I am withdrawing from consideration for the OCED director position," Smith wrote in an email sent to the county's deputy administrator and shared with commissioners on Wednesday, Oct. 12.

Smith was one of two finalists being considered to lead the county's Office of Community and Economic Development.

The other is Andrea Plevek, interim OCED director.

Even though he stepped down from the board before formally applying, Smith has faced criticisms and ethical questions over his pursuit of the OCED director job after serving 12 years as a county commissioner.

Smith acknowledged in his email on Wednesday there was too much controversy for him to continue the pursuit.

"I want to thank you and the hiring committee for taking the time to consider my experience and qualifications. The public conflict that has arisen around my participation in this process, however, is too much," he wrote.

"I am sorely disappointed that I will not have the opportunity to lead the OCED team, but I think you will agree that it would have been politically very difficult to advance my nomination through the administrator and the board should I have been so fortunate as to have been recommended."

Smith said knowing that Plevek is the other finalist made the decision easier, because he thinks she'll make an outstanding OCED director.

"I had strongly encouraged her to compete for this job, and I hope the committee sees fit to recommend her for it," he wrote.

The OCED, which is based in Ypsilanti, is responsible for undertaking a wide range of county initiatives, including everything from affordable housing to human services funding, workforce development, brownfield redevelopment, the ReImagine Washtenaw initiative and efforts to address homelessness.

Mary Jo Callan was the last full-time director of the office. Brett Lenart, who is now Ann Arbor's planning manager, stepped in on an interim basis after Callan, and now Plevek is the interim director.

Smith's resignation from the county board in August came one day after Mary Morgan, executive director of The CivCity Initiative, sent an open letter to commissioners, raising ethical concerns about Smith's interest in the job.

"I've been told that before I made the situation public, some commissioners had urged him to resign," Morgan wrote in a column in The Ann magazine.

"They were right to do that, and they deserve credit for having those difficult conversations. But he resisted, wanting assurances that he'd get the job before he vacated the board seat."

Smith said Morgan's letter in August captured what he had been grappling with for about two weeks. After talking to others about it, he said, he decided to resign from his commissioner seat to avoid a potential conflict of interest.

Morgan has suggested the county should develop an ethics ordinance to prevent similar situations in the future. She notes other state and local governments have policies or laws that prohibit a sitting elected official from being hired for several months or more after they are no longer in an elected position.

Smith concluded his email on Wednesday by saying he can't adequately describe how sad he is to be dropping out of the running for the OCED job. He said working every day for an organization he loves, on issues that he's passionate about, would have been everything he could have asked for.

"I just felt that the whole situation had gotten too messy," he wrote in another email on Thursday in response to questions from The Ann Arbor News.

"I tried to make this hiring process as fair as possible, even by resigning my board seat to eliminate the potential for a conflict of interest. But it didn't matter, and already too many good relationships have been strained unnecessarily (and unfairly) by the whole thing. I felt like fighting for this job any further was just going to do more damage to the people I love and the institution I want to serve."

Smith said he intends to go back to campaigning to be a county commissioner and he hopes he can continue to make a difference in that role.

For the last 12 years, Smith represented Ann Arbor's west side on the county board and served as director of Metro Matters, a Ferndale-based nonprofit organization formerly known as the Michigan Suburbs Alliance. He announced earlier this month he and Metro Matters recently parted ways.

Smith, a Democrat, is the only District 9 candidate on the Nov. 8 ballot and is favored to win, though he faces write-in opponents Jeff Hayner and Jen Eyer.

The board recently appointed Eyer, a former MLive/The Ann Arbor News employee, to fill Smith's vacated seat through the end of the year.

At a candidate forum this week, Smith declined to respond to accusations from Hayner that his job with Metro Matters "fell apart due to financial difficulties." Smith said he's still is in a legal dispute with Metro Matters.
ANN ARBOR, MI - A crash blocked a lane of M-14 towards the end of rush hour on Thursday, Oct. 13.

The right lane of eastbound M-14 at Main Street was blocked by a crash about 6:20 p.m. Oct. 13, according to the Michigan Department of Transportation.

Officials recommended motorists avoid the area of eastbound M-14 at Barton Drive for the next several hours due to debris in the roadway, according to a 6:46 p.m. Nixle alert by the Washtenaw County Sheriff's Office.

Further details on the crash were not immediately available.
Jack Ma and Alibaba Willing to Support Thai Small Businesses Through E-commerce

Jack Ma wants to help small businessmen in Thailand. (Photo : Getty Images)

Jack Ma and the Thai Deputy Prime Minister Somkid Jatusripitak, engaged in talks on how Alibaba can support the Thai small enterprise sector through e-commerce.



The support from Alibaba will be in the form of training of entrepreneurs of small businesses to effectively engage in e-commerce.



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"We want to hire at least 30 Thai young people to work at the Alibaba headquarter in Hangzhou for one or two years and send them back, so they understand our system and can support more people here," Ma said.



Ma also thanked the Thai government for making Chinese tourists to easily enter the country, and to transact using online payments.



"We want to make every shop connected with tourists to use mobile payment as this will be more convenient for Chinese tourists, especially the younger generation which has already got accustomed to mobile phone payment developed rapidly in China in recent years," he said.



The deputy prime minister said that Alibaba's target is to support the small to medium enterprises (SMEs) as it composes 90 percent of the Thai market.



Aside from giving assistance to businesses, the Alibaba CEO said that he is also willing to help the Thai government build an electronic payment system for government in its drive to cut corruption.



Ma emphasized, "We can expect an e-payment society without cash in the future and e-payment will make our society very transparent as all data will be recorded by machines."



Alibaba, through its online payment system, Alipay, is the widest and most subscribed e-commerce platform in China. Jack Ma has been looking for a larger market base outside the country.



He reiterated that the company's goal is to create 100 million jobs across the world in 20 years.


Gerry Brownlee looks forward as Prime Minister John Key delivers his speech. (Photo : Getty Images)

New Zealand's defense minister was told by a Chinese official to stay away from the South China Sea issue as the country is not involved.



The South China Sea is being claimed by China and is in a dispute with the Philippines, Malaysia, Taiwan and Vietnam. There is an estimated $5 trillion worth of trade in the disputed territory.



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"We hope that countries who are not involved in the disputes respect the countries who are having the disputes to . . . work among themselves," Fu Ying, chairwoman of China's foreign affairs committee for parliament.



Fu, a former deputy foreign minister, added, "Outside involvement, I think the developments have shown, interferences, can only complicate the differences and sometimes even add to the tension."



New Zealand Defense Minister Gerry Brownlee expressed that his country disagrees with China's stand on the South China Sea. China is firm on its claim amidst the decision of the international tribunal at The Hague.



"We oppose actions that undermine peace and erode trust and would like to see all parties actively take steps to reduce those tensions," Brownlee said.



He added, "As a small maritime trading nation, international law and, in particular, the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, is important for New Zealand. We support the arbitral process and believe that countries have the right to seek that international resolution."



New Zealand has expressed repeatedly said that they do not agree with China's move on the South China Sea, especially now that the country has already built landing strips and fake islands.



"A particular cause of . . . heightened tension has been the reclamation and construction activity and deployment of military assets in disputed areas," he said.


More Chinese are studying overseas. (Photo : Getty Images)

The Chinese government issued a notice to parents to read carefully overseas study programs given to them after a series of lawsuits filed by dissatisfied parents.



According to the Ministry of Education , 523,700 Chinese citizens studied at undergraduate level overseas in 2015, compared with 339,700 in 2011. There is also a wide range of programs being offered, such as summer camps and non-degree study trips.



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Some parents have sued organizers for not delivering what was promised particularly on food and accommodations.



A parent from Beijing recently filed a case against a middle school. He sent his 12-year-old son for a 10-month study tour in the U.S.



"We hoped a trip to the US would help broaden his horizons and experience, so we allowed him to participate in a study tour organized by the school. But when he told us about the food and lodgings in the U.S., we weren't satisfied," said the family, who preferred to remain anonymous.



He added, "We paid 330,000 yuan ($49,500), but we never thought the daily food allowance would be just $3.33 and he would have to share a room with 10 other students. We couldn't accept that, so we allowed him to come home early, and then sued the school."



The court in Beijing dismissed the case as there was no contract between the parents and the school that would stipulate the services that would be rendered.



"They didn't sign a formal contract with the school. In other words, they had no evidence to prove the organizers didn't deliver what they had promised," said Yang Lu, the judge who heard the case.



A report issued by the International Society for the Study of Chinese Overseas indicated that the number of students going for overseas study is increasing and are getting younger.



The report said "The U.S., Australia and Canada are some of the leading destinations for Chinese high school students going abroad. The number of Chinese students enrolled in Australian high schools increased 20 percent from 2013 to 2014."


Myanmar is bottom of a new Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) index, which ranks Asia-Pacific countries based on how well they prevent illicit trade. But in many areas the government is taking steps to address its failings.





Rather than attempt to quantify the size of illegal trade flows in different countries, the EIU report, commissioned by the European Chamber of Commerce Singapore, rated 17 regional economies on the extent to which they provide an environment enabling illicit trade.

Countries were reviewed across four categories  intellectual property (IP), transparency and trade, customs environment, and supply and demand. Australia came top with 85.2 out of a possible 100. Myanmar finished last with 10.8  behind Laos with 12.9 and Cambodia with 23.9.

Myanmar presents the most challenges, said Jeremy Douglas, region representative for the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).

The country has struggled with illicit trade for years. Much of it goes to China, Myanmars biggest trading partner, with jade and timber being two of the most conspicuous examples. A 2015 report from NGO Global Witness estimated the illicit jade trade was worth US$31 billion a year. Research from the UK-based Environmental Investigation Agency that same year said that hundreds of millions of dollars worth of illegal timber was flowing into China.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Myanmar was ranked last in the supply and demand category, which measured the extent to which the economy supplies or provides a buyer base for illegally traded products.

Both Laos and Myanmar scored zero on intellectual property, which looks at the extent to which a country has IP laws and whether they are enforced. Myanmar has no IP legal framework and, in the words of one National League for Democracy MP, is the only ASEAN country that cannot prescribe copyright law.





An intellectual property law has been re-drafted more than 10 times in recent years, but the new education minister has pledged to put fresh effort into putting a legal framework in place.

The EIU report also suggests adopting customs recordal, which can allow someone with a trademark, copyright or patent to register intellectual property with customs agencies. This allows customs authorities to intercept shipments suspected of infringing on IP without waiting for instruction.

On transparency and trade Myanmar ranks slightly above Laos, which languishes in last place. Scoring on that section depends on the availability of track and trade services, cooperative local officials, and monitoring and oversight in the countrys free trade zones.

Myanmar is also well above Laos on customs environment, which looks at the speed, efficiency and corruption of customs authorities. In terms of customs Laos is basically equivalent to a sub-Saharan country, Mr Douglas said.

Without outside assistance it could be years, if not decades before poor economies like Myanmar or Laos are able to build sufficient customs apparatus, Mr Douglas said.

The previous government formed an Illegal Trade Prevention and Supervision Control Committee in 2012, deploying mobile teams to crack down on smuggling along the route between Yangon and Myawady on the Thai border, and between Mandalay, Lashio and Muse on the Chinese border.

But these were disbanded in December 2015, and by February this year officials reported that without the customs teams illegal trade was rising again.

In an interview with The Myanmar Times in May, Commerce Minister U Than Myint said the government would consider blocking illegal border trading gates and deploying mobile teams to counter smuggling.

The government is also rolling out the Myanmar Automated Cargo Clearance System (MACCS), which aims to automate many of the previously manual procedures that made navigating customs so time-consuming.

Yangons ports and airports will be the earliest adopters, and the new system will be extended to border trade centres if operations go well, MACCS director U Win Thant previously told The Myanmar Times.

Theres a new government and, we hope, a new energy for change that comes with it, said Mr Douglas. One of the first priorities needs to be a civilianisation of the police force and, at the same time, substantial capacity-building, since the country as a whole is not equipped to deal with transnational crime.

Myanmars police force is under the military-controlled Ministry of Home Affairs.
A Yangon high-rise developer says he is planning to sue Yangon City Development Committee for K50 billion (US$39.9 million) in compensation after YCDC instructed him to reduce the number of floors on a residential project.





U Kyaw Kyaw Naing said he was informed by YCDCs high-rise inspection committee (HIC) on October 6 that designs for a 12-storey project yet to begin construction would have to change.

The development in question is a planned residential apartment block on Dhamma Thukha Kyaung Road in Hlaing township, for which U Kyaw Kyaw Naing received a permit-in-principle under the previous YCDC administration.

The terms of that permit allowed for 12 floors and basement, which U Kyaw Kyaw Naing said would have provided some 264 apartments. But YCDCs high-rise committee has instructed two serious alterations be made to the design.

Both the building coverage ratio (BCR)  the area of the buildings base relative to the area of the project site  and the floor area ratio (FAR)  the buildings total floor space relative to the project site  are to be cut.

By lowering the BCR and FAR, the high-rise committee has reduced the number of floors from 12 to seven, and halved the buildings total floor space, U Kyaw Kyaw Naing said.

Only around 164 apartments can be built under the new design, but U Kyaw Naing said he has already presold more than 250 apartments in the project. Pre-selling units is common in the Yangon construction market, and often used to help fund projects.

U Kyaw Naing said that with a permit-in-principle he thought it was safe to start selling units.





If I have to do as Im being told, then I need to be compensated K50 billion for our losses and to give compensation to buyers that have already bought apartments, he told The Myanmar Times.

The developer said he was called to the HIC offices on October 6 and informed of the changes by U Aung Than Oo, the head of the high-rise inspection department. U Kyaw Kyaw Naing was also given a written instruction and told to sign it as an acknowledgment, which he refused to do.

Its totally impossible, he said. I want what was approved by the previous government.

U Aung Than Oo said he was unaware of U Kyaw Kyaw Naings legal plans, but that the instruction had been delivered in the correct way and the developer was free to pursue a legal case if he wished.

The department head declined to comment on exactly why the HIC had instructed the changes be made.

This is not the first time U Kyaw Kyaw Naing has run afoul of changing regulations in the high-rise construction sector. He sent design plans for the Dhamma Thukha Kyaung Road project to the HIC for approval in May. That same month marked the start of a contentious and hugely disruptive review of all Yangons high-rise buildings  whether already under construction or not  by the new Yangon Region government.

U Kyaw Kyaw Naing would only discuss his planned lawsuit on condition that the company he owns  a prominent local developer  was not named. But his firm also had projects under construction that were heavily affected by the city-wide high-rise review. In July, the Yangon Region government told his firm to cut the number of floors on condominium project that was already under way from 12.5 to six. That also prompted problems with presold apartments, and U Kyaw Kyaw Naing told The Myanmar Times that month he intended to ask the government to cover losses.

Many of the drastic changes handed down during the review, however, were later rescinded after complaints from developers and government officials.

Translation by Thiri Min Htu
Just next to Bogyoke Market and in front of FMI Centre, a cadre of about 40 street vendors sell local snacks, fruits, vegetables, clothes and paintings. Most tourists and Yangonites have squeezed through their ranks on the way to the market or a cup of joe at Bar Boon.





But if you peer closely into the faces behind the pomelos and mangoes, you might notice some resemblances from stall to stall. Its no coincidence  most of these vendors are family.

My mother and her younger sister have been selling fruits around Bogyoke zay since they were teenagers, said fruit-seller Ma Yin Yin Nwe, 24. Now, my mom is 60 years old.

According to Mya Yin Yin New, around 12 of her fellow vendors are related in some way to her mom  who she asked not be named  and her aunt. She sells rambutans next to cousins selling mangoes and an older sister selling mote own nout, a Myanmar snack of steamed rice and sugar.

When I was young, I started out helping my mom, Ma Yin Yin Nwe said. Eventually I started selling in a blank spot when I got older.

Now it feels as if there are no blank spots left. Since Myanmar Railways closed its headquarters for good in 1994, a lot has changed on the stretch of pavement between Sule Pagoda Road and Bogyoke Market. Parkson and FMI Centre went up; a compound for Myanmar railway employees came down.





That compound used to house the patriarch of another vendor family. Daw Thidar Nwe, 37, has been selling vegetables since she was a little girl  whose father worked as a typewriter clerk for the railroad.

We had a room at the compound [since replaced by FMI Centre], she said. His salary wasnt enough for the whole family, so my mom and other staff families began selling goods outside the building.

She says that, back then, there were other vendors hawking their wares along Bogyoke Road. But many were forced out to Insein township when the railroad housing compound was demolished 22 years ago.

We had to move, but I still come and sell because Ive been selling here since I was young, with my mom, she said. This place is like my own place.

And though Nwe Daw Thidar Nwes other family members no longer return to where they got their start, she still manages to enjoy a familial atmosphere. Nobody encroaches on her territory or undercuts her prices.

Some of us are truly related, but that doesnt mean the rest are strangers, said Yin Yin Nwes older sister, who like her mother asked not to be named. Because weve all been here for so long, we are like one big vendor family.

She added that, if she has to miss a day of selling, her fellow vendors will sell her snacks for her and give her the money she missed.

What will the future hold?

The family has decisions to make soon, however. Yangons quickly rising skyline is likely to displace the vendors, with Yoma Strategic Holdings set to build Landmark Development on a 10-acre block that spans from Bogyoke to the old Railway Headquarters  running right through their customary spots.

Management at FMI Centre and Parkson have long allowed the vendors to work in front of the building because they recognise that the vendors were there first, even if Yangon City Development Committee has occasionally arrested unlicensed vendors as recently as April.

But the privilege to sell without complication may run out in January 2017, when Yomas massive development breaks ground.

Some officials told us recently that we have to move when they start, but they told us we could apply for jobs at their stores when they finish their project  or something like that, Ma Yin Yin Nwe said. I think we will have to move, because its dangerous to sell so close to a construction site.

Larger families, with many children in school, are concerned about finding a new, equally lucrative location from which to sell their wares; Ma Yin Yin New said she thinks she can find a place if she has to.

All of us are thinking about it now, she said.
Keeping the old arts alive, and helping to restore Mandalay as a city of artists and performers, a new theatre and school for traditional dancing have been launched on 58th Street, between 29th and 30th streets, said general manager U Tun Tun.





The Innwa School and Minthar theatre will operate in tandem, with proceeds from the theatre funding education for dancers who will, eventually, perform there. U Tun Tun says plans are in place to move the educational facility to its new location from temporary premises it has occupied since June.

Weve accepted 13 students to learn dances for performing at the theatre, he said in an interview with The Myanmar Times. The purpose of the school is to keep alive the ancient Myanmar art of zatthaban [traditional performances]. This will help encourage continued interest in Myanmar art even as interest in modern dance grows.

For K4000, patrons can buy their way into Minthar Theatre, which is to be open every night. Getting into the school, however, will be a little more difficult: Only 20 students will be accepted for the two-year course, set to begin anew in June 2017. Applicants should be aged between 10 and 20, and those from remote or rural areas are welcome to apply as well  board and lodging will be provided by the Arts Mandalay Foundation.

Daniel Ehrlich, the foundations general director, said international donors had contributed to the school. I arrived in Myanmar in 1987 and have seen zatthaban. I consider it to be a valuable art, and for the past three years Ive been thinking about how to preserve it.

His ruminations led to the realisation that, more than anything, a proper education system needed to be set up in order to keep new generations abreast of the techniques. Founding a school in Mandalay, the cultural foundation of Myanmar, is an attempt to resurrect the city as a base for artists.

Myanmar dance was famous in the past, but many people have forgotten its value, he said. There is a risk it might disappear over the next 10 years if there are not enough skilled teachers.





U Tun Tun said state shows had replaced such traditional dances as the song-and-dance duet (nha par thwar) and the tragic scene lun khan that formed part of the zatthaban. Myanmar dance is at a crossroads, he said. In 1985, more than 30 anyeint (non-dramatic performances) would be performed in Mandalay, but only three can still be seen.  Translation by San Layy
State Counsellor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi yesterday weighed in for the first time on the deadly border attacks and subsequent manhunt for the perpetrators unfolding this week in northern Rakhine State, saying her government would ensure it has all the facts before pinning any blame.





We will conduct a fair and square [investigation] under the rule of law. As long as we are not clear what is what, we wont accuse anyone, she said at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Nay Pyi Taw. When there is solid evidence, we will indict if we think it should be done.

Meanwhile in Rakhine State, an interrogation of two men  caught during the coordinated assault on three border police posts on October 9  is ongoing, according to a senior police official in the state. They are being held in Sittwe Prison, he said.

U Khin Kyaw, deputy chief of the Rakhine State Police, told The Myanmar Times yesterday that it was too early to determine the two mens affiliation, the subject of much speculation since the attacks.

We have opened a court case against them and the court will try the case, he said.

According to state media, the October 9 attacks, which killed nine border guard officers, began at about 1am on a Kyikan Pyin village guard post in Maungdaw township. A second strike targeted the Kotankauk outpost in neighbouring Rathedaung township, and the last assailants retreated from the Ngakhuya outpost at about 5:45am.

The assailants affiliation, if any, has not yet been revealed by senior figures in government, though lower-level officials have put forward drug traffickers and a Rohingya militant group thought to be defunct as possible guilty parties.





Four additional suspects have been apprehended, state media reported yesterday: two on October 11 and two on October 10. The men detained on October 11 were identified as Andra Mular Kein and Mawlawi Fordita Laung, according to The Global New Light of Myanmar. It did not name the other two suspects.

The state-owned daily also reported an attack by 300 armed men on Tatmadaw troops who were combing Pyaungpit village in Maungdaw township on October 11. Four soldiers were killed in the ambush.

Tatmadaw soldiers and police personnel have come under fire multiple times since they launched a crackdown in northern Rakhine State to root out the October 9 assailants, scores of whom are believed still at large. Dozens of firearms were seized by the attackers during the raids.

U Zaw Htay, deputy director general of the Presidents Office, told Myanmar Now that security forces were struggling to distinguish between innocent civilians in the search area and militants.

A total of 29 people have died in the recent clashes, according to state media, police and government sources, including troops, attackers and the border guards killed in the October 9 raids.

A curfew in the state is being enforced from 7pm to 6am.

U Tin Maung Swe, secretary of the Rakhine State government, told The Voice yesterday that the attackers had been planning the raids for three months. He added that two men suspected of involvement in the attacks, who fled across the border into Bangladesh, were arrested by the Border Guards Bangladesh and transferred back to Myanmar authorities yesterday.

The recent unrest has raised the spectre of a repeat of 2012, when violence in Rakhine State left more than 100 people dead and drove tens of thousands of Rohingya Muslims into displacement camps. Unlike most of Rakhine, the majority in the northern part of the state self-identify as Rohingya, and tensions between Rakhine Buddhists and the largely stateless Muslim minority have persisted throughout the state since the violence four years ago.

The UN resident and humanitarian coordinator in Myanmar, Renata Lok-Dessallien, issued a statement yesterday condemning the border post attacks and offering her condolences to the slain victims families, while adding that she is also very concerned about the unfolding situation and has conveyed this to the government.

The UN continues to follow the situation, urging that rule of law be fully respected, civilians be protected and all efforts made to deescalate tensions. The UN hopes this situation can be resolved quickly so that the people in Rakhine State can move forward the peaceful, prosperous and harmonious future they all deserve, said the statement.

A contingent of Union cabinet officials, Myanmars chief of police and the Rakhine State chief minister, who met with local leaders in Sittwe on October 11, travelled to Maungdaw yesterday to observe the situation on the ground, even as others decamped to the state capital.

Teachers and government workers have fled northern Rakhine State, with crowds huddled yesterday on the jetty in Sittwe after arriving by boat from near the Bangladesh border.

Additional reporting by Pyae Thet Phyo and AFP
To raise the morale and the visibility of people with disabilities, advocacy organisations are joining forces with local government authorities to stage White Cane Day in Mandalay on October 15.





The regional Department of Social Welfare and School for the Blind organisations from the Shwe Minthar Foundation, Upper Myanmar office, are coming together to host the event.

More than 300 visually impaired people from Mandalay, Sagaing, Monywa and Pyin Oo Lwin have already enrolled to take part in the event, the fifth of its kind, according to the Shwe Minthar Foundations Mandalay branch.

The purpose of White Cane Day is to bring the situation of people with disabilities to the attention of the public, so that everyone can recognise the needs and abilities of disabled people, to improve their relationship with the authorities and raise their morale, a foundation official told The Myanmar Times on October 10.

White Cane Day Celebration will begin at Mandalays Zeigyo clock tower at 6am, when visually impaired people will walk to City Hall, using their white canes and accompanied by helpers.

International White Cane Day was first held in Yangon in 1992, and in upper Myanmar since 2011.

Mandalays Department of Social Welfare can be reached on 02-61150 and 09-91048590 by those wishing to donate money, food or medicine.





Translation by San Layy
The chair of the Myanmar Legal Aid Network has encouraged Klaas Haytema to appeal a recent verdict handed down to the Dutch national after he sparked outrage by unplugging an amplifier that was broadcasting a Buddhist sermon.





If he appeals to the Mandalay District Court, his jail term may be reduced or he may be released, said U Hla Ko, the legal organisations chair.

Mr Haytema was sentenced to three months in prison on October 6. The amplifier incident occurred on the evening of September 23 in Maha Aung Myay township, Mandalay Region, with the Dutch tourist later telling a court he had pulled the plug in sleepy frustration over its high-decibel rendering of a dhamma sermon.

There have been examples of Chinese people having been released and also the people who put earphones on the Buddhas ears were released, U Hla Ko said, referring to the high-profile case of New Zealander Phil Blackwood and two Myanmar business partners, who were given two-year prison sentences on charges of insulting religion but were released early in a January amnesty. The trio earned the ire of Buddhist nationalists in 2014 after a promotional flyer for their bar circulated online depicting an image of the Buddha wearing headphones, set against a psychedelic background.

U Hla Ko said he holds copies of Mr Haytemas verdict in both Myanmar and English languages, which were transcribed at the request of the convicted mans family. A decision on whether to appeal would ultimately be up to the defendant and his family, U Hla Ko added.

Mr Haytema, 30, was found guilty under the penal codes section 296  disturbing a religious assembly  for his conduct last month, which played out at the Thusarita Dhammayone community hall, located near the hotel where he was staying.

He had been charged with section 295, covering deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings, a more serious offence for which he had faced a possible two-year prison sentence, as was Mr Blackwoods fate.





At the hearing last week delivering his verdict, however, the judge said section 296 was the more appropriate charge.

Mr Haytema was also fined K100,000 (US$80) on a related immigration charge.

Translation by Win Thaw Tar
A university dedicated to arts and sciences degrees will be built in Nay Pyi Taw, according to U Tun Tin, a member of Nay Pyi Taw Council.





The university will be built. We are currently looking at land to build to it on, he said, adding that a plot of land in Pobbathiri township has been earmarked as the probable site for the new university.

Calls for a new university in the nations capital have come from a number of sources recently.

A letter requesting the construction of a new university in Nay Pyi Taw was submitted in July to State Counsellor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi by MPs from five of the townships within the capitals territory.

We sent a letter requesting the construction of this university in Nay Pyi Taw to the state counsellor and she agreed [to our proposal]. The project will take five years to complete, said Pyithu Hluttaw MP U Yee Mon (NLD; Pobbathiri), also known as U Mg Tin Thit.

Parents living in the capital have applauded the announcement, which will mean prospective bachelors degree students will be able to study closer to home.

Students who want to study arts or sciences at university currently have to go to Mandalay or Kyaukse. Once the new university is built, we will be able to watch over our children more easily, said Pyinmana resident U Win Tun, parent of a grade 10 student.

There are already a number of universities in Nay Pyi Taw, including the National Defence College, Yezin Agricultural University, the University of Veterinary Science, the University of Forestry and the University of Sport.





Translation by Khine Thazin Han
Policymakers will craft a national health plan for the next five years with the ultimate goal of achieving universal healthcare coverage by 2030, Health Minister Dr Myint Htwe said yesterday.





The Union minister was giving opening remarks at an event to officially launch the drafting process for the national health plan 2016-21, held at Grand Amara Hotel in Nay Pyi Taw.

The plan we are going to draw up will not focus on healthcare service projects. It will be a plan to cover the whole health system, he said. It can further the goal of Myanmar having universal health coverage by 2030.

Dr Thant Zin Htoo, assistant secretary for the Ministry of Health and Sport, told media that previous five-year national health plans had been unsuccessful due to a lack of cooperation with relevant organisations and a top-down bottleneck that saw lower-level health officials often waiting on orders from their superiors.

The previous plans were weak in terms of ability to implement them in practice. Then there was weakness in reviewing the plans. So we are trying to avoid such a situation with the plan we are now drawing up, he said.

Dr Myint Htwe said the budget for the national health plan for 2016-21 would be announced after detailed calculations were made.

Three committees have been formed to develop the plan, chaired by the Union health minister, and his ministrys permanent and assistant secretaries.





Health officials say they intend for the plan  the first drawn up under a genuinely civilian administration  to be not ministry-owned but rather the creation of a participatory approach that seeks input from relevant stakeholders, including civil society and the general public.

A snapshot from Pyinmana township reveals how challenging it may be for the National League for Democracy government to strengthen a health system that was neglected for decades.

Though part of the sprawling Nay Pyi Taw Union Territory capital region, Pyinmana is largely rural and its residents are an assortment of vendors, farmers and daily wage earners.

For many, affordable healthcare options are limited to basic pharmaceuticals. Daw Hmat Gyi, who sells thapyay leaves in Thegyun village, Pyinmana township, said daily profit from her business is typically K5000 (US$4), and is spent on food and other household expenditures for her family of four.

If we have a headache, we take Decolgen or Mixagrip ... We never get medical check-ups, she said, adding that she did not suffer from diabetes, hypertension or other rich people diseases.

A visit to the 200-bed Pyinmana Hospital is reserved for broken limbs and other serious health problems, she said.

Another woman, a 30-year-old from Pyinmana townships Mingalar ward who asked for anonymity, described how, experiencing pregnancy complications, she once secretly checked herself out of Pyinmana Hospital and went to a local clinic instead. Doctors at the hospital, she said, had failed to alleviate her pain with a treatment regimen of the mild pain reliever paracetamol and an injection that had no effect.

My aunt cared for me at the hospital, she said. I told my aunt to ask for help from the doctors to relieve my pain but when my aunt told the doctors, they scolded her. When I asked my aunt a second time to go to the doctor, she dared not go.

Ultimately, she spent three days at the Yezin clinic, had a miscarriage and was saddled with K287,000 in medical bills.

The amount is two-thirds of our familys income and we had to live with insufficient money for about three months, she told The Myanmar Times.

The national health plan for the next five years will be divided into four specific categories, covering projects related to health infrastructure, human resources, health services and financing.

The retired deputy director general of the Department of Public Health under the Ministry of Health and Sport, Dr Nilar Tin, said these projects success would be gauged in part on how effectively they benefit remote and conflict-affected parts of the country.

The remote regions are facing a lack of healthcare providers mainly because of geographic difficulties, financial difficulties, and different cultures and opinions. Everybody knows this, she said.

We will discuss with knowledgeable people from these regions and get advice from them and do projects [aimed at providing] full health services.

Translation by Thiri Min Htun and Win Thaw Tar
Homes for life will soon be a thing of the past. The government is drafting a bill to end the system by which state-owned apartments are rented out to tenants who can sublet them to others or pass them on to their descendants.





Rents  now as low as K12.5 (US$0.01) per square foot  could also be raised.

U Min Aung Aye, a deputy director in the construction ministrys Department of Urban and Housing Development, said the new law, expected to be drafted by the end of next year, would lay down stricter rules.

After weve completed the draft, we will proceed to submit it to parliament. No legislation or regulations governing rental housing have been introduced yet, he said.

The authorities rent out apartments and then transfer responsibility for managing the properties to us. Its hard to supervise them, he added.

Rental accommodation built by previous governments was let to the public, civil servants and retirees at low rents, with the DUHD responsible for rent collection and estate management.

In the absence of related legislation, tenants can live there as long as they like, and even pass on their apartments to their children as if they owned the rooms, critics of the system say.

The DUHD wants to introduce systematic maintenance procedures and set up estate management committees. It would also control illegal transfers and rental payments.





In other countries, the lease period [for public housing] is restricted to five years, and occupants must leave if the lease expires. But in Myanmar, people act as if theyve been granted permanent residence. They are tenants living in government-owned buildings, but they oppose any government upgrading plans, he said.

The DUHDs draft law would introduce five-year leases and provision for taking action upon expiry of the lease, or any misconduct by a tenant. Existing legislation for dealing with bad tenants goes back to a 1955 law the government wants to update.

Its quite hard to deal with tenants. Thats why we need a law, said U Min Aung Aye.

The draft rental housing bill will feature restrictions on tenants as well as other rules for occupying and maintaining apartments. Estate management committees would comprise tenants, administrators and local MPs.

In Yangon, the 16,000 rental apartments in 11 blocks were built in the socialist era. Their monthly rent is calculated on the basis of K12 and 50 pya per square foot, paid to the DUHD.

A 600 sq ft apartment in the 1152-apartment Mahabandoola project in South Dagon township costs K30,000 a month to rent.

Translation by Zar Zar Soe
A research team from New Zealand will study the eating behavior of Chinese people. (Photo : Getty Images)

A group of researchers and food experts from New Zealand will conduct a study on Chinese eating patterns. The study aims to develop food that will be profitable in the market.



Research leader Roger Harker said that the study will focus on food that is scientifically proven to be beneficial as more Chinese are being health conscious.



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The research will cover four aspects of consumer behavior. One aspect is the importance of health and wellness to Chinese consumers. Another is the role of social media and other factors in influencing buying behavior.



The researchers will also study how to convert intentions to lead a healthy lifestyle into actions and the profile of the consumer of healthy food from New Zeland.



Harker said, "By building a better understanding of the kinds of products that appeal to the consumer, as well as how they make their purchasing decisions, we can support the development of products in this space that will be viewed as more acceptable in these markets."



He added, "The role of social media and online purchasing of food is becoming part of everyday life for younger Chinese consumers. Successful companies are trusted and experts at listening and communicating with consumers via these networks--we need to constantly improve our ability to gather consumer insights from this online community."



However, a study by the U.S. National Institutes of Health's National Library of Medicine in 2014 stated that more Chinese are taking food that is high in salt and fat, and a decline in consumption of whole grains.



The research stated, "Macronutrient composition has shifted toward fats, and protein and sodium intakes remain high and potassium intake low. The rapid decline in intake of coarse grains and, later, of refined grains and increases in intake of edible oils and animal-source foods accompanied by major eating and cooking behavior shifts are leading to what might be characterized as an unhealthy."


Officials from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) say they are using surveillance to monitor when formalin is being using in food products at markets.





They have been trying to raise awareness about produce safety at the township and state/region levels. They also plan to educate the villages, FDA officials said. But in order to cover more bases, they are monitoring the markets, and will press charges if unsafe products are found.

The FDA, Yangon City Development Committee and Myanmars Food Science and Technology Association (FoSTA) will train rice noodle manufacturers how to avoid formalin. The FDA and FoSTA will host a training focused on how to make produce last longer without formalin, said FDA director general U Than Htut.

The training will be soon but we need cooperation from the public, he said. We would like to invite all the rice noodle producers to attend the training. The training will be useful for them.

According to YCDC, there are 66 rice noodle producers in Yangon Region.

We hope to train all producers in Yangon, he said. Bean curd producers can also join the training.

Last May, formalin was found in rice noodles and bean curd at Yangon Region markets, said FDA food safety director U Tun Zaw.

Formalin is not allowed to be used in food and it can be poisonous, said U Than Htut. We do not mean that all producers use formalin but we do not know how many formalin-based products are in the market.





More than 60 cases involving unsafe products were opened in the first six months of 2016, according to the FDA.
Mirror, mirror on the wall, whos the baddest of them all? In this region, by any yardstick, it has to be a tie between Cambodias Prime Minister Hun Sen and his Malaysian counterpart Najib Razak.





What a pair of disreputable rascals they are, and because of that, lets drop the niceties and feel free to point out their unsavoury similarities and how they are politically and socially almost identical.

To kick off, even just on a personal level, they seem as if cut from the same cloth, or more aptly, hewn from the same brutally hard stone.

They are about the same age: Najib is 63, Hun Sen 64, and both have dominant battleaxe wives, who are often said to be feared more than their husbands.

Najibs better half, Rosmah, an archetypal Cruella de Vil, is hard to portray accurately without employing the kind of language usually found in the more outlandish celebrity tabloids.

An addictive shopaholic with the manner and dress sense of a motorcycle momma from the outback who has just won the lottery, a mere glimpse of Rosmah makes ministers and generals discreetly slip away to the gents.

How does she do it? Easy. Najib is so besotted by her that Rosmahs every wish is his command and whoever disputes that or crosses her is finished.





It is tempting to say that her only regional equal is Hun Sens wife, Bun Rany, who is arguably even more influential and certainly more feared.

Any critical comment about her invariably kills conversation dead and elicits mortified looks on the faces of those who know that you dont mess with the diminutive but lethal Madame Hun Sen.

As well as having wives who deflect even the most rashly brave-hearted of critics, the two premiers are also remarkably alike in that they both owe much of their political success to their immense wealth.

It has enabled them to play the patronage game and to buy the undying loyalty of senior officials, party members and even closet opponents whose own status depends on their goodwill.

Anyone who betrays that loyalty has their throat cut, metaphorically speaking, by being demoted and having funding cut off to their constituency and their re-election campaigns.

Additionally, both Hun Sen and Najib exercise tremendous control over the domestic media in their respective countries and thus stifle any criticism of themselves and the party they lead.

In Najibs case, it has meant that coverage of Rosmahs titanic shopping sprees and his own alleged involvement with a Mongolian model and her subsequent murder have been largely squashed. So too, in another odd echo, was the murder of one of Hun Sens earlier mistresses, the noted Cambodian songstress Piseth Pilika. Great men get away with this kind of thing and move on.

Just as Najib has blithely ridden out a notorious scandal at the Malaysian investment fund 1MDB, where even the transfer of almost US$700 million from the fund into his personal bank account barely caused him to blink.

Likewise, Hun Sen swatted away a recent report by the international watchdog group Global Witness, which revealed a huge network of secret deal-making and nepotism that emanates from the Hun family and underpins the Cambodian economy.

A popular political commentator, Kem Ley, discussed this report on a radio program and was murdered two days later in broad daylight in the middle of the nations capital. Of course, Hun Sen was not implicated.

Both he and Najib have become immune to the most blatant revelations of corrupt practices, criminal activity, philandering and other shocking misbehaviour that would topple any other leader.

Press reports, watchdog exposes, global condemnation, the demise of rivals and mistresses, and the occasional  but quickly suppressed  public protests have not dampened the duos solid hold on power.

Hun Sen has been top dog in Cambodia since 1985 and he has made it clear that he has no intention of stepping down soon.

His number-one son, Hun Manit, a lieutenant general who, among other things, commands his dads bodyguard unit, will almost certainly take over and need the same unit for himself.

Compared to this, his erstwhile twin, Najib, is a relative newcomer having only inherited the premiership in 2009, but after weathering two rather fraught elections, he has finally installed his own team.

Previous ministers and party warlords whod had the temerity to go against him or against Rosmah have been sidelined, sacked, bankrupted or jailed.

Najib, like Hun Sen, takes no prisoners. You go against him, you are toast.

Could these two regional rogues ever be defeated then? Well, although not impossible, it is highly unlikely to happen in the near future.

They are both clever, cunning and ruthless, and most importantly, they control all the key institutions, including the judiciary, the military and the media. The latter is crucial because it feeds people the notion that services like education, health, electricity and transport are not provided by the state, but by the ruling party, or more bluntly, by Hun Sen and Najib.

So people are grateful, and despite all the curbs and corruption, they opt for services and security over human rights and freedom.

As a result, our regional bad boys, our own Tweedledum and Tweedledee, continue to hold power and will almost certainly continue to do so after the next general elections are held in 2018.

Indeed, it is fair to say that in Cambodia, letat cest Hun Sen. And that now the same is true in Malaysia: The state is Najib.
An adult monocled cobra (Photo : Getty Images)

In more than 200 baby monocled cobras that escaped from the Chunyi Livestock Farm in Nanjing, 150 were caught or killed and some 50 more are not yet recaptured.



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The local government has been alerted of the incident after a villager from Liuhe District found and killed a snake inside his house.



Upon notification, local authorities began a search for the unrecaptured snakes and started disseminating information within the neighborhood. They also set up a medical team, complete with an anti-venom from Shanghai and some ambulances, in case of any snake-biting situation.



They also reassured the residents that the young snakes are less toxic than the mature ones, and being adapted to the tropical weather, they are not likely to survive the arrival of winter.



Qin Guorong, the owner of the farm who failed to report about the escape, said that the incessant rain weakened the foundations of his farm, causing cracks on the cement floor. The baby snakes, which measure 20-centimeter long, slipped and found their way out through these cracks.



In August, Qin bought almost 2,000 monocled cobra eggs from Guangdong Province, and 1,500 of these survived hatching. He started breeding snakes last year in the hope to sell them to restaurants.



But because of the incident, the authorities closed the farm and subjected the owner to investigation.



The monocled cobra (Naja kaouthia) is native to South Asia and Southeast Asia. It is called monocled because of its O-shape hood pattern. Its usual length is 4 feet to 5 feet, and the maximum can be up to 7.5 feet.



According to Reptiles magazine, its venom is one of the fastest acting snake venoms in the world with the potency depending on the location of the snake. It can cause death within an hour of the bite. The victim may experience drowsiness, neurological problems and muscle issues.


YAY its #ThrowbackThursday yall! Today were throwing it all the way back to that time media personality, Vimbai Mutinhiri totally slayed in this gorgeous Moofa outfit at the 2016 Elite Model Look event.

The Zimbabwean beauty left plenty to the imagination, giving off a classy-yet-sexy vibe with her stunning look.

Outfit: Moofa

Styled by: Rhoda Ebun

Hair and make up: Zazaii Beauty Rooms
Celebrated Ghanaian Actor, Adjetey Anang who is scheduled for a two day PYDO School Tour has led his team to educate the pupils on various sensitive subjects for day one.

The pupils and staff of the La Wireless Cluster of Schools had a wonderful time when the actor in a team of young energetic guys stormed the school and educated them.

Mr. Anang who was the main speaker delightedly took the pupils through various subjects needed for the adolescent stage.

The subjects which included stop unprotected sex and end teenage pregnancy was presented by the actor in a very interactive manner in that the pupils followed every bit of it.

The founder and director of PYDO, Partnering Youth Development Outreach, Augustina Dedo Didi Adjoka also took her turn to speak to the pupils on how to treat their menstruations, a topic most people shy from.

To make the subject worth talking about, she asked the class if anyone can come and demonstrate how a lady is suppose to wear the menstrual or sanitary pad. Though it was a combined class of both genders, everyone was keen to learn something.

A girl quickly raised her hand, came forward and demonstrated perfectly how the sanitary pad is being worn.

Mr. Anang came again to answer few question pertaining sexual roles in movies where he categorically told the pupils that, sexual roles in films are not real but technological tricks.

He finally entreated the pupils to take their studies seriously and keep away from deviant behaviours.

By the end of the first day tour at the La Wireless Cluster of school in the Labadi community, everyone was all over the actor for photography and phone number.

Adjetey Anang will be at the ST. Pauls JHS, La on Friday, 14th October, 2016 for the final PYDO School Tour

The PYDO School Tour is being sponsored by Partnering Youth Development Outreach (PYDO), a nonprofit organization headquartered in Accra championing the course of female activism and youth development outreaches programs.

Media Partners are; GhanaGist.Com, FrederickNoamesi.Com, Hype TV and 5concepts Media.

Be sure to connect with PYDO on the following social media handles

Facebook: Partnering Youth Development Outreach

Twitter: PYDO Ghana

Photos after cut 
An online retailer has withdrawn a Halloween costume inspired by Kim Kardashian Wests recent robbery ordeal, following a backlash.

The Parisian Heist Robbery Victim Costume Kit does not name the 35-year-old social media personality.

But it features a Kardashian lookalike dressed in a white robe and sporting a giant ring.

She was tied up by gun-wielding robbers who broke into a hotel flat in the French capital this month, police say.

The robbers made off with jewellery worth about $10m (8m), including a sparkler that she displayed on her Snapchat account before the heist.

The costume description said: She has devoted her life to promoting American decadence, youth, and hedonism but all that flashy living caught up with her one night in Paris when armed men bound her, stole her jewelry and her peace of mind.

The $70 (57) outfit also featured a black wig, black sunglasses, a fake gag and a length of rope.

Johnathon Weeks, founder of online retailer Costumeish, told Time Magazine that Kardashian West was not mentioned by name for legal reasons.

Itll make people either cringe or laugh, he said, adding that the outfit was intended to provoke a strong response from customers.

Image copyright TWITTER

My deepest sympathy goes out to the family. No one really deserves to go through what she did. Were not mocking her, he continued.

Following a social media outcry, the companys Twitter account announced on that Tuesday the costume had been pulled and apologised if it offended anyone.

Kardashian West is also suing a celebrity gossip website for claiming she faked the robbery.

The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages for defamation and names both the site, MediaTakeout, and its founder, Fred Mwangaguhunga.

The robbery took place at a luxury apartment in Rue Tronchet, Paris

The lawsuit filed in federal court in New York said that after being the victim of a horrific and traumatic armed robbery in France, Kim Kardashian returned to the US only to again be victimised, but this time by an online gossip tabloid that published a series of articles in early October 2016 referring to her as a liar and thief.

The articles, it said, claimed, without any factual support whatsoever, that Kardashian faked the robbery, lied about the violent assault, and then filed a fraudulent claim with her insurance company to bilk her carrier out of millions of dollars.

Mr Mwangaguhunga refused to publish a retraction and an apology for calling her a liar and a criminal, the lawsuit added.

MediaTakeout has so far not commented.

The mother-of-two, who is married to rapper Kanye West, became a household name thanks to the reality TV series Keeping up with the Kardashians.


The Minister of Tourism, Culture & Creative Arts, Elizabeth Ofosu-Adjare, has appealed to the regional house of chiefs, traditional councils and other stakeholders to support the ministry to galvanise cultural resources and sustain them.

She said in Ghana, cultural diversity flourishes within a framework of democratic pluralism, tolerance and mutual respect among people of various cultures.

Mrs Ofosu-Adjare was speaking at a durbar to climax the week-long celebration of the Homogeneous Festival on the theme: 'My Culture Rocks' in Accra.

The festival dubbed: 'Homofest 2016', was instituted two years ago by the Ministry of Tourism Culture & Creative Arts as part of measures to promote domestic tourism.

She said HOMOFEST is one of the vehicles for the ministry to deepen domestic tourism and boost international tourism using the rich and diverse culture and the creative talents of the people.

She said the festival has become a domestic and international tourism and cultural product being advertised on the global electronic and print media landscape.

According to her, the third HOMOFEST was possible because of the strong partnership that exists between the ministry and its agencies and other stakeholders.

Results obtained from the evaluation of the 2013 and 2014 HOMOFEST celebrations indicated that significant jobs were created and income generated by businesses operating in the formal and informal sectors in the region, she added.

The minister said a unique characteristic of HOMOFEST is the reconstruction of the country's history which was almost forgotten by younger generations who seem to be obsessed with foreign cultures and values.
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Kigali (AFP) - Rwanda's President Paul Kagame urged world leaders to rid the world of potent greenhouse gases used in refrigerators and air-conditioners, as he opened a high-level meeting in Kigali Thursday.

Envoys from nearly 200 nations are in the Rwandan capital to thrash out an agreement to phase out hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), which were introduced in the nineties to save the ozone layer, but turned out to be catastrophic for global warming.

Halting the use of HFCs -- also found in aerosols and foam insulation -- is crucial to meeting the goals to curb the rise of global temperatures agreed in a historic accord signed in Paris last year.

"We should not allow ourselves be satisfied with making a little bit of good progress when it is within our power to actually solve the problem," Kagame told the meeting, attended by representatives of 197 countries.

Among the 40 ministers expected is US Secretary of State John Kerry.

Kagame, whose small east African nation has put the environment at the heart of its development, said that doing away with HFCs "will make our world safer and more prosperous".

Erik Solheim, head of the UN Environment Programme, called on delegates to be "ambitious" in their discussions.

"No one, frankly, will forgive you nor me if we cannot find a compromise at this conference because this is one of the cheapest, one of the easiest, one of the lowest hanging fruits in the entire household of climate mitigation."

HFCs predecessors, chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), were discontinued under the ozone-protecting Montreal Protocol when scientists realised they were responsible for the growing hole in the ozone layer, which protects Earth from the Sun's dangerous ultraviolet rays.

Among the 40 ministers expected at the high-level meeting on greenhouse gases in Rwanda is US Secretary of State John Kerry

However it emerged that HFCs -- while safe for the now-healing ozone -- are thousands of times more potent at trapping heat in the atmosphere than carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas.

HFCs "are increasing at a rate of 10-15 percent a year," Greenpeace global strategist Paula Carbajal told AFP. "That makes them the fastest-growing greenhouse gas."

This growth was mainly due to demand for air conditioners, expected to treble in use by 2050.

Carbajal said HFCs could add as much as 0.1 degree Celsius (0.18 Fahrenheit) to average global temperatures by mid-century, and 0.5 C (0.9 F) by 2100.

A gradual phase-down

The Paris climate agreement aims to keep global warming below two degrees celsius, compared with pre-industrial levels, and continued use of HFCs could prove a serious stumbling block to this goal.

"If HFC growth is not stopped, it becomes virtually impossible to meet the Paris goals," said David Doniger of the Natural Resources Defense Council, an environmental advocacy group.

The climate threat posed by HFCs was recognised by a UN sustainable development summit in 2012, when countries said they "support a gradual phase-down".

When that should happen, and how fast, has been the subject of negotiations ever since.

HFCs -- though a greenhouse gas like carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide -- are not dealt with under the Paris Agreement but under the Montreal Protocol, adopted in 1987.

This week's meeting, which kicked off on Monday, is the 28th of the treaty's 197 country parties.

Negotiators are weighing various proposals for amending the protocol to freeze HFC production and use, with dates ranging from right away to 2031.

India, which is a major HFC producer along with China, backs the later date, while countries in very hot parts of the world where HFC-using air conditioners are in high demand, want temporary exemptions.

Last month, a group of developed countries and companies offered $80 million (72 million euros) to help developing countries make the switch away from HFCs.

This week's meeting follows hot on the heels of an aviation industry agreement to cap CO2 emissions at 2020 levels by 2035, and the Paris Agreement obtaining the required signatures to enter into legal force from November 4.
Johannesburg (AFP) - South African President Jacob Zuma moved on Thursday to block a watchdog's report into graft allegations against him, in his latest legal bid to protect his battered reputation.

Zuma, 74, has survived a series of damaging scandals while in office, but has faced increasing criticism as the economy stalls and after the ruling ANC party suffered unprecedented losses in local polls.

Public Protector Thuli Madonsela had been expected to release on Friday her report into allegations that Zuma let a wealthy business family have undue influence over government and were even able to choose ministers.

"There is an application for an urgent interdict," Zuma's spokesman Bongani Ngqulunga told AFP without giving further details.

Corrupt influence?

Madonsela's spokesman said the court application was due to be heard Tuesday.

Madonsela, who is celebrated in South Africa for her diligent work unearthing official misconduct, stands down on Saturday after completing her seven-year term in office.

In 2014, she dealt a major blow to Zuma in a report that found he had "unduly benefited" from the refurbishment of his Nkandla rural home -- valued in 2014 at 216 million rand (then $24 million).

South Africa's Public Protector Thuli Madonsela has been widely praised for her diligent work unearthing official misconduct

Zuma fought the case until being berated by the Constitutional Court and ordered to pay back $500,000 (450,000 euros) of money that had been spent on upgrades including a chicken coop, and a swimming pool that was described as a fire-fighting precaution.

The Nkandla scandal became a symbol of corruption and greed within the African National Congress and triggered several unsuccessful impeachment bids against Zuma by the opposition.

The president's new legal battle is to seek to block a report into "state capture" -- the alleged corrupt influence of the powerful Gupta business family on government appointments, contracts and state-owned businesses.

The three Gupta brothers, Ajay, Atul and Rajesh, have built a business empire in mining, media, technology and engineering since moving to South Africa in the 1990s.

Madonsela questioned Zuma for four hours earlier this month over the allegations, including the suggestion that deputy finance minister Mcebisi Jonas had been offered a promotion by the Guptas.

Zuma endured another bout of criticism this week after Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan, with whom he has repeatedly clashed, was summoned to court on separate graft charges.

South African Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan -- a vocal campaigner against corruption -- alleges that the graft case against him is politically motivated

Gordhan, a vocal campaigner against corruption within the government, has alleged that the case against him is politically motivated.

The announcement that Gordhan would be prosecuted sparked investor fears that he would soon be sacked -- a move likely to spell further trouble for South Africa's dire economic health.

Gordhan, an internationally-respected technocrat, was appointed only last year to calm panicked investors after Zuma sacked two finance ministers within four days.

Madonsela will be succeeded by Busisiwe Mkhwebane, currently a senior official at the intelligence agency.
OnePlus 3 (Photo : Facebook / OnePlus)

Rumors are rife that OnePlus has probably ended the production of OnePlus 3. Hence, the Chinese firm is expected to announce a new flagship smartphone.



There has been a great demand for OnePlus 3 smartphone. However, the company has been struggling to meet the demand. OnePlus has been unsuccessful in replenishing the shortage in OnePlus 3 shortage, Gizmo China reported.



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Customers have been experiencing delay of up to four to five weeks to receive their ordered OnePlus 3 units. It is simply unacceptable to see the company failing to meet the demand for OnePlus that was released in June.



An insider from the supply chain has revealed that the company may permanently end the production of OnePlus 3. The company is reportedly working on a powerful flagship device that will be powered by Snapdragon 821. The OnePlus 3 is driven by Snapdragon 820 chipset.



One of the reasons why OnePlus is struggling in the production of OnePlus 3 is because of shortage in supply of its AMOLED display. Hence, rumors are indicating that the company will be incorporating LCD display on the upcoming smartphone.



The next flagship from OnePlus is expected to arrive with OnePlus 4 moniker. However, speculations suggest that it will be a slight upgrade over OnePlus 3, it may arrive as OnePlus 3 Plus.



The company has been following a strategy of releasing one flagship per year. However, it seems that it may be forced to release a flagship smartphone with this year rather than next year.



According to Phone Arena, customers are now only able to order the graphite model of OnePlus 3 with delayed arrival. The gold version is gone out of stock.



Releasing a Snapdragon 821 chipset driven OnePlus smartphone would allow the company to compete with smartphones like Google Pixel, Xiaomi Mi 5s, Xiaomi Mi 5s Plus and Asus ZenFone 3 Deluxe Special Edition that are powered by the same chipset.



As far as other specs of the upcoming OnePlus smartphone, it is expected to include 6 GB of RAM and 3,000 mAh battery. The release date of the smartphone is not known yet, but it is expected to be available for buying within this year.



Here is a review of OnePlus 3






Kano (Nigeria) (AFP) - Jihadist group Boko Haram has freed 21 of the more than 200 Chibok schoolgirls kidnapped more than two years ago, raising hopes for the release of the others, officials said Thursday.

Local sources said their release was part of a prisoner swap with the Nigerian government, but the authorities denied doing a deal with Boko Haram.

Declaring Thursday's release "significant", Nigerian officials said the breakthrough would help the recovery of the 197 girls who remain in captivity.

"It's just a first step in what we believe will lead to the eventual release of all our girls," Nigerian information minister Lai Mohammed said in Abuja.

"When you are fighting an insurgency, it's a combination of carrot and stick," Mohammed said. "The release of these girls does not mean the end to military operations. But it could mean a new phase in the conduct of the war against terror."

In a statement, the Nigerian presidency said the girls were freed after negotiations between Boko Haram and the Nigerian government brokered by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the Swiss government.

"Switzerland facilitated contacts between representatives of the Nigerian government and intermediaries of Boko Haram on the release of the Chibok girls," confirmed Swiss foreign ministry spokesman Pierre-Alain Eltschinger.

Grab from a video obtained via CNN footage shows 15 of the more than 200 schoolgirls abducted by Boko Haram on April 14, 2016

The girls were exchanged for four Boko Haram militants in Banki, a town in northeast Nigeria close to the Cameroon border, said local sources.

"The girls were brought to Kumshe, which is 15 kilometres (nine miles) from Banki where a military base is stationed, in ICRC vehicles," said a local source.

"The four Boko Haram militants were brought to Banki from Maiduguri in a military helicopter from where they were driven to Kumshe in ICRC vehicles."

From Kumshe the Chibok girls were flown by helicopter to Maiduguri, capital of northeast Borno state, said another local source.

'Not a swap'

The Chibok girls were abducted in April 2014, drawing global attention to the Boko Haram insurgency engulfing the area when US First Lady Michelle Obama joined the #BringBackOurGirls online movement

Information minister Mohammed denied that the 21 girls were exchanged for Boko Haram prisoners, saying "this is not a swap."

"It is a release, the product of painstaking negotiations and trust on both sides," he added.

In September, the Nigerian government had admitted it had come close to a swap last year, but that talks broke down.

The Chibok girls were abducted in April 2014, drawing global attention to the Boko Haram insurgency engulfing the area when US First Lady Michelle Obama joined the #BringBackOurGirls online movement.

Of the 276 girls initially seized, scores escaped in the hours after the kidnapping, while another 19-year-old was found with her four-month-old baby earlier this year.

Despite winning back swathes of territory from the jihadists, Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari had faced intense criticism for failing to recover the young captives girls, who became the defining symbol of Boko Haram's brutal campaign to establish a fundamentalist Islamic state in the country.

The identity of the girls freed on Thursday has yet to be confirmed, said Bring Back Our Girls campaigner Aisha Yesufu."We cannot confirm anything yet," she said.

'Stepping stone'

The alleged swap was "bittersweet" said Ryan Cummings, director at intelligence firm Signal Risk.

"Whatever is being given to Boko Haram in exchange for the girls would potentially be used against the Nigerian state again."

While the return of the 21 girls is an encouraging sign, analysts point out that Boko Haram is still a potent force in the region with rival factions competing for control.

"It's a good stepping stone and a good process but I think we should keep our expectations a bit realistic," Omar Mahmood, a researcher at the Pretoria-based Institute for Security Studies.

"They are still very capable of conducting attacks, we've seen that in Maiduguri."

On Wednesday, Boko Haram was believed to be behind a suicide attack that saw eight people killed in Maiduguri.

The insurgency has claimed more than 20,000 lives and displaced 2.6 million people from their homes since Boko Haram took up arms against the Nigerian government in 2009.
Lagos (AFP) - Jihadist group Boko Haram released 21 kidnapped Chibok schoolgirls to the Nigerian government, an official in the president's office said Thursday.

"It's true. Ministry of Information will release a statement on the issue later," the source told AFP.

The girls were exchanged for four Boko Haram prisoners in Banki, northeast Nigeria, said a local source.

The identity of the girls has yet to be confirmed, said Bring Back Our Girls campaigner Aisha Yesufu.

"We cannot confirm anything yet," Yesufu said.
The killing of a prominent opposition leader on October 8, 2016, in Maputo puts ongoing peace talks in Mozambique at risk, Human Rights Watch said today.

Jeremias Pondeca, 55, was a former member of parliament representing the opposition party RENAMO. He was also a member of a team preparing a meeting between President Filipe Nyusi and the opposition leader Afonso Dhlakama to end the current military and political hostilities between RENAMO and the government.

At least nine other people have died across Mozambique since March 2015 in what seem to be politically motivated killings, which the authorities have failed to properly investigate or prosecute.

The killing of Jeremias Pondeca is not only a horrendous taking of a life, but is a blow to efforts to resolve Mozambiques dangerous political situation, said Daniel Bekele, Africa director at Human Rights Watch. The governments failure to genuinely investigate past killings provides space for the latest terrible crime.

Pondeca was shot dead during his morning jog at Maputos main beach, Costa do Sol, police reported. His family only learned of his killing a day later, after contacting the authorities to report his disappearance and being told that an unidentified body with bullet wounds had been taken to the morgue. RENAMO officials later informed the media that Pondeca had been killed.

Preliminary police investigations suggest that four men who had been following Pondeca by car, approached the victim and fired two shots at his head and one at his abdomen before fleeing. His car was found parked nearby.

The peace talks, which were due to resume on October 10, were put on hold following Pondecas killing.

Human Rights Watch has documented nine previous cases of apparent political killings since March 2015, in which the targets were officials from RENAMO, the ruling party FRELIMO, an outspoken academic who defended a controversial RENAMO petition, and a state official. Both parties have claimed that several other members of their parties have been killed across the country in the past two years.

Human Rights Watch spoke with witnesses to three of the killings as well as relatives and friends of the nine victims. All allege that the police had not conducted a comprehensive investigation into the cases. In some cases, the police failed to inspect and secure the crime scene before the evidence was compromised.

Human Rights Watch wrote to Attorney General, Beatriz Buchili, on September 12, enquiring about the steps her office had taken to prosecute some of the killings. As of October 10, Buchilli had not replied.

The Mozambican Criminal Investigation Police (PIC), which is the state body responsible for conducting criminal investigations, has publicly promised to investigate all nine cases. However, according to what the police told Human Rights Watch they have not concluded any of the investigations, nor have they been able to identify any suspects, not even for those cases that authorities blamed on RENAMO fighters.

Mozambican law enforcement appears incapable or unwilling to seriously investigate apparent political killings, Bekele said. In either case, its repeated failures have created an environment of impunity and fear.

Political Killings Since March 2015

On March 3, 2015, constitutional lawyer Gilles Cistac was shot dead outside a cafe in the center of Maputo. Witnesses said he was entering his car outside the building when four unidentified men from another car opened fired, killing Cistac and his driver. Cistacs family and friends say he had been receiving threats after he publicly defended the disputed constitutionality of RENAMOs petition to create autonomous provincial authorities.

On August 8, 2015, former agent of the State Intelligence and Security Services, Inlamo Ali Mussa, was shot dead, apparently on the outskirts of Maputo. His family said he was planning to give interviews denouncing alleged abusive practices of Mozambiques secret services. His body was found a day after he disappeared from his home, with his hands bound and two bullet wounds to his head.

On January 16, 2016, the secretary general of RENAMO, Manuel Bissopo, was shot and severely wounded as he travelled in his car in the center of Beira city, in Sofala province. His bodyguard also died. The incident took place hours after a news conference in which Bissopo had accused state security forces of abducting and killing members of his party.

On February 4, 2016, senior RENAMO official Filipe Jonasse Machatine was found dead with eight gunshot wounds in Gondola, Manica province, two days after he had been kidnapped by unidentified men.

On March 7, 2016, a senior RENAMO official in Inhambane province, Aly Jane, was found dead after he had disappeared four days earlier. His body, found near the Nhanombe River between Maxixe and Homoine districts, bore signs of violence.

On April 9, 2016, RENAMO member of the National Council for Defence and Security, Jose Manuel, was shot dead outside Beira international airport after he had arrived from Maputo. It reportedly took the police about 10 hours to arrive at the scene.

On June 22, 2016, the body of a FRELIMO senior official in Manica province, Jose Fernando Nguiraze, was found by neighbors with gunshot wounds inside his house. He lived alone because his family had been evacuated for security reasons. Police said the perpetuators of the crime were four RENAMO members who have not been identified.

On September 2, 2016, the administrator of Tica, in Nhamatanda district, Sofala province, Jorge Abilio, was killed by armed men whom the police identified as RENAMO fighters. Abilio was ambushed after attending a community meeting in which he tried to convince local residents not to abandon the region despite frequent clashes between the Mozambican army and RENAMO fighters.

On September 22, 2016, senior RENAMO official in Moatize district and member of the local Tete provincial assembly, Armindo Nkutche, died after being shot six times, on the streets, just hours after speaking at the assemblys closing session.

Background

After the 1992 peace agreement that ended Mozambiques 16-year civil war, RENAMO leader Afonso Dhlakama was allowed to keep a 300-man private armed guard. Successive failures to integrate other RENAMO fighters into the national army and civilian life have encouraged former fighters to join the private guards and to camp in old RENAMO training grounds. RENAMO, a political party that currently holds 89 seats in parliament, is now believed to have an armed force double the size of what it was permitted under the peace agreement.

Over the past four years, tension has increased between RENAMO and the governing party, FRELIMO, including an increase in armed attacks by RENAMO and by government forces. The parties signed a new peace agreement in September 2014, but RENAMO says the government has failed to integrate RENAMO fighters into the national army and police in accordance with the agreement. The government says RENAMO has refused to hand over a list of its militia to be integrated into the security forces because it wants to use them as leverage for political negotiations. FRELIMO won elections in October 2014, but RENAMO says it wants to govern the six provinces in which it claims it received more votes.

Preparations for a meeting between President Filipe Nyusi and Renamo leader Afonso Dhlakama, to reach a ceasefire and end the hostilities, started in July. The talks are coordinated by a team of international mediators led by a former Italian diplomat, Mario Raffaelli, a representative of the European Union.
The African Union (AU) Commissioner for Peace and Security, Ambassador Smail Chergui, undertook an official visit to Juba, South Sudan, on 10 October 2016, during which he was received by the President of the Republic of South Sudan, H.E. Salva Kiir Mayardit. The President and the Commissioner held extensive discussions on the situation in South Sudan, including on the reinvigoration of the implementation of the peace process, the healing, reconciliation and accountability processes, the deployment of the regional protection, the fate of the SPLM-IO soldiers stranded in the DRC, and the humanitarian situation, among others.

On the reinvigoration of the implementation of the peace process, they agreed on the necessity to be creative with the view to making it as inclusive as possible so as to have an appeased transition that stands the potential to lead to peaceful general elections. In that regard, the Commissioner restated the AUs position against the use of military force to solve any political problem, reaffirmed that the AU would soon engage Dr. Riack Machar on this and called on the Government of South Sudan not to take the initiative. Regarding the deployment of the regional protection force, the Commissioner received the assurances of the President of South Sudan that his Government had no objection to the principle of the force and both agreed that it was urgent to arrive, with the UN, at a consensus on its composition as well as on other related technical details. The Commissioner appealed to the Government to accept the package presented by the United Nations.

As regards, the Healing, Reconciliation and Accountability processes, the two agreed that it was important to make progress. They concurred that, as a first step, the South Sudanese should talk to one another. The Commission expressed the AUs readiness to assist in that regard. They concurred that it was important to implement all the aspects of the agreement, and the Commissioner appealed to the Government to quickly put in place the necessary legislation.

Concerning the humanitarian situation, the Commissioner discussed with the President, as well as with other stakeholders, on the dire and sensitive environment in which the IDPs, including those living in the PoCs. They agreed that it was necessary to develop innovative ideas on how to deal creatively with this situation as soon as possible.

On the margins of this high level meeting, the Commissioner held a series of meetings with other government Officials including Chief of General Staff, the Leadership of the JMEC and the UN Special Representative in South Sudan.
The Secretary-General welcomes the start of an inclusive dialogue among political leaders, civil society and religious communities of Guinea-Bissau today in Guinea. The dialogue is the crucial first step in implementing the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) roadmap to end the political crisis, which political leaders agreed to in Bissau on 10 September 2016.

The Secretary-General thanks the ECOWAS Mediator for Guinea-Bissau, H.E. Mr. Alpha Conde, President of the Republic of Guinea, for hosting the parties and leading the regional effort to swiftly implement the roadmap. He further encourages all parties to engage in constructive discussions and seize this opportunity for a favourable outcome in the interest of the people of Guinea-Bissau. He calls on all parties to jointly achieve decisive progress within the coming days, in order to break the political impasse that has prevailed in the country since August 2015.

The Secretary-General has requested his Special Representative in Guinea-Bissau and Head of the United Nations Integrated Peacebuilding Office in Guinea-Bissau (UNIOGBIS), Mr. Modibo I. Toure, to continue to work closely with all stakeholders in Guinea-Bissau. This he will do in close collaboration with ECOWAS, the African Union and other key partners, including the Community of Portuguese-speaking Countries and the European Union as they work towards political stability in Guinea-Bissau.
It is one of the world's most prestigious universities whose alumni  from the physicist Stephen Hawking to Nobel Peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi  are among the world's most influential people.

Hardly surprising, then, that competition for places at the University of Oxford is fierce, with thousands of candidates applying to study there each year.

Now, the University has shone a little light on how they choose their students by releasing sample questions from its admissions interviews.

The questions were for the subjects of modern languages (French), medicine, PPE (Philosophy, Politics and Economics), maths and experimental psychology. They are designed to probe a host of selection criteria  from problem solving to communication skills and intellectual curiosity.

"We emphasize in all our outreach activity that the interview is primarily an academic conversation based on a passage of text, a problem set or a series of technical discussions related to the content of the course students have applied for," Samina Khan, director of admissions and outreach at Oxford, said in a news release on Tuesday.

Khan went on to explain that every question interviewers asked had a purpose to "assess how students think about their subject and respond to new information or unfamiliar ideas."

The sample questions are as follows:

What makes a novel or play 'political'? (French)



About 1 in 4 deaths in the UK is due to some form of cancer, yet in the Philippines the figure is only around 1 in 10. What factors might underlie this difference? (Medicine)



What exactly do you think is involved in blaming someone? (PPE and other philosophy courses)



Imagine a ladder leaning against a vertical wall with its feet on the ground. The middle rung of the ladder has been painted a different colour on the side, so that we can see it when we look at the ladder from the side on. What shape does that middle rung trace out as the ladder falls to the floor? (Maths)



A large study appears to show that older siblings consistently score higher than younger siblings on IQ tests. Why would this be? (Experimental Psychology)

In addition to the questions, the university also provided a set of what might be considered 'model answers'.

Chris Norbury, an interviewer for medicine from The Queen's College, described the question about the difference between the U.K. and the Philippines in cancer deaths as "a typically open question, with no single 'correct' answer."

"The discussion could take any one of a number of directions, according to the candidate's interests," Norbury added. "Some candidates will ask useful clarifying questions, such as 'Where do these data come from, and how reliable are they?', or 'What is the average life expectancy in these parts of the world?'"

Khan added that the university was looking to debunk some of the myths surrounding the interview process. "We know there are still misunderstandings about the Oxford interview, so we put as much information as possible out there to allow students to see the reality of the process," she said.

"We now have mock interviews online, video diaries made by admissions tutors during the interview process, and lots of example questions to help students to familiarise themselves with what the process is  and isn't  about."
An Economist, Dr. John Gatsi, says he sees nothing wrong with the challenge thrown at the Vice Presidential Candidate of the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP), Dr. Mahamadu Bawumia, by President Mahama on a campaign platform, to disclose the cost of the cedi redenomination exercise undertaken in 2007.

President Mahama during a rally in the Ablekuma North Constituency on Tuesday, asked Dr. Bawumia to reveal the cost of the exercise, saying since the latter was the Deputy Bank of Ghana at the time, he should be able to let Ghanaians know the actual cost of the exercise.

His comments did not sit down well with Dr. Bawumia, who in a sharp rebuttal on Facebook, said the President's request was fueled by propaganda and a demonstration of incompetence.

But speaking on Eyewitness News, the Economist backed President Mahamas call, saying a response by Dr. Bawumia who has been out of government several years ago, will promote transparency and bring closure to the matter.

This is not the first time Dr. Bawumia has been questioned about the cost of the redonimation. For transparency and credibility or trying to provide your willingness of trying to be accountable to the people of Ghana, I think Dr. Bawumia should just go ahead and say that yes; I spearheaded the process and this was the amount that was involved.What is wrong at this point in time for Dr. Bawumia to say this is the amount that I spent on it, that is very important.

He further intimated that, Bawumia's position as the Vice Presidential Candidate of the NPP requires him to come clear on the issue.

 I think the point that should interest all of us is that the redenomination was a very important project especially within the Central Bank that affected us as a country. We also have said several times that Dr. Bawumia was said to have spearheaded that process and is one of the achievements that have been mentioned about his work within the Central Bank; and now that he has taken public office as a Vice Presidential candidate, I think that the best that can be done is that he comes clear on it.

Kwaku Kwarteng

Mahamas request shows incompetence  Kwarteng

But a member of Parliament's Finance Committee, Kwaku Kwarteng, described as unnecessary the request for Dr. Bawumia to come clear on the cost of the exercise, saying the President can easily have access to that information from the Bank of Ghana if he wishes to have it.

He said the President's request smacks of incompetence. Kwaku Kwarteng further wondered why the President was making such a request when the information was already in the public domain.

It is completely an unnecessary question but I think it reflects the incompetence of this government because the information the President calls a secret is actually in the public domain.

He observed that on the 6th of November 2007, during the delivery of the monetary policy report, this matter came up in the Daily Graphic and it was widely discussed by many media houses adding that the auditors account is available for the President's perusal.



By: Marian Ansah/citifmonline.com/Ghana

Follow @EfeAnsah
The filing fees paid nominees who were disqualified from this year's presidential elections salted for December 7, will be refunded to their monies after the notice of poll, the Electoral Commission has said.

Their filing fees would be refunded to them, EC's Head of Communications, Eric Dzakpasu said on Eyewitness News on Wednesday.

The Electoral Commission on Monday rejected the nomination of 13 presidential aspirants because they had issues with their forms leaving only four in the race  President John Mahama (NDC), Nana Akufo-Addo (NPP), Ivor Greenstreet (CPP) and Joseph Osei Yeboah (Independent candidate).

Some of the disqualified nominees include, Paa Kwesi Nduom of the Progressive People's Party (PPP), Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings of the National Democratic Party (NDP), Edward Mahama of the People's National Congress (PNC) among others.

Speaking on Eyewitness News, Eric Dzakpasu said they would refund the monies after the notice of polls are published.

Per the rules on the disposal of deposits, refunding the payments will be after the notices of polls have been published. The rules states that; after the publication of the notice of polls which will indicate that these people are not contesting the elections, their monies must be refunded to them.

The EC pegged filing fees for presidential and parliamentary nominees at GHc50,000 and GHc10,000 respectively, an amount that angered some of the parties, leading to a legal tussle between the Progressive People's Party and the commission.

But an Accra High Court, eventually dismissed an injunction suit filed by the PPP on the collection of the fees.

Disqualified candidates threaten lawsuit

Whereas some of the parties have petitioned the EC to reconsider its decision, others have threatened to go to court to seek redress.



By: Godwin A. Allotey/citifmonline.com/Ghana

Follow @AlloteyGodwin
The National Democratic Congress (NDC) parliamentary candidate for the Bongo constituency in the Upper East Region, Edward Bawa, is pleading with all former parliamentary opponents in the party's November primary to bury the hatchet and support his bid to win the seat for the NDC.

The relationship between Mr. Bawa and his opponents in the primary went sour during the party's primary; a situation political watchers believed could affect him if not checked.

The Bongo constituency has since 1992 been voting for the NDC in both parliamentary and presidential elections, until incumbent Albert Abongo decided not to contest in this years parliamentary elections.

But the Lai Lai group, which supports the parliamentary ambitions of Edward Bawa, are concerned that the acrimony that emerged out of the party's primariy may mar Mr. Bawa's attempt to retain the seat for the party.

Speaking at his campaign launch in Bongo, Mr. Bawa appealed to the rank and file of the party to put the past behind them, to guarantee them victory in 2016.

After the parliamentary primary, we had a bit of challenges, we had some post election crisis. I do know that in the course of the elections I hurt people either through my utterances, my actions or even my own supporters may have said or done certain things that hurt others. I want to take full responsibility for that and ask for everybodys forgiveness, it will not be far-fetched to ask my relatives for forgiveness and support my bid to become Member of parliament by voting massively for me in this election.

Mr. Charles Bawa Dua and Donatus Akamugre, who contested and lost to Edward Bawa in their solidarity messages, called on their supporters to campaign and vote massively for Edward Bawa and President Mahama to bring the needed development to Bongo.

Now that I know my contenders and their supporters are all behind me, the NPP and PPP should start running, Edward Bawa noted.

He urged constituents to vote against the NPP, adding that, the party was disunited and with its dictatorship leadership, does not deserve to govern Ghanaians.

Some supporters told Citi News, Edward Bawas apology was timely and will settle the impasse for victory in the parliamentary election.

They however want Edward Bawa to deal with the problems of inadequate educational infrastructure, water crisis in the area, tackle irrigation and support women groups and the youth at the national and district levels when elected.



By: Frederick Awuni/citifmonline.com/Ghana
13.10.2016 LISTEN

The ongoing discourse on academic credentials and credible outlets for knowledge production and dissemination is not for much ado about nothings, who have absolutely nothing to contribute to the discourse in ways that challenge the status quo for the betterment of our educational prospects in UPSA, Ghana, and elsewhere in Sub-Saharan Africa. It is an invitation to those who abhor the status quo and have ideas to help shape this discourse toward meaningful policy frameworks.

First, our concern is for UPSA, Ghana, and Sub-Saharan Africa, as concerned citizens of the region. In spite of our narrowed concern, we have, at least, provided some leads to the average reader to demonstrate to him/her the global nature of the problem and to educate him/her on what other geographical regions are doing to combat this global epidemic. If Mr. Michael Yao Wodui Serwornoos prying lens, looking for punch lines or loopholes to pitch an argument, failed to capture those leads in our essay, we would be glad to redirect his attention to those leads once more. In our postscript, the following links were provided for education:

Action by Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities (AJCU) Business Deans Resolution on Predatory Journals.

Lawsuit by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC)

http://www.chronicle.com/article/Federal-Prosecutors-Join-Fight/237615

Jeffrey Bealls Continuing Work on Predatory Journals

If Mr. Serwornoo could not follow the links provided, analyze the issues, and appreciate the global nature of the problem, but rather fault us for not specifically mentioning all the worlds regions to convince him of the universality of the problem, then that is his own palaver to deal with. We hope the average reader, following the genesis of this discourse and the leads often provided, can appreciate the problem as a global one.

Mr. Serwornoo also wanted to know from us which region of the world constitutes Sub-Saharan Africa. If Serwornoo cannot capture the region known as Sub-Saharan Africa, we are not under any obligation to help him locate it. A simple Google search would help educate him educate himself on the location of Sub-Saharan Africa. We are very much aware of the direction in which Serwornoo would like to drive this discoursethe attempt to reposition the argument in ways that divert from the substantive issues raised in our essay. Yes, we are aware of the tendency on the part of young scholars who are introduced to the epistle of framing and representation, with Sub-Saharan Africa in mind, and once they get hold of those historical frames of (mis)representations, they think that it must be imposed on every discourse that makes its way into the public space, even when those frameworks are irrelevant to the context.

Aware of the potential racialization of this discourse, we critiqued Bealls authority to label and provided the ideological dimensions that could possibly drive this discourse. What is it with an ill-mannered young aspiring academic who can hardly apprehend the position of others, the ideological dimensions of the issues in discussion and respect such? You recognized this problem way back in University of Cape Coast and evaded it, and so what? Does your singular evasion of the problem provide a whole country a policy framework to deal with the burgeoning problem? And of what relevance was that chest-stomping, suggesting that you knew about the issue at hand back when you were in Cape Coast University yet did not write a single sentence on it? What did you want us to infer from that vacuous self-adulation?

It is ironical for Mr. Serwornoo to lambast Dr. Prosper Yao Tsikata as an individual who fell for the scam in faraway Ohio. Meanwhile, he admitted having  submitted an article to an online journal that was going to publish it in just three weeks after he had submitted it, without any reviewers comment. How disingenuous can one be? As least Dr. Tsikata made a mistake, admitted it, learned a lesson or two from it and got tutored on CAPA.

It is important for Mr. Serwornoo to weigh his thoughts carefully before making them public, so he can save the public from his ridiculous contradictions. In one breath, we do not want some white folks somewhere to see us as jokers. That is their business; we do not need their elevation for anything. Meanwhile, you are currently being educated and elevated by the same white folks.

What is the work of an academic? To a large extent, it involves writing on and fantasizing with ideas. It is for this reason that we have chosen to write about issues that affect our communities of interest. We have decided not to engage in frivolity that stays on the shelves and gather dust, but issues that have the potential to reshape the ways business is conducted in the academy in UPSA, Ghana, and elsewhere on the African continent. In our effort to establish a baseline for this issue in UPSA, Ghana, and on the African continent, as per our piece, we stated:

This event made Tsikata to start looking seriously into the issue of predatory

publications generally and started sending emails to some of our local universities to

inquire about these issues. The responses from our universities generally painted a

profound lack of understanding regarding these issues.

The above-quote should at least point you to the fact that efforts had been made to understand how university administrators in UPSA, Ghana, and elsewhere in Sub-Saharan Africa perceive these issues and the attendant actions they take to mitigate them. It is disingenuous for Mr. Serwornoo to write I do not think the single case cited in Ghana has the capacity to put Africa in jeopardy. Additionally, has Mr. Serwornoo not been following our articles? Fact is, we have identified more than several professors at UPSA whose publications are suspect. We previously gave examples that include Rev. Prof. Dr. Dr. Mrs. Goski Alabi and Prof. Dr. Dr. Okoe Amartey. Lets reemphasize the point that there is paucity of knowledge on this front in Ghana and in many African countries. If Mr. Sewornoo is arguing that the university where he once taught, Dr. Tsikatas alma mater, has recognized this issue and dealt with it, is it not only prudent that the policy blueprint on the issue is published and made available for access by people who are interested in the subject matter? Perhaps this policy blueprint is only known to Serwornoo and whoever promulgated that so-called policy blueprint.

It should be stated at this point that, with the exception of the Republic of South Africa in Sub-Saharan Africa, there is dearth of knowledge and policy on this hydra-headed phenomena. South Africa had recognized the problem and devised mechanisms to deal with it. Since 2011, the South African Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) has been issuing a list of journals recognized by the state for funding purposesand I believe that extends to promotion and tenure as well (Pease follow the link to the current approved journals for South African scholars and that of the previous years:

If Mr. Serwornoo thinks he got it right, we would be very glad he furnishes us with any national policy from Ghana or the University of Cape Coast, which he is familiar with. He can also proceed to do same for any other country south of the Sahara, except South Africa. Once he is able to do that, we will withdraw our article and offer an unreserved apology to UPSA, Universities in Ghana, and Universities across the Sub-Saharan African region. If South Africa saw the need since 2011, or even before then, to fashion out a national policy to regulate knowledge production and dissemination, and we in 2016 have not even dreamt of it, we should not be finding diversionary ways to put spokes in the wheels of those who dare raise these issues. Serwornoo, please stop your diversionary antics and return to your studies, so those who have suggestions regarding how these issues can be resolved can engage them in profound ways.

Serwornoos stance on what he termed the exaggeration of conventional knowledge and practices simply goes to underscore his lack of appreciation for why he is where he is doing what he is doing currentlystudying! If we understood what Serwornoo termed conventional knowledge and practice well, then there is the presupposition that there is also unconventional knowledge and practice. The questions that follow naturally are: (a) What is the cost of conventional knowledge and practice? (b) What is the cost of unconventional knowledge and practice? We will address the former and allow the reader to make inferences regarding the latter.

Conventional knowledge is expensive. The US, holding the top spot in research and development (R&D), invests 2.7 percent of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita income (PPP) in R&D. This translated into a total of US$473.4 billion in 2013. The US is closely followed by China with 2.1 percent of its GDP (PPP), translating into US$409 billion in 2015. The country with the highest investment in R&D in Sub-Saharan Africa is South Africa, with 0.7 percent of GDP (PPP), translating into US$4.8 billion in 2012. The foregoing figures are instructive why South Africa would fashion out a blueprint to regulate what counts as knowledge production and dissemination, especially towards national development.

In this regard, by what benchmarks is conventional knowledge production and practice exaggerated? I am not sure the biggest spenders on knowledge production and dissemination would want to offer scholarships to students, funding to scholars, and also invest in other areas of knowledge production only for the outcomes of their investments to wind up being published in so-called International journals being operated and managed by college dropouts in a street corner somewhere in Bangladesh. Is Serwornoo telling us that, even with her minuscule investment in R&D, the Government of Ghana is enthusiastic in paying research allowances to scholars who only end up publishing their work in a journal being operated from some street corner in Surulere in Nigeria, by a high school leaver? Knowledge production and dissemination is an expensive enterprise and must be upheld as such. If Serwornoo believes conventional knowledge production and its practices are exaggerated, he should get out of the academy and find an alternative livelihood. He has no business being in the academy.

Let Serwornoo be reminded that it is a great privilege to live the life of the mind. The privilege is that we get to fantasize with ideas, even at the most intricate levels. But this privilege placed on us an enormous responsibility. The responsibility is that othersespecially students, policymakers, and our peersdepend on the ideas we generate for their decisions, actions, and for the furtherance of knowledge. If those who are aspiring to be on this path do not believe in the tenets that guide this laborious path, and cannot spend their time in the pursuit of knowledge for its own sake or for the sake of what is at stake, then what business do they have attempting to join the fraternity of those who live the life of the mind? On this note, we will urge Mr. Michael Yao Wodui Sewornoo to desist from rebuttals that do not help in anyways to address the problem, but only serve as an unwarranted distraction, if he values the essence of time in the academy. More importantly, Serwornoo should also learn to frame his arguments in ways that address issues rather than cast unprovoked insinuations and infantile aspersions. We can only hope that Serwornoo is being mentored by able hands who would shape his views in ways that advance society, respects the views of others, and, most of all, do not expose him to public ridicule.

Prosper Yao Tsikata, PhD

Assistant Professor of Communication

A. Kobla Dotse, PhD

Director, Chemical Research & Development
Prof. Jun Yan, Director General of NAOC, and Pete Worden, Chairman of Breakthrough Prize Foundation and Executive Director of Breakthrough Initiatives. (Photo : Breakthrough Prize Foundation )

The National Astronomical Observatories of China (NAOC) has partnered with the Breakthrough Initiatives to launch a coordinated search for evidence of intelligent life beyond Earth (also called SETI), using some of the world's most powerful telescopes.



NAOC's brand-new Five hundred meter Aperture Spherical (FAST) telescope -- the world's largest filled-aperture radio receiver -- will join the Breakthrough Listen program at Green Bank Telescope in the US and the Parkes Observatory in Australia in SETI.



Advertisement

Together, the organizations will exchange observing plans, search methods and data, including the rapid sharing of promising new signals for additional observation and analysis. The two parties are also planning a series of meetings and conferences to refine search strategies, data analyses and results.



The collaboration was announced at a signing ceremony at NAOC headquarters in Beijing via a joint statement by Prof. Jun Yan, Director General of NAOC, and Pete Worden, Chairman of Breakthrough Prize Foundation and Executive Director of Breakthrough Initiatives.



Both looked forward to "a long and productive scientific collaboration," and invited scientists around the world to join in "one of humanity's greatest quests."



"'Are we alone?' is a question that unites us as a planet," said Yuri Milner, Founder of the Breakthrough Initiatives,



"And the quest to answer it should take place at a planetary level too. With this agreement, we are now searching for cosmic companions with three of the world's biggest telescopes across three continents."



FAST, which is located in Guizhou, achieved first light this September. It is the world's largest filled-aperture radio receiver, "and will be one of the most powerful instruments to search for the potential intelligent life beyond Earth," said Yan.



"We are delighted to be collaborating with the Breakthrough Initiatives."



"The FAST telescope is a remarkable instrument with unprecedented power," said Worden.



The Breakthrough Initiatives are a set of long-term astronomical programs exploring the Universe, seeking scientific evidence of life beyond Earth, and encouraging public debate from a planetary perspective.



Launched in July 2015, Breakthrough Listen is the most comprehensive astronomical search for intelligent life ever undertaken. It employs two of the world's biggest radio telescopes: the Green Bank Telescope in West Virginia, USA, and the Parkes Observatory in New South Wales, Australia.



It also includes the Automated Planet Finder at Lick Observatory in California that searches for laser signals.


Former First Lady, Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings has demanded the Electoral Commission (EC) allow her to contest the 2016 polls as the Presidential Candidate of the National Democratic Party (NDP) following what she described as her illegal disqualification from the race.

Nana Konadu blamed the EC and its Chairperson, Charlotte Osei, for the shortcomings in her nomination forms that led to her disqualification from the race along with 12 other aspirants.

This disqualification is the second successive one for the NDP Flagbearer after same 2012 following some errors in the filing of her nomination forms.

Speaking in an interview with the BBC she firmly stated, I want my name back on the list, that I am standing as a presidential candidate for the National Democratic Party and she has illegally removed my name from it. She should do what is right and legal in this country.

Nana Konadu also had some more harsh words for the EC describing its systems as bogus and accused the EC of violating its own regulations.

It is completely the Electoral Commission's fault because the Electoral Commission has violated section 9 of CI 94 which obligates her to actually ask us to come and check our forms if she finds anything wrong with it. If there is an anomaly, it is her responsibility to call us, she asserted.

Nana Konadu and her running mate, Kojo Mensah Sosuh, have already petitioned the Commission to reinstate them, after the disqualification and have also threatened a lawsuit.

Why Nana Konadu was disqualified

In explaining the NDP Flagbearers disqualification, the EC said it was unable to accept Nana Konadus nomination because the number of subscribers to her forms did not meet the requirements of Regulation 7 (2) (b) of CI 94.

One subscriber on page 89 of her nomination forms was not a validly registered voter, and illegally registered twice hence was on the Exclusion list of multiple voters.



By: Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Die-hard supporters of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) at Appolonia in the Kpone-Katamanso constituency have vowed to vote against the Greater Accra Regional Minister, Joseph Nii Laryea Afotey-Agbo, who is their Member of Parliament.

According to them, though the minister is the head of security in the region, he has woefully failed to address the land guard menace, which he has been accused of promoting.

The NDC in Appolonia has, therefore, concluded that when they add their votes to those of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in the constituency, Afotey-Agbo, popularly called Lion, would lose his seat and consequently tame him from roaring at innocent indigenes of Appolonia.

Vivian Ama Dede Dortey, NDC Appolonia branch Secretary told The Chronicle that the Appolonia NDCs resolve to vote against their once upon a time darling MP is premised on the fact that people are being intimidated, maimed or sometimes killed by land guards, but they are not getting any protection from their MP and the state.

When it is 7pm and you are coming home from work, you need to call the youth to provide you with security because these land guards will attack and maim you for speaking against Nii Afotey, Vivian Dede lamented.

Adding her voice as a member of the NDC at Appolonia, after the Appolonia Stool had accused the MP at a press conference for allegedly getting himself involved in land matters, Vivian Ama Dede Dortey said revenue from sand and stone winning activities in the area is not properly accounted for.

She said the Kpone-Katamanso District Assembly (KKDA) had told the Appolonia Stool that it did not authorize the land degradation activities and so it could not collect any revenue from the illegal operators.

Appolonia stopped the activities of sand winners a couple of years ago, but as soon as one of the sons of Appolonia, Joseph Akuerteh Tettey contested Afotey in the last NDC parliamentary primary, he vowed to permit sand winning activities to start on our land.

He told us at one of our NDC branch meetings in December 2015 that security would collapse in this area because the Stool did not prevent Joseph Akuerteh from challenging him.

She seconded the Appolonia Stool that, since that tough statement from their darling MP, the area had been taken over by land guards who attack indigenes on their farms, protect sand winners and collect revenues from these illegal land activities.

Vivian said several complaints they had lodged at the police station on the threats and intimidations they had continued to receive from such land guards had been parried by the police.

Since the police have also failed to provide us with the needed security because Afotey is the chairman of the Regional Security Council, on December 7, the NDC in this area will add our valid votes to those of the NPP to see off Afotey-Agbo.

Our safety and security are paramount to our Chiefs and elders and so we need to respect and obey them. The NDC in Appolonia will, therefore, show our deep honour to our Stool by putting our love for the NDC aside for Appolonias peace and security, Vivian Ama Dede Dortey, NDC Appolonia branch Secretary indicated.

All efforts to reach the MP for his comments to the allegations levelled against him proved futile as his phones were off.
The Founder and President of the Determined Volunteer Youth for Mahama (DVYM), John Afful, has described the numerous developmental projects that were initiated by the leader of the National Democratic Party (NDC) John Dramani Mahama and the Parliamentary Candidate (PC) Hon. Obuobia Darko in the Weija-Gbawe constituency as a historical achievement.

Delivering his presentation titled Weija Gbawe then and Weija Gbawe now, Mr. Afful noted that Hon. Obuobia has provided massive supports in the area of Education, Health, Jobs creation, support for the needy, Roads sector, among others.

According to him, this shows clearly that Hon. Obuobia who is gaining the support of the constituents has done better than any sitting MP in Weija Gbawe Constituency since Ghana returned to constitutional rule.

Mr. Afful indicated that Hon. Ayorkor Botchway got a full term of Eight (8) as a minister and MP in many sectors but unfortunately there is nothing on the ground to point at as her achievement unlike Obuobias projects which are scattered all over the constituency for even a blind person to at least touch.

Under the current NPP MP for Weija  Gbawe in a person of an octogenarian, Hon Rosemond Abrah, people are even wondering if we have an MP at all, because she is nowhere to be found and also has nothing concrete to show that she is the sitting MP, he stated.

He posited that as soon as she won the Weija seat, she went into hiding, as they suffer floods and Robbery Attacks just for her to resurface to contest their NPP primaries which she miserably lost to another arrogant and incompetent (PC) called Hon Tina Mensah.

It is therefore clear that NPP has nothing to offer here at Weija  Gbawe because NDC has proved beyond every reason doubt that it is far better NPP based on the monumental achievements of His Excellency the Lord Chosen One John Dramani Mahama and Obuobia Darko and NDC government, he intimated.

Mr. Afful insisted that no one should be deceived that NPP is better because they are like the enemy who came to steal, kill and to destroy they wanted to reap where they did not sow and have nothing to show on the ground that they are better alternative.

According to him, it is clear that His Excellency the Lord Chosen One, the Joshua of our time and the Esther of our time Hon. Obuobia are the best for Weija  Gbawe.

He appeals to both NDC and NPP supporters to vote massively for the NDC and the preferred Parliament Candidate Hon. Obuobia for more projects and programmes to flow.
The Chief and elders of Appolonia, in the Kpone-Katamanso District of the Greater Accra Region have vowed to crush one Nii Iddrisu Tettey Mansro, a native of the area who has arrogated onto himself, the title of Regent of the community and using same to cause confusion and anarchy in the area.

Nii Iddrisu Tettey Mansro, who has over the years claimed he is the Regent of Appolonia, the Appolonia Stool said, has illegally sold several thousands of plots of stool land to individuals and leased 1,000 acres of land to SINO Africa Development Company Limited for GHc4 million.

SINO Africa Development Company Limited, a subsidiary of Jospong Group of Companies, the Appolonia Stool further explained, had acted unlawfully, without the consent of the Chief and elders of Appolonia and the Stool, for the purpose of getting the Stool lands.

That unlawful act of purchase, it continued, was to enrich some three disgruntled indigenes of Appolonia led by the self-styled Regent Iddrisu Mansro, whom the Stool said would deal with at the appropriate time.

Joshua Nii Akpeng Tettey, assistant Secretary for the Appolonia Stool, told some journalists at a press conference that Joseph Nii Laryea Afotey-Agbo, the Greater Accra Regional (GAR) Minister and Member of Parliament (MP) for Kpone-Katamanso, is assisting in the illegal activities, as a form of revenging against Joseph Akuerteh Tettey, a son of Appolonia, for challenging him at the last NDCs parliamentary primary.

Stating the case of the Stool, Joshua Nii Akpeng Tettey said the Stool got wind of the grant of the 1,000 acres of its lands through the police, who forwarded a copy of a petition sent to them by SINO Africa Development Company Limited, that some policemen were harassing the company, after they had bought their property from the chief and elders of Appolonia.

He said the late Chief, Nii Tei Adumuah II, who reigned continuously for almost 38 years until his demise on January 14, 2014, condemned the illegal action by Nii Iddrisu Mansro and his two accomplices.

The Stool, consequently, through its lawyer, responded to SINO Africa Development Limited, denying knowledge of the grant of the 1,000 acres of land to them by Nii Iddrisu Mansro, Seth Gblie Narteh and Seth Afum, Mr. Joshua Akpeng Tettey, a former Assembly member of the Haanoi Electoral area noted.

Continuing, he said SINO Africa wrote a letter to Nii Iddrisu Tettey Mansro in 2011, informing him that the company has realized that he and his accomplices lacked the capacity to alienate the 1,000 acres of the Appolonia Stool Land and, therefore, they should refund the money to the company.

Portions of the letter dated December 19, 2011, stated As you will recall sometime in 2010, SINO Africa Development Company Limited acquired 1,000 acres of land at Appolonia from your good self and two other persons namely; Seth Gblie Narteh and Seth Afum.

In furtherance of the above stated objective, the company has decided to cease all future payments to your side and further demand a refund of payments made whether in cash or in kind within 14 days from the date of this letter.

He posited that in spite of the education and proper procedural engagements the Stool, through its lawyer, gave SINO Africa, they were surprised the company at that press conference, said they acted genuinely by obtaining the said land from the Chief of the Appolonia Stool.

This sudden u-turn by SINO Africa occurred after the NDC parliamentary primary when a son of Appolonia stood for the election to challenge Laryea Afotey-Agbo who, thereafter, vowed to take vengeance on the Appolonia Stool and its lands.

However, Joshua Nii Akpeng Tettey said SINO Africa and its Chinese partners, hiding behind Afotey-Agbo and Nii Mansro, could be deceiving itself, holding that the GAR Minister cum MP and Nii Mansro were unlawful actors.

SINO Africa can continue funding the MPs political campaign and continue paying money to the three Appolonia rebels, but we, the people of Appolonia, are telling them that we will definitely get to that point of fully stripping naked all the 419 actors.

We will take our lands back and then when we are done, we will deal with the power intoxicated self-styled Regent of Appolonia, who has no royal lineage as far as Appolonia is concerned, he opined.

The Stool Secretary concluded that the gazetted Chief of Appolonia is Nii Nuertey Amobi II, whose lawful enstoolment ceremony were witnessed and authenticated by Nii Tetteh Otu II, Paramount Chief of Kpone Traditional Area and Joseph Nii Laryea Afotey-Agbo in 2014.

When contacted, a couple of months ago on his response to a statement by the Chief of Appolonia, which sought to condemn his activities in Appolonia and its environs, Nii Iddrisu Tettey Mansro said he does not recognize Nii Nuertey Amobi II and his elders and, therefore, would not react to the comments.

Meanwhile, a little over three weeks ago, SINO Africa Development Company Limited organized a press conference, which prompted Tuesdays press meeting by the Appolonia Stool.

At that press conference, Gabriel Forceby -Operations Manager of SINO Africa said his outfit acquired the 1,000 acres of Appolonia Stool lands from the legitimate grantors namely, Nii Iddrisu Tettey Mansro, Seth Gblie Narteh and Seth Afum.

He explained that they did due diligence by conducting a number of searches at the Lands Commission to establish who the lands truly belongs to before entering into an agreement to buy the 1,000 acres of land from the companys grantors.

Unfortunately, The Chronicle could not get the reaction of the Greater Accra Regional Minister, Joseph Nii Laryea Afotey Agbo as all efforts to reach him on his two mobile phones did not work, because the lines were out of coverage area.

The paper could not also get a response to a text message to the Member of Parliament (MP) for the Kpone-Katamanso constituency at the time of going to press.
Bola Ahmed Tinubu's call on John Odigie-Oyegun to resign as National Chairman of All Progressives Congress (APC) for allegedly derailing from the path of progressives continues to generate diverse opinions in the polity. The call, rather than being misconstrued by Tinubu's antagonists should be seen for its altruistic value and content. It is about saving the soul of a ruling party that is still in its embryo.

But, while waiting to see how circumstances eventuate, some questions keep bothering me and if they are answered dispassionately, they may help put the understanding of the issue in proper perspective. Before all else, was Tinubu wrong in endorsing a candidate? Better put, did he, as the National Leader of a foremost party, do something he ought not to have done by allegedly asking all the aspirants to work for his preferred choice (Punch, September 3, 2016)? Also, and, in fairness to the facts, is Tinubu gradually losing out in Nigeria's political space and what is the way out? As a matter of fact, what has become of the ruling party in so short a space of time and where lies the place of its founding fathers in all of this?

Well, while I may be insufficient at supplying answers to these troubling questions, until proven otherwise, I hold the notion that Odigie-Oyegun was either misunderstood, misrepresented or used by some principalities higher than him. Again, until there is evidence to the contrary, I am also of the firm belief that President Muhammadu Buhari is too decent a leader to be involved in this messy and rather childish tricks that take nobody anywhere.

Having said that, Nigerians will agree with me that, on a good day, the forthcoming governorship election in Ondo State is a rare privilege for APC to present itself as a party of choice to the electorate. It is also an opportunity to test the waters a la Nigerians' acceptance of its policies and programmes, preparatory to 2019. With the situation of things however, one can only pray it would not mess it up on the altar of some unbelievably self-inflicted wounds. From all indications, Mimiko as the Contestant-in-Chief looks well-prepared for the battle ahead and this ought to have spurred the opposition into going into the race with a formidable team for the overall purpose of enriching our democratic process. With Eyitayo Jegede, from a Senatorial District which, among other considerations, is noted for having the largest chunk of voters, as People's Democratic Party, PDP's governorship candidate; and John Ola Mafo, from an axis notorious for political characterizations similar to Alimosho in Lagos State, Oke Ogun in Oyo State and Florida in the United States of America, tentatively as Jegede's deputy, the battle line is already drawn! While the import of these should not be lost on objective observers, we also need to bear in mind that Goodluck Jonathan, as fate would have it, is no longer in power. Impliedly, November 26, 2016 will most certainly follow a path different from the experience in Ekiti and Osun States in 2014. Little wonder the outgoing governor has been running 'upandan' to bung any inadequacy that is within his powers.

Kazi Shams was right when he described "half a truth" as "a whole lie." From a state of denial to an overflowing scourge of anger, the troubling truth is that we deceive ourselves a lot in this country and this adds more confusion to the course of questions! Much as we would pretend not to know, life itself is full of lessons. It is also full of surprises. But, if care is not taken, one may concentrate more on the 'surprise' aspect of life to the detriment of its lessons. Anyway, since memories are real, those who wish to be unnecessarily emotions- and sentiments-driven should pause a bit and ponder the roles of Pharaoh in the life of Joseph (Genesis 45:46); King Xerxes in Mordecai's (Esther 10:3); Melchizedek in Abraham's (Hebrews 7); the Widow of Zarephat in Prophet Elijah's (1 Kings 17: 7-16); and ask Nigeria's exceptionally good liars and professional pretenders what they would do better should they find themselves in Tinubu's shoes before casting the first stone.

Again, if history is an oracle we must consult in order to determine the future, then, we need not forget in a hurry that, once upon a recent experience in Nigeria, Ibrahim Babangida, in crude and rude connivance with some military top brass, not only endorsed Olusegun Obasanjo, they also ensured that he succeeded Abdusalami Abubakar as Nigeria's president. Adams Oshiomhole stood by Godwin Obaseki at the just-concluded governorship election in Edo State. Even, Rotimi Akeredolu, the man in the eye of the storm, reportedly had his campaign "bankrolled by Atiku Abubakar and some APC bigwigs" (Vanguard, September 28, 2016). But for the luxury of time and space, one can go on and on! So, who's fooling who?

To some schools of thought, Tinubu ought to have read the tea leaves correctly, especially, given that the contestants paid to obtain Expression of Interest and Nomination Forms. Well, since the rules of natural justice are so fundamental that they don't have to be legislated, Odigie-Oyegun's interview in Punch, August 21, 2016, has, in my considered opinion, settled that!

Yes! Nigeria is in challenging times and conventional prescriptions for her ailments ought to be of interest to us as Nigerians. But, in the midst of the monstrosity of the corruption that has tragically become Nigeria's defining characteristic, Tinubu comes about as one leader who has given deep meanings to democracy. Like him or hate him: he is a politician who has attained an unprecedented level of political sophistication that can radically influence the perception of governance in this once-so-beautiful-but-now-badly-damaged microcosm. His gift of being able to make the right choices is superb as one could see in his preference for Babatunde Fashola and Rauf Aregbesola as Lagos and Osun State Governors respectively. With the benefit of hindsight, Fashola not only performed, he eventually became the APC poster boy in the last election. And while Aregbesola, on his part, has succeeded in unselfishly redefining governance in my home state, he is also patriotically preparing the 'Land of Virtue' for the future and, when its fruits blossom forth, they will be to the gapes of Nigerians.

Another worthy example of Tinubu's ability to identify talents is his choice of Akinwunmi Ambode as Fashola's successor. Surely, Ambode's ongoing silent revolution in modernizing Lagos, especially, with the expansion of road networks and redesigning of bus stops to ease traffic congestion, is a step in the right direction. Kudos must also be given to this forward-looking Nigerian for making Buhari's aspiration possible after three futile attempts. And, do we need to discuss the success of his business ventures? Without being immodest, facts on ground have already spoken! For the patriotism he has expressed as well as his enormous contributions to the development of democracy in Nigeria, methinks this sagacious and perspicacious politician deserves encouragement, not disparagement; and solidarity, not brickbats.

From my perspective, politics as a game of interest and numbers goes beyond vote casting and party affiliation. Maybe that's why some people see politics, especially in Africa, as 'the shortest road to financial freedom.' The point I am trying to make here is that though, the system in vogue in Nigeria may at the moment be defective and frustrating, all through history, those who who came out of it smoking were those who were able to master its 'by-the-minute' difficulties, frustrations, and, not unexpectedly, its success stories while those who could not have always had themselves to blame. And that's the real deal!

Finally, let's pray that life, times, even travails of Bola Ige would treat our leaders to some salient lessons in season.

May powers and personalities, assigned to derail Nigeria's beautiful destiny, wither!

*KOMOLAFE writes in from Ijebu-Jesa, Osun State, Nigeria ([email protected])

abiodun KOMOLAFE,

020, Okenisa Street,

PO Box 153,

Ijebu-Jesa, Osun State.
In less than a year, Holo Molo has lost more than a third of his livestock. The father of 14 living in the chronically drought-prone woreda of Elidar, Afar Region is just one of millions of Ethiopian livestock owners who have had their livelihoods uprooted as a result of drought aggravated by El Nino . Despite the significant damage caused by the crisis, Holo contends that he is lucky. I know a woman who has lost everything, all her animals are dead.

Since 2015, thousands of households have helplessly watched their animals starve in Afar, an arid region in northwest Ethiopia neighboring Eritrea and Djibouti. The drought caused severe pasture and water shortages in communities almost totally dependent on livestock rearing  ninety percent of the population tend animals for their food and income.

Believed to be the worst drought in nearly half a century, it will take years for families hardest hit by the El Nino-induced crisis to recover. The impact on food and nutrition security has been significant; the vast majority of the regions districts have been classified as priority one or facing the greatest levels of food insecurity according to the Government of Ethiopia.

In Elidar, the critical karan rains  usually occurring between July and September  were considered late and erratic. The contribution of the previous spring season was minor, only slightly improving pasture and water access between the months of March and May. Already, Elidars limited pasture has largely been depleted. Many herding households now depend on infrequent flash floods that send water tumbling from the mountains to be used domestically and for livestock.

The thickets of the mountains are also where many of Elidars citizens send their animals to search for feed. FAO spoke with Mutha Ahmed as she tended small ruminants on the banks of a water point constructed by the UN agency in the drought prone community. The mother of five lost 50 sheep and goats during the crisis. Almost everything has dried up, there is nothing here for animals to eat, Mutha reflected. We have not had good rains in years, many people are now scared because the karan season has been poor and it has not fully rained, said Mutha. With the worst of the lean season approaching in mid-October and November, Afars animals should be thriving ahead of the most difficult time of the year. Complicating matters is the fact that milk  critical for the food and nutrition security of most in the Region  has been slow to return to normal production levels, a consequence of prolonged drought.

Dwindling resources in an underfunded sector

Despite losing a significant portion of her livestock, Mutha indicated that she did not qualify for emergency animal feed support, a claim supported by regional officials on the ground. I lost animals, but so many more were worse off than me. I can understand why I was not given anything for my herd, she said. As a result of limited resources in this particular area, priority was given to households with lactating animals or breastfeeding infants in order to safeguard the food and nutrition security of the most vulnerable.

The emergency livestock response is severely underfunded in Ethiopia. Almost 2.4 million households critically require livelihoods assistance to the tune of USD 36.2 million until the end of the year. Preliminary reports suggest that the sector has only received USD 12 million in humanitarian sector funding for 2015 and 2016 emergency drought interventions. With the crop sector demanding very significant resources, particularly to procure seeds for the meher (summer) season (from which 85 percent of Ethiopias food supply is derived), the bulk of agriculture-related humanitarian investments were funneled into saving the countrys local crop production.

In August 2016, FAO clarified the priorities of Ethiopias livestock sector, highlighting the most urgent funding needed to support emergency interventions. These include animal health and emergency vaccinations for livestock, determined as critical in livestock-dependent regions such as Afar and Somali as well as Borena Zone of Oromia Region and South Omo Zone of Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples Region. The findings were published in the Mid-Year Review of the 2016 Humanitarian Requirements Document (HRD).

FAOs Director of the Emergencies, Dominique Burgeon, met with numerous drought-affected households in Elidar and other communities in Afar Region during a recent field mission to Ethiopia. Mr Burgeon was also accompanied by FAO Representative to Ethiopia, Amadou Allahoury, and members of his team. The group spoke with beneficiaries of FAOs fodder seed distribution and assessed the livestock situation in some of the worst-affected priority-one hotspot districts in the Region. The team also viewed local interventions to cope with drought, such as traditional water steam harvesting.

The situation on the ground remains very critical in Afar and other livestock-dependent areas of the country. While significant resources have been deployed for crop sector support over the last several months, we cannot neglect to fully address the pressing needs of the livestock sector, said Mr Burgeon.

The people of Afar have developed numerous innovations in order to cope with the effects of recurrent drought, a reflection of their inherent resilience as a people, he remarked. FAO is committed to partnering with local authorities and communities like in Elidar and elsewhere in Ethiopia, in order to jointly amplify our efforts in the difficult months ahead with a strategic focus on recovery and resilience building.

FAO Ethiopia provided fast-growing fodder seed to at-risk agropastoral communities in order to enable households to produce animal feed independently. During the drought, the Organization also distributed multinutrient-dense energy blocks to protect core breeding animals, and delivered animal feed along migratory routes. FAOs regional water rehabilitation projects improved access to water for livestock, benefiting more than 125 000 livestock owned by about 13 000 households. The Organization also supported strategic destocking through the purchase of thousands of livestock with low body weight which after a health inspection, was distributed to some of the worst-affected internally displaced people.

FAO has mobilized nearly USD 14 million to respond to the crisis. The Organization is now urgently requesting an additional USD 14 million to implement livelihood-saving interventions in the livestock and crop sectors until the end of 2016.
The consistency in the unprovoked attacks on supporters of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) by their National Democratic Congress (NDC) counterparts appears to be getting out of hand.

The attackers have been emboldened by the marked selectiveness and apathy on the part of law enforcement agents: their commanders too scared of being punitively transferred to remote parts of the country. Cases reported are tagged political and therefore abandoned by the Police for convenience.

Electoral Officers are transferred upon the demand of NDC operatives in the regions when they exhibit strictness in the performance of their tasks: our democracy is headed for the precipice.

In Suhum, a couple of days ago, the crudest of attacks yet took place.

The political activists, obviously drawing their impunity from an obvious association with the Eastern Regional Minister, descended upon ladies whose only 'crime' was campaigning for Nana Akufo Addo.

So bad was the attack that one of the victims who needed to urinate was denied the chance to do so by the hoodlums. Her human dignity was abused by her attackers as she wet herself in the presence of the crooks.

We are saddened by the degenerating morality on the political landscape. More and more Ghanaians are becoming despondent; the image of the Ghana Police Service under its current crop of leadership listing rather worryingly.

The question can be posed as to whether it is not becoming dangerous to campaign for another political party besides the ruling NDC? Ghanaians are, day in and day out, cornered and their freedoms are under threat. They stand helpless as the Police fold their arms and look away when they come under attack as the ladies did in Suhum, their image completely battered.

The Inspector General of Police (IGP) is yet to convince Ghanaians that he is up to the task of managing internal security professionally in the country without showing his political colours. Little wonder when he assured the nation that he would be on top of his assignment many sneered in disbelief. We too did and we have been proven right so far.

He has not even issued a reassuring statement to calm the nerves of his compatriots against the backdrop of the Kukuom incident and now Suhum which involves NDC hoodlums chasing ladies as if they were on the trail of game in the bush.

As for the National Peace Council, they have subtly showed that they are unable to handle the unfolding state of lawlessness being perpetrated by hoodlums drawing their authority from the ruling party.

As if the foregone is not enough, Lukman Abubakar, student leader, at the time of composing this commentary is still being held by the Police: his detention at the whimp of top politicians from the ruling party even as his indisposed state is well known to his captors. He was denied bail when he did nothing to warrant the heavy-handedness.

An alleged 'order-from-above' is said to be what informed the police action: our country appears to be no longer ruled by law but by wicked persons inebriated by power. To be inebriated absolutely by power is dangerous to any population of civilized people.

Those behind the wanton abuse of power have soon become oblivious to the fact of everything under the sun being ephemeral and would therefore pass away someday.

Whither academic freedom in this country? The government is becoming intolerant and we close our eyes to the unfolding threat to the rule of law at our peril as a nation.

Lukman Abubakar has suffered injuries at the hands of the law enforcement agents working on the orders of politicians at the helm. A handcuffed student undergoing such treatment beats our imagination. Who inflicted the injuries on the poor student? Ghanaians would pose many questions even when the detainee is released eventually. Ghana is at the crossroads. The Kukuom and Suhum incident and now Lukman Abubakar with the Police complicit should not be glossed over.
Former First Lady Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings has accused the Chairperson of the Electoral Commission Charlotte Osei of illegally disqualifying her from the 2016 presidential race.

Speaking to the BBCs Akwesi Sarpong in an interview on Wednesday, Mrs Rawlings demanded that her name be immediately put back on the list of candidates for the December 7 polls.

I want my name back on the list; that I am standing as the presidential candidate of the National Democratic Party (NDP), and she has illegally removed my name from it. She should do what is right and legal in this country, Mrs Rawlings said, adding, the Electoral Commission's equipment and set up is bogus.

According to her, the EC must be blamed for her disqualification.

It is completely the Electoral Commissions fault because the EC has violated section 9 of CI 94 which obligates her to actually ask us to come and check our forms if she finds anything wrong with it. If there's an anomaly, its her responsibility to call us.

This is the second time Mrs Rawlings has been disqualified from the presidential race. The first time was in 2012 when Dr. Kwadwo Afari Gyan was in charge of affairs.

Mrs Rawlings and 12 others were disqualified from the race over various anomalies. The other disqualified aspirants include the flagbearer of the All Peoples Congress (APC), Hassan Ayariga; Dr Edward Mahama of the Peoples National Convention (PNC); Dr Agyenim Boateng of the United Front Party (UFP); Kofi Akpaloo of the Independent Peoples Party (IPP); Kwabena Adjei of the Reformed Patriotic Democrats (RPD); and Dr Papa Kwesi Nduom of the Progressive Peoples Party (PPP).

Others are Henry Herbert Lartey of the Great Consolidated Popular Party (GCPP); Mr Richard Nixon Tetteh (United Development Systems Party); Thomas Ward-Brew of the Democratic People's Party (DPP); Alfred Kwame Asiedu Walker, an independent candidate, and Akua Donkor of the Ghana Freedom Party (GFP). Akwasi Addae Odike of the United Progressive Partys nomination is on hold pending a court case.

-starrfmonline
Oslo, 13 October 2016  Africas future economy hosts the worlds youngest, most rapidly urbanising population. It will also have the worlds largest population in working age by 2034, reaching 1.1 billion. Today, 35 speakers and around 400 African and Nordic leaders, including 17 ambassadors from Africa, Norway and Finland meet to discuss trends, issues and the great potential for the rising cities of Africa.

In 2015, 472 million people lived in cities in Africa; a figure that has doubled in 20 years. Yet two-thirds of the infrastructure needed to accommodate this growth has yet to be built. The Nordic-African Business Summit 2016 aimed to highlight the business opportunities across the African Continent, and facilitate a dialogue on how Nordic companies can position themselves to capture these. There were also special sessions focusing on opportunities within infrastructure, construction and real Estate in West Africa, renewable energy in East Africa, the urban consumer in North Africa and food production for the growing cities.

Due to its great success, what used to be the Norwegian-African Business Summit became the Nordic-African Business Summit. We are thrilled to see such great interest from business leaders, politicians and civil society. We hope that this years summit will not only stimulate a dialogue across industries and continents, but inspire action, says Eivind Fjeldstad, Managing Director of NABA.

Brge Brende, Norwegian minister of foreign affairs; Thabo Mbeki, former President of the Republic of South Africa; Kai Mykkanen, Finnish Minister for Foreign Trade and Development; Ebi Atawodi, General Manager of Uber Nigeria; Tutu Agyare, Managing Partner and Chief Investment Officer of Nubuke Investments and Kjell Roland, Managing Director of Norfund are among the distinguished guests who participates in this day-long forum hosted by the Norwegian-African Business Association (NABA) .
Investment South Africa (ISA) and its counterpart, Kenya Investment Authority (KenInvest), have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Investment Cooperation.

The MoU was signed on the sidelines of President Jacob Zuma State Visit to Kenya on this week.

Speaking at the signing ceremony, Acting Head of Invest SA Mr Yunus Hoosen said the MOU between Invest SA and KenInvest is intended to promote and facilitate investment between the two countries. He further stated that signing of the MOU is strategic and important, in line with South Africas strategy of promoting investment and trade within the continent for mutual development.

South Africa has over 60 companies operating in Kenya from the financial services industry to franchising. South Africa sees further opportunities in Kenya in agro processing, manufacturing, ICT, infrastructure and financial services.The signing of the MOU will bring the organisations as focal pints on investment between the two countries.

Dr. Moses Ikera, MD of KenInvest stated that the two organisations cooperate well in global forums and it makes sense that South Africa as the regional hub in Southern Africa and Kenya the regional hub in East Africa, cooperate on expanding trade and investment relations. He also mentioned that the two organisations will meet regularly on an implementation plan as well as support for capacity building.

The signing ceremony was followed by an Investment Business Forum which was adressed by President Jacob Zuma and his counterpart President Uhuru Kenyatta. The two Heads of State lauded the signing of the Invesment MOU and urged private sector from both countries to do business among themselves in order to boost economic development within the two countries.
Sharif reviews the army. (Photo : Pakistan Army)

Pakistan's heavily criticized travel ban on a Pakistani journalist that again revealed infighting between the civilian government and the powerful Pakistani military again shed light on the inconvenient truth the military calls the shots in Pakistan's foreign policy and national security.



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On Oct. 6, Pakistan's English-language newspaper, Dawn, published a story written by Cyral Almeida, one of its journalists. The story revealed a recent meeting between Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Rizwan Akhtar, director general of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) spy agency, at which Sharif complained ISI support for certain militant groups connected to ISI is leading to "a growing international isolation of Pakistan."



The government was also said to have warned the military its "militaristic behavior" puts Pakistan at risk of international isolation and any subsequent economic consequences. The story suggests the military sees Pakistan's foreign relations as a military tool to achieve military aims.



Despite the apparent schism between itself and the military, the government denounced Almeida's piece as a "fabricated story."



"The participants were unanimous that the published story was clearly violative of universally acknowledged principles of reporting on national security issues and has risked the vital state interests through inclusion of inaccurate and misleading content," said government statement from Sharif's office.



Almeida was subsequently placed on the government's Exit Control List that prevents persons from leaving Pakistan. Almeida's inclusion in this travel ban list was blasted by Amnesty International that called the ban a crude intimidation tactic designed to silence journalists and stop them from doing their jobs.



Government critics believe Almeida's story has again exposed traditional tensions between the civilian and military establishments where each tries to assert its control over matters related to national security and foreign policy, especially when it comes to issues related to India and Afghanistan where ISI operations are focused.



They said the general perception is the military has the final say in the civilian decision-making process affecting these countries.



One activist claims the civilian government intentionally leaked reports of the meeting to Almeida instead of issuing a formal statement for fear of a military backlash.



"I think this is where the problem lies. The problem is not with the messenger, but with the people who are trying to communicate and they are unfortunately doing it timidly because they know that if they do it openly and publicly there is going to be a problem," said investigative journalist Matiullah Jan, who also pioneered Dawn TV's first investigative show.



"After leaking the story, they (the civilian government) are now giving the impression that action against Cyril taken on army insistence after (Monday's) meeting, and making sure the things are mentioned in the press release so that blame is again shifted to (the army) General Headquarters and ISI for targeting a journalist," revealed a source within the military to media.


The Honourable Stephane Dion, Minister of Foreign Affairs, today issued the following statement:

Canada urges Burundi to resume cooperation with the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in Bujumbura and to cooperate fully with the Commission of Inquiry into the human rights situation in Burundi. The support offered by the OHCHR and the broader international community provides a path to reconciliation and implementation of the Arusha Agreement.

Canada supports all independent judicial processes to ensure an end to impunity for serious human rights violations and strongly encourages Burundi to remain a member of the International Criminal Court and to renew its cooperation with the court.

Canada is a strong supporter of United Nations human rights mechanisms and announced a contribution earlier this year of $15 million over the next three years to the OHCHR. In addition, Canada has pledged a significant contribution to strengthen the on-the-ground presence of OHCHR personnel in Burundi.
The Honourable Stephane Dion, Minister of Foreign Affairs, today issued the following statement:

Following Ethiopias October 8 declaration of a six-month state of emergency, Canada urges Ethiopian security forces to exercise restraint and to respect all fundamental rights and freedoms.

Canada believes that the opening session of Ethiopias parliament on October 10 provides a pathway for an inclusive dialogue to address the concerns of citizens, including those of youth who comprise an important segment of Ethiopian society.

It is our hope that this dialogue will lead to a comprehensive set of reforms that strengthens democracy and generates increased opportunities for Ethiopians.

We urge all stakeholders to demonstrate their commitment to peaceful civic engagement and we believe strongly that inclusive dialogue is the best way forward.

Canada will continue to follow developments in Ethiopia closely.
Frank Djan, Head of Customer Experience Department, in a handshake with Sefakor Acquaye, Corporate Account Manager at British Airways.

Airtel Ghana is offering amazing discounts on airfares through a strategic partnership with three leading airlines  British Airways, RwandAir and Kenya Airways.

The partnership enables Airtel Premier customers to travel to over 30 destinations around the world at exclusive discounts as a way of rewarding their loyalty to the Ghanaian telecom company.

Customers, who travel with British Airways and Kenya Airways, can enjoy up to 15 percent discounts, while those traveling with RwandAir to major cities in Africa, Europe and the United Arab Emirates, enjoy discounts of up to 8 percent on their airfares.

Announcing the latest partnership, Frank Djan, Head of Customer Experience at Airtel Ghana, said Providing our customers with unmatched service offerings and options that suit their lifestyle is at the core of what we do as a business.

We have been providing discounts on airfares since 2015. This year, we are raising our game by partnering with more airlines to give our customers more exciting options.

Our partners, British Airways, RwandAir and Kenya Airways, are some of the leading airlines in Africa, Europe, Asia and the Middle-East.

They provide world-class travel services that match the lifestyles of our customers.

Premier customers, who want to access this unique benefit, should simply send an email to [email protected] or call 303 and we will take care of the rest.

Touching on other exclusive offerings that customers enjoy, he said, Airtel Premier customers also enjoy exclusive access to over 700 VIP airport lounges across the world via Priority Pass, the worlds largest independent airport lounge access programme, this includes the Adinkra Lounge at the Kotoka International Airport, Accra which offers free access to Airtel's Wi-Fi services and other exciting treats whilst they wait or transit through flights.

We continue to partner with several benefit partners across the world to bring a world of excitement to customers.

As the foremost sub-brand dedicated to serving the telecom and lifestyle needs of high value customers, Airtel Premier provides bespoke services to delight customers, including discounts on hotels, automobiles, restaurants, spa treatments, birthday treats and access to Airtel sponsored events all-year round.

Airtel Ghana is the telecom industry's leader in data and digital innovation.

A business desk report
Dr. Kofi Amoah, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Progeny Ventures, has called for the institution of regional development plans.

The plans, when adopted, will focus on the natural resources unique to each region and be the catalyst for sparking economic development to create job opportunities in each region to diminish the present unhealthy and unhelpful migration to the few city centers, Dr Amoah said.

He made this known when he presented a paper on the theme, 'Industrialization of Ghana: The Way Forward,' at the Fourth Public Lecture in commemoration of the 10th anniversary of Regent University College of Science and Technology in Accra.

He said there ought to be a regional development fund for each region to engender development in all parts of the country.

This must be the center piece of any sustainable development programme, starting with areas of natural comparative advantage, Dr. Amoah said.

Two factories in a region

The mogul called for the establishment of two manufacturing plants in each region.

This, he said, will promote increased output from existing farmers, as well as new farm investors, who can be incentivized through attractive tax and low-interest loans.

Such factories can also curtail or eliminate the enormous imports or canned tomatoes, fruit juices and flour, among others. These activities will need the services of agronomists, agric engineers, biochemists, sales and marketing experts, lawyers, architect and surveyors, among others, Dr. Amoah said.

We cannot keep borrowing to finance consumption of health, education and other services. We must get our people involved in producing the wealth with which we finance infrastructure investments.

We must invest in rural areas and create sustainable revenue, producing opportunities to empower our rural citizens to earn a living and become taxpaying citizens to government, who in turn will have funds to provide them with the necessary services like health, education, better housing, among others.

By Cephas Larbi

[email protected]
Business Manager of Accra Main Branch (in jacket) in a pose with some customers

Universal Merchant Bank (UMB) has undertaken several exciting activities to celebrate its customers throughout the month of October.

In a message to the bank's customers, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of UMB, John Awuah, expressed his profound gratitude to customers of the bank for choosing to do business with UMB.

Mr. Awuah also said that UMB's focus is on consistently exceeding customers' expectations and enriching the lives and businesses of its customers.

We want to use the occasion of Global Customer Service Week to renew our commitment to our cherished customers and to assure them that they will continue to be the centre of everything we do, he added.

Commenting on the significance of the week, UMB's Head of Service Quality, Henrietta Duho, stated that at UMB, we always serve our customers with passion and excellence and they can continue to expect exceptional services from us.

Mrs. Duho also stated that customers have the opportunity to win airtime from UMB by taking a selfie with a teller or customer consultant at any UMB branch and then uploading the photo onto Facebook with the hashtag #CSWUMB.

She explained that every day, from October 3 to October 7, the first five customers to upload their pictures will receive airtime from UMB.

UMB's Director of Marketing and Communications, Yvonne Botchey, added that we value the partnership that we have with our customers and we look forward to using these celebrations to forge an even stronger bond with them.

A business desk report
Liliana Biglou (left) Ekow Spio-Garbrah (second left), Sydney Tetteh Hushie (right) launching the report

A new survey conducted by British Council Ghana has identified some key bottlenecks affecting the growth of Ghana's social enterprise ecosystem.

The bottlenecks, the report said, include difficulty in obtaining grant funding (71%), lack of access to support and advisory services (35%), understanding and awareness of social enterprise among banks and support organizations (32%) and shortage of technical skills (26%), among others.

The survey was conducted in Accra, Kumasi, Takoradi and Tamale between November 2015 and January 2016. A total of 125 organizations reportedly took part in the survey.

The report is a follow up on the initial social enterprise landscape in Ghana report that was launched in 2015.

It said even though there are positive outlooks for the social enterprise ecosystem in Ghana, the identified bottlenecks need to be addressed to drive further growth of the subsector.

Social enterprise in the country is growing, but could grow more, the 'Social Enterprise Activity in Ghana Research Report' said.

Almost all social enterprises expect staff number to increase next year, having also increased over the last year. 98% expect their venture to grow, and 77% expect turnover to increase next year, the report said.

Partnership and Business Development Consultant at the British Council Ghana, Sydney Tetteh Hushie, presenting the findings of the survey on Wednesday in Accra, said within the next two to three years, Ghana could earn about GH100 million annually from the operations of social enterprises.

According to the report, there are about 26,000 social enterprises in Ghana.

98 social enterprises in Ghana currently employ 998 young people directly and impacting 103,148 lives in Ghana, it said.

It said those 98 social enterprises were generating an amount of GH8 million annually in the economy, with the rest earning millions of cedis.

Education (36%) and agriculture (33%) are the most cited sectors which Ghanaian social enterprises operate, with education social enterprises being particularly dominant in Accra and agricultural social enterprises most common in the North, the report revealed.

Manufacturing (22%) and Services (21%) came second while housing represented the least cited sector where Ghanaian social enterprises operate.

It said almost 60% of social enterprises focus on creating employment opportunities as a main objective.

Director of British Council Ghana, Liliana Biglou, said the ecosystem is showing a lot of potential which needs to be supported.

She said the British Council was keen to leverage the UK experience with Ghana's flair for innovation and need for socially relevant solutions.

Minister of Trade and Industry, Ekow Spio-Garbrah, who launched the report, indicated the potential of social enterprises to create jobs, transfer technology and create new products and services.

The British Council is the UK's international organization for cultural relations and promotion of educational opportunities.

Through its Global Social Enterprise Programme, the Council promotes social enterprise activities in countries like India, Bangladesh, Kenya, Ethiopia, Ghana, Pakistan, among others.

By Melvin Tarlue
The U.S. Embassy seeks to clarify the status of U.S. military assistance to South Sudan. Following the outbreak of the conflict in December 2013, the U.S. government suspended its program of non-lethal assistance to the SPLA. This program, which operated from 2006-2013, was designed to help professionalize the SPLA and was developed by the United States at the request of the late Dr. John Garang de Mabior. The U.S. government has not resumed operation of this program and has not provided military assistance to the Government of the Republic of South Sudan (GORSS) or to the armed opposition since December 2013. The U.S. government, however, has provided ongoing support to the regional effort led by the African Union to counter the Lords Resistance Army, which includes a limited SPLA role. The U.S. government has also provided support to the security institutions established by the Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in South Sudan.

The U.S. Embassy also wishes to clarify the position of the U.S. government with regard to the troubling phenomenon of child soldiers. The United States has long been engaged in dialogue with the relevant government and security authorities in South Sudan, objecting to the recruitment and use of child soldiers and pressing for a cessation of these practices. This policy is unchanged. Regrettably, the United Nations and international NGOs have recently confirmed the ongoing culpability of both government and armed opposition forces in the recruitment and use of child soldiers.

During the last review cycle stipulated by U.S. law, President Barak Obama determined that it was in the national interest to grant a partial Child Status Protection Act (CSPA) waiver to South Sudan. This waiver was necessary to ensure the U.S. government can continue to provide financial assistance to support implementation of the peace agreement, especially to the body known as the Ceasefire and Transitional Security Monitoring Mechanism (CTSAMM), which is charged with monitoring ceasefire violations. Without this waiver, the United States would be unable to support ceasefire monitoring, a critical activity given ongoing hostilities. This waiver is similar to one issued one year ago, has no relation to the deliberations in New York over the possibility of imposing a UN Security Council arms embargo, and does not mark any change in U.S. policy towards South Sudan.

Moreover, this partial waiver does not indicate a U.S. government intention to expand assistance to South Sudan. U.S. law currently prohibits new U.S. government assistance to the Government of the Republic of South Sudan until the government takes effective steps to (A) end hostilities and pursue good faith negotiations for a political settlement of the current conflict; (B) provide access for humanitarian organizations; (C) end the recruitment and use of child soldiers; (D) protect freedoms of expression, association, and assembly; (E) reduce corruption related to the extraction and sale of oil and gas; and (F) establish democratic institutions, including accountable military and policy forces under civilian authority. The United States continues to urge South Sudan to take these steps which we believe would substantially contribute to stabilization and development.

An important exception to this prohibition is humanitarian assistance. The United States has provided nearly $1.9 billion in emergency humanitarian assistance to the people of South Sudan since December 2013. We remain committed to assisting the 2.7 million South Sudanese citizens who have been displaced in South Sudan or who have been forced to flee to neighboring countries as refugees. We reiterate our call on South Sudans leaders to prioritize the safety and security of the citizens they represent and to allow access to those in need.
The African Union Commission (AUC) began today the process of validating the Small Medium Enterprise (SME) Strategy and Master Plan 2017-2021 during a two-day workshop in Nairobi, Kenya.

The objective of the initiative is to develop an African Union strategic framework which will support the implementation of the Accelerated Industrial Development of Africa (AIDA) and Africas sustainable economic transformation under Agenda 2063. The workshop was attended by the Senior Industry Officers from the Regional Economic Communities (RECs), the Private Sector and Development Partners. AUC and UNECA officials co-chaired the working sessions.

The SME Strategy and Master Plan 2017-2021 aims, among others, at improving the continental business environment, increasing business formation, supporting formalization of growth-oriented informal enterprises and startups, increasing SME/Is, MSMEs and entrepreneurs participation in regional and global value chains and promoting innovative financing.

Mrs. Treasure Thembisile Maphanga, Director of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) of the African Union Commission, commended participants for their continuous commitment in supporting the Department of Trade and Industry to contribute to the sustainable structural transformation of the continent through Industrialization. She praised RECs and Experts from various institutions including the European Union, JICA, Traidlinks, UNCTAD, UNECA and Canadian Government who worked closely with the Commission during the last few months by providing comments and inputs in order to enrich the draft SME Strategy and Master Plan. The Director pointed out that Industrialization has recently become a high priority for more countries and more cooperating partners. She echoed the tragedy that migrants are going through while trying to join Europe and the high rate of youths unemployment. According to her, the continents industrialization appears to be the winning strategy that will accelerate job creation and poverty alleviation for the coming years in addition to support the continents sustainable structural transformation.

Mrs. Maphanga referred to some key statistics about the youth population in Africa to highlight the importance of taking advantage of its full potential. In 2015, 226 million youth aged 15-24 lived in Africa, accounting for 19 per cent of the global youth population. By 2030, it is projected that the number of youth in Africa will have increased by 42 per cent. Africas youth population is expected to continue to grow throughout the remainder of the 21st century, more than doubling from current levels by 2055, she emphasized. She urged the audience to deepen its reflections and support productive capacities while discussing the issue of youth and start-ups. To harness the youths demographic dividend, which is the 2017 theme of the African Union, the Director for Trade and Industry indicated that research has identified some policy actions related to SME Development as key levers. According to the findings, economic reforms to create more quality jobs with multiplier effects, enhance innovation and productivity of the informal sector and support graduation from small to medium sized enterprises, as well as transformative education to focus on innovation, skills development, science and technology and entrepreneurship are winning strategies, she underscored.

The SME Strategy and Master Plan identifies initiatives that should be undertaken in the next five years that are aimed at unleashing the potential of SME/Is and MSMEs - the drivers of African economies growth to create employment, reduce poverty and promote by ensuring that women, young people and underserved populations, including those in rural areas, benefit from economic growth.
The aggrieved customers of DKM Microfinance in Tamale, seeking an injunction over payments scheduled for next week Monday [October 17, 2016], have abandoned the move to hit the courts.

The customers, on Monday [October 10, 2016], initiated processes for an injunction to halt the payments of monies to validated creditors.

They argue that there is a deliberate attempt by the Official Liquidator that is the Registrar General's Department to eliminate their names on the published list of validated customers.

But speaking to Citi Business News on the decision, the spokesperson for the concerned customers, Mohammed Ibn Issakah explained the move was ditched to save other affected customers in the process.

We we actually withdrew the injunction case as an associationIt is not our aim to just stop payments of our colleagues, it is painful but because of what we suspect, we can't just allow them to go ahead, he stated.

Mohammed Ibn Issakah however stressed that the group will revert to other alternatives including a demonstration to express their displeasure.

For now, our aim is to have a demonstration. Because no one's name has appeared for the two branches; Tamale and another in WA; so we don't really know how the case is.

Payments for the first batch of validated customers of DKM Microfinance are set to begin at some designated branches of GCB Bank across the country.

Though the exercise is planned to be carried out in batches, the customers have since engaged in numerous agitations insisting that the Official Liquidator has not been transparent.



By: Pius Amihere Eduku/citibusinessnews.com/Ghana
13.10.2016 LISTEN

Fire fighters are battling a fire outbreak at the Cedi House in Accra Thursday.

Eye witness Godfred Bokpin told Joy News, somke can be seen coming out of the building as the fire broke out on the first floor of the government building.

Occupants of the building have moved out as the fire service personnel try to overcome the blaze.

Expect updates...

Story by Ghana|myjoyonline.com
A BYD Co. electric bus used by Hertz Corp. is parked at the company's North American headquarters in Los Angeles. (Photo : Getty Images)

Chinese electric vehicle maker BYD will start building an electric bus factory in Komaron, a town in northern Hungary, believed to be the first of its kind on the European continent, BYD and Hungarian officials announced on Monday, Oct. 10.



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A report by the Xinhua News Agency said that the project will cost about 20 million euros (about $22.4 million), with 925 million forints (about $3.4 million) to be shouldered by the Hungarian government.



The project was welcomed by Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Peter Szijjarto, who pointed out that the country has a long been into bus manufacturing, having built thousands for the East European market in the past.



Szijjarto said that the facility is expected to become operational in the first quarter of 2017. The factory will first build 200 buses a year, and, according to BYD, will eventually be able to produce 400 units a year.



The minister said that the project is expected to provide 300 new jobs to people in the area.



Meanwhile, China's ambassador to Hungary Duan Jielong said that BYD is committed to its goal of providing public transport with zero emissions as the company integrates R&D technology and green energy in vehicle manufacture.



Isbrand Ho, BYD Europe's managing director, said that the establishment of the facility has strengthened BYD's commitment to the European market. He said that Hungary was chosen for its strategic central location and its long tradition in bus manufacture and engineering excellence.



"The Hungarian plant will begin production in the first quarter of 2017. It will have its own R&D Centre and battery test facility," Ho told China Daily. He added that BYD is also exploring other European location to build assembly plants.



As one of China's largest businesses, BYD first specialized in rechargeable battery technology before it became a pioneer in high-efficiency automobiles and lead in electric-powered public transportation sector.



The project is expected to boost Hungary's competitiveness in the global market while complying with its environmental laws and policies, the report said.


The Rotary Club of Accra Ring Road Central, in partnership with Lexta Company, producers of Yazz products, has distributed 50 cartons of Yazz sanitary pads to pupils of the Kanda Cluster of Schools in Accra.

The pupils were also lectured on menstrual hygiene to enhance their knowledge and understanding of the subject which would impact positively on their lives.

Menstruation is basically the monthly flow of blood and cellular debris from the uterus of non-pregnant girls and women through the vagina. It often lasts between three to seven days and ceases at menopause.

Rotarian Rissi Assani-Alabi, Youth Service Director, Rotary Club of Accra Ring Road Central, said menstruation is one of the signs of puberty in a girl-child.

She said the lack of education on menstrual hygiene among girls of schoolgoing age often resulted in absenteeism and low academic performance.

Rotarian Alabi advised teenage girls to avoid using rags, toilet rolls, towels and other unhygienic materials to protect themselves during menstruation since that could result in vaginal infections.

Rotarian Gabriel Fienya, Service Project Director, Rotary Club of Accra Ring Road Central, said one of the club's areas of focus is maternity and child care, hence the menstrual hygiene educational programme at the Kanda Cluster of Schools.

He said the exercise is one of the two projects they have for the year, adding that the next project would be a sexual reproductive health talk for the students of Accra High and Accra Girls' Senior High School.

Seth Ntiamoah-Asare Jnr, Head of Sales and Marketing, Lexta Ghana Limited, reiterated the company's commitment in supporting the society.

He said the company had over the years supported health education on cervical cancer awareness among women, with the focus on students and pupils.

Paulina Duah, President, Rotary Club of Accra Ring Road Central, said the club continues to provide an avenue for young men and women to enhance the knowledge and skills that would assist their personal development.

GNA
13.10.2016 LISTEN

Objects we ardently pursue bring little happiness when gained; most of our pleasures come from unexpected sources.

Herbert Spencer

HERBERT SPENCER coined the phrase survival of the fittest which is defined as the continued existence of organisms which are best adapted to their environment, with the extinction of others. It is a concept in line with the Darwinian theory of evolution which espouses natural election, as found in Darwin's treatise: On the Origin of Species.

The phrase is used in the social context just as 'Social Darwinism' in trying to apply biological concepts of 'natural selection' and 'survival of the fittest' in human society. Reduced to the politics of Ghana today and the specific issues of 'manifesto launch' and qualification of presidential aspirants one can argue that it is only fittest manifesto and the fittest aspirants that will survive in today's Ghanaian politics. A famous expression In English goes like: When the going gets tough, the tough get going.

Last Sunday (09/1/16) saw the Manifesto Launch of the New Patriotic Party. The venue was the Trade Fair Site at La, Accra. The Manifesto is titled: Change: An Agenda for Jobs, Creating Prosperity and Equal Opportunity for All.

Former President, John Agyekum Kufuor, who chaired the function, started the ball rolling with fluent speech extolling the virtues in the team available to Nana Akufo Addo to turn the dwindling fortunes of the country. He stated: We are determined to come to power and transform this country as we once did when the people of Ghana gave us their mandate.

Speaker after speaker spoke of the palatable fare on the plate of the NPP. Boakye Agyarko caught the crowd with his powerful delivery of the contents of the Manifesto. Elizabeth Afoley Quaye, NPP Parliamentary candidate for Krowor outlined the party's agricultural policies which include the building of 10 landing sites along the coast and the effective distribution of pre  mix fuel to the fishing communities. Alan Kwadwo Kyerematen was strident on job creation: pursue aggressive industrialisation based on value addition, provide tax and related incentives for manufacturing businesses, invest in skills training and apprenticeship as well as provide resources for small business and start ups to emerge and flourish.

Maxwell Kofi Lugudor, NPP parliamentary candidate for Ketu South extolled his party's youth policy which includes the tapping of the expertise of the youth. Speaking on issues of women and children, Hajia Alima Mahama said the NPP would provide incentives for women who venture into agriculture, reduce the Kayayei phenomenon and fully implement the Domestic Violence Act, Disability Act and the Human Trafficking Act. What should gladden the hearts of women was the plan to appoint 30% of women to important positions. It was rather unfortunate that the hands that revived the body of NPP supporters at an NPP rally at Yendi, Dr Frimpong Boateng, had to be wheeled off the rostrum for ill  health.

Of all the speeches, the one that touched the heart of many NPP supporters was the one by Dr Mahammudu Bawumia about NPP abolishing the tax burden on kayayei (the head porters). It is not clear when this policy was introduced to tax kayayei these innocent victims of our own bad policies. But Bawumia had flayed the government over Moody's ratings. Compare Kufour's time: without oil, Ghana was rated B+ positive; Moody now gives Ghana, with oil, B3. He noted that allowances would flow for trainee nurses and trainee teachers but warned: The mismanagement of the economy, under this John Mahama  led government has resulted in an increase in taxes on virtually everything taxable. Taxes were imposed even on condoms and cutlasses.

Nana Akufo Addo disclosed that President John Mahama was not the right person to give him lessons on patriotism. Quoting 1Samuel 17:45  47, he noted that: David gave encouraging words to his followers to demystify the perceived might of Goliath. NPP is going to battle with an NDC which has unrestrained and unprincipled access to state resources. He advised President Mahama to go beyond the veneer that closets him, just a little behind his immediate circle of family and friends, he will see the agony in Ghanaians.

And it was 'Kalyppo' session, featuring all the NPP bigwigs sucking Kalyppo. All of a sudden, Kalyppo ceased being a drink for children ever since a naughty 'against man' posted the picture of Nana Addo sucking 'Kalyppo' to quench his thirst. That, a lot of people think, happened in 2008.

Lawyer Obiri Boahen reminds us of the 'boomerang effect' of this 'Kalyppo' clip that had gone viral. In 'Social Psychology', the 'boomerang effect' refers to the unintended consequences of an attempt to persuade resulting in the adoption of an opposing position instead. The persuasive position returns (like an Australian boomerang) to hit the thrower.

Awal Mohammed had a special mention for switching from NDC (as Deputy National Communication Officer of the Zongo Caucus) to NPP. Awal said that NPP's proposed Zongo Fund will go a long way to help his brothers and sisters in the Zongo communities an issue one Adisa Dagomba had for long been trumpeting.

And it was a big blow to some of the presidential aspirants when the Electoral Commissioner gave twelve of the contestants a knock out. Hassan Ayariga (APC); Dr Edward Nasigri Mahama (PNC) Nana Agyenim Boateng (UFP); Kofi Apaloo (IPP); Kwabena Adjei (RDP); Dr Papa Kwesi Nduom (PPP); Henry Lartey (GCPP) Richard Nixon Tetteh (UDSP); Nana Konadu Agyemang Rawlings (NDP); T.N.Ward  Brew (DPP); Alfred Kwame Asiedu Walker (independent). Akwasi Addai (Odike's) fate is awaiting the High Court decision over the challenge to his membership of the United Progressive Party.

In Matthew 13, the parable of the sower says a sower went out to sow his seeds: some fell along the path, and were picked up by birds; some fell on rocky places, and got quenched; some fell among thorns, and got smothered; others fell on good soil, and produced abundantly.

Some people have no pity for some of the rejected presidential candidates: Hassan Ayariga popularly or notoriously called 'Ayaricof' (for coughing incessantly whenever Nana Addo was talking during the last Presidential debate) claims NPP had plagiarised his 2016 Manifesto; Akua Donkor who had partnered a JHS leaver and farmer, not quite 40years old, and who cast a poor shadow of herself reciting the national pledge; there were others who were merely also  rans. They merely spiced up the exercise. But some people have pity for Nana Konadu Agyemang Rawlings, Dr Edward Nasigri Mahama and Dr Papa Kwesi Nduom who have amply demonstrated their seriousness. Why did the E.C. not alert the candidates where they had gone wrong? Why make the candidates suffer from the illegal machinations of the one person out of 432 persons who endorsed two contestants? Some people think: The law was made for man, and not man for the law. Don't we have to put a human face to every law? Can the E.C. remain blameless? Why had the E.C. not clipped the wings of some of those people who merely made up the magic number: 17? Does anyone have to advise those rejected to take the matter to court? Lawyers too must survive.

Meanwhile, following Spencer's theory, the NDC, the NPP, the CPP and an independent candidate, Jacob Osei Yeboah, remain the fittestbut let's hope it is only for now.

Africanus Owusu-Ansah

[email protected]
The participants (L-R) Greenstreet, Johnny Osei Kofi and Dr. Marfo during the dialogue.

Three political parties have explained in detail their plans on how they intend to tackle the issue of unemployment at a programme called 'Y Dialogue' organized by YFM, a private radio station.

The participating political parties included the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) represented by Johnny Osei Kofi, a deputy Chief of Staff, the Convention Peoples Party (CPP), represented by their flag bearer Ivor Kobina Greenstreet and the New Patriotic Party (NPP) which was represented by Dr. Emmanuel K. Marfo, the party's parliament candidate for the Oforikrom Constituency in Kumasi.

At the Great Hall of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), the programme brought together students, sympathizers of the participating parties as well as civil society organizations.

CPP's Ivor Kobina Greenstreet who set the tone stated that a CPP government would provide linkages to most private companies in the country and create job opportunities with these companies while government pays their salaries.

Between 2010- 2015, we earned 3 billion dollars from our oil resources but if we had implemented the production sharing formula, Ghana would have earned 9 billion dollars within that period. Parts of the proceeds from this  if we had implemented that system  could have been used to create employment for the youth as well as create the conditions that the youth will benefit from when they leave the university, Mr. Greenstreet said.

He added that a CPP government would ensure that what is taught in the classroom will be 'synchronized' with what is practiced on the job market in order to eliminate the unemployable graduates syndrome and claimed that both the NPP and NDC have failed to tackle the unemployment situation in Ghana because both political parties pursue the same philosophy and have the same ideas.

We are a wealthy nation with oil, gold, gas, cocoa, timber, diamond, bauxite, fertile lands and most of all strong human beings, and with all of these things, we are not supposed to be poor at all. The same way China took the world by storm, Ghana and Africa can take the world by tsunami, he said.

Although the NPP had not launched their manifesto as at the time of the dialogue, their representative Dr. Marfo blamed the current Mahama-led government for not being able to address the current unemployment situation which he said is a security issue.

He disclosed that the NPP government would create a 'favourable' environment for private businesses to thrive and be able to employ a chunk of the country's unemployed youth.

In all developed economies, people have been employed through the private sector since lot of jobs are created in this sector. The government of Ghana will not be able to employ all the thousands of students who are coming out of our universities, polytechnics and other tertiary institutions. The NPP will provide a microeconomic environment that is conducive for private businesses, he stated.

He said, when government creates the enabling environment that allows industry to have access to capital and position them to be competitive within the country and the global market, then businesses will flourish and it will be in the position to employ more people.

The NDC representative, Deputy Chief of Staff Johnny Osei Kofi stated the government will strengthen and expand the youth employment program to provide employment to the youth at all levels of education.

He also reminded the youth about government commitment to support innovative business ideas.

This year's Y Dialogue series is geared towards the elections in December with both on-air and off-air engagements as well as social media drive with the hashtag #voteonissues. The Vote on Issues Campaign is sponsored by STAR-Ghana and supported by Global Media Alliance, e.TV Ghana, We Rise Foundation and the Ghana Anti-Corruption Coalition.
13.10.2016 LISTEN

The Parliamentary race in the Adansi Asokwa constituency in the Ashanti Region is getting more interesting by the day as accusations and counter accusations are steadily becoming order of the day. The Incumbent New Patriotic Party (NPP) Member of Parliament for the constituency KobIna Tahir Hammond has accused the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC) Parliamentary Candidate Evans Amankwah of sponsoring Independent candidate Richard Oduro Anokye against him, K.T Hammond. But this allegation was rebutted by Evans Amankwah, describing K.T Hammond as a drowning man who is hanging unto a straw.

I never know the gentleman from Adam; I only met him when we all went to file our nominations. Why should I spend my money on someone who is contesting me, I better use that resources on my campaign, K.T Hammond and the NPP do not have message so all they can do is to level accusations against the NDC Evans Amankwah told Onua Fm morning show host Bright Kwesi Asempa.

The NDC parliamentary hopeful said defeat is staring at the former deputy minister of Energy in the erstwhile NPP administration and the only strategy K.T Hammond could adopt is to slander him and the NDC party. Saying The MP is aware Mr Ameyaw who is the NPP constituency chairman was the one who brought the said Richard Oduro Anokye, and sponsoring him to unseat the MP, so how could he go round accusing me

Evans Amankwah maintained that he will take the Adansi Asokwa seat from the NPP come December 7 with not less than 5000 votes, adding that if K.T Hammond wants to know those who are working against him, he should look within.

Meanwhile, when K.T Hammond was reached for comment, he said I will not speak on air but I can tell you it is the entire NDC who is working against me

However when Onua fm got through to the independent candidate Richard Oduro Anokye, he refuted the claims by K.T Hammond and added that it is unfortunate for the MP to allege that NDC is behind his successful bid and vowed to beat the incumbent K.T Hammond and become the next Adansi Asokwa representative in Ghanas Parliament.
Managing Director of Capital Bank Ghana, Reverend Fitzgerald Odonkor has stated that, the bank will in the next 4th quarter increase its Mobilization fund to assist the bank to expand and depeened it's outreach.

He said the increase of the fund will help people to do business no matter the slow down of the economy.Adding the investement within this election has slow down.

The economy has become slow because of the forthcoming election in the sense that foreign investors have reduce their rate of investment he stated.

Rev. Odonkor enumerated this at the opening ceremony of Capita Bank New branch at labone in the Greater Accra Region. According to him the new branch brings capital banks total branch network to 19.

He noted that capital Bank will soon expand its branch network to 22 by rolling out ultra_ultra_modern branches in East Legon , Achimota and Harper Road in kumasi. In addition they will also be relocating their current branch in pampas, kumasi to provide a more enhanced banking experience for it's clients.

we believe that branding is not just about creating a world class visual identity, it's about ensuring that the people delivering the service are equipped and empowered to deliver first class services, it is also about ensuring that processes, system and structures are fluid enough to exceed the customer s expectations and maximize the customers experiencehe Lamented.

Reverend Odonkor stress that, they have strengthened the executive leadership and also enhanced it's human capital to make the bank more adept at responding to changing customer needs and the dynamics of the banking industry.

He added that the bank have deployed that latest core banking application to maximize operational efficiency and streamlined the processes to make them highly responsive to unique customers needs.

Also are in the process of deploying over 38 sophisticated ATM that allow customers to do interbank and intra_intra_bank funds transfer from their Capital Bank account to any bank through the Ghana instant pay platform and also through their Internet banking platform.

Capital Bank believes that banking is about developing customized solutions with speed and precision to satisfy the unique needs of individuals and strategic market segmentHe quote.

The bank he said have partner with Africa Work Airlines to make it possible for customers to book and buy their Africa World Airline tickets from any Capita Bank branch.

Meanwhile Head of Retail Banking, Eunice Brocke said the ideal to locate a branch in labone was largely influenced by the need to situate a branch in serene atmosphere to enhance the client s banking experience.

She said the branch expansion strategy is not only focused on the establishment of world class branches, but also leveraging of technology to expand the frontiers of branches banking.

In addition the bank is therefore consistently exploring innovative ways of enhancing the customers banking experience which has led them to become the first Bank to make it possible for customers to deposit cash into their bank accounts through their mobile phones using the SpeedPay money vouchers.
No, its never right for Mahama to call aggrieved Ghanaians whiners.

In fact, insolence is the only appropriate and euphemistic language that I can use to describe an elected president who inexorably castigates the same people who voted him to power for airing their views over the harsh socio-economic standards of living he has willfully imposed on them.

Election is a social contract. It exists between a candidate and an electorate. The contestant solicits for the voters mandate, and, in return, the contestant promises to deliver a set of needs.

In 2012, for instance, President Mahama and his NDC Party entered into a mutual agreement with Ghanaians. They besought Ghanaians to give them the mandate to lead the nation. The good people of Ghana agreed to their supplications and voted President Mahama and his NDC Party into power.

Let me be clear: the voters gracefully honoured their part of the social contract by giving President Mahama and his NDC Party the needed mandate. It was then left with President Mahama and his government to honour their part of the social contract by implementing their Manifesto promises.

President Mahama and his NDC government promised they were going to get rid of the filthy conditions in the streets of Accra within 100 days. They failed to do so. Ghanaians complained and they lividly retorted: stop being a nation of whiners. Filth has been in existence since Adams era. It cannot be wiped out in just 100 days.

Moreover, President Mahama and his NDC Party pledged to end dumsor when voted into power. The dumsor actually got worse, in comparison with former President Kufuors era.

Ghanaians rightly moaned over the abhorrent situation. President Mahama then censured: you whiners again, cease your useless complaints; I am not managing the dumsor as done by my short-sighted predecessors, am actually going to fix it.

Meanwhile, President Mahama is yet to fix the dumsor. The dumsor has crippled hundreds of businesses. The dumsor has indeed contributed to Ghanas economic downslide.

President Mahama and his NDC government woefully failed to implement their much touted one-time NHIS premium. The good people of Ghana then rightly sought explanations. President Mahama and his NDC apparatchiks retorted impertinently: one-time NHIS premium is not done anywhere under this planet of ours. How bizarre?

President Mahama and his NDC government once again failed to fully implement their hastily thought-through free SHS policy. Ghanaians wondered why. President Mahama and his clamorous communicators then replied Ghanaians sarcastically: Is half a loaf not better than none?

Besides, the NDC Party gave assurances to the good people of Asante Akyem Agogo District that if voted into power in the 2012 general election; they were going to do everything in their power to circumscribe the menace of the Fulani herdsmen.

President Mahama and his government reneged on their promise. The good people of Agogo demanded answers. President Mahama and his NDC apparatchiks however cheekily responded: we are all the same in the eyes of God, so lets tolerate each other.

Furthermore, the NDC Party told Ghanaians back in 2008 that the NPP government under President Kufuor had sunk the economy into the mire, so Ghanaians should give the NDC Party the opportunity to put the economy back on track.

Meanwhile, the available evidence shows that the NDC government under President Mahama has actually managed to worsen the socio-economic standards of living.

Indeed, there is an admissible evidence of irreversible incompetence on the part of President Mahama and his NDC government. For example, according to Dr Bawumiah, in the last seven and half years alone under this NDC government, Ghanas total debt has ballooned from GH9.5 billion to a projected GH110 billion by the end of September 2016.

This means that 90% (i.e. GHC99.5 billion) of Ghanas total debt since independence has been accumulated under this NDC government from 2009-2015 i.e. the last seven and half years.

Disappointingly, however, when the good people of Ghana put forward their grievances over the never ending harsh economic conditions, President Mahama and his vociferous communicators would go berserk: arent we transforming lives by building roads, hospitals, schools, toilets, water facilities and many other social infrastructural projects?

Meanwhile, some of the projects arent up to the required standards, albeit they are often overpriced. The Minister for Local Governments, Collins Dauda would attest to such assertion. He has previously complained over the NDCs poorly constructed projects.

But when some ordinary people complained about some of the poorly constructed roads in Kumasi, President Mahama angrily responded: You ungrateful lots, you would never even be appreciative if I constructed your roads with gold.

Unfortunately, President Mahama and his laid-back apparatchiks are refusing to appreciate that exemplary governance is not all about putting up numerous infrastructural projects. Actually, superlative governance goes beyond the provision of social infrastructural and amenities. Praiseworthy governance also involves continuous improvement of socio-economic standards of living.

Nevertheless, the good people of Ghana are enduring economic hardships. For President Mahama has failed abysmally to improve upon Ghanas economic fortunes.

As a matter of fact, President Mahama and his NDC government have willfully collapsed the hitherto booming economy.

In fact, we expect our elected government to work hard to advance our fortunes, but not just propagating propaganda, it should seek to look after our national coffers, not squandering our scarce resources, it should take our criticism in good faith, but not victimising us needlessly, it should be able to focus on social infrastructural projects as well as the socio-economic standards of living, for we could advance meaningfully only if we work honestly and tirelessly.

K. Badu, UK.
A 20-member contingent of Patriotic Ambassadors for Peace (PAP) under the leadership of Katakyie Kwame Opoku Agyemang stormed Kpone-Katamanso Constituency in the Greater Accra Region on Thursday, October 6, 2016 for a 3-day outreach programme. This was a follow-up to PAP's donation of 100 posters of Nana Addo and the PC, Solomon Tetteh Appiah in July this year. The group was met on arrival by the Constituency Women's Organiser and the Assembly member of the Oyibi Electoral Area.

After a short introduction, the Women's Organiser assigned the Assembly member to lead Team PAP to the specific area where our political activities were to be concentrated. We were later joined by the PC who gave an oral briefing on the voting pattern at Oyibi in particular and the Constituency as a whole.

Team PAP divided itself two groups and developed a movement plan in the selected area in order to make the political exercise effective. With flyers and posters of Nana Addo and Paa Solo (as affectionally called), PAPers in their specially-designed T-shirts interacted with the people, involved themselves in most of their activities and preached the message of change, peace and hope to them. The whole of the Saturday was devoted mostly for the hoisting of Nana Addo and Paa Solo's banners and posters in the Oyibi township.

At the Church of Christ Temple at Oyibi, Team PAP was warmly welcomed by the Pastor and the Congregation when they realised that, our presence in the Church had nothing to do with partisan politics, but to seek for justice, peace and better leadership for this beloved country of ours. After some PAPers had joined the Church in taking communion, a special donation was made by Team PAP to the Church in aid of God's work. Although the NPP or Nana Addo's name was not mentioned when PAP's National Coordinator addressed the congregation, the Church nearly became empty when Team PAP sought permission to leave the premises for the NPP's manifesto launch. The demand for PAP's T-shirt, kalyppo, NPP panaphellinia, and the chorus of of change were enough to indicate how the people of Oyibi are poised for change.

It must be noted that, the last few months has witnessed series of outreach programmes by PAP in Ghana. These include Ahafo-Ano North Constituency in Ashanti, Ningo-Prampram in Greater Accra, Wa Central in the Upper West, Ho-West in Volta and Ingleshie-Amanfrom in Greater Accra Regions. The Team has again outlined series of outreaches till December, where items like computers, food, books and clothes would be donated to the Constituency Offices and constituents.

As usual, Team PAP would be doing a SWOT analysis on the outreach programme in Kpone-Katamanso for the PC and the Constituency Executives with the view to improving the level of campaign in the area. Admittedly, Oyibi is a stronghold of the incumbent NDC MP who doubles as the Greater Accra Regional Minister, Hon. Nii Laryea Afotey Agbo. There is a serious negative propaganda about the NPP in the area that needs to be debunked immediately, if the party is to make a meaningful impact in the December polls. Besides, over 20,000 voters have not been voting in the Kpone-Katamanso Constituency consistently since 2008, a clear evidence of a bloated register.

From the foregoing, it would be politically beneficial for the NPP leadership, especially Nana Akufo-Addo to pay a visit to Zenu or Oyibi to address the concerns raised by the potential voters in the areas of poverty, unemployment, water supply and land disputes. We are also urging the Ghanaian Youth to join PAP to canvass for votes for Nana Addo and NPP PCs to enable our beloved party dislodge the incompetent NDC from government in December.

God bless Ghana! God bless Nana Addo!! God bless PAP!!!

Katakyie Kwame Opoku Agyemang (National Coordinator - 0202471070)

Andy Oppong Amoako - Director of Operations - 0243662912

Doreen Dombo - Member
The chief of the Kpassa traditional area Ubor Konja Tansan VI has commended Dr Papa Kwesi Nduom for accomplishing what other people are only seeking office for presidents to do.

Welcoming the Progressive Peoples Party presidential candidate to his palace in Kpassa, Ubor Konja said the many achievements of Dr Nduom makes him the preferred choice for the office of president.

If left for me alone I will say Dr Nduom should be the president of Ghana. What he has done in private life shows he can do should (we) give him the opportunity to be president.

He has done a lot as an individual; he has already done what the many who seek office are only wishing to do. He has brought a bank to us; we never believed we could have a bank here. So we are grateful and Ghana is grateful to you Dr Nduom.

In response Dr Nduom thanked the chief and people of Kpassa and Ghana for their unflinching towards his quest to be president to work hard to improve the lot of Ghanaians.

I thank you (Ubor) and Ghanaians for your support. Now nowhere do I go without people noticing that the PPP is here.

I do not need car from Ghana; I dont need a house from Ghana neither do I need a shoe from government. I want to bless others with the blessings God has bestowed on me. I want to be president so that we will work hard and help alleviate the poverty and give Ghanaians a good life.

Dr Nduom was on his dont waste your vote on those who have failed you tour from the northern Volta through to the three northern regions.
Ghanaian farmers will soon benefit from the import of cheap fertilizer from the Dangote Group of companies in Nigeria, as the firm constructs the biggest fertilizer plant in the world located in Lagos State.

The two-line Dangote Fertilizer Complex, consisting of Amonia and Urea plants, will have a total production capacity of three million tons per annum to feed countries in the West African sub-region.

By this, the reduction in prices is expected to positively impact on crop production of cash crop and subsistence farmers.

Speaking to Citi Business News after a tour of the project site in Lekki, Lagos State, the General Manager of Dangote Fertilizer, Anurag Jaiswal stated that the $2 billion project when completed in December 2017, will have a substantial impact on crop output in West Africa.

General Manager of Dangote Fertilizer, Anurag Jaiswal

This project will change the level of production of food in West Africa and that includes Ghana. Currently most West African countries import fertilizer from the gulf at a high cost. This plant will produce the fertilizer at cheaper price for our farmers, he explained.

He pointed out that most African countries are unable to meet expected crop production due to lack of fertilizer inputs on farms.

The project site

Ghana's fertilizer subsidy programme

In 2015 for example the government of Ghana failed to meet its fertilizer subsidy targets by 50 percent, according to a SEND Ghana report.

The report, which was presented by John Nkaw, Programme Officer of SEND Ghana, disclosed that the government of Ghana projected to import 180,000mt of subsidized fertilizer; but as at December that year, the government was able to import only 90,000mt of fertilizer, representing half the target.

Ghana established the fertilizer subsidy programme in 2008, to help farmers increase their rate of fertilizer application as a means of increasing crop productivity as well as increasing the country's fertilizer application.

Currently, cocoa farmers are supplied with highly subsidized fertilizer as a means to increase output to enhance foreign earnings from the main cash crop of the country.

Some agriculturalists, have proposed that there is the need to increase fertilizer supply to cocoa farmers, particularly as the COCOBOD missed its target of cocoa production for the 2014/15 season.

Quality fertilizer for good output

According to Mr. Jaiswal, the General Manager of Dangote Fertilizer, the plant will produce high quality urea fertilizer that will meet all the specifications of the sub-region.

Outlining some major benefits of the plants, he maintained that the fertilizer will also enhance food security in ECOWAS as countries in the bloc trade amongst one another.

Apart from this project bringing enhanced food production of grains and vegetables, it will also improve food security. African countries will not have to spend all that money outside the continent and it will also enhance inter trade in Africa, he said.

Fertilizer imports below target

With the exception of 2014, government since beginning of the fertilizer programme has exclusively provided funding for implementation of the subsidy programme.

According to the SEND Ghana report, from 2008 to 2013 government subsidized 724,055mt of fertilizer at a cost of GH345,244,000. The biggest allocation subsidy of GH176,746,000 was provided in 2013.

The report further revealed that the quantity of subsidized fertilizer (except for 2012) rose steadily by 317 percent from 43,176mt in 2008 to 180,000mt in 2013.

While the quantity increased, the northern Ghana percentage of price subsidy reduced from 50 percent in 2008 to 21 percent in 2013 and 2015.

It also showed that the reduction of the subsidy resulted in increases of the subsidized fertilizer's price.

For instance, the price of Compound fertilizer was GH22 per 50kg bag in 2008, but increased to GH89 per 50kg bag by 2015, representing a 295 percent rise.

The report stated that governments inability to fully finance the fertilizer subsidy programme in 2014 contributed to the failure in meeting yield targets for maize and rice in nearly all the six districts covered in the three regions of the northern part of Ghana during the study.

As a result, many farmers were left to buy fertilizer at commercial rates in the market place.



By: Lawrence Segbefia/citibusinessnews.com/Ghana
13.10.2016 LISTEN

Sadly, the compliance level of the oil and gas exploration and production companies in payment of levies and taxes is very low and in fact, pitiable, contained in a letter Governor Henry Seriake Dickson of Bayelsa State personally wrote to President Muhammadu Buhari and Vice President Yemi Osinbajo (SAN), dated April 18, 2016.

There are indications that multinational companies in the country involve in illicit financial movements in corporate tax evasion and avoidance, with links to one heinous activity, especially, bribery.

They also milk their operating stations without contributing to the economies of the country by means of tax payment. They use trade or transfer mispricing, manipulation of tax treaties to defraud the country.

They rely on global network of dual taxation treaties or agreements. They believe that with the treaties, they can earn their income in the country other than their home country and shy away from or reduce the tax they ought to pay to their home countries governments.

Worried that many multinational companies do not have regard to the laws of the country and laws regulating tax in the 36 states of the country, Dickson therefore sought after the help of the Federal Government (FG) to persuade multinational oil companies to stop evading tax.

He added, Our further position is that the Federal Government and its agencies should not condone or support irresponsible behaviour by these companies whose conduct subvert and undermine the authority of the State and our economy especially in the areas we have legislative authority such as Development Control, taxes permitted by Federal Laws and other legislations within the residual powers of the State.

Trillions Of Naira Lost

Since August 2016, the FG has been inundated with a call that multinational companies must pay their tax. Checks revealed that Nigeria has lost money amounting to trillions of naira as a result of tax evasion by the multinational companies in the country.

Just in January 2016, Nigeria lost a monstrous US$3.3 billion to a strange tax holiday approved by the FG to three of the worlds principal multinational oil and gas companies operating in the country.

Findings by this writer showed that at the popular official rate authorised by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), that amount was the equal of N650.1 billion; while it was N957 billion at the corresponding market, with dollar exchanged for N290.00 or thereabout.

It was observable that this tax freedom was three times the bulk of Nigerias healthcare account (US$1.4 billion) for 2015; it was again above US$2.4 billion that was meant for education sector same year.

Double Taxation

The ActionAid, an international development agency analyzed the double taxation treaty like its in Nigeria-Mauritius, saying that companies doing business in Nigeria have the loophole to avoid tax by steering their investments through Mauritius as contrasting to investing unswervingly in Nigeria.

Pundits expressed dissatisfaction, saying that these were not good for Nigeria with a population of over 170 million. They added that by 2013, Nigeria was Africas largest economy, with a GDP of 521 billion USD and an annual growth rate of 5.4%, with debt in that year, amounting to 19% of the GDP.

But in all that, there were indices that poverty was at 33.1% with the tax-to-GDP ratio at 14% in the same year. There were also fingers pointing at oil companies that include Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited (SPDC); Nigerian Agip Oil Company Limited (NAOC); Chevron Nigeria Limited (CNL); Consolidated Oil (CL); Conoil Producing; Brass LNG and Aiteo Energy, as major culprits in tax evasion.

According to a reliable source, Just like the oil companies, in a rare disclosure in 2013, MTN Nigeria, a telecom company, admitted it made unauthorised payments of N37.6 Billion to MTN Dubai between 2010 and 2013.

The transfers were then on-paid to Mauritius, a shell company with zero number of staff and which physical presence in the capital Port Louis is nothing more than a post office letter box.

The disclosure amounted to a confession given that MTN made the dodgy transfers without seeking approval from the National Office for Technology Acquisition and Promotion (NOTAP), the body mandated to oversee such transfers.

Corporate Tax Evasion

There have been policies by the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) and the Joint Tax Board (JTB) in making sure that taxes are collected, but these policies died as soon as they were implemented.

Some reports have shown that Organised Private Sector (OPS) and the oil and gas industry have robbed Nigeria enough by evading tax. The source revealed that in 2006, it was a tug of war when the House of Representatives Committee on Petroleum Resources had to look into Chevron Group of Companies for tax evasion.

There was tax blunder allegedly committed by the company which was to the tune of $10.8 billion (an equivalent of N140 billion), after an audit report had indicted it.

Chevron over-bloated its cost of operation and evaded tax by $1.394 billion; claimed unmerited cash call of $2.112 billion," said the committee.

Many Nigerians and groups condemned the act by the company and tagged it as national embarrassment but blamed the country for being irresponsible with its tax system that these companies could maneuver.

Viewpoints By African Union

From Nigeria to Niger, from Somalia to Soweto, indications have emerged that oil multinationals and multinational companies swindle Africas tax billions yearly, said African Union (AU)

Against this backdrop, the Federal Ministry of Finance had to inaugurate a participatory method of instituting a Presumptive Tax Regime to successfully tax the casual sector, while Nigerias Joint Tax Board (JTB) had initiated the practice of balancing the assorted ( given at about 85) diverse taxes charged diagonally in the country to stay-away-from numerous taxation but criminalise the practice.

There was the introduction of a Tax Identification Number (TIN), which was meant to distribute a digit to a person as a requirement for involvement in some economic activities. There had been platform established for fair taxation: The Tax Justice & Governance (TJ&GP), which aligned with Oxfam, Actionaid, Christian Aid and others. This platform made appearances in May 2014, as a host of Pan African civil society when the African Union Finance Ministers meeting held in Abuja, likewise in the World Economic Forum on Africa held in Abuja .

In March, the same year, a sophisticated panel by AU (chaired by former South African President, Thabo Mbeki) on illicit financial flows, had found out that the money Africa had lost in tax was more than what it received in improvement aids from abroad or foreign direct investment joined together.

They (multinationals) are depriving some of the worlds poorest countries of money vitally needed to pay for schools, hospitals and other essential services, said the report.

ActionAid, conversely, noted that what the multinationals have been doing on the country, Africa should be renegotiating on tax, among the African governments, if necessary. The organisation advised that Africa might cancel some of her tax treaties in making sure that more money was accessible to help better the lives of the majority of her citizens.

About $138 billion is given away by governments in developing countries annually in corporate income tax exemptions. The amount could have been enough to put every primary school aged child in school, meet all the health-related Millennium Development Goals and leave enough money for the agriculture investment needed to end hunger. African governments should also review their tax incentives and cooperate at a regional level to develop a coordinated approach to tax competition, ActionAid said.

Governments Voice

The Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun on October 7, 2016, while briefing journalists in Washington D.C concerning the aftermath of a closed-door meeting of G-24 of an IMF/World Bank meeting, screamed that all multinational companies doing business in the country rarely paid tax and must pay their taxes.

We were able to make two contributions; one of it was the need for accelerated investment in infrastructure as the way out of our current situation. This is what we believe will create jobs and reduce poverty.

Another issue that we raised was tax evasion and the fact that we need the multilateral agencies to support us. Yes, trade is very important, but we need the multilaterals to ensure that all multinational companies that trade in Nigeria pay their fair share of taxes and that point was well taken, Adeosun said.

Senate President Bukola Saraki related on October 12 2016, at the 22nd version of the Nigerian Economic Summit in Abuja that Nigerias corporate taxation scheme should be improved on to get the country out of the economic downturn.

With 37 million small and medium scale enterprises providing about 95 per cent of our jobs, as we promote made-in-Nigeria, we must also use our legislative powers to amend the taxation laws. To get out of this recession, we must provide a business-friendly environment, he said.

On August 3 2016, the Federal Executive Council (FEC) in a meeting presided over by Major General Muhammadu Buhari had approved a Multi-lateral Competent Authority Agreement on Exchange of Country by Country Report.

What this meant was that the accomplishment of the report would help the government to fast track tax laws. This was made known by the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, in Abuja. Mohammed also informed that revenue companies have lost a lot of money.

Where multinational companies operate, its quite easy for them to move profit from one territory to another territory where the tax law is very favourable to them. And what has happened over the years is that the revenue companies have lost a lot of money.

As at the last count, over $1 trillion has been lost over a period of time. And the revenue companies have found that they were losing more money in terms of tax evasion and avoidance than what they were even receiving as grants from multinational agencies, Mohammed said.

Importance Of Tax

An analyst who would not want the name in print told this writer that the importance of tax was immeasurable. He lamented that he wouldnt know why multinational companies evade tax.

He added that apart from resources from agriculture before oil was found in 1956, Nigeria was thumping the ground with revenues from tax. He believed that Nigeria has lost a lot in the absence of tax since crude oil was discovered.

Apart from the money made from agriculture before the discovery of oil, this writer gathered that a personality like Chief Obafemi Awolowo (now late), as the first premier of the Western Region, built a lot of people-oriented infrastructures from money, also, gotten from tax.

According to the source, Awolowo built such structures that included the University of Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University); Airport Hotel, Ikeja, Lagos; Oodua Textile Mill, Ado Ekiti; Ifon Ceramics Industry, Okitipupa Oil Palm Plc, Oluwa Glass Company Plc, Ondo state, Cocoa House and the Western Nigeria Television Authority (Now NTA), Ibadan, and so many others.

This writers source said that no country survives when its citizens, but especially, mutlinational companies doing business in that country are evading tax. He, therefore, suggested that all companies have to pay tax according to their resources.

Odimegwu Onwumere is a Poet, Writer and Consultant based in Rivers State. Tel: +2348057778358. Email: [email protected]
There was a panic response among authorities of the Mawuli Senior High School in the Volta Region, following Citi News recent revelations about an alleged renting of government mattresses meant for students' use.

The school authorities were said to be renting out the mattresses to event organizers that need them to accommodate their guests.

Shortly after the publication Wednesday, the Headmaster of the school, Mr. K T Aggor, instructed the students to go for the mattresses.

He told them to quickly rush to the school store and sign for them, explaining that the mattresses were actually meant for them.

However, most of the students failed to turn up for the mattresses since they have already brought mattresses from their various homes.

According to them, the Headmaster instructed them to buy new mattresses when school resumed, since their old mattresses were infected with bedbugs.

Citi News checks through the students prospectus, saw mattresses captured as one of the items to be bought by the new entrants.

They expressed shock over the Headmaster's sudden U-turn on the use of the government provided mattresses, adding that it was needless at this time to go in for them.

But they asked us to go and bring leather mattresses, now that we brought them, they are telling us again to go for those ones. Then what's the essence of asking us to bring our own mattresses in the first place? a student wondered.

I don't think I need those mattresses; they are dirty and the school is even telling us if we misplace one, we shall pay thrice the cost. I already have a mattress, another student stated

Government in 2012, built a girls dormitory for the school to accommodate the increasing number of students in the school.

As part of the intervention, metal bunk beds and mattresses through funding from GET Fund, were provided to stock the dormitory and to cushion parents from the stress of purchasing such items.

Sadly, authorities at Mawuli Senior High School are rather cashing in from the bales of mattresses provided, and have also left the metal bunk at the mercy of the weather.



By: King Nobert Akpablie/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Over twenty parliamentary candidates in the Ashanti region have been disqualified from contesting the December 7, polls by the Electoral Commission.

This is because their filing forms failed to meet the standards required by the commission, State-owned Graphic has reported. It is unclear the constituencies involved.

The action comes on the back of the disqualification of 12 presidential aspirants by the election management body for various anomalies detected on their filing forms.

The EC, according to sources, has empowered its regional offices to vet the various forms and recommend the necessary actions.

The disqualified Presidential candidates include the flagbearer of the All Peoples Congress (APC), Hassan Ayariga; Dr Edward Mahama of the Peoples National Convention (PNC); Dr Agyenim Boateng of the United Front Party (UFP); Kofi Akpaloo of the Independent Peoples Party (IPP); Kwabena Adjei of the Reformed Patriotic Democrats (RPD); and Dr Papa Kwesi Nduom of the Progressive Peoples Party (PPP).

Others are Henry Herbert Lartey of the Great Consolidated Popular Party (GCPP); Mr Richard Nixon Tetteh (United Development Systems Party); Thomas Ward-Brew of the Democratic People's Party (DPP); Alfred Kwame Asiedu Walker, an independent candidate, and Akua Donkor of the Ghana Freedom Party (GFP). Akwasi Addae Odike of the United Progressive Partys nomination is on hold pending a court case.

-starrfmonline
In less than a months time the Americans will be heading to the polls to elect a new President. And unless Republican contender, Donald Trump, can pull a last minute trick out of his hat or resort to more dirty tricks, the front runner, Hilary Clinton, is most definitely going to be the next President of the United States of America.

Not only will she become the first female leader of the Worlds most powerful nation shell be joining two other female leaders  Theresa May of GB and Angela Merkel of Germany - to form a new axis of power. This will mean that a third of the G8 nation leaders will be women. Already Christine Lagarde heads up the International Monetary Fund and for a while Diezani Alison-Madueke was the President of the all-powerful OPEC organisation.

The joke currently circulating around political circles is that the women are coming in to clear up the mess made by the men. Perhaps.

We are beginning to see a new breed of female leaders ready to take on the world in a move never before seen since the Thatcher era. Traditionally women are better leaders (- sorry guys but its true!) They are strong, decisive and pull no punches. They are also not as scandal-prone as men, having little or no skeletons in their cupboards. The Margaret Thatcher era of 1979  1990 turned a bankrupt and floundering Great Britain into one of the most prosperous and powerful nations that we know today. During her regime she battled the unions, introduced capitalism across the board, whilst at the same time showing Britains military might in facing off the Argentines over the Falkland and taking the country into the First Gulf War. Under her rule Britain was a key player on the international scene earning her the nickname of the no-nonsense Iron Lady.

With women at the top of the three most powerful nations in the world we can expect a lot of change in the world in the coming years. Even though President Hilary Clinton will initially have her hands full with domestic issues we can expect changes in areas such as world trade, migration and terrorism. All three are not novices when it comes to governing a nation and performing on the international scene: Angela Merkel has been the Chancellor of Germany since 2005, Theresa May is a former Home Secretary and Hilary Clinton was Secretary of State in President Obama first cabinet. Collectively, with their joint experience, they can steer the world on to another course.

As any married man knows fully well you cant argue with a woman; they are better at putting an argument across( and getting their own way!), they are better negotiators, more thick skinned and are a lot better at dealing with(or ignoring!) criticism levelled at them. Without a doubt there will be feminists out there wholl think its time to dust off their placards and take to the streets  theyll be wrong! These new leaders are not bra-burning feminists but competent leaders who have proven themselves in a predominantly male-dominated chauvinistic environment. They don't have to prove themselves any further to make a point or statement.

Women leaders, unlike their male counterparts, tend to think of the bigger picture and as a result their policies will be more diversified. They also well known for their ability to negotiate peace deals  something the world desperately needs right now with all the trouble hotspots.

Women leaders are not scared to fight when necessary; Margaret Thatcher fought the Argentines over the Falklands and when PM Theresa May was asked whether she was prepared to authorize a nuclear strike, if need be, that could potentially kill over a 100,000 men, women and children with a nuclear bomb she replied with a curt yes. Women leaders are prepared to fight just wars if need be- when there is no other option. They wont rush off and fight an unjust war like Blair and Bush did. Having said that one of the areas they are bound to focus on will be the turbulent Middle East  and they wont be afraid to use military force if necessary. Dealing with Russia, China, Iran and North Korea will also be high on the cards.

There are currently twenty-two female leaders in the world today running their countries in the capacity of President, Prime Minister or Monarch ( the Queen of England). With the exception of ex-President Dilna Rousseff of Brazil who was recently impeached all the other leaders are running their countries comfortably.

Come next year it would be very easy to see Clinton (if she wins) sitting down with Merkel and May discussing ways on to how to solve the worlds growing problems.
The Electoral Commission has told Citi News it disqualified 24 parliamentary nominees in the Ashanti Region because they failed to pay the GHc10,000 filing fee.

The Commission on Thursday announced that only 216 of the total of 240 aspirants have been cleared to contest in the upcoming parliamentary elections.

The EC pegged nomination forms for parliamentary aspirants at GHc10,000 with presidential aspirants expected to pay GHc50,000.

Some political parties expressed concern that the fees were high however the EC did not review the amount.

Mr Serebour Quarcoo, the Ashanti Regional Director of the EC in an interview on the Citi Prime News said candidates who filed on the ticket of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), New Patriotic Party (NPP), Convention People's Party (CPP) and the Progressive People's Party (PPP) were not part of those disqualified in the region.

Those who filed for NDC, NPP, CPP and PPP, they all concluded the process so those disqualified are from the other parties, he said.

He said that none of the aspirants were disqualified on the grounds of improper completion of their nomination forms.

He said, filing for the parliamentary is very simple you can get all the twenty people [to endorse you] from your house unlike the Presidential where you need two from each district of the country that is quite cumbersome.

He explained that the Regional office is currently awaiting balloting from the EC Head office in Accra to know the position of each candidate on the ballot.

'Electoral materials ready'

Mr Serebour Quarcoo said his office has taken delivery of most of the electoral materials ahead of the December polls. He added that it was however waiting to receive the ballot papers from the EC head office in Accra.



By: Jonas Nyabor/citifmonline.com/Ghana
The Speaker of Parliament, Edward Doe Adjaho, has complained about what he calls the poor attendance of Members of Parliament, few days after members resumed from recess.

According to the speaker, MPs do not attend sittings early enough, a situation which he says is affecting the work of the House.

He added that, should the negative trend continue, the House may be unable to complete its work before they break for the December 7 polls.

He made the observation at Parliament on Thursday.

Mr. Adjaho complained that the attendance in the morning of yesterday [Wednesday], and this morning [Thursday], is not the best. Some of us we come very early waiting to get people into the chamber so from next week, we have to start at exactly at 10:00am and let's see what we can do; then we can break for the elections.

Deputy Majority Leader, Alfred Agbesi, who sided with the Speaker's complaints promised to ensure that members arrive early to participate in the proceedings of the House.

On his part, the Minority Leader, Osei Kyei Mensa Bonsu, called for more diligence from MPs.

Even today, if one wants to be very technical, one would realize that, we don't even have the number to begin the transaction of businesstoday at the commencement of public business, we don't even have as many as 50 members here. So if we may have to sit for two or three weeks, let us show greater diligence than we have done, and to carry the House with us, otherwise if anybody decides to take us on, I think the House may be brought to shame. So let's see what we can do; but let's have the sufficient numbers to help us transact business, he added.

Huge bills to be passed

Members of Parliament resumed sitting on Tuesday, October 11, after two months of recess.

A statement signed by Kate Addo, Deputy Director, Public Affairs of Parliament, said there are Nine (9) instruments to be presented at this meeting, three (3) instruments at the Committee Level and thirty two (32) Papers to be presented.

Ten (10) Motions have been tabled for Debate and one hundred (100) other referrals of Bills at the Committee. There will be notice of questions to be answered by various sector ministers, the statement added.

December polls looming

Members of Parliament seeking another 4-year term in Parliament, only have barely two months to campaign ahead of the December 7 polls.

Some of them have either launched their campaign or in the process of launching same.

Some political observers believe that, the business of Parliament is likely to be affected because most of the MPs would prefer spending time with their constituents in times like these, than to be in the House.



By: Godwin A. Allotey & Franklin Badu Jnr/citifmonline.com/Ghana

Follow @AlloteyGodwin
The National Democratic Congress (NDC), has reiterated its resolve to capture over 25 seats in the Greater Accra Region alone.

Out of the 34 seats in the region, the NDC and the opposition New Patriotic Party control 20 and 14 respectively; but the NDC is hoping to increase its number to 25.

Electoral history shows that, the party that wins more seats in the region usually wins the presidential election.

Addressing party supporters at the launch of the Dadekotopon campaign, the party's Greater Accra Campaign Chairman, Sylvester Mensah, was optimistic the NDC will hit the target come December.

If Ghana is sick and we are going to get medication for it ; and you know of a medicine that is able to provide markets, construct school buildings and roads and we hear of another medicine which we know nothing about, which of these will you buy for the country?

I am telling you that we are winning in Ada, Prampram, Sege, Tema, Ashaiman, Krowor, Ledzokuku, Dadekotopon, Osu, Ga West, Odododiodioo, Ablekuma, Klottey Korle and everywhere.

NDC's strategy for election 2016

The NDC has launched its national and regional campaign teams aimed at ensuring victory for the party in the December 7 general elections.

The party has also mapped out some strategies nationwide aimed at giving its presidential candidate, President John Dramani Mahama a second term; including agenda 50/50 in the Eastern Region, one million votes in Ashanti Region, one million votes in the Volta Region among others.

Follow the hashtag #GhElections on Social Media for election related stories



By: Marian Ansah/citifmonline.com/Ghana

Follow @EfeAnsah
The Ghana Armed Forces (GAF), has cautioned its personnel against posting pictures of themselves in uniform on social media platforms.

According to the military, such actions are against the militarys code of conduct, and have the potential to create unnecessary and unsolicited attention on the military.

This follows the investigation of a soldier who partook in the social media craze, the Kalypo Challenge, in support of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) flagbearer, Nana Akufo-Addo.

The Director of Public Affairs of the Ghana Armed Forces, Colonel Aggrey-Quarshie, revealed to Citi News that investigations into the soldiers conduct had concluded and that, the young man is going about his normal duties so we have no case to deal with him on that issue.

Colonel Aggrey-Quarshie however stressed that, military regulations do not allow for self-publicity so you don't do anything that will draw attention to yourself as an individual soldier. You need authorization before you can do that he said.

Colonel Aggrey-Quarshie further urged military personnel to use this as a lesson so that we become very mindful of what we do.

He highlighted the dangers of military personnel posting pictures in full official apparel saying, as we speak, there are issues the Military Police is investigating involving identity theft. People have put their pictures on Facebook and unscrupulous Ghanaians have used those pictures to dupe people thousands of cedis.

About the Kalyppo challenge

A picture of Nana Akufo-Addo emerged on social media of him sipping Kalyppo fruit juice, ostensibly to mock his patronage of the fruit juice perceived to be for children.

But NPP supporters spun the narrative which encouraged party faithful and sympathizers to take pictures of themselves on social media in solidarity with their flagbearer.

The craze was in full effect at the NPP manifesto launch with former president Kufuor pictured enjoying some Kalyppo.



By: Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmonline.com/Ghana
The Electoral Commission has approved nominations of parliamentary candidates of the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) for this year's general elections.

The commission's Ashanti Regional Director, Serebour Quarcoo, told Citi News that his outfit also accepted the nomination of candidates of the Convention People's Party (CPP) and the Progressive People's Party (PPP).

The Commission had disqualified 24 nominees in the region that has 47 constituencies, claiming it took the decision because the nominees could not pay the GHc10,000 filing fee it pegged for contestants in the race.

Those who filed for NDC, NPP, CPP and PPP all concluded the process so those disqualified are from the other parties, he said.

Meanwhile, the EC is yet to announce parliamentary nominees it disqualified nationwide, and those it approved for the December 7 polls.

13 presidential nominees disqualified

This comes after the Commission on Monday disqualified 13 presidential aspirants from the December polls.

The EC explained that it rejected the nominations of the 14 aspirants because they had issues with their nomination forms.

Meanwhile, some of the nominees disqualified from the race have threatened legal suit against the EC.



By: Godwin A. Allotey/citifmonline.com/Ghana

Follow @AlloteyGodwin
Great Consolidated Popular Party (GCPP) presidential candidate Dr. Henry Lartey has expressed regret for opposing the main opposition NPP when it took on the Electoral Commission (EC) on various issues including the voters' register.

"I now understand why Peter Mac Manu [NPP Campaign manager]... was giving the Electoral Commission so much problems," he told a press conference Thursday.

The GCPP Presidential candidate expressed regret following his disqualification from the 2016 presidential election last Monday. He was one of 12 presidential candidates disqualified for failing to fill his presidential nomination forms correctly.

Announcing his disqualification, chairperson of the Electoral Commission, Charlotte Osei accused Dr. Lartey of forging signatures on his presidential nomination forms. She referred him to the police for possible criminal prosecution.

She also explained that personal details of GCPP Vice Presidential candidate were not provided while Dr Lartey failed to obtain the required number of persons to endorse his bid.

At the GCPP's headquarters at Kaneshie in Accra Thursday, Dr. Henry Herbert Lartey described his disqualification as wrongful in law.

The disappointed but defiant presidential candidate accused the EC of trying to embarrass his party over a "small problem". The GCPP Presidential candidate explained that he committed his mistakes in his anxiety to fill the over 100-page document.

"All we have to do is to change that. How long would it take to change that...not even one minute," he said.

He said it was his party's expectation that if the EC had identified any wrong details, the party would be called upon to effect the needed corrections. But "they did not call us," he expressed disappointment.

Expressing feelings of betrayal, Dr. Henry Lartey said, "I supported the EC all the time when the NPP was bashing them. Now look at what they have done".

"I am so saddened", he said and warned the EC to be very careful not to jeopardise the 2016 general elections.

The NPP has remained a fierce critic of the Electoral Commission accusing it of taking unilateral and intransigent positions on positions such as the party's demand for a new voters' register.

Photo: Disqualified Henry Lartey picks Maurice Ampaw for Supreme Court showdown

GCPP presidential candidate also handed chairperson of the Electoral Commission Charlotte Osei 24 hours to rescind the decision to disqualify him or face him in court.

A growing number of dissatisfied candidates have indicated they will be heading to court over the decision. They include high-profile candidates, Dr. Paa Kwesi Nduom of the Progressive Peoples' Party (PPP) and Nana Konadu Agyemang Rawlings of the National Democratic Party (NDP) who is a former First Lady.

In a scrabble for a crack legal counsel to challenge the 'shocking' decision, Dr Henry Lartey has settled for Maurice Ampaw.

"I have a very capable lawyer" he described Maurice Ampaw and vowed to embarrass the EC in court for the showdown.

Listen to audio



Story by Ghana|myjoyonline.com
Members of Parliament (MPs) have abandoned the business of the chamber since the House resumed sitting on Monday.

There is the indication that the legislators whose presence is needed to clear a backlog of bills in the House are each campaigning for re-election with less than 54 days to the presidential and parliamentary elections.

Speaker of Parliament, Edward Doe Adjaho, has vented his frustration over the development, describing it as unfortunate.

The former MP for Ave-Avenor in the Volta Region fears the unimpressive attendance would hamper the ability of the House to take decisions on critical matters.

He has suggested the time for sitting of the House be rescheduled to 10 a.m. in the morning in order to boost attendance.

Deputy Majority leader, Alfred Agbesi has promised he would speak to his colleagues to attend meetings so that the bills before the House would be worked on.

So Mr Speaker I agree with you, he said.

Minority leader, Osei Kyei Mensah Bonsu said he shared in the position of the Speaker to reschedule sitting for more people to attend the sittings.

He revealed he was disappointed when at a Business Committee of the House; they had to wait for several hours before getting the needed MPs to commence discussions.

He entreated MPs present that if we have to sit for two or three weeks let us show greater diligence else if anyone decides to take usso lets see what we can do.

Story by Ghana | Myjoyonline.com | AKABP
The 2016 Progressive Peoples Partys Presidential candidate says the Electoral Commission (EC) should pardon errors on his presidential nomination form because it also makes mistakes.

Dr Paa Kwesi Nduom who is set to challenge his disqualification in court pointed out errors committed by the EC on a receipt given to him for payment of GH1.7 million as filing fees for the partys 170 parliamentary candidates.

The receipt read GH1,700 instead.



Should we report to the police? Should we take them to court, he said suggesting that the ECs is getting petty with what he believes is an extreme focus on minor errors that can easily be corrected.

The PPP candidate was disqualified after the EC Chairperson, Charlotte Osei said due diligence was not paid in the filling of the nomination form of the entrepreneur.

She said one Richard Aseda with the voter's ID number 7812003957 endorsed Dr Nduom's nomination form as a voter of both the Central and Volta Region, an act that contradicts the laws governing elections in Ghana.

But Paa Kwesi Nduom says the law CI 94 which governs elections requires that EC should draw my attention to it and give me the opportunity to correct it.

Like the EC made a mistake on his receipt, the PPP could also make mistakes.

Those things happen dont they, he said on Joy FMs Super Morning Show Thursday.

He explained that the presidential nomination forms are more than a 100-page document, making it likely for errors to be committed.

He said the PPP could also magnify the administrative error on the receipt and conjecture that someone wants to steal the money his party paid to government.

Before you know it, government gets GH1,700 and then someone pockets the rest, he said.

He argued that the Charlotte Osei-led Electoral Commission cannot follow its own standard of administrative perfection which formed the basis to qualify him for the elections.

He vowed to challenge the decision as far as possible because he is convinced his rights have been violated.

We will continue to fight, Dr Nduom revealed his partys determination.

Charlotte Osei treating NDC, NPP with kit gloves but PPP with hammer

The disqualified presidential candidate has also made a case that the Electoral Commissions decision to disqualify him on the basis of an administrative error was selective.

Dr. Paa Kwesi Nduom says the Electoral Commission appears to be unable to punish the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and New Patriotic Party (NPP) when they fail to comply with laws and regulations, but the Commission appears quick to punish the PPP he said.

He emphasised that Charlotte Osei, appears to be treating the main political parties with kit gloves but comes across as harsh when dealing with other minor parties.

Giving examples, Dr Nduom noted that he complied with the requirement to declare his assets but the NPP expressly stated it wont and it did not. The governing NDC also did not comply, he observed.

Again the PPP complied with the ECs directive to file audited accounts in accordance with Act 574 of the Political Parties Act. The EC threaten the withdraw the license of parties unable to comply with the deadline by May 31, 2016.

The NPP and the NDC have not and yet the EC has granted them special dispensation to work towards compliance at a future date.

Is the NPP bigger than Ghana? Is the NDC bigger than Ghana?2 he pummelled the ECs decisions, he quizzed.

According to him, seven other parties complied with the directive to file audited accounts and yet six of them were also disqualified in the ECs shocking sweep of disqualification that affected 12 political parties.

Is there a case of selective justice, the business mogul cried foul.

He said presidential candidates like the Convention People Partys (CPP) Ivor Greenstreet could not submit their bankers draft (GH50,000 filing fees) on a big deadline day and yet his nomination was approved.

Akwasi Addai too was given four days to deal with a court case or face qualification he stressed.

If others were given the opportunity why not the PPP and Dr. Paa Kwesi Nduom? he said.

-Myjoyonline
The Electoral Commission has told Citi News that it disqualified 24 parliamentary nominees in the Ashanti Region because they failed to pay the GHc10,000 filing fee.

The Commission on Thursday announced that, only 216 of the total of 240 aspirants have been cleared to contest in the upcoming parliamentary elections.

The EC pegged nomination forms for parliamentary aspirants at GHc10,000, whiles presidential aspirants paid GHc50,000.

Some political parties expressed concern that the fees were high, however the EC did not review the amount.

Mr. Serebour Quarcoo, the Ashanti Regional Director of the EC in an interview on the Citi Prime Newssaid candidates who filed on the ticket of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), New Patriotic Party (NPP), Convention People's Party (CPP) and the Progressive People's Party (PPP) were not part of those disqualified in the region.

Those who filed for NDC, NPP, CPP and PPP, they all concluded the process so those disqualified are from the other parties, he said.

He said that none of the aspirants was disqualified on the grounds of improper completion of their nomination forms.

He said, filing for the parliamentary is very simple; you can get all the twenty people [to endorse you] from your house unlike the Presidential where you need two from each district of the country that is quite cumbersome.

He explained that, the Regional office is currently awaiting balloting from the EC Head office in Accra to know the position of each candidate on the ballot.

'Electoral materials ready'

Mr. Serebour Quarcoo said his office has taken delivery of most of the electoral materials ahead of the December polls.

He added that it was however waiting to receive the ballot papers from the EC head office in Accra.

Citifmonline
13.10.2016 LISTEN

Zaeem Abdul Wadud Harun, President of Tijjaniya Muslims of Ghana, has called for efforts to maintain and consolidate stability in Africa, as the world is challenged by the culture of terrorism.

"Meaningful stability in Africa would lay the foundation for good governance and put the continent on a strategic position to compete with others in global governance and development", contends the Leader of Tijjaniya Sufi Order in Ghana.

Shaikh Abdul Wadud Harun makes this call in an interview in Chota, Niger, where he and his entourage are currently for a Maulud initiated by the late Grand Shaikh Abubakar of the former French Colony.

Justifying his call, Zaeem Abdul Wadud refers to modern trends in the dynamics of international politics and governance. He explains that in the face of globalization, continents and sub-continents can only survive on the strength of stability.

"Indeed, as Europe, America, and Asia make strides in education, science, and technology, Africa cannot afford to spend precious energy and time on conflict management. This implies that we must be proactive to peace and stability rather than reactive to violence and instability", he emphasizes.

In the view of the eminent Shaikh-cum-Imam, stability on the African continent is a responsibility of all Africans: the rulers and the masses.

He appeals to African leaders to ensure justice and unity on the continent. These values, he says, are fundamental to stability and development in Africa.

The National Leader of Tijjaniya Muslims in Ghana reminds African Union (AU) and Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) of the need to actualize their agenda of free movement of persons, goods, and services on the continent.

This, he contends, will accelerate the integration efforts of the continental and regional bodies.

"In dealing with one another, we African citizens too must dismantle the structures of racism, tribalism, and nepotism and raise high the flags of unity, love, and solidarity. That is the best way we can develop the continent as one people of a common destiny", he concludes.
On the evening news of yesterday, Wednesday 12th October 2016, I learnt from Peace FM radio that a soldier has been arrested and temporarily incarcerated by his Commanding Officer (Colonel..) for posting a close-up selfie of himself sipping a kalypo on the social media.

Before proceeding any further, let us ask ourselves what a selfie is. A SELFIE is defined as a photograph that you take of yourself, usually with a mobile phone. Selfies are often published using social media

What is kalypo, as those of us not familiar with, and had never seen any may want to know? Kalypo is simply an orange-based soft drink in paper enclosure. It is locally made in Ghana.

As many Ghanaians, sorry to say, out of inferiority complexes and, or show of ostentation, do not want to patronise made-in-Ghana goods, the NDC faithful had desired or sought to tease or demean Nana Akufo Addo when a photograph of him was seen or found on the social network sipping kalypo.

Nana was said to feel thirsty when on a campaign trail so he reached out for kalypo, being humble, caring, and a believer in prosperous Ghana for all as he has always been. He did not see it inferior for his status because it is Ghana-made.

However, the NDC decided to mock him for being broke hence drinking a low standard Ghana-made soft drink. Unfortunately for the NDC, it backfired on them. The drink has rather become so popular with many people rushing to drink some because the NPP flagbearer, Nana Addo Dankwah Akufo Addo, even drinks it. What a perfect instance of a misfortune turning into a blessing.

Back to the madness of the highly politicized and partisan Ghana army, any open expression of support for kalypo, by whomever, indicates that they support Nana Akufo Addo in his campaign to become the President of Ghana come 7 December 2016 hence punishing their own kind for posting a selfie of himself drinking kalypo. Does this mean Ghana army supports only President Mahama and prayerfully want him to secure a re-election handed down to him on a silver platter? If no, why are they maltreating their own kind for drinking kalypo?

Let me ask a few questions to set the record straight or to make my case clearer to public readers.

1. Is it a crime to post a selfie of oneself on the social media when in their work uniform

2. Is it a crime by the statutes of Ghana for a soldier to take a picture of themselves drinking soft drinks but not alcohol to post on the social media?

3. Is it criminal in Ghana for a soldier to take a picture of themselves in their military uniform to be published in the media for harmless reasons e.g. drinking kalypo when not intentionally entered into terms of contract with the manufacturer to advertise the product for money but for fun?

4. When did it become official that drinking kalypo to boost local production and consumption of made-in-Ghana goods means one supports the aspirations of Nana Akufo Addo to become the President of Ghana?

5. Would arresting people for drinking kalypo not amount to the arresters expression of support for President Mahama if I were to give close analytical interpretation to the arrest of the said soldier?

Anyway, I find the behaviour of the Commanding Officer (Colonel) whose name was mentioned in the news but has just slipped out of mind, quite bizarre. He seemed to be saying people may find the arrested soldier offensive should he be posted to a polling station on 7 December 2016 since the NDC supporters will see him as a supporter of NPP but not neutral hence they will foment election tension simply upon seeing him.

The less I talk about the offered reason for incarcerating the soldier much the better, as I find it absolutely preposterous. So does it mean that anyone who reads Rockson Adofos publications is a supporter of NPP and Nana Akufo Addo even if what he has written has nothing to do with politics? This is exactly the impression the Commanding Army Officer is putting across.

Kalypo, kalypo, and kalypo all the way. Let us create jobs for the youth by patronising made-in Ghana goods!

If drinking kalypo is to garner more votes for Nana Akufo Addo, then I shall encourage all Ghanaians to drink more kalypo.

Rockson Adofo
The Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly (KMA) has finally elected Nana Adu Asare Mensah as the next Presiding Member (PM) ending several months of stalemate.

Being the only candidate in the election, he polled 100 YES votes out of the gathered 123 Assembly Members, solidifying his candidature. At least 22 members voted NO with one vote being rejected.

The election of Mr Asare Mensah as the PM comes after six attempts to elect the second most power person after the KMA Chief Executive Officer (CEO) resulted in confusion, infighting and disorder.

The last candidates namely Abraham Boadi and Michael Aduesi Bonsu were called upon to step down for another candidate to be elected since they were not able to amass the requisite votes to stand elected.

After series of meetings with the Asantehene, the two main candidates agreed to step down after taking an oath before the Ashanti King to support a compromised candidate in the person of Mr Asare Mensah who doubles as the Amakomhene.

[L-R] Nana Mensah Bonsu, Nana Adu Asare Mensah and Nana Kwame Bonsu

Joy News gathered some Assembly members were also summoned to the Manhyia Palace to meet with Otumfuor Osei Tutu II. At the end they promised to back the Amakomhene for the impasse to come to a close.

The Thursday's election which served as a confirmation of the candidature of Mr Asare Mensah helps to put the business of the Metropolis on the right track.

A High Court judge swore in new members of the KMA including three new members replaced by the Manhyia Palace namely Nana Adu Asare Mensah, Nana Mensah Bonsu, and Nana Kwame Bonsu who is Otunfuor's linguist.

Delivering his acceptance speech, Mr Asare Mensah promised to execute his work without fear or favour, adding he will not encourage faction within the Assembly.

He encouraged the Assembly members gathered to discourage attitudes that are likely to affect the smooth running of the KMA.

Story by Ghana| Myjoyonline.com |Abubakar Ibrahim
13.10.2016 LISTEN

Lagos, September 26th 2016: The Africa Initiative for Governance (AIG) has today issued a call for applications for its 2017 scholarships for a Masters Degree in Public Policy at the renowned Blavatnik School of Government, the UKs first school of Government, at the University of Oxford. The call was issued by the AIG Chairman and Founder, Mr. AigbojeAig-Imoukhuede and Founding Directors  Mrs. Ofovwe Aig-Imoukhuede, Mr. Herbert Wigwe and Dr. Jeya Wilson  ahead of the inaugural meeting of the Initiatives Panel of Advisors in Lagos, Nigeria.

From 2017, the AIG will fund five scholarships each year as part of a new five-year partnership which is based on the shared purpose of building good governance and public leadership.

The AIG is a Foundation established in recognition of the fact that Africas poor record of public sector governance is a critical factor preventing the continent from achieving its true potential. The initiative brings together proven private sector innovation, leadership and funding into a private-public partnership to attract, inspire and support future leaders of Africas public sector.

The AIG believes that the high-calibre individuals trained at the Blavatnik School will drive best practice standards of governance across Africa, ensuring sustainable economic growth and social justice.

The AIG Scholarships will have an initial focus on candidates from Nigeria and Ghana, allowing the students to study for a Master of Public Policy (MPP) alongside classmates from across the globe. The scholarships will be available to those who can demonstrate academic excellence, proven leadership and commitment to public service and who intend to return to the public sector in Africa after completing their studies.

Along with the scholarship scheme will be an academic fellowship scheme. The AIG Visiting Fellowship will also be available from 2017, open to candidates who can demonstrate an outstanding contribution to public policy that has yielded meaningful impact on the public good, and commitment to public service in their country, region and globally. The Fellowship is open to senior officials or practitioners working in or with government and who are resident in West Africa.

Mr. AigbojeAig-Imoukhuede, Chairman of the Africa Initiative for Governance, said: The AIG Scholarship and Fellowship initiatives are scalable interventions aimed at tackling Africa's intractable challenge of poor public sector leadership. I am confident that our partnership with Oxford University's prestigious Blavatnik School will become fertile ground for growing future statesmen and women who will change the African continent for good. I encourage anyone who believes that they fit the profile for these scholarships and fellowships to apply.

Professor Ngaire Woods, Dean of the Blavatnik School of Government, said: We are deeply grateful to the Africa Initiative for Governance for partnering with us. The Blavatnik School of Government shares with the AIG a clear purpose  to transform government through effective leadership and better governance. The shared programme will enable excellent West African scholars, from all backgrounds, to study for an MPP and will also bring senior practitioners from the region to the School as AIG Visiting Fellows  providing opportunities to help drive transformational public sector leadership across the African continent.

Mr. Ken Ofori-Atta, Co-Founder and Executive Chairman of Databank, Ghana commenting on the initiative said: After we have trained these potential future leaders, it is important to ask the question: how do we protect them? How do we reinforce and create an environment where people are conscious of the impact that they could have? And just as importantly, we must ensure that we develop an environment which is retraining and reorienting the entirety of the civil service on a broad scale.

The AIG Panel of Advisors is made up of eminent personalities selected from across West Africa and will act as the selection panel for the award of scholarships and fellowships, as well as mentors to successful applicants. The Panel will also meet regularly to debate the challenges that Africas public sector faces and to conceive and propose solutions with long term impact. The panel is made up of:

His Excellency, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, former President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria

Dr. Enase Okonedo, Dean of the Lagos Business School

Alhaji Abubakar B. Mahmoud (SAN), President, Nigerian Bar Association

Mr. Ernest Chukwudi Ebi, MFR

Mr. Segun Adeniyi

Mrs. Yemisi Ayeni

Mr. Ken Ofori-Atta, Co-Founder and Executive Chairman of Databank, Ghana

Biographies of panel members are available upon request. Online applications will open via a portal on the AIG website (www.aigafrica.org ) on from Monday 10th to Monday 24th October 2016.
The problem of Africa is because folly is set in dignity and the wise have been reduced to nothing. People who have no business telling anybody anything shoot their mouths everyday and people who have something to say shut up every day and the rest look on

It is very interesting that many people who step into the corridors of power are not fit to walk in those corridors. People who influence our world mostly are people who have no business influencing anything because they are not good examples themselves; many of those who determine how we live our lives have been failures in their own lives (Pastor Mensa Otabil).

JOURNALISM AND THE ERROR OF LEADERSHIP

Of course, no one says journalism is an exact science. It is not.

Regardless, it should be the conscience of society speaking truth to power, promoting humanism, entertaining, educating, challenging the status quo and so on.

That is, journalism should be a watchdog of the public interest as well as of the public morals.

Our journalists must therefore put partisan politics aside and work towards a platform for positive dialogue across ideological, ethnic, religious, class and political lines, exposing the rotten underbelly of society even if it is inconvenient and uncomfortable, through temperate language.

Thus, journalism should be the moral and political voice of the people and not only those of the elite and the privileged few.

This means out journalists speaking inconvenient and uncomfortable truths where it hurts the most.

Certainly, we cannot expect journalism to be perfect because it is a human invention. We can improve it nonetheless.

However, oftentimes the complex question of subjectivity permeates opinion pieces to the point of exaggerated infallibility because the writer thinks he or she exclusively owns the facts.

But these facts may actually be a fictive imagination of the writer, mere opinions in other words.

Opinions on the other hand are not necessarily facts. Anybody can have opinions just about everything but not everybody can have facts.

Particularly in the case of lampoons and satires opinions sometimes resolve seamlessly into facts, fiction into facts.

Dabbousi correctly points to this contrastive blend of facts and opinions as concoction of malice.

It bears pointing out that the entire geopolitical conflagration of the Middle East, so-called, is premised on concoction of malice.

Also his empire of yellow or right-wing journalism is built on a strong foundation of this bizarre concept.

It is interesting how he quickly he diagnostically imputes this concept to others and not to himself.

This fact alone does not mean we should tolerate any kind of Donald Trump-like journalism in our body politic. In fact society should frown upon this dangerous breed of journalism.

After all, the kind of Donald Trump-like journalism we are talking about surely belongs in the political caliphate of ISIS, Boko Haram, Al-Shabab, Al-Queda, the Lords Resistance Army, and the like.

And the contemporary history of ISIS, Boko Haram, Al-Shabab, Al-Queda, the Lords Resistance Armyis the ancient history of the National Liberation Army (NLM), the United Party (UP), and the National Liberation Council (NLC), all of which have metamorphosed into the New Patriotic Party (NPP).

More so, one of these Donald Trump-like journalists, Thomas Sowell, compared President Obama to Adold Hitler, Mao Tse-tung, and Jim Jones. He writes in this regard:

Telling a friend that the love of his life is a phony and dangerous is not likely to get him to change his mind. But it may cost you a friend.

It is much the same story with true believers in Barack Obama. They have made up their minds and not only don't want to be confused by the facts, they resent being told the facts

Some of Senator Obama's most fervent supporters could not tell you what he has actually done on such issues as crime, education, or financial institutions like Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, much less what he plans to do to stop Iran from becoming a nuclear nation supplying nuclear weapons to the international terrorist networks that it has supplied with other weapons.

The magic word change makes specifics unnecessary. If things are going bad, some think that what is needed is blank-check change

These ranged from Jim Jones who led hundreds to their deaths in Jonestown to Hitler and Mao who led millions to their deaths.

Apparently, Sowell made these right-wing apocalyptic forecasts before Obamas first assumption of the highest office in the land, the United States.

And here we are today, such politically and ideologically motivated auguries that have proven patently false.

Obama is certainly not Jim Jones, Adolf Hitler, or Mao Tse-tung.

This is the kind of journalism we are getting from our Lebanese-Ghanaian pilot, journalist and author Fadi Samih Dibbousi.

Our friend must pay close attention to Pope Franciss views on journalism, bearing in mind he does so outside the protracted conflicts between his Western neo-Christians and Arabs-Muslims, the point being that Pope Francis and the Catholic isunderstandablypart and parcel of the axis of what he, Dabbousi, had referred to as neo-Christians.

Yes, right-wing Fadi Sadih Dabbousi is in a good Eurocentric camp, the afore-referenced political caliphate where bigots from Akufo-Addo, Kennedy Agyapong, Yaw Osei-Marfoto Ursula Owusu-Ekuful, and their village and useful idiots inhabit.

Kwame Nkrumahs Ghana does not need these kinds of men and women as leaders. No! Never!

SOME QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER

Is President Mahama Obama or George Bush? To answer this question we need to make some hypothetical assumptions first:

If as some historians claim is true that gonorrhea was partly responsible for Hitlers rabid racism and anti-Semitism, then might it well be possible that Presidents HIV-AIDS condition could be partly responsible for his poor management of the economy and, in retrospect, for his having children outside his marriage, for his philandering tendencies?

We know this parallel comparison is problematic, one being the question of anachronism, but it is only a hypothetical assumption. However beyond this parallel comparison, who then is Akufo-Addo?

Could his prostate cancer have been partly responsible for his poor leadership, the results of which are intra-party internal division and needless suspensions and intolerance and anarchy, and, in retrospect, for his murdering his wife, for his wee-smoking habits, for his philandering proclivities?

All these speculative assumption do not make any sense, yet, once again, Dabbousi makes it worse by not looking at the diagnostic and prognostic profiles of Akufo-Addo and President Mahama from the viewpoints of holistic evaluation and parallel comparison yardsticks.

In any case if President Mahama is not Obama and Obama is Hitler but President Mahama is Obama to a certain extent, then who is President Mahama?

If Akufo-Addo is not Obama and Obama is Hitler but Akufo-Addo is Obama to a certain extent, then who is Akufo-Addo?

But, we strongly suspect that in Dabbousis closet journalistic mind President Mahama is either Obama or George Bush. The connection to Hitler becomes obvious, otherwise why has he not negatively speculated on Akufo-Addos potential illnesses as President Mahamas?

This is why Kweku Baako, Jr. has opined that Dabbousis write-ups on President Mahama are serious and hugely offensive.

The former added that the latter relied on none existing and fake media organizations.

It is funny how Dabbousi quickly makes a volte-face, reportedly making the equally funny claim that his write-ups on President Mahama were without malice, a sharp detour from his concoction of malice.

This is how the claustrophobic cage of the BNI can transform hardened avian loudmouths from Dabbousi to Captain Edmund Koda (rtd). Finally and quite expectedly, Dabbousi would say the following in an interview after his release from this claustrophobic cage:

I respect President Mahama a lot because he is our President whether we like it or not but that will not deter me from criticizing him when he is taking the people of Ghana for granted and to the wrong direction. I didnt intend to insult him

Further questions:

Dabbousi didnt intend to insult President Mahama but ended up insulting the anyway?

Perhaps inadvertently?

CONCLUDING REMARKS

I apologise unequivocally. If I am able to get the opportunity to talk to the president, I will definitely apologise vehemently and if Im not able to, Im doing so through your outfit. I do apologise unequivocally. I will not at any point in time insinuate anything evilexcept to state my opinion, flat as it is (Fadi Dabbousi)

In the end Dabbousis slandering of the office of the presidency without the benefit of verifiable forensic evidence is not good journalism. It is journalistic demagoguery! It is journalistic McCarthyism! It is journalism of the kind Salman Rushdie provocatively called The Satanic Verses. It is simply terrorism in the wise words of Pope Francis!

And it is not as if his idol, Akufo-Addo, Dabbousis man known for his post-factual politics, is a strong leader in political and moral terms. He is not.

What Dabbousi needs to do at this point in time, is effectively exploring Akufo-Addos moral and political weaknesses, rather than President Mahamas, and initiating a strategic program of policy formulations to eradicate or suppress these lapses, before he [Akufo-Addo] finally resolves into an uncontrollable bombshell of monumental failure, ideally against the backdrop of his potential resumption of political office if the favor popular sovereignty looks his way.

Indeed, it is a question that remains to be answered if the name Fadi Dabbousi is not a pseudonym under which Soloman Nkansah, Ursula Owusu-Ekuful, Chairman Wontuni, Ofosu Kwakye, Koku Anyidoho, Kofi Adams, Kennedy Agyapong, Akua Donkor, Omane Boamah, or Gabby Otchere writes his or deeply polarized articles. Thus, his kind of journalism is at best a concoction of malice even when he says his anti-Mahama write-ups are written without malice.

This volte-face is a poor attempt at sophistry. Yet it is also good that he has returned to his sense and rendered an unqualified apology to President Mahama. This is how it should be once he realized that some of his write-ups in the corpus of his yellow, fa di, or attack, adversarial journalism were based on questionable, irresponsible sources. That is bad journalism to say the least!

We shall return with Part 2, the concluding segment.

REFERENCES

Ghanaweb. Im Not ScaredFadi Dabbousi. September 27, 2016.

Ghanaweb. Error of leadership, Cause of Ghanas WoesOtabil. October 6, 2016.

Thomas Sowell. (October 20, 2008). Believers in Obama. Townhall. Retrieved from http://townhall.com/columnists/thomassowell/2008/10/20/believers_in_obama

Ghanaweb. Fadi Dabbousis Write-ups on Mahama Hugely OffensiveKweku Baako. October 1, 2016.

Ghanaweb. My Articles About Mahama Were Without MaliceDaboussi. October 2, 2016.

Ghanaweb. I respect President MahamaFadi Dabbousi. September 26, 2016.
Elections in Ghana are organized by the electoral Commission of Ghana every four years. The 2016 election preparations have led to lots of jaw-jawing in any steps the commission tries putting up. Various political party members, politicians, social commentators, university lecturers, lawyers, political analysts, civil society organizations, students and the general public use the mass media as a medium to elucidate their opinions. Down from the voters register cleaning exercises, date and day to conduct polls, high filing fees and the newly cropped up issue on the elimination of 13 presidential candidates from the list, has caused public uproar.

The affected political parties are in agony of pain and despondency. These ambitious presidential candidates started campaigns two years and now, only to be told they are out of the horse race due to irregularities committed on the nomination forms. Ghana has 54 days to the polls with lots of politically verbal unrest. The offences leveled against the candidates are criminal one as claimed by the independent commission, ranging from forgering of signatories, guarantors endorsing more than one candidate forms, other are without their residential address and poorly stated date of birth among other.

Procedural democracy must be upheld high as the presidential sit is a hot and higher one of the land. These political aspirants have gone through all the processes demanded by law. Article 62 of the executive arm of government in the constitution, stipulate the requirement to meet before one may contest the presidential elections. The Electoral Commission has its own requirement of which most political parties do not meet but are unattended. It is the responsibility of the aspirants to meet the legal requirements of EC. The rule of law must work. We have made our presidency fleecy, paving way for many to contest but that ought not to be issue. One must meet the dual requirements.

These eliminatees have spent and spending huge sum of Ghana Cedis disseminating their intentions across the country only to be told at the eleven hour they are out. This is how the coming of the Lord would be. It looks despicable and unfair. Most party members flayed the electoral commissioner but the decision seems adamant. Many blame the negligence of the affected persons for not doing the right thing with this minor academic exercise. Others also believe the flag bearers are not prepared and if they can fraud the commission, obviously can be corrupt and make mistakes when signing partnership deals if elected. To some extent the decision looks draconian due to the timing to the elections and the inputs made.

Notwithstanding the fact that most have shown remorse, others have threatened heading to the apex court for the interpretation of the law. I think the electoral commission did this in the interest of the commission and not of the citizens. The electoral commission ought to exercise it supreme powers in the interest of the public and not the other way round. We must understand that not everything legal is ethical.

PETER BISMARK KWOFIE

CEO/PRESIDENT, INSTITUTE FOR LIBERTY & POLICY INNOVATION

(ILAPI-GHANA)

[email protected]
Lawyer for the Electoral Commission (EC) says the Commission acted within its powers by disqualifying presidential candidate of the National Democratic Party (NDP), Nana Konadu Agyemang Rawlings and 11 others.

In the 11-page response to a letter by solicitors of the NDP leader demanding either the Commission reinstate their client or face a law suit, the EC says it applied the rules and regulations governing elections in the country to arrive at its conclusion.

Our reading of the rules regulating the presidential elections confirms that the submission of nomination papers for the purpose of contesting the presidential elections confirms that the submission of the forms does not result in the automatic acceptance of such forms by our client, the statement reads.

More soon...

Story by Ghana| Myjoyonline.com
On Saturday October 15, 2016, four (4) Ghanaian women from ActionAid Ghana sponsored communities will join hundreds of other African women for a gathering at Mount Kilimanjaro, Tanzania, to call for their rights to land and productive resources.

ActionAid is one of the organisations standing with the women in what is expected to be the largest rural womens land rights assembly ever seen at the foot of Mount Kilimanjaro.

The Ghanaian women joining the campaign in Tanzania are Alia Mumuni, a project officer from ActionAid Ghana in Tamale, Doris Owusu Prempeh a teacher and farmer from Dokyikrom in the Brong Ahafo region, Pascaline Bepulle and Faustina Lariba Yenzie, smallholder farmers from Upper West and Upper East regions respectively.

They will join more than 400 others from 21 countries across Africa for the convention in the town of Moshi between 14 and 16 October and they will produce a charter of demands for fair and equal land rights to be presented to the United Nations and the African Union.

In addition to the women at the assembly, a small number of the women, in a show of strength and conviction, will climb to the peak of Mountain Kilimanjaro, Africas tallest mountain at 5,895 metres, with the assistance of expert guides from Intrepid Travels.

Many of the women have first-hand experience of the unjust practices linked to unequal land rights in Africa, including forced evictions by big business, pollution, and being subject to unfair inheritance practices.

Margaret Brew-Ward, Advocacy and Campaigns Manager at ActionAid Ghana, said:

Women are moving mountains every single day as smallholder farmers, caregivers, widows, and mothers, but they rarely enjoy their own rights as human beings including having control over the land they depend on. They are excluded from inheriting lands owned by their families or booted out of their lands when their husbands pass away. They do not have access to fertile lands, which is crucial for crop production or are given lands in remote areas, requiring them to walk many hours to their farms.

The assembly comes during the African Unions year-long focus on the Rights of Women in 2016. Despite commitments made by the African Union and its member states, including Ghana, real progress for women living without the basic right of land is slow.

Margaret continued:

The women gathering at Mount Kilimanjaro are saying enough is enough, we cannot continue to build our nations when our lands are wrongfully given to an old uncle or our ex-husbands brother for inheritance, or when we are given the worst unproductive lands to farm and cater for our children.

As the first mission objective in our current Country Strategy Paper (CSP V), ActionAid Ghana has been working to promote Climate Resilient Sustainable Agriculture (CRSA) and ensure that women secure access to and control over land and other productive resources. We have successfully campaigned to secure lands for many smallholder women farmers in some of our working communities, particularly in the Upper East and Upper West regions.

Research conducted by the UNs Food and Agriculture Organisation FAO) (see Note 1 below) suggests that less than one quarter of agricultural land in developing countries is controlled by women and low female access and control of land significantly obstructs access to financial assets.

Through decades of work on land rights in Africa, ActionAid and partners evidence (see Note 2 below) shows having secure access to land empowers women, both individually and collectively, and has a knock-on effect of advancing womens access to other human rights. Women with secure access and control over land also frequently state they have increased decision making and improved social standing within their households and communities.

The convention will bring together women from Senegal, Gambia, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Nigeria, Ghana, Togo, Burkina Faso, Benin, Mozambique, Malawi, Zambia, South Africa, Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania.

The three-day forum will be an opportunity for attendees to share experiences on identifying and addressing key barriers to womens land rights such as early marriage, poor access to information and unfair inheritance practices. At the forums close, the women will produce a charter of demands for fair and equal land rights to be presented to the United Nations and the African Union.
Accra, 23rd June, 2016- The second edition of the highly successful and widely acclaimed Ghana Construction Awards has been officially announced by InstinctWave, organizers of the event. The announcement comes on the back of the success of last years edition as organisers and stakeholders hope to improve on the gains of the event.

The awards ceremony comes off on 8th October, 2016 at the Kempinski Gold Coast City Hotel in Accra. The event will honor companies and individuals for their accomplishments and strides in Ghanas construction industry.

Announcing the event, organizers said the awards will help showcase how the construction industry is pivotal to the economy of the nation whiles recognizing and rewarding companies who are pushing new frontiers in the industry and have been exceptional in the past years.

The construction sector plays an important role in economic growth. For instance the industry contributed about 11.8% to Ghanas overall GDP in 2013. However, the construction sector has been overlooked in terms of rewarding innovation and creativity. Our goal is to celebrate the achievements of those construction companies who have made it their responsibility to transform the construction industry and advance the countrys infrastructural development, Akin Naphtal, CEO of InstinctWave.

In recent times, the construction and housing industry has played a significant role in national developmental. Ghanas infrastructural agenda is possible due to the massive investment and contribution by players in the industry. Whilst challenges in the industry like private sector development, growth and sustainability of professionalism still persist, we cannot overlook the impact of the sector.

There is therefore the need for a concerted effort to reward and celebrate industry players bracing the challenge and fostering new infrastructural projects across the length and breadth of the country.

What we want to achieve with the Ghana Construction Awards is to celebrate and reward hard work, exceptional leadership and innovation in the industry. We are bringing together clients, stakeholders, investors, industry players and experts to network and celebrate in a relaxed atmosphere, added Mr Naphtal.

The Ghana Construction Awards will also provide the platform for stakeholders to advocate for the industrialization of the country by way of investments in the area of civil engineering, building construction, industrial construction and residential construction.

As part of the official announcement, organizers unveiled the various categories for the 2nd edition of the Ghana Construction Awards. This included new categories that reflect a better representation of the industry.

Commenting on this, Mr Akin indicated that the new award categories were admitted after careful research based on market intelligence and submissions by industry experts. According to him, the award categories are not exhaustive but capture major segments of the industry.

We had to include new categories as it became necessary to have more representation and participation. Our research team have been working on categories since the last edition and we are convinced this updated categories list captures every area of the industry, he said.

FULL LIST OF PROVISIONAL NOMINEES

CONSULTANCY/LAND SURVEYOR OF THE YEAR

Rudan Company Ltd

Beacon Survey Limited

Ben Dwimoh and Company

Geomappers Engineering Ltd

CONSULTANCY/QUANTITY SURVEYOR OF THE YEAR

FAS CONSULT

ADK Consortium

PPMC

G Ampofo & Partners Limited

CEMENT COMPANY OF THE YEAR

Ghacem

Diamond Cement

Dangote Cement

OUTSTANDING PROJECT (PUBLIC SECTOR)

Tamale Airport Runway Extension and Rehabilitation

(QUEIROZ GALVAO)

Ghana Civil Aviation Authority Training Academy Complex

(BEROCK VENTURES)

Sekondi  Takoradi Via Kojokrom Suburban Railway Line

(TEAM ENGINEERING SpA Ghana)

Aboadze Costal Projection WorksPhase 1 (2 Kilometer Stretch)

(XARA Developers)

Cape Coast Stadium

(CHINA JIANGXI CORPORATION FOR INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC AND TECHNICAL CORPORATION)

OUTSTANDING PROJECT (PRIVATE SECTOR)

AKYEM GOLD MINE TAILINGS STORAGE FACILITY  STAGE 2 & 3

(PW GHANA LTD)

Accra Shippers Authority House

(BEROCK VENTURES)

Kempinski Hotel

(ZAKHEIM CONSTRUCTION)

Construction of Tullow Oil Head Office

(DAVID WALTER LTD)

ARCHITECTURAL CONSULTANCY OF THE YEAR

Team Engineering SpA Ghana

ADK Consortium

MULTICAD

PPMC

Bricklane

CIVIL PROJECT OF THE YEAR

Kwame Nkrumah Circle Interchange

(QUEIROZ GALVAO)

Tetteh Quarshie Roundabout Overhead Bridge

(ASONA ENTERPRISE LTD)

Aboadze Costal Projection Works Phase 1 (2 Kilometer Stretch)

(XARA Developers)

Construction of Shops And Offices for the Tema Development Corporation

(BEROCK VENTURES)

Sekondi  Takoradi Via Kojokrom Suburban Railway Line

(TEAM ENGINEERING SpA Ghana)

HEALTH, SANITATION & SAFETY EXCELLENCE AWARD

Berock Ventures

Amandi Construction

David Walter

Queiroz Galvao

MATERIALS DISTRIBUTOR OF THE YEAR

K. Gyasi Ltd

ATALA Ltd

Asuogyaman Company Ltd

Builders Accessories Ghana Ltd.

RESIDENTIAL DEVELOPMENT AWARD

XARA Developers

PW Ghana

Devtraco

Regimanuel Gray Ltd

CONSTRUCTION EQUIPMENT SUPPLIER OF THE YEAR

Mantrac

C. Woermann (Ghana) Ltd

CFAO Equipment

JA Plant Pool

Atlas Copco Ghana

CIVIL ENGINEERING CONSULTANCY OF THE YEAR

Team Engineering SpA Ghana

ADK Consortium

PPMC

PW GHANA LTD

ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING CONSULTANCY COMPANY OF THE YEAR

KELM Engineering

FAS Consult

Artikas

Lystra & Derby Int.

MECHANICAL ENGINEERING CONSULTANCY COMPANY OF THE YEAR

FAS Consult

Arq Engineering

Artikas

KELM Engineering

BEST INFRASTRUCTURE DEVELOPMENT BANK AWARD

GT Bank

HFC

Unibank

Capital Bank

CONSTRUCTION COMPANY OF THE YEAR

Berock Ventures

Queiroz Galvao

David Walter

Zakheim Construction

BEST INDIGENOUS CONSTRUCTION OF THE YEAR

Berock Ventures

David Walter Ltd

Asona Enterprise

XARA Developers

FOREIGN CONSTRUCTION COMPANY OF THE YEAR

Queiroz Galvao

Andrade Guiterez

Desimone Group Ltd

Micheletti & Co

CONCRETE PRODUCER OF THE YEAR

Empire Concrete

African Concrete Products Limited

Bessblock Concrete Products Ltd.

Urban Concrete Limited

BLOCK MANUFACTURING COMPANY OF THE YEAR

Phastor Limited

Bessblock Ltd

STEEL COMPANY OF THE YEAR

Sethi Steel

Tema Steel

Steelco

INTERIOR HARDWARE DISTRIBUTOR OF THE YEAR

West African Decor & Tiles Ltd

H & M Timber Ltd

Orca Decor

Haiflow

INNOVATION OF THE YEAR  MATERIALS

Empire Concrete

Jelcem Concrete

Phastor Limited

EXCELLENCE IN CUSTOMER SERVICE

HMD-Forewin

Mantrac

Alburadi Engineering & Trading Co.

Atlas Copco

CSR INITIATIVE OF THE YEAR

Amandi Construction

Queiroz Galvao

PW Ghana

Xara Developers
Great Consolidated Popular Party (GCPP) presidential candidate Dr. Henry Lartey has expressed regret for opposing the main opposition NPP when it took on the Electoral Commission (EC) on various issues including the voters register.

I now understand why Peter Mac Manu [NPP Campaign manager] was giving the Electoral Commission so much problems, he told a press conference Thursday.

The GCPP Presidential candidate expressed regret following his disqualification from the 2016 presidential election last Monday. He was one of 12 presidential candidates disqualified for failing to fill his presidential nomination forms correctly.

Announcing his disqualification, chairperson of the Electoral Commission, Charlotte Osei accused Dr. Lartey of forging signatures on his presidential nomination forms. She referred him to the police for possible criminal prosecution.

She also explained that personal details of GCPP Vice Presidential candidate were not provided while Dr Lartey failed to obtain the required number of persons to endorse his bid.

At the GCPPs headquarters at Kaneshie in Accra Thursday, Dr. Henry Herbert Lartey described his disqualification as wrongful in law.

The disappointed but defiant presidential candidate accused the EC of trying to embarrass his party over a small problem. The GCPP Presidential candidate explained that he committed his mistakes in his anxiety to fill the over 100-page document.

All we have to do is to change that. How long would it take to change thatnot even one minute, he said.

He said it was his partys expectation that if the EC had identified any wrong details, the party would be called upon to effect the needed corrections. But they did not call us, he expressed disappointment.

Expressing feelings of betrayal, Dr. Henry Lartey said, I supported the EC all the time when the NPP was bashing them. Now look at what they have done.

I am so saddened, he said and warned the EC to be very careful not to jeopardise the 2016 general elections.

The NPP has remained a fierce critic of the Electoral Commission accusing it of taking unilateral and intransigent positions on positions such as the partys demand for a new voters register.

GCPP presidential candidate also handed chairperson of the Electoral Commission Charlotte Osei 24 hours to rescind the decision to disqualify him or face him in court.

A growing number of dissatisfied candidates have indicated they will be heading to court over the decision. They include high-profile candidates, Dr. Paa Kwesi Nduom of the Progressive Peoples Party (PPP) and Nana Konadu Agyemang Rawlings of the National Democratic Party (NDP) who is a former First Lady.

In a scrabble for a crack legal counsel to challenge the shocking decision, Dr Henry Lartey has settled for Maurice Ampaw.

I have a very capable lawyer he described Maurice Ampaw and vowed to embarrass the EC in court for the showdown.

-Myjoyonline




From Samuel Agbewode, Ho

The National Democratic Congress (NDC) has described the manifesto launch of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) as a hopeless and empty 'Kalypo manifesto', which has emboldened them to work hard for victory.

According to the party, the manifesto has no development plan for the Volta Region, and reiterated their unflinching support for President John Dramani Mahama to win the 2016 general elections with a one million gap, to enable him continue with the Better Ghana Agenda.

To the NDC, it has never been in doubt that the party and President Mahama would be given a second chance to continue with the good works started, saying, If Kalypo begins to outshine the launch of a manifesto, then it tells you that there is something deeply wrong with that kind of manifesto.

Addressing a press conference in Ho, the Volta Regional Chairman of the NDC, Mr. John Kwadwo Gyapong, admitted that, in as much as the NDC cannot say that the Volta Region has been fully developed under the Better Ghana Agenda, a lot has still been done, and that there was the need for Ghanaians to retain President Mahama for him to complete what he has started.

Mr. Gyapong said the NDC in the Volta Region had faith in President Mahama to bring more development, since nothing of great significance was seen in the NPP's manifesto that gives any hope to the people of the region.

He noted that if the NPP talked about the constructing a harbour, the NDC wished to make it clear that the government had already shown greater commitment to that, as a feasibility study about the project had been carried out.

According to Chairman Gyapong, it was recommended to the government that for a harbour at Keta to be safe, there was the need to build a sea defence wall at Akplorwutorkor, Horvi and Blekusi, which have already started.

To him, therefore, NDC did not see the relevance of the NPP manifesto, which stated that a harbour would be built at Keta.

Mr. Gyapong stressed that the NDC-led government was in full control, and had a comprehensive development plan for the Volta Region, disclosing that approval had already been given for deep-sea oil exploration to start in the Keta Basin, and that a Swiss Company (company not named) had started engaging the people in the area as part of the community entry process.

He continued that the NDC had a better development authority for the region, and not only the coastal and northern parts of the region, as stated in the manifesto of the NPP.

According to him, NDC had to its credit, what the Chairman called heavy infrastructure investments undertaken in the region, the basis for which the region would give President Mahama a second chance.

Mr. Gyapong mentioned the University of Health and Allied Sciences, Ho Airport project, 15 community SHS, with some completed and others ongoing, five districts water processing plant at Adidome, and water processing plant at Kpando, which would serve Biakoye, Kpando Municipality and part of North Dayi Distric.

According to the NDC Regional Chairman, as part of the development plan for the Volta Region, the next NDC government would provide a water processing plant at Sogakope, build a bridge on the Volta Lake, build five more polyclinics in the region, as well as to build accident and emergency centers at Hohoe and Sogakope respectively, and each of the 25 districts in the region would be provided with 10 tractors to boost farming.

He stressed that the region would never give the NPP a chance to govern the country, and when give such an opportunity, would mean that all development projects started by the NDC would be abandoned.

He queried: Why should we change our experienced bus driver who has an approved license, and go for an inexperienced driver who has no license, and is only asking us to try him, no way for such drivers.

Under the stewardship of the late President Atta Mills and John Dramani Mahama, Ghana has taken very tough decisions to build a solid foundation and we are on the verge of taken off into a sustained development and economic growth and we must not make a mistake as a region to allow any group of persons to mislead us into experimenting with any kind of leadership that cannot be trusted.

Mr. Gyapong stated that the NDC in the Volta Region has resolved to work hard to retain the NDC's World Bank status of the Volta Region with a much wider margin in the pending election and called on NDC members to close their ranks and be united in order to achieve a comprehensive first round victory.

The NDC Chairman observed that the NPP knows that the NDC has done a lot of work, and another victory for the ruling party would keep them in opposition for a long time, that was why they were desperate for power, and urged party members to work hard and win the elections, to ensure that the NPP would remain in opposition for decades.

Mr. Gyapong continued that all that the NPP hoped for was to win the 2016 general elections and loot and plunder the nation's wealth, cautioning that if the party in the region allowed it to happen, posterity would not forgive them.
13.10.2016 LISTEN

By Pascal Kafu Abotsi

The opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) has offered free counsel to President John Dramani Mahama, which is for him to cease the embarrassment he is inviting upon himself by demanding from the NPP running mate, Dr Mahamadu Bawumia, a disclosure of the cost of the cedi redenomination exercise in 2007.

The President, while addressing party supporters at a mammoth rally in Accra on Tuesday, accused the NPP of corruption in the exercise, which took place at a time the NPP running mate was a Deputy Governor of the Bank of Ghana.

With Dr Bawumia being his target, a worried President Mahama told the gathering that: At least my administration has been transparent and accountable in all projects we have undertaken, but the same cannot be said about the NPP government whose activities were shrouded in secrecy, he announced.

In his estimation, the NPP failed to remove the log in their eyes, but rather want Ghanaians to think that we are corrupt by making false corruption allegations about our projects. They think Ghanaians have forgotten about their corrupt practices, he added.

In a sharp rebuttal, however, Dr Bawumia, who culled a Daily Graphic publication in November 2007 to prove a point, emphasised that being oblivious of the cost of the exercise which had been put in the public domain some nine years ago, meant that the president does not read.

According to him, Todays request for disclosure on the 2007 redenomination is another demonstration of incompetence. Apart from the fact that the then Governor disclosed the cost as far back as 2007, if the President really wanted to find out the cost of the redenomination, he could simply have asked his VEEP, who was Bank of Ghana Governor, especially when the President was Head of the Economic Management Team between 2009 and 2012, he stated.

Dr Bawumia could not fathom the Presidents decision to make a comment of that nature, saying Such petty propaganda should be beneath someone of the stature of a President. It is clear he is very poorly briefed, but when a President decides to join the bandwagon of propaganda, he only ends up embarrassing himself.

The Director of Communications of the NPP, Nana Akomea, commenting further in a telephone interview, expressed shock that the president, who members of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) labelled as technology savvy could be unaware of the figure of the redenomination exercise.

We are told he is IT savvy, so all he had to do was to pick his phone and google it. Just two clicks on the button on the internet, he stressed, explaining that, Mr Mahamas declaration pointed to the fact that vital information was being hidden from him, which amounted to corruption. Its such an embarrassing conclusion, Nana Akomea observed, as he urgently demanded responses from the NDC Presidential candidate about Dr Bawumias 170 statements contained in his last lecture concerning the bad governance of the country under the current administration.
13.10.2016 LISTEN



Dear presidential aspirants, I would like to convey my sympathy to you, by way of expressing my disappointment at your unfortunate disqualification from contesting election 2016, in case you could become the President of Ghana.

I am doing so, in the belief that any sensible person, with real human feelings and heart, will sympathise with, and console, a compatriot who is in some sort of trouble and came about unexpectedly inadvertently. Such an act of consolation is even advised by God to human beings. It is in the Bible, in Romans 12:15  Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep.

At the moment, I know that most, if not all of you, are sorrowfully brooding over your unexpectedly unfortunate fate of disqualification from pursuing your life's dreams. However, the Bible says in Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 that there is a time for everything, and in Thessalonians 5:18 it says, In everything give thanks : for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.

I know that each of you was aspiring to become the President of Ghana to help liberate Ghanaians from their ongoing economic hardships, miseries, sufferance of lawlessness, practice of selective justice, and all other known and unknown injustices prevalent in Ghana under the watch of President Mahama and his National democratic congress (NDC) government.

If your primary objective was to boot President Mahama out of office, because of how he is mismanaging the affairs of the country, to the detriment of about 99% of the population, then rest assured that all hope is not lost, if, and only if, you will do as I am about to advise you.

Would you mind rallying behind Nana Akufo-Addo with all your might, mind, soul and heart to wrestle power from President Mahama to set the Ghanaian captives free from his roguish administration? This is the only credible alternative you are left with, if all your threats to see the Chair of the Electoral Commission, Charlotte Osei, and her outfit in court fail.

Throwing your weight behind Nana Akufo-Addo, and advising your teeming supporters to do same, is the only useful service to Ghanaians you are left with to render in rescuing them from the deplorable rule of President Mahama and his NDC government. What else can you do to save Ghanaians from their current and ongoing financial hardships and joblessness?

While permitting you time, space and privacy to weep your eyes out, following the bolt out of the blue fate that has happened to you, I shall, at the same time, entreat you to cogitate about my suggestion, as indicated above.

One thing I know, for sure is, it was not all of you who were seriously going into Election 2016 to wrestle power from President Mahama. This conviction of mine is based on, or deduced from, a video recorded message from Madam Akua Donkor's own mouth, when she once granted an interview to Adom TV presenter Kwaku Adoma Onwawani a few months ago. She said, even though she was contesting for the presidency in 2016, she knows President Mahama will win, so she is going to help her son, President Mahama, to win it, so that he, in turn, hands over the presidency to her in 2020.

How could we take such a person seriously? She does not even care that she has been disqualified after all; she has a dubious agenda towards the election in the first place.

All said and done, I shall see you campaign side by side with Nana Akufo-Addo in your dreams and aspirations to extricate Ghana and Ghanaians from the harshly destructive economic tentacles of President Mahama.

Shall God grant you discerning wisdom, coupled with impartiality, when analysing my proposals.

Shall He wipe off your tears.

Amen.

Yours Sincerely,

Rockson Adofo

Source: modernghana




The National Road Safety Commission(NRSC) working in collaboration with the Police Motor Traffic and Transport Department (MTTD) has trained some thirty-five (35) Police MTTU personnel drawn from ten (10) police districts across the country on accident prevention.

The novelty project which is part of strategies and interventions to reduce and subsequently curb road traffic crashes also has the object of training Police MTTU personnel to adopt equipment based enforcement for prevention of crashes.

The training workshop was held in Koforidua from 3rd-7th October, 2016 and was funded by the Ghana Road Fund.

The trained personnel who form the Accident Prevention Squad (APS) have the mandate to monitor some major crash prone road corridors whilst using modern technology for road traffic regulation enforcement.

They will also monitor assigned routes, intensify routine patrols to check on offending motorists especially on speeding, driving under the influence of alcohol and drugs and overloading.

The road corridors are Tema-Kasseh (Ada), Kasseh-Sogakope-Aflao, Tema-Akosombo, Akosombo-Ho, Suhum-Nkawkaw, Techiman-Kintampo, Kintampo-Buipe.

The rest are Kasoa-Winneba-Cape Coast, Cape Coast-Takoradi, Yamoransa-Assin Fosu and Assin Fosu-Anwiankwanta.

The training focused on topics such as casualties and contributory factors to crashes, road safety interventions, road environment and safety standards, vehicle standards and regulations.

Other topics treated were on post crash response and management, strategic traffic law enforcement practices for accident prevention and theory on traffic law enforcement equipment.

Personnel will be equipped with devices including Trucam Speed Radar Gun, Alcometer, Dashboard Cameras, Height Gauge, Digital Measuring Wheel, Laptop Computer, Cross Country Vehicle.

The NRSC, Police MTTD and the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA) and other stakeholders are committed are working tirelessly to ensure that the road traffic regulations are enforced to the letter.

As at the end of September 2016, reported cases of road traffic crashes were 9,205 involving 14,342 vehicles. This resulted in 1,579 deaths and 8,006 injuries.

Over the period, there were 2,086 pedestrian knock-downs. We seize the opportunity to call on all road users to remain responsible in order not to be inconvenienced by the enforcement processes.
A private security expert, Mr. Irbard Ibrahim, has cautioned what he calls doomsayer men of God not to toy with the stability of Ghana with their so-called vision. He has noted that in order for pastors not to put fear in Ghanaians, they should channel their prophecies and vision to how our resources should be used.

According to him, some pastors have, of late been spewing draconian prophecies about the December polls, which put a section of the populace Ghanaians in fear.

Mr. Ibrahim Irbard noted that the clergy, as stakeholders, ought to trumpet the message of peace to the masses and not to unleash wild prophesies about the impending elections.

He reiterated the much-held conviction that security in Ghana has been politicized, hence foot soldiers abuse the law and go scot free.

He explained that politicians are using transfer to intimidate police officers to dance to their tunes, which in the end put the security officers in a tight corner.

Speaking at the launching of National Media festival by the Press Foundation's (TPF) which intends to school the media on the role of the journalist, thereby, linking them to security, Mr. Irbard indicated that should New Patriotic Party(NPP) come to power, the Commissioner of Police (COP) John Kudalor, would be sacked.

He called on Pastors, Imams, and the National House of Chiefs to join the peace crusade before, during and after the December polls.

On the media, the security expert hailed journalists across Africa, especially Ghanaian journalists and urged them to be circumspect in their reportage.

The general officer commander of the Central Command of the Ghana Armed Forces, Brigadier General C.B. Alhassan, urged the media to report creditably and responsibly, stressing that should there be political upheaval, the media will be nowhere to operate.

According to the army general, Ghanaians must live in harmony because, should there be war, miscreants will take the law into their own hands and rule the nation.

The Executive Director of TPF, Mr. Listowell Yesu Bukarson, revealed that the TPF's national media festival will come on October 23, 2016.

Mr. Bukarson noted that the TPF is a Non-governmental Organisation (NGO) which seeks to champion responsible journalism ahead of the 2016 elections.

He mentioned the program outline as: media walk for peace, funfair and lectures and awards night adding that 3,000 people will participate in the peace walk, including Senior High School (SHS) students, keep fit clubs and others to create awareness about peaceful election.

Ahead of the December polls, he added that the media will be schooled on responsible and creditable reportage as far as security is concerned.

Pix: Mr. Irbard Ibrahim and other dignitaries at the National Media festival launch
13.10.2016 LISTEN



By Richard Kofi Attenkah

The Chief and elders of Appolonia, in the Kpone-Katamanso District of the Greater Accra Region have vowed to crush one Nii Iddrisu Tettey Mansro, a native of the area who has arrogated onto himself, the title of Regent of the community and using same to cause confusion and anarchy in the area.

Nii Iddrisu Tettey Mansro, who has over the years claimed he is the Regent of Appolonia, the Appolonia Stool said, has illegally sold several thousands of plots of stool land to individuals and leased 1,000 acres of land to SINO Africa Development Company Limited for GHc4 million.

SINO Africa Development Company Limited, a subsidiary of Jospong Group of Companies, the Appolonia Stool further explained, had acted unlawfully, without the consent of the Chief and elders of Appolonia and the Stool, for the purpose of getting the Stool lands.

That unlawful act of purchase, it continued, was to enrich some three disgruntled indigenes of Appolonia led by the self-styled Regent Iddrisu Mansro, whom the Stool said would deal with at the appropriate time.

Joshua Nii Akpeng Tettey, assistant Secretary for the Appolonia Stool, told some journalists at a press conference that Joseph Nii Laryea Afotey-Agbo, the Greater Accra Regional (GAR) Minister and Member of Parliament (MP) for Kpone-Katamanso, is assisting in the illegal activities, as a form of revenging against Joseph Akuerteh Tettey, a son of Appolonia, for challenging him at the last NDC's parliamentary primary.

Stating the case of the Stool, Joshua Nii Akpeng Tettey said the Stool got wind of the grant of the 1,000 acres of its lands through the police, who forwarded a copy of a petition sent to them by SINO Africa Development Company Limited, that some policemen were harassing the company, after they had bought their property from the chief and elders of Appolonia.

He said the late Chief, Nii Tei Adumuah II, who reigned continuously for almost 38 years until his demise on January 14, 2014, condemned the illegal action by Nii Iddrisu Mansro and his two accomplices.

The Stool, consequently, through its lawyer, responded to SINO Africa Development Limited, denying knowledge of the grant of the 1,000 acres of land to them by Nii Iddrisu Mansro, Seth Gblie Narteh and Seth Afum, Mr. Joshua Akpeng Tettey, a former Assembly member of the Haanoi Electoral area noted.

Continuing, he said SINO Africa wrote a letter to Nii Iddrisu Tettey Mansro in 2011, informing him that the company has realized that he and his accomplices lacked the capacity to alienate the 1,000 acres of the Appolonia Stool Land and, therefore, they should refund the money to the company.

Portions of the letter dated December 19, 2011, stated As you will recall sometime in 2010, SINO Africa Development Company Limited acquired 1,000 acres of land at Appolonia from your good self and two other persons namely; Seth Gblie Narteh and Seth Afum.

In furtherance of the above stated objective, the company has decided to cease all future payments to your side and further demand a refund of payments made whether in cash or in kind within 14 days from the date of this letter.

He posited that in spite of the education and proper procedural engagements the Stool, through its lawyer, gave SINO Africa, they were surprised the company at that press conference, said they acted genuinely by obtaining the said land from the Chief of the Appolonia Stool.

This sudden u-turn by SINO Africa occurred after the NDC parliamentary primary when a son of Appolonia stood for the election to challenge Laryea Afotey-Agbo who, thereafter, vowed to take vengeance on the Appolonia Stool and its lands.

However, Joshua Nii Akpeng Tettey said SINO Africa and its Chinese partners, hiding behind Afotey-Agbo and Nii Mansro, could be deceiving itself, holding that the GAR Minister cum MP and Nii Mansro were unlawful actors.

SINO Africa can continue funding the MP's political campaign and continue paying money to the three Appolonia rebels, but we, the people of Appolonia, are telling them that we will definitely get to that point of fully stripping naked all the 419 actors.

We will take our lands back and then when we are done, we will deal with the power intoxicated self-styled Regent of Appolonia, who has no royal lineage as far as Appolonia is concerned, he opined.

The Stool Secretary concluded that the gazetted Chief of Appolonia is Nii Nuertey Amobi II, whose lawful enstoolment ceremony were witnessed and authenticated by Nii Tetteh Otu II, Paramount Chief of Kpone Traditional Area and Joseph Nii Laryea Afotey-Agbo in 2014.

When contacted, a couple of months ago on his response to a statement by the Chief of Appolonia, which sought to condemn his activities in Appolonia and its environs, Nii Iddrisu Tettey Mansro said he does not recognize Nii Nuertey Amobi II and his elders and, therefore, would not react to the comments.

Meanwhile, a little over three weeks ago, SINO Africa Development Company Limited organized a press conference, which prompted Tuesday's press meeting by the Appolonia Stool.

At that press conference, Gabriel Forceby -Operations Manager of SINO Africa said his outfit acquired the 1,000 acres of Appolonia Stool lands from the legitimate grantors namely, Nii Iddrisu Tettey Mansro, Seth Gblie Narteh and Seth Afum.

He explained that they did due diligence by conducting a number of searches at the Lands Commission to establish who the lands truly belongs to before entering into an agreement to buy the 1,000 acres of land from the company's grantors.

Unfortunately, The Chronicle could not get the reaction of the Greater Accra Regional Minister, Joseph Nii Laryea Afotey Agbo as all efforts to reach him on his two mobile phones did not work, because the lines were out of coverage area.

The paper could not also get a response to a text message to the Member of Parliament (MP) for the Kpone-Katamanso constituency at the time of going to press.
Speaking at a military lecture on Thursday, the Egyptian President tackled recent issues including relations with Ethiopia and Egypt's UN Security Council votes on Syria.

Egypt's President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi said on Thursday that Egypt has not plotted against Ethiopia or supported the Ethiopian opposition.

"Our choice is cooperation and peace," El-Sisi said in a speech that covered several issues during a military lecture held by the Egyptian armed forces in Cairo on Thursday.

Earlier this week, Ethiopian officials accused Egypt and Eritrea directly of supporting anti-government demonstrations by the Oromo ethnic group.

The Egyptian ministry of foreign affairs denied the allegations entirely.

"I reaffirm to our brothers in Ethiopia that we had two choices, either cooperation or confrontation, and we chose cooperation," El-Sisi said, adding that Egypt's values do not allow supporting any party or opposition outside Egyptian territory.

Egypt and Ethiopia witnessed tensions in recent years over the construction of Ethiopias Grand Renaissance Dam, a project which Cairo fears will negatively affect Egypt's Nile water share. Addis Ababa maintains that the dam project, which Ethiopia needs to generate electricity, would not harm downstream countries.

Relations improved in recent months, particularly after Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan signed in September the final contracts for the long-awaited technical studies on the potential impact of the dam on downstream countries.

Shifting to Egypt's policy towards Syria and the UN Security Council resolutions voted on earlier this week, the Egyptian President stated that Egyptian policy towards the conflict in Syria is independent.

"We looked to the French and Russian draft resolutions and voted on them because both draft resolutions called for a ceasefire and truce that will allow humanitarian aid to Syrian citizens," he said

Reiterating the need for a political solution in Syria, El-Sisi demanded full respect for the Syrian people, the disarming of radical groups and the rebuilding of the Syrian state.

Egypt voted on Saturday for a French-drafted Saudi-backed resolution on Syria and also for a rival Russian proposal.

The French proposal called for an end to all fighting in Aleppo, while the Russian proposal called for a cease-fire. Both proposals failed to pass in the Security Council.

"Nobody can interfere in our strong relations with our brothers in the Gulf, but we have an independent policy that is keen on Arab national security," Egypt's president said.

The Saudi ambassador's departure coincided with a notice from Saudi oil company ARAMCO informing the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation, Egypt's state oil company, in early October that it would halt the supply of refined oil products to Egypt.

"Some observers believed that the decision to suspend oil shipments from Saudi Arabia was because of the UN Security Council votes; it is untrue," El-Sisi said.

"The oil shipments used to come to Egypt according to a deal that was signed in April; we do not know the circumstances of the companies," he added.

Egypt's oil ministry has contracted other foreign suppliers including Kuwait to provide the country with its petroleum needs for October.

"We do not have any oil problem," El-Sisi said.

"There are attempts to pressure us, but Egypt does not bow except for God," he said, but did not provide further detail on such attempts.

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13.10.2016 LISTEN

From Alfred Adams, Tarkwa

The Ghana Pentecostal and Charismatic Council (GPCC), an association of ministers of the gospel, drawn from both the Pentecostal and Charismatic churches in the Tarkwa -Nsuaem Municipality of the Western Region, have extended an appeal to political parties and their leaders to make every effort to conduct their campaigns with decorum, both in word and deed.

Additionally, the campaigns should be devoid of insults and rancour.

The GPCC, which made the appeal at a press conference to state its position on how it wanted politicians and political parties to conduct themselves ahead of the December 7 general elections, added: We will continue to pray and ask God's protection for all politicians throughout their campaigns. For this reason, we expect all political parties in Ghana to desist from using weapons, physical strength, or verbal attacks on their competitors..

Considering the usual practice of politicians engaging in vote-buying, the GPCC urged the parties engaged in such acts to desist, since it did not augur well for the growth of democracy.

The Vice Chairman of the GPCC, Pastor Alexander Nii Ashong, who read the statement on behalf of the Council, however, observed that since most of the politicians were Christians, it was important to be led by their faith as Christians, and remember the need to preserve lives and property, even as they go about their peaceful campaigns.

Turning to the electorate, the GPCC Vice Chairman, Ashong, asked the electorate to avoid tribalism and sectionalism, and rather be each other's keeper.

Reminding the electorate that Ghanaians were one people with one destiny, he said All political parties belong to Ghanaians, and yet God is using the electorate to select a president for our country, and parliamentarian for your constituency.

As a result, they should not sell their conscience for what he described as a mess of pottage'.

That apart, they should also not allow themselves to be used in any way, covertly or overtly, to harm anybody.

Turning attention to the Electoral Commission (EC), the GPCC Vice Chairman called on the country's mandated electoral body to be neutral, not only at its headquarters, but in the districts and regional levels, where it operates.

For this reason, nothing should be done in favour or seen to be in favour of one party against the other. Any party or individual, which has complaints, particularly, about the work of the EC, should lodge them at the right quarters, instead of resorting to unorthodox means.

It is this reason that the GPCC believes all must allow the EC and the security agencies to do their work in peace.

Continuing, the GPCC appealed to the security agencies assigned to assist with the electoral process, to also be neutral. Offenders of the electoral process, according to the GPCC, should not be manhandled, but taken through lawful process in love and respect.

The GPCC also reminded the media to discharge their critical gatekeeper role with excellence.

As you remind yourselves of your professional ethics and the laws of Ghana, we appeal to you to bear in mind your brother and sisters in this country whose lives could be put in danger by any deliberate foul broadcasts from you.

God, according to the GPCC, would ask journalists for the blood of any innocent person who will lose his life, as a result of any evil scheme from media personnel. As gate keepers, guard the public from evil reports and talk peace, unity and brotherliness. For this is of God.

Pix: Pastor Alexander Nii Ashong reading the statement flanked by members of the GPCC
13.10.2016 LISTEN

A GNA feature by Dennis Peprah

Mental illness, according to medicine, is a chronic disorder diagnosed, most often by a psychiatrist, of a behavioral or mental pattern that may cause suffering, or poor ability to function in life.

Such features may be persistent, relapsing and remitting, or occur as a single episode. Many disorders have been described with signs and symptoms that vary widely between specific disorders. The causes of mental disorders are often unclear. Theories may incorporate findings from a range of fields.

Mental disorders are usually defined by a combination of how a person behaves, feels, perceives or thinks. This may be associated with particular regions or functions of the brain, often in a social context. It is believed that cultural and religious beliefs, as well as social norms, should be taken into account, when making a diagnosis.

Services are based in psychiatric hospitals or in the community, and assessments are carried out by psychiatrists, clinical psychologists, and clinical social workers, using various methods, but often relying on observation and questioning.

Treatments are also provided by various mental health professionals, and psychotherapy and psychiatric medication are two major treatment options. Other treatments include social interventions, peer support and self-help, while in a minority of cases, there might be involuntary detention or treatment. Prevention programmes have been shown to reduce depression.

According psychiatrists and historians, common mental disorders in Ghana include depression, dementia and schizophrenia. Stigma and discrimination could also add to the suffering and disability associated with mental disorders, leading to various social movements attempting to increase understanding and challenge social exclusion.

Mental health problems could cover a broad range of disorders, but the common characteristic is that they all affect the affected person's personality, thought processes, or social interactions. They could be difficult to clearly diagnose, unlike physical illnesses.

Sometimes clinical history, family history and outlook are similar among a group of people with mental disorders and in these situations their condition could be defined as a specific disorder syndrome. According to medical experts, the human brain is the source of mental illness.

Although the symptoms of a disorder may affect any part of the body, the electrical events that produce the symptoms occur in the brain. Societal myth surrounding mental disorders is a huge challenge that impedes treatment of patients.

Because of societal marginalisation, discrimination and stigmatisation of epileptic patients, some family members fail to send patients for treatment, or seek medical advice, with the idea that the problem is linked to witchcraft.

Though medicine has proven beyond every reasonable doubt that strict adherence to the course of medication could facilitate treatment and the curing process of people with mental disabilities, families hide them in homes to protect their dignity.

Sometimes the situation is very bad in deprived areas, as communities continue to stigmatise patients, families, and relatives of the mentally-deranged, because they habour the superstitious belief that the ailment is linked to witchcraft and trans-generational curse.

Lack of required human resources and other necessary logistics, over the years, with increased access to mental health treatment services still remain a challenge in the country.

But in the Brong-Ahafo Region, the opportunity has been created to augment the government's efforts, and thanks to MIHOSO International, a health centred non-governmental organisation (NGO), and its partners, for the implementation of a three-year project on mental health in the region.

The NGO, in collaboration with BasicNeeds Ghana, another NGO, sought funding from the Department for International Development of the United Kingdom, and started the project's implementation in all the 27 Municipal and District Assemblies in the region in 2014.

According to Dr. Gabriel Gbiel Benarkuu, Chief Executive Officer of MIHOSO International, in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA), the three-year project, expected to end in 2017, is aimed at fighting discrimination and improve access to quality healthcare for patients in the region. The project, he said, after two and half years of implementation, had achieved significant successes.

Outlining some of the achievements, Dr. Benarkuu said almost all public health facilities in the eight municipal and 19 district assemblies in the region had accepted the need to integrate mental healthcare into mainstream health care delivery.

Initially, the CEO observed, the stigmatisation of mental illness patients is very high in the health facilities, as some health workers abuse the rights of patients when they seek medical attention.

Aside these, Dr. Benarkuu said the project had identified and trained managers of 69 prayer camps and traditional healers, and created a link between them and the various Municipal and District Directorates of Health Services in the treatment and curing processes of patients.

He stated that 112 people suffering from mental illness and epilepsy have been put into groups in 17 districts, with many of them engaged in employable skills training to enhance their socio-economic well-being.

Dr. Benarkuu said the project had also trained 100 community volunteers, who detect and refer early warning signs of mental and other neurological disorders to mental health coordinators in the various districts.

He called for a Legislative Instrument (LI) to facilitate a realistic implementation of the Mental Health Law, saying, because of the lack of an LI, the law could not operate effectively.

Mr. Joseph Yere, Regional Coordinator of Mental Health, told the GNA epilepsy is recording high figures in the region.

The cases were highly reported among patients from four -18 years, he said, and commended MIHOSO International and its partners, for the support towards addressing the mental health situation in the region.

He appealed to pregnant women to attend antenatal clinics regularly, and ensure that they always deliver at health facilities.

Mr. Yere said some mental disorders and epilepsy could be treated, when patients strictly adhered to their prescriptions, and advised parents and guardians to ensure that patients regularly took their medications.

He said, depression, especially among women, is also assuming alarming proportions, and financial constraints and marital problems are some of the causes.

Mr. Yere commended the government for addressing the recurrent shortages of drugs for mental health patients, saying many are recuperating as a result of the availability of drugs.

Source: GNA


The Hague (AFP) - Former Congolese warlord Thomas Lubanga should not have to pay reparations to all child soldiers conscripted into the country's brutal northeastern conflict, his lawyer told war crimes judges Thursday.

"That would turn Thomas Lubanga into a scapegoat for the phenomenon of child soldiers in Ituri," lawyer Jean-Marie Biju-Duval said.

He was speaking on the second and final day of hearings at the International Criminal Court seeking to determine the reparations to be paid to support projects to help rehabilitate the victims.

Lubanga was found guilty in 2012 of abducting children -- boys and girls -- as young as 11 and press-ganging them into his Union of Congolese Patriots (UPC) in the eastern Ituri region of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

He was jailed for 14 years in a sentence later upheld on appeal.

But the court also ruled that Lubanga is personally liable for reparations to his victims, who at the time of the crimes in 2002-2003 were all under the age of 15.

"Which child soldiers?" asked Lubanga's lawyer, saying it would be difficult to identify victims and risk reviving tensions in Ituri, which "since the late 1990s... like all of the eastern DRC had been overwhelmed by the phenomenon of child soldiers."

Experts say most of these former child fighters are "often forgotten, living the consequences of stigmatisation."

Lubanga, who is currently in a DRCongo jail has proposed through his lawyers to take part in a "traditional reconciliation ceremony."

Victims' representative Luc Walleyn said he was "pleased with this announcement as it seems to imply that Mr Lubanga is finally admitting the reality of recruitment of children under 15 years."

The reparations case was opened in 2012, but has bogged down as lawyers and experts have wrestled with the best way of ensuring that the victims -- many of whom are now in their 30s and have children of their own -- can be helped.

The Trust Fund for Victims, an independent body set up to help administer ICC reparations, is seeking approval from the court for a three-year plan of projects to help rehabilitate the victims.

It has set aside 1 million euros ($1.1 million) to fund projects aimed at "reconciling the victims with their families and affected communities".

But the hearing heard earlier this week that more funds should be allocated to the victims and the programme stretched over five years.
Aboard the Astral (AFP) - Waves 2.5 metres high, winds of 50 kilometres (30 miles) an hour and a sinking dinghy: rescuers described Thursday a race into Libyan waters to save 113 migrants, with 15 others lost to the raging sea.

The white rubber dinghy had set off Wednesday from Sabrata, taking advantage of a break in the bad weather to make a bid for Italy's shores, but the 130 or so people aboard soon ran into trouble when the wind whipped up.

"It became hellish", said AFP photographer Aris Messinis, who is aboard the Astral, a vessel chartered by Spanish humanitarian NGO, Proactiva Open Arms, which patrols the area looking for boats in distress.

As night began to fall the desperate migrants sent a distress call to the Italian coast guard, which sent the Astral their way, along with the Phoenix, run by the Maltese NGO MOAS, and the Iuventa, run by the German NGO Jugend Rettet.

The Phoenix's drone managed to pin-point the dinghy eight nautical miles off the Libyan coast, some four miles inside Libyan waters and therefore in an area off-limits to foreign rescue vessels.

- Shot at or boarded -

A migrant holds onto a rope during a rescue operation some eight nautical miles off Libya's Mediterranean coastline on October 12, 2016

Several NGO boats have been shot at or boarded by armed men for having sailed too close to Libyan waters this year.

In September the Libyan coast guard arrested two Germans from the NGO Sea-Eye, accusing them of having crossed into its territory.

Often rescue boats have had to wait for overcrowded dinghies to get into international waters before they intervene. But on Wednesday night, it was clear this one was not going to make it.

"We said to the Libyan coast guard that we were entering no matter what because the boat was sinking, and they finally accepted," Messinis said.

A MAOS spokesman confirmed the rescue operation took place in Libyan waters, explaining that it was a rare occurrence: it had happened at least once before, several weeks ago, and once again with the Libyan coast guard's permission.

'He was crying'

A growing number of people are attempting the treacherous sea journey from Libya or Egypt, after the closure of the Balkan migrant trail route leading from Greece to western Europe

By the light of their floodlights the rescuers managed to pull to safety 113 people including 89 men, 11 women, 11 teenagers and two younger children.

But survivors told MOAS that there had been some 130 people on board originally. The list of the missing includes a 16-year old girl, five adolescents and a little boy who had been soon to turn three.

"I was on the rubber boat with my son, he was crying and holding on to me. The sea was rough and the boat was taking on water. At one point some people started to panic," his Nigerian mother told rescuers.

"The next thing I knew I was pushed into the water and I lost my son in the chaos as I was trying to grab a life jacket. In a few days he would have been three years old," she was quoted as saying in a MOAS statement.

Despite the stormy weather, the ships spent an hour searching the waters in the darkness, but found neither survivors nor bodies.

Some 145,000 migrants have been picked up in the Mediterranean and brought to Italy since the start of 2016

Many of those rescued were suffering from fuel burns, including a woman in a state of shock with 36 percent of her body covered in first degree burns. She could not be evacuated immediately due to the bad weather.

Mixed with salt water, the fuel has devastating effects on the skin, particularly for women who, unlike men, often do not want to remove their contaminated clothing for modesty or religious reasons.

Some 145,000 migrants have been picked up and brought to Italy since the start of 2016. According to the UN, at least 3,626 people have died during the perilous crossings or are lost at sea.
The Electoral Commission has denied media reports it has disqualified 24 parliamentary aspirants in the Ashanti Region.

Ashanti Regional Director, Serebour Quaicoe, says the affected aspirants who were among 240 to submit their forms, failed to pay their filing fees as at the September 30, 2016 deadline.

Only aspirants of the National Democratic Congress, Convention Peoples Party, Progressive Peoples Party and the Peoples National Convention paid filing fees.

Mr. Quaicoe told Nhyira FM neither the Regional nor the District office has the power to disqualify any aspirant.

His denial follows reports by media portals that some 24 aspirants have been disqualified.

As I speak, 24 of the candidates have not submitted their deposits and because the districts and the region do not have the power to disqualify anybody, we have made our comments on the forms and sent them to Accra for Accra to know whats happening. So we cannot disqualify anybody at the district or regional level, he explained.

He revealed some of the parliamentary candidates who are with political parties failed to pay their filing fees and so too were independent candidates, some of whom have now written officially to withdraw from the race.

According to Mr. Quaicoe he was misreported by journalists at a training programme organized by the National Media Commission in Kumasi, something he does not take kindly to.

Meanwhile, Mr. Quaicoe is asking journalists to be circumspect with their reportage ahead of the 2016 elections.
13.10.2016 LISTEN

I've come to realise that Ghanaian men don't respect women. Ghanaian men think women do not deserve to occupy high positions. Even though some men are incompetent, they still get to occupy very high positions in society but once a woman ascends to high office, a litany of questions are asked about her competence and qualification. Meanwhile, women never ask those questions about a lot of incompetent men who get to occupy such high officesHow can Mr. Ayariga say Mrs. Charlotte Osei is not qualified? How is she not qualified" (Joyce Aryee)

THE RHETORICAL INDISCRETIONS AND EMOTIONAL BUFFOONERY OF DR. AYARICOUGH

Since the respected Chair of the Electoral Commission (EC), Madam Charlotte Osei, came out strongly against some presidential candidates by revoking their candidacies within the Commissions constitutional remits, there have been all kinds of threats thrown at the EC and its no-nonsense Chair.

It is rather sad though understandable, if we may add, that, for merely operating within her scope of responsibilities, she will be subjected to a running continuum of unapologetic tantrums, insults, sexist aspersions, and hatred.

The other day it was Nana Obiri Boahen who placed the dignity of the person of Madam Osei beneath prostitutes.

The day before it had been Kennedy Agyapong who, among other outrageous claims, controversially alleged she battered her womanhood for her current office.

Today, the spitfire Hassan Ayariga, more a grudging national symbol of political satire and emotional buffoonerynot even comparable to the likeness of Akua Donkor in terms of the frivolity of political expression, than a political animal who is convincingly expected to operate outside the circuslike loburality of non-seasoned political players in the general scheme of thingstoo had the temerity to throw mud at the dignified person of Madam Osei in a vulgar rhetoric of emotional waywardness typical of cowed male chauvinists in the redoubtable presence of intelligent women:

Madam Charlotte Osei herself is not qualified to be an EC leader. She's stupid and foolishI am telling you she is not qualified to be an electoral commissioner. Somebody who has contested in an election in the past, you are telling me you don't know his identity.

Are you normal? And for that reason you disqualify that person? Does it make sense to you? That you tell me that Hassan Ayariga, you don't know his identity? Who the fuck are you?"

This language is unacceptable!

If Ayariga had any questions whatsoever about Madam Oseis discretionary powers insofar as the exercise of her constitutional mandate is concerned, why didnt he consider referring those questions to a competent jurisdiction for adjudication rather than aiming his unapologetic rhetorical violence at the EC Chair? Ayariga also reportedly made these comments elsewhere:

I am telling you she is not qualified to be an electoral commissioner. Somebody who has contested in an election in the past, you are telling me you don't know his identity. Are you normal? And for that reason you disqualify that person? Does it make sense to you? That you tell me that Hassan Ayariga, you don't know his identity?...This is the joke of the century."

While he blamed the EC for selective ignorance in denying his application, Ayariga may not have considered the option or theory that in Ghana, our own Ghana, Nkrumahs Ghana, strange things do in fact happen for inexplicable reasons. He had better go and ask General Erskine, as he used to be called!

Lieutenant General Emmanuel Erskine, for instance, was reportedly awarded a zero count for his candidacy in the same constituency where he, the then-presidential candidate of the Peoples Heritage Party (PHP), inexplicably appeared to have voted for another presidential candidate.

In fact, one of Lieutenant General Erskines sons who also happened to be this authors university mate and with whom he lived in the same community of Dansoman Esates, Zodiac, got persistently teased that his father voted against himself! Others also bashed the soldier for voting against himself!

Notwithstanding, what are democracy, press freedom and freedom of the press turning Ghana into?

Several theories have since been advanced to explain away his rhetorical indiscretions, including the rather hyperbolic if absurd assertion that, he, Ayaricough, had spent a whopping $4.5 million on vehicles meant for his campaign, an outrageous expenditure that somehow justifies his insulting tantrums against the EC Chair.

Where are these politicians getting all these suspicious monies from? Why has Ghanas democracy become so outrageously expensive? Why do we spent so much money on political campaigns when children sit under trees to study, when hospitals have no beds and medicine, when public services are in such deplorable states, when we have no motorable roads and so on?

What is wrong with us as a people?

That is not to say politicians cannot spend money anyhow they want if the sources of their wealth are legal, or legitimate.

Unfortunately exorbitant expenditure of this nature breeds corruption in the sphere of politics, in that some of these heartless politicians eventually gain access to the Flagstaff House and suddenly, they are presented with a golden opportunity to recoup their investments.

Part of the reason for the rampant nature of political corruption in our body politics boils to this simple formula of exorbitant expenditure on electioneering practices.

Yet, hopefully, when we look at the decision of the EC in the disqualification controversy and some of the reasons accompanying them, we can then begin to understand why Ama Ata Aidoo boycotted a well-patronized event meant to honor her.

This also brings back nagging memories of the so-called Brochure Saga at the heart of the independence celebrations last year.

Of course, administrative errors are inevitable but forgery and impersonation are not!

This view may have constituted the moral subtext of the ECs radical decision to disqualify those thirteen presidential candidates.

But, that moral subtext appears to have a technical basis in constitutional facts from the standpoint of the EC understanding of electoral laws.

We are however yet to know if Eric Dzakpasu, the Director of Communications at the Commission is correct when he said those parties which were disqualified, were actually offered an opportunity to rectify their administrative errors and other such errors though they would still return the error-plagued forms, a policy position vigorously contested by Nana Agyenim Boateng, the presidential candidate of the United Front Party. He reportedly offered the following riposte:

They did not notify me; it is the first time hearing this mistake. Is this fair. Is this democratic?

The point is that democracy is not fair! It is sad, even regrettable, when democracy hands over power to unqualified persons! Democracy has also turned political sickos into a land of nagging litigants.

But EC employees and its Char are doing the job entrusted to them, a mandate to executive no matter the comical rants and manipulations of aggrieved Machiavellian politicians!

Fairness should be the catchword for our newfound electoral politics and the EC and its Chair should take note.

In the main, private citizens can file amicus briefs in behalf of the aggrieved candidates while the aggrieved candidates on the other hand can appeal to locus standi in their own behalf.

Last, but certainly not the least, the ECs sweeping decision gives the fragmented Nkrumahist parties another golden opportunity to reconsider joining forces to break the hegemony on the nations duopoly.

Finally, we commend Hassan Ayariga (and the leadership of his party) for mustering courage and rendering a qualified apology to the EC and its Chair, coming after he had publicly said he did not regret insulting the latter.

Ayaricough has come of age. Akua Donkor is waiting to give him a big embrace for manning up.

Kennedy Agyapong, Nana Obiri Boahenare you people there and listening to Ayaricough?

CONCLUDING REMARKS

Anything we do, we do it based on law; we dont just do things the way we want it. You are supposed to present your forms on the 29th and 30th and make sure that every detail that you have provided on the nomination form meets the requirement of law. So if you dont meet it you dont turn round and blame the EC for disqualifying you (Yussuf Ayuba, Deputy Communications Director of the EC).

We need to commend this great non-establishmentarian woman, Madam Charlotte Osei for maintaining her dignified silence in the face of a barrage of insults, aspersions, and dehumanization. She needs that resolve to effectively deal with our wayward, impatient and ungrateful politicians.

In response to a question about the challenges she faces, real and perceived, as the boss of the EC, here is what she had to say about her regret for taking on the EC job in the first place:

Yes! Its difficult on some daysI think whatever or wherever God places you its a ministry and because of that even when the job is difficult you remember that it is a ministryI get lots of messages of support and prayers from family members

This is not a job that I think is easy anywhere in the world. But I think it is particularly difficult in Ghana and Africa when you are particularly a woman. I can take the stone but Im worried for my children and on those days you get siblings calling and worrying you. I can take it but for those it is worrying.

Asked by Nii Arday Clegg, the host of Morning Starr (Starr 103.5 FM) if she intended throwing in the towel, she had this to say:

I dont think that is a choice. Its a ministry.

Indeed, such is the appealing character of an intelligent, discerning woman with concrete resolve! And if we may also add, no doubt her congenial resolve is a harbinger of good and greater things to come!

It is such a great sight to behold, of her strong personality, that this intimidating barrage of insults has not succeeded in making her steeled will amenable to the invidious dictates and schemes of her critics.

She therefore ends up making her attackers look like political newborns with undeveloped and underdeveloped brains.

Madam Osei is, after all, a smarter woman than most of her critics are willing to give her credit for. Of course, her critics are not intelligent and discerning enough to see this great woman as an embodiment of strategic and tactical astuteness.

It may not be clear to all but she appears to have been using her strategic and tactical astuteness to protect her authority from being eroded piecemeal by an avalanche of intimidating verbal attacks and outright lies against her person, a policy mechanism that could potentially divert the country from post-election conflicts.

She must understand that all the public denunciations of her leadership style are merely calculated instruments meant to get at her inner strength of institutional justice and to turn it into a firestorm of immanent perturbation, a means to force her to usurp her authority and make her lose focus.

She must then resist all attempts by her detractors to deploy any such Machiavellian mechanisms against her, to destroy her public appeal thereby turning her into a repulsive public enemy to their exclusive partisan advantage. The EC and its Chair are neutral and this should remain as it is, simply inviolate!

She should consider her perverse critics as ordinary objects within the operating framework of resistentialism. Not allowing these enemies of progress to use her potential riposte (s) to their political gimmicks as a barometer of how good and effective their strategy is, or has been, is in her own interest and that of the institutional integrity of the EC which embodies her strengths and weaknesses, her vision.

Give them an inch, they take a yard

Given them a yard, they take a mile

And everything is just for a while

So saith Bob Marley (Real Situation).

We, therefore, shall advise to her to maintain her steeled neutrality in the face of invidious provocations so that partisan politics does not succeed in distracting her from exercising the fullest continuum of her constitutional mandates. She needs this. And the country needs it too!

Silence is not only golden but sacrosanct as well! Thus, staying above the simmering fray of partisan politics and its potential for the internal destabilization of the country should define her credo of neutrality.

And, oh, yes, finally, she also has her closet fandom to celebrate the little successes she has chalked for the EC and Ghanaians under her able leadership. This is what should matter the most to her.

Madam Charlotte Osei, please just ignore all those critics of yours who are not constructively helpful to you as you solemnly carry out your mandates as the respected headship of one of the nations most prized democratic institutions. And do not also imitate the weaknesses of your male critics, enemies and detractors. Some of them had wished they occupied your golden seat of opportunity!

REFERENCES

Ghanaweb. EC boss 'Stupid, Foolish'Hassan Ayariga. October 14, 2016.

Ghanaweb. Hassan Ayariga Blows $4.5m On Campaign Cars. October 13, 2016.

Ghanaweb. Disqualified Aspirants Have Themselves To BlameEC Suggests. October 10, 2016.

Ghanaweb. I Dont Regret Insulting Charlotte OseiAyariga. October 11, 2016.

Ghanaweb. Hassan Ayariga Apologises To EC Chair For Stupid Comment. October 11, 2016.

Ghanaweb. There're Incompetent Men' In high OfficesJoyce Aryee. October 13, 2016.

Ghanaweb. I Wish I Hadnt Taken EC JobCharlotte Osei. January 11, 2016.

Ghanaweb. We Arent Ready To Accept Any PleaEC. October 11, 2016.
The flagbearer of the New Patriotic Party says president John Mahama remains the biggest threat to the future of the country and must be voted out of office.

Nana Akufo-Addo told students of Pentecost University during his campaign tour of the Greater Accra Region that four more years of Mahama will be an unimaginable disaster.

According to him, the country has seen the slowest rate of growth in the economy in 22 years, a record that does not bode well for an economy with oil.

The GDP is projected to grow below 4% at the end of 2016, far lower than the 14% the economy grew at in 2012 when the president assumed office.

This Akufo-Addo insists is unacceptable.

"When people come to speak to you, they talk about the future because you are the future. But I am going to say something a little bit different. Every year since John Mahama became president, our economy has shrank. This year we are going to have the slowest rate of growth in our economy in 22 years.

"What it means is that your ability to walk out of here and get a job is being compromised right now.

"Four more years of John Mahama will mean you have no future to look up to. So the responsibility for you is that together we will make sure that the threat to our future which Mahama represents will be removed forever," he stated.

The former Trade Minister Alan Kyeremanten who was part of the campaign tour said the issue of unemployment and the growth of businesses remain the biggest problems facing Ghanaians.

"There is only one party in this country that has shown by its record in government and also by its vision that they can address these two challenges," he stated

He urged the students to vote for Nana Akufo-Addo, the MP for the area, Shirley Ayorkor Botchway to define their future.

Nana Akufo-Addo's Accra campaign took him to Sowutuom, Ablekuma, Alhaji, Tabora, Joy News' Latif Iddris reported.

The NPP campaign team is expected to spend more time in the Greater Accra Region due to voter population in the region.

Story by Ghana|Myjoyonline.com|Nathan Gadugah
President John Dramani Mahama has promised to renovate all major markets across the country including the Mallam Atta, Mankessim, Selaha, and Techiman markets if he is re-elected into office.

On his continued campaign tour of the Greater Accra Region Thursday, the president recounted how many of the markets have been gutted by fires in years past which made most of the sellers lose millions.

President Mahama explained that a good number of markets in the country were not in good shape and were prone to fire outbreak which results in traders losing their wares.

The tour started with a stop at the Abeka Market where the President urged traders to ensure that this year's polls is peaceful.

From the Abeka Market, he headed to the Mallam Attah market where he outdoored the party's parliamentary candidate William Afum Ani-Adjei.

He said government has started renovating the Kejetia, Tamale and other markets and assured the market women that in his next term in office he would renovate the Mallam Atta market as well.

President Mahama then made a stop at Kotobabi before heading to the University of Ghana where he is expected to talk about his government's plans to create more jobs for graduates.

At Kotobabi he told the teeming supporters to look around them and appreciate the ongoing Kotobabi Cluster of School being put up to better their lives.

He promised that when given another term in office more of such infrastructure would come and urged them to dismiss promises of money being put into their pockets by their political opponents.

He emphasised that with the huge structures they are going to employ teachers as well as create opportunities for other people.

Story by Ghana| Myjoyonline.com
Accra, Oct. 13, GNA - Trade volume between China and Ghana as at the end of 2015 was $6.604 billion, representing an18.2 per cent increase from the previous year.

This ranked Ghana as the sixth major trading partner for China in Africa, a statement from the Chinese Embassy in Ghana, and copied to the Ghana News Agency, has said.

China's exports to Ghana in the same year was $5.308 billion, an increase of 28.39 per cent from the previous year's.

The statement said China's imports from Ghana was, however, $1.296 billion in 2015, a decrease of 10.81 per cent from the previous year's.

China's non-financial direct investment in Ghana in 2015 was 174 million dollars, ranking it also at sixth in Africa.

That brings China's non-financial direct investment in Ghana up to 2015 at 1.3 billion dollars, according to the statement.

The statement said the newly signed contracts by Chinese enterprises of international construction in Ghana the same year, was $1,286 billion, ranking 14th in Africa.

In effect, the statement said, the newly signed contracts by Chinese enterprises of international construction in Ghana up to 2015, stood at $15 billion.

The statement said since 2008, China has helped trainned more than 2,500 persons free of charge every year.

In 2015 alone, China trained 700 Ghanaians.

'About 4700 Ghanaian students are being trained in China, the highest number of foreign students in the country, the statement added.

GNA
Ho, Oct. 13, GNA - Mr. Mahama Nuhu, the Deputy Volta Regional Director of the Electoral Commission, (EC) has said all polling stations in the December General Election would be accessible to the visually impaired.

He said the Commission was aware of the challenges faced by people living with disabilities at polling stations and it had, therefore, put measures in place to avoid inconveniences to the visually impaired.

Mr Nuhu gave the assurance at a Training of Trainers' workshop on Tactile Ballot by the Ghana Blind Union (GBU) for its members in the Volta Region in Ho.

The workshop was funded by the Canada Fund for Local Initiative, and it was aimed at preparing members of the Union for the general election and also to reduce spoiled ballots.

Mr Nuhu said the tactile ballot since its introduction in 1999, had enabled the visually impaired to vote without assistance and in secrecy.

The Executive Director of the GBU, Dr. Peter Obeng Asamoah, however, called for the regular practice by its member to perfect the tactile ballot system ahead of the polls.

The participants were taken through a mock election exercise using the tactile ballot, comprised of a tactile jacket.

GNA
Egypt's parliament will most likely endorse a draft bill regulating media operations or at least discuss it before the end of year, senior MP Osama Heikal said.

Veteran journalists say the law, jointly drafted by the government and the press syndicate, is much-needed to keep media "chaos" at bay by guaranteeing oversight and legal accountability while preserving basic rights and freedoms.

Many press and media figures accuse the government of intentionally stalling the bill and imposing amendments underminig rights granted to journalists and media personnel in earlier versions of the draft.

"We are now trying to solve problems of the bill after the government has stalled it twice," Heikal, head of the parliament's media committee, said on a local television channel on Wednesday.

The parliament will endorse the legislation or at least start looking at it before the end of year, he added

The law is now being reviewed by the State Council, a high-level judicial body that gives legal advice to the government on draft laws.

Completed in August 2015 after months in the making, the unified law was drawn up by a 50-member committee of press leaders and law professors.

The bill, which the government has said is comprised of 230 articles, establishes a higher media council and two separate national authorities governing public and private media organisations.

It includes provisions guaranteeing press independence and others banning monopolies on TV channels and newspapers, setting a maximum share of 10 percent for individuals.

The law imposes fines for violations committed by news organisations, and subjects both private and public media to legal governance.



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By Amadu Kamil Sanah, GNA

Asoukaw (E/R), Oct. 13, GNA - The Council of Elders and the National Executives of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) Zongo Caucus have asked the Zongo communities to vote massively on December 7 to retain President John Dramani Mahama in power.

This they said President Mahama was the only candidate who could sustain the nation on the path of progress and development.

Speaking to Zongo Communities at Adeiso, Asuokaw, Asamankese in the Upper and Lower West Akim Districts and Akyem Oda Municipality of the Eastern Region, Alhaji Shamsu Kwakwa, a member of the NDC National Campaign Committee who led the delegation indicated that a lot had been achieved by the government of President Mahama and expressed optimism that the people would give him another four-year term.

He used the occasion to introduce the Party's Parliamentary candidates for Upper West Akim, Mr Derek Ohene Assifo Bekoe who is also the District Chief Executive and Shirley Naana Osei-Ampem, Lower West Akim.

Alhaji Shamsu Kwakwa urged supporters of the NDC to avoid complacency and accept to work hard and with total commitment to reach out to every voter in their electoral areas.

'We in the leadership of the Zongo Caucus go from house-to-house to help the people to appreciate the good things done by the Mahama Administration to ensure resounding victory in both the presidential and parliamentary elections,' he said.

Alhaji Shamsu Kwakwa highlighted the strong and admirable leadership qualities of the President and the NDC's team of parliamentary candidates, describing them as 'assets' to both the Party and the nation and called for the people to elect them to represent them.

Alhaji Yussif Captain, Chairman of the Zongo Caucus Council of Elders said the promises made by President Mahama during his first term had been fulfilled.

These include the completion of the first phase of the Tamale International Airport and the lifting of the Pilgrims from the northern zone at the Airport direct to The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the construction of the community day senior high schools.

He said the projects also include the expansion of the Tema and Takoradi harbours, the Kwame Nkrumah Circle and Kasoa interchanges, the Eastern Corridor Roads, Regional and District hospitals and the construction of Ho, upgrading of Kumasi and expansion of Kotoka International airports.

Mrs Mavis Ama Frimpong-Gati, Regional Minister said President Mahama's love, compassion and respect for people living in zongos communities was an indication of making every citizenry equal.

She appealed to the people not to listen to the lies of the New Patriotic Party and advice them to come out in their numbers on election day and vote massively for the NDC.

Alhaji Mohammed Arimiyawu, National Coordinator of the Zongo Caucus popularly known as 'Coolie Younger', said President Mahama would every year offer full scholarships to 80 female Muslims to study medicine in Cuba to avert the uncomfortability of Christian male doctors treating female Muslims.

According to him, this has never happened in the history of any government in the country and that the commitment towards the development of Muslims and Zongo communities was imbedded in the heart of President Mahama.

Mr Bekoe announced that a number of roads including Adeiso town roads had been awarded on contract to open up the area.

GNA
By Gideon Ahenkorah, GNA

Accra, Oct. 13, GNA - The Ghana Rice inter-Professional Body (GRIB) has called on consumers to patronize locally produced rice to ensure the viability and growth of industry.

It said the low patronage of local rice is a great disservice to small and medium Enterprises (SMEs) who have invested their resources into its production.

Speaking at the third annual Ghana National Rice Festival held in Accra, Mr Imoro Amoro, the President of GRIB, said there has been improvements in the production and packaging of local rice and this is geared at meeting the demands and tastes of consumers.

The two-day event dubbed, 'To promote made in Ghana rice' was held under the theme: "Eat Quality Ghana Rice for A Healthy Life".

Mr Amoro said with the improved state in the industry it is incumbent upon government to make more investments in the local rice industry and to make it the preferred choice for consumers.

"Today rice is eaten 7 days a week, [yet] the country imports tons of rice every year", he said.

Mr Amoro called on government to support the initiatives of GRIB as it seeks to establish mechanization centers at all rice growing areas of the nation.

He appealed for the imposition of special levies on rice imports saying it would boost local production as the nation currently spends over 500million dollars annually on rice imports.

Mr Amoro said the nation's first Ghana Rice Business center was commissioned in August at Asutsuare and it has made remarkable contributions to the production of local rice to feed consumers.

He called on government to make concessional funding accessible to the rice industry as it would help us increase rice production.

As part of its effort to increase the patronage of local rice, Mr Imoro Amoro said GRIB is launching a quality Ghana Rice Certification logo which bears the accreditations of Ghana Standard Authority, Food and Drugs Authority and Brand Ghana office of the Ministry of Trade and Industry.

The event, which brought together many stakeholders and civil bodies, was sponsored by USAID-ADVANCE, John Agyekum Kuffuor Foundation, GIZ, Tara, Christian Aid, Wienco and Nestle Ghana Limited.

GNA
By Bajin D. Pobia, GNA

Wa, Oct. 13, GNA - Naa Dr Puoure Puobe Chiir, President of the Upper West Regional House of Chiefs, has appealed to politicians to watch their words and think of the nation and its expected future before they speak.

He said politics is not about war but issues that affect the people and care must be taken in our political discourse to maintain the peace the country is enjoying.

Naa Dr Chiir, who is also the Paramount Chief of the Nandom Traditional Area, said Ghanaians owed it to the dead, the living and posterity to keep Ghana together in peace during the forthcoming elections.

'We have worked so hard to sustain peace over the years and we need to act collectively to ensure that 2016 general elections are violent free, fair and transparent to help consolidate the peace', he said.

Nandom-Naa made the appeal in a speech read on his behalf by the Gwollu Kuoru, Kuri Buktie Limann at a stakeholders' forum for peaceful presidential and parliamentary elections held in Wa.

The Konrad Adenaeur Stifftung sponsored the forum which was attended by traditional rulers, queen mothers, political youth activists, security personnel, the clergy and the media

He said Ghanaians need to respect the rights of others as they associate with the political parties of their choice and nobody should do anything contrary to the choice of the electorate in the coming general elections.

'I am happy the President has continuously assured the nation of peaceful free and fair elections. I would urge all actors on the political scene not to throw the caution to the wind but whip their supporters in line to make the peace we yearning for a reality', he said.

'Let us give ourselves a clean peaceful election. We have done it six times and we can do it again', the Nandom-Naa said.

Naa Dr Chiir urged functionaries of political parties and their supporters to see each other as having different approaches to the enterprise Ghana but with the same agenda to improve the lot of Ghanaians.

He urged the leadership of political parties to openly condemn violence in all its forms and advocate dialogue and the use of laid down regulations to their supporters and sympathisers.

'In other words, political parties should mobilise and educate party followers and members on the need to avoid violence as part of their campaign strategy'.

Security Agencies, the police in particular must be proactive, decisive and objective in all their actions.

Other bodies such as the Electoral Commission, National Commission on Civic Education, Regional Security Council and District Security Councils should also stick to their respective mandates to make the elections free and fair.

Naa Dr Chiir expressed disappointment at the type of negative news being churned out to the people.

He said the region is already challenged with health, education, poor roads, housing, potable water supply and incidence of various diseases, yet the media is not setting the priorities right to make up for the difference.

The President of the Regional Houses of Chiefs called on the media to refocus its attention to priorities of the people and educate them on issues which undermined their total development.

On politicians paying courtesy call on traditional rulers during campaigns to seek their blessing, Naa Dr Chiir urged them not turn them away but receive them but opine 'your neutrality' stance.

'Use the opportunity to canvas for the development of your traditional area and peace among party supporters before, during and after the presidential and parliamentary elections', said.

'Violent normally erupts when those who are supposed to speak refuse to speak and those who are supposed to act refuse to act', he said.

GNA
By Philip Tengzu, GNA

Wa, Oct. 13, GNA - Rotary Club, a Civil Society Organization (CSO), which provides humanitarian services to the society has donated a total of 232 units of blood to help boost the Upper West Regional Hospital's blood bank.

The donation forms part of the Club's three month project to donate 2000 units of blood to help the Ghana National Blood Service (NBS) to achieve its annual target of 250,000 units of blood.

The campaign which is under the theme: 'Donate Blood, Save a Live' is spearheaded by the Rotary Club of Accra-Ring Road Central and is expected to be carried out in all the regions of the country.

Maame Kwaaba Stephens, Service Project Director of Rotary Club of Accra-Ring Road Central urged the public to make blood donation a habit to ensure that blood was always available at the health facilities.

She appealed to the people to donate blood voluntarily and willingly without expectations of rewards.

Sakagben Sunday, a Laboratory Technician at the Wa Regional Hospital, said the hospital was in dire need of blood especially at the children and maternity ward and appealed to the general public to visit the health facility to donate blood to help save lives.

Simon Okai Abbew, a donor, said he believed the only way he could contribute to the development of his society was to donate blood to save the lives of people he might not know.

He appealed to the general public to also make blood donation a lifestyle since it was a humanitarian gesture to exhibit to their societies.

The Rotary Club of Accra-Ring Road Central is collaborating with the regional clubs and the Ghana National Blood Service to enable the club meet its target of 200 units of blood per region at the end of the campaign in December.

Voltic Ghana Limited, Nestle Ghana, Indomie, Telekay, Cedar Point Chemist and Kaysens sponsored the Rotary Club.

GNA
13.10.2016 LISTEN

By Samuel Akapule, GNA

Bongo (U/E), Oct. 13, GNA - Mr Edward Bawa, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) Parliamentary Aspirant for the Bongo Constituency, has appealed to aggrieved supporters of the party in the constituency to forgive him to ensure victory for the party.

The parliamentary aspirant, who is also the Communications Consultant to the Energy Commission, made the plea when he launched his campaign in the Bongo Constituency.

It would be recalled that some supporters and members of the party in the Constituency called the 'Lai-Lai group', held a press conference in the Constituency, accusing the parliamentary aspirant of being arrogant and not showing good interpersonal relations.

They, therefore, threatened to vote against the parliamentary candidate and vote for the presidential candidate of the party.

During the launch of his campaign, Mr Bawa appealed to the aggrieved supporters of the party to forgive him to ensure victory for the party.

Among the members of the party who attended the event included, Mr Donald Adabare Adabre, Mr John Akolgo Tia and Mr Albert Abongo, the Member of Parliament for Bongo and also the Regional Minister.

Mr Adabre, a former Ambassador to Mali, called on the supporters and the constituency executives to bury their differences and to work together to ensure that the party is retained both at the Parliamentary and the Presidential levels.

He appealed to the aggrieved members to remain united and to ensure that the party wins more Parliamentary seats than it did at the last election.

Mr Adabre said comparatively, the region has received more infrastructure development under the NDC administration than at any other period.

He cited road infrastructure, schools, health facilities, Rural Electrification Projects and other pro-poor interventions such as the expansion of the school feeding programme as some of the projects and policies implemented by the NDC.

Mr John Tia Akolgo, Ghana's Ambassador to Cuba, who launched the 34-member campaign team, commended the Bongo Constituency and other constituencies in the region for having remained what he termed as 'the World Bank of the NDC' since 1992.

Mr Tia, a former Member of Parliament for the Talensi Constituency, urged the members of the team to work hard to ensure victory for the party.

GNA
By Ken Sackey/Benjamin Mensah, GNA

Accra, Oct 13, GNA - The Government has laid before Parliament a Legislative Instrument (LI) aimed at regulating activities of tobacco use in Ghana.

The Instrument, would among others, allow for the full implementation of Chapter Six of the Public Health Act (Act 851), which deals with tobacco use in the country.

The Chapter provides for the control of tobacco use in the country, which among others, bans smoking in public places, the sale of cigarettes to children and tobacco advertising.

It is in accordance with the World Health Organisation's Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC).

Despite the draft LI being with the Ministry of Health since July 2015, several attempts in the past by stakeholders urging for action have cut no ice.

Health Minister Alex Segbefia justified the delay in forwarding the document to Parliament, explaining that the Legal Department of the Ministry was working on several health-related documents for the consideration of Parliament and the LI on tobacco control was key among them.

He said the strategy was to send all such documents en-masse rather than sending them in bits, hence the delay.

Following the passage of the Public Health Bill into law in 2012, smoking in public places was declared unlawful.

Also, the sale of tobacco to minors was declared illegal as well as a ban on open publicity and sponsorship of public events.

Ghana's Public Health Act (Act 851) was passed by Parliament and assented to by the President in 2012.

GNA
13.10.2016 LISTEN

By Bajin D. Pobia, GNA

Gwollu (U/W), Oct. 13, GNA - Alhaji Amidu Sulemana, Member of Parliament for the Sissala West Constituency, has appealed to the electorate to vote for the National Democratic Congress (NDC) for development.

'Vote for the NDC which has a track record for development and do not gamble your votes on parties that are not development oriented ', Alhaji Sulemana said when addressing supporters of the NDC at his campaign launch in Gwollu.

Alhaji Sulemana said even though past governments have implemented various development projects it is only during NDC's administration that the desired development infrastructure was executed in the northern parts of the country.

He said a vote for the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in the forthcoming general polls is a complete risk and a hindrance to the nation's development agenda.

Alhaji Sulemana, who is also the Upper West Regional Minister, said the massive development projects on health, education and water sectors among others could be described as 'eyes disease which everybody can see and judge' as the good delivery on the part of President John Dramani Mahama.

He said government has established the President Dr Hilla Limann's Senior High School, while two new Community Day Senior High School projects are ongoing at Zini and Fielmuo in the Sissala West District.

Government has also awarded the Tumu-Gwollu-Hamile, Gwollu-Hain and Hain-Tumu roads on contract for tarring and pleaded with the electorate to have faith in President John Mahama and the NDC to improve their living standards.

Alhaji Sulemana said government would provide irrigation facilities to various communities to undertake dry season farming to improve on their economies.

He said NDC is optimistic and poised to win 79 per cent of the votes in the region and as well win all the 11 parliamentary seats in the forthcoming elections.

The Sissala West District Member of Parliament appealed to supporters of the NDC to endeavour to educate the electorate on proper voting procedures to reduce the incidence of spoilt ballots during the elections.

Hajia Zenabu Mahama, National Women Organiser of the NDC, advised the supporters against the 'skirt and blouse' voting.

She said some of the parties had nothing to offer the people and all must be wary of their ambitions and parochial interests.

She appealed to women to rally round the NDC and vote massively for the party to undertake more gender empowerment projects.

GNA
13.10.2016 LISTEN

By Elsie Appiah-Osei/Julius K. Satsi

Accra, Oct. 13, GNA - Mr Ron Strikker, the Netherlands Ambassador says the phase two of the Sustainable West Africa Palm-oil Programme (SWAPP) would be implemented in the sub- region.

Mr Strikker said the significant impact made by the first phase of SWAPP was so substantial and it would be the ultimate goal of the Dutch to continuously sponsor SWAPP for the full realisation of its main objective.

SWAPP is a four- year programme funded by the Dutch and is implemented in Ghana, Nigeria and Ivory Coast with focus on increasing the productivity and profitability of the Small to Medium Scale Enterprises in the palm oil sector.

The first phase was introduced in 2012 and ends in the last quarter of 2016 and is expected to be extended from 2017 to 2020.

Mr Strikker was speaking at the West African regional conference of SWAPP organised by Solidaridad - a global network organisation with focus on stimulating sustainable supply chains through continuous improvements in production and trade relation on Wednesday in Accra.

Mr Srikker said the Dutch government was very proud to have been part of the programme adding that 'SWAPP has proven that the palm oil industry is a very profitable business'.

Speaking to the Ghana News Agency on the side-line of the conference, Madam Suzan Hermine Yemidi, the Country Representative for Ghana Solidaridad West Africa, said the conference aimed at disseminating results achieved, share lessons learned including data and information needed to attract more investment into the sector.

She said SWAPP since its inception had produced quality palm oil into the market and also trained more than 2000 farmers across the three West African countries benefiting from the programme.

Mr Kwasi Ofori-Antwi, the Senior Industrial Promotion Officer of the Ministry of Trade and Industry, assured of the Ministry's support towards the implementation of the second phase of SWAPP.

He noted that a Palm Oil Development Board would be instituted in the country to facilitate development in the sector.

Mr Koussi Bredoumy Soumiala Traore, a representative of the Ivorian Government, said his country was happy to be associated with the programme.

He said Palm oil was one of the sectors providing the country a lot of income and called on stakeholders to continuously push for the programme's sustainability.

'The office of the Ivorian government is highly committed to the SWAPP, and we will join today and join tomorrow,' he said.

Speaking on the theme: 'Investing in Sustainable Oil Palm in West Africa-What it Takes,' Dr Ahmed Yakubu Alhassan, the Deputy Minister of Food and Agriculture, commended the SWAPP members who had helped in various ways to contribute to the significance of the project.

He therefore, called on the youth to make good use of the opportunity and venture into the sector to reduce the burden of unemployment.

Dr Alhassan also called on rural banks to support the youth to venture into agriculture by providing them with loan facilities.

GNA
By Kwamina Tandoh/ Edwina K. Ocansey, GNA

Accra, Oct. 13, GNA - Nana Oye Lithur, Minister of Gender, Children and Social Protection has stated that the School of Social Work is ready to commence tertiary programmes and start awarding degrees and post graduate diplomas.

The Gender, Children and Social Protection Minister made this known in a keynote address delivered on her behalf during the 12th annual matriculation and graduation ceremony of the School of Social Work at the Efua Sunderland Children's Park in Accra on Saturday.

She said the Ministry is finalising arrangement for full tertiary status of the School of Social Works with the University of Ghana and the University of Development Studies.

Dr Mu-Awia Zakaria, the Principal of the School of Social Work said: 'The Quality assurance committee has approved the programme of the school for affiliation.'

Nana Oye Lithur speaking on the theme: 'Child Protection in Ghana: Implication for Sustainable development,' said, there is the need to integrate child protection into the curriculum of the school.

She explained that child protection was a new sector and the understanding of the concept was limited to a wide range of people involved in development work and the academia.

'The curriculum reform will bolster social work training and skills development of students as well as for teachers,' she said.

She explained that adding child protection to the curriculum of the school would expand and enrich the field of social work practice for the students.

She said due to the relevance of the school to the nation, the construction of a 12-unit Classroom Block, Administration, Information Communication & Technology Centre and a Library Complex for the school was ongoing at Madina in Accra.

Dr Zakaria noted that the school was currently facing some challenges in the areas of infrastructure deficit and employability of graduates from the school.

He hinted that the management of the school was engaging the private sector and donor partners to help in the mitigation of some of the challenges currently facing the school.

The event was used to welcome 170 fresh students into the school and also graduated 387 students who have finished their various courses in the school.

The Sandwich 2014/15, regular 2014/15 and the Sandwich 2015/16 groups formed the graduates who graduated on the 12th annual matriculation and graduation ceremony.

Mr Stephen Cudjoe, Mr Desmond Kweku Attigah and Ms Benedicta Dodua Cofie were adjudged overall best students for the Sandwich 2014/15 group, regular 2014/15 group and the Sandwich 2015/16 group.

The School of Social Work, Osu which was established in 1945 with a handful of students had seven men and two women as its first products passing out in 1946.

The School currently runs certificate and diploma in Social Work on regular and sandwich modules.

GNA
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TV host Amr El-Leissy says the cabinet contacted him to hold a debate with driver but the TV host says he does not have the driver's contact information

A short TV interview featuring an angry "tuk-tuk driver" criticising Egypt's economic woes gained immense popularity on Thursday, quickly becoming the country's top viral video.

The night talk show "Someone from the People," which plays on Al-Hayat private channel, aired the segment on Wednesday, in which host Amr El-Leissy visits a local market in a working class area in October city to ask people about their complaints.

A "tuk-tuk driver" spoke angrily as well as eloquently in the segment about the economic and political situation in Egypt, slamming successive governments for nearly four minutes.

"Before the presidential elections there was sugar available in the market, but now it has disappeared; where has it gone?" said the driver, referring to the current sugar supply crisis.

The driver criticised government expenditure on mega national projects and celebrations that exceeds spending on education.

"This country will rise if there is enough care for education, health and agriculture to provide us with food," he said, adding that Egypt's economy fared better under the pre-1952 monarchy.

Taken aback, El-Leissy asked the driver where he graduated from, and the anonymous driver responded that he was a "tuk-tuk graduate."

As the video went viral, Amr El-Leissy revealed that he was contacted on Thursday by the Egyptian cabinet asking to host a debate between the driver and Prime Minister Sherif Ismail.

El-Leissy told the cabinet that he did not have the driver's contact information.

Responding to some viewers' claims that the video was staged, El-Leissy and his producer Mohamed El-Komy insisted the interview was completely authentic.

Al-Hayat TV network removed the video clip from its official Facebook page after obtaining 6 million views in less than a day, without explanation.

The channel also removed the video from host Amr El-Leissy's official Facebook page. El-Leissy attributed the move to copy rights issues; however, other videos from his show remain posted on his official page.

A number of social media users attacked the network for removing the video, which was uploaded to several YouTube channels, Facebook and Twitter accounts.

The hashtag "tuk-tuk graduate" has been top trending in Egypt for several hours with thousands of tweets supporting the anonymous tuk-tuk driver.



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As soon as Ann Ondaye's husband died, his two brothers took all the Kenyan widow's possessions: the television, bicycle, a fishing boat and nets and even her late husband's trousers.

Ondaye and her three young daughters were allowed to remain in their home in western Kenya's Homa Bay for six years while she nursed her late husband's mother.

But when her mother-in-law died in 2006, the brothers returned to oust Ondaye from her matrimonial home, saying her children were not entitled to inherit their father's land because they were girls.

With support from elders in her husband's Luo community and women activists, Ondaye fought to stay on the 2.5 hectare plot, which is in the names of her late husband and his father.

"Being that I know my rights, I know where to go, I know where to report, I am still on the land," said Ondaye, 46, who has trained as a paralegal to support other women's land claims.

"I am trying to get the title deed and then divide the land among my girls - for the first time in Luo culture," she told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

Ondaye is one of hundreds of women from more than 20 African countries meeting in Tanzania this week to write a charter of demands to improve their access to and control over land.

The fittest among them will climb to the peak of Mount Kilimanjaro, Africa's highest mountain, on Sunday to launch the charter, calling on African governments to implement it.

Improving women's land rights is key to reducing poverty and exposure to domestic violence, as well as providing collateral for loans and security in old age, campaigners say.

Recognising the importance of the issue, the African Union is campaigning for 30 percent of registered land to be owned by women by 2025.

"Land is everything in human life," Ondaye said, wearing a grey T-shirt with 'Women to Kilimanjaro' emblazoned on it.

"Land is where you live; you have your shelter. Land is where you till; you have food security."

STATUS QUO

More than 70 percent of Kenyan women live in rural areas, said Ruth Masime, ActionAid's head of policy in Kenya, yet only one percent of women in Kenya are registered land owners.

More than 40,000 Kenyan women came together to draw up a charter for Kenyan women, which they presented to officials on Thursday, calling for better representation in land institutions and more transparent administration.

Muhammed Swazuri, chairman of Kenya's National Land Commission, an independent government body set up to manage public land and investigate historical injustices, said the women's demands had already been addressed in legislation.

"Let's concentrate more on the obstacles that are making implementation difficult. And these are attitudes," he said.

Some rural women support the status quo, for example, declining offers to have their names on title deeds, he said.

In sub-Saharan Africa, property is often owned by the community, and culture dictates that men own land while women access it through male relatives, such as fathers or husbands.

On average, sub-Saharan women represent 15 percent of agricultural land owners, the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization said in 2010, a few percentage points better than in Asia and slightly lower than in Latin America.

"We have progressive laws (but)... the government has not been very gender sensitive," ActionAid's Masime said, calling for the introduction of mobile land courts to bring justice to villages.

Poor, uneducated rural women usually do not understand the law, speak English or have the money to file cases in urban courts, she said.

"Women should not go to our offices and be treated as beggars," Kenya's lands minister, Jacob Kaimenyi, told the campaigners, amid ululation and cheers.

"I support totally all of your demands and we will implement them gradually."

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The chronicle of a life split between urban Manhattan and rural Montana.
As the only school board candidate in her trustee area for the November election, San Martin resident Teresa Murillo has already locked up a seat on Morgan Hill Unified School Districts governing body for the next four years.

Still, the registered nurse and mother of four has shied away from any sort of publicity during the campaign season. She chose not to attend the American Association of University Womens candidates forum. She did not respond to the Times Q&A candidate profile request in September.

I think its important to give the candidates the spotlight, Murillo said during an Oct. 12 interview (her first with any local media outlet) as to why she turned down those opportunities. I want to put my energy into truly figuring out whats important to the community overall.

While not taking the traditional path as candidates do during election time, the unassuming, self-made Latina professionalwho entered the U.S. from Mexico with her grandfather at age 14has been out in the local community. She has met with various district parent groups over the last few months.

I want to focus my energy in serving the community. Its not for me. Its for the community, Murillo said. Now Im just listening, visiting schools, letting them know that I will be on the board and I want to hear what they have to say.

None of Murillos children currently attend MHUSD schools. They used goto San Martin/Gwinn Elementary before they gained entry into the Dr. TJ Owens Gilroy Early College Academy (known as GECA), which is part of the Gilroy Unified School District and housed at Gavilan College. Her oldest child is a college student at San Jose State University.

Even though my kids moved on somewhere else, my heart is here in Morgan Hill, stressed Murillo , 41, who remains involved with a small informal parent group centered in San Martin where shes lived for the last 10 years.

To me, its important to find out what the principals, what the teachers and what the community needs, and focus on that, she added.

If that means making changes when necessary, Murillo is not opposed to doing just that.

I just want to do what is best for children and for the community. I want the community to be proud of the district they have, Murillo added. Ive seen good things happen in the schools but theres always going to be room for improvement.

Murillo, who introduced herself to district officials just this week, hasnt attended any recent school board meetings (although she has in past years), but she is quite aware of the contentious atmosphere that sometimes develops among trustees.

I am looking forward to it. Im looking forward to working as a team with all of the trustees with whoever gets elected and is on the board, Murillo said. We are a reflection of what the community is and we have to bring that into the meetings.

Murillo, now a registered nurse getting back into the trade after raising her four children, began babysitting as a teenager shortly after she came to the U.S. as a teenager, and worked at an agricultural camp, to make ends meet. Her uncles insisted she attend junior high school in Gilroy, where she went before eventually graduating from Gilroy High School. While attending school, Murillo worked many different jobs, including on a catering truck, at a shoe store and a bakery to support herself.

She then earned her Licensed Vocational Nurse certificate at Gavilan College and worked at a local hospital for several years before taking time off to raise her children in San Martin. She then went back to Gavilan College and became an RN.

For some reason, I feel like this community has welcomed me so much that I feel a part of it, Murillo said. Its not just about my kids and them being successful. Its about all the kids of this community.

While Murillo is the only Trustee Area 7 candidate, there is a two-candidate race in Trustee Area 5 between incumbent Tom Arnett and challenger Angelica Diaz, and a three-candidate race in Trustee Area 6 between incumbent Rick Badillo and challengers Albert Beltran and Mary Patterson. Residents can only vote in the trustee area in which they reside.
Israeli's energy minister was holding talks in Turkey on Thursday, on the first such trip since the two countries normalised ties after the 2010 crisis over Israel's deadly storming of a Gaza-bound aid ship.

The landmark trip by Israeli Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz marks the first visit at ministerial level from Israel in the past six years and comes as energy importer Turkey is keeping a close eye on the Jewish state's developing offshore gas reserves.

Until the 2010 crisis, NATO member Turkey had been Israel's key ally in the Muslim world, with the process to normalise relations strongly backed by the United States.

Steinitz arrived in Istanbul in the morning and was holding talks with Turkish Energy Minister Berat Albayrak, who is also President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's son-in-law, an embassy official, who asked not to be named, told AFP.

Steinitz was later due to address the World Energy Congress in Istanbul, delivering the opening remarks for an Atlantic Council panel titled "A New Landscape in the Eastern Mediterranean."

The relationship between the two countries plunged to an all time low after the Israeli commandos' raid on the Gaza-bound ship that killed 10 Turks, prompting Ankara to expel the Israeli ambassador and freeze all defence ties.

The two sides finally agreed in June to end the six-year bitter rift after long-running secret talks in third countries.

Israel offered compensation and an apology over the raid, and agreed to ease the blockade on the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip.

The blockade remains in place but Israel has allowed Turkish aid to reach Gaza through Israeli ports under the deal.

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Burke County has a new fire marshal.

The county announced Wednesday that Michael Willis has been hired as Burke County fire marshal and emergency management director. He is expected to start the job Nov. 14, according to information from the county.

Willis replaces Mike Long, who retired at the end of September after more than 24 years with the county.

Paul Ijames, finance director for Burke County, said of the pool of applicants for the job, three ended up being interviewed for the position and Willis ultimately was chosen.

The Fire Marshals Office is responsible for performing fire inspections and investigations in the county and oversees the countys emergency management plan, including the multi-hazard plan that requires considerable community coordination across county departments, hospitals, school systems and the state, according to information from Burke County Manager Bryan Steen. The emergency management director is responsible for operating the emergency operations center and coordination of emergency services during catastrophic disasters that involve severe weather and hazardous materials, the information said.

Mike Willis brings over 35 years of experience in professional fire, rescue and emergency management in state and local governments, as well as a volunteer firefighter, Steen said. Burke County and its citizens will be well served to have someone of Mikes caliber watching over these critical services. Mike is highly respected among the fire chiefs across this County and he will be able to continue the high level of confidence folks have in the leadership of the Fire Marshals Office.

Willis, 51, has spent the last 10 years as the director of emergency service programs for Western Piedmont Community College. He has served on the N.C. Community Colleges advisory committees for both fire/rescue and emergency management programs, according to information from the county.

During his time at WPCC, Willis had an active role in the design and construction of the colleges Emergency Service Training Center. Its something he put a lot of blood, sweat and tears into, he said.

This place is near and dear to me, Willis said on Wednesday.

Willis said he still will be connected to the college as a part-time instructor even after he starts his new job.

He is a certified program planner and earned an AAS in emergency preparedness technology from Caldwell Community College, along with numerous specialty certifications from the N.C. Fire Rescue Commission and N.C. Emergency Management in Incident Command, Firefighting and Hazardous Materials, according to information from the county.

Before joining the college, Willis accepted a job with Morganton Department of Public Safety in 1998 as a fire engineer, where he remained for the next eight years.

Willis grew up in Mitchell County, where he also worked as a volunteer firefighter for 17 years before moving to Morganton to take the job with MDPS, he said.

As a resident of Burke County, I am honored and excited to serve our citizens through the Burke County Fire Marshals Office and look forward to working in unison with the other dedicated Emergency Service professionals in the Office, Willis said. I am committed to continuing the good work of the Fire Marshals Office and maintaining the important relationships with the communities and first responders throughout the County.

Willis has two adult children, son Jonathan, a city of Hickory firefighter, and daughter Heather Wyatt, a wife and mom in South Carolina, along with eight grandkids.

Sharon McBrayer is a staff writer and can be reached at smcbrayer@morganton.com or at 828-432-8946.
An air strike on a Yemeni funeral ceremony which killed at least 140 people "is an apparent war crime," Human Rights Watch said on Thursday.

The Saturday strike which Yemen's Huthi rebels blamed on a Saudi-led military coalition was one of the deadliest in the coalition's air campaign against the rebels and their allies.

The coalition has faced mounting international criticism over civilian casualties from its bombing.

"While military personnel and civilian officials involved in the war effort were attending the ceremony, the clear presence of several hundred civilians strongly suggests that the attack was unlawfully disproportionate," Human Rights Watch said in a statement.

"The funeral strike underscores the urgent need for credible international investigations into alleged laws-of-war violations in Yemen."

Leading rebel officers were among those killed in the strike, the rebel-controlled Saba news agency reported.

Saudi Arabia announced an easing of its blockade of rebel-held areas to allow the evacuation of hundreds of wounded for treatment abroad.

The coalition initially denied responsibility but after condemnation, it promised an investigation of the "regrettable and painful" event.

A letter sent to the UN Security Council on Sunday "expressed the kingdom's deep regret" over the "attack", state media reported the following day.

"It also renewed its full respect for and commitment to international humanitarian law and international human rights law, and the emphasis on continuing to ensure the taking of all possible measures to protect civilians and civilian sites in Yemen."

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Turkey and Israel are to start examining the feasibility of building an undersea gas pipeline to pump Israeli gas to Turkish consumers and on to Europe, the Israeli energy minister said on Thursday.

"What we decided is to establish immediately a dialogue between our two governments... in order to examine the possibility and the feasibility of such a project," Israeli Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz said after talks with Turkish counterpart Berat Albayrak in Istanbul, the first such meeting since the two countries normalised ties in June.

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Iran sent two warships to the Gulf of Aden on Thursday, the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported, establishing a military presence in waters off Yemen where the U.S. military launched cruise missile strikes on areas controlled by Iran-backed Houthi forces.

"Iran's Alvand and Bushehr warships have been dispatched to the Gulf of Aden to protect trade vessels," Tasnim reported.

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The easygoing regulatory regime governing licenses in the real estate industry has led to the noticeable increase in the number of unlicensed agents conducting transactions in Vancouver, according to various observers.The current licensing requirements are not applicable to organizations headquartered outside B.C., even if their agents operate and sell properties within provincial boundaries, The Globe and Mail reported.Individuals in other jurisdictions licensed to provide real estate services may submit offers on behalf of clients for B.C. properties, and licensees in B.C. have an obligation to communicate these offers to their clients, unless their clients have instructed them otherwise, Real Estate Council of British Columbia spokesperson Marilee Peters said.This lax set-up has led to organizations like the Shanghai-based Vanfun dominating the B.C. market. Vanfun alone has been working with hundreds of agents in the province, company officials said, with most transactions involving single-family homes and apartment complexes.The lack of provincial licensing has long been a sore point among local industry players, and the B.C. government has so far not addressed this regulatory gap despite imposing other steps to regulate the influence of overseas capital (like the 15 per cent foreign home buyers tax) on Vancouver prices.If youre selling Canadian real estate or B.C. real estate, you should have a licence for it, according to B.C. agent Dan Scarrow, who has previously worked with buyers from the mainland.The real danger is when people are being given advice by those who are unregulated, and who are beyond the scope of our civil court system, The Society of Notaries Public of BC general counsel Ron Usher agreed.Tax rules, consumer rules, regulation of real estate trading, disclosure  all kinds of things fall apart if people are being advised by those beyond provincial jurisdiction, who are not accountable in any way to anyone.In the months after the passage of the foreign home buyers tax, Vancouvers sales volume has seen a sharp decline, falling by 32.6 per cent year-over-year in September alone.
Russia has called on regional partners not to supply portable anti-aircraft missiles to opposition fighters in Syria, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Thursday.

Zakharova said any unfriendly actions against Russia in Syria would elicit an appropriate response from Moscow.

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A bank CEO should not be able to oversee a massive fraud & simply walk away to enjoy his millions in retirement.  Elizabeth Warren (@SenWarren) October 12, 2016

A bank teller would face criminal charges & a prison sentence for stealing a handful of 20s from the cash drawer.  Elizabeth Warren (@SenWarren) October 12, 2016

If @WellsFargos John Stumpf is leaving with all of his ill-gotten millions, that's still not real accountability.  Elizabeth Warren (@SenWarren) October 12, 2016

As I said: @WellsFargo CEO Stumpf should resign, return every nickel he made during the scam, & face DOJ/SEC investigation. Hes 1 for 3.  Elizabeth Warren (@SenWarren) October 12, 2016

Wells Fargo CEO John Stumpf is out, but thats not enough for Sen. Elizabeth Warren.The banking giant announced yesterday that Stumpf waseffective immediately. His departure comes as Wells Fargo is rocked by a continuing scandal over its opening of 2 million unauthorized customer accounts But the fact that Stumpf simply got to retire  especially, as USA Today reported, with a $134 million exit package  was too much for the Massachusetts senator.Warren, already known for her frequent, outspoken tweets, took to Twitter after news of Stumpfs departure broke to vent her feelings on the matter:Warren wasn't done yet, following up the initial tweet with a mini-tweet storm criticizing Stumpf:Warren has been vocal in her calls that Stumpf and other executives should face criminal investigation for the scandal. She reiterated that call in her tweets:
Trevor Hawes/Midland Reporter-Telegram

You might have seen JCPenney advertisements in the Reporter-Telegram or on TV announcing major deals on refrigerators, washers, dryers, ovens and dishwashers; however, if you visit the stores at Midland Park Mall or Music City Mall in Odessa, major appliances arent available.

Sarah Holland told the Reporter-Telegram last week that while major appliances arent available at its locations in the West Texas Petroplex, they are offered at the South Plains Mall in Lubbock.
Hedwig and the Angry Inch is a musical unlike many others. Humor, drama and punk rock all make up the show written by John Cameron Mitchell in which the title character challenges societal norms with outlandish outfits and a rebellious attitude. The show was an off-Broadway hit that spawned a film version and was revived on Broadway with Neil Patrick Harris in 2014 and won the Tony Award for Best Revival of a Musical. Hedwig isnt a show one might expect to see in Midland with its challenge to societal norms. Midlander Mitchell Hurricane Smith, however, was determined to bring it to life here.

This will cap off a big year for the 41-year-old actor. He was featured in Midland Community Theatres productions Disneys The Little Mermaid as Scuttle and then went on to lead roles in La Cage aux Folles and most recently Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. Smith will finish his year with a bucket-list role; hes also serving as director and producer under his newly founded company, GBF Productions. His endeavor was kicked off with an online campaign at GoFundMe, but hes been working toward this moment for many years. With a micro run of two days and four performances, Smith will don the makeup and wig that has become an iconic signature of the show.

MRT: To start, how do you describe Hedwig and the Angry Inch to the uninitiated?

IF YOU GO: "Hedwig and the Angry Inch" by GBF Productions. Performances at 7:30 and 10:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday at Kamiposi, 510 S. Big Spring St. $15. For 18 and older. Outside beverages allowed. facebook.com/gbfproductions. See More Collapse

Smith: Hedwig is a rock musical but is actually presented as a concert. Songs and monologues are interspersed throughout, giving us a glimpse into her life. But more specifically, Hedwig is the story of a young man, Hansel, who escapes East Berlin by undergoing a sex change operation with limited success. Now Hedwig, she then marries an American GI, who takes her to America. Much to her dismay, and shortly after her arrival, the Berlin Wall falls. She is left penniless, divorced and now a woman. Hedwig then meets the young inspiring rock star, Tommy, while living in Kansas.

After years of writing music together, Tommy makes a name for himself with their songs. So Hedwig travels after him while hes on tour seeking revenge and telling their story to anyone who will listen.

MRT: Why were you so intent on bringing this show to life?

Smith: I have been wanting to do this show for almost 20 years, and finally decide if it was going to happen, I had to do it myself. I have been obsessed with the show and the music since seeing the film in 1999. Growing up in Kansas, here was this character experiencing America in a very similar way to me.

But what draws me most to this show is the music. I always wanted to be a rock star, but musical theater was the closest I could get, so Hedwig combines both.

MRT: How do you describe the character?

Smith: Hedwig is a brash, post-op transsexual who has had a lot of hardships, and thus faces the world with humor and anger. Shes also had several choices made for her. This story takes place in a time when she -- or perhaps even he -- is trying to regain control of her identity. Hedwig lived life as a woman after her botched sex change but I dont think it was ever truly Hansels desire to become female.

MRT: How do you relate to Hedwig?

Growing up gay in a town of 80,000 in the heartland was hard, and trying to garner acceptance and respect for myself was equally difficult. We had similar struggles in self-determination in trying to answer who we are or why we are here. I dont know that either of us ever truly gets an answer we are happy with, so the struggle continues.

MRT: This is your first show to produce here. What were some of the challenges in doing so?

Smith: The hardest thing for me has be delegation. Since I have been obsessing over it for years, I had all these ideas of what it needed to be, but then there were the limitations of time, skill and space. First, I have realized in the process by producing, designing, directing and starring in a show, something suffers. I have been looking over the music and script since August, but only really got to look at it as an actor two weeks out from my opening.

I am performing in a space that is not designed for theater, so I had to become creative with set and lighting.

In the end, though, I feel very lucky. Ive had the help of many friends for this show -- whether it was Susie Anderson ( MRRRP Productions) or Eric Anthony Uresti (Eric Anthony Presents), who gave me pointers based on their own experience with self-producing. Hairstylist Jena Tumlin turned out an amazing wig and will be beating my man face with makeup for every performance. When I told my friend, Toby, I had no budget for a set, he scavenged most of what we are using -- although if anyone saw Sweeney Todd they might recognize some of the larger pieces.

MRT: Costumes are crucial to this show.

Smith: I had fun with the costumes, which consist of some custom pieces, as well as a handful of repurposed and thrift store finds. Hedwig is a struggling artist and sometimes that really comes through in what she is wearing. I initially thought I would make the costumes myself, but a friend recommended John-Micheal Aleman. Much of the look is inspired by my designs but there would have been no time to create them without his help.

MRT: What is your hope with this show?

Smith: This show pushes a lot of boundaries, from politics to religion to gender identity, so I do hope that it can be an eye-opening experience for some, and give any moments of clarity in learning more about who they are. But really, I will just be happy if people come and have a lot of fun. Ready or not, baby, here she comes.
Sultan Qaboos of Oman is in "good health", the country's foreign minister said Thursday, as rumours circulated that the 75-year-old monarch had been hospitalised.

"He is well and thanks to God, he is in good health," said Yusuf bin Alawi bin Abdullah in an interview with the Saudi newspaper Okaz.

Qaboos, who has ruled the Gulf sultanate since 1970, reduced his public activities since having treatment for colon cancer in 2014.

His ill health and repeated hospital spells in Germany have focused attention on the fact that he has no designated successor.

The sultan has no children or brothers, meaning his cousins are his closest relatives.

Bin Abdullah told Okaz the sultan's succession was "arranged in a clear way" and that "people are more worried outside the country than inside".

According to a 1996 constitution, the sultan must write a letter designating a successor from the ruling dynasty, to be opened in the event that his family cannot agree on his replacement within three days of his death.

Diplomats say the sultan's long absences from the public eye have stirred worries about stability in the country, which faces Iran across the strategic Strait of Hormuz.

In contrast to other Arab Gulf states -- particularly Iran's arch-rival Saudi Arabia -- Oman enjoys relatively warm ties with Iran.

Qaboos took the throne on July 23, 1970 after ousting his father, allegedly for being too conservative.

He has set about reforming the small sultanate, which nevertheless remains an absolute monarchy.

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It didnt take long for Donald Trump to come up at Wednesdays Midland County Republican Womens meeting. Right off the bat, the clubs president, Charlene Romero McBride, told her conservative colleagues, I will vote for Trump no matter how many videos come up.

What followed during the luncheon was expressions of disgust toward a party that those in attendance said has become fractured. They also warned Republicans looking in a different direction that electing Hillary Clinton next month would be a much worse result.

Joining the chorus of support for Trump was Rhonda Lacy, who was recruiting Republican women to campaign in battle-ground states. There was also a woman who stood up toward the end of the meeting and voiced her displeasure with Republicans across the nation, saying, If you are a Republican you should support the Republican nominee, no matter who it is or what he says or does.

Republicans expressed disgust that elected officials across the country withdrew their support for Trump after lewd comments made more than a decade ago surfaced. It was noted that Democrats come together even when their nominee has evident flaws. Republicans, they said, have a contest about who is a better Republican.

State Sen. Kel Seliger addressed the room at Midland County Club, saying Republicans needed to look at the choice as not necessarily voting for a person but a philosophy or vision.

Our candidate is our candidate; does that make him our role model? No, but that is fine, Seliger said.

Seliger said Republicans should try to demonstrate the qualities of a Ronald Reagan (who said dont speak ill of another Republican) or a George W. Bush (who collected around 44 percent of the Latino vote in 2004). But in the end, as a conservative, Seliger said there is no other option than voting for Trump when the opponent is Hillary Clinton.

Lacy volunteers her time and effort to help Mighty Texas Strike Force, an organization that seeks to keep Texas red (or under Republican control) and working diligently to campaign to prevent a Clinton presidency. Speaking of the latest Trump dust-up, Lacy said that it has been said that Winston Churchill was a foul-mouthed drunk in his day, so people look behind the tabloid television reports.

Lacy is set to travel to Pennsylvania and then New Mexico to campaign for Trump.

We can flip New Mexico, Lacy said.

She said that Suzanne Conaway, wife of U.S. Mike Conaway, is currently in North Carolina campaigning for Trump. The congressman told the Reporter-Telegram last weekend he is still supporting Trump because he still sees this race as a binary choice between two fundamentally different candidates.

Trump is expected to win Midland County easily. Republicans have collected at least 75 percent in Midland County going back to at least 1992.
Bahraini police on Thursday fired tear gas to disperse hundreds of protesters who were trying to march on the capital from a Shia village, witnesses said.

They said the demonstrators set off from the village of Diya and wanted to head to Manama's Pearl Square, where more than five years ago authorities crushed anti-government protests.

Police blocked the road leading from the village to the nearby capital and fired tear gas and warning shots to force the demonstrators to retreat, said the witnesses who spoke by telephone to AFP in Dubai.

The protest came after a ceremony to mark Ashura, and many of the demonstrators wore black in mourning for the seventh-century killing of Imam Hussein, the grandson of the Prophet Mohammed.

The witnesses, who declined to be identified for security reasons, said protesters chanted slogans hostile to the Sunni rulers of Shia majority Bahrain.

There were no immediate reports of casualties or arrests..

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Authorities say a man wearing body armor and armed with an assault rifle shot two Boston police officers before being shot and killed by other officers.

The two wounded officers were hospitalized in "extremely critical condition" early Thursday morning.

Police Commissioner William Evans says the suspect fired at the officers late Wednesday night shortly after they arrived at a home in the city's East Boston neighborhood. Several other officers who were stationed outside ran inside and exchanged gunfire with the suspect, killing him.

The wounded officers were taken to Massachusetts General Hospital, where they're being treated for serious injuries. Nine other officers are being treated at Tufts Medical Center for trauma, stress and minor injuries.

Police have not identified the suspect or the two wounded officers.

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Related Greek police escort refugee children to school

A Greek guerrilla group has claimed responsibility for a makeshift bomb blast in central Athens late on Wednesday that it said targeted a prosecutor and warned its next strike would not be limited to material damage.

The Conspiracy of Fire Cells group said the bombing was a show of support for their jailed members and other "political prisoners behind bars" in Greece and accused the targeted prosecutor of shelving cases to protect business interests.

"We chose a symbolic hit aiming only for material damages but in the future, the Conspiracy of Fire Cells will not be limited to that," the group said in a statement posted on the internet.

Police said they were examining the authenticity of the claim.

The urban guerillas claimed responsibility for a wave of parcel bombs sent to foreign embassies in Athens in 2010. They are on a U.S. blacklist of terror groups.

The late-night blast occurred in the Athens neighbourhood of Exarhia, damaging the entrance of a building and shattering nearby shop windows.

The Cells initially specialised in arson attacks but turned to bombings in May 2009. In 2011, six of their members were sent to prison with sentences ranging from 11 to 37 years.

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Save everyone else is suffering litany; ...
The deposit came despite fears that recent tensions between Cairo and Riyadh would see Saudi Arabia back away from supporting Egypt

Egypt has received a $2 billion deposit from Saudi Arabia, an Egyptian Central Bank official said, moving closer to securing several billions of dollars needed to seal a prospective $12 billion loan.

The Saudi funds will help "boost the Central Bank's cash reserves," the official was quoted by state news agency MENA as saying, without elaborating.

The Egyptian government needs to secure $6 billion in bilateral financing for the first year of the three-year programme to seal the deal and get final approval by the IMF's executive board.

A recent spat between Cairo and its key financial backer Riyadh over a United Nations vote on Syria fueled doubts that the oil-rich kingdom would continue to support Egypt.

Earlier this week, Egypt voted in favour of a Russian resolution in the UN Security Council on Syria that removed the demand for a halt of Russian bombing of Aleppo stipulated in a rival French resolution that was supported by Saudi Arabia. Egypt voted also in favor of the French resolution.

Both resolutions failed to pass but Egypt's backingof the Russian draft resolution sparked tensions with Saudi Arabia, which has opposed Russia's support for Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad.

On Tuesday, Egypts oil ministry announced that it has contracted other foreign suppliers to provide the country with its petroleum needs for October after it was informed that the Saudi Aramco company would be unable to send the agreed upon quantities

Egypt needs the IMF loan to stimulate its flagging economy, rocked by political turmoil unleashed by the 2011 revolution, which has scared off investors and tourists.

A preliminary deal with the IMF on a major loan was reached in August.

President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi has said the package will help boost international confidence in the country's economy.

The stock index has dropped 2.2 percent since Sunday on news that Saudi Aramco informed Egypt's state oil company that it would halt supply of refined oil products to the country. The central bank deposit news may reassure investors that Saudi Arabia is not abandoning support for Egypt.

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Register To Vote Sign View Photos

Sacramento, CA  Ahead of Election Day next month, California voters now have a new tool to access key details about  and behind  each of the 17 measures on ballot.

Today, Secretary of State Alex Padilla announces there is a new online quick guide to the 17 statewide ballot propositions for Californians to peruse not only the measures but contributions each has received and by whom.

Within a few clicks voters are able to do a little self-research into the total donations and the ten largest contributions during the election cycle to both Yes and No campaigns for each measure; next to each, condensed overview information is also provided. Links are also available to further delve into the full details provided by the Secretary of States Office, including complete text for each ballot measure and lists of every contribution made to every ballot measure committee.

California voters have some big decisions to make in the weeks ahead, Padilla states, referring to the wide variety of issues covered by the proposed laws. These include the death penalty and prison reform; changes to income and tobacco taxes and prescription drug pricing; also, the potential legalization of recreational marijuana.

The open-source tool, QuickGuidetoProps, is an extension of work done with MapLight and the Secretary of States office to provide the public with quick and easy power search access to review source, recipient and dollar amounts of state-level campaign contributions to candidates as well as independent expenditures dating back to 2001. Funding for the project, developed to improve political transparency in California, was enabled through a James Irvine Foundation grant.

To access the new tool, click here.
French energy company Total is expected to inject $200 million in new investments into the Egyptian market over the next five years, the Egyptian government said on Thursday after a meeting between Prime Minister Sherif Ismail and a delegation from the French company currently visiting Cairo.



The delegation, which included the companys vice president for Africa. described the Egyptian market as promising, according to a statement by cabinet spokesperson Hossam El-Qawish. 

On the sidelines of a gas conference in Cape Town earlier this month, Tom Earl, vice president of gas and power development at the heavyweight French oil company, told Reuters that Egypt could be importing between 15 million-20 million tons annually within a decade, although actual volumes of imports would depend on the development of the countys huge Zohr gas field, which has an estimated 30 trillion cubic feet of gas.

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The Orlando Police Department is actively looking for two people investigators said are involved in a deadly human trafficking ring.

Orlando Police said 4 involved in human trafficking ring

Cops say 2 teens were forced into sex over 8-day span

14-year-old girl died in August from drug overdose

On Wednesday, investigators released details from the investigation. Orlando Police and the Metropolitan Bureau of Investigation busted the ring after a 14-year-old girl was killed.

According to investigators, Karla Quiros Alsina, 20, pulled up to Orlando Regional Medical Center in August with a 14-year-old girl in the back seat of her vehicle. The girl died at the hospital from a drug overdose.

After the girl's death, investigators said Alsina, Arthur Lee Coleman III and Avorice Jeno Holman Jr. were running a sex-trafficking ring. Police said the three forced the 14-year-old girl and her 15-year-old sister into prostitution over an eight-day period.

Detectives said the ring was led by Coleman, 26, who was described as the primary trafficker. Alsina, 20, was second-in-command; Holman, 19, was the exploiter and another man, Jose Ignacia Santiago Sotomayor, 22, was the recruiter.

"They were shown guns, firearms, and told bad things would happen to them if they were to tell against them," said Det. Michael Fields with the Orlando Police Department.

Investigators said the girls were introduced to the group by Sotomayor, who was a mutual friend.

"He convinced them, coerced them to go into the sex trade  that it would be a very lucrative business," Fields said during a Wednesday news conference.

The suspects, according to police, drugged the teens with a combination of drugs, including cold medicine and Xanax.

"They gave the drugs to the girls to get them to forget about having to have sex with men," Fields said.

Orlando Police said all four of the adults are responsible for the girl's death, and all will face first-degree murder charges.

Holman and Sotomayor are being held on no bond in the Orange County Jail. Police are currently looking for Coleman and Alsina.

"The Orlando Police Department and the Metropolitan Bureau of Investigation are very committed to seeking substantial prison sentences for those who are exploiting minors in our community by the purchase of sex," Orlando Police Chief John Mina said Wednesday.

The 15-year-old sister survived and continues to recover.

"She is getting help and everything that she needs," Fields said.

Detectives said the investigation is extensive. The affidavit, which hasn't been released, is 732 pages long for each suspect. Investigators said it's possible there are more victims. There could also be other suspects in the case, detectives said.

Anyone with information about the case or Coleman and Alsina's whereabouts is asked to call Crimeline at 800-423-TIPS (8477).
FRIONA  U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) on Monday continued his state agriculture tour, meeting with wine and grape, dairy, livestock feed and grain sorghum producers in West Texas to discuss their unique operations and needs.

Cruz toured the Bingham Family Vineyards in Meadow and stopped at Leals Mexican Restaurant and tortilla factory in Muleshoe for lunch. Cruz also visited the Del Rio Dairy and Hi Pro Feeds mill in Friona and later observed a local maize harvest.

Texas is blessed with a diverse and dynamic agriculture industry that feeds the American people, provides quality jobs for hardworking Texans, and serves as a strong foundation for our nations economy, Cruz said. Each of our states farmers and ranchers face unique challenges and opportunities. We should be doing everything in our power to get the federal government out of the way and ensure that each of Texas distinct agriculture industries are able to expand and prosper.
Eighteen Plainview High School students participated in the All-Region Choir competition held at Lubbock-Cooper High School on Oct. 8.

Plainview students walked away from the event claiming 15 spots in the All-Region Choir with 14 of the students qualifying to advance to pre-area competition in November.

Students began preparation for the All-Region blind vocal auditions this past summer by attending the Texas Tech All-State Choir Camp in June. Tuition funding to allow students who wanted to attend the camp was provided by the PHS Choir Boosters.

Twelve students were selected for each vocal part in the areas of Soprano 1, Soprano 2, Alto 1, Alto 2, Tenor 1, Tenor 2, Bass 1, and Bass 2. Students are categorized in these divisions based on their vocal range.

Audition music was a selection of five advanced collegiate level song choices. Students did not know in advance what portion of the music they would sing until arrival at the event that morning. The students were then handed a sight-reading selection and given 30 seconds to view it and then perform it behind a screen for a panel of five judges.

Students were not identified by school or name, but were coded by an audition number adding to the excitement and fairness of the competition in selecting students who would advance.

According to Dr. Debra Flournoy-Buford, firector of Choral Music at PHS, the process required high levels of music literacy, self-discipline, and a commitment to work daily in preparation for the competition.

Just being talented is not enough to win this completion, said Dr. Buford. The level of commitment required to be placed in the all-region demands the highest level of self-discipline and work ethic in order to win and even that sometimes is not enough. One small error, missed entrance, or hesitation can cause the ranks to fall quickly with loss of points in this competition.

Students auditioning for the All-Region Choir with chair numbers for those selected are:

Bass 2: Peter Guajardo, 10th; Timothy Reyes, 8th; Kershawn Whitaker, 5th; and Benjamin Brooks, 1st alternate

Tenor 2: Kyle McClenagan, 10th; Justin Josiah Rodriguez, 8th; Josue Hernandez, 7th

Tenor 1: Kio Hill, 8th; Armando Gonzalez, 6th

Alto 2: Emily Franklin, 8th; Kamren Smock, 4th; Erin Wilkinson (competitor)

Alto 1: Emily Collins, (competitor)

Soprano 2: Camarie Henderson, 10th

Soprano 1: Allyson Solis, 9th; McKinley Whalen, 8th; Claire Daily, 3rd; Gillian Gonzales (competitor)

The All-Region Choral Concert will take place Saturday, Nov. 12 at Coronado High School in Lubbock. The public is invited. Tickets are $5 at the door.
Orange Egypt, the second biggest mobile operator in Egypt, has said that it is willing to re-negotiate the acquiring of the 4G mobile licence with the Egyptian National Telecom Regulatory Authority (NTRA) under new terms, the company stated on the bourse website on Thursday.

After the companys release, the stock exchange resumed trading on the companys shares which jumped by more than eight percent, registering a closure price of EGP 99.45.

Telecom Egypt (TE), the countrys only landline operator, already signed a deal with the NTRA in August to be the first operator to buy a 15-year 4G mobile licence.

In September, the NTRA said it might offer the 4G service licences in international tender after the three local mobile operatorsVodafone Egypt, Orange Egypt, and Etisalatdeclined to apply under the regulators current conditions.

So far Kuwait's leading mobile operator Zain, Saudi Telecom and Lebara KSA have all expressed interest in obtaining the new licence.

According to the global mobile association, GSMA, the total amount of spectrum assigned to each operator for 4G needs to be in the range of 2x30MHz to 2x60MHz, across a range of coverage and capacity bands, with a minimum contiguous bandwidth of 2x10MHz in each band.

By contrast Egypt has offered only 22.5MHz to 2x5MHz to mobile operators in the recent 4G licence offering, driving the three domestic mobile operators to decline to apply.

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PLAINVILLE  Nearly 100 turtles are now calling Plainville home thanks to a town resident who is helping lead a national conservation effort.



I wanted to make a difference, said Anthony Pierlioni.



Together with a partner, Pierlioni created the Turtle Room six years ago to educate the public about turtle conservation. His interest began at a young age when he used to catch turtles in town with his aunt. Later he learned more about the dangers they face.



The Turtle Room has grown to include a team from around the country. They work with other organizations, like the Association of Zoos and Aquariums and the Turtle Survival Alliance.



According to a 2011 report released by the Turtle Survival Alliance, almost half of the 300 species of turtles are being threatened with extinction.



Worldwide the hunting of turtles is at vastly unsustainable levels, the group said. Of the 25 most endangered turtles, over two-thirds (17) are from Asia, a result of decades of massive exploitation of the regions turtle.



Of the close to 100 turtles that the Plainville High School alumni houses, 10 are extinct in the wild. More than half are endangered.



Theyre in need of more information, theres no books or research on them currently, he said.



From the backyard to the basement, Pierlionis home is filled with 16 species of turtles. He also has eggs that are waiting to hatch.



A recent leaf turtle he hatched was sent to the Dallas Zoo, which in return sent him one back to breed.



It diversifies the bloodlines this way, he said.



Pierlioni, a social worker by day, travels to Pennsylvania four times a year to do field work with the Turtle Room. He has also given talks about the conservation projects at various conferences.



Turtles are the most endangered vertebrate group, rivaled only by the great apes and big cats, he said.



More information can be found at https://theturtleroom.com/






An installation in Kodak Passageway will display objects from the last century and feature talks on the topic

The British Museums Modern Egypt project will be launched in Cairo on Friday 14 October with several talks and a public installation in Kodak Passageway in the citys downtown district.

The project looks at the relationship between people and the objects they have been using over the past century.

According to the event description, some of the questions the project tackles are how have things shaped human experience in Modern Egypt? And what are the objects produced and used by Egyptians during the past century? How do Egyptians shape the materiality of things and how have things shaped the identities of Egyptians?

A long-term mission still in progress, the completed project will contain an extensive collection of these material objects to provide a panorama on life in modern Egypt, displayed at the British Museum in London.

To present this project in Cairo, a series of events will be taking place at Kodak Passageway.

Between 12 and 19 October there will be a pop-up installation of objects from the last century.

Starting 14 October, a series of talks over three days will shed light on the project and on parallel initiatives, starting with the official launch and introduction of the project by curator Mohamed Elshahed, the architect, researcher, and writer behind the Cairobserver blog.

In the same evening, there will be two presentations; one on behalf of the Womens Museum Project by the Women and Memory Forum, and another by the Downtown Museum of Al-Ismaelia for Real Estate, with a discussion about the usage of everyday materials in the context of these two museums.

The next day artist Huda Lutfi will speak about her use of everyday objects in her artwork, followed by an open discussion.

On the third evening concluding the talks, collector Amgad Naguib will present a talk centred on acquiring modern heritage objects and the market for them, discussing the processes of collecting objects pertaining to Egypts recent history.

Programme:

Wednesday 12 October to Wednesday 19 October, 12pm-8pm

Installation is open to the public in Kodak Passageway

Friday 14 October, 7pm

Launch of the Modern Egypt project, talk by project curator Mohamed Elshahed.

Talks by Women and Memory Forum and Al-Ismaelia for Real Estate

Saturday 15 October, 7pm

Talk by artist Huda Lutfi followed by discussion

Sunday 16 October, 7pm

Talk by collector Amgad Naguib followed by discussion

Kodak Passageway, between 34 and 20 Adly St, Downtown Cairo

For more arts and culture news and updates, follow Ahram Online Arts and Culture on Twitter at @AhramOnlineArts and on Facebook at Ahram Online: Arts & Culture

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San Francisco will receive $11 million from the federal government for projects to encourage carpools, time traffic signals for transit and pedestrian safety, and test driverless passenger shuttles at Treasure Island.

The grants, to be announced Thursday by the U.S. Department of Transportation, come from a fund that is usually distributed to cities and states to manage highway congestion, said Tom Maguire, sustainable streets director for the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency. He said federal officials recognized that San Francisco has other priorities that are worth supporting.

Were going to use the money to advance transit first and Vision Zero, the citys 10-year plan to eliminate traffic fatalities by 2024, Maguire said.

City agencies are trying to improve pedestrian safety by focusing on the most dangerous streets and intersections, improving roadways and signs, stepping up police enforcement and launching education campaigns to get more drivers to yield to pedestrians. The results so far havent been encouraging: 20 traffic deaths, including 10 pedestrians, in the first eight months of 2016, compared with 12 pedestrian fatalities and 19 overall deaths in the same period in 2015, according to the MTA.

Total funding for the planned projects is $32 million over four years, with $11 million from the Transportation Department and the rest in matching local funds and private contributions.

One project seeks to better protect pedestrians in the Tenderloin, which Maguire described as ground zero for pedestrian injuries and fatalities. Traffic lights will be adjusted to give pedestrians more time to cross the street and to try to reduce the occasions in which drivers are turning while pedestrians are in the crosswalk, Maguire said. He said the project would also seek to use sensors and other devices built into vehicles to protect pedestrians and would expand citywide if it works in the Tenderloin.

Another grant is designated for smart traffic signals, which will be timed to give priority to mass transit, particularly in congested hours. For example, Maguire said, lights on Third Street downtown can be programmed to stay green when a train is approaching.

Grants will also fund high-occupancy-vehicle lanes on access roads to freeways and the Bay Bridge, and new pickup curbs for carpools. New apps or other high-tech mechanisms could help link commuters at the curbs with would-be carpool drivers, said Darton Ito, the MTAs deputy director for innovation.

The funding also includes several projects to deal with traffic to and from Treasure Island, where San Francisco supervisors have approved construction of 8,000 new housing units for 20,000 residents over the next 10 to 15 years.

The traffic-management plans include a future toll for drivers from the Bay Bridge to Treasure Island, a fee that would increase during peak traffic periods, said Tilly Chang, executive director of the San Francisco County Transportation Authority, which will oversee transit for the island.

She said visitors will also be charged parking fees, revenue that will be used to pay for mass transit on Treasure Island. In addition, the price of every new housing unit on the island will include a fee for a monthly transit pass, Chang said.

Another federally funded innovation will be an automated, driverless shuttle to carry passengers around Treasure Island and Yerba Buena Island, Chang said. She said the shuttle would carry 12 people, or six people plus a wheelchair, and would be tested to see how it performs on steep grades and in sea air and fog.

We believe its safe, Chang said. Its been in operation in Europe for many years. She said the project would require state legislative approval and includes funding for UC Berkeley to evaluate the shuttles performance.

Mayor Ed Lee applauded the new projects. In a statement, he said the federal grants would utilize advanced transportation technology to address traffic congestion on our streets and allow for a smarter and more equitable transportation system for all San Franciscans.

Bob is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: begelko@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @egelko
For the first time in Egypt, experts and patients gather to shed light on metastatic breast cancer and its challenges

October is "Breast Cancer Awareness" month all over the world. Egypt is marking the occasion by launching its first awareness campaign on Metastatic Breast Cancer (MBC)

The launch event, 12 October, under the auspices of The Breast Cancer Foundation of Egypt (BCFE) in coordination with the Egyptian Ministry of Health, gathered experts and celebrities in various fields along with some of the bravest women who have survived cancer or are still undergoing treatment.

Pink was everywhere, with most in attendance adopting it in their attire. Songs whose lyrics spoke of the beauty and bravery of women facing breast cancer set a positive vibe.

Patients and survivors took to the stage to recount their experiences, encourage others, and shed light on the obstacles they have faced in their treatment.

Manal, a cancer fighter (as she calls herself) was the first to speak. The mum of two spoke about the experience of undergoing treatment some years ago, only to discover that cancer struck back and that she is challenged now with MBC.

Manal said the main obstacle she faced was bureaucracy in seeking treatment. "We cannot afford but to go to government-affiliated hospitals and treatment centres, and the numerous steps and procedures facing us every time drains what little is remaining of our energy and health," she said.

Other patients added also that certain drugs  like zoledronic acid (Zometa) injections for treating cancer related bone complications  are not subsidised for all cancer patients, and that treatment requires moving between many places far apart, which is very hard for the patients.

MBC is defined by the WHO as the advanced stage of cancer, when it spreads from the breast tissues to various body parts, like the brain, organs and lymphatic system. There is no cure, and much treatment is palliative.

Entitled, "Unmute the Stillness," Wednesday's launch event included a panel discussion of professors of radiology, oncology, pain management and psychotherapy. Dr Abeer Meghawry, professor of radiology, made a presentation on behalf of the Ministry of Health.

Ahram Online spoke to Dr Mohamed Shaalan, professor of oncology and head of BCFE, before the event. He said MBC had been neglected for too long.

"In the past 15 years, the sole focus of medical institutions was awareness and early detection, which was  and still is  of utmost importance. But the problem is that it took everybody that time to start tackling the ordeal faced by most breast cancer patients, which is the vicious MBC. This is quite unfortunate and for that we are very sorry," he said.

The panel and the attendants, including members of charitable organisations abroad, discussed numerous aspects of MBC, from spreading awareness to diagnosis, methods of treatment, and the psychological impact of MBC.

The role of the media in spreading awareness was highlighted as well as the roles of care institutions and families in facilitating treatment.

Shaalan shed light on the importance of finance. "The government budget for healthcare is EGP 50 billion, out of which only EGP 4 billion is dedicated to breast cancer. These numbers fall short of the required expenditure, and this is why the private sector and civil society is pivotal," he said.

Latest treatment methods resulting from hormonal and immune system research were highlighted as well as the importance of understanding and applying pain reduction methods.

"Egypt is one of 10 countries least to provide cancer patients with pain killing drugs. The bureaucracy in this respect affects patients to an unfortunate extent," he said

Dr Shaalan asserted that rising numbers of MBC patients is due to a lack of awareness and working only on breast cancer detection, without paying attention to the possibility of its spread to other parts of the body.

According to the National Cancer Registry Programme (NCRP), cancer incidence in Egypt runs at 166 cases for every 100,000 citizens.

Liver cancer tops the list, at 23.8 percent, followed by breast cancer at 15.4 percent and bladder cancer at 6.9 percent.

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H-E-B celebrated more than 50 years on the city's eastside with a Spurs-themed party and a $50,000 donation.

Spurs Coyote, Team Energy, Silver Dancers and the Sam Houston High School marching band joined in the event that included free drinks and food.
Last week, Texans began practicing their surfer vocabulary in anticipation of the newly opened Nland surf park near Austin. Now, less than a week later, another company has announced a second surf park just up I-35.

Barefoot Ski Ranch is a 500 acre resort in Waco, Texas, home to the world's longest lazy river. They've partnered with American Wave Machines, a wave pool technology company, to deliver a "surf ranch."
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A woman putters around her kitchen in Bournemouth, England, and glances at her wall clock.

Its only 1 p.m., yet she already feels the need for a shot of gin.

In a few minutes, we realize why: Louisa Durrells four children, ages 11 to 21, are anything but easy. Most not only lack focus and direction but are coarse and crabby. Nearly everything she says is met with dissatisfaction or, worse, a rude remark.

She hasnt a husband to help keep them in line or at least take the edge off her frustration. Whats more, the familys finances are in the toilet.

So what in the world is this widowed mom to do? Larry, her one child with aspirations  to be a novelist  suggests they move to Corfu, an island in Greece. Its dirt cheap so I can write there, he tells her. Besides, he adds, its full of disgusting animals for Gerry (her youngest boy, who prefers animals to humans).

Declaring the notion preposterous, she soon has a change of heart  prompted in no small part by Englands dreary weather and Larrys cracks that shes been drowning her unhappiness in drink.

Louisa decides shell sell just about everything they own, uproot her belligerent brood to the less constricted environs of a Greek island and hope for the best.

What follows is a new life full of ups, downs and adventures for the Durrells, and a funny, poignant and delightfully escapist TV journey for the viewer.

The first of six hour-long episodes of The Durrells in Corfu debuts at 7 p.m. Sunday on PBS. The series runs through Nov. 20.

Though based on Gerald Durrells trilogy of books about his familys four years on Corfu  from 1935 to 39  the story nevertheless feels contemporary.

For starters, the series writer, Simon Nye (Men Behaving Badly), has a talent for delivering likable characters full of glorious imperfections.

Heres a brief look at the five central figures and how they blossom  somewhat, anyway  amid the vivid blue seas, bright sunshine and colorful inhabitants of their new Greek home.

Eldest son Larry (Josh OConnor, who looks quite dashing in a straw skimmer hat) delivers on his promise and ambitiously taps out stories, and eventually a novel, on his portable typewriter. Inspired by the wildness of his rustic setting, the tales are largely of a sexual nature and become quite popular. On the down side, he takes up with a couple of moneyed loafers who drink too much. His own debauchery leads to a shooting accident and makeshift surgery on his appendix.

Middle son Leslie (Callum Woodhouse), once obsessed with guns and shooting at things willy-nilly, puts that aside for a time when he falls hard for a pretty Greek lass. He starts to exhibit a gentler side; that is, until his love life goes awry, and his short temper returns, getting him into a heap of trouble. Meanwhile, though, he puts his beloved firearms to practical use; he becomes quite a good hunter, regularly putting meat on his familys meager table.

Only daughter Margo (Daisy Waterstone) remains aimless at first, but at least she doesnt brood sullenly around the house as she did in England. Bit by bit, the 16-year-old ventures out into her new environs, experimenting with ways to make her life better. An unrequited crush on the wrong guy first makes her sad but eventually teaches her something about the opposite sex. She also tries out a possible profession or two; one, in a doctors office, is a miserable failure, but she eventually finds something more suited to her talents.

Youngest child Gerry, portrayed with magnetic enthusiasm by Milo Parker (Miss Peregrines Home for Peculiar Children), absolutely thrives in his new surroundings as theyre stocked with the creatures, great and small, furry and feathered, that hes always adored. He brings many of them home, and the resulting menagerie  of tortoises, insects, puppies and a crusty old pelican  is enchanting.

As for mom Louisa (appealing Keeley Hawes of Upstairs, Downstairs), the days are rough at first  no electricity, little to dine on except weeds and berries, and few folks to talk to aside from her bratty kids.

Eventually, however, her circle grows wider. After a crudely comical visit by a vulgar old sailor, Louisa manages to find one attractive romantic prospect, a Swedish farmer of many talents named Sven.

A strength of this series is its unpredictability; nothing is tied up sweetly in a convenient bow.

Similar to real life, The Durrells in Corfu is marvelously messy, full of odd turns and bizarre encounters, some welcome, some not, but enticing enough to leave you wanting more.

Its a true original in a TV age of reboots, copycats and sequels, and youll be hard-pressed to find a more enjoyable date on a Sunday night.

Jeanne Jakles column appears Wednesdays and Sundays in mySA, and she writes online at mySA.com/Jakle. Email her at jjakle@express-news.net.
Folks, this is no "laughing matter"yesterday, McDonald's announced that it'd temporarily bar mascot Ronald McDonald from making public appearances throughout the United States following a spate of clown sightings, our era's satanic panic. Per AP, the company would like to remain "thoughtful in respect to Ronald McDonald's participation in community events," especially given the "current climate around clown sightings in communities." The anxiety started this August in South Carolina with reports of groups of clowns trying to coax kids into the woods. Reports analogous to this have since spread across the country, with some hoaxers capitalizing on the fear these incidents have inspired. Clowns have long been a silently terrifying fixture of our popular imagination, thougheven the sentient McDonald's mascot himself. Consider, for a moment, Ronald McDonald's original avatar in 1963.

The first person to inhabit the role of Ronald McDonald was Willard Scott, perhaps best known as the Today Show's longtime weatherman beginning in 1980. In 1960, Washington D.C.-based McDonald's franchisee Oscar Goldstein sponsored a regional version of Bozo's Circus, starring Scott as Bozo the Clown himself. The company saw a 30% spike in sales in the D.C. metro area as a result of their sponsorship of Bozo's Circus.

Upon the show's cancellation in 1963, Goldstein scooped Scott up and asked him to create a mascot similar to Bozo for McDonald's. In his long out-of-print 1987 memoir, The Joy of Living, Scott recalls, "At the time, Bozo was the hottest children's show on the air. ... There was something about the combination of hamburgers and Bozo that was [sic] irresistable to kids." He appeared in three television spots broadcast in the area in 1963.

"The world's newest, silliest, and hamburger eating-est clown, Ronald McDonaldnow, where is that clown?" the narrator inquires in the first commercial, above. Scott's McDonald emerges from the darkness. "Here I am, kids," he tells us, his voice resembling a Malibu surfer's. "Hey, isn't watching TV fun?"

Admire, if you will, his striped suit the hue of mayonnaise and ketchup; the food tray replete with burgers, fries, and shakes perched atop his noggin; nose obscured by a styrofoam cup. He's Ronald McDonald, some men sing as a flute toots. The hamburger-happy clown. A McDonald's drive-in restaurant is his favorite place in town. Ronald accompanies this with a little jig of his own, wiggling and flailing his limbs with reckless abandon.

Here he is skating down a sidewalk beforewhoops! The hamburgers soar into the sky and into the paws of a small child, who rightly contends that Ronald McDonald is a stranger. Ronald forces a handshake out of him and brags about the burger-churning belt he's outfitted with. And in the commercial below, you'll see Ronald fancying himself a stowaway on a "moon rocket," all to prove a political pointto show that McDonald's hamburgers are "out of this world"! Sheesh.

Scott's tenure was rather short-lived. McDonald's deemed Scott too portly for the role of a fast food mascot, imagining Ronald McDonald as being "extremely active." Scott involuntarily stepped out of the role in 1966 just before Ronald McDonald would make his first national appearance at the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade that year. The former Bozo was replaced with another bisyllabic clown, "Coco," played by Michael Polakovs, creating the mascot in his current iterationface caked in flour dust, lips smacked with red paint.

Time hasn't been especially kind to Scott's Ronald McDonald, no doubt because he deviates so jarringly from America's present-day understanding of the character. "Scary," scribes Serious Eats. "Really creepy," moans Consumerist. Ugh.

The Today Show, Scott's former employer, is considerably kinder, reading no murderous ideations into his "larger-than-life smile." Meanwhile, McDonald's took serious umbrage with the Huffington Post's reasonable assessment three years ago that the original ad "will give you nightmares." The company went so far as to email the publication a statement chiding them for their mean-spirited take.

"To label a 50 year old picture as a nightmare is a clear overstatement," an unnamed McDonald's rep wrote the Huffington Post. "Ronald McDonald has been and is a much loved figure to families for more than 50 years. That picture represents the simple era of the times. A provocatively labeled headline wont change that, nor impact all of the good Ronald McDonald will continue to do for years to come."

Hm. This is quite intriguing, considering advocacy group Corporate Accountability International has repeatedly demanded that McDonald's retire the clown as its mascot, arguing that his very presence in the brand's advertising encourages obesity. McDonald's has staunchly refused to cave to these pressures (instead kowtowing to clown-based fears), and they've defended Ronald as "a force for good." He, this sacrosanct corporate idol beyond reproach, is the face of a charity, after all.

The statement seems a touch disingenuous given the rather ungainly circumstances under which McDonald's let off Scott, the man who effectively authored this mascot. It was the first time I was really screwed by the mass media, Scott would comment of his firing for being overweight. A sign of the times, as McDonald's might say.

Do you remember Willard Scott's Ronald McDonald? Do you find him terrifying? Let us know in the comments!
HARTFORD - The Archdiocese of Hartford has agreed to settle a 17-year-old sexual abuse claim against one of its priests.

Stamford lawyers Ernest Teitell and Marco Allocca , who represented the alleged victim, said the settlement was reached following mediation before Superior Court Judge Antonio Robaina.

We settled this matter without a single deposition being taken, which saved our client the extreme emotional distress and burden that would have come with being deposed and reliving his painful experiences, said Teitell. However, we are not celebrating this outcome because when you represent a victim of childhood sexual abuse, there are no true victories, but only important steps in the road to the victims recovery, he continued. By bringing this case the plaintiff wanted to show other abuse survivors that they do not have to keep their own victimizations secret.

Archdiocese officials did not immediately return requests for comment.

While Teitell did not disclose the amount of the settlement court papers in the case show that in March he offered to settle the case for $950,000.

The lawsuit against the archdiocese claimed in 2000 and 2001 the Rev. Edward J. Tissera, also known as the Rev. Edward Warnakulasooriya, then associate pastor at St. John the Evangelist Church in Watertown, repeatedly sexually assaulted the then 13-year-old boy.

Tissera repeatedly requested and instructed plaintiff to meet with him in plaintiffs bedroom for spiritual guidance and counseling, the lawsuit states.
BRIDGEPORT  Head Librarian Scott Hughes has been accused of being a no-show at work.

On Wednesday he was a no-show at a Library Board Personnel Committee meeting scheduled to discuss his job performance.

That might not help him when the full board convenes next Wednesday to consider whether to keep or fire Hughes, who was placed on probation eight months ago.

Its indicative of an ongoing lack of communication with the board which was the primary focus of the original probation, Library Board Chairman Jim ODonnell said afterward.

ODonnell said that at the last minute, Hughes informed the board he had taken a personal day and would not attend the meeting.

With Hughes not there, ODonnell and three other Personnel Committee members huddled behind closed doors at the main branch downtown to discuss the directors work running the citys library system. Hired nine years ago, Hughes has been criticized by board members and staff as a poor and unresponsive manager.

The group emerged after about half an hour. William Holden announced that the committee had discussed in detail Hughes performance and would recommend an action at the full board meeting next week. Members declined to say what action they had settled upon.

Sauda Baraka, who based on prior public comments appears to be a Hughes sole supporter on the personnel committee, refused to participate Wednesday. She told her colleagues Hughes should be there to discuss personnel matters, noting that he has requested to have prior such meetings opened to the public.

ODonnell said Hughes had full knowledge of the meeting and chose not to attend.

Hughes could not be reached for comment.

Ex-state Sen. Ernie Newton briefly attended Wednesdays meeting before the committee held its private discussion. Newton and other black leaders have vocally opposed Hughes removal.

Hughes is also black and has made some strong allies through his involvement in Democratic politics.

We dont have many African Americans in leadership positions in this city, Newton said afterward.

Newton said he believes Hughes has tried to work with the board while on probation, and that board members could have been more understanding of his need and right for a personal day.

I cant figure out why youd want to get rid of someone whose really made the library a top priority in the neighborhoods, Newton said.

Whatever the Library Board decides next week, members will do so with the knowledge that they are awaiting reappointment by the City Council, which includes some strong Hughes supporters.
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GREENWICH  An attempt to create an ad hoc committee to look into soil contamination in town was a non-starter Thursday after no one on the Board of Selectmen seconded the motion.

Selectman Drew Marzullo moved to create a one-time committee to look at the extent of soil contamination in all town-owned properties after the soil at several of the towns schools was found to be contaminated.

But neither First Selectman Peter Tesei nor Selectman John Toner would second the motion and it died on the floor.

Marzullo, who has long advocated testing soil throughout town to understand where contamination exists and clean it up before it becomes an expensive fix to building projects, said he was disappointed.

Todays vote keeps in place a reactive informal policy and approach to how Greenwich deals with and finances contaminated soil, Marzullo said. The town needs to proactively get all necessary parties in one room and develop a strategic long-term plan that can save thousands of dollars and hopefully prevent the closing of parks and fields. While no such plan exists, we do know remediation  somewhere, sometime soon  will happen again. PCBs are lurking.

Contaminated soil has been a building issue with the schools. Contaminated soil at Greenwich High School created years-long delays for the new auditorium and classroom construction. Soil testing this summer at Western Middle School by environmental consultants Langan Inc. confirmed independent findings of lead, arsenic and PCB contamination at the schools field. The William Street field, next to New Lebanon School, has been closed two summers for toxic soil cleanup.

In arguing for the committee, Marzullo told the other selectmen that they need to think longterm.

I can only see this as a positive step, Marzullo said. It would provide information back to this board so we can make more informed decisions. Maybe in the end, the committee would come back to us and say that proactively testing is too expensive and we shouldnt be doing it. It would be a non-binding recommendation.

Tesei and Toner disagreed.

The towns Public Works and Parks and Recreation Departments, town Director of Environmental Health Michael Long, Greenwich Public Schools administration, the Board of Education and outside companies contracted by the town already do tests and assessment and make sure the town is in compliance with safety practices and codes, Tesei said.

Right now, the town addresses these on a case-by-case basis, which is how the environmental investigation is being done, Tesei said. Arbitrarily just going out and selecting sites because you think something is there... Its been stated by people both in-house and externally as not a wise approach.

Clare Kilgallen, president of the New Lebanon School PTA and a member of the New Lebanon School Building Committee, suggested the town spend more time describing to residents exactly how soil testing is done.

Communicating what the plan is and understanding all the steps in between is important, Kilgallen said. I dont think people understand that you dig the soil, you test, then you come up with the remediation plan, you dig, you see how that goes and then you might have to do it again. I think that the cycle of the process is not clearly communicated.

kborsuk@scni.com
Minister of Antiquities Khaled El-Enany referred today the file an allegedly indecent party held in the Karanak Temple area to the Administrative Prosecution for investigation

Egyptian Minister of Antiquities Khaled El-Enany referred on Tuesday the fle of a dance party held in the Karnak Temple area of Luxor to prosecutors for investigation, following the release of photos allegedly showing party-goers dressed indecently and consuming illegal substances.

Mohamed Abdel-Aziz, director-general of Upper Egypt Antiquities, said that approval for the event was given in mid-March before El-Enany was appointed minister.

Abdel-Aziz said the party was held in front of Karnak Temple at a distance of 200 metres, not inside the temple itself as reported on some news and social media outlets.

The ministry, Abdel-Aziz told Ahram Online, installed an iron fence to cordon off the area where the event was being held to prevent entry into the temple area.

The party was held on Monday after closing hours at the archaeological site and the temple's gates were closed.

Mostafa Waziri, director-general of Luxor Antiquities, told Ahram Online that the Tourism and Antiquities Police in Luxor were present in the area around Karnak Temple, that all security measures were taken and all attendees' bags searched.

He asserted that no irregularities took place and that photos published on social media showing drunken people dancing in front of Karnak and others smoking illegal drugs were doctored images.

The photos, Waziri said, were from a private gala ceremony held two days earlier at one of Luxor's hotels.

On Tuesday morning, archaeological activists on social media criticised the Ministry of Antiquities and Luxor governorate for approving the event at Karnak Temple, saying the attendees committed irregularities and did not respect the sanctity of the ancient site.



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For the first time in years, the Wall that Heals is returning to southwest Connecticut.

The Wall That Heals is a half-scale replica of The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall in Washington D.C. The 250-foot-long, chevron-shaped replica is made of powder-coated aluminum and composed of 24 panels that local veterans will help put together.

While in West Haven, it will be open 24 hours a day, from Oct. 20 - 23 and accompanied by a trailer that houses a traveling museum and learning center. It will be located at Bradley Point Park in Savin Rock.

There are currently 58,307 names on The Wall which includes both killed and missing in action. There are still more than 1,600 service members unaccounted for from the Vietnam War.

As on The Wall, the names on The Wall That Heals are listed by day of casualty. Beginning at the center, the names start on the East Wall (right-hand side) working their way out to the end of that wing, picking up again at the far end of the West Wall (left-hand side) and working their way back in to the center, joining the beginning and end of the conflict at the center.

This event provides an opportunity for a solemn and reverent experience for those who have never been to Washington D.C. to visit the permanent memorial.

There will be an opening and closing ceremony along with a name reading of Connecticuts fallen and weather permitting, a dove release at the closing ceremony.

The last time it was in West Haven was in Sept. 2001.

The West Haven Vietnam Veterans Association and the West Haven Veterans Advisory Council and other veteran groups and individuals are bringing the wall to Savin Rock. The wall is coming in on Oct. 19 with an escort led by the Patriot Guard Riders from the Connecticut Post Milford Mall and the assembly will start from behind Sears and meet at 8 a.m..

The original Wall in Washington, D.C. was dedicated on November 13, 1982. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund, founded by Jan C. Scruggs, worked with veterans to convince Congress to give the land for a memorial to honor the service members who served in Vietnam. The $8.4 million raised to build The Wall came entirely from private donations from individuals, veterans and civic organizations, corporations, foundations and unions.

The memorial was designed by Maya Lin, then a Yale undergraduate, after she won a national design competition open to any U.S citizen 18 years of age or above.

The Wall That Heals is a program of VVMF. To learn more about TWTH or any other VVMF programs, the Education Center and how you can help, visit www.vvmf.org
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That abusive act Donald Trump giddily -- and now famously -- described to Billy Bush is an assault, as would be the octopus-handed groping Trump is said to have forced on several women.

Trumps words moved thousands of women to social media to describe being groped by unwelcome hands attached to unabashed men. They rallied to the hashtag #NotOkay as allies drawn from NFL locker rooms and late-night stages joined in their call against sexual abuse. Even a few of Trumps supporters were stirred to action.

In Washington, of course, groping is a crime. It's just not as heinous an offense as, say, stealing livestock. Or claim jumping. Or misbranding shellfish.

Those convicted of the act Trump bragged about  touching a non-consenting persons private parts through their clothes  can bet theyll face nothing more than a misdemeanor assault conviction. Most job applications wont ask about it, sex offender registration wont be required and (perhaps fortuitously for some candidates) it wont stop an offender from voting.

Most gropers get to keep their guns. Hopefully they dont do anything felonious, such as spotlighting deer.

As a gross misdemeanor, fourth-degree assault with sexual motivation cant carry a sentence longer than a year in jail. Such a term would be exceptional; most offenders can expect community service, house arrest and/or a fine.

It may seem like light duty for a crime that can and has hurt thousands of women deeply.

If that assault felt very threatening to a person, it doesnt matter if it was a minor touch, said DeAnn Yamamoto, deputy executive director of the King County Sexual Assault Resource Center.

Such intrusions upset a persons sense of personal security, Yamamoto said. Their life has been changed by someone without their invitation. Anxiety, nightmares and depression can result, as can post-traumatic stress disorder.

Recipients of casual abuse sometimes have trouble finding their wounds because they feel their encounters ought not to have hurt them badly.

People end up having symptoms over an incident that they dont think they should have, said Yamamoto, who has been helping Seattle-area abuse survivors for 33 years. They start to question themselves over what theyre experiencing.

While one state law with stiffer penalties could, in theory, be brought to bear against some gropers, it rarely is.

That charge, indecent liberties, is usually brought against men who attack the unconscious or incapacitated. And its rarely used  in 2015, only nine offenders were sentenced whose most serious crime was indecent liberties with forcible compulsion.

Indecent liberties charges are often negotiated down to fourth-degree assault with sexual motivation, said Kimberly Gordon, a veteran Seattle criminal defense attorney and member of the state Sentencing Guidelines Commission. Both charges carry markedly different penalties  some indecent liberties charges are, on paper at least, punished on par with forcible kidnapping  but encompass similar conduct.

These crimes, indecent liberties with or without force, and assault four can also cover a wide range of behaviors and dangerousness levels, said Gordon, a partner with Gordon & Saunders PLLC.

Negotiations are in large part how the American criminal justice system functions. Few criminal cases go to trial; those that do usually involve either a pronounced dispute about facts or a defendant particularly disinclined to admit his or her guilt.

A fourth-degree assault conviction doesnt carry a sex offender registration requirement, which has an appeal to defendants. But Gordon noted records related to groping convictions usually acknowledge that the crime was sexually motivated.

Speaking generally, Gordon said some gropers commit the crime because of poor impulse control or ignorance.

What they have in common is that theyve crossed the line, Gordon said. People may have crossed the line for different reasons.

King County prosecutors are currently pursuing sexual assault charges against a Seattle Police Department officer, John Knight. Knight is accused of groping two women and one man  all fellow SPD employees  during a protracted series of assaults.

Knight is alleged to have forced his hands down one womans blouse to grope her bare breasts and grabbed a mans penis through his pants. For those allegations, which he has denied, he faces three misdemeanor assault counts.

The trouble with proving the more serious crime of indecent liberties, in part, is that prosecutors must show a groper used a substantial amount of force during his attack. Public groping of the type Trump cheerfully described on tape isnt likely to meet that standard.

Washington state law has a place for lower-level felony assault charges. Third-degree assault  a felony  has the same basic pieces as misdemeanor assault but applies only to certain victims, such as firefighters, police, process servers and healthcare workers. Elevating groping-type assaults to that level would take legislative action.

Such a move would raise the stakes for dozens of Seattle men each year. The city of Seattle prosecutes about 40 suspects each year for assault with sexual motivation; more still wind up in King County courts.

Yamamoto said women whove been groped suffer further when the crime for which a conviction has been obtained doesnt sound like the crime that was committed.

Certainly it does bother them, particularly if it goes down as an assault four that isnt a sexual offense, Yamamoto said. It doesnt represent what (the offender) actually did. 

So often that sense of justice doesnt get achieved through the process.

Yamamoto said talking can be healing for abuse survivors, including those who wonder if the abuse they suffered, normalized as it has been in some circles, is really bad enough to require help. King County Sexual Assault Resource Center operates a 24-hour resource line at 1-888-99-VOICE (1-888-998-6423).

Seattlepi.com reporter Levi Pulkkinen can be reached at 206-448-8348 or levipulkkinen@seattlepi.com. Follow Levi on Twitter at twitter.com/levipulk.
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H-E-B and Walgreens are among a wave of local retailers who have filed suit against the Jefferson County Appraisal District claiming their stores have been appraised above their market value, a stratagem frequently used by refineries.

The appraised value of H-E-B's property at 3590 College St. rose from $1.6 million in 2015 to $5.8 million for the 2016 tax year after the grocer built its new store on the former Baptist Hospital property. That means the company owes $137,000 in taxes, compared to $44,305 last year.

Walgreens, meanwhile, saw its tax bill increase $26,000 - almost 30 percent - to more than $117,000 for its locations at 6795 Calder Ave. and 3885 N. Dowlen Road.

In their separate lawsuits, filed Sept. 27, H-E-B and Walgreens ask that the county lower their appraised values using the equal and uniform statute, which permits challenges to appraised values based on similar properties.

Property owners can claim a value based on the median price of several properties they consider similar to their properties. If the median value is lower than their property's appraised value, they can ask that the county lower it.

The Austin-based Popp-Hutcheson law firm, which represents H-E-B and Walgreens, has based a number of successful appraisal challenges on the statute. Managing partner Jim Popp said he helped draft the 1997 amendment to the tax code that included the equal and uniform provision.

Popp said the firm has filed similar lawsuits across the state on behalf of clients like H-E-B, Walgreens and Lowe's.

The Jefferson County Appraisal District has lawsuits like this every year, according to Angela Bellard, chief appraiser for the Jefferson County Appraisal District.

Bellard said 23 similar suits have been filed this year. She said about half of the suits invoke the equal and uniform statute. Bellard said the county appraises grocery stores and drug stores using a combination of construction costs and market value.

Popp would not comment specifically on pending litigation involving H-E-B and Walgreens but said generally the problem with appraising grocery and drug stores using market value is that they rarely are sold.

"The difficulty you have there is: what is the market rent on a property that doesn't typically rent, or the market price on a property that doesn't sell?" Popp said.

Popp-Hutcheson represented H-E-B in a similar lawsuit against Jefferson County in 2013. Using the equal and uniform statute, the firm argued that H-E-B properties in Beaumont, Port Arthur and Groves were appraised above market value. The appraisals were lowered.

Notably missing from the ranks of plaintiffs this year are oil refineries.

Refineries like Valero, Total and BASF routinely sue county appraisal districts across the state using the equal and uniform statue to reduce their appraised value, a move that reduces county and community tax revenues by millions of dollars.

Port Arthur ISD was ordered to repay Valero more than $14 million in taxes after the refinery won its lawsuit against the county in 2011.

Valero, also represented by Popp-Hutcheson, used to file suit every year, according to Bellard.

But, she said, for the first time in more than 10 years, Valero did not file suit this year. Instead, the county and refinery were able to come an agreement.

NKrebs@BeaumontEnterprise.com Twitter.com/Natalie_Krebs
The president's innovative idea of donating change to the nation is the latest in a string of novel ideas that encourage Egyptians to take responsibility

By saving change for six months, I once bought my husband an Omega watch as a birthday gift. Sure it was many years back, and sure it was the least expensive watch in the store, but an Omega is an Omega.

Just married, having not yet begun my teaching career, and living overseas, I couldnt come up with the money to buy any gift, let alone an Omega watch, except by saving change. My husband still cherishes the watch as the gift that surprised him the most.

I remembered this incident when President El-Sisi took to the stage at the launching of the housing project in Alexandria and asked Egyptians to donate extra "change" to help fund Egypts social projects. You can put the extra change, the 50 piasters or pound of your day-to-day transactions, towards social projects.

He also suggested donating the extra 80 piasters when cashing a salary of, say, EGP 1,250.80. We are talking about possibly 20-30 million people. If everyone donated their extra change, we are talking about a significant sum," he said.

This initiative, donating change, is not original but followed all over the world: on flights an envelope in your seat pouch asks you to donate your change; at airports, the see-through box with a plethora of coins or small change is a common sight.

What use will you have for the few Kenyan shillings or the handful of South African rands once you return to your homeland?

At some stores, a similar box calls on you to donate, and at other stores, the cashier asks you if you would add a dollar that would go to a certain charity, especially during festive seasons; this while the Salvation Army has its members jingle bells at you as you enter a store reminding you to donate your change.

Of course, the complainers, those who emit negativity, remain steadfast in their disgruntlement finding fault with all efforts. They also mock and scorn the change initiative, but Im sure the concept of donating change will catch on. Remember those early days when change became scarce or insignificant, so candy, gum, or even a book of matches replaced it? Now, change has dissipated altogether, so why not direct it to a good cause?

The president of a state exudes a will and a course leaving his mark on the citizens of the nation. He may effect change by example or by direct approach. President El-Sisi has not only encouraged Egyptians to partake in the responsibility and become participants instead of spectators, but also passed on other tenets that hopefully Egyptians will embrace.

So today I will not focus on political successes or economical endeavours or even challenges, but on salient characteristics that El-Sisi is subliminally instilling in Egyptian, by applying these characteristics himself, thus encouraging Egyptians to take them on themselves.

Days after El-Sisi became president in June 2014, he asked Egyptians to assist in bolstering the economy and overcoming economic shortfalls. He set the course by example, so he donated half his wealth and salary to Egypt, and hours later, the central bank established the account Tahya Masr (Long Live Egypt) at Egypts National Bank and Bank Misr to receive donations. It was a smart move, for though Egyptians donate and pay zakat and oshoorMuslim and Christian obligatory donations the concept of donating for ones country was novel, at least in modern times.

Since then Tahya Masr has made extensive headway, bringing in billions and utilising these billions for social improvements. Tahya Masr projects include housing developments such as the El-Asmarat in Cairo and Gheit El-Enab in Alexandria and providing medication treatment to those inflicted with the depilating disease hepatitis C.

President El-Sisi also called on Egyptians to bid Egypt good morning by sending a pound over the phone. Again, the initiative picked up. And now he asks Egyptians to donate change, another innovative idea.

This while stories of donations, support, and solidarity fill social media validating the concept of giving and sharing for Egypts sake: from the man who vouched to pay all the interest on the principal he invested in the Suez Canal Project to Tahya Masr, including the change, to the old woman who went to the bank to donate EGP 200, and when she was asked if she had enough money to survive the month, she dived into her worn and torn wallet and found 50 pounds: Yes, I have enough, she said; the stories are endless.

From another perspective, President El-Sisi is the epitome of courtesy and civility. He has never offended or insulted a person or incited Egyptians against a group or a country. It is not in his nature to provoke hatred or ignite antagonism.

Neither President Mubarak nor President Sadat were discourteous or unmannerly, but President Nasser was relentless in his disparaging and slighting his enemiespresidents and kings alike.

President El-Sisi, on the other hand, respects everyone, making no distinction between the wealthy and the not-so-wealthy or between leaders and laypersons. He is above chitchat, name-calling, and blatant attacks. Even his enemies have yet to be denounced by name or openly. Those who have brazenly attacked him are never mentioned; those who give him the cold shoulder are still respected. As Egyptians, we havent followed suit yet; this has yet to come, but Im sure that Egyptians are taking it all in.

While all previous Egyptian presidents had their moments when they bellowed their messages at the top of their lungs, ex-President Morsi deserves the title of the best of the best. From day one, he shouted his mediocre views and haphazard nuances.

As for El-Sisi, his tone of voice remains soft and low-pitched. It demands listeners listen carefully. If Egyptians would take only this characteristic after him, Egypt would become a better place.

When El-Sisi began his now ingrained-in-all-speeches greeting and ending Long live Egypt, Egyptians were slightly surprised and a bit embarrassed. At first repeating the slogan didnt come naturally to them, but in a matter of a few months, Egyptians began to follow suit and repeat Long live Egypt unabashed.

Now it is acceptable to show ones sincere emotions towards Egypt. El-Sisis devotion to Egypt has enthused Egyptians to reciprocate the same feelings. Egyptians had taken Egypt for granted. After all, it is their home whether they like it or not, so they grumbled, complained, and took everything with a grain of salt. And here is the change: an apparent and loudly voiced love for Egypt.

Noteworthy salient temperaments may become firmly fixed in Egyptians, for by example we change and hopefully improve.

The writer is author of Cairo Rewind: The First Two Years of Egypt's Revolution.

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This week is Mila Gonzales's second "Angelversary".

Two years ago Maria Gonzales suffered the loss of her daughter, Mila, who was born a micro preemie on August 22, 2014.

At one pound, five ounces, she arrived 16 weeks early and lived for 49 days at Texas Children's where Maria Gonzales will be spending Thanksgiving and Christmas for the second year to serve others. But she needs support.

"It's hard to believe it's been two years since we have held her in our arms," Maria Gonzales said. "Not a day goes by we don't think of MILA and all the joy she brought into our lives."

Since her daughter's death Maria Gonzales started the Conroe-based MILA Foundation in her daughter's name.

"We will never understand the events of that day, the mistakes that were made or why God allowed it to happen," Maria Gonzales said. "We can only accept the fact that she is no longer with us. Part of our healing is by helping others who has a child in critical care."

Last December, the community helped the nonprofit foundation raise $2,500 in 24 hours through donations to host the MILA Foundation's "Holiday of Hope." Between Christmas and Thanksgiving 500 individuals and 150 medical staff members in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit who spend countless hours at the hospital, accumulating fees and expenses while they child is in a critical condition received a free, warm holiday meal.

This year she hopes to exceed that number.

"This is also the day when the cafeteria is closed making it difficult for families to have a meal," Maria Gonzales said. "Our vision is to be able to feed families at no cost to them. We understand the difficulties of not being able to make it home for the holidays. We cannot change the circumstances but with your help we can create a moment of comfort, and a holiday of hope for a family in emotional/spiritual need this holiday season. The MILA Foundation allows Mila's legacy and the love we have for her to continue. Together we can make a difference."

The foundation began serving Mother's Day and Father's Day meals this year and has provided 200 care packages since August 2015 for the families, which include custom sized blankets and other items. Maria Gonzales also makes "angel gowns" for the families who experience infant death and accepts donations for books and DVD's for the Texas Children's Hospital Library for the families. In another effort to help others, in April the Gulf Coast Regional Blood Center shared the foundation had 37 people provide 40 products at its blood drive which the Center stated helped save up to 120 lives.

For more information visit http://www.themilafoundation.org/donate.html. The MILA Foundation is a 501(c)(3) and all donations are 100 percent tax deductible.
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NORWALK  The ships captain made his first sighting roughly 20 miles off the coast of a Mexican island.

One dorsal fin slowly rose and cut through the surface of the water. Then another. And another.

In minutes, handfuls of nearly 30-foot-long whale sharks surrounded the ship. That was the cue for Chris McGee, a sixth-grade math teacher at Nathan Hale Middle School, to dive into the water.

McGee, along with a partner, jumped off the ship and swam alongside the sharks, taking photos and observing their movements.

It was just one of those oh wow moments, McGee said. I just think they are a beautiful creatures.

The unique experience checked an item off McGees personal bucket-list, but was at the same time a part of a larger project he was conducting for his work within Norwalk schools.

McGee sailed out to sea on a research vessel to collect data on the invasive lionfish in the Grand Caymans reef system and then learned about conservation through several dives and a swim with whale sharks off the coast of Mexico as a part of a two-week trip paid for by the Fund for Teachers, a national organization that supports educators efforts to develop skills, knowledge and confidence to increase student achievement.

His goals with the excursion were twofold: to collect data to give students a direct connection to the statistics unit in his math class and use his learning experience to start an after-school club focused on the conservation of marine life and the health of oceans.

The first leg of his trip, Aug. 3 to 10, found McGee collecting invasive lionfish species off of Grand Cayman  a British island in the Caribbean. McGee, and a group of others, would collect the fish out of the water, measure them, weigh them and find out what they were eating.

That information gave insights to scientists studying the animals and their effect on the reef and real-world content for McGee to bring back with him to the classroom.

McGee teaches a statistical analysis unit each year including terms such as mean, median and mode.

Students know that I would go on diving trips, McGee said. Theyd always ask to see pictures or videos to show. I thought it would be something I could get pictures of and bring my own data that I collected into the classroom for my students to use.

Amy Jones, a social studies teacher at Nathan Hale who works alongside McGee, said having that real-world data can make learning easier or more enjoyable for students.

Any time a teacher can make something more interesting to kids, especially from a valuable personal life experience, it becomes not just a textbook, but a story teachers can tell about themselves, Jones said. Its a perfect way to reach our kids because they love him and so for a person that they know saying here is math that I use that is all around us and making it personal is huge.

The second leg of his trip, Aug. 12 to 19, found McGee diving at MUSA, an underwater museum off the coast of Mexico.

At Musa, McGee observed some of the over 500 underwater sculptures, part of the collection established to find a way to get people off the nearby reef system and to promote coral life.

Even though as divers you try not to touch anything, occasionally your equipment does, McGee said. They wanted to find a way to get the number of people off their reefs. So people would go visit that instead.

McGee also took a boat out to what he called the largest gathering of whale sharks in the world, where he learned more about conservation and ecotourism.

It it was just really exciting, McGee said about swimming with the sharks. Just to see the sheer size ... and being able to watch them feed.

McGee said as a part of the excursion, humans arent allowed to touch the sharks and that the animals are no danger to humans.

They aren't aggressive and they arent really bothered by the humans, he said. They let you do your thing.

The experiences led McGee to think about what he could do with a conservation club back home in Norwalk.

One of the things that Id like to do is find out what we can do for Long Island Sound, McGee said.

He said its important to get students thinking about conservation efforts both locally, such as with the Sound, and globally, like the whale sharks.

I show them videos of sharks swimming by. They say aren't you worried? And it's just getting them to realize they (the sharks) play an important role in the marine ecosystem. They arent just out there eating anything and everything in sight.

McGee said student interest in the club is high, but that trying to develop it can be logistically difficult. He said he is working on a proposal to create a club within an existing after-school program at the school and to expand, if possible, from there.

My goal is to first start thinking about things we can do locally, McGee said. Even if everybody just does a little bit it's going to eventually add up to be quite a lot.

KSchultz@thehour.com; 203- 354-1049; @kevinedschultz
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If there is one single, prevailing issue in the state of Connecticut, it is the state budget. Year after year, we are forced to make difficult decisions regarding our fiscal stability, and more often than not, spending cuts are necessary to ensure we do not add to our mounting deficit. This time, however, the state Board of Education has made a recommendation to make cuts in an area where we simply cannot afford to lose funding.

The state Board of Education has suggested closing two vocational-technical schools. This was in response to a required 10 percent budget cut across all state agencies as directed by Gov. Dannel P. Malloy. Though the state Board of Education has made this recommendation, many state Democrats have voiced their opposition to the proposal, displaying a rift within the party. When there is a policy division within a single party, you know it is no longer a partisan issue, it is a statewide issue.
The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday allowed California to give a break to companies based in the state over companies based elsewhere when it taxes multistate business income.

The justices, without comment, denied review of an appeal by six out-of-state companies that sought refunds of $34 million they paid in taxes between 1993 and 2005. The companies argued that an interstate tax agreement required uniform standards that treated all businesses equally.

A ruling against the state would have required hundreds of millions of dollars in refunds to other companies. The National Association of Manufacturers and the chambers of commerce in several states joined individual firms in arguing for Supreme Court review.

The interstate agreement, called the Multistate Tax Compact, addresses the share of a multistate companys income that a single state can tax. The compact gives equal weight to three factors: the value of the companys property in the state, the wages it pays to employees in the state, and its sales in the state.

California legislators wrote those standards into state law in 1966 and joined the compact eight years later. But after complaints by some California companies that the formula favored their out-of-state competitors, legislators rewrote the state law in 1993 to give added weight to in-state sales, a factor that affects all businesses equally no matter where they are based  and thus shifts some of the tax burden to companies based outside California.

When looking at a multistate companys books now, assessors give 50 percent weight to its sales in California, and 25 percent each to property and payroll, before deciding what portion of its income is taxable in the state.

California did not immediately withdraw from the compact, however, and the six companies  Gillette, Procter & Gamble, Kimberly-Clark, Sigma-Aldrich, RB Holdings and Jones Apparel Group  argued that they should be allowed to use the original equal-weight formula for their taxes.

A state appeals court in San Francisco agreed with the companies in 2012, saying states had no authority to change the compacts tax formula. Lawmakers responded to the ruling by ending Californias participation in the compact, while state tax officials appealed and won a reversal from the state Supreme Court.

The Multistate Tax Compact has no binding regulatory authority upon member states, which are free to set their own tax policies, Justice Carol Corrigan said in a 7-0 ruling Dec. 31 that upheld the 1993 state tax law.

Of the 16 states that still belong to the compact, Corrigan said, only seven follow its tax-apportionment formula. She noted that the Multistate Tax Commission, which oversees the compact, described its standards as advisory in a court filing in the current case.

Bob Egelko is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: begelko@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @egelko
Nasser and Sadat were outstanding leaders, with exceptional personal charisma. But Nassers appeal to the Third World and Sadats popularity in the West does not tell the whole story. Mubarak was a non-controversial figure

Both Nasser and Sadat had strong and powerful enemies, but Mubarak was different  and Western diplomats were often impressed by his abilities to sum up issues in simple yet clear and deep terms. In other words, great leaders are both a great resource and a great liability.

Mubaraks fate is curious. He was for some time treated with deference and admiration by his Western colleagues, who were not unwilling to label him a wise leader, and sometimes was considered to be an old autocrat, a mediocre tyrant clinging to power. Both assessments now seem exaggerated. He is neither the saint nor the devil people adore or hate.

One thing seems certain: he is not the main person responsible for the decline of Egypts leadership. That has a lot to do with Egypts internal dynamics and with the rise of other Arab countries.

Egypts leadership was partly due to a "vacuum". For a long time, no other country in the Middle East could assume the leadership role. Almost all Arab countries had struggled to achieve independence, were exhausted, undeveloped and had yet to start the modernisation race and the nation-building process.

In the sixties and seventies the conventional wisdom was as follows: nothing can be done without Cairo, nothing can be achieved against Damascus.

The Arabs cultural production was a kind of joint venture between Cairo and Beirut, and if Egypts media lost their preeminence at some point, this was during Nasser or Sadats eras. Al-Ahram is a good illustration of the axis of Egypt/Lebanon: it was founded by a Lebanese family which had emigrated to Egypt.

A colleague reminded me that the great Egyptian reformer Muhammad Abduh stayed for a while in Beirut. During the thirties, the forties and the early fifties, the Egyptian press was the most influential in the Arab world and many Lebanese were top contributors. The Lebanese also played a key role in Egypts artistic and intellectual life.

The decline of this incredible soft power started with Egypts authoritarian turn, although it was not immediately obvious, thanks to the sheer talent of the sons of the liberal era, the products of the monarchys schooling system.

Of course, Mubarak did not try to reverse the trend, which was aggravated by Egyptian intellectuals exile during the Sadat era, but also by the birth of Saudis London-based newspapers and of Al Jazeera channel. But Egypt did not have the Gulfs financial clout, and was also hand-cuffed by its marginalisation after the peace treaty with Israel.

As another colleague pointed out during a Lebanese-Egyptian meeting held at Al-Ahram last Sunday, Beiruts decline, due to the seventies civil war, did not benefit Egypt. Quite the contrary. The Gulf and the Maghreb slowly became key cultural actors.

Egypts internal dynamics also played a role. The relative liberalisation that occurred during the first years of Mubaraks era allowed things to improve, up to a point. But the trend was soon reversed, with the rising clout of conservative and aggressive bigotry that launched a lot of witch hunts, the most notorious targeting the late Nasr Hamed Abu Zeid. Farag Fouda was assassinated by extremists, and Naguib Mahfouz narrowly escaped an assassination attempt.

Egypts cinema industry, once prosperous, almost disappeared at one point. Intellectuals had to find a way of dealing with the states intervention and its protection, and with growing conservative pressure. And they had, like all Egyptians, to find ways to make money.

It is remarkable that despite all this, intellectual life remained vibrant and dynamic, if much less influential than ago. The regime invested a lot in cultural activity, international conferences, considered to be a vitrine. This was both a blessing and a curse, like all statist cultural policies relying on clientelist networks.

Political developments played a role. The main one, of course, was the peace treaty with Israel. It was, at the time, welcomed by a tired population, but it also was widely unpopular within intellectual circles. During the seventies and the eighties, heated and endless debates tried to assess its impact.

For some, it was and remained the mother of all ills. It had isolated Egypt, it had restricted its sovereignty in Sinai, it has prevented it from playing its natural leadership role in the area and it decisively weakened the Arab front. For others, it allowed Egypt to focus on its internal difficult challenges, it had brought back Sinai at no serious cost, thanks to Sadats skills, who succeeded in fooling Carter and Begin; it was not Egypts fault if Arab fellows failed to understand the brilliant manoeuvre as history proved Sadat right and his foes wrong. Had the Arabs followed Sadats track from the very beginning everything would look different for the region.

Of course, both discourses were based upon gross simplifications of very complex problems, widely different assessments of Egypts situation at the end of the seventies, and different evaluations of Sadats performance during negotiations.

My own opinion is that the peace treaty with Israel brought Egypt a lot, more than what could be expected from the balance of power between the two countries after the 1975 agreement. But we should add things now look much better than they should. Basically, an exhausted Egypt traded time for space. It gave Israel considerable time and manoeuvring room, and alleviated the pressure on it. But it recovered Sinai--and this is not peanuts. I think Israel failed to properly exploit this, committing a lot of blundersbut this is another story.

To be continued

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Years ago, before there were such things as social media, user reviews and the Internet, there used to be a mens store in my hometown of South Bend, Ind. Their tagline was one man tells another. They were ahead of their time, and that simple phrase is at the very heart of todays socially-driven marketing.

What that store knew then and what companies are today beginning to acknowledge, is that the best advertisement for your brand isnt going to come from television, print or banner ads. The best advertisement is when one man (or woman) tells another.

Relying on customers instead of an ad agency to spread the word is risky business, since you lose an element of control over the conversation. But consumers will give more weight to a personal recommendation than they will a television commercial, and because of the prevalence of online user reviews and review platforms like CrowdReviews.com which take extra steps to ensure a reviews legitimacy, buying decisions are heavily influenced by this type of social user-generated content.

Whats wrong with television ads?

Theres a reason behind the logic of moving to direct social engagement tactics like user reviews, and thats because the younger demographics just dont respond to television commercials as much. In a Boston Consulting Group survey, it was shown that millennials engage with brands more deeply than do Baby Boomers. Fifty-two percent of millennials use social media on their mobile devices to note that they like a brand, while only 33 percent of Boomers do so and 39 percent of millennials post product reviews. According to the BCG report, It is more difficult through traditional marketing to convince a U.S. millennial than an older U.S. consumer that a brand is relevant to him or her. Millennials turn to much wider networks for advice.

Related: 5 Ways to Maximize Word-of-Mouth Marketing

Historically, a common tactic in advertising was to provide testimonials from experts, which for a time, was successful. In a 1949 television commercial for example, consumers were told that doctors prefer Camel cigarettes over other tobacco brands, but today millennials just arent buying it. Millennials care less about what the experts say and more about what their peers say, said Carlos Garay, CEO of SOURCEvapes, one of the biggest brands of vaping products that uses product reviews as part of its marketing strategy.

The key to a review strategy is maintaining the integrity of the reviews, said Garay. Our strategy is simple. We just ask consumers to write a review after a purchase, and weve found that in most cases, they are willing to do so. We have over 5,600 verified reviews, the most of any vaporizer company, with a five-star average. This kind of customer validation and attention to quality, has made us the No. 1 brand for enthusiasts of Hemp-derived CBD wax.

Related: How to Get Influencers to Drive Your Word-of-Mouth Marketing Campaign

SOURCEvapes basic tactic is simple, straightforward and not intrusive. A simple auto-emailing system sends a short and friendly note, asking customers to leave a review. SOURCEvapes has partnered with Yotpo, which also increases the credibility of the reviews by showing reviews from verified buyers -- and it simplifies the process by providing customers with an easy link.

What review sites do you want to be on?

Larger review sites like CrowdReviews.com, Yelp!, or Angies List are some of the best known brands, and directing users to one of those gives you a better chance of recognition, the benefit of association with a well-known review brand, as well as added credibility since there is a vetting process. In the case of CrowdReviews, the site verifies reviewers identities as well as the legitimacy of the companies being reviewed.

While those larger sites typically offer reviews of multiple different product or service categories, smaller sites may cater to a specific niche, with sites that specialize in reviewing everything from tobacco vaping products, to mattress review sites. In addition to the broader review sites, marketers may also wish to incorporate selected niche review sites into the mix. I spoke with the webmaster of niche review site bestmattress-brand.org, who offered some insight into how marketers are using these types of sites to help create brand awareness. Since most of these smaller sites are not as well known, it is important for the marketer to choose a review site that offers in-depth information, well-written and detailed reviews and articles and an unbiased look at companies and products.

Related: 3 Ways to Boost Word of Mouth and Referrals for Your Business

Finally, there are spam review sites that should be avoided at all costs. These are the ones with thinly-written reviews (many of which are obviously fake), and what are obviously paid affiliate links to each companys website. Affiliate relationships are not an indication that a review site isnt credible, but if there is a relationship, it should be disclosed plainly.

User review best practices.

Lose control. Encourage the social conversation and become a part of it, but dont try to control it. Trying to force direction, editing or deleting posts, or paying for positive reviews, all are tactics that run contrary to the sentiment of social advertising and user-generated content. Gently encourage participation. Ask for the review without being demanding or needy. Make it easy for them. Use tools like Yotpo to auto-email customers after a purchase, and give them a quick link so they can make a review easily. Never buy reviews or offer incentives. If word gets out that youre buying fake reviews (which tend to be pretty transparent and obvious), or even that you are giving incentives or free products in exchange for positive reviews, you will instantly lose all of your credibility. The reviews must be organic for them to have any meaning. Carefully select the review sites you want to direct customers to. Review sites should have transparent policies on how they rank and what their financial relationships are with brands.

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The nine candidates running for The Woodlands Township Board of Directors talked incorporation, mobility and campaign tactics at the forum hosted by The Woodlands Republican Women Wednesday.

Tensions ran high throughout the hour-long forum, where each candidate was given three minutes to introduce themselves before the floor was opened to questions from the attendees. The topic of incorporation - the action that would change The Woodlands from a special purpose district to a city - permeated the discussions.

Gordy Bunch, the incumbent running to keep his position one seat, drew attention to a flier campaign by The Woodlands Concerned Taxpayers, a group recently formed by former chairman of the board Bruce Tough, circulating around The Woodlands in recent weeks that warns residents against a rush to incorporation and a 70 percent tax rate increase.

"What's weighing on my heart is disinformation," Bunch said during his introduction. Bunch said that the fliers falsely implied that residents are facing an imminent tax increase and that he was pushing to incorporate now. "There is no plan to incorporate now."

One of Bunch's opponents, Amy Lampman, said that she was motivated to run for the board after she heard talk of a push toward incorporation by Bunch. She believes incorporation could raise taxes and have a negative impact on the local economy.

"I don't want friends to lose their businesses," Lampman said. "I don't want friends to lose their homes."

Current board member running for re-election to position two, Mike Bass, clarified for the attendees that any tax rate increase that is discussed refers only to The Woodlands Township portion of property taxes, not the entire property tax bill.

Lampman also defended her name being included on the Concerned Taxpayers fliers, saying she was not asked permission. Her name and picture were printed on the flier because she signed a pledge to oppose any action that would dramatically increase property taxes.

Bob Leilich, the third candidate for position one and a transportation consultant, doesn't see incorporation as an urgent question. He focused more on the need to address drainage and mobility issues, suggesting the re-formation of the board's Ad Hoc Transportation committee.

Bass echoed the need to look at a range of issues The Woodlands is facing, including identifying funding for mobility projects and mending the township's relationship with Montgomery County officials.

"Incorporation has overshadowed many other issues that are much more important to preserving this community," Bass said.

Bass's challenger, Brian Boniface, said that his priority would be to represent the voice of the residents, adding that he believes Bass's support of the Montgomery County Road Bond that included a project to extend Woodlands Parkway proves he is not representing the people.

"I feel like we've lost the voice," Boniface said.

Bass defended attacks on his support of the road bond, saying that the bond had more money for improvements within The Woodlands and that the extension is still slated to move forward, regardless of its inclusion in the bond. He also defended his leading the board in eliminating a reserve fund for incorporation, saying that it could have artificially inflated current taxes. Bass said that the $2.5 million he recommended be placed in a road and bridge fund is a way of planning for the costs of eventual incorporation.

Bunch argued that the $2 million he had proposed the board set aside for incorporation planning is now just sitting in an undesignated capital reserve fund.

John Anthony Brown, who is running for position three, said that his focus as a board member would be fiscal responsibility.

"I want to plan for everything, not just incorporation," Brown said, adding that he has saved his employer, Huntsman Corp., $1.3 million.

Brown's challenger, Stuart Schroeder, said that his priority on the board would be safety and providing support to improve law enforcement and public safety services in the township.

Chris Grice, who is running for position four, was critical of the partisan politics-like rhetoric he said was in use on the board and in campaigns.

"Quit looking for ways to say, 'gotcha,'" Grice said. "You don't want all this bickering."

He said he supports having studies done to learn the true impact of incorporation.

Grice's opponent, Bruce Reiser, emphasized his role in opposing the Woodlands Parkway extension and said he believes the board should take the lead in preparing for incorporation.

"You need the board to find what the costs and benefits (of incorporation) are," Reiser said. "The board can't (make The Woodlands a city). All we can do is lead and plan."

When asked by an attendee who among the candidates was in favor of incorporation, all nine candidates raised their hands.

One question raised was whether incorporating could give The Woodlands the power to stop unwanted thoroughfare projects.

Bass argued that The Woodlands, even as a city, would not be able to overrule any projects decided by the county or the Texas Department of Transportation outside of The Woodlands city limits. He used the planned extension of Gosling Road as an example, since the part of the road to be extended falls outside of The Woodlands.

Bunch countered that The Woodlands would be able to stop the proposed Woodlands Parkway extension, however, since the project would need to use some Woodlands land.

The Woodlands Area Chamber of Commerce will host another forum of candidates running for The Woodlands Township Board of Directors on Thursday, Oct. 13 at 5:30 p.m. at Sam Houston State University  The Woodlands Center, 3380 College Park Dr. The event is free and open to the public.
Exports in September declined 10% in September from a year earlier, to $184.5 billion, the lowest since February, data from the General Administration of Customs showed.

Global economic recovery was sluggish, and overseas demand has remained low, customs spokesperson Huang Songping said.

Imports also declined 1.9 percent in September, to $142.5 billion, compared with the previous year. Trade surplus for the month was $42 billion, down 30 percent from the previous year.
(Beijing)  Ping An Bank, a subsidiary of Ping An Insurance Group, is preparing to reshuffle its top ranks months after the bank was rattled by a police investigation, according to people close to the Shenzhen-based bank.

Xie Yonglin, deputy general manager of Ping An Insurance Group, was named chairman of Ping An Bank to replace current chairman Sun Jianyi, according to the sources. Meanwhile, bank President Shao Ping resigned for "health reasons," and Vice President Hu Yuefei was appointed acting president.

Ping An Bank is set to convene a board meeting on Oct. 20 to vote on the new appointments. The personnel changes also need approval from the bank's shareholders and the banking regulator, sources said.

Sun, 63, will be assigned to another post in the parent company while the 59-year-old Shao, Ping An Bank's president since 2012, may transfer to another institution, said people close to the institution.

They said the leadership reshuffle is part of the bank's strategy to switch its business focus from corporate banking to retail banking, especially on internet-based services, according to a plan announced in mid-August.

Speculation about possible management changes first arose in early August when Liu Shuyun, assistant to the president and head of the bank's Beijing branch, was arrested. Caixin learned from sources close to the investigation that Liu may have violated regulations related to the bank's investment-banking businesses.

Several of Liu's subordinates were also detained, sources said. Liu joined Ping An Bank in April 2015. Previously, he was the head of Minsheng Bank's Chongqing branch. No official statement of the investigation has yet been released.

In response to media reports about its management shake-up, Ping An Bank issued a statement on Thursday morning saying that the terms of the bank's board members are ending soon, and it is planning changes in that body. The bank stressed that all board and management members are still doing their respective jobs, and the bank's operations are normal.

Shenzhen listed Ping An Bank reported 12.3 billion yuan ($1.8 billion) net profit for the first half this year, up 6 percent from the same period last year. As of June 30, the bank has total assets of 2.8 trillion yuan. Outstanding loans reached 1.3 trillion yuan with non-performing loan ratio at 1.56 percent, according to the bank.

Contact reporter Han Wei (weihan@caixin.com); editor Ken Howe (kennethhowe@caixin.com)
Eight new sites have been certified by the National Park Service as points along El Camino Real de los Tejas in San Antonio.

The certification allows for signage and other historic interpretation at La Villita, the Medina River Natural Area and other places along a network of trails used for cattle drives, commerce and early travel when San Antonio was a village on the Texas frontier.
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A San Antonio company that has been remembering Texas history for decades is celebrating its own milestone this year.

The Southwell Company has been producing local, state and worldwide signage since 1866.

More than 16,000 spots statewide are distinguished by the Texas Historical Commission, who has contracted business, at 923 N. Alamo Street, to create the official markers since 1962. Camp Ford, near Tyler, was the first location to have a marker installed, Shannon Disney, a Southwell representative, told mySA.com.

RELATED: Corpus Christi's historic, bygone courthouse may become luxury apartments

Disney said the family owns and operates the company 150 years later, with Billy Southwell as president and his brother, Scott Southwell, as vice president.

Their work stretches across 20 U.S. states, marking historical sites tied to celebrities like Janis Joplin and Frank Sinatra. The Texas legation in England also features a Southwell product.

Disney said the company's long-running success is a testament to who the family is.

RELATED: HDRC rules for demolition of Malt House

"The Southwell Family is a very special family, and that reflects into the company," she added. "There is a reason that many of the employees have been generational and have stayed with the company for over 35+ years. Personally I feel that Southwell Company and the family are a state treasure."

She added that more than 300 THC plaques are made a year. Southwell's marker-making is a 14-step, four week process, Disney said.

RELATED: Witte Museum reveals sneak peek of 'once-in-a-100-years transformation' progress

Plans start with a sketch that is approved by the customer before becoming a film that is then turned into a printing plate used to make a mold where the aluminium is poured into.

On Jan. 27, the company received its own historical recognition with a plaque, made in the Southwell factory, to match.

RELATED: West Side landmark Mariachi Connection celebrating 20 years with festival this weekend

"They definitely have the 'it,' whatever 'it' might be that other companies have strived to get forever and never achieve," Disney added.

mmendoza@mysa.com

Twitter: @MaddySkye
(Beijing)  China's rail freight volumes showed signs of recovery in September as coal producers start relying more on railway transport after Beijing cracked down on overloaded vehicles.

China Railway Corp. (CRC), the country's railway operator, saw a 4.6 percent year-on-year increase in cargo volumes in September, the first time in more than two years that the CRC has seen back-to-back months of growth, the company said Wednesday.

Rail freight volumes at 15 out of the 18 CRC subsidiaries increased in September, compared to the same period last year, a CRC employee told Caixin. From Sept. 23-25, more than 130,000 cars per day were loaded with goods, the first time the figure has risen above the benchmark since December 2014.

The company saw 32 months of decline in freight volumes amid an economic slowdown before the fall ended in August, with the monthly volume rising 1 percent to 279 million tons, data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed.

Part of the growth is driven by increasing demand for coal shipment by train, as the central government cracks down on overloaded vehicles  a common practice among business owners in China to cut transportation costs  according to sources inside CRC subsidiaries.

A new set of rules issued by the Ministry of Transport stipulated that as of Sept. 21, a truck and the goods it carries cannot weigh more than a combined 49 tons. At the Taiyuan subsidiary of CRC in Shanxi province, one of China's biggest coal-producing areas, producers rushed to the company to book freight trains after Beijing announced the policy at the end of August, a subsidiary employee said.

"We haven't seen anything like this in years," the source said.

In Urumqi, Xinjiang, another coal-rich region, freight volumes increased 24.5 percent in September, the highest among all CRC subsidiaries, the company insider said.

CRC lost a massive 7.3 billion yuan ($1.1 billion) in the first half of this year, and the rail operator's debt rose 9 percent to 4.2 trillion yuan, according to an audit report viewed by Caixin.

Contact reporter Chen Na (nachen@caixin.com); editor Kerry Nelson (kerry@caixin.com)
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A man arrested Thursday is accused of robbing a bank last month on the Far North Side.

Nelson Berrios, 55, faces a charge of robbery in an incident that occurred on Sept. 27 at a Chase bank in the 22000 block of Interstate 10 West, officer Douglas Greene, a San Antonio Police Department spokesman, said.
Exports in September fell far below economist's expectations despite a weaker yuan, while imports also edged down due to sluggish demand both at home and abroad.

Exports declined 10% from a year earlier to $184.5 billion, the biggest drop since February, data from the General Administration of Customs showed. It was far worse than the 3.8% decline predicted by the Caixin poll of 15 financial institutions.

Imports declined 1.9% from a year earlier to $142.5 billion in September despite an uptick in the purchase of two key commodities  oil and iron ore used in steel manufacturing.

China's trade surplus shrank to $41.99 billion, the lowest in six months.

The weaker trade readings could affect third-quarter GDP figures expected to be released Wednesday, said Liu Liu, an economist at China International Capital Corp.

The global economic recovery was sluggish, and overseas demand remained low, said Huang Songping, spokesperson for China customs, announcing the data on Wednesday.

Machinery and electronic equipment, two items that together accounted for over half of the total export earnings in September, saw overseas sales shrink by 10% year-on-year.

Demands for machinery from two top trading partners, the United States and the European Union, both declined in September. Manufacturers do not benefit much from a weaker yuan because overseas buyers would force prices down, Chen Shaowei, a researcher at the China Chamber of Commerce for Import and Export of Machinery and Electronic Products, told Caixin.

Besides weak external demand, the hosting of the G20 summit in early September in Hangzhou  the capital of Zhejiang province, China's third-largest exporting hub  may have also had an impact on trade volumes, Liu said. Chinese media reported that the government had ordered factories in the city and adjoining areas to shut down for an extended period, and customs officials in Hangzhou were assigned to assist with summit preparations.

Huang said that although overall import volumes were down, imports of bulk commodities such as crude oil and iron ore edged up.

Oil imports rose to 33 million tons in September, up 18% from a year earlier, Huang said. The average price for crude imports fell 13.5% from a year earlier.

Contact reporter Coco Feng (renkefeng@caixin.com); editor Poornima Weerasekara (poornima@caixin.com)
Donald Trump has been battling intense backlash over admissions he made during a hot-mic faux pas in 2005, when he told television host Billy Bush that he had kissed and groped women without their consent.

The Republican presidential candidate dismissed the recorded conversation as "locker-room talk."

"You described kissing women without consent, grabbing their genitals," CNN's Anderson Cooper told Trump on Sunday night during the second presidential debate. "That is sexual assault."

Cooper added: "You bragged that you have sexually assaulted women. Do you understand that?"

"No, I didn't say that at all," Trump replied. "I don't think you understood what was said. This was locker-room talk. I'm not proud of it. I apologized to my family, I apologized to the American people."

Cooper asked him three times whether he had done the things he alleged in 2005.

"No, I have not," Trump ultimately answered.

Several women have since come out with claims that Trump forcibly groped or kissed them.

Rush Limbaugh addressed what he called the "Donald Trump sex-talk scandal" on his radio show Wednesday, mocking liberals and how, he said, they view the concept of consent.

"You know what the magic word, the only thing that matters in American sexual mores today is? One thing," the conservative commentator said, according to audio released by Media Matters for America. "You can do anything - the left will promote and understand and tolerate anything - as long as there is one element. Do you know what it is? Consent.

"If there is consent on both or all three or all four, however many are involved in the sex act, it's perfectly fine. Whatever it is. But if the left ever senses and smells that there's no consent in part of the equation, then here come the rape police. But consent is the magic key to the left."

According to the Justice Department, "sexual assault is any type of sexual contact or behavior that occurs without the explicit consent of the recipient. Falling under the definition of sexual assault are sexual activities as forced sexual intercourse, forcible sodomy, child molestation, incest, fondling, and attempted rape."

In 2014, Limbaugh expressed frustration about the definition of consent.

"How many of you guys, in your own experience with women, have learned that 'no' means 'yes' if you know how to spot it?" he said on his radio show, according to the Huffington Post. In modern times, Limbaugh said, "that is simply, that's not tolerated. People aren't even going to try to understand that one. I mean, it used to be used as a cliche. It used to be part of the advice young boys were given.

"See, that's what we've got to change. We have got to reprogram the way we raise young men. ... Are these not lawsuits just waiting to happen?"

Trump was swept up in a wave of criticism late last week after The Washington Post reported on a 2005 video in which he can be heard making lewd statements to Bush about how he forcibly kissed and groped women.

"You know, I'm automatically attracted to beautiful - I just start kissing them," Trump told Bush, who was with "Access Hollywood" at the time. "It's like a magnet. Just kiss. I don't even wait."

"And when you're a star, they let you do it. You can do anything."

"Whatever you want," said another voice, apparently Bush's."Grab them by the p---y," Trump added. "You can do anything."

Days later, New Zealand's TV3 released a video interview from 1993 in which Trump acknowledged his public image as a wealthy businessman who was often surrounded by glamorous women.

"No, I don't enjoy that image," he said at the time. "I guess I have that image. I think women are beautiful; I think certain women are more beautiful than others, to be perfectly honest.

"And it's fortunate I don't have to run for political office. But I do have a level of popularity. And, frankly, it's not the image I want - the image I want is that I'm doing great in business."
1 Hurricane Nicole: Heavy wind and rain began battering Bermuda late Wednesday as the British territory braced itself for Hurricane Nicole, which became a major Category 3 storm as it tracked toward the tiny island in the northern Atlantic Ocean. The U.S. National Hurricane Center said the storm is expected to pass near or over Bermuda on Thursday morning. Late Wednesday it had maximum sustained winds of 115 mph and was moving north-northeast at 10 mph. The storm could strengthen even more as it approaches Bermuda, forecasters said.

2 Ukraine talks: Despite growing diplomatic tensions over Syria, the leaders of Russia, France and Germany may meet very soon in Berlin to revive peace efforts for Ukraine. Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke by telephone Wednesday with French President Francois Hollande and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Hollandes office said in a statement. The statement said they agreed that a Ukraine peace meeting would have to be constructive and useful toward ensuring a cease-fire and free elections.

3 Missiles fired: For the second time this week two missiles were fired at a U.S. Navy ship in the Red Sea, and officials believe they were launched by the same Yemen-based Houthi rebels involved in the earlier attack, a U.S. military official said Wednesday. According to the official, the missiles were fired early Wednesday at the Mason, a guided missile destroyer that is conducting routine operations in the region with the Ponce, an amphibious warship. The official said that neither missile got near the ship. The Pentagon confirmed an attack on the Mason, adding the ship used countermeasures and noting there were no injuries or damage to the vessel. The official said the missiles were fired from the Yemen coast, near the location used Sunday when two missiles were launched at the same two ships.

4 Star Wars accident: A film production company was fined $1.95 million Wednesday over an accident on the set of Star Wars: The Force Awakens that broke the leg of star Harrison Ford. The actor was struck by a hydraulic door on the set of the Millennium Falcon  his character Han Solos spaceship  at Pinewood Studios near London in June 2014. Production on the film was suspended for two weeks after the accident. Prosecutors said Ford, who was 71 at the time, could have been killed by the door, which struck him with a force comparable to the weight of a small car. A judge at Aylesbury Crown Court north of London said Wednesday that Foodles Production Ltd., which is owned by the Walt Disney Co., should have informed Ford of the risks.

5 Terrorism suspect: A 22-year-old Syrian man arrested in Germany for a suspected Islamic extremist bomb plot killed himself Wednesday in a prison cell in Leipzig, Saxonys state Justice Ministry said late Wednesday. Justice Ministry spokesman Joerg Herold said Jaber Albakr killed himself sometime in the evening but that the incident was still being investigated. The development was sure to add to pressure on Saxony state authorities, who already had been criticized for allowing Albakr to slip through their fingers as they prepared to raid an apartment where he had been staying in the city of Chemnitz on Saturday. Albakr, who had been granted asylum after coming to Germany last year, was finally arrested Monday in Leipzig after three fellow Syrians tied him up and alerted police.

Chronicle News Services
1 Voters decision: State voters will have their say on at least one medical marijuana proposal this November, the Arkansas Supreme Court ruled Thursday in Little Rock. Justices sided with supporters of a proposed constitutional amendment that would allow patients with certain medical conditions to purchase marijuana from dispensaries. A coalition of groups, including the state Chamber of Commerce and the Arkansas Farm Bureau, had asked the court to prevent officials from counting any votes for the measure. Arkansas voters narrowly rejected a medical marijuana proposal four years ago, despite big spending from pro-legalization national groups.

2 College race study: A new study of federal data finds that black and Latino students are far less likely to attend top public colleges than their white and Asian peers. The Center for American Progress think tank reported Thursday that among all black students at U.S. public colleges in 2014, only 9 percent attended highly selective schools. For Latinos, the figure was 12 percent. By contrast, 19 percent of white students and 31 percent of Asians attended top schools. Blacks and Latinos were more likely to attend community colleges and other schools with lower graduation rates. The Washington, D.C., think tank says minorities need greater access to elite schools to close achievement gaps between races.
Editor's note: We have taken this story off our home page because it has caused confusion among some readers. Originally published on Oct.13, 2016, this story was republished today as part of a Top 10 List of stories for the past year. But the events it records occurred last year. We apologize for any confusion this may have caused.

(Beijing)  A bold leveraging strategy and complex financing have driven a successful global acquisitions campaign at state-owned China National Chemical Corp. (ChemChina) that's now targeting Swiss agribusiness giant Syngenta AG.

The $43 billion bid for Basel-based Syngenta, the world's third-largest seed supplier and top pesticides maker, is the latest thrust for a decadelong campaign that's increased ChemChina's assets by monetary value more than sixfold to 370 billion yuan ($55 billion) as of 2015 from 60 billion yuan in 2004.

The Beijing-based company's buyout trophies include a French livestock feed concern, an Israeli agrochemicals manufacturer, an Italian tire maker and other companies around the world.

The proposed Syngenta deal, which was unveiled in February and is now undergoing regulatory reviews in China and Europe, would dwarf all of ChemChina's previous takeovers. ChemChina's post-merger assets would nearly double to more than 700 billion yuan.

As with previous takeovers, ChemChina's Syngenta strategy hinges on a high degree of leverage and the use of special financing vehicles (SPVs). But questions have been raised about whether leveraging the mega-acquisition makes sense. And Beijing authorities have lately turned ambivalent.

Borrowing is key because ChemChina, which according to a company document had a debt-to-assets ratio exceeding 80 percent at the end of March, might get away with providing none of its own money toward the buyout, according to documents filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and agreements signed between the company and its lenders.

ChemChina reported only $1.65 billion in registered capital and more than $45 billion in liabilities at the end of March, according to the company's first-quarter financial report. Among the banks that have made loans to the company, China Development Bank and China Construction Bank hold the most debt that has not been paid back yet.

According to the unlisted company's annual financial reports, ChemChina lost money every year between 2012 and last year, despite government subsidies totaling 5.8 billion yuan for the four years combined. The bloodletting continued in the first quarter, with ChemChina reporting a net loss of about 11.6 billion yuan.

But the losses have not dampened ChemChina's enthusiasm for a Syngenta buyout, which would be the largest-ever foreign acquisition by a Chinese firm. The current record-holder is meat processor WH Group, which in 2013 acquired U.S. pork producer Smithfield for $7.1 billion.

Underscoring the Chinese government's lack of enthusiasm is the fact that none of the four largest state-owned banks has joined a group of domestic and foreign lenders offering to finance the Syngenta takeover. Leading these lenders are Chinese commercial Citic Bank and the London-based HSBC.

Several sources close to the deal told Caixin that at least three other state institutions  Citic Group, agribusiness giant COFCO Group, and the sovereign wealth fund China Investment Corp.  approached Syngenta about a possible acquisition before ChemChina's bid emerged, but they later bowed out.

Complicated Credit

According to internal ChemChina documents obtained by Caixin, the company plans to use a three-layer financing structure with six SPVs to raise the $50.4 billion needed for the Syngenta buyout and post-takeover integration. Each SPV would be indirectly controlled by ChemChina.

ChemChina registered four of these SPVs in February in Hong Kong through its wholly owned subsidiary China National Agrochemical Corp. Another two SPVs were created in Luxembourg and another in the Netherlands.

Based on ChemChina documents that outline the financing package, four SPVs would be used to borrow money or raise funds by issuing stock. Most of the funds would come from the two bank consortiums in the form of syndicated loans.

Loans from the HSBC consortium would be guaranteed by Syngenta equity, and ChemChina would use its own assets to guarantee loans from the Citic consortium, according to the documents.

About $43 billion of the $50.4 billion raised would go toward buying all of the Swiss company's equity. The rest of the money would cover assets-reorganization activity and associated expenses.

The plan calls for raising funds in stages, apparently in order to meet debt-ratio conditions set by creditors and regulators, said Ye Xiang, chief economist at Hong Kong-based brokerage firm Guoyuan Securities.

This complex financing arrangement has raised questions about ChemChina's real ability to acquire and absorb Syngenta.

"Under normal commercial conditions," said a financial analyst who has following the proposed tie-up, "it's impossible for a company with such a high leverage ratio to raise funds at such a large scale."

ChemChina is under pressure to make the deal work. Its agreement with Syngenta says that if the proposal were to fall through, the Chinese company would have to pay the Swiss target at least $3 billion

But the complex financing strategy has yet to be finalized because ChemChina is, ultimately, a major state asset subject to central government decisions.

Strength in Weakness

ChemChina Chairman Ren Jianxin is heading the company's overseas expansion campaign because he sees acquisitions as an easy way to boost the volume and quality of the money-losing company's assets, according to ChemChina staffers who asked not to be named.

Ren, 58, has directed ChemChina with a strong hand. ChemChina was created in 2004 based mainly on the assets of a chemical company he created, later known as China National BlueStar (Group) Co., which had acquired and consolidated more than 100 state-owned petrochemical enterprises. BlueStar is now a wholly owned subsidiary of ChemChina and a major platform for overseas investing.

"ChemChina started from a very weak position, carrying the debt burdens" of smaller state companies that it absorbed over the years, said a person familiar with the company.

Although ChemChina officials turned down Caixin's repeated requests to interview Ren or any other executive about the buyout campaign, company staff members who spoke with Caixin privately said the chairman has acknowledged the financial weakness. At the same time, though, Ren has pursued cleverly financed acquisitions as a way out.

Ren once described ChemChina as a "sick sheep," company staffers told Caixin. Only by taking over "healthy sheep" could the company dilute the company's poor assets-to-liability ratio, they quoted Ren as saying.

Through BlueStar, ChemChina made its first overseas acquisition in 2005 by buying the French animal nutrition company Adisseo for 400 million euros ($440 million).

Adisseo is one of the world's biggest livestock feed additives suppliers but got into trouble with the rest of the industry during a tumultuous period following an H1N1 bird flu outbreak in 2004.

The successful takeover of Adisseo spurred ChemChina to launch more overseas purchases in France, Italy, Germany, Israel and Britain.

In 2006, ChemChina became the world's third-largest organic silicon producer by taking over a unit of the French company Rhodia. It also bought an Australian company that made polyethylene.

Other high-profile acquisitions included the 2015 purchase of Italian tire maker Pirelli for about $7.7 billion, and the takeover of Israel's Makhteshim Agan Group, the world's largest maker of generic pesticides, for about $2.4 billion in 2011.

Most of these deals were heavily leveraged.

Several investment analysts familiar with ChemChina's business strategy said the company "rarely" uses its own capital for acquisitions. Instead, they pointed out, acquisitions are often financed by leveraging bank or other financial institution funds with shares of the purchased companies. Equity thus becomes collateral for the loans.

This financing strategy is at the heart of Ren's business acumen, said one analyst. It's also Ren's style to let acquired companies continue to operate independently, analysts said.

In some cases though, the acquired company's assets have been transferred to ChemChina subsidiaries, according to a Caixin analysis of stock exchange data.

In 2015, for example, ChemChina injected 85 percent of Adisseo's equity into a subsidiary called Shanghai-listed Bluestar New Chemical Material Co., swapping out the latter's debt. The firm was renamed Bluestar Adisseo Co. and reported a 1.5 billion yuan net profit. Bluestar New Chemical had reported a net loss of more than 1 billion yuan the previous year.

Despite this fancy financing, however, ChemChina's financial position did not significantly benefit from these asset swaps. In fact, the parent company continued losing money.

Betting on Syngenta

ChemChina first proposed buying Syngenta in May 2015, shortly after the Swiss company rejected a takeover offer from its larger U.S.-based rival, Monsanto.

The Chinese proposal won support from Syngenta's board of directors and management based on ChemChina's promise of an all-cash purchase. The suitor also pledged to retain current management. And the Chinese company said it was interested in the deal purely as a financial investment.

Nevertheless, industry analysts saw the deal as a chance for ChemChina to secure a foothold in the U.S. market for farm inputs. And other analysts noted that Chinese government authorities would give weight to the deal's ability to complement a national effort to beef up the domestic agriculture industry and improve food supply security.

"The Chinese government will want to see the deal completed one way or another," said a person close to Syngenta.

The government's policy agenda for this year highlighted an interest in strengthening the nation's agriculture industry through overseas acquisitions.

And government agriculture officials in recent years have emphasized a desire to boost the nation's seed industry and agrochemical sector through better research. Yu Xinrong, the vice minister of agriculture, said in 2014 that China's 10 largest seed companies were annually investing less than 600 million yuan combined in research  less than 10% of the amount Monsanto spends annually on research.

Industry analysts who support ChemChina's offer said Syngenta's research capacity combined with its rich storehouse of seed and agrochemical patents would supercharge China's agriculture industry.

Zhang Xiaoping, chief China representative of the U.S. Soybean Export Council, said the deal would give ChemChina access to Syngenta's intellectual property rights, risk control techniques and environmental strategies that are currently lacking in China.

At the same time, if the deal goes through, Syngenta's global network could be used to disseminate the market-relevant results of research conducted by Chinese scientists.

Contact reporter Han Wei (weihan@caixin.com), Eric Johnson (ericjohnson@caixin.com)
Beijing has vowed to draft a plan to urge local governments to repay their overdue debts to private companies in a bid to help revitalize dwindling private investment.

The plan, if enacted and enforced, could enhance the confidence of private investors and encourage more funds from the private sector, experts said Thursday.

This plan to address the debt issue is part of a series of measures by the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), China's economic planner. It issued a statement Wednesday outlining ways to boost private investment. These include improved access to various sectors, promoting government and private partnerships and repaying debts to private companies.

The government will further open up investment in airports, telecom operations, energy resources exploration, electric power distribution and national defense technology to private investors, the NDRC said.

Experts find the debt repayment significant because it is the first time the NDRC has addressed the issue. Local governments will be urged to make plans to repay their debts in installments to private companies, particularly for procurement and construction projects, the NDRC statement said.

"The repayment plan will largely boost private investor confidence in follow-up investment and, hopefully, stall the trend of a slowdown in private investment," Wang Yukai, a professor with the Chinese Academy of Governance, told Caixin on Thursday.

Private investment growth in the first eight months of this year was only 2.1% year-on-year, much lower than the 8.1% growth in the country's total investment. By the end of 2015, private investment growth was at 10.1%, according the National Bureau of Statistics.

Ye Qing, a taxation professor with Zhongnan University of Economics and Law, said pushing local governments to pay back their debts to private investors will also help preserve what the government calls "social stability."

Last month, a driver of a bank armored car in Liaoning province robbed it of 6 million yuan ($890,000) in cash to pay back family debts. For over a decade, his parents had failed to receive millions of yuan in payments for a government construction project and had to borrow funds from other creditors.

The State Council issued a statement in July urging the Ministry of Finance to join with other government departments to deal with government debt owed to private companies.

Some local governments have been taking action. Shandong province, for instance, said they have urged local governments to pay back more than 61 billion yuan of construction debts by the end of September, accounting for 61% of all debts owed to companies.

Guizhou, Shaanxi, Qinghai and other provinces are also addressing government debt problems in their efforts to boost private investment.

Contact reporter Wu Gang (gangwu@caixin.com); editor Ken Howe (kennethhowe@caixin.com)
PRESIDENT Emmerson Mnangagwa has come under renewed international pressure to account for missing journalist-cum-activist Itai Dzamara who was last seen in public six years ago.

In separate statements Wednesday, European Union, the US, UK, Canada and human rights groups slammed an enduring culture of impunity in Zimbabwe.

Dzamara, a fierce critic of the now late President Robert Mugabe was seized by suspected state security agents at barbershop in Glen View, a high density suburb in Harare March 9, 2015 and he has never been seen again.

Mugabe was toppled in a military coup in 2017 and died in 2019.

Western embassies this week issued statements demanding that Mnangagwas administration should account for Dzamaras disappearance.

The culture of impunity in Zimbabwe needs to end. Government ought to shed light on his fate and ensure that justice is served for Itai and all other victims of human rights violations, the EU mission in Zimbabwe said.

The US embassy in Harare called on the government to investigate Dzamaras abduction fully and to bring to account those responsible.

We stand with his family and all Zimbabweans who exercise their freedoms of expression and peaceful assembly, the embassy said.

Canada said it was deeply concerned that six years after his disappearance Dzamaras whereabouts remain unknown.

We call on authorities to continue with their efforts to investigate his abduction and to ensure that those responsible are brought to justice, the Canadian embassy said.

In a separate statement, the UK embassy said; Itai Dzamara isnt forgotten. He went missing six years ago, abducted from a barbers shop in Harare. His relatives and friends still dont know what happened to him.

Local human rights groups have also castigated the government for showing lack of commitment in investigating his disappearance blaming the state for; reluctant and uninterested in diligently looking into the matter.

Additionally, High Court judge, Justice David Mangota, ordered the police to fully investigate, the Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum said.

However, no meaningful investigation has taken place as evidenced by the absence of any comprehensive reports submitted by the authorities to the courts, the Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum, a consortium of civic society organisations, said.

 NewZimbabwe
HOME Affairs Minister Kazembe Kazembe has called on exiled former Zanu PF politicians who skipped the country past three years citing political persecution to return home and clear their names in criminal allegations they faced.

He was addressing a media conference in Harare Friday.

Kazembe told the media police were currently busy with attempts to have the politicians brought to justice on Zimbabwean soil.

We are seized with securing the return of fugitives from justice that are scattered in various parts of the globe.

Zimbabwe is known for its fair justice system which will afford all such fugitives the opportunity to return home and clear their names, said the minister.

As law enforcement agencies, our role is to bring suspects to justice then the normal procedure take effect.

We urge the suspects to do themselves a favour by voluntarily returning to clear their names if they are innocent.

Former ministers Jonathan Moyo, Saviour Kasukuwere, Walter Mzembi and Patrick Zhuwao were hounded out of the country after the military dethroned then President Robert Mugabe 2017.

They were close allies of the now late leader who were fiercely opposed to incumbent President (then Vice President) Emmerson Mnangagwas take-over bid as the countrys number one.

They have adamantly refused to return home claiming their safety was not guaranteed.

However, government insists the exiled politicians were fugitives from the law and have requested South African authorities to extradite them under existing treaties.

Added Minister Kazembe Friday, The police are keen to interview the likes of Saviour Kasukuwere, Walter Mzembi and all the others who have cases to answer.

They are all free to come back into the country and clear their names if they are innocent.

The former cabinet ministers fled the country after they had been charged with corruption.

In his address, Kazembe also warned social media abusers saying they will not succeed in trying to prevent Zimbabwes diplomatic engagement and reengagement efforts.

The abuse of social media and the scourge of fake reportage, which are often motivated by subversive intentions, will remain closely monitored to protect peace and stability in the country, he said.

Lets be reminded that the peace we are enjoying did not come by accident as there are some among us, some Trojan Horses, working day and night to try to cause chaos in our nation.

They are trying to subvert our economic revival efforts. They are trying to prevent our diplomatic engagement and reengagement efforts. However, they will not succeed in this anti-people agenda of theirs.

 NewZimbabwe

Breaking News via Email
By Jerri-Lynn Scofield, who has worked as a securities lawyer and a derivatives trader. She now spends most of her time in India and other parts of Asia researching a book about textile artisans. She also writes regularly about legal, political economy, and regulatory topics for various consulting clients and publications, as well as writes occasional travel pieces for The National.

A divided three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit in PHH Corporation v Consumer Financial Protection Bureau on Tuesday held that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is unconstitutionally structured. In addition, the court also concluded that in pursuing an enforcement action against a mortgage lender, PHH Corp., the CFPB violated bedrock due process principles when it misconstrued its statutory authority and attempted to impose its mistaken interpretation retroactively. The court vacated the CFPB ruling and remanded the case to the agency for reconsideration consistent with its opinion rejecting the agencys interpretation of what the law requires.

The opinion was authored by Judge Brett Kavanaugh, a George W. Bush appointee, who is somewhat of a separation of powers aficionado. His more than 100 page opinion displayed his erudition on this and other issues. The opinion is replete with rhetoric about the agencys alleged abuses of the agency, in terms that the National Review could and in fact did applaud, declaiming, The Court has now made the director, Richard Cordray, accountable, which means that the President must direct and control the CFPB and its director. He has a lot to do to rein in this rogue agency, as the findings in the rest of the case indicate  the Bureau not only overstepped its powers, it breached due process, and ignored the statute of limitations, in its action against PHH.

But rhetoric aside, the courts decision was actually quite narrow. Since 1935, the Supreme Court has recognized that Congress can create independent agencies that exercise executive power. One necessary factor making these agencies independent is that the President can only remove their heads for cause, not at will. This means that independent agencies are neither supervised nor directed by the President (at least in theory). These agencies have typically been headed by a commission structure, so as to check the untrammelled exercise of power by the agencys head. The CFPB structure creates an independent agency, with a single agency head who can only be removed for cause.

Its worth pointing out that initially the structure of what eventually became the CFPB was designed to resemble that of other agencies. Kavanaughs opinion summarizes this history (see pp. 5-6). In a 2007 article, then-Harvard Law School professor (and current Senator from Massachusetts) Elizabeth Warren, originally proposed a financial protection agency, envisioning it as another traditional, multi-member independent agency. Likewise, the Obama administrations 2009 proposal for what became the odd-Frank legislation contemplated a traditional, multi-member independent agency, and this vision was also the one the House passed in its version of the bill. Those who proposed and support the agency wished to make it free from regulatory capture and to insulate it from some of the extreme pressures Congress can exert such as squeezing budgets to limit agency independence and effectiveness.

Judge Kavanaughs principal concern is:

But Congress ultimately departed from the Warren and Administration proposals, and from the House bill. Congress established the CFPB as an independent agency headed not by a multi-member commission but rather by a single Director. Because the CFPB is an independent agency headed by a single Director and not by a multi-member commission, the Director of the CFPB possesses more unilateral authority  that is, authority to take action on ones own, subject to no check  than any single commissioner or board member in any other independent agency in the U.S. Government. Indeed, as we will explain, the Director enjoys more unilateral authority than any other officer in any of the three branches of the U.S. Government, other than the President. At the same time, the Director of the CFPB possesses enormous power over American business, American consumers, and the overall U.S. economy. The Director unilaterally enforces 19 federal consumer protection statutes, covering everything from home finance to student loans to credit cards to banking practices. The Director alone decides what rules to issue; how to enforce, when to enforce, and against whom to enforce the law; and what sanctions and penalties to impose on violators of the law. (To be sure, judicial review serves as a constraint on illegal actions, but not on discretionary decisions within legal boundaries; therefore, subsequent judicial review of individual agency decisions has never been regarded as sufficient to excuse a structural separation of powers violation.) That combination of power that is massive in scope, concentrated in a single person, and unaccountable to the President triggers the important constitutional question at issue in this case.

After laying out the issue, the court then discussed history and relevant legal precedents. Kavanaugh further noted:

In this case, the single-Director structure of the CFPB represents a gross departure from settled historical practice. Never before has an independent agency exercising substantial executive authority been headed by just one person. The CFPBs concentration of enormous executive power in a single, unaccountable, unchecked Director not only departs from settled historical practice, but also poses a far greater risk of arbitrary decisionmaking and abuse of power, and a far greater threat to individual liberty, than does a multi-member independent agency. The overarching constitutional concern with independent agencies is that the agencies are unchecked by the President, the official who is accountable to the people and who is responsible under Article II for the exercise of executive power. Recognizing the broad and unaccountable power wielded by independent agencies, Congresses and Presidents of both political parties have therefore long endeavored to keep independent agencies in check through other statutory means. In particular, to check independent agencies, Congress has traditionally required multi-member bodies at the helm of every independent agency. In lieu of Presidential control, the multi-member structure of independent agencies acts as a critical substitute check on the excesses of any individual independent agency head  a check that helps to prevent arbitrary decisionmaking and thereby to protect individual liberty.

The court decided that existing legal precedent could not be stretched this novel agency structure and therefore held hold that the CFPB is unconstitutionally structured.

The Courts Remedy

The plaintiffs, PHH, were clearly swinging for a grand slam here, and argued that because of the constitutional deficiencies in the CFPBs structure, the Dodd-Frank statute should be struck down. No kidding. Or as a fallback position, that the CFPB should be demolished. From the opinion:

PHH contends that the constitutional flaw means that we must shut down the entire CFPB (if not invalidate the entire Dodd-Frank Act) until Congress, if it chooses, passes new legislation fixing the constitutional flaw.

But the court rejected such draconian relief and instead remedied the constitutional violation narrowly by severing the provision that the CFPB director could only be removed for cause from the remainder of the statute. This means that henceforth, the director of the CFPB serves at the will of the President. This will certainly allow the President greater authority to shape the rule-making and enforcement agenda of the agency, for if in future the Presidents agenda for consumer financial protection conflicts with that of the CFPB, the President can remove the bureaus director and appoint someone presumed to be more compliant.

Is this so serious? Lets see what Senator Warren says on this issue. She originally came up with the idea for the agency. The New York Times quotes her as saying the ruling makes a small, technical tweak to Dodd-Frank and does not question the legality of any other past, present, or future actions of the CFPB. As the court itself noted, [its] targeted remedy will not affect the ongoing operations of the CFPB.

Yves called this decision a stealth win for the agency in her post earlier this week, Appeals Court Ruling That CFPBs Structure Is Unconstitutional: A Stealth Win?, drawing on analysis by Adam Levitin. Crucially, the agency retains its budgetary independence, with funding provided by the Federal Reserve, and thus not subject to the annual appropriations whims of Congress. Failure to fund and support agencies such as the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission are among the reasons theyre ineffective.

Missing the Point

Some of the media reporting on this issue overstated the scope of the courts ruling, and what it implied. Reporting in the Wall Street Journal, Brent Kendall and Yuka Hiyashi wrote, A federal appeals court delivered a strong rebuke to the governments new consumer-finance watchdog, declaring the agencys unusual independence to be unconstitutional, and ordering its powers be curbed.

Such a lead sentence promises much more than the rest of the article delivers. Its surely important to understand that original proposals for the agency did not contain the unusual director structure, as the opinion explains. So this structure may not necessarily be integral to the CFPBs independence and effectiveness. The three-judge panel did not throw out Dodd-Frank, did not dismantle the CFPB, nor did it invalidate the budgetary provisions necessary to its independence and effectiveness.

So Much For Judicial Restraint

Those on the conservative side of the spectrum often trumpet the virtues of judicial restraint. The heyday of these denunciations of so-called judicial activism date from decisions concerning racial discrimination, gender discrimination, voting rights, prisoner rights, abortion and contraception, and busing, to name a sampling.

But these same clarions are often silent when the judicial activism concerns a business-friendly result, as it does here. In fact, in this case, the court did not have to reach the constitutional issue at all. Once the court decided the case based on statutory grounds, under the the well-settled doctrine of constitutional avoidance, the court should not have considered the constitutional issues.

You dont have to rely on me for this. Judge Karen Henderson outlined sound reasoning for avoiding the constitutional issue in her partial concurrence and partial dissent to the majority opinion (beginning on page 104). First she notes that In no uncertain terms, PHH has asked this Court to vacate the CFPBs order, outlining three distinct reasons why it is entitled to that relief. As my colleagues ably demonstrate, PHHs statutory arguments are sufficient to accomplish its goal and writes that she concurs with this reasoning. She continues:

But my colleagues dont stop there. Instead, they unnecessarily reach PHHs constitutional challenge, thereby rejecting one of the most fundamental tenets of judicial decisionmaking. With respect, I cannot join them in this departure from longstanding precedent.

Judge Henderson notes:

Although courts remain resolute in our duty as the bulwar[k] of a limited constitution against legislative encroachments, at the same time we recognize a well- established principle governing the prudent exercise of this Courts jurisdiction that normally the Court will not decide a constitutional question if there is some other ground upon which to dispose of the case. [citations omitted]

I refer interested readers to the full text of the dissent for her comprehensive analysis of why addressing the constitutionality of the CFPB structure isnt necessary in this case. Her bottom line conclusion is:

Because resolution of the constitutionality of the Bureaus structure is unnecessary in providing PHH full relief and because the Supreme Courts removal jurisprudence does not lead to a contrary result, I believe we should stay our hand.

In a piece headlined The D.C. Circuits gratuitous ruling on CFPB constitutionality, Alison Frankel zeroed in on the gratuitousness of the majority decision and gave prominent play tto the Henderson dissent. Her pithy summary of the majoritys response:

The majority opinion addressed Judge Hendersons constitutional avoidance argument, asserting that because PHH called for dismantling the CFPB as unconstitutional, the relief it sought was broader than what the courts statutory ruling could provide. For that reason, we have no choice but to address the constitutional issue, Judge Kavanaugh wrote. In our view, failing to decide the constitutional issue here would be impermissible judicial abdication, not judicial restraint. (The majority said it was showing judicial restraint by not insisting the CFPB be converted into a multi-commissioner independent agency, which would require the CFPB to shut down temporarily while the court created new offices and lawmakers filled them. All of that editorial freedom would take us far beyond our judicial capacity, the opinion said.)

Business interests have been gunning for the CFPB (as, indeed, for all other forms of regulation, including climate change rules). The WSJ reported that the American Financial Services Association, the National Association of Home Builders and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce each filed amicus briefs in the CFPB case. And since the structure of the CFPB directorship is unusual, it was inevitable that this structure would be subject to a constitutional challenge. But just because the challenge is made, there are sound reasons why the court did not have to address the constitutional issues in this case.

Possible Appeal?

The CFPB will probably choose to appeal this ruling. It has the option of asking for a full en banc review by the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, or petitioning for certiorari to the United States Supreme Court. Both of these appeals are discretionary, and each court has the option of declining further review.

Adam Levitin argues that eschewing the U.S. Supreme Court option at the moment and asking for review by the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals is the more prudent strategy:

The smart move for the CFPB would seem to be to seek en banc review, in that the particular three-judge panel in this case was an unusually conservative panel that is not representative of the DC Circuit overall. The reason not to go directly to the Supreme Court is that if the court splits 4-4, then the lower court ruling stands. Accordingly, it seems better to try and get a favorable ruling en banc from the DC Circuit that could then be reviewed by the Supreme Court than have an unfavorable DC Circuit panel ruling reviewed by the Supreme Court. To be sure, there is some risk to the CFPB from appealingit could lose with a broader remedy on appeal, but that seems very unlikely. This is probably as bad as it gets, and as noted above, its really not so bad.

I would add that Republican presidents appointed each member of the three-judge panel, whereas the full D.C. Circuit now contains a majority appointed by Democratic presidents. For a more complete analysis of the constitutional issues that will come into play here if a court accepts a further appeal, see D.C. Circuit Review  Reviewed: A Primer on Todays CFPB Decision.

Where Does This Leave the CFPB?

Whether or not the CFPB chooses to pursue an appeal, the decision leaves the agency in full control of its regulatory and enforcement agenda. At the top of the regulatory agenda are two long-standing issues, with the agency soon expected to produce final payday lending regulations and final regulations concerning mandatory arbitration clauses. As I posted recently in Business Groups Aim to Strong-Arm CFPB on Arbitration:

Business interests have launched a pre-emptive broadside against the Consumer Financial Protection Bureaus (CFPB) long-awaited regulations covering the use of forced arbitration clauses in consumer financial contracts. Financial institutions use such clauses to require consumers to use arbitration procedures to resolve a dispute, rather than allowing them bring class action or other types of lawsuits.

The agency has been deluged with comments on its proposal, many of which are duplicative. Again, I refer to my earlier post as to why the new rules are so important:

The rule contains two key parts. The first would prohibit financial companies from using an agreement that would bar a consumer from participating in a class action concerning a financial product or service covered by the agreement. The second would introduce a modicum of greater transparency into arbitration proceedings, and require financial firms to submit records of arbitration proceedings to the bureau. Consumer advocates and others concerned about openness have long considered arbitration proceedings problematic as theres little transparency, records are not made public, past decisions have little precedential value, and there are limited grounds for appeal. In addition, since parties on one side of transactions tend to be repeat customers, this pattern may skew decisions to one side. The lack of transparency in the system means it is impossible to evaluate how fair an arbitration system is.

The Wells Fargo scandal has brought these clauses again to the fore, as the company may rely on their existence to block lawsuits by bank customers challenging the opening of accounts without their consent, among other abuses. There is a certain irony in not being able to sue a company for opening an account without ones consent based on the existence of a mandatory arbitration clause contained in another account the same consumer has opened.

What Happens If Trump Wins?

If the D.C.Circuits decision is not overturned on appeal, a President Trump might elect to toss out director Cordray and replace him with some more business-friendly option. Such a move would certainly restrict the CFPBs effectiveness.

Yet at the moment, following on from a rather lackluster start, the agency finally seems to be growing into exercising the regulatory authority with which it has been bestowed. Well have to wait and see what those final payday lending and mandatory arbitration provisions look like to see whether this is a real perception or merely another financial regulatory illusion.

In fact, most recent criticism of the agency has been that its been too lenient, rather than too aggressive, in pursuing its consumer protection mandate. The $190 million settlement it agreed with Wells Fargo over the banks egregious cross-selling practices seems inadequate. The outrage of these practices suggest there may be a constituency developing for more effective financial regulation. Dare we hope that the CFPB might start taking more aggressive steps to put the kibosh on outrageous financial industry products and finally provide consumers with the protection we deserve?
By Alejandro Reuss, historian, economist, and co-editor of Triple Crisis blog and Dollars & Sense magazine. This is the final part of a three-part series on the historical trajectory of European social democracy towards the so-called Third Waya turn away from class-struggle politics and a compromise with neoliberal capitalismand its role in the shaping of the Economic and Monetary Union of the EU. (See Part 1 and Part 2.) It is a continuation of his earlier series The Eurozone Crisis: Monetary Union and Fiscal Disunion (Part 1 and Part 2). His related article An Historical Perspective on Brexit: Capitalist Internationalism, Reactionary Nationalism, and Socialist Internationalism is available here. Originally published at Triple Crisis

Social Democratic Revivalism?

A deep crisis of global capitalism, its seeds sown in part by a dramatic deregulation of finance, Wolfgang Munchau of the Financial Times notes, would seem tailor-made for a revival of the centre-left. Why has this not happened? The deep reason, Munchau argues, lies in its absorption of the policies of the centre-right, going back almost three decades: the acceptance of free trade agreements, the deregulation of everything, and (in the eurozone) of binding fiscal rules and the most extreme version of central bank independence on earth. They are all but indistinguishable from their opponents. For the most part, however, this has led neither to a general collapse of these parties, nor to a rejection of Third Way politics and sharp turn back toward a full-throated social democratic reformism.

The main exceptions, among relatively large countries, are Greece and Spainthe two countries hit hardest by the crisis, and the two which saw the most explosive mass protest movements against austerity. On the electoral front, voters punished the mainstream social democratic partiesthe Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK) in Greece and the Socialist Workers Party (PSOE) in Spainfor their administration of austerity policies. These parties former supporters have gravitated to new political entities promising to resist austerity measures.

In Greece, the SYRIZA coalition rose from less than 5% of the vote in national parliamentary elections in 2009 to more than 36% in January 2015. PASOK, which had not polled less than 38% of the vote since 1977, saw its vote drop from 44% to less than 5%. The story, alas, does not end with a decisive turn against austerity policies. After striking a tough stance against austerity and engaging in protracted and tense negotiations with the Troika (European Central Bank, European Commission, and International Monetary Fund), SYRIZA capitulated to a new round of painful austerity (imposed by its creditors as a condition of the third bailout). Despite the split of its left wing as the new Laiki Enotita (Popular Unity) party, SYRIZA basically maintained its electoral strength in the next elections in 2015.

In Spain, the new left party Podemos (We Can) debuted with just over 20% of the vote in its first national election (December 2015). Meanwhile, the PSOE dropped from 29% of the vote in 2011 to 22% in 2015. The largest party of the right, the Partido Popular (PP), which has alternated in power with the PSOE since the early 1980s, dropped even harderfrom about 45% to 29%. Podemos dramatic rise to national relevance inspired hopes of further gains, and even a Podemos-led government, after the June 2016 elections. That did not come to pass. Podemos electoral support hardly budged (to just over 21%), leaving it the third-place vote-getter, just behind the PSOE, while the PP remained the top party, regaining some lost ground to about 33% of the vote.

The emergence of SYRIZA (at least until its capitulation on the third bailout) and Podemos inspired hope not just for a turn away from austerity policies, but also the renewal of a robust social democratic reformism in the style of the post-World War II period. Meanwhile, in the U.K., a turn away from Third Way politics took the form of a successful leadership challenge within the leading social democratic party: The September 2015 victory of MP Jeremy Corbyn as Labour Party leader signaled a clear rejection of the New Labour politics associated with the partys last two prime ministers, Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, and with Corbyns rivals for the leadership, who had both served as cabinet ministers under Blair or Brown. Lest the meaning of the victory be unclear, reported The Telegraph, Mr Corbyns jubilant backers chanted: Old Labour, not New Labour. (Corbyn more recently beat back a counter-attack from the Blairites, winning a leadership challenge by an even larger margin.) There are, in addition, a few other emergent left alternatives to the main social democratic partiessuch as Die Linke in Germany and the Left Bloc in Portugal. Green parties, another potential source of left opposition to Third Way social democracy, have only gained electoral traction in a few countries, most notably in Germany (where the Greens were twice in governing coalitions with the Social Democrats). In general, however, we have yet to see powerful coalitions between the class-struggle left and the greens.

Class Struggle and Revolutionary Politics

There are also lessons here for the revolutionary leftthat is, those whose aim is not some form of reformed capitalism, but the replacement of capitalism by an egalitarian, democratic, and cooperative alternative. The case for this perspective relies on two ideas. First, that it is necessary to abolish capitalism to solve the searing problems of the present day. Second, that it is possible to build a future society, embodying the virtues described above, and that this would be preferable to capitalism.

Revolutionary socialist politics have a long history in Europe, and there is no shortage of self-described revolutionary organizations, of diverse ideological traditions, in Europe today. However, for the most part, revolutionary socialism has been quite marginal to the politics of most European countries for decades. (Even in countries with influential Communist parties, like France and Italy, these parties had long since settled into reformist politics.) The relative stability of European capitalism in the latter half of the 20th century and the strength of a reformist social democracy (in some cases paying ceremonial tribute to the dream of a socialist society far off on the horizon) blunted the appeal of social revolution. The present period shows, however, that changed underlying conditionsthe erosion of social democratic reforms, the eruption of a serious crisis of capitalism, the vacuum created on the left by the rightward drift of the social democratic parties themselves, and even the emergence of mass opposition movements in some countriesdo not automatically lead to growing influence for anti-capitalist forces on the left.

The reconstruction of a meaningful anti-capitalist politics in Europe faces two enormous challenges:

First is the reconstruction of the working classs capacity for struggle.

It is not only in the United States that the power of the workers movement has eroded in recent years. The decline in union membership as a percentage of employed workers (or union density) serves as a quick, rough indicator. High-income countries are divided into basically two groups, those where union density has declined significantly and those that are treading water. Between 1999 and 2012-2014 (using the most recent year for which data are available), out of 21 high-income OECD countries, not one had experienced a substantial increase, six were treading water (with a change of less than 10%, e.g., for a country with a union density of 25% in 1999, a changes of less than 2.5 percentage points in either direction), while fifteen had experienced substantial decline.

Strike rates, too, are down across the capitalist world. In principle, a decline in the most visible form of conflict between capital and labor could have any of several explanations: a trend toward more amicable relations between capital and labor, a substitution of alternative means of struggle by workers and unions, or a preponderance of power on one side or the other (so that the weaker side does not dare engage in a frontal confrontation). Its quite obvious, in the current period, which of these is the case.

The weakness of working-class movements is also evidenced in income trends. Real wages in high-income capitalist countries have stagnated in recent decades. As productivity has increased, and employers have captured most of the income gains, workers have seen their shares of national income erode. Economist Jayati Ghosh, summarizing the findings of a recent McKinsey Global Institute report, describes the trends as follows: From 1970 to 2014with the brief exception of a spike during the 197374 oil crisisthe average wage share across the six countries studied in depth (United States, United Kingdom, France, Italy, the Netherlands and Sweden) fell by 5 percentage points. In the most extreme case of the United Kingdom, it declined by 13 percentage points.

This is not to say that inexorable forces doom workers everywhere to their current fate. Differing institutional conditions in different countries can make significant differences. Workers have suffered a catastrophic decline in union membership in some countries but not others, with the political conditions for union recognition, collective bargaining, and the right to strike explaining much of the difference. In terms of income shares, Ghosh argues, state policies and institutional relations in the labour market matter as well.

It is not a truism, however, that changes in government policy (like more favorable legal conditions for union organization or greater protection for the right to strike) must precede a major turn of the tide. A worsening legal and political environment, to be sure, is a major factor in labor-movement decline in many countries. However, we should recall that major upsurges in labor organization, strike waves, and so on have often happened under conditions that, in important ways, were less favorable to the labor movement than those of today. (Think, for example, of the great upsurge of the 1930s in the United States.) Nor is it obviously the case that a reconstruction of social democracys postwar heydaywith large and stable unions, a more favorable division of the national income, an expanded welfare state, or a reinvigoration of the reformist social democratic parties themselvesmust precede the revival of a more radical anti-capitalist politics.

From the vantage point of a revolutionary anti-capitalist project, what is necessary is to reverse the defensive and demobilized positionand the death by a thousand cutsthat is the current reality for the working class in so many countries. This means a revival of the capacity for mass action, such as large-scale strikes, which leading revolutionary Marxists of a century ago, like Rosa Luxemburg, saw as cauldrons of class consciousness. It requires a broad politics of solidarity, in which struggles are not confined to the narrow interests of this or that particular group (whether defined by occupation or industry, broad social layer such as white collar vs. blue collar vs. the poor, or by fault lines such as native vs. immigrant). What it does not requireindeed, what must not be toleratedis for such unity to be forged at the expense of silencing the grievances of historically subordinate groups (such as racial/ethnic minorities, women, or immigrants). It must not assume that the leadership will come from some traditional core of the working class, who will deign to reach out and include other groups. Indeed, the leadership for a new radical movement may come precisely from groups that were excluded or marginalized by the labor and social democratic movements of the past. Moreover, the forms of mass action need not be exclusively workplace-based. Large protest marches against austerity, in Greece, Spain, and other countries, were certainly an encouraging sign (though they have ebbed since).

Second is the reconstruction of a nexus between class struggle and socialist politics.

To accomplish that, it is not sufficient for socialists to proclaim the superiority of an egalitarian, democratic, and cooperative socialism of the future to the unequal, hierarchical, and predatory reality of capitalism today. An appealing vision of a new socialist society is certainly necessary, however partial and speculative it must be (a detailed and specific blueprint would verge on utopian fantasizing). But it is not sufficient, since a vision of that kindof the world we are fighting forhas to be quite stable. It cannot change, as political slogans and demands must, to match the pulse of present-day struggles. (At worst, a steadfast emphasis on the necessity of revolution or the superiority of life after the revolution can devolve into static sloganeering disconnected from such struggles.)

Nor is it sufficient for revolutionaries to be exemplary builders of labor unions or working-class parties, or exemplary fighters for immediately realizable reforms. Serious engagement in actual movements is necessary, if revolutionaries are to achieve meaningful influence with the much broader groups that are organizing and fighting (however partial the objectives of those movements may be). Again, however, it is not sufficient. Building protest and reform movements can lead to real gains within the confines of capitalist societyrather than advancement toward the abolition of capitalism. (At worst, revolutionaries who confine themselves to the role of building reform movements are really not revolutionaries at all, but exemplary reformists.)

Deja Vu All Over Again?

The two roads outlined above are not hypotheticals. They are descriptions of a division that afflicted European social democracy in the late 19th and early 20th centuriesbetween the so-called minimum program (the fight for reforms realizable under capitalism, which by the 1910s was unmistakably the real daily work of the main social democratic parties) and the maximum program (the objective of socialism, which by then was largely confined in these parties, as Trotsky later put it, to holiday speechifying).

Trotsky outlined, in the 1938 Transitional Program for Socialist Revolution, an alternative approach to overcome this split between practice of reform and preaching of revolutionto help the masses in the process of the daily struggle to find the bridge between present demand and the socialist program of the revolution. The idea was to raise, at each turn, demands that both offered plausible answers to current problems under capitalism and thrust at the foundations of the capitalist system.

One example, from the Transitional Program itself, is for the workers movementconfronted by capitalists claims that cost increases force them to raise pricesto demand that the employer open the books and show whether it is costs, or rather monopoly profits, that explain high prices. Thus, a struggle over prices and, indirectly, the distribution of income within capitalist society, is turned into a struggle over business secrets, that is, one aspect of capitalist property rights. Other planks included the expropriation of the big banks, shortened work hours without reduction in total pay, and the expropriation of shuttered factories and their reopening under workers self-management. Far from being pie-in-the-sky fantasies, these are actually ideas that have been seriously proposed, by various figures on the left, in response to the recent financial crisis and Great Recession, though seldom in the form of a coherent program.

While some of the above demands may still be apt now, the point is not to take specific demands written over 75 years and apply them by rote today. Rather, the idea is to craft a political program responding seriously to present problems, but pointing to the necessity of a fundamental change in the economic systema social revolutionto resolve these problems. No single demand would, in itself, amount to the abolition of capitalism and yet a full program of transitional demands could not be realized within the confines of capitalist society.

It is conceivable that a social democratic reformism could take root again, and there could be a new period (similar to the Cold War heyday of social democracy) of reformed capitalism. One of the ironies of the present period, however, is that the champions of neoliberal capitalism tell us that the key features that legitimated postwar/Cold War capitalism in the rich countries of the Westrising standards of living, strong and stable trade unions, improved conditions of labor, an expansive welfare state, etc.are now impossible. Back then, when the rulers of the rich capitalist societies felt the need to defend the superiority of their system over possible alternatives, we were constantly told that contemporary capitalism was not the Dickensian hell of the past, and that this reformed capitalism was superior to socialism in every way. Today, we are told that we just cant afford the social protections (unions, the welfare state, etc.) we once enjoyed, or expect the economic progress (rising incomes, increasing leisure time, etc.) we were once promised.

Are such social improvements, indeed, now impossible? Not physically impossible, to be sure, for contemporary societies now dispose of far greater productive powers than those of even the recent past. Impossible within the framework of the capitalist world economy? The defenders of capitalism insist that they are.

If that is true, then any serious reformism is out of the question and, indeed, there is no alternativeto social revolution.

See original post for sources
As part of our annual fundraiser, we tell you weve done since we last came to you for your support. If you dont need a review to know that we labor tirelessly for you day in, day out, please skip go and proceed immediately to the Tip Jar, which tells you how to donate via check, credit or debit card, or PayPal.

What We Did Last Year: Expanding Our Scope and Impact

Providing extensive coverage of election news. No one anticipated what a wild ride this election season would be, although we were one of the very few sites early on, when Sanders was polling only 1%, to deem him to be a serious contender. Weve committed more resources to keep up with the many twists and turns by greatly increasing the length of Links and Water Cooler. Lambert has also regularly donned his yellow waders to analyze speeches and live blog debates. The increased coverage has costs. Longer posts and many more comments (regularly double the pre-campaign levels) mean more than proportionately more work for both of us. It isnt just that more comments translate into more participation and moderation. Its also the, um, intensity of the debates. There have been sites that have blown up in both this and past election seasons, or have had to shut down their comments section entirely. By dint of constant vigilance, and much tooth-gnashing behind the scenes, weve been able to keep the conversations up to your standards of lively banter and solid insights in the face of much higher volumes and far more divisive material, including an awful lot of newbie comments that look remarkably like talking points planted by both of the major parties. Opening a new area of expertise: legal reporting/analysis. Even though your humble blogger is an official graduate of the Foghorn Leghorn School of Law, important stories regularly occur where legal nuances are key yet overlooked or misreported by mainstream sites. Jerri-Lynn Scofield, Harvard Law School graduate and former Sullivan & Cromwell attorney, is thus an important addition to our team. She has already gotten a warm welcome from NC readers. We anticipate youll look forward to her work over the coming year. Launching coverage on autonomous vehicles. Lambert has just started looking into this important topic, and we expect it to be a major beat, with coverage including ethical questions, the tech, government regulations, business models, political economy (income inequality, public works, insurance, jobs), incremental improvements (automotive computing, trucks on highways first), and social benefits (better drive time, lives saved). Continuing our activism . More of our work last year was behind the scenes than in prior years. We funded pursuing a FOIA beyond an initial limited response. The records we got in the end werent post-worthy but insiders tell us we did force behavior changes at the target. So partial successes can have an impact. Another example of behind-the-scenes work is a high-level description of how private equity attains monopoly and oligopoly power in niche markets, which is outside the scope of anti-trust supervision, which weve embedded at the end of this post. The document was well received by key Congressional staffers. Digging deeper into Obamacare. Lambert continued his relentless coverage of Obamacare, including the ongoing death spiral of the ObamaCare exchanges, the continued crapification of policies, and proposed fixes (including the so-called public option). Keeping the heat on private equity. One proof of our impact of our original reporting was an op-ed at the end of last year, from the leading trade industry trade publication Pensions & Investments. As you probably know, industry journals seldom bite the hands that feed them. This remarkable editorial called out, point by point, a long list abuses that had been highlighted  indeed, typically first reported  at Naked Capitalism. Pressing CalPERS to up its game. Weve focused on CalPERS due to its potential to serve as a leverage point for the entire investment management industry. Accomplishments:  Forcing the resignation of the scandal-ridden fiduciary counsel, Robert Klausner, that CalPERS had recently engaged. This move is more significant than it appears. Klausner not only has decades of running seedy pay-to-play conferences, including with firms eventually sanctioned by the sleepy SEC, hes also the patient zero of practices that have done great harm to the reputation of public pension funds, such as instituting gold-plated pensions for the former fire and policemen that became the administrators of his clients. Thus when you hear about the bete noire of public pension fund haters, the former police or fireman with a $200,000 pension, the odds greatly favor Klausner having set it up. Klausner getting into CalPERS legitimated him in a way that he did not deserve, and he was trying to leverage that connection to get more large pension fund clients. Our Public Records Act requests (California-speak for FOIA) showed that Klausner was asking for references for new business pitches to other state pension funds.  Pressuring CalPERS to address its ongoing abuse of state open meeting laws. We pointed out how CalPERS was impermissibly limiting the time alotted to speakers in its open sessions. CalPERS is finally moving to enact a regulation to allow it to do so legally. However, revealingly, CalPERS  general counsel lied to the board about the history of CalPERS action on this issue when it presented the matter for a vote. That opens up the proposed regulation to challenge on procedural grounds. Exposing systemic technology risk in banking. Clive, Richard Smith, and other experts have described how banks have repeatedly said for the last 20 years that they will migrate off legacy systems, which are the core engines for massive volumes of daily transaction processing globally, and why theyve gotten nowhere. The underlying code is creaky, not getting any better, and the people whove learned how to baby it are undervalued, greying, and retiring. This is not a prescription for good outcomes. Broadening coverage of international scams. Our own Richard Smiths dogged efforts are getting traction, with the BBC, Tax Justice Network, interest.co.nz, The Herald (of Scotland), Private Eye, and even Hansard featuring his findings. Hardening our technology defenses. Our webhost, Keith Freedman writes: Naked Capitalism is often controversial, and that can draw Denial of Service attacks. These attacks have sometimes been highly proficient and difficult to mitigate without noticeable impact to readers or even downtime. Denial of Service attacks are best resolved using third-party services, which are expensive. In addition, while weve tuned things to handle the normal peak load of a busy Monday morning, special events like live blogs create burst traffic that can tend to overwhelm our resources. For these, we need a more elastic architecture, which are quite costly, or just more resources, which also cost money. We also engaged a new, even more skilled, WordPress code jockey, Blair Cummins. Were happy with their work and after years of agony going through tech people, too. Out of the stormy seas into a safe harbor!

Sadly, though, despite delivering even more high quality content this year than last year, we failed to meet one of our big fundraising commitments, that of more original reporting. We had to deploy funds that would otherwise have gone to more reporting to plug a big and very unexpected budget hole. Indeed, if we hadnt had such a good fundraiser last year, we would have been under even more stress.

Even with your generous contributions, advertising revenues are still our biggest source of income. Our former ad service, Investing Channel, has withheld months of advertising payments following our dispute with them regarding its failure to give an adequate explanation, despite repeated requests, of a huge plunge in payments to us in what should have been two of the four most lucrative months of the year.

Tellingly, we had this major shortfall within weeks of a former Investing Channel client going out of his way to warn us that he had switched to Google Adsense because of similar problems. He stated that he had documented large volumes of ad impressions for which he had not been paid. We later got information from other former clients of Investing Channel. A former staffer of a major publisher said they had found contractual violations in payouts; others believed they had been cheated; still others felt at a minimum that Investing Channels reports and answers to queries were so inconsistent that they thought its records were a mess and they were not confident that theyd gotten all the revenues to which they were entitled.

So weve kept pushing ahead without whinging about this huge blow and the extra stress and admin burden it created.

And on top of everything else, my favorite cat also died last year.

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Private-Equity-Antitrust-Background

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Flexible biosensor detects glucose from small amounts of sweat (Nanowerk News) Researchers at The University of Texas at Dallas are sweating the small stuff in their efforts to develop a wearable device that can monitor an individual's glucose level via perspiration on the skin.

In a study recently published online in the journal Sensors and Actuators B: Chemical ("Lancet-free and label-free diagnostics of glucose in sweat using Zinc Oxide based flexible bioelectronics"), Dr. Shalini Prasad, professor of bioengineering in the Erik Jonsson School of Engineering and Computer Science, and her co-authors demonstrated the capabilities of a biosensor they designed to reliably detect and quantify glucose in human sweat.

Researchers at the University of Texas at Dallas have designed a wearable, flexible biosensor that can reliably detect and quantify glucose from very small amounts of human sweat. (Image: University of Texas at Dallas)

The team has previously demonstrated that their technology can detect cortisol in perspiration.

But for diabetics and those at risk for diabetes, self-monitoring of blood glucose, or blood sugar, is an important part of managing their conditions.

"Fitness trackers that monitor heart rate and step count are very popular, but wearable, non-invasive biosensors would be extremely beneficial for managing diseases," said Prasad, the Cecil H. and Ida Green Professor in Systems Biology Science.

Typical home-use blood glucose monitors require a user to obtain a small blood sample, usually through the prick of a finger and often several times a day. However, the UT Dallas textile-based sensor detects glucose in the small amount of ambient sweat on a person's skin.

"In our sensor mechanism, we use the same chemistry and enzymatic reaction that are incorporated into blood glucose testing strips," Prasad said. "But in our design, we had to account for the low volume of ambient sweat that would be present in areas such as under a watch or wrist device, or under a patch that lies next to the skin."

Prasad said that researchers who work with sweat often use a process called iontophoresis, which sends an electric current through the skin to generate enough perspiration for sensing experiments. However, because this method can lead to rashes and burns on the skin, the team sought an alternative that would work with small amounts of sweat.

Their design works with volumes of sweat less than a microliter, which is the approximate amount of liquid that would fit in a cube the size of a salt crystal.

The technology also provides a real-time response in the form of a digital readout.

Prasad and bioengineering doctoral student Rujuta Munje, lead author of the journal article, incorporated an off-the-shelf polymer-based textile material in their glucose sensor and used UT Dallas clean-room facilities to construct the electronic elements. The prototype is a small, flexible, rod-shaped device about an inch long.

"We used known properties of textiles and weaves in our design," Prasad said. "What was innovative was the way we incorporated and positioned the electrodes onto this textile in such a way that allows a very small volume of sweat to spread effectively through the surface."

Typical blood glucose testing strips also contain a molecule that ultimately amplifies the signal from the chemical reactions on the strip enough to register electronically on a monitoring device. But if used in a device that is worn next to the skin, those molecules can be irritating, Prasad said, which presented another challenge.

To ensure that such a tiny amount of sweat would generate a strong enough signal, Prasad and Munje modified the surface topography of the textile material.

"Our modifications allow this material to entrap glucose oxidase molecules, which effectively amplifies the signal," Prasad said. "We did it this way because we are thinking about possible commercialization -- to make these, we need a fabrication process that is not complex."

Prasad and Munje also were able to account for the fact that the chemistry of a person's sweat changes throughout the day.

"Glucose is a tricky molecule to monitor because other factors can confound a signal," Prasad said. "For example, the pH, or acidity, of your sweat can vary greatly depending on the circumstances."

She noted that when individuals exercise or are under stress, the level of other compounds in their sweat, such as cortisol and lactic acid, change as well, and these can interfere with glucose detection.

"We have shown that with our technology, we address three critical issues: low volume of ambient sweat, interference from other compounds and pH swings," Prasad said

Prasad and Munje tested their prototype using samples of human sweat from donors.

While a consumer product based on the technology is still a few years away, the concept was developed with commercialization and scaled-up production in mind.

"At this point, we are thinking of this sensor as something you use for a day and toss out, and we believe it could easily be incorporated into existing consumer electronics platforms," Prasad said. "We're very excited about the potential for licensing this technology."

The research was supported by the Cecil H. and Ida Green endowed fellowship at UT Dallas.

Researchers at UT Dallas and elsewhere have investigated whether glucose found in other bodily fluids -- such as urine and tears -- might be used to track glucose levels, further eliminating the need for invasive blood draws. Google, for example, is investigating a smart contact lens designed to measure glucose levels in tears.
A reliance on negative emissions technologies is locking in carbon addiction

(Nanowerk News) The Paris Agreement on climate change and the carbon-reduction plans of many governments (including the UK) are unwittingly reliant on unproven technologies to suck hundreds of billions of tonnes of carbon dioxide directly from the atmosphere.

The journal Science publishes today a Perspective ("The trouble with negative emissions") which reveals the scale and widespread reliance on negative emissions technologies, which remain at best experimental. Nevertheless the models being used to advise governments on what action to take are dominated by such highly speculative technologies, with many assuming their mass roll-out beginning within the decade.

The beguiling appeal of relying on future negative emission technologies (NETs) is that they delay the need for stringent and politically challenging polices today  they pass the buck for reducing carbon on to future generations said Kevin Anderson, co-author of the paper and Professor at the Universities of Manchester and Uppsala. But if these Dr. Strangelove technologies fail to deliver at the planetary scale envisaged, our own children will be forced to endure the consequences of rapidly rising temperatures and a highly unstable climate.

The scale of carbon removal emerging from the models underpinning governments thinking on climate change is breathtaking. By the middle of the century many of the models assume as much removal of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere by negative emission technologies as is absorbed naturally today by all of the worlds oceans and plants combined.

Despite the modelling communitys reliance on negative emission technologies, there are no proven means by which we can remove carbon dioxide at such unprecedented scales says Dr Glen Peters, a Senior Researcher at the Center for International Climate and Environmental Research  Oslo (CICERO) and co-author of the paper. Yet almost all of the scenarios with a likely chance of not exceeding 2C and considered by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (the IPCC) assume that the large scale roll out of negative emission technologies is technically and economically viable said Dr Peters.

Dr Peters points to how Carbon dioxide removal is an extremely attractive technology for fossil fuel companies, as they can continue production whilst shifting the burden of mitigation on to future generations.

It is not well understood by many decision makers, NGOs and even academics working on climate change, that the climate models informing governments are so dependent on such a massive deployment of speculative and unproven technologies.
A Clonmel woman has made a heartfelt plea for the former hotel building where her brother died earlier this year to be made safe and secure to stop others from entering and using it as a drinks and drugs den.

The body of Christopher Channon, a 43 year-old homeless heroin addict who also suffered from mental health problems and had only been released from prison a few weeks before his death, was discovered by Gardai in the former Clonmel Arms Hotel on May 3.

Now his sister Annemarie Channon is calling for action to be taken to secure the town centre building.

"Are they going to take another body out of there before someone decides that something needs to be done", she stated.

"How many more people are going to die before before somebody stands up and says there's a big drugs problem in this town. It's gone to epidemic proportions".

Annemarie Channon recently visited the building after photos of the scenes of devastation inside the once landmark hotel were posted on social media.

"I was disgusted, horrified and upset when I saw those photos on Facebook", she says.

She says it was very difficult to enter the building where he brother had died, but the squalid conditions only brought home the importance of highlighting the dangers posed by a building that she says is still being regularly used for drinking and drug taking, while homeless people are also staying there from time to time.

"The place smells of death", she says.

"It's terrible, I never saw anything so bad in all my life and it's still wide open for anyone to get in there".

She says that she saw a large amount of drugs paraphernalia including dirty needles, steri wipes, tinfoil and small bottles of sterile water. There are blood stains on the walls and rubbish is strewn all over the place including used condoms, human faeces, discarded shopping trolleys and "thousands of empty beer cans".

Furniture and windows have been broken and some of the floors and ceilings have caved in, leaving the interior exposed to the elements.Fires have been lit in the main ballroom, leaving a large black mark in the middle of the floor.

"It will need specialist cleaning. I dread to think what would happen if anyone fell on a needle in there", she says.

Annemarie Channon found it hard to look around a once proud hotel where she attended weddings and christenings, went to discos and enjoyed performances by bands including Smokie and Bagatelle.

"My late parents, Mary Ellen and Ted (the well-known master farrier who operated from the forge in Anglesea Street, Clonmel) must be turning in their graves. The Clonmel Arms was their social hub for years.

I'm just glad that they're not here to see any of this".

Before her brother's death Ms Channon had suffered another family drugs tragedy when her only daughter Amy Channon, a 25 year-old mother of three young children, died on December 4 2014.

She was addicted to prescription medication at the time of her death, while traces of speed and cannabis were also found in her system. She also suffered from mental health difficulties.

Ms Channon claims that there have been 20 deaths in the South Tipperary area in recent years that can be linked to drug abuse.

"Hundreds of people are affected but some of them are too afraid to speak up", she says.

The situation prompted her to organise March for Change, a walk and rally held in the town centre last June to highlight the issues that contributed to the deaths of her daughter and brother.

"The Clonmel Arms is only one building in the town that's being used for drugs and drinking parties. I've heard of 14 year-olds who are going in there drinking at weekends".

She says that more services are needed to tackle the drugs problem and mental health issues.

"The closure of St. Michael's acute psychiatric unit has had a dramatic affect locally, with people trying to get to Kilkenny for help with psychology and related issues.

The Gardai need more resources to tackle the drugs problem and addiction services for young people especially aren't as freely available as they should be.

Young people, school pupils in fifth and sixth classes upwards need more information and advice about the dangers of drugs and the Department of Education should take the lead on this.

Early intervention is really important. Otherwise a whole generation of young people will be wiped out and their children will have to bear that cross for the rest of their lives".

The Clonmel Arms has gradually fallen into a state of disrepair since it closed as a hotel almost 11 years ago.

The town centre building has planning permission - which has been extended until 2019 - for a 450 space multi-storey car park, medical centre, offices and retail space.

The building was put up for sale just over a year ago but John Fitzgerald of joint selling agents Dougan Fitzgerald Auctioneers confirmed this week that it had recently been withdrawn from sale "for the time being", although he expected it would come back on the market in the short term.

He said there had been expressions of interest in the building when it was on the market.

Meanwhile, two local councillors have also voiced their concern over the state of the former hotel.

Cllr. Michael Murphy says he's hugely disappointed that it had been withdrawn from sale. He also said there was a general lack of information about its ownership.

Cllr. Richie Molloy is the manager of Family Carers Ireland, whose office in Sarsfield Street is directly opposite the building.

In the past he had contacted the local Garda station whenever people were seen entering the premises during the day but this hadn't been his experience over the last few months, although he couldn't say what went on in the area at night.

Cllr Molloy said it was still very easy to gain access to the building, as the old door to the ballroom was easily opened and access could also be gained from the rear.

"It's a terrible eyesore now in the middle of the town, with overgrown shrubbery all over the building and when people are visiting the Carers office they are constantly shocked by its appearance".

Cllr. Molloy has raised this issue several times at council meetings and says he will be raising it again at next week's meeting of Clonmel Borough District.

He said the recent publicity about the state of the building and the people using it had heightened the need for action by the council.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg was received in private audience by His Holiness Pope Francis at the Vatican on Thursday (13 October 2016). The Secretary General and His Holiness discussed global issues of common concern, including the conflicts in Syria and the wider Middle East, the importance of protecting civilian populations from suffering, and the importance of dialogue in international affairs to reduce tensions. The Secretary General also stressed that climate change could pose a significant security risk.

"I am honoured to have met His Holiness. His wisdom and vision for a just and more peaceful world, as well as his appeal for dialogue and cooperation, should inspire us all. Especially in these times of increased tension," the Secretary General said after the meeting.

Mr Stoltenberg also met with His Excellency Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, Secretary for Relations with States of the Holy See.

The Secretary General is in Rome with the North Atlantic Council and the NATO Military Committee to mark the 65th anniversary of the NATO Defense College. During his visit, Mr Stoltenberg will meet with President Sergio Mattarella, Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni, and Defence Minister Roberta Pinotti.
Another Fukushima? Unprecedented degradation of bolts and excessive groundwater contamination continue, with zero mass media coverage

(NaturalNews) Environmentalists are calling New York's leaking nuclear plant "Chernobyl on the Hudson" and rightly so, as the aging plant has been plagued with welding problems. The plant is leaking a drop of contaminated water every five seconds, shockingly including 600 gallons of petroleum, some of which has even reached the discharge canal, according to Governor Andrew Cuomo, who toured the area by boat on October 1st.Will Cuomo end up severely disabled like the U.S. sailors who came close to Japan's leaking nuclear plant Fukushima? Indian Point's dysfunctional nuclear power plant is only a couple dozen miles north of New York City's boundary, and just 50 miles from densely populated areas. New York State Environmental Commissioner Basil Seggos suggested that the booms placed in that discharge canal meant to absorb the petroleum "may not have been effective." He went on to say that one of the booms has actually been ripped off, so if oil got into the water at any rate, it would have entered the canal. Nuclear control room operators actually removed the unit's number 2 reactor so that weld repairs could be made on some piping, as well as for electrical testing.Back on May 5th, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission said that a previous Indian Point nuclear plant accident "analysis was flawed." The plant was totally shut down in June citing bolt failure. Last spring, officials were making up some of the hokiest excuses ever for complications. In March, they even went so far as to blame bird poop as a suspected cause for a shutdown. Before that, in February, there were calls for a federal investigation into radioactive leaks coming from the plant. The plant is almost 50 years old, and there have been widespread calls for shutting the whole operation down, including repeated requests from Governor Cuomo himself.Thanks to the American mass media, most Americans know absolutelyabout nuclear catastrophes happening in Japan or the United States. Nothing to see here! If the news isn't about Trump talking smack or Kim Kardashian missing some jewelry, it doesn't get published. Meanwhile, in the real world, the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear facility in Japan leaks massive amounts of radiation into the Pacific ocean, and that cancer-causing water has already reached the shores of California.Japanese officials are on the record saying that people shouldn't worry and should just continue smiling and drinking alcohol as a way to get through it all. In New York, Governor Cuomo warns everyone about "unprecedented degradation of Indian Point Unit 2" and "groundwater contamination." He warns that the repeated shutdowns are "yet another sign that the aging and wearing away of important components at the facility are having a direct and unacceptable impact on safety, and is further proof that the plant is not a reliable generation resource."Despite major objections from residents, lawmakers and environmental groups, the nuclear power company spent $120 million for inspections and upgrades to equipment, including the analysis of over 200 bolts. In spite of this, several systems are still in dire need of work, and bolts have been reported "missing" on the reactor's inner lining.Still, the media covers the whole catastrophe up, claiming that the plant is "safer than ever." Has it ever been safe to begin with? If this is what they call safe, it would be horrifying to hear news they would consider dangerous. Will this be like the EPA covered-up lead-in-the-water crisis from Flint, Michigan, where children had to suffer irreparable brain damage before anyone even heard there was a problem? In just the last decade, Indian Point has had nine incidents, including leaks from spent fuel pools and transformer fires. Is the plant so defective that it totally breaks down now when a bird poops on it? What is wrong with our country that we have to live like this?
As rates keep rising, where is Washington?

Evidence of environmental causes mounts

(NaturalNews) The Autism Action Network has called on its supporters to make autism an issue for the current election cycle, by contacting their members of Congress and asking them to answer the following question: "What have you done since the last election in your capacity as a member of Congress to help find the causes of autism; develop effective prevention and treatment; improve educational outcomes; and improve the lives of people with autism. Please be specific."On November 8, every single seat in the House of Representatives is up for election, along with 34 Senate seats.Autism is a neurological disorder characterized by difficulty with social interaction and communication, along with repetitive or restricted behaviors. Although it has historically been considered a primarily genetic condition, evidence continues to emerge linking it to a variety of environmental factors.One of the strongest lines of evidence for an environmental trigger is the fact that rates of autism keep rising. According to a 2014 study by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), US autism rates increased by almost 30 percent just between 2008 and 2010, leaping from a rate of one in 88 (among 8-year-olds) to one in 68. Experts mostly agree that the jump is too large to be explained solely by improved screening and diagnosis. And while some of the increase can be explained by people having children later in life, that does not fully explain the dramatic increase, either.The 2014 study spurred vocal calls for the government to address a condition that is now so prevalent that nearly every elementary school class has at least one autistic student."This is a loud message to people in Washington that we need leadership here," said Liz Feld, president of Autism Speaks. "A national strategy that addresses all the needs of the autism community across the lifespan is what is needed now more than ever."Recent research has uncovered a number of potential environmental triggers for autism. A 2013 study by researchers from Arizona State University suggested that heavy metal exposure might be one such trigger. The researchers found that autistic children had a significantly higher body burden of heavy metals than non-autistic children. Notably, children with more severe symptoms also had higher heavy metal levels than autistic children with less severe symptoms. In fact, as much as 47 percent of the variation in autism severity could be explained by levels of heavy metals, especially mercury and cadmium.Another possibility being explored by current research is that disruption to the natural community of microbes living within the human body  the microbiome  might contribute to the neurological changes that produce autism . Studies have confirmed that autistic children have a different microbiome composition than non-autistic children, while microbiome-disrupting procedures including antibiotics and cesarean sections, have also been shown to influence autism risk and symptoms.Of course, the possibility that has sparked the most controversy is that vaccines might be to blame for some cases of autism. The case for a vaccine injury trigger was strengthened in 2014, when senior CDC scientist William Thompson admitted that he and fellow researchers had manipulated the data from one of their studies to conceal a finding that the measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine was linked to higher autism rates in black boys.Catherine J Frompovich, author of, added her voice onin support of the Autism Action Network call to action, and also suggested a call to presidential candidates asking, "What will you do, if elected into office, to investigate and to stop the fraud and collusion regarding vaccine research, plus the dissemination of fraudulent vaccine science and data by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration?"
#1. Hillary Clinton is the Bride of Frankenfood and has already sold out to the Kings of GMOMonsanto (now owned by Bayer)

#2. Hillary will continue Obama's raiding of organic farms and natural supplement distributors

#3. Hillary and the Clinton Crime Family will continue to attack natural medicine doctors and bury the cures for cancer

#4. Hillary supports forced mass vaccination of infants, children and adults

Proof Trump actually cares about organic food and medical freedom

(NaturalNews) For many Americans, neither candidate for President, in their eyes, is suited for the job, and they'd much rather vote for Mickey Mouse than to choose from the current front-runners. But the main problem is that one of the candidates will surely infringe upon personal freedoms that make a huge difference in health for all members of the family, including adults, children, infants, and babies on the way.If you think there's no difference regarding food and medical freedoms at stake in this election, you couldn't be more gravely mistaken. One candidate is massively funded by corporations, lobbyists, biotechnology companies, pharmaceutical regimes, and Wall Street. In 2014, that same candidate openly stated at the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) convention in San Diego that food genetically engineered to contain pesticides is something we should all want.Hillary Clinton (of the Clinton Crime Family) is a shill for biotech, regurgitating their very own scripted language and twisted terms used to falsely describe cancer-causing and Alzheimer's-causing food that has besieged our staple food and caused chronic damage to the environment. Hillary talks the biotech game language, throwing propaganda terms around to help pad her own pockets and to help fund her campaign for President, which is falling apart at the seams.Most Americans are quickly waking up to the dangers of GMOs, figuring out the real research that's revealing lab animals dying from horrific cancer tumors, children exacerbating allergies and autism, and the elderly losing their memories and their collective minds faster and younger than ever before. It's not a coincidence. Crooked politicians will say anything to get more money to gain more power, and that's all that "Hitlery" Clinton is about. She's been figured out. Simply put, a vote for Clinton is a vote for Monsanto.Like no other president in the history of this country, Obama has been relentless at having his stoogesheavily armed regulatory goons from the FDA, USDA, DEA, EPA, and DHSraid organic farms in order to destroy, intimidate, and annihilate, by example, anyone who defies his poisoned, corporate-infested country full of GM corn, soy, canola, and cottonseed.Obama has opened the GMO doors wide, hiring biotech industry insiders to run the FDA, and if Hillary were to win the election next month, the reign of terror would simply continue and get even worse. Stand up for organic food and organic farmers and refuse to vote for a tyrannical regime that illegally destroys hard working farmers who actually care about the health and livelihood of their customers and a sustainable environment.Just last year, eleven cancer cure doctors were all found dead within 3 months, and each death fell under. Why would the government of the United States have nearly a dozen holistic doctors murdered? The doctors had discovered an enzyme protein (nagalase) present in vaccines that causes disease and disorder, including cancer and autism.Make no mistake, Big Pharma, the vaccine industry, and the cancer industrial complex of America is filthy rich and awfully powerful.Let's be very clear here: Globalists like Bill Gates, who contributes heavily to the, believe in depopulation and reducing the world's population by the billions, as he has clearly stated can be done through the use of vaccines. This is why flu shots are free and the government wants mandatory vaccinations for all pregnant women, babies, children, teens and adults across America.It's not a conspiracy theory. Vaccines still contain mercury, aluminum, monosodium glutamate (MSG), embalming fluid for the dead (formaldehyde), peanut oil, genetically modified viruses, and live versions of experimental diseases like Zika, Swine, and Bird Flu. Vaccines are already mandatory in the state of California, and if Clinton had her way, no human being living in America could ever be exempt for any reason from getting every single toxic jab the CDC concocts and "recommends" (enforces at gunpoint).Go online and take a look at most of Donald Trump's hotels and restaurants and you will find that hein most of them, so he'll probably not be "owned" by Monsanto and Bayer when it comes to food regulations. Plus, Trump has spoken out about too many vaccines too close together causing autism.For the first time in decades, a possible new President won't be "owned" by the corporations that pump money into campaigns and then demand their poisonous products get pushed on the American people with no regulations. Trump is our best chance at preserving and promoting food and medical freedom. Be intelligent and resourceful. Get out to the polls and state your case!
Misdiagnosed child abuse and the great vaccine coverup

(NaturalNews) Imagine agreeing to have your child vaccinated as part of the typical pediatric process, only to have your little one suddenly come down with a mystery disease following the shots, for which you get falsely accused of child abuse. This is increasingly the case with "mystery" conditions like Kawasaki disease, Reye's syndrome, sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) and various other related afflictions that a prominent doctor recently exposed as being misdiagnoses of vaccine-induced tissue damage.Dr. Michael Innis, a retired hematologist from Princess Alexandra Hospital in Brisbane, Australia, recently published a paper in the journalthat addresses this general phenomenon of tissue scurvy, a vaccine-induced autoimmune disorder that inhibits the body from properly metabolizing vitamin C. Because of a lack of insulin, vitamin C is prevented from passing out of the bloodstream and into the cells where it is needed, resulting in a host of symptoms that mainstream medicine has erroneously classified as "non-accidental injury," or child abuse.This alleged child abuse takes many forms, including as the aforementioned diseases which have sent many a parent to prison. But Dr. Innis' paper reveals that each one of these disorders has a common link which cannot be attributed to physical trauma. To the contrary, hyperglycemia, or a lack of insulin resulting from antigenic stress caused by vaccines, is the common denominator in all of these diseases, and the one that serves as the smoking gun in vindicating falsely accused parents of crimes they did not actually commit."The many faces of tissue scurvy in childhood include sudden infant death syndrome, alleged non-accidental injury, shaken baby syndrome, abusive head trauma, inflicted brain injury, Reye's syndrome, Kawasaki disease, anaphylaxis and diabetes type I," wrote Dr. Innis, who decided to conduct his research after desperate parents sought him out in search of answers."All have one feature in common -- hyperglycemia, the signature of insulin deficiency resulting from vaccines, and other forms of antigenic stress which damage the beta cells of the islets of Langerhans resulting in hypoinsulinemia and tissue scurvy."Dr. Innis' observations are groundbreaking in that they expose the deeply embedded corruption within the vaccine industry. This is further evidenced by the fact that vaccine-induced tissue scurvy was discovered at least as far back as 1962, when a doctor by the name of Archie Kalokerinos first identified its presence in Australian Aborigine children.After observing an extremely high death rate among children recently vaccinated, Dr. Kalokerinos, being an honest and inquisitive physician, decided to investigate the situation further. He discovered not only that vaccines were the culprit but that administering high doses of vitamin C either intramuscularly or intravenously helped reverse the symptoms."I observed that many infants, after they received routine vaccines like tetanus, diptheria, polio, whooping cough or whatever, became ill," he explained in the June 1995 issue of the, as excerpted in a recent piece by's Christina England. "[W]ith some of these reactions which normally resulted in death, I found that I could reverse them by giving large amounts of vitamin C intramuscularly or intravenously."Eager to share his discovery with public health officials in the interest of saving children's lives, Dr. Kalokerinos alerted the government about vaccine-induced tissue scurvy and its apparent remedy, high-dose vitamin C. But rather than welcome this information, the government actually attacked Dr. Kalokerinos, showing its true colors as what he suggests is a purveyor of death and disease rather than health and life."After studying more than 50 SBS cases, I have yet to find one where a detailed analysis of the complete individual or family history, or a proper evaluation of all the necessary coagulation/bleeding factors was undertaken," he stated during a later interview, noting that the same government policy of ignoring both the cause and the remedy of tissue scurvy is still the norm. "Often, a diagnosis of trauma due to shaking is made at an early stage and any further investigation is considered unnecessary."Be sure to read Christina England's full report on vaccine-induced tissue scurvy here:
Thirty advocacy organizations are demanding justice for a Sikh man who they believe was the victim of an alleged hate crime in Richmond because he wears a turban.

Maan Singh Khalsa, 41, was viciously attacked while idling at a red light on Sept. 25. Sheriff's deputies have arrested Chase Byron Little, 31, of Texas, and Dustin Micheal Albarado, 25, of Louisiana, former contractors at the Chevron Richmond Refinery, on felony assault charges. A third suspect escaped.

In a letter to Contra Costa County District Attorney Mark Peterson, groups on Thursday expressed "deep concern" about the brutality and urged prosecutors to charge the suspects with hate crimes.

Signatories include the Alliance of South Asians Taking Action, National Religious Campaign Against Torture, Sikh Coalition and Take on Hate. Richmond Mayor Tom Butt and Police Chief Allwyn Brown are also copied on the email.

Prosecutors told NBC Bay Area that they expect charges to be filed on Friday.

Three men, traveling in a white, four-door truck, are accused of throwing a half-full beer can at Khalsa. They also followed him to a second red light and beat him through the window.

They were beating his face mercilessly, said Harsimran Kaur, the Sikh Coalition's legal director and Khalsa's attorney. His turban got knocked off and they yelled, Cut his f***ing hair! and one of them cut his hair with a knife.

30 groups push for hate-crime charges against Chevron contractors after Sikh man beaten in Richmond. https://t.co/MiBl4CE5WA pic.twitter.com/lqORRxquKc  NBC Bay Area (@nbcbayarea) October 13, 2016

The Sikh community was incensed by the aggression because Khalsa's "turban and unshorn hair and beard" are "religiously mandated articles of faith," the letter said.

According to a police report, Khalsa raised his arm to defend himself from the suspects, and his finger was cut by a knife one of them was carrying.

"As a result of the attack, Mr. Khalsa sustained cuts on his fingers and hands that required stiches, a swollen black eye, damage to his teeth, and deep humiliation," the organizations stressed in their letter.

Fawaz Alnaami, the victim's roommate, said he was horrified to see Khalsa battered, bruised and slashed.

Khalsa is one of the kindest people he knows, Alnaami said, and spends hours volunteering at the El Sobrante Sikh temple, where he helps elderly people and others in need.

"He's a very calm person, he would not hurt a fly," he insisted. "He would not hesitate to help any person."

Khalsa, an IT specialist for the Social Security Administration, has suffered emotionally since the attack, and just learned that his finger will need to be amputated, Alnaami said.

"This is insane," he said. "It's shocking, discomforting for sure."

Peterson's office said the attack is being investigated as a hate crime, but activists are outraged that the suspects have not been formally charged for their demonstration of "bias and hate."

"We believe that Mr. Khalsa was targeted and assaulted because of his actual or perceived race/ethnicity, religion and nationality, given that the attack was unprovoked and the assailants intentionally targeted his articles of faith," the letter continued.

Khalsa told police that he believes the men targeted him because they mistook him for a Muslim, the police report showed.

Activists echoed the same sentiment, stressing to Peterson that Sikhs have been a "vulnerable" minority following 9/11 and have often been subjected to verbal and physical harassment.

After Khalsa was accosted, they wrote, the roughly 5,000 people who pray at the nearby El Sobrante Sikh temple live in terror of being similarly attacked.

"It is vital that hate crimes are appropriately investigated, documented and prosecuted," the signatories wrote. "Failure to do so silences and further marginalizes communities that experience bias-motivated violence and discourages them from reporting acts of violence committed against their communities."

According to a statement issued by Chevron, Little and Albarado lost their jobs following their arrest.

It said: "Chevron regrets this very unfortunate incident and does not tolerate this type of behavior of its employees or contractors. Chevron has spoken to its contractor regarding their employees and have confirmed these individuals have been terminated. Additionally, Chevron will ensure the individuals committing these alleged acts are suspended from entering the refinery under any other employer."
Hernan Mejias owns a small limo company in Santa Clara.

I love it, he said. For the most part we do big events.

As much as he enjoys escorting parties around the Bay Area, he scheduled some time to park his limos about a year ago.

My wife and I wanted to go Europe, he said. We wanted to go Paris and Rome. Perfect timing -- in November.

But, three days before they were supposed to leave, terrorists attacked Paris.

Hernan said news networks were warning people to avoid Paris. So, he did. He began to cancel his lodging, tours, and flights. Hernan says the airline was easy. It refunded his non-refundable ticket immediately.

Just like that, no questions asked, he said. They knew exactly what had happened and it was understandable.

But his lodging  booked on Airbnb.com -- was a different story. Hernan says he tried to get his money back from the host in Paris, but for the most part he ignored me.

The "host" in his second stop, Rome, didnt offer a refund either. The dispute festered for months.

Now, Hernan probably made a mistake here. He tried to negotiate directly with the "hosts."

He should have gone to Airbnb right after the attacks. Airbnb said it offered refunds to users who requested them.

Spokesman Nick Shapiro said: "We empower hosts to set and manage their cancellation policies, but in rare instances, emergencies warrant coverage by Airbnb's Extenuating Circumstances Policy, as was done in the wake of the Paris terror attacks.

But, by the time Hernan went to Airbnb, his window to apply had closed.

I almost gave up, he said.

Then he reached out to us.

We then explained to Airbnb how Hernan thought he should work things out individually.

It agreed to give Hernan a full refund for both cancelled stays -- just shy of $1,000.

I talked to you, and within two days I got my money back, he said. Youre doing a great job. Thank you.

We wondered if Airbnb would recoup Hernans refund from the hosts who kept his money.

Airbnb said no. In cases of emergencies, it says it eats the costs on both sides -- so theres harm to neither its guests nor its hosts.
This Friday, the Bay Area is getting its first real dousing of rain this season. While theres no question the state needs the rain, theres concern about a community already on edge: Pacifica.

In less than 48 hours, Pacificas tranquil waves could top 15 feet, as the National Weather Service has issued coastal flood and high surf advisories starting 3 a.m. Friday and lasting until 9 p.m. The agency has advised everyone to stay away from the water, especially near the cliffs.

However, the warnings are not so swell for those who live on the cliffs.

With rain coming, Im pretty sure more of this stuff is going to start breaking away like it always does, said Pacificas Joe Toth, who used to live at 310 Esplanade. When I lived in that apartment I used to hear the water when it would pound the cliff dace, and you could feel it shake the whole apartment  it was pretty intense.

His former apartment building was evacuated and red-tagged last winter after a drone captured footage of the cliff falling apart.

The apartments next door were so close to the edge that the owner chose to tear it down. The move actually created an ocean view for 15-year-old Anthony, who lives across the street.

We can actually get a view of the ocean from our bedroom right there, he said. However, he says the vistas arent worth it, and he and his family are moving to escape the erosion.

Sooner or later its going to come back here, so we gotta go, Anthony said.

Short term, however, the City of Pacifica is monitoring the weather.

We are not expecting problems with the sea wall due to this weekends storms. We have staff on call who can respond should there be any problems, Pacifica City Manager Lorie Tinfow said.

Wednesday, contractors completed repairs to one section of the promenade, which was damaged by last years El Nino storms. Repairs to that and part of the sea wall are expected to be done in about a month, according to Tinfow.

Monday evening, the City Council voted unanimously to go ahead on 12 repair projects, with a price tag of $3.3 million. Approximately $2.64 million will come from insurance coverage and grant funding, and the balance will come from City funds, according to Tinfow.

The total does not include replacing the northern section of the sea wall, damaged during last years El Nino. At this time, the City does not have cost estimates or a timeline for the new section. Officials are in talks with the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers to help design and fund the replacement section, originally built in 1984.
The morning sun was playing catch-up with Casey ONeill, who had already spent hours tromping around his hillside farm in Mendocino County near Laytonville. Alongside rows of tomatoes and green beans, ONeill gingerly tugged at a six-foot marijuana plant bearing buds thicker and longer than his wrist.

To us cannabis is a powerful special, unique thing, ONeill said snipping off a bud and tossing it in a plastic tub.

Its been a transformational year for farmers like ONeill who grow and sell weed permitted under Californias medical marijuana regulations. Recently, new laws signed by Governor Jerry Brown kicked-in creating a new state agency with new rules and licensing for medicinal weed growers.

And now this November, state voters will weigh-in on Prop 64 which would legalize recreational marijuana for the first time in the state and create a new tax system for it.

It feels good to start to move out of the closet, out of prohibition, ONeill said in a voice that sounded like a gravel road. At the same time its scary.

With the prospect of a legal recreational marijuana industry in the state, ONeill and other small-time farmers fear a storm of large commercial interests will move-in and kick them to the curb. ONeill said he is already seeing signs of the industrial stampede.

Were seeing a huge rush of venture capitol, of investors coming in, ONeill said leaning into a large plant. The bigger the business the harder its going to be for the small farmer to survive.

With the writing on the wall, ONeill and other farmers in the three-county farm belt of Mendocino, Trinity and Humboldt Counties  known as the Emerald Triangle  have begun forming agricultural marijuana co-ops to take-on any weed-growing Goliaths.

Its incumbent upon us to work together, ONeill said, and try to band together and participate in the marketplace that helps us survive.

Michael Steinmetz, who owns the Flow Kana medical marijuana company and buys from several farms including ONeills, is helping Mendocino County pot farmers organize themselves into a cooperative. The farms plan to band together to create a single interest, which could operate on a similar scale as a large company.

As a cooperative they can act like a big grower, Steinmetz said. They can act like a really big player.

But for all the coming together, Steinmetz said the states pot growing industry is split over Prop 64. ONeill is tepid in his support of the proposition which will create a new set of regulations for the industry and allow people to grow up to six plants at home. Steinmetz sees it as a positive progression with plenty of possibility.

We have to find the way within this framework to exist and to survive, Steinmetz said, and to embrace this new future and new era of cannabis.

Further South near the town of Willits, Micah Flause and Johanna Mortz covered the hillside of their home with a forest of weed plants  some topping out at eight feet. The couple is also helping to organize the local cannabis co-op, attending regular meetings and writing up plans for a coalesced attack.

I think that the cooperative is really a very good model for small farms, Flause said, to protect themselves from the onslaught of capital that is coming into the cannabis industry.

Both Flause and Mortz share misgivings about the potential for voters to create a recreational market in the state. The couple, who also supply medicinal marijuana, fear the state isnt ready to handle a recreational market  especially on the heels of the new medical pot regulations.

I do lean toward hoping that it doesnt pass quite yet, Mortz said. I think that we could use a little more work.

Steinmetz said he understands the trepidation among farmers even though Colorado, Washington and Oregon have already passed laws legalizing some forms of recreational marijuana.

There is a diversity of opinion, Steinmetz said. I think it stems from people trying to be more protective and want change slower.

ONeill hoisted his plastic bin of freshly picked buds and let his gaze sweep across the hills where he was born and continues to farm. He said whichever way the Prop 64 vote goes, he believes the publics acceptance for cannabis has lifted it from the shadows.

Last two years theres been such a transition in the conversation, ONeill said, everybody can actually talk about it now.
A boat that capsized near Pier 45 in San Francisco, dumping 30 people into the bay, was uprighted on Thursday morning, as divers helped grab the yacht and bring it to the surface.

The 34-foot Silverton cabin cruiser named The Khalessi capsized on Saturday, and experts told NBC Bay Area it appeared as though there were simply too many people on board.

Experts said it looked as though the boat could carry only 15 people. At the time it sank it was carrying double that number.

The boat's owner, Ivan Smilianic, declined to comment when asked about the Khalessi being overloaded.

Everyone aboard the vessel is expected to survive, including a 4-year-old child who was plucked from the water and found to be unconscious. Authorities are still investigating the incident and have said it could have been much worse.
Residents living in San Francisco's Ingleside are on edge following a pair of recent homicides in the area.

The killings come in the wake of eight homicides reported in San Francisco this month. Police in the Taraval station said the two homicides in Ingleside are not connected and not random.

"Right now we have no information to believe it's gang related," SFPD Capt. Denise Flaherty said. "We have no information to believe it's retaliation for anything. That's what we're going on right now."

A community meeting was held late Wednesday to address concerns from residents.

"Regardless of fault, or whenever this happens in a community it's a tragedy," Supervisor John Avalos said.

Ingleside resident Steven Burks wonders if he will be the next homicide victim.

"I felt like I could've been hit by a stray bullet," Burks said. "It's really tense out here."

Meanwhile, San Francisco police said they are dedicating officers to investigate the homicides.
A suspicious package reported this afternoon in downtown San Francisco has been cleared and streets in the area have reopened, police said.

Police wrote on Twitter at 12:50 p.m. to alert the public about the package, which shut down the area of Market and O'Farrell streets.

People in the area were ordered to shelter in place while police investigated the package. Police said shortly after 1:40 p.m. that the package was cleared and the shelter-in-place orders had been lifted.

No other details about the incident were immediately available from police.
When you walk into Shauna Hawes classroom at Valley View Middle School in Pleasant Hill, its almost impossible to feel anything but optimistic. Everywhere you look, there seems to be a motivational poster of some sort. Be Fearless! This is your time, says one. This is my happy place, cries another.

A personalized letter from President Barack Obama hangs on another wall, thanking the teacher for her work with students.

These notes set the tone for a classroom culture that is both inclusive and warm, much like Hawes herself. A teacher for almost 20 years, the computer wiz was recently awarded Contra Costa Countys Teacher of the Year Award for her efforts to boost STEM curriculum across not only Valley View, but also the entire Mount Diablo Unified School District. She succeeded, pulling in more than $500,000 in grant money and spearheading several programs, including a STEM lending library that allows teachers to check out the latest gadgets and gizmos, and a camp that focuses on helping young girls learn to code.

Students in her computer literacy classes are learning how to build websites, make web graphics, use robotics and DSLR cameras, and even operate 3-D printers. With Hawes at the helm, they are also learning how to be kind to one another, a lesson that they pick up through collaborative work and undoubtedly through her example. Always patient, she stops at every students computer terminal and paces back and forth around her large classroom, following the hands that sporadically rise into the air. When she arrives at a desk, its rarely without a smile.

Although several students said they felt lucky to be in her classes, its Hawes who claims to be the lucky one.

I get to see kids who are not artistic do beautiful work; I get to see students who have never been good at math suddenly do coding and robotics and be really proud of themselves for things, she said. I get to watch kids create things that they thought were never possibleThats why I love what I do. 

Math and science were never Hawes passions when she was a student. She said she dreaded math, but always had an appreciation for curriculum that gave students an opportunity to learn practical, hands-on skills. That appreciation intensified after she had her own children and noticed that college-bound students were being advised against taking practical courses, apparently because they didnt fit university admissions criterion that historically prized English and arithmetic.

My biggest concern is that our students are losing hands-on access to things that make sense, she explained. When my son was going into high school, I wanted him to take an auto mechanics class. It didnt fit the A through G requirements, and the counselors tried to dissuade me from having my son take it. I thought, dont college-bound kids cars break down too? I feel like were missing out on what education is supposed to look like, because theyre not getting practical skills when theyre walking out of the classroom.

As woodshop classes across the country shutter, including the one at Valley View, Hawes is hoping her computer literacy courses will provide a 21st century alternative.

She has a lot of real life applications in her computer class that the kids can see practical use for in the future, and it engages them, explained Crystal Stull, a vice principal at Valley View. Theres a lot of recognition for her (as teacher of the year). It brings a good climate to this school.

The students seem to agree. During their lunch break, Hawes teaches a special course called Mouse Squad, which has iterations across school campuses nationwide. At Valley View, its composed of a small group of students who applied for the course, hoping to get more of the hands-on experience that the teacher touts as essential.

Jazmine Cano, an eighth grade Mouse Squad member, is working with her group on a drone that has a camera attached. Like something out of an elite lab in Silicon Valley, it can be operated through a smart phone or tablet and is fitted with special landing hardware. The tech used in the project was funded through a grant that Hawes applied for on her own time.

It is all about technology and what you love about it, explained Jazmine. We help different teachers with how to fix their computers or projectors, so whenever they need any help or any have technical difficulties, we can go and help them.

Jazmine and fellow student Miles McCall said Mouse Squad is one of their favorite classes, partly because Hawes trusts them with technology and allows them to learn from it. Echoing yet another aphorism plastered to the classroom wall, they say they are encouraged to just go for it from the start.

Shes incredible, like one of the best teachers ever, Jazmine said. She always takes into consideration what we know or what we have difficulties doing. Its like a big family. We all understand each other and try things together.

Gillian Edevane covers Contra Costa County for NBC Bay Area. Contact her at Gillian.Edevane@NBCUni.com.
The Israeli president held a meeting on Thursday with senior Israeli and Palestinian clergy who came together to denounce religiously-inspired violence, a year after the current wave of violence erupted.

An Israeli chief rabbi, some West Bank settler rabbis, the Palestinian president's Islamic affairs advisor and the head of the Muslim religious court in the West Bank were among those who attended the meeting, according to a statement from President Reuven Rivlin's office.

"We believe the deliberate killing of or attempt to kill innocents is terrorism, whether it is committed by Muslims, Jews or others," the clergy said in a joint statement.

David Makovsky, a senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, which initiated the gathering, said it was an effort to get the clergy to be part of the solution to Israeli-Palestinian strife.

"Religious leaders in this part of the world may not have the power of political leaders, but they have influence," Makovsky said.

The current wave of Israeli-Palestinian violence began just over a year ago, and in that time, 36 Israelis and two visiting Americans have been killed in Palestinian attacks. During the same time, about 219 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire. Israel says most of those killed were attackers, while the Palestinians have accused Israel of using excessive force.

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 some 50 years of military occupation and fading hopes for independence.

Also Thursday, an Israeli defense body said it was increasing efforts to crack down on attempts to smuggle items to the Gaza Strip that Israel prohibits on security grounds. COGAT said it banned used auto parts for four-by-four vehicles from entering the Palestinian territory after several attempts to send them to Gaza for the ruling Islamic militant group Hamas.

COGAT said it also fined a telecommunications company for trying to smuggle cables and optical fibers into Gaza. The company, which was not named, is suspected of trying to get the equipment to Gaza's militant groups, the defense body said.

Israel and Egypt imposed a blockade on Gaza in 2007 after Hamas seized power. Israel bans the entry of equipment to Gaza that could be used for military use.
Two new polls of critical swing states shows mixed fortunes for Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump as their push for the White House reaches their final few weeks, NBC News reports.

Clinton leads Trump by four points in North Carolina but trails him by one in Ohio, according to the NBC News/Wall Street Journal/Marist polls released Thursday.

In North Carolina, 45 percent of likely voters backed Clinton compared to 41 percent for Trump. In Ohio, Trump's 42-41 percent lead is inside the poll's margin of error, making the state a toss-up.

For Trump to win the election, he likely needs to sweep North Carolina and Ohio, as well as Florida and Pennsylvania.
A 3-year-old boy is believed to have shot and killed himself in north suburban Waukegan early Thursday morning, police said.

Waukegan Fire Department Battalion Chief Tom Christenson said emergency responders were called to the 1100 block of Greenfield Avenue just before 3 a.m. on reports of a child who had been shot in the head.

The boy, identified as Jerome Banks, was was transported to Vista East Medical Center in critical condition, where he later was pronounced dead, police said.

An investigation revealed the toddler's wounds appear to have been self-inflicted, authorities said. According to the Lake County Illinois Coroner's autopsy report, the boy died from a single shot.

Detectives believe the boy woke up just before 3 a.m., went into his parents' room and took his father's 9mm semi0automatic Diamondback off the dresser. They say the boy then went into the living room when the gun discharged, striking him in the head.

The boy's father possessed a valid FOID card and no charges had been filed as of Thursday afternoon.

One other weapon was taken into police custody from the home.

Check back for details on this developing story.

[[238427591,C]]


A leaked email from Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clintons campaign Chairman John Podesta referenced a 2015 BuzzFeed article in which Sen. Mark Kirk predicted nuclear war in the Middle East in the wake of the Iran nuclear deal.

Podesta's email, which was released Friday by WikiLeaks along with a cache of documents from the Clinton campaign chair, was in response to a message from John Anzalone of Anzalone Liszt Grove Research that bore the subject line, "you call it." In his email, Anzalone included a link to the BuzzFeed article and a quote from Kirk.

This agreement condemns the next generation to cleaning up a nuclear war in the Persian Gulf, Kirk told BuzzFeed at the time. This is the greatest appeasement since Chamberlain gave Czechoslovakia to Hitler.

Yup, Podesta said in response to the email.

What exactly that means is unclear, although Kirks campaign is taking it as recognition from leaders of both parties that the Iran Deal is tragic and dangerous.

The former secretary of state has backed the Iran nuclear deal, which was reached in 2015. However, according to a 2015 New York Times report, Clinton said the deal would only work as part of a larger strategy toward Iran that contained capital Tehrans power in the region as sanctions are lifted. Kirks opponent in November, Rep. Tammy Duckworth, also has backed the plan.

The Clinton campaign has not confirmed the authenticity of the emails, nor has NBC News independently authenticated the emails. On Wednesday, the Federal Bureau of Investigation said the Russian government is suspected in the recent hack.

The Clinton campaign would not directly address the Kirk email, but Podesta issued a statement Wednesday blaming the Russians for allegedly boosting Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump's candidacy.

"It is now clear that the illegal hack of my personal acount was -- just like the other recent election-related hacks -- the work of the Russian government," Podesta said. "This level of meddling by a foreign power can only be aimed at boosting Donald Trump and should send chills down the spine of all Americans, regardless of political party. Despite receiving an intelligence briefing on the Russians' role in masterminding these hacks, Donald Trump continues to side with the Russians by publicly denying their involvement and even cheering on further intrusions."

"Worst of all, the growing number of links between Trump's associates, WikiLeaks and the Russian government raises troubling questions about the possibility that Trump's allies had advance knowledge of the release of these illegally obtained emails," he added.

Podesta suggested Tuesday that former Trump adviser and confidante Roger Stone was in collusion with WikiLeaks. According to NBC News, Stone called that claim "categorically false" Wednesday.

"I have a back-channel communications with WikiLeaks," Stone said. "But they certainly don't clear or tell me in advance what they're going to do."

During the interview, Stone confirmed to NBC News that he and WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange have "a mutual friend" and cast doubt on U.S. agencies investigating the cyber attacks.
In the middle of a busy intersection, with traffic headed right at them, Heidi and Marty Jones of Valparaiso say their new 2015 Jeep Cherokee shuddered, stuttered and refused to accelerate. That moment followed dozens of other nerve-wracking incidents in traffic, they say, and was their final straw.

"That was about the point when I realized enough was enough," Heidi Jones told NBC5 Responds.

Jones and her husband drove the $41,000 car to a relatives garage, parked it and walked away.

"It was just too dangerous to bring my little son in that car anymore," Marty Jones said. It would happen every day, but you didn't know when each day It would stall in the intersection, then floor itself."

The Jones family has company: NBC5 Responds uncovered 492 similar complaints, filed with the federal government by owners of 2014 and 2015 Jeep Cherokees. Many blame the fleets novel 9-speed transmission, the first of its kind for a consumer car.

It's like a Doctor Jekyll and Mr. Hyde-- doing things nobody would expect it to do," Chicago attorney Greg Moss told NBC5. Moss is not the Jones attorney, but has close to two dozen cases hes filing on behalf of similarly-affected Jeep owners.

Most people are worried about the lack of acceleration issue and hesitation issue when they're in traffic and they're at a light or merging onto the highway. They just don't know what's going to happen, Moss said. "People say to me, I got the software upgraded and they flashed my transmission control module and I got back in the car and it happened right away, right after that."

Back in Valparaiso, three-time Jeep owners Heidi and Marty Jones say they were running out of patience, after the carmaker and their local dealer both said no to their multiple requests for a fair resolution. That changed when NBC5 Responds reached out to Griegers Motor Sales in the area. The owner of the car dealership agreed the Jones family had been through enough, and wrote them a check for $30,000.

Ms. Jones had ultimate recourse with FCA (the parent company of Jeep) for the issues, but I decided the best course of action was to purchase the vehicle back from the customer, Griegers President Dave Rodgers said in a statement to NBC5 Responds. I believe that purchasing the Cherokee back from her on August 5, 2016 was the best and quickest way to resolve her difficult situation without further delays. I was concerned that any further claim with the manufacturer would be an even longer process for her and her family.

FCA, the parent company of Jeep, declined to talk to NBC5 Responds on camera, but says the 9-speed transmission was new in 2014 and continues to have great promise. The company acknowledged "unexpected performance issues which they continue to address. FCA says two individual Lemon Law-type cases have gone to court in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, where FCA prevailed in both.

Its just so nice to have somebody like you guys on our side, Heidi told NBC5 Responds. We didnt have to spend all the time and moneygetting lawyers and continuing to fight!
In the race for incumbent Rep. Bob Dolds 10th Congressional District House seat, Democratic challenger Brad Schneider looks to once again unseat the Republican congressman.

In 2010, Dold beat out Democrat Dan Seals to replace Sen. Mark Kirk in the U.S. House of Representatives. Dold was defeated by Schneider in 2012, but regained the seat in a 2014 rematch.

Dold, who was born and raised in Chicagos northern suburbs, has a wide-ranging set of legislative priorities. This includes fostering job and economic growth, as well as preventing a nuclear Iran and bolstering national security. Dold has helped secure $573 billion in funding for U.S. Armed Forces and has called for a comprehensive strategy to defeat ISIS. Additionally, he is an advocate for immigration reform and earned legal status.

The congressman also supports a series of measures to reduce gun violence and has pushed to fight the nations heroin and prescription drug epidemic. The Republican supports a womans right to choose and has fought for LGBTQ equality. His candidacy has been endorsed by the Human Rights Campaign, the countrys largest LGBTQ civil rights organization.

Dold believes in increased opportunity though education and advocates for a more efficient, effective and accountable government. He also advocates for affordable healthcare, but has opposed the Affordable Care Act. However, Dold has also opposed fully repealing the law until a bipartisan alternative can be put in place. The Republican also looks to protect and preserve Medicare.

Additionally, the congressman looks to protect the environment, reduce poverty and honor Americas military heroes.

As someone that has been ranked as one of the most effective bipartisan leaders in Congress, Im proud that my record has been defined by thoughtful independent leadership and a clear commitment to advancing bipartisan solutions to grow our economy, protect our homeland, and keep out communities safe and strong, Dold said in a statement. Thats why the Chicago Tribune and Daily Herald have endorsed my candidacy over Brad Schneider, who has not only been chastised from his own party for running one of the most disgracefully dishonest campaigns in the country but who also amassed a record as one of the most partisan and least competent politicians in Washington during his term in Congress.

On the other hand, Schneiders top priorities include creating long-term opportunities for middle-class families by growing the economy, lowering healthcare costs, making college affordable and protecting Medicare and Social Security. Schneider claimed the country needs to grow its economy from the middle-out, not by trickling-down from the top one percent."

He also looks to ensure the safety of American communities by working to pass legislation to reduce gun violence, while also addressing education, economic opportunity and treatment of mental health. Schneider is also committed to passing comprehensive immigration reform and vows to stand up for a sustainable environment, a womans right to choose and LGBTQ equality. He also pledges to advocate for maintaining the United States leadership position in an increasingly complex world.

Sadly, the single most significant issue preventing us from tackling these and other challenges is the pervasive gridlock in Congress that is blocking even the modest attempts at reform, Schneider said in a statement. It is simply unacceptable to continue to support the current congressional leadership that is preventing bipartisan progress on issues from gun safety legislation to immigration reform.

If elected, I will work across party lines to make progress on the issues and priorities important to our communities, and I will only vote for a Speaker who will do the same, the former congressman added.

Ward Room released an exclusive interview with Schneider earlier this week.

A new National Republican Congressional Committee poll shows Dold leading Schneider by 7 points. The survey was conducted Oct. 8-11 by North Star Opinion Research. The sample consists of 400 randomly selected registered voters who were contacted by live interviewers. According to the poll, 36 percent of respondents were interviewed on a cell phone.
A Church that has stood for more than 40 years is left with steep repair bills after a thief ripped the electric meter from the back of the building and stole copper wire from the building.

Rev. Paul Jakes Jr., who has been with New Tabernacle of Faith Baptist Church in East Garfield Park for 25 years, says he never imagined someone would steal from a church.

He estimates the cost of repairs between $1,200 and $1,600cash he says the church doesnt have.

Its just really a shame that a holy grounda churchwould be mistreated in this fashion, he said.

Jakes said he came to church Tuesday evening to counsel a young man whose mother had died, but when he got there the lights wouldnt turn on.

So we had to finish session with the flashlight in his cellphone as the light  so it was very disappointing, Jakes said.

The church is now without lights or phone service until repairs can be made, Jakes said.

We have asked that the detectives would do fingerprints in order to try and find out who actually did this, he said.

Police say they are still investigating and no one is in custody.
Known for revealing how the sausage is made, WikiLeaks released a trove of emails last weekand one purported revelation in particular exposes a different kind of pork barrel politics.

The emails are purportedly from the Hillary Clinton campaign, and both the campaign and U.S. intelligence officials blame the Russians for the cyber attack. Russia denies the allegations; NBC News has not been able to independently authenticate the emails.

The Clinton campaign said Friday they "are not going to confirm the authenticity of stolen documents," but there is one document that is probably not going to start an international incident.

In a Detroit dispatch reportedly from campaign spokesman Nick Merill last March, the traveling press secretary details Clintons stops at churches and schools in the metro-Detroit area. In the email, Merill recaps a litany of campaigning efforts, including endorsements from pastors and bishops before declaring the campaigning efforts a very good morning.

On a personal note, I just had two Coney Island hot dogs at the famous Lafayette Coney Island next to the hotel, the email reads. I highly recommend. Bring your defibrillator, or ask to borrow one from USSS (United States Secret Service).

A Coney dog, native to Detroit, is a classic hot dog in a bun topped with chili sauce, raw white onion and a zigzag of yellow mustarda far cry from the Chicago-style dog of Clintons hometown.

[[40019669, C]]

This is not the first time hot dogs have gotten the spotlight in this contentious election season.

President Barack Obama recently announced in an interview with chef and television personality Anthony Bourdain that ketchup on a hot dog is not acceptable past the age of 8." The remark even prompted a response from Chicago-based Oscar Mayer.

Hillary Clinton, who was born in Chicago and raised in nearby Park Ridge, has not been as vocal as Obama about hot dogs.
A cache of hacked messages from Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clintons campaign chairman includes correspondence with some prominent Illinois politicians, including Mayor Rahm Emanuel.

This week, WikiLeaks, a non-profit organization headed by Julian Assange, has systematically released thousands of hacked emails from Hillary Clinton's campaign Chairman John Podesta.

Among the messages in question is a forwarded email from October of 2008 that finds White House Domestic Policy Director Cecilia Munoz criticizing Emanuel as a potential White House Chief of Staff pick.

So I hate to bug you with anything else knowing how much must be going on, but the Rahm Emanuel as Chief of Staff rumor is circulating like wildfire, Munoz wrote in an email to President Barack Obamas campaign that was forwarded to Podesta. Folks know how explosive that would be in my part of the world, no?

The first thing well get asked is why he picked someone who has been consistently hostile to immigrants, and well have to respond," Munoz added.

Despite the sharp criticism, Obama appointed Emanuel White House Chief of Staff just days after the email was sent.

In the forwarded email to Podesta, Obama campaign staffer and former Deputy White House Counsel Cassandra Butts explained how she responded to Munozs concerns.

I responded to Cecilia that I didnt know where things are in the process, and I could not speculate, Butts told Podesta.

On Wednesday, the Federal Bureau of Investigation said the Russian government is suspected in the hack and the White House echoed those findings. The Clinton Campaign has not confirmed the authenticity of the emails, nor has NBC News independently authenticated the emails.

The Clinton campaign would not directly address specific emails, but issued a statement Thursday placing blame on the Russians and Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump.

We now know the FBI believes the Russians are behind this hack and that a Trump campaign associate was back-channeling with Julian Assange, Clinton spokesman Glen Caplin said in a statement. On Day 5 of the WikiLeaks propaganda campaign the question is what did the Trump campaign know and when did they know it?

The fact that Donald Trump refuses to condemn this intrusion by a foreign government, cheers it on, and even says it didnt happen is yet another reason why he is unfit to be president of the United States, Caplin added.

The Emanuel administration did not respond to Ward Room's request for comment.

In another email thread from November of 2008, Emanuel and Podesta discussed former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, who was named Obamas Commerce Secretary the next month. Richardson later withdrew from consideration for the job due to a federal investigation.

Did he talk to him, Emanuel asked Podesta.

Yes, Podesta responded.

Cryptic, Emanuel said. Are we headed toward yes?"

He is coming for a visit, Podesta claimed. But looks like it.

That would be good, Emanuel said. We need plan B when [Clinton] says no.

The mayor then seemed to recommend former U.S. Senate Majority Leader Tom Dashchle for an unspecified role in the State Department and former Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano for an unspecified job in the Department of Health and Human Services. Napolitano ultimately went on to serve as Secretary of Homeland Security during Obamas first term. Daschle was nominated as Obamas Health and Human Services Secretary in 2008, but ultimately withdrew from consideration due to a potential conflict of interest.

In another hacked email from 2014, Podesta urged former White House Chief of Staff Bill Daley, the brother of former Chicago Mayor Richard J. Daley, to call top Illinois Democrats to push legislation to move the states primary from March to a later date in an effort to halt potential Republican momentum.

Sources told Politico that Daley made the call, but House Speaker Madigans people werent interested, despite an offer that wouldve given Illinois 10% extra delegates if they move to April and 20% if the move to May.

As we discussed, they dont really care about being helpful and feel forgotten and neglected by POTUS, Clinton campaign manager wrote to Podesta in a forwarded email included in the chain. The key point is that this is not an Obama ask, but a Hillary ask. And the Clintons wont forget what their friends have done for them. It would be helpful to feel out what path, if any, we have to get them to yes. This will probably take some pushing.

According to that email, the goal was to have Daley call Madigans chief of staff Tim Mapes. Sources told Politico that the Clinton camp feared the states March primary would give a moderate Republican candidate momentum at a pivotal time.

The overall goal is to move the IL primary out of mid March, where they are currently a lifeline to a moderate Republican candidate after the mostly southern Super Tuesday, Mook wrote. IL was a key early win for Romney in 12. Our preference would be for them to move all the way to May, but if they at least move to April 12 or April 19 they will have the day to themselves and presumably garner a lot of coverage. They will also be influencing a big northeast primary day on April 26."
Donald Trumps campaign sent two of its top surrogates to Pennsylvania Thursday to stump for the Republican presidential candidate.

Trumps daughter, Ivanka Trump, is holding several "Coffee with Ivanka" events in the Philadelphia suburbs Thursday. The fashion mogul is trying to sway voters in the critical battleground state.

She was delayed arriving at her first event in Chester County due to fog at Philadelphia International Airport and didn't start until nearly noon.[[397001111, C]]

After apologizing for her tardiness, Trump spoke about playing a role in her father's campaign's family care initiatives.



"I got very excited when the campaign and I started to talk about some of these ideas... that hopefully would start to eliminate big systematic issues such as gender equality."

Trump's late arrival into the Philadelphia area delayed a planned noon event at The Drexelbrook in Drexel Hill, Delaware County, for about 80 minutes. And, it impacted a planned 2:30 p.m. event at Spring Hill Manor in Ivyland, Bucks County. [[338107532, C]]

At neither of the first two "coffee" events did Ivanka drink coffee while on stage, instead opting for a glass of water.

Women voters in Philadelphias suburbs could be critical in the race between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. The race to appeal to these voters even got its own "Weekend Update" sketch featuring Tina Fey and Jimmy Fallon on "Saturday Night Live." Trump has struggled to court female voters throughout the campaign and has worked to mitigate damage done by the release of a 2005 video where Donald Trump is heard crudely speaking about women during an "Access Hollywood" shoot.

The 2005 video, dismissed by Donald Trump as "locker room talk," bothered 80 percent of Philadelphia suburban voters, said a Bloomberg Poll released Thursday that put Clinton up 9 points over Trump in the critical Keystone State in large part due to growing support (a 28-point lead) for Clinton in Bucks, Chester, Delaware and Montgomery counties.

Also Thursday, another of Donald Trump's children, Donald Trump Jr., defended the "locker room talk" as something that happens very often, including in his own experience. [[396953061, C]]

"I've had conversations like that with plenty of people, where people use, you know, language [that's] off color. They're talking, two guys, amongst themselves," he said in an appearance on a Charlotte, North Carolina, talk radio show.

Ivanka Trump's suburban tour ended with her addressing the Montgomery County Republican Committee's dinner starting at 6 p.m. at the Crowne Plaza Hotel along Mall Boulevard in Montgomery County. The event carries at $125-per-person or $200-per-couple cost.

Also Thursday night, Trumps running mate Mike Pence, spoke to Lehigh Valley Republicans at two events. The Indiana governor first spoke at the 3rd annual RepublicanFest reception in Orefield. He then wrapped up his visit by addressing the Northampton County Republican Committees Chairmans Dinner at Hotel Bethlehem.

Mike Pence blamed the media and Hillary Clinton for what he characterizes as "a discussion of slander and lies" targeting his running mate.

Pence's remarks Thursday evening were the first time the Republican vice presidential candidate addressed multiple allegations of sexual assault leveled at Trump.

Pence told attendees at a GOP dinner in Orefield that Trump denies accusations that he groped or forcefully kissed women against their will. Pence said the claims are "unsubstantiated."

Pence blamed Clinton for pushing the story. He said Democrats are trying to draw attention away from hacked emails that are unflattering to her campaign.

Donald Trumps daughter Ivanka Trump and his running mate Gov. Mike Pence are making campaign stops in the Keystone State Thursday.
A heroin epidemic is still plaguing New London County and it's not on the mend, according to Groton police.

Police Chief L.J. Fusaro said in the first nine months of 2016 the number of heroin overdoses has doubled the total number of heroin overdoses in 2015.

In January, Lawrence and Memorial Hospital saw several overdose cases and those occurrences are still at a high, Fusaro said.

The drugs are coming from Central America, even as far as Afghanistan, according to Fusaro, who added the problems in Groton spills over into neighboring communities.

It's not a problem law enforcement can solve on its own, said Fusaro, who suggested there needs to be more longterm treatment.

"I hate to say we've gotten used to it. We accept it, we know that there's a problem, but it's a multifaceted issue," the police chief said.

Related crimes, like shootings and burglaries, link back to drug use, Fusaro said.

New London Police told NBC Connecticut that they're seeing the similar trends.

Members of the community have also realized it takes much more than policing to solve the drug problem.

"It was definitely knee buckling when we went through it," said Joe de la Cruz about learning of his son Joey's addiction.

de la Cruz is a co-founder of the group Community Speaks Out. It's a group for families and friends facing addition to support and educate one another, distilling the sigma of addiction.

The group holds monthly meetings at the Groton Public Library.

"When you come together and realize it's a disease, just like cancer is, you fight it a different way," de la Cruz said. "It's a different approach that we all need to take as families."

His son Joey is addicted to Percocet and at one time was stealing tools to feed his habit, according to de la Cruz. He's now been pill-free for eight months.

Groups like Alliance for a Living in New London are also stepping up to help. Representatives tell NBC Connecticut that after the heroin overdose surge, they've handed out 300 naloxone kits to families, friends and other organizations who might need to use them.
Verizon is closing call centers in five states, including in Connecticut, and 550 employees will be affected.

Verizon announced Wednesday that it will close its Wallingford and Meriden customer service call centers on March 24, 2017.

Verizon is also closing call centers in its home state of New York and said a consolidation of its call centers will impact about 3,200 workers in Wallingford and Meriden, as well as near Rochester and New York City in New York; Bangor, Maine; Lincoln, Nebraska; and Rancho Cordova, California.

This was a very difficult but necessary business decision. We value our Customer Service employees. They are highly trained, highly skilled and experienced and they will be encouraged to stay with the company, Verizon said in a statement.

In Wallingford, about 490 customer service employees are affected and about 60 customer service employees at affected in Meriden.

A Verizon spokesperson said about 150 employees in sales and other divisions will remain in Wallingford.

U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro called the announcement disappointing and is asking Verizon to do everything possible to help the affected workers.

"My office has reached out to the Connecticut Department of Labor to ask them to brief workers about the benefits and services available, and my office is ready to assist employees during this difficult time, she said in a statement.

The Quinnipiac Chamber of Commerce, which covers Wallingford, will assist Verizon workers hoping to stay in the area.

In 2014, 370 employees were told theyd have to relocate when the company announced plans to consolidate facilities in Meriden and Rocky Hill.

A spokeswoman for Verizon Communications Inc. said Thursday that all the workers are being offered jobs at 16 other company sites.

The company said they will relocate employees to other call centers and offer relocation assistance and employees who wish to visit another call center to explore the area and new work environment will be offered assistance to defray travel costs.
What to Know Two Boston police officers were shot in an East Boston neighborhood late Wednesday night; both are out of surgery but in critical condition.

The suspect was shot and killed by officers and has been identified as Kirk Figueroa, 33, from East Boston.

Officers were responding to a dispute between two roommates when Figueroa, one of the roommates, opened fire on them.

Two police officers were shot in an East Boston neighborhood late Wednesday and the suspect, who had a tactical shotgun and body armor, is dead, authorities said.

Both officers underwent surgery at Massachusetts General Hospital and are in critical but stable condition, but they are recovering, Boston Police Commissioner William Evans said.

The officers were identified Thursday as 27-year department veteran Richard Cintolo and 12-year veteran Matthew Morris.

"They're two outstanding officers," Evans said. "We're very fortunate. We continue to pray and hope they make a full recovery."

He said Morris suffered a severed artery, and only the actions of one of his fellow officers who put his hand inside his wound to help stop the bleeding saved his life.

"He knows how close he was to death," Evans said of Morris.

Nine other officers were taken to Tufts Medical Center to treat minor injuries and emotional stress.

"Police work is a difficult job," Boston Mayor Marty Walsh added. "Often times we see what's happening around the world, and in Boston this is another example of our police officers doing the right thing - doing their job."

The suspect has been identified as Kirk Figueroa, 33, of East Boston, a bounty hunter who lived with two other roommates. According to his website, he offered security and private investigation services. He was also a sworn constable in Boston.

Officers responded to a 911 call from a home at 136 Gladstone St. just before 11 p.m. from a man who said his roommate, later identified as Figueroa, was threatening him with a knife. Two officers entered the home and were shot by Figueroa, who was then shot and killed by other officers. The second roommate was not injured in the shooting. Evans said he heard the dispute centered around the apartment's thermostat.

Figueroa was described to NBC News by a senior Boston police official as "heavily armed," and may have had as many as three firearms, including a weapon described as a "long gun/rifle."

Evans said Thursday that Figueroa had at least one tactical shotgun and a ballistic vest. He said Figueroa did not have a criminal record in Massachusetts, but did have a record in other states, including charges of arson and impersonating a police officer. He was not licensed to carry a firearm.

"No one likes to take a life," the police commissioner said. "It's the most difficult decision we make. It's unfortunate he lost his life, but he chose to use deadly force."

According to Evans, several officers entered the building after hearing gun shots and dragged out the injured officers while exchanging gunfire with Figueroa.

"All I can say is he was a dangerous individual and our officers went in there no matter what the danger," he said. "We've seen it on marathon day, and we saw it today."

Residents were asked to shelter-in-place or stay away from the area as police briefly searched for a possible second suspect. The shelter-in-place was later lifted and residents were escorted back to their homes.

Evans asked Boston to "please pray for our injured officers."

Suffolk District Attorney Dan Conley pledged Thursday that his office "will do a fair and thorough investigation."

Area residents described the chaos in the immediate moments after the shooting.

"I saw a whole bunch of guns, and the shooting kept going, and (police officers) were running," resident Eric Dicrescenzo said.

He added, "I've never been that close to a shooting in an uncontrolled area, so I was kind of freaking out."

Tiara Willdigg, whose car was parked near the scene of the shooting, said she got a phone call from a friend about the shooting.

"I was coming outside and ran out of the house and I went up there, and as I'm up there, there's mad SWAT, just ran, ran, 'Get off the street, get off the street,' heard shots popping off," she said.

Evans said it's likely no officers in the East Boston shooting were wearing body cameras because the district isn't part of the department's pilot body camera program.

Gov. Charlie Baker and Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito released a statement Thursday saying they were "shocked and saddened to learn of last night's horrific incident and their thoughts and prayers are with the police officers and their families."
Lashing back, Donald Trump heatedly rejected the growing list of sexual assault allegations against him as "pure fiction" on Thursday, hammering his female accusers as "horrible, horrible liars" as the already-nasty presidential campaign sank further into charges of attacks on women.

Campaign foe Hillary Clinton said "the disturbing stories just keep on coming" about her Republican opponent, but she let first lady Michelle Obama's passionate response carry the day. Obama, in battleground New Hampshire, warned that the New York billionaire's behavior "is not something we can ignore."

After years of working to end "this kind of violence and abuse and disrespect ... we're hearing these exact same things on the campaign trail. We are drowning in it," Obama declared, her voice cracking with emotion. "We can't expose our children to this any longer, not for another minute, let alone for four years."

With Election Day less than four weeks away, Republican Trump was again forced to defend himself against allegations of sexual misconduct, five days after a video surfaced in which he bragged about kissing and groping women without their permission.

Similar behavior was detailed by women who accused Trump in articles published late Wednesday by The New York Times and the Palm Beach Post. Separately, a People Magazine reporter offered a first-person account accusing Trump of attacking her while she was in Florida to interview him and his pregnant wife.

Ever defiant, the New York billionaire denied the allegations and blamed them on Hillary Clinton's campaign and the complicit news media as he campaigned in Florida. He promised to sue his media critics and said he was preparing evidence that would discredit his female accusers, whom he called "horrible people. They're horrible, horrible liars."

He went further during an evening appearance in Columbus, Ohio, saying he "never met" some of the women.

"I don't know who they are," he insisted and said they "made up stories."

"These vicious claims about me, of inappropriate conduct with women, are totally and absolutely false. And the Clintons know it," he said earlier. He offered no evidence discrediting the new reports except to ask why his accusers had waited years and then made their allegations less than a month before the election.

His comments came soon after he called a reporter "a sleazebag" for asking whether Trump had ever touched or groped a woman without her consent.

Trump's attacks on his accusers' credibility marked an awkward break from campaign manager, Kellyanne Conway, who earlier in the week highlighted a Clinton tweet that said "every survivor of sexual assault deserves to be heard, believed, and supported."

Conway hoped to encourage more women to come forward with allegations against Bill Clinton, building on the campaign's Sunday decision to bring three of the former president's accusers to the second presidential debate.

"His campaign is promising more scorched-earth attacks. Now that's up to him," Clinton said during a San Francisco fundraiser. "He can run his campaign however he chooses. And frankly, I don't care if he goes after me."

Trump running mate Mike Pence ditched the national reporters who pay to travel with his campaign in Pennsylvania. The Indiana governor's Twitter account showed him meeting with faith leaders and stopping at a restaurant  after a Pence spokesman said the vice presidential nominee was attending closed-door fundraisers.

Republican leaders across the country said they were deeply troubled by the allegations against Trump, but there was no evidence of new defections. Over the weekend, dozens of Republican senators and congressmen vowed they would not vote for him, with many calling on him to step aside.

Some recanted after an aggressive weekend debate performance. And in what he called an increasingly "muddy" election, Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson raised complaints about Hillary Clinton Thursday but wondered aloud what could change voters' minds at this point.

"Is there a deal-breaker out there? How many emails have to be destroyed? How many investigations have to be concluded with question marks? How many comments have to come out from one campaign in reference to religious institutions that raises concerns?"

More Trump accusers may be coming forward, according to attorney Gloria Allred, who said women have contacted her office in recent days.

"The dam has broken, and more women will be coming forward," she said.

The stories about Trump and his countercharges against Clinton's husband have plunged an already rancorous campaign to new lows. They also have distracted attention from the release of thousands of hacked emails from Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta that included some potentially damaging information.

A new batch indicated on Thursday that her 2008 presidential campaign had tried to move the Illinois Democratic primary to a later date, believing it might help her. The emails are being parceled out by WikiLeaks.

For Trump, the cumulative effect of recent revelations and allegations about his personal life appears to be a tumble in the battleground states he needs to win in November. What was already a narrow path to the 270 Electoral College votes needed for victory has virtually disappeared unless there's a significant shake-up before Nov. 8

He promised Thursday to focus on issues in the final weeks, even as his campaign crafted plans to highlight decades-old accusations against Bill Clinton.

Trump confidant and informal adviser Roger Stone has long encouraged him to make Bill Clinton's alleged assaults a centerpiece of the campaign. Steve Bannon, the campaign's chief executive, until recently ran a conservative website that eagerly promotes conspiracy theories about the Clintons.

Back in New Hampshire, Michelle Obama said, "Enough is enough."

If Americans let Trump win the election "we are telling our sons it's OK to humiliate women. We are telling our daughters this is the way they deserve to be treated. We are telling all of our kids that bigotry and bullying is perfectly acceptable."
A drought is about the worst kind of weather for a weather geek like myself to cover. The absence of precipitation is about as dull as it gets! Even though droughts aren't as sexy as big thunderstorms or nor'easters for meteorologists they have very real impacts - for agriculture, for people's wells, and even for public drinking water supplies.

Connecticut is generally pretty blessed when it comes to rainfall. Even our "bad" droughts aren't nearly as bad as in other parts of the country as we get quite a bit of water most years. That said, our 2-year drought across the state is pretty impressive.

Since January 1, 2015 the greater Hartford area is running a nearly 18" rainfall deficit. We've picked up about 79% of normal precipitation.

While this dry spell is bad - this is not unheard of. The drought the peaked in spring of 2002 was worse with 100% of the state in severe drought and 17% in extreme drought (right now we are at 86% and 0%, respectively). In the mid 60s there was a drought that lasted from 1961-1968 and was substantially more impactful.

Over the past year (10/12/15-10/11/16) we've picked up only 33.87" of precipitation in Windsor Locks which ranks as the 7th lowest out of last 111 years. The median rainfall for that period using all 111 years is 43.80" - so we're about 10" below normal. The other years that were a bit worse include 1965 (the big drought - with 1964 and 1963 also in the top 15 driest), 1980 and 1981 (top 3 and 4 driest, respectively) and 2002 (the previous year, 2001, was 8th driest).

While this kind of dry spell isn't unheard of we still need the rain! Not surprisingly, no big rain is expected over the next 10 days but our luck will change sooner rather than later.
One week after an NBC 5 investigation revealed hundreds of school bus drivers at Dallas County Schools ran red lights, and the district used taxpayer money to pay the tickets state Senator Don Huffines says enough is enough.

Huffines wants the state legislature to shut down DCS, the district that buses students at Dallas ISD and other local schools.

Huffines has long been a critic of DCS.

But after seeing the NBC 5 reports showing bus drivers were not punished for more than 480 cases of dangerous driving, Huffines said he is more convinced that the district has lost sight of its core mission, getting kids to school safely.

Paying $80,000 of fines for their drivers, not reporting any of it, not having any disciplinary actions on their drivers shows they're not too concerned about safety, Huffines said.

After NBC 5 started asking questions about the red light tickets Dallas County Schools fired 13 drivers, suspended 229 more and demoted two high level managers.

Dallas County Schools took the information from [NBC 5] and we acted swiftly and decisively," said DCS board President Larry Duncan.

But Huffines believes the situation at DCS is beyond repair.

I don't think there's much being run right at Dallas County Schools, honestly," Huffines said.

In January, Huffines said he will urge the legislature to begin phasing out DCS - allowing private bus companies to step in.

The republican senators concerns have been brewing for months.

In August, he pressed DCS at a sometimes contentious senate hearing, questioning why DCS has spent millions of dollars running school bus stop arm camera ticket programs in other counties across the state.

The district spent $25 million to essentially become a bus camera dealer for a private business.

And they've gone outside of Dallas County way past anything that would be prudent to implement their transportation to implement their camera technology, doing anything they can to justify their existence," Huffines said.

But on Wednesday, Duncan defended the camera program saying the money is well worth it.

The safety of students everywhere in Texas is important and we are improving that," Duncan said.

Duncan also argued closing DCS would put an even bigger burden on taxpayers.

If there were private organizations that could be doing it better - cheaper - they'd be doing it," said Duncan.

But after NBC 5 Investigates revealed videos and tickets showing more than 480 cases of DCS school buses driving dangerously, and records showing a breakdown in the supervision of bus drivers, Huffines believes time is up.

They've done a great job of justifying their existence over the last few decades and now they're supposed to be providing transportation and they're doing a very bad job of it," Huffines said.

It's unclear right now how much support Huffines will have for closing DCS.

At the senate hearing last summer, other senators seemed concerned about spending at DCS, while some expressed support.

Dallas and Harris counties are the only two in the state that still have these county wide school districts that provide busing and other support services.

Dallas County taxpayers pay one-cent on their property tax rate to support DCS.
A former Houston 911 operator has been charged with interference with an emergency telephone call after confessing to hanging up on callers and being involved with thousands of phone calls lasting 20 seconds or less.

Crenshanda Williams, a 43-year-old Houston resident, faces two misdemeanor charges for several incidences of allegedly interfering with 911 calls ranging from last October to March 2016.

Houston Emergency Center managers said Williams was involved in thousands of short calls, or 911 calls that last 20 seconds or less.

In one incident, Williams allegedly hung up on a security guard attempting to report reckless driving after saying Aint nobody got time for this for real, according to court documents.

In another incident, Williams reportedly hung up Hua Li, who was trying report a robbery at a convenience store, according to Houston NBC affiliate KPRC. Li said he saw a gunman enter and shoot the store manager.

"They just said, 'This is 911. How can I help you?' I was trying to finish my sentence, and we got disconnected," Li said.

Police said Williams was the operator at the time. Li said he called 911 again, but by the time he got in contact with someone else the store manager was already shot to death.

Williams said she hung up on callers because she did not want to talk to anyone during multiple calls.

Another caller, Buster Pendley, said Williams hung up on him March 1 when his wife collapsed and lost consciousness. Pendley said he tried to perform CPR on his wife with one hand while calling 911 with the other.

"The 911 operator answered the phone, and she said, 'This is Crenshanda, may I help you?"' Pendley recalled. He told her his wife had passed out and needed an ambulance, the operator said OK then hung up.

He got help after a second 911 call and his wife, Sharon Stephens, survived, but the experience still makes her angry.

"I would have gotten from my hospital bed and gone to 911 and find out who did that to me," she said.

If convicted, Williams could be sentenced to up to a year in jail and $4,000 fine for each count.

Williams no longer works for the Houston Emergency Center, and is scheduled to appear in court next week, NBC News reported.
Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick says he'll ask the Legislature for up to $20 million to provide more heavily fortified bullet-proof vests to Texas' 40,000 police officers on regular patrol.

Patrick said at a Wednesday news conference that the goal is to furnish officers with special  and costly  vests capable of stopping high-caliber rifle bullets.

He noted that when a sniper killed five Dallas police officers in July, all were wearing less protective vests, and two had rounds pierce their vests.

Patrick said the issue is a top priority, even if the state budget lawmakers will approve after the Legislature convenes in January will be tighter as oil prices stay low.

He also wants property tax exemptions for spouses of police officers and other emergency personnel killed on duty.
A plan to make peace between developers, property owners and worried neighbors at Dallas Preston Center is nearing completion.

Planners working on the study discovered a signal light malfunction contributing to congestion near the office and retail district.

First developed around 1950, Preston Center at Preston Road and Northwest Highway has become a victim of its own success.

Rachel Pope works there.

Its busy and its just a good place to be. Theres so many choices. I like it. l like working here. Its a good area, she said.

The two level city parking garage at the center is often jammed, putting drivers in a slow crawl to find a space.

Lunchtime visitor Bobby Pullen found himself in the middle of it Wednesday.

NBC 5

I actually targeted a little bit later hoping that I would get here and it would not be too bad, Pullen said.

High-rise office buildings supply lunchtime customers for Preston Center restaurants. And Dallas leaders want more vertical density instead of sprawl as the city grows.

Cranes are already posted for new high rises at Preston Center. It worries long time neighbors.

A lot of the residents were fearful of the impact it would have on traffic, said Dallas Council Member Jennifer Gates.

She formed a task force to mediate a plan for the area.

When things do redevelop, that needs to have neighborhood input and make sure that the redevelopment reflects what the community desires. And thats exactly why we put this study together, Gates said.

Planners with the North Central Texas Council of Governments (NCTCOG) are supporting the work.

The study recommends that we encourage more residential, because that has lesser impact on the transportation system, said Karla Weaver with NCTCOG.

The planners figure people working in Preston Center offices could walk to new apartments already planned for the area. More homes could be added in the future.

Fixing the parking situation is another major goal.

The grand vision would be to redevelop the site with an underground parking garage, Gates said.

That garage might have a park on top of it and a tunnel to connect directly to Northwest Highway so cars would not crawl through the side streets.

That has been talked about, Gates said.

Visitors Wednesday said construction to put the garage underground could cause a bigger traffic nightmare.

I wouldnt want to have a business in this area during that time, Pullen said.

But I think in the end result it could be really cool to have a park, said Pope.

In the meantime, the study is examining ways to quickly improve traffic flow on Northwest Highway.

Some minor intersection improvements are underway now and in the course of overseeing that work, planners learned the signals between North Central Expressway and the Dallas North Tollway were not synchronized to help traffic flow as intended.

The pacing and the timing of them was completely off. There was no communication in the overall signal progression, Weaver said. I think people will see immediate improvement when those signals get fixed.

Driver Bobby Pullen said he has noticed that problem for several years.

They would have asked a few people. They could have figured that out a long time ago, he said. The lights are terrible here. You catch them red every time.

Drainage improvements for an area along Northwest Highway east of Preston Road will also be part of the plan, Weaver said.

First expected to be finished this month, the task for study is still nearing completion.

Another public meeting about it is tentatively set for November 15 at a location yet to be confirmed.

The Dallas City Council could be asked to take action on steps to implement the plan when it is final.
Police said a Gainesville woman awoke to three men armed with BB guns in her home Tuesday night, one of whom shot her in the face.

Gainesville police said they responded to the home in the 700 block of Ritchey Street at about 10:20 p.m. for reports of an assault in progress.

When officers arrived, the 31-year-old woman living at the home said she was asleep on her couch when she awoke to three masked intruders. Two of them individuals were wearing clown masks and all were armed with BB gun-style pistols.

Police said the intruders started shooting the BB guns inside the home. One of them shot the woman in the face, injuring her nose and arm.

The intruders then ran from the home. Police said surveillance cameras from a neighboring home captured video of them.

The woman said the intruders spoke to each other in Spanish.

The woman told police a young male came to her home looking for her son about 30 minutes before to the incident. She thinks that person was one of the intruders.

Gainesville police asked anyone with information to contact them at 940-668-7777 or through their social media pages. Those who want to remain anonymous can contact the Crimes Tip Hotline at 940-612-0000.
San Antonio police say the hunt for a gunman is over but no one has been arrested after a shooting incident in a northwest neighborhood.

Officer Doug Greene says police recovered one shell casing following Thursday morning's incident that began with reports of shots fired at vehicles. No one was hurt.

Greene says no vehicles were struck. Investigators are trying to determine whether a gunman was firing into the air or shooting at his own vehicle.

Greene says the area, at La Cantera Parkway near Interstate 10, reopened to traffic about two hours after the incident began.
Police said a person was shot multiple times and dropped off at a Dallas hospital early Wednesday morning.

Dallas police said the victim left at Baylor University Medical Center at about 3:20 a.m. Two men and a woman were also in the car.

The other three people left in what police said they think is a 2012 to 2015 Hyundai Accent with the rear window shot out.

Police asked anyone with information about this incident call Det. Kreun at 214-671-3617 or Crime Stoppers at 214-373-8477 (TIPS). Crime Stoppers will pay up to $5,000 for information that leads to an indictment.
First lady Michelle Obama slammed Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump in a campaign speech for Hillary Clinton in New Hampshire Thursday, saying his controversial comments about women were "cruel" and should not be dismissed as "locker room banter."

"This is not something we can ignore, not something we can sweep under the rug," Obama said, referring to a vulgar conversation Trump had with former "Access Hollywood" host Billy Bush in 2005.

"This has shaken me to my core in a way I could not have predicted," the first lady said of Trump's words.

Later, President Barack Obama joined in the anti-Trump rhetoric, ridiculing the Republican party at a Democratic rally in Columbus, Ohio, for standing by Trump through many other scandals.

"They've been riding this tiger for a long time. They've been feeding their base all kinds of crazy for years," the president said.

He compared party members coming out against Trump's remarks for women to the character from the classic movie "Casablanca" who is "shocked that there is gambling in this establishment."

Obama also had kind words for his wife's speech, saying marrying Michelle is an example of getting married to "improve your gene pool."

Michelle Obama's speech did not have the same moments of levity, while speaking at a Clinton campaign event at Southern New Hampshire University in Hooksett

"The idea you can do anything you want to a woman, it is cruel," she said. "It is frightening."

Michelle Obama also made passing reference to a number of women who came forward by Wednesday night to accuse Trump of inappropriate sexual behavior, as evidence the tape is not an isolated incident. Trump has fervently denied he acted inappropriately toward any of the women who came forward.

"Now is the time for all of us to stand up and say enough is enough, she said. "This has got to stop right now."

While she didn't mention her husband, she said Trump's comments did not reflect how the men in her family discuss women.

"I can tell you the men in my life do not talk about women like this. I know my family is not unusual," she said adding, "they are loving fathers who are sickened by the thought of their daughters being exposed to this kind of vicious language about women."

.@FLOTUS, I'm in awe. Thanks for putting into words what's in so many of our hearts. -H  Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) October 13, 2016

Clinton's daughter, Chelsea Clinton, also campaigned for her mother in Maine and Massachusetts on Thursday.

"Access Hollywood" is owned and distributed by NBCUniversal, the parent company of NBC News, MSNBC and this station.
The roommate of the man suspected of shooting two police officers before being shot and killed by other officers Wednesday night in East Boston is speaking out about the moments leading up to the firefight.

Diego, an necn employee who moved to Boston just four months ago, said he was sleeping in his room upstairs on Wednesday night when he heard his two roommates arguing.

The suspect, 33-year-old Kirk Figueroa, was a sworn constable and former Army reservist.

"The way he put it, he was trying to revolutionize the policing world," Diego said.

Additionally, Diego recalls, Figueroa seemed to be racist against white people.

"Race played a big part in Kirk's life. He would constantly talk down on 'white people,'" Diego said. "When he first moved in, he told me, 'Good thing you're Latino ... I would have a problem if you were a white guy.' He tells me, 'I refuse to have a white person sleeping over my head.'"

What ended in chaos, with three people lying shot on the floor of his apartment, at first didn't seem like a major incident to Diego.

"I woke up to them screaming and cursing," he told necn Investigates. "I didn't really think much of it."

Eventually, he said, the screaming died down and he assumed the argument had ended.

"Maybe 10 minutes later, I heard knocking on the front door. I opened my room door and police busted down the front door, guns drawn, saying, 'Hands up! Who are you? What are you doing here?'"

Police said they responded to a 911 call just before 11 p.m. The caller said his roommate, later identified as Figueroa, was threatening him with a knife.

Diego said he was taken outside in his underwear, barefoot, and had no idea what was going on.

Two minutes later, the shooting started.

Two officers had entered the home and were shot by Figueroa, who was then shot and killed by other officers.

"It's hard to describe," Diego said. "It all kind of happened so fast. It took a while to sink in. I see they're lying on the floor. You hear all these gun shots, people screaming, 'Shots fired, shots fired.' The radio is going crazy. You see the helicopter.

"It wasn't until later that I really noticed, I just heard my roommate die. To hear his screams, it's chilling."

Diego told necn investigates that he believes his roommate "snapped" and might have been suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. Figuero served as an Army reservist from 2003 to 2011 and told his roomates he had an extensive weapons collection.

The two officers he allegedly shot  Richard Cintolo and Matthew Morris  remain in stable but critical condition at Massachusetts General Hospital, but they are expetected to survive.

Diego said he's still shaken by what happened, but is just grateful that no one else was killed.
Temple Taggart McDowell, who represented Utah as a 21-year-old in the 1997 Miss USA pageant in Shreveport, Louisiana, told NBC News about two encounters similar to the behavior Donald Trump boasted about in a 2005 hot-microphone vide, as a flood of new allegations against the Republican presidential candidate emerged Wednesday.

"It was at that time that he turned to me and embraced me and gave me a kiss on the lips," McDowell said.

Later, McDowell said, Trump offered to help her get contracts with elite modeling agencies, and during a visit to Trump Tower in Manhattan at Trump's invitation, he again embraced and kissed her on the lips.

Trump strongly disputed McDowell's claim Wednesday night, telling NBC News that he couldn't remember her.

The extensive interview with NBC News adds many new details to an accusation Taggart first made to The New York Times in May.
Parents who need to change their kids' diapers could soon have an easier time of it in federal buildings.

Congress sent legislation to President Obama on Thursday that would require baby changing stations in both men's and women's restrooms in federal buildings that are open to the public. Those buildings include courthouses, post offices, Social Security offices and some government-run museums like the Holocaust Memorial Museum and the National Archives.

The legislation was passed by voice vote in the Senate after winning House approval last week on a 389-34 vote.

Under the bill, the buildings would be required to have at least one baby-changing facility on each floor. The legislation would require the changes within two years, and makes some exceptions for situations in which the construction would be cost-prohibitive.

"Government needs to do more to ensure that public buildings are family-friendly," said Rep. David Cicilline, D-R.I., who sponsored the bill. "No mom or dad should ever have to worry about finding a safe, sanitary place to change their baby -- least of all in a federal building that's paid for by taxpayers."

He said the lack of adequate facilities can force families to change babies on countertops or the floor, which puts the health of the baby and also other restroom patrons at risk.

Actor Ashton Kutcher started a similar petition on Change.org, specifically calling out Target and Costco.

"As a new dad, I recently learned an unfortunate reality about changing diapers while out in public with a child. Almost all public changing tables are in women's bathrooms, which makes it nearly impossible to find a table that's accessible to dads," Kutcher wrote. "As crazy as it sounds, many stores dont give dads the option to change their babies diapers."
Members of law enforcement agencies from around California gathered Thursday for a procession and memorial service in honor of a beloved and respected veteran Los Angeles County sheriff's sergeant who was shot and killed last week in Lancaster.

Sgt. Steve Owen, fatally shot while responding to a burglary call, was described as a "lovable bear of a man" and dedicated member of the law enforcement community during the service at Lancaster Baptist Church.

The service began after a powerful show of support by about 60 agencies from across the country. Aerial video showed hundreds of law enforcement vehicles lined up in rows early Thursday for the funeral procession. Some were adorned with blue ribbons to honor Owen's service, others had stickers with his employee number and an image of a bullfrog -- a nod to one of Owen's several nicknames.

"He worked a variety of assignments. The one constant has always been Steve's enthusiasm for seeking out those who would do our community harm," said Capt. Pat Nelson, unit commander for Lancaster Sheriff's Station. "He truly loved his team and his community."

The procession of vehicles was so long that the last vehicle departed about 30 minutes after the group at the head of the line.

Residents, some standing in salute, lined the route to the church, where officers on horseback waited at the entrance. Owen's horse Max stood riderless with the sergeant's boots turned backward in the stirrups -- a solemn salute to the decorated 29-year sheriff's department veteran.

Max peeled off from the group and followed the hearse carrying the body of Sgt. Owen into the church parking lot. Owen's mother, Millie, gave the horse a hug before entering the service.

A phalanx of officers saluted and a lone bagpiper played as Owen's flag-draped casket was carried into the church, where the sheriff, deputies, other department employees, friends and family members shared stories about "The Bullfrog."

"He was a big teddy bear," said Linda Collis, a family friend. "When you hear a story and think a deputy can't be that awesome, just know that he was so much more."

After the service, the flag that draped Owen's casket was presented to his family as bagpipers played "Amazing Grace." Sheriff's department helicopters thundered overhead with one flying off from the formation.

"Epitome of Humility"

His family released a statement about Sgt. Owen to share the story of a dedicated lawman. Family members who spoke at Thursday's memorial recalled a loving father who was always strong, but could also be gentle when someone was in need.

Son Branden Owen told the church full of uniformed officers and others that he was in "awe" of his father.

"As kids, you always look up to superheroes," said Branden Owen. "In movies, in comics and video games. I looked up to a superhero I lived with every day. A superhero who went by the name of 'Dad.'

"I could stand up here for days and talk about his life, and it wouldn't even come close to describing his life and the impact that he had."

Owen and his wife, Tania, met on the job and initially worked together on a gang enforcement detail.

"Things didn't start with love at first sight," McDonnell said. "Both had gone to their sergeant to request to work with different partners. He told them, you don't get to pick your partners, go work it out. And, they did."

Tania Owen also taught self-defense classes to women in the Antelope Valley. Her husband, always willing to lend his services for public safety, volunteered to wear the "Redman suit" -- protective full body gear worn by an individual playing the role of the attacker.

"He allowed more than a thousand women to demonstrate their new-found self-defense skills by pummeling him repeatedly," said McDonnell. "He was not afraid of a little pain to keep others safe."

His son, Chadd, read a message from Owen's wife at the service.

"Trying to describe the love I felt for Steve was like trying to count the stars, and I would always be looking for more."

The couple went on to work with the sheriff's Explorer Program, which helps provide youth mentor opportunities that often lead to careers in law enforcement. He delivered toys to children at Christmas and clothes to people who needed them to stay warm during the winter.

Owen's wife is now a detective with the department's arson-explosives detail. He has two adult sons and a step-daughter.

"The pursuits and exciting moments were great, but the stories that come from the lives he touched were more important," said Chadd Owen. "He is the epitome of humility. Our dad isn't going anywhere, he's in heaven right now watching over this community and us."

Owen's death sparked an outpouring of grief, with many in the Antelope Valley praising him for his service, conduct and community involvement, especially with area youths. He was remembered at vigils and the city's mayor announced that he would ask the city council to rename Lancaster Community Park as Sgt. Steve Owen Community Park.

That support extended beyond California and law enforcement. Owen had planned to fulfill a dream of watching his team, the Minnesota Vikings, by making a trip to see them at their new stadium in Minneapolis. His family made the trip Sunday and watched as the team displayed a tribute to Owen on a giant monitor during the game.

About the Shooting

Owen was killed at 12:30 p.m. Oct. 5 in the 3200 block of West Avenue J-7, where he had responded to a burglary report. The suspected shooter, Trenton Trevon Lovell, 27, is a parolee in custody and charged with capital murder, among other charges.

McDonnell said that Lovell shot Owen behind a residence after being confronted by the sergeant, who radioed that he had the suspect at gunpoint before he was shot.

"He (Lovell) then stood over and executed Sgt. Owen by firing four additional rounds into his body," McDonnell said. "He then unsuccessfully searched the body for the sergeant's weapon with the intent to use it to murder the first responding deputy."

Owen's wife made it to the hospital before her husband died, according to sheriff's Executive Officer Neal Tyler. One of Owen's two adult sons and his stepdaughter, as well his mother, also were at his bedside, Tyler said.

McDonnell said Thursday's funeral was especially poignant following police killings Wednesday night in Boston and last week in Palm Springs, California.

"We wish for our sake, for our family's sake and for our community's sake we can put this kind of behavior behind us and move forward," McDonnell said. "Unfortunately with the two murders in Palm Springs and what happened last night in Boston it doesn't seem like it's subsiding."
Los Angeles has become widely known over the last century as the ultimate dream factory, a magical place where fully realized environments, from Santa's Village to a medieval castle, can be created within a soundstage over a matter of days.

But if you were to say to someone "no way can the authentic feel of a country fair, the kind found an hour or two outside the city, pop up in the city's busy heart," well, that someone wouldn't buy what you're selling, no way, no how.

And yet? That's just what happens each autumn, though, at Third & Fairfax, when the Original Farmers Market hosts another Fall Festival.

We said "another" there, and we should clarify there've been a whole bunch of "anothers" where this particular festival is concerned: It is marking its 82nd go-around in 2016, which is some mighty impressive longevity for any sort of celebration.

That this celebration is as free as a country breeze adds to its overall-wearing, piggy-cute cachet, and that it does deliver the aforementioned "fully realized environment," without the benefit of a soundstage or a Hollywood designer, is a tribute to the big heart and skilled craftsmanship the Farmers Market crew bring to the bash.

A bash that has all of the homey hallmarks of an in-the-farmland hoedown, from pie-eating to the playing of banjos and washboards to wool spinning to pig races to a trick roping cowboy-slash-humorist.

We mean, c'mon, wool spinning. In the middle of LA? Is this a beautiful dream? It's not: Be there on Saturday, Oct. 15 and Sunday, Oct. 16 to get your wheel action on.

Well, Farmers Market can't fully dispatch the city bustle that's found outside its awning-shady entrances, but it can momentarily transport a person, in yeehaw-esque spirit, to a patch of countryside, complete with all of the things that lend a patch of countryside so much flavor, particularly come the fall.

The leaves are juuust starting to seriously consider doing their turning thing around Southern California, but the spirit of autumn is out in a full, jamboree-joyful, wear-your-gingham display smack in the middle of the city.

Call it another enchanting element of LA's larger dream factory, the Original Farmers Market and its historic Fall Festival. And you don't even need a drive-on pass to visit the studio lot to gain entrance: A fully realized environment of the most pleasing variety is right there, at Third & Fairfax, as it has been for over eight decades.
Two teens have been arrested after police say they carjacked an Uber driver at gunpoint in northwest Miami-Dade early Thursday.

Deontay Bivins and Dave Petit-Homme, both 19, are facing armed robbery carjacking charges, Miami-Dade Police said. Both were booked into jail and it's unknown if they've hired attorneys.

Police said the teens hired an Uber driver to take them to Northwest 32nd Avenue and 67th Street. Once they arrived at the destination, Petit-Homme pulled out a semi-automatic firearm and Bivins pulled out a revolver, and a struggle ensued, police said.

The teens were able to order the driver out at gunpoint and then fled in his car, a gray 2014 Chevy Impala, police said. The car and the suspects were found a short time later in the 14200 block of Northwest 14th Drive and both were arrested, police said.

No one was injured in the encounter.
Police responded to the scene of a shooting and stabbing in Northwest Miami-Dade Wednesday night that left one person dead and two people fighting for their lives.

The incident happened at 99th Street and 26th Avenue just before 9:45 p.m. Police responded after a call of shots being heard from the home were reported.

When police and Miami-Dade Fire Rescue entered the home, they found one person - later identified as 44-year-old Yunia Gomez - dead at the scene of a gunshot wound.

Two others in the home, 41-year-old Jario Ramon-Mejia and Gomez's 19-year-old daughter Eryka Jimenez, were rushed to Ryder Trauma Center. Jimenez is listed in stable condition after being shot, while Mejia's condition was not released with a stab wound.

Police are investigating the incident as a domestic related murder and attempted suicide, but would not give any other information as the investigation is on-going.
Now that the United States Congress has finally approved funding to help fight the Zika outbreak, South Florida representatives are urging the one government agency to immediately hand out the money.

In a letter to Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell, five members of Congress from South Florida  Republicans Mario Diaz-Balart, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and Carlos Curbelo along with Democrats Frederica Wilson and Debbie Wasserman-Schultz  want the agency to begin disbursing the nearly $1.1 billion in relief as soon as possible.

Now that Congress has appropriated funds to fight the Zika virus, we cannot allow the money to sit unspent. Both the state of Florida and Miami-Dade County have spent millions in Zika response, and federal dollars are urgently needed to continue these prevention and treatment programs, wrote Diaz-Balart.

The plea comes as six new non-travel cases of the virus were confirmed in Miami-Dade County  including one on Miami Beach and five more in areas that have not been released yet. That brings the number of non-travel cases to 153 to go along with 733 cases of travel related Zika.

Until the Zika virus ceases to exist or there is a vaccine available to prevent another outbreak, efforts to educate our constituents, treat those whove been infected, and combat the virus must move at full speed, wrote Wilson.
Spending a third straight day in the state of Florida, Republican Presidential nominee Donald Trump held a rally with supporters in West Palm Beach.

Trump continued with his attacks against everyone from his challenger, Democratic Party nominee Hillary Clinton, to the media. He called recent allegations of sexual misconduct from women "lies" and called his campaign "a great movement the likes of which this country has never seen before."

The businessman spent Tuesday in Panama City Beach while traveling to both Ocala and Lakeland on Wednesday.

Trump continues to try and court voters in the final four weeks of the 2016 campaign  one that has been rocked in recent days by allegations of sexual misconduct and the now infamous open mic moment from 2005 during a segment for Access Hollywood.

("Access Hollywood" is owned and distributed by NBCUniversal, the parent company of NBC News, MSNBC and this station.)

Trumps running mate, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, will also be in South Florida as he attends the Miami-Dade GOPs annual Lincoln Day dinner on Friday.

Both of the major party candidates have been spending time in the Sunshine State of late  a sign that Florida will again play a major role in deciding the race. Clinton was in Miami on Tuesday along with former Vice President Al Gore, speaking at Miami-Dade Colleges Kendall campus regarding climate change.
Two young children found in a car with their mom and dad passed out in Miami were placed in the custody of their aunt Wednesday as the parents made their first appearances in court.

A Miami-Dade judge gave custody of the children to their father's sister after an officer found the 2-month-old and 2-year-old kids in the backseat of the car which was stopped and running in the middle of Northwest 7th Avenue Tuesday morning.

The children were found dirty and malnourished, police said. At a hearing Wednesday, Judge Mavel Ruiz said she was worried about their mental well being.

"I did see the children, the older boy is extremely fearful, he is absolutely, I think, at this time in need of mental health services," Ruiz said.

The children will be undergoing psychological evaluations.

Police said the parents, 35-year-old Carlos Roboyras-Rodrigues and 26-year-old Catherine Lobb, appeared to be on some type of substance and were disoriented when they were found in the car.

Both Roboyras-Rodrigues and Lobb were charged with child neglect. They appeared in court Wednesday and were both given $5,000 bond. They were also ordered to stay away from the children.
In the days after Hurricane Matthew grazed the Florida coast, families of residents living in the deadly storm's track wondered if their loved ones in the Sunshine state were safe.

One Nebraska family, desperate for news of their grandmother who lives alone in Palm Coast, decided to get creative after attempts to reach her failed.

Eric Olsen of Omaha, Nebraska, hadn't heard from Grandma Claire Olsen for several days after the storm, according to NBC affiliate WBBH.

After calls to the local police department and sheriff's office in Flagler County went unanswered, the worried grandson thought of a way to get someone to check in on her, WBBH reported.

Lance Tyler was running deliveries at the only Papa John's pizzeria in Flagler County when Eric Olsen called in an order from Nebraska. The pizza, however, was destined for Grandma Claire's house on Parkway Drive.

Tyler told WBBH when he arrived in the neighborhood and looked at the receipt, there was a phone number and special instructions to call once he arrived at the house. Tyler said he assumed it was because the owner of the home "had some big dogs they needed to put away, or something."

But when Tyler called the number, a concerned Eric Olsen asked "Is she there? Is she OK?."

"The way that he answered the phone," Tyler said. "It sounded like he was worried."

Tyler knocked on Olsens door, who was reluctant to answer.

"He said 'Delivery.' I said, 'I didn't order anything.' He says, 'Your grandson did,'" grandma Olsen said, according to WBBH.

Eric Olsen was finally able to speak to this grandmother, quelling his worries. Grandma Claire's pepperoni pizza was "fantastic and much appreciated.

Tyler said connecting the two topped every tip he's ever received.

"Her expression was just priceless," he said. "The way she was like 'Whoa!'"
An NBC 6 source confirmed Wednesday a Miami Beach Police sergeant contracted the Zika virus.

The sergeant, identified by the source as Michelle Sayegh, becomes the first law enforcement officer in the U.S. to contract the virus.

A City of Miami Beach spokesperson Tonya Daniels told NBC 6 HIPPA laws don't allow the city to comment on employees' health and medical details.

The source did not reveal how Sayegh contracted Zika or when she contracted the virus.

Daniels said the city will arrange for free Zika testing for employees.
New sexual allegations against Donald Trump were published by the New York times minutes after NBC 6 spoke exclusively with the Republican Presidential Nominee Wednesday evening.

In a statement, the Trump campaign denied the claims.

Trump's private plane landed in Fort Lauderdale after making several stops in Florida.

NBC6 got an exclusive look inside the presidential candidate's traveling office and asked about everything from undecided voters to Republican leaders and their reaction to his recorded comments about women.

Trump said, "The leadership...we do great with the Republican Party but some of the leaders I wasn't supposed to be here. They thought one of their governor or senator friends would be here and that's not what the country wants. What the country wants is change."

Trump addressed his relationship with Florida Senator Marco Rubio.

"In the primaries I had a contest directly against Marco and I was able to win by a lot, by 20 points, 21 points. I then came out and endorsed Marco and Marco has been with me also. He's endorsed me. We have a very good relationship."

Trump also shared his opposing view on President Obama's approach regarding U.S.-Cuba relations.

"I think he's made a terrible deal. And, we are going to treat it much tougher than him. You have to get rights for the Cuban people and that includes people in this country that happen to be Cuban," explained Trump.

Earlier in Lakeland, Trump continued his push for votes in Florida and also focused on the Clinton campaign and the recent emails leaked by Wikileaks.

Trump is scheduled to appear at a rally in West Palm Beach Thursday.
Authorities are asking for the public's help in tracking down the vandals who defaced the Chabad of Parkland.

The vandalism happened between the night of September 30 and the morning of October 1 at the Chabad at 7170 Loxahatchee Road, according to a Broward Crime Stoppers flyer.

The words "Free Palestine" was spray-painted on a billboard outside the Chabad. Several other locations at the center were also spray-painted with a swear word and the number 12.

A reward of up to $3,000 is being offered for information leading to an arrest. Anyone with info is asked to call 954-493-TIPS.
What to Know The case now moves to the county prosecutor's office, which will determine whether to bring it before a grand jury

The governor is on record repeatedly, and as late as Tuesday, denying he was told about the closures the week of the shutdown

Two of Christie's former staffers face conspiracy and fraud charges in connection with the lane closures

A judge has found probable cause for a complaint of official misconduct against Gov. Chris Christie related to the George Washington Bridge lane closures.

Judge Roy McGeady issued the ruling Thursday. The case now goes to the Bergen County Prosecutor's Office, which will decide whether to bring the issue to a grand jury for possible indictment.



There was no immediate comment from Acting Bergen County Prosecutor Gurbir Grewal. Grewal was appointed to the position by Christie in January when John Molinelli retired. The governor nominated him to permanently retain the position last month, and it wasn't immediately clear if Grewal would recuse himself from the case due to the potential perception of conflict of interest.

Spectators in the courtroom applauded after Judge Roy McGeady's ruling.

"I'm satisfied that there's probable cause to believe that an event of official misconduct was caused by Gov. Christie," McGeady said. "I'm going to issue the summons."

Attorneys representing Christie declined to comment in court Thursday, referring questions to the governor's office.

Brian Murray, a spokesman for the governor, called the filing a "dishonorable complaint filed by a known serial complainant and political activist with a history of abusing the judicial system." He added that Christie's legal team plans to appeal the ruling.

"The simple fact is the Governor had no knowledge of the lane realignments either before they happened or while they were happening," Murray said. "This matter has already been thoroughly investigated by three separate independent investigations."

The governor is on record repeatedly, and as recently as Tuesday, denying he was told about the closures the week of the shutdown.

Activist Bill Brennan filed the complaint of official misconduct in the second degree against the Republican in late September. Official misconduct carries a possible sentence of five to 10 years.

"He should spend seven years in jail for what he did," Brennan said after the hearing.

Brennan said he filed the complaint, which alleges that Christie knew about the lane closures the day they happened and didn't require his subordinates to reopen the roadway, in part because the fallout of the 2013 lane closures cost taxpayers millions of dollars.

Former Christie staffers Bridget Kelly and Bill Baroni face conspiracy and fraud charges for allegedly orchestrating the lane closures as political retribution against Fort Lee's Democratic mayor for not endorsing Christie's re-election bid. Their trial is ongoing.

Brennan said his criminal complaint was over an accusation at trial by David Wildstein, a former Port Authority official and the prosecution's star witness, that the governor knew by midweek that the lane shutdowns were intended as political retaliation. Wildstein, who has pleaded guilty in the scheme and is cooperating with investigators, also testified the governor failed to seek criminal prosecution of his staffers once he found out about the plot.

Three investigations into the scandal did not find evidence Christie authorized or knew about the lane closures, a fact that his spokesman reiterated after the summons Thursday. Federal prosecutors did not charge Christie after their investigation, a Democrat-led legislative panel failed to find evidence linking the governor to the plot and a 2014 taxpayer-funded report found the governor wasn't aware of the September 2013 closures until afterward.
The New York City Parks department is investigating allegations that a worker was made to clean dog feces off of a park visitors shoes.

The woman, Tasheema Chatman, told the NBC 4 New York I-Team in an emotional interview that she felt humiliated and degraded by the Oct. 2 incident at Carl Schurz Park on the Upper East Side.

Chatman said she was working her regular job that day, which consists of picking up garbage, branches, leaves, and cleaning up after dog owners who neglect to curb their pets.

There was an art fair taking place on the sidewalk at East End Avenue and all park workers were told about the importance of keeping the streets tidy.

"My supervisor called me over to 86th and East End, recalled Chatman. He said there was poop at that corner.

But when she arrived, she didnt see anything on the ground, just her two male supervisors and a man who was a visiting artist, showing at the art fair.

I didnt see anything on the ground and the artist suddenly says Theres poop on my shoe, can you help me?

Stunned, Chatman looked over to her supervisors for guidance, but they didnt say anything and she said they just stared at her.

"So I scrubbed his shoe, my supervisor didnt say anything," she said. "His supervisor just stood there. I had to walk away."

Chatman said she was humiliated and degraded on the sidewalk, scrubbing away at the man's shoe while her two supervisors stood and watched. She said one of them even laughed.

"After I did it and he smiled. And I shook my head no, I'm not laughing. I didn't find it funny," she said.

When the I-Team reached out to the NYC Parks Department for comment and while they did not address the allegations directly, they said theyve interviewed all parties involved and now the NYC Parks Advocate is investigating.

Chatman, a single mother of two children, said she felt like she had no choice but to do it even though it's not in her job description to clean shoes.

"I have to take care of my two kids and I cant afford to lose this job, said Chatman. I felt like when my supervisors called me there, it was a direct order and if I didnt do it, I would probably get written up.

Geoffrey Croft of NYC Park Advocates was first alerted to Chatman's case.

"The parks department needs to be reformed top to bottom, and thats racial sensitivity and its sexual harassment," said Croft. "And weve been calling for that for years and this administration certainly doesnt feel like this is a priority."

Meanwhile, Chatman requested to be moved to a different park, which the city granted. She hopes that by telling her story, she can prevent others from suffering the same -- while still trying to understand-- why her?

"Was it because of my race? And they look down on black people? Or because... they dont respect [women] and they feel like were below and theyre above women? I am still battling that myself."

The I-Team made repeated attempts to talk with the artist, but he has not returned calls or emails. Attempts to reach the supervisors at their jobs were also unsuccessful, as the I-Team was told they were not working Thursday.
What to Know Public Advocate Letitia James released her annual "Worst Landlords Watchlist" Thursday at a rally for tenants' rights in Foley Square

Three of the top 5 "worst" landlords in the city have made the Watchlist two years in a row

The highest number of buildings on the list are in Brooklyn and Manhattan

Public Advocate Letitia James revealed her annual "Worst Landlords Watchlist" at a rally supporting tenants' rights in Foley Square Thursday morning.

The interactive database lists 100 landlords who have accumulated the most violations relative to the number of buildings they own. The list is compiled using data gathered from the Department of Buildings and Department of Housing Preservation and Development.

In addition to buildings owned by the "worst" landlords, the Watchlist includes the top 20 worst buildings from each borough, regardless of their ownership.

James found that the highest number of buildings on the list are in Brooklyn and Manhattan. The top three worst landlords, according to the list  Harry D. Silverstein, Allan Goldman, and Efstathios Valiotis  own properties throughout the Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhatttan and Queens. Three of the top five worst landlords have made the Watchlist top five for consecutive years.

The 100 #WorstLandlords are not here by accident. These buildings have recurring, dangerous problems that have been ignored for years. pic.twitter.com/MsIDEoScec  Tish James (@TishJames) October 13, 2016

Silverstein has 2,032 HPD violations and 50 DOB violations over 575 units in eight buildings. He owns five properties in Brooklyn, two in Queens and one in the Bronx.

Valiotis expressed disappointment in his inclusion on the Watchlist. He said that he has fixed a majority of the violations in his buildings, but the improvements won't be reflected until they are certified by HPD.

"It is unfortunate that the Public Advocate's Office doesn't accurately reflect the current conditions of these buildings," he said in an emailed statement. "I remain committed to continue to improve all outstanding building conditions and provide quality housing to all tenants."

The other four landlords did not respond to a request for comment from NBC 4 New York.

James said in a tweet that the annual list puts bad landlords on notice and gives tenants the power they need to improve their living conditions.
What to Know Ahmad Khan Rahimi is accused of planting bombs in New York and New Jersey that wounded 31 people last month

The 28-year-old Afghan native was captured after a shootout with police in New Jersey two days after the bombings

He has been hospitalized since he was shot multiple times in the gun battle

A man accused of setting off bombs in New Jersey and New York, injuring more than 30 people, pleaded not guilty to charges he tried to kill police officers in New Jersey before they captured him last month.

Ahmad Rahimi appeared in the court hearing in Elizabeth via video from his hospital bed Thursday afternoon. His head was propped up on pillows, while public defender Peter Liguori stood by his side wearing a disposable hospital gown and plastic gloves.

Liguori -- who corrected the spelling of his name from Rahami, which has been used by media and law enforcement since the Sept. 17 bombings -- entered not guilty pleas for all state charges levied against the man. He's charged with five counts of attempted murder of a police officer and weapons offenses in connection with the gun battle.

Rahimi, an Afghan-born U.S. citizen, has been hospitalized with gunshot wounds since the police shootout that led to his capture on Sept. 19 outside a bar in Linden. Authorities have declined to provide details on Rahimi's medical condition, citing privacy laws.

Officer Angel Padilla, who prosecutors say was shot by Rahimi, was in court along with fellow Linden officers. None of the suspect's family appeared at the hearing.

He is also accused of detonating a pipe bomb along the route of a Marine Corps charity race in the New Jersey shore town of Seaside Park and a pressure cooker bomb in New York City on Sept. 17. No one was injured in the New Jersey blast, and 31 people were hurt in the New York blast. A second pressure cooker bomb near the first in New York did not explode.

Rahimi also faces federal charges in connection with the bombings, but he would have to be moved to New York before he can be arraigned on those charges.

Rahimi's public defenders have a policy of not commenting on cases.
Stumping for Donald Trump in Ocala, Florida, on Wednesday, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani told a crowd that Hillary Clinton had falsely claimed to have been in New York on Sept. 11, 2001 - an incorrect claim he took back a few hours later.

"I made a mistake. I'm wrong and I apologize," Giuliani told The Associated Press.

In Florida, addressing what he portrayed as Clinton's past remarks on the subject, Giuliani said: "Don't tell me, if you said that, that you remember Sept. 11, 2001. I remember Sept. 11, 2001. Yes, yes, you helped to get benefits for the people that were injured that day. But I heard her say one day she was there that day. I was there that day. I don't remember seeing Hillary Clinton there."

In fact, she wasn't in New York, but she never claimed to be, either.

On many occasions, Clinton has described being in Washington, D.C., on Sept. 11 when hijacked jets struck the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. She was a member of the Senate at the time, and Congress was in session.

The next day, commercial flights remained grounded but Clinton traveled to New York City aboard a government plane. There, she circled the smoldering World Trade Center in a helicopter, then toured ground zero with Giuliani and New York's Republican governor, George Pataki.

Photos of that tour show Clinton standing shoulder to shoulder with Giuliani.

Asked about his comments, Giuliani said he thought he had heard Clinton say during the last presidential debate that she was in New York on 9/11. But after being contacted by a reporter, he reviewed a transcript and found out he was wrong.

Told that he was being criticized online by people posting photographs of him with Clinton at ground zero, Giuliani was contrite.

"I probably deserve it," he said.

After returning to Washington, Clinton worked with other lawmakers to secure billions of dollars in federal aid for New York to assist in the city's recovery.

In his speech in Ocala, Giuliani questioned Clinton's commitment to people killed or injured in the attacks.

"Don't tell me you subscribe to the notion that all of us who lived through Sept. 11th and were lucky to be alive and have lost so many friends," he said. "I lost so many friends on Sept. 11th. I think about it every day. Don't tell me you belong to our very, very tight group of Never Forget!"
A Long Island woman on the other side of the country was delighted to find a note in her windshield from a mysterious fellow native in the Emerald City.

Lisa Socha moved to the Seattle area a year ago, but still gets homesick occasionally. And she's not afraid to "rep West Islip" on the bumper of her truck, she says on Facebook: it's covered in Long Island and Mets and Giants stickers, and her license plate has a frame from a Smithtown dealership, "all of which is unfamiliar to the people here."

Socha was walking back to her truck last Saturday after finishing her shift as a hairdresser when she spotted a note pinned to the front window, wrapped in plastic to protect it from the rain, Newsday first reported.

"Hey fellow Long Islander, I'm from Port Jefferson," the anonymous note read. "Just wanted to say hi and I like your bumper stickers. P.S. I miss the pizza."

Socha said she hopes to connect with the letter's author and find a fellow Long Islander out in Washington. She moved there last year with her son, who's getting a masters degree at University of Puget Sound, she told NBC 4 New York in a Facebook message: "Rents are slightly cheaper and salaries here are higher. I make more, have a nicer place and am not paying Long Island rent plus his housing."

"I miss home but living here has been wonderful," she said.

But as for whether she's managed to find a decent New York slice out in Seattle: "That's a definite nope. Tried and will keep trying but so far epic fails."
What to Know Young children, frail or elderly people and others with weakened immune systems are more susceptible to Listeria infection

There have been no confirmed reports of adverse reactions

Consumers who may have purchased the affected products can return them to the place of purchase for a full refund

Nutrisystem is recalling one of its popular high-protein bars over concerns about possible listeria contamination, which can cause serious and sometimes deadly infections in young children and the elderly.



The company's Nutricrush Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough bar, manufactured by Noble Foods, Inc., contains an ingredient that may be contaminated with the bacteria, Nutrisystem said.



Only 455 cases of the affected product were shipped to ShopRite and Hannaford stores in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and nine other states; it was also sold online through Amazon.com and Walmart.com. The product, sold in a box of five, can be identified by the UPC 6 32674 85579 4, Enjoy by Aug 22 2017 and Lot Code NF082216A.



No other Nutrisystem product is affected by the recall, which the company said it is initiating out of an abundance of caution.

No illnesses have been reported to date. Although healthy individuals may suffer only short-term symptoms such as high fever, severe headache, stiffness, nausea, abdominal pain and diarrhea, listeria infection can cause miscarriages and stillbirths among pregnant women.

Young children, frail or elderly people and others with weakened immune systems are more susceptible to infection.



Anyone who purchased the affected products can return them to the place of purchase or call Nutrisystem's customer service at 1-866-293-8118.
Nearly three years after a Pennsylvania mother went missing, a former coworker stands accused of killing her after one of several bones dug up in his yard matched her DNA.

The Monroe County District Attorney's Office announced homicide charges Thursday against 49-year-old Michael Horvath in connection to the November 2013 disappearance of Holly Grim. [[395749781, C]]

Inside Horvath's home, investigators found "numerous videotapes and DVD's relating to murder, sexual deviance, and 'hunting humans,'" according to a probably cause affidavit obtained by NBC10. They also found several weapons, stun guns, and restraints, including handcuffs, leg shackles and sex toys.

Grim was last seen the morning of Nov. 22, 2013 near her home at the Red Maples Mobile Home Park along Grange Road in Lower Macungie Township. Grim had driven her son to a bus stop and was then supposed to go to her job at Allen Organ in Macungie. The 41-year-old never showed up to work and her empty car was found in her driveway.

Her last cellphone signals officials were able to track came from when Grim's mother, Jeanette Grim, attempted to call her the morning she disappeared. The series of three calls over eight minutes were intentionally declined as the phone moved in a northeasterly direction away from the victim's home, a criminal complaint obtained by NBC10 reported.

A couple of weeks ago, state police began searching through the backyard and woods of Horvath's home along Woodhaven Drive in Ross Township, Monroe County. Authorities said Horvath and Grim worked the same shift at Allen Organ. Horvath, who was married at the time, left his job about four months after Grims disappearance. He had worked for the company for 21 years. [[396939281, C]]

Investigators said Horvath was initially interviewed about the disappearance because he was late for work the morning Grim disappeared. He told officials he got a flat tire on his way to work and had gone home to repair it, adding that he didn't want to lose a day of work with deer hunting season on the horizon, the criminal complaint said.

He was again interviewed in June 2014 and provided investigators with a DNA sample. At the time, Horvath admitted to knowing Grim, but not well, and had been to her residence on at least two occasions to help her get a washer and dryer into her home. His DNA matched a bloodstain found outside her home at the time of her disappearance, investigators said.

A search warrant was issued on Sept. 27, 2015, allowing investigators to dig up Horvath's yard and search his home. The dig unearthed a rib bone that matched Grim's DNA, the district attorney's office said.

The Monroe County Coroner's Office declared Grim's death a homicide.

Police arrested Horvath on Oct. 13 on criminal homicide, tampering with evidence and abuse of a corpse charges, according to court records. He remained jailed without bond. Horvath's attorney didn't immediately respond to NBC10's request for comment.

At a news conference Thursday morning, officials and police sent their condolences to Grim's family and praised investigators for bringing a resolution to the case.

They didn't reveal the exact nature of the relationship between Horvath and Grim outside of the two being coworkers.
For Geno Vento, namesake of Philadelphia's iconic cheesesteak shop and the son of its owner, it's never been about a sign.

And so, a few weeks ago, Geno, who took over his father's steak shop at 9th and Passyunk in South Philly when Joey Vento died of a heart attack, unceremoniously removed what may be the shop's second most talked about item (after the cheesesteak, of course): a sign that hung for about a decade in the front window of the shop proclaiming, "This is America. When ordering, please speak English."

When his father put up the sign about 10 years ago, it sparked a massive firestorm, grabbing national headlines and focusing criticism on Joey Vento, the outspoken steak shop owner who opened the shop in 1966 with $6 in his pocket and a $2,000 loan from his father-in-law, for his views.

But now, five years after his father passed away, Geno Vento wants to set the record straight. In an exclusive interview with NBC10's Keith Jones, Geno talked about why he finally decided to remove the controversial sign from the window at Geno's.

"It's not about a sign. It's about what you do and what your mark in life is, and I wanna change that mark in life," Geno told Jones, sitting across from him in the shop's construction-cone orange booth in front of a wall of famous people who've visited the shop over the years. "I wanna make Geno's Geno's Steaks different than what my father did. Not saying that was right or wrong, but that wasn't my vision, and I wanna take Geno's to the next level."

Philly's Iconic Geno's Steaks Goes Wit' Out Controversial Sign

Geno said the sign was taken down unceremoniously weeks ago. It was gone from the storefront before presidential candidate Donald Trump's visit to Geno's in September, he said.

And even though it was widely believed that his dad's dying wish was to see the sign stay forever, Geno says that's an urban legend as cooked-up as the rib-eye Geno's counter workers sling 24 hours a day.

His father, although outspoken, cared about people, Geno said.

"Dad is humanitarian. We do a lot of support with the community, the troops," he said. "He had a big mouth, but not a bad guy."

In a 2006 interview with NBC10 about the sign  at the height of the controversy  Joey Vento said he didn't intend to remove the sign, although Geno's never turned anybody away.

"We got troops that get blown up, and here we got this big, bad Joey Vento because he's got the audacity to try to teach people to speak English in America, where the language is English, and if you don't know it, you're not going anywhere," Vento said at the time in his gruff Philly twang. "The bottom line is, nobody's ever been refused."

Today, Geno said his vision for Geno's Steaks is to keep coming to work every day to put smiles on people's faces.

The iconic cheesesteak shop donated $10,000 to the families of fallen firefighter Joyce Evans and police Officer Robert Wilson.

"We have all different kinds of customers from all walks of life, from janitors to presidents, come in here," he said. "I'm a people person. I serve everybody ... I'm here to make people happy, and believe it or not, being a cheesesteak in Philadelphia known all over the world. That's amazing."

He stressed that his dad, despite his big mouth, never intended any harm by hanging the sign.

"He basically was proud of America and being American, and that's the way he stood," Geno said, flashing his signature grin. "The way I do it is a little differently, you know? I like to hug."
Several questions remained Thursday around the execution of a man on the steps of a rowhouse in Philadelphia's Hunting Park neighborhood Wednesday night, but police say they know one thing: Whoever shot the man wanted him dead.

Police raced to Franklin Street near Hunting Park Avenue just before 10 p.m. and found the victim shot several times, slumped over on the front steps of a home on the block, according to Chief Inspector Scott Small.

Small said whoever shot the man, who remained unidentified early Thursday, meant to do it and made sure he was dead: The gunman unloaded 10 bullets at the man at point-blank range, wounding him numerous times in the head and torso. He died there almost instantly, and medics officially declared him dead at 10:01 p.m., Small said.

"Based on ballistic evidence, we know at least 10 shots were fired ... from a very close range," Small said. "There are 10 shell casings on the sidewalk, some inches, some feet from the victim's body, which is an indicator the shooter fired from very close proximity."

Small said based on that, police believe the victim was the intended target of the shooting. But they haven't yet figured out why, or who the victim is. People in the neighborhood said they don't know or recognize the man, and although he appeared to be in his mid-20s, his identity remained a mystery Thursday morning as detectives began to canvas the area for surveillance video.

Some witnesses did report seeing two men -- one of whom wore a dark-colored hooded sweatshirt and the other of whom carried a red or light-colored hooded sweatshirt -- fleeing from the scene at the time of the shooting.

Anyone with information is asked to call the Homicide Unit at 215-686-3334.

[NATL] Top News Photos: Pope Visits Japan, and More
A family dog was killed and a home was destroyed following a massive fire in Newark, Delaware Wednesday night.

The fire started around 7 p.m. at a home on the 900 block of Crossan Road in the Bridleshire Farms neighborhood of Newark, Delaware. Firefighters from several companies responded to the scene and were able to bring the flames under control.

The home is a total loss and the fire caused an estimated $350,000 in damage. Officials say the family dog died in the fire.

The Red Cross of Delmarva is currently assisting the five residents of the home. None of them suffered injuries during the blaze. The Fire Marshal's Office is also investigating the cause of the fire.
A shooting in Northeast Philadelphia left a man dead on the sidewalk and another wounded, police say.

Just after 11 p.m. Wednesday, 9-1-1 calls began pouring in about gunfire and a person shot at two locations in Lawncrest, according to Chief Inspector Scott Small. Officers responded to both locations -- Alcott Street near Rising Sun Avenue and Cheltenham Avenue near Rising Sun, about two blocks away.

When they arrived, Small said, police found a 20-year-old man suffering a gunshot wound to the back on Alcott Street. He was taken to a local hospital in stable condition.

On Cheltenham Avenue, police found a second victim, Small said. That man suffered a through-and-through gunshot wound to his chest and back and died at the scene. Small said police hadn't yet identified him early Thursday morning, but estimated him to be in his 20s.

The surviving victim told investigators that he and his friend were walking on Cheltenham Avenue when a gunman began shooting at them from the corner of Colgate Street and Cheltenham Avenue, police said. The man said he ran from the gunfire, but the shooter managed to catch up with him on Alcott Street and shoot him. It's unclear where the friend he was with wound up, but it did not appear based on initial police information that the man killed was the surviving victim's friend. That man, police said, remained unidentified Thursday.

Near the man's body on the sidewalk, police found a semi-automatic handgun. Six spent shell casings were also found about half a block from where the victim fell. Small said police would analyze ballistic evidence to determine whether those casings came from the gun found at the scene and that it wasn't immediately clear whether the deceased victim had been in possession of that gun.

"We're not certain at this time whether the victim fired any shots," Small said.

A single spent casing was found on Alcott Street near the surviving victim.

Small said police also found a wad of cash and bags of what appeared to be marijuana at the scene on Alcott Street, leading them to believe the shooting may have been drug-related.

Police did not say whether they believed the victims were shooting at each other, or if additional people are suspected to be involved.

The homicide and shooting remained under investigation Thursday.
Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf announced Thursday morning a Department of Health agreement with the Main Line maker of a emergency nasal-spray treatment for opioid overdoses.

More than a dozen local high schools are among the 128 throughout the state that will now have two doses of Narcan on campus.

The medication, which is being supplied by Adapt Pharma, can reverse an overdose from heroin or prescription pain pills by blocking the effects of opioids on the brain. Earlier this year, the Irish pharmaceutical company, which has its U.S. headquarters in Radnor, said it would donate a carton  or two doses  of Narcan to every high school in the U.S. through the Dept. of Education.

To read full list of Philly-area schools, click here.
A man convicted of shooting four people in an alley outside Pennsylvania nightclub last year has been sentenced to 27 to 55 years behind bars.

PennLive.com reports 34-year-old Michael Spencer was sentenced on Wednesday after a jury convicted him in July of 12 counts, including attempted homicide and aggravated assault.

The judge also found him guilty in a non-jury trial of unlawful possession of a firearm and carrying a firearm without a license.

The judge says there's overwhelming evidence that Spencer got a pistol following an April 2015 dispute inside a Williamsport nightclub and shot toward a man, hitting four others.

Prosecutors asked for a sentence of 40 to 80 years. The defense asked for a sentence with a minimum of no more than 20 years.

Spencer has apologized.
Vice President Joe Biden is not letting Donald Trump off the hook for comments he made about groping women in 2005, calling the GOP candidate's "locker room" language the "textbook definition of sexual assault."

In an interview with "Late Night" host Seth Meyers Wednesday, Biden said it is "astounding" that a presidential candidate would publicly acknowledge that being a star allowed him to have his way with women.

"He didn't say, you know, 'I go up and I ask...' He says, 'I go up and grab and I can do this...'" Biden said during his appearance, which was recorded before new accounts from women who allege Trump touched them in an inappropriate manner were published in the New York Times, Palm Beach Post and People magazine Wednesday night.

Meanwhile, five former contestants in the Trumpowned Miss Teen USA pageant claim that Trump deliberately walked in on them while they were changing during the 1997 competition, Buzzfeed reported.

"And then I see in the paper today, one of the pageants  I guess Miss Teen America  and the teen girls  three, four, five in a room they were getting dressed, they were naked, he walked in and said, 'Don't worry girls, I've seen all this,' and he stood there. I mean, this is absolutely outrageous behavior," Biden continued.

Trump has denied all allegations and demanded that the Times retracts their story and apologize, threatening legal action.

Biden, who drafted the landmark Violence Against Women Act, expressed his disappointment "to come across someone like Trump" after having worked for years "trying to figure out how to change the culture in this country so that we treat women with respect and dignity."

"My dad used to say, 'The greatest sin of all is the abuse of power. And the cardinal sin of all is a man raising his hand or taking advantage of a woman," Biden said. "And here's a guy that says...'I'm a billionaire, I'm a star, I'm a celebrity, so I can go in and intimidate women [into] allowing me to assault them and assume they're not going to say anything.' That is the ultimate abuse of power."

On Friday, an 11-year-old audio tape leaked of Trump making lewd comments about women to Billy Bush, then-host of "Access Hollywood." Trump has apologized for the tape, describing the comments as "locker room talk."

Since then, at least four women have come forward claiming Trump either touched or kissed them inappropriately. NBC News has not confirmed any of the allegations, some dating back decades.

Biden also weighed in on Trump's recent debate performance, saying he couldn't believe what he was watching.

"It's a frightening notion that the vice president and the president don't understand each other's [positions]," he said, referring to when Trump said he disagreed with running mate Mike Pence over Russia's involvement in the Syria conflict.

"Access Hollywood" is owned and distributed by NBCUniversal, the parent company of NBC News, MSNBC and this station.
A San Diego judge granted a fourth request to delay jail time for the woman convicted of stealing money raised to help local families with children battling cancer.

Brianna King was supposed to surrender into custody to begin her year sentence Wednesday but asked a judge for more time, citing health concerns her baby is facing.

In court Wednesday King provided notes from a doctor explaining that her baby, born in February, needs to be breastfed by King until the baby is one year old. The judge set the new date for her to surrender for her sentence to a day after the baby turns one, February 28, 2017.

This is the fourth time a judge has granted her a delay in reporting to prison.

Due to the delays in reporting for her sentence, the judge said King has a negative balance on her time served and will result in an additional 45 days being added to her sentence.

King pleaded guilty to grand theft in September 2015 for stealing thousands of dollars in connection to her time at the helm of the nonprofit WishWarriors.

The district attorneys office opened a criminal investigation into King after an NBC 7 investigation revealed children profiled by the charity never received the donations they were promised.

King has told NBC 7 Investigates she does not wish to discuss the sentencing and has declined to answer any questions about the charges and investigation.

King would solicit items and gift cards from stores as donations to auction off at fundraisers, but prosecutors say she would instead use them herself. King would also spend donation money at hair salons, spas and on car payments and other personal bills according to prosecutors.

She has been ordered to serve a year in prison and five years of probation. Her prison term was first delayed to April 11 because she was pregnant at the time of her sentencing. That was pushed back to June 21 due to a medical reason. The June date was then pushed back to October due to health concerns associated with her baby.

King was also ordered to continue making restitution payments for what she stole from the charity. Wednesday the judge said King was late on some of those payments and told her to get caught up on them or there will be penalties.
Rural Metro ambulances have failed to meet mandated emergency response time standards in five of eight medical response zones in the City of San Diego when the highest priority patients are involved, according to a letter from the citys Deputy Fire Chief.

As a result the company must pay $291,000 in penalties by November 16, according to the letter from Christopher Heiser, City of San Diego Deputy Fire Chief.

In a memo to the mayor and city council members Heiser details what the penalties are for, including one fine of $71,000 for responses greater than 24 minutes."

Rural Metro contracts with the City to provide ambulance services. It requires a response time standard of twelve minutes or less, 90 percent of the time for emergency calls.

The penalties are associated with a FY 2017 Quarter 1 report, which represents July, August and September response data. In San Diego there are eight emergency response zones.

Mobile users can click here to view a map of the emergency response zones.

The data shows the companys worst rate meeting that target was 85.6 percent in Southeast San Diego, labeled as zone six. It's one of the poorer demographic areas of the city, according to the data from the San Diego Association of Governments.

Look below or click here to see the ambulance response time compliance for each zone.

The company was also required to submit a plan to cure, detailing the reasons for non-compliance.

Last week, Mike Rice, Director of Operations for Rural Metro submitted the "plan to cure" and said the company is committed to providing the City of San Diego a world-class EMS system.

Jason Sorrick, Director of Communications and Government Relations for AMR told NBC 7 Investigates that the company has "exceeded the citywide response time requirement each and every month. However, because of a local and national paramedic shortage, we have recently been short of our response time goals in select zones."

Rural Metro was acquired by AMR last year. In his email, Sorrick said, "AMR is actively recruiting, training and hiring paramedics in San Diego."

Have you waited longer than 12 minutes for an ambulance? Contact the NBC 7 Investigates team: NBC7Investigates@nbcuni.com.
An 8-year-old child was injured when a car crashed into a Panda Express in San Diego's Clairemont neighborhood.

The crash happened at approximately 6:30 p.m. Wednesday on the 9200 block of Clairemont Mesa Boulevard, when police responded to a call of a car into a building.

The driver, initially reported by police as a juvenile, suffered minor injuries as a result of the collision, police said.

The cause of the crash is unclear, police said.

The incident is under investigation.

No other information was immediately available.
Obama's BRAIN Initiative has awarded a total of $2.27 million to four teams of neuroscientists at UC San Diego, to support their research into a diverse variety of brain disorders.

Since its launch under the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in 2014, Obama's BRAIN Initiative has presented more than $6 million to UCSD's teams of neuroscientists, according to UCSD.

UCSD officials say the research contributes to an effort to find treatments for brain disorders such as Alzheimer's, schizophrenia, autism, epilepsy and traumatic brain injury. Their findings have the potential for widespread application across the globe.

The UCSD neuroscience projects that will continue receiving funding from NIH include the following: Revealing the Connectivity and Functionality of Brain Stem Circuits, Non-degenerate Multiphoton Microscopy for Deep Brain Imaging, Classifying Cortical Neurons by Correlating Transcriptome with Function, and Optogenetic Mapping of Synaptic Activity and Control of Intracellular Signaling.

Their research will explore detailed maps of circuits in the brainstem, laser power to allow deeper brain imaging and create molecules that test for communication between neurons in certain brain circuits, according to UCSD. They will also use new tools to visualize neurons in the brain and identify how individual brain cell activities are linked to specific genes.

Researchers at UCSD hope these projects will lead to a new field -- Neuro-technology -- which will be similar to biotech and could bolster new companies and economic growth.

The award is a testimony to the strength and leadership of the university's role in basic neuroscience research, said UCSD officials. The university's neuroscientists are also receiving funding from Cal-BRAIN, a state-funded program that supports the federal BRAIN Initiative in California.

The research's potential is particularly compelling when considering that up to one billion people are affected by significant brain disorders worldwide, according to the World Health Organization.

With this additional funding, neuroscientists will attempt to speed the development of new brain technologies, said UCSD officials.
San Diego is remembering the life and service of World War II veteran and Pearl Harbor survivor Stu Hedley who died from complications of COVID-19 just a couple of months shy of his 100th birthday.

The Navy veteran is best remembered as a living historian who spoke just about anywhere about his experiences that fateful day -- Dec. 7, 1941 -- so it is never forgotten.

Hedley served for two decades from 1940 to 1960 and was a Seaman First Class aboard USS West Virginia on December 7, 1941.

"Stu was the most embracing individual to everyone. Not just the military, not just the officers, but everyone he met," Navy Chief Joe Pisano said. "He was just so affectionate, just a kind sole. He was just someone you want to be around."

Stay informed about local news and weather. Get the NBC 7 San Diego app for iOS or Android and pick your alerts.

In 2016, Hedley spoke with NBC 7 about his mission to make sure Pearl Harbor Day is celebrated, and remembered, forever in every corner of the nation.

History is fading into the past, Hedley said. People are forgetting what the men did to guarantee their freedoms of today.

At a special event commemorating the 75th anniversary of the Attack on Pearl Harbor, one of the few survivors shares his concern about the passage of history from his generation to the next.

Hedley's comments came at an event commemorating the 75th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor on the deck of USS Midway.

NBC 7

"It was just so sudden. It just breaks my heart that more people weren't around him because he was always surrounded by people that loved him and adored him," Chief Pisano said of Hedley's passing.

Hedley had several close calls during his active duty days, but he always gave the hero credit to those who made the ultimate sacrifice.

The USS Midway Museum honored Hedley's legacy in a statement regarding his death.

"He never wanted what happened at Pearl Harbor to be forgotten. He was passionate about making sure we remembered the courage of those who were there that day. Stu was genuinely a true American hero," the statement said.

Hedley would have turned 100 years old on October 29. Last October, his friends and family threw him a drive-by birthday party, pandemic style, outside of his home.
Police are investigating a string of similar robberies in local beach communities and are trying to determine whether the crimes are related.

Armed robbers, in three separate incidents, demanded belongings from three victims as they parked their cars in front of their homes on Tuesday night.

The first incident happened at approximately 8:34 p.m. on the 4300 block of Monaco Street near Amiford Drive in Sunset Cliffs.

According to the San Diego Police Department, a 55-year-old woman parked her car in front of her home and was beginning to exit her vehicle when she was approached by a man asking if she had seen his lost dog.

While the two were talking, a second man donning a ski mask approached, drew a handgun and demanded her personal items. The masked man then pulled a necklace off of the victims neck and removed a ring from her finger.

Dawna Kirbey, the sister of the victim, was on the phone with her while it all unfolded.

Its scary, you know? Kirbey said. I couldnt sleep last night. I had to shut all my windows. I thought Oh, God, is someone going to come in? Every time you hear a noise youre nervous. So, yeah, Im still frazzled.

Luckily for the victim, the necklace broke during the ordeal and it, and the ring, fell to the floor of the car and was later found by police. Kirbey says her sisters jewelry held sentimental value.

Her husband passed away and it was the diamond engagement ring from him, so it meant everything to her.

Both of the men fled on foot westbound on Monaco Street toward Amiford Drive. One suspect was described as a black male in his 30s, 5 feet 8 to 5 feet 10 inches with a medium build. The second suspect was described as a black male, 5 feet 10 to 6 feet tall with a stocky to heavy build. Both men were wearing dark clothing.

Minutes later at approximately 8:39 p.m. on the 1500 block of Ebers Street in Ocean Beach, less than two miles away, a 36-year-old man was robbed while walking from his car to his front door.

Police say the man was approached by a black man asking if he had seen his lost pit bull. Soon after, a second black man wearing a ski mask approached, chambered a round in his handgun and pointed it at the victim. The victim surrendered his cell phone and wallet to the second black man, before the first black man pulled his backpack off of him.

The two men took off on foot into the alley north of the victims home. Both suspects were described as wearing dark colored clothing.

While the proximity of the crimes, and the bit about the lost dog, lead police to believe the two crimes are related, they do not believe that the pair of robberies is connected to an almost identical armed robbery that happened later in the evening in La Jolla.

In the third incident, police say a 60-year-old La Jolla man pulled into his garage at around 9:21 p.m. and was about to enter his home on the 1300 block of Virginia Way when three black males wearing ski masks, two of whom were armed with handguns, approached him and demanded his property. The victim gave up his watch, cell phone and briefcase and watched the group flee on foot.

SDPD Western Division detectives are investigating the robberies in Sunset Cliffs and Ocean Beach, while Robbery Detectives are working the case in La Jolla.

Authorities say that none of the victims were injured.
Saint Archer Brewing Companys core craft brews are now available in Arizona, the San Diego-based brewery announced this week.

As of Tuesday, Saint Archers core and specialty beers  in canned 6-packs, draft and 22-ounce bottles  are available throughout the state of Arizona in the companys latest expansion of its distribution. In mid-August, Saint Archer announced its beers would be distributed in Las Vegas.

For this project, Saint Archer says the company has partnered with Phoenix-based Crescent Town Distributing and Tucson-based Finley Distributing to bring the brews to the Grand Canyon State.

The move will bring with it beer festivals and tasting events in Arizona to further promote Saint Archer brews there, Matt Wilson, director of sales for the company, said in a press release Wednesday.

Wilson says that with so many people traveling back and forth between San Diego and Arizona, expansion into the state was a natural fit.

The beautiful weather and outdoor lifestyle are perfect for the drinkable beers we focus on, and being in cans is a perfect fit, Wilson adds.

Saint Archer, founded by Josh Landan in 2013, operates a 33,000-square-foot brewery and tasting room located at 9550 Distribution Ave. in San Diegos Miramar area, better known as Beer-amar to craft beer connoisseurs.

The three-vessel, 30-barrel brew house boasts 120 barrel fermenters. The Tasting Room is open seven days a week: 3 p.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Thursday; 1 p.m. to 9 p.m. Friday; 12 p.m. to 9 p.m. Saturday; 12 p.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday. Gourmet food trucks typically park at the brewery, offering grub for patrons enjoying the brews.

In September 2015, brewing giant MillerCoors LLC agreed to acquire a majority interest in Saint Archer Brewing Company. At that time, Landan said the transaction would allow Saint Archer to remain in San Diego but with more resources to grow.

The brewery is known beers like the Blonde/Kolsch-style Ale, an American Pale Ale, an IPA, Hoppy Pilsner and Belgian White Ale. The companys brews have won three medals at the World Class San Diego International Beer Festival and a medal at the Great American Beer Festival.
A man who found a hateful message scribbled across the front of the Southwestern College Sun newspaper Wednesday decided to confront the man he believed to be responsible.

William Bird, a Southwestern College student and journalist for the Sun newspaper says he first saw the man holding the latest edition of their paper in his hand as he walked into a 7-Eleven store directly across from the Chula Vista campus.

When he walked out he saw the words [Expletive] Blacks written across the front page, which had a picture of protesters from the Alfred Olango shooting in El Cajon.

I turned around and the guy still had the marker in his hand, said William Bird.

Bird approached the man and asked if he wrote it.

He didnt expect the man to fess up and he certainly didnt expect him to willingly agree to hold the newspaper for a picture, but thats exactly what happened.

The man, surrounded by several of his construction co-workers, said yes, and that's when Bird asked him if he could take his picture with it.

To his surprise once again, the man agreed.

Bird says the conversation soon turned towards politics.

There's so much hate being spread in today's society with the elections, you have a very divided platform that everybody is jumping on either side and it's concerning there's some people think like this, said Bird.

Southwestern College is now investigating whether the man seen in the picture works anywhere on campus, according to spokeswoman Lillian Leopold.

Leopold says campus police are involved and will brief Chula Vista Police.

Chula Vista Police say although the incident is disturbing, it wouldnt likely carry any criminal charges.
A City Heights man found stabbed more than a dozen times was attacked by his son, San Diego Police Department (SDPD) alleged Wednesday.

Francisco Javier Beltran, 42, was found suffering from 10 to 15 stab wounds Tuesday inside an apartment on the 3600 block of 42nd Street. He was later pronounced dead at the hospital.

Police told NBC 7 that witnesses describe the suspect as a man whom they have seen at the apartment before the incident. They believe the suspect could possibly be a roomate to the victim or even his son.

The next day, SDPD officers arrested the victim's son, 22-year-old Ismael Beltran, on an unrelated arrest warrant. The younger Beltran is accused of beating a 72-year-old male on a city bus, police said.

In a news release, SDPD homicide detectives say they believe Ismael Beltran was responsible for his fathers death.

He's been was booked into San Diego County Jail for murder and the outstanding warrant, police said.
What to Know A small twin-engine Piper PA 34 plane crashed in East Hartford on Tuesday around 3:30 p.m.

The plane was carrying two people. One is dead, while the pilot was transported to the hospital.

Crash happened on Main Street near Pratt & Whitney and the street remains closed.

A plane crash in East Hartford, Connecticut, that killed a student pilot and left his instructor with serious injuries appears to have been the result of an intentional act, according to the National Transportation Safety Board.

East Hartford police Lt. Josh Litwin said Wednesday that investigators had concluded the crash Tuesday afternoon was "an intentional act," but noted that they hadn't been able to determine a motive.

"Nothing's off the table," Litwin told reporters.

The FBI and NTSB are leading a joint investigation after the twin-engine Piper PA 34 crashed with the two men aboard during a training flight around 3:30 p.m. near the Connecticut headquaerters of military jet-engine maker Pratt & Whitney.

The plane was on its final approach to Brainard Airport when it crashed on Main Street and burst into flames, according to the FAA.

A senior law enforcement official familiar with the investigation told NBC News the crash appears to have been a case of suicide, not terrorism. The official said the student pilot, identified as Feras M. Freitekh, was arguing with his instructor.

According to the official, the flight instructor told investigators that Freitekh, a Jordanian national, was at the controls at the time of the crash. Some kind of argument or struggle for the controls ensued, the official said, and the plane crashed. The instructor did not know why it happened.

The flight instructor was identified as Arian Prevalla, the owner of American Flight Academy in Hartford -- formerly known as Connecticut Flight Academy. Prevalla escaped from the burning plane and was in fair condition Thursday at Yale-New Haven Bridgeport Hospital's burn unit, a hospital spokesman said.

He is expected to survive and is speaking with investigators, officials said.

Facebook

Illinois police said Wednesday that Freitekh was in the U.S. on a student visa to obtain his pilot license. Orland Hills Police Chief Thomas Scully said Freitekh used his father's friend's local address but the student pilot had never been to Orland Hills.

"He would come from Jordan directly to the flight school and his dad continued to make money to pay for his training, Chief Thomas Scully said. When he ran out he would go back to Jordan."

Police searched Freitek's Hartford-area home but did not find anything to indicate any terrorist interests or sympathies, a senior federal official told NBC News' Pete Williams. He was also not on any terrorism watch list, the official added. The FBI will seek a search warrant for any computers the student pilot had to see what clues they might hold, if any.

Pratt & Whitney released a statement Tuesday saying the crash did not appear to involve any of its employees or contractors.

Main Street was closed between Willow Street Extension and Ensign Street on Tuesday and Wednesday, but most of the street has reopened. Utility crews are fixing the light post and make repairs to the lines before reopening the right lane.

The crash was also near American Eagle Financial Credit Union, which is running on generator power as utility poles are installed on Main Street. The drive-through is closed, but the lobby and ATM are open.

While investigators from several agencies are there, police said they want to reassure neighbors that the scene is safe and secure.

A mother and her three daughters who also witnessed the crash, were taken to the hospital as a precaustion but all were released.

Investigators said it's fortunate there were no additional deaths.

"The path that the plane took could have been much worse, so we're fortunate in that sense," said Scott Sansom, East Hartford's police chief.
The presidential campaign is in turmoil less than a month before Election Day, with women coming forward to accuse Donald Trump of accosting them and Trump stepping up efforts to portray Bill Clinton as a sexual predator. The week started out nasty, got worse as it went on and some of Trumps fellow Republicans are determined that he never gets to the White House.

"I will try to gut Donald Trump with a dull deerhandler," said John Stipanovich, a Republican lobbyist with Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney in Florida who has called Trump a racist, misogynistic and ultra-nationalistic boor and a bully. "I think this election is that important. I think the country faces a significant danger from a Trump presidency."

Republicans are fighting for the soul of the party and the soul of the United States, he said. A worse candidate for president could not be imagined, he said.

"We're going to learn that being off-the-wall crazy does not produce victory," he said.

Trumps campaign has been in turmoil since Friday, when a tape recording surfaced of him talking about groping women without their consent. He was egged on by Billy Bush, then the co-host of "Access Hollywood," which is owned and distributed by NBCUniversal, the parent company of NBC News, MSNBC and this station. Bush has since been suspended.

The fallout continued after The New York Times late Wednesday quoted two women who accused Trump of grabbing or kissing them inappropriately, a People magazine reporter wrote about being pushed against a wall as he kissed her, and a fourth woman told the Palm Beach Post that he had grabbed her from behind.

"These vicious claims about me of inappropriate conduct with women are totally and absolutely false, and the Clintons know it and they know it very well," Trump said at a rally in West Palm Beach, Florida, on Thursday. "These claims are all fabricated, they're pure fiction and they're outright lies. These events never, ever happened."

None of the claims, one of which is more than 30 years old, has been independently confirmed by NBC News.

Trump is trying to turn attention to Bill Clinton's sexual misconduct and Hillary Clinton's role in silencing his victims and at his rally on Thursday he accused the media of being a political special interest group conspiring with the Clintons.

"Their agenda is to elect crooked Hillary Clinton at any cost, at any price, no matter how many lives they destroy," he said. "For them, it's a war and for them, nothing at all is out of bounds. This is a struggle for the survival of our nation."

And Trump has increasingly been warning that the election could be stolen from him.

Even before the women made their allegations, prominent Republicans were abandoning their candidate. Emails obtained by NBC News showed that two unidentified big-money donors to Trump were asking for their money back. Both of Alaska's U.S. senators, Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan, resigned from leadership positions in the state Republican party, becoming the latest Republicans to say Trump should step aside.

The Ohio GOP chairman said Thursday morning that he did not know whether he would continue to support Trump.

"He clearly has lost it," said Katie Packer, who was a deputy campaign manager for the GOP's 2012 presidential candidate, Mitt Romney, and founded an anti-Trump super PAC during the primaries.

The worst case scenario has Trump doing so much damage that Clinton wins in a landslide and she has a Democratic Congress to carry out a mandate, said Packer, a partner at Burning Glass Consulting, an all-female Republican consulting firm specializing in messaging to women. The best case, which Packer does not anticipate: Trump wins and faces a hostile Congress to work with.

"This is a guy who has some very serious neurotic tendencies," she said. "He very clearly can't handle any criticism and acts of disloyalty and so he lashes out at people in a very destructive way, not just destructive to them but in a very self-destructive way. And it also feeds into the argument for why we shouldn't give him the nuclear codes."

Trump's lewd, crude comments  which he is brushing off as "locker room talk"  were widely condemned. House Speaker Paul Ryan said he would no longer appear with the nominee, instead focusing on defending the party's majority in Congress. U.S. Sen. John McCain said he was parting company with Trump because, "I have daughters, I have friends, I have so many wonderful people on my staff. They cannot be degraded and demeaned in that fashion."

Trump singled out both men in his Twitter attacks on Tuesday.

"Our very weak and ineffective leader, Paul Ryan, had a bad conference call where his members went wild at his disloyalty," Trump tweeted about the Wisconsin congressman.

And, of McCain, he wrote, "The very foul mouthed Sen. John McCain begged for my support during his primary (I gave, he won), then dropped me over locker room remarks!"

A new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll released on Tuesday showed Hillary Clinton holding a 9-point lead over Trump after the second presidential debate on Sunday. In a four-way race, Clinton had the support of 46 percent of likely voters to 37 percent for Trump, 8 percent for Libertarian Party candidate Gary Johnson and 2 percent for the Green Partys Jill Stein. In a head-to-head contest, Clinton beat Trump by 10 points, 50 percent to 40 percent.

To be sure, some Republicans remained in Trump's corner. At the Trump rally on Thursday, former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, also accused the media, including The New York Times, of being part of a conspiracy. On Fox News, Jerry Falwell Jr., the president of Liberty University, continued to defend Trump saying, "He's a different man from the man you saw on that videotape a few years ago, 11 years ago."

The chairman of the Republican National Committee, Reince Priebus, in a conference call with RNC committee members earlier in the week, said that its support for Trump was unchanged. Other Republicans were threatening retribution against party members who did withdraw their support. Diana Orrock, Nevada's Republican National committeewoman and a candidate for the Nevada state assembly said that if Trump did not win the White House, nothing else mattered.

"We have far more important things to be concerned about rather than some boy talk that these guys had 11 years ago," she told CNBC on Monday.

On Thursday, she said her support was as strong now as when she first endorsed him.

Matt Mackowiak a Republican political consultant from Texas and founder of the Potomac Strategy Group in Washington, D.C., said that the remainder of the campaign would resemble a circus. There is no playbook for a race in which the nominee and the party are at war, he said.

"Reince Priebus is trying to hold it together with duct tape at this point," he said. "I'm sympathetic to his challenge but it's every man for himself right now. We have an undisciplined, unhinged nominee surrounded by nut cases and sycophants  with a couple of exceptions."

Clinton is the most flawed Democratic candidate in at least 20 years and could have been beaten had Republicans put principles and ethics over money, power and celebrity, he said. Now, Republicans such as New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, former Rep. Newt Gingrich and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani should be held to account, he said.

"He's become a crazy ex-boyfriend essentially at this point, Mackowiak said of Trumps attacks on Clinton. "Doesnt care about moving on his life. Doesn't genuinely want the other person to have a good life but is consumed by negative energy and by vendettas."

Stipanovich said that half of Trump's supporters were as deplorable as Hillary Clinton labeled them, "ugly folks from the underbelly of America," Stipanovich said. "There's nothing to be done with them other than to thrash them every time we go to the polls."

To win back the other half, who believe the government has let them down, the Republican party will need to take its share of the blame, he said.

"Is the government my enemy, is it part of some great conspiracy to ruin my life and enslave my grandchildren, no, that's ridiculous and we need to start saying that," he said.

The new Republican party must stop being restrictive and afraid, and instead shape the future as best it can.

So far, the most loyal Trump followers have not shown they are a political force beyond their candidate. The one House candidate whom Trump endorsed in the primary, Renee Ellmers of North Carolina, lost, Packer noted. After the election, Republicans will need to come together to repair the damage done to their party and choose a presidential candidate who can win a general election.

"I do think the party is in the middle of a civil war right now," she said. "The good news is that we'll be trying to accomplish that with Hillary Clinton as president. Nothing brings Republicans together like Hillary Clinton."
The community of Roxbury, Massachusetts, is seeking unity after three people were killed in the neighborhood in the last week.

Since last Thursday, Boston Police said one man was shot to death near the corner of Zeigler and Deaborn Streets, another man was killed in a drive-by shooting on Cleaves court, and a wife murdered her husband with a knife in a Mission Hill apartment.

Investigators say no arrests have been made in any of the cases and there are no motives.

Ernest Bridges says his son was nearly killed, in an apparent drive by shooting at the Academy Homes in Jackson Square. He survived.

He needs to learn how to walk over, he needs speech therapy, Bridges said.

In response to the killings, and a random shooting over the weekend of a 9-year-old girl at a birthday party in Roxbury, several dozen community members like Drew Carpenter, gathered in Dudley Square on Tuesday evening.

We can curb some of the gun violence through parenting, community coming together with law enforcement, Carpenter said.

So far, Boston has had 33 homicides so far this year, compared to 28 at this time in 2015.
Milford police are issuing a warning after men posing as water company employees got into an elderly couples house and stole hundreds of dollars.

A man went to the couples Joyce Court home at 11:30 a.m. on Oct. 4 and said he had to check the pipes in the basement, police said.

They allowed him inside and heard a noise upstairs while they were in the basement with him, so the elderly husband went to check on the source and found a second man in their bedroom who had taken around $400 cash.

When the resident said he was going to call police, the intruder grabbed the husband, sat him down in a chair preventing him from calling the police.

After the wife said she was calling the police, the two men fled down the road and got into a waiting black station wagon or SUV, then left the area.

Anyone with information is asked to call Milford Police at 203-878-6551 or Detective Mitch Warwick at mwarwick@ci.milford.ct.us or 203-878-4730.
A New Hampshire high school teacher has been charged with falsifying physical evidence in a drug investigation.

Diane Delisle, a special education teacher at Keene High School, is accused of having someone help her remove a cut off straw, pill grinder and a small bag of white powder from the school as police approached her Aug. 24.

Police say co-workers said they saw the 54-year-old Delisle with the items. Police said she agreed to a search of her purse, but also texted someone to remove her purse from a classroom. She guided police to her car.

Delisle turned herself in on an arrest warrant Wednesday and was released on bail.

It wasn't immediately known if she had a lawyer; a phone message was left at her home Thursday.
It's been nearly three months since 7-year-old Kyzr Willis drowned while attending a day camp in South Boston and his family is still looking for answers.

"I'm living a nightmare," said emotionally distrought mother, Melissa Willis. "I wish I could wake up and see his smiling face right there with us but hes not."

The image of her son Kyzr heading off to day camp at the Curley Community Center on a warm Tuesday morning in July is stuck in her memory.

"The last thing he said to me was, 'mommy i love you,' and I never saw him after that," Willis recalled.

Police say Kyzr was last seen near the bathhouse and accidentally drowned.

An unsigned letter from the Boston Police Departments attorneys office arrived to the Willis home saying its still an open investigation.

The letter has left the family confused.

"So an on-going investigation. How was it closed there days after my nephews demise," asked Kyzr's uncle, John Baker.

For months, the family has been desperate for answers.

"Who was watching him? Who had control of him that day," asked Willis. "Who was assigned to him?"

Boston Police have said it was an accidental drowning and the case is no longer in their hands.

City officials have said they cant comment because of its own internal investigation.
A former New Hampshire prep school student requesting a new trial on charges of sexual assault and using a computer to lure a minor says emails between him and a 15-year-old student don't support the computer charge because they never left the school's internal intranet server.

Owen Labrie is appealing his convictions, arguing they resulted from ineffective counsel during his 2015 trial. The St. Paul's School graduate was convicted as part of a game of sexual conquest called Senior Salute.

In documents submitted Tuesday, Labrie's new lawyer says his trial lawyers failed to investigate the origins of the emails forming the basis of the felony computer charge. State law says no one shall use a computer "on-line service, internet service, or local bulletin board service" to lure a minor, but not locally hosted intranet servers.
The man who was arrested after he fled police when they tried to serve him a warrant had violently beat two women before the manhunt in Sharon last month.

New York State Police said they were investigating 28-year-old Raymond Sprague, of Sharon, Connecticut, on Sept. 3 because of a domestic dispute in the town of Northeast and obtained a warrant charging him with third-degree criminal mischief, fourth-degree criminal possession of a weapon, second-degree menacing and second-degree criminal trespass.

On Sept. 28 around 8 p.m., Connecticut State Police received a report of a disturbance in Sharon. They identified Sprague as the suspect and obtained a warrant for him on assault-related charges, according to police. He was later arrested after leading police on a day-long manhunt.

According to witnesses, Sprague had become violent with two women prior to the manhunt and even encouraged his dog to attack one of the women.

The victims say they were having dinner together at one of their homes in Millerton, New York, with a mutual friend. One of the women had recently dated Sprague but their relationship ended a week before the incident. One witness said Sprague kept calling and threatening the ex-girlfriend, according to the arrest warrant.

The mutual friend had left his car at Sprague's place in Sharon, Connecticut, so they went to go pick it up. While the two women waited in the car, Sprauge came out of the house and began punching his ex-girlfriend in the face several times, the warrant said.

Sprague began punching the second woman when she tried to get him to stop attacking his ex-girlfriend. When Sprague went back to punching the ex-girlfriend, the other woman was attacked by the man's dog and dragged about 7 feet, the documents said.

The witness said she thought she was going to die and that she heard Sprauge say "Get her, get her."

After the attack, Sprague got in his pickup truck and left, the victims told police.

Sprague was charged with second-degree assault, third-degree assault, two counts of threatening and disorderly conduct.
Will future developments in the realm of Artificial Intelligence be like the wild west or a more controlled situation? The real answer is probably somewhere in the middle but the government at least would like to see more measured research and development.

The White House today issued report on future directions for AI called Preparing for the Future of Artificial Intelligence. In it, the report comes to several conclusions  some obvious and some perhaps less so. For example, it accepts that AI technologies will continue to grow in sophistication and ubiquity, thanks to AI R&D investments by government and industry.

More on Network World: +

The report also advocates for AI standards, stout cybersecurity and control over its potential impact on jobs.

This plan assumes that the impact of AI on society will continue to increase, including on employment, education, public safety, and national security, as well as the impact on U.S. economic growth. Third, it assumes that industry investment in AI will continue to grow, as recent commercial successes have increased the perceived returns on investment in R&D, the report states.

Continuing, this plan assumes that some important areas of research are unlikely to receive sufficient investment by industry, as they are subject to the typical under-investment problem surrounding public goods. Lastly, this plan assumes that the demand for AI expertise will continue to grow within industry, academia, and government, leading to public and private workforce pressures.

Some of the important aspects of the report included a number of recommendations and observations including:

Develop effective methods for human-AI collaboration: Rather than replace humans, most AI systems will collaborate with humans to achieve optimal performance. Research is needed to create effective interactions between humans and AI systems. Understand and address the ethical, legal, and societal implications of AI. We expect AI technologies to behave according to the formal and informal norms to which we hold our fellow humans. Research is needed to understand the ethical, legal, and social implications of AI, and to develop methods for designing AI systems that align with ethical, legal, and societal goals.

Ensure the safety and security of AI systems. Before AI systems are in widespread use, assurance is needed that the systems will operate safely and securely, in a controlled, well-defined, and well-understood manner. Further progress in research is needed to address this challenge of creating AI systems that are reliable, dependable, and trustworthy.

Develop shared public datasets and environments for AI training and testing. The depth, quality, and accuracy of training datasets and resources significantly affect AI performance. Researchers need to develop high quality datasets and environments and enable responsible access to high-quality datasets testing and training resources.

AI embedded in critical systems must be robust in order to handle accidents, but should also be secure to a wide range of intentional cyber-attacks. Security engineering involves understanding the vulnerabilities of a system and the actions of actors who may be interested in attacking it.

While some cybersecurity risks are specific to AI systems. For example, one key research area is adversarial machine learning that explores the degree to which AI systems can be compromised by contaminating training data, by modifying algorithms, or by making subtle changes to an object that prevent it from being correctly identified (e.g., prosthetics that spoof facial recognition systems). The implementation of AI in cybersecurity systems that require a high degree of autonomy is also an area for further study.

The development of standards must be hastened to keep pace with the rapidly evolving capabilities and expanding domains of AI applications. Standards provide requirements, specifications, guidelines, or characteristics that can be used consistently to ensure that AI technologies meet critical objectives for functionality and interoperability, and that they perform reliably and safely. Adoption of standards brings credibility to technology advancements and facilitates an expanded interoperable marketplace.

One example of an AI-relevant standard that has been developed is P1872-2015 (Standard Ontologies for Robotics and Automation), developed by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). This standard provides a systematic way of representing knowledge and a common set of terms and definitions. These allow for unambiguous knowledge transfer among humans, robots, and other artificial systems, as well as provide a foundational basis for the application of AI technologies to robotics.

While improved hardware can lead to more capable AI systems, AI systems can also improve the performance of hardware. This reciprocity will lead to further advances in hardware performance, since physical limits on computing require novel approaches to hardware designs. AI-based methods could be especially important for improving the operation of high performance computing (HPC) systems. Such systems consume vast quantities of energy. AI is being used to predict HPC performance and resource usage, and to make online optimization decisions that increase efficiency; more advanced AI techniques could further enhance system performance.

AI can also be used to create self-reconfigurable HPC systems that can handle system faults when they occur, without human intervention. Improved AI algorithms can increase the performance of multi-core systems by reducing data movements between processors and memorythe primary impediment to exascale computing systems that operate 10 times faster than todays supercomputers. In practice, the configuration of executions in HPC systems are never the same, and different applications are executed concurrently, with the state of each different software code evolving independently in time. AI algorithms need to be designed to operate online and at scale for HPC systems.

AI technologies can maximize efficient use of bandwidth and automation of information storage and retrieval. AI can improve filtering, searching, language translation, and summarization of digital communications, positively affecting commerce and the way we live our lives.

AI systems can assist scientists and engineers in reading publications and patents, refining theories to be more consistent with prior observations, generating testable hypotheses, performing experiments using robotic systems and simulations, and engineering new devices and software.

Additional work in AI standards development is needed across all subdomains of AI Standards are needed to address:

Software engineering: to manage system complexity, sustainment, security, and to monitor and control emergent behaviors; Performance: to ensure accuracy, reliability, robustness, accessibility, and scalability; Metrics: to quantify factors impacting performance and compliance to standards; Safety: to evaluate risk management and hazard analysis of systems, human computer interactions, control systems, and regulatory compliance; Usability: to ensure that interfaces and controls are effective, efficient, and intuitive; Interoperability: to define interchangeable components, data, and transaction models via standard and compatible interfaces; Security: to address the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of information,as well as cybersecurity; Privacy: to control for the protection of information while being processed, when in transit, or being stored; Traceability: to provide a record of events (their implementation, testing, and completion), and for the curation of data; and Domains: to define domain-specific standard lexicons and corresponding frameworks

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More and more American companies are realizing the benefits of having a blended workforce, where freelancers and full-time staff work together on corporate projects. In fact, 40 percent of top-performing American companies hire freelancers.

So many of these companies are putting these freelancers to work on teams with full-time employees that teamwork is one of the main qualities employers look for when engaging freelancers.

+ Also on Network World: Is outdated legislation holding back the gig economy? +

When done right, a blended workforce of full-time employees and freelance workers can make your company more creative, more productive and ultimately more successful. Yet if your company has never hired freelancers and put them to work with full-time staff, it can be difficult to know how to make the most of your blended workforce. Certain issues may arise that your company does not face when managing teams made solely of its own employees.

Here are some ways to approach hiring freelancers and incorporating them into your teams. With the right strategies, you'll have a successful blended workforce in no time.

Value your core group of employees

The blended workforce model is typically based on having a core group of traditional employees, with an outer ring of freelancers or contractors hired on a project basis.

There can be a lot of change with different freelancers coming in to help with different projects. This means stability among your core group of employees is important. Your employees have the experience and institutional memory to drive growth in your business. As a result, high turnover among your core group of employees can have a detrimental effect on your company.

Make sure your employees feel valued and appreciated. Make your workplace the one they want to be at.

Hire professional freelancers

The new freelance economy is composed of highly specialized professional freelancers. They have every skill you can imagine, from accounting to IT to project management. To serve as full members of your team, they need to be compensated for those skills. In other words, hire based on skills and pay freelancers what they're worth.

There is a proliferation of websites where you can hire cheap, gig-based, freelance labor. If you are serious about the success of your business, avoid these sites and find sources of professional, highly trained freelancers.

Your employees want to have qualified professionals on their team. Don't cut costs when you hire freelancers. You will pay more in the long run when projects take longer to complete and do not quite meet the professional standards your company requires.

Make freelancers feel like employees

It is worth the time to make your freelancers feel like part of the team. They often juggle numerous projects and clients at the same time, and they worry their clients may replace them with someone else. By establishing strong relationships with your freelancers, you can add stability to their lives and make sure they put your projects at the top of their priority list.

Give them steady work

No matter how many clients a freelancer has, they always want to know two things: that their contributions are appreciated and that they have a measure of stability. You can show them appreciation and give them some stability by giving them steady work.

This shows that you have faith in their capability to produce quality work, and it reassures them that you value their contributions and consider them part of the team.

Further, this can provide financial benefits for your company. Depending on the line of work and the freelancer, some will offer a lower rate for a higher volume of work because they are willing to take a reduced rate in return for more stability.

Give them feedback

We surveyed more than 800 freelancers and contractors for our 2016 freelancer study. More than half told us that giving and receiving feedback is valuable because they find that working dynamically with others is the best way to build their business.

Freelancers are looking to build their reputation and business. They want your feedback, and they want to improve the work they do for their clients. Speak up and offer your opinions on the work they have submitted. Further, show them its a two-way street by asking them for feedback on how your relationship could be improved.

Give them referrals

If there is a freelancer you love working with, tell others. Give them a testimonial they can put on their website or on LinkedIn. Mention their name to colleagues in other departments or other companies. Nothing will incur a freelancers loyalty like sending more business their way.

Encourage diverse opinions

One of the best things about blended teams is their diversity. As we discuss in our 2016 freelancer study, teams that accept and elevate diversity of thought and varied experience end up with the best ideas. In James Surowieckis book the Wisdom of Crowds, he wrote, Diversity and independence are important because the best collective decisions are the product of disagreement and contest, not consensus or compromise.

Blended teams are more diverse teams. Freelancers provide a fresh perspective that can inject innovation into your projects, and because they are removed from office politics, they may feel comfortable raising ideas others would not. On the other hand, full-time employees bring the necessary understanding of your brand and your customers. This is the mix you want. Together, employees and freelancers can do more creative and better work than non-blended teams.

It is exciting to see how the outdated, traditional workforce is giving way to a leaner, more innovative blended workforce, where freelancers work alongside full-time employees. This new, elastic workforce pushes boundaries and offers incredible possibilities to the companies that know how to put their employees to work with highly skilled freelancers.

Theres no time like the present. On your next project, hire a freelancer to work with your employees and see what innovation it might spark.
Letter to parents tells them to be extra vigilant as sick craze grips the nation

TRINITY School pupils have been warned of possible 'killer clown' attacks at Newbury's Michaelmas Fair.

The sick prank has sweeped across the country over the past few weeks with hundreds of reported cases.

It involves people dressing up in horrifying clown outfits, often holding a ''weapon', and scaring unsuspecting people including the elderly and young children.

There are fears that, with Halloween fast approaching, pranksters could target the fair, which opened last night and runs until Saturday.

This week, Trinity School's deputy headteacher, Brendan Hanlon said in a letter to parents: "I am writing to ask if you can be extra vigilant with your child before allowing them to visit the Fair in town this week.

"You may be aware from news coverage there is a spate of threatening behaviour from people dressed as clowns across the country with high levels of police involvement.

"We are concerned that this may become an issue at the Fair and I am sure you would agree we do not want Trinity Children becoming victims of this."

Last week Thames Valley Police issued a warning after being called out to 14 incidents involving clowns across the region in a 24-hour period.

Police say no-one has been injured in the incidents which took place across the Thames Valley area including Bracknell, Milton Keynes, Abingdon and Chesham.

Chief Supt Andy Boyd, head of neighbourhood policing, said: While we do not want to be accused of stopping people enjoying themselves we would also ask those same people to think of the impact of their behaviour on others and themselves.

Their actions can cause fear and anxiety to other people, this could be perceived to be intimidating and threatening which could lead to public order offences, arrest and a criminal record.

In addition, their behaviour is causing multiple reports to our call takers and is tying up police resources which could impact on calls to other incidents.

While we realise that reports of this kind are not restricted to the Thames Valley area, the issues of intimidation, potential arrest and waste of public resources are the same across the country and we would urge people to refrain from such activity.
By IANS

MILAN: The Roberto Cavalli fashion house announced Wednesday it is cutting 200 out of 672 jobs globally, closing some stores and its Milan offices and relocating to a manufacturing district near Florence.

"The fashion industry is going through hard times due to a significant contraction of consumption in various key markets," said chief executive Giacomo Ferraris, who was appointed last July.

"Only iconic brands with a coherent business model and efficient organisation can survive."

The firm unveiled its plans after announcing creative director Peter Dundas was leaving after three seasons.

Norwegian-born Dundas faced a tough challenge: reviving a brand considered past its prime while preserving its iconic features after founder Roberto Cavalli sold a majority stake to private equity fund Clessidra in April last year.

"The brand's stylistic team will continue designing collections during this time of transition and transformation," said Ferraris.

"We will name a new creative director in due time," he added.

Cavalli, 75, still holds a 10 percent stake in the company and remains a consultant.

MILAN: The Roberto Cavalli fashion house announced Wednesday it is cutting 200 out of 672 jobs globally, closing some stores and its Milan offices and relocating to a manufacturing district near Florence. "The fashion industry is going through hard times due to a significant contraction of consumption in various key markets," said chief executive Giacomo Ferraris, who was appointed last July. "Only iconic brands with a coherent business model and efficient organisation can survive." The firm unveiled its plans after announcing creative director Peter Dundas was leaving after three seasons. Norwegian-born Dundas faced a tough challenge: reviving a brand considered past its prime while preserving its iconic features after founder Roberto Cavalli sold a majority stake to private equity fund Clessidra in April last year. "The brand's stylistic team will continue designing collections during this time of transition and transformation," said Ferraris. "We will name a new creative director in due time," he added. Cavalli, 75, still holds a 10 percent stake in the company and remains a consultant.
ENS Economic Bureau By

Express News Service

CHENNAI: Global automobile giants Suzuki Motor Corporation (SMC) and Toyota Motor Corporation (TMC) announced their intentions to start exploring ideas that are directed towards a business partnership on Wednesday.

Osamu Suzuki, Chairman, SMC



The reason, both said in a joint statement, was the continuous and drastic change that the auto industry is going through and the resulting need for Research and Development  not just in conventional R&D but also in R&D for advanced and future technologies in fields including environment, safety, and IT.



While the nature of the partnership is not clear yet, SMC Chairman Osamu Suzuki was categorical in stating that they remain determined to manage Suzuki as an independent corporation.



Toyota was the worlds largest automobile major in terms of units sold in 2015. Suzuki is the fourth largest manufacturer in Japan and dominates the Indian market through its majority stake in Maruti Suzuki India.

The thinking behind the move is succinctly elucidated in Wednesdays statement: Suzuki has been consistently refining its technologies so as to develop vehicles with high price competitiveness. However, in the face of the advanced and future technology R&D field, Suzuki is increasingly feeling a sense of uncertainty. Although Toyota has been working on R&D in environment, safety, and information technology, Toyota is conscious of the fact that it may be behind competitors in North America and Europe when it comes to establishment of standardisations and partnership...Abdul Majeed, Partner and Auto expert, Price Waterhouse Cooper (PwC) said that such alliances are only going to increase.

Osamu Suzuki, Chairman, SMC

Companies will begin pooling their strengths and making alliances to stay relevant in an industry that is rapidly changing. They might have the money, but they do not have the time to begin research in a field that they are not strong in. As long as they are clear in what they want, this will be beneficial to both companies, he said. For Indian customers, enhanced product development and R&D strength for Suzuki is bound to filter down to more advanced technologies appearing in the Indian market. This can fast track new tech adoption in the Indian auto market. If they are clever, this can be a windfall for MSI in India, said a senior auto analyst.



Suzuki... focuses on minivehicles in Japan, and in India... Even in such countries, we have understood that there will be uncertainty in the future if we only continue to just refine our traditional automobile technologies, said Suzuki.

Mahindra arm to reach into China

Homegrown auto sector giant Mahindra Groups South Korean arm Ssangyong Motor Co announced the formation of a joint venture with Chinas Shaanxi Automobile Group in order to set up a manufacturing plant in China, the worlds largest automobile market. Ssangyong has signed a letter of intent (LOI) with Shaanxi to establish a local production plant for CBU vehicles. The proposed plant with an installed capacity of 3 lakh units annually.

Nissan recalls 932 units of redi-Go

Japanese auto major Nissan have called back 932 units of redi-Go from its Datsun brand in India to fix faulty fuel system. Launched in June 2016, the product is manufactured in Chennai. Nissans Datsun said that it is conducting a voluntary recall campaign on certain India-manufactured Datsun redi-GO vehicles. The recall will affect units manufactured up to May 18 this year, an official said.

CHENNAI: Global automobile giants Suzuki Motor Corporation (SMC) and Toyota Motor Corporation (TMC) announced their intentions to start exploring ideas that are directed towards a business partnership on Wednesday. Osamu Suzuki, Chairman, SMC The reason, both said in a joint statement, was the continuous and drastic change that the auto industry is going through and the resulting need for Research and Development  not just in conventional R&D but also in R&D for advanced and future technologies in fields including environment, safety, and IT. While the nature of the partnership is not clear yet, SMC Chairman Osamu Suzuki was categorical in stating that they remain determined to manage Suzuki as an independent corporation. Toyota was the worlds largest automobile major in terms of units sold in 2015. Suzuki is the fourth largest manufacturer in Japan and dominates the Indian market through its majority stake in Maruti Suzuki India. The thinking behind the move is succinctly elucidated in Wednesdays statement: Suzuki has been consistently refining its technologies so as to develop vehicles with high price competitiveness. However, in the face of the advanced and future technology R&D field, Suzuki is increasingly feeling a sense of uncertainty. Although Toyota has been working on R&D in environment, safety, and information technology, Toyota is conscious of the fact that it may be behind competitors in North America and Europe when it comes to establishment of standardisations and partnership...Abdul Majeed, Partner and Auto expert, Price Waterhouse Cooper (PwC) said that such alliances are only going to increase. Osamu Suzuki, Chairman, SMCCompanies will begin pooling their strengths and making alliances to stay relevant in an industry that is rapidly changing. They might have the money, but they do not have the time to begin research in a field that they are not strong in. As long as they are clear in what they want, this will be beneficial to both companies, he said. For Indian customers, enhanced product development and R&D strength for Suzuki is bound to filter down to more advanced technologies appearing in the Indian market. This can fast track new tech adoption in the Indian auto market. If they are clever, this can be a windfall for MSI in India, said a senior auto analyst. Suzuki... focuses on minivehicles in Japan, and in India... Even in such countries, we have understood that there will be uncertainty in the future if we only continue to just refine our traditional automobile technologies, said Suzuki. Mahindra arm to reach into China Homegrown auto sector giant Mahindra Groups South Korean arm Ssangyong Motor Co announced the formation of a joint venture with Chinas Shaanxi Automobile Group in order to set up a manufacturing plant in China, the worlds largest automobile market. Ssangyong has signed a letter of intent (LOI) with Shaanxi to establish a local production plant for CBU vehicles. The proposed plant with an installed capacity of 3 lakh units annually. Nissan recalls 932 units of redi-Go Japanese auto major Nissan have called back 932 units of redi-Go from its Datsun brand in India to fix faulty fuel system. Launched in June 2016, the product is manufactured in Chennai. Nissans Datsun said that it is conducting a voluntary recall campaign on certain India-manufactured Datsun redi-GO vehicles. The recall will affect units manufactured up to May 18 this year, an official said.
AP By

NEW YORK: California and federal regulators fined Wells Fargo a combined $185 million on Thursday, alleging the bank's employees illegally opened millions of unauthorized accounts for their customers in order to meet aggressive sales goals.

The San Francisco-based bank will pay $100 million to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, a federal agency created five years ago; $35 million to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and $50 million to the City and County of Los Angeles. It will also pay restitution to affected customers.

It is the largest fine the CFPB has levied against a financial institution and the largest fine in the history of the Los Angeles City Attorney's office.

The CFPB said Wells Fargo sales staff opened more than 2 million bank and credit card accounts that may have not been authorized by customers. Money in customers' accounts were transferred to these new accounts without authorization. Debit cards were issued and activated, as well as PINs created, without telling customers.

In some cases, Wells Fargo employees even created fake email addresses to sign up customers for online banking services.

"Wells Fargo built an incentive-compensation program that made it possible for its employees to pursue underhanded sales practices, and it appears that the bank did not monitor the program carefully," said CFPB Director Richard Cordray.

The behavior was widespread, the CFPB and other regulators said, involving thousands of Wells Fargo employees.

Los Angeles City Attorney Mike Feuer called Wells Fargo's behavior "outrageous" and a "major breach of trust."

"Consumers must be able to trust their banks," Feuer said.

Wells Fargo's aggressive sales tactics were first disclosed by The Los Angeles Times in an investigation in 2013 . The story series prompted the Los Angeles City Attorney office to sue Wells Fargo over its tactics.

Roughly 5,300 employees at Wells Fargo were fired in connection with this behavior, according to Los Angeles City Attorney's office.

In a statement, Wells Fargo said: "We regret and take responsibility for any instances where customers may have received a product that they did not request." Wells Fargo said they've refunded $2.6 million in fees associated with any product that was opened without authorization.

Despite the LA Times investigation, Wells Fargo is still known for having aggressive sales goals for its employees. Wells Fargo's executives highlight every quarter the bank's so-called "cross sale ratio," which is the number of products the bank sales to each of their individual customers. The ratio hovers around six, which means every customer of Wells Fargo has on average six different types of products with the bank.

NEW YORK: California and federal regulators fined Wells Fargo a combined $185 million on Thursday, alleging the bank's employees illegally opened millions of unauthorized accounts for their customers in order to meet aggressive sales goals.The San Francisco-based bank will pay $100 million to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, a federal agency created five years ago; $35 million to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and $50 million to the City and County of Los Angeles. It will also pay restitution to affected customers.It is the largest fine the CFPB has levied against a financial institution and the largest fine in the history of the Los Angeles City Attorney's office.The CFPB said Wells Fargo sales staff opened more than 2 million bank and credit card accounts that may have not been authorized by customers. Money in customers' accounts were transferred to these new accounts without authorization. Debit cards were issued and activated, as well as PINs created, without telling customers.In some cases, Wells Fargo employees even created fake email addresses to sign up customers for online banking services."Wells Fargo built an incentive-compensation program that made it possible for its employees to pursue underhanded sales practices, and it appears that the bank did not monitor the program carefully," said CFPB Director Richard Cordray.The behavior was widespread, the CFPB and other regulators said, involving thousands of Wells Fargo employees.Los Angeles City Attorney Mike Feuer called Wells Fargo's behavior "outrageous" and a "major breach of trust.""Consumers must be able to trust their banks," Feuer said.Wells Fargo's aggressive sales tactics were first disclosed by The Los Angeles Times in an investigation in 2013 . The story series prompted the Los Angeles City Attorney office to sue Wells Fargo over its tactics.Roughly 5,300 employees at Wells Fargo were fired in connection with this behavior, according to Los Angeles City Attorney's office.In a statement, Wells Fargo said: "We regret and take responsibility for any instances where customers may have received a product that they did not request." Wells Fargo said they've refunded $2.6 million in fees associated with any product that was opened without authorization.Despite the LA Times investigation, Wells Fargo is still known for having aggressive sales goals for its employees. Wells Fargo's executives highlight every quarter the bank's so-called "cross sale ratio," which is the number of products the bank sales to each of their individual customers. The ratio hovers around six, which means every customer of Wells Fargo has on average six different types of products with the bank.
By Express News Service

CHENNAI: A 48-year-old bullion dealer filed a complaint with the city police that his close business associate had cheated him, by giving him iron bars instead of five kg of gold bars and escaped with Rs 1.5 crore near Mint on Tuesday.

Police said Raghuram (48), resident of Gandhi Road, Alwarthirunagar, and Sampathkumar (54) of V V Saminathan Street, Ullagaram, were both into bullion dealing for the past 15 years and were close friends. They had availed of licence for the business, but did not have a proper office.

Recently, Sampathkumar had told Raghuram that he was in possession of five kg of (24 carat) gold which he had illegally smuggled into the country and wanted to sell it. The duo made a deal and as per the deal, Raghuram said he would purchase the gold bars for about rs1.5 crore.

Sealing the deal, the duo decided to meet at Kakada junction in Mint which would be crowded making it easier for them to clinch the deal without arousing suspicions.On Tuesday, at around 6 pm, Raghuram hired a autorickshaw and went to meet Sampathkumar with `1.5 crore packed in three bags. Minutes later Sampathkumar came with a bag claiming it contained gold bars. The duo exchanged the bags and left the scene, said a police officer.

Hardly 30 meters away, Raghuram opened the bag to find iron bars in it. He immediately rushed to the spot but his associate had escaped the scene. Attempts to reach his phone had also failed, he added. Following this, Raghuram filed a complaint with the Elephant Gate police station. A special police team has been formed to nab the suspect. The police have also lifted CCTV footage from the street which has recorded the incident.

CHENNAI: A 48-year-old bullion dealer filed a complaint with the city police that his close business associate had cheated him, by giving him iron bars instead of five kg of gold bars and escaped with Rs 1.5 crore near Mint on Tuesday. Police said Raghuram (48), resident of Gandhi Road, Alwarthirunagar, and Sampathkumar (54) of V V Saminathan Street, Ullagaram, were both into bullion dealing for the past 15 years and were close friends. They had availed of licence for the business, but did not have a proper office. Recently, Sampathkumar had told Raghuram that he was in possession of five kg of (24 carat) gold which he had illegally smuggled into the country and wanted to sell it. The duo made a deal and as per the deal, Raghuram said he would purchase the gold bars for about rs1.5 crore. Sealing the deal, the duo decided to meet at Kakada junction in Mint which would be crowded making it easier for them to clinch the deal without arousing suspicions.On Tuesday, at around 6 pm, Raghuram hired a autorickshaw and went to meet Sampathkumar with `1.5 crore packed in three bags. Minutes later Sampathkumar came with a bag claiming it contained gold bars. The duo exchanged the bags and left the scene, said a police officer. Hardly 30 meters away, Raghuram opened the bag to find iron bars in it. He immediately rushed to the spot but his associate had escaped the scene. Attempts to reach his phone had also failed, he added. Following this, Raghuram filed a complaint with the Elephant Gate police station. A special police team has been formed to nab the suspect. The police have also lifted CCTV footage from the street which has recorded the incident.
By BNS

Good looking model turned actor Rajneesh Duggal talks about his two about-to-be released films -- Beiimaan Love (with Sunny Leone) and a suspense-horror film Saansein (with TV star Sonarika Bhadoria.)

After your debut in the successful 1920 (2008), Saansein is your second true horror film ... what took you so long to return to the genre?

I got a lot of offers after 1920 and I took up a lot of suspense-thrillers but I was not finding a good script for a horror film that could match up to 1920. When director Rajiv Ruia and producer Vivek Agarwal came to me with the script of Saansein, I was really tempted as it is a very interesting subject but at the same time I was very sceptical and I told them that I am not very keen on a horror film. But when they made a few changes in the script, it became irresistible. The story went up to the level of  or maybe above  1920.

What is different about Saansein?

I cant really tell you the whole story but this film is also romantic. I play the knight in shining armour.

But recent horror films like Raaz Reboot and Alone havent worked. Why do you think that is so?

My mentor Vikram Bhatt has made Raaz Reboot and obviously I have heard a lot about it but I havent seen the film so I cannot comment on it, Saansein is unique in its story and climax so you cant really compare it to any other film. Its a full-fledged commercial film which the audience will love.

Why is it that Vikram Bhatt and you have not worked together recently? He just cast you in a song for Creature 3D.

With Vikram Bhatt I have done 1920, Phhir; and Dangerous Ishq which was with Karisma Kapoor. After that we have been talking but nothing has been finalised. With the music video I broke a barrier because before that I had never done such scenes before. I did it for him and T-series.

Have you seen Sonarika Bhadorias TV work before she was signed on for this film?

I had seen a few episodes of Devon Ke Dev Mahadev but not her work. I was just told that Sonarika has been cast and then Hiten Tejwani came on board. The cast seemed interesting.

You have another release coming up in Beiimaan Love which is your second film with Sunny Leone after Leela. How different was the shooting experience this time around?

Leela was a period film and I came in the section of the film that was set 300 years ago in the deserts of Rajasthan. So that was a different love story while Beiimaan Love is 2016s story set in Mumbai. Its a completely different feel. Working with Sunny is good. Its like working with a professional actor.

Has she improved as an actress?

I am no one to comment on that. You should ask the director about it.

Is it true that Sunny Leone is not promoting the film enough?

As of now, both Sunny and I dont have the dates to promote Beiimaan Love. She is shooting and I am at the middle of shooting Saansein. I wish that I could give more time to promote Beiimaan Love because its release date is drawing close; but I am giving it time whenever possible. This has happened because there was a date issue. This is my side of the story; I dont know what the other side is.

Good looking model turned actor Rajneesh Duggal talks about his two about-to-be released films -- Beiimaan Love (with Sunny Leone) and a suspense-horror film Saansein (with TV star Sonarika Bhadoria.) After your debut in the successful 1920 (2008), Saansein is your second true horror film ... what took you so long to return to the genre? I got a lot of offers after 1920 and I took up a lot of suspense-thrillers but I was not finding a good script for a horror film that could match up to 1920. When director Rajiv Ruia and producer Vivek Agarwal came to me with the script of Saansein, I was really tempted as it is a very interesting subject but at the same time I was very sceptical and I told them that I am not very keen on a horror film. But when they made a few changes in the script, it became irresistible. The story went up to the level of  or maybe above  1920. What is different about Saansein? I cant really tell you the whole story but this film is also romantic. I play the knight in shining armour. But recent horror films like Raaz Reboot and Alone havent worked. Why do you think that is so? My mentor Vikram Bhatt has made Raaz Reboot and obviously I have heard a lot about it but I havent seen the film so I cannot comment on it, Saansein is unique in its story and climax so you cant really compare it to any other film. Its a full-fledged commercial film which the audience will love. Why is it that Vikram Bhatt and you have not worked together recently? He just cast you in a song for Creature 3D. With Vikram Bhatt I have done 1920, Phhir; and Dangerous Ishq which was with Karisma Kapoor. After that we have been talking but nothing has been finalised. With the music video I broke a barrier because before that I had never done such scenes before. I did it for him and T-series. Have you seen Sonarika Bhadorias TV work before she was signed on for this film? I had seen a few episodes of Devon Ke Dev Mahadev but not her work. I was just told that Sonarika has been cast and then Hiten Tejwani came on board. The cast seemed interesting. You have another release coming up in Beiimaan Love which is your second film with Sunny Leone after Leela. How different was the shooting experience this time around? Leela was a period film and I came in the section of the film that was set 300 years ago in the deserts of Rajasthan. So that was a different love story while Beiimaan Love is 2016s story set in Mumbai. Its a completely different feel. Working with Sunny is good. Its like working with a professional actor. Has she improved as an actress? I am no one to comment on that. You should ask the director about it. Is it true that Sunny Leone is not promoting the film enough? As of now, both Sunny and I dont have the dates to promote Beiimaan Love. She is shooting and I am at the middle of shooting Saansein. I wish that I could give more time to promote Beiimaan Love because its release date is drawing close; but I am giving it time whenever possible. This has happened because there was a date issue. This is my side of the story; I dont know what the other side is.
By Express News Service

HYDERABAD: The winner of this years prestigious Srinivas Rayaprol Poetry Prize is Delhi-based poet Goirick Brahmachari who is also an Economics research consultant. He was chosen from among the entries sent by 150 contestants from across the country. The contest was judged by a jury consisting of the noted poet, Keki Daruwalla, and Anna Kurian and Girish Pawar of Department of English, University of Hyderabad (UoH). This award is much recognised as a significant one for creative writing in India.

The Srinivas Rayaprol Poetry Prize was instituted by the Hyderabad-based Srinivas Rayaprol Literary Trust to recognise excellence in poetry written in English by poets in the age group of 20-40 years. The winner is from Silchar, Assam. His first collection of poems, For the Love of Pork, was recently published by Les Editions du Zaporogue, Denmark. His chapbook of poems, Joining the Dots, is forthcoming from Nivasini Publishers, Hyderabad.

HYDERABAD: The winner of this years prestigious Srinivas Rayaprol Poetry Prize is Delhi-based poet Goirick Brahmachari who is also an Economics research consultant. He was chosen from among the entries sent by 150 contestants from across the country. The contest was judged by a jury consisting of the noted poet, Keki Daruwalla, and Anna Kurian and Girish Pawar of Department of English, University of Hyderabad (UoH). This award is much recognised as a significant one for creative writing in India. The Srinivas Rayaprol Poetry Prize was instituted by the Hyderabad-based Srinivas Rayaprol Literary Trust to recognise excellence in poetry written in English by poets in the age group of 20-40 years. The winner is from Silchar, Assam. His first collection of poems, For the Love of Pork, was recently published by Les Editions du Zaporogue, Denmark. His chapbook of poems, Joining the Dots, is forthcoming from Nivasini Publishers, Hyderabad.
By Express News Service

BENGALURU: Youssef Majeed practises and teaches yoga, ideally the most peaceful of pursuits. But, he does so in Lebanon and Syria and even when a war is tearing the two countries apart.

He started studying yoga in 2000. Youssef himself is a war survivor and lost mobility in his lower limbs, after he was shot at in Lebanon.

I know war, he says, I grew up around it. So, he says, he knows no fear while travelling with the Art of Living classes through these conflict-ridden regions. Youssefs next plan is to start an AoL institute in Damascus, a place from where videos and images of executions by the Islamic State or ISIS are being sent out.

Conflict does not turn people away from calming philosophies, according to him. People are willing to learn and their first questions are if it will help us relax, he says, even many highly educated people are eager students.

I have met people with extremist inclinations, he says, but I talk to them. They are curious but once they know that I am not here to change anything or anyone, they are fine with me. Some have asked me if I pray five times a day. But if they question his faith based on his yogic practice, he says that even the Prophet meditated.

But is not just Muslims who are resistant to yoga, believing it to be an extension of a religion, even Christian ask him the same questions. They ask about the religion and I explain the philosophy, he says.

Youssef worked for a while in the infamous Rhoumieh Prison in Lebanon. Here he met fears but those that the prisoners themselves carried. Some were scared to close their eyes, he says, because of what they will confront then. The fear was inside... Others were scared of showing any emotions or letting out tears. Tears or emotions are seen as signs of a weakness. If there were tears, they did not want others to see it. One prisoner told him that he didnt feel free outside and felt so inside, now that he has tried yoga. Another druggie told him that he gets a high without drugs and side-effects, and only with breathing, Youssef laughs.

The yoga teacher was offered security but he refused it after the first few sessions. The prisoners would only approach me with questions, he says. When he walked into the prison and offered to conduct the AoL course for the inmates, the prison guards head was curious. He wanted to make sure that I was not carrying anything for the prisoners, says Youssef, but he understood after a while. I even offered to take classes for the guards... they are under stress too. The AoL plans to go back to the prison with a plan for them.

I was happy teaching the prisoners but there were change of rules and they didnt allow anyone to interact with the prisoners for a few years, that is how my classes stopped, he says.

He has been teaching in Syria since 2012, a year after the country erupted in a civil war that claimed more than 2 lakh lives in bombings and shootings. Our first course was done with 20 people, he says. Since then, he has trained more than 200 people in Syria and says all the sessions end joyfully. In 2016, ten days after he returned to Lebanon from a workshop in north Syria, bombings claimed nearly 300 lives in the very neighbourhood he was in. Hospitals, parking lots, roads... all were lost, he says, but he will keep going back.

BENGALURU: Youssef Majeed practises and teaches yoga, ideally the most peaceful of pursuits. But, he does so in Lebanon and Syria and even when a war is tearing the two countries apart. He started studying yoga in 2000. Youssef himself is a war survivor and lost mobility in his lower limbs, after he was shot at in Lebanon. I know war, he says, I grew up around it. So, he says, he knows no fear while travelling with the Art of Living classes through these conflict-ridden regions. Youssefs next plan is to start an AoL institute in Damascus, a place from where videos and images of executions by the Islamic State or ISIS are being sent out. Conflict does not turn people away from calming philosophies, according to him. People are willing to learn and their first questions are if it will help us relax, he says, even many highly educated people are eager students. I have met people with extremist inclinations, he says, but I talk to them. They are curious but once they know that I am not here to change anything or anyone, they are fine with me. Some have asked me if I pray five times a day. But if they question his faith based on his yogic practice, he says that even the Prophet meditated. But is not just Muslims who are resistant to yoga, believing it to be an extension of a religion, even Christian ask him the same questions. They ask about the religion and I explain the philosophy, he says. Youssef worked for a while in the infamous Rhoumieh Prison in Lebanon. Here he met fears but those that the prisoners themselves carried. Some were scared to close their eyes, he says, because of what they will confront then. The fear was inside... Others were scared of showing any emotions or letting out tears. Tears or emotions are seen as signs of a weakness. If there were tears, they did not want others to see it. One prisoner told him that he didnt feel free outside and felt so inside, now that he has tried yoga. Another druggie told him that he gets a high without drugs and side-effects, and only with breathing, Youssef laughs. The yoga teacher was offered security but he refused it after the first few sessions. The prisoners would only approach me with questions, he says. When he walked into the prison and offered to conduct the AoL course for the inmates, the prison guards head was curious. He wanted to make sure that I was not carrying anything for the prisoners, says Youssef, but he understood after a while. I even offered to take classes for the guards... they are under stress too. The AoL plans to go back to the prison with a plan for them. I was happy teaching the prisoners but there were change of rules and they didnt allow anyone to interact with the prisoners for a few years, that is how my classes stopped, he says. He has been teaching in Syria since 2012, a year after the country erupted in a civil war that claimed more than 2 lakh lives in bombings and shootings. Our first course was done with 20 people, he says. Since then, he has trained more than 200 people in Syria and says all the sessions end joyfully. In 2016, ten days after he returned to Lebanon from a workshop in north Syria, bombings claimed nearly 300 lives in the very neighbourhood he was in. Hospitals, parking lots, roads... all were lost, he says, but he will keep going back.
By Express News Service

KOLKATA: In yet another incident of kangaroo courts taking the law into their hands, a Shalishi Sabha, the Bengal equivalent of Haryanas Khap panchayats, ordered a husband to cut his wife's hair as punishment for alleged adultery in Murshidabad district.

The 32-year-old woman was accused of having an extra-marital affair by the the Shalishi Sabha of Chandpur village situated in Nowda Police Station limits and was asked to pay, along with her husband, Rs 6,000 to the Shalishi Sabha as the cost of honour.

The couple could raise Rs 1,000 and pleaded with the Shalishi Sabha to waive the remainder. However, the kangaroo court refused to budge and demanded that the husband has to cut off the hair of his wife instead. The Sabha was convened again on Sunday and the husband was forced to carry out the punishmen in full public glare, a source said.

The woman lodged a complaint against seven members of the Shalishi Sabha at the Nowda police station. We nabbed two of the accused, Imadul Sheikh and Liton Sheikh, an officer of the police

station told New Indian Express. The other five are at large.

The Shalishi Sabhas of West Bengal are non-religious institutions that in previous instances handed out extra-judicial punishments such as rape, lynching and naked parading of women.

KOLKATA: In yet another incident of kangaroo courts taking the law into their hands, a Shalishi Sabha, the Bengal equivalent of Haryanas Khap panchayats, ordered a husband to cut his wife's hair as punishment for alleged adultery in Murshidabad district. The 32-year-old woman was accused of having an extra-marital affair by the the Shalishi Sabha of Chandpur village situated in Nowda Police Station limits and was asked to pay, along with her husband, Rs 6,000 to the Shalishi Sabha as the cost of honour. The couple could raise Rs 1,000 and pleaded with the Shalishi Sabha to waive the remainder. However, the kangaroo court refused to budge and demanded that the husband has to cut off the hair of his wife instead. The Sabha was convened again on Sunday and the husband was forced to carry out the punishmen in full public glare, a source said. The woman lodged a complaint against seven members of the Shalishi Sabha at the Nowda police station. We nabbed two of the accused, Imadul Sheikh and Liton Sheikh, an officer of the police station told New Indian Express. The other five are at large. The Shalishi Sabhas of West Bengal are non-religious institutions that in previous instances handed out extra-judicial punishments such as rape, lynching and naked parading of women.
By Express News Service

NEW DELHI: Even as India dithers to give dates for Prime Minister Narendra Modis proposed visit to Israel, Minister of External Affairs MJ Akbar will be visiting Palestine next month.

Akbar will be traveling to Palestine on November 8-9 to co-chair the first Joint Commission Meeting between India and Palestine. The visit is part of the greater outreach policy of India towards the Middle East region. India has been using its economic leverage and its large Muslim population for strategic objectives, like undermining Pakistans clout in the region.

The decision to organise this Joint Commission was taken in January 2016. It would cover a range of issues that include cooperation in Economy, Energy, Tourism, Agriculture, Water and Environment, Education, Health, IT, Sports, Culture, Media etc.

Last year, Narendra Modi-led government had indicated that it will be steering its foreign policy in the Middle East from neutrality towards courting Israel more openly as it showed interest that he will soon become the first Indian Prime Minister ever to visit the Jewish nation state. This was a major departure from Indias careful balancing that included an in-principle stand that supported statehood to Palestine and at the same time extended a hand of friendship with Tel Aviv. While India was one of the first countries to recognise Israel in 1950, it was also the first non-Arab state to recognize Palestine in 1988.

Prime Minister Modi signaled that it will be pursuing its ties with one of its biggest defence partners with vigour as he met Prime Minister Netanyahu at the margins of the UN, instead of meeting Palestinian President. The meeting was followed up with another meeting with Israeli President Shimon Peres in Singapore. However, the initial enthusiasm turned into a cautious approach towards Israel as President Pranab Mukherjee represented New Delhi in Tel Aviv. Watchers of the triad of India-Israel-Palestine the development as India would not want to rile its Middle-Eastern allies by ignoring Palestinian interests completely.

NEW DELHI: Even as India dithers to give dates for Prime Minister Narendra Modis proposed visit to Israel, Minister of External Affairs MJ Akbar will be visiting Palestine next month. Akbar will be traveling to Palestine on November 8-9 to co-chair the first Joint Commission Meeting between India and Palestine. The visit is part of the greater outreach policy of India towards the Middle East region. India has been using its economic leverage and its large Muslim population for strategic objectives, like undermining Pakistans clout in the region. The decision to organise this Joint Commission was taken in January 2016. It would cover a range of issues that include cooperation in Economy, Energy, Tourism, Agriculture, Water and Environment, Education, Health, IT, Sports, Culture, Media etc. Last year, Narendra Modi-led government had indicated that it will be steering its foreign policy in the Middle East from neutrality towards courting Israel more openly as it showed interest that he will soon become the first Indian Prime Minister ever to visit the Jewish nation state. This was a major departure from Indias careful balancing that included an in-principle stand that supported statehood to Palestine and at the same time extended a hand of friendship with Tel Aviv. While India was one of the first countries to recognise Israel in 1950, it was also the first non-Arab state to recognize Palestine in 1988. Prime Minister Modi signaled that it will be pursuing its ties with one of its biggest defence partners with vigour as he met Prime Minister Netanyahu at the margins of the UN, instead of meeting Palestinian President. The meeting was followed up with another meeting with Israeli President Shimon Peres in Singapore. However, the initial enthusiasm turned into a cautious approach towards Israel as President Pranab Mukherjee represented New Delhi in Tel Aviv. Watchers of the triad of India-Israel-Palestine the development as India would not want to rile its Middle-Eastern allies by ignoring Palestinian interests completely.
Express News Service

CHANDIGARH: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) today registered three cases relating to the violence that flared up during the Jat agitation in Haryana in February this year.

Two of the cases pertain to violence and arson at the residence of Haryana finance minister Capt Abhimanyu in Rohtak on February 19. The third relates to looting of weapons from a company of the BSF and

Haryana Police personnel and an attempt to murder them by thousands of armed rioters while the security men were posted to law-and-order duties along the Delhi bypass road in Rohtak.

The CBI took over the investigation of the cases upon a request by the Haryana government.

A large number of persons were injured -- some of them grievously -- in these attacks. It was alleged that property worth crores of rupees was burnt and weapons carried by the security personnel were looted by Jat agitators who were demanding reservation in Haryana.

Rohtak was the epicentre of the agitation in which over 30 people lost their lives and property worth hundreds of crores was destroyed.

Last month, the Haryana government recommended a CBI probe into the Jat violence. The Union government was requested to probe vandalism of public property, including the residence of an inspector-general of police, besides the house of Capt Abhimanyu and other government buildings.

CHANDIGARH: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) today registered three cases relating to the violence that flared up during the Jat agitation in Haryana in February this year. Two of the cases pertain to violence and arson at the residence of Haryana finance minister Capt Abhimanyu in Rohtak on February 19. The third relates to looting of weapons from a company of the BSF and Haryana Police personnel and an attempt to murder them by thousands of armed rioters while the security men were posted to law-and-order duties along the Delhi bypass road in Rohtak. The CBI took over the investigation of the cases upon a request by the Haryana government. A large number of persons were injured -- some of them grievously -- in these attacks. It was alleged that property worth crores of rupees was burnt and weapons carried by the security personnel were looted by Jat agitators who were demanding reservation in Haryana. Rohtak was the epicentre of the agitation in which over 30 people lost their lives and property worth hundreds of crores was destroyed. Last month, the Haryana government recommended a CBI probe into the Jat violence. The Union government was requested to probe vandalism of public property, including the residence of an inspector-general of police, besides the house of Capt Abhimanyu and other government buildings.
By Express News Service

NEW DELHI: In a bid to replace the Armys ageing chopper fleet, the lifeline for soldiers deployed in high-altitude areas, India and Russia are all set to seal a deal to manufacture 200 Kamov 226T helicopters in India.

According to defence sources, the deal worth nearly $1 billion is likely to be signed on the sidelines of the BRICS 2016 Summit in Goa on October 14-16.

According to a statement by Rostec State Corporation, an umbrella organisation of about 700 Russian firms founded in 2007 to promote the development, production and export of high-tech industrial products for civil and military purposes, The complex agreement to set up a joint production facility of Ka-226T helicopters is expected to be signed at the BRICS forum.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during his December 2015 visit to Moscow, signed a preliminary contract to replace the ageing Cheetah and Chetak light utility helicopters. A variety of negotiations on the expansion of the military, including technical cooperation and fortification of trade relations with India, will be held. In 2012, the Army headquarters had written a letter to the office of then defence minister A K Antony, in which it highlighted that some of the obsolete issues dogging the fleet were component failures, low reliability, accidents and increased structural failures.

The Army went on to say that the Cheetah/Chetak helicopters had vitually become death traps. According to an official, as many as 12 pilots lost their life in Cheetah helicopter crashes in the recent past. There are about 250 Cheetahs/Chetaks in service at present with the Army aviation corps. The airframe life of the light-utility helicopter is about 4,500 hours, but most of the Cheetahs that the Army has have logged over 6,000 flying hours.

NEW DELHI: In a bid to replace the Armys ageing chopper fleet, the lifeline for soldiers deployed in high-altitude areas, India and Russia are all set to seal a deal to manufacture 200 Kamov 226T helicopters in India. According to defence sources, the deal worth nearly $1 billion is likely to be signed on the sidelines of the BRICS 2016 Summit in Goa on October 14-16. According to a statement by Rostec State Corporation, an umbrella organisation of about 700 Russian firms founded in 2007 to promote the development, production and export of high-tech industrial products for civil and military purposes, The complex agreement to set up a joint production facility of Ka-226T helicopters is expected to be signed at the BRICS forum. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during his December 2015 visit to Moscow, signed a preliminary contract to replace the ageing Cheetah and Chetak light utility helicopters. A variety of negotiations on the expansion of the military, including technical cooperation and fortification of trade relations with India, will be held. In 2012, the Army headquarters had written a letter to the office of then defence minister A K Antony, in which it highlighted that some of the obsolete issues dogging the fleet were component failures, low reliability, accidents and increased structural failures. The Army went on to say that the Cheetah/Chetak helicopters had vitually become death traps. According to an official, as many as 12 pilots lost their life in Cheetah helicopter crashes in the recent past. There are about 250 Cheetahs/Chetaks in service at present with the Army aviation corps. The airframe life of the light-utility helicopter is about 4,500 hours, but most of the Cheetahs that the Army has have logged over 6,000 flying hours.
Harpreet Bajwa By

Express News Service

CHANDIGARH: Liquor gangland warfare has claimed another victim in Punjab with the murder of a 29-year-old property dealer in Jalandhar.

Sources said Munish Luthra was attacked at his shop, allegedly by operatives of the liquor mafia, at about 11.30 pm last night. He ran to save his life but was chased and stabbed repeatedly. He was rushed to the Civil Hospital in Jalandhar and from there to Johl Hospital, but succumbed to his injuries early today.

This was the second liquor-related killing reported in the poll-bound state in the last two days. Yesterday, the state was shocked to learn of the gruesome torture and murder of a 20-year-old Dalit youngster in Mansa district of Punjab. His captors, allegedly liquor trade operatives, amputated one of his limbs before killing him.

Munish Luthra was to marry next month. The anticipation of a celebration turned into mourning at his house in Janak Nagar in the Basti Sheikh area of Jalandhar.

Sources said Luthra had objected to the open sale of illicit liquor and harassment of women in the locality, thus falling foul of the liuquor mafia.

A case of murder has been registered by the Jalandhar police. Luthra's parents are said to have told the police that they suspect the role of three men in the killing.

CHANDIGARH: Liquor gangland warfare has claimed another victim in Punjab with the murder of a 29-year-old property dealer in Jalandhar. Sources said Munish Luthra was attacked at his shop, allegedly by operatives of the liquor mafia, at about 11.30 pm last night. He ran to save his life but was chased and stabbed repeatedly. He was rushed to the Civil Hospital in Jalandhar and from there to Johl Hospital, but succumbed to his injuries early today. This was the second liquor-related killing reported in the poll-bound state in the last two days. Yesterday, the state was shocked to learn of the gruesome torture and murder of a 20-year-old Dalit youngster in Mansa district of Punjab. His captors, allegedly liquor trade operatives, amputated one of his limbs before killing him. Munish Luthra was to marry next month. The anticipation of a celebration turned into mourning at his house in Janak Nagar in the Basti Sheikh area of Jalandhar. Sources said Luthra had objected to the open sale of illicit liquor and harassment of women in the locality, thus falling foul of the liuquor mafia. A case of murder has been registered by the Jalandhar police. Luthra's parents are said to have told the police that they suspect the role of three men in the killing.
Abhijit Mulye By

Express News Service

MUMBAI: While rejecting the claims that the Army had carried out surgical strikes in the past as well, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar on Wednesday said the credit for the latest cross-border raids did go to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the government, provoking a counter-offensive from the Congress.

The previous cross-border operations were undertaken by BSF teams at the local level without the knowledge of the government, the minister said. People who claim of earlier surgical strikes might have been referring to localised actions by BSF commanders. In my knowledge as a defence minister, there had never been such a decision at the governments level, he said.

I dont mind sharing credit, including on surgical strike, with every countryman because it is done by our armed forces and not by any political party. So all Indians, including, those doubting Thomases, can share the credit, he said.Pakistan was given several opportunities to build relations. But, the response was not forthcoming. It had turned into a predictable pattern which has been broken by the surgical strikes, he said, adding the major impact the surgical strikes had made is on the psyche of the enemy.

While describing the challenges he faced as defence minister, he blamed his predecessor A K Antony, without naming him, for the delay in the procurement of defence equipment, including the Rafael aircraft.

Parrikars remarks drew stinging criticism from the Congress, which called them misleading and said by rejecting the claim that such strikes had taken place in the past, the minister had undermined the sacrifices made by the Army. Operation Ginger in 2011 was a large-scale surgical strike.

Why is Manohar Parrikar quiet on armys valour? Is (it) not blatant politicisation? Congress spokespersonRandeep Surjewala asked and demanded an apology from the minister. Converting national security into an event management exercise to polish the image of Prime Minister Narendra Modi is extremely unfortunate, he said.If the Army deserves full credit, why are avengers of Uri posters depicting Modiji as Lord Rama being plastered in poll-bound states? Surjewala said.He said the RSS and BJP chief Amit Shah had publicly stated that surgical strikes would be their key electoral theme.

He also attacked the minister over the alleged move to reduce the disability pensions of soldiers. The ultimate political hypocrisy; post surgical strike, Modi Sarkar cut disability pensions for combat injury to half. (With PTI)

MUMBAI: While rejecting the claims that the Army had carried out surgical strikes in the past as well, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar on Wednesday said the credit for the latest cross-border raids did go to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the government, provoking a counter-offensive from the Congress. The previous cross-border operations were undertaken by BSF teams at the local level without the knowledge of the government, the minister said. People who claim of earlier surgical strikes might have been referring to localised actions by BSF commanders. In my knowledge as a defence minister, there had never been such a decision at the governments level, he said. I dont mind sharing credit, including on surgical strike, with every countryman because it is done by our armed forces and not by any political party. So all Indians, including, those doubting Thomases, can share the credit, he said.Pakistan was given several opportunities to build relations. But, the response was not forthcoming. It had turned into a predictable pattern which has been broken by the surgical strikes, he said, adding the major impact the surgical strikes had made is on the psyche of the enemy. While describing the challenges he faced as defence minister, he blamed his predecessor A K Antony, without naming him, for the delay in the procurement of defence equipment, including the Rafael aircraft. Parrikars remarks drew stinging criticism from the Congress, which called them misleading and said by rejecting the claim that such strikes had taken place in the past, the minister had undermined the sacrifices made by the Army. Operation Ginger in 2011 was a large-scale surgical strike. Why is Manohar Parrikar quiet on armys valour? Is (it) not blatant politicisation? Congress spokespersonRandeep Surjewala asked and demanded an apology from the minister. Converting national security into an event management exercise to polish the image of Prime Minister Narendra Modi is extremely unfortunate, he said.If the Army deserves full credit, why are avengers of Uri posters depicting Modiji as Lord Rama being plastered in poll-bound states? Surjewala said.He said the RSS and BJP chief Amit Shah had publicly stated that surgical strikes would be their key electoral theme. He also attacked the minister over the alleged move to reduce the disability pensions of soldiers. The ultimate political hypocrisy; post surgical strike, Modi Sarkar cut disability pensions for combat injury to half. (With PTI)
By ANI

NEW DELHI: Aiming to reduce travel time significantly, the Indian Railways will ink a pact with Germany for running high-speed trains in the country.

Accompanied by a high-ranking delegation, German Minister for Transport and Digital Infrastructure, Alexander Dobrindt would be meeting Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu.

As per a senior Railway Ministry official, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) will be signed between the two countries for bilateral cooperation in the rail sector.

Dobrindt is visiting India from October 12 to 15. According to railways, it is a follow-up to Prabhu's visit to Germany in April.

The German minister will hold talks with the Railway Minister in Rail Bhavan. Both ministers will focus on deepening collaboration and strengthening ties in the field of railways and high-speed trains.

After the meeting, the MoU will be signed between Indian Railways and DB Engineering and Consulting GmbH.

NEW DELHI: Aiming to reduce travel time significantly, the Indian Railways will ink a pact with Germany for running high-speed trains in the country. Accompanied by a high-ranking delegation, German Minister for Transport and Digital Infrastructure, Alexander Dobrindt would be meeting Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu. As per a senior Railway Ministry official, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) will be signed between the two countries for bilateral cooperation in the rail sector. Dobrindt is visiting India from October 12 to 15. According to railways, it is a follow-up to Prabhu's visit to Germany in April. The German minister will hold talks with the Railway Minister in Rail Bhavan. Both ministers will focus on deepening collaboration and strengthening ties in the field of railways and high-speed trains. After the meeting, the MoU will be signed between Indian Railways and DB Engineering and Consulting GmbH.
By Express News Service

NEW DELHI: Amidst growing tension between India and Pakistan along the western border, New Delhi is expected to sign over $5-billion agreement on Saturday with Russia for five S-400 surface-to-air missile systems to give boost to countrys air defence.

According to defence sources, an agreement in this regard will be finalised on the sidelines of the BRICS summit in Goa, where Prime Minister Narendra Modi will meet Russian President Vladmir Putin. The development assumes significance on the backdrop of Russias recent joint military exercise with Pakistan.

Defence Ministrys top acquisition body headed by minister Manohar Parrikar in December last year had given its nod to Indian Air Forces ambitious project to buy Russian-built S-400 Triumf surface to air missile system to fill holes in its fledgling air defence due to ageing air protection and patchy radar coverage. S400 Triumf will be second costliest deal after 36 Rafale fighter jets, which India inked with France last month.

Only US, Russia and China has such capability to neutralise aerial strike of multiple targets, including ballistic missiles and stealth aircraft from a distance.Officials claim that estimated cost of five units of S-400 Triumf is over $6 billion but eventually the figure will come close to $8 billion along with associated equipment and missiles from Russia. The S 400 is a unique system that incorporates four types of missiles. Carried on mobile launchers, these missiles engage targets at the following ranges  120 km, 200 km, 250 km and 380 km. It can engage multiple targets up to a range of 400 km.

NEW DELHI: Amidst growing tension between India and Pakistan along the western border, New Delhi is expected to sign over $5-billion agreement on Saturday with Russia for five S-400 surface-to-air missile systems to give boost to countrys air defence. According to defence sources, an agreement in this regard will be finalised on the sidelines of the BRICS summit in Goa, where Prime Minister Narendra Modi will meet Russian President Vladmir Putin. The development assumes significance on the backdrop of Russias recent joint military exercise with Pakistan. Defence Ministrys top acquisition body headed by minister Manohar Parrikar in December last year had given its nod to Indian Air Forces ambitious project to buy Russian-built S-400 Triumf surface to air missile system to fill holes in its fledgling air defence due to ageing air protection and patchy radar coverage. S400 Triumf will be second costliest deal after 36 Rafale fighter jets, which India inked with France last month. Only US, Russia and China has such capability to neutralise aerial strike of multiple targets, including ballistic missiles and stealth aircraft from a distance.Officials claim that estimated cost of five units of S-400 Triumf is over $6 billion but eventually the figure will come close to $8 billion along with associated equipment and missiles from Russia. The S 400 is a unique system that incorporates four types of missiles. Carried on mobile launchers, these missiles engage targets at the following ranges  120 km, 200 km, 250 km and 380 km. It can engage multiple targets up to a range of 400 km.
By Express News Service

NEW DELHI: The Law Commissions decision to invite views on the contentious Uniform Civil Code drew criticism from the All India Muslim Personal Law Board and other Islamic outfits. Accusing the Modi government of waging a war against the community, the leaders said they would boycott the call for views. Forcible uniform civil practice is a threat to national security, the board said. Defending governments move, BJP national secretary Sidharth Nath Singh said the Law Commission is taking opinion of all the stakeholders on the issue following which it will form a considered opinion and give it to the Supreme Court.

Now it is for the Muslim Personal Law Board to consider whether they want to be part of the stakeholders or they want to be an individual entity. If the personal law board people are misinformed, I cannot do much about it, Singh said. Sidharth Nath Singh also pointed out that Islamic nations like Turkey, Iran and Indonesia had changed their laws to ensure gender equality and that it was a move towards building a progressive society.

However, opposition parties are using this opportunity to target the BJP-led government of trying to polarise the people ahead of Assembly polls in several states, including the key battle ground of Uttar Pradesh. Speaking at a joint media briefing here in capital, the AIMPLB members and representatives of Muslim organisations contended the UCC, if implemented, will paint all people in one colour which will threaten the countrys pluralism and diversity. Muslim organizations criticized governments stand on the issue of triple talaq by claiming that the community had reported lesser number of divorce cases compared to other communities, especially the Hindu community. The Board members, however, admitted there were flaws in the Muslim personal laws and they were being addressed.

NEW DELHI: The Law Commissions decision to invite views on the contentious Uniform Civil Code drew criticism from the All India Muslim Personal Law Board and other Islamic outfits. Accusing the Modi government of waging a war against the community, the leaders said they would boycott the call for views. Forcible uniform civil practice is a threat to national security, the board said. Defending governments move, BJP national secretary Sidharth Nath Singh said the Law Commission is taking opinion of all the stakeholders on the issue following which it will form a considered opinion and give it to the Supreme Court. Now it is for the Muslim Personal Law Board to consider whether they want to be part of the stakeholders or they want to be an individual entity. If the personal law board people are misinformed, I cannot do much about it, Singh said. Sidharth Nath Singh also pointed out that Islamic nations like Turkey, Iran and Indonesia had changed their laws to ensure gender equality and that it was a move towards building a progressive society. However, opposition parties are using this opportunity to target the BJP-led government of trying to polarise the people ahead of Assembly polls in several states, including the key battle ground of Uttar Pradesh. Speaking at a joint media briefing here in capital, the AIMPLB members and representatives of Muslim organisations contended the UCC, if implemented, will paint all people in one colour which will threaten the countrys pluralism and diversity. Muslim organizations criticized governments stand on the issue of triple talaq by claiming that the community had reported lesser number of divorce cases compared to other communities, especially the Hindu community. The Board members, however, admitted there were flaws in the Muslim personal laws and they were being addressed.
By Express News Service

MUMBAI: Eight more Shiv Sena activists have been arrested in connection with the assault on BJP MP Kirit Somaiya and other party workers at suburban Mulund in Mumbai, police said on Thursday. So far, 13 people have been arrested in connection with the case.

Meanwhile, Somaiya alleged that Shiv Sainiks tried to kill him and wrote to Mumbai Police Commissioner asking him to unravel the plot. The assault took place in suburban Mulund after Sena workers allegedly disrupted a programme organised by Somaiya wherein an effigy of corruption mafia in MCGM was to be burnt to mark the festival of Dussehra.

The Sena activists objected to the effigy burning as they are in power in Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM) and tried to stop the programme.Three persons, including a woman, were injured in the clash between the workers of the two alliance partners.

As the program got over and most of the people had left the site, Shiv Sena workers arrived in buses, stormed into the venue and assaulted participants, including women. I was whisked away from the site. This was nothing else but an attempt to kill me, Somaiya said.

Meanwhile, the Shiv Sena taunted the BJP saying that the friends who shared power with us in the Corporation for 20 years are finding faults in the conduct where even the diehard opponents like the Congress didnt find anything in 15 years. However, Shiv Sena spokesperson Dr. Neelam Gorhe just brushed aside the charges saying that they are laughable. Somaiya has a habit of levelling pompous allegations. Hardly anyone takes him seriously, she said.

In the backdrop of Prime Minister Narendra Modis Dussehra rally in Lucknow, the Shiv Sena said the celebration of the festival in Uttar Pradesh was an attempt by the BJP to consolidate votes in the name of Ram temple for the forthcoming Assembly elections. At the same time, the ruling alliance partner sought to know what prevents BJP from making use of its absolute majority in the Lok Sabha to start contruction of the temple in Ayodhya. Dont just engage in sloganeering but start construction of the temple and the Shiv Sena will help you, because it was the Sena which had brought down the dome of the Babri Masjid,an editorial in Saamana said.

MUMBAI: Eight more Shiv Sena activists have been arrested in connection with the assault on BJP MP Kirit Somaiya and other party workers at suburban Mulund in Mumbai, police said on Thursday. So far, 13 people have been arrested in connection with the case. Meanwhile, Somaiya alleged that Shiv Sainiks tried to kill him and wrote to Mumbai Police Commissioner asking him to unravel the plot. The assault took place in suburban Mulund after Sena workers allegedly disrupted a programme organised by Somaiya wherein an effigy of corruption mafia in MCGM was to be burnt to mark the festival of Dussehra. The Sena activists objected to the effigy burning as they are in power in Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM) and tried to stop the programme.Three persons, including a woman, were injured in the clash between the workers of the two alliance partners. As the program got over and most of the people had left the site, Shiv Sena workers arrived in buses, stormed into the venue and assaulted participants, including women. I was whisked away from the site. This was nothing else but an attempt to kill me, Somaiya said. Meanwhile, the Shiv Sena taunted the BJP saying that the friends who shared power with us in the Corporation for 20 years are finding faults in the conduct where even the diehard opponents like the Congress didnt find anything in 15 years. However, Shiv Sena spokesperson Dr. Neelam Gorhe just brushed aside the charges saying that they are laughable. Somaiya has a habit of levelling pompous allegations. Hardly anyone takes him seriously, she said. In the backdrop of Prime Minister Narendra Modis Dussehra rally in Lucknow, the Shiv Sena said the celebration of the festival in Uttar Pradesh was an attempt by the BJP to consolidate votes in the name of Ram temple for the forthcoming Assembly elections. At the same time, the ruling alliance partner sought to know what prevents BJP from making use of its absolute majority in the Lok Sabha to start contruction of the temple in Ayodhya. Dont just engage in sloganeering but start construction of the temple and the Shiv Sena will help you, because it was the Sena which had brought down the dome of the Babri Masjid,an editorial in Saamana said.
Gayathri Gopakumar By

Express News Service

CHENNAI: Surgical strikes has become a much used and abused phrase in India today. While ruling politicians and social media went into raptures following the curt announcement by the Director General of Military Operations on September 29 that India had conducted a strike on terrorist launch pads in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir just 10 days after the attack on the Uri Army base, the Opposition felt that it was a devious move to garner public support for the ruling party.

But what exactly is a surgical strike? And how is it different from a covert operation, or an attack? Lieutenant General Jiti Bajwa, former Director-General, Infantry, and the editor of the Indian Defence Review, explains, The differentiation between the different styles of attack is quite clear. A strike  which distinctly differs from an attack  can be compared to a blow of a hammer. Its a momentary operation which is quickly withdrawn, however, leaving behind a strong impact.

On the other hand, an attack is a prolonged affair. In military terms, a surgical strike has a specific legitimate military target causing none or least collateral damage. Executed by air or using artillery, a surgical strike becomes a covert operation when it is carried out under cover. Any decision pertaining to a surgical attack is taken by the government as it has a direct impact on the security of the nation, he added.

He adds that it is widely considered as a pre-emptive strike  one that is carried out to defend the nation from adversaries (in this case, terrorists from Pakistan-occupied Kashmir). From the Chinese perspective, the 1962 war on China is a classic example of a pre-emptive strike. According to Lieutenant General Bajwa, Indian Intelligence is just a step away from the likes of United States and Israel with the existing exemplary standards of intelligence gathering and multiple verification. It is disappointing when the efforts of intelligence agencies are ignored in the euphoria over the strike.

But could the same mission have been accomplished without a surgical option  say by using cross-border artillery rockets or shelling from air? Highly unlikely and definitely not worth the risk. Our target was the terrorists  not Pakistan army, not civilians. Shelling or using artillery runs the risk of hitting civilians or the Pakistan army, owing to the fact that most terrorist launchpads are located in the thick of civilian habitats, he concluded.

CHENNAI: Surgical strikes has become a much used and abused phrase in India today. While ruling politicians and social media went into raptures following the curt announcement by the Director General of Military Operations on September 29 that India had conducted a strike on terrorist launch pads in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir just 10 days after the attack on the Uri Army base, the Opposition felt that it was a devious move to garner public support for the ruling party. But what exactly is a surgical strike? And how is it different from a covert operation, or an attack? Lieutenant General Jiti Bajwa, former Director-General, Infantry, and the editor of the Indian Defence Review, explains, The differentiation between the different styles of attack is quite clear. A strike  which distinctly differs from an attack  can be compared to a blow of a hammer. Its a momentary operation which is quickly withdrawn, however, leaving behind a strong impact. On the other hand, an attack is a prolonged affair. In military terms, a surgical strike has a specific legitimate military target causing none or least collateral damage. Executed by air or using artillery, a surgical strike becomes a covert operation when it is carried out under cover. Any decision pertaining to a surgical attack is taken by the government as it has a direct impact on the security of the nation, he added. He adds that it is widely considered as a pre-emptive strike  one that is carried out to defend the nation from adversaries (in this case, terrorists from Pakistan-occupied Kashmir). From the Chinese perspective, the 1962 war on China is a classic example of a pre-emptive strike. According to Lieutenant General Bajwa, Indian Intelligence is just a step away from the likes of United States and Israel with the existing exemplary standards of intelligence gathering and multiple verification. It is disappointing when the efforts of intelligence agencies are ignored in the euphoria over the strike. But could the same mission have been accomplished without a surgical option  say by using cross-border artillery rockets or shelling from air? Highly unlikely and definitely not worth the risk. Our target was the terrorists  not Pakistan army, not civilians. Shelling or using artillery runs the risk of hitting civilians or the Pakistan army, owing to the fact that most terrorist launchpads are located in the thick of civilian habitats, he concluded.
Michel Danino By

Studies of Indias ancient scientific accomplishments have seen two extremes: At one end of the spectrum, daydreamers fancy that the Vedas knew everything from electricity to interplanetary travel, that vimanas crisscrossed Indian skies millenniums ago, or that Aryabhata invented all mathematics. At the other end, gainsayers bristle at the thought that some science might not have emerged from the Greek miracle: Indian scientific advances can only be borrowed or derivative, its imperfections and errors alone being original contributions, while its rational elements ultimately stem from contact with the Greeks; Indian savants knew no experimental science, followed no proper axiomatic method, and in any case ended up in stagnation, while Europe galloped forth triumphantly and gave us the boon of modern science.

With minor variations and boring predictability, the two scenarios are repeated decade after decade, while serious scholars  both Indian and Western  quietly and patiently generate solid material which, in a normal (rational?) world, should suffice to dismiss dreamers and gainsayers alike to the obscurity they deserve. Indeed, ridiculing the former is easy, and occasionally needs to be done. Exposing the latter, however, is less commonly done, as they often conceal their biases or ignorance behind academic posts and imposing jargon.

A recent case in point is Meera Nanda, who has been for some years on a self-appointed mission to expose all claims to knowledge by (let us lump them together, as she does) Hindu enthusiasts, nationalists, right-wingers or Hindutva activists. Her latest contribution, Hindutvas science envy (Frontline, August 31), blames in a vast sweep the current crop of Hindu nationalists and their intellectual enablers for being the progeny of thinkers like Bankimchandra Chattopadhyaya, Vivekananda, Dayananda Saraswati, Annie Besant (and fellow Theosophists), Sarvepalli Radhakrishanan, M.S. Golwalkar and countless other gurus, philosophers and propagandists  doubtless a most despicable crowd!

I will not deal with Nandas personal attacks on past and present figures, but will confine myself to discussing the considerable distortions in her two case studies of Indian mathematics: the case for early Indian knowledge of the Pythagoras theorem, and Indias claim to be the birthplace of the sunya, or zero.

The Pythagoras Theorem

Nanda attacks the view that Baudhayanas Shulbasutras, a text of geometry for the construction of fire altars, which she dates anywhere between 800 and 200 bce, knew the Pythagoras theorem (on right-angled triangles) before the Greek savant himself. Thus, Nanda informs us, Pythagoras comes in for a lot of abuse in India. But this view is not that of hot-headed enthusiasts; it was stated as early as in 1822 by the British astronomer John Playfair (On the Astronomy of the Brahmins): It is curious to find the theorem of Pythagoras in India, where, for aught we know, it may have been discovered. The eminent historian of Indian mathematics Bibhutibhushan Datta (in his Ancient Hindu Geometry of 1932) showed that knowledge of the theorem was actually traceable to the much earlier Taittiriya Samhita (also known as Krishna Yajurveda) and Shatapatha Brahmana, the first of which dates back to 1000 bce at the least. In his landmark 1960 paper on The Ritual Origin of Geometry, the U.S. mathematician and historian of mathematics A. Seidenberg independently reached similar conclusions: The Pythagoras theorem ... was known and applied at the time of the Taittiriya Samhita. Playfair, Datta or Seidenberg were not members of the Sangh Parivar, to my knowledge; neither can they be blamed for abusing Pythagoras.

Nanda proceeds to ridicule the thesis that the Greek savant might have come to India to learn geometry from Hindu gurus, unaware that the said thesis emerged not from one of her betes noires, but from a few minor neo-Platonic Greek texts picked up and amplified by Enlightenment philosophers such as Voltaire, the French astronomer Jean-Sylvain Bailly (in 1777) or the British Edward Strachey (1813).

Nanda then points out that the Mesopotamians knew the theorem about 1800 bce, which blows holes through much of the case for Baudhayanas priority. Strictly speaking, all that the Mesopotamian tablets in question show is an acquaintance with certain sets of Pythagorean triplets; this may or may not imply knowledge of the theorem in its general form (as given in the Shulbasutras). Even if conceding that the Mesopotamians did know that general form, as is likely, does this badly puncture the Indian texts priority? Not necessarily, since the Shulbasutras enshrine a geometrical tradition much older than the texts themselves, as Datta and Seidenberg demonstrated. How much older is a matter of speculation in the absence of clinching evidence.

But why should priority matter so much, after all? Nanda does not cite a single serious scholar, not even a nationalist one, who worries about it. Historians of mathematics rightly prefer to concentrate on understanding how each geometrical tradition  Mesopotamian, Greek, Indian or Chinese  approached and applied the theorem, or whether (as Seidenberg concluded) the first three traditions had a common origin.

Pythagoras in China

Nanda then informs us  and this is supposed to be very damaging  that the first proof of the Pythagoras theorem is found not in the Shulbasutras but in a Chinese text of unknown authorship, Chou Pei Suan Ching, dated anywhere from 1100 to 600 bce. In current spelling, this is the Zhou Bi Suan Jing (Mathematical Classic of the Zhou Gnomon), which was most probably compiled no later than the first century bce, according to Joseph W. Dauben, a distinguished historian of science and expert on Chinese mathematics (I borrow his translation of the works title). Christopher Cullen, another respected expert, agrees that the text was probably assembled under the Western Han dynasty during the first century BC. In fact, Joseph Needham, the noted pioneer of history of Chinese science, one of Nandas only two references in this whole issue, mocks those who would cheerfully put the Chou Pei 1000 years too early and accepts a date in the Han dynasty, that is, between 206 bce and 220 ce.

This brings in an interesting aside: Nanda, as we saw, was willing to stretch Baudhayanas date to 200 bce, while most scholars have him earlier than 500 bce (even to 800600 bce, to quote the U.S. historian of Indian mathematics Kim Plofker); in contrast, Nanda curiously ages the Chinese text by at least five centuries, taking it before 600 bce  a neat somersault to suggest Chinese priority over the Indian text! (Of course, as pointed out by Needham and others, the Zhou Bi Suan Jing integrates older material and practices, but so do the Shulbasutras.)

Such double standards apply to her statement that the first Indian proof, by Bhaskaracharya in the 12th century ce, is an exact reproduction of the Chinese one. This, she claims, was stated by Needham and many others (whom we shall not know). Actually, Bhaskara in his Bijaganita mentions two proofs which he attributes to tradition (and therefore of uncertain but older dates). One is rashigata (arithmetical); the second, kshetragata (based on geometric algebra), does bear some likeness to the Chinese proof  but equally to the Shulbasutra-type of constructions.

The evidence, again, is not clinching: Nanda fails to realize that likeness alone is no proof of borrowing  neither from India to China (as she blames unnamed Indocentric historians for always assuming) nor from China to India, as she herself favours. The methodology serious scholars follow is to note similarities and chronologies, whenever unambiguous, but to refrain from conclusions until an actual chain of transmission can be objectively established.

Finally, why should Nanda ridicule the longstanding demand of Hinducentric historians that the theorem should be renamed Baudhayana theorem ? Note, once again, that she does not cite a single such historian or source to that effect; even assuming such a demand has been made, it is by no means without justification, since Baudhayana is undeniably one of the early mathematicians to formulate the theorem (which in Greece was not formulated, let us recall, until 300 bce by Euclid). However, let us recall that mathematicians have renamed series discovered in Europe by Newton, Leibniz or Gregory as MadhavaNewton, MadhavaLeibniz and MadhavaLeibnizGregory series  after Madhava, the fourteenth-century founder of the famous Kerala School of mathematics and astronomy, who discovered the said series long before European mathematicians. Similarly, a better term for the Pythagoras theorem would have to be BaudhayanaZhou BiPythagoras theorem (in whatever order). It is far too unwieldy ever to be adopted, yet would be accurate, historically justified, and certainly no insult to Pythagoras, who made a profound impact on Greek and later Western thought without leaving behind a single written work.

(To be concluded)

Note: Except for long vowels, I have made no attempt to use standard diacritics for Sanskrit words, opting instead for spellings closer to their actual pronunciation. bce and ce stand for Before Common Era (or BC) and Common Era (AD).

(Michel Daninos main interests lie in Indian protohistory and the history of Indian science and technology; he has also authored a few papers and educational modules on the latter. He teaches at IIT Gandhinagar and is a member of ICHR. Email: micheldanino@gmail.com.)

Studies of Indias ancient scientific accomplishments have seen two extremes: At one end of the spectrum, daydreamers fancy that the Vedas knew everything from electricity to interplanetary travel, that vimanas crisscrossed Indian skies millenniums ago, or that Aryabhata invented all mathematics. At the other end, gainsayers bristle at the thought that some science might not have emerged from the Greek miracle: Indian scientific advances can only be borrowed or derivative, its imperfections and errors alone being original contributions, while its rational elements ultimately stem from contact with the Greeks; Indian savants knew no experimental science, followed no proper axiomatic method, and in any case ended up in stagnation, while Europe galloped forth triumphantly and gave us the boon of modern science. With minor variations and boring predictability, the two scenarios are repeated decade after decade, while serious scholars  both Indian and Western  quietly and patiently generate solid material which, in a normal (rational?) world, should suffice to dismiss dreamers and gainsayers alike to the obscurity they deserve. Indeed, ridiculing the former is easy, and occasionally needs to be done. Exposing the latter, however, is less commonly done, as they often conceal their biases or ignorance behind academic posts and imposing jargon. A recent case in point is Meera Nanda, who has been for some years on a self-appointed mission to expose all claims to knowledge by (let us lump them together, as she does) Hindu enthusiasts, nationalists, right-wingers or Hindutva activists. Her latest contribution, Hindutvas science envy (Frontline, August 31), blames in a vast sweep the current crop of Hindu nationalists and their intellectual enablers for being the progeny of thinkers like Bankimchandra Chattopadhyaya, Vivekananda, Dayananda Saraswati, Annie Besant (and fellow Theosophists), Sarvepalli Radhakrishanan, M.S. Golwalkar and countless other gurus, philosophers and propagandists  doubtless a most despicable crowd! I will not deal with Nandas personal attacks on past and present figures, but will confine myself to discussing the considerable distortions in her two case studies of Indian mathematics: the case for early Indian knowledge of the Pythagoras theorem, and Indias claim to be the birthplace of the sunya, or zero. The Pythagoras Theorem Nanda attacks the view that Baudhayanas Shulbasutras, a text of geometry for the construction of fire altars, which she dates anywhere between 800 and 200 bce, knew the Pythagoras theorem (on right-angled triangles) before the Greek savant himself. Thus, Nanda informs us, Pythagoras comes in for a lot of abuse in India. But this view is not that of hot-headed enthusiasts; it was stated as early as in 1822 by the British astronomer John Playfair (On the Astronomy of the Brahmins): It is curious to find the theorem of Pythagoras in India, where, for aught we know, it may have been discovered. The eminent historian of Indian mathematics Bibhutibhushan Datta (in his Ancient Hindu Geometry of 1932) showed that knowledge of the theorem was actually traceable to the much earlier Taittiriya Samhita (also known as Krishna Yajurveda) and Shatapatha Brahmana, the first of which dates back to 1000 bce at the least. In his landmark 1960 paper on The Ritual Origin of Geometry, the U.S. mathematician and historian of mathematics A. Seidenberg independently reached similar conclusions: The Pythagoras theorem ... was known and applied at the time of the Taittiriya Samhita. Playfair, Datta or Seidenberg were not members of the Sangh Parivar, to my knowledge; neither can they be blamed for abusing Pythagoras. Nanda proceeds to ridicule the thesis that the Greek savant might have come to India to learn geometry from Hindu gurus, unaware that the said thesis emerged not from one of her betes noires, but from a few minor neo-Platonic Greek texts picked up and amplified by Enlightenment philosophers such as Voltaire, the French astronomer Jean-Sylvain Bailly (in 1777) or the British Edward Strachey (1813). Nanda then points out that the Mesopotamians knew the theorem about 1800 bce, which blows holes through much of the case for Baudhayanas priority. Strictly speaking, all that the Mesopotamian tablets in question show is an acquaintance with certain sets of Pythagorean triplets; this may or may not imply knowledge of the theorem in its general form (as given in the Shulbasutras). Even if conceding that the Mesopotamians did know that general form, as is likely, does this badly puncture the Indian texts priority? Not necessarily, since the Shulbasutras enshrine a geometrical tradition much older than the texts themselves, as Datta and Seidenberg demonstrated. How much older is a matter of speculation in the absence of clinching evidence. But why should priority matter so much, after all? Nanda does not cite a single serious scholar, not even a nationalist one, who worries about it. Historians of mathematics rightly prefer to concentrate on understanding how each geometrical tradition  Mesopotamian, Greek, Indian or Chinese  approached and applied the theorem, or whether (as Seidenberg concluded) the first three traditions had a common origin. Pythagoras in China Nanda then informs us  and this is supposed to be very damaging  that the first proof of the Pythagoras theorem is found not in the Shulbasutras but in a Chinese text of unknown authorship, Chou Pei Suan Ching, dated anywhere from 1100 to 600 bce. In current spelling, this is the Zhou Bi Suan Jing (Mathematical Classic of the Zhou Gnomon), which was most probably compiled no later than the first century bce, according to Joseph W. Dauben, a distinguished historian of science and expert on Chinese mathematics (I borrow his translation of the works title). Christopher Cullen, another respected expert, agrees that the text was probably assembled under the Western Han dynasty during the first century BC. In fact, Joseph Needham, the noted pioneer of history of Chinese science, one of Nandas only two references in this whole issue, mocks those who would cheerfully put the Chou Pei 1000 years too early and accepts a date in the Han dynasty, that is, between 206 bce and 220 ce. This brings in an interesting aside: Nanda, as we saw, was willing to stretch Baudhayanas date to 200 bce, while most scholars have him earlier than 500 bce (even to 800600 bce, to quote the U.S. historian of Indian mathematics Kim Plofker); in contrast, Nanda curiously ages the Chinese text by at least five centuries, taking it before 600 bce  a neat somersault to suggest Chinese priority over the Indian text! (Of course, as pointed out by Needham and others, the Zhou Bi Suan Jing integrates older material and practices, but so do the Shulbasutras.) Such double standards apply to her statement that the first Indian proof, by Bhaskaracharya in the 12th century ce, is an exact reproduction of the Chinese one. This, she claims, was stated by Needham and many others (whom we shall not know). Actually, Bhaskara in his Bijaganita mentions two proofs which he attributes to tradition (and therefore of uncertain but older dates). One is rashigata (arithmetical); the second, kshetragata (based on geometric algebra), does bear some likeness to the Chinese proof  but equally to the Shulbasutra-type of constructions. The evidence, again, is not clinching: Nanda fails to realize that likeness alone is no proof of borrowing  neither from India to China (as she blames unnamed Indocentric historians for always assuming) nor from China to India, as she herself favours. The methodology serious scholars follow is to note similarities and chronologies, whenever unambiguous, but to refrain from conclusions until an actual chain of transmission can be objectively established. Finally, why should Nanda ridicule the longstanding demand of Hinducentric historians that the theorem should be renamed Baudhayana theorem ? Note, once again, that she does not cite a single such historian or source to that effect; even assuming such a demand has been made, it is by no means without justification, since Baudhayana is undeniably one of the early mathematicians to formulate the theorem (which in Greece was not formulated, let us recall, until 300 bce by Euclid). However, let us recall that mathematicians have renamed series discovered in Europe by Newton, Leibniz or Gregory as MadhavaNewton, MadhavaLeibniz and MadhavaLeibnizGregory series  after Madhava, the fourteenth-century founder of the famous Kerala School of mathematics and astronomy, who discovered the said series long before European mathematicians. Similarly, a better term for the Pythagoras theorem would have to be BaudhayanaZhou BiPythagoras theorem (in whatever order). It is far too unwieldy ever to be adopted, yet would be accurate, historically justified, and certainly no insult to Pythagoras, who made a profound impact on Greek and later Western thought without leaving behind a single written work. (To be concluded) Note: Except for long vowels, I have made no attempt to use standard diacritics for Sanskrit words, opting instead for spellings closer to their actual pronunciation. bce and ce stand for Before Common Era (or BC) and Common Era (AD). (Michel Daninos main interests lie in Indian protohistory and the history of Indian science and technology; he has also authored a few papers and educational modules on the latter. He teaches at IIT Gandhinagar and is a member of ICHR. Email: micheldanino@gmail.com.)
Swaran Singh By

Moscows drift towards Pakistan and China will be the elephant in the room during the Indo-Russian Summit in Goa

On the eve of the BRICS summit in Goa this Saturday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Vladimir Putin will hold their annual summit at a time when the long-standing relationship is showing signs of strain. India this Tuesday reiterated its opposition to Russia holding its first-ever military exercises with Pakistan, called Friendship 2016, at Pakistan Armys Special Forces training centre at Cherat in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, from September 24 to October 10.

AMIT BANDRE

Reports that these would be held in the Gilgit-Baltistan region led the opposition Congress Party to describe it as Modis biggest policy failure. Though Moscow clarified that the exercises would not be held anywhere near the Line of Control, Moscows rapidly growing proximity with China and Pakistan has been cause for concern in New Delhi. Pakistan had nurtured the Afghan Mujahideen with American weapons and money during the 1980s, which finally led to Moscows historic retreat from Afghanistan, the collapse of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War. Starting from the 1955 visit of Khrushchev and Bulganin to Srinagar, Moscow has been Indias strongest supporter in coping with this China-Pakistan axis. Relations had become briefly erratic during the Boris Yeltsin era, but were revived following President Putins endorsement of the Indo- Russian strategic partnership in 2000.

This drift towards Pakistan and China thus needs to be examined critically. On the surface, Indias growing proximity to US remains the main cause of Moscows policy shift. The US started replacing Russia as the major arms supplier to India since 2008, and Moscow reacted by selling weapons to Islamabad as well as Beijing. No doubt several defence agreements will be signed the during Goa summit, but this historic shift will remain the elephant in the room, particularly at time when India is trying hard to isolate Pakistan.

The first signs of this shift surfaced in 2011 when then Prime Minister Putin endorsed Pakistans bid to join the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation. After a breakthrough visit to Moscow by Pakistans Army chief General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani in 2012, Putin sent his foreign minister Sergey Viktorovich Lavrov to set up the first Russia Pakistan Strategic Dialogue in August 2013. A decade old Russian arms embargo on Pakistan was lifted in July 2014 and November saw the first the visit by a Russian defence minister, leading to a defence cooperation agreement and a pact to supply 20 Mi-35 attack helicopters to Pakistan. The Pakistan Army participated in Russian Armys War Games in the Far East last year, followed by Friendship 2016. In fact, one can trace this shift all the way back to December 2009, when Pakistan received the first of four aerial refuellers IL-78 aircraft, acquired from Ukraine but fitted with three-point Russian UPAZ refuelling equipment.

Russia also cleared the sale of its RD- 93 engines for the YF-17 aircraft developed jointly by China and Pakistan. Mr Putin, who has taken cudgels against the West in Ukraine, Syria and Libya, has thus been sending signals to New Delhi for a while now. But the fact remains that India still buys almost 40 per cent of Russias defence exports. Some of the big Indo-Russian defence deals on the table include purchase of 5 S-400 Truimf  long-range air defence missile systems. China has already procured it and Indias Defence Acquisitions Council has reportedly approved this Rs 40,000-crore deal.

India may also sign a $1.5 billion deal to lease another Akula class nuclear submarine. Indias proposal for purchase of four multi-purpose frigates equipped with weapons and sensors including Brahmos missiles is also on the agenda. Other big ticket items include the sale of Kamov- 28 helicopters, as well as the long pending joint development of a fifth generation fighter aircraft. The two will also sign a cyber- security pact for countering terrorism. Their last Annual Summit had set up an expert group on cyber security which has been working on combating radical outfits like the Islamic State, Lashkar-e- Toiba, Hizbul Mujahideen and Jaish-e-Mohammed through social media.

This new pact aims to to check online recruiters and hackers from sabotaging critical infrastructure. They will also finalise agreements for building fifth and sixth nuclear power reactors at Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project, and Mr Modi may announce a second site for a Russia built nuclear power plant. In mid-September, a Working Group for energy led by Russias largest gas company Gazprom and a consortium of Indian oil and gas companies decided to create a direct gas pipeline replacing the Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India pipeline.

The strong India-Russia relationship has been tested by time, and it is unlikely to crumble anytime soon. But there is no denying that the United States is fast replacing Russia as Indias main source of weapons. Bilateral trade has taken a hit too, decreasing from $11 billion in 2012 to $7.83 billion in 2015. Mr Modi and Mr Putin thus have their work cut out for then when they meet in salubrious Goa later this week

Moscows drift towards Pakistan and China will be the elephant in the room during the Indo-Russian Summit in Goa On the eve of the BRICS summit in Goa this Saturday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Vladimir Putin will hold their annual summit at a time when the long-standing relationship is showing signs of strain. India this Tuesday reiterated its opposition to Russia holding its first-ever military exercises with Pakistan, called Friendship 2016, at Pakistan Armys Special Forces training centre at Cherat in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, from September 24 to October 10. AMIT BANDREReports that these would be held in the Gilgit-Baltistan region led the opposition Congress Party to describe it as Modis biggest policy failure. Though Moscow clarified that the exercises would not be held anywhere near the Line of Control, Moscows rapidly growing proximity with China and Pakistan has been cause for concern in New Delhi. Pakistan had nurtured the Afghan Mujahideen with American weapons and money during the 1980s, which finally led to Moscows historic retreat from Afghanistan, the collapse of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War. Starting from the 1955 visit of Khrushchev and Bulganin to Srinagar, Moscow has been Indias strongest supporter in coping with this China-Pakistan axis. Relations had become briefly erratic during the Boris Yeltsin era, but were revived following President Putins endorsement of the Indo- Russian strategic partnership in 2000. This drift towards Pakistan and China thus needs to be examined critically. On the surface, Indias growing proximity to US remains the main cause of Moscows policy shift. The US started replacing Russia as the major arms supplier to India since 2008, and Moscow reacted by selling weapons to Islamabad as well as Beijing. No doubt several defence agreements will be signed the during Goa summit, but this historic shift will remain the elephant in the room, particularly at time when India is trying hard to isolate Pakistan. The first signs of this shift surfaced in 2011 when then Prime Minister Putin endorsed Pakistans bid to join the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation. After a breakthrough visit to Moscow by Pakistans Army chief General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani in 2012, Putin sent his foreign minister Sergey Viktorovich Lavrov to set up the first Russia Pakistan Strategic Dialogue in August 2013. A decade old Russian arms embargo on Pakistan was lifted in July 2014 and November saw the first the visit by a Russian defence minister, leading to a defence cooperation agreement and a pact to supply 20 Mi-35 attack helicopters to Pakistan. The Pakistan Army participated in Russian Armys War Games in the Far East last year, followed by Friendship 2016. In fact, one can trace this shift all the way back to December 2009, when Pakistan received the first of four aerial refuellers IL-78 aircraft, acquired from Ukraine but fitted with three-point Russian UPAZ refuelling equipment. Russia also cleared the sale of its RD- 93 engines for the YF-17 aircraft developed jointly by China and Pakistan. Mr Putin, who has taken cudgels against the West in Ukraine, Syria and Libya, has thus been sending signals to New Delhi for a while now. But the fact remains that India still buys almost 40 per cent of Russias defence exports. Some of the big Indo-Russian defence deals on the table include purchase of 5 S-400 Truimf  long-range air defence missile systems. China has already procured it and Indias Defence Acquisitions Council has reportedly approved this Rs 40,000-crore deal. India may also sign a $1.5 billion deal to lease another Akula class nuclear submarine. Indias proposal for purchase of four multi-purpose frigates equipped with weapons and sensors including Brahmos missiles is also on the agenda. Other big ticket items include the sale of Kamov- 28 helicopters, as well as the long pending joint development of a fifth generation fighter aircraft. The two will also sign a cyber- security pact for countering terrorism. Their last Annual Summit had set up an expert group on cyber security which has been working on combating radical outfits like the Islamic State, Lashkar-e- Toiba, Hizbul Mujahideen and Jaish-e-Mohammed through social media. This new pact aims to to check online recruiters and hackers from sabotaging critical infrastructure. They will also finalise agreements for building fifth and sixth nuclear power reactors at Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project, and Mr Modi may announce a second site for a Russia built nuclear power plant. In mid-September, a Working Group for energy led by Russias largest gas company Gazprom and a consortium of Indian oil and gas companies decided to create a direct gas pipeline replacing the Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India pipeline. The strong India-Russia relationship has been tested by time, and it is unlikely to crumble anytime soon. But there is no denying that the United States is fast replacing Russia as Indias main source of weapons. Bilateral trade has taken a hit too, decreasing from $11 billion in 2012 to $7.83 billion in 2015. Mr Modi and Mr Putin thus have their work cut out for then when they meet in salubrious Goa later this week
By Express News Service

BENGALURU: Retired IAS officer K Shivaram is set to give a big push to his political career by joining the BJP in the presence of Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Friday. Shivaram, who had unsuccessfully contested the 2014 Lok Sabha election as a JD(S) candidate from Vijayapura, is being given a grand entry as he will join the party at a public rally to be held at National College grounds on Friday evening.

Shivaram, belonging to Chalavadi (SC) community, also had a brief tryst in Sandalwood as an actor. He then entered politics after his retirement. Shivaram was also in the news last year batting for KPCC president G Parameshwara as he led the campaign for a dalit chief minister in the state.

Shivarams induction into the BJP comes at a time when senior leader K S Eshwarappa is trying to project himself as a prominent backward community leader by organising HINDA (acronym for backwards and dalits) rallies under the banner of Sangollli Rayanna Brigade (SRB). This is being seen as a move with bigger plans.

A senior BJP leader said that though no specific assurance has been given to Shivaram on his role in the party, he will be involved in expanding the BJPs base among dalits and backward communities.

A source in the BJP said, We are expecting more SC/ST leaders at the district and taluk level to join BJP as Shivaram has a good reach among them. His services will be utilised to organise dalit, backward community rallies across the state. He will play an active role in the BJP, reaching out to the dalit community ahead of 2018 Assembly elections in which party state president B S Yeddyurappa has set a target of winning 150 seats.

BENGALURU: Retired IAS officer K Shivaram is set to give a big push to his political career by joining the BJP in the presence of Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Friday. Shivaram, who had unsuccessfully contested the 2014 Lok Sabha election as a JD(S) candidate from Vijayapura, is being given a grand entry as he will join the party at a public rally to be held at National College grounds on Friday evening. Shivaram, belonging to Chalavadi (SC) community, also had a brief tryst in Sandalwood as an actor. He then entered politics after his retirement. Shivaram was also in the news last year batting for KPCC president G Parameshwara as he led the campaign for a dalit chief minister in the state. Shivarams induction into the BJP comes at a time when senior leader K S Eshwarappa is trying to project himself as a prominent backward community leader by organising HINDA (acronym for backwards and dalits) rallies under the banner of Sangollli Rayanna Brigade (SRB). This is being seen as a move with bigger plans. A senior BJP leader said that though no specific assurance has been given to Shivaram on his role in the party, he will be involved in expanding the BJPs base among dalits and backward communities. A source in the BJP said, We are expecting more SC/ST leaders at the district and taluk level to join BJP as Shivaram has a good reach among them. His services will be utilised to organise dalit, backward community rallies across the state. He will play an active role in the BJP, reaching out to the dalit community ahead of 2018 Assembly elections in which party state president B S Yeddyurappa has set a target of winning 150 seats.
By Express News Service

KANNUR: Security in this town in Kerala that is at the centre of todays statewide lockdown has been beefed up with an additional 600 policemen, including armed platoons. The statewide hartal (strike) has been called by the BJP after one of its supporters was murdered in Pinarayi yesterday, Oct. 12.

The police are said to have received intelligence inputs that there are strong chances of violence breaking in the communally sensitive town, where the CPM and the RSS have been daggers drawn for decades.

Strong police deployments have been posted to other hair-trigger places: Palakkad, Thrissur, Malapuram, Kozhikode -- urban and rural  and Kasargode. Units have been requisitioned from the Kerala Armed Police, the State Rapid Action force and the Malabar Special Police.

A 26-year-old trucker named K Ramit, said to be a supporter of the BJP, was hacked to death in front of his house in Pinarayi on Oct. 12, just 48 hours after a CPM activist was murdered at Valankichal in the same district. The CPM leads the ruling coalition in Kerala and the BJP leads the ruling coalition at the Centre.

Inspector-general Dinendar Kashyap said police personnel at stand to across the district of Kannur because the body of the murdered man was to be taken in a funeral procession through the town, beginning from the locality of New Mahe.

Two deputy superintendents of police will lead teams of policemen in accompanying the funeral procession to prevent any outbreak of violence.

The deputy superintendent of police of Thalassery, Prince Abraham said intelligence reports have identified about 30 odd sensitive places in the district, police presence has been stepped up.

Besides, personnel in mufti have been deployed to monitor unusual activity.

BJP state-wide hartal begins

PALAKKAD: Four hours into the dawn-to-dusk -dawn hartal called by the BJP in Kerala, traffic came to a standstill at the Walayar checkpost on the states border with Tamil Nadu after vehicles were blocked by hartal supporters. The Walayar police said a picket has been posted and the situation is peaceful.

The lockdown was called by the state unit of the BJP to protest against the killing of one of their cadres

in Pinarayi in Kannur by CPM supporters.

Authorities at the checkpost said only small vehicles were entering the state from Tamil Nadu. They said goods vehicles and parcel lorries have been parked on the border as they cannot get the necessary forms due to the closure of all shops at the checkpost.

Usually, internet cafes and kiosks at these border checkposts download the necessary forms for goods vehicles and clerks fill up forms for a nominal fee.

The checkpost authorities said even passenger cars were parked on the border and were waiting for 6 p.m. to enter Kerala.

Additional forces rushed to Kannur

The police security has been beefed up and additional 600 police men including armed forces has been deployed across Kannur district, a day after the murder of BJP activist in Pinarayi and the hartal called by the party across the state.

Following the intelligence input that there are possible chance of violence police men has been deployed from Palakkad, Thrissur, Malapuram, Kozhikode city and rural, Kasargode. Besides men from Kerala Armed Police, State Rapid Action force and Malabar Special Police are in place to control any untoward situation.

Speaking to Express Dinendar Kashyap, Inspector General, said that considering the funeral procession, that would begin from New Mahe, the police forces have been beefed up in the regions along which the procession would be taken.

Team under two DYSP and large police force would continuously move along the procession to ensure there is untoward incident.

Thalassery DYSP Prince Abraham said that following the intelligence report they have identified about 30 odd sensitive places, where they have increased the police force to prevent any untoward incidents. The mafthi police force are also being deployed to monitor any unusual activity.

KANNUR: Security in this town in Kerala that is at the centre of todays statewide lockdown has been beefed up with an additional 600 policemen, including armed platoons. The statewide hartal (strike) has been called by the BJP after one of its supporters was murdered in Pinarayi yesterday, Oct. 12. The police are said to have received intelligence inputs that there are strong chances of violence breaking in the communally sensitive town, where the CPM and the RSS have been daggers drawn for decades. Strong police deployments have been posted to other hair-trigger places: Palakkad, Thrissur, Malapuram, Kozhikode -- urban and rural  and Kasargode. Units have been requisitioned from the Kerala Armed Police, the State Rapid Action force and the Malabar Special Police. A 26-year-old trucker named K Ramit, said to be a supporter of the BJP, was hacked to death in front of his house in Pinarayi on Oct. 12, just 48 hours after a CPM activist was murdered at Valankichal in the same district. The CPM leads the ruling coalition in Kerala and the BJP leads the ruling coalition at the Centre. Inspector-general Dinendar Kashyap said police personnel at stand to across the district of Kannur because the body of the murdered man was to be taken in a funeral procession through the town, beginning from the locality of New Mahe. Two deputy superintendents of police will lead teams of policemen in accompanying the funeral procession to prevent any outbreak of violence. The deputy superintendent of police of Thalassery, Prince Abraham said intelligence reports have identified about 30 odd sensitive places in the district, police presence has been stepped up. Besides, personnel in mufti have been deployed to monitor unusual activity. BJP state-wide hartal begins PALAKKAD: Four hours into the dawn-to-dusk -dawn hartal called by the BJP in Kerala, traffic came to a standstill at the Walayar checkpost on the states border with Tamil Nadu after vehicles were blocked by hartal supporters. The Walayar police said a picket has been posted and the situation is peaceful. The lockdown was called by the state unit of the BJP to protest against the killing of one of their cadres in Pinarayi in Kannur by CPM supporters. Authorities at the checkpost said only small vehicles were entering the state from Tamil Nadu. They said goods vehicles and parcel lorries have been parked on the border as they cannot get the necessary forms due to the closure of all shops at the checkpost. Usually, internet cafes and kiosks at these border checkposts download the necessary forms for goods vehicles and clerks fill up forms for a nominal fee. The checkpost authorities said even passenger cars were parked on the border and were waiting for 6 p.m. to enter Kerala. Additional forces rushed to Kannur The police security has been beefed up and additional 600 police men including armed forces has been deployed across Kannur district, a day after the murder of BJP activist in Pinarayi and the hartal called by the party across the state. Following the intelligence input that there are possible chance of violence police men has been deployed from Palakkad, Thrissur, Malapuram, Kozhikode city and rural, Kasargode. Besides men from Kerala Armed Police, State Rapid Action force and Malabar Special Police are in place to control any untoward situation. Speaking to Express Dinendar Kashyap, Inspector General, said that considering the funeral procession, that would begin from New Mahe, the police forces have been beefed up in the regions along which the procession would be taken. Team under two DYSP and large police force would continuously move along the procession to ensure there is untoward incident. Thalassery DYSP Prince Abraham said that following the intelligence report they have identified about 30 odd sensitive places, where they have increased the police force to prevent any untoward incidents. The mafthi police force are also being deployed to monitor any unusual activity.
By Express News Service

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Under fire over nepotism charges, Keralas industries minister and CPM heavyweight E P Jayarajan has offered to step down. He conveyed his willingness after meeting the CPMs Kerala state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan this morning.



Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau are scheduled to take a call on a quick verification of the charges against the minister today. Sources said Vigilance has almost made a decision to subject Jayarajan to a probe.



The CPM state Secretariat is scheduled to meet tomorrow and is expected to take a final call on the action to be taken against the minister. While there are reports that the senior leader will face censure from the party, a clamour has gone up for his resignation.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Under fire over nepotism charges, Keralas industries minister and CPM heavyweight E P Jayarajan has offered to step down. He conveyed his willingness after meeting the CPMs Kerala state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan this morning. Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau are scheduled to take a call on a quick verification of the charges against the minister today. Sources said Vigilance has almost made a decision to subject Jayarajan to a probe. The CPM state Secretariat is scheduled to meet tomorrow and is expected to take a final call on the action to be taken against the minister. While there are reports that the senior leader will face censure from the party, a clamour has gone up for his resignation.
By Express News Service

BHUBANESWAR: Odishas medical fraternity had a bad day today, especially doctors in the public health sector. Theres a Japanese encephalitis epidemic sweeping the tribal-dominated Malkangiri district, with 48 lives lost to the vector-borne disease in just the last 35 days.

That wasnt all: doctors went on a wildcat strike in a local hospital in Cuttack district after a paediatrician was thrashed for not attending to an accident victim as promptly as demanded. In Kendrapara district, doctors were left to fend at allegations that they botched up on a vaccination programme after a three-month-old infant died after being given polio drops, and the death of a pregnant woman brought the wrath of her family upon the doctors who attended to her.



Here are four developments on a forgettable day for doctors in Odisha.



1. Is there any stopping Japanese encephalitis?



The epidemic sweeping Malkangiri district took the lives to seven-year-old Rebika Madkami (7) of Katangapali village in Podia block and five-year-old Amit Madkami of Dariguda village, at district headquarters hospital. At least six children have died of the disease in the last 36 hours.



Initially reported from Korukonda block, Japanese encephalitis has spread to 79 villages in all seven rural blocks of Malkangiri district in addition to the headquarters municipality as well.



Odisha health secretary Arti Ahuja has been camping at Malkangiri since yesterday. She visited a couple of the affected villages to talk up the preventive measures being taken by her staff. The chances of survival of the afflicted children would be greater if they were brought to hospital in time, she said.



Ahuja held out hope, however: arrivals of new cases at the district headquarters hospital have been slackening in the last few days and the mortalities have fallen too.





2. Doctors out on strike in Cuttack

The attack on the paediatrician took place at the Athagarh sub-divisional hospital in Cuttack district. Three days ago, Monday, two persons brought in an accident victim and demanded that he be attended to immediately. They were incensed that no doctor was immediately available and so they marched down to the quarters of Dr Chandan Gadnayak, whos a paediatric specialist, and demanded that he come to the hospital. When he expressed his inability, he was thrashed.



Today, medicos launched a flash strike, demanding immediate legal action against the people who attacked Dr Gadnayak. Work in the hospital was affected, and patients were left to their own devices.

Police have registered a case following a written complaint lodged by Dr Gadnayak but the doctors were not satisfied. The medical officer of the hospital, Dr P K Hota said police have done nothing despite repeated demands.



The districts high officials rushed to the hospital to defuse the situation. Cuttack collector Nirmal Mishra tried to pacify the doctors, saying the main accused in the case has already surrendered before the police.



3. Pregnant woman dies, family turns on doctor

In Baripada, tensions ran high at the district headquarters hospital (DHH) today following the death of a pregnant woman allegedly due to the negligence of doctors.

The family of the woman sat on a dharna, refusing to take away the body. Agains, it took the arrival of the district collector to defuse the situation.

Sources said Jayanti Murmu (28) of Bholagadia village was admitted in the hospital for delivery on Wednesday and gynaec Dr Anjan Sarangi assured her husband it would be a normal delivery.

But the woman died in the night after a struggle for three hours.The womans husband Dasnath murmur alleged that the doctor left to attend to his private practice. When my wife complained of labour pains, there was no doctor was present in the hospital, he said.

News of the death spread and local people gathered to protest, demanding compensation of Rs 10 lakh for the bereaved family.

They withdrew the agitation after collector Rajesh Pravakar Patil asked the accused doctor to go on leave and directed the additional district magistrate Deben Kumar Pradhan to conduct a detailed inquiry.

4. Vaccine gone wrong? Docs blamed

in Kendrapara



In Kendrapara, it was the death of a three-month-old infant, after a polio vaccine, that turned the parents wrath upon the doctors who administered the immunisation vaccine.



Sources said the three-month-old son of Raghu Murmu of Shyamsundarpur village died shortly after he was administered polio drops along with two other immunisation vaccines at DHH Kendrapara yesterday.



According to a complaint lodged with the Sadar police, the infant suffered health complications in the night and died before he could be rushed to hospital.

My son was alright till he took the vaccines. He died within six hours after having them, Murmu alleged.



The chief district medical officer of Kendrapada, Dr Niranjan Swain denied the allegations. He said several other children had been administered the vaccines the very day the infant was given the drops.

BHUBANESWAR: Odishas medical fraternity had a bad day today, especially doctors in the public health sector. Theres a Japanese encephalitis epidemic sweeping the tribal-dominated Malkangiri district, with 48 lives lost to the vector-borne disease in just the last 35 days. That wasnt all: doctors went on a wildcat strike in a local hospital in Cuttack district after a paediatrician was thrashed for not attending to an accident victim as promptly as demanded. In Kendrapara district, doctors were left to fend at allegations that they botched up on a vaccination programme after a three-month-old infant died after being given polio drops, and the death of a pregnant woman brought the wrath of her family upon the doctors who attended to her. Here are four developments on a forgettable day for doctors in Odisha. 1. Is there any stopping Japanese encephalitis? The epidemic sweeping Malkangiri district took the lives to seven-year-old Rebika Madkami (7) of Katangapali village in Podia block and five-year-old Amit Madkami of Dariguda village, at district headquarters hospital. At least six children have died of the disease in the last 36 hours. Initially reported from Korukonda block, Japanese encephalitis has spread to 79 villages in all seven rural blocks of Malkangiri district in addition to the headquarters municipality as well. Odisha health secretary Arti Ahuja has been camping at Malkangiri since yesterday. She visited a couple of the affected villages to talk up the preventive measures being taken by her staff. The chances of survival of the afflicted children would be greater if they were brought to hospital in time, she said. Ahuja held out hope, however: arrivals of new cases at the district headquarters hospital have been slackening in the last few days and the mortalities have fallen too. 2. Doctors out on strike in Cuttack The attack on the paediatrician took place at the Athagarh sub-divisional hospital in Cuttack district. Three days ago, Monday, two persons brought in an accident victim and demanded that he be attended to immediately. They were incensed that no doctor was immediately available and so they marched down to the quarters of Dr Chandan Gadnayak, whos a paediatric specialist, and demanded that he come to the hospital. When he expressed his inability, he was thrashed. Today, medicos launched a flash strike, demanding immediate legal action against the people who attacked Dr Gadnayak. Work in the hospital was affected, and patients were left to their own devices. Police have registered a case following a written complaint lodged by Dr Gadnayak but the doctors were not satisfied. The medical officer of the hospital, Dr P K Hota said police have done nothing despite repeated demands. The districts high officials rushed to the hospital to defuse the situation. Cuttack collector Nirmal Mishra tried to pacify the doctors, saying the main accused in the case has already surrendered before the police. 3. Pregnant woman dies, family turns on doctor In Baripada, tensions ran high at the district headquarters hospital (DHH) today following the death of a pregnant woman allegedly due to the negligence of doctors. The family of the woman sat on a dharna, refusing to take away the body. Agains, it took the arrival of the district collector to defuse the situation. Sources said Jayanti Murmu (28) of Bholagadia village was admitted in the hospital for delivery on Wednesday and gynaec Dr Anjan Sarangi assured her husband it would be a normal delivery. But the woman died in the night after a struggle for three hours.The womans husband Dasnath murmur alleged that the doctor left to attend to his private practice. When my wife complained of labour pains, there was no doctor was present in the hospital, he said. News of the death spread and local people gathered to protest, demanding compensation of Rs 10 lakh for the bereaved family. They withdrew the agitation after collector Rajesh Pravakar Patil asked the accused doctor to go on leave and directed the additional district magistrate Deben Kumar Pradhan to conduct a detailed inquiry. 4. Vaccine gone wrong? Docs blamed in Kendrapara In Kendrapara, it was the death of a three-month-old infant, after a polio vaccine, that turned the parents wrath upon the doctors who administered the immunisation vaccine. Sources said the three-month-old son of Raghu Murmu of Shyamsundarpur village died shortly after he was administered polio drops along with two other immunisation vaccines at DHH Kendrapara yesterday. According to a complaint lodged with the Sadar police, the infant suffered health complications in the night and died before he could be rushed to hospital. My son was alright till he took the vaccines. He died within six hours after having them, Murmu alleged. The chief district medical officer of Kendrapada, Dr Niranjan Swain denied the allegations. He said several other children had been administered the vaccines the very day the infant was given the drops.
By Express News Service

CHENNAI: The Madras High Court has directed the Secretary, Municipal Administration and Water Supply department, to file a progress report with regard to payment of compensation to the families of scavengers, who died while at work, in the State.

The first bench of Chief Justice SK Kaul and Justice R Mahadevan gave the direction last week, after going through the summary report by A Narayanan of ChangeIndia, in respect of manual scavenging deaths and payment of compensation. According to petitioner, a total of 118 families are yet to be compensated as on date. Of them, 35 families still remain untraceable. The families, which are denied rightful compensation in urban areas are 49 and in rural areas, 28. Four families in Puducherry and two families of Southern Railway are the others who were left out.

Earlier, the bench had directed the State government to pay Rs. 10 lakh as compensation to each of the vitims families, as per the Supreme Court directions of May 10 last. Aggrieved, the State moved the Supreme Court, which on September 7 last rejected the plea. The matter will come up again on November 25.

CHENNAI: The Madras High Court has directed the Secretary, Municipal Administration and Water Supply department, to file a progress report with regard to payment of compensation to the families of scavengers, who died while at work, in the State. The first bench of Chief Justice SK Kaul and Justice R Mahadevan gave the direction last week, after going through the summary report by A Narayanan of ChangeIndia, in respect of manual scavenging deaths and payment of compensation. According to petitioner, a total of 118 families are yet to be compensated as on date. Of them, 35 families still remain untraceable. The families, which are denied rightful compensation in urban areas are 49 and in rural areas, 28. Four families in Puducherry and two families of Southern Railway are the others who were left out. Earlier, the bench had directed the State government to pay Rs. 10 lakh as compensation to each of the vitims families, as per the Supreme Court directions of May 10 last. Aggrieved, the State moved the Supreme Court, which on September 7 last rejected the plea. The matter will come up again on November 25.
By Express News Service

THANJAVUR: The 2016 SASTRA Ramanujan prize, for outstanding contributions by young mathematicians to areas influenced by the genius Srinivasa Ramanujan, will be jointly awarded to Kaisa Matomaki of University of Turku, Finland and Maksym Radziwill of McGill University, Canada, SASTRA University announced on Thursday.

The University release said the duos works have opened the door to a series of breakthroughs on some difficult questions such as the Erdos discrepancy problem and Chowlas conjecture, previously believed to be well beyond reach. The SASTRA Ramanujan Prize was established in 2005 and is awarded annually for outstanding contributions by young mathematicians to areas influenced by Srinivasa Ramanujan.

The age limit for the prize has been set at 32 because Ramanujan achieved so much in his brief life of 32 years. The prize will be awarded during December 21-22, 2016, at the International Conference on Number Theory at SASTRA University in Kumbakonam (Ramanujans hometown) where the prize has been given annually.

Matomaki and Radziwill will share the $10,000 prize this year. They are especially recognised for their spectacular collaboration, and also for their significant individual contributions.

Kaisa Matomaki is one of the strongest young analytic number theorists in the world today.

MaksymRadziwill is one of the very best of the new generation of analytic number theorists, highly original, and technically one of the strongest and broadest.

THANJAVUR: The 2016 SASTRA Ramanujan prize, for outstanding contributions by young mathematicians to areas influenced by the genius Srinivasa Ramanujan, will be jointly awarded to Kaisa Matomaki of University of Turku, Finland and Maksym Radziwill of McGill University, Canada, SASTRA University announced on Thursday. The University release said the duos works have opened the door to a series of breakthroughs on some difficult questions such as the Erdos discrepancy problem and Chowlas conjecture, previously believed to be well beyond reach. The SASTRA Ramanujan Prize was established in 2005 and is awarded annually for outstanding contributions by young mathematicians to areas influenced by Srinivasa Ramanujan. The age limit for the prize has been set at 32 because Ramanujan achieved so much in his brief life of 32 years. The prize will be awarded during December 21-22, 2016, at the International Conference on Number Theory at SASTRA University in Kumbakonam (Ramanujans hometown) where the prize has been given annually. Matomaki and Radziwill will share the $10,000 prize this year. They are especially recognised for their spectacular collaboration, and also for their significant individual contributions. Kaisa Matomaki is one of the strongest young analytic number theorists in the world today. MaksymRadziwill is one of the very best of the new generation of analytic number theorists, highly original, and technically one of the strongest and broadest.
By Express News Service

HYDERABAD: Taking exception to the way police registered cases against the parents of 13-year-old Aradhana, who had died two days after ending her 68-day-long fast, members of the Jain community here on Wednesday passed a resolution, opposing such action from the side of cops.

Defending the fast observed by the deceased, they decided to submit a memorandum to the governments in the state and Centre, if necessary, urging the administration not to interfere in the religious customs of their community.

The Jain community members came to this decision as their Guru Ravindra Muniji had defended Aradhanas fast, saying that she had observed fast as part of their religious rituals on her own.

Following the police registered cases against Aradhanas parents, leaders of Jain community on Wednesday wrote to the Hyderabad police commissioner M Mahendar Reddy to stop investigation into the case registered by Market police. In the letter, they said that registering cases in the death incident is nothing but violation of fundamental right of practising a religion.

Citing the details of girls who successfully fasted for more than 70 days as part of their rituals in various states, the jain leaders said Aradhana was healthy even after finishing her 68 days long fast.

In the wake of police registering cases against Aradhanas parents based on a complaint given by an NGO, Ravindra Muniji further clarified that observing Tapasya (austerity) is a fundamental right of every one in the Jain community. Fasting is common among Jains, he added.

It is neither wrong nor illegal. Aradhana was attracted towards religious customs. She observed the fast as per our tradition, he said.

Jain Seva Sangh secretary Vinod Kumar Kimtee said, Jain community is a part of a democratic country like ours. We have a right to follow religious customs. People of our community can observe fast as per their health conditions.

He alleged that a section of people and some NGOs were deliberately resorting to the act of mudslinging against their community by abusing its traditions. We will protect our rights. Before making any allegations, people must know the rituals of the Jain community, he added.

According to Vinod Kumar, his community members would take the issue to the notice of the state government, if needed. They would urge the government to protect their religious traditions and rights.

HYDERABAD: Taking exception to the way police registered cases against the parents of 13-year-old Aradhana, who had died two days after ending her 68-day-long fast, members of the Jain community here on Wednesday passed a resolution, opposing such action from the side of cops. Defending the fast observed by the deceased, they decided to submit a memorandum to the governments in the state and Centre, if necessary, urging the administration not to interfere in the religious customs of their community. The Jain community members came to this decision as their Guru Ravindra Muniji had defended Aradhanas fast, saying that she had observed fast as part of their religious rituals on her own. Following the police registered cases against Aradhanas parents, leaders of Jain community on Wednesday wrote to the Hyderabad police commissioner M Mahendar Reddy to stop investigation into the case registered by Market police. In the letter, they said that registering cases in the death incident is nothing but violation of fundamental right of practising a religion. Citing the details of girls who successfully fasted for more than 70 days as part of their rituals in various states, the jain leaders said Aradhana was healthy even after finishing her 68 days long fast. In the wake of police registering cases against Aradhanas parents based on a complaint given by an NGO, Ravindra Muniji further clarified that observing Tapasya (austerity) is a fundamental right of every one in the Jain community. Fasting is common among Jains, he added. It is neither wrong nor illegal. Aradhana was attracted towards religious customs. She observed the fast as per our tradition, he said. Jain Seva Sangh secretary Vinod Kumar Kimtee said, Jain community is a part of a democratic country like ours. We have a right to follow religious customs. People of our community can observe fast as per their health conditions. He alleged that a section of people and some NGOs were deliberately resorting to the act of mudslinging against their community by abusing its traditions. We will protect our rights. Before making any allegations, people must know the rituals of the Jain community, he added. According to Vinod Kumar, his community members would take the issue to the notice of the state government, if needed. They would urge the government to protect their religious traditions and rights.
By PTI

Ouagadougou: Burkina Faso's defense ministry says heavily armed assailants have attacked a military position in the north near the Mali border, killing three soldiers and two civilians.

The ministry said the attackers escaped after the early yesterday attack at Intangom. One soldier is missing and three others are wounded. He said the two dead, earlier thought to be the attackers, were civilians.

No one has claimed responsibility for the attack.

This West African country has seen a number of assaults since al-Qaida-linked extremists attacked in Ouagadougou in January, killing 30 people.

A June attack by extremists on an Intangom police station killed three policemen.

On September 1, a customs officer and a civilian were killed in Markoye in the north by attackers who claimed they were part of the Islamic State.

Ouagadougou: Burkina Faso's defense ministry says heavily armed assailants have attacked a military position in the north near the Mali border, killing three soldiers and two civilians. The ministry said the attackers escaped after the early yesterday attack at Intangom. One soldier is missing and three others are wounded. He said the two dead, earlier thought to be the attackers, were civilians. No one has claimed responsibility for the attack. This West African country has seen a number of assaults since al-Qaida-linked extremists attacked in Ouagadougou in January, killing 30 people. A June attack by extremists on an Intangom police station killed three policemen. On September 1, a customs officer and a civilian were killed in Markoye in the north by attackers who claimed they were part of the Islamic State.
By IANS

ROME: European Union states who fail to take in their fair share of refugees should be dealt cuts to their funding from the bloc's budget, Italian Premier Matteo Renzi said on Wednesday.



"Italy really must push for a very hard line against countries that have received a lot of funds and are dodging their formal commitments on refugee relocation," Renzi told Italy's parliament.



He made the remarks in a speech on EU policy ahead of an EU summit on October 20-21.



Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia are refusing to cooperate with a mandatory quota system agreed by a majority of EU ministers at an emergency summit in September last year.



Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Romania voted against the plan to relocate 120,000 refugees from Greece and Italy over two-year period, but they were overruled.

ROME: European Union states who fail to take in their fair share of refugees should be dealt cuts to their funding from the bloc's budget, Italian Premier Matteo Renzi said on Wednesday. "Italy really must push for a very hard line against countries that have received a lot of funds and are dodging their formal commitments on refugee relocation," Renzi told Italy's parliament. He made the remarks in a speech on EU policy ahead of an EU summit on October 20-21. Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia are refusing to cooperate with a mandatory quota system agreed by a majority of EU ministers at an emergency summit in September last year. Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Romania voted against the plan to relocate 120,000 refugees from Greece and Italy over two-year period, but they were overruled.
PK Balachandran By

Express News Service

COLOMBO: Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisenas public outburst against the arrest or questioning of top defense officials associated with the Rajapaksa regime without his knowledge, has brought out a major fault line in the coalition government which is running the island nation.

Ever since the traditional arch rivals, Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) and the United National Party (UNP), formed a coalition in January 2015, collective decision making has proved to be problematic. President Sirisena, heading the SLFP, has often overturned key decisions taken by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe heading the UNP.

The President, who is attempting to secure full control of the SLFP from his predecessor, Mahinda Rajapaksa, has to address the concerns of his party and its traditional voter base. In that process, he has used his Executive powers to overturn several unpopular decisions taken by the UNP, which dominates the cabinet by virtue of its greater strength in parliament.

Among the many controversial decisions taken by Prime Minister Wickremesinghe and his team is the arrest or questioning of top defense officials of the Rajapksa regime, including Defense Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa and three naval chiefs. Gotabaya had to undergo the ignominy of spending hours in a court detention cell till he got bail.

Three navy commanders who served during the war and the former Defense Secretary were hauled into court. As President and Defense Minister I am disgusted that the due process has not been followed. The heads of agencies have a duty to keep me informed, Sirisena told a Defense Ministry function here on Wednesday.

He also deprecated the detention of military intelligence officials for 16 months in a disappearance case. Either prosecute them or release them. I shall not allow the military to be weakened, Sirsena said. He castigated investigating agencies for working to a political agenda and threatened to take action.

The Presidents remark is significant since the Rajapaksa faction of the SLFP, which still has an edge in parliament, has been accusing the SLFP-UNP government of letting down the heroic armed forces.

Earlier he overturned major decisions on taxation and relations with China.

COLOMBO: Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisenas public outburst against the arrest or questioning of top defense officials associated with the Rajapaksa regime without his knowledge, has brought out a major fault line in the coalition government which is running the island nation. Ever since the traditional arch rivals, Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) and the United National Party (UNP), formed a coalition in January 2015, collective decision making has proved to be problematic. President Sirisena, heading the SLFP, has often overturned key decisions taken by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe heading the UNP. The President, who is attempting to secure full control of the SLFP from his predecessor, Mahinda Rajapaksa, has to address the concerns of his party and its traditional voter base. In that process, he has used his Executive powers to overturn several unpopular decisions taken by the UNP, which dominates the cabinet by virtue of its greater strength in parliament. Among the many controversial decisions taken by Prime Minister Wickremesinghe and his team is the arrest or questioning of top defense officials of the Rajapksa regime, including Defense Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa and three naval chiefs. Gotabaya had to undergo the ignominy of spending hours in a court detention cell till he got bail. Three navy commanders who served during the war and the former Defense Secretary were hauled into court. As President and Defense Minister I am disgusted that the due process has not been followed. The heads of agencies have a duty to keep me informed, Sirisena told a Defense Ministry function here on Wednesday. He also deprecated the detention of military intelligence officials for 16 months in a disappearance case. Either prosecute them or release them. I shall not allow the military to be weakened, Sirsena said. He castigated investigating agencies for working to a political agenda and threatened to take action. The Presidents remark is significant since the Rajapaksa faction of the SLFP, which still has an edge in parliament, has been accusing the SLFP-UNP government of letting down the heroic armed forces. Earlier he overturned major decisions on taxation and relations with China.
By PTI

ISLAMABAD: A Spanish diplomat was found dead at his home in Pakistan in what appears to be a case of suicide as a pistol was found lying near his body, police said.

Juan Jose Giner had been residing in Pakistan for last 34 years, police said, adding that he had been living alone in a house in the posh F-7 sector as both his wives had left him.

Police recovered a pistol from Giner's residence and said that additional was being collected. The pistol was found near Giner's body, police said, suggesting that it may have been a case of suicide.

Superintendent Police (SP) City Shaikh Zubair said that a forensic mobile lab had reached the spot and further investigations are underway.

He said that Giner's body had been shifted to Polyclinic hospital and the Spanish consulate had been informed of the incident.

"But we will further investigate the incident," he said.

It was not immediately known in which capacity the deceased was working in the embassy.

ISLAMABAD: A Spanish diplomat was found dead at his home in Pakistan in what appears to be a case of suicide as a pistol was found lying near his body, police said. Juan Jose Giner had been residing in Pakistan for last 34 years, police said, adding that he had been living alone in a house in the posh F-7 sector as both his wives had left him. Police recovered a pistol from Giner's residence and said that additional was being collected. The pistol was found near Giner's body, police said, suggesting that it may have been a case of suicide. Superintendent Police (SP) City Shaikh Zubair said that a forensic mobile lab had reached the spot and further investigations are underway. He said that Giner's body had been shifted to Polyclinic hospital and the Spanish consulate had been informed of the incident. "But we will further investigate the incident," he said. It was not immediately known in which capacity the deceased was working in the embassy.
By PTI

WASHINGTON: The US has ruled out any kind of treaty alliance with India, saying the 21st century is not an era of alliances and a mutual agreeable concept of major defence partner is a very apt description for India. "21st century is not an era of alliances.

It is an era of identifying interest, common values and working together in solving all those problems. I do not think that anyone in the United States Government or the Indian Government has any compulsion at all to form a treaty alliance," said Peter Lavoy, Senior Director for South Asia at the National Security Council (NSC), White House.

He was responding to a question at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), a top American think-tank. "Why have that shackle (of being a treaty alliance). I think, the friends that benefit from that are probably satisfactory. I would highlight a phrase that should not be underestimates  Major Defence Partner (with India)," he said. "There was an understanding, growing perception that we have been doing so much together that we have expanded, deepened the boundaries of co-operation.

But there was no brand or phrase or some term that qualified what this relationship is about. I think, the mutual agreeable concept of major defence partner is a very apt description," he said. "It was largely driven by the extent of deepening co-operation. India achieves success rate of 99 per cent in licenses applied for. That is really astounding.

Other kinds of technology is being transferred much more easily and readily than ever before. So there are very significant changes to our own policies and rules and procedures that enabled this defence partnership," Lavoy said. Lavoy said even before India places a request for something, the United States is ready and prepared. "Well before a challenge arise, we are already working with India to try to prevent the things from occurring," he said.

"Each of the (US) departments have installed in them the critical importance of this partnership and have internalised thinking about India's interest, thinking about our joint interest as a driving force and how we do business. That is completely transformational. That was not the case even in the beginning of the Obama Administration," he said.

WASHINGTON: The US has ruled out any kind of treaty alliance with India, saying the 21st century is not an era of alliances and a mutual agreeable concept of major defence partner is a very apt description for India. "21st century is not an era of alliances. It is an era of identifying interest, common values and working together in solving all those problems. I do not think that anyone in the United States Government or the Indian Government has any compulsion at all to form a treaty alliance," said Peter Lavoy, Senior Director for South Asia at the National Security Council (NSC), White House. He was responding to a question at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), a top American think-tank. "Why have that shackle (of being a treaty alliance). I think, the friends that benefit from that are probably satisfactory. I would highlight a phrase that should not be underestimates  Major Defence Partner (with India)," he said. "There was an understanding, growing perception that we have been doing so much together that we have expanded, deepened the boundaries of co-operation. But there was no brand or phrase or some term that qualified what this relationship is about. I think, the mutual agreeable concept of major defence partner is a very apt description," he said. "It was largely driven by the extent of deepening co-operation. India achieves success rate of 99 per cent in licenses applied for. That is really astounding. Other kinds of technology is being transferred much more easily and readily than ever before. So there are very significant changes to our own policies and rules and procedures that enabled this defence partnership," Lavoy said. Lavoy said even before India places a request for something, the United States is ready and prepared. "Well before a challenge arise, we are already working with India to try to prevent the things from occurring," he said. "Each of the (US) departments have installed in them the critical importance of this partnership and have internalised thinking about India's interest, thinking about our joint interest as a driving force and how we do business. That is completely transformational. That was not the case even in the beginning of the Obama Administration," he said.
By Associated Press

NEW YORK: Wells Fargo's embattled CEO John Stumpf is stepping down as the nation's second-largest bank is roiled by a scandal over its sales practices.

The San Francisco bank said Wednesday that Stumpf is retiring effective immediately and also relinquishing his title as chairman. He won't be receiving severance pay and the bank announced earlier that he will forfeit $41 million in stock awards.

Wells Fargo's chief operating officer, Tim Sloan, will succeed Stumpf as CEO and join the company's board. Sloan has been with Wells Fargo for 29 years. Stephen Sanger, the bank's lead director, will serve as the board's non-executive chairman.

Stumpf's end at Wells Fargo comes a little over a month after the bank was fined by California and federal regulators $185 million over its sales practices.

The regulators alleged employees trying to meet aggressive sales targets opened bank and credit card accounts, moved money between those accounts and even created fake email addresses to sign customers up for online banking  all without customer authorization. Debit cards were issued and activated, as well as PINs created, without customers' knowledge.

"I wish I could snap my fingers and make everything all right again, but it's going to take time," said Sloan said in an interview. "We are going to make it right by our customers and we are going to work to win that trust back."

Stumpf, a 34-year veteran of the bank who took over as CEO in 2007, had previously gained acclaim for navigating Wells Fargo through the financial crisis and keeping it free of scandal. But he came under withering pressure over the alleged misconduct, believed to have gone on at the bank for years. Some 5,300 lower-level employees were fired.

"While I have been deeply committed and focused on managing the company through this period, I have decided it is best for the company that I step aside," he said in a prepared statement Wednesday.

Among Stumpf's critics, Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts told him at a Senate Banking Committee hearing last month that he should resign and "give back the money you took while the scam was going on."

News of Stumpf's departure, however, did little to quell some lawmakers' anger over the affair or their demands for information from the company on how harmed customers and employees will be made whole.

Senate Banking Committee Chairman Richard Shelby, R-Ala., and the panel's senior Democrat, Sherrod Brown of Ohio, said Wednesday that Stumpf's retirement doesn't answer important questions.

"We are still waiting for answers as to how Wells Fargo plans to right its wrongs against customers and the low-paid employees who weren't given the benefit of a retirement package when they were fired for refusing to cheat," Brown said in a statement.

Stumpf earned $19.3 million last year. But he and Carrie Tolstedt, the executive who ran the retail banking division, will forfeit millions.

Tolstedt announced in July that she would retire from the bank this year and had been expected to leave with as much as $125 million in salary, stock options and other compensation. She was stripped of $19 million of her stock awards, and her departure was made immediate.

The revelations have sparked investigations by federal agencies. The bank's independent directors have also launched their own investigation.

Wells Fargo is scheduled to report its quarterly results Friday morning. In after-hours trading, its stock rose 76 cents, or nearly 1.7 percent, to $46.08.

NEW YORK: Wells Fargo's embattled CEO John Stumpf is stepping down as the nation's second-largest bank is roiled by a scandal over its sales practices. The San Francisco bank said Wednesday that Stumpf is retiring effective immediately and also relinquishing his title as chairman. He won't be receiving severance pay and the bank announced earlier that he will forfeit $41 million in stock awards. Wells Fargo's chief operating officer, Tim Sloan, will succeed Stumpf as CEO and join the company's board. Sloan has been with Wells Fargo for 29 years. Stephen Sanger, the bank's lead director, will serve as the board's non-executive chairman. Stumpf's end at Wells Fargo comes a little over a month after the bank was fined by California and federal regulators $185 million over its sales practices. The regulators alleged employees trying to meet aggressive sales targets opened bank and credit card accounts, moved money between those accounts and even created fake email addresses to sign customers up for online banking  all without customer authorization. Debit cards were issued and activated, as well as PINs created, without customers' knowledge. "I wish I could snap my fingers and make everything all right again, but it's going to take time," said Sloan said in an interview. "We are going to make it right by our customers and we are going to work to win that trust back." Stumpf, a 34-year veteran of the bank who took over as CEO in 2007, had previously gained acclaim for navigating Wells Fargo through the financial crisis and keeping it free of scandal. But he came under withering pressure over the alleged misconduct, believed to have gone on at the bank for years. Some 5,300 lower-level employees were fired. "While I have been deeply committed and focused on managing the company through this period, I have decided it is best for the company that I step aside," he said in a prepared statement Wednesday. Among Stumpf's critics, Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts told him at a Senate Banking Committee hearing last month that he should resign and "give back the money you took while the scam was going on." News of Stumpf's departure, however, did little to quell some lawmakers' anger over the affair or their demands for information from the company on how harmed customers and employees will be made whole. Senate Banking Committee Chairman Richard Shelby, R-Ala., and the panel's senior Democrat, Sherrod Brown of Ohio, said Wednesday that Stumpf's retirement doesn't answer important questions. "We are still waiting for answers as to how Wells Fargo plans to right its wrongs against customers and the low-paid employees who weren't given the benefit of a retirement package when they were fired for refusing to cheat," Brown said in a statement. Stumpf earned $19.3 million last year. But he and Carrie Tolstedt, the executive who ran the retail banking division, will forfeit millions. Tolstedt announced in July that she would retire from the bank this year and had been expected to leave with as much as $125 million in salary, stock options and other compensation. She was stripped of $19 million of her stock awards, and her departure was made immediate. The revelations have sparked investigations by federal agencies. The bank's independent directors have also launched their own investigation. Wells Fargo is scheduled to report its quarterly results Friday morning. In after-hours trading, its stock rose 76 cents, or nearly 1.7 percent, to $46.08.
By IANS

BEIJING: Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday morning left Beijing for state visits to Cambodia and Bangladesh, and also to attend the eighth BRICS summit in India, officials said.



Xi was invited by Cambodian King Norodom Sihamoni and Bangladesh President Abdul Hamid to pay state visits to the two countries, Xinhua news agency reported.



The President will then attend the BRICS -- Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa -- summit, to be held in Goa, at the invitation of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.



Here, the leaders will exchange in-depth views on BRICS cooperation and other global and regional issues, according to Vice Foreign Minister Li Baodong earlier this week.



Xi's entourage includes Wang Huning, member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and director of the Policy Research Office of the CPC Central Committee; Li Zhanshu, member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, member of the Secretariat of the CPC Central Committee and director of the General Office of the CPC Central Committee; and State Councilor Yang Jiechi.



Xi will return to Beijing on October 17.

BEIJING: Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday morning left Beijing for state visits to Cambodia and Bangladesh, and also to attend the eighth BRICS summit in India, officials said. Xi was invited by Cambodian King Norodom Sihamoni and Bangladesh President Abdul Hamid to pay state visits to the two countries, Xinhua news agency reported. The President will then attend the BRICS -- Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa -- summit, to be held in Goa, at the invitation of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Here, the leaders will exchange in-depth views on BRICS cooperation and other global and regional issues, according to Vice Foreign Minister Li Baodong earlier this week. Xi's entourage includes Wang Huning, member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and director of the Policy Research Office of the CPC Central Committee; Li Zhanshu, member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, member of the Secretariat of the CPC Central Committee and director of the General Office of the CPC Central Committee; and State Councilor Yang Jiechi. Xi will return to Beijing on October 17.
By PTI

Elizabeth: The New York bomb suspect wanted for injuring 31 people in a September attack in Manhattan pleaded not guilty today to state charges from his hospital bed.

Ahmad Khan Rahimi's public defender entered a plea of not guilty on state charges that his client attempted to murder police officers and unlawfully possessed weapons while on the run in New Jersey.

Bail was set at USD 5.2 million. Rahimi was shown lying in his hospital bed, where he is being treated after being critically wounded in a shootout with police on September 19 that led to his capture.

"Yes ma'am," said the Afghan-born American weakly in response to questions from Judge Regina Caulfield, who spoke from the court, as he recovered in his home town of Elizabeth, New Jersey.

Looking pale, with a thick black beard and black hair, he had a hospital sheet pulled up almost to his neck.

His public lawyer, Peter Liguori, stood over him wearing a hospital gown over his shirt and tie, and blue rubber gloves on his hands.

Liguori told the court he wished to correct the spelling of his 28-year-old client's last name to Rahimi -- not Rahami as previously listed by US authorities.

In addition to the New Jersey charges, Rahimi has been indicted for terrorism, including use of weapons of mass destruction, by federal prosecutors in Manhattan. He has yet to appear on those charges.

The bomb attack in New York's upscale neighborhood of Chelsea wounded 31 people on September 17.

A separate bomb attack forced the cancellation of a US Marine Corps run in the New Jersey town of Seaside Park.

If convicted, the suspect, who worked in his family's fried chicken restaurant, could spend the rest of his life behind bars.

Rahimi was captured while carrying a handwritten journal that lauded Osama bin Laden and US-born Al-Qaeda recruiter Anwar al-Awlaki, and criticized US wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria, prosecutors said.

The FBI believes that he acted alone.

Another bomb found in Chelsea on September 17 was defused safely. Five additional pipe bombs were subsequently found and defused in Elizabeth.

US officials say the suspect traveled extensively to Afghanistan and spent around a year in Pakistan, where he married and his wife became pregnant.

Elizabeth: The New York bomb suspect wanted for injuring 31 people in a September attack in Manhattan pleaded not guilty today to state charges from his hospital bed. Ahmad Khan Rahimi's public defender entered a plea of not guilty on state charges that his client attempted to murder police officers and unlawfully possessed weapons while on the run in New Jersey. Bail was set at USD 5.2 million. Rahimi was shown lying in his hospital bed, where he is being treated after being critically wounded in a shootout with police on September 19 that led to his capture. "Yes ma'am," said the Afghan-born American weakly in response to questions from Judge Regina Caulfield, who spoke from the court, as he recovered in his home town of Elizabeth, New Jersey. Looking pale, with a thick black beard and black hair, he had a hospital sheet pulled up almost to his neck. His public lawyer, Peter Liguori, stood over him wearing a hospital gown over his shirt and tie, and blue rubber gloves on his hands. Liguori told the court he wished to correct the spelling of his 28-year-old client's last name to Rahimi -- not Rahami as previously listed by US authorities. In addition to the New Jersey charges, Rahimi has been indicted for terrorism, including use of weapons of mass destruction, by federal prosecutors in Manhattan. He has yet to appear on those charges. The bomb attack in New York's upscale neighborhood of Chelsea wounded 31 people on September 17. A separate bomb attack forced the cancellation of a US Marine Corps run in the New Jersey town of Seaside Park. If convicted, the suspect, who worked in his family's fried chicken restaurant, could spend the rest of his life behind bars. Rahimi was captured while carrying a handwritten journal that lauded Osama bin Laden and US-born Al-Qaeda recruiter Anwar al-Awlaki, and criticized US wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria, prosecutors said. The FBI believes that he acted alone. Another bomb found in Chelsea on September 17 was defused safely. Five additional pipe bombs were subsequently found and defused in Elizabeth. US officials say the suspect traveled extensively to Afghanistan and spent around a year in Pakistan, where he married and his wife became pregnant.
By Associated Press

BANGKOK: Thais wept in grief across the nation Thursday after the palace announced the death of their beloved King Bhumibol Adulyadej, the politically fractious country's unifying figure and the world's longest-reigning monarch. He was 88.

Hundreds of people had gathered since Wednesday at Bangkok's Siriraj Hospital, where Bhumibol had been treated for various ailments for much of the past decade. Many sobbed loudly, clutching each other in anguish and shouting "Long live the king."

"There is no word to explain my feeling right now," Gaewkarn Fuangtong, a humanitarian worker, said in Bangkok's financial district.

"I lost one of the most important people in my life. I feel like I haven't done enough for him. I should have done more. I will do good, do better for his sake."

The government announced a 100-day mourning period and a 30-day moratorium on state events. But businesses, tourist attractions and public transport were to remain open Friday because of the government's desire not to hurt the sputtering economy.

"The stock market, investments, other businesses should not stop. Do not try to let the country lose its credibility, especially in the case of impact on the stock exchange," Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha said in a televised address to the nation.

He said Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn will succeed the king under the constitution, but had asked for more time to mourn with the nation before ascending the throne. No date has been set for his coronation.

Most Thais have seen no other king in their lifetime and thought of Bhumibol, who reigned for 70 years, as their father and the embodiment of goodness and godliness.

Although a constitutional monarch, he wielded enormous political power and served as a unifying figure during Thailand's numerous political crises. But in recent years, he suffered from a variety of illnesses that affected his kidneys, brain, lungs, heart and blood. He remained publicly detached from recent political upheavals, including the 2014 coup that brought Prayuth, an army general, to power.

"Since I was young I saw him work really hard, and now it's hard to explain. I feel numb inside," said Danaiwut Wiroonpiti 26, a photographer who was crying outside the Grand Palace where the king's body will be taken in a procession Friday. "He's the center of all Thai people. It's like we lost the main pillar of our lives, the person who holds us together. I can't hold my tears."

Portraits of Bhumibol displayed in most Thai homes and businesses generally depict him in arduous travels to remote villages, where he often went to see the situation of his subjects first hand.

But recently, whenever Bhumibol appeared in public, he was in wheelchair, waving feebly at his subjects. Even those rare appearances stopped as he became confined to the hospital.

On Sunday, the palace announced his health had become "unstable," and on Wednesday, Vajiralongkorn rushed back from Germany, Prayuth canceled a trip abroad and royal family members began gathering at Siriraj Hospital.

He died a little before 4 p.m. on Thursday, the palace said. His death was announced three hours later in a broadcast carried simultaneously by all TV stations.

"Even though the board of doctors has closely monitored and treated him to the best of its abilities, the king'scondition never improved," the palace said in a statement. It said he passed away peacefully.

"He is now in heaven and may be looking over Thai citizens from there," Prayuth said in a statement. "He was a king that was loved and adored by all. The reign of the king has ended and his kindness cannot be found anywhere else."

Messages of condolences poured in from across the world.

"With a creative spirit and a drive for innovation, he pioneered new technologies that have rightfully received worldwide acclaim," U.S. President Barack Obama said. "His majesty leaves a legacy of care for the Thaipeople that will be cherished by future generations."

French President Francois Hollande hailed the king for "exceptional human qualities ... his profound sense of justice, his care for modernity and sustainable development." Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi described him as "one of the tallest leaders of our times."

Bhumibol Adulyadej (pronounced poo-mee-pon ah-dun-yaa-det) became king in 1946. He anchored the Southeast Asian country through violent upheavals at home and communist revolutions next door with a blend of majesty and a common touch.

There is great concern about the succession, since Vajiralongkorn has not earned the same respect as his father.

Government spokesman Sansern Kaewkamnerd said for the next 30 days all TV and radio stations, including online media, will broadcast the same programs provided by a government-controlled pool. He did not specify foreign TV channels in the rule, but on Thursday night all channels on the country's main satellite TV service, including BBC and CNN, were replaced by the pool footage.

BANGKOK: Thais wept in grief across the nation Thursday after the palace announced the death of their beloved King Bhumibol Adulyadej, the politically fractious country's unifying figure and the world's longest-reigning monarch. He was 88. Hundreds of people had gathered since Wednesday at Bangkok's Siriraj Hospital, where Bhumibol had been treated for various ailments for much of the past decade. Many sobbed loudly, clutching each other in anguish and shouting "Long live the king." "There is no word to explain my feeling right now," Gaewkarn Fuangtong, a humanitarian worker, said in Bangkok's financial district. "I lost one of the most important people in my life. I feel like I haven't done enough for him. I should have done more. I will do good, do better for his sake." The government announced a 100-day mourning period and a 30-day moratorium on state events. But businesses, tourist attractions and public transport were to remain open Friday because of the government's desire not to hurt the sputtering economy. "The stock market, investments, other businesses should not stop. Do not try to let the country lose its credibility, especially in the case of impact on the stock exchange," Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha said in a televised address to the nation. He said Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn will succeed the king under the constitution, but had asked for more time to mourn with the nation before ascending the throne. No date has been set for his coronation. Most Thais have seen no other king in their lifetime and thought of Bhumibol, who reigned for 70 years, as their father and the embodiment of goodness and godliness. Although a constitutional monarch, he wielded enormous political power and served as a unifying figure during Thailand's numerous political crises. But in recent years, he suffered from a variety of illnesses that affected his kidneys, brain, lungs, heart and blood. He remained publicly detached from recent political upheavals, including the 2014 coup that brought Prayuth, an army general, to power. "Since I was young I saw him work really hard, and now it's hard to explain. I feel numb inside," said Danaiwut Wiroonpiti 26, a photographer who was crying outside the Grand Palace where the king's body will be taken in a procession Friday. "He's the center of all Thai people. It's like we lost the main pillar of our lives, the person who holds us together. I can't hold my tears." Portraits of Bhumibol displayed in most Thai homes and businesses generally depict him in arduous travels to remote villages, where he often went to see the situation of his subjects first hand. But recently, whenever Bhumibol appeared in public, he was in wheelchair, waving feebly at his subjects. Even those rare appearances stopped as he became confined to the hospital. On Sunday, the palace announced his health had become "unstable," and on Wednesday, Vajiralongkorn rushed back from Germany, Prayuth canceled a trip abroad and royal family members began gathering at Siriraj Hospital. He died a little before 4 p.m. on Thursday, the palace said. His death was announced three hours later in a broadcast carried simultaneously by all TV stations. "Even though the board of doctors has closely monitored and treated him to the best of its abilities, the king'scondition never improved," the palace said in a statement. It said he passed away peacefully. "He is now in heaven and may be looking over Thai citizens from there," Prayuth said in a statement. "He was a king that was loved and adored by all. The reign of the king has ended and his kindness cannot be found anywhere else." Messages of condolences poured in from across the world. "With a creative spirit and a drive for innovation, he pioneered new technologies that have rightfully received worldwide acclaim," U.S. President Barack Obama said. "His majesty leaves a legacy of care for the Thaipeople that will be cherished by future generations." French President Francois Hollande hailed the king for "exceptional human qualities ... his profound sense of justice, his care for modernity and sustainable development." Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi described him as "one of the tallest leaders of our times." Bhumibol Adulyadej (pronounced poo-mee-pon ah-dun-yaa-det) became king in 1946. He anchored the Southeast Asian country through violent upheavals at home and communist revolutions next door with a blend of majesty and a common touch. There is great concern about the succession, since Vajiralongkorn has not earned the same respect as his father. Government spokesman Sansern Kaewkamnerd said for the next 30 days all TV and radio stations, including online media, will broadcast the same programs provided by a government-controlled pool. He did not specify foreign TV channels in the rule, but on Thursday night all channels on the country's main satellite TV service, including BBC and CNN, were replaced by the pool footage.
IANS By

VIENTIANE: US President Barack Obama on Thursday expressed confidence that the Goods and Services Tax (GST), passed by the Indian parliament last month, will unleash significant economic activity.

He said this during a meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the sidelines of the 11th East Asia Summit here.

This could well be the last bilateral meeting between Modi and Obama before the latter demits office in January next year.

The two last met in June when Modi visited Washington.

According to sources, during Thursday's meeting, both leaders reviewed the immediate priorities in the strategic partnership between the two countries.

"President Obama praised Prime Minister Modi's initiatives to reform the Indian economy," the sources said.

"In particular, he said that the passage of GST will unleash significant economic activity."

Obama also praised Modi's vision of entrepreneurship and innovation, saying it would be "very important for a country like India", it is learnt.

On his part, the Prime Minister praised the President for his contribution to the India-US relationship and the growing trust between the two sides.

The Second India-US Strategic and Commercial Dialogue was held in New Delhi last month.

Obama, according to the sources said, said that he has always been a friend of India and would continue to be a "strong partner of India and help in any way I can".

"Discussions then focused around climate change issues and energy cooperation," the sources said.

"The two leaders reviewed progress on Indo US collaboration in nuclear energy, solar energy and innovation."

Both Modi and Obama had played crucial roles in the signing of the agreement at the Conference of Parties (CoP)-21 Paris climate summit.

According to the sources, when Modi invited President Obama to visit India after he demits office, the latter said that he would welcome any opportunity to visit India.

"As an aside, he added that he and (wife) Michelle were yet to see the Taj Mahal," the sources said.

On Thursday, Modi attended the 14th India-Asean Summit and the 11th East Summit here.

He also held bilateral meetings with South Korean President Park Geun-hye, State Counsellor and Foreign Minister of Myanmar Aung San Suu Kyi and Laos Prime Minister Thongloun Sisoulith.

VIENTIANE: US President Barack Obama on Thursday expressed confidence that the Goods and Services Tax (GST), passed by the Indian parliament last month, will unleash significant economic activity.He said this during a meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the sidelines of the 11th East Asia Summit here.This could well be the last bilateral meeting between Modi and Obama before the latter demits office in January next year.The two last met in June when Modi visited Washington.According to sources, during Thursday's meeting, both leaders reviewed the immediate priorities in the strategic partnership between the two countries."President Obama praised Prime Minister Modi's initiatives to reform the Indian economy," the sources said. "In particular, he said that the passage of GST will unleash significant economic activity."Obama also praised Modi's vision of entrepreneurship and innovation, saying it would be "very important for a country like India", it is learnt.On his part, the Prime Minister praised the President for his contribution to the India-US relationship and the growing trust between the two sides.The Second India-US Strategic and Commercial Dialogue was held in New Delhi last month.Obama, according to the sources said, said that he has always been a friend of India and would continue to be a "strong partner of India and help in any way I can"."Discussions then focused around climate change issues and energy cooperation," the sources said. "The two leaders reviewed progress on Indo US collaboration in nuclear energy, solar energy and innovation."Both Modi and Obama had played crucial roles in the signing of the agreement at the Conference of Parties (CoP)-21 Paris climate summit.According to the sources, when Modi invited President Obama to visit India after he demits office, the latter said that he would welcome any opportunity to visit India. "As an aside, he added that he and (wife) Michelle were yet to see the Taj Mahal," the sources said.On Thursday, Modi attended the 14th India-Asean Summit and the 11th East Summit here.He also held bilateral meetings with South Korean President Park Geun-hye, State Counsellor and Foreign Minister of Myanmar Aung San Suu Kyi and Laos Prime Minister Thongloun Sisoulith.
Express News Service By

NEW DELHI: In his last visit to South East Asia as the President of the United States, Barack Obama on Wednesday welcomed Indias growing role in the region, specifically in the presence of China. During his two terms at the helm of affairs in the White House, President Obama has effected a rebalancing of the US foreign policy with 60 per cent of its strategic assets being redeployed in the Asia-Pacific region.

Weve also forged deeper ties with emerging economies and emerging powers.Weve elevated our ties with India across the board, and we welcome Indias growing role in the Asia Pacific, Obama said at the ASEAN Summit at Vientiane, Laos. India, under the UPA Government, had received the US military strategy for Asia-Pacific with apprehensions even as Washington tried to woo New Delhi to embrace a greater role in the region.

However, the countries overcame the hesitations of history as Prime Minister Narendra Modi pushed for greater engagement with South East Asian countries even as the Look East policy was renamed Act East policy. In sync with its aspirations, India set out to augment the military capacity of the South East Asian countries that serve as a gateway to the strategic South China Sea  which is becoming a ground for competition for India, China, US and Japan among other countries. Modi is also present in Laos.

In a message aimed at Chinas aggressive posturing on the South China Sea, President Obama said: We believe that bigger nations should not dictate terms to smaller nations, and that all nations should play by the same rules. Across the region, including in the East and South China seas, the US will continue to fly and sail and operate wherever international law allows, and support the right of all countries to do the same.

NEW DELHI: In his last visit to South East Asia as the President of the United States, Barack Obama on Wednesday welcomed Indias growing role in the region, specifically in the presence of China. During his two terms at the helm of affairs in the White House, President Obama has effected a rebalancing of the US foreign policy with 60 per cent of its strategic assets being redeployed in the Asia-Pacific region.Weve also forged deeper ties with emerging economies and emerging powers.Weve elevated our ties with India across the board, and we welcome Indias growing role in the Asia Pacific, Obama said at the ASEAN Summit at Vientiane, Laos. India, under the UPA Government, had received the US military strategy for Asia-Pacific with apprehensions even as Washington tried to woo New Delhi to embrace a greater role in the region.However, the countries overcame the hesitations of history as Prime Minister Narendra Modi pushed for greater engagement with South East Asian countries even as the Look East policy was renamed Act East policy. In sync with its aspirations, India set out to augment the military capacity of the South East Asian countries that serve as a gateway to the strategic South China Sea  which is becoming a ground for competition for India, China, US and Japan among other countries. Modi is also present in Laos.In a message aimed at Chinas aggressive posturing on the South China Sea, President Obama said: We believe that bigger nations should not dictate terms to smaller nations, and that all nations should play by the same rules. Across the region, including in the East and South China seas, the US will continue to fly and sail and operate wherever international law allows, and support the right of all countries to do the same.
Thailand's royal palace says 88-year-old King Bhumibol Adulyadej remains in unstable health condition.

The palace said new blood tests from Tuesday showed the king's liver was working irregularly, there were heightened levels of uric acid in his blood, his blood pressure dropped and he remained on a ventilator.

Bhumibol, the world's longest-reigning monarch, has not been seen by the public for nearly a year as he battles a series of illnesses in a Bangkok hospital.

Bhumibol, a constitutional monarch with no formal political role, is widely regarded as Thailand's unifying figure.
Commissioned by the European Chamber of Commerce, the index evaluated countries against 14 indicators including transparency, intellectual property and customs.

The Economist Intelligence Unit released a 100-point index Wednesday that placed Singapore at seven out of 17 Asian countries for its ability to prevent illicit trade that includes counterfeit goods, arms and endangered wildlife. Singapore's low ranking was largely the result of its lacunae in its free trade zones.

The wealthy city-state of Singapore -- with its flourishing trade, orderly life and almost non-existent crime -- is hardly a place one would associate with illegal trade. But a new report by a reputed organization reveals that in fact the country has a poor record of preventing just that.

Singapore scored 69.8 points to tie with Taiwan. Still, it is behind neighbor Malaysia (71.8), often seen as a nation with a far less efficient government. The top performers were Australia (85.2), New Zealand (81.8) and Hong Kong (81.4).

Singapore's government did not immediately respond to a request for comment by The Associated Press.

"While it has the strongest customs environment, a failure to monitor its busy free trade zones dragged Singapore's score down,'' the EIU said in a press release.

One of the index's indicators rated countries between zero to four for free trade zone governance, including checks on warehouses for smuggled goods. Singapore was handed a score of one, meaning that there was little to no monitoring. It also received a poor rating for government cooperation with stakeholders.

"Given the constant evolving nature of illicit trade, authorities need to constantly enhance their regulatory controls and enforcement effort -- especially in free trade zones,'' Simon Jim, the chairman of the European Chamber of Commerce's Committee on Intellectual Property Rights, told reporters at a news conference where the report was released.

"Fake goods don't just take revenue away from companies or governments. They threaten the security of nations by supporting transnational crime syndicates and terrorist groups,'' he added.

Southeast Asian counterparts, except Brunei that did not feature in the index, ranked low on the table. The bottom three were Cambodia (23.9), Laos (12.9) and Myanmar (10.8). China, which carries a reputation of being a hub for counterfeit goods, had a score of 61.6.

"Illicit trade is more than just counterfeit goods. Illicit trade includes guns, it includes endangered species and endangered wildlife. It includes human trafficking,'' said author Chris Clague from the EIU.

"A lot of these other forms of illicit trade... follow the same channels that counterfeit goods do," he said.

EIU said that rising labor costs in China could encourage manufacturers to look for cheaper sites, causing illicit trade to flow to developing Southeast Asian countries.
German politicians called on Wednesday for the "hero refugees" who captured a fellow Syrian migrant suspected of planning a bomb attack on a Berlin airport to be honored with a prestigious award, describing them as a model of integration.

The actions of the two Syrians who tied up the suspect in their flat in Leipzig and alerted police have been seized on as a rare good news story in the midst of the migration crisis facing Germany and Europe.

"The young men have earned the Federal Cross of Merit," Social Democrat defense expert Johannes Kahrs told Bild daily, adding they had shown a profound respect towards Germans. "It is hard to imagine more integration, it is exemplary," he said.

Juergen Klimke, a member of Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats, said the medal -- awarded to individuals who have made a special contribution to Germany -- would send a strong signal of recognition and show that 'Courage is worth it.'

Last year's influx of some 900,000 migrants has raised fears about security, especially after migrants were involved in bomb, knife and machete attacks in July. Merkel has drawn criticism from her own conservative camp and shed support to the anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany.
The Foreign Ministry here insisted that a crackdown authorizing the use of live firearms against constant incursions by Chinese fishermen is "justified."

A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman told reporters that Korea should refrain from using excessive force that could harm the safety of Chinese nationals.

The Chinese government on Wednesday denied that Korea has jurisdiction over waters where a Chinese trawler sank a coast guard ship last week.

Asked to comment on Seoul summoning the Chinese ambassador to lodge a formal protest, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said the coordinates given by the Korean government for the location where the trawler rammed the coast guard speedboat "is within the waters where existing fishing activities shall be maintained as prescribed in the fishery agreement between China" and Korea.

"There is no term in the agreement that can justify law enforcement activities by the [Korean] coast guard in these waters... The Chinese side once again asks the [Korean] side to discipline its law enforcement staff and regulate their law enforcement activities so as to avoid the abuse of law enforcement power and violent behavior or approaches that may hurt or endanger Chinese personnel."

But the Foreign Ministry here said the Chinese fishing boats were operating illegally in Korea's exclusive economic zone and Seoul had the right to pursue the trawler into open seas.

According to the Ministry of Public Safety and Security, the Chinese trawlers were caught fishing within Korea's sovereign waters, and according to UN maritime regulations, Korea has the right to pursue and capture a foreign vessel that violate Korean laws within its waters and flees to the high seas.

"China is grossly distorting the facts by mentioning only what it claims are the coordinates of the sinking and leaving out the fact that the Chinese trawler was fishing illegally in Korean waters and resisted capture," a ministry official here said.

China's Global Times in an editorial accused the Korean government of being "insane" for considering the use of live ammunition to deal with unruly Chinese trawlers.
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Hyundai's exports have fallen 50 percent so far this month amid protracted strikes that are holding up deliveries.

The strikes are a quasi-annual ritual, but this year the carmaker's labor union has downed tools 24 times since July, resulting in US$1.3 billion in lost exports compared to last year (US$1=W1,124).

On top of that Hyundai is embroiled in a costly recall of engines used in the flagship Sonata sedan. The company has agreed with owners in the U.S. to provide free repairs of 880,000 cars and extend warranty periods.

On Wednesday, Hyundai promised the same compensation to Sonata owners in Korea. But the company has now managed to pacify striking workers by reaching a tentative agreement over wages.

As workers downed tools, exports took a direct hit. Hyundai has been inundated with queries from overseas dealers whether it will be able to deliver cars on time. The company admits that it has enough inventory to last two to three months, but eventually it will run out.

The delays are affecting Korea's total export figures because cars account for eight percent of Korea's total exports and Hyundai is responsible for 80 percent of that amount. Korea's overall car exports have dropped 52 percent so far this month compared to the same period of 2015 and overall exports have dropped 18 percent.
Champaign, IL (61820)

Today

Generally cloudy. Areas of fog with some patchy drizzle. High 59F. Winds WSW at 10 to 15 mph..

Tonight

Some passing clouds. Low 43F. Winds W at 5 to 10 mph.
North Korea has been reshuffling chiefs of its diplomatic missions in Europe after the defection of the No. 2 man in the London Embassy in July.

A source on Wednesday said the North Korean regime has been investigating officials and other people who had recruited or vouched for Thae Yong-ho.

"His defection has caused such a huge stir that other senior officials at the ministry are also being reprimanded."

Kung Sok-ung, the vice foreign minister in charge of European affairs, has disappeared from public view since August, leading to speculation that he was purged.

North Korean Ambassador to the U.K. Hyon Hak-bong has been interrogated in Pyongyang since he was recalled in August. Inspectors have reportedly been sent to other North Korean diplomatic missions in Europe.

According to a doplimatic source, the North Korean ambassadors to Germany Ri Si-hong, to France Kim Yong-il, and to Geneva So Se-pyong have not been seen at diplomatic events recently.

The North's overseas missions "seem badly rattled and are too scared to do their jobs properly," the source added.


The department of Intensive Care of the Radboud university medical center in Nijmegen, the Netherlands, has developed a unique communication app for adult and pediatric ICU patients, who cannot speak due to an intubation, being on a ventilator or breathing through a tracheostoma.

The app, called voICe, was released in a Dutch version in 2013 in the Netherlands and Belgium. Not only the Radboud university medical center but over 200 other hospitals in these countries have been offering this way of communicating with their patients during hospitalisation.

How it works

The app provides 50 pictograms that can speak and show a text on different items at the same time. For kids several picto's have been adapted to fit their age and understanding. Many improvements have been achieved and now a special enlarged keyboard for the write canvas and a translation in the English language are launched. Messages and a video image can be left for the patient by loved ones, a large clock is installed and notes can be stored by six people at the same time.

Beneficial for many patients

VoICe is a very appropriatecommunication tool for patients and their loved ones in the Intensive Care Unit. Furthermore, other patient groups benefit from this communication instrument as well; SAH, SHI, ALS, paralysis, stroke, child paralysis; both patients and their nearest, adults and children, benefit from this tool.
Without intervention the rising number of deaths from cervical cancer will exceed maternal mortality rates in developing countries

As the world marks the fourth International Day of the Girl Child, Girl Effect and Gavi today announced a ground-breaking partnership to protect girls from contracting cervical cancer in developing countries.

As part of this integrated partnership, Gavi will support countries in purchasing HPV vaccine, while Girl Effect will unlock demand by encouraging girls to get vaccinated against cervical cancer.

The number of deaths from cervical cancer is on the rise and, without intervention, it is set to overtake maternal mortality in developing countries. Girl Effect and Gavis US$10 million joint investment will help address the negative social norms that prevent girls from accessing the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine, which provides protection against 70% of cervical cancer cases. The aim of the partnership is to ensure that more girls take up the vaccine in parts of the world where they are most at risk.

Cervical cancer claims the lives of more than 266,000 women each year, 85% of whom live in developing countries. It is the leading cause of cancer deaths for women in 40 out of 48 countries in sub-Saharan Africa. Although the HPV vaccine is often available, it is not reaching many of the girls who need it most.

As part of this integrated partnership, Gavi will support countries in purchasing HPV vaccines, while Girl Effect will unlock demand by catalysing girls to demand immunisation against cervical cancer. Girl Effect will do this by leveraging its culture brands - brands rooted in local culture, and which reflect girls realities, their stories and the challenges they face every day. They work through integrating social and mass media - like radio shows and magazines - mobile apps, girl-driven insights and safe spaces, both virtual and analogue.

For example, Girl Effects brands like Ni Nyampinga in Rwanda and Yegna in Ethiopia, will include storylines and advice columns dispelling myths about the purpose of the vaccine. At the same time, its Technology Enabled Girl Ambassadors (TEGAs)  trained girl-researchers using mobile technology to rapidly collect real-life insights  will help the partnership better understand the challenges facing girls and the impact the partnership is having on the ground.

Longer term, the Girl Effect-Gavi partnership has an even bigger ambition: to leverage the power of brands to create greater trust in health systems, encouraging more girls to use health services at critical times in their lives.

Farah Ramzan Golant, CEO of Girl Effect, said:

We want to create a new normal for girls, where theyre visible, vocal and valued participants in society and actively supported by their communities. A world where they have the information and inspiration they need to seek out the services they need and deserve. In this unusual partnership with Gavi, were pioneering an integrated approach to tackle a complex development issue. Gavi will ensure life-saving vaccines are available, while Girl Effect will use the power of our brands, drawing from popular culture and harnessing new technology, to drive behaviour change at scale - ensuring girls are informed and empowered to actively take up these vaccines.

Cervical cancer is a scourge that kills women in the prime of their lives, depriving families of mothers, aunts, grandmothers and wives, said Dr Seth Berkley, CEO of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance. The HPV vaccine is a vital tool in the battle against cervical cancer, especially in countries where lack of access to screening and treatment is a major issue. Our partnership with Girl Effect is an opportunity to bring this vaccine to the attention of girls who are at risk of missing out on its lifesaving impact.

Girl Effects US$5 million contribution will be matched by Gavi through the Matching Fund commitment of the Netherlands. In January 2015 the Dutch Government announced a 10 million contribution in support of immunisation through Gavis Matching Fund.

To watch a short animation illustrating the new partnership and why it matters, please go to https://youtu.be/xaOr2Qs9zj4.
University of Leicester leads new international research network with Chongqing Medical University

A new project that will twin the expertise of pregnancy and obstetrics researchers across the world with their counterparts in China has been announced with funding from the Chinese government.

Professor Philip Baker

Professor Philip Baker, Dean of Medicine and Pro-Vice-Chancellor at the University of Leicester, will lead a group of ten pregnancy researchers from around the world (Europe, North America, Asia, South America and Africa) as part of a 111 programme project with Chongqing Medical University. Funding is for six million RMB (approximately equivalent to 600,000) over five years.

The network offers the opportunity to work on a range of projects that will benefit from resources unique to China, such as building the largest cohort of twins to determine the true extent of genes compared with environmental factors.

Professor Baker is the Lead Overseas Applicant of the team which includes Professors David Olson (Roberta, Canada), Richard Saffery (Melbourne, Australia) and Mark Kilby (Birmingham, UK), as well as Tommy Mousa, also from the University of Leicester. Professor Baker will be coordinating each of the various projects with a partner in Chongqing.

Professor Baker said:

This award will support an international network of pregnancy researchers who will tackle a range of important pregnancy problems that have implications, not just for mothers and babies, but for long-term adult health.

This network of pregnancy researchers is supported by the 111 programme offered by the Chinese government to facilitate collaboration between Chinese universities and the global research community. The Chinese government have funded 15 programmes, this programme being one of only two in medicine (the other in ophthalmology) and the only one in Western China.

The University of Leicester-led network builds on a pregnancy research centre that Professor Baker established about five years ago in Chongqing  covering all facets of pregnancy research from molecular and cellular laboratory studies through to clinical trials.

Professor Baker added:
Scientists at Houston Methodist received support from the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) to reprogram cancer patients' immune cells to attack triple negative breast cancer, the most lethal form of breast cancer.

The DoD awarded Rongfu Wang, Ph.D., director of the Center for Inflammation & Epigenetics at Houston Methodist Research Institute, and Jenny C. Chang, M.D., director of the Houston Methodist Cancer Center, nearly $4 million to create a triple negative breast cancer immunotherapy that retrains the immune system to safely target and eliminate breast tumors and spare normal tissue.

The team removes immune cells from a triple negative breast cancer patient and isolates T cells, a small population of immune cells that help the body fight cancer and other diseases. Receptors of the tumor marker NY-ESO-1 are attached to the patient's T cells to recognize and capture cancer cells expressing the tumor marker. The modified NY-ESO-1 T cells are injected back into the patient as a personalized immunotherapy that guides the patient's immune system to identify and destroy breast cancer cells.

Wang led a team of researchers to identify the tumor marker NY-ESO-1, a protein found in only tumors and testes tissue. The absence of NY-ESO-1 from most normal tissues limits its side effects when used as an immunotherapy target. The DoD grant allows the Houston Methodist team to use NY-ESO-1 T cells to target triple negative breast cancer.

Recent clinical studies showed a 55 to 80 percent response rate of NY-ESO-1 T cells in treating patients diagnosed with metastatic synovial sarcoma, melanoma and myeloma, revealing NY-ESO-1 as an effective immunotherapy target for solid cancers. The highly specific tumor marker is expressed in 30 percent of tumors from triple negative breast cancer patients.

Breast cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death in women, according to the American Cancer Society. Ongoing research has kept survival rates at close to 100 percent in patients with early diagnosis of local disease. Rates plummet to a median of three years when the disease spreads to distant sites. Triple negative tumors lack the expression of three receptors: estrogen, progesterone and HER2, leaving most radiation and chemotherapies ineffective, toxic and ultimately resulting in disease relapse and death.

Wang, the lead investigator, and his team have studied the use of NY-ESO-1 in cancer vaccines and immunotherapy for nearly two decades.
The advanced phase of acute kidney injury can be fatal in even one in two patients. Fortunately, now it will be possible to detect the disease in its initial stages, when treatment is still relatively simple and the prognosis good. The key to this health and life-saving manner of diagnosis is a new polymer, designed at the Institute of Physical Chemistry of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw.

The chemical heart of low-cost diagnostic tools capable of detecting the early stages of kidney disease may, in the near future, be a special polymer prepared by PhD student Zofia Iskierko under the supervision of Dr. Krzysztof Noworyta, in Prof. Wlodzimierz Kutner's group at the Institute of Physical Chemistry of the Polish Academy of Sciences (IPC PAS) in Warsaw. The polymer was designed and carefully constructed so as to particularly effectively entrap only one substance in its vicinity: lipocalin-2 (NGAL), a protein naturally occurring in human blood. For the clinician, an increase in the concentration of this compound in a patient is a valuable signal of still symptomless, but already developing, acute kidney injury. Work on the implementation of the polymer, funded by grant from the Polish National Centre for Science, was carried out in collaboration with the University of North Texas in Denton, the Warsaw Institute of Physics of the Academy of Sciences and the International Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology.

"We deal with the creation of polymer recognition films for chemosensors that detect various substances. These include biomarkers and other biologically important compounds, whose presence or changes in concentration in body fluids carry information about the health of the patient. Our latest polymer can selectively capture lipocalin-2, a protein biomarker for acute kidney injury," says Dr. Noworyta.

Acute kidney injury, earlier known as acute renal failure, affects about three in a thousand people. However, on hospital wards the situation is much more serious: up to 40% of hospital patients may suffer from this disease. With early diagnosis the effects of acute kidney injury are reversible. The clear symptoms of the disease such as fatigue, vomiting or altered consciousness, however, only appear at an advanced stage of its development when possible complications become a serious threat to life (in the most advanced stage, the mortality rate reaches up to 50%!). Kidney damage, which occurs in the late stages of the disease, may be permanent and require continued dialysis or even entire organ transplantation.

"Before acute kidney injury develops, the concentration of lipocalin increases in patient's blood. So, we devised a polymer in whose structure there are molecular cavities that are a good fit for the shape and properties of the molecules of just this compound. The probability that any other protein will get caught in them is very, very small," explains PhD student Zofia Iskierko, the lead author of the publication in the journal ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces.

The new polymer was prepared by molecular imprinting. Molecules of lipocalin were first surrounded by appropriately selected (so called functional) monomers binding with the protein at specific locations characteristic only for itself. Then, a cross-linking monomer was introduced which combined with the functional one. Those monomers were later subjected to polymerization, after which the lipocalin was washed out of the resulting structure. Finally, a stable polymer film was obtained with molecular cavities matching lipocalin molecules both in terms of their local chemical features as well as their size and shape.

"When lipocalin molecules in the test solution come into contact with a polymer formed in this manner, some of them have the chance to be deposited in the cavities. Proteins, however, are quite large and they are reluctant to migrate through the polymer network. Therefore, the structure of our polymer had to be artificially loosened enough to ensure the lipocalin molecules had the best access to the greatest number of cavities, but not excessively, so that the polymer film would not collapse," describes Dr. Noworyta.

The IPC PAS researchers obtained the required porosity, whilst retaining sufficient mechanical strength, by using MOF (metal-organic framework) inorganic-organic microporous materials. In terms of structure, MOF materials resemble three-dimensional lattices whose mesh sizes depend on the type of metal atoms and connecting ligands used. It was on this construction frame that the actual recognition film was fabricated. When the polymer had been immobilized, in the process of removing lipocalin molecules, the MOF skeleton - by this time redundant - was also destroyed. This treatment also resulted in an extension of the polymer surface, leading to an increase in cavities available for the protein molecules and ensuring better sensitivity of the chemosensor.

The polymer mass increases after entrapping the lipocalin molecules. Therefore, if it were to be placed on a small piezoelectric oscillator, its easy-to-measure oscillation frequency would have to decrease. Another method of identifying the presence of lipocalin particles within the molecular cavities is to measure changes in the potential of the recognition film, which alters the current flowing in the processing field effect transistor component. Due to its simplicity and reliability, this latter solution would be particularly suitable for commercial chemosensors designed for mass production.

"Our research is of a basic, laboratory nature. It is, however, still a long way from the preparation of a polymer capturing lipocalin to the mass production of low-cost detectors for the prevention and early treatment of disease," says Prof. Kutner.

Niels Bohr, the great Danish quantum physicist, used to say that predicting was difficult, especially when it comes to the future. However, it seems reasonable to suppose that in the next decade devices detecting various biomarkers and warning early on of a threat to health will become an integral part of the ubiquitous smartphone. Diagnosis would then become as simple as testing blood sugar using today's glucose meters: it would suffice to connect a removable, simple chemosensor with an appropriately selected polymer recognition film to the smartphone, apply a little physiological fluid to it and... wait for the smartphone to display the result. Everyone would be able to carry out advanced medical diagnostics as often as they deemed appropriate.
The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center and the Houston Independent School District (HISD) have reached a first-of-its-kind agreement to provide access to an evidence-based, youth-oriented tobacco prevention and cessation program for all 110,000 HISD middle and high school students. A Smoking Prevention Interactive Experience (ASPIRE) will be made available in English and Spanish through HISD's online learning and teaching platform, known as the HUB, and the curriculum will be used in required health and physical education classes across 46 high schools.

"Reducing the devastating effects of tobacco in Houston's youth is of paramount importance to our mission of eliminating cancer," says Ethan Dmitrovsky, M.D., provost and executive vice president. "We are very pleased to announce this partnership as an important step toward improving the future health of our community."

ASPIRE was developed by MD Anderson researchers to provide an engaging curriculum for teens to learn about the dangers of tobacco use, thereby encouraging them to quit smoking or, better yet, never start. The program incorporates video-game-like components, customized messages, graphics, animations and streaming video.

"The support and research from MD Anderson is an incredible, local resource to HISD," said Annie Wolfe, HISD officer of secondary curriculum and development. "We are thrilled about this partnership and all that it will provide for our students."

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, tobacco use remains the single largest preventable cause of death in the United States. Smoking is responsible for one third of all cancers and 90 percent of all lung cancers.

"The vast majority of current smokers started before the age of 18. Each day approximately 3,200 adolescents start smoking," says Alex Prokhorov, M.D., Ph.D., professor of Behavioral Science. "Previous approaches were no longer effective in preventing youth tobacco use, so we developed a more appealing program for today's youth."

Prokhorov led the team that developed and launched ASPIRE in 2001. The program was translated into Spanish in 2011, adapted for mobile devices in 2013 and has also been expanded to include information about emerging tobacco products, such as e-cigarettes.

HISD served as a source for the early testing of the original ASPIRE research study, which included 16 Houston schools in the early 2000s. Thus far, more than 14,000 HISD students have used ASPIRE, primarily through health and physical education programs.

Source: University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center
The tourism industry in the historic city of Gyeongju in North Gyeongsang Province has taken a knock after the earthquake last month compounded by damage from typhoon Chaba.

Only about 570,000 tourists visited Gyeongju in September, down almost half from a year earlier, according to the city government.

Most schools elsewhere in Korea have canceled scheduled trips to the area involving some 45,000 children. The estimated loss from these cancellations alone amounts to W3.5 billion (US$1=W1,124).

Few tour buses are seen in the Bomun Tourist Complex, where hotels and condos are concentrated. Tourists have canceled reservations at 16 hotels and other accommodation in the city since Sept. 12, when the magnitude 5.8 earthquake hit the area.
Recently introduced screening programmes, monitoring and treatment will be important in continuing the downward trend of tuberculosis incidence in England.

Tuberculosis (TB) incidence in the UK has declined over the past 4 years, with fewer numbers of new migrants diagnosed with the disease. A new study, published in The Lancet finds that migrants arriving on visas to the UK from countries at high risk of TB and who were pre-screened for TB, pose a negligible risk of onwards infection, despite being at increased risk of developing TB themselves. The findings suggest that the UKs current pre-entry screening programme, now in place in 101 countries, as well as ongoing monitoring and treatment will be important in continuing the downward trend of TB incidence in the UK.

Latest data on the incidence of TB in England show that the number of cases has declined over the past 4 years to 5,758 cases (10.5 per 100,000 people) in 2015, from its peak of 8,280 cases (15.6 per 100,000) in 2011. Similar to other countries with low incidence of TB, most cases identified in the UK are in the non UK-born population (73% in 2015). Recent data suggest there has been a decline in the number of cases occurring in new migrants with more than half of non-UK born cases (60%) occurring among those who have lived in the UK for over 6 years.

A new study, led by University College London (UK), analysed data from over 500,000 migrants arriving in the UK  mainly on student or settlement visas  between 2006 and 2012 who were pre-screened for TB as part of a pilot pre-entry screening programme. Countries included in the pilot programme were Bangladesh, Burkina Faso, Cambodia, Cote DIvoire, Eritrea, Ghana, Kenya, Laos, Niger, Pakistan, Somalia, Sudan, Tanzania, Thailand, and Togo. Before this, testing for TB was done on arrival in the UK, and since 2012, the programme has been expanded to 101 countries.

Under the programme, visa applicants who are intending to stay in the UK for more than 6 months are screened for active TB in their country of origin. Pre-screening tests involve a chest radiograph and sputum testing in cases of suspected active TB. Culture testing was also rolled-out across sites during the pilot. Visa applications are processed only after a certificate confirming clearance of active TB has been issued.

519,955 people arrived in the UK post-screening as part of the pilot. Of these, a total of 1873 cases of TB were identified in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland over the 7 years of the study (mean follow up was 2.45 years). The risk of TB infection was greatest at 4 years post-arrival, suggesting that ongoing monitoring and good access to healthcare will be important in further reducing the incidence of TB in the UK.

During the later years of the pilot (2010-2013), molecular data on TB cases were collected in the UK, allowing the research team to estimate the number of cases identified post-arrival that were assumed to be due to reactivation of latent TB (ie, dormant with no current symptoms). Out of 318,983 migrants who arrived over this period, 301 cases of TB were identified as probably due to reactivation of latent infection acquired abroad. Using these molecular data it was estimated that only 35 TB cases identified in screened migrants were likely to have caused onward transmission of TB within the UK.

In the UK, rates of TB have declined by about a third since 2011 and the relatively small number of cases we see every year are mostly from people born outside the country. For the first time, our study provides insights into the type of TB that people develop after arrival, and shows that only a very small number of TB cases (35) out of more than 300,000 migrants screened appear to have caused onward transmission. The risk to public health is therefore negligible, says Dr Rob Aldridge, lead author from University College London. Pre-screening for TB is primarily designed to detect active TB. Screening for latent TB is possible and may further reduce the incidence of TB in the UK especially in groups at highest risk, but it will be important to analyse its cost-effectiveness.

The researchers found that people who had travelled from countries with very high incidences of TB (over 350 per 100,000 people), people who reported being in close contact to someone with TB, and people who had a positive chest radiograph (but negative sputum samples) were at greatest risk of developing TB post-arrival. The findings suggest that programmes to detect latent TB as part of pre-screening programmes may be effective, especially if they are targeted towards people at greatest risk, but that cost-effectiveness analyses should be conducted.

Dr Dominik Zenner, co-author and Head of TB Screening at Public Health England (UK) adds:

The study provides further evidence about TB reactivation  where TB bacteria can sleep in the body, often for many years, without making you ill. This is called latent TB and is key to explaining many of the new TB cases in the UK. Thats why the current national roll out of latent TB screening is an important part of the national TB strategy.

The authors say that the study is representative of migrants who intend to stay in the UK for over 6 months, and does not necessarily cover people who stay for shorter periods, undocumented migrants, or asylum seekers. Although undocumented migrants and asylum seekers are particularly vulnerable, the authors note that their comparatively small numbers (compared with documented migrants) mean they account for a low number of cases. They add that no data were available on socioeconomic status, health (e.g. HIV, smoking, drug, or alcohol abuse), or history of imprisonment, all of which increase the risk of TB.

Writing in a linked Comment, Dr Sally Hargreaves, Dr Laura Nellums, and Professor Jon S. Friedland from Imperial College London, London (UK), note that the UK is one of a few European countries screening individuals before they migrate and say the findings may have wider implications for policies around Europe. They add:
Researchers from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai have been awarded a $10 million from the National Cancer Institute to explore the cellular and molecular mechanisms of acute graft-versus-host disease (GVHD), a common side effect that occurs after allogeneic bone marrow transplantation (BMT), and to develop novel therapeutic strategies for BMT patients with cancer that begin in the cells of blood-forming tissue or hematologic malignancies. James Ferrara, MD, DSc, Ward-Coleman Professor of Cancer Medicine and Director of the Center for Translational Research in Hematological Malignancies at The Tisch Cancer Institute at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, will lead the collaborative project which includes research teams at University of Michigan-Ann Arbor, and Baylor College of Medicine in Texas, as well as a consortium of 20 transplant centers that will conduct trials in GVHD.

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GVHD develops when the donor's immune cells attack the patient's normal cells after transplant. Nearly 6,000 patients develop acute GVHD each year and up to 50 percent of these patients will die from the disease. GVHD is the primary cause of transplant-related death.

Recent studies have demonstrated that alterations in intestinal microbiota composition are linked to GVHD, and this grant will fund unique research projects this intestinal environment and the role that it plays in GVHD. The studies seek to understand the ability of microbial metabolites to influence the resistance of intestinal epithelial cells to donor T-cell-mediated damage and the role of the antimicrobial peptide regenerative 3 alpha in protecting intestinal stem cells. Researchers will also design a clinical trial of biomarker-guided therapy to prevent the development of steroid-refractory gastrointestinal GVHD.

"My colleagues and I have developed an exciting prognostic tool to identify those who will get GVHD and those who will not," explained Dr. Ferrara. "In doing so, we will design treatment to respond to each patient's disease progression and possibly stop its escalation. The studies are highly significant and translational, and have the potential to impact patients' care."

The study will also look at how the microbiome affects immune responses, and the proposed studies will likely have implications not only in gastrointestinal GVHD but in cancer immunotherapy in general. The projects all interact, and the study is highly integrated around a strong central theme of exploring the cellular and molecular mechanisms of GVHD to improve the care for the BMT patients.
Celebrating 25 years of FISH probe development, OGT announce further expansion to the comprehensive Cytocell Aquarius Haematology range

Oxford Gene Technology (OGT), The Molecular Genetics Company, has today announced a significant expansion of its existing catalogue of Cytocell Aquarius Haematology probes for fluorescence in situ hybridisation (FISH)  underlining the company's position as the one-stop-shop for high-quality FISH probes. These additions have been introduced due to an ongoing commitment to use customer input as a major driver for the rapid development of the latest research-relevant probes.

The 14 newly launched probes are:

CBFB Proximal Probe Red

CBFB Distal Probe Green

MECOM Probe Red

RUNX1 Probe Green

NUP98 Proximal Probe Red

NUP98 Distal Probe Green

TET2 Probe Red

USP46 (4q12) Probe Green

CSF1R/RPS14 (5q32-q33) Probe Red

EGR1/CDC25C (5q31) Probe Green

TERT (5p15.33) Probe Aqua

CUX1 (7q22) Probe Green

EZH2 (7q36) Probe Red

Chromosome 7 Alpha Satellite Probe Aqua

The new cost-effective and quality-assured probes are optimised for use on common sample types and are sold as pre-mixed, easy-to-use formulations to minimise experimental errors. The importance of researchers input in todays announcement demonstrates the ongoing success of OGTs myProbes service, which enables scientists to order custom-made probes for virtually any sequence in the human genome. All probes are produced under GMP/GLP guidelines using the Cytocell BAC-2-FISH process, combining high-intensity signals with low levels of background fluorescence and providing maximum confidence in results.

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As the longest-standing FISH probe manufacturer in the world, 2016 marks 25 years of Cytocell expertise and customer service in the development and production of FISH products. myProbes gives us the opportunity to get continuous input from our customers, explains Faidra Partheniou, Haematology Product Manager at OGT, it truly helps us to respond quickly to changes in customer demand and it helps researchers by providing a first port of call for rapid development of new probes. These latest additions to our Cytocell Aquarius portfolio are testament to this.

OGT also offers the opportunity to evaluate the accurate, user-friendly FISH probes in customers own labs free of charge by simply requesting up to four free probes from their extensive range.

To find out more about the comprehensive range of Cytocell FISH probes and to request a free sample, please visit www.cytocell.com. You can also find out more at booth #1230 at the annual meeting of the American Society of Human Genetics (ASHG) in Montreal from 18 to 22 October.

The new additions to the Cytocell Aquarius Haematology probe range are currently only available within North America as analyte specific reagents (ASRs), analytical and performance characteristics are not established. CE-marked IVD versions for sale in Europe are anticipated.
A new award from the CHDI Foundation will advance promising research that aims to slow the progression of Huntington's disease. The funding, anticipated to total more than $10.5 million over next five years, will help University of Rochester Medical Center (URMC) scientists develop a stem cell-based therapy that swaps sick brain cells for healthy ones.

The new award will go to the lab of Steve Goldman, M.D., Ph.D., the co-director of the URMC Center for Translational Neuromedicine, which has research operations in both Rochester and at the University of Copenhagen.

Huntington's is a hereditary neurodegenerative disease characterized by the loss of medium spiny neurons, a nerve cell in the brain that plays a critical role in motor control. As the disease progresses over time and more of these cells die, the result is involuntary movements, problems with coordination, and cognitive decline, depression, and often psychosis. There is currently no way to slow or modify this fatal disease.

The new award will support research that builds upon findings published by Goldman earlier this year in the journal Nature Communications showing that researchers were able to slow the progression of the disease in mice by transplanting healthy human support cells, called glial progenitor cells, into the animals' brains.

Researchers had observed that medium spiny neurons become overexcited due to a genetic flaw caused by the disease that prevents cells from taking up enough potassium. This deficit not only gives rise to motor control and cognitive symptoms, but also triggers a toxic chain reaction that ultimately kills the cells. One of the roles of glial cells is to help these neurons to maintain a proper balance and supply of potassium. However, because glia cells also become sick during the disease, they are unable to perform this function.

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During the study, Goldman and his URMC colleagues, including Abdellatif Benraiss, Ph.D. and Maiken Nedergaard, M.D., D.M.Sc., transplanted glial progenitor cells they had derived from human stem cells into the brains of transgenic mice with Huntington's disease. They observed that the new glial cells took over for the sick ones and were able to stabilize and even rescue neurons that were being lost to the disease, slowing its progression and allowing the animals to live longer. These findings demonstrated that glial cell dysfunction is a major part of Huntington's and provided researchers and clinicians with a completely new approach to potentially treat the disease.

The new award will enable the researchers to further understand the basic biology of these cells so that they can refine the process of preparing them for implantation before going to clinical trials, a process that should be accelerated due to the fact that the research will involve human cells.

The CHDI Foundation is a privately-funded, not-for-profit biomedical research organization devoted to Huntington's disease. The organization's mission is to work with academic and industry scientists to develop therapies that will slow the progression of Huntington's disease and provide meaningful clinical benefit to patients.
New Delhi: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has registered three cases of violence during the agitation over Jat reservation in Haryana in February which left at least 30 persons killed and property worth hundreds of crores of rupees destroyed, an official said on Thursday.



The CBI took over the investigation of these cases on the request of the Haryana government and on further orders from the central government, the official said.



Two of the three cases pertain to the violence and arson at the residence of Haryana's Finance Minister Capt. Abhimanyu while the third case relates to allegations of looting of weapons from a company of the Border Security Force (BSF) and the Haryana Police and attempt to murder them by thousands of armed rioters.



The Jat protesters demanding reservation education institutions and employment under the Other Backward Classes (OBC) category had attacked the Haryana Finance Minister's house and set ablaze his car in Rohtak.



"It was alleged that the BSF and the Haryana Police officers were on law and order duty at Delhi-Rohtak bypass when they were attacked," the officer said.



It was also alleged that property worth crores of rupees was burnt and weapons of police guards were looted by the agitators.



Haryana was on boil between February 14 and 23 this year when members of the Jat community held protests and indulged in arson, to press for reservation quota. The epicentre of the violence was the state's Rohtak district.




New Delhi: Congress leader Digvijaya Singh on Thursday attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi by calling him a "warmonger" for pushing India to a war like situation with Pakistan.



"Warmonger Modi is slowly getting India in a War like situation with Pakistan. He sees this as the only option to win the next election," Singh tweeted.



In another tweet, the Congress General Secretary said: "But by doing this he is only strengthening ISI (Inter-Services Intelligence) and Pakistan Army clique and weakening the Political Leadership in Pakistan."



"Can two nations armed with nuclear weapons afford a War?" he asked.



Singh's remarks came following the political war that erupted after the September 29 surgical strikes carried out by Indian forces across the Line of Control (LoC) in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK).



The surgical strikes came in the backdrop of the September 18 terror attack on an army camp in Uri town of Jammu and Kashmir in which 19 soldiers were killed.



Singh also urged the government to start talks with Pakistan.



"Please for God's sake and for the sake of our children's future Pakistan and India should stop playing war games and come to the negotiating table," he said.



He also said that "shouldn't India and Pakistan be fighting against hunger and malnutrition together rather than fighting each other?"
If the hero's grandfather is a former PM and father is a former CM, why Jaguar, even a Maruti car will do well," Sharada Naik, a state BJP leader posted on Facebook kicking up a storm.



Deve Gowda is a living legend. He does not need to do such silly things People may have gone to watch Jaguar out of curiosity. But there is no connection between Cauvery and Jaguar," he said, adding that Jaguar, he believed, is a good movie.



: A newly released Kannada movie is doing great, but critics allege it has less to do with the plot and more to do with politics.'Jaguar', starring former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowdas grandson Nikhil Gowda, has reportedly raked in Rs 15 crore in the first 5 days of the release  its whole budget is estimated at Rs 20 crore.Well, it so happens that the movie is doing particularly well in parts of Karnataka  the old Mysore belt that also includes Bengaluru  that had come to a standstill during the recent Cauvery agitation forcing Deve Gowdas critics to accuse the family of using Cauvery sentiments for commercial ends.The movie is produced by Nikhil's father HD Kumaraswamy, Deve Gowda's son and former state chief minister. A potboiler revenge-crusade story as its plot that is also Nikhil's debut, Jaguar was released across 300 theatres in Karnataka on October 9.Naik told News18 that she is being trolled relentlessly for the comments. "They threatened me. But I refused to withdraw my comments. I know how they are marketing the movie," she said.An anguished Kumaraswamy trashed the criticism saying the movie has nothing to do with Cauvery."I am a film producer. I have produced several movies in the past. 'Jaguar' was in the works for a year now. We released it during Dussehra holidays because most people watch movies during festivals. It has nothing to do with the Cauvery agitation. It is a coincidence," he told News18.Political opponents, a few of whom didn't want to be quoted, accuse that the Gowda family is trying to sell the goodwill that patriarch Deve Gowda earned while spearheading the recent agitation against Supreme Court verdict directing Karnataka to release Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu.After Karnataka dilly-dallied despite two reminders, the apex court had issued a stern warning to the state putting the political class on the backfoot. A fast by the 83-year-old former PM requesting the SC to understand the compulsions of a water-starved state had brought the whole state together, and Karnataka managed to defuse the situation by releasing water to TN and stave off a much more serious suggestion to institute an interstate board to manage Cauvery waters.JDS chief spokesman and MLA YSV Datta said people of the state were grateful to the "sacrifices made by Deve Gowda."Senior Gowda who is not known for his love for movies walked out of the theatre after watching it for just 20 minutes. Speaking to media he said "I have other engagements. I have to go. My grandson has a bright future in cinema world."
New Delhi: Jaish-e-Mohammed chief and Pathankot terror attack mastermind Masood Azhar on Thursday asked Pakistan to 'open the path' for terrorism against India and urged them to seize opportunity to take control of Kashmir.



In an editorial in Jaish's weekly al-Qalam, Masood appealed to the Pakistani government to open the path for Mujahideen since the "terror in Kashmir has weakened India" to a great extent.



"Consider India before and after the jihad in Kashmir. In the course of this journey, I have seen India reduced from a serpent to an earthworm," Masood further added.



Masood added that the "bitter memories" of 1971 will be dissolved into the "triumphant emotions of 2016" if the government agrees to his demands.







Masood's call to escalate activities against India comes amidst reports that a Pakistani newspaper, The Nation has questioned why the Nawaz Sharif government is not acting against the likes of Masood Azhar & Hafeez Saeed.



India had demanded a UN ban on Masood Azhar but China has managed to block India's UN proposal.



Replying to a question on criticism about China's move to stall India's bid for a UN ban on Azhar - head of Pakistan-based terrorist group Jaish-e-Muhammad, Li sought to justify Beijing's recent technical hold in the matter, saying: "China is opposed to all forms of terrorism."



"There should be no double standards on counter-terrorism. Nor should one pursue own political gains in the name of counter-terrorism," he said in a veiled reference to India, which is pressing for the UN ban against Azhar over his role in the Pathankot terror attack.
New Delhi: Pakistan on Wednesday again denied any surgical strike across the LoC on September 29 as per India's claims, with its High Commissioner Abdul Basit saying there was only cross-border firing.



"There was no surgical strike. Had there been any surgical strike, Pakistan would have retaliated," said Basit in an interview to a TV channel, adding that Indian forces only fired across the Line of Control (LoC).



When asked what message Pakistan has got from the strikes, he said since there was no strike, there is no question of Pakistan getting any message.



To the point that many prominent Pakistan media organisations have written about the surgical strikes, Basit said that he can't comment on media reports.



"Your entire discourse is based on media reports. My stand is there was no surgical strike," he reiterated.



On being asked if he would accept that Pakistan was isolated internationally after Uri terror attack, he said that Pakistan has suffered more from terrorism than any other country.



"We don't need any lecture from anybody on it," he said.



About Saarc summit, which was to take place in Pakistan next month, he said it being postponed was a loss for every country concerned.



"We are confident that Pakistan will host it next year. It is not the first time Saarc summit has got postponed. Pakistan would like to implement our Prime Minister's vision of peace for development " he added.



To the question on political asylum by India to Baloch leader Brahamdagh Bughti, the envoy said: "A handful of individual don't represent Balochistan." He added that he questioned the idea of destablising Pakistan and "if that happens we will see how this pans out".



On the investigation into the Pathankot attack and trial of the accused on the Mumbai attack, Basit said that trials do take time.



Pakistan is committed but without India's cooperation it can't go ahead, he said, noting that last year, Pakistan asked for some information on Mumbai attack but India has not responded yet.



"Trial is underway and the accused are behind bars. It is for India to cooperate," he added
Srinagar: Unidentified suspected militants on Wednesday shot dead a Peoples Conference worker in north Kashmir's Kupwara district, police said.



Ghulam Nabi Khoja, who was also an employee in the state's education department, was shot outside his residence in Tralgund village, a police official said here.



He said Khoja was rushed to district hospital Baramulla where doctors declared him brought dead.



The official said Khoja was a worker of Peoples Conference which is led by separatist-turned-mainstream leader and Jammu and Kashmir Minister for Social Welfare Sajad Gani Lone.
Samsung's decision to stop selling its combustible flagship Galaxy Note 7 smartphone deals a severe blow to the brand value of the electronics giant. Trillions of won in losses and production shortfalls are a secondary concern. Cracks in an image that took decades to build up are a much bigger blow not just for the conglomerate but for the Korean economy as a whole.

According to brand consultancy Interbrand last week, Samsung ranked seventh in the world in terms of global brand value, just behind Toyota and IBM, and much of that was due to its series of premium handsets.

It took a tremendous amount of effort and investment for Samsung to build up its brand value. In 1993, Samsung chairman Lee Kun-hee proclaimed an initiative aiming for a complete reform of the company to make it a truly global brand. The aim was to overcome Samsung's reputation for cheap knockoffs, and the company held a ceremony where it burned 150,000 defective mobile phones.

Yet although Samsung has managed to rise to the pinnacle of the global electronics industry, its management structure remains rigid and top-down. And that culture is at the root of the latest debacle.

Heavy pressure from management to roll out the Note 7 before Apple unveiled its latest iPhone led to frightened underlings cutting corners, with disastrous result. And as staff scrambled to deal with the first round of combustions, a hasty recall before figuring out the exact problems made matters worse.

The debacle demonstrates that Samsung's success formula has reached the end of its life cycle. Copying the latest advances of industry leaders, putting all its money into heavy marketing, and a top-down management style meant the company was able to beat its rivals, but at a heavy cost and at slim profit margins, with nothing left over if anything went wrong.

Other Korean conglomerates have also employed the strategy. But now there is a nimble challenger on the scene in the form of China, which can do all these things on a far bigger scale and even faster than Korea.

Innovation is needed, but innovation is hamstrung by the structure of seniority and the sheer terror that stalks the corridors of Samsung.

Family-owned conglomerates like Samsung are now managed by the second or third generation, who lack the pioneering spirit of the groups' founders, but a new breed of up-and-coming businesses armed with innovative ideas are nowhere to be seen, precisely because the old behemoths strangle them out of business.

Samsung's crisis merely exemplifies the problems Korea's economy faces as a whole, and politicians are completely uninterested in dealing with it because they too are deeply entangled with the conglomerates.

Korea's entire corporate landscape is embroiled in the doldrums facing Samsung. Without radical reforms, another Note 7 debacle is simply a matter of time.


Maravanpulavu Sachithananthan, the chief organiser of Siva Senai, said that they had the support of Shiv Sena, BJP, VHP, and RSS. He also said that it would campaign against what he calls coercive conversion of Hindus to other religions and it would demand an anti-conversion law in Sri Lanka.

Siva Senai's first executive committee meeting at Vavuniya in Sri Lanka (Photo courtesy: Maravanpulavu Sachithananthan)

It is true that Buddhism has been the foundation of Sri Lanka for over two thousand years. But we never discriminated against anyone on the basis of religion. Siva Senais fears are unfounded. Hindus are safe here, Gunawardena said dismissing Senai allegations of Sinhala-Buddhist Colonisation.

Sri Lanka is not a secular country like India. It is a Buddhist theocratic nation. Our Constitution says Buddhism is a priority religion. They are getting government money. Christians get money from Christian nations and Muslims get money from Arab nations. Hindus get nothing, Sachithananthan told News18 from Jaffna.

: Shiv Sena in Mumbai has extended its support to a new Sri Lankan Tamil outfit called Siva Senai, triggering concerns among the mainstream politicians of the island nation that sectarian outfits will reopen wounds of a 20-year-old civil war that ended only in 2009.The Siva Senai, based out of Vavuniya in the Tamil-dominated northern Lanka, is led by Maravanpulavu Sachithananthan. The party takes its name from Lord Shiva and plans to fight coercive conversion from Hinduism to Buddhism, the dominant Sinhalese religion.Shiva Sena leader Sanjay Raut told News18 that his party extends support to the new Lankan outfit. Our party is a Hindu party. We support the cause of Hindus all over the World. We supportSiva Senai, he said.Sinhalese leaders fear the militant nature of the new Siva Senai could break the status-quo prevailing in Northern Lanka while Tamil leaders are wary that outfits like Senai would split Tamil unity.The three main players in the Sri Lankan politics  ruling Sri Lanka Freedom Party of President Maithripala Sirisena, the United National Party (UNP) of Prime Minister Ranil Wickeremesinghe and the Opposition Tamil National Alliance (TNA)  have expressed serious concerns over the birth of Senai and the support it is getting from Hindu right-wing parties and organisations in India.Recently a group of Hindus in Sri Lanka launched Siva Senai at Tamil dominated town Vavuniya in Northern Province.The new outfit which is also Sri Lankas first Hindu right-wing organisation accuses the Lankan government of supporting a Sinhala  Buddhist Colonisation to undermine the importance of Hindus. It also accuses the Muslims and Christians of getting huge foreign funding to spread their religion.Senai leader Sachithananthan told News18 that the organization will seek help from like-minded organisations in India. Conversion is the biggest problem for us. Hindus alone have no support in Sri Lanka. Siva Senai will fight for them with the support of like-minded organisations in India, he said.United opposition leader and MP Dinesh Gunawardena said that Senai and its like-minded friends pose a threat to peace. Our island nation has just come out of a bloody war. We dont need a religion based political outfit like Siva Senai. We are aware of what Shiva Sena is doing in India. I dont think that we need something like that here, he told News18.The TNA which rules the Tamil-dominated Northern Province headquartered at Jaffna appears to be more worried about the Siva Senai than the Sinhalese political parties. Although Senai is a new organization with little mass support, the prospect of a religion-based divide worries Tamil parties.Assertion of a religious identity is not a bad thing. But at this stage, we dont need it. Our identity is Tamil identity. We are totally secular. There are Hindus, Christians, and Muslims among the Tamils. All are equal. We cant divide them on the basis of religion, TNA leader and MP MA Sumanthiran told News18.Expressing fears that the Siva Senais association with Shiv Sena might lead to religious conflict in the island nation which has just returned to normal life after 30 years of horrible civil war, he said "such organisations can take extreme positions. We already have a Buddhist extremist organisation Bodu Bala Sena (BBS). Birth of another extremist organisation opposed to BBS ideology is a very dangerous thing. It can create enmity between different religions. Both are called Sena, meaning army. Whatever may be their good intention, but the perception is negative. We cant have outfits with the names like Sena."Reacting to this, Senai founder Sachithananthan said that his organization was not an extremist one and the comparison with any other extremist organization was unfair.Secondly, Tamil identity is under threat is a bogus claim. The Tamil Muslims went away in 1987 and formed Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC). Christians are encouraging large scale conversions. Where is unity? Even Buddhists are freely entering Hindu villages to install Buddha statues. They never dared to do that before the end of war in 2009, he added.Commenting on Shiva Senas support he said if they support, we welcome it. But, as of now ours is a 100% locally grown organization. We believe in peace. We dont want to be like Shiv Sena.Buddhist-majority Lanka has about 13% Hindu population. Almost all Hindus are Tamils except a few thousand who recently migrated to Sri Lanka.
Thiruvananthapuram: The BJP called for a protest shutdown in Kerala on Thursday and demanded a CBI probe after one of its activists was murdered on Wednesday allegedly by CPI-M members at Pinarayi village in Kannur district.



The BJP also accused the state's Left Democratic Front government and Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan of unleashing "political terrorism" in Kerala.



Condemning the murder of Remith, a 26-year-old driver, Bharatiya Janata Party chief Amit Shah alleged "political vendetta" was the reason for the attacks on party workers in the southern state.



"Murder of Remith in Pinarayi is disturbing. Attacks on BJP karyakartas (workers) in Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan's home constituency is a matter of grave concern and smacks of political vendetta," Shah said on Twitter.



The BJP President said Remith's father Chavassery Uttaman was similarly killed in 2002.



"I strongly condemn this gruesome murder and call upon all leaders across the political spectrum and national and regional media to join in this condemnation as violence has no place in a democratic country," Shah later said in a statement in Delhi.



"The repeated occurrence of political violence in Kannur district and in the native village of the Chief Minister clearly shows these are sponsored killings by the Marxist cadres with the Chief Minister's active patronage," he added.



Shah demanded that the investigation into the murder of Remith be expeditiously handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation by the Kerala government.



Remith was attacked in front of a petrol pump in Pinarayi, a police official said. The crime spot is near Chief Minister Vijayan's house.



Remith's murder followed the killing of 52-year-old CPI-M grassroots leader K. Mohanan, who was hacked to death by suspected Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh activists on Monday.



Both murders took place in Vijayan's Dharmadom constituency.



BJP spokesperson G.V.L. Narsimha Rao accused the Chief Minister of patronising criminals.


Ahead of the BRICS Summit in Goa, the Congress has expressed its objection to the logo of the event, which it said looks like the party symbol of BJP, even as the AAP questioned the absence of the name of the place, where the meet is being held, from the logo.



"It is highly improper on the part of the relevant BRICS Committee to select the election symbol of a member country, India, when it is well-known that lotus is BJP's poll symbol. Elections of the Goa Assembly are due to be held in February 2017. In Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab and Manipur also polls are due," Congress MP Shantaram Naik told reporters on Wednesday.



The Congress leader also filed a petition in the Election Commission of India (ECI) demanding that steps should be taken to "freeze" BJP's election symbol, as the party has "misused" it by going against the spirit of Symbols Order, 1968, the law which regulates the allotment of symbol.



Meanwhile, AAP spokesman Rupesh Shinkre sought to know why the name of Goa is not mentioned in the logo, whereas in the past BRICS events, the logo carried the names of the host places.



"As India is gearing up to host the 8th BRICS Summit, it is a matter of pride to Goa to host the event, where the leaders of the next world powers would set their foot," Shinkre said.



"Goa has been earlier a venue to such world events. But BRICS is the biggest among them. Venues of such meets are very significant because the declarations are named after the place of its convention. The 8th BRICS Declaration would be a called as the Goa Declaration," he said.



"With all the humility we would like to draw the attention of stakeholders to issue which has been neglected. The logo of a summit should incorporate the name of the place. Like BRICS summits held in the past since 2009. That is Yekaterinburg (Russia) in 2009, Brasilia (Brazil) in 2010, Sanya (China) in 2011, New Delhi (India) in 2012, Durban (South Africa) in 2013,Fortaleza (Brazil) in 2014 and Ufa (Russia) in 2015. But the BRICS 2016 logo doesn't find the mention of Goa. This is strong exception to the precedence," he added.



Reacting to the criticism, Goa Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar said, "It is good that Naik sees lotus everywhere in Goa in the run up to the polls."



However, Parsekar's party colleague and MP from South Goa Narendra Sawaikar, tweeted, "Logos do not substitute for election symbol. Congress sees propaganda in anything and everything."



The BRICS Summit will take place in Goa on October 15 and 16.
Mumbai: Wading into the debate over Uniform Civil Code issue, Shiv Sena on Thursday said Muslim outfits are opposing Law Commission's questionnaire only because India is a secular country and would not have "dared" to do so had they been living in any Islamic country.



"Laws in our country are based on religion. In the past, there have been amendments to laws for the Hindu and Catholic community as and when needed. Also in Muslim community, laws have been amended in countries like Turkey, Iraq and Malaysia that follow Islam," Sena spokesperson Neelam Gorhe told reporters.



Her comments came against the backdrop of the Law Commission's decision to invite views on the contentious UCC issue on Thursday.



The questionnaire by Law Commission has riled All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) and other Muslim organisations which said they will boycott it and accused the Narendra Modi government of waging a "war" against the community.



Gorhe said the Shiv Sena has always called for UCC to be put in place.



"There needs to be a change in lives of women. They (Muslim bodies) are being able to oppose the UCC only because they reside in a secular country.



"Had they been living in a country that followed Islamic laws, they would not dare to protest against the amendments in laws. There should be a debate on the issue and women should get justice," she added.


New Delhi: Politics over surgical strikes escalated again on Thursday with Congress accusing the government and BJP of "lack of transparency" over the last-minute dropping of a planned briefing on surgical strikes at the meeting of the Parliamentary Standing Committee for Defence.



Two senior Congress members - Ambika Soni and Madhusudan Mistry - dubbing it accused committee chairman BC Khanduri of changing the agenda for the last moment.



"The decision not to brief the committee over surgical strikes under the garb of secrecy only amounts to 'lack of confidence' in the Members of Parliament, who are in the committee and who are bound by the oath of secrecy. This position is absolutely unacceptable to us," they said in a joint statement.



BJP leader Subramanian Swamy, who is also a member of the Standing Committee, however, differed saying the decision should be left to the Army.



The statement by Mistry and Soni also said: "We are deeply disappointed over the last minute change of agenda," they said, adding "We demand that the original agenda of the forthcoming Committee meeting should be maintained and also defence officials inform the Committee about the number of surgical strikes carried out since 2004."







The DGMO was expected to brief the committee but now that has been changed as the new agenda mentions discussion on proxy war.



Committee chairman Khanduri told CNN-News18 that agendas can be changed at the last minute and if the Congress has a problem it could be discussed separately.



"It is our firm belief that the officials should brief the standing committee members as they briefed the leaders of the opposition parties on the above said issues."



They insisted it's high time the attitude of the defence officials towards the standing committee members "change for the better" and committee is informed of the "shortcomings" the forces are facing in combating adversaries on borders,"the Congress leaders'statement further said



They said this is not the first such instance and the agenda of such meetings has been changed earlier too.



They complained that it's unfortunate that they come to know through newspaper reports of the shortage of arms and ammunition to the Special Forces who carried out surgical strikes , but the army officials are not ready to discuss or answer queries to be raised in the meeting of Standing Committee Members.


Apple will open its second research and development centre in China in the southern city of Shenzhen, the US technology giant said on October 12, as it seeks to improve sales in the crucial market.



California-based Apple announced in August a similar facility would be built in Beijing.



Situated close to the border with Hong Kong "Shenzhen is an incredibly dynamic city, we are impatient to open a new research and development centre next year", Apple said in a statement sent to AFP.



Apple has seen its market share eroded in China's booming smartphone market this year, beaten out by rising Chinese firms -- market leader Huawei and three companies little known elsewhere, Vivo, Oppo and Xiaomi.



Apple has also struggled with the country's Communist authorities, despite regular visits from chief executive Tim Cook.



Apple's iTunes Movies and iBooks services were launched in China last year, but were then promptly blocked by Beijing.
Driven by the worldwide recall of Samsung Electronics' Galaxy Note 7 smartphone over battery problems, South Korea's exports of information and communication technology (ICT) products fell at the fastest pace in four months in September, government data showed Thursday.



ICT exports reached $14.53 billion last month, down 8.5 per cent from $15.88 billion a year ago, according to the data compiled by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, Yonhap news agency reported.



The September figure marked the fastest on-year decline since May this year when it sank 10 percent on-year, with its losing streak extending to 11 straight months starting in October last year.



For the first nine months of the year, ICT exports shrank 8.8 percent on-year to $118.05 billion, showed the data.



The trade ministry attributed the sharp decline in ICT exports to the worldwide recall of Samsung Electronics Co.'s Galaxy Note 7 smartphone over battery problems.



Combined overseas sales of South Korea-made handsets and components tumbled 33.8 per cent last month from a year earlier, while outbound shipments of mobile phones alone plunged 44.8 per cent on-year.



Samsung announced a global recall of the Note 7 last month after some of the smartphones caught fire.



But the world's largest manufacturer of smartphones finally decided this week to terminate the production of the model, days after resuming the sales of the replaced version, which kept causing similar problems.



Exports of semiconductors also backtracked 2.6 per cent on-year drop in September, with shipments of flat displays and panels falling 3.9 per cent last month, the report said.
Samsung will reportedly reveal the real cause for its Galaxy Note 7 explosions in the coming weeks according to Business Insider. While the company has already stopped production of the new Galaxy Note 7 after multiple incidents of fire and explosions were reported, the South Korean electronics giant is still clueless about the cause.Initially, inferior batteries were seen as the culprit. However, Samsung clarified that the batteries are not the only component under check. This comes after several replacement units of the Galaxy Note 7 faced similar fate after Samsung claimed to have used batteries made by different manufacturer.The company ordered the suspension of sales on the recommendation of South Korean safety officials, who say they suspect a new defect in the replacement phones that may not be related to its batteries alone.In a statement, Samsung said consumers with original Note 7 devices or replacements they obtained after the recall should turn them off and seek a refund or exchange them for different phones.Analysts say the new problems pose a crisis for the South Korean tech giant, which is locked in fierce competition with Apple and other leading smartphone makers.(With AP inputs)
Moscow: Ahead of the BRICS summit over the weekend in Goa, Russian President Vladimir Putin has said the five-nation bloc of emerging economies was "determined" to cooperate in the fight against terrorism.



"For our five countries' leaders this meeting (in Goa) will be a good opportunity to harmonise our positions on key issues on the international agenda. We are determined to cooperate in the fight against terrorism, drug trafficking and corruption," Putin said in an exclusive interview to IANS and Sputnik news agencies.



Putin said BRICS, made up of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, would "also contribute to settling conflicts and ensuring international information security".



The two-day summit in Goa begins on Saturday. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to hold a bilateral meeting with Putin on the sidelines of the Goa summit. Modi is likely to raise the issue of Pakistan-sponsored terrorism with the Russian president.



The BRICS summit comes amid doubts cast over the continuity of the bloc that accounts for nearly 53 per cent of world population. Russia and Brazil are battling a downturn while South African economy is also sluggish. China's growth has also slowed down but India continues to grow at over 7 per cent rate.



Putin said the bloc recognised global economic concerns but expressed a hope that the challenges would be overcome.



"All of us remain concerned over continued lack of stability in the global economy. Together with our partners we will reflect on what can be done to further unite our efforts in order to address these challenges."



Putin also expressed gratitude to India "who has, invariably throughout its chairmanship in BRICS, focused on strengthening and consolidating the strategic partnership within our association".



"I am convinced that the Summit in Goa that will be held under the slogan of continuity and innovation, will be very fruitful. We also expect that the BRICS Summit in Goa will open new opportunities for economic and humanitarian cooperation."




Male: The Maldives angrily quit the Commonwealth on Thursday after years of wrangling over its human rights record since the toppling of its first democratically-elected leader four years ago.



The troubled honeymoon island nation said it had been treated "unjustly and unfairly" by the bloc, a voluntary association of more than 50 countries, many of them former territories of the British empire.



"The decision to leave the Commonwealth was difficult, but inevitable," said a statement from the foreign ministry.



The former British protectorate has come under intense international pressure since the controversial conviction of former president Mohamed Nasheed on terrorism charges.



The Commonwealth put Male on notice after Nasheed stood down as president in February 2012 and said he had been forced out in a coup.



It has since criticised the government over its crackdown on dissidents and its controversial judiciary, and sent a special envoy to try and improve the archipelago's rights record.



In its statement the Maldives, which had previously threatened to pull out of the bloc, accused the London-based Commonwealth Secretariat of interfering in its affairs.



"The Commonwealth has sought to become an active participant in the domestic political discourse in the Maldives, which is contrary to the principles of the charters of the UN and the Commonwealth," it said.



"The Commonwealth Secretariat seem to be convinced that the Maldives... would be an easy object that can be used, especially in the name of democracy promotion, to increase the organisations own relevance and leverage in international politics."



The country of 340,000 Sunni Muslims is famed for its coral-fringed islands but has been gripped by political unrest since the fall of Nasheed and there are regular anti-government protests.



All its opposition leaders are either in exile or in jail.



Nasheed secured political asylum in Britain this year after travelling to London for medical treatment while on prison leave from a controversial 13-year prison sentence.



The country becomes the latest to leave the Commonwealth after Gambia which quit in October 2013.
Islamabad: Pakistan Army chief General Raheel Sharif on Thursday confirmed death sentence handed down to 10 terrorists by military courts for their involvement in killing civilians, polio workers and armed forces personnel.



The 10 condemned terrorists, belonging to the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) rebel outfit, were convicted by speedy trial in military courts.



"These terrorists were involved in heinous offences related to terrorism, including killing of innocent civilians, polio workers, NGO employees, police officials and armed forces personnel," army said.



Fire-arms and explosives were also recovered from their possession.



The military courts were set up in Pakistan to expedite the trial process for terror-related offences following the December 2014 Talibans massacre at an army-run school in Peshawar in which over 150 people, mostly school children, were killed.



Following the attack, the government had lifted the moratorium on the death penalty and the Parliament passed the 21st amendment which established military courts which was challenged in the Supreme Court.



The apex court ruled in favour of setting up of the courts in August last year.



It is not known where the trial was held and when the verdict of conviction announced, as the military courts work in secrecy due to fear of backlash by militants.
The Virginia Childrens Book Festival, which begins today and runs through Saturday, will introduce 6,000 children to the winners of the top three awards in childrens literature this year  and thats before the festivals Super Saturday even gets going.

Neal Shusterman, winner of the 2015 National Book Award for Young Peoples Literature; Matt de la Pena, the 2016 Newbery Medal recipient; and Rita Williams-Garcia, winner of the Coretta Scott King Award, are among more than 25 childrens authors and illustrators who will appear during the three-day festival at Longwood University in Farmville.

They will give a joint presentation, The Best in Childrens Literature, at 7 p.m. tonight.

In its third year, the festival has added a third day to accommodate some 6,000 students on school trips from pre-kindergarten through high school. School groups will travel from as far away as Manassas and Virginia Beach to participate in the Thursday sessions.

Super Saturday has expanded to include even more interactive and nontraditional activities, from sessions tied to computer programs, such as Minecraft and Readers Theater, to a Harry Potter Sorcery Show and a cos-play parade judged by authors.

Other sessions include Make Your Own Comics with help from 10 author/illustrators; How Your Favorite Shows Are Written, from two author/screenwriters; and Make a Mask Workshop.

The festival has grown faster than our wildest expectations, said Juanita Giles, the festivals executive director.

The goal is the same: drawing in children from all walks of life and inspiring them with access and interactions with top childrens authors.

Children who were here at the beginning ... tell me they look forward to this each year, Giles said. Parents are coming up to me with the books their kids brought home and suggesting favorite authors for upcoming festivals.

That community and family involvement really underscores the reason we started this.

The activities are designed to appeal to a variety of interests.

There are different pathways into reading. Its important to reach kids where their interest is, said festival spokesman Matthew McWilliams at Longwood. Were reaching out to nonreaders, including kids who would rather be sitting at a computer than curling up with a book.

A new mural project will be led by first-time festival participant Monty Montgomery, who got his bachelor of fine arts degree from Longwood and now works in San Diego. Joining him will be childrens book illustrator Todd Parr, who also appeared at the previous two festivals. The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts also is a festival partner.

One of the coolest things about the festival has been the caliber of illustrators who come here, McWilliams said. When Parr and Montgomery became friends, they bought in to the mission of the festival. They decided to create a mural. Its going to be great.
Though attendance was light, emotion was heavy at the second stop on a listening tour for Lynchburg City Schools at Paul Laurence Dunbar Middle School for Innovation on Wednesday.

This stop on the listening tour was titled Advancing the Education of African-American Students in Lynchburg City Schools.

From black identity to the school-to-prison pipeline, which refers to juveniles moving from the educational to the justice system, a range of issues was discussed during the course of two hours. Slightly more than 20 people were in attendance for the event, which began with a discussion by Superintendent Scott Brabrand on challenges for LCS, which include lower graduation rates and higher disciplinary infractions for African-American students in the division.

According to 2016 Virginia Department of Education figures, on-time graduation rates for LCS are 83 percent for all students, 92 percent for white students and 77 percent for African-Americans.

VDOE figures from 2015 found the on-time graduation rate was 81 percent for all students, 89 percent for white students, and 72 percent for African-Americans.

Brabrand noted while those numbers are trending in the right direction, there is still work to do.

Black identity came up early and often in the listening session. The first speaker, Lizamalia Smith, said black students are uninspired due to a lack of African-American figures in the curriculum.

The children arent inspired to do more, Smith said.

She stated in her daughters studies, she rarely sees historical African-American figures but rather a sanitized history, which Smith claimed does not include the contributions of black people.

My daughter comes home, and she talks about the founding fathers, Smith said. No one is going to tell the true history about the founding fathers; who they really were.

Smiths sentiments were shared by Ryan Paige, who also spoke.

Black kids dont have any identity when they go to school, Paige said.

He added in his school experience, the first thing taught about African-Americans was slavery.

People they learn about in school do not look like them, Paige said.

He encouraged division leaders to incorporate more black history in the curriculum at early grades.

Paige also stated making history relevant to social issues can frame student understanding of current events.

If they understand Jim Crow [laws], they understand mass incarceration, Paige said.

Chris Glover, Dunbar assistant principal, told the audience he believed many teachers dont include more black historical figures into their lesson plans because they arent familiar with the history.

They [colleges] dont train teachers to work in diverse, multicultural settings, Glover said.

To remedy this, Glover said teachers need professional development to reach diverse populations.

Cristy Horsley, advocate manager for CASA of Central Virginia, expressed concern about the idea of a school-to-prison pipeline. She urged the division to add more social workers to staff and to reduce out-of-school suspensions.

She added it was important to consider the source of student misbehavior leading to discipline.

The misbehavior that we see from kids, a lot of times, it does come from an underlying cause of trauma, Horsley said.

Other concerns raised included parental involvement, investment needs for Dunbar Middle School, the volume of state standardized testing and the role of civics in the classroom.

Wednesdays session was the second stop on the current LCS listening tour.

The first session Oct. 5 was titled Enhancing our Resources.

Three LCS listening events took place in March and April following a February incident at Dunbar, in which a teacher objected to the inclusion of a gospel music performance in a school assembly to celebrate Black History Month.

Another session will be scheduled to discuss the development of the 2017-18 school calendar.
A group of Liberty University students want the world to know theyre not backing Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump.

A statement titled Liberty United Against Trump that began circulating Wednesday rebels against university President Jerry Falwell Jr.s personal endorsement of the Republican nominee and continued advocacy for the candidate.

We are Liberty students who are disappointed with President Falwells endorsement and are tired of being associated with one of the worst presidential candidates in American history, the statement said. Donald Trump does not represent our values and we want nothing to do with him.

Dustin Wahl, a junior who was class president as a freshman, said he learned about good governance in class at Liberty, which he said Trump cannot fulfill. A Liberty motto is that the university is training champions for Christ.

Wahl said more than 200 students had signed on by Wednesday night. A message sent out on social media site Twitter by student Tyler McNally was retweeted, or shared, more than 2,000 times by Wednesday night, helping the message gain traction at Liberty and with national media.

Many of us have been actively involved in efforts in our personal capacity to show we dont support Trump, Wahl said.

Vice-presidential candidate Mike Pences presence on campus Wednesday contributed to the timing in releasing the statement, but it wasnt planned out to specifically coincide with the visit, Wahl said.

Libertys voting precinct only turned out 7 percent for Trump in the March primary behind Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio.

It hasnt been a reaction to anything specific, just the many deplorable things Donald Trump has said, Wahl said.

The statement highlights the 2005 Access Hollywood recording reported last week by The Washington Post in which Trump brags about preying on women sexually. The statement decries Falwells continued support for his candidacy.

Associating any politician with Christianity is damaging to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. But Donald Trump is not just any politicians. He has made his name maligning others and bragging about his sins. Not only is Donald Trump a bad candidate for president, he is actively promoting the very things that we as Christians ought to oppose, the statement says.

The statement references a Biblical parable in which a man removes a speck of dust from his brothers eye and ignores the log in his own before accusing Falwell of touring the country championing the log in his eye.

Falwell said a statement Wednesday night that he is proud of these few students for speaking their minds, but I am afraid the statement is incoherent and false.

He said he is not touring the country as it says and is not associating Liberty with any candidate.

I am only fulfilling my obligation as a citizen to render unto Caesar the things that are Ceasars by expressing my personal opinion about who I believe is best suited to lead our nation in a time of crisis, Falwell said in text message Wednesday night. This student statement seems to ignore the teachings of Jesus not to judge others but they are young and still learning.

Falwell has spoken on several cable News shows, including CNN Wednesday, stumped for Trump in Iowa ahead of primary caucuses and also gave a speech at the Republican National Convention.

While Falwell takes pains to point out his support for Trump comes as a private citizen, these students believe Liberty is inextricably connected to his name and speech.

Every time President Falwell is on screen or on stage, Liberty University is right next to it and we feel that associates us with Donald Trump, Jacob Broadway said. ... We decided to say something on behalf of the student body.
Republican vice presidential nominee Mike Pence on Wednesday urged Liberty Universitys young evangelicals to not only stand by presidential nominee Donald Trump but to mobilize and send him to the White House.

After sharing his personal walk toward faith, Pence made the conservative case for Trump to students gathered at the largest evangelical university in the country. He assured students and the public Trump would nominate conservative justices to the U.S. Supreme Court and establish small government and business-friendly policies.

While were going to be voting to elect a president for the next four years on November the 8th, that president will likely set the course and direction of the Supreme Court of the United States for the next 40 years. We better think long and hard about that, Pence said.

On Friday, a 2005 recording of Trump bragging about using his celebrity to prey on women was reported by The Washington Post, sending some national Republicans running.

This week, House Speaker Paul Ryan said he no longer would campaign with or defend Trump.

I would submit to each and every one of you, when you think about this choice and how dramatic it is, nows the time to stay the course, not to flinch in the face of harsh political winds, not to step off on the sidelines but rather to become engaged, Pence said.

While both Liberty University President Jerry Falwell Jr. and House Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte have denounced Trumps words, they continue to support the nominee and stood with the vice presidential candidate Wednesday at the thrice-weekly student assembly.

Falwell, who personally endorsed Trump ahead of the GOP primary, gave a detailed and complimentary introduction to Pence and his work as Indianas governor. He first met Pence at the Longwood University debate against Democratic vice presidential nominee Sen. Tim Kaine.

Before that, I had spoken to him on the phone, and I was so impressed with him, Falwell said, calling Pence unflappable.

While many Liberty students welcomed Pence warmly, others unenthusiastically committed to Trump. But said they trust his promise to support conservative business and social causes as touted Wednesday by Pence. Others said their principles call them to other candidates.

Steven Honaker, a senior, reached the Pence line after the speech, excited to shake the Indiana governors hand. Honaker said he considered Trumps negatives but decided anti-abortion issues and overall change outweighed them. He called Trumps words on the Access Hollywood recording absolutely terrible.

People make mistakes, and its not about what people said in the past  its what people do in the future, Honaker said. I believe that Donald Trump has a better way of really making this country great again ... to really be able to change this country.

The line of students waiting at the Dunkin Donuts on Libertys campus extended out the door Wednesday morning prior to Pences speech. Morning and noon classes had been canceled to balance the increase of Secret Service security protocols and the influx of visitors from outside campus, students said. Students living on campus are required to attend convocation but have limited opt-out opportunities.

Doors opened to students and the public at 7:30 a.m., which prevented the long lines outside as when then-GOP presidential candidate Ben Carson visited in November.

One group of young women said they want Pence to be president, rather than Trump, but will support the presidential nominee, calling Democrat Hillary Clinton the only other choice. They cited arguments against her record as U.S. Secretary of State and her pro-abortion rights policies as their reasoning, a prelude to attacks Pence made later that morning.

Among the group, junior Anya DeVan said Trumps lack of experience would force him to take advice from experts.

I feel like its a good thing because hell almost have to bring in people who know, who specialize in certain things, DeVan said.

The group hadnt heard of conservative independent Evan McMullin, who is on Virginias ballot, and dont believe Libertarian nominee Gary Johnson has a shot.

I feel like it all goes back to who is your vote actually going to help. You dont want to throw it out, Devan said.

Pence called on students to support his candidate, saying Christians are called to participate in their government, and history will ask them what they did when the time came to act.

Im here to challenge you, challenge in what remains of this election to take ownership of your own future, take ownership of this moment and understand that theres no place for believers on the sidelines, in a time like this, Pence said.

A group of Libertarian students sitting together near the front of the bleachers Wednesday agree with Pence on that principle.

For me, its a conscience thing. As a Christian, I cant morally support Clinton or Trump, said student Tim Johnson, who came recently to Libertarian ideals and said he would have considered voting for Pence as president.

Jorge Reyes, who wore a shirt supporting Gary Johnson and his vice presidential candidate, Bill Weld, said principles of small government and a strict interpretation of the Constitution prevent him from supporting Trump or Clinton. Johnson is scheduled to speak at Liberty Monday.

Life for those going against the GOP can be tough for Liberty students, they said.

As a Christian here at Liberty, you are obligated to vote for whoever the Republican candidate is, no matter what your actual view is, or youll be ridiculed on a personal level, not on a policy level at all, Reyes said, adding he has not thought about leaving the school.

Johnson said he thought Pence avoided issues that might be controversial Wednesday.

I feel like he stayed to safe topics, stuff that he knew would get applause here. He didnt talk about any illegal immigration, anything like that. He didnt talk about the wall [with Mexico], he didnt talk about stop-and-frisk. He didnt talk the Muslim ban or whatever it is now, said Johnson.

Toward the end of his speech, Pence plugged Lynchburg Republican Committees headquarters at the Candlers Station shopping center nearby, urging students to volunteer to knock on doors and make phone calls.

The Liberty Trump Coalition members were among those scuttling toward the stage to take selfies with Pence as he walked the rope line after his speech.

I think he appealed to a lot of the conservatives who are #nevertrump. I think he did a very good job, said Zac Dunn, a senior, and group member.

Coalition member Alexis Rucker lauded Pences mention of lowering taxes to grow the economy, his avowed support for Israel and the campaigns overall platform. She and others in her group plan to work on Election Day.

If you truly believe something, then what action are you taking to fight for what you believe? Rucker said while making plans with local GOP activist Wendell Walker. Im excited. Im just more excited.
Tired of seeing the U.S. decline

For half a century, my entire adult life, Ive watched as Republican and Democratic administrations and Washington insiders have methodically diminished our countrys standing on the worlds stage.

Political hacks are elected to the Old Dominions highest office  Mark Warner, Tim Kaine and Terry McAuliffe  to try and pass their liberal agendas.

Voters in Northern Virginia and the metro areas of Norfolk, Newport News and Hampton Roads determine statewide elections. Our police officers are being used as targets by discontents.

Wheres the initiative to slow and eradicate illegal immigration? The national debt is quickly approaching $20 trillion. Donald Trump recently asked African-Americans, What have you got to lose? I beseech every potential voter nationwide to abandon the status quo and cast a ballot in November for Donald J. Trump as president.

WALTER FOSTER

Concord

WWJD in November?

The Republican candidate for the most important job in the world is a despicable human being. Money and power are his idols. Hypocrites are coming out of the closet to support him. The dictionary defines a hypocrite as a person who pretends to have virtues, moral or religious beliefs, principles, etc. that he or she does not actually possess, especially a person whose actions belie stated beliefs.

Who are you going to vote for? What would Jesus do? Who would Jesus vote for?

BEV JORDAN

Lynchburg

The enemy within the GOP

Jerry Falwell Jr. suspects the GOP establishment is sabotaging Donald Trumps bid for the White House. Thats a pretty good assumption.

Trump is a danger to the Democrat and GOP establishments. Meanwhile, Speaker of the House Paul Ryan wants to save the GOP House majority? To what end? The GOP capitulates to Obama, and theyll show the same cowardice to Hillary Clinton as president.

REBECCA SMITH

Big Island

Whose side is God on?

Hillary Clinton, as she herself acknowledged, was being grossly generalistic in placing half of Trumps supporters in a basket of deplorables. That remark was impolitic, and she did apologize for it  unlike her opponent, who seems to be temperamentally incapable of apology.

Granted, most of Donald Trumps supporters are not the irredeemable sorts Clinton was describing. But some of the pro-Trump claims and statements circulating on Facebook these days would seem to give Clintons charge a disturbing ring of truth.

A recent case in point was an interview with two middle-aged women who support Trump  Trumpettes, as their T-shirts proclaimed. Jesus sent Trump to us, one of the Trumpettes said. If thats true, then God indeed moves in a mysterious way his wonders to perform (William Cowper).

Would that we could get these women (along with all like-minded Trump supporters) to consider a claim made by Shakespeares Hamlet  that he has been appointed to be heavens scourge and minister. Hamlet is alluding to Attila the Hun, who was commonly known as the scourge of God. Christians believed that God had sent a barbarian to pillage and punish the Roman Empire.

If youre of that turn of mind, what Trump represents is up to you. For my part, Im just hoping that God will save us  here at home and abroad  from people who believe God to be on their side. The bard of my generation, Bob Dylan, put it best: You never ask questions when Gods on your side.

EDWARD PALM

Forest

Its all about the Court

Bill Blackwell has described a despicable Donald Trump and a compassionate Hillary Clinton in his Oct. 7 letter, Trump unfit, unqualified.

He does admit that Clinton has made errors that pale in comparison to Trumps. I sort of think that the dead folks in Benghazi might disagree. And Clinton pretty much calling the mother of one the dead folks a liar was awful compassionate, wasnt it?

Trump is certainly not my first choice, but Clinton is definitely my last! I believe the Supreme Court is the most important factor in this election, and Trump can pick a random name out of a phone book and give us a better justice than Clinton will.

GEORGE VENABLE

Rustburg
Three photos hang side by side on a wall inside The Maier Museum of Art at Randolph College, with oversize replicas of 100 dollar bills spilling out beneath them, down the wall and out onto the gallery floor.

Two of the photos show the fountains in front of New Yorks Metropolitan Museum of Art, which were financed by conservative billionaire David H. Koch. The image between them features a banner hanging from the museums front columns, photoshopped to read The Business Behind Art knows the Art of Good Business.

The installation  named The Business Behind Art Knows the Art of the Koch Brothers  is the centerpiece of the new exhibit Dreams that Money Can Buy (Update), featuring the work of iconic conceptual artist Hans Haacke, who has used his work to comment on political and social systems throughout his career.

He created it in response to the $65 million renovation work to the fountains that was funded by Koch.

Last week, the day after he began installing his Maier exhibit, Haacke recalled the first time he saw the plaza under construction and how he was shocked to see the Koch name there.

I was surprised to see the Metropolitan Museum of Art would have its name connected [to them], he said.

In a 2014 interview with The New York Times, Haacke elaborated.

I think its remarkable that the Met hands its prestige as a cultural institution to a businessman who is trying to buy the election, he told them. I have difficulty accepting it. Maybe thats my personal problem, but I think its also a problem for a lot of other people.

Eventually, when the project was completed  with two large basins bearing the Koch name  Haacke was ready to create something in response to it.

It was the David Koch Plaza, he said, and that was enough for me.

Haacke, who was born in Cologne, Germany, in 1936 and has lived in New York since 1965, has never shied away from creating work about powerful institutions and people.

He told me, Im known as the troublemaker, said Sarah Kleinman, an art history doctoral student at Virginia Commonwealth University who wrote her thesis about Haacke, recalling their first meeting during a phone interview last week.

He said, Unfortunately, people are afraid to show my work sometimes. Theyre afraid of the negative ramifications with trustees and potential donors if I do something that makes somebody angry, that jeopardizes their collection.

For him to have that strong moral compass, she added, its important.

The Koch piece, in particular, isnt one that he is asked to show very often, so Haackes interest was piqued when Martha Johnson, director of the Maier, brought it up for this show.

That struck me as quite unusual, he said.

For Johnson, who also wrote her thesis about Haacke in 1993, bringing it to the college was important.

Hans has done so much interesting work about corporate sponsorship and wealth-fueled influence over culture. But, also, the Koch brothers pour money into colleges and universities in a way thats pretty overwhelming, she said, pausing a beat. Randolph isnt one of them [but] that is something thats very relevant to us.

Hans is drawing attention to how much they influence education, she added, and how there might be ideologies attached to that kind of support.

Haacke has been commenting on social and political structures since the 1970s.

He really was the first artist to have  a very topical installation in a major museum, Johnson said.

That was in 1970, when Haackes MoMA Poll was part of the Museum of Modern Arts exhibition Information. In it, he posed a question about then-New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller, a member of MoMAs Board of Trustees who was planning to run for president.

He polled visitors about very specific political events and was asking whether the political events would affect the way they would vote, Johnson said. He really paved the way for the conceptual installation that addressed society.

In 1971, his solo exhibition at the Guggenheim Museum  a milestone in any artists career  was canceled by then-museum director Thomas Messer after he discovered it would include a photographic expose of New York City slumlords, according to the 2014 New York Times article about Haacke, called Contrarian Stays True to His Cred.

MetroMobiltan  the 1985 piece that first interested Johnson in Haackes work while she was in graduate school  offered a commentary about the relationship between Mobil Oil and the Met, which had accepted money from the company while it was doing business in South Africa during apartheid.

Then there are instances in which his work was welcomed with open arms.

In 1993, he was invited to mount an installation at the Venice Biennale, an international art exhibition described by Johnson as the greatest show on earth and Kleinman as the Olympics of fine arts.

More recently, in 2015, his Gift Horse was unveiled in Londons Trafalgar Square in front of the National Gallery. He submitted the proposal for a 13-foot-tall horse skeleton to stand atop the squares fourth plinth and was shocked when it won, he said.

As I always say, I was flabbergasted, Haacke said last week. The environment I normally live in, New York, it would have been out of the question.

The sculptures run in the square recently concluded, and a maquette, or small-scale model, of it is part of the Maier exhibit.

Gift Horse and Randolph Colleges partnership with the National Gallery are what inspired Johnson to reach out to Haackes representation about mounting a show here.

I thought, You know, wouldnt it be great, and why not try? So I contacted his gallery, the Paula Cooper Gallery.  [They said] he would want to know why and he would want to know the context because his work is all about that. So I described to [them] our context and sort of the dynamic of where we live.

I thought there was a nice symmetry there. Personal symmetry, but also the [gallery] and Randolph College having this unique partnership.

After he agreed to do it, Johnson wasnt sure whether or not Haacke would come to Lynchburg to install it himself.

Haacke said he finally decided to make the trip to see more of the world.

Ive never been in Virginia, he said. What also intrigued me was that given the nature of my work, to be exhibiting here at the time of the election.

Site specific can have two parts to it, he said later.  The particular location but also the particular moment. And its that moment.

All of the pieces on display at the Maier have been shown before but Haacke said they can have significance no matter the place.

The meaning is not so specific that it wouldnt be meaningful somewhere else. With all the work, the meaning changes according to the change of time [and of] peoples perceptions.

The exhibit, which is running concurrently with the 105th Annual Exhibition of Contemporary Art, Threatening Beauty (see sidebar for more information), also includes two photographs.

In Star Gazing, a mans face is obscured by a hood made out of the American flag, a reference to the hoods American guards used on Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib. And Ripped shows the flag tearing apart at the seams.

Rounding out the show is Untitled #2, first displayed in Haackes 2005 exhibition State of the Union. It features a beaten-up metal locker laying on its side, with pennies spilling out of it.

The locker is kicked over. It looks like its been kicked in, Kleinman said. The metal has been violently torn to the side, and there are pennies spilling out.

During a gallery talk she conducted with Haacke at the Maier earlier this month, Kleinman said they discussed the piece, which comments on the U.S. invasion of Iraq.

[He told me] these young men go to war, this is how they make their livelihood. One things leads to another, some of them get killed, and all thats left are pennies. He said, so in a way, [it] becomes a coffin or a tomb.  That was really profound.

So was the experience of meeting Haacke, she said.

To go in and meet somebody that all of the superstar art historians have argued about  hes featured in every major art historical textbook that matters on modern and contemporary art.

Despite their meetings and all of the research shes done about Haacke, Kleinman had never seen an exhibition of his work.

It was really special to walk in there and to see how he had staged everything, she said. It was also a wow moment for me because, coming to graduate school, you put everything on the line.  You never expect to be meeting people like Hans Haacke.  That moment, youre overcome. This is a very important person. Hes changing the conversation about art-making in general.
Electric automobile maker Tesla Motors Inc. is urging the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles to let it to open a company-owned dealership in the Richmond area, despite a DMV hearing officers recommendation last month to deny the companys application.

In a statement submitted to the DMV this week, California-based Tesla argued that a long-standing state law prohibiting auto manufacturers from owning dealerships in most circumstances was never meant to apply to manufacturers who, like Tesla, sell vehicles only directly to the consumer and not through franchised dealers.

In a separate filing, the Virginia Automobile Dealers Association, a trade group for independent automobile dealers in the state, said the DMV should uphold the hearing officers recommendations and reject Teslas application.

The association said there is no language or provision (in the state law) that permits an administrative agency to take into consideration the business model of the manufacturer or whether that business model is in the public interest.

Tesla sells its battery-powered cars directly to consumers at fixed prices. It opened one company-owned store in Virginia near Tysons Corner in 2015 after going to court and reaching a legal settlement with the DMV and the automobile dealers association.

The company, founded by tech industry tycoon Elon Musk, applied to the DMV in January to open a second store in Henrico County.

The automobile dealers association opposed Teslas request, arguing the company was trying to circumvent state law and that it should have to sell its cars through franchised dealers as other manufacturers do.

After three days of sometimes contentious public hearings  one each in March, April and June  held at the DMVs headquarters office in Richmond, the hearing officer recommended that Teslas application be denied.

A final decision is expected from DMV Commissioner Richard Holcomb by Dec. 14.

The statute at issue prohibits an automobile manufacturer from owning a dealership unless there are no independent dealers available in a community to sell the companys vehicles in a manner consistent with the public interest.

The automobile dealers association said at least 11 independent dealers in the Richmond area had expressed an interest in selling Teslas cars. Tesla countered that those offers were not sincere because they were solicited by the automobile dealers association.

The company said no independent dealer would make a profit selling its cars because of its fixed-price business model.

In its filing this week, Tesla said the DMV hearing officer wrongly dismissed these economic realities as irrelevant to the question of whether any dealers are available.

A dealer who cannot stay in business is not available in any real world sense, Tesla said. Nor would such a dealership serve the public interest.
Home News Sports Social Obituaries Events Letters Looking Back Health Jewels Stitch in Time Forage and grazing school set October 12, 2016 The North Idaho Forage and Grazing School will be held from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday, November 1, at the Ponderay Event Center, 401 Bonner Mall Way, Ponderay.



Topics include hay preservatives, management intensive grazing, managing grassland ecosystems, results of North Idaho alfalfa variety trials, raising cover crops for grazing, fertility, weed control and the relative economics of crop production in North Idaho.



Three pesticide recertification credits will be available.



A $15 registration fee covers refreshments and lunch, handouts and a memory stick with all the presentations, handouts, and relevant Extension bulletins.



Please call the Boundary County Extension office at (208) 267-3235 for more information and to register, or download the registration form and agenda at http://tinyurl.com/2016NIDHaySchool. Questions or comments about this article? Click here to e-mail!
The Property Tax

With the current worldwide depression in the price of oil and gas, the TT Chamber is fully aware of the need for Government to find alternative sources of revenue to help close the gap of lost income. Since 2011, following the suspension of the Property Tax Act of 2009, the Government has failed to collect taxes from property owners, resulting in millions of dollars in lost revenue.

The Minister proposes to re-introduce the Act, which will work in tandem with the Valuation of Land Act, Chapter 58:03, to which minor amendments will be made. In the legislation, the term land refers not only to all buildings, structures machinery and plant erected or placed upon, in, over, under or affixed to land - but also land covered by water.

It appears then, that the very definition of land needs to be further clarified because of the implications for certain sectors. For example, does land covered by water include offshore operations of oil and natural gas companies? Diversifying our economy is a must and so another area of critical concern is with respect to industrial land. This will be subject to a six percent tax of the installed cost of plant, machinery and associated buildings. Ambiguities remain about precisely how the taxable value is created for use by the Valuations Division of the BIR, thus making it impossible to estimate the cost to industrial land owners.

The TT Chamber is concerned that the Act may not bolster the non-energy industries with the wherewithal to strengthen our economy. It introduces, in effect, a disincentive to invest, while potentially rendering Trinidad and Tobago companies less competitive. If Government plans to promote manufacturing by increasing nonenergy exports, this current tax on land and more so, machinery seems counterintuitive. Indeed, one might argue that the current taxation rate on industrial land should be less than what is currently being proposed, to encourage further expansion and investment in the sector. The Board of Inland Revenue is charged with assessing all land in the country by 31st March 2017, and every year thereafter.

The owner or occupier of the property must assist by providing the BIR with relevant documentation and other details. The TT Chamber wonders if this is a realistic expectation, given the relatively short time-frame. Expected implementation is in fiscal 2017 and we are fast approaching the close of this current year. What we do know is that business has had to grapple with increases in the Green Fund Levy, Business Levy and most recently, amendments to National Insurance contributions. Capital investment may well be restricted in light of these and the proposed new tax regime. While the TT Chamber is in favour of the re-implementation of the tax, we recognise that there are serious issues such as those raised here and others, which need to first be settled before moving forward.
Cybersecurity  are we really ready?

Cybersecurity is the biggest single issue relevant to businesses of all sizes, from SMEs to multinationals and a crucial area that finance professionals must balance risk and control of. Data breaches are huge issues for senior executives who must guard their organisations from such threats.

Breaches in cybersecurity can result in a loss of customer information, trade secrets or other confidential assets, which can ultimately affect corporate reputation, financial performance and competitive advantage. These are only a snapshot of the problems businesses can face as a result. Because of the nature of cybersecurity, authorities and governments are best placed in using their resources to raise awareness among

businesses, and to put resources in to creating mechanisms to catch perpetrators.

Finance professionals can assist them and taking steps to protect their organisations through being aware of legislation and taking steps to limit breaches. Businesses have to take the lead as they need to be aware of the value of the data they hold, the value in protecting it, and the damage that can be done if they fail to do so. Stolen data is used in all sorts of ways  for example to predict purchasing and money transfer patterns  criminals can use this information to commit fraud. A basic rule of thumb is that if there

is value in the data to a criminal then there is value in protecting it. Sadly, because data is digital it can be replicated over and over again, potentially before the businesses is even aware. Leaders of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and the Organisation of American States (OAS) have assessed the Caribbeans vulnerability to cyber-attacks in the 2016 report titled: Cybersecurity: Are We Ready in Latin America and the Caribbean?

It found that the awareness of cybersecurity strategies was increasing across the region, especially in Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago. Jamaica released a comprehensive national cybersecurity strategy on January 28, 2015, through creating a national Computer Security Incident Response Team (CSIRT). A CSIRT is defined as a team or an entity within an agency that provides services and support to a particular group (target community) in order to prevent, manage and respond to information security incidents. These teams are usually comprised of multidisciplinary specialists who act according to predefined procedures and policies in order to respond quickly and effectively to security incidents and to mitigate the risk of cyber-attacks.

There are hundreds of CSIRTs in the world that vary in mission and scope. According to the report, Trinidad and Tobago will officially launch the countrys first national CSIRT this year, which will work closely with the Organisation of American States, International Telecommunications Union and other international organisations to develop incident response capacity. But theres still a way to go to for these two countries and others across the region to improve their standards. For many businesses there are obvious risks regarding ineffective cybersecurity such as disruption of supplies, sales and the loss of cash, but two other areas stand out: Potential legal action from individuals and companies for loss of their data by a business Reputational damage, which can spell the end of a business. Businesses must make sure their staff are aware of the risks and how to protect against them.

Some simple steps that businesses can take to help protect their businesses include: Keep cybersecurity front of mind - regular training and visual reminders around the office. Never reveal your bank account security information on a website or over the phone. Require two people to set up or authorise any high-value payments. Ensure your systems are up to date. At a minimum: do not use Windows XP; Internet Explorer v8 or run your systems on Microsoft Server 2003. Ideally do not use a free email account such as Gmail, Hotmail or Yahoo mail, or share documents with Dropbox (unless the document is encrypted first). Do not access confidential information on an insecure (unpassword protected) Wi-Fi network.

Nearly every business relies on the confidentiality, integrity and availability of its data. Protecting information, whether it is held electronically or by other means, should be at the heart of the organisations security planning. As cybersecurity strategy and business operations further align, finance professionals can protect their organisations better for the future.
Good Workplace Practices

Five of these listeners, including a 14-yearold schoolboy and a 75-year-old grandmother of three, were recently awarded prizes, at the TSTT Hospitality Suite, Queens Park Oval, for their successful participation in question-andanswer segments that accompanied the airing of this series of informational radio ads. Minister of Labour and Small Enterprise Development Jennifer Baptiste-Primus was on hand for the prize-giving. Corporate Communications Manager of the Ministry, Bobbi Jeffrey, explained that the Chronicles of Labourville campaign was crafted to help persons understand, what are the rights and responsibilities of both employers and employees in the workplace.

It takes two hands to clap. We wanted to find an engaging way to bring everybody together, something everybody could relate to. Jeffrey added that like all other initiatives and programmes of the Ministry, this campaign is directly aligned to Government policy vis-?-vis ensuring that the population is up to date and informed of international labour engagement trends, as a consequence of globalization and the need for employers and industry to become more flexible and competitive and providing a clear framework of the rights and responsibilities in the workplace. TSTTs Manager Government Sales & Services, Gervon Abraham congratulated the Ministrys Corporate Communications Unit, which was responsible for the production of the radio campaign, and promised, blink | bmobile Foundation remains ready and willing to participate in programmes that contribute to the growth of society.

Abraham said that TSTT as a 51% government owned business was a partner in education, a partner in sponsorship, yes, but also a partner in youth development. Hence, he told the winners, I am glad that you all decided to participate. Education is important because it is a tool for mobility. Seventy-five-year-old Carmen Thomas, who listened to the Chronicles of Labourville on I95.5 radio station, said, I am still in the classroom and I like to get information to share with the young people. Thomas teaches disadvantaged youth at the Eternal Light Community Vocational School. She said she entered the competition like everybody else but I was not expecting to win. I was pleasantly surprised. Fourteen-year-old Zachery Lucas, who listened to the radio ad campaign series on The Word 107.1, said he likewise was ecstatic about winning. When I heard my name on the radio I was literally shouting.

Zachery said he decided to participate in the competition segment of the radio campaign for two reasons: (1) for an entire week he heard adult callers to the station fail to answer correctly the question on good industrial relations practice; and (2) the prize provided by blink | bmobile was an incentive. The Chronicles of Labourville aired on five radio stations, including Red 96.7, Radio Tambrin 92.7, and WABC103.1.

The radio series is set in a small village in Trinidad and Tobago known as Labour Ville, and explores common workplace issues that arise on a daily basis between workers and employers. Apart from teaching listeners their rights and responsibilities in the workplace, the radio campaign also highlighted the role of the Conciliation Unit in the Ministry of Labour and Small Enterprise Development where persons can turn to for advice. The other winners of the competition were Nadikanta Ramcharan, Jaynelle Sealy and Jayelle Baptiste.
Will state enterprises be held accountable?

At a PNM function in Westmoorings last weekend, Dr Rowley is reported to have said that he was prepared to instruct the ministry of finance to dismiss state sector heads who did not submit their statutorily required financial statements on time. Dr Rowley said he has instructed Finance Minister Colm Imbert to issue a circular to all State enterprises and State agencies, following which the Minister of Finance will instruct boards to remove managers, who are unable to provide financial reports in their particular sector. While the statement will certainly find favour with large sections of the populace calling for more accountability from those with access to the public purse, how actionable is such a threat from the Prime Minister?

One state enterprise CEO who spoke to Business Day on condition of anonymity said he welcomed such intervention. Everyone know whats supposed to be done. Everyone. But then they dont do it. Ultimately, it is a leadership issue. The leadership at state enterprises need to demand that regulations be followed, to let their people know that this is how things should be done and see that it is followed through. But what exactly is this process that everyone knows should be followed? Axel ravatsky, a corporate governance consultant and commentator of Syntegra Change Architects, said the Ministry of Finance acting as corporation sole is supposed to provide a Document of Expectation to the line minister, the line minister may add ministry specific rules before passing this on to the particular state enterprises board.

The board may then add further instructions to the management team. This process is supposed to be overseen by a parliamentary oversight committee and guided by the rules of the State Monitoring Manual and the Companies Act. But this is not what is happening. One figure I heard quoted by the last head of a CC was that only 3 per cent of state boards are complying with requests for information on their operations, said the corporate governance expert. Moreover, the government may not only be geng less information out of state organisations than it should, it may very well be asking for the wrong types of information.

Information on what the state enterprise has spent and received is absolutely essential. But it is also the very minimum. We need information on the processes by which these state enterprises are governed. The state is currently asking for very little and receiving less. It needs to ask for more and this information needs to be disclosed to the public as well. he said But no one it seems, is insisting that this be done. The system is flawed with a serious lack of accountability, nobody follows up, said another state executive we spoke to, this time a board chairman, who also requested that his name not be used. He has sat on several state boards and indicated that unless an enterprise was publicly listed with traded shares, it was likely that its financial information had not been completed for several years.

It is difficult for a state board chairman to comply with this request, especially if he inherited a situation where there has been no proper accounting for or years. He must bring this information up to date before even beginning to think of the current financial year. The board chairman said at least a year to a year and half was needed for this. Neither the state enterprise CEO or board chairman we interviewed seemed to think this meant something necessarily sinister was up at the delinquent state enterprises, even though the CEO concurred it might be a reasonable inference. However, both were inclined to think the situation was the result of years of neglect from corporation sole downwards, through the line minister, boards, CEOs and corporate secretaries. ravatsky did not think the PM meant the statement literally and referred to it as a political hyperbole.

What he did mean, was to send a signal that the government was aware of the situation and was prepared to do something about it. The CEO did not hold out much hope that something would or could be done. I expect things to continue as normal. All I can do is make sure that my financials are delivered on time. The board chairman meanwhile told Business Day that those selected to serve should search themselves. The regulations are there, he said,  If you find that you cannot abide by them, you should not offer yourself to serve.
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(Newser)  Twenty years ago, residents of British Columbia in northwestern Canada didn't have to worry about the deadliest mushroom in the world. But Amanita phalloides, the "death cap" mushroom, likely hitched a ride on trees being imported into the area to beautify city streets and is now flourishing, resulting in multiple poisonings. Just this week, it may have been responsible for the death of a 3-year-old boy in Victoria, reports the Globe and Mail. He died after going wild mushroom picking with his family and eating one.

The death cap is said to look very similar to the popular paddy straw mushroom, with a white cap and yellowish stem that can be bulbous at its base. While toxicology results have yet to confirm what the boy ate, his family is urging the public to be aware of the risks; ingesting just one cap can be fatal, and the CBC reports that death caps are responsible for nine out of every 10 mushroom poisoning deaths in the world. "It's worthwhile learning how to recognize this particular species because of the consequences if you accidentally eat it," says one forest ecologist. Toxins attack multiple organs, including the kidneys and liver. (A pack of oddly behaving coyotes may have been tripping on mushrooms.)
(Newser)  American officials say US-launched Tomahawk cruise missiles have destroyed three coastal radar sites in Houthi-controlled territory on Yemen's Red Sea coast. The strikes marked the first shots fired by the US in anger against the Houthis in Yemen's long-running civil war, the AP reports. The retaliatory action early Thursday followed two incidents this week in which missiles were fired at US Navy ships. "These limited self-defense strikes were conducted to protect our personnel, our ships, and our freedom of navigation," said Navy spokesman Peter Cook, per Reuters.

The military says that at least one cruise missile was launched at the USS Mason destroyer on Wednesday. Two missiles were fired Monday at the destroyer and at the USS Ponce amphibious staging base while the ships were in international waters. None of the missiles hit their targets. The Houthis denied attacking the US ships, though they have claimed responsibility for an Oct. 1 attack that wrecked a vessel from the United Arab Emirates. Analysts tell Reuters that the missile launches suggest the Houthis could be moving closer to Hezbollah and other Shiite militant groups, possibly as a reaction to a Saudi-led airstrike that killed 140 people at a funeral on Saturday. (Read more Yemen stories.)
(Newser)  A bombshell New York Times story on two women who say Donald Trump forced himself on them is "fiction" and it is "dangerous" for the paper to launch a "completely false, coordinated character assassination" on the candidate, according to a campaign statement that accuses the NYT of "trivializing sexual assault." "It is absurd to think that one of the most recognizable business leaders on the planet with a strong record of empowering women in his companies would do the things alleged in this story," writes campaign communications chief Jason Miller, accusing the NYT of setting "a new low for where the media is willing to go in its efforts to determine this election."

Trump's lawyers have written an open letter to the NYT, calling the story "libel," demanding a retraction, and threatening to sue, CNN reports. The Trump denials came as a third woman alleged Trump had groped her. Mindy McGillivray tells the Palm Beach Post that 13 years ago, when she was 23, she was assisting photographer Ken Davidoff during an event at Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate when Trump groped her rear. Davidoff says he remembers McGillivray pulling him aside and saying, "Donald just grabbed my ass!" She says she decided to keep it quiet, but came forward after Trump claimed during Sunday's debate that he had never groped a woman. (Read more Donald Trump stories.)
(Newser)  Note to self: Don't anger Poland's deputy defense minister, or he'll remind you about your country's uncouth eating habits from the 1500s. That was Bartosz Kownacki's reaction after France apparently rescinded Poland's invite to the Euronaval maritime defense fair next week, the Guardian reports. And that disinvite was because Poland apparently backed out of buying 50 Airbus helicopters and decided to buy US Black Hawks instead; France was said to be backing the original Airbus deal, per the BBC. But while the dialogue started to take a turn for the worse regarding the choppers and the negotiations, it's Kownacki's comments on a particular dining utensil that's now causing a commotion.

"These are the people we taught to eat with a fork a couple of centuries ago, which may explain their behavior today," Kownacki sniffed to the TVN24 network, via RT.com. "This is obvious history, and I invite you to read up on that." He was referring to the story that King Henry III of France eagerly introduced the fork to the French population after he first came across it in Poland while he was king there. Historians aren't sure if this is how it actually happened, though, noting Henry also may have stumbled across the fork in Venice. Either way, some aren't happy with Kownacki's dining diss, with a member of Poland's Law and Justice Party calling his remarks "unfortunate," while a Polish weekly notes, "Minister Kownacki is perhaps the first politician to commit diplomatic suicide by fork." (A first-grader was suspended for the eating utensil he brought to school.)
(Newser)  Two Boston police officers are fighting for their lives after a suspect opened fire at the scene of a domestic disturbance late Wednesday. Police Commissioner William B. Evans says the officers entered a home in Orient Heights at 10:51pm, after an apparent fight between roommates, and were met by a 33-year-old man wearing body armor who began firing shots from an assault-style rifle, per the Boston Herald. One officer was hit multiple times while the other was shot one or two times. At least nine other officers then arrived and killed the suspect in a firefight, Evans tells the Boston Globe. "It sounded like construction equipment, like they were just working on the street, that's how long it went on," a neighbor says, estimating at least 50 shots were fired.

During the firefight, the officers were able to pull their injured comrades to safety and "quickly administer first aid, apply a tourniquet. One officer had his hand in one of the wounds," Evans says. However, the injured officers, described as a 28-year veteran and 12-year veteran of the force, are now in "extremely critical" condition at Massachusetts General Hospital, where they've received blood transfusions and will undergo surgery, Evans continues. "I just want everyone to pray," he says. "Let's just hope they pull through." A district attorney says there will be "a very thorough and transparent investigation," but "it's going to take some time because the two individuals who probably know most about what happened  [are] fighting for their lives." (Read more Boston stories.)
(Newser)  Paper, plastic, or diaper bag? A woman shopping Sunday morning at a Walmart in Payson, Utah, surprised workers and customers when she approached Register 11, dropped to her knees, clutched her stomach, and  pulled out her wallet. She was in labor, ABC News reports, but she insisted on paying for her items first before she took care of her next transaction: having the baby right there in the store. "We weren't really interested in taking her money at [that] point, but she insisted," says Walmart manager Dustin Haight, who KSTU notes called 911 and implored her not to worry about the tab. "It wasn't like she was like, 'OK, let's get this baby out and [then] I'll pay.' She paid and then had the baby."

As soon as the woman, identified as Cecelia Rivas by the Daily Herald, had paid up, employees and customers sprang into action, with some hunting down towels and blankets while others held sheets up to give her privacy. "By the time the EMTs got here, she had  a baby [boy]," Haight tells KSTU. "She was very calm," an assistant chief from the local fire department adds. "It was her third child  so I don't think she was as nervous about it other than it was at Walmart." Rivas admits she actually was "really scared," though she tells the Herald as soon as she saw her new son, "I was so happy." A spokesman for the hospital where Rivas and baby Matias were taken says they're both "doing well," per ABC. And Haight is counting on a new repeat customer. "Hopefully we'll be part of his life forever," he tells ABC. (A text-messaging conversation about this Walmart shopping trip went viral.)
(Newser)  The far-flung family of Claire Olsen found a novel way to contact the 87-year-old after Hurricane Matthew knocked out her phone service. Eric Olsen talked to his grandmother Friday morning but as of Sunday hadn't heard anything since. "I was calling the police department, I was calling the sheriff's department," but he writes on Facebook that they were "overwhelmed" and he couldn't get an answer. So the Omaha, Neb., resident asked himself, "Who can I call in a city where I know no one?" He tells ABC News the answer just came to him: Papa John's.

Eric placed an order for a pizza to be delivered to his grandmother's Palm Coast, Fla., home, and "they were there in 30 min," he notes on Facebook. He left instructions for the delivery person to call him upon arrival and let him talk to his grandmotherwho turned out to be fine. Lance Tyler, the man who delivered the pizza, described Claire Olsen's expression as "just priceless." For her part, Claire tells WFTV the pepperoni pizza was "fantastic." (Read more uplifting news stories.)
(Newser)  You can now fly on one of India's largest airlines without fear you'll get stuck in front of a screaming baby or a kid who likes to kick seats. IndiGo is the latest airline to offer "Quiet Zones" on each of its flights, with two sections of four rows each set aside for passengers 12 and older only. The airline says no young children will be seated in the surrounding rows or seats with extra leg room, eitherthough "there's no guarantee you won't be seated next to an adult chatterbox," per Good Morning America. IndiGo isn't the first to offer such an option: AirAsia, Malaysian Airlines, and Singapore's Scoot also have kid-free sections.

"These zones have been created for business travelers who prefer to use the quiet time to do their work," IndiGo says. Traveller reports the reaction on social media has been mostly positive, but not all are pleased. "The policy is discriminatory. It means that you cannot ask for more leg space while traveling with your children," a flier tells the Hindustan Times. "You know how uncomfortable you are sitting in that cramped seat yourself. Try sitting there with a crying infant," adds a Huffington Post columnist. Meanwhile, a Traveller columnist suggests flights should instead ban drunk and smelly adults responsible for "some of the worst flights I've had." (Read more airline industry stories.)
(Newser)  After years of battling the extremist group Boko Haram, the government of Nigeria is starting to claw back some hard-fought territory in the country's northeast. What they're finding in the aftermath of the group's defeat, the Washington Post reports, is famine, disease, and displacement on a scale that's proven tough to manage. It is, in fact, "one of the world's biggest humanitarian disasters," writes Kevin Sieff in the newspaper's look at the problem. UN official Toby Lanzer, who oversees the region, predicts Nigeria is about to face "a famine unlike any we have ever seen anywhere." More than 4 million people are facing food shortages across the nation, with 65,000 already living in famine or famine-like conditions, reports Nigerian outlet the Daily Post.

The crisis is centered in the state of Borno, an area that was the focus of a major 2015 offensive against Boko Haram. As the militants were pushed out, the government initially thought the situation in Borno was sustainable. "It was only in April when we realized the magnitude, and the fact the government couldnt handle this alone," another UN official tells the Post. The Nigerian government didn't call for international aid until June of this year. For now, the groups are still struggling to respond to the crisis. "Every time I think I know how bad it is, we get more data and its worse," says Arjan de Wagt, UNICEF nutrition chief in Nigeria. Click for the full Post story. (Read more Nigeria stories.)
(Newser)  A citizen's official misconduct complaint against New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie can move forward, a judge in the state ruled Thursday. Bill Brennan, whom the Star-Ledger describes as a "citizen activist" and Christie's office describes as "a known serial complainant and political activist with a history of abusing the judicial system," filed the complaint last month over the 2013 BridgeGate scandal. Per Brennan's complaint, Christie knew lane closures were happening and could have put a stop to the whole thing. The complaint is based on testimony from the trial against former Christie aide Bridget Anne Kelly and former Port Authority executive Bill Baroni.

During the trial, a man Christie appointed to Port Authority testified that both he and Baroni told Christie about the lane closures during a 9/11 ceremony (the lanes were closed from Sept. 9 to Sept. 13, 2013). Now that the judge has ruled the complaint can move forward, it will go to the Bergen County Prosecutor's Office so a decision can be made as to whether Christie should be indicted. Christie's office, which insists the governor had no knowledge of the lane closures while they were ongoing, said it would appeal the judge's ruling. The Star-Ledger reports that the courtroom audience, "mostly there for minor criminal violations," applauded the judge's ruling. The judge issued a criminal summons for Christie, the New York Post reports. (Read more Bridgegate stories.)
(Newser)  Donald Trump addressed mounting allegations of sexual assault and impropriety during a rally Wednesday in Florida, calling them "totally and absolutely false" and his accusers "horrible, horrible liars." "We already have substantial evidence to dispute these lies, and it will be made public in an appropriate way and at an appropriate time, very soon, Politico quotes Trump as saying. He accused the Clinton campaign of being in cahoots with the media to launch the "concerted, coordinated, and vicious attack." Trump said the attack was meant to draw attention away from the Clinton emails released by Wikileaks, NBC News reports. The Sun-Sentinel notes that Trump offered no evidence to back up his claim despite spending the first 24 minutes of his speech addressing the allegations.

Trump also addressed some of the individuals behind the accusations. He implied People writer Natasha Stoynoff, who says Trump forced himself on her, is too unattractive to sexually assault. "Take a look. You take a look. Look at her. Look at her words. You tell me what you think. I don't think so," Trump said. He also accused the New York Times, which published claims from two women, of "slander and libels" and said he's "preparing" a lawsuit against the paper. In a letter from its lawyer, the Times declined to retract or apologize for the story, stating, "We welcome the opportunity to have a court set him straight." Trump told the crowd he "never knew" the attacks on him "would be this vile." (Read more Donald Trump stories.)
New Delhi:

In prompt response to a request by a woman, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Tuesday directed Indian Embassy in Washington to give visa to an Indian to attend his fatheras last rites despite the the mission being closed for two days for Vijaya Dashmi and Moharram.

Swarajas directive to the Embassy came after one Sarita Takru, a resident of Karnal, appealed to the External Affairs Minister on twitter to give visa to her US-based son Abhai Kaul so he can attend his fatheras cremation.

aOur Embassy in US is closed for Vijaya Dashmi and Moharram. I have sent a message. We will open the Embassy and give visa to your son,a Swaraj tweeted.

I am sorry to know about the sad demise of your husband. Just wait - I will help you. https://t.co/KSvgSZtq8R a Sushma Swaraj (@SushmaSwaraj) October 11, 2016

Soon after Swarajas instruction, the Indian Embassy asked Takru to share Kaulas contact details with it so that visa can be granted expeditiously.

Takru said her husband died yesterday and she had expressed anguish after knowing that the embassy will be closed on Tuesday and Wednesday.

a...Canat get Indian visa before Local Thursday. Is this human?a

aThis dreadful wait must end. Please give my son Indian visa in US so his father may be cremated. Please support. Need empathy,a Takru tweeted.

To this, Swaraj responded, saying, aI am sorry to know about the sad demise of your husband. Just wait - I will help you.a

The External Affairs Minister is known for her prompt response to Indians in distress abroad.

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Islamabad:

Jaish-e-Muhammad chief Masood Azhar has appealed the Pakistani government to allow jihadist groups to increase their operations against India. He said that a lack of decisive decision-making could rob Pakistan of a historic opportunity to seize Kashmir.

Masood Azhars appeal has been published in the current issue of the Jaish weekly magazine al-Qalam. It comes amid the ongoing tensions between Pakistan and India following the Indian Armys surgical strike targeting seven terror launch pads across the LoC in reply to the Uri attacks.

If the government of Pakistan shows a little courage, Azhar has written in a front-page article in the magazine, the problem of Kashmir, as well as the dispute over water, can be resolved once and for all right now. If nothing else, the government simply has to open the path for the mujahideen. Then, god willing, all the bitter memories of 1971 will be dissolved into the triumphant emotions of 2016.

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Thiruvananthapuram:

The BJP on Thursday protested outside Kerala secretariat in Thiruvananthapuram against the murder of a party worker in Kannur. BJP has called for a bandh in Kerala to protest against the murder of its activist allegedly by CPI-M members in Pinarayi village in Kannur district. The BJP has demanded a CBI probe into the murder.

The BJP ha also accused Keraas Left Democratic Front government and Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan of unleashing "political terrorism" in Kerala.

BJP Chief Amit Shah on Wednesday condemned the murder of Prenith and alleged "political vendetta" was the reason behind attacks on party workers in Kerala.

"Murder of Ramith in Pinarayi is disturbing. Attacks on BJP karyakartas (workers) in chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan's home constituency is a matter of grave concern and smacks of political vendetta," Shah said on Twitter.

BJP's protest outside Kerala secretariat in Thiruvananthapuram, over murder of a party worker in Kannur. pic.twitter.com/tuVjWmayXU a ANI (@ANI_news) October 13, 2016

BJP's protest outside Kerala secretariat in Thiruvananthapuram, over murder of a party worker in Kannur. pic.twitter.com/3GrSHaktro a ANI (@ANI_news) October 13, 2016

Thiruvananthapuram: Call for shutdown in Kerala by the BJP over murder of a party worker in Kannur district. pic.twitter.com/hXcx0RrMCS a ANI (@ANI_news) October 13, 2016

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Ahmedabad:

AAP national convener and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal will meet family members of Patidar youths, who were killed in the quota stir violence last year, during his Gujarat tour beginning Friday, a move dubbed as "casteist politics" and "stunt" by ruling BJP.

As per the schedule of Kejriwal's visit released by AAP's Gujarat unit on Wednesday, Kejriwal would spend four days in the state, starting October 14.

Kejriwal's visit comes as part of AAP's preparations for the Assembly polls in Gujarat, the home state of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, due next year.

On October 14 and 15, Kejriwal would meet some families of the deceased Patel youths in Mehsana and Ahmedabad. At least 12 youths of the community were killed last year during the violence that erupted across Gujarat following detention by police of quota leader Hardik Patel on August 25 after their mega rally at GMDC ground here.

Kejriwal will address a rally in Surat on October 16, before leaving for Delhi on October 17 afternoon. However, BJP has termed Kejriwal's "goodwill gesture" for Patels, a decisive vote-bank in Gujarat, as a "political stunt and a drama."

"Kejriwal and his AAP is known for spreading lies and enacting drama. His only intention is to gain publicity. That is why he is doing such stunts. But people of Gujarat will not be carried away with such tactics and he will never be accepted here," state unit BJP spokesperson Bharat Pandya said in a statement.

Slamming Kejriwal, state BJP chief Jitu Vaghani alleged that the AAP leader is creating tension in Gujarat by raking up past incidents.

"This is purely casteist politics. By visiting Patel families, Kejriwal wants to rake up issues of the past for his political gains and wants to create tension in Gujarat. But, he will never succeed in his intentions," said Vaghani.

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New Delhi:

Chinese President Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Narendra Modi will hold a bilateral meet ahead of BRICS Summit, schedule to take place on October 15 in Goa.

A meeting of BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) trade ministers began in New Delhi. Global economic trends and development of a framework to enhance economic co-operation among the member nations were among the topics that were discussed in the meeting.

The meeting, is being hosted by Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, and is being attended by her counterparts from Brazil, China, Russia and South Africa.



The bloc comprising five countries has 42 per cent of the world population and a combined GDP of over USD 16 trillion. In order to push trade among the BRICS nations, India, for the first time, is organising a trade fair on the same day.

ALSO READ | Delhi: Meeting of BRICS trade ministers commences, aims to improve economic ties among member nations

The fair will be a platform for respective BRICS countries to exhibit state-of-the-art technologies and advances made in industrial development. Intra-BRICS trade grew to USD 297 billion in 2014, from USD 281.4 billion in 2012.

Business leaders from BIMSTEC countries (Bangladesh, Myanmar, Sri Lanka and Thailand, Bhutan and Nepal) have been invited for meetings and discussions with the BRICS business leaders and the companies at the fair.

(With inputs from PTI)

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Mumbai:

Bollywood filmmaker Raj Kapoor's 1951 classic "Awaara" is set for a theatrical reboot, according to an agreement signed on Thursday between India and China.

The film was a huge success in China, and its song "Awaara Hoon" and Kapoor became widely known across the nation. The agreement is aimed at recreating the film's magic.

It is aimed at recreating the 1951 Raj Kapoor's popular movie "Awaara", which struck a chord with generations of Chinese, India and China on Thursday signed an agreement to make a theatrical version of the film.

The agreement was incorporated in a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between Indian Council of Cultural Relations, (ICCR) and China Shanghai International Arts Festival (CSIAF), Indian Consul General in Shanghai Prakash Gupta told PTI.

The MOU between ICCR and CSIAF which was signed on Thursday in Shanghai calls for cultural performances to be organised in India and China during 2017 and 2018.

The agreement was signed coinciding with the visit Amarendra Khatua, Director General of the ICCR to Shanghai to take part in the 18th China Shanghai International Arts Festival, which commenced on Wednesday.

Khatua emphasised on the longstanding bilateral cultural exchanges between India and China and called for increasing greater cultural exchanges, in particular in Tier-II and Tier-III cities in India and China, respectively.

As part of the MoU, both sides also attempt to make a joint theatrical re-production of "Awaara", which would be set in contemporary times and re-enacted as a theatre version for viewing by contemporary audiences worldwide including India and China, Gupta said.

The theatre version of the movie will be co-financed by both the ICCR and CSIAF.

"Awaara" remained the most popular Indian movie in China in the last six and half decades between generations of Chinese, especially its title song "awaara hu" which local sing as "awaala hu" as letter R is absent in Mandarin.

But the movie and the song has lost traction with the present younger generation of Chinese as it faded out of the memory of Chinese. Recent Indian movies like "3 Idiots" made some impact on the younger generation but not to the extent, "Awaara" did.

So, the theatre version will aim to bring that connectivity, Gupta said. The production was expected to be ready in an year.

Officials from both the countries hope that the "Awaara" will again reignite the vigour in the Sino-Indian relations which currently faced headwinds over a host of issues relating to China's reluctance to back India's membership in the Nuclear Suppliers Group, (NSG) and its technical hold in the UN to ban Masood Azhar, leader of the Pakistan based extremist group, JeM.

The agreement was signed ahead Chinese President, Xi Jinping's visit to India this week to take part in the BRICS summit in Goa where he is due to meet Prime Minister, Narendra Modi on its sidelines.

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New Delhi:

The All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) has said that the Uniform Civil Code is not good for a country like India. "There're so many cultures in this nation and all have to be respected," the AIMPB said in a press conference on Thursday.



Excerpts from the press conference by the AIMPLB-



# Uniform Civil Code is not good for this nation. There're so many cultures in this nation, have to be respected.



# In America everyone follows their personal laws and identity, how come our nation doesnot want to follow their steps in this matter?



# We are living in this country with an agreement held by the Constitution. Constitution has made us live & practice our religion.



# Muslims equally participated in Indias freedom struggle, but their participation is always underestimated.

The Law Commission's proposal of implementing a Uniform Civil Code in the country reached a decisive phase as the body asked the citizens of the nations to give their views on ending several religious practices and customs that had been branded anti-women in all three major religions.

Also Read: (All you need to know about Uniform Civil Code)

The commission send out a list of 16 questions to gauge public opinion and the direction in which it should proceed, the Commission also asked whether to ban or regulate polygamy?

The question may appear aimed at ending the much criticized practice of a Muslim man permitted to marry up to four women. But the commission adds another question to it to end similar practices such as Maitri-Karar.

The religious and political figures from the Islam fraternity on Sunday night came down heavily against any attempt at introducing a Uniform Civil Code (UCC).



At a well attended public meeting "Against UCC and Protection of Sharia Conference" in Khilwat grounds, organised by the Seerat-un-Nabi Academy, a religious organisation, speakers said that the Muslim community will not accept an imposition of the UCC.

Describing the UCC as a dead issue, he said, "Dr B R Ambedkar was told that Muslims would never accept a common civil code. He [Ambedkar] knew that only a mad man would introduce UCC. He therefore clarified that it is not mandatory."

Those who are enemies of the country will impose a UCC, he claimed.Citing articles of the Constitution, Azmi said, "Nobody can interfere in the religion and religious practices of any person. This is a secular country. What is a secular state? And why is secularism being tarnished?"

Maulana Fazlullah Qadri, prominent Muslim cleric from the Islamic seminary Jamia Nizamia, described oral triple talaq as a "bandooq ki goli" (bullet). He said that divorce is frowned upon in the scriptures.

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Los Angeles:

Actor Tommy Mykal Ford, who starred on five seasons of Martin Lawrence's "Martin sitcom", has passed away. He was 52.



Ford died late Wednesday afternoon, according to The Hollywood Reporter.



Ford's family released a statement, "It is with great sadness that we announce the untimely passing of our beloved son, father, brother, husband, and friend Tommy Mykal Ford.



"On behalf of the family, we would like to thank everyone for their love, support and prayers. Funeral arrangements will be forthcoming. Please respect the privacy of the Ford family during our time of grief."



The actor joined the Fox sitcom in 1992, playing side kick Tommy Strawn in the comedy for more than 100 episodes.



Following the series, he nabbed a role on Fox drama series "New York Undercover" as Lt Malcolm Barker and on UPN's "The Parkers" as Mel Parker.



Prior to his career-making turn on the Lawrence series, Ford appeared on "MacGyver", "Living Single", "The Flash", "Law & Order" and the TV version of "Uncle Buck".



Ford's career in film, television and theater spanned more than two decades. His film appearances through the years include "Harlem Nights", "Night and the City" and "Class Act".



Recently, he branched out as a motivational speaker.



Word of his death spread quickly, flooding social media with tributes from fans and celebrities, which led to his name trending world wide on Twitter.

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New Delhi:

The Ministry of Home Affairs has sought a report from the Delhi Police into burning of effigy of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and others by a section of students in the university campus on the occasion of Dussehra by projecting them as Ravana. Earlier on Thursday, the JNU administration ordered an inquiry into the issue.



We have ordered an inquiry into the effigy burning incident and are examining the issue, said JNU Vice Chancellor Jagadesh Kumar, whose picture was also put on the effigy set ablaze on Tuesday night.



The move comes nearly a week after the varsity ordered a proctorial inquiry into burning of effigy of Gujarat government and gau-rakshak (cow vigilantes) and issued show-cause notices to the students concerned.



While Pakistans Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, 26/11 mastermind Hafiz Saeed and heads of several other militant organisations were the faces of Ravana effigies burnt on Dussehra across the country, members of Congress-affiliated National Students Union of India (NSUI) chose the visages of PM and BJP chief Amit Shah to represent the demon king and burnt the effigy on Tuesday.

Watch Video | Students at JNU dub PM Narendra Modi and Amit Shah as 'Ravana', burn their effigies



They claimed that it was a protest against the Centres failure to honour its promises and the continuous attacks on various educational institutions across the country.



While university officials maintained that no permission was sought for the event, the organisers claimed that effigy burning was a routine thing on campus and did not require permission from the administration.



Besides Modi and Shah, the effigy had faces of Yoga guru Ramdev, Sadhvi Pragya, Nathuram Godse, Asaram Bapu and the Vice-Chancellor. The students also carried placards with the slogan, Truth shall prevail over evil.

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New Delhi:

Jammu will receive an Indian Institute of Management (IIM) in the current academic session as part of the Prime Ministers development package for Jammu and Kashmir. An out-campus will be set up in the Kashmir region later.

The Union Cabinet today approved the establishment and operationalisation of IIM at Jammu in a temporary campus at Old Government College of Engineering and Technology from the Academic Year 2016-17.

The project will involve a cost of Rs 61.90 crore in temporary campus for the initial four years from 2016 to 2020.

The student strength intake for this year in the Post Graduate Diploma Programme (PGDP) in Management is 54 which will progressively go up to a cumulative student strength of 120 in the 4th year.

"Steps would also be taken up for setting up campus at Jammu and an out-campus in Kashmir region. The detailed project report for the permanent campuses is under preparation and thereafter the process for setting up of the campuses would start," an official statement said after the Cabinet meeting.

The Cabinet also approved formation of an IIM Jammu Society under the Societies Registration Act, 1860. IIM Jammu will be run and managed by the Society with a Board of Governors (BOGs) to be constituted by the central government which will administer the institute and would be responsible for establishment and operationalisation of the institute.

"This is a part of Prime Ministers development package for Jammu and Kashmir. The institute, coupled with opening of IIT at Jammu, modernisation of NIT Srinagar and opening of two new AIIMS institutions, one each in Kashmir region and Jammu region, would go a long way in meeting the requirement of high quality living and education in the state," the statement said.At present, there are 19 IIMs.

Out of these, 13 are located at Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Kolkata, Lucknow, Indore, Kozhikode, Shillong, Ranchi, Raipur, Rohtak, Kashipur, Trichy, Udaipur. Another six IIMs which have been started in 2015 are located at Amritsar, Sirmaur, Nagpur, Bodhgaya, Sambalpur and Vishakhapatnam.

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New Delhi:

Pakistan DGMO on Thursday acknowledged that Indian Army Jawan Chandu Chavan is in their custody, according to sources. On September 30, Chavan from 37 Rashtriya Rifles had inadvertently crossed over to the other side of the Line of Control following which Pakistan had been informed by the DGMO on the hotline.

His inadvertent crossing took place after the Indian Army conducted surgical strikes across LoC destroying seven terrorist launch pads.

Also Read: (Bring Back Sepoy Chandu Babulal Chavan Safe: Indian DGMO speaks to his Pak counterpart for soldier's safe return)

Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar earlier also said that a well-established mechanism through the DGMO has been activated to bring back Army jawan Chandu Babulal Chavan, who is in Pakistans custody after inadvertently crossing over.

Pakistan DGMO acknowledges it has Army Jawan Chandu Chavan in custody: Army sources  ANI (@ANI_news) October 13, 2016

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Lagos:

An official in the President house confirmed the release of 21 Chibok schoolgirls, who were kidnapped by Jihadist group Boko Haram following a prisoner swap.

The Chibok girls were released as part of a prisoner swap deal struck between Boko Haram, the International Committee of the Red Cross and the Nigerian and Swiss governments, said official and local sources.

It is confirmed that 21 of the missing Chibok girls have been released and are in the custody of the department of state services, presidential spokesman Garba Shehu said in a statement.

The release of the girls is an outcome of negotiations between the administration and the Boko Haram brokered by the International Red Cross and the Swiss government, Shehu said. The negotiations will continue.

The girls were exchanged for four Boko Haram prisoners in Banki, northeast Nigeria, said local sources.

The girls were brought to Kumshe, which is 15 kilometres (nine miles) from Banki where a military base is stationed, in ICRC (International Committee of the Red Cross) vehicles, said a source.

The four Boko Haram militants were brought to Banki from Maiduguri in a military helicopter from where they were driven to Kumshe in ICRC vehicles.

From Kumshe, the Chibok girls were taken by helicopter to Maiduguri, the capital of northeast Borno state.

The 21 (Chibok) girls arrived (in) Banki around 3:00 AM where they found a military helicopter waiting. They were immediately ushered into the helicopter and flown to Maiduguri, said another source.

The identity of the girls has yet to be confirmed, said Bring Back Our Girls campaigner Aisha Yesufu.

We cannot confirm anything yet, Yesufu said.

Over 200 girls were captured from the northeast Nigeria town of Chibok in April 2014 by Boko Haram militants as part of their fight to establish a fundamentalist Islamic state in the region, drawing global attention to the jihadist insurgency.

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Moscow:

Russia and India will sign a multi-billion dollar deal for S-400 Triumf long-range air defence missile systems on Saturday following talks between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Goa, state media here reported on Thursday.

Following the results of the negotiations between our president and (Indian Prime Minister Narendra) Modi, an agreement will be signed on the delivery of S-400 Triumf anti-aircraft missile systems to India, as well as some other documents, Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov was quoted as saying by TASS news agency.

India is interested in getting five systems of the most modern air defence system, capable of firing three types of missiles, creating a layered defence, and simultaneously engaging 36 targets.

It has the capability to destroy incoming hostile aircraft, missiles and even drones at ranges of up to 400 km. If India signs the deal, it would be the second customer of the prized missile system after China which had struck a USD 3 billion contract last year.

The S-400, an upgraded version of the S-300, had previously only been available to the Russian defence forces.

Also Read: (India, Russia expected to sign a complex agreement to produce 200 Kamov 226T helicopters domestically)

It is manufactured by Almaz-Antey and has been in service in Russia since 2007. Ushakov said part of the documents will be signed behind closed doors.

The Kremlin aide declined to comment on the details of the deal, suggesting that first the document should be signed.

Russia also plans to sign an agreement on building Project 11356 frigates for the Indian Navy and setting up a Russian-Indian joint venture to produce Kamov Ka-226T helicopters, the agency reported.

Following the results of their talks, Putin and Modi will adopt a joint statement to reflect their common approaches towards solving various global and regional issues.

Both sides will also approve a roadmap of measures timed to coincide with the 70th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries.

Overall, Russia and India are set to sign about 18 documents, he said.

The Russian presidential aide said Putin and Modi will hold their talks in Goa ahead of the summit of the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) grouping of leading emerging economies.

The Russian and Indian leaders are first expected to talk in a narrow format and then negotiations will be held at the level of delegations.

Russias delegation will also be represented by Vice-Premier Dmitry Rogozin, the heads of the Industry and Trade, Energy and Economics Ministries, state civil nuclear power corporation Rosatom and others.

After the talks, the Russian and Indian leaders will take part in the ceremony of laying the foundation for the third and fourth power units of Indias Kudankulam nuclear power plant via a video conference, make statements for the media and hold a tete-a-tete lunch.

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
Ottawa:

French Prime Minister Manuel Valls said on Thursday that his country supports the election of Hillary Clinton over Donald Trump in the upcoming US presidential election.

Valls said during a visit to Ottawa that he and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau have discussed the US election.

Valls didnt share Trudeaus thoughts, but he was categorical about his pick in the Nov 8 election - Clinton.

Valls, speaking in French, said US President Barack Obama was elected by the world and Trump is rejected by the world.

On the allegations of sexually predatory behavior swirling around the Republican nominee, a stone-faced Trudeau - a self-avowed feminist - would say only that he has stood clearly and strongly all my life around issues of sexual harassment.

The two prime ministers were scheduled to travel to Montreal later in the day for discussions with Quebec Premier Philippe Couillard about the Canada-EU free trade deal.

Valls said he expects Trudeau to be in Brussels on Oct 27 to sign the deal.

Trudeau called the deal a win-win for both sides. He also said its a progressive agreement that heralds a new approach with regard to defending the rights of governments to legislate on the environment, the rights of workers, the issues that our constituents care about.

Trudeau ended a joint news conference with Valls on a pointed note, saying that in a post-Brexit world, not signing the agreement would send a strong and unsavory message.

If Europe cannot manage to sign this agreement, that sends a very clear message not only to Europeans but to the whole world that Europe is choosing a path that is not productive either for its citizens or for the world, he said. That would be a shame.

Climate change and the Canada-EU free trade deal have been singled out by Trudeaus office as being among Canadas top priorities.

Speaking to reporters at the French Embassy early today, Valls also reiterated Frances desire to see Canada send Peace-keepers to West Africa to join the fight against Islamic militants.

The Trudeau government has said it will commit 600 Peace-keepers to UN missions, and France has been pushing Canada to join the UN mission in West Africa.

France has 3,000 troops fighting a separate counter-insurgency mission in several of its former colonized countries, under the banner of Operation Barkhane.

For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
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When Helene Godin quit her successful career as an attorney, her husband made her promise one thing  that she would continue to let him cook dinner.

I didnt know how to bake, she said.

She saw the craft of lawyering disappearing so she left without a plan in 2010. Godin had represented companies from Readers Digest, Bloomberg and NBC to Audible.com with a stint leading her own firm.

Godin knew she wanted something totally different. She now owns a rapidly expanding bakery, and when she forgets to bring home dessert, her husband ends up cooking a cake, too.

By the Way Bakery will soon bring its signature oak door with French rolling pin handle to Greenwich at 19 E. Putnam Ave. Godin said she hopes to open before Thanksgiving, but the date is tentative.

Her initial vision for the business was a tiny little bakery where she could impact her local community. She began with one location in Hastings, N.Y., in 2011. Greenwich will mark four stores with the potential for a fifth by 2017.

Shes deliberately preserved the cozy concept in the size of her brick-and-mortar shops, but her brand is anything but small. By the Way Bakery fits with national headlines with its popular treats that, oh, by the way are gluten free, dairy free and kosher, as Godin says.

In 2010 she noticed the gluten-free section of her grocery store expanding, so she decided to take advantage of the growing demand.

She hoped to set herself up as a destination bakery by cornering the niche market. Yet Godin doesnt consider the absence of typical baking ingredients an excuse for compromising taste.

The standard has always been to rival the best bakery, she said. And shes not talking about rivaling their gluten-free products, but the best baked goods at the best bakery.

Using her ginger pumpkin tart as an example, Godin said By the Way uses the element of surprise to distract people from its unconventional ingredients.

After her first bakery proved to be doing really nicely, Godin said she started getting bored.

Once a workaholic, always a workaholic, she said. The second shop opened in 2014.

Her location in the Upper West Side of Manhattan is positioned ideally next to a kosher market, and Godin realized this was also an opportunity.

She decided to get all her products certified by a rabbi and her habit of keeping paperwork allowed her to provide lists of ingredients dating back to her first shopping trips in 2011.

All baked goods at By the Way Bakery follow the most stringent kosher guidelines.

Godin said it was so obvious to move to Greenwich because its a health-conscious town, and she hopes it will be a destination for the Jewish community in nearby Stamford.

This swift expansion meant that the cozy kitchen in Hastings producing the goods for every store couldnt bake even one more cookie, Godin said. So she has opened a production facility in Pleasantville, N.Y., that employs 20 people and leaves room for continued growth.

Godin proudly shows off her new ovens at the 7,122-square-foot facility, saying what she had before was a toaster oven in comparison.

Godin is in the process of applying for the highest food-safety certification for the facility. I do relentless research and never stop tweaking recipes, Godin said. I loved being an attorney because of problem solving and I still consider myself primarily a problem solver.

She credits much of her success in the bakery business to these skills carried over from law.

By the Way Bakery is on track to record more than $2 million in baked goods sales in 2016, Godin said. Thats pretty good considering we sell cookies.

She is determined to maintain the quality of the baked goods. Well never compromise quality, she said. We want to grow organically and not explode.

Her products can also be found in 12 Whole Foods stores.

MBennett@hearstmediact.com, 203-625-4411; Twitter @Macaela_
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DANBURY  David Arconti Jr., a two-term state representative for the 109th District, is facing challenger Veasna Roeun, a Republican war veteran and former state Department of Labor employee, in the Nov. 8 election.

District 109 covers part of Danbury, where both candidates grew up.

Arconti said his record of bringing education and municipal funding to the city, his work to combat Candlewood Lakes milfoil problem, and his good relationship with Mayor Mark Boughton are reasons he should be re-elected.

Ive always felt that a representative or senators primary job and responsibility is their city, he said. Ive always made it a priority that, whatever I say my priorities are for the following terms, Ive always felt that Ive delivered.

Roeun said he may not have Arcontis legislative experience, but he knows what public service is like after serving from 1998 to 2008 in the National Guard. He is also an immigrant whose family escaped to Danbury in the 1980s from the Killing Fields in Cambodia.

I am the epitome of the American Dream, he said, I am everything that people would want out of a public servant. I look at myself as the anti-establishment guy. Im not part of a legacy where I have friends and family members who have been in politics for so long.

Both candidates put education funding in Danbury among their top issues.

Roeun said Danbury receives less per student than other towns in the region.

Its not significantly less than other parts of Connecticut, but it is less enough to affect the resources that these children need, so it makes education unfair for these kids, he said.

Roeun said he is concerned about overcrowding at his alma mater, Shelter Rock School, where he said students are learning in pods in the parking lot because there is not enough room in the regular building.

Arconti said he helped secure the funds for the Shelter Rock pods, but the schools population is already overgrowing even this. He said he also worked to increase how much Danbury High School will be reimbursed for an expansion project from 62 percent to 80 percent.

With a September court ruling that called for the state to fix its education funding formula, Arconti said education will be one of the top issues in the legislature next session.

My experience shows that Danbury will come out on top when Im involved in those conversations, he said.

Arconti said he is also focused on growing the economy, which will help the state deal with its budget deficit.

Our budget is so tied to what Wall Street is doing, he said. So we need to get away from that and how you do that is you build a new middle-class economy with stronger-paying jobs.

He said the state is working with community colleges to prepare young people to get into the high-tech manufacturing industry, which he said is expected to bring in hundreds of jobs in the next decade.

Roeun said the manufacturing industry is not bringing in new jobs, but rather young people are filling these spots as older workers retire.

The cost of doing business in Connecticut is preventing job growth, he said. The state needs to eliminate what he called unnecessary regulations and taxes, such as the inventory tax, which he said drove Sikorsky Aircraft to New Jersey. He said the state also needs to shorten how long it takes for small businesses to receive their licenses and registrations.

Time is money for a lot of these private industries, he said. The more we keep them coming through bureaucracy the more theyre going to spend.
DANBURY  A hunter who fired shots near Western Connecticut State Universitys Westside campus Thursday morning caused a lockdown there and at a nearby elementary school.

Mayor Mark Boughton said the move was made as a precaution, and tweeted at 8:40 a.m. that the noise turned out to be duck hunters in the area of Lake Kenosia.

The noise reports were investigated as possible gunshots, even a loud car-backfire, officials said. A check of U.S. Geological Survey data showed the closest seismic activity was in Oklahoma.

Reports of gunshots near the Westside campus caused the lockdown, according to a post on the universitys Facebook page. It was a hunter not on campus property. Danbury police located the hunter and the situation is resolved. No one on campus was in any danger at any time. The lockdown was a precaution until police determined the source of the gunshots.

Mill River School was also briefly affected.
NEWTOWN - A former Arizona congresswoman who survived a mass shooting in 2011 plans to visit Newtown on Saturday.

Gabrielle Giffords, who formed a gun violence prevention organization after surviving a shooting that killed six people, will call on voters to elect federal lawmakers who support gun control legislation.

The organization founded by Giffords and her husband, Americans for Responsible Solutions, has endorsed U.S. Rep. Elizabeth Esty, a two-term Democrat running against GOP challenger Clay Cope to represent Connecticuts Fifth Congressional District.

Giffords stop in Newtown on Saturday is part of a 14-state tour that asks residents to [V]ote this November for candidates who are committed to responsible change that helps keep guns out of the wrong hands and save lives, according to the organization website.
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DANBURY Attorneys attempted Thursday to unravel the chaotic minutes before 17-year-old Luan Pitol was stabbed to death during a downtown brawl nearly three years ago.

Witnesses in the trial of Emanuel Harris, who is charged with murder in Pitols stabbing on Dec. 7, 2013, gave conflicting statements about what happened when two groups of teenagers met at the corner of Wooster and Foster streets.

All the witnesses agreed that the fight began with a shouting match outside of the Harambee Youth Center on West Street. They also agreed that Harris and his friends left the area while Pitol and his friends, upset because they believed someone in Harris group had thrown a bottle at them, followed behind.

The groups met again at Wooster and Foster, where the verbal disagreement turned physical, witnesses agreed. After that the story becomes more murky.

Luis Rodriguez, who was with Pitol and his friends that night, testified that he saw Harris stab Pitol in the back with a long sweeping motion.

It wasnt until last week, however, that Rodriguez gave this account to authorities. He said Thursday that while he was questioned by police that night, they asked only the name of the victim and didnt ask about the events leading up to the stabbing.

So you were a witness to your friends murder and you never told police what you saw? Harris attorney, Dante Gallucci, asked during cross-examination.

No, Rodriguez replied. They never asked me.

Rodriguez also testified that the knife he saw in Harris hand was a solid knife with a long blade. But other witnesses who testified Thursday, including Nigel Cole, said Harris had a folding knife.

Cole, who was with Harris that night, initially declined to testify Thursday, invoking his Fifth Amendment right against self-incriminating testimony, but agreed to speak after he was promised immunity in court.

He then testified that Harris had shown him the knife earlier that day and told him that night that he was going to stab people and that he wasnt playing around.

Cole, who admitted to using a stun gun on two people that night, also testified that he messaged Harris on Facebook later that evening about the fight.

You did it, Cole said during the Facebook conversation.

What do you mean I did it? he said Harris replied.

That thing, Cole said.

What thing? Harris asked.

Cut, he got cut, Cole said.

Testimony is expected to continue in the case Friday. Harris faces up to 25 years in prison if convicted.

dperrefort@newstimes.com
BRIDGEPORT  A flight instructor who survived a crash that killed a student pilot was recovering Wednesday in Bridgeport Hospitals burn unit.

Arian Prevalla, 43, had been upgraded from critical to fair condition, according to hospital spokesman John Cappiello.

Fair means stable, improving, Cappiello said Wednesday afternoon.

Prevalla was injured and student pilot Feras Freitekh was killed when their Piper PA-34 Seneca crashed during a training flight Tuesday in East Hartford, near the headquarters of Pratt & Whitney, while returning to Brainard Airport in Hartford, authorities said.

A law enforcement official who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity confirmed the names of the two men. And a U.S. official familiar with the investigation told AP the crash appeared to have been a suicide attempt by the student, and that terrorism had been ruled out.

The instructor described the student pilot as disgruntled about learning to be a pilot, the U.S. official said. The FBI was investigating, after the National Transportation Safety Board indicated the wreck was deliberate.

Information indicates that this plane crash was intentional, Lt. Josh Litwin of the East Hartford Police Department said Wednesday afternoon at a press conference.

Regarding the motive, Litwin said, Nothing is off the table at this point, and nothing has been concluded.

Prevallas social media pages indicate he is president of the American Flight Academy and a managing member of the Hartford Jet Center, both based in Hartford. The pages say he originally is from Albania and now lives in Hartford.

Freitekh lived in the Chicago suburb of Orland Hills since 2013 and received a private pilot certificate last year from the Federal Aviation Administration, according to public records.

The survivor told police detectives it was not an accident, according to East Hartford Mayor Marcia Leclerc.

Its troubling, Leclerc said. But I also know that stories change and information can be skewed. Were waiting for the facts to come out.

Authorities said the plane struck a utility pole and crashed onto the road at around 4 p.m. Tuesday, bursting into flames. The crash site is a short distance from the airport, across the Connecticut River and in line with the runway.

The path that the plane took could have been much worse. So were very fortunate in that sense, East Hartford Police Chief Scott Sansom said.

Staff writers Cedar Attanasio and Amanda Cuda and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Modi condoles Thailand King's demise

Delhi,National,Politics,Diplomacy, Thu, 13 Oct 2016 IANS

New Delhi, Oct 13 (IANS) Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday condoled the death of Thailand King Bhumibol Adulyadej.

"The people of India and I join the people of Thailand in grieving the loss of one of the tallest leaders of our times, King Bhumibol Adulyadej, who was widely revered by his people. My thoughts are with his countless well-wishers and family," the Prime Minister said.

The Thai King, the world's longest-reigning monarch, died on Thursday in Bangkok at the age of 88, according to the Royal Household Bureau.

The King, who died at 3.52 p.m. (8.52 a.m. GMT), ruled the kingdom for seven decades and was revered by the Thai public as a semi-divine figure, Efe news reported.

He passed away in Siriraj Hospital, where he had received hemodialysis treatment on October 8 after his health worsened during the weekend.

--IANS

rs/tsb/dg
Prohibition key to India competing with China: Nitish

Bihar,National, Thu, 13 Oct 2016 IANS

Patna, Oct 13 (IANS) Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Thursday said if India is keen to compete with China, prohibition will have to be imposed across the country.

"I strongly feel that India will need to have country-wide prohibition, if it wants to compete with China," Nitish Kumar said at a function here.

To substantiate his point, he said China progressed and developed only after it ended opium addiction.

"People have a keen desire that our country should compete with China but India and its new generation with liquor won't be able to compete with China," Kumar said.

The Chief Minister, however, said that implementing prohibition is a challenging task.

Last month, a Patna High Court order had struck down the liquor ban in Bihar, put into effect as per the old Excise and Prohibition Act since April 5 this year.

But Bihar became a dry state once again as the new stringent Bihar Excise and Prohibition Act came into force from "Gandhi Jayanti" on Oct 2.

--IANS

ik/nir/bg
VANCOUVER, Oct. 12, 2016 /CNW/ - Aritzia Inc. ("Aritzia" or the "Company") (TSX: ATZ), an innovative design house and fashion retailer of exclusive brands, today announced financial results for the second quarter ended August 28, 2016. Unless otherwise indicated, all amounts are expressed in Canadian dollars. Certain metrics, including those expressed on an adjusted or comparable basis, are non-IFRS measures. See "Non-IFRS Measures" below.

Highlights for the Second Quarter Fiscal 2017:

Net revenue increased by 30.1% to $157.9 million from $121.4 million in the second quarter last year.





from in the second quarter last year. Comparable sales growth was 16.9%, on top of a 20.8% comparable sales growth in the second quarter last year.





Gross profit margin increased to 35.9% from 34.3% in the second quarter last year.





Adjusted EBITDA increased by 20.4% to $19.8 million from $16.5 million in the second quarter last year.





from in the second quarter last year. Adjusted Net Income increased by 42.5% to $9.3 million from $6.5 million in the second quarter last year.





from in the second quarter last year. Stock-based compensation of $90.9 million was expensed in the quarter due to the fair value accounting of legacy time-based options and the triggering of legacy performance-based options in connection with the Company's initial public offering. This primarily contributed to a net loss of $67.3 million , as compared to net income of $4.7 million in the second quarter last year.





was expensed in the quarter due to the fair value accounting of legacy time-based options and the triggering of legacy performance-based options in connection with the Company's initial public offering. This primarily contributed to a net loss of , as compared to net income of in the second quarter last year. During the quarter, the Company opened one new store in Long Island , New York and relocated and expanded one flagship store in the Greater Toronto Area .

"We are pleased to have delivered our eighth consecutive quarter of strong positive comparable sales growth, which demonstrates the strength of our exclusive multi-brand strategy in both our retail stores and eCommerce business," said Brian Hill, Aritzia's Founder, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. "We remain focused on the long term growth of the business as we maintain our commitment to deliver beautifully designed product, an aspirational shopping experience and exceptional customer service, all driven by operational excellence."

Second Quarter Summary

All comparative figures below are for the 13-week period ended August 28, 2016 compared to the 13-week period ended August 30, 2015.

Net revenue increased by 30.1% to $157.9 million from $121.4 million in the prior year. The increase was driven by comparable sales growth of 16.9%, arising from both the strong performance in stores and continued momentum in the Company's eCommerce business, as well as, the revenue from eight new store openings and four expanded or repositioned stores since the second quarter of last year.

Gross profit increased by 36.3% to $56.7 million, or 35.9% of net revenue, compared to $41.6 million, or 34.3% of net revenue, in the prior year. The 160 basis point increase in gross profit margin was primarily due to lower product costs in addition to leverage on store occupancy costs. The improvement in gross profit margin was partially offset by one-time costs associated with the transition of the Company's Toronto area distribution center from a replenishment to a full-service facility (addressing both the Company's stores and eCommerce requirements), as well as, the use of a higher cost shipping provider during the period threatened by a potential Canada Post strike.

Selling, general and administrative ("SG&A") expenses increased by 45.5% to $46.4 million, compared to $31.9 million in the prior year. Excluding the impact of the initial public offering costs of approximately $4.6 million incurred during the quarter, SG&A expenses were 26.5% of net revenue, compared to 26.3% of net revenue in the prior year. In the quarter, the Company increased its investment in online product catalogue, marketing campaigns and support office talent.

Adjusted EBITDA increased by 20.4% to $19.8 million, or 12.5% of net revenue, compared to $16.5 million, or 13.6% of net revenue, in the prior year. Excluding the realized contractual and operational foreign exchange gains of $0.2 million in the quarter this year and $1.8 million in the prior year, Adjusted EBITDA increased by 33.3% to $19.6 million, or 12.4% of net revenue, compared to $14.7 million, or 12.1% of net revenue, in the prior year.

Stock-based compensation of $90.9 million was expensed in the quarter due to both legacy time-based options adjusted to fair market value of $68.4 million and the triggering of legacy performance-based options of $22.5 million in connection with the Company's initial public offering. The stock-based compensation expense primarily contributed to a net loss of $67.3 million, compared to net income of $4.7 million in the prior year.

Excluding the impact of stock-based compensation, initial public offering costs and unrealized foreign exchange (gains) losses on U.S. dollar forward contracts, Adjusted Net Income increased by 42.5% to $9.3 million, compared to $6.5 million in the prior year.

Year-to-Date Summary

All comparative figures below are for the 26-week period ended August 28, 2016 compared to the 26-week period ended August 30, 2015.

Net revenue increased by 29.4% to $284.3 million from $219.7 million in the prior year. The increase was driven by comparable sales growth of 15.1%, arising from both the strong performance in stores and continued momentum in the Company's eCommerce business, as well as, the revenue from non-comparable stores.

Gross profit increased by 38.4% to $107.9 million, or 37.9% of net revenue, compared to $78.0 million, or 35.5% of net revenue, in the prior year. The increase in gross profit margin was primarily due to lower product costs in addition to leverage on store occupancy costs. The improvement in gross profit margin was partially offset by one-time costs discussed above for the second quarter.

SG&A expenses increased by 32.8% to $80.8 million, compared to $60.9 million in the prior year. Excluding the impact of the initial public offering costs of approximately $4.6 million incurred during the second quarter, SG&A expenses were 26.8% of net revenue, compared to 27.7% of net revenue in the prior year.

Adjusted EBITDA increased by 41.9% to $40.0 million, or 14.1% of net revenue, as compared to $28.2 million, or 12.8% of net revenue, in the prior year.

Stock-based compensation of $94.7 million was expensed in the first two quarters due to both legacy time-based options adjusted to fair market value of $72.2 million and the triggering of legacy performance-based options of $22.5 million in connection with the Company's initial public offering. The stock-based compensation expense primarily contributed to a net loss of $59.5 million, compared to net income of $6.8 million in the prior year.

Excluding the impact of stock-based compensation, initial public offering costs and unrealized foreign exchange (gains) losses on US dollar forward contracts, Adjusted Net Income increased by 97.9% to $18.9 million, compared to $9.5 million in the prior year.

Outlook

Jennifer Wong, Aritzia's President and Chief Operating Officer, commented "We remain pleased with the strength of our business and the growth opportunities that lie ahead. Our fall season has started off well as customers continue to respond favourably to our product offering. Our new stores are meeting expectations and we look forward to opening three to four new stores and expanding or repositioning three existing stores in the next six months. Finally we are excited to be launching international shipping, which will broaden our eCommerce reach by over 220 countries."

Consolidated Financial Statements and Management's Discussion and Analysis

The Company's unaudited interim condensed consolidated financial statements for the 13-week and 26-week periods ended August 28, 2016 and Management's Discussion and Analysis ("MD&A") thereon are available under the Company's profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com and on Aritzia's investor relation website at investors.aritzia.com.

Conference Call

A conference call to discuss second quarter results is scheduled for tomorrow, October 13, 2016, at 6:00 a.m. PST / 9:00 a.m. EST. A replay will be available shortly after the conclusion of the call and will remain available until October 27, 2016. To access the replay, please dial 1-855-669-9658 and use replay access code 0848. A webcast will be available after the call and will remain on Aritzia's investor relations website at investors.aritzia.com for thirty days.

About Aritzia

Aritzia is an innovative design house and fashion retailer of exclusive brands. We design apparel and accessories for our collection of exclusive brands and sell them under the Aritzia banner. Our expansive and diverse range of women's fashion apparel and accessories addresses a broad range of style preferences and lifestyle requirements. We are well known and deeply loved by our customers in Canada with growing customer awareness and affinity in the United States and outside of North America. We aim to delight our customers through an aspirational shopping experience and exceptional customer service that extends across our more than 75 retail stores and our eCommerce business, aritzia.com.

Non-IFRS Measures

This press release makes reference to certain non-IFRS measures including certain retail industry metrics. These measures are not recognized measures under IFRS, do not have a standardized meaning prescribed by IFRS and are therefore unlikely to be comparable to similar measures presented by other companies. Rather, these measures are provided as additional information to complement those IFRS measures by providing further understanding of our results of operations from management's perspective. Accordingly, these measures should not be considered in isolation nor as a substitute for analysis of our financial information reported under IFRS. We use non-IFRS measures including "EBITDA", "Adjusted EBITDA" and "Adjusted Net Income". This press release may also makes reference to "comparable sales growth", which are commonly used operating metrics in the retail industry but may be calculated differently compared to other retailers. These non-IFRS measures including retail industry metrics are used to provide investors with supplemental measures of our operating performance and thus highlight trends in our core business that may not otherwise be apparent when relying solely on IFRS measures. We believe that securities analysts, investors and other interested parties frequently use non-IFRS measures including retail industry metrics in the evaluation of issuers. Our management also uses non-IFRS measures including retail industry metrics in order to facilitate operating performance comparisons from period to period, to prepare annual operating budgets and forecasts and to determine components of management compensation. Definitions and reconciliations of non-IFRS measures to the relevant reported measures can be found in our MD&A.

Forward-Looking Information

Certain information contained in this press release may constitute forward-looking information under applicable securities laws, including statements related to the Company's anticipated growth opportunities, anticipated new store openings, contemplated expansion or repositioning of existing stores, fall launch of international eCommerce, and the Company's commitment to deliver beautifully designed product, an aspirational shopping experience and exceptional customer service, all driven by operational excellence. This information is based on management's reasonable assumptions and beliefs in light of the information currently available to us and are made as of the date of this press release. However, we do not undertake to update any such forward-looking information whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required under applicable securities laws in Canada. Actual results and the timing of events may differ materially from those anticipated in the forward-looking information as a result of various factors, including those described in "Risk Factors" which are described in the Company's final prospectus filed in connection with its initial public offering on September 26, 2016 (the "Prospectus").

We caution that the list of risk factors and uncertainties is not exhaustive and other factors could also adversely affect our results. Readers are urged to consider the risks, uncertainties and assumptions carefully in evaluating the forward-looking information and are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such information. See "About this Prospectus  Forward-looking Information" and "Risk Factors" in the Prospectus for a discussion of the uncertainties, risks and assumptions associated with these statements.

SOURCE Aritzia Inc.

For further information: Investor Relations: Jean Fontana, ICR, Inc., 646-277-1214, [email protected]; Media Contact: Brittany Fraser, ICR, Inc., 647-277-1231, [email protected]
OTTAWA, Oct. 13, 2016 /CNW/ - For the first time ever, we have a clear picture of Canada's sector of humane societies and SPCAs, thanks to a new national report just released by the Canadian Federation of Humane Societies (CFHS).

"Our humane societies and SPCAs take on the lion's share of the work of caring for and protecting our most vulnerable animals  including sheltering, humane education, advocacy, public outreach and law enforcement," says Barbara Cartwright, CEO of CFHS. "Across the country, our sector investigated an estimated 103,000 cruelty complaints in 2014, and this report reveals some hard truths about the struggles we are facing  particularly when it comes to funding. Humane societies and SPCAs are the only organizations responsible for law enforcement that are so drastically underfunded."

In Canada, only a small handful of agencies and organizations are empowered to enforce the law. Chief among them are municipal police, provincial police and the RCMP. But there are also specialists in this country who, by virtue of their expertise, are mandated to enforce certain laws and regulations  like the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) and Canada's humane societies and SPCAs.

In seven of 13 provinces and territories (Alberta, BC, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Ontario, PEI and Quebec), humane societies and SPCAs have the responsibility of enforcing provincial and federal animal cruelty laws. Unlike police, humane societies and SPCAs are underfunded by the government to carry out their duties under the law. Despite this, they are still expected to stay on top of the avalanche of demand from the community while seeking donations from the public in order to do the work.

"In order to protect animals and our communities, we need an engaged government, a committed public and well-funded humane societies and SPCAs," says Cartwright. "All levels of government must step up their support to improve the picture for animals in Canada  the federal government in particular."

Copies of Humane Societies and SPCAs in Canada: A comprehensive look at the sector and high resolution graphics are available to the media upon request.

KEY FINDINGS

More than 40% of Canada's humane societies and SPCAs are empowered to enforce provincial and federal animal protection and cruelty legislation.

humane societies and SPCAs are empowered to enforce provincial and federal animal protection and cruelty legislation. CFHS estimates that 103,000 investigations were carried out by Canada's humane societies and SPCAs in 2014.

humane societies and SPCAs in 2014. Less than 50% of the costs of enforcing provincial or federal animal cruelty legislation are covered by government funding despite our mandate to enforce the law.

45% of the total sector revenue of $187.8 million comes directly from donations, of which 85% is contributed by individual donors. The result is that the responsibility of protecting animals in Canadian society is falling mainly to individual donors and the charities they support.

comes directly from donations, of which 85% is contributed by individual donors. The result is that the responsibility of protecting animals in Canadian society is falling mainly to individual donors and the charities they support. 93% of Canada's humane societies and SPCAs operate animal shelters. In 2014, these organizations spent an estimated $118.4 million sheltering more than 278,000 animals.

humane societies and SPCAs operate animal shelters. In 2014, these organizations spent an estimated sheltering more than 278,000 animals. 67% of responding Humane Societies and SPCAs deliver humane education programs in their communities.

Canada's 125 humane societies and SPCAs employ close to 2,000 staff, supported by an estimated 26,000 volunteers.

ABOUT CANADA'S SECTOR OF HUMANE SOCIETIES AND SPCAs

Canada's sector of humane society and SPCAs consists of 125 charitable organizations located in every province and territory that are dedicated to animal sheltering, animal protection and enforcement, humane education and advocacy.



ABOUT CFHS

As the national voice for animal welfare, CFHS represents humane societies and SPCAs across Canada, driving positive, progressive change to end animal cruelty, improve animal protection and promote the humane treatment of all animals.

ABOUT THIS REPORT

Humane Societies and SPCAs in Canada: A comprehensive look at the sector was prepared by the Canadian Federation of Humane Societies (CFHS). This ground-breaking report provides the first comprehensive analysis of the Canadian sector as a whole. In this report, CFHS has identified key attributes of Canada's humane societies and SPCAs, based on the most recent data available. We analyze their contributions to Canadian society, the volunteer and financial support they receive and some of the challenges they face.

This report was funded by CFHS, a major donor and five of our member societies. We thank Animal Welfare Agency South Central Ontario (AWASCO), British Columbia SPCA, Montreal SPCA, Ottawa Humane Society and Toronto Humane Society in helping to make this report possible.

SOURCE Canadian Federation of Humane Societies (CFHS)

For further information: For media interviews, contact: Luna Allison, Communications and Marketing Manager, Canadian Federation of Humane Societies, [email protected], 613-224-8072 ext. 12
In a tepid economy, the healthy real estate sector attracts taxation and regulation

TORONTO, Oct. 13, 2016 /CNW/ - Canada's residential real estate market continued to grow in the third quarter of 2016, posting a double-digit year-over-year aggregate house price increase, according to the Royal LePage House Price Survey1 released today. The Government of British Columbia's new 15 per cent property transfer surtax on foreign nationals and foreign-controlled corporations, introduced early in the quarter, has contributed to slower sales activity but has had little impact to-date on Greater Vancouver home prices, which led the country in appreciation with year-over-year home prices increasing by 30.6 per cent in the quarter. While Ontario considers implementing a similar tax, over the same period house price increases in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) also remained strong, increasing 13.6 per cent.

The Royal LePage National House Price Composite, compiled from proprietary property data in 53 of the nation's largest real estate markets, showed that the price2 of a home in Canada increased 12.0 per cent year-over-year to $545,414 in the third quarter of 2016. The price of a two-storey home rose 13.7 per cent year-over-year to $649,635, and the price of a bungalow increased 11.0 per cent to $459,481. During the same period, the price of a condominium increased 5.8 per cent to $360,679.

"In what may be a final hurrah for this expansionary cycle, Greater Vancouver posted another quarter of unsustainably high price appreciation," said Phil Soper, president and chief executive officer, Royal LePage. "Our widely followed house price composite showed that the median value of homes in the tiny West Vancouver suburb increased by nearly forty per cent  or an astonishing million dollars  year-over-year. That said, relief appears to be on the way. For months, the number of homes trading hands has been slowing on eroding affordability. And, slower sales volumes lead to moderating prices."

"Nationally, our real estate markets remain healthy, with home values showing modest to strong (yet rational) price appreciation in almost every Canadian city," Soper continued. "Even in the hardest hit oil patch regions, prices have held up well, with small single-digit declines, year-over-year."

On October 3, 2016, Federal Finance Minister Bill Morneau announced new measures specifically designed to cool the country's housing market and curtail foreign buying activity. These measures are meant to bring consistency to mortgage insurance rules by standardizing eligibility for high- and low-ratio insured mortgages, expanding stress tests, and improving tax fairness by removing the ability of non-residents to claim capital gain exemptions, which are only applicable to properties identified as principal residences.

"Consumer confidence suffered a direct hit when the federal government introduced new, more restrictive regulations in early October," said Soper. "While it is too early to say definitively, it appears Canadian homebuyers are adjusting quickly, and that fears of a hard correction were unwarranted. While the changes are significant, major lenders may already be using similar criteria when writing mortgages in sensitive regions like Alberta and B.C., so the additional drag on the market resulting from the new legislation won't be as great as it appears on the surface."

The federal government's October 3 announcement comes less than a year after it increased the down payment required on residential properties selling for more than $500,000 to 10 per cent, and a month after the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions imposed new capital requirements for mortgage insurers. On March 22, 2016, the federal government allocated $500,000 to Statistics Canada for research into the role of foreign buyers in Canada's housing market; however, all of these policy decisions have been made before the organization completes its year-long project.

In addition to the B.C. surtax, policy makers are reportedly considering introducing a "vacancy tax" to be levied against owners of unoccupied homes. This second tax would be especially punitive, given that property taxes pay for services those homeowners do not use, such as schools, public transit and waste removal services. Federal government policy makers, along with local politicians, have expressed concerns about rising home prices in Toronto, and the role foreign buyers might be playing in driving values higher.

"Vancouver continues to attract foreign interest, and we do not expect to see an automatic migration of capital to Toronto in the wake of the new tax imposed in Metro Vancouver," said Soper. "It is important to remember that most people buy houses for the location, lifestyle and family needs, and not simply upon financial investment criteria."

Provincial and City Summaries and Trends

British Columbia's economy is leading Canadian growth in 2016, further supporting the house price appreciation we have seen in the region. However, within the Greater Vancouver business community, a noted counter-challenge is that high housing costs are having a slightly negative impact on enterprises; business owners have noted that real estate costs are making it difficult to attract skilled employees to the region. New government taxation and regulations within the region have also introduced a great deal of uncertainty into the market, as purchasers have begun to take a wait-and-see approach, putting downward pressure on sales activity. While this did not significantly impact year-over-year home prices during the third quarter, it could very well result in a more balanced market moving forward. In the third quarter of 2016, Vancouver posted an aggregate year-over-year house price increase of 34.1 per cent to $1,464,507, while West Vancouver posted a year-over-year price increase of 39.6 per cent to $3,411,578. As house prices in Greater Vancouver continue to increase, there is a growing trend of migration toward cities like Victoria and Kelowna, which showed year-over-year increases in aggregate house prices of 8.8 per cent to $537,228 and 10.9 per cent to $554,289 respectively.

Alberta continues to face a slowdown in the energy sector. The majority of economic forecasters watching the province have predicted that the Alberta economy will contract by approximately two percentage points in 2016, making it one of the most significant downturns in the province's history. The economic drop in the region has directly impacted housing prices in the province's key markets, however, not nearly to the degree many observers anticipated. Looking ahead, some speculate that the province has withstood the worst of the decline and the relative low cost of housing compared to other major centres is anticipated to be a supportive factor in the long run. Aggregate house prices dropped slightly year-over-year in Calgary by 1.6 per cent to $457,044 and in Edmonton by 3.1 per cent to $374,712.

Saskatchewan is similar to Alberta in that it is an energy-dependent province being hit by the downturn in the sector. Effects can be observed in the employment sector, as the province lost 6,500 jobs in September when compared to the same period in 2015. Employment insurance recipients are up, earnings are falling and payroll employment is down. Despite the traditionally negative effects of a poor economy on the housing market, the region's home prices have remained relatively stable; aggregate house prices in Regina increased year-over-year by 0.6 per cent to $332,540.

As expected, the economy in Manitoba is relatively strong and remains on track for expansion through 2017. This is favouring well with the housing marketing in Winnipeg, as the aggregate price of a home in the region increased 2.3 per cent year-over-year to $291,426. Forecasting strong population increases for the coming years, the City of Winnipeg announced recently that it projects it will exceed the one-million resident mark by 2035 and that demand for housing will grow as a result.

Second only to British Columbia, Ontario continues to be one of the fastest growing economies in Canada. Concerns about the fate of the U.S. economy have kept employers cautious about hiring, ultimately slowing the economic gains expected for the region. However, in the Greater Toronto Area, house values continue to climb. Aggregate house prices in Toronto grew year-over-year by 12.1 per cent to $714,002. House prices in surrounding region Kitchener/Waterloo/Cambridge are also appreciating, posting a year-over-year increase in aggregate house price of 9.1 per cent to $371,474. Hamilton, which stands above the provincial average in retaining and attracting millennials, had year-over-year growth in its aggregate house price of 10.3 per cent to $419,830. The aggregate house price in Ottawa saw moderate year-over-year growth of 3.6 per cent to $411,654.

Quebec continues to maintain a steady economy, despite export volumes coming in below expectations. Recent reports show that Quebec's economy is ahead of its targets, with provincial Finance Minister Carlos Leitao announcing last month an unexpected budget surplus and Quebec's plans to allocate additional spending to education, health care and economic development. Furthermore, Quebec's unemployment rate in September sat below the national average and the province has recently been showing solid job growth. The province continues to attract international interest, further supported by Air China's introduction last year of a direct Beijing-Montreal flight, and Air Canada's recent announcement to add a daily direct Shanghai-Montreal service in February 2017. These factors remained supportive of the residential housing sector in the third quarter, with the aggregate house price in the Greater Montreal Area increasing by 4.9 per cent year-over-year to $352,798.

Atlantic Canada saw mixed results, with Newfoundland and Labrador conceivably falling into recession as a result of challenges associated with the energy sector downturn. The issues stem not only from low oil prices, but also fewer job prospects for the province's "fly-in, fly-out" workforce that had been a substantial source of economic stability in the region. As a result, St. John's was the only city studied in the Royal LePage Composite to decline in Atlantic Canada, with the aggregate home price dropping 3.2 per cent to $332,597 year-over-year. Meanwhile, Moncton and Halifax showed slight year-over-year increases in aggregate house prices of 1.5 per cent to $182,529 and 0.8 per cent to $308,017, respectively. Similarly, aggregate house prices in Charlottetown and Fredericton increased year-over-year by 2.3 per cent to $224,219 and 2.9 per cent to $246,696, respectively.

Aggregated regions and the Royal LePage National House Price Composite:

National and Metropolitan Area Aggregates Two-Storeys Bungalows Condominiums Aggregate Market Province Q3 2015 Q3 2016 Year-Over-Year % Change Q3 2015 Q3 2016 Year-Over-Year % Change Q3 2015 Q3 2016 Year-Over-Year % Change Q3 2015 Q3 2016 Year-Over-Year % Change 53 City Composite

$571,229 $649,635 13.7% $413,766 $459,481 11.0% $340,946 $360,679 5.8% $486,849 $545,414 12.0% Greater Montreal Area QC $419,467 $443,239 5.7% $278,239 $287,198 3.2% $285,356 $300,089 5.2% $336,327 $352,798 4.9% Greater Toronto Area ON $707,885 $812,990 14.8% $593,687 $688,813 16.0% $363,748 $381,963 5.0% $610,308 $693,154 13.6% Greater Vancouver BC $1,182,309 $1,578,601 33.5% $965,979 $1,288,520 33.4% $459,788 $528,388 14.9% $914,705 $1,194,653 30.6%

Royal LePage National House Price Composite Two-Storeys Bungalows Condominiums Aggregate Market Province Q3 2015 Q3 2016 Year-Over-Year % Change Q3 2015 Q3 2016 Year-Over-Year % Change Q3 2015 Q3 2016 Year-Over-Year % Change Q3 2015 Q3 2016 Year-Over-Year % Change St. John's NL $389,739 $376,553 -3.4% $315,626 $309,895 -1.8% $297,106 $257,876 -13.2% $343,587 $332,597 -3.2% Charlottetown PE $238,153 $247,235 3.8% $191,180 $189,751 -0.7%





$219,243 $224,219 2.3% Halifax NS $327,480 $330,081 0.8% $249,744 $250,080 0.1% $298,085 $305,771 2.6% $305,682 $308,017 0.8% Fredericton NB $281,438 $294,293 4.6% $205,651 $211,024 2.6%





$239,777 $246,696 2.9% Moncton NB $183,236 $187,163 2.1% $174,830 $176,586 1.0%





$179,868 $182,529 1.5% Saint John NB $228,812 $248,880 8.8% $182,551 $191,037 4.6%





$205,510 $220,428 7.3% Gatineau QC $268,251 $289,062 7.8% $232,871 $236,101 1.4% $237,128 $214,919 -9.4% $250,723 $258,988 3.3% Laval QC $389,066 $401,949 3.3% $284,988 $298,406 4.7% $237,303 $242,084 2.0% $314,049 $325,481 3.6% Montreal Centre QC $523,943 $561,105 7.1% $383,194 $391,945 2.3% $330,242 $357,466 8.2% $402,790 $431,894 7.2% Montreal East QC $467,371 $496,855 6.3% $309,884 $307,032 -0.9% $274,558 $273,606 -0.3% $362,508 $374,121 3.2% Montreal West QC $427,957 $434,044 1.4% $329,418 $332,339 0.9% $261,223 $261,229 0.0% $377,914 $382,271 1.2% Montreal Northshore QC $347,038 $361,943 4.3% $251,682 $259,492 3.1% $206,305 $199,860 -3.1% $277,431 $285,747 3.0% Montreal Southshore QC $369,241 $397,323 7.6% $268,274 $279,942 4.3% $231,568 $247,311 6.8% $305,988 $325,313 6.3% Quebec City QC $326,590 $328,106 0.5% $263,268 $266,524 1.2% $246,959 $254,399 3.0% $271,085 $274,877 1.4% Sherbrooke QC $268,426 $271,398 1.1% $208,970 $205,128 -1.8%





$234,068 $233,680 -0.2% Trois-Rivieres QC $184,708 $207,238 12.2% $163,964 $173,742 6.0%





$173,906 $188,914 8.6% Ajax ON $522,199 $586,303 12.3% $416,855 $500,309 20.0% $259,551 $266,656 2.7% $509,017 $572,803 12.5% Belleville/Trenton ON $228,084 $241,415 5.8% $245,163 $259,375 5.8%





$235,032 $248,461 5.7% Brampton ON $528,146 $591,846 12.1% $440,992 $506,306 14.8% $249,802 $259,430 3.9% $508,483 $569,510 12.0% Hamilton ON $398,811 $438,846 10.0% $343,240 $385,814 12.4% $249,392 $232,959 -6.6% $380,624 $419,830 10.3% Kingston ON $318,338 $321,833 1.1% $294,187 $303,770 3.3%





$304,089 $310,266 2.0% Kitchener/Waterloo/Cambridge ON $356,474 $392,169 10.0% $322,233 $341,857 6.1% $217,377 $234,436 7.8% $340,348 $371,474 9.1% London ON $296,123 $321,786 8.7% $239,230 $251,576 5.2%





$270,659 $294,387 8.8% Markham ON $812,881 $939,338 15.6% $798,312 $946,861 18.6% $341,911 $365,255 6.8% $755,347 $870,353 15.2% Milton ON $573,832 $635,929 10.8% $474,144 $512,134 8.0% $304,446 $314,274 3.2% $555,534 $613,759 10.5% Mississauga ON $635,486 $695,086 9.4% $533,069 $633,700 18.9% $281,894 $290,524 3.1% $555,883 $609,266 9.6% Niagara/St.Catharines ON $294,231 $331,120 12.5% $260,337 $279,176 7.2%





$278,099 $306,397 10.2% Oakville ON $820,978 $951,140 15.9% $648,112 $743,631 14.7%





$775,559 $894,696 15.4% Oshawa ON $374,016 $478,845 28.0% $335,543 $407,087 21.3% $198,551 $193,274 -2.7% $360,359 $453,975 26.0% Ottawa ON $414,026 $429,788 3.8% $386,679 $402,844 4.2% $310,594 $313,612 1.0% $397,161 $411,654 3.6% Pickering ON $557,440 $661,533 18.7% $502,247 $598,482 19.2% $291,230 $300,415 3.2% $533,822 $630,965 18.2% Richmond Hill ON $919,900 $1,155,020 25.6% $764,517 $1,001,369 31.0% $330,514 $384,924 16.5% $854,800 $1,074,829 25.7% Scarborough ON $624,091 $704,515 12.9% $573,829 $667,325 16.3% $262,138 $279,761 6.7% $516,064 $583,760 13.1% Toronto ON $887,964 $1,023,128 15.2% $664,894 $755,720 13.7% $397,899 $416,887 4.8% $637,116 $714,002 12.1% Vaughan ON $814,117 $927,500 13.9% $712,238 $809,168 13.6% $367,730 $398,511 8.4% $745,621 $846,481 13.5% Whitby ON $496,490 $604,342 21.7% $466,235 $560,810 20.3% $278,964 $337,826 21.1% $486,294 $590,921 21.5% Windsor ON $171,961 $188,120 9.4% $170,518 $201,887 18.4% $129,702 $140,152 8.1% $168,609 $188,796 12.0% Winnipeg MB $307,791 $322,313 4.7% $270,625 $271,427 0.3% $223,184 $212,067 -5.0% $284,991 $291,426 2.3% Regina SK $392,028 $408,126 4.1% $301,505 $298,584 -1.0% $276,027 $253,880 -8.0% $330,545 $332,540 0.6% Saskatoon SK $420,705 $407,573 -3.1% $362,224 $360,187 -0.6%





$392,734 $384,909 -2.0% Calgary AB $507,832 $502,213 -1.1% $465,592 $458,933 -1.4% $304,710 $287,986 -5.5% $464,707 $457,044 -1.6% Edmonton AB $444,003 $430,232 -3.1% $372,863 $359,843 -3.5% $242,562 $237,128 -2.2% $386,829 $374,712 -3.1% Red Deer AB $377,716 $398,499 5.5% $351,190 $330,239 -6.0%





$357,714 $354,999 -0.8% Burnaby BC $1,141,310 $1,457,817 27.7% $1,019,884 $1,370,315 34.4% $411,714 $431,254 4.7% $796,447 $994,518 24.9% Coquitlam BC $882,261 $1,141,244 29.4% $764,574 $960,283 25.6% $331,380 $347,310 4.8% $748,103 $945,260 26.4% Kelowna BC $572,771 $647,810 13.1% $470,800 $504,943 7.3% $305,445 $339,321 11.1% $499,977 $554,289 10.9% Langley BC $664,949 $827,175 24.4% $536,171 $681,878 27.2% $211,028 $228,796 8.4% $610,974 $763,642 25.0% North Vancouver BC $1,276,416 $1,644,619 28.8% $1,163,884 $1,506,161 29.4% $429,005 $476,710 11.1% $1,036,550 $1,319,272 27.3% Richmond BC $1,044,484 $1,461,161 39.9% $965,908 $1,340,507 38.8% $392,671 $429,799 9.5% $797,119 $1,070,145 34.3% Surrey BC $702,203 $850,650 21.1% $571,632 $750,807 31.3% $233,812 $244,540 4.6% $626,365 $763,410 21.9% Vancouver BC $1,882,707 $2,620,732 39.2% $1,087,827 $1,481,223 36.2% $535,009 $641,000 19.8% $1,091,817 $1,464,507 34.1% Victoria BC $637,897 $750,617 17.7% $505,246 $549,719 8.8% $388,542 $384,421 -1.1% $493,739 $537,228 8.8% West Vancouver BC $2,746,622 $3,905,308 42.2% $2,191,428 $2,941,881 34.2% $974,758 $1,171,069 20.1% $2,444,371 $3,411,578 39.6%

*Data presented in the tables above may not match same period data reported previously due to subsequent market updates.

About the Royal LePage House Price Survey

The Royal LePage House Price Survey provides information on the three most common types of housing in Canada, in 53 of the nation's largest real estate markets. Housing values in the House Price Survey are based on the Royal LePage National House Price Composite, produced quarterly through the use of company data in addition to data and analytics from its sister company, Brookfield RPS, the trusted source for residential real estate intelligence and analytics in Canada. Commentary on housing and forecast values are provided by Royal LePage residential real estate experts, based on their opinions and market knowledge.

About Royal LePage

Serving Canadians since 1913, Royal LePage is the country's leading provider of services to real estate brokerages, with a network of over 17,000 real estate professionals in more than 600 locations nationwide. Royal LePage is the only Canadian real estate company to have its own charitable foundation, the Royal LePage Shelter Foundation, dedicated to supporting women's and children's shelters and educational programs aimed at ending domestic violence. Royal LePage is a Brookfield Real Estate Services Inc. company, a TSX-listed corporation trading under the symbolTSX:BRE.

For more information visit: www.royallepage.ca.

__________________________

1 Powered by Brookfield RPS

2 Aggregate prices are calculated via a weighted average of the median values of homes for reported property types in the regions surveyed

SOURCE Royal LePage Real Estate Services

Image with caption: "Canada's Housing Market Continues to Expand in Third Quarter in the Face of Regulatory Headwinds (CNW Group/Royal LePage Real Estate Services)". Image available at: http://photos.newswire.ca/images/download/20161013_C6123_PHOTO_EN_794881.jpg

For further information: Ray McIlroy, Kaiser Lachance Communications, 647-725-2520 ext215, [email protected]
Have you registered for the Great British Columbia ShakeOut?

VANCOUVER, Oct. 13, 2016 /CNW/ - Join hundreds of thousands of British Columbians as they "Drop, Cover and Hold On" during the 2016 Great British Columbia ShakeOut. The BC Earthquake Alliance and Insurance Bureau of Canada (IBC) are working together to present Canada's largest earthquake preparedness drill on Thursday, October 20 at 10:20 a.m.

Register today and encourage your family, friends and colleagues to do the same at www.ShakeOutBC.ca.

"More than 3,000 earthquakes occur in British Columbia each year. Most are too small to be felt, but the risk of one big enough to cause major damage is real," said Dave Cockle, President of the BC Earthquake Alliance. "Participating in the Great British Columbia ShakeOut is an excellent way for your family or organization to take one small step towards preparing to survive and recover quickly."

"The Great British Columbia ShakeOut provides us with an opportunity to take another step forward in preparedness, an important pillar in emergency management. It's an event that will remind us all of the importance of drills so that together, we are all prepared if a major earthquake hits. I encourage all British Columbians to register and take part  and Drop, Cover and Hold On," said the Honourable Naomi Yamamoto, Minister of State for Emergency Preparedness.

"IBC is pleased to be working with Great British Columbia ShakeOut, government officials and British Columbians to create a culture of preparedness," said Bill Adams, Vice-President, Western & Pacific, IBC. "There are a number of steps you can take to make sure you are prepared both physically and financially, and one step is to participate in the Great British Columbia ShakeOut."

To learn about all the ways to participate in this year's ShakeOut BC drill, click here. Listen to the ShakeOut BC drill audio broadcast during the event to make it more informative. Click here to download the drill broadcast. For more information about IBC and the 2016 Great British Columbia ShakeOut, visit www.ibc.ca.

Fortis BC, BC Hydro, BCAA, HEMBC and Ivanhoe Cambridge are also sponsors of this year's event. For a full list of sponsors, organizers and supporters, click here.

Note to Editors:

If you work for a TV or radio station that will be airing the drill during The Great British Columbia ShakeOut, celebrate your station's commitment to earthquake preparedness by listing its name on the BC ShakeOut website. Just fill out this form.

A media advisory will be issued on October 19th inviting media to attend London Drugs Headquarters for the main media event, presented by Insurance Bureau of Canada, on ShakeOut BC Day October 20th.

About ShakeOut BC

ShakeOut BC earthquake drills help people at home, school and work practise how to be safe during an earthquake and provide an opportunity for everyone to improve their overall preparedness. By participating, you, your family, your co-workers and millions of others will be better prepared to survive and recover quickly following an earthquake. As of today, 52.5 million people worldwide are registered to participate in the October 20th drill, including more than 650,000 British Columbians currently registered to participate. Last year over 770,000 British Columbians participated.

About Insurance Bureau of Canada

Insurance Bureau of Canada (IBC) is the national industry association representing Canada's private home, auto and business insurers. Its member companies make up 90% of the property and casualty (P&C) insurance market in Canada. For more than 50 years, IBC has worked with governments across the country to help make affordable home, auto and business insurance available for all Canadians. IBC supports the vision of consumers and governments trusting, valuing and supporting the private P&C insurance industry. It champions key issues and helps educate consumers on how best to protect their homes, cars, businesses and properties.

P&C insurance touches the lives of nearly every Canadian and plays a critical role in keeping businesses safe and the Canadian economy strong. It employs more than 120,000 Canadians, pays $8.2 billion in taxes and has a total premium base of $49 billion.

For media releases and more information, visit IBC's Media Centre at www.ibc.ca. Follow IBC on Twitter @InsuranceBureau and @IBC_West or like us on Facebook. If you have a question about home, auto or business insurance, contact IBC's Consumer Information Centre at 1-844-2ask-IBC.

SOURCE Insurance Bureau of Canada

For further information: If you require more information, spokespeople from IBC and the Great British Columbia ShakeOut are available to discuss the details in this media release. To schedule an interview, please contact: Andrew McGrath, Manager, Media Relations, Insurance Bureau of Canada, 416-362-2031 ext. 4312, [email protected]; Great British Columbia ShakeOut, Media Relations, [email protected]
TORONTO, Oct. 12, 2016 /CNW/ - CIBC (TSX: CM) (NYSE: CM) today announced a $50,000 donation to the Canadian Red Cross to assist with relief efforts for those affected by Hurricane Matthew. The funds will be directed to areas most deeply impacted by the hurricane's devastation.

In response to the urgent need for aid and support, beginning today, CIBC is also accepting donations at all banking centres from coast-to-coast for the Canadian Red Cross Hurricane Matthew Appeal.

"Our thoughts are with all of those impacted by Hurricane Matthew," says Victor Dodig, President and CEO, CIBC. "We are providing immediate support to help those in need and have mobilized our banking centres across the country to collect donations from Canadians wanting to help with the relief efforts."

Hurricane Matthew has left several Caribbean countries in very vulnerable conditions, with Haiti being the most affected. The Red Cross has positioned relief supplies, including blankets, tarpaulins, buckets and hygiene kits, to provide assistance to those most vulnerable in the affected areas.

Donations can also be made directly to the Canadian Red Cross online at www.redcross.ca.

About CIBC

CIBC is a leading Canadian-based global financial institution with 11 million personal banking and business clients. Through our three major business units - Retail and Business Banking, Wealth Management and Capital Markets - CIBC offers a full range of products and services through its comprehensive electronic banking network, branches and offices across Canada with offices in the United States and around the world. Ongoing news releases and more information about CIBC can be found at www.cibc.com/ca/media-centre/ or by following on Twitter @CIBC, Facebook (www.facebook.com/CIBC) and Instagram @CIBCNow.

SOURCE CIBC

For further information: Olga Petrycki, Director, Public Relations, [email protected] or 416-306-9760
The findings provide important insights into how pancreatic cancer develops and spreads and new strategies for better understanding one of the mostly deadly types of cancer.

TORONTO, Oct. 12, 2016 /CNW/ - Researchers in the multidisciplinary PanCuRx research initiative at the Ontario Institute for Cancer Research (OICR) and University Health Network's Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, led by Dr. Faiyaz Notta and Dr. Steven Gallinger, today published new findings that challenge current beliefs about how and why pancreatic cancer is so aggressive.

This deadly disease often strikes "out of nowhere" and the cancer is often inoperable by the time the patient experiences symptoms. Pancreatic cancer's tendency to appear at an advanced stage had long been a medical mystery. Using whole genome sequencing, the team reconstructed the history of pancreatic cancer development in 100 independent tumours. Unexpectedly, they found that many of the important alterations that are thought to cause this disease actually occur "all at once", similar to the idea of the "big bang". The results were published in the journal Nature (doi:10.1038/nature19823).

Pancreatic cancer is a highly aggressive and deadly form of cancer. It is expected to be the second leading cause of cancer-related death by 2030. Improving clinical outcomes has proven stubbornly difficult, highlighting the urgent need for scientific advances.

"When we started this project many years ago, we wanted to make better sense of how this disease progresses clinically," said Dr. Notta, an OICR Fellow, Principal Investigator at the Princess Margaret and lead author of the study. "This disease can go from being a local cancer, restricted to the pancreas, to becoming fully metastatic very rapidly. The traditional view of the biology of the disease just didn't jive with what happens clinically. And it's hard to move forward in trying to find new treatments if you can't link the biology of the tumour to the clinical reality of the disease. Our findings show a very different path for how this disease develops and puts the clinical problem of this disease into better perspective. We can make more sense about why this disease is so aggressive and can advance so quickly."

"Pancreatic cancer is one of the most deadly types of cancer and still one of the least understood," said Dr. Gallinger, Head of Hepatobiliary/Pancreatic Surgical Oncology Program at UHN and Mount Sinai Hospital and leader of PanCuRx. "These findings provide us with a new understanding of how pancreatic cancer develops and a path forward to identify better strategies to diagnose and target this terrible disease."

I congratulate these researchers who are working tirelessly to better understand how pancreatic cancer develops and spreads, said Reza Moridi, Minister of Research, Innovation and Science. "Their hard work and new findings offer hope to people diagnosed with this disease and their loved ones in Ontario and around the globe.

The findings open up important new pathways of investigation that could lead to the ability to better diagnose pancreatic cancer, predict how it will develop and determine how and when it will metastasize. The findings could also be applicable to other aggressive tumour types. New approaches to diagnosing and treating pancreatic cancer using this information could lead to better outcomes for patients.

About the Ontario Institute for Cancer Research (OICR)

OICR is an innovative cancer research and development institute dedicated to prevention, early detection, diagnosis and treatment of cancer. The Institute is an independent, not-for-profit corporation, supported by the Government of Ontario. OICR's research supports more than 1,700 investigators, clinician scientists, research staff and trainees located at its headquarters and in research institutes and academia across the Province of Ontario. OICR has key research efforts underway in small molecules, biologics, stem cells, imaging, genomics, informatics and bio-computing. For more information, please visit the website at www.oicr.on.ca.

SOURCE Ontario Institute for Cancer Research

For further information: Ontario Institute for Cancer Research, Christopher Needles, 416-673-8505, [email protected], @OICR_news
OTTAWA, Oct. 13, 2016 /CNW/ - The Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, today issued the following statement to congratulate Antonio Guterres on becoming the next United Nations Secretary General:

"On behalf of all Canadians, I am delighted to extend my congratulations to Antnio Guterres on his appointment by the United Nations General Assembly to be the next United Nations Secretary General, beginning in January 2017.

"Canada firmly believes that the United Nations is essential to resolving many of the world's most pressing challenges  from climate change, to refugees and migration, to securing peace.

"Early next year, Mr. Guterres takes on one of the most challenging jobs in the world. Canada will be there to help him and the UN make the world a better place for its 7.5 billion inhabitants.

"We have worked closely with Mr. Guterres during his time as UN High Commissioner for Refugees, and we look forward to working with him in his new capacity as Secretary General."

This document is also available at http://pm.gc.ca

SOURCE Prime Minister's Office

For further information: PMO Media Relations: 613-957-5555
The main flight-test program of the Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) X-2 fighter technology demonstrator will begin within weeks, following three months of ground testing.

The Mitsubishi X-2 Shinshin is a Japanese experimental aircraft for testing advanced stealth fighter aircraft technologies. It is being developed by the Japanese Ministry of Defense Technical Research and Development Institute (TRDI) for research purposes. Many consider this aircraft to be Japans first domestically made stealth fighter.

The Japanese Ministry of Defense has released new details about its plans for future unmanned aircraft that would fly in supporting roles, aiding piloted fighters in the Japanese Air Self-Defense Force, or JASDF. Specifically, JASDF is hoping to add two distinct craft to its fleet: unmanned wingmen that would fly in formation with and receive commands from a pilot in a conventional fighter, and a high-flying ballistic-missile defense (BMD) aircraft that would use sensor arrays to track missile threats.

The BMD aircraft is slated to enter service around 2030, while the the first iteration of the unmanned wingmanwhich will fly ahead of fighters as a sensor carrieris to be developed in the next 15 to 20 years. A second version of the unmanned wingman that will fire munitions and act as a missile sponge, directing incoming threats toward itself and away from the manned fighter, will be developed with the same airframe and engine as the sensor carrier if all goes according to plan.

Given the difficulty of programming an autonomous system with the aerial maneuvers necessary for successful air-to-air engagements, most countries have focused on air-to-surface platforms for unmanned aircraft. Japan, however, seems to be more optimistic and hopes the unmanned craft can fly alongside its advanced stealth fighter aircraft, the F-3, which is currently under development with a planned production date in 2027.

A mockup of Japans unmanned ballistic-missile detector aircraft design. Japanese Defense Ministry

Japan will have a robotic version of Goose from Top Gun

SOURCES- Aviation Week, Wikipedia, Popular Mechanics
Next week Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte, who took power in late June, will make his first state visit to China.

Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte not expecting and will not be demanding: the return of Scarborough Shoal, which China seized from the Philippines in 2012, sparking demonstrations by Filipinos around the world.

Scarborough Shoal is a large coral atoll with a reef-rimmed lagoon, Scarborough Shoal lies about 120 nautical miles (222 km, 138 miles) from the Philippines coast. Filipino fishermen have relied on the atolls rich fishing grounds for generations. China has blocked their access to it since the takeover.

This could be good news for Chinese and Philippine energy companies. Chinas prevented the Philippines from exploring for oil off its own coast. There are oil or natural gas deposits that fall within both the nine-dash line and other nations EEZs. China and Philippines could negotiate joint development. Each could getting a share of the profits.

The Philippines would take a position closer to Cambodias, a country that has backed Beijings South China Sea positions in international forums.

Cambodia received significant aid or investment from China.

In mid-September Duterte said the Philippines would begin buying weapons from China and Russia (the US is the traditional main supplier), and that it would cease joint patrols of the South China Sea with the US.

The Philippines will likely get a lot of loans and trade deals at the meeting next week.
An international team of astronomers, led by Christopher Conselice, Professor of Astrophysics at the University of Nottingham, have found that the universe contains at least two trillion galaxies, ten times more than previously thought.

Astronomers have long sought to determine how many galaxies there are in the observable universe, the part of the cosmos where light from distant objects has had time to reach us. Over the last 20 years scientists have used images from the Hubble Space Telescope to estimate that the universe we can see contains around 100  200 billion galaxies. Current astronomical technology allows us to study just 10% of these galaxies, and the remaining 90% will be only seen once bigger and better telescopes are developed.

Prof Conselices research is the culmination of 15 years work, part-funded by a research grant from the Royal Astronomical Society awarded to Aaron Wilkinson, an undergraduate student at the time. Aaron, now a PhD student at the University of Nottingham, began by performing the initial galaxy-counting analysis, work which was crucial for establishing the feasibility of the larger-scale study.

Arxiv- The Evolution of Galaxy Number Density at z < 8 and its Implications (22 pages)

Prof Conselices team then converted pencil beam images of deep space from telescopes around the world, and especially from the Hubble telescope, into 3D maps. These allowed them to calculate the density of galaxies as well as the volume of one small region of space after another. This painstaking research enabled the team to establish how many galaxies we have missed  much like an intergalactic archaeological dig.

The results of this study are based on the measurements of the number of observed galaxies at different epochs  different instances in time  through the universes history. When Prof Conselice and his team at Nottingham, in collaboration with scientists from the Leiden Observatory at Leiden University in the Netherlands and the Institute for Astronomy at the University of Edinburgh, examined how many galaxies there were at a given epoch they found that there were significantly more at earlier times.

It appears that when the universe was only a few billion years old there were ten times as many galaxies in a given volume of space as there are within a similar volume today. Most of these galaxies were low mass systems with masses similar to those of the satellite galaxies surrounding the Milky Way.

Prof Conselice said: This is very surprising as we know that, over the 13.7 billion years of cosmic evolution since the Big Bang, galaxies have been growing through star formation and mergers with other galaxies. Finding more galaxies in the past implies that significant evolution must have occurred to reduce their number through extensive merging of systems.

He continued: We are missing the vast majority of galaxies because they are very faint and far away. The number of galaxies in the universe is a fundamental question in astronomy, and it boggles the mind that over 90% of the galaxies in the cosmos have yet to be studied. Who knows what interesting properties we will find when we study these galaxies with the next generation of telescopes?

Abstract  The Evolution of Galaxy Number Density at z < 8 and its Implications

The evolution of the number density of galaxies in the universe, and thus also the total number of galaxies, is a fundamental question with implications for a host of astrophysical problems including galaxy evolution and cosmology. However there has never been a detailed study of this important measurement, nor a clear path to answer it. To address this we use observed galaxy stellar mass functions up to z8 to determine how the number densities of galaxies changes as a function of time and mass limit. We show that the increase in the total number density of galaxies (T), more massive than M=106 M_0, decreases as Tt1, where t is the age of the universe. We further show that this evolution turns-over and rather increases with time at higher mass lower limits of M>107 M_0. By using the M=106 M_0 lower limit we further show that the total number of galaxies in the universe up to z=8 is 2.0+0.70.61012 (two trillion), almost a factor of ten higher than would be seen in an all sky survey at Hubble Ultra-Deep Field depth. We discuss the implications for these results for galaxy evolution, as well as compare our results with the latest models of galaxy formation. These results also reveal that the cosmic background light in the optical and near-infrared likely arise from these unobserved faint galaxies. We also show how these results solve the question of why the sky at night is dark, otherwise known as Olbers paradox.

SOURCES  Arxiv, Royal Astronomical Society, University of Nottingham
The $13 billion supercarrier USS Ford and the $500 million Littoral Combat Ship are both suffering engine trouble. But Navy Secretary Ray Mabus took pains today to defend LCS even as he derided Ford as a textbook example of how not to build a ship.

The Ford is a textbook example of how not to build a ship, Ford told reporters. (We were) building it while its still being designed  which results in costly do-overs of already-finished components  (and) trying to force too much new and unproven technology on it  whose teething troubles result in unplanned delays and costs.

That was already on fire when I got in, said Mabus, who became Navy Secretary the year the Fords keel was laid. But weve stopped the cost growth. The carriers schedule is still slipping, however, with a November delivery to the fleet postponed indefinitely due to problems in the Main Turbine Generators (MTG).

Mabus measured his success in terms of numbers of ships.

From 2001 to 2008, Mabus said the US Navy fell from 316 ships to 278 and put only 41 new ships on contract. In the seven years since 2009, Mabus has contracted for 86.

Quantity has a quality all of its own, Mabus said  and you dont get quantity without a small ship cheap enough to build in bulk. In the face of two skeptical Defense Secretaries and sometimes bitter criticism from Congress, Mabuss commitment to LCS explains a lot about its survival.

On current plans, Mabus said, the Navy will reach 300 ships by 2019 and 308 by 2021. 308 is the current official requirement, but the Navys currently reassessing  and almost certainly raising  that number in light of growing Russian and Chinese threats.

SOURCES- Breaking Defense
The US military is to deploy a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) counter missile battery to the Republic of Korea (RoK) as quick as possible, the White House said on 10 October in response to an official protest. It is expected that a THAAD battery could deploy to South Korea sometime in 2017.

South Korean shipbuilder Hanjin Heavy Industries & Construction (HHIC) announced on 12 October that it signed a KRW199.1 billion (USD177.10 million) contract with the countrys Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) for three additional B variants of the Patrol Killer Experimental (PKX) fast attack craft.

The vessels, each of which can accommodate a crew of 20, will supplement an initial batch of 16 PKX-Bs currently being built for the Republic of Korea Navy. The ships are scheduled to be delivered by 2019.

The first PKX-B was launched on 28 July at HHICs shipyard in Busan.

The 210-tonne platforms have an overall length of 44 m, an overall beam of 7 m, and are lighter and faster than the previous generation of PKX-A guided-missile patrol boats that HHIC delivered in 2005.

As well as being more manoeuvrable, the new vessels will carry 76 mm artillery, long-range guided missiles and two remote-controlled 12.7 mm machine guns. Propelled by water jets, the craft has a top speed of 40 kt

SOURCES  Janes
The United Stateslaunched its first strike on Houthi-controlled territory in Yemen in retaliation for days of attacks on a navy warship, becoming an active combatant in a brutal war led by Washingtons ally Saudi Arabia.

The Pentagon announced late on Wednesday that it struck and destroyed three radar sites controlled by the Iranian-backed Houthi movement in Yemen. The sites were described as being involved in two missile attacks over the past four days on the destroyer USS Mason, operating out of the Bab al-Mandeb waterway between Yemen and east Africa.

The US has conducted lethal attacks in Yemen against al-Qaida forces throughout Obamas presidency, killing civilians as well as US nationals, Wednesdays reprisal strikes were Washingtons first against the Houthis. They raised the prospect of deeper US involvement in what many in the region and Washington see as a proxy war between Iran and Saudi Arabia.

Anthony H. Cordesman analyses the US war sitation for the Center for Strategic and International Studies

The United States is at war in varying degrees in four different countries in the Middle East and North AfricaIraq, Syria, Libya, and Yemenas well as continuing its longest war in Afghanistan. All five of these wars now involve ISIS to some degreeISIS is the central focus of the wars in Iraq, Syria, and Libyaand probably to a degree that seriously threatens the future stability of the MENA region and U.S. strategic interests.

In each case, the United States may be succeeding to the point where it is tipping the balance enough to achieve the narrow strategic goal of defeating ISIS to the point where ISIS no longer controls major cities or blocs of territory.

There is no prospect in any such war, however, that the United States will win a near term victory in either the broader strategic sense of fully defeating ISIS, or in the grand strategic sense of ending a war with a stable and desirable outcome.

Once again, the United States does not seem to be learning from its past. The real test of victory is never tactical success or even ending a war on favorable military terms, it is what comes next. World War I was a military victory that became a grand strategic disaster.

It is critical to look beyond the current U.S. obsession with ISIS and look at the broader threat. If one looks at the most recent START statistics on terrorism in the State Department annual report on terrorism, and only considers the top five threats, three are clearly Islamist extremist: ISIS (in Syria and Iraq), the Taliban, and Boko Harum. There are more than 40 Islamist extremist groups listed in the START database, but if one looks only at these top three, ISIS was responsible for only 37% of the attacks and 38% of the deaths.

Yemen is a military and civil strategic nightmare. Yemens elected (one candidate) government, the remnants of the Saleh regime, the Houthi Shiite rebels, the separatist factions in the south, Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, and various tribal factions have no clear reason to reconcile or stop fighting. Any peace is almost certain to be temporary and unstable. Worse, Yemen is so poor, so limited in water, lacking in economic development, so tied to a narco-economy, and so highly populated that it has no clear path towards nation building its various factions can agree upon.

The issue is simplest in Libya. Libya has cooperated to some degree in fighting ISIS. Libya will need a decade of rebuilding and reform to produce true stability and raise its per capita income and income distribution to acceptable levels. This requires both stable internal politics and leadership, and serious international aid.

The fight against ISIS in Iraq has to some extent led both Arab and Kurd to focus on ISIS instead of their own ethnic power struggles, and led Turkey to accept the fact that the United States is using both the Syrian and Iraqi Kurds as lead elements in its fight against ISIS. Any defeat of ISIS in Iraq will also will trigger greater Sunni demands for a better solution to ensuring the protection and status of Iraqi Sunnis in Iraqs major cities and mixed areas, and for resolving the future federal status of the Sunni-dominated portions of Western Iraq.

The end result could well be a U.S.-led military victory over ISIS that adds up to a serious U.S. strategic defeat. Without some effective civil-military effort to bring unity and recovery, the best outcome could be a hopelessly unstable mess. If the Obama Administration has such plans or such a strategy, it is one of the few well-kept secrets in Washington. Its absence, however, is a good way to leave office and ensure the next President gets most of the blame.

Syria is also an obvious mess with many factions, poverty and long term instability.

BBC and Critical Threats summarize the Yemen Situation

BBC News reports, Yemen is in the grip of its most severe crisis in years, as competing forces fight for control of the country.

Who is fighting whom?

In recent months Yemen has descended into conflicts between several different groups, pushing the country to the edge of civil war, according to the UNs special adviser.

The main fight is between forces loyal to the beleaguered President, Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi, and those allied to Zaidi Shia rebels known as Houthis, who forced Mr Hadi to flee the capital Sanaa in February.

Yemens security forces have split loyalties, with some units backing Mr Hadi, and others the Houthis and Mr Hadis predecessor Ali Abdullah Saleh, who has remained politically influential. Mr Hadi is also supported in the predominantly Sunni south of the country by militia known as Popular Resistance Committees and local tribesmen.

Both President Hadi and the Houthis are opposed by al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), which has staged numerous deadly attacks from its strongholds in the south and south-east.

The picture is further complicated by the emergence in late 2014 of a Yemen affiliate of the jihadist group Islamic State, which seeks to eclipse AQAP and claims it carried out a series of suicide bombings in Sanaa in March 2015.

After rebel forces closed in on the presidents southern stronghold of Aden in late March, a coalition led by Saudi Arabia responded to a request by Mr Hadi to intervene and launched air strikes on Houthi targets. The coalition comprises five Gulf Arab states and Jordan, Egypt, Morocco and Sudan.

What happens in Yemen can greatly exacerbate regional tensions. It also worries the West because of the threat of attacks emanating from the country as it becomes more unstable.

Western intelligence agencies consider AQAP the most dangerous branch of al-Qaeda because of its technical expertise and global reach. The US has been carrying out operations, including drone strikes, against AQAP in Yemen with President Hadis co-operation, but the Houthis advance has meant the US campaign has been scaled back.

Yemen is strategically important because it sits on the Bab al-Mandab strait, a narrow waterway linking the Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden, through which much of the worlds oil shipments pass. Egypt and Saudi Arabia fear a Houthi takeover would threaten free passage through the strait.

Critical Threats.org has a Yemen situation report

Hostilities are escalating in Yemen after Saudi-led coalition airstrikes killed civilians in Sanaa, which scuttled a planned humanitarian ceasefire and provoked a response from al Houthi-Saleh forces. Coalition airstrikes killed approximately 155 civilians and wounded more than 500 others at the funeral for an al Houthi-Saleh military commander on October 8. Al Houthi-Saleh forces fired ballistic missiles toward Taif city, Saudi Arabia and Marib governorate, Yemen in retaliation. Al Houthi-Saleh forces may have also fired two missiles toward a U.S. Navy destroyer north of the Bab al Mandab Strait on October 9, six days after an al Houthi-Saleh missile struck an Emirati ship in the same region

Al Qaeda is exploiting the current counterterrorism focus on the Islamic State of Iraq and al Sham (ISIS) to build up a resilient Salafi-jihadi base in Libya. Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) emir Abdelmalek Droukdel gave an audio speech, titled Benghazi and the Battle of Patience, in which he frames jihad as the alternative to foreign invasion and destruction in Benghazi. AQIM, along with al Qaeda-linked groups currently operating in Libya, seeks to exploit conflict between secular forces and Islamist militants in Benghazi to position itself as a defender of the Libyan people and establish strong relationships with local armed groups. International attention remains focused on the U.S.-backed counter-ISIS campaign in Sirte.

SOURCES- CSIS, BBC News, Critical Threats, The Guardian UK
Governor Kashim Shettima of Borno State on Thursday hailed the release of the 21 Chibok schoolgirls by the Boko Haram Insurgents.

Governor Kashim Shettima of Borno State on Thursday hailed the release of the 21 Chibok schoolgirls by the Boko Haram Insurgents.Shettima said in a statement in Maiduguri that the release had proved President Muhammadu Buharis sincerity in ending the Boko Haram insurgency.The statement was signed by the governors Special Adviser on Communication, Malam Isa Gusau, in Maiduguri.If any Nigerian had doubts about the sincerity and commitment of President Muhammadu Buhari to the rescue of our precious daughters abducted by the Boko Haram insurgents at Government Secondary School, Chibok, on April 14, 2014,such doubts should be eliminated by the success of the negotiation that led to the release of 21 Chibok schoolgirls.As people of Borno State, troubled by the deaths and destructions of Boko Haram insurgency, one of our major sources of strength since May 29, 2015, has been the undiluted sincerity we saw in President Muhammadu Buhari based on his administrations absolutely genuine commitment toward recovering our schoolgirls.And thousands of other women and children held in captivity as well as ending the insurgency in order to secure the lives of our citizens and make way for reconstruction, resettlement and other development programmes and projects.We had faith in Buhari from the very day he took off as President, the governor said.Shettima said the steps Buhari kept taking in dealing with the insurgency had continuously proved his sincerity.
Pentagon vows to respond to attempted missile attacks at US destroyer near Yemen

2016-10-13 10:45

WASHINGTON -- The Pentagon said on Wednesday the United States would respond "at the appropriate time and in the appropriate manner" to repeated missile attacks on a US destroyer off the Yemeni coast.

According to Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook, USS Mason on Wednesday was fired on with at least one missile off the Red Sea coast of Yemen.

"The ship employed defensive countermeasures and the missile did not reach USS Mason," said Cook in a statement. "There was no damage to the ship or its crew."

It was the second time in four days that USS Mason was targeted around that areas, and in his brief statement on Wednesday, Cook said the missile detected by US military on Wednesday "originated from Houthi-controlled territory near Al Hudaydah, Yemen."
About 77 Shite members were on Thursday arraigned before a Chief Magistrate court in Kano when pandemonium broke out on Wednesday in th...

About 77 Shite members were on Thursday arraigned before a Chief Magistrate court in Kano when pandemonium broke out on Wednesday in the ancient city of Kano, following a clash between the Shite members and some irate youths.While 26 members of the sect were arraigned before Magistrate courts 18, 20 and 28 respectively for the hearing of their offences.They were charged for criminal conspiracy and conduct, likely to cause a breach of the peace, as well as illegal assembly.However, the presiding judge of the Magistrate court, Mohammed Idris, granted all the suspects bail on the condition of providing a surety each and adjourned the case.It would be recalled that pandemonium broke out in the ancient city of Kano on Wednesday when hundreds of youth attacked El-Zakyzaky (Shiite) members, during their procession along the streets in observance of the Ashoura,marking the 10th day of Muharram, which coincided with the first month of the Islamic calendar by all Muslims worldwide.The prompt intervention of the police averted what could have snowballed to a bloody clash between the angry youths and the Shiite members.According to findings, the youths were reported to be residents of the area of Gwammaja Quarters.Also, it was gathered that trouble started when the Shiite members in their thousands allegedly blockaded major roads during their procession, despite the ongoing ban by the police.An eyes witness accont, Muhammed Audu, said, as early as 7:30am, the Shiite members came from neighbouring states and converged at the popular Abattoir, located at the centre of the metropolis.Furthermore, it was also disclosed that as the Shiite members were preparing to proceed to their designated Fagge mosque, adjacent to Fagge Police Station and the Local Government Secretariat, where they usually observe the Ashoura, confrontation erupted between them and the angry youths.Similarly, Audu disclosed that the residents began to hurl missiles on them to register their displeasure over the conduct of the Shiite procession.It was further gathered that the Shiite members provoked the residents, following the blockage of their business premises, apparently preventing them from carrying out their legitimate daily transactions.
Former Vice President, Abubakar Atiku has described the release of the 21 Chibok girls a beacon of hope.

https://t.co/xg57gYADaK I am incredibly happy at this news. A lesson, hope always wins. Prayers for the release of the remaining #ChibokGirls October 13, 2016

Former Vice President, Abubakar Atiku has described the release of the 21 Chibok girls a beacon of hope.Atiku on his social media account said: I am incredibly happy at this news. A lesson, hope always wins. Prayers for the release of the remaining .The presidency has said that the names of the released girls would be release to the public soon.President Buhari shortly before taking off to Germany for his official visit welcome the release of the girls but cautioned Nigerians to be mindful of the fact that more than 30,000 fellow citizens were killed through terrorism.
President Muhammadu Buhari on Thursday departed the Nnmadi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, for Berlin, Germany, on an official vis...

President Muhammadu Buhari on Thursday departed the Nnmadi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, for Berlin, Germany, on an official visit from Oct. 13 to 15.The president, before his departure, was briefed on the release of the 21 abducted Chibok schoolgirls by the Director-General, Department of Security Services (DSS), Alhaji Lawal Daura.The president, while expressing delight on the development, assured that negotiation would continue until the remaining girls and other Nigerians abducted by the insurgents were released.The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that while in Berlin, Buhari would confer with Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany on issues of interests between the two nations.A statement earlier issued by Buharis Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Mr Femi Adesina, said the president would discuss issues of further security cooperation with Merkel.The president, Adesina said, would also discuss issues on humanitarian situation of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in Nigeria with Merkel.He said Buhari would discuss issues on the rehabilitation of the North-East as well as on trade and economic relations between both countries.NAN reports the president, who is being accompanied by Governors Kashim Shettima of Borno, Rochas Okorocha of Imo and representatives of the National Assembly, will meet with President Joachim Gauck.He is expected back to the country on Saturday.
Doctors are to test the just released 21 Chibok girls for any sexually transmitted diseases such as HIV/AIDS, a security source told our...

Doctors are to test the just released 21 Chibok girls for any sexually transmitted diseases such as HIV/AIDS, a security source told our correspondent in Abuja on Thursday.He said that the girls, who were camped at the national headquarters of the Department of State Services, were being held in order to ascertain their state of health before being released to their families.Apart from this, he said that doctors and psychologists and other health providers would also examine the girls.Journalists who visited the DSS headquarters, was told that there was a directive from above not to allow journalists have access to the girls.He said the vice-president would give directive on whether their pictures should be taken or not.Even at that, he added, this would only be done after the parents of the girls have been contacted.The source said, These girls were taken away for more than two years now. They had lived with the criminals who thrive in drugs and all sorts of other things that are peculiar to criminals.While we are happy that they are now free and with us, we also have to be guided on how we deal with them.These are innocent girls who didnt prepare for what happened to them. We will guide them, check them and also find out their state of health.It was however not clear if any of the girls has had a baby while in captivity.
Donald Trump cast the US presidential race in stark personal terms Wednesday, telling voters that if he loses against Hillary Clinton it...

Donald Trump cast the US presidential race in stark personal terms Wednesday, telling voters that if he loses against Hillary Clinton it will be the single greatest waste of his time and money.The provocative billionaire, in a disjointed speech in Ocala, Florida with just 27 days before the election, reminded supporters that he will have spent some $100 million of his own fortune on his campaign.If I dont win on November 8th, I will consider this the single greatest waste of time, of energy and money, the Republican nominee told the crowd.Well not be able to reduce your taxes, or save your Second Amendment and appoint Supreme Court justices, and take care of your vets and fix up your very depleted military, he said.Trump trails his Democratic opponent Clinton in national polls, and his campaign is limping after last weeks release of a 2005 tape in which he is caught bragging about groping women.He has since apologized for the comments, saying they were just locker-room banter.Several fellow Republicans have abandoned him, and the nations top elected Republican is refusing to defend or campaign with Trump.In Florida, Trump bashed Clinton as a criminal who has skirted punishment for her use of private email while secretary of state, which he said put Americas national security at risk.Other peoples lives have been ruined, destroyed for doing a tiny fraction of what Clinton has done.I am ashamed of what has happened to our country and so are you, he said.With the race boiling down to three final weeks and Clinton in the drivers seat, Trump appeared to be savaging his rival to keep her supporters or undecided voters away from the polls on Election Day.She pledged to dissolve the borders of the United States of America, Trump fumed, referring to a hacked email, allegedly to a Clinton aide, that included quotes from her closed-door speeches to Wall Street banks and other corporations.Clinton apparently told a Brazilian bank in 2013: My dream is a hemispheric common market, with open trade and open borders, sometime in the future with energy thats as green and sustainable as we can get it.The Democratic nominee was in Colorado on Wednesday, where her communications director criticized Trumps scorched-earth policy aimed at driving down Democratic turnout.Obviously Hillary Clinton is very concerned about how divisive this race has been, and all that Donald Trump has done to try to divide Americans, Jennifer Palmieri told reporters.We feel energy is growing on the Democratic side, she said, citing growing Democratic voter registration in some key swing states.
The Senate on Wednesday began moves to legalise lobbying in Nigeria as it passed for second reading, a Bill seeking for law to register an...

The Senate on Wednesday began moves to legalise lobbying in Nigeria as it passed for second reading, a Bill seeking for law to register and regulate lobbying as a profession.The Bill for an Act for the Regulation and Registration of Lobbyists in Nigeria and for other matters connected therewith, 2016 is sponsored by Dino Melaye, (APC, Kogi West).While presenting his lead debate, Melaye argued that the National Assembly needed to recognise and approve professional lobbyists in the legislature.He added that the Bill would also make provision for intending lobbyist to be duly registered under the Company and Allied and Matters Act.Melaye said that the lobbyist after being registered with Corporate Affairs Commission, CAC, would also have to register with the Ministry of Justice to practice as lobbyist in the Senate or House of Representatives.He defined lobbying as an activity in which special interests hire well-connected professional advocates, often lawyers, to argue for specific legislation in parliament.He said that although the bill looked controversial and perceived as negative, lobbying took place at every level of government.The bill will create stricter registration requirement for lobbyists and also require lobbyists to disclose how much they make and spend on lobbying.It will ban lobbyist from paying for gifts and food as a means of inducement and it would give oversight agencies more powers to investigate violation of ethics laws, he said.The lawmaker added that the Bill will also offer the legislator opportunity to be more informed about a bill before it comes for reading.According to him, the lobbyists will be readily available to inform the legislators of the idea behind the Bill being pushed.Many senators, including Ben Bruce, Godswill Akpabio, and Mohammed Ali Ndume, who spoke, supported the Bill.They argued that when passed, the Bill would help legislators to sponsor individual bills.The senate referred the Bill to its Committee on Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal Matters, with a directive to report back in three weeks.NAN
Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo has said that only one of the 21 released Chibok girls has a baby.

On Thursday evening, Osinbajo led some top government officials to visit the girls at the DSS Medical Centre, Airport Road, Abuja, where they are currently receiving medical attention.Osinbajo, who was accompanied by the Director-General of the DSS, Mr. Lawal Daura; Minister of Information and Culture, Mr. Lai Mohammed; Minister of Women Affairs, Senator Aisha Alhassan; Minister of State, Budget and National Planning, Zaynab Ahmed; and the Special Adviser to the President on Social Protection Plan, Mrs. Maryam Uwais, later briefed State House correspondents at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.The Vice-President disclosed to journalists that the Federal Government did not swap any Boko Haram detainee for the release of the girls.There was no exchange of any kind. There was no swap of any kind. Even when we started negotiations, we said we would consider all options available to us. Absolutely, there was no exchange of any kind, he said.When asked if the government would consider a swap for the release of the remaining girls still in captivity, Osinbajo said the government would look at all options and weigh them carefully.In doing so, however, the security and safety of the country would be considered, he said.He said the government would rather use the same template that was used for the release of the 21 girls to secure the release of the remaining ones.Osinbajo said, We must be sensitive to the fact that the government wants these girls back and alive. Again, we must balance this against the security and safety of the country.In the process of negotiation, we will look at all options and we will weigh the options carefully and decide what to do.But what has happened and the process we have begun is one which has not involved any type of swap of Boko Haram commanders or any militant in any way.That is a very good turn of event. We believe that in the next few days and months, we will be bringing in more of these girls using exactly the same kind of negotiation and the same template that we used.Osinbajo also explained that the International Red Cross did not take part in the negotiations but was involved in the process of bringing the girls back because the government needed the organisations medical expertise.The Swiss government worked with us in the process of negotiation, but the Red Cross is not involved in the negotiation.But in taking the girls back, of course, we worked with the Red Cross because we were unable to take our own medical team.The Red Cross was not involved at all in the process of negotiation. It was the Swiss government, our own officials such as the DSS, intelligence and the military, he said.The vice-president also said only one of the 21 released girls had a baby.He said the girls were in good health, considering the circumstances in which they lived in captivity.He said they would continue to receive medical attention while their parents would join them on Friday.Osinbajo said, About an hour ago, I met with the 21 Chibok girls who have been brought back and they are in good health, considering the circumstances they have been held in and they are now being well taken care of in a medical facility.They will be staying there for sometime until we are satisfied about their health. Their parents will be coming to join them, hopefully by tomorrow (Friday).There will be therapy, there will be counselling. Of course, we can imagine what they have gone through. So, we expect that a lot of psychological therapy and so much needs to be done to get them back.Earlier at the DSS Medical Centre, the DSS boss did a roll call of the released girls before the Vice-President.He thereafter presented the list to Osinbajo as part of the handing over of the girls.
The Federal Government has said that the release of the 21 Chibok school girls was never based on swap but on confidence building.

The Federal Government has said that the release of the 21 Chibok school girls was never based on swap but on confidence building.The minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed disclosed this in Abuja at a world press conference held on the latest development on the abducted Chibok Girls.Contrary to earlier report that the girls were released on swap basis he said the release was secured based on a very delicate negotiation and confidence built over time.We can confirm that 21 of the girls were released, safely to us by 5.30 this Thursday morning and they were flown to Kaduna from the location of their release.This is the most glaring manifestation to date of the unwavering commitment of Mr. President to secure the safe release of the girls and reunite them with their families.It is also a result of the round-the-clock efforts by the administration to put a closure to the sad issue of the kidnap of the girls. We expect the released girls to land in Abuja shortly.Ahead of their arrival, he said that Federal Government had assembled a team of medical doctors, psychologists, social workers, trauma experts, etc to properly examine the girls, especially because they have been in captivity for so long.He also disclosed that government will adequately debrief the girls and had started contacting their parents as part of the necessary verification exercise, adding that government will release the names to the public as soon as the verification is concluded,
The presidency on Thursday confirmed the release of 21 Chibok girls hitherto in the custody of their abductors, Boko Haram.





The presidency on Thursday confirmed the release of 21 Chibok girls hitherto in the custody of their abductors, Boko Haram.The girls were among the 219 students stolen from their dormitory bed in Chibok community, Borno State on April 14, 2014.In a statement, the senior special assistant to the president on media and publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu confirmed the release of the 21 girls as he stated that the head of Department of State Services, DSS, Mallam Lawal Daura had briefed the president.Shehu said that the girls who are currently in the custody of the DSS would soon be received by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo.It is confirmed that 21 of the missing Chibok Girls have been released and are in the custody of the Department of State Services, DSS. Th Director-General, Malam Lawal Daura just finished briefing the President Muhammadu Buhari.The release of the girls, in a limited number is the outcome of negotiations between the administration and the Boko Haram brokered by the International Red Cross and the Swiss government.The negotiations will continue. The President welcomes the release of the girls but cautioned Nigerians to be mindful of the fact that more than 30,000 fellow citizens were killed via terrorism.Malam Daura wants the girls to have some rest, with all of them very tired coming out of the process before he hands them over to the Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo.The President takes off shortly on a trip to Germany for a state visit. The names of the released girls follow shortly, Shehu said.
Central China to host cultural festival

From:chinadaily.com.cn | 2016-10-13 10:46

The 2016 Jishou Drum Cultural Festival will kick off in Central China's Hunan province on Oct 15. [Photo provided to China Daily]

The 2016 Jishou Drum Cultural Festival will kick off in Central China's Hunan province on Oct 15.

Running through the month, the festival will hold performances in traditional costumes by members of the Miao ethnic group, put up stalls of spicy Hunan cuisine and host activities such as hiking and camping in Jishou city and surrounding areas.

"The annual festival has boosted ecotourism in Jishou. The Miao people's drum dance, for example, is an intangible heritage and draws many tourists," the city's Party chief Liu Zhenyu said in a recent news conference in Beijing.

The 2016 Jishou Drum Cultural Festival will kick off in Central China's Hunan province on Oct 15. [Photo provided to China Daily]

In 2015, tourists made nearly 9.9 million visits to the city, with a revenue of 7.31 billion yuan ($ 1.09 billion). This year, such visits touched nearly 7.8 million until August, increased by about 16.6 percent compared with the same period in previous years.

The city government and the Chinese company Showland Group have decided to together develop the scenic area of Aizhai over the next decade as a destination for sightseeing and leisure at an investment of 3 billion yuan. Aizhai is known for its natural resources and picturesque scenery such as waterfalls and an iconic bridge.

Related:

Tourism commodities fair in Beijing

Pics of visitors touring Macao
Enough probable cause exists for a citizen's official misconduct complaint against Gov. Chris Christie to move forward in connection with the governor's alleged failure to stop politically-motivated lane closures at the George Washington Bridge in 2013, a judge in Bergen County ruled Thursday.

The complaint by Bill Brennan, a retired Teaneck firefighter and citizen activist, alleges that Christie knew of the closures while they were happening and should have halted them. He alleges that the governor's inaction constitutes second-degree official misconduct, a charge punishable by five to 10 years in prison.

The lane closures caused significant traffic problems over a four-day span in Fort Lee and sparked a 16-month investigation that resulted in charges against two former members of Christie's inner circle, who are currently on trial in federal court in Newark. The trial is in its third week.

"I'm satisfied that there's probable cause to believe that an event of official misconduct was caused by Gov. Christie," Municipal Presiding Judge Roy McGeady said. "I'm going to issue the summons."

Judge Roy McGeady questions William Brennan during a probable cause hearingon Oct. 13, 2016. McGeady ruled that a complaint by Brennan charging Gov. Chris Christie with official misconduct could move forward.

The governor's office vowed to "immediately appeal" the ruling. Christie's first appearance was scheduled for 9 a.m. on Oct. 24.

"This is a dishonorable complaint filed by a known serial complainant and political activist with a history of abusing the judicial system," Christie spokesman Brian Murray said. "The simple fact is the governor had no knowledge of the lane realignments either before they happened or while they were happening. This matter has already been thoroughly investigated by three separate independent investigations."

Brennan said he based the complaint on testimony from David Wildstein, a Christie appointee at the Port Authority who pleaded guilty to his role in the scandal. Wildstein is the government's key witness in its conspiracy and fraud case against William Baroni, who served as deputy executive director of the Port Authority, and Bridget Anne Kelly, who was the governor's deputy chief of staff.

Though Christie was never charged in connection with the lane closures, the scandal is seen as contributing to his failed bid for the Republican nomination for President.

Wildstein has said in his testimony that he discussed the plot with multiple members of Christie's senior staff before and during the lane closures, which he said was political retribution against Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich for not endorsing the governor in his reelection campaign.

Wildstein also testified that Christie was told about the gridlock at a 9/11 memorial service, as the lanes remained closed in Fort Lee. Brennan says Christie had a legal obligation to stop the lane closures at that point.

McGeady asked Brennan why he filed in Bergen County, not Mercer County, where the governor's office is located. Brennan said that it was because the lane closures took place in Fort Lee, which McGeady said was a satisfactory answer.

"It's been dumped in this court's lap so this court is going to deal with it," McGeady said.

Craig Carpenito, an attorney at the law firm Alston & Bird who appeared on behalf of the governor, told McGeady that Brennan's claim was "intentionally misleading" and that the governor's knowledge of the lane closures had already been thoroughly investigated.

The audience in McGeady's courtroom, mostly there for minor criminal violations, applauded after he ruled.



"Anything short of probable cause today would have been official misconduct on the part of the judge," said Brennan, a graduate of the Seton Hall University School of Law. "The standard is low, the evidence is heavy."

McGeady said the case would now go to the Bergen County Prosecutor's Office, which would decide whether to bring an indictment against Christie. The prosecutor, Gurbir S. Grewal, a Christie appointee, would likely recuse himself, McGeady said.

The Bergen County Prosecutor's Office declined to comment.

In New Jersey's criminal code, a charge of official misconduct pertains mostly to public officials.



"You're someone who either exercised their official function, knowing that it's unauthorized," explained James Pomaco, a former prosecutor in Passaic County who's now a criminal defense attorney. "Or you're someone who knowingly 'refrained from performing a duty which is imposed upon him by law or is clearly inherent in the nature of his office'."

Pomaco said that "from a prima facie standpoint, there's enough for a charge" of official misconduct based on Wildstein's testimony that Christie was informed of the lane closures as they were occurring on Sept. 11, 2013.



At the start of the Bridgegate scandal, some experts argued that state was better suited to prosecute the case overall because violations of state law were more apparent.



Assemblyman John Wisniewski (D-Middlesex), who along with state Sen. Loretta Weinberg (D-Bergen), co-chaired the legislative committee that looked into Bridgegate, said "it was a very interesting development, certainly not something that I expected today."



"It is a black eye for the state of New Jersey to have a judge find probable cause that the governor's actions were malfeasance in office," Wisniewski said. "Look, the testimony of David Wildstein corroborated a lot of the suspicions that the committee had during our process, that lot of people have statewide. It remains to be seen exactly what happens now that a finding of probable cause has been reached, because we know that the prosecutor has a discretion to act on that. We don't know exactly what they'll do."



Weinberg said the Bridgegate panel may have to reconvene.

"I believe that there are people who came before the joint committee under oath and were not exactly forthcoming, which is the kindest way I can describe. There were texts apparently that they never told us about, there were meetings that they never offered," she said.

Brennan unsuccessfully sued the Bergen County Prosecutor's Office in 2014 in an effort to reveal the names of bidders at an auction for baseball memorabilia seized in a drug arrest. He has filed numerous suits against public officials in Bergen County over the years.

Staff Writers Craig McCarthy, Claude Brodesser-Akner and Samantha Marcus contributed to this story.

Myles Ma may be reached at mma@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @MylesMaNJ. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
Renowned scallion pancakes set to reappear soon

From:Shanghai Daily | 2016-10-12 14:55

THE popular Ada Scallion Pancake store is to reopen soon.



After being suspended for two weeks due to the lack of a license, a local online food-delivery company yesterday offered to sponsor Wu Gencun, the owner, in finding and setting up a licensed store.

Wu has reached an agreement with the firm to reopen near his original store on Maoming Road S., the market supervision and management bureau of Huangpu District said.

I will keep making the scallion pancake personally with traditional skills to ensure the flavor as well as the food safety, Wu said. The 59-year-old owner said his pancake price would remain at 5 yuan (74 US cents) each.

The food delivery company, Ele.me, has begun looking for suitable store for Wu and will subsidize him while he applies for a license and gets his new business off the ground.

The traditional scallion pancake store was suspended last month by the bureau because Wu did not have a license for the business he had opened in the backyard of his home.

Wu has made his renowned pancake for the past three decades and he has attracted many expatriate customers as well as foreign tourists after the BBC interviewed him for a documentary Taste of Shanghai.

The suspension sparked widespread debate on the Internet with many people imploring Wu to reopen, though others supported the governments efforts to shut down an illegal catering business.

The bureau has been helping Wu to find a solution to enable him to reopen legally, said an official with the bureau.
Planes drama at Hongqiao investigated

From:Shanghai Daily | 2016-10-12 14:51

CHINAS civil aviation regulator is investigating an incident whereby a China Eastern Airlines passenger aircraft nearly bumped into another plane during takeoff at Hongqiao airport yesterday.



The Airbus 320 Flight MU5643 to Tianjin was taking off around noon when an Airbus 330, also owned by China Eastern, began taxiing across the runway, according to the air traffic control tower at the airport.

The A320 pilot opted to continue taking off as the speed of his aircraft had reached more than 230 kilometers per hour. The A320 safely flew over the A330, an official with the tower said.

The East China Administration of Civil Aviation Administration of China has begun examining the cockpit voice recorder and flying data of both aircraft as well as talking with the pilots and the air traffic controller, the administration said.

The A320 pilot made the right decision, a civil aviation expert told Shanghai Daily.
Jerman Neveaux to be Jefferson Parish's 5th death penalty case since 2004; here are the others
WASHINGTON (AP)  The House Jan. 6 committee plans to unveil "surprising" details at its next public hearing about the 2021 attack at the U.S. Capitol. The session Thursday afternoon is likely to be the last public hearing before midterm elections next month. The panel is expected to include new evidence from the U.S. Secret Service about its actions with Donald Trump that day. Ahead of a report later this year, the panel is summing up its findings. The committee says Trump, after he lost the 2020 presidential election, launched an unprecedented attempt to stop Congress from certifying Joe Biden's victory. They say the result was the deadly mob siege of the Capitol.
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.
Viki Scherer of Decatur, Illinois, is the featured speaker at the North Platte Christian Womens Clubs Monday and Tuesday. Scherer will present You Can Plan For The Future, But You Cant Predict It.

Scherer will share her journey of faith and her late husbands battle with ALS. In 2009, she was named a National Caregiver by the ALS Association. Scherer is an author, speaker and teacher with a Bachelor of Arts degree in journalism and communications. She has worked as a newspaper reporter and substitute teacher. She will be selling her book, Where There Is Faith, He Is With You. The special feature she will share at both meetings is a PowerPoint titled A Trip To Israel.

After 5 group

The After 5 Ladies will meet at 7 p.m. on Monday at the Parkview Community Church, 1802 N. Jeffers. Cost is $7, which includes a full meal.

Reservations are required by Friday and can be made by calling Kathy at 308-530-4655 or emailing her at govegang25@gmail.com, or Donna at 308-532-5252. Cancellations are essential and should be phoned to Kathy by 10 a.m. on Monday.

Tuesday Brunch

The Tuesday Brunch ladies will meet at 9:15 a.m. on Tuesday at the First Christian Church, 220 N. Vine St. Use the back door. Cost is $5, which includes brunch. Special music is by P. J. Burge and Amber Hareia.

Reservations are required and can be made by calling Konnie at 308-532-4268 or Darlene at 308-532-2971 no later than Sunday. Cancellations are needed by 9 a.m. on Monday to Darlene or Konnie.
Elmsaeuser, Erdman knocking on roughly 4,000 doors, taking campaigns to people

By Election Day, many voters in Nebraskas second-largest legislative district will be able to say they have met the two candidates on the ballot.

Karl Elmshaeuser of Ogallala and Steve Erdman of Bayard have been knocking on the roughly 4,000 front doors across sprawling District 47 and taking their campaigns to the people. The district, the states second-largest geographically, includes all or parts of 10 counties and borders on South Dakota, Wyoming and Colorado. It includes much of the Nebraska Panhandle.

Both candidates say voters want to see, hear and size up the people who would represent them in Lincoln.

Elmshaeuser recently talked with members of a camping club from Lodgepole at Lake Ogallala. We meet them wherever they are, he said.

Erdman went to 500 of the 990 houses in Ogallala over three days.

I could have done more, but people want to share their concerns. I get that, he said.

Elmshaeuser and Erdman emerged from last springs four-candidate primary election to replace State Sen. Ken Schilz of Ogallala. Schilz is prevented by term limits from seeking re-election. Both candidates, like Schilz, are Republicans. The Legislature is officially nonpartisan.

The candidates share similar platforms. Greater property tax relief. Reform the states formula for funding education. Cut state spending and streamline government. Slam the door on government overreach.

Elmshaeuser said he would bring an unequaled variety of community and economic development experience to the job.

I care about how legislation affects the people, communities and businesses that I serve everyday, he said.

Elmshaeuser (pronounced Elms-hoy-zer) grew up in Lincoln but spent summers helping his grandparents harvest wheat on their Ogallala-area farm. After spending six years as a Marine Corps explosive ordnance disposal technician and working for several defense contractors, he moved with his wife to the farm in 1994 and raised four sons. He created and operated an aviation company in Ogallala. He now leads an organization assisting 18 counties and 58 communities with state and federal grant programs for public infrastructure and economic development.

Its a great environment and a lot of history, he said of the family farm. The new addition on the house was built in 1912.

Elmshaeuser said voters often are taken aback when, after initially meeting him, he asks, Whats the one thing I can do for you?

Theyre used to being told what theyll get, he said.

Elmshaeuser said the question helps people and organizations focus on the issues and ensures that he is working on what is important.

He said states school-aid formula is directly correlated to local property tax burdens. Fixing the formula would make funding more predictable for schools to educate children. It would not be a quick fix, he said, but would probably require four or six years to resolve.

What I learned in the Marines and everywhere else is to collect information, make informed decisions, and be open to other ideas and possibilities, he said. Im persistent.

Erdman said his background serving on school boards and as a county commissioner provides the best experience for bringing common-sense solutions to the statehouse. He said lawmakers too often apply one-size-fits-all regulations that dont work in western Nebraska.

They think Nebraska ends at North Platte, he said. The first thing I think should be done is stop using the rainy-day fund to balance the budget. Id call for 3 percent or 4 percent cuts in every state agency that spends our tax dollars to get us back in line. Then Id call for an audit of those agencies to see if the services were offering are done in the most efficient and most economical way.

Its possible, he said, that some services could be done better outside of state government. The Morrill County Board, for example, has put the public defender and weed superintendent jobs out to bid and saved hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars, he said.

We have a spending problem, Erdman said. If you cut spending, you can lower taxes.

Erdman has proposed a funding formula for education that is based on income taxes, sales taxes and property taxes in equal thirds. He said unfair and unfunded mandates handed down to local governments must stop. He said real estate taxes are strangling the vitality and economic livelihoods from families.

Erdman is a lifelong resident of Morrill County. He started farming on his own in 1972 and has served on a number of school, extension, county government and agriculture boards and committees. He and his wife have three children, including Phil Erdman, who was state senator in District 47 from 2001 to 2009.

Steve Erdman touted his ability to work with others who might have different opinions. He said the district should be represented by someone with an agricultural background because its the districts and states leading industry.

Both candidates support a ballot issue to overturn the Legislatures repeal of the death penalty. They also oppose the 6-cent-per-gallon gas tax to fund roads projects, which passed in 2015 over Gov. Pete Ricketts veto.
A heartfelt thanks to the community of North Platte for its tremendous support of the North Platte Catholic Schools. We are truly blessed to serve students and families in North Platte, and we are humbled by the support we receive from individuals and businesses in this community. A few examples we would like to highlight:

 On Oct. 6-7, Modern Tire/Mobil 1 Lube Express hosted a two-day oil change fundraising event to benefit local schools. Owners Gary and Judy Jones have hosted this fundraiser since 2010. Through this single event, the Joneses and their business have donated more than $18,000 to the North Platte Catholic Schools. (That total does not include their donations to the North Platte Public Schools through the event.)

 Also on Oct. 7, the North Platte Catholic Schools dedicated and blessed newly renovated facilities at St. Pats High School and a new fitness and transportation building. These projects were made possible largely due to support from local individuals and businesses, and the Catholic schools were proud to complete all work on these projects with local contractors and companies.

 The annual G.R.E.E.N. fundraiser for the Catholic schools was Oct. 8. This event will net nearly $100,000 due to support from local businesses and individuals. Residents of our community gifted cash, auction items and sponsorships, and volunteered their time to make the event a success. Special donations were requested at G.R.E.E.N. for the purchase of a new security system for McDaid Elementary and for the purchase of a new school vehicle. A local car dealership added a $5,000 challenge gift to the project, and a new vehicle was purchased this week at that local dealership. The new security system will also be purchased locally.

The North Platte Catholic Schools are proud and honored to partner with the community of North Platte.

Wendy Dodson

North Platte Catholic Schools Endowment-Trust, Inc.
Chase Bank, the largest bank in the United States by assets, will no longer operate its ATMs in more than 30 Walgreens pharmacies in Northwest Indiana.

The New York City-based bank sold 2,586 off-premise ATMs to Cardtronics, mostly in Walgreens, Duane Reade, and ampm stores. Houston-based Cardtronics is the largest non-bank operator of ATMs, and it typically charges fees.

Chase first launched ATMs in Walgreens to expand coverage when it only had 7,000 ATMs 10 years ago, but now it has more than 18,000 ATMs nationwide, Chase spokeswoman Christine Holevas said.

Now Chase has 1,913 ATMs in Chicagoland and Northwest Indiana. It's selling off 442 at Walgreens in the Chicago area, including Northwest Indiana, largely because of declining use at a time where fewer cash transactions are taking place.

"We are simplifying our business and found that our customers were using these ATMs less frequently, possibly because they want more from the ATM than just dispensing cash," Holevas said. "Our customers can find a Chase ATM  usually one that takes deposits  within five minutes of most of the ATMs we are selling."

The bank will have about 1,471 ATMs in the Chicago area after the change over occurs early next year.

"As this rolls out, the ATMs we are selling will remain Chase-branded and free for customers until the branding changes," she said.

Chase is the U.S. consumer and commercial banking business of JPMorgan Chase & Co. which has $2.4 trillion in assets and operations worldwide. For the second quarter JPMorgan Chase reported $24.4 billion in revenue. Average core loans were up 16 percent year over year.
Whole Foods Market is expanding its Brewhouse 41 Tap & Grill in Schererville.

The Texas-based supermarket chain, known for its organic produce, grass-fed meat and sustainably harvested seafood, is adding an outdoor patio with 20 more seats, a television and overheard heaters. The Schererville Whole Foods announced on its Facebook page that the project is expected to be completed by the end of the month.

The craft beer bar at 199 B U.S. 41 is attached to but has a separate entrance from the 40,000-square-foot Whole Foods supermarket that opened in September 2015. The upscale organic grocery recently celebrated its first anniversary with a festival that include live music and craft beer.

Its doing pretty well, Town Manager Robert Volkman said. I go over there. Its always busy during lunchtime. A lot of people seem to be taking advantage of it. Theyre in the dining room and sitting out front.

The pub features craft beers on draft from Midwestern breweries like Three Floyds, Bells Upland, Founders, New Oberpfalz, 18th Street and Quaff On. It also serves a menu of bar food, such as burgers.

Whole Foods already had outdoor seating in front of the Schererville store in the Shops on Main shopping center, but people cant bring alcohol outside unless theres a separate, enclosed area for the bar, Volkmann said.

He said it was a good sign that Whole Foods was investing money back into the store.

I go there pretty regularly, and I always see a lot of people, Volkmann said.

For more information, call (219) 864-5400 or visit www.wholefoodsmarket.com/stores/schererville.
Hobart resident Kim Tessmann grabbed on to a fence after bolting out of the exit of the Amhurst Asylum haunted attraction in Porter Township and leaving her daughters friend behind.

Its got me sweating, she said with a laugh.

Its that time of the year when thrill-seekers of all ages and those dragged along in protest venture out to celebrate Halloween by willingly being chased through dark hallways, squeezing their way toward the unknown through tight airbags, navigating spinning rooms and coming face to face with just about every phobia and fearful encounter imaginable.

Yup, its haunted attraction season, and Northwest Indiana has some thrilling options to choose from.

We visited several of the larger haunted attractions across the Region and lived to assure you that some frightening experiences are in store for those brave or crazy enough to follow in our footsteps. The following is a description (no spoilers) of those attractions, which are open on weekends through the end of the month.

Amhurst Asylum

228 S. 500 W., Valparaiso amhurstasylum.com

This 23,000-square-foot haunted attraction bills itself as a former psychiatric hospital that was shut down four decades ago after authorities discovered that Dr. Amhurst had been conducting sickening experiments on patients and harvesting their organs. The experiments were a mad attempt to keep his wife alive as her own body rotted as a result of a degenerative illness.

Dr. Amhurst fled never to be seen again, but the horrors of his work remain and still wander the hallways and rooms of the shuttered asylum.

There is no delay in the scares, which begin immediately after entering the asylum and being shuffled into an old and questionable elevator. The fun continues throughout as you pass through various themed rooms still haunted by the victims of Dr. Amhurst.

Creative Director Geoffrey Graves (yes, thats his real last name) said the 7-year-old attraction is actor-based, with up to 60 each night, and relies on natural-type lighting as compared to distorted colors.

I want people to feel like theyre walking through a movie, he said.

That would be a horror movie, judging by the cast of disturbed characters inhabiting the asylum and confronting visitors at nearly every turn.

Valparaiso resident Andy Romejko, whose daughter is among this years cast, said he was impressed by the attraction.

Lots of good effects and lots of good scares, he said. To get me to jump takes a little bit.

It didnt hurt his fright level that Romejko voluntarily lead the way through the attraction.

I like how you guys threw me in front, he said, correcting the record.

Lake Hills Haunted House

8640 Lake Hills Drive, St. John lakehillshauntedhouse.com

The horrors at this lakeside haunted attraction stem back to the Depression era when one of the patients being cared for by Dr. Goodenevil killed his daughter. The traumatic event changed the formerly good doctor and set him on a quest to experiment on the remaining patients in a crazed attempt to bring his daughter back to life. Oh yeah, he also found time to wreak revenge on those he believed responsible for his daughters death.

The two-story facility, which has been operating as a haunted attraction for 11 years, is now inhabited by a variety of crazed characters both inside and out. It also features a few disorienting experiences (be prepared to hold on tight) and at least one hallway that is sure to bring out the claustrophobia in many visitors.

The scariest part is when I wasnt even looking and I saw the clown like staring straight at me and it like ran and then this spinning thing came. So scary, said Dyer resident Erin Sanfratello.

Shawn Kenny, of Dyer, said it was not the clowns and other ghouls that scared him the most.

The only part I was scared at was the claustrophobic place because its like small and its very tight, he said.

His friends joined in with their stories of narrowly escaping that infamous part of the attraction and another that seriously challenges the coordination of guests.

It made me dizzy the rest of the way, one said.

Hannah Pierson, of Dyer, is just 12, but said this was her fourth year visiting the haunted house.

She said she returns to see what in store for visitors each new year.

Its just fun to see if its scary, she said.

Haunted Hills Hospital

6090 U.S. 12, Portage hauntedhillshospital.com

This is one hospital where survival has long replaced healing as the main goal. It is now home to patients too evil to be housed elsewhere, who have been the victims of the most twisted experiments. All that pain has not been kind to this group of demented characters, who range in age, size and species.

This is the attractions eighth year, but the first year at its new 16,000-square-foot facility near the Portage lakefront park. The chills begin before entering the front door of the hospital as unusual-looking and odd-size creatures stroll out and right into your comfort zone.

Guests are left on their own to walk and sometimes feel their way through a maze of various sights, sounds and experiences that will surely touch on a phobia or two.

Dont like the sight of blood? Well, I guess you could always close your eyes, but then again not seeing what awaits you would likely be worse in this house of mayhem.

Valparaiso resident Eric Hoffman and his wife, Dawn, who are big fans of haunted houses, said they put the visits on hold as their more reluctant children were growing up.

But after creeping along through the halls of the Haunted Hills Hospital this year as a family, Eric Hoffman said he decided to try to make it an annual outing.

Even son Evan Hoffman, who was hesitant to take part in the family outing, gave the attraction a thumbs up after racing out of the exit with the others.

It was a good haunted house, he said.

Ernie and Mary Freiberg needed no persuading to check out the expanded attraction.

The couple are such big fans of haunted houses that they drove 129 miles from their home in Michigan to visit after learning about it from a sign along a nearby highway.

Awesome, he said after wandering out the exit door.

Reapers Realm Haunted Attraction

626 177th St., Hammond reapersrealm.com

This three-story haunted house, which has been thrilling visitors for nearly 30 years at its location along the south side of Interstate 94 in Hammond, asks the foreboding question: Do you dare to roam the realm? If the answer is yes, you will find demented spirits, seedy characters and disturbed demons lurking around each corner and trapped in the house for eternity.

If you still have some scream left in you, grab a flashlight and take a questionable elevator down into a subterranean zone inhabited by zombies.

And before heading out to enjoy the carnival rides, games and food, take a heart-thumping stroll through the haunted woods.

The Haunted Mansion and Zombie Revolt attractions require a little more than just courage, according to John Hluska, who owns the attraction with his siblings.

Youll get physically involved going through Reapers Realm, he said.

The challenge is entertaining enough that Billy Aistrop and several of his fellow adult family member drive 90 miles each year to visit from their homes in Elkhart, Indiana.

Its never the same, he said while waiting to enter the home. Its different every time.

An hour or so later, Aistrop was all smiles outside the exit door of the house.

Its just the suspense of whats coming next, he said of the draw to return each year.

I might do it again before Halloween, Aistrop said.
A popular part-time teacher at Whiting High School and Nathan Hale Elementary School wrote and directed a drama about classical music that will play at the Hoosier Theatre in Whiting this weekend.

Educator and businessman Dean Christakis made First String, which tells the story of a 14-year-old cellist preparing to compete for a Gold Pin award and a chair in the symphony. The movie was filmed in Northwest Indiana, Chicago, the suburbs, and Charleston, Ill.

Christakis, who also taught at Marquette Catholic High School in LaPorte, also shot a scene with the LaPorte County Symphony Orchestra in the Elston Performing Arts Center there.

First String follows the young cellist in the days leading up to the audition and features other musicians, such as a violinist who visits Italy and learns about Americas first female luthier, or violin maker, whose own story is told in flashbacks.

The movie stars Domenica C. Scorsese and Keara Maive.

It was produced by Hobarts Pro Phase Productions and has also been screened at Doudna Fine Arts Center Lecture Hall at Eastern Illinois University, where much of it was filmed.

First String will play at 4 p.m. Friday and 1 p.m. Saturday at the Hoosier Theatre, 1335 119th St., Whiting. The restored movie palace was recently named the most beautiful movie theater in the entire state of Indiana by Tripping.com.

Tickets are $6, and half price for current Whiting students or recent graduates.
The popular dance production Romeo and Juliet is gracing the stage once again in Chicago.

Today, The Joffrey Ballet opens its 2016-17 season with the updated and contemporary Romeo and Juliet choreographed by Krzysztof Pastor. The production was last performed by The Joffrey in Chicago in 2014 where the work had its U.S. premiere.

The story is as appealing today as it was 400 years ago. Its a timeless story, said Ashley Wheater, artistic director of The Joffrey Ballet. Wheater said Pastor has done a wonderful job of reinterpreting the ballet.

Wheater, who said hes done his fair share of performances of Romeo and Juliet, said the ballet has been set in a certain way for many years, and its good to see a different and innovative version of the work. He added Pastors version of the classic Shakespearean tale is approached from a rich storytelling angle.

The story, he said, encourages audiences to really look at themselves and the world in which we live.

 Romeo and Juliet on one hand is a beautiful story (about love) and on the other hand its really about how we are going to stop fighting with each other, the artistic director said.

Pastors ballet is set in multiple time periods - the 1930s, the 1950s and the 1990s, each with a different political dynamic. The production is also being done in conjunction with the Shakespeare 400 festival taking place throughout Chicago and marking the 400th anniversary of Shakespeares death.

Wheater said he and the company are happy to be collaborating with other presenters in the Shakespeare 400 festival with this show.

Chicago is a unique city. I think everyone here in the arts (world) wants to be a collaborator, he said, adding various artists, theatrical companies and other creative organizations are very open to working together.

When Barbara Gaines (of Chicago Shakespeare) approached us and asked if The Joffrey wanted to be part of this celebration, it just seemed like it was a good thing, Wheater said.

During a past interview with Pastor, the choreographer said Shakespeares Romeo and Juliet celebrates an incredible eternal love, which isnt just interpreted as romantic love.

Pastor is the director of the Polish National Ballet. His full-length production of Romeo and Juliet features multimedia video displays, creative backdrops and other visuals. The score, performed by the Chicago Philharmonic, was written by Sergei Prokofiev.

One interesting romantic factor about the dancers of The Joffrey who are performing in Romeo and Juliet, is that there are various sets of real-life couples in the troupe.

Except for one of the couples, who are married and entered the company already in a relationship, Wheater said all the others met at The Joffrey.

FYI: The Joffrey Ballet performs Romeo and Juliet through Oct. 23 at The Auditorium Theatre, 50 E. Congress Parkway, Chicago. Tickets are $34 to $174. For tickets, call (312) 386-8905 or visit joffrey.org.
Where to go to college if you want to earn the most money
MICHIGAN CITY  Teams of police officers fanned out across the city before daybreak Wednesday, dubbing the hourslong warrant sweep for illegal drugs as Operation Narcotics Knockdown.

By late morning, nearly 30 people were arrested after being served criminal warrants, according to a Michigan City Police Department news release.

The Police Departments Fugitive Apprehension Street Team  which is a combined unit of LaPorte County Sheriffs Department, Michigan City Police Department, and United States Marshals Service personnel  coordinated the sweep with assistance from numerous local, state and federal agencies.

The Police Departments Street Crimes Unit kicked off the investigation after receiving complaints of several of the offenders illegally selling narcotics in Michigan City, according to the release.

Assisting the Police Departments Fugitive Apprehension Street Team were the Michigan City Police Departments Street Crimes Unit, Detective Bureau, Patrol Division, along with the Indiana State Police, U.S. Marshals Service, Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms, Drug Enforcement Administration, La Porte County Sheriffs Department, Long Beach Police Department, Indiana Department of Corrections and Indiana Parole Enforcement.

Detectives provided testimony to build probable cause for the arrest warrants, according to the release.

Though dubbed Operation Narcotic Knockdown, it should be noted that several of the arrested offenders had outstanding arrest warrants for non-narcotics related crimes, according to the news release.
GARY  Officers responding to a report of shots fired late Tuesday in Glen Park stopped a woman speeding in reverse, found her shirt had been torn off and later arrested a 36-year-old man accused of abusing her, police said.

Gary police were dispatched about 9:30 p.m. to the area of 5100 Pennsylvania Street and heard a single gunshot while in the area of East 50th Avenue and Delaware Street, Lt. Dawn Westerfield said.

Officers then noticed the 31-year-old Griffith woman and stopped her vehicle. The woman told police she had gone to her estranged husband's home to retrieve her belongings and he attacked her, Westerfield said.

Police found the husband walking in the street and ordered him to stop. He did not comply, so police subdued him with a Taser and took him into custody, Westerfield said.

The woman accused the man of becoming irate when she tried to leave and pointing a gun at her. She told police he pushed her several times while holding her at gunpoint and strangled her.

When he removed his hand from her neck, she attempted to escape, police said. He allegedly ripped her shirt off during a struggle. The woman told police the man pointed a gun at her and fired a shot after she got in her vehicle, so she put it in reverse and headed south down Delaware Street.

The woman had a protective order against her husband, police said.
VALPARAISO  A jury deliberated for three and a half hours Wednesday before returning with a guilty verdict for Mary Loveless, the 49-year-old Wheeler-area resident accused of stealing more than $30,000 while heading up a child care program at the Boys & Girls Clubs of Porter County.

Earlier in the day, Loveless sat in front of the jury and denied stealing the money. But jurors ultimately found her guilty Wednesday on all three counts of felony theft.

While on trial this week, Loveless testified that the club relied on a sloppy and inadequate handwritten accounting system and, once technology was introduced, faulty computers.

Money was always secondary (to the children) at the Boys & Girls Club, Loveless said.

Loveless said she did not believe anybody took any money, calling it missing in the accounting system.

Shortly before she took the witness stand, her husband, James Loveless, testified that he and his wife had financial problems that they tried to address through debt consolidation before each filed for Chapter 13 bankruptcy.

Porter County Deputy Prosecutor Tammy Gregg presented evidence that Mary Loveless was $87,000 in debt when she filed for bankruptcy, including $30,000 owed to the Boys & Girls Clubs of Porter County.

So she owed a lot of money, Gregg said.

Yes, said James Loveless, who disputed the claim from the Boys & Girls Clubs.

Mary Loveless is accused of stealing the money between Jan. 1, 2012, and April 10, 2014, according to court records.

During that period she was serving as unit director for the Kidstop Program, according to court documents. In that position, Loveless was responsible for collecting payments made at the various child care sites and depositing the money.

While only minor discrepancies were discovered among the check payments made by parents, the cash payments did not add up, according to court records.

Loveless, who made out all the deposit forms, never claimed she did not receive all the payments from the daycare sites.

Rogers said investigators found no money stashed away by Loveless and no extravagant purchases.
CROWN POINT  Jury selection began Tuesday in Lake County Criminal Court in the murder trial of Evan Juantay Hodge, 34, of Gary.

Hodge is charged in the shooting death of East Chicago resident Martin Joshua III, 39, in December 2014 in Gary. Hodge has been in custody in the Lake County Jail since his arrest on Dec. 29, 2014, and appeared in court for his trial with Matthew LaTulip, his defense attorney.

Lake Criminal Court Judge Pro-Tem Michael Lambert is presiding over the trial in Judge Samuel Cappas absence with Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Michael Toth representing the state.

According to the probable cause affidavit submitted by Gary Detective James Bond, Ruthie Foster heard someone knocking on her front door in the 5600 block of 4th Avenue the night of Dec. 19, 2014. Joshua, whom Foster knew as Marco, stumbled into the house and collapsed on the kitchen floor.

The victim told Foster that he was shot by Tay Tay, a nickname for Evan Hodge, court records state. When police arrived at the home, they found Joshua lying on the kitchen floor shot multiple times and in extreme pain, bleeding profusely with a portion of his intestines protruding from his abdomen, according to the affidavit.

Before being transported to Methodist Hospitals Northlake Campus, Joshua told Gary police officers twice that he was shot by Evan Hodge, the affidavit states. Joshua died at 2:29 a.m. on Dec. 20, 2014.

Foster later identified Hodge in a photo lineup.

Prosecutors filed a felony level 5 charge of habitual offender against Hodge, amending a previous felony level 5 charge of carrying a handgun without a license. The original murder charge has been amended to use of a firearm during commission of a felony resulting in death.

This is the second time Hodge has faced a murder charge. Court records show he was charged with murder April 5, 2012, in the shooting death of Ricardo Morris, 39, of Gary.

Morris and Hodge were involved in an exchange of gunfire at Citgo gas station at 401 S. Grand Blvd., in Gary. Hodge later pleaded guilty to carrying a handgun without a license, a Class C felony.
A lethal combination of heroin and cocaine is responsible for the July 30 death of a 26-year-old work release inmate at the Kimbrough Center in Crown Point, according to the Porter County coroner.

Jeremy Moats, of Crown Point, had pleaded guilty in October 2014 to dealing cocaine.

Porter County Coroner Chuck Harris ruled Thursday that his death was accidental.

Harris said he was asked by the Lake County coroners office to handle the case, which is protocol to avoid any perceived conflicts of interest.

Moats was found unresponsive in his room at 6:15 a.m. July 30 and was pronounced dead at 7:21 a.m. that same day at Methodist Southlake Hospital, officials said.

Moats had been searched before he was admitted to the facility the night before, Harris said. His sleeping area was also searched with no unusual findings.

An autopsy did not return any significant findings, Harris said. The cause of death was determined through toxicology tests.

Moats was among five people arrested in February 2014 on suspicion of prostitution, drug dealing and drug possession near Merrillville High School.

Officials said Moats was serving a split sentence on a cocaine charge, meaning he served part of his sentence with the Indiana Department of Correction and the remainder with Lake County Community Corrections.
GARY  Police conducted an extensive search Wednesday night after a car was hit by a train at the Lake/Porter County line, but a driver could not be found.

Gary police were dispatched about 6:30 p.m. for the crash at U.S. 12 and County Line Road, Lt. Dawn Westerfield said.

Officers found the car had traveled around construction barricades and become stuck on the track before the car was hit by a train. The driver apparently was able to exit before the car was struck and left the area, she said.

An extensive search, including the Lake County sheriff's helicopter, was conducted to determine if anyone had been in the vehicle, police said. No injuries were reported.

Anyone with information is asked to call Sgt. Michael Jackson at (219) 881-1209. To remain anonymous, call (866) CRIME-GP.
CROWN POINT  A police officers swift check of a business following the report of a burglary early Wednesday in a neighboring town resulted in the arrest of three people accused of breaking into Radio Shack.

Police were notified about 3 a.m. Wednesday of a burglary discovered at the Radio Shack, 1615 E. 37th Ave., in Hobart, according to a Crown Point Police Department news release.

That triggered Crown Point police Officer Don Wassermann to conduct a security check of Radio Shack, 514 N. Main St. in Crown Point, where he found a display window broken and a vehicle parked near the business with three people inside.

Officer Wassermanns alertness and his quick response to check a local business was the reason the suspects were apprehended. Another minute or two and they would have been gone from the area with the stolen property, Crown Point Police Chief Pete Land said in a news release.

A 16-year-old and two 22-year-old individuals from Illinois were taken into custody.

Police found several new cellphones and computer tablets inside the vehicle. Additional evidence linking them to the crime also was found.

Crown Point detectives are working with Hobart investigators to see if these same subjects are linked to the case, officials said.

The names of those involved are being withheld pending the filing of the charges.
WESTVILLE  Hammond resident Diana McKemie has good reason to be part of a campaign aimed at convincing the state to improve safety conditions at the south junction of U.S. 6 and U.S. 421.

She and her family were involved in a serious crash at the site on Mothers Day that resulted in her 4-year-old son and husband being hospitalized for weeks, and her suffering a broken back and losing her unborn 18-week-old daughter.

Tuesday was the due date for what would have been her second child.

My mom (Lisa Vargas) did not see the stop signs that were there, McKemie said.

She said her mother is a former Chicago Transit Authority bus driver, accustomed to driving through many kinds of intersections, which McKemie believes says a lot about the confusing shape of this intersection.

Its so dangerous, McKemie said.

McKemie and the nearly 600 others who have signed the online change.org petition are calling on the state to install an all way stoplight at the busy intersection after removing red and yellow flashers last year.

But Doug Moats, media relations director for the Indiana Department of Transportations Northwest District, said the proposed traffic signal would not be the right device for the intersection.

Traffic signals are for traffic movement, not safety control devices, he said. If a signal is installed where it is not warranted, it leads to increased accidents and a much more dangerous intersection. That is the case here.

INDOT removed the overhead flashers early last year because some drivers along westbound U.S. 6 saw the red flashing light and assumed it was a four-way stop, which caused them to pull out in front of drivers on U.S. 421, who had yellow flashers and the right of way, Moats said.

INDOT replaced the flashing light with oversize stop signs for westbound U.S. 6 traffic, with a flasher mounted on one sign, he said. A curbed island with another stop sign will be installed next summer between the left-through and the right-turn lanes on the westbound highway.

This should break up the wideness of the intersection and help drivers be even more alert of a stop sign, Moats said.

Rumble strips will be installed, perhaps yet this year, on westbound U.S. 6 to audibly warn drivers about the impending intersection, he said.

McKemies mother, Lisa Vargas, of Hammond, said she saw the stop sign to her right as she approached the intersection from westbound U.S. 6 just before the crash, but was going straight and was thus far enough away from the sign she assumed it was for traffic on U.S. 421.

Wanatah resident Eric Porch has responded to a lot of accidents at the intersection during his nearly 10 years working as a firefighter/emergency medical technician at the Westville Fire Department. He started the online petition following a fatal motorcycle crash there Sept. 24.

A minivan ran the westbound stop sign from U.S. 6 and struck 62-year-old Joseph Filippini, of Westville, who was riding a motorcycle north on U.S. 421.

Filippini died later at the hospital from his injuries.

I dont understand why it was taken out, Porch said of the lights that had flashed red for U.S. 6 and yellow for U.S. 421.

LaPorte County Sheriff Capt. Mike Kellems said the solution to the problem involves more than just what type of safety devices are placed at the intersection.

Too many motorists are distracted by cellphones, video players and other devices in their vehicles, he said.

People have to start paying attention to their driving, Kellems said.
HAMMOND  Residents and businesses in Hammond and Munster may see sewer rates rise by 160 percent over the next two years, which could cost the average family of four an extra $255 per year.

The Hammond Sanitary District Board of Commissioners Tuesday introduced a resolution laying out the proposed new rates. The district and the Hammond City Council and Munster Town Council need to approve the rates before they can go into effect.

Hammond Sanitary District officials note that single residents and couples who typically use less water would not see that high an increase under the proposed rate hike as would the typical family of four.

A public hearing on the proposed increase in rates and charges is scheduled for 4 p.m. Oct. 25 at the district offices, 5143 Columbia Ave.

Sewer rates in Griffith, Highland and Whiting are also expected to increase, although the amount will depend on the outcome of negotiations currently underway with the communities and the district.

They are still in negotiations and they are not part of this rate increase, City Engineer Dean Button said Tuesday.

Button said he did not know when the negotiations would be concluded.

Hammond Mayor Thomas M. McDermott Jr. had warned earlier that rates would need to be increased to pay for projects tied to a long-term control plan created in conjunction with a consent decree being entered into by the district. The projects, including several large catch basins, are designed to prevent combined sewer and stormwater discharges into the Little Calumet and Grand Calumet rivers.

The district is expected to sign off within the next several weeks on the consent decree with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Department of Justice and the Indiana Department of Environmental Management. The district anticipates spending around $240 million to $250 million over 17 years under the long-term control plan, which includes the $50 million for the 33-million gallon catch basin already located next to the citys waste treatment facility.

McDermott said in August that if the district did not enter into a consent decree and waged a legal battle, it could be liable for civil penalties for past violations in addition to what it is paying to make the capital improvements.

In addition to reducing, or eliminating, sewage discharges into the waterways, Button said the projects also will address problems with basement backups.

Commercial and industrial customers as well as residential customers in Hammond and Munster would see rates increase about 160 percent over the next two years under the proposal. The first rate increase, of about 70 percent, is anticipated to go into effect later this year. The second rate increase of more than 50 percent is anticipated to take place on Oct. 1, 2017. Button said additional rate increases will be needed in the future to pay for some of the projects being built in conjunction with the long-term control plan.

The flow rate for residential and industrial customers would go from $1.55 per thousand gallons to $2.63 with the first increase and then to $4.03 with the second increase. In addition, the bimonthly administrative charge would go from $11.26 to $19.03 later this year and then to $29.10 on Oct. 1, 2017.

According to the Hammond Sanitary District, the average family of four uses about 5,000 gallons of water per month. Based on this amount of use, the sewer rate would jump from about $13.40 per month to about $34.70 per month when the administrative charge is included.

District Manager Marty Wielgos said he will be meeting with the large industrial customers expected to be the most impacted by the rate hikes.

McDermott said the districts rates are the lowest in the state and district officials said even with the first increase, the combined sewer and water rates will still be among the states lowest. Button said this will be the first systemwide increase since 2008, although there was a slight increase in commercial rates last year.

District officials noted that other communities around the country are having to make changes because of older systems in which both sewer and stormwater are collected in a combined system that can lead to sewer overflows.

Hammond is among the last of the 108 communities in Indiana to reach an agreement to control such overflows and Hammond officials contend that is because they were working to make sure they got the best deal possible.

Four years ago, South Bend entered into a consent decree in which it agreed to make an estimated $509.5 million in improvements over 20 years to reduce sewage overflows into the St. Joseph River.
EAST HARTFORD, Conn.  A flight instructor and a student pilot had an altercation inside the cockpit of a small plane, and the instructor was unable to regain control from the trainee before the plane crashed near the headquarters of a military jet engine manufacturer, killing the student, a U.S. official familiar with the investigation into what happened said Wednesday.

The crash appeared to have been a suicide attempt by the student, and terrorism was ruled out, the official, who wasnt authorized to speak publicly, told The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity.

The Piper PA-34 Seneca crashed with the two men aboard during a training flight Tuesday in East Hartford near the headquarters of Pratt & Whitney while returning to Brainard Airport in Hartford, authorities said. The flight instructor was badly burned but survived.

The instructor described the student pilot as disgruntled about learning to be a pilot, the U.S. official said.

The flight instructor is Arian Prevalla, and the student was Feras Freitekh, said a law enforcement official, who wasnt authorized to disclose the information and spoke on the condition of anonymity.

Prevallas social media pages indicate hes president of the American Flight Academy and a managing member of the Hartford Jet Center, both based in Hartford. The pages say he is from Albania and lives in Hartford.

On LinkedIn, Prevalla said he received a bachelors degree in aviation science from Mountain State University, a now-defunct university in Beckley, West Virginia.

Freitekh lived in the Chicago suburb of Orland Hills since 2013 and received a private pilot certificate last year from the Federal Aviation Administration, public records show.

Safety officials said the FBI was taking over as lead investigator of the crash because of indications it was an intentional act.

The National Transportation Safety Board said its initial investigation indicated the crash was deliberate. An agency spokesman said he couldnt elaborate on the basis of that finding.

The survivor told police detectives it was not an accident, Democratic Mayor Marcia Leclerc said.

Its troubling, Leclerc said. But I also know that stories change and information can be skewed. Were waiting for the facts to come out.

Authorities said the student and the instructor were about to land at Brainard Airport when the plane struck a utility pole and crashed onto a road Tuesday afternoon, bursting into flames. The crash site is a short distance from the airport, across the Connecticut River and in line with the runway.

Police Chief Scott Sansom said the path the plane took could have been much worse.

So were very fortunate in that sense, he said.

The police chief initially asked the FBI to assist in the investigation because it happened so close to Pratt & Whitney. The company said its operations werent affected by the crash and none of its employees was involved.

Police said Prevalla was hospitalized with serious burns and is expected to live. The medical examiners office was expected to perform an autopsy on Freitekh.

In Hartford, local, state and federal authorities were investigating an apartment in connection with the plane crash, police Deputy Chief Brian Foley said. He did not release further details, including why the apartment was being investigated.

Democratic Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, briefed by the state police commissioner, said he had not decided to beef up security anywhere in light of the crash.

Im not aware of any specific threats associated with this action, Malloy said. If I was, then we would take those steps.

____

Associated Press writers Joan Lowy in Washington, Denise Lavoie in Boston and Michael Melia in Hartford, Connecticut, contributed to this report.
NEW YORK  Wells Fargos embattled CEO John Stumpf is stepping down as the nations second-largest bank is roiled by a scandal over its sales practices.

The San Francisco bank said Wednesday that Stumpf is retiring effective immediately and also relinquishing his title as chairman. He wont be receiving severance pay and the bank announced earlier that he will forfeit $41 million in stock awards.

Wells Fargos chief operating officer, Tim Sloan, will succeed Stumpf as CEO and join the companys board. Sloan has been with Wells Fargo for 29 years. Stephen Sanger, the banks lead director, will serve as the boards non-executive chairman.

Stumpfs end at Wells Fargo comes a little over a month after the bank was fined by California and federal regulators $185 million over its sales practices.

The regulators alleged employees trying to meet aggressive sales targets opened bank and credit card accounts, moved money between those accounts and even created fake email addresses to sign customers up for online banking  all without customer authorization. Debit cards were issued and activated, as well as PINs created, without customers knowledge.

I wish I could snap my fingers and make everything all right again, but its going to take time, said Sloan said in an interview. We are going to make it right by our customers and we are going to work to win that trust back.

Stumpf, a 34-year veteran of the bank who took over as CEO in 2007, had previously gained acclaim for navigating Wells Fargo through the financial crisis and keeping it free of scandal. But he came under withering pressure over the alleged misconduct, believed to have gone on at the bank for years. Some 5,300 lower-level employees were fired.

While I have been deeply committed and focused on managing the company through this period, I have decided it is best for the company that I step aside, he said in a prepared statement Wednesday.

Among Stumpfs critics, Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts told him at a Senate Banking Committee hearing last month that he should resign and give back the money you took while the scam was going on.

News of Stumpfs departure, however, did little to quell some lawmakers anger over the affair or their demands for information from the company on how harmed customers and employees will be made whole.

Senate Banking Committee Chairman Richard Shelby, R-Ala., and the panels senior Democrat, Sherrod Brown of Ohio, said Wednesday that Stumpfs retirement doesnt answer important questions.

We are still waiting for answers as to how Wells Fargo plans to right its wrongs against customers and the low-paid employees who werent given the benefit of a retirement package when they were fired for refusing to cheat, Brown said in a statement.

Stumpf earned $19.3 million last year. But he and Carrie Tolstedt, the executive who ran the retail banking division, will forfeit millions.

Tolstedt announced in July that she would retire from the bank this year and had been expected to leave with as much as $125 million in salary, stock options and other compensation. She was stripped of $19 million of her stock awards, and her departure was made immediate.

The revelations have sparked investigations by federal agencies. The banks independent directors have also launched their own investigation.

Wells Fargo is scheduled to report its quarterly results Friday morning. In after-hours trading, its stock rose 76 cents, or nearly 1.7 percent, to $46.08.
The USW has made it clear that it will not support Donald Trump in his efforts to become our next president. In fact, in June the union offered its endorsement to Hillary Clinton. The reason the USW leaders are "furious" is because one of Trump's subsidiary companies bought a few hundred tons of Chinese steel for the construction of one of his projects.

How does this compare Barack Obama's non-support of our steel industry? Bailouts were given to automakers and solar panel makers who used that money to pay big bonuses to executives before going bankrupt. What has Obama done to curb the record flow of steel imports to the United States?

He has been against steel tariffs and has not enforced the ones in place. Where are his bailouts for our steel industry and the 19,000 people on layoff? Hillary Clinton is more of the same.

Jack Gillen, Valparaiso
Uniformed and undercover officers are flooding Central Park after reports of some troubling crimes. NY1 Criminal Justice Report Dean Meminger says the NYPD is urging park goers to help out by practicing safety tips.

The NYPD is rolling out in force in Central Park.

An effort to deter crime and make people feel safe.

"There will be cops all around the park," said Captain Christopher McIntosh, commanding officer Central Park. "We will be very visible, high visibility. So everyone come to the park, it is still the safest park."

But since September 16, there have been several crimes here.

And that's bad News for the city's so called crown jewel, Central Park.

One woman reported to cops a man tried to rape her near East 107th Street, but she was able to fight him off.

And at least five people have said they were robbed of their cell phones by a group of men.

So dozens of cops on foot, on scooters and in patrol cars will be in and outside of the park.

"Very, very secure in New York and in the park," said a tourist. "Every place that I am looking, I find a police man safer than in Italy."

"When you ask me if I feel, I should say during the day, yes," said one visitor to the park. "Maybe at night not so much."

"Well with the police we are, we are safer, but not alone at night," said another.

On Wednesday community affairs, officers were giving people crime prevention tips on how to stay safe. They also handed out this brochure on how not to become a victim.

Some good tips... when wearing headphones, do not blast the music or only keep one ear bud in. And pay less attention to your cell phone and more to your surroundings.

"If they are walking with their phone, watching or tweeting or on Facebook or whatever it may be, every once and while look up and look at your surroundings to see where you are and that the environment is still safe," said Thomas Conforti, Inspector NYPD Crime Prevention Division.

"Although there have been some troubling incidents recently, crime is actually down by 17 percent here in Central Park compared to last year."

While beefing up patrols, cops are also on the hunt for whoever committed the recent attacks and robberies.
NEW YORK - Police make an arrest in connection with the attempted rape of a woman in Central Park.

Forest Richardson, 26, of the Bronx faces multiple charges including attempted rape, sex abuse and robbery.

Investigators say around 9:30 p.m. Monday, Richardson threw the 28-year-old victim to the ground, took her cell phone and tried to rape her.

She was able to fight him off, and he ran away.

Police say they found Richardson by tracking down the phone he had stolen.

He was taken to the hospital after complaining to officers that he was sick.

Richardson is now awaiting arraignment.
NEWARK, N.J. - The man suspected in last month's bombings in Chelsea and New Jersey pleaded not guilty to charges he tried to kill several police officers during a bedside arraignment.

Ahmad Rahimi took part via video conference from his hospital bed in Newark.

He is still recovering from gunshot wounds he suffered in a shooutout with police.



Rahimi's public defenders did most of the speaking for the 28-year-old.



"Mr. Rahimi has received complaints long ago, and I have also received them and I have reviewed each and every one of the complaints with him and I've asked the court to enter a not guilty plea on each of the complaints," said public defender Peter Liguori.



He is charged with five counts of attempted murder of a police officer in New Jersey.



The 28-year-old is being held on $5.2 million bail for these state charges in New Jersey.



He is also facing federal charges for the September 17th bombings.

Investigators say Rahimi detonated a pressure cooker bomb in Chelsea that injured 31 people.

He is also accused of setting of a pipe bomb in a New Jersey town a few hours earlier.



Officer Angel Padilla, one of the police officers Rahimi allegedly shot, was also in court but did not speak.

The U.S. Attorney said there is no date set for Rahimi's arraignment on the federal charges.



New York federal prosecutors say they have plenty of evidence that Rahimi is responsible. There is no word yet on when he will appear in federal court.


You should resign, a fiery Senator Elizabeth Warren told Wells Fargos chief executive, John G. Stumpf, during Senate hearings last month.

Now he has.

In an all-too-rare example of corporate governance working the way it should, someone at the top is being held accountable for Wells Fargos multiyear abuse of its retail customers.

In September, Wells Fargo reached a $185 million settlement with federal regulators and acknowledged that thousands of employees, under intense pressure to meet aggressive sales targets, opened as many as two million bogus accounts without customers knowledge, in some cases forging signatures.

Mr. Stumpf said at the time that the Wells Fargo board would consider the appropriate fate of top executives, including him. By the standards of corporate America  a low bar  it moved swiftly and decisively. Just a week after Mr. Stumpfs widely panned appearance on Capitol Hill, the board said it would claw back compensation from him valued at $41 million. And within weeks it went further, securing his resignation.
Two former drivers for Uber are eligible for unemployment payments, New York State regulators have ruled, finding that they should be treated as employees rather than independent contractors, as the company has maintained.

Unlike contractors, employees are entitled to a variety of rights and protections, including a minimum wage and workers compensation insurance, and are typically more costly for companies to rely on.

The decision could make it more difficult for Uber, its rival Lyft and other new businesses operating in what is known as the gig economy by raising their costs and challenging their business model.

The rulings by the New York State Department of Labor were sent to the two Uber drivers (one also worked for Lyft) in August and September but have not previously been reported. They apply only to their unemployment insurance claims and do not directly affect other drivers or extend to other protections normally accorded employees.
In the last three years, the department  under Commissioner Nigro  has implemented extensive and unprecedented progress towards increasing and improving diversity, inclusiveness and fairness throughout the agency  amongst all employees, civilian and uniformed, Francis X. Gribbon, a department spokesman, said. Never has the F.D.N.Y. had such a diverse leadership team, including more women and people of color in senior positions, than at any point in our 151-year history.

The Fire Department has been the subject of persistent complaints involving race over the years. In 2007, the Justice Department filed a lawsuit against the department after the Vulcan Society, a group of black firefighters, said that entrance exams were biased against members of minority groups. The city settled the suit in 2014, agreeing to pay around $100 million in back pay and benefits to applicants whose attempts to join the department had been thwarted by what courts ruled were institutional biases.

The E.E.O.C. complaint states that black civilian employees of the Fire Department receive lower salaries and are routinely passed over for raises and denied promotions. The complaint adds that there is a continual, widespread pattern of workplace harassment and a hostile work environment based upon overt and subtle forms of discrimination.

The complaint cites several examples of pay disparities. One black employee, Brandon Mahon, said that when he was given the title of director of a youth outreach program, his salary rose to $56,000 from $48,500, while the salary of a colleague who was named a director and was not black increased to $80,000 from $50,000. Deborah Bowman, an administrative manager, said her supervisor had requested that Ms. Bowman and several colleagues get raises of 4 percent, but that she got no raise while white colleagues did, according to the complaint.
Taser says its body cameras are used by more than 3,500 law enforcement agencies, including in 34 major cities across the country, Chicago, Dallas and Los Angeles among them. A spokeswoman for Vievu could not say how many agencies in the United States use its equipment, but the company has recently gained footholds in some sizable cities, with contracts in Miami-Dade County, Fla.; Phoenix and Seattle.

Benjamin B. Tucker, the Police Departments first deputy commissioner, said officials in New York hope to finalize the contract with Vievu by years end and to deploy the first 1,000 cameras next year in 20 precincts.

According to the contract, an LE4 can record up to 12 hours of standard-definition video on a single charge. That, officials said, would allow a camera to capture a police officers perspective over a typical shift, which lasts 8 hours and 35 minutes.

The cameras automatically add 30 seconds of buffer video when switched on or off, a feature that Vievu says provides a sense of why an officer is interacting with a civilian. Officers will be able to gain access to videos through either a computer or a custom app on their department smartphones, but will not be able to edit or delete videos, which will be encrypted and logged to prevent tampering and unauthorized access.

One of the biggest challenges for police agencies is where to store the vast quantity of footage generated by the cameras. The city, citing a lack of capacity on its own servers, has opted for an unlimited capacity in Vievus cloud-storage platform, which was designed in conjunction with Microsoft to meet stringent federal security requirements. The platform was put into use by the Oakland Police Department in February after a city information technology worker accidentally deleted a quarter of the departments footage during a software upgrade in 2014.
The emails came morning and night, apparently unsolicited, often from the mayoral BlackBerry: messages from Mayor Bill de Blasio of New York, who styled himself as an emissary from the liberal left, to a presidential campaign trying to elect Hillary Clinton in what felt like a Bernie Sanders world.

Mr. de Blasio wanted to vent that Mrs. Clinton totally blew a question about mass incarceration at a Democratic primary debate with Mr. Sanders, a senator from Vermont (but praised her answer on gun control as fantastic). He wanted Mrs. Clinton to sign on to a forum on income inequality he planned to host for the presidential candidates in Iowa (none agreed to attend).

And he wanted Mrs. Clintons aides to know that, even if he was playing hard to get on his endorsement of her, he was already planning to tell Mr. Sanders that he would not be supporting him in the race.

In laying bare John D. Podestas inbox, the WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has made no secret of his desire to reveal the deliberations of Mrs. Clintons campaign for the world to see. But the leak, dumped online in two waves this week, has also found at least one collateral target: Mr. de Blasio, whose cameo appearances in Mr. Podestas inbox offer a less-than-flattering look at the mayors attempts to make his presence felt in the presidential campaign.
The N.A.A.C.P., the nations oldest civil rights organization, has struggled in recent years to win over younger African-Americans, who often see the group as out of touch. The N.A.A.C.P.s board will reinforce that impression if it ratifies an ill-advised resolution  scheduled for a vote this weekend  that calls for a moratorium on expansion of public charter schools, which receive public money but are subject to fewer state regulations than traditional public schools.

These schools, which educate only about 7 percent of the nations students, are far from universally perfect, and those that are failing should be shut down. But sound research has shown that, when properly managed and overseen, well-run charter schools give families a desperately needed alternative to inadequate traditional schools in poor urban neighborhoods.

This truth has been underscored in several studies by Stanford Universitys Center for Research on Education Outcomes. Last year, for example, the center found that students enrolled in charter schools in 41 of the nations urban regions learned significantly more than their traditional public school counterparts.

According to the study, charter school students received the equivalent of 40 days of additional learning a year in math and 28 additional days of learning a year in reading. Moreover, educational gains for charter school students turned out to be significantly larger for black, Hispanic, low-income and special education students in both math and reading.
These proposals include changes in the Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit to benefit families with incomes of less than $100,000 (while reducing the benefits of the tax credit to the affluent) as well as the reduction or elimination of tax breaks in education savings plans for the affluent to generate revenues to boost Pell grants for poorer students.

Sawhill and Rodrigue dont shy away from what they see as a necessary step in combating economic inequality:

If we could empower young adults to only have children when they themselves feel ready to become parents, we could reduce unplanned pregnancies and out-of-wedlock births. That alone would reduce poverty and lack of mobility. The solutions here are often nongovernmental and involve changing social norms around the importance of responsible, two-person parenthood.

They go on:

Some have called for a new generation of government-sponsored marriage or relationship programs and for reducing marriage penalties in tax and benefit programs. But with some exceptions, these do not appear to be a cost-effective way to bring back the two-parent family. More promising are efforts to make the most effective forms of birth control (IUDs and implants) more widely available at no cost to women.

An additional contribution to a progressive economic agenda comes from Lawrence Summers, an economist at Harvard who is a former secretary of the Treasury. Summers has emerged as a leading advocate of major government infrastructure investments  in roads, bridges, airports and other public facilities.

In Sundays Washington Post, Summers contends that

the specter of secular stagnation and inadequate economic growth on the one hand, and ascendant populism and global disintegration on the other, has caused widespread apprehension

amid fears that the global economy is entering unexplored and dangerous territory. And when economies worldwide stagnate, the result, Summers writes, is that electorates turn surly. The way to counter these negative trends, in his view, is to abandon austerity economics in favor of investment economics.

Some of the most interesting developments in the formation of a Democratic agenda can be found in the evolving work of Jason Furman, the 46-year-old chairman of President Obamas Council of Economic Advisers.

Furman focuses on a pair of crucial factors underlying slow growth: a lack of corporate dynamism and the weakening of competitive forces in the marketplace. Diminishing vitality in the marketplace has become a mounting concern among economists and policy makers.
It is really no mystery why the giant pandas puritanical sex life attracts lots of attention. The bear is amazingly cute, its numbers are perilously low, and its fun to read (and write) about the extraordinary efforts of zookeepers and scientists to fan the creatures passions in the inexplicably tiny annual window of opportunity  one to three days  that nature has allotted for generative panda lovemaking. Among the tricks resourceful humans have tried, according to a recent report in The Times, is panda porn  videos of pandas making love that male pandas watch in the privacy of their cages.

Encouraging pandas to produce more pandas seems eminently commendable. They are enormously popular in zoos, and any beast whose habitat, and therefore survival, is being wiped out by Homo sapiens deserves help. Yet the huge investment of time, money and science on pandas in China, where all wild pandas live, and in Western zoos, which pay hundreds of thousands of dollars to China to lease the bears, does raise questions. Does the pandas indisputable charm entitle it to so much more attention and sexual encouragement than a vast majority of the worlds threatened wildlife?

The giant panda is the quintessential charismatic megafauna, the term for animals human beings perceive as particularly appealing or majestic  think elephants, bald eagles, dolphins, polar bears and Cecil, the lion killed last year by an American dentist. No one questions why the lion is king in The Lion King while the unlovely hyena is a villain, or why the panda is the symbol of the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) while the proboscis monkey, which is endangered, will never make it onto anyones list of charismatic megafauna.
Over the past six years, the United States intelligence community has taken two powerful punches from insiders  the first from Pfc. Bradley Manning of the Army (now Chelsea Manning) and the second from the National Security Agency contractor Edward J. Snowden, both of whom leaked thousands of classified documents. The news this month that another N.S.A. contract employee, Harold Martin III, removed a large volume of classified information from the agency shows that the government is still struggling to keep its secrets safe.

These security breaches may have caught the government by surprise, but intelligence officials have no excuse for being shocked. They were forewarned about the vulnerability of digital secrets a full 16 years ago by the actions of a little-known traitor named Brian Regan. A signals analyst at the National Reconnaissance Office  an agency responsible for managing the countrys spy satellites  Mr. Regan pulled off a heist of more than 20,000 documents containing top-secret satellite images and reports, which he tried to sell to Iraq and Libya.

Because Mr. Regan was caught before he could transfer secrets to an enemy, his case ended up as a mere footnote in the annals of American intelligence. To this day, his name remains unknown even to many in the intelligence community. But had the lessons of Mr. Regans case been heeded, the United Statess secret information would be far more secure.

Mr. Regan was a signals analyst in the Air Force who received praise for his work during the 1991 Persian Gulf war before being assigned to the satellite agency in 1995. In the late 90s, faced with a mountain of credit card debt, he formed a plan to commit espionage. He had a top-secret security clearance and access to Intelink, a classified network of servers that functions as the intelligence communitys own internet.
The pageant theme that year? Empowering women.

Theres more. In Trumps 2005 tape, he referred in vulgar ways to a married woman, Nancy ODell, he had unsuccessfully pursued, but whats less known is that in 2007 he reportedly tried to have her fired from hosting the Miss USA Pageant. Why? Because she was pregnant.

Of course, as Trump acknowledged, words matter as well. On my blog, I posted an essay by a survivor of a home invasion and rape, Michelle Bowdler, who recounted that her attacker had said he wanted some pussy  and the moment he used that word, she felt that her life was in danger, that she existed only as a thing.

What is dehumanizing is not necessarily dirty words as such, but rather the casual braggadocio by men that normalizes assault. One study of 16,000 comments on a website for fraternity men found that the most common body part mentioned was ass, followed by tits. Men posting on the site were 25 times as likely to refer to a womans ass as to her smile.

Theres some evidence that hearing sexist language may be linked to greater tolerance of rape. And we already have a national problem with sexual harassment: One large survey found that almost one-quarter of American women said they had been groped in public spaces.
INTERNATIONAL

Because of an editing error, an article on Sept. 13 about an eruption of violence in southern India after the Indian Supreme Court ordered the state of Karnataka to share water with a neighboring state, Tamil Nadu, referred incorrectly to the chief minister of Tamil Nadu. The minister, Jayalalithaa Jayaram, is a woman.

BUSINESS DAY

An article on the Square Feet page on Wednesday about redevelopment in the Jewelers Row section of Philadelphia misstated part of the name of an economic development organization in the city. It is Center City District, not Center City Philadelphia.

THE ARTS

A television review on Wednesday about Vice News Tonight, on HBO, referred incorrectly to the production procedures of the programs premiere. The initial episode, on Monday, was broadcast from Vices studios and changes were made as late as 15 minutes before the 7:30 p.m. airtime. It was not delivered to HBO a few hours before broadcasting.



Because of editing errors, picture captions on Monday with a Critics Notebook article about Channel Zero: Candle Cove on Syfy and Freakish on Hulu reversed their starting dates. As the article correctly noted, Channel Zero began on Tuesday, and Freakish on Monday.
While most legislation in Sacramento is debated for months, there are instances when the majority can simply waive the rules and push through bills at the last minute. In final days of the annual session, new bills can pop up and be rushed to a vote before the public has much of a chance to weigh in.

It leaves people in the dark, said Kathay Feng, executive director of California Common Cause, a nonpartisan government watchdog group that is backing the measure. Legislators are asked to vote on things where there hasnt even really been an open discussion.

But Steven Maviglio, a political consultant in Sacramento, argues that the measure will do little to give the general public more access to debates in the Legislature and instead give special interests in the Capitol even more power.

Every once in a while they have to do the sausage making behind closed doors, Mr. Maviglio said. Because on certain tougher bills if they did it out in the open all the lobbyists would realize their oxes are being gored and they come unglued. They just come out of the woodwork to stop something from happening.
A federal judge has extended Floridas voter registration deadline to Oct. 18, agreeing with voting rights advocates and the state Democratic Party that damage from Hurricane Matthew threatened to deprive some residents of their right to cast a ballot.

The decision on Wednesday had major political implications in a swing state where, the partys lawyers said, Democrats make up a disproportionate share of those who register in the final week.

Florida and North Carolina, which also has a tight presidential race, were two of the five states battered last week as Hurricane Matthew moved up the coast, lashing northeastern Florida and causing severe flooding in North Carolina.

North Carolina officials said on Tuesday that they would address any problems. We are working with each county with damage or anticipated damage to ensure they have polling places available for early voting and Election Day, the executive director of the State Board of Elections, Kim Westbrook Strach, said.
Jack Greenberg, a lawyer who became one of the nations most effective champions of the civil rights struggle, leading the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund Inc. for 23 years and using the law as a weapon in its fight for racial justice before the United States Supreme Court, died on Wednesday at his home in Manhattan. He was 91.

His wife, Deborah Cole Greenberg, confirmed his death. She said he had been treated for Parkinsons disease for decades.

Mr. Greenberg was part of a legendary civil rights legal team assembled by Thurgood Marshall, the founding director-counsel of the legal defense fund and later the first African-American Supreme Court justice.

When Mr. Marshall hired him as an assistant counsel in 1949, Mr. Greenberg was just 24 and the civil rights movement, too, was taking wing. A son of Jewish immigrants and a product of New York City, he had developed an abiding intolerance of injustice  some of it witnessed in the Navy  that propelled him into law and into Mr. Marshalls sights.
OKLAHOMA CITY  Residents of five states may be barred from boarding commercial flights using a drivers license beginning in 2018 because of the states refusal to comply with national proof-of-identity requirements.

The Department of Homeland Security confirmed Wednesday that it had rejected requests from Oklahoma, Kentucky, Maine, Pennsylvania and South Carolina for an extension to comply with the federal Real ID Act. The law, passed in 2005 in response to the 9/11 attacks, imposes tougher requirements for proof of legal residency in order for state drivers licenses to be valid for federal purposes.

Three other states  Minnesota, Missouri and Washington  were previously notified that they are not in compliance.

The 9/11 hijackers obtained valid identification cards from various states, according to the F.B.I., and a commission that reported on the attacks recommended that the federal government develop standards for issuing ID cards to help prevent terrorism and fraud.
Following Mr. Trumps wishes, his advisers have aggressively pushed the Clinton camp emails in news media briefings and cable news appearances, bringing up the hacked messages to battle back from the questions about Mr. Trumps comments about women. But as much as Mr. Trump sees WikiLeaks coming to his rescue, strategists in his own party take a dim view of its ultimate impact.

The Clinton campaign is trying its own political jujitsu with the hacks, arguing that they are more evidence that Mr. Trump is in the pocket of Mr. Putin, whom the Republican candidate has declined to denounce for his annexation of Crimea, his intimidation of former Soviet states that are now part of NATO, or for its abandonment last week of a nuclear arrangement with the United States. Mr. Podesta has gone even further, saying in a statement on Wednesday evening that there was the possibility that Trumps allies had advance knowledge of the release of these illegally obtained emails.

Intelligence officials say that so far they have not concluded there was any such collusion, but the investigation into who got into Mr. Podestas emails, and how they got into WikiLeaks hands, has just begun.

Those emails began to appear on Friday afternoon, just hours after the director of National Intelligence and the Department of Homeland Security issued a statement attributing previous hacks to the Russian government. Officials on Wednesday said it may take weeks to establish whether Mr. Podestas emails were also hacked by the Russians  though they said the attack on his Gmail account fits the pattern of previous Russian-sponsored email thefts.

Republicans have previously condemned WikiLeaks and similarly blasted the leaks by Edward J. Snowden, a National Security Agency contractor, and said they were evidence of carelessness by the Obama administration.

When Mr. Snowdens disclosures about the scope of the N.S.A. spying were brought to light, it touched off a feverish debate over government invading peoples privacy, and many Republicans denounced Mr. Snowden as a traitor. The emails from Mr. Podesta were also the result of an illegal hack  but of a private email account or campaign emails, not a government agency.
SAN FRANCISCO  The United States Department of Justice on Wednesday criticized this citys Police Department for bias against African-American residents in its use of force and during traffic stops but stopped short of saying it was the result of racism.

Ronald Davis, the director of the Justice Departments Office of Community Oriented Policing Services, said there were significant deficiencies in policing by the department here, including a 24 percent higher chance that African-Americans were pulled over by the police given the estimated number of black drivers in the city.

But Mr. Davis painted a nuanced picture of the bias and said there were many unanswered questions.

We are not saying this is a result of any racial animus, he said.

The report, for example, found that when minority officers only were involved in the use of force, the severity of force used and the injuries sustained by community members increased.
Some of the most troubling images of the opioid crisis involve parents buying or using drugs with their children in tow. Now new research offers a glimpse into the addicted brain, finding that the drugs appear to blunt a persons natural parenting instincts.

Researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania scanned the brains of 47 men and women before and after they underwent treatment for opioid dependence. While in the scanner, the study subjects looked at various images of babies, and the researchers measured the brains response. The brain scans were compared with the responses of 25 healthy people.

What the study subjects didnt know was that the photos had been manipulated to adjust the baby schema, the term used to describe the set of facial and other features like round faces and big eyes that make our brains register babies as irresistible, kicking in our instinct to care for them. Sometimes the babies features were exaggerated to make them even more adorable; in others, the chubby cheeks and big eyes were reduced, making the faces less appealing. Studies show that a higher baby schema activates the part of the brain called the ventral striatum, a key component of the brain reward pathway.

Compared with the brains of healthy people, the brains of people with opioid dependence didnt produce strong responses to the cute baby pictures. But once the opioid-dependent people received a drug called naltrexone, which blocks the effects of opioids, their brains produced a more normal response.
KAGA BANDORO, Central African Republic  Fighters from a largely Muslim militia in the Central African Republics remote north on Wednesday attacked people displaced by violence in the country, stabbing or hacking to death 13 people before United Nations peacekeepers repelled them, killing at least 10, officials said.

Several people were also wounded in the attack on Kaga-Bandoro, a town of dirt roads and thatched mud huts. A witness saw militiamen stab two displaced people to death as people were fleeing. When some tried to fight back with clubs, the militiamen began firing guns.

Hundreds of panicked villagers, already refugees from earlier violence, then fled in the direction of the peacekeepers base.

The Central African Republic has been in chaos since early 2013, when a militia known as the Seleka, which draws mostly from the countrys minority Muslim population, toppled President Francois Bozize.
Venezuelas Supreme Court has consolidated President Nicolas Maduros power with a decision that removes budgetary authority from the nations Congress, the only institution that is controlled by the opposition.

The ruling late Tuesday came as opponents of the president prepared to gather enough signatures for a recall referendum to force him from office.

The judges decision allows the court itself to approve Mr. Maduros budget, which he is expected to present by decree on Friday. The move caps a yearlong effort by the leftist government to use the courts, which are controlled by Maduro loyalists, to neutralize the Congress.

It could also forecast a more aggressive campaign by Mr. Maduro to derail the recall referendum.

Mr. Maduro came to power in 2013 upon the death of Hugo Chavez, the charismatic former army officer who founded Venezuelas populist, leftist movement. But after Mr. Maduros own election three years ago, the price of oil, which had financed Mr. Chavezs many ambitious programs, went into a global tailspin.
BERLIN  A 22-year-old Syrian who the authorities said planned an imminent terrorist attack in Germany but was detained by fellow refugees committed suicide in a jail cell on Wednesday evening.

The suspect, Jaber al-Bakr, took his own life at the jail in Leipzig, where he had been taken after being detained early Monday, according to Jorg Herold, the spokesman for the Justice Ministry in Saxony, the German state where the events unfolded.

Mr. Herold said he could not confirm news media accounts, which cited unnamed justice sources, as saying the Syrian had hanged himself.

A senior intelligence official, who insisted on anonymity to discuss a sensitive national security case, said hours before the suicide became known that Mr. Bakr had been refusing to cooperate with investigators, who suspected that he was in contact with the Islamic State.
Twenty20 chief coordinator Sabu M Jacob has said his party is against mixing politics with religion.
THE BESSIES (Tuesday) The New York Dance and Performance Awards, known as the Bessies after beloved dance teacher Bessie Schonberg, honor local choreographers and performers across a wide range of artistic styles. The event, open to the public, doles out awards and features several performances. This year, that includes Donald McKayles seminal Rainbow Round My Shoulder and a tap tribute to the lifetime achievement recipient Brenda Bufalino. At 7:30 p.m., Howard Gilman Opera House, Brooklyn Academy of Music, 30 Lafayette Avenue, at Ashland Place, Fort Greene, 718-636-4100, bessies.org. (Schaefer)

 COMPANY WANG RAMIREZ (through Saturday) Its not easy to blend dance styles: The result can be cute at best, or just awkward. Honji Wang trained in ballet and martial arts; Sebastien Ramirez is a b-boy. Their sharp, captivating show Monchichi works because the stylistic blend is seamless  and they both look great. (So does the simple, elegant set.) Ms. Wang is Korean-German, and Mr. Ramirez is French-Spanish, giving the work a global appeal. The two are also real-life partners, so theres a subtle romantic angle, too (0:55). Friday at 7:30 and 9:30 p.m., Saturday at 7:30 p.m., Fishman Space, Fisher Building, Brooklyn Academy of Music, 321 Ashland Place, near Lafayette Avenue, Fort Greene, 718-636-4100, bam.org. (Schaefer)

 COMPANY XIV (through Nov. 12) Perhaps one of the first literary beauty pageants, the Judgment of Paris is a Greek myth in which the titular Trojan mortal must choose the fairest of three goddesses. Company XIV, the flirty collective created and directed by Austin McCormick, offers an adults-only interpretation of the tale and transposes it to a French dance hall where opera flair blends with burlesque naughtiness. The companys signature style embraces elements of ballet, circus and cabaret with song, dance and overall seduction. Contains partial nudity, 16 and older (2:00). At 8 p.m., Irondale Center, 85 South Oxford Street, Fort Greene, Brooklyn, companyxiv.com. (Schaefer)

DANISH DANCE THEATER (through Sunday) The future is dark and sleek, silver and shiny, filled with despair, but also hope. Thats a fairly well-trod conception  both visual and psychological  of what lies ahead for humanity, and its the world of Tim Rushtons Black Diamond. Mr. Rushton illustrates his vision with an electronic score and 16 statuesque dancers vamping in front of a giant princess-cut backdrop that morphs from dark to light, making our frightening future look remarkably glamorous (1:50). Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m., with 2 p.m. performances on Saturday and Sunday, Joyce Theater, 175 Eighth Avenue, Manhattan, 212-242-0800, joyce.org. (Schaefer)

ANNE TERESA DE KEERSMAEKER (Friday and Saturday) Dance and music are often tightly knit, but the celebrated Belgian choreographer Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker takes the relationship to a new level with Vortex Temporum, a recent work set to music of the same name by the composer Gerard Grisey. Each of the seven dancers from Ms. De Keersmaekers company, Rosas, shadows a member of the Ictus contemporary music ensemble in her precise and briskly fluid physical style (1:05). At 7:30 p.m., Howard Gilman Opera House, Brooklyn Academy of Music, 30 Lafayette Avenue, at Ashland Place, Fort Greene, 718-636-4100, bam.org. (Schaefer)
The London-born painter Cecily Brown is known for stormy, intensely colored canvases, usually abstract, which depend for their effect not on any overall argument or scheme but on a sheer profusion of rapid, discontinuous strokes.

They stand or fall according to some mysterious magic achieved by no one choice but by all of the artists choices together. Some are thin, some are earnest, some are charming, but whether you like them or not, what they really demonstrate is the power of repetition  a power on even clearer display in Rehearsal, an expansive tour of Ms. Browns drawing practice ably curated by Claire Gilman at the Drawing Center. (The title is a play on the Old French verb rehercier, meaning to repeat something as a way of studying it.)

For years, Ms. Brown has taken the images that stay with her and drawn them, not just once but again and again. Sometimes these images are the overwhelming examples of her predecessors, like the masterly 18th-century debauchery of William Hogarths painting Strolling Actresses Dressing in a Barn or the postmedieval, religiously-tinged excess of Pieter Bruegel the Elders Fight Between Carnival and Lent. But she also plucks shimmering fragments out of the contaminated tide of sexual imagery that is a fact of modern life  and whether its the ecstatically endless variation of the unchanging act itself or the compulsive repetition of pornography, sex seems especially apropos.

One of the first drawings in the show, Untitled (Sweetie), is a sooty-gray watercolor showing two versions or sequential moments of a single sexual encounter between a naked man on his back and a woman in thigh-high stockings. On one side, the figures are mere outlines and the woman, with intricately feathered hair but only a gray bar for a face, stares directly at the viewer; on the other, everything is in shadow except her breastbone as she tilts her head to the side and turns her fully realized face away.
While the paintings represent chic, modern women who belong to a world of elegance and luxury, they also have the effect of exoticizing and etherealizing their subjects. As the art historian Jill Lloyd observes in her catalog essay, they seem both women of their time and timeless symbols of femininity, at once contemporary and archaic.

Ms. Lloyd avers that while Klimts preoccupation with women in the full range of his art may well relate to a personal obsession, it also seems likely that Klimt viewed the subject of women as a key to the modernity of his art. His portraits, she observes, embody allusions to the women question that are far from straightforward to read. In light of the ways women are represented in popular culture today, these ideas are as relevant now as they were a century ago.

The exhibition, which includes a selection of life drawings as well as numerous pieces of jewelry, decorative objects and furniture designed by Wiener Werkstatte artists like Josef Hoffmann and Koloman Moser, doesnt go much into Klimts personal life. But the catalog does. He was, as Ms. Lloyd puts it, a serial philanderer. He never married but is believed to have fathered 14 children by his models and other working-class women. But he also had a lifelong companion and confidante in the dress designer and business woman Emilie Floge, though whether they were lovers remains a mystery.

Did Klimt suffer from Sigmund Freuds Madonna-whore complex? Perhaps. In any event, his portraits of actual women are certainly exalting. Unfortunately, none of the explicitly erotic drawings he made of his models masturbating or of couples making love are included in the show for comparison with his more chaste portrait paintings here.
What took them so long?

Thats the only question for the Nobel committee that finally chose Bob Dylan to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature this year.

Its not as if some new work suddenly clinched the deal. Mr. Dylan has been recognized by anyone who cares about words  not to mention music  since the 1960s, when he almost immediately earned an adjective as his own literary and musical school: Dylanesque. His most recent album of his own songs was Tempest, back in 2012; since then he has been paying tribute to the so-called Great American Songbook of pre-rock pop, like Shadows in the Night, his 2015 album of songs Frank Sinatra had sung.

[ Bob Dylan wins the Nobel Prize in Literature| Our book critic on Bob Dylan, the writer ]

But theres no question that Mr. Dylan has created a great American songbook of his own: an e pluribus unum of high-flown and down-home, narrative and imagistic, erudite and earthy, romantic and cutting, devout and iconoclastic, finger-pointing and oracular, personal and universal, compassionate and pitiless. His example has taught writers of all sorts  not merely poets and novelists  about strategies of both pinpoint clarity and anyones-guess free association, of telegraphic brevity and ambiguous, kaleidoscopic moods.
A selected guide to concerts in the New York City area.

For full reviews of recent concerts: nytimes.com/music. A searchable guide to these and other shows is at nytimes.com/events.

CHVRCHES (Saturday and Sunday) Early this year, the energetic pop trio Chvrches, of Glasgow, briefly traded headlining festival sets and giant stages for a spell on the high seas, boarding a four-day cruise put on by the band Paramore. They zipped from Miami to Cozumel, Mexico, and performed selections from their catalog, including Every Open Eye (2015), the groups latest full-length release. Despite a bout of seasickness, Chvrches emerged unscathed. You can now see the band on dry land on two New York dates. Saturday at 8 p.m., Radio City Music Hall, 866-858-0008, radiocity.com; Sunday at 8 p.m., Terminal 5, 610 West 56th Street, Clinton, 800-745-3000, terminal5nyc.com. (Paula Mejia)

DIE ANTWOORD (Monday) In an interview with the Canadian cultural publication Exclaim last month, one of the two South African rap agitators in Die Antwoord, who goes by Ninja, insinuated that the duo would be saying goodbye next year. But Yolandi Visser, the other half of Die Antwoord (which means the answer in Afrikaans), quickly denied the breakup rumors and said that 2017 was shaping up to be a landmark year for the pair, who are working on a new album and shooting a feature film. At 8 p.m., Terminal 5, 610 West 56th Street, Clinton, 800-745-3000, terminal5nyc.com. (Mejia)

JULIANA HUXTABLE (Friday) Juliana Huxtable was once a legal assistant for the American Civil Liberties Unions racial justice arm. Now, the multidisciplinary artist, poet and D.J. makes art thats equal parts colorful, cryptic, captivating and challenging  and a perfect fit for the internet age. My works are avatars for the constantly growing list of references in my head, Ms. Huxtable told Vogue in 2015. Some of them are political ideas, some of them are aesthetic ideas, but to me the clearest way I can translate them is through portraiture and through text. She will be spinning at Villain alongside contemporaries including Chino Amobi, Elysia Crampton and Them Flavors D.J.s. At 10 p.m., 50 North Third Street, Williamsburg, Brooklyn, markethotel.org. (Mejia)
In the opening episode of the new Amazon series Goliath, Billy Bob Thornton, playing a Los Angeles lawyer who has seen better days, snaps: I used to handle 20 cases at a time. I think I can handle two.

Was this David E. Kelley, who, with Jonathan Shapiro, created and wrote the show, getting in a little dig at himself? You could imagine  actually, it was hard not to imagine  Mr. Kelley saying: I used to handle three shows at a time and write 50 or 60 episodes a year. I think I can handle a 10-episode web series.

As a group, the most successful of the old-school broadcast-network producers  people like Dick Wolf, Chuck Lorre and Jerry Bruckheimer  have resisted the lure of the streaming services. Mr. Kelley used to be in that league, but his last real hit was Boston Legal eight years ago. So when Goliath was announced, you could hope that the creative freedom offered by a short-season online production (which Amazon took straight to series, without requiring a pilot) would have a rejuvenating effect. Through two episodes, the jury is still out.
Im the first person wholl put it to you, Bob Dylan said in a 1978 interview, and the last person wholl explain it to you.

The Swedish Academy, which awarded Mr. Dylan the Nobel Prize in Literature on Thursday, has put it to us, and it has no explaining to do to most readers and listeners, however much they might have been pulling for Philip Roth or Don DeLillo or Margaret Atwood.

This Nobel acknowledges what weve long sensed to be true: that Mr. Dylan is among the most authentic voices America has produced, a maker of images as audacious and resonant as anything in Walt Whitman or Emily Dickinson.
Ive been bingeing on a lot of anti-Hillary Clinton books lately. Some of their gripes are legitimate and verifiable; some are halfway down the six-lane expressway to bonkersville. But of all the unlikely themes to emerge from them, of all the conspiracies they propose and the outrages they cite, the strangest of all is quite straightforward: that Mrs. Clinton is a potty mouth.

Its hard to convey how pervasive this notion is. Some of these books are as obsessed with her supposed coarseness as they are with Travelgate, Benghazi, Vince Foster and missing emails. In Edward Kleins Guilty as Sin, which came out last week, roughly two-thirds of the anonymously sourced quotations attributed to Mrs. Clinton are salted with obscenities. Its enough to make you wonder if the woman has David Milch on monthly retainer, generating her dialogue.

In light of the recently leaked audiotape of Donald J. Trump talking to Billy Bush of Access Hollywood, this fixation with Mrs. Clintons language makes for a uniquely peculiar reading experience. Mr. Trumps comments werent just foul in style, but in content: He declared that his celebrity allowed him to grab attractive women by the genitals (I am paraphrasing here, but for the four Martians who havent heard it, lets just say he wasnt delicate about his choice of terms); he used the F-word as a verb, and not in the sense of gaslighting someone or telling a menace to buzz off.

Yet Mr. Trumps supporters, as weve seen, do not care if he is a vulgarian. That, arguably, is precisely what they admire about him  that he says what he thinks, that political correctness gives him a rash. His words were simply locker room talk, the muscular flourishes of an alpha male. But the prospect of a blaspheming Hillary Clinton is clearly repulsive to those who despise her. What is it about female profanity  or her possible profanity specifically  thats such a potent signifier? What is it a conservative shorthand for? Because the text here is not subtle.
LONDON  Deutsche Bank has instituted a companywide hiring freeze as the embattled lender looks to speed up efforts to reduce costs and regain the confidence of investors as concerns mount about the progress of its turnaround, according to a person familiar with the banks plans.

The bank, Germanys largest, has seen its stock price decline more than 50 percent in the last year as it has posted a string of poor financial reports and struggled with difficult markets. Its American subsidiary failed a stress test by the Federal Reserve in June.

The International Monetary Fund also said in a report on the German financial industry this year that Deutsche Bank appeared to be the most important net contributor to systemic risks. The I.M.F. did not step back from that view this month.

Its shares have been pushed to new lows in recent weeks on worries that the lender may be forced to pay billions of dollars in fines in the United States Department of Justices investigation of its underwriting of residential mortgage-backed securities. The Justice Department has proposed that the bank pay as much as $14 billion to settle the case.
After years of behind-the-scenes planning, Goldman Sachs is opening its new online lending platform, Marcus, on Thursday.

Borrowers will be able to visit Marcus.com and apply for unsecured loans of up to $30,000 to refinance their credit card debt or pay for a household project.

The new site takes an unusually casual tone for Goldman as it tries to lure in customers.

Debt happens  and it can happen to anyone. We created Marcus to help you better manage it, the site says.

No jargon. No tricks. Just straight talk, it promises.

Initially, applications will be limited to people who get a code from Goldman in the mail. Goldman said this week that it would send the code to millions of people. The company is focusing on customers with a credit score above 660, so-called prime credit.
The fake accounts scandal that has plagued Wells Fargo has now taken down its chief executive.

The abrupt resignation of its chief, John G. Stumpf, on Wednesday is a startling end for a man who started out as a repo man and went on to oversee one of the largest banks in the United States.

Timothy J. Sloan, the banks chief operating officer and president, will replace Mr. Stumpf.

In an interview, Mr. Sloan  who had known for several days that Mr. Stumpf was preparing to step down  said Mr. Stumpf told him of his decision to retire after concluding that he would most likely continue to be the focus of much of the criticism being leveled at the bank.

It was an incredibly selfless decision, Mr. Sloan said.

Some of Mr. Stumpfs biggest critics in Congress, Senator Elizabeth Warren and Representative Maxine Waters (both Democrats), approved of Mr. Stumpfs resignation but called for more action.

As I said at the hearing last month, Mr. Stumpf should resign, return every nickel he made while this scam was going on, and face an investigation by the Justice Department and S.E.C., Ms. Warren said in a statement. So far, hes one for three.
LONDON  Months after Britain voted to leave the European Union, the first tangible victim of that decision has emerged and, like the 28-nation bloc itself, it is something that has divided the country for years: Marmite, a sludgy and odd-tasting breakfast spread.

Since the June referendum, many who voted for withdrawal from the European Union, a process known as Brexit, have brushed off concerns that a recession was possible or that car manufacturers and banks based in the country might leave. They have even celebrated the pounds recent fall to a 31-year low, arguing that a weaker currency is good for exporters.

But they probably never thought it would come to this.

Fears that Marmite and other British classics, like the PG Tips brand of tea, might disappear from store shelves had gripped Britons after reports that the supermarket chain Tesco and the owner of those brands, the British-Dutch consumer goods company Unilever, were locked in a price dispute over who should bear the cost of the weakening pound. Marmite was briefly unavailable in Tescos online market, and store supplies dwindled.
SAN FRANCISCO  As Snapchats parent company prepares to go public, it has turned to some familiar faces to help shepherd it through the process.

In picking Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs as the lead banks for an initial public offering of stock, the social media company Snap Inc. has hired two of the banks that worked on the $25 billion stock market debut of the Chinese company the Alibaba Group, the biggest I.P.O. on record.

They will be working hand in hand with Imran Khan, who was Credit Suisses top internet investment banker and is now the chief strategy officer of Snap.

Officially, six banks led Alibabas initial offering. But Credit Suisse and Morgan Stanley did much of the work on the deals prospectus and the early preparation for the offering and ended up taking home the biggest percentages of fees paid to the six lead underwriters.
Clara, now a widow and portrayed by the great Sonia Braga, is the last remaining resident of Aquarius and is determined to resist the efforts of the buildings owners to get rid of her. Sometimes this involves tense, decorous exchanges with the proprietors grandson (Humberto Carrao), a young man with a slick, ingratiating manner and a North American business degree. At other times low-level harassment and passive-aggressive revenge is involved. Clara, whose walls are lined with LPs and decorated with movie posters (Stanley Kubricks Barry Lyndon figures prominently) is adamant in her refusal to budge.

At stake is not just one womans comfort but also everything she represents. Ms. Braga is a living embodiment of the glories of Brazilian cinema, and Clara, while a less-celebrated figure, is in her own way an avatar of the nations cultural traditions. The author of a monograph on the Brazilian composer Heitor Villa-Lobos, she is a musical connoisseur with eclectic tastes (she likes Queen as well as samba) and a rigorous, passionate ear. She is not an easy person to deal with, but there is no denying the force of her personality, the reach of her intellect or the intensity of her appetites.

Mr. Mendonca Filho invites the audience to take Clara on her own terms, without pity or condescension, and he insists at every moment on her individuality. Her temperament is woven from a unique blend of sandpaper and silk, and most of the film is devoted to exploring its textures and seams. The main plot  Claras battle with the financial expedience and bottom-line corruption of the real estate company  flickers in and out of view, so that we can spend time in her company. Which means that we also get to know her children, her beloved nephew, her long-serving housekeeper, her best friend and the professional help Clara hires when she wants sex and grows impatient with dating men her own age.
With the glossy Coming Through the Rye, the director James Sadwith pays heartfelt tribute to both J. D. Salinger, the reclusive writer of The Catcher in the Rye, who died in 2010, and the book itself. He also affectionately fictionalizes his own past (he wrote the script), drawing from his actual meeting in adolescence with Mr. Salinger.

It is 1969, and 16-year-old Jamie Schwartz (Alex Wolff) is hopelessly alienated at a boys prep school. Tormented by his peers and identifying with Salingers hero Holden Caulfield, he has adapted and is determined to mount a stage production of Rye, encouraged by a teacher (Adrian Pasdar). But first he must secure Salingers blessing. So he sets off, with the aid of a sprightly, sensible townie, DeeDee (Stefania Owen), for the authors home in New Hampshire. (That state is played by the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia, lovingly shot by Eric Hurt.) The journey succeeds, at least as far as a meeting with Salinger, and in terms of cementing Jamie and DeeDees intimate bond.

Mr. Sadwith  a seasoned television writer, director and producer making his feature debut  adds faint echoes of Catcher while lending a polished veneer, most evident in a romantic scene amid swirling milkweed seeds. Mr. Wolff is appealingly earnest (but lacks Caulfields caustic edge), while Ms. Owen is a radiant burst of optimism. As Salinger, the formidable Chris Cooper has a brief but masterly turn, sympathetically rendering the writer as a curmudgeon defending his literary offspring. Go do something of your own, he tells Jamie. Mr. Sadwith eventually did.

Coming Through the Rye is rated PG-13 (Parents strongly cautioned) for language and mature themes.
It all boils down to daddy issues.

In its grueling scenes of martial-arts training, The Accountant suggests how cruelty in the name of teaching self-defense can destroy a child. The victim, Christian Wolff (played by Seth Lee as a boy and Ben Affleck as an adult), is mercilessly disciplined by his father, a sadistic, controlling military psychologist. It turns Christian, who is autistic, into a grim automaton mumbling gibberish and prone to tantrums. When dissatisfied with himself, he beats his legs with a wooden stick and practices other forms of self-torture. Eventually he runs wild like a cyborg on a shooting spree.

Who knows why Mr. Affleck, looking appropriately dead-eyed and miserable, committed himself to this laborious ultraviolent brain tease of a crime thriller. The movie, directed by Gavin OConnor (Tumbleweeds), makes little sense. The screenplay, by Bill Dubuque, is so determined to hide its cards that when the big reveal finally arrives, it feels as underwhelming as it is preposterous. And Mr. Affleck, despite a meticulous performance, never uncovers a glimpse of his abused characters humanity beyond Christians carefully delineated symptoms.
Some of Cai Guo-Qiangs art exists for mere moments. But my, how long it sticks in the mind. That enchantment is at the center of Sky Ladder: The Art of Cai Guo-Qiang, a documentary that is as rewarding as this artists work.

Mr. Cai traffics in many mediums  sculpture, painting, installation. Yet hes especially known for his work with gunpowder and fireworks. Hes created large-scale shows for the Beijing Olympics and other high-profile events. At his Ninth Wave exhibition in Shanghai in 2014, he shot enormous clouds of (environmentally safe) powder into the sky, in effect painting the air. As shown here, its wondrous.

Image Mr. Cai in the documentary. Credit... Wen-You Cai/Netflix

Sky Ladder, his most personal piece, has been his white whale. The project has been canceled or delayed multiple times over two decades, and the film follows as he again tries to build this burning ladder that will stretch upward some 1,650 feet.
ELIZABETH, N.J.  More than three weeks after the bombings in New York City and at the Jersey Shore, the man accused in the attacks pleaded not guilty on Thursday to charges relating to the attempted murder of police officers.

The man, Ahmad Khan Rahami, who appeared in Superior Court here via video conference from his bed at University Hospital in Newark, said little, generally giving one-word answers to questions. Mr. Rahami, 28, has been in the hospital recovering from gunshot wounds since his capture on Sept. 19 in Linden, N.J.

It was the publics first glimpse of Mr. Rahami since he was loaded into an ambulance after a shootout with officers that ended a search for the person responsible for planting bombs here, in Seaside Park, N.J., and in Manhattan.
A citizens complaint accusing Gov. Chris Christie of official misconduct in the closing of traffic lanes at the George Washington Bridge in 2013 can proceed, a municipal court judge in New Jersey ruled on Thursday, raising the possibility that Mr. Christie could face a criminal indictment.

The judge, Roy F. McGeady of Bergen County, found that there was probable cause to believe the governor had engaged in official misconduct in connection with the lane closings, as claimed in a complaint filed in September by William J. Brennan of Wayne. As a result of Judge McGeadys ruling, the Bergen County prosecutors office must now decide whether to seek an indictment against Mr. Christie.

The unexpected development, which unfolded in a courtroom that typically deals with relatively minor crimes, is the latest problem for Mr. Christie, a Republican, related to the lane closings.

In his complaint, Mr. Brennan, a retired firefighter with a history of filing lawsuits against government agencies, accuses Mr. Christie of failing to order subordinates to reopen access lanes to the bridge in Fort Lee on Sept. 11, 2013, the third consecutive day the lanes had been closed.
To the Editor:

Re Hungarians Vote Against Migrants, With a Catch (news article, Oct. 3): As one of the more than 200,000 Hungarian refugees who escaped to the West in 1956, may I point out a fundamental difference between refugees then and (some) now. Not one of us had the slightest intention to do any harm to the countries that were kind enough to take us in. On the contrary.

Some of us made big contributions to the economies of the United States, Britain and Australia, to name but three. Take Andy Grove of Intel or all the professors from the great universities, doctors, business people, writers and musicians.

With the 60th anniversary of the Hungarian Revolution in a few days, may I say a big thank you to all who gave us shelter. I dont think that we have let you down.

ANDREW FRANKL

Belvedere, Calif.
SAN JOSE, Costa Rica  The key to protecting Antarcticas Ross Sea may well lie with Russia. On Monday the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources, comprising 24 nations and the European Union, will discuss, once again, the creation of a large, marine protected area in the Southern Ocean. All but one of the commission members has supported safeguarding this vital region and its threatened inhabitants. The holdout has been Russia, which has blocked similar efforts in recent years.

But there are reasons to hope that this year may be different.

The commission was created in 1982 to avert the overfishing and deterioration that is happening throughout the worlds oceans. Antarctica is particularly vulnerable because so much life there depends on one tiny creature, the krill. Penguins, whales, seabirds and seals all eat krill, as do many other marine animals. These shrimplike invertebrates are the linchpin of the entire ecosystem, and it was the increasing commercial exploitation of this creature that led to the international commissions creation and the growing awareness of the vulnerability of Antarcticas ocean.

Its easy to take such resources for granted since 70 percent of the planet is covered by water. But human influence and interference has grown enormously as weve harnessed technology to plumb the marine depths and scoop up the bounty. For instance, while most of us dont eat krill, we now use them to feed farm-raised salmon and incorporate them in cosmetics and nutritional supplements. The faster gathering and processing of these tiny creatures threatens to remove a key source of nutrition from the Southern Oceans food web.

Oceans are under stress across the globe. Climate change, overfishing, habitat destruction and pollution endanger not only marine animals but also food, jobs and communities. The oceans provide us with more than 80 million metric tons of fish each year. But the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization estimates that about 89 percent of global wild fish stocks are either overfished or fully fished, a worrisome trend when fish remain a key source of animal protein for over half the worlds population. Ocean acidification, caused by atmospheric carbon dioxides being absorbed by the seas, could make as much as 10 percent of the Arctic Ocean corrosive enough to dissolve the shells of sea creatures by 2018, with much worse to come.
Paris  I spend a lot of time listening to parents around the world complain. In Kiev recently, a working mother told me the joke about how Ukrainians are raised by same-sex couples: their mothers and grandmothers.

How hard or easy it is to raise kids, especially while working, is a big part of peoples well-being everywhere. This topic rarely gets much traction in American politics, but its become an issue in this election. Even Donald J. Trump, when he isnt boasting that he can grab women by their genitals, claims he wants them to have a better work-life balance.

There is a dawning sense among voters that our lack of government support for child care, and the anxiety this causes, isnt normal. In other rich countries  heck, even in Ukraine  parents get the states help in their childrens early years. Americans get practically nothing.

What we do get is a pervasive national angst. A forthcoming study in The American Journal of Sociology finds that Americans with children are 12 percent less happy than non-parents, the largest happiness gap of 22 rich countries surveyed. The main sources of parents unhappiness are the lack of paid vacation and sick leave, and the high cost of child care, the authors said.
As the overseer of the Decision Desk, I have to separate the personal from the political with regards to operations, but from my own Twitter account, Ive made it clear how I feel about the blatant racism expressed by the alt-right. But my greatest animosity isnt targeted at them, because you will always have a small contingent of people with radical beliefs that wont gain lasting traction outside of forums and anonymous trolling. My disappointment is saved for the websites and institutions that employed a lot of these writers, linked a lot of their material, even promoted some of it, and only became outraged when they themselves became the target.

Toni Some conservative right-wing radio talkers and Trump himself have stoked the fear of a brown nation  saying this is the last race the Republican Party can win because of the future population changes from immigration. Within that thought, of course, is the deeply pessimistic notion that blacks and Hispanics could never be persuaded to vote for Republicans. You live in California, which already has the diverse demographic that many on the alt-right view as a nightmare. Whats your view on the Republicans prospects for broadening their base?

Brandon Republicans effectively have no choice but to adapt: My son was born the year when annual white births were a plurality, no longer the majority. Even if you halted immigration completely, my generation is having kids, and it is the most diverse of any the nation has seen. Barring a massive population growth initiative within the alt-right yielding turn-of-the-last-century-size families, the era of a majority-white population is ending.

The changing makeup of the country isnt the real problem the Republicans face. They must have a very clear set of unifying goals. Whats the goal for the party these days? One wing wants no amnesty, the other wants an open border. Social conservatism is seeing uneven success and was outright rejected in many ways in favor of a New Yorkers populism. What does the party, as a whole, even believe in anymore?

Perhaps instead of either writing off minorities or blatantly pandering to them, the party needs to examine itself carefully and ask what it really wants to achieve. Look at state-level successes: Arguably the most popular governor in the nation is Larry Hogan. He ran against runaway taxation and government excesses coming at the expense of suburban Marylanders, won, and is the favorite next year in no small part because of the way he has governed since. People of all stripes will be more attracted to a party with a clear goal, making the party less vulnerable to the inevitable changes occurring in this country.

Toni Tell me a bit about Decision Desk HQ. It reads a bit like a Disney movie: A ragtag volunteer team takes on the mighty Associated Press. What is the goal?
Mr. Jones has had several bursts of mainstream attention. In 2011 he aired an interview with Charlie Sheen that led to the actors dismissal from the sitcom Two and a Half Men. Two years later he started an online petition to deport the CNN host Piers Morgan, a British citizen, from the United States because of his advocacy of gun control laws.

Mr. Morgan invited Mr. Jones onto his show to debate gun control, but it quickly devolved into more than 10 minutes of red-faced screaming by Mr. Jones, who affected a British accent and called Mr. Morgan a hatchet man of the New World Order.

I am here to tell you, 1776 will commence again if you try to take our firearms, he yelled. Doesnt matter how many lemmings you get out there on the street begging for them to have their guns taken, we will not relinquish them. Do you understand?

What Does He Believe?

Mr. Jones has described himself as a libertarian. Many of his views mix traditional conservative critiques of government with wild-eyed delusions about globe-spanning conspiracies. His main focus is a supposed liberal plot to seize peoples guns and install a tyrannical world government.

There is almost no major news event that Mr. Jones has not woven into that conspiracy narrative. He argues that the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and the Oklahoma City bombing were inside jobs committed by rogue elements of the military industrial complex. He says the Sandy Hook shooting was a hoax perpetrated by forces hostile to the Second Amendment. The list goes on.
Nicolle Wallace, who was a spokeswoman for President George W. Bush, said she considered Mr. Epshteyn a friend and admired his political skills. He is everything you want in a surrogate because he believes in his candidate, said Ms. Wallace, now a political analyst for MSNBC.

Others have found his manner, which can quickly accelerate from reasonable to aggressive to dismissive, off-putting. He also has let his emotions get the better of him.

Two years ago, Mr. Epshteyn was charged with misdemeanor assault in Scottsdale, Ariz., after a bar fight. The charge was dropped after he agreed to undergo anger management counseling and perform community service.

Boris takes a certain amount of delight in trying to bully the interviewer, said Joy Reid, the host of a show on MSNBC, who has clashed with Mr. Epshteyn. He sees every night as combat and he goes in as very combative.

Three political commentators said in separate interviews that he often acted in a rude, condescending manner toward show staffers, makeup artists and others. The three, all of whom are opposed to Mr. Trumps election, spoke on condition of anonymity because they sometimes appear on air with Mr. Epshteyn.

What we consider before using anonymous sources. Do the sources know the information? Whats their motivation for telling us? Have they proved reliable in the past? Can we corroborate the information? Even with these questions satisfied, The Times uses anonymous sources as a last resort. The reporter and at least one editor know the identity of the source. Learn more about our process.

Boris is abrasive, Ms. Reid added. That is who he is both on the air and off.

Mr. Epshteyn said in an email that he absolutely disagreed with such remarks. I have utmost respect for all of the great people I have the pleasure to come in contact with, he wrote.

Image Boris Epshteyn

A Trump campaign spokesman, Jason Miller, declined to make Mr. Epshteyn available for an interview.

Boris Epshteyn is a tireless and effective advocate for our campaign, Mr. Miller said in a statement, adding that he was a positive influence for those helping to change the countrys direction.
Other news organizations, including The Palm Beach Post, BuzzFeed and People magazine, also reported on women who had troubling encounters with Mr. Trump, who said at the debate Sunday that he had never acted on his locker room talk in the 2005 recording.

In a series of messages posted on Twitter on Thursday morning, Mr. Trump called the Times article a total fabrication and denied charges by the People magazine writer, Natasha Stoynoff, that he had forced his tongue down her throat while she was working on an assignment about his first anniversary with his wife, Melania.

But at his rallies in West Palm Beach and later in Cincinnati, Mr. Trump also unveiled a new campaign strategy, beseeching his supporters to view him as a political martyr for their cause and stick by him in the face of ugly accusations about his personal conduct.

I take all of these slings and arrows, gladly, for you, Mr. Trump said to cheers in West Palm Beach. I take them for our movement, so that we can have our country back. Our great civilization here in America and across the civilized world has come upon a moment of reckoning.

Mr. Trump said that a conspiracy against you, the American people was underfoot, charging that the Clinton campaign, the news media and other forces were trying to vilify parts of the electorate that did not share their views.

The establishment and their media neighbors wield control over this nation through means that are very well known  anyone who challenges their control is deemed a sexist, a racist, a xenophobe and morally deformed, Mr. Trump said. They will seek to destroy everything about you, including your reputation. They will lie, lie, lie, and then again, they will do worse than that. They will do whatevers necessary.
Later, at the evening rally in Wilkes-Barre, Mr. Trump raised more concerns about voting fraud. I just hear such reports about Philadelphia, he said. I hear these horror shows, and we have to make sure that this election is not stolen from us and is not taken away from us.

He added for emphasis: Everybody knows what Im talking about.

The crowd chanted an anti-CNN epithet as Mr. Trump attacked the crooked media.

At a rally in West Palm Beach, Fla., on Thursday, Mr. Trump said that, This election will determine whether we remain a free nation or only the illusion of democracy, suggesting that the system was in fact controlled by a small handful of global special interests, rigging the system. He continued, And our system is rigged.

The country has not had a presidential candidate from one of the two major parties try to cast doubt on the entire democratic process and system of government since the brink of the Civil War, said Douglas Brinkley, a presidential historian at Rice University.

I havent seen it since 1860, this threat of delegitimizing the federal government, and Trump is trying to say our entire government is corrupt and the whole system is rigged, Mr. Brinkley said. And thats a secessionist, revolutionary motif. Thats someone trying to topple the apple cart entirely.

Roger J. Stone Jr., a close confidant and informal adviser to Mr. Trump, has also highlighted fears of election rigging. In an August column in The Hill, he wrote of voting machine manipulation. And during a panel Saturday at this years New Yorker Festival, as he discussed the possibility of such tampering, Mr. Stone hedged when asked whether he would advise Mr. Trump  should he lose in November  to concede the election and accept its legitimacy.
Mr. Osinbajo described the girls as being in reasonably good health considering the circumstances theyve been held in. He added that they would stay in a medical facility for some time, until were reasonably satisfied of their health condition.

As for the other girls held by Boko Haram, Mr. Osinbajo suggested that in the next few days, the next few months, we should be able to bring in more of these girls, along the same lines, using exactly the same negotiations.

But he warned that the government, which is waging an aggressive campaign to fight Boko Haram and regain territory seized by the group, had the fate of the nation to consider as well.

We want to ensure that we bring these girls back alive, Mr. Osinbajo said. At the same time we, of course, balance this against the overall safety and security of the country.

Relatives of the girls rejoiced, even before they knew whether their kin were among those freed.

Lawan Zanna, the father of Aisha Zanna, one of the abducted girls, said by telephone that he hoped his daughter had been freed. All of the parents are very happy hearing that they have released our daughters, he said. All are our daughters.

Another parent, Esther Yakubu, said by telephone that she was praying that her daughter Dorcas was among those released. They say its only 21, she said. Most of them are still out there, and we want them to come back.

Manasseh Allen, a native of Chibok whose cousin was abducted, said in a phone interview that he hoped more girls could be rescued. Once we have 21 parents now linked up with daughters, at least we have solved a good part of the problem, he said. So many will be hopeful that their daughters have been brought back.
UNITED NATIONS  Kenya was seething. In the spring of 2015, its leaders complained that a wave of terrorist attacks had been planned in a refugee camp for Somalis. Shut it down, Kenya demanded of the United Nations refugee agency  or we will shut it down for you and send the Somalis packing.

The man in charge of protecting the worlds refugees at the time, Antonio Guterres, shuttled from his headquarters in Geneva to Mogadishu to meet with the Somali president, to Nairobi to meet with the Kenyan president, and on to the refugee camp, Dadaab.

His diplomacy led to a deal to keep the camp open, send home only those Somalis who wanted to return, and rally more international aid for Somalia and Kenya.

It was not a perfect deal, said Bill Frelick, the refugees expert at Human Rights Watch, but Mr. Guterres contained a potentially explosive situation  at least for a while.
BEIJING  A typical big company is chock-full of bosses, from the basement mail room all the way up to the executive suite. Even at the top, those in charge sometimes have to answer to big investors pushing for change.

China has said it wants to make its bloated state-owned companies more like that: Hungry, results-oriented and responsive to shareholders.

But this week, Chinas top leader made clear to the chiefs of the countrys biggest companies that there is only one boss who matters. In an unusual meeting that ended on Tuesday, President Xi Jinping announced that the Chinese Communist Party had the ultimate say over state companies.

Party leadership and building the role of the party are the root and soul for state-owned enterprises, said Mr. Xi, who is also the partys general secretary, according to the states official news media. The partys leadership in state-owned enterprises is a major political principle, and that principle must be insisted on.
NEW DELHI  The government of the Maldives announced on Thursday that it would leave the Commonwealth, saying it had been treated unjustly and unfairly over questions about its human rights record.

In September, the Commonwealth warned that it might suspend the country for what the organization described as its failure to address several threats to democratic governance.

In a statement, the countrys Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the decision was difficult, but inevitable.

The decision further isolates the tiny archipelago nation during a turbulent political moment. After three decades of authoritarian rule, the Maldives elected Mohamed Nasheed as president in 2008 in its first democratic election. In 2012, he was pushed out of office in what he said was a military coup and imprisoned under an antiterrorism law that critics say was abused. In the last year, the government of the current president, Abdulla Yameen, has prosecuted officials and members of the political opposition amid a growing international outcry.
HONG KONG  President Rodrigo Duterte of the Philippines was elected in May after pledging to kill 100,000 criminals in his first six months in office, vowing that fish in Manila, the capital, would grow fat from eating the bodies of drug dealers and other do nothings.

In Mr. Dutertes first three months as president, his bloody campaign led to the killing of about 1,400 drug suspects by the police and hundreds of others by extrajudicial means, according to official estimates. He has also publicly accused thousands of government officials of being involved in the drug trade, in some cases offering no evidence.

The campaign has taken particular aim at people who use or sell shabu, a cheap form of methamphetamine that has caused grave health and social problems across the country. Mr. Duterte has likened shabu addicts to zombies and claimed  absent evidence  that many are no longer viable for rehabilitation because abusing the drug shrinks their brains.

What is methamphetamine?

Methamphetamine is an addictive stimulant that can be made from ephedrine and other readily available chemicals. It typically comes in either tablets, called yaba in parts of Asia, or crystalline form. The first variety is common in mainland Southeast Asia, and the second  known as shabu, ice or crystal meth, among other names  is more popular in the Philippines and many other countries. It also tends to be more potent and more deeply intertwined with international drug manufacturing and smuggling networks, according to a report by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.
When Mr. Duterte likened himself to Hitler, his supporters rushed to defend him on social media, arguing that the comment was precipitated by a remark by former President Benigno S. Aquino III, who compared Mr. Duterte to Hitler five months earlier.

The argument aligned with ones made the same day by administration officials. It is a matter of record that the reference to Hitler did not originate from the president, his spokesman Ernesto Abella said in a statement.

A pro-Duterte site went further, posting photographs of two Reuters journalists it accused of causing the furor by misrepresenting Mr. Dutertes words, and calling for their punishment. The post was shared thousands of times on social media and whipped up an untold number of commenters, who created a flurry of threats and insults. Mocha Uson, a blogger with 4.2 million followers on Facebook, shared the images, adding the caption in Tagalog, Enemies of change.

Critics of Mr. Duterte have been threatened with rape and a variety of deaths, including by hanging, drowning and, as one pro-Duterte doctor suggested to Emily Rauhala, who has written about the Philippines for The Washington Post, that she crawl back into her mothers uterus and suffocate.

Mr. Andanar said that the administration did not condone threats of violence on social media. So far, none has been carried out.

However, he said, I cannot blame the Duterte social media patriots when they protect the president and when they do everything that they can to pounce on the enemy.
King Bhumibol Adulyadej of Thailand, who took the throne of the kingdom once known as Siam shortly after World War II and held it for more than 70 years, establishing himself as a revered personification of Thai nationhood, died on Thursday in Bangkok. He was 88 and one of the longest-reigning monarchs in history.

The royal palace said he died at Siriraj Hospital but gave no further details.

King Bhumibol was a unifying figure in a deeply polarized country, and his death cast a pall of uncertainty across Thailand, raising questions about the future of the monarchy itself.

The military junta, which seized power in a coup two years ago, derives its authority from the king. But the kings heir apparent, Crown Prince Vajiralongkorn, seen by many as a jet-setting playboy, is not held in the same regard as his father.
His son, Crown Prince Vajiralongkorn, who for years has spent most of his time in Germany and who has a reputation as a jet-setting playboy, is expected to take the throne. It was unclear whether he would have the same moral authority to insert himself into the nations contentious politics.

On Thursday evening, the crown prince unexpectedly said he was not ready to become king and requested more time to grieve the loss of his father, General Prayuth told reporters. The 64-year-old prince, who has been the royal heir since 1972, wants to wait until an appropriate time to take on the mantle of monarch, the prime minister said.

Thailands National Assembly, which had been expected to crown a new king, convened in the evening. Members stood in silence for nine minutes  the king was the ninth in his dynasty  but adjourned abruptly soon afterward without taking further action.

Thai news media reported that Col. Sansern Kaewkamnerd, the governments chief spokesman, asked all TV channels to show only the government channels programming during a 30-day mourning period.

Throngs of people had gathered at Siriraj Hospital on Thursday afternoon as rumors of the kings death spread. Many wore pink, the color thought to bolster his health, and knelt on the ground to pray for his recovery. At one point, the crowd chanted, Long live the king. By then, it was too late.
The crown prince has delayed his coronation, saying that he wanted to grieve for his father with the country. A top official said the coronation would take place after the kings cremation, after a yearlong mourning period.

Where does the military stand?

In 2014, the junta overthrew the elected government for the second time in a decade and suspended most of the Constitution. Gen. Prayuth Chan-ocha was installed as the prime minister and chief of the junta, a move that the king blessed. The coup was seen as a victory for the political elite and a defeat for a rising populist movement.

In August, voters backed a new Constitution, written by the military, that reduces the power of political parties and gives the military the authority to appoint members of the Senate. The junta restricted political assemblies and criticism of the referendum in the months leading up to the vote. As many as 120 people were jailed by the ruling generals.

What happens next?

General Prayuth announced after the kings death that officials in the government and at state enterprises would begin a year of mourning starting Friday. Flags will fly at half-staff for 30 days, and he urged the public to refrain from holding any celebrations during that period.
NEW DELHI  Finally coming to terms with the enormity of its tuberculosis problem, India is preparing a radical overhaul and expansion of its national treatment program to fight an affliction that kills more adults worldwide than any other infectious disease.

The severity of the matter was underscored on Thursday when the World Health Organization substantially increased its estimate of the number of new patients with TB in India, to 2.8 million in 2015, compared with 2.2 million in 2014  more than in any other country in the world and more than a quarter of the world total.

The organizations estimate of new global TB patients rose to 10.4 million, from 9.6 million a year earlier, in large part because of the revised numbers in India. But increases were noted in Indonesia and several other countries.

The revision in India follows a study published in August in the journal Lancet Infectious Diseases that estimated the number of Indians afflicted with TB at 3.6 million, about 50 percent higher than previous Indian government and W.H.O. figures for 2014.
SYDNEY, Australia  Two 16-year-old boys who were arrested carrying bayonet knives in a Sydney suburb were planning an imminent attack and had been inspired by the Islamic State, the police said on Thursday.

The boys, whose names were withheld because of their age, had been under surveillance when they were arrested on Wednesday in Bankstown, a southwestern suburb, the police said. They were charged the next day with preparing to commit a terrorist act, which is punishable by life in prison, and membership in a terrorist organization.

Catherine Burn, deputy police commissioner for the state of New South Wales, which includes Sydney, said at a news conference on Thursday that the police did not know of a specific target that the boys had chosen but that based on their actions it is enough to say they were planning an imminent attack. She said, We will be alleging that this attack was inspired by Islamic State.

The Australian police say they have prevented 11 imminent terrorist attacks since September 2014. Last month, a 19-year-old man who the authorities said had plotted to run over and behead a police officer during a parade in Melbourne last year was sentenced to 10 years in jail.
LONDON  In the Netherlands, a country vaunted for its liberalism, a proposal to legalize assisted suicide for older people who are generally healthy but feel they have led a full life has stirred up an ethical storm in some quarters.

In 2001, the Netherlands became the first country in the world to legalize euthanasia for patients who were suffering unbearable pain and had no prospects of a cure.

Now, some critics say the country has gone too far with a proposed law that would allow people who are not suffering from a medical condition to seek assisted suicide if they feel they have completed life. Proponents of the law counter that limiting assisted death to patients with terminal illnesses is no longer enough, and that older people have the right to end their lives with dignity, and when they so choose.

Edith Schippers, the health minister, read a letter to the Dutch Parliament on Tuesday defending the measure. It is needed, she said, to address the needs of older people who do not have the possibility to continue life in a meaningful way, who are struggling with the loss of independence and reduced mobility, and who have a sense of loneliness, partly because of the loss of loved ones, and who are burdened by general fatigue, deterioration and loss of personal dignity.
The authorities in the eastern German state of Saxony struggled to explain on Thursday how a Syrian refugee suspected of planning an imminent terrorist attack had been able to kill himself in his jail cell, saying we did everything possible to prevent it.

The suspect, Jaber al-Bakr, 22, apparently hanged himself with his T-shirt. His death is almost certain to add to pressure on the state and federal authorities to improve coordination among the patchwork of agencies responsible for law enforcement.

Mr. Bakr, who was taken into custody by the police early Monday after he was turned in by other Syrian refugees, averted a first attempt by the security services to capture him on Friday. He committed suicide Wednesday night in his Leipzig jail cell, a spokesman for the Justice Ministry in Saxony said.

This should not have happened, said Sebastian Gemkow, the justice minister for Saxony. But it unfortunately did.
The resolution, promoted by Arab parties and similar to one adopted a year ago, stirred outrage in Israel because its wording appeared to negate any historical Jewish connection to the sacred mount, revered in Judaism as the location of the two ancient temples. It also seemed to question the Jewish connection to the Western Wall, a retaining wall of the mount and the holiest place where Jews can pray.

To say that Israel has no connection to the Temple Mount and the Western Wall is like saying that China has no connection to the Great Wall of China or that Egypt has no connection to the pyramids, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a broadcast statement. By this absurd decision, Unesco has lost what little legitimacy it had left.

Mr. Rivlin also denounced the resolution earlier in the day. The Palestinian leadership welcomed it.

The meeting of religious leaders at Mr. Rivlins official residence in western Jerusalem resulted from months of negotiations and dialogue begun by the Washington Institute for Near East Policy based in the United States.

When we see a complete impasse at the political level were looking for ways to have an impact on public opinion on both sides, said David Makovsky, a scholar at the institute who helped lead the initiative. Religious figures might not have the power but they have enormous influence, especially in the Middle East, he said, where religion and nationalism are intertwined.

Mr. Makovsky emphasized that Thursdays encounter was just a beginning. No one meeting is transformative. The hope, he said, was to have a follow-up meeting in the Palestinian Authoritys administrative capital of Ramallah in the West Bank.

Sheikh Mahmoud Habbash, the head of the Sharia court who also serves as the Islamic affairs adviser to President Mahmoud Abbas, was the lone Palestinian leader to allow his name to be mentioned in the statement. But he refused to comment on it when reached by telephone after the meeting, saying that he would not go beyond the statement, in which he was not directly quoted.
Laverne Cox was on the 102nd floor of One World Trade Center, gazing north through the floor-to-ceiling windows. Manhattans skyscrapers glinted in the midday sunlight.

Ive been missing New York so much, she said, reaching out as if to embrace the city. Im scared of heights, but oh, my God, to get back and to get to see this. Its like ummmm-mmhhh!

She waved to the spire of the Empire State Building, saying that its near her current apartment, a rent-stabilized place she moved into while still a struggling actress. I aint going nowhere, she vowed in true New Yorker style.

This striking Emmy-nominated transgender actress and activist, best known for her role as Sophia, a transgender inmate on Orange Is the New Black on Netflix, was back in the city for a quickie visit in late August.
A Scandal in Paris and Lured both feature protagonists who cross over from a particular unsavory milieu to become respectable enforcers of the law. In Sirk on Sirk, a book-length conversation with the British journalist Jon Halliday, Sirk explains this notion of shifting identity, noting that both Sanderss and Balls characters seem to others to be something different from what they really are.

The same might be said of their director, who was generally seen as a hack throughout his time in Hollywood. Sirk would maintain that A Scandal in Paris was his favorite movie despite, or perhaps because of, its poor reception. The New York Times called it a pedestrian and listless adventure, bemoaning the lack of scandal promised in the title; The New York Herald-Tribunes critic found a lamentable absence of finesse.

Actually, Sirks finesse was so fine as to be almost invisible. A Scandal in Paris belongs to a small cycle of 1940s costume dramas (Max Ophuls and Albert Lewin directed kindred movies) that sought, with varied success, to import European sophistication. Droll and fanciful, it is a picaresque tale with a mischievously understated attitude. Sirk puts no particular emphasis on the ridiculous ease with which Vidocq dupes and manipulates others  it is simply the way of the world.

The movie is also amusingly self-reflexive. Even on the lam, Vidocq pauses to pose for an artist in the role of St. George with his criminal sidekick (Akim Tamiroff) lending his face to the dragon. This painting, of course, proves prophetic. It also adds to the movies oddball bestiary: an aristocratic dowager who sleeps with her pet monkey, Satan; an ex-chief of police reduced to peddling caged birds that are carried on his back; and outsize papier-mache swans that adorn a fantastic carousel in several key scenes. The studio sets are something like Sirks playground, filled with bric-a-brac allowing the director a number of antic juxtapositions.

An independent film produced by Sirks fellow European emigre Arnold Pressburger, A Scandal in Paris features an uncharacteristically light score by the Marxist modernist Hans Eisler, Bertolt Brechts sometime collaborator. While one can never be sure of Sirks intentions, it does seem as if he entertained himself by treating European history as the stuff of operetta, infused with what he describes in Sirk on Sirk as an American surrealism.
MAPLEWOOD, N.J.  Few things are more awesome than listening to kids playing on the playground. Theres magic in that mix of laughter and exhausted breaths  giggle, pant, giggle.

Just the other Saturday at Maplewoods Memorial Park, I was watching my 5-year-old playing with his friends from day care. The kids have just started kindergarten and are now split up among four schools. Some industrious mom had the idea to get them together again.

It was a great idea. It was also the moment when I saw the messy birth of my sons otherness.

They were playing on one of those spinning things  you know, the one where kids learn about centrifugal force and as a bonus get crazy dizzy. They were having a blast.

Only white people, said a little girl.

I heard it, but I wasnt quite sure thats what I heard.

Not you, youre black, said the girl, reaching out to touch my son. Youre not white. Only white people can play.
But the overall impact of these social changes on womens work-family choices is distressing.

Housework and child-rearing have always fallen on womens shoulders, even during the Mao era, when women were held up by the government as mens equals. Their responsibilities increased in the reform period, beginning in early 1980s, as the state rolled back child care support and the middle class began to invest in early-childhood education. In the meantime, women also began to pursue careers of their choosing, and to compete with men under the new rules of the market economy.

While many mothers, like my own, managed to juggle their domestic duties and professional tasks with remarkable grace, the demands on women without significant spousal support or social policy protection create an impossible balancing act.

Raising two children in Beijing would definitely cost me my job, a friend who works in marketing at Google in Beijing confessed to me, explaining why she would not take advantage of the end of the one-child policy.

Also daunting is the widespread pregnancy discrimination in the workplace. A woman used to have an easy time finding a job after she had given birth once, said a classmate at my high school reunion. Now employers have reasons to worry twice.

While these issues may resonate in the context of Western feminist debates, they are so new to China that the public still has little expectation of positive change. My suggestion to my female friends that fathers should take half of the child rearing and housework responsibilities is often met with a surprised look or a smile of disbelief.

Its not only children putting caregiving demands on urban Chinese women. Elderly populations in Chinese megacities have soared  for example, in Shanghai nearly 30 percent of the 14 million residents are older than 60, an increase of over 5 percent from a year ago  straining the countrys rudimentary system for caring for the urban elderly. Seeking to shift some of the burden to families, the government passed a law in 2013 requiring adult children to visit their parents regularly.

But the decree merely reflected what was already taking place. Married couples care for their elderly parents in most urban families, studies show, with the bulk of the responsibilities falling on women. Wives are often expected to care for their own parents as well as their husbands.
When Mark DeBolt, a hair colorist, moved to New York from his native Minneapolis nearly four years ago, he lived in Brooklyn for a while and then headed to the West Village.

I always saw the West Village as a storybook part of New York City, so I wanted at least a year there, he said. It was like living on a movie set.

From his tiny studio on the fourth floor of a walk-up, which he rented for $2,475 a month, it was a short walk to work at the Marie Robinson Salon in the Flatiron district.

But living in a single room started to make me crazy, said Mr. DeBolt, 31, who also works as a hair-color expert for Wella Professionals. It was too easy to mess up one little room.
Some wines require a rigorous application of brain power to extract meaning and pleasure. Sherry, for example. Others, like pinot noir, go straight to the heart.

If you were to select a red for a curious alien who wondered about this thing called wine, pinot noir would be an excellent candidate for inviting further inquiry.

More than many other red wines, pinot noir lends itself to extravagant descriptions. Its glorious aromas and complex flavors, which seem to shift shape moment to moment like clouds drifting across the sky, inspire the sort of grocery-list descriptions that break down a wine into pieces but never capture it in its entirety.

Here at Wine School, we prefer to examine a wines character rather than list its characteristics. That is, we try to find meaning in the details. The wines weve been drinking for the last month, pinot noirs from the Willamette Valley of Oregon, offer much material for interpretation.
The best memoirs operate at two levels. On one, the author simply recalls past experiences in all their raw subjectivity. The second involves a certain analytical distance, as the writer  wryly, perhaps, or with amusement  watches his younger self coming to terms with a society and an era, subjecting this immature version to the same meticulous scrutiny as the epoch in which he was raised.

Dreams in a Time of War (2010), the first in a series of autobiographical volumes being written by Kenyas most celebrated novelist, performed effortlessly at that more sophisticated level. In it, Ngugi wa Thiongo recalled a boyhood growing up in a Kikuyu compound outside Nairobi in the 1940s and 50s, when the Mau Mau uprising challenged British rule. He exposed the imperial projects inherent racism while acknowledging its transformative impact on reluctant subjects. The tone was calm and nuanced, with his polygamous fathers cruelty toward his mother coming in for as much criticism as the arrogance of British officialdom, and due recognition paid white teachers at Alliance High School, who opened up the world to questing African pupils.

In this, his third memoir, that critical distance has gone. Ngugi is now in neighboring Uganda, attending the prestigious Makerere University. One gets a sense that Ngugis worldview in his early 20s differed only superficially from his worldview today, now that he is in his late 70s, so perhaps detachment has become impossible. This is an angry book, peppered with memories of slights, insults and arguments that may date back more than half a century but clearly have lost none of their bite.

It opens with a slap-in-the-face incident. The National Theater in Kampala has refused to stage a one-act play the student Ngugi has written  The Wound in the Heart  because the story features the rape of a Mau Mau rebels wife by a white district officer. The British Council, he is told, does not believe a British officer can do that. Ngugi, whose family spent years in one of the fortresslike protected villages created to curb Mau Maus reach and whose own brother joined the movement, knows better.
For the fifth year, echoes of blues, reggae, rock and country will fill the air of Waverly - a town with a little more than 100 people - setting the scene for a full day of festivities at the Fall Boogie No. 5 on Saturday.

With its beginnings as a spring event more than 16 years ago, the Waverly Old 280 Boogie overflowed into the fall in 2011. Now, each year artisans, musicians, chefs, farmers and artists of all kinds gather for a day-long festival.

Saturdays Boogie will run from 11 a.m. till 8 p.m., with seven bands and 18 food, art and farm vendors next to the Standard Deluxe, a design and silkscreen print shop that hosts the event each year. Boogie-goers are invited to bring a blanket, small cooler and the whole family to enjoy the sounds, sights and tastes of the event.

Standard Deluxe owner Scott Peek said the event is a great opportunity to bring folks together, emphasizing that its a family-friendly event.

There will be newborns and then therell be grandmothers, Peek said, adding that they have a range of ages every year.

The Corey Harris Band, based out of Richmond, Virginia, will headline the musical performances, going on at 7 p.m. Best described as a reggae-blues band, Peek said he has been trying to get the band to play in Waverly for a while and is looking forward to hosting them this weekend.

Other performances will include Dylan LeBlanc, The Pollies, Vulture Whale, Kelsey Waldon, Soul Coalition and Early James.

Food vendors will include Jim N Nicks, King of Pops out of Atlanta, Mama Mochas coffee and several others. Prints from artists, repurposed jewelry and hand-crafted leather accessories are among other vendors.

Jeanne Flint, who has sold her hand-made sterling silver jewelry at the Boogie the last two years, said she is looking forward to another year of participating in the event.

I absolutely love it, because it seems like he touches on all the points: the local growers, the chefs from the community, the musicians, Flint said. Theres a special little something thats going on there at Standard Deluxe and it just brings in amazing artists. Its a great thing for the community and the community really comes out and supports.

For Mayor Elect of Waverly Taylor Melzer, who has attended the Boogie since its inception, the festival is a chance to connect with more than 1,000 of his closest friends.

Im not big into sports, but its like a town-wide tailgate, Melzer said. Its just all the people Ive been seeing there for years now, now theyre married and theyve got kids and its become even more of a family affair because people keep coming back over the years.

About 800 to 1,000 people usually attend the fall event, Peek said, growing the towns regular population by about 10 times for the day.

Tickets for the Boogie are $20 online until midnight Thursday when they will go up to $25 online and at the gate. Children 14 and under get in free.

No dogs or glass bottles are allowed at the event, and smoking is only allowed in designated areas. The event is rain or shine. For details or to get tickets, visit standarddeluxe.com.
'We Tried to Hurry up With Jasprit Bumrah For T20 World Cup And Look at What Happened': Chetan Sharma
Lee County Sheriffs Office

 A second-degree theft of property and a third-degree burglary were reported Wednesday at 5:19 p.m. in the 800 block of Lee Road 281 in Salem.

 Third-degree burglary and fourth-degree theft of property were reported Wednesday at 11:30 a.m. in the 6800 of U.S. Highway 280 East in Salem.

 First-degree theft of property and fourth-degree theft of property were reported Wednesday at 12:52 a.m. in the 70 block of Lee Road 2007 in Opelika.

Auburn Police Division

 Fraudulent use of a credit/debit card and illegal possession of a credit/debit card were reported Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. in the 700 block of Cary Drive.

 First-degree theft of property, second-degree criminal trespass and criminal mischief-damage to business property were reported Wednesday at 9:30 a.m. in the 1700 block of East Glenn Avenue.

 Unlawful breaking and entering a vehicle was reported Wednesday at 9:15 a.m. in the 2300 block of Bent Creek Road.

 John Williamson Caldwell IV, 26, of Dadeville, was arrested Wednesday and was charged with driving under the influence of alcohol.

Opelika Police Department

 A first-degree theft of property occurred between Oct. 7 and Wednesday in the 2200 block of Anderson Road.

 An identity theft occurred between Tuesday and Wednesday in the 500 block of Hunter Street.

Valley Police Department

 Third-degree domestic violence and interference with a domestic violence emergency call were reported Wednesday.

 First-degree theft of property was reported Wednesday in the 3300 block of Hopewell Road.

Tallapoosa County Sheriffs Department

 A resident of Chiquapin Pass filed a report Wednesday for theft of property.

 Fredrikis heard was arrested Wednesday in the courtroom at the Tallapoosa County Courthouse in Dadeville for a grand jury indictment for second-degree rape.

 Jeanelle Whitmore was arrested Wednesday in the courtroom at the Tallapoosa County Courthouse in Dadeville for grand jury indictments for first-degree theft of property and first-degree theft by deception.

 A resident of Tank Road filed a report Wednesday for domestic violence.

 A resident of Sanford Road filed a report Wednesday for domestic violence.
Director Gavin OConnors thriller The Accountant almost seems like an excuse for Ben Affleck to try his hand at playing a math whiz for once. But Afflecks Christian Wolff is a far cry from Will Hunting. Chris is a high functioning math savant on the autism spectrum, who finds solace in ritual, routine, patterns and finishing his tasks. He leads an unassuming and mundane life in rural Illinois as a strip mall accountant, but of course what looks simple and quiet never is.

His unique gifts allow him a lucrative side-hustle as a forensic accountant for some of the scariest people on the planet, according to Ray King (J.K. Simmons), director of crime enforcement at the Department of the Treasury. But that part of his life isnt so much what The Accountant is about. Theres no globe-trotting or cavorting with cartels and mob bosses. The film is a bit of a bait and switch. We think were diving into the antithetical world of the criminal accountant, but what the film wants to explore is where Chris came from and how he works.

Hes from a family ruled by an authoritarian hand by his military psychologist father, who whipped his neuro-divergent son into a super fighter for self-defense purposes. When he works, whiteboards cant contain his extensive, meticulous, nearly supernatural methods. He accepts payment in the form of priceless pieces of fine art. He spends a portion of his nights listening to cacophonous music and battering his leg with what appears to be a rolling pin. He relaxes by shooting cantaloupes with long range anti-aircraft weapons.

While King and an upstart Treasury analyst (Cynthia Addai-Robinson) are hot to uncover Chris identity (it involves Googling Lewis Carroll a lot), he takes a gig hunting for a financial leak at biomedical company Living Robotics. Its the gig that undoes him, as he connects with young accountant Dana (Anna Kendrick), and runs into foes he never saw coming.

The Accountant isnt quite a twisty tale, but it revels in slow-burning reveals that range from the blatantly obvious  clearly intended to make the audience feel smart  to the entirely inexplicable and confounding. Theres also a double whammy of button-cute ending twists.

The film is far more potboiler thriller than prestige picture, but Affleck is fun to watch in this against-type performance. In flashbacks, we see Chris struggle with his neurological condition as a young boy, and Affleck takes those tics and tantrums and turns them into grown-up quirks and tendencies. Theres often a dry humor to his deadpan and awkward interactions, and the laughs are a welcome tonic in the otherwise cold and violent film.

The cast is a great strength of The Accountant  in addition to Simmons, the beloved character actor set is rounded out with Jeffrey Tambor, who plays Chris mentor, and John Lithgow playing the Living Robotics founder, as well as Jean Smart as his sister and business partner. Kendricks own tendency toward the neurotic is well-channeled into her character.

There are many story threads left dangling, as if they were planning a sequel to this hero origin story, wherein the accountant finds deductions and loopholes and leaks for the worlds super-villains. The result is that it feels not quite done, a good idea thats only half-baked.
COSTA MESA  Who needs polls when you have the cosmos?

Astrologers are vowing this week to use charts and the alignment of the planets and the sun to determine the outcome of the U.S. presidential election.

UPDATE: Astrologers say the planets are aligned for a Clinton victory

Around 500 of them from as far as India, Turkey, Serbia, Croatia and Argentina will descend on the Hilton Orange County/Costa Mesa Thursday for a four-day conference where they will also make predictions on global financial markets, relationships and spiritual and karmic life phases.

The focus of this conference is the art and technique of forecasting, said Shelley Ackerman, an astrologer and spokeswoman for the events organizers, the International Society of Astrology Research. Were looking at the chart of the candidates and the United States.

The symposium will feature 70 workshops and classes on topics ranging from relationships to spiritual development and self-evolution.

American and international astrologers will reveal and explain their predictions during two panel discussions. The presidential panel discussion is at 7:30 p.m. Thursday.

Its also to test how good they are, Ackerman said. How do you make your forecast? Is it based of the chart of the candidate or the nation?

Multiple astrologers have said Republican nominee Donald Trump was born on a full moon and that his chart shows Uranus, a planet of unpredictable events.

Trump would be the third Gemini president if elected, preceded by John F. Kennedy and George H.W. Bush, Ackerman said.

Hillary Clinton, on the other hand, shows strong Gemini-Uranus influences, according to some. She would be the sixth Scorpio in the White House.

Victory has been predicted for both candidates at one time or another during this election cycle, but most agree the race will be close, Ackerman said.

For the sake of accuracy, some experts have demanded the release of Clintons time of birth for a better understanding of her Zodiac sign.

The Democratic nominee has been labeled by some as the Mona Lisa of Astrology, said Ackerman, who once constructed President Bill Clintons natal chart, adding that people project their inner life on her.

On Friday, 13 astrological groups will present astrological techniques to the public in an open event.

Contact the writer: 714-796-2478 or lcasiano@scng.com
Theres a good chance The Accountant is not the movie that you think its going to be.

As advertised, it is a crime thriller in which Ben Affleck plays an autistic numbers whiz named Christian Wolff who cooks books for an international rogues gallery of dangerous characters. And shoots a lot of guns.

What you may not expect from Bill Dubuques original script is a complex, time-jumping puzzle mystery, or a precision action-spectacular that introduces the Indonesian martial art pencak silat to Hollywood, or a multifaceted character study with half a dozen meaty roles, or a very violent film that makes good use of subtle laughs.

Or this: Our hope is that the people in that community, on the spectrum of autism, like the movie and like that its a superhero story about them, Affleck says.

I read the script and thought it was one of the most freshly conceived, original pieces of storytelling that Id maybe ever read, with a character that was unlike anything that Id ever seen as a protagonist in a film, adds Accountants director Gavin OConnor (Miracle, Warrior).

Wolffs formidable set of skills, along with his hard-core devotion to order and morality, are gradually explained in flashbacks: how his military father (Rob Trevelier) trained both of his boys in protecting themselves and in loyalty, which to him was more important than understanding his eldest sons condition; how a sympathetic fellow math genius (Transparents Jeffrey Tambor) taught Chris the ins and outs of underworld accounting in prison; and even why the retiring head of the Treasury Departments Crime Enforcement Division, Ray King (J.K. Simmons), has personal reasons for tracking Chris down.

Anna Kendrick, Jon Bernthal, John Lithgow, Cynthia Addai-Robinson and Jean Smart also work rich characterizations. But its Afflecks remarkably controlled and efficient performance that, counterintuitively, draws most of the movies attention. It was as carefully built as one of Wolffs complicated audits.

Its a real contradiction, because one thinks of autism as limiting in various ways, particularly in terms of social interactions and expressiveness, says Affleck, who with OConnor met autism experts and numerous people on the spectrum before production. Its not that people on the spectrum arent expressive, but there can be some impairment of understanding social norms and that kind of thing. So the challenge was to communicate how he was feeling in different ways. It wasnt going to be he says what he thinks and then you get a sense of him and judge him that way.

We had to do it by other means. And the people that I researched and spent time with, I got a very clear sense of what they were thinking, what they were feeling, what their needs were because of the way they expressed themselves verbally, nonverbally, physically, things that they did and didnt say. It created an opportunity to make an interesting character thats rooted in something different than we see every day in movies.

Getting that across with generally minimal means in front of the camera was a whole other challenge.

Im very verbal, yknow, Affleck says. I like to talk and, sometimes, I suppose I move my hands a lot, too. But I wasnt able to rely on that so much. That was a challenge and it was really fun to rely on other means of expression. We are so expressive in so many different ways, we just dont realize it.

And when its time to fight, Wolff naturally goes at it in the most mathematically calculated way he can think of to use his entire body and whatever blades and ballistics hes brought along for the job. Pencak silat, which is about weaponizing the entire human form and anything it can throw, was the perfect discipline for this. Although cineastes and action fans were wowed by the martial arts cinematic awesomeness when they watched The Raid movies out of Indonesia, Affleck was unfamiliar with the form and, of course, trained assiduously at it before and during production.

The actor may be Warner Bros. current screen Batman, but The Accountant isnt that kind of superhero movie.

Gavin was very concerned about the action being real and good, Affleck says. So training was as much a part of this as it was for the Batman (v Superman) movie; even more so, because its a lot harder for a stuntman to do your stunt when youre not wearing a mask. I had to really be on top of my game and work hard with some really great professionals who really live this stuff and educated me about this fighting style.

Yes, Affleck was asked if he thought Chris Wolff could beat Bruce Wayne in a fight.

I thought about beating Jason Bourne! Affleck cracks, referencing his lifelong friend Matt Damons signature super-but-not-a-superhero movie character.

But what about getting Dubuque, whose Accountant script works a lot like a good comic book movies should, to write a screenplay for the DC Extended Universe? Affleck, after all, is now an executive producer of Warners comic book franchise. His Caped Crusader will put the band together in next years Justice League movie, and hes writing and will direct and star in what he revealed last week may or may not be called The Batman.

Affleck and Damon won Oscars for their own math savant script, Good Will Hunting, and he says hes taking his time to get The Batmans script to a place where we can be confident it will make a good movie. Im not going to go in and do that character and that genre without being 100 percent satisfied that I have a shot at doing something that Im proud of.

Yay. But the DCEU sure could use more screenplays crafted like The Accountants.

I would love for Bill to write anything! Affleck says. Hes very hot as a writer right now. Hes obviously very gifted and hes got a fresh, original voice and a lot of original ideas. Id love to work on something else he wrote, for sure. And I think that hed be great in the comic (book movie) arena.

With all of the elements OConnor had to juggle in The Accountant  puzzle pieces, character revelations, ensuring realism and respect in every autistic portrayal, keeping track of those crazy fights  the one quality he sounds most concerned about is one critics found lacking in the likes of BvS and Man of Steel.

I never touched the puzzle of the movie, but I really wanted to elevate it in regard to making it fun, the filmmaker says. I wanted it to be a fun movie; I was really going for that. You could have gone in many different directions.

The fun factor for Affleck  as it no doubt will be for audiences  was multiplied by the fact that the one thing he didnt have to really learn about was what Wolff does for a living.

Well, the maths easier to fake than the fighting, Affleck says with a grin. You just pretend I got the answer right.
Stoke is the surfing worlds word for happiness, excitement and all is well in the universe.

There were 110 stoked young surfers at the fifth annual Stoke-O-Rama, a celebration of surf that professional surfers Dane, Patrick and Tanner Gudauskas and their Positive Vibe Warriors Foundation produced Saturday at San Clementes T-Street Beach as a give-back to the community.

The three pro surfers grew up in San Clemente and live their dream traveling the world and surfing. They tapped their surf-industry sponsors to fund the event and provide prizes. The brothers underwrote the contest entry fees so local boys and girls 12 years and under could surf for free while taking home guaranteed goodies.

Dane Gudauskas on Wednesday said Stoke-O-Rama raised $10,000 to be donated to the citys Junior Lifeguard Program.

On the beach, each entrant received a goody bag with a certificate for Vans shoes, Electric sunglasses, a Vans beach towel, an Avilas Mexican Restaurant gift card, Jacks hat and more.

Throughout the day, there was a beach flags race, a sugar donut contest to see who could become the sandiest kid, a longest-time-in-your-wetsuit distinction, trivia questions and any other excuse to hand out more prizes.

And the surfing level? It was by far the highest weve had in Stoke-O-Rama history, Dane Gudauskas said. The girls talent level just exploded.

In the 12-and-under boys division, there were seven finalists, with Myles Biggs outpointing Tyrone Fomenko for the win.

Among boys 10 and under, Ben Brantell took the win over Makai Bray and other finalists.

Among girls 12 and under, Sawyer Lindblad was champion, Ezra McPhillips runner-up.

Among boys and girls 8 or younger, Kai Finn was No. 1, with Zeland Post runner-up.

All the finalists received Electric watches, plus a gift for each placing. Division winners were handed an oversized Vans shoe about half the size of their body, decorated with artwork by Dane Gudauskas.

The Timmy Dowell Sportsmanship Award went to Carson Kropfl, the Most Stoked Award to Zion Walla and the Midget Smith Inspirational Award to Dutch Altwood.

Stoke-O-Rama, born in San Clemente, has spread to Huntington Beach and to Makaha Beach, Hawaii.

See positivevibewarriors.com to learn more.

Contact the writer: 949-492-5127 or fswegles@ocregister.com
SANTA ANA  A murder conviction in a 1992 Santa Ana cold-case slaying was overturned this week after California appeals court judges questioned why jurors didnt hear a key witness statement.

The decision by the three-judge Fourth District Court of Appeal panel leaves county prosecutors to decide whether to re-try Darrell Lynn Booth for the Aug. 1, 1992 shooting death of Terry Ross in a 7-Eleven parking lot at 17th and Spurgeon streets.

That early morning, Ross and two cousins arrived in the parking lot at about 1:30 a.m. and were quickly confronted by other men. Words were exchanged, a volley of gunshots rang out and police arrived to find Ross dying and his cousins suffering from gunshots.

Witnesses and the surviving participants in the confrontation were largely unhelpful. But a neighbor saw the shooters flee the scene and provide a description of the vehicle.

Among those who spoke to police in the days after the shooting was Ellis Bradford, a security guard who witnessed the shooting and gave descriptions and street names for the members of the group accused of killing Ross. Apparently, the guard didnt mention seeing Booth.

Booths current attorney says that Bradfords recorded interview exonerates Booth. The recording wasnt heard in the original trial.

Police determined that the shooting stemmed from a fight at a liquor store several hours. But the case went cold and was shelved until 2009.

After the investigation was re-opened, an interview with Booths cousin, who had since been incarcerated for an unrelated murder, led police to arrest and charge Booth, Tommy Haslip and Terrance Timms with murder. Haslip and Timms both pleaded guilty to manslaughter.

On Dec. 6, 2011, jurors acquitted Booth of first-degree murder, instead convicting him of second-degree murder; he faced 15 years to life. No one located Bradford, who apparently moved in the 17 years since the killing.

The appeals court judges decided that the case should be retried, and that jurors should be allowed to hear Bradfords taped interview with police.

So long as the subject evidence is presented to the jury in a manner that protects Booths constitutional right to due process and a fair trial, the interests of justice will be served by allowing the prosecution  should they so choose  to retry him for the serious crime that occurred, the judges wrote in their ruling.

County prosecutors are weighing their legal options in the wake of the appeals court ruling, said Susan Kang Schroeder, chief of staff for the Orange County District Attorneys Office.

The conviction has been vacated now, so the D.A.s Office will decide to re-try the case, challenge the appeals court decision, or drop the charge. Prosecutors have 40 days from the issuance of the higher courts ruling to decide.

Contact the writer: semery@scng.com
At a rally in Flint, Michigan last week, a former U.S. president highlighted how American small businesses are getting killed by the Affordable Care Act. The ACA is just one of many recent regulations that is preventing American small businesses from thriving.

Beginning this year, businesses with 50 or more full-time equivalent employees became required by law to offer their employees health insurance. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, the average employer portion of an individual insurance premium is $5,300 (and $12,900 for a family). Multiply this added cost across the entire workforce and the getting killed perspective is immediately understandable.

Small businesses are also facing other new regulations that are adding thousands of dollars of costs per employee. California and New York, which together make up almost 20 percent of the U.S. population, recently passed $15 minimum wages, dramatically increasing the entry-level labor costs for businesses located there. (A $15 minimum wage was also passed in New Jersey but was stopped by the governors veto.)

On Election Day, voters in four states  Maine, Colorado, Arizona and Washington  will face ballot initiatives asking if they want to follow suit by passing their own dramatic wage hikes. Numerous other major cities like Seattle, Washington D.C., Baltimore and Minneapolis have passed or are considering their own $15 mandates.

A few dollar increase in the entry-level wage may not sound like a huge burden on first glance, but multiplied across a full-time schedule, it can amount to nearly $10,000 a year in extra labor and payroll costs per employee. For many small businesses this is an expense that cannot be absorbed.

Then theres the Department of Labors new overtime rule that takes effect this December. It requires salaried employees who earn less than $47,500 to be paid overtime pay for hours worked beyond 40 in a week. This doubles the previous overtime exemption threshold and amounts to a 150 percent marginal increase in labor costs.

In many cases, the costs of complying with these regulations swamp the value that the employee provides. The average profit-per-employee in the retail and restaurant sector is $6,300, according to an analysis by Andy Puzder, CEO of CKE Restaurants and member of the Job Creators Network. In other words, if the costs of employing a worker trump the value that worker creates, that job will likely become redundant.

Its no wonder then that employees bear the brunt of over-regulation. To avoid the ACAs employer mandate, many employees are seeing their hours cut to fewer than 30 per week (the full-time definition under the ACA). To absorb dramatic minimum wage increases, employees have been laid off or seen their shifts cut. And to comply with the new overtime mandate, employers are forced to switch their employees from a salary to hourly schedule, eliminating the flexibility and perks that come with salaried positions.

Over-regulation has broader consequences on the economy, job market and wages. Businesses try to comply with the costs of regulations by limiting expansion, job opportunities and pay raises. A recent JCN poll of small business owners finds that just one in five plan to hire additional employees over the next year. As a result, the country is experiencing almost no growth  the slowest post-recession recovery in U.S. history.

To address the over-regulation threat as well as other hurdles like over-taxation and lack of access to credit, the Job Creators Network is bringing small business owners, the public, and state and federal legislators together on a nationwide Bring Small Businesses Back bus tour this month, with 30 stops in 19 states. Recent events have featured legislators like Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey, Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, and House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Rep. Kevin Brady.

As recent high-profile comments about the ACAs impact on small businesses demonstrate, the importance of small businesses is a bipartisan issue. Its an American issue that needs to be brought to the forefront of public consciousness. By bringing small businesses and their legislators together, the BSBB bus tour is driving this issue forward.

Alfredo Ortiz is president and CEO of the Job Creators Network.
DANA POINT  Whale experts are calling a video of a blue whale nursing its baby calf just off the Dana Point Headlands an unusual and rare sighting.

The drone video taken by Frank Brennan, a boat captain for Dana Wharf Sportfishing and Whale Watching, shows an approximately 80-foot blue whale mom swimming north with her four- to six -month calf in tow. The pair were just off the Headlands when Brennan noticed them during a midday trip in June.

He watched as the calf arched up and then dipped down beneath the mother about halfway down along her left side. The mother stayed at the surface while the calf dipped below her. The calf stayed under her for about 30 seconds and then popped back up on her other side.

The calf repeated the behavior a few times, each time coming up on the alternate side. Then both animals arched up dove down in the ocean together.

The sighting was something Brennan, whos worked 20 years for Dana Wharf, said he had never seen before.

But for Alisa Schulman-Janiger, a marine biologist and director of the ACS-LA Gray Whale Census and Behavior Project at Point Vicente, the behavior was somewhat familiar.

Schulman-Janiger said she regularly sees the nursing behavior among the hundreds of gray whales that migrate off the Southern California coastline between the Bering Sea of Alaska and the birthing lagoons in Baja. Shes also observed nursing behavior in humpback whales, and a few times with fin whales and blue whales.



I have never seen actual nursing with clear underwater views as seen in this video, Schulman-Janiger said.

Blue whales nurse all the time but everything happens under water, she said. We dont get to see many blue whales and their calves in the first place. To see a blue whale and a calf nursing, everything has to come together perfectly.

Lei Lani Stelle, a biology professor at the University of Redlands, was excited to see the footage because it was unusually clear.

From a boat at the waters surface it is very hard to tell what the animals are doing, she said. It may be possible to infer nursing based on the calf swimming under the mom and neither one moving very quickly but it would be much harder to confirm. I was so excited when Donna sent me this clip as the nursing behavior is unusually clear.

Stelle, who does research work aboard some of the Dana Wharf boats during the summer months, said she has requested the unedited footage to analyze the frequency and duration of the nursing bouts.

Blue whales feed off Southern California but breed and give birth in warmer waters. Experts dont know much about their nursing behaviors because it is hard to document.

A female has a calf every two to three years at the most. They nurse their calves for about six months, so the young travel with the mom to the feeding grounds, where they will be weaned.

Donna Kalez, who runs Dana Wharf, recently found the footage when she reviewed some video taken this summer. Brennan had reported the sighting to her the day he saw it, but Kalez was busy and kept planning to review the tapes. The footage got buried with other videos until just days ago when she found it.

I had to ask a few of my captains what I was looking at, Kalez said. I also looked up a viral video that NatGeo released a few months ago on pygmy blue whale nursing. Then I was like, Wow, Frank really saw something cool.

In 2015, Mark Girardeau spotted a similar scene off Crystal Cove State Beach.

Contact the writer: 714-796-2254 or eritchie@ocregister.com or on Twitter:@lagunaini
FRESNO  A Central California criminal defense attorney who chairs the state board that probes allegations of misconduct against judges is being investigated by the Fresno County Sheriffs Office.

The Fresno Bee reports Anthony Capozzi is under investigation but the office wont say why.

No arrests have been made.

Sheriffs spokesman Tony Botti declined to discuss any allegations, saying the investigation is in its infancy stages.

He says detectives hope talk with Capozzi soon. Botti also says the investigation could involve others beside Capozzi.

His attorney, Carl Faller, says Capozzi was in San Francisco Wednesday and Thursday for a two-day meeting of the state Commission on Judicial Performance, which he chairs.

Attempts to reach Capozzi at the meeting were unsuccessful.

Faller says its unfortunate that the sheriffs office made a public announcement before contacting Capozzi.

He says Capozzi will cooperate with the investigation and provide any information detectives need.

Botti says he hopes to have more information about the allegations Thursday.
WASHINGTON  Just under a month from Election Day, Hillary Clinton is treating a trio of perennial swing states  Colorado, Virginia and Wisconsin  more like safe states.

The Democratic nominee isnt running television advertisements in any of the three states and has barely campaigned in them  her trip to Pueblo, Colo., on Wednesday was her first in that state since August. Even when the occasional public poll pops up suggesting a narrowing of the contest, particularly in Colorado and Wisconsin she doesnt budge.

Democrats confidence is driven by a changing population, Trumps stunning unpopularity with women and his struggle to make inroads with other crucial voting blocs, like Hispanics. Its freed Clinton to spend more time and money in places like North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Florida, three states that are a must-win for Trump.

The goal isnt to spread yourself thin or everywhere, said Joel Benenson, Clintons pollster and chief strategist. The goal is to concentrate your resources in a way that gives you the most and the best path to 270 or more electoral votes.

Clintons campaign still has a significant presence in the three states: 27 offices in Colorado, 34 in Virginia and 41 in Wisconsin. Running mate Tim Kaine has been making stops in some of the states, along with prominent supporters such as her husband and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders.

COLORADO

Clintons minimal presence in Colorado is striking compared with the significant time and attention President Barack Obama devoted to the state during his two elections. Obama was rewarded with wins both times, with his 2008 victory marking just the second time in 40 years that Colorado voted for the Democrat in a presidential election.

Democrats see Obamas victories as the start of a political shift thats made the Western battleground welcome territory for Democrats. The electorate is increasingly educated, affluent and heavily tilted to suburban women. About 20 percent of Colorado residents are Hispanic.

Voter registration numbers also tell a favorable story for Clinton. For the first time in more than 30 years, more Democrats are registered to vote in Colorado than Republicans.

The gold star for voter registration goes to Democrats, said David Flaherty, a Colorado-based Republican pollster. Looking toward future presidential elections, he said that while Colorado isnt totally out of reach yet for Republicans, population shifts are pushing in that direction.

Trumps best chance of overtaking Clinton in Colorado is if young people flock to Libertarian Gary Johnson, who has looked strong in the state but appears to be fading slightly in national polls.

Trump, who only recently started making multimillion dollar advertising buys, has spent about $2.5 million on spots in Colorado since early September, according to data from Kantar Medias advertising tracker. His campaign has an additional $2 million reserved there through Election Day, a paltry amount compared with what campaigns typically spend on advertising in battleground states.

VIRGINIA

Clintons campaign believes Virginia is swiftly moving from a swing state to reliably Democratic territory in presidential elections. Its a striking assessment given that Virginia hadnt voted for a Democrat in more than 40 years before Obamas first of two victories.

Like Colorado, Clintons comfort in Virginia comes from both a changing population makeup and Trumps struggles with suburban woman. The state continues to get less white, and its suburban areas, particularly in northern Virginia, keep adding more moderate and well-educated voters.

Still, Virginia has been a regular stop for Trump. Hes visited six times since the summer Republican convention and is spending about the same amount of money on television ads there as he is in Colorado.

Clinton? She hasnt visited Virginia since July. Her campaign stopped spending money on television advertisements the following month.

If Trump loses Virginia, hell need to find another way to make up a batch of electoral votes that successful Republicans have banked on. An upset in Wisconsin would get him most of the way there, but.

WISCONSIN

Wisconsin has voted for the Democrat in every presidential election since 1984. But with a largely white electorate, its a state where Republican presidential candidates often make an aggressive play and where Democrats spend money to hold them off.

Of all the swing states, Wisconsin was initially viewed by Trumps team as potentially favorable. At first glance, the states population would seem favorable for a candidate whose core support comes from white, working class voters. But Trumps brash brand of politics turned off Wisconsin conservatives in the primary and he was defeated handily.

Paul Maslin, a Wisconsin-based Democratic pollster, said Trump hasnt been able to make up ground with those voters

This notion that in Wisconsin he was going to have this magical white working class appeal and that was going to flip the state, that just hasnt happened, Maslin said.

Clinton isnt spending money on ads in Wisconsin and hasnt made a single campaign stop there since winning the Democratic nomination. Trump recently reserved about $600,000 in airtime in Wisconsin over the next few weeks.

Trump had hoped for a splashy show of party unity in Wisconsin last weekend, when he was scheduled to appear alongside Gov. Scott Walker and House Speaker Paul Ryan at a party event in their home state. But Ryan revoked the invitation to Trump after the release of a tape in which the businessman is heard making predatory sexual comments about women.

Associated Press writers Chad Day, Scott Bauer, Nicholas Riccardi and Alan Suderman contributed to this report.
IRVINE  Authorities are looking for a coyote that bit a 6-year-old boy in the Woodbridge community.

The incident happened around 7 p.m. Sunday while the boy was playing at Springbrook Park, Irvine police spokeswoman Kim Mohr said.

A coyote bit the boy on the arm and tried to drag him away, California Department of Fish and Wildlife spokesman Andrew Hughan said. His father, who was nearby, and bystanders were able to get the coyote to let go of the boy and scare it away.

The boy suffered minor cuts and scratches and bites on his arm, Hughan said.

Irvine is a hot spot for coyotes, unfortunately, Hughan said, adding that there were six confirmed cases of coyotes biting humans in Irvine last year.

Fish and Wildlife officials have been trying to trap the coyote since the incident. Typically, after an incident like this, they go out and catch a few coyotes over a few days before ending the search, Hughan said. The captured coyotes are euthanized because theres no way to hold them, he said.

Officials caught and euthanized one coyote Tuesday and planned to continue the search at least through Wednesday, Hughan said. They found little forensic evidence from the childs clothing, so it could be difficult to determine if the captured coyote is the one that attacked the boy, Hughan said.

Coyote sightings in Southern California have increased substantially in the past few years, Hughan said.

Irvine residents in Portola Springs were put on edge last year when there was a series of coyote attacks on children. Fish and Wildlife officials were able to trap and euthanize a coyote that was responsible for three of five biting incidents.

If you encounter a coyote, wave your arms, stomp your feet and shout to discourage it from approaching, Mohr said. Keep pets on a leash no longer than six feet and keep them indoors, especially after dark. Remove pet food, water, fallen fruit and open trash cans from around your home.

Irvine police ask residents to call 911 immediately if they are bitten by a coyote. To report a sighting in Irvine, email coyotesighting@cityofirvine.org or call 949-724-7092.

Contact the writer: tshimura@scng.com
I get it. Travel is expensive. But what if I told you that you can stay for free, all over the world? Yes, you can, though it might involve a little work on your part. Here are some ideas to get you started.

1. Take care of someone elses place.

Could you stand to live in a beautiful place for free, and maybe even get paid for it? Check out the Caretaker Gazette, which is chock-full of ads looking for people to house-sit and manage things ranging from an elderly cat in a house in England to working on a horse ranch in France or running a 2-acre, off-the-grid home-stead in Hawaii. Online access to the listings at Caretaker.org costs $29.95 per year, and the print version that has published bimonthly since 1983 costs $34.95. Learn more: Caretaker.org or call 206-462-1818. Theyre also on Facebook. Mailing address: The Caretaker Gazette, 2503 E. Martin Luther King Blvd., Austin, TX 78702-1448.

2. Join Servas.

Stay overnight for free with welcoming hosts through this club, which has been devoted to international understanding since 1948. Most visits last a maximum of three days and two nights. You must pay a small fee and get two letters of reference to join Servas, as well as meet with an interviewer for an orientation and identity check. Host families pay nothing, though they are invited to donate. If you are interested in meeting people from other countries but dont want to host overnight, you also can sign up to be a day host. Hosts reside in Italy, Kenya, Thailand and other countries. Learn more here: UsServas.org or call 707-825-1714. U.S. headquarters: 1125 16th St., No. 201, Arcata, CA 95521.

3. Join BeWelcome.

Meet locals in places you want to visit, get a free tour and maybe spend the night if you join BeWelcome.org, a free hospitality and culture exchange network. The purpose is to foster understanding among citizens of the world. For example, at this writing a French teacher in Cajarc, Midi-Pyrenees, France, was offering accommodation and a meal in her house; an administrator and dog lover in Arequipa, Peru, invited visitors; and many more. Its free to join. Learn more: BeWelcome.org

4. Be a crew member on a sailboat.

This gig is easier to get if you have experience sailing, but sometimes captains are willing to take on eager beginners. At this writing, owners of a charter yacht in the Virgin Islands were offering free, unpaid internships in the offseason to learn how to crew a boat. Check out the free FloatPlan.com website for listings, which right now include sailing from Sweden to Greece and from Florida to Central America. Youre responsible for getting yourself to the launch point, and in some situations you could be asked to chip in for food. Wish you could do this but have no experience? Head over to the OCC School of Sailing and Seamanship in Newport Beach and take some lessons. (OCCsailing.com)

5. Trade homes.

Ive done this numerous times. Were staying in a beautiful beachfront condo in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, in January for free, thanks to a home exchange we did last year. Your first step is to peruse home exchange websites and see if its for you. There are home exchange clubs for everyone from teachers to those who keep kosher as well as ordinary folks like me.

HomeExchange.com is the largest. Expect to pay a fee to join, but then all the exchanges are free after that. You post photos and a description of your house, and then look at others in places you want to go. You can do a simultaneous swap  they come to stay in your house while youre there  or a non-simultaneous trade, especially if its a vacation home.

You not only stay for free but often get to know your hosts and their neighbors, making it an easy way to explore the area. If the idea of strangers sleeping in your bed creeps you out, though, its probably not for you.

Got a good travel tip for me? Or a suggestion? Email me at mfisher@scng.com.

READ MORE CHEAPO TRAVEL HERE:
KIGALI, Rwanda  Lawmakers in Burundi overwhelmingly voted Wednesday in support of a plan to withdraw from the International Criminal Court, something no country has ever done.

The decision escalates a bitter dispute with the international community over the human rights situation in the East African country, which has seen more than a year of deadly violence after President Pierre Nkurunziza made a controversial decision to pursue a third term.

No state has withdrawn from the ICC, according to the Coalition for the International Criminal Court, a nonprofit that supports the courts work. The court prosecutes cases of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity.

We are very alarmed about the trajectory the country is taking, the U.N. human rights chief, Zeid Raad al-Hussein, said.

Ninety-four out of 110 Burundi lawmakers voted in favor of the withdrawal plan, months after the ICC announced it would investigate the countrys ongoing violence.

The decision, which also was unanimously adopted by the Senate, now needs the presidents approval.

U.S. State Department spokesman John Kirby, speaking to reporters on Wednesday, said withdrawing from the ICC would isolate Burundi from its neighbors and the international community at a time when accountability, transparency and engaged dialogue are most needed.

Some African countries have threatened a withdrawal from the Rome Statute, the treaty that created the ICC, accusing the court of disproportionately targeting the continent.

Only Africans have been charged in the six cases that are ongoing or about to begin, though preliminary ICC investigations have been opened elsewhere in the world.

Burundi civil society is clear that their government is withdrawing from democracy, human rights and the rule of law, not the ICC, said William R. Pace, convenor of the Coalition for the International Criminal Court. He added that African governments overwhelmingly voted for and ratified the ICC treaty, stating that they did not want a repeat of the Rwandan genocide, where there was a breakdown in the rule of law and justice.

Of the 124 countries that are parties to the Rome Statute, 34 are African, the largest continental bloc. The United States is not a party to the treaty.

Burundis decision is not immediate. Observers say a county wishing to withdraw from the ICC must write to the U.N. secretary-general stating its intention, and the withdrawal takes effect a year after the day the secretary-general receives the letter.

No such letter had yet been received, said the spokesman for the U.N. secretary-general, Stephane Dujarric. He pointed out that Burundi still would have to cooperate with any ICC proceedings that begin before the withdrawal takes effect.

Vital Nshimirimana, a Burundian rights activist, urged the U.N. to challenge the governments decision.

Already, we have information that intelligence agents are torturing, killing Burundians behind closed doors, he said. The world ought to rescue the people of Burundi.

Burundis government has repeatedly said it is the victim of propaganda by exiles and opponents who want to diminish its credibility.

Hundreds have died in Burundi since Nkurunziza last year pursued and won a third term that many call unconstitutional. Since the ruling party announced his candidacy in April 2015, Burundi has seen violent street protests, forced disappearances and assassinations. More than 260,000 have fled.

On Monday, Burundis government banned three U.N. human rights investigators from entering the country following the release of a report that cited massive rights violations allegedly perpetrated by security agencies.

The push among some African countries to withdraw from ICC began after the court indicted Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta on charges of crimes against humanity for 2007 post-election violence in which more than 1,000 died. The ICC prosecutor said threats to witnesses, bribery and lack of cooperation by Kenyas government led to the cases collapse.

Some countries want a separate African court with jurisdiction over rights abuses.
SANTA ANA  Library Operations Manager Heather Folmar had the nations highest honor for libraries and museums handed to her by first lady Michelle Obama at the White House several months ago, but reliving the moment with patrons on Tuesday night, I wanted to cry again, she said.

A slice of cake in hand, Folmar and more than 100 people at Santa Ana Main Library watched a recording of the Washington, D.C., ceremony and cheered. Santa Ana Public Library was one of only five libraries to win the 2016 National Medal for Museum and Library Service.

We were so surprised we got it, Folmar said. I cant tell you what it means to us, after so many years of slogging away and trying to move a mountain with a teaspoon, to finally feel that were making a difference and to be recognized is just unbelievable.

Santa Ana Public Library won the recognition in April not because its the biggest and fanciest of facilities  its not  but because of the uniquely tailored services and programs it provides to the citys large immigrant population.

With a main branch, a learning center and two community centers, the library serves about 500,000 patrons per year.

Oh, Chicago, Gerardo Mouet, executive director of the citys Parks, Recreation and Community Services Agency, said as the White House video moved on to awarding the Chicago History Museum.

And to think it was just a few years ago when the city was having major budget problems, they were contemplating on having the county take over the library, he said. It would have been a bad idea because we have a lot of programs, like this room is used for tutoring kids.

Mouet said the library would have had a public celebration for the award from the Institute of Museum and Library Services but staffers have been preoccupied with rearranging seating to the center of the building.

The reconfiguration has let the staff more easily watch behaviors of people, some of them homeless, Folmar said.

Contact the writer: 714-796-7762 or jkwong@ocregister.com or on Twitter: @JessicaGKwong
The $15 million renovation to the Nixon Presidential Library & Museum boasts nearly 70 new eye-catching, hands-on exhibits.

Here are five stops not to miss during your tour of the 18,000 square feet of overhauled museum galleries.

The Oval Office

Click on the photo below to check out a 360-degree panoramic view of the Oval Office replica at the renovated Nixon Library being unveiled on Friday:

Sit behind the historic Wilson Desk (a replica) and take a selfie (no selfie sticks allowed). A bust of Abraham Lincoln, a portrait of George Washington and circa 1969 deep-blue oval rug and California-gold furniture and drapes decorate the replica of Nixons Oval Office. Ask docents about the desk where Nixon signed the 26th Amendment lowering the voting age to 18 or to point out where the president placed his secret tape recorders.

The Vietnam War

On his first day in office, Nixon found a safe in a bathroom in the White House residence. Look at the troop report he left untouched inside for the remainder of his presidency as a stark reminder of the war.

Life-size statues of soldiers on the ground represent the 550,000 men deployed in Vietnam when Nixon became president. Listen to Nixon 1969 silent majority speech laying out his approach to the war. Artifacts include an American flag made out of fabric remnants by POWs.

Pats nook

Kids will have fun in Pat Nixons dressing room learning about her trips to China, Africa, Vietnam, Peru and the parks she visited throughout the country. Photographs, diaries and videos of Pat Nixon document the most widely traveled First Lady until Hillary Clinton.

Nixon in China

A 15-foot-tall image of Air Force One, which touched down in Peking on Feb. 21, 1972, is the background for life-sized, bronze-plated statues of Nixon and Premier Chou En-lai shaking hands depicting Nixons historic trip to China, the first for an American president. When our hands met, one era ended and another began, Nixon said of the historic handshake. Dont forget to pose for a photo in front of the Great Wall with the Nixons.

Lincoln Sitting Room

Nixons favorite room in the White House features a life-size statue of the president writing in one of his famous yellow pads. Two 98-inch windows with screens show issues facing Nixon: Vietnam War demonstrations, China, the Soviet Union, school desegregation. See his notes and hear his thoughts about how he approached conflicts during his presidency.

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Donald Trump would reverse our stumble into war with Russia. Republican and Democratic elites are operating from a false premise  that Russia would never use nuclear weapons. It is true that Russia is just a regional power when considering only conventional military weapons. Russia, though, is a nuclear super-power whose vital interests must be respected. This truism applies with even greater force where the U.S. is trespassing on matters where we lack vital interests. It is madness to risk nuclear conflict over trifles.

The Athenian historian, Thucydides, warned that nations start wars due to honor, fear and self-interest. As to honor, Russia was humiliated by the loss of its empire. Instead of folding up NATO, the U.S. forgot its quiet assurances to Russia never to expand our alliance to Russias borders. If Russia had allies in Canada and Mexico, and then moved to add Cuba to its empire, we would feel the same imperative to act. We would be especially wary if we had been repeatedly invaded, with the loss of millions of lives, as Russia has experienced.

Russia has every reasonable fear that the West, with its superior resources and sanctions, will squeeze Russia into subjugation. Russia was receiving half of its foreign currency from the sale of oil. With the drop in the price of oil from $112 to $47 a barrel, Russias trade revenue has plunged. In World War II, the U.S. similarly squeezed Japan, and the Japanese calculated that time was not their friend  resulting in their gamble to strike Pearl Harbor. The U.S. used nuclear weapons against the Japanese when it was in our interests to do so. We should not assume that a pressured rival would not do the same to us.

Russias vital interests are to retain access to its warm-water ports, to avoid encirclement and to build pipelines to sell its oil. Russias only warm-water ports are located in Crimea and Syria. Our moves against governments providing Russian access to those ports impelled Russia to use military force to protect its interests. The U.S. has nothing at stake in either place. Similarly, we should not add allies on Russias border who can offer nothing to our interests, and who we cannot protect. Post World War II, realism kept the U.S. from intervening militarily when Central Europe tried to free itself from the Soviets. The Baltics are right on Russias border, and putting troops there is a foolish provocation.

Russians love to play chess. Any chess-player can see that Russia would be checkmated by trading pieces with a stronger opponent until Russia runs out. Instead, Russia sees President Obama as irresolute. Obama has chopped and re-chopped U.S. nuclear forces in pursuit of his law school pipe-dream of a nuke-free world. Russia dangerously perceives that it has a temporary advantage at the level of nuclear conflict, particularly if Russia strikes first, and can bring China along as an ally.

It is completely untrue that Russia must be our enemy. It has primary ties to Europe, was a common World War II ally, and its Orthodox Christian faith is a variant of the majority religion of the U.S. Respecting Russias regional interests, and showing them due respect, is the only prudent course in dealing with a country that remains a great power with respect to nuclear weapons. Realism will keep the peace.

R. Scott Feldmann served as a captain in the U.S. Air Force. His father and maternal grandfather were career military officers. He is a partner in the Costa Mesa office of the law firm of Baker Hostetler LLP.
For decades the NAACP has worked to throw open the school house doors for children of color. At every turn, they have fought to remove the ethnic and racial barriers that stand in the way of giving all children access to a quality public education.

That is why the organizations recent call to halt any new public charters in the United States has left education advocates like myself surprised and disappointed.

We have charter schools in our communities. In fact, about one out of five charter schools in California is located in the Los Angeles Unified School District.

For us, charter schools represent in many ways the best of public education.

Charter schools are free and open to all students. Funded with public dollars, they are held accountable to state and national standards. The teachers who stand at the front of the classrooms are certified teachers.

Charter schools offer different approaches and themes including college preparatory curricula, programs emphasizing math, science or the performing arts and schools that prioritize personalization of the learning experience through site based and distance learning programs, among others.

But best of all, charter schools work. And they work not just for children from privileged backgrounds. It turns out, charter schools work especially well for African American and Latino children, and for children from low-income households.

In the classrooms of the 282 charter schools in Los Angeles, over 85 percent of the desks are occupied by children of color. Seventy-eight percent of LAUSD charter school students live in low-income households.

Southern California is also home to more charter schools than anywhere in the country, many of which are also among the highest-performing public schools in California. Charter schools continue to grow in response to demand from parents for high-quality school options.

But community advocates like me dont believe in charters just because they educate more of our kids. We believe in them because they give more of our kids a better education.

A recent study from Stanford University found that African American charter students gained 36 extra days of learning in reading and 26 extra days of learning in math compared to their African American peers in non-charter public schools.

For low-income African American students in charter schools the gains were even more impressive. These students gained the equivalent of forty-four extra days of learning in reading and an astonishing fifty-nine extra days learning in math over their peers in traditional public schools.

All of those extra classroom hours are having a huge impact on student success. College-readiness among African American high school graduates is 73 percent at charters within LAUSD, as compared with only 20 percent college ready at district schools.

Students at public charters are better prepared for future success. Kids who attend charter high schools graduate at higher rates than kids at traditional public schools. There are many charter high schools where 100 percent of the students graduate and 100 percent of those are accepted into college.

If these statistics dont move you, look to 150,866 students enrolled in charter schools in LAUSD alone, 23 percent of the total number of public school students in LAUSD. Look to the 3 million families across the country that have enrolled their children in public charter schools.

Look to the 41,830 students within LAUSD on wait lists and hoping to send their children to charter schools.

Theyre voting with their feet and choosing charter public schools. Theyre doing so because, like all of us, these parents want what is best for their kids.

This weekend, the NAACPs board is set to vote on the moratorium. Before the members of the board do, we would invite them to come to a charter school and see for themselves what kind of schools they are.

If they do, they will find public schools that are delivering on the promise of a high-quality education that is free and available to all. They will find schools that are centers of community with organized and energized parents and dedicated and inspired teachers and administrators. They will find public schools that are delivering for our kids.

Like the NAACP and other education advocates, we know more can and must be done for students of color. There are still too many African American and Latino kids who have been left standing on the wrong side of the achievement gap.

But our message is clear. Public charter schools arent the culprit. By giving our children the education they deserve and preparing them for a bright future, they are a proven part of the solution.

Johnathan Williams is founder and CEO of The Accelerated Schools in Los Angeles.
Mexican filmmaker Jonas Cuaron is known for his collaborations with his father, Alfonso Cuaron, most notably on Gravity. But the immigration thriller Desierto is rooted firmly on the ground. He draws on familiar political issues to infuse the taut, action-packed tale with a simmering tension that reaches beyond the film.

A group of illegal immigrants from Mexico are en route to the United States in the back of a cargo truck when they run into engine trouble and have to hike the rest of the way through the sun-baked desert. Our hero is the empathetic mechanic Moises (Gael Garcia Bernal), who soon finds himself on the wrong end of a rifle sight belonging to Sam (Jeffrey Dean Morgan).

Sam, a serial killer for all intents and purposes, methodically picks off the immigrants like deer, taking the role of border patrol into his own hands, shooting them sniper style from atop dusty ridges, aided by his German shepherd, Tracker. A wall definitely isnt enough for this guy.

Hes former military, telegraphed by his camo pants and usage of clicks. His keffiyeh suggests a familiarity with the Middle East. Cuaron stops just short of a Trump bumper sticker on his truck. We get very little reason for his killing, aside from a few tossed off bon mots: Welcome to the land of the free, he snarls; he bellows, This is my home! in celebration of a kill. During a campfire lament, he complains about his messed-up brain to Tracker. Here is a man so broken by patriotism that hes lost all of his humanity. Either that or hes using patriotism as a veil for his own homicidal desires.

The script is sparse, the only character backstory we get is at night, when the hunter and the hunted rest for a few minutes, long enough to flesh out their reasons for being there in the desert. Moises has a son waiting for him, Sam is threatened by outsiders.

At 94 minutes, its tight and efficient, though exhausting and relentless  the characters are running through the desert almost all the time, and the sequences unfold in near real time. The cinematography is grounded, at eye level. You feel as if you are scrabbling among the rocks and boulders and cacti along with the characters. There are some remarkable handheld shots running behind and in front of the characters as they are shot down on the white-hot caked plain. A thrumming score that beats like an adrenaline fueled heart propels the film forward.

Desierto is a generic thriller that just so happens to be wrapped in political packaging. That packaging is sometimes more interesting than the thrills themselves, but the film is bare enough to project what you want onto it. It seems that Cuaron was looking to flex his suspense muscles, and there are a few very good sequences of classic suspense thriller filmmaking, particularly a moment when an electronic childs toy echoes throughout a silent canyon.

But the film descends into an endless game of Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner pursuing each other throughout the desert, chasing each other around and around what seems to be the same rock. But what an apt metaphor for the current climate of political discourse.
WASHINGTON  While a host of prominent congressional Republicans have jumped off the Donald Trump train, some are climbing back aboard after taking heat from loyalists of the controversial billionaire.

At least four lawmakers who just days ago said that Trump should step aside as the GOP presidential nominee have rushed to clarify that they are, in fact, going to vote for him despite his vulgar remarks about groping women.

For instance Sen. Deb Fischer, R-Neb., said on Friday that Trumps leaked 2005 remarks about grabbing womens genitals were disgusting and totally unacceptable. The first-term Republican called for Trump to step aside and allow Mike Pence to serve as our partys nominee.

But in a Tuesday interview with Nebraska radio station KLIN Fischer reversed course. I never said I was not voting for our Republican ticket, she said, calling it not a tough choice to keep supporting Trump.

I plan to vote for Mr. Trump and Mr. Pence on Nov. 8, she said in the interview.

Ditto for Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., who tweeted on Saturday that Donald Trump should withdraw and Mike Pence should be our nominee effective immediately.

When Trump refused, Thunes tone softened. The No. 3 Republican in Senate leadership told the Rapid City Journal that he has reservations about the way (Trump) has conducted his campaign and himself.

He has a lot of work to do, I think, to win this election, Thune told the newspaper. But, Im certainly not going to vote for Hillary Clinton.

Thune is seeking re-election next month while Fischer doesnt face voters again until 2018.

In the House, GOP Reps. Scott Garrett of New Jersey and Bradley Byrne of Alabama have taken the same approach: calling for Trump to step aside and supporting him after he failed to do so.

Byrne on Saturday said Trump cannot defeat Clinton and urged him to allow Pence to lead the GOP ticket.

It seems anybody who thought Byrne was withdrawing support for Trump was jumping to conclusions.

Byrne told a critic on Twitter that he is committed to making sure (Clinton) doesnt win.

He never backed off his pledge to support the Republican ticket, said Byrne spokesman Seth Morrow. It is now clear Trump is not going to step aside, and the congressman will continue to support the Republican ticket on Election Day.

As for Garrett, the seven-term incumbent said Saturday that he was appalled by Trumps comments and called Pence the best nominee for the Republican Party to defeat Hillary Clinton.

On Wednesday, Garrett campaign manager Sarah Neibart said, Donald Trump remains the nominee of the Republican Party, and Rep. Garrett has always said he will vote for the Republican Party nominee. Garrett is in a tight race for re-election.
GENEVA  A top U.N. official joined the criticism of Donald Trump, the Republican nominee for U.S. president, on Wednesday, warning that his election would threaten international stability.

While much of the recent furor against Trump has focused on a 2005 recording in which he made exceptionally vulgar remarks about women, Zeid Raad al-Hussein, the U.N. high commissioner for human rights, focused attention back on Trumps comments about deporting unauthorized immigrants, barring Muslims from entering the country and employing torture tactics.

If Donald Trump is elected, on the basis of what he has said already, and unless that changes, I think its without any doubt that he would be dangerous from an international point of view, al-Hussein told reporters in Geneva.

Al-Hussein emphasized that his office tried to stay out of politics, but he added that if an election could lead to an increased use of torture or to the persecution of vulnerable communities in a way that suggests that they may well be deprived of their human rights, then I think it is incumbent to say so.

His comments echoed a statement al-Hussein delivered in The Hague last month in which he condemned populists, demagogues and political fantasists who exploited economic hardship and social tensions to fan racial and religious prejudice.

Al-Hussein focused those remarks on the right-wing Dutch politician Geert Wilders, but he also mentioned others whom he called nationalist demagogues, including Trump; Nigel Farage, a leading advocate of Britains departure from the European Union; Marine Le Pen of the National Front party in France; President Milos Zeman of the Czech Republic; Prime Minister Robert Fico of Slovakia; and Norbert Hofer, a candidate for the presidency of Austria.

Those politicians, he said, share with the Islamic State a fondness for half-truths and oversimplification.

U.N. officials have been fairly circumspect and have generally avoided discussing the U.S. election cycle. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in May that he was outraged by racism and hatred, especially when voiced by politicians and would-be leaders, but he did not single out Trump.
PUEBLO, Colo.  Brimming with new confidence, Hillary Clinton turned up the heat Wednesday on Republican candidates who are facing both tight election races and tough decisions on what to do about Donald Trump. Shes now seeking to spread her new momentum to fellow Democrats on November ballots.

Are you with him or not? Clinton and her campaign are demanding of GOP candidates as she surfs a wave of new support, part of the fallout from the revelations of Trumps aggressive sexual comments about women.

Some Republican lawmakers are doing as she demands  but not all of them in the way she hoped.

Two senators and two House members who called for Trump to step aside over the weekend now have climbed back aboard. Their basic case: Theyre voting for a Republican next month, and if Trump isnt leaving then hes got to be the one.

John Thune of South Dakota, the third-ranking Republican in the Senate told the Rapid City Journal he had reservations about the way (Trump) has conducted his campaign and himself. However, he said, Im certainly not going to vote for Hillary Clinton.

Also back on board after calling on Trump to resign: Sen. Deb Fischer of Nebraska and Reps. Scott Garrett of New Jersey and Bradley Byrne of Alabama. There still are some three dozen GOP lawmakers who have withdrawn their support or are calling for Trump to step aside.

At a rally in Colorado, Clinton declared that Trump is desperate and running scorched earth strategy.

Thats all they have left  pure negativity, pessimism, she said.

Indeed, Trump kept up his unrelenting denunciations of Clinton at a rally in Florida. Its not enough for voters to elect him instead of her, he declared, She has got to jail.

Later Wednesday, Clinton was campaigning in Las Vegas, where she planned to call out Rep. Joe Heck, a Republican in a tough Senate fight who revoked his support for Trump after hearing his caught-on-video boasts about groping women.

The focus on Republican congressional candidates is the latest sign the Clinton campaign is moving past a narrow focus on winning the White House, and now is aiming to win big  by delivering the Senate to Democrats, making deep cuts into the Republicans majority in the House and, possibly, winning states long considered Republican territory.

If youve got friends in Utah or Arizona, make sure they vote, too, Clinton told a raucous crowd in Pueblo.

We are competing everywhere.  I think Americans want to turn out in as big a number as possible to reject Trumps message, Clinton said.

She had sympathetic words  serious or not  for Trump supporters who have begun to interrupt her events.

As security escorted one man out in Pueblo, Clinton said: You have to feel a little sorry for them; theyve had a really bad couple of weeks.

Clintons new swagger and expanded ambitions come as Trump declares he feels unshackled to launch the sort of hard-edged, personal campaign his most ardent supporters love.

In Florida, he highlighted a new batch of hacked emails from Clinton campaign manager John Podestas account, published by WikiLeaks, the anti-secrecy group. He asserted that the emails show ever more clearly that the former secretary of state and her family are corrupt.

It never ends with these people, he said.

Podesta is showing the Clinton campaign is willing to pull out its knives, too. Citing a tweet as evidence, he has suggested the Trump team knew in advance about WikiLeaks plans to publish his hacked emails. The group, which U.S. officials have said has ties to Russian intelligence, released a fourth installment of private correspondence between top Clinton campaign officials on Wednesday.

Podesta says the FBI is investigating Russias possible involvement, raising the extraordinary prospect of a link between Russia and the U.S. presidential election. While acknowledging any evidence was circumstantial, he said the alleged ties could be driven either by Trumps policy positions or the Republicans deep engagement and ties with Russian interests in his business affairs.

The FBI said anew that it is investigating possible Russian hacking involving U.S. politics but made no comment on Podesta.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Wednesday in Moscow that hysterics have been whipped up to distract the attention of the American people from the essence of what the hackers released.  They talk about who did it. Is it really that important?

With polls showing Clinton pulling ahead in the presidential race and Trump digging in, Republican candidates for the House and Senate are tied in knots. If they revoke their support for their partys nominee, they risk losing his voters and losing their races. If they stand by him, they not only risk turning off moderate Republicans but also being branded for years as aligned with the Republican who sparked a crisis for the party.

As party leaders step away from him, Trump is vowing to win the election his own way.

He is striking particularly hard at House Speaker Paul Ryan, who told Republicans Monday hell no longer campaign for Trump.

Trump said in Florida there is a whole sinister deal going on that has prevented Ryan and other Republican leaders from fully backing his campaign. Were going to figure it out, he said. I always figure it out.

He said, I wouldnt want to be in a foxhole with a lot of these people, that I can tell you, including Ryan. By the way, including Ryan, especially Ryan.

Associated Press writers Steve Peoples, Jonathan Lemire and Jill Colvin contributed to this report.
PHILADELPHIA  In reaching out to black voters, Donald Trump talks about bringing law and order to the inner city.

El Brown wants the Republican presidential nominee to know he isnt talking to her. The 41-year-old black businesswoman lives in Fairfax, Va., in one of the richest counties in America.

Its hard out here on these inner city streets, Brown wrote mockingly in an Oct. 10 Facebook post about Trumps often-used phrase. Pray for me as I walk to the market to get some ceviche and a smoothie.

Trumps election rhetoric  from references to the inner city to talk about how he could lose the election because of cheating in other communities like Philadelphia, where nearly half the residents are black  strikes some African-American voters as racially tinged, insulting and disingenuous.

Many black voters accuse Trump of reflexively viewing the entire black community as poor, urban and in need of rescue.

Some have gone even further and suggested that Trump, like other politicians before him, is making veiled appeals to white bigotry, or engaging in dog-whistle politics. They say he is adding to a decades-old lexicon that includes welfare queens, states rights and other phrases often interpreted as coded references to blacks.

Brown said Trumps language is textbook stereotyping.

He just took this huge generalization and painted an entire population of people with it, Brown said in a telephone interview. You would think in 2016 you wouldnt have an example of that.

In Sundays presidential debate, James Carter, a black undecided voter, asked the candidates whether they could be devoted as president to all the people of the United States.

Trump answered absolutely before assuring Carter that he would be a president who will turn our inner cities around. The moment was criticized as tone-deaf by many black viewers commenting on social media.

The majority of African-Americans are not poor. The black poverty rate is 28 percent and black unemployment 8.3 percent. More than half of blacks in large metro areas actually live in the suburbs, according to the most recent census data. Also, many urban areas have seen crime drop, and some central neighborhoods have been revitalized and become more diverse.

Still, in his appeal to black voters at a rally in August, Trump told blacks they were living in poverty, attending bad schools, and were unemployed. His pitch: What the hell do you have to lose?

Trumps support among African-American voters is vanishingly small. An Associated Press-GfK poll conducted in September found that among black likely voters, 90 percent said they planned to vote for Hillary Clinton or were leaning that way, versus 3 percent for Trump.

Most people at Trump rallies are white, and he has rarely publicly addressed majority-black audiences.

If Trumps rhetoric is meant to sway the black vote, hes failing  at least in Detroit, said Vanessa Allen, a 42-year-old Detroit mother of two young children.

Allen doesnt dispute the realities of her neighborhood: There are abandoned houses and signs of blight. But Trump talks down on us like we are dogs in the street, she said. He has no respect for black people.

Jerry Thomas, 65, wants his street repaired and drug activity on his block to end, but he does not believe Trump is seriously interested in addressing the problems in his Cleveland neighborhood.

We already know he cant do anything and wont do anything, Thomas said.

After a summer of racial tension and protests over killings by police of black men, Trump vowed a return of law and order  a phrase older Americans may recall from the 1960s as being used by politicians in response to the race riots that erupted in cities across the country.

On Tuesday, Trump warned supporters at a campaign stop in Ambridge, Pa., to make sure this election isnt stolen from us.

We have to make sure the people of Philadelphia are protected, he said, referring to the Democratic stronghold of primarily black voters.

Trump has encouraged supporters to show up at polling locations as monitors.

To some listeners, that smacks of intimidation.

Cherron Gardner, 36, of Atlanta, said that kind of talk is not meant to appeal to black voters but to signal his supporters.

Hes telling people to go to certain polls, directing people to act in certain ways, Gardner said. The terminology he uses is very specific. Hes smart in that way.

Associated Press writers Mark Gillispie in Cleveland and Corey R. Williams in Detroit contributed to this story.
For the second time, the Bowers Museum is highlighting patron saint of Orange County and the Americas, the Virgin of Guadalupe, with an exhibit of paintings, carvings, silver and devotional objects.

But compared with the first exhibit, in 1995, this one is far broader, with loans from 15 museums, private collections and religious institutions. Of these approximately 60 pieces on display, some rarely, if ever, are seen by the public.

Some of the most interesting images of the virgin are still being kept in convents, churches, in the basilica, in the cathedral, Mayela Flores Enriquez said on opening day for the exhibit in Santa Ana earlier this month. As guest curator, Flores Enriquez, an expert in Mexican colonial art at the Museo Franz Mayer in Mexico City, saw the effort that went into bringing the pieces together. One lender was a Mexican convent of nuns, traditionally a very private institution.

What we are trying to do here is not only show that image, but also, theres so many different contexts where we can find this image, Flores Enriquez said.

The Virgin of Guadalupe has political, cultural and economic aspects as well, which are explored in the Bowers exhibit. Her image has been used to represent Colonial Mexico, in which shes pictured with symbols such as an eagle and a prickly pear cactus. Shes been depicted on flags used for social causes. Mexican independence leader Miguel Hidalgo used her symbol in the Mexican War of Independence in the early 1800s.

You can talk about politics, nationality and image related to this one manifestation of Mary, Flores Enriquez said. We are showing or presenting one chapter of our history, our identity.

The Virgin of Guadalupe is one of the names for the Virgin Mary. As the Virgin of Guadalupe, she is always pictured in the same pose with a modest, downward gaze, a blue mantle covered with stars and an aura of rays of light and clouds. That image appears again and again in the paintings, carvings and textiles in the Bowers exhibit.

The iconography of the Virgin of Guadalupe springs from the story of her appearance in 1531. According to tradition, she appeared before Juan Diego, an indigenous man, at the Hill of Tepeyac, north of Mexico City. The virgin ordered Diego to gather flowers in his tilma, or cloak. Then her sacred image, which appeared on Diegos tilma, was shown to Bishop Zumarraga. This story is illustrated in several of the pieces at Bowers, including a series of carvings and several paintings.

There are plenty of well-preserved and well-crafted works in the show, but there are three not to be missed. The first is at the beginning of the exhibit. Virgin of Guadalupe Touched by the Wonderful Original was painted in 1776 and comes from the Museo Franz Mayer. The significance of this painting is that devotees believe the artwork itself has the same sacred nature as Diegos tilma because the painting was physically touched by the tilma, a rare occurrence.

A piece of Juan Diegos tilma is contained in another work, a two-sided oval painting from about 1743 by Jose de Ibarra. It comes from the Catedral Metropolitana, the largest cathedral in the Americas, on Mexico Citys main square. On one side is the Virgin of Guadalupe and on the other, Juan Diego holding the tilma with the image of the virgin. Its not only a work of art, but an object of devotion and rarely on display for the public, Flores Enriquez said.

Finally, there is the large painting from the Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange, the only piece borrowed from an Orange County lender. Virgin of Guadalupe With Four Apparitions and Mexico Citys Marian Bastions, from the early 1700s, shows the Virgin of Guadalupe surrounded by four images of separate apparitions of her.

The Virgin of Guadalupe is an important image for Catholics, but this exhibit is not just about religion, said Peter Keller, the museums president.

Its economic, social.  Theres also people who appreciate Mexican colonial art. These are all quite old colonial pieces, representing some of the earliest art from Mexico.

The Bowers Museum has been making an effort to attract more Latino visitors, and the Virgin of Guadalupe exhibit is one of four aimed at that audience, Keller said. A series of paintings by Mexican artist Diego Rivera and an exhibit on the color red from the cochineal insect, especially its history along Spanish trade routes, were two such shows last year. An exhibit of photographs from the collection of Mexican painter Frida Kahlo is next.

Santa Ana is largely Latino, he pointed out. So were specifically trying to reach, do something, for the people of Santa Ana and Southern California and be very specific to their needs.

Contact the writer: aboessenkool@ocregister.com
The remodeled Nixon Presidential Library & Museum allows you to stroll, listen and feel the life of a president. The museum offers an immersive and extensive historical retrospective for visitors, regardless of their opinions of the controversial president.

HOW TO GET THERE

The $15 million remodel spans the 81-year lifetime of the nations 37th president. The events of Nixons life before, during and after his presidency are too many to mention, but here are a few highlights.

Note: Admission is free Friday, Oct. 14, open from noon to 9 p.m.

Regular hours: Mon.-Thurs., 10 a.m.-5 p.m.; Sun. 11 a.m.-5 p.m.

Regular admission: $16 adults, $12 seniors, other rates available.

HIGHLIGHTS ALONG THE TOUR

1. A whole new film

Before entering the museum guests can watch a new 12-minute film profiling the life of President Richard Nixon. The film is displayed on a 30-foot-wide screen.

2. Becoming president

The entrance hallway of the museum displays black and white videos of the tumultuous era of Nixons 1968 election. Videos display U.S. troops in Vietnam and protesters on university campuses, as well as civil rights protests and the assassinations of Robert F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr.

At the end of the hall is a larger-than-life color mural of Nixon celebrating victory.

3. Feel free to move about the office

One of the most impressive features of the renovation is an exact replica of the Oval Office that Nixon and his wife, Pat, had remodeled in California blue and gold. Unlike other libraries, where the Oval Office replicas are roped off, visitors can sit in the presidents chair, listen to the phone and roam about the room.

4. Vietnam

From the comfort of the Oval Office, visitors will exit through a door and into the jungles of war-torn Southeast Asia. Exhibits depict the presidents dedication to end the war and bring POWs home.

5. Moon missions

All the Apollo moon missions were during the Nixon administration. Visitors can look at astronauts above their heads while picking up a phone and listening to the president congratulating the first men to walk on the moon.

Note: The sound-activated taping system in the Oval Office during the Nixon administration includes thousands of conversations, some used in exhibits throughout the museum. Only 5 percent of the tapes dealt with the Watergate scandal.

6. Hello, China

Other than the Watergate exhibit, Nixons visit to China has the most dedicated floor space. Visitors can take selfies with the president on the Great Wall of China.

7. Travel with Mrs. Nixon

Interactive exhibit featuring items from Pat Nixons travels.

8. Pick the menu

Interactive exhibit featuring planning a state dinner menu and table settings.

9. Western White House

A re-created view of Nixons home in San Clemente overlooking the Pacific Ocean.

10. In Nixons shoes

Visitors can weigh in on tough choices Nixon had to make regarding bombing in Cambodia, an all volunteer military and the Yom Kippur War.

11. Watergate and resignation

The largest portion of the museum space on one topic is dedicated to the Watergate scandal. The exhibit ends with a video of the presidents goodbye speech to his staff.

12. California kid

An exihibit of Nixons early years begins with a view of the house in which he was born.

13. Checkers speech

After walking through exhibits detailing Nixons fast rise in the Republican party, visitors can watch a TV display of the speech he gave to the nation while running for vice president in 1952 at the age of 39.

14. Life after presidency

Nixon wrote nine best-selling books, and helped advise other presidents on issues. There is a two-minute film epilogue just before the exit.

A statue of Nixon, left, sitting in the Lincoln Room. Some of Nixons notes written on legal pads are projected on the walls and video screens behind the windows show scenes from his years as president.

PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARIES

1. Nixon, Yorba Linda

2. Reagan, Simi Valley

3. LBJ, Austin, Texas

4. George H.W. Bush,

College Station, Texas

5. George W. Bush, Dallas

6. Eisenhower, Abilene, Kan.

7. Truman, Independence, Mo.

8. Hoover, West Branch, Iowa

9. Clinton, Little Rock, Ark.

10. Carter, Atlanta

11. Ford, Ann Arbor, Mich.

12. FDR, Hyde Park, N.Y.

13. Kennedy, Boston

Sources: Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives, The White House Photos: Staff and Wikimedia Commons
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Jason was drunk as a skunk and needed a safe place to dry out.

The hospital emergency room, where hed been taken by paramedics who found him passed out, wasnt the right landing spot. He wasnt sick enough to need it. Nor was jail. Public intoxication in Omaha is not a crime. He didnt belong behind bars.

Since there was no one at home to make sure Jason sobered up safely, the job of caring for the 51-year-old fell first to Omaha police.

I watched two officers lug Jason out of the patrol car, up a handful of stairs and into the doors of a place that long has been the go-to for cases like this.

Youve got to stand up, Jason. Come on, Jason. Jason?! Youve got to walk, said Officer Aaron Dugick, who with another police officer finally got Jason into the Campus for Hope.

Sitting in the shadow of downtown Omaha, on an industrial stretch of North 16th Street, this 93-bed substance abuse and mental health treatment facility has largely operated off the radar of most Omahans lucky enough not to need its services. But its viewed as reliable and familiar to Omaha police and the social service agencies that depend on the campus for a range of programs. Most notably, it has the citys only secure detoxification center.

As such, the recent announcement that Catholic Charities, which operates the center, was pulling out sent shockwaves. And its caused ripples among the 110-member staff, whose jobs are not guaranteed.

Under the states civil protective and emergency protective custody laws, people like Jason, who are too high or too drunk to be safely at home, can be locked up at Campus for Hope for up to 24 hours. Its like jail, but its not. The doors lock, but there are no criminal charges. Its like a hospital, but its not. A nurse keeps watch and administers medication, but there are no machines, no IVs.

So far, two groups  the Douglas County Community Mental Health Center and CenterPointe, a Lincoln-based nonprofit  have been chosen to take over most of the work. And theyve pledged to keep the services at the Campus for Hope. Officials say they hope for a smooth transition that will keep the doors open and services intact.

Thats a view shared by Colleen Rausch, a nurse working on the detox side of Campus for Hope.

My heart is here, my heart is with these clients, Rausch said. I just keep thinking, what is going to happen to some of these people?

* * * * *

They are people like Connie Esser.

Connie, who agreed to be identified for this column, was 42 years old, suicidal and addicted to drugs when she checked herself into Campus for Hopes residential rehab program in 2013.

She had finished a 30-day treatment program in South Dakota and then relapsed. That caused her to spin into a deep depression. She said she tried to kill herself 22 times.

The long-term program at Campus for Hope offered something she needed  mental health treatment in addition to drug and alcohol rehab. At Campus for Hope, she was diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder, which is characterized by symptoms of both schizophrenia and mood disorders like depression. She was assigned a counselor and attended daily support group meetings.

It wasnt always easy. Sometimes, Connie clashed with her roommate or defied the counselors. And she left early, two weeks before she was supposed to graduate. Counselors warned her not to leave and said she would relapse. But her teenage son, also an addict, was in trouble.

Connie left. She moved to Lincoln to get away from bad influences in Omaha.

Shes been clean since. She now has a full-time job working as a peer support specialist for the Mental Health Association of Nebraska. But she doesnt presume anything.

Every day is a battle, she said. I wake up and say Im going to stay clean today. Its day by day, and some days its moment by moment.

So far, those moments have added up to 2 years of sobriety.

Campus for Hope runs three residential programs: short-term, or about 30 days; dual-diagnosis, which incorporates mental health care and can last six months or longer; and intermediate residential, where people can stay for up to a year and a half as they begin to transition back into life outside.

The campus has a cafeteria and an art room, and space for individual counseling sessions and support groups. An aerobics class is held regularly. Along the walls are pictures of famous people with addictions, such as Billie Holiday and Anthony Hopkins, and encouraging words like hope.

Arguably, the most crucial part of this campus is a pretty basic set of rooms in the back  the detox center.

Its where people with addictions  voluntarily or involuntarily  come to dry out. They get fresh hospital scrubs while their street clothes are washed and stored.

If they have come of their own volition, they go to a dorm-like area where they get beds and access to TV, coffee and snacks. Voluntary residents are encouraged to stay at least 24 hours but can stay up to five days. People brought here by police are placed in locked rooms with mattresses on the floor (to prevent injury). Their locked rooms have toilets and showers.

Campus for Hope can hold someone up to 24 hours, though people can leave sooner if they score well enough on a Breathalyzer test.

Detox is meant to be a front door to longer-term services. Often, it is a way station for the vulnerable.

Rausch, the detox nurse who has worked there for 15 years, said Campus for Hope has saved the lives of homeless people, banned from shelters, who might otherwise have frozen to death in the winter if police hadnt found them outside.

She said one frequent visitor was highly educated but also belligerent when drunk. So hed burned bridges at homeless shelters and had been banned from the next-door Siena-Francis House for a month during the winter.

I truly believe that without our services, Rausch said, he would not have made it. Hes not the only story like that.

Jason had been found with a blood-alcohol count over .40  more than five times the legal limit  according to Omaha police.

Detox staff, citing federal regulations and a desire to protect their clients, wouldnt release information about him. But I observed what happened on a day in late September when a police cruiser rolled up to the detox entrance on North 17th Street. Officers Dugick and Tyler Friend struggled to get Jason, sprawled on the cruisers back seat, out of the car.

Later, they explained: Jason first had wound up at Creighton University Medical Center, where emergency room staff observed him until his blood alcohol level came down enough for him to safely go to detox.

Officer Friend considered all the people in need who dont always have a safe place to go.

Frustrated, he asked: What kind of resources are there?

* * * * *

The answer to that question, when it came to addiction, was often the Catholic Churchs charitable arm.

The old United Catholic Social Services was one of the citys first and most active providers of substance abuse treatment to the poor and uninsured locally. In the 1970s, the group provided alcohol abuse counseling and halfway houses. Then came St. Gabes, a full-fledged rehab center in north Omaha.

In 1988, Omaha Mayor Bernie Simon, a recovering alcoholic himself, began civil protective custody at St. Gabes detox center. This began a long-standing agreement between the city and what eventually was renamed Catholic Charities to provide emergency, secure detox.

In 1998, Catholic Charities opened a new home for addiction recovery, the $5.2 million brick complex at 1490 N. 16th St. called Campus for Hope. It was added onto in 2009.

Until recently, however, there was no public indication that this longtime provider would stop offering the care. In late August, Catholic Charities announced that it could no longer afford to be in the addiction recovery/mental health business.

The Omaha-based charity, which also runs a food pantry and shelter for abused women, said it would pull out of Campus for Hope plus two smaller treatment centers: a 16-bed center for teenagers in Omaha and a 16-bed center for adults in Columbus. Combined, the three entities offered 125 beds and accounted for about $10 million, or two-thirds, of Catholic Charities annual $14 million to $15 million in spending.

The announcement stunned those who work with addicts.

Said Omaha Police Lt. Colene Hinchey: We were very disappointed.

Said Kenny McMorris, CEO of Charles Drew Health Center, which runs a satellite clinic at Campus for Hope: Its a service thats desperately needed.

Said Sherry Glasnapp, director of the Douglas County Community Mental Health Center: Without such services, there are going to be more individuals showing up in emergency rooms and in the jail system.

* * * * *

Catholic Charities said the work got too expensive and too hard to manage with a range of government regulations  some health care- management-related  that became too cumbersome and others that officials felt were in conflict with Catholic teachings.

The bulk of Catholic Charities behavioral health programs are paid for by government grants. Officials have complained about low reimbursement rates and lag times.

For the second year in a row, Catholic Charities is set to lose money at its three treatment facilities combined. The organization took a $400,000 hit last year and, officials say, is on track to lose $1 million this year.

Costs continued to increase, said John Griffith, executive director. Health care costs, costs of salaries. All those factor in. When your reimbursement rates are fairly static, that becomes a challenge. We tried to survive as long as we could.

And some Archdiocese of Omaha officials saw a conflict between a city ordinance on employment protections and Catholic teaching. The 2012 ordinance prohibits entities that do business with the city from job discrimination against people in same-sex marriage or transgender employees.

The Roman Catholic Church opposes same-sex marriage, homosexual behavior and adopting gender identities different from the gender defined at birth. Plus, officials felt too hemmed in by requirements against talking about faith.

The financial feasibility, however, raised bigger questions about whether the services could continue. If Catholic Charities, which had long done this work, could no longer afford to  then could anyone else?

So far, both providers in line to take over the bulk of the Campus for Hope services say they think they can make the numbers work.

Glasnapp, of Douglas County, which is poised to take over the secure detox, voluntary detox and mental health assessment parts of the campus, said she didnt see a shortfall in the figures she was presented.

And Topher Hansen, president and CEO of CenterPointe, said his organization would do its due diligence but believes he can find a way to manage costs.

All the changes are expected to happen at the end of the year.

If things go smoothly, as officials hope, then people in the throes of addiction, people like Jason and Connie, will continue to get the help they need.
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Samsung Electronics cut its third-quarter operating profit by $2.3 billion after ending production of its fire-prone Galaxy Note 7 smartphones, the first official indication of how much the crisis will cost South Koreas largest company.

Profit is projected to be $4.6 billion instead of $6.9 billion in the three months ended in September, the company said in a regulatory statement Wednesday.

That effectively erases all the mobile business profit that analysts had been projecting. Samsung and Vice Chairman Jay Y. Lee are struggling to contain fallout from the Note 7 phones, which were catching fire even after a recall that was supposed to fix the problem.

The Suwon-based company said Tuesday that it would kill this generation of the high-end phone and then cut third-quarter guidance, less than a week after it was first issued.

This is a huge cutback, said Greg Roh, an analyst at HMC Investment Securities Co. It means Samsung has reflected not only the sales loss from the shutdown, but it also means it would bear the costs of the inventories of Note 7s in the channel as well as the components they bought a few months back.

Wednesdays announcement is the first time the company has put a price on the debacle.

Samsungs shares have tanked this week as new fire reports emerged. The stock has slumped 10 percent in the past three trading days, wiping $21 billion from its market value.

Its the biggest crisis for Samsung Electronics, said Huh Nam Kwon, chief investment officer at Shinyoung Asset Management, which held more than 300,000 shares in the company according to filings compiled by Bloomberg. Its not because of its physical losses, but because the issue has been a blow to the companys brand. The company should have been more cautious in responding to this case in the beginning.

The debacle is testing Samsungs management and raising questions about whether it needs stronger leadership. Lee Kun Hee, the family patriarch, remains chairman even though he had a heart attack more than two years ago and hasnt been back at work since. His son, Jay Y., is heir apparent but he hasnt been able to take his fathers title because of Korean custom.

They have a real management problem right now, said Shaun Rein, managing director of Shanghai-based China Market Research Group. The lack of a clear leader has slowed down decision-making.

Samsung hasnt said who, if anyone, will be held responsible for the Note 7 missteps. The phone unit is run by D.J. Koh, who took over in December. The episode also raises questions about Jay Y.s ability to manage the sprawling company.

Itll be hard for Jay Y. to detach himself from his responsibility for the Galaxy Note 7 crisis, said Chung Sun Sup, chief executive officer of Chaebul.com, a website that tracks Korean conglomerates. The resistance against his succession may grow.

Samsung hasnt said what the Note 7 crisis may cost in future quarters, when the device was supposed to compete with Apples iPhone and devices from Google and Huawei Technologies Co..

Every company can have a problem anytime, said Shinyoungs Huh. But Samsung was in too much of a hurry to reach a conclusion and it resulted in an error in the conclusion.
NORFOLK, Neb.  A former state lawmaker whose professional career has been devoted to education has been named the new executive director of the Nebraska Community College Association.

Greg Adams has been selected to replace Dennis Baack, who is retiring, said Steve Anderson of Concord, Nebraska, chairman of the associations board of directors.

Adams is currently president and executive director of Accelerate Nebraska, a nonprofit corporation focused on improving educational outcomes and the alignment among high school, postsecondary institutions and the workforce.

Adams will be responsible for association management and legislative relations, which includes lobbying.

Adams said his educational background will be essential in facilitating the work of Nebraskas community colleges as a whole.

I believe that I will bring to the position the experience, understanding and relationships that can fulfill the job requirements and take Nebraskas community colleges to the next level, he said.

Adams previously served eight years in the Nebraska Legislature, representing York and District 24, from 2006 to 2014. He served as chairman of the Education Committee.

Adams also served as speaker of the Legislature from January 2013 through December 2014.

Greg has the background, education and experience that will make him a key component in facilitating the work of Nebraskas community colleges, said Anderson, a member of the Northeast Community College board of governors. He is a proven leader and has a thorough understanding of what it takes to bridge the states K-12 system with postsecondary education with a focus on career and technical education.

The Nebraska Community College Association is made up of Central Community College, Mid-Plains Community College, Northeast Community College, Southeast Community College and Western Nebraska Community College.

He begins his new job Nov. 1
COUNCIL BLUFFS  If this Council Bluffs group was making records, this one would be platinum.

On Tuesday, the Iowa Cookie Crumbs packed their millionth cookie at Emanuel Lutheran Church in Council Bluffs to send to U.S. military personnel deployed overseas.

This is huge, said Abbie Crawford, founder of the Iowa Cookie Crumbs.

The group sends homemade cookie shipments to U.S. troops monthly, with three teams of 50 to 60 bakers trading off on kitchen duty. Extra bakers contributed this time  including the Treynor Junior Optimist Club, which brought in 960 cookies, Crawford said.

Tuesdays shipment included 1,065 dozen cookies  more than enough to reach the milestone, said member Deann Over.

The Cookie Crumbs group doesnt target a particular base or region.

They go all over, Over said.

The group will soon reach its 10th anniversary. Crawford, who shipped cookies to service personnel in Southeast Asia during the Vietnam War, set up shop in her Council Bluffs home in January 2007 and, along with 15 friends, launched the Cookie Crumbs.

Since then, the cookies have been packed at Emanuel. The group packed its 100,000th cookie in July 2008.

The organization gets names and addresses from a national database that has requests from family members, commanders and individual soldiers, Over said. Members try to find out how many people are at each destination, and some write letters to send along.

The APOs (and FPOs) are so cryptic, we cant always tell where they are going, she said, referring to Army and Fleet Post Office addresses. Theyre probably still going to Iraq and Afghanistan. Some go to ships now.

The group guesses on how many to send to each site, Crawford said.

We just kind of play it by ear, based on the information we get and the location, she said. If theyre out in a remote area, well tend to send more.

Eleven dozen cookies go into small, flat-rate shipping boxes from the U.S. Postal Service and are sent by U.S. mail for $16.75 per box, Over said.

Churches, service clubs, schools and individuals contribute toward the shipping costs, Over said.

Its a total community effort, she said.
The heated presidential campaign has helped lead to a quick start to early voting in Nebraska this week.

The Douglas and Sarpy County election offices reported more than 1,700 voters coming in Tuesday and Wednesday to vote or to request a ballot to take home.

Election officials had been expecting a jump in Nebraskas early voting, but they were cautious this week about whether the early rush would portend an even bigger increase in early voting activity.

Douglas County Election Commissioner Brian Kruse said the initial activity makes him wonder. The county had about 77,000 people request an early ballot or vote early in the office during the last presidential election, and Kruse said he already had forecast that number to exceed 90,000 this year.

Said Valerie Stoj, the offices public relations coordinator: Itll be interesting to see what the next three (weeks) will bring.

Iowa launched its early voting on Sept. 29, and its Secretary of States Office calls that one of the longest early voting periods in the country. Iowans can vote early at their county auditors offices, at special satellite locations or by mail on absentee ballots.

Nebraska Secretary of State John Gale said his state still seems to be traditional in how people like to vote.

The percentage of Nebraskans who vote early has risen by a few percentage points each election, Gale said, and in the last presidential election, 26 percent of voters cast early ballots.

But at the same time, he said, about three-fourths of voters seem to prefer casting ballots on Election Day.

In some states, Gale said, the early-voting rate has pushed close to 50 percent.

Gale said he hopes Nebraska can reach 30 percent in its early voting this election, which would shatter the states records.

Its possible tens of thousands more voters in Nebraska could cast ballots early.

The Democratic and Republican Parties both have made a tremendous push for early voting, Gale said. With the saturation of information about the presidential race between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, along with the emotional issue of Nebraskas death penalty referendum, people might be ready to vote now, he said.

Theres a likelihood people have their minds made up, he said.

Randall Adkins, a political science professor at the University of Nebraska at Omaha, agreed.

Theyre the kind of people who want to check the box and check that task off their list, he said.

Adkins said early voting could benefit Clinton more in the race for the single electoral vote in Nebraskas 2nd District. He said Clinton seems to have a more organized campaign operation in the congressional district, going door to door and calling prospective voters.

One of those voters is Marian Kaiser of Omaha, who said she fielded a call from the Clinton campaign on the way to drop off her ballot Tuesday at the Douglas County Election Commission. She said she voted for Clinton.

She praised Clinton as smart, experienced and more knowledgeable than Trump on foreign policy.

But William Simon of Omaha picked up early ballots for himself and his wife and said he will vote for Trump.

Simon said the further he can get government out of his pocket and his life, the better off hell be.

I absolutely need that change, Simon said.

Sarpy County Election Commissioner Wayne Bena said he would encourage people to vote early if they want extra time to make their decisions or if they want to avoid lines.

Bena was cautious about his prediction for early voting, but still said, We have the potential to break early voting records.

* * * * *

Tips for Nebraska voters

Registering to vote

People can register to vote in person as late as Oct. 28. People mailing in a voter registration must postmark it by next Friday, Oct. 21.

Early voting

Early voting at election offices started Tuesday. People can vote in person at their county election office (which might be the County Clerks Office) through Nov. 7, the Monday before Election Day.

People who want a ballot mailed to them must make request one by Friday, Oct. 28. They can request an early voting ballot in person as late as Monday, Nov. 7. Mailed and dropped-off ballots must be received by the election commissioner by 8 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 8  when the polls close on Election Day.

Early voting ballots cannot be returned to a polling place.

Douglas County offers 10 drop box locations where voters can deposit a finished ballot.

 Douglas County Election Commission: 225 N. 115th St., south of the main entrance.

 Drive-up location near the election office: South side of the median along Davenport Street between 114th and 115th.

 Abrahams Branch Library: 5111 N. 90th St., south of the main entrance.

 Bess Johnson Elkhorn Branch Library: 2100 Reading Plaza, at the northeast corner of building.

 City-County Building: 1819 Farnam St., near the sidewalk between 18th and 19th Streets on Farnam.

 Douglas County Engineers Office: 15505 West Maple Road, near the sidewalk by parking stalls.

 Millard Public Schools Foundation: 5225 S. 159th Ave., at the northwest corner of the building.

 Ralston Police Department: 7400 Main St. in Ralston, at the southwest corner of the building.

 South Omaha Library: 2808 Q St., at the southwest corner of the building.

 Washington Branch Library: 2868 Ames Ave., at the southwest corner of the building.

Sarpy County has a ballot drop box at the Election Commission office: 501 Olson Drive, Suite 4, in Papillion, located across Highway 370 from the Sarpy County Courthouse.

Source: Nebraska Secretary of State, Douglas and Sarpy County Election Commission offices.
Fresh off the passage of Bellevue Public Schools first bond issue in decades, three seats are up on the districts school board.

And the five candidates vying for those seats  a mix of incumbents and newcomers  say they want to see responsible spending and budgeting to avoid the necessity of another bond issue in five or 10 years.

Voters narrowly approved a $76 million bond issue in September that the district sought to pay for maintenance, technology upgrades and enhanced security measures at schools in the district. It was the districts first bond issue since the 1970s.

The two incumbents trying to keep their seats on the board took opposing sides on the bond issue.

Phil Davidson, the current school board president, said he supported the bond issue because teachers and students need the best learning environment possible. And while no one wants to raise taxes, Davidson said he didnt see another solution to paying for new heating and air conditioning, fixing leaky roofs and upgrading school security.

Davidson, community relations coordinator for the City of Bellevue, was appointed to the board in October 2015. He said he wants to work with the bond oversight committee to watch how taxpayer money is being spent, look for grants or other sources of funding to avoid another bond issue and continue to bring a positive approach to the school board.

Retired Police Officer Doug Cook opposed the bond issue after spending years asking the district to form a committee to review the districts budget every year. During his four years on the school board, Cook said he has tried to hold the school district accountable for how its spent money. And hed like to see parents, teachers, students, administrators and others in the community also reviewing the districts spending.

Going forward, Cook would also like the district to focus on college and career readiness for students. That includes getting more parents involved to increase student achievement.

Sarah Centineo, a nurse attorney, supported the bond issue but wants more transparency from the district and consistency across the schools within the district in matters like technology and student conduct.

The current school board could communicate with the public better, Centineo said. She has proposed a website that lists what the school board is working on and problems that still need to be resolved. She would also like to change school board meeting rules so anyone could comment at the end of the meeting. Currently, people must sign up to speak before the meetings.

John Carozza, an analyst at U.S. Strategic Command, said the bond vote brought to light a need to establish a long-term budget strategy, to create a maintenance plan especially for high-cost items and to prioritize facilities maintenance.

Carozza said the district also needs to focus on educating all students, whether theyre heading to college or vocational schools and ensuring safe and secure facilities.

Scott Eby, a sales manager and lifelong Bellevue resident, said as a taxpayer he wasnt crazy about the tax increase but he knows schools are a big part of attracting people to a community. The city and school district go hand in hand, he said.

Eby said he would like to see more support for the school district in the community and he has appreciated the efforts of Superintendent Jeff Rippe to bring more unity to the district.

Being transparent with how the money from the bond issue is being spent will be important moving forward, he said, in order to gain the trust of the people and prove it was a good idea.

A sixth candidate on the ballot, Casey Putney, has said that he is withdrawing from the race.

* * * * *

Candidates' bios

John Carozza

Age: 47

Party: Independent

Occupation: Strategic planner and analyst at U.S. Strategic Command

Home: Bellevue

Public offices held: None

Education: Bachelors degree, University of Notre Dame; MBA, University of Colorado; masters degree, Naval War College

Family: Three children

Faith: Catholic

Doug Cook

Age: 57

Party: Republican

Occupation: retired Omaha police officer

Home: Bellevue

Public offices held: Elected to Bellevue school board in 2012

Education: Bachelors degree, Bellevue University; masters degree, business administration, UNO

Family: Married, six children

Faith: Catholic

Sarah Centineo

Age: 42

Party: Democratic

Occupation: Nurse attorney

Home: Bellevue

Public offices held: None

Education: Bachelors degree, University of Iowa; law degree from Creighton University School of Law

Family: Married, two children

Faith: Nondenominational

Website: Sarah Centineo for Bellevue School Board Facebook page

Phil Davidson

Age: 46

Party: Republican

Occupation: Community relations coordinator for the City of Bellevue

Home: Bellevue

Public offices held: Appointed to Bellevue school board in 2015

Education: Bachelors degree, Bellevue University

Family: Married, two children

Faith: Lutheran

Casey Putney

Withdrawing from the race.

Scott Eby

Age: 50

Party: Democratic

Occupation: Commercial sales manager at CKF

Home: Bellevue

Public offices held: None

Education: Attended University of Nebraska at Omaha

Family: Married, two children

Faith: Lutheran

Website: Scott Eby for School Board Facebook page
This fall brings 21 contested races for Nebraskas 49-member State Legislature. Eleven are open seats as a result of term limits, while 10 incumbents face challengers.

We have interviewed candidates and studied their campaign material over the past month. At intervals over the next week, we will offer our legislative recommendations. Today, we look at four close contests.

A factor that weighed heavily in our consideration in many cases was whether a candidate, regardless of party or philosophy, demonstrated a strong capability and mental focus to help the Legislature operate efficiently and constructively, steering it toward productive deliberation rather than partisan warring or Congressional-style tumult.

 Sen. Jerry Johnson, District 23 (Wahoo area). Johnson, a former mayor of Wahoo with impressive experience in local government and civic work, went to Lincoln four years ago and has done the job the right way.

He has kept in touch with the concerns of his district. As chairman of the Agriculture Committee and a member of the Natural Resources Committee, he has worked hard on legislation in committee and during floor debate. He is well regarded for his expertise, leadership and mature temperament  valuable qualities at the State Capitol.

Johnson has gone about his work calmly and responsibly in the best Nebraska tradition. Its troubling that Gov. Pete Ricketts would mount an effort to oust Johnson merely because the senator got crosswise with him on several votes. We find Johnsons opponent to be an honorable, serious-minded Nebraskan, but the bottom line is that the arguments raised against Johnson dont come anywhere close to justifying the removal of this level-headed, decent-minded lawmaker.

 Bob Lammers, District 37 (Kearney area). Its vital for the Legislature to have lawmakers who demonstrate a solid understanding of Nebraska issues, possess keen analytical skills and know how to work with others to find practical solutions to complicated problems. Lammers, a three-term member of the Kearney City Council with extensive involvement in his community, demonstrates these abilities in impressive fashion.

We can readily envision him working in committee and during floor debate to help the Legislature find the best ways forward next year on tax policy, budgeting and economic development. With the election of Bob Lammers, District 37 voters can send a thoughtful, capable leader to the Legislature to help tackle the big issues.

 Sen. Sue Crawford, District 45 (eastern Sarpy County). Crawford is a Creighton University political science professor with expertise in health care issues. She chairs the Urban Affairs Committee and has a reputation for dedicated service and the ability to work with senators regardless of party or philosophy.

She has been energetic in working on veterans- related issues, which is appropriate for this Sarpy-based district. In our interview, Crawford ably addressed Nebraska issues. Her opponent, while well intentioned, fell well short of the needed standard in having a handle on Nebraska issues. Crawford is a hard-working lawmaker well deserving of re-election.

 Karl Elmshaeuser, District 47 (Ogallala and west). The Legislature would benefit from the insights this candidate provides on economic development, considering his role as executive director of the 18-county West Central Nebraska Development District. Elmshaeuser serves on the Ogallala City Council and is sharp in analyzing rural economic issues. He offers ideas, for example, on how state tax incentives can be more effective for rural Nebraska.

He chaired Nebraskas former rural broadband commission and demonstrates expertise about rural needs on that issue. Years ago, he was a power- plant mechanic who went on to start his aviation company in Ogallala. District 47 would benefit from having that can-do spirit in the Legislature.

On Nov. 8, strong choices for the Nebraska Legislature are Sen. Jerry Johnson in District 23, Bob Lammers in District 37, Sen. Sue Crawford in District 45 and Karl Elmshaeuser in District 47.
The writer, a junior fellow in economics at the Harvard University Society of Fellows, wrote this for Bloomberg View.

Its election season, so its time to bemoan low voter turnout. Americans do not vote in numbers comparable to the citizens of other democracies, were often reminded.

Then the laments start: Low turnout is a sad commentary on the state of the republic. This year could be even sadder because many people dont like either of the main parties presidential candidates.

For sure, low turnout can be a sign of voter frustration. However, for low turnout to distort the election result, it must be that the people who show up at the polls dont accurately represent the views of the citizenry as a whole.

But low-turnout elections arent necessarily unrepresentative. The key question is not how many people vote, but which ones.

My current research with my Harvard colleague Louis Kaplow shows that to figure out whether an election is representative, we need to think about who decides to turn out and why  and whether their decisions to turn out are linked to their political views.

For many citizens, barriers to voting are more logistical than ideological. Some people skip the polls because voting is a hassle. Voting can require getting up early, taking an hour off work or waiting in a long line.

Conversely, most people who vote do so for personal reasons. Many people vote because they take pride in civic participation or because their friends and family expect them to.

When deciding whether to vote, every individual makes an implicit cost-benefit trade-off, comparing logistical costs to the psychic benefits of participating in the process. If representativeness is the goal, then this is not inherently problematic.

If the cost of showing up to vote doesnt depend on which side youre on, and the personal benefits dont either, then the people who turn out may well reflect the views of the entire population.

But if the cost-benefit calculus comes out favorably for one sides partisans more often than it does for the others, turnout is unrepresentative, and the election will be skewed toward the side with low costs or high benefits.

Partisan get-out-the-vote efforts can thus reduce election representativeness even while increasing voter turnout. Today, our main political parties have become good at using fine-grained data to increase turnout among sure supporters.

But democracy would be better served by innovations that lower the costs of voting (or increase the benefits) for everyone  even if those interventions do not increase turnout as much as partisan get-out-the-vote campaigns would.

Simplified voter registration platforms, electronic polling-place directories and even improved ballot design are worthwhile investments.

Nonpartisan get-out-the-vote campaigns are good for democracy, too  especially when they proceed by informing voters about policy issues.

If we want to make elections fully representative, then we need to make the distribution of voting costs and benefits independent of party lines.

There is little empirical evidence about the exact partisan breakdown of voting costs and benefits, but a simple goal to start with is eliminating practices that make voting costs vary significantly across demographic groups.

That was the logic underlying a recent decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit that struck down North Carolinas voter ID law. Voter ID laws disproportionately raise the costs of voting for low-income individuals, who tend to lack the time and documents needed to acquire official IDs.

And indeed, voter ID laws appear to disproportionately reduce turnout of low-income minorities, especially African-Americans. Thus, turnout in the presence of voter ID laws is not representative  it underrepresents minorities, and thats bad for democracy.

Members of the military serving abroad also face exceptionally high barriers to voting, from the stresses of combat to the vagaries of bad postal systems. That means servicemen and women overseas are also underrepresented in turnout. This, too, is bad for democracy  and to fix it, we need to simplify and streamline the process of international voting.

Those who wring their hands about electoral participation in the U.S. should worry more about turnouts composition than about its size. Increasing turnout doesnt always increase representativeness; rather, representativeness and increased turnout go hand-in-hand only when we make voting equally easy for everyone.

The less peoples decisions about whether to vote are correlated with how they will vote, the more representative our democracy will be.
Is the health of Jayalalithaa an official secret?

Bengaluru

oi-Vicky

Bengaluru, Oct 13: Is the health of the Tamil Nadu chief minister an official secret, the DMK asks. The DMK's patriach, M Karunanidhi has several times questioned why no leader is being allowed to meet the Chief Minister in the hospital.

On Wednesday, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and BJP's national president Amit Shah had visited Apollo hospital. However, there is no clarity on whether they were allowed to meet the chief minister.

Sources indicate that like all other leaders, they too met with the doctors and some party workers who informed them that she was recovering. Both leaders took to their Twitter account to wish the TN Chief Minister a speedy recovery.

Visited Apollo hospital Chennai today. I wish J Jayalalithaa Ji, Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu a speedy recovery.  Arun Jaitley (@arunjaitley) October 12, 2016

Visited Apollo Hospital in Chennai to enquire about the health of Tamil Nadu CM J Jayalalithaa Ji. I wish and pray for her speedy recovery.  Amit Shah (@AmitShah) October 12, 2016

In Tamil Nadu this issue is the talk of the town. There is palpable tension among the workers of the AIADMK, who wish the hospital was more forthcoming with the information.

On the other side, there are people who say that the hospital authorities face a tough task in this issue considering Jayalalithaa does have a fanatical set of supporters as well.

The medical bulletins

The only source of information in this case are the medical bulletins issued by the hospital. The other source is the AIADMK's spokesperson, C Saraswathi who regularly issues statements to the media. Her statements range from, "Amma is recovering" to "Amma is the one taking all the policy decisions from hospital."

The bulletins which began with stating that the Chief Minister is being treated for fever and dehydration, today speak about respiratory support and lungs decongestion.

Also read: Ugly political spat erupts between an 'ill' Jayalalithaa and an 'illiterate' Karunanidhi

At times the medical bulletins are extremely similar and sometimes one can notice that lines are borrowed from earlier bulletins.

The last bulletin issued on October 8, reads, "The honourable chief minister continues to be under constant monitoring by the intensivists and the consultants in the panel. The respiratory support is closely watched and adjusted. Lungs decongestion treatment is being continued. All the other comprehensive measures including nutrition, supportive therapy and passive physiotherapy are underway".

Some say that these bulletins do not convey anything. It only speaks of the treatment but never clearly about the status of the Chief Minister. Such bulletins have led to tongues wagging and also rumour mongering.

The rumour mongering has led to a police crack down which resulted in the arrest of nearly 43 persons.

OneIndia News
In a first, two inmates of Institute of Mental Health tie the knot

Ugly political spat erupts between an ill Jayalalithaa and an illiterate Karunanidhi

Chennai

oi-Oneindia

By Oneindia Staff Writer

Chennai, Oct 13: The medical condition of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa is the biggest "political issue" plaguing the southern state.

If the ruling AIADMK is maintaining outmost secrecy about Jayalalithaa's health, as the CM is undergoing treatment in a Chennai hospital since September 22, the opposition party, DMK is allegedly trying to cash in on political points over the situation.

On Wednesday, a bitter political war of words started between the rival parties when AIADMK called DMK supremo M Karunanidhi an "illiterate", who is desperate to rule Tamil Nadu.

The ruling party is upset as the DMK is demanding to appoint an interim Chief Minister following incumbent Jayalalithaa's deteriorating health condition.

According to a report published by The Indian Express, senior AIADMK leader Ponnaiyan said, "As far as DMK is concerned, DMK headed by Karunanidhi is always vindictive in its approach. It is a self-centered political party, a political party for his own family."

"Karunanidhi doesn't know the law. Karunanidhi wants to rule Tamil Nadu or anything he wants to do, above law, without law, by breaking the law, which is his approach. Even if a judge gives a correct statement, if it goes against him, Karunanidhi won't be hesitant to accuse, to scold and insinuate the judiciary to the maximum extent, unmindful of the consequences. He is illiterate, so he takes law into his hands," he added.

Also read: Amma is the Queen: AIADMK reiterates Jayalalithaa to continue as Chief Minister

Regarding the allocation of portfolios held by Jayalalithaa to Finance Minister O Paneerselvam, Ponnaiyan said arrangements were made according to the Chief Minister's wishes.

Poonaiyan added, "According to the Constitution of India, no acting Chief Minister can be appointed, no in-charge Chief Minister can be appointed. What is being arranged for our Chief Minister is followed subject to the prevailing situation in the state."

Amma (as the CM is popularly known to her fans) is undergoing treatment at Apollo Hospital at Greams Road, Chennai, since September 22. Supporters of Jayalalithaa are praying for her speedy recovery.

OneIndia News

For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications

Story first published: Thursday, October 13, 2016, 7:39 [IST]
AIIMS fee structure for education could be modelled along lines of IITs, IIMs

AIIMS team, UK specialist visit Apollo Hospital again

India

oi-PTI

Chennai, Oct 13: The expert team of All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), along with a UK-based specialist, who had earlier examined Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa, today visited Apollo Hospital again.

Hospital sources said international specialist and consultant from Guy's and St Thomas' Hospital, London, Dr Richard Beale, and the AIIMS team, comprising Dr G Khilnani, Professor of Department of Pulmonology Medicine, Dr Anjan Trikha, Professor of Anaesthesiology and Critical Care, and Dr Nitish Nayak, Professor of Department of Cardiology, visited the hospital in the afternoon.

The expert panel, during its earlier visit to the hospital on October 6, had drawn up a detailed medical management plan to treat the 68-year-old AIADMK supremo. During its last visit, the team had held detailed deliberations on the treatment protocol provided to Jayalalithaa.

On October 9 and 10, Khilnani had visited the hospital and examined the chief minister. An earlier press release from the hospital had said, he had discussions with the hospital's expert panel and had "concurred with the present line of treatment" being given to the chief minister.

How did Jayalalithaa convey her approval

Jayalalithaa continues to be under treatment and "is being constantly monitored by the intensivists and other consultants in the expert panel", it had said. Necessary respiratory support, antibiotics, nutrition, supportive therapy and passive physiotherapy were being given to her, it had added.

Jayalalithaa was admitted to the hospital on September 22 after she complained of fever and dehydration.

PTI
SC notice to Centre on plea against supply of electoral roll to candidates

Centre seeks report from Kerala govt on killing of BJP man

India

oi-PTI

New Delhi, Oct 13: The Centre today sought a report from the Kerala government on the brutal killing of a 25- year-old BJP activist in Kannur district.

In a communication, the Home Ministry has asked the state government to provide details of the incident and steps taken to nab and punish those responsible for the crime.

The Home Ministry has also asked the Kerala government to inform it about the steps taken for security of political workers in the state, official sources said.

BJP activist Remith was hacked to death in Kannur district, the home town of Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan yesterday, within 48 hours of the murder of a CPI(M) activist and toddy shop worker Mohanan.

The BJP organised a 'bandh' in Kerala today to protest the killing of its party activist.

PTI
Ex-IAS officer Shivram to join BJP: Is it a move to checkmate K S Eshwarappa?

News

oi-Vicky

By Vicky

The BJP in Karnataka will witness a major event tomorrow. Retired IAS officer K Shivram would join the party in the presence of Union home minister, Rajnath Singh. The event is expected to be a major one and the BJP is going to town with it. Shivram will join the party at a grand event to be held at the National College Grounds in Bengaluru on Friday evening.

While the BJP hopes to capitalise on the SC votes through Shivram, this is also being seen as a move to checkmate K S Eshwarappa who is trying to project himself as a leader of the backward community. The BJP says that the role of Shivram in the party would be to expand the party's base among the Dalits and backward community.

BJP insiders say that this was a move initiated by Karnataka BJP Chief, B S Yeddyurappa. It is a well known fact that the relation between Yeddyurappa and Eshwarappa is nothing to tom-tom about. With Eshwarappa trying to be the champion of the Dalit cause, the move to bring in Shivram is being seen as a masterstroke by Yeddyurappa.

For Shivram this is not the first tryst with politics. Hailing from the Chalasani (SC) community he had fought an unsuccessful election on a JD(S) ticket from the Vijayapura constituency. He was also part of the campaign for G Parameshwar of the Congress. In the last elections he had led a campaign for a Dalit Chief Minister.

By inducting Shivram, it is clear that the BJP is trying to focus on the votes from the backward community. Shivram has a good reach in the district and taluk levels and this is likely to help the party in the next elections.

The BJP however downplays the rift between Yeddyurappa and Eshwarappa. This is not about sidelining or checkmating Eshwarappa they say. We want to focus on the SC/ST votes and hence felt that Shivram would be a good choice, a BJP leaders said.
Vice Chancellors can continue until Governors final order: Kerala HC

Kerala guv writes to CM Vijayan to take action against finance minister

Centre deploys high-level team to Kerala to investigate Avian Influenza outbreak

Gods on the runway: Kerala airport halts flights every year to make way for temple procession

News flash: Barack Obama congrratulates Bob Dylan

India

oi-Oneindia

By Oneindia Staff Writer

Oct 13: Union Cabinet meeting scheduled to take place this morning. In other news, shutdown called in Kerala by the BJP over the murder of a party worker in Kannur district.

Get all the latest news udpates of the day:

10:20 pm: US President Barack Obama congrratulates Bob Dylan,

9:45 pm: Gujarat Govt takes back decision to block internet services on October 16

9:15 pm: Caesar, the last surviving member of the 26/11 dog squad passes away after a prolonged illness

9:00 pm: Crocodile rescued by locals after it strayed into Laxmi Vilas Palace lawns in Vadodara.

8:30 pm: Geneva prosecutor's office says man arrested after a bomb threat was made at an airline ticket counter at Geneva Airport: Media report.

8:00 pm: UN officially appoints former Portugal PM Antonio Guterres as the new Secretary-General

7:45 pm: Burdwan balst: NIA takes 5 accused on police remand till Oct 27

7:40 pm: Nita Ambani pays a visit to TN CM Jayalalithaa at Apollo Hospital.

7:25 pm: Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn will succeed his father, following death of Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej after a long battle with ill health:AFP.

7:20 pm: Mumbai (Bandra East) building collapse: Death toll rises to six.

7:10 pm: FM Arun Jaitley says bringing reforms in India is not as big a challenge today as it was 10 or 20 years ago.

7:01 pm: Maldives has decided to leave the Commonwealth: Maldives Foreign Ministry.

6:42 pm: PM Narendra Modi expresses grief over demise of Thailand's King Bhumbol Adulyadej.

6:38 pm: Uttarakhand: Skeletons, suspected to be of the victims of 2013 floods, found on one of the trekking routes to Kedarnath,probe underway.

6:30 pm: Chhattisgarh: Chief Minister Raman Singh addressing a public meeting in Jagdalpur.

6:18 pm: Hindustan Aeronautics Limited to sign choppers deal (Joint Venture) with Russian Helicopters and Rostec Corporation: Govt sources.

5:55 pm: Consumer inflation eases to 4.31% in September. CPI was at 5.5% in August.

5:40 pm: Royal Palace says Thailand's King Bhumibol, world's longest-reigning monarch, has died at age 88: AP.

5:39 pm: We will never tolerate any interference in our religious affairs. This is a ruse to change our laws and practices: Mehmood Madani.

5:35 pm: Thailand's King Bhumibol Adulyadej, 88, has died after a long illness, ending a 7-decade reign: AFP.

5:24 pm: Govt planning to celebrate Sardar Patel birth anniversary in a big way,unity runs and pledges to be organised across nation: Govt Sources.

5:20 pm: Winter session of Parliament to be held from 16th November to 16th December.

5.15 pm: Mumbai (Bandra East) building collapse: Till now 5 people have been rescued; 2 or 3 people still feared trapped in debris.

5.10 pm: Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau orders quick verification against Kerala industrial minister E P Jayarajan over nepotism charges.

5.07 pm: Don't want to impose majority views on minorities,we are here to know the will of the people: Law Commission chairman BS Chauhan on UCC.

4.49 pm: Lokayukta asks for a report from Police by Oct 24 in connection with 13 year old girl death case after observing 68-day long fast in Hyderabad.

4.45 pm: One dead in Mumbai (Bandra East) building collapse.

4.44 pm: Fire breaks out in a plastic chair factory in Bhopal,fire tenders at the spot in MP.

4.29 pm: Many Islamic nations have carried out reforms, AIMPLB have put forth their view, now we need a healthy debate, says MA Naqvi,Minority Affairs Minister.

4.20 pm: NDRF reaches the spot after 5-storey structure in Behrampada slum of Bandra East (Mumbai) collapses

3.44 pm: Elephant triggers panic among locals after going on a rampage in UP.

3.30 pm: Boko Haram releases 21 Chibok girls to Nigeria government: government official (AFP).

3.29 pm: Anti-Kejriwal posters opposing his visit put up in Ahmedabad.

3.25 pm: During UPA Govt 2-3 surgical strikes were carried out, but such facts were and should not be revealed: Susheel Kumar Shinde, Ex Home Minister.

3.11 pm: Three including two college students died after lorry ran over them near Chellammal Women's College in Chennai.

2.51 pm: 5-storey structure in Behrampada slum of Bandra East (Mumbai) collapses. Fire brigade rushed with ambulance.6-7 people feared trapped. Rescue op underway.

2.45 pm: German official says bomb plot suspect Jaber Albakr strangled himself with his shirt: AP.

2.37 pm: After interrogation, it is confirmed that they did share sensitive details, probe underway. Mobiles recovered: B.S. Chavda, Gujarat ATS DSP.

2.36 pm: Got information about two men passing on sensitive details of the Indian army to ISI handlers in Pakistan: B.S. Chavda, Gujarat ATS DSP.

2.26 pm: CM (TN CM Jayalalithaa) is doing very well, nobody should spread any false news about her health, says CR Saraswathi,AIADMK.

2:15 pm: MHA asks for a report from Delhi police on JNU issue: MHA Sources.

2:08 pm: Triple Talaq ban: Our party has taken a decision to reply to questionnaire of the law commission, Asaduddin Owaisi of AIMIM says.

2:00 pm: All Muslim organizations have come together to boycott the law commission's questionnaire: Kamal Faruqui.

1:48 pm: Central investigating agency (CBI) registers three cases in Haryana Jat Agitation related with violence; cases include attacking, looting of weapons and burning of a residence.

1:42 pm: For UP polls, development will be the issue; Ram temple is cultural issue: Siddharth Nath Singh, BJP leader.

1:35 pm: CBI registers case in Jat agitation in Rohtak.

1:25 pm: Getting any gift from Sachin sir is a big thing. Can't even think of returning it: Gymnast Dipa Karmakar on BMW controversy.

No return or refusal, just that there is no showroom, service centre of BMW in Agartala, so I was talking about a possibility: Dipa Karmakar pic.twitter.com/JbhHKjjtvl  ANI (@ANI_news) October 13, 2016

1:10 pm: Finance Minister Arun Jaitley hints at more liberalisation measures to insulate economy from global slowdown.

12.56 pm: Muslims equally participated in India's freedom struggle, but their participation is always underestimated: Muslim Personal Law Board.

12.44 pm: In America everyone follows their personal laws and identity, how come our nation doesnt want to follow their steps in this matter?: MPLB.

12.43 pm: Uniform Civil Code is not good for this nation. There're so many cultures in this nation, have to be respected: Muslim Personal Law Board.

12.40 pm: Locals offer special prayers outside Apollo hospital for speedy recovery of TN CM Jayalalithaa in Chennai.

12.25 pm: re broke out at Teghoria's VIP road, 6 fire tenders reach the spot. No casualties. Fire has now been doused in Kolkata.



12.15 pm: He called surgical strike a burden and frustration of last 30 years, somebody must control him. I strongly object his statement: AK Antony.

12.05 pm: An auto driver and Jayalalithaa's supporter, Sugumar distributes tender coconuts to the supporters gathered outside Apollo hospital.

Chennai: An auto driver & Jayalalithaa's supporter, Sugumar distributes tender coconuts to the supporters gathered outside Apollo hospital. pic.twitter.com/qtUsvXzNLq  ANI (@ANI_news) October 13, 2016

11.55 am: Cabinet approves signing of MoU between India & Hungary on cooperation in water management.

11.40 am: Chinese President Xi Jinping and PM Narendra Modi to hold bilateral meet ahead of BRICS Summit on 15th October in Goa.

11.25 am: Pakistan Supreme Court adjourns hearing of Christian woman Aasia Bibi's final appeal against blasphemy for indefinite period: Pak media.

10.50 am: Delhi: Meeting of the BRICS trade ministers begins.

Delhi: Meeting of the BRICS trade ministers begins. pic.twitter.com/Sg3Bin2WEy  ANI (@ANI_news) October 13, 2016

10.30 am: Heavy rainfall triggers landslide at two places between Siliguri and Gangtok; fears of flooding at Dooars in North Bengal.

10.18 am: US strikes Houthi rebel targets in Yemen, says Pentagon: AFP.

10.03 am: Till September, 2016, advance tax collections have reached Rs.1.58 lakh

crore showing a growth rate of 12.12%: CBDT

9.58 am: Direct Tax Collections up to September, 2016 up by 8.95%: Ministry of Finance

9.55 am: US strikes Houthi rebel targets in Yemen: Pentagon (AFP)

9.27 am: She is out of danger right now, but has suffered third-degree burns on 40 percent of her body. Investigation is underway: Anil Sharma (SDOP)

9.25 am: She was raped on 16 Feb 2016, one of the accused was recently released from jail so she thought that he will kill her: Father

9.25 am: Itarsi (MP-12.10.16): Minor rape victim attempts self immolation after hearing that the accused is released from jail. Admitted to hospital

9.25 am: Stop access to terrorists. Go after Mumbai attackers: US to Pakistan.

8.50 am: Hurricane Nicole strengthens into a dangerous Category 4 storm with 130 mph winds.

8.12 am: Thiruvananthapuram: Call for shutdown in Kerala by the BJP over murder of a party worker in Kannur district.

Thiruvananthapuram: Call for shutdown in Kerala by the BJP over murder of a party worker in Kannur district. pic.twitter.com/hXcx0RrMCS  ANI (@ANI_news) October 13, 2016

8.00 am: Cabinet Committee on Parliamentary Affairs (CCPA) to meet at 5 PM today to discuss dates of winter session.

OneIndia News
Indian faces threat from inside, not outside: Former NSA

India

oi-PTI

Washington/Delhi, Oct 13: The real threats to India are "internal" and emanate from communal and social violence, not from outside forces such as Pakistan or China, former national security advisor Shivshankar Menon has said. Asked if Pakistan or China pose an existential threat to India, Menon said: "No". "In terms of national security, I think the real threats are internal," he told PTI.

"There's no existential threat to India's existence today externally, unlike in the 50s or when we were formed. And for many years till late 60s there were actual internal separatist threats, not any more. I think that we have actual dealt with," Menon said.

His long career in public service spans diplomacy, national security, and India's relations with its neighbours and major global powers. Menon served as national security advisor to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh from January 2010 to May 2014. Menon's first book post retirement - 'Choices: Inside the making of India's Foreign Policy' - is all set to hit book stores globally next week.

Asked to elaborate on what he meant by internal threats, he said: "If there are real threats to India, to the idea of India, India's integrity, today they actually come from within the country." "If you look at violence in India, deaths from terrorism, from left wing extremism, declined steadily throughout this 21st century until 2014-2015.

Even now the basic trend for terrorism, left wing extremism is down. What has increased is since 2012, communal violence, social violence, internal violence has increase. That is something we need to find a way in dealing with," Menon said.

"This is not a traditional law and order problem, which our traditional instruments, the police, the states know how to deal with. You look at violence against women, communal, caste violence, if you look at those firms of violence, these are all a result of tremendous social and economic change of uprooting of population, urbanization... various forms of change, which we still need to learn how to deal with," he said.

Menon said those are the threats, which in the long run, has a "potential to make real difference". "India has changed. It is normal. It happens to most societies where there is change.

But you also have to learn new ways of dealing with," he said and attributed the new threats to the rapid and fast development of the country.

When asked that some people attributed this to the BJP coming to power, Menon said even that is a consequence of the change that the Indian society is undergoing now. Menon previously served as India's foreign secretary from 2006 to 2009 and as ambassador and high commissioner to Israel from 1995-1997, Sri Lanka (1997-2000), China (2000-2003) and Pakistan (2003-2006).

PTI
Lack of development in J&K for decades was one of the reasons behind rise of terrorism: Rajnath Singh

40 down and counting: Forces on the verge of wiping out Pakistani terrorists in Valley

J&K cop conned into passing troop deployment info to Pak spy

India

oi-PTI

Srinagar, Oct 13: Jammu and Kashmir police has been left red faced after one of its officers passed on information about the deployment of police and paramilitary forces in the Valley to a Pakistani spy who posed as an 'Army Commander'.

The Police Control Room here recently received a call from a Pakistani spy who demanded information about the force deployment.

The call was intercepted by central intelligence agencies which submitted a report to the Union Home Ministry about the "negligence" on the part of the Kashmir police officer.

The Home Ministry asked the Director General of Police K Rajendra Kumar to initiate an inquiry against the officer, who has been suspended, official sources said here.

The errant Inspector was officiating as Deputy Superintendent of Police at the Jammu and Kashmir Armed Police Control Room. Giving details of the incident, the sources said a call was received by the official concerned (name withheld) on a land line number and the caller identified himself as an "Army Commander".

He asked the officer to share details of deployment of police and paramilitary forces in the Kashmir Valley which is witnessing unrest since July 8. The caller also provided a number to the officer and asked him to use one of the instant messaging services for sending the information, sources said.

Not realising that he was being conned into passing on confidential information by a Pakistani spy, the officer did the needful. Later, on being confronted, he told his superiors that he had informed his immediate senior in the control room about the call and whether he should share the deployment details.

It was only after his senior voiced 'no reservation' that he passed on the information using an instant messaging application. Senior officials of the state police said it was a case of "negligence" and that during the ongoing unrest, which started after the death of Hizbul Mujahideen terrorist Burhan Wani on July 8, police control room was flooded with calls from across the border.

PTI
In a case of bad karma Taliban outs Pakistan on what India had always said on Azhar

Licensed to speak by ISI, Azhar calls for destruction of India's water projects

India

oi-Vicky

New Delhi, Oct 13: India has viewed very seriously the constant threats being raised by Jaish-e-Mohammad Chief Maulana Masood Azhar. He has been issuing a series of threats in the past couple of days.

One one hand he asks the government of Pakistan to open the path for the mujahideen against India while on the other he has called on his fidayeens to strike at water projects in India.

India has been viewing these developments seriously and says that instead of acting against him, Pakistan remains a mute spectator. It may also be recalled that China had once again blocked India's move to declare him an terrorist at the United Nations.

Intelligence Bureau officials say that Azhar is on over drive mode today and has been planning major strikes in India. While on one hand he speaks about a major offensive in Kashmir on the other he says that it is the water projects of India which must be targeted.

According to a Pionner report, Azhar is heard calling on his cadres in an audio clip to attack water projects in India. This call was made after India decided to review the Indus Water Treaty with Pakistan. Azhar says that water projects in India must be targeted.

He says that India is trying to terrorise the people of Pakistan by threatening to review the Indus Water Treaty. India should be taught a lesson he says.

He further states that fidayeens should identify those projects through which water flows to Pakistan. He further states that just four fidayeens are sufficient to target a project. He takes a dig at India and says that four terrorists can hold the security forces for four days while making a referrence to the Pathankot attacks.

Intelligence Bureau officials say that Azhar has been issuing several threats since the surgical strikes had been conducted. It is a ploy by Pakistan to issue indirect threats to India. The several documents and dossiers that India provided on Azhar appear to have been set aside.

Further the officer also notes that Azhar has been licensed by the ISI to do all the talking. However officials in India are not talking these threats lightly and say that adequate security arrangements are in place.

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Story first published: Thursday, October 13, 2016, 17:32 [IST]
Mother won't put child's honour at stake: HC

India

oi-PTI

New Delhi, Oct 13: A mother is not expected to put the honour of her child at stake by implicating somebody in a molestation case, Delhi High Court has said while upholding the conviction and six-month jail term of a 60-year-old man.

Justice S P Garg said the convict's defence that he was falsely implicated in the case to avoid paying for goods bought from him by the girl's mother was "devoid of merit" as no evidence was shown that anything was purchased from him.

"No ulterior motive was assigned to the child for making a false statement against the individual aged around sixty years and with whom she had no prior ill-will or animosity. The defence that X's mother had purchased certain eatables on credit and was unable to return the amount and was falsely implicated to avoid payment is devoid of merits," it said.

"For such a trivial issue, mother is not expected to put the honour of her tiny child at stake. The petitioner also did not produce on record any evidence to show if any particular item was purchased by victim's mother, and if so, when and for what price. No documentary evidence has emerged on record in this regard.

The petitioner who himself was a petty vendor is not expected to sell articles on huge credit," the high court added. According to the prosecution, the accused, a street vendor who sold peanuts and 'gajjak' on a 'rehri' (wheelcart) here, had taken the minor girl to his house on January 10, 2008 when she was on her way home and had outraged her modesty after wrongfully confining her.

The magisterial court had held him guilty of the offence and awarded him one year of rigorous imprisonment, which was endorsed by the sessions court that however had reduced the sentence to simple imprisonment for six months.

The high court upheld the conviction and sentence, saying the "convict was mature enough to understand the consequences of his act, so he does not deserve leniency as the victim was akin to his daughter".

The man had moved the high court challenging the legality and correctness of the sessions judge's June 4 judgment. Holding that the appeal lacks merit, the high court has observed that scanning the testimony of the victim, it reveals that despite detailed cross-examination nothing material could be elicited to disbelieve her version.

PTI
PFI ban 'dangerous' as every Muslim who speaks his mind can now be arrested: AIMIM chief Owaisi

Muslim man can't remarry if he's unable to take care of family: Allahabad HC

Why a terror angle should not be ruled out in the Coimbatore cylinder blast case

What if Owaisi had? Muslim users on Twitter blast Kejriwal for asking for Hindu God images on currency notes

Uniform Civil Code: Modi starting internal war to hide his failures, says Muslim Law Board

India

oi-Vicky

New Delhi, Oct 13: The Muslim Personal Law Board has warned of "an internal war" over the Uniform Civil Code issue, accusing Prime Minister Narendra Modi of triggering a potential conflict to hide his government's failures.

All Muslims will respond. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has triggered an internal war in this country, the All India Muslim Law Personal said today.

The strong comments came after the board rejected a questionnaire circulated by the Law Commission that sought a public opinion on Uniform Civil Code.

The chief of the board, Wali Rehmani who addressed the media said that the Muslims will boycott the law commission's questionnaire. He also added that UCC is violative of the Constitution and also the right to religion.

[The Law Commission Questionnaire]

An agitated Rehmani accused the Modi government of trying to cover up its failures of the past 30 months.They are not able to protect the borders and appear to be fuelling internal srtife instead,he said.

He also accused the government of trying to impose a single ideology in the country.On October 7 the law commission released a questionnaire which included 16 questions on the relevance of the UCC.

The questionnaire was circulated in the backdrop of the Supreme Court hearing a petition on abolishing triple talaq.

The centre in an affidavit had backed the abolishing of this practise. The centre had also said that thispractise is not an integral part of Islam.

He also goes on to add that UCC is not good for the nation which has so many cultures. Each of these cultures need to be respected he added.

The government must learn to respect the multiplicity of cultures, he also added. We live in a country with an agreement held by the Constitution.

While stating that they would not accept the UCC at any cost, the board chief said that it is the Constitution that has made us live and practice our religion. Reshmani also said that the law commission was doing illegal work.

In the USA there are states with their own personal law and they are functioning well. Why should anyone have a problem with personal laws,he asked.

Stating that these moves were meant to attack Muslims, he said that the participation of Muslims in the freedom struggle of India were underestimated.

While backing the concept of triple talaq he also said that Hindus have a higher rate of divorce.

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Muslims equally participated in Indias freedom struggle, but their participation is always underestimated: Muslim Personal Law Board pic.twitter.com/XINP1Obfwf  ANI (@ANI_news) October 13, 2016

We are living in this country with an agreement held by the constitution. Constitution has made us live & practice our religion: MPLB pic.twitter.com/rU0xwbrDGI  ANI (@ANI_news) October 13, 2016

OneIndia News

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Sad to see grand old party implode: Omar Abdullah on Azad's resignation from Congress

IIM to Jammu region, a 'blatant partisan politics': Omar Abdullah

India

oi-IANS

By Ians English

New Delhi, Oct 13: Former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Thursday accused the Mehbooba Mufti-led PDP-BJP state government of "partisan politics" over the Centre's decision to set up an Indian Institute of Management (IIM) in Jammu.

The Union cabinet on Thursday approved the establishment and operation of the premier management institute in the state's winter capital at a cost of nearly Rs 62 crore.

The 20th IIM of the country will function from a temporary campus at Old Government College of Engineering and Technology for the first four years, from 2016 to 2020, it said.

In a series of tweets, the National Conference (NC) leader hit out at Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti.

"Jammu gets the IIT & gets the IIM also. Where have all those voices that called for balanced regional development in J&K disappeared."

"This is just blatant partisan politics of the kind we have come to expect from the BJP-PDP. No wonder so much of the state is restive today," wrote Abdullah.

"When Kashmir was awarded an AIIMS (hospital) Jammu agitated, successfully, for its right to be granted one as well. Why this partisanship now?"

"Realise that Mehbooba Mufti has had to sell out her political agenda to remain in power but I didn't realise she's sold her soul also," he tweeted.

Jammu gets the IIT & gets the IIM also. Where have all those voices that called for balanced regional development in J&K disappeared.  Omar Abdullah (@abdullah_omar) October 13, 2016

I realise that @MehboobaMufti has had to sell out her political agenda to remain in power but I didn't realise she's sold her soul also!!!  Omar Abdullah (@abdullah_omar) October 13, 2016

When Kashmir was awarded an AIIMS Jammu agitated, successfully, for its right to be granted one as well. Why this partisanship now?  Omar Abdullah (@abdullah_omar) October 13, 2016

IANS
From being a victim of terrorism to exploring global solutions: India praised at UN's Counter Terrorism meet

Hit by surgical strike, Pakistan on an overdrive mode with psychological warfare

India

oi-Vicky

Bengaluru, Oct 13: As the tension along the Indo-Pak border escalates, there are spy games galore being played by the ISI and its agents. The past few weeks have seen escalation of ISI related activity on several fronts.

Right from activating spies in India to defacing Indian websites- there has been a considerable amount of activity which India has been witness to.

Along the border there have been several violations that are being reported. Following the surgical strikes, Pakistan seems to be on the offensive and has resorted to unprovoked firing.

In the aftermath of the surgical strikes, Pakistan hackers managed to deface nearly 7,000 Indian websites, all of which have been restored now.

Also read: Pakistan's cyber war more about propaganda than data theft

The social media wing of the ISI and its foot soldiers who were planted in India have also been on an overdrive mode. Intelligence Bureau officials say that these are busy days and they see a surge in ISI activity off late.

The ISI's social media team is trying to set honey traps on one hand and on the other, their agents in India are trying to gather sensitive military information.

On overdrive mode

For Pakistan this has become a psychological war. They are desperate to prove that they can hit back and save their face in the aftermath of the surgical strikes.

While military escalation is not in their best interest, they have resorted to various other means to prove to India that they are still capable at playing the psychological game.

The ISI has a set of agents in India which it has activated now. On Wednesday, two spies from ISI were arrested from the border town of Khavda in Kutch district.

The allegation against them was that they were in possession of incriminating documents pertaining to the movement of the Indian army. The duo arrested have been identified as Mohammad Alana and Saifur Sumara.

Also read: Now Indian hackers unleash surgical strikes on Pakistan cyberspace

In addition to this, there have also been cases of ISI spies trying to recruit retired soldiers. This was in fact revealed during the interrogation of Kafitullah Khan who was arrested earlier this year that he had tried to recruit retired jawans.

One of the conversations involving him was submitted to the court and he was heard saying, "Check karey ki Army wale LOC ke villages mein kitne logo ko training dey rahein hain. Villages ka naam pata hai toh batayein (Check how many people the army is training at the villages near the LOC. Get us the names of those villages)

Another instance of spying that has been found is targeting the mobile phones of armed forces personnel.

A Karachi based cyber unit is under the radar for attempting to lay honey traps on army personnel.

It was also noticed that this Karachi team comprising nearly 3,000 members were also developing an app through which they could steal data from the phones of the army personnel. Through this app the attempt is to access troop movement details.

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Story first published: Thursday, October 13, 2016, 13:47 [IST]
Panneerselvam at the helm again: What makes him the natural choice always?

India

oi-Vicky

He has been described as a proxy by many and a benami by the opposition. However, each time Jayalalithaa is out of action, the natural choice is O Panneerselvam or OPS, as he is commonly known as.

On Tuesday, OPS was told to take charge of the portfolios held by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, J Jayalalithaa who is currently in hospital.

It is for the third time that OPS has been handed out the mantle. He took over as Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu after Jayalalithaa had to step down in the Tansi case in 2001. He was again made the CM when Jayalalithaa was convicted in 2014 in connection to the disproportionate assets case.

When Jayalalithaa was admitted in the hospital, there was already talk as to who would be in charge. Considering the events of last March, Panneerselvam was considered to be the last choice.

There was a falling out between Jayalalithaa and OPS as there were allegations that his family had amassed wealth when he was the CM in 2014.

Why is OPS the natural choice?

Even in the past there has been talk about OPS falling out with Jayalalithaa. However, he is always the choice to fill in for Jayalalithaa. Political observers say that he is a man with no ego. He was quick to apologise not once but several times and each time he was pulled up by Jayalalithaa.

Also read: Paneerselvam gets Tamil Nadu CM Jayalalithaa's portfolios

In March, when there was a falling out, many had said that OPS would be shunted out of the ministry. While Jayalalithaa was quick to act against Natham Vishwanathan and Palaniappan, she did not take similar action against OPS.

However, this move by Jayalalithaa did not surprise anyone. They said it was on expected lines.

OPS has made his loyalties to the leadership well known. He knows where to draw the line. He never sat on the chair where Jayalalithaa would sit as the Chief Minister.

Moreover the seat where Jayalalithaa would sit in the assembly too was not occupied by OPS. Even while presenting the budget as the Finance Minister, he made sure that the budget box had a photograph of Jayalalithaa. In 2014, when he took oath as the CM, he did so with tears in his eyes.

With OPS, Jayalalithaa could also be confident that here was a man who would not try and usurp her in anyway.

He is a very shy person and his loyalties remain with Jayalalithaa. Every decision he would take would be in consultation with her.

The bureaucracy too does not have any problems with him as he is not known to interfere too much and hand out orders. These are the various factors that OPS a natural choice when Jayalalithaa is unable to occupy the chair of CM.

OneIndia News
PM to have ten bilaterals on sidelines of BRICS Summit

India

oi-PTI

New Delhi, Oct 13: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will have nearly ten bilaterals, including an annual summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin, in three days in Goa from October 15 on the sidelines of the five-nation BRICS Summit and BIMSTEC outreach meet.

Prime Minister Modi will meet Putin on Saturday for the annual summit and the talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping are expected to be held later that day. His summit with Brazilian President Michel Temer is scheduled for Monday.

While issues such as terrorism, economy and connectivity are expected to dominate the deliberations at the multilateral-level, bilateral meetings will see India exploring ways to enhance cooperation in key areas of security, defence, energy and investments, officials said.

Apart from holding meetings with leaders of BRICS (Brazil -Russia-India-China-South Africa), Modi will have talks with Prime Ministers of Bhutan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Thailand. He will also have a bilateral with State Counsellor of Myanmar Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, who is arriving in India on October 16 on her first visit to the country after assuming the office.

During Modi-Putin meeting, key issues of defence, security, civil nuclear cooperation, trade and investment are expected to dominate the talks. Significantly, Indian envoy to Moscow Pankaj Saran had said that India has conveyed its views to Russia over its joint exercise with Pakistan, a nation which "sponsors and practises terrorism as a matter of State policy", and that it will create further problems.

The bilateral summit also comes at a time when India is undertaking large-scale defence modernisation programme involving replacing old Russian equipment with modern ones from the country itself and from other nations.

Some of the most important defence deals currently under discussion are purchase of 5 S-400 'Triumf' long-range air defence missile systems, Kamov-28 helicopters and upgradation of the Sukhoi 30-MKIs.

PTI
Shahadat-e-al-Hikma: Is this a new terror outfit in West Bengal

India

oi-Vicky

'Shahadat-e-al-Hikma'-the name may not ring a bell but this is an organisation that was born in Bangladesh in 2003 and it was suspected that it got all its funding from Dawood Ibrahim. The Bangladesh government banned the organisation, a few months after it was born.

Considered to be defunct, the name of this outfit cropped up during an investigation being conducted in a terror case in West Bengal.

When the National Investigation Agency (NIA) questioned an operative by the name Anwar Hussain in connection with the Khagragarh blasts case, he revealed that the outfit running this operation was Shahadat-e-al-Hikma.

Intelligence Bureau officials say that the outfit had gone defunct back in 2003 itself. It never really took off as it was banned immediately.

There are some members of this outfit who still exist in Bangladesh and they could be running it. Officials also say that there are many such splinter outfits who work behind the scenes for the major groups.

After the Burdwan blasts, there was a lot of heat on Jamaat-ul Mujahideen, Bangladesh.

Both India and Bangladesh had cracked down on this outfit. The JMB even went on to form an alliance with the ISIS in a bid to establish the Bengal caliphate. The resurfacing of the Shahadat-e-al-Hikma could well be a ploy on part of the JMB to take the heat off it, the officer also adds.

In 2014, Bangladesh agencies had reported that there was an attempt to reactivate this outfit.

The members may have entered into an alliance with the JMB, officials also add. As per investigations, the role of this outfit is to carry out the first stage of training for the new recruits.

It was revealed that this group undertakes training at a camp in Chittagong. IB officials say that it is quite clear that the name of this group has come up only to give the JMB a deniability factor.

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Story first published: Thursday, October 13, 2016, 12:27 [IST]
Fire breaks out in BEST AC bus, no passenger hurt | VIDEO

As the countdown clock struck zero, rocket of Aakash BYJUS took off from Bandra Bandstand

'Shiv Sena workers tried to kill me': Kirit Somaiya

India

oi-PTI

Mumbai, Oct 13: BJP MP Kirit Somaiya today alleged that Shiv Sainiks tried to kill him, and wrote to Mumbai Police Commissioner asking him to unravel the plot.

"Shiv Sena workers tried to kill me," Somaiya alleged, referring to the attack on him on Tuesday in suburban Mulund.

Police have so far arrested 13 people in connection with the assault, in which some BJP workers were injured.

The assault took place in suburban Mulund after Sena workers allegedly disrupted a programme organised by Somaiya wherein an effigy of 'corruption mafia in MCGM' was to be burnt to mark the festival of Dussehra.

The Sena activists objected to the effigy burning as they are in power in Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM) and tried to stop the programme.

However, police had intervened and brought the situation under control.

MCGM is ruled by the Sena-BJP alliance for the last 20 years and civic polls are scheduled early next year.

Somaiya, the former Mumbai BJP chief, has aggressively targeted Sena and repeatedly alleged that the civic body was riddled with "mafia-raj and corruption".

The MP, who represents the Northeast Mumbai constituency, had earlier said that he will continue his fight against the "mafia-raj and corruption in MCGM".

PTI

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Story first published: Thursday, October 13, 2016, 14:59 [IST]
Pak off the FATF grey list doesn't mean it's not under scrutiny anymore: MEA secretary

The next army chief of Pakistan: These are the four in contention

India

oi-Vicky

India would like to see the back of General Raheel Sharif. In Indian official circles, it is said that General Sharif is bad news and the sooner he retires, the better it would be.

It is also said that if an extension is given to General Sharif, it would mean a military adventure against India is on the cards.

General Sharif is due to retire in November. All eyes would be on Pakistan to see if he is given an extension or stages a coup considering his strained relations with Prime Minister, Nawaz Sharif.

If all goes as per plan and General Sharif, as he himself has indicated, steps down in November then the choice of the next army chief is what everyone would talk about. For now, Pakistan has narrowed it down to four names.

Lt Gen Javed Iqbal Ramday, commander of Bahawalpur-based XXXI Corps, Lt Gen Zubair Hayat, Chief of General Staff, Gen Ishfaq Nadeem Ahmad, commander of the Multan-based II Corps and Lt Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa, who heads the army's training and evaluation wing, are the four names that are being considered.

Lt Gen Javed Iqbal Ramday

Lt Gen Javed Iqbal Ramday, commander of Bahawalpur-based XXXI Corps is a name that is being considered seriously. He is the choice of the ruling party.

He is the senior most of the generals and also has political backing. He comes from a political family. He is also credited with leading the 2009 operation against the Tehri-e-Taliban in the Swat valley.

Lt Gen Zubair Hayat

Lt Gen Zubair Hayat, is the Chief of General Staff. Hailing from Lahore he is responsible for managing Pakistan's nuclear arsenal. He has served as the director general of the Strategic Plans Division.

He currently is in charge of the intelligence and operational affairs at the army's General Headquaters. Hayat could be a compromise candidate since he is favoured both by the military and civilian leadership.

Lt. Gen Ishfaq Nadeem Ahmad

Lt. Gen Ishfaq Nadeem Ahmad is the commander of the Multan-based II Corps. He was the man behind the preparations for Zarb-e-Azb, an operation launched to drive out militants from the tribal areas.

This operation which was very close to the heart of General Raheel Sharif, was managed by Lt Gen Ahmed. He was also responsible for several operations against the Taliban insurgency.

He was also the Director General of Military Operations and this gives him the advantage of taking over as the next general if merit is considered.

Lt Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa

Lt Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa heads the army's training and evaluation wing. His name figures last in the list. He was the commander of the X-Corps which is responsible for the area along the Line of Control. His name being announced as the next General could in fact be a surprise choice.

OneIndia News
TN to have independent governor soon: MHA sources

India

oi-Vicky

Chennai, Oct 13: Tamil Nadu will have an independent governor soon. The ministry for home affairs is discussing this issue and will soon appoint a permanent governor for the state of Tamil Nadu.

Currently Vidyasagar Rao holds the post of Governor for the states of Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu. Home Ministry sources say that a decision on appointing an independent governor for TN will be taken in the next couple of days.

Sources also indicate that Rao will be made the Governor of Tamil Nadu. The post of Maharashtra governor will go to D H Shankarmurthy the source also indicated.

Having an independent governor for TN is important especially in the current scenario. With Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa admitted to hospital questions have been raised about the administration.

Following pressure from all quarters the Governor had to step. An announcement handing over the portfolios held by J Jayalalithaa to O Paneerselvam was made on Tuesday. Paneerselvam who has stepped in for Jayalalithaa twice in the past has now been authorized to conduct cabinet meetings also.

The Home Ministry feels that at such a crucial time it is important that an independent governor is appointed. Sources say that since Rao is familiar with TN he is likely to be appointed governor of the state.

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Story first published: Thursday, October 13, 2016, 18:56 [IST]
Walk extra mile to ensure implementation of schemes: PM to ministers

India

oi-PTI

New Delhi, Oct 13: Prime Minister Narendra Modi tonight asked his Council of Ministers to make extra efforts for effective implementation of public welfare schemes at the ground level and work on new ideas in their ministries ahead of the budget.

Addressing a meeting of the Council of Ministers, he also asked the ministers to review their budget expenditures and various programmes to ensure implementation of the party's manifesto.

He said the government has successfully launched a host of schemes that were doing good to public and everyone has to move an "extra mile" to ensure their effective implementation.

Sources said in his brief address, Modi also asked all ministers to be cautious while handling government work and accord priority to the upcoming Parliament Session that starts from November 16.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar informed the Council that the Winter Session of Parliament was starting from November 16 and would end on December 16 during which the government is likely to bring at least nine new bills, besides getting the crucial Goods and Services Tax Bill approved.

Black money: Chandrababu Naidu-Jagan Reddy slugfest reaches PM Modi

The meeting that was held at the Pravasi Bharatiya Kendra in Chanakyapuri lasted around four hours also saw detailed presentations on the functioning of "Swachh Bharat" and Skill Development gives by the respective secretaries and interventions by ministers Narendra Singh Tomar and Rajiv Pratap Rudy.

In the presentation made by the Cabinet Secretary on the achievements of the government in the past two months since the last such meeting, it was informed that government is proposing to merge the Plan and non-Plan expenditures and advancing the budget session to early February.

PTI
Drone attack on Kurdish, French forces reveals new threats

International

oi-PTI

Washington, Oct 13 French and Kurdish forces in northern Iraq were attacked by an exploding drone, the Pentagon has said, adding a new worry to the wars in Iraq and Syria as militant groups learn to weaponise their store-bought drones.

Air Force Col John Dorrian, the spokesman for the US-led military coalition in Iraq, said yesterday that an improvised device on a drone exploded after it was taken back to a camp near the Iraqi city of Irbil. He called it a Trojan Horse-style attack.

Two Kurds were killed in that incident on October 2, according to a US official, who said the drone looked like a Styrofoam model plane that was taped together in a very rudimentary style.

The official said it appeared to be carrying a C-4 charge and batteries, and may have had a timer on it. That official was not authorised to discuss the incident publicly so spoke on condition of anonymity.

France's presidential spokesman, Stephane Le Foll, said yesterday that two French special forces were seriously injured in the explosion.

The US has seen militants use a variety of improvised drones and modified drones, Dorrian said, adding, "there's nothing very high tech about them."

"They can just buy them as anybody else would," he told reporters Wednesday. "Some of those are available on Amazon."

A recently released video belonging to an al-Qaida offshoot, Jund al-Aqsa, purportedly shows a drone landing on Syrian military barracks.

In another video, small explosives purportedly dropped by the Iran-backed Shiite militant group Hezbollah target the Sunni militant group Jabhat Fatah al-Sham, formerly known as the Nusra Front, near Aleppo.

The technology is not new, but the videos are the first known demonstration of these capabilities by any militant groups.

While militants with drones are not a significant military threat, Dorrian said the US and its partner countries are taking it seriously.

Chris Woods, the head of the Airwars project, which tracks the international air war in Iraq, Syria and Libya, said, "there are a million ways you can weaponize drones fire rockets, strap things in and crash them."

"This is the stuff everyone has been terrified about for years, and now it's a reality," he added.

The US military official couldn't immediately authenticate the videos in question. But another former senior US military official who viewed the videos said there was nothing to suggest they were fake.

A number of militant groups in the Middle East, including the Islamic State group, Jund al-Aqsa and Jabhat Fatah al-Sham, as well as Hezbollah and Hamas, have all released videos indicating that they have surveillance and reconnaissance drones.

AP
India has the right to defend itself militarily: US

International

oi-Vicky

Washington, Oct 13: Sending out a strong message, the United States on Thursday said that it empathised with India's perception to defend itself militarily.

Peter Lavoy, a senior White House official said that it supported every country's right to self-defence. He was speaking at the release of a report on India-US security ties at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies.

While describing the Uri attack as an act of cross border terrorism, Lavoy also said that in heavy militarised relationships like that of India and Pakistan, there is a need for caution and prudence from both sides.

He said that the two nations had experienced at least three wars and have forces on the Line of Control and the international border. India and Pakistan have a "friction-filled relationship" and they have not found a way to overcome that, he also said.

Also read: US was not kept in the loop about the surgical strikes

He also said that his country understands the concerns raised by India and the US remained committed to working with India and other international partners to prevent attacks such as the one at Uri.

"We do empathise with the Indian perception that it needs to respond militarily. However, we would also like to highlight our strong interest in seeing caution prevail," he said.

Further he also said that the US is making every effort to ensure India becomes a member of the Nuclear Suppliers Group by the end of this year. In 2016, India ought to join the NSG, he also added.

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Story first published: Thursday, October 13, 2016, 8:32 [IST]
Pakistani media supports Cyril Almeida; asks govt, military to stop lecturing press

International

oi-Oneindia

By Oneindia

Pakistani media has come out in full support of the well-known journalist Cyril Almeida, who has been barred from leaving the country, after reporting on a rift between civilian and military leaderships.

The journalist fraternity of Pakistan has stood firmly behind Almeida and the newspaper Dawn, where he works.

The story, written by Almeida, which created a political storm, has been tweeted by the journalist himself:

Dawn: Exclusive: Act against militants or face international isolation, civilians tell military https://t.co/6fOZypto6T  cyril almeida (@cyalm) October 6, 2016

In an editorial titled, How to Lose Friends And Alienate People, by Dawn's professional rival, The Nation, lends support to Almeida and the newspaper where he works.

Read the full editorial:

It is a disturbing day when civilian and military top leadership meet to lecture the media on how to do their job. Couched in the familiar and nauseating mantra of protecting "vital state interests", the resulting action from the meeting was just a few hours later - the addition of Dawn's Cyril Almeida to the Exit Control List.



Apparently a barrage of online abuse, and three official denials were not enough to assuage tempers riled after Mr Almeida's exclusive story in Dawn, detailing an unusual exchange between the very same civilian and military top brass that yesterday issued forth a statement on the violation of "universally acknowledged principles of reporting on national security issues".

A denial, perhaps even three, were expected. What was not expected - possibly because the government was incorrectly credited with better judgement - was a witch-hunt. If the government and military top brass were affronted by the implication in the report that Pakistan was facing growing international isolation, they can now congratulate themselves on a coup de grace that unreservedly confirms this fact.

The report by Mr Almeida has been called "fabricated", and "speculative reporting". But the government and military top brass in yesterday's meeting delivered no explanation for why government MNA's are protesting the visible presence of banned outfits in Pakistan. Or why possible action against Masood Azhar, or Hafiz Saeed is a danger to "national security". Or why Pakistan faces increasing isolation? We're all ears.



Instead, how dare the government and military top brass lecture the press on how to do their job. How dare they treat a feted reporter like a criminal. And how dare they imply that they have either the right or the ability or the monopoly to declare what Pakistan's "national interest" is. Or even more laughably, what "universally acknowledged principles of reporting" are.



Since the government would counsel us, the press, on how to do our job, we would like to offer some advice for them, on how to better do theirs. Leave journalists alone. Worry a great deal about Pakistan's image abroad - some of our actions and inactions as a country are indefensible - everyone knows it, no matter how much we may pretend otherwise. Salvage your own newly-minted reputation as a government envious of Kim Jong Il's press management.



For yesterday's statement, and the government's actions, there can be no feeling, save of contempt. And for Mr Almeida, nothing but solidarity. More power to you, and to your pen. The press stands with you.

OneIndia News

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Story first published: Thursday, October 13, 2016, 14:00 [IST]
Explained: Why are the Cheetahs travelling to India from Namibia on an empty stomach

The chosen one: Why Kuno was picked as cheetahs' home in India

How Modi govts efforts to conserve wildlife have brought positive results

How to spot the difference between a Cheetah, Leopard and Jaguar?

Tenth death anniversary: A Poetic ode to The Crocodile Hunter Steve Irwin to celebrate his life

International

oi-Oneindia

By Oneindia

To mark the 10th death anniversary of the well-known wildlife expert and conservationist, Steve Irwin, an Australian author has penned a moving poem to celebrate his life and works.

This is what the Australian author Max Oberon has posted on his Twitter handle:

The Crocodile Hunter Steve Irwin left us 10 years ago. Here's his poem https://t.co/qyn9dTu6c8 pic.twitter.com/dFNQrXUc56  Max Oberon (@maxoberonauthor) October 13, 2016

Irwin, popularly known as The Crocodile Hunter, was a famous TV personality, who mesmerized his fans with his daredevil stunts in the most dangerous wild terrains.

Irwin, born on February 22, 1962 in Victoria, Australia, achieved worldwide fame from his television series, The Crocodile Hunter. He co-hosted the documentary series with his wife Terri.

Irwin died in the line of duty on September 4, 2006 after being pierced in the chest by a stingray barb while filming an underwater documentary film, Ocean's Deadliest.

Now, read the whole poem by Oberon

An Ode to Steve Irwin: The Crocodile Hunter

The Tortoise and the Man

The tortoise paved the way for him, she died sometime in June,

Harriet said, "Though it's sad for all, I'll see you much too soon."

See, Steve and Harriet, they had a bond, they loved each other true,

But Steve did not want to leave just yet, he had so much to do.

There's family and animals and friends both great and small,

With worldwide fans of young and old, Steve had fun and love for all.

But Steve couldn't have it his own way and Crikey...don't we know,

This great man went and left us, his kids must miss him so.

But all the world does miss the man, Steve Irwin was his name,

With khaki duds and Okka look, and none shall be the same.

For Steve was here to save the world, wild creatures were his game,

He laughed and loved and gave his all, to save them so much pain.

To Terri, and the children too, their names are Bindi and Bob,

The only thing that I can say, with you the world does sob.

And Bob, his dad, does miss him much, proud father that he is,

The world is now a better place for what his son did give,

For crocodiles and snakes and such, have lost a real dear friend,

He loved them much and gave his life to save them to the end.

There's hairy ones, some scary ones with teeth and scale and fangs,

Steve didn't care what breed they were, to him they were all friends.

One day in Far North Queensland, while cruising on Croc One,

Steve thought he would swim along the reef, he was just having fun.

The stingray was just cruising past, it did not know Steve's plan,

One flick, some pain and Steve was gone, a sad end for one great man.

For Steve was friend to it and all creatures that do roam,

Farewell to our mate Crikey, have peace Steve, in God's home.

Minyama Queensland.

September 6th 2006

OneIndia News

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Story first published: Thursday, October 13, 2016, 13:31 [IST]
US strikes Yemen in self defence

International

oi-IANS

By Ians English

Washington, Oct 13 In "self defence", three US warships on Thursday fired cruise missiles at a radar installations in Yemen that the Pentagon claimed was used by Yemeni insurgents to target another American warship earlier.

The three sites - in Houthi-controlled territory - targeted on Thursday by the US warship were located in remote areas, where there was little risk of civilian casualties or collateral damage, a US official said.

On Sunday, the USS Mason warship in the Red Sea was targeted by two missile attacks, CNN reported.

The missile, however, missed the warship and landed in water.



The USS Mason was fired on again on Wednesday while conducting routine operations in international waters, according to the Pentagon.

"The ship employed defensive countermeasures, and the missile did not reach USS Mason," Pentagon Press Secretary Peter Cook said about Wednesday's incident.

"There was no damage to the ship or its crew. USS Mason will continue its operations."

The destroyer USS Nitze launched the Tomahawk cruise missiles targeting the coastal radar sites. Initial assessments indicate all three targets were destroyed, the official said.

IANS
The Biodiesel Sector projected to accelerate sustainable growth across India

India's steel industry now 2nd biggest, target is to double crude steel output in 10 years: PM Modi

Fact Check: Rishi Sunak never said India needs a PM like Manmohan Singh

India extends curbs on sugar exports for another year

From being a victim of terrorism to exploring global solutions: India praised at UN's Counter Terrorism meet

Vladimir Putin calls India 'privileged strategic partner'

International

oi-IANS

By Ians English

Moscow, Oct 13: President Vladimir Putin on Thursday described India as Russia's "privileged strategic partner".

"India is Russia's especially privileged strategic partner," Putin told IANS in an interview ahead of his visit to Goa to attend the BRICS Summit.

"Cooperation between our countries is making good headway in all areas on the basis of strong traditions of friendship, trust and mutual respect," Putin said in response to questions from IANS.

IANS


Xi Jinping leaves for Cambodia, Bangladesh, India visits

International

oi-PTI

Beijing, Oct 13 Chinese President Xi Jinping today left for state visits to Cambodia, Bangladesh and India during which he would take part in the BRICS Summit in Goa.

After two-day visit to Cambodia, he would travel to Bangladesh, the first visit by a Chinese President for 30 years. From Bangladesh, Xi will travel to Goa to attend the BRICS Summit. He will also meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the sidelines of the Summit.

He will be meeting a host of other leaders including heads of the BIMSTEC (Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Myanmar and Thailand), countries who have been invited to the Goa Summit.

In all 11 heads of state from BRICS Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) and Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) countries will attend the meeting. The two-day BRICS summit will start on October 15.

Xi's entourage includes Wang Huning, member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and director of the Policy Research Office of the CPC Central Committee; Li Zhanshu, member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, member of the Secretariat of the CPC Central Committee and director of the General Office of the CPC Central Committee; and State Councilor Yang Jiechi.

PTI
BJP called for a statewide bandh in Kerala to protest the murder of a young party worker in Kannur district on Wednesday. The bandh began amid tight security. Notorious for clashes between the RSS and Marxists, Kannur district has witnessed seven political murders this year.
The Gujarat ATS has arrested two persons in Kutch district for allegedly working as spies if Pakistani Intelligence agency ISI. One Pakistani SIM card along with a mobile phone were recovered during the search of their house.
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Wibbitz Top Stories 28 Oct 2022
by  Graham Pierrepoint



Its turned out to be a strange year of sorts for followers of Nintendo  it appears to be one of the final years in which well see new software produced and sold for their Wii U console, and, as it currently seems, another year without much information on what will be succeeding the machine. The NX  a title bestowed upon the companys next home console that has yet to be confirmed as its official name  has been shrouded in mystery for considerable time, and with further information supposedly due in October this year, many fans are starting to lose faith as we drift towards mid-month.

There is no doubt that the NX will be a big deal for Nintendo. The Japanese firm exceeded all expectations with their ground-breaking and wide-selling Wii console a decade ago, yet their follow-up system, the Wii U, has failed to follow exactly in its footsteps. There could be many reasons for this  industry insiders in their varying forms suggest marketing problems, the gimmicky nature of the consoles touchscreen controller, and a lack of strong enough third-party support for the platform to be considered a legitimate rival against Sony and Microsofts big guns. As it stands, Nintendo really need to pull something big out of the bag for their next home release.

Perhaps, as some sources state, this is why there is such secrecy  with a March 2017 release date having floated around for some time, the clock is ticking as to when hype for the console can be built up  and, as yet, we dont really know too much about what it will look like, what games will appear in its launch roster, nor its capabilities. Various rumors and supposed leaks suggest that the consoles standard controller may double as a removable device that can be used to play games on the move  cleverly linking mobile and home gaming together  which will be something of a game-changer for the industry. Certainly, while the rest of the industry is keen to push ahead with virtual reality, it appears that Nintendo is yet again willing to try something a little different.

Always the innovator, Nintendos creations have sometimes let them down with regard to the console wars in recent years  arguably, the Wii U was perhaps taken less seriously and less-developed for than other platforms  meaning that this time, as and when Nintendo chooses to reveal the NX to the world, theyre going to need to produce a system that appeals to mass audiences as well as re-invent the wheel. Can they do it? Lets wait and see
by  Graham Pierrepoint



The past week has not been a particularly good one tax-wise for several public figures  not least Donald Trump, whose Presidential campaign has faced further setbacks as a result of fresh claims that his accountancy methods may have resulted in his avoiding paying the correct amount of tax for several years. While this may be occurring in the US, a whole different ball game is unfolding in the UK, where it appears that the HMRC  responsible for the taxation of all working people in the country  have launched an investigation into the tax payments of over a hundred presenting staff at the BBC. With so many implicated by potential issues, what could be the cause for such concern?

It appears that the investigation has been raised as a result of certain staff incorrectly listing themselves as self-employed between 2006 and 2013  and while the BBC moved several staff to contracts in recent history, the news that there may be unaccounted taxes for several of its workers indicates that many stars may now face having to pay additional fees backdated for seven years. This will come as a huge blow to many, particularly as there is currently no suggestion that any intentional avoidance took place. However, the HMRC are clear on how registration for employment should occur  and if tax or national insurance remain unpaid or underpaid for a certain period, it will be due back to them in total  with additional fines even applying under some circumstances. As the investigation is in its infancy, its not clear whether any additional penalties will be applied to those who fall under the underpayment umbrella.

The HMRC indicated to The Guardian that employment status is not a choice, and that it will actively reflect the role they take on with whichever firm they are assigned to  and that rules are in place to ensure that the correct amount of taxation and national insurance requirements are applied in each individual case. It is early days for the investigation, however, it may come as a blow to the BBC as well as the stars that could be affected  and it is not currently clear as to who will be to blame for underpaid tax, nor how much is genuinely due. The golden rule for paying tax  for self-employed or otherwise  is to make sure you do so  and it will remain to be seen just how much the HMRC expect back from the corporations employees.
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All rights reserved.

One News is a registered trademark

of One News Page Ltd.
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Matthias Knab, Opalesque:

According to the Shanghai Hedge Fund Association, DCL Investments, a Beijing-based distressed asset manager, announced it had raised over 500 million USD for its first special situation fund. DCL is a new venture founded by the management team and CDH Investments, which is a leading private equity firm in China. The new fund made a record which meant DCL was the biggest fund manager in the distressed investment industry in China.

"We estimated that there would be 5 trillion RMB non performing loans in the China banking industry. It is the best time for distressed investors to seek new opportunities right now. " said by Selina Zheng, CEO of DCL Investments. "Our activities range from investing in a broad array of credit instruments such as NPLs and high yield bonds to providing capital in special situation such as restructuring and rescue financings."

Recently, the Chinese government unveiled a controversial loan-relief plan that could help companies reduce their mounting debts. Most SOEs and private companies borrowed lots of money from Chinese domestic banks for their overcapacities in past golden days. When the growth of GDP went down, they failed to raise enough money to pay their debts.

Many global investors, such as Oaktree and KKR, are also looking for investment opportunities in the China distressed assets. The first step for them is joining venture with local partners.......................

To view our full article Click here


(Image by T. Ward Jordan) Details DMCA



A host of advocacy groups and whistleblowers have signed a solidarity letter to support the bill HR 1557--Federal Employee Anti-discrimination Act. Congressman Elijah Cummings introduced HR 1557 on March 24, 2015. The bill, which amends the Notification and Federal Employee Anti-discrimination and Retaliation (No FEAR) Act of 2002, strengthens Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) protections for Federal employees who have been discriminated against. It also provides accountability within the federal government for retaliatory acts.

The bill is now with Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee on (HSGAC). According to advocacy groups the bill has stalled since the senate added a controversial disciplinary amendment that would deprive employees of their full due-process rights. The group sent a united letter to Senator Ron Johnson, Chairman of HSGAC, asking for him to move on the reform measures as agreed upon by both the House and the Senate.

"We need our lawmakers to compromise on the controversial disciplinary measure so that the 'anti-gag-order' provision and the other transforming federal workplace measures in HR 1557 can be adopted into law," says Tanya Ward Jordan, President and Founder of the Coalition For Change, Inc. (C4C). "It has been 14 years since the No FEAR act passed. Retaliation in the federal government is rampant and it harms the public. Had HR 1557's anti-gag-order provision been in place during 2011, many of our veterans would not have suffered from prolonged health-care abuses. Sadly, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) officials put a gag-order provision in the EEO settlement agreement of Oliver Mitchell. Mitchell is a former VA Patient Scheduling Clerk and a leading whistleblower. He sought to warn the public years ago about how VA officials destroyed patient records at the West Los Angeles medical center in California.

"Managers need to be disciplined for unlawful civil rights acts; however, we must ensure full due-process rights for any one accused of a violation. For we recognize the brokenness of both the federal EEO system and federal personnel systems. We have witnessed how these systems have been used, at times, to unfairly target those in a protected category and those who speak out against workplace injustices," says Michael McCray, Esq. National Board Member Federal Employee of Women Legal Education Fund (FEWLEF).

Blacks In Government is thankful to The Coalition For Change, Inc. (C4C) especially Tanya Ward Jordan for their continuous work on getting the "No FEAR Act of 2002" amended in HR1557 to protect civil servants that file EEO complaints and to hold agencies and management accountable for retaliation acts in the federal sector," says Honorable Darlene H. Young, National President, Blacks In Government (BIG). "BIG thanks the House and Senate sponsors and BIG is supportive of the removal of the language in Section 9 of HR1557 so the Senate version will model the House version and the bill can be passed in this Congress. Finally BIG knows that more enforcement of the law is needed so if this Congress wants disciplinary actions to occur for those that are discriminating against federal employees they must get this bill passed.
Congress Switchboard: 202-224-3121

"Rob Kall's book, Bottom-Up, offers valuable ways of seeing and powerful tools for enabling new power and connectivity to work to change the hope and promise for the future."



Jeremy Heimans, CEO & Co-founder of Purpose and coauthor of New Power
From The Guardian

The 2016 presidential campaign isn't turning out to be the Facebook election, as some people have dubbed it. More than anything else, it's now the Election Dominated By Leaks.

In the final month of the race, the Clinton and Trump campaigns' main attack points now revolve around several major leaks that have put their opposing candidate on the defensive. Both campaigns or their supporters have been actively encouraging leaks about the other side, while claiming leaks involving them are either illegitimate or illegal.

Either way, it's yet another example of why leaks are very much in the public interest when they can expose how presidential candidates act behind closed doors -- and the motivations of the leakers shouldn't prevent news organizations from reporting on them.

Donald Trump's campaign has been rocked by two major leaks in particular: his 1995 tax return to the New York Times, which showed an almost billion-dollar "loss" that could have allowed him to avoid paying taxes for almost two decades, and the leak of the now notorious video to the Washington Post, where Trump appears to admit to sexual assaulting women.

At the advent of the tax story, Trump's lawyer immediately threatened legal action against the New York Times. Former Trump campaign manager and CNN's resident Trump sycophant Corey Lewandowski said the paper "should be held accountable," adding: "I hope he sues them into oblivion for doing this."

Yet they couldn't be happier with the hacked emails from Clinton's campaign manager that were leaked to WikiLeaks and published late last week. Trump cited WikiLeaks twice during the debate on Sunday, and declared "I love WikiLeaks" on Monday. Previously he had (perhaps jokingly, perhaps not?) called on Russia to release the deleted emails from Clinton's private server if they had them.

The leak of the video, meanwhile, has sparked rumors that many more tapes of Trump saying things far worse exist. In less than two days, a crowdfunding effort has raised over $33,000 for more damaging Trump videos. Mark Burnett, the producer of The Apprentice and an alleged close friend of Trump, reportedly threatened to sue anyone on his staff who leaked more videos (though he later denied making those remarks).

Click Here to Read Whole Article
Stephen Dinan has opened up an important area of political research, an area that so far seems to be confined to a host of related disciplines--from psychology to religion to New Age studies. This is the new, stunning political imperative he has proposed: We must defeat Donald Trump for his own good.

This imperative, when fully understood, will give access to an untapped reservoir of political power: The power of men and women of good will to plunge head-on into the political fray. Their conscience will call them to action, if the ultimate purpose of the next election is, not to elect Hillary Clinton, but to defeat Trump--for his own goods and the good of the entire world.

The floodgate will be opened for Republicans and Independents to join the crusade.

Recourse to history should help prove the point. It is by now evident that Trump has an authoritarian bent just like that of Mussolini and Hitler. We need to remember how did they spend their last days on earth to realize that we must not let this fate befall Donald Trump. Deep inside Donald Trump is not that bad yet.

And fall, eventually would Trump inexorably fall. The autocrat does not tolerate opposing points of view; when he cannot silence his opponents, he will lock them up--and institute progressively worse actions of repression.

Donald Trump does not have the means to keep all his promises, hence not only will his enemies fight him tooth and nails, gradually his old friends and then his new friends will abandon him.

He hopes to accomplish things by sheer force of his will (do you still exalt Nietzsche?), and he can undoubtedly accomplish a few things he wants. Inconceivably, but possibly, he will win the election and become the next president of the United States. He is riding a wave of deep despair. No promises of the current political establishment have ultimately been fulfilled. Things for the middle class, the lower middle class, and the poor have grown progressively worse.

The point is this: Donald Trump does not have any program to change any of these conditions. He offers only bluster and threats of use of violence. Violence will not solve any real problem. Undoubtedly with many variations on the theme, violence will only recreate the horrible conditions that led to World War II. A next world war will be more devastating than that.

The media have a tremendous responsibility. They ought to make these social dynamics very clear by a relentless remembrance of history. Instant gratification is just that. The long record of history is there to be comprehensively investigated. The social media have to convince Trump's followers that Tramp's policies--or lack of--are not good for him, and ultimately not good for them.

Do bullies among the crowds supporting Trump really want to continue in actions that are despicable and leave them empty and angrier at any torque? The bully alone cannot control himself (or herself!), because pride makes bullies "fools" who "despise wisdom and instruction."

The victim alone cannot control the bully because s/he is too enfeebled by the process.

To coin a phrase, it takes a village to subdue a bully.

Most certainly, as a nation, we know how to control bullies--whether they are in a position of authority or powerless human beings.

Bullying and violence, so large a part of our city and country life, cannot be tolerated any longer.

The social media--and the political establishment--ought to call for a national rally of forces to control bullying. Certainly there are experts in this country who, given the proper platform will come forward with a thousand solutions to be applied in their own communities.

Lukewarm Democrats will discover that Hillary Clinton is most ready to lead us into this historical leap forward. Ever since she graduated at the prestigious Wellesley College she has been marching to a drum of her own making. Rather than the politics of the possible, she has been relentlessly trying to make politics achieve" the impossible.

What is politically impossible today? Fighting for economic equality and creating economic justice in this country seem to be impossible.

The reason is not lack of ideas, but the stodgy fact that mainstream media--at almost any level--prefers to address the shortcomings of locker room discussion to any analysis of solutions to our dreaded economic problems.

The fault is two-sided. Most reformers are stuck on Marxist proposals for re-distribution of wealth--and mainstream media cannot foster that type of discussion; it cannot fight for the equality of poverty. These policies are against the personal interests of nearly every member of the media.

Beyond that non-starter, Hillary Clinton--and the media--will be happy to discover that a whole gamut of proposals have already been advanced, and many have already been acted upon piecemeal, under the aegis of the "New Economy" moniker.

Viable solutions range from a great variety of microfinancing practices to the use of Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOPs) and Consumer Stock Ownership Plans (CSOPs).

Microfinancing is often dismissed, for a whole slew of faulty reasons, but mostly because of the smallness of the results. Does it really matter how many families are helped to live in dignity? As far as I am concerned, even one family is enough. But undoubtedly this program ought to be strengthened. How about communities celebrating the first milestones achieved: the first dollar saved, the first thousand dollars saved per family? Saving money today seems to be a dirty word, a "capitalist" word. And certainly families that engage in saving delay spending. But does the economy need one more dollar of expenditures based on debt?

Capitalism--and certainly we ought to use something better than this discredited word--has functioned splendidly for the few: our challenge is to create a social, economic, and political system that functions well for all.

How well is the fact known that there are more people covered by ESOPs than by Labor Unions in the United States today? The weakening of the Labor Unions by itself is not a fact to be celebrated; but the weakening of their wrong-headed policies is to be celebrated. Of what use is a wage raise, if it is followed by a price rise? Union members at best are stuck in position, while people on fixed incomes are abandoned to suffer the pains of inflation. By the way, this is also the open door to cheaper merchandise from foreign competition.

A better solution is converting the policy of Labor Unions from sharing income to sharing ownership through ESOPs. Union dues should be tied to this measure, not to distribution of wealth before it is accrued: Do wait for profits to be generated; do not ask for advances on future profits.

Then there are CSOPs. As I have written on the pages of Mother Pelican, A Journal of Solidarity and Sustainability, "Can you imagine the world in which McDonalds, Stop and Shop, and Macy's at the end of the year distribute a fair portion of their income among the consumers who have been keeping them alive all year long?" Sales slips, easily accountable today, are proof of stake-ownership.

More fundamental solutions, such as MEND THE FED and DEFUSE THE BOMB of the next financial crisis, are circulating on the Internet and are being discussed on the pages of Mother Pelican and Economicintersect . Economicintersect is One of the Top 100 Websites for Enlightened Economists. They deserve massive discussion.

Economic justice can be discussed under the heading of preventing bullying just as well as under any other more traditional socio-economic-psychological heading. There is no more blatant bullying of women than resisting the policy of equal pay for equal work.

There is no more blatant bullying than the practice of the Pac Man economy: growth by acquisition, rather than growth by gradual internal expansion.

Steven Dinan has suggested methods to encourage all people who have been damaged by Trump to come forward en masse, first to protect themselves from the threat of further abuse and then to build a massive case whose claims cannot be denied.

It is high time for abuses of economic justice to be fully exposed.

South Africa, with the encouragement of Mandela, Bishop Tutu, and the spirit of Gandhi set in motion mechanisms of reconciliation between abusers and abused. America might be the first nation to set up such a mechanism before bullying cases reach their deep horrific ends.

But we have to have a very broad view of bullying. It is systemic in the United States. Let's face it. It took a bunch of rugged rednecks, bullies really, to settle the Wild Wild West in relatively short amount of time. But why the hurry? Time is not money, as my only hero, Benjamin Franklin, pointed out. Time is life.

Bullying should not be tolerated any longer. Donald Trump should be the first human being to publicly acknowledge the fault of his ways. It would be good for him; it would be splendid for our beloved country.

As Stephen Dinan suggests, if foreign nations somehow participate in calling for a catharsis of bullying in the United States, America will become the great beacon of hope for mankind again. Is not this that The Donald wants for America?

Economic justice will not so much assure victory for Hillary Clinton, as peace afterwards. Economic justice is what the followers of Bernie Sanders have been clamoring for. Economic justice is what the very own followers of Donald Trump have been clamoring for. The Democratic and Republican establishment will gradually discover that in the Age of Plenty--the age to come, the age that is almost here--privileges for the few can be safely transformed into rights for all.

America is not Italy! America is not Germany! No matter the boils on her complexion, America is great, as Tocqueville realized, because America is good.

The land Frontier was closed more than a century ago. The Frontier of the Spirit is now wide open in front of us.

As I have only recently realized, and as I am happy to announce from Varanasi, where I have been taken by an Invisible Hand and the visible hands of my wife Joan, in the Spirit, there is no death; only Resurrection.

Carmine Gorga, PhD, is president of The Somist Institute.
From Paul Craig Roberts Website

When will the neoconservative chant begin: "Duterte must go"? Or will the CIA assassinate him?

President Rodrigo Duterte has indicated that he intends a more independent foreign policy. He has announced upcoming visits to China and Russia, and his foreign minister has declared that it is time for the Philippines to end its subservience to Washington. In this sense, regime change has already occurred.

Duterte has suspended military maneuvers with the US. His defense minister said that the Philippines can get along without US military aid, and prefers cooperation over conflict with China.

Duterte might simply be trying to extract a larger pay-off from Washington, but he had better be careful. Washington will not let Duterte move the Philippines into the Chinese camp.

Unless, of course, Washington has bitten off more than it can chew in the Middle East, Africa, South America, Ukraine, Russia and China and is too occupied elsewhere to deal with the Philippines. Still, Duterte would do well to request a praetorian guard from China.

The view is spreading in Asia that the American era is over, wrecked by disastrous US economic and foreign policies. The rise of Russia and China has birthed what William Engdahl calls the Eurasian Century.

China's One Belt One Road approach to Eurasian development is cooperative. The operating principle is that everyone works together to build a future for everyone. This is far more attractive than Washington's arrogance of organizing the world in the interest of US corporations.

As Michael Hudson, James Galbraith, and I have explained, Western economic organization has deteriorated into a system of financial looting. For example, the economy of Greece has been destroyed in order that private banks that over-lent to the Greek government did not have to write down any of the bad debt. Instead, the debt was paid by reducing Greek pensions, cutting education, healthcare and public employment, and by privatizing public companies, such as municipal water companies, with the result being a higher price of water to people whose incomes are falling.

The cost of participating in the Western system is imposed austerity and loss of national sovereignty. Economic cooperation with China does not result in such costs.

Most likely, Duterte has decided to switch the Philippines' bet from the US to China. When Japan and South Korea also realign, the "pivot to Asia" is over.

Then perhaps even Europe will awaken and the conflict that the neoconservatives are brewing between the West and Russia will be stillborn.

Otherwise, mushroom clouds will prevail.

Whether there is time for these changes before mushroom clouds make their appearance depends on the outcome of the US presidential election. Americans are an insouciant people and do not understand the stakes. Hillary has promised conflict with Russia. Trump says he sees no point in conflict with Russia. This difference is the only important issue in the election.
This article originally appeared at TomDispatch.com. To receive TomDispatch in your inbox three times a week, click here.

[Note for TomDispatch Readers: On December 6th, in conjunction with Haymarket Books, Dispatch Books will be publishing its first novel, Splinterlands, by John Feffer, a riveting, dystopian view of our lives to come. Based on a vivid (and much read) piece Feffer wrote for us late last year, the novel just got a starred pre-publication review at Publisher's Weekly (a first for us): "In a chilling, thoughtful, and intuitive warning, foreign policy analyst Feffer takes today's woes of a politically fragmented, warming Earth and amplifies them into future catastrophe... This novel is not for the emotionally squeamish or optimistic; Feffer's confident recitation of world collapse is terrifyingly plausible, a short but encompassing look at world tragedy." Foreword Reviews , which highlights the best of the independent press, recently hailed it: "Feffer's book is a wild ride through a bleak future, casting a harsh, thought-provoking light on that future's modern-day roots."

Barbara Ehrenreich has written: "Splinterlands paints a startling portrait of a post-apocalyptic tomorrow that is fast becoming a reality today. Fast-paced, yet strangely haunting, Feffer's latest novel looks back from 2050 on the disintegration of world order told through the story of one broken family -- and offers a disturbing vision of what might await us all if we don't act quickly." And Mike Davis says: "John Feffer is our 21st-century Jack London, and, like the latter's Iron Heel , Splinterlands is a vivid, suspenseful warning about the ultimate incompatibility between capitalism and human survival."

In short, Splinterlands is a must-read. To make sure that you're the first on your block to get a copy (and remember: each copy you buy is also a way of supporting TomDispatch 's new publishing project), why not pre-order it now? Here's how to do it, and it'll be in the mail to you on December 6th (and you'll even get a significant discount): click on this link, which will take you to the Haymarket Books website. Then click on "add to cart," select the number of copies of Splinterlands you want, and then click on "checkout." After you've filled out your shipping and billing information, you will be asked to enter a coupon code. To purchase one book, enter SPLINTER40 and you will get 40% off the cover price; for five or more books, enter SPLINTER50 and you will get 50% off. It's the perfect Christmas gift in the grim year of 2016! Tom]

Recently, I posted a piece, "This Is Not About Donald Trump," in which I explored some of the ways in which The Donald was, in American terms, anything but a freak of nature. As I suggested, the two roles he's inhabited most fully in his life -- salesman and conman -- are so in the American grain that it's been apple pie all the way to the Republican nomination for president. Think, then, of today's post by TomDispatchregular John Feffer, author of the soon-to-be-published dystopian novel Splinterlands, as a kind of companion to that piece. It suggests far wilder ways in which Trump couldn't be more in that same grain, if what you have in mind is the Dr. Strangelovian current that runs through American life, involving evangelicals, apocalyptics, survivalists, and white racists; even his extremity, that is, couldn't be more us -- or, if you prefer, more U.S. Tom

Trump the Arsonist

Evangelicals, Survivalists, the Alt-Right, and Hurricane Donald

By John Feffer The world according to Donald Trump is very dark indeed. The American economy has tanked. Mexico has sent a horde of criminals over the border to steal jobs and rape women. The Islamic State, cofounded by Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, is taking over the globe. "Our country's going to hell," he declared during the Republican primaries. It's "like medieval times," he suggested during the second presidential debate. "We haven't seen anything like this, the carnage all over the world." For Trump, it's not morning in America, it's just a few seconds before midnight on the doomsday clock. Although his campaign doggedly continues to promise a new beginning for the country, the candidate and his advisers are sending out a very different message: the end is nigh. These Cassandras all agree that, although Obama's two terms were no walk in the park, the stakes in 2016 are world-destroyingly higher. If Clinton is elected, the future could be, as conservative political operatives Dick Morris and Eileen McGann titled their recent book, Armageddon. Presidential challengers often paint a grim picture of the world of the incumbent, overstating the case for dramatic effect. Ever the showman, Trump has no compunction about repeatedly going way over the top, calling the U.S. military a "disaster" because it's supposedly underfunded and the United States a "third-world country" thanks to its precipitous economic decline. Trump talks as if he were the hybrid offspring of Karl Marx and Ann Coulter. Trumpworld, however, is a photographic negative of statistical reality. The U.S. economy has been on an upswing for the last several years (though its benefits have been anything but evenly distributed). Nationally, violent crime is on the decline (though murder rates are soaring in some cities like Chicago). The Obama administration averted war with Iran and negotiated a de'tente with Cuba (though it continues to wage war in other parts of the world and has maintained sky-high Pentagon spending). If the Obama years are hardly beyond criticism, they are hardly beneath contempt either. In dispensing with what one of his senior aides called the "reality-based community," George W. Bush's administration attempted to create an alternative, on-the-ground reality, particularly through the direct exercise of American military power -- and we know how well that turned out. Trump seems to have even less interest in the "reality-based community." He's evidently convinced that the sheer power of his own bluster, even without the firepower of that military, should be sufficient to alter our world. After all, didn't it win him a loyal following on TV and -- to the disbelief of politicians and media commentators everywhere -- the Republican presidential nomination? The reality-based community -- which Trump labels the "elite" -- wants nothing to do with him. The discrepancy between his rhetoric and what other people call facts explains in part why even conservative elites -- prominent Republicans like Brent Scowcroft and John Warner, conservative columnists like George Will, and even neoconservatives like Bill Kristol, not to speak of right-leaning newspapers like The Arizona Republic and the Dallas Morning News -- have made historic decisions to abandon their party's presidential nominee. But don't kid yourself. There is method to Trump's particular version of madness. He and his slyly smiling running mate Mike Pence are playing up their vision of scorched-earth America not just to win general political points but to appeal to a very specific set of voters by tapping into the apocalyptic strain in American politics. The evangelicals, anti-globalists, and white power constituencies that form the bedrock of his support hear in Trump's blasts more than just a set of fun-house facts. When the Donald says that Hillary is "the devil" and America's going to hell, this constituency -- steeped in Biblical prophecy, survivalist ideology, and racist conspiracies -- takes him literally. America is on the verge of (take your pick): the Rapture, an end-of-days contest between American patriots and U.N. invaders, or an all-out race war to the finish. And here's what makes Trump's carnivalesque presidential campaign especially topsy-turvy. He's been slouching toward just about every kind of Armageddon imaginable, except the genuine planetary ones that are -- or should be -- almost unavoidable these days. He has, after all, dismissed climate change as a "hoax" and a Chinese scam. He is so blase' about nuclear weapons that he's been comfortable with the thought of American allies Japan, South Korea, and Saudi Arabia developing their own. He has nothing whatsoever to say about potential global pandemics (but plenty to spout about the potentially malign effects of vaccinations). To grasp the nature of such genuine dangers requires at least a minimal understanding of science. It also requires a genuine concern that the world as we know it could indeed end in our lifetimes or those of our children and grandchildren. Of course, not everyone thinks the apocalypse is a bad thing.

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The killing of 140 people by a Saudi air strike, on October 8, in Yemen has renewed focus on the Saudi atrocities and war crimes in Yemen. More than 6,000 people have been killed since the conflict began in March 2015 -- half of them civilians and more than 1,100 of them children, according to the UN.

Tellingly, while the mainstream media is busy in focusing on the US presidential elections and the Syrian crisis, the reports about killing of Yemenis by indiscriminate Saudi air strikes are virtually ignored.

"This weekend, as American attention was devoted almost exclusively to Donald Trump, one of the most revolting massacres took place. On Saturday, warplanes attacked a funeral gathering in Sana, repeatedly bombing the hall where it took place, killing over 100 people and wounding more than 500," Glenn Greenwald of the Guardian reported.

Greenwald argues that these 18 months of atrocities have barely merited a mention in the U.S. election, despite the key role the leading candidate, Hillary Clinton, has played in arming the Saudis, to say nothing of the millions of dollars her family's foundation has received from its regime (her opponent, Donald Trump, has barely uttered a word about the issue, and himself has received millions in profits from various Saudi oligarchs).

A U.N. report obtained in January by The Guardian "uncovered 'widespread and systematic' attacks on civilian targets in violation of international humanitarian law". The report found that "the coalition (read Saudia) had conducted airstrikes targeting civilians and civilian objects, in violation of international humanitarian law, including camps for internally displaced persons and refugees; civilian gatherings, including weddings; civilian vehicles, including buses; civilian residential areas; medical facilities; schools; mosques; markets, factories and food storage warehouses; and other essential civilian infrastructure."

On August 15, at least 11 people were killed and 19 injured in an airstrike by the Saudi-led coalition on a Yemeni hospital supported by Me'decins Sans Frontieres. Teresa Sancristoval, MSF desk manager for the Emergency Unit in Yemen, was quoted as saying: "This is the fourth attack against an MSF facility in less than 12 months. Once again, today we witness the tragic consequences of the bombing of a hospital. Once again, a fully functional hospital full of patients and MSF national and international staff members, was bombed in a war that has shown no respect for medical facilities or patients. An aerial bomb hit the hospital compound, causing 11 people to lose their lives."

The strike was the latest in an increasing number of attacks targeting places commonly used by civilians, including hospitals where MSF doctors and nurses work. It followed similar airstrikes on a food factory and a school in the first week of August.

Another attack on August 13 hit a school in the Haydan district in northern Saada governorate, killing 10 students who were all under 15, according to MSF. An attack on the same day in Razih district, also in Saada governorate, hit the house of the school principal, Ali Okri, killing his wife, four children and relatives.

In September 2015, 135 people died in Taiz governorate when a wedding party was bombed in the village of Wahija, near al-Mukha, and more than 30 died in June this year when airstrikes hit a market in Hayfan during the supposed ceasefire. Taiz has also seen the largest number of school buildings struck in a single governorate with one site in al-Omary, Dhubab being hit nine times. This is consistent with the Saudi strategy of repeat targeting -- Taiz airport and the docks in al-Mukha have been hit 16 and 18 times respectively.

From the start of the hideous Saudi bombing campaign against Yemen 18 months ago, two countries have played active, vital roles in enabling the carnage: the U.S. and U.K. The atrocities committed by the Saudis would have been impossible without their steadfast, aggressive support, reports Greenwald adding: "British and American military officials are in the command and control center for Saudi airstrikes on Yemen" and "have access to lists of targets." In sum, while this bombing campaign is invariably described in Western media outlets as "Saudi-led," the U.S. and U.K. are both central, indispensable participants.

Warren Strobel and Jonathan Landay of Reuters reported on Monday, that Obama was explicitly warned not only that the Saudis were committing war crimes, but that the U.S. itself could be legally regarded as complicit in them:

The Obama administration went ahead with a $1.3 billion arms sale to Saudi Arabia last year despite warnings from some officials that the United States could be implicated in war crimes for supporting a Saudi-led air campaign in Yemen that has killed thousands of civilians, according to government documents and the accounts of current and former officials.

The Obama administration has offered to sell $115 billion worth of weapons to Saudi Arabia over its eight years in office, more than any previous U.S. administration.

The Saudi campaign is aimed at reinstating the ousted president, Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi, who first fled to the southern city of Aden before going to Riyadh in March 2015. The Houthis were pushed out of Aden in July 2015 and have lost ground near Marib but their territory has generally not changed during 18 months of bombing. Houthi fighters are allied with the former president Ali Abdullah Saleh and control Sana'a and vast swaths of territory in western Yemen. The Saudi 'Operation Decisive Storm,' which was presumed would take weeks, is now a 16-month-old protracted conflict.

Even before the war, Yemen was the poorest Arab nation and its people are now starving or malnourished. The Saudi intervention turned a crisis into a catastrophe. Some 6,427 people are known to have been killed in the fighting, but these are only the figures for casualties known to the health authorities. A UN says that 14.1 million Yemenis, 54 per cent of the population, have no access to health care. OXFAM estimates that 82 per cent of Yemen's 21 million population are in need of humanitarian assistance.
US Secretary of State John Kerry opined (in an October 7 appearance with French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault) that Russian military actions in Syria "beg for an appropriate investigation of war crimes." French President Francois Hollande echoed the sentiment.

Kerry might want to keep the fate of his German predecessor, Joachim von Ribbentrop, in mind when making such statements. Ribbentrop, Hitler's Foreign Minister, was hanged after trial at Nuremberg.

Kerry complains that Russian forces -- in Syria helping that country's government put down a rebellion backed by the United States and al Qaeda (yes, that al Qaeda) -- are pursuing a "targeted strategy to terrorize civilians and to kill anybody and everybody who is in the way of their military objectives." Maybe he's right. I certainly harbor no love for Vladimir Putin or Bashar al-Assad.

But where, one might ask, has John Kerry been for the last 15 years as the US has pursued a "targeted strategy to terrorize civilians and to kill anybody and everybody who is in the way of their military objectives" in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, Libya, Syria, Yemen and Somalia at the cost of hundreds of thousands, possibly more than a million, civilian lives?

Why did Secretary Kerry's conscience go untroubled by possible war crimes repercussions when US forces killed at least 42 civilians in an AC-130U gunship attack on a Doctors Without Borders hospital in Kunduz, Afghanistan a year ago this month?

Where has his deep concern over war crimes been during the decade-plus US terror campaign of drone assassinations across the Middle East, Africa and Asia? Jeremy Scahill, writing for The Intercept, reports that in a two-month sampling of drone strikes in Afghanistan, nearly 90% of those killed were not the actual targets. For some reason, US drone killers seem particularly attracted to wedding parties and other noncombatant civilian activities.

Did the whole war crimes thing perhaps come into perspective for Mr. Kerry on October 12, when US Representative Ted Lieu (D-CA) notified him in a letter that the US may be (read: is) culpable for its involvement in Saudi war crimes in Yemen (the US provides arms and aerial refueling support to the Saudi invaders)?

There seem to be plenty of potential war crimes investigations to go around, don't there? Maybe enough to merit renting a hall in Nuremberg.

Fortunately for Russia, Syria and the US, those three regimes haven't ratified the Rome Statute and placed themselves under the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court for war crimes. The US also lucks out with Pakistan, Iraq, Libya, Saudi Arabia, Yemen and Somalia, none of which are party to the ICC treaty either.

Afghanistan, however, is a Rome Statute party. War crimes there come under ICC jurisdiction, regardless of who commits them. Perhaps an investigation of the Kunduz attack will fulfill Kerry's desire to see war crimes punished.

And perhaps pigs will fly. Every nation's ruling class considers itself exceptional and proves it by sheltering its own war criminals from justice whenever possible. Here's hoping they all end up like Ribbentrop.
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A couple months ago we featured a video of eight writers on how to face the blank page produced by Denmarks Louisiana Museum of Modern Art. (And if you should ever find yourself in Copenhagen with time for a bit of a train ride, I do recommend a visit to the museum itself.) Now, Louisiana has released eight separate videos, each offering one notable writers viewpoint on that scariest of all confrontations in their profession. But as The Corrections and Freedom author Jonathan Franzen puts it, the blank page in the mind has to be filled before you have the courage to face the actual blank page.

If you say, I want to write, and turn on the computer and look at the blank page, its over. Its not going to happen, says the man who somehow manages to turn out his weighty, American-zeitgeist-capturing novels faster as the years go by. Its when you have had a thought in the shower before, youve woken in the middle of the night, and suddenly you have a sentence or two  you have something. Youve already written it in your mind. In contrast, the even more experienced and prolific Margaret Atwood, author of The Handmaids Tale and Oryx and Crake, sees something compelling about the blank page that beckons you in to write something on it. It must be filled, whether or not youve filled your mind already.

She likens this phenomenon to an invitation, but its an invitation to something like going swimming in a very cold lake. So you approach it in a similar fashion: you put your toe in, you change your mind, Maybe I wont do that, you put your foot in, Really, do I want to do that? You come back, and finally you just run screaming and you plunge in. Unless you plunge in, youre never going to begin. The immensely imaginative number9dream and Cloud Atlas author David Mitchell uses a different metaphor: A blank page is a door. It contains infinity, like a night sky with a supermoon really close to the Earth, with all the stars and the galaxies you can see  its very, very clear, maybe at a high altitude. You know how that just makes your heart beat faster?

If that image doesnt get you writing, Mitchell has another: A slightly overweight, bald boss saying, Its time to work. Get to work, come on. Youre supposed to be a writer, arent you? You cant just sit around on your fat arse waiting to be inspired, waiting for creativity. Youre stuck? Fine. Why are you stuck? Why isnt this working? Why cant you push on with this scene? What are you trying to hold on to what just isnt working here? Be more honest.' Have a look at the series entire playlist (embedded above), which also features Joyce Carol Oates, Lydia Davis, and others, and youll find as many strategies for battling the blank page as writers who win that battle. Whether you use ideas thought up in the shower, plunge straight into the lake, or stare up at the night sky or a bothersome boss, only one thing matters: that your page ends up with some words on it.

Related Content:

8 Writers on How to Face Writers Block and the Blank Page: Margaret Atwood, Jonathan Franzen, Joyce Carol Oates & More

Stephen King Creates a List of 96 Books for Aspiring Writers to Read

The Daily Habits of Famous Writers: Franz Kafka, Haruki Murakami, Stephen King & More

Ray Bradbury Gives 12 Pieces of Writing Advice to Young Authors (2001)

21 Artists Give Advice to the Young: Vital Lessons from Laurie Anderson, David Byrne, Umberto Eco, Patti Smith & More

Based in Seoul, Colin Marshall writes and broadcasts on cities and culture. Hes at work on a book about Los Angeles, A Los Angeles Primer, the video series The City in Cinema, the crowdfunded journalism project Where Is the City of the Future?, and the Los Angeles Review of Books Korea Blog. Follow him on Twitter at @colinmarshall or on Facebook.
Kettlepizza Grows Product Base Through Acquisition Of Smokenator

Kettlepizza Grows Product Base Through Acquisition Of Smokenator

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KettlePizza, the worlds leading wood-fired pizza oven kit for charcoal style kettle grills and gas grills, announced today that it has completed its acquisition of the Smokenator, a highly popular accessory for transforming a kettle grill into a smoker by controlling the grills moisture and temperature levels. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.With its patented partition and water pan placement, the Smokenator delivers true indirect cooking on a kettle-style charcoal grill and will hold enough fuel for 6 hours. As such, users are able to easily and confidently smoke beef, pork, chicken, turkey, fish and more without the added expense of a dedicated smoker. Created by Don Thompson in 2004 and introduced at retail in 2006, the Smokenator is available in a variety of models designed to fit 18-inch, 22-inch, and 26-inch kettle grills.Commenting on the acquisition, co-founder and VP of KettlePizza George Peters stated, We are thrilled to add the Smokenator to a roster of products that now includes the original KettlePizza oven kit for kettle-style charcoal grills, the KettlePizza oven kit for gas grills, and the various Smokenator models. Over the past few years, our companies have worked together on various cross promotional campaigns, allowing us an opportunity to fully immerse ourselves in the Smokenator business model and to eventually make a purchase offer based the synergies and growth opportunities.Stephanie Thompson, President of Smokenator continued, Smokenator has truly been a labor of love for me and my children ever since my husbands passing in 2009. We take pride in providing a fun, quality product and top notch customer support to backyard cooks worldwide, a tradition that will most certainly be carried on by the KettlePizza team. While it is difficult to say goodbye to the product and its loyal customer base, this acquisition is a necessary step in taking my husband Dons vision to the next level.Founded in 2010 by inventors and entrepreneurs Al Contarino and George Peters, KettlePizza is an All-American small business success story. From humble beginnings in Als barn to distribution partners across the country and around the world, KettlePizza offers grill aficionados and families that enjoy home cooked meals or entertaining friends an authentic wood-burning pizza oven experience. KettlePizza has multiple patents pending, was named 2013 Retailers Choice Award at the National Hardware Show, and has recently featured in such media outlets as Forbes.com, The Robb Report, CNBC.com, Steve Harvey, Mens Journal, the Boston Globe, and numerous others. For more information, visitClint CantwellKEttlePizza8 Federal WayGroveland, MA 01834 USA
The second annual CEE Aviation Conference "landed" in Budapest

Airlines for Europe, European Commission, IATA and Top Airline and Top CEE Airport executives met in Budapest yesterday at the second annual CEE Aviation Conference. The event deeply covered the latest industry updates by focusing on the New European Aviation Strategy, technological developments as well as future trends. It analyzed airline and airport business development strategies across the CEE region.Among the conferences keynote speakers were Managing Director, Thomas Reynaert of the new Airline Association, Airlines for Europe, Mate Gergely from the European Commission, Dr. Kerkloh, President and CEO of Munich Airport and IATA area director for Eastern Europe Anca Apahidean plus top senior executives of Vienna, Budapest and the Lithuanian Airports and top industry leaders of Travelport, Hungarocontrol and Paxport."The region takes off" was the motto of the conference which is clearly demonstrating the CEE's region highly important catalyst role in the European Aviation industry.CEE AVIATION Conference and Business Consulting Ltd was founded in 2014. Our conference organiser and business consultant team is focusing on the CEE aviation industry having built up 12 years of aviation experience at Wizzair, Lufthansa, Ryanair and Qatar airways as well as having conference production experience at the Institute for International Research. Our aim is to establish an annual business forum for aviation decision-makers who meet with airline associations, aircraft lease companies, airlines, airports and related companies. Our vision is to stimulate the desire to collaborate - thereby changing the world of technology and innovation in the aviation industry.M: +36 30 367 3675E: office@cee-aviation.comA: H-1038 Budapest Temes u. 7/B
Giada Shows Product Highlights at GITEX 2016

Join Giada at GITEX 2016!

The GITEX TECHNOLOGY WEEK in Dubai has become one of the world's top three IT Exhibitions and the largest and most successful exhibition in Middle East for converged computer, communications and network consumer electronics.Giada, the specialist in server, cloud terminal and digital signage product system solutions and customizations, will showcase the latest full product line of embedded products, starting from multi-OS thin-client to multi-display digital signage systems designed for wide range of IoT applications, and the self-developed server products e.g. microserver with rich-featured und user-friendly OS, as well as the twin-node high performance rackmount server system.Welcomed to visit our booth, experience our new products and find out more opportunities!Time October 16-20, 2016Venue: Dubai World Trade Centre, UAEBooth C4-20, Hall 4Giada, the premium brand of SHENZHEN JEHE TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT CO.,LTD., is a well-established provider of embedded and server products designed for IoT, digital signage, data storage, cloud computing and surveillance etc., and has received great popularity among industrial and home users.2/F, block A, Tsinghua Information Harbor, North Section, Shenzhen Hi-tech Park, Nanshan District,
Single-Use Bioreactors Market -Industry Growth Drivers, And Restraints & Market Projections For The Coming Years.

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Over the past two decades, single-use bioreactors or disposable bioreactors have been in use in pharmaceutical industry that consists of a disposable bag instead of typical culture vessel made up of stainless steel or glass. On the other hand the disposable bag is usually made of three layers of plastic to offer mechanical stability and act as a gas barrier. The single-use bioreactor has several advantages over conventional bioreactors. Pharmaceutical companies usually produce different drugs using the same facility without compromising the quality and operate in various consecutive batches. In such situations, the main challenge is to ensure there are no remains over from earlier batches.Request Sample pages of premium Research Report:The use of disposable bioreactor does not require any cleaning and sterilization. Other advantages include savings in cost and time. Disposable bioreactors are of several types based on means of agitating culture medium and its flexibility such as stirred rigid disposable bioreactors, stirred flexible disposable bioreactors, non-stirred flexible bioreactors and non-stirred disposable bioreactors. HyClone SUB Heavy Duty Tubing Clamp by Thermo Scientific, CellMarket Regular by Cellexus and WAVE Bioreactor 2/10EH by GE Healthcare are some of the commercially available disposable bioreactors in the market.The market for single-use bioreactors is growing globally under the influence of advantages associated with the use of disposable reactors such as cost effectiveness, protection against cross contamination, time management and due to introduction of novel products. Geographically, North America and Europe represent the largest markets as majority of leading biopharmaceutical companies are located in these regions.The market is expected grow in Asia-Pacific and Latin America as many multinational biopharmaceutical companies are opening their manufacturing facilities in these regions are supposed to enhance the demand for disposable bioreactors. Some of the major players operating in the market for single-use bioreactors are GE Healthcare, Thermo Fisher Hyclone, PBS Biotech, Xcellerex, Sartorius Stedim Biotech, Merck Millipore, and Cellexus Limited.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.Contact us:Transparency Market Research90 State Street,Suite 700,AlbanyNY - 12207United StatesTel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
Global Breathable Film Market 2016 - Mitsui Chemicals, Daedong, Hans Chemical, Hanjin P&C, Swanson Plastics, FSPG Huahan, Liansu Wanjia, Shandong HaiWei, AvoTeck, Shanghai Zihua

http://www.fiormarkets.com/report-detail/10952/request-sample

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Breathable film is extruded from the extruder T-dies, and in which polyethylene resin is compounded with CaCO3. Due to its fine surface pores, it is permeable to air but not to liquid (sort of water).The Breathable film is very useful as it allows transmission of gases but it remains water proof. Major uses include the back sheet of diapers and sanitary napkins, disposable work cloth, etc.Scope of the Report:This report focuses on the Breathable Film in Global market, especially in North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific, Latin America, Middle and Africa. This report categorizes the market based on manufacturers, regions, type and application.Request for sample report atMarket Segment by Manufacturers, this report coversMitsui ChemicalsDaedongHans ChemicalHanjin P&CSwanson PlasticsFSPG HuahanLiansu WanjiaShandong HaiWeiAvoTeckShanghai ZihuaMarket Segment by Regions, regional analysis coversNorth America (USA, Canada and Mexico)Europe (Germany, France, UK, Russia and Italy)Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, Korea, India and Southeast Asia)Latin America, Middle and AfricaMarket Segment by Type, coversBreathable PE filmBreathable PP filmOhersMarket Segment by Applications, can be divided intoHygieneHealthcareOthersAccess full report atThere are 10 Chapters to deeply display the global Breathable Film market.Chanter 1, to analyze the top manufacturers of Breathable Film, with sales, revenue, and price of Breathable Film, in 2015 and 2016;Chapter 2, to display the competitive situation among the top manufacturers, with sales, revenue and market share in 2015 and 2016;Chapter 3, to show the global market by regions, with sales, revenue and market share of Breathable Film, for each region, from 2011 to 2016;Chapter 4, 5, 6 and 7, to analyze the key regions, with sales, revenue and market share by key countries in these regions;Chapter 8 and 9, to show the market by type and application, with sales market share and growth rate by type, application, from 2011 to 2016.Chapter 10, Breathable Film market forecast, by regions, type and application, with sales and revenue, from 2016 to 2021.About Fior MarketsFior Markets is a leading market intelligence company that sells reports of top publishers in the technology industry.Our extensive research reports cover detailed market assessments that include major technological improvements in the industry. Fior Markets also specializes in analyzing hi-tech systems and current processing systems in its expertise.We have a team of experts that compile precise research reports and actively advise top companies to improve their existing processes. Our experts have extensive experience in the topics that they cover.Fior Markets provides you the full spectrum of services related to market research, and corroborate with the clients to increase the revenue stream, and address process gaps.Contact UsMark StoneSales Manager2566, Lincoln StreetPrinceton,New Jersey 08540USAPhone: (201) 465-4211Email: sales@fiormarkets.comWeb:Blog:
Europe Hip and Knee Reconstruction Market Analysis and Market Forecasts

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The report analyzes and presents an overview of " Hip and Knee Reconstruction - Europe Analysis and Market Forecasts " worldwide.The Hip and Knee Reconstruction market is an established orthopedic market that has witnessed sluggish revenue growth in the past five years. GlobalData evaluated the currently-marketed hip and knee replacement prostheses, identified the unmet needs in the market, and provided an understanding of surgeons perceptions of the latest advances, such as computer-assisted technologies. The future of the hip and knee market lies in the ability of manufacturers to provide implants at a lower cost while continuing to provide the same level of clinical efficacy. Meanwhile, product development needs to focus on better mimicry of natural joint kinematics and portfolio expansion to include a comprehensive platform. Moreover, the clinical benefits and positive economic impact of computer-assisted technologies will become more widely acknowledged, and will therefore continue to drive the global large joint replacement market in the coming years.The European hip and knee reconstruction market has been estimated in this report up to 2022.Download Sample copy of this Report @HighlightsKey Questions Answered- Given the escalating healthcare financial burden, many countries have put measures in place to initiate rationing of hip and knee replacements. How will the European hip and knee market evolve in the next five years?- Zimmers megamerger with Biomet in 2014 represents an attempt to lock in its dominance of the large joint space. How does the competitive landscape look like after the merger in different geographical regions?- Manufacturers have been emphasizing the need for innovations in bearings to achieve enhanced wear resistance. What are the current adoption trends of Vitamin E-infused liners in Europe?- Generic implants are the ones that inherit premium hip and knee implants design philosophies and carry attractive price tags. How will these generic implants impact the hip and knee market in the upcoming years?Reasons to buy- What Do Physicians Think quotes provide a unique insight into how healthcare professionals are reacting to events within the industry, and what their responses could mean for industry strategists. This information is essential for all strategic decision makers in every organization allowing them to act on high quality information.Table of Content :1.1 List of Tables1.2 List of Figures2 Executive Summary2.1 Key Metrics in Major Markets2.2 Market Dynamics2.3 Key Players in the Hip and Knee Reconstruction Market2.4 Market Future Outlook2.5 What Do Physicians Think?3 Introduction3.1 Catalyst3.2 Related Reports4 Market Access4.1 Reimbursement Trends4.1.1 Europe4.2 Mergers and Acquisitions/Key Partnerships5 Unmet Needs and Market Opportunity Analysis5.1 Computer Navigation Technologies5.2 Robotic Technologies5.3 Generic Implants to Address Cost Concerns5.4 Advanced Materials5.5 Emerging Countries6 Competitive Assessment6.1 Market Share Analysis6.1.1 Europe6.2 Key Companies and Product Profiles6.2.1 Aesculap6.2.2 DePuy Synthes6.2.3 Exactech6.2.4 Lima Corporate6.2.5 Medacta6.2.6 MicroPort6.2.7 Smith & Nephew6.2.8 Stryker6.2.9 Waldemar LINK6.2.10 Zimmer Biomet6.2.11 Other Players6.3 Pipeline Products Assessment7 Market Outlook7.1 Procedure TrendsMarketResearchReports.biz is the most comprehensive collection of market research reports. MarketResearchReports.Biz services are specially designed to save time and money for our clients. We are a one stop solution for all your research needs, our main offerings are syndicated research reports, custom research, subscription access and consulting services. We serve all sizes and types of companies spanning across various industries.State Tower90 Sate Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA: Canada Toll Free: 866-997-4948Website:E : sales@marketresearchreports.biz
Global Biomass Briquette Market 2016 - German Pellets, Enviva, Pinnacle Renewable Energy Group, Pacific BioEnergy Corporation, Vyborgskaya Cellulose, Rentech

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Biomass molding fuel is made of agricultural and forestry residues such as rice stalk, straw, cotton stalk, bamboo sawdust, wood flour, ramie stalk, peanut husk, etc. It is produced by pellet machines or briquetteing machines, after going through several processing procedures, such as crushing, drying, mixing, molding or compressing, etc. And the final products are pellets and briquettes, which are used as a replacement for coal, gasoline gas and other traditional fossil fuels. Compared to fossil fuels, biomass molding fuel produce low net total greenhouse gas emissions because the materials used are already a part of the carbon cycle.Scope of the Report:This report focuses on the Biomass Briquette in Global market, especially in North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific, Latin America, Middle and Africa. This report categorizes the market based on manufacturers, regions, type and application.Request for sample report atMarket Segment by Manufacturers, this report coversGerman PelletsEnvivaPinnacle Renewable Energy GroupPacific BioEnergy CorporationVyborgskaya CelluloseRentechGraanul Invest GroupRWE InnogyLigneticsE-pelletsDrax BiomassGeneral BiofuelsBlueFire RenewablesPfeifer GroupBiomass Secure PowerViridis EnergyWesterveltEnergexFram Renewable FuelsProtocol EnergyPremium Pellet Ltd.Granules LGEnova Energy GroupCorinith Wood PelletsMaine Woods PelletAppalachian Wood PelletsBear Mountain Forest ProdAgropelletsWest Oregon Wood ProdBayou Wood PelletsNeova VaggerydAoke RuifengDEVOTIONSinopeak-bioenergySenon Renewable EnergyEquustockWeige Bio-tech EnergyNew Biomass Holding LLCVerdo RenewablesBinderholzMarket Segment by Regions, regional analysis coversNorth America (USA, Canada and Mexico)Europe (Germany, France, UK, Russia and Italy)Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, Korea, India and Southeast Asia)Latin America, Middle and AfricaMarket Segment by Type, coversBiomass BriquetteBiomass PelletMarket Segment by Applications, can be divided intoThermal EnergyPower GenerationOtherAccess full report atThere are 10 Chapters to deeply display the global Biomass Briquette market.Chanter 1, to analyze the top manufacturers of Biomass Briquette, with sales, revenue, and price of Biomass Briquette, in 2015 and 2016;Chapter 2, to display the competitive situation among the top manufacturers, with sales, revenue and market share in 2015 and 2016;Chapter 3, to show the global market by regions, with sales, revenue and market share of Biomass Briquette, for each region, from 2011 to 2016;Chapter 4, 5, 6 and 7, to analyze the key regions, with sales, revenue and market share by key countries in these regions;Chapter 8 and 9, to show the market by type and application, with sales market share and growth rate by type, application, from 2011 to 2016.Chapter 10, Biomass Briquette market forecast, by regions, type and application, with sales and revenue, from 2016 to 2021.Fior Markets is a leading market intelligence company that sells reports of top publishers in the technology industry.Our extensive research reports cover detailed market assessments that include major technological improvements in the industry. Fior Markets also specializes in analyzing hi-tech systems and current processing systems in its expertise.We have a team of experts that compile precise research reports and actively advise top companies to improve their existing processes. Our experts have extensive experience in the topics that they cover.Fior Markets provides you the full spectrum of services related to market research, and corroborate with the clients to increase the revenue stream, and address process gaps.Contact UsMark StoneSales Manager2566, Lincoln StreetPrinceton,New Jersey 08540USAPhone: (201) 465-4211Email: sales@fiormarkets.comWeb:Blog:
Global IT Robotic Automation Market (RPA Tools and RPA Services) Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast Research Report 2014 - 2020 Researchmoz added Most up-to-date research on "IT Robotic Automation Market (RPA Tools and RPA Services) - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast 2014 - 2020" to its huge collection of research reports.



Robotic automation involves a practice in which a machine or computer software mimics human actions in order to complete rule-based tasks. In context of IT industry, robotic automation is accomplished by using automation software, which utilizes the Robotic Process Automation (RPA). Some basic processes in IT, which can be managed through robotic process automation include access management, request management, availability management, monitoring, incident management, and problem management. Robotic automation helps reduce the operating costs while additionally supporting agility in order to meet the customers varying and evolving needs. The robotic automation software tools help automate existing user actions and thereby, facilitate IT companies in incurring cost savings as robotic software can replace the employees performing similar repetitive tasks.



Key factors driving the global IT robotic automation market include cost benefits and improved efficiency over manual process handling, ability to leverage other application software without integration, increasing adoption in finance and accounting (F&A) sector and potential alternative to offshore outsourcing among others. The robotic process automation reduces the need for human intervention in routine repetitive tasks and thus creates a virtual workforce capable of handling large number of repetitive tasks. Further, the automation occurs at the GUI layer thereby eliminating the need of integration with other systems. Moreover, robots can work 24x7x365 eradicating the constraints of human labor to work for limited hours. Thus, significant reductions in cost, time and labor can be achieved by implementing robotic process automation.



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The IT robotic automation market has been segmented by type into tools and services. The RPA tools are further segmented into model-based application tools and process-based application tools. The RPA services are further studied based on professional and training services. Professional services are further segmented into consulting, integration and development, and BPO services. The market size and forecasts in terms of revenue (US$ Mn) for each of these segments have been provided for the period 2014 to 2020, considering 2012 and 2013 as the base years. The report also provides compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) for each segment of the market for the forecast period 2014 to 2020. Geographically, the IT robotic automation market has been segmented into five regions, namely, North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, Middle East and Africa (MEA) and Latin America.



The report includes market dynamics, opportunity assessment and the impact analysis of robotic automation on the IT industry. It also includes ecosystem analysis to recognize key participants in the IT robotic automation along with their role in the ecosystem. We have included future trends that will impact the demand. The study provides market estimation in terms of revenue and forecast for the period 2014 to 2020.



The IT robotic automation market comprises RPA technology providers and RPA service providers. Some of the key technology providers for RPA include Blue Prism, IPSoft, Inc., Be Informed B.V., Appian Corporation, and Automation Anywhere Inc. whereas RPA service providers include Sutherland Global Services, Tata Consultancy Services, Accenture plc, Cognizant Technology Solutions, Infosys Limited, and Hewlett Packard Company.



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The report analyzes the global IT robotic automation market in terms of revenue (US$ Mn). The market has been segmented as follows:



IT Robotic Automation Market, by Type:



Tools

Services



IT Robotic Automation Market, by Tools:



Model-based Application Tools

Process-based Application Tools



IT Robotic Automation Market, by Services:



Professional

Consulting

Integration and Development

Application Management

Infrastructure Management

BPO

Application Management

Infrastructure Management

Training



IT Robotic Automation Market, by Geography:



North America

Europe

Asia-Pacific

Middle East and Africa (MEA)

Latin America



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Table of Contents



Chapter 1 Preface



1.1 Report Description



1.2 Market Segmentation



1.3 Research Methodology



1.3.1 Sources



1.3.2 Secondary Research



1.3.3 Primary Research



Chapter 2 Executive Summary



2.1 Market Snapshot: Global IT Robotic Automation Market (2013 & 2020)



2.2 Global IT Robotic Automation Market, 2012  2020, Revenue (US$ Mn) and Y-o-Y Growth (%)



Chapter 3 Global IT Robotic Automation Market Overview



3.1 Introduction



3.2 Market Drivers



3.2.1 Robotic Automation in IT Acting as a Strong Alternative to Offshore Outsourcing



3.2.2 Cost Benefits and Improved Efficiency by Using Robotic Automation Over Manual Process Handling in IT Industry



3.2.3 Ability to Leverage Other Application Software Without Integration



3.2.4 Increasing Adoption in Finance and Accounting (F&A) Sector to Cut Costs



3.2.5 Impact Analysis of Drivers



3.3 Market Restraints



3.3.1 Security Concerns of the Technology over Increased Access to an Individual



3.3.2 Existing BPO Contracts will Hamper Adoption in the BPO Segment



3.3.3 Social Implication of Releasing People from their Roles



3.3.4 Impact Analysis of Restraints



3.4 Market Opportunities



3.4.1 Application and Infrastructure Management Offer Potential Opportunities to the Growth of RPA



3.4.2 Robot-as-a-service and political and macroeconomic events offer huge growth potential in the coming years



3.5 Impact Analysis of Robotic Automation on Global IT Industry



3.6 Ecosystem Analysis of Global IT Robotic Automation Market



3.7 Competitive Landscape



3.7.1 Key Positioning of Market Leaders, 2013



3.7.2 Positioning Analysis of RPA Tool Developers/RPA Technology Providers



3.7.3 Tool Providers



3.7.4 Service Providers by IT and BPO



3.8 Global IT Robotic Automation Market: Opportunity Assessment, by Components



Chapter 4 Global IT Robotic Automation Market Revenue, by Type



4.1 Overview



4.1.1 Comparative Analysis: Global IT Robotic Automation Market Revenue Shares, by Type, 2013 & 2020 (Value %)



4.2 Tools



4.2.1 Global IT Robotic Automation Tools Market Revenue, 2012  2020 (US$ Mn)



4.2.2 Model-based Application Tools



4.2.2.1 Global IT Robotic Automation Market Revenue for Model-based Application Tools, 2012  2020 (US$ Mn)



4.2.3 Process-based Application Tools



4.2.3.1 Global IT Robotic Automation Market Revenue for Process-based Application Tools, 2012  2020 (US$ Mn)



4.3 Services



4.3.1 Global IT Robotic Automation Services Market Revenue, 2012  2020 (US$ Mn)



4.3.2 Professional Services



4.3.2.1 Global IT Robotic Automation Market Revenue in Professional Services, 2012  2020 (US$ Mn)



4.3.2.2 Consulting Services



4.3.2.2.1 Global IT Robotic Automation Market Revenue in Consulting Services, 2012  2020 (US$ Mn)



4.3.2.2.2 IT Robotic Automation Market Revenue in Consulting Services, by Components, 2012  2020 (US$ Mn)



4.3.2.3 Integration and Development



4.3.2.3.1 Global IT Robotic Automation Market Revenue in Integration and Development, 2012  2020 (US$ Mn)



4.3.2.3.2 IT Robotic Automation Market Revenue in Integration and Development, by Components, 2012  2020 (US$ Mn)



4.3.2.4 BPO



4.3.2.4.1 Global IT Robotic Automation Market Revenue in BPO, 2012  2020 (US$ Mn)



4.3.3 Training



4.3.3.1 Global IT Robotic Automation Market Revenue in Training Services, 2012  2020 (US$ Mn)



Chapter 5 Global IT Robotic Automation Market Revenue, by Geography



5.1 Overview



5.1.1 Comparative Analysis: Global IT Robotic Automation Market Revenue Shares, by Geography, 2013 & 2020 (Value %)



5.2 North America



5.2.1 North America IT Robotic Automation Market Revenue, 2012  2020 (US$ Mn)



5.2.2 North America IT Robotic Automation Market Revenue, by Type, 2012  2020 (US$ Mn)



5.2.3 North America IT Robotic Automation Market Revenue, by RPA Tools, 2012  2020 (US$ Mn)



5.2.4 North America IT Robotic Automation Market Revenue, by RPA Services, 2012  2020 (US$ Mn)



5.2.5 North America IT Robotic Automation Market Revenue, by Professional Services, 2012  2020 (US$ Mn)



5.2.6 North America IT Robotic Automation Market Revenue, by Consulting Services, 2012  2020 (US$ Mn)



5.2.7 North America IT Robotic Automation Market Revenue, by Integration and Development Services, 2012  2020 (US$ Mn)



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New Report Reveals Industrial Robotics Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast, 2014 - 2020

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Researchmoz added Most up-to-date research on "Industrial Robotics Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast, 2014 - 2020" to its huge collection of research reports.The rising demand for industrial robots across different industry verticals, regions and applications is propelling the industrial robotics market during the forecast period 2014 to 2020. Globally, Asia Pacific is analyzed to be fastest growing market largely due to the research and development infrastructure growth in countries such as Japan, Australia, China and India. The adoption of robotics in small and medium enterprises (SMEs) is further expected to bolster the industrial robotics market in the Asia Pacific region. Additionally, the demand for industrial robots across major application segments such as electrical, consumer electronics, and automotives is further expected to fuel growth over the forecast period 2014 to 2020. Countries such as Italy, Germany, France, and the U.K are expected to be key contributors to the growth of industrial robotics market in the European region. In North America, Mexico is expected to offer tremendous potential across varied application sectors in the coming years. Thus, the market for industrial robotics is expected to witness healthy growth across varied industry verticals and regions.To Get Sample Copy of Report visit @This market research studies the industrial robotics market on a global level and estimates the market in terms of revenue (USD billion) from 2014 to 2020. It identifies the drivers and restraints affecting the market and studies their impact over the forecast period 2014 to 2020. In addition, the report also analyzes the opportunities for growth in the industrial robotics market over the forecast period.The report segments the industrial robotics market based on types of robots such as cylindrical robots, articulated robots, Cartesian robots, SCARA robots, and other types of robots. The market has further been segmented on the basis of industries served which comprises electrical & electronics industry, automotive industry, machinery industry, chemical, rubber & plastics industry, metals industry, precision & optics industry, food & beverages industry, and other types of industries. Besides, the report segments the market based on functions, which includes materials handling function, soldering and welding function, assembling & disassembling function, milling, cutting and processing function, painting and dispensing function, and other types of functions. Finally, the report segments the market on the basis of geography into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific (APAC), and Rest of the World (RoW). All these segments have been further estimated in terms of revenue (USD billion).A comprehensive analysis of the value chain offers an enhanced understanding of the market. A detailed Porters five forces analysis has been provided for a better perceptive of the intensity of competition in the industrial robotics market. The study further includes a market attractiveness analysis, wherein industrial robotics applications have been benchmarked based on their growth rate, market size, and overall attractiveness.The industrial robotics market report provides company market share analysis of key players. These players have been profiled on aspects such as company overview, financial overview, business strategy, SWOT analysis, and recent developments in the market. Some of the key players profiled include Denso Corporation, KUKA Robotics Corporation, FANUC Ltd., and Yaskawa Motoman Robotics among others.Industrial Robotics Market: By geographyNorth AmericaEuropeAsia PacificRest of the WorldIndustrial Robotics Market: By typesCartesianArticulatedCylindricalSCARAOthersIndustrial Robotics Market: By industryElectrical & ElectronicsAutomotiveMachineryChemical, Rubber & PlasticsFood & BeveragesMetalsPrecision & OpticsOthersIndustrial Robotics Market: By functionMaterials HandlingMilling, Cutting and ProcessingSoldering and WeldingPainting and DispensingAssembling & DisassemblingOthersTable of ContentsChapter 1 Preface1.1 Report Description1.2 Research Scope1.3 Research MethodologyChapter 2 Executive SummaryChapter 3 Market Overview3.1 Introduction3.2 Value chain analysis3.3 Market Drivers3.3.1 Rising demand for automation as labor gets expensive3.3.2 Reduction of duties and increased investments on research and development3.3.3 Access to new industries and adoption of robotics in SMEs3.4 Market Restraints3.4.1 Postponement in investment due to high capital costs3.4.2 Stagnation of industrial manufacturing3.1 Market Opportunities3.1.1 Major usage of industrial robotics in manufacturing3.1.2 Geographic as well as strategic expansion3.2 Porters Five Forces Analysis3.2.1 Bargaining power of suppliers3.2.2 Bargaining power of buyers3.2.3 Threat from substitutes3.2.4 Threat of new entrants3.2.5 Degree of competition3.3 Industrial robotics: Market attractiveness analysis3.4 Industrial robotics: Company market share analysisChapter 4 Global Industrial Robotics Market: By Types4.1 Industrial robotics market: Type overview4.1.1 Global industrial robotics market revenue share, by types, 2013  20204.2 Articulated Robots4.2.1 Global articulated robots market, 2013  2020, (USD billion)4.2.2 Global articulated robots market, by industry, 2013  2020, (USD billion)4.3 Cartesian Robots4.3.1 Global Cartesian robots market, 2013  2020, (USD billion)4.3.2 Global Cartesian robots market, by industry, 2013  2020, (USD billion)4.4 Selective Compliant Assembly Robot Arm (SCARA) Robots4.4.1 Global SCARA robots market, 2013  2020, (USD billion)4.4.2 Global SCARA robots market, by industry, 2013  2020, (USD billion)4.5 Cylindrical Robots4.5.1 Global cylindrical robots market, 2013  2020, (USD billion)4.5.2 Global cylindrical robots market, by industry, 2013  2020, (USD billion)4.6 Other Robots4.6.1 Global other robots market, 2013  2020, (USD billion)4.6.2 Global other robots market, by industry, 2013  2020, (USD billion)Chapter 5 Global Industrial Robotics Market: By Industry5.1 Industrial robotics market: Industry overview5.1.1 Global industrial robotics market revenue share, by industry, 2013  20205.2 Automotive5.2.1 Global automotive industry market, 2013  2020, (USD billion)5.3 Electrical & Electronics5.3.1 Global electrical & electronics industry market, 2013  2020, (USD billion)5.4 Chemical, Rubber & Plastics5.4.1 Global chemical, rubber & plastics industry market, 2013  2020, (USD billion)5.5 Machinery5.5.1 Global machinery industry market, 2013  2020, (USD billion)5.6 Metals5.6.1 Global metals industry market, 2013  2020, (USD billion)5.7 Food & Beverages5.7.1 Global food & beverages industry market, 2013  2020, (USD billion)5.8 Precision & Optics5.8.1 Global precision & optics industry market, 2013  2020, (USD billion)5.9 Others5.9.1 Global others industry market, 2013  2020, (USD billion)Chapter 6 Global Industrial Robotics Market: By Function6.1 Industrial robotics market: Function overview6.1.1 Global industrial robotics market revenue share, by function, 2013  20206.2 Soldering and Welding6.2.1 Global soldering and welding function market, 2013  2020, (USD billion)6.3 Materials Handling6.3.1 Global materials handling function market, 2013  2020, (USD billion)6.4 Assembling and Disassembling6.4.1 Global assembling and disassembling function market, 2013  2020, (USD billion)6.5 Painting and Dispensing6.5.1 Global painting and dispensing function market, 2013  2020, (USD billion)6.6 Milling, Cutting and Processing6.6.1 Global milling, cutting and processing function market, 2013  2020, (USD billion)6.7 Others6.7.1 Global others function market, 2013  2020, (USD billion)Chapter 7 Global Industrial Robotics Market  By Region7.1 Global industrial robotics market: Regional overview7.1.1 Global industrial robotics market revenue share, by geography, 2013 and 20207.2 North America7.2.1 North America industrial robotics market, 2013  2020, (USD billion)7.2.2 North America industrial robotics market, by types, 2013  2020, (USD billion)7.2.3 North America industrial robotics market, by industry, 2013  2020, (USD billion)7.2.4 North America industrial robotics market, by function, 2013  2020, (USD billion)7.3 Europe7.3.1 Europe industrial robotics market, 2013  2020, (USD billion)7.3.2 Europe industrial robotics market, by types, 2013  2020, (USD billion)7.3.3 Europe industrial robotics market, by industry, 2013  2020, (USD billion)7.3.4 Europe industrial robotics market, by function, 2013  2020, (USD billion)7.4 Asia Pacific (APAC)7.4.1 Asia Pacific industrial robotics market, 2013  2020, (USD billion)7.4.2 Asia Pacific industrial robotics market, by types, 2013  2020, (USD billion)7.4.3 Asia Pacific industrial robotics market, by industry, 2013  2020, (USD billion)7.4.4 Asia Pacific industrial robotics market, by function, 2013  2020, (USD billion)7.5 Rest of the World (RoW)7.5.1 Rest of the World industrial robotics market, 2013  2020, (USD billion)7.5.2 Rest of the World industrial robotics market, by types, 2013  2020, (USD billion)7.5.3 Rest of the World industrial robotics market, by industry, 2013  2020, (USD billion)7.5.4 Rest of the World industrial robotics market, by function, 2013  2020, (USD billion)To Get Sample Copy of Report visit @About ResearchMozResearchMoz is the one stop online destination to find and buy market research reports & Industry Analysis. We fulfill all your research needs spanning across industry verticals with our huge collection of market research reports. We provide our services to all sizes of organizations and across all industry verticals and markets. Our Research Coordinators have in-depth knowledge of reports as well as publishers and will assist you in making an informed decision by giving you unbiased and deep insights on which reports will satisfy your needs at the best price.Mr. NachiketState Tower,90 State Street,Suite 700,Albany NY - 12207United StatesEmail: sales@researchmoz.usWebsite @Tel: 866-997-4948 (Us-Canada Toll Free)Tel: +1-518-621-2074Follow us on LinkedIn @
Global Cosmetic Preservatives Market Will Grow Steadily At A CAGR Of 5.77% During The Period 2016-2020

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Researchmoz added Most up-to-date research on "Global Cosmetic Preservatives Market 2016-2020" to its huge collection of research reports.Cosmetic preservatives are substances added to cosmetic formulations to avoid spoilage caused by the growth of micro-organisms. Generally cosmetic preservatives are used in cosmetic products that contain water, like gels, creams, and lotions. Water acts as a breeding medium for yeast, fungus, bacteria, and molds, which can spoil the product and cause mild to severe side-effects on the user.Technavios analysts forecast the global cosmetic preservatives market to grow at a CAGR of 5.77% during the period 2016-2020.Covered in this reportThe report covers the present scenario and the growth prospects of the global cosmetic preservatives market for 2016-2020. To calculate the market size, the report considers the revenue generated from the sales of the synthetic preservatives, and natural preservatives.The market is divided into the following segments based on geography:AmericasAPACEMEATo Get Sample Copy of Report visit @Technavio's report, Global Cosmetic Preservatives Market 2016-2020, has been prepared based on an in-depth market analysis with inputs from industry experts. The report covers the market landscape and its growth prospects over the coming years. The report also includes a discussion of the key vendors operating in this market.Key vendorsAshlandBASFClariantDowLonzaOther prominent vendorsAkema Fine ChemicalsBrenntagChemipolGujarat OrganicsSalicylates and ChemicalsSymriseMarket driverIncrease in disposable incomeFor a full, detailed list, view our reportMarket challengeIncrease in disposable incomeFor a full, detailed list, view our reportMarket trendIncrease in popularity of natural skin care productsFor a full, detailed list, view our reportKey questions answered in this reportWhat will the market size be in 2020 and what will the growth rate be?What are the key market trends?What is driving this market?What are the challenges to market growth?Who are the key vendors in this market space?What are the market opportunities and threats faced by the key vendors?What are the strengths and weaknesses of the key vendors?Make an Enquiry of this report @About ResearchMozResearchMoz is the one stop online destination to find and buy market research reports & Industry Analysis. We fulfill all your research needs spanning across industry verticals with our huge collection of market research reports. We provide our services to all sizes of organizations and across all industry verticals and markets. Our Research Coordinators have in-depth knowledge of reports as well as publishers and will assist you in making an informed decision by giving you unbiased and deep insights on which reports will satisfy your needs at the best price.Mr. NachiketState Tower,90 State Street,Suite 700,Albany NY - 12207United StatesEmail: sales@researchmoz.usWebsite @Tel: 866-997-4948 (Us-Canada Toll Free)Tel: +1-518-621-2074Follow us on LinkedIn @
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CCV a category I merchant banker provides advisory and issue management services to companies listing or delisting from the securities market. Companies need to list on a stock exchange to make securities available for trading. SEBI regulates the process and intermediaries registered with the regulator perform different functions to help companies with the listing compliance.For the listing of securities in the stock market, the company has to satisfy the requirements set by SEBI. For assistance through the process, a number of intermediaries can be hired depending on the size of the offerings. These intermediaries help in registration, pricing, and marketing of the stock as per the guidelines.Listing() is a strategic step taking hours of planning, timing is key as favorable conditions make way for an easy entry to the market. A company also has to decide the type of securities it wants to issue and a procedure for pricing the stock. The registration statement filed with Sebi contains information on the IPO, recent financial statement of the company, and shareholding pattern. The papers are scrutinized by the regulator to suggest changes after which a date is set for the IPO.In a fixed price issue, a single value is determined at which securities are offered to the public. Whereas in the book building, a price slab is fixed and bids are invited from potential investors. On the basis of bids received during the subscription period, the price of the stock is decided. It is followed by formulating a pattern for allotment of securities according to which securities are credited to eligible investors. The company has to enter into an arbitration with the stock exchange for listing of securities voiding which can result in suspension of securities or delisting() of the company from the bourses.CCV is a leading consultancy in New Delhi, it assists clients in meeting different compliance requirements. The company is well versed with the securities laws providing services for listing and delisting from the stock exchange. It also provides business advisory services, company secretarial services, investing banking services, and licensing & registration services.CCVIndia  Corporate Capital Ventures Pvt. Ltd.160,(Basement),Vinoba Puri,Lajpat Nagar-II,New Delhi-110024Email id:- ccvindiaa@gmail.com
Bluetooth Smart SoC Market Trends, Business Strategies and Opportunities 2025 |The Insight Partners

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The Bluetooth Smart SoC Market to 2025 - Global Analysis and Forecasts by Device Type and Application report provides a detailed overview of the major factors impacting the global market with the market share analysis and revenues of various sub segments.Browse market data tables and in-depth TOC of the Bluetooth Smart SoC Market to 2025 @Bluetooth offers exchange of information over short range from mobile and fixed devices. It is a wireless technology developed as an alternative to data cables and it is wireless personal area network (WPAN) topology designed. Devices compatible with Classic Bluetooth (2.0 and 3.0) and Bluetooth 4.0 are identified as Bluetooth smart ready devices. Whereas, devices that supports Bluetooth 4.0 are recognized as Bluetooth smart devices.Furthermore, low power requirement is one of the chief factors for the adoption of Bluetooth smart technology. Presently, wireless sensors are implanted in many of the consumer wearable products and electronic gadgets. With the help of Bluetooth technology, these wireless sensors connects with each other. Therefore, development of smart wireless sensors is a significant driving factor to bolster the growth of global Bluetooth smart system-on-chip (SoC) market. Additionally, the users does not need to incur any extra costs as traditional Bluetooth Smart Ready products are only supported by Bluetooth enabled devices. Low cost coupled with low power requirements are the factors responsible for the increase in growth of Bluetooth smart SoC market. Increasing demand for tables, smartphones and other wearable devices are the key drivers for growth of global Bluetooth smart SoC market.Request Sample Copy @With the increased adoption of Bluetooth and Bluetooth Smart enabled gadgets and accessories, a connected infrastructure for electronic gadgets has formed. However, Bluetooth lacks in transferring heavy data and has a low streaming capacity, as compared to Wi-Fi and near field communication. Low streaming capacity is a key factor that hinders the global Bluetooth Smart SoC growth. Also, privacy and security concerns regarding the use to Bluetooth technology can be a major challenge for the industry players.The global Bluetooth smart SoC market is segmented on the basis device type into Bluetooth smart and Bluetooth smart ready. The global Bluetooth smart SoC market is further segmented on the basis of applications into automotive, healthcare, building & retail, wearable electronics and consumer electronics. The global Bluetooth smart SoC market is bifurcated by regions into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East & Africa and South America.Make an Inquiry @North America dominated the global Bluetooth smart SoC market with the increased adoption of Bluetooth smart and Bluetooth smart ready products. Whereas, Asia Pacific is expected to witness fastest growth in the market with the rising penetration of smartphones that support Bluetooth.Bluegiga Technologies Oy, Nordic Semiconductor ASA, Qualcomm Inc., Dialog Semiconductor PLC, Broadcom Corporation, Texas Instruments Inc., Mediatek Inc., NXP Semiconductors, Cypress Semiconductor Corporation, CSR PLC, Marvell Technology Group, Ltd. Among others are some of the key markets players operating in the global Bluetooth smart SoC market.Some of the key points covered in the report: Bluetooth Smart SoC Market Landscape Bluetooth Smart SoC Market  Key Industry Dynamics Bluetooth Smart SoC Market  Five Forces Analysis Bluetooth Smart SoC Market  Competitive Landscape Bluetooth Smart SoC Market Revenue and Forecasts to 2025  Device Type Bluetooth Smart SoC Market Revenue and Forecasts to 2025  Application Bluetooth Smart SoC Market Revenue and Forecasts to 2025  Geographical Analysis Bluetooth Smart SoC Market, Key Company ProfilesInquire about discount on this report @The report provides qualitative and qualitative insights about growth rates, key market shares and factors driving the market drivers for all segments. The report highlights the growth rates and market sizes of various segment and highlights the sections expected to experience high growth rate in various geographic segments. The report also consist of company profiles of the market leaders and various players in the Bluetooth Smart SoC Market. These company profiles include product portfolios, market developments, financial performances and SWOT analysis for each company. The report also offers a competitive landscape of the Bluetooth Smart SoC Market.About The Insight Partners:The Insight Partners is a one stop industry research provider of actionable intelligence. We help our clients in getting solutions to their research requirements through our syndicated and consulting research services. We are a specialist in Technology, Media, and Telecommunication industries.Contact Us:Call: +1-646-491-9876Email: sales@theinsightpartners.comThe Insight Partners is a one stop industry research provider of actionable intelligence. We help our clients in getting solutions to their research requirements through our syndicated and consulting research services. We are a specialist in Technology, Media, and Telecommunication industries.505, 6th floor, Amanora Township,Amanora Chambers, East Block,Kharadi Road, Hadapsar, Pune-411028
Avail Professional Services for Tampa Personal Tax Returns

There are number of reasons that small business experience loss in money as most of them make mistakes while filling for business tax returns. Filling the Business Tax Returns fl is a costly and time consuming task as you need to figure out what goes where and take corrective measure to work for quality in less time. The less time you spend concentrating on various things more you will do to improve your business. You can go with number of options to implement the tax returns.Getting the assistance will be best to achieve the successful results and saves your time and money in long run. Accuracy is the most vital thing that needs to be considered while paying taxes in Florida. Organizing companys financial statements for better access to the business improvements are very important. Choosing the right accountant is the most important decision to make that must be proved to advantageous.There are basically two options for choosing the right accountant for your Tampa Personal Tax Returns or business tax returns. These options will offer two types of services i.e. online and offline. Just choose the one that goes with your needs. Search well that the services you are getting from your accountant that they are 100% accurate or not. The professional expert must be capable of handling any of the rough patches or problems that save you from experiencing a lot of headaches. There are following errors that you may make without an accurate assistance: Forgetting to sign the return. Math errors. Missing forms.Hiring a professional tax accountant to complete your tax return is the most authentic and securest way to be sure that you are making every claim that you are entitled to under the new taxation regulations. You will lose hundreds or even thousands if you fail to claim the tax return that are legitimately can be yours own money that you can also spend for the business growth.Getting the assistance is important as personally handling and preparing your business tax return can be tough and might lead you full of risks. Visit at - 727accounting.com if you do not want to run into the problems that harms your business. You will have to pay hefty fines if you miss out any important thing. So making sure that you take them in consideration with the help of professional expert as errors in the tax returns can be costly.727accounting.com offers you with these accountants at your service who works to provide the best improvements and changes which are suitable for the organization and its processes as well.13801 Walsingham Rd. A - 126 Largo Fl 33774, USA
Calling all innovators and inventors in the West African power industry!

WAPIC Innovation Hub to offer a unique opportunity

http://www.wapicforum.com

SMEs, start-ups and young innovators will be given the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to showcase their new solutions, game changing technology and inventions for the power industry at the Innovation Hub taking place during the upcoming WAPIC (West African Power Industry Convention) in Lagos on 24 November.Find a solution that helps stakeholders better manage power in West Africa and you and the industry are primed to strike gold says Yolisa Nyoka, the WAPIC Innovation Hub programme director. She adds we invite the brightest minds in Nigeria and the region to share their ideas and solutions with the power industry and investors at WAPIC who will help them take their projects to the next level and out into the world where they can make a real difference.Yolisa explains: Nigerians are naturally very innovative and the Innovation Hub aims to bridge the gap between this kind of blue sky thinking and stakeholders in the power sector to bring power utilities and their customers closer together. The telecoms sector is a great example of such collaborations. Not only will the WAPIC Innovation Hub gather start-ups, SMEs and innovators and introduce them to investors, financiers and seasoned industry experts, the brightest solution or idea will be selected for the WAPIC New Innovation Award.Part of the programme of the Innovation Hub is a look at specific, identified problem sets in the power sector where innovation and new technologies can make a huge difference. These problem sets include:- Using applications and technology for increased revenue collection- Winning the consumer market- Re-thinking supply chain management- Innovation for renewable energy|Any SMEs, start-ups and young innovators who are interested in taking part in the Innovation Hub, are welcome to contact the organisers.WAPIC, a flagship, regional conference and exhibition, will return to Lagos with an exciting interactive programme that reflects the dynamic energy landscape of the region and will once again attract some 2000 power professionals, high-level experts and industry stalwarts during the 13th edition of the event.Industry awardsThe third edition of the hugely successful West African Power Industry Awards will also take place at this years WAPIC during a gala dinner evening when industry pioneers and projects will be recognised and celebrated in seven different categories.Exciting time for the power industry in West AfricaAs in previous years of this flagship power event in the region, WAPIC has already secured impressive industry support. Global information and telecommunication giant Huawei will return as the exclusive diamond sponsor for the event for the third time. Lucy Electric, a global secondary distribution leader in the electricity sector, is a platinum sponsor.WAPIC dates and location:Pre-conference Masterclass: 22 November 2016Documentary screening, Nowhere to Run: 22 November 2016Conference and exhibition: 23-24 November 2016West African Power Industry Awards: Wednesday, 23 November 2016Site visit: 25 November 2016Event location: Eko Hotel & Suites, Lagos, NigeriaWAPIC is organised by Spintelligent, leading Cape Town-based trade exhibition and conference organiser, and the African office of Clarion Events Ltd, based in the UK. Other flagship events in Spintelligents power portfolio on the continent are African Utility Week, the East African Power Industry Convention (EAPIC), iPAD Rwanda Energy Infrastructure Forum and iPAD Cameroon Energy & Infrastructure Forum.Senior communications manager: Annemarie RoodbolTelephone: +27 21 700 3558Mobile: +27 82 562 7844Email: annemarie.roodbol@spintelligent.comWebsite:Postal address: PO Box 321, Steenberg, 7947, South Africa
Power Banks Market Research Report 2025 -Market Size and Forecast |The Insight Partners

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The Power Banks Market to 2025 - Global Analysis and Forecast by Capacity Range, Number of USB Ports and Technology report provides a detailed overview of the major factors impacting the global market with the market share analysis and revenues of various sub segments.Browse market data tables and in-depth TOC of the Power Banks Market to 2025 @Power bank or a portable charger is lithium-ion or lithium-polymer based battery used to charge a variety of electronic devices such as tablets, smartphones, music players and other devices with USB slots. With extensive use of internet on electronic devices and limited capacity of inbuilt batteries, there is a rising demand for an external power source that enables the users to charger their devices on the go. The growing demand of power bank in a variety of segments such as communication & technology, and medical & military is expected to create opportunities for the power banks market.Power bank has been witnessing a rising demand from the consumers worldwide, owing to its portability feature and reusability feature upon recharging. Depending upon the usage, consumers have options to purchase power banks with different capacities. Also, power banks are available in different shapes such as square, rectangular and cylinder and sizes providing users with a variety of choices.Request Sample Copy @The rising demand and usage of smartphones, tablets and other digital gadgets are expected to drive the global power banks market. Although the use of power banks is increasing significantly, rapid advancement in battery technology has led to the devices now being manufactured with sufficient battery power to eliminate the use of power banks. In addition, the power bank manufacturers are facing stiff competition in order to provide high quality products at lower prices to attract consumers. Thus, these factors combined are restricting the global power banks market.The global power bank can be segmented on the basis of capacity range, namely: up to 2,000 mAh; 2,001 mAh - 5,000 mAh; 5,001 mAh - 10,000 mAh; 10,001 mAh - 20,000 mAh, and above 20,000 mAh. Further, on basis of the number of Universal Serial Bus (USB) ports, the global power bank market is segmented as one, two, or more than two USB ports. Based on technology, the global power banks market is further segmented into lithium-ion (Li-ion or LIB) and lithium-polymer battery.Make an Inquiry @The global power bank market is divided into five major regions which include North America, Europe, Asia Pacific (APAC), Middle East & Africa (MEA), and South America (SAM). North America leads the global power banks market with high awareness regarding technologically advanced products/gadgets, leading to high adoption of power banks. However, APAC with significant penetration of smartphones and mobile devices by a huge number of consumers is expected to lead the global power banks market in the near future.Some of the prominent players of the global power banks market include Microsoft Corporation, uNu Electronics Inc., Mophie Inc., Panasonic Corporation, OnePlus, Sony Corporation, Xiaomi Technology Co. Ltd, AdCom, Hitachi Maxell, Ltd., MiPow Limited, Xtorm BV, EassyAcc.com, Inc., Limefuel LLC, Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., Anker, GP Batteries International Ltd. And Apacer Technologies, Inc., among others. Strengthening distribution channel, product innovation, certifying products, and leveraging e-commerce platforms to drive sales are few of the strategies adopted by key players in the global power banks market.Inquire about discount on this report @Some of the key points covered in the report: Power Banks Market Landscape Power Banks Market  Key Industry Dynamics Power Banks Market  Five Forces Analysis Power Banks Market Analysis Power Banks Market Revenue and Forecasts to 2025  Capacity Range Power Banks Market Revenue and Forecasts to 2025  Number of USB Ports Power Banks Market Revenue and Forecasts to 2025  Technology Power Banks Market Revenue and Forecasts to 2025  Geographical Analysis Power Banks Market, Key Company ProfilesThe report provides qualitative and qualitative insights about growth rates, key market shares and factors driving the market drivers for all segments. The report highlights the growth rates and market sizes of various segment and highlights the sections expected to experience high growth rate in various geographic segments. The report also consist of company profiles of the market leaders and various players in the Power Banks Market. These company profiles include product portfolios, market developments, financial performances and SWOT analysis for each company. The report also offers a competitive landscape of the Power Banks Market.About The Insight Partners:The Insight Partners is a one stop industry research provider of actionable intelligence. We help our clients in getting solutions to their research requirements through our syndicated and consulting research services. We are a specialist in Technology, Media, and Telecommunication industries.Contact Us:Call: +1-646-491-9876Email: sales@theinsightpartners.comThe Insight Partners is a one stop industry research provider of actionable intelligence. We help our clients in getting solutions to their research requirements through our syndicated and consulting research services. We are a specialist in Technology, Media, and Telecommunication industries.505, 6th floor, Amanora Township,Amanora Chambers, East Block,Kharadi Road, Hadapsar, Pune-411028
ScaleUp Magazine for Growth Seeking Entrepreneurs is now live on Indiegogo crowdfunding platform

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www.growthmonk.com

GrowthMonk Media, a growth consulting agency for small businesses announced today that it is raising funds via rewards crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo.com to pre-sale the subscription of its flagship digital business magazine ScaleUp. The company set out to raise $50,000 on Indiegogo to build design and development team as well as release its fortnightly business magazine.As per the Founder and Chief Editor of ScaleUp magazine, Lokesh Gupta, ScaleUp is a beautiful yet simple, fortnightly digital business magazine for growth seeking entrepreneurs, makers, & wantrapreneurs. Every 2 week, it covers interviews of world's top entrepreneurs who share their success secrets with the readers. Readers also get lots of growth hacks, productivity tips & inspiration for their business and personal growth. Each ScaleUp magazine issue costs less than a coffee & includes perks like discounts on popular software's & membership to invite only growth community.Today, it is very easy to start a business but very difficult to scale. Many business owners, founder's, and entrepreneurs find it difficult to move fast due to lack of knowledge, experience, resources, guidance or motivation. ScaleUp magazines goal is to solve this problem by providing valuable content and resources for entrepreneurs.The company is giving away exciting perks for the backers of the project on Indiegogo. You can get huge discounts on the individual and team magazine subscription as well as the opportunity to grow your business via advertisements in the magazine at discounted rates. For more details, you can visit the campaign pageGrowthMonk media has already released 3 issues of ScaleUp magazine and are getting good feedback from the readers. As a result, they decided to go further by raising funding through Indiegogo crowdfunding platform. They already have some of the top entrepreneurs and authors as guest experts who will be featured in the upcoming issues of the magazine. People like Nir Eyal, Ash Maurya, Joe Pulizzi, Jeff Bullas, Sujan Patel, Eric Siu have shared their success secrets as well as productivity tips for business owners benefits.About GrowthMonk Media:GrowthMonk Media is a growth consulting firm for small business owners. They run an online knowledge platform called GrowthMonk.com for growth seeking startup founders, entrepreneurs, and professionals. Their flagship product is a fortnightly digital business magazine ScaleUp, for growth seeking entrepreneurs. They have a small team of startup enthusiasts from around the world. The team has more than a decade of experience in running & managing startups.Contact GrowthMonk Media:You can contact the company via info@growthmonk.comLokesh GuptaFounder and Chief Growth OfficerGrowthMonk Medialokesh@growthmonk.com
Intraosseous Infusion Devices Market Valuation of US$ 5,468.5 Mn by 2026

http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-1569

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Future Market Insights delivers key insights on the global intraosseous infusion devices market in a new publication titled Intraosseous Infusion Devices Market: Global Industry Analysis & Opportunity Assessment, 20162026. In terms of revenue, the global intraosseous infusion devices market is projected to register a CAGR of 7.2% during the 10-year forecast period 2016 - 2026. The global intraosseous infusion devices market was valued at US$ 2,553.9 Mn in 2015 and is estimated to be valued at US$ 2,719.3 Mn by 2016 end, reflecting a Y-o-Y growth rate of 6.5%.Future Market Insights analysts believe that a growing need for immediate vascular access and rising number of emergency cases are expected to boost the overall market growth of the global intraosseous infusion devices market. Other factors powering global demand for intraosseous infusion devices are  expansion of the global medical devices industry and its advancements, increasing prevalence of chronic diseases such as obesity and cardiac arrests, and rising adoption of intraosseous devices in military and emergency medical services. However, a high possibility of compartment syndrome due to gushing of fluids and drugs into soft tissues; limitations in the case of individuals with severe osteoporosis and hypovolemic conditions; and impediment of IO infusion devices after arrival of vein viewer are factors likely to restrict market growth over the forecast period.A key trend defining the global intraosseous infusion devices market is that larger players are concentrating on partnering with other companies to manufacture their products, along with expanding their current inventory by partnering with local companies for warehousing support. Intraosseous infusion devices manufacturers are also increasingly concentrating on branding and marketing along with increasing product penetration through their local distributors.-Analyst, Future Market InsightsRequest Free Report Sample@Segmentation highlightsThe global intraosseous infusion devices market is segmented on the basis of Product Type (B.I.G (Bone Injection Gun), FAST1, EZ-IO, FAST Responder, Intraosseous Needles, Others); Technology (Manual, Automatic); End User (Emergency Medical Services, Hospitals, Ambulatory Surgical Centres, Cardiac Care Centres); and Route of Administration (Sternum, Distal & Proximal Tibia, Distal Femur, Calcaneus, Head of Humerus).By the end of 2016, the Fast Responder product type segment is estimated to account for 6% market share while the EZ-IO segment is estimated to account for 21.1% market shareThe Automatic technology segment is expected to register a significant CAGR of 8.1% over the forecast period complemented by high incremental opportunity of US$ 1,452.9 Mn between 2016 and 2026The Head of Humerus route of administration segment is expected to register a CAGR of 7.8% with a high incremental opportunity of US$ 624.8 Mn over the forecast periodThe Hospitals end user segment is estimated to account for 30.1% market share by the end of 2016 while the Emergency Medical Services segment is anticipated to hold 31.1% market share in 2016.Ask The Analyst@Regional projectionsThe global intraosseous infusion devices market is segmented into the seven key regions of North America, Latin America, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Asia Pacific Excluding Japan (APEJ), Japan, and the Middle East & Africa. North America is expected to dominate the global intraosseous infusion devices market by the end of 2016. The market in North America is estimated to be valued at US$ 705.6 Mn by 2016 end and this is anticipated to increase to US$ 1,489.4 Mn by the end of 2026, registering a CAGR of 7.8% over the forecast period. North America is expected to witness a CAGR of 7.3% in terms of volume over the forecast period. The APEJ market is estimated to account for 22.1% market share by the end of 2016. North America and APEJ collectively accounted for a significant market share in 2015 and are expected to dominate in terms of market share over the forecast period.Vendor insightsSome of the key players in the global intraosseous infusion devices market featured in the report are Pyng Medical Corp., Cook Medical Incorporated, PerSys Medical, Aero Healthcare, Teleflex, Inc., and Becton Dickinson and Co. The report throws light on the strategies adopted by these companies in terms of enhancing their product portfolio and creating new marketing techniques.ABOUT US:Future Market Insights (FMI) is a leading market intelligence and consulting firm. We deliver syndicated research reports, custom research reports and consulting services, which are personalized in nature. FMI delivers a complete packaged solution, which combines current market intelligence, statistical anecdotes, technology inputs, valuable growth insights, an aerial view of the competitive framework, and future market trends.CONTACT:616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comPress@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite:
Global Beverage Ingredients Market: Growing Demand for Energy Drinks to Emerge as Rising Trend, notes TMR

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The global beverages ingredients market is studied in a new report by Transparency Market Research (TMR). The report is titled, Beverage Ingredients Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast, 2013  2019. It presents a detailed overview of the markets historical development trajectory and its current revenue estimations. An in-depth analysis of these statistics is used to derive insightful information about the beverages ingredients markets future growth.View exclusive Global strategic Business report :Today, beverage choices for consumers are no longer limited to refreshment drinks; they are influenced by factors such as ingredients, health benefits, and flavor. The popularity of beverages is increasing among younger consumers and thus, the global beverages ingredients market is anticipated to witness bright prospects in the coming years. The attraction of the urban youth towards the cafe culture is also driving the market. Overall, there is a rise in the demand for energy drinks, soft drinks, juices, carbonated soft drinks, and functional and flavored waters. This will contribute to the growth of the beverages ingredients market.Countries such as UAE, Brazil, China, and India have a high consumption rates of carbonated drinks owing to the rising disposable income and changing lifestyles. This is also aiding the growth of the market. In the coming years, it is expected that rising health and wellness awareness will help drive innovation in powdered beverages. New ingredients will enable the growth of the market. Players are also focusing on developing new and improved varieties of beverage ingredients to secure a competitive edge. Technological advancements in the food and beverage packaging sector have resulted in longer shelf life of beverages and this is having a positive impact on the market.Analysts predict that there will be a shift in the preference towards drinks that boost good health or fitness such as energy drinks and beverages with zero-calorie and sugar. An increase in the prevalence of obesity and diabetes is driving consumers towards these types of beverages. As such, energy drinks are likely to demonstrate a significant growth rate over the forecast period owing to several health benefits.The demand for ready-to-drink (RTD) tea and coffee from the corporate sector and other outlets will also increase in the coming years, boosting the global beverages ingredients market. On the other hand, minor health issues such as fatigue and insomnia owing to the consumption of caffeinated drinks will hinder the markets growth to some extent.Browse Full Report With ToC:Major beverage ingredients used include oligosaccharides, botanicals, sweeteners, colors, acidulants, flours, cocoa ingredients, vitamins, fats and oils, flavors, emulsifiers, proteins, and minerals. By type of beverage, the market is segmented into soft drinks, alcoholic beverages, and juices. On the basis of geography, North America, followed by Europe and Asia, is a dominant consumer of beverages.Key players profiled in the market are Coca-Cola, Red Bull GmBH, PepsiCo, Anheuser-Busch InBev, Kraft Foods Inc., Monsanto Company Inc., and GlaxoSmithKlineAbout UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants, use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather, and analyze information. Our business offerings represent the latest and the most reliable information indispensable for businesses to sustain a competitive edge.ContactTransparency Market Research90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
Global Home Energy Management Systems Market to Expand at 25% CAGR 2013-2019, Propelled by Rapid Growth in Europe and North America

http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=S&rep_id=1016

http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com

Home energy management systems (HEMS) are intermediary devices that enable home-owners to monitor and manage their electricity consumption wisely. In its nascent stage of development, the global HEMS industry is striving to meet the demand of a universal platform solution that is expected to solve problems of interface and complexity involved in installations. Rising electricity prices across the globe has led the demand for optimum energy management systems and solutions.With electricity prices predicted to rise exponentially in the coming years, the demand for HEMSs is expected to rise considerably over the forecasted period. Variable pricing schemes offered by utilities and service providers is expected to encourage home-owners to use electricity during off-peak hours and reduce their peak hour demand.Get Sample PDF file of Home Energy Management Systems Market :Thus, the growing need of curbing electricity bills and wisely managing the energy consumption is expected to fuel market growth in the coming years. Partnerships with real estate players and builders for offering HEMSs as a part of amenities offer a sound opportunity for manufacturers as well as service providers.North America occupied the largest market share in 2012, which can be attributed to large scale deployment of wireless technologies like HAN (Home Area Network), Wi-Fi, and ZigBee among others. The Europe HEMS market was valued at USD 155.7 million in 2012, and is expected to be the fastest growing market over the forecasted period. Complete roll-out of smart meters by 2019 coupled with favorable government regulations promoting optimum home energy management are key growth factors for this geography.In case of technologies, ZigBee is expected to exhibit fastest growth, surpassing Wi-Fi as the major technology over the forecasted period from 2013 to 2019. This is majorly on account of its growing demand in big markets like Europe and North America. The growing demand is attributed to it being more scalable, interference tolerant, and compatible with HAN devices than Wi-Fi. Although control device segment including thermostats, home lighting and automation systems is the dominant functionality segment, enabling technologies are expected to exhibit fastest growth rate in the coming years, owing to increasing use of technologies like sensing, HAN and others offering connectivity for energy management. Some of the key players in the market include Panasonic Corporation (Japan), Honeywell International, Inc (U.S.), General Electric Company (U.S.), Intel Corporation (U.S.), Cisco Systems, Inc. (U.S.), and Sharp Corporation (Japan) 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:
South Africa Wire and Cable Market to Exhibit 12% CAGR 2014-2020 Driven by Growing Demand for Copper Wires and Cables

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Driven by continuous growth in the infrastructure sector in South Africa, the market for wire and cable in the country was valued at USD 355.0 million in 2013 and is expected to reach USD 834.5 million by 2020, growing at a CAGR of 12% during the forecast period from 2014 to 2020. Wires and cables find application in other industries as well such as automobiles, power transmission & distribution, electronics and communication industries among others.Increasing developments in the power transmission and distribution sector has further supported the market growth. The adoption of wire and cable in communications segment has additionally supported the growth of the market. The demand for wire and cable can also be attributed to the growing demand of automobiles where the wires and cables are used in different applications. The growing automobile industry in the country has not only contributed to the growth of the wire and cable market but has also additionally supported the growth of the local cable manufacturers. The growing demand of electronic devices has also contributed to the growth of the wire and cable market.Based on types, copper wire and cable held the largest share in the market in 2013. The demand for copper wire and cable is primarily driven by the growing developments in power generation, distribution and transmission, electronic circuitry, telecommunications and several other types of electrical equipment in the country.Get Sample PDF file of Wire and Cable Market :The demand for copper wire and cable is expected to expand with the increase in demand of automobiles vehicles in the country. Some of the automobile component manufacturers based in South Africa are Corning, Arvin Exhaust, Senior Flexonics and Bloxwitch.Based on voltage, low voltage wires and cables held the largest market share followed by high voltage. The growth in the low voltage wire and cables is attributed to the increasing applications across electronic goods, industrial and housing applications, railways, airports and power transmission & distribution in the country. The market for low voltage wires and cables in the country is also supported by the increasing need for the enhanced safety of public/residential buildings.Wire and cable industry in South Africa is a consolidated market. Texas Instruments, STMicroelectronics, Renesas Aberdare Cables (Pty) Limited, CBI - electric: African Cables (Pty) Limited, B & W Instrumentation and Electrical Limited, CCG Cable Terminations Pty Limited, South Ocean Holdings Limited, Power Technologies (Pty) Limited, Industrial Cable Suppliers (Pty) Limited and General Cable Sub  Sahara Africa are among others are some of the key players in the wire and cable market.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:
Dropbox Owns Cloud Storage on Mobile - 64% of users, 80% of API Activity - New Report By CloudRail

https://cloudrail.com

https://cloudrail.com/cloud-storage-report-dropbox-owns-cloud-storage-mobile/

A new report by Unified API integration leader CloudRail () shows that Dropbox leads the consumer cloud storage market with 63.8%, ahead of Google Drive, OneDrive and Box of all users choosing their service.CloudRail, a leader in API integration management solutions for app developers, released a new report analyzing the millions of connections made to cloud storage providers by users from CloudRail powered mobile apps. Dropbox is the clear leader with 63.8% of all users choosing this provider. It is followed by Google Drive with 17.8%, OneDrive with 11.6% and Box with 6.8%.Dropbox 63.8%Google Drive 17.8%OneDrive 11.6%Box 6.8%Cementing its leadership position further, the report shows that Dropbox users are the most active generating 80.8% of all API activity from mobile applications.Dropbox 80.8%Google Drive 14.5%OneDrive 4%Box 0.7%The report measures the distribution of all cloud storage users among Dropbox, Google Drive, Microsoft OneDrive and Box. The distribution is calculated by analyzing the usage of API integrations among CloudRail powered mobile apps. This means that the four analyzed providers are integrated in a 3rd party app to provide additional functionality like e.g. access of files for modification in the app or backup of app data. The user of the app has the free choice which of the four providers to use. Considering that apps are usually accessing data which is already stored within the cloud provider, this is a clear indicator which provider users use for other purposes as well.CloudRail provides products and solutions for software developers to easily integrate all four cloud storage providers via a unified, single API. Code once, access all. Developers and enterprise customers from all industries rely on CloudRail to power the integrations in their apps.Full Report:Founded in 2013, CloudRails vision is to revolutionize the way APIs are being integrated. With its universal API approach, the start-up is significantly simplifying integrations which leads to a more connected world. Headquartered in Mannheim, Germany and with an office in San Francisco, CA, CloudRail powers reliable integrations which are used by millions of people every day.Felix Kollmarfelix@cloudrail.comCloudRail (licobo GmbH)Julius-Hatry-Str. 168163 MannheimGermany
Global Camera Module Market to Rise at 19.7% CAGR from 2013 to 2019, Ever-increasing Penetration of Smartphones Propels Market

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Camera modules are electronic devices that convert an optical signal through the lens into a digital electrical signal using an image sensor, and display the captured image on the display device. It can also be defined as a component that provides video recording function, still image function and gesture recognition to a digital device.The global camera modules market was valued at USD 12.00 billion in 2012 and is expected to reach USD 43.06 billion by 2019 at a CAGR of 19.7% from 2013 to 2019. It is of two types on the basis of the image sensor technology used in their packaging - CMOS (Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor) camera module and CCD (Charge Coupled Devices) camera module. CCD camera modules dominated the camera modules market for a long time but with the emergence and increasing demand of CMOS technology, it started losing its market share.Smartphone and tablet PC is the largest segment of the camera module market. Smartphone and tablet PC segment is expected to see exponential growth in the coming years and this will positively influence the camera module market. Consumer preference towards smartphones, with more pixel clarity and the trend of software development play a significant role in increasing demand for camera modules.Get Sample PDF file of Global Camera Module Market :For example, impact of Apple, Samsung and LG among others cannot be underestimated as consumers have readily embraced mobile imaging through their mobile phones. In addition, adoption of mobile phone apps for social networking and email (i.e., Facebook, Gmail, Yahoo, and WhatsApp among others) is also contributing to market growth.China, Japan, India, Korea, Taiwan, Singapore and Malaysia are some of the major countries contributing to the growth of camera modules in Asia Pacific. Most of the key players of the camera module market such as LG-Innotek, SEMCO, Foxconn, Sharp, Liteon, Chicony, Toshiba, STMicro, Sunny, and Primax are from Asia Pacific. These players are operating their business in both domestic and international markets and giving tough competition to key players from other regions.The key players in this industry are LG-Innotek, SEMCO, Foxconn, Sharp, Liteon Chicony, Toshiba, STMicro, Sunny, Primax, Samsung Fiberoptic, KMOT, Cowell, BYD, Truly and Vista Point. These players are competing hard against each other to acquire maximum share of the market.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:
Digital OOH Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends Forecast Upto 2024

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http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com

Digital out-of-home (DOOH) form of advertising is a dynamically-served visual mode of advertising that targets customers when they are outdoors, in-transit, and waiting or at commercial venues. It intercepts customers with extremely targeted messages when they go about their day-to-day activities and effectively increases a brands message, thus creating a deep level of engagement with on-the-go customers. Such advertising campaigns take into account the customer mindset and location. The traditional mode of OOH advertising is the use of billboards. In recent years, there has been substantial growth in digital billboards and place-based networks. Digital OOH is dynamic media distributed across place based networks at locations such as colleges, gas stations, bars, health clubs and restaurants. DOOH networks feature stand-alone screens and kiosks. Recent years have seen these advertising networks transform into real-time marketing platforms because of the increased use of mobile beacons and dynamic data feeds. DOOH encompasses a variety of screen shapes, sizes as well as levels of interactivity. It provides a bridge between context and location and has high level of impact and flexibility. Each DOOH advertising campaign is relevant to the unique environment outdoors.The growing mobility of customers is increasing the visibility of outdoor media. This is contributing significantly to the growth of digital OOH market. Also, the price erosion of digital screens has further fostered this markets growth. DOOH advertising can also be implemented on public transport. With long travel times and increase in leisure travel, it is continually reaching a large number of target audiences. Innovation in this form of advertising has resulted in real-time campaigns. Advertisers are able to target the right people by being able to change the content of ads based on location, time of the day and weather. The relevance achieved as a result of the flexibility and the ability of DOOH to be able to reach the masses is giving brands the chance to create campaigns that will be remembered by the customers.Also, the use of text, images and real time content is more attractive to customers and has a significant influence on their purchasing decisions. However, the high initial spending incurred in installing digital signage is a barrier in the growth of DOOH market. Also, the return on investment of such campaigns is hard to calculate and can become further complex when the costs incurred on the repair and maintenance of screens is also considered.Get Sample PDF file of Digital OOH Market :The digital OOH market can be categorized into billboards, street furniture, and transit. Billboards can be traditional billboards and digital billboards. Street furniture can be further categorized into bus shelters, mall kiosks, telephone booth advertising and news racks. Also, transit advertising can be further categorized into electronic advertising at bus stops, train stations, airports and advertising in buses, taxis, airplanes and subway advertising.Some of the companies offering digital signage software include Broadsign, Scala  Digital Signage Software, Ayuda Media Systems, Signagelive Limited, Net Display Systems, ONELAN Limited, YCD Multimedia, Four Winds Interactive, ADFLOW Networks, DISE International AB, Omnivex Corporation and Navori digital signage software.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:
Synthetic Biology Market with Current Trends Analysis, 2016-2026

http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-1226

http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-1226

www.futuremarketinsights.com

Synthetic Biology is one of the breakthrough technologies developed by mankind from chemistry, biology, computer science and engineering which ultimately changed the approach towards therapeutics. It has a varied areas of applications in biofuels, industrial enzymes, vaccine and antibody production, bio-based chemicals and synthetic biology life science research. Synthetic biologists develop such biological systems using by molding the core components (genetic circuits, part of enzymes and metabolic pathways) and understanding their performance while using these smaller parts or devices into the specific integrated systems. The production of new medicines is now done by using synthetic biology on a cellular, molecular and genetic level to address the emerging health issues.Synthetic Biology Market: Drivers & RestraintsInternationally, companies have started investing in Synthetic biology as many governmental bodies are turning towards biomass and climate change. In past few years synthetic biology has gained industrial interest which has a large scale applications and potential of new gene editing techniques are some of the drivers for this market. Traditional medicines are being replaced by genetically engineered products, DNA sequencing and DNA synthesis technologies. This market though has a potential there with any advances there are risks and hindrance like government regulations and policies, biosafety and biosecurity issues, bio-war but these issues are being addressed by the regulatory bodies and research institutions. The synthetic biology market has changed the complete approach towards traditional ways of combating with newer diseases and genetic challenges with the advanced computing and design systems.Synthetic Biology Market: SegmentationSynthetic Biology market is basically can be classified into products, technology and applications.The Synthetic Biology market based on product can be subdivided into following:Core Products.Synthetic DNASynthetic GenesSynthetic cellsDNA & RNA Purification KitsRecombinant ProteinsRequest Free Report Sample@The Synthetic Biology market based on technology can be subdivided into following:MutagenesisDNA sequencingGenome engineeringThe Synthetic Biology market based on applications can be subdivided into following:Pharmaceutical CompaniesResearch OrganizationsChemical IndustriesUniversitiesSynthetic Biology Market: Market OverviewSynthetic biology market is a technology which has now a massive demand in the biotechnology sector, chemical and biofuel industries and their products will outstrip the products of the other industries in the near future. There is progress towards making this technology useful in the therapeutic areas from which the society can be directly benefited. The success of synthetic biology in DNA sequencing and synthetic microbes in vaccines, faster and efficient modular DNA assembly methods has proved to be a potential market and thus there is a significant investment done by the pharmaceutical and healthcare companies.Synthetic Biology Market: Region-wise OutlookDepending on geographic regions, global radiofrequency ablation system market is segmented into seven key regions: North America, South America, Eastern Europe, Western Europe, Asia Pacific, Japan, and Middle East & Africa.Visit For TOC@Europe is a leading market followed by North America, Europe has invested in developing synthesis of biologically based or biologically inspired systems. In North America Defense is a major contributor in the investment done in the past years. In Asia, India and China are said to progress in developments over future to be a part of the Synthetic biology market. The success of this market will depend upon the conversion from basic research to applications which will rise the future opportunities to understand the natural biological systems. Thus the market for synthetic biology is showing no sign for slowing down but managing the future social, ethical and legal responsibilities will lead to innovation.Synthetic Biology Market: Key PlayersThe major key players in the synthetic biology market are Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc., Agilent Technologies, GEN9, Sigma-Aldrich Co. LLC., Amyris Biotechnologies, Epoch Life Science Inc., Gevo Inc., Intrexon Corporation, Sangamo Biosciences and Gingko Bioworks.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:
Global Cardiac Assist Devices Market Size, Share and Forecast - 2019

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http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/cardiac-assist-devices.html

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In 2012, over 30% of all global deaths could be traced back to cardiovascular diseases (CVDs). An alarming rise in the incidence of CVDs is arguably the biggest factor driving the growth of the global cardiac assist devices (CAD) market, says Transparency Market Research (TMR) in a new report, which is titled, Cardiac Assist Devices Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast, 20132019. The demand for cardiac assist devices will also be helped further by a grave shortage of donor hearts, making heart transplantation only a rare possibility. The report studies the growth prospects in this rapidly emerging market by focusing on specific aspects such as drivers, restraints, challenges, and opportunities. The size of the market is estimated by the demand-based revenue generated via sales of cardiac assist devices.Get Research Report with TOC:Patients suffering from cardiovascular diseases are typically advised to consider cardiac assist devices to correct the blood pumping efficiency of the heart. These mechanical pumps work in conjunction with the heart to help an optimum blood flow. The three types of cardiac assist devices (CADs) commonly used are: Intra-aortic balloon pumps (IABPs), ventricular assist devices, and total artificial heart. The ventricular assist devices can either be designed to work with the left or right ventricle. Of these, left ventricular assist devices (LVAD) are the highest sold products and will likely remain popular through the forecast period of the report. With rapid advancements taking place in cardiac assist devices, it is projected that CADs could soon reach a phase where heart transplantation can be entirely avoided.The report states that the cardiac assist devices market in North America currently stands as the largest on account of the region reporting a high rate of heart failure cases. Moreover, most new technological developments hit the U.S. first, which makes the uptake of CADs higher in the country as compared to many other markets. The impact of all of these factors is sewn together by the high degree of awareness among patients regarding the benefits of cardiac assist devices and CAD implantation being covered by reimbursement.Europe trails North America in revenue generation in the cardiac assist devices market. The region reports the second-highest prevalence of cardiovascular diseases among people above the age of 65 years. The report recommends companies in the cardiac assist devices market to also focus on densely populated countries such as China and India where the median age is rising progressively. These countries also present a white space that can be filled in by CADs thanks to a substantial number of underserved cardiac patients.Companies that are currently at the forefront of the global cardiac assist devices market are ABIOMED, Inc., Berlin Herat GmbH, Thoratec Corporation, MAQUET GmbH & Co. KG, HeartWare International, Inc. Teleflex Incorporated, and SynCardia Systems, Inc.Browse Research Report on Global Cardiac Assist Devices 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:Browse market research blog:
United States Building Integrated Photovoltaic (BIPV) Market by Manufacturers, Type and Application, Forecast to 2021

https://goo.gl/WxsQCz

https://goo.gl/GPgbd4

http://bigmarketresearch.com/united-states-building-integrated-photovoltaic-bipv-by-manufacturers-type-and-application-forecast-to-2021-market

http://www.bigmarketresearch.com

United States Building Integrated Photovoltaic (BIPV) Market by Manufacturers, Type and Application, Forecast to 2021 Order This Report by calling BigMarketResearch.com at +1-971-202-1575.Building integrated photovoltaics (BIPV) are photovoltaic materials that are used to replace conventional building materials in parts of the building envelope such as the roof, skylights, or facades. They are increasingly being incorporated into the construction of new buildings as a principal or ancillary source of electrical power, although existing buildings may be retrofitted with similar technology. The advantage of integrated photovoltaics over more common non-integrated systems is that the initial cost can be offset by reducing the amount spent on building materials and labor that would normally be used to construct the part of the building that the BIPV modules replace. These advantages make BIPV one of the fastest growing segments of the photovoltaic industry.Download sample copy of report @Scope of the Report:This report focuses on the Building Integrated Photovoltaic (BIPV) in United States market. This report categorizes the market based on manufacturers, type and application.Market Segment by Manufacturers, this report coversFirst SolarSharpSunPowerCanadian SolarCentrosolarScheuten SolarYingli SolarCheck discount on report @Market Segment by Type, coversSingle Crystal SiliconPolycrystalline SiliconThin FilmMarket Segment by Applications, can be divided intoResidentialBuilding GlazingBuilding FacadeTable of content1 Market Overview (Market Segment, Status and Outlook)1.1 Building Integrated Photovoltaic (BIPV) Introduction1.2 United States Building Integrated Photovoltaic (BIPV) Market Analysis by Type1.2.1 Single Crystal Silicon1.2.2 Polycrystalline Silicon1.2.3 Thin Film1.3 United States Building Integrated Photovoltaic (BIPV) Market Analysis by Applications1.3.1 Residential1.3.2 Building Glazing1.3.3 Building Facade1.4 United States Market Building Integrated Photovoltaic (BIPV) Overview1.4.1 United States Building Integrated Photovoltaic (BIPV) Development Status and Outlook1.4.2 Market Opportunities1.4.3 Market Risk1.4.4 Market Driving Force2 Manufacturers ProfilesRead complete report @About Company :Big Market Research uniqueness lies in its highly ethical reports at economical rates because we value your relationship and growth more than money. Your growth is our aim. With the arsenal of different search reports, we help you here to look and buy research reports that will be helpful to you and your organization. Our research reports have the capability and authenticity to support your organization for growth and consistency. With the window of opportunity getting open and shut at a speed of light, it has become very important to survive in the market and only the fittest and competent enough can do so. So, we try and provide with latest changes in the market that can suit your needs and help you take decision accordingly.Contact Us :Dhananjay Potle5933 NE Win Sivers Drive,#205, Portland, OR 97220United StatesDirect :+ 1-503-894-6022Toll Free : + 1-800-910-6452Email: help@bigmarketresearch.comWeb:
Global Coffee Market: Trends and Opportunities (2016-2020)

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The report titled Global Coffee Market: Trends & Opportunities (2016-2020) provides an in-depth analysis of the global coffee market with detailed analysis of market sizing and growth, market share and economic impact of the industry. The report also provides the production and consumption analysis of the market. The report provides detailed market analysis of the global retail coffee market by value and volume along with the segments of the market.View Full Report at:The report provides detailed regional analysis of Western Europe, Eastern Europe, North America, Asia Pacific, Latin America Middle East & Africa and Australasia for the coffee market. Regional analysis includes market sizing by value along with the production and consumption analysis. It also provides the retail sales value of each region.The report also includes the country analysis of Brazil, Vietnam, Indonesia, Ethiopia and India. It provides the production and consumption analysis along with the export-import trends in each of the above mentioned countries.Furthermore, the report assesses the key opportunities in the market and outlines the factors that are and will be driving the growth of the industry. Growth of the global retail coffee market has also been forecasted for the period 2016-2020, taking into consideration the previous growth patterns, the growth drivers and the current and future trends. The competition in global coffee market is stiff and dominated by the big players like Nestle. Further, key players of the coffee market The J.M. Smucker Company, Mondelez International Inc. and Strauss Group Ltd. are also profiled with their financial information and respective business strategies.Regional CoverageWestern EuropeEastern EuropeNorth AmericaAsia PacificLatin AmericaMiddle East and AfricaAustralasiaCountry CoverageBrazilVietnamIndonesiaEthiopiaIndiaCompany CoverageThe J.M. Smucker CompanyMondelez International Inc.Strauss Group Ltd.Executive SummaryGlobal coffee market increased at a significant CAGR during the span of 5 years i.e. 2011-2015 and projections are made that the market would rise in the next five years i.e. 2016-2020 tremendously. The market can be segmented on the basis of end-users as retail coffee market and food services market, of which global retail coffee market displayed an increase, driving the global coffee market. The increasing consumption of coffee led by the westernization trend in India, China and Latin America drive the market in the positive direction.Download Sample Copy of This Report at:The growth drivers for the global coffee market are: rise in disposable income, rapid urbanization and increase in the population along with the emergence of caf culture and new consumer base. Despite the market is governed by various growth drivers, there are certain challenges faced by the market such as: aging of coffee trees, lack of government support, negative impact of climate change, price volatility and increase in production cost.MarketResearchReports.biz is the most comprehensive collection of market research reports.MarketResearchReports.Biz services are specially designed to save time and money for our clients.We are a one stop solution for all your research needs, our main offerings are syndicated researchreports, custom research, subscription access and consulting services. We serve all sizes and typesof companies spanning across various industries.State Tower90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207United StatesTel: +1-518-621-2074Website:E: sales@marketresearchreports.bizFollow us on LinkedIn:
WhizFolders introduces a new way to Outline in a list of note titles

http://www.whizfolders.com/

Date: September 26, 2016Press Release - WhizFolders introduces a new way to Outline in a list of note titlesIt has long been established that Outlining helps in all kinds of thinking and planning activities related to writing, research, teaching, learning and information management. Yet, one often associates outlining with word processor software. But few people realize that outlining in one long document in a word processor is cumbersome. It's difficult to scroll, locate and select text blocks in a long document in order to move them around in the hierarchy of an outline. The paradigm of a long document in a word processor hinders with the process of outlining. As a result, newcomers to outlining often shy away from it after trying it out in a word processor. This is sad because everyone of us can benefit greatly from outlining of information. Outlining is a process that can improve productivity tremendously in a variety of writing and thinking tasks.WhizFolders Outliner presents outlining in a different way. A hierarchical list of note titles presents a quick overview of the outline where one needs to scroll less in order to see the complete outline. This also makes it easier to outline the information by dragging the note titles around in the list rather than moving big text blocks. The actual text attachment of the note titles moves along with them, properly maintaining the parent-child relationship where the child notes move along with the parent notes. Although the notes are managed individually as pieces in the list, they can always be merged when exporting to make a whole document out of the outlined pieces.Another advantage of outlining the note titles in a list is the ability to select multiple items for moving even if they are placed apart in the list. Such multi-selection is not possible in a linear word processor document. Multiple selection also allows to export a merged document from any set of notes in the list. This can have many uses. For example, if a teacher prepares a list of questions in an outline, he can select notes from any part of the list and merge them to make a question paper.The users of WhizFolders come from a variety of disciplines--writers, managers, lawyers, doctors, researchers, teachers, students and more. The free format but rich text nature of the notes is useful to outline a variety of information.WhizFolders Outliner runs under Windows 10 and on earlier versions of Windows. The product can be purchased from the web site whizfolders.com. A free trial can also be downloaded there.# # #About AvniTech Solutions:Based in Pune, India, AvniTech Solutions develops and markets productivity software for business and home users. In addition to WhizFolders, the company also offers ShowSize Disk Space Organizer that gives you 7 new kinds of folder and file lists that help you manage your disk space effectively.For more information, visitAvniTech Solutions develops and markets productivity software for business and home users.AvniTechIndia PUNE 413/C Rambaug ColonySanjay Kanade submits@avnitech.com
Global Cu-W Industry 2016-2021 Market Research Report, Product Price, demand, Market growth, Forecasts

http://www.9dimengroup.com/report/92575/request-sample

http://www.9dimengroup.com/market-analysis/global-cu-w-market-outlook-report-2016.html

Market Research Report firstly introduced Cu-W Industry 2016 Market Trends, Sales, Supply, Demand, Analysis & Forecast. This report including basic information about Cu-W definition, classification, application and industry chain overview; Transmission Towe Market policy and plan, Cu-W product specification, manufacturing process, cost structure etc. Then we deeply analyzed the world's main region market conditions that including the product price, profit, capacity, production, capacity utilization, supply, demand and industry growth rate etc.Industry Research Report on Global Cu-W Market 2016 was a professional and depth research report on Global Cu-W industry that you would know the world's major regional market conditions of Cu-W industry, the main region including North American, Europe and Asia etc, and the main country including United States ,Germany ,Japan and China etc.Request for FREE SAMPLE Report @The report including six parts, the first part mainly introduced the product basic information; the second part mainly analyzed the Asia Cu-W industry; the third part mainly analyzed the North American Cu-W industry; the fourth part mainly analyzed the Europe Cu-W industry; the fifth part mainly analyzed the market entry and investment feasibility; the sixth part was the report conclusion chapter.In the end, the report introduced Cu-W new project SWOT analysis, investment feasibility analysis, and investment return analysis and Global Twin-screw Extruder industry.In a word, it was a depth research report on Global Cu-W industry. And thanks to the support and assistance from Cu-W industry chain related technical experts and marketing experts during Research Team survey and interviews.Browse Complete Report with TOC @Table of ContentPart I Cu-W Industry OverviewChapter One Cu-W Industry Overview1.1 Cu-W Definition1.2 Cu-W Classification Analysis1.2.1 Cu-W Main Classification Analysis1.2.2 Cu-W Main Classification Share Analysis1.3 Cu-W Application Analysis1.3.1 Cu-W Main Application Analysis1.3.2 Cu-W Main Application Share Analysis1.4 Cu-W Industry Chain Structure AnalysisChapter Two Cu-W Up and Down Stream Industry Analysis2.1 Upstream Raw Materials Analysis2.1.1 Upstream Raw Materials Price Analysis2.1.2 Upstream Raw Materials Market Analysis2.1.3 Upstream Raw Materials Market Trend2.2 Down Stream Market Analysis9Dimen Group 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.3422 SW 15 Street,Suit #8138,Deerfield Beach,Florida 33442, USA
Global Smart Microwave Oven Market 2016: Breville, GE,June,LG,Samsung,Bosch-2022

Smart Microwave Oven

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http://www.mrsresearchgroup.com/market-analysis/global-smart-microwave-oven-market-2016-production-sales.html

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MRS Research Group addsGlobal Smart Microwave Oven Market 2016 Share,Size,Trends and Forecast to 2022 Market Research Reportreports to its database.Global Smart Microwave Oven 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 Smart Microwave Oven 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.Request Sample 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 Smart Microwave Oven 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.Access Full Report @Table of Content (Index) :1 Industry Overview1.1 Definition and Specifications1.1.1 Definition1.1.2 Specifications1.2 Classification1.3 Applications1.3.1 Heating1.3.2 Air conditioning1.3.3 Refrigeration1.3.4 Industrial applications1.4 Industry Chain Structure1.5 Industry Overview and Major Regions Status2 Manufacturing Cost Structure Analysis2.1 Raw Material Suppliers and Price Analysis2.2 Equipment Suppliers and Price Analysis2.3 Labor Cost Analysis2.4 Other Costs Analysis2.5 Manufacturing Cost Structure Analysis2.6 Manufacturing Process AnalysisBrowse More Report Related To Electrical and Electronics Industry @Since the time of its beginning the electrical and electronic industry has been continuously developing and branching out at a very fast pace. This industry keeps on outlining a foreseeable development in many of the developing markets like Asia Pacific, Middle East and Latin America. The electrical and electronic industry is likely to be one of the most attractive center for global investment and has a high rate of return. The electrical and electronic industry is known for being one of the most significant economies in many countries over the globe. There is a consistent requirement for innovation and diversification in this sector.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.Joel John3422 SW 15 Street,Suit #8138Deerfield Beach,Florida 33442United StatesToll Free : +1-855-465-4651 (USA-CANADA)Tel: +1-386-310-3803Email: sales@mrsresearchgroup.com
Leading Healthcare IT Outsourcing Providers to Gain from Unmet Healthcare Needs in Emerging Economies

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The global healthcare IT outsourcing market has registered a significant rise over the last decade. The cost-efficiency these outsourcing solutions offer to healthcare providers, as well as payers, has increased their adoption across the world in the recent times. The growing need for an enhanced level of IT convergence with reduced costs, improved productivity, and a higher level of patient satisfaction is likely to drive their demand substantially over the coming years.Commercial Trends of Healthcare IT Outsourcing Industry is available at:In 2014, the markets opportunity was worth US$34 bn, which is expected to rise at a CAGR of 6.70% between 2015 and 2023 and reach an estimation of US$61.2 bn by the end of the forecast period.Healthcare Administration to Remain Dominant Application Area of Healthcare IT OutsourcingHealthcare administration, IT infrastructure management, and care management are the three main application areas of healthcare IT outsourcing. In 2014, these services were mostly utilized in administration, which held a share of nearly 37% in their overall application.The immense growth of the patient pool and the rising investments in healthcare infrastructure across the world resulted in the increased number of healthcare administrative processes, such as billing, asset management, operations management, and healthcare data management for both healthcare providers and payers, boosting the application these services in healthcare administration. Analysts expect a continuous growth in this trend over the next few years, ensuring the dominance of this segment.In terms of revenue, healthcare administration contributed US$12.5 bn in 2014, which is projected to rise up to US$21.5 bn by the end of the forecast period. Apart from this, the demand for healthcare IT outsourcing is also expected to experience robust growth in the care management segment in the coming years.Unmet Medical Need in Asia Pacific to Provide Potential Opportunities to Market PlayersAsia Pacific, Europe, Latin America, North America, and the Middle East and Africa are the key regional markets for healthcare IT outsourcing across the world. In 2014, North America led the global market with a share of over 40%. The rise in the initiatives and mandates by governments to make quality healthcare available for people at much lower rates, such as the U.S. Affordable Care Act-2010, has increased the adoption of healthcare IT outsourcing by healthcare providers in this region.Get the Technical Outlook of Healthcare IT Outsourcing at:The opportunity in the North America healthcare IT outsourcing market stood at US$13.4 bn in 2014. Expanding at a CAGR of 5.10% during the period from 2015 to 2023, it is likely to worth US$21.2 bn by the end of 2023. Although North America will remain the biggest adopter of this service in the coming years, Asia Pacific is projected to register the fastest rise at a CAGR of 10.50% during the forecast period. The unmet medical needs in developing countries of Asia Pacific is anticipated to provide potential growth opportunities to market players over the next few years.IBM Corp., Tata Consultancy Services Ltd., Wipro Ltd., Cognizant Technology Solutions, and Accenture Plc lead this market. Other prominent healthcare IT outsourcing solution providers are L&T Infotech, HCL Technologies Ltd., McKesson Corp., Infosys Ltd., and Allscripts Healthcare Solutions Inc.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:
Distraught that Sherlock Holmes might be ending? Not to fear, order a Sherlock dog portrait!

Watson the dog painted as Dr. Watson

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'Elementary, my dear Watson': One pooch gets a special dog portrait as anthropomorphic dog portraiture becomes more and more popular with dog owners.More and more dog owners are celebrating mans best friend with oil painting portraits with a quirky new twist: adding an anthropomorphic human element by adding uniforms or even famous characters from literature. One art studio which specialises in this form of portraiture is London artist collective Dog Artists, who were recently commissioned to create a special portrait.Watson was a special casethe lady who commissioned his oil painting told us that he had been named after Dr Watson from the Sherlock Holmes stories, and she wanted him to be painted after his name sake, said Art Director, Anouska Bertram of Dog Artists. By painting a dog in human uniform or dress, we can reveal the characteristics of the dog through subtle human touchand with Watson, we were really able to bring out his sleuth-like qualities.Dog Artists is a collective of eight artists who create dog portraiture from photographs, adding a human dimension using attire that suits the dogs personality and characterthe company delivers worldwide and can take on special commissions.For more information, please visit. For media inquiries, please contact Tim Bertram on +44 (0)20 8354 1818, or email hello@dogartists.co.uk.About Dog ArtistsBased in London, Dog Artists is an online art studio which paints dog portraits based on photographs. The studio uses premium Winsor & Newton oil on high quality canvas. For more information, please visit Dog Artists website.Website:Facebook:Twitter:Dog Artists11 Westville RdLondonW12 9BBUKPress Contact: Tim Bertram+44 (0)20 8354 1818
Global Acetophenone 2016 Industry Trends, Sales, Supply, Demand, Analysis & Forecast to 2021

Acetophenone

http://www.qyresearchgroup.com/report/93258#request-sample

http://www.qyresearchgroup.com/market-analysis/global-acetophenone-2016-industry-trends-sales-supply-demand.html

Global Acetophenone IndustryThe Global Acetophenone Industry report gives a comprehensive account of the Global Acetophenone 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 Acetophenone 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 Acetophenone market revenue and its forecasts. The business model strategies of the key firms in the Acetophenone 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 Acetophenone 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 Free Sample Copy of Report @The study on the Global Acetophenone 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 Acetophenone 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 Acetophenone Industry Overview1.1 Acetophenone Definition1.1.1 Acetophenone Definition1.1.2 Product Specifications1.2 Acetophenone Classification1.3 Acetophenone Application Field1.4 Acetophenone Industry Chain Structure1.5 Acetophenone Industry Regional Overview1.6 Acetophenone Industry Policy Analysis1.7 Acetophenone Industry Related Companies Contact InformationGet Complete Report with TOC :Chapter Two Acetophenone 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 Acetophenone Manufacturing TechnologyAbout 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
Presenting the New Business Solutions

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VebSecure() has announced the launched services for website development solutions in India at affordable prices. VebSecure has stretched the services to clutch the existing technologies. It focuses on core competence of web development solutions through which it has served top tier clients in India and abroad.VebSecure buckles down to deliver a complete business solution package with great efficiency and effectiveness to take you an extra mile ahead your competitors. We believe in providing inimitable and valuable services. We strictly work according to customer specifications and follow the time and budget allotted. We never back off and always stand on our promises in delivering you the best product with great experience. We have a highly skilled, experienced and specialized team of developers, programmers, designers, content writers and business developers to give life to your ideas.VebSecure is also very successful in the social networking sites such as Twitter, Facebook and Google+. We have adapted with the digital age.With the rise of mobile internet in India and plethora of smart phone prototype being launched in the market every fortnight, this strategy is bound to raise the comfort level of mobile internet users.We offer develop the services in as per requirements of websites or our clients.For more details please visit the link:Veb Secure is a leading IT company for offering business solutions for every small scale and large scale businesses. We offer numerous business solutions that can be counted on.Vebsecure Media Pvt. Ltd.A 67, Sector 57Noida, Uttar Pradesh 201301
U.S. Population Health Management Solutions Market worth US$45.7 Billion by 2023

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Investment by pharmaceutical companies in potential drug discovery and clinical trials involving Population Health Management (PHM) software would also contribute to market growth. Well-established health care infrastructure and high demand for health care analytics training and development are the major factors driving the PHM solutions market in the U.S. Moreover, patient rights based health care laws in the U.S. for post-sales client service and demand for system upgrade across the country has widened the scope of PHM application in the U.S. health programs.PHM solutions are in high demand during epidemics and outbreaks as preventive and control measures for large population groups in the country. PHM platforms provide remote health management offerings such as personal emergency response systems (PERS), medication dispensers, and telemonitoring solutions. These become important components to deal with sudden pressures on health systems to provide medical assistance. These solutions would facilitate this health care provision to huge population groups simultaneously during epidemic and aid in managing operational cost of hospitals and health care organizations. Moreover, various pharmaceutical companies deploy PHM tools to ensure and store clinical trial data illustrating progress of a new or potential drug for chronic diseases such as cancer, diabetes, and cardiovascular ailments. Therefore, the PHM solutions market is anticipated to witness a steep rise in the U.S during the forecast period.Inquire for Exclusive Sample Copy of the Study Key Players of the Population Health Management Solutions MarketKey players operating in the population health management solutions market in the U.S. are Caradigm, Conifer Health Solutions, Health Catalyst, Healthagen, LLC, International Business Machines (IBM) Corporation, Lumeris, NextGen Healthcare Information Systems, LLC, OptumHealth, Inc., Persivia, Premier, Inc., The Advisory Board Company, Verisk Health, Wellcentive, Inc., and ZeOmega, Inc. These key market players are actively engaged in constant innovations and development related to health care technology and service management to maintain their positions in the market.The PHM services segment is projected to expand at the highest CAGR compared to the software segment. Moreover, cloud-based population health management systems was one of the fastest growing segments of the market. The key factor responsible for its market dominance and significant growth is the increasing uptake of healthcare IT by health care providers, health insurance companies, and pharmaceutical industries and recurring demand for continuing existing health management solutions at population level. The major factor driving the PHM solutions market is the high disease burden on the U.S. health systems which is rising rapidly due to the demographic transition. Furthermore, these PHM tools facilitate database management for monitoring and comparison in health outcomes among population groups under study.Speak to Research Expert Population health management (PHM) is a methodical and transparent delivery of services to improve the health status of a given population at a prospective price and to deliver better outcomes at lower cost. PHM programs are designed to keep defined patient populations, especially those with high-risk diseases, as healthy as possible while decreasing the need for costly interventions such as emergency department visits, hospitalizations, and invasive tests and procedures. The PHM services segment (by type of source) and the cloud-based population health management systems segment (by mode of operation) are likely to record fastest growth due to the upward trend in health IT adoption in the U.S. Moreover, the PHM software segment would spearhead the growth of cloud-based PHM solutions in the near future. The population health management solutions market in the U.S. was valued at US$ 3.4 Bn in 2014 and is projected to reach US$ 45.7 Bn by 2023, expanding at a CAGR of 23.9% during the forecast period.Place an Order for this Report About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants, use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather, and analyze information. Our business offerings represent the latest and the most reliable information indispensable for businesses to sustain a competitive edge.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, TMRs syndicated reports strive to provide clients to serve their overall research requirement.US Office Contact90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA  Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
18 months Chem2Market - a short review

http://www.chem2market.com

Hamburg, 13.10.2016. Exponential growth by extending the business casestarted as a marketplace for surplus raw materials, Chem2Market is developing into an international trade platform for raw materials and ingredients from the cosmetics, chemical, food and pharma industry.We had more and more inquiries from customers that wanted to purchase their regular ingredients as well from us so Dr. Christiane Strasse, founder and CEO.18 months the marketplace Chem2Market is online now, since 9 months open for regular products. This led to exponential growth - time for a review:The marketplace started with 800 raw materials in march 2015, by now ca.15.000 are listed. Approximately 600 new Ingredients are listed every month, with an accelerating trend.Ca. 35.000 more ingredients are waiting for quality assurance - suppliers and products are examined before the listing in the marketplace is published.The quality assurance is one of our top priorities, because we want to assure highest possible security and transparency for customer and producer states Dirk Brauns, founder and CEO.Co-operations with producers from Europe, North- and South America and the far East are continuously developed and improved. New co-operations are established weekly.Especially medium sized companies from cosmetics, pharma, chemistry and food use the marketplace as an additional sales channel.The combination of residues and fresh raw materials is unique. we are concentrating on the material itself. If it is a leftover or a fresh batch has to be described transparently, and then the purchase department can decide, says Dr. Christiane Strasse.Strategic goal is to make the purchaser completely happy. They can list the leftovers that are not needed in production any longer and with the next click they can buy an ingredient they currently need.Chem2Market is the innovative marketplace for the trading of raw materials, blends and residue raw materials in chemistry, cosmetics, food and pharma. Goal is the direct contact between raw material producers and their customers in processing industries - prices can be lowered significantly.Chem2Market was founded 2012 in Hamburg, Germany. So far more than 50.000 raw materials and blends are available, with a strong upward trend.Dr. Christiane StrasseChem2Market GmbH, Ehrenbergstr. 52, D- 22767 Hamburg+49 40 80 79 60 10 | cs@chem2market.com
Global Silicone Rubber Power Cable Market 2016 - Prysmian Group, Nexans, Sumitomo Electric, LS Cable Group, GeneralCable, Furukawa Electric, Southwire, Fujikura, Walsin

http://www.fiormarkets.com/report-detail/11101/request-sample

http://www.fiormarkets.com/report/global-silicone-rubber-power-cable-market-2016-by-11101.html

www.fiormarkets.com

http://longshortreport.com/

Silicone Rubber Power Cables for power transmission and distribution in the 1-36KV voltage circuit. Working temperature silicone rubber wire conductor: -80 ~ 180 , with high heat resistance and excellent resistance to cold; excellent electrical insulation properties, even when the temperature and frequency variations or moisture remains relatively stable; superior corona resistance and arc resistance properties; performance in outdoor exposure no significant change after a few years; has less water absorption and good mildew resistance; good thermal conductivity; particularly soft, easy to install; odorless, tasteless, non-toxic physiological no adverse effects on human health.Scope of the Report:This report focuses on the Silicone Rubber Power Cable in Global market, especially in North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific, Latin America, Middle and Africa. This report categorizes the market based on manufacturers, regions, type and application.Request for sample report atMarket Segment by Manufacturers, this report coversPrysmian GroupNexansSumitomo ElectricLS Cable GroupGeneralCableFurukawa ElectricSouthwireFujikuraWalsinFar East HoldingHitachi CableLeoni AGShanghai ShenhuaJiangsu ShangshangBaoshengMarket Segment by Regions, regional analysis coversNorth America (USA, Canada and Mexico)Europe (Germany, France, UK, Russia and Italy)Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, Korea, India and Southeast Asia)Latin America, Middle and AfricaMarket Segment by Type, coversSubmersible Pump CablesElectric CablesSubmarine CableSolar CableWelding CableBorehole CableOthersMarket Segment by Applications, can be divided intoElectrical infrastructureMetallurgy and petrochemical industryRailwayAutomotiveOthersAccess full report atThere are 10 Chapters to deeply display the global Silicone Rubber Power Cable market.Chanter 1, to analyze the top manufacturers of Silicone Rubber Power Cable, with sales, revenue, and price of Silicone Rubber Power Cable, in 2015 and 2016;Chapter 2, to display the competitive situation among the top manufacturers, with sales, revenue and market share in 2015 and 2016;Chapter 3, to show the global market by regions, with sales, revenue and market share of Silicone Rubber Power Cable, for each region, from 2011 to 2016;Chapter 4, 5, 6 and 7, to analyze the key regions, with sales, revenue and market share by key countries in these regions;Chapter 8 and 9, to show the market by type and application, with sales market share and growth rate by type, application, from 2011 to 2016.Chapter 10, Silicone Rubber Power Cable market forecast, by regions, type and application, with sales and revenue, from 2016 to 2021.Fior Markets is a leading market intelligence company that sells reports of top publishers in the technology industry.Our extensive research reports cover detailed market assessments that include major technological improvements in the industry. Fior Markets also specializes in analyzing hi-tech systems and current processing systems in its expertise.Contact UsMark StoneSales ManagerPhone: (201) 465-4211Email: sales@fiormarkets.comWeb:Blog:
Synthetic & Bio PMMA market size worth $14.4 billion by 2022

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http://bit.ly/2dZQ1K1

Synthetic & Bio PMMA market size worth $14.4 billion by 2022Published Date: March 8, 2016 Author: Global Market Insights, Inc.PMMA market size is anticipated to exceed USD 11.5 billion by 2022; as per a new research report by Global Market Insights, Inc. Increase in branding activities by multinational corporations & regional companies, in the form of hoardings and visual displays is anticipated to drive demand.Request for a sample of this research report @Increasing consumer awareness for light weight vehicles with better fuel efficiency coupled with regulations to curb pollution levels is likely to favor growth. Global bio PMMA market size is likely to exceed USD 2.6 billion by 2022 with estimated gains of more than 17.5%.PMMA extruded sheets market dominated consumption and accounted for more than 56% of the total demand in 2014. Growth in signs & display industry coupled with gaining LED screen popularity among is likely to favor extruded sheets growth. Cell cast sheet & blocks are anticipated to witness highest gains at 7% from 2015 to 2022.Increasing installations of flat panel displays in TV units owing to growing consumer demand is likely to positively influence the market. Growing application scope in medical & healthcare sector in manufacturing dentures, syringes, bone cements and cuvettes is likely to drive PMMA demand. Stringent government regulations owing to release of GHG (green house gases) from using raw materials such as ammonia, methanol and acetone is likely to hamper industry growth. Investments to develop green bio PMMA production routes are likely to generate new growth opportunities.Make an inquiry for purchasing this report @Key insights from the report include:Global PMMA market size registered 1.97 million tons in 2014 and is likely to reach 3.25 million tons by 2022, at an estimated CAGR of 6.5%.Signs and display was dominant application and accounted for 37.3% of the total demand in 2014. Electronic application is likely to witness highest gains at 7.8% from 2015 to 2022.Bio PMMA market size is anticipated to reach 536.7 kilo tons by 2022, growing at a CAGR of 16.9% from 2015 to 2022. Europe bio PMMA market size was dominant and accounted for more than 45% of the total volume in 2014.Electronic application based bio PMMA market share was the largest and accounted for more than 34% of the total demand in 2014. Automotive applications were the second largest and constituted 24% of the total demand in 2014.Asia Pacific was dominant region and accounted for 68.8% of the total volume in 2014. This region is likely to witness highest gains with presence of huge consumer base and is also expected to benefit from with cheap labor cost availability in India & China.U.S. PMMA market share is likely to witness moderate gains at 3.7% from 2015 to 2022 owing to improving economic conditions and growth of automotive & construction industry post recession.Global polymethyl methacrylate market share is concentrated with top four multinational companies catering to more than 60% of the total volume. Key manufacturers include Arkema, Mitsubishi Rayon, Chi Mei Corp and Sumitomo Chemicals. Other major manufacturers include Kuraray, Asahi Kasei, LG MMA and Dow Chemical.About Global Market Insights:Global Market Insights, Inc., headquartered in Delaware, U.S., is a global market research and consulting service provider; offering syndicated and custom research reports along with growth consulting services. Our business intelligence and industry research reports offer clients with penetrative insights and actionable market data specially designed and presented to aid strategic decision making. These exhaustive reports are designed via a proprietary research methodology and are available for key industries such as chemicals, advanced materials, technology, renewable energy and biotechnology.29L Atlantic Avenue,Suite L 105, Ocean View,Delaware 19970United States
Medical Gas Analyzers Market Global Analysis and Opportunity 2016 to 2024

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Medical gas analyzers are instruments used for determining and measuring qualitative and quantitative composition of pure medical gases, or mixtures of medical gases. Medical gases used in hospitals and other healthcare settings mainly comprise of medical air, oxygen, carbon di-oxide, nitrogen and nitrous oxide. Medical gas analyzers include equipment and instruments such as vacuum systems, regulators, flow meters, monitoring systems (such as alarms and monitors), fluidics (valves, pumps, tubing), sealing solutions, and concentrators. These instruments analyze the concentration of medical gases and their mixtures, such as oxygen-nitrous oxide, etc., along with their purities, and presence of any impurities such as water vapors, and other organic and inorganic impurities, in the medical gases. Medical gas analysis is becoming an important and integral part of patient monitoring, safety, and diagnosis along with patient treatment. The application of medical gas analysis is gaining momentum and is being implemented in various healthcare facilities worldwide.Get Research Report with ToC:Technological advancements in the medical gas analyzers market, with new and advanced products coming through the pipeline of major players, along with growing awareness of patient safety and monitoring among the healthcare service providers around the world, especially in the emerging economies, are some of the key drivers that are fuelling the growth of medical gas analyzers market. However, changing guidelines regarding calibration standards of analyzers, increasing burden of reimbursements on governments resulting in various organizations declining reimbursements for respiratory therapies, are some factors that are restraining the growth of medical gas analyzers in the global marketThe global market for medical gas analyzers is segmented on basis of equipment, applications, end user and geography:Segmentation by EquipmentVacuum systemsRegulatorsFlow metersMonitoring systemsConcentratorsAccessories (Outlets, Hose, etc.)Segmentation by ApplicationRespiratory DiseasesCardiovascular DiseasesAnesthesiaMedical ImagingCryotherapyLaboratory UseOthersSegmentation by End UserHospitalsAmbulatory Surgery CentersDiagnostic CentersAcademic Research InstitutesBased on equipment, vacuum systems contributed the largest share of the medical gas analyzers market in 2015, followed by monitoring systems .Based on application type, cardiovascular diseases segment dominated the global medical gas analyzers market. According to the American Heart Association, in 2015, cardiovascular disease is the leading global cause of deaths, with around 17.3 Mn deaths per year globally, followed by respiratory diseases. In 2013, according to World Health Organization (WHO), Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disorders (COPD) resulted in around 3 Mn deaths worldwide. Growing number of geriatric population, has resulted in an increase in cardiovascular diseases, respiratory disorders, and other age related diseases. Also, increasing air pollution and number of smokers, are some factors responsible for the growth of the global medical gas analyzers market.On the basis of regional presence, global medical gas analyzers market is segmented into five key regions viz. North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and Middle East & Africa. North America is expected to lead the global medical gas analyzers market for due to advanced healthcare infrastructure, higher adoption of technologies, and availability of reimbursement policies. Asia Pacific market is anticipated to grow at the fastest growth rate during the forecast period, owing to factors such as increasing air pollution especially in countries such as China, Japan, and India. Growing medical tourism industry in these countries, is likely to attract patients from across the world.Some of the major players in global medical gas analyzers market are Air Products and Chemicals, Inc., The Linde Group, Air Liquide, Matheson Tri-Gas, Airgas, GCE Holding AB, Messer Group Gmbh, Praxair, Inc., Taiyo Nippon Sanso Corp., Novair Medical, among others. New technologically advanced products and systems being launched in the global market, along with expansion in the emerging markets, and greater focus on patient care and monitoring, have been the major strategies adopted by major players in the global medical gas analyzers market.Browse Research Report on Global Medical Gas Analyzers 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:Browse market research blog:
Zea Relief Announces Australias Best-Kept Secret for Natural Pain Relief Wild harvesting a little-known native Australian plant from pristine northeast Tasmania and bottling its essential oils, has created a viable business for a Tasmanian family.



For the past four years, the Brass family has been selling their Zea Relief products using Australian Kunzea Essential Oil as their active ingredient  a world first in commercialising the oil for its pain-relieving and therapeutic benefits. A variety of the oil has been listed with the Therapeutic Goods Administration [TGA].



Entrepreneur Hayden Brass, along with his parents, Michelle (a naturopath) and Simon (a horticulturalist), have developed a product range, Zea Relief, for fast-acting and long-lasting natural relief to those who need it.



Michelle says; Having worked with essential oils for 20 years, I have never come across an oil quite like Australian Kunzea.



The products use oil extracted from the terminal  or outer - branches of the Kunzea Ambigua shrub. Also known as White Cloud or Tick Bush, its a shrub that grows up to three metres high with abundant white or pink flowers and is found in the cool coastal areas of southern NSW, Victoria and Tasmania. Kunzea belongs to the Myrtaceae family, the same botanical family as gum trees, paperbarks and bottlebrushes.



Kunzea usage goes thousands of years back to native Aborigines who continue to use it to relieve red, dry and irritated skin conditions as well as muscular pain and tightness. You can even use it on insect and spider bites, minor burns, for sinus congestion and flu symptoms and many other conditions.



It works by relaxing sore muscles to reduce inflammation, while also increasing blood flow to calm painful nerve endings. The oils key components target the source of the inflammation by going deep into the skin to help promote the bodys natural healing process.



As well as the natural benefits, the aroma of Australian Kunzea oil is often compared to the native scent of the Australian bush.



Customers often remark on the pleasant fragrance of our products, says Hayden. They love the naturally clean and fresh aroma of the Kunzea oil.



The Brass family is also donating a part of their sale profits to a fund to help research how the oil could help internal inflammation and unleash its full potential.



Its as a tribute to a good family friend we lost suddenly after so many years of inflammation due to chronic Crohns disease. We cant bring back our friend, but he has inspired us to make a move to help beat chronic inflammation, said Michelle.



In France, physicians have also been testing Australian Kunzea Oil to treat Crohn's Disease.



Hayden says, We are on a mission to help people throughout the world live a more fulfilling, pain-free life.



He also has a Bachelor of Commerce, where he focused on entrepreneurship, digital and traditional marketing. Hayden now also runs his own marketing consultancy for small businesses throughout Australia.



Founded as a family business in Launceston, Tasmania by entrepreneur Hayden Brass and parents Simon and Michelle (a horticulturalist and naturopath, respectively), Zea Relief is the worlds first 100% natural product range to contain Australian Kunzea Essential Oil. Zea Relief has become a trusted source for healing and comfort through its offering of Kunzea Essential Oil products as first-line tools to complement medical treatments and therapies.



Zea Relief



Media contact: Hayden Brass



209/87 Griffith St.

Coolangatta QLD 4225



0407 311 339



info@zearelief.com



This release was published on openPR.



Permanent link to this press release: Copy Please set a link in the press area of your homepage to this press release on openPR. openPR disclaims liability for any content contained in this release.
Medical Equipment Calibration Services Market USD 1.8 Billion by 2020

https://www.ihealthcareanalyst.com/report/medical-equipment-calibration-services-market/

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The global medical equipment calibration services market is estimated to reach USD 1.8 Billion in 2020, growing at a CAGR of 6.7% from 2016 to 2020, according to a market research report Medical Equipment Calibration Services Market 2013-2020, published by iHealthcareAnalyst, Inc.Visit the Medical Equipment Calibration Services Market 2013-2020 report atThe global medical equipment calibration services market report provides market size (Revenue USD Million 2013 to 2020), market share, market trends and forecasts growth trends (CAGR%, 2016 to 2020).Medical equipment calibration is the process of measuring and adjusting equipment against a reference standard with known values and measurements. The purpose of calibration is to minimize any measurement error by ensuring the precision and accuracy of the instrument. in The healthcare industry, calibration of medical equipment is required in order to ensure better patient safety. The market growth of these calibration services is driven by growing concerns for patient safety, increasing number of medical device companies etc.The global medical equipment calibration services market segmentation is based on Equipment types (fetal monitors, ventilators, vital sign monitors, cardiovascular monitors, infusion pumps, imaging equipment, etc.), and type of services (in-house calibration services, third party calibration services, original equipment manufacturer calibration services). The global medical equipment calibration services market research report is divided by geography (regional and country based) into North America (U.S., Canada), Latin America (Brazil, Mexico, Rest of LA), Europe (U.K., Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Rest of EU), Asia Pacific (Japan, China, India, Rest of APAC), and Rest of the World.1. Equipment Type1.1 Fetal Monitors1.2 Ventilators1.3 Vital Sign Monitors1.4 Cardiovascular Monitors1.5 Infusion Pumps1.6 Imaging Equipments1.7 Others2. Service Type2.1 In-House Calibration Services2.2 Third Party Calibration Services2.3 Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) Calibration Services3. Geography (Region, Country)3.1 North America (U.S., Canada)3.2 Latin America (Brazil, Mexico, Rest of LA)3.3 Europe (U.K., Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Rest of EU)3.4 Asia Pacific (Japan, China, India, Rest of APAC)3.5 Rest of the World4. Company Profiles4.1 Biomed Technologies4.2 Fluke Biomedical4.3 Industrial Calibration and Service Company, Inc.(IN-CAL)4.4 JM Test Systems, Inc.4.5 JPen Medical4.6 Medserve Ltd.4.7 NS Medical Systems4.8 STQC (Department of Information Technology), Government of India4.9 TAG Medical4.10 Tektronix, Inc.4.11 Transact, Inc.iHealthcareAnalyst, Inc. is a global health care market research and consulting company providing market analysis, and competitive intelligence services to global clients. The Company publishes syndicate, custom and consulting grade healthcare reports covering animal healthcare, biotechnology, clinical diagnostics, healthcare informatics, healthcare services, medical devices, medical equipment, and pharmaceuticals.iHealthcareAnalyst, Inc. provides industry participants and stakeholders with strategically analyzed, unbiased view of market dynamics and business opportunities within its coverage areas.Ana AitawaiHealthcareAnalyst, Inc.2109, Mckelvey Hill Drive,Maryland Heights, MO 63043United StatesPhone: (314) 736-9294.Email: sales@ihealthcareanalyst.com
ATM Market Size, Share, Growth, Trends, Demand and Forecast, 2015 - 2021

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ATM stands for automated teller machine. It is an electronic telecommunications device that enables the customers to perform financial transactions, especially cash withdrawal, without any human interference such as a cashier, clerk, or bank teller. ATM is popular by different names in different countries such as cash machine, automated banking machine, cashpoint, minibank, cashline, bankomat, and so on. In majority of the ATMs, the customer is been identified by inserting a plastic ATM card which consists of a magnetic strip or a smart card with a chip. This chip contains unique card number and security information, which is used for the identification purpose and to avoid fraud cases. Authentication process is done by asking the customer to enter a personal identification number (PIN). Customers are able to access their bank deposit or credit accounts through which they are able to carry out a number of transactions such as cash withdrawals, credit mobile phones, check balances, and so on.Get a copy of free Sample Report @Changing lifestyles and high standard of people is the major factor boosting the growth of the global ATM market. Introduction of niche types of ATMs such as solar ATMs and smart ATMs in the emerging markets is also another key factor boosting the growth of the global ATM market. Moreover, new innovations in the ATM technology are also influencing the growth of the market owing to the increasing demand from consumers. Furthermore, advantages provided by ATM cards such as no hassles of bank transactions, banking hour constraints, personal attendance of the customers, and paper-based validations is also attributed to increasing demand of ATMs by consumers. On the other hand, some of the major risks associated with ATM machines such as online frauds, thefts, connectivity, and operational issues may hamper the growth of the global ATM market to some extent.Read TOC of Report @On the basis of solutions, the global ATM market is segmented as deployment solutions and managed services. The deployment solutions segment is further sub-segmented as onsite ATMs, work site ATMs, offsite ATMs, mobile ATMs, and. Based on the type, the global market is segmented as conventional/bank ATMs, white label ATMs, brown label ATMs, cash dispensers, and smart ATMs. Geographically, the global ATM market is segmented as Europe, Latin America, the Middle East and Asia, North America, and Asia Pacific.Browse detail report @Asia Pacific region is anticipated to witness the highest growth owing to new technological advancements in the ATMs. Singapore is one of the Asian countries who offer smart gold ATMs dispensing gold bars, coins, and ingots. In addition, North America is the biggest market for ATM, followed by Europe.Some major players dominating the global ATM market are Diebold Inc., Wincor Nixdorf AG, NCR Corp., and Triton Systems of Delaware LLC. These major players are anticipated to dominate the global market in the near future.Pre-Book copy of report @ATM Market: Regional Segment AnalysisNorth AmericaU.S.EuropeUKFranceGermanyAsia PacificChinaJapanIndiaLatin AmericaBrazilMiddle East and AfricaAbout UsZion Market Research is an obligated company. We create futuristic, cutting edge, informative reports ranging from industry reports, company reports to country reports. We provide our clients not only with market statistics unveiled by avowed private publishers and public organizations but also with vogue and newest industry reports along with pre-eminent and niche company profiles. Our database of market research reports comprises a wide variety of reports from cardinal industries. Our database is been updated constantly in order to fulfill our clients with prompt and direct online access to our database. Keeping in mind the clients needs, we have included expert insights on global industries, products, and market trends in this database. Last but not the least, we make it our duty to ensure the success of clients connected to usafter allif you do well, a little of the light shines on us.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 Cheese Market which is worth 110.5 Billion by 2021

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The report covers forecast and analysis for the cheesemarket on a global and regional level. According to the report, the global cheese market was valued at approximately USD 80.5 billion in 2015 and is expected to reach approximately USD 110.5 billion by 2021, growing at a CAGR of around 6.2% between 2016 and 2021.In terms of volume, global cheese market stood at 417.0 kilo tons in 2015.The study includes drivers and restraints of the cheesemarket along with the impact they have on the demand over the forecast period. Additionally, the report includes the study of opportunities available in the cheesemarket on a global level.In order to give the users of this report a comprehensive view on the cheese market, we have included a detailed competitive scenario and product portfolio of key vendors. To understand the competitive landscape in the market, an analysis of Porters five forces model for the cheesemarket has also been included. The study encompasses a market attractiveness analysis, wherein product segments are benchmarked based on their market size, growth rate and general attractiveness.Get a copy of free Sample Report @Key drivers of cheese market include strong demand from dairy and fast food industry. The cheese market is expected to witness rapid growth owing to strong demand from emerging markets such as India and China. However, growing awareness towards low calorie food owing to increasing obesity among cheese consumers is expected to be major restraint for cheese market in the years to come.The study provides a decisive view on the cheese market by segmenting the market based on products, types and regions.All the segments have been analyzed based on present and future trends and the market is estimated from 2015 to 2021.Based on products, cheese market can segmented intounprocessed cheese and processed cheese. Key types markets covered under this studyincludemozzarella cheese and cheddar cheese.The regional segmentation includes the current and forecast demand for North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, and Middle East and Africa with its further, bifurcation into major countries including U.S., Germany, France, UK, China, Japan, India and Brazil.On the basis of product, the global cheese market has been segmented into unprocessed cheese and processed cheese. Processed cheese market accounted for a large chunk of the global cheese market in 2015 and is expected to remain the largest product segment over the forecast period. This is mainly due to gaining importance of functional ingredients in fast food industries. Unprocessed or natural second leading product segment for cheese on account of increasing demand from dairy industry.Browse detail report with in-depth TOC @Mozzarella cheese and cheddar cheese are the two types of cheese. Cheddar cheese was leading segment with largest share of the total market in 2015 and is expected to be the fastest growing segment over forecast period. Mozzarella is second largest segment of the cheese market. It is also expected to exhibit rapid growth owing to increasing demand from fast food industry.Europe was the leading region with over 35.2% share of overall demand for cheese in 2015. North America was second largest region and accounted for over 30.5% share of total market in 2015.Asia Pacific is expected to dominate the global cheese market by the end of 2021. Latin America and Middle East & Africa are also expected to experience significant growth of cheese market in the years to come.The report covers detailed competitive outlook including the market share and company profiles of the key participants operating in the global cheesemarket include Alra Foods Inc., Bongrain S.A., Fonterra Co-operative Group Ltd., FromageriesBel S.A., Mondelez International Group (earlier Kraft), GCMMF- Amul, Saputo Inc, Almarai Company Ltd among others, EMMI, GROUPE LACTALIS S.A, SAPUTO INC.The detailed description of players includes parameters such as company overview, financial overview, business strategies and recent developments of the company.Read Report TOCThis report segments the global cheese market as follows:Global Cheese Market: Product Segment AnalysisUnprocessedProcessedGlobal Cheese Market: Type Segment AnalysisMozzarella CheeseCheddarCheeseGlobal Cheese Market: Regional Segment AnalysisNorth AmericaU.S.EuropeGermanyFranceUKAsia PacificChinaJapanIndiaLatin AmericaBrazilMiddle East and AfricaAbout A to Z ResearchA to Z 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. A to Z Research 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 US3422 SW 15 Street,Suit #8138,Deerfield Beach,Florida 33442, USATel: +1-386-310-3803GMTTel: +49-322 210 92714USA/Canada Toll Free No.1-855-465-465Email: martin@atozresearch.comWebsite:
Global Soil Treatment Market will hit USD 39.50 Billion in 2021

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The report covers forecast and analysis for the soil treatment market on a global and regional level. The study includes drivers and restraints for the market along with the impact they have on the demand over the forecast period. Additionally, the report includes study of opportunities available in the soil treatment market on a global level.Ever rising population and shrinking arable land is expected to boost the demand for soil treatment. Agricultural sector is growing across the world. Government initiatives for creating vigilance among people towards prevention and treatment of soil ensure in generating market for soil treatment. However, negligence, lack of information and knowledge among the undeveloped and developing countries is major constrain for the soil treatment market. Blooming of soil remediation technologies principally concentrating on aeration and fertility of unproductive lands is expected to reinforce soil treatment market diffusion.Get a copy of free Sample Report @In order to give the users of this report a comprehensive view on the soil treatment market, we have included a detailed competitive scenario, and product portfolio of key vendors. To understand the competitive landscape in the market, an analysis of Porters five forces model for the soil treatment market has also been included. The study encompasses a market attractiveness analysis, wherein technology segments are benchmarked based on their market size, growth rate and general attractiveness.Advance technologies are used in soil treatment, like biological, physiochemical and thermal treatment which are further diverge into biosparing, phytoremediation, bioventing, bioremendiation are biological treatment methods. Physiochemical treatment includes electric resistant heating, soil flushing, chemical oxidation. Soil protection, pH adjusters, and Organic amendments are type segments of soil treatment market. In 2012  13, weed and pest control types of soil treatment having highest market value and predicated to remain top over minimum next five years. Crop residue, Sewage Sludge, Animal Dung, Compost are types of organic amendments. The rapidly expanding segment is crop residue where as aglime and gypsum is widely used pH adjusters for soil treatment.Browse detail report with in-depth TOC @North america dominated global soil treatment market in 2015. North America followed by Europe in terms of revenue. Asia Pacific is expected to be the fastest growing region owing to rising food requirement among the population. Further, high investments from several multinational manufacturers, especially in countries such as China, India, and Japan is expected to boost the demand for soil treatment in this region.The study provides a decisive view on the soil treatment market by segmenting the market based on technology, type and region. Technologies like biological, physicochemical and thermal. On the basis of type, the soil treatment market has been segmented into pH adjustors, soil protection and organic amendments. All the segments have been analyzed based on present and future trends and the market is estimated from 2015 to 2021.The regional segmentation includes the current and forecast demand for North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America and Middle East and Africa with its further bifurcation into major countries including U.S. Germany, France, UK, China, Japan, India and Brazil.The report covers detailed competitive outlook including company profiles of the key participants operating in the global market. Key players profiled in the report include The Dow Chemical Company, Soil Technologies Corp, Amvec Chemical Corporation, Chemtura Corporation, Solvay S.A., Monsanto Company, Arkema S.A., Agrofill S.R.L., Syngenta,BASF, DuPont.Read Report TOCThis report segments the global soil treatment market as follows:Global Soil Treatment Market: Technology Segment AnalysisBiological TreatmentBiospargingPhytoremediationBioventingBioremediationPhysicochemical TreatmentElectric resistance heatingSoil FlushingChemical OxidationSoil Vapor Extraction (SVE)FracturingSolidification & StabilizationThermal TreatmentGlobal Soil Treatment Market: Type Segment AnalysispH adjustorsSoil protectionOrganic amendmentsGlobal Soil Treatment Market: Regional Segment AnalysisNorth AmericaU.S.EuropeUKFranceGermanyAsia PacificChinaJapanIndiaLatin AmericaBrazilMiddle East and AfricaAbout A to Z ResearchA to Z 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. A to Z Research 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 US3422 SW 15 Street,Suit #8138,Deerfield Beach,Florida 33442, USATel: +1-386-310-3803GMTTel: +49-322 210 92714USA/Canada Toll Free No.1-855-465-465Email: martin@atozresearch.comWebsite:
Aquaponics Market is Estimated to Cross $906.9m with a CAGR of 14.3% till 2021!

http://www.marketintelreports.com/report/agr%20001/aquaponics-market-by-equipment-grow-lights-pumps--valves-water-heaters-aeration-systems-component-rearing-tanks-settling-basins-sump-biofilter-hydroponics-produce-fish-vegetables--fruits-herbs-end-user-commercial-home-community-forecast20162021-

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Aquaponics refers to an interdependent integration of aquaculture, or the raising of fish and hydroponics, or the growth of plants in a water-based system. This system involves the growth of a variety fish such as goldfish, carp, crappie, tilapia, brim, koi and bass, as well as plants such as chives and lettuce. Other leafy crops such as cucumbers, tomatoes, melons, peppers, flowers and other crops are also grown. In an aquaponic system, plants offer clean water to fish and fish wastes provide nutrients for the growing plants. This creates a highly sustainable natural system as no harsh chemicals are used to produce food. This market is projected to grow at a CAGR of 14.3% during 2016-2021, increasing from $409m in 2015 to $906.9m by 2021.Check complete report @The aquaponics market has been segmented based on components, produce type, equipment, and end-users. Rearing tanks, settling basins, bio filter, sump, hydroponic subsystems and aquaponic produce are the major components used in aquaponics. Fish, herbs, vegetables and fruits are the key outcomes of aquaponics system. The various types of equipment used in aquaponics include grow lights, in-line water heaters, pumps and valves, monitoring and alarms, water quality testing, fish purge systems and aeration systems. The aquaponics systems have found widespread usage across commercial, community, home production and research & education sectors.Avail more information from Sample Brochure of report @Currently, there exist around 20,000 aquaponic practitioners across the globe with high concentration in developed regions such as North America and Europe. Investments in commercial large scale aquaponics projects are increasing predominantly due to flourishing organic food market and strengthening urban farming. This market is fairly fragmented with presence of few players at country level and lack of regional and global companies.Few key companies providing aquaponics solutions include: Nelson & Pade Inc. (U.S.) ECF Farmsystems GmbH (Germany) Urban Farms AG (Switzerland).Order a copy of Global Aquaponics Market Research Report @About us:MarketIntelReports (MIR) aim to empower our clients to successfully manage and outperform in their business decisions, we do this by providing Premium Market Intelligence, Strategic Insights and Databases from a range of Global Publishers.A group of industry veterans who are well experienced in reputed international consulting firms after identifying the sourcing needs of MNCs for market intelligence, have together started this business savior MarketIntelReports.MIR intends to be a one-stop shop with an intuitive design, exhaustive database, expert assistance, secure cart checkout and data privacy integrated. It curates the list of reports, publishers and studies to ensure that the database is constantly updated to dynamically meet the targeted, specific needs of our clients.MarketIntelReports currently has more than 10,000 plus titles and 35+ publishers on our platform and growing consistently to fill the Global Intelligence Demand  Supply Gap. We cover more than 15 industry verticals being: Automotive, Electronics, Manufacturing, Pharmaceuticals, Healthcare, Chemicals, Building & Construction, Agriculture, Food & Beverages, Banking & Finance, Media and Government, Public Sector Studies.Contact us:Sales ManagerMayur S.2711 Centerville Road, Suite 400,Wilmington,Delaware,19808United Statessales@marketintelreports.comTelephone: 1-302-261-5343
Automated Marine Debris Collection Equipment Market: Rising Awareness Regarding Impact of Marine Debris to Drive Adoption across Mediterranean Region

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The issue of marine debris is becoming more complex and bigger with each passing year. This, combined with the poor infrastructure for marine debris collection in Mediterranean countries and advancement in the understanding of how marine debris impact the environment and marine ecosystems are driving developments and innovations in the field of marine debris collection equipment. In this scenario, the move from the tedious and slow varieties of manual equipment to the swifter and more efficient automatic ones seems inevitable.Download Brochure:This market study provides an understanding and potential adoption of a conceptualized automated marine debris collection equipment across the Mediterranean region. The concept equipment is an unmanned or remotely controlled system (compact boat) designed to work in a self-contained environment, with the option of treating debris on-board or off shore. The system is typically expected to be capable of substituting the conventional hand-pick and mechanical litter collection methods. Transparency Market Research states that the market for such an automated marine debris collection equipment is anticipated to attain an average adoption level of 8% in the early year (2018) of introduction, reaching 10.2% by 2024.This expected adoption level is measured for the estimated total accessible market in the Mediterranean region, comprising of users across segments such as government and municipality, fisheries, hospitality, others (NGOs, etc.). The anticipated level of adoption across these sectors is examined for the period between 2018 and 2024.Importance of Cleaner Shores in Attracting Tourists to Drive Adoption in Hospitality SectorAmong the different targeted end-users of automated marine debris collection equipment, the hospitality and government and municipality sectors are expected to be the most lucrative ones, considering the direct relevance of clean environment (shores) for the hospitality business and the social stability of coastal countries. Owing to the same reasons, countries with flourishing hospitality sector and high pace of urbanization are also identified as potential markets for near term market success of automated marine debris collection equipment. The government and municipality end-use segment is anticipated to attain average adoption level contribution of 3.11% in 2018.View Report:Availability of Funds and Proactive Initiatives to Help France Take LeadCountries such as France, Italy and Spain in the Mediterranean are considered to be the potential early adopters of automated marine debris collection equipment as these currently have access to a larger share in funds provided by the Mediterranean Action Plan (initiated by United Nations Environment Program). Likewise, programs such as the Environment LIFE program by European Commission and dedicated government efforts are expected to further drive the market potential for automated marine debris collection equipment in these countries over the said period.In 2018, France, with a projected adoption level of 16.85% (TAM %), is anticipated to largely dominate the Mediterranean automatic marine debris collection equipment market followed by countries including Italy, Croatia and Spain. The increasing marine litter throughout the coastline and various coastal clean-up project and initiatives undertaken across these countries on a regular basis will lay the foundation for adoption of the more effective automated marine debris collection equipment across these countries. Apart from these countries Greece and Morocco are also anticipated to have significant adoption level for such equipment.There are no companies in the market who have tried their luck in the field of automated marine debris collection equipment so far. However, certain companies manufacturing manual debris collection boats are expected to be the potential contenders in the market in the near future. Some of the chief companies operating in the manual debris collection equipment market are United Marine International, Liverpool Water Witch Marine and Engineering Co. Ltd., U.S.?based Elastec, and Harbor Clean.About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants, use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather, and analyze information. Our business offerings represent the latest and the most reliable information indispensable for businesses to sustain a competitive edge.US Office Contact90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
Global LED Bracket Industry: APAC and Europe are the Leading Markets - Recent Study

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2016 Global LED Bracket Industry Report is a professional and in-depth research report on the world's major regional market conditions of the LED Bracket industry, focusing on the main regions North America Europe AsiaAnd the main countries United States Germany Japan China.Check complete report @The report firstly introduced the LED Bracket basics: definitions, classifications, applications and industry chain overview; industry policies and plans; product specifications; manufacturing processes; cost structures and so on. Then it analyzed the world's main region market conditions, including the product price, profit, capacity, production, capacity utilization, supply, demand and industry growth rate etc. In the end, the report introduced new project SWOT analysis, investment feasibility analysis, and investment return analysis.Avail more information from Sample Brochure of report @The report includes six parts, dealing with:1.) Basic information;2.) The Asia LED Bracket industry;3.) The North American LED Bracket industry;4.) The European LED Bracket industry;5.) Market entry and investment feasibility;6.) The report conclusion.Order a copy of Global LED Bracket Industry 2016 Market Research Report @About us:MarketIntelReports (MIR) aim to empower our clients to successfully manage and outperform in their business decisions, we do this by providing Premium Market Intelligence, Strategic Insights and Databases from a range of Global Publishers.A group of industry veterans who are well experienced in reputed international consulting firms after identifying the sourcing needs of MNCs for market intelligence, have together started this business savior MarketIntelReports.MIR intends to be a one-stop shop with an intuitive design, exhaustive database, expert assistance, secure cart checkout and data privacy integrated. It curates the list of reports, publishers and studies to ensure that the database is constantly updated to dynamically meet the targeted, specific needs of our clients.MarketIntelReports currently has more than 10,000 plus titles and 35+ publishers on our platform and growing consistently to fill the Global Intelligence Demand  Supply Gap. We cover more than 15 industry verticals being: Automotive, Electronics, Manufacturing, Pharmaceuticals, Healthcare, Chemicals, Building & Construction, Agriculture, Food & Beverages, Banking & Finance, Media and Government, Public Sector Studies.About us:MarketIntelReports (MIR) aim to empower our clients to successfully manage and outperform in their business decisions, we do this by providing Premium Market Intelligence, Strategic Insights and Databases from a range of Global Publishers.A group of industry veterans who are well experienced in reputed international consulting firms after identifying the sourcing needs of MNCs for market intelligence, have together started this business savior MarketIntelReports.MIR intends to be a one-stop shop with an intuitive design, exhaustive database, expert assistance, secure cart checkout and data privacy integrated. It curates the list of reports, publishers and studies to ensure that the database is constantly updated to dynamically meet the targeted, specific needs of our clients.MarketIntelReports currently has more than 10,000 plus titles and 35+ publishers on our platform and growing consistently to fill the Global Intelligence Demand  Supply Gap. We cover more than 15 industry verticals being: Automotive, Electronics, Manufacturing, Pharmaceuticals, Healthcare, Chemicals, Building & Construction, Agriculture, Food & Beverages, Banking & Finance, Media and Government, Public Sector Studies.
Population Engines: The Rise of Urbanization; Identifying and understanding the future urban landscape

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SummaryCities are engines of economic growth and centers of economic activity, with the worlds largest 600 cities accounting for 70% of global GDP growth in 2015-25. The urban landscape is in the midst of a transformation, with the focus of the urban world shifting east. Cities in emerging regions in Asia will become major hubs of economic activity, productivity, and innovation, while the dominance of established metropolitan areas in developed regions will decline.Browse Report Summary with TOC @Key Findings The worlds largest 600 cities will account for 30% of global population growth and 70% of global GDP growth in 2015-25, which translates into $35tn. Despite the fast rate of urbanization, some cities will be shrinking. Surprisingly, some rapidly shrinking cities are capitals and other large cities with major economic clout in their home countries. Aging populations are an increasingly common issue in emerging regions. 60% of the population growth in the 65-plus age category will take place in the Asia-Pacific region. Economic success is not necessarily about size. The cities with the largest per capita GDP have populations of less than 2 million.SynopsisPopulation Engines: The Rise of Urbanization is part of a series that discusses urbanization and its implications for consumers and businesses. It delivers the critical what?, why?, and so what? analysis to teach you crucial lessons that increase your chances of successful market entry.Get Sample Report @Your key questions answered: What regions will experience the fastest urban population growth? What are the opportunities in cities in emerging regions? What potential do small and medium-sized cities offer? How do urban consumers in developed regions differ from urban consumers in emerging regions? Why do some cities shrink despite the fast rate of urbanization globally? What are the needs of aging cities?Reasons To Buy Discover what the urban landscape will look like in 2025 and access actionable insights on urbanization. Learn about the changing demographic profile of urban environments globally. Assess the impact that the economic and social outlook of 2025s urban landscape will have on opportunities and strategic considerations for consumer-centric businesses, including FMCG, food service, retail, and financial services.Enquiry for Discount Visit @Reportbazzar.com is your trusted source for the most inclusive and informative assortment of market research reports designed to empower you with the latest in industry information that translates to time and cost savings for your business. We not only help you give wing to your latent business ideas but also facilitate you in taking the best informed and strategic decisions that guarantee success in your most promising business endeavors.ReportBazzarOffice # 203,Vishal Shopping Complex,DSK Ranwara, Bavdhan,Pune  411021, IndiaIndia: +91 20 66528525US: +1 (212) 389-6363Email Id: sales@reportbazzar.comWebsite:
Steam Autoclaves Market size worth $2.9bn by 2023

Global Market Insights, Inc.

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https://www.gminsights.com/industry-analysis/steam-autoclaves-market

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Steam Autoclaves Market size was USD 1.5 billion in 2015, with 8.9% CAGR industry growth anticipation for 2016 to 2023; as per a new research report by Global Market Insights, Inc. Rising hospital acquired infection incidence, and concerns for bio-hazardous waste management, and stringent regulations should propel global demand.In terms of application, the laboratory applications are expected to register the highest CAGR of 9.3%, driven by unmet needs of managing bio-hazardous waste from pharmaceutical manufacturing. APAC steam autoclave market size could reach USD 398.4 million by 2023. Brazil and Mexico steam autoclaves market will drive LATAM demand, exceeding revenue of USD 60 million by 2023.Increasing issuance of guidelines and mandates for bio-waste management by approval and regulatory authorities such as FDA, DOT, EPA, and European Commission (CE), growing concern to check the spread of hospital acquired infections, and enhanced market penetration rates of medical sterilization and disinfectant devices and equipment should act as potential growth opportunities.Request for a sample of this research report -Growing prevalence of antibacterial resistant infections among admitted patients in the hospitals is expected to heighten the importance of sterilization and disinfection procedures in the hospitals. High amount of medical waste and subsequent threat to the healthy population is further pressurizing the regulatory bodies to meet the social requirements of sanitation. Guidelines for maintaining clean, sterilized, and disinfected environment have been issued by regulatory bodies. Moreover, the introduction of more efficient and cost effective steam autoclaves and growing adoption of CSSD framework is expected to boost the usage rates of steam autoclaves.Vertical steam autoclave market share contributed significantly to the overall revenue in 2015 owing to large application of these autoclaves in hospitals as well as laboratories in various configurations. However, introduction of various enhancements such as portability and capacity handling capability are expected to also drive demand for table top and floor standing autoclaves.Browse key industry insights spread across 120 pages with 78 market data tables & 40 figures & charts from the report, Steam Autoclaves Market Size By Configuration (Table Top, Vertical, Horizontal, Floor Standing, High Pressure), By Application [Medical (Hospitals, Clinics, Medical Waste Management), Dental, Laboratory (Pharmaceutical, Bio-hazardous Waste Management)] Industry Analysis Report, Regional Outlook (U.S., Canada, UK, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Switzerland, Japan, China, South Africa, Brazil, Mexico), Application Potential, Price Trends, Competitive Market Share & Forecast, 2016  2023 in detail along with the table of contents:Key insights from the report include: The global steam autoclaves market generated revenue of USD 1.5 billion in 2015, and is anticipated to reach USD 2.9 billion by 2023, projected to grow at a CAGR of 8.9% from 2016 to 2023. U.S. steam autoclaves market size saw 75% of total North America revenue in 2015. Mandatory compliance to the guidelines issued by the regulatory bodies has boosted regional demand. Medical segment dominated the global steam autoclaves market share in 2015, with revenue pegged at USD 338.9 million. Europe steam autoclaves market share is forecast to see moderate gains, with UK and Germany accounting for 36% revenue in 2015. China is the fastest growing industry across APAC, with 10.2% growth target by 2023, followed by Japan, while the LATAM growth was driven by Mexico and Brazil. Low market entry barriers for manufacturing small, low capacity autoclaves; however, manufacturing larger, FDA approved autoclaves requires huge capital investment, which enhances entry barriers. Tuttnauer, Hanshin Medical, Priorclave, Matancha are some key industry participants.Global Market Insights, Inc., headquartered in Delaware, U.S., is a global market research and consulting service provider; offering syndicated and custom research reports along with growth consulting services. Our business intelligence and industry research reports offer clients with penetrative insights and actionable market data specially designed and presented to aid strategic decision making. These exhaustive reports are designed via a proprietary research methodology and are available for key industries such as chemicals, advanced materials, technology, renewable energy and biotechnology.Corporate Sales, USAGlobal Market Insights, Inc.Phone: 1-302-846-7766Toll Free: 1 888-689-0688Email: sales@gminsights.comWeb:
TCD Alcohol DM Market: Segments, Opportunity, Growth and Forecast By End-use Industry 2015-2021

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The report covers forecast and analysis for the TCD Alcohol DM market on a global and regional level. The study provides historic data of 2015 along with a forecast from 2016 to 2021 based on volume and revenue (USD Million). The study includes drivers and restraints for the market along with the impact they have on the demand over the forecast period. Additionally, the report includes study of opportunities available in the TCD Alcohol DM market on a global level.Get a copy of free Sample Report @In order to give the users of this report a comprehensive view on the TCD Alcohol DM market, we have included a detailed competitive scenario, and product portfolio of key vendors. To understand the competitive landscape in the market, an analysis of Porters five forces model for the TCD Alcohol DM market has also been included, strategic development along with patents analysis is included in this report. The study encompasses a market attractiveness analysis, where in type segments are benchmarked based on their market size, growth rate and general attractiveness.Get in-depth TOC (Table of Contents) with Tables and Figures @TCD Alcohol DM finds widespread applications in UV Cure Coatings, UV Inkjet Inks, and Other Applications. All the segments have been analyzed based on present and future trends and the market is estimated from 2015 to 2021. The regional segmentation includes the current and forecast demand for North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America and Middle East and Africa with its further bifurcation into major countries including U.S. Germany, France, UK, China, Japan, India and Brazil.Browse detail report @This report segments the TCD Alcohol DM market as follows:TCD Alcohol DM Market: Applications Segment AnalysisUV Cure CoatingsUV Inkjet InksOthersTCD Alcohol DM Market: Regional Segment AnalysisNorth AmericaU.S.EuropeUKFranceGermanyAsia PacificChinaJapanIndiaLatin AmericaBrazilMiddle East and AfricaAbout US:Syndicate 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:
7th Temos International Conference, 13-15.11.16 in Berlin

Agreed! First step to the Temos Alliance

www.temos-international.com

7th International Temos ConferenceHealthcare Abroad & Medical TourismBerlin, 13. October 2016  Temos International GmbH (), a neutral and independently operating certification body cordially invites to this years international medical travel conference on Healthcare Abroad and Medical Tourism taking place from 13 to 15 November in Berlin. For further information please see also here.After the great success of last years Temos Conference also this years Conference is going to take place in Berlin. In cooperation with the German Aerospace Center DLR, Berlin Partner, Health Capital, Visit Berlin and Diplomatic Council a very interesting and innovative program with excellent speakers has been prepared for the participants.Quality in international patient management in medical facilities worldwide as well as the services offered by so called facilitators and agencies will be discussed. The Conference also emphasizes on the exchange of knowledge and experience between the participants coming from the health insurance and assistance business, from hospitals and clinics worldwide but also from quality management and the hospitality sector.Since its spin-off of the Germany Aerospace Center Temos International further developed and could grow within a few years. The annually taking place Temos Conference has been developed to a worldwide renowned platform for networking and exchange.Conference President is Prof. Dr. Rupert Gerzer, former director of the Institute of Aerospace Medicine at DLR and currently Provost of Skoltech University Moscow as well as the head of the Temos Medical Board. Head of conference organization is Dr. Claudia Mika, founder and CEO of Temos International. She is vice president of the Global Healthcare Forum of Diplomatic Council and one of the judges for the International Medical Travel Journal Awards.The annual Temos Conference offers experts, decision makers and interested parties from hospitals and the medical travel market from 30 different countries an ideal platform for exchange, cooperation and business.Beside three workshops, the challenges in international patient management but also best practice examples are discussed.Another highlight will be the guided tours to Vivantes International Rehabilitation, Charite CyberKnife Center and the German Heart Center Berlin.About Temos InternationalTemos stands for * Trust * Effective Medicine * Optimized Services * with the aim to support medical facilities like hospitals, clinics, dental practices, rehabilitation centers, reproductive care and eye care centers worldwide as well as medical traveller coordinators in their efforts to continuously work on quality improvement.In our quality programs we focus on the demands and requirements of patients who wish to get medical treatment overseas (medical tourism) or need to get medical treatment abroad as business travellers, tourists or expatriates (tourism medicine).Today, Temos is located with its Headquarters in Germany and currently 15 regional offices in several countries worldwide.Contact: Canan Emre, Tel.: +49 2204-4264814,Email: c.emre@temos-international.comFriedrich-Ebrt-Strae 75D-51429 Bergisch Gladbach
Morocco Ceramic and Porcelain Tiles, Bathroom Materials, and Furniture and Accessories Market: Surge in Construction with Rising Tourism to Remain Vital 2016-2024

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This review is based on the findings of a TMR report titled Ceramic and Porcelain Tiles Market (Product Type - Glazed Porcelain, Full-body Porcelain, Ceramic Floor Tiles, Ceramic Wall Tiles, and Thin Tiles), Bathroom Materials (Type - Floor (Ceramic, Porcelain, and Natural Stone) and Wall (Ceramic, Porcelain, Natural Stone, Glass, Aluminum, Paint, and Wallpaper)), and Furniture and Accessories (Furniture (Modular and Fitted), Bathroom Accessories (Mirrors, Toilet Roll Holders, Robe Hooks, Towel Rods and Rings, Wall Trays, and Soap Dishes), Baths and Sanitary Ware, and Faucets) - Morocco Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends, and Forecast 2016  2024. The ceramic and porcelain tiles, bathroom materials, and furniture and accessories market in Morocco is expected to rise from a valuation of US$1.5 bn in 2015 to US$2.7 bn by 2024.Download And Get Sample PDF File Of Ceramic and Porcelain Tiles Industry :Casablanca and Tangier to Present Promising Scope for Growth in MoroccoFull-body porcelain tiles led the ceramic and porcelain tiles market in Morocco, accounting for a 34.6% share in 2015. The segment is also projected to witness strong growth over the coming years. Registering a 7.3% CAGR from 2016 to 2024, glazed porcelain is likely to emerge as the most attractive investment option for the market. Thin tiles are a relatively newer generation of ceramic and porcelain tiles and the segment is expected to be highly lucrative in the near future.Within the bathroom materials market in Morocco, ceramic led the market for floor as well as wall materials. On the other hand, porcelain was the most rapidly expanding segment in both cases. The bathroom furniture and accessories market is dominated by the bath and sanitary ware segment and faucets are anticipated to register a high growth rate during the forecast period.Casablanca led the ceramic and porcelain tiles, bathroom materials, and furniture and accessories market in Morocco, accounting for a share of more than 30% in 2015. Tangier, on the other hand, is projected to be the most lucrative market, exhibiting a CAGR of over 6% from 2016 to 2024.Government of Morocco Plays Key Role in Boosting MarketMorocco has gained much popularity as a tourist destination in the recent past, with an estimated 9.8 mn tourists in 2011 alone. A surge in the inflow of tourists translates into a rise in the construction of hotels, thereby driving the demand for ceramic and porcelain tiles, bathroom materials, and furniture and accessories, the TMR analyst states.Further supporting the building and construction sector is the Government of Morocco, with its efforts in undertaking new construction projects under its housing scheme. The promise to construct 150,000 social housing units by 2020 and the rise in the renovation of old properties is anticipated to boost the market for ceramic and porcelain tiles, bathroom materials, and furniture and accessories in Morocco.Availability of Substitutes Hampering Demand for Ceramic and Porcelain TilesThere are several factors that are going against the Morocco ceramic and porcelain tiles, bathroom materials, and furniture and accessories market, the key one being the availability of substitutes. On the one hand, porcelain and ceramic tiles are higher priced compared to tiles made of cement and terracotta, or even zellige tiles, the author of the study points out. Moreover, the benefits offered by cement tiles, for instance, are many, including water resistance, durability, and environment-friendliness. This drives consumers to opt for the substitute rather than porcelain and ceramic tiles.Browse Market Research Report with ToC & Free Analysis :Another factor acting as a deterrent is the fact that construction activities in Morocco are limited to just a few major cities. Marrakech, Casablanca, Tangier, and Agadir are among the cities that have been reporting a rise in construction projects. This is likely to restrict the demand for ceramic and porcelain tiles, bathroom materials, and furniture and accessories in the rest of the country.The ceramic and porcelain tiles, bathroom materials, and furniture and accessories market in Morocco is primarily dependent on the presence of unorganized regional players and a handful of key international players, such as Roca, RAK Ceramics, NG Kutahya Seramik, PORCELANOSA, and Marazzi. Transparency Market Research has observed that a few regional companies with a significant presence have established a strong and loyal customer base in various cities across Morocco. This has intensified the degree of competition with other local players as well as with international companies supplying imported tiles and other bathroom materials.Ceramic & Porcelain Tiles Market: Product AnalysisGlazed PorcelainFull-body PorcelainCeramic Floor TilesCeramic Wall TilesThin TilesAbout UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a global market intelligence company providing business information reports and services. The companys exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trend analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information.TMRs data repository is continuously updated and revised by a team of research experts so that it always reflects the latest trends and information. With extensive research and analysis capabilities, Transparency Market Research employs rigorous primary and secondary research techniques to develop distinctive data sets and research material for business reports.ContactTransparency Market Research90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:Visit Blog :
Demand for Bio-based Wood Adhesives and Binders to Rise due to Environmental Benefits and Reduced Manufacturing Cost

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The global wood adhesives and binders market is fragmented, with the top four companies accounting for 36% of the total market in 2013. These companies are Dow Chemical Company, 3M Company, Henkel AG and Co. KGaA, and HB Fuller. The wood adhesives and binders market is capital intensive and requires huge setup cost, Transparency Market Research (TMR). This makes it difficult for entry difficult for new players.The R&D required for the development of customized products is very expensive and thus, only existing players who operate on a large scale are able to afford it. This makes the market consolidated with only a few companies benefitting from integration, leading to increased competition. However, new entrants with a strong financial backing can hope for prospective opportunities in bio-based adhesive formulations.Get PDF Brochure for more Professional and Technical insights :Growth in Construction Industry Boosts Demand for Wood Adhesives and BindersWood adhesives and binders have their applications in flooring, cabinets, plywood, doors, windows, and other structural panels. Furniture and construction are the major areas where the use of wood adhesives and binders is on a large scale. The construction market is expected to grow at a 4.7% CAGR between 2016 and 2020. Asia Pacific is expected to lead in the construction industry from 2015 to 2020. The massive population in the region is expected to create the need for newer constructions and infrastructure developments. Similarly, other regions are also witnessing a growth in the construction industry. This growth in the construction industry worldwide is resulting in a considerable demand for wood adhesives and binders.Fluctuating Price of Crude Oil to Restrict Growth of Wood Adhesives and Binders MarketWood adhesives and binders are synthesized from petroleum-based feedstock such as urea, vinyl acetate, acrylates, styrene butadiene, polyurethanes, phenols, and polyolefins. These petroleum-based feedstock are dependent on the supply of crude oil. Thus, an increase in the price of oil and gas increases the cost of the raw materials required for the manufacturing of wood adhesives and binders.Another factor affecting the growth of the market is the environmental and health risks associated with VOC (volatile organic compounds) emissions during the industrial or commercial applications of wood adhesives and binders. In order to regulate these emissions, several countries have set guidelines that restrict the amount of gaseous emission during the use of adhesives and binders. The violation of such government-defined regulations can cause severe penalties and losses. This is causing market players to shift their focus from solvent-based wood adhesives, thus restricting the growth of the market.Environmental Concerns Give Rise to Demand for Bio-based Adhesives and BindersThe rising carbon footprint and the consequent increase in environmental concerns are causing market players to focus on the development of bio-based adhesives. The development of bio-based adhesives not only provides environmental benefits but also reduces the overall manufacturing cost as opposed to their synthetic counterparts. Bio-based adhesives are thus catching up in the market and are being manufactured by companies such as Henkel, ADCO Global, Cargill, BASF, Croda, Dow Chemical Company, DuPont, and Evonik Industries.Browse The Full Wood Adhesives and Binders Market Report At :On the basis of product, the urea-formaldehyde segment led the market in 2013, accounting for 33.5% of the global wood adhesives and binders market. By application, the flooring and plywood segment was the largest, accounting for 51.3% of the global market in 2013. The flooring and plywood segment is expected to retain its leading positon in the coming years. By region, North America led the global wood adhesives and binders market in 2013. Asia Pacific is expected to be the fastest growing regional segment and account for 30.5% of the global wood adhesives and binders market by 2020.The global market opportunity in wood adhesives and binders is projected to rise from US$13.15 bn in 2013 to US$17.77 bn by 2020, expanding at a CAGR of 4.4% from 2014 to 2020.This information is based on the findings of a report published by Transparency Market Research titled Wood Adhesives and Binders Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends, and Forecast 2014 - 2020.The global wood adhesives and binders market is segmented as follows:ProductUrea-formaldehyde (UF)Melamine-urea-formaldehyde (MUF)Phenol-formaldehyde (PF)Isocyanates (MDI, TDI, HDI)Soy basedOthers (Including polyurethane, epoxy, silicone, polyvinyl acetate (PVAc) and ethyl vinyl acetate (EVA)ApplicationCabinetsFlooring & plywoodFurniture & subcomponentsWindows & doorsOthers (Including do-it-yourself consumer products and crafts)About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a global market intelligence company providing business information reports and services. The companys exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trend analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information.TMRs data repository is continuously updated and revised by a team of research experts so that it always reflects the latest trends and information. With extensive research and analysis capabilities, Transparency Market Research employs rigorous primary and secondary research techniques to develop distinctive data sets and research material for business reports.ContactTransparency Market Research90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:Visit Blog :
Global Petrochemicals Market Driven by Rising Demand from China, to Exhibit 6.8% CAGR from 2014 to 2020

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Transparency Market Research (TMR) has announced the release of a new market study on the global petrochemicals market. The report examines the historical trajectory of the market up to 2013 and presents forecasts for the markets development from 2014 to 2020. According to the report, the global petrochemicals market is expected to exhibit a steady 6.8% CAGR from 2014 to 2020. The market will reach a valuation of US$885.1 bn by the end of the forecast period.The report is titled Petrochemicals Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast 2014 - 2020 and is available for sale on the official website of TMR.Petrochemicals, as the name suggests, are a wide range of chemicals derived from petroleum feedstock. The global market for petrochemicals is a crucial part of the chemicals industry and has significant impact on various walks of human life, as ubiquitous materials such as plastics are derived from petrochemicals. Due to the rising demand for its various end-use segments, the global petrochemicals market is expected to exhibit steady growth in the coming years.Download And Get Sample PDF File Of Petrochemicals Market :The major product segments of the global petrochemicals market are ethylene, propylene, methanol, butadiene, xylene, benzene, styrene, vinyls, and toluene. Of these, ethylene was the major product type in the market in 2013. Ethylenes use in the manufacture of polyethylene  which, as the name suggests, consists of multiple polymers of ethylene  is a major driver for the global petrochemicals market.The rising use of methanol in fuel mixtures has also provided a boost to the global petrochemicals market.Adding methanol allows for cleaner combustion of fuels, reducing the environmental damage caused by the combustion. According to TMR, methanol is expected to be the fastest growing product segment of the global petrochemicals market in the forecast period. The demand for styrene and butadiene is also expected to rise in the coming years, thanks to their growing application in styrene butadiene rubber and the rising demand for butadiene for the production of acrylonitrile butadiene styrene.On the basis of geography, China emerged as the largest segment of the global market in 2013. China accounted for 25% of the demand from the global petrochemicals market, thanks in part to the countrys booming automotive and construction industries. China is also anticipated to remain in a dominant position in the global petrochemicals market in the coming years and is expected to be the fastest growing segment of the market in the forecast period.The rest of Asia Pacific followed China in the regional hierarchy of the global petrochemicals market in 2013. India is the leader in the rest of Asia Pacific, with the increasing demand for products containing petrochemicals and the countrys flourishing manufacturing sector expected to propel the regional market for petrochemicals.Browse The Full Petrochemicals Market Report At :The Middle East and Africa also have an important role to play in the future of the global petrochemicals market. These two regions contain some of the largest petroleum producers in the world, with the easy availability of petroleum allowing petrochemical companies in the region to post strong growth figures.In competitive terms, the global petrochemicals market is highly fragmented and marked by constant efforts on the part of multinational giants to acquire smaller regional companies. Key players in the global petrochemicals market are BASF SE, Shell Chemical Company, Total S.A., E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company, Sumitomo Chemical Co. Ltd., ExxonMobil, Sinopec Ltd., The Dow Chemical Company, SABIC, LyondellBasell Industries, and Chevron Phillips Chemical Company LLC.The global petrochemicals market is segmented as follows:Petrochemicals Market: Product Segment AnalysisEthylenePropyleneButadieneBenzeneXyleneTolueneVinylsStyreneMethanolAbout UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a global market intelligence company providing business information reports and services. The companys exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trend analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information.TMRs data repository is continuously updated and revised by a team of research experts so that it always reflects the latest trends and information. With extensive research and analysis capabilities, Transparency Market Research employs rigorous primary and secondary research techniques to develop distinctive data sets and research material for business reports.ContactTransparency Market Research90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:Visit Blog :
Concrete Floor Coatings Market 2020 Projection with Top 10 Companies Reviewed

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http://www.mrrse.com/concrete-floor-coatings-market

Floor coatings are an important facet of the construction industry. These are used in a broad range of floor coating applications. Commercial applications of concrete floor coatings include outdoor applications (garage floors, walkways, patios, etc.) and indoor applications (residential floor coatings, commercial floors, industrial floors, restraints, etc.). In terms of revenue, the global concrete floor coatings market was valued at USD 745.8 million in 2013 and is expected to reach USD 1,176.9 million by 2020, growing at a CAGR of 6.8% from 2014 to 2020.Epoxy based concrete floor coatings accounted for the largest share of the concrete floor coatings market in terms of both volume and revenue with over 50% share in 2013. Polyaspartics based concrete floor coatings used for floor coating applications was the second largest product segment of concrete floor coatings, followed by others (polyurethane, acrylic, etc.). The concrete floor coatings industry exhibits a high degree of forward integration as most producers of concrete floor coatings are also engaged in the downstream activities. This forward integration provides participants with a distinct competitive advantage in terms of better customer retention and market dominance.Request a Free Sample Copy of the Report @The demand for concrete floor coatings is primarily led by growth in the construction industry and increasing awareness about floor coatings globally. Growth in urbanization and population in countries in Asia Pacific has provided an impetus to the demand for concrete floor coatings in the region. Growth in construction activities pertaining to commercial and residential sectors is expected to drive the demand for concrete floor coatings in the region. Recovering construction sector in developed economies is another important factor driving the growth of global concrete floor coatings. The construction industry in countries such as the U.S. has witnessed an up shift of late. This has further increased demand for concrete floor coatings, especially for outdoor applications, in the region.With over 50% share, indoor floor coating was the largest application segment of concrete floor coatings in 2013. There has been an increase in demand for concrete floor coatings used for indoor floor coating applications due to the growing importance of floor coatings, particularly in the industrial and commercial sector. Growth of the concrete floor coatings market is likely to be restricted by volatility in prices and supply of raw materials. Most concrete floor coating products are petroleum derivatives, and are subject to price and supply variations. This puts an added pressure on manufacturers of concrete floor coatings. Demand for bio-based concrete floor coatings is expected to open up new opportunities for producers of concrete floor coatings in the near future.Read Complete Report @North America and Asia Pacific were the major markets for concrete floor coatings in 2013. With over 29% share in total consumption, Asia Pacific was the second largest regional market for concrete floor coatings in 2013. Leading manufacturers of concrete floor coatings have concentrated on capacity expansion in Asia Pacific to increase their production capacities. Recent growth in the construction industry is expected to be the major factor driving demand for concrete floor in the region. Thus, growing awareness about the importance of floor coatings in developed as well as emerging economies is expected to drive the demand for concrete floor coatings in the next few years.Recently, industry participants shifted their focus towards customer retention and providing quality products to customers. With new market opportunities for floor coatings, particularly in Asia Pacific, competitors are keen to establish themselves in this nascent market. Key players operating in the concrete floor coatings market include BASF SE, Sherwin-Williams, DSM, RPM International Inc., The Valspar Corporation and PPG Industries.About MRRSEMRRSE stands for Market Research Reports Search Engine, the largest online catalog of latest market research reports based on industries, companies, and countries. MRRSE sources thousands of industry reports, market statistics, and company profiles from trusted entities and makes them available at a click. Besides well-known private publishers, the reports featured on MRRSE typically come from national statistics agencies, investment agencies, leading media houses, trade unions, governments, and embassies.Corporate Office State Tower 90 State Street, Suite 700 Albany, NY 12207,United States
StarWind shortlisted for SVC Awards

http://www.svcawards.com/voting.php

Middleton, MA  October 13, 2016  StarWind, a pioneer of virtualization, has been included into the short list for SVC Awards.StarWind is an innovative virtualization provider, which has been on the market for 11 years already. It was among the first to offer software-defined storage (in 2005) and hyperconvergence (2008). In 2015, the company shifted from a software-only to hardware vendor. It released HyperConverged Appliance and has become one of the first vendors at all to offer hyperconvergence to small and middle businesses.SVC Awards honours products and companies in cloud, virtualization and storage sectors. StarWind was nominated for Hyper-convergence Solution of the Year and Hyper-convergence Company of the Year and has been included into the short list for both categories. Now comes the next stage of the contest  the public voting, and according to its results the winner will be selected.Support StarWind with your votes! To take part in a vote, follow the link:StarWind is a pioneer in the virtualization space. Our products are designed to meet the needs of mainly SMB and ROBO. StarWind has been on the virtualization market for 11 years already and was one of the first vendors to offer Software-Defined Storage (in 2005) and Hyper-convergence (2008). StarWind products complement Microsoft technologies.StarWind35 Village Rd., Suite 100, Middleton, MA 01949, USADaria Hurbych
Nanotechnology Drug Delivery Market: Major Players Operating in the Market  AbbVie, Inc., Amgen, Inc., Celgene Corporation, Johnson & Johnson, Merck & Co., Inc., and Novartis International AG

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The nanotechnology drug delivery market is witnessing rapid growth due to increase in research and development activities in nanotechnology to develop novel nano-medicine. According to Eurostat comprehensive data, the nano-medicine industry in the EU includes 97 startups, 64 SMEs, and 38 large pharmaceutical or medical device companies. Furthermore, technological advancements and rising interest of key companies to invest in nanotechnology boost market growth. For instance, in 20112012, Pfizer, Inc., Amgen, Inc., and AstraZeneca signed agreements to collaborate with BIND Therapeutics to develop nano-medicines. These initiatives are expected to fuel the growth of the nanotechnology drug delivery market in the near future. However, stringent regulatory scenario and high development cost of medicines through nanotechnology are likely to hamper market growth during the forecast period. The global nanotechnology drug delivery market was valued at US$ 41,062.5 Mn in 2014 and is projected to reach US$ 118,527.2 Mn by 2023, expanding at a CAGR of 12.5% from 2015 to 2023.Inquire for Exclusive Sample Copy of the Study Geographically, North America dominated the global nanotechnology drug delivery market in 2014. Rising incidence of chronic diseases such as cancer and diabetes in the region fueled the growth of the nanotechnology drug delivery market in North America. Europe accounted for the second largest share of the market in 2014 owing to the favorable growth conditions for pharmaceutical and biotechnology manufacturers due to affordability for branded nanotechnology products by consumers. However, the market in Latin America is estimated to expand at the highest CAGR during the forecast period. High market growth in this region is due to increasing interest of leading companies such as Novartis and Johnson & Johnson to establish their presence in countries in Latin America such as Brazil and Mexico.If you have any query, get your query resolved, speak to our Research Expert Based on technology, the global nanotechnology drug delivery market has been segmented into nanocrystals, nanoparticles, liposomes, micelles, nanotubes, and others. The nanoparticles segment dominated the global nanotechnology drug delivery market in 2014. The segment dominated the market as key nanoparticles such as dendrimers, gold nanoparticles, and fullerenes are used in pharmaceutical drug delivery. The nanotubes segment is expected to expand at the highest CAGR during the forecast period from 2015 to 2023.Based on application, the market has been segmented into neurology, oncology, cardiovascular/physiology, anti-inflammatory/immunology, anti-infective, and others. Anti-infective was the largest application segment of the nanotechnology drug delivery market due to rising prevalence of community-based and hospital-based infections.Place an Order for this Report About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants, use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather, and analyze information. Our business offerings represent the latest and the most reliable information indispensable for businesses to sustain a competitive edge.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, TMRs syndicated reports strive to provide clients to serve their overall research requirement.US Office Contact90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA  Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
Wave and Tidal Energy Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast 2016 - 2024

Wave and Tidal Energy Market

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Ocean power technology is mainly categorized into three types wave energy, tidal energy and ocean thermal energy. Wave energy and tidal energy are ways of harnessing energy used for power generation. These are the forms of renewable energy which provides stable and constant source of energy. Tidal energy is formed by using the tidal energy generators. These are large and underwater turbines which are located in high tidal movement areas. These turbines capture the kinetic energy of ocean tides and produce electricity. Tidal energy is determined from the gravitational pull of the sun and moon. Rising and falling of waves are occurs two times a day so huge movements are occur in water. Fall of wave known as low tide in which water flows out the dam and rise in wave called as high tide in which water flows into the dam. The tidal energy is reliable, conventional and non polluting form of energy.Wave and tidal energy market was valued at USD 487.7 Mn in 2014 and is anticipated to reach USD 11365.0 Mn in 2024, expanding at a CAGR of 23% from 2016 to 2024.Get Sample Report:The major driving factors of wave and tidal energy market are as follows:Conventional and regular resource of renewable energyDeveloping large project phases in a small area providing scalabilityGenerating power for remote locationsCost efficiencyWell built government policy structure motivate schemesThe restraints factors of wave and tidal energy market are as follows:Require funding channelsNeed of business deployment of project because of low technology developmentHigh resources investmentsThe wave and tidal energy market is segmented on the lines of its type and regional. Under type segmentation it covers wave energy and tidal energy. The wave and tidal energy market is geographic segmentation covers various regions such as North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, Middle East and Africa. Each geography market is further segmented to provide market revenue for select countries such as the U.S., Canada, U.K. Germany, China, Japan, India, Brazil, and GCC countries.This report provides:1) An overview of the global market for wave and tidal energy and related technologies.2) Analyses of global market trends, with data from 2013, estimates for 2014 and 2015, and projections of compound annual growth rates (CAGRs) through 2020.3) Identifications of new market opportunities and targeted promotional plans for wave and tidal energy4) Discussion of research and development, and the demand for new products and new applications.5) Comprehensive company profiles of major players in the industry.REPORT SCOPE:The scope of the report includes a detailed study of global and regional markets for various types of coatings with the reasons given for variations in the growth of the industry in certain regions.The report covers detailed competitive outlook including the market share and company profiles of the key participants operating in the global market. Key players profiled in the report include Wave Power Ltd., Carnegie Wave Energy Ltd., Ocean Power Technologies, Inc., Ocean Renewable Power Company LLC, Tenax Energy, AquaGen Technologies, Atlantis Resources Ltd., S.D.E. Energy Ltd. (WERPO Wave Energy), Marine Current Turbines Ltd., and Aquamarine Power Ltd.. Company profile includes assign such as company summary, financial summary, business strategy and planning, SWOT analysis and current developments.The Top Companies Report is intended to provide our buyers with a snapshot of the industrys most influential players.The Wave and Tidal Energy Market has been segmented as below:By Type AnalysisWave energyTidal energyBy Regional AnalysisNorth AmericaEuropeAsia-PacificRest of the WorldBrowse Full Report TOC :Market Research Engine is a global market research and consulting organization. We provide market intelligence in emerging niche technologies and markets. Our market analysis powered by rigorous methodology and quality metrics provide information and forecasts across emerging markets, emerging technologies and emerging business models. Our deep focus on industry verticals and country reports help our clients to identify opportunities and develop business strategies.Company Name: Market Research EngineContact Person: John BayEmail: john@marketresearchengine.comPhone: +1-855-984-1862, +91-860-565-7204Website:Address: 3422 SW 15 Street, Suite #8942, Deerfield Beach, FL 33442, United States
Innovative French-Based Company Showcases Latest Culinary Accessories At The New York Trade Show NEW YORK (January 26, 2012)  Mastrad, creator of stylish and functional cookware items, will be showcasing the latest in their line of innovative culinary accessories at the January 2012 New York International Gift Fair (NYIGF). These new products will not only revolutionize the way food is prepared, but will also save an ample amount of time in 
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Dutch Market is Up, While Hotels in Belgium Suffer

The hotel market of the Netherlands keeps showing strong results in both occupancy and ADR, but Belgium, the neighbor country, cannot reach even close results. Hotels in Belgium still suffer from after-effects of terrorist attacks that took place in the capital in March.



The data provided by HOSTA 2016 report shows that despite the growth of supply, hotels in the Netherlands post increased revenue per available room (RevPAR) and profit per hotel room. This is possible thanks to the growth of the average occupancy, which increased from 69.5% to 71.4% in 2015. Last year, hotels in this European country enjoyed the highest occupancy level since 2007. This is a good sign as the occupancy keeps growing for the third year in a row. Average daily rate (ADR) added 6% in 2015, from 96 to 102, making it the highest ADR since 2008. Naturally, Total RevPAR added 13% last year to 129. The forecasts for 2016 and 2017, however, are modest as Brexit and threat of terror attacks can slow down hospitality industry of the Netherlands. The growth of occupancy is expected to increase by 1.9% and 0.3% in 2016 and 2017 respectively.



Belgian hotels had their occupancy fall from 74.3% to 72.8% in 2015. This is the first time that the occupancy has fallen since 2009. However, thanks to increase of ADR from 90 to 92, RevPAR remained stable at the level of 67. The beginning of 2016 followed the trend of the previous year, but the situation has worsened significantly after the terror attacks on March 22. According to April-June statistics provided by STR Global, hotels in Belgium lost around 15% of occupancy. Brussels hotels suffered the most as the occupancy there fell by 20%. The ADR remained stable right after the attacks, but started showing decrease in summer.

13.10.2016Stay in touch with the latest news of a worldwide hotel industry. All up-to-date analytics, reports , and news about hotel business trends on OrangeSmile.com.
SPOOKY, SCARY SPOOKY, SCARY  Neighborhoods in Orchard Park are more than ready for Halloween. In the top photo, at a house at the corner of Orchard Hill Drive and Briar Hill...

Bremer finds seven residential lots storing items on town property Thanks to a new property-line shot by the Engineering Department, Building Inspector Steve Bremer was able to identify seven residential lots near Highmark Stadium that were placing all sorts of...

Highway Department receiving number of calls on dying ash trees Highway Superintendent Andrew Slotman warned in the spring that the ash tree population in Orchard Park would soon dwindle to zero due to the presence of the emerald ash borer....
security checkpoint at Portland International Airport

Passengers pass through the security checkpoint at Portland International Airport on March 14, 2012.

(Beth Nakamura/Staff)

The government is increasing pressure on Oregon to adopt federal standards for its driver's licenses and state-issued IDs before residents face additional scrutiny at secured areas, including airports.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has granted the state another extension of its deadline to comply with the Real ID Act of 2005, which laid out a series of standards for state-issued ID cards.

Though previous extensions have been in effect for a year at a time, the latest will last through June -- just long enough for the Legislature to convene. Alaska, California and Virginia all received similar limited extensions, while several other states received an entire year.

Congress passed the Real ID Act in response to the 9/11 terrorist attacks. It requires higher standards of proof of legal U.S. residency and additional security measures that make the cards harder to replicate.

The Oregon Legislature in 2009 banned the DMV from spending state funds to comply with the federal act, which lawmakers saw as an unfunded mandate. Since then, the state has routinely and successfully sought deadline extensions.

Lawmakers briefed on the issue earlier this year showed no sign of reconsidering, and transportation officials said there was no legislation planned to change the state law.

Absent a change in law or the arrival of federal funding, state transportation officials said they would continue to seek extensions.

The Transportation Security Administration, which oversees airport security, said it intends to stop accepting non-compliant IDs on Jan. 22, 2018. States that are still compliant -- including those whose deadlines have been extended -- face a hard deadline in October 2020, when Homeland Security has said it will require all air travelers to carry a Real ID-compliant license.

The federal government this month rejected extension requests from Oklahoma, Kentucky, Maine, Pennsylvania and South Carolina. Three others -- Minnesota, Missouri and Washington -- were previously notified that they were not in compliance with federal law.

-- Elliot Njus

enjus@oregonian.com

503-294-5034

@enjus
"Top Chef," the popular Bravo TV reality cooking show, announces the contestants for its 14th season today, with a Portland chef in the mix.

B.J. Smith, the meat-loving force behind Smokehouse 21, Smokehouse Tavern as well as two just-opened concepts, Kim Jong Smokehouse and Vancouver's Smokehouse Provisions, will face off against eight returning contestants as well as seven new ones, including both a Silvia and a Sylvia.

Smith is just the third Portland chef to appear on the show, after Gregory Gourdet (Departure) and Doug Adams (the upcoming Bullard) each reached the finals in 2015. (And hey, a hearty congratulations to everyone who guessed Smith off of our Feast recap blind item last month.)

This season, the "Top Chef" contestants will spend much of their time in Charleston, South Carolina, competing in front of celebrity chefs and critics for a $125,000 prize. The competition premiers on December 1.

Below, meet the new "Top Chef" Season 14 contestants:

Annie Pettry

-- Michael Russell
thinker.jpg

Oregon schools' performance ratings were made public on Thursday.

(Benjamin Brink / The Oregonian / 2009)

The Oregon Department of Education released new ratings for every Oregon public school Thursday, giving fresh insights into how well those in every community are helping their students progress.

The Oregonian/OregonLive makes it easy for you to look up the performance for any public school, or all the schools in any district, to see what they did well and where they fell short.

The report cards are based almost entirely on students scores on the new Common Core tests plus, for high schools, graduation rates.

But the state mines the scores to see not just how many passed and how many fell short but how much progress individual students made from their test performance a year and two years earlier.

The idea is that schools should get credit when they help students make big strides at improving their reading, writing or math skills, even if they don't quite get up to grade level. And, on the flip side, schools should be called out if they allow students to stagnate academically, even if they still score high.

Here are the four key terms you need to know to read any school's ratings like an expert:

Growth: Growth means taking a student's score in 2016 and looking back to see how far that student has come from where he or she scored in 2015 and in 2014. To calculate a school's growth rating, the state does that for every student in a given school, then figures out which student's growth placed him or her right in the middle of the pack at that school. That student's growth is compared to all the other students in the state who had the same score in 2014 and 2015. If the student's growth was better than 65 percent of other students who started at the same level, the school gets a big green Level 5 growth rating. If the student's growth was smaller than 65 percent of all students who started at the same level, the school gets a big red Level 1 badge of shame.

Priority students: That's the Oregonian/OregonLive's shorthand for students whose performance the Oregon Department of Education monitors most closely, because historically schools had an extremely poor track record of getting these students to graduate on time and college-ready. The category includes students who are low-income, in special education, learning English as a second language, American Indian, black, Latino or Pacific Islander.

The state's rating system homes in on how well a school helps those high-priority to make academic growth and to graduate in four or five years.

Achievement: That's the category on which the state rates schools on the most simplistic measurement: the percentage of students who met the Common Core English and math standards, as measured by end-of-year Smarter Balanced tests. The more who pass, the higher the school's rating.

Graduation. High schools are rated by their graduation rates, both with students overall and with priority students in particular. Schools are judged by their on-time graduation rate or by the share of their students who earn diplomas within five years -- whichever one helps them look better. This year, to avoid the dreaded Level 1 or Level 2 rating, a school had to have a four-year graduation rate of at least 75 percent or a five-year graduation rate of at least 80 percent. Both of those marks are slightly higher than the state average, so a lot of schools got a Level 1 or Level 2 rating on the two graduation marks.

-- Betsy Hammond

betsyhammond@oregonian.com
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Kellyanne Conway, campaign manager for the Donald Trump campaign, talks with reporters in the spin room following the second presidential debate with democratic presidential nominee former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and republican presidential nominee Donald Trump at Washington University on October 9, 2016 in St Louis, Missouri.

(Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

By Jennifer Rubin

FiveThirtyEight in late August reported on Kellyanne Conway:

"Enter Kellyanne Conway, who Trump hired as his campaign manager last week. Conway, a longtime GOP pollster, owns her own firm, 'the polling company, inc./WomanTrend,' and if you couldn't guess it from the name, she's made a career in no small part by providing advice to politicians and marketers about what women want (a question Mel Gibson never definitively answered). Conway even wrote a book, 'What Women Really Want,' with Democratic pollster Celinda Lake, and when she joined the campaign last month as an adviser, The Washington Post wrote a story about her, headlined 'Inside Donald Trump's Strategy to Win Back Women.' "

No really, she is supposed to tell Republicans how to appeal to women. She is supposed to be some kind of female pioneer in the polling world. Instead she is trying to elect the most misogynistic candidate to run for president in the last, what, half-century. Consider how Conway is helping, uh, to attract women - or something.

She defends parading the Bill Clinton accusers into the debate. She rationalizes Trump's "locker-room talk." She deploys Trump surrogates like Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., who had this exchange on Monday about Trump's sexual assault boasts:

" 'I don't characterize that as sexual assault,' Sessions said. 'I think that's a stretch. I don't know what he meant.'

" 'So if you grab a woman by the genitals, that's not sexual assault?' the reporter asked Sessions.

" 'I don't know,' the senator replied. 'It's not clear that he - how that would occur.'

This is Todd Akin territory. Oddly, Conway once tried defending Akin's rape comments.

She personally defends Trump's attack on Alicia Machado in The New Yorker:

"Conway told me that she understood Trump's impulse to respond once he's provoked. 'He and I have this in common,' she said. 'I really don't draw first blood. There's no fun, there's no point, and there should be no joy in gratuitously attacking someone or picking an argument out of whole cloth.' She continued, 'He feels that he should be able to defend himself. Everybody says "no grievance too large or too small," but that's just the way he feels: that there's a way to settle the score.' "

It's all fine because this is "the way he feels." This is enabling behavior of the worst kind, mouthing justifications for an abusive personality.

Then along comes the Access Hollywood tape. She would not do the Sunday shows herself this weekend to defend Trump's boasts about sexual assault. Conscience will not intrude, however, for very long; she's back raring to go after the second debate. "My initial reaction was very close to what Melania Trump said. I was offended and I think the language is offensive and disgusting and I'm very happy that he apologized," she said on CNN. "I'm glad he holds himself accountable. Because I look at the full measure of people. What they've said, what they've done, Dana, how they deal with adversity that comes to them." Holds himself accountable by insisting it's "locker-room talk"?

She makes a good point, though, about taking the full measure of people. What's the full measure of Trump, a serial adulterer? Trump bragged about adultery while married to his adult children's mother (teens at the time). He talked about his daughter in gross, sexualized terms. He calls women every name in the book.

He reportedly used the Miss Universe pageant as his personal playpen. He liked to walk in on naked women and, yes, fondle them ("He'd hug you just a little low on your back").

USA Today reports that "an ongoing USA TODAY investigation of Trump's 4,000-plus lawsuits shows that he and his companies have been accused for years of mistreating women. Allegations outlined in at least 20 separate lawsuits accuse Trump and managers at his companies of discriminating against women, ignoring sexual harassment complaints and even participating in the harassment themselves."

After the second debate, Conway - with all that in plain view - is back excusing, enabling and taking postmodernist campaigning to a whole new level. (She once infamously said that "a lie would mean that he knew" what he was saying was false.)

Conway says Trump has always acted like a gentleman with her - so it's all good. The "Mirrors" ad, however, should remind us all that the women Trump and/or his executives mauled, insulted, fired and harassed are other people's daughters, sisters, mothers, girlfriends, colleagues, etc. Conway, aside from the moral implications of her conduct, has failed miserably in her announced specialty. She will have to reconcile her conduct with her faith and with her role as a parent of four.

We can grade her professional performance, however. Trump is in a class by himself in alienating women - by the tens of millions. And she has been by his side and on TV spinning, excusing and rationalizing it all. Women will turn out and vote Democratic this year in droves, some for the first time in their lives because the Republican Party has welcomed with open arms someone as depraved as Trump. It's a fitting capstone to her career: Helped make the GOP the most misogynistic party ever.

(c) 2016, The Washington Post
1campaign.JPG

(Maddie McGarvey/Getty Images)

By Jonathan Bernstein

It'd be nice to be able to tell you how this craziest week of a crazy campaign will affect the final vote totals on Nov. 8.

But I can't. Neither can anyone else. We'd be bluffing if we claimed we could.

Normally, the job of political scientists like me is to caution everyone that the latest gaffe or political ad or campaign event won't matter on Election Day. This was the gist of what I wrote a week ago: I suggested that most polling swings back and forth over the last few months have probably been illusions, and that there was a good chance Hillary Clinton has had a lead of 4 to 6 percentage points throughout.

It's what political scientist Matthew Dickinson said on Sunday in response to the "Access Hollywood" tape of Donald Trump bragging about sexual assault: "Count me as one who thinks that Trump's 'latest' comments (made in 2005) - as reprehensible as they are - are unlikely to have nearly the impact on this race that the pundits claim."

But what has happened since the release of the Trump tape changes the equation. Dozens of GOP elected officials and other high-visibility Republicans are abandoning their nominee, and Trump is now publicly slamming House Speaker Paul Ryan and others in the party for disavowing him.

Since nothing remotely like this kind of party split has happened in the modern era of public polling, we have no idea how it will affect voter choice and turnout. All we can say is that it certainly might matter.

Yes, partisanship is strong for many voters. It overwhelms a lot. But the Republican Party is now in a public fight over what real Republicans should do. This means voters are cross-pressured. The cue of partisanship no longer tells them what to do.

Of course, when push comes to shove, most Republican voters will back the nominee. And pundits will say, accurately, that many Republican voters hate their party's "establishment," so they'll side with Trump.

But "most" isn't enough. It would have an enormous effect if 1 in 20 people who would normally vote Republican switch to Gary Johnson, the Libertarian candidate, or to independent Evan McMullin; or write in Mike Pence or some other party leader's name, or just stay home. For every Republican who actually votes for Clinton, the impact is double.

And while we know how strong partisanship is in normal elections, we also know that it's at least possible for voters to follow the lead of those in their party's elite who break with an unappealing candidate. This is what happened to Missouri Republican Todd Akin in his 2012 Senate bid after his remarks about "legitimate rape" caused outrage. Many in the party's elite dumped him -- and Akin wound up losing 55 percent to 39 percent in a state that leans Republican.

This is not to predict that Trump is headed for a double-digit loss. All we can say is that he was almost certainly losing before the latest round of craziness began; that a Republican civil war is unlikely to help him; and that he could be harmed by it, to an extent we can't even speculate on yet.

Bernstein is a Bloomberg View columnist covering U.S. politics.

For more columns from Bloomberg View, visit http://www.bloomberg.com/view.

(c) 2016, Bloomberg View
1northkorea.JPG

In this Thursday, Sept. 15, 2016, file photo, North Korean defectors prepare to release balloons carrying leaflets and a banner denouncing North Korean leader Kim Jong Un for North Korea's latest nuclear test, in Paju, near the border with North Korea, South Korea.

(AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

By David Ignatius

SEOUL -- Watching Donald Trump skulking behind Hillary Clinton on the debate stage Sunday night, muttering about locking her up if he wins, was a reminder that we are drifting toward a kind of bullyboy-world, where power is everything.

You see this coarsening climate of relations around the globe, in the debasement of the norms that make civilized life possible. Dictators push the limits of power in new ways almost daily: China brazenly builds military bases on disputed rocks and sand in the South China Sea and dares anyone to stop them; Russia pillages America's political system and baldly denies it, just as it denies connivance in the shoot-down of a civilian airliner over Ukraine and the bombing of a humanitarian aid convoy in Syria, Meanwhile, our own Middle East "ally" Saudi Arabia, bombs a funeral, yes, a funeral, in Yemen.

The leading bullyboy in this part of the world is North Korean Leader Kim Jong-un. His regime is a calculated act of defiance. He terrorizes his population, shoots his relatives and governs his nation as if by whim. Yet this crackpot dictator is about to become a full-fledged nuclear power, after bomb and missile tests last month that bring him to the threshold of targeting U.S. territory with a nuclear attack.

Historians will have to decide whether Barack Obama's presidency encouraged this fraying of limits. For all his decency, Obama conveyed a sense that you could defy America and its cherished "rules-based order" and get away with it. His slowly unfolding but decisive use of power against the Islamic State may partially reverse that reputation.

Even if Obama had been as implacable as President Andrew "Old Hickory" Jackson, the probing and testing of America that always accompanies our transitions of power would already have begun. That's part of what we're seeing now -- the bullies giving America a shove -- and the process will increase as we move toward Inauguration Day and after.

The Korean peninsula is the place where the tests may come early. North Korea likes to get ahead of any new administration by baring its teeth. The recent nuclear and missile tests are a statement of Pyongyang's basic calculus: Keep pushing and the world will back off and decide that the cost of stopping North Korea is too steep: Pyongyang will get away with its proliferation, just as Pakistan did.

Dealing with the world's bullies is complicated by having a wannabe member of the club running for president. How does the United States credibly reinforce the rules of behavior among nations when a leading U.S. presidential candidate proclaims his support for torture, religious discrimination, tax dodging and abusive sexual behavior? Comparing Trump to Vladimir Putin may be flattering Trump.

Rebuilding order in the world begins by telling the truth. That was the importance of Friday's blunt statement about Russia's political hacking by Director of National Intelligence James Clapper and Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson. They used undiplomatic language: "The U.S. Intelligence Community is confident that the Russian Government directed the recent compromises of emails from . U.S. political organizations. . We believe, based on the scope and sensitivity of these efforts, that only Russia's senior-most officials could have authorized these activities."

Having named and shamed Russia, what's the U.S. going to do about it? The Obama administration wisely answered that some of America's response will be visible, and some of it won't. The U.S. has vastly more power than we normally employ. Let Russia do the worrying for a while. As in the old playground admonition about bullies, don't get mad, get even.

We should admit that the might-makes-right process infects the U.S., too, and I don't just mean Trump's nastiness toward women, Latinos, Muslims and others who stand in his way. We have become in many ways a meaner, less-confident, less-generous country. Our use of drones as silent assassins has unfortunately been an object lesson for the rest of the world. We have far from clean hands.

Americans who want a more orderly, rules-based world should also recognize that bullying is a particularly American disease, and not just on the playground. A recent study called "Adult Bullying -- A Nasty Piece of Work" by Pamela Lutgen-Sandvik, an associate professor at North Dakota State University, found that nearly 40 percent of U.S. workers have been bullied, and that this rate is 20 percent to 50 percent higher than that in Scandinavian countries surveyed.

The 2016 presidential election is about the candidates, of course. But it's also about the electorate. If we are the nation that elects Donald Trump, we will own that fact -- and bear that scar -- through our history.

David Ignatius' email address is davidignatius@washpost.com.

(c) 2016, Washington Post Writers Group
Ryan Payne, one of the 26 people indicted on a federal conspiracy charge stemming from the seizure of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, wants to withdraw his guilty plea in the case, according to his lawyer.

Payne, who also faces a federal indictment in Nevada stemming from the 2014 standoff with federal officers near the Bundy Ranch in Bunkerville, had entered a guilty plea in the Oregon case in July, based on a global offer that was pending in the Nevada case.

But his assistant federal public defender said an agreement in the Nevada case hasn't been reached. As a result, Payne, 33, wishes to withdraw his guilty plea in the Oregon case and seek a jury trial, according to new court filings.

"As of the date of this filing, no agreement has been reached and there is no plea offer still available to Mr. Payne in Nevada,'' wrote attorney Rich Federico in a motion to withdraw the guilty plea. He filed the motion in U.S. District Court in Portland late Tuesday.

Prosecutors said Payne made ultimatums to Harney County Sheriff Dave Ward in November, seeking to prevent Harney County ranchers Dwight Hammond Jr. and son Steven Hammond from returning to federal prison on arson convictions, and led tactical training during the occupation of the Malheur refuge. In Nevada, he's accused of organizing "armed protection'' in the 2014 standoff over the impounding of rancher Cliven Bundy's cattle.

According to court records, the government is opposed to Payne withdrawing his guilty plea in the Malheur case.

He pleaded guilty to the federal charge of conspiracy in Oregon, and a second count, possession of firearms in a federal facility, was dismissed, under the negotiated plea. The Oregon sentence was to run concurrently with his Nevada sentence.

Under an offer then pending in the Nevada case, Payne would have pleaded guilty to three charges, including the use and carrying of a firearm in a crime of violence -- a count that brings a mandatory minimum sentence of seven years. Prosecutors there were going to recommend a 12-year sentence, but Payne could argue for seven years, according to prosecutors and his lawyers.

On the date Payne signed the Oregon plea agreement, he wasn't fully aware of the specifics of the Nevada plea offer -- still "only in a draft format,'' Federico wrote in his motion.

"Notably, the entire 'statement of facts' section of the Nevada plea offer had been left blank. When Mr. Payne arrived in Nevada, he was only then provided a 'statement of facts' that Nevada prosecutors demanded he agree to in order to secure the deal,'' Federico wrote. "On the date he entered a guilty plea in Oregon, had Mr. Payne known all the terms of the deal in Nevada, he would not have signed the deal in Oregon. ''

Federico also argued that Payne was given only a day to accept the Oregon plea deal and took it largely to reduce his risk of potential prison time in the Nevada case.

"Mr. Payne felt the pressure of 'massive' sentencing exposure in the Nevada case in particular,'' if he didn't take the plea in July, his attorney said.

"However, fairness and justice dictate that once relieved of the time pressures and having more time to reflect upon the Nevada case, Mr. Payne is in a much better position today to make an informed decision regarding his legal options in both districts,'' Federico said.

The breakdown of negotiations in Nevada, coupled with evidence in the ongoing trial of seven co-defendants that bolsters Payne's argument that the occupiers' intent was non-violent, should allow the withdrawal of Payne's guilty plea in Oregon, his attorney argues.

Federico referenced a video that prosecutors played showing Payne explaining to a group of men gathered in the refuge bunkhouse why they took over the refuge and that their intentions were peaceful. Payne also was unaware at his plea hearing that Mark McConnell and others were informants for the federal government, which was disclosed during trial.

"Had Mr. Payne and his counsel been aware of this basis for impeachment of the government's potential witnesses, they could have evaluated the strength of the government's case differently,'' Federico wrote.

Federico also pointed to his client's responses to U.S. District Judge Anna J. Brown during his plea hearing, noting how "equivocal'' Payne was, indicating he had "serious misgivings and reservations.''

Asked if he had impeded federal employees using intimidation, threats or force, for example, Payne told the court, "I have come to understand that folks who were -- who work for the government, that that Constitution ordained, perceived my actions as threatening or intimidating."

The deal, he noted, was offered before jurors reached a verdict in his co-defendants' trial, providing no "preview'' on how they would weigh evidence in the case.

The federal trial in the Nevada case is scheduled for February. Payne's sentencing in the Oregon case had been set over until February.

-- Maxine Bernstein

mbernstein@oregonian.com

503-221-8212

@maxoregonian
shawnacox.jpg

Shawna Cox, pictured here speaking during the armed takeover of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge. (Beth Nakamura)

Updated 5:45 p.m.

Oregon standoff defendant Shawna Cox testified Thursday that she didn't emerge immediately from Robert "LaVoy" Finicum's truck when police stopped them Jan. 26 on U.S. 395 because she was afraid of getting shot.

Cox, the fourth of seven defendants to take the stand in the federal conspiracy trial, became emotional as her standby lawyer Tiffany Harris played the video that Cox took of the felony traffic stop as she sat in the back seat.

Harris showed the footage after the judge cautioned that it could be "quite prejudicial'' to both Cox and co-defendant Ryan Bundy with the risk of "underscoring to the jury that the defendants pick and choose which laws they want to follow.'' The video captured Cox telling Finicum to "gun it, gun it'' as he sped away from officers at the initial stop.

That day, authorities tried to stop Finicum's truck and a Jeep with Ammon Bundy as they headed away from their occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge near Burns to a community meeting in John Day.

Ammon Bundy surrendered immediately along with his bodyguard, Brian Cavalier. Ryan Payne, another organizer of the occupation who was in the front passenger seat of Finicum's truck, got out before Finicum drove off.

Finicum, the refuge takeover's spokesman, ended up crashing into a snowbank at a roadblock up the highway and was fatally shot by state police after he got out. Police said Fincium reached three times for the inside of his jacket, where he had a loaded 9mm handgun.

Just before they were first stopped, Cox said she noticed a line of unmarked cars to the right as they were driving north on the highway and then saw flashing lights. She said she heard Payne remark, "It's a setup'' and Finicum say, "It's an ambush.''

Once Finicum stopped the truck, she said, Payne rolled down his window and thrust both of his hands out, his palms showing. Suddenly, she testified, she saw a red laser and heard a shot.

"He jumped back in. That freaked us out. It was very frightening,'' Cox said. "It made no sense to me.''

Payne eventually stepped out of the truck and yelled there were women inside. Officers at the scene said the women should come out, Cox testified.

Asked by her standby lawyer why she didn't leave then, Cox said she asked Victoria Sharp, who was sitting next to her in the back seat, what she wanted to do.

"She said, 'I'm not getting out. They just shot at us.' I'm not going out either,'' Cox testified. "I have a lot of children and my maternal instinct is to protect them. I wasn't about to leave her in that vehicle.''

Cox said she was perplexed why no officers approached Finicum's driver's window and asked for his license or explained the reason for the stop.

Harris asked, "Have you ever before in your life contemplated driving away from an officer?''

"Never,'' Cox responded.

Of Finicum's truck, Cox said, "That was our secure spot. We were afraid to get out. ... We felt like we were pinned down. We felt like we were going to all be killed. In fact, we were sure we were all in a death trap.''

Co-defendant Kenneth Medenbach stood to ask Cox a question but was quickly shut down by U.S. District Judge Anna J. Brown. He began: "Are you aware the jury has power to weigh ...''

"Stop!'' the judge demanded. "I'm not going to let a defendant ask any questions about jury nullification.''

"And the corruption continues,'' Medenbach added. The judge asked if he had any other questions to ask, and he didn't.

During a brief cross-examination, Assistant U.S. Attorney Craig Gabriel stopped the video that Cox took and showed a screenshot of Ryan Bundy, who was in the back left side passenger seat of Finicum's truck, holding a revolver in his right hand as he hunkered down.

Gabriel asked Cox if her video was a fair and accurate representation of what took place. She said yes.

And, in fact, Ryan Bundy had a revolver, Gabriel pointed out.

"I have no idea,'' Cox said. "I never saw a gun.''

Gabriel also noted that Payne, who was in the front seat of Finicum's truck before Finicum drove off from the initial, got out of the truck after a less-lethal round shot struck the vehicle.

"I heard a metal on metal ping. I have no idea,'' Cox said, regarding the round.

"Once they announced it was the Oregon State Police, you knew it was the Oregon State Police, right Ms. Cox?'' Gabriel asked.

Cox had testified during direct examination that she didn't know if they were really the police.

"You didn't accept their invitation to get out of the car, right?'' Gabriel asked.

"Yes,'' Cox responded.

Earlier Thursday, former Arizona Sheriff Richard Mack, who serves as president of the Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association, testified that Ammon Bundy asked him to call Harney County Sheriff Dave Ward about three to four weeks before the refuge takeover.

Mack did, urging Ward to "put the federal government on notice he was in charge of the Hammonds.'' The Hammonds are father-and-son ranchers who were set to return to federal prison to serve out a mandatory minimum sentence for arson to federal lands.

"I asked him if he thought the Hammonds should go to prison and he said no,'' Mack testified. The judge told jurors to disregard his answer, sustaining a hearsay objection.

Mack said he participated in a Jan. 2 march and rally for the Hammonds in Burns but never went to the wildlife refuge. In fact, he testified under questioning by Ammon Bundy's lawyer Marcus Mumford, that he thought the refuge occupation was a bad idea.

"I felt it was a misguided protest,'' Mack said. "I told him somebody was going to get hurt, and he needed to get out of there. I kept telling him this was not going to have a happy ending, and I was very fearful for his safety and the other occupants. I knew he was a good man and I just prayed for him and his family.''

Mack also testified that he was surprised Sheriff Ward didn't arrest Ammon Bundy when the two met on a rural road outside the refuge on Jan. 7. "I thought it was derelict of duty,'' Mack said, but the judge struck that answer as well.

Questioned about who serves as the top law enforcement officer, Mack said, "It's the sheriff. Always has been.''

During cross-examination, Assistant U.S. Attorney Ethan Knight asked if Ammon Bundy ever mentioned adverse possession to Mack as one of his reasons for occupying the refuge. "He may have, but I don't remember what that is,'' Mack said.

A former FBI agent, Charles Stephenson, also testified for the defense, saying that most of the weapons he saw pictured in photos from the refuge occupation appeared to be in an "at rest, secure'' and non-threatening position. But he acknowledged that drawing a conclusion about someone's intent based on a "frozen'' moment in time without knowing the "totality of the circumstances,'' is impossible.

"Would it matter if a person were to carry a firearm in a place where they had no lawful right to be?'' asked Assistant U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Barrow.

"Yes,'' Stephenson replied.

During a break, the judge admonished Ammon Bundy's other lawyer, J. Morgan Philpot, when he argued to call a witness, citing her gender, and noting that most of the 12 jurors are female.

"Do not go there,'' Brown declared. "You are not going to draw an inference about the gender of a juror. ... It's highly inappropriate to focus on gender, race or sexual orientation. That's just flat out wrong.''

Later, Philpot said outside of court that it was the judge who had prohibited them from calling many of their female witnesses, on one basis or another.

Other defense testimony Thursday included:

-- Fields resident Rebecca Kingen, who visited the refuge on Jan. 7, and brought her son Monte, now 12 years old, to interview Ryan Bundy for his school newspaper. Asked why she brought her son, Kingen testified tearfully, "It could be a way to show they are just like we are.''

Kingen said she didn't feel any danger at the refuge and brought her daughter, now 8, as well with her on the January visit.

Ryan Bundy presented a copy of the article that Kingen's son wrote for his school paper called The Desert Rat under the headline, "The Bundy Family Makes a Stand at Malheur National Wildlife Refuge.''

-- Russel "Rusty" Hammond, the son of Harney County rancher Dwight Hammond Jr. and brother to rancher Steven Hammond. He testified briefly that he met Ammon Bundy for the first time on Dec. 15. He said Bundy told him that he was in Burns "to bring attention to what was happening to my father and brother and what was happening to our country with federal overreach.''

He also confirmed that his family has been threatened because of their contact with Ammon Bundy. He didn't identify by whom.

-- Diane Marie Holthaus, of Idaho, who visited the refuge twice, including a week stay from Jan. 10 through 17. She said she mostly spent her time cooking and cleaning. She testified that Neil Wampler told her he was at the refuge to protest "the injustices against the Hammonds'' and never talked about wanting to prevent federal employees from doing their work at the refuge.

-- Maxine Bernstein

mbernstein@oregonian.com

503-221-8212

@maxoregonian
Lane Toney Vernon.jpg

From left: Jesse Allen Lane, 28, of Medford, Stephanie Toney, 20, of St. Helens and Charles William Vernon, 29, of St. Helens were indicted by a Columbia County grand jury Oct. 13, 2016 in connection with the killing of Apache Hightower, 24, of Portland on Sept. 20, 2016.

(Columbia County Sheriff's Office)

A trio is accused of kidnapping, torturing and killing a Portland woman in connection to her role as a witness in a criminal case against a former boyfriend, according to court records and the Columbia County sheriff.

A grand jury on Thursday indicted the former boyfriend and two others on aggravated murder charges in the killing of Apache Rose Hightower, 24, according to court records. The sheriff said he didn't know of any ties between Hightower and the other two suspects "until around the date of the homicide."

Hightower's body was discovered Sept. 20 off rural Pittsburg Road about a mile from Salmonberry Reservoir in Columbia County. The Sheriff's Office investigation led to the indictments of Jesse Allen Lane, 28, of Medford, Charles William Vernon, 29, of St. Helens and Stephanie Toney, 20, of St. Helens.

"This incident is so sad for the needless loss of life and the tremendous sorrow for Ms. Hightower's family," Columbia County Sheriff Jeff Dickerson said in a news release, "but I am extremely proud of the way investigators doggedly stayed on top of this case to produce this relatively quick result."

Lane and Vernon appear to have met in prison, and Vernon said in court Thursday that Toney is his fiancee, Dickerson said in an email. He said the couple was previously being held in jail on unrelated charges. The couple will remain jailed.

Police in Santa Barbara, California, arrested Lane on Sept. 29 on an unrelated parole violation, and he was later extradited to Oregon.

Apache Rose Hightower

According to court records, a grand jury charged Lane with four counts of aggravated murder, two counts of murder, two counts of first-degree kidnapping, felon in possession of a firearm, hindering prosecution and strangulation.

According to Lane's indictment, he caused the death of Hightower, "who was a witness in a criminal proceeding, the death being related to the performance" of her duties in the justice system. That criminal case is out of Jackson County, authorities said.

Vernon was charged with three counts of aggravated murder, two counts of murder, two counts of first-degree kidnapping, felon in possession of a firearm, hindering prosecution and strangulation.

The indictment accuses Lane and Vernon of "intentional maiming or torture" of Hightower.

Toney faces two counts of aggravated murder, two counts of murder, two counts of first-degree kidnapping and two counts of hindering prosecution and strangulation. The indictment accuses her of an "effort to conceal" Hightower's kidnapping and cause of death as well as hindering the apprehension of Lane and Vernon.

If convicted of aggravated murder, the suspects could face the death penalty.

Steve Atchison, Columbia County District Attorney, said the suspects were indicted on multiple murder and aggravated murder counts because when laws can be broken in multiple ways, each alleged violation of the law must be separately stated in a suspect's indictment.

Toney pleaded not guilty Oct. 3 to delivery and possession of methamphetamine, obliterating or changing the identification number on a firearm, and unlawful possession of a firearm charges. That activity happened about Aug. 10, court records show.

Vernon's criminal record includes convictions for sex abuse and unlawful delivery of marijuana for consideration, court records show.

Lane's criminal record includes burglary, criminal mischief and identity theft convictions, according to court records.

The Sheriff's Office received help from multiple agencies, including the U.S. Marshal's Office, the FBI, the Oregon State Police Forensic Laboratory and other police agencies.

-- Tony Hernandez and Jim Ryan

thernandez@oregonian.com; jryan@oregonian.com
Screen Shot 2016-10-12 at 2.40.59 PM.png

Thomas Harry Bray, now 42, is serving a 25-year prison sentence for rape and other crimes. (Deschutes County Jail)

The Oregon Court of Appeals ruled Wednesday that the right of a man convicted of rape to defend himself outweighs the privacy right of his accuser to keep the contents of her computer hard drive secret.

The decision could have wide implications, paving the way for defendants charged with a variety of crimes to gain access to emails, Google searches, texts and other information contained on an alleged victim's computer or cellphone.

A higher court in Oregon has never before made such a finding, said Portland defense attorney Stephen Houze, who represented the man in the rape case. It puts computer and cellphone evidence on par with other types of evidence now accessible to defendants, such as photographs or letters, he said.

The Appeals Court ruled that a 25-year-old woman who reported that she was beaten and raped in 2011 by a 37-year-old Bend doctor must turn over her computer hard drive to a forensic expert to comb through for information that could help exonerate the doctor.

A Deschutes County Circuit judge will privately review the information, then decide whether any evidence found on the hard drive should be given to the defense.

If significant evidence is found, the judge could grant defendant Thomas Harry Bray a new trial, Houze said.

Bray was convicted in 2012 after an eight-day trial. The woman testified that her first date via Match.com with the doctor went horribly wrong moments after she stepped into Bray's downtown condo for a glass of wine. She told a jury that Bray slapped, raped, sodomized and strangled her until she passed out. She said she thought she was going to die, so she took strands of hair that Bray had pulled from her head and scattered them around the condo in hopes that police investigating her disappearance would know she was there.

Bray is now serving a 25-year prison sentence in a Umatilla prison.

The woman's fight to keep Bray from seeing her Google search records, emails and other electronic information landed her in the national spotlight as The Oregonian/OregonLive featured her story and she later appeared on NBC's "Today" show. Victims' rights advocates applauded her for her courage.

Houze, the attorney who represented Bray during trial, had sought access to the woman's Google search records -- the terms she had queried and the websites she had visited -- in an effort to question her motives.

Houze contended that the woman searched the internet to determine whether Bray was really a doctor "and therefore wealthy enough to falsely sue for rape," according to the Appeals Court summary of the case.

The woman had filed a $2 million civil suit against Bray, but dropped it after he was convicted. She said she filed the lawsuit to hold Bray accountable if he had been acquitted.

The prosecution argued that allowing a computer search would violate the woman's constitutional privacy rights as an unreasonable search and seizure.

Deschutes County Circuit Judge Stephen Tiktin agreed that the woman's hard drive shouldn't be searched. But the Court of Appeals overturned that decision.

It would have ruled differently if Bray "had sought unlimited access to the contents" of the woman's computer, the court said, but Bray's subpoena was narrow and sought a screening by a judge.

The Appeals Court likened the Bend rape case to that of someone charged with home burglary.

"He knows that the interior of the victim's home is protected by video surveillance cameras," the Appeals Court wrote. "To prove that another person, not the defendant, committed the burglary, the defendant subpoenas the videotape" under the condition that a technician screens it for information and a judge determines if segments should be given to the defense.

The Appeals Court wrote that prosecutors would oppose the review of the video, arguing that it violates the victim's privacy rights to the inside of their home. But such an argument is "untenable," the court wrote.

The Deschutes County District Attorney's Office couldn't be reached for comment for this story Wednesday.

In the same ruling, the Appeals Court affirmed the lower court's decision not to throw out the criminal charges against Bray based on the argument that the district attorney's office had committed misconduct.

Judges Stephen Tiktin and A. Michael Adler initially had ordered the District Attorney's Office to get the woman's search history from Google. But the prosecution strongly disagreed based on the woman's privacy interests and defied that order with delays and refusals to act for months, according to the Appeals Court summary.

The Appeals Court said no error occurred because the lower court ultimately decided that it didn't have the legal authority to order the prosecution to seek the Google records.

The Appeals Court, however, issued a scathing rebuke, to the prosecution.

"We find the state's conduct at trial to be seriously disturbing," wrote Appeals Court Senior Judge David Schuman. "Its 'lack of good faith' with respect to obtaining the Google information was significantly worse than foot-dragging, delay and resistance. It was repeated, intentional and conceded defiance of a court order. Such defiance is nothing short of an attack on the judicial system itself."

The ruling was made by a three-judge panel of the Appeals Court: Joel DeVore, Chris Garrett and David Schuman.

Read the opinion here.

-- Aimee Green

503-294-5119
grantspass.JPG

The Oregon Department of Transportation said Thursday morning that U.S. 199 -- "The Parkway" -- between F and M Streets in Grants Pass was closed Thursday morning as authorities investigated an officer-involved shooting. (Photo reprinted by permission of KDRV-TV, Newswatch 12, Medford)

Updated at 3:53 p.m. with new information

Grants Pass police shot and killed a man Thursday morning who had been driving erratically and had a knife, said Bill Landis, Grants Pass public safety director.

Landis, who led a news conference at Grants Pass City Hall, said several 911 calls about an SUV driving erratically preceded the traffic stop that led to the shooting. He said shots were fired about a half hour after the incident began.

Landis said the driver, whom he did not identify, had a knife. He said officers attempted to negotiate with the driver after he left his vehicle. Officers used a taser and less-than-lethal rounds before shots were fired.

He did not identify the officers and did not say how many shots were fired. The Oregon State Police is taking the lead on the investigation, he said.

Part of U.S. 199 in Grants Pass was closed while police investigated.

U.S. 199, known as "The Parkway," was closed between F and M streets "at the request of law enforcement due to an officer involved shooting." It was opened by 3:45 p.m.

Jaymee Zilembo arrived at her job at Parkway Christian Center, 229 N.E. Beacon Drive, to find the nearby street closed.

Zilembo and co-workers had heard only second-hand information about the incident.

"We're curious to see what happened," Zilembo said. "It's definitely a surprise to have that actually going on. That's not something that's too common."

-- Allan Brettman

503-294-5900

@allanbrettman
The search continues for a person of interest in the homicide of a 37-year-old Vancouver woman after police found a truck in Beaverton and searched a home nearby, according to a Yamhill County Sheriff's Office.

A group of people found the body of Lilia Cosco-Ortiz on Oct. 2 outside Lafayette, a rural community in the county, and investigators later announced they were searching for Victor Melcher Villalba, as a person of interest. They also announced the search for a 2003 Toyota Tacoma pickup truck that investigators believed he drove.

That truck was found Tuesday near Southwest 170th Avenue and Merlo Road in Beaverton, the Sheriff's Office said in a news release. Detectives have begun a forensic examination.

Early Wednesday morning, detectives used a search warrant to examine an unidentified home near the pickup truck's location. Villalba was not found at the home.

Police say Villalba also goes by the name of Victor Bello Rojas. Anyone who may come in contact with him is asked to call 911.

No other details were released in Wednesday night's update from the Sheriff's Office. It's unclear the connection between Villalba and Cosco-Ortiz.

She was last leaving her home in Vancouver for the Oregon coast Oct. 1, and her family reported her missing the following day when she didn't return, Yamhill County District Attorney Brad Berry had said.

Authorities found her body in an agricultural field outside the rural Yamhill County community, the Sheriff's Office said previously. The state medical examiner determined she died from homicidal violence.

Sheriff's officials ask that anyone with information about the case contact Detective Justin Brester at bresterj@co.yamhill.or.us or 503-434-7506.

-- Tony Hernandez

thernandez@oregonian.com

503-294-5928

@tonyhreports
lightbar

A Vancouver resident died in a car crash south of Roseburg on Wednesday, the Oregon State Police said.

(The Oregonian/File)

A Vancouver man died Wednesday in a car crash south of Roseburg, the Oregon State Police said.

Emergency crews responded to a single-car rollover crash about 2:15 a.m. on northbound Interstate 5. Troopers learned a 2000 Mercedes SUV drifted onto the shoulder before rolling several times, according to a news release.

Edgar Rangle Rivera, 36, was ejected from the vehicle driven by Veronica Guillem Perez, 34, of Vancouver, police said. Rivera was pronounced dead at the scene. Perez and two child passengers were rushed to a hospital but are expected to survive.

No other information was released. This post will be updated as news develops.

-- Tony Hernandez

thernandez@oregonian.com

503-294-5928

@tonyhreports
DISENROLLMENT Behind Sovereign Immunity Deserves YOUR Condemnation.

The Right to Abuse Doesn't Make Abuse Right
City leaders are pursuing a pilot program that would change streetlights at the Ashman, Rodd and McDonald intersections in downtown Midland to flashing red and eventually four-way stops in an effort to gauge parts of the proposed $9.5 million streetscape project.

Midland City Manager Jon Lynch said he spoke with traffic engineers Wednesday about the process. It would roll out in two steps. Traffic lights would first be changed to flash red at intersections with temporary stop signs erected. Tape would mark off the left turn lanes to emulate part of the streetscape that axes turn lanes on Main Street.

That phase would last about a week. Then, traffic lights would be turned off with the intersections transitioning to four-way stops, marked by stop signs.

The city plans to start the process by the first week of November.

A 60-day analysis will show metrics like the number of vehicles, average delays and safety variables for both traffic and pedestrian travel  the results of which will influence the final streetscape design, Lynch said.

It will also show whether there is illegal pedestrian movement through the intersection, he said.

Plans for the redesign are catered to pedestrian use. When traffic signals are brought to the ground, such as making a switch from lights to stop signs, drivers eyes process different cues closer to street level where pedestrians are, according to Lynch.

Were hoping to get communication related to all this out either the last week of this month or the first week of November, he said.

The idea surfaced at a council meeting Monday, when Councilman Steve Arnosky said it would give real-time data of motorist and pedestrian behavior.

I think it shows were listening to the community  to get real data on this, Arnosky said.

City Engineer Brian McManus said he spoke with traffic engineers Monday, who said installing all-way stops at the intersections is doable. The process he outlined started with four-way red flashing lights, which would eventually be turned off and transitioned to a four-way stop with signs indefinitely.

Mayor Maureen Donker acknowledged some people will like the change and others wont, but contended, I dont think its going to clear anything up. She said she did not oppose the idea, but that it may not give council a clear answer on whether the change would be right or wrong for the intersections.

Lynch said he doesnt think the changeover will cause delay in the streetscape process, for which city council is scheduled to receive a final recommendation on Monday, Oct. 24.

Until a traffic engineer tells me otherwise, there is really no downside to this, he said.

Council also considered opening a topic for the plan on E-CityHall. Its unclear whether that would be rolled out before, during or after the traffic control changes, as Lynch said officials will talk about how to distribute information, either by press release, a publication on the citys website or social media channels, Midland Government Television (MGTV) or a combination.
A cable bill for a Chicago address tipped off a Midland Township woman that her identity had been stolen, the Midland County Sheriffs Office reports.

The victim, age 37, spoke with deputies Wednesday morning at the Midland Law Enforcement Center. She said she recently received a collection notice for $315.37 from an unpaid ComCast cable bill out of Chicago, a media log entry states.
United States Air Force fire prevention specialists gathered with Filipino military and civilian fire professionals for an information sharing session on the fire-specific aspects of the C-130 as part of the current iteration of the Air Contingent here Oct. 3.

The Air Contingent helps build the capacity of the Philippine Air Force and increases joint training, promotes interoperability and provides greater and more transparent air and maritime situational awareness to ensure safety for military and civilian activities in international waters and airspace. Its missions include air and maritime domain awareness, personnel recovery, combating piracy, and assuring access to the air and maritime domains in accordance with international law.

During the fire subject matter expert exchange, U.S. and Filipino firefighters discussed C-130 egress procedures, emergency shut-off switches, engine fire eradication and manual engine shutdown procedures from within the aircraft.

This particular engagement was unique both for its impromptu nature as well as its ability to allow Philippine Air Force professionals the ability to get hands-on with the C-130, a job normally reserved for civilian Federal Aviation Administration firefighters, their Filipino civilian firefighter counterparts.

Upon arrival here, we made contact with our Philippine Air Force counterparts as part of our duties with the Air Contingent and found out they dont respond to aircraft fires; their flightline here is controlled by FAA firefighters, said U.S. Air Force Tech. Sgt. Devin Blue, 18th Expeditionary Airlift Squadron fire protection specialist.

So after reaching out to the FAA folks, we found out they dont get to tour the C-130, so we took the chance to invite them out, put our heads together and go over an aircraft to which theyve never been exposed.

Firefighters on the base near the large Philippine city of Cebu often train to respond to large commercial jet liners, but C-130s are not often the focus of their training, even though PAF C-130s are stationed here.

(This training) gave me a lot of knowledge, especially in regards to this specific aircraft, said Pherius Pino, an FAA firefighter at the airport. I would like to continue to explore this, not just this one, but other aircraft. Im thankful for the opportunity to familiarize with this aircraft and how to respond to it in case of fire.

The special nature of the exchange was felt by participants from both countries.

I think they appreciated it, Blue said. We made it our mission to get everybody together, and we all really enjoyed working together.

Im so glad (the U.S.) came here to share the importance of the aircraft if ever theres an incident, how to respond and what procedures to do, said Philippine Air Force Staff Sgt. Reymarlon Baring, 560th Base Operations noncommissioned officer. If there is similar training, its much better, because I know there are a lot of aircraft and its better to update the knowledge we know in the case of an emergency.

The deployment of the air contingent detachment is another example of how the United States and the Philippines are committed to maintaining credible combat power throughout the Indo-Asia Pacific region while the U.S. continues to work closely with the Philippines and our network of partner nations.
U.S. Air Force Defenders exchange tactics with Philippine Air Force members

U.S. Air Force Senior Airman Mikavion Hagood, 18th Expeditionary Airlift Squadron security forces member, discusses best practices to defend an airplane from an aggressor with his Philippine Air Force counterparts during a subject matter expert exchange as part of the current iteration of U.S. Pacific Commands Air Contingent at Brigadier General Benito N Ebuen Air Base, Lapu-Lapu City, Philippines, Oct. 3, 2016. The Air Contingent is helping build the capacity of the Philippine Air Force and increases joint training, promotes interoperability and provides greater and more transparent air and maritime situational awareness to ensure safety for military and civilian activities in international waters and airspace. Its missions include air and maritime domain awareness, personnel recovery, combating piracy, and assuring access to the air and maritime domains in accordance with international law. (U.S. Air Force photo by Capt. Mark Lazane)
Members of the 18th Air Expeditionary Squadron exchanged airdrop best practices with their Philippine Air Force counterparts here as part of U.S. Pacific Commands Air Contingent.

The focus of the exchange was low-cost, low-altitude airdrops, one of the signature tactical airlift skills for members of Yokota Air Bases 374th Airlift Wing.



LCLA bundle drops are the preferred airdrop method for most of the Pacific because it allows for rapid identification of an unknown drop zone and allows for recoverable drops into water and ground DZs, a constant need in the island-dotted Pacific where many of the worlds natural disasters take place.

LCLA airdrops are also beneficial to partner nations due to its low cost and ease of facilitation, as it involves used personnel parachutes and store-bought lumber.

Not every partner nation gets a chance to routinely practice airdrop capabilities, however.

Due to limited equipment, we are often only able to practice live airdrops for special events and exercises, said Philippine Air Force Staff Sgt. Claudio Toledo, Jr., a C-130 loadmaster. I am grateful for this exchange of best practices with our partners from the United States.

Even though we do airdrops here, it is always good to speak to our partners and discuss new things and new equipment.

Members of Team Yokota enthusiastically provided such an opportunity as they participated in an airdrop information exchange with their PAF counterparts.



During the exchange, PAF personnel were able to handle the bundles and ask subject matter experts detailed questions regarding their application.

(The PAF members) fly C-130s just like we do, so that helped exchange knowledge between our two countries, said U.S. Air Force Maj. Adam Boyd, a C-130 Hercules aircraft commander deployed to the 18th Expeditionary Airlift Squadron from the 36th Airlift Squadron, 374th Airlift Wing, Yokota Air Base, Japan. They do things a little different than we do and we were able to give our perspective on how we do low-level flying and air drops. I think its a good sharing of knowledge between countries with similar aircraft.

The PAF members were then invited to fly with members of the 18th Expeditionary Airlift Squadron to communicate best practices in dropping LCLA bundles to water DZs.

It feels great to see youve definitely had an impact, that youve actually discussed different techniques of LCLA with another PAF crew chief or loadmaster, said U.S. Air Force Senior Airman Gary Coe, a C-130 H loadmaster also deployed to the 18th EAS from Yokota Air Base, Japan. It was great to show how we do LCLA and if they can pass along the experience they had to other loadmasters to show them, it would be a win-win for both countries. I definitely enjoyed having the PAF loadmaster and crew chief in the back; it was a great experience.

The Air Contingent is helping to build the capacity of the Philippine Air Force and increase joint training, promote interoperability and provide greater and more transparent air and maritime situational awareness to ensure safety for military and civilian activities in international waters and airspace. Its missions include air and maritime domain awareness, personnel recovery, combating piracy, and assuring access to the air and maritime domains in accordance with international law.

These exchanges benefit the Philippines because it they were to decide to begin an LCLA program, they could use it to resupply their islands in case of a typhoon or other natural disaster, said Boyd. Weve had a really good exchange over the past two weeks. Weve really enjoyed flying with them and hope to continue the partnership we have today into the future.

The deployment of the air contingent detachment is another example of how the United States and the Philippines are committed to maintaining credible combat power throughout the Indo-Asia Pacific region while the U.S. continues to work closely with the Philippines and our network of partner nations.
LINCOLN  The karma is running well for the first-ever Lincoln Film Festival in Lincoln.

And why shouldn't it be?

It's been co-organized by an Oscar-winning director whose first cinematic life experience took place there.

"There" refers to the front rows of the original Lincoln Theatre on South Kickapoo Street, long before it expanded several times over, most recently into the Lincoln Grand 8 Theater, now owned and run by her best friend from high school.

"The first movie I ever saw was 'The Love Bug'," remembers Brenda Chapman, the Beason native whose cinematic education took place in downtown Lincoln, usually courtesy the latest Disney release ... such as that 1969 Disney hit about a super-hero VW named Herbie.

"I can still remember being there in that theater with its dome on top, and hearing the people whispering, sounding like they were talking right next to you," adds Chapman, who would grow up to win an Oscar for co-directing her own Disney movie, 2012's "Brave" (via the studio's Pixar arm).

"I couldn't have been more than 4 or 5," she adds.

Chapman's flashbacks are occurring just days before returning to the scene of her cinematic initiation as the co-founder of this weekend's inaugural Lincoln Film Festival.

That event opens Friday night with an aptly christened offering: "Lincoln," the Steven Spielberg-directed bio-pic with Daniel Day-Lewis, followed by a gala reception over at the Logan County Courthouse.

It's doubly apt, since Chapman made history as the first woman director of an animated feature 18 years ago via "The Prince of Egypt," produced by the studio Spielberg co-founded, DreamWorks SKG.

The festival continues Saturday and Sunday with an ambitious slate of close to 40 indie short and feature-length films from around the world and our own backyards screened over the two days.

Also on tap is a Disney festival of two films bearing Chapman's signature, 1994's "The Lion King" (as head of story) and "Brave," 2012's Best Animated Feature Oscar winner, for which she became the first woman director of an animated film to claim a gold statuette (shared with co-directors Mark Andrews and Steve Purcell; she also co-wrote the script).

Joining her for her homecoming is husband and fellow Disney director Kevin Lima, whose credits include both animated hits ("Tarzan") and live action favorites ("102 Dalmatians," "Enchanted," the latter being screened Saturday with Lima as host).

Indeed, as their union might suggest, there is still one MORE big "first" to add to the Chapman list (but, thankfully, she smiles, not gender-specific): Chapman and Lima are the first and, to date, last married couple in animation history to both have Disney directing credits.

In fact, animation directing credits with any studio.

Upping the "all in the family" vibe: The couple's daughter, Emma, who was born weeks after the release of "Prince of Egypt," provided the template for "Brave's" arrow-shooting princess heroine, Merida.

For Chapman, the urge to draw began "since I could hold a pencil," she recalled to GO! as "Prince of Egypt" was opening around the world in late 1998. It was a pastime her mother likely discovered if she ever examined the undersides of the Chapman home's furniture ... young Brenda's favorite place to leave her proto-artistic mark.

"Mainly people and animals ... I wasn't into landscapes much." Still, there is a particular apricot tree in Beason, in her back yard, she founding herself sketching over and over.

With her mother's encouragement and the support of teachers, Chapman continued her drawing through her grade school years and, later, in high scchool.

"We met at Lincoln Community High School, each of us coming from very small towns," recalls David G. Lanterman, native of equally tiny Broadwell, and now owner of the Lincoln Grand 8 Theatre, whose expansion from four to eight screens he presided over.

"There were many movies, card games and general fun times, even though Brenda had the earliest curfew among our tight group of friends," he adds.

"The summer I graduated from ISU, Brenda was accepted into Cal-Arts (California Institute of Arts). So we (over)loaded up her Ford Escort and did the cross-country camping trip."

Though their adult lives took them in different directions, "we've always stayed in touch and shared as much time together as life would allow. This film fest is really our first chance in 35 years to partner on a project."

Those 35 years for Chapman began in earnest in 1987, when her CalArts senior film project  "about a little old lady who is alone on her birthday and pulls herself out of the dumps by remembering a party she had when she was a little girl"  earned her a story trainee post at Disney.

Two years later, she notched her first Disney credit, assisting on elements of story construction and illustration on "The Little Mermaid," the watershed film that revitalized the studio's moribund animation tradition.

The rest is history, encompassing not only a long list of credits at Disney, but with DreamWorks ("Prince of Egypt"), Aardman Animation ("Chicken Run"), Pixar ("Brave") and, most recently, LucasFilm ("Strange Magic," for which she also voiced the character of "Imp").

"I've been very fortunate," she says of that broad range of studio experiences.

"What strikes me is that the work I do at each place gets me enough recognition that the next place wants me. It's really so much about me being in the right place at the right time, which started when the industry went through its second resurgence with 'The Little Mermaid' and 'Beauty and the Beast.' Good timing."

She's hoping her latest endeavor benefits from more of the same.

"I want to keep doing this," says Chapman of the festival she'd like to see become an annual affair. "But I don't want it to be viewed as just an animation festival; I want it to be seen a film festival."

Another benefit is the event reuniting her with her soul-mate from where it all began.

Plain and simple, "he's my best friend, " Chapman says of Lanterman. "He was best man at my wedding. Now David's trying to help make Lincoln become more successful by getting people to come in from the bigger towns around the area to our small businesses downtown ... and it's such a sweet downtown. I love it."

"This film festival really is our first chance in 35 years to partner on a project," says Lanterman. "And it's amazing to me that the movie theater where we spent so much time together as teenagers is where life's journey has brought us."
Paula Hawkins debut novel The Girl on the Train, is a story told through multiple points of view that takes on the malleable, fallible nature of memory through the tale of an alcoholic divorcee attempting to solve a crime through her own boozy blackouts.

In this mystery, Hawkins deftly illustrates how a single point of view might contain one truth, but is never really the whole truth.

In the film adaption, Emily Blunt plays Rachel, a broken, sad woman who rides the commuter train to and from New York City each day, dressed in a suit for a job she no longer has, sipping vodka from her water bottle and sometimes guzzling it from a martini glass.

Her daily pleasures are glimpses of the houses that slip by her window and the lives within.

One house contains her ex-husband, Tom (Justin Theroux), his new wife, Anna (Rebecca Ferguson), and their new baby; in the house next door, a sexy young couple, Megan (Haley Bennett) and Scott (Luke Evans), flaunt their passion.

One day, Rachel spots the female half of the couple with another man on her porch. Her envy and longing transform into a knowing rage.

Triggered by the betrayal, Rachel goes on a bender. She wakes up to a bloody head wound, the foggy memory of a quarrel with Tom, and a detective (Allison Janney) informing her about the disappearance of Megan, and what was she doing in the area that night?

Screenwriter Erin Cressida Wilson and director Tate Taylor have ably wrestled the book to the screen, maintaining Hawkins disparate voices, spread among the memories, inner monologues and subjectivities of three women  Rachel, Anna and Megan.

The perspectives of each character are distinct and discrete to each womans understanding of the events, demonstrating the way in which the truth can be blinkered to fit a unique reality.

Wilson brings themes that are latent in the book to the surface in the film, exposes them to the harsh light to make them visually, cinematically real. This necessarily sacrifices some nuance, though we remain rooted in Rachels faulty and unreliable subjectivity.

During confessional moments, Taylor utilizes woozy close-ups that bring an intimacy thats almost too close, unclear if were on the verge of a confrontation or a kiss.

Blunt is excellent as Rachel, a shell of a person drenched in vodka and self-loathing. But she can also be quite awkwardly funny, in her bumbling efforts to suss out her own memory, to isolate it from her drunken fantasies. Her voice modulates between a self-effacing whisper and a drunken, heavy slur.

Janney is fantastic as a salty police detective who doesnt buy a thing that Rachel is selling, and Bennett leans full tilt into the role of the coquettish sex kitten hiding a dark past and struggling with her own issues of addiction and deflection.

In The Girl on the Train, memory proves to be an elusive, fleeting entity, something that can be gained and lost in equal measure. The perspectives intersect but the realities veer wildly apart based on what people are told and what they want to believe  thereby indicting the fragility of belief itself.
BLOOMINGTON  Citing alleged inconsistencies in a woman's statements about her alleged rape on the Illinois State University campus in July, a lawyer for the suspect is asking for records from the Department of Children and Family Services.

Shawn Childs Jr., 18, of Chicago is charged with criminal sexual assault of a 19-year-old woman in her room at Hewett Hall. The two were staying there during Preview, an orientation event for incoming ISU students.

The alleged victim is a ward of the state and contacted her DCFS caseworker about the incident shortly after it reportedly happened.

Child's father, Shawn Childs Sr. is charged with possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver after he allegedly provided Ecstasy to another male who allegedly placed the drug in the woman's drink.

In her motion seeking the state records, defense lawyer Stephanie Wong contends that "the police report and recorded statements of witnesses detail numerous inconsistencies in the victim's version of events," including an accusation that Childs Jr. was the person who put the pill in her drink. An hour later, the woman changed her story to say that the third male, who has not been charged, was the one who opened a capsule and dropped its contents into her drink that she knowingly consumed, according to the motion.

The alleged victim told authorities she became dizzy and returned to her room. She said she was sexually assaulted by Childs Jr., who followed her to her room.

Statements from the woman that the suspect refused to allow her roommate, identified as Akila H. in court records, to enter the room are contradicted by the roommate, who told police it was the alleged victim who kept her from coming in to collect her belongings, Wong argued.

The roommate contends that she saw the alleged victim open the door and put her belongings in the hallway.

"Moments later, the door was opened and Akila observed the victim and defendant in the room and the victim quickly got under the covers of the bed. The defendant then left the room," said the defense motion.

The roommate reported seeing another male go into the alleged victim's room. According to the defense filing, "this male was purportedly livestreaming events on Facebook."

Later in the evening, the woman contacted her DCFS caseworker and reported that she was uncomfortable with a male who had been in her dorm room.

According to Wong's request for records, "the victim reported the male was livestreaming and posting rumors about her on Facebook. She reported to her caseworker that she was safe and nothing occurred which would require police response."

The woman did report to police the following morning that she had been sexually assaulted and that Childs Jr. was the perpetrator.

Childs Jr. has pleaded not guilty and is free after posting $10,035. His father, who also says he is innocent, remains in jail in lieu of posting $20,035 on the drug charges.
BLOOMINGTON  The likelihood that a mentally ill person will be charged with a violent crime in McLean County is slightly higher than their counterpart who is not identified as mentally ill when booked into the jail, according to a study released Wednesday to the McLean County Criminal Justice Coordinating Council.

The study compiled by Frank Beck, director of the Stevenson Center for Community and Economic Development at Illinois State University, included a review of jail bookings from 2007 to 2015.

Of 49,977 bookings, 3,151 involved violent offenses. Off those, 2,659 suspects were not mentally ill at the time of booking, and 492 were.

Of the 43,944 jailed suspects who were not mentally ill, only 6.05 percent were accused of violent offenses. Of the 6,033 who were mentally ill at the time of booking, 8.16 were accused of violent crimes.

On a national scale, statistics show that mentally ill people are more likely to be the victims of crime than the perpetrators.

Beck explained that the criteria for the designation of mentally ill comes from self-reporting by the inmates during the booking process or designation by jail staff as mentally ill, low functioning or suicidal. The study does not include persons diagnosed as mentally ill at a later time during their jail stay.

A review of nonviolent offenses indicates that those with a mental illness are more likely to be charged with a felony than those without a behavioral health issue, said Beck. The average length of stay for mentally ill inmates is longer for the most serious felonies that include murder and Class X felonies, said the report.

Not factored into the report are the lengthy stays often logged by mentally ill inmates in state facilities after they are deemed mentally unfit to stand trial.

A previous study by Beck provided as part of a 2013 report by the National Institute of Corrections on mental health services at the jail showed an increase over the years in the number of mentally ill people booked into the facility. Over the past six years, about 40 percent of those booked into the 225-bed jail have received mental health services.

The recent examination of mental health data comes as the county is working on its design of an expansion to the jail to address deficiencies for mentally ill and female inmates. The mental health unit is expected to be a model for correctional facilities in Illinois when it is completed in early 2019.

The McLean County Board's Mental Health Action Plan adopted last year includes changes to local mental health services with an eye to keeping mentally inmates from returning to the criminal justice system. A 2013 study concluded that 72 percent of mentally ill inmates released from the jail between 2007 and 2013 had been booked on new offenses.
Gala to aid Home Sweet Home

BLOOMINGTON  The Sharing the Light of Hope fundraising gala to benefit Home Sweet Home Ministries will be 6 p.m. Nov. 4 at Second Presbyterian Church, 404 N. Prairie St.

The gala will include hors d'oeuvres, dinner and silent and live auctions. Tickets are $65 and may be purchased at www.wedoauctions.net/hshm. Deadline to purchase tickets is Friday.

Electoral process topic of panel

BLOOMINGTON  The McLean County League of Women Voters will host After the Hanging Chad: Successes and Failures in the Electoral Process to look at the effects of changes to the electoral process.

The panel discussion will run from 5:30 to 7 p.m. Wednesday in the community room at Normal Public Library, 206 W. College Ave.

Panelists include Illinois State University Professor Emeritus Robert Bradley, McLean County Clerk Kathy Michael and Bloomington Election Commission Executive Director Paul Shannon.
BLOOMINGTON  U.S. Sen. Mark Kirk promoted his proposed Small Business Bill of Rights on Thursday in meetings with Twin City business leaders and students at Illinois Wesleyan University.

Kirk, a first-term Republican, is locked in a close race for re-election with Democratic challenger U.S. Rep. Tammy Duckworth of Hoffman Estates.

One element of an earlier version of his Small Business Bill of Rights has been approved. It creates a fast lane at the Patent Office for small businesses.

Other elements of his proposal include exempting small businesses from capital gains taxes for 10 years, reducing regulatory and reporting burdens, lowering energy costs with exploration and the Keystone pipeline and lowering heath care costs with lawsuit reform, interstate competition and equal tax benefits for the self-employed.

We've got to slow down the regulatory rate of this administration, Kirk told about 15 students from the Young Republicans from IWU and Illinois State University who attended a meeting with Kirk at IWU's Memorial Center.

Kirk said he works in a bipartisan manner "to get stuff done," co-sponsoring many measures with Democrats.

One purpose of his meeting with students was to encourage their participation in politics and urge them to vote on Nov. 8.

Julian Aguilar of Chicago, president of the IWU College Republicans, said, People around here are focused on the presidential race and haven't paid attention to the other elections.

But the junior in political science and history said the Senate race in Illinois is important to maintaining the balance of power in Republican hands.

Aguilar said Kirk appeals to people as a social moderate and fiscal conservative.

Speaking with reporters about the presidential race, Kirk acknowledged, I'm not a fan of Donald Trump, the Republican nominee.

Regarding Trump's latest feud with House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., who has stopped campaigning with Trump, Kirk said, I would tell Trump to shut the hell up with regard to Ryan.

He said the Republican Party can recover from the divisions caused by the presidential campaign by emphasizing its long-standing principles as the party of fiscal conservatives and national security hawks.

After his session with students at IWU, Kirk met with business leaders, including representatives of State Farm, at the Marriott Hotel and Conference Center in Normal. Kirk serves on the Senate Banking Committee.
SPRINGFIELD  At a time when many Republicans are running away from Donald Trump, a Democratic state senator has formed a political action committee thats seeking to bind members of the Illinois GOP to their partys presidential candidate.

State Sen. Daniel Biss, a progressive from Evanston, announced that hes formed Leading Illinois for Tomorrow, or LIFT, a federal super PAC that can collect unlimited contributions to support its message. The committee has already spent more than $1 million this week on television and digital advertising, according to filings with the Federal Election Commission.

Biss said he formed the committee to combat the millions of dollars Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner and his supporters are pouring into races for the General Assembly. Much of that money is being spent on campaign messages linking Democrats to Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan of Chicago, who leads the state Democratic Party and is widely unpopular with voters.

Gov. Rauner and allies of his who have an extraordinary amount of money are trying to paint a picture of what the Republican Party is about and what the Democratic Party is about, Biss said.

The Republicans message has been that they stand for reform while Democrats represent the status quo.

I think that picture is very inaccurate and, frankly, dangerous to the state, Biss said.

The committees first ad began airing Tuesday in the Chicago television market. Biss said there are plans to air ads downstate as well, but he declined to go into detail.

The focus of the 30-second spot is Rauners stated support for his partys presidential nominee.

Bruce Rauner and the Illinois Republicans support a man for president who insults women  demeans immigrants  and makes fun of the disabled, a female narrator says. If Bruce Rauner and the Illinois Republicans support Donald Trump after all that, why would we support them?

The ad intercuts brief clips of Trump making derogatory comments about an unnamed woman and Mexican immigrants and mocking a disabled reporter with a clip of Rauner saying, I will support the Republican Partys nominee.

Rauner has gone to great lengths to distance himself from Trump, repeatedly avoiding answering questions about the presidential race or even saying the GOP candidates name. The governor has denounced Trumps rhetoric and his comments about groping women that came to light last week with the release of a 2005 audio recording, but Rauner has yet to say he wont vote for him.

When reporters asked Rauner about it Tuesday at a Hispanic Heritage Month event in Chicago, he replied: To be crystal clear, I am not endorsing in the presidential race. I am staying out of the presidential race.

The Illinois Republican Party, however, is sticking with Trump, party spokesman Aaron DeGroot said.

Its no surprise that Illinois Democrats are desperately trying to make the state elections about anything other than their failed record of higher taxes, broken budgets and insider deals under Mike Madigan, DeGroot said in an emailed statement. Voters wont be fooled.

Sarah Brune, executive director of the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform, said groups like Biss are prohibited from coordinating with candidates or political parties, although the rules for coordination are fuzzy.
High blood pressure can possibly lead to several major illnesses including stroke. A new study reveals that people who are diagnosed with high blood pressure are more prone to developing dementia.

Dr. Constantino Iadecola from the Weill Cornell Medical College New York City reveals that people who have high blood pressure are more likely to have dementia. According to United Press International, the new statement was officially released by the American Heart Association.

A total of around 30 million individuals suffer from Dementia, and it was revealed that the number continually increase over time. The research suggests there a 15 percent chance that people who are diagnosed with hypertension will eventually suffer from dementia.

Dr. Iadecola continued to explain that an individual with high blood pressure is more likely to experience cognitive impairment. It may already be a given fact that high blood pressure can lead to stroke and other congenital diseases. Having it linked to cognitive impairments, however, are something that requires more study.

"We know treating high blood pressure reduces the risk of heart diseases such as heart attacks, congestive heart failure, and stroke, and it is important to continue treating it to reduce the risks of these diseases," Iadecola added. "However, we need randomized controlled studies - which do prove cause and effect - to determine if treating high blood pressure, especially in middle age, will also decrease the risk of cognitive impairment later in life."

The study involved around 6,000 participants and most of which are at risk of developing Alzheimer's. a group of scientist from Erasmus Medical Center explained that one of the factors that trigger dementia is the lack of oxygen flow to the brain, which can be caused by high blood pressure.

It was then mentioned that the researchers are still on their way into digging deeper for a better understanding of dementia and Alzheimer's disease. Further studies are yet to be done involving high blood pressure and the brain.
After having received a back-to-school document from her daughter who went to Alabama Elementary School, Wendy Chandler discovered that the note was a permission slip. The document would have allowed school staff members to carry out schemes of corporal punishment for children as a new disciplinary rule

Mrs. Chandler did not permit this and explicitly wrote her sentiment. "I cannot imagine how it would ever be ok to show violence towards anyone," Mrs. Chandler said. "Hitting a child is beyond disgraceful."

Little did Mrs. Chandler know about the policies in Alabama that allowed corporal punishment to be implemented in schools. Recent study by the University of Texas, called the Social Report, carried out earlier this month illustrated how often corporal punishment occurred in schools between 2011 and 2012.

The Huffington Post found that southern states including Mississippi and Alabama allow such practices to continue. Data reveals that over 163,000 students were victim to corporal punishment during that school year.

A greater concern is that black children stood at a much higher receiving end of these punishments, despite the larger white population pervading in such schools. Black students, males and students with disabilities are substantially more likely to be physically disciplined than their counterparts.

As the school rules of physical discipline started unfolding right in front of her eyes, Mrs. Chandler rightly decided to pull out her daughter from Alabama Elementary and homeschool her. She tried her best to gather other parents' support against corporal punishment laws, but her efforts didn't garner much interest.

Corporal punishment may be debatable in the philosophical domain. Objectively, science is the best lens to view things.

Science rules against corporal punishment. It is not so hard to understand that physical torture of a child severely impacts his or her psychological health.

Why else are numbers growing of children, who are emotionally unstable and among those who commit suicide because of their irrational belief that they're all alone? Are they helped by the enforcement of such laws? Statistics don't suggest so.
"Scream Queens" Season 2 Episode 3 "Handidates" sent fans of the FOX series on a meltdown when Chad Radwell (Glen Powell) showed up bloody on the altar on his wedding day. Just when "Scream Queens" star Chanel Oberlin (Emma Roberts) finally got Chad Radwell to commit for life (or six months), their fairy tale shockingly ended.

"Scream Queens" Season 2 Episode 3 saw Chad Radwell and Dr. Brock Holt (John Stamos) continuing to compete over Chanel Oberlin. As an offshoot, both Chad Radwell and Dr. Brock Holt were also in competition to pin the murders of the "Green Devil" on each other.

Dean Cathy Munsch (Jamie Lee Curtis) decided to side with Dr. Brock Holt and expressed doubt over Chad Radwell. Left with too much free time on his hands and Dr. Brock Holt gaining ground, the resident "Scream Queens" billionaire playboy surprised Chanel Oberlin with a marriage proposal.

Needless to say Chanel Oberlin became the happy bride and planned her wedding to Chad Radwell in a single day. In a gesture of magnanimity, and also a lack of choice, Chad Radwell asked rival Dr. Brock Holt to become his best man.

"Scream Queens" Season 2 delivered the biggest shock when what appeared to be typical Chad Radwell grandstanding turned out to be a tragedy. In what continues to cause social media meltdown as Refinery 29 report,"Scream Queens" Season 2 killed off Chad Radwell and made Chanel Oberlin a widow even before she got married.

Is Chad Radwell really dead and is Chanel Oberlin meant to end up with Dr Brock Holt after all? Or did "Scream Queens" Season 2 just deal a cruel red herring?

According to IMDB, Chad Radwell is still involved in "Scream Queens" Season 2 Episode 4, "Halloween Blues." Whether Chad Radwell is going to be recuperating or mourned by Chanel Oberlin and her Chanels is up in the air for now.

"Scream Queens" Season 2, "Halloween Blues" will air on FX on Oct 18. Do you believe that Chad Radwell is lost to Chanel Oberlin and "Screams Queens" fans forever or do you believe the former Dicky Dollar Scholar president will return?
Michelle Obama's biggest passion is pushing for education among girls. In honor of International Day of the Girl, which was observed on Tuesday, Oct. 11, the First Lady emphasized why girls should give education an importance, saying that this is the "ultimate confidence booster."

At a gathering in The Newseum in Washington, Michelle Obama talked about how she was once told that a public school student like her would not be able to do much in the world. But when she was able to study in Princeton and topped her class at that, she then saw how education boosted her confidence, the Washington Examiner reports.

"All throughout my life, there are people who have underestimated me," Michelle Obama told the girls who were in attendance at the event. "I always use that as a challenge."

The First Lady also shared that working hard in school contributed to her success. She didn't let the negativity discourage her.

Michelle Obama also wrote an op-ed piece for CNN mentioning how education has given her the "confidence to pursue my ambitions and have a voice in the world." She is indeed proof that education is power and so she's using this power to help girls who need it.

Michelle Obama spearheads the Let Girls Learn program that White House launched in 2015. It has since received pledges from countries like Britain, Canada, Japan, Mexico, the Nordic region and South Korea to supports girls' education in over 50 countries around the world, Voice of America (VOA) reports.

During a recent visit to Liberia and Morocco, Michelle Obama saw how many girls have been deprived of education as they are forced to marry and have children instead. What their society has failed to notice is that these girls have other dreams.

"They want to attend college and become doctors, teachers, engineers, entrepreneurs," the First Lady said, per VOA. She vows to continue working on Let Girls Learn knowing that there are many young women who could benefit from it.
Melissa Calusinski claims that she is serving time for a crime she did not do over the death of a 16-month-old baby in 2009 while the child was under her watch at a day care. She was convicted in 2009, and a judge recently denied the request for a new trial regarding the case.

The incident took place on Jan. 14, 2009. Melissa's sister, Crystal Calusinski, said that she remembers what happened like it was yesterday. Crystal was at the front desk of the day care center called Miness Subee in Lincolnshire, Illinois and her sister Melissa started screaming over the intercom. She went over to see what happened and saw the 16-month-old baby, Ben Kingan, in a bouncy chair with foam coming out of his nose.

Crystal picked Kingan up during that time and went to the door to call for help. She placed him on the changing table to perform life-saving measures such as CPR. When paramedics came, Kingan was transported immediately to a hospital but died at around 4:50 p.m. Two days after the death of Kingan, Melissa, who was then 22, was accused of his murder. She was sentenced in 2011 to 31 years behind bars.

After seven years since Melissa was arrested, her attorney, Kathleen Zellner, said that there is new evidence that proves her client did nothing wrong. She noted that there is no proof that the death of the boy was murder and that she believes Melissa is really innocent.

A day after the death of Kingan, a forensic pathologist named Dr. Eupil Choi performed the autopsy on the toddler and said he had a skull fracture. As per the death certificate, it was listed that the cause of death was cranio-cerebral injuries and blunt trauma of the head. Officials said that the child was forcefully thrown to the floor by an adult child care worker. After hours of questioning, Melissa confessed that she threw the boy to the ground due to anger.

As per a recent prison interview with People, it clarifies that what Melissa said when she was being interrogated came out because she was terrified. This comes after the father of Melissa, Paul, claims that someone called him and tipped that the child's death was not due to skull fracture. He noted that the new X-rays showed that his daughter was convicted due to erroneous evidence.

The coroner, Dr. Thomas Rudd, has since looked into the X-rays and said that the boy died of a chronic case of cerebral swelling of the brain due to repetitive concussions, which might have been inflicted by Kingan on himself.

Zellner then argues that Melissa deserves a new trial. ABC 7 reported that the judge handling the case, Judge Daniel Shanes, denied the request for the new trial on grounds that there is lack of evidence. It was also stated that even if Kingan did have previous injuries inflicted by himself, that does not mean that Melissa did not contribute to the new injuries.

The defense is appealing the decision of the judge.

The Kingans won a $2 million civil settlement with the owner of the day care center. Just recently, the mother of Kingan said that her son had so much life ahead of him and Melissa took it away. They have not yet commented on the new interview of Melissa.
Amity University is one of the largest Indian universities that has plans to expand in New York. The university has already purchased a campus in the Big Apple and has a proposal of buying two more. Reportedly, the state officials of Massachusetts have been opposing it as it sparked concerns with the quality of education it can deliver.

The university has successfully established its campuses in cities such as London, Singapore, China, South Africa and Dubai. According to Hindustan Times, Amity University has reportedly paid $22 million in September to buy a 170-acre campus in Long Island from St. John's University to open its first branch in the United States.

In India, Amity Education Group runs five universities, 17 schools and 150 other institutions. The University is planning to start its operations in June 2017. The university is planning to buy two more campuses including one near Boston. Amity University is currently in talks with New England Institute of Art, a college near Boston.

According to Quartz, the deal would require approval from state education officials of Massachusetts. However, attorney general Maura Healey admitted that they are very skeptical about this deal.

Even though the United States has successfully established its education empire in many countries around the globe, lesser nations have set up institutions in America due to its cost and tighter rules. "It's hard to imagine that this outfit from overseas, which has never done any education work here in this country, is well-suited to provide any kind of education to these students," Healey said as she is trying to get state's board of higher education to prevent the acquisition.

The Amity University run by Ritnand Balved Education Foundation has been under the scrutiny for several times. The founder Ashok Chauhan, a businessman and industrialist who spent decades in Germany, was charged for a fraud in German police. Additionally, Amity university's license was cancelled by the Idian government in 2005. However, Chauhan's sons Aseem and Atul are maintaining the education standards of the institutions with a strength of 125,000 students across 10 campuses in India.
Sexting may be common among teenagers and young adults. Recent reports, however, found that the practice is also prevalent among children under 10 years old.

Detective Superintendent John Macdonald of Scotland Yard's Sexual Offences, Exploitation and Child Abuse Command in the United Kingdom said that the problem is "very under-reported," according to Sky News. They believe that the majority of young girls involved don't consider reporting their circumstances because they view it as a normal thing to do.

In just six days, Macdonald's team found that 11- and 12-year-old girls sent naked photos to men online. There are many instances that these children were threatened into sending explicit pictures and videos.

"The ones that develop into more coercive requests where the child is being threatened if they don't send the image, that obviously will be less in volume, but I still think we don't see most of those being reported. It's a really hidden crime," Macdonald continued, as quoted by Sky News.

Samuel David Lopez-Florez, a 25-year-old Mexican national from east London, was recently imprisoned with a nine-year sentence after coercing a 12-year-old girl to send him explicit videos of herself. When the child wished to stop, Lopez-Florez sent the recording to her friends on the Internet.

In September, the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC), a charity that works on child protection in the U.K., said that the rate of children counseled by Childline due to sexting increased by 15 percent in just a year. In the National Association of Schoolmasters Union of Women Teachers (NASUWT), 63 percent of teachers admitted in a March survey that they know 14-year-olds sexting. Some teachers also said that they are aware of 7, 8, and 9-year-old children who are involved with the practice.

NSPCC listed why children or young people sext. For others, it may be a form of flirting and exploring their sexual identity or sexual feelings. Others join in because they have lots of friends or acquaintances who do it, or because they want to boost their self-esteem.

Some children commit sexting to get attention and to connect with strangers on social media. These kids often have trouble saying no to somebody who asks them for an explicit photo or video, especially if that person is insistent.

Sexting usually leads to blackmail, bullying, emotional distress and unwanted attention from sex offenders. Once a person sends an explicit photo or a video of herself/himself, he/she has no more control about how it's passed on by the recipient.
A 10-page journal and a loaded 9 mm gun were found from two teenagers on Monday at Coral Springs High School. The school shooting scare could have lead to a "terror day," which was the title of the discovered journal.

The writings in the journal described the writer as "the worst solo gunman of all time." The teen suspect planned to make history through himself by overpowering what happened to the other school shootings like that of Columbine, Virginia Tech and Sandy Hook.

Trollinger wrote in the journal "I want to beat their kills," referring to the mentioned school shootings. He also expressed his depressing emotions towards his being single. He implied his being upset about having no girlfriend. He said that he just wanted to be happy, NBC reported.

The 17-year-old Ryan Trollinger, who is a former Coral Springs student, was arrested in the school cafeteria with the said gun. Witnesses recounted that Trollinger was showing the gun to another student. The school went on lockdown until the young man was handcuffed.

The other student, who is still unnamed, was hospitalised under Florida's Baker Act and receiving a psychological evaluation, Scary Mommy reports. Both teens are still under investigation as they are also speculated to be "associates" in the plotting of the crime.

A permit to purchase or a license for a gun is not needed in Florida. There is also no strict regulation or registration for weapons in this state.

An 18-year-old Sebastian Darrah, who is also not a student at Coral Springs, was arrested the following day because of a threat that he posted on Instagram. The threat read as: ""Watch out for round two springs. We comin' guns blazin' you locked our n***** up."

Trollinger remains in custody while Darrah was already released with a GPS ankle monitor. Darrah is not allowed to be in the Internet until the cases are closed. The charges would take him to a year of imprisonment.
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Buddhist teacher Ethan Nichtern has an excellent article over at Lions Roar, a handy guide to the current US election. It is a guide indeed, as it gives more than a simple single command or opinion. It takes readers through six options, taking into consideration that swing state voters have different roles and obligations in the election. These options, in brief, are:

Vote for Hillary Clinton Vote for Donald Trump by staying home (in a swing state) Vote for Donald Trump by voting for Gary Johnson (in a swing state) Vote for Donald Trump by voting for Jill Stein (in a swing state)  and this is where it gets particularly interesting: Vote for THE NEXT Donald Trump via any of the three above in a non-swing state Vote for Donald Trump

While the conclusion is a definite choose option 1 above, the argumentation is aimed at those voters who are either planning to stay home on election day or vote for a 3rd party. The reasoning around option #5 is that this election can be seen as an opportunity to not only elect Hillary Clinton, but also to defeat a racist, nationalist, Islamophobic, misogynist demagogue. And the goal here is not just to defeat him by a small margin, but to defeat him so soundly that it prevents future Donald Trumps from even trying to rise to power. As Nichtern writes: The closer the popular vote gets in this election, the more emboldened fascism will become. In 2020, or 2024, with the medias current business model, we are in huge trouble, unless we give fascism a decisive defeat right now.

While many Buddhists may be skeptical of Clinton, noting her ties to spreading fracking, violence in the Muslim world, and Wall Street, informal surveys here (the latest will be reported on Oct 12) suggest a steady move toward supporting her and national polls show very slow but steady move in her direction as well. Nichtern also points out the misogyny inherent in many of our judgments of Hillary Clinton. This is something all voters should keep in mind.

~

Last May, Zen Buddhist teacher Brad Warner also shared his views on Buddhism and politics, writing:

I am definitely not a conservative Buddhist. But I am concerned whenever I see any mixing of religion and politics. When I was a youngster I was aghast at seeing Christianity mixed with conservative politics, with the implication that Jesus himself wanted you to vote Republican. If we respond to that with the equivalent of, No! Buddha wants you to vote Democrat! I dont see how thats any better. I understand when Buddhists are concerned with issues like militarism and global climate change. These are urgent matters that affect all of us. Its just that it rankles me to see people representing themselves as the leaders of Buddhism and presenting their views as if they are the consensus views of all Buddhists.  What bugs me is when it appears that liberal, left-leaning Buddhists are trying to mix Buddhism with their political agenda in precisely the same way people like Pat Robertson mix Christianity with their conservative political agenda. This just makes us all look bad to everyone except lefty types who already agree with whatever cause is being espoused. Nobody is going to be convinced to change their views on militarism or global warming because they saw a photo of a bunch of weirdos in costumes they associate with cult members holding a banner outside of the White House. Its an exercise in vanity, which can only serve to help entrench peoples previously established views.

On this issue I side with Nichtern, who wrote that, I dont buy the strange premise that spiritual thinkers should stay silent during elections. In fact, I believe the opposite. Living in democracy requires us to participate in shared decisions of leadership.

This necessarily means some mixing of religion and politics is necessary, but in a very particular way. Religion  in the form of religious people  can and should be involved in politics  the work of governing our democracy. This requires discussion, the art of pondering, exchanging, and challenging reasons.

However, religious argumentation (e.g. Buddha said therefore we should) can be fairly ineffective insofar as it presupposes a particular orientation (e.g. willingness to follow whatever the Buddha said). However, religious thinkers and leaders do no service by spending years or decades cultivating moral sensitivity and then simply bottling it up when it comes to issues beyond their own sense of well-being. While the Pat Robertsons out there garner political power, there are also the Jimmy Carters, Fr. Daniel Berrigans, Fr. John F. Kavanaughs, Stephen Colberts (who is a Sunday School teacher among other things), Cornel Wests, Gene Robinsons, and others who have little problem mixing their faith and their liberal political agendas to borrow Warners words (look up Christian Left  or see a handly list of leaders here). The comparison is imperfect, of course, as Robertson is a preacher first and a political activist second, while many of those I name have other primary positions; but all are people of faith on the liberal end of the political spectrum.

Its true that the Christian Right has a brighter spotlight and has for years, but does this mean that the Christian Left (and lefties in other religions) should hide in the shadows?

As an educator and lover of wisdom, I hope Nichterns points spur debate and draw out some conservative Buddhists to share their views. Id rather have them and others put forth their ideas for scrutiny, where they can possibly change our minds or in turn be changed by better arguments, than to likewise hide in shadows.

Speaking of one of those mentioned above, ordained minister Stephen Colbert reacts to the latest Trump video (warning, some very un-Sunday School teacher language):
The Gatestone Institute tweeted out a link to a long, depressing article on the fact the Germany is facing the disappearance of Christianity and the rise of Islam. That which Europeans fought to avoid, with the battles against Ottoman Turks in the Xth century, is now coming to pass with seeming indifference. Sure, Muslims are not compelling conversion; theyre just increasing their numbers by immigrating and reproducing, while the Germans are losing their interest in the latter  and thats on top of dramatic drops in the number of Germans who are practicing or even self-identifying Christians.

And the tie between the two  birth rate and level of religiosity  is taken as a causal relationship: increasingly secular populations have less confidence or optimism about the future, and thus choose not to reproduce. Ive never found this logic persuasive: after all, many none-ists have a great deal of optimism in a high-tech future. You might read political demands for a high minimum wage and a basic income as pessimism that the capitalist economy isnt working but theres also a great deal of optimism there, that the American economy can produce $15/hr unskilled labor jobs, and has the wherewithal to pay people a basic income, and, just like Star Trek or other futuristic societies, well soon reach a point where technological advances mean well be able to sit back and relax, or, rather, pursue personally fulfilling projects rather than punching a time card. None-ism also carries with it a strong faith, not in God but in humanity  in the ability of man to get along just fine without religion. It rejects the idea of following someone elses moral code and says that each person is truly able to find for themselves a personal morality that is right and true for them (add snarky comment about the exception that we all need to be indoctrinated in how not to be microaggressively racist), and believes that each person is inherently good, so that repentance or even sinfulness is an outmoded concept.

But think about it: Why do people have children? Westerners no longer live in a world in which young people are heavily stigmatized if they dont have children, nor do they personally feel the need to reproduce in order to have a caregiver or financial support in old age.

Instead, its a mix of reasons: some simply because they like children, and believe having children improves their lives, both in providing fun in a visible way and in a less-definable sense of enrichment. Some because they fell pregnant and for whatever reason (morality or simple inaction) didnt get an abortion. And some because they believe its the right thing to do  either following Catholic teaching on marriage that a true marriage is one that intends to have children, or more generally because of a belief that having children (while being married) is simply part of being an adult, and, however deeper and more internalized, a belief that producing children is part of an obligation to society, so that the next generation can take their place (and care for the previous one). And, for many, a mix of reasons.

The intentionally child-free, those who take pride in that status, reject this: they reject the notion that children are enriching (or, at any rate, consider any possible enrichment a net loser compared to the enrichment of an adult life lived pursuing hobbies and relationships with friends), they reject the notion that marriage and children are paired, and they reject the notion that there is any sort of obligation to society, to have children. At the same time, there are others who dont reject anything, in broader terms, but at any given time, feel unable to support children, and end up childless as young adulthood passes into middle age and menopause  witness the low birth rate in places like Greece, or the reports coming out of Venezuela of women turning to sterilization procedures at young ages in reaction to the economic crisis.

And, of course, those who chose a one and done approach to family life, and figure they get all the benefits of family life at a value price, likewise reject the idea that there is any greater social/religious meaning to having more than one child.

So does abandonment of religion produce low levels of fertility even in societies that arent undergoing economic crisis? Or is there some underlying cause to both of these?

True, you could argue that, insofar as they have abandoned religion, nones not only reject the notion that you should have kids because God says so, but also no longer feel the same kind of obligation to society, no longer have a belief that one should accept significant restrictions on ones life, for the greater good or to conform to tradition. But its as likely that this underlying rejection is the impetus behind both religiouslessness and childlessness.

And, after all, not every highly-secular country in Europe has an exceedingly low birth rate. To be sure, this is pinned on the greater social welfare spending of a country like Sweden or France, alleviating the financial worries of parenthood and enabling both parents to go back to work, because its assumed that its the natural desire of every adult to have replacement-rate numbers of children, and getting fertility back on track is just a matter of removing barriers to that natural desire. As it happens, Im rather skeptical of the idea that everyone has an innate desire for children (as opposed to a desire to have sex which, in premodern societies, pretty automatically produces children). And I think it could also be the case that these replacement-level fertility countries have successfully kept up the social pressure, the indoctination, if you will, that having children is the right thing to do, even in the absence of religion but in a country (and this applies to Scandinavia in particular) where social conformity is still very important.

Anyway, just a few sunny Thursday morning thoughts for discussion.
Seven Years Later No Iranian Official Held Accountable for 5 Deaths and Torture of Dozens at Kahrizak

10/13/16

Source: International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran

Families of the detainees who died after they were tortured in the Kahrizak Detention Center in 2009 and survivors have told the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran that their quest for justice has gotten nowhere.





Former Tehran prosecutor Saeed Mortazavi, accused of sending detainees to Kahrizak

(artwork by Bozorgmehr Hosseinpur on cover of 40Cheragh magazine)





Some of the cases brought by the families resulted in the conviction of low-level agents while other cases were closed with an acquittal or no ruling, but no high-level official has been held accountable for the deaths of the detainees. The mysterious death of the doctor who exposed the abuses at Kahrizak, Ramin Pourandarjani, was never investigated.

On July 10, 2009 dozens who were peacefully protesting the widely disputed result of the Iranian presidential election of June 12 were rounded up at street rallies and taken to the Kahrizak Detention Center in southern Tehran where they were held in deplorable conditions and tortured. At least five detainees died shortly after being tortured.

Amir Javadifar died on July 14 as he was being transferred from Kahrizak to Evin Prison. On July 15 Mohsen Rouholamini died in the hospital. Mohammad Kamrani also died on July 16 in the hospital. All three men died as a result of the torture they had endured at Kahrizak, according to officials.

Their deaths were recorded in a report by the parliamentary Special Committee to Investigate the State of Detainees at Kahrizak, which was read in Parliament on January 10, 2010.

Two other detainees who also died as a result of the torture were not mentioned in the parliamentary report. Ramin Aghazadeh Ghahremani died in the hospital on July 18 a few days after being released from Kahrizak, his brother told the Rahesabz website on July 13, 2011. Ahmad Nejati Karegar died in the hospital on August 6 after being released and hospitalized on July 13, his mother told BBC Persian on July 6, 2010.

Ramin Pourandarjani, a 25-year-old physician who tended to the tortured prisoners, died days after reporting the abuse a few months later on November 10, 2009. His death was never investigated despite a lawsuit brought by his family.







Prisoners killed at the Kahrizak detention center:

Amir Javadifar (left), Mohsen Ruholamini (center) and Mohammed Kamrani





Silenced Outcry

On September 12, 2009 the head of the Armed Forces Judicial Organization, Shokrollah Bahrami, confirmed that 90 of the more than 100 people who had been detained at Kahrizak and later released had come to his office and filed complaints. Two months later, on November 12, the organization claimed 98 detainees had filed complaints but that after compensation and mollification, eventually 51 of them agreed to rescind their complaints.

Mehdi Karroubi-who ran for the presidency in 2009 and became a leading figure in the pro-democracy Green Movement that grew out of that years protests-was the first well-known political figure to publicly express concern about the human rights abuses at Kahrizak. The government responded by claiming that his protestations were a political ploy designed to undermine the result of the election.

In February 2011 Karroubi and another presidential candidate, Mir Hossein Mousavi and his wife Zahra Rahnavard-both also both became Green Movement leaders-were put under house arrest without due process. The three, who remain under house arrest nearly five years later despite domestic and international outcry, were told that they would not be released until they repented for disputing the elections result, which brought Mahmoud Ahmadinejad a second presidential term.

Nevertheless the Green Movements persistence, along with pressure from the victims families, forced the Judiciary to finally hold a trial for the deaths of Rouholamini, Kamrani and Javadifar.

Initially, in the summer of 2010, a trial was held at Branch 1 of the Tehran Military Court based on complaints by 47 Kahrizak survivors and the families of Rouholamini, Kamrani and Javadifar.

After the trial came to an end, the Armed Forces Judicial Organization said in a statement: Based on the opinions of the medical examiner and other evidence, the court found two individuals guilty of deliberate beatings that resulted in the deaths of Amir Javadifar, Mohsen Rouholamini, and Mohammad Kamrani, and condemned them to death in addition to prison sentences, payment of damages, and flogging. Nine other defendants were sentenced to prison, fined, and banned from holding state positions and condemned to floggings in accordance with their crimes. Also, one defendant, whose guilt was not established, was acquitted.

However, the death sentences against Ali Mohseni and Mahmoud Jafarzadeh were terminated after the men were pardoned by the victims families, who demanded that the primary culprits be held accountable instead.

In February 2013, nearly four years after the victims deaths, a second trial took place with Saeed Mortazavi-the former Tehran prosecutor who had been appointed by the former head of the Judiciary to monitor Kahrizak-as the defendant. Mortazavi was charged with being an accomplice to the murder of Rouholamini, Kamrani and Javadifar and assisting in writing a false report along with two other officials, Hassan Zare-Dehnavi and Aliakbar Heydarifar. The trial took place at Branch 76 of the Criminal Court and was presided by Judge Siamak Modir-Khorasani.

Before the end of the trial, Javadifars father withdrew his lawsuit against Mortazavi and the court declared Kamranis murder case closed. In November 2014 Mortazavi was acquitted of being an accomplice to murder but permanently banned from holding state positions and fined two million rials (about $60 USD) for filing a false report.

The Rouholamini family appealed the ruling twice, and the most recent case is currently ongoing at Branch 17 of the Supreme Court.

In October 2016 Mortazavi submitted a letter of apology for the deaths of the Kahrizak detainees to the Appeals Court.

As I was the Tehran prosecutor at the time, I express shame for this terrible incident, even though it happened without any deliberate intention, as God and my conscience are my witness, wrote Mortazavi.

The bloody incidents that happened after the great plot hatched during the June 2009 presidential election were described as a crime by the supreme leader of the revolution [Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei], and I, the prosecutor at the time, deeply apologize and seek forgiveness from the innocent martyrs Javadifar, Rouholamini and Kamrani, and hope God Almighty would bless them with the highest rank.

Reza Zoghi, who was tortured at Kahrizak when he was a detainee in 2009, rejected the apology as an insult. Complaints filed by Zoghi and fellow torture survivors Masoud Alizadeh and Hamid Hajjarha were never investigated.

The day I went there I saw a lot of the detainees. A few days later, we received a letter that we could get free medical treatment. I went to Imam Khomeini Hospital where I was able to get pills to treat infections, Zoghi told the Campaign in September 2016.

At the time I was serving my compulsory military service and hadnt showed up at my barracks for a month. So a few days after I was released from prison, I was taken into custody by military police and three months were added to my service as punishment. After that I was busy with my military service and couldnt follow up with my complaint. But there was a Colonel Nezamdoust who visited me several times and threatened me, telling me not to pursue my complaint. Finally, I gave up. It was very painful. I had been threatened so many times that I couldnt go through with it.

In fact, none of us were actually able to pursue our cases. In the end, only the Rouholamini family was able to drag Mortazavi to court. But what upsets me was that none of our names were mentioned during the trial. Its true that we survived, but we were all tortured. Amir Javadifar died beside me as he was begging for water. I can never forget those moments.

After Mortazavi was cleared of being an accomplice to murder in August 2015, Alizadeh told the Campaign that the psychological wounds he suffered at Kahrizak had still not healed.

We were all tortured close to death. Some died and we lived, but no one saw us. The judicial authorities did not investigate our case. I wish those who had a voice could also mention what happened to us as well, he said.

Hajjariha was quoted by the reformist Kalame website on October 6, 2016 saying that he was forced to withdraw his complaint against Mortazvi.

One day a few of the [Kahrizak survivors], along with Mohammad Kamranis father and I went and filed complaints against Saeed Mortazavi. But during a memorial for Amir Javadifar I was arrested and forced to take back my complaint, said Hajjariha, who later left Iran to escape the harassment he was being subjected to for speaking out.

Deaths

The sudden death of Pourandarjani-the young doctor who worked at the Kahrizak Detention Center and reported the abuse of the detainees-remains an unsolved mystery that the authorities have refused to investigate.

Pourandarjani was declared dead on November 10, 2009, just days after reporting the abuse to a parliamentary group that had been formed as a result of the growing pressure to investigate the claims of abuse. His death was initially described by some authorities as a heart attack and as a suicide by others, but on December 1 Tehran Prosecutor Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi claimedPourandarjani had died from drug poisoning.

Our family sued those responsible at Kahrizak, but our case did not get anywhere, Pourandarjanis father, Reza Gholi Pourandarjani, told the Campaign.

The mother of Ghahremani, who died at Rasoul Akram Hospital in Tehran two days after being released from Kahrizak, said in an interview with the Campaign that her son had died from lack of oxygen to the brain and blows to the spine.

We told the Military Court that we wanted the perpetrators to be put on trial, but we were told to withdraw our complaint and take the blood money (financial compensation given to the victims next of kin), said Azam Aghavali. I told them my son had been tortured so badly that he didnt survive more than a couple of days after his release and now you want me to withdraw the complaint and take the blood money? In the end nothing was investigated and the case was closed.

Karegar also died in the hospital shortly after his release from Kahrizak as a result of the torture.

The medical examiner said my son died of poisoning, but in fact he was in a coma for 10 days after his release because his lungs were infected and his kidneys stopped working. The doctors who treated him said his kidneys failed as a result of torture and severe beatings, Karegars mother, Manzelat Mohammadi, told the Campaign. They didnt look into our complaint and the case was closed.
As we get closer to the Championship, see how the action will take place!
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Despite the C922s subpar background removal and its lack of RealSense sophistication, its still one of the best webcams on the market for raw image quality.

After four years, Logitech has finally retired the C920 webcam. It had a long and distinguished runone that saw Twitch.tv move from a small Justin.tv subsidiary to a billion-dollar chunk of Amazon, while YouTube continued to secure its dominance over the media landscape. The C920 rode that momentum, becoming a staple in most mid-to-high-end streaming rigs.

The new Logitech C922? Well, its the C920, but marginally improved. It also has some competition this time, in the form of Razers new Stargazera webcam that boasts Intels RealSense technology. Will the C922s pedigree keep it on top for another generation?

Design

The C922 will certainly look familiar to any C920 owner. I mean, its basically the same. The Logitech logos been updated to the new 2015 design, and its been given more prominence up next to the lens instead of tucked away in the bottom-right corner.

But other than that, Id struggle to list any big differences. Its a squat black rectangle that perches above your screen. A single lens peers out from the center, while dual microphones slope off to the side. Inoffensive, if also a bit boring. I thought we might see a more comprehensive overhaul on the C922 given how aggressively Logitech has redesigned peripherals in recent years, but instead we get the aint-broke-dont-fix approach.

This also extends to the mountthe same L-shaped lip/joint used by the C920, with the bulk hanging down onto the rear of the monitor. The lip on the C922 is slightly longer than the Stargazers, so those with an ultra-thin monitor bezel might be annoyed to find that the lip hangs in front of the screen a bit.

Your other option is to mount the C922 on a tripodpreferably a real one, though if you purchase through Best Buy, Logitech actually includes a miniature tripod, which unfolds and telescopes to about seven inches tall. Its of decent enough quality, but resting it on my desk didnt make for a very flattering camera anglemostly my chin and nostrils. Youd have better results setting it on a shelf or maybe on top of a tall computer speaker, provided youve got that sort of setup.

If theres anything I wish Logitech had upgraded in the last four years, its the flimsy rubber cable connecting the camera to the PC. Sadly, it remains. Its not easily replaceable, its thin, its rubber-coated, and Im perpetually worried I might pinch it or crimp it and render the camera unusable. This state of affairs feels particularly egregious in light of the thick, fabric-sheathed, and detachable cable that ships with Razers Stargazer. While Razers option is a bit stiff and unwieldy, Im at least not worried about it breaking.

Looking good

Logitechs touted all sorts of features in the lead-up to the C922. 720p streaming at 60 frames per second, for instancea definite upgrade. Automated background removal is another.

And well get to those.

The C922 has something far more basic going for it though: You take it out of the box, you plug it in, and the picture looks damn good.

Logitech might have eschewed all the fancy RealSense technology at the heart of the Stargazergesture tracking, depth perception, infrared, 3D scanning. And some of those omissions are dearly felt. Its weird, for instance, that Windows Hello doesnt work with the C922, and Logitechs background removal isnt nearly as good as the hardware-backed solution included with RealSense.

But the C922 nails being a webcam. Heres an example of the C922s image versus the Stargazers:

The C922

The Stargazer

Both images were taken with the lights off, so my face is lit only by my monitor.

One of the reasons the C920 became so pervasive is because it could capture a damned fine image for less than 100 bucks. As part of a recent webcam roundup, my colleague Michael Ansaldo called it shockingly crisp. The C922 upholds that legacy and then some, with Logitech touting its low-light performance as one of the main upgrades. While thats maybe not a huge draw for corporate users, Im sure itll come as welcome news to a generation of Twitch streamers broadcasting out of dark bedrooms.

Heres the C920 in low-light, for comparison:

It actually doesnt look too bad, but heres the catch: The C920 was basically unusable for video at those levels. In order to keep the image clear, the camera sacrificed frame rates, outputting at just 5-10 frames per second. The C922 can hit around 30 frames per second, again lit only by the monitor.

Great low-light performance is, of course, accompanied by the same great fully lit image. Heres the C922 in optimal conditions, again versus the Stargazer:

The C922, optimal

The Stargazer, optimal

If youre buying a webcam for Skype/Hangouts/etc, then the C922 is really the best option. Could Logitech have pushed further? Is it weird that we still dont have consumer-oriented webcams that capture greater than 1080p video? Maybe. But Logitechs hardly alonethe Stargazer tops out at 1080p. The webcam industry hasnt kept pace with the smartphone industry in this regard.

And lets be honest: Most people willing to spend $100 on a webcam are producing content for Twitch and YouTube, and in that case the C922s primary job is to pump out a 200200 pixel inset of a users face in the bottom-right corner of the screen. Even 720p should be more than satisfactory for that.

Which brings us to the C922s other primary featurebackground removal, sans green screen. You could accomplish this with the C920 in software (via TriDef SmartCam for instance) but the C922 comes loaded with Personify ChromaCam.

Its worth noting up front this is still a software solution. As I mentioned earlier, the Stargazer relies on Intels RealSense techincluding its depth-perception capabilities. The Stargazer is able to determine how close something is to the camera, and uses this information to help it filter out whatevers in the background.

The C922 uses Personifys Intelligent Shape Recognition instead. No fancy depth-sensing here. It simply looks for what it thinks is a human in the foreground, then removes everything elsewith varying results.

C922, background removal

Stargazer, background removal

Hair. Its is the Achilles heel of the C922. Even in optimal, well-lit scenarios, the C922 has a tendency to clip off hair in interesting ways, or shave off part of my face as I turn sideways. Its an issue thats plagued software-side background removal since its inception.

C922, background removal  profile

Stargazer, background removal  profile

Not only is the Stargazer better in still frames, its also faster. Whether running through XSplit native or through OBS/TriDef, the Stargazer was more consistent at recognizing the edges of an object, quicker to do so, and quicker to notice if something moved in front of the camera (i.e., if I moved my hand towards the screen, it would recognize that my hand was part of the foreground much quicker than the C922/Personify, which sometimes would black out my hand over my face).

Logitechs advantage: Its platform-neutral. The Stargazer requires you to run Windows 10, and as of review-time theres no official support for background removal through Open Broadcaster Software, or OBSthe software of choice for many YouTube/Twitch producers.

The C922 works as a plain ol webcam with Windows 7/8/10, Mac OS X 10.9, Chrome OS, Android 5.0 and abovebasically any semi-modern device with a USB port. And it works with both XSplit and OBS out of the box. (Though Personify ChromaCam only works on Windows 8 and 10, and only with OBS 32-bit.)

Thats not really surprising. The C922 is a marginal upgrade over the C920, with a third-party background-removal solution folded in as first-party. Youd expect it to work with all the same platforms as the C920, and it does.

But hey, sometimes ol reliable is exactly what you need, especially when your livelihood depends on it. The Stargazers background removal is a huge step up from Logitechs, especially in low-light scenarios, but if it costs more and it requires more legwork? Well, maybe the C922 will win over folks regardless.

And that brings us to Logitechs final coup: Its $99, or the same list price that the C920 launched at. Or, if you prefer, $50 cheaper than the Stargazer. Razer really needs its RealSense background removal and other futuristic capabilities to sway consumers. Otherwise Logitechs comparatively simplistic C922 will take the lions share simply by being cheaper, prettier, and more accessible.

Bottom line

The C922 isnt an amazing upgrade. Hell, by most measures this is the same camera Logitech launched in 2012.

But it speaks to the slow pace of the webcam industry that the C922 is all Logitech really needed to do to keep pace. Its still one of the best webcams aroundcertainly the best in its price classand the additional support for 720p/60fps streaming, the extended low-light capabilities, and the basic background removal are just value-adds for whats already an industry-dominating device.

Which is not to count out the Stargazer. If Intel and Razer can convince developers to get behind the RealSense platformand they might, now that cameras have finally hit desktopsit could put the Stargazer in a more future-proof position than the C922.

But thats a big if, and one that caters to a specific niche. For now, the C922 is probably the best all-around webcambest image, hands down, and a solid good enough in all other categories.
In a bid to retain customers, Samsung Electronics is giving larger financial incentives to people who choose to exchange the ill-fated Galaxy Note7 for another smartphone from the company, rather than seek a refund.

In the U.S., the company is giving customers a $25 bill credit through carriers and retailers to customers who return a Note7 for a refund or for any other branded smartphone. But if they choose to exchange the Note7 for any Samsung smartphone, they will get a whopping $100 bill credit from select retailers and carriers. The company did not immediately provide further details on the program.

The company had earlier announced a $25 incentive for customers exchanging their Note7 for another Samsung product.

On Thursday, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission announced an expansion of its Sept.15 recall of Note7 phones that it had put in place with Samsung after it found that the lithium-ion batteries in the devices can overheat and catch fire.

Under that program, Samsung was to ship replacement phones or provide refunds for around 1 million phones sold before Sept.15. The replacement phones that Samsung shipped did not fare better, and the second recall announced by CPSC now includes 1.9 million phones, of which 900,000 are apparently the replacement phones. CPSC said the hazard in all the phones was the possible risk of the batteries overheating and catching fire.

Samsung has received 96 reports of batteries in the device overheating in the U.S., which include 23 new reports since the first recall announcement, according to CPSC. The company has also received 13 reports of burns and 47 accounts of property damage linked to the Note7 phones, the U.S. agency said.

The South Korean company said Thursday the recall program now covers phones sold by the company until Sept. 15 and replacement phones provided under the original recall. The company has announced similar programs in other countries, including its home turf in South Korea.

Besides bill credits of 30,000 won ($27) that can go up to 70,000 won, users in Korea were allowed to keep gifts like the Gear Fit2, which they received when they bought the phone, according to Yonhap News Agency.

The company on Wednesday cut its revenue and profit forecasts for the third quarter, citing the Note7 debacle. It forecast revenue would drop by 4 percent to 47 trillion won, while operating profit would be down by about one-third from the earlier forecast of 7.8 trillion won. On Tuesday, it said it would discontinue production of the Note7.

In an analyst report soon after the guidance cut, Macquarie Research wrote that Samsung has been resilient in the mobile phone market, and weathered many crises, including the flop of the Omnia smartphone running the Microsoft mobile operating system and patent litigation from Apple.

Macquarie warned that some potential Note7 buyers, who it estimates could have accounted for sales of 14 million phones, may now move to Apples iPhone or phones from other vendors, which seems to explain the largesse Samsung is bestowing on Note7 users who stay with the companys smartphones.

The analyst firm warned that it is critical for Samsung to repair its brand equity with its forthcoming Galaxy S8. Once it figures out what went wrong with the Note7, its new Galaxy S8, a more important flagship model than the Note series, can help repair the tarnished brand and recover sales/profit margin, the analyst firm added.
Russian President Vladimir Putin is rejecting claims that his country is behind any U.S. election-related hacking, saying hysteria is fueling the allegations.

This has nothing to do with Russias interests, he said on Wednesday at an investors conference in Moscow.

Putin made the comments after the U.S. publicly blamed the Russian government last Friday for hacking U.S. officials and political groups in an effort to influence the upcoming presidential election.

Stolen documents from those hacks, including sensitive emails, have been leaking online over the past months, potentially hurting the election chances of Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.

Putin, however, said the claims of Russian involvement are merely a distraction.

Hysteria is evoked only to divert attention of the American public from the nature of the information that the hackers posted, Putin said in taped comments.

Among the sites posting the stolen documents include WikiLeaks, which claims to have obtained 50,000 emails from a Clinton aide, some of which are already producing negative media headlines for her campaign.

No matter what the [election] result is, we will work with any leader of the United States, Putin said.

U.S. relations between Russia, however, could grow even more hostile in the near term. On Tuesday, the White House said President Barack Obama will consider a proportional response to Russias alleged involvement in the hacking.

Although the White House declined to provide specifics, its possible the U.S. could use economic sanctions, issue indictments against suspected Russian cybercriminals, or launch retaliatory cyberattacks against the country.

It is unlikely that our response would be announced in advance, White House press secretary Josh Earnest said on Tuesday.

However, Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov contends that the U.S. still hasnt produced any proof of his countrys involvement in the hacking.

If they decide to do something, let them do it, he said in an interview with CNN.
Starship Technologies bot is equipped to follow all of these guidelines. It weighs around 40 pounds and is capable of carrying about three filled shopping bags while rolling along at a safe speed of four miles per hour. Its also equipped with nine cameras and a number of sensors to help it avoid obstacles and allow remote operators to keep an eye on it.

Back in June, Washington became the first U.S. city to approve a pilot program of the ground-based delivery robots. Among some restrictions, the D.C. Council bill specifies that PPDs, or personal delivery devices, must not operate above 10 miles per hour, must weigh less than 50 pounds without cargo, and must obey all traffic and pedestrian signs and signals.

Right now, most of the companys robots are under the constant supervision of an operator and a walking escort, but Starship Technologies hopes that its delivery robots will eventually be 99 percent autonomous.

Starship Technologies is the brainchild of Skype cofounders Ahti Heinla and Janus Friis, who wanted to bridge the last gap of on-demand deliveries by targeting the most inefficient delivery areas: residential neighborhoods. The company says its robots will be able to deliver goods within a one- to three-mile radius in 15 to 30 minutes.

Through an app, consumers will be able to order a delivery robot and choose the exact time they want their parcels delivered, for the cost of US$1. Other companies are also developing autonomous delivery robots, but Starship Technologies says its not worried about the competitionespecially the one coming from the air.

It takes a lot more energy to lift something off the ground than to just roll it across the ground at 4 miles per hour, and that affects the economics, says marketing manager Henry Harris-Burland. Consumers dont want to pay more for drone delivery, they may want to do it the first time, but then its gonna get old very quickly,

Martyn Williams A test run of Starship Technologies delivery robot on the streets of San Francisco on September 27, 2016.

Of course, unlike aerial drones, ground-based robots have a greater chance of being vandalized and stolen. To discourage this, the team has equipped the bots with alarms, GPS tracking, a lockable lid, and a two-way speaker system. Starship Technologies has already experimented with real deliveries in the U.K., Switzerland, and Germany, and so far, they havent had any instances of theft. It remains to be seen if U.S. residents will be as courteous.
Microsofts big Ignite conference for IT pros wrapped up at the end of September, and that means the company dumped a ton of new cloud capabilities to attract people to Azure. Heres the run-down on all the major news you need to know about:

Azure data centers in Germany and the UK go live

In its continuing quest to expand the global reach of its public cloud platform, Microsoft announced the general availability of four new Azure regions: two in the U.K. and two in Germany. The UK data centers are fairly standard cloud regions, but data in the German DCs is under the control of T-Systems International, a German company thats a subsidiary of tech giant Deutsche Telekom.

What that means is Microsoft cant access customer data in the German data centers without the permission of the customers or T-Systems, and will only be able to access data under the supervision of the trustee.

Microsoft says that the arrangement it has with T-Systems is the first of its kind. That may help the company attract additional business from companies that want an extra layer of assurance. The launches now mean that Azure is available from 30 different regions, with six more on the way.

Microsoft is racking FPGAs with its servers, and theyre taking networking to ludicrous speeds

In probably the single biggest piece of news out of Ignite, Microsoft revealed that it has hundreds of thousands of Field-Programmable Gate Arrays (better known as FPGAs) racked up with its servers in Azure data centers around the world. The hardware is being used to power a new Accelerated Networking feature that Microsoft launched in beta, which offers speeds as high as 25Gbps and latency between 25 and 50 microseconds, for no extra charge.

Right now, its only available for a couple of beefy instance types in Microsofts West Central U.S. and Western Europe regions, but Microsoft plans to expand the networking capabiliity to all Azure VMs around the world in the future.

Looking forward, the FPGAs will also be used for powering machine learning-driven services. While Microsoft hasnt given any details on exactly which services will be getting the boost, the company has code that can accelerate its high-level Cognitive Services APIs using the FPGAs.

For a deeper dive on the news, check out this story.

Meet the new compute-optimized H-Series and storage-optimized L-Series VMs

Microsoft continued to diversify the different compute instances available through its cloud platform, launching two new instance types aimed at high-powered workloads. H-Series VMs are built to support compute-intensive workloads. Theyre based on the Intel E5-2667 V3 3.2 GHz processor, and feature a dedicated RDMA backend network.

The company also announced L-series VMs that are aimed at powering applications like NoSQL databases that need low-latency, high-throughput SSD storage with a whole bunch of space. The instances will support up to 6TB of local SSD storage, and will be available in the coming weeks.

Azure Stacks second tech preview enters public beta, and we see the hardware itll ship on

Microsofts system for running an instance of Azure in a private data center continued its winding procession towards general availabiity at Microsoft Ignite. The company publicly released the second techincal preview of Azure Stack during the show, which adds support for services like Azure Queue Storage and Azure Key Vault.

In addition, HPE, Lenovo and Dell showed off prototypes of the integrated hardware systems theyll be selling that will ship with Azure Stack at Ignite. Earlier this year, Microsoft scrapped its plans for letting customers run the Stack software on a variety of hardware. Instead, the only way customers will be able to get a hold of it at launch is through the purchase of expensive integrated systems.

Ken Won, HPEs director of product marketing for cloud software, offered a guesstimate that his companys system would cost between $250,000 and $300,000, according to a report by Redmond Magazine. In addition, users could work with HPE to get one subscription-based bill for both their public Azure and Azure Stack use.

Azure Service Fabric hits GA on Windows Server and enters beta on Linux

Go to a cocktail party full of techies, and sooner or later, someones going to mention microservice architecture. Its a cool method of building large-scale applications thats particularly well-tailored for a cloud-based world. Instead of building one monolithic app that does everything, developers create a series of services that each perform different functions, and combine them into an application.

That allows companies to individually scale the capacity of different services to meet demand on a given week, day, hour, or minute. Theres one problem: wrangling all of those different microservices can be a massive pain. Thats why Microsoft built Azure Service Fabric. Its based on internal technology that the company used to run its own services in-house, and is now generally available for use with Windows workloads in Azure. In addition, theres now also a beta version of Service Fabric on Linux.

Terminal nerds get a new Azure CLI beta

Some people just want to watch the world burn. And some people want to manage their cloud services without touching a graphical user interface. Those folks got a new Azure command line interface to play with this past month.

The commands for the new CLI are a bit different from the old one (for one, azure is now just az in every command). Microsoft has a chart that maps commands from the old interface to the new available on GitHub.

The new CLI doesnt support the old Azure Service Manager/Classic-based services, so Microsoft will continue to support the first version of its command line tools (lovingly called the Azure Xplat CLI). In addition, Microsoft continues to support .NET Core and PowerShell-based CLIs, and is continuing to invest in both those tools and the new Azure CLI.

Thats a wrap for this month! Stay tuned next month for some more cloud changes coming out of Redmond.
The U.S. government will invest tens of millions of dollars in smart-city technologies and in small-satellite broadband as part of a US$300 million package focused on innovation.

The package of new investments, announced Thursday, will include $65 million in government funding and $100 million in private funding for smart cities technologies. Two new government grant programs will focus on easing traffic congestion and on creating new on-demand mobility services, including smartphone-enabled car sharing, demand-responsive buses, and bike-sharing.

From automated vehicles to connected infrastructure to data analytics, technology is transforming how we move around our country, and some of the most exciting innovation is happening at the local level, U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx said in a statement.

The White House, cohosting an innovation frontiers conference in Pittsburgh Thursday, also announced $50 million in funding to help drive the development of small satellites, with new broadband services one possible use.

In upcoming weeks, federal agencies will announce investments and additional steps they will take to drive adoption of so-called smallsats for commercial, scientific, and national security uses, the White House said. More details will be coming soon, a White House spokeswoman said.

Advancing smallsat technology and adoption could, for example, allow companies to provide ubiquitous high-speed Internet connectivity and offer continuously updated imagery of the Earth, the White House said in a press release.

A handful of companies are already exploring the use of small satellites to deliver broadband.

Its important for the White House to push innovation, President Barack Obama wrote in a Wired.com article.

While weve made great progress, theres no shortage of challenges ahead: Climate change. Economic inequality. Cybersecurity. Terrorism and gun violence. Cancer, Alzheimers, and antibiotic-resistant superbugs, he wrote.

The U.S. needs its scientists, teachers, grassroots activists, programmers and other citizens to help solve these problems, he added.

And most important, we need not only the folks at MIT or Stanford or the NIH but also the mom in West Virginia tinkering with a 3-D printer, the girl on the South Side of Chicago learning to code, the dreamer in San Antonio seeking investors for his new app, the dad in North Dakota learning new skills so he can help lead the green revolution, he wrote.
The Ontario Chaffey Community Show Band will celebrate Hispanic music on Monday with a lively program that includes narration, singing, percussion and dancing.

Founded in 1985 by Jack Mercer, the Ontario Chaffey Community Show Band consists of 55 musicians from the beach to Lake Elsinore, said Gabe Petrocelli, 70, current director.

Performers in Mondays concert will include:

 Vicky Cabrera, of Ontario, a native of Mexico, who studied opera and drama. During the past two years, she has composed more than 100 melodies. She will perform two of them, Una Vez Mas and Viviras En Mi, at the concert. She also will pay tribute to the late Juan Gabriel by performing one of his songs, Abrazame Muy Fuerte.

 Homero Chavez, of Pomona, a well-known drummer, percussionist, producer, band leader and educator. He will perform on Latin percussion instruments, including the cajon. Information: homerodrums.com

 Victor Garnica, of Rancho Cucamonga, an assistant principal at Montclair High School, who will sing two hits written by his favorite Mexican artist, Pepe Aguilar, called 100 Anos and Esclavo y Amo.

 George Matamala, principal of Chaffey High School, who will sing a popular Mexican tune composed by Augustin Lara, Solamente Una Vez. He also will team up with Elvia Rivas to narrate the concert.

 Kathy Soderlund, of Rancho Cucamonga, who plays sax in the Show Band. She will dance to Malaguena, Besame Mucho and Passion, with her husband, Ken Soderlund, on solo guitar.

Contact the writer: 951-368-9559 or llucas@scng.com
Moreno Valley city officials dont want their city to be the first in California to consider privatizing its storm drain system.

Southwest Resources Services, a Redlands company, has been working with the city for about two years on such a proposal. The companys plan called for $250 million in improvements to improve water conservation and address flood control, CEO Bruce Cash said.

But the City Council voted 3-2 Tuesday night, Oct. 11 not to hear a full presentation from the company.

Mayor Yxstian Gutierrez and council members LaDonna Jempson and George Price rejected the idea, saying they were concerned about higher storm drain rates for residents and loss of local control.

Council members Jeffrey Giba and Jesse Molina wanted to give the idea more consideration.

Cash said his company has been talking with a dozen cities on the novel plan to form a public-private partnership to pay for storm drain improvements. He said Moreno Valley could be the first in the state if the idea went forward.

Cities will need new facilities to meet drought-related regulations requiring more conservation of storm runoff water, Cash said. His proposal would involve capturing storm water, treating it and storing it for future use in five major drainage areas of the city.

Private capital would pay for $250 million in improvements, he said.

Residents would ultimately pay for the projects through a $480 a year parcel fee and would also be responsible for $5 million in annual operating costs, Cash said.

The proposal would also involve turning city control over to the state Public Utilities Commission, the San Francisco-based agency that regulates gas, electricity and telecommunications.

The council would have no authority to regulate or protect residents from rate increases, Price said. I have major concerns about giving up local control like that.

Cash called his presentation a brief introduction and wanted to give more details on the funding and projects.

Giba suggested hearing him out so the council could better understand the proposal. He said the city may have to pay for unfunded state mandates to meet the conservation requirements.

Gutierrez said that would be a waste of the companys time.

Im just not interested, he said.

Contact the writer: 951-368-9558, ighori@scng.com, @ImranGhori1
An elderly woman, eyes tightly shut and rocking in her pew, joined the roughly 200 people singing Amazing Grace in a small Corona chapel.

Another woman wiped away tears and fanned her eyes with a program bearing the name of Laverne Davis, a 60-year-old Corona woman stabbed and beaten to death last month near the bus bench she called home.

Most homeless end up in paupers graves after being cremated by county officials. But Davis was a friendly face as well known for reading her Bible as she was for declining handouts. So, after her violent slaying near the 99 Cents Only store on South Main Street, the Corona community opened its wallet.

Her funeral and burial  complete with a shiny white casket topped with colorful bouquets  were paid for by donors, many of whom crowded into Thomas Miller Mortuary Chapel to pay their respects to a woman they say had a curious magnetism.

She was gentle, kind, but she fell on hard times, said Charlie Jackson, 68, of Corona, who often passed Davis reading her tattered Bible on the bench. When you see her, or any homeless person, you can say There go I. It makes you thankful for the warm bed you have to sleep in.

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Details of Davis past are vague. Born in Baltimore in 1956  one of seven children  Davis earned a bachelors degree and was a nurse for years, according to her obituary and those who knew her. Davis has lived on Corona benches for years, rejecting handouts from all but her closest confidants.

Steven S. Loia, 54, has pleaded not guilty to murder with malice  including an enhancement for prior felony convictions  and being under the influence of a controlled substance, court records show.

No family members attended the Wednesday, Oct. 12, funeral, though authorities said they found a brother in Baltimore.

Etta M. Stewart spoke with Davis regularly over the past several years while dropping off Jehovahs Witness literature for her at the bench. She was floored by Davis ability to quote and place scripture verses. Though conversation rarely veered from their shared faith, Davis told Stewart her sister had been homeless, and died beside her on a Riverside bench.

She wanted to be loved, just like everybody else, Stewart said.

Patricia Ann Stockdale, who works at the Corona Public Library across the street from where she was killed, sat at the front, retelling stories before the service.

She would come in every day to read the Wall Street Journal, Stockdale said. She had this infectious smile. Even though she was quiet, you were drawn to her. And when she left, she would always say Have a blessed day.

Pastor Mark Allert took his place before the casket, describing the woman who had so little yet touched the lives of so many.

When we hear homeless, many think that means theyre not our neighbors, said Allert, of Peace Lutheran Church in Corona. Laverne had a home, she had a community.

Without Corona Regional Medical Centers support, Davis interment would have been handled by the Riverside County Public Administrators Office. Last year, the office authorized the cremation of more than 300 people whose family couldnt be found, refused to pay for their relatives burial or couldnt afford it, records show. Many were homeless.

The hospital offered to pay for the funeral, but community donors instead covered the expense. Janell Acosta donated a Corona Sunnyslope Cemetery plot. Thomas Miller Mortuary provided the casket and burial, which would have cost more than $10,000.

Fundraising collected more than $1,700, with another $1,200 check enroute from a separate GoFundMe account. Those dollars will buy a memorial bench or plaque and make a donation to a Corona homeless group.

Near the end of his sermon, Allert repeated comments of those who knew Davis best.

She told people all the suffering, pain and death would soon be a thing of the past, Allert said. She looked at her homelessness as a means to help others.

Contact the writer: 951-368-9644, poneill@scng.com, @PE_PatrickO
The race for a seat on the Riverside Community College District board of trustees has drawn more interest than many past elections.

In August, trustee Nathan Miller posted two anti-Hillary Clinton tweets featuring a noose-holding hangman, putting the district in the national spotlight. Miller, a Riverside County Republican Party official, sent the tweets from the partys official Twitter account.

District faculty, classified employees and student groups passed no-confidence resolutions against Miller and called on him to resign. The tweets cost Miller his job with the state Board of Equalization. Miller apologized and a month later quit his post as vice president of the district board, though he is still a trustee.

Miller is challenged by Bill Hedrick, a former Corona-Norco Unified School District trustee.

Candidates for the nonpartisan position are vying to represent Trustee Area 1, which encompasses Norco, Eastvale and part of Corona.

Name: Bill Hedrick

Age: 64

Resides: Corona

Family: Wife, Beth, five children, five grandchildren.

Occupation: Educator

Education: Bachelor of Arts in history, masters degree in education, both from Cal State Los Angeles

Interesting fact: The world fascinates me. I collect experiences and knowledge. Genealogy, history, geography, world religions, languages, and travel fill any uncommitted time.

What is the most important issue facing your district? Corona, Norco, and Eastvale lack effective representation on the RCCD board. Norco College deserves an engaged trustee. For me, education is a passion  not a hobby. I want to be your advocate and representative to further strengthen our college district and especially our local RCCD institution, Norco College. I will work within the shared governance structure to expand instructional options for Norco College students  and across the district. I will work to improve access for all, and reach out to local business to ensure that our colleges stay on the cutting edge of innovation.

What sets you apart from your opponent? The RCCD faculty, staff, academic senates of three colleges, and students have all passed votes of no confidence in the leadership of my opponent. He has stepped down as vice president of the board. I will work hard to renew faith and confidence in the board of trustees and build strong working relationships with administrators, faculty, staff, and students. I bring a lifetime of education experience to the board  as a teacher, adult instructor, educator and student advocate, and former Corona-Norco school board trustee. I will work tirelessly with all stakeholders to make an already great institution better still!

Campaign website/phone number: www.billhedrickforrccd.com, 951-737-0734

Name: Nathan A. Miller

Age: 40

Resides: Corona

Family: Wife, Heather, three children

Occupation: Riverside Community College District trustee, businessman-consultant

Education: Bachelor of Arts in political science from Cal Poly Pomona; physics classes at Loyola Marymount University

Interesting fact: I once worked as the large telescope operator at the Griffith Observatory. It was a dream job. I would also take a Traveling Telescope to inner city schools for lectures and demonstrations. I was majoring in physics at the time, pursuing a career as a pilot in the Air Force.

What is the most important issue facing your district? Class offerings and vision. Both a casualty of the recession, as RCCD struggled to maintain a balanced budget amidst decreased funding, student resources and opportunities took heavy losses. From career technical education to university transfers, it was taking students four to six years to get the classes needed in what should only take two. Weve improved significantly in the last four years with more to come. Norco College and our community deserve a top-tier agricultural department and curriculum. The course offerings ought to fulfill employer and student needs in the community and I cant think of a better fit.

What sets you apart from your opponent? I fundamentally understand the role and value technology plays in our modern students experience, education and career opportunities. As Norco College Trustee, I have worked diligently to improve its outreach and communications capabilities. Our front doors are no longer physical, they are virtual. Our students experience begins online. Technology is a wonderful tool that must be used to streamline students abilities to find what theyre looking for and better subcategorize fields of interest in order to improve student outcomes and long-term career success. I get that and surprisingly very few trustees in education are even looking in that direction.

Campaign website/phone number: https://www.facebook.com/TrusteeMiller/, 951-686-1996

Contact the writer: 951-368-9292, stwall@scng.com, @pe_swall
With no recession in sight and Inland Southern California at or near full employment, economists delivered an upbeat message at Wednesdays Southern California Economic Forecast in Ontario.

But they also addressed the question raised by Manfred Keil of Claremont McKenna College, Why does everyone feel so bad about the economy. Why is there so much support for Bernie Sanders and for (Donald) Trump? These are people who will say the economy is not doing well at all.

Anxiety surrounding the upcoming national election was the theme of this years event, which as in prior years took place on the covered ice rink of Citizens Business Bank Arena.

Lots of people have written about how poor countries fall apart  Syria, Sudan and so on, said keynote speaker Todd Buchholz. But rich countries fall apart, too.

Buchholz, who had been part of the George H.W. Bush administration, identified the U.S. debt load and globalization as issues that need to be addressed.

RELATED:How Wall Street, Main Street differ in voting booth

Keil, whose topic was Riverside and San Bernardino counties, said that now is the time for local leaders to address two persistent needs: a college educated workforce and high-paying jobs to reduce the amount of commuting to coastal counties.

In the past, Ive always felt like Dr. Doom coming up, he said. The Inland Empire last year has done very well. We are now at very low unemployment rates compared to historical levels and we have strong economic growth.  Can we now start to fix things that in a recession we wont have the ability to do?

While the Inland area has gained more jobs than it lost in the great recession, they are different jobs. Many are in hospitality and health care and many dont pay as well as the manufacturing and construction jobs that went away.

Keil looked at human capital and found that better educated Inland residents are more apt to commute out of the area. Although the adverage commute for residents of Inland cities is more than 30 minutes, people driving to Los Angeles or Orange County spend more than two hours on the way to work and almost as long on the trip back.

RELATED: Five takeaways from this years Inland economic forecast

Jerry Nickelsburg, who discussed the national and state economies, commented on what he called three risks.

Propositions 55: An extension of the Proposition 30 temporary tax increase for another 12 years. He said the extension would in effect make the tax hike permanent.

Proposition 64: The California marijuana legalization initiative. Nickelsburg said that the economic growth it would generate would be miniscule compared with the size of the state budget and that it might cost some jobs, for instance if people spend less time at theme parks and more time at home smoking weed.

Trade war: Nickelsburg said that any trade barriers imposed by the next administration would disproportionately affect Southern California, because of the volume of imports coming into the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles, and the Inland Empire, which receives many of those goods.

RELATED: What economists said at the UC Riverside forecast

Contact the writer: fbuck@scng.com or 951-368-9551.
Theres more at stake in Californias 40th Assembly District than incumbent Marc Steinorths political career.

By beating Steinorth, R-Rancho Cucamonga, Democrats would be one step closer to restoring their two-thirds supermajority in the state Legislature.

Republican and Democratic party committees have spent more than $1.2 million combined in the Inland district, tops in the state in terms of legislative races with targeted incumbents, said Rob Pyers, research director for the California Target Book, which studies legislative races.

In an appeal to the 40th Districts plurality of Democratic voters, Steinorths challenger, Democrat Abigail Medina, is trying to link Steinorth to Donald Trump. Steinorth has fired back with an ad portraying Medina as a reckless politician who spent taxpayer dollars on trips to Miami Beach and Las Vegas.

Medina, a San Bernardino Unified School District trustee, and Steinorth, a former Rancho Cucamonga councilman, are running for the right to represent the 40th District, which includes part of the city of San Bernardino in addition to Redlands, Highland, Loma Linda and most of Rancho Cucamonga.

The race is one of the most competitive of this election cycle. Medina finished about 2,200 votes ahead of Steinorth in the June 7 primary.

The districts voter registration has gone from a nearly even split to an almost 15,000-voter edge for Democrats. Higher projected turnout in a presidential election year also could boost Medina.

The district has shown the single largest decline in GOP voter registration as a percentage of the electorate of any of the states 80 Assembly Districts, Pyers said.

But Pyers sees positives for Steinorth. The California Association of Realtors and another group funded by real estate interests could come to Steinorths aid, he said.

Also, Republican and no-party-preference voters could turn out in higher numbers in November than they did for the primary, Pyers said, adding that Steinorth stands to draw a larger share of independent voters and may benefit from split-ticket voting.

All things considered, Im inclined to give the edge to the incumbent in this race, he said.

ABIGAIL MEDINA

Medina, 40, cites Steinorths votes against a minimum wage increase and paid family leave as proof hes out of step with his district.

I am the one that actually represents the district as a whole, she said. My husband and I have struggled financially. I understand my community and I think this would be a great opportunity to have a representative that understands the districts needs.

As assemblywoman, Medina said she would be a strong voice for education, saying its the best path out of poverty. As a school board member, Medina said she worked to make sure students who commit very minor infractions arent burdened with an arrest record that follows them around and to extend the AVID  Advancement Via Individual Determination  program beyond high school.

Medina, who has been endorsed by a number of labor unions, also supports tax credits to help small businesses. On her campaign website, she expresses support for reducing and eliminating (air pollution) emissions with realistic goals.

MARC STEINORTH

Steinorth, 46, said hes worked to be consensus-builder and to explain his votes to any constituent or community group that asks.

Ive been bipartisan and Ive worked with all industries to bring attention to the needs of my community and how we can improve the economic outlook for the next generation, he said.

Medina, he said, has no real substantive ideas and goals for our community.  If she is qualified to run on her own merits, she would be spending her time talking about her accomplishments instead of trying to create false attacks against me.

Steinorth added that hes been endorsed by every council member and law enforcement organization in the 40th District, as well as San Bernardino County Sheriff John McMahon.

If re-elected, Steinorth said he would introduce a bill allowing families that buy alarms, security doors and security cameras to receive tax credits. He also plans to re-introduce legislation allowing people to save up to $10,000 a year in a tax-free account that can be spent on costs related to a first-time home purchase.

Contact the writer: 951-368-9547 or jhorseman@scng.com
Temperatures in the Inland Empire are going to remain below 85 at least through the weekend and are even expected to lower toward the beginning of next week.

Highs Thursday will reach between 77 and 82, according to the National Weather Service with some clouds and fog in the morning hours. Weather will remain about the same Friday before temperatures lower slightly and clouds converge over the Inland area Saturday and Sunday.

Temperatures will remain in the 70s both days with clouds hanging over the area. The weather service gives area mountains a chance for some rain on Sunday but forecasters dont seem to count on it too much.

Monday and Tuesday will be the chiliest days with highs at 77 and 76 respectively.

A ridge of high pressure is expected to start building Wednesday and Thursday, the weather service reports.

That setup would bring a legit Santa Ana event if it bears out as models currently suggest, forecasters wrote in an analysis.
The economic growth that the Inland Empire is experiencing gives it a cushion to deal with the regions long-term challenges, which includes too few college graduates to attract new businesses and too many workers commuting to other counties.

Its better to act when times are good rather than waiting until the water is up to your mouth, said economics professor Manfred Keil prior to speaking at this years Southern California Economic Conference on Wednesday in Ontario.

This years forecasts, given by Keil and Jerry Nickelsburg, echoed many of the themes of earlier forecasts.

Here is how what they said compared to their presentations last year.

No recession in sight

Last years forecast: Even though the U.S. economic expansion had long outlasted the six-year average considered the norm, there was no end in sight for the current expansionary phase.

This years forecast: No recession for the next two years.

Gross domestic product

Last years forecast: Inland GDP at 3 percent.

This years forecast: Growth in 2015 was 3.8 percent, below the states growth of 4.1 percent but above the 2.4 national growth rate. Up ahead: 2.5 percent growth in 2016, 2.8 percent in 2017 and and 2.4 percent in 2018.

Employment

Last years forecast: Employment rebounded, but output didnt, partially because jobs gained were different from jobs lost and often paid less.

This years forecast: Employment has risen by 1.9 percent from a year ago, and the labor force has grown by 1.6 percent. But the number of commuters working outside the region lowers its GDP.

Unemployment

Last years forecast: 6 percent for most of 2016, reaching 5 percent by the end of the year.

This years forecast: Unemployment ended the year at 6 percent, with an average of 5 percent for 2017, converging with a state average of 4.7 percent in the second half of the year.

Concerns

Last years forecast: The return of Ontario International Airport to local control might not address all the challenges to restoring traffic to the facility.

This years forecast: Long commutes to Los Angeles, San Diego and Orange counties are costing the Inland Empire too much in human capital.

Contact the writer: fbuck@scng.com or 951-368-9551